Geez3r

Nope, I'm good.

Dog!Animal Man scampered down the pier, hot on the trail of the dinosaur, he was so focused on the scent that he nearly ran off the pier when it suddenly lead out into the ocean, the scent of the dinosaur being overpowered by the scent of the ship. "I swear, every singe time I'm on a scent they hop on a boat. Can I track the criminal that periodically jogs in place for once?" vented Animal Man to one of the nearby seagulls having retaken his human form. He sighed to himself before he morphed into the form of an eagle, taking to the air as he made his way over to the harbor master, he needed to find the manifest for the ship that left, tracking it over the water was likely going to be tricky at best, impossible at worst. Finding the building was easy enough, and he landed and once again reverted to human form as he walked into the building. He grabbed the first person that looked like they might know what was going on and asked them "I need to see the harbor master. I need to know what ship was just moored at dock seven."

"So this likely means that Kirsch has absconded with the Kaiju to his lab in order to study it, and potentially recreate its innate size in power, only in a mass producible quantity, or to otherwise use the creature to wreak vengeance upon you." summarized Maxima matter-of-factly. "This also explains how you were able to contain the creature here for so long, you were able to hypnotize it into becoming docile. However, I'm going to assume that there are either side effects if it is left hypnotized for too long, or the hypnotism wears off after a while, or else you would have never stopped hypnotizing the creature." continued Maxima as she continued her string of deductions. "Could be useful as a temporary solution however. But first we need to find out where they're going. There are only so many places a creature of that size can hide. We'll need to cross reference that list with a list of Kirsch's known residences & locations, as well as a list of any known associates, especially those with a grudge against Grant Conglomerates."

Maxima just kind of froze when Liz went on her matter-of-fact speech, and hung like that for a moment after. Then all of a sudden she turned on her heel and wordlessly walked out the room, just the way she came in. Just a moment later, a 5'8" woman with dirty blonde hair wearing blue jeans and a button down black blouse walked back into the room. She offered her hand to Liz "Dr. Cassandra Steel, one of the world's foremost experts in metahuman biology; you're in the right place." she offered her hand to Chris as well "Pleasure to meet you. If you'll follow me, the infirmary is this way." she said leading the pair to one of the other doors. "The facility here is rather basic, having only the essentials-" started Cassandra, the ArcheTech logo plastered on the massive amount of equipment in the room painted her as a liar however. "-But we should have more than enough at our finger tips to get us started." She sat down at one of the tables, gesturing for Chris & Liz to do the same. A quick tap revealed the surface of the table to be a computer, as Cassandra brought up a few files and an ordinary word document. "I like to start these sorts of things off with an interview of sorts, rather than wander in blindly. So if you wouldn't mind, tell me a bit about yourselves and what you know about your own biology; it'll help narrow down what sorts of tests we need to run."

As a response, the door buzzed and you could audibly hear the lock unlatch itself. "Take the elevator on your left, basement level." replied the voice over the intercom. Either the base has been compromised or I'm going to be having a very screwy conversation... probably don't want to have it while still dripping wet. mused Maxima as she made her way back to the pool area, grabbing her towel, which frankly looked more like a blanket and began to hurriedly dry herself off. "Why do you never get company when you're ready for it?" she grumbled as she looked over the area, her giant wet foot prints and puddles of water making a general mess of the floor. ---------------- Upstairs, Chris & Liz found the interior of the building to look completely ordinary. In the small lobby area, there were mailboxes on one wall, with room numbers plastered on them, as well as an outgoing mail slot. Another wall held a cork board covered in pamphlets, flyers, and passive-aggressive notes between neighbors. The clue that they were in the right place was went the door leading deeper into the building opened of its own accord, accompanied by a computerized voice "Administrator Zero-Zero-One. Security override accepted. Welcome." The next room appeared to just be an elevator lobby, with an elevator on the left and another on the right, with a door marked as stairs on the opposite wall. --------------------------- As the elevator dinged as it reached the basement level the doors opened to reveal a large common area with a smattering of tables, chairs and sofas. The inclusion of a coffee bar made it obvious this was intended to be a meeting area. There were a number of doors, each bearing a different label “Pool, garage, observation, infirmary”. Before they could get too good a look at the place, the nearly nine foot tall heroine Maxima came strolling out of the pool area, still in her swim suit and barefoot, toweling off her hair. Suddenly the high ceilings in this place made a lot more sense. “Hello. Name's Maxima.” she said nodding at the newcomers, throwing her towel behind her neck. “You interrupted my sw- hrmm can't really call it 'swimming' can I?- anyways I was floundering about in the pool when you two showed up, so excuse the appearance, also watch your footing, wet floors and all. Sounded pretty important over the intercom, what can I do you for?”

