DTL Season 5-Wildcards

[DTL Commish]

The rules:
This is one of four threads containing matches.
Due to the holiday, these threads will be in use for 9 days. Days 1-4 (Mar 12 - Mar 15) are strictly setup time for owners to plead their cases, tell us their team’s strategies, breakdown the match ups, and do whatever else they can/want to do to try and convince you that their team would pull out a victory. Please, let the owners do this on their own with no help.

On Day 5 (Mar 16) I will post and tell everyone that voting may begin. Any votes cast before I open voting will not count. Look over the matchups and read the strategies, and take into consideration how in-character each character is. Afterwards, use your best judgment to decide who you think has the best chance to win the match. (Note: The length of a writeup the discretion of the owner. Do not punish owners just for having a shorter writeup.)

To vote, post the team names you think will prevail in each match. Remember to vote for all matches or your vote will not count! The teams with the highest vote total at the end of the 9th day (Mar 20) will get a W while the other will get an L. (Equal votes will result in a tie.)

The battleground for this week is: Asteroid-M


Timely Conference

Chaos & Order
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) (DU) - Wields a ring that creates hard light constructs limited only by imagination and willpower.
Exodus (MU) - Mutant with powerful psionic abilities.
Vision (MM) - Synthezoid with super strength, durability, flight, energy blasts, intangibility.
Ambrose Chase (DR) - Localized selective physics distortion field.
Proctor (MR) - Super strength, durability, teleportation, energy blasts, Ebony Blade.

VS.

Deadpool's Harem
Thordis (MU) - god-like speed, reflexes, strength, and durability. Powers granted by Mjolnir
Wonder Woman (DU) - Immortal being with superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, and durability
Byakko (DM) - Wraith like being, able to turn herself and others intangible, disrupts electronic devices, controls gravity
Deadpool (MR) - enhanced agility, reflexes, healing factor. Paraphenelia: image inducer, teleporter
Jaine Cutter MR - second skin, forged from minerals of the River Styx, nigh indestructible save for a powerful enough magic attack

_______________________________

National Conference

The Authorititans
Red King (DU)--Tech genius, various supercountermeasures, flight, energy manip, superstrength, supersenses, immunity to telepathy, electropathy, freeze breath, superarmor, superspeed
Resurrection Man 1-Million (DU)--ability to choose whatever powerset he wants, flight, strength
Engineer (Post-Worldstorm or Armageddon or whichever version; it's not LadyVader's version, and the Post-Worldstorm and Armageddon versions are practically identical, for all intents and purposes) (DM)--nanobots allowing her to change her molecular structure, complete technopathy over almost all forms of tech
Anarky (DR)--martial arts, tech, and tactical supergenius
Midnighter (DR)--enhanced strength, agility, and senses, ability to predict all possible outcomes of a battle.

VS.

B'wana Bet?
Baron Helmut Zemo (with Moonstones)(MU)- The gravimetric Moonstones grant Zemo his own version of Cosmic Awareness and powers, including the ability to manipulate time and space and phase himself and others, in addition to his own natural skills and prodigious leadership ability.
Ares(1) (DU) - The Olympian God of War, Conflict, and Death, and gains power from all three. Possesses vast superhuman strength and durability, magical armor, the Staff of Hades (which devours life), and various mystical, devine and spiritual powers, including energy-projection and interdimensional teleportation.
Lightray (DM) - Faster than light, superhuman strength and durability, energy conversion, and light manipulation. Lightray is highly-intelligent and possesses a Mother Box.
Reed Richards (MR) - Elastic supergenius.[/quote]
Batman 1-Million (DR) - Gengeneered, flight, advanced martial-arts (psychic element), technopathy, Datarangs, avatars, tesseract technology.

[wiegeabo]

Prep-Time here...

"Wonder Woman's team again." Kyle says matter-of-factly. But he knew there was nothing was matter-of-fact when it came to fighting her.

Proctor: "So what is your plan."

Kyle: "Haven't a clue," he says as he considers the constructs before them.

Proctor: "You must know the best way to fight her. You are teammates."

Kyle: "That's the problem. We were teammates. She's a born warrior. As many ways as I know how to fight her, she probably knows a hundred times that number to fight me."

Vision: "I have some data on Cutter and Deadpool. But none one the others."

"Who the hell are you people?" Everyone looks at Ambrose, the newest member of the team.

Kyle: "Um, we're your new team, and we're trying to figure out how not to get totally trashed by the other guys."

Chase: "And I'm supposed to trust you?"

Kyle looks around at the others. "Do you have any other choice?"

Chase considers them for a few moments, then shrugs his shoulders. "So do we have any advantages at all?"

Exodus: "Yes, a significant one. I know this place very well. Asteroid-M."

Kyle: "Pretty fancy asteroid."

Exodus: "Lord Magneto spent a great deal of time constructing it to protect all the mutants of the world."

Proctor: "Magneto is no lord."

Exodus just focuses on the constructs. "Your words are meaningless."

Vision: "Your knowledge does give us a significant tactical advantage. If you could help me to tap into the station's computer systems..."

Exodus: "I doubt you need my help. But I will assist where I can."

Proctor: "Unless there are weapons specifically capable of defeating our enemies, then we will need more than just knowledge of this base."

Chase: "It doesn't sound like we do. So I say we start focusing on our opponents."

Kyle: "I guess I'll take Thordis."

Exodus: "So Wonder Woman is mine."

Kyle: "As creepy as that sounds, yeah. I'll tell you everything I can about her."

Chase: "That's all fine and well. But what about the others?"

Kyle: "..."

Exodus: "..."

Vision: "..."

Proctor: "..."

Chase: "...I miss my old team."

