THERE WE GO!<br/><br/>So much for a "small edit." I basically added 1500 words to that post, so now it's about 5600 words long...that's only a little shorter than three of my University essays combined. XD<br/><br/>If you don't want to read through the whole post again to find out what I added, I'll post it here. I'll start it with the paragraph that I edited the ending of - so you know where it is in the post - and end it with the start of the paragraph that marks the end of the edit.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">He glanced down at the water he used to Travel there and, with a silent command, pulled it upwards towards him, commanding it to compress and coil around his arm in a thin, shining layer of water. It would be imperceptible to most, which is what he was banking on; he could use it to rehydrate and heal himself, or he could use it in any number of offensive or defensive ways...he was draining the sinkhole a little, true, which meant that he couldn't make a quick retreat if he had to, but he could use the water in a lot more ways than just running. The Trident's ability to control water should be used to its full ability, and creating large water from the air did require more time and concentration than simply controlling it...so taking some water with him was definitely not a bad idea. Once the water from the sinkhole was safely and securely bound around his left arm - the trident in his right - he looked up towards the pair....then back towards Ivy. He was still torn, curse it! He needed to end the battle quickly, and that could be achieved with a surprise attack if it succeeded and he was durable enough to withstand it going wrong...but was the gamble worth it, if it got in the way of Booster and Hood? He hesitated for a moment...and in that moment, his decision was made. One of the vines began lashing out uncontrollably as it was struck by a stray spray of bullets - whether it was from the Hood or from Ivy's henchmen or even some watching police officers, he couldn't say - knocking things this way and that, flattening anything nearby, even hitting several of its brethren...and, unfortunately, a small huddle of police cars whose occupants had long since fled towards the Police Cordon. <br/><br/>Most of them just went skittering away across the ground, shattered glass spraying across the floor, but one in particular had the misfortune of being caught by the very tip of the vine which sent it skyrocketing into the air, flipping door-over-door as it sailed across the Square in the general direction of Booster and Hood. Instantly, he found himself automatically calculating the cars projected trajectory - yes, he knew how to do that; he couldn't be an effective General and be ignorant of things like momentum and trajectory, now could he? - and though it was going to miss Booster, Hood and Orin by a sizeable margin...its estimated landing space was far, far worse. It was going to land between him and the other two heroes, about a third of the distance away from him, making him easily the closest to the site of the future wreckage and, worse...there were civilians there. Not many - only two or three young ladies and a young male, presumably a group of friends who had ended up being caught in the crossfire during a day out - but still too many. Even one injured civilian was far, far too many injured civilians for his comfort, and a heroes first job is to protect the civilians and non-combatants. And since as soon as he intervened he would be noticed, that made the decision for him; he was going to link up with Hood and Booster, just after he stopped that car from killing those young ladies. Without waiting any longer, dashed as fast as he could to close the distance, immediately getting up to speed. Any normal human would never have reached the projected landing space in time, but he was no ordinary human; on land, he could easily run up to speeds of 100mph, and he only needed a fraction of that speed to get there in time. Still, he didn't take any chances; he needed to alter the cars momentum so that it was slow enough for him to catch without risking causing an explosion that could injure the civilians anyway, and he needed to shield them from any extra fallout that might occur that he hadn't foreseen....luckily, he knew exactly how to do that, his brain already whirring through exactly what he needed to do. <br/><br/>First, he looked at the car that was currently sailing through the air towards them...from what he could see, it was utterly unoccupied, which would make things a whole lot easier; he wouldn't have to worry about safeguarding the passengers safety as well, and could treat the car as roughly as he needed to, which was a relief. He looked back to the civilians; they had started to run, but too late; the car would hit them before they managed to get out of the way, if he didn't intervene...which was exactly what he was going to do. Second, he slowed his pace down to the adequate level; he would reach the area in time, but not quickly enough to stop the car hitting the ground...that was, if the car was going to hit the ground in the first place. He couldn't blast the car away because then it might hit somebody else, and there wasn't enough water around to use it to grab the car and set it down gently...and if he leapt onto it, the momentum that it already had would likely carry both the car and him into a nearby building, again potentially injuring other people. It was a tricky situation - he had to somehow slow the car down enough so that he could either set it down or direct it towards an empty area of the Square - but luckily, he had The Trident. The third thing he did, then, was use the Trident; he pointed