Back to Basics (IC)

[Geez3r]

August 28, 2009

“E-Sea†is the largest bank in Freedom City, having bought out and consolidated several smaller financial institutions. The bank does a booming business providing loans to developers and new businesses moving into the city. It owns a considerable amount of real estate, which it leases or sells as needed. It holds mortgages on more property than any other financial institution in the Freedom City area.

The bank’s blue-and-white lighthouse logo is a common sight on ads and billboards around the city, and can be found on most of Freedom’s automatic teller machines as well. Their advertising uses the slogan “E-Seaâ€â€We make banking easy!†The bank prides itself on quick and courteous customer service at all its branches, and now offers online “e-Sea banking†services.

This is pretty much a typical weekday morning. The bank isn't all that crowded, as most of the clientel are off at work somewhere. But those that have the day off, here during an early lunch break, or those that'll be running through red tape all day showed up early. The main area of the bank looks alot like the grand entrance to a fancy hotel. The ceilings are 30ft high, and matches the marble flooring. Finely crafted crown molding decorates every corner of the room. There's several plush chairs strew about in the waiting area. Green velvet ropes form the quene, which currently only has just a handful of people online. There are 2 tellers attending to everyone directly opposite the main doors. Several cubicles and offices areoff to the right for more private transactions, and the elevators and stairs are on the left, usually reserved for those who're seeing the higher ups of bank management.

At first glance it would appear that the bank is lacking in security, but a second glace revealed quite a few discreet security measures. Hidden cameras, a few guards posted here and there, the occasional person who's been sitting in that chair a little too long, grates that look like they'll drop down from the door jams to stop criminals from getting away, that sort of thing.

[Geez3r]

Samael had taken the day of to do the largest transaction of his life. His little deli shop had been doing excellent business now that the streets were starting to clear up, and he had squirreled away quite a bit of money. Now he had thoughts of expanding. There were quite a few apartments above the deli-shop, which had been going unused for quite some time. Samael was here to discuss his loan options so that he could buy the building, renovate it and then lease the apartments.

He had gotten on his best, and truth be told only, suit pressed the day before and had shown up early today looking his most presentable. He had been told to wait in the little seating area they had off to the side, and he had been sitting down in that plush chair for about 10 minutes now. Anyone who was any judge of character could tell he was pretty nervous. He kept playing with his hands, fixing his hair and checking the clock.

[Sandman XI]

The nightmares had kept him up all night again. It was the same one again for the third night in a row. The one where drowned in a river of whatever those things were made of. The scary part wasn't the he was drowning, the scary part was that he couldn't save himself. It's morning now. Friday morining. Time to go pick up the check. He showers (though it really doesn't help his grogginess), gets dressed, hops in his car and goes over to the shop. Pay was awesome this week. He made plans to go see Inglorious Basterds with Lynn. Now off to the bank. Getting there was the easiest part of the voyage.

[Kavos]

Jadon had gone the the bank early that day to collect his monthly tidbits from his trust fund. While most of the time the money was simply transfered into his account, Today he had elected to go into the bank and have some of it withdrawn instead.

After only just starting at Claremont's Jadon was determined to get of to a good start. which meant he had to go shopping. New computers, new TV's new everything. He would have simply used he old stuff had it not been for that slight incident last fourth of July involving a slight miscacualtion on his part...

Jadon looked around the office while the banker fussed about with the accounts. Looking at the few people inline waiting to the service desk Jadon smiled, sometime's it was handing having the surname Grove.

[Heritage]

Dr Estelle de Havilland smiled pleasantly as she stepped up to the teller window while reaching into her purse.

"Good morning, I'd like to get cashier's check for five thousand dollars?"

It was something she'd been meaning to do for some time; making a donation to the Hero Boosters Club made her feel like she was actually part of the city, not just a dilettante or Jane-come-lately. She hoped she would be able to do this every year, but she had to see how it would fit in with the rest of her charitable giving.

Oh well, at least my account will be pleased at tax time.

