# Superheroes of the Trust Game Thread II



## DM_Matt (Feb 17, 2008)

Continue posting here...


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## kirinke (Feb 17, 2008)

"Could we maybe explore the alien-god theory later? Right now isn't the time. Apollo? Nitro? You two are our resident golden boys. Convince him for goodness sakes!" Hope growled softly, knowing that of all of them, the two celebrities have the most glib tongues.


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## Raylis (Feb 18, 2008)

"Well that explains how we were able to "see" his ship. Why don't we take the data he has and tell him to wait for further instructions. If we play this right we may be able to coerce him into helping us. 

Or we could tell him the truth and strike a bargin. He may be wiling to work with us if we tell him exactly what we want, we may even reveal that he's been double crossed by Barrington and will volunteer his services. If we lie to him and he discovers the ruse then he may just contact Barrington himself with the information on how to find this ship and by extension the Trust base and us.


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## Shayuri (Feb 18, 2008)

"Okay, okay..." Viridian says, looking harried.

"How are we going to impersonate...whoever he thinks we are? We don't know anything. No codes or...even what language to speak. I mean, Ares was a Greek god, but obviously he's speaking English."

She looks at the others. "Or...does the Trust have any information at all on these Geldaren?"


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## DM_Matt (Feb 18, 2008)

Meanwhile, Black puts his finger in an ethernet port, and examines the system, his the nanites within him poring through data far  faster than Jacobson can with his keyboard and monitor  He reports "It looks like the communication protocol he is using was initiated by him sending an encryption key, then our computer accepting it and sending another key back.  No wonder he's so sure that we are the ship sent to contact him.  Since we copied the comm system off what was apparently the ship sent to contact him, its key under this protocol is the one he was expecting, and it knows to accept his."


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## DM_Matt (Feb 18, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Okay, okay..." Viridian says, looking harried.
> 
> "How are we going to impersonate...whoever he thinks we are? We don't know anything. No codes or...even what language to speak. I mean, Ares was a Greek god, but obviously he's speaking English."
> 
> She looks at the others. "Or...does the Trust have any information at all on these Geldaren?"




"Nope.  The ship came stripped of any direct reference to any alien race -- nothing about the Geldaran or anyone else.  It may have been an intentional act by whoever or whatever made the crew disappear."

Also, no word has come in yet from Daedalus or The Primordial.  Jacobson reports that the Trust AI reports that The Primordial is under cover at the moment, and they have yet to reach Daedalus.


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## Victim (Feb 18, 2008)

"Do we need to make him believe us?  It sounded like maybe he already does."  Shooting Star moves into formation with the plane, then twists around to fly backwards.  _Dang glasses are smashing my nose.  Of course no one has responded yet, it's been only a few minutes.  They have stuff to do right - it can take people like 30 seconds just to answer their phones._  "So we'd just have to not tip him off hopefully?"

"If your gear is using all these alien protocols, isn't that a security risk if he knows them too?  What if he can do more than send messages?"  _You copied all the code too?_


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## DM_Matt (Feb 18, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Do we need to make him believe us?  It sounded like maybe he already does."  Shooting Star moves into formation with the plane, then twists around to fly backwards.  _Dang glasses are smashing my nose.  Of course no one has responded yet, it's been only a few minutes.  They have stuff to do right - it can take people like 30 seconds just to answer their phones._  "So we'd just have to not tip him off hopefully?"
> 
> "If your gear is using all these alien protocols, isn't that a security risk if he knows them too?  What if he can do more than send messages?"  _You copied all the code too?_




"All but the few protocols we use are hooked into the computer core.  The others are restricted to certain communications functions only...or at least, they are supposed to be"


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## Vanifae (Feb 18, 2008)

Apollo buzzes Shooting Star flying above her speaking over the comm link, "Hrrm... well let's keep him talking, send a simple response to send along his report... and if you need someone to fake it, I got you covered.  If anything this dude already believes that we are who he thinks we are, so half the battle of the bluff is won."

He then speaks directly to Star, loud enough hopefully that she can hear over the wind, "So what do you say dinner at my place?"


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## kirinke (Feb 18, 2008)

Hope looks uncertain, the electric storm glow of the St. Elmo's fire flicking over her skin like a macabre oil painting. "Do something quick. Else, he might get suspicious,"


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## Elric (Feb 18, 2008)

Nitro is puzzled.

"This guy is _the _ Ares?  And he's some kind of space alien too?  And he speaks English to presumed other aliens?  Man, this universe is a strange place than I thought.  I have no idea what's going on."


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## kirinke (Feb 18, 2008)

"Me either. I'm far more used to dealing with the supernatural then the extra-terrestrial," she looked at the others. "Better think of something quick, before laughing boy gets impatient." she said, guesturing towards the boat below them.


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## Shayuri (Feb 18, 2008)

"Tell him to stop moving, turn off his cloak and await further instructions," Viridian urges.

"I'd do it, but it might be better if someone that sounded a bit more...commanding gave it a try."


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## kirinke (Feb 18, 2008)

"I'd give it a go as well, but I'm far more likely to piss him off then get him to cooperate." she grinned at the others. "Most of the time, my buddies at the Fed and AEGIS use me as the 'bad cop' to their 'good cop'." she shook her head.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 18, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> Nitro is puzzled.
> 
> "This guy is _the _ Ares?  And he's some kind of space alien too?  And he speaks English to presumed other aliens?  Man, this universe is a strange place than I thought.  I have no idea what's going on."




(He isn't speaking English.  It is automatically translated to and from English by the computer, just like the Greek was.)


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## Shayuri (Feb 18, 2008)

(lol...oops...do we know what he was speaking? Anything terrestrial?)


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## DM_Matt (Feb 18, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (lol...oops...do we know what he was speaking? Anything terrestrial?)




(Geldaran.  Sorry I forgot to mention that. The computer can translate to and from most terran languages as well as all of the alien ones that the ship they found could translate.  When found, the computer already had a few earth languages programmed in, making it easy to add more and link them all together)


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## kirinke (Feb 18, 2008)

ooc:
If anyone else doesn't want to give it a try, Hope will, maybe using a Hero point to max out her Bluff skill? That's allowable right?


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## Victim (Feb 19, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo buzzes Shooting Star flying above her speaking over the comm link...
> 
> He then speaks directly to Star, loud enough hopefully that she can hear over the wind, "So what do you say dinner at my place?"




Shooting Star nods rapidly in assent.  _Wait, he just what?  And then I...  What was I thinking?  I thought I was trying NOT to be an idiot.  I've never done anything like that before.  I don't know how people are supposed to behave on dates.  And, I mean, what would I wear?  I don't have anything that looks nice.  I don't know if I can do this - or if I should.  But I do want something nice for once._  She tries to backpedal, "Umm.  Something will probably happen that leaves us too messed up or busy to do anything."

(Her commlink is probably still picking up what she says, since it's going to be set up for hands free use in this kind of situation.)


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## Vanifae (Feb 19, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Shooting Star nods rapidly in assent.  _Wait, he just what?  And then I...  What was I thinking?  I thought I was trying NOT to be an idiot.  I've never done anything like that before.  I don't know how people are supposed to behave on dates.  And, I mean, what would I wear?  I don't have anything that looks nice.  I don't know if I can do this - or if I should.  But I do want something nice for once._  She tries to backpedal, "Umm.  Something will probably happen that leaves us too messed up or busy to do anything."
> 
> (Her commlink is probably still picking up what she says, since it's going to be set up for hands free use in this kind of situation.)



Apollo smirks, “Well in that case we can have a date in the infirmary.”

He then focuses on the task at hand, “Transmit this message: Lord Ares spare the pleasantries, we have urgent business to attend to, transmit your report immediately then standby for further instruction.”

_Bluff +13, come on… work for me!_


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## DM_Matt (Feb 19, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo smirks, “Well in that case we can have a date in the infirmary.”
> 
> He then focuses on the task at hand, “Transmit this message: Lord Ares spare the pleasantries, we have urgent business to attend to, transmit your report immediately then standby for further instruction.”
> 
> _Bluff +13, come on… work for me!_




(aaaaand...high roll.)

Jacobson relays the message through the computer, in Geldaran.

Ares respods.  "Very well, (word that translates closest as 'Admiral').  The data is being sent."

It appears that this will take a few minutes.


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## Vanifae (Feb 19, 2008)

Apollo grins, "We got some time now to contemplate our next move."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Feb 19, 2008)

"Why not ask what he is doing out here, and what his current status is?  That way, we can tell if he's using Barrington, or the other way around."

Wren doesn't have much to go on, but any idea he has comes out...


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## kirinke (Feb 19, 2008)

Hope bit her lip, thinking, grateful that the mask hid most of her face. "Ask him what he knows about Barrington outright. I'm assuming that whoever Barrington works for is hostile to these Geldarans and vice versa."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Feb 19, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope bit her lip, thinking, grateful that the mask hid most of her face. "Ask him what he knows about Barrington outright. I'm assuming that whoever Barrington works for is hostile to these Geldarans and vice versa."




"No, ask him what he is doing out here.  Then, should he mention Barrington, or any plan that he is working on, then we go from there.  Seriously, do you think I would ask him about Barrington?  You know, his alien race is the usual kind that take what they can, domineering, chaotic sort.  Simply ask a vague question of his current status, and what he's working on right now, and simply see where that leads."

Wren shakes his head at Hope, thinking that she would know better than to make assumptions like that.  After all, she was the investigative type, wasn't she?


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## kirinke (Feb 19, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "No, ask him what he is doing out here.  Then, should he mention Barrington, or any plan that he is working on, then we go from there.  Seriously, do you think I would ask him about Barrington?  You know, his alien race is the usual kind that take what they can, domineering, chaotic sort.  Simply ask a vague question of his current status, and what he's working on right now, and simply see where that leads."
> 
> Wren shakes his head at Hope, thinking that she would know better than to make assumptions like that.  After all, she was the investigative type, wasn't she?




Hope shrugged. It made sense to her, after all, Barrington was going about trying to take over the world. Stood to reason that whoever ran him wasn't the sort to be offering peace and fluffy kitties to their adversaries. 

"You'd know better than me Wren," she said wryly, accepting he was probably more knowledgable than she was on the subject. "Go for it, I mean, we don't have much to loose at the moment,"


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## Shayuri (Feb 20, 2008)

"Actually," Viridian says, "I think we should wait and see what the data he's sending has. He can cut it off anytime until it's done, and every time we talk to him is another chance to tip him off. Also, there may be things in the data that give us questions to ask."


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## kirinke (Feb 20, 2008)

"Twenty-one years is alot of data to go through in a short time Vi. It's normal to ask specific questions, especially if you're an in the hurry upper-management type. They don't have the time to spend to shift through all of the raw data."

"Maybe phrase a question along those lines. 'I don't have the time to shift through all of this data, could you give me information on X',"


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## Vanifae (Feb 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Actually," Viridian says, "I think we should wait and see what the data he's sending has. He can cut it off anytime until it's done, and every time we talk to him is another chance to tip him off. Also, there may be things in the data that give us questions to ask."



 "You really think I am going to screw up," Apollo jokes.


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## Shayuri (Feb 20, 2008)

Viridian throws her hands up.

"Then do whatever! I'm just saying you're risking a lot here, when the data's probably a lot more valuable. But what the hell do I know?"


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## kirinke (Feb 20, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "You really think I am going to screw up," Apollo jokes.




"I'm not even gonna go there," Hope mutters, wondering if she could come up with a spell to beseach the goddess of luck.

Although in her case, it seems lately that Lady Fortuna isn't exactly looking her way.... Or if she is, she has a weird sense of humor.


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## Elric (Feb 20, 2008)

"I say we wait for the data.  We've had plenty of action recently- as long as things stay calm, might at well let it continue."


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## kirinke (Feb 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian throws her hands up.
> 
> "Then do whatever! I'm just saying you're risking a lot here, when the data's probably a lot more valuable. But what the hell do I know?"




Hope put her hand on Vi's shoulder. "Easy. Let the data be transfered first. Then ask," Hope said quietly. "What is this, heroics by committee?" she muttered to herself.


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## Vanifae (Feb 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian throws her hands up.
> 
> "Then do whatever! I'm just saying you're risking a lot here, when the data's probably a lot more valuable. But what the hell do I know?"



"Hey Viridian, relax babe, I got this, and I think your idea is probably the better one," Apollo adds.


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## Vanifae (Feb 20, 2008)

Apollo laughs, "Luck is one of my skills."


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## kirinke (Feb 20, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo laughs, "Luck is one of my skills."




_Just not one of mine_, Hope thought peavishly.


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## Victim (Feb 20, 2008)

Megan blushes and smiles shyly.  _This is a little unreal.  Focus, Megan.  You're a superhero on a dangerous mission.  That's right, I'm a superhero, so it's okay for good things to happen to me._  "Why not?"



			
				kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope bit her lip, thinking, grateful that the mask hid most of her face. "Ask him what he knows about Barrington outright. I'm assuming that whoever Barrington works for is hostile to these Geldarans and vice versa."




"So we can talk about the relationships between alien gods when you want to, but it's a bad time when I have an idea?"  Shooting Star complains.  "Egypt and Greece aren't that far apart.  I thought their civilizations overlaped in time periods.  Ruling by posing as gods with superpowers and advanced technology is the same strategy.  We know more similarities between these Geldrans and whatever alien stuff Barrington found, so it's stupid to assume that they're different, opposed groups with the information we have, especially since Voderak was helping Barrington in the first place."

"Is the file streaming?  Should I head inside to read the stuff he's sending?" she asks.  _I'd rather not go back in there if I can fly on my own though.  But if we need to look at everything right away..._


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## Shayuri (Feb 20, 2008)

Viridian stares at Megan, and her mouth drops open.

"That's it," she says, and scrambles for her PDA.

"The Eye of Hell...it's a Persian artifact. Persia, Egypt, Greece...all had trade, and wars...they were contemporaries... It's not magical, but it's obviously not normal. It could be an alien device of some kind!"

She calls up as much as she can on the Eye, in anticipation of using it to try to search the data from Voderac.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan blushes and smiles shyly.  _This is a little unreal.  Focus, Megan.  You're a superhero on a dangerous mission.  That's right, I'm a superhero, so it's okay for good things to happen to me._  "Why not?"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




"Affir--Yes, I mean.  Come on in."  


Unfortunately, the older data comes first, starting not with the 21 years but a summary of Ares' early years until the that time.  The information is part of his plea to return from exile.

You first discover that the Geldarans are not allied with the race from which Barrington found technology in Egypt.  In fact, the creators of that technology, the Dao-Lug, were and remain rivals of the Geldarans, and Ares stole the idea of getting people to worship him from them, not from the Geldarans, who conquer in the conventional manner.

It seems that Ares is the last survivor of the planet Pax, inhabited by a spiritual and pacifist species also called the Pax with powers allowing them to commune with nature and derive powers from it.  They could regenerate through channeling natural energy, combine their powers to resurrect the dead, and through sufficient meditation transcend their physical bodies and move on to some kind of paradise even greater than their very well-kept world.  They were also adept at cloaking and phasing technology in order to avoid fighting.  

A Pax named Aron, however, believed that they were highly vulnerable to attack from more expansionistic races, especially on account of their extensive natural resources, and told everyone who would listen that they must develop weaponry to defend themselves.  When they did not listen, Aron betrayed them to the Geldarans, hoping to teach those who scorned him a lesson, but hoping also that he could convince the Geldarans to show mercy and turn Pax into a protectorate.  He taught the Geldarans how to defeat the Pax's passive defenses.

When the Geldarans attacked, the Pax refused to surrender and join the Geldaran empire, forcing the Geldarans to kill them all.  Aron, now Ares, worked his way up through the Geldaran ranks and eventually ruled a moon called Taranas, until enemies drove the Geldarans from it and he was exiled as punishment.

Blaming the Pax for their own destruction, and finding himself quite good at warfare, Ares vowed to help spread the tools of defense to those who, unlike the Pax, desired to stand up for themselves and put their faith in might rather than spirit or philosophy.  For the last 2500 years, Ares has played the role of deity, warlord, arms dealer, and strifesower, altering power balances to encourage wars and revolutions.  Not only did this serve his own values, but this strife could, as Ares emphasized to the Geldarans, facilitate Geldaran conquest of earth.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian stares at Megan, and her mouth drops open.
> 
> "That's it," she says, and scrambles for her PDA.
> 
> ...




Looking specifically for that information, you find that Ares was aware of a Perisan Dao-Lug cache captured by a Zoroastrian cult that worshiped not Ahira-Mazda, but rather Angramainyu.  For some reason, they tried to use magic to operate the devices for some unknown purpose, including some kind of magical transmutations performed on the control crystals that Ares speaks of in a highly condescending manner.  Most of the devices were broken beyond repair in this matter, including a small ship with what had originally been a functioning hyperdrive. apparently, keeping this technology out of human hands is important to the Geldarans.

You also find that Ares was aware of the Dao-Lug cache in Egypt that Barrington found. In fact, he sold the location to Barrington, believing that he could cause great strife with such devices.   He points out specifically however, that only personal weapons and shields, and the healing/immortality/anti-aging device that Barrington himself mentioned, were included.  Ares himself sabotaged  ship-related technology before selling Barrington the location.


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## Victim (Feb 20, 2008)

Megan reenters the aircraft reluctantly.  _I know that affirmative means yes, even if that's not the way I normally talk.  I'm not an idiot._

She quickly summarizes the files as she speed reads.  "Okay, I was wrong."  _Dammit_ "Ares isn't a Geldaran.  He was part of some peaceful alien race that he betrayed to the Geldarans because they wouldn't build up weapons like he wanted.  He got exiled here because his place got taken over.  The 'pretend to be a god thing' he took from the Dao Lung - Barrington's alien guys."

"Hey, he's the guy who got Barrington started in the first place!"  _The ability to defend one's self doesn't sound so bad, but look at everything he's done for that._


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## kirinke (Feb 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan reenters the aircraft reluctantly.  _I know that affirmative means yes, even if that's not the way I normally talk.  I'm not an idiot._
> 
> She quickly summarizes the files as she speed reads.  "Okay, I was wrong."  _Dammit_ "Ares isn't a Geldaran.  He was part of some peaceful alien race that he betrayed to the Geldarans because they wouldn't build up weapons like he wanted.  He got exiled here because his place got taken over.  The 'pretend to be a god thing' he took from the Dao Lung - Barrington's alien guys."
> 
> "Hey, he's the guy who got Barrington started in the first place!"  _The ability to defend one's self doesn't sound so bad, but look at everything he's done for that._




"Looks like it," Hope turned to their resident alien. "I know you can't possibly know every alien race that comes along, but.... Do you know anything about these Dao-Lug guys?"


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## Vanifae (Feb 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Hey, he's the guy who got Barrington started in the first place!"  _The ability to defend one's self doesn't sound so bad, but look at everything he's done for that._



Apollo comes aboard reluctantly with a salute and a smirk, “So Barrington got his start from Lord Ares, who isn’t a god but an alien… who got the idea to play god from other aliens.  Man I am already confused.”

“So this looks like some desperate plea to return from exile, we could use that, play to his need to be free of our world, although we don’t actually have to live up to our side of the bargain, has anymore data come in yet?” Apollo asks.

“Any estimate on how long this transfer will take?” the rocker adds.

Apollo thinks, “Transmit this message: Your progress is satisfactory, Lord Ares; your request for returning from exile does not go unheard.  We will review this intelligence critically; I hope there is something of importance in this data, your freedom from this world may well depend on it.”

_Bluff +13, will use a Hero Point if lower then 10 on the roll._


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## Elric (Feb 21, 2008)

Nitro turns to Apollo.  "Man, you're _good_.  Let's hope this works."


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## DM_Matt (Feb 21, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo comes aboard reluctantly with a salute and a smirk, “So Barrington got his start from Lord Ares, who isn’t a god but an alien… who got the idea to play god from other aliens.  Man I am already confused.”
> 
> “So this looks like some desperate plea to return from exile, we could use that, play to his need to be free of our world, although we don’t actually have to live up to our side of the bargain, has anymore data come in yet?” Apollo asks.
> 
> ...




(Annnd...no need to reroll)

Ares responds "Thank you, (that word that's kind of like Admiral again).  I will await your orders and decision, wherever I am.  I am transmitting a program that will attune your scanners to my ship's cloaking field...the same one I created to ensure Geldaran victory over Pax."


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## kirinke (Feb 21, 2008)

Hope looks at Apollo. "Hmmm. Say something about our cloaking shield being damaged and the files to run it corrupted. We may need another...."


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## Shayuri (Feb 21, 2008)

Viridian goes over to Agent Black.

"What do we know about hyperdrive technology? Could we identify whether or not the crystal in the Eye of Hell is a piece of one? Maybe a magically altered piece? Or would we need more information?"


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## Victim (Feb 21, 2008)

"Maybe we shouldn't push our luck until the transfer completes?"  _I'm getting a headache._


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## kirinke (Feb 21, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Maybe we shouldn't push our luck until the transfer completes?"  _I'm getting a headache._




Hope flashes a quick grin at Viridian. "Of course." then she sobered. "So he's building some sort of hyperdrive ship? As a weapon maybe? A means to get off our fair third rock from the Sun?" you could tell she was thinking more to herself outloud than expecting anyone to respond, she mentally taking notes, remembering every last detail....


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## Fangor the Fierce (Feb 21, 2008)

Wren relays that he's merely heard of the races of aliens, but has no knowledge that would benefit the rest of them.


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## Victim (Feb 21, 2008)

"Barrington might not be the one who wants the hyperdrive.  It could be a reward for one of his allies or something." Megan offers.


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## Vanifae (Feb 21, 2008)

Apollo smirks in response to Johnny Nitro, “Thanks man, I am sort of just making this all up as I go along.”

“Wait I think he is saying that our sensors will be able to see his ship, this is exactly what we want.  Obviously he assumes that the craft cannot see him, so to facilitate possible extraction we would need to see his craft.  I am willing to take the gamble here guys… either way trust me on this,” he adds brushing his long hair back from his face.

“Transmit this message: Proceed Lord Ares, we will contact you once the data is analyzed.” Apollo replies, "End Transmission."

Apollo smirks shaking his head, “This is going to be a fun gig.”


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## kirinke (Feb 22, 2008)

"Looks like we don't have much choice," Hope mutters, relaxing a little. As she relaxes, the storm-fire fades, though her hair and eyes still remain white, an stark reminder of the forces she unconsciously taps into when under stress. The power she wields is at times both volatile and unpredictable.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 22, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo smirks in response to Johnny Nitro, “Thanks man, I am sort of just making this all up as I go along.”
> 
> “Wait I think he is saying that our sensors will be able to see his ship, this is exactly what we want.  Obviously he assumes that the craft cannot see him, so to facilitate possible extraction we would need to see his craft.  I am willing to take the gamble here guys… either way trust me on this,” he adds brushing his long hair back from his face.
> 
> ...




"I look forward to it," Ares says before signing off.  

The data is quite extensive, with history and inside information about military and technological advances in recent history, as well as his various exploits and the wars he has started and stoked.  It is about as complete an encyclopedia of war as you've ever seen or heard of, and probably has a lot of information that the Trust does not.

The information on Barrington is interesting.  Ares first found out about Barrington and his potential in a message he received from his old friend Hades, a powerful mutant and old ally who also took on the worship me schtick, but who had since been banished to another dimension.  

Using a technological disguise developed from his cloaking technology, Ares also posed as Thor, and was worshipped by certain Nazis, other than Krieglock/Barrington, who knew the truth.  In fact, it was Barrington's idea, and he used his connections to "Thor" for great effect.

Most recently, Barrington really was referred from the Foundry, as Ironblood said, even though Barrington did already know Ares/Voderac.  Ares provided weapons and planning for all five terrorist attacks that day.  Most interesting is the one you came looking for, the operation in Israel that did NOT seem to lure any Freedom Leaguers away.

It seems that the mission entailed 25 Hamas terrorists led by the radiation-based super Hiroshima Shadow.  Ares/Voderac provided armored radiation suits for the whole crew, as well as blasters, poison gas, and grenades for each and numerous specialized pieces of equipment mainly for breaking through security and armored buildings.  The plan was to raid the nuclear reactor and research facility at Dimona, steal technological data and possibly actual nuclear weapons or related parts, and then Hiroshima Shadow would use his radiation powers to alter the reactor to melt down.  Ares provided maps and other operational advice.

This is of course not what ultimately happened.  Instead, Hiroshima Shadow was captured after nuking to charred bones about a couple dozen unidentified individuals in an apartment complex, then housed somewhere being neutralized by that radiation absorption technology that Barrington wanted for his tower and that the mystery super (who you guys forgot to scry for by the way) uses for her suit.


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## Vanifae (Feb 22, 2008)

Apollo leans against the wall, “Well I am not sure what to make of this, I am not up to speed on your missions and stuff; but it sounds like Lord Ares and Barrington have been long time chums.  Working with Nazis, fomenting wars, and my personal favorite funding terrorism… these guys are Class A Jackasses.”

Apollo switches gears, “So do all super women look this good in their costumes?”  His eyes appraising each of his female comrades, settling on Shooting Star at the end; he grins, “A guy could get used to this.”


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## Victim (Feb 23, 2008)

"So Hiroshima Shadow enters Isreal with about 25 guys, is supposed to cause a reactor meltdown, but is caught in an apartment building with a couple dozen nuked guys before anything like that happens?  A couple dozen sounds a lot like 25.   How many missing Isrealis are there?"  Star asks.

"Now what do we do?" she looks to Mr. Black.  

_I know I'm not...  Wait, I guess if he wants to date me, then he wouldn't be teasing me or just including me out of politeness, right?_


----------



## kirinke (Feb 23, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo leans against the wall, “Well I am not sure what to make of this, I am not up to speed on your missions and stuff; but it sounds like Lord Ares and Barrington have been long time chums.  Working with Nazis, fomenting wars, and my personal favorite funding terrorism… these guys are Class A Jackasses.”
> 
> Apollo switches gears, “So do all super women look this good in their costumes?”  His eyes appraising each of his female comrades, settling on Shooting Star at the end; he grins, “A guy could get used to this.”




"Well if we didn't, it'd be even more embaressing to wear skin-tight suits if you had bulges in the wrong places," Hope quips and sobers as she peruses the information.

"Alright, anything on what Barrington is planning to do with whatever machine he's building? We know it's going to be ultimately destructive and tied to magic in some way." she grimanced at some of the things Ares as pulled, not suprising, given who he chose to emulate.

God of war indeed.


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## Raylis (Feb 23, 2008)

"So what's our next move. From the look of it Voderac works for Barrington on a contractal basis. He might not know, or care, what Barrington's ultimate plans are.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "So Hiroshima Shadow enters Isreal with about 25 guys, is supposed to cause a reactor meltdown, but is caught in an apartment building with a couple dozen nuked guys before anything like that happens?  A couple dozen sounds a lot like 25.   How many missing Isrealis are there?"  Star asks.
> 
> "Now what do we do?" she looks to Mr. Black.
> 
> _I know I'm not...  Wait, I guess if he wants to date me, then he wouldn't be teasing me or just including me out of politeness, right?_





"Well, not exactly.  He would have probably met up with the 25 separately, since he'd be coming from somewhere else in the world, while the 25 would be some combination of already there or just crossing the borders from the territories.  Many could have had work permits or somesuch.  I'm sure Barrington could provide fakes easily.  There are far more than 25 missing persons in the country, so these could be among them, but there isn't some big group of 25 that disappeared just then.

The only bodies they have identified conclusively and released were the owners of the three-bedroom apartment -- an Arab family -- citizens, native born -- consisting of a widower and his two adult sons."


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## Victim (Feb 23, 2008)

"I'm sorry.  I thought that Shadow and the others would be meeting at the same safehouse at some point before their raid even if they came over separately."


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## DM_Matt (Feb 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I'm sorry.  I thought they all be in the same safehouse or something."




(I don't understand that sentence.)


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## Victim (Feb 23, 2008)

(Edited)


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## DM_Matt (Feb 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I'm sorry.  I thought that Shadow and the others would be meeting at the same safehouse at some point before their raid even if they came over separately."




"They probably would."


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## Shayuri (Feb 23, 2008)

"Okay...lets not forget we have a cloaked alien arms dealer here," Viridian points out.

"What are we going to do about him now that we have the info?"


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## Vanifae (Feb 23, 2008)

"Want my opinion we take him into custody if we can," Apollo shrugs, "I am not a thinker, I just do, you guys put the pieces together... I am gonna enjoy the scenery."

He crashes in a chair, forms his light guitar and start strumming some notes.


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## kirinke (Feb 23, 2008)

"From what I've seen, he's eager to please his 'masters'. Why don't we use that to lure him on board our plane? Then we can surprise him, jump him and restrain him before he realizes that he's been tricked,"


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## Victim (Feb 23, 2008)

"Once he sees us, he'll probably be able to figure things out.  Supers tend to trash most places they use as battlegrounds; fighting inside our own jet might not be the best choice.  Even if Ares never gets a chance to fight back, your missed attacks could do alot of damage - there's nothing else besides the plane to get hit."  _But I don't miss like that with my normal attacks._


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

"There is that...." Hope admitted ruefully. "Well, we can always trash his ship now that we have the information we need. And god only knows, he deserves it." Hope looked at the files with a grimace, selling out his entire planet just to save his own misbegotten hide. It reminded her of Battlestar Galatica, only he did not even have the sterling qualities of Baltar. 

"So if we do decide to go in and take Aron, we could use the blitz attack like we did with Fine and the warehouse. Blind, dazzle and nonlethal attacks on the crew and Aron, since our goals are to take him alive as well as keep the crew from unnessisary damage, while we do our best to disable and trash the ship." she grinned a little. "Pretty straightforward and simplistic. If we can, we should try to locate the cloaking device. If not. Oh well."


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## Victim (Feb 24, 2008)

"We don't know their locations, like we did last time."  Star complains.  "And isn't it open like the warehouse.  There's cover on the freightor, hallways inside.  We'd only be able to catch a tiny group in an opening assault.  If they're not vulnerable to an unexpected attack, then our initial advantage gets wasted."

"I think Viridian should make an illusion of superheroes - those of us who fought earlier today.  Hope and I can make attacks appear from other places, so our fakes will seem to have teeth.  We can use that as a diversion to sneak on board from another direction - maybe even by making a hole.  Or we can let them reveal themselves and move around to counter attack people who don't exist.  If we want to preserve our alien disguise just in case, some of the illusions can 'attack' our jet and chase it off."

"We're not going to have any chance for total surprise that way, but we're also counting more on our own abilities to gain advantage rather than a lack of alertness on their part."


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

"The only problem with that Star, is that my lightening attack is usually very _lethal_. I can't really pull back the intensity on that particular power and I'd rather not kill anyone unless I absolutely have to," she said quietly. 

She never went into a fight with the intention of killing anyone. If she could, she would spare the ones that weren't incarnations of evil like demons. But Star was asking her to forego that this time.... It went against the grain. She wasn't a killer, even though she did kill, it was in self defense or in the defense of others. 

"If I do use the lightening attack, I could aim for equipment and the ship itself, not the people," she told the superhero thoughtfully.


----------



## Victim (Feb 24, 2008)

"Then bomb them with ice chunks," Megan fires back.  _There are other supers with dangerous powers - including lighting - who manage to use them non-lethally.  Even I learned to do it.  Either she's a screw up, or she never bothered to learn._

(I'm not calling anything that hits like anti-tank weaponry mere hail.  )

"Or you can just aim it at stuff."  _I was planning on aiming at their weapons too.  Just don't miss with it._


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

She grinned a little at the superhero. "I just didn't want you thinking that I thought it was alright to kill at will. It's not and I'm not either," she pointed her finger at Star. 

"I can pull back my lightening.... It's just that I've never used it on normal, unpowered humans before. I tend to reserve it as my last ditch attack, because it is my strongest power." she looked sober. "I'm just tired of you thinking I'm a monster Star. I'm not and have never been one." 

_I just do horrible things.... Or at least horrible things to someone like Star who has never had to deal with real monsters. Just the human variety. She's so bloody innocent and naive at times, it's frightening._ she thought. 


ooc
No one ever said that Hope was the most subtle of people at least when in comes to booms and trashing things.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 24, 2008)

(Hope's lightning can do non-lethal damage without any problem -- as can all powers that don't have the only lethal damage drawback.  Similarly, you can always "pull punches" on a power (i.e. use it at a lower rank), unless you buy the full power drawback)


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## DM_Matt (Feb 24, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> It reminded her of Battlestar Galatica, only he did not even have the sterling qualities of Baltar. "




Homage Declaration:
[sblock] Wrong Sci-Fi channel reference.  The Pax are basically the Nox with a little bit of Tollan (all eggs in one bypassable basket) and Ancient (Ascension) mixed in. An ironic origin story for Ares.  [/sblock]


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (Hope's lightning can do non-lethal damage without any problem -- as can all powers that don't have the only lethal damage drawback.  Similarly, you can always "pull punches" on a power (i.e. use it at a lower rank), unless you buy the full power drawback)




ooc:
Since I already stated that she couldn't pull back much on the lightening.... Doesn't seem right that she suddenly can. I did notice that she's never pulled back anyway with that particular attack....   

On the other hand, she could just be digging a little at Star, because she's so adamant about Hope not killing anything and that Hope generally only uses her Lightening attack as a last resort type thing, usually against other supers or empowered types. She could simply be a bit hesitant about using that attack on normals, since it is so powerful. What is non-lethal damage to a super-human or empowered type might not be non-lethal to a normal.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 24, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> Since I already stated that she couldn't pull back much on the lightening.... Doesn't seem right that she suddenly can. I did notice that she's never pulled back anyway with that particular attack....
> 
> On the other attacks, she did say she can pull back though.




(Technically, non-lethal damage is the DEFAULT setting on all powers.  Doing lethal damage takes special effort.  Thus, it is not necessary to avoid its use, esp against non-mooks, who are quite hardy.)


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (Technically, non-lethal damage is the DEFAULT setting on all powers.  Doing lethal damage takes special effort.  Thus, it is not necessary to avoid its use, esp against non-mooks, who are quite hardy.)




ooc
Heh. Alright. So she can pull back and was just poking at Star, reminding her that Hope wasn't going into the fight with the mind to kill everyone on board.  

ooo. What's your email? We still need to figure out who or what Hope's parents are.  

Also, if they do manage to capture Aron, Hope will probably want to contact the 'Ascended' energy beings who were the Pax, even though their physical relatives are dead, there are sure to be some running about in energy type states. That's mainly to give those Pax the chance to deal with Aron their own way, sort of a courtesy.


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## Shayuri (Feb 24, 2008)

(OOC - If they're Ascended, they'll not want to interfere. )

"I think Me...I think Shooting Star's idea is a really good one," Viridian says. "Especially where we seem to attack our own jet. That could leave open the possibility of us 'contacting' him again if he somehow manages to escape. Using images to flush them out is also smart, because we have no idea what kind of weapons they're using. Ares has access to alien devices of completely unknown power. Who knows what they're using for security on that thing?"

She nods.

"We're close enough, I should be able to make it seem like the fake supers are coming out of the clouds. I'll have them attack us first...that'll give the real us a chance to get out of the jet and blend in with the crowd. Then the jet pulls away to avoid the attacks, and we hit the ship, the glamors leading the charge."


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

"Sounds good. I can maybe start a rain shower and whip up the winds some to add to the effect, concentrated around the plane. With the illusion backing it, we can make it seem worse than it really is," she looked at Viridian. "Next question, I know that some illusions don't work that well against machines. Will they work against whatever sensors they're using?"

ooc:
True, but like I said, it'd mainly be more of a courtesy than anything else, letting them know that the group has Aron and giving them the option of meting out their own justice before he's charged with crimes against Earth. I mean, even if they are ascended, they'd probably appreciate the thought and be glad that he's answering for some of his crimes.

 Plus, they might get interested in the group which would add an additional wrinkle.....


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## Shayuri (Feb 24, 2008)

"No," Viridian admits. "It's a glamour. It affects the minds of the people who see it, so they don't show up on mechanical sensors."


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "No," Viridian admits. "It's a glamour. It affects the minds of the people who see it, so they don't show up on mechanical sensors."




"Okay.... Not a huge problem. We may need Mr. Black to shoot off an EMP at the ship, so that they'll have to rely on their own two eyes rather than sensors." she said.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 24, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Okay.... Not a huge problem. We may need Mr. Black to shoot off an EMP at the ship, so that they'll have to rely on their own two eyes rather than sensors." she said.




"Can do.  I can also follow up with some widespread random intrusions into their unaffected systems.  I don't actually have to get any useful hacking done, I just have to make sure they don't trust their computers."


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## Victim (Feb 24, 2008)

"If the illusion is all in their heads, if someone saw the illusion AND looked at sensor screen, would they imagine the appropriate stuff on screen?" Star asks.  "But the EMP stuff sounds good."

_Ascendant energy beings can go screw themselves._  Megan bites her lip to hold back an angry reply.  "Whatever, Hope."  _How many people would be called monsters by their tongue?  And I'm not the one who mentioned using a lethal attack, you jumped that conclusion all by yourself.  Shows you which way you think._


----------



## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "If the illusion is all in their heads, if someone saw the illusion AND looked at sensor screen, would they imagine the appropriate stuff on screen?" Star asks.  "But the EMP stuff sounds good."
> 
> _Ascendant energy beings can go screw themselves._  Megan bites her lip to hold back an angry reply.  "Whatever, Hope."  _How many people would be called monsters by their tongue?  And I'm not the one who mentioned using a lethal attack, you jumped that conclusion all by yourself.  Shows you which way you think._




ooc:
The Ascended talk was all OOC and not IC as of yet. 

IC:
Hope shook her head. "Alot of illusion is based on belief, which is in part mental manipulation. Machines just don't 'think' the way we do." she looked at the superhero.


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## Victim (Feb 24, 2008)

"I wasn't asking if it could fool the machine.  Just if it could fool person operating it."


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I wasn't asking if it could fool the machine.  Just if it could fool person operating it."




"The machine transmits what the person sees. If the machine doesn't sense it, can't look at it, doesn't recognize it, then no. The person doesn't see it. In order for the machine to 'see it' it'd have to be something like a hologram or machine made illusion. Magical illusions, mental effects and glamours, don't usually affect machines, so therefor, they won't affect whoever looks through them."


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## Shayuri (Feb 24, 2008)

Viridian says, "I could make an illusion of someone's screen showing them the wrong information," to Shooting Star. "But I'd have to be able to see what the control room and sensor screen looked like, so I'd know what to make the image look like. I don't know a spell that just makes them fill in the details themselves. So, if I was watching someone watch a radar screen, I could make them see blips that weren't there. But from here, I couldn't."


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## Victim (Feb 24, 2008)

"Okay."


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## kirinke (Feb 24, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian says, "I could make an illusion of someone's screen showing them the wrong information," to Shooting Star. "But I'd have to be able to see what the control room and sensor screen looked like, so I'd know what to make the image look like. I don't know a spell that just makes them fill in the details themselves. So, if I was watching someone watch a radar screen, I could make them see blips that weren't there. But from here, I couldn't."





"Basically, it's complicated and it's far easier to simply screw up their computers and sensors so they can't be trusted." she grinned at Star. "Magic creates alot more problems than it solves, usually."


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## Raylis (Feb 25, 2008)

"Instead of attacking him right here on his ship we could arrange an ambush. Tell him that the data he gathered is suffiecent to warrent his return and give him the coordinents where he will be recovered.  We keep our cover of being his allies and he drops his guard. He also might bring some other technologies that he found that he has in his home base.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 25, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "Instead of attacking him right here on his ship we could arrange an ambush. Tell him that the data he gathered is suffiecent to warrent his return and give him the coordinents where he will be recovered.  We keep our cover of being his allies and he drops his guard. He also might bring some other technologies that he found that he has in his home base.




(The freighter IS his home base)


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## kirinke (Feb 25, 2008)

"We could.... Is there any reason why we shouldn't arrange an ambush? Time restraints?" she asked Mr. Black.


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## DM_Matt (Feb 25, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "We could.... Is there any reason why we shouldn't arrange an ambush? Time restraints?" she asked Mr. Black.





"Well, this seems to be as good an ambush as any, and saves us the time of starting over.  What do we have to gain by waiting?"


----------



## kirinke (Feb 25, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "Well, this seems to be as good an ambush as any, and saves us the time of starting over.  What do we have to gain by waiting?"




"Nothing. One of my teachers always said that the doom of many a plan is the complexity of it," she replied wryly.


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## Vanifae (Feb 27, 2008)

"So I guess strolling in like gangbusters was probably not the best plan..." Apollo muses.


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## Victim (Feb 27, 2008)

"Why fight fairly if we don't have to?" Megan asks.  "Any alien technology besides the cloaking device makes a frontal attack increasingly risky."

She considers the plan.  "Hmm, I think you should include Optic in the illusion.  His vision power and technology should provide a plausible reason as to how they were detected.  While we're on that topic, did he say why he couldn't help us today?"


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## kirinke (Feb 28, 2008)

"I didn't hear anything about Optic, but I was kinda busy." Hope shrugged. "Including him in the illusion won't be a problem. But I was thinking that the EMP would jam most of the electronics on board the freighter, which would include the weapons systems, I think."


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## DM_Matt (Feb 28, 2008)

(Master Plan provides a +1)

You put your plan into action.  Mr. Black opens up with the wide but not deep incursions into the ship's systems, and Hope summons clouds and fog.  Meanwhile, the group goes outside the airlock and the plane's belly opens up.  

The ship does not respond, and the next round Viridian's illusory heroes attack the plane while the rest of you fly out, either on your own or with gravity harnesses.  The plane flees, and the ship starts firing at the illusory heroes.  There seems to be turrets on the front and back of the ship, with large rail guns and small rocket batteries.  In the center of the ship is the main set of weaponry, consisting of two pairs of guns, one a pair of rail-based navel cannons and the other which fires a pair of continuous energy beams.  Between them are two sets of vertical-launch missiles, flanking a host of communications and sensing equipment in a central tower.  Additional sensors are mounted on top of the two main gun towers.  There are a series of small laser-based weapons on the sides of the ship. 

As he departs the plane, Mr. Black  turns partially invisible (half concealment), tuning his force field to bend light around him at the cost of some of its power.  He forms a ball of energy  between his hands with energy from the tis of his fingers and hurls it at the ship.  It explodes at the censor array, hopefully temporarily disabling it and possible the guns as well.  Obscured by the fog, the group manages to sneak onto the ship.  Soldiers in body armor with a wide variety of guns are running around, heading to man the side lasers and the main turrets, firing somewhat blindly at the illusory heroes, trying to bring systems taken down by the EMP back online, and looking to swap weapons disabled by the EMP for ones that still work.


----------



## DM_Matt (Feb 28, 2008)

To provide additional information:

There are low buildings towards the front and back of the ship, which presumably lead downstairs, as well as a couple service entrances by the gun towers.  Towards the back of the ship is a large, closed set of double doors with a crane adjacent to it.  Ares is not on the deck at the moment.


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## Victim (Feb 28, 2008)

"Let's get inside." Megan whispers.  "Should we split up - one group to get the cloaking device and engine/power plant and the other to sieze the command stuff and Ares?" _How should we get in?  It looks like there are several doors, probably open because of all the people running about.  We could blast in.  Or do a teleport.  Err, shadow walk._


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## Fangor the Fierce (Feb 29, 2008)

"Two groups, if we encounter Ares or the device, the other group should assist.  He's not one to be taken lightly, so Ares should not be encountered without full force.  Agreed?"

Wren waits for the agreement, or an alternative.  He would not want to lose an ally to brave foolery...


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## kirinke (Feb 29, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Two groups, if we encounter Ares or the device, the other group should assist.  He's not one to be taken lightly, so Ares should not be encountered without full force.  Agreed?"
> 
> Wren waits for the agreement, or an alternative.  He would not want to lose an ally to brave foolery...




"Agreed. Anything that's lasted so long is not to be taken lightly." Hope says, letting Wren and Black take the lead. She is now glowing with the St. Elmoe's fire, the fire that in part gave her the nickname the Hellborn Saint. The other part was her own actions within the FBI and AEGIS. 

Hope looks up at Star, "Hay, _Speedy Gonzales_! see if you can do something about those guns. They're annoying. Also, do something about the rest of the sensor array. Trash it all,"

_What would I do if I were a cowardly, evil mastermind.... I'd be trying to fix it so that the heroes couldn't take the ship. That means...._

"I'm betting that leads to the cargo hold." she says, pointing to the doors with the crane thingie. "I'm also betting that's where Aron is or has his nastier weaponry stashed, it's probably the most fortified part of the ship." she looked grim, inspite of her light tone. 

_It have to be, that's where the merchandise is._

"We'd best hurry. Aron is the type to burn the ground behind him," she said, refering to the old method of burning your own fields so the enemy can't be fed. 

OOC:
She'll attack whatever seems to be the most handy, with whatever attack she thinks will do the most good. On the humans, non-lethal damage, enough to knock out and disable, not enough to kill.


----------



## Victim (Feb 29, 2008)

"Yeah, we should be able to move around to cover which ever group needs help.  At these distances, it's all pretty much the same anyway.  Ares's people had some kind of nature powers, so he'll be  -"  Megan darts back from Hope.  "Can you stop doing that?  And it's harmless, right?"

"What are you doing?  I could have set up shots on a timer if you wanted that stuff trashed so we could be inside when it happened," she says angrily.  _Stupid!  And we're stupid too for letting someone who can't think set up some of the details of our plan.    _


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## DM_Matt (Feb 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Yeah, we should be able to move around to cover which ever group needs help.  At these distances, it's all pretty much the same anyway.  Ares's people had some kind of nature powers, so he'll be  -"  Megan darts back from Hope.  "Can you stop doing that?  And it's harmless, right?"
> 
> "What are you doing?  I could have set up shots on a timer if you wanted that stuff trashed so we could be inside when it happened," she says angrily.  _Stupid!  And we're stupid too for letting someone who can't think set up some of the details of our plan.    _




Fortunately, Hope knows that that would not work.  AIR CONTROL DOES NOT DIRECTLY DAMAGE STUFF.  She has the hail artillery area attack, the lightning bolt individual attack, and a punch in force of nature form.  Thus, she is not yet trying to use Air Control to attack the guns.


----------



## kirinke (Feb 29, 2008)

ooc:
Drat it, Okay, Sorry, edited to reflect.

She'll go for whatever attack and target that looks to be the most promising at the moment, while trying to figure out which door leads to what. From the looks of it, the Cargo hold would be the most logical place for Aron to head to, either to get additional weapons or to prepare for evacuation, or to set a bomb thingie to sink the ship.  

How close are they to the Double Doors? And what's between them and the doors? Would it be feasible for them to have Nightweaver blanket the area in darkness then everyone with a dazzle attack fire one off, so that the enemy is both blinded and dazzled, giving them enough time to knock them out? At least the ones on the deck.


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## Shayuri (Feb 29, 2008)

Viridian says in a detached voice, "We should stick together, at least until we have more than one thing we want to do at once. Right now we should concentrate on securing the deck, don't you think?"

She lifts a hand towards one of the gun turrets, and her face contorts with effort as she tries to force the weapon to aim across the deck at another turret using only the magically augmented power of her will.

(Illusion is Sustained, so she can maintain them without concentrating. She'll use TK +8 to try to force the nearest gun turret to aim at another gun turret...so if it fires, it would be attacking the other turret. Hehe. If that's too weird, just consider it a TK attack on the nearest turret, damage DC 23.)


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## kirinke (Feb 29, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian says in a detached voice, "We should stick together, at least until we have more than one thing we want to do at once. Right now we should concentrate on securing the deck, don't you think?"
> 
> She lifts a hand towards one of the gun turrets, and her face contorts with effort as she tries to force the weapon to aim across the deck at another turret using only the magically augmented power of her will.
> 
> (Illusion is Sustained, so she can maintain them without concentrating. She'll use TK +8 to try to force the nearest gun turret to aim at another gun turret...so if it fires, it would be attacking the other turret. Hehe. If that's too weird, just consider it a TK attack on the nearest turret, damage DC 23.)




"Right," Hope mutters and a bright arc of lightening lanced down from apparently nowhere, striking the nearest group of mercenaries. Hope mentally pulled back on the lightening's strength so that the damage inflicted would be _non-lethal_. Her intent is to knock out, not kill. But it would hurt like a stone b---ch.


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## Vanifae (Feb 29, 2008)

Apollo darts after Shooting Star; he wreathes himself in light, forming his _superhero_ costume, white pants with thick white boots, no shirt to show off his sunburst tattoo on his chest, tribal designs on each arm, a white vest, his eyes glowing gold, with a golden bow in hand with eagle and sun motifs.

He sneers as he dives down towards the ship, forming an arrow in his free hand, “I am heading for those double doors…”

He takes aim and fires an arrow of energy at the double doors!

_He will be utilizing his Extended Vision to try and read any minute details that may be difficult at a distance.  +11 ranged attack with his bow, Notice of +15 for anything out of ordinary he possesses Ultra Hearing and Ultra-Vision as well._


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## DM_Matt (Feb 29, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo darts after Shooting Star; he wreathes himself in light, forming his _superhero_ costume, white pants with thick white boots, no shirt to show off his sunburst tattoo on his chest, tribal designs on each arm, a white vest, his eyes glowing gold, with a golden bow in hand with eagle and sun motifs.
> 
> He sneers as he dives down towards the ship, forming an arrow in his free hand, “I am heading for those double doors…”
> 
> ...




Apollo's ultra hearing does not detect sonar waves in the water, which implies that the other detection devices are probably down as well.


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## Victim (Mar 1, 2008)

(Do we have cover or anything?  I figured we'd end up behind something when we snuck on board.)

Star sighs.  "The big turrets on the deck don't matter once we're inside."  She'll poke out just a bit to get a better view.  _Let's make it come from over there,_ Megan thinks, creating tiny plasma spheres behind one of the rear buildings.  The orbs streak upwards trailing blue-white light, then dive amidst the mercenaries to drive them into cover.  If not, then the secondary program activates just before impact, redirecting the shots into gun-like objects.

Then Megan bravely flings herself to the deck.
----------------------------------------------
Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3)
Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Full Action: Cover Fire on Apollo.  +4 Dodge for him, but only for enemies Star can see.  Enemies can ignore the defense bonus, but will get attacked in return.

Return attacks (if they come up): +14 (Take 10=24).  Sunder weapons instead of attacking people.

Drop Prone.

Def: 23/15.  T: +9.  Fine.  Prone.  HP: 2?


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## Raylis (Mar 1, 2008)

"Viridian can you drop an illusion on us to look like his guards? We might be able to slip in under the confusion.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 1, 2008)

(Actions needed from Elric and Fangor)


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## Elric (Mar 2, 2008)

Nitro tries to Shockwave the largest group of guys he can, and will use move-by action to stay modestly far away if there still seem to be a number ready with weapons.


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## kirinke (Mar 2, 2008)

Hope scowls as Star shoots off in her usual impulsive manner. _And they call me out of control_ she thought with a mental growl, grateful that the mask she chose hid most of her facial expressions.


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## Shayuri (Mar 3, 2008)

Viridian nods at Nightweaver.

"As long as we don't spread out too far, I can do that," she agrees.


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## kirinke (Mar 3, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian nods at Nightweaver.
> 
> "As long as we don't spread out too far, I can do that," she agrees.




Hope looks at the wiccan in concern. "You need a boost, just ask, okay? Holding up so many illusions plus the other stuff isn't easy." she offered.


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## Shayuri (Mar 3, 2008)

"I'm fine," Viridian says. "Casting spells of different types is a lot harder than casting one spell more than once. It's like...the difference between juggling two tennis balls and switching to three...and juggling two tennis balls and switching to two bowling pins. Or I guess it is. I can't really juggle."

She clears her throat. "Stay within eight yards or so of me once the spell starts."

Then she scrutinizes one of the human mercs to get an idea of the gear and clothes they wear in preparation for creating the glamour.

(I think I already stated her action for this turn, so this is just fluff in addition to that. Next turn she'll make the illusion over us. )


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 3, 2008)

Wren will simply keep to guarding the others.  His Deflect is up and ready to be used, and he will stay near the more prone to be injured allies...

ooc - Sorry, planning trip to Argentina, been busy...


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## DM_Matt (Mar 4, 2008)

Apollo and Star's combo attack take the guards by surprise, and their response is highly disorganized.  Some duck for cover, others attack and get their guns slagged by plasma balls  streaking from the other side of the ship.  Apollo's energy arrow strikes the locking mechanism straight on, blowing a massive hole across both doors as he plummets into the cargo hold unobstructed.  The hold is full of standardized cargo containers, stacked in cubby-hole like structures.  In each hole are tracks to remove the containers and lifts that can lower them to the ground, where massive conveyer belts can lead them to under the doors to be lifted out by the cranes.  There are two sets of containers in the center, and one set against each wall, with parallel belts and some walkways between them.  Far in the distance is a window in a wall that is well-lit.  Apollo can see that that is the control room for the cargo area.  There are several small vehicles to lift workers to where they can add or remove items form the containers, some abandoned in the aisles as workers run for the exits, doors near the control room.

Mr. Black gets to the deck next, landing and firing both pistols at several mercenaries (autofire walking the shot).  The bullets hit and burst into  electrified iron dust as electricity shoots through their bodies "I shouldn't wreck your reputations as big damn heroes, I guess.  But as soon as I see Ares, I switch to DU."  He clears a path around the group.

Hope can only hit one opponent with her lightning, and she sure does, blasting a merc across the ship.

The response is quite disorganized, and Wren uses his ring to bat away the few bullets and blasts that get anywhere near them.  

Nitro jumps onto the deck near the back of the ship and blasts out a shockwave, clearing the mooks from the area and damaging the gun turret.  The operators turn it around and try to blast him, but all they do is blow some holes in their own ship.  They fire off a rocket, too, but Wren deflects it.  

The giant dual laser turret is firing at the illusions when Viridian magically turns it around with a wave of her hand, causing it to cut the rail cannons off their tower,  saw off most of the communications and sensors in between, and blow a big hole in the ship's deck.

Nightweaver apparently doesn't do anything other than suggesting to Viridian a really good idea.  Unless she has something else to do, she finds a mook and kicks him across the deck.  He doesn't get up.


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## Victim (Mar 4, 2008)

Megan hauls herself a few feet straight up from her prone position, then rotates to an upright hover.  "Let's head into the hold and then do the illusion so we're not changing right in front of them."  Star creates tight cluster of plasma spheres above the group; "I'll provide some cover while you move."  _Wait, can I do this?  I'm still using my power on them, right?  Well, it's not really touching them - they're just burning in the air and making a bright light.  Since I'm not directly using my power on them, it's alright._  Satisfied with her rationalization, Shooting Star blasts the mercenaries with blinding lightshow of few dozen dazzling bursts.

Then she zooms into the cargo hold after Apollo.  "Hey.  Umm, you heard Viridian's plan, right?"  _That... probably wasn't the best thing to say._  She looks around rapidly.
---------------------------------------

Free Action: Stand up with Acrobatics.

Standard Action: Dazzle (visual) +11 Area (Burst 55 ft radius) Selective Attack.

Move Action: head into the cargo hold, next to Apollo.

Def: 23/15.  Toughness +9.  Fine.  HP 2?

Yeah, Thess's illusion is a full action so she can't do it and move into the cargo hold unless someone carries her.  I'm not sure, but I don't think the extra casting time has been mentioned before.


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## kirinke (Mar 4, 2008)

Double Postie


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## kirinke (Mar 4, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Mr. Black gets to the deck next, landing and firing both pistols at several mercenaries (autofire walking the shot).  The bullets hit and burst into  electrified iron dust as electricity shoots through their bodies "I shouldn't wreck your reputations as big damn heroes, I guess.  But as soon as I see Ares, I switch to DU."  He clears a path around the group.




Knowing that Vi can't move while concentrating on the illusion, Hope easily scoops up the younger magic user and uses her own superstrength and flight to get them to the cargo hold.

As she said, while she isn't the fastest flier on the block, when she does have to use it, it is handy indeed.

"Hay, I don't have a rep to wreck. Most supers view me as either an anti-hero or a pain in the ass, usually both." Hope quips as she sets down Vi. In fact, given her own reputation for using lethal force, Black going all out isn't gonna hurt it much.


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## Shayuri (Mar 4, 2008)

Viridian is startled by Hope, but catches on.

When she and the others are all down in the hold and ready, and if no one seems to be watching, she begins her spell. Within a few seconds the heroes seem to blur and waver like mirages, then meld into the appearances of another pack of motley mercs. They aren't identical to the ones they'd just brutalized up above, but they're obviously inspired by the look of those. Rough men and women with military style clothes and the same types of weapons as the other mercs had.

(Hee...just realized I don't have the Disguise skill! Doh! I have Craft: Artist, if that helps. (^_^) Assuming the power bonus for an illusion disguise is +10, putting it on par with Disguise Self, the total bonus would be +12 for her Cha of 14. Not sure what the rules would say on the subject though.)


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## Vanifae (Mar 4, 2008)

Apollo blinks scanning the area, “What… what… oh yeah the plan sure… yeah… I am all over it.”  Apollo thinks to himself, _We had a plan?  Whoa… did I miss that, what was I doing when we made this plan?  I remember playing music.  Yeah I was working on that song, man these costumes leave very little to my already awesome imagination.  Wait what was I thinking about again?  Ares is a God?  Huh?  No he is an alien, trying to be a god… we got him with his pants down.  Man I bet I look good in this outfit, I was like pow… and blew those doors off… this superhero gig is pretty exciting.  I better make some plans on what do next.  Wait what was that about a plan again?_

Apollo nods, “Yeah I am all over it.”

_He will scan the room using his advanced senses, moving inside if needed.  He won’t attack yet, and ready an action to attack if anyone makes an aggressive action against himself or Star.  +11 attack._


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## kirinke (Mar 5, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian is startled by Hope, but catches on.
> 
> When she and the others are all down in the hold and ready, and if no one seems to be watching, she begins her spell. Within a few seconds the heroes seem to blur and waver like mirages, then meld into the appearances of another pack of motley mercs. They aren't identical to the ones they'd just brutalized up above, but they're obviously inspired by the look of those. Rough men and women with military style clothes and the same types of weapons as the other mercs had.
> 
> (Hee...just realized I don't have the Disguise skill! Doh! I have Craft: Artist, if that helps. (^_^) Assuming the power bonus for an illusion disguise is +10, putting it on par with Disguise Self, the total bonus would be +12 for her Cha of 14. Not sure what the rules would say on the subject though.)




IC:
"Sorry about that, I knew you wouldn't be able to move and cast at the same time, not and still maintain the illusions." she grinned at the witch. "Like I said before. I might not be the fastest flyer around, but it is handy when I need it,"

Hope turns her attention to the room, noting the canisters, which to her screamed 'flammable and possibly explosive,' but then, she always did expect the worst from whatever situation she got involved in that had supervillians in the mix. "Through the doors. Left or right?" she quipped as a cool, creeping wind began to blow out from her, tasting and touching both that which could be seen and that which.... was not.

Hope looked grim. "A quick death is too easy for Aron, he's responsible for the deaths of billions." she looked at the others. "Entire worlds have fallen to him, through his machinations. He needs to be held responsible for those deaths." she said quietly. "I know that we may have to use lethal force with him, but... if we can, let's take him alive. A bullet through the brain isn't justice in his case."

It's easy enough for the others to forget that she took death very seriously, and the loss of innocent lives even more seriously. For someone like Aron to treat lives like.... she shook her head. He made the Nazi's look like pikers in comparison.

ooc:
Using Sense air flow to see if there are any hidden surprises she can't see visually.


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## Shayuri (Mar 5, 2008)

Viridian gives Hope an uneasy look.

"What IS justice for that?" she asks, but it's rhetorical. In a very real sense, she doesn't want to know.


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## Victim (Mar 5, 2008)

"So people deserve a painful death for starting wars?  How about the government that you're supposed to be working for?"


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## Raylis (Mar 5, 2008)

"How about we apprehend Voderac and you two can argue later when we're not on an arm's dealer's boat.  Nightweaver says with a glare at both Star and Hope.


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## kirinke (Mar 5, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "So people deserve a painful death for starting wars?  How about the government that you're supposed to be working for?"




"I'd be happy to make sure he gets life behind bars without parole. For someone like him, that'd be worse than death. That'd be.... defeat at the hands of a lesser people." she grinned at Star, almost cheekily. "I'm not much for torture either Speedy," she said, using the nickname she had given Star earlier. It suited the impulsive young woman.

_Is that all you think of me?_ she thought sadly, though her tone was light. It wouldn't do to get mad at Star. She simply didn't understand. 


Hope turned to Nightweaver and nodded. "You're right, let's get this over with," she said.


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## kirinke (Mar 5, 2008)

double postie.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 5, 2008)

Wren leaves his defenses up, hoping that they others don't get attacked, as he then works on protecting the cargo holds.  He will start creating invisible shields around all the cargo bays, preventing them from being destroyed so easily.  He will create as many 'barriers' of protection as possible, in the time allowed.

As for the plan, he simply shakes his head at the impulsive ones.  Stealth would get you only so far, but every little bit helps.  "Yeah, we'll have the sparring match at the base, with gloves on, for you two.  For now, we have a job to do." 

Wren agrees with Nightweaver, hoping that the two emotional women would calm themselves enough to get through a mission without a fight with each other.  He was a little relieved, as his own race did not have to deal with what one matter that earth women have to deal with all the time; a new medical term that explained many irritable symptoms and mood swings.  He hopes this is due to that instance, as if it wasn't, he sure is scared to see them at each other when that time did come.


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## Victim (Mar 6, 2008)

_Yeah, I'm sure that's what you meant.  Whatever._

"You mean punching?" Megan asks.  "Why would we want to do that?"  _I think punching someone would be painful 'cause of my hands.  If I were fighting hand to hand, I'd kick, elbow, or ram instead.  Or we could use the holographic simulators to run a full power fight, but those might be expensive to operate and maintain.  And I have other plans tonight.   And jeez, multitask much?  I'm doing my job._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 6, 2008)

Weighing in, Black comments "People who start wars generally do so for a reason.  Sometimes a good one, sometimes a bad one, but for a reason.  They all are out to accomplish some goal, and conclude that war is the best means for the situation.  For all his talk about empowering people to stand up for themselves, all Ares is doing is altering the calculations of conflicts to ensure that they choose war.  Ares starts them for their own sake.  He's a serial killer, just with a bizarre M.O.

Now can we please stop with the philosophy and get to the shooting bad guys?"


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## kirinke (Mar 6, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Weighing in, Black comments "People who start wars generally do so for a reason.  Sometimes a good one, sometimes a bad one, but for a reason.  They all are out to accomplish some goal, and conclude that war is the best means for the situation.  For all his talk about empowering people to stand up for themselves, all Ares is doing is altering the calculations of conflicts to ensure that they choose war.  Ares starts them for their own sake.  He's a serial killer, just with a bizarre M.O.
> 
> Now can we please stop with the philosophy and get to the shooting bad guys?"




Hope grins at the former soldier. Him, she could get to like. If only the rest of their group didn't sweat the details as much.... "Well, a spot of well-deserved violence does a body good every now and then," she cracked. "As long as it isn't me the violence is visited upon," she knelt, placing her hand on the floor as she tried to sense the likeliest door to go through.


ooc:
Postcognition to see if she can get a handle on where Aron is likely to be. Now that they are through the wards, it should work.... If the DM is cooperative.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 6, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope grins at the former soldier. Him, she could get to like. If only the rest of their group didn't sweat the details as much.... "Well, a spot of well-deserved violence does a body good every now and then," she cracked. "As long as it isn't me the violence is visited upon," she knelt, placing her hand on the floor as she tried to sense the likeliest door to go through.
> 
> 
> ooc:
> Postcognition to see if she can get a handle on where Aron is likely to be. Now that they are through the wards, it should work.... If the DM is cooperative.




Everyone gets into the hold and gets disguised (everyone can superspeed or tp there and wont get hit by mooks), though the bad guys clearly know you are there.  Viridian put disguises them as soldiers.

She senses him communicating with his soldiers.  Some kind of ability to commune with his troops, perhaps a version of the Pax ability to commune with nature.  He is telling them to reorganize, to secure the cargo bay and the skies, other than with those needed to put out fires.  He is saying that the enemy is in the air and in the hold.


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## kirinke (Mar 6, 2008)

"Damnit. He knows we're here in the hold." she looked up, the wind around her swirling. "We need to move," she listens harder, trying to figure out where he is.


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## Shayuri (Mar 6, 2008)

"I'll move the illusions down here then," Viridian says quietly.

"Since we're disguised, we should react to them...take cover and so on."


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## Victim (Mar 6, 2008)

Megan darts behind one of the containers and peaks out at the illusionary heroes.  _Now for the finishing touch..._  Concentrating, she creates plasma orbs about a foot in front of her double, and hoses down the area near other characters (but not herself) with 'suppressive fire.'  Especially Hope.

_What language do these guys speak?  This whole disguise thing might not work out so well if we can't talk them properly._

-------------------------------

Stealth +10.

Def: 23/15. Toughness +9. Fine. HP 2?


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## kirinke (Mar 6, 2008)

Hope merely quirked an eyebrow at Star as she joins in the 'fun', creating a lightening bolt out of nowhere that cracks against the wall. It looks impressive, but it doesn't have hardly any 'punch' to it. More like a mild electric shock than anything else. But at that, she does take appropriate cover.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 7, 2008)

Wren takes his actions to secure the cargo, from anyone else.  He continues to create barriers, one upon the other, to prevent the cargo from becoming damaged or such.  He will continue to do this, until he Deflect is needed, which is on a trigger for now.


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## kirinke (Mar 7, 2008)

Hope looks at the others. "The illusions probably aren't going to work as well as we thought. What if Nightweaver shadow-walks us to the bridge? That we we still have the upper hand, he won't know what hit him before it's too late,"


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## Shayuri (Mar 7, 2008)

Viridian nods.

"Sounds good to me. I'll leave the decoys down here. Might delay reinforcements at least."


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## Raylis (Mar 8, 2008)

"Sounds good, better now then never. 

 OOC: will power stunt 
Teleport R3
  Fl: Medium (shadows) (-1)
  Ex: Accurate (+1)
  PF: Easy
  PF: Progression x 5

to shadow walk us to the bridge. It shouldn't be 1000ft from our current position


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## kirinke (Mar 8, 2008)

Hope mentally prepared herself for the battle ahead. She knew quite well that nature spoke to Aron, in what way she could not discern, but she guessed that they were probably evenly matched, for though Aron was older, he was no native of earth, no child of Gaia. No matter how strong he was on his own planet, that power would be muted here. 

She prayed that was so anyway. She wasn't counting on it.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 9, 2008)

The group continues to fake attacking the fake heroes as guards, and Viridian is even able to make their fake guard selves speak Greek (not only useful for ancient texts!).  Realizing that this isn't really a sustainable method, the group changes paths, leaving Ares' men to surround  and attack the illusions.  Wren puts up some invisible walls to protect them and to prevent Ares' men from accidently blowing the whole place up by hitting creates full of bombs and other volatile substances.

Nightweaver draws the shadows over the group, and everyone feels themself move in the darkness, where they find themselves in a somewhat shadowy corner of the bridge (not really enough to hide in though).

The bridge is rather large, and the group is easily noticed.  Four guards, eight technicians with sidearms, and a large, armored man who looks like Ares turn to face you.  The technicians are all at various control panels, the guards are in a semi-circle around the door, and the man that looks like Ares (but isn't) is at the helm.  





			
				Raylis said:
			
		

> "Sounds good, better now then never.
> 
> OOC: will power stunt
> Teleport R3
> ...


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## Victim (Mar 9, 2008)

"Drop your weapons!"  Shooting Star yells, firing a flash burst at each technician, guard, and the fake Ares.  _I hope that nothing can go too wrong if those guys aren't minding their stations.  Hey...  That guy doesn't quite look right.  Is this a trap?  It was Hope's idea..._ "Wait, that's not the guy!"  She'll try to dive behind a workstation for cover, if possible.
-------------------------------------------

Standard Action: Dazzle (visual) +11 Area (Burst 55 ft radius) Selective Attack.  DC 21 Ref for 1/2, DC 21/15 Ref vs Blind

Move Action: Head for cover.  She'll get behind Nitro if nothing else is available.

Free Action: Go Prone.

Def: 23/15. Toughness +9. Prone.  Fine. HP 2?


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## kirinke (Mar 9, 2008)

Hope aims a lightening bolt at the armoured man. If he is the real Aron, he'll be able to deflect her bolt. If he isn't... she looked grim as a cool seeping wind blew out from around her, sensing and tasting for that which could not easily be seen.

"Viridian, check for illusions. If we can do it, so can they!" she whispers, her voice light against the other witches ear as she uses her wind born words ability.


ooc:
Sense air flow to detect that which is invisible or otherwise not seen. Also masterplan, notice and whatever else she has to determin who is the real Aron.


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## Elric (Mar 9, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Remember, he's able to change his face!" Hope shouts, aiming a lightning bolt for the guy at the helm. (Knock out only, she doesn't want him dead. Yet.)




(OOC: No shouting this.  How would the heroes know this, aside from the fact that they were just on the receiving end off impersonating the Geldarans.  You can say this one quietly over the commlink)

Nitro cracks his knuckles.  _A God of War.  Even if he's really a space alien.  Either way, pretty cool.  Wait, that guy's not the real him?  That's too bad.  Well, he looks like him.  Good enough._


"Sidearms and suits of armor?  They're no match for a good flying kick.  Doesn't even have to be a flying kick to the balls." 

With that, Nitro launches himself at the armored man (charge, accurate attack 2, +12 to hit, 12 damage, using Improved Grab to initiate a grapple by grabbing him on a hit).  

(If he's down or the real Ares has shown up and this guy looks like not much of a threat, do this to Ares instead.  If he's down and no Ares is around, go after a guard- if they're minions, taking 10 on the attack roll and not charging- using Defensive Attack 3 and Accurate Attack 3 for total of 18 to hit, 11 damage).


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## Vanifae (Mar 10, 2008)

Apollo blinks, “Nice likeness…” he takes careful aim with his light bow and fires a single powerful shot at the fake Ares.  

_Ranged Attack +11 with Light Bow, Toughness save of 26 if it succeeds._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 11, 2008)

Bump.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 11, 2008)

(The four who posted as the first four PCs in the init order, so I'll resolve that far.)

Apollo blinks, “Nice likeness…” he takes careful aim with his light bow and fires a single powerful shot at the guy who resembles Ares. 

The arrow strikes true, penetrating the guy who resembles Ares' force field and exploding on his armored chest as he turns to face the group, wounding him (1 Bruise, HP for Apollo, the villain fiated a reroll).

Hope follows up with a lightning bolt, and again, some of its energy penetrates the field, causing him to writhe in pain but not fall. (another bruise)

Now its the villain's turn.  Hearing Star shout "Wait, that's not the guy!, he answers "You must be looking for my father. I am Peter Voderac, but you can call me Phobos, Avatar of Will...or, "Master" will suffice."

The room darkerns slightly, and Phobos glows with dark energy, his eyes glowing red.    

"Now BOW BEFORE ME!  Look upon my might and DISPAIR!"

Everyone is assaulted with feelings of doubt and the sound of his voice and the light in his eyes cause intense pain. (Will DC 22 Despair Effect, Fort 23 Damage Effect)

The fearless Nitro feels none of the despair, though the sensory attack does hurt him a bit (1 bruise).  Star, ordinarily rather vulnerable to such things, manages to summon the will to resist him, at least partially (HP spent to avoid a miss by 10+ total freakout, but still fails by one).  Nightweaver resists the fear, but the light-based attack is especially harmful to her (1 bruise, after HP to reroll a staggered result)  Viridian, too has to struggle to resist (failed despair save, HP to avoid staggered, bruised though)  Hope grits her teeth to avoid the crushing despair, but collapses from the sensory attack (HP to reroll the freakout, stunned by the sensory attack).  Fearless Wren is only lightly injured by the sensory attack. (1 bruise).  

Mr. Black shrugs off the entire attack unharmed. "Pretty big display you've got there, kinglet.  Now I'll show you mine"  He raises his guns and lets the clips fall to his magnetic belt, then quickly reloads with livelier ammo.  Mr. Black unloads numerous electrified depleted uranium slugs into Phobos' force field, with a few penetrating his armor and hitting him with kinetic and electrical force.  A small amount of blood leaks from one of the holes in his armor, but he stands firm.  (Free Action to switch from non-lethal to lethal, but he also has physical quickness 2 so he could reload as a free action anyway, 1 injury and bruise)

Meanwhile, Star dishes out some light blasts of her own, yelling "Drop your weapons!"  as she flash burst at each technician, guard, and Phobos. Phobos, one of the guards, and most of the technicians seem blinded.  She then ducks behind a console for cover.


Nitro, not especially fazed by the attack, says "Sidearms and suits of armor? They're no match for a good flying kick. Doesn't even have to be a flying kick to the balls." 


...and proceeds to do just that, kicking Phobos in the stomach and causing the back of his head to bash through the bridge window, shattering it.  Nitro manages to grab Phobos and pull him back in before he goes flying out, and is easily able to yank him back inside by his armor's collar, and lift him in the air above his head with the other arm helping (bruise + stun + successful grapple)


The three non-blinded guards all fire blaster rifles at Nitro, but all the shots either miss or bounce off his tough skin.  Apollo is shot by a technician as well (all the others miss various targets or are blind), but shrugs it off as a graze.(undamaged)

(Those who failed saves v despair get -2 to attacks, defense, and checks)



Next UP: Viridian, Wren, Nightweaver, and then the top of the order (Phobos, Apollo, Hope, Star, Nitro, Guards)


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## kirinke (Mar 11, 2008)

Hope clenches her fist, fighting against the pain and despair. She had dealt with worse in her life, much worse than what this spoiled brat could dish out. From her prone position, she lashes out at the creature, lightening crackling. 

