The Exemplar: Engage

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[Attn: Closed]

Armada, Attack!
Warriors, Rise!
Exemplar...Engage!


I've forgotten how long it's been since my dad passed away. It feels like it's been years. God knows my sense of time is terrible. The Exemplar disbanded not a month later. That was one heck of a decision. Then again, most of them have gone and settled into normal lives. When daddy died, I guess it scared a lot of them. The chance to have a normal life isn't something to take for granted, I suppose. I still see some of them every once in a while but...I miss it. I miss going out and smashing bad guys' skulls together. Ah, come on, Polly, how would Liberty or American respond if you'd said that out loud? "It's not about that. It's about helping people and doing the right thing." They're right but...god beating up bad guys was fun.

The Exemplar, the debatable greatest superheroes on the planet, disbanded some time ago. This woman, the jovial young Paulina Powers, walks in through the front door of her large suburban home, feeling strangely empty. It was a feeling she'd hand since the day her father perished, helping to defend Earth's Greatest Champions against their deadliest foes joined under the title of "The Nefaria". She lived alone now but that wasn't it. She'd lived alone before. Now was simply the first time she actually felt...lonely.

Then, as if a star listening from the sky had heard her wish, something truly unexpected occurs. As Paulina sits at her reading desk, she sees a light approaching the window. Using her psionic powers, she wills a barrier of psychic energy into place. It helps nothing. The figure is the mighty demigod, Gladius, powerful enough to level the entire building ten times over. As he crashes through the window and the floor, Polly looks to him as he lies in the basement of her home. Forming butterfly-like wings upon her back, she floats down to him. "Gladius! What are you-"

"Mortal friend, Powers," Gladius says as she helps him up. "This world is in dire need of its greatest champions."

"So you came to ME, of all people? Not American or Liberty, or-"

"You were the nearest and know, by heart, the whereabouts of the quarters where the rest lay their heads."

Super Criminals and Villains were at large by the dozen in the bustling city of Skyline as of late. Meanwhile, more and more heroes were beginning to decline. The Exemplar, the shining examples of heroism in this city, had gone. The next best thing, the Warriors, had only just disappeared. The city was falling into chaos. But Polly hadn't the faintest idea of how bad it was until she saw this, the Exemplar's biggest gun, second only to the nigh omnipotent Number 7, battered and thrown aside. "What did this to you?"

"I am unsure. But if I were to venture a guess, they will have been the cretinous demi-devils known as the Negative. There were but three of them. They attacked, having taken me unawares. Fight, I did, but their power was great individually. When combining their efforts..."

The Negative...the Warriors tended to take care of situations involving them. They had the only usable weapon against them in the city; Scarecrow. The Negative were a high level threat. They would need to be dealt with in high level response. They'd need the Exemplar treatment. "Come on," Polly says, deciding to help the injured demigod outside. "Try not to change back into your mortal form. I have a feeling this one is the only thing keeping you alive right now. I'm getting you to some place where you can get medical attention. Then...then I'm getting the band back together," she says as she moves him toward the garage where her car sat.

[Attn: Group]

"No, boy," Gladius says.  "I do not.  However, I am certain you relish the opportunity to put this nuisance in his place as much as I.  So have at thee, villain!"


Streak's head hits the wall and she drops to the ground, completely lacking consciousness.  Silk strings her up against the wall and gives Sentinel the thumbs up.  The would hold her until she came back around.  And by then, she'd be we'll in a jail cell.


U.F.O scoffs as he's landed on by the agile one.  "How amusing that you think you can hurt me.  Even if you could damage this vessel of space aged polymer, I would feel nothing."  The top dome of the ship opens, extending a small antenna.  "Ejecting consciousness.  Goodbye, Exemplar,". U.F.O suddenly tilts to one side and all of its lights go out.


In the hidden lower level, Wild-Child is helping Bates and the Professor get into the safe chamber where the girls apparently were.  However, the moment they open the door, they are assaulted by some form of ray, fired by Frightfest.  "Now, don't tell me you forgot already, old friend," he says.  Wild-Child and Bates had been hit, recoiling and panicking as if the physical manifestation of all of their fears was baring down on them.

"Where are the girls?"

"They're right here," Frightfest responds, snapping.

The girls emerge from behind a machine in the center of the room.  "Mr. Blaine, please help," Karen says

"I will, Karen.  Believe me, I will," Blaine says.  "Frightfest, this contraption in the center of the room.  Is it-"

"A smaller, less powerful, but still very delve stating Ether Bomb, made by yours truly as I watched you assemble the real deal."

Blaine stands there, taking it in.  "You're insane," Blaine says, clenching a fist.  Then he lets that fist fly and decks Frightfest clear across the jaw.  "And, unfortunately, that was an insanity I caused you.  But I don't have time to sit here and play your game.  I am getting these girls out of here."