[Geez3r]

You hear it first. A dull rumbling roar that builds and builds in intensity. Just when it builds to the point where it's jarring your eardrums, the ground begins to shake violently and what can only be described as a rocket-propelled, armored bulldozer barrels through the back wall of the bank, fully 5 feet off the ground. It crashes back to the ground with a sickening crunch as its treads chew through the Italian marble of the bank. The dozer skids into a 180 degree turn, spraying the entire lobby with rubble and tearing huge gouges in the floor. The very instant the vehicle comes to a stop and the alarms start blaring, the vehicle's back doors slam open and 8 heavily armed individuals pour out of the vehicle, splitting into 2 equal groups taking up positions along opposite side of vehicle. Two of them remain seated in the front of the vehicle, protected by its armor. From their stance, their weaponry and the way they're dressed, you figure that they're either former S.A.S. or K.G.B. or S.E.A.L.S.

Then all eyes are drawn to the top of the vehicle as a figure has suddenly appeared there out of no where. A solidly built man standing just shy of 6 feet tall and wearing a black T-shirt with a white skull plastered across the front, a pair of camo pants and combat boots, stands there with a great big grin on his face addresses the crowd. "Sorry if I scared you folks, it truly was not my intention; but parking in this town is simply murder. HAHAHA!!! We just have one quick transaction to do today. So, as long as nobody does anything *stupid* we'll be out of your hair in 5 minutes, if *Not* ..." he makes a wide dramatic swing with one of his arms and the wall behind the tellers blows apart, revealing what must be the bank's vault, which is rapidly going into lockdown mode. The villain swings his attention back to the crowd "If you were looking for your chance to run screaming from the building, now would be a good time to do so!"

[Kavos]

Jadon stood in the office's looking out the window, There was a woman over near the counter... She looked familiar, isn't she one of my teaches at Claremont? Just than a sickening feeling washed over Jadon, forcing him to crouch down, a split second later the jet powered bulldozer came bursting in.

A small piece of concrete flies through the window and into the back wall, right above Jadon's head. 'wow that was lucky...' Jadon thinks to himself as he tries to get a hold of his nerves.

Jadon stay's crouched down in the office looking around nervously, He'd wanted to be a hero all his life, but a Bank robbery was rather a large starting point to a heroic carer, not to mention he couldn't change into his costume right here or else people would see him.

So Jadon waits, to see what happens as he tries to overcome his nerves and think of a way to save the day without exposing himself...

[Heritage]

"If you were looking for your chance to run screaming from the building, now would be a good time to do so!"

And exactly why was I so damn eager to move back to Freedom again?

Sadly by this point Estelle was more annoyed than anything else, though she was concerned for the safety of non-combatants in the building. On the plus side, just yesterday the boys from FAR presented her with a gift: a complete upgrade on her old jumpsuit, which stored in a special container on the back of her portable data console. Pulling back the left sleeve of her casual business suit, she types a code sequence into the bracelet, and soon a microthin coating of 'smart sticky molecules' (?) quickly oozes up her forearm, shoulder, chest and waist, until soon her whole body is covered in the protective layer. In fact, the highly-experimental molecules converted her street clothes into part of their structure, which the mouthbreathing techs at ASTRO swear will be instantly reversible :roll:

If her last jumpsuit was form-fitting, her new look is downright aerodynamic, her old blue and whites traded in for metallic blue and silver; her hair now unfurled like menacing storm clouds on the horizon, Gossamer stand with hands on hips in what she fails to recognize is a classic heroic pose.

"Haven't you ever heard of 'computer crime'? Why go to all this trouble when you can just commit simple wire fraud like everyone else? Or is it just that you're too simple to do more than wave around a few guns and puff out your chest like a rooster?"

[Sandman XI]

Wesley rubs his eyes from under his Ray-Bans as his eyes flare up green. He 'sees' all of them perfectly. Thinking about becoming a doctor one day, he checks all of the bad guys vitals. They seem perfectly healthy. Well, one of them has a bruised knee, but that's neither here nor there. Wesley wonders where all of these goons come from, how they got here, and why they were pulling this heist in the first place. Focusing himself, he lifts the sunglasses and thick black tendrils shoot out of his eyes toward all of the thug's main nerves, but not the leader's. He would be next.