"If you're the Avatar of will, then it needs a better vessel," Hope shouts as she focus' the lightening on the brat with the big ego.


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## Shayuri (Mar 11, 2008)

Viridian reels under the psychic attack! For a moment she has to fight for breath as all the anxieties she's been wrestling with bubble to the surface in a gray miasma of despair. Instinctively she clutches her amulet, trying to fight the unnatural influence...but it's hard when it plays to the insecurities she's already been feeling. Who did she think she was, fighting these people? She wasn't a superhero. She was just some random girl. Lost and afraid and alone and vulnerable and confused and...

_"Enough."_

The word came through her as much as to her, and it came with infinite calm, and unshakable gentle confidence. Viridian realized the hand she was holding her amulet with was feeling warm, and that the warmth was spreading through her, pushing the despair before it. It was emanating from her, like invisible radiance that cut through the psychic fog.

"Your 'might' is nothing, Peter Voderac," she says...her voice is her own, but it sounds strange too. Devoid of the undercurrent of uncertainty she usually has, and with a faint overtone, as if someone else were speaking the same words at the same time, overlapping her. "You and your father have offended greater beings than yourselves, and there will be justice."

(Emotion Control: Hope! To dispel the despair. Not sure if a roll is needed; if so I'll HP it if necessary)


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 11, 2008)

*Wren HP 3 Toughness 12 (-1 for bruise)/ Defense +9, 1 Bruise*

Wren can sense the power of this guy, as the feelings try to overwhelm him.  He shrugs it off easily, as he notes that some of the others aren't so lucky.  Noting that Nitro seems to have the super in control, Wren will immediately try to restrain the super, hoping to end this quickly.  

Snare +11 to hit, Tethered to himself, just in case, also has the precise feat, so no penalty for Nitro being there, right?

OOC - On a side note, Wren DID have his Deflect Power up and triggered, and with this effect, would that be considered a use of it?  It's Deflect Rank 9, Ranged, Standard Action, for All Ranged and Mental attacks.  Would that have helped anyone out, since Wren can shrug off the effect a little more than some?


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## Vanifae (Mar 11, 2008)

Apollo skims the ground to take cover, midway through his flight he fires another shot at Phobos speaking in Greek, “You aliens or half aliens pretending to be gods… what the hell is this, Stargate?  God at least get a cool theme… gods are so two thousand years ago…”

He continues in English over the comm-link, “Well I wonder where the real Ares is hiding out?  I mean sending your son to get his ass kicked, is pretty bad… but hey what do I know?”

_Move-By-Action used to get to cover, +11 ranged attack with his bow._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 11, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> OOC - On a side note, Wren DID have his Deflect Power up and triggered, and with this effect, would that be considered a use of it?  It's Deflect Rank 9, Ranged, Standard Action, for All Ranged and Mental attacks.  Would that have helped anyone out, since Wren can shrug off the effect a little more than some?




Deflect doesn't work on area effects of any type, including selective, which this was.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 11, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo skims the ground to take cover, midway through his flight he fires another shot at Phobos speaking in Greek, “You aliens or half aliens pretending to be gods… what the hell is this, Stargate?  God at least get a cool theme… gods are so two thousand years ago…”




(...says _Apollo_)


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## Shayuri (Mar 11, 2008)

(oh SNAP!   )


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## Elric (Mar 11, 2008)

(OOC: Everyone stop referencing the fact that we know Ares's true identity in their speech.  No 'beings' instead of 'people'.  No 'you're impersonating Gods'.  You're giving away the fact that we were the ones receiving that communication from Ares, which could matter quite a bit if he gets away).


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## Shayuri (Mar 11, 2008)

(OOC - Technically, we could have found out in other ways. If they don't have a reason to suspect we're connected to the alien ship, the reaction is more likely, "Curses! Somehow they learned my secret past!" than it is, "Zounds! So it was THEM flying the ship I spoke with!"

And since they think we attacked that ship, hopefully it'll be enough to keep them guessing even if we slip up here and there on letting him know what we know... That said, the less we give away, the better. )


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## Vanifae (Mar 11, 2008)

_Apollo isn't subtle... he rarely thinks further then a few minutes... so eh... being subtle is lame._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 12, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian reels under the psychic attack! For a moment she has to fight for breath as all the anxieties she's been wrestling with bubble to the surface in a gray miasma of despair. Instinctively she clutches her amulet, trying to fight the unnatural influence...but it's hard when it plays to the insecurities she's already been feeling. Who did she think she was, fighting these people? She wasn't a superhero. She was just some random girl. Lost and afraid and alone and vulnerable and confused and...
> 
> _"Enough."_
> 
> ...




She does this, and it removes the despair (No HP needed)


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## DM_Matt (Mar 12, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren can sense the power of this guy, as the feelings try to overwhelm him.  He shrugs it off easily, as he notes that some of the others aren't so lucky.  Noting that Nitro seems to have the super in control, Wren will immediately try to restrain the super, hoping to end this quickly.
> 
> Snare +11 to hit, Tethered to himself, just in case, also has the precise feat, so no penalty for Nitro being there, right?
> 
> OOC - On a side note, Wren DID have his Deflect Power up and triggered, and with this effect, would that be considered a use of it?  It's Deflect Rank 9, Ranged, Standard Action, for All Ranged and Mental attacks.  Would that have helped anyone out, since Wren can shrug off the effect a little more than some?




He manages to entirely bind Phobos, (technically, stunned, blinded, and pinned don't reduce his reflex save,but he only had avoided being bound by one point without it, so I decided to be nice (and logical) and assess him a -1 circumstance penalty for all that.)

Phobos is now Stunned, Bruised x4, Injured x1, Blinded, Pinned, and Bound/Helpless.

Nightweaver hasn't posted, so I will assume that with Phobos helpless, she'll go for the guards, and she knocks out the non-blinded one and the blinded one next to him.

The others , blind or not, now do surrender.

Suddenly, Phobos' armor begins glowing, and a portal rips open around him and sucks him in, along with Nitro and Wren, who are connected to him (unless they want to let go).  

They find themselves in the cargo bay where the bad guys are now ignoring the illusory heroes.  (it seems they have figured it out).  Nitro find's himself standing face to face with the real Ares and a third individual who resembles him and Phobos, but it much larger, less handsome, and wears large gloves with rectangular metal knuckle bars crackling with white energy.  He is still pinning Phobos.  Wren is also still connected to him, but he is where the fake heroes are.  There are perhaps dozens or mercenaries in the room as well, among the crates and positioned above the bay around the doors.


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## kirinke (Mar 12, 2008)

As Viridian invoked her own counterspell to despell the despair effect, Hope could feel the crushing despair circling around her lessen before finally disappearing. She shakily got to her feet, the after-affects still twisting her muscles into knots. "Damn, that hurt." she said, laughing hollowly. "Thanks," she told the other sorceress and straightened, the wind blowing out from around her once more as she sought out both the enemy and her friends. 


"I won't let you harm my friends," she whispered (through the windborn words) to the alien enemy, her voice dark with promise. The half-alien boy didn't realize that Hope dealt with despair on a sometimes daily basis. It came with the territory of being a powerful postcognitive. 

Then louder, to Nitro and Wren, through the windborn words again "Where are you?" she asked, already half fearing the worst.


ooc:
Corrected a bit to take into account the area despair dispel. I thought it only affected Vi.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 12, 2008)

*HP3, Def +9, Toughness +13, 1 Bruise*

"Cargo Bay, Ares and another super.  Send for a stretcher, this might get ugly..."

Wren takes in his surroundings, and grins, knowing that this would be a good time to buy some time.  Turning to Nitro, he simply nods, saying, "I'm not letting anyone get separated alone, so let's do this together."

Turning to the villains, Wren bides his time, with a simple warning...

"Voderac, nice to finally meet face to face.  How does it feel knowing that your little work for Barrington is going to end up actually tilting the cosmic balance to evil, and thereby, your services of supplying arms and deals would no longer be needed?  You're a businessman, and one that would not grant one side the full advantage, without the chance of offering the other side a means of prolonging their 'war', as you would call it, for your own profit.  So, what's Barrington's plan for his secret weapon, and how do we stop it?  Resistance is only going to make things worse..."

Inspire, Full Round Action, Aiding Nitro, Nightweaver, Viridian, and Star to grant +4 to attacks, saves, & checks for ONE ROUND!  Spend them wisely... as they can increase your rolls above their power limits....

Ok, going to redo the post then, as I figured Inspire would have been capable due to everyone having their com links on.  Wren would try to sense any cosmic energy from those gauntlets, as they seem to have some kind of energy pulsing from them.  If so, and they are cosmic, then perhaps his powers are not what is needed here...

Cosmic Awareness, Passive Ability.  If they ARE cosmic, then Wren will not blast the big guy, and let Nitro deal with him, as Wren does an Area Blast on the merc above the cargo area, in the doorways to clear out the small line of fire (PL11, Area Burst, Affects Insubstantial x2, Knockback x3).  If they AREN'T Cosmic, then he will go with a single Blast PL11, Autofire [+1], Partial Penetrating [+3], Affects Insubstantial x2


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## kirinke (Mar 12, 2008)

She looked at the others, steadying herself. "They are in the cargo bay." she said quietly. "Nightweaver, we need a Shadowwalk. Looks like they're surrounded by bad-guys."

ooc:
Whaat about Hope durn it?


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## Shayuri (Mar 12, 2008)

(OOC - Hope, Vi's dispelled the despair, just so yas know.   Also, can Wren Inspire people who aren't physically present? Only he and Nitro are actually there in the cargo bay right now...)


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## Elric (Mar 12, 2008)

(OOC: Inspire might not be the best if the others can't get to where we are this round, since most of the bonuses will be lost.  Probably better to take out some of the guards).

(OOC: Are there dozens of mercenaries in the room or about a dozen?  Big difference.)

"Being outnumbered isn't so bad.  It's not like these guys can do round-house kicks.  Master of Will, meet the roundhouse kick of domination."   

Nitro launches into a round-house kick (in honor of Chuck Norris's birthday yesterday) faster than the eye can see-- nonlethal Coup de Grace on Phobos, followed by takedown attack to attack the big guy over here.

Edit- changed action to CDG phobos with the round-house kick.


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## kirinke (Mar 12, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (OOC - Hope, Vi's dispelled the despair, just so yas know.   Also, can Wren Inspire people who aren't physically present? Only he and Nitro are actually there in the cargo bay right now...)




Yeah, but not the effects of it though. She still hurts like hell. 
Plus, at the time, they didn't know where Nitro and Wren where. All they saw was a portal opening.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 12, 2008)

Action Ammended.  THANKS!


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## Raylis (Mar 13, 2008)

If still able Night will bring everyone back to the cargo bay


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## DM_Matt (Mar 13, 2008)

Still need Apollo and sort of Star (though to answer her OOC question, she could stunt a lot of quickness without the no manual dexterity flaw and clear a path...or alternatively, she can just wait for Nightweaver.)

BTW, Raylis, by the rules, if you stunt an instant power, you can only use it once, but I'll allow you to have it for the rest of the encounter.  This ruling will apply in general to stunted powers unless I say otherwise.

This also means that if you guys don't mind going later in the initiative count (and the main bads have a very high init count anyway, so you are only pushing yourselves behind the mooks), you can all delay until Nightweaver can shadow walk everyone, and take your actions after her.  Once you are behind all the baddies anyway, this also gives you the freedom to use delaying to reorder yourselves at will for the rest of the encounter with no further cost.


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## Victim (Mar 13, 2008)

Megan stands up shakily after Phobos flees, her emotions yanked around by opposing powers.  _If I just let them shoot me, it'll probably be over quickly at least.  No!  Not in front of everyone; not tonight._  She heads over toward Nightweaver to expedite her teleport.  "Aww.  I was even coming with a clever taunt for him."  _Is an astronomy reference really witty?  Maybe it's just lame and geeky._

Once the group arrives in the cargo hold, she'll fire off more flash attacks to blind or distract all nearby enemies.

-------------------------------------

Free Action: Stand from Prone with Acrobatics.

Move Action: move over to Nightweaver: Moveby Action.

Standard action with move by: Ready action for the teleport to complete: Dazzle (visual) +11 Area (Burst 55 ft radius) Selective Attack. DC 21 Ref for 1/2, DC 21/15 Ref vs Blind

If it's possible to use remaining movement from moveby after the ready action, then Star will move a bit away from the 'porting group and maybe get some cover.

Def: 23/15.  Toughness +9.  Fine.  HP 2.


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## Vanifae (Mar 13, 2008)

Apollo follows suit, standing near Nightweaver.


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## Raylis (Mar 14, 2008)

_ . o O {Back to the lion's den, this time with the lion inside }_ she once again invokes her power, finding the right shadow and stepping through, a small step a tendril of shadow wraps around the others for the step forcing them to follow her pulling them into utter darkness and then back to normal sight.


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## kirinke (Mar 14, 2008)

Hope scowls, her first instinct having been proven correct, though not quite in the way she wanted. She flicks her eyes this way and that, desperately trying to come up with some sort of plan.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 15, 2008)

Ares wasn't able to call himself a god of war for so long without being quite good at it, and manages to get the jump on everyone.  He pulls out a long-poled battle axe made of the same energy-sparking silver metal as the other son's knuckles, and jumps at Wren, driving the axe into his shoulder, knocking him down (stunned, 1 bruise, 1 injury -- incurable). 

The other son goes for Nitro, swinging wildly. Nitro barely manages to duck (hp spent to avoid staggered), but even finds a graze harmful as the metal's energy reacts and socks him (1 bruise -- incurable).  

The mercenaries open fire with a wide variety of weapons.  There are between 30 and 50, and only two heroes in range.  Nitro is shot six times, in addition to those that fail to affect him (6 bruises).  Wren takes an additional blaster hit that unlike bullets can penetrate his force field, as well as a sniper bullet (2 injuries/bruises).

The rest of the group teleports in.  I'm going to allow a moment for people to edit their actions if need be or complete them.


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## Victim (Mar 15, 2008)

(I think my planned action is still fine, unless someone else is making a major change.)


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## kirinke (Mar 15, 2008)

ooc:
Hope takes a moment to form a battle plan. So She will use whatever attack seems to be the most effective, power stunting if need be. 
Using Masterplan to greatest effect.


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## Raylis (Mar 15, 2008)

just for clarification....there are 52 opponents in here?


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## DM_Matt (Mar 16, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> just for clarification....there are 52 opponents in here?




Up to, yes.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 16, 2008)

My main question is whether or not Wren plans on using Inspire since the group's order is changed, and if so, how much of that bonus people want to convert from attack to damage with power attack.

Also, see the OOC thread for an announcement...


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 16, 2008)

Wren will indeed use his Inspire Courage, as he glares towards the attackers.  He simply grins, the wound being one that would take a little more healing than others, but smiles none the less.  

"So, I guess that's your best shot?  Figures, you need a weapon, you don't look too tough to me.  As opposed to my other friends here..."

Inspire Courage for Nitro, Star, Hope and I would guess Apollo, as he would go for whomever would be most prone to attack these foes.  +4 bonus!!!  1 Round only...

Wren - 2HP left

Edit - Is my Injury/Bruise total right?


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## Shayuri (Mar 16, 2008)

Uncharacteristically, Viridian doesn't seem worried at all by the overwhelming numbers of the opposition. Still gripping her amulet, her voice rises unnaturally; booming out like thunder so all gathered can hear. Just as before, in the bridge, each word seems doubled up...as if Thessaly were speaking in unison with something else. Something unspeakably massive, and mightily pissed off. It reaches into the old, primitive brain, buried deep under the cerebral cortex, and dredges up all the unthinking fear that lies in wait there. Even Viridian is affected, turning paler in color and her expression becoming cold and angry. When she speaks, her breath puffs visibly out.

*"SCATTER, MATRICIDES. SCATTER BEFORE THE LADY OF WINTER. THE FOURTH FACE. THE FURY; BRINGER OF WRATH AND JUDGMENT. CRIMES HAVE BEEN COMMITTED AGAINST ALL THAT IS, AND ALL HERE HAVE AIDED IN IT. THERE WILL BE JUSTICE NOW!*

(Emotion Control: Fear. Aiming the area, 55' radius, to get as many minions as possible...)


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## kirinke (Mar 16, 2008)

Hope nods her head towards Viridian, sensing the ancient entity speaking through her, acknowledging both of them, conveying her respect. She straightens and the temperature drops dramatically. "That which is shall no longer be. You are an affront towards nature, a blight upon this planet." she intones and a thick, icy wall spreads out from her, reaching for the ceiling, blocking off more enemies. 




ooc:
Conjure Ice to block off enemies.


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## Victim (Mar 16, 2008)

Inspired by her teammates, Megan changes the action she planned after teleporting.  _I shouldn't just chip in with some attack to set other people up.  I should do something impressive - be aggressive and force them to the defensive.  Trying to be cautious hasn't been working out so well for me, considering I'm basically ending every fight on the ground.  Take full advantage while things are good?  Sure.  This one isn't so different that it'll be tricky to handle.  I've done it before.  _  Shooting Star rises into the air slightly and spins, attacking each enemy (or his weapon) as they enter her field of view.  She'll also throw a few shots into some of the hold's lights, so Nightweaver has more darkness to work with.  

After launching a massive volley of fire, Megan spins down, somewhat unsteadily, and rubs her temples with her wrists.  _Controllable?  Yes.  But it does make for one hell of a headache._

-----------------------------------
Spend a HP to gain a power feat: Alternate Power: Strike +8 Area (targeted, burst) Autofire 1, Homing 1, Indirect 2, Progression 1, Accurate 2, Penetrating 3.  

Basically the same rapid fire attack Star used at the Foundry, except that I remembered that her Attack Specialization feats could apply to other powers in her array.

Standard Action: Use her new power to shoot at everyone: Sunder attacks on the mercs (Take 10), damage attacks on Mars and sons.  Attack bonus: +19

If the powered enemies don't seem immune: SURGE: Standard action.  Shoot Ares, Deimos (?) and Phobos for damage, attack the weapons of the mercenaries (Take 10).  Again.  Defensive Attack +-5.  Attack Bonus +14.

Attack roll 1: 28

Attack 2 (possible surge attack): 27

Damage: +8 (Autofire 1: +1/2, max 4)

Defense: 28/15. Toughness +13.  Fine.  Inspired (+4, already included in attacks and toughness).  Master Plan (+1, 1/3, included in attack.) HP 1.

Impending Fatigue.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 17, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren will indeed use his Inspire Courage, as he glares towards the attackers.  He simply grins, the wound being one that would take a little more healing than others, but smiles none the less.
> 
> "So, I guess that's your best shot?  Figures, you need a weapon, you don't look too tough to me.  As opposed to my other friends here..."
> 
> ...




Yes, but you need to have spent an HP to shake the stun to take your action.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 17, 2008)

(Star needs a little more area, but she can easily get enough by removing indirect, which she didn't need.  Also, she might want to reconsider just sundering the weapons, being that this fight is taking place in an arms warehouse)

Star raises in the air, spinning and firing off blasts of plasma at every single opponent in the room -- twice.  The vast majority of their weapons are destroyed.  Ares seems to shrug off the damage entirely -- he seems immune -- but Phobos and Deimos are not.  The blast knocks Phobos out of Nitro's hands, and hits him across the room.  Star's next hit stops him from getting up (3 bruises, staggered, another staggered so KO).  The massive Deimos is barely phased by the torrent of plasma (1 bruise).  Ares is blasted halfway across the room (1 bruise, stunned).  Star also takes out the lights to help Nightweaver.

Viridian meanwhile causes about half of the of the minions in the hold to flee in terror, and Hope walls off the area to block the group in with the villains (has to spend an hp to shake the stun).

Mr. Black sees Ares off balance and empties both rail guns into his chest (Inspire-Full PA-Autofire2...Disabled!)

Nitro and Apollo still have their actions.

The minions are all disarmed, blocked off by walls of ice, fleeing in terror, or some combination of the three.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 17, 2008)

Meanwhile, everyone gets a message form Jacobson:

"We're picking up either a very small spacecraft or n oddly-shaped ballistic missile headed rapidly towards the ship from the upper atmosphere.  It should be there shortly"


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## Elric (Mar 17, 2008)

Changing action- Acrobatic Bluff to feint the big guy, then attack him- PA for 5 if the feint works; otherwise PA for 3.


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## Victim (Mar 17, 2008)

_Looks like two down, pretty much._

"A ballistic missile?!"  Star blurts out.  _Oh sh-!, a nuke!?  Wait, no need to leap to the worst possible conclusion.  It could just be reinforcements...  Barrington and his people are up there.  But it could be transorbital from the ground...  (*&#, I don't have time to worry about it; the big one is probably going to smash me next._  "Let us know when you have more."  She looks around frantically, taking in the chaotic results of the group's attacks, "Thanks for the heads up though."  _Don't let this, dizziness, or your headache distract you from a hit to head._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 17, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> Changing action- Acrobatic Bluff to feint the big guy, then attack him- PA for 5 if the feint works; otherwise PA for 3.




Nitro bluffs a punch, causing the big guy to duck, then kicks him in the face (HP for Nitro, as Deimos rerolls his 1), but as usual it seems not to hurt him much, just knocking him back half a step.  It seems also that he is rapidly healing some of his minor injuries (regen 1 bruise).

Apollo (whose player hasn't been on the boards in three days and gave no notice, so I'll choose his attack), pulls back his bow and fires at Ares, who just opened his hand, causing his weapon to slowly, telekinetically, return to him. Deimos jumps in front of the arrow, shouting "FATHER!" (Interpose)...and he absorbs it. 

Ares' armor is smoking, flaming in some places, and full of holes seeping blood.  Ares laughs "The carnage, the chaos!  So beautiful.  I can't die when I'm having so much fun."  -- he jumps to his feet, seemingly partially healed (regenerates disabled!), his axe extending and blade curving as it morphs into a scythe.  Going over Deimos' head, he drives the scythe down into Nitro, between his shoulder and his neck (reroll to avoid dying condition, still gets disabled condition -- incurable!).  Blood spurts from Nitro's shoulder, and becomes energized and vaporous, swirling up the scythe, back to Ares, and into his wounds, which heal further.  

Massive Deimos charges Mr. Black "YOU SHOT FATHER!!," but the hulking brute's punch misses entirely.


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## Elric (Mar 17, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Going over Deimos' head, he drives the scythe down into Nitro, between his shoulder and his neck (reroll to avoid dying condition, still gets disabled condition -- incurable!).




No way I _wouldn't _ have used Ultimate Toughness on that.  If a reroll disabled me then it's way over my toughness save total.  Especially if it's energy damage, as physical damage would convert to nonlethal (though strangely bruises don't penalize saves vs. lethal damage, so Nitro's save vs. lethal is much better than his save vs. nonlethal at this point).  

Also, wasn't Ares stunned?  Shouldn't someone get an HP for him staking off stun?


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## DM_Matt (Mar 17, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> No way I _wouldn't _ have used Ultimate Toughness on that.  If a reroll disabled me then it's way over my toughness save total.  Especially if it's energy damage, as physical damage would convert to nonlethal (though strangely bruises don't penalize saves vs. lethal damage, so Nitro's save vs. lethal is much better than his save vs. nonlethal at this point).
> 
> Also, wasn't Ares stunned?  Shouldn't someone get an HP for him staking off stun?




Heh, I did mess up  a bit there.  Sry, it is physical and thus non-lethal, which as you said is oddly more dangerous than lethal in this case.  I will let you use ult toughness, and Star gets an HP for erasing her stun.

So the result even with ult toughness....is still staggered and stunned.


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## Elric (Mar 17, 2008)

*Nitro, 2 HP, 6 bruises (1 incurable), staggered*

Nitro is staggered by Ares' blow.  Then he turns and launches into a desperate (though he'd never call it that) counterattack.

(OOC: HP to buy off stun.  1 HP left.  All-Out Attack for 5 and PA for 3 and attack Ares, doing lethal damage.  Then Extra Effort and do it again if he's still up.  Reroll any misses with my 1 remaining HP.  If he's stunned when I go to the first attack, PA for 5 instead.  If Ares is out of range, attack Deimos instead)


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## kirinke (Mar 17, 2008)

Hope growled. "Viridian, try to TK Aron's weapon away!" She glowers at the other boy, Deimos, nature's fury welling up in her. "Gaia rejects you, her winds blow around you. No longer will you feel her welcoming touch. Instead, feel her WRATH!" she snarls and bright lightning lashes towards Deimos, the only one uninjured at this point.


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## Victim (Mar 19, 2008)

_Dang regenerators are negating my awesome attack!  We need to finish quickly and hopefully get some distance before that thing arrives.  If I can get mixed up in them, then some they'll probably have some accidents._  Star zips over toward the melee between Nitro and Ares, then touches down lightly.

She whirls back towards Deimos, while still trying to keep the boss in her peripheral vision.  "Hey, stupid, misshapen freak.  Maybe you missed it, but I shot your d-mn dad first.  I shot him more times, and I'm shooting him again right now."  She fires off a quick burst, arcing it up into the air so it comes down for its attack phase.  _I'm going to get creamed because of this, aren't I?_

--------------------------------------

Move Action: move adjacent to Ares and Nitro.

Standard Action:  Shoot Ares.  Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Defensive Attack +-5.  Attack +9.  29

Def 27.  Toughness +9.  Fatigued.  Masterplan +1 (2/3).  HP 2.  Elusive Target


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## Vanifae (Mar 19, 2008)

_Heh my bad, got busy between work, and real life, my apologies I am here and kicking._

Apollo takes in the scene, he takes careful aim, “Not bad for an old man, but I am just getting warmed up.”  He fires another golden arrow with a smirk, “You might think you are the God of War… but I am the harnessed power of the Sun.”

_Attack +11 ranged, keeping it simple._


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## Raylis (Mar 20, 2008)

Nightweaver manouvers around Deimos, striking at the preoccupied monster.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 20, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> Nightweaver manouvers around Deimos, striking at the preoccupied monster.




(You mean Ares?)


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## Raylis (Mar 20, 2008)

(the guy who charged Black and took Apollo's hit...unless I missed something and Ares is last man standing?)


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## kirinke (Mar 20, 2008)

ooc:
Would Hope know the spell to summon spirits wronged by a person such as Aron? I'd be willing to use a hero point for that. I was considering having them help us fight the S.O.B. She wouldn't be controlling them, just giving them the opportunity to exact a bit of justice on their own behalf.

There's a reason why she's called the Hellborn Saint.


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## Shayuri (Mar 20, 2008)

(A Summon, I guess? But then you'd have to work out how many points the spirits were and what powers they had and all...)

Viridian makes a grabbing motion in midair, clenching her fist hard, then yanking it violently sideways. A powerful invisible force does likewise to the weapon in Ares' hands, trying to wrest it free and hurl it far away from him!

TK - 23

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1532684/


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## kirinke (Mar 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (A Summon, I guess? But then you'd have to work out how many points the spirits were and what powers they had and all...)
> 
> Viridian makes a grabbing motion in midair, clenching her fist hard, then yanking it violently sideways. A powerful invisible force does likewise to the weapon in Ares' hands, trying to wrest it free and hurl it far away from him!
> 
> ...




OOC:
I was thinking more of a 'wild summon' that is Hope would call the spirits and open the door so to speak, but she wouldn't have any control over them. She'd simply open the door and allow them entry so they could exact their own brand of vengeance on the evil creature.


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## Shayuri (Mar 20, 2008)

(how would you buy that power? Summon with a limit?)


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## kirinke (Mar 20, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (how would you buy that power? Summon with a limit?)



I dunno. It'd be neat to figure out.  Lemme work on it. Be something to think of next time we get a few PP.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 21, 2008)

Viridian points at Ares weapon, and wrenches it away from him, throwing it across the hold.  (Good thing I checked the math...Shayuri rolled a power check with an 8 as a bonus, but in fact it is an opposed str check at str=rank x5, so thats +15, so her roll is +30, not +23.  In this case, it succeeds...barely (i.e. it was a tie, so it went to the higher score, and his str is a little bit less than 40))

Nightweaver dives by Deimos, then jump-kicks him in the head, downing the brute (stun and bruise!)

Apollo shoots Ares, but the light energy disperses over his forcefield.  "You'll have to do better than that sun-boy"

Star taunts Deimos and blasts him numerous times (another hit and stun).

Hope tries to summon the spirits of Ares' victims to haunt him, and cases them t appear in his mind.  "Beautiful music their screams are.  Thank you, fool witch. This puts me at ease. You cannot guilt trip me for actions that bring me the greatest of bliss!," Ares cackles.

(HP spent for the action, HP gained back for Fiating it to not work)

Nitro was all ready with a clever bluff on Deimos, but with that rendered unnecessary, he joins in the kick-fest, busting Deimos across the face, causing a cracking sound (staggered, stunned, another bruise).  

Wren (who couldnt decide yet apparently) strikes at Ares with his ring directly, which he thinks Ares will not be able to heal.  Unfortunately, Ares deflects the blow with his arm (made toughness save...had you gone with snare, he also would have saved with that same d20 roll)

Deimos shakes off his serious injuries (HP for Nightweaver), and goes after the one who hit him first, striking at her as hard as he can, and wildly as usual.  He finally connects, bashing her across the room and bouncing her off a crate (hp to reroll, still staggered and stunned (DC was 37), 1 incurable bruise)

Since no one picked up Ares weapon, he raises his hand and slides it over to himself, then goes for Nitro, who he considers to have taken down both his sons.  He charges, jumps into the air, and strike nitro in the back with his weapon in axe form as he passes.  Nitro goes down (even ult toughness cant prevent another staggered and thus a knockout).


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## kirinke (Mar 21, 2008)

Hope's eyes turn black at that and as she speaks, it is a strange combination of four females, hers and the cold, grating tones of entities far older than anyone could imagine. "If it is music you crave, and music that brings you bliss, then listen to your own screams!" she snarls, for as she called upon the Furies to bring justice, so too have they taken notice.

"Viridian, try to take his weapon again. This time, pull it towards you or someone grab it!" she says and either A: Aims a powerful bolt of lightening at the guy or B: Grabs the weapon. 


ooc:
If she does aim a powerful bolt of lightning, it will be lethal damage. I also figured that since she did call upon the Furies, there might be.... some lasting effects. Hope is most concerned with bringing justice to the dead and protecting the innocent, so I think the Furies would identify with her, finding a kind of kindred spirit.


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## Elric (Mar 21, 2008)

Did you miss the part when I used extra effort to attack twice?


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## DM_Matt (Mar 21, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> Did you miss the part when I used extra effort to attack twice?




Sure did.  Also Black's move.  I was racing a failing laptop battery.  I posted with like a minute to spare.

(Miss, HP to reroll, HIT, Deimos rerolls, another bruise and stun, Nitro gets his HP back.)

Black shoots at Ares, but the surprisingly nimble armored warrior manages to dodge the slugs.


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## Victim (Mar 21, 2008)

_Hey, I outlasted Nitro.  I'm doing pretty well. //  Oh , Nitro is down.  We're in trouble._  Megan pauses, assessing the situation.  _Oops, one of us should have grabbed that weapon.  The ugly one is almost out, but the boss still seems okay.  Hmm..._
-------------------------------------------------

Delay to go after Wren.

-----------------------------------
*If Ares has been disarmed, but his weapon hasn't been neutralized somehow:*


_Okay, let's not screw this up a second time.  Now's my chance!_  Star disengages from Ares, and slips around to his weapon.  She calls out "Pass it!" in case Viridian is still exerting some kind of power on the weapon, and snags the device, clutching it close 

(Move Action: Grab the weapon.)
(Standard Action->Move Action: leave the ship, fly away at max speed (~10000ft for single move).  Skim the surface after clearing the ship, but angle upwards near the end of her move)
(Free Action: Let go of the weapon).

(Def: 22/14.  Toughness +9.  Fatigued.  HP 2.  Masterplan (final).

-------------------------------------------------------------

*If Deimos hasn't been finished off yet:*

_Let's take care of this loose end..._   Shooting Star flings out an arm towards the stunned Deimos and a burst of plasma spheres streak out from a foot in front of her hand and fly towards the downed bruiser.  "Let's see if I can't apply the knockout shot to both of your sons," she taunts Ares, dodging around him.  _Dumb.  The way he's swinging that thing, I won't even take one hit.  So don't get nailed?  That worked so well against Barrington and Asad...  Whatever.  If I don't die instantly, then Wren will be able to save me.  And if I do, then at least I don't suffer._

>>Standard Action: Shoot *Deimos*.  Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Defensive Attack +-5.  Attack +9.  28  (Shoot, I wrote Ares instead of Deimos at invisible castle.)

Move Action: Feint Ares (for next round).  Acrobatics +15 (20-1 fatigue+1 Masterplan, -5 move action).  34

Def: 27.  T: +9.  Fatigued.  HP 2.  Masterplan final.  Elusive Target.
----------------------------------------------------------

*Otherwise:*

Megan blurs, manuevering around the immortal alien at lightning speed, trying to dodge any possibly deadly swings of his morphing weapon and get a shot into one of Ares's blindspots.  "Two down, one to go," her voice sounding strange in the air (but fine over the comm) from doppler shifting.  _Dumb.  The way he's swinging that thing, I won't even take one hit.  So don't get nailed?  That worked so well against Barrington and Asad...  Whatever.  If I don't die instantly, then Wren will be able to save me.  And if I do, then at least I don't suffer._
>>
Move Action: Acrobatic Feint against Ares.  +15.

Standard Action.  Shoot Ares.  Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Defensive Attack +-5 (whether or not the feint succeeds).  Attack +9 (+14-1 fatigue, +1 MP, -5 Defensive Attack.).  Angle any knockback straight down.

Def: 27.  T: +9.  Fatigued.  HP 2.  Masterplan final.  Elusive Target.

You can use different rolls for this action choice if you want, or take the really lucky ones above.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 21, 2008)

(Unless people actively delay until after someone in particular, I'll be adjudicating actions as they come when that makes sense.  I'll get Black out of the way first.)

Seeing Deimos bash Nightweaver across the room makes Black visibly angry, and he makes  up his mind long before Ares takes down Nitro and incurs vengeance for himself as well..

He turns to the beleaguered Deimos and says "Why. Won't. You. Crazy. Aliens.  Stay.  DOWN!," and shoots through his clips again. (Full PA, Autofire 2).  Deimos goes down in a hail of bullets as Mr. Black blasts holes in his torso and lights him on fire (staggered again, disabled, knocked out by the second staggered). Black reloads, thinking to finish him for real (with EE), but instead runs over to where Nightweaver fell to make sure Ares doesn't try to finish her off (prepares an interpose).


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## Victim (Mar 21, 2008)

(Well, I was just having Star delay to see if Wren would nail Deimos or not.  If Black has already dropped him, then there's no need to delay.)


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## DM_Matt (Mar 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> (Well, I was just having Star delay to see if Wren would nail Deimos or not.  If Black has already dropped him, then there's no need to delay.)




(Her action is still contingent on disarm attempts though)


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## Victim (Mar 22, 2008)

(Yeah.)


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## Raylis (Mar 22, 2008)

*1 Bruise (Incurable), Staggard, Fatigued 0hp*

 "Sometimes the rock moves the river...ow.  she mutters  "Drinking in the carnage? If he means that literally. 

 OOC: Sense Motive 25  http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1534345/ does Aeres appear to be growing stronger the longer the fighting goes on?


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## Vanifae (Mar 22, 2008)

Apollo dashes forward towards Ares, his light bow transforming into a wicked golden guitar/axe, he forgoes any grace or elegance and opts for shear power as he tries to bring down the alien would-be-god with a final and powerful blow of his golden instrument!

_Attack +9 melee for Strike +11, plus Auditory Dazzle of +10 on Deimos.  Apollo will spend an HP if the roll is below 10._

“This is the part where you lose,” Apollo smirks.


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## kirinke (Mar 22, 2008)

*Depending on if someone grabs Ares weapon first:*
Hope, now joined by the powerful and really hacked off Furies, aims another powerful blast at Ares at full, lethal power. "You enjoy the screams of the dying and dead? Well, enjoy your own!" she shouts, her voice a combination of her own and three really irritated entities.

*If she grabs the weapon first:*
Hope fills her hands with the strange weapon, her eyes meeting the would be alien conquerer. "I sense the lives of many dead by this." she says, her voice grating, doubling and trippling upon itself. 

There is no mercy in her voice, only deadly anger and an unceasing hate, beyond time itself. In her mind, the dead scream in anguish and rage, their lives dancing before her mental sight. It wrenches her heart and stabs at her soul and tears trickle down her face and the grief simply adds to her determination to see this monster brought down.

"The innocent scream for justice, the dead for vengence." she smiles, but it is a grim, rictus grin, without humor and less warmth. Around her, the air is ripe with the scents of autumn, of fall and winter, when things come to die and go to sleep for months on end. 

"Your time has come round at _last_," she growls in the voice of many and lashes out with the fell weapon, her own abilities of postcognition and the knowledge the Furies have given her the insight on how to use it. 

Effectively.

ooc:
Hero point used to handle the weapon effectively, using the furies and her own abilities as the 'in game' explination. This is also contingent on whether or not Viridian can successfully take the weapon away again, or if she can grab it herself. Otherwise, she'll make do with a lightning attack


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## Shayuri (Mar 22, 2008)

Viridian clenches her fists angrily, but brushes it off. It was her fault for not coordinating, not warning them.

"Give me strength," she murmurs to the force she has felt so strongly within and around her, "Give me the power I need to stop this..."

She closes her hands around an imaginary haft in front of her, then with both arms struggles to wrench the axe away. Her magically projected will mirrors her movements, giving Ares' weapon a titanic wrench, this time aiming to hurl it towards Hope (in a non-destructive manner ).

(WAUGH! TK Disarm: 34! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1535017/  Natural 19!)


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 24, 2008)

CRAP!  I had posted, but then ENWorld apparently lost my post, and I didn't have a chance to act... appropriately.  I was only going to Interpose on the next attack to Nitro or whomever moved next to him, as that would be the easiest action.  Anyways, here's his action:

Seeing the fact that the weapon was his greatest advantage, Wren decides that Viridian's action to remove it was best suited.  When he catches her trying to accomplish the same effect as last time, so he turns his attention to the most injured, Nitro.  With a quick act of healing, Wren makes sure that Nitro is still in this fight.

Heal Nitro of his worst condition, as he's the most injured.  I still have one HP left, but I am saving that for a last minute action I will take, if it's needed... 

"How far out is this thing?  How much time do we have?"]


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## DM_Matt (Mar 24, 2008)

(Fangor:  Remember a while back when I changed my mind about allowing Persistent on healing?  That applies here.  Wren would know that he cant heal those wounds, a circumstance which he notes seem to be caused by whatever metal Ares' and Demos' weapons are made of.)

Viridian manages to telekinetically wrench the weapon towards Hope, who in turn catches it and runs at Ares, marshaling her power into physical strength while guided by her realization  of the evil this blade has done.  Hope tries to effectively swing Ares scythe, but barely manages to connect, cutting his forward shoulder before he parries the weapon away (1 bruise/injury, incurable).

Apollo blasts Ares as well, wounding him this time.

Nightweaver groggily watches the battle and realizes that Ares seems to physically benefit form the presence of violence...at minimum, it seems to boost his regenerative abilities.   

(Star can take the weapon away from the ship now...does Hope let her take it?)


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## DM_Matt (Mar 24, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "How far out is this thing?  How much time do we have?"]




"Its coming in for a landing on the ships' deck.  Its slowing.  It looks like a very, very, flat craft, small and fast"


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 24, 2008)

*Wren HP 1, 2 Injuries, 3 Bruises*

Wren takes note of the incoming traffic, knowing all too well that it would be a slim chance that they were reinforcements to his own group, and more than likely, Barrington's stooges.  Noting that only Ares was still up, and that he can't heal the wounded Nitro (I will ammend my powers on the character sheet to reflect this), Wren decides that he would not allow the other villains to escape so easily.  One of them is already snared and tethered, so he won't be escaping so easily.  Deimos and Ares were left.  Deimos looks out of it, yet Ares is still a force to be reckoned with. 

Charging forth, with full force, Wren takes to Ares, as he calls out to the others, "Time's running out!"

He then strikes at Ares with his Cosmic Knife, the blue-white energy harnessed into one brutal strike.  Hopefully it will be enough...

Unfortunately, it seems that the battle field is not his forte, as the strike goes wide right...
Strike Attack (1d20 13=14)

Luckily though, his new spot can afford the others close by a chance to be defended.  (Will use Interpose as needed, to save the others)


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## kirinke (Mar 24, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (Star can take the weapon away from the ship now...does Hope let her take it?)




At the moment, I'd think that Hope would realize that the weapon is probably their best chance of hurting Aron. Plus, she might not be willing to let go of it quite yet. 

ooc:
"Viridian, we need to get the innocents out of here," she shouts, her voice tripling upon itself as she begins summoning up her own windborn abilities to scoot any of the ones in harm's way out danger, if necessary. 

She takes another swipe at Aron with the weapon. Her eyes are still black, still being possessed by the Furies. "I have seen your past unnatural one, I know your future!" she taunts, grief and anger twisting her face.

Her tears are black as night, black as death.


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## Victim (Mar 24, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (Star can take the weapon away from the ship now...does Hope let her take it?)






> At the moment, I'd think that Hope would realize that the weapon is probably their best chance of hurting Aron. Plus, she might not be willing to let go of it quite yet.





(Looks like that a 'No' to the pollution plan.)


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## kirinke (Mar 25, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> (Looks like that a 'No' to the pollution plan.)




ooc:
Pretty much. It wouldn't make sense in game at the moment. Once they get back to the ship and Hope comes down from the Furies battle-rage, she'll want to get rid of it. Right now, she has only two things in mind, protecting her team-mates and killing Aron. And alot of the latter has to do with what the Furies are and with what Aron has done. They are practically demanding his death and Hope is really only too glad to comply, especially since she has directly seen what he has done.

IC:
Hope continues to taunt Aron, keeping his attention on her while Viridian sets up a portal to get them the heck outta there. She'll use the weapon on him, seeing as how it appears to be doing real damage. 

"All of your years, all of your fighting, all of your supposed mastery of war.... All you really are is a common, classless butcher, a child tearing off the wings of flies, a coward protecting his own skin." Hope sneers, her ancient sounding voice bouncing off the walls of the ship, adding to the eerie effect. "You are no warrior, no soldier, no cunning killer. All you do is dance around, clapping at the sounds of the dead and dying. You are pathetic." 

She laughs bitterly, grudgingly. "We have killed many like you, rended them to lie upon the gray wastes of Hades. You emulate the gods, but you have no real understanding of them."


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## Raylis (Mar 25, 2008)

"You're just making him stronger!  Nightweaver shouts,  "He's supposed to be a war god and he said earlier he thrives off violence! Back down or we won't be him!


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## kirinke (Mar 25, 2008)

"If we back down, he will beat us!" Hope snarls, but to Wren, she uses her wind-born voice.

"I'll distract him, use your cosmic abilities to cage him!" she said.

She levels the weapon against Aron, her clumsy movements belying an underlying grace as she swings and connects.


OOC take 2:
Die roll: 1d20+10 (weather attack array as she is using her powers to augment herself)
1d20+10 → [10,10] = (20) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1537002/ 
(Using Hope Winters) I just hope I did this right....


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## DM_Matt (Mar 25, 2008)

Wren runs at Ares, but the skillful warrior jumps to the left, such that he misses entirely.  Hope swings the blade clumsily at Ares as he moves into her rightward swing, but he suddenly ducks the blow entirely (surge to bluff-redirect Hope, takes the fatigue for now).  Hope buries the scythe in Wren's chest (Crit! Disabled, Staggered, Stunned, Injury, Bruise...all incurable...this result is even with a reroll)

Ares laughs gleefully "Silly girl and your silly lectures."  He grabs the scythe with both hands as if he was going to yank it away, but instead he yanks himself towards Hope and slams his armored forehead into hers. She goes down (KO, staggered, stunned, bruised...after another successful bluff) and he opens his hand, the scythe returning to it.  "Pathetic, arrogant little fool.  You clearly know I am Ares, so I can tell you that I knew the Furies, I battled the Furies, and they were no more gods than I...just a superpowered vigilante group. And you arent them, not by a long shot. The Furies in your head are just manifestations of your rage and hatred that you cannot face yourself.  Like me, these emotions grant you power...but far less. Hey, don't pass out while I'm talking to you."  She does anyway. (He has a few ranks of Quickness(Limited:Gloating)   )


Meanwhile, Jacobson reports.  "The ship landed on the deck.  Its top is opening up.  Oh crap, I get it now.  No wonder its so thin.   Its a drone...basically just an engine and a nav system attached to a teleportal. Five hostiles just teleported in.  They are wearing the masks and armor like Barrington's supers, black with a globe logo on the chest, with some individual customization, especially on the shoulders.  I'll try to ID them."


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## Victim (Mar 25, 2008)

(Since Star didn't get a chance to run off with the weapon, shouldn't she have feinted and shot (at) Ares that round?  Best case scenario is probably that Star gets another HP though, since I can't see that bit of awesomeness getting redone... )


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## Victim (Mar 25, 2008)

_You nearly killed Wren!  Idiot!  Maybe if you weren't so freaked about vengeance, you'd be more careful._"F-!ing moron!" Star spits.  _Of course he'll be better at using his own freaking weapon than you._

"Viridian!  Get everyone to Nightweaver; we need to get out of here!"  Star yells.  _We're so screwed...  Okay, we need to get out of here.  If Nightweaver can get our wounded out, then Apollo and I should be able to flee on our own.  Do something else too?  Ares doesn't seem to be able to fly, but some of the others might be able to do something do the jet - or Nightweaver, she might need extra time to 'port out with her wounds - if they're not distracted...  Ah hell.  And we need to get into the Lighthouse somehow.  While it's not the best time right now, there's still that teleportal.  Barrington and Control Freak used the FL's own stuff to get access.  So, same play?  Worth a shot._  "I'll try to distract the new arrivals."  _So stupid, but what else can we do?  With any kind of speed or flight, they could be on us in seconds.  We need Nightweaver or Thess to get everyone out of here._

Megan rises from the hold, pausing before the new arrivals.  She whistles sharply, and waves.  "Hey!  It was getting a bit crowded in there  -" _What with Hope swinging a weapon she doesn't know how to use into an already messy close quarters fight_ - "so what do you say to doing this out here?"  she asks, trying to sound more confident than she feels.  Then her arm shifts into an attack position and Star begins to dodge sideways.  _Those five and the attachment of the portal to the drone.  Don't want to make my headache worse._  She hoses down Barrington's reinforcements and their machine, and dodges behind the superstructure of ship.  "Catch me if you can," she taunts as she flees.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Spend 1 HP to cancel to fatigue.

Move Action: Move to within range of the new arrivals, staying in the air. If there's an angle that exposes Ares to her attacks as well, then take it.  Take Move by Action(s).  Put the main bridge structure of the ship between her and the enemies.

Standard Action:  Plasma Barrage [Alternate Power: Strike +8 Area (targeted, burst) Autofire 1, Homing 1, Indirect 2, Progression 2, Accurate 2, Penetrating 3.  - Isn't that pretty much how it ended up; I actually have a few extra points that could have provided the increase to progression without dropping indirect.]

Target bogeys 1-5, and the places where the portal joins the drone.  If she can see Ares, then him too.

Attack +14.  *19*
Good thing the attack has Homing.

Surge to do it again!

Attack +9.  Defensive Attack +-5. * 25*

Def: 28/15.  Toughness +9.  Fine.  HP 1.

Reserving the right to change things a bit pending the results of my action posted for last round in post #211.

If three or more enemies appear to be targeting Star with attacks that seem to be dodgeable, then she'll spend a HP to double her dodge bonus to defense.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 25, 2008)

(Star probably wouldn't have been successful last round anyway, esp since Ares is nigh unbluffable even for someone with Star's acro skill, but I'll just give her an HP for it)

Meanwhile, Jacobson suggests "Sigma Team, I've ordered my crew to battle stations. We have two rail guns and two missile tubes, and we brought a payload of 4 air-to-ground missiles and 2 torpedos, in addition to assorted anti-aircraft missiles.  I propose firing a missile into the ship's central missile battery, another into the bridge, and then two into the cargo bay, while trying to hit the supers on the deck with the guns....then we'll finish it off with the torpedos.  The ship's sensors are down, the bridge crew is mostly blinded, and the data on the ship will probably not survive anyway...we PROBABLY won't reveal our Geldaran technology this time.""


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## kirinke (Mar 25, 2008)

"You... talk.... too... much!" Hope manages laughing in his face before passing out. If she managed to keep his attention on her long enough.... Maybe the others could escape. In her head the Furies moaned in anger, seeing a friend go down.

Manifestation or not, they still were ghosts, spirits of a kind.....

ooc:
She knows that Wren has regeneration.... If you can Fiat it, she'll use a hero point next round through the spirits she summoned to heal Wren or boost his regeneration powers.


(He has a few ranks of Quickness(Limited:Gloating) Suuree.....
Heh. Then she gets the last word.


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## Elric (Mar 25, 2008)

*Nitro, 2 HP, KO*

Nitro's internal monologue/dialogue plays.

_I can't believe you got beat up by that guy.  _ 

_Well, he *was * a god of war._

_Who wasn't really a god of war at all.  Arthur C. Clarke and all that._

_So you lost once.  It's not like you're the comically often-beat-up Nightweaver or the scarily-bad-at-making-good-decisions to the point when you wonder if she'll accidentally attack the wrong side Hope_

_Yeah, I guess._


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## Vanifae (Mar 25, 2008)

Apollo raises a brow, still wielding his glowing axe-guitar.   Seeing Star’s change of tactics he follows suit, mimicking her flight path but making sure to stay out of her firing lane as his weapon shifts into his majestic golden light bow.  An arrow forms in other hand as he takes a shot while airborne and still mobile.

“You know you’re sexy when you’re fighting for your life,” he winks giving her a good buzz and a pat on the rump as he goes back to staying aware of his surroundings, “are we winning yet?”

_+11 ranged attack with his bow, 25 on the roll.  He will use Move-By-Action and try to end his movement behind cover, but still close to Star to back her up.  The damage is +11._


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## Victim (Mar 25, 2008)

Megan yelps in surprise as Apollo comes up behind her and twists about evasively.  "Shouldn't you be helping Nightweaver out or something?" she asks.  _That only leaves Nightweaver and Viridian to evac a whole bunch of badly injured people while being attacked by someone powerful enough to trash our toughest by himself.  Well, Mr. Black is there too; hopefully he can cover them.  Hmm, I never really thought of myself like that.    FOCUS!  Okay, at least I'm not the only target up here now._ 

"I'll settle for just getting everyone out of here in one piece."  _I don't think we can win anymore.  Even if I cut loose?  I probably go into shock, how many of them drop?  I've never used it on people before; it's probably not so great against dodging targets._


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## Vanifae (Mar 25, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan yelps in surprise as Apollo comes up behind her and twists about evasively.  "Shouldn't you be helping Nightweaver out or something?" she asks.  _That only leaves Nightweaver and Viridian to evac a whole bunch of badly injured people while being attacked by someone powerful enough to trash our toughest by himself.  Well, Mr. Black is there too; hopefully he can cover them.  Hmm, I never really thought of myself like that.    FOCUS!  Okay, at least I'm not the only target up here now._
> 
> "I'll settle for just getting everyone out of here in one piece."  _I don't think we can win anymore.  Even if I cut loose?  I probably go into shock, how many of them drop?  I've never used it on people before; it's probably not so great against dodging targets._



 "Relax... I have a plan," Apollo winks.  _Okay now to think of said plan..._


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## Raylis (Mar 26, 2008)

*1 bruise (Uncurable) 0 hp, fatigued*

 _ . o O {That _ idiot _ we'd be in a lot better shape if she'd just listen to someone other then herself! I'm starting to think she's all talk. Both Nitro and Wren are down not good...I'm starting to prefer the demons over the aliens. Star and the Lightbulb are holding off their reinforcements, Vi's spell will take too long to cast....}_

"Virdian throw a salt shield around Voderac. Black help me get to Johnny, Wren and Hope! The longer we keep fighting the stronger he becomes."  Night says, making a fatigued break toward Nitro,  "Jacobson buzz the ship, as close as you can get her and black out a room; it's time to cut our losses and get the hell out of here!


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## kirinke (Mar 26, 2008)

ooc:
Hope's plans usually are pretty good. And she was against the idea of boarding Aron's freighter in the first place if you remember. She thought it was suicide. And from her vantage, no one's powers were doing any damage to him, or at least no lasting damage. Grabbing and using his weapon against him was a stroke of brilliance.   

Hmmm. Using a Hero Point to do this, since I used surge last time. 

IC:
Hope is groggily aware of voices whispering to her, even unconscious the spirits speak to her. 

_He is connected to the powers of chaos, of evil and despair.... Our mistake was as yours, fighting. Our mistake was our downfall. Let us do this one thing, please!_

Hope shakes her head, the slight movement sending flash-bangs of pain echoing through her head. *Serves me right... Oh god Wren.... Please don't be dead.* she prayed. *I'm so sorry, so damned sorry... My arrogance led to your pain.*

Slowly and painfully, she gathers the last dregs of power, for one desperate attack, something that maybe Aron won't expect. 

*He feeds on pain and despair... Despair and pain and anger and hate. Goddess... Or not, I don't care, just make sure that my friends live and I will be content... I am your channel... Use me to end this please! My life doesn't matter..... Just... let... my... friends... live....* she prayed silently to Gaia, her entire body wracked in pain, her thoughts disjointed, but the intent behind it was clear, she was willing to give her life, to spend days in pain, for anything, so long as her friends survived and got away. 

"Wren.... I'm sorry... Gods I'm so sorry," she whispered. When Aron dropped her, she nearly fell on the injured Guardian. "I'm sorry...."


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## DM_Matt (Mar 26, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> _ . o O {That _ idiot _ we'd be in a lot better shape if she'd just listen to someone other then herself! I'm starting to think she's all talk. Both Nitro and Wren are down not good...I'm starting to prefer the demons over the aliens. Star and the Lightbulb are holding off their reinforcements, Vi's spell will take too long to cast....}_
> 
> "Virdian throw a salt shield around Voderac. Black help me get to Johnny, Wren and Hope! The longer we keep fighting the stronger he becomes."  Night says, making a fatigued break toward Nitro,  "Jacobson buzz the ship, as close as you can get her and black out a room; it's time to cut our losses and get the hell out of here!




(Night is staggered and prone, so she only has a half action and needs one to get up...needs to make a acro check...fails)

Black sheathes his guns, and his body crackles with electricity.  Briefly, his eyes glow.  As Night tries unsuccessfully to jump up, he catches her and darts across the room, taking her to where the rest of the group -- and Ares -- is.  Whatever he did, he's significantly stronger and faster this way.

He stands in front of the rest, triggering electrical arcs on his fingers (He's wearing those gloves that leave the fingertips open).  He says to Ares: "Bring it, old man!" _I hope I survive this._


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## DM_Matt (Mar 26, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> Hope's plans usually are pretty good. And she was against the idea of boarding Aron's freighter in the first place if you remember. She thought it was suicide. And from her vantage, no one's powers were doing any damage to him, or at least no lasting damage. Grabbing and using his weapon against him was a stroke of brilliance.
> 
> Hmmm. Using a Hero Point to do this, since I used surge last time.
> ...




An HP can't do all that.


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## Raylis (Mar 26, 2008)

OOC: going to ready an action to use extra effort to  power stunt

Teleport R3
Fl: Medium (shadows) (-1), Short Range (-1)
Ex: Accurate (+1), Area [burst] (+1)
PF: Selective
PF: Progression x 5

that gives a 300ft, 25ft radius, 1000lb shadowalk to move allies into the dark room of the plane when Jacobson gives the signal. 

On a side note what was an associated power is quickly becomming her schtick


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## kirinke (Mar 26, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> An HP can't do all that.




ooc:
She' using the hero point and whatever else she has left in the matter of extra effort, power stunt etc to open herself up to the positive, healing side of nature, the part that is anethema to Aron. She's mostly letting herself be used by the power and her only conscious control is focusing it on Aron, using it as a weapon of last resort.

She thinks it's her last attack, so she's pouring all of her strength into it in order to let the others get away. If she manages to _survive _ it, I'm hoping she will be changed by it. Maybe for the better. 

(I'm willing for her to into a coma for a few days because of it, especially if it does Aron damage.)

Positive: bright, peaceful, serene type energies, all the things he abhors. 


Hmm. If Aron survives her attack, I wouldn't mind if he gets obsessed with her. After all, she's probably the first female in a long time that's managed to mark him in any kind of way. He might just because she managed to briefly steal and use his own weapon against him. Love at first strike and all.  

She should have at least three hero points from the previous fights she didn't use. Also, she's earned at least two. One from the knockout and one from inadvertently skewering Wren.... Though he should probably get one as well from that.....    

Also, edited my previous action post to reflect the use of that hero point. She's feeling major guilt trips at the moment.


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## Shayuri (Mar 27, 2008)

"Grace of the Mother protect us," Viridian entreats as she reaches into her belt bag and scatters salt at the feet of Ares. The spray of white particles starts to curl as if blown in a wind into a circle of mystic emblems around the alien warlord. She had no doubt he could destroy the warding...but doing so would cost him time they could use.

(circle ward around Ares! Ref save DC 21)


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 27, 2008)

Deciding that enough was enough, and that he would take no more chances with rogue actions, Wren concentrates all his might on the fact that they had to escape.  He knows that there is only one chance for him to take, and he gathers what power he has left to conjure up the power that he used not too long ago.  Ignoring the strain it was going to take, Wren turns to Voderac, simply stating, "Round one to you... but it's not over yet..."

"Get that plane taking off NOW!" he calls out, hoping that it is enough to get the plane on its course of escape.

With that, his powers engulf the area, as he bends the cosmic threads that surround everything.  They instantly find themselves in the cargo area of the plane, the familiar essence of a slight increase of static charge the only side effect of the power that Wren harnessed, as they find themselves, along with the two KO'ed villains, on their way out of this mess.

Wren, on the other hand, does not have time to take in their momentary reprieve, as his eyes flutter and his energy is spent.  He slumps forwards, now out of it...

Teleport Rank 10 (total cost=38pp)
Extra: Accurate and Area
Flaw: Tiring
PF: Selective and Progression x7


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## kirinke (Mar 28, 2008)

Hope is still muttering under her breath, halfway conscious, her face twisted in pain and guilt. As Wren collaspes from the shock of the mass teleport, she regains enough of her senses to recognize where she is and what has happened. She rips off the gloves of her costume, working on sheer instinct alone. 

"Gaia help me please, I am your channel, I beg of you, heal him, take away the pain I dealt..."she murmurs, so softly that only those closest to them can hear her. As she acknowledges her culpability, a soft, springlike wind swirls around both of them and she seems to glow with a strange blue light that shades everything around it. Her hands begin to weep pure water which pools around Wren, seeping into the worst of his injuries, the injuries she inflicted inadvertantly. 

"I'm so sorry..." she repeats, the water taking on the scent of new fallen rain. Tears streak her face, the Furies gift of battle-rage coming with the price of feeling an innocent's pain, the pain she herself drew by accident.  As the healing continues, she can feel the strain and drain of her own flagging energy and pours more into it. Once it's done, she collaspes again. 

ooc:
Healing, tiring. 
Hero point to heal the worst of Wren's injuries and whatever else it can do, even though she knows that he can regenerate. It's the fact that she knows he's hurting that's chivving her to do this.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 28, 2008)

Star and Apollo fly rapidly in circles as they fly out of the cargo hold.  Apollo takes an opportunity to shoot and slightly wound one of the newcomers, while Star blasts the group repeatedly.  A couple of them go down (stunned), and the others are hurt as well.  Unfortunately, she only damages the landing drone.  Star and Apollo get relatively far from the ship.  

In the hold, Viridian casts a magical ward around Ares.

Meanwhile, your plane is coming in fast, firing missiles and rail guns ahead of it (each of the five get an action -- four are on weapons, D'Antoni is piloting).  A missile strikes and destroys the turret at the back of the ship before it can fire, the explosion blowing off a decent portion of the back of the ship at the same time.  The remaining main turret slowly moves to target the ship, but the dual rail guns disable it before it can fire.  The missile shot from the other turret lands right in the middle of the villain group, and they disappear in the explosion.

Those of you below decks see the roof explode over your heads as the giant metal doors come crashing down, followed by a fireball.  Just then, Wren picks himself up, his ring glowing brightly, teleports you all the the plane just as the roof comes crashing down.  One you are on board, the plane wheels around, and unloads the rest of its payload on the ship, crippled by the blinding of the bridge staff, and the destruction of most of its weaponry, sensors, and communications.

Secondary explosions begin in the hold, and the torpedos slam into the front of the ship, blasting holes in the hull and detonating even more ordnance in the cargo bay.  Mr. Black smiles, then you see what he was really doing when apparently sitting there waiting for Ares to attack.  He programmed of the larger missiles in the ship's missile battery to explode without launching.  As the plane speeds away high into the sky, and triggers its scramjets, it is hit by the tail end of the shockwave as the missiles in the middle of the ship all explode, cutting it in two.


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## Victim (Mar 28, 2008)

Megan stares at the explosions, then shakes her head.  _Our backup is seriously dangerous.  Do they even need us?_  "Let's get the hell out of here.  I guess trying to salvage their teleporter isn't going to work?" she says to Apollo.  Then she flees the secondary explosions, tearing across the sky at max speed in pursuit of the group's jet.

If she can catch up to jet, then she'll match base speeds.  "Can we come in yet?"  she yells through the comm.
--------------------------------
Spend HP to cancel fatigue.

All out move.

Def: 29/15. Toughness +9.  Fine.  HP 1.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan stares at the explosions, then shakes her head.  _Our backup is seriously dangerous.  Do they even need us?_  "Let's get the hell out of here.  I guess trying to salvage their teleporter isn't going to work?" she says to Apollo.  Then she flees the secondary explosions, tearing across the sky at max speed in pursuit of the group's jet.
> 
> If she can catch up to jet, then she'll match base speeds.  "Can we come in yet?"  she yells through the comm.
> --------------------------------
> ...




(It only worked because you guys basically crippled the ship with your previous attacks.  It was a sitting duck for those missiles.)

Jacobson says "Follow us for a minute until we can drop out of scramjet mode.  We couldn't risk them managing to fire back with something big."

(They let Star and Apollo in shortly)

Meanwhile, the soldiers are scrambling to deal with everyone's injuries, and they recline the chairs and hook people up to various monitors.  Soldiers carryin Hope, Wren, and Nitro to beds, and Black continues helping Nightweaver.  By the time Star and Apollo get on board, the badly wounded are waking up (Hope, Wren, and Nitro do in fact).  Hope is rather confused, having just had a series of dreams in which she saves the day.  The prisoners are drugged so they don't wake up too soon.

Black looks over the data and says "Well, Ares might have survived that, but mostly this was successful We got these guy, destroyed the ship, and most importantly, we found out what we needed to know about Ares'/Barrington's/Hiroshima Shadow's operation in Israel that day."


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## Victim (Mar 29, 2008)

"Is everyone alright?  Are we safe now?" Star asks, shakily.  "Good job getting everyone out, Nightweaver."


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## DM_Matt (Mar 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Is everyone alright?  Are we safe now?" Star asks, shakily.  "Good job getting everyone out, Nightweaver."




"Definately a clean getaway.  Anyone on that ship will be too busy trying to survive to follow us...and they probably don't have anything left fast enough to anyway," Jacobson says.


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## kirinke (Mar 29, 2008)

ooc:
Mean you are, very mean.  
Hmmm... What's your opinion on my idea in the OOC discusion, that the major reason why Hope has been acting... Irrationally is because of something that's affecting her artificially, something like a curse that no one has really noticed by now. I'd think that either Viridian or Wren might be able to sense it. Especially right now, because she is exhausted enough that her shields both physically and mentally are down.   

IC:
As dream sorts itself out from reality, Hope's gut twists and she looks at Wren beside her. The reality was, she had screwed up, majorly. Her dreams was her mind trying to protect itself, but hay, she didn't have that luxury anymore. She had almost killed Wren and would have if he didn't have regeneration.

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes haunted, sorrowfull, no masks or shields. She wasn't hiding behind anything. "I nearly killed you through my own f.cking arrogance." she admitted, looking at Wren beside her. Her expression twists as that unnatural rage flickers through her. She battles it down visciously.


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## Victim (Mar 29, 2008)

> "Definately a clean getaway. Anyone on that ship will be too busy trying to survive to follow us...and they probably don't have anything left fast enough to anyway," Jacobson says.




"...'Kay."  Star heads for the bathroom to recover from her combat stress in relative privacy.


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## Shayuri (Mar 29, 2008)

Viridian collapses into a seat and rubs her forehead.

"I guess it was pretty stupid to think we could just...beat him, just like that," she says. "He's been around for so long. If he was easy to beat, he'd have been beaten by now. Still...for a second there I thought we had him."

She looks at the wounded, in their trauma units and field dressings.

"And we nearly lost half the team doing it. What did we do wrong? How can we make sure this doesn't happen again? I mean, we're going to be fighting Barrington eventually...we have to be ready."


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## kirinke (Mar 29, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian collapses into a seat and rubs her forehead.
> 
> "I guess it was pretty stupid to think we could just...beat him, just like that," she says. "He's been around for so long. If he was easy to beat, he'd have been beaten by now. Still...for a second there I thought we had him."
> 
> ...




"Alot of our problems... Everyone in our group is mostly used to either working solo or at best in two man teams." Hope replies quietly, painfully propping herself up. "Down in the freighter we were all doing our own thing, with little coordination and minimal planning. My arrogance almost made us loose Wren. Our combined arrogance almost made us loose the entire mission." 

She shook her head. "We don't even know what the others can do exactly, at least I don't. We certainly don't know what our every strength and weakness' are. And that can be.... Fatal. We need to learn how to work as a team. That can only come with practice and honesty about our powers and abilities." 

She smiled a little. "We still dealt him and Barrington a blow they didn't expect. But we can't expect that luck to continue. Eventually Fortuna turns her attention elsewhere." 

"Don't expect Ares to be dead. I thought I had killed Faust, but he's still breathing and Ares is that much older than him and much more cunning." she said quietly, hands clenching unconsciously at the bitter memory. 

"We should have never went down there like that. It should have ended in disaster, it would have, if Wren hadn't teleported us away." she said, the past clear in her mind, her own powers not letting her hide behind false dreams. She laid back or rather collasped back onto the pillows that the medic had placed down for her.

Well at least she didn't have a headache. Or much of one. "We need to learn how to be a team, instead of a group of people acting on their own."


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## Elric (Mar 30, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian collapses into a seat and rubs her forehead.
> 
> "I guess it was pretty stupid to think we could just...beat him, just like that," she says. "He's been around for so long. If he was easy to beat, he'd have been beaten by now. Still...for a second there I thought we had him."




Nitro gets to his feet.  For being savagely beaten by a very sharp weapon, he's still feeling it a lot.  Something to do with the properties of Ares's strange alien weapon (incurable- so Nitro is still staggered).

_I can't believe I lost to that guy.  Maybe I've been cursed.  That could probably explain why I lost.  There's really no other explanation for it.  Surely I never do anything dumb, get in over my head, or am simply outmatched, right?  Wait... I didn't read my horoscope this morning- that's got to be it.  Should read that more closely in the future._

"I can't believe I lost to that guy.  I sort of knew that you can't beat everyone all the time, but I never thought losing would happen to me.  Oh well.  At least we got the info we wanted and captured Ares' sons."

Nitro turns to Hope.  "Of course he's not dead.  I'm a wrestler and even I can tell you that.  You don't need to be so melodramatic about it."


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## kirinke (Mar 30, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> Nitro gets to his feet.  For being savagely beaten by a very sharp weapon, he's still feeling it a lot.  Something to do with the properties of Ares's strange alien weapon (incurable- so Nitro is still staggered).
> 
> _I can't believe I lost to that guy.  Maybe I've been cursed.  That could probably explain why I lost.  There's really no other explanation for it.  Surely I never do anything dumb, get in over my head, or am simply outmatched, right?  Wait... I didn't read my horoscope this morning- that's got to be it.  Should read that more closely in the future._
> 
> ...




"Well, losing tends to teach you a valuable lesson in humility. Well, according to my teachers at any rate and at least you didn't accidently skewer your own team-mate." she scowls, regret and pain flickering across her face.

Hope looks in the direction of the drugged prisoners. "We shouldn't keep them in the main base. Even if we remove their arms and armour and clothes before that, Aron probably can track them down through their blood-bond alone. From the looks of it, alot of the Trust tech is based off that alien stuff right? He'd be able to circumvent that in no time flat."


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## Elric (Mar 30, 2008)

Nitro remembers something suddenly.  

"Viridian.  You should scry on that mystery superhero from the Foundry.  I think it's really important.

Remember that attack in Israel, that we just learned involved Hiroshima Shadow (HS), who was supposed to attack the nuclear power plant.  But it seems like HS killed all of those random people in the apartment who were the terrorists he was supposed to work with.  Well, what if it wasn't HS at all.  What if the Mystery Super (MS) killed all of the people and we just think it was Hiroshima Shadow because they both use radiation.  That makes more sense- MS finds out about the attack and kills the people responsible.  Then she captures HS.

But how in the world did MS find out about the attack that early?  After all, no one anticipated any of the other attacks that day and Barrington isn't an idiot.  He probably wanted the attack in Israel to fail.  They captured HS with the MS's technology.  So wherever they're holding HS, the MS can't be far away and that means that if Barrington can track down his own captured ally he'll be able to capture the MS's technology, which is what he's looking for.  He doesn't care about blowing up random nuclear power plans in Israel- he wants to complete this device and he needs MS's technology to do that."


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## Victim (Mar 30, 2008)

_Bleh.  Okay, I'm mostly done shaking now.  I didn't get anything on my face or costume?  Okay._  After a few minutes, she emerges, having overheard at least some of the comments. 

"Remember the teleport recall thing that Ares did.  We should destroy or neutralize their armor right now," Megan adds.  _Just because his adopted culture has certain technologies doesn't mean he'd be able to circumvent it anymore than you have backdoors into all Windows machines.  But since he's been keeping at least some of his stuff running for thousands of years, it's safe to assume that he's an expert.  And there's no need to take chances._

"So do you have any specific issues for the rest of us, besides generic 'work together' crap?"  she asks Hope, skeptically.  _We shouldn't have gone down there?  BS!  My plan worked - we snuck on board.  The illusions lured them into concentrating their fighting guys so we could hit them all at once instead of fighting a running battle through unknown, possibly trapped, areas.  While we were getting beat up, we were still winning.  Until your reckless quest for vengeance took out both Wren and yourself of course._ 

"That's an easy thing to say, but what should we actually be doing?  Obviously we screwed up the first time Thess took away the weapon, but it's hard to keep track of everything with 10 or so people chucking powers back and forth.  I think that most of us, at least, avoid any major coordination issues.  There ought to be a way to have Nightweaver fighting in darkness or shadows without her being by herself or us being unable to see, however."  _If she could use her full power, then maybe she wouldn't suck even more than me.  Well, if I could effectively use my - don't even think like that._

"If it makes you feel any better, Nitro, we didn't last long once you got taken out."  _I guess he's still the most imporant one of us for fighting.  And good figuring things out, again._


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## kirinke (Mar 30, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> _Bleh.  Okay, I'm mostly done shaking now.  I didn't get anything on my face or costume?  Okay._  After a few minutes, she emerges, having overheard at least some of the comments.
> 
> "Remember the teleport recall thing that Ares did.  We should destroy or neutralize their armor right now," Megan adds.  _Just because his adopted culture has certain technologies doesn't mean he'd be able to circumvent it anymore than you have backdoors into all Windows machines.  But since he's been keeping at least some of his stuff running for thousands of years, it's safe to assume that he's an expert.  And there's no need to take chances._
> 
> ...




Hope closed her eyes, the concussion making the light rather painful at the moment. "We need to learn how to coordinate in battle-situations, learn how to anticipate each other's reactions, how to modify our reactions to the situations we find ourselves in, more importantly, we need to learn how to effectively deal out our attacks on the enemy as well as learning how to maximize each others defenses so we don't get so badly creamed. We can't do any of that at the moment, at least with the lack of practice we've had. I'm sure Black and the more military minded of us an think of other reasons. That's all apart of working as a team." Hope said pointedly.

"Before in the FBI, I was using my offensive powers as a last ditch method of protection. In AEGIS, it was the same way. Mostly, they valued my investigative skills and my ability to both see the past and let others see as well, more than my powers to manipulate the weather." her lips curved into a small smile. "Postcogs and precogs might be a dime a dozen, but the power to let others see is rare indeed." she opened her eyes and looked at Star.

"I'm as new as working in a 'super team' as you all are." she said honestly and thought a little at the nightweaver comment. "You know, the past few days, I've been able to sort of 'see' in the dark. I don't know, haven't had much time to try it out or really explore it. That's what I mean by practicing with each other, learning our powers." she said, looking troubled and truth be told, more than a bit afraid.

_*Why are my powers suddenly developing.... My last big 'evolution' was in my teens. Why now? I know the docs say that they're progressing normally.... But.....*_


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## Shayuri (Mar 30, 2008)

(before I make an idiot of myself: Wasn't the Mystery Super the genius kid's girlfriend in a powersuit?)


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## kirinke (Mar 30, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (before I make an idiot of myself: Wasn't the Mystery Super the genius kid's girlfriend in a powersuit?)




No, that was the empath.

The other super was a radiation controller I think.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 30, 2008)

Wren's eyes are kept closed for a little while, as he breathes deeply.  The voices were all around, and he knew that they had managed to escape.  As he feels his own injuries trying to heal, he notes that the weapon from Voderac/Ares has a little extra 'umph' to it.  This was going to take longer than usual.

