Thevshi
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vignette January (and February) Vignette: Day of Wrath
Thevshi replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Freedom City Stories
Well, as I discussed briefly in chat, I was thinking that once Velocity is contacted by the Freedom League as part of the reservist call up (be that Fluer or whomever), she will be zipping around town, maybe even going after one of the control boxes based on data being provided by Fenris or Voltage. I also was thinking of having her running into Amy Feng briefly and stopping to talk with the TV reporter (seeing as no one else has approached the idea of having their character speaking to the public/press during the crisis ) Still not sure what I might try to do for Tsunami (likely will depend on how things go in the thread for those still at Claremont). -
Ricky nearly jumped as the Hound came up to greet him and clapped him on the shoulder. A slightly relieved look came to his face as he recognized the Hound. "Oh, hey Harry. What are you doing here?" The bartender nodded and moved to get Ricky another drink and one for the Hound. "Oh, thanks." Ricky stated as the new drink was brought to him. But his cheer faded at the Hound went on, bringing up the recent fires. "Fires? Why would I want to know anything about that?" The small man tried to lie, rather unconvincingly. Further down the bar, Mess was taking a drink of his Guinness when he happened to glance up. Say what one would about this place, it certainly had a lot of reflective surfaces behind the bar. Right now those surfaces showed that a couple of guys that had been in a booth hidden from view at the front door had gotten up and were moving towards Mess. One had moved over to block the door, another a little closer and to Mess' left. The third was now right behind Mess. Another reflective surface to the right showed a fourth man who had come around another way, moving to Mess' right, and was between him and the Hound. All of them had the look of the mob. Over where he was trying to get information from Ricky, the Hound had also spotted the men moving to surround Mess.
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Giang looked around the rather deserted campus. Even though she had been there only a short time, even she realized this was not at all normal. She listened to the message from Mr. Archer, not at all entirely certain what to make of it at this point. Looking back up at the ruined admin building, she noted that the fire was finally out and began drawing out the water she had doused the room with. Hearing Darren's comments, she calmly replied. "I am in the process of drawing out the water now. Your transformation of the building certainly held up against the added pressure." She then glanced over at Crow as he came over towards her, stating the uncertainty they currently faced. But right now, the one place that likely held any answers was up in the ruined Headmaster's office. She started towards the building as Crow gave new instructions. "I can make our trip there a little bit more direct." She stated, as the water that was now pouring out of the admin building formed a set of stairs from the ground up to the ruined office.
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Giang was slightly surprised by the warm welcome she and her fellow students received from Lord Zandar's subjects, but she accepted the hugs with a warm smile and polite bows to the crowd. Once they reached the steps of Lord Zandar's hall and the introductions were made, the crowd finally began to disperse. As their host bid them farewell for the remainder of the day, informing them of the welcoming feast this evening, the Asian teen once again made a respectful bow to the Jungle Lord before he made his way inside, apparently to his waiting family. Turning back to regard her fellow students, Giang saw John was already starting off with one of the translators to see the city. The slightly older teen appeared to have some particular agenda in mind, so the Asian teen did not try to join him. She instead turned briefly to regard Cerys and Subito. While Giang had not been afforded much opportunity to spend time with others her own age growing up, the interaction between the two was not difficult to see, and she had the feeling they probably would like to have time alone together. She was instead surprised by Cerys' statement of what she had planned and suggesting that Subito stay behind. A look of disappointment crossed the teenager's face, but he soon recovered and said farewell to Creys. "Good luck on your endeavor." The Asian teen stated to the other teenage girl with a small smile. Looking over to Subito, she simply stated. "I was thinking of starting with the nearby market place. I am interested to see how Lord Zandar's subjects lead their daily lives."
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The two detectives made their way into the bar, passing by the rough looking thug outside, who gave them a stern look, but otherwise left them alone. The interior of the bar was dimly lit, filled with smoke and noise from various conversations and an old, beat up jukebox located along one wall. A number of pool tables were set up in a sunken portion of the right side of the large room. The bar was filled with quite a few rough looking individuals. A number of biker gang members were gathered around one of the pool tables. There were a number of longshoremen and warehouse workers that occupied a number of the booths and bar stools. A number of heads turned slightly to regard the newcomers for a moment, but most turned back to their drinks or pool games relatively quickly. Peering through the haze, Hound spotted the man he was looking for, Ricky Ferreti, sitting towards the far end of the bar.
