ic Explosions After Dark (IC)

[Poncho]

April, 2024

 

Nighttime.

 

Claremont Academy usually had relatively peaceful nights. While there were plenty of super-powered kids and some of them were trouble makers, the school as a whole had enough activities that they rarely 'acted out', so to speak; between lessons of schooling and lessons of using powers.

 

There were a few exceptions. One of these was Sam Durado, who had more than a little habit of leaving when she got too frustrated with the school. She was never gone long, but it had been a consistent issue, enough that she was starting to get a bit of a reputation for sneaking out at night and going off on her own- and often missing a few morning classes in the way. What Sam had not been expecting was for Michael to be waiting for her.

 

This had devolved into an angry argument outside the dorm that people were very strenuously trying to avoid, not wanting to get between the two best friends having an argument on the dorm; this wasn't a full on fight, after all, it was just an argument.

 

At least it was, until Sam stomped on Michael's foot and flew off while he was still cursing over the underhanded move.

 

"Sam! Come on!" he yelled at her leaving back. "...You gotta be kidding me." he sighed, looking up into the sky.

 

That is the scene that Mizuki and Vueriz ended up wandering into as Michael ran a hand through his hair and let out another swear.

 

"...Oh...hey you two." he mumbled, offering a small wave.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki was putting in some extra curricular work on her laptop, designing new concepts for costume variants for different mission profiles... but when she looked over the budgeting she was scratching her head for solutions. It caused enough frustration for her to close her laptop up and just head out of the dorms, with her costume on. A swim seemed like a good way to clear the head. But the sound of arguing changed her course and heading. She noticed Michael had just had yet another confrontation with Sam... a known quantity in the dorms.

 

"Let me guess... unstoppable force met the immovable object?" Mizuki said, resting a hand on her hip. "Was thinking of hoppin' into the ol' Atlantic in a little bit to get to know the terrain a bit better. Or at least get familiar with sea currents offshore. Practice never hurt. Buuut... thought I'd check in on ya first. See if things are cool."

She stretched noticing Vueriz. "Hi V. Didn't expect you'd be out and about. What's up?"

Edited April 13 by The Sailor

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Uhh...yeah." Michael said to Mizuki, shaking his head. He was clearly frustrated and he rubbed his face with his hands as he thought about what to say. When he finished rubbing his face he looked up into the sky.

 

"Some of the teachers asked me to check on her because she wasn't turning in her homework. She's smart enough to do it all, she just...well she's strong-willed, I suppose that's the way to say it. And I don't think she's adapting well here. it's sort of my fault we're here in the first place, and she didn't want to change schools even if it was for the best. We've been friends for awhie, but I feel like I haven't managed to be a good friend lately. We had a big fight after we got back from uh...well the past. And I don't know that we ever got over it. Things have just been strained lately. I'm sorry if we caused you some issues, or if she's caused you problems in the dorms. She's a great friend, really." he said seriously. "But, thanks for checking in, Mizuki." he gave a smile that was a lot less open and forceful than his usual ones, more lopsided and awkward. He offered a wave to Vueriz as well.

 

"Hey Vueriz. Sorry if we bothered you. How are you holding up?"

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt

 

Vueriz had been planning a bit of truancy herself and quickly commanded her board to float around a corner when she spotted Michael. Instead she stood there awkwardly, dressed in her costume for the tail end of the argument as well as Mizuki and Michael's brief talk, when both turned to her. 

 

"Uh, hi guys. I was just going to go for a walk. With my gadgets. Test the uh, cushioning in my new boots. And the way my belt sits. Yes." She cleared her throat, awkwardly. "Should we go after her?"

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"I think it might be best for Sam to vent off on her own. Having another person get into her business might just exacerbate matters."

 

She looked around. "And don't worry... if the administration is fine with me heading out to do some research for a geology class report on underwater formations on the continental shelf, I'm sure doing some gear maintenance is fine. With all the times we've been out getting into super powered entanglements lately we should have all been expelled."

 

Mizuki shrugged. "Not that I want to test the patience of the administration. I always make sure I got a cover for my time outside. I mean if I rescue some boaters while doing some water samples for a report on PH values near Freedom City... I just call that creative multitasking, right?"

 

"Almost makes me think they want us to have this whole 'double life' thing figured out..."

 

She snaps out of it. "Oh sorry... right... Sam... To be honest we've been through..." she sighed. "A lot. Some of us are coping better than others. Could use some moment to bring the classes together and have some fun time before the school year ends. Hopefully this time no trouble finds us."