As the others start speaking of teamwork, barely managing to get out alive, and then what to do with the prisoners, Wren knows that tracking them is going to be easy for Ares.  After all, he's had practice on finding things that didn't want to be found.

"Ms. White can deal with the prisoners, as she would know how to best keep them quarantined from Ares.  It's not their first big catch, I am sure.  As for their armor, it's best to let Black scan it for contingency plans, as I don't want to see what would happen should it be trapped or something."

"As for the battle, there's no better way to learn than from personal experience.  We know we aren't as cohesive as we would like, but without knowing what we can do, it's impossible to think of all alternative actions.  As for how to get better at this teamwork, I have some ideas.  But, it's up to everyone.  We can talk about it back at headquarters.  For now, let's go over what we have, what we don't have, and our next steps."

"Nitro's right, we should find out more about that mystery super, as she would come in handy.  Knowing what her motives are would help us out as well.  As for the cargo, don't count it out all together.  Black, I put up a series of protective barriers on the cargo.  It might be worthwhile to use some satellite images to keep track of what's going on right now at the site.  We can see if they are salvaging the items, or leaving altogether.  I am sure you can handle a little satellite management, or at least the higher ups would have access."

Wren ignores the comment from Hope about the almost killing him.  He knew that it would take a lot more than her to do him in, yet it still didn't remove the pain.  She would have to work on some self control, or else next time, it might not be him that almost gets skewered.  He can only take relief in the fact that it wasn't one of the others that would not have been able to survive an attack like that...

He takes the rest of the trip in stride...

OOC - I don't think that Wren would like everyone knowing he carries the ability to regenerate.  It's something that could be used against him, and he would like to be the only one that would have that knowledge.  Yet, having the others know that should he fall in battle, there is a chance for him to live is a tough choice to make....

As of yet, he doesn't know if that is part of his file or not... probably not.


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## kirinke (Mar 30, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren's eyes are kept closed for a little while, as he breathes deeply.  The voices were all around, and he knew that they had managed to escape.  As he feels his own injuries trying to heal, he notes that the weapon from Voderac/Ares has a little extra 'umph' to it.  This was going to take longer than usual.
> 
> As the others start speaking of teamwork, barely managing to get out alive, and then what to do with the prisoners, Wren knows that tracking them is going to be easy for Ares.  After all, he's had practice on finding things that didn't want to be found.
> 
> ...




ooc:
Wren did mention something about that earlier. 
Would Hope's healing ability be able to take some of that pain away? She'd be willing enough to use it. Guilt trip and all.


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## Victim (Mar 30, 2008)

"Uh-huh."  _Yeah, Thess can make pictures in the air too.  You're just a generally unreliable eyewitness who comes with her holographic, empathic sketch artist._  Star pauses on her response to the rest of Hope's 'advice,' planning her words and letting Wren speak.

"Why do we need a satellite to check things out there?  If these guys are going to stay out awhile, then you could heal us up now and then we could head for round 2.  We don't even necessarily have to get close to Ares; with the gravity boots we can all fly and just shoot him from the air.  Also, Ares probably left some traces on Nitro's fists and Hope's face from the fighting, so if that could be isolated, we might be able to scry from it.  It might not be enough though."

Then she wheels on Hope.  "So, what you're saying is that despite the way you seem to treat the rest of us as untrained amateurs, you have less actual combat experience and control over your powers?  Some of us have been fighting and/or working with our powers for years.  And I think most of us are modifying the way we fight to account for the team.  I doubt Nightweaver would get beat up so much if she used her darkness powers all the time to hide herself and blind people.  But she's not doing that much cause it cripples the rest of too.  And she spent most of her time tonight moving us around.  I've using a much different fighting style too, and I can't say that it's been working out all that well."  _Or maybe I just suck._  "Viridian pretty much only used her power to cover us or set us up."

"Don't assume that your mistakes apply to the rest of us."  _Especially when you're the one who screwed this fight; just like you tried to screw us in the Foundry.  Hmm.  I doubt the FBI or AEGIS do much combat training with axes or scythes. _


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## Shayuri (Mar 31, 2008)

"We're all trying," Viridian says, trying to calm things down. "Pointing fingers isn't going to help. I'll try to scry on the radiation using mystery super like Nitro suggested. Hopefully what we've done here will at least slow down Barrington getting that microturbine tech... If we can stop him from getting that energy absorbing tech, we might buy ourselves enough time to work out how to actually attack him, rather than just slowing him down."


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## kirinke (Mar 31, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Uh-huh."  _Yeah, Thess can make pictures in the air too.  You're just a generally unreliable eyewitness who comes with her holographic, empathic sketch artist._  Star pauses on her response to the rest of Hope's 'advice,' planning her words and letting Wren speak.
> 
> "Why do we need a satellite to check things out there?  If these guys are going to stay out awhile, then you could heal us up now and then we could head for round 2.  We don't even necessarily have to get close to Ares; with the gravity boots we can all fly and just shoot him from the air.  Also, Ares probably left some traces on Nitro's fists and Hope's face from the fighting, so if that could be isolated, we might be able to scry from it.  It might not be enough though."
> 
> ...




Hope's mouth twitched a little. "Star, I'm not treating you like an amature. And if you thought I was, I'm sorry." she looked at the other super. "And you haven't exactly been the nicest person around either. Since we first met, you've treated me like a pariah. Since when do you expect that sort of treatment to produce 'good feelings' from the recepient?" she said dryly. 

"Why are you so defensive all the time around me?" she asked Star quietly. "I'm not the enemy, I don't want to be yours. You have skills that I don't, you have powers that I could never hope to have. You're always selling yourself too short." she looked tired all of a sudden.


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## DM_Matt (Mar 31, 2008)

Black says: "I'm not sure how much we can heal up in time to get down there.  Reyes says that even with magical healing, Nitro and Nightweaver wont be cleared to fight for at least an hour and Wren for a day.   Ares is almost certainly alive down there...Barrington's backup probably are as well.  Plus, Barrington could easily send even more reinforcements.  It might be risky to go down there, and we won't really have the extra air support we had last time, since we've used up all our missiles.  There is a US carrier battle group in the region. I say we just use backchannels to alert them to the issue, and they'll deal with the weapons and the survivors.  The supers will be long gone by then, of course.

Regarding Night's powers and the rest of you, we can of course issue night vision goggles to everyone -- or even help integrate them into your costumes -- although it may not exactly fit your cape themes."


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## Raylis (Mar 31, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope's mouth twitched a little. "Star, I'm not treating you like an amature. And if you thought I was, I'm sorry." she looked at the other super. "And you haven't exactly been the nicest person around either. Since we first met, you've treated me like a pariah. Since when do you expect that sort of treatment to produce 'good feelings' from the recepient?" she said dryly.
> 
> "Why are you so defensive all the time around me?" she asked Star quietly. "I'm not the enemy, I don't want to be yours. You have skills that I don't, you have powers that I could never hope to have. You're always selling yourself too short." she looked tired all of a sudden.




 "You say that, but you act different. Since you joined us you've constantly bragged about your Aegis training while at the same time putting all of us down because we didn't go through an agency. I strained my abilities back there but I can still size up an opponent lying on my back; Voderac was literally drinking in all the fighting and it was making him stronger. I _told_ you that, _t]told_ you to back off. 

Both Johnny was down and Wren wasn't in the best of shape. One of those guys hit me hard, Star and Apollo were covering our backs. It clearly was a situation that we needed to regroup and leave. But you ignored me and went after him anyway and both you and Wren paid for it. 

We all coudl have been killed, it was lucky that Wren woke up as fast as he did and save ud I don't know if I could have pulled us out of there already taxed or how long Virdian could have held him off; actually she probably would have had the best chance of beating him. Even if she could have held him off indefinatly who knows how many more supers Barrington would have sent. 

Nightweaver looks at Black,  "You made a good point though; we aren't used to working together. We've been together for a handful of missions all that led one of us to be beaten to a pulp. What the hell was the Trust thinking not running us through at least one simulation together? Everything from night one has been a lot of luck and that's going to run out. We're unorganized and uncoordinated and if this keeps up then we might as well just join Barrington or someone else is going to die.


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## Shayuri (Mar 31, 2008)

"We barely even know each other," Viridian points out. "Nevermind working with. We've had like...a handful of actual conversations. I know the situation is really dire and immediate and there hasn't been time. I'm just saying...it's kind of hard."


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## Victim (Mar 31, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope's mouth twitched a little. "Star, I'm not treating you like an amature. And if you thought I was, I'm sorry." she looked at the other super. "And you haven't exactly been the nicest person around either. Since we first met, you've treated me like a pariah. Since when do you expect that sort of treatment to produce 'good feelings' from the recepient?" she said dryly.
> 
> "Why are you so defensive all the time around me?" she asked Star quietly. "I'm not the enemy, I don't want to be yours. You have skills that I don't, you have powers that I could never hope to have. You're always selling yourself too short." she looked tired all of a sudden.




"While it's not really something I like to advertise or that I want you to check on, my having powers is a matter of record.  So I definitely fall under the regulatory purview of your agency.  So I don't like position of authority you sort of have over me, and the stuff you can find out about me.  Plus you don't really seem to act the way real super heroes do, nor do you seem to follow the rules and procedures of a government agent.  And you get so freaked out about certain enemies, screaming and ranting about being the hellish saint and flailing about with weapons that I doubt you really know how to use...  You have official power over me plus your own combat and investigative super powers.  You act unreasonably from my point of view.  And you don't seem to follow any sort of rules that I understand."   

"That frightens me - both in terms of you personally and what it means the government agencies that I'm counting on.  Those rules are what protect me from you - and other government people.  If they let you run around as a vigilante, pursueing your vendetta against occult types that you don't like, then there could some guy who foams at the mouth because of genetic metahumans or people with fire related powers, etc. "

"Well, everytime I want to do something with people, it seems like there's some mission or emergency to interrupt.  But since we're not going to be able to do any fighting tommorrow, maybe at least some of us could do something together.  I might have something to do in the middle of the day though.  When the hell is it? I'm losing track with all fighting and traveling across a bunch of time zones."  (I'm also not sure about the in-game date, either).


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## kirinke (Mar 31, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "While it's not really something I like to advertise or that I want you to check on, my having powers is a matter of record.  So I definitely fall under the regulatory purview of your agency.  So I don't like position of authority you sort of have over me, and the stuff you can find out about me.  Plus you don't really seem to act the way real super heroes do, nor do you seem to follow the rules and procedures of a government agent.  And you get so freaked out about certain enemies, screaming and ranting about being the hellish saint and flailing about with weapons that I doubt you really know how to use...  You have official power over me plus your own combat and investigative super powers.  You act unreasonably from my point of view.  And you don't seem to follow any sort of rules that I understand."
> 
> "That frightens me - both in terms of you personally and what it means the government agencies that I'm counting on.  Those rules are what protect me from you - and other government people.  If they let you run around as a vigilante, pursueing your vendetta against occult types that you don't like, then there could some guy who foams at the mouth because of genetic metahumans or people with fire related powers, etc. "
> 
> "Well, everytime I want to do something with people, it seems like there's some mission or emergency to interrupt.  But since we're not going to be able to do any fighting tommorrow, maybe at least some of us could do something together.  I might have something to do in the middle of the day though.  When the hell is it? I'm losing track with all fighting and traveling across a bunch of time zones."  (I'm also not sure about the in-game date, either).




Hope nodded her understanding. "I'm sorry about that. You... don't have anything to fear from me Star. I won't turn you in, or betray you. From what I see, you haven't done anything to warrent that." she leaned back into the pillows. "And as to the rules.... People like Barrington and Ares twist and manipulate the rules to suite themselves. The government isn't equipped to handle them. If we have a chance in hell of stopping them, it isn't through the usual channels."


"There are reasons why I act so crazy around the dark occult." her expression twisted, looking both angry and sorrowful at the same time.

"My partner was tortured to death by a group of evil sorcerers lead by Faust. He lasted a week and they sent videos they had taped of it and sent it to my house as a taunt." she rubbed her eyes wearily. "I was an hour too late in finding him. They had torn out his heart literally while he was still alive." she said quietly, leaving much of it unsaid. "Alot of the otherstuff, is what I earned in tracking down his murderers, one by one. I... even tracked one of them to hell. Yes, hell." she said and looked at the other superhero.

"We all have problems Star. Mine just deal with demons and dark sorcerers. I generally tend to leave the white and gray alone. There is nothing worse than a sorcerer given to evil. They've literally sold their soul." she smiled a little. "It's a bit different from a guy with fire powers or who looks weird due to some genetic mutation."

You get the sense that she's leaving alot of what happened unsaid, but you can tell it was pretty horrible, horrible enough to break anyone and you don't get the sense that she's speaking down to you or anyone. It's more like a confession than anything else.


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## Shayuri (Mar 31, 2008)

"I think her point is that, even if there's reasons for you to hate certain...factions, lets say," Viridian says gently, "...the fact that your emotions are so uncontrollable...there's trust issues there. We're not saying there's anything wrong with your feelings. It's how you act on them."


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## kirinke (Mar 31, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "I think her point is that, even if there's reasons for you to hate certain...factions, lets say," Viridian says gently, "...the fact that your emotions are so uncontrollable...there's trust issues there. We're not saying there's anything wrong with your feelings. It's how you act on them."




"I'll work on it," Hope said. 

"I have to," she said. "I'm not going to turn into something like Ares and I'm not going to hurt another innocent," she grimanced, looking in Wren's direction. "Even if it was by accident,"


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## Fangor the Fierce (Mar 31, 2008)

Wren can only hope that the women can get along soon enough.  Although, the edge it inspires causes them all to be on extra alert.  Perhaps there's merit in that.  Then he looks down, his wound still evident, and shakes his head.

_No, if this is what happens when we can't work together, then it's only a matter of time before a REAL innocent gets hurt..._

"The use of a satellite would grant us photo images, as well as thermal activity beneath the waters.  With a little manipulation, we can scan the bed of the sea with emphasis on Cosmic energy, as my protection barriers might have survived that blast, enabling the cargo to survive undetected.  We can always send word to the nearby freight to verify if possible.  I would like to know what was being delivered."

At the confession of Hope, he knows it's a start.  He knows all too well on what a loss of life does to someone.  He can still imagine what it was like, his whole world being snuffed out without him being able to do anything about it.

"We have probably all suffered losses from our lives.  It's our decision to either take that loss and turn it into something positive, or let it control us, with little regard for consequences.  You see now, what little regard to consequences can harbor, as Ares was simply one that wanted his race to be able to defend themselves.  He let it grow out of hand, and we all know first hand how that manipulates a person into becoming a monster."

As for working together, perhaps a little buddy system would work out.  At my home planet, we often were assigned to another person to work with, until we knew how the other one worked.  Then, we would be assigned another ally, until we were confident with our teamwork with them.  This continued until however large the group was one cohesive entity, able to work with whomever at anytime.  If we can manage a simulation are to work out our combined abilities, then I say we should take advantage of it.  Perhaps we can tweak our own powers while seeing what each other can do."

Wren waits for the others to state their concerns, as he is sure they will have some.


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## Vanifae (Mar 31, 2008)

_Why can’t we be friends?_, Apollo thinks to himself.  He smirks at the group his costume returning to his normal clothes.  He brushes his hair back from his face, “So basically despite not actually beating Ares we got away with our lives, we got a crap load of information, and we most definitely put a crimp on part of Barrington’s operations.  Or at least let him know that we can hit hard where it counts.  Sounds like a success to me, despite some of the setbacks.”

He puts his arm around Star in a friendly manner, “I say this calls for a celebration; don’t you think Nitro?  I got a place with enough room for all of us to let our hair down, relax and maybe even act like we actually enjoy each other’s company, you know like friends.”

He lets her go, adjusting the light to focus on his body in a subtle manner, “We can even talk some shop, plan our next mission out; and hell get to know each other a little better.  I mean being a comrade is more then just knowing a laundry list of our _powers_, understanding how we work and why is probably just as important…”

“So all of you are invited if we have some down time, but I can’t party all day, I got a hot date I can’t miss,” he winks.


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## kirinke (Apr 1, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren can only hope that the women can get along soon enough.  Although, the edge it inspires causes them all to be on extra alert.  Perhaps there's merit in that.  Then he looks down, his wound still evident, and shakes his head.
> 
> _No, if this is what happens when we can't work together, then it's only a matter of time before a REAL innocent gets hurt..._
> 
> ...





Hope considers this, knowing durned good and well that of them all, both she and Star probably could use that buddy system. Alot of their misunderstandings came from the fact that they didn't know each other well at all. And she could use Star's good sense....

"Y'know. In the Fed and Aegis, we're often partnered with people we don't have much in common with, and who are generally complete opposites in order to compliment each others strengths and bolster the other's weaknesses." 

She took a breath and looked at Star. "I think of us all, both Star and I should start out with each other. We both have alot of misconceptions about each other, I know I do. And besides that, she can help keep me on the straight and narrow. Which I obviously need." she chuckled a little, but underneath the humour, you can tell she's deadly serious.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 1, 2008)

Black says:

"I think some getting-to-know-you time and recuperation time are in order for the lot of you.  I guess we picked a really bad time to convene this team.  You guys can have tomorrow off, unless the world damn near blows up.  If it only kinda near blows up, we'll take care of it."

(Anything else happening on the place flight home?)


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## Shayuri (Apr 1, 2008)

"Another way of looking at it is that you picked exactly the right time," Viridian points out.

"Any later, and we might not have been in time to do -anything- about all this."


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## Victim (Apr 1, 2008)

"I'm sorry about your partner.  But I'm not a spiritual person.  I don't place any metaphysical importance on super powers, or extradimensional places and life forms."

"Don't you think that there are dangerous conflicts of interest in the way that you act?"

She rolls her eyes at Hope's suggestion.  "Yes, the obvious choice for my partner is someone who is too slow to keep up with me."  _Maybe stupid mismatching is why your partner ended up captured.  It's not that dang complicated; just watch what people are doing.  If someone is vulnerable, hammer them.  If no one seems to be in trouble, then set up someone else like Nitro so he can hammer them.  And now I'm some sort of moral authority...  Our teamwork is going to be an even bigger screw up than our fighting._

She'll check her computer to see what permissions the group has for using the matter assembler.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 1, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I'm sorry about your partner.  But I'm not a spiritual person.  I don't place any metaphysical importance on super powers, or extradimensional places and life forms."
> 
> "Don't you think that there are dangerous conflicts of interest in the way that you act?"
> 
> ...




Only the tech department can directly access the matter assembler, though there are terminals that can order up preset items.  The cafeteria, for instance, is purely assembler-based, and you can order up just about any regular equipment from your wing of the base.  Custom items require permission from Blue (head of tech), either Black, White, or Grey (high ranks), and certain large or resource-intensive items also need Ms. Green (accounting) to sign off, but in the rare case that it is such an item, one of the others will tell you.  If you want to use it to experiment in some way, you just need to get the general project approved.  The process is relatively easy and doesn't require much formalized paperwork.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 1, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Another way of looking at it is that you picked exactly the right time," Viridian points out.
> 
> "Any later, and we might not have been in time to do -anything- about all this."




"I know, its just -- My initial training was just as tough as this, but I knew that when I joined up and I especially knew than when I applied for the Rangers.  We just pulled you into this without you necessarily being prepared for so long and harsh a training period."


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## kirinke (Apr 1, 2008)

She considered something. Barrington was likely to be using some sort of dark magicks, much in the same way as Faust. They needed a weapon that could counter that, something small, unobtrusive, the magical version of a grenade maybe?

"I've been thinking. Barrington is a dark sorcerer, someone who uses negative and evil powers right? His allies are much the same. We need a weapon that can counter that. Preferably something small, that he and they will overlook or discount. I was thinking of something along the lines of a magical grenade, maybe filled with positive energies." she said leaning back. "We really weren't prepared for that axe thing Ares had. And we can safely assume that Barrington and his allies are likely to use similar weapons."


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## Shayuri (Apr 1, 2008)

Viridian regards Mr. Black, but isn't sure what to say to that. She looks over at Hope and raises an eyebrow at her comment.

"You mean, like, a Holy Handgrenade?" she asks innocently. "Should we throw on three or five?"


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## DM_Matt (Apr 1, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian regards Mr. Black, but isn't sure what to say to that. She looks over at Hope and raises an eyebrow at her comment.
> 
> "You mean, like, a Holy Handgrenade?" she asks innocently. "Should we throw on three or five?"




"Five is right out,"  Doc Reyes pipes in.


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## Vanifae (Apr 1, 2008)

Apollo shrugs and takes a seat, "Wake me up when something cool happens."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 1, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo shrugs and takes a seat, "Wake me up when something cool happens."




"Hey Hope, you can do your ice trick now... that should be cold enough for him..."

Wren can only shrug, remembering how cold he felt when Hope jested on freezing a certain anatomical region that shouldn't be frozen.  Hopefully a little downtime would be good for all of them.  When the two women talk about being paired up, he just hopes they both return.


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## Victim (Apr 1, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> She considered something. Barrington was likely to be using some sort of dark magicks, much in the same way as Faust. They needed a weapon that could counter that, something small, unobtrusive, the magical version of a grenade maybe?
> 
> "I've been thinking. Barrington is a dark sorcerer, someone who uses negative and evil powers right? His allies are much the same. We need a weapon that can counter that. Preferably something small, that he and they will overlook or discount. I was thinking of something along the lines of a magical grenade, maybe filled with positive energies." she said leaning back. "We really weren't prepared for that axe thing Ares had. And we can safely assume that Barrington and his allies are likely to use similar weapons."




"Considering what we've seen so far, both Barrington and Ares seem to mostly use advanced or alien technology.  That axe thing seemed like a nanotech device - some sort of memory metal might be able to do the shapechanging, but not the healing - not some 'dark power.'  Mars and sons were running around in power suits too.  Similarly, the non-disposeable allies Barrington had seemed were what, Otaku and Control Freak?  When I saw them, both he and Control Freak were wearing more powersuits, seemingly of 2 different designs."  _What's the difference between 'dark powers' and just using power darkly?  And considering how supers can do with nothing, why would any sort of device be overlooked?_ 

(She was mostly looking at ordering something to wear tonight.)


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## Shayuri (Apr 1, 2008)

"I think Star's right," Viridian says. "I didn't feel any magic, and I'm usually pretty sensitive to that kind of thing. We know Barrington has experience with magic, but he doesn't use it exclusively, like Faust. In fact, we haven't seen everything yet, but it looks to me like he's almost avoiding using much magic in this whole...plot, or whatever. Instead he's getting this really state of the art technology. Even the Eye of Hell isn't a magical artifact."

"I wonder if there's a reason for that, or if it's just a preference on his part."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 2, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Considering what we've seen so far, both Barrington and Ares seem to mostly use advanced or alien technology.  That axe thing seemed like a nanotech device - some sort of memory metal might be able to do the shapechanging, but not the healing - not some 'dark power.'  Mars and sons were running around in power suits too.  Similarly, the non-disposeable allies Barrington had seemed were what, Otaku and Control Freak?  When I saw them, both he and Control Freak were wearing more powersuits, seemingly of 2 different designs."  _What's the difference between 'dark powers' and just using power darkly?  And considering how supers can do with nothing, why would any sort of device be overlooked?_
> 
> (She was mostly looking at ordering something to wear tonight.)




The order machine has a clothing module.


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## Raylis (Apr 2, 2008)

"From the sounds of it, Barrington is using mostly alien technology; we don't even know if he even has magical power he could be emulating anything he can do through a macguffin.  Nightweaver says, taking off her mask.

 "Before we go try to get ourselves killed again we might want to research a little more; Hope was right we didn't know what Voderac was capeable of we went in blind expecting to take him out.


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## Victim (Apr 2, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "Before we go try to get ourselves killed again we might want to research a little more; Hope was right we didn't know what Voderac was capeable of we went in blind expecting to take him out.





"The problem is that most at large super villains tend to be good at keeping their secrets - otherwise they'd have been caught and arrested.  Or they're so stupidly powerful that it doesn't make much of difference.  It's not like the Trust database had too much about him.  How are exactly are we supposed to research this kind of stuff?"  _Look at all this stuff.  How I am supposed to pick something?  I could use some help..._  Megan looks over towards Thessaly, then pauses.  _This isn't exactly the most private place.  We'll need time after we get back before doing something anyway, so I can just talk to her then._


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## Shayuri (Apr 3, 2008)

"We won't always be able to," Viridian says, perhaps mistaking Star's quick look as a signal that the question was directed at her.

"And even if we can, I expect supercriminals change their tactics and powers as often as they can, to try to keep the element of surprise. That's not to say there's never a point to it, but I think we have to recognize that sometimes we just won't know what to expect."

"We'll just have to stay flexible and try to work it out."

She gives Shooting Star an encouraging smile.Viridian doesn't seem as...worried as she normally has been. Despite her prognosis about being taken by surprise, she doesn't seem bothered much by it.


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## Raylis (Apr 3, 2008)

"I don't mean in depth research about what they do or don't do or anything like that. I mean more along the lines of what happened at the warehouse


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## Victim (Apr 3, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "I don't mean in depth research about what they do or don't do or anything like that. I mean more along the lines of what happened at the warehouse




"I thought we could only do that because we had stuff belonging to the scientist guy."  Star offers hesitantly; a bit out of her depth in dealing with those powers.  "That's not always going to be possible.  If Optic can make it on the next mission, then his X-ray vision thing should help though."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 3, 2008)

(So, what will you guys be doing...)


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## kirinke (Apr 3, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "You say that, but you act different. Since you joined us you've constantly bragged about your Aegis training while at the same time putting all of us down because we didn't go through an agency. I strained my abilities back there but I can still size up an opponent lying on my back; Voderac was literally drinking in all the fighting and it was making him stronger. I _told_ you that, _t]told_ you to back off.
> 
> Both Johnny was down and Wren wasn't in the best of shape. One of those guys hit me hard, Star and Apollo were covering our backs. It clearly was a situation that we needed to regroup and leave. But you ignored me and went after him anyway and both you and Wren paid for it.
> 
> ...




"I know. I f.cked up." Hope replied tiredly. "And we do desperately need some sort of training as a group." she nodded in agreement. "Because luck runs out and can be turned against us."

_*I need to make amends... Hell, what was I thinking down there? Was I thinking? Or just reacting, letting the pain of all those dead get to me? Has my control slipped up that much?* _ She thought, looking back, How could her postcognition abilities have gotten out of hand like that? To where she was being controlled by the past? 

"I.. I think I need to work on my control, at least the control over my postcognition abilities. Alot of the reasons why I lost it back there was that when I touched that weapon, the imprints damned near overwhelmed me." she admitted, but there was more to it than that. How much, not even she knew.

Perhaps, she needed a complete scan. Magical, mental, the works.


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## kirinke (Apr 3, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian regards Mr. Black, but isn't sure what to say to that. She looks over at Hope and raises an eyebrow at her comment.
> 
> "You mean, like, a Holy Handgrenade?" she asks innocently. "Should we throw on three or five?"




Hope giggled. "Not exactly. More like a pendant or something that he'll dismiss. If he feeds off of negative energies or uses them, that'll hurt." she grinned back at the other witch. "Just don't call it the amulet of Ny and it'll work." she shook her head. "Something to think about anyway. That draining ability Voderac's sythe had.... Can it be negated in someway?"

ooc:
Sorry guys, my old compy died and I had to get another. Which is why I haven't posted in three or so days grrr.


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## Victim (Apr 4, 2008)

"You say you f-!'d up, but then you try to excuse yourself.  'But casting fire spells makes me sort of drunk.'  'It was the memories from the weapon overwhelming me.'  Why'd you choose to do things that you could reasonably guess would mess up your judgement in the middle of a fight?  Especially since you've decided that rules just get in your way.  Aren't you throwing away the only thing you rely on at the same time you need it most?"

(Star was planning on talking to Viridian and ordering some clothing when the group returns to base, then most likely going out with Apollo.)


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## kirinke (Apr 4, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "You say you f-!'d up, but then you try to excuse yourself.  'But casting fire spells makes me sort of drunk.'  'It was the memories from the weapon overwhelming me.'  Why'd you choose to do things that you could reasonably guess would mess up your judgement in the middle of a fight?  Especially since you've decided that rules just get in your way.  Aren't you throwing away the only thing you rely on at the same time you need it most?"
> 
> (Star was planning on talking to Viridian and ordering some clothing when the group returns to base, then most likely going out with Apollo.)




"Three things. I didn't have much choice in casting that firestorm and banishing spell. If I hadn't that spider demon would have torn us apart and eaten our souls, literally. The damned thing fed off of them. A clean death would have been preferable in that case." Hope said dryly. "It was a choice between having a reaction-backlash and being eaten body and soul. I chose the former." 

"And another thing, my postcognition ability is at best uncertain. At worst, completely uncontrolled. When Nitro went down, I became the strongest person in the group. I at the time saw that our attacks were doing little or no good. That weapon was our only real chance in hurting him. I knew I was likely to die weilding it. My only thought was to distract Ares long enough so that the rest of you could get away." she looked at Wren apologetically. "I didn't count on my gift going haywire when I touched it." she shivered, looking haunted once more.

"You probably couldn't have lifted the thing to get it away Star. It was heavy as hell." she said. "But then, I have only the vaguest idea of what everyone here is capable of. I think the same aplies for everyone else here." you have the sense that she isn't talking down to anyone, just being completely honest. She's too tired to hide behind masks.


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## Shayuri (Apr 4, 2008)

Viridian listens, then says quietly, "I don't want to sound confrontational...but I did notice a kind of pattern to what you're saying, Hope. Basically, in each case...the spider-demon, and then later with Ares...you felt you had to do something because only you -could-."

"Like, you said if you hadn't banished it, the spider demon would have killed us and so on. Then with the axe, only you were strong enough to hold it."

She pushes her glasses up her nose...a strange thing to see, since her glasses are still covered in the glamor of her costume.

"But maybe one of us could have stopped the spider without you burning yourself up. Or, if I'd known that you might have a bad reaction on touching the axe, I could have just held onto it with my magic. It was strong enough to take it away, so it was probably strong enough to keep him from grabbing it again."

"I guess I'm just sort of putting out there, for consideration, the idea that one of the underlying problems is just that you don't have a lot of faith in our abilities...so you feel driven to take bad risks to compensate."


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## Elric (Apr 4, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "You probably couldn't have lifted the thing to get it away Star. It was heavy as hell." she said. "But then, I have only the vaguest idea of what everyone here is capable of. I think the same aplies for everyone else here." you have the sense that she isn't talking down to anyone, just being completely honest. She's too tired to hide behind masks.




Nitro gets the sense that she's not too tired to hide behind lame excuses.  _I bet she made most of this up on the spot.  It's not like her horoscope had it in for her.  Now *that's * a decent excuse._

Viridian, do you want to try to use your powers to find the mystery super?  Might be best to see what we can find out now.  I don't mind a day of rest, though.  Nothing like taking a shot from a weapon that would have impaled a lesser man to make you want to take a day to chill out.


----------



## Shayuri (Apr 4, 2008)

The witch looks at Nitro and nods.

"Yeah, I figured I'd do that when we were ready to actually do something about it. Right now we're too beat up to go after this super, and if I scry now...might not still be there when we're ready to go."


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## kirinke (Apr 4, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Viridian listens, then says quietly, "I don't want to sound confrontational...but I did notice a kind of pattern to what you're saying, Hope. Basically, in each case...the spider-demon, and then later with Ares...you felt you had to do something because only you -could-."
> 
> "Like, you said if you hadn't banished it, the spider demon would have killed us and so on. Then with the axe, only you were strong enough to hold it."
> 
> ...




Hope nods a little. "How can I have faith in your abilities or others when I don't know what you're capable of, except from what I've seen in our few battles we've shared? And I don't blame you for not putting any faith in me either. The last few fights except for the Museum altercation were fairly disasterous on my part, not to mention the fact that I _have_ been a royal bitch too." she waved her hands, encompasing the entire situation. This is outside my realm of expertise as much as it is yours." she shrugged, looking rueful. "We need some training time together and we need some time to figure out how to best mesh our powers and abilities so those mistakes don't happen again. Next time, we probably won't be so lucky."


ooc:
Just because you have a few ranks in notice, doesn't mean your all the time right.   She is being honest.


----------



## Elric (Apr 4, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> Just because you have a few ranks in notice, doesn't mean your all the time right.   She is being honest.




A panel appears in the Superheroes of the Trust comic book, next to the picture of the heroes on the plane.  It explains that the author needed to ret-con why the heroine Hope has been making poor decisions because the alternative would be for her character to get picked on too much.  That's why he made up the stuff about the demon sending her out of equilibrium or some such.  The reader of the comic gets the sense the author is being completely honest.


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## kirinke (Apr 4, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> A panel appears in the Superheroes of the Trust comic book, next to the picture of the heroes on the plane.  It explains that the author needed to ret-con why the heroine Hope has been making poor decisions because the alternative would be for her character to get picked on too much.  That's why he made up the stuff about the demon sending her out of equilibrium or some such.  The reader of the comic gets the sense the author is being completely honest.




ooc:
It was actually a combination of the fire spell and the banishing spell that gave her the reaction backlash. She doesn't actually know that it was mostly the banishing spell that did it. Rereading is a good thing sometimes y'know.


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## Elric (Apr 4, 2008)

On the page of the comic book, the author explains the ret-con in further detail.  Like most ret-cons, it doesn't make any sense with everything else known about this (admittedly fantasy) setting and also doesn't make any sense in light of the special rulebook that recently came out detailing how to play Freedom City RPG.  At this point the reader kind of just wishes Hope would make better decisions so they wouldn't have to go through this so often.


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## Shayuri (Apr 4, 2008)

(*hugs everyone*)


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## Victim (Apr 4, 2008)

"You haven't convinced me that someone - or something - that just got pummeled into unconsciousness presented such an immediate threat that you had to compromise your faculties to execute him right away.  All you can do is repeat your hysterical argument about 'EATING SOULS!!!  OH NO!!!'"

"Moreover, we didn't need to escape until after you f-'d up.  And wouldn't swinging a weapon that you don't really know how to use at an enemy surrounded by 4 of us be more of a distraction for our team?  If you really wanted to distract Ares, maybe you have stuck with an attack you can actually use.  We weren't out of the fight until after you took out Wren and then got yourself hurt badly while returning his weapon."  _Next strongest?  What a joke; she gets beat up almost as much as Nightweaver or I._

"Faith is for things that aren't observeable or testable.  Maybe you need less faith and more observation and thinking.  If you wanted to educate yourself about our capabilities in combat, those parts of files are okay to look at.  You could also have just watched our powers in the several other fights that you've been with us, or this one."

(Hope is Well Informed, so she should probably have lots of information).

"Wow, who would have thought that handling a weapon probably used to kill lots of people with postcognition would be a dumb thing to do?"

----------------------------

Is that hug IC, or OCC?


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## Shayuri (Apr 4, 2008)

"Okay...guys..." Viridian says, trying to head things off before they get too ugly. "Look, she's said she's made mistakes...there's no need to rub her face in things. Lets try to focus on improving things in the future."

(OOC - Hehe, it's ooc, though Viridian and I are both trying to defuse things a bit. )


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## Victim (Apr 4, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Okay...guys..." Viridian says, trying to head things off before they get too ugly. "Look, she's said she's made mistakes...there's no need to rub her face in things. Lets try to focus on improving things in the future."
> 
> (OOC - Hehe, it's ooc, though Viridian and I are both trying to defuse things a bit. )




"I have a problem because her admissions are being compromised with 'But I had done something with my power earlier that messed me up, and our teamwork is bad, so it's not really my fault.'  That kind of attitude isn't going be improving anything."   _Well, that's one of my problems with her._


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## kirinke (Apr 4, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "
> "You haven't convinced me that someone - or something - that just got pummeled into unconsciousness presented such an immediate threat that you had to compromise your faculties to execute him right away. All you can do is repeat your hysterical argument about 'EATING SOULS!!! OH NO!!!'"
> 
> "Moreover, we didn't need to escape until after you f-'d up. And wouldn't swinging a weapon that you don't really know how to use at an enemy surrounded by 4 of us be more of a distraction for our team? If you really wanted to distract Ares, maybe you have stuck with an attack you can actually use. We weren't out of the fight until after you took out Wren and then got yourself hurt badly while returning his weapon." Next strongest? What a joke; she gets beat up almost as much as Nightweaver or I.
> ...




"I fully admitted my culpability and the reasons behind them. And your attitude isn't helping things either. _'Oh, she's always wrong because I don't like her and she makes me afraid'_" she says. 

"No matter what I say, you don't believe it and jump to the wrong conclusions because of that. Isn't that a kind of hypocracy?" she shoots back. "You say that you're the analytical type. Well, seems to me, you're as much driven by your fears and hang-ups as everyone else. If not more so." she looked at the other superhero.

"And the same thing applies to me as to you. Why haven't you done some research on our enemies or past enemies or on us?" She asks and then mockingly shakes her head. "Oh no... No, wait. You're convinced of your own moral superiority, so you don't have to." she looked at Star. "And if I had done any research on you at all, you would have been the very first to be up in arms about privacy and such."

"I seem to remember a certain super who ran off after a villain and fell from the sky because she didn't know about the villain's power to disrupt hers, nor did she wait for back-up either." she said pointedly. "No one is infallable. Not me, not you not anyone."

She was getting fair tired of Star using her as a proverbial punching bag.


----------



## Vanifae (Apr 4, 2008)

"Is everyone done pissing on each other?" Apollo snips with his eyes closed.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 4, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "Is everyone done pissing on each other?" Apollo snips with his eyes closed.




Black decides to break this up.  "Ok, this is getting out of hand.  We should stop ganging up on Hope like this, cool down, and find some solutions.  

Star, I understand your worry about government interference, but I can guarantee you that as long as you work for the Trust, and even after, at least for that which you did while with the Trust, you will have a very high degree of protection -- near immunity in fact -- from government interference.  We are extremely well connected in that regard.  

And by the way, Onigumo really was -- even if you don't want to call him something so mystical sounding a name as  "demon" --  a nigh-unkillable creature from another dimension who is biologically-incapable of becoming good.  Call me a dimensional bigot if you wish, but some kinds of creatures really are irredeemably evil and need to die.

That being said... Hope: You screwed up. You made some bad decisions, and it nearly got us all killed.  You might have explanations, but they aren't justifications.  Just because you can tell the story of how it happened doesn't absolve you of responsibility.  You are still responsible for all of your decisions, and for the foreseeable results of those decisions.  Stop making excuses, and stop overestimating your own power and experience.

I think everyone needs to read up more on each other's powers, and I think that when you guys have the time and energy, you should make more use of our Danger Room battle simulators.  

Voderac was far more powerful than we expected, and perhaps we should not have gone in once we knew he was Ares.  I take responsibility for my role in that decision.  We're all alive, we got Ares' sons, and we blew up his ship.  And that all counts for something.  We're lucky it wasn't worse, but we really do need to make sure this mess doesn't happen again."


----------



## kirinke (Apr 5, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Black decides to break this up.  "Ok, this is getting out of hand.  We should stop ganging up on Hope like this, cool down, and find some solutions.
> 
> Star, I understand your worry about government interference, but I can guarantee you that as long as you work for the Trust, and even after, at least for that which you did while with the Trust, you will have a very high degree of protection -- near immunity in fact -- from government interference.  We are extremely well connected in that regard.
> 
> ...




Hope nods in agreement. "Lesson learned," she said, heartfeltedly.


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## Raylis (Apr 5, 2008)

"It's really not enough to know what everyone can or can't do, or even if we know how to work together. We need to trust each other; sure we've told real names and addresses, but that's really nothing. Those people that have fallen in with Barrington trust him he gives an order and they follow it. 

If we can build that level of trust among each other then it really won't matter how powerful Barrington is or what he can do.


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## Shayuri (Apr 5, 2008)

"Yes, well...I think spending time with each other and training with each other will help build trust too," Viridian points out. "It's kind of win-win."


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## Victim (Apr 5, 2008)

_Where should I start tearing that apart..._  Megan shakes with rage, but chokes back her retort as others try to defuse the situation.  _Why does she get to have the last word?  I hate her._


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## Elric (Apr 5, 2008)

Nitro shoots Star a glance that says "I agree with you, but it's not productive to keep at this forever.  I think you're bigger than her anyways (and more powerful, and faster, and better looking)."

_Good thing they teach more detail than just surreptitious glances at WWE school._


----------



## kirinke (Apr 5, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "It's really not enough to know what everyone can or can't do, or even if we know how to work together. We need to trust each other; sure we've told real names and addresses, but that's really nothing. Those people that have fallen in with Barrington trust him he gives an order and they follow it.
> 
> If we can build that level of trust among each other then it really won't matter how powerful Barrington is or what he can do.




"I'm willing. More than willing actually," she said quietly. "Question is, what about the others?" she asked.


----------



## Vanifae (Apr 5, 2008)

Apollo shrugs, "Hey as long as the screeching stops I am down with whatever."


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## kirinke (Apr 5, 2008)

"Don't sweat it. Star and I have been at each other's throats since day one." Hope grinned a little at Apollo and shrugged. "This doesn't make much difference either way." she laid back down.


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## Elric (Apr 5, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "I'm willing. More than willing actually," she said quietly. "Question is, what about the others?" she asked, ignoring Nitro's comment about power. Each of their abilities were different, not better or worse, different.




(OOC: It was a very detailed glance.  Not a comment. And it was directed to Star.  So Hope doesn't suspect a thing)


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## kirinke (Apr 5, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> (OOC: It was a very detailed glance.  Not a comment. And it was directed to Star.  So Hope doesn't suspect a thing)




ooc:
My bad, I thought he actually said that.  
Edited to reflect.


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## Victim (Apr 6, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "Those people that have fallen in with Barrington trust him he gives an order and they follow it.
> 
> If we can build that level of trust among each other then it really won't matter how powerful Barrington is or what he can do.




"I don't see how unquestioning obedience is a good thing.  It means we'd only being benefiting from one person's good ideas, and that person's mistakes screw everyone.  There's seven of us now anyway; each one of us can usually see what's going on in a fight," Star says sullenly.  "And who gets picked to be the dictator?"

"A fully immersive holosimulation seems like an expensive way to just start figuring out how to work together.  To start, maybe we should use the AI and power data for the holos, and have the computer run repeated trials for a bunch of different strategies and situations.  Then we can practice the winning strategies instead of just fooling around."



> Apollo shrugs, "Hey as long as the screeching stops I am down with whatever."




_Screeching?!  Even if you are super hot, that's not really fair.  It's like you don't even care.  At least Nitro is still on my side._  Megan pulls on her earpieces and sets her phone to play music.


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## kirinke (Apr 6, 2008)

"I don't think she means unquestioning obedience. We do need a leader though. Of us all, Wren is the calmest in the middle of a fight." Hope remarked.


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## Vanifae (Apr 6, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "I don't think she means unquestioning obedience. We do need a leader though. Of us all, Wren is the calmest in the middle of a fight." Hope remarked.



 "We going to decide this now?  Because honestly I would be at a disadvantage at who to choose," Apollo shrugs.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 6, 2008)

Black rejoins the conversation.  He'd been doing other work using his neural interface to the plane's computers.  He says "Well, when we profiled you guys, we had intended Optic to take that role.  Unfortunately, we found a mission that only he can do -- due to his civilian role -- and so he's being transferred away.  The fact is, none of you are that much more qualified for this than any other.  I'd say you should find a leader anyway, but I'm biased by my background.  Most superhero teams are far less hierarchical than I am used to.  I think for the most part you need to just build trust and teamwork.  Maybe even something of a playbook, though you'd need to figure out who calls 'em. As long as you are coordinating properly, you should be fine.  A leader is one way, but you can do without."

(BTW, can everyone who hasn't weighed in on moving to ATT please do so in the OOC thread.)


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## kirinke (Apr 6, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Black rejoins the conversation.  He'd been doing other work using his neural interface to the plane's computers.  He says "Well, when we profiled you guys, we had intended Optic to take that role.  Unfortunately, we found a mission that only he can do -- due to his civilian role -- and so he's being transferred away.  The fact is, none of you are that much more qualified for this than any other.  I'd say you should find a leader anyway, but I'm biased by my background.  Most superhero teams are far less hierarchical than I am used to.  I think for the most part you need to just build trust and teamwork.  Maybe even something of a playbook, though you'd need to figure out who calls 'em. As long as you are coordinating properly, you should be fine.  A leader is one way, but you can do without."
> 
> (BTW, can everyone who hasn't weighed in on moving to ATT please do so in the OOC thread.)




"Still, from what I've seen of superhero groups, there usually is someone the others defer to." she grinned a little. "That would exclude me of course," she chuckled.


----------



## Vanifae (Apr 6, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Still, from what I've seen of superhero groups, there usually is someone the others defer to." she grinned a little. "That would exclude me of course," she chuckled.



_Oh crap… maybe I should give an opinion on this?  I mean I agree with Star… and I guess everyone else does too, but there is no reason to push the subject.  This team stuff is certainly a little more nuanced then I had thought, it’s more like the band, got to know each other… trust each other, man that shouldn’t be hard right?_ Apollo thinks as he stands and sits next to Star.

He smirks and whispers, “Hey you okay?  You seem to be going pretty hard on her... I mean yeah she screwed up… and maybe she isn’t ready to fully admit that, but in the end we won right?  What are you listening to?”  He focuses his hearing to pickup the subtle sound waves that not even she could hear, “It sounds good…”

“Honestly I like the playbook idea,” he says louder, “I mean it would be nice for someone like Nitro to call out a maneuver and we just execute it.  I mean the plays would have to be a little fast and loose for some interpretation, but with some practice we could pull off some damn fine performances.  Personally from my experiences the front man gets the glory but he also has a ton of responsibility and when things go less then awesome, he is the one ultimately held responsible.  Meaning he, or she,” he glances to Star, “would have to shoulder the brunt of our failures.”

“Personally from what I have seen Nitro, Wren, or even Star would probably make good candidates, I would say myself but you guys don’t know me… and honestly I am not sure if I am ready to take on that responsibility being the FNG… but I am not afraid either,” Apollo adds his somber mood clearing.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 7, 2008)

Wren is a little taken back by the nomination, but thinks on it as the others share their opinions.  "From what I have seen, a little coordination would do us all good.  I wouldn't mind aiding in a little tactical advantage, as I think that I am the least offensive, no pun intended, of the lot of us.  Besides, working on a playbook of sorts would be good to get a handle on each of our strengths and weaknesses.  Let's get some rest on this ride back, and let's all of us think of ways to help each other out, personally.  Once we have those ideas, send them to me and I'll see what I can compose as far as plays go.  I'll be asking for feedback as well."

"As for naming maneuvers, I think we can all have part in that.  I got a few ideas on how to aid each other in attacks and such, so having a place to try them out would be nice.  I seem to be more intent on keeping us all alive in battles, and not on attacking, so it might work best this way.  Nitro's gonna be busy with brute force for the most part, Star is the aerial fighter and speedster of us.  My powers and training might be best suited for a role of coordinator or leader, but I would like to know if everyone would be okay with it first."

Wren hopes that the others might take him up on this little job, as he would like to effectively work on some tactics that they could all use.  As for coordinating them, that's going to be a chore, but one worth exploring.


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## Shayuri (Apr 7, 2008)

"I'm all for giving it a try and seeing how it works. I don't think it's so much we're having you be a -leader- in that you give us orders so much as we're asking you to help coordinate us in fights,"  Viridian opines. "Outside of a fight, we seem to do okay for the most part. Only, instead of writing things down and giving them to you, we should actually TRY doing things. Like, when Star shoots those fireballs, I could make a bunch of illusionary fireballs too. It could make it harder to dodge the real ones. But we'd have to practice it to get the timing right and all. And it might turn out that anyone fast enough to dodge Star's attacks is way too fast for me to threaten, so the illusions don't have any real effect on things. We'd have to try it to be sure."


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## Victim (Apr 7, 2008)

Megan frowns and whispers back, "I don't want to talk about it right now."  _It'll just start making me angry again._  Star's taste in music could be generously described as diverse or eclectic.  An alternative explanation would be that she's seemingly incapable of disliking songs.  (I don't really have the knowledge or inclination to be more specific about what she's listening to at any given moment.    ) 

"No.  Not me."  _Like I can handle any more stress.  I'm not really sure about Wren either - he's defensive yes, but that's sort of confining.  Still might be the best choice though.  Hmm, combination ideas..._

"I'm not sure that I miss enough for that to be worthwhile.  If you could distract someone so Nitro could land a more solid hit, that might be better.  Or pick people up and hold them still so everyone can punch or shoot them.  I was also considering ways to manipulate shadows.  We should be able to move or define shadows as much by creating light as by creating darkness directly.  By shining a bright light at something, we can create sharply defined shadow behind it, right?"  She pauses, assuming that Apollo or someone digging out their flashlight would provide a demonstration.   "So if we get the angles and timing right, Nightweaver might be able to get enough darkness from our target's shadow to max her powers as we attack even without favorable environmental conditions."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 7, 2008)

"Yeah, I know what you mean.  With writing them down, it's easier to get everyone's opinion, unbiased, as they can read up the info on their own time, privately.  With everyone talking at once, we see where that gets us.  Leader is a strong word, but tactician might be more appropriate in battle terms.  As for combos, I like the ideas.  Both Hope and I can easily create objects, and with enough teamwork on timing, we should be able to get Nightweaver some nice chances at some shadow attacks.  How precise are you on controlling shadows?  Say I made an Axe out of cosmic energy.  Would you be able to have the shadow of the axe be a weapon on its own?  If so, we can double up on attacks."

"As for the setting up Nitro, I can snare a few people for some easy knock out punches for him.  But like Viridian says, it's easy to come up with ideas.  The hard part is working on the fluidity of the attacks.  That's where trial and error come into play.  I might work on some new alternatives for my powers as well, as I think a little more offensive power is needed.  But, with me not being fully offensive in battles, that leaves me the chance to have the chance to keep an eye on the battle and coordinate the rest of us"


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## kirinke (Apr 8, 2008)

"I've sort of been looking on past battles and I think I'm what you'd call a ranged fighter. While I'm strong, I'm not that tough physically. I mean, Star can take more abuse than I can." she frowned, trying to think up of something that could help. "I think alot of my mistakes is trying to go into close combat. I'm not much of a flyer, but maybe I could practice on that."


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## Raylis (Apr 8, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Yeah, I know what you mean.  With writing them down, it's easier to get everyone's opinion, unbiased, as they can read up the info on their own time, privately.  With everyone talking at once, we see where that gets us.  Leader is a strong word, but tactician might be more appropriate in battle terms.  As for combos, I like the ideas.  Both Hope and I can easily create objects, and with enough teamwork on timing, we should be able to get Nightweaver some nice chances at some shadow attacks.  How precise are you on controlling shadows?  Say I made an Axe out of cosmic energy.  Would you be able to have the shadow of the axe be a weapon on its own?  If so, we can double up on attacks."





 "My ability is creating darkness-black out an area, binding tendrils. I've never been particularly good at animating or manipulating already cast shadows. I haven't really tried since I was a kid-you'll laugh but seeing _Peter Pan_ once was enough to make me give up the idea alltogether. 

If I put some time into it I could probably do it.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 8, 2008)

"That binding might help out Nitro with disabling some foes.  Star won't need the binding of opponents, as her orbs seem to be able to get where needed, when they're needed.  Apollo, how's that guitar work?  Seems like a straight forward bow and arrow when needed.  What about up close and personal?"


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## kirinke (Apr 8, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "My ability is creating darkness-black out an area, binding tendrils. I've never been particularly good at animating or manipulating already cast shadows. I haven't really tried since I was a kid-you'll laugh but seeing _Peter Pan_ once was enough to make me give up the idea alltogether.
> 
> If I put some time into it I could probably do it.




"That part always scared me to death as a kid," Hope admitted. "I mean, the idea of actually having to sew your shadow back on after it got loose..... Brrr." Hope shivered at the idea.

"You know, I've kinda been working on creating tornadoes. Not big ones, but more like really strong whirlwinds to kinda offset my lightening and hail attack. Sort of a mid-range between the two." she looked at their concerned reactions. 

"Relax, I've been doing it at the AEGIS labs, under very close supervision." she looked rueful. 
"I just haven't quite mastered it yet and have sort of been um.... Hesitant to use it, because they tend to turn out larger than I want."

ooc:
I think I've settled on Tornado as an alternate power. I'm going to add Variable to her main blast and Conjure Ice ability too.


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## Vanifae (Apr 8, 2008)

Apollo nods, "Roger babe."  He casually puts his arm around her and relaxes, "Whatever we decide is cool with me."


----------



## Elric (Apr 9, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "As for naming maneuvers, I think we can all have part in that.  I got a few ideas on how to aid each other in attacks and such, so having a place to try them out would be nice.  I seem to be more intent on keeping us all alive in battles, and not on attacking, so it might work best this way.  Nitro's gonna be busy with brute force for the most part, Star is the aerial fighter and speedster of us.  My powers and training might be best suited for a role of coordinator or leader, but I would like to know if everyone would be okay with it first."[/color]




Nitro is excited.  "And we could name the maneuvers after what we plan to do, like the "Flying Fake Left Jab then hit with Right Hook" Attack, or "Illusionary Fireballs then the real thing" attack.  It works really well on TV."

_No one really wants to know more about my powers.  Don't they care that I just recently perfected my technique on the 3-football fields at a time long jump?  Well, not everyone appreciates true craftsmanship._


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## kirinke (Apr 9, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> Nitro is excited.  "And we could name the maneuvers after what we plan to do, like the "Flying Fake Left Jab then hit with Right Hook" Attack, or "Illusionary Fireballs then the real thing" attack.  It works really well on TV."
> 
> _No one really wants to know more about my powers.  Don't they care that I just recently perfected my technique on the 3-football fields at a time long jump?  Well, not everyone appreciates true craftsmanship._




"Unfortunantly, this is real life," Hope quipped. "Maybe something um.... Less obvious. Like Plan Issac Fargo for Illusionary fireballs."


----------



## DM_Matt (Apr 9, 2008)

Meanwhile, the aircraft approaches the base, and Jacobson radios to White about pickup of the bad guys.  The aircraft pitches off course for a while, quite intentionally, and White flashes in and teleports out with the prisoners.  In case they were being tracked this will not help them find the base.

The plane moves back to the appropriate path, and eventually drops down and slows until it flies through the illusory cliff and into the open hanger.  The plane docks and the group is able to get off.


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 9, 2008)

"So, Nitro, got a little time?  I figure I could work with you on some combos, as you ARE A wrestler, and would have been more inclined to see tag teams and handicap matches, as you call them.  Not the same, but working together is a universal concept."

"If it's still agreeable, I still think that pairing up might have its advantages.  Either way, we all need to be able to work together at some point.  Might as well take the baby steps now."

Wren will take his time to go over his status, and make sure that if need be, his ring is switched to dispense with the rest of it's charge to help heal him up.  After all, it's recharge time was soon to come, and he might as well use up what's left right now.  Otherwise, he's off to talk with Nitro, while the others decide on how to pair up and such.  He would like to make suggestions, as he turns to face them.

"You know, we might as well work on our strengths for now, and then on our weaknesses.  Star and Apollo could pair up, as they are the speedsters and aerial attacks when needed.  Hope and Viridian can work on some combo magic techniques, as I am sure that you could help each other out.  Nightweaver can come along with Nitro and me, if that's ok, as I would like to understand more of how to help out with the shadow concepts and all.  Of course, we're all going to need our own time, so just work out how best to meet up with each other.  Give it a little time, and when you feel ready, come find me.  I'll take what notes I can, and get feedback.  Then we can reconvene and split up again.  Or not.  Your call."

With that, he heads off to their wing of this place, and finds some place to speak with Nightweaver and Nitro.


----------



## Victim (Apr 9, 2008)

"Since the point is tricking people, you might as well call it Copy or Mimic if we decide to do that."  _By the end, the plane ride didn't seem so bad.  Maybe I'm getting used to it.  Yeah, I'm sure that's it.    _

"Sounds like a start," Megan says, following Wren off the plane.  _Yay, not with f-!ing Hope!Umm..._  "Thess, can we talk?"


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## kirinke (Apr 9, 2008)

Hope ponders on her past actions, coming to the conclusion that perhaps she does need some therapy. _I thought I could handle it, but I can't.  If I keep on going like this, I could wind up killing someone._ she thought, bracing herself as she looked up the couseling section of the trust. She assumed that a facility this well organized would have something like it, due to what most of their people faced on a daily basis.

Once they land, she'll go there. Maybe it'd help....


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## Shayuri (Apr 9, 2008)

Thessaly glances over at Shooting Star, a bit surprised. Judging by her smile though, it's a pleasant surprise at least.

"Sure. What's up?"


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## Vanifae (Apr 9, 2008)

Apollo glances over his shoulder at Star and Thessaly with a smirk, stretching as he checks his sleek Blackberry; there were several messages to slog through thankfully his personal assistants were already clearing them out.  He shrugs and heads to his modest accommodations, he makes a few phone calls to get the ball rolling on the party for tomorrow and arrangements for dinner.

Once finished with making a few calls, the assistants would handle the bulk of the responsibilities; he tries to find some healthy food and maybe people to hang out with, this was different then what he had grown accustomed to and he wanted to learn more about well the team… But before he even thinks about food he heads for the gym.  It was time for his workout; he did his best thinking while working out.

He wears loose fitting silver sweat pants, tennis shoes and tight white work out shirt.  He puts a black bandanna over his hear to keep it out of his eyes as he works out the stresses that had been building up all day.


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## Raylis (Apr 10, 2008)

Still a bit unsteady from overexerting herself and from the hit from Demos, Nightweaver follows Wren off the plane,  Now is as good as time as ever


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## kirinke (Apr 10, 2008)

After she made an appointment with the Trust's shrink, she turns to Thess. "I have to um... I think I need some couseling, so I ahh, made an appointment with the Trust shrink. After that, we can figure out how to mesh our powers better. If, that is you want to." 

She looked a bit embaressed to admit that she might need couseling, but considering how she's been acting, that's actually a good start in the right direction. "I'm sorry how I've been acting. It's not excusable." she said quietly as the plane landed. "See you after, alright? And thanks," she added as they disembarked so to speak.


ooc:
This is probably a bit before Star wanted to talk... Or after. I'm cool either way with that.


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## Shayuri (Apr 10, 2008)

Thessaly seems a bit embarrassed by Hope's confession, but she covers it well and nods.

"Sure, Hope. That'd be great. I haven't really had a chance to work with another...well, not for a long time. Come and find me, or give me a call when you're ready."


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## Victim (Apr 10, 2008)

_Wow, that was a pretty damaging thing to overhear.  I doubt therapy would really do any good though._ 



			
				Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly glances over at Shooting Star, a bit surprised. Judging by her smile though, it's a pleasant surprise at least.
> 
> "Sure. What's up?"




_Umm.  Not sure exactly how to do this..._  Megan walks along, trying to get at least the illusion of privacy.  "Can you tell me about dating?" she asks bluntly.  "Like I said earlier, I didn't get to do a lot of normal stuff like that when I was younger..."


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## Shayuri (Apr 10, 2008)

If Thessaly was a bit embarrassed by Hope's question, she's clearly a bit floored by Megan's. To her credit, she takes it seriously though; not even a hint of laughter, derision or amusement.

"I...wuh...I can try," she stammers. "I mean, I wasn't exactly Miss Popular in school, but...well okay. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know, or just sort of a general overview?"


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## Victim (Apr 10, 2008)

"Well, the overview, I guess,"  she says awkwardly.  _It's not like this is easy for me, either._  "It's okay, I'd bet that you were still more popular than I was, when I was able to go."

"I could also some help picking out an appropriate outfit," Megan adds, holding up her smartphone with the catalog page up.  "We can order a lot more things from the assembler than I thought we'd be able to."


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## Shayuri (Apr 10, 2008)

Thessaly gazes at the image on the phone, then snaps out of it and visibly collects herself.

"Alright...so...the first thing is what kind of date it is. Is it a relaxed sort of 'just friends' date, or a more serious 'potential romance' sort of date? And, you know, it's not like you're locked in, it's just...the kind of date makes an impact on what you want to wear and how you want to act."


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## Victim (Apr 10, 2008)

"Err, how do you tell?  Wouldn't picking the same thing as the other person be important?" she asks. _Like a coordination game._ "Let's try the more serious one."


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## Shayuri (Apr 11, 2008)

"You don't have to pick the same one...it's more like...pick what you want. That way, if he's doing something else, you can tell you're not after the same things, and you don't have to go out with him again." She shrugs. "In theory. I mean, in reality, it's never that easy to tell."

"Anyway, okay. So you're interested in him, not just friends. Do you know where he's taking you?"


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## Victim (Apr 11, 2008)

"Dinner at his place.  Why?"


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## Shayuri (Apr 11, 2008)

"It makes a difference," Thessaly insists. "You wouldn't wear a nice formal dress if he was taking you to a movie and like...the Olive Garden or something. Dinner at his house though, huh?"

She scratches under her glasses and her cheeks redden a bit.

"This is a first date, so...I'll assume...anyway, you'll want to look good, but not too showy. You'd look good in blue, I think..." She starts shuffling through possible clothes choices as she continues.

"As for the overview, well, I guess the best advice I can give is to listen to your gut. Your instincts. Don't try to rationalize it away, or insist on finding concrete proof. People can react to subtle signs they understand subconsciously. Things you'd never notice consciously. So just talk to him. Listen to him. If you think what he's talking about is interesting, and he's not too self-absorbed to let you get a word in edgewise, then you're probably in good shape."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 11, 2008)

Hope gets an appointment to speak with Alpha Pink/Ms. Pink, who heads up the Psych Ops but also is the chief councilor for upper-level agents -- it helps that as an Alpha she has clearance for almost everything.  

Meanwhile, the group is informed that Mr. Silver, the head of public relations, will be issuing a press release announcing the takedown of Voderac, which will include a dossier of evidence regarding his activities from the information that he sent to your plane, supplemented by extra financial records.

Meanwhile, some early report's of Barrington's gifts start trickling in, as well as a statement by Barrington that far more will arrive in the future.  News reports form several countries describe tall silver towers being installed in cropland, which are said to improve weather and send nutrients to crops, along with genetically-modified seed.  They are  especially located in sub-saharan Africa, with special consideration going to famine-ridden but despotically-governed Zimbabwe, in areas with considerable poppy and coca crops such as Burma, Vietnam, and Laos, as well as FARC-controlled regions of Columbia and partially-rebel-controlled Chiapas Mexico, and third-world major food importers such as Libya.  Crop towers as well as ones that filter air and water have appeared in China.  Factories of unknown purpose have appeared in developed parts of China, Vietnam, Iran, and in Pyonyang, North Korea.  Desalination and water-purification devices are appearing throughout the mideast and Africa, tower-shaped like everything else.  New oil drilling towers have also been sighted in Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, Algeria, Libya, and Sudan. Speaking of Sudan, the necromancer Ubunga-Na and the supers who released him have routed United Nations and African Union peacekeepers in the West of the country, and has begun negotiations with the central government for formal power. Unconfirmed reports allege that the undead army was aided by mechs.


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## Victim (Apr 11, 2008)

"Is that location significant?  We can both go across the country in the run time of a movie.  Is it different for you since you have to go to the trouble of drawing things to move around?"

"My instincts?"  she frowns.  "Because my  -" the phone beeps: "Oh.  What disaster is happening now?  I hope they're not canceling our day off.  Anyway, my power basically gives me a bunch of extra time, so maybe I use it overthinking things. "

"Blue does sound nice."


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## Shayuri (Apr 11, 2008)

"You're definitely overthinking," Thessaly assures Megan with a grin. "Can you turn that part of your powers off? Or...turn it down? It'd probably make it easier for you. If you want to enjoy a date, it's better if you're not constantly thinking about what else you could be doing during that time."

"Anyway, having dinner at a guy's house can be pretty significant. It's more...intimate than going to a neutral location like a restaurant or a bar or club or movie. It's his place, his living space that he's inviting you into, so it's sort of opening up what might be private. But it's also his home ground, you know? His turf...which means he'll be more confident, and you might feel a little out of place or vulnerable. It depends on how he plays it. But usually someone will invite you to their house if they're trying to make an impression on you. He wants you to see that he's got a swank place, and he keeps it clean and he's a good cook...all that stuff. Plus, it gives him control of the lights, the mood, the setting, the music..."


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## Victim (Apr 11, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "You're definitely overthinking," Thessaly assures Megan with a grin. "Can you turn that part of your powers off? Or...turn it down? It'd probably make it easier for you. If you want to enjoy a date, it's better if you're not constantly thinking about what else you could be doing during that time."




"Not really," she replies.  "I slow down as part of the way I fall asleep; I couldn't stay like that for long by myself, and I wouldn't really be fit to have a conversation while doing it." 



> "Anyway, having dinner at a guy's house can be pretty significant. It's more...intimate than going to a neutral location like a restaurant or a bar or club or movie. It's his place, his living space that he's inviting you into, so it's sort of opening up what might be private. But it's also his home ground, you know? His turf...which means he'll be more confident, and you might feel a little out of place or vulnerable. It depends on how he plays it. But usually someone will invite you to their house if they're trying to make an impression on you. He wants you to see that he's got a swank place, and he keeps it clean and he's a good cook...all that stuff. Plus, it gives him control of the lights, the mood, the setting, the music..."




"That's interesting."  _I'm not sure how to use that information though._  "I'm not sure I'd feel especially vulnerable in his place, though.  We've been doing a lot of going into other people's turf and blowing it up at work, right?" she tries to joke.


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## kirinke (Apr 11, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Hope gets an appointment to speak with Alpha Pink/Ms. Pink, who heads up the Psych Ops but also is the chief councilor for upper-level agents -- it helps that as an Alpha she has clearance for almost everything.




Hope sits down nervously, it's been along time since she last had couseling, hell, the last time was during the adoption process, which.... she shoved that away.

"Hi. I guess... I really don't know where to begin." she looked at Ms. Pink.


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## Shayuri (Apr 11, 2008)

Thessaly grins. "This will be harder than all that. I'm not sure what to say really...you can't really predict what will happen. Just...try to relax and have fun with it is all. And decide how far you want to go now, and stick to it. It'll be a lot easier that way."


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## Victim (Apr 11, 2008)

"I know."  _Combat is chaotic, but it provides pretty close to immediate feedback._

"So it's all up to what I decide..."  Megan comments, anticipating disaster.  _What sort of factors go into that decision?  I mean, I'm in a high risk job, effectively.  Even ignoring that, the drugs I take probably can't be adjusted to work for me forever.  Before, my problems were supposed to have gone away too...  So I probably have only a narrow window of opportunity for, well, anything.  _


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## DM_Matt (Apr 12, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope sits down nervously, it's been along time since she last had couseling, hell, the last time was during the adoption process, which.... she shoved that away.
> 
> "Hi. I guess... I really don't know where to begin." she looked at Ms. Pink.




"Well, why have you come to see me today, for one."


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## kirinke (Apr 12, 2008)

"I guess I should start from the beginning...." Hope said and did just that, starting from when she had lost her partner, leaving nothing out, stating the unvarnished facts.  

When she was done with that, she also told the lady about the previous fights and in particular, this last one where she had nearly skewered Wren by accident. 

"I don't know anymore...." Hope said quietly. "I lost it, completely this time. As soon as I touched that damned weapon, it was...." she shivered, hearing the screams, so much more intense than anything she had ever experienced before. "It's not just my postcog gift that's affecting me. Ever since I found out that Faust was alive, it's brought it all back. Everytime I see something vaguely demonic or even resembling him in power, I loose it." she looked grim. "I even had to bring Nitro and Viridian in with me to interrogate Faust, so if I lost it, they could contain me."

ooc:
I'd say that she's probably suffering from clinical depression and maybe even post traumatic stress disorder, given what she went through with that particular case, not to mention what she experiences with the postcog alone. Those two things would probably account for her um.... erratic behavior of late.

Hmmm. Wouldn't the Trust have access to mind-healers or magicks dealing with mind-healing? Something perhaps that could be roleplayed out.


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## Raylis (Apr 12, 2008)

"So what did you want to know Wren?"


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## Shayuri (Apr 12, 2008)

"Pretty much," Thess agrees. "At least at this point in the relationship, he's got to dance to the music you play. Enjoy it while you can." She grins.

Sensing some of her moodiness, she adds, "Try not to worry. The worst that can happen is you get a free homecooked meal, right?"


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## Victim (Apr 12, 2008)

_I thought the worst thing that would happen would be an emotionally painful experience. _

"Enjoy it while I can...  Okay.  Thanks for the help."


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## Shayuri (Apr 12, 2008)

Thessaly shrugs. "I know I wasn't much help. I just meant, once you're actually in a relationship, things change usually. When you're dating, the guy'll be trying to impress you. Afterwards...not so much. That's all."

A little nervous from the vibe she's getting, she pries a little. "Are you okay? You just seem really down."


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## Victim (Apr 12, 2008)

Megan shrugs.  "I have a hard time thinking that this can go well, even with your help.  And even if it does...  I don't think I could really believe it.  When things are going too well, it sort of feels like I'm getting set up for a fall.  Do you know what I mean?"


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## Shayuri (Apr 13, 2008)

Thessaly nods. "I think I do. And in a way, it's even true... Because no matter how good things get, there will always be bad times, and problems too. Of course, that works the other way around too. When things aren't going right, there's better times coming."

"What I've found is that if I have confidence...if I have faith in myself...I don't worry about things going wrong. Because I feel like whatever it is, I'll be able to handle it. It's only really bad when I feel bad about myself, and I don't feel like I'll be up to the challenge. Then everything seems bleak and hopeless and even things I like seem like they're not worth doing anymore."

She nods. "Once I figured out that the problem wasn't really in the world outside...but instead, it was in ME...then I could deal with it, because I knew when I was down, and I felt like the world was unfair...what I was really feeling was bad about myself."


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## Victim (Apr 13, 2008)

"Well, yeah.  Who else would be responsible?" she replies, starting to get upset.  "I had that kind of confidence once...  Some things are still impossible, even if you believe in yourself."  

"Sorry.  I know you were just trying to make me feel better.  Couldn't you just use your power though?"


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## Shayuri (Apr 13, 2008)

Thessaly opens her mouth, frowns a little, then shuts it. 

After a second she asks, "Use my power to do what?"


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## Victim (Apr 13, 2008)

"I don't know exactly; it's your power," she shrugs.  "Like when you undid Phobos' attack or something.  That made me feel better."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 13, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "I guess I should start from the beginning...." Hope said and did just that, starting from when she had lost her partner, leaving nothing out, stating the unvarnished facts.
> 
> When she was done with that, she also told the lady about the previous fights and in particular, this last one where she had nearly skewered Wren by accident.
> 
> ...




(I'm honestly not sure how to deal with this. Hope does have serious issues, but I'm not really qualified to write as a shrink.  Also, there is something kind of unheroic-feeling about her getting medication for it...Imagine SpiderMan with some Prozac -- actually, never mind, bad example, he might be a lot less annoying     RE: Mind healing, that seems like kinds of a cheat  She should probably evolve out of her issues, rather than have them erased by a telepath.)


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## Shayuri (Apr 13, 2008)

"Feel...oh! Well." Thessaly shifts uncomfortably. "That was to counteract some power he was using, you know? I mean...it would work now too. It would make you feel...but...see...the problem is that feeling bad is like pain in the body. It's a warning that something else is wrong. I'm just worried if I just take it away, that's the easy way out and it won't really be doing you any favors."

She chews her bottom lip, then quickly adds, "But there might be something I can do to help. It's not forcibly changing your mood...but it help you to feel better."

"I could draw down the moon."


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## kirinke (Apr 13, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (I'm honestly not sure how to deal with this. Hope does have serious issues, but I'm not really qualified to write as a shrink.  Also, there is something kind of unheroic-feeling about her getting medication for it...Imagine SpiderMan with some Prozac -- actually, never mind, bad example, he might be a lot less annoying     RE: Mind healing, that seems like kinds of a cheat  She should probably evolve out of her issues, rather than have them erased by a telepath.)




ooc:
Actually, I was thinking more of um a kind of spiritual/mental quest type thing, where she is sort of forced to deal with her inner turmoil, only with the guide of a mind-healer. You know, sort of where she has to face herself, both good and evil, light and dark. Right now, she's hiding behind a kind of shield of self-denial, or simply violence. She'd still have some issues, but at least she'll have the tools to deal with them. Right now she's very much unanchored and they need her probably badly enough to where they'd do something like that. Plus, it'd be a chance to earn some HP.  

Heh and she is kinda being heroic if you think about it, admitting that she does have some serious problems and is willing to take care of them, even face them. 

If you watched teen-titans, that was sort of addressed with Raven and that mirror thingie.


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## Victim (Apr 13, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Feel...oh! Well." Thessaly shifts uncomfortably. "That was to counteract some power he was using, you know? I mean...it would work now too. It would make you feel...but...see...the problem is that feeling bad is like pain in the body. It's a warning that something else is wrong. I'm just worried if I just take it away, that's the easy way out and it won't really be doing you any favors."




"Didn't you just say that the way you felt about something was more important to your well being than the situation itself?" she asks.  Megan stiffens as Viridian talks about pain, "And you really don't know what you're talking there."  _So shut up._



> She chews her bottom lip, then quickly adds, "But there might be something I can do to help. It's not forcibly changing your mood...but it help you to feel better."
> 
> "I could draw down the moon."




"If I consented, it wouldn't really be forcibly, would it?  But what's that moon thing?"


