Thevshi

Notice checks for figures near bank are 9 and 13, so they fail to notice Solar, though it is likely they still hear the sirens. Solar can still take either a Standard or Move action as part of a surprise round.

As Solar Sentinel first began to follow above the two police cars, he quickly realized that they did not appear to be chasing any other vehicle. When he dropped down beside the lead car, the officers inside seemed briefly surprised, then gave him an understanding nod in return as they focused back on the road ahead. The cars and their superhero escort continued on for about five more blocks before taking a right hand turn down a somewhat more narrow street. Up ahead, Solar Sentinel spotted what he thought might be the officers' destination: bank about a block and a half down the street, with a dark van parked out front. A pair of figures were moving in the shadows near the front of the bank, though he could not make out any details…

OOC for this thread.

September 13, 2013 10:03 PM The night air was beginning to get cooler in Freedom City, though still far warmer that it would be in the months to come. But neither the current cool temperatures nor the freezing ones that would soon arrive were of any concern to Henry Mason, as his powers allowed him to survive in the depths to space. Since his return to Earth, Henry had taken the identity of the Solar Sentinel, using his powers to aid the fight against crime within the city. For the ageless veteran, it was just another war to be fought. Currently, the ageless veteran of an intergalactic war was gliding over the streets of the Boardwalk. Over next to the south bank of the South River, the brightly lit casinos stood out from the dark waters and often dark streets that stretched to the south. Solar Sentinel was just about to move on to another part of the city when he heard the sounds of sirens below him. Glancing down, he spotted a pair of police cars, their lights flashing as their sirens continued to sound, speeding down one of the dark streets…

Giang had done her best to continue on silently after Kazra had caused her diversion. While the Asian teen was less than certain that she had improved any, at least any additional errors went unnoticed. While in different circumstances she would have been interested in spending some time regarding the various artwork and decorations within the building, Giang instead stayed focused on their objectives. When she and Cerys reached the central room, the Asian teen tried to quickly get her bearings once more before the sounds of approaching footsteps began to echo from all around them. Glancing quickly around, Giang tried to move to a space that looked like it would not be somewhere that people would be standing or moving through, in order to try to wait and see what happened.

Having spotted the security camera on the rooftop, Crimson Tiger was more careful to keep an eye out for other cameras as she moved from her perch to make her way down the ramp to the underground area below the building. She had to move slower, and at times wait for the cameras to pan, but she was rather confident she was managing to stay out of the view of the cameras as she moved. The nearest security guard walking the grounds was completely oblivious to her passage as she moved down the ramp to the parking garage under the building. Down in the garage, she found the vans that had taken the various fighters as well as the others from the gym. But there was no sign of anyone now. Studying the area from the shadows, she saw a few doors out of the garage, including two towards the center of the space, next to an elevator. There was a security camera focused on the area in front of the elevator and at least one of the two doors, and unlike many of the others, it was stationary.

As Crimson moves, the nearest Security Guard only gets a 10 on his Notice check, not good enough even before penalties are added in. The guard in the control room guard does not do any better.

"To be certain, a matched pair is generally more valuable than a single Shin." Mr. Chen said in agreement. "However, as I indicated, there is no definitive evidence that the matching Shin even still exists." He then paused a moment before adding, "But I trust that you will know best how to conduct the investigation. Unless you can think of any other information I might be able to provide at this time, I have other matters I should be attending." Glancing around, Harry did not see any members of the crew in the area.

GM As Thaelia's shockwave dissipated, the Atlantean teen saw that two figures who had been caught in the attack were still on their feet. One was just another of the mercenaries in the reinforced wetsuits, the other was distinct from the common mercenaries. He stood about six feet tall, in a black and green wetsuit that was reinforced with a number of hard composite plastic sections. The green helmet which covered his head was designed to resemble a snake with an open mouth, in which was the opaque faceplate for the helmet. Across the back deck on which Thaelia had landed, two other mercenaries were busy securing equipment and operating what appeared to be a small crane. The mercenary who had managed to resist the shockwave reoriented himself and brought his weapon up to his shoulder to take a shot at the Atlantean teen. But he apparently was still a bit shaken up, as the blast of energy missed by a wide margin, shooting off into the sky beyond. Natas, stood back to his full height as he regarded Thaelia while he reloaded his speargun. "Quite a statement there girl." He stated in a cold, hard voice. "Let's see if you can really back it up!" He brought the speargun up and fired at the teenager. Thaelia was just barely able to dodge the spear, the head of which crackled with electricity as it passed within inches of her. Down underneath the waves, the mercenary who had been piloting one of the submersibles that had been heavily damaged in the initial attacks of the two teenagers aimed his speargun at Giang. But he had trouble tracking the quick movements of the Asian teen, and his attack went well behind her. Back up on the aft deck of the Python, one of the mercenaries who had been securing equipment moved forward some as he also took aim at the Atlantean teen who had been so brazen as to board the ship. His aim proved more accurate, and the blast of energy struck Thaelia...