"If a company is willing to contain a gigantic monster like that beneath the city, how dangerous do you think the contents of the other labs are? I'd wager there's at least one compound or chemical in a lab here that we would much rather never see exposed to the atmosphere." explained Maxima after the villains had made their escape. "Whoever they are, they had a plan to access the area, to tame the creature and to leave. That suggests there's another objective, which will give us a chance to stop whatever plan they have put into motion." she finished as she walked around the room, taking stock of the damage caused. "I'm also assuming that you don't make a habit of walking around carrying a gun loaded with a tracking device doctor, so how about you start from the beginning on what is really going on here."

As one might suspect, Maxima spent quite a lot of time in the gym. She got more mileage out of training as Cassandra, but she tended to lose control and restraint if she didn't work out as Maxima. While she did have her own gym at her house/base she often spent time at Average Joe's to try to meet other heroes, and to lend credibility to the establishment. She hadn't been particularly successful in either endeavor yet, but was hoping it would catch on eventually. And besides, if she's going to pay the electric bill on this place, she's going to make sure it gets some use. Today, she was attempting to swim, trading out her usual costume for a modest, light blue two piece swim suit. Usually, as Maxima, her body was far too dense to be buoyant in water, but she was hoping her newest serum would help alleviate this problem. Her hopes however didn't pan out, she still sunk like a stone, but now a slightly lighter stone. Even with her prodigious strength, she basically only managed to get an inch or two off the bottom of the pool. Thankfully she was tall enough where she could just take a few steps towards the shallow end for her head to break the surface enough for her to take a breath. As Maxima came up for air, she heard the buzzer go off from upstairs. She had created a functional apartment exterior, mostly because it would look weird if it didn't have a working one, she hadn't actually expected it to work. Anyone who needed it get inside surely had a keycard by this point. She looked at the monitor on the nearby intercomm, seeing a young man and woman, neither of whom she recognized, on the stoop of the apartment, with the man systematically ringing every buzzer. Maxima hit the button on her own console so the others could hear, but not see her "Uh hello? Who's there?" asked Maxima, wondering what precisely was going on.

Cassandra felt just a little bad for this guy, just a little mind you. "Aw honey, you should do a bit more research on your potential picks before making your introduction." she replied with a rather condescending smirk on her face. "If you did, you'd know that the offer of money wouldn't sway me." she added with a shrug. "Better luck trying to recruit someone else." she added as she turned around to start heading back to the locker room to prep to for the next round. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had heard the term Lanista before, but she couldn't remember any organization with that name. Perhaps it was a start up and that's why they didn't have much in the way of professional scouting?

"No, thank you for letting me take a look around." replied Animal Man as he looked at the number briefly before putting the card into a compartment on his belt. "I'll check in in a couple of hours if I don't find anything, sooner if I do." he continued with a quick nod before he was once again on four legs, bounding after the scent of the deceased dinosaur. He was able to track it fairly easily in the area around the warehouse mostly because there weren't too many other scents that were intermixed with it. The real challenge would be if the trail led back to the city proper, and keeping that scent separate from everything else going on in the city. If I can find out where the dinosaur was killed, I might be able to figure out who's responsible for creating it in the first place.

Cassandra's heart was thumping loudly in her chest, matching her panted breathing as she walked off the mat. While she was a bit sore, she was sporting a rather large grin, happy to have her first win at an actual competition, and without her powers to boot. She had downed about half of a nearby water bottle when this strange fellow made his introductions. Cassie took the card from the gentleman wordlessly and turned it over in her hands a few times. She got a bit of a skeevy vibe off of this guy, but she was surrounded by a bunch of trained martial artists and a whole crowd of spectators so it's not like he was going to try to pull anything. "Alright, let's hear your pitch then." said Cassie after a moment's contemplation. She figured she would probably wind up shooting this guy down, but it never hurt to just hear them out. Besides she wasn't scheduled for her next match for at least 25 minutes.