 

"That... and some of us still need swimming lessons that I owe some assistance in... My work never ends..."

Edited April 17 by The Sailor

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Yeah...Isn't that the truth." Michael agreed. "It's not a big deal that she's leaving, but the fact she just heads off on her own without telling anyone and sometimes doesn't come back in time for class is concerning. She's...well she deserves better than that. And I want to help her but maybe you're right that I'm just pressuring her too much, instead I should just let her handle it her way...I've actually been pretty lucky finding great friends like you two, and I think she's struggling a lot more." he said, smiling at both of them genuinely.

 

"And...yeah. We've been...arguing lately. We used to only pick at each other but we've had actual arguments. When we got back from 'Vacation' we had a yelling fight; she was mad she didn't get to go, I was exhausted from the fact I had to help hold down Paradigm, among all the other things that happened, and her complaining that she 'didn't get to go' made me angry for a moment. I shouldn't have lashed out at her. I apologized for it, but I still feel bad for lashing out. She just wanted to be involved." He noted, frowning. "Plus, I don't think she's getting along with her squad, the other three are excluding her apparently." He shook his head.

 

"Sorry, I'm dumping garbage on you two that isn't even mine to share. I just feel bad about it." he stomped his foot. "Honestly, I could go for a fly or a swim myself. Maybe we should all head down to the pier? Might be nice to do some night flying or night swimming, respectively."

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Naomi sighed. "Might as well. The local Coast Guard branch appreciates my help. Even if it is just towing floatsam and jetsam out of shipping lanes." She said as stretched. "Plus I keep an eye on the bridges in case someone... you know... has a bad night."

 

She scratched her head. "Not sure how to describe it."

Edited April 26 by The Sailor

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz figured she shouldn't look the present animal in the mouth that the pair bought her hasty excuse, instead listening as Michael and Mizuki talked through some of the stuff they had going on. She still thought they should go after Sam, but she was Michael's friend and if he thought giving her space was best then she would defer to his judgement.

 

She instead nodded at the offer to go down to the pier. "Sounds fun, I'll just call my board..." She activated the holographic controls in her gloves and commanded her board to spin in place for three seconds before coming around the corner so that it would look like it was further away. She wasted no time jumping onto it when it did arrive though. "Wanna race, Michael?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Sure. A race sounds nice, it'll get my head in the right place." Michael said, smiling. "I'm sure you'll beat me out so don't embarrass me too much." He said with a laugh. He looked around a bit and thought.

"Mizuki could ride with you, or, how about we head down to the South River and race over the water; then Mizuki can race against us too. We could start opposite side of the Sentry Statue and head down to the Centery Bridge. How's that sound?" he asked the two, grinning cheerfully. "That way everyone gets to participate."

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki was wishing she could fly... although she'd been getting odd sensations doing her jumps lately. "Yeah, sounds like a plan. Just watch out, in the water I can outrace an F1 car, particularly on a straightaway. To make it fair I'll stay on the surface. Been practicing keeping speed while surfaced."

 

She turned to Vueriz walking over to her board. "Although I gotta hitch a ride over to the starting spot."

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz grinned as Michael accepted her challenge, and came up with a way to include Mizuki. She gave the other girl a thumbs up about giving her a lift to the start point as she considered Michael's comment about not embarrassing him. 

 

She was pretty sure when he was pushing himself in that way that made him glow brightly he could keep up, but given it was meant to be for fun and relaxing that obviously wasn't an option, so she had to have a handicap.

 

"For me how about I have to do stunts, like with the skateboards I've seen some people riding. I have to do... let's say three stunts, you both rate them out of ten, every point below ten is added to my time. Sound good?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"I'm pretty sure you and Mizuki can put a good show on without me. I think I'll have fun just watching. It's not very often you two get to zip around at full speed, right? Might as well have a fun time with it. Maybe do a little flipping around in the air." He said with a cheerful grin. 

 

"Not that I'm opposed to watching you do some stunts. I bet Mizuki can do some cool dives too, leaping out of the water and back in." He spoke appreciatively, looking between them. "So you two could race from the pier to the Bridge and we'll see who gets there first. Winner gets bragging rights. If you want to, anyway. It's nothing to me, one way or the other, other than thinking it might be fun to watch."

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Blue Bolt and Torpedo Lass II- Veuriz and Mizuki- quickly left Michael behind once they reached the waterways of Freedom!