[wiegeabo]

Battle Part I

There's no reason for the ubers to hide. Only Kyle can leave the confines of the Asteroid (maybe Exodus if he can keep a tk field up). But what's the point if their opponents can't. So the four run into each other. Hopefully in the strongest part of the asteroid with the power these four are going to be throwing around.

A psionic blast separates Wonder Woman and Thorids. Kyle grabs Thordis in a bubble and drags her away knowing that he can't afford to be in a fight with Diana. This leaves Exodus alone with Wonder Woman until-

"Surprise!!!" Wade shouts as he teleports between them, swords drawn. "Let the fight begin!"

"Wilson! You weren't supposed to help the others before coming here," Diana says.

"I got a little too excited." He turns to look at Diana. "But don't call it premature, or anything. I don't have that problem...usually."

Exodus takes the opportunity to try and shut down Wade's mind, but gets nowhere. "Tryin' to mess with the ol' nogin, right?" He pulls a gun and fires a full clip into Exodus' face as he starts jumping around, striking cool poses, like a ninja on crack. "HA. Take that! And that! Yeah, you like that, don't ya?"

When the gunfire smoke clears, all the bullets are held in place telekenitcally and drop to the floor. "Whoa. Is your name Neo?"

Exodus sighs. "Now please." From the ground comes Vision who phases up through the floor, grabs wade by his uniform, and phases them both out of the room. "Shall we finally get to the fight?" Exodus asks the amazon.

She grabs her lasso and readies herself. "Yes."

***

With a single blow of her hammer, Thordis frees herself from Kyle's bubble. But he does what he set out to do: get her away from Diana. And now their fight can begin.

"I am the goddess of thunder and lightening itself. The daughter of Odin. Surrender now and save yourself pain and humiliation."

"Lady, I carry the most powerful weapon in the universe (so I've been told), and fought people who've called themselves gods. You think you're going to intimid-" Faster than Kyle expects, Thordis slams her fist across his face.

Kyle bounces along the ground a couple of times, plays with his jaw a bit, and smiles. "This is going to be fun."

***

Sticking together, Proctor and Ambrose quickly make their way through the Asteroid's corridors prepared for anything. Vision gave them the position of their opponents when he was tapped into the internal sensors. But after he left, they were essentially blind, not knowing where they'd be now.

Ambrose starts to sweat and drop his arm. "Why is my arm so tired?"

The tip of Proctor's blade hit the ground as he lets his arm sag. "Probably the same reason my sword just became so heavy?"

Proctor disappears and Ambrose falls to his knees. "Nice trick," he struggles to say.

"Manipulating gravity is much more than a trick," a voice says from nowhere.

"Says...you." Ambrose leans against the wall. "Come...out and...face me."

A ghostly presence sticks her head out from a wall. "Happy?"

"Nope. Just...wanted to tell...you some...thing." Byakko looks on curiously. Ambrose smiles. "I can do it too!" He yells as he manipulates the gravity around him in the opposite direction and leaps into the air. He fires his gun, and every round hits home. But that just means they pass through Byakko's body as she exits the wall and gives chase.

"You're weapons will have no effect on me." She closes the gap.

"I don't need them to." Ambrose suddenly stops.

"Your confidence will..be..your...down...fa...l...l......" Byakko can't even think fast enough to realize that Ambrose has slowed down time around her to a crawl. Now comes the hard part, keeping her there. Ambrose finds himself a nice place with cover and gets his guns ready. Just in case...


...more to come...

[LadyVader]

is it to late to turn this into a theme week? We haven't had one of those in a long time

(seems to me we sorta forgot all about theme weeks this season, I can only remember one)

[wiegeabo]

We had two. But doesn't not having them a lot make them all the more special?

[LadyVader]

If I was a mean person I would say: "Don't confuse them with your sex life"

Good thing I'm not a mean person.

[wiegeabo]

Um, yeah...good thing...

[Dark Gog]

This space reserved.

[Dark Gog]

Ladies and gentlemen, the aim of this essay is to establish Paste Boy Pete as Tuber. If, along the way, I convince you that my team should win this round, all the better. Let there be no two ways about it though, this is about how awesome gluing stuff to other stuff really is.


Communication Breakdown


The fight starts familiarly enough, with an EMP and/or virus, designed by my team to cripple the opposition's technology as much as possible.

Zemo and Ares can port in anything they need directly, thereby avoiding exposing it to the process in the first place. The Regs spend a moment behind the looking-glass before stepping back in the station.

Several permanent portals now connect parts of the Asteroid, giving B'wanas a bit more maneuverability.

Batman sends an avatar with each member of the team, allowing for quick coordination.


Zemo vs. Resurrection Man


Resurrection Man attempts to use his Quantum Speed to locate and remove Zemo. Unfortunately, he is preemptively phased, and as gravity catches up to Shelley, he finds it nearly impossible to move. The same force crushes any nanotechnology that may be homing-in on Zemo or the Moonstones.

"This room's reserved for the bigwigs", he hears Zemo explain, "regular super-strength won't be enough to let you so much as stand." He feels a light breeze against his brow as he struggles to get up. Air flows into the room directly from the Bavarian Alps.

"Ah yes, and the floor's been laced with a new brand of Adhesive X."

Shelley taps his wrist once, and:
a) Takes the power of telepathy, but even normal Zemo had some psi-protection.
b) Phases
c) Assumes gravitational powers of his own, but I doubt that he could beat Zemo at his own game, and the other options all give Helmut that extra bit of time, which he'll have anyway, holding the advantage of surprise, and with resurrection taking a moment to complete.
d) His resurrector'd been impaired by the EMP, in which case, of-course, he's toast.
e) He tries using his Boom-Suit instead, in which case see below.

Zemo freezes him in place, and moves on.


Ares vs. Red King


Blasts of unimaginable power meet half-way, and the entire station rattles. Profitt is more maneuverable, but he recognizes wanton destruction serves the War God's cause here, and changes tactics.

