Ari

GM Sharon blew a weary breath "Everything that just broke on that piece of junk, for one. That's a few grand and I won't get all the parts in town." She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her palm "But right now I could go for some ice cream and a new shirt." The action showed that a few holes had been burned into the cloth. "C'mon." With that Sharon jammed a baseball cap on her head, swung on her heel and started marching. It was a long way to Bayview Mall, and Sheffield didn't believe in transportation provided "by the public dole". An oddity in someone from a distinctly disadvantaged British-Pakistani family. As they walked down the hill between rows and curving avenues of suburban sprawl overlooking the North Bay, Sharon asked, very casually "So, you're an angel, right? From God?" She tilted the cap's brim to catch more of the cheerfully burning sunlight on it rather than her skeptical face "My mother says angels are impersonal emanations of the all-encompassing Divine, rather than discrete beings with wills and identities. That true?"

GM The armor came apart in Blue Jay's hands as easily as the now-directionless robots milling above, their wailing cargo plummeting to safety(if not comfort) in the upraised arms of the forest boughs. As the last of the engines died and the last metal barrier between Tona and her quarry ripped free, the faint drone of an Emerald City Forest Ranger electric chopper was drifting through the gentle winter air. Just a few minutes and already the people inside the elegant blue-white Nolan wonder had plenty to gawk at as they came down. One of those wonders being the extremely empty suit of armor. Tona had felt the weight, heard the grunts and gasps, but by the time she'd torn the faceplate off there was nobody, nothing inside. There was fresh blood and sweat on the padded interior, some dark, curly hair, otherwise not a sign of the Air-Martial. A synthetic rope suddenly unspooled next to her, followed by a fit middle-aged man wearing a forest Ranger's uniform and a look of utter confusion. Taking in the wreckage he asked bluntly "What in the &@#^ just happened? Are...are you alright, miss? Was this the perpetrator?" That was accompanied with an anxious glance at the armor. He took off his hat and stared up at one of the shattered piles that had once been a towering Douglas fir "Real sorry, miss, this usually...this never happens." "al-Misri!" Behind Asad, Max Mars flew into view atop a sleek black flying platform that he swooped expertly down next to the siphon scion. His own survey of the battlefield was so brief as to barely be called a glance, and he was significantly less impressed, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched with anger that he didn't bother to disguise. Despite coming up only to Amir's chest he somehow managed to look much larger in his wrath. Taking a deep, slow breath the maestro of MarsTech rounded on Amir. "Did he say anything? Anything at all? Any hint who he works for?" As he spoke, Mars reached out towards the scattered armor shards with a hand guantleted in rust-red, the pieces flying through the air and halting for his inspection. "Not a trace, nothing..." "Hey, uh, Mr. Mars!" the ranger hollered over from the fallen Air-Martial suit "We got your call! Other units are heading to the retreat, is everything okay?" Mars froze for the briefest of seconds. Then suddenly the composed and collected showman from earlier was back, smiling breezily as a bit of shoulder armor vanished into his deep blue suit. "Yes, thanks to Mr. al-Misri here!" he clapped heartily Asad on the back "We're all unhurt and safe. Though I think there's a little matter upstanding..." his bright green eyes lifted to the people hanging miserably in the branches. "On it, Mr. Mars!" The ranger snapped something into his watch, and was soon joined by three other rangers who set about helping the moneyed guests down. Mars glanced diagonally up at Asad "Want a hand, al-Misri?" The slim platform under his feet purred like a contented kitten.

That was it, huh? Salmon watched Wrath and the others of Emerald's Finest hustle into the truck and off into the humming streets of Emerald City. Paris couldn't help but glance around the warehouse, which time and tide had done more damage to than anyone in it. The birds outside were spending more time in the marshmallow hell cage than its target, and the kid remembered with a jolt of shame how happy he'd been to beat a supervillain with one punch. That nobody but he and Emerald Spider had even seen. Wait, court? No! I can't! Salmon shook his head "W-we shouldn't, yeah. I'm with Spider. Besides, there's other witnes--hey, hold on." With a blur the young speedster swept in front of the others, eyes narrowed and both forefingers pointed at the other two heroes. "There must have been hundreds of witnesses to Faster Pussycat's little slash and grab, why the jigo would the police want some weirdoes in masks to testify when Stone Stan-****ing Everett will be on this? Why would they want people to know they needed us to catch that woman? I-!" He rubbed his chin furiously, staring at the ground. He looked up, meeting their eyes with the ones embroidered on the grinning mask. "Yeah, we need somebody who can give us real answers. That means one guy, Max Mars!" "Sha'ir, do your thing."