 

They were bullets in the air and water, quickly soaring through the air and sea respectively. If it had been set up, it could have been an incredible charity event; two highly skilled young heroines showing off their speed and agility just for fun and to have a good time, but instead it was happening at night, in the quiet, at a time where no one would interrupt or bother them.

 

But it was Mizuki who pulled ahead and took the victory, swimming under the Centery Bridge a hairsbreadth before Veuriz managed it herself. Michael, of course, had been left far behind, casually puttering around down by the Sentry Statue. He'd be quite a bit away from the pair as they finished, too far to be in any conversation.

 

Which meant that he was not aware of what Veuriz and Mizuki saw as they circled around the bridge. At the nearby dock that was technically in Kingston, a little west of the bridge itself, the pair could see only the barest of lights flashing on a yacht parked in the marina. To Mizuki, she could see it blinking out S-O-S.

 

Then the lights went out suddenly.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

 

Mizuki stopped swimming and bobbed in the water, filling her dive vest with air to it's max capacity. She looked up and could barely spot Blue. She pulled out her smart phone, and turned on it's flashlight mode, and she held it in V's direction to get her attention. Hopefully. Mizuki knew about the S-O-S code, her dad taught her in case if she was at the beach near the airfield at Pearl and a pilot went down she could see any light being flashed and understand what it meant and could call someone for help.

 

But now, it looks like she and her friends might be the help.

Edited July 3 by The Sailor

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz quickly gave up on her idea of doing tricks when she became aware of just how fast Mizuki was in the water, switching to a low skim across the waves. She leaned into the wind trying to pull herself lower to reduce her drag, piling on every scrap of power her board could give. This gave her an excellent view of her classmate winning bare seconds ahead of her. She sighed softly as she throttled down, her hair swept back from the wind. She took a moment to look at the water as she started to descend towards Mizuki to congratulate her, when the strange flashing ship caught her eye. 

 

She didn't know what it meant, but was pretty sure it wasn't normal.

 

This became certainty when her classmate also started signaling. She hurried her descent, steering with her tail as she pulled her phone free and started looking for Michael's contact. (She had him down as an emoji someone told her represented a 'sunflower')

 

"What's that signal mean Mizuki? It uh, didn't look like the fun kind of thing. I'm calling Michael so you don't have to explain twice." She hit the little button with the weird curved symbol that was apparently for calling and put it into 'speaker mode', holding her phone so that it was visible to the other girl.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

 

Mizuki spoke up after V dialed Michael up. "It's a older form of long-range communication called Morse Code. Uses a series of dots and dashes to represent letters. That boat out there was signalling what is considered the international code of distress... a S-O-S signal."

 

She pulled down her inflated vest a bit. Not out of annoyance, more of a reaction of curiosity as she looked back at the boat. "We should wait for Michael so the three of us can investigate it."

Edited June 25 by The Sailor

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

It took a bit of time for Michael to catch up to the other two, floating towards them quietly; he hadn't wanted to go all bright and glowy while they were observing something from afar, after all. So he floated over very quietly to meet up with Veuriz and Mizuki as he joined them in looking where they were looking.

 

"Hrm. So something bad happened, you think? That's concerning...how should we investigate, Mizuki? Maritime situations are sort of your specialty, obviously, so I'll follow your lead if you need me to do something...it's weird to put S-O-S on in the middle of the harbor."

 

He looked between Veuriz and Mizuki, willing to follow their lead on this since they were here first.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

"There's a certain protocol to all this... but this is a boat in distress and we're the first on the scene. Until we know otherwise that's what we have to operate with. Doesn't mean we can't be smart about it."

 

"I'll swim over and get on the yacht and investigate matters on deck. You two orbit above at a close distance. I can't just enter the boat if no one responds, since not only are we not officers of any law enforcement or the coast guard, we're teenagers. B&E is a thing, and I'm not interested in a few days in Juvi. Might threaten my Coast Guard internship this summer." She said with a grin.

"I'll see if there's any souls on board or find whatever caused that light. Star, call emergency services and let them know about spotting that S-O-S. Eventually law enforcement should send a water patrol boat out to look around. Do not mention our presence. I'm sure you got a decent cover story."
 

"Sound good?"

Edited June 29 by The Sailor

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz nodded along with Mizuki's plan, although the legal reasoning she gave washed right over her uncomprehending ears. The intricacies of human laws were not something she knew much about, or cared to learn more than was necessary to stick it to The Man. Still, in this case it was for helping people so she would be on her best behavior. 

 

"Sounds like a plan. I'll follow your lead."

