Electra
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It took Papercut a moment to realize what was happening. He'd played enough computer games to know what happened when you overloaded the engine by cheating in a whole bunch of new objects, but he'd sort of forgotten that principle, what with being in the "game" for real this time. Getting rid of the cranes would probably fix the time slowing, but given the way the knife guy was going after the civilians, that seemed like a bad idea right now. Instead, he sent the cranes around again for another attack, but it was impossible to aim properly when by the time the cranes arrived, the damn villain was six inches further away than he'd estimated! Papercut watched helplessly as Wraith stretched out for an attack, hoping the shapeshifter would be more successful.
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Wander took a single bound across the space separating her from the comm console and its fighting scientists. With no apparent effort, she lifted one of the attacking techs with each hand and knocked their heads together in a precise move honed by many rounds fighting simulated hooligans and bank robbers. They'd have headaches but nothing worse, at least not at her hands. "All of you down on the goddamned ground right now!" she repeated, letting the unconscious men slump to the dirt. "The Terminus killed my world like you killed this one, and I will have no trouble seeing to it that every single one of you stays on the ground, with your legs broken if necessary, until I damn well tell you to get up!" She waited, glaring, until the technicians were once again prone, then turned to the redhead. "Explain the setup," she demanded, giving the tech a cursory going-over to make sure she wasn't grievously wounded or anything. Over her shoulder, she called to Harrier, "If you don't know how to kill it, better call Dragonfly."
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Wander bounded after Harrier, putting a restraining hand on the arm holding the technician. "Ease back, Caradoc," she murmured, deliberately appealing to the human-friendly, knight-in-shining-armor part of him. "We don't need to kill them," she said, raising her voice, "as long as they cooperate with us, fully and quickly!" She turned to the cowering technicians. "We're destroying this forge," she announced. "How do we do it quickly and without blowing ourselves sky-high, and you with us? And when is the next transport scheduled to arrive? Are any more humans coming this way?"
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Wander paused for a moment to take in the scene, all the while forcing herself not to understand it entirely. There was a fine line to walk between grasping the tactical situation and absorbing the atrocities that had taken place here, that she'd been unable to prevent. "Everybody on the ground, now!" she shouted, brandishing her bat at the technicians. "If there's any head not in the dirt in three seconds, I'm taking it off, got it?" The wound in her shoulder was already healed, leaving only blackened cloth behind, but her entire body felt a sort of vague, nauseous ache that was part power pike and part just being here in this place. She almost hoped one of the technicians tried something.
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Wander looked aside as Harrier called out to her, a brief moment of inattention that cost her as one of the drones scored a blast to her left shoulder. She hissed with the pain and shock of entropy burning through her clothes, into skin and muscle and bone. Nothing felt quite like a hit from a power pike. She forced herself to focus, blocking out the pain and favoring her undamaged arm as she began once again to swing her bat. The drone who shot her went down first, of course, followed by all the rest of his fellows. By the time they were in a red metal heap on the ground, she was already feeling quite a bit better. "Can you get the ones that are left?" she called to Harrier, even as she moved to open the door separating them from the rest of the facility.
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Ouch, that hurt. She is bruised and dazed, but I will spend the HP to let her shake the daze. She will take ten on a +3 Power Attack against the drone who tagged her, and continue against all the remaining low-power drones. With the remainder of her move action, she will attempt to open the door!
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Erin relaxed fractionally to see that these Omegadrones were not the top-of-the-line hero crushers, though she wouldn't make the mistake of getting cocky. She dodged the blow one sent at her and retaliated, launching herself into the rafters to swing by her legs from a pipe before launching an aerial assault. One swift blow from her bat had the drone reeling backwards, out of the fight at least for the moment. While Harrier dealt with the other drone, she began to look around, trying to see where the doomforge itself would be in a place like this. There had to be more drones as well, technicians too, but not in this room. They'd have to press on further, and quickly. As fast as they'd moved, time was still leaking away from them.
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Wander will attack Squad Leader B, since he tried to shoot her first! She's going to start off with an Acrobatic Bluff, skill mastered at 27, to try and catch the guy flat-footed, then mount a charging Power Attack against him. That'll mean a -3 to Attack, -2 to defense, and +5 to damage, should she hit. She rolls a 21. That'll be a DC 30 toughness save, then.
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Koshiro fails his concentration check. And he fails his Second Chance! He spends an HP to succeed. Since the cranes are around, he will use them for another blast. It's a 22, which hits, but I don't think it's going to break the impervious. Ah well!
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Wander nodded acknowledgement to Harrier's plan, then drew her bat and opened it before stepping off the cliff as casually as stepping onto a sidewalk. She fell through the air, orienting her body perpendicular to the ground, and landed with a soft thud. The instant her feet were on the ground she took off running, homing in on the signs of movement she could see through the window. Speed and surprise were her only advantage here, and she was determined to take advantage of it. Raising an arm to protect her face, she ran straight through the giant picture window without slowing, glass shattering and showering around her in a crashing cacophony. Her first blow felled one Omegadrone outright, her second another. These were low-powered drones, easy to pick off, but momentum only carried her so far. When Wander looked up, there were plenty more drones where that came from!
