Animal Control: Breakout (IC)

[Raveled]

GM

Down on the pier, the fighting quickly became hectic. Screech jumped into the fight, landing a double-footed kick on one of the machine-gun wielding teamseters, who went down and stayed down. One of the workers stepped up to the monkey, stripping off his overalls in two quick motions to reveal a vaguely futuristic-looking black-and-gray bodysuit underneath. Bodysuit started trading blows with the chimp, but neither seemed to be able to land a telling hit.

For his part, Bruiser charged through several wooden crates, exploding them into splinters, before slamming into one of the workers holding a handgun. The man went flying, ending up in the water between the docks and the ship. Moments later the water exploded and a huge, hulking figure in jet-black armor stood there, dripping seawater on the cement. The armor was rounded and smooth, like exoskeleton of a crab, and the figure raised one massive arm to point at the flying heroes. "You have one chance to leave," came the amplified voice from the armor. "And then, I'll break you in half!"

The gun-toting workers seemed to take heart from the sudden appearance of someone on their side; the gunfire aimed at Freedom Angel and Protectron intensified, narrowing the heroes' potential flight patterns.

[KnightDisciple]

The animal hybrids charged out of the warehouse in the heroes' wake. The elephant and the monkey followed Protectron and Freedom Angel onto the pier and barreling into the gun-wielding dockworkers. Meanwhile, the Professor and Squirt scrambled up the side of the ship, finding purchase between hull plates, on rivets and welds, and anchor chains. On the deck, Glowstar glanced around as Cobalt Templar landed next to him and nodded, once. "I'm going to stop this ship," he said. "See if you can't find a manifest or something that'll tell us what's in these crates."

As Cobalt Templar pondered where to find a manifest, a mousy-haired woman in paramilitary gear stepped out from between the stacked crates. "Hello, big boy," she said, holding her hands out to her sides. The woman snapped her fingers and in moments her body was covered in flickering red flames. "Let's see if I can't light your world on fire!"

"Will do."

With that, he started walking toward the crates, which would hopefully hold clues. But he didn't get far before the woman stepped out. He raised an eyebrow behind his helmet as she seemingly flirted with him. As he spoke, he shook his head.

"I think you're a bit old for me, definitely too small, and I'm already in a committed relationship. Besides, you're helping enslave innocent sapient beings."

Suddenly, he was barreling toward her, and a spear made of solidified blue fire was in his hands. He swung, but didn't quite manage to strike his opponent.

"You're a fidgety one. But anyways, like I was saying, these folks should be free. Freedom is the right of all sapient beings."

[Raveled]

The blonde woman stalked over the window Glowstar had broken on his trip in and out of the bridge, resting her weapon on the edge of the sill. She lined up a shot and fired a long burst, the bullets stippling a line of holes in the steel decking before hitting the hero's force field, snapping and popping as they bounced off. The physical force still pushed him around, though, and he ended up being thrown into the edge of one of the cargo containers. As the sniper ducked under the sill to reload, the simian hybrid swung up and over the edge of the window, aiming a swipe of his massive arm at the woman. She dodged it nimbly though, and all he succeeded in doing was breaking another window.

On the deck, the fire-wielder dodged Cobalt's summoned lance nimbly, managing to keep even the hem of her coat from getting singed. "Liberty's a privilege," she said. "If they want it, people should have to fight for it. But it's people like you," she spat, hurling a ball of fire at the hero's face, "that confuse the matter. You think that because you're born free, 'life' or 'God' or 'the universe' owes you something?" The fireball exploded inches from Cobalt Templar's face, scorching his eyes and filling his ears with the sudden roar. "If you don't struggle for your freedom," the woman continued, "you don't deserve it!" Through her ranting, the arachnoid had crept up behind her, careful to keep below the lip of the railing. He suddenly popped up and fired a wide spray of webbing at her, but the lithe woman spun and burned it out of the air before it could touch her.

Some distance away, Glowstar got to his feet, hands burning with red energy. He waited until the gun-wielding woman appeared at the sill again, then lobbed them at her underhanded. She saw them coming, however, and was able to spin away, avoiding most of the impact.

[Dr Archeville]

Observation: Animal-Human hybrids are effective combatants against standard organics, but are experiencing difficulties with superpowered organics.

Tactical Analysis: Engage figure in black-and-gray bodysuit

Movements imply advanced martial arts training.

in melee with Chimp-plus (code-named 'Screech'). Restrain, hurl towards large armored figure which has emerged from water and whose presence appears to be inspiring the other criminals.

The golden robot dashed down to Screech and his foe, and laid his mighty metal hands on the human. "I recognize and applaud the work required to attain such a level of skill, but not the manner in which you have chosen to use it. I must, with regret, curtail your liberties." With one surprisingly fluid motion, the robot picked the martial artist, flipped him over, and tossed him into the beefy battlesuit! The battlesuit seemed wholly unfazed by it, butt he resounding KLANG of head on metal indicated the martial artist took some not inconsiderable damage.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Wretched sinners, thou hast made slaves of ensouled beings and used them for thine own nefarious ends! Your evil ends now!" Flaming sword of pure righteousness in hand, the angel of Freedom swooped down on the soldiers like a bird of prey, slashing and striking them down like the warrior he was. As he sliced a rifle in half and casually smacked aside the man who'd carried it like a cricket batter whacking away a ball, he boomed, "Throw down your weapons, and you will be shown the mercy you did not grant others! If not, your sin will have dire consequences," and as his halo burned with celestial fury, the glowing angel seemed liable to inflict dire consequences indeed on the unrighteous around him.

[KnightDisciple]

On the deck, the fire-wielder dodged Cobalt's summoned lance nimbly, managing to keep even the hem of her coat from getting singed. "Liberty's a privilege," she said. "If they want it, people should have to fight for it. But it's people like you," she spat, hurling a ball of fire at the hero's face, "that confuse the matter. You think that because you're born free, 'life' or 'God' or 'the universe' owes you something?" The fireball exploded inches from Cobalt Templar's face, scorching his eyes and filling his ears with the sudden roar. "If you don't struggle for your freedom," the woman continued, "you don't deserve it!" Through her ranting, the arachnoid had crept up behind her, careful to keep below the lip of the railing. He suddenly popped up and fired a wide spray of webbing at her, but the lithe woman spun and burned it out of the air before it could touch her.