Having not been in a proper competition like this before, Cassandra made sure to listen to the referee as he set the ground rules. As a result however, her competitor got a much quicker jump on her than she expected, as he showed no hesitation about being in the fight. They exchanged blows for a few moment with Cassandra always being a half step behind Jon Yu, before Jon Yu was able to land a clean chop just below Cassandra's ribs. A quick bark from the referee stopped the fight as Jon Yu was awarded the first point. During the reset, Cassandra visibly refocused herself, and as she took her stance again in the center of the ring, it seemed quite a bit sharper. This time when the referee signaled the new round, Cassandra was able to keep pace with Jon Yu, forcefully deflecting his blows away, upsetting his balance and slowing down his tempo. Before long, Cassandra countered one of Jon's thrusts with an elbow block, and followed immediately with an uraken strike to Jon Yu's chest, tying the match.

Animal Man circled the area, shifting into the form of a bloodhound as the medical examiner explained their findings, sniffing the air as he went. He drank in the smells of the crime scene, piecing together the circumstances of the crime. Unfortunately there wasn't too much to go on. He shifted back to human form, crouched down on the balls of his feet so he could relate what he learned. "The scent is easy enough for me to track, in theory at least. I agree with you, swords or other blades did this not claws. This animal was brought here after it was killed. I counted at least four different scents besides the creature itself, it was carried here from where ever it was killed, don't sense a vehicle entering the premises while the animal was here. They're at least semi-organized if they coordinated to drop the body here, but it's hardly inconspicuous." relayed Animal Man to the gathered officers, glossing over the fact that he was a dog a moment ago. He stood back up to his full height. "I'll follow the trail as far as I can. Who should I keep in the loop on this and how do I get in contact with them?"

Cassandra just nodded as her name was called, her throat having gone dry. She had walked into this thinking that she'd have no problems going out on the stage, after all, she had given plenty of lectures to full auditoriums before. Only now, instead of talking, she was going to be punching people in the face, also attempting to not get punched herself. Thinking on it, Cassie realized that the two had almost nothing in common. Her nerves did start to even out as she made her way out of the locker room and towards Mat 2 however. She was used to physical combat after all, it was just the style of combat and the given arena that was making her stomach do belly flops. She spent the last minute or two outside of the ring stretching and loosening up, sizing up their opponent. She tried to keep her eyes off the crowd, she wanted to keep her focus.

Maxima will Interpose if anyone takes a shot at Cho, Thaelia or Dr. Derns.

Now that some sense had been knocked back into the crowd, Cassandra hung back rather than run up the stairs herself, directing the stragglers and ensuring that everyone was well on their way to ascending the admittedly gargantuan amount of stairs. Really wish I could fly. admitted Cassandra internally, this would have been much easier if she could have just piled everyone into an elevator and flown them up the shaft. Now that the civilians were out of harm's way (and out of sight), Cassandra was free to quite literally flex her muscles, as she smoothly transitioned into her Maxima form, her costume automatically deploying, while tucking her work clothes away. Before returning to the fray, she made a quick stop to pry open the doors of the elevator, both for use as a quick escape, and second as a way of deflecting questions about how she got there. Maxima sprinted back to the lab, just in time to see Dr. Kirsch's threat, and the strange device that agitated the kaiju. As she nears the struggle, she throws up her hands "That's enough. Let them go." she said to the two other heroes on scene, while the three of them were likely strong enough to hold up the building, that only mattered if it was still in one piece.

Maxima Incursion: Science Team Go! - 1 post The Building Blocks of Life - 2 Posts Blood on the Sands - 1 post Animal Man II Jurrassic Fight Club - 1 Post

Cassandra was wondering how she had managed to get herself mixed up in this mess as she fiddled with the gloves on her hands, sitting on the sidelines waiting for her turn. She had been trying out different gyms throughout the area attempting to refine her skills as a fighter, her first was greco-roman wresting, and she had now started taking up karate as well. It was a basic hard-style of martial art, meaning one met an attacker's force with force of their own, rather than trying to deflect or absorb the blow. She had been well in her training, quite well as a matter of fact. Even without her powers, there were very few people who could match her physical power, and her technique had been refined over the past few months. Her sensei however felt that Cassandra's over confidence in her fists of iron made her overlook her feet of lead. So he had signed her up for this tournament, hoping that some competition would help her focus on the gaps in her training. Cassandra would have liked to think that she would've just gotten the message by watching the competition, but perhaps her sensei thought she was more stubborn that that. Her expression soured as she internally admitted he was probably right.