Ares and the Red King collide, and it is Ares that's pushed back. But when the dust settles, they are still inseparable. Adhesive X was coating the massive figure's chest plate. Profitt utters an explicit, and unleashes his full electric powers on him, but Ares bears through it, and moves them both into Areopagus, where the very elements rebel against the Red King.

Even locked in a death-grip with someone who controls his own shape and equippment, and with his armor partly disabled, he may still have a chance at winning. Unfortunately, he has no way of traversing dimensions. He needed an access key to enter or leave the Materioptikon, and he was using a built-in teleporter to go around, which might have needed the JLA's Watchtower to even work.

He never gets the chance either, as thinking he is done with Shelley, Zemo ports in and helps bring him down.


Lightray vs. The Engineer


Lightray's quick to seek-out Angie. With technology and electronic communication impaired, now would naturally be the time move against her, and of-course her nanites were their main target all along. His body radiates intense heat, to hopefully destroy any contaminating element. Zemo warned him he had seen The Engineer attempt to poison him with Radion from inside his own body.

Unable to fully control her armor, she makes for a relatively easy target. He (eventually?) fries her within it, and – once certain she is out – Boom Tubes her to the Earth below. Power begins to return to the station. He is busy finding and similarly dispatching her doubles, when a device emitting high-frequency sound suddenly returns to life. Imperceptible to the human ear, the effect on someone moving at Lightray's speeds is devastating.

But even retching on his knees and about to lose consciousness, he is the first on the battlefield to register that Resurrection Man had broken out.


"Son, are you retarded? I'm the Goddamn Batman."


"I've met the real Batman. You're not him."

"You think there's only one Batman?" A dozen dark figures circle Anarky. "No, the Batman is a concept. I am justice. I am retribution. And you're out of time." Lonnie Machin reels even before struck, as Batman applies his favourite martial-arts technique.

Elsewhere, Mr. Fantastic has been able to lure The Midnighter into a trap. His systems being offline, he did not recognise Adhesive X for what it is. Both Reed and Batman are packing Zemo's old glue guns. They wonder how they ever did without them.

But as they begin to clear-up after themselves, Resurrection Man finally breaks free. Unable to find his opponents, he again uses speed to inacapitate Reed in an instant, before confronting his old companion.

-"I'm sorry to have to do this, Batman."

-"I'm sorry too, Mitch. Savage was over-elaborate as usual, but I always knew the way to bring any of you down was simple."

Shelley's body glows as his Boom-Suit activates. His ressurector is an ingenius device, nearly flawlessly defended against outside interference. But the Justice Legion always took their teleporters for granted. Specifically designed to accept the right signals, his avatar reprogrammed it even as Zemo engaged the Legionnere. But he held off, hoping Zemo's own plan would be enough.

The sealed chamber he sends him into contains a powerful liquid toxin and an electronic neuro-scrambler. It will work. It has to. Shelley must leave himself open to that route of attack for the alien larvae he uses to resurrect himself to have any effect. But it is a terrible fate to send anyone into, even temporarily.

[Aristotle]

These next two posts of mine are relatively long and involved. If you want the Reader's Digest version, check my third post, which is a much shorter, more condensed form of these arguments. Then, if you want clarification on what I mean, reference back to these longer posts for more information.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

The fight starts familiarly enough, with an EMP and/or virus, designed by my team to cripple the opposition's technology as much as possible.

Yes, that would be how you'd start it, which is why my team acts first. 1) Your tech people don't have superspeed. My tech person is, for all intents and purposes of this context, a living computer, meaning she has the opportunity to not only shut down/take over any opposing technology, but also to introduce the Radion radiation instantaneously, before Lightray can even get off the ground. Engineer may not move anywhere near as fast as Lightray, but she can think much faster, and that's the key in this matchup. So there's no EMP, because Lightray's down before he can even get started, and there's no virus, because your team has nothing with which to introduce such a virus--besides, Engineer could more than handle whatever Batman-1M or Reed could come up with.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Zemo and Ares can port in anything they need directly

No, they can't. You don't get to use anything as a resource that isn't on the battleground. We've been over this a lot this season. Batman doesn't get to use the Batcave, for example. You can't bring any outside resources in. Now maybe you could put your tech that you have on you away in another dimension, but as soon as you bring any of it back in, it's mine.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Batman sends an avatar with each member of the team, allowing for quick coordination.

Not if he needs tech to do it, he doesn't.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Resurrection Man attempts to use his Quantum Speed to locate and remove Zemo. Unfortunately, he is preemptively phased, and as gravity catches up to Shelley, he finds it nearly impossible to move.

That strategy would work if this powerset of Mitch's wasn't well-documented as being highly resistant to other reality-manipulators. Zemo doesn't just get to swat him down like that, particularly because Mitch moves and thinks at a much quicker speed than Zemo does. Mitch is moving at quantum speed, and thinking at quantum speed, allowing him to react far quicker than Zemo can. Zemo is the one who's outmatched here.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

The same force crushes any nanotechnology that may be homing-in on Zemo or the Moonstones.

Nobody needed nanotech to home in on either of them. Red King can spot anybody with his metahuman tracking system, and Mitch is cosmically aware.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

"This room's reserved for the bigwigs", he hears Zemo explain, "regular super-strength won't be enough to let you so much as stand."

Of course not. Mitch's superstrength comes from his quantum powers. Nothing ordinary about it.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

"Ah yes, and the floor's been laced with a new brand of Adhesive X."