Merc 5 takes aim at Glamazon, and misses with a 8. Natas fires another spear at Glamazon, and just barely misses with a 14! The pilot of one of the submersibles gets himself out of the sinking vehicle and fires a spear gun at Tsunami, not even coming close with a 8. Merc 11, who was on the back deck of the ship (port side) moves more to the middle near and fires at Glamazon, hitting with a 17. That is a DC 20 toughness save for Glamazon.

Mercs 5-8 all miss their Reflex saves. Tough Saves: Merc 5 makes his, the other three are out! Natas makes his Reflex save and his Impervious protection allows him to ignore the effects of what he does not avoid. Post Away!

I will let you go with swimming up to the mini-sub still on the surface (the one just rigged up to be hauled up) and then switching to the alt power and leaping up onto the deck all as one move action, as the total distance is still under a move action for either (WAy under for swimming)

Okay, Crimson spots the cameras on the roof, allowing her to move out of its field of vision and try to time any further movement to when it is panning away (allowing her to remove the circumstance bonus the guard watching the screens was getting). What is her plan now?

29 Blue Jay (2 HP, Unharmed) 24 Blodeuwedd (2 HP, Unharmed) 17 Raven (Bound and Helpless) 12 Crow (1 HP, Unharmed, Coat is suffering fatigue (-2 ranks to all powers until repaired)) 8 Warden Blue Jay is up.

Mr. Chen gave Lucy a small smile. "Yes, you are quite correct. Shi are always found in pairs." He then looked back down at the picture of the particular statue that was missing. "As you can see, the one that has been stolen is the male of the pair," he pointed at the front paw of the statue that was resting on an embroidered ball. He then looked back up to regard Lucy, Harry and Freddy. "Unfortunately, the whereabouts of the female of the pair is unknown. The temple in which this pair resided was destroyed during the Japanese occupation. The contents that were not destroyed were scattered to the winds. It was by happenstance that I learned the location of this statue a few years ago, but the opportunity acquire it only came up a few months ago. It could well be that the female statue was destroyed, or has been since. Or, it could reside in some private collection somewhere."

Thunder, need another notice check from Crimson.

"Fernando the Furious?" Replied the man sitting behind the desk that Harry had led Freddy over toward. He appeared somewhat skeptical about the name, but looked up at Freddy and added, "well, he certainly looks like he can fight." The man then began typing on the laptop in front of him. "Tonight your man will be fighting one of the other new arrivals." He then replied as he continued typing. "The first match starting in half an hour, your man's will be the third." "During the match, you and the babe," his head nodded slightly toward where Lucy was standing, "can watch in here."

Dee's frown had deepened at her father's response, but she had little time to dwell on that as Mr. Smith was not one to waste time and quickly guided her out of the hospital and to the waiting limousine. As she took her seat, the young woman's gaze slid over the interior of the limo. Her expression was indifferent, having ridden in limousines or other luxury cars for most of her life. She did however focus once again on the briefcase Smith was carrying, again resisting the temptation to pry into his mind about its contents. Taking the document presented by Smith, Dee carefully read it over, something she was able to do with considerable speed. She glanced back at the pen Smith had also provided, briefly considering the ramifications of what she was about to do. Dee gave an inward sigh. Signing away a part of your soul is a small price to pay if it can help you find a way to help Susan. She reminded herself as she picked up the pen and signed the document, handing it back to Smith. "Alright, now that's out of the way."