"Stop you idiot!" cried out Cassandra, outright terror creeping into her voice. "If you set off an Ion Field that close to the-" but it was too late; the defense turrets were fried, and even worse, the suspension field containing the kaiju went along with it. Cassandra knew this had to be part of their plan, but she was seriously hoping there was more to this plan rather than "break stuff because I got fired". The amount of damage that the released Kaiju could wreak on the city was staggering to say the least. They only had a few precious moments before the Kaiju realized it was free, and Cassandra needed that time to get the civilians to safety. Cassandra wordlessly got up from her now fried computer terminal, and bolted out the door after the other scientists that had already left. Seeing a group clustered around the elevator doors, she officially lost all patience for people without a lick of common sense. "We're out of time people! Stairs! NOW!" she roared to the crowd, making a mental note to chew out whoever was in charge of the safety drills when this was all over.

Animal Man is going to assume the form of a bloodhound, and the associated bump to his senses, to go super-sleuth on the crime scene. The relevant bits of the Shapeshifting allocation are as follows: Enhanced Skills 4 (Notice 5, Search 5, Survival 5, Investigate 5) Super-Senses 6 (Olafactory - Acute, Analytical, Tracking, Counters Obscure, Extended) Enhanced Feats 1 (Skill Mastery (Investigate, Notice, Search, Survival)) He'll take a 10 on each of the above skills for a 25 on Notice & Investigate, 21 on Search and 20 on Survival. I think the skills are in a bit of a fuzzy area, so if he can't get one or any of these skills let me know.

There was something truly inspiring about feeling the wind beneath your wings as one soared through the clouds. On the suggestion of his father Markus had taken the form of an eagle this morning as he flew over the city, using the eagle's natural eye sight to pick out the details on the ground. On this morning, a line of police cars with their lights blaring converging on a single location was something worth noting. Animal Man banked hard, and turned into a dive to follow after the police. As he neared the crime scene, he became a leopard bounding across the rooftops, picking up the scent of blood as jumped to the scent roof, and accelerated his pace as he didn't recognize the scent, which was... unsettling. He jumped off the last roof, bounding off the alley walls. He landed in front of one of the police officers, before reverting to human form. "What's the situation?" he said as nonchalantly as he could considering he was wearing a lion's pelt and a domino mask.

Great, they went straight to the blasting. I prefer the monologuing types. thought Cassandra as Thaelia got blasted by Coppertop. I need to help even the odds while we get the civilians clear. she continued on her own internal monologue as she plopped down in front of one of the computers, fingers flying over the keyboard as she rushed to bring the lab's defenses online. She had to thank Grant Conglomerates in that moment for having built in panic buttons on their system, they always seemed to see the value in strategically placed turrets and choke points. The fact that they had a true to life Kaiju sitting in the lab probably had something to do with their decision making process as well.

How many bystanders are there, and are there any defense mechanism in the lab?

Maxima breathed a huge sigh of relief, her head drooping and shoulders sagging as the robot seemingly manipulated the time stream to set right its own injuries. "For the record, you should probably lead with that next time." chuckled Maxima to the now whole Hronos far too relieved to be upset. That crisis averted, Maxima stood back up to her full height and looked over the computronium that had infested the desert, still sitting there, no longer expanding, but no longer going away. Putting that on the back burner for now, she turned her attention to Citizen "Do any of the other groups of heroes need our assistance or do they have their respective calamaties under control?" she said as she walked a few paces closer to Citizen. "Actually, do we have this situation fully contained? Is their programming continuing to resist your control?"

I added the 4 additional points to Skills, 5 ranks in each of Diplomacy, Gather Info & Investigate, and +1 rank to Search.

I actually just noticed a math error. His ability scores total up to 52 points, but I didn't update the ending total when I calculated his overall cost, so that line still says 56. So he's actually got 4 more points to spend.