1) Mitch isn't on the floor. 2) Mitch can take Adhesive X apart atom by atom, so not a problem.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Shelley taps his wrist once, and:
a) Takes the power of telepathy, but even normal Zemo had some psi-protection.
b) Phases
c) Assumes gravitational powers of his own, but I doubt that he could beat Zemo at his own game, and the other options all give Helmut that extra bit of time, which he'll have anyway, holding the advantage of surprise, and with resurrection taking a moment to complete.
d) His resurrector'd been impaired by the EMP, in which case, of-course, he's toast.
e) He tries using his Boom-Suit instead, in which case see below.

Zemo freezes him in place, and moves on.

Option A makes no ****ing sense. Mitch has no reason to believe that would work. Option B actually puts Mitch right back in the position where I've already proven that he is in the first place: in control of the situation. Option C: Why does Zemo have the element of surprise again? He was ambushed by Mitch, who can do that because of his superspeed. Option D: There was no EMP. Option E: You seriously think you get to write my characters as just running off? And by the way, why is the Red King not involved in any of this? You even have advance knowledge of my team's strategy (Red King acts as a lineman, Mitch pours on the offense from behind), and yet you deliberately ignore it! You are willfully ignoring the way that my team works. I can't imagine the voters will reward you for writing this way, but I've certainly been wrong before.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Profitt is more maneuverable, but he recognizes wanton destruction serves the War God's cause here, and changes tactics.

Even if Red King did decide, for some retarded reason, not to fight as a unit, in direct contradiction to what the team decided to do in prep time, how is he not just wiping out Ares in superspeed? Ares can't move fast. Red King has Superman-level speed. Why is this even a contest?

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Ares and the Red King collide, and it is Ares that's pushed back. But when the dust settles, they are still inseparable. Adhesive X was coating the massive figure's chest plate.

Oh hey, there's another reason my guys were FIGHTING AS A TEAM. So Mitch could take things like that apart.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

moves them both into Areopagus, where the very elements rebel against the Red King.

What happened to Red King's teleportation cancellation?

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Lightray's quick to seek-out Angie.

No, Lightray is either unconscious or almost-dead from Radion exposure, because Angie thinks faster than Lightray moves.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

His body radiates intense heat, to hopefully destroy any contaminating element.

Nope. Radion is lethal to all New Gods. Even Lightray.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

"You think there's only one Batman?" A dozen dark figures circle Anarky. "No, the Batman is a concept. I am justice. I am retribution. And you're out of time." Lonnie Machin reels even before struck, as Batman applies his favourite martial-arts technique.

Of course, Batman doesn't get to do that, because his tech is junked by Angie in the first nanosecond of combat.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Elsewhere, Mr. Fantastic has been able to lure The Midnighter into a trap.

My guys have heads-up systems keyed to Red King's metahuman tracking system. Your guys have a bunch of scrapped technology, courtesy of the Engineer. I'm thinking it's my guys who have the benefit of surprise here.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

The sealed chamber he sends him into contains a powerful liquid toxin and an electronic neuro-scrambler. It will work. It has to. Shelley must leave himself open to that route of attack for the alien larvae he uses to resurrect himself to have any effect. But it is a terrible fate to send anyone into, even temporarily.

This is all a nice plan, but it depends on far too much complex machinery of logic to be executed. The simplest solution is usually the best, and my team uses a far more streamlined, workable, executable plan. Without the benefits of technology or superspeed, your team is done from the starting bell.

[Dark Gog]

The Red King isn't a genuine super-genius, he just found a way to make others come-up with ideas for him, and applied it across countless different timelines. Before that, he was just an ordinary man stuck in a job he couldn't even understand. For that matter, I've heard similar things said about Angie. Not that she isn't highly intelligent, just that she happened across the previous Engineer's nanites and arguably couldn't have invented them herself. While she and Anarky, plus anything the Red King knew how to make, are no doubt capable, its probably their productive capacity that should be most worrying here.

Conversly, Batman's from the 853rd century, capable of boosting existing technology, literally doing several different things at once using his digital avatars, and has a 1,045 points IQ. He managed to isolate the Batcomputer from the Solaris Virus, which was itself propogated by beyond state-of-the-art techno-organic nanites. So obviously, when it comes to technological warfare, there are no absolutes, and working with Reed Richards and a Mother Box, along with whatever's on the battlefield and using Zemo's lab, they should be capable of coming-up with something pretty effective.

Finally, Ares can enchant the weapon when they're done.

Even if the Red King and The Engineer can partially protect their systems, Anarky and Midnighter should be pretty screwed. Aditionally, Both Reed and Batman already favor using EMPs or scrambling electronics.

Ressurection Man is also ultimately tech based, so he may be compromised himself, but for the most part I've assumed his powers function properly.


The Ubers


Red King is immensely powerful, but probably a bit to orthodox in his abilities to be a real threat to Zemo. He'll probably prefer to engage Ares, as he represents more of a known quantity, and Profitt was all about hedging his bets. Resurrection Man is a better match for Zemo, and Ares can do some real damage to him, so the above match-ups seem the most likely to me. Zemo's strategy should work just as well against RK, and depending on the power chosen, so should Ares' against Shelley.

The Red King has some precautions against Amazonian magic, although that doesn't really describe Ares. That said, he also incorporated other mystical protections in his armor and killed Doctor Fate, but Ares should still be able to at-least give him a fight.

http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?i...9page17vz6.jpg
http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?i...n197p19oq1.jpg
http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8page12ri4.jpg

As you can see, Ares can manipulate his armor's shape and properties extensively at will, so fixing it with an adhesive shouldn't actually prove much of a gamble.

Plastic Man listed speed among Red King's assets, but I'm not sure whether that was much more than travel pace. (he listed intelligence too; first-impressions can be tricky that way). Either way, it wasn't up to par with the Flash or anything, and again, he used teleportation to get around. Of-course, gluing them together should account for that in part. : p


Mitch was very candid with his allies regarding his abilities, and Batman can brief my team in detail about him, up-to and including his fight with Savage. Admittedly, I'm making the assumption Aristotle won't be re-using Quantum Telekinesis, for several reasons: I don't know whether RM can recall powers he had before he gained that ability (albeit he does have some time here to approximate it); it's hardly a guarenteed win, and failed the last time they'd met, which would also give Helmut a fair idea of how to counter it; I'm still not sure what it is. The way it was described the last time might push this version of RM into Tubular territory.