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Megan's smiled widened slightly at Kyle's comment about regretting not having a driver's license and the size of the SUV. "Well, it is never too late to get one." She stated. Once Kyle had his seat belt on, the blonde pulled the vehicle back into traffic to continue on towards their final destination. "I had considered getting something smaller and sportier," Megan continued, "but all this space has come in handy a number of times. In high school I was often driving around a number of the other girls on the cheerleading squad, and since starting college, it has allowed me to more easily make the trek back and forth between here and New Haven."
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GM While Voltage pondered the possible goals of the two superpowered criminals, Velocity zipped around the area checking for anyone injured. Thankfully there were no major injuries, with Mindfire only briefly using her powers to harm someone before moving on. It certainly appeared that the two had been seeking to cause as large a scene as possible, but without any real focus on causing injuries. It was not long before the first squad cars arrived, along with a couple of ambulances. While Velocity directed the paramedics to the most injured bystanders, Voltage went up to help the police bring Mindfire back down to the street to wait for the arrival of the units with the power dampeners. By the time Voltage got back down, Velocity was back talking with the officers who had been keeping an eye on the unconscious Bonebreaker. The officers certainly seemed to know who the speedster was, or at least recognize her, as he heard at least one mention that it had been awhile since they had seen her.
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Hound sniffed around the area some more, but was unable to find the scents of any dogs in the area. He did have the arsonist's scent, and that of the homeless man, and would certainly recognize them if he came across them again. The only question was how to find either of them. As the pair headed back towards the ruins of the adult bookstore and where they had parked the Caddy, they discussed how the paper this morning had mentioned that the police believed that mob extortion was involved in this most recent arson. Hound had a contact that might know more about any such activity by the mob, but the man was notoriously difficult to get ahold of by phone. But at this time of day, Hound had a pretty good idea which local dive bar he was likely to be at.
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Kyle waits and watches the three out of place men for a while. So far, they are doing nothing but standing off to one side of the main entrance and apparently waiting for something. After a short while, Dave comes wondering back over to Kyle. "Hey, got some great shots. Did you get everything sorted out with Lenny?" The photographer asked. "We should probably be getting back towards the main stage, it's almost time for the headliner to make her appearance." The trio of rough looking "wizards" did not seem like they were going to be moving anytime soon.
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Giang watched as the water quenched the flames in the admin building that Adamas had turned into cloudy crystal. All except the fire that still burned in the ruins of the headmaster's office. She then turned to watch the exchange between Crow and Glow out on the lawn. Though she could not hear what was being said, Crow's reaction told her a good deal. Soon, all the members of Young Freedom were in their unusual vehicle, and flying away at incredible speed. The Asian teen heard Crow's words over the communicator a moment later, her jaw clenching slightly. "Understood. I hope the structure will be able to support that much water." She replied. "Adamas, you might want to stay back from the office. There will be a lot of water headed that way." She added. Turning back towards the ruptured sprinkler system, she once again reached out with her power, this time grabbing as much water as she was able to handle. It would be a lot slower, but she had time to focus on the one area now. Over sixteen hundred cubic feet of water erupted from the sprinkler system on the grounds, rising slowly into the air as it started towards the headmaster's office.
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Megan was in a good mood as she made her way towards Kyle's apartment. Last night the two had dinner at a great Chinese restaurant recommend by one of Kyle's friends and then gone to the Blues Brothers musical. And then there had been the rather long kiss goodnight after the taxi had dropped them off at her apartment in the Wading Way. Spotting Kyle standing along the Megan slowed down and pulled her BMW SUV up alongside, rolling down the window as she did. "Hey, hope you haven't been waiting too long." She said with a warm smile. The attractive young blonde was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a red cashmere sweater. In the backseat she had a couple of bags from a bakery in Kingston, filled with some deserts, including some that were low-fat variety.
