Half-Dragon

NPC: Scorchmark, having recieved the message, gathered as much energy as he could. He'd been saving up so far simply for dear life, but now he should have enough to make it to safety. With great difficulty he pushed himself up until he had some traction, mustered the reserves of his energy and set off. In moments he was out of the room and hiding behind a corner from the continued pull of the vacuum. Now another problem: He didn't know where the hangar was. Wonderful. And didn't this ship have airtight security doors in case of a hull breach? What kind of deathtrap was Technax flying around in, anyway? XH-DX IC: Shard's mouth moved, but despite the air rushing out around them from inside the ship, hardly a sound came out. In space no one can hear your bad Clint Eastwood quotes, he thought. For that matter he couldn't hear much of anything either, unless you counted the voice in his head, which thankfully sounded like Silver and thus meant he probably wasn't going completely insane. One thing he did fancy he could hear, though, was the sound of tearing metal as he focused on ripping the Guardian X robot apart, now that they were both well out of his allies' ways. Either the vibrations were carrying through the crystal rather than through air or he was imagining it, but he could have sworn he heard too the chink sound as the robot's blades bounced off his body. Of course any half-witted jeweler's kid could tell it that diamond was almost impossible to cut or pierce without using more diamond, and his own substance was compacted to increase durability. Apparantly Guardian X had never met a jeweler's kid before. Returning his focus to the task at hand, Shard raised his bladed arm and thrust it back into the robot's chest cavity, twisting it around and messing with the circuitry inside. His other, more normal hand caught the blade-tail as it made to attack him again and began pulling harshly. With all the stress the metal had to be going through, he wouldn't be surprised if it snapped there and then... *H-D*

IC: Shard grinned to himself, clutching the Guardian X robot tighter. "C'mon, ugly, we're going for a ride!" He began pulling back as hard as he could, enough that he would either pull the thing off into the depths of space or tear it apart trying. Not that he was particularly picky about which, to be honest. *H-D*

IC: Shard called out to Fade. "Get off! I have an idea!" In truth it was less an idea and more a desperate attempt at ending the threat, but at this point who cares? The moment Fade was gone, he would pull back with all his might - not just physically, but in the same manner that he flew, telekinetically moving his own crystalline bulk, attached as it was to the Guardian's, backward and upward. If he could get them both caught in the vacuum's pull, and keep them that way, the control panel was safe. And once they were out in space, he would deal with what was left of this B-movie reject personally. *H-D*

IC: Fade wasn't the only one with that idea. Forcing his body forward despite the vacuum, Shard managed to latch on to the back of the oversized scrap-heap and grew a number of inch-long, barbed spikes along his body, attaching him to its chassis. "Hey there, big man! Miss me?" He raised his thorny, bladed left arm and thrust it downward at the chassis. If worst came to worst, he would grip as tightly as he could and pull them both out into the void of space - both could survive it, but at least then it wouldn't be a danger to the others. As for Shard, he'd find his way back. Not like he needed to breathe or anything. *H-D* NPC: Scorchmark, meanwhile, had a different problem. Namely oxygen. Specifically the impending lack thereof. Now, granted, his ventilator also doubled as a rebreather, recycling the carbon dioxide he breathed out into usable oxygen and thus both increasing his intake and allowing him to survive in airless environments, but hard vacuum had this slight tendency to violently implode people. To counteract this, Scorchmark was now running for his life at superhuman speed, breathing as heavily and rapidly as he could to offset the power burn, in the hopes of finding something to hold on to. So far it wasn't going well. Eventually he managed to leap forward, grab a floor plate sticking up at the edge and hold on for dear life... XH-DX

Scorchmark's ventilator/rebreather/mask thing is metallic, and fastened pretty securely to his head. Other than that, neither he nor Shard are magnetic. XH-DX

IC: Shard was not having a good day. He had all but run out of the energy needed to create solid crystal matter, he was missing a hand, he had been tossed about more often than he cared to count in the last hour alone, and to top it all off he couldn't remember if he'd left the oven on at home, though it likely didn't matter as his home had probably been invaded and/or obliterated by alien robots. And now, of course, he was being used as a blunt object against his ally. Well, he could at least give this thing a fight over it. Calling up what remained of his energy, the hero sprouted dozens of tiny, inch-long, razor-sharp barbs along the arm he was being held by. They were small, true, but like the thorns on a rose they would do more damage the harder they were held. If this thing thought its appendages were being shredded before... *H-D* NPC: Thankfully, as noted earlier, Scorchmark's reflexes were considerably better than most peoples' - including, hopefully, this robot. They were certainly good enough that he managed to dodge out of the way just in time to avoid being clubbed with his own comrade. Being hit with a person hurts - being hit with a person made of diamond is significantly more painful... and lethal. Pausing only to take a breath through his ventilator, he dashed up to the already-damaged leg and found the point he'd been working on before. He brought the tips of two fingers to it and focused - a small, blue jet of flame, like a blowtorch, formed at the fingertips, and he brought it down on the point where the damage seemed greatest. All the while, of course, ready to dodge again should the robot get any more bright ideas. XH-DX

