Of Jesters and Orcs 8: Boarding Action

[CENTER][u]Of Jesters and Orcs[/u]

Chapter 8: Boarding Action

<<<Mopsa Yeats>>>[/CENTER]

Vibrating slightly as she grinned wide, Mopsa leapt through the crowds to find a higher vantage point, “Wheee,~” She cheered as she leapt off a stationary… car they were called, and up one of the light poles. “I see them! They look angry, and not alive! I don’t have to hold back! Neither do you Karaka!” She cheered, yelping as blasts of green energies lashed out, forcing her to drop to the ground in a burst of feathers.

“Perhaps,” She started from her crouched state, “I should not announce my presence? Nah, sounds boring. So, which dozen do you want to deal with, Karaka? Left dozen or right dozen?”

“I’ll take the right,” The orc said as he shouldered his blade, “Hmm, I wonder if that metal would make for a good blade…” He muttered absentmindedly.

The question was right on the tip of her tongue before she caught it, of course an orc would have some understanding of blacksmithing. Actually was it racist of her to just assume that? He could’ve picked it up during his adventures after all! Just assuming an orc was a blacksmith was like assuming an elf is a natural archer!

Which wasn’t true, by the way, she despised archery! Besides, magic was so much more satisfying!

Mopsa nodded and, entirely ignoring what Nightwing called out, teleported in front of the leftmost group of ‘robots’.

“So, I have a question for you all!” She called out, earning a quizzical look from them. Clearly, they were not designed to deal with someone like her, all the better then! “Are any of you immune to magic? I know golems are, but are you guys? I really can’t know without testing or you guys offering an answer…”

Naturally, they started firing at her, though a quick spell sent most of the attacks careening into other things. Like walls, cars, the ground… “I’ll take that as a refusal to answer then!” She announced before making a grand gesture and firing a storm of lightning into the crowd.

It didn’t do much.

“Yes then, sad… oh well.~” Her original plan wouldn’t work, but she had other options. She made another gesture, chanting as she built up her power. With another twitch of her hands, she brought forth flame. The Elemental Plane of Fire overlapping with the material plane.

It didn’t last long, but it was enough to make the machines crumple, their surface charred.

“You know, I was expecting some resistance to heat,” Mopsa said, mostly to herself, “But then again… calling the Elemental Plane of Fire hot is a horrifying understatement.” In fact, the only reason the street alone was warped by the heat and not the rest of the surroundings was due to her skill.

The sound of metal shearing dragged her attention from the charred mess and she glanced over to Karaka, “Oh, he is so going to feel that when this is over…”

But she couldn’t deny seeing his entire sword bathed in flames as he weaved through the massive group of enemies was undeniably… artistic looking. It could’ve been mistaken for dance if not for the giant flaming sword or the random severed limbs flying through the air.

The dance ended as he did a forward flip and brought his sword down splitting the last robot from crown to crotch, his blade slicing into the street like it was butter.

“That’s going to be expensive to fix…” She noted, but then again so would her attack! She was prettier though, so they couldn’t blame her!

Still, as much as she wanted to check on the old orc, it wasn’t the time to rest on her laurels! She had a city to protect, besides it looked like Karaka was getting his second wind… though she really didn’t envy him when the battle high finally ended and his body reminded him that he was in fact, to paraphrase a human, ‘Old as Hell’ and that he really shouldn’t be doing what he was doing.

She’d have to ask around for an anti-aging spell or some such. There had to be something for it

Still she had a reputation to uphold, “Not getting tired are you?~” She teased Karaka.

The orc huffed before straightening up and pulling his sword from the ground, and though he hid it, Mopsa could tell he was breathing harder.

“Just try to keep up!” The orc retorted before he focused his breathing once more and took off to hunt for more of the metallic invaders.

“How many civilians have you managed to rescue so far?” She asked the two native ‘heroes.’

“About four, stragglers mainly.” Nightwing said, “Gothamites generally tend to go to ground when big things like this happen. The city’s got a lot of experience over the years.”

Batgirl nodded, “Do you think Karaka can keep this pace up?” She asked, “He’s supposed to be real old for an orc right?”

Mopsa giggled, “If he was back in a tribe he’d be an Elder right now, but he can keep up. He’ll regret it when the battle ends. But until then he’ll keep fighting until it's over or he’s dead,” She answered, “And I erased about twenty years off his age earlier today, that will help. Won’t fix it entirely, but it’ll help.”