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Giang was just exiting the dorm building when the upper floor of the administration building exploded with eerie green flames. The Asian teen skidded to a halt as she looked up at the destruction. She heard Crow yelling out for Adamas as she felt a cold feeling creep over her as well. Thankfully, that was short lived, as Adamas quickly replied, stating he was fine, but that she was needed to deal with the fire. Glancing around, Giang saw several of Young Freedom still in the air and some sort of escape vehicle present as well. For a brief moment, the Asian teen considered taking a shot at one of the members of Young Freedom that she could see, the most likely target being the teen named Glow. But at this range, in these conditions, she was uncertain that she could hit her, let alone stop her. Deciding instead to focus on controlling the fire as quickly as possible, she instead focused on the grounds beside the administration building. Giang was able to sense water trapped underneath the lawn, likely in some sort of irrigation system, waiting to be released. She simply reached out and helped it along. "I do not need to be there to deal with the fire." She said over her comm. Out on the grounds near the administration building, one of the closest sprinkler heads shot off, a jet of water shooting up into the air, arching towards the flaming second floor. As it reached above the building, it spread out in the air, forming a massive sheet of water about sixty feet along each side. Then, all at once, the 3.8 tons of water splashed down on the burning building.
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Tsunami's action is going to be using Water Control to move 125 cubic feet of water out of the sprinkler system and up into the air to drop it onto the fire in the admin building. According to the UP, that much water weighs just under 4 tons. Thus it takes about a STR 45 (rounded up) to move the water 5 feet. Because her total effective STR with Water Control is 60, she has 15 extra STR for moving that much water, which allows her to move it a total of 50 feet.
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After sniffing around some, Hound was able to find the trail of the arsonist's scent, though it was a bit faint due to the passage of others along the sidewalk since. Following the trial, Hound led Mess a couple of blocks from the ruins of the bookstore. Then the scent came to an abrupt end along the curb, likely because the arsonist had gotten into a car. Sniffing around more, Hound was not able to find any further trace of the arsonist's scent. But he did find something else potentially interesting. At the mouth of an alleyway a short distance from where the arsonist’s scent ended, Hound found a scent that he believed as about as old as the arsonist's. It was among a pile of old boxes, and certainly smelled like a homeless person.
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As Hound headed into the ruins of the bookstore, Mess began to look around for any locals to try to talk to about the fire. An old man in rather worn clothes was making his way along the sidewalk as Mess spoke up about the ruined building. The man eyed Mess a bit suspiciously, but slowed down slightly. "I'm just glad it didn't burn down the rest of the block or worse." He replied. "It started pretty late the other night, just after midnight. Don’t know much more than that." Inside the ruins of the building, Hound was busy sniffing around for clues. As it had been only a little more than a day since the fire here, there was a lot more for him to pick up here than there had been at the Klaus' store. There were a number of recent scents he picked up that he figured for firemen or police. Once he had those identified, he was able to focus past them as he continued his search. Once again, he managed to find the place where the fire likely started, picking up the scent of the same accelerant as had been used at the Klaus' store. But this time, he found something else, the scent of a person that seemed as old as the accelerant. Sniffing around for that scent more, he found it a few other places. As near as Hound could tell, the person had stood in the center of the bookstore while the fire quickly spread through the building.
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The trip to the site of the site of the adult bookstore proved much shorter than the one the two private investigators had taken to the West End to check out the site where the Klaus' convenience store had stood. The bookstore was located in one of the seedier parts of the Fens, a very different type of neighborhood than where the Klaus' store had been located. There were a number of other adult oriented stores as well as quite a few abandoned and rundown buildings. The ruins of the bookstore were similar to what had been left of the Klaus' convenience store. The outer framework of the building was mostly intact, but the interior was in complete ruins. Once again, there was police tape set up across the doorframe that had once held a door.
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As he drove the pair back towards the Fens, Fred ran thought the various street gangs he had heard about in the area where the Klaus' store had been located. There were a couple active in that neighborhood, though none had ever been connected with any arsons. Hound made a few more phone calls, talking to some contacts he had down in the Fens. No one he talked to knew anything specific about fire accelerants or incendiary devices. But a couple talked about the arson at the adult bookstore in the Fens a day ago. There were rumors that the arson had been of a rather unusual nature.
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Giang frowned slightly as Crow indicated that the members of Young Freedom had managed to open the window and were likely using that as their means of escape. She switched the channel on the communicator she had taken a she nodded at Crow's instructions to take one of the alternate ambush positions. Then he was gone. Glancing over towards Darren, she simply stated, "I will take alpha, you take beta." She gave him a slight nod, and then made her way out of the security office. A moment later, she was sprinting down the tunnel that connected the sub-basement to one of the campus dorm buildings. While Crow had activated the grounds defenses, they would not nearly be as effective at containing the members of Young Freedom as what had been prepared inside the administrative building. The only hope was that they might be able to lure them into the areas where the defenses were more tightly concentrated.