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## DM_Matt (Apr 13, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> Actually, I was thinking more of um a kind of spiritual/mental quest type thing, where she is sort of forced to deal with her inner turmoil, only with the guide of a mind-healer. You know, sort of where she has to face herself, both good and evil, light and dark. Right now, she's hiding behind a kind of shield of self-denial, or simply violence. She'd still have some issues, but at least she'll have the tools to deal with them. Right now she's very much unanchored and they need her probably badly enough to where they'd do something like that. Plus, it'd be a chance to earn some HP.
> 
> Heh and she is kinda being heroic if you think about it, admitting that she does have some serious problems and is willing to take care of them, even face them.
> ...





Hmmm...So a literal facing of her inner demons.  Maybe eventually, but its not something I can easily whip up at the moment.  Plus, the Trust is minimally mystic.  I will look into the possibility of incorporating this into adventures in the near future, though.  Maybe a villain with a power like that.  Or black kryptonite   

BTW, is everyone OK with this individual stuff, or do you guys want it moved along?


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## Shayuri (Apr 13, 2008)

"I do know what I'm talking about, Megan," Thessaly insists. "I'm talking about magic. Just trust me on this much at least. Magic can do a lot of things, but there's risks in it. If I used mind control, I could make you feel great about yourself, and yes...that would probably have a lot of good effects on your life. But it wouldn't be -real-. Deep down inside, you'd still feel bad about yourself, and that WOULD come out. Somehow. Some way. I know I don't know what you've been through, but just trust me about magic. Using it like that is a really bad idea."

"However, the moon ritual...it's not really the moon. It's..." She hesitates, trying to think of how to explain it. 

"It's an invocation of the Goddess in her Mother aspect. The reason I think it would help you is that it's not mind control at all. It's a very powerful experience, very positive. It's pretty hard to feel bad about yourself after you've been through it...at least for awhile."

She smiles, a little shyly, like a kid offering a friend a present. "Do you want to?"

(I like the opportunity for RP...but if people want to move along, that's cool too)


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## kirinke (Apr 13, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> OOC:
> Go for it, Star has alot of confidence related issues, so that could help her.
> 
> She smiles, a little shyly, like a kid offering a friend a present. "Do you want to?"
> ...




ooc
Go for it I say. Star has alot of confidence related issues, so it could help her alot. Plus, it gives the DM time to create some more dastardly deeds for us to thawart.  

Oooo.... I likie the idea of a villian forcing her to confront her problems. Maybe not even a villian, it could be someone or something who is an enemy of Barrington, but isn't quite strong enough to confront him personally. Instead, that 'villian' is making sure the heroes have the right tools to deal with him. 

Another evil thought. That somebody could be related to Hope without her knowing it. IE: The friendly villian.


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## Victim (Apr 14, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "I do know what I'm talking about, Megan," Thessaly insists. "I'm talking about magic. Just trust me on this much at least. Magic can do a lot of things, but there's risks in it. If I used mind control, I could make you feel great about yourself, and yes...that would probably have a lot of good effects on your life. But it wouldn't be -real-. Deep down inside, you'd still feel bad about yourself, and that WOULD come out. Somehow. Some way. I know I don't know what you've been through, but just trust me about magic. Using it like that is a really bad idea."




"You'd know your power better than I would.  But you have a power that's good for more than just hurting people...  And we already run all kinds of risks."  _I'm only risking my life for much vaguer and weaker emotional rewards.  It sounds real enough to me._



> "However, the moon ritual...it's not really the moon. It's..." She hesitates, trying to think of how to explain it.
> 
> "It's an invocation of the Goddess in her Mother aspect. The reason I think it would help you is that it's not mind control at all. It's a very powerful experience, very positive. It's pretty hard to feel bad about yourself after you've been through it...at least for awhile."
> 
> ...




"Sorry."  She pauses.  _How can I say no without making a bigger mess of things..._  "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't believe in that sort of thing.  Besides, I guess I have to get ready, so I don't have time for some ceremony thing."  _And it sounds uncomfortably like a pagan version of faith healing BS.  My mom can be such an idiot._ 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We can move on if people want.  Some of these side discussions could be handled by PMs (although not here, since that only works for community supporters IIRC), chat things, etc.  That way events aren't being held up for an extended period with a short conversion (time-wise) that can take a week or more to play out.  

It'd be a bit different, I think, if more of the other players were involved in their own things right now.  Then it'd be more a matter of general pacing - how quickly the main action pieces take place - and less a matter of a few people sort of hogging the game, as seems to be the case now.


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## Shayuri (Apr 14, 2008)

If Thessaly is hurt, she doesn't show it. She nods.

"Okay. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. As for your date, just...I know it sounds corny, but be yourself. You're a great person, Megan. He'd be stupid not to see that."

(Meep...didn't mean to hog.   Like I said before, I'm fine with moving on. If anyone else wants to talk, I'm fine with that too. I'm pretty much fine with whatever. )


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 14, 2008)

At the question, Wren snaps out of it, as he had been thinking intently on the matters at hand.  This team was new, there was no cohesiveness, and obviously some inner turmoil.  "First of all, thanks for agreeing to this.  I know we're not in our best health, so I'll keep it simple and quick.  Out there, in combat situations, where do you feel best apt to shine?  I feel best as a defender, able to protect you all to the best of my abilities, while that grants you all the chance to do what you all do best.  So, any special attacks or situations that would benefit you, just let me know so I can make sure they happen.  I can create objects, useful for controlling the battlefield.  But, if they can help you as well, with their shadows, then all the better."

"Nitro, you got a mean punch there, and I have seen what that shockwave can do.  I know you're a good wrestler, and have been privy to all sorts of combo attacks, both from you and targeted on you, I am sure.  Got any of them that stick out as potential team combos for us?  I was thinking of a snaring combo.  You could easily throw someone, and one of us could essentially create a snare or caged place to 'catch' the villain.  Then Star could pummel the snared villain with her orbs."

Wren pauses, hoping that these two might be able to add some comments, as he's simply fishing for anything that would get them thinking together.  That's the first step...


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 14, 2008)

double post... sorry


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## Vanifae (Apr 14, 2008)

_I am fine with the side stories, but I am also down with whatever the majority chooses.  I likes me some role playing._


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## Victim (Apr 15, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> If Thessaly is hurt, she doesn't show it. She nods.
> 
> "Okay. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. As for your date, just...I know it sounds corny, but be yourself. You're a great person, Megan. He'd be stupid not to see that."




_Okay, I guess that came off well._  "No problem.  Thanks for the advice."  _A great person huh?  ...  Well, I guess if I can fool you, then I can fool him, too._


----------



## Raylis (Apr 15, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> At the question, Wren snaps out of it, as he had been thinking intently on the matters at hand.  This team was new, there was no cohesiveness, and obviously some inner turmoil.  "First of all, thanks for agreeing to this.  I know we're not in our best health, so I'll keep it simple and quick.  Out there, in combat situations, where do you feel best apt to shine?  I feel best as a defender, able to protect you all to the best of my abilities, while that grants you all the chance to do what you all do best.  So, any special attacks or situations that would benefit you, just let me know so I can make sure they happen.  I can create objects, useful for controlling the battlefield.  But, if they can help you as well, with their shadows, then all the better."
> 
> "Nitro, you got a mean punch there, and I have seen what that shockwave can do.  I know you're a good wrestler, and have been privy to all sorts of combo attacks, both from you and targeted on you, I am sure.  Got any of them that stick out as potential team combos for us?  I was thinking of a snaring combo.  You could easily throw someone, and one of us could essentially create a snare or caged place to 'catch' the villain.  Then Star could pummel the snared villain with her orbs."
> 
> Wren pauses, hoping that these two might be able to add some comments, as he's simply fishing for anything that would get them thinking together.  That's the first step...




 "To be honest I'm not fond of up and front brawling. What little of crimefighting I did before being recruited was mostly cloak an area in shadows and then take the advantage-I know that must sound cowardly to both of you but  Night says slumping to a sitting position,  "I can bind shadows around someone, but not from afar.


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## kirinke (Apr 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Hmmm...So a literal facing of her inner demons.  Maybe eventually, but its not something I can easily whip up at the moment.  Plus, the Trust is minimally mystic.  I will look into the possibility of incorporating this into adventures in the near future, though.  Maybe a villain with a power like that.  Or black kryptonite
> 
> BTW, is everyone OK with this individual stuff, or do you guys want it moved along?





ooc:
I am perfectly alright with us moving along, without Hope's exposition type thing with the shrink. If nothing else, the shrink can prescribe her some anti-depressant pills and more sessions, because with her post-cog and other problems, she probably needs it.   And that is kinda heroic in a way, because Hope is facing the fact that she does have problems, and can't fix it herself.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 15, 2008)

"And what types of attacks or setups are able to do while in the shadows?  If I had a better grasp of your abilities, perhaps we could work on more situations where we can use them to our advantage."

Wren then turns to Nitro, hoping he had some input to give as well.  "This is going to be a tough job, but worth it in the long run."

Wren sits, resting on a nearby chair, as his wounds are still a pain.  "So, I can pack a little extra in one of my punches, and if it connects, it has the tendency to cause the foe to be hurled back more than usual.  That would be the good time to use those binding shadows and such.  Then Nitro can easily knock them out for the count.  Something like that?" he asks, wondering if it would be effective.


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## Victim (Apr 16, 2008)

Megan gets herself ready for her date.


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## DM_Matt (Apr 16, 2008)

(I'm wondering if we shouldnt move on while the date is played out in parallel.  It would still go in its appropraite spot in the time line, and I guess it would be hard to figure how apollo and star should relate to each other, but it may be ahrd to have everyone wait since it could take a while.  Of course, if you want, you guys could play it out in some other way (aim, irc, wahtever, and just post what happened, since it doesnt actually need any adjudication))


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## Elric (Apr 16, 2008)

"Well, I'm a pretty mean trash talker.  I can usually throw people off with a quick insult or two.  I'm real acrobatic- I don't know if anyone saw when I got that zombie to hit himself with his chain while going for me, but I thought it was a great move."

In wrestling they taught us tag-team stuff, setting up an opponent for an attack from someone else, but I've found recently that I'm probably the best one to take advantage of an opening, you know.  As a tag team wrestler, I learned to grapple while dodging shots from opponents on the outside and I've been working on a bear hug pin to get two people in it at once.

Other than that, I'm nearly indestructible, really strong and tough, well-liked and well-connected and extremely good-looking.  Just perfected my 3 football fields at a time long jump.  You know, it's all part of a day's work."


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## Victim (Apr 16, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (I'm wondering if we shouldnt move on while the date is played out in parallel.  It would still go in its appropraite spot in the time line, and I guess it would be hard to figure how apollo and star should relate to each other, but it may be ahrd to have everyone wait since it could take a while.  Of course, if you want, you guys could play it out in some other way (aim, irc, wahtever, and just post what happened, since it doesnt actually need any adjudication))




(I was thinking something like that could be a good idea.  My AIM id should be right below my name, if we want to do it that way.)


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## Vanifae (Apr 16, 2008)

_I don't mind doing it in parallel, kind of like a semi-flashback thing... makes for a cool comic-booky story image thing._


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## Shayuri (Apr 16, 2008)

Assuming Wren, Nitro and Night are in a relatively public area (forgot where y'all were, sorry ), Thessaly stumbles across them while wandering away from where Megan left. She seems a bit spaced, or preoccupied, but nods at her teammates and says, "Hi."


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## Raylis (Apr 16, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "And what types of attacks or setups are able to do while in the shadows?  If I had a better grasp of your abilities, perhaps we could work on more situations where we can use them to our advantage."
> 
> Wren then turns to Nitro, hoping he had some input to give as well.  "This is going to be a tough job, but worth it in the long run."
> 
> Wren sits, resting on a nearby chair, as his wounds are still a pain.  "So, I can pack a little extra in one of my punches, and if it connects, it has the tendency to cause the foe to be hurled back more than usual.  That would be the good time to use those binding shadows and such.  Then Nitro can easily knock them out for the count.  Something like that?" he asks, wondering if it would be effective.




 "I hold Yinying - er duan in Chuōjiǎo  Night says with a shrug,  If I wasn't blacking out a room then I can bind somone. Unlike everyone else's my abilites are all directly linked to my darkness control. 

Hearing Viridian's voice she turns to the other girl,  "Hey"


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## kirinke (Apr 16, 2008)

Hope walks in, looking somewhat better, at least from what you can tell in a long while. She smiled a little at the others as she sat down. "I guess, I should tell you, the doc says I've got a nice case of clinical depression, so I'm going to weekly therapy sessions amongst other things," she said wryly.

"So, what are we talking about?" she asked.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 16, 2008)

Wren takes in what he can from Nitro, ignoring the comments of personality.  As he does so, he gets mental images of different scenarios.  He then speaks what he can.  "My powers are pretty much opposite yours Nitro.  I have a cosmic blast that can hit even while someone is in the way, and another blast that is used for a large area.  I can't select who gets hit, and who doesn't, so it's only usable when we aren't all over the place.  It packs a little punch as well, in case it's needed.  Then there's my up close and personal fighting, which rests on a limited strike attack.  The good thing about it is that if it hits, it's got a good chance to throw the enemy back a ways."

"As for the general gist of things, I simply make sure that whoever needs some protection, I am there.  I have the ability to switch places as needed with someone else next to me, to take the hits or attacks from enemies.  I can withstand more than the norm, and don't mind doing so.  It's one of the things I'm good at.  I also have the ability to create invisible objects and snares, not just visible ones.  It's a good way to work the field, without the enemy knowing what's going on."

At the entry of Thessaly, Wren smiles at her.  "Hi there, wanna join the discussion?  I think we're getting some progress, and any other input would do nicely.  I got a few ideas, such as me trying to knock someone into Nitro, to set him up for a grapple.  There's also the chance that Nightweaver can create an area of pure darkness, and Nitro or I can try to throw enemies in there, and let her take care of them on her own terms."

Wren shifts his weight, as the pain abates a little.  He was not used to injuries, or at least to this degree.  Thinking of names for these moves was also going to be a chore.  A few came to mind, but they were a little silly at times.  He would have to work on them more than he thought...


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## Shayuri (Apr 16, 2008)

Thessaly stares at Wren blankly, then looks over at Hope. Not sure what to say to that, she returns her attention to Wren.

"So...talking about tactics then? Like we talked about doing on the plane?"

She shrugs and leans back against the wall, standing next to Nightweaver.

"Okay."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 16, 2008)

"Yeah, tactics.  Although, if you have something else on your mind, by all means.  This is our down time.  I don't have much of a home to go to, as I tend to stay here at the Trust facilities all the time.  Helps with keeping things cleared."

"Hope, as for the depression status, I think we all have things we go through.  Some of us handle them differently, that's all.  Looks like there are some who handle them in the exact opposite, so that may be where the whole clashing comes in play with you and Star.  I think we need to all cool down."


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## Shayuri (Apr 16, 2008)

Thess shrugs again, a little uncomfortably.

"Tactics is fine. I don't think I really want to think too hard about what used to be my ordinary life right now."

She takes a deep breath and straightens up a bit.

"So okay...tactics. I don't know anything about tactics, really. I can cast spells, but I've tried to learn spells that can protect without causing harm. So...bindings, wardings, glamors...that kind of thing."  She pushes her glasses up her nose, and admits, "I...did learn a curse spell that could hurt someone. And of course, the movement spell can throw things around and hurt someone if I'm not careful."

Thessaly spreads her arms then and finishes with, "So...that's me. Mold me into a mighty warrior."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 16, 2008)

"So that movement spell, you can throw people around?  That might work well with Nightweaver and her darkness, if you can throw people and not just things around.  So, what exactly are glamors?"


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## Shayuri (Apr 16, 2008)

"Well, a person could try to break the effect," Thessaly allows. "It wouldn't be easy, but it's possible. Other than that, it can move people, sure."

"As for glamors, it sort of depends who you ask, really. I use it kind of broadly, to describe spells that alter how the mind or perceptions work. Some people break that down into charms and glamors, but..." she shrugs. "So, for me, a glamor is a spell like my costume, or those illusions I used on the ship. It also includes spells like the irresistable voice, or love spells or spells that cause fear or other emotional states."

Thessaly pauses, then adds as an afterthought, "Oh, and I know a good unraveling spell too. A countermagic. And I know a lot of invocations...I could put together rituals...and I've done some potions and studied my amulet enough I could probably work magic into a talisman."


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## kirinke (Apr 17, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Yeah, tactics.  Although, if you have something else on your mind, by all means.  This is our down time.  I don't have much of a home to go to, as I tend to stay here at the Trust facilities all the time.  Helps with keeping things cleared."
> 
> "Hope, as for the depression status, I think we all have things we go through.  Some of us handle them differently, that's all.  Looks like there are some who handle them in the exact opposite, so that may be where the whole clashing comes in play with you and Star.  I think we need to all cool down."





"Yeah, you're probably right." she looked at him. "I think I could maybe help with your injuries a little, I do know a healing spell, it's pretty tiring on me though, but since we're not in a combat situation, I don't mind casting it for you."


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## Raylis (Apr 17, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Yeah, tactics.  Although, if you have something else on your mind, by all means.  This is our down time.  I don't have much of a home to go to, as I tend to stay here at the Trust facilities all the time.  Helps with keeping things cleared."
> [...]  I think we need to all cool down."




 "You know...you have a point there, Wren. Let's get out of here and go do something fun, let our hair down a bit and get to know each other better.


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## kirinke (Apr 17, 2008)

Hope grins a little as they talk of powers. "Well, my powers are mostly related to weather and weather related effects. No one is sure whether or not my powers are actually spells or something inborn. I can cast real spells though, like the banishing spell I performed on Onigumi. I can occasionally cast spells that would be impossible for cold controllers, but as we've seen, there are side effects to that. I can't work with ground or earth based magicks at all, due to my intimate connection to the elements of air and water." 

"My primary attacks are a blast of lightning, though I've been working on modifying that to include air, water and Ice. That attack is generally geared to one opponent. I do have an area attack, the hail attack and I'm also working on a Tornado based attack, one that I'm practicing on scaling back, so it doesn't destroy an entire city block." she looked rueful at that. "I have a degree of control over the air and it's good enough so that it acts like a kind of telikensis. I can also 'freshen' the air, removing harmful gasses and the like." she said, tapping her finger on the arm rest.

"Through my connection with nature, I can channel my power and rage that into a kind of powered strength as well as focusing the wind so I can blow out fires and the like. I've also been working on my ability to create objects so that it can include solid air and water in addition to ice." she chuckled. "Those are my offensive powers."

"My defensive powers include the ability to speak to others via the wind, it's sort of a silent communication. That's how I was able to 'hear' Voderac on the ship. Apparently, he has access to the same sort of ability. I can create rain storms and heal, though the healing is very tiring for me. I do have some magical awareness, though it's not my strongest suit. I can kind of 'see' in the dark, by sensing the flow of air around objects." she said and flicked on her Iphone, searching for something to do after they got done here.

"Physically, I'm not that 'tough' in the sense that Nitro and Star are. In fact, I'm fairly normal in that regard.  I do have the ability to form the winds into a shield, which is why they tend to howl and pick up around me during a fight."

"Hmmm. There is a free rock music festivel in Liberty park. That might be fun to go to." she offered at the others suggestion of something fun to do.


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## Vanifae (Apr 17, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan gets herself ready for her date.



 Apollo is ready for the *date.*

_Speaking of that free rock festival, sounds like something Apollo would definitely perform at, just to shock and surprise people..._


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## DM_Matt (Apr 18, 2008)

(Now I'M confused by the timeline.  So this is still during the day before Star and Apollo have their date?  Or is it the next day (in which case its kind of problematic)?  Either way, ust tell me what you guys are doing.  Eventually ,either something will happen, or you'll choose to work again)


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## Raylis (Apr 19, 2008)

(I thought we were still on the same day as the Ares thing?)


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## Victim (Apr 19, 2008)

(As far as I know, we are.)

Star meets with Apollo.  "So what exactly are we doing?  I can bring my costume if we're going to do any high speed flying," she asks, darting back and forth with her hands behind her back.


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## Vanifae (Apr 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star meets with Apollo.  "So what exactly are we doing?  I can bring my costume if we're going to do any high speed flying," she asks, darting back and forth with her hands behind her back.



"Well," he says while doing pull ups, "I was thinking we could have dinner at my place; I don't think you will need the costume, but there may be some flying involved."

He drops down, "How do you like beaches?"


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## Victim (Apr 20, 2008)

"Like I said earlier, the ordinary clothes impose a pretty low speed limit on my flying though."  _This dress seems sort of flimsy.  Does he have his clothes made of special stuff, or does his power protect them in some way?_

Megan frowns, trying remember long ago family vacations.  "I don't know.  I fly over beaches, or drop off things that don't take well to hypersonic jaunts there before heading out over the water to cut loose.  What did you have in mind?"


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## Vanifae (Apr 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Like I said earlier, the ordinary clothes impose a pretty low speed limit on my flying though."  _This dress seems sort of flimsy.  Does he have his clothes made of special stuff, or does his power protect them in some way?_
> 
> Megan frowns, trying remember long ago family vacations.  "I don't know.  I fly over beaches, or drop off things that don't take well to hypersonic jaunts there before heading out over the water to cut loose.  What did you have in mind?"



 Apollo shrugs, "It's a surprise... and wow you look hot," he admires walking around her, "we can always skip the beach and enjoy an evening at my place."


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## Victim (Apr 20, 2008)

_That can't be...  No, if I wasn't, he wouldn't have picked me, right?_  Megan grins and appraises the rockstar, "Thanks.  You look..."  _too good for me?_ "... nice too."

_Umm, it's not like I've done anything like this before._  "I think I'd like getting out and flying around."  _I like doing that by myself.  Sharing that could be good._


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## DM_Matt (Apr 20, 2008)

(So are some of you going to the concert in the park, or just doing your own thing and meeting up to plan the next step?  (Lemme remind you that you have not actually scried for Mystery Super yet))


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## Shayuri (Apr 20, 2008)

(hee...funny you should mention )

"I'm not really up for a big thing," Thessaly decides when Hope mentions a concert. "I think I'm gonna see if I can find that mystery super...then do some studying." She nods at the others there.

"See you later."

She goes to the evidence room, enters her passcode and goes into the vault as the door opens with a dramatic hissing of hydraulics. A few minutes later she's in her room, lighting candles and beginning the ritual to scry.


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## Vanifae (Apr 20, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> _Umm, it's not like I've done anything like this before._  "I think I'd like getting out and flying around."  _I like doing that by myself.  Sharing that could be good._



Apollo nods, "Alright, let me hit the shower real quick and we can fly out of here... I shouldn't be long."

With that he leaves he takes a quick shower, gets ready for the evening in casual yet stylish clothes and returns having adjusted his plans.  Once back he smiles taking her hand, "Sorry to keep you waiting, I lost track of time working out."


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## Victim (Apr 20, 2008)

Star frowns.  _I hate having to wait; even something stupid like 5 minutes feels like much longer._  "Okay."  She'll take the time to actually check out the information the group recieved about Barrington's towers.  _Weather control?  That could be bad, even accidently._  Megan will note the coordinates of the tower dropped into Mexico, in case investigation is required.  Left with some time to kill, she'll also check out Apollo's file.

A few minutes later: 
"It wasn't a problem; I had some stuff I needed to catch up on anyway - umm, be gentle like that."


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## kirinke (Apr 21, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (hee...funny you should mention )
> 
> "I'm not really up for a big thing," Thessaly decides when Hope mentions a concert. "I think I'm gonna see if I can find that mystery super...then do some studying." She nods at the others there.
> 
> ...




"So, what about you guys?" Hope asks. It had been a long time since she had taken any time for herself. Maybe it'd be good for her....


----------



## Vanifae (Apr 21, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "It wasn't a problem; I had some stuff I needed to catch up on anyway - umm, be gentle like that."



"Cool, I will be gentle..." he smirks with a wink, "Let's fly."

He is gentle leading her out as they fly to their destination.


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## Victim (Apr 21, 2008)

Star follows along.

(I'm not really seeing anything that requires action or a reply right now.)


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## Vanifae (Apr 21, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star follows along.
> 
> (I'm not really seeing anything that requires action or a reply right now.)



_Heh, I didn’t realize that, damn me for posting so late when I am sleepy._

Apollo takes flight holding her hand, before letting go, allowing them to find a comfortable speed.  He speaks, “So tell me about yourself, and I hadn’t asked but do you prefer Star or Megan?  I don’t have a codename so Apollo works just fine for me.”

He twists around flying with his back to the ground; he matches her speed flying directly beneath Star looking up at her with a crooked grin, flying dangerously close, “But like I was asking… I am interested in learning more about you, why would a beautiful woman like you risk that pretty face by fighting crime…”  He accentuates his words by lightly brushing her cheek and chin with his hand.


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## Victim (Apr 21, 2008)

"Megan is fine."  _But maybe Star would make me appear more extraordinary...  Overthinking._  "But that's not the sort of thing I want to spread around, so either way can work depending on where we are."

Star smiles distractedly, enjoying the moment.  _Careful with answer now._  "Isn't being a superhero what powered people are supposed to do?  It can feel good to do things that people approve of.  Plus it would be a shame to let this expensive supersuit go to waste.  What about you - aren't you risking a lot more than good looks?"


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## DM_Matt (Apr 21, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (hee...funny you should mention )
> 
> "I'm not really up for a big thing," Thessaly decides when Hope mentions a concert. "I think I'm gonna see if I can find that mystery super...then do some studying." She nods at the others there.
> 
> ...




An image of the earth in space appears in the center of the room.  The scrying sensor moves towards an area and zooms in, bouncing around as it finds the location.  It eventually zooms to the North African desert, then East, crossing over Egypt, and it zooms further as it reaches the Negev Desert, in Southern Israel.  The sensor finds a facility camouflaged against the desert sands, with an electric fence and numerous defensive emplacements. The complex is low and large, and has a sign in front that says, in Hebrew "City of The Dead."  As it scans in further, the image becomes fuzzy, but before it blanks out you notice soldiers unloading a very large man in some sort of supertech shackles from a truck and into one of the buildings.


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## Vanifae (Apr 21, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star smiles distractedly, enjoying the moment.  _Careful with answer now._  "Isn't being a superhero what powered people are supposed to do?  It can feel good to do things that people approve of.  Plus it would be a shame to let this expensive supersuit go to waste.  What about you - aren't you risking a lot more than good looks?"



Apollo thinks for a long hard moment, _Good question, I am risking quite a bit for some thrills and to do a smidge of good, which in the large scale of things is highly dubious, but I guess maybe this is what we with powers were meant to do?_

“Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I was going to do the super hero gig.  I mean I pretty much have everything I could need or want, and I had a fun job… and doing something I love just makes it that much better.  But when I saw my fans being preyed upon by those drug peddlers, I acted… not the smartest thing I did, but it got immediate results.  Made me a few enemies, but I am lot tougher then I appear, so maybe you are right, maybe we were given these abilities to do the right thing.  Which means a petty thing like wealth and fame can be sacrificed for making things a little better for everyone,” Apollo replies.

“Of course that speech does not reassure my label at all, and all they want is for me to focus on my music and put out another multi plat album… but I am discovering there are some really nice perks to this whole super hero gig,” he adds with an appraising eye.

With that he drops down low over the water picking up speed, assuming she follows he lands on a terrace of an ocean front home.  Apollo lands adjusting the light in the area to be both pleasant and romantic with a thought; a table is prepared with professionally prepared food, a bottle of champagne chilling on ice along with crystal clear water.  Apollo picks up two champagne glasses, uncorking the bottle and pouring.

He offers her a glass, “But I do agree with you, it would be a shame to let that super suit go to waste, Megan.”


----------



## Victim (Apr 21, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> “Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I was going to do the super hero gig.  I mean I pretty much have everything I could need or want, and I had a fun job… and doing something I love just makes it that much better.  But when I saw my fans being preyed upon by those drug peddlers, I acted… not the smartest thing I did, but it got immediate results.  Made me a few enemies, but I am lot tougher then I appear, so maybe you are right, maybe we were given these abilities to do the right thing.  Which means a petty thing like wealth and fame can be sacrificed for making things a little better for everyone,” Apollo replies.




_Money isn't so petty when you don't have it._  Megan asks, "What's the right thing though?  What's right for one person or group is necessarily right for other people.  While some drugs are really dangerous, there are other illegal ones that aren't really any worse the approved ones, right?  And should self destructive actions be prohibited; it's the individual's life, isn't it?"

She sighs, "Mostly, it seems like we fight more to keep things from getting worse than to make things better."  



> “Of course that speech does not reassure my label at all, and all they want is for me to focus on my music and put out another multi plat album… but I am discovering there are some really nice perks to this whole super hero gig,” he adds with an appraising eye.




"Yeah," she chimes in obliviously.  "The Trust people have given me a bunch of great stuff; my room here is so much better than my apartment.  It's nice to have a computer just for me, instead of the ones in the lab."

"Maybe they should just look at superheroing as a sort of free marketing."



> With that he drops down low over the water picking up speed, assuming she follows he lands on a terrace of an ocean front home.  Apollo lands adjusting the light in the area to be both pleasant and romantic with a thought; a table is prepared with professionally prepared food, a bottle of champagne chilling on ice along with crystal clear water.  Apollo picks up two champagne glasses, uncorking the bottle and pouring.
> 
> He offers her a glass, “But I do agree with you, it would be a shame to let that super suit go to waste, Megan.”




As Apollo drops low over the water, Star darts ahead and just off to the side, skimming the surface.  She'll attempt to splash Apollo with water thrown into the air by her passage, flying backwards and laughing.

"Umm, I'm not supposed to have alcohol," she mumbles weakly, turning away.  "Sorry."  _Way to ruin the moment._


----------



## Raylis (Apr 22, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "So, what about you guys?" Hope asks. It had been a long time since she had taken any time for herself. Maybe it'd be good for her....




 "Honestly I was thinking something more intmate, coffee or something. Screaming and being knocked around is what we've been doing for weeks.


----------



## kirinke (Apr 22, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "Honestly I was thinking something more intmate, coffee or something. Screaming and being knocked around is what we've been doing for weeks.




Hope nodded. "Well, there is that. We could watch a movie, if that's more agreeable. I'm sure we could probably get whichever one we wanted in this place,"


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## Vanifae (Apr 22, 2008)

Apollo smiles, “Water it is then,” he puts the glass down and pours cool water for the both of them.  He gives her a crooked smile brushing off the comment, “I am not much for alcohol myself, but I figured I should try and impress you with my good taste; supposedly this stuff is a good year or something,” referring to the champagne.

“I guess you are right, we make choices every day that affect far more people then ourselves, and I could wonder if we have the right to do that; but then again maybe we have the responsibility to do what we have to do.  But yeah I am not sure why more super heroes don’t use there powers to make money,” he shrugs.

He grins and removes his shirt, “Nice one by the way.”  His chest is defined and well toned with a sunburst tattoo; on his back is another tattoo of a woman angel with golden wings.  He looks over his shoulder, “So the Trust is pretty awesome, what do you think of the rest of the team?”


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## Jemal (Apr 22, 2008)

"A remarkable idea!  I couldn't have suggested better myself!" Jack Carson declared as he walked up to Hope and Amanda.  "That wasn't exactly the best mission I've ever done, and I for one could use a wind-down and some catching up."  He grinned as they turned to regard him, putting up a hand to forestall questions "And don't even bother asking how I found you, it's kind of my thing.  So, what did I miss?"

[sblock=ooc]So just for the record, who all's still with hope, and who's still in the game?
Oh btw, hi. [/sblock]


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## Victim (Apr 22, 2008)

"Thanks."   Megan takes the water.

"I don't really feel comfortable intervening in situations that don't involve powers or fringe science.  Superpowers are sort of overkill for most normal things.  It's like why we have separate police and military forces.  I guess that's sort of how where I draw the line,"  she replies.  



> But yeah I am not sure why more super heroes don’t use there powers to make money,” he shrugs.




"The examples of the first really famous heroes probably has a lot to do with that.  Because of heroes like Centurion, people sort of expect metahumans to act selflessly - or go the other way and be supervillains."  

She shrugs.  "I don't like Hope.  At all.  Maybe you noticed.  As far as everyone else goes...  Nitro is really amazing.  He's probably the best fighter out of all us - you saw how fast things soured for us once he went down.  He sort of makes me uncomfortable sometimes though.  Nightweaver seems smart, but her power seems to suck, especially since she can't really use it with the rest of us.  Thessaly is nice, and her power does so many different things.  She's really good.  Wren is pretty new - he seems to have some powerful energy stuff and then defensive fields and healing.  He seemed nice too, but also smothering.  He wanted us to stay together before.  But speed powers or things like darkness would work best when splitting up, don't you think?"

"A lot of other people have been part of our team for varying periods: a 'demon', an 'angel', an alien plant guy, and Spirit.   Optic is probably coming back though.  He has a lot of experience as a superhero and still manages to run a company."

"You probably shouldn't rely too much on my opinion though.  I freely admit to being biased.  Plus I missed seeing the others in action sometimes.  Everyone else was fighting in the museum while Nitro and I were with the Freedom League.  And circumstances have prevented me from observing parts of other battles, especially if I'm doing flybys."  She's not eager to admit to being KO'd all the time.  

"Is there any significance to those tattoos?  Also, I wouldn't have thought the process would so well with superhuman toughness."


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## Vanifae (Apr 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Is there any significance to those tattoos?  Also, I wouldn't have thought the process would so well with superhuman toughness."



Apollo drapes his shirt over the railing with a shake of his head, “Yeah it took a little work to get these tattoos inked, as far as significance, Apollo is the sun god, so hence the sun burst tattoo… the angel… well I got it in honor of my grandmother when she passed away two years ago, nana was the best cook I ever knew.”

“Oh I noticed,” He replies referring to Hope, “And relax we all have our biases; I am the new guy any kind of perspective on the team is good.  The team seems pretty solid, despite our less then great interpersonal issues.”

He takes a drink of the water, “But then again that is why I like you,” he says standing close to her, “I mean, you have a fire, a passion for what you do, you seem a little vulnerable but I like that.  A real woman, intense, beautiful… and fast… I like that.”  Apollo brushes the hair back from her face.

“You might even be able to keep up with me,” he smiles.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 22, 2008)

Wren stands, recognizing the man called Optic.  He hadn't gone through much of his file, but that was the same with the others.  Files were so impersonal, and he wanted to see what each person was in real life.  Not on paper.

"I'm Wren, they call me the Gaurdian.  I've been reassigned to Sigma team.  You must be Optic.  As for relaxing, I think there's a few options.  Movie's are too quiet.  Can't really talk much and get to know people.  Professional games, on the other hand, those are more vocal and relaxed.  How about a baseball game?  I hear the local professional team, I don't remember their name, are pretty good.  There's a game in about 2 hours.  Plenty of time to rest up, freshen up, and it'll be my treat.  After all, they say Baseball is this nation's pastime.  Right?"


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## Victim (Apr 22, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo drapes his shirt over the railing with a shake of his head, “Yeah it took a little work to get these tattoos inked, as far as significance, Apollo is the sun god, so hence the sun burst tattoo… the angel… well I got it in honor of my grandmother when she passed away two years ago, nana was the best cook I ever knew.”
> 
> “Oh I noticed,” He replies referring to Hope, “And relax we all have our biases; I am the new guy any kind of perspective on the team is good.  The team seems pretty solid, despite our less then great interpersonal issues.”
> 
> ...




"Oh..."   _Good one._

She frowns, "Maybe we are solid, but I don't think that's good enough.  I fought Barrington directly - to use the term loosely - and he's a monster.  He barely broke stride taking me out in one kick while I focused mostly on dodging.  If he had been aiming to kill...  That day, he was just brushing us aside like gnats, like we weren't even worth a real effort.  He also dropped Spirit in a single blast."

"I didn't know vulnerable was a good thing."  

Megan flips her ponytail around.  "Keep up with you?  Hmmph.  That's a good one.  If you think rolling around your direction of travel is an impressive trick, then you'd be in trouble in any contest of manuever.  Airplanes can pull that one off."


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## Vanifae (Apr 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Oh..."   _Good one._
> 
> She frowns, "Maybe we are solid, but I don't think that's good enough.  I fought Barrington directly - to use the term loosely - and he's a monster.  He barely broke stride taking me out in one kick while I focused mostly on dodging.  If he had been aiming to kill...  That day, he was just brushing us aside like gnats, like we weren't even worth a real effort.  He also dropped Spirit in a single blast."
> 
> ...



 “Barrington sounds like a badass... we may not be in his league yet, but he isn’t invincible,” the rock star quips.

Apollo nods at her explanation, “Well first off vulnerable does not mean weak, it just means to me at least that you have a softer side, the side that makes you look beautiful in this dress.”

He turns and walks towards the open glass sliding door, which opens into a large bedroom.  He says over his shoulder, “I am going to look for another shirt to wear, if you want I can give you the tour.”  He walks over to a large walk-in closet and pulls out a t-shirt.  The interior has a subtle Greek/Mediterranean motif to it, with white and gold as the dominating colors; it is very clean and stylish.  A large bed dominates the room with a 60 inch widescreen monitor hanging on the wall opposite the bed.

He shrugs, “But yeah I guess I could learn a thing or two about maneuvering from you, I tend to focus more on my speed then trying to get fancy and outmaneuver my opponent; maybe we can work on that together?  I bet we make a good duo, I mean we already compliment each other pretty well.”

He turns smiling at Star, “But even though you may know some awesome maneuvers in the air, I bet I know a few techniques that you have never seen.”  He takes her hand, still holding the spare shirt, “Maybe I could show you?”


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## Victim (Apr 22, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> “Barrington sounds like a badass... we may not be in his league yet, but he isn’t invincible,” the rock star quips.



  "True, but he has lots of powerful allies now too," she replies worriedly.




> Apollo nods at her explanation, “Well first off vulnerable does not mean weak, it just means to me at least that you have a softer side, the side that makes you look beautiful in this dress.”




Megan smiles, "I never thought about it like that."  _I like hearing how beautiful and great I am._



> He turns and walks towards the open glass sliding door, which opens into a large bedroom.  He says over his shoulder, “I am going to look for another shirt to wear, if you want I can give you the tour.”  He walks over to a large walk-in closet and pulls out a t-shirt.  The interior has a subtle Greek/Mediterranean motif to it, with white and gold as the dominating colors; it is very clean and stylish.  A large bed dominates the room with a 60 inch widescreen monitor hanging on the wall opposite the bed.
> 
> He shrugs, “But yeah I guess I could learn a thing or two about maneuvering from you, I tend to focus more on my speed then trying to get fancy and outmaneuver my opponent; maybe we can work on that together?  I bet we make a good duo, I mean we already compliment each other pretty well.”
> 
> He turns smiling at Star, “But even though you may know some awesome maneuvers in the air, I bet I know a few techniques that you have never seen.”  He takes her hand, still holding the spare shirt, “Maybe I could show you?”




_This place is so nice.  And rich._  "Yeah, we should be a good team.  Being fast leaves me kind of exposed sometimes; I'd appreciate the help."

"Sounds fun, go ahead," she grins back.  _Too bad it's more matter of how much/fast we can change vector than technique._


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## Vanifae (Apr 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Sounds fun, go ahead," she grins back.  _Too bad it's more matter of how much/fast we can change vector than technique._



Apollo smiles, _Almost too easy… cute though,_ he pulls her close to him gently, holds her chin with his free hand, having dropped the shirt, and gives her a deep kiss.  He uses his intimate control of the light to give them both a soft glow of moonlight.

Assuming he is allowed to finish he speaks, “Shall I continue?”


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## Jemal (Apr 22, 2008)

Jack nods and shakes Wren's hand "I've always been more of a hockey fan, but baseball works.  I haven't been to a ball game in a long time.  So whadaya say, everyone?" Jack grins at the rest of them.  "OH, and Wren, when we're off the clock, please call me Jack."


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## kirinke (Apr 23, 2008)

Hope brightens as Optic comes in, she had missed the guy, one of the few in the group that gave her an even break, the other being Viridian and Wren, she thought with some guilt. _I have to do better, I can't...._  she shoved that away. 

"Haven't caught a good game in a while either." Hope remarks. "Sounds fine to me,"  she says with a grin. "Glad you're back,"

Hope inwardly winces though, it had been some time since she had last communicated with her rather more then less supernatural 'guides', perhaps after the game and team-cohesion work, she could contact them. Those guides had been with her since childhood, teaching her what Alex and her own mentor could not, how to fine-tune her control over the weather. Perhaps she could ask them to help her with this new facet of her power, the rage that seemed to follow her when she used her more violent powers. 

Though still smiling outwardly, a new realization came to her. If the greek-gods were simply aliens in disguise, what of her guides? Could they be aliens as well? She filed that suspicion away for a later time.

ooc:
Forgot her mentor's name... Eep!


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## Victim (Apr 23, 2008)

_Oh._  Megan freezes momentarily as Apollo leans in - _This is my first kiss, let's not screw it up._ - then kisses back.  By way of reply, she'll kiss him herself, pushing against him with a touch of flight vector.


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## Elric (Apr 23, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Jack nods and shakes Wren's hand "I've always been more of a hockey fan, but baseball works.  I haven't been to a ball game in a long time.  So whadaya say, everyone?" Jack grins at the rest of them.




"Hey Jack.  Good to see you, compadre."  _Seems he's still got the knack for dodging cars and the like.  Glad he didn't hold the almost running him over part against me._


"Now that you mention it, I think the [Freedom City] Comets are playing their rival, the [formerly of Freedom City now out of state] Flags tonight.  I should be able to score some tickets."

Nitro gets on the phone with his agent and tries to get some tickets through his management agency.  Shortly thereafter, his agent calls him back.  The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  

Nitro quickly dials the man, the myth, the legendary Rock himself.  "Hey Dwayne"  he casually intones.  A few minutes later, the heroes have an invitation to The Rock's box next to the Freedom City dugout and Nitro has been invited to do a 'tag-team first pitch' with The Rock.  Nitro gets off the phone, beaming like no other, and explains their good fortune to the other heroes.  Not only are they sitting with him, but The Rock is cooking!


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## Vanifae (Apr 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> _Oh._  Megan freezes momentarily as Apollo leans in - _This is my first kiss, let's not screw it up._ - then kisses back.  By way of reply, she'll kiss him herself, pushing against him with a touch of flight vector.



 Apollo cracks a smile when it is all said and done, "Well now that we got that out of the way, should I tell my chef to make breakfast for two in the morning?"


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## Raylis (Apr 24, 2008)

"Good to see you're in one piece, Jack." 

 OOC: okay Elric fess up, how long have you been waiting to use that one?


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## Elric (Apr 24, 2008)

Nitro requisitions a grav-bike, then orders up a comet-like platform from the baseball team to put on top of it.  He’ll send out a text message to the not-present superheroes in case any of them want to reconsider their aversion to public events—this is The Rock, after all.

_Flash forward to the baseball game_

At the game, Nitro runs in through centerfield carrying the comet with the Rock on it, holds it over his head with one hand while mugging for the crowd with the other, then pitches the comet all the way to the mound.  Right before it hits the Rock throws the ceremonial first pitch off the platform.  Optic who is sitting in the stands controls the grav-bike so that the Rock slows down as he approaches the mound and doesn’t crash.  Just in case, some truly terrible result occurs, Wren is supposed to create a softer object for The Rock to smash into than the ground.


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## Victim (Apr 24, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo cracks a smile when it is all said and done, "Well now that we got that out of the way, should I tell my chef to make breakfast for two in the morning?"




"Why?" she whispers.   "It's not like we ate the last meal.  Besides,."  _And it would be sort of weird to have some stranger in here._


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## Jemal (Apr 24, 2008)

"Gotta love team work."  Optic grins as he remotes the grav bike.  This was certainly one of the comet's cooler first pitches, and he was proud to be a part of it, even if only behind the scenes.  When the Rock and Nitro finally make it up to where he and the others are, he extends a hand "Mr Jonhson, Jack Carson.  We've never actually met, but we've done business.. or I suppose more accurately, my people have done business with your people, and I've always been a fan.  When Johnny here told us we were watching the game with you, I knew I had to say hi."  Jack grins and nods to Nitro.

As they move on to watching the game, he can't help but glance at Hope every once in a while.. there was something wrong with her, but in front of all these people was probably not the best time to get into whatever was bothering her.

[sblock=ooc]
Sense motive + 16, if yer wondering how he knew something was up.

Also, I pondered using my status, connected, and contacts traits as an excuse to know the Rock as well, simply b/c that'd be hella cool, but I figured this is Nitro's show, why steal the thunder, eh? 
[/sblock]


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## Shayuri (Apr 25, 2008)

"Guys!" Thessaly exclaims, bursting into the common room. "I know where...guys?"

She looks around, then checks her watch. On sudden suspicion she looks at her cellphone and sees the message on it. She'd turned it off during the scry and forgotten to turn it back on. With a few keypresses, she's listening to it. Irrationally, she feels her heart sink. 

"You did this to yourself you know..." the young witch sighs to herself. "You knew they were planning something, but you had to run off. ... I need a cat or something."

Finally she goes to jot down the important information from the scrying, then goes to check out what the Trust has in the way of written materials...especially magical or historical in nature. It actually makes her snort with laughter to think that here she was, a superhero, but still spending lonely nights reading.


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## kirinke (Apr 25, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> "Gotta love team work."  Optic grins as he remotes the grav bike.  This was certainly one of the comet's cooler first pitches, and he was proud to be a part of it, even if only behind the scenes.  When the Rock and Nitro finally make it up to where he and the others are, he extends a hand "Mr Jonhson, Jack Carson.  We've never actually met, but we've done business.. or I suppose more accurately, my people have done business with your people, and I've always been a fan.  When Johnny here told us we were watching the game with you, I knew I had to say hi."  Jack grins and nods to Nitro.
> 
> As they move on to watching the game, he can't help but glance at Hope every once in a while.. there was something wrong with her, but in front of all these people was probably not the best time to get into whatever was bothering her.
> 
> ...




ooc:
You would lol. She's pretty good at hiding things, but against someone with sense motive +16, she'd be a bit obvious. Alot of it has to do with her world view being tossed askew by voderac's relavation, the other has to do with the fact that she's finally starting to deal with her 'issues' that have been hampering her objectivity and effectiveness. If you want, you can have Optic approach her later about it. She'll be willing to talk I think with someone who isn't trying to bash her head against the perverbial wall.   

IC:
Hope laughs at Nitro's antics, she can't help but enjoy the silliness involved, but it's a fun sort of silliness, a release from the past few days.  She flicks her eyes at Jack and knows that he's probably picking up some sort of 'vibe' from her.

"We'll talk about it later okay?" she whispers, through her wind carried words ability, making the conversation private.


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## Vanifae (Apr 25, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Why?" she whispers.   "It's not like we ate the last meal.  Besides,."  _And it would be sort of weird to have some stranger in here._



Apollo smirks, “Well it’s nice to have breakfast in bed, and I figure there is no reason for you to go home, you can stay here.”  He accentuates the offer by sitting on the bed, “It’s a big bed plenty of room for both of us.”


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 25, 2008)

Wren also takes the chance to say hi to The Rock, "So, question I have is, have you ever had to go up against Nitro here?  Perhaps put him in his place at times?"

Wren simply smiles, knowing that it might be interesting to see how The Rock would fare against Nitro.  It would be entertaining to say the least.


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## Jemal (Apr 25, 2008)

Jack smiles slightly and nods to Hope, before turning back to the Rock-centered conversation "now there's an interesting concept.. Nitro's got the super-powers, but The Rock is.. well, no offense Johnny, but he's THE ROCK.  Some would say Rock would win hands down, or that Johnny'd throw the fight out of respect.. but I don't know about that, I've seen Nitro here, he's a good fighter, and I don't see him as the kind of guy to throw a fight if he didn't have to (sides, I'm of the belief that giving it your all is more respectful).. I'd love to see a match between the two of these guys."  Jack glanced back out just in time to see the ball get smacked hard. 

 "Red baseball cap with a #12 jersey, black hair and Beard, 7th row up."  He smirks as the ball flies, becoming a home run.  When the jumbotron zooms in on the kid who caught it, he's standign right beside the guy Jack descriped. "Damn... missed.."


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## kirinke (Apr 26, 2008)

OOC: 
IRL not much of a baseball fan, but figured Hope might be knowledable about the particulars. 

Hope sits back, chewing on a hot dog and sipping a soft drink, steering clear of the alcohol and begins enjoying the game and company.


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## Victim (Apr 26, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo smirks, “Well it’s nice to have breakfast in bed, and I figure there is no reason for you to go home, you can stay here.”  He accentuates the offer by sitting on the bed, “It’s a big bed plenty of room for both of us.”




(Star wasn't turning down his invitation to stay, just the 'have someone else make breakfast' offer.)

"Breakfast in bed never seemed very nice to me."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 26, 2008)

The Rock to Jack and Wren:

"Hey, you guys made the teleprompter shades for my last movie didn't you?  And as far as Nitro goes, yeah that would be a hell of a fight.  Of course, its all those metahuman wrestlers that got me into acting in the first place.  Its getting harder and harder for us unpowered bad@$$es to stay on top.  Good thing I'm awesome.  "


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## DM_Matt (Apr 26, 2008)

The first pitch goes according to plan.  Nitro jumps towards the field from outside the stadium, landing with the comet over his head, and the Rock standing (not sitting, standing) on the comet.  Before he even lands, he hurls the comet and the Rock towards home plate.  Jack activates the grav bike inside to tweak the comets speed and flight path.  The Rock throws the ball, actually finding the catcher (though he has to stand up), letting himself slip down the comet, and then landing on his feet, taking some steps, turning, and ending up holding the comet.  Nitro lands near him.  The crowd goes wild.


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## Elric (Apr 26, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren also takes the chance to say hi to The Rock, "So, question I have is, have you ever had to go up against Nitro here?  Perhaps put him in his place at times?"




"Oh, before I had powers I wouldn't have wanted to go up against The Rock.  People's Eyebrow, People's Elbow, People's Champion.  It was just routine.  But don't listen to Dwayne about the acting being because of metahumans stuff.  He got into acting to cash out and once he saw he'd be successful there (like we couldn't have guessed), he stopped doing as much wrestling.  But I don't blame Dwayne- I'm grew up around Hollywood and movie stars.  It's a nice place to be a big shot."


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## Vanifae (Apr 27, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Breakfast in bed never seemed very nice to me."



"Works for me," he smirks, "get comfortable, have a seat... unless you are itching to take the grand tour... I mean we have plenty of time to relax and see all the sights.  So tell me, what did you do before the Trust?  I mean how did you get started with doing this kind of stuff in the first place?"


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## kirinke (Apr 27, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> "Oh, before I had powers I wouldn't have wanted to go up against The Rock.  People's Eyebrow, People's Elbow, People's Champion.  It was just routine.  But don't listen to Dwayne about the acting being because of metahumans stuff.  He got into acting to cash out and once he saw he'd be successful there (like we couldn't have guessed), he stopped doing as much wrestling.  But I don't blame Dwayne- I'm grew up around Hollywood and movie stars.  It's a nice place to be a big shot."




Hope grinned a little. "Being a big-shot is nice anywhere, if you like being in the lime-light all of the time that is. Personally, I don't see how celebrities do it. I'd be tempted to punch out any photographer or paparazi that gets near me after awhile."


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## Jemal (Apr 27, 2008)

"I much prefer being the corporate style of famous... Sure I get some paparazi waiting to snap a pic of me, but for the most part, it's all the perks of being a celeb with few of the drawbacks.  Though I highly doubt there's anybody in this stadium who, if given a choice between meeting one of the three of us" Jack indicates himself, Nitro, and Rock "Would choose the business man over the super-hero or the actor... You might get your share of guys wanting to meet you, though, given the chance." He jokingly quips as he glances over to Hope, grinning.


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## Victim (Apr 27, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "Works for me," he smirks, "get comfortable, have a seat... unless you are itching to take the grand tour... I mean we have plenty of time to relax and see all the sights.  So tell me, what did you do before the Trust?  I mean how did you get started with doing this kind of stuff in the first place?"




"I was at ASTRO Labs when some super gang robbed the place.  I got a bit pissed off and ambushed them when they were leaving the secured area - I set a bunch traps to help even the odds.  That worked for a little bit.  Then more guys showed up, and the water guy reappeared.  One of the new supers shut me down completely, and he wasn't even really trying.  Since he took control of my power somehow, Backfire could have done so much worse than fly me into the upper atmosphere.  So they got away and Captain Thunder had to drag me back to earth.  At least they made that costume for me; its material is really expensive."

She frowns, "Really amazing, huh?  You said you started with drug dealers..."


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## kirinke (Apr 27, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> "I much prefer being the corporate style of famous... Sure I get some paparazi waiting to snap a pic of me, but for the most part, it's all the perks of being a celeb with few of the drawbacks.  Though I highly doubt there's anybody in this stadium who, if given a choice between meeting one of the three of us" Jack indicates himself, Nitro, and Rock "Would choose the business man over the super-hero or the actor... You might get your share of guys wanting to meet you, though, given the chance." He jokingly quips as he glances over to Hope, grinning.




Hope laughs outright. "You don't make the choices easy, huh?" she shoots back.


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## Vanifae (Apr 28, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I was at ASTRO Labs when some super gang robbed the place.  I got a bit pissed off and ambushed them when they were leaving the secured area - I set a bunch traps to help even the odds.  That worked for a little bit.  Then more guys showed up, and the water guy reappeared.  One of the new supers shut me down completely, and he wasn't even really trying.  Since he took control of my power somehow, Backfire could have done so much worse than fly me into the upper atmosphere.  So they got away and Captain Thunder had to drag me back to earth.  At least they made that costume for me; its material is really expensive."
> 
> She frowns, "Really amazing, huh?  You said you started with drug dealers..."



Apollo smirks, "Well yeah I started with a simple drug bust I guess, well simple in that some super hottie villainess was selling a designer drug that turned the junkies into mindless zombies that did her bidding... either that or it pretty much made them brain dead.  Now I am all for doing what you want to do; and if your thing is smoking pot or drugs then fine, ruin your body... but even that was a little far for me... and the fact that a couple of kids at one of my concert ended up going berserk and putting several other concert attendees in the hospital I felt a little responsible for the matter."

He forms his light guitar and starts playing a light tune, to give his hands something to do, "I tried to use the normal channels but this was way beyond anything the proper authorities could handle, and I am not one to get others to do stuff for me, so I decided to press my luck and go after the source myself.  I used a pretty terrible disguise and followed a few leads I had, found their main lab and trashed the place.  I also got a broken nose, several broken ribs, and a near death encounter after dealing with her thugs... and her abilities... which were pretty considerable.  So yeah I won, but I spent my celebration in ER and I got myself plastered all over the news... fun times.  Gave the label execs a heart attack... eh in the end I felt good doing something to make the world better.  Which is all i want to do with my music... so it all worked out."

"Funny thing is I can't for the life of me remember who the hottie was that had put together that crazy if a little cheesy plan," Apollo shrugs.


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## Victim (Apr 28, 2008)

"I would have thought it would have went well for you."


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## Vanifae (Apr 28, 2008)

"My PR people gave it a good spin, said I had a serious auto accident, blah blah blah... eh overall I learned alot and I had fun, it was a rush... and I am all about achieving that rush again," Apollo quips.


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## Victim (Apr 28, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "My PR people gave it a good spin, said I had a serious auto accident, blah blah blah... eh overall I learned alot and I had fun, it was a rush... and I am all about achieving that rush again," Apollo quips.




"How is a car accident better spin than being a superhero?"  _I enjoy pure flight better than fighting...  Even if I'm not injured, I tend to feel sick afterwards.  Maybe I should quit._


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## Vanifae (Apr 28, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "How is a car accident better spin than being a superhero?"  _I enjoy pure flight better than fighting...  Even if I'm not injured, I tend to feel sick afterwards.  Maybe I should quit._



“Heh, I don’t know it didn’t last long anyway; I pretty much just spelled everything out on my blog and did my own kind of press release.  I figured that my fans had a right to know, and besides it was pretty cool to get to act like a superhero.  Even if I did get hurt, I learned a lot about my abilities and what I could and could not do… and in the end I shut the operation down, I mean yeah that does not mean happily ever after, but it felt good,” Apollo shrugs.

“The execs were angry, but at the end of the day it only served to enhance my popularity and record sales went up, which made them much more amicable to the idea of me pursuing a career in super heroics… long story short, it was a good decision.  But enough about me,” he beckons her to sit down next to him, “having heard all that and seeing me in action what is your opinion of me, I am curious… I mean I feel like you are the veteran here, and I am just the rookie.”


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## Victim (Apr 28, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "I've been working as a superhero for like six months, and I joined this team less than a weekk ago.  The stuff we're doing is a lot harder than what I'd handled before too.  So I still feel outclassed most of the time," she admits.
> 
> Megan continues, "As far as this fight went, you did okay.  No injuries.  You seemed to hit most of the time - but none of those hits seemed especially devastating.  Maybe you should work on a harder hitting or multi-shot attack so you can take advantage of targets distracted by combat or their injuries.  If we're by ourselves, it's no big deal to nickle and dime an enemy, since we should be able to stay out of the way with high speed passes, right?  But in a group we have to work faster, since someone will be within reach no matter what.  That generally means either delivering a big hit, or setting someone else up for one."
> 
> "Of course, my advice is probably mostly worthless.  That was the first mission that I didn't finish on the floor.   But hitting someone who's already vulnerable makes a huge difference.  Pushing to take advantage of the situation seems to help too; it seems to work for Nitro so I tried it this too."


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## DM_Matt (Apr 29, 2008)

Ballgame Group:

As Optic watches the game, he finds that his showoffy predictions are not coming true nearly as much as they should.  In fact, he detects the ball slightly defying the laws of physics at time, moving slightly into or away from the bat at the last moment.  It seems that someone with powers is manipulating the game.

News Reports On Everyone's Phone:
1.  "The US Navy was called to a shipwreck in the Mediterranean today, which was apparently the floating base of an arms dealer named Anatole Voderac.  Data salvaged from the scene and financial data indicate that Voderac may be one of the biggest arms smugglers ever taken down.  Through their press agent, the same supergroup that has been carving a wide swath through Freedom City's rogues gallery has asserted credit for the raid, but said that Voderac himself had escaped.  Voderac's two sons, however, were delivered to the authorities."

2.  Two stories out of Africa: "The transitional government of Somalia was suddenly overthrown yesterday by forces allied with the previous government.  Several mechs and a squad of troopers in power armor quickly overwhelmed government forces, allowing militiamen to retake Mogadishu."  

"In other news, the last of the join United Nations-African Union peacekeeping forces have been driven from Sudan by Ubunga-Na's undead hordes, also rumored to be backed by high-tech units.  The necromancer is presently in Khartoum, negotiating some kind of power-sharing arrangement with the ruling government."

3.  Media Clip of Horatio Shepherd, lawyer to supervillains, on a talk show: "...this new team of so-called "Superheroes" are nothing but a bunch of vigilantes that the state lets do their dirty work.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were just a front for AEGIS.  Even if they aren't fact that the police have let them operate with impunity and plan to use their "evidence" in court makes them de facto agents of the law, and as such they must be subject to the same laws of evidence that the police are.  These guys are just an end run around the 4th Amendment, not to mention habeus corpus and the Geneva Conventions.  Some of my clients have been turned over with no memory of what happened to them in captivity, possibly destroying evidence of torture.  Others were confronted with evidence from illegal wiretaps and computer hacks.  The whole process is barbaric, unlawful, and hypocritical.  The police need to enforce the law against these thugs, and I am confident that the evidence against my clients will be thrown out as improperly gathered."

Intel Data Sent Around:
Space launches detected over the past few days from numerous remote sites worldwide.  These, and many pre-existing components disguised as commercial satellites, have combined with the Lighthouse to develop an ever-expanding space base.  They must have been planning this for a long time, and must have been building these pieces for a long time.

Text to Hope: got info -mr f.


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## Jemal (Apr 29, 2008)

Optic's eyes narrowed as he watched, becoming more and more certain that something fishy was going on.  Stepping forwards a bit sothe rock won't see, his eyes began glowing as he first examined the ball, then each of the players before his eyes started roaming the crowd - It was a big job, but there were few better suited to such a task as he was.  He moved closer to Hope and whispered to her "Something's not right here.  Either I've completely forgotten my physics, or someones manipulating the ball in flight.. Telekinesis, magic.. I don't know.  just watch... There."  He hopes she sees as the ball curves in an unatural fashion, still keeping his eyes open as he speaks. 

[sblock=ooc] Pulling out all the stops.  I examine the ball in detail for any electrical/mechanical attachements or anything else out of the ordinary before starting to scan the rest of the ballpark. (+16 notice, enhanced vision, analytical, microscopic, x-ray, etc.) as well as trying to figure out what's moving it (all knowledges +5)[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Apr 29, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Optic's eyes narrowed as he watched, becoming more and more certain that something fishy was going on.  Stepping forwards a bit sothe rock won't see, his eyes began glowing as he first examined the ball, then each of the players before his eyes started roaming the crowd - It was a big job, but there were few better suited to such a task as he was.  He moved closer to Hope and whispered to her "Something's not right here.  Either I've completely forgotten my physics, or someones manipulating the ball in flight.. Telekinesis, magic.. I don't know.  just watch... There."  He hopes she sees as the ball curves in an unatural fashion, still keeping his eyes open as he speaks.
> 
> [sblock=ooc] Pulling out all the stops.  I examine the ball in detail for any electrical/mechanical attachements or anything else out of the ordinary before starting to scan the rest of the ballpark. (+16 notice, enhanced vision, analytical, microscopic, x-ray, etc.) as well as trying to figure out what's moving it (all knowledges +5)[/sblock]




Eventually, Optic notices the culprit, managing to track the source of the telekinetic effects.  Up in the bleachers, there is a man in a leather jacket, a black cap, and sunglasses, watching the game intensely.


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## Jemal (Apr 29, 2008)

ooc: *Who else is in the room?  Just us and the rock?*


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## DM_Matt (Apr 29, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> ooc: *Who else is in the room?  Just us and the rock?*




In this box, yes plus a few from the Rock's entourage.


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## kirinke (Apr 29, 2008)

Hope frowns, concentrating, watching the ebb and flow of magick. Viridian was much better at this than she was, but still.....

"I see it," she said, once Optic points it out. Then she looks at the man manipulating the ball, watching the ebb and flow of magick around him to see if he's manipulating the ball through spellwork rather than straight TK.


ooc
Magical awareness
Notice +10
Concentration +13


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## Fangor the Fierce (Apr 29, 2008)

Leaning forward, Wren nudges Nitro, "I wonder what those two are whispering about?  Maybe after the game plans?"


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## Vanifae (Apr 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Of course, my advice is probably mostly worthless.  That was the first mission that I didn't finish on the floor.   But hitting someone who's already vulnerable makes a huge difference.  Pushing to take advantage of the situation seems to help too; it seems to work for Nitro so I tried it this too."



Apollo nods listening, “Hey no apologies, I appreciate the feedback… I have never really worked with other professional super heroes before so any advice helps.  Well I know I have some things to work on, but at least we get to work together.”

He puts his arm around her, “But I would rather work on something else for now.”


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## Victim (Apr 29, 2008)

"Too bad."  She slips away.   "Unless there's some emergency  -" flip, scan, set aside -"which there's not, I'm not interested in working.  Maybe you can come up with something else for us to do..." Megan continues playfully.


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## Vanifae (Apr 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Too bad."  She slips away.   "Unless there's some emergency  -" flip, scan, set aside -"which there's not, I'm not interested in working.  Maybe you can come up with something else for us to do..." Megan continues playfully.



 Apollo smirks with a laugh, “Oh I have quite a few ideas on how to pass the time,” he uses his light control the dim light in the area.  He lays her back and gets back to doing what he was doing a few minutes ago, although with much more vigor.

_Fade to black blah blah… do what comes natural and all that jazz… I wonder if there will be a super brawl at the ball game!_


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## Jemal (Apr 29, 2008)

Jack turns and heads over to the rest of the group "I hate to potentially ruin the fun for you guys, but I hope none of you had any bets on this game, because it's being rigged as we speak."  He points out the area/seat where the man is (though others may need binoculars to get a good view).  "Hope, have you noticed anything else about him yet?  Is it magic, or..."


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## kirinke (Apr 30, 2008)

"Still checking," she frowned in concentration. 

"Would anyone be adverse to me beaning him with a ball of ice?" she asked with a grin as she searched the nasty cheater for signs of magick.

ooc:
I take it we're all in civilian clothes. Hope is a known Aegis mage, afterall so no problem there.


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## DM_Matt (May 1, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Jack turns and heads over to the rest of the group "I hate to potentially ruin the fun for you guys, but I hope none of you had any bets on this game, because it's being rigged as we speak."  He points out the area/seat where the man is (though others may need binoculars to get a good view).  "Hope, have you noticed anything else about him yet?  Is it magic, or..."




Hope's magical awareness doesnt catch anything.


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## kirinke (May 1, 2008)

"Looks like straight TK to me, or some power that can mimic TK," Hope says. "I didn't detect any magic about him, but like I said, magical awareness isn't my strongest suite."


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## Fangor the Fierce (May 1, 2008)

Wren will go ahead and check if it's some cosmic energy as well, just to be on safe side..


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## kirinke (May 2, 2008)

"How do you guys want to handle this? If we simply strong arm him, this'll likely turn ugly and we don't want that. Nor do we want to derail the game either...." she frowned and flipped open her Iphone, taking a picture of the guy and requesting a run on him.


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## Jemal (May 2, 2008)

"hmm..  Hey, can either of you TK?  How about trying to counter whatever he's doing, and seeing how he reacts?"


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## kirinke (May 2, 2008)

"Hmmm..... My ability to control air sort of acts like a kind of TK, but I don't think that'll work very well...." she said and grinned. "But I can be very scary when I want to be, let's see how he likes to have the voice of conscious speak to him."

"Evil begets evil, cheaters do not prosper." she said in a siblant whisper, her voice dry as cracked ice, cold as an artic winter. "I am feeling generous today, much more generous than you deserve little man. These people do not deserve to have their fun ruined by a naughty boy like yourself. Leave now or face the consequences of your actions." she said as she took a picture of the man with her Iphone, requesting a run on him through the Trust's vast databanks. 

ooc:
Using wind-spoken words ability, speaking to the cheater.
(+4/+8)......... Bluff
(+6/+10)........ Diplomacy


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## DM_Matt (May 2, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Hmmm..... My ability to control air sort of acts like a kind of TK, but I don't think that'll work very well...." she said and grinned. "But I can be very scary when I want to be, let's see how he likes to have the voice of conscious speak to him."
> 
> "Evil begets evil, cheaters do not prosper." she said in a siblant whisper, her voice dry as cracked ice, cold as an artic winter. "I am feeling generous today, much more generous than you deserve little man. These people do not deserve to have their fun ruined by a naughty boy like yourself. Leave now or face the consequences of your actions." she said as she took a picture of the man with her Iphone, requesting a run on him through the Trust's vast databanks.
> 
> ...




The man looks around, startled by the message.  He gets up from his seat and goes to the internal stairway.


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## Jemal (May 2, 2008)

Optic keeps watching the guy to see if he hides/leaves/pulls out a phone/continues cheating. (X-ray)


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## kirinke (May 2, 2008)

Hope will also make sure to alert the ball-park security, stressing that they shouldn't confront him physically, but make sure that he knows that they are aware of his cheating and would really rather like it if he never came back. She figures that no one wants their fun ruined and a direct confrontation with this guy would definately ruin the game.


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## DM_Matt (May 3, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Optic keeps watching the guy to see if he hides/leaves/pulls out a phone/continues cheating. (X-ray)




The man gets to the stiarwell, where basically no one is, goes to the middle, and jumps up to the floor with the skyboxes.  Some of their fronts are shielded from scanning, so Optic loses track of him somewhere among them.

Meanwhile, Hope contacts the authorities, who send some security to that area.


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## kirinke (May 3, 2008)

She looked at the others. "This bought us a little time. I know I probably shouldn't have tipped him off with my little message, but there were too many bystanders in that area to risk an open confrontation, especially since we don't know what he's really capable of." she said quietly, grimancing. "I took a picture of him with my Iphone and requested a run from Headquarters. We should be getting something on him back soon enough,"


*We're not going into a situation blind again. Not if I can help it,* she thought to herself.


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## DM_Matt (May 3, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> She looked at the others. "This bought us a little time. I know I probably shouldn't have tipped him off with my little message, but there were too many bystanders in that area to risk an open confrontation, especially since we don't know what he's really capable of." she said quietly, grimancing. "I took a picture of him with my Iphone and requested a run from Headquarters. We should be getting something on him back soon enough,"
> 
> 
> *We're not going into a situation blind again. Not if I can help it,* she thought to herself.




Her pic isn't good enough, but Optic CAN take that good a pic, but Mr. Blue sends back some info.  "Got a hit. Mikhail Mikowski. Came to the US from Russia three years ago.  Here is his immigration file, drivers license, and permanent resident card.  We have an address, but no know associates or profession.  No AEGIS file, but he has a couple gambling-related arrests.  The charges were dropped both times."


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## Jemal (May 3, 2008)

Optic swears lightly under his breath "Lost him, but he's come up here..probly looking for whoever's messing with him.."  He looks at the others present "Hate to spoil the game kids, but we have a.. situation outside. like we got work to do." 
With that, he slaps his briefcase onto the table, opening it up to reveal his visor and gloves, and turns the buckle on his belt 90 degrees.  With a mechanical whirring, A high-tech series of light plating covers the majority of his body as his powersuit activates.  Donning the gloves, he turns around, visor in hand.  "Mr Johnson, I sincerely hope you and your retinu will be able to keep this to yourself?"  With a nod, he dons his visor and heads for the hallway, looking around to try and regain sight of the fugitive.
[sblock=ooc]
Quickchange2 for super suit stored in belt, Visor and gloves'll take a round to put on.
[/sblock]


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## kirinke (May 3, 2008)

Hope growls under her breath. "Duty calls huh?" she turns to follow Optic. "You aren't going alone," she says, flicking on a pair of dark sunglasses to hide her eye-colour shift, which it does when she uses her more paranormal gifts. Nothing could be done about her hair colour or the St. Elmo's fire.....


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## Fangor the Fierce (May 3, 2008)

"Well, looks like we'll be able to see how the four of us work together.  Might as well put those ideas to the test, right?"

Wren can only smile, knowing that this was the life that was handed to him.  There were always the kind of people that would look for trouble, one way or another.  

"Let's stick together, no solo hero stuff this time.  Remember, we've gotta work together."

The idea's probably lost on Optic, as he probably wasn't filled in on the mess that's been happening on their missions, but it's still worth mentioning to be careful.


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## kirinke (May 3, 2008)

Hope nodded as she considers the information Mr. Blue gave them. "Mikhail Mikowski.... Sounds like Russian mafia. I've dealt with them before. We might be able to resolve this without a fight. Maybe."


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## Jemal (May 3, 2008)

A grim tone underlines Optic's words "You don't need to remind me about the hazards of going it alone.  I remember all too well our first mission on this team.."**Insert Flashback to the first mission, and the death of Spirit**

[sblock=ooc]
Nothing substantial to post plot-wise, just standard comic-book flashback/character development. 
[/sblock]


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## kirinke (May 3, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> A grim tone underlines Optic's words "You don't need to remind me about the hazards of going it alone.  I remember all too well our first mission on this team.."**Insert Flashback to the first mission, and the death of Spirit**
> 
> [sblock=ooc]
> Nothing substantial to post plot-wise, just standard comic-book flashback/character development.
> [/sblock]




She looked sober and nodded, squeezing his shoulder in understanding. "Let's go. I don't want to miss the last inning,"


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## Raylis (May 3, 2008)

Amanda had been quiet up to that point, really nothing unusual.  "No rest for the weary. Glad I decided not to wear a skirt. . o O {_ Wish Thess was here _} 

Instead of rushing in there with guns blazing we should try for a stealthier approach, find out what's really going on and if theres are non powered inviduals let the authorities handle it; this is supposed to be our day off. . o O {_ That, and I didn't think I'd need the costume _} she stands and follows Optic out, no doubt looking very much displaced in her capris, warm-up jacket and sneakers next to his super suit.


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## DM_Matt (May 4, 2008)

It doesn't take that long to get to the boxes.  There are about a dozen of these large metal-and-glass structures, all  blocked off by locked doors with keycard entry.  When you get to the area, a stadium guard tries to sotp you, but Hope presents her badge and he backs off.  Only two of the skyboxes are shielded, and he is not in the ones that are not, so far as Optic can tell.

Meanwhile, at Trust HQ...

Ms. White pages Viridian.  "Hey, I see they've left you behind on their little baseball adventure.  If you wanna talk spells or whatever, I have some time right now."

Meanwhile, on the Jumbotron, a recruitment commercial for Barrington's crew, which is calling itself the One World movement.

It begins with his new logo, a globe using one of those "upside-down" projections that have South on top, with One World written around it (one on top, world on bottom), and zooms in to show captioned improvement projects throughout the world.

"Want to help humanity?  To save the less fortunate from war and famine?  To develop the entire world so that all can live the lives that we take for granted?  Join the Compassion Force, and work on vital projects for the betterment of our world.  Or, if you want to take on evil more directly, ask about our Army of Hope, which protects the innocent from oppression worldwide.  "


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## kirinke (May 4, 2008)

"It's always the one I don't choose," Hope quips and randomly choses one of the shielded boxes. Whichever one she chooses, they'll go for the opposite.


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## Jemal (May 4, 2008)

After hope chooses one and then begins moving for the other one, Optic quickly steps up to the one she originally chose "Don't second guess yourself.  Assuming he's in one of these two boxes, then If you chose right, he's in here.  If you didn't, then once we see what IS in here, we'll know he MUST be in the other, and we'll be prepared. Either way, this will find us something."  He stops with his hand raised, about to knock on the door 
"So... plan, or should I just wing it?"