OOC: Oh, no - we did not come this far and wait this long just to give up now. We're seeing this through to the end. NPC: One benefit of his limited super-speed was that Scorchmark's reflexes and perception were considerably more acute than those of most people. As the blades bore down on him like the scythes of Death, he gathered his energy, dividing it between his current task and a small store set aside. The joint had started cracking under the stress - before long it would be completely inoperable. He waited until the last possible nanosecond... then, in a burst of sudden speed, he dashed out of the way of the blade aimed at his back, leaving it on a fast track to the already-weakened leg he'd been working on. XH-DX IC: An interesting fact about Shard's crystalline body was that, when he wasn't actively controlling it, it didn't go limp the way organic bodies did, but remained rigid. When he was sent flying across the ground, bouncing off it repeatedly and sending chips of diamond flying everywhere, this proved to be a bad thing. Going limp would have mitigated the damage at least somewhat. As it was, he ended up on the ground, groaning from dizziness and thankful he couldn't feel real pain right now, because as he tried to push himself up, he found one of his hands had snapped off at the wrist. Fantastic. He pushed himself up anyway using only the stump and looked around for his fallen appendage, then decided he'd pick it up later. For now he molded the remainder of the arm into a long, thin diamond blade and looked up at the headless Guardian X. "Okay, ugly: Round two!" And with that he launched himself forward, new blade-arm leading the charge. *H-D*

OOC: Ooh, new character? Woo! Thankfully, I have such vast spare time that I already have concepts for at least three possible new characters. Now the question will be choosing one... Gaah! Choices! Aaaaah! *runs out the nearest window... on the fifteenth floor* ...*comes back via elevator* Okay, not doing that again. Anyway! I think last time we left off, Omega was in the infirmary on-board Esp, Shard had just split a diamond shield around the swiping tail-end and was sending them at the neck of the robot mishmash, Scorchmark was heating one of the knee joints to make it buckle and crack, but about to dodge at the last possible moment when the whirling blades o' death come for him to make them hit the weakened joint, and Carapace was presumably still coordinating Earth's defenses.

