Broke, Blind, and Bedlam (IC)

[Aoiroo]

"Yes, I can keep them concealed as long as I am there with them. Once the hostages are safe I will follow through the portal then the concealment will be gone because they will no longer be in my range. Or maybe, I could just provide an illusion that nothing is happening to the hostages and there is no one is doing anything. It would conceal us at the same time of course, it would just be a loop of the previous hostages reactions and our presense is not in that loop."

It wouldn't of been too hard to do. She just watched the feed carefully, once in the building she could set up the illusion almost immediately.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin eyeballed the scenario as it was played out for everyone to see. It was probably for the best the others had time to plan; this sort of thing always went better when you had a chance to think things through. He manipulated the controls in front of him, thoughtfully zooming his view in and out on various parts of the scenario, trying to get the best picture possible. Not that he would directly notify the others of minute details; that would defeat the purpose of them planning it out. However, the number of opponents did raise one question he thought should be addressed.

"Something to consider, everyone. Are you going to try simultaneously fighting all opponents? Or use swarm tactics and hope you can down them one-by-one before they counterattack?"

[Semi-Autogyro]

John stood there, standing in rapt attention with his helmet reflecting the images on the monitors. Other than that he was completely motionless apart from the normal rise and fall of his chest from breathing. He broke his silence a few minutes later.

"Shock and Awe." John said before turning his attention to his compatriots. "We hit them hard enough, fast enough, and they will not have time to recover." He went up to the monitors and started explaining the details. "As Mister Corbin has said, we could try to simultaneously fight all opponents. But for the most part that will not be necessary. They are reliant on one person for this plan to succeed." He indicated the portalist. "Without that individual they have no escape and unless he tells them where that leads, no idea where the money is going to. If he is taken out early, they are trapped. In addition, the other person of concern is him." John then pointed to the man with the revolver. "None of the others who are in this robbery seem to be the type that can do that sort of damage to a reinforced vault door. If we can eliminate his weapon we can nullify that threat as well."

John pointed back to the twins and the heavyweight. "These are the unknowns, plus whoever is in the vault. I potentially think that these might be triplets, namely because of the precision in which they are removing the vaults' contents." Indeed, a bag flew out of the vault door and there was one of the twins already waiting for it. "However, until we have eyes on the individual I would still treat the vault individual as an unknown. This is my recommendation." John stood up and started making notes on the touch screen. "Changeling and Wisp can infiltrate beforehand with Changelings' concealment abilities. Changeling creates the fake hostages while Wisp portals them out under cover of the illusion. With the hostages free, Miss Victoria portals in Crow and Glowstar still within the illusion of the hostages. Now we are in position to start our attack."

John highlighted points on the map. "I will be here in a position overlooking the doors. I will start off by destroying the pistoleers weapon. As soon as this occurs, Changeling drops the illusion and you all catch them off guard.

I would recommend these pair offs. Changeling takes the heavyweight, Glowstar takes on the unarmed pistoleer, Wisp the portalist, and Crow the twins. I will provide over-watch fire support from my location, and will be assisting whoever needs help. In addition, I can potentially keep whoever is in the vault pinned down."

He turned his faceless mask to the others present. "Any questions, comments, or suggestions?"

[Raveled]

"Wisp's teleports aren't really sneaky," Glowstar pointed out. "If she can take all three of us in and Changeling can cover us all, I can protect Wisp and the hostages with an energy field." He tapped the screen where the bags of money were still flying out of the vault. "I can seal whoever that is in, as well. The fewer folks we have to deal with at the start, the better."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John listened to Brians' suggestions. "The reason I suggested my method was that Changelings' glamors cover every aspect to conceal her whereabouts. I have seen her remove her weight indentations on a practice mat so I believe it can also give Wisps' teleportation the stealth that this plan needs. This is not a slight against your powers, but can you prevent the enemy portalist teleporting into your warded areas? We do not also know the destructive output of the pistoleer as well, who might easily bypass your defensive measures. That was why I preferred to get the hostages out of the equation first. Having Wisp engage the portalist after we covertly extract the hostages ensures that they cannot achieve a easy victory by 'ring out' on our or the hostages behalf." John pointed to the vault. "I do think containing whoever is in the vault however is an excellent point. That would hopefully remove one foe to begin with, and then you can engage the disarmed pistoleer."