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## kirinke (May 4, 2008)

Hope grins at Jack. "Wing it. With the Russian mafia, they respect how ruthless you are willing to be." she adds helpfully. "They tend to be very machavalian in attitude."


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## Fangor the Fierce (May 4, 2008)

"Wait, I think we might have an alternative option.  These suits have some sort of security.  Perhaps even cameras.  I don't think it would be too hard for Optic to simply check that avenue out first, in case it's a possibility.  Would save us the surprise option..."

Wren is thinking aloud, especially after the comment of Wing It.  Things always went wrong on that option.


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## kirinke (May 4, 2008)

Hope nods in agreement. "Good idea, think it's workable?"


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## Elric (May 5, 2008)

"Someone trying to mess with baseball games?  What does the Russian mafia think this is, tennis?"

Nitro follows the others up to the boxes.  "I think I saw Tommy Lasorda up here once.  Won't be much space left to hide if you're in his box.  Except behind him."


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## DM_Matt (May 5, 2008)

(So how are you going to go in?  You gunna knock?  Bust in?  Split up?  Guard one door and try the other?)


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## Jemal (May 5, 2008)

*OOC:*


hack the planet!!!







Optic concentrates his senses, trying to locate any cameras within the suites. (See if there's wires heading in, or signals coming out via super sight senses and radio-sense datalink.)  If he does locate something, he tries to tap in and look into both rooms. If he can't, or is unsuccsesful at tapping in, he shrugs and knocks on the door.

[sblock=ooc] Computers +16 if needed.[/sblock]


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## kirinke (May 5, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> "Someone trying to mess with baseball games?  What does the Russian mafia think this is, tennis?"
> 
> Nitro follows the others up to the boxes.  "I think I saw Tommy Lasorda up here once.  Won't be much space left to hide if you're in his box.  Except behind him."




Hope shrugged. "There's big money involved in games, both legal and illegal. Wherever you have anything involving betting, you will eventually get criminal elements involved. "


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## DM_Matt (May 6, 2008)

So....


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## Shayuri (May 6, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Ms. White pages Viridian. "Hey, I see they've left you behind on their little baseball adventure. If you wanna talk spells or whatever, I have some time right now."




Thessaly looks up from the paperback she's reading in the library. It's a battered, dog-eared 'romantic adventure' novel that's missing half its cover. She picks up the page and replies, "They offered, but I wasn't really feeling like a night out. But yeah, I'd love to talk. Where should I go?"

She stuffs the paperback in her back pocket and gets up to follow White's directions.


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## Vanifae (May 6, 2008)

Apollo basks in his literal glow, sitting up in his now disheveled bed* "Hey how yah feeling?"

*_Assumptions of course... she may be a chaste and a noble woman!_


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## Jemal (May 6, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> So....



Waiting on results of post 510...


			
				Jemal said:
			
		

> Optic concentrates his senses, trying to locate any cameras within the suites. (See if there's wires heading in, or signals coming out via super sight senses and radio-sense datalink.) If he does locate something, he tries to tap in and look into both rooms. If he can't, or is unsuccsesful at tapping in, he shrugs and knocks on the door.
> 
> [sblock=ooc]
> Computers +16 if needed.
> [/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (May 6, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Waiting on results of post 510...




(My bad)

One attempted tap detects a corporate computer and security system corresponding to a corporation called Hyperion Exports.  Interestingly, the system includes some other features.  It seems to be also tied to the FBI.  It seems surveillance and security info from this box is sent back to an FBI computer system.  No one is in there though.  

The other one does not seem to have surveillance, but while it might take a while for him to get into the systems, he can tell who owns them: Wolfsohn, Sheppard, & Doe


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## kirinke (May 7, 2008)

Hope breaks out into a grin at the information. "Looks like my old buddies are as interested in Wolfson as we are." she chuckled. "Let's go rain on the big bad wolf's parade, hay?"


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## Jemal (May 7, 2008)

"No, wait.. this is weird.. THAT one is being watched by the FBI, and the OTHER one is registered to the big bad lawyers.  Hmm. well, that I'll figure out later.  Right now.."

Optic knocks on the Wolf's door (You said the other 'appeared' empty through the surveilance, right?), while simultaneously trying to remember anything about Hyperion Exports (Eidetic memory, +9 Know:Business).
If someone answers, Optic smiles as he glances around the room (I have extended and radius sight so should be able to see the whole room).  If he doesn't see the man they're after, he drops the smile and looks apologetic "Oh, apologies sir, wrong room" (Bluff +16)


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## DM_Matt (May 7, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> "No, wait.. this is weird.. THAT one is being watched by the FBI, and the OTHER one is registered to the big bad lawyers.  Hmm. well, that I'll figure out later.  Right now.."
> 
> Optic knocks on the Wolf's door (You said the other 'appeared' empty through the surveilance, right?), while simultaneously trying to remember anything about Hyperion Exports (Eidetic memory, +9 Know:Business).
> If someone answers, Optic smiles as he glances around the room (I have extended and radius sight so should be able to see the whole room).  If he doesn't see the man they're after, he drops the smile and looks apologetic "Oh, apologies sir, wrong room" (Bluff +16)




HE is a tech exporter.  Clean record.  

A large man in a suit opens the door, and Optic sees several fancily-dressed folks in the room, a couple more apparent guards like the one who answered the door, and Mikhail.  There is a huge buffet spread out.

One of the fancily-dressed men approaches the door and says  "I am Louis Doe, and this is private property.  This box is owned by WSD, and you have no right to enter.  Now leave."


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## Victim (May 7, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo basks in his literal glow, sitting up in his now disheveled bed* "Hey how yah feeling?"
> 
> *_Assumptions of course... she may be a chaste and a noble woman!_




(Not any more, if she ever was.)

"Wonderful."  She flops down on the bed.  "And sort of dizzy, actually."


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## Jemal (May 7, 2008)

*OOC: Are the guards wearing earpieces or carrying Walkies?  If not are there any Cell phones?
Also, what do I know about Hyperion?  Any rumours that might explain why there would be an FBI tap on his private box? (Well Informed, Gather Info +16)*


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## kirinke (May 7, 2008)

Hope simply grinned at Louis Doe and let Optic do the talking, while simultanously scanning the room and memorizing faces.


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## Vanifae (May 7, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Wonderful."  She flops down on the bed.  "And sort of dizzy, actually."



_Well not bad, I never did ask her how old she is… I am assuming old enough for now, course you never know these days?  If she was too young the Trust would never let her do this kind of dangerous stuff right?  Yeah, oh well.  I was good, she was good… perfect ending to an intense and stressful day,_ Apollo thinks to himself as he brushes his long hair back from his face.

He reaches over to his nightstand taps a slim and sleek remote and soft music starts playing, The Eraser by Thom Yorke.  Not too loud just a subtle hint of sound as he stretches and gets out of bed pulling on some loose fitting pajama pants.  He walks over to the window and looks out over the beach, “Do you think you will be remembered as a hero Megan?”


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## Victim (May 7, 2008)

"If I die in a big fight, yes."


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## Vanifae (May 7, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "If I die in a big fight, yes."



Apollo laughs, “Well that is pretty damn bleak… but I do admire the optimism.  Dying in a big fight isn’t how I would want to go… well maybe like one of those cool self sacrifice things you see in the movies or whatever.  But I guess I…” 

_I am not even sure what I mean, I mean who cares if it matters right?  I was here, I fought the good fight… we will get Barrington and his make the world better goon squad.  This isn’t a time to be morbid, I got a hot super chick in my bed, a boat load of cash, and a kick ass job… yeah I am doing pretty damn good,_ he turns and smirks at Star, “Never mind that death crap, you are not dying on me for quite some time yet, we are not done having fun by a long shot.”

He floats back to the bed, turns on the wall mounted HDTV and flips through some channels putting his arm around Star stopping when he sees the commercial.  He glances to Star, “I swear evil should take a day off or something.”

_Using some poetic license, let me know if that is out of line… but I figure if it is a commercial it is probably playing in various places right?_


----------



## DM_Matt (May 7, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> He floats back to the bed, turns on the wall mounted HDTV and flips through some channels putting his arm around Star stopping when he sees the commercial.  He glances to Star, “I swear evil should take a day off or something.”
> 
> _Using some poetic license, let me know if that is out of line… but I figure if it is a commercial it is probably playing in various places right?_




(That's fine.  Feel free to improvise details on that level of what's going on if its useful.)


----------



## DM_Matt (May 7, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly looks up from the paperback she's reading in the library. It's a battered, dog-eared 'romantic adventure' novel that's missing half its cover. She picks up the page and replies, "They offered, but I wasn't really feeling like a night out. But yeah, I'd love to talk. Where should I go?"
> 
> She stuffs the paperback in her back pocket and gets up to follow White's directions.




Thess finds her way to a lunge near White's office, where White is waiting.  
*"Hey.  Not into the whole baseball outing thing?  How are you liking it here so far"*


----------



## Victim (May 7, 2008)

Megan laughs, "I suppose that is a better attitude."   _I don't really think things will work out that way though.  At least I have this._

She watches the commericial, fascinated and horrified.  "Dammit, I'm not supposed to feel like the bad guy," she says, eyes tearing up.


----------



## Shayuri (May 7, 2008)

Thessaly shrugs and looks around the office, feeling a little guilty for some reason...like she'd been called into the principal's office and didn't know why.

"It's pretty amazing," she says, "but...it feels kind of isolated, you know? I'm used to having other people around, even if it's with walls between us. Little things like shouted arguments in the distance, and thumping stereos and people walking past outside...being able to just jump out and run to the corner store for an icee or something when I was studying."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, this place is way better than anything I'd be able to afford as just a student."

Thessaly pauses, hunting down the source of her niggling unease.

"You know what it is? I never feel normal anymore. Before, I'd go out and be Viridian and do a few things, and then come back and I'd just be Thessaly again. I can cast spells either way, but...at The Trust, I'm always on duty. Always Viridian. Even when I'm not in costume. And there's nothing normal in my life anymore. No school, no family, no friends...except you guys...which is fine, but..." she grins guiltily. "You know what I mean."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 7, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly shrugs and looks around the office, feeling a little guilty for some reason...like she'd been called into the principal's office and didn't know why.
> 
> "It's pretty amazing," she says, "but...it feels kind of isolated, you know? I'm used to having other people around, even if it's with walls between us. Little things like shouted arguments in the distance, and thumping stereos and people walking past outside...being able to just jump out and run to the corner store for an icee or something when I was studying."
> 
> ...



*
"I do.  I sorta got drawn into the whole Superhero thing too.  I pissed off the wrong demon though, so Superheroing became my witness protection.  Many of our operatives do get out though.  Maybe you guys should consider using that hanger we have in Freedom City.  The intent was for it to be a local base.  It does kinda grate on ya living in an underground bunker.  I keep in touch with some folks on the outside, but not many.   For the most part, I must admit my old identity no longer exists.  But again, its not the same for everyone."*


----------



## Vanifae (May 8, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> She watches the commericial, fascinated and horrified.  "Dammit, I'm not supposed to feel like the bad guy," she says, eyes tearing up.



Apollo squeezes her close trying to comfort her, "We are the heroes, we know Barrington's true nature.  We know the kind of monster he really is, and we will bring him down and expose him for the wretched creature he is.  Trust me babe, we will win in the end."


----------



## Victim (May 8, 2008)

"I just don't believe in what we're doing that much.  And now he's going to be recruiting volunteers who want to help and then sending them against us...  I'm not sure I have the nerves for this as it is."  _Our organization is pretty secretive. And the Gunner guy thought we were working for something called X-Directorate, and knew what he was talking about for everything else.  The right thing for us isn't necessarily the right thing for people in some other country.  Is it too much to ask for matters to be simple?_

"Thank you."


----------



## Shayuri (May 8, 2008)

Thessaly doesn't answer right away, seeming lost in her own recollections.

_She said that it'd get bigger and bigger...until it was bigger than me. And then I'd be gone._

She winces at some private pain, then takes a seat near White's desk.

"That must be hard. I'll talk to the others about the hangar though. That's a good idea."

The shadow passes from her features and she manages a smile.

"So. What was that about spells?"


----------



## kirinke (May 9, 2008)

ooc:
I think that Mr. Doe would know of Hope's friendship with Foreshadow, it's not exactly common knowledge, at least not outside the factions that deal with mafia crime, but she doesn't try to hide it. Neither would he for that matter. The only thing they would hide would be their feelings for one another. Mr. Doe would probably also know why she left the FBI and joined AEGIS. 


IC
Hidden behind her dark eyeglasses, her eyes shift to white as she gazed at the telikenetic russian. _"That which follows evil will in the end fall by it's hand." _ she whispers to the man._ "Only by breaking free of it will you be able to live. They will destroy you without thought or hesitation and on the sheerest whim. Is their money worth your life? We can protect you."_ she says through the windborn words ability, silently speaking with him, her voice cold and bitter, unforgiving as a winter storm, the voice of the Saint, the personae she adopted more than a year ago to hunt down an evil coven of necromancers.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 9, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly doesn't answer right away, seeming lost in her own recollections.
> 
> _She said that it'd get bigger and bigger...until it was bigger than me. And then I'd be gone._
> 
> ...




*"I miss my old life, but this is worth it.  We make a difference, and a bigger one than we could as individual heroes"
*
(Re spells)
*"What is it you need?  I might be able to help you with that."*


----------



## DM_Matt (May 9, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> I think that Mr. Doe would know of Hope's friendship with Foreshadow, it's not exactly common knowledge, at least not outside the factions that deal with mafia crime, but she doesn't try to hide it. Neither would he for that matter. The only thing they would hide would be their feelings for one another. Mr. Doe would probably also know why she left the FBI and joined AEGIS.
> 
> 
> ...




A guard pulls out a camera and snaps some pics. 

Ms. Winters, is it?  And...Optic?  ...ANS Johnny Nitro...and who are you little girl, I don't think I've heard of you (looking at Night).  It was so nice of you all to stop by.  You've just given me conclusive evidence that this new "hero squad" has been working as agents of the government.  My clients will be released within days."


----------



## Vanifae (May 9, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I just don't believe in what we're doing that much.  And now he's going to be recruiting volunteers who want to help and then sending them against us...  I'm not sure I have the nerves for this as it is."  _Our organization is pretty secretive. And the Gunner guy thought we were working for something called X-Directorate, and knew what he was talking about for everything else.  The right thing for us isn't necessarily the right thing for people in some other country.  Is it too much to ask for matters to be simple?_
> 
> "Thank you."



"Why don't you believe in what we are doing?" Apollo replies.


----------



## kirinke (May 9, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> A guard pulls out a camera and snaps some pics.
> 
> Ms. Winters, is it?  And...Optic?  ...ANS Johnny Nitro...and who are you little girl, I don't think I've heard of you (looking at Night).  It was so nice of you all to stop by.  You've just given me conclusive evidence that this new "hero squad" has been working as agents of the government.  My clients will be released within days."




"Actually, I do like baseball as much as the next fellow. I came here to enjoy the game on my day off. Mr. Optic here alerted me to the fact that there was a telekinetic cheater trying to alter the ball-game's outcome like any good citizen would. I decided to try and find him before he could cause any more trouble and they came along to help, like superheroes do." she grinned innocently, taking off her glasses, revealing blue guileless eyes. 

It was the truth, more or less..... Lawyers weren't the only ones who could spin things.

"I have associated with superheroes in the past, this is no different from that." she chuckled in amusement. "Any good lawyer would know that is perfectly legal," she looked down at him. "But you're not a good lawyer I suspect." the words had double meanings indeed.

_*"If you can could you take some pictures of them in return. We'll need a counter."*_ she whispered to Optic through her windborn words ability.


----------



## Shayuri (May 9, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> *"I miss my old life, but this is worth it.  We make a difference, and a bigger one than we could as individual heroes"
> *
> (Re spells)
> *"What is it you need?  I might be able to help you with that."*




"Well...at one point I was thinking some kind of healing spell, or protection I could use to help other people." She clasps her amulet in her hand. "This is pretty strong, but it only helps me, and lately even that hasn't always been up to what we're facing. The warding spell I know is good, but it limits us too...it stops our attacks and we can't move through the ward so I have to be careful when and how I use it."

She considers, then adds, "And maybe some kind of spell I could use to...well...it's like, some of the stuff we're against is magic. There was a demon and of course there's Faust...but MOST of it is machines and guns and things. I was thinking, there has to be a spell that could interrupt electricity or maybe make things break down...rust, or jam or that kind of thing. Something I could use over an area to keep guys with advanced weapons from tearing us up and making us vulnerable to the supervillains."


----------



## Victim (May 9, 2008)

"I just have a hard time believing," she says, shifting about in his embrace.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 10, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Actually, I do like baseball as much as the next fellow. I came here to enjoy the game on my day off. Mr. Optic here alerted me to the fact that there was a telekinetic cheater trying to alter the ball-game's outcome like any good citizen would. I decided to try and find him before he could cause any more trouble and they came along to help, like superheroes do." she grinned innocently, taking off her glasses, revealing blue guileless eyes.
> 
> It was the truth, more or less..... Lawyers weren't the only ones who could spin things.
> 
> ...




"...But yet you used your badge to gain entry.  Seems you ARE acting as a police agent, investigating an alleged crime, with a group of vigilantes who were also at the scene of some of your recent major arrests.  Seems like a strong case to me.  But as I said, this is private property.  Get out."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 10, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Well...at one point I was thinking some kind of healing spell, or protection I could use to help other people." She clasps her amulet in her hand. "This is pretty strong, but it only helps me, and lately even that hasn't always been up to what we're facing. The warding spell I know is good, but it limits us too...it stops our attacks and we can't move through the ward so I have to be careful when and how I use it."
> 
> She considers, then adds, "And maybe some kind of spell I could use to...well...it's like, some of the stuff we're against is magic. There was a demon and of course there's Faust...but MOST of it is machines and guns and things. I was thinking, there has to be a spell that could interrupt electricity or maybe make things break down...rust, or jam or that kind of thing. Something I could use over an area to keep guys with advanced weapons from tearing us up and making us vulnerable to the supervillains."




"Rusting could be done pretty easily, being a natural process.  So can electrical drain.  Jamming is a more complicated procedure since it has to be carefully and multiply targeted.  It shouldn't be hard for use to work this out."


----------



## Shayuri (May 10, 2008)

Thessaly nods, getting more into it. 

"I was thinking, for jamming, and really for rusting too, some kind of invocation of entropy could work. Usually the more complicated a machine is, the faster it breaks down. A spell that 'aged' objects could work pretty well, don't you think? Plus, it wouldn't do a lot of collateral damage, since the stuff walls and buildings are made of don't really break down much over time unless they're being eroded away."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 10, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly nods, getting more into it.
> 
> "I was thinking, for jamming, and really for rusting too, some kind of invocation of entropy could work. Usually the more complicated a machine is, the faster it breaks down. A spell that 'aged' objects could work pretty well, don't you think? Plus, it wouldn't do a lot of collateral damage, since the stuff walls and buildings are made of don't really break down much over time unless they're being eroded away."




"Hmmm.  Entropy is a tricky thing to work with.  Its just as likely to trigger the gun as break it...Aging could work, but most aging damage is wear and tear.  You'd have to age a machine a whole lot to get it to natuarally decay enough to destroy it."


----------



## Raylis (May 10, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> A guard pulls out a camera and snaps some pics.
> 
> Ms. Winters, is it? And...Optic? ...ANS Johnny Nitro...and who are you little girl, I don't think I've heard of you (looking at Night). It was so nice of you all to stop by. You've just given me conclusive evidence that this new "hero squad" has been working as agents of the government. My clients will be released within days."




 "Me? I was just hoping to get Mr. Optic's and Mr. Nitro's autographs; it's not every day you see superheros at a baseball game, sir! 

 OOC: As the camera comes out if she can, Night would like to put a miniscle globe of darkness over the lens so all the goon gets it pictures of a lens cap (yeah yeah, probably digital) will spend a hero point to accomplish this if need be.


----------



## kirinke (May 10, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "...But yet you used your badge to gain entry.  Seems you ARE acting as a police agent, investigating an alleged crime, with a group of vigilantes who were also at the scene of some of your recent major arrests.  Seems like a strong case to me.  But as I said, this is private property.  Get out."




Hope laughed outright at that. "Superheroes tend to be in the wrong place at the right time, it's a habit of the breed and as I said, I don't control them, nor does AEGIS. But their help is always welcome." she said. "It is my duty to protect the public and after all, we aren't in your private box, so we don't have to get out." she said, which was also true. 

She looked at Optic. "Looks like this is a dead end. He probably got away." she looked at the lawyer and smiled wryly. "But it would be wise to be more careful in the future with your allegations Mr. Doe. Libel suites are messy." she chuckled again. "Enjoy the honest game, I know I will."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 11, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "Me? I was just hoping to get Mr. Optic's and Mr. Nitro's autographs; it's not every day you see superheros at a baseball game, sir!
> 
> OOC: As the camera comes out if she can, Night would like to put a miniscle globe of darkness over the lens so all the goon gets it pictures of a lens cap (yeah yeah, probably digital) will spend a hero point to accomplish this if need be.




She manages to use her powers to counter the camera...but the goon doesn't notice, as he's using a disposable film camera.

To Hope, Mr. Doe says "I think I'll take my chances.  Now leave."

They then escort you away form the door and shut it.

Now what everyone?


----------



## Shayuri (May 11, 2008)

Thessaly nods and flaps a hand to dismiss the idea.

"Just brainstorming," she says. "Thinking out loud. I think just -stopping- electricity would be hard too, just because you'd have to monkey around with physical law too much. And I think you'd have to be careful to have a lot of exceptions or you could wind up stopping things you didn't want to, like brain activity or transmission of light and so on."

"But what about some kind of surge? Something that could fry electronic circuits, and even momentarily electrify metal objects, like guns. There'd have to be a provision to leave things out...but the potential for unintended effects wouldn't be as big since we're still playing by the rules for the most part. Adding an electric surge, not changing how electricity works..."

Then Thessaly chuckles. "It sounds like something Hope would do though...some kind of big lightning strike...not really my style."


----------



## Vanifae (May 11, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I just have a hard time believing," she says, shifting about in his embrace.



 "I guess that makes sense," Apollo shrugs, "but then again i know what that my goal is to do the right thing, and maybe that is all I need to make sure the right thing gets done."


----------



## Victim (May 13, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> "I guess that makes sense," Apollo shrugs, "but then again i know what that my goal is to do the right thing, and maybe that is all I need to make sure the right thing gets done."




"So this is the right thing?  Hmm, interesting..."


----------



## kirinke (May 13, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> She manages to use her powers to counter the camera...but the goon doesn't notice, as he's using a disposable film camera.
> 
> To Hope, Mr. Doe says "I think I'll take my chances.  Now leave."
> 
> ...




Hope's smile of amusement vanishes. "Let's get back to the game," she said, alerting security with a picture of the TK cheater, it was the best they could do really, they didn't even have probable cause, just their own sayso against a powerful and influental lawfirm. Even if she did try to arrest the guy, he'd be out on bail before they could blink.


----------



## Jemal (May 13, 2008)

Optic nods his head away from the door, indicating he doesn't want to talk near there.  Once they're down the corridor, he crosses his arms "Have I mentioned lately that I really don't like those guys?  Well, least we'll be able to get  profiles on all of them.  Unless you guys plan on getting into a brawl with the lawyers, though, I think you're just going to have to go back to watching the game for now.  I'm going to head out, in case somebody's watching.. I doubt I was seen leaving the room with you, but I don't want to take any more chances or have them associate us too much." 
Optic grins and nods to them, signing an 'autograph' for 'the girl' in case anyboy's watching.  "Well thank you for investigating, Ms Winters, even though we weren't able to do anything.  And as always thanks for the assist, Nitro.  Have a good day."  He says in a classic 'super-hero voice' which should carry more than the quiet speech he just delivered.


----------



## kirinke (May 13, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Optic nods his head away from the door, indicating he doesn't want to talk near there.  Once they're down the corridor, he crosses his arms "Have I mentioned lately that I really don't like those guys?  Well, least we'll be able to get  profiles on all of them.  Unless you guys plan on getting into a brawl with the lawyers, though, I think you're just going to have to go back to watching the game for now.  I'm going to head out, in case somebody's watching.. I doubt I was seen leaving the room with you, but I don't want to take any more chances or have them associate us too much."
> Optic grins and nods to them, signing an 'autograph' for 'the girl' in case anyboy's watching.  "Well thank you for investigating, Ms Winters, even though we weren't able to do anything.  And as always thanks for the assist, Nitro.  Have a good day."  He says in a classic 'super-hero voice' which should carry more than the quiet speech he just delivered.





"Well, no one got hurt, that's the main thing," Hope says in reply. "Thanks for the backup," she says loudly in return, playing the game to the hilt.


----------



## Raylis (May 13, 2008)

"I'm going to call it a day too..baseball isn't my thing. Want a lift, Optic?"


----------



## Vanifae (May 13, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "So this is the right thing?  Hmm, interesting..."



"Well this," he squeezes her, "is the right thing to do all the time... but in general I feel like even if we have some shadowy leadership or whatever, the Trust wants to do good... besides taking down Voderac or at least putting a crimp in his operation was in the best interests of everyone..."

"Barrington will get his soon enough," Apollo adds.


----------



## Jemal (May 13, 2008)

Optic nods to Amanda "Sure."  He glances up and smiles at Hope, then leaves with Night.


----------



## kirinke (May 14, 2008)

Hope smiles, thinking that she should probably call it a day as well. Besides, she has another meeting to go to....

She sends a text message along with a time for the meeting to Foreshadow's message box. 
_Meet you at our usual place. Got some tidbits to share as well._
HW


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (May 14, 2008)

Wren decides to finish watching the game.  After all, he had a good view and it was a long time since he could remember the last time being out on a simple day of relaxation.  Returning to the seats, he nods at The Rock.  "The others decided to call it a night I guess.  I figured I might as well stick to the game and see how it turns out."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 14, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope smiles, thinking that she should probably call it a day as well. Besides, she has another meeting to go to....
> 
> She sends a text message along with a time for the meeting to Foreshadow's message box.
> _Meet you at our usual place. Got some tidbits to share as well._
> HW




Sloan is there.  He says "I'm glad you're safe.  Its a jungle out there.  I have some useful information.  Have you ever heard of a government agency called X-Directorate?  It was founded in the early 90's to track superthreats.  Its a DOD operation.  Very secretive, with access to data from just about all other government agencies.  I think you might work for them. "


----------



## DM_Matt (May 14, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly nods and flaps a hand to dismiss the idea.
> 
> "Just brainstorming," she says. "Thinking out loud. I think just -stopping- electricity would be hard too, just because you'd have to monkey around with physical law too much. And I think you'd have to be careful to have a lot of exceptions or you could wind up stopping things you didn't want to, like brain activity or transmission of light and so on."
> 
> ...




*"A surge can work.  But a drain might be more reliable.  And maybe less Hopey"*


----------



## kirinke (May 14, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Sloan is there.  He says "I'm glad you're safe.  Its a jungle out there.  I have some useful information.  Have you ever heard of a government agency called X-Directorate?  It was founded in the early 90's to track superthreats.  Its a DOD operation.  Very secretive, with access to data from just about all other government agencies.  I think you might work for them. "




Hope smiled a little. "Glad you're okay too. I heard that name from the Gray Gunner.... But I don't think it's a real government organization. It's too well funded, too well organized and far to successful for it to be under any government scrutiny. It strikes me as a very independant group. I mean, they have people from every corner of the globe, not just from the US, not to mention your usual assortment of supernatural, extra-terrestrial and extra-dimensional entities." she ticked off the points. 

"I mean look at AEGIS. We normally recruit from our own homegrown super-powered individuals, usually from the FBI and armed forces and occasionally allow independents in, but I don't think we have any who aren't US citizens." she frowned. "Nor do they seem to answer to anyone but themselves, at least as far as I can see." she shook her head. "If it was a real government organization, we'd be able to track the money eventually through whatever dummy corporations they've set up to funnel the funds sent through appropriation bills and whatnot. I haven't been able to." she grinned again. "But then I haven't been able to find much on X-Directorite either. At least through normal channels."

"Something tells me that this Trust isn't the X-Directorite. But we probably need to find out more on both. I don't like working blind." she grinned at the other detective as she recalled the baseball game.

"Hmmm. I do have something for you though," she said as she told him about the base-ball game and the telikenetic cheater who seemed to be working for the evil lawfirm that has been a long thorn in both their sides. "I couldn't do much more than scare him off, especially with all of the civilians in the area. We wound up finding him in Mr. Doe's private box, fancy that." she said dryly.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 14, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star's schedule asssuming no interruptions.
> 
> Present time:  ...
> 
> ...




Fills the prescription, but is somewhat intrigued..."Interesting...THAT wasn't in your file..."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 14, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope smiled a little. "Glad you're okay too. I heard that name from the Gray Gunner.... But I don't think it's a real government organization. It's too well funded, too well organized and far to successful for it to be under any government scrutiny. It strikes me as a very independant group. I mean, they have people from every corner of the globe, not just from the US, not to mention your usual assortment of supernatural, extra-terrestrial and extra-dimensional entities." she ticked off the points.
> 
> "I mean look at AEGIS. We normally recruit from our own homegrown super-powered individuals, usually from the FBI and armed forces and occasionally allow independents in, but I don't think we have any who aren't US citizens." she frowned. "Nor do they seem to answer to anyone but themselves, at least as far as I can see." she shook her head. "If it was a real government organization, we'd be able to track the money eventually through whatever dummy corporations they've set up to funnel the funds sent through appropriation bills and whatnot. I haven't been able to." she grinned again. "But then I haven't been able to find much on X-Directorite either. At least through normal channels."
> 
> ...




"I'll watch the guy.  This kind of thing is very much my area.  Maybe you aren't X-Directorate, if yo uare as free as you say...but you ought to look...especially since WSD is so intent on tying them to the government."


----------



## Victim (May 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Fills the prescription, but is somewhat intrigued..."Interesting...THAT wasn't in your file..."




Megan blushes and turns away.  "What do you mean?" she mumbles.  _She means that the file didn't say I'm such a slut.  Arrg!  SHUT UP.  But that's what mom will say...  Well, so what! _


----------



## kirinke (May 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "I'll watch the guy.  This kind of thing is very much my area.  Maybe you aren't X-Directorate, if yo uare as free as you say...but you ought to look...especially since WSD is so intent on tying them to the government."




"I will, this is twice X-Directorate has been mentioned. And I don't want to get to the conspiracy stage," she said, refering to the old adage: twice is coincidence, three times is a conspiracy. "It might not be X-Directorite, but the organization still seems to be a bit hinky to me," she looked at him and smiled slightly.

"Have you 'seen' anything about Barrington?" she asked.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 15, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan blushes and turns away.  "What do you mean?" she mumbles.  _She means that the file didn't say I'm such a slut.  Arrg!  SHUT UP.  But that's what mom will say...  Well, so what! _




Red backpedals a little, thinking about her next move...  _Doesn't wanna talk about it...figures...Is this even my business?...well sure, its medically-relevant...but I'm really curious...I guess her psyc eval did note the self esteem issues...but then again I don't want to sound judgemental...though depending on the circumstances, I think I might be...then again, I didn't sign up to teach "Sex Ed. For Superheroes..."
_
"I'm just saying these things are more complicated in your line of work, that's all.  For relationships -- both with outsiders and people here...and medically and...otherwise... well...heh, this is really awkward...anything I  say will make me sound like a lame after school special...just be careful to know what you're doing."


----------



## Shayuri (May 15, 2008)

"Drain," Thessaly repeats thoughtfully. "You know what might be interesting..."

"What if we set it up so that the spell creates magical conduits that bleed electrical energy away from where it's supposed to go, and can redirect it? It could work like a sort of...mystical short circuit, pulling power away from someone's gear and pouring it into something else. Otherwise you have a bunch of electrical potential to get rid of... See, I'm thinking, what if Hope could draw on that? Suck up the power, then pour it into one of her lightning blasts to beef it up."

"That wouldn't help with ordinary guns though, hmm. But you know...even a spell that just interdicted combustion would stop ordinary guns from working."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 15, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> "Drain," Thessaly repeats thoughtfully. "You know what might be interesting..."
> 
> "What if we set it up so that the spell creates magical conduits that bleed electrical energy away from where it's supposed to go, and can redirect it? It could work like a sort of...mystical short circuit, pulling power away from someone's gear and pouring it into something else. Otherwise you have a bunch of electrical potential to get rid of... See, I'm thinking, what if Hope could draw on that? Suck up the power, then pour it into one of her lightning blasts to beef it up."
> 
> "That wouldn't help with ordinary guns though, hmm. But you know...even a spell that just interdicted combustion would stop ordinary guns from working."




"Yes, both of those are feasible.  Inefficient in one spell though."


----------



## kirinke (May 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "Yes, both of those are feasible.  Inefficient in one spell though."




ooc:
I don't think drain would work very welll for Hope. Her lightning strike is already pretty powerful and to 'beef it up' I think would take away her capacity to control it. And if she lost control....
That would be of the bad.


----------



## Victim (May 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Red backpedals a little, thinking about her next move...  _Doesn't wanna talk about it...figures...Is this even my business?...well sure, its medically-relevant...but I'm really curious...I guess her psyc eval did note the self esteem issues...but then again I don't want to sound judgemental...though depending on the circumstances, I think I might be...then again, I didn't sign up to teach "Sex Ed. For Superheroes..."
> _
> "I'm just saying these things are more complicated in your line of work, that's all.  For relationships -- both with outsiders and people here...and medically and...otherwise... well...heh, this is really awkward...anything I  say will make me sound like a lame after school special...just be careful to know what you're doing."




"That's probably too much to hope for."  Star frowns.  "Why would it be especially complicated in this line of work?  It seemed like it'd be simpler since I'll probably die before there'd be any long term problems."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 15, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "That's probably too much to hope for."  Star frowns.  "Why would it be especially complicated in this line of work?  It seemed like it'd be simpler since I'll probably die before there'd be any long term problems."




"Not to much faith in the medical staff, huh?" Red says playfully "Ya know, our death rates aren't all that high, and you aren't required to live here at the main base.  Trust heroes do often lead normal lives.  The hope -- and the reality -- of being able to have normal friends and family tends to make for better heroes.  The belief in the certainty of death, on the other hand, tends to be a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Constant travel and life-threatening situations doesn't keep military men from having families -- and the same should go for superheroes.


----------



## Victim (May 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "Not to much faith in the medical staff, huh?" Red says playfully "Ya know, our death rates aren't all that high, and you aren't required to live here at the main base.  Trust heroes do often lead normal lives.  The hope -- and the reality -- of being able to have normal friends and family tends to make for better heroes.  The belief in the certainty of death, on the other hand, tends to be a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Constant travel and life-threatening situations doesn't keep military men from having families -- and the same should go for superheroes.




"Sorry.  I didn't mean to offend,"  Star seems even more embarrased. "It's just that I nearly die most of the time anyway.  I'm pretty tough, but that's compared to guns, not super powers.  A healer isn't always going be there when I crash - especially if the force of the attack or my flight vector launches me away from the others."


----------



## Shayuri (May 15, 2008)

"True...yeah...okay..."

Thessaly rubs her temples as she thinks.

"What about a transformation then? We drain the electrical potential...then transmute and release the energy in some other form. Sort of like magical judo; we use their strength against them. Still that's still two distinct things squished into one spell..."

"Okay, lets back up. Any weapon pretty much relies on releasing SOME kind of energy in a..." she claps her hands, shockingly loud in the quiet office, "...quick, violent burst. For guns it's chemical energy. Energy weapons have other kinds of energy, but it still has to be released in intense little packets... What if we make a spell that imposes a cap on how fast energy can be released? It wouldn't interfere with things like metabolism, because that's already a slow, steady release. But something like a gun, or a capacitor bank that releases huge amounts of energy all at once would be forced to do a slow, gradual release instead. So the gunpowder wouldn't explode...it'd just burn slowly, not pushing the bullet out. The energy weapons would either not work, or shoot harmless, low-intensity beams that stayed on for a few minutes as all that power discharged over time."


----------



## Elric (May 18, 2008)

Nitro had head back to the baseball game with Wren and the Rock.  Afterwards, he and the Rock no doubt went to a local pub to, well, Nitro can't really get 'smashed' anymore without a lot of time and effort.  But he gets what would be smashed for a normal human.  Time to forget about the saving the world business for a night and pretend he's just a wrestler hanging out with fellow WWE-ers again.


----------



## Jemal (May 18, 2008)

As Optic and Amanda leave, he looks at her "So what kind of 'fun' did I miss?  Seems like you guys just finished up with something important, hence the break..."


----------



## Vanifae (May 18, 2008)

Apollo is hanging around his beach home, working on songs and preparing to do a surprise gig at the free concert later in the day.


----------



## Raylis (May 19, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> As Optic and Amanda leave, he looks at her "So what kind of 'fun' did I miss?  Seems like you guys just finished up with something important, hence the break..."




She steps through a shadow, the other side outside of Op-Tec's Freedom City location,  "We went after Voderac the arms dealer, turns out he's an alien who had been around for awhile...it went badly.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 19, 2008)

At this point (after Viridian has finished talking to White), everyone gets paged by Black on account of Viridian's scrying.  "Breaks over.  Something has come up."  Their allotted time was basically over at that point anyway.


----------



## Victim (May 19, 2008)

"What?"  Star complains.  "I thought a day off would be 24 hours.  At least."  _There was stuff I wanted to do - and stuff I'm supposed to do.  She tells me I'm supposed to live a normal life too, but I get like 12 hours to do that and sleep.  F-ing great.  I used to sleep 12 hours a day._

"Excuse me.  And thanks," Megan says to Red as she leaves, dropping off her items in her room before meeting Mr. Black.

"What is it now?" she asks sharply.  "Are we going to check out the nearest tower, try to figure out what it's doing exactly and how it works?"


----------



## kirinke (May 19, 2008)

Hope gets a message on her text-mail and looks sheepishly at David. "I'm sorry, something's come up. I'll keep in touch, be careful alright?" she said, squeezing his hand before taking her leave.


----------



## Vanifae (May 19, 2008)

Apollo drops what he is doing and gets back to base ASAP, breaking several speed regulations in the process.  When he finally arrives he smirks, "So what is it no, Martians landed on the White House lawn?  Aliens Gods challenged us to a game of Basketball, what?"


----------



## Jemal (May 20, 2008)

Optic shrugs as they get the page and looks to Amanda "Well, guess it's back to work."  As the two of them step out of a shadow in Trust HQ, he laughs, catching the end of Apollo's question "Hey, I'm pretty good at Basketball, so that might be a good thing.  Nitro's quite literally 'built for sports, and teleportation, superspeed, flight and magic?  I'd make a hefty bet on our side in that game."


----------



## Elric (May 20, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> An image of the earth in space appears in the center of the room.  The scrying sensor moves towards an area and zooms in, bouncing around as it finds the location.  It eventually zooms to the North African desert, then East, crossing over Egypt, and it zooms further as it reaches the Negev Desert, in Southern Israel.  The sensor finds a facility camouflaged against the desert sands, with an electric fence and numerous defensive emplacements. The complex is low and large, and has a sign in front that says, in Hebrew "City of The Dead."  As it scans in further, the image becomes fuzzy, but before it blanks out you notice soldiers unloading a very large man in some sort of supertech shackles from a truck and into one of the buildings.




(For reference, I had to look up Viridian's scrying to remember what it was)


----------



## kirinke (May 20, 2008)

"What did I miss?" Hope asked, walking in.


ooc:
I'm not forgetting Directorite X that's twice you've mentioned it. I'm good enough to know a DM hint when I see it.


----------



## Raylis (May 20, 2008)

"What's the crisis?"


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (May 20, 2008)

"Back to the grind..." Wren states, as the text comes in.  He turns to Dwayne, saying, "Thanks for the entertainment.  Hope to see you around."

With that, he takes his leave, heading to the Trust, and awaiting for a briefing on the new circumstances.


----------



## Elric (May 20, 2008)

"Sorry, Dwayne.  We'll have to finish partying like old times' sake next time."

Nitro heads back to base, humming the Rocky theme song.


----------



## DM_Matt (May 20, 2008)

Once everyone arrives, Black has everyone meet in the lounge of their wing to hear what Viridian found.


----------



## Victim (May 21, 2008)

"So what do we do?" Star asks.  "I don't think the Israelis would like us just barging into their secret base/prison, and if they're trying to keep their operative a secret, then trying to contact her normally probably won't work so well either."


----------



## Shayuri (May 21, 2008)

(previous to Megan's comment )
Thessaly, when everyone's assembled, says, "I did my scrying spell for that super we encountered in the Foundry. The spell was blocked, but not before it located a hidden complex in the Negev desert, in Israel. There was a sign that labeled the place, 'The City of the Dead.' The spell couldn't get much closer before it was blocked, but I did see someone in some kind of high tech shackles being wheeled in."

(in response to Mega's comment)
"There was nothing in what I saw that made me think this was an official Israeli base or prison," Thessaly says. "That's not to say it's not. It might be. I figure what we should do at this point is put some feelers out with our contacts in foreign intelligence and see what they know about a hidden city of the dead. We can also set up some surveillance of our own. Not just busting in wildly, but viewing them at a distance until we know more about what they are and what they're doing."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 21, 2008)

Mr. Black says "I'm more with Star on this. Israel is a very, very small country, and for obvious reasons rather security-conscious.  The facility is shielded and in the middle of nowhere, but even still I doubt it could be operated without government knowledge if not involvement.  Investigating the facility is indeed a tricky thing...not so bad as Otaku's place in China, where they'd probably try to kill you anyway, but top secret facilities (if thats what this is) are still a touchy subject anywhere in the world."


----------



## kirinke (May 22, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Mr. Black says "I'm more with Star on this. Israel is a very, very small country, and for obvious reasons rather security-conscious.  The facility is shielded and in the middle of nowhere, but even still I doubt it could be operated without government knowledge if not involvement.  Investigating the facility is indeed a tricky thing...not so bad as Otaku's place in China, where they'd probably try to kill you anyway, but top secret facilities (if thats what this is) are still a touchy subject anywhere in the world."




"I dunno. The Israelies are in the middle of a rock and hard place most times and Barrington probably isn't on their 'happy' list. Why not just approach them directly? Or as direct as we can in this business. Our own list of allies grows progressively thin, we need all we can get."


----------



## Victim (May 22, 2008)

"If you approach someone who doesn't know about the secret base and talk about it, you're not really doing the people in charge of it any favors by spilling the beans."


----------



## Shayuri (May 22, 2008)

Thessaly shrugs at Mr. Black.

"I'm out of my league here...I study ancient history, not contemporary geopolitics. You have a background in intelligence, right? Do you know anyone you can call to find out more?"


----------



## kirinke (May 22, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly shrugs at Mr. Black.
> 
> "I'm out of my league here...I study ancient history, not contemporary geopolitics. You have a background in intelligence, right? Do you know anyone you can call to find out more?"




"Me too. I may deal with the occasional spook in my line of work, but their mostly dead anyway." Hope cracked. The feud betwen the Fed and the CIA was a long standing one.

"Secrets.... What about that mystery super? The Radiation controller. Why not try contacting her?"


----------



## Victim (May 22, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Secrets.... What about that mystery super? The Radiation controller. Why not try contacting her?"




Megan sighs and rests her head against the table.  _Isn't that what we're talking about doing?!_


----------



## kirinke (May 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan sighs and rests her head against the table.  _Isn't that what we're talking about doing?!_




ooc:
No.... We were talking about contacting the Israelies about their secret jail and the super-prisoner they have,


----------



## DM_Matt (May 22, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly shrugs at Mr. Black.
> 
> "I'm out of my league here...I study ancient history, not contemporary geopolitics. You have a background in intelligence, right? Do you know anyone you can call to find out more?"




"I can try, but while you guys were headed back, our staff tried our government contacts and didn't find much, other than the suspicion that such a facility exists and is government-run. Apparently, supers affiliated with Arab governments and terrorist organizations have gone missing in droves recently, during the same time that a few turned up irradiated to death.  They suspect that the mystery super and maybe some others with her are behind it.  They don't know anything about the prison though.  They just speculated that she had to be taking these guys SOMEWHERE."


----------



## Shayuri (May 22, 2008)

"Hope, the radiation super is -in- this facility," Thess points out. "That's why my spell found it in the first place."

She nods at Mr. Black.

"Then, as far as I can see, we have three options. We can abandon this line of inquiry. We can show up uninvited and hope they'll want to talk before they shoot. Or we can try to set up a meeting through diplomatic channels with the Israeli government."

"The problem is...it seems like both of our non-givey-uppy options are kind of long shots. Am I missing anything happy and inspiring?"

She considers, then adds, "The radiation super did meet us once. Maybe we can leave a message near the base. Like...a note. Like, 'We were at the Foundry. Please call this number.'"


----------



## Victim (May 22, 2008)

_She's good with mind stuff..._  Megan mumbles, "Can you send her a dream or something?"


----------



## Shayuri (May 22, 2008)

Thessaly looks thoughtful for a moment then says, "Between me and Ms White...I think we could set up a ritual to do that, yes... It's not a sure thing though. Whatever ward they're using to block my scry could block a dream sending too. And she might not remember it, or might think it was just a dream..."

She looks at Ms White. "Still, it could be done. We'd need some time to work out what to do and put it together."


----------



## kirinke (May 22, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly looks thoughtful for a moment then says, "Between me and Ms White...I think we could set up a ritual to do that, yes... It's not a sure thing though. Whatever ward they're using to block my scry could block a dream sending too. And she might not remember it, or might think it was just a dream..."
> 
> She looks at Ms White. "Still, it could be done. We'd need some time to work out what to do and put it together."




"Maybe.... I dunno, I do have the ability to speak via the winds, perhaps that could work? With a little tweaking....."


----------



## Elric (May 22, 2008)

_Man, time to do thinking again.  Gets pretty tiresome_

"Remember that Barrington wants the Mystery Super's technology.  That's why she's so important to all of this.  

Remember that attack in Israel, that we just learned involved Hiroshima Shadow (HS), who was supposed to attack the nuclear power plant.  It seems like HS killed all of those random people in the apartment who were the terrorists he was supposed to work with.  But it probably wasn't HS at all.  What if the Mystery Super (MS) killed all of the people and we just think it was Hiroshima Shadow because they both use radiation.  That makes more sense- MS finds out about the attack and kills the people responsible.  Then she captures HS.

How in the world did MS find out about the attack that early?  After all, no one anticipated any of the other attacks that day and Barrington isn't an idiot.  He probably wanted the attack in Israel to fail.  They captured HS with the MS's technology.  So wherever they're holding HS, the MS can't be far away and that means that if Barrington can track down his own captured ally he'll be able to capture the MS's technology, which is what he's looking for.  He doesn't care about blowing up random nuclear power plans in Israel- he wants to complete this device and he needs MS's technology to do that.

So I'd expect Barrington to try to raid that Israeli facility to capture MS's technology.  Worse, he might have someone who can just infiltrate the facility, steal the technology, and get out before anyone notices."


----------



## Vanifae (May 22, 2008)

Apollo shrugs, "Makes sense I think, any chance we are going to try and convert the Israeli Mystery to our side?"


----------



## Victim (May 22, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> _Man, time to do thinking again.  Gets pretty tiresome_
> 
> "Remember that Barrington wants the Mystery Super's technology.  That's why she's so important to all of this.
> 
> ...




"Then we just have to keep watching the place somehow and be ready to quickly deploy there if he attacks?"


----------



## kirinke (May 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Then we just have to keep watching the place somehow and be ready to quickly deploy there if he attacks?"




"When he attacks," Hope corrected, looking worried. "It's.... It's looking like maybe Hiroshimo Shadow let himself be captured. So he can be in place. They've been taking all these supers right? What if that's part of the plan. So many supers in one place, it's not like Buckners, Hell, even with Buckners, we get the occasional mass break out right? What if they're planning something similar? And during the confusion, they grab the Radiation Controller?"


----------



## Victim (May 23, 2008)

Megan switches to reclining back in her chair.  "If he let himself be captured, they would have found out about the plan from interrogation, mind reading, whatever."


----------



## Elric (May 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan switches to reclining back in her chair.  "If he let himself be captured, they would have found out about the plan from interrogation, mind reading, whatever."




"No way HS let himself be captured.  He's too badass for that.  I bet Barrington just leaked the details of the operation intentionally and then the MS had the perfect technology to capture him."

"I don't know about watching this place forever.  It would be nice to warn them that Barrington knows where they are and is interested in the technology there so that hopefully they can move it somewhere else.  Even then, time isn't on our side- he'll probably figure out the new location sooner or later- but it's a start."


----------



## kirinke (May 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Megan switches to reclining back in her chair.  "If he let himself be captured, they would have found out about the plan from interrogation, mind reading, whatever."




Hope's mouth twisted a little. "There are ways to circumvent mind reading and interrogation. Hell, even my postcog isn't perfect and can probably be blocked with the right spell or power. Nothing is certain."


----------



## Shayuri (May 23, 2008)

"Speculation about why he's there won't help us figure out how to do this," Thessaly points out.

"Lets try to agree on a plan to get in touch with the mystery super."


----------



## Elric (May 23, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> Hope's mouth twisted a little. "There are ways to circumvent mind reading and interrogation. Hell, even my postcog isn't perfect and can probably be blocked with the right spell or power. Nothing is certain."




"Except taxes.  Taxes are pretty certain."


----------



## Victim (May 23, 2008)

"Yeah, it's not certain that someone could resist prolonged interrogation."  Star replies to Hope.  "So the best way to make sure he isn't going to reveal the plan is to not tell it to him.  It's not prisoners would need prior prompting to riot or attempt to escape when security is disrupted." 

"If you want, I'll give flying over there with a note a shot if nothing else works."


----------



## Vanifae (May 23, 2008)

Apollo is half-listening, "What fly... yeah I am down with flying."


----------



## kirinke (May 24, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Yeah, it's not certain that someone could resist prolonged interrogation."  Star replies to Hope.  "So the best way to make sure he isn't going to reveal the plan is to not tell it to him.  It's not prisoners would need prior prompting to riot or attempt to escape when security is disrupted."
> 
> "If you want, I'll give flying over there with a note a shot if nothing else works."




"True," Hope concedes.


----------



## Elric (May 26, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> ""If you want, I'll give flying over there with a note a shot if nothing else works."





"Sounds good, Star.  But maybe you should have someone to watch your back in case anything goes wrong.  Tag team style.  Someone who can fly as quickly as you."

<Has an idea>

"Hey Apollo- can you keep up with Star?  You know, flying speed."


----------



## Victim (May 26, 2008)

"He can,"  Star answers.


----------



## Raylis (May 27, 2008)

"The only problem with a fly by would be anti-air precautions. If the woman at the Foundry facility is opposing Barrington as well as the Foundry then they may have aeral defenses in place; he has been sending down a lot of shuttles around the world. 

We may want a subtler approach to contacting her then a dropped note in a flyby.


----------



## Victim (May 27, 2008)

Star comments, "I'm pretty sure that staying really low makes it hard to detect something with radar - and I can fly much closer to the ground than a plane.  Since we don't seem to have any alternatives, I'll take my chances with their anti-air stuff."  


She adds, "A bigger problem might be that our presence gives away the location of the base...  Maybe I should hit a number of waypoints in the area, zig-zaging around, so that someone watching couldn't tell which place was important."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 27, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star comments, "I'm pretty sure that staying really low makes it hard to detect something with radar - and I can fly much closer to the ground than a plane.  Since we don't seem to have any alternatives, I'll take my chances with their anti-air stuff."
> 
> 
> She adds, "A bigger problem might be that our presence gives away the location of the base...  Maybe I should hit a number of waypoints in the area, zig-zaging around, so that someone watching couldn't tell which place was important."




Black interjects.  "I think Nitro has a point.  Apollo and Star should do this together.  In fact, since Star has those nifty programmed plasma balls, it would probably be best for Star to take defense and Apollo do the drop.  I know you guys were just there, but you might considering standing by as backup somewhere where you can arrive relatively quickly.  Whatever we opt for though, we should do it very soon.  What should go in this note?"


----------



## kirinke (May 27, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Black interjects.  "I think Nitro has a point.  Apollo and Star should do this together.  In fact, since Star has those nifty programmed plasma balls, it would probably be best for Star to take defense and Apollo do the drop.  I know you guys were just there, but you might considering standing by as backup somewhere where you can arrive relatively quickly.  Whatever we opt for though, we should do it very soon.  What should go in this note?"




"Something along the lines of 'we have information on Barrington we're willing to share, that you probably don't. As a sign of goodwill, we will give you this information with the cavet that you will consider working with us. We need all the help we can get at the moment.'" she offered. "I'm sure the diplomatic types will be able to word it more ahhh diplomatically.


----------



## Shayuri (May 27, 2008)

"I think less is more in this case," Thessaly says.

"We could just say, 'Call us.' and have a secure phone number. They'll know who the message is from because of you two zipping around in the sky. If they know who it's from, then they can probably work out what it's about...but if we don't spell it out, then they won't be SURE and might be more likely to follow up."


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (May 27, 2008)

"Or you could simply put up one of Nitro's signing fotos with the message, CALL ME and a number.  Simple, to the point, and she'll recognize him.  Like Viridian said, less is more..."

Either way, Wren is set to get this underway.  Something was gnawing at him, but he stayed on the conversation.  He had to keep his mind on track.


----------



## Vanifae (May 27, 2008)

Apollo nods, "Yeah I like this plan."


----------



## Victim (May 27, 2008)

(Who was just where according to Mr. Black?)

"Are we going to use a portal to get most of the way there?  Should I go in first to distract the defenses and draw them to myself, or should I stay up and back for a better field of view?  Don't jet fighters already have this anti - anti-air stuff worked out?"  Megan wonders out loud.  "Would the false destinations be a good idea?"


----------



## DM_Matt (May 28, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> (Who was just where according to Mr. Black?)




(In terms of global geography, Cyprus, where you guys fought Ares, is rather near Israel)


----------



## Victim (May 28, 2008)

(Ah, yeah.  That makes sense.)


----------



## DM_Matt (May 28, 2008)

(Soooo...someone want to declare what gets done?)


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (May 28, 2008)

"Ok, Star and Apollo will head in with the note, drop it off, while the rest of us are on standby.  We will be close enough so that if something happens, we'll get there quickly.  If anything goes wrong, don't be a hero, get out of there and regroup."

Wren then turns to the rest of them, hoping that they agree and we get the plan into action.  "Agreed?"


----------



## Vanifae (May 28, 2008)

"I am all over this one, ready Star?" he winks.


----------



## Victim (May 28, 2008)

"Sure.  Let's do it."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 28, 2008)

Black suggests "Ok then, the rest of you can wait in the plane off the coast."


(I'm going to move this along.  This has been paused long enough.)

The plane trip is uneventful, and quite the same as the last time. Star and Apollo cross onto land over Gaza (Neither they nor Egypt would appreciate you using their airspace, but Gaza has no know air defenses so its the safer bet), passing the border fence and veering south over the desert.  

As Star and Apollo near the base and release the package, the base defenses spring to life.  They must have been detected on their way in.  Alarms sound, turrets pop out of the sand, and laser domes spring to life.  Each can fire a red beam from a certain point on the half sphere that can move with the sphere itself.  Star recognizes them as an anti-missile technology that some of the more technologically-advanced militaries are using in limited numbers and plan to soon deploy in larger numbers and on tanks in addition to as a base defense.  The laser's first attacks destroy the package, mistaking it for an incoming projectile of hostile intent.  

Meanwhile, several rail gun emplacements attack Star and Apollo.  Apollo one of them draws a bead on Apollo and blasts him with several shots (1 injury, 1 bruise, stunned), but he manages to veer off and stay gliding in the air.  Two of them hit Star, however (two staggered results so disabled), and she crashes into a courtyard in the base (dying but autostabilized due to high con).

Apollo notices that some of the railguns are firing into the distance, and with his super-vision he can see a stealthy, gravity-drive-based plane that must have been following them.  It releases a couple small balls which  explode into reflective decoy balls and EM interference, then turns to leave.  It takes some rail hits and flies back in the direction of Gaza and/or the ocean, smoke trailing from holes in its wing and fuselage.


----------



## Shayuri (May 28, 2008)

(lol...well that went well...)


----------



## Victim (May 28, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (lol...well that went well...)




(Yep.    At least they'll be able to get the warning when they interrogate Star.)

CRASH!


----------



## Vanifae (May 28, 2008)

Apollo decides to try and swoop down and rescue Star if he is able... making a note of the craft but focusing on his teammate first... "Hang on Star!"

Over the commlink, "Umm... yeah we have a slight problem... Star is down I am going in to try and rescue her!"


----------



## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo decides to try and swoop down and rescue Star if he is able... making a note of the craft but focusing on his teammate first... "Hang on Star!"
> 
> Over the commlink, "Umm... yeah we have a slight problem... Star is down I am going in to try and rescue her!"




He can try, but he'll be going back into the range of the emplaced air defenses again (and they'll be ready, he's stunned this round), as well whatever other defenses have been gathered and whatever is in on the ground.

Speaking of which, personnel are running about, some in power-armor.  A medical team along with some guards and a really big guy who looks like he's made of stone run out and load Star onto a stretcher and begin to move her inside.


----------



## kirinke (May 29, 2008)

"Damn it, why can't they be less paranoid?" Hope exclaims, itching to get over there, but considering..... There really isn't a way.


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## Vanifae (May 29, 2008)

Apollo decides another tactic he takes a moment to recover instantly.  He blazes back and tries to snatch her from the stretcher... if unable he will grit his teeth and make a beeline for home... 

_Use a Hero Point to recover from Stunned._


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## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo decides another tactic he takes a moment to recover instantly.  He blazes back and tries to snatch her from the stretcher... if unable he will grit his teeth and make a beeline for home...
> 
> _Use a Hero Point to recover from Stunned._





Apollo manages to get through the field of railgun fire, but while he is doing this, the stone man waves his hand in the air, raising a sandstorm in Apollo's path, big enough to obscure the base as well.  (Rolls some checks) Apollo is unable to make the precision swoop in such weather, and is forced to pull up. (HP awarded for heroic effort though.  That was damn risky).

Star wakes to a sharp pain in her arm as a doctor pulls out a needle. Extremely giddy and nauseous, she gradually becomes aware that the Mystery Super is talking to her.  She's in an infirmary, not really a prison, but both hands are shackled to her bed.  "Sorry we had to wake you so harshly.  Then again, you didn't show US much mercy bringing you friend Barrington here. We saw the scout ship.  What is he sending our way?"


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## Victim (May 29, 2008)

"Ow."  Star complains, trying to get her bearings.  "What scout thingie?  Barrington...  That's right, we found the plans for some big drill, and he wants to use your something in it..."

She pauses, "Umm, I feel sort of funny."


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## Vanifae (May 29, 2008)

Apollo heads back over the Comm, "Damn it, I couldn't get Star... they got her... there was another ship here as well... I think they are taking her alive... maybe."


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (May 29, 2008)

Wren seethes, knowing that this plan was what was churning his stomach.  There wasn't really any other way, besides the obvious one of simply showing up non-hostile.  Oh well, too late for that now.  
OOC - Did our own ship pick up the rogue aircraft nearby?  Otherwise, we are not alerted to its presence... and it would influence our decisions.


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## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren seethes, knowing that this plan was what was churning his stomach.  There wasn't really any other way, besides the obvious one of simply showing up non-hostile.  Oh well, too late for that now.
> OOC - Did our own ship pick up the rogue aircraft nearby?  Otherwise, we are not alerted to its presence... and it would influence our decisions.




No.  Its pretty stealthy and it did not fly close to your ship.  It must have showed up somewhere on the way.


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## Elric (May 29, 2008)

Nitro says something that's not fit to be printed in a family publication.

_So much for helping to think of a plan, you dunderhead!_


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## Raylis (May 29, 2008)

_ . o O {I'd really like to say 'I told you so' but..} _ Nightweaver gives a shake of her head

 "Is there a way to amplify her reciever from this distance so we can at least hear what's going on...providing they're not jamming signals.


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## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Ow."  Star complains, trying to get her bearings.  "What scout thingie?  Barrington...  That's right, we found the plans for some big drill, and he wants to use your something in it..."
> 
> She pauses, "Umm, I feel sort of funny."




"Its the only way to keep you awake and not in a whole lot of pain, and we need to talk to you at the moment.  Once we know what we need to know, you can rest.  You said Barrington wants something of mine.  Concentrate on that.  Tell me what it is...Then think about his forces.  What is he bringing...""


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## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> _ . o O {I'd really like to say 'I told you so' but..} _ Nightweaver gives a shake of her head
> 
> "Is there a way to amplify her reciever from this distance so we can at least hear what's going on...providing they're not jamming signals.




Jacobson says "Doubtful.  The comms are designed NOT to pick out background noise."


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## Jemal (May 29, 2008)

(How far away ARE we?)


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## Victim (May 29, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "Its the only way to keep you awake and not in a whole lot of pain, and we need to talk to you at the moment.  Once we know what we need to know, you can rest.  You said Barrington wants something of mine.  Concentrate on that.  Tell me what it is...Then think about his forces.  What is he bringing...""




"Umm, a radiation blocker.  The drill was supposed have one nano thing to absorb physical stuff, and then your radiation shield for the other stuff."   She tries to move her arm around, "My phone had copies of that data, I think."  _Jeez, after all these years you'd think the restraints would stop.  They don't keep me from doing everything anyway._

"Last time, he sent a tiny drone thing with a portal inside so guys could pop out.  It didn't blow up or melt easily either."  She frowns, trying to concentrate.  "Wasn't I with someone?  What happened to him?"  _Something is sort of wrong here._ 

"I guess it was only tiny for a space ship though."


----------



## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Jacobson says "(How far away ARE we?)"




Over the Mediterranean Sea, about 20 miles West of Gaza City.


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## DM_Matt (May 29, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "Umm, a radiation blocker.  The drill was supposed have one nano thing to absorb physical stuff, and then your radiation shield for the other stuff."   She tries to move her arm around, "My phone had copies of that data, I think."  _Jeez, after all these years you'd think the restraints would stop.  They don't keep me from doing everything anyway._
> 
> "Last time, he sent a tiny drone thing with a portal inside so guys could pop out.  It didn't blow up or melt easily either."  She frowns, trying to concentrate.  "Wasn't I with someone?  What happened to him?"  _Something is sort of wrong here._
> 
> "I guess it was only tiny for a space ship though."





"Ok, good, good.  Yes, someone was with you.  He got away.  Who was it?  And how are you guys involved with Barrington.  Think about Barrington. Why are you working for him?  Why did he send you here and to te Foundry?"


----------



## Shayuri (May 29, 2008)

Thessaly sits in a state of horrified shock, silent and whey-faced through the proceedings. How could they have been so stupid? How could SHE have been so stupid?

When she speaks, it's a bare whisper.

"Can we see the base?"


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## Victim (May 29, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "Ok, good, good.  Yes, someone was with you.  He got away.  Who was it?  And how are you guys involved with Barrington.  Think about Barrington. Why are you working for him?  Why did he send you here and to the Foundry?"




_okay good._  "Umm not," Megan replies.  "Trying to stop him.  He kicked me in the head."  _Where was I again?  Flying with Apollo...  the warning, yeah._


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## DM_Matt (May 30, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> _okay good._  "Umm not," Megan replies.  "Trying to stop him.  He kicked me in the head."  _Where was I again?  Flying with Apollo...  the warning, yeah._




Just then a lackey of some sort runs i with some papers and he and Mystery Super have a short conversation (In Hebrew, so Star doesn't understand it).  MS says to Star.  "Good news.  We have confirmed that you are in fact part of that group that was battling Barrington from Freedom City, and not an impostor.  I guess the followed you here.  Concentrate on your flight path.  How did you get here?  And how did you even know to? Uninvited guest are not welcome here.  Your posession of the knowledge of our location poses some major problems."

Meanwhile on the plane, Jacobson answers:  "We know where it is now, but we can't see it from here.  Should we head there now?"


----------



## Shayuri (May 30, 2008)

Thess nods.

"Once we can see it...even with binoculars or something, I can send an illusion down there to try to make contact. I won't be able to hear them, but I can at least explain the situation...hopefully it'll be enough so that they won't treat Star too badly before we can talk to them."


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## Victim (May 30, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> Just then a lackey of some sort runs i with some papers and he and Mystery Super have a short conversation (In Hebrew, so Star doesn't understand it).  MS says to Star.  "Good news.  We have confirmed that you are in fact part of that group that was battling Barrington from Freedom City, and not an impostor.  I guess the followed you here.  Concentrate on your flight path.  How did you get here?  And how did you even know to? Uninvited guest are not welcome here.  Your posession of the knowledge of our location poses some major problems."




Star recovers a bit while the lackey and MS converse.  _Hey!  It's her dang railguns that shot me!_  "We flew in over Gaza," Star replies.  "Flying in like this seemed less problematic than blabbing around trying to warn you."

"Maybe your location would have been a bit less obvious if your defenses didn't deploy so readily.  And then I wouldn't have been shot, so we could have continued to fly around here for a bit and stop at other places for a few tenths so someone couldn't tell where your hidden base was just from our flightpath."  

Star will try to lift and rotate herself off the bed a bit with her flight.  "I want to leave."


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## DM_Matt (May 30, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> Star recovers a bit while the lackey and MS converse.  _Hey!  It's her dang railguns that shot me!_  "We flew in over Gaza," Star replies.  "Flying in like this seemed less problematic than blabbing around trying to warn you."
> 
> "Maybe your location would have been a bit less obvious if your defenses didn't deploy so readily.  And then I wouldn't have been shot, so we could have continued to fly around here for a bit and stop at other places for a few tenths so someone couldn't tell where your hidden base was just from our flightpath."
> 
> Star will try to lift and rotate herself off the bed a bit with her flight.  "I want to leave."




(Hard to leave, as she remains disabled)

"Gaza?  Greaaaat. Barrington has quite a setup there.  He put in two of his Peace & Prosperity Pillars, one a power plant and another a food facility...but we believe he has military capabilities at those sites.  And our defenses activated quite prudently.  Two supersonic objects flying in parallel followed by an object dropped and on track to hit the base looks a lot like a bombing run.  As far as you leaving, that is a bit premature.  Tell me, how did you find this place?"


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## Victim (May 31, 2008)

"I didn't pick Gaza and air defenses were supposed to be weaker there anyway.  And my friend told me where this was.  You have my phone; call her."


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## Raylis (May 31, 2008)

"No offense Thess but if you can't hear it that won't be much good, unless you tell them that someone is comming to negociate.


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## kirinke (May 31, 2008)

"Well... She can always write it down," Hope grimanced.

"Fat lot of good the other package did though," she added.


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## Raylis (May 31, 2008)

"I thought the illusions were intangible? We should try talking this time, Wren and I would probably be the best choice the send; if it does get ugly he can setup a barrier long enough for me to shadow walk us back here.  Nightweaver says standing,  "Or  into their facility to rescue Star. If this is the same woman from the Foundry thing she might recognize me.


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## Fangor the Fierce (May 31, 2008)

"I agree.  Let's use the diplomatic route, and hopefully not the one with us blindsiding them with a phone.  Send the illusion, so that it explains we are coming in to talk.  Let them know we aren't here to fight.  Then once they give us a signal, maybe a flare or something, we will know it's ok to go in without being shot at."

Wren prepares for the meeting, as he makes sure everyone knows what to do.  "And as for that other craft, see if we can do anything to keep tabs on it.  Where it came from, where it's heading, and what it's next move is."


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## kirinke (Jun 1, 2008)

Raylis said:
			
		

> "I thought the illusions were intangible? We should try talking this time, Wren and I would probably be the best choice the send; if it does get ugly he can setup a barrier long enough for me to shadow walk us back here.  Nightweaver says standing,  "Or  into their facility to rescue Star. If this is the same woman from the Foundry thing she might recognize me.




"Illusions deal mainly with your belief in them. It's one of the reasons why it is so hard to affect machines with them." Hope says absently. "Not to say that you can't affect machines with them.... You just have to use a different approach."

"We've already risked two people here....." Hope starts. "Let's go with the illusion angle, see if that works."


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## DM_Matt (Jun 1, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I didn't pick Gaza and air defenses were supposed to be weaker there anyway.  And my friend told me where this was.  You have my phone; call her."




"We tried your phone.  We have yet to figure out how, but it apparently does not work for unauthorized users.  Which friend told you where this was? How do they know?"


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## DM_Matt (Jun 1, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> "Illusions deal mainly with your belief in them. It's one of the reasons why they don't affect machines. It's purely 'mental'." Hope says absently.
> 
> "We've already risked two people here....." Hope starts. "Let's go with the illusion angle, see if that works."




(That isnt necessarily true. For the default illusion power, its false.  Its a -1 limited flaw to be mental and not work for machines.)


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## Victim (Jun 1, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> "We tried your phone.  We have yet to figure out how, but it apparently does not work for unauthorized users.  Which friend told you where this was? How do they know?"




"From her power," Star explains.  "I don't think I should say anymore."

"What now?"  _I've already been shot and chained up and drugged and manipulated and humiliated - maybe I should just go for the slim chance..._


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## Jemal (Jun 1, 2008)

"Actually.. I may have an idea...  If we can get closer, I can see in there.. unless they've lined the place with GOLD.. I may be able to link to her phone, turn it onto speaker-mode, and we could talk to them like that?"


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## kirinke (Jun 1, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (That isnt necessarily true. For the default illusion power, its false.  Its a -1 limited flaw to be mental and not work for machines.)




ooc:
I'll amend the statement to take that into account.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 1, 2008)

"It's worth a shot, anything is better than nothing right now.  Let's just prepare for any incoming missiles.  Anyone that can aid, they better try and do what they can to either knock out the missiles in flight, or defend this plane any way they can.  I'll prepare for some barriers to place in any incoming missile flight paths.  That should help out a little, if needed."

Wren then prepares for defense, in case they are shot at.  (Ready to put up a barrier in the flight path of any incoming missiles as they get closer for the link to work)


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## kirinke (Jun 1, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "It's worth a shot, anything is better than nothing right now.  Let's just prepare for any incoming missiles.  Anyone that can aid, they better try and do what they can to either knock out the missiles in flight, or defend this plane any way they can.  I'll prepare for some barriers to place in any incoming missile flight paths.  That should help out a little, if needed."
> 
> Wren then prepares for defense, in case they are shot at.  (Ready to put up a barrier in the flight path of any incoming missiles as they get closer for the link to work)






"I can help with that. I'm afraid I'm not the speedest flier in the group, I'd just slow you down." Hope says pragmatically.


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## Shayuri (Jun 1, 2008)

Thessaly takes a deep breath and gives Nightweaver a little nod.

"You're sort of right...my illusions are glamours, they're mental constructs. Manipulations of perception, not light and sound. But there's people on the base too, not just machines. And I can make a pretty big illusion if I try. I don't need to hear their response. I just need to tell them who we are and what we want. From there, it's up to them how to respond."

"But at least we can make the effort to try to get the message across before we arrive."

She nods at Optic.

"If you can do that, do it. I'll do the illusion too, just to make sure. Mr. Black, is there a telescope or something I can look through? Or just a pair of binoculars and I can go up front to the cockpit?"


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## DM_Matt (Jun 1, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> Thessaly takes a deep breath and gives Nightweaver a little nod.
> 
> "You're sort of right...my illusions are glamours, they're mental constructs. Manipulations of perception, not light and sound. But there's people on the base too, not just machines. And I can make a pretty big illusion if I try. I don't need to hear their response. I just need to tell them who we are and what we want. From there, it's up to them how to respond."
> 
> ...




(Black isn't here, just your support team of Jacobson, D'Antoni, Carter, Harriman, and Reyes.)

D'Antoni says you can come to the cockpit and use his binoculars, but you guys will have to get much closer.


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## Vanifae (Jun 1, 2008)

"Less talk more action... or I am going back in by myself and tearing that whole place down," Apollo seethes.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 2, 2008)

Turning to Apollo's outburst, Wren states coldly, "You aren't going anywhere alone, not while you are part of this group.  You and Star both knew you went in together as a team.  Remember?  We move as a team, and make decisions as a team.  One of those decisions, we all made, was never to go at it alone.  You would get shot down just as easily as she did, and all for what?  Making us go in for two instead of one?  What's the advantage in that?  We have our plan, we're using it..."

With that, Wren turns to Optic, the pilot, and Viridian.  "Let's get this underway.  Star's in trouble, and there's been enough talk, as Apollo bluntly put it.'

As the plane nears the compound, Wren turns to Apollo and motions for him to head out with him, to flank the plane while flying.  Wren will tether himself to the plane if need be, as they move in closer to accomodate Viridian's and Optic's plan.  He will of course be on lookout to use his barriers to put up defenses if need be.  [color]"Apollo, keep your eyes peeled and let me know if I miss anything coming in.  Hope, if there's anything I miss that Apollo sees, see if you can help out with some ice barriers or anything to slow down incoming threats.  I'll do what I can as well.[/color]


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## kirinke (Jun 2, 2008)

Energy crackles around her as she summons up her own personal power, holding it at bay, ready to defend or attack as the case may be. "I can do more than that now, Wren. Ice and Air, as well as Water." she smiled, but it was without humour. "Ice has it's limitations, I wanted to be a bit more flexible than that," her expression was grim.

"I will follow your lead," she added.


----------



## Vanifae (Jun 2, 2008)

Apollo stays silent, ready for action.


----------



## Elric (Jun 2, 2008)

"I'm down for anything besides coming up with a plan myself" Nitro chimes in.


----------



## Shayuri (Jun 4, 2008)

Thessaly hesitates, then grabs a pair of binoculars.