“Man, magic is bullshit…” Nightwing muttered, sounding impressed despite his words, “No wonder Fate and Zatanna are so smug on occasion…”

“It’s not permanent,” She noted, “And I can’t make it permanent, I’ve tried. Maybe someone else could do it, but not me. Best I can do is make him a lich or another species that’s longer lived.”

“Still impressive,” Nightwing said, “Well, ladies, I think we should get back to it before our elder does all the work for us!” At Mopsa’s flat look he rolled his eyes, “You damn well know what I mean!”

“I am over one hundred thirty years old!” She complained, hand on her hips, “I am your elder and you should respect me!”

“Well you sure as hell don’t look it!” Nightwing retorted, “Now can we please get to work?” He asked once more before deciding to not wait any longer and took off running.

She giggled, “Thank you for the compliment,~” And vanished with another teleport to a spot where there were more machines to break. Neveah running surveillance was hellishly useful.

Though she could’ve sworn she heard Batgirl muttering something about being surrounded by idiots.

Bah, she’d learn that if you didn’t stop taking everything seriously that you’d age a hundred years in a day! Maybe literally, that could be a funny prank… She gestured and cast another spell, dragging another hoard of machines into the depths of the earth.

Nightwing was dealing with a horde in his own way, blasting the street to drop them into the sewers, Batgirl was… using a machine against its allies, and Karaka had finished slicing through his. Not many machines left anymore.

Karaka paused to catch his breath, “How will we know when Batman and the others have dealt with this Brainiac creature?” He asked before chopping another machine in half.

Neveah shrugged on his shoulder, “Don’t know! The bird boy will say!” The raven crowed before cackling and teleporting him to Mopsa, “Be with your crush now!”

Mopsa squinted at the bird.

“Silence wretched bird!” Karaka retorted.

It laughed before taking off once more to fly towards Nightwing. “So, how’re you feeling, Karaka?” Mopsa asked, leaning on her mace, “Good, I hope.

“Like a young orc,” Karaka said, “But realistically? I’m going to hope that there is a hot spring or something similar around, pretty sure if it wasn’t for your spell I would’ve had some fractured bones already.”

“You get hit at all?” She asked, feeling a level of concern, “Any injuries that need healing? I haven’t seen the other two get damaged yet, but they fight way differently from you.”

“These machines are tough, but… not skilled,” Karaka shook his head, “Like they learned to fight from reading and nothing more.”

“Golems are rarely skilled, only tough,” She noted, giving the orc a quick hug before Nightwing teleported in. “Friend! What’s up?”

Karaka just chuckled as he too focused on Nightwing.

“They’ve hit trouble,” He said, sounding grave, “Superman is indisposed, he vanished in the middle of the fight and they can’t find him.”

“I can,” She stated, “I can find him, but I can’t guarantee I can get to him on my own. I’m good, but I can’t fight an army in close quarters, and the other two will need backup sooner rather than later.”

She could see a level of surprise on the other’s face at her change in demeanor, but they recovered quickly enough to come up with a plan. This was, partially, a test of the native heroes. She already had a good plan, but…

“Karaka will come with me,” Nightwing said, “We’ll back up Batman and Wonder Woman, Flash and Batgirl will go with you, rescuing Superman is the priority here.”

Karaka just nodded in acceptance, rolling his neck and shoulders in preparation.

Mopsa nodded, it wasn’t what she was thinking but it would likely work. First though… her arms waved as she chanted once more, gently touching each of her companions and, “There, you’re all infused with Mythic Power. You are Ascended, for a time. It will last sixty-hours. Keep this on you and stay within one-hundred feet of one another.” She passed Karaka a gemstone, shining with power, and a religious symbol to Batgirl. “You can go where you need to, just keep that on you.”

Karaka seemed rather surprised and looked like he wanted to ask some questions, but no doubt shelved them for after the current crisis.

“Boom tube then?” She asked, flicking her wrist and teleporting them all to it, this would be irritating, but she’d hopefully be able to pull a wonderful prank on a monster so that was a bonus.

“Cast your spell to find him,” Nightwing ordered, getting a shrug from her and, with another cast of a spell…

She winced, “Time trap, he’s in a room aboard the invading flagship and is frozen in time.” She cast another spell to show it to the others through illusions. “Really wishing I could cast Freedom right now, but it’s fixable without that I think, just need to destroy the focus.”