He indicated each of the foes on-screen, each one of them becoming highlighted. "The whole reason we need to hit fast and hard is that this group is a teamwork based team, as seen by the parallels between our foes and our abilities. The longer they have to regroup, the lesser the chances of us capturing them all."

[Azuth65]

Vicky stood in the back of the room. While everyone else was focused on the screen she focused her will and in a plume of smoke her civilian guise was gone and instead she wore a new black, red, and white costume. She stepped up looked over the display, "I'm with John on this one," she said, "Hostages first, then we go Roman on the thugs." Pointing to the vault she added, "Though if we can lock any of them in once the hostages are removed and buy ourselves a few extra seconds, I fail to see how that would be a bad thing."

"Of course, the problem with this plan is the same as all others. It probably won't survive first contact with the enemy."

[Quinn]

Crow stood, cracking his knuckles, and looked at each of his friends. He pointed to the screen, at the various points in correlation with Myrmidon's scheme, visibly energized by the momentum the team'd been slowly building throughout the briefing. Game time; plan's made; can we finish the job?

"Okay, so we're going with a cover-up scam then. Changeling, Wisp, and myself'll roll in, and haul the hostages out. Glowstar and Myrmidon'll stay under cover outside and keep watch, in case they try anything funny; once the hostages are out, we move in, 'zactly like Myrm said. We'll hit the crew hard and fast; any of them try to make a break for it, blast 'em in the back. Once they're out cold, we teleport them outside, hopefully the portal'll stay open long enough to find out where the cash went. Hostages should be first priority, tho'. Corbin, you've got up here to supervise, or feel free to tag along and watch the party from the side, your call."

He winked at Templar, checked his wristwatch, then grinned widely under the bandanna.

"Ten minutes flat. Same time as always. Alright, Irregulars; MOVE OUT!"

[Raveled]

Glowstar exchanged a look with Myrmidon and shrugged, the pair of them being the only ones that exited the briefing room in a semi-normal style. He found himself stepping out a steel door into an alleyway between two brick buildings; red and blue police lights strobed at one end, and the other was blocked off by a cinderblock wall. The young hero turned (flourishing his cape a bit more than was strictly necessary) and strode out of the alleyway straight into a police barricade. He glanced at the far end of the street, where the bank could be seen. He raised one hand and a semi-transparent red screen snapped to life, hissing slightly, blocking the street off and separating the police from the robbers.

Glowstar strode up to the nearest cop and smiled broadly. "Hey there, officer! Don't worry, the Irregulars are on the case!" He scratched his chin and looked around. "My teammates are in the bank right now. Where do you want us to drop off the hostages?"

[Aoiroo]

Etain stuck close to Wisp as they walked,

"My concealing does all senses, so we can talk normally once we are inside. Though I will have to survey the bank once I am there to construct a convincing illusion. If one of them starts to notice something off they may be able to break the illusion, so please keep aware of the things as I will be a bit consumed in maintaining the illusion as long as it is up."

Well less consumed more concentrating, it was one thing to do a static like a concealment, but an illusion with hostages and people moving and cowering and reacting to there captors so that they do not catch on was a bit more tricky.

[Azuth65]

Wisp walked between Changeling and Crow as they left the room and entered the active scenario. Nodding to the young illusionist next to her she placed a crimson gloved hand on both her and Crow's shoulder and in a plume of smoke, the three of them vanished from the sidewalk and reappeared in the read of the bank, about ten feet from the nearest huddled mass of hostages.

Moving over to them, trusting in Changeling's illusions to keep her unnoticed, she spoke softly while extending her hand, "I'm going to get you people out of here. Take my hand please."