Other odds and ends:

Naturally, my team does sweep the station for weapons, and anything unusual then can turn to their
advantage.

In the awkward event The Authorititans are targeting my tech themselves, and set their plan off first, and manage to render my own device inoperable.. let's just say we made a double waiting to be summoned by Zemo/Ares.

[Aristotle]

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

The Red King isn't a genuine super-genius, he just found a way to make others come-up with ideas for him, and applied it across countless different timelines. Before that, he was just an ordinary man stuck in a job he couldn't even understand.

What's your point? Before he was Green Lantern, Hal Jordan was a going-nowhere test pilot. Before he was Resurrection Man, Mitch Shelley was just some ******** grafter. Before he was Spider-Man, Peter Parker was some dumb **** loser. What possible bearing does any of this have on the fight?

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

For that matter, I've heard similar things said about Angie. Not that she isn't highly intelligent, just that she happened across the previous Engineer's nanites and arguably couldn't have invented them herself.

Again: doesn't matter. At this point, she is now a living embodiment of the most highly advanced technology that has maybe ever been depicted in the Marvel, DC, and WildStorm universes.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

While she and Anarky, plus anything the Red King knew how to make, are no doubt capable, its probably their productive capacity that should be most worrying here.

So basically, you're just dismissing the technological acumen of these three because you're scared of dealing with it. You never once show any reason to doubt that Anarky, who created a boom tube FROM SCRATCH, could not use Red King's designs and Magneto's information to reverse-engineer a weapon capable of doing to Mr. Fantastic what Red King did to Flash. You never once show any reason to doubt that Angie, who has displayed a greater degree of technopathy than anyone else in mainstream superhero comics, could not shut down an opposing team's tech. You're just saying **** out your ass.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Conversly, Batman's from the 853rd century, capable of boosting existing technology, literally doing several different things at once using his digital avatars, and has a 1,045 points IQ.

Ain't got **** on a living computer that has the capacity to control The Carrier.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

He managed to isolate the Batcomputer from the Solaris Virus, which was itself propogated by beyond state-of-the-art techno-organic nanites. So obviously, when it comes to technological warfare, there are no absolutes, and working with Reed Richards and a Mother Box, along with whatever's on the battlefield and using Zemo's lab, they should be capable of coming-up with something pretty effective.

Of course, you can't figure out what they'll do, but certainly they'll do "something." And then Angie will shut it down within a nanosecond of combat.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Even if the Red King and The Engineer can partially protect their systems, Anarky and Midnighter should be pretty screwed. Aditionally, Both Reed and Batman already favor using EMPs or scrambling electronics.

Reed and Batman don't have the tech to generate EMPs, because Angie takes it from them and junks it. Lightray, not being an electropath, doesn't have the capacity to create an EMP either, but if the voters do believe in that idea, it still doesn't matter because Angie takes him down instantaneously with extreme Radion exposure. He never has a chance.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Red King is immensely powerful, but probably a bit to orthodox in his abilities to be a real threat to Zemo. He'll probably prefer to engage Ares, as he represents more of a known quantity, and Profitt was all about hedging his bets.

You didn't really read that story, did you? Out of those final two Red Kings, one of them realized that he wanted to be a genuine hero, and worked with the Justice League, always trying to maintain his status as just another League member. Red King knows how to work in a team, and that's why he'll follow Anarky's instructions.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Resurrection Man is a better match for Zemo, and Ares can do some real damage to him, so the above match-ups seem the most likely to me. Zemo's strategy should work just as well against RK, and depending on the power chosen, so should Ares' against Shelley.

So you still haven't told me why my team won't fight in the way that they decided to during prep time...

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

The Red King has some precautions against Amazonian magic, although that doesn't really describe Ares.

Amazonian magic is magic of the Olympian Gods, and Ares is an Olympian God. Red King can take whatever Ares dishes out and give far more back in return.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

Plastic Man listed speed among Red King's assets, but I'm not sure whether that was much more than travel pace. (he listed intelligence too; first-impressions can be tricky that way). Either way, it wasn't up to par with the Flash or anything, and again, he used teleportation to get around.

Again, you did not read the story carefully. Red King was able to move at about Superman-level speed.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

it's hardly a guarenteed win, and failed the last time they'd met, which would also give Helmut a fair idea of how to counter it

It doesn't matter that you can see the train coming if you're tied to the tracks; you're still getting run over. All of Helmut's preparations and future-sight won't help him win a fight like this, especially since Mitch has arguably better CA than Zemo does. Furthermore, while Mitch's strategy failed last time, this is a new strategy. It shares common elements, but it isn't the same one. In this strategy, Red King presents an offensive line that can take literally just about anything either opposing uber can throw at him, while Mitch and Proffitt are free to sling whatever they want back at their opponents, who are profoundly ill-equipped to defend against the onslaught.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

I'm still not sure what it is.

And that's the real reason you underwrite Mitch so much, isn't it? You don't get his powers, so instead of doing the work required to figure it out, you just underwrite him, and think that'll get you by.

Originally Posted by Dark Gog

In the awkward event The Authorititans are targeting my tech themselves, and set their plan off first, and manage to render my own device inoperable.. let's just say we made a double waiting to be summoned by Zemo/Ares.

"A double"?