Tiff, would you roll Stealth please? Also Knowledge(Technology) to figure the best way to navigate these ventilation shafts. Avenger, would you roll Sense Motive, please?

GM Spider ~'Hey! Get back here! It doesn't proje-!'~ But the voice cut out as soon as Peri had ducked into the tower, the metal slats banging shut behind her. The noise rang and rumbled down the shaft, which stretched below Emerald Spider like an especially narrow abyss. Other doors opened and closed out of sight, in a mechanical rhythm that defied the superheroine's understanding of music and became simple, inorganic Noise. But even in an echoing, dark series of tunnels made of metal, it was at least possible to tell where each shutter lay. Which meant she could work her way to where other humans were, other humans and, hopefully, their sensitive computer systems. Citizen Inside, the complex had a remarkable lot in common with an early Star Trek movie set. Clear, sharp lines, bright colours and shiny fashion plate hiding all the troublesome infrastructure guts. There were familiar touches, security cameras(turned toward the walls), the broad, couch-festooned simplicity of a waiting room punctuated with a rack of magazines in Mandarin and Korean. A desk, behind which a bald man in a crisp white uniform emblazoned with the Ming Xi eye was reading a Castle Comics Bowman & Arrow with the look of deep scrutiny and skepticism of somebody first meeting a poisonous snake. At the entry of the robot-borne alien, the man rose and bowed politely, gesturing to a wall which opened without a sound to admit access to a sparse white hallway. Hermit Ochre nodded once, which the man took as a sign to resume his seat. Sharl could feel the data flowing through the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the air itself thick with transmitting information. All of it utterly mundane but heading somewhere deeper in the Ming Xi complex. Before him the Hermit walked with soft, creaking footsteps, the OtherSharl beside him marching with a slightly irregular gait and clanking feet. They met one other person in what seemed like an hour(really five minutes, according to the time in the corner of his right eye), another Hermit. This one stepped out of another door that opened behind the trio, they wore a pale green mask and fell in on the other side of Citizen without a word or gesture -'Citizen'- the words scrolled across his vision, via his link to Archetech West -'We're getting some of that interference again, if Spider can get somewhere they send or receive data from outside, we can find out what this is'-

All right, so there's ten of them, you're attacking two, would you make some rolls Kolohohenu? Kid Kamehameha: Unharmed, 1HP Disque Joqueys(x10): Unharmed-GM For full disclosure, they are PL6.

Kolo, we out of rounds?

Olopi, make whatever rolls you think fit. Gather Info or a spell that finds vampires or what have you. @olopi

GM "Set to, sonny, I'm your plus one on this case, remember?" Talespinner clapped Hakim warmly on the shoulder, ushering him gently from the Library crossroads and Tower's ice-hot eyes. Before they'd reached the Spellsmith's section of the endless maze of tomes, she called after them "Look after him, 'Spinner. Weaver will be observing and reporting how you and Sha'ir handle this." Talespinner laughed, a rich, throaty sound like an amused bear "Oh, I bet she'll be watching! Can't let a fine old fella like me out of her sights! Don't you sniff at me, Lizzie!" He turned to point an accusing finger down the book-strewn hallway. A fraction of a second later an arched, contemptuous sniff was hastily stifled with a bout of very unconvincing coughs. "Every time, like a proper cuckoo clock." Chuckling to himself, Talespinner nodded briefly to Sha'ir "Let me know when and where'd you like to meet to pool what we've learned. I'm going to head down and see what a gentleman I know at Joy's has heard. Here, use this," Extending his right hand, palm outward, Talespinner closed his eyes in deep concentration, tracing a circle around his right hand with his left forefinger...then with a snap of his fingers a library card appeared in his left hand, which he tossed to Sha'ir with a grin "Honorary, it works like a smartphone but only links to one of ours." On cue another card seemed to appear in his other hand with a twitch of his fingers. He nodded to the wall "Will you do the honors, Spellsmith? Your section."