[Semi-Autogyro]

John walked through the alleyway with Brian, but did not exit amongst the cops with his ally. Instead, he climbed the nearby fire escape towards the the second-floor balcony position overlooking the bank from the nearby building complex he had scouted while going over the plan with the other Irregulars. He reached the position as the crimson energy barriers from Glowstar came into being, their cracking red energy backing the room he was in with eerie light. Crouching next to the iron railing of the balcony, John focused his concentration on the weapon he intended to use for this job.

A few short seconds alter he was notching a glimmering arrow on the bows arrow rest, before settling into a comfortable shooting position overlooking the bank. The arrowhead tracked across front entrance of the bank, looking for his target. There. John sighted the distance, adjusted for range, and checked the windage. His target the enemy pistoleers' gun that was currently held in lazy attention. Horrible trigger discipline, thought John as he activated his comm-link, voice barely above a whisper. "I-5 in position. Ready for 'Go' code." With that, John waited for the signal, ready to loose the shot that would begin their attack plan.

[KnightDisciple]

"I'll stay up here. Lets me get a better view on what all of you are doing. Since I'm an observer, after all."

And in moments the team was gone from the control room. Corbin sat up in his chair and turned head-on to the bank of monitors. He watched as the teens positioned themselves, and he slowly adjusted the feeds until he could keep an eye on all of the proceedings. Almost immediately, something came to his mind. He didn't activate the comm unit, but he couldn't help but speak out loud.

"I hope they move the hostages to somewhere out of sight of the bank..."

[Quinn]

The police officer, dressed in the blue and gold of the Freedom City Police Department, stared with slack-jawed astonishment at the silver-clad student; either the program was meant to act stunned in the presence of a hero, or the Doom Room was suffering some lag.

"Uh...hostages...right. Uh, yeah! Hostages! Lieutenant!"

An officer in riot gear came hurrying up, the front of his helmet lifted up to show a craggy face and a truly magnificent pepper-and-salt moustache.

"Ah heard, ah heard. Lieutenant Harrison, good t'meetcha. So you Ir'eglars are clearin' house? Right, ah'll let SWAT know t'stand down then. Coupla streets over's a few amb'lances, y'all drop 'm off there and we'll look after 'em."

He snapped to a salute, along with the rookie officer beside him; then Glowstar's radio crackled and Crow's voice filled his ear.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The virtual hostages reached out gratefully for the heroine, some opening their mouths to thank her before being quickly silenced by a hasty gesture from the teen clad in black; a few of the villainous gang had idly cast glances towards the pack of innocent civilians. For a moment, they looked as if they'd spotted something off...then they returned to their duties; the fellow with the pistol in particular seemed a mite disconcerted, however...

For Crow's part, he let loose a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and spoke in a low hiss, gesturing for them to approach quietly.

"Sshh; robbers don't know we're here, but they might hear us. Two go with Wisp, one with me...bugger."

He silently counted heads, then did the math in his head of the number of trips. Every second they blew was another that the virtual crooks might see through Etain's illusion...they needed more time. He tapped the earbud and spoke as quietly as Myrmidon, hoping to buy that time.

"Glow, hit a snag. Need you to get the crooks' attention outside, big-time. Ham it up, man."

Morgan nodded to both Etain and Wisp, then collected up his first civilian and vanished, reappearing in the alleyway they'd started in.

[Raveled]

Glowstar fought down a smile at the police lieutenant's accent. Some kind of Irish by way of Manhattan by way of Harry Callahan, if he was any judge of it. "Right, hostages go into the ambulances. Hope the bad guys can't see 'em." When Crow's instructions came over the comms, though, he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Right. Distract the bank robbers." He spotted a megaphone resting on the hood of one of the cruisers. "I can do that. I'm big and distracting."

The teen hero flew up until he was clear of the force wall, though his own personal force field crackled and snapped. He raised the megaphone to his lips and addressed the street. "Attention, bank robbers! This is Glowstar, of the Irregulars! Throw down your weapons, let the hostages go, and come out peacefully. We don't want to inflict more property damage than necessary."