[Geez3r]

The strange tentacles lash out at the attacking goons. Two of them immediately crumple under the assault, two of them shake off the attack but are obviously a little hurt, and the other escape harm due do the tentacles having to reach around the dozer they drove in. The 4 goons on the opposite side of the tank dozer believe it's in their best interest to keep this nice large piece of metal between them and the tentacle thing. The other two goons who are still standing don't have that luxury, and decide that they'd rather just kill that thing before it does that again. What the guns shoot is anyone's guess. All it looks like it does is shake the air, alot like the powers the skull guy displayed a moment ago. One shot goes wide, but the other hits home.

Shatter Point seems to take the heroes popping out of the woodwork in stride. He first answers Gossamer "Oh don't get me wrong my dear. If it was just the money I was after, I would just hack into the mainframe here and dump its reserves into my Swiss account. But there are just so many advantages to doing this the old fashioned way; seeing you in that outfit for one. Now why don't we just--" Shatter Point is cut off as Wesley's tentacle-eyes go to work on his goons. The disgust on his face is quite apparent. "--I'll be with you in just a second." Shatter Point then turned his attention to Wesley "First off: EW! Secondly--" He shakes the air again and a wave of rolling thunder collides with Wesley.

[Geez3r]

Samael heard the dozer coming and pushed his chair back and away from the wall, which had the added bonus of moving some of the other people out of the way. He stood frozen for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then the other heroes began popping out of the woodwork. If they weren't afraid to use their powers in their identities, then why was he? It didn't like these thugs would go down all that easy either, he had to help. He only had time to throw off his jacket and tie before the change came over him and tore his shirt to shreds. Muscle expanded, bones grew, and skin stretched to its breaking point. There was now a giant red behemoth of a man in the corner of the room, and he didn't look happy.

[Heritage]

Things are rapidly getting quite weird inside the bank; between herself, the hideous black eyeball streamers emanating from the otherwise normal-looking young man, and now the freakish metamorphosis she caught out of the corner of her eye, the Wading Way branch has gone all Heironymous Bosch.

Let's see how good I am at this.

The golden cloud forms into several thick tentacles, one of which lashes out with alarming speed towards the ring leader.

[Kavos]

Not being able to sit around doing nothing Jadon eventually has to do something. Looking around Jadon realizes the Banker he was with was hiding under his desk not paying attention to Jadon.

Taking the opportunity, Jadon quickly flares up. A flash of light later and Jadon was gone All that was left of his was a swirling mass of marble sized lights.

[Geez3r]

GM Only Post

Apparently there is quite a downside to having powers that require a super special awesome transformation sequence; it lets the bad guys shoot you in the face. The four goons that had take refuge from the strange tentacle thing were not keen on letting a giant red monster invade their safety zone and promptly opened fire. One of the goons even managed to get a shot into his open mouth, the other shot that connected hit him square in the stomach. That took the wind out of his sails pretty quickly.

On the otherside of the tank, the two remaining goons took pot shots at the glowing person, hoping they could affect it. The last two goons who have yet to vacate the vehicle begin to manuever it back towards the bank vault. They most likely intend to rob the place while the heroes are distracted fighting their comrades. The ring leader for his part, simply vanishes into thin air. Before Gossamer or the other heroes have time to look where he went to, Gossamer is stuck in the small of her back, and a very curious sensation spreads throughout her body. It was like being pushed, but in reverse. Instead of energy being added, it was being taken away. "Try not to get all clingy, it still is only the first date. What would people say about us?" taunts Shatter Point in her ear.

Gossamer looks as if time as stopped. Her hair hangs aloft in the air, eerily unmoving, not even her eyes are moving. She is completely frozen.

[Geez3r]

Atlas is momentarily staggered by the attacks, but he grits his teeth and shakes off the attacks. But now he has to worry about how to take down the goons. There's too many to fight one at a time, and any big attacks would cause more damage than they would prevent. He didn't have any real options, unless....