Dol-Druth's massive shoulders rose and fell, though at a sigh rather than a shrug "Yes, we have often made mistakes like that. When you instantly know what everyone else is thinking for most of your life, meeting others who can only guess at your motives is a shock." "For instance, when somebody assassinates a head of state, even a noxious one like the Harper. We have learned, as, we assume, have you, about the many politically-motivated exceptional criminals who have made assassination attempts throughout recent history. You are prepared for personal demonization, misunderstanding, death. But afterwards?" "We are not human, so we do not value human life like you do, like those on this planet do. But we know that on this planet killing each other is taboo outside of warfare or other rationales. In particular, exceptional powered humans killing people is taken as a much more serious act than a normal human. You are willing to accept the consequences others will face for this?" Dol-Druth blinked, the far-off chorus Errant could feel humming just out of reach turning to something more harmonious, synchronized "We wish to know, because we desire something similar. Not death or vengeance but freedom, but we have no social or historical or cultural context for how this is done. For the last few of your centuries we have just been the Empire and now the Republic's workforce, we have never been anything else, never wanted anything else. That has changed."

Thank you. The day was wonderful! Had some family visiting, we had a good time!

OOC thread for this thread. @Chimeric ArchAngel goes to inner space!

GM A concealed sidewalk outside Claremont Academy, Bayview, Freedom City, USA, the Earth May 1st, 2017, 2.45PM "Well, that's a bust" Sharon "Tyger" Sheffield, teen genius, kicked the smoking apparatus moodily, still smarting from its failure. Turning to the other Claremont students who had come out for a good time in another dimension without Mrs. Tragoria breathing down their necks about local customs and protocol, Sharon shrugged "Sorry, guys! Guess I'll have to try again next week." With a wave of her hand and a burst of exotic particles from the gizmos hidden under her gloves, the shambles of what had been a miniature replica of the Atom Family's Gateway winked out of existence. "What? Come on!" "What a waste a'time..." "Xerynarrg!" The other students drifted away, in pairs and singly, heading out into Bayview, taking to the sky and otherwise leaving now that the chance had come and gone. Blowing a noisy sigh, Sharon glanced at the last remaining student. "Hey, Annie," she smiled glumy, wiping a streak of oil from her face "still here? I've got some stuff I wanna do before the day's over, could use some company."

Roll initiative, please Kolohehonu 13 is theirs

"Huh," Paris said with a thoughtful look at the faint stars above "never really figured the Ha-" the scream shut his mouth. Glancing at Jun, and she to him, both arrived at the same decision before Kimo was out of sight. Jun's phone flicked open. "I'll call campus security, you get the regular cops" she said crisply, tapping out the mercifully-brief number that would alert the ECU's Brande Management detail. Location data and the phone's digital student ID tag would do the rest. Nodding, Paris tapped the speed-dial for the police, wondering momentarily, crazily, if it would look suspicious...he glanced furtively at the girl. Jun wasn't looking at him, though. She was still tense from the nearby shriek and running from those gumi men. Not to mention absorbing the fact that her friend was a superhero powered by magic gods. Her eyes were locked on the alleyway across the street. Paris let out a small breath. His job was getting to him. He'd known it would, but looking over your shoulder when among friends- She isn't. She wouldn't be, wouldn't want to be, if she knew you. None of them would. Even Aunt Ell would reject the real you. Paris thought of the other, the more discreet back door. He could slip off with some excuse, put on his costume, join Kimo. This wasn't any of the Triangle's people, it'd be some rando thugs. But for what? Kimo could handle that easily, he didn't need Salmon, nobody- "Jun, I've gotta get clear and let my aunt know, she's gonna hear about this and she knows I'm on the Hill and of I don't she'll get mad." It came out in a rush, all breathless and apologetic and abashed. Just right. Jun smiled faintly and side-eyed at the lanky boy "I'd call you a momma's boy, Perry, but not right now. I'll wait for Imo and the cops." "Thank you." The rest passed in a blur. Dodging around the corner, bribing the bemused backdoor bouncer, grabbing his bag, sliding out with some laughing graduates, changing, tossing the bag with his regular clothes behind a dumpster, racing for the alleyway, everything passed in seconds, moments dominated by one thought: I can't be useless. Not this time. Meanwhile... It was almost impressively mundane, the crime in progress that Kid Kamehameha, mighty right arm of the gods, stumbled upon. Ten guys with masks, animals or something on them, too faded to make out, hustling people between freight trucks parked in loading docks. One of them, bound and now re-gagged, was slumped in the arms of two of them. A young man, probably Chinese, with a bloody smear on the side of his head to warn him against doing that again. All the masked men were armed with small arms, though nothing bigger than a pistol. They all looked up at Kamehameha's arrival, eyes wide and jaws slack, too shocked for words. Except one: "...Daf***?"

