Hoyden

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Hoyden fighting Felix Swoop and other Adepts: Drone 23.1 said: I woke Hoyden instead.

I wasn’t making friends or allies here, I suspected.

Hoyden strode forward, coughing and wiping at her mouth. A flaming bird soared at her face. In the instant it made contact, it detonated in a ball of flame and unburned feathers. She was thrown backwards.

Another homed in on me. I wasn’t durable, like Hoyden. I shielded my face with my arms.

The armor protected me, the cloth didn’t. I could feel it as though something scraped against my flesh, felt the hot prickle that promised future pain. A burn.

“Stop,” the cape with the hallucination power said. He made a sign with his hands, extending his rod at me.

Again, I felt the sensation of things distorting.

I was free of Thirteenth Hour’s power, though, and my bugs were winding silk around his arm and face. He clawed at it, to little effect, and the more butterflies that settled on his face, the less effective he seemed to get.

Hoyden had returned, and endured a barrage of more flaming birds. The larger birds weren’t obliterated as they exploded, and circled around to strike her again. I ducked below one I could sense only by the bugs it burned along its path, then backed away.

The one with the knife. I tied some silk around the knife handle, connecting to the silk between Swoop’s leg and the table.

She tried to bring the knife down to cut something, and the cord went taut, pulling it from her hand. She tried to bend over to pick it up, and the thread between her throat and the light fixture pulled taut.

What was her power, even?

I wasn’t interested in finding out. I navigated the threads by using the bugs to track their placement. The armor Dragon had fashioned didn’t have compartments inside the armor panel at the back, but I had a taser dangling from my belt. Before she could figure out a way to break a thread, arm herself or use her power, I jabbed her with the taser.

She fell, momentarily suspended by the threads. I had the bugs near the light fixture manually break the thread before she strangled.

That left Swoop and Mr. Hallucination, who was apparently suffering for not having removed more threads from himself earlier. He swatted at the butterflies.

I reached Jouster, shaking him. When he didn’t rouse, I shook him harder.

Nothing. Not jarring enough.

I kicked his leg out from under him, and he sprawled.

“Fuck you,” he mumbled, as he began to climb to his feet.

“Wake up Clockblocker and Vantage,” I said.

“You don’t give me orders,” he said. He approached Swoop. The man smacked Hoyden with one more bird, whirling around to face Jouster, and then got slammed in the chest with the fattest part of the lance. The third tier Adept flew into a wall and went limp.

Hoyden helping D.T. soldiers and Wards fight Slaughterhouse Nine clones: Sting 26.5 said: The Nyx clones and Psychosomas ran for cover. The Night Hags were the cover. D.T. soldiers and Wards opened fire. Hoyden struck a car with literal explosive force, and sent it flying. Ninety percent of the offense was directed at the Night Hags. The women practically disintegrated as the bullets, flames and other projectiles made contact. Their bodies shattered into thousands of black shards. Moments later, they emerged from the landscape. One park bench distorted and reconfigured into a new Night Hag. That Night Hag was summarily slain, and reformed herself out of a nearby patch of grass.

Hoyden fighting Nilbog's creations: Sting 26.6 said: I moved bugs to the fray while Hoyden and Defiant advanced on the ramp.

The creatures came in as a singular mass. Dozens at once, practically crawling over one another. A spine glanced off of Defiant’s armor and came within inches of striking the decoder. Foil swatted it out of the air.

Parian’s first doll joined Rachel’s dogs in reinforcing the space behind Hoyden and Defiant. Hoyden kicked and punched at the creatures, and small explosions tore through their ranks. One punch, two or three creatures dead. One landed on her, claws extended, and then promptly flew away as another detonation of flame and smoke flared from the point of contact. She was barely scratched.

If those claws were poisonous, though…

Still, she made for a competent front line, beside Defiant with his disintegrating spear. Every movement of the spear was as precise as Hoyden’s explosions were erratic. The blur effect cut through the enemy like butter, and in the rare occasions where the target did slip away or dodge the attack, Defiant followed up with jolts of electricity and darts.

Sting 26.6 said: Defiant didn’t respond. Hoyden had made her way down the ramp and was dishing out the hurt close-range. She was keeping the melee threats on their heels with a constant, aggressive offense, while her secondary powers rendered her resistant to the damage that came from a distance. Defiant was left to defend the opening himself.

