Stupendous (OPEN)

Dominic pauses when he hears the first voice.  He stares into the officer's face, not turning around.  "I had every intention," he says.  Then he hears the second voice, then turns in one swift motion and throws the cop into the path of the punch, using him as a human shield.  The officer drops to the ground and Dominic stands upright, his hands once more behind his back.  "He is released."

John retracted his arms, his eyes wide with shock. He'd just punched a police officer IN THE FACE. His initial reaction was rage, as he grit his teeth and clenched his fists.

CALM DOWN. Take a breath. Shift put his palm on his forehead, seething, then he took a deep, calming breath of fresh air. "...Alright, I'll give you that one. You've got some training under your belt. Spellstone's just decided to sit this one out, so let's have a chat."

John paced, with a relaxed smile on his face. "I've been a vigilante for a year and two months now. I've taken on people like you. Super cool martial arts blackbelt monk training in the mountains, or whatever." He casually, and deliberately took off his belt. His jeans sagged a little, but he kept them up with one hand, and wrapped his belt loosely around his neck.

"I can see why you're not intimidated by someone with 'stretchy powers'. I'm supposed to run at you and flail on ya like a moron, and you slam me with a lethal crane kick and it sends me head over heels, or worse, you use a cop as a shield again. I get creamed, so an actual hero in a costume can take you on. That's the thing that normally happens, anyway." Shift knelt on the grass, untying his shoes. He tied the laces around the loops of his denim jeans, to keep them from getting lost.

"UNFORTUNATELY for anyone who wanted to see that happen, I found a way around jerks like you who know kung fu, or can predict any move like in the movies." Lastly, John took off the thin metal necklace around his neck.

"HMMMMMMMMMMMPF." In an instant, John's muscle mass expanded, and he grew to thirteen feet tall. Every part of him thickened. His fingers clenched into fists the size of hams. His jaw grew square and menacing. His hat stretched across his brow, and his shirt stretched across his chest. His belt, once loosely dangling around his neck, fit like a dog collar. His waist expanded against his jeans, which thankfully had an elastic band in them. The young man had changed into a crude facsimile of the incredible hulk.

"I don't just STRETCH, I shape-shift. Hence the name, Shift. Right now, you're seeing me at my TOUGHEST. My pressure points are thicker, my bones are thicker, heck, even my EYELIDS are like LEATHER." In his expanded, almost cartoonishly muscular form, John waved his hands jokingly.

"And I KNOW what you're thinking. 'I'll just dodge his punches like Bruce Lee'. The thing is, you're HUMAN. You can't dodge forever. Eventually, I'll catch you, and it'll just be EMBARRASSING."

The pumped up, muscular Shift stepped forward, folding his arms across his chest and grinning.

"It's YOUR MOVE, but lemme make you a quick suggestion: kneel down and put your hands behind your head, so the cops can take you to jail. Unless you have a death ray in your pocket, I doubt you have any better options. Heck, I hear prison food is nice."

The deputy officer who'd arrived on the scene first looks up at Shift as he goes through his monologue.  He shakes his head with wide eyes as he exposits on, as if to say "No, you idiot, don't!".  But by the time Shift finishes, he's backing away from the scene.

"You assume to control me?  You assume too much, boy," Dominic says, looking over his shoulder at this 'Shift', crossing his arms.  His eyes narrow as he stares back at the hulking mass of young, foolish man.

"Three seconds and counting, sir."

"Dominion kneels to no one," Dominic says.

Suddenly, all manner of would-be projectiles dart by Shift, weaving around him and to Dominic.  The pieces clamp around him and encompass him in several pieces of white armor.  A black mesh coats over the rest of him and a red cape extends from the torso piece.  The orb in the chest plate begins to glow and finally he takes his helmet from the air, placing it upon his head.  "I offer you this one chance, tool.  'Shift' into the insect you are, and fly away."

Oh snap well, time to get into action. Jeisen didn't think this would be the time to say I told you so, but... he sure as hell would be later. Jeisen didn't have some super mech device to come flying out of the air like dom, or transform into a hulk like figure as shift. Hell, he didn't even have a unique uniform like spellstone. No... Jeisen just pulled his hood up from his sweater. He began to mutter to himself

"Lord of Hunters. Grant that my hands be steady, my aim be true, and my feet swift. And should the worst come to pass, grant me forgiveness."