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

With Mizuki's orders given out and the other two members of Claremont agreeing to follow her lead, the terrific Torpedo Lass Two made her way to the boat in question.

 

It was a fairly expansive yacht; three levels and an upper deck visible above the water line, which probably meant at least 2 levels hidden below the waterline too. As she swam around the area, she could definitely see figures moving around on the ship. They were big, burly types; shark-like men with bulging upper bodies but wearing pants and heavy boots.

If anything, they looked like that old nostalgic cartoon Street Sharks. They were moving around, loading up boxes from the pier onto the ship, packing them tightly on the front of the prow.

 

"Did anyone see those lights?" asked one of them.

 

"No, I don't think so. We got them down fast." responded another.

 

"I thought this boat was supposed to be unoccupied, anyway."

"It was. It was some kids; probably sneaking on. We'll deal with them later." The final voice said as they continued packing the barrels up.

 

There were about a half dozen on the ship, working through their task with practiced ease. Whatever was in those containers was probably nothing good for the city in general.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

The plan she stuck to. Now she knew there were some teens that were onboard the yacht. And potentially hostages.

 

She moved back far enough that the shadows of night were more her ally. Then pulled out her smart phone and texted Michael. "Hostages... stuff being moved to the bow? Suspicious... possible terrorist attack... yeahhhh no time for playing by the book."

 

She used voice to text so she didn't have to touch the screen with her wet hands and typo. "Update... multiple shark-humanoids, moving around large objects to the front of the ship. Hostages possibly onboard. Change the plan. We gotta act, F the regs. You guys hit high, I'll hop out of the water on deck and hit head-on. I'll wait to hop in until you guys engage."

 

She watched for a response.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

Michael had just gotten off the phone with the authorities when he got the text. He read it carefully, because he tried to do as much as he could carefully, before turning to Veuriz.

 

"She says there's possible hostages and some sort of Shark Guys. Wants us to go and hit them at the top of the deck while she goes from below. Are you good with that?" he asked the blue alien, looking back towards the boat. "I'd trust Torpedo Lass to handle anything that might happen underwater, so we should probably focus on above like she says; she's usually got a pretty good idea of what's going on. But as soon as we go in it's not really gonna be a stealth thing, I'm gonna go up like a light, so if you want to sneak around the other side while I'm lightning up, you should go ahead and do it."

[Kaede Kimura]

Blue Bolt 

 

Vueriz bobbled her head from side to side as she considered the information Michael passed along, grateful that Mizuki had sent the message to him so that her inability to read English didn't catch up with her. She liked the plan, and honestly wasn't great at sneaking. So why not go in loud with Michael?

 

"I'm not really a sneaky sort, besides we make a good team. Let's light them the expletive up." She pulled loose the Nervebuzzer to demonstrate. "You got a plan of attack, or shall we just go in for a meet and greet?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Alright then! I don't want to like...just attack them, because that's not generally how I do stuff, but I'm just gonna float down to see what they do." And so Michael went bright, burning like a star as he descended towards the ship, trusting the other two to go with what they thought was best given their discussion.

 

So the harbor, late at night, had a second star born in the middle of it as Michael floated down towards the ship.

 

"Alright, my friends. I saw the SOS Signal, so does someone want to explain what's going on?" He asked the closest shark person.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

As the golden light descended on the ship, the sharkmen covered their eyes at the sudden burst of light. Several of them cursed or yelled about a Hero showing up, as they tried to clear their eyes from the sudden burst of bright light that threatened to blind them momentarily.

 

"A hero?!" One of them barked. "Get the ordinance!" shouted another.
 

The light was quite bright, but there was a definite motion on the ship as the sharkmen were trying to deal with it.

 

Torpedo Lass heard several things leap into the water under the light, somewhere around her, as Michael continued to glow above the water. They were starting to swim, away. Towards the bridge.

 

"Look Mr. Hero, we don't want to deal too much with you here, so we're sorry about this, but we're gonna need you to...take a trip!" Was that supposed to be a one liner? It wasn't a very good one if it was.

 

Then there was a sudden eruption of light directly at Michael, a rocket from some sort of launcher that hit him straight in the chest with a massive explosion. Did they have more ordinance hidden in the ship? And who sent the S.O.S.? This could be a bad situation!

 

"Come on, then, Heroes, we're ready for you!" One of the sharks on the boat yelled, as there was another loud bang and a shotgun was unloaded into the explosive cloud of smoke and fire where Michael had been a moment before, focusing all their effort on to the big glowing signpost.

Edited September 6 by Poncho