I drew my knife and my handgun and advanced until I was just behind and to the left of Defiant. He shifted position a fraction, allowing for the extra assistance.

Who knew we’d get to this point, Armsmaster? I thought. Fighting side by side. I used my knife to impale one creature in the neck, then kicked it back down the half-ruined ramp.

Two of the countdown clocks had hit zero. The one clock remained. The high end of Defiant’s estimation on the decoder’s progress. “One minute,” I said. “Maybe,” Defiant said. “Maybe?”

“We took the time this past year to find Dodge’s old exit points, talking to ex-customers of the-” he stopped, grunting as he swept the spear at one persistent spine-spitter, “-Toybox group. Used it to get readings, test the decoder. But this portal has different metrics, updated technology. More recent tech.”

“It’s not a guarantee?” Hoyden shouted the words, as explosions continued to rip out around her, tearing through the assembled creatures. They were keeping a healthy distance, now, which meant her very presence was keeping a whole area clear of the blighters.

Nothing’s a guarantee, I thought. “I never guarantee anything,” Defiant grunted, echoing my thoughts. “Except for a select few promises I make to people I love and people I hate.”

Rachel’s dogs were tearing into the goblins as they made their way through the gap beneath the charger that had wedged into the gap, each dog biting their mouths down once or twice in quick succession before flinging the things away just so they could have their mouths free to bite others. Their paws swept out to club and claw at the creatures. Tecton and Foil guarded the space between dogs, striking out to catch the ones which slipped between the dog’s legs.

I plunged my knife down to stab one of the softer looking targets, then danced back to avoid the spatter of acid that flowed from the wound.

“I’m getting buried!” Hoyden shrieked. She’d been targeted by some critters that were dissolving into a slurry as they burned, with tendrils extending out to draw in the wounded and dead.

They’re reincarnating, feeding on themselves to make more.

“Stop using your power!” Defiant ordered.

“I can’t! They’ll kill me!” -->

Hoyden is the team leader for the Austin Wards.

Personality
Her personality is very inline with her cape name.

Golem noted that Hoyden lived with layers of defenses around herself - bravado, sarcasm, aggression, and so on. He suspect that "there were very few things that really got to the heart of Hoyden. When they did, they hurt."

Appearance
Hoyden's theme was one that looked like a desperado. Her mask was a cloth with eye-holes that covered her head but allowed for her blond curls to tumble from behind. Her costume was made up of what appeared to be black chain-mail, but designed to look like a jacket and jeans.

Abilities and Powers
Hoyden was a cape with multiple powers. As a striker, anything she hits will explode, while an attacker would also suffer a retaliatory explosion should she be hit. This is in combination with a resistance to damage from other powers, one that becomes better the further the distance from her target. Combined with basic strength and durability increases, classifies her as a brute. This let her survive things like falls from great heights; indirect force could still affect her though.

Combined, these powers allowed her to take lightning strikes from Behemoth and fight hand-to-hand with Scion. She also has some resistance to mind effecting powers.

Her power was under conscious control, she could suppress it.

Background
Hoyden triggered as part of a multi-trigger event.

She would eventually join the Wards.

Story Start
Needed the services of Glenn Chambers more then any other Ward.

Post-Echidna
Was part of the action against The Adepts and the evaluation of Weaver.

Fought during the Behemoth attack on New Delhi, India. Hoyden was able to sustain direct lightning strikes from Behemoth, acting as a lightning rod to protect other capes during the battle.

Post-Timeskip
Hoyden participated in the fight against the Slaughterhouse 9000. The first group she encountered consisted of two Nyx, four Night Hag's and three Psychosoma's. The group was dispatched when Number Man and Contessa came to the aid of the heroes present.

When an expeditionary force revisited Ellisburg, Hoyden served as suppressing fire for the remaining creations Nilbog had left behind. She was eventually buried in the sludge they left behind and had to be rescued by Defiant.

She and Tecton ended up holding off a group Harbingers but were quickly relieved.

Gold Morning
As part of Khepri's swarm she fought against Zion hand-to-hand, able to resist the creature's defensive measures. She was, however, frightened the entire time.

Trivia

 * As with many Worm cape names 'Hoyden', or 'Hoiden', is a somewhat dated term. Originating from Dutch, it refers to a boisterous girl.