It was nothing but a formailty for Jeisen. He had learned it in the far east as a saying for luck before a mission or fight. Hopefully it would work here. Jeisen began to circle around dominion widly, watching him. When he passsed a tree that blocked dominion's line of sight with Jeisen he would touch it and leave a mark before continuing walking. He was quick and smooth enough to leave no sign he had done anything, just kept walking around dominion. Jeisen was heading to the back so dominion would have to choose either face Jeisen or face someone else

Spell John ink Jeisen

Holy crap. That's Dominion. John turned to watch Spellstone leave suddenly. Aaaaaaaaaaand my backup just bailed. Alright. This isn't good. For a moment, Shift considered shrinking down and fleeing.

Before he could act on his fears, he caught sight of the police officers. They may have retreated to a safe distance, but they were watching. This was it. A superhero was going to fight the criminal tyrant of Chicago. If Shift could subdue him, he'd face jailtime for assaulting an officer.

"You want some of this?! Fine! I've been waiting to take a swing at you ever since I got my powers, DOMINO."

Shift furrowed his brow, and knelt down like a defensive lineman ready to charge. He lurched forward, his footsteps leaving heavy, loud booms. Shift sprinted forward to shoulder check Dominion, and hopefully knock the villain off of his feet.

Dominion observes quietly and carefully with his arms crossed. The one man has taken to pacing around Dominion, covering the rear so that he'd have to face one or the other. Suddenly, the big one lunges toward him. Dominion scoffs and turns around to face Jeisen, but suddenly launches up in the air with a rocket-powered jump, landing him behind the charging Shifter and facing both would-be heroes, leaving Shifter to charge into Jeisen instead of him. "Hmph...I expected as much. Such arrogance," he says to himself.

Jeisen just hopes forward a bit and out of the way, enough so that if shifter kept charging he would just go right past him. He was watching the charge the entire time and it was easy to read where it was going. He just continues to circle, keeping a nice distance between him and Dominion. That jump was closer to where Jeisen had originally started but not quite there. Oh well.

Might wanna get your shit together hero. Don't think a charge will work here.

Jeisen mutters to Shifter. Not that he expected him to take the advice but it never hurt to give it out. Charging like a bull would only get a spear in your neck. Jeisen watched carefully now, Just aking in dominions suit. It looked fancy alright. Now to tell where its attacks would come from and where its weak points are

Shift slammed his heels into the ground to stop his momentum, his body shrinking back down to its normal size. "Dammit. Shoulda known he'd be able to dodge that." He noticed Jeisen's criticism, and looked up to see he was still present.

He came to a stop beside Jeisen. "You're still here? I figured you'd split." John looked at Jeisen, surprised. "Watch yourself! This guy's a heavy hitter!"

John yanked his belt back on, and put on his shoes, clenching his fists. He put his necklace back on and cracked his knuckles.

Sparky is trying to circle around and attack. That could work, I've just gotta occupy Dominion's attention!

Clenching his fists, John inhaled and shouted. "SWALLOW THIS, DOMINO!!!" Shift pulled back both arms, and then shouted a loud battle-cry, both of his arms shifting into powerful, fast tendrils, moving towards him. They snaked towards Dominion, intent on pulverizing the villain. A much faster, more unpredictable attack than before.

Dominion watches.  Beneath his helmet, his interface breaks down every movement with super computer accuracy and dissects the data of all that happens around him.  He mentally observes as well, familiarizing himself with every exploitable advantage in the area.  Then Shifter attacks.  His arms crossed, Dominion dashes backwards to evade the tendrils, offering a return fire of concussive blast at the boy to keep him at bay, while making sure to keep an eye out for the electric one.  "Silence, pup.  You're embarrassing yourself."

Shift flinches back just in time to avoid a painful, flattening blow. Retracting his arms, he jumps backwards as the concussive shot impacts the ground, throwing him backwards and spraying dirt in his face.

"GAH!!" Regaining his balance, he flips backwards, his hand touching the ground. He flipped again, and landed on his feet, staring angrily up at Dominion. He turns and runs, circling Dominion's location and waiting for Jeisen's attack, which the lightning charged gentleman had just thrown.

Dominion glances over his shoulder at the approaching knives and raises his hand.  Rays of pure heat fire from his fingertips into a beam of thermal energy.  As the knives slice through the air, they melt and fall to the ground before him.  "Trinkets.  They attack me with trinkets," he says to himself.  "As expected, this isn't worth my time."

John slid to a halt on the ground, irked by Dominion's jibe. He brought back his arm, and swung it, shooting his arm out. He grabbed his shoulder as his right fist sailed towards Dominion.

But before it could connect, the arm blossomed into thirty different fists, scattering and sailing towards Dominion from multiple angles, attempting to ensnare and pummel the villain. The attack was good for crowd control, but he'd never used it on just one person. Either Dominion would slip out of his grasp, or simply activate some sort of energy shield.