GM OtherSharl's eyes twinkled. A sign they weren't seated properly. <"Don't worry, they just put me back together. Still me...well, still us, in here. Probably installed something to make me go crazy and attack my friends, but that's why I shut down my physical defences. Hopefully they do something stupid and I can't be reconstituted, <LOVED ONE> doesn't need the headache of two Sharls."> "Come on in, they want to apologize and shut off all their defences." Approaching the gate, OtherSharl opened a door that was definitely not there, ushering Citizen inside and leading the way through an invisible maze that didn't follow the visible buildings at all. "They cut me from their surveillance, so you can say what you like. I told them if you were watched like last time you wouldn't listen, that on the homeworld it was taboo to look at or listen to other people talking. The trick is to get them thinking you're this weird alien guy who doesn't get humanity, then they drop their guard. Undignified, but useful." OtherSharl picked at a loose armor plate jutting from his wrist "Didn't make them better engineers, though." To E-Spider's eyes, the two Citizens shimmered in and out of view as they weaved deeper into the complex, no rhyme or reason immeditately obvious to where or when. But she didn't have much time to ponder that, due to the sharp, imperious voice that rasped into her thoughts. ~'Identify yourself! I cannot see you, but I know you are there! By Cortex's command, tell me who you are! They won't release the Skeyes while the blasted aliens are ouside, but in moments I can find you and teach you more of pain than you ever wished to know!'~ To her left, just below her, a hatch opened to let out a blast of stale air and let in a great gulp of fresh. It was easily big enough for her to crawl in. If she didn't mind going into strange holes with no easy way out that led Myung-sook-knew where. The real front door was opened before either Sharl reached it, admitting a short woman in a featureless, blank opaque veil of orange silk and an expensive-looking suit. She bowed formally, saying in passable Modern Lor <"Welcome. I am Hermit Ochre. Our house is yours. Will you come in, Citizen? We would make amends, if we can." The mask was impervious to even Sharl's expansive suite of optical sensors. Like a blank void around her head. But she still looked expectant. OtherSharl rolled his eyes.

GM Blessedly, the marshmallows did follow that ancient law, and soon the impromptu wall was a pile of sweet-smelling brown over tangles of chain-link fence. Flocks of crows and gulls fought fiercely over the unexpected bounty. Faster Pussycat had to be cuffed and bound while she was still struggling in the confectionary cage, her wild swings harmless except for their being fast enough to behead somebody. As she was carried into the warehouse, she managed to swing around and grip a pillar with her claws, glaring at the three heroes with furious green eyes. "This isn't over! I'll get you back for this, you creeps! I'll-hey, watch it!" She was hauled into a police van along with her would-be assassin, the drivers and other officers of the ECPD staring openly at the first supervillains to menace the city in decades, Wiping his forehead, the struggle with Faster Pussycat having taxed the heavily-armored man severely, Wrath pocketed the flash drive plugged into the feline felon's computer, regarding it with a dry smile. "I can hear Max now, "Oh no! How could my technology have been used for evil! If only it wasn't a hundred times better than the competition!" Urgh. Hopefully you kids got her before she did anything with that info. We'll be asking you to be witnesses, hope you don't mind takng your masks off for that, this ain't Jersey." "Thanks. I have no idea how we would've solved this so fast without you. If you hadn't, this could have caused huge problems for the new project. Have a good one." With a slightly awed backward glance that belied his blasé attitude, Wrath ducked into the van, pulling it shut behind him. As the vehicle wheeled around, the door popped open for a second, and the man hollered "Hey! Got the press holed up further up the hill! Rather you didn't talk to them about this! See ya!" With a smooth purr the electric van and its cruiser escorts wheeled out into the bumpy, overgrown street and off into the gleaming streets of Emerald City, leaving the three heroes very much alone with only sirens, the calls of birds fighting outside, the drone of the city and silence for company. Wrath never had asked their mask-names...

Nobody had followed them, and while Shino and Aro had gotten into a huddle of the other mob men, they didn't look about to chase them down. Scratching his head, Ishmael looked dubiously at the other boy "A mage, really? Thought Sha'ir was the only magic dude. Where's it come from? Your powers, I mean. I think Sha'ir gets his from the stars...?" "I didn't do anything, Imo!" Jun looked surprised, and a little sheepish "But no problem, you ever need somebody to start yelling, I'll be there." Smiling faintly, she glanced around "Anyway, coast is clear, but we should really get going. Thanks, Paris, see you around. Sorry we never got that sake, Imo. Next time-!" She was cut off by a frantic, blood-curdling scream coming from across the street.

Okay then: 4 "Huh? What?"