As the Christmas holiday arrived for Megan's Senior year at Yale, she returned to Freedom City having been able to arrange an internship at Summit Transnational for her last semester. While she had a couple of classes she was going to be taking via teleconference (with occasional trips to New Haven as well), the majority of her credits for her last semester were to come from her internship. After getting settled back in at her parents, Megan headed off to her favorite coffee shop in Kingston to finish up a take home final for the Fall semester. Just as she had finished the final, another patron accidently spilled coffee all over her laptop, causing it to short out. Luckily, Thomas Morgan, who worked in a nearby computer repair shop owned by his father, saw the incident and offered to try to fix the laptop, or at least help Megan recover the data off its hard drive. Making their way over to the shop, Thomas set quickly to work recovering the data from the laptop. Meanwhile, a pair supervillains, Mindfire and Bonebreaker, began causing mayhem nearby, apparently on the order of some employer. After seeing Megan off to the shop's backroom to hide, Thomas made his way out the front, changing into his Voltage costume to see what was going out outside. In the backroom, Megan took the opportunity to change into her Velocity costume and take the back way out into an alley so she could loop back around to investigate. Engaging the two supervillains, Voltage managed to daze Mindfire, only to take a solid hit from Bonebreaker. Velocity then arrived, attacking Bonebreaker and drawing his attention away from Voltage. While Voltage and Mindfire continued to trade blows, Bonebreaker was unable to land a hit on the agile Velocity. After trading a few blows with the supervillains, Velocity and Voltage managed to knock the two unconscious, Velocity decking Bonebreaker and Voltage blasting Mindfire. When the police arrived to take the villains into custody and take over the scene, the two heroes traded information so they could contact each other if needed. They both then left to change back into their civilian identities and met up again back in the repair shop. Megan then made her way back to her car to head home and send off her completed take home exam to her professor. As the Freedom City police transported the unconscious Mindfire and Bonebreaker across the Centery Bridge, the convoy was attacked by other supervillains, who freed the two unconscious villains and departed.

GM The elderly woman glanced over towards Subito for a moment, her dark eyes regarding him intently. Then those eyes glanced up from him to one of the guards just behind him. Subito felt a blow to the side of his head that knocked him sideways and onto the floor. "The insolence of youth these days." The woman stated in somewhat heavily accented English. "As if you have any control over what will happen here." But then she paused for a moment as she focused back on Giang, who had looked worriedly over towards Subito. "But it is rather rude to be speaking when your friends cannot understand." The elderly woman continued in accented English. "Yes, I am the Lady Shen. Giang Trang may be the name you have known most of your life, but it was never more than an alias, a means of concealing you from the rest of the world." She then continued, picking back up on Giang's response. "Most curious that your father found it necessary to raise you in secret, away from the rest of your half-siblings." She then added, her voice taking an almost absentminded tone. That quickly disappeared as she feet, far more smoothly and gracefully than one would expect from someone her age. "But however much you might try to deny it, you are Xian Lou Khan, the youngest in a stagnant bloodline of Temujin." The woman seemed to glide over to Giang. Once in front of the teen, the woman reached up with a wrinkled hand with delicate, thin fingers that ended in long fingernails, and gently removed the small mask Giang had been wearing. "I wonder what Kong Zi has in mind for you my dear. What is so important that he has expended so much effort trying to find you." Taking Giang's chin in one hand, the elderly woman tilted the teen's face up so they were gazing into each other's eyes for a few moments. "You do not wish to say?" The woman replied after a few moments. "Very well. We will see how long you continue to be defiant." Releasing Giang's chin, the woman swept away from the teen in a smooth motion, coming to a halt at the foot of the dais before turning back towards the others in the room. "Guards, take them to cells. Provide them some food, I am sure they are hungry after their long flight, and then see they get to sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

Giang's ears were still ringing somewhat as she managed to avoid the sonic shockwave caused by Natas' spear. But even as she managed to get clear of the shockwave, she was hit by blast from one of the mercenary's energy weapons. The Asia teen also watched with some concern as one of the remaining mini-subs powered back up and slipped back under the waters. Swimming off to one side to put a bit more distance between her and Thaelia, to better ensure they both were not again caught in the same area attack, Giang focused on the active mini-sub and the nearby diver, who was the one who had shot her. Yet again, Giang trust both hands out in front of her before sweeping them to either side, sending quick bursts of water streaking upward towards the mini-sub and the mercenary who had shot her. The blasts struck the mercenary squarely in the chest with such force that he was knock back up out of the water and sent flying a short distance to splash back into the waves unconscious. Several of the blasts hit the mini-sub as well, causing the submersible to rock slightly as it took some damage, but it was otherwise still in the fight.

