One Pill Makes You Larger... (IC)

[Fox]

Dragonfly pushed herself back upright, silently leaving the room and closing the door behind her. Some directions from a helpful guard and a bit of navigating later she found herself in the scientist's offices, scowling and looking around. dislike hospitals - clean white empty cold - reminds me of the lab

Shaking the thought out of her head she located the computer, flicked it on, and took a seat in a convenient chair as it whirred up to life. The lights danced behind her eyes as it came to life, spinning through files and data as fast as the hard drive could move. nothing untouched - no file unturned - want everything he has - everything

[trollthumper]

The laptop pretty much unfolded before Dragonfly, revealing all it could. There was a private number dialed into the scientist's Skype account; the encryption on it was fairly easy to crack, however, yielding a cell phone registered to a Roger Corrin whose last known address was 1250 Venture St. A quick Google search, however, revealed that this address would put him right in the middle of the river -- and turned up a "Roger Corrin" whose waterlogged body had been found in said river, completing the sick joke.

The search did turn up something else, though -- the scientist's bank page had been saved to his Bookmarks. It was easy enough to crack his ID and his safety code without setting off the security countermeasures, and soon Dragonfly had a clear look at the good doctor's finances. In addition to the usual charges and deposits, there seemed to be a monthly transfer from "The Old Oak." A quick search turned up a bar on Swift Ave., a few streets off from the Waterfront.

[Supercape]

Slick groaned, and turned to the scientist. With her best actress' cap on, she pretended to focus on him, still groggy from the drugs and the smoke inhalation.

"You...you..." she murmured. "I can't remember.... what happened? what did you do to me?" she pleaded, conjuring up a crocodile tear for good effect.

[trollthumper]

"Nothing lasting, I promise," the scientist said to Slick. "You have to understand, the potential --"

Cannonade tightened his grip. "That's not an answer," he said. "Answer first, then you can make your dumb attempts to justify."

The scientist gulped. "We've seen cases where the body of a superpowered individual adapts instantaneously when the powers are triggered. Increased oxygen intake to fuel flame powers without asphyxiating the user, a transmutative process on those who can turn their skin to steel, so on, so forth. Yours... yours was the first case where we had a full-on adaptor, someone who could respond to any stimuli. We managed to trace it to a specific neurotransmitter, and... we saw it reacted each time a new stimulus was introduced."

He paused to catch his breath. "I managed to get you transferred out at the behest of my employer. You weren't in harm at any point -- everything was sterilized, and your body seemed to adapt to fight off infection in any case. Trust me, you weren't at risk..."

[Fox]

Making it back just in time to catch "Nothing lasting" through the door, Dragonfly made a fist and stayed outside the room through sheer force of will. time for that later - priorities - will do better in there without me blowing up

Grabbing a couple of chairs, she 'folded' some bits and parts out of storage and pulled off her gauntlets, grabbing her multi-tool out of its sheath at the small of her back. Expertly popping open one scarred metal plate and muttering to herself, the young woman got to work repairing some damage. fired - salvageable - broken - remarkably intact - contained - better than I'd hoped - live wire ow

[Supercape]

"Who did this to me?" screeched Slick, tears rolling down her face "What's going to happen?"

"WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?"

She was loosing it. She stood up, tore the canula out of her arm. The tears were no longer acting. She moved to the scientists bed and stared him in the eye. "I need to know. Give me that. So it wasn't just you? who was it?"

[trollthumper]

"I don't know his name!" the scientist yelled. "We... we just met wherever he'd told me to! The Old Oak, the Starbase on Brook Street... he's a bald guy, well-dressed, sunglasses... please, seriously, that's all I know..."

Cannonade threw the guy down on the bed. "Stay there," he said. "You can try running if you want. I could use a laugh."

He turned to Slick. "We should probably go talk to my colleague," he said. "See what she found."

