Lodestar
New member
Just as Lodestar unleashed his barrage of punishing punches - just as he was finding his footing in this battle - his wrists were seized mid-strike, a revitalizing surge of power filling his enemy's reserves. Right as Hornet escaped, Lodestar was hoisted forward into a devastating headbutt as he strained against the unnamed man's strength.
A shockwave rippled across the destroyed ground where they'd been fighting as their skulls cracked together. For his part, Lodestar's vision blurred as he was sent tumbling head over heels across the grass, leaving a deep gash of dirt where his body skipped over the Earth like a stone across water. He careened into the road, bouncing off a Prius. Car alarms went off everywhere.
Pain radiated across his forehead, and the shot to the dome stunned him, leaving him disoriented on the street, seeing flashes as the world spun.
...ow.
A blunt, lame thought, but at least he was thinking.
Staggering to his feet, anticipating a follow-up, he was relieved that Hornet was alive and communicating. And he had a plan.
"Can't hurt," he muttered back, squinting through the pain.
He took off, charging back toward the enemy. That was when the portal opened in mid-air, needles flashing forward.
Lodestar was experienced enough to know that the murderous stranger in front of them wouldn't be trying this attack without at least some expectation that it would kill him, or at least slow him down. Invulnerability only went so far - that blow to the head a few seconds ago proved it. And rather than facetank the shots, he opted to defend himself in a different way -
- executing a flawless forward roll, he came to a stop, and then dug his fingers into a paved slab of poured concrete that was part of a sidewalk. With a single heave, he tore it free from the ground, bringing it up seconds before the needles could strike him as an improvised shield.
Yet it was not enough. The stone was shredded to pieces in his hands, and it crumbled in every direction all at once.
Damn!
As a last ditch effort, he brought his forearms up over his face, forced onto his back foot as the needles pounded against his skin. Some embedded themselves in his invincible arms, pain shooting through him like fire. They stopped short of killing him outright, but the shrieking stinging of the needles sent his heartrate skyrocketing and disrupted his focus even further. It was fortunate that he'd defended his head - he was a superhuman, but doubtless his eyes were weaker than his muscles.
The relentless onslaught of needles clashed endlessly against his arms, and he grit his teeth, turning away from the firehose of death that Despire had unleashed. Lodestar hadn't wanted to use his other abilities - they were a more desperate measure, and involved a great loss of energy. But right now, it was starting to look like the only option.
"Going hot, Hornet," he muttered through clenched teeth. A heads-up.
Extending his right fist, he splayed his fingers, and a reaction occurred.
It would look like a bright flash. To any onlookers, the image it cut was a lot more frightening than a smiling silver man lifting a car for the cameras. An absolutely miniscule exotic particle interaction occurred in that very instant, spurred on by his will, summoning a thundrous burst of power that defied conventional understanding. Not nuclear, but not strictly non-nuclear, it was something else entirely - a blast of sheer concussive and thermal force that erupted from his open palm, and was then contained there in an energy field sustained by his pure will.
The needles that tracked him crashed into the luminous sphere held suspended in his fingers, and were incinerated instantly. Air swirled in a vortex around the light in his palm -
- and then he loosed it at Despire, a thin beam of directed exotic energy that would threaten to blast through his chest with furious power. Hot as a thunderbolt, as forceful as a ballistic missile, and for a fraction of a millisecond, as bright as the noonday sun.
A shockwave rippled across the destroyed ground where they'd been fighting as their skulls cracked together. For his part, Lodestar's vision blurred as he was sent tumbling head over heels across the grass, leaving a deep gash of dirt where his body skipped over the Earth like a stone across water. He careened into the road, bouncing off a Prius. Car alarms went off everywhere.
Pain radiated across his forehead, and the shot to the dome stunned him, leaving him disoriented on the street, seeing flashes as the world spun.
...ow.
A blunt, lame thought, but at least he was thinking.
Staggering to his feet, anticipating a follow-up, he was relieved that Hornet was alive and communicating. And he had a plan.
"Can't hurt," he muttered back, squinting through the pain.
He took off, charging back toward the enemy. That was when the portal opened in mid-air, needles flashing forward.
Lodestar was experienced enough to know that the murderous stranger in front of them wouldn't be trying this attack without at least some expectation that it would kill him, or at least slow him down. Invulnerability only went so far - that blow to the head a few seconds ago proved it. And rather than facetank the shots, he opted to defend himself in a different way -
- executing a flawless forward roll, he came to a stop, and then dug his fingers into a paved slab of poured concrete that was part of a sidewalk. With a single heave, he tore it free from the ground, bringing it up seconds before the needles could strike him as an improvised shield.
Yet it was not enough. The stone was shredded to pieces in his hands, and it crumbled in every direction all at once.
Damn!
As a last ditch effort, he brought his forearms up over his face, forced onto his back foot as the needles pounded against his skin. Some embedded themselves in his invincible arms, pain shooting through him like fire. They stopped short of killing him outright, but the shrieking stinging of the needles sent his heartrate skyrocketing and disrupted his focus even further. It was fortunate that he'd defended his head - he was a superhuman, but doubtless his eyes were weaker than his muscles.
The relentless onslaught of needles clashed endlessly against his arms, and he grit his teeth, turning away from the firehose of death that Despire had unleashed. Lodestar hadn't wanted to use his other abilities - they were a more desperate measure, and involved a great loss of energy. But right now, it was starting to look like the only option.
"Going hot, Hornet," he muttered through clenched teeth. A heads-up.
Extending his right fist, he splayed his fingers, and a reaction occurred.
It would look like a bright flash. To any onlookers, the image it cut was a lot more frightening than a smiling silver man lifting a car for the cameras. An absolutely miniscule exotic particle interaction occurred in that very instant, spurred on by his will, summoning a thundrous burst of power that defied conventional understanding. Not nuclear, but not strictly non-nuclear, it was something else entirely - a blast of sheer concussive and thermal force that erupted from his open palm, and was then contained there in an energy field sustained by his pure will.
The needles that tracked him crashed into the luminous sphere held suspended in his fingers, and were incinerated instantly. Air swirled in a vortex around the light in his palm -
- and then he loosed it at Despire, a thin beam of directed exotic energy that would threaten to blast through his chest with furious power. Hot as a thunderbolt, as forceful as a ballistic missile, and for a fraction of a millisecond, as bright as the noonday sun.