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Wander goes on 12, but I have been informed that she gets a surprise round against Squad A, who are unobservant. She's going to use Slow Fall to get off the cliff, then Charge through the window at the Omegadrones of Squad A, because doors are for loser squares. The charge will carry her into the first drone of Squad A, who she will proceed to beat with her bat. These guys are minions, so taking ten will allow her to hit, which means DC 25 toughness save. If that puts it down, she will continue to use Takedown Attack 2 (Move-by action to split her move from the fall earlier) to try and get the rest of Squad A.
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Even before he finished speaking, Wander was shaking her head. "Unacceptable risk," she told him. "You're the best asset we have in knowing what the Terminus is going to throw at us and how to interpret what we're seeing. Even if I thought it would work, we can't afford to lose you." She cracked a half-smile. "Plus, Mara would be pissed at me for losing an employee. We stick together on this one. If you put up that hologram thingy, would that help?" she suggested. "Maybe buy some time before they thought to scan you for Omegadrone parts, anyway." She chewed on her thumbnail, studying the facility far below. "This would be easier if we had some explosives of our own," she mused. "We'll have to make do. If stealth isn't an option, we'll just have to use speed. Drop over the cliff, head for the back door as fast as we can, bust our way in. We'll have to fight, but close quarters give the advantage to the smaller team anyway."
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Wander dropped as soon as Harrier spoke, even before he tossed her down, raising her head and shading her eyes to see the ship take off. "Guess we found the place," she muttered, rising to a crouch and brushing herself off. "That's not big enough to have picked up the equipment, gotta be a transport or something." She moved quickly to the edge of the cliff, moving from cover to cover until she could peer over the edge. The blue HAX uniform she wore was less suited to this work than her crimefighting costume, but it was quickly coated with soot and dust, indistinguishable from the rest of the ground. "I can get us to the ground," she told Harrier, "but you're going to have to get us closer. I've never tried to sneak up on these guys."
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Far below, Papercut flinched as the monster made of knives attempted to punch his lights out, but he'd been in way too many fights to let it throw him too badly. He had to concentrate on protecting Wraith and the bomb, and that meant not only keeping his cool, but keeping the guy's attention on him. But first things first. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a sheet of paper and wrapped it around his forearm like a cuff. Immediately it began to grow, unfolding itself until it covered his body and head like paper scale mail. "Hey ugly," he taunted. "Is that really the best you've got? My grandmother has a blender that cuts better than that, and she got it at the Wal-Mart for nine-ninety-nine!" He made himself laugh derisively. "Maybe you're really safety scissors, like they give kindergarteners. Let's see." He wasn't totally sure how his powers worked here in this world, but everything had worked so far, so one more trick might work. Taking out a crane he'd folded on the plane, Papercut set the little bird on his outstretched hand and gave it a gentle blow. It took off, and as it went, it was joined by more, many more, of its fellows, appearing as out of nowhere. Something was wrong, though. Even as the cranes flew, they seemed to slow, and so did everything around them. Abruptly Koshiro felt as though the air were thickening around him, like he was trying to move through a wall of gelatin. It was a disconcerting feeling.
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Okay, concentration check: a 26. He remains cool as a cucumber. Guys are always trying to punch him! I will also spend the HP to stunt duration onto the box and allow for the THOUSAND CRANE ATTACK, which should do god-knows-what to the computer system. And to the guy who threw the punch. First roll was a nat 1, spending another HP to reroll. Second roll better, a 29. DC 23 toughness save. EDIT: Koshiro's also raising his forcefield, as is prudent!
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"We'll tell them on the way," Erin decided, leading the way towards the elevator. Now that the decision was made, it was important not to think about it too hard, or worse, to get pulled into an argument about it. She waited till the elevator was nearly at the top level before activating her communicator to the others. "Murdock and I are going to check out the doomforges at Bryce Canyon. We won't be gone long." She shoved the device back on her belt and looked to Harrier. "All right, if we're going on foot, it's going to have to be my feet. You're too slow on the ground. You navigate." She bent forward slightly to allow him to climb on her back, then took off at top speed, tearing across the empty, brutalized landscape.
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"Twenty miles isn't too far," Erin said, looking over to Murdock, "and we've what we can for now to organize the civilians. If the Terminus is working on a new weapon, or a new way to make weapons, I guess, we'd better get a look at it. If you and I go, the others can keep working and we'll move quicker." Reaching back, she lifted the child from her shoulders, gentle despite the force needed to overcome those clingy little arms. "I have to go fight some bad guys," she told the girl, looking soberly into her eyes. "While I'm gone, I want you to stay close to her." She pointed across the room at Ellie, who was already back at work among the injured. "Her name is Jill o'Cure. She's loud sometimes, and her powers make her glow funny, but she's nice. She'll make sure you get to the safe place if I'm not back in time, all right?" In a world like this, there was no guarantee that even a quick recon mission was survivable, but Erin wasn't going to borrow trouble, much less suggest it to a little kid. Instead, she set the girl down and gave her a little pat in Ellie's direction.
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Koshiro goes on 20.
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Erin gave Eve a quick hug, the sort of show of affection she reserved for the people she trusted most. "Hey, long time no see," she said with a smile. "I keep meaning to stop by the school and check out the new team. Trev says you guys have been doing good work, but it's hard to believe it's been almost a year already." Erin had visited Eve's house before, so she restricted herself to a cursory check of the exits and security plan, just to make sure nothing had changed. "So what do you have planned for us today?"
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Wander shook her head. "No, we can't shut down the transmitters. If Mandragora is watching, he already knows where we are. Shutting down the transmitter would tell him his agent is neutralized, and there's no more reason to hold off waiting for a surrender. We need every minute we can beg, borrow or steal, even if it means leaving the transmitter turned on." She gave Green Screen another flat-eyed stare. "I don't know you, but I know you're a coward who will do anything to save your own life. You have no chance with the Terminus. When Mandragora finds out you not only lost the survivors but an escaped Omegadrone, he'll have you tortured to death publicly as soon as you get to Nihilor. If you cooperate fully with us, and I mean everything you can possibly do or say, we'll take you with us and you'll stand trial like a human being. It's the best offer you're ever going to get. Now how long did Mandragora give you to negotiate a surrender?"
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"If he's working with the Terminus forces, and we strip him or shut down the tracker, someone might notice," Wander pointed out. She took another step forward, giving her bat the twist that telescoped it open. "What are you doing for them?" she demanded. "Are you spying on the people here? Were you sent to wipe them out, or just to show the way? Did you lead them here?" The barrier Jill had erected kept Harrier back, but Wander was on the other side, more than ready to extract answers by whatever means necessary. She brought the bat up, and even the kid on her back didn't make her look much less menacing. "Don't bother lying, we'll know. What is Mandragora's plan for this place?"
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Wander was there a moment after Mara, delayed slightly by the crowd around them and her automatic adjustments to protect the burden on her back. She had her bat drawn, but not fully deployed, by the time she stepped up to the group. "Wait, Dragonfly," she interjected, staring hard at Green Screen. "Something's off here. Harrier was furious before this dude even said anything about Omegadrones. He knows something we don't." She cocked her head expectantly at her subordinate, but didn't take her attention off the strange computer hacker or the people nearby he was trying to whip into a frenzy. "Everybody just back off!" she added, raising her voice to the crowd.
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Erin couldn't answer any of their questions, and really preferred not to think of the likely answers, so she simply told people there was no time for talk, or that she wasn't local, or that everything would be explained later. Her nerves were ratcheted high enough that she grabbed for her bat when the arms went around her leg, but luckily the crowd prevented her from actually drawing down on the little kid who'd taken hold. Dealing with kids this age was always a punch in the gut to her, but this one in particular had something in her eyes that Erin could recognize. Some deep and primal knowledge of being all alone in the world, even in this press. Reaching down, she picked up the girl and held her at arm's length, checking her over for injuries. Practically no one here was unscathed, but this little bit of a thing seemed to be all right except for some minor burns that were already healing. "You'll be safe now," she told the child matter-of-factly. Nothing more, no promises that it would be okay, or that the worst was over now. She knew better than that, but at least she could promise a safer place. With a single motion, she swung the child onto her back, anchoring with her own arms till the girl took hold, then went on with her work. The clock was already ticking way too fast.
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Erin pursed her lips as she walked into the crowded room full of haggard survivors, struggling for detachment. If Murdock, who'd seen more of the worst the Terminus had to offer than she could dream, could remain calm, surely she could as well. If Mara and Ellie, neither of whom were accustomed to mass casualties, could keep their composure, she would too. And just hope to god that Trevor was home when she made it back. "All right," she said crisply. "Murdock, you and I will start grouping people into twenties and get them out of the main room here so Dragonfly and the techs can work. Don't group anyone with bad injuries, send them over to Jill in the room where that medic's been working. No more than one small bag of luggage per person." She started in on the job herself, barking out numbers at people, directing them where to go and wait to be moved. She couldn't answer there questions, there wasn't time even if she'd known the answers. All she could say was "We're getting you out of here, someplace you'll be safe. We can't do worse for you than what you've got now, right?" At the same time, she kept a lookout for trouble in the rooms. Fear brought on paranoia and xenophobia, and in circumstances like these, minds could snap. The last thing they needed with a rampage or a riot among the people they were trying to save.
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"Maintenance at HAX is clearing the main cafeteria," Wander reported, "without the tables and chairs it should be big enough to transport into. I set the security team to evacuate the wing and start quarantine protocols." Belatedly, she wondered if that might have been overstepping her authority by more than a little. "Um, it might be overkill, but we haven't had a contamination drill since the new year, it'll be good practice?" She looked around, feeling the itch on her skin of Terminus forces all around and forcing herself not to rest a hand on her bat. "If there are any injuries or sick people, Jill should stabilize them before we go. And we have to be efficient, some Terminus beings can sense dimensional travel. How many can you teleport at once?" she asked Dragonfly.