[Fox]

Practically on queue Dragonfly re-entered the room, pulling on and securing her newly-repaired gauntlets. "Same, mostly. Location for The Old Oak. Evidence - financial records; monthly transfer from the Oak. Phone number's a fake name and address. Grim humor - drowned man, address in the middle of the river."

She eyed the scientist with complete and utter contempt written all over her face...even with half her face hidden behind the visor. "Financial records will be supplied to the police, along with everything you did. Won't need a good lawyer at your trial. Will need a miracle."

[Supercape]

Remaining in the girls form for now - well, why change? - Slick nodded at Cannonade and the two left to Join Dragonfly. Slick was finding the heroines speech patterns somewhat difficult to follow. She had a detatched, inhuman air, like a robot, a genuis, or an autistic savante. Wouldn't be any easy person to copy, she concluded, at least in manerisms.

Listening to Dragonfly's debreif, she was under no illusion as to the cognitive abilities of the heroine however. Another lead. Turning to her two allies, she said through barely contained gritted teeth "Time to shut this down, ladies and gents. Full stop. This is going no further. "

[trollthumper]

"Got that right," Cannonade said. He turned back to the scientist. "I'd work on your statement if I were you. Your boss ain't gonna be happy with ya either way by the end of the night."

-------

The Old Oak looked like someone had tried to force some old world charm on what had once been a corner dive. There were a few elements of decay still lingering, but they were buried under a sturdy oak door and a clattering sign that hung from a post above it. Cannonade regarded the bar from across the street.

"Guessing we don't wanna aim for subtle?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly scowled, regarding the bar and tilting her head. calm - rational - think it out - too far to lose it now "....difficult. Too many variables. Not enough information."

She crossed her arms, idly tapping a finger against her still-jacketless skin. "Pure shock and awe endangers or confuses relatively innocent patrons, bystanders, employees if the business is just a front. Soft approach equally dangerous if it isn't. Poor experience with bars. Will follow your lead." She hesitated, but added, "....am voting for unsubtle, though. Tentatively. More satisfying."

[Supercape]

Slick pondered the situation. As tempting as "unsubtle" was, it was also complicated. Who was in the building? what was the layout of the building? who was innocent and who was less so?

"I don't know. It looks complicated. Could be a lot of confusion, which means could be escapes, which we don't want. "

"If we go in, we need to block of the entrance, or entrances. I don't know how many it has, and if there are any ones we can't see."

[Fox]

She tapped the finger, frowning. "Mm. Better plan. Cooler heads prevail? Thank you."

prefer higher-technology targets - recon - blueprints - preparation time - standard building designs possible layouts - unknown design philosophy - building codes at minimum "Probably a fire exit. Alleyway? Unknown other exits. Could sabotage an electronic lock, but physical doors more difficult. Wedge shut, bend hinges, physical blockage with dumpster...." She shook her head. "No good plans. Not entirely used to teamwork. Will follow your leads."

[trollthumper]

Cannonade, meanwhile, had leapt up to the roof, and had spent about a minute up there. When he touched down next to Dragonfly, he said, "Checked the perimeter. Staff door on the first floor, fire escape from the third floor out. That's pretty much all I can find from the outside -- no way I'll be able to figure out if they've got a trapdoor or something 'til we get inside."

[Supercape]

"Well, that simple enough then", answered Slick. "Barricade off one entrance and go in through the other!"

"You like like a big strapping man", she winked at Cannonade. "Could you lift a nice truck onto its side, and place it by the front entrance? They won't get through that. Then we go in through the fire escape!"

She gave an encouraging squeeze of Cannonade's bicep and another wink.

[trollthumper]

Cannonade smiled. He realized that at this point, he wasn't even aware if Slick was a woman -- that had been the gender she had presented when she first showed up, but given her talents... Then he realized it didn't matter.

"Given the windows -- and the sidewalk -- putting a truck at the front entrance might catch their attention before we can get in. Now, a dumpster in the back? That'll work just as well, and probably won't result in us breaking traffic laws."