[Aristotle]

Prep Time
“Well, folks, it's time for a rematch,” begins Anarky. “I know two of you remember these guys as well as I do. Angie, you weren't around for this, but the last time we faced these boys, we took a loss. And as much as I'd like to blame it on the refs, at the end of the day, we shouldn't have made it close enough that things like that could impact the outcome. That match should have been in the bag for us, and if I'm honest, I don't think we took them seriously, and we paid for it. We won't make that mistake again.”

“This week's lineup is a little better suited to fighting them, I think, and as much as some of their boys will have a good time with the tech here, I'm pretty sure we've got one up on them with Angie. Midnighter, you and I will need to work a little harder on their regs this time. No wussing out and calling on anyone else for help. Everyone has to pull their ****ing weight during this match. This is the postseason now. This is when it really counts.”

“We'll discuss this straight down the line, folks, starting with the lower end. Once again, they're fielding Reed Richards, and I feel like I've got a much better handle on him this time. Red King, I'm going to need to put some of your tech expertise to work in prep time, but I believe I've got a plan, based on what I've read on you from the JLA's classified files, provided that the computers here on the asteroid can provide me with what I want.”

“Midnighter, you'll be taking on future-Batman. Now he's got a few edges on the version of Batman you've already taken down. This guy has flight, which shouldn't be a major factor in these close quarters, very highly advanced martial arts with some sort of psychic element, technopathy, tesseract technology, and some damn thing called datarangs. Oh, and avatars. Nothing you can't handle, I expect. Just know that he'll put you through a couple paces. Still, as usual, yours should probably be the easiest battle.”

“Engineer, your solution is perhaps the most involved. Basically, we need you plugged in at a moment's notice to take over every scrap of tech in this base. Your tech expertise is lightyears beyond Richards or Batman or any of their guys. You can have control of this base inside a nanosecond, and from there, you'll be able to reach out through comms tech and take over all of their tech and equipment and dispose of it immediately. However, that still leaves you with the problem of Lightray. Fortunately, with the scientific expertise of Red King, you, and me, we should have no trouble whipping up a certain special something to take him out.”

“Alright, Red King. We'll be relying heavily on you in this match. You're basically going to be our offensive line in this situation. We'll play this two-on-two. You move ahead up front, and take the brunt of their attacks. Your countermeasures will basically be able to neutralize a lot of their attacks, and whatever gets past those, your armor should take care of. And if anything gets past you, Mitch will be ready to deal with it on a quantum level—Mitch, that's your starting powerset, quantum awareness, so you will need to do a little defensive work warding off Zemo's reality warps. Now Mitch, you'll be working full-time offense, because Red King should be giving you a lot of time in the pocket. Work on these guys at an atomic level, especially Ares. He's all magic, he ain't got **** on science. Of course, Red King, you'll be contributing whatever you can to the offensive as well. Hopefully, Ares goes down first, leaving both of you against an on-the-ropes Zemo.”

“Alright, boys, let's go to work.”

In the remainder of prep time, Anarky, Red King, and Engineer outfit all the team members with psi-blockers, not only for their heads, but for their various pieces of tech. Everyone is outfitted with a heads-up tac display, enhanced by Red King's metahuman tracking system, all linked together. Anarky and Red King have theirs in their helmet. Engineer's and Midnighter's are mental. Resurrection Man has cosmic awareness, so he really doesn't need one. They also put together a little weapon for Anarky, and put together a countermeasure for Angie.

[Aristotle]

Battle Time
Engineer vs. Lightray
The countermeasure is, of course, a radiation emitter keyed to simulate Radion, the kryptonite of the New Gods (of which Lightray is one.) As soon as the starting bell rings, Angie is into the systems of the asteroid base, taking over every bit of the technology and equipment that is part of the base, or in the hands of the opposing team. She immediately shuts down and sabotages B'Wana Bet's equipment, and then puts the radiation emitter to work. Using various ventilation systems and transmission systems, she turns the entire base into a de facto Radion asteroid, emanating Radion emissions from all directions. This all takes place in a quintillionth of a nanosecond, faster even than Lightray can move. He gets remarkably far, but he cannot withstand the onslaught of radiation. He crumples to the ground, heaving and writhing in pain. Lightray is down.

Midnighter vs. Batman-1M
Batman is not used to having his tech taken away from him and turned into a puppet. Whoever this engineer is, she must be incredibly formidable to overpower the technological savvy of one of the greatest minds of the 853rd century. Still, he can't worry about that now. He's got an opponent to fight. Under normal circumstances, he might have tried to take on Anarky first, trusting in his superior martial arts and technological skill to deliver a victory, but without his tech to back him up, he thinks a pure martial arts battle might make more sense. Let Richards deal with the tech genius. He communicates the change in plans, and moves rapidly through the halls of the asteroid.

Midnighter, meanwhile, is also gunning for Batman, and has a display in his head to tell him where to move. Presently, the two converge in one of the training rooms. For an eternal moment, the two stand motionless, assessing one another. Then they strike with a speed and ferocity almost unmatched in the world of comic-book sports. Rigid yet fluid, rock-solid yet elastic, their highly trained and honed motions whip in and out, back and forth, each seeking the weakness that the other must surely be hiding. Midnighter finds his battle-prediction implants pushed to their very limit. This fighter uses futuristic combat styles, and while his psychic abilities don't help him against Midnighter's shielded mind, he presents a threat of a kind that Midnighter has rarely, if ever, had to face.

But the implants have dealt with futuristic talents before, and with otherworldly, even otherdimensional opponents. Eventually, a fight plan begins to map itself out in Midnighter's head. Can I tell you what it is? Of course not. These are two martial artists who fight on a level far beyond what any real-world combatant could do. The course of a fight like this is unimaginable to our minds, but suffice it to say that Midnighter pulls out the win. His implants have never failed him in martial arts contest, or extremely rarely. There is just no reason to believe that Batman-1M, without his tech, would defeat Midnighter.