Woot! It returns! *kicks his characters' rusty butts into gear... hurts his foot because one is made of diamond and the other gets tougher with every super in the room* Real Name: Miguel “Mike” da CostaAlias: OmegaAppearance: When human, Miguel is a tall, handsome Brazilian man in his early twenties with dark, medium-length hair. He wears a red short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Miguel is careful about his appearance, making sure to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.When exposed to Omega energy, he is able to take on a superhuman "Omega" form that is entirely non-reflective black, save for his eyes, which are pure white. His Omega form has a “corona” effect that appears as a flame-like yellow aura with black globes of various sizes. He is taller and more muscular in this form, helping to disguise his true self.Power: Omega is able to gain power from the omega radiation given off by most super-heroes and villains, in much the same way a solar collector gathers energy. He is able to use this in a variety of ways, the full extent of which has never been discovered. It is known that he can use it to assume his “Omega form,” fly, project energy bolts (both concussive and lethal), gain superhuman strength and endurance and create constructs of Omega energy, though these last only as long as he concentrates on them. He is by no means invulnerable in this form, but he is far tougher, and more so with more heroes/villains to gain energy from.Omega can also temporarily drain the Omega energy of another super-powered being, dampening their powers and providing him with a temporary source. This is a finite, yet very large amount, and can last indefinitely if he conserves it. After approximately twenty-four hours the victim regains the full use of their abilities, but until then they are noticeably weakened. In order to drain a being, Omega requires extended contact and full concentration, though a tough but breakable shield surrounds him when he begins absorbing.Allegiance: League of SalvationArea: NYC, USABio: Miguel has no idea how or when he received his powers. He only knows that a villain once tried to destroy Queens, where his parents had moved when he was young, but his own powers activated on exposure to the villain’s, allowing him to blast the attacker and save the day. He was able to keep his identity secret through all this, and all most people saw was an adult Omega form (though he was only twelve at the time) flying into the sky and catching the villain by surprise.Over the next few years Miguel experimented in secret with his powers whenever a hero or villain was close enough. Whenever one of the latter threatened his home, the enigmatic Omega always seemed to show up out of nowhere and save the day. This eventually got him invited into the League, where he is a proud member. At HQ there are always enough heroes for Mike to conceal his identity, so no one but he knows. Currently he balances college work (majoring in engineering) with a part-time job in an auto shop, along with his superheroic career. Real Name: Aiden DyreAlias: ShardAppearance: Though he originally used only his ‘crystal form’ (see below) as a hero outfit, complaints about the noise he made whenever he moved soon prompted Aiden to take up a specially-tailored suit that opens and closes when he projects crystals, though a thin ‘second skin’ of two-millimeter-thick, compressed diamond covers vital areas as well. When ‘powered down’ Aiden has cropped, brown hair, generally unkempt, piercing, blue eyes, a fair complexion and a tall, gangly build.Power: Crystal control. Shard is capable of creating and controlling any crystalline substance (from diamonds to salt, and even ice crystals to an extent). He commonly uses this to project crystal spikes or other crystalline weapons/tools; create crystal paths across gaps or otherwise uncrossable surfaces; and project crystal ‘seeds’ into the ground to manipulate them further into larger constructs. While still connected to his body the crystal can last indefinitely, but when detached it crumbles and vanishes in a matter of hours. The size of these constructs is theoretically indefinite, but in practice they can only reach up to a certain mass before his concentration begins to falter. Shard can telekinetically control crystal matter, including his own crystal form for a limited degree of flight. Strangely, while crystal he generates spontaneously vanishes eventually, he can grow and shape any existing crystal matter and, if done through direct physical contact, it will remain that size and shape indefinitely, though it will fade as normal if done from a distance. He can also transmute his own body into a living ‘chemical cousin’ of diamond that retains a jagged, crystalline version of his own form, though he can modify it to an unknown degree. This crystal form grants him incredible strength and durability, but makes him slower than normal and very heavy. Finally he can compress and transmute earth, stone and unworked ore into a permanent crystal through physical contact, though the compression means that the size of it decreases noticeably, thus making this useful mostly for showing off or selling something. The energy used to create spontaneously his crystal constructs is drawn from the earth itself. Shard naturally, without even being aware of it (he’s never considered the matter) absorbs geothermic energy from the earth as far down as a mile below his feet. The process is very efficient, so he has yet to go without energy, largely because it continues even when he isn’t using his powers. In theory, if he were isolated from the earth (perhaps by imprisonment in an aerial environment) he would run out, but this has yet to occur.Allegiance: League of SalvationArea: New York CityBio: Once a part-time ‘freelance investigative journalist’ (meaning he snooped around for the occasional scoop and sold it to the papers) and part-time assistant in his family’s jewelry store, a vacation in Africa lead to stumbling upon and subsequently investigating an abandoned, illegal diamond mine a few miles from the Congo. But just as he was getting some photographic evidence, Aiden discovered a meteorite that had landed there several hundred years back and buried itself in the earth. The stone was saturated with enough Omega radiation to give cancer cancer, The moment he touched it a severe, full-body spasm of pain sent him to his knees. The freelancer instinctively tried to keep himself up by grabbing a nearby protruding diamond, and at that moment his molecules, unstable from the meteorite’s radiation, began copying the crystalline structure and imprinting it forever in his mind. The pain soon subsided, and he left to get a medical check-up, though this revealed no signs of physical damage. Brushing it off as a random, isolated incident, Aiden resumed his life as normal… at least for a time. But an attempted mugging revealed his powers when an inch-thick, diamond shield appeared on his chest barely an instant before the mugger pulled the trigger on his gun, deflecting the bullet at the last possible moment. It took several years to learn to fully control his strange new powers, but Aiden eventually got the hang of it. Eventually. However, this didn’t immediately lead to a life of crime-fighting; at first he hid them in fear of being shunned, then he began using them frivolously for reasons of personal enjoyment, and later profit when he took over the family business after his parents moved out of the city for health reasons, though he always kept these exploits secret. Naturally this state of affairs couldn’t last. One day a trio of robbers decided the jewelry store made for easy pickings, despite the heavy superhuman presence in New York City, and tried to rob Aiden’s business. He dealt with them quickly enough, but not before a passing Lionheart noticed the thug flying out the open doorway with a broken jaw and two more being smacked down by a man apparently made of diamond. Initially Aiden (who thought up the name Shard on the spot) declined the invitation to join the League and risk his life on, at the very least, a weekly basis for people he didn’t know, but a somewhat ridiculous series of events later he more or less stumbled into helping Lionheart uproot a Coalition base that had been planning to poison the food at an embassy dinner and probably shatter the already-unstable US relations with the middle-east. This taste of the hero’s life left its mark on Aiden, who after some deliberation took up the mantle permanently. *H-D|