GM Tower took his hand, hers icy cold and hard as steel, as the blood red eyes that met his "Thank you, Mr. Sha'ir. I did hope you would be so cooperative." Stepping back she added wearily "So few small-town mages are. Territoriality is one thing, being a blockhead is quite another. Talespinner?" Nodding to his...superior? Talespinner stepped forward and swept the newspaper from the table where it had been set. Holding his hand over it and murmuring something in a language that tickled the back of Hakim's brain, the pages shone and burst into life, a crime scene spilling out in lurid colour along with police officers in the Upper Emerald's green and blue, newshounds and bystanders, all staring and stock-still around a frozen body. Despite the grisly scene, the taller, older man flashed a showman's grin at Sha'ir and snapped his glovéd fingers next to a policewoman's ear. "Well, officer Neema?" Softly, almost mechanically, the woman spoke "The Blood Brothers are an elusive street gang, they keep their faces masked and have been known to hide in crowds while stalking their victims. They are most dangerous at night, but can operate during the day as well." "Lucky bastards," Tower grumbled, leaning against a bookshelf stuffed with editions and translations of Dracula with a look of profound envy. One was missing, a first edition on the top shelf. "They do not have any mystic training, but they are skilled fighters and ambush predators. Remain vigilant and do not heed their voices or look into their eyes. They can hypnotize and induce illusions via such contact." "That all, Jas?" "No. After four days anyone they kill also becomes one of them." "Thanks, darling, you're an angel." All smiles, Talespinner swept the imagery, the corpse under the sheet, the crowd and yellow tape and alleyway back into the paper, which he shut with an unpaper-like snap. "We have a few initiates working this city's beat. Good practice." Tower glided closer to Sha'ir, her hands clasped behind her back "Any further questions?" Behind her, Talespinner made a sharp 'cut' motion and mouthed "No" several times.

"We wish you unmarred decision-making, should that become necessary. We would offer to help, but our Oath of Office forbids it." Holding a container of water up to his forehead, Dol-Druth dipped his antennae in it, then began cleaning his face with them as he went on "If you can kill her. This illustrates, we believe, the perils inherent to the adulation and intemperate worship of individual might. You are, we condede, correct in that unusual skill and/or ability is desirable and historically dependable in sifting good leaders from ineffective ones. However, it is the difference between a man who can eat poisons without much harm and one who can exclusively eat dirt and still live forever." "In due time, our government will be changed by the selection of a new Praetor. It is assumed that neither is an excep-hm, no, a meta." The bulging alien scowled as the unfamiliar word scrawled across its tongue. "Were either a mentat, or found to be one, they would be disqualified, for reasons we hope are obvious. On this planet, humans have become more or less comfortable with the idea of far-off nations being led by superhumans, like Soqotra or New Freedom. On their televisions and in their public life, exceptionals are held up as nigh-infallible heroes or else clear and dastardly villains." "If killing the Harper becomes necessary, do you believe it will become necessary to kill someone else, perhaps from this continent, for a similar end?"

I confess, I also was confused and was about to ask the same thing. Kolohehonu, would you briefly say what's what so we're all square?

Many happy returns to this day, Granspear! Don't let the bugbears bite!

GM On the Platform, fingers swiped at touch-sensitive bars, dials were turned and switches clicked for the very first time to unleash a flood of pent-up energy that hurtled through the water, boiling it into vapour in its path, until it reached the small knot of aquatics and self-named heroes with a WOORMPH of exploding plasma! The searing barrage missed the Rayders entirely, but its clear target, Rayzer, was struck full in the chest by the shockwave and a sizzling dart of plasma that burnt through his suit and skin faster than any human could react. His scream of pain echoed and shuddered as the electronic mask did its unfeeling work, the man flailing and thrashing but quickly going limp. The boiling bolts had glanced off Deoxy's armor and splattered harmlessly against Leviathan's scales, so the Rayders had only to look between the origin of the attack and its victim to leap to conclusions and to action. Two knifed through the waters, grabbing their leader by his arms and dragging him back to the sub, which the others were already racing pell-mell for, shouting furious curses at the PanStar power base as it thrummed, readying for another attack...

For the love of God. Okay, so Leviathan is unaffected, Rayzer is Bruised, Injured and Dazed, Dr. Deoxy is Stunned but unharmed. Since the shot came from the Platform, Rayzer's Rayders are heading back to the giant Karkarius sub, with two heading over and beginning to haul Rayzer onboard to relative safety. Blarghy, Exaccus, what do you want to do here? Focus on disablng the turret? Of which there are probably more? Preventing the situation from escalating? Something else?