Moving with inhuman speed and urgency, Midnighter cuts through Batman's defenses, snapping first one arm and then the other with brutal efficiency, before finally driving home the killing stroke: a punch straight through the throat.

Anarky vs. Reed Richards
Anarky darts through the halls and corridors, constantly watching his heads-up display to see where Richards is. He glances at it, and notices that the Richards blip seems to be massively lengthening. Huh? is all he has time to think before a stretched-out elastic fist clocks him upside the helmet, and he staggers backward. He deflects another blow as Richards swings into the scene. Richards sizes him up. And Anarky just pulls out a gun and shoots the mother****er in the face.

Not with a bullet, mind you. This is an energy projection, put together with input from Red King and Engineer, as well as Magneto, in absentia. Using Magneto's computer files as a reference point, the team figured out that Richards had been granted his powers by a specific type of cosmic radiation. Operating on a similar principle to the one he used to take down the Flash, Red King helped create a replication of the process that had granted Richards his powers, but tweaked it slightly. Just as he'd robbed the Flash of the protective field that saved his skin from the ravages of superspeed, this process robs Richards of the necessary protections from his own powers. Richards is, therefore, apparently unaffected by the first blast, except to elastically fly backwards—and rupture about a dozen organs and snap about a dozen bones in the process. No longer protected from the real-world implications of his superpowers, Richards crumples in a dead heap.

[Aristotle]

Battle Time, Part 2: The Ubers
Oh, it's a hell of a fight. Red King kicks it off at the starting bell. Even as Angie is shutting down B'wana Bet's tech, Red King rockets into the room housing the opposing team and blasts both Ares and Zemo with massive repeated blasts of energy, sending both careeing through the walls. Mitch comes up behind his lineman, and launches quantum blasts at his opponents as well. After the initial shock, the god and his demigod partner deflect a couple of blows and get back on their feet.

Still, it's becoming clear that Red King's superspeed is going to be a major factor in the fight. The only answer to it is Zemo's time and space manipulation. He manages to use his chronopathy to come close to evening the playing field against Red King, but he's constantly frustrated by Resurrection Man's blasts, and is forced to spend some of his energy focusing on them.

Red King is darting about, absorbing everything the two opponents can throw at him. This is a man armed with anti-magic defenses designed for use against Wonder Woman and other potential magical JLA foes. His superarmor has withstood blasts from a Green Lantern ring and Superman's heat vision, so he can basically shrug off a lot of what Ares and Zemo can throw his way. Zemo and Ares can't even try to teleport their opponents away, because the quantum powers of Resurrection Man (who has a very high resistance to reality-warping powers anyway) can nullify the warps, and Red King has specific cancellation methods for teleportation.

Meanwhile, Mitch and Red King are basically having open season on their opponents, blasting away at them and keeping them fully occupied. As the battle becomes more and more one-sided, Red King and Resurrection Man prepare for the endgame.

“Resurrection Man! Are you ready?” shouts Red King. “All over it, partner!” Mitch bellows back. The dynamic uberduo execute their final move. Moving at a blinding speed, Red King slams into Ares, sending the god flailing through the walls of the asteroid base. Before Zemo can react, Red King pours every ounce of power he can summon up into a massive energy blast that knocks Zemo into next week (figuratively; Red King doesn't actually have time manipulation powers). He follows it up instantaneously with a huge blast of electrical energy, further dazing Zemo. Finally, he slams Zemo with a massive blast of freeze breath. For a couple brief, precious moments, Zemo is motionless, stunned, unable to fight back. Resurrection Man seizes upon the opportunity, taking apart the moonstone atom by atom in a microsecond.

In a blinding flash of light, the moonstone becomes no more, and Zemo is powerless. Switching over to telepathic powers, Resurrection Man shuts down his mind, and Zemo is down. Ares, meanwhile, has seized upon this last, frantic opportunity, and rushes Red King, but it's not enough. Red King swats him down with another few massive energy blasts, and Resurrection Man, switching back to quantum powers, scrambles the god's consciousness. Finally, the battle is over and won. The Authorititans take it, 5-0.

[wiegeabo]

Battle Part II

Sparks fly as claws forged in the River Styx clash against the darkest of Blades. Proctor lunges, but Jaine just jumps back out of range. So Proctor blasts her with energy from his free hand. Jaine goes flying and slides on the floor into a wall. Proctor teleports in front of her only to be sent back himself by a bullet from her Breathing Gun. Proctor's slide along the floor mimics Jaine's. btu he leaves a trial of blood behind.

Lighting up a cigarette, Jaine calmly walks up and blows smoke at Proctor's body. "Got to admit, you're one tough sonava*****."

Proctor sits up, swiping his sword at Jaine. But instead of cutting her in half, her second skin protects her, leaving her only with a deep gash. "I was going to say the same thing about you."

"You bastard. You made me drop my smoke!" She leaps at Proctor.

***

The shield on Kyle's arm holds the lightening at bay, but it takes a lot of effort. The continuous bolt fires from Thordis' hammer, fed by a small storm above her head. The ceiling collapses on them, but both are unaffected by it. "Surrender mortal. There is no dishonor yielding to a superior opponent."

"Yeah," Kyle says, "But you're a chick too."

Fury burns in Thordis' eyes. "You dare mock me because I am not a man?!" The bolt explodes against the shield and throws Kyle back.

"No," he says, "just trying to distract you." A green hand grabs Thordis' head from behind and wraps her in a bubble. Kyle takes off with Thordis in tow and phases both of them through the walls, and out into space. "Ok. There's no air out here. God or not, I don't think you'd like the vac-Hey, what are you-!" Thordis swings her hammer faster and faster. "No! Don't" She lets the hammer go, punching through the field, and letting it pull her back into the station, where she breaches the hull.