Round Nine 20 Tsunami (bruised, fatigued, 1 HP) 20 Glamazon (unharmed, fatigued, 1 HP) 20 Merc 8 18 Merc 5 17 Natas 17 Merc 1 17 Merc 7 16 Merc 14 14 Manta 5 pilot 14 Merc 11 13 Merc 12 13 Merc 15 12 Merc 9 10 Merc 3 10 Merc 10 9 Merc 2 (mini-sub injured 1) 5 Merc 6 5 Merc 13 2 Manta 2 pilot Giang will fire her cone attack at the newly active manta (driven by Merc 2) and Merc 1. She gets a 29 on her attack roll, for a critical hit. That is a DC 30 toughness save for each. Merc 1 gets a 6, so he is WAY out. The mini-sub gets a 27, a pretty good roll, but still takes a injury. Glamazon is up!

GM On top of one of the undamaged submersibles floating on the surface of the water, one of the mercenaries in a hardened wetsuit jumps back into the water, sinking down as he quickly reorients himself, spotting the two teenage girls. Bringing his weapon up to his shoulder, he takes aim at the Asian girl, hitting her with a blast of energy. But the blast of energy is deflect away from Giang by the thin sheen of water that was swirling around against her body. The Asian teen felt the impact, but it otherwise caused no damage. Up on the deck of the Python, one of the mercenaries near Natas had spotted the two girls in the waters below. Aiming his weapon at the one who appeared to be Atlantean, he fired a blast of energy down into the water. His aim was true, the blast striking Thaelia squarely. However, it impacted harmlessly on the teenager, her sturdy frame easily ignoring the attack. Another of the mercenaries, standing atop one of the undamaged submersibles climbed back into the pilots seat and began powering the vehicle back up. He then slipped it down under the waves, preparing to get back into the fight. Up on the deck of the Python, other mercenaries started moving about, trying to get the ship ready to depart or scanning the waters for any signs of the two teenage superheroines. On the bridge of the vessel, two of the mercenaries were busy getting the engines back up and running, as the ship’s propellers started slowly turning, though, for the moment, they were not turning with enough speed to move the ship. As the two damaged mini-subs began sinking down towards the depths below, the pilots of each submersible managed to get themselves clear of the mini-subs, small spearguns in each of their hands. Up atop the only other undamaged submersible, one of the mercenaries had just finished attaching cables from a crane aboard the Python to the submersible's hard points. "Okay, take it up!" He shouted up to the ship, even as he held a pistol at the ready and scanned the waters around him.

Merc 1 jumps back into the water, spots Tsunami and fires at her, just hitting with a 21 Tusnami gets a 16 on her toughness save vs DC 20, so she is fine. Tusnami gets a 16 on her toughness save vs DC 20, so she is fine. The pilots of Manta 5 and 2 spends the round getting themselves out of the wrecked and sinking mini-subs. Merc 7 fires down into the water at Glamazon, hitting with a 23, but her impervious toughness shakes that off. Merc 2 climbs back into the pilots seat of the mini-sub he was on and powers it up and takes it back under the waves. Merc 5 attaches cables from the crane on the ship to several hard points on the mini-sub he is standing on. And several of the other mercs do some things, move about, scan the waters, etc, which do not really matter at the moment. Though, the engines to the ship start powering up.

Mr. Chen smiled slightly as Harry began noting some of the things he had already uncovered and began asking additional questions. "You have already discovered more than the police did here Mr. Hound." He began. "As for who knew about the delivery, well, I do not believe I would term it common knowledge, but it certainly was no secret either." He then added. "My client certainly knew the statue was being shipped, though he did not know any of the particulars." "Back in China, those involved in preparing the statue for shipping certainly had some information about it, particularly those involved in loading the cargo container. I have a number of employees here who knew information regarding the containers contents, and even which container had which items. Likewise, I am sure some of the crew had information on the manifest regarding which containers were mine and what each held. Such information is important for insurance purposes of course." "Which also further expands the list of those who might have known about the statue's location. I naturally had to provide information regarding all the items in each of the cargo containers to my insurance carrier in order to have this shipment insured. All the rest of these items." Mr. Chen gestured around at the smashed crates scattered about, "are easily replaceable with the insurance I put on them. And even if we are unable to recover the statue, I will only suffer minimal losses, even though I cannot replace it. But more important to me, is the damage that my reputation will suffer as a result." He was quite a brief moment, and then continued. "In addition, information regarding the contents of each of these containers has been provided to customs."