Shield

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A shield was a broad piece of armor carried on the arm and used as a defense against blows or hurled objects.

Description

Shields were used exclusively during the era for which the Mutant Wars occurred, as such archaic means of defense were hugely commonplace in such technologically underdeveloped cultures. The Police Grand Army used long rectangular shields in battle. Although the shields were mounted on their war vehicles, they were able to be detached and used by the driver, being carried either on the wrist or held in the off-hand, to protect against both gunfire and physical weapons. Their shields were even capable of repelling electrokinesis. The Grand Army used them during the Battle of the Golden Gates and the Battle of Yellowstone.

Power shields were glowing, high-tech shields used in conjecture with power blunts. Sheriff Eli Baldric used such weaponry in gladiatorial combat in 2000.

A deflector shield was a transparent or translucent energy field produced by shield generators. These generators could be placed on robots, aircraft, war stations, and individual buildings and other ground-based structures. The primary purpose of the shield was to block or deflect projectiles from hitting the object under protection. They could also provide a significant atmospheric speed boost. One of the most powerful deflector shields in the Sol System was projected around Superhero University in 2017. The term "shield" can also refer to a superpower used to create a mutated barrier to deflect physical entities and applications of relatively offensive projectiles, in order to protect a certain person or area. Laser blasts may sometimes rebound directly off it back towards the shooter or in other cases, may ricochet off in other directions or dissipate as soon as they hit the shield. When cast by mutantkind, a (usually) invisible shield appears where the caster's hand is pointed providing a protective barrier between themselves and their attacker. The shield itself does not give off light, but rather, the projectile bouncing off of it does. The only attack the Shield can't defend against is the Death beam, since it's unblockable. It also has some degree of trouble blocking telekinesis.

Types of shields

NoHead troops used portable shields that could be deployed on any surface. The shield was projected by a small generator and formed a dome that could protect several individuals. The portable shield could deflect any gunfire coming from outside or inside. However, because it was designed as a shield for ground troops, a well-thrown detonator of sufficient size could quite easily destroy the generator and anything inside the shield. The shield also had a limited durability, weakening when shot, with the color of the shield eventually changing from blue to orange and finally red before disappearing as the generator overheated.

During the Battle of Yellowstone, the Police Grand Army opened shields to use against the NoHeads to catch them by complete surprise. The shields blocked lasers, but robots could pass through because RC-3 possessed several detonations capable of decimating entire cities. Some shields were deadly to anything upon contact.

Shields could block all but the most powerful mutantry, such as the death beam, for instance. Some shields would vaporize any matter, including organics that touched them, and projectiles fired at it if they are unable to break the barrier, create large, resonating explosions.

Personal shields

On Neptune, personal shielding for individual units was commonplace. Zira Miranda Grover invented a personal shield that convalesced around her throne to cover her entire being almost twenty-four-seven. Although it produced radiation and magnetic fields that were dangerous for sustained use, Zira's bulky body was eventually able to adapt to it and in turn become invulnerable to some other factors.

Underage visitors on Planet 12 were given customary belts with deflector shields, which Lily Clark used to protect Edwardine when she was forced to joust against the Emperor.

During the Second NoHead War through the Shadow Wars, however, personal shield tech was all but lost. Very few armies equipped their soldiers with personal shielding, due to their ineffectiveness with modern weapon technologies, assuming that they were small enough for personal use. A notable exception was the brief time that Xydarone IV used one.

The Police Grand Army MC81 Sky Cruiser was equipped with experimental deflector shielding. These shields were said to be far stronger than regular ones and took the noticeable appearance of a normally invisible bubble around the ship.

The Shield Gauntlet was a small personal shield worn on the off-hand which could be used to absorb and even deflect energy weapons and shots. The gauntlet accomplished this by projecting a small energy shield, less than a meter in range, and typically took on the appearance of a concave disk of clear energy, having no real color. Shield Gauntlets were insured for two thousand dollars.

Brotherhood shields were a type physical shields wielded by the Brotherhood warriors of old. Crafted from an alchemical alloy, they were virtually impenetrable, even to exoswords, and they absorbed the hate of combatants around them.