[Fox]

"Or breaking a truck," Dragonfly added, more than a little wryly. She seemed to have completely overlooked the playful squeeze...possibly a good thing for her ability to focus.

"Good plan. Functional, should be fast. Possibly disable the fire escape? Choice between jail or two-story drop is in our favor."

[Supercape]

"Dumpster works fine" said Slick. "More Poetic, too."

"Personally, I would prefer the fire escape functional. Confident as I am, fire is not my favourite element. I'm a little... flammable" she explained, secreting a tear of black oil onto her finger as she spoke.

"And given the problems we had with that Nazi Scientist back there, an escape route may be wise. "

[trollthumper]

Cannonade gave Slick a nod. The next second, he turned back to the building, and swiftly jumped up to the roof and out of sight. On the other side of the building, there was a very faint sound of someone touching down, scraping metal, and something large settling. Soon after, Cannonade landed right before the two heroines again.

"Okay, exit's blocked," he said. "Fire escape's still up, 'cause the last thing I wanna do is see who's willing to risk a broken back to avoid a jail sentence. Give me the signal, and we go into riot police mode."

[Supercape]

Slick nodded, and cracked her knuckles. The time for pretence was over, and streams of oily black tar had started streaking over her body.

"Just say the word and I'm right behind you."

She looked over and Dragonfly "you ready little lady? enough data to give us a battle plan?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly shook her head, fiddling with something on the underside of a gauntlet and clicking a plate back into place. "No. Building, no people - could plan for fighting the structure, but not unseen enemies. Too many variables, unknown surprises."

systems check - repairs holding - ready as I'll be At a mental command her force field twisted into being around her profile, and a last-minute check told her that her shield was primed and standing by. "Have to go in blind. Ready when you are, Cannonade."

[trollthumper]

Cannonade nodded to Dragonfly, then rushed to the door. He moved as fast as a charging quarterback -- he knew he was probably giving away their presence, so the faster they could get in, the better. The door collapsed like rotten plywood as he burst right through it.

The sound of the front door exploding caught the attention of the patrons. The interior of the bar seemed to match the outside -- old world stlye, oak and brass, warm and somewhat inviting. The patrons were an eclectic bunch, but Cannonade noted a good number in well-tailored suits.

"Who's in charge of the show here?" he shouted. "He's got a little drug problem we need to talk about."

The men in suits quickly leaped up from their seats, drawing handguns on Cannonade. The other patrons saw what was going on and quickly hit the ground, crawling under their tables.

"...yeah, kinda expected that."

[Fox]

Fortunately, Dragonfly had expected it too. She was just a step behind Cannonade, stopping near what was left of the doorway with a gauntlet already charged and humming. She threw up a hand and started the fight off with a bang, launching a twisting shockwave at the first gun-wielding man she laid eyes on. limit possible casualties - hard and fast - unintentional euphemism

"Would have preferred you'd just answered questions," she calmly noted to the armed suits as she brought up her other hand to draw a bead on as many targets as possible. "Hard way won't end well for you."

[Supercape]

Slick bounded in after the shockwave unleashed by Dragonfly, and rushed up to the nearest suit. Somehow her spinning and jumping blended into full force punch, as her arm whipped round at an impossible angle like a ball on a chain and met the man's jaw with incredible force.

"No need to get up gentlemen!" she declared

[Fox]

Dragonfly grunted a bit as one of the gangsters' bullets had the luck to tear right through the shield she'd brought up in front of herself, jerking her torso to the side a bit as it impacted her force field...and fortunately got no further, jagged lines and creases arcing across the field as the bullet tried and failed to penetrate. lucky - force field standing at 66%

Scowling, she brought her other hand up and returned fire, sending a twisting distortion back in the general direction of her assailant. always the hard way - they never just give up - why? not rational....