[Aoiroo]

Etain smiled as she examined the bank keeping close eye on the hostage takers,

"You can speak freely, my illusion mimics all shades of perception especially those of sight and sound. Touch is harder to replicate, but if they do not apply much force they should not notice either."

She said that, but she could only really hope they didn't break the spell. She didn't do full scale illusions often because of how inconvinent they were as opposed to regular concealment or simple incruments of pain. Still the hostages came first, when they were gone she could switch to the easy task.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin watched thoughtfully as the Irregulars continued to execute their plan, before smiling.

"Good work, guys. Let's see...John's got good sight lines still. Hm. Bank crew should hurry up. Looks like the thugs don't notice, but as soon as one gets too close..."

He turned up the audio a bit as Brian started speechifying, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Nice work, Brian, nice work. Especially since you have their attention everywhere but where the hostages are going to end up. Which...yes, excellent, it's out of sight range, so long as they don't come running out of the bank itself. Good."

He was impressed so far. It was a good plan, and they were executing it well. Nothing was perfect, but they were excelling with what they had. Then again, they had a lot of good resources at their disposal.

[Azuth65]

Wisp took the hands of the civilians and 'poofed' out to the alleyway they'd entered the simulation through. reappearing next to Crow she released her grip on their hands, "Okay, we need you all to stay out of sight for the next few minutes. If the robbers see you out here, they might figure out something's up before we're ready."

Nodding to Crow that she was ready, she vanished back to the bank to check for more hostages that needed rescue.

[Quinn]

When Glowstar hit the air, the thugs hit the ceiling. In the large muscular fellow's case, quite literally as he stood straight upwards. He rubbed the top of his head and mumbled a curse, a small dent leaking plaster from where he'd connected. Crow muffled a snigger as he disappeared with another hostage; about 2-3 more trips between him and Wisp, and they'd all be out.

"Damn capes! Longshot, youse come wit me, we'll gets over dere and keeps dat wiseguy busy, see? You guys gets da loots outta here before dem coppahs can bust us! Trippy, take over and keep watchin' dem hostages!"

The pistolier sneered at the boss, but followed right behind as the big man moved towards the main door, blowing a smoke ring in the oversized thug's general direction. As for "Trippy", one of the two throwing bags into the portal promptly left his copy holding the bags, walking over with a lazy swagger and taking up the same leaning position, giving a most villainous sneer of his own towards the hostages.

It was becoming rather obvious that whoever programmed this particular scenario had a sick sense of humor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Glowstar and Myrmidon's perspectives, they could see the movement about inside through the windows, and a very loud voice came booming out from one of the windows.

"Hoi, 'cape! Thought youse nevva get here! And we's got some demands! You gots a pencil and paper ready? And who da heck're d'Irregulars?"

[Aoiroo]

Changeling kept a steady eye on the team, and it seemed that most of them were greatly distracted by the outside. This was good as the progress for getting the others out was slow. However, she managed to keep the illusion up and running with great realism, hostages whimpering, some praying, every corner recreated to fool and to interact with. Though there was only one left to interact with and as a precauction she had her sword out and ready to silence the left behind should he catch wise.

[Raveled]

Glowstar barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes. The mangled pronunciation, the huge gun -- why couldn't they ever stop a smart, slick bank robber, like the type in Ocean's 11? Okay, they might fail at stopping the actual heist, but it would be fun to be a part of!

He raised the megaphone and clicked it back on. "We're a new team," he said, "but I don't think this needs to end in a fight. If you've got demands, let's hear them." Not that they'd bother trying to fulfill any of them, of course, this was all just a stalling tactic to get the hostages out. But the longer this whole thing went without a punch being thrown, the better chance they'd have of saving everyone.

[Azuth65]

Poofing back into the bank, Wisp cast a glance at Changeling before giving the young illusionist a thumbs-up and moving to another pair of hostages. After, as politely as possible, getting weights she placed a hand on shoulder of each, willing them out of the building and back to the alley with the previous pair. "Okay guys," she said indicating the first group of evacuees, "Would you mind filling the nice people in on why we need them to stay put here for a few minutes?" After getting a nod, she vanished back into the bank.