Triumph: In memory of their fallen companion, the heroes of the Infinite Seven have chosen to rename their group Triumph! Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement; Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; Palisade, aka Steven Chen - Biosuit powered defender; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; and The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter.
Palisade piloted the new Triumph attack copter over CIU’s campus, Dragonfly and The Gray Robe flying beside them. It quickly became obvious where the reports where coming from as a large, shimmering portal became visible; dozens of creatures flitted from the portal, some wielding chains, others red with massive bat-like wings, and some anthropomorphic goats or ants.
Dragonfly put his hand to his ear, opening a channel to the cockpit. “Looks like Sampson’s up to his old tricks. He must have repaired that Nightmare cube deal.”
The Adept leaned into the cockpit from the back cabin as Cazmonster opened the door and prepared to jump. “We’ll, he got a lot of the basics right. I’m a little concerned about this one, DF. Those things are reading a high mystic power level; it’s not light the other nightmare images we fought.”
“Well, magic or no, they picked the wrong place. Light ‘em up, Attitude!” Dragonfly ordered as he swooped to one side to head off a group of demonic images heading toward several students and a main road.
“My pleasure, DF,” The American Attitude said, and fired a burst from the copter’s machine guns into an area populated only by the images. The bullets ripped into the creatures, shredding some and bouncing off others harmlessly.
Meanwhile, Cazmonster leapt, and The Gray Robe swooped in for support. They landed in a literal hell, populated by creatures seen most often in esoteric texts from the middle ages. As Cazmonster charged into the first of these, a large, bull-horned bipedal beast, he realized he was in for more of a fight than usual. The creature caught his fists and the two were locked in a grapple for muscular superiority.
“Damn, these things are tough,” Cazmonster called back over his internal radio.
“Yeah, my sword bounces off these ant-things like nothing. Gonna try some of the red guys!” Dragonfly responded.
Meanwhile, The Adept watched. “Barry,” he said, leaning over The American Attitude in the copilot’s seat. “See how those ones you hit were shredded by bullets? Their remains are still there on the ground! Those aren’t nightmare images.”
“You mean...” Palisade said from the pilot’s seat. The conclusion was almost too horrible to contemplate, even for a cynic like him.
“Everyone, fair warning,” The Adept commented, heading for the copter’s open bay door. “These things are the real deal! Somehow, Sampson’s opened a portal to Hell!”
“What!” Cazmonster shouted. Having bested the bull-creature in strength, he tossed the beast through the air. “Heads up, Dragonfly!”
Dragonfly knelt and held his blade upwards, skewering the falling demon on it’s point and rolling out from under before he was crushed.
“That’s right, Caz,” The Adept said. “They’re real. We’ve got to close that portal!” With that, he stepped out of the helicopter.
“Did he just...” The Attitude asked Palisade hesitantly, concerned his friend had just jumped to his death.
“Take the yoke!” Palisade said, jumping up, but knowing they were so low to the ground his chances of catching The Adept were slim. When he got to the bay door, he was surprised to see The Adept hovering above several demons, discharging mystical blasts at the fiends.
“What the hell!” Palisade shouted. “When did you learn to fly?”
“I told you I’d been studying,” The Adept answered over his headset.
Dragonfly shook his head and admired his friend’s abilities for a moment before being called back to reality by a scream from a student bystander. Leaving his sword on the battlefield where it had fallen, the winged hero swooped in and grabbed the student, a thick haired freshman that reminded him of Caz two years earlier.
“You’re alright, man. Hang on.” Dragonfly dropped the young man off on top of a flower shop and looped around to rejoin the battle. And there was plenty of battle going on.
While the copter was concentrating on pinning down the creatures escaping from the portal, Cazmonster and The Gray Robe were in trouble. Some winged creatures had managed to drag the Robe to the ground and were tearing into her with their steel-like claws. She managed to cover herself in a shell of rock for the moment, leaving Caz battling several of the ant-creatures, who were biting at his armor-like skin. One managed to get through the tough hide, and Caz instantly began to swoon as if drunk.
Charging in full speed, Dragonfly kicked the head of one ant clean off, scattering the rest as they looked up with diabolic eyes in shock.
“Caz, you okay?” Dragonfly asked urgently.
“Don’t feel so good, man. Some sort of Hell-poison, I guess.” Cazmonster fell to his knees and reverted to his human form. Dragonfly quickly grabbed on and flew him back to the copter.
The copter was having problems of its own. Now that the demon horde saw it as a threat, they were targeting all sorts of foul projectiles at it, not the least of which was lines of acrid flame. Dragonfly barely ducked in for a landing.
“Palisade, we need a tag-team here! Attitude, can you fly this thing?”
“Um...maybe? I’ve done it in video games,” he hesitantly acknowledged.
“Well, let’s hope they were good games. Palisade, now!” The two heroes leapt from the bay door into the thick of battle.
Meanwhile, The Adept signalled all. “Guys, if we keep this up, we’ll lose eventually. I need to close that portal. Can you back me up?”
In answer, Dragonfly, Palisade, and The Gray Robe (having tunneled from her protective stone shell to freedom) laid into the creatures by the portal. The Adept hovered magically in mid-air, calling on his most familiar power - that of magical doorways.
Palisade caught a glimpse at the other side of the portal. “Hurry up, Adept. Something big is coming!”
Slowly dropping to the ground, The Adept pushed all his mystical might in one burst at the portal. It closed just as a giant, evil beast prepared to walk through. The Adept fell limp the 20 feet to the ground.
It took the heroes several hours to hunt down and destroy all the demonic invaders. Caz recovered soon enough to assist in the last part.
The team licked their wounds at Triumph Citadel late into the night.
“Sampson’s still out there,” The Adept said to the sullen team. “We won this time, but he could try this again in an hour. We’ve got to find him, and end this!”
“Agreed,” Dragonfly answered. “Since he’s using more magic, can you detect him?”
The Adept shrugged. “I’m spent, mystically. After I rest, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Guys, I’m getting an IM from the computer. There’s an incoming call.” Syd said, putting the call on speaker.
“I7, it’s me, Angela! I need help!” and the call ended.
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