Frightfest drops to the ground, holding his jaw.  He laughs as he turns his head to his old colleague and presses a button on his gauntlet.  "How poetic.  Your legacy is going to be what kills you," he sneers before sweeping the man's feet out from under him.  He gets up and makes his way to the door, turning in the doorway and looking down on him.  "I don't even have to use the Phobia Effect on you.  Your greatest fear is happening right in front of you."  Blaine turns his head to where Frightfest's gaze is cast.  Karen and his little girls sit there in the corner, still tied up.  When Blaine looks back to Frightfest, the villain shuts the door on him and does something to the access console that seals it.

As the villain rushes back up, he runs clear into Silk's fist and falls back down the stairs.  Then she grabs him and throws him back to the top for pickup before rushing down to the door and trying to get it open.  "Not good," she says when it refuses to budge.

[Attn: Coir]

"Nice moves, you two," Polly says as American helps her up.

Silk shows up near the others, dropping the unconscious Frightfest at their feet.  "We have a problem.  The looney tune sealed the professor in some lower chamber with the girls and a few of our own.  I think he activated some kind of bomb."

"Gladius, make sure Ruin stays down," Polly says.

"Aye," Gladius says.

"Coir, Sentinel, get that door open," Polly continues. "Scorpion, American, and I will work on getting the trash and our own to safety."

[ATTN: Coir]

Sentinel looked over to Coir and nodded, darting down the stairs to the door to the lower level. She grabbed onto the door, starting to pry it open with the help of her suit. "Little help here, Justice boy?"

[Attn: Open]

As the door slips open a bit, Blaine looks up from his mad scramble to try and shut off the bomb. There was very little time left. There was nothing he could do with that time. Thinking on his feet, he turns to his daughters. The door was just open enough. "Girls, go on. You can fit through the doorway. Daddy will be right behind you," he says. The two young girls look to the door. The youngest of them glances back at their father as she gets ready to climb through. Then they hear it. The timer gets down thirty seconds and a whirring noise fills the room. Blaine gets up and gets ready to make his way to the door before noticing Wild-Child, still dazed from the Phobia Effect. He helps her up, slings her arm over his shoulder, and guides her to the door. Soon the efforts of the two young heroes gets the door wide open. "Frightfest engaged a miniature ether-bomb in that room and I can't shut it off! We have to evacuate! NOW!" Blaine shouts as he helps Wild-Child through.

Polly hears Blaine in the background. The rest of the team was mobile already, now that the others were coming around. "Beautiful," she remarks.

"You heard the man, people! Wipe your eyes and double-time it to the exit!" American orders.

[ATTN: All]

Sentinel nodded and grabbed Coir by the arm. "Time to evac," she said, engaging her thrusters and shooting down the halls toward the exit, initially dragging Coir after her.

[Attn: Open]

Karen makes her way to the door just as it appears that Blaine and Wild-Child have reached the exit. Quickly glancing over her shoulder, she realizes something. Officer Bates had been behind her a moment ago. With a hard swallow, she turns herself around and goes back, catching the attention of Blaine. "Karen? Karen!"

Back inside, Karen finds Bates on the floor, curled up and shivering. "Sir," she says, shaking him. "C'mon, we gotta move. Here, le'me just..." She slings his arm over her shoulder and starts rushing as quickly as the two of them can get.

"The blast should be contained down there based on what I could analyze of the bomb," Blaine explains to Polly as he sets Wild-Child down. "Karen and Officer Bates are still inside. You have to--"

Suddenly they all hear the sound and feel the trembling Earth beneath them. Karen and Devlin had made it to the ladder out. He was climbing up after her. American rushed to the exit to help them out. But the help they received wasn't what they'd expected. A flash of white, crackling energy erupts up through the exit like a geyser. However brief it may have been, it threw them both up from the ladder and shot them both out into the grass near the others. Polly quickly places a barrier over the exit, shielding everyone from the remainder of the blast once the two were out. She could feel the stress on her construct. Even a smaller, less powerful bomb had cracked her strongest barrier. When she could feel it finally stop, she dropped to her knees.

Blaine and Bethany rushed over to Karen and Devlin as they lie there, soon joined by American, Man-Monster, and Silk while Gladius tended to Polly's weakened state. "Dev. Devlin, talk to me," Bethany says, checking for a pulse and heartbeat. He was alive...for now but there was no telling what kind of effect that may have had. In young Mary's case, it was far more apparent.

Silk kneels at her side. "Professor...I only caught a glance, but...was she blonde a moment ago?" She asks.

"No," Blaine responds. "No, she wasn't."

American looks over the two and stands upright. "All right, we need to get these two to a hospital. ASAP."

[ATTN: All]
((Scribing for Fairy))

Alex stomped on the empty shell that was, five minutes earlier, kicking his ass. "Alright that's just not fair," he sighed hopping off the disk. He scooped Karen up into his arms gingerly, cautiously, and with ease.

"So are we talkin general hospital or some private superhero spiel?" he asked as Sentinel moved to lift up Devlin in her arms.

[Attn: All]

"There's a superhero hospital?" Silk asks.

"Well, yeah...no...sorta," Polly says. "It's hard to explain. But we don't have the time to take them there anyway. Skyline General will have to do."

"Coir's right,' American says. "He and Sentinel can get theme there faster. The rest of us will see about dragging the trash to the dump." He nods toward Skyline Maximum Security Penitentiary in the distance.