Phoenix League Duels, Round 3, May, 2012

Round 3 Phoenix Ω vs. Anarchy

Sothios Mori'Taren sat in front of a large bank of monitors. On most, he was watching various parts of the battle that had taken place earlier in the day between two massive teams. On a few he had statistical data displayed on each of the combatants. In front of him on his desktop computer he had even more data displayed on various aspects of the match.

The amount of information was staggering.

The problem for Phoenix was that this match didn't quite go as planned. The Anarchy team proved to be more than a match for the reigning champion Phoenix team as they went into the round. Like any other, the Phoenix team used the same tactic they had in prior matches at the onset. KOMOS attempted to begin his run but was met head on by Water Warrior.

http://superherocity.klicknation.com/game/pages/battle_replay.php?battle=794455454

Although he managed to deflect the earth shattering attack she leveled against him, it hit Kienzen dead in the chest, leveling the Phoenix leader. The intensity of the assault continued as the strongest of the Anarchy team hit the Phoenix head on, using their own tactics against them. It left the favored team in this battle stunned.

X-Minion Evolved, a true warrior of the Phoenix team, was hit so hard by Zeus that he shot through a storefront in the projected city streets of SHC. 

http://superherocity.klicknation.com/game/pages/battle_replay.php?battle=794523980

Zeus then went on to assault Iceena, who had taken a defensive position at the back of the Phoenix ranks. Had it not been for KOMOS' timely intervention, he would have nearly killed her.

It went back and forth for hours, each team leveling a withering barrage on the other. The difference between the two became obvious very quickly. Phoenix had not studied their foes. They relied on the same tactics and, once those failed, they didn't have a clear backup plan. The Anarchy team fought as one, timing assaults and switching out gear to deal with specific targets. They were treating it as a tactical matchup and doing so in a highly effective manner. 

Of course, every well laid plan crumbles eventually under the rigors of battle and it finally happened to the Anarchy lines almost halfway into the match. 

With Kienzen's blessing, the Phoenix team, this time led by Bollock and a insane outpouring of speed, began their signature hit and run tactics, each one teaming up with two or three others to swiftly and repeatedly strike in a seemingly random pattern against Anarchy members. It made their actions unpredictable and maximized their speed advantage. Their movements were so fast that the Anarchy team had little time to prep a defense before the next blow landed. It's a strategy they had employed years ago against another powerful foe, yet it was still highly effective.  Their newest member, Captain Atom, surprised his new team.  His motions were so quick that the video recorders in SHC arena, attuned to take 150 frames a second, only caught glimpses of him as he nailed Killswitch with a powerful Relic Storm.

http://superherocity.klicknation.com/game/pages/battle_replay.php?battle=794575494

The tactic almost worked. 

Grim Reaper turned out to be a much more talented tactical planner than anyone anticipated. Using his powers to manipulate the electrical flow of current, he turned his attention to the reality projectors lining the walls of the arena. The rules were clear. No hero could damage, destroy, or remove a projector, including turning them off. A year ago, a team had modified them and nearly killed a hero in the arena in an attempt to win a League War ring. It would never happen again if the fighters wanted to stay out of prison.

He didn't plan to do any of those things. Concentrating hard, he manipulated the projectors to switch to a different scene, and the city around the combatants faded away, to be replaced with a subway scene. The Phoenix team was now boxed in, surrounded by force field reinforced walls. Their advantage of distance had been stripped.

The Anarchy fighters were highly trained, seasoned, and, recovering quickly, delivered a counterstrike that left Phoenix reeling with its intensity. The match was becoming one for the record books, a true combat between their precision and power and the Phoenix signature agility and dodge.

Robbed of the tactical advantage they had a second ago, the Phoenix team scrambled to stay out of the way of the hard hitting Anarchy team. The battle became a slug fest in the worst sense of the word. The match carried on for the entire prescribed match time, each team sweating bullets and completely exhausted after the ordeal.

The outcome came down to the wire and Phoenix was triumphant again. 

Watching the replay, Sothios skipped over the talking heads analyzing the match at the end. They were idiots and fools for the most part.

Sothios put his hands up to his temple and rubbed his eyes. Locking his terminal, he stood up and stretched. He glanced at the rather plain round clock on the wall and realized he'd been at this for over five hours now and needed a break.

Stepping outside the office he'd rented for this week's research, he looked around. His choice of office space was purposeful. Situated downtown SHC, it was within blocks of not only the stadium, but Superhero City General Hospital. Flipping the collar of his trench coat up to buffer a cool breeze that had sprung up, he set off in that direction. Some research could not be done in a room full of monitors.

*******************************************************************************

The hospital itself was massive, stretching nearly 15 stories high. The emergency room on the ground floor was packed with new arrivals on most days but it wasn't the one in which he was interested. Stepping inside the three story foyer, he scanned the room quickly for the marquis. Moving up to it, it took only a second to find the reference to the intensive care ward he was seeking. A few minutes later, he stepped out of the elevator on the 14th floor into the "Metahuman Care" section of the hospital.