***

"If you wanted to be alone with me, all you had to do was ask," Wade says as Vision pulls him away from the fight.

"You disgust me."

"Do robots feel disgust. I thought you were all cold and hard inside."

"I am not a robot," Vision replies.

Wade puts his gun to Vision head. "Yeah, but you are all see-through. Just like you medeme. So I'm guessing that means this bullet will work on you just fine."

"It would. If I hadn't reprogrammed your teleporter."

Wade looks down to see Vision's other hand interfacing with the device on his belt. "Aw man. That's not fair." Vision lets go and Deadpool starts teleporting all over the station, one jump "Guys" after the other "Shouldn't" after the other "Grab"

Vision goes to help his friends.

"Other guys"

And the station shakes.

"Junk."

***

"Impressive," Exodus says as he fights against the lasso around his arms. Wonder Woman pulls him closer despite the constant psionic blasts slamming against her. "If only you were a mutant, you would be a great addition to our cause."

"Justice...is...my...only...cause." Suddenly, Diana's instincts take over and she let's the lasso go. Exodus flies into a wall as Diana spins around, whipping her leg around and kicking Vision in the head. The synthoid's blast shoots wide. Exodus takes the opportunity to fly into Diana from behind, grabbing her, and uses his momentum to slam her into a wall. She put her elbow into his face, spins, follows up with an open-handed punch to his chin, then a kick to finally put him down. Exodus' eyes roll back as he slams onto the ground.

Diana keeps moving, blocking Vision's blast with her bracelets. But she can't stop the flying Vision from passing through her body, frying her nerves. She stands for a few seconds, disoriented, her body screaming in pain. She tries to bring her bracelets back up, but Vision's blast finally puts Diana down.

The station shakes and the wall behind Vision explodes. The pieces pass harmlessly through him. As does Thordis and Kyle. "Little help!" Kyle shouts as Thordis blocks his blast and returns with a swing. The station shutters as the air escapes into space. Vision joins the fight. As Kyle is forced to seal the breech to keep Diana and Exodus alive, yet somehow continue to fight.

***

The two fighters have probably lost all the blood in their bodies. And yet, they keep going.

"You know," Jaine says, breathing heavily, "you're pretty cute. In a dark, red-eyed, homicidal, hole in the chest kind of way."

"I killed my wife," Proctor warns as blades crash again.

"Oh, that explains everything."

"Enough of your prattle!" Proctor deflects Jaine's slash, spins behind her, and grabs her with his free arm around the neck. He ignores the pain her spikes cause as they tear into his flesh and teleports both of them into deep space.

Before he can succumb to the vacuum, he lets Jaine go and teleports back inside. If sound traveled in space, he'd hear an imaginative string of swear words cursing him, his mother, and his anatomy.

***

Vision twitches on the ground, a victim of a well placed bolt.

"I can't keep fighting you and keep our teammates alive!" Kyle shouts.

"Although I do not wish them to succumb, they would fall in honor. I would assure them a place in Valhalla." Kyle tries blocking her swings, but Thordis continually knocks away his defenses and attacks.

And that's when it finally hits Kyle. He's been going about this all wrong. He doesn't need to fight. He just needs to win. Slamming Thordis with a giant battering ram, Kyle buys himself a couple of seconds and some distance. He wraps Vision, Exodus, and Diana in bubbles, then drops his seal over the damaged wall. With no barrier, the air continues to escape into space.

"How long can you fight in a vacuum?" He asks. Thordis answers with another attack. But even a goddess has her limits. As the fight finally ends, Kyle replaces the seal and pries another set of doors open, flooding the room with fresh air.

There's a burst of sound behind Kyle. "Finally!" Wade shouts in triumph, holding his gun against the destroyed teleporter. He starts putting his gun away. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to fire a gun when you keep tele...port..." Wade takes a look around. "...ing?"

"Crap."

"You've got that right," Kyle says.


Chaos & Order continue on.

[DTL Commish]

Voting may now begin.

[Aristotle]

A brief preemptive defense.
1. Zemo's Cosmic Awareness--Last time I played Gog, several voters noted that I seemed to "ignore" Zemo's CA. This time, I don't feel such a criticism would be valid. Resurrection Man also has CA, and probably "better" CA, in the sense that Resurrection Man is literally in touch with everything at an atomic level, while at the end of the day, Zemo's powers are gravometric.
2. Resurrection Man's Resistance to Zemo's Powers--Last time, Gog argued that Res-Man's resistance to reality-warping powers didn't factor into the match, since Zemo's powers are all gravity-based. But whereas that plays a very real role in the "whose CA is better" debate, in this debate it's meaningless sophistry, semantics that don't impact the game one bit. Whatever Zemo uses to manipulate reality, the end result is a warped reality, and Resurrection Man, in this powerset, has a high resistance to such powers.
3. The Red King--I can just see someone calling ******** on something the Red King was involved with in this writeup, because he does have his fingers in a lot of it. But it all has a clear precedent in the comics, and is 100% textually supported.

[LadyVader]

I will do a writeup and it's going to be something really special.

Or stupid I'll let you decide. Either way. Don't hurry with those votes. I'll do half today and half tomorow. But I'm posting the whole thing tomorow.

[Ahura Mazda]

Is it me or is there a time warp between Ari's post and LVs

[XFanTim]

That's Wieg's strategy. He's having Ambrose slow down time every time LV submits a post, in hopes that it will arrive after voting is over.

[LadyVader]

Sneaky f@#$ing bastard.

[Ahura Mazda]

Well it has been fixed since. When I first posted it seemed she had posted at 9:23 am or that is what was written.

[LadyVader]

Write-up. I has it. (sorta)

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

Wieg... forgive me for this.

[XFanTim]

That's awesome.

I look forward to seeing what Wieg can possibly come up with to dispute any of those points. This could be the best debate yet!