"I'll be up front," she says, and vanishes through the little door leading to the cockpit.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 6, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "From her power," Star explains.  "I don't think I should say anymore."
> 
> "What now?"  _I've already been shot and chained up and drugged and manipulated and humiliated - maybe I should just go for the slim chance..._





"Alright then.  I guess thats good enough for now.  I suppose then there is not a true security breech.  Look, I'm sorry things went this way.  We're on the same side, I get it.  But from our perspective, two supersonic objects passed over our secret base and tried to drop something on it, so of course we attacked and of course we needed to find out what happened.  I'll send you to the regeneration chambers immediately."

She gives Star another injection, which calms her by counteracting the stimulant portion of the first shot.  A pair of lackies picks up the stretcher thats apparently embedded into the bed, and starts carrying Star over to  a white tube, with a door on one end thats currently open.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jun 6, 2008)

Meanwhile, as the plane crosses over Gaza, flying at a high altitude and extremely fast with the scramjets active, Jacobson says "I'm detecting alien technology...it appears that Barrington has small bases around each of the two towers here. It seems that they are trying to shoot at us, but they cant hit us so high and fast."

D'Antoni adds "We should be out of their range soon enough anyway."  (Alarm sounds) "What the?!?!"

The plane rocks as its hit by something.  The instruments spark.

Jacobson says "Dammit.  Two stealthy grav-based ships are behind us.  And we are stuck at this speed and not to maneuverable at the moment.  We still have about 30 seconds before we can bring the gravity drives back online, as they are drained from boosting into scramjet mode."


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## Victim (Jun 6, 2008)

"Iss not the shooting me tat I .... uh," Star slurs, carried along.


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## kirinke (Jun 7, 2008)

ooc
Could Hope wreck the bad-guy jets by messing with the air currents? I read somewhere that basically, most planes are kept aloft by differences in air pressure. Of course with grav-ships, this might be rendered moot, but it could possibly mess with them enough to make them malfunction.......

Maybe in combination with an electrical storm?


Hope extends her senses to the surrounding air flow, locating the attacking planes. "I think I might be able to crash them.... Should I give it a go?"


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## Jemal (Jun 8, 2008)

Optic focuses on one of the attacking jets, attempting to Datalink with it.

(computers+16)


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## DM_Matt (Jun 8, 2008)

Anyone else gunna try something?


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 8, 2008)

Wren can only think of one thing that might help, a little bit of luck...

Turning to the captain, Wren says, "Let's hope this works.  Those engines run on alien technology, so I might be able to give them a little 'boost' so to say.  It's our best shot right now, so get ready to do some quick maneuvering..."

Turning to the plane, he rests his hands on the console near the cockpit, and hopes that a little more cosmic power surging through the failed drives will enable them to safely get their plane back online.

OOC - Using Hero Point to try and do some cosmic channeling to this plane, since it's part of the alien technology.  It should have a chance to work, and it would use up a Hero Point from Wren to even have the possibility of working.  That's all I got, besides a full workup of Stunt with some very lucky rolls.


----------



## Shayuri (Jun 8, 2008)

Thessaly runs out of the cockpit and tries to find a window she can look out of to see the pursuing planes.

If she can, she uses TK to try to smash one of the pursuing planes into the other... (not sure if it's strong enough, but this is all I could come up with...pretty sure illusions wouldn't work if they have any kind of instrumentation like radar or similar )


----------



## kirinke (Jun 8, 2008)

Hope glows lightly with the electrical St. Elmo's fire as she concentrates, focusing her power on the air flows and currents surrounding the enemy craft, attempting to bring them down.



ooc:
Air control to try to bring down the enemy craft.
Would it be possible to combine her efforts with Viridian's?
I think a Hero point for each of them would maybe make it work.....


----------



## Elric (Jun 9, 2008)

"Anyone have a baseball-sized object?  And do any of these windows open up a little?"   Assuming he finds one or more small sized objects for throwing, Nitro gets someone to open up a small window-like area from which he can launch a baseball at one of the planes.  

(OOC: Fortunately for him, his throwing distance for a baseball is over 5 miles giving him a range increment of over a mile, and Improvised Weapons do damage based on your strength.  Unfortunately, his ranged attack bonus is +0 )


----------



## Jemal (Jun 9, 2008)

Thinking quickly as he attempts to interact with the Plane, Optic notices Hope and Thesally's actions "Hope, Thessaly, maybe you can work together to exert more force on them."
[sblock=ooc]
I Hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here, I figure with his all-around vision and perfect memory of their power's, Optic would be able to realize that the two ladies are both trying the same thing, and as Speaking isn't really an action, I'm just suggesting IC something they've allready figured out OOC, but may not have IC reasons to know.  If they DO work together on one of the planes, then I'd like to have my datalink attempt be on the other one if possible.[/sblock]


----------



## kirinke (Jun 9, 2008)

Hope nods briefly. "Thess?" she asks, holding out her hand, knowing that physical contact sometimes helped when attempting to 'join spells' as it where. Though, as she has always said, the way she controls air and weather isn't exactly 'magick', though magick is a part of it. 

_I just hope it's magical enough for this to work,_ Hope thinks to herself.


----------



## Vanifae (Jun 9, 2008)

Apollo flies to engage on of the planes and fires a light arrow at the cockpit window if he can find it.


----------



## Shayuri (Jun 10, 2008)

Thessaly nods...she gives Hope's hand a quizzical look, but takes it.

"Okay, on three. Try to push the one on the right into the one on the left," she says.

"One...two...three!"


----------



## DM_Matt (Jun 10, 2008)

The winds around one of the enemy planes suddenly begin swirling, and the combined power of Hope and Thess bash it into the other plane.  the second plane's wing is badly damaged, and it starts to crash, and the first is somewhat damaged as well.  Optic doesn't quite manage to hack into it an seize control.  Meanwhile, Apollo, Nitro (with a roughly-baseball-sized mangetic (+4 to hit metallic objects) grenade borrowed from Carter), and Harriman and his really big gun go down into the airlock, and it partially opens, allowing them to attack from cover. The damaged plane manages to graze yours with some kind of blue laser weapon.   Apollo hits the plane, blowing a hole in its nose but missing the pilot.  Harriman misses.  Nitro's mine actually hits, but only does minor damage to the plane.  Carter, controlling one of the railguns on your plane's underside, rips into the fighter jet, nearly disabling it.  A second round of telekinesis sends the plane spinning into the ground.

Meanwhile, D'Antoni says "I don't think we are up for much more combat up here.  We'll need to get this thing repaired."

Wren lays his hands on the console, and his ring glows.  The plane is enveloped in silver light, and mostly repairs itself.

Jacobson agrees, and adds "But it looks like we're going to get some.  Sensors are detecting a very large object in the upper atmosphere.  At this rate, it will land near the base."


----------



## kirinke (Jun 10, 2008)

Hope looks surprised as the plan actually worked for once, she lets her powers dissapate, the winds returning to normal. She grinned at Thess. "Nice work," she then looks concerned at the idea of an object coming from the upper atmosphere.

"Christ.... That's probably Barrington's ship,"


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 10, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> The winds around one of the enemy planes suddenly begin swirling, and the combined power of Hope and Thess bash it into the other plane.  the second plane's wing is badly damaged, and it starts to crash, and the first is somewhat damaged as well.  Meanwhile, Apollo, Nitro (with a roughly-baseball-sized mangetic (+4 to hit metallic objects) grenade borrowed from Carter), and Harriman and his really big gun go down into the airlock, and it partially opens, allowing them to attack from cover. The damaged plane manages to graze yours with some kind of blue laser weapon.   Apollo hits the plane, blowing a hole in its nose but missing the pilot.  Harriman misses.  Nitro's mine actually hits, but only does minor damage to the plane.  Carter, controlling one of the railguns on your plane's underside, rips into the fighter jet, nearly disabling it.  A second round of telekinesis manages to send it spinning towards the ground.
> 
> Meanwhile, D'Antoni says "I don't think we are up for much more combat up here.  We'll need to get this thing repaired."
> 
> Jacobson agrees, and adds "But it looks like we're going to get some.  Sensors are detecting a very large object in the upper atmosphere.  At this rate, it will land near the base."






			
				Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> Wren can only think of one thing that might help, a little bit of luck...
> 
> Turning to the captain, Wren says, "Let's hope this works. Those engines run on alien technology, so I might be able to give them a little 'boost' so to say. It's our best shot right now, so get ready to do some quick maneuvering..."
> 
> ...




So, what happened to my action???


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## DM_Matt (Jun 10, 2008)

Meanwhile, Star is brought to the regeneration chamber, and put down on a table that clearly can slide in.  She is connected to some wireless monitors and an oxygen mask connected through the inside of the chamber.  A woman in a lab coat with a heavy accent says "Hello, my name is Dr. R.  I know you are probably frustrated and maybe a bit scared, but please trust me, you'll be alright.  The regeneration process can be painful, so I'll have to make sure you sleep through it.  You should be fully recovered in an hour or two.  Any questions?"  Meanwhile, the oxygen mask is now flowing with something that smells different, and Star starts fading into a sleepy euphoria again.


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## Victim (Jun 10, 2008)

"Can't Wren just fix me?  I just wanna..."  Star starts to drift off.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 11, 2008)

You get close enough to the base to send in an illusion.  The objct is still getting closer.


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## kirinke (Jun 11, 2008)

Hope looks grim. "Can you tell what kind of ship it is?" she asked worriedly.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 12, 2008)

So....


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## Shayuri (Jun 12, 2008)

(sorry if you're waiting on me...I thought there was some big ship coming at us, and was waiting to see what it was...it sounded like that would happen as part of the same encounter. Hee)

Viridian realizes they're close enough and says to Hope, "Excuse me...I need to get to the cockpit again. I'll be right back!"

She hurries forward, puffing a bit from the day's exertions, and raises the binoculars hanging from a thong around her neck up to her eyes. The Israeli base leaps forward in her vision, and despite the slight jostles from the plane, she manages to keep the gate in her sight as she starts to chant the invocations of the spell.

In front of the gate, an image of a woman wreathed in, and obscured by, green light appears. It announces in a loud voice, "My name is Viridian...I'm not really here. This is a projected image, an attempt to communicate without broadcasting at random. I cannot hear or respond to what you may try to say to me. We are enemies of Barrington, and are trying to stop him. You recently captured one of our number and are holding her. We wish to talk more. I will create an image of a secure phoneline to contact us at. Please write it down, because cameras won't record it."

Between the illusory "Viridian's" hands appears in little flaming numbers her secure cellphone information. She then has the image repeat its message.


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## Jemal (Jun 13, 2008)

Meanwhile, Optic is studying the incoming ship.
[sblock=ooc]
I think you know the drill, but just in case: 
+16 notice, Analytical extended sight, true sight, microscopic vision, x-ray vision (stopped only by gold).  He also is attempting (with the help of his time sense) to get a grip on how fast this thing's moving and how soon it'll be here.[/sblock]


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## kirinke (Jun 13, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (sorry if you're waiting on me...I thought there was some big ship coming at us, and was waiting to see what it was...it sounded like that would happen as part of the same encounter. Hee)
> 
> Viridian realizes they're close enough and says to Hope, "Excuse me...I need to get to the cockpit again. I'll be right back!"
> 
> ...




Hope nods absently. By her faint, unfocused look, you can tell she's gathering her own personal energies.... Preparing for some major spell casting, just in case.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 13, 2008)

Shayuri said:
			
		

> (sorry if you're waiting on me...I thought there was some big ship coming at us, and was waiting to see what it was...it sounded like that would happen as part of the same encounter. Hee)
> 
> Viridian realizes they're close enough and says to Hope, "Excuse me...I need to get to the cockpit again. I'll be right back!"
> 
> ...




Viridian receives a mental message  (Someone is apparently capable of connecting with her upstream through her spell) "I am the leader of this base.  Your friend was hurt badly, but we are tending to her.  We are detecting other activity in the area, and believe that a major battle is imminent.  You may send one member of your expedition into our base to aid in evacuating your companion if things go bad."


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## DM_Matt (Jun 13, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Meanwhile, Optic is studying the incoming ship.
> [sblock=ooc]
> I think you know the drill, but just in case:
> +16 notice, Analytical extended sight, true sight, microscopic vision, x-ray vision (stopped only by gold).  He also is attempting (with the help of his time sense) to get a grip on how fast this thing's moving and how soon it'll be here.[/sblock]




He sees it as it comes in for a landing a bit beyond the opposite side of the base.  It looks somewhat like a spider with overly-thick legs, surrounded by a crackling red force field.  It has what looks like a tower through its central core.  On the undersides of its legs and the  central tower, it has gravity drives facing downward, as wall as some facing outward in other places.

When it lands, the legs expand, with thinner landing legs coming out beyond the thick legs.  Then the thick part moves inward, revealing a number of mechs in each leg.  The gravity drives in the thick part of the legs were in fact the one on the feet of the mechs.  Metal hooks lower them to the ground.  Similarly, the area around the tower expands as well, and a number of hovertanks (with their gravity drives similarly having been used to propel the larger ship), folding down.  The bottom of the tower opens up, and crew runs out to man the vehicles.

At the top of the tower is what looks like a control station, but the shields are especially strong there (although the shields do  form  a bubble around the entire structure.  It also seems that things are being beamed into the tower from space.)


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## DM_Matt (Jun 15, 2008)

Optic and the plane's sensors meanwhile can see more details of what is going on in the bubble and the base.  Some of the guys in the bubble are getting into vehicles, while others are setting up emplacements just within the shield.  Mostly defensive machine guns and lots of mortars.  Optic happens to be looking closely at the tower when a group beams in, and notices that the field around the top of the tower deactivates for a split second to allow the beam through.  

Meanwhile, in the base, he sees that guards have donned battlesuits and taken up defensive positions within the base.   Some of the base's railguns attack the shield bubble, but they fail to penetrate it.  Optic spots two group of battlesuits cloaking and exiting through opposite sides of the base, after which he loses track of them.

The forces in the bubble begin to move, and it is clear that they can leave the bubble freely.  Interestingly, Optic does notices that some individuals did, through swinging their arms when walking or turning/reaching backwards, reenter the field temporarily.

He also spots five important-looking individuals leave the tower, and cross-references them with the Trust database.  There is a black woman in a leopard-skin outfit and a beret.  Looking her up, its the Libyan Leopard, a Libyan government super with the power of massive growth.  Next to her is the Egyptian-affiliated super The Pharoah, who wears a King Tut-style golden mask and headdress and otherwise wears very little and shows off a very strong body.  He is known to be a powerful warrior with sand and necromantic-type powers.  Then comes the Saudi-royal-sponsored Guardian of Mecca, a masked super in flowing white robes who wields a scimitar and sits atop a horse made of pure electrical energy.  Finally comes the Jordanian super The Efreet, whose mostly fire-based powers closely match the mythical genies' ablities.

Not only is it known to be a powerful group, but it may be an extremely ominous sign that they are assembled here.  If these supers represent their sponsors, it is likely that Barrington has persuaded much of the Mideast to join his cause.


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## Vanifae (Jun 16, 2008)

Apollo chimes in, "So what the hell do we do now?"


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 16, 2008)

Vanifae said:
			
		

> Apollo chimes in, "So what the hell do we do now?"




"Either help defend the base, or evacuate it.  Star's in there, and needs some help obviously since she's hurt.  I can go in and help her get out, while the rest of you try and stall those forces from taking the base.  The base should take care of most of the general defenses, but we'll still need to help them if they hope to survive those attacks.

Optic, see if you can override one of those mechanical things, and use it against their own forces.  If you can do that, you can get in and out of their shield, hopefully.  Nitro, there's plenty of sand to shockwave your enemies all about the place.  Hope, I'm sure you have plenty of things to aid as well, with Viridian and you hopefully being able to work together if need be on some magical attacks or defenses.  A little windstorm might throw off their advances, if you can manage to blind the enemy forces to stall them.  I'll get to Star, try to heal her, and we'll both be back to aid.  Hopefully the Super in the base will have some aid as well..."

"Any objections?  The plane needs to be ready to get out of here on the fly, but not a sitting duck.  Take cover if you can, or lay down some cover fire for the rest of us.  This is going to be one long day..."

Wren awaits for any additions to the plan, before letting the magic users let the base know he is coming in for Star.  He will fly there, low altitude of course, and work on healing Star as best he can.  He will use another HP if needed to get her back to a manageable condition for combat.


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## Shayuri (Jun 16, 2008)

Viridian nods at Wren. "They said they'd let one person into the base to help with Star. If things start going bad. And we have to help the base. We can't afford for Barrington to get his hands on that technology!"


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## kirinke (Jun 17, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Either help defend the base, or evacuate it.  Star's in there, and needs some help obviously since she's hurt.  I can go in and help her get out, while the rest of you try and stall those forces from taking the base.  The base should take care of most of the general defenses, but we'll still need to help them if they hope to survive those attacks.
> 
> Optic, see if you can override one of those mechanical things, and use it against their own forces.  If you can do that, you can get in and out of their shield, hopefully.  Nitro, there's plenty of sand to shockwave your enemies all about the place.  Hope, I'm sure you have plenty of things to aid as well, with Viridian and you hopefully being able to work together if need be on some magical attacks or defenses.  A little windstorm might throw off their advances, if you can manage to blind the enemy forces to stall them.  I'll get to Star, try to heal her, and we'll both be back to aid.  Hopefully the Super in the base will have some aid as well..."
> 
> ...




"I can use my wind ability to kick up a windstorm. Viridian and I might be able to take out that array that's beaming stuff from the Lighthouse using our combined powers. I don't think they have any defenses against it." 

Hope agreed, coming out of her trance-like state. She looked calm, almost eerily so, considering that her last few battles she was out of control. She had seen what being out of control could do....

*I won't let my emotions get the better of me, not when innocent lives, the lives of those around me are at stake.  * She thought, taking that lesson to heart.

"Let's see how they like tornadoes inside that shield." she said coolly, the wind around her chuckled and swirled around her subtly, the calm before the storm.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 17, 2008)

(Still need more declared actions before I can adjudicate this.)


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## kirinke (Jun 17, 2008)

ooc:
Hope plans on setting all sort of weather related attacks inside the shield of that big mecha, starting with her area burst attacks. She also plans on knocking out that communications array she assumes is being used to teleport things and people from the lighthouse.


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## Jemal (Jun 17, 2008)

Optic agrees with the plan, attempting to link with and take-over one of the robots while pointing out the 5 supers "Might wanna share with our friends down there who's come to join the party"

[sblock=ooc]
My true sight counters all forms of Concealment, Illusion, and Obscure effects.  As far as I understand the rules, they shouldn't be able to be cloaked from me without DM Fiat...
[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jun 17, 2008)

kirinke said:
			
		

> ooc:
> Hope plans on setting all sort of weather related attacks inside the shield of that big mecha, starting with her area burst attacks. She also plans on knocking out that communications array she assumes is being used to teleport things and people from the lighthouse.




With what attack? The shield doesn't go down for teleports long enough for her to target and hit with an attack at range.  Depending on how they work, certain perception or melee attacks could work if readied.


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## kirinke (Jun 17, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> With what attack? The shield doesn't go down for teleports long enough for her to target and hit with an attack at range.  Depending on how they work, certain perception or melee attacks could work if readied.




ooc:
Hmm... Hail attack on the sensor array beaming stuff down. That's perception and indirect I think..... Plus with maybe Virdian helping they could take it down. Any ideas on what could work? I'm stumped but I think Hope wouldn't be.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 17, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Optic agrees with the plan, attempting to link with and take-over one of the robots while pointing out the 5 supers "Might wanna share with our friends down there who's come to join the party"
> 
> [sblock=ooc]
> My true sight counters all forms of Concealment, Illusion, and Obscure effects.  As far as I understand the rules, they shouldn't be able to be cloaked from me without DM Fiat...
> [/sblock]




Fair point, though I could still say they have some kind of non-Fiat countermeasures ability.  You see them looping around both sides to flank the bobble or possibly come in from behind.


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## Elric (Jun 17, 2008)

(OOC: How far away are we from this thing?  Is it within Shockwave distance?  Are all of the villains and mechs currently inside the force field?)

Assuming no one is outside the field at the moment, if Nitro is in range he'll try to Shockwave in any brief moments when the force field goes down.  If we're not in range of the tower, then I don't know if we want to try to go closer.


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## Raylis (Jun 18, 2008)

(Night can't do much while we're in the air, since she has no range or flight. If able to get on the ground she might be able to back Nitro up)


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## DM_Matt (Jun 18, 2008)

Elric said:
			
		

> (OOC: How far away are we from this thing?  Is it within Shockwave distance?  Are all of the villains and mechs currently inside the force field?)
> 
> Assuming no one is outside the field at the moment, if Nitro is in range he'll try to Shockwave in any brief moments when the force field goes down.  If we're not in range of the tower, then I don't know if we want to try to go closer.




Its about a mile beyond the base, and you guys are a bit away from the base on the opposite side.   Whether or not you want to get closer really is the question,  Do you guys move up to act, or are you going to wait for Barrington's forces to advance outside the bubble a bit?


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## Jemal (Jun 18, 2008)

Once he regains view of the battle-suits, Optic relays their position to the others and attempts to hack into one.
[sblock=ooc] Thnx.   Computers +16[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jun 18, 2008)

Jemal said:
			
		

> Once he regains view of the battle-suits, Optic relays their position to the others and attempts to hack into one.
> [sblock=ooc] Thnx.   Computers +16[/sblock]




(The (basically) FRIENDLY battlesuits?  Or do you mean Barrington's mechs?)


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## Jemal (Jun 18, 2008)

[sblock=ooc]I was under the impression they *were* Barringtons.. I must've missed a post *re-reads*
Hmm, I see how I got confused.  Yes, I'll try one of the mechs'  BTW, what do the forces look like?  Are there like dozens/hundreds of vehicles & mechs, or just a few? (I'm thinking the less there are, the more powerful they probably are.  If there's 50 of these things taking one over is probably fairly insignificant.)[/sblock]


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## Victim (Jun 19, 2008)

So Wren is coming to rescue Star?


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 19, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> So Wren is coming to rescue Star?




That's my plan.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 19, 2008)

It take a few rounds for the plane to get the group to the vicinity of the base, and Wren is allowed to fly over the wall.  One of the battlesuits greets him and says "Building 5 is medical.  Come with me, I'll need to get back to the wall!"  Neither the stone guy nor the Mystery Super are there.  Optic notices that they are leading the two attack forces that are looping around.

Meanwhile, the battle starts in earnest.  Barrington has 18 mechs, 9 smallish hovertanks, and 2 larger armored troop-carriers, and sends them forward across the dessert.  The mechs are in front and along the sides in loose formwation, with the tanks a bit back, though they have better range  The troop carriers are in the back middle.

The four supers lead the way.

Barrington's forces advance rapidly under fire, supported by artillery from some of the rearmost mechs, guns on the tower, and numerous mortars from inside the shield.  The lasers in the base detonate many of them in the air, but many do fall, making it much harder for the defenders to hit back from the perimeter.

The battlesuits and emplaced defenses hit them with a hail of railgun fire and shoulder-mounted anti-tank weapons, while the mechs fire rails and rockets back.  The defenders are limited in their ability to shoot back, however, as Mines jump out of the wand and explode.  One punctures the underside of a hovertank and explodes, turning the tank into a flaming wreck and sending metal shards flying everywhere.  Some autoturrets pop out of the sand as well and begin firing. 

A sandstorm appears over the whole battlefield, apparently being produced in different places by the stone guy and the Pharoah.  The lack of visibility still helps the attackers on balance, even though it also partially guards against the mortar fire.

Some of the autoturrets begin firing back at the defenders, and many mines trigger before any attackers are enarby.  A couple battlesuits in the base suddenly start shooting at their comrades, though they are eventually subdued.  It seems that the battlesuits are acting without their wearer's permission.  

Some of the mechs also do some funny things, stopping entirely or attacking each other.  You notice an errant mecha come back under control, while at the same time one of the battlesuits seems to come back under the control of its wearer.

The battlesuit with Wren tries to lead him to the building, when suddenly the controlled battlesuits return to their wearers' control, and  three near Wren, including his guide, suddenly turn on him, and fire balls of force at him from their hands.  He dodges or absorbs all of them, however.

Meanwhile, the others manage to get dropped off outside the base.  (I'm pausing here to allow you to change or clarify due to extra information)


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## kirinke (Jun 20, 2008)

Hope smiles grimly and concentrates on the communications array of the mecha ship, using her lightning attack against the array. (Or whatever the heck it is beaming stuff to the ship).


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## Elric (Jun 20, 2008)

Nitro Shockwaves the largest area of guys he can get, using Move by Action + Leaping 4 (x25 distance) and Acrobatics +17 (increases leaping distance before multiplying for Leaping) to get up close then somewhat out of harm's way.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 21, 2008)

"Looks like there's another controller here.  I have to get to Star, so sorry if I cut this escort short."

Wren then moves to the building, at the fastest speed he can (flying more than likely) as he enters the door, and hopes to find someone able to point him to where Star can be taken care of and get back on her feet.

He makes sure to warn the others, saying, "There's a wall separating me from you, hopefully it will last long enough for you to get a handle on your battlesuits again."

He makes sure to create the wall to separate himself from the others, to prevent him from reaching Star and Building 5.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 22, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Looks like there's another controller here.  I have to get to Star, so sorry if I cut this escort short."
> 
> Wren then moves to the building, at the fastest speed he can (flying more than likely) as he enters the door, and hopes to find someone able to point him to where Star can be taken care of and get back on her feet.
> 
> ...





(While the other folks decide what exactly to do....btw, sorry I had you guys post actions and THEN gave important information that rendered them kinda moot. Totally my fault.)

Wren puts up the field, just as some mortars land nearby.  Wren manages to dive away while keeping the shield up.  He enters the building, the door of which is open already, and asks some quick questions, leading him to the room where Star is resting (fortunately, they all can speak English here).  

There are a number of technicians in the room, and others are being cared for there as well.

Star is lying, asleep, in clear-topped tube among a row of such tubes.  It has various electronic readouts and modular slots for remotely-operable surgical equipment.  Her wounds are slowly but noticeably healing though he can fix them faster.


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## DM_Matt (Jun 22, 2008)

Meanwhile, Viridian hears the telepath in her head again.  

"Constantine....Control Freak...is here.  He controls machines...I control pilots...I can't hold him off for long"


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## kirinke (Jun 22, 2008)

Hearing that, Hope puts all the 'whomp' she can into her strike on the communications array on the mecha enemy ship.

"Tell her that I'm trying to knock out the communications array. That might help some." she said, focusing the power before unleashing it.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 22, 2008)

Wren immediately goes to work, letting his Healing Power take over to aid in Star's recovery as swiftly as possible.  Hopefully, it would be quick enough for the two of them to make a difference in the fight outside.

'Open the Tube, I can heal her myself, and much quicker than this."

Healing Rank 10

As Star comes to, Wren smiles down on her, saying, "Had a nice nap there?  Looks like the fun has started already, and we have a front row seat waiting on us.  Think you can manage now?"


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## Victim (Jun 22, 2008)

"What?  Wren..."  Star says, somewhat disoriented.  "Where am I?  What's going on?  How long?"  

"It still hurts and I feel sort of sick." She struggles to rise into the air and looks around.  "What's this coccoon thing?  Where is everyone else?"


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## DM_Matt (Jun 22, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "What?  Wren..."  Star says, somewhat disoriented.  "You're not getting me out of here?  What's going on?  How long?"
> 
> (IIRC, Star's injuries will require more than one heal.)
> 
> "It still hurts."  _Especially since the crushing defeat part hasn't gone away, and probably is about to be repeated._  She struggles to her feet.  "They gave me a bunch of different drugs too; I still feel sort of funny."  _So, no, basically.  And I'm not so happy about defending the people who just hurt me...  Protecting them isn't the only way to keep that technology out of Barrington's hands._




(BTW, Star doesn't remember anything since she got shot down, and is exhausted.  She would have needed a heal for dying, disabled, staggered, injured x3 and bruised x3, and the chamber is slow (takes a couple hours and she was only in it a few minutes), so after one heal, shed just have lost the disabled and dying conditions.)


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## Shayuri (Jun 22, 2008)

Overwhelmed by the complexity and intensity of the combat, Viridian spends crucial seconds groping for a course of action. The telepathic message hits a chord though, and she calls out, "Control Freak's here! He's the one who keeps trying to control our machines! We have to to stop him!"

Of course, she realizes, they have no idea where he is.

Seeing that Hope is trying to take advantage of the flickering shield, Viridian turns her attention to the oncoming suits and vehicles. They had pilots. They weren't just robots. Maybe...

She takes her amulet in her hand and closes her eyes, pushing her fears aside for a moment.

_"The great wheel turns...that which you do is returned to you three times. Thus is the balance kept. Thus is the balance kept. Let those who spread fear feel it now, thrice over."_

She opens her eyes and focuses on the enemy forces.

"Thus is the balance kept."

The spell is invisible, soundless, tasteless, odorless. There is no change in the wind, or sand...but those in the advancing army are suddenly aware, keenly aware, of the danger they're in, of the fragility of life, and most of all, of the wrong they've done...and the retribution they have incurred.

(Emotion control: fear, Will DC 21, rank 11 area effect...as many guys as I can fit in it. )


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## Victim (Jun 22, 2008)

DM_Matt said:
			
		

> (BTW, Star doesn't remember anything since she got shot down, and is exhausted.  She would have needed a heal for dying, disabled, staggered, injured x3 and bruised x3, and the chamber is slow (takes a couple hours and she was only in it a few minutes), so after one heal, shed just have lost the disabled and dying conditions.)




(Noted.  My post above has been altered to reflect the memory loss.)


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 23, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "What?  Wren..."  Star says, somewhat disoriented.  "Where am I?  What's going on?  How long?"
> 
> "It still hurts and I feel sort of sick." She struggles to rise into the air and looks around.  "What's this coccoon thing?  Where is everyone else?"




"Obviously not long enough, as you are in pretty bad shape.  I'll have you ready soon, but I think you should get some of those orbs ready to defend us.  There's a force, Barrington, outside, attacking this base.  The mystery super here agreed to work with us for now, so we need all of us, including you.  Everyone else it outside, doing what they can."

"They tried to help heal you, but it would take too long, and with the threat outside, I wouldn't leave anyone behind.  I told you I would watch out for all of us, and I keep my word.  So, get ready for some fireworks, because when we're done here, there's no resting."

Wren can see that this would take a while, so he works as fast as he can.  HEAL 10, next injury removed.  If possible, he would try to walk with her, as he heals her, to get them ready as soon as possible.  Otherwise, it's heal and heal until she's ready to go...


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## Victim (Jun 23, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Obviously not long enough, as you are in pretty bad shape.  I'll have you ready soon, but I think you should get some of those orbs ready to defend us.  There's a force, Barrington, outside, attacking this base.  The mystery super here agreed to work with us for now, so we need all of us, including you.  Everyone else it outside, doing what they can."
> 
> "They tried to help heal you, but it would take too long, and with the threat outside, I wouldn't leave anyone behind.  I told you I would watch out for all of us, and I keep my word.  So, get ready for some fireworks, because when we're done here, there's no resting."




"What about Apollo?  Is he okay?" Star asks.  "What are the attackers like?"

"  If I set up some orbs up, what should they do?  I don't know what the invaders look like, so I can't make them go after those specifically, and I haven't seen all the defenders either, so I can't set up an ignore function."  _I guess they tried to heal me right away, so they were trying to make for shooting me.  It's still humiliating to need to rescued though.  Again.  Maybe I should try extra hard to make up for failing - or at least to lose more spectacularly._

Star fumbles at her pouches, checking to see what items she still has in possession.  (I'd assume that all her comm gear, at least, had been taken, but they could have put it back.  She spends her turn checking her gear.)


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 23, 2008)

"Wren here.  Star's ok.  Optic, any way to transfer a detailed image of outside onto our gear?  While I work here, it would be best if Star could study the layout outside."

Looking at Star, he smiles, knowing that her first thought was of her allies, and not of herself.  _She's doing better_ he thinks to himself.

"Everyone's fine, for now.  You saw the base layout.  Seems as though Barrington's sent in some ship, which is transporting units in mech armor to attack.  There's a few super's out there as well.  5 of them, that are attacking apparently.  The base's ground defenses have been deployed, and they are also in battle suits.  It's one hell of a fireworks display going on.  I would set your orbs to go for the teleportation device area.  There seems to be a slight window of the force field protecting it going down, and if you could get those orbs in there while that happens, then we could stem the flow of the enemies."


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## DM_Matt (Jun 23, 2008)

So the actions declared:
Nitro: Shockwave a lot of baddies
Viridian: Emotion Control
Hope: Lightning Bolt
Star: Checking her equipment
Wren: Healing Star.
Jemal: ??? (There are a lot of mechs, so controlling just one might not help that much, though he can still do that.)
Apollo: ???


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## Raylis (Jun 24, 2008)

"Vi if you can find Control Freak I'll take care of him.


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## Jemal (Jun 24, 2008)

Optic still attempts to take over one of the mechs, hoping to use its systems to his advantage (Maybe tap into their communications easier, or download data, etc, etc).


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## Victim (Jun 25, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> I would set your orbs to go for the teleportation device area.  There seems to be a slight window of the force field protecting it going down, and if you could get those orbs in there while that happens, then we could stem the flow of the enemies."[/color]




"What makes it go down?  Is it linked to receiving a teleport?" Star asks. _Then even if it works, all the new arrivals will just shoot me.  With all their teleport stuff, we won't win this.  Even if I slag the main array, they can still have a bunch of those drones with portals in them to get more supers and troops.  _ "It's worth a shot."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 25, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "What makes it go down?  Is it linked to receiving a teleport?" Star asks. _Then even if it works, all the new arrivals will just shoot me.  With all their teleport stuff, we won't win this.  Even if I slag the main array, they can still have a bunch of those drones with portals in them to get more supers and troops.  _ "It's worth a shot."




"Yeah, it seems to be a field, only a temporary relief in the top part for when troops are teleported down.  If you could safely send some of those orbs, triggered to enter the receiving station when that field goes down, it might disrupt it enough to disable it.  That would stem the flow of enemies.  If it's too risky, don't worry about it, I am sure we can find an alternative.  Either way, we had better prepare for a war outside..."

Wren continues his healing, until Star is ready to go.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jun 25, 2008)

The battle outside continues to rage as you move in to join the fun.

It requires a bit of time for some of you to get to the battle.  Viridian is able to hit the enemy mechs three times with her fear attack three times before.  Many of the tanks and mechs stop or change course. As she is near the base, some stray mortars land near her, and one actually hurts her a bit (1 injury/bruise). 

The telepath apparently senses her pain and says "It was not fair to keep you out in the open.  Your group may enter our base."

Meanwhile, mortars continue to fall, and huge tank shells and energy blasts strike the walls of the base, it is breached in a number of places, and the buildings are taking damage.  Medics are scrambling to deal with the wounded.

Wren uses these three rounds to heal Star.  NOw she just has some bruises (and exhausted).

Meanwhile, Hope, Apollo, and Nitro head off to the fight.

Apollo (I am NPCing him since he did not post) gets to the fight immediately, and blasts Efreet with his light bow, wounding him and  knocking him back a step (injury).  The Efreet charges at him, but Apollo flies faster, and Efreet has to settle for throwing a fireball at him instead of grabbing him.  Apollo nimbly reverses direction, and the fireball streaks away into the sky.  

Optic breaks into one of the mechs' systems.  He is able to download various specs and tap into their radios.  He finds that numerous pilots really are freaking out, but their commander is urging them on  and many are recovering.  For now, their plan still seems to be a frontal assault.

Hope does not get to the enemy base unhindered.  She sees Guardian, riding on her lightning horse, shoot up into the sky, and just as Hope tries to blast the enemy base form maximum range, Guardian parries the lightning bolt away with her sword.  

Nitro does manage to shockwave several opponents, blowing up two mechs and damaging one more and a tank.  The damaged vehicles fire back, but other than several bullets that bounce off his skin, he manages to jump out of the way of each...until Leopard, suddenly 30 feet tall, pounces on him with a jumping strike of her own, then grabs him and lifts him into the air in one hand (1 bruise, stunned, grappled)

Pharoah meanwhile blasts Apollo with a targeted sandstorm, which forms a mouth and hands and grabs and pulls and bites at Apollo.  This slows his movement enough for Efreet to attack him.  Efreet's body is made of mostly-solid flames, and manages to grab Apollo, who shots in pain as the flaming Efreet pulls him close to his fiery body, and drives both to the ground (crit, 2 injuries, 3 bruises, staggered, stunned, grappled).  Smoke and sand sheets into the air as they crash through a sand dune.  Apollo manages to ignore the pain and struggle free (hp to shake the stun and avoid taking strike and aura  damage in one round), and he manages to wriggle free of the fiery beast.

Nightweaver meanwhile notices that shadows are being created by the various sandstorm attacks being thrown around and the tall mechs casting shadows, although it is hard to see the further ones.  It takes her a few steps, but she manages to get there in time for her to move into position and attack something (post what she attacks).


----------



## Victim (Jun 25, 2008)

"I still feel a little sick and tired, but let's go.  Maybe you could wrap us in a force bubble while we get close?"

(Def 20/12.  Toughness +9.  Exhausted, Bruised -3.  HP 3.)


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jun 26, 2008)

Victim said:
			
		

> "I still feel a little sick and tired, but let's go.  Maybe you could wrap us in a force bubble while we get close?"
> 
> (Def 20/12.  Toughness +9.  Exhausted, Bruised -3.  HP 3.)




"Well, I could provide you some armor of force.  I would leave the hands free, as you would need those to use your orbs.  It will stay tethered to you of its own will as well."

[sblock=Create Objects]Create Objects, to provide some force armor for Star, at least giving her some protection.  
Create Objects 8
Effect: General
Range: Ranged
Action: Standard
Duration: Continuous
Extras: Movable [+1], Duration (Continuous) [+1]
Flaws: None
Power Feats: Innate, Precise, Stationary, Subtle, Tether, Progression (10’Cube x rank)[/sblock]


----------



## kirinke (Jun 26, 2008)

Hope sees Appollo in trouble and with surprising ease, manages to shift her main lightning attack to freezing ice and uses that attack on the Efreet.

ooc
Blast: Blast 12, Imp Crit 3, Knockback 4, Indirect, Variable


----------



## Victim (Jun 27, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:
			
		

> "Well, I could provide you some armor of force.  I would leave the hands free, as you would need those to use your orbs.  It will stay tethered to you of its own will as well."
> 
> [sblock=Create Objects]Create Objects, to provide some force armor for Star, at least giving her some protection.
> Create Objects 8
> ...




"I don't really need my hands free.  A complete sphere works, as long as I stay centered in it."  _You're not coming?_

(Does Star have her commlink?)

After taking whatever aid Wren provides, Star will create a cluster of orbs to orbit herself and to counterattack her enemies, then start moving evasively towards the enemy ship.  _I don't really want to do this._

-----------------------
(Standard Action: Plasma Orbs on Trigger to attack anyone who attacks her: Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise.

Defensive Attack: -5, Attack +6 (14-3-5): 21

Then she'll fly towards the ship, trying to avoid notice by skimming the ground, screening herself with the sandstorms, etc.  Move is 1/2 speed for exhausted so that's ~5000 ft.  Stealth check is +2 (+10-5 for full speed, -3 exhausted): 14

Def 25/12.  Toughness 9.  Bruise 3, Exhausted.  HP 3

Any of CO barrier around her is probably much easier to hit.


----------



## Elric (Jun 27, 2008)

"I like a feisty woman.  And I don't mind tall women.  But by that I mean say, 6'2", not 30 feet tall.  Feeling a little inadequate about now, I have to admit."

Nitro regenerates from the bruise as a free action.  HP to shake off stun (1 HP left).  Nitro twists in the air and kicks Leopard somewhere it really hurts.  

Acrobatic Bluff to feint Leopard as a move action.  Rolling at +12, opposed by Sense Motive/Acrobatics.  Then attack unarmed, Power Attack for 3 if the feint works and don't PA at all if the feint doesn't work.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jun 27, 2008)

kirinke said:


> (Does Star have her commlink?)




Yes.


----------



## Victim (Jun 27, 2008)

"So how are we doing?" Star asks over the comm.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jun 28, 2008)

So....


----------



## kirinke (Jun 28, 2008)

ooc:
Hope is using her main blast, transfering the lightning to ice/cold and seeing how that affects the Efreet


----------



## Jemal (Jun 30, 2008)

Optic attempts to continue inflitrating their systems, transmitting the data (Along with radio frequency) he's gained to his allies (Including those in the base if possible) while he tries to find some way of giving them an edge (Disable/change the badguys Friend/Foe system, or communications?  Send false orders?)


----------



## Shayuri (Jun 30, 2008)

"Guys!" Viridian calls to the others. "They're going to let us in the base! We can coordinate better from in there, and get some cover! I have an idea..."

She uses the radio data from Optic to tune into the enemy comms, then draws on her magic, hoping the fear will make what she's trying to do seem more reasonable to the men...

"*Run away!*" she demands. "Barrington doesn't care if you live or die! They are sacrificing you for nothing! *Flee* while you can!"

(Voice of Command over the enemy comms. Targeting the commander if I can. DC 21 )


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 1, 2008)

(Calling Raylis and Vanifae.)

EDIT: I found the last seen thing has been moved to the profiles.  They have been gone 5 and 7 days from ENW entirely, so I'll take their actions (unless by some chance they happen to post while I'm writing this round...)

Nightweaver tries to punch a joint an topple a mech, tohugh this in unsuccessful.  She looks for an opening to teleport to the main ship itself.



Elric said:


> "I like a feisty woman.  And I don't mind tall women.  But by that I mean say, 6'2", not 30 feet tall.  Feeling a little inadequate about now, I have to admit."
> 
> Nitro regenerates from the bruise as a free action.  HP to shake off stun (1 HP left).  Nitro twists in the air and kicks Leopard somewhere it really hurts.
> 
> Acrobatic Bluff to feint Leopard as a move action.  Rolling at +12, opposed by Sense Motive/Acrobatics.  Then attack unarmed, Power Attack for 3 if the feint works and don't PA at all if the feint doesn't work.




Nitro manages to get both hands on top of LL's fist, and propels himself out like a wine corker, kicking LL in the face with both legs, knocking her over and kicking up a huge cloud of sand. (Stunned, 1 bruise).  Nitro lands on his feet, uninjured by the fall.



Fangor the Fierce said:


> "Well, I could provide you some armor of force.  I would leave the hands free, as you would need those to use your orbs.  It will stay tethered to you of its own will as well."
> 
> [sblock=Create Objects]Create Objects, to provide some force armor for Star, at least giving her some protection.
> Create Objects 8
> ...




He does this, creating a field around Star that is connected by a thin tether to his ring.



Victim said:


> "I don't really need my hands free.  A complete sphere works, as long as I stay centered in it."  _You're not coming?_
> 
> (Does Star have her commlink?)
> 
> ...




Pharoah jumps to intercept Star, bashing the field with both hands, knocking her a bit off course but only slightly weakening the thing. (Both he and she rolled Nat 20s)



kirinke said:


> Hope sees Appollo in trouble and with surprising ease, manages to shift her main lightning attack to freezing ice and uses that attack on the Efreet.
> 
> ooc
> Blast: Blast 12, Imp Crit 3, Knockback 4, Indirect, Variable




The Guardian goes first, swinging her sword and sending blades of solid white light tearing into Hope.  Hope grits her teeth and resists the pain (hp to reroll staggered result, just bruised.) 

Turning her attention to Efreet, cold air swirls around her, gathering especially around her hands.  She points towards Efreet, forcing him to dive aside as steam rises from his body, the cold partially extinguishing his fiery body (1 bruise, hp for Hope, Efreet had to reroll)



Jemal said:


> Optic attempts to continue inflitrating their systems, transmitting the data (Along with radio frequency) he's gained to his allies (Including those in the base if possible) while he tries to find some way of giving them an edge (Disable/change the badguys Friend/Foe system, or communications?  Send false orders?)




He hasnt had time to figure out how to connect his systems to the base, but he can get enough details about the bad guys' friend/foe system to get Jacobson the info necessary to jam those frequencies.



Meanwhile, the bad guys spring their trap -- of so they think.  They blast the base, and Control Freak manages to get the emplaced defenses firing at each other.  As mortars continue to fall, the telepath leaders says "Move to Evac Step B, and retrieve the self-destruct device."  The defenders seem to be retreating underground, fighting from pillboxes but avoiding the main floor.  Those in the base notice that the floors in some rooms with advanced tech are being lowered.

The tanks and mechs spring forward as they fire, getting very close to the base.



Shayuri said:


> "Guys!" Viridian calls to the others. "They're going to let us in the base! We can coordinate better from in there, and get some cover! I have an idea..."
> 
> She uses the radio data from Optic to tune into the enemy comms, then draws on her magic, hoping the fear will make what she's trying to do seem more reasonable to the men...
> 
> ...




Using Optic's information, she is able to strike fear into the vast majority of the force.  Just as they approch the base, many turn around, and thanks to Optic and Jacobson, they cannot even tell if they are encountering friends or foes as they run every which way on the battlefield.

Then, the defenders spring THEIR trap.  The mystery super is seen uncloaking as she throws a fusion ball at a tank.  It hits, and the fusion reaction spreads.  In a thundering blast or light and sound, the tank is partially vaporized and the rest is blasted as deadly shrapnel around the battlefield.  The group of battlesuits behind her open up on the bad guys from the side and back, hitting them with large rifles that magnetically project spinning depleted uranium slugs with explosives in the middle.  A number of vehicles are damaged or destroyed in the first volley.

The other group, led by the stone man, jump into the force field.  The stone man opens up with a shockwave that devastates the soldiers with the mortars, blasting them around the ship's base.  The others fire bolts of greyish-white kinetic energy at the defenders from wrist-mounted blasters.  The bad guys scramble to reach the emplaced defenses on the ship, and they lower the shield so that their tanks and mechs will be able to fire into their own area.

Optic looks around and notices movement underground.  Looking more carefully, he finds that a vehicle equipped with repulsor shields has tunneled rapidly to the base.  It blasts a hole in the bottom of the base, and four figures  jump out.  One is Control Freak.  The other three are equipped with advanced weapons of various sorts and wear animal costumes.  Comparing them with his database, he finds them to be Murder Mouse, Killer Bee, and Battle Bunny, a group of supers known to be affiliated with Hamas.  They are positioned in a diamond formation, with Control Freak in the back and the others guarding him in front and on the sides.

Meanwhile, Efreet flies into the air to attack Hope, but she dodges his flaming punch.


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 1, 2008)

Wren spies the assault on Star, and notes that the shield helped out a little.  He turns his attention to the rest of the battlefield, as he wonders where he is needed most.  "Everyone give a status report.  Star and I are out and ready.  Where are we needed?"


----------



## Elric (Jul 2, 2008)

Nitro jumps over and punches Leopard in the face.  "The bigger they are..."

_Darn.  That wasn't a very original line._

Nitro attacks Leopard, Power Attacking for 2.


----------



## kirinke (Jul 2, 2008)

Hope manages to keep her temper and her cool, the icy power she's manipulating helping with that. She sidesteps the Efreet's attack and then lashes out at him as he rushes past, firing at near point blank range, grateful that she's been able to learn how to change her attacks to suite the situation.


----------



## Victim (Jul 3, 2008)

Star rights herself after the being clipped by the Pharoah.  _It'd be awful to throw up inside this thing.  Well, I'm here...  Let's not fail again._  "I'm by the ship and the force field is down because the Mystery Super is attacking it from behind," Star says into the comm.  She jinks aboutin a blur of motion, then creates several white hot plasma spheres which arc downwards towards her fallen opponent.  "Just a minute, I need to get rid of this guy.  Optic, can you tell me where to aim to hit any other important systems inside or outside of the ship?"   

Star will to stay in a line between the Egyptian super and the ship's guns, so weapons fire will strike her assailant should it miss her.  _Those railgun slugs are hard to see; be careful._

------------------------------------
Spend a HP to recover a fatigue level.

Standard Action: Fire Plasma Orbs at the Pharoah.  Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise.

Defensive Attack: -5, Attack +8:  21  (23 versus stunned target?)

Move Action:  Acrobatic Trick: Redirect an attack from the ship into Pharoah.  Acrobatics +14 (+20-5 move action, -1 fatigue): 33

Free Action: activate Displacement versus normal sight, unless using Wren's shield gets in the way.

Def 27/14.  Toughness +9.  3 Bruises.  Fatigued.  2 HP.  Wren's armor has 1 damage


----------



## Jemal (Jul 3, 2008)

"Damit, I knew he had to be around here somewhere."  Optic keeps his sight on Control Freak while passing the info along, determined to keep his powers busy.

[sblock=ooc] Readied action to attempt to Counter anything Control Freak tries to do using Datalink. (Willing to use Hero Point if required for power stunt, etc.) +16 Computers [/sblock]


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 4, 2008)

(Star's Trigger Attack ...  Crit!)  Pharoah bends overs, following his mighty punch, and rises just in time to see a several glowing orbs hit him straight on, sending him flying until he lands a couple hundred feet across the desert (1 bruise, stunned)


----------



## Shayuri (Jul 4, 2008)

Thessaly casts a spell under her breath, focusing on Control Freak and his gang of goons. From the shadows they cast and from all around them chains of black iron graven with glowing red runes snap out and twine around the supervillains as their manacle ends seek to clamp around any extremities handy!

(Chains of Thought! Shapeable area to get all the baddies and exclude any goodies, DC 21)


----------



## Elric (Jul 4, 2008)

OK, now that Star has stunned Pharoah, change Nitro's attack to on him.  Assuming that he's both prone and stunned,  Power Attack for 5 and leap over and attack him (otherwise PA for 3).  "Nice shot Star!  I'll try to make it a combo"


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 6, 2008)

Apollo fires an arrow that explodes in Efreet's shoulder. (1 bruise).  Nightweaver joins the stone guy and his group attacking guards around the ship taking down a guard with a kick to the head.  The ship deploys a number of point defense weapons that pin down some of the attackers.



Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren spies the assault on Star, and notes that the shield helped out a little.  He turns his attention to the rest of the battlefield, as he wonders where he is needed most.  "Everyone give a status report.  Star and I are out and ready.  Where are we needed?"






kirinke said:


> Hope manages to keep her temper and her cool, the icy power she's manipulating helping with that. She sidesteps the Efreet's attack and then lashes out at him as he rushes past, firing at near point blank range, grateful that she's been able to learn how to change her attacks to suite the situation.




Hope gets struck by another volley of energy blades, but is only lightly hurt (another bruise).  She ignores the attack and goes for the flaming monster, blasting him with a bolt of cold that immediately extinguishes his flames and sends him crashing into the sand dunes, sending steam and hot sand high into the air (KO).



Victim said:


> Star rights herself after the being clipped by the Pharoah.  _It'd be awful to throw up inside this thing.  Well, I'm here...  Let's not fail again._  "I'm by the ship and the force field is down because the Mystery Super is attacking it from behind," Star says into the comm.  She jinks aboutin a blur of motion, then creates several white hot plasma spheres which arc downwards towards her fallen opponent.  "Just a minute, I need to get rid of this guy.  Optic, can you tell me where to aim to hit any other important systems inside or outside of the ship?"
> 
> Star will to stay in a line between the Egyptian super and the ship's guns, so weapons fire will strike her assailant should it miss her.  _Those railgun slugs are hard to see; be careful._
> 
> ...




The ship's tower deploys its two defensive cannons, flanking the lower end of the bridge, which fire continuous beams.  Star dodges one, and maneuvers one into Pharaoh, blasting him back across the desert, and leaving a smoking would in his back. (restunned, another bruise and injury)

Optic directs Star to hit the communications array on top of the tower, but only damages it.



Elric said:


> OK, now that Star has stunned Pharoah, change Nitro's attack to on him.  Assuming that he's both prone and stunned,  Power Attack for 5 and leap over and attack him (otherwise PA for 3).  "Nice shot Star!  I'll try to make it a combo"




Nitro jumps into the air, landing with a two-fisted bash that drives Pharaoh deep into the sand (KO).  Leopard recovers (hp to Nitro), and sees that things are going very badly.  As Hope flies by, LL jumps up and spikes Hope into the sand. (stunned, 1 bruise)





Jemal said:


> "Damit, I knew he had to be around here somewhere."  Optic keeps his sight on Control Freak while passing the info along, determined to keep his powers busy.
> 
> [sblock=ooc] Readied action to attempt to Counter anything Control Freak tries to do using Datalink. (Willing to use Hero Point if required for power stunt, etc.) +16 Computers [/sblock]







Shayuri said:


> Thessaly casts a spell under her breath, focusing on Control Freak and his gang of goons. From the shadows they cast and from all around them chains of black iron graven with glowing red runes snap out and twine around the supervillains as their manacle ends seek to clamp around any extremities handy!
> 
> (Chains of Thought! Shapeable area to get all the baddies and exclude any goodies, DC 21)




Viridian and Optic bravely run downstairs to confront the four supers.  

Optic fails to stop Control Freak from overriding a couple of doors.  He hears the telepath, sending him information that gives him access to the base's key systems, other than, interestingly, the core database's final firewall.

Viridian sees the door in front of her open suddenly, encountering Control Freak and his entourage.  Her enchanted chains bind Murder Mouse and his really big guns entirely (Helpess!), and Control Freak himself (Helpless!...other than mental actions though, and that's what's important.)

Battle Bee raises his right hand, and fires a stream of black spines at her.She gets hit by several (rerolls staggered result, is stunned instead).  She is knocked back into the wall, then tries to steady herself, only to notice that the darts are poisonous.  She takes a step and falls to her knees.  

Battle Bunny and his warhammer jumps at Viridian and clubs her over the head.  Its knocks her down (bruised), and she blacks out for a while. (failed save v linked fatigue effect by 10+...first time she went down the entire campaign.)


Meanwhile on the surface, the Mystery Super and her group continue to wreak havoc on the fleeing and disorganized attack force, continuing to fire their foot-and-a-half long exploding, armor piercing depleted uranium shells.

One of the troop carriers, as well as two tanks and four mechs, actually do manage to reach the base.  The troop carrier unloads, and the telepath shows his true power.  As the soldiers get out, many of them spasm, reacting as if they are being shot.  Some fall from the psychosomatic wounds, and others begin shooting at their comrades, with the ATTACKERS screaming things like "Traitor!", "Why are you attacking me!" , and "Where did these guys come from!"


----------



## Victim (Jul 6, 2008)

"Great hit, Nitro," Star comments as the wrestler finishes the Pharoah.  "Okay, the array isn't quite down yet.  Umm, was that V?  Is something going on at the base?  I can come back if you want; Nitro can..." she comms in a rush.  Star yells over, "Nitro, can you jump up and break that antennae?"  _With the battlesuits and other supers here, I think I should go back and help Thess, it sounded like she was getting hurt badly - and shouldn't she have responded by now?  Dang it, this fight is so spread out that I can't tell what's going on, especially since I missed the start._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 6, 2008)

ooc:
Hero point to shake off the stun.

IC
Hope shakes off the stun, somehow, and looks at Guardian of Mecca, trying to remember what he can do. "Winds of the north, winds of the south, winds of the east and west hear my plea, protect my friends, protect my allies with your ferocity," she whispered, pooling her power and unleashing it at just the right moment. 

Now the others know what she was doing while in meditation.......


ooc:
Area burst, Tornado. Trying to down the electrical/light super, then she plans on wrecking merry havok with it on the remaining enemy forces. (Complete with freaky St. Elmoe's fire lightning/light display)


----------



## Victim (Jul 8, 2008)

_Okay, she's not replying.  I should head back.  ... That's a teleportation array.  That probably goes right to the Lighthouse.  Isn't that exactly what need?_  "Nevermind.  I'm heading back.  Optic, please let me know if all the doors aren't open."

Star blasts away from the ship at maximum normal speed.  "Apollo, I could probably use some help," she says, zooming past the troop carriers and into the base.  Megan takes the corners at extreme speed, more changing her flight vector by right angles than properly turning.

Assuming that she can make it down there: Star blasts into the hall, stopping abruptly above Thessaly's prone form.  A blast of wind follows her, tossing her hair and cape about.  "You look ridiculous."  _Says the person in high tech spandex._  Megan takes aim at Control Freak, then shudders slightly.   [/i]Okay, Control Freak needs to go down...  But, human combustion attack...  I'm not going to burn up anymore.  I'm not![/i]  She fires at Murder Mouse, carefully plotting a path to avoid damaging the bindings and remains poised to the dodge.

---------------------------------
Move Action: fly into the base, trying to get to where Control Freak and co are.  If needed, Acrobatics check to fly through the base at high speed or avoid crashing into a closed doorway is 37

Standard Action:  Shoot the Murder Mouse: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3)
Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Defensive Attack 5.  Attack +8: 22 I forgot that I wanted to Defensive Attack when entering the bonus

If Star is missed, she'll EE: Surge to Redirect into one of the other attackers (Acrobatics +19).

Def: 27/14.  Toughness 9.  Fatigued, Bruised x3.  HP 2.  Displaced: Visual.  Wren's armor is Bruised x1.


----------



## Elric (Jul 8, 2008)

*Nitro, 2 HP*



Victim said:


> "Great hit, Nitro," Star comments as the wrestler finishes the Pharoah.





"Thanks, Star.  Nice set-up.  You're even better than Joey Mercury!" [Nitro's teammate on team MNM in the WWE]

"Hang on, Star.  Got to intervene in this cat fight." (Looking over at Hope and Libyan Leopard).

Nitro leaps over and tries to level LL with a ferocious flying punch to the face.  Charge, AOA for 5, PA for 5.  Roll 1d20+10 for 22.  That should hit (19 damage).  Defense 14 for a round.  If I get attacked by a ton of attacks at once, use HP for double-dodge bonus.  If I get hit for damage 5+ above Nitro's toughness save, use Ultimate Toughness.


----------



## Victim (Jul 9, 2008)

"Thanks.  Bye."  _I think..._


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 9, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star blasts away from the ship at maximum normal speed.  "Apollo, I could probably use some help," she says, zooming past the troop carriers and into the base.  Megan takes the corners at extreme speed, more changing her flight vector by right angles than properly turning.



Apollo smirks, "I got your back..."

He does what he can to cover Star.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 10, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Great hit, Nitro," Star comments as the wrestler finishes the Pharoah.  "Okay, the array isn't quite down yet.  Umm, was that V?  Is something going on at the base?  I can come back if you want; Nitro can..." she comms in a rush.  Star yells over, "Nitro, can you jump up and break that antennae?"  _With the battlesuits and other supers here, I think I should go back and help Thess, it sounded like she was getting hurt badly - and shouldn't she have responded by now?  Dang it, this fight is so spread out that I can't tell what's going on, especially since I missed the start._






kirinke said:


> ooc:
> Hero point to shake off the stun.
> 
> IC
> ...




Hope hits what's left of the enemy formation with a gigantic tornado, which further damages their vehicles, and hurts Pharoah and the Guardian (1 bruise to each)

(The Guardian's surprising gender was an accidental reveal BTW.  Lets chalk that up with Optic catching that fact with his X-Ray vision)



Victim said:


> _Okay, she's not replying.  I should head back.  ... That's a teleportation array.  That probably goes right to the Lighthouse.  Isn't that exactly what need?_  "Nevermind.  I'm heading back.  Optic, please let me know if all the doors aren't open."
> 
> Star blasts away from the ship at maximum normal speed.  "Apollo, I could probably use some help," she says, zooming past the troop carriers and into the base.  Megan takes the corners at extreme speed, more changing her flight vector by right angles than properly turning.
> 
> ...






Victim said:


> "Thanks.  Bye."  _I think..._






Vanifae said:


> Apollo smirks, "I got your back..."
> 
> He does what he can to cover Star.




Star and Apollo rapidly fly through the base, with Optic, now in control of the door system in the base, is able to clear them a path.  They arrive, finding Viridian unconscious and two bad guys trying to unchain the other two.  Killer Bee uses his mandible devices, which apparently have some kind of vibration power, to cut the chains off Murder Mouse.  Battle Bunny yanks the rest of them off.  Control Freak manages to activate a phasing device, and walks through his chains, which clatter to the floor and disappear.

When Star and Apollo arrive, they attack Murder Mouse, but Star's plasma fails to penetrate his armor and he manages to avoid Apollo's arrow, which blasts a small hole in the wall. Murder Mouse shoots back, rapidly propelling metal slugs at the two fast flyers.  Those that come close explode, sending force and shrapnel at the heroes.  It seems that the slugs are being magnetically propelled (though his portable weapon is vastly weaker than a traditional high-speed railgun), and lack detonators.  It seems that MM is using a power to make them explode when he wants.  Star's armor is badly cracked (disabled), and Apollo is hurt by shrapnel (1 more injury/bruise).




Elric said:


> "Thanks, Star.  Nice set-up.  You're even better than Joey Mercury!" [Nitro's teammate on team MNM in the WWE]
> 
> "Hang on, Star.  Got to intervene in this cat fight." (Looking over at Hope and Libyan Leopard).
> 
> Nitro leaps over and tries to level LL with a ferocious flying punch to the face.  Charge, AOA for 5, PA for 5.  Roll 1d20+10 for 22.  That should hit (19 damage).  Defense 14 for a round.  If I get attacked by a ton of attacks at once, use HP for double-dodge bonus.  If I get hit for damage 5+ above Nitro's toughness save, use Ultimate Toughness.




Nitro tries to bash LL, but she is surprisingly resilient (hp, she rerolled).  He continues past her in the air, and she whirls and hits him, batting him into the sand (another bruise, hp spent on Ult Toughness)


Viridian finds herself in a circular control room with no windows.  Next to her is a man in his mid-thirties, you recognize his voice as the telepath, and his appearance combines with his voice to give her the idea that he's probably Russian.  He wears a helmet tied into the controls.  He says "I figure I might as well borrow you mind, since your body isn't using it.  I am Warmind, the commander of Ghost Squad.  Technically, this is a dream, but its an accurate depiction of reality here and now.  We won't be able to stick around, no matter how this battle goes, but we will be out there, fighting Barrington.  If you want to remain in contact with us, go to safety deposit box #15498253 at the third branch of the Grand Caymans Investment Bank, and type the pass code 753962057319.  Inside you will find a communication device."

Meanwhile, she can see the monitors and hear his orders.  The several vehicles that made it to the base are quickly taking the surface.  The prison is taken before all the prisoners can be taken below to the teleportal.  One battlesuit is trapped inside, having told two others two run away just in time.  He radios.  "I'm sanitizing this building.  Its been a pleasure serving the cause, sir.  Seal the blast doors."  He puts two keys into keyholes in the wall, and pulls a switch above one of them, and puts one hand on a second next to it.  Poison gas fills the room and the sealed cells.  A tank blows the front door down.  He raises his gun and blasts a shell at the tank, slightly damaging it.  A mech fires a volley of rail shots into the battlesuit, who manages to pull the other lever.  The prison facility explodes in white-hot light, destroying much of the above-ground portion of the base and some of the attacking vehicles.  Warmind looks sad.

(Yes, I realize this group isn't following the comics code.  The contrasting styles are intentional.)


----------



## Jemal (Jul 10, 2008)

Optic continues relaying information as he rushes after Control Freak, running up and Dropkicking the technoob when he finally arrives there.

[sblock=ooc]
I SHOULD be able to catch up with a move action, with speed rank 1 and knowing the open doors.
Hmm.. helpless, eh?  And he's a mental character.. SOO..

According to the book, I have +4 to attack and his defenses are greatly reduced, so...  Extra Effort to add Power Attack to my Strike ability, Then I use it.

Attack Roll (1d20+9=16) Toughness save DC 32.
[/sblock]


----------



## Elric (Jul 10, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> Hope hits what's left of the enemy formation with a gigantic tornado, which further damages their vehicles, and hurts Pharoah and the Guardian (1 bruise to each)




You mean Leopard, not Pharoah, I presume.



> Nitro tries to bash LL, but she is surprisingly resilient (hp, she rerolled).  He continues past her in the air, and she whirls and hits him, batting him into the sand (another bruise, hp spent on Ult Toughness)




A tad surprised that 19 damage resulted in nothing on a character with 2 bruises (assuming I'm right above, did you take that second bruise into account?).  

Jemal, Control Freak is probably out of his chains by the time you get an action.



> Star and Apollo rapidly fly through the base, with Optic, now in control of the door system in the base, is able to clear them a path. They arrive, finding Viridian unconscious and two bad guys trying to unchain the other two. Killer Bee uses his mandible devices, which apparently have some kind of vibration power, to cut the chains off Murder Mouse. Battle Bunny yanks the rest of them off. Control Freak manages to activate a phasing device, and walks through his chains, which clatter to the floor and disappear.


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 10, 2008)

"Star stay with me!"  Apollo's bow fades away as the rocker creates a burst of light focused on Murder Mouse's eyes! He then moves to put himself between the enemies and Star.

_Visual Dazzle 11 on Murder Mouse._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 10, 2008)

Hope looks up at the Guardian of Mecca, her voice cool, overlayed with brittle overtones. "The tides of evil will overwhelm Earth if Barrington wins and he will not share power. To him, you are either slave or enemy." she sent upwards, her voice carried by the winds she controlled. "Do you wish to be allied with one who will destroy everything you know, everything you cherish?" she asked. "If you wish proof of what I say, I can give it to you."

She turned her attention to the Lybian leopard and lashed out with her main attack, intending only to knock the super out.


----------



## Elric (Jul 10, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> "Star stay with me!"  Apollo's bow fades away as the rocker creates a burst of light focused on Murder Mouse's eyes! He then moves to put himself between the enemies and Star.
> 
> _Visual Dazzle 11 on Murder Mouse._





(OOC: Under the circumstances, it might be better to let Star use her Selective Area Dazzle attack on all of the bad guys over there, then shoot one of the dazzled guys [assuming it seems like they don't have the senses to operate fine while dazzled] for an almost sure hit)



			
				kirinke said:
			
		

> She turned her attention to the Lybian leopard and lashed out with her main attack, intending only to knock the super out.




Good tactics, given that Leopard has already used her reroll for the round on Nitro's hit.  With any luck we'll pull off the Nitro-Hope (/maybe Nitro again) KO combo in a second 

Matt, any chance you can resolve Hope's action before the rest of the round (assuming she's the next one up).  Nitro's going to have a _very _different set of actions if the attacks hits and stuns than if it misses, for example.


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 10, 2008)

_Good point, if Star does that then Apollo will focus his attacks on Murder Mouse._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 10, 2008)

Elric said:


> (OOC: Under the circumstances, it might be better to let Star use her Selective Area Dazzle attack on all of the bad guys over there, then shoot one of the dazzled guys [assuming it seems like they don't have the senses to operate fine while dazzled] for an almost sure hit)
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Lol. She couldn't have done the tornado without Nitro covering her.  So turn about is fair play!


----------



## Victim (Jul 10, 2008)

_Crap.  It's not fair that those stupid things explode; I had them beat.  Is that his power - making things explode or ignite?  How can he even hit the slugs like that?  Is it anything in his field of vision?_  Star performs a quick spin, tossing aside ruined pieces of Wren's energy armor along with flash orbs to blind her enemies.  "I'm all right."

Megan shifts in front of Thessaly and gets low, then scoots herself and the unconscious witch behind the lind of battle.  "Wren...  We could use a hand."

--------------------------
Standard Action: Flaring: Dazzle (visual) +11 Area (Burst 55 ft radius) Selective Attack.  On Control Freak, Murder Mouse, Battle Bunny and Killer Bee.

Move Action: Move backwards about 20 feet, trying to push Thessaly along with her

Def: 22/14. Toughness 9.  Bruised x3.  Fatigued.  HP 2.  Displaced versus sight.


----------



## Shayuri (Jul 11, 2008)

Meanwhile, in the telepath's mental construct:

Thessaly blinks, taken aback, and tries to remember the numbers...repeating them to herself under her breath as she watches the proceedings with growing dismay.

"I'm so sorry," she says after seeing the soldier's sacrifice. "We led him right to you. We just wanted to contact you."


----------



## Jemal (Jul 11, 2008)

Elric said:


> Jemal, Control Freak is probably out of his chains by the time you get an action.



**OOC**
My last action was attempting to counter him.  It failed, and then he moved. Then he was chained by her, then I get a turn again, THEN he gets to attempt escape, as my initiative (having readied last round) is right before his... i think.


----------



## Elric (Jul 13, 2008)

*Nitro, 2 HP*

Nitro goes after LL again.  If she's been stunned and knocked back (>5 ft) by Hope, then move over and attack, PA for 5.  

If she's in reach and stunned, Intimidate to demoralize as a move action (+12), then attack, PA for 5. 

If she's in reach still and not stunned, Acrobatic Bluff to feint at +12 as a move action, then attack.  PA for 5 if the feint works; PA for 2 otherwise. 

"The bigger they are..." _Still not original, John!"_


----------



## kirinke (Jul 13, 2008)

Elric said:


> Nitro goes after LL again.  If she's been stunned and knocked back (>5 ft) by Hope, then move over and attack, PA for 5.
> 
> If she's in reach and stunned, Intimidate to demoralize as a move action (+12), then attack, PA for 5.
> 
> ...




Hope turns to LL. "Why do you serve Barrington? Money? Power? Domination over your enemies?" she laughed, but it was brittle and cold.  "With him, there is only one master. Himself. You are nothing but a pawn, a tool to be used and discarded once it's broken,"


----------



## Elric (Jul 13, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Hope turns to LL. "Why do you serve Barrington? Money? Power? Domination over your enemies?" she laughed, but it was brittle and cold.  "With him, there is only one master. Himself. You are nothing but a pawn, a tool to be used and discarded once it's broken,"




"Yeah", Nitro chimes in to Hope's questioning.  "Why haven't you spotted what's going on?"


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 14, 2008)

Wren hears the summons moving quickly down into the base, and to Nightweavers side.  He then uses what powers he can to aid her in the poison...

[sblock=OOC]Would HEAL help her out?  Or would I have to use the HP to remove her status?[/sblock]


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 14, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Optic continues relaying information as he rushes after Control Freak, running up and Dropkicking the technoob when he finally arrives there.
> 
> [sblock=ooc]
> I SHOULD be able to catch up with a move action, with speed rank 1 and knowing the open doors.
> ...




He does so, striking CF accross the face, drawing blood (1 bruise, hp to Optic, CF rerolled).  CF looks towards Optic derisively "So you're the one who's been trying to slow me down.  You'll regret showing your face here...and your fancy suit."

CF waves his hand and Optic's suit is immobilized, trapping him in place.

"I interface with machines on a level your can only dream of, little boy."



Vanifae said:


> "Star stay with me!"  Apollo's bow fades away as the rocker creates a burst of light focused on Murder Mouse's eyes! He then moves to put himself between the enemies and Star.
> 
> _Visual Dazzle 11 on Murder Mouse._




Murder Mouse fails to cover his eyes in time, and is blinded.



kirinke said:


> Hope looks up at the Guardian of Mecca, her voice cool, overlayed with brittle overtones. "The tides of evil will overwhelm Earth if Barrington wins and he will not share power. To him, you are either slave or enemy." she sent upwards, her voice carried by the winds she controlled. "Do you wish to be allied with one who will destroy everything you know, everything you cherish?" she asked. "If you wish proof of what I say, I can give it to you."
> 
> She turned her attention to the Lybian leopard and lashed out with her main attack, intending only to knock the super out.




"The man you call Barrington offers us dignity and freedom from imperialism.  In my country alone he has helped us drill oil more efficiently, and he is helping us terraform and modernize the harsh desert landscape of much of our land. I will not be lectured by you as you stand guarding a prison filled with heroes taken by the oppressors.  I will bring your head back home with me!" 

The Saudi super raises her blade into the air, catching a bolt of lightning from the sandstorm sending a single spinning energy blade towards Hope riding an arc of lightning.  It blasts Hope across the desert.  (another bruise, an injury, and a stun).



Victim said:


> _Crap.  It's not fair that those stupid things explode; I had them beat.  Is that his power - making things explode or ignite?  How can he even hit the slugs like that?  Is it anything in his field of vision?_  Star performs a quick spin, tossing aside ruined pieces of Wren's energy armor along with flash orbs to blind her enemies.  "I'm all right."
> 
> Megan shifts in front of Thessaly and gets low, then scoots herself and the unconscious witch behind the lind of battle.  "Wren...  We could use a hand."
> 
> ...




She blinds Battle Bunny, and MM is already blinded.  Killer Bee looks right at her, his mandibles vibrating especially fast, and attacks her in response with his stinger launchers.  Fortunately, she manages to dodge them as she pushes Thess away of the battle.



Shayuri said:


> Meanwhile, in the telepath's mental construct:
> 
> Thessaly blinks, taken aback, and tries to remember the numbers...repeating them to herself under her breath as she watches the proceedings with growing dismay.
> 
> "I'm so sorry," she says after seeing the soldier's sacrifice. "We led him right to you. We just wanted to contact you."




"He was a good man.  They would have found us anyway, though.  Thanks to you and your group, we may manage to avoid defeat."



Jemal said:


> **OOC**
> My last action was attempting to counter him.  It failed, and then he moved. Then he was chained by her, then I get a turn again, THEN he gets to attempt escape, as my initiative (having readied last round) is right before his... i think.




(He got away last round.)




kirinke said:


> Hope turns to LL, (gm adds) taunting her despite the Guardian focusing on her as well. "Why do you serve Barrington? Money? Power? Domination over your enemies?" she laughed, but it was brittle and cold.  "With him, there is only one master. Himself. You are nothing but a pawn, a tool to be used and discarded once it's broken,"



 (she still loses her action to the stun, but I'm letting her talk)

The gigantic leopard woman is less talkative, and responds simply with smashing Hope into the sand with both fists (last hp spent to reroll, staggered, stunned, bruised), roaring and then hitting her again. (hp spent to surge, granted to Hope who rerolls, still gets a second staggered and is KO'd)



Elric said:


> "Yeah", Nitro chimes in to Hope's questioning.  "Why haven't you spotted what's going on?"