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Ms. Klaus seemed shocked to hear Harry state that the fire had been the work of a professional. She then shook her head slightly at the question of why someone would want to burn the building down. "I cannot think of any reason someone would want to burn down the building." She stated. "As I told Mr. Furlong, we have had some trouble with some local kids that are part of some gangs, but those never seemed that serious. Not to the point they might want to burn our store down. I also am not aware of any trouble with the mob, but it is possible Milos just never told me if there had been any." "As far as I know, there was nothing particular special about our store, except maybe to us." She added.
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Taking 20, Harry should be able to collect at least a trace amount of the accelerant.
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Velocity had viewed this little encounter as a good chance to work with some other heroes she had not met before. While the situation was certainly dangerous, it was not all that different from some other situations she had been in previously. But the encounter took a very deadly turn when the new Bee Keeper killed one of the bike gang members. The young speedster was stunned for a moment, nothing she had read about Bee Keeper III suggested he was some sort of vigilante. She watched as another hero arrived, trying to distract or subdue the Bee Keeper and then the Bee Keeper unleashing the swarm of bees into the area in front of the warehouse. Thankfully Jubatus and the newcomer were able to avoid the bees, as did one bikers, but the other two bikers and many, if not all, the Russians inside the warehouse. It was then that a teenage girl stepped out of a gateway that suddenly formed in the air. Velocity was about to shout a warning to the girl, when the teen cried out about Judgment day and blasted the building across from the warehouse, killing a number of people inside and setting the building on fire. The speedster thought she might be able to put out the fire, but there were now two threats that needed to be dealt with first. Shooting forward in a blur, she came over to the teenage girl. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but those people have not done anything!" The yellow clad speedster delivered a supersonic punch, but the teenage girl took the hit with no apparent effect. Velocity was already gone, speeding off down the block and skidding to a halt once more, waiting to see what would happen next.
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Velocity gets a 26 for an attack roll on Quickstep. That is a DC 28 Toughness save if it is a hit.
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Tiff, Velocity made a move-by attack with her Sonic Boom and ended her move down at the next intersection. So she would likely not be caught in the AoE.
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"No, thankfully no one was in the building when it happened and the fire department managed to put out the blaze before it did more than damage the exterior of the building next door." Eliska replied to Fred's first question. At his second question, she was quite a moment, a thoughtful look on her face as she seemed to be searching her memory for any possible answer to his other questions. "I cannot think of anyone specifically that would want my husband in jail. There has been the occasional problem with young gang members in the store, but nothing too serious." She then shook her head regarding the mob. "I don't think the mob has ever bothered us, or at least, Milos never told me if they did." Making his way under the police tape stretching across the open doorway of the ruined building, Harry made his way into the ruined building, looking about at the ash and charred timbers. A few moments of "sniffing" around, and he found where he believed the fire started. It looked like it might have been a storeroom towards the back of the shop. There was certainly the faint scent of some sort of accelerant. But is seemed odd compared to other arsons he and Fred had investigated. There was only a small amount of accelerant, and in a very small space. After the fire started, it seemed to have spread incredibly fast, far too fast without more accelerant. If there had been any other scents he might have been able to pick up, the passage of time and the elements had likely erased them.
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Ms. Klaus managed a smile as Fred arrived and indicated they would help her. There was the matter of a few short forms that needed to be filled out. While Fred was not able to read them, he could recognize the ones that needed to be filled out. This gave Harry a chance to step into another room and make a few quick calls. As Ms. Klaus had indicated, her husband, Milos Klaus, had previously had run ins with the law. More than twenty years ago, he was something of a two-bit criminal, and was eventually arrested on a burglary charge. A plea deal allowed him to serve a short sentence, but since that time, he had been clean. The convenience store he owned and operated in the West End was your typical mom & pop corner store. It managed to provide for him and his family, but was certainly not going to make them wealthy. The neighborhood was one that bordered Greenbank, and had a large community of Eastern European immigrants. Once the minimal paperwork was done, the two detectives were on their way to the site where the Klaus’ store had stood. During the trip, Ms. Klaus told them more about her husband and their business, everything she said coinciding with what Harry had been able to confirm independently. The Klaus’ store had stood on the corner of a busy intersection. The outer shell of the building was still standing, mostly, but the interior had been completely destroyed by the fire.