it ahead of him as he ran with a single, simple thought and a push of his Will into the staff, pointing it directly at the spot just in front of where the Civilians were panicking...the car streaked towards them, still rolling side-over-side in the air, just starting its descent, about to crash to the ground amongst the non-combatants...and then it bounced. <br/><br/>It hit a spot in the air, a shimmering gold light radiated out from the point of impact and then it was tumbling directly up into the air, away from the forcefield that Orin had created with the magic from the Trident. It hung there for a moment, using up the last of its upward velocity, and that gave Orin the chance he needed. He couldn't leap straight at the car - his own momentum would now cause the problems of being unable to control where it landed - so he needed to slow down somehow and didn't have the time to stop, then jump...so instead, he leapt forwards and to the right, away from the car...and up onto the forcefield. He bent his legs as he landed on thin air - another spidering golden light spreading from his feet as the forcefield was struck again, the light swiftly disappearing after the contact - and used the position to turn and spring, much of his momentum lost as he hurtled towards the now-descending car. Thankfully, his timing was impeccable and he reached the car just as its rolling motion brought its underside to face Orins direction. He spread his arms, grabbing hold of the two sides of the car as it went past so that he was now holding the car from its underside widthways - holding the area just underneath and inside both doors - and span with it for a revolution - super strength had its advantages - before a blast from his Trident - held between his hand and the underside of the car - slowed down the roll. Of course, Ivy had now spotted him. How could you possibly miss something like that? It wasn't every day that a car bounced in mid-air and an all-but bare chested man jumped twenty feet in the air and caught it, after all. He could see several vines already making their way towards him....four, by his count, the closest one looking to be seeking to intercept him before he hit the ground. Thankfully, he was holding a car. <br/><br/>Turning in mid-air, he pulled his arms back and then thrust them forwards, sending the police car hurtling towards that vine rapidly. The vine - too big to get out of the way properly - took the brunt of the cars weight directly in its midsection and recoiled back, struggling to free itself from underneath the now totally wrecked car. Thankfully, there were no civilians near that vine that could get hurt, or Orin might have been in trouble. He landed lightly, bending his knees as he did so, then straightened and, with another wave of the Trident, dispelled the barrier. He looked at the group of stunned, open-mouthed civilians who were now gawping at him instead of fleeing. <br/>"Run, quickly. Get behind the Police Cordon and give them your statements...you'll be safe there." Relatively speaking, anyway. They stared at him for a moment longer, as if unable to process his words. He slammed the butt of his Trident against the ground, and the gem in the center of the head - where the prongs met to connect to the staff itself - glowed golden for a moment. "Go!" They blinked suddenly, then, and scurried to obey, sprinting off across the outside of the Square, two of them pulling the other two behind them. Humans...surprise them, and they just go still and stiff. At least they were relatively safe now, though...civilian deaths are not things he wants on his conscience. Of course, now he had given up his element of surprise...and he still had three large vines to deal with. Well...it was harder for them to hit a moving target, so that was exactly what he did; he started moving, taking off at speed towards where Booster and Hood were. He couldn't launch a sneak attack on Ivy now, so that only left the other option: Link up and coordinate with the other two heroes present. They needed a plan and they needed to cooperate if they were going to end this fight quickly.<br/><br/>The next vine to reach him came at him from the front, which he ably leaped over, placing a hand on the vine as he passed to aid in his balance, resuming his long, rapid stride as he hit the floor. Another one came at him from the side, which he managed to duck under at the last moment, sending it whistling behind him - from the sudden crash, he assumed that it had bumped into the first one; he made a mental note of that. The bigger vines were large, but cumbersome and more difficult to control. That could be useful later - and away. The third one also shot at him from the side, too low to duck under and too large to jump on a moments notice. It would have been a problem...if he didn't have the Trident. With a thought, the Trident shifted into its Blade form, which Orin promptly swung in a vicious arc towards the vine. The large green appendage didn't even reach Orin, as a thin, blue wave of magical energy leapt from the tip of the sword and cleaved straight through the center of the vine, leaving both halves collapsing and twitching on the ground. He didn't generally like killing, but those things were evidently not sentient, and were obviously under the direct control of Ivy...so he felt no remorse. Killing weeds was nothing like killing sentient, sapient creatures. That was the last vine that reached him before he managed to reach Booster and Hood - some machine gun fire from one of the henchmen had skittered off of his arms, but nothing really all that worth noting - and skidded to a halt beside them.</div></div><br/><br/><br/>I told you Aquaman was badass.<br/>:P :P