Elric said:


> Nitro goes after LL again.  If she's been stunned and knocked back (>5 ft) by Hope, then move over and attack, PA for 5.
> 
> If she's in reach and stunned, Intimidate to demoralize as a move action (+12), then attack, PA for 5.
> 
> ...




Nitro jumps in front of LL, causing her to lunge at him.  He jumps away as he intended, getting behind he and jumping at her again.  His wild swing fails to connect, however. (the feint was successful, the attack missed)



Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren hears the summons moving quickly down into the base, and to Nightweavers side.  He then uses what powers he can to aid her in the poison...
> 
> [sblock=OOC]Would HEAL help her out?  Or would I have to use the HP to remove her status?[/sblock]




Wren grabs Thess from Star, grabbing her under the arms, and takes her around a corner.  He heals her with glowing energy from his ring.  She is suddenly jerked out of Warmind's mental construct, and awakens high and groggy.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 14, 2008)

Nitro continues to attack the off-balance LL, and this time he connects with a jumping kick, knocking her down (stunned, bruised again)


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 15, 2008)

Apollo turns his bow into his mighty light axe and charges at Killer Bee and tries to smash him over the head with his weapon hoping to buy Star more time.  "Wow that is the most terrible costume I have ever seen... you really need to fire your tailor!  Seriously I am not sure I should swat you, or steal your honey."

_Strike 10, Auditory Dazzle 11; +9 attack will use a Hero Point if the roll is lower then 10; Utilizing *Taunt* as a move action (-5) for Bluff +8._


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 15, 2008)

CHANGE OF ACTION:

Hope shakes off the lightning strike, and blasts LL with one of her own, slightly wounding her (another bruise ... this does not affect Nitro's attack result).

LL still does hit her, KO's her in one hit, and does not surge.  The difference in this case from the previous resut is one more bruise for LL and one less bruise and one less hp for Hope.


----------



## kirinke (Jul 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> CHANGE OF ACTION:
> 
> Hope shakes off the lightning strike, and blasts LL with one of her own, slightly wounding her (another bruise ... this does not affect Nitro's attack result).
> 
> LL still does hit her, KO's her in one hit, and does not surge.  The difference in this case from the previous resut is one more bruise for LL and one less bruise and one less hp for Hope.




_Well at least I went down with one lick in, _she thought woozily before passing out.

ooc:
Nitro could call Wren for Hope right about now lol.


----------



## Victim (Jul 15, 2008)

"Really?" Star taunts the super villain. "You didn't seem that great when I cracked your holographic projector in a few hours.  Does having a power to directly control and interface with machines let you get away with sloppy coding?"  _He took out Optic just like that...  _ 

_Wait after talking.  Wait.  Wait..._  Megan pumps energy into air between bee man and the others, then directs the shots toward Murder Mouse.  Hopefully, the blinded enemies will be confused by the source of the fire and shoot one of their own.

[sblock]Standard Action: Shoot Murder Mouse:  Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Triggered 2 (any trigger), Reversible (on latent triggers, not for undoing effects), Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise

Defensive Attack 2.  Attack +11: 21

Move Action: Redirect.  Acrobatics +14.  20

Defense 24/14.  Toughness 9.  Bruised 3.  HP 2

If one of the enemies is stunned by the end of her normal turn, Star will Surge to shoot them too (or again, as the case may be).
[/sblock]


----------



## Elric (Jul 15, 2008)

*Nitro, 1 HP*



DM_Matt said:


> CHANGE OF ACTION:
> 
> Hope shakes off the lightning strike, and blasts LL with one of her own, slightly wounding her (another bruise ... this does not affect Nitro's attack result).
> 
> LL still does hit her, KO's her in one hit, and does not surge.  The difference in this case from the previous resut is one more bruise for LL and one less bruise and one less hp for Hope.




Oops.  That didn't help much.  Well, LL probably had over a 50/50 chance to miss Hope's regular Defense of 21.  So this wasn't a bad decision, just a bad outcome.

Nitro uses Extra Effort to get another swing at LL... and the roll is a natural 1.  http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1662689/   (Oops!)

Nitro takes another wild swing, somehow missing his prone, stunned, gigantic opponent. 

"Hey guys.  Hope got KOd by Leopard.  My batting average is pretty bad at the moment and I'm getting a little tired out here.  Plus Guardian is still up as well.  If you can spare anyone really fast to come back over here, that might be good.  If I don't report back in 6 seconds you'll know it's urgent."

(If Nitro gets hit for 15+ damage, use Ultimate Toughness on it)


----------



## Victim (Jul 15, 2008)

"Don't get knocked out Nitro.  You're too big for me to move."


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 15, 2008)

Since she's first....

The Guardian does another flyby and shoots another lightning-riding force blade at Nitro, but it bounces off his powerful body.

Meanwhile, the sandstorm is calming down significantly, since neither Pharoah nor the earth super seems to be sustaining it.  In the ship area, they have put the force field back up and re pushing back the attackers.  Meanwhile, the retreating mechs and tanks are trying to get back into the bays, and to carry others in as well.


----------



## Elric (Jul 15, 2008)

*Nitro, 1 HP, fatigued*

"Don't worry Star, I'll do my best"  Nitro gets out between breaths.  "Ouch, lightning.  That wasn't so bad but I can't take attacks like that all day."

(Take the fatigue, modified stats 20 Defense, +13 dmg, +7 attack, can't run/charge)

Nitro goes after a prone Leopard with a defensive jab and tries to maneuver Leopard into hitting herself with her reply (Nitro now at 25 Defense).  

[sblock](OOC: Attack a prone LL, Defensive Attack for 5 and Accurate Attack for 1.  +7 to hit (+7 - 5 DA + 1 AA + 4 Prone), 12 damage on a hit.

Defense 25 for a round.  Roll an 8 for a 15 to hit total (counting the +4 prone bonus). http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1663122/ 

Move action: Nitro uses Acrobatic Feint to Trick Guardian into attacking him, with the intention of Redirecting to Leopard on a miss.
EDIT- If Apollo has already blinded Guardian, I'd like to change this to before my attack Acrobatic Bluff to feint Leopard.  I don't think this is abusive ex-post (I know I rolled high) as it's the best use of my move action and feints on Leopard have been working.

Rolled a 19, so total for Acrobatic Trick is 30: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1663123/.  That should work.

Excessive contingency announcements for my one HP: Using Ultimate Toughness if hit for 15+ dmg, rerolling any result of staggered or worse in general, rerolling any result of Stunned or worse if damage is <=12, buying off any other stuns that occur.[/sblock]


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 15, 2008)

Elric said:


> "Don't worry Star, I'll do my best"  Nitro gets out between breaths.  "Ouch, lightning.  That wasn't so bad but I can't take attacks like that all day."
> 
> (Take the fatigue, modified stats 20 Defense, +13 dmg, +7 attack, can't run/charge)
> 
> ...




He can't get her to punch herself, and there isn't anything convenient around to make her crash into


----------



## Elric (Jul 15, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> He can't get her to punch herself, and there isn't anything convenient around to make her crash into




He can't? She's huge and presumably clumsy 

In that case, just Trick Guardian into attacking him and on a miss Redirect that into Leopard, assuming that Guardian will be flying close enough overhead such that Leopard won't have the +4 benefit for being prone (angle should matter for whether prone applies, e.g., see http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=15258).


----------



## Jemal (Jul 15, 2008)

> CF waves his hand and Optic's suit is immobilized, trapping him in place.
> 
> "I interface with machines on a level your can only dream of, little boy."



"Interface this." Optic blasts CF full force with his eye lasers.

[sblock=ooc]
Eye Laser! (1d20+10=17) 
Hero Point Reroll on Eye Lasers (1d20+10=26) Fort DC 27.
Since the suit is full-body but not connected to my visor or head in any way, I presume this action is allright? Optic should still have full control over his neck and head.
[/sblock]


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 16, 2008)

Wren hears the new summons, and simply stares down at Thess.  "You've still got some fight left in you... I gotta go help out Hope.  She's been knocked out..."

Without waiting for a reply, Wren speeds out the base, hoping to find Hope and aid her as well.  His flight is not as fast as that of Apollo's or Star's, but it will suffice for this type of situation.  When he finds her, again, he works on getting her back into the fight, all the while, thinking to himself, "This medic job is harder than I thought..."

HEAL 10 for Hope, will use HP as well to get her back into shape more quickly if possible.

[sblock=OOC]I started with 3HP this battle.  Did any get subtracted from the healing on Thess?[/sblock]


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 17, 2008)

Apollo focuses his efforts on trying to save Hope, he does not want her losing her head.   He zooms to her aid and takes up a defensive position around her blasting Guardian with a Dazzling burst of Light.

_Visual Dazzle 11 on Guardian._


----------



## Elric (Jul 17, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> Apollo focuses his efforts on trying to save Hope, he does not want her losing her head.   He zooms to her aid and takes up a defensive position around her blasting Guardian with a Dazzling burst of Light.




"Good to see you Apollo.  We're going to show these villains not to mess with celebrities.  Just because we're rich and famous doesn't mean we can't kick butt!"


----------



## kirinke (Jul 17, 2008)

Hope is blissfully unconscious. And like all unconscious creatures can't seem to make a snappy response or attack.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 17, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> Apollo focuses his efforts on trying to save Hope, he does not want her losing her head.   He zooms to her aid and takes up a defensive position around her blasting Guardian with a Dazzling burst of Light.
> 
> _Visual Dazzle 11 on Guardian._




Apollo flies towards the surface, only to find that the entrances are blocked by giant blast doors.  He soon discovers why, hearing the rest of the buildings on the ground level self-destruct just like the prison did.  Warmind says in Apollo's mind "Wait here, I will open the doors."  Apollo delays a bit, and sure enough that one set of doors open, revealing a blasted landscape up top, with little evidence of the base remaining, and flaming wreckage of some tanks and mechs.  He flies away towards the Guardian, and tries to blind her, but she manages to avoid it, already shielding her eyes from the dying sandstorm.



Victim said:


> "Really?" Star taunts the super villain. "You didn't seem that great when I cracked your holographic projector in a few hours.  Does having a power to directly control and interface with machines let you get away with sloppy coding?"  _He took out Optic just like that...  _
> 
> _Wait after talking.  Wait.  Wait..._  Megan pumps energy into air between bee man and the others, then directs the shots toward Murder Mouse.  Hopefully, the blinded enemies will be confused by the source of the fire and shoot one of their own.
> 
> ...




A torrent of plasma sends Murder Mouse flying, and Star follws up with another just as he strikes the wall (2 bruises, stunned)



Jemal said:


> "Interface this." Optic blasts CF full force with his eye lasers.
> 
> [sblock=ooc]
> Eye Laser! (1d20+10=17)
> ...




Control Freak points towards Optic, and fires a rapidfire laser pistol integrated into his wrist at the immobilized super (fiat to reroll a miss, hp for Optic)

Optic manages to control his visor (he needs to spend that HP for it), and blasts Control Freak in the face, sending him flying (Staggered and Stunned!).

Before he can restart his suit controls, however, Battle Bunny manages to recover from the blindness,  jumps at him and bashes him with his warhammer, sending him flying into the opposite wall.  He bounces off painfully (also staggered and stunned).

Murder Mouse remains blind, so he throws a grenade down the hall in the general direction of the heroes.  Wren and Star are lightly injured by shrapnel (1 injury/bruise each).

Battle Bee, not blinded, attacks Star, since Optic is already down and Wren and Viridian are around a corner.  The Bee's feelers apparently given him some kind of ranged tactile sense, and he seems unaffected by her blurring ability.  Battle Bee manages to lock on quite easily with both wrist-mounted  dart guns.  Star is thrown back (hp spent to reroll ko, stunned instead) into the wall at the end of the hallway, hitting her head very hard (staggered and stunned),and she bounces off.  She lands face-first and starts fading into  a stupor (if she spent her last hp to negate the fatigue from surging, she's just exhausted.  Otherwise she's out.)  

Viridian and Wren are around the corner, and they...(what do they do?)



Elric said:


> Oops.  That didn't help much.  Well, LL probably had over a 50/50 chance to miss Hope's regular Defense of 21.  So this wasn't a bad decision, just a bad outcome.
> 
> Nitro uses Extra Effort to get another swing at LL... and the roll is a natural 1.  http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1662689/   (Oops!)
> 
> ...






Elric said:


> "Don't worry Star, I'll do my best"  Nitro gets out between breaths.  "Ouch, lightning.  That wasn't so bad but I can't take attacks like that all day."
> 
> (Take the fatigue, modified stats 20 Defense, +13 dmg, +7 attack, can't run/charge)
> 
> ...






Elric said:


> He can't? She's huge and presumably clumsy
> 
> In that case, just Trick Guardian into attacking him and on a miss Redirect that into Leopard, assuming that Guardian will be flying close enough overhead such that Leopard won't have the +4 benefit for being prone (angle should matter for whether prone applies, e.g., see http://www.atomicthinktank.com/viewtopic.php?t=15258).




Nitro gets into the path of Guardian and LL, and gets LL to blast him, but sidesteps it at the last second so that she blasts LL instead (Disabled!), hitting her neck with the blade and cutting it open.

(I'll need new actions from Nitro for the rest of the round.)



Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren hears the new summons, and simply stares down at Thess.  "You've still got some fight left in you... I gotta go help out Hope.  She's been knocked out..."
> 
> 
> [sblock=OOC]I started with 3HP this battle.  Did any get subtracted from the healing on Thess?[/sblock]




(No)


----------



## Elric (Jul 17, 2008)

*Nitro, 1 HP, fatigued*



DM_Matt said:


> Nitro gets into the path of Guardian and LL, and gets LL to blast him, but sidesteps it at the last second so that she blasts LL instead (Disabled!), hitting her neck with the blade and cutting it open.
> 
> (I'll need new actions from Nitro for the rest of the round.)




“Ouch” Nitro exclaims looking down at a gravely injured Libyan Leopard, who has a wound in her neck about the size of his arm.  “Glad that wasn’t me.”

(OOC: Is Guardian using physical or energy damage?  This seems like physical, but just checking- have we seen her using both physical and energy damage for attacks?)

Nitro turns back towards the other supervillain and shouts in a voice that can be heard quite clearly above the din [there’s an advantage to having super-strength and constitution]

“Hey!  Are you from Hollywood?  Because the terrorists there can’t shoot straight either!”

[sblock]
Use Distract (Intimidate) on Guardian as a Standard Action.  +17 Intimidate vs. best of Intimidate, Sense Motive, Will save.

1d20 + 17, roll a 3 for total of 20 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1666252/)

Also using Intimidate skill to Demoralize as a move action (if successful, she gets -2 to saves, attack rolls and checks until Nitro’s next turn comes around)

1d20 + 12, roll a 6 for a total of 18. (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1666253/)

Not so hot.  Do I get a bonus on any of this because she almost just killed her teammate? [/sblock]


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 18, 2008)

Wren can see that things aren't going well, as was the norm.  Seeing the oversized bumble bee hit Star, Wren decides on a straight forwards approach.  Spying Control Freak almost out of the fight, he opts to make sure that Freakazoid does stay out, permanently.

".. enough... it's time to end this..."

Flying towards the foes, Wren ignores the bee, and gets an angle to blast Freak Boy with his most potent blast.  It's accuracy is hopefully enough to take out the foe, as he will then worry about the other foes.  First things first...

[sblock=Cosmic Blast +11]Auto Fire +1, Partial Penetrating +3, Affect Insubstantial x3, and not counting anything for being prone, as I hope Matt can add in the factors for the bonus for being prone.  Blast  11 (1d20 11=13) HP for reroll Blast  11 REROLL (1d20 11=31)  Uh, now THAT'S a good HP roll!  CRIT!!! [/sblock]

Turning to the bee, who obviously saw the potent shot, Wren can only narrow his gaze, "... next?..."


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## Shayuri (Jul 18, 2008)

Viridian looks woozily at Wren, then snaps back to the battle with some effort. She lifts a hand towards Killer Bee (or Battle Bee or whoever ), gripping him with an invisible force born of magically amplified will!

(TK grapple on da Bee...will also surge and try to pin him this round, or if the first grapple fails, to grapple again. +8 bonus)


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## DM_Matt (Jul 18, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren can see that things aren't going well, as was the norm.  Seeing the oversized bumble bee hit Star, Wren decides on a straight forwards approach.  Spying Control Freak almost out of the fight, he opts to make sure that Freakazoid does stay out, permanently.
> 
> ".. enough... it's time to end this..."
> 
> ...




Wren flies into the air and blasts CF with kinetic energy (KO!)



Shayuri said:


> Viridian looks woozily at Wren, then snaps back to the battle with some effort. She lifts a hand towards Killer Bee (or Battle Bee or whoever ), gripping him with an invisible force born of magically amplified will!
> 
> (TK grapple on da Bee...will also surge and try to pin him this round, or if the first grapple fails, to grapple again. +8 bonus)




She successfully pins the bee.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 19, 2008)

Seeing his chance, and the bee pinned, Wren turns his attention to the chance to even the playing field, by blasting the Bee with another attack.  Hopefully it would be enough to get the others a chance to recuperate.  

Extra Effort to have another attack , Blast +11 Extra Effort Blast (1d20 11=30)


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## Victim (Jul 19, 2008)

Star tries to rise and slumps back to the ground.  _I can't...  Poison sting?  _  Then she succumbs to the drug.

[sblock]I'll spend the HP to cancel fatigue if more of the enemies are KO'd or stunned before her turn, otherwise save it.[/sblock]

---------------------------------------------------

Apollo smirks and replies to Nitro, hoping to help distract the lightning controling super: "Wait, she wasn't shooting the giant intentionally?  I thought she was being punished for stealing her opponent, getting beaten up, or not wearing one of those lame burka things.  I say if you've got it, flaunt it."  He draws back on his bow of light.

[sblock]Move Action: Feint Guardian.  Bluff is +13/+17 with Attractive, so that's +8/+12 as a move.  Roll is 15, so that's 23 or 27.

Standard Action: Shoot Energy bow (Blast 11).  Attack: +11: 15

Def 21/13.  Toughness +11.  Injured 1, Bruised 1?  HP 1?  [/sblock]

Questions: [sblock]I'm not totally sure about Apollo's current status.  

Also: demoralize says it inflicts shaken (-2 on all attack rolls and checks), while the shaken condition in the combat chapter includes a penalty to saves too.  ???[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jul 19, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> Seeing his chance, and the bee pinned, Wren turns his attention to the chance to even the playing field, by blasting the Bee with another attack.  Hopefully it would be enough to get the others a chance to recuperate.
> 
> Extra Effort to have another attack , Blast +11 Extra Effort Blast (1d20 11=30)




The Bee is hurt, but not badly (bruised).


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## DM_Matt (Jul 19, 2008)

(Since the outside people have posted, I'll post their part.)



Elric said:


> “Ouch” Nitro exclaims looking down at a gravely injured Libyan Leopard, who has a wound in her neck about the size of his arm.  “Glad that wasn’t me.”
> 
> (OOC: Is Guardian using physical or energy damage?  This seems like physical, but just checking- have we seen her using both physical and energy damage for attacks?)
> 
> ...




The taunting seems to affect her somewhat, but she manages to gather her rage and strike back (demoralized, but not distracted).

She rotates her blade a bit, as it summons lightning and gathers energy until it glows bright, and then she swings and shouts 

"BLADESTORM!!!" 

Numerous blades are from the sword, and they seem to be guided, with many hitting the sand but more going for Nitro and Apollo

Both are blasted about the desert by the blades (each bruised/injured and stunned after using an hp from the reroll)


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## Jemal (Jul 19, 2008)

Optic groans, slumping backwards against a wall "which one'a y'all kicked me?"
[sblock=ooc] Stunned, staggered, bruised. (Though I have regen Bruised 3 (1/round, no action). at +4, so may regain some health.)[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jul 20, 2008)

Actions needed from Shayuri and Fangor.


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## DM_Matt (Jul 21, 2008)

(The bad guys go before them anyway)

Battle Bunny raises his mighty hammer, which glows red suddenly.  He bashes   the invisible hands of force around Killer Bee and they shatter (use his hammer which has nullify force constructs/snares and disintegrate objects to counter, wins opposed check, viridian rerolls to try not to get shot by KB, still loses), letting Killer Bee float to the ground.  Then pushing himself (fatigue from this), he jumps and bashes Optic with it, knocking him out.

Murder Mouse doesn't get up this round, but his blindness clears

Killer Bee, now free, hoses Viridian and Wren with his poison spines (with full all out attack and power attack).  Wren is unhurt, the spines failing to even penetrate his forcefield.  Viridian is a different story.  She takes the brunt of the attack, with a lot of hits striking her around the neck and opening bleeding wounds.  The force of the blow knocks her down, and she quickly passes out from the trauma and the drugs (2 more bruises, 1 more injury, stunned, staggered, disabled, dying (stabilized), KO'd three times over by poison and once by damage).

KB turns something on his wrist, and then turns and shoots a single white dart into CFs leg (takes a fatigue).  CF awakens and stands up weakly (still staggered).  

He says "Surrender, Wren.  You can't protect them all...not against all of us.  And you too, Warrick.  These people will all die if you don't turn yourself in."

Its Wren's go.


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## DM_Matt (Jul 21, 2008)

(next round up top) The Guardian makes another pass and fires another vicious round of blades (AOO5PA5).  

Apollo goes down.
(KO/disabled/staggered/stunned/injury/bruise..a reroll wouldnt have mattered.  He had already been staggered form the beginning, btw, and we all forgot about it.  Oops.)

Nitro gets blasted down too (staggered/stunned/bruised again)


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## Elric (Jul 21, 2008)

*Nitro, 0 HP, fatigued, bruised*



DM_Matt said:


> Nitro gets blasted down too (staggered/stunned/bruised again)



_
Confounded woman.  Stop blasting me like crazy.  All I did was say you can't shoot straight.  Hmm, maybe she took it badly.  I don't know.  Is there some other meaning to Hollywood and 'not straight' I'm forgetting?  Oh well._

[sblock](Nitro regens the Staggered result.  Still stunned till Guardian's next action.    Also bruised.  And his pride is hurt, but at least that doesn't penalize Toughness saves.)[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jul 21, 2008)

Suddenly, the Mystery Super flies out of the mess near Barrington's ship, riding a grav-based hoverboard.  She summons up a fusion ball and throws it into the Guardian.  It sticks in her and the flames spread for a moment and explode, blasting her out of the sky (-6 con, stunned, injury, bruise, staggered, stunned again, bruised again).  She falls into the sands.  MS lands near her.

Meanwhile, the knocked out LL returns to her human form.  Just after, in a blur, Blitzkreig appears out of nowhere and scoops up LL and Pharoah and runs away with them.  Efreet gets left behind.


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## Shayuri (Jul 21, 2008)

(OOC - Uh...how did a Nullify against force stuff work against Telekinesis?)


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## DM_Matt (Jul 21, 2008)

2x post.


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## DM_Matt (Jul 21, 2008)

Shayuri said:


> (OOC - Uh...how did a Nullify against force stuff work against Telekinesis?)




(TK is magically-exerted physical force)

Warmind brings Viridian, with whom he had already established a psychic connection, back into his simulation and says "Constantine and I go way back.  This place is built to resist him.  Lots of things that need to be put  together or activated manually or are non-digital.  He will not be able to stop the self-destruct.  Thank you all.  You've won this round.  I can handle it from here."

Before he returns Viridian to her body, he causes her to mumble to Wren in her sleep " Warmind...says...'s'okay...we can go..."


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## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 21, 2008)

Wren sees the shots from the foe, and easily blocks them from his own armor.  As the others spray at Viridian, he is not fast enough to interpose, as the woman goes down to the poison darts.  Eventually, the Extra Effort from his last round is a bit overwhelming, as he tries to think of an action that would aid them.  

As he contemplates on how to take out the rest of these enemies, he hears the faint words that it's ok now... as he cocks his head in contemplation.  Should he allow the foes to be free, or work on taking them out now?  These type of decisions are the hardest to take, unless there was some way to do both.  He should aid his allies, but at the expense of letting these freaks out into the world again?

"And it is now, when the choice is obscure, that the right decision is not always the easiest..."

Turning to his allies, Wren simply shrugs off the foes, turning his back to them as he closes his eyes, as the effects of his last little stunt take over.  His strength wains, ever so slightly, as the FATIGUE overtakes him.  He moves to the fallen allies, turning back to the villains one last time.

"You are luck, Freak, as without your allies there, you would be rotting away for the rest of your miserable life.  We will meet again, and when we do... you will not be so lucky..."

With the last amount of strength he has left, Wren uses his powers to channel the familiar cosmic rift, as he teleports the group away from this place, and towards the place where the plane should be, or somewhere near it.  Calling into the com-link, Wren states the obvious, "It's time to evacuate, regroup at dropoff site, and let's get out of here.  We have wounded, so be prepared..."

With that, Wren's shoulders slump, as he can only take so much of this.  He awaits a reply from the others, hoping that the retreat would go better than the fight...

(HP to remove Fatigue, EE to use Teleport with Cosmic Rift, move action to get the downed allies out through the rift)

[sblock=Explanation]Ok, Wren could have tried the interpose, but I don't think it would do much in regards to his decision.  Honestly, I would rather have it this way, with him having to make the 'tough' decision.  He can easily have a few more options to take, such as Blast with Area Burst, taking all of them out in one big blast, or using Create Objects to put up a HUGE barrier between himself and the foes, making it impossible for them to retreat or get at us.  There's a few more options, but now, with the allies downed, and fear of the poison, Wren has to decide on letting the villains go, or taking care of his new team.  Well, that's what this game is about, so he's choosing to take one for the team...

Use HP to remove Fatigue.  Use Extra Effort again to Power Stunt the Teleport, getting Fatigued again.  Brings me down to 2HP and Fatigued next round, where I will have to spend another HP to remove Fatigue, and probably have to power stunt something else to rescue the others.

Looks like this one was another hard fought, yet, lost battle.[/sblock]


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## Elric (Jul 21, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> Suddenly, the Mystery Super flies out of the mess near Barrington's ship, riding a grav-based hoverboard.  She summons up a fusion ball and throws it into the Guardian.  It sticks in her and the flames spread for a moment and explode, blasting her out of the sky (-6 con, stunned, injury, bruise, staggered, stunned again, bruised again).  She falls into the sands.  MS lands near her.




_Hey. _ Nitro thinks as he sees this unfold.  _Cat fight!  Oh, right._  Nitro remembers what he had failed to just seconds ago.  _Guess that's what she didn't like_.

[sblock="OOC"]I wouldn't say we lost the battle as a whole.  We didn't capture Control Freak or defeat those supers inside the base- they won the inside battle.  But they didn't get what they came here for and we won the outside battle (even without the Mystery Super's help, Wren is quite uninjured by the standards of this fight so he and Nitro would likely take Guardian from here).  Plus it looks like they won't all get away.[/sblock]


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## DM_Matt (Jul 22, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren sees the shots from the foe, and easily blocks them from his own armor.  As the others spray at Viridian, he is not fast enough to interpose, as the woman goes down to the poison darts.  Eventually, the Extra Effort from his last round is a bit overwhelming, as he tries to think of an action that would aid them.
> 
> As he contemplates on how to take out the rest of these enemies, he hears the faint words that it's ok now... as he cocks his head in contemplation.  Should he allow the foes to be free, or work on taking them out now?  These type of decisions are the hardest to take, unless there was some way to do both.  He should aid his allies, but at the expense of letting these freaks out into the world again?
> 
> ...





(Its not entirely clear where Wren TPed the group to, so for now I'll say to the rest of the group, unless Wren wants to change that)

As Wren's is sucked through the rift he created, he hears CF:  "Oh Shi-"

The group appears by Apollo, Nitro and Hope.  

Jacobson responds "Got it.  We're coming for ya."  

MS walks up to Guardian and waves her hand.  Guardian shrieks, thinking she was about to be irradiated to death.  Instead, much of her clothes simply combust and quickly burn to ash.  No longer heavily-covered, her gender is apparent.

MS says "I've taken a picture of you like this.  My suit records what I see.  This is not women's work in your country.  Nor, presently, women's' attire.  I'm not going to kill you.  Go home with your humiliation.  Your people will do it for me."


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 23, 2008)

Apollo smirks, "So uhh... wait did we win..." he wipes blood from his lips with a curious smile.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 23, 2008)

In the distance, Barrington's ship takes off with his remaining vehicles.



Vanifae said:


> Apollo smirks, "So uhh... wait did we win..." he wipes blood from his lips with a curious smile.




Several of MS's team head over with their jump boots.  One hands over Nightweaver, who's battered and wobbly but alive.

MS says "Yes.  You won. We won.  Thanks.  You should go though. I will be removing the abandoned base.  See ya around!"

They head to the base.  

Meanwhile, D'Antoni lands the plane, and the rest of the team comes out to carry in the wounded.


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## kirinke (Jul 23, 2008)

ooc:
Previous response lost to the Boards. Um... I'm going to ask if Hope wakes up in time to see Guardian's humiliation. I think I did say that she rolled succesfully to wake up.....


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## DM_Matt (Jul 23, 2008)

(I'm gunna move things along here)

The group gets on the plane while Wren and Reyes do what they can for the wounded.  Viridian is in especially bad shape.  While the spines are not quite fatal in themselves, but the massive dose of poison is, despite Wren and Reyes' best efforts.   

The plane is in the air before Hope, Star, Optic, and Apollo wake up.  They wake up naturally, since Wren and Reyes were busy trying to save Viridian.

Shortly after takeoff, a massive blast is detected where the base was.  The energy signature is consistent with a small nuclear weapon.

Reports come in from home base based on what you've learned. According to the database, Killer Bee, Murder Mouse, and Battle Bunny were not known to be nearly this powerful.  their gadgets must be new, custom  built by either Dr. Otaku or Control Freak.  

The A.I. says that Mr. Black knows Warmind and his connection with CF, but the A.I. itself does not have that information.


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## Elric (Jul 23, 2008)

Nitro grabs the unconscious Efreet and carries him aboard the plane, outfitting him with appropriate restraints.  When he sees Viridian's condition as Wren and Reyes try to save her, his face goes ashen.

_A lot of good your strength and invulnerability is at a time like this_


----------



## Victim (Jul 23, 2008)

"...What happened?" Star asks groggily, not getting up.  _I lost again._


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## DM_Matt (Jul 23, 2008)

Victim said:


> "...What happened?" Star asks groggily, not getting up.  _I lost again._




Reyes comes over to check her out, and talks to her in as upbeat a manner as he can muster.  "You got hit with Killer Bee's poison stingers.  Got a couple good bumps on the head too.  You'll be pretty out of it for an hour or so, but you'll be fine.  We think we prevented them from accomplishing any of their goals.   But Viridian...she...I'm sorry....she didn't make it."


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## Victim (Jul 23, 2008)

"Yeah I sort of noticed that right before I passed out.  Actually, I wasn't feeling too well to start; I think I wasn't reacting too well to whatever treatment thing they were using or -" Her voices trails off as Megan realizes the severity of the situation through the drugs and tone.

"Wait, what?  Thess is dead?!  No." She looks around in disbelief and rises.  "Shock her heart or give her a regenerating blood transfusion.  DO SOMETHING."


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## DM_Matt (Jul 23, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Yeah I sort of noticed that right before I passed out.  Actually, I wasn't feeling too well to start; I think I wasn't reacting too well to whatever treatment thing they were using or -" Her voices trails off as Megan realizes the severity of the situation through the drugs and tone.
> 
> "Wait, what?  Thess is dead?!  No." She looks around in disbelief and rises.  "Shock her heart or give her a regenerating blood transfusion.  DO SOMETHING."




Reyes puts his hand on her shoulder and tries to get her to sit back down and says solemnly "We did what we could.  She was just too far gone."


----------



## kirinke (Jul 23, 2008)

"No... Not Vi," Hope whispers through the painkillers she had been given, burying her face in her hands. Vi had been the closest thing to a real friend on the team, one of the few who had given her an even shake. But she had also been... The most fragile of them. 

Silently she battled with the rage, the need to revenge her friend and the grief were stark on her face, through the tears that trickled silently down. She shook her head, trying to battle the darkness within her, that which had almost consumed her when Stephan had been murdered. 

_NO!_ she finally thought. _VI wouldn't want me to hunt down Killer Bee._ she thought bleakly. _She wouldn't want me to turn dark just because of her. I.... Won't dishonour her memory with murder._ she leaned back, letting the anger drain away with effort, leaving only bone deep sorrow.


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## Jemal (Jul 23, 2008)

Jack's head swung around away from the computer as he tore off his visor "No Damnit, not again..."  He stood painfully as Reyes spoke to Megan.  "Who.. Who killed her?  No, wait.. I know who's responsible for this.  Barrington and Freak."  He took a deep breath as he looked around at the rest of their team - bruised, battered, some of them had barely made it... and one of them hadn't.  

This was the second time He'd lost a team-mate to these bastards.  This team was supposed to be the shining beacon of hope amidst all the recent evils, yet they couldn't even save themselves.

"So what now?" He said out loud, not talking to anybody specific.  "Do we count this as a victory?  Did we learn anything?  Did it MEAN anything?"


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## kirinke (Jul 23, 2008)

"No one wins in war," Hope murmurs, her voice thick with tears and grief. "I think... It's a draw. We stopped whatever it is they were going after, the radiation controller. But they took one of us as well." she said quietly. "We have the Efreet though, I believe he might know something. What I can't tell." she closed her eyes. "Why Thes?" she asks, her voice breaking. 

No longer hiding behind masks.


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## Elric (Jul 24, 2008)

“I can’t believe she’s dead.”  Nitro punches himself with a right fist to his left palm, hard enough to shatter steel.  The pain of the punch subsides almost immediately; the deeper pain does not.

_If I had only connected with that haymaker on a stunned 30-foot tall Leopard—after knocking her to the ground—how much easier could it get?  Then she’d probably have been knocked out and Apollo wouldn’t have had to come back to avoid having me face Guardian and Leopard alone.  Then he might have been able to protect Vi._

Mentally addressing himself now,  

_This isn’t just a game, John.  If you got shot by one of Killer Bee’s poison stingers [Nitro had been informed about the basics of what happened in the base at this point] the impact might knock you out but that would be about it.  For anyone else, the stinger could kill them itself, or its poison could finish the job later—like Vi.  Every time you make a mistake, it’s more likely that one of your teammates dies._ 

“We didn’t win, Jack.  But they didn’t win either.  We both lost something today—them an opportunity and us a dear friend.  But they’ll get more opportunities.”  

His face darkens.

“Next time we see those terrorist sh*tholes, leave Killer Bee to me.  I’m not afraid of his poison stingers.”


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## Vanifae (Jul 24, 2008)

Apollo blinks, but says nothing still in shock.


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## Victim (Jul 24, 2008)

"That's just stupid; she was never knocked out before, how could she die?"  _How can she die when I survived?_

Star cries.


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## Elric (Jul 24, 2008)

Nitro pulls out his team phone and sends a surreptitious text to Apollo.

*You should go comfort Star.*


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## kirinke (Jul 25, 2008)

*Please.... Please help me protect them. Not for vengeance. Not for... Anger or hate. So that this monster and those who follow him won't be able to take more lives, to bring more grief upon the innocent, the helpless. I was wrong, stupid and selfish to go after Faust and the others, to kill them. It wasn't for Stephan or anything else I fooled myself into believing. It was only for pride and selfish self-richeousness. Please... Help me protect and defend them...* she prayed with whatever, whoever fueled her powers, who awakened her innate gifts as well, pouring all of her grief and desire into the plea.

_*I will not dishonour Viridian's memory with evil. And I know I was selfish in tarnishing Stephan's.*_ she thought, crying silently


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## Elric (Jul 25, 2008)

Elric said:


> Nitro pulls out his team phone and sends a surreptitious text to Apollo.
> 
> *You should go comfort Star.*




Nitro's sees that the rock star, who doesn't seem to be with it enough to pick up his text, is actually pretty severely injured but isn't saying anything, probably because he doesn't want to make everyone's day even worse than it already is.  

_Oh, right.  To anyone without an impenetrable hide, that Bladestorm would be awfully deadly.  Should have thought of that._ 

He sends another text message.

*Never mind.  Just realized you're in no shape to comfort anyone at the moment.  Don't want to freak Star out even more if she sees the extent of your injuries.*


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## Jemal (Jul 26, 2008)

As everyone mourns the loss of their comrade, Jack looks around at those remaining.  They couldn't change the past, but they could live for the present and hope for the future.  After a few moments of silence, he turns to Reyes "We got a medic? There's some injured people here, and we've got a hell of a lot of work ahead of us." He put a hand on Hope's shoulder, nodding as though he knew the lines along which she was thinking, even if he didn't know the exact words.  "We have to stop them." He says, looking around at the team.  "We've allready payed with blood, and by god we're not gonna stop now.  Vi was with us because she believed we could make a difference, the same reason most of us are in this.  So lets make that difference.  We need to figure out our next step, and theirs."



> “Next time we see those terrorist sh*tholes, leave Killer Bee to me. I’m not afraid of his poison stingers.”




Jack looked to Nitro "As for you, that's the smartest thing any of us has said since this started.  We need to plan, we need to figure out their strengths and weaknesses, and which of us is best equipped to take them out."


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## Elric (Jul 26, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Jack looked to Nitro "As for you, that's the smartest thing any of us has said since this started.




“Well, maybe the smartest thing I’ve said.  That’s a lot lower standard.”

Nitro turns to the group

“Look, I know that about now everyone is probably feeling guilty that Viridian didn’t make it and we did.  It’s only human to feel like that. 

Before now, the saddest funeral I’ve ever been to was a guy in my high school—he got killed by a drunk driver while visiting colleges that he’d been accepted to in April of our senior year.  I imagine in a few days we’ll have an even sadder funeral.

But life goes on and there’s no shame if the wounds from this heal, so that Vi’s death isn’t a constant source of pain.  You don't have to feel down forever to honor the memory of someone you cherish.  A week from now, I’ll be back to going out drinking.”


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## Victim (Jul 27, 2008)

Star doesn't look up.  "Yeah, because another week's worth of mission won't cause more problems," she says quietly.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 27, 2008)

Jemal said:


> After a few moments of silence, he turns to Reyes "We got a medic? There's some injured people here, and we've got a hell of a lot of work ahead of us." [/color]





"I'm working as fast as I can," Reyes answers, slightly annoyed.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 27, 2008)

When you arrive at the Trust base, many of the Alpha-level officials are waiting in the hanger.  Ms. White, Mr. Black, Red, Mr. Blue, and  Ms. Pink,  stand solemnly in front of your plane.  

Ms. White steps forward.  It looks like she's been crying.  "I'm so sorry.  I...I should have been there," she says quietly.


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 27, 2008)

On Plane - "We did what we could, but maybe not as cohesive as possible.  We can all think the constant 'what if', but in the end, this is how it played out.  We lost Viridian.  But she didn't go down without a fight and she put her life on the line for all of us.  Each of us goes out there, knowing that we depend on each other."

Turning to Nitro's little revenge speach, Wren can only shrug.  "If revenge is what you want, then make sure it doesn't cloud the rest of what is going on.  Don't chase after that villain, and forget what our goals are.  And, if it comes to us facing him again, his poison would have no effect on me.  I can get anyone close enough to take that bastard out.  He will pay..." 

That is the extent of his talking, as he continues to provide healing to everyone injured.

_________________

At the base - Wren hears the words of Ms, White, and can only see the pain in her eyes.  He knows that losing another of her 'workers' is tough, as she knows them all.  "We can't change what has happened.  She did well, and she will be remembered for her help with this whole affair with Barrington.  She lives on in our actions."


----------



## kirinke (Jul 27, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> On Plane - "We did what we could, but maybe not as cohesive as possible.  We can all think the constant 'what if', but in the end, this is how it played out.  We lost Viridian.  But she didn't go down without a fight and she put her life on the line for all of us.  Each of us goes out there, knowing that we depend on each other."
> Turning to Nitro's little revenge speach, Wren can only shrug.  "If revenge is what you want, then make sure it doesn't cloud the rest of what is going on.  Don't chase after that villain, and forget what our goals are.  And, if it comes to us facing him again, his poison would have no effect on me.  I can get anyone close enough to take that bastard out.  He will pay..."




On The plane:
Hope stirred a little out of her stupor at Wren's and Nitro's remarks. "Vi wouldn't want you to loose yourself or any of us in revenge. More likely than not, it'd put you right in Barrington's hands." her expression twisted into one of sheer grief and rememberance. "Or worse,"


_Never again_, she thought tiredly.


----------



## Victim (Jul 27, 2008)

Exhausted by her powers, various poisons and drugs, and emotionally, Megan is unable to remain awake on the flight home.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 28, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> On Plane - "We did what we could, but maybe not as cohesive as possible.  We can all think the constant 'what if', but in the end, this is how it played out.  We lost Viridian.  But she didn't go down without a fight and she put her life on the line for all of us.  Each of us goes out there, knowing that we depend on each other."
> 
> Turning to Nitro's little revenge speach, Wren can only shrug.  "If revenge is what you want, then make sure it doesn't cloud the rest of what is going on.  Don't chase after that villain, and forget what our goals are.  And, if it comes to us facing him again, his poison would have no effect on me.  I can get anyone close enough to take that bastard out.  He will pay..."
> 
> ...




*"I know...Its just always hard...and Viridian especially.  I felt extra close to her, what with the white witch thing and all.  And she was so young...so...(sigh)...I guess this time we need to have a funeral this time...maybe a public one, since you guys are in the public eye now."*

Black chimes in "This sounds horrible, but that might get you some much-needed sympathy and silence those damn lawyers for a while."

Pink rolls her eyes "This is how Blackie here deals with grief.  Pretends it doesn't bother him and go into problem solving mode. If anyone wants to talk things over, I'll be around." (If you don't recall, she's psyc services / profiling)

Red meanwhile says "Lets take this conversation towards the infirmary, ok?  I need to check them all out."

If Star is still asleep and no one else does this, Black picks her up and carries her to the infirmary.


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 29, 2008)

"Well have we earned a vacation yet?" Apollo asks.  He shakes his head, "Even if we did Barrington would probably just pop his head in and ruin the party."


----------



## kirinke (Jul 29, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> "Well have we earned a vacation yet?" Apollo asks.  He shakes his head, "Even if we did Barrington would probably just pop his head in and ruin the party."




Hope smiled a little at Apollo's jest, but it was not without bitterness. "No, but I think we might do with a day or two." she looked sad as Viridian's covered body is taken from the plane. She bowed her head in respect as it passed her and concentrated, forming a rose made of clear, solid air, intwined with the symbol for infinity in pure ice. She placed the rose onto the cloth covered body and stepped away, allowing it to move on. "Be at peace, Viridian. We will never forget. Never," she whispered, turning away, fresh tears falling down her face as she follows the rest to the infirmery.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 29, 2008)

Once in the infirmary, Red goes about systematically checking everyone out.

Just then, some of the TVs hanging on the walls (there are TVs all over the base) cut in...

...DISASTER IN THE DESERT... "We have now confirmed reports that a spacecraft landed about an hour ago in the Negev desert in Southern Israel, leading to some kind of massive battle and a nuclear explosion of some kind. Sources close to Lord Barrington, leader of the One World Coalition, its military wing the Legion of Hope, and its social service arm the Compassion Corps, have confirmed some involvement, and will be speaking immediately.  We have also just received confirmation that Freedom City's mysterious new supergroup, responsible for shutting down the Cholos and capturing Faust, White Knight, the Grey Gunner, international arms dealer Anatole Voderac, and a number of other supervillains in the past few weeks, were also involved, and their publicist has confirmed that one member of the team was killed in the operation. The team, which took over after the freedom league was captured by Barrington, has received much praise for its recent successes, but has also garnered controversy, having been accused by some of being a government front...oh, what...ok, the have the feed from Barrington coming in now.  Lets go to it.

Barrington is shown in the red and gold power armor he was wearing when he attacked the Freedom League.  Behind him is his upside down globe logo.  He begins speaking.

"Today, on my orders, a Legion of Hope dropship, bolstered by superheroes from several Middle Eastern countries, raided a facility in the Negev Desert.  This facility was an imperialist  gulag, a prison for Arab superheroes illegally kidnapped from their home countries by Israeli agents.  Unfortunately, that objective was not accomplished, because American agents posing as "superheroes" appeared to defend the facility.  Many of the prisoners were executed before we could get to them.  

Like the "Freedom League before them, these so-called heroes are the vanguard of the imperialist foreign policy that the United States has been pursuing since the Second World War.  Within the country, they and are serving as a secret police, able to harm and detain anyone with impunity.  

We call upon all fair-thinking individuals to stand up for the rule of law at home and abroad, to stand up for international law and basic human rights, and condemn these oppressive acts and the so-called heroes who perpetrate them.

Despite these setbacks, we will continue to fight for equality for all mankind.   The world is in crisis, paying the price for imperialism and greed.  Around the world there is famine, war, and oppression.  Peoples and countries bully each other, while corrupt businessmen exploit the common man.  Meanwhile, we are destroying our planet, polluting our air and seas, depleting finite resources, and destroying the ecological processes vital to sustaining life through causing global climate change.  

The technology exists for all mankind to have a much higher standard of living than even the west enjoys now, and it can all be done using sustainable technologies that will neither deplete our natural resources nor contribute to global warming.  This technology is held back do to greed and politics, but I will share it with the world.  

The old order will continue to seek to discredit our movement, and we will protect ourselves.  There will be setbacks, such the one that occurred today, but a future of dignity and prosperity for  all mankind  is worth some sacrifices.  Back in Roman times, when they were in a crisis, they would appoint one man to lead them through those tough times.  One such man, Cincinnatus, accepted this job, even though his own family might suffer because he would be unable to farm their crops.  For 16 days, he ruled with strength and wisdom, and then he gave up his power and returned to his farm.  Like Cincinnatus, I am willing to make sacrifices, and like Cincinatus, I only want as much power as I need to serve the people, and only long enough to do what I must for the world.  

Some fear the One World Coalition, but that fear is misplaced.  We are only doing our duty to mankind.  This is not for ourselves or our own power.  Our cause is for everyone.  To remind myself, and to remind everyone, of the obligation to use power wisely, I, like nearly all the world's costumed heroes, will take on an alias.  From this day forward, I shall be called Cincinnatus, and I look forward to the day when the world will call our movement to lead just long enough to repair our broken world."


----------



## Victim (Jul 29, 2008)

Star awakens as Mr. Black carries her to the infirmary.  In a moment of panic, she launches herself away from him roughly.  "Sorry," she says, out of breath.

-------------------------------

Megan scowls at the TV broadcast.  "I hate all his stupid TV spots and media attention and the lawyers doing the same dam thing.  It feels unfair - like this isn't hard enough already.  I don't remember the Freedom League getting all this bad press."  She'll take out her iPhone/computer to look at online opinions about her group and Barrington.  (Gather Info, take 10=10.  Good thing she's only looking for the most basic info.)  _Way to try to distract yourself, hide from the fact that it should have been me._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 29, 2008)

Hope switched off the TV and seeks out Ms. Pink for her own therapy, something she feels she needs if she is going to continue to be effective.
*It must be helping some.* she thought wryly.* I didn't loose it in the desert. I kept.... Control.*


----------



## Elric (Jul 29, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "Today, on my orders, a Legion of Hope dropship, bolstered by superheroes from several Middle Eastern countries, raided a facility in the Negev Desert.  This facility was an imperialist  gulag, a prison for Arab superheroes illegally kidnapped from their home countries by Israeli agents.  Unfortunately, that objective was not accomplished, because American agents posing as "superheroes" appeared to defend the facility.  Many of the prisoners were executed before we could get to them.




Nitro watches, incredulous.  "We 'appeared to defend the facility.'  Come on.  We were already going there and they followed us and tried to shoot our plane out of the sky.  Then they killed Viridian with a volley of poison stingers to the neck.  OK, he has a point about the killing the prisoners part.  But it's not like we knew they were going to do that.  We were trying to stop them the old-fashioned way"



> Like the "Freedom League before them, these so-called heroes are the vanguard of the imperialist foreign policy that the United States has been pursuing since the Second World War.




We're not working for the government." _I think. _ Nitro looks around for any reaction to this line from the top Trust people.  



> Within the country, they and are serving as a secret police, able to harm and detain anyone with impunity.




“Yeah, like Numero Uno would be back on the loose [or soon to be back on the loose, I don’t know which one it is; Nitro might] if we were detaining people with impunity.



> We call upon all fair-thinking individuals to stand up for the rule of law at home and abroad, to stand up for international law and basic human rights, and condemn these oppressive acts and the so-called heroes who perpetrate them.




“Basic human rights.  From Barrington?  This is rich.  International law?  Like, ‘he who is strongest takes all the toys by using deadly force’”



> Meanwhile, we are destroying our planet, polluting our air and seas, depleting finite resources, and destroying the ecological processes vital to sustaining life through causing global climate change.




“OK, he has a point there.  But that’s no reason to let him conquer the world!  We are destroying the planet, let’s make Nitro emperor, rah, rah.  He's not giving away that technology for free.  I bet he's selling it, or trading it for something else he wants- like power.”



> One such man, Cincinnatus, accepted this job, even though his own family might suffer because he would be unable to farm their crops.  For 16 days, he ruled with strength and wisdom, and then he gave up his power and returned to his farm.  Like Cincinnatus, I am willing to make sacrifices, and like Cincinatus, I only want as much power as I need to serve the people, and only long enough to do what I must for the world.




He does want to be Emperor!  I could write this thing myself!



> Some fear the One World Coalition, but that fear is misplaced.  We are only doing our duty to mankind.  This is not for ourselves or our own power.  Our cause is for everyone.  To remind myself, and to remind everyone, of the obligation to use power wisely, I, like nearly all the world's costumed heroes, will take on an alias.  From this day forward, I shall be called Cincinnatus, and I look forward to the day when the world will call our movement to lead just long enough to repair our broken world."




Cinci-douchebag seems more like it.

Nitro’s mad (well, madder) now.  Any chance someone can schedule a press conference for us in a little bit?  Don’t want this a-hole dominating the news cycle.  Well, I guess news of Vi’s death may change that regardless.”


----------



## Vanifae (Jul 29, 2008)

"Maybe we should go on TV and make a statement or something all this silence can;t be good for our image," Apollo quips.


----------



## Victim (Jul 30, 2008)

"How long does that last?  I've talked to reporters before, but only for a few minutes at a time."

"Has anyone contacted her family?  Her relatives and normal friends might not want her death to become a media circus because we need a PR boost."


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Jul 30, 2008)

"I can think of something to put together to state to the press.  Plus, we have video as well.  It would not be a bad thing to have a press release.  But, I would leave that up to you, Ms. White..."

Wren is all for putting something together.  Plus, with Optic's recording, and the fact that they subdued and retrieved enemies, instead of killing them, there might be a chance.


----------



## kirinke (Jul 30, 2008)

After the therapy session, Hope wandered into the reck room, looking a bit worse for wear, but a little more at peace with herself, though her face was still tear-streaked and splotchy-looking from crying. She listened to Nitro and Wren talk, mostly keeping her opinions to herself. 

_What's his next move?_ she asks herself quietly, searching for an answer. 


ooc:
Postcognition/pre-cognition to see if she can find any answers to her questions.


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 30, 2008)

Victim said:


> "How long does that last?  I've talked to reporters before, but only for a few minutes at a time."
> 
> "Has anyone contacted her family?  Her relatives and normal friends might not want her death to become a media circus because we need a PR boost."





White says "Mr. Silver can arrange it.  Just name the time and place, and the media will be there.  As far as the funeral, one of our fronts will be couriering letter to her family."


----------



## Victim (Jul 30, 2008)

Star looks up at White and Black, "Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?  I keep losing.  Maybe if I wasn't knocked out..."

"Please."


----------



## Jemal (Jul 31, 2008)

"Except Cincinatus didn't SEIZE power, he had it thrust on him because he was the best man for the job.  Barrington has no desire to ever step down."  Jack shook his head and looked away from the tv at the others as White tells them about the funeral/media arrangements.

SO I guess the important question right now is: who wants to do the talking?  Nitro's our most public and liked figure, and I'm fairly good at handling the media, I've been in the public eye for some time now, both in and out of costume.  Maybe we should go on as a team and each say a little something?  IT'd probably also be a good idea to have at least partial speeches written for those of us who are.. a bit camera shy."


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 31, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star looks up at White and Black, "Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?  I keep losing.  Maybe if I wasn't knocked out..."
> 
> "Please."




Black answers:  "That's a complicated question.  If you want, we can go over the data from your phones and Optics suit and do a simulation...or maybe just some tactical practice...I can help you with this stuff if you're interested.  But don't blame yourself.  You may have just been outgunned.  Next time you'll know to fear KB's spines a bit more, though."


----------



## DM_Matt (Jul 31, 2008)

Jemal said:


> "Except Cincinatus didn't SEIZE power, he had it thrust on him because he was the best man for the job.  Barrington has no desire to ever step down."  Jack shook his head and looked away from the tv at the others as White tells them about the funeral/media arrangements.
> 
> SO I guess the important question right now is: who wants to do the talking?  Nitro's our most public and liked figure, and I'm fairly good at handling the media, I've been in the public eye for some time now, both in and out of costume.  Maybe we should go on as a team and each say a little something?  IT'd probably also be a good idea to have at least partial speeches written for those of us who are.. a bit camera shy."




Ms. White suggests -- *"The survivors of the Freedom league are surely on our side.  Lets use that.  How about we try to arrange a press conference in front of Freedom Hall.  We can probably convince the League to lend us their property and show up to support us."*

(I'll have to write the blog dump later)


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## kirinke (Jul 31, 2008)

Hope looks up from her self-introspection. "We could probably all use the help with tactical practice. Right now, from what I remember, we were each doing our own thing, which really sucks when the other side is cordinating their efforts. Although I can't say much from after I was knocked out by the Leopard." she grimanced in remembered pain.

ooc:
Hope is trying to look for any clue via her own gifts and training as to what sort of move Barrington is likely to play next. 

Remember, she now has both postcognition and precognition...... Which will be a kick as she's never experienced a precog vision before.


----------



## Victim (Jul 31, 2008)

"Yeah, I'm sure they're ecstatic about Nitro and I leading them into an ambush," Star says sourly.

"I could chalk it up to being outgunned if it was just this once, but I end up seriously injured and in need of help most of the time.  But yeah, I'd like to go over things if it's not too much trouble.  Maybe after I get some more sleep."  She quickly throws a sideways at Apollo. _But maybe I'll have other plans._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 31, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Yeah, I'm sure they're ecstatic about Nitro and I leading them into an ambush," Star says sourly.
> 
> "I could chalk it up to being outgunned if it was just this once, but I end up seriously injured and in need of help most of the time.  But yeah, I'd like to go over things if it's not too much trouble.  Maybe after I get some more sleep."  She quickly throws a sideways at Apollo. _But maybe I'll have other plans._




Hope smirks at the other superhero. "Join the club of the easily pummeled then. Seems to me, it happens just as much to me as to you. Maybe we should keep a tally. Whoever gets knocked out the most in a week buys the other one a round of drinks they like the most," she halfway jokes.


----------



## Victim (Jul 31, 2008)

_Do you really think we'll both live that long?_  Star shifts down defensively and looks at her computer, "No.  And I'm not supposed to drink anyway."  _And it's just stupid.  But I guess I shouldn't expect anything better from AEGIS._


----------



## kirinke (Jul 31, 2008)

She grinned. "Alchohol and I aren't exactly friends either. Which is why I said drinks you like the most. Doesn't have to be intoxicating."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 1, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star awakens as Mr. Black carries her to the infirmary.  In a moment of panic, she launches herself away from him roughly.  "Sorry," she says, out of breath.
> 
> -------------------------------
> 
> Megan scowls at the TV broadcast.  "I hate all his stupid TV spots and media attention and the lawyers doing the same dam thing.  It feels unfair - like this isn't hard enough already.  I don't remember the Freedom League getting all this bad press."  She'll take out her iPhone/computer to look at online opinions about her group and Barrington.  (Gather Info, take 10=10.  Good thing she's only looking for the most basic info.)  _Way to try to distract yourself, hide from the fact that it should have been me._





There are a number of different views out there.  People are pretty split on whether or not you guys really work for the government.  Of those who think you do, some of them are saying that its about time the government got tough on supervillains and that they should be a national security matter not a law enforcement matter.  Most who think you work for the government, though, generally buy into Barrington and W,S, & D's view of you. Some are proposing that the government prove that you don't work for them for arresting you for various offenses involving violence and property damage.    

Civil liberties groups have expressed concerns, but none have taken a hard stance that you are in fact government agents as of yet.  You get the sense that had he not tangled with the Freedom League, you guys would be much worse off than you are now.

Barrington has a significant following on the Internet, frustratingly drawn in large part from the young and idealistic.  What he's offering sounds great to many, enough that they are willing to overlook his methods.  Apparently the Compassion Corps is getting very large numbers of volunteers from the West, and while the Legion of Hope is largely drawn from the countries he is developing, some Westerners and even Americans are joining as well.


----------



## Elric (Aug 1, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> Barrington has a significant following on the Internet, frustratingly drawn in large part from the young and idealistic.  What he's offering sounds great to many, enough that they are willing to overlook his methods.  Apparently the Compassion Corps is getting very large numbers of volunteers from the West, and while the Legion of Hope is largely drawn from the countries he is developing, some Westerners and even Americans are joining as well.




Nitro stops by where Star is.  "Hey Star, hope you're doing better.  I think you just need to learn to hit a little harder with those plasma balls.  Finesse and accuracy is well and good but it only takes one haymaker to win a fight."

He sees the online news.  "Just because you call yourself the Legion of Hope and Compassion Corps doesn't mean you're good.  Compassion Cr*p and Legion of Horsesh*t!"  

He turns to Star.  "Well, I should probably come up with a better line before holding any press conferences."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 1, 2008)

Elric said:


> Nitro stops by where Star is.  "Hey Star, hope you're doing better.  I think you just need to learn to hit a little harder with those plasma balls.  Finesse and accuracy is well and good but it only takes one haymaker to win a fight."
> 
> He sees the online news.  "Just because you call yourself the Legion of Hope and Compassion Corps doesn't mean you're good.  Compassion Cr*p and Legion of Horsesh*t!"
> 
> He turns to Star.  "Well, I should probably come up with a better line before holding any press conferences."




Hope nodded. "Barrington does know how to play the media. We should do the same." she said quietly as she got herself some herbal tea. 

When she returns with the cup, you can see that she's trembling a little off and on, almost as if she's still in shock. Which in truth, she was.  She sips the tea, trying to calm down. "Sorry," she said. "This.... Vi. It's still too fresh," she says, voice catching a little as her vision swam with tears unshed. "Now this demented maniac getting airtime. All he cares about is power. He doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything, except what he can wring out of it." she snarls, knowing the others already know this, but she can't help but vent.


----------



## Victim (Aug 1, 2008)

"At least there are no youtube clips of me face-planting yesterday at six hundred miles per hour," Star offers, a sour expression on her face.  "If he didn't attack the League..."  _I'm not that bad, am I?  Shouldn't people be on our side?  Maybe this is a huge mistake.  Or maybe we just need better web presence._

"Yeah, it did seem like my shots were mostly just scorching their armor.  My output when remotely projecting is a lot lower, as you saw in the Foundry, but I have some ideas for trying to get around that limit and delivering more power per shot." _Or just going around the armor and frying the person inside it.   _ She pauses nervously.  "That simulator is safe, right?  It doesn't hurt?  I haven't experimented in a while."  _Considering the circumstances, that seems like a stupid and selfish concern._


----------



## Jemal (Aug 1, 2008)

"All right, some of us need time to greive, but we don't all HAVE that time." Jack said to White and Black quietly, off to the side.  "Get in touch with the League, and lets see if we can find some 'proof' that we're NOT an 'Imperialist government task force'.. you guys ARE independant, right? Anyways..I'll get ahold of as many of my contacts as I can and see what kind of positive coverage and spin they can put on this while you guys work your end."

That having been said, Jack whips out his phone and gets to work.  As he's walking away though, he stops and turns back to them "OH, and could one of you tell Mr Blue I'd like to talk to him about some tech problems?"

[sblock=Details]
First off: Mr Blue is the scientist division right? I wrote them all down, just hoping I got it right (Optic'd remember with his photographic memory, but being not-so-good with memory, I require some assistance).

Gather Info +18:  Using a combination of Datalink/Status to search databases (Including those of the trust and Op-Tec, as well as anything I can access on the internet), Taking 20 for a total of 38. 
Also, I use the phone and my status/wealth as a businessman to do things the old-fashioned way to find out what the more 'important' people (Politicians/businessmen, etc) REALLY think about Barrington and about the Trust Super Heros.  Also see if I can pinpoint anybody of note who seems to be on 'his side'.
Diplomacy +12 (Connected, Calling in favours*willing to use Hero Point if required*): start getting some influential people to 'take our side', saying good things about us or bad things about Barrington (Or at the very least, NOT saying bad things about us or good things about them).

Also using Status & Wealth from Op-Tec to pay for some of these 'damages' WS&D is claiming we've caused.  It's known that Optic works closely with Op-Tec, so having them handle the payments on his behalf, and him using his own resources on the Trust's behalf should hopefully be a sign that we're not trying to hide anything, and aren't being funded by the government.  As the payments are open and in response to WS&D's demands, they can't claim it's a pay-off, or a cover-up.  (Especially since I'll hopefully have some contacts working on spinning it up in our favour).  They said reparations or arrests had to be made, as such Optic has begun the reparations.
*Can anybody else think of anything Jack's connections/wealth/etc could do to help?  Hire a speech writer maybe? *
[/sblock]


----------



## Elric (Aug 1, 2008)

Nitro pulls out his cell phone.  

"I don't know, Jack, I think you'll have an awfully hard time getting any info out of those guys quickly.  My wrestling buddies are probably a surer bet."

With that, Nitro pulls out his phone to see what The Rock's one minute insight is as to the current state of affairs.  It's probably not the best insight as to what's happening, but at least it's something quick.

[sblock="OOC"]
Jemal, you dropped the Contacts feat from your most recent build.  But Nitro  has Contacts, making this statement wholly accurate. 

gather info (1d20+11=17)[/sblock]


----------



## Jemal (Aug 1, 2008)

As Optic's eyes bore into a nearby computer terminal, he grins at Nitro "Whoever gets the most useful info in the next hour buys the beer?"


----------



## Elric (Aug 1, 2008)

Jemal said:


> As Optic's eyes bore into a nearby computer terminal, he grins at Nitro "Whoever gets the most useful info in the next hour buys the beer?"




"An hour?  Then you're definitely buying.  Even if I had more than 20 minutes worth of useful contacts, I'd never be able to remember and process all that information.  But look at you- your eyes interface with computers.  That's seriously out there, dude."


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 1, 2008)

"I can ask around a few circles see what I can find," Apollo adds.


----------



## Victim (Aug 1, 2008)

"Actually Mr. Black, if it's alright with you, can we just get started right away?" Star asks.  "I think it's better if I stay busy right now."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 2, 2008)

Hope presses her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "I'll see what my contacts can dig up on whatever Barrington is buying in terms of materials and whatnot. That may give us an idea on what he's planning next."


*I need to contact Foreshadow too. Maybe he has some insight. I'm running on empty here,* she thought, looking inward, trying to find out if there was anything at all about Barrington she could use.

ooc
using precognition and postcognition to find out any clues.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 2, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Actually Mr. Black, if it's alright with you, can we just get started right away?" Star asks.  "I think it's better if I stay busy right now."




"Sure.  I have a little time.  So what is it you have in mind?  Reviewing past missions?  Simulations?  Tactical practice?"


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 2, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> "I can ask around a few circles see what I can find," Apollo adds.




Rumor has it a few rock bands are considering  putting together a pro-Barrington concert.  Apollo can get a good number of musicians to speak out on his side too though.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 2, 2008)

Elric said:


> Nitro pulls out his cell phone.
> 
> "I don't know, Jack, I think you'll have an awfully hard time getting any info out of those guys quickly.  My wrestling buddies are probably a surer bet."
> 
> ...




The Rock says:

"Maybe you should broaden your appeal a bit.  Can you get some cute and endearingly bratty kids to hang around you?  That's seemed to work pretty well for me.  Either that or grab a 2 by 4 and go around bashing people's faces for two hours.  That's worked pretty well for me, too."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 2, 2008)

Jemal said:


> "All right, some of us need time to greive, but we don't all HAVE that time." Jack said to White and Black quietly, off to the side.  "Get in touch with the League, and lets see if we can find some 'proof' that we're NOT an 'Imperialist government task force'.. you guys ARE independant, right? Anyways..I'll get ahold of as many of my contacts as I can and see what kind of positive coverage and spin they can put on this while you guys work your end."
> 
> That having been said, Jack whips out his phone and gets to work.  As he's walking away though, he stops and turns back to them "OH, and could one of you tell Mr Blue I'd like to talk to him about some tech problems?"
> 
> ...




White says *"Preef is hard to come by, especially without revealing too much about our organization to the public -- and our illegal alien technology and secret base.  You can and should appear to just be a supergroup, not a member of this organization.  What you can show is that you have been faithfully following leads to defeat the supervillains who destroyed the Freedom League and are building some kind of crazy doomsday device.  All of your actions can be explained by that pursuit -- no hidden agenda needed."*

You can requisition speech writing help from the Trust's PR department, run by Mr. Silver (the ironic Trust alias of Jerry Gold, one of the most accomplished agents in Hollywood).

Op-Tec can pay that money, and Mr. Green authorizes, if Jack is willing, to ensure reembursement through dealings with Trust front companies (say, a renegotiation of the fees for certain Trust-owned patents, a lucrative new piece of alien tech, etc.)

Optic emails Mr. Blue and arranges for an appointment.

Jack is able to arrange for a number of businessmen and elected officlals especially Freedom City locals, to speak out in favor of your side.

Jack finds that there are A LOT of journalists investigating the Trust and Barrington.    He can easily funnel negative truths about Barrington to key journalists.

He hears on the news that the Chairman of the House Special Investigations Subcommittee is trying to arrange hearings about your supergroup (AND YOU REALLY NEED TO NAME YOURSELVES), but does not yet have the majority needed to do it.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 2, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Hope presses her fingers against the bridge of her nose. "I'll see what my contacts can dig up on whatever Barrington is buying in terms of materials and whatnot. That may give us an idea on what he's planning next."
> 
> 
> *I need to contact Foreshadow too. Maybe he has some insight. I'm running on empty here,* she thought, looking inward, trying to find out if there was anything at all about Barrington she could use.
> ...




She sees an image of a missile coming down from the upper atmosphere.  It has an American flag on it.  Its nosecone pops off, and ten missiles burst off.  Behind it she sees two more do the same.  She sees the smaller missiles spread out a bit.  Sometihng feels wrong.  They should be more accurate.   Many still do go off  all around a giant tower, looking like the one in Barrington's plans.  She sees flashes of people being vaporized.  Lots of people.  The tower is in a populated area.  It is not destroyed.  Energy swirls around the tower as it seems to absorb some of what hit it.  It seems that the souls of the dead are being drawn to it too.  Then the image shifts radically, plunging downwards into the earth.  Deep down, into lave.  Demons and monsters crawling upwards.  Then a presence of unimaginable evil.  An image -- a glimpse more like.  Horns.  Fire.

Hope collapses, bleeding from her eyes, nose, and mouth, and has trouble breathing.


----------



## Victim (Aug 2, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "Sure.  I have a little time.  So what is it you have in mind?  Reviewing past missions?  Simulations?  Tactical practice?"




_Umm, aren't those sort of the same thing?  It's not they're unrelated.  Is there some sort of fine military distinction here?_  Star defers, "You're the expert."


----------



## Elric (Aug 2, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> The Rock says:
> 
> "Maybe you should broaden your appeal a bit.  Can you get some cute and endearingly bratty kids to hang around you?  That's seemed to work pretty well for me.  Either that or grab a 2 by 4 and go around bashing people's faces for two hours.  That's worked pretty well for me, too."




"Thanks, Dwayne.  I think the cute bratty kids idea works better than the 2 by 4 idea.  It's not a two-hour press conference, after all.  I don't know if the 2 by 4 would have enough time to work its magic."

Nitro turns to Optic.  "What did you get?"


----------



## kirinke (Aug 2, 2008)

Everyone hears a strangled, choked off scream and the sound of someone falling in Hope's general direction. 


ooc:
First time use of a power she hasn't even suspected she has tends to be... Messy.


----------



## Elric (Aug 3, 2008)

"Well, Jack, it looks like you're buying.  Not that I mi..."

"What was that?!"

Nitro runs over and sees Hope.  "Oh my God, Hope's bleeding from all over.  Where's Red or whatever they call the medic person around here?" [Nitro doesn't have to go to medics very often]


----------



## Jemal (Aug 3, 2008)

Optic immediately links in and notifies the medics, as well as Miss White (I believe she had healing magics, right?) of the emergency.

*EDIT: actualy, I believe Nitro was right about the medic being red*


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Aug 3, 2008)

Wren heads to the location from where the noise came from, and immediately attends to the bleeding and wounded ally.  Hopefully, this was not another insidious way that Barrington is able to attack them...


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 3, 2008)

Fangor the Fierce said:


> Wren heads to the location from where the noise came from, and immediately attends to the bleeding and wounded ally.  Hopefully, this was not another insidious way that Barrington is able to attack them...




Hope wakes up on the floor with Wren, Optic, and Nitro standing over her.


----------



## kirinke (Aug 3, 2008)

She moans, the horrible images still fresh in her mind. "Gods.... Barrington. Those towers, they're mystical actuators!" she says. "I need to show... Permission..." she says, mind still whiriling, head pounding. "Call it off, don't attack the towers... No missles. The dead... They're using the souls to fuel." her eyes are wide and cloud white and her voice is eerie, sounding like it's coming from the bottom of a deep, echoing well.


----------



## Elric (Aug 4, 2008)

kirinke said:


> She moans, the horrible images still fresh in her mind. "Gods.... Barrington. Those towers, they're mystical actuators!" she says. "I need to show... Permission..." she says, mind still whiriling, head pounding. "Call it off, don't attack the towers... No missles. The dead... They're using the souls to fuel." her eyes are wide and cloud white and her voice is eerie, sounding like it's coming from the bottom of a deep, echoing well.




Nitro grits his teeth as the waves of extreme, soul-troubling pain radiating from Hope overcome him.  He drops to his knees.  "Jack, there's too much melodrama.  Get help; I think we're stuck in daytime television.'"


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 4, 2008)

Victim said:


> _Umm, aren't those sort of the same thing?  It's not they're unrelated.  Is there some sort of fine military distinction here?_  Star defers, "You're the expert."




Black takes her to a room with odd black paneling on the walls, floor, and ceiling.  He gives her a headset and goggles, and puts one on as well.  "This interfaces with your mind and uses that to determine your body movements and integrate them into the simulation. They and the goggles also provide sensory input.  Guess who'se been licensing the patents behind this tech? How about qw go over that last fight?"


----------



## Victim (Aug 4, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> Black takes her to a room with odd black paneling on the walls, floor, and ceiling.  He gives her a headset and goggles, and puts one on as well.  "This interfaces with your mind and uses that to determine your body movements and integrate them into the simulation. They and the goggles also provide sensory input.  Guess who'se been licensing the patents behind this tech?"




"Op-Tech?  The same answer as...  Dang, was that only yesterday?  That would be how the suit moves without getting in the way?  Or maybe it's a video game company."

Star hesitates, "Is this safe?  I'm not going to accidently do something real trying to interact with the simulation?  What kind of sensory inputs do they provide besides the obvious sight and sound?  I guess the right mental interface could make me feel pretty much anything."  _It can't be more dangerous than actually fighting, and I'm not balking at that._ She puts the headset and goggles on.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 4, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Op-Tech?  The same answer as...  Dang, was that only yesterday?  That would be how the suit moves without getting in the way?  Or maybe it's a video game company."
> 
> Star hesitates, "Is this safe?  I'm not going to accidently do something real trying to interact with the simulation?  What kind of sensory inputs do they provide besides the obvious sight and sound?  I guess the right mental interface could make me feel pretty much anything."  _It can't be more dangerous than actually fighting, and I'm not balking at that._ She puts the headset and goggles on.





"Op-Tech it is.  Right now it is set to pure simulation.  We can also set it to just provide background, put on some energy dampeners, and throw around real powers.  But that's for practice and sparring, not review."


----------



## Victim (Aug 4, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "Op-Tech it is.  Right now it is set to pure simulation.  We can also set it to just provide background, put on some energy dampeners, and throw around real powers.  But that's for practice and sparring, not review."




_So they pretty much made him as a super?  That's sort of... hmm... creepy?  I wonder if he's actually been working with them for a longer period than the rest of us._  "Okay, let's get started then.  By the way, is there some documentation on this, the energy dampeners or maybe other training stuff that I could look at later?"


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 4, 2008)

Victim said:


> _So they pretty much made him as a super?  That's sort of... hmm... creepy?  I wonder if he's actually been working with them for a longer period than the rest of us._  "Okay, let's get started then.  By the way, is there some documentation on this, the energy dampeners or maybe other training stuff that I could look at later?"





"Sure.  You can access it from the computers in your quarters.  The power dampeners are reapplications of a technology designed to suppress the powers of prisoners.  These don't suppress powers, they just make them much less harmful...though the simulators can fill in some virtual danger.'


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 4, 2008)

After Apollo get's patched up he decides to hang in the lounge and play his light guitar and relax; not really in the mood to be social or work on his album.


----------



## Victim (Aug 4, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "Sure.  You can access it from the computers in your quarters.  The power dampeners are reapplications of a technology designed to suppress the powers of prisoners.  These don't suppress powers, they just make them much less harmful...though the simulators can fill in some virtual danger.'