Searching around, it took only a few minutes to find the room he needed. Aside from a television playing a rerun of The Three Stooges, it was quiet. Knocking lightly, he moved into the room.

On the table was a badly burnt individual. It was Grim Reaper of the Anarchy team. The battle between him and Iceena was epic, to say the least, and was the one that ended the match. The Phoenix veteran had unleashed an arctic blast that leveled a projected building, centered on Grim Reaper. Although the hero would normally have withstood such a barrage, his skirmish with Omnicron-Ceti moments before had left him exhausted. Simply touching the speedster at all was time consuming, and he'd taken a serious beating in the process.

The blow was nearly fatal. Iceena had not held back. He went over the replay in his mind as he glanced back in the hallway to ensure the coast was clear.

http://superherocity.klicknation.com/game/pages/battle_replay.php?battle=794770610

If it had not been for Captain Atom, who had regained his senses after the beating Water Warrior had given him, he would not have been teleported to the hospital in time. Iceena carried Grim Reaper directly into the ER and stayed for several hours until he was stable. She left before Grim Reaper awoke. Unless someone told him, he would probably never know. The departure of the two powerful heroes from the arena automatically ended the bout per arena rules and the victor was declared.

Grim Reaper was still out cold. A lone vase of flowers, red roses by the look of it, sat on a table nearby. Sothios glanced at the small card protruding from the vase.  It was signed Iceena.  He smiled.  Phoenix would be an honorable opponent at the least.

Although he was recovering very quickly, he wouldn't be awake for another hour or so. Sothios pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began taking readings. The radioactive isotope decay rate was still high on his body and Sothios smiled. That's all he needed. Captain Atom's energy signature was more evident in objects he teleported than it was in his energy projections. He was familiar with the hero, but his addition to the Phoenix family recently was unexpected. He now had what he needed.

Turning to leave, he passed a few nurses in the bright hallway who were fixated on the television screen in front of them. He didn't stick around. Time was now of the essence.

*******************************************************************************

Hours later, back in a conference room adjacent to the office Sothios rented, The New Revengers sat around a large wooden table. The New Revengers all paid rapt attention to the presentation begin displayed on the wall in front of them. As the overview analysis of the history of the Phoenix team from it's inception over two years ago ended, The Grim Rider stood up.

"First off, I want to thank Warlord for being here." The leader of the Death From Above team stood up at the back of the room. 

Grim continued, "As you are aware, Area 51 command issued an order to us to allow our team to advance. Its a calculated move in an effort to put us in the position to beat Phoenix. Not only are you aware that he graciously accepted and threw the match, but he also gave us the use of War~N~Peace and Rapture before the wars even began."

The team knew all too well. Area 51 had been preparing for this confrontation for quite some time.

To that, a chorus of "thank you's" came from the Revengers. Warlord sat back down. "Area 51 will have that championship. I'm not sure what's going down, but some of the leadership in our organization have said that something is happening. The winners of this LW will be involved in something big. We need as many teams there as possible to ensure Area 51 benefits from this. Glad to help in any way I can."

Grim nodded and employed a more serious tone. "Now to the business at hand." The room quieted down. This was not a group of heroes used to being around a table, although many of them have used tables as projectiles before, it wasn't quite the same thing. Being still was not really natural to many of them.

"The wars have been a cakewalk thus far. We came into this knowing that there was only one team to challenge us at the end. Our day is at hand!" The room erupted in an affirmation of his statement. 

The Area 51 organization had carefully hand picked this team specifically to face one opponent in this division, Phoenix Ω, the reigning champions. Why waste resources planning on fighting anything less than the very best? The fact that another Area 51 team was placed in this division was simply unfortunate.

"Thanks to Sothios," motioning to the talented duelist and analyst, "we know how to beat them." Turning over the floor, Sothios whipped out a small sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his trench coat and spent the next half hour running through the stats on the Phoenix team, one member at a time.

He next moved into the team's relative strengths, the equipment they used most frequently, and the timing and battle tactics they employed against opponents. His analysis was thorough to say the least. He continued, for the next few hours, to lay out a plan of attack blow by blow.

If Area 51 did not succeed, it would be through no lack of preparation. This final fight would be one to remember.

*******************************************************************************

Late that night, the Phoenix team met in a conference room in Kienzen's penthouse suite. Lavishly decorated, it served as the nerve center for the team during League Wars and other major events.

Up until today, the team had walked through this war half asleep.
Anarchy had woken them up.

Kienzen began, "guys and gals, I realize that we've been a little lax about this up until today. Anarchy proved that we face some genuinely powerful foes this League War."
Nobody said a word. He was absolutely right. 

"Here's what we are going to do..." Kienzen then began laying out the strategy for the next battle. He left no room for compromise. No room for error. The New Revengers were a formidable foe and with Area 51s conscious decision to give the final round to them in the match today, Phoenix needed to be prepared. 

The team buckled down. The final round would be intense.