Atlas had never attempted this move before, but had seen it done on tv and in the comics and hoped he wouldn't look like a complete idiot. Atlas drew in a massive breath, swelling his barrell chest and exhaled a massive wave of artic wind, coating much of the bank in ice in an attempt to immobilze the goons. It is quite successful at the 4 goons who just shot at him and now incased in ice.

[Kavos]

Boomer began to make his way to Miss D. But pauses as he see's her go limp, Unsure of what to do, Boomer begin's to panic slightly. Trying to get a hold of his emotion, Boomer decides to change back into his human form, This time in his costume however.

Shifting back a bright light flashes as most of the light's comprising of Boomer's body converge on one another to form his body. The was however still a number of Boomer's floating around his body...

[Geez3r]

GM ONLY POST

Realizing their attacks are futile against the light creature, both of the goons round to face Atlas. They level their blasters and open fire. One shot goes whizzing right past Atlas's ear and the other strikes him in the meat of the shoulder. Atlas growls in pain but grits his teeth and powers through it.

Shatter Point for his part swaggers towards the middle of the lobby, ducking under Gossamer's tendrils of hair and blasts the vault door, which pretty much crumbles to dust and the 2 goons in the truck get to work loading up the loot.

[Geez3r]

"What did you do to her!?" bellows Atlas as he clears the distance between him and Shatter Point in a single leap and clocks him with a monsterous haymaker. Shatter Point reflexively put his arms up over his head in a block, but his force field caught the attack before that. The force of the impact was tremendous and the ground beneath Shatter Point cracked under the strain, but amazingly he weathered the hit. "That all you got big man?"

[Kavos]

Not sure what to do, Boomer see's the big guy clobber -unsuccessfully- the goon who appeared in charge. Focusing his power's Boomer claps his hand's together, as the two met a burning hot beam of light shot from his pointed fingers' directly towards Shatter point...

[Geez3r]

GM ONLY POST

The two remaining goons piece together that this sort of fight is quite a bit above their level and quickly slink away.

Boomer's attack catches an angle on Shatter Point's force field and deflects off, leaving the latter unharmed. "Be with you in a sec there glow stick; gotta teach this guy some manners first!" That same shaking energy he used before concentrates around Shatter Point's fist, which he drives into the stomach of Atlas. Atlas's body looks like a pond after a stone is dropped into it, as a massive ripple of force spreads throughout his body.

[Geez3r]

The ripples of force travel through Atlas's body and for a moment, it looks like this is the end for him, but then Atlas' pupils dilate and his muscles clench. While the ripple is still traveling through his body, Altas comes down with a double axe-handle smash, making impact with Shatter Point's shield just as the shockwave reaches his hand, and repays Shatter Point with a massive shot of his own energy. The shield cracks under the strain, but still manages to hold. "What did you do to her!" bellows Atlas for a second time.

[Kavos]

Boomer give's Shatter point a sideway's glance, "glow stick?" Boomer repeats as Atlas is hit and rebounds the attack. "Glow stick?" Boomer repeats again, "I'll show you a glow stick!" Boomer says, his voice a mix of annoyance and fear.

With that Boomer's eye's flare up as he suddenly create's a bright flare of light within an fraction of a millimeter from Shatter point's eyes.

[Geez3r]

GM Only post

Through a bit of blind luck, Shatter Point is able to avert his eyes before the blinding flash goes off. "GAH! Dammit man! Alright, welcome to the front of the line!" A deafening thunderclap is heard as the air visibly splits as it hurtles towards Boomer from Shatter Point's outstretched hand. The sensation that Boomer feels could be likened to being hung over with a migraine while at a rave.

[Geez3r]

In retaliation for being ignored, Atlas tries for a mean right hook, but in his haste he is quite sloppy and Shatter Point is able to duck under the blow. "Your fight is with me, leave him out of this!" roared Atlas, oblivious to the other goings on in the bank.

[Kavos]

Boomer fall's to his knee's and leans forward. One hand on the ground the other over his face. What ever shatter point had done it felt horrible. Boomer could hardly think let alone act, as he resisted the feeling to throw up.