"I'll try to have a look later on."  _Based on power nullifiers?  Well, that could be really bad or really good, depending on how they've been adapted and any upgrades in that area._

"So now that the tech explanation is out of the way..."  _Yay, reviewing.  Because it feels so good to have everything I do analyzed and picked apart.  But that's still going to less than getting hurt again or having someone else die because I suck._


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 4, 2008)

Victim said:


> "I'll try to have a look later on."  _Based on power nullifiers?  Well, that could be really bad or really good, depending on how they've been adapted and any upgrades in that area._
> 
> "So now that the tech explanation is out of the way..."  _Yay, reviewing.  Because it feels so good to have everything I do analyzed and picked apart.  But that's still going to less than getting hurt again or having someone else die because I suck._




"Now we load the scenario...For now do what you did before."  The scene from where Viridian died appears.  Black becomes KB.  It starts playing through.  Black comments "See, you're doing a good job of using cover.  Hit and run stuff.  This is good."

It gets to the point where she gets hit.  She takes the blast, and it activates her memory of the hit and the drugs.  After she goes down, Black waves his hand.  the simulated damage goes away and he is no longer KB.  "See, here you've come back out and stayed there.  You're trying to go toe-to-toe with a small army of enemies in a narrow hallway.  You can't do that."


----------



## Victim (Aug 5, 2008)

Star breaks into sweat as she's jerked around byt the simulation.  _I didn't think it'd be that intense and personal - that it'd be more like a third person view.  "Well, first I was pushing Thess out of the way.  Then I sort of wanted to hold the line so that she and Wren wouldn't get attacked as he healed her - none of them seemed especially mobile for getting around us in that hallway.  And then Apollo left to sub in for Hope, so if I started to do hit and run, then they would have had an easy time gang attacking."  She continues her explanation, sounding a little defensive, "If I had been zooming in and out, they could have just been attacking other people instead.  Only Wren was really in good condition down there."

"What about the other times?" Megan asks.  "I've tried staying out of the line of fire before, but it didn't seem to work too well.  Something goes wrong, and then I'm hurt away from everyone else.  And fighting across a wide space and time just doesn't seem like a good idea with a bunch of other people who don't fight like that.  Also, zooming in and out of the fight is sort of confusing, since I'm only seeing snap shots of the battle."

"I know I'm obviously screwing up somewhere, but it's not like I didn't have reasons."

"Wait, as long we're looking at this battle, can I see what happened right after I crashed the first time?  From a different point of view?" she adds suddenly.  "I'd like to know what was going on with everyone else."_


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 5, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star breaks into sweat as she's jerked around byt the simulation.  _I didn't think it'd be that intense and personal - that it'd be more like a third person view.  "Well, first I was pushing Thess out of the way.  Then I sort of wanted to hold the line so that she and Wren wouldn't get attacked as he healed her - none of them seemed especially mobile for getting around us in that hallway.  And then Apollo left to sub in for Hope, so if I started to do hit and run, then they would have had an easy time gang attacking."  She continues her explanation, sounding a little defensive, "If I had been zooming in and out, they could have just been attacking other people instead.  Only Wren was really in good condition down there."
> 
> "What about the other times?" Megan asks.  "I've tried staying out of the line of fire before, but it didn't seem to work too well.  Something goes wrong, and then I'm hurt away from everyone else.  And fighting across a wide space and time just doesn't seem like a good idea with a bunch of other people who don't fight like that.  Also, zooming in and out of the fight is sort of confusing, since I'm only seeing snap shots of the battle."
> 
> ...



_

"Its true that mobile fighting is not always all that  feasible.  This is one of the tougher circumstances.  They had an excellent strategic position.  The best move for a mobile fighter here is to find a way to get in behind them, since they are able to use the narrow hallway for side protection."

(resets the scenario)

"Now look at this.  This is Viridian coming down there and getting nailed.  She walked right into their attack line and they got to concentrate their fire on her.  Now here comes Optic and he takes hits too.  Now Wren then you and Apollo.  This was part of the problem.  You guys did not coordinate and let them maintain their advantageous position by challenging them one by one or two at a time.  Part of why you were forced into a fight in these circumstances is that your entire team was outmaneuvered."

(He continues, showing other aspects of the fight.  The battle up top was less tactically interesting, being mostly an open-field slugfest.)

Black suggests  "How about I create a shifting-terrain tactical simulation.  Put these dampeners on your wrists.  I'll play a bad guy, and we'll see how you do."_


----------



## kirinke (Aug 5, 2008)

Hope's eyes flickered, changing back and forth between white and and normal blue, seeing something the others couldn't see, probably didn't want to see either. "Get White. Vision.... Future, not past. The towers collect power, funnel it down, the.... Demons. Fissures. Gates, each of them. Attacking futile. More will die to fuel.... Innocence lost, is power gained." she said between gasps, trying to convey what she was seeing, not daring to share the vision with the others.  "Soon. Futile to attack Towers. Futile!" she coughed. "It. Can't. HAPPEN!  Stop it!" the horror of the vision was etched into her face, the truth of what she said echoed in her voice. "Call off the attack!" she shouted hoarsely, as if she was talking to someone, something no one could see. "No!"

Too powerful. And she couldn't damp it down. Not yet anyway.


----------



## Victim (Aug 5, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "Its true that mobile fighting is not always all that  feasible.  This is one of the tougher circumstances.  They had an excellent strategic position.  The best move for a mobile fighter here is to find a way to get in behind them, since they are able to use the narrow hallway for side protection."




"Oh.  I didn't really notice that they had a benefit from that position - other than that they weren't supposed to be inside the base in the first place.  Would it have helped to just place my shots behind them?"



> (resets the scenario)
> 
> "Now look at this.  This is Viridian coming down there and getting nailed.  She walked right into their attack line and they got to concentrate their fire on her.  Now here comes Optic and he takes hits too.  Now Wren then you and Apollo.  This was part of the problem.  You guys did not coordinate and let them maintain their advantageous position by challenging them one by one or two at a time.  Part of why you were forced into a fight in these circumstances is that your entire team was outmaneuvered."




Megan frowns.  _Didn't I call for Wren once I got there?_ "Is that the order that we arrived in?  I guess the drugs and poisons and botched treatment messed me up more than I thought.  But we don't all move at same speed, and it didn't seem like a good idea to leave her knocked out, alone, and next to bunch of enemies.  They could have done stuff to her.  Or if Control Freak had time to look at our phones, he could get access to a lot information, right?"  _Maybe she would have been safer if we just left her there._

(IIRC, Star and Apollo were the first responders after Viridian was knocked out the first time, with Wren arriving later.  I don't remember when exactly Optic got there.)


> (He continues, showing other aspects of the fight.  The battle up top was less tactically interesting, being mostly an open-field slugfest.)
> 
> Black suggests  "How about I create a shifting-terrain tactical simulation.  Put these dampeners on your wrists.  I'll play a bad guy, and we'll see how you do."




(Star was actually more interested in seeing exactly how Apollo reacted when she was shot down by the Israelis.)

Megan fidgets with the dampening bracers, "Are you sure that these will work right?  I've had problems with a nullifier system in the past...  Maybe I could just set up my shots so they'll come up just short of you and keep the power down?"

With reassurance, she'll use the dampeners.


----------



## Elric (Aug 5, 2008)

"Still trapped... in mediocre show" Nitro moans, his eyes rolling back in his head.  "Ah, Carlos, se murio!"


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 5, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Oh.  I didn't really notice that they had a benefit from that position - other than that they weren't supposed to be inside the base in the first place.  Would it have helped to just place my shots behind them?"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




"This is all true.  You might have as a group tried to evac the wounded, but then you'd leave the objective undefended.  By the time you guys came down gradually and got in the position you were in, there may not have been a great move to make.  You may have just been too weakened as a force for a hit-and-run.  Wren should maybe have used his ring's object creation to do some battlefield control of your own."

(he also shows Apollo running away, but expressing the desire to fetch her over the radio.  She sees the stone guy stopping him).

Black begins the simulation, and shifting blocks appears, creating hallways and rooms and cover in various places.  She and him play power tag for a bit, with him throwing lightning bolts are her and her trying to hit him with her plasma balls.

Suddenly, Control Freak appears behind Black and blasts him with a bunch of those air mines.  Black goes down.  CF says  "Fools.  You thought this facilitiy was secure?  No system is beyond my reach.  And don't think about disconnecting now that I;m in control.  It will fry your brain.  Now lets play!"  He blasts her with his wrsit blaster, but she manages to dodge."


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 5, 2008)

_I believe Apollo made a stunt to try and catch her but was rebuffed _


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 5, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> _I believe Apollo made a stunt to try and catch her but was rebuffed _




(I said the stone guy stopped him)


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 5, 2008)

_Cool beans just making sure, his semi heroism was noted _


----------



## Victim (Aug 5, 2008)

> Wren should maybe have used his ring's object creation to do some battlefield control of your own."




Star shrugs, "With all of them there, it would have broken quickly anyway."  _That's sort of good that he tried to come back for me, but I don't like the idea of someone risking his life for me.  It's not a good trade._



> Suddenly, Control Freak appears behind Black and blasts him with a bunch of those air mines. Black goes down. CF says "Fools. You thought this facilitiy was secure? No system is beyond my reach. And don't think about disconnecting now that I;m in control. It will fry your brain. Now lets play!" He blasts her with his wrsit blaster, but she manages to dodge."




"Ahh.  Sh-!  That's not playing!"  Star says. _Is this even real?  He said he'd play a bad guy, not attack me himself.  He said that a simulation thing was worthless if you knew it was just a game when talking about our test, didn't he?  So this is probably a trick...  It's not like Control Freak would screw around with me instead of stealing or modifying our data.  But can I afford to take a chance?  He controlled two jets and a helicopter at once, right, so he's a multitasking fiend with his power._

"In a virtual space, do you have infinite mines?"  _So, assuming this is real, would time be on my side, since defenses might kick him out?  Or might he get bored and overload the system to fry my brain directly?  If it's B, then anything other than an instant win on my part won't work anyway, so I might as well assume it's A.  And if it is real, then I don't want to reveal any tricks I didn't show last time just to disrupt his avatar._

Megan blurs, sliding away from Freak and into the maze at high speed as she swarms him with plasma shots.  

[sblock]Standard Action: Plasma Orbs: Plasma Control +8 Autofire 2 (1 for 1, max 4), Penetrating 3 (4/rank, +3) Homing 2 (2 extra chances), Indirect 3 (any angle), Precise, Accurate 

Attack +14: 28

Move Action: flee into the maze, try to get a good distance away and have some cover.

Def 23.  Toughness +9/+10.  Fine?  Displaced.  HP 2.  [/sblock]


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 6, 2008)

Mr. Blue emails Optic back that he can come on over.

Meanwhile...




Victim said:


> Star shrugs, "With all of them there, it would have broken quickly anyway."  _That's sort of good that he tried to come back for me, but I don't like the idea of someone risking his life for me.  It's not a good trade._
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Star does as she and Black discussed, sending plasma balls at Cf while flitting through the maze.  She hears CF'a voice boom "Ha!  I don't make the same mistake twice.  My force field renders me immune to energy attacks now."  He releases more mines and they streak towards Star.  He manages to turn a corner faster than they do, and they explode on the wall nearby, sending shrapnel flying.


----------



## Victim (Aug 6, 2008)

_That's not fair!  How is this BS supposed to be a good test?  At least it's not as bad as White Knight.  If he's immune to energy, can I blast something so it drops on him?  Lure his mines into hitting him?  There might be some tricks I pull against his field and armor too.  First I'll try the other things though.  Wait, what if the immunity is a lie?  Sh-!  Considering the upgrades he's done to other tech users, it sounds plausible enough._

"Why are you even doing this?  Shouldn't you be invading our files or something instead of playing around me like this?  If you can make some gadget to block my powers, why even bother taking me out?  Are you just a sadistic f-! ?" Star yells back, dodging away from the technopath.  _I can't allow him a direct line, otherwise he'll use the laser.  Then the mines chase me, I avoid them, double back, and then stay ahead long enough to lure them into him...  It sounds so easy when I put it like that._  Star tries to retreat further into the maze, pull any homing bombs into a big enough room that she can get around them, then lure them back into Control Freak. 

[sblock]Standard Action: Trick/Redirect floating mines back into Control Freak.  Acrobatics +20: 35

Move Action: keep going, double back if she can get past the mines, move adjacent to Control Freak for the Redirect w/ Moveby.  If Control Freak isn't at least stunned, then keep on going as far as she can.

Spend HP to double her dodge bonus.

Def: 33/13.  Toughness 10/9.  Fine.  Displaced (normal sight).  HP 1.

If Control Freak's force field goes down, then Surge to attack him with plasma.[/sblock]


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 6, 2008)

Victim said:


> _That's not fair!  How is this BS supposed to be a good test?  At least it's not as bad as White Knight.  If he's immune to energy, can I blast something so it drops on him?  Lure his mines into hitting him?  There might be some tricks I pull against his field and armor too.  First I'll try the other things though.  Wait, what if the immunity is a lie?  Sh-!  Considering the upgrades he's done to other tech users, it sounds plausible enough._
> 
> "Why are you even doing this?  Shouldn't you be invading our files or something instead of playing around me like this?  If you can make some gadget to block my powers, why even bother taking me out?  Are you just a sadistic f-! ?" Star yells back, dodging away from the technopath.  _I can't allow him a direct line, otherwise he'll use the laser.  Then the mines chase me, I avoid them, double back, and then stay ahead long enough to lure them into him...  It sounds so easy when I put it like that._  Star tries to retreat further into the maze, pull any homing bombs into a big enough room that she can get around them, then lure them back into Control Freak.
> 
> ...





"This only costs a fraction of my mental power.  Besides, I have altered this machine.  It can do  a lot to your mind.  If I kill you in here, you die for real!"

Star continues to dodge mines, and manages to find a loop in the maze.  She flies over to CF, then speeds past him as he starts firing at her.  His mines explode on him, detonating the ones currently deployed around him for the next attack, and sending him flying.  Star turns in the air and looks to blast CF with plasma, and manages to turn behind a wall just as she notices Battle Bunny appear, seemingly out of nowhere, to bash her with his hammer.  The hammer busts a hole in the wall.  

Star is able to flit away, facing the slow brute who thanks to her excellent dodging didn't get the drop on her.  Battle Bunny suddenly screams in pain and his back fur catches fire.  He falls on his face.  Behind him is Black, holding a lightning ball in one hand.

"End simulation!  See, you did well. You stayed mobile, dodged well, dealt with the unexpected, found hole in his defenses.  Had this been real, you probably would have prevailed alone."

(I was going to make this a longer scene, but it was holding things up)


----------



## Victim (Aug 7, 2008)

Star sits down. _That worked better than I thought it would.  Maybe too well._ "Yeah, assuming that there's no failsafe built into those mines to prevent something like that.  It's not a known ability, but it makes sense to code into their tracking package.  He can watch the same trick on TV too."

She slumps down, "And I don't see why he couldn't just use the neural interface to hurt me directly instead of inserting himself in the simulation."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 7, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star sits down. _That worked better than I thought it would.  Maybe too well._ "Yeah, assuming that there's no failsafe built into those mines to prevent something like that.  It's not a known ability, but it makes sense to code into their tracking package.  He can watch the same trick on TV too."
> 
> She slumps down, "And I don't see why he couldn't just use the neural interface to hurt me directly instead of inserting himself in the simulation."





"Maybe he could mostly it was a conceit to make the simulation seem more real.  His mines might be programmed to avoid him, but they seem to be able to be close to him -- they do when preparing to launch.  You probably can hit the mines while near him and cause secondary explosions.  Still though, you did a good job."

We should get back to the others.

What is everyone else doing?


----------



## Victim (Aug 7, 2008)

"Maybe.  It just seemed like it worked a little too well," Star replies.  

She heads to the team's common area and drops into a seat.


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 7, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Maybe.  It just seemed like it worked a little too well," Star replies.
> 
> She heads to the team's common area and drops into a seat.



Apollo is playing music on his guitar he looks up as Star enters, "Hey good to see you walking around, gave me quite the scare earlier."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 7, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Maybe.  It just seemed like it worked a little too well," Star replies.
> 
> She heads to the team's common area and drops into a seat.




"Ya know, you can take good news every once in a while.  Just because all is not necessarily well doesn't mean you can't take some comfort in what you've got.  " Black says, going back to the common room with her.  "Its the positive that can get you through this stuff.  If I couldn't think about what I did have going for me, I'd have died in a jungle or a terrorist-infested third-world city somewhere a long time ago...or given in to true darkness."


----------



## Victim (Aug 7, 2008)

> Ya know, you can take good news every once in a while. Just because all is not necessarily well doesn't mean you can't take some comfort in what you've got. " Black says, going back to the common room with her. "Its the positive that can get you through this stuff. If I couldn't think about what I did have going for me, I'd have died in a jungle or a terrorist-infested third-world city somewhere a long time ago...or given in to true darkness."




"The disappointment is hard to take," Star says quietly as they head towards the common area.  "Besides, I'm not brave like you and the others.  If I expected a lot of positive things from life, I wouldn't be so ready to risk it."



Vanifae said:


> Apollo is playing music on his guitar he looks up as Star enters, "Hey good to see you walking around, gave me quite the scare earlier."




Megan sits down next to him.  "Sorry.  It's sort of sad that I was supposed to be covering you though."


----------



## Elric (Aug 7, 2008)

Nitro considers their options for a press conference.

"We're planning to hold Thess's funeral soon, anyway, right?  Why don't we just hold a press conference at the funeral and do a few press releases in the meantime to increase anticipation?  We're not going to get a better moment to make our case against Barrington- I mean Cinci-douchbag- than the funeral of someone killed by his terrorist thugs."


----------



## Jemal (Aug 7, 2008)

Jack swears at Mr Blue's timing.  "Take care of Hope, she looks like she'll be ok, but see if you can find out what she's talking about.  I've got an important meeting to attend."  With that, he takes off to meet Mr Blue.

"Mister Blue, thank you for taking the time to see me.  In short, we have a major problem with Barrington's 'group'.  Specifically speaking, that's the very large amount of high technology they've got, and it's most probable source, Control Freak.  Now I don't know about anyone else, but all that power is sure making me nervous, especially since I myself use a fair bit of tech to enhance my fighting powers.  I was wondering if you'd work with me on coming up with something - anything - to help us even out the playing field.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 7, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Jack swears at Mr Blue's timing.  "Take care of Hope, she looks like she'll be ok, but see if you can find out what she's talking about.  I've got an important meeting to attend."  With that, he takes off to meet Mr Blue.
> 
> "Mister Blue, thank you for taking the time to see me.  In short, we have a major problem with Barrington's 'group'.  Specifically speaking, that's the very large amount of high technology they've got, and it's most probable source, Control Freak.  Now I don't know about anyone else, but all that power is sure making me nervous, especially since I myself use a fair bit of tech to enhance my fighting powers.  I was wondering if you'd work with me on coming up with something - anything - to help us even out the playing field.




"Its not just CF.  Doctor Otaku is just as good an inventor, if not better.  Plus, they have the alien tech that Barri-I mean, Cincinnatus, took at the beginning of his career, and Daedalus' tech database in the lighthouse.  Not to mention some possible alien tech form Ares.  We're always working on counters, but we are only getting in so much information about what they've developed.  The best thing you can do for us is to keep bringing back captured tech or scans of the stuff they are fielding. I know your visor can do that."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 7, 2008)

Hope struggles to catch her breath as the vision fades, leaving her in a state of confusion, her eyes fading back to blue. This was as bad as the first vision she ever had, back when she was a child. When it finally hits her, what happened, she forces herself to sit up. 

"We can't attack the towers," she whispers hoarsely. "Not with missiles, not with anything that will take lives. They're mystical actuators. They feed off of death and Barrington plans to use them to open some sort... of interdimensional gate. I _*saw *_it. Flames, horns. Teeth." She looked up at Black. "The US is planning to launch some sort of missile attack at Barrington. Stop it. The price will be too high."


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 8, 2008)

"Barrington is just bad news... does this guy ever take a break?" Apollo sighs.


----------



## kirinke (Aug 8, 2008)

"I *saw*it. I can't see the future. I see the past. How can I see the future?" she looked worried. "Why now?" she asked. "I... think I need to go to the infirmery."


----------



## Victim (Aug 9, 2008)

"I thought he didn't have the nuke proofing technology yet - if he does than today was pretty pointless." Star says.  "Are you sure you didn't confuse the towers he's been dropping with the special one linked to the drill?  We already knew it supposed to absorb nuclear weapon attacks, and we've mentioned the possibility that some kind of portal device is going to be the payload."

"Those simulations would be pretty horrible if you think it actually happening in a crowded area.  I can see why you'd freak out about it, especially with the complications from your injuries and the ensueing confusion.  Maybe you should head back to the infirmary."



> "Barrington is just bad news... does this guy ever take a break?" Apollo sighs.




"Maybe that's what he was doing before he started this whole mess."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 9, 2008)

Victim said:


> "I thought he didn't have the nuke proofing technology yet - if he does than today was pretty pointless." Star says.  "Are you sure you didn't confuse the towers he's been dropping with the special one linked to the drill?  We already knew it supposed to absorb nuclear weapon attacks, and we've mentioned the possibility that some kind of portal device is going to be the payload."
> 
> "Those simulations would be pretty horrible if you think it actually happening in a crowded area.  I can see why you'd freak out about it, especially with the complications from your injuries and the ensueing confusion.  Maybe you should head back to the infirmary."
> 
> ...




"No... Not that." Hope shook her head. "It... was real. I felt it, saw it. I. You saw what happened, the blood.." she looked down at herself, remembering the pain. "The first time I ever had a post-cognitive vision. I went into cardiac arrest. This is real, it's going to happen, we have to stop it," she said quietly, firmly, hugging herself, trying to fight back the terrible images. "Please, believe me. Remember how it felt when I showed you what the spider demon did to his victims? Compound that by a factor of a million plus. That's what's going to happen if we don't stop this from happening," she bit her lip.

"It's not just one tower. It's all of them. Every single last one has the payload and the shields. Every single one is in a populated area. If his enemies started to attack the towers, then the fallout would reach the populance. Instant fuel. That's what he wants!"


----------



## Jemal (Aug 9, 2008)

Jack shot a sharp glance at Blue when he corrected himself on what to call 'Cincinatus'.. Giving into the tyrants desires like that only gave him more power.

"Regardless of where or how _Barrington_ is getting the tech, we need to come up with a way to neutralize it.. or at least to downplay the advantage it gives them.  Now, I didn't get a chance to scan all of them, but I downloaded some specs from the mech I took over, and here's the scans of Battle bunny, Control Freak, and Killer bee, as well as Recordings of the battle.  I also managed to get a scan of the Mystery Super.. just in case.
Jack uploaded the info for Blue and thought for a moment. "Do we have access to Daedlus' tech database? That would be a bit more we'd know about what they can do."

[sblock=ooc] I believe those were the 3 Optic was in the same room with.. If I'm wrong somebody please correct me.  I'm not sure if just being able to 'see' someone is good enough to scan them, so I limited it to those I was in close range of.
[/sblock]


----------



## Victim (Aug 9, 2008)

"In a lot of stories, people who try to prevent visions from coming true end up making them true.  Like when we go to warn the Mystery Super that Barrington wants her technology, lead his forces there, so we end up bringing about the exact thing we were warning them about."

"Besides, it's dumb to attack the towers.  They're obviously going to be really tough even without the radiation absorbers and nano turbines.  But what are they sitting on?  Dirt?  Rock?  Concrete?  Much more fragile stuff, even they is a lot of it.  Blow away the supporting ground, tip them over, and haul them off."

"Why don't you explain *exactly* what you saw.  Don't tell me your interpretations or explanations."  _You turn everything into mystical BS.  I don't even think you've seen the towers he's dropped so far in person, so you're full of sh-! there too.  And I think we're pretty sure right now that the stuff so far can't have the nuke proofing._


----------



## kirinke (Aug 9, 2008)

Hope shivered, calming down a little. "You're right in a way, but that's sort of a catch twenty two. Do nothing and the bad-thing happens. Do something and worse might happen or then again it might not," she looked at the girl. "Free choice is always a persnicity thing, but given the alternative, I don't see how we can't not use this,"

"I saw an image of a missile coming down from the upper atmosphere. It has an American flag on it. Its nosecone pops off, and ten missiles burst off. Behind it I saw two more do the same. I saw the smaller missiles spread out a bit, but it feels wrong..... off. They should be more accurate. Most of them go off around a giant tower. It looks like the one in Barrington's plans. I see flashes of people being vaporized. Lots of people, because the tower is in a populated area. It isn't destroyed. Energy swirls around the tower as it seems to absorb some of what hit it. It seems that the souls of the dead are being drawn to it too." she paused, leaning back against the chair, closing her eyes. "Then the image shifts radically, plunging downwards into the earth. Deep down, into lave. Demons and monsters crawling upwards. Then a presence of unimaginable evil. An image -- a glimpse more like. Horns. Fire." her eyes opened, they are white again briefly, as she relives that vision, before fading to her normal blue.

"He is planning on calling something powerful. He hopes to control it. But he will fail," she said softly. "We must stop him before he does,"


----------



## Victim (Aug 10, 2008)

"There's no time stamp or other information to indicate when your 'vision' is supposed to occur so any information in it isn't automatically going to be accurate right now."  

"If it matched the plans that we have, it's not necessarily like the towers that were dropped recently - I don't know if anyone has done any scans on those or something."  

"Only one tower was in the vision, so it doesn't say anything about how widespread the anti nuke defenses are.  I also didn't hear any to suggest multiple payloads."

"So way to invent facts to fit with your biases and fears," Star concludes acidly.  "Considering the gap between your conclusions and what you remember seeing, you probably also did a nice fill in the blanks routine between what your remember and what if anything you actually saw.  A law enforcement person like yourself probably knows eyewitnesses: ask 5 people what happened, and you probably get at least 5 versions."

Star sighs and stands up, checking the time on her phone.  _I don't want to be here, dealing with this crap._ "I think I'm just about done for the day..." she says, throwing a glance back towards Apollo.


----------



## kirinke (Aug 10, 2008)

Hope feels a surge of anger at Star's sarcastic comment and battles it down. Anger didn't do much at this point. "True enough," she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I've never had a future vision before, this... I dunno. It was... Frightening. I've never been so terrified of something in my life," she said quietly. 

"Wren said that whatever Barrington was planning would tip the cosmic balance to evil." she looked at the other superhero. "I don't think we'll ever like each other Star. But.... We have to work together in order to stop Barrington. I've made mistakes and I've done things I'm not proud of and will regret for the rest of my life. Whatever I've done to you, I'm sorry." she said quietly as she got up. 

"Don't let your own biases trip you up either," she added. "Barrington will use them against you as certainly as he will use mine against me,"


----------



## Elric (Aug 10, 2008)

kirinke said:


> "Don't let your own biases trip you up either," she added. "Barrington will use them against you as certainly as he will use mine against me,"




Nitro chimes in.  "You know, if Barrington does send me a bevy of hot wrestler babes, I think life will be pretty good.

I don't think anything major will be happening in regards to this 'mystical vision' tomorrow, though.  But Vi's funeral is going to happen, and we're going to need a press conference.  What does everyone think about combining the two?"

(From earlier)



> "We're planning to hold Thess's funeral soon, anyway, right? Why don't we just hold a press conference at the funeral and do a few press releases in the meantime to increase anticipation? We're not going to get a better moment to make our case against Barrington- I mean Cinci-douchbag- than the funeral of someone killed by his terrorist thugs."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 10, 2008)

Elric said:


> Nitro chimes in.  "You know, if Barrington does send me a bevy of hot wrestler babes, I think life will be pretty good.
> 
> I don't think anything major will be happening in regards to this 'mystical vision' tomorrow, though.  But Vi's funeral is going to happen, and we're going to need a press conference.  What does everyone think about combining the two?"
> 
> (From earlier)




"That would be a bad idea. Barrington's a media hound, we don't want to be seen as the same. I dunno about you, but I don't want to be dealing with the media vultures while I help bury a friend." she smiled at Nitro, but it was sad. "Having the conference after would be well enough I think."


----------



## Elric (Aug 10, 2008)

kirinke said:


> "That would be a bad idea. Barrington's a media hound, we don't want to be seen as the same. I dunno about you, but I don't want to be dealing with the media vultures while I help bury a friend." she smiled at Nitro, but it was sad. "Having the conference after would be well enough I think."




"I didn't mean hold a press conference in the middle of the service- after the service is fine.  The alternative is holding the press conference sooner than that.  The funeral might be a long time to wait given how fast everything has happened.  But I think we can increase anticipation with a few good leaks- it's something WWE has a lot of practice at."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 10, 2008)

Elric said:


> "I didn't mean hold a press conference in the middle of the service- after the service is fine.  The alternative is holding the press conference sooner than that.  The funeral might be a long time to wait given how fast everything has happened.  But I think we can increase anticipation with a few good leaks- it's something WWE has a lot of practice at."




Ms. White appears in a shimmer of blue light. * "Hey all!  So I've been looking into funeral arrangements, and talked to Thess' parents...getting the Catholic Church to bury a witch in a public service is not as easy as you might think...actually, when you put it that way, it is about as non-easy as you might think.  But anyway, between her father's connections and their hatred of Barrington, I've managed to arrange it for the day after tomorrow at 1pm at St. George's Cathedral.  You guys will have to give some great eulogies.  Its basically your best opportunity to plead our cause."*


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 10, 2008)

Apollo shrugs smirking at Star, "You guys figure it out, I am sure either way we can figure out something... but visions are not my specialty."


----------



## kirinke (Aug 10, 2008)

Vanifae said:


> Apollo shrugs smirking at Star, "You guys figure it out, I am sure either way we can figure out something... but visions are not my specialty."




"To tell the truth, visions of the future are a damned new thing for me too." she shook her head. "I thought I was done developing new powers. Visions suck,"  she said. 

_*Y'know, it'd be easier if she knew what it was like to walk in another's shoes. Judgemental much?*_ she grouses to herself as she heads for therapy with Ms. Pink.


----------



## Victim (Aug 11, 2008)

"That's right, we have to work together.  We don't have to be friends or like each other.  To me, working means not claiming stuff you make up is important information.  And it means not ranting about your religious beliefs every 5 minutes."  _Geez, I wonder how innocent people she's convicted or killed on the basis of fill in the blanks vision BS.  Absolute certainty+law enforcement powers...  No wonder superheroes need to deal supervillains; AEGIS is crap._ 

"I don't think I want to deal a funeral and answering the concerns of those lawyers at the same time.  We should seem all confident and superhero-y when we answer everyone's concerns, which doesn't seem right for a funeral."

_Cmon, tell me you want to do something._ 

"Well, I didn't really want to get into this right now," Star walks off, heading towards her room.


----------



## Jemal (Aug 11, 2008)

Optic walks in from his meeting with Mr Blue *OOC: Unless he had anything else to ask/say?* "You know guys, I'm supposed to be able to SEE everything, not HEAR everything.  Your... 'conversation' was geting a bit loud.  Now, what about Visions?"


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 11, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Jack shot a sharp glance at Blue when he corrected himself on what to call 'Cincinatus'.. Giving into the tyrants desires like that only gave him more power.
> 
> "Regardless of where or how _Barrington_ is getting the tech, we need to come up with a way to neutralize it.. or at least to downplay the advantage it gives them.  Now, I didn't get a chance to scan all of them, but I downloaded some specs from the mech I took over, and here's the scans of Battle bunny, Control Freak, and Killer bee, as well as Recordings of the battle.  I also managed to get a scan of the Mystery Super.. just in case.
> Jack uploaded the info for Blue and thought for a moment. "Do we have access to Daedlus' tech database? That would be a bit more we'd know about what they can do."
> ...




(You'd have to have actively used your analytical vision, since you'd need to make a special effort to gather the enormous amount of information you can theoretically pick up.  You'll incidentally have quite a bit though, so you can turn that in.)

"I'll see what I can do with this.  We have access, though not remote access, to Daedalus' database -- the problem is that some of it was ONLY present in the Lighthouse.  If you want to have a look at what he has, you should contact him directly.  That sounds like a good strategy for determining their strengths and weaknesses, though."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 11, 2008)

White picks up her phone and takes a look *"Alright guys, more news on the funeral.  There will be three eulogies other than you guys.  Thess' father, Lady Liberty, and Psi Ki, Viridian's old partner...by a random coincidence, we've been in contact with her about the Grant case.  The funeral will be politicized no matter what you do, the only question is wether you want to hold a press conference in the morning or just let Mr. Silver take care of it.  Either way, though, we need to figure out what we're doing ASAP."*


----------



## kirinke (Aug 11, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Optic walks in from his meeting with Mr Blue *OOC: Unless he had anything else to ask/say?* "You know guys, I'm supposed to be able to SEE everything, not HEAR everything.  Your... 'conversation' was geting a bit loud.  Now, what about Visions?"




Hope told him about the newest wrinkle in her powers and the subsequent vision she had, verbatum, as well as about her collaspe. "I got lucky. First time I ever had a post-cog vision, I went into cardiac arrest. This was still pretty bad though."


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 13, 2008)

"Well until then I am taking a break, Star want to hit up California, I got a nice place in San Francisco we can chill at, lay low and get back to nature," Apollo says standing.


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 13, 2008)

In the time leading up to the funeral, Mr. Silver handles the publicity.  He says that the group is grieving, and will not be speaking to the press until after the funeral.  He also reveals that the purpose of the mission was to keep Barrington from stealing sensitive nuclear technology with disturbing military applications.  Another release reveals that the supers opposing them included known terrorists, and includes information on CF's newly-enhanced Hamas bodyguards.  Finally, he continues to emphasize that the group is not a government agency or a part of one, nor is it in any way government funded.

The magnitude of your victory becomes clearer as more information comes out.  It seems this attack was Barrington's big play for the Arab world, and he was able to get a number of countries to join him in trying to rescue captured Arab supers, but that aspect of the mission was a total failure.  Now in these countries there is a great deal of debate about whether or not Barrington is providing the right path, or at least whether a full or partial commitment to him should be pursued. 

Furthermore, Barrington's forces' defeat in their major battlefield debut has called his power and prestige into question worldwide.  He hasn't necessarily lost countries, but he certainly has lost enthusiasm.

--------------------------------------
So the group is about to go to the funeral...

BTW,  Psi Ki, you aren't with the group yet, but you should start posting now.


----------



## kirinke (Aug 13, 2008)

Victim said:


> "That's right, we have to work together.  We don't have to be friends or like each other.  To me, working means not claiming stuff you make up is important information.  And it means not ranting about your religious beliefs every 5 minutes."  _Geez, I wonder how innocent people she's convicted or killed on the basis of fill in the blanks vision BS.  Absolute certainty+law enforcement powers...  No wonder superheroes need to deal supervillains; AEGIS is crap._
> 
> "I don't think I want to deal a funeral and answering the concerns of those lawyers at the same time.  We should seem all confident and superhero-y when we answer everyone's concerns, which doesn't seem right for a funeral."
> 
> ...




Hope smiles a little. "I'm working on my issues Star, it's... not easy." she said quietly.


----------



## Victim (Aug 14, 2008)

"Is this okay?  Should I get some black somethings?  I don't remember any other funerals..." Star asks.  "And it's been a long time since I've been to church."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 14, 2008)

Victim said:


> "Is this okay?  Should I get some black somethings?  I don't remember any other funerals..." Star asks.  "And it's been a long time since I've been to church."





"Yeah, maybe" White comments.  "Even I'm wearing black."


----------



## Victim (Aug 14, 2008)

"I'm sorry," Star cries.  "Don't let me screw this up too."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 14, 2008)

Victim said:


> "I'm sorry," Star cries.  "Don't let me screw this up too."





White puts her arm around Star.  "Its not your fault.  Say it. Let me hear you say it.  'It's not my fault' "  

Blue light sparkles around Star, and forms some additions to her costume.  A black cape that covers the shoulders and tapers into a triangular front piece, a domino mask with star shapes around the eyes instead of ovals, and black bands around the wrists and ankles.


----------



## kirinke (Aug 14, 2008)

Hope smiles a little and goes back to her room, looking over her costume. She makes a few changes, instead of blue highlights, she uses green, the same shade that Vi used in her costume. She also changes the red-armbands to green.

"In her honour," she said quietly when she was done, looking it over. "Don't let me betray her memory."


ooc:
Thumbnail is sorta what she looks like with the changes. Before it was blue highlights. Now it's green in honour of Vi's memory.


----------



## Victim (Aug 14, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> White puts her arm around Star.  "Its not your fault.  Say it. Let me hear you say it.  'It's not my fault' "




"It's... not my fault," Megan says unconvincingly.


----------



## Elric (Aug 14, 2008)

Nitro appears, wearing a dark suit.  It is a decidedly strange look for the wrestler.  

“Well, may as well get to the funeral.  You’re not to blame, Star.  Jeez, everything is sad enough around here already.  I hate getting reminded about my own mortality.”


----------



## Vanifae (Aug 15, 2008)

Apollo arrives in a custom Italian suit, black with shades and his hair slicked back with dark highlights.  Everything is just in the right place although his customary smile is missing replaced by a somber look to match the mood of the occasion.  In his breast pocket is a single white rose which he places on the casket as he approaches.  He adjusts the light just so to place their honored ally in the spotlight so to speak.

  He stands next to Star and gives her a soft squeeze producing handkerchief to dry her tears.  Apollo whispers to her, “Don’t beat yourself up babe, save that for Barrington.”


----------



## kirinke (Aug 15, 2008)

Hope dressed as the Saint, joins them, her new colours an obvious homage to Viridian, her way of mourning a lost friend. 

"Star, nothing could be done." she said quietly. "Vi wouldn't have wanted you to drown yourself in guilt." she added, her own voice catching as she cupped her hands in front of her.

The air shimmered and solidified, forming a perfectly clear rose. It hovered in front of them. "I... was thinking, we could each add a bit of our own powers to this, just a little so that well...." her voice trembled. "I guess it would be something from all of us as a team for _her_," she bowed her head. "It's an old spell, but a good one, one that honours the fallen."


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 16, 2008)

The group arrives at St. George's Cathedral, a huge, Gothic-style Cathedral with numerous stained glass windows, most notably one depicting the dragon slaying by its eponymous saint. To avoid any problems with crowds, White teleports everyone to the interior of the Church.

Across the street is Liberty Park, the massive, Central Park-like cultural center of Freedom City.  In the park are well-wishers and protesters, many holding signs.  While the supporters held typical condolence and pro-Supers stuff, the opponents were a mish-mash of radicals, conspiracy theorists, and Barrington supporters, chanting anti-government, anti-"imperialist", and pro-Barrington slogans about peace and freedom and all that good-sounding stuff that Barrington claims to offer.  Reporters are on the scene, talking to the people in the park and staking out the building for your arrival.

Police try to keep everything under control, and Black (In the audience with a long suit jacket covering his guns) and his people are in position to deal with any problems.  Your plane is circling above the action, with Jacobson monitoring the situation on the ground.  Harriman leads a sniper team  that hopefully wont have to do anything.

The church is packed with notables.  Freedom City has always been the most pro-Supers city in the world, and the local worthies have done their best to show up.  In an area to the side of the main hall where you teleport in, you find the remnants of the Freedom League, as well as Archbishop Fairwell.


----------



## Fangor the Fierce (Aug 16, 2008)

Wren's attire is that of a business man's suit, complete with jacket and tie.  He is not used to this type of formality, as he can't recall ever going to a funeral.... 

A bit misplaced with his feelings, he knows that there is a reason for everything.  There has to be... he thinks to himself...


----------



## DM_Matt (Aug 16, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> The group arrives at St. George's Cathedral, a huge, Gothic-style Cathedral with numerous stained glass windows, most notably one depicting the dragon slaying by its eponymous saint. To avoid any problems with crowds, White teleports everyone to the interior of the Church.
> 
> Across the street is Liberty Park, the massive, Central Park-like cultural center of Freedom City.  In the park are well-wishers and protesters, many holding signs.  While the supporters held typical condolence and pro-Supers stuff, the opponents were a mish-mash of radicals, conspiracy theorists, and Barrington supporters, chanting anti-government, anti-"imperialist", and pro-Barrington slogans about peace and freedom and all that good-sounding stuff that Barrington claims to offer.  Reporters are on the scene, talking to the people in the park and staking out the building for your arrival.
> 
> ...




(More Info)

One of the lead protesters is, according to Black and his people, Hana Maslin, the witch who first got Thess involved with magic and later convinced her that she was using too much of it, commanding the universe instead of properly channeling it.  She's telling reporters that "The government murdered my friend.  They manipulated her into becoming a soldier, and that got her killed.  They took advantage of her idealism and her dangerous additction to magical energies.  They knew the danger, they just didn't care."

Through the door, Optic notices a man and a woman standing around the front of the church, wearing black and with large jackets identifying them as church employees.  What he finds odd is how well armed they are....hiding more weapons even than Black, and they carry swords as well as guns and grenades.


Also present is a young woman no one recognizes...(Psy Ki, you may now post, though other conversations may go on as well).


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## kirinke (Aug 16, 2008)

Hope in her Saint guise holds the rose she created in one hand, her mask shielding her emotions from flashing cameras and video. She hears the protesters and Hanna and swallows her rage. 

_*Vi wasn't addicted to magic. She just stood. Which is more than I can say for you, coward.*_ she thought as Hanna spoke. Her eyes are pure white, given that she is on edge.


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## Elric (Aug 16, 2008)

(I assume there's a TV or something where we can actually see the protest despite being at the interior of the Church, or that we were watching this right before getting here)

"I didn't know there were this many dope-smoking radicals in the entire country outside of Berkeley.  Now I see how Ms. Cleo makes her money.  Can't we just go back to the good old days when these people ranted about the world being run by a bunch of shapeshifting dinosaur-like reptiles and stayed out of supporting homicidal supervillains desiring and fully capable of world domination."


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## Psi Ki (Aug 16, 2008)

Turning around she notices the others and walks towards them,her facial expression contemplative, yet stoic. _*Hello, my name is Psi Ki.*_


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## kirinke (Aug 16, 2008)

Hope turns around, seeing the woman and hearing the thoughts broadcasted through her mind. _"Mine is Saint," _she said quietly through her windborn words ability. _"I would say welcome, but..." _she shook her head sadly. _"Not here, not like this,"_ waves of bone deep sorrow seem to emanate from the sorceress. _"Yet, you are welcome, to join us in mourning our friend, whom was yours as well."_ she said formally, moving over so the new lady could join them on the pew.

_"They lie you know. Vi wasn't addicted to magic. She just stood, which is more than most of those out there can say,"_ Saint added, a touch of simmering rage colouring the deep mourning she was in._ "She cared enough to stand."_


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## Victim (Aug 17, 2008)

Star frowns and bites her lip at the crowd, protesters, and slanderous 'friend.'  _Is that kind of comment really appropriate right now, Nitro._

(I'm assuming that was mental communication)

Star thinks back, "_I don't know you."_


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## Jemal (Aug 17, 2008)

Optic wears his visor and a formal (very pricey) black suit, with his nanotech suit still stowed in his belt, in case things get dicey.  

He transmits a short warning message(About the 'church employees) to the rest of his team (As well as any trust members he knows are present) as text messages to their phones.  He sets the messages to arrive throughout the next few minutes (before the service starts though), so it won't appear as though a dozen people just got paged at once, with Black receiving the first message immediately.


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## Elric (Aug 17, 2008)

_Psi Ki._  Nitro's heaping of scorn on the protesters, WWE style, is momentarily forgotten.  He had a vague inkling he'd heard that name mentioned somewhere.

"Wait, weren't you associated with Viridian in some way?"


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## kirinke (Aug 17, 2008)

"She was Viridian's old partner before she joined up with us," Saint responded quietly, making room for the newcomer, silently welcoming her, even at such a sorrowful time. The transparent rose in her hand pulsed a little with energy as she breathed an old spell into it, one she hoped to reveal at the burial. She smiled under her mask. It would be well, a fitting tribute to the wiccan who had taught her patience, if nothing else.


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## Elric (Aug 18, 2008)

"Oh.  Well, pleased to meant you, Psi Ki.  Sorry it's in such a terrible time."

(Gets the message from Jack about the 'church employees)

_Are some supervillains trying to interrupt the funeral?  Or attack those present?  Well, kicking ass is more fun than sitting through funeral services.  But, as Star would probably remind me, charging out looking for a fight doesn't seem too appropriate._


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## kirinke (Aug 18, 2008)

"Well, that puts a new twist in things, doesn't it?" she said quietly, reading the message Jack sent. "They're probably Vatican guards, but...." her eyes closed briefly. "Let's be on our guard, yes?" she frowned and spoke quietly to the ArchBishop about the 'church employees'.

"Friends of mine noticed two heavily armed individuals outside with church 'employee' insignias on their uniforms. Are they truly your people?" she asked quietly, through the wind-born words ability, after identifying herself.


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## Vanifae (Aug 18, 2008)

Apollo nods to the newcomer, then glances to the trouble with a critical eye.


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## DM_Matt (Aug 19, 2008)

kirinke said:


> "Well, that puts a new twist in things, doesn't it?" she said quietly, reading the message Jack sent. "They're probably Vatican guards, but...." her eyes closed briefly. "Let's be on our guard, yes?" she frowned and spoke quietly to the ArchBishop about the 'church employees'.
> 
> "Friends of mine noticed two heavily armed individuals outside with church 'employee' insignias on their uniforms. Are they truly your people?" she asked quietly, through the wind-born words ability, after identifying herself.




The Archbishop says "They are indeed ours.  We have increased security worldwide due to Barrington's threat.  We fear his movement is becoming a powerful false faith in many places we are currently active.  We know not his particular plan, but we have our ways of knowing important things about the cosmos and its future -- and we know that Barrington will tilt the universe towards evil.  Some among us have speculated that he is the Antichrist.  We are concerned that not enough is being done to counter Barrington as he and his proxies sweep over the world...but that is a matter for another setting."


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## kirinke (Aug 19, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> The Archbishop says "They are indeed ours.  We have increased security worldwide due to Barrington's threat.  We fear his movement is becoming a powerful false faith in many places we are currently active.  We know not his particular plan, but we have our ways of knowing important things about the cosmos and its future -- and we know that Barrington will tilt the universe towards evil.  Some among us have speculated that he is the Antichrist.  We are concerned that not enough is being done to counter Barrington as he and his proxies sweep over the world...but that is a matter for another setting."




Saint smiled a little to herself. Barrington wasn't the Antichrist by any means. But neither was he harmless. After the vision she had recently, she knew he was the harbringer, the herald of something truly evil. Something.... Beyond even what the church would consider the Antichrist. 

"You aren't far off the mark. Among our group is one who can sense the cosmic order, I myself have recently begun to have visions of the future. All point to something terrible happening if we don't stop it, Barrington is at the center. I.... would speak more of this if you are willing to hear it, perhaps after the funeral. I.... also think I need to confess, though I am not Catholic, if you would...." she asked quietly again through the windborn words.


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## DM_Matt (Aug 19, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Saint smiled a little to herself. Barrington wasn't the Antichrist by any means. But neither was he harmless. After the vision she had recently, she knew he was the harbringer, the herald of something truly evil. Something.... Beyond even what the church would consider the Antichrist.
> 
> "You aren't far off the mark. Among our group is one who can sense the cosmic order, I myself have recently begun to have visions of the future. All point to something terrible happening if we don't stop it, Barrington is at the center. I.... would speak more of this if you are willing to hear it, perhaps after the funeral. I.... also think I need to confess, though I am not Catholic, if you would...." she asked quietly again through the windborn words.




"The multitude of sources seems to confirm our fears.  Regarding confession, I am sorry but confession is a holy sacrament that cannot be performed in isolation from the others.  I cannot take confession from someone who is not a member of the church.  We can provide council, but not grace."


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## Elric (Aug 19, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> Some among us have speculated that he is the Antichrist.




_Oh no!  Even the people on our side have all of these crazy conspiracy theory-type views at well.  Oh well, we'll take the support we can get"_



> We are concerned that not enough is being done to counter Barrington as he and his proxies sweep over the world...but that is a matter for another setting




_I'm concerned that we haven't won too.  But supervillains don't get defeated in a day, even though that was all it took for them to kill Vi_


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## Victim (Aug 19, 2008)

_More craziness.  Figures.  Well, I'm sorry we're not doing a good enough job for you.  Maybe you should have a go at it._  "I don't think this is what anyone wanted either."  _Except Barrington.  It feels like the hammer is about to fall, like all the complaints and protests were just to set us up for something.  But I worry too much._


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## kirinke (Aug 19, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "The multitude of sources seems to confirm our fears.  Regarding confession, I am sorry but confession is a holy sacrament that cannot be performed in isolation from the others.  I cannot take confession from someone who is not a member of the church.  We can provide council, but not grace."




"Council is what I meant, I am grateful." Saint replied and looked at Star, when she heard the sarcastic overtones in her voice. "Be nice, the newcomer mourns as well." Saint told the prickly superheroine.


ooc:
I think that when Hope speaks with her wind-born words ability, it's mostly silent communication. But she does relay the important parts of what the Archbishop tells her, _minus _her own asking for council. 

As to why Hope is sounding so different, right now she is in deep mourning, plus she's feeling alot more clear and level headed than she's been in months. Basically, she's beginning to heal from the trials she faced with Faust and is approaching her old self. She is still going to lapse from time to time (like with the future vision).


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## DM_Matt (Aug 19, 2008)

Victim said:


> _More craziness.  Figures.  Well, I'm sorry we're not doing a good enough job for you.  Maybe you should have a go at it._  "I don't think this is what anyone wanted either."  _Except Barrington.  It feels like the hammer is about to fall, like all the complaints and protests were just to set us up for something.  But I worry too much._




"No, it isn't.  But it is the challenge that the world has been presented.  Hopefully we will rise to that occasion.  I suspect that more and more people are realizing the threat he poses, and more and more will mobilize against him."


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## DM_Matt (Aug 21, 2008)

(Ok, it seems that Psi Ki wasn't quite ready, so well delay discussing her introduction and move on for the moment)

Soon two more individuals walk in -- a middle aged couple.  The man is tall and handsome, with slightly-graying hair and a very expensive black suit.  He has a bit of an aristocratic air to him.  The woman wears black, too, with a lacy black veil hanging form her hat.  The man introduces himself  "I am Henry DesJardin.  this is my wife, Violet.  I take it you are were Thessaly's colleagues."


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## Elric (Aug 21, 2008)

For once Nitro's aura of bluster seems gone.

"Yes.  I am truly sorry for everything.  Thessaly was the youngest among us and while her command of magic was incredible in some ways her youth and inexperience made her the most vulnerable among us.  But she was instrumental in the battle in which she lost her life, using her magic to cause the majority of the enemy army to flee in terror.  Then she confronted four dangerous supervillains almost by herself and paid the ultimate price.  But she helped many people in her short life, and we will do our best to exemplify the ideals she lived and died for."


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## DM_Matt (Aug 21, 2008)

Elric said:


> For once Nitro's aura of bluster seems gone.
> 
> "Yes.  I am truly sorry for everything.  Thessaly was the youngest among us and while her command of magic was incredible in some ways her youth and inexperience made her the most vulnerable among us.  But she was instrumental in the battle in which she lost her life, using her magic to cause the majority of the enemy army to flee in terror.  Then she confronted four dangerous supervillains almost by herself and paid the ultimate price.  But she helped many people in her short life, and we will do our best to exemplify the ideals she lived and died for."




"I see.  I understand what she died for, and that she was indeed a hero, but is it responsible to allow someone so young into such a situation?  Did she REALLY understand what she was getting into?  I wish I knew, but she never wanted to talk much about these matters...she only said her grandmother's charm made her nearly invulnerable, and that we should not worry."


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## Elric (Aug 21, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> "I see.  I understand what she died for, and that she was indeed a hero, but is it responsible to allow someone so young into such a situation?  Did she REALLY understand what she was getting into?  I wish I knew, but she never wanted to talk much about these matters...she only said her grandmother's charm made her nearly invulnerable, and that we should not worry."




"I believe she did understand what she was getting into; she defeated the supervillain Red Death, who used poison gas, even before joining up with us.  But unfortunately we will never know.

The charm did make her very resistant to injury, and she had never been seriously injured in a fight with us before.  But while the amulet protected her from a mortal wound from the terrorist Killer Bee's stingers, it did not protect her from their deadly poison.  Against such a poison, just like Red Death's poison that she had encountered before, she was all too human."


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## Victim (Aug 21, 2008)

Eyes downcast, Megan adds a quiet apology of her own: "I'm sorry."

"I think she did understand what we were dealing; if not right away, then certainly after our first fight together...  But she always seemed like she understood."  _In general, and not just about risks._

Star adds, "Thess was very responsible with her powers; she wasn't addicted or wild with them or anything like that."


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## kirinke (Aug 21, 2008)

Saint smiled. "Star speaks truth. She was in no way addicted to magic. She just.... Stood. She cared enough to stand and used her powers to help those who could not, to protect those who were helpless to protect themselves. She was a hero in every sense of the word," she held out her hands.

"With those who care so much to stand, they will do so with or without support, with or without a group. Age makes little difference in that.... Need to help." her voice sounded sober, though the full mask concealed her expression. "I believe she understood the risks, before I joined the group, another member had died by Barrington's hands, Spirit I believe. She knew the risks. But still decided to fight,"


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## DM_Matt (Aug 21, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Saint smiled. "Star speaks truth. She was in no way addicted to magic. She just.... Stood. She cared enough to stand and used her powers to help those who could not, to protect those who were helpless to protect themselves. She was a hero in every sense of the word," she held out her hands.
> 
> "With those who care so much to stand, they will do so with or without support, with or without a group. Age makes little difference in that.... Need to help." her voice sounded sober, though the full mask concealed her expression. "I believe she understood the risks, before I joined the group, another member had died by Barrington's hands, Spirit I believe. She knew the risks. But still decided to fight,"




"Thank you...I...I needed to hear all that directly.  I can do this now."

The Archbishop says "We really should start now."

He leads you out to the now-full church, and moves to the pulpit.  

Hope (not Optic, Hope is detecting a spiritual presence) sees a woman who looks a lot like Viridian standing in the aisle.  She wears Viridian's charm around her neck.  Images of ghostly female figures swirl around her.  Viridian's charm glows light purple, and purple energy crackles around her.  She stays there for about 30 seconds, watching solemnly.  Hope feels anger...revenge....the woman disappears.

Hope knows she just detected a spirit -- or probably a cluster of spirits with a leader.  This kind of manifestation on such holy ground is extraordinarily rare.  They must be enormously powerful to sustain a barrier against the banishing properties inherent in the cathedral.

The Archbishop talks a lot about Thess and her accomplishments, condemning Barrington on behalf of the church in the strongest of terms, and calling on all believers to oppose him in any way possible.  He also announces that the Vatican will in the coming weeks begin more specific efforts to oppose Barrington's forces.  He then turns things over to Thess' teammates.  After you guys, Lady Liberty will speak, then Thess' father, the someone from the team will be allowed to close.


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## Vanifae (Aug 22, 2008)

Apollo listens as best as he can, churches and sermons were not really his thing.


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## DM_Matt (Aug 24, 2008)

(So, anyone want to make a significant speech?)


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## Victim (Aug 24, 2008)

(I wanted to see what Elric posted first; Nitro has generally been our go to guy for speeches so far.  Funny that people should have virtual stage fright.)


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## kirinke (Aug 24, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> (So, anyone want to make a significant speech?)




If no one else objects, I think Hope will. I have something in mind. 


IC
After the others make their speech, Saint walks towards the podium, the air around her swirling gently, smelling faintly of autumn. She began to speak, haltingly, sadness and grief heavy in her voice.

"Barrington speaks of peace, yet his actions belie that. Everything he has done have been done in violence, to spread the seeds of pain and fear, terror and hate and of domination through evil.  Viridian... Thessely understood this, she joined us to fight this evil, to use her powers to save others in the only way she knew how. 

She gave her life to protect the innocent, the helpless. She stood for life, she stood for those who could not stand. Thes was in no way addicted to magic. She used her powers responsibly and with great humility. She knew the risks, knew what she faced. Yet she still stood. That is the true mark of a hero, to stand, even though you know the risks, even though you are afraid of what you face. To stand in the face of real evil and fight.

She did just that."


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## Vanifae (Aug 24, 2008)

Apollo nods he did not know the deceased enough to say anything worthwhile.


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## Elric (Aug 24, 2008)

Nitro steps up to the podium.

“It is with great sadness that I speak to you today.  The most painful funerals are the best attended; for they are for people, like Thessaly, who died so young and with so much promise.

Yet Thessaly accomplished a great deal in her short life.  She used her mastery of magic judiciously to aid others and defeat supervillains.  She could have chosen to lead the life of a typical college student, her greatest concerns classes and perhaps finding good parties.  However, Thessaly instead chose to use her powers to benefit the world, and that she did.  

Thessaly was instrumental in the battle in which she lost her life, using her magic to cause the majority of the enemy army to flee in terror.  Then she confronted four dangerous supervillains almost single-handedly and paid the ultimate price.  

Even before I knew her, she had defeated the supervillain Red Death, braving facing the poison-gas using villain alone.  She knew the risks of a caped existence.  Yet from the first night I met her, Thessaly never forgot who she was, that though she spent time as Viridian, the costumed avenger, she was always Thessaly at heart.  Parents strive to give their children roots and wings.  Thessaly had both, but she learned, as did Icarus, that wings, though a blessing, sometimes become a curse.  

We must not forget that Barrington is responsible for the events that led to Thessaly’s death, and that his unquenchable thirst for power and willingness to murder any and all who stand in his way have not abated.  Thessaly lives on in each of us and in her memory we will strive to defeat Barrington, exemplifying the ideals she lived and died for.”


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## kirinke (Aug 25, 2008)

Hope can still hear the protesters and Hanna leading the pack of them. She scowls as she takes her seat. She wished she could show them exactly what Barrington was. Oh she wanted to throw it to their faces and rub it in. 

_*Bitch. Smearing Thes' name with lies.*_


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## DM_Matt (Aug 25, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Hope turns to the others as well as Thes' parents.
> 
> "I know of a spell, an old spell, _the rite of the fallen_. It... provides a fitting memorial for the honoured dead, one that incorporates all of our positive feelings towards the deceased into one act of tribute as it were. I have prepared the vessel, it only needs our combined will, our thoughts to activate it. I was thinking we could do this at the burial," she said after the others have finished with their speeches.
> 
> ...




(Hope recognizes that casting spells at a Catholic funeral -- in a Cathedral even -- would cause some serious problems.  Are you sure you want to do that?)


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## Victim (Aug 25, 2008)

Star glares at Hope.  _WTF is wrong with you?_  She slides over toward the podium.  Teary eyed and often choked up, Megan begins her own short speech:

"Thess had many amazing powers.  She could smash a robot with a telekinetic throw.  She could find people across vast distances.  And her power could even rewrite the emotions of others."

"But her most important ability was the will to not take advantage despite those gifts.  It just seems to accepted that of course someone with a kind of power - not just a super power, but also wealth, political position or influence, skill fame, etc - will use it to put themselves ahead first.  Will take what they want first.  But hey, as long as some stuff we like is offered along the way, then there's no problem - because another person in that position would be just as selfish."

"I'm not saying that our cynicism isn't or hasn't been justified.  But maybe by never expecting or demanding anything better we're selling ourselves short.  Maybe we can do better.  After all, there are people like Thessaly.  Or maybe this tragedy is why we don't."

_Whatever.  I'm not very good at this - Nitro is better -  but I should try to say something right?  We're not just the crazy person and Nitro show.  But no one really cares; in a week there will be some new thing for people to focus on instead._


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## kirinke (Aug 25, 2008)

DM_Matt said:


> (Hope recognizes that casting spells at a Catholic funeral -- in a Cathedral even -- would cause some serious problems.  Are you sure you want to do that?)




Probably not and... Didn't realize. Eep! Thanks for the second chance to not go there. 

IC
When Star sits down, Saint squeezes her shoulder in understanding. "You did well," you can hear the anger under the grief. "Those people outside wouldn't know real.... Heroism and restraint if it bit them."

You can tell she wanted to say something foul, but she held it back.
Probably by biting her tongue. Literally.


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## Vanifae (Aug 26, 2008)

Apollo does his best to adjust the light to make sure the focus stays on the departed.


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## Fangor the Fierce (Aug 26, 2008)

Wren was not used to this.  Funerals were not his forte, but the young woman who now laid inside the coffin brought about a change in his heart.  He knew what Barrington was.  He knew where he came from.  He knew more about his alien race than Barrington would admit to.  Now, with all these cameras, newspeople, witnesses and such, it was time to even the playing field...

Wren stands, nodding to the ones that had spoken on behalf of their slain ally.  He takes his steps smoothly, noting the eyes of the people as they follow him to the podium.  As he stands, he first peers out into the faces of all those around him, sensing for any cosmic anomalies, simply out of habit.  Then, he speaks...

"We all have our reasons for being here today.  Some to show their appreciation to one so full of hope, some to simply bring a shadow over what we all know to be happening.  Thessaly was young at heart, but not weak.  She trusted in each of us, to fight for what we know to be right, as we trusted in her with equal faith in her abilities."

"She will be remembered for what she was.  A beacon that we will all fight to honor.  Youth, strength, honor, trust, and good will.  That was what Thessaly fought for, and what we will continue to fight for as well.  Barrington was her killer.  Not by his hand, but by his orders, her death was none the less another act on his campaign.  Had you known the real Barrignton, then you would know his true meaning.  To those that are on the fence, not sure of which path to follow, I say this, only follow your heart, and not your eyes.  Behind many facades, the truth may be too well hidden to be seen.  Do not let the truth be hidden behind false images, and seek out the truth.  If you allow yourself to be lead into a false sense of security by Barrington and his followers, then I am truly sorry for you all.  Thessaly stood up against those claims of his that we were the enemy.  She stood tall, and she stood firm.  Do not let her conviction go wasted, as I know we have no intention of doing so."

Wren hesitates; the words running through his mind.  He thinks on them, replaying what he would want to say, but stops to peer into the eyes of the crowd.... all the while, thinking ....._"Thessaly helped us find out the truth.  Of Barrington's lies.  'Barrington'... another lie of his.  By any other name, murder is murder, lies are lies, and the truth, is freedom from those shadows.  For Thessaly, his lies will be shown to the world.  Ares, will be stopped before his plans come to fruition.  Before he allows earth to follow in the steps of his last world.  Barrington... Ares... and all the names he has used before, to hide behind his murderous schemes and lies, will be brought to justice.  Thessaly will not be avenged, she will be honored._

But instead, he knows that this is not the place.  Perhaps after the funeral, he would speak those words, and wait to see the reaction from Barrington's face, of his secrets and lies revealed.  But, let him keep his false sense of accomplishment.  It will only hurt that much more, when the truth is revealed...


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## DM_Matt (Aug 31, 2008)

The speeches seem to be received well...the crowd seems moved.  Its hard to tell of course, since this is a funeral, not a political rally.  People aren't really supposed to give much response, other tan crying.  

Lady Liberty speaks next. 

"I did not know Thessaly that well, and I thank all of you for your moving words.  From the short time I knew her, I saw a hero.  She was not only concerned with protecting the innocent or bringing the guilty to justice...vigilantes and even bounty hunters can have those qualities -- but above all she wanted to do that in the RIGHT WAY.  She never took a life, even though she had one particular power -- which she virtually never used -- that could do so quite efficiently.  It always hurts to lose someone so young, and it is all the more tragic considering the future she certainly had waiting for her.  It pains me to imagine those who will not be saved with her gone.

Tragic as her death was, it did not merely happen.  It was an intentional act -- by a second-rate terrorist armed by Barrington and his crew with weapons he never should have had access to.  Barrington has become popular in many parts of the world.  Even in Freedom City, he has his supporters.  Some of them are across the street, and can hear this on the loudspeakers.  Allow me for a moment to talk about freedom...As an incarnation of liberty itself, I know a thing or two about this.  I say this to his supporters --

Barrington says he offers you progress and freedom from oppression.  But he does not.  He lies.  He offers you indentured servitude in return for his gifts.  Look at the lands that support Barrington.  Those that flocked to his banner were generally not free in the first place and are no more free now.  He counts on your gratitude to make you lay down your lives for his cause, sometimes directly, sometimes through host governments.  He takes advnatage of poverty and desparation to buy loyalty on the cheap.  Many have done this.  Hamas and Hezbollah built their quasi-states using this very strategy, and their people are no better off from it -- and certainly no more free.

You might think that the technologies he offers grant you freedom, but instead they offer you servitude in his armies.  Even when you yourself are not forced into battle, others are fighting, and many are suffering.  Many -- like Thessaly -- are being killed by Barington's armies.  Do not think that you are free when our freedom is fueled by the killing and bullying of others.  You are merely trading your own misfortunes for far greater misfortunate for other people.  When you accept Barrington;s aid, when you join his cause, when you volunteer for his humanitarian efforts, you are in fact oppressing others.  You may have more comfort for your bodies but your souls belong to him.

To those supporters here and in other areas not allied with Barrington, I implore you to consider his deeds and his allies.  Why is it that supervillains, terrorists, and dictators worldwide have welcomed him, while free peoples are skeptical?  Why are his right-hand men an insane child who likes to smash cities with giant robots and a former KGB Superagent?  Why did his first public act involve taking most of the Freedom League as hostage, whom he has still not yet released.

Thessaly is but one of his many victims, and there will be so many more until he is stopped -- both among his enemies, and those who follow him.  Listen to what all have said today about her.  Then imagine the funerals of each and every person that Barrnigton has killed, or soon will.  Some will not even get funerals.  Many who perished at the hands of Barrington-backed forces in Arfica the last two weeks have mostly been dumped unceremoniously in mass graves, unmarked and unknown to their loved ones.  

Do not allow there to be more funerals lie this one.  Do not allow any more young lives to end so tragically."

Just then, Barrington himself appears in the aisle.  Then the guns come out.  The two guards at the front of the church open their coats and draw a gun in each hand, drawing and firing in the blink of an eye.  Harriman's sniper rifle blasts off too.  Black, in the audience, draws but is quick enough to not fire as soon as he sees the even faster church guards try it.  Slower or less eager guards and police draw down on him too.  Optic can see that this Barrington is a holographic projection from somewhere, but the others cannot.  Bullets go right through him.  Fortunately, only walls are wounded.  

"What wonderful words.  I'm just here to pay my respects" he says "...and express my regret for this tragic accident. The purpose of that mission was to free heroes unjustly improsoned...it was only a tragic fluke that Thessaly was slain in an accident involving non-lethal weaponry."


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## kirinke (Aug 31, 2008)

Saint turned to Barrington. "She was slain with lethal poison, a cowards weapon, fitting for one who attacks innocents, holds real heroes against their will and uses creatures given to evil like Faust," she retorted, knowing that if bullets did no harm, then her attacks would likely cause more damage to the surroundings then him.


Now was not the time for a rage-filled attack. She fingered her crystallian rose, the one she had intended for Thes. 


ooc:
Would it be possible to 'nullify' the hologram with a spell? I'd be willing to use a hero point in order to accomplish it.


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## DM_Matt (Aug 31, 2008)

kirinke said:


> Saint turned to Barrington. "She was slain with lethal poison, a cowards weapon, fitting for one who attacks innocents, holds real heroes against their will and uses creatures given to evil like Faust," she retorted, knowing that if bullets did no harm, then her attacks would likely cause more damage to the surroundings then him.
> 
> 
> Now was not the time for a rage-filled attack. She fingered her crystallian rose, the one she had intended for Thes.
> ...




(You don't even know how this works.  Just because magic is a common descriptor doesn't mean you can nullify ANYTHING with it)

"Lies and propaganda.  It was an accidental overdose, and that I truly regret.  Accidents happen.  Your guards just could easily have killed someone shooting at this image...nifty technology, don't ya think?  I foubnd it in Daedalus' alien database.  There are so many wonders in there he has locked away form humanity, all because one of his own technologies accidently -- here's that word again -- killed his son 2500 years ago.  But I did not come here to argue.  I came here to pay my respects."


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## Jemal (Aug 31, 2008)

Optic analyzes the hologram, attempting to tap into it the signal, either to trace it or shut it down.  "In case anybody hasn't realized yet, you didn't miss.  It's a hologram, don't fire anymore!" he is quick to warn the guards, in case they plan on continuing their fire.

Standing, Optic walks towards the hologram, hands clenched at his side as he speaks with what many would later call 'the most uncharacteristic rage every displayed by the ordinarily composed hero'
"AN Accident with nonlethal weaponry?  I've studied Killer Bee's venom myself, and belive me there is NOTHING 'nonlethal' about it.. and I don't think intentionally stabbing someone with a poisoned stinger can be called accidental, even in your twisted little fantasy world.  Stop disrespecting Vi's memory and desecrating this church with your evil presence.  If you're not here to do anything other than spread your damned propoganda, then GET OUT."


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## DM_Matt (Sep 1, 2008)

Jemal said:


> Optic analyzes the hologram, attempting to tap into it the signal, either to trace it or shut it down.  "In case anybody hasn't realized yet, you didn't miss.  It's a hologram, don't fire anymore!" he is quick to warn the guards, in case they plan on continuing their fire.
> 
> Standing, Optic walks towards the hologram, hands clenched at his side as he speaks with what many would later call 'the most uncharacteristic rage every displayed by the ordinarily composed hero'
> "AN Accident with nonlethal weaponry?  I've studied Killer Bee's venom myself, and belive me there is NOTHING 'nonlethal' about it.. and I don't think intentionally stabbing someone with a poisoned stinger can be called accidental, even in your twisted little fantasy world.  Stop disrespecting Vi's memory and desecrating this church with your evil presence.  If you're not here to do anything other than spread your damned propoganda, then GET OUT."




Optic can tell its some sort of projection ray directly from a satellite...its aparently strong enough to get through the roof of the church though, and it seems to be combined with a directed sound device.  He can't jam it since he can't really set up a shield or access the transmitter, but he can retune his eye beams to scramble the projection as long as he concentrates on it.


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## Victim (Sep 1, 2008)

Star dodges up as the Barrington image appears.  _Oh sh-!  Oh sh-!  We're screwed.  ...  Oh, the bullets fly right through.  It's a hologram.  Or he has intangibility now too._

_Okay, time to act brave, like I didn't just freak out because of an illusion.  I fly up to, umm, look for the holograph projector.  And a superhero should say something._  Star looks around the ceiling, and looks around, occasionally looking back towards Optic as if expecting him to point out the device.  "Too bad it doesn't have a force field, like your other holograph projector," Megan remarks. "That would have greatly reduced the risk of people accidently hitting someone after shooting through the image.  Or maybe you could have just placed the image about 10 feet up, so shots going through it pass well above everyone's head."

_Accidents, huh?  I hate accidents. He did let me live...  But I can't see that group who burned up children as having restraint though._  "And combining a rapid fire weapon with drugged ammunition seems likely to frequent 'accidental' overdoses."


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## DM_Matt (Sep 1, 2008)

Victim said:


> Star dodges up as the Barrington image appears.  _Oh sh-!  Oh sh-!  We're screwed.  ...  Oh, the bullets fly right through.  It's a hologram.  Or he has intangibility now too._
> 
> _Okay, time to act brave, like I didn't just freak out because of an illusion.  I fly up to, umm, look for the holograph projector.  And a superhero should say something._  Star looks around the ceiling, and looks around, occasionally looking back towards Optic as if expecting him to point out the device.  "Too bad it doesn't have a force field, like your other holograph projector," Megan remarks. "That would have greatly reduced the risk of people accidently hitting someone after shooting through the image.  Or maybe you could have just placed the image about 10 feet up, so shots going through it pass well above everyone's head."
> 
> _Accidents, huh?  I hate accidents. He did let me live...  But I can't see that group who burned up children as having restraint though._  "And combining a rapid fire weapon with drugged ammunition seems likely to frequent 'accidental' overdoses."




Barrington is kind of lucky that Optic manages to jam the hologram before he has to actually answer that.


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## Elric (Sep 1, 2008)

Nitro snorts and his voice drips with sarcasm.  "Yeah, an 'accident'.  That would explain why Thessaly was killed by a volley of weapons with a razor-sharp tip and poison that hit her in the neck.  Killer Bee must have forgotten to use his 'blunt stingers'.  As a known terrorist and member of Hamas, I'm sure he uses the nonlethal stingers all the time.   

And when you tied our friend Spirit to a chair and burned a hole in her head the night we met you, that was a mistake too.  You meant to set your laser on 'soothing balm' but it came out on 'deadly' instead."


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## kirinke (Sep 2, 2008)

"Nothing you do is respectfull. Nothing you say is honorable." she hisses, the air around her turning bitterly cold. In the wind around her, you can hear voices crying out indistinctly, they are crying out for justice, hundreds of them. If not thousands. All of them equally focused on Barrington. 

"All you bring is death and destruction, pain and fear." she said and with an almost superhuman effort, she controls herself, the horrific wind dying down. 

_*Just a hologram... Just a hologram.*_ she thinks to herself._* Not the reality.*_

"If what you say is true, than why do you kidnap real heroes, people who have never harmed an innocent, whose very existence is measure by their zeal to protect those who can't protect themselves? Why has your every move been one of violence, one where innocent people's lives have been lost, where the people whom you say you wish to protect and serve are harmed the most?" Saint laughs bitterly.

"Your allies are aggressor nations, terrorists and supervillians. Somehow, I doubt seriously that you wish the best for humanity. You only wish to enslave it. Either with force or pretty baubles, it does not matter. Slavery is still slavery, even if you wear gold-gilt shackles instead of iron." she stood tall.


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## Elric (Sep 4, 2008)

(This thread is too long.  See the new thread here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/playing-game/240163-superheroes-trust-game-thread-iii.html)


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