“How do you stop a godling? Trap them in time…” Karaka muttered to himself.

“I can see a spot I can send you,” Nightwing started, not even flinching as Flash arrived, “Most of the ship is shielded, but the fighting took down some defenses nearby that room. Good luck.”

“What’s the plan?” Flash asked, “I’d have been here sooner, but I was a bit busy dealing with some machines in Metropolis.”

“We go on, get to the right room, start breaking important looking things,” Mopsa summarized, “You in?”

Flash just laughed, “Sounds like a plan to me. Send us in.”

Karaka just chuckled, his eyes glinting faint and Mopsa could only imagine what sort of shenanigans he was going to pull now that he was empowered by Ascension.

Temporary as it was, and limited in the powers it would grant… but it was still very nice. At the very least, it would make him harder to kill.

They vanished with a bang, appearing in a corridor… surrounded by hostile machines. “Ah man, I knew this was a trap…” Mospa grumbled, kicking at the metal flooring.

Flash snorted and zipped around the room, the robots getting dismantled before her eyes in a blink. “They didn’t plan for me, which way?”

She couldn’t help but whistle before pointing, “This way,” And starting to move, her raven hanging off her robes as she swept through the room, “I don’t know how to open that door,” She announced, nodding towards the solid metal, gleaming with energy, “Warded too, it looks like.”

“I got it,” Batgirl replied, slipping past her and pressing something against what must have been the controls for, after only a few seconds, they sparked and the door opened. “Done! Bats made things for just this circumstance.”

“Impressive foresight, I can see why you follow him as a leader,” She praised, “Flash, can you…”

If she hadn’t been looking for it, she wouldn’t have even noticed his flicker. “We’re clear, I saw the room Superman’s in, and it’s unguarded, which worries me.”

“I agree,” Mopsa replied, “I’ll go in first, and more expendable and they won’t expect it, Batgirl, Flash, you two should look for anything that looks important and then break it, just to be sure break everything that looks important.”

Flash laughed, Batgirl shaking her head, before slapping her on the back, “Don’t get yourself killed, I like you too much for that.”

She gave a salute before shifting into a raven and flashing, “Ha!”, forward, coming to a stop in the right room. “Hello,~” She called out, “I’m in your prison, stealing your stuff.~”

A very, very loud slam echoed from behind her, the deck of the vessel vibrating, and she sighed. “I’m going to turn around now, and if there’s a giant robot there I will be very upset.”

There was, in fact, a giant robot there. Worse, it was pointing a very large weapon towards her, glowing with green energy.

Mopsa sighed before teleporting underneath the barrel, the attack lashing out and turning the metal glowing red where it hit. “Shit,” She thought, sending a bolt of lightning towards the machine as a test.

It fizzled out as soon as it came within five feet of it, like it had hit an Anti-Magic Field.

Mospa snarled, diving out of the way of a fist came down where she’d been standing, “Assistance required!” She called out, launching a stone towards what she assumed was its eyes, though it only destroyed one of them.

It didn’t like that very much, more weapons popping out of its surface to fire down upon her. Most of them were deflected by her robes, rings, and shielding spells… but not all of them. The detonation of an explosive throwing her backwards and knocking the wind out of her.

She couldn’t hit it with magic directly and her telekinetic blasts weren’t doing much… Relying on the others it was then, she just had to focus on dodging while hoping she didn’t run out of spells.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t be showy about it though, summoning a discus beneath her feet to allow her to fly around and dodge more efficiently while cackling, smiling wide.

“I hope Karaka and Nightwing are having better luck!”

Mopsa ducked before jumping off her disk… but she’d gotten herself into a corner and was, thus, trapped.

The lights went out for a moment and… Superman burst through the machine’s chest, making it stop and fall backwards to the ground.

“Well, that went well!” Mopsa said with a grin, “How’s it going for you?”

Superman just shook his head faintly, “Better now that I’m not stuck in time,” He said dryly, “Where are the others?”

“Oh, you know, rescuing me and backing up your friends, and dealing with the trap on this room, of course,” She grinned, “Mind if I come with ya?”

“Sure.” Superman said with a chuckle, “Let’s go Mopsa.” Then the room shook.

“I did not do that,” Mopsa said, “Just in case there was any doubt.”

Superman just chuckled ruefully.

[hr][/hr][hr][/hr]