Ari

"Victory is faster than anything else that flies, he will be perfection in such a task" Wave-Eye agreed as he looked with casual interest at the glowing map, the necessity for its being so quite beyond him. "Do you know if there any known patrols in the interim lands or is the entire situation a mystery to you at present, do you not have flying craft with which to scout their positions higher than any of their weapons can reach?" he asked, peering closely at one edge of the map, trying to see precisely where the image ended "If there are any ships of theirs in the bay or rivers, I will gladly go hull them and send their crew to the silent sleep below."

The King of Suits had politely stayed a slight distance from the chemist and the examining team, listening with great attentiveness as those more knowledgeable about Grue physiology discussed what had gone wrong with them. He gave a low whistle when Catalyst revealed that copper outright thwarted Grue shape-shifting, and the fact that they had been infiltrating a chemical lab started spinning the wheels of his mind. "They might have been poisoned and enslaved by one of the local villains, who has them stealing supplies in exchange for a cure." he offered suddenly from the sidelines, edging closer to the unconscious alien with interest "Of course, that would hardly narrow their motives. Anyone from Mr. Mist to those gangsters concocting Max and other designer drugs might have them under their thumb. Possibly even that old Zodiac Cartel from the 1980s and 1990s might still have some arms left." he had been walking slowly around the examining table with long steps before he stopped and with a sudden movement turned to face the medical examiner with an eager look "If I may be allowed to, I would be deeply grateful for a chance to question these Grue about what they were doing and who they work for. They might prove honest if we can manage to help them." he added.

Nochehuatl sat down on the riverbank, looking up at Silver Spider as he spoke "I am unfamiliar with the teachings of your Bible Silver Spider, but from what I have learned andseen Old Leviathan is the great power of the deep, the vast watery creature that fears no spear, not even the Lance of Izanagi, nor any hook that can be devised. Its wrath is the lashings of the waves that crush and scatter your dwellings, and its peaceful slumber permits the trade between your nations across the sea" he shrugged his massive shoulders "IT does not awaken often, though as of late it's sleep has become more and more restless. If what you say is right," he said dourly to Temperance "then someone has on their side a power that none of the sea gods I served dared to try and make covenant with. But I cannot fathom how anyone could do such a thing" he ruminated, getting back to his feet ponderously with considerable inefficiency "no summoner could possibly control all of Leviathan, IT is too vast and too great for a human mind to command, it would be like a pebble trying to shift a mountain!" he shook his large head vigorously, turning back to stare at the remains of the iceberg that had entombed the Aspect. "I am confident that you will be able to turn your ingenuity to that bent, Spider. If they wanted to control IT, they might have journeyed underwater in a submarine to escape possibly being its path when they send it against the shores." He turned back to the two human women "I admit I have not the mind for deciphering such riddles. Where should we start?"

Leaning on his elbows that were propped up on the table, Subito listened with occasional nods as the clone hero outlined the flaws in his assumptions, looking chagrined at how mistaken he had been. "Well...darn. I get what you mean by 'unsuitable officeholder'" he commented wryly "She's all but said more than once that if I hadn't gone jumping after that guy in the factory she'd have appointed my big sister as her bearer. She'd have been way stronger than me. But she was watchin' the family anyhow so..." he shrugged "Better'n nothing I guess." At the mention of 'tainted essence' he blinked "Wait..you're saying that if they connect or are borne by someone not suited, they might change just because of that? How do you mean? As in they take on the traits of their bearer? Could that mean maybe other outside forces could change them as well, besides the nation changing? Also, did you learn all this from the Shieldmaiden? She sounds pretty grand."

OOC for this thread.

GM Freedom City Waterfront, October 28th, Sunday, 7.08 PM The Order's instructions had been clear, and Blodeuwedd's execution of the instructions had been flawless. The smugglers' guards outside the warehouse had led the Welsh agent straight to their employers, who had led her to their employer, a corrupt official in the Freedom port Authority, who had led her(after resisting slightly more than her last informants) directly to the captain responsible for the latest shipment of contraband concealed amongst a shipment of iron from Wales destined for the industrial quarters of Freedom City. The Order had mentioned in passing that the smugglers had forced a minor air spirit into their service, apparently an ancestral friend of one of the UK-originating crew members. This had only been in the context of tactical threats to the agent, the message urging agent Blodeuwedd to evade it rather than engage, in the hopes that they could put a stop to the black market before it grew out of control. From her vantage point, she could make out through the pouring rain ten dockmen overseeing the unloading of the large cargo crates from the Ton Llygad, the crane doing the unloading being operated by the crewman with the tie to the air spirit, the miserable creature sitting dully in the air above him, shimmering oddly in the light as the rain passed through it. The tarmac was slick, and the water poured off of the crates as they were swung leisurely through the air, the stiff wind whistling in from the sea and whipping the coats of the dockmen around them.

GM There was a lot that needed doing. To the north, some of the Freedonians transformed into pack animals(including a milling herd of several donkeys braying a cacophony), were busy stomping around in their new bodies, their neighs of frustration with their inability to communicate with others, lowing of anger as their hooves and tails were trodden on every few moments by their fellows' inability to understand that they needed to slow down in their exploration of what these forms could do. To the south, the sidewalks were nearly covered with small rushing tides of scurrying, mewing cats and dogs yelping desperately as they raced around looking for someone who could understand them. To the east a giraffe stared stupidly at the tops of a small line of commercial buildings, blinking slowly as the baffling change dawned in its full horror upon them.

GM There was a soft change in the humming that surrounded the pair, Constance's voice sounding a little more anxious than a moment before the sapient soundwave buzzed closer to the ears of Riff she added that last more cheerfully, repeated tellings of her tale seeming to do a lot of good

DC22 Toughness save: 18! Failed, they're down. Young Britannia is up!

"Of course not, my friend!" Marceau laughed cheerily, slapping his invisible friend on the back warmly, walking quietly into the hallway and scanning the oddly well-lit passageways their apartments opened out to. "Agreed on the Redcap score, that might be a little harder to pull off now that Parsinkle knows about it. I wish now I had more dealings with these people before, then I would be more help to you Rene" he said with a note of gloom, carefully considering the last point. He leaned against one tapestryless wall, deep in thought. He didn't know what some inhuman tyrant would take special precautions against, but he knew where people kept things they wanted hidden, and carried out business that was meant to go unseen. At length he offered "A place best suited to carrying out secret conversations would be the towers, and anything he has that he would want kept secret would be deep within the castle, somewhere that would make it dangerous to intrude, and a deathly hazard to even escape from. Where do you think we should start, and does that even fit with what you know about the inhabitants of this world?"

El Heraldo smiled kindly down at the other boy, beginning "Citizen, I can assu-" before Cerys' voice suddenly burst out behind his ear, sending him toppling forward with a startled cry, nearly slamming face-first onto the rooftop and catching himself with his freer hand, getting quickly back to his knees and glancing irritably at his friend, rubbing his ear "Come on Blodeu, don't do that! It's funny, I admit, but now ain't the time." he turned back to the clearly distressed teen "I am sorry. That won't happen again." Subito's mind was entirely vacant of violent desires towards Elias, busy as he was with trying to assure the other boy that he wanted to help him. 'Alright, alright, that was a bad idea. Need to back off. Wonder if he's part of one of the gangs around here, got into more trouble than he could handle?' he thought as Elias backed away sharply, getting to his feet and stepping backwards, holding out his right hand palm-outwards and saying gently "Don't worry. None of us here have any intention of hurting you, and no bad intentions towards you at all. Can you tell us who you are? Where you live?"

Very well then! Prepare to enter the deepest depths of lunacy with only your two artifact-using ninjas to shield you from the Forces of Darkness! I'll get the thread up shortly. BE PREPARED!!!!!!!...!!

That was an unexpected difficulty. Subito realized, turning back to the CD stand to consider this problem, that this and a lot of similar issues with him and forethought kept cropping up. 'Eh, probably nothin'' "Yeah, we'd need a certain something to make it more than just a production of the play..how about we play music during the play, low enough that it doesn't overpower the actors but loud enough to help set the scene's mood?" he frowned "Would that even work out? Can your talents do that Surge?" he asked.

The warping power that was so...familiar enveloped them just as Wave-Eye was about to agree with Jubatus. The reason for the crash was still something that needed clearing up. "Yes, who-" he stiffened as they appeared abruptly on the square in front of Freedom Hall, blinking in surprise for a few moments "-who..ack, our thanks Edge. Be well" he gurgled, bowing slightly to the UNISON agent as he departed. To Jay he went on "As I was saying, agreed." he turned to Philos curiously "Were you attacked, or your craft sabotaged?" he led the way towards the front door as he spoke.

DC17 Will save: 12. No duh.

The King of Suits had had a busy week. Most of his usual patrol route running through the Fens always had something that needed immediate attention going on, from store holdups to drug dealers peddling their wares, and all too often that one miserable wretch turned out to have several dozen friends who wanted to make sure they didn't back down easily. His left arm still smarted from the bullet that had grazed it. 'Agh, they grow in force. I need to make that move that I came here to do' Marceau Suvou thought to himself angrily, swinging gracefully down with his grapple gun from the roof top above the scene of utter insanity. Landing on a handy streetlamp he surveyed the street filled with charging animals, and more than a few people stumbling along the alleys on all fours. He groaned outright "Why is this world so crazy sometimes?" Spying the woman dressed like an old-style martial artist in the intersection he swooped down next to her, glancing at the cage filled with people cautiously, saying politely as he offered his hand "Good afternoon, madame. I am the King of Suits. If I may, I'll assist in containing this..." he waved his other hand around descriptively ""...outbreak. Any suggestions where we begin? My vote is that we get those larger quadrupeds running around over there corralled."

GM At the angry shout from behind him, the Transmogrifier turned around in confusion "Who dar-? Oof!" The flying attack struck home, sending the costumed villain sailing off the lamppost and crashing toward the ground, where he managed to land on his hands and feet, startled but unhurt. He looked up angrily at Rabbit, saying "Very well then! If you return my peaceful efforts with violence, I will answer in kind!" so saying he took a small disk-shaped device from one of his tool belts, and tapping one of the buttons on it faded from view with a warping appearance to the world around him. The cars nearby Rabbit were filled with desperate and very confused dogs trying to operate door locks with their clumsy claws.

Catalyst knows that that's more or less how it goes for Grue and most metals, though copper has been found to be especially debilitating. A common side-effect is that they lose their ability to change form until the metals have been cleaned from their system.

Following close behind the two, Subito swatted irritably at the insects that buzzed and crawled around him and the other two, grumbling as his feet sank into the mud despite his best efforts. 'Jenkins' was a pitiable figure, but still infuriating to follow through the American swamplands. His hearing brought him every mournful cry of every miserable animal for hundreds of yards around, and he hated every moment of it. "I can see why Madame Malaise would set up her hidden base or whatever around here" he grumbled "We'll probably need to decontaminate ourselves when we get back home." He shuddered as he realized how the world around them was changing, hugging his arms closer to himself as he stepped through the stagnant and slimy swamp water, peering through the trees as they went further into this world of madness. he shuddered at the news that even the mighty Broken Crow had fallen prey to this strange woman, hoping that Young Britannia had the strength to see them through this peril. He knew he didn't. "You feel like you're bein' watched too, Agnes?" he asked nervously, his dark eyes scanning the trees with gradually increasing speed.

That hits! DC20 Toughness save: 20. he withstands that. Have another Hero Point, as the bad guy gets away via teleport!

With a sigh of relief as Glow took matters into her own hands and got the potentially dangerous device out of El Sierpe's hand, El Heraldo scoffed at the crime lord's story, "Suffering doesn't make you better than other people. You aren't given free reign to make others pay for the fact that you had to struggle to become a little tyrant" he glowered at El Sierpe "As someone who has worked for a living, I can tell you that." He stepped forward, his Banner staff clacking on the hard floor as he approached the snake-like man "Not to mention the Serpent Peo-" he began, when the snakes began to pour out of the walls around him! Starting backwards he got once more into position for battle "Wretch! Don't you know both of us can fly? Your serpentine slaves won't save you this time, El Sierpe!" he bellowed, his clothes hugging his powerful body as he tensed for a spring!

Whistling in admiration at Serge's impressive list of plays, Subito racked his brain to find another title to add to it, wincing at the mention of The Merchant of Venice "Ugh, yeah. Let's not do one that'll folks upset. How about one of Shakespeare's Greek or Roman-style plays? Those don't get much attention." he stopped whipping through the stacks of music-holding compact disks to cast about for a good title "Hm..Pericles? Nah...Cymbeline..no, really no..Ive got it!"'he exclaimed suddenly, whipping around and pointing straight at Serge "Troilus and Cressida! That'll be perfect! Hardly anyone's seen it or read it, it'll be a new experience for a lot of people! What d'you think Surge?" he asked eagerly.

GM The vaporous man floated rather than fell to the slashed and shattered ground, resting peacefully on the floor after being smacked across the wavering skull. Getting to his feet with a rasp and growl, the metal man took one look at his fallen comrade before barking out savagely "You! You'll pay for that. Electric Man too!" he added furiously, leaping up onto the ceiling and digging in with his feet, lashing out with a powerful punch from his ferrous arm at Voltage.

Marceau had been quietly watching the strange world(much more so than it would have been only a few centuries ago)that Parsinkle and the other Fey lived in, marveling at how clean and well kempt it all was. Waving politely to the cheering crowds lining the town streets, he had taken a moment to wonder if this was all planned for the humans' edification, quickly pushing the question from his mind as the massive and glorious castle drew nearer. Remaining quiet as the two were directed to their room, Marceau had nodded in thanks to their guide as he walked into the plush apartments, surveying the otherworldly terrain that stretched as far as the eye could see. He started at the words, answering slowly "Indeed, I feel younger myself, like I have found a path back to my childhood. Really Rene? We become invisible again so soon?" he asked with a joking grin "Mon professuer, if this goes on by the time we have done all our foes will walk around invisibly themselves. Lead on, I dare say you have seen the inside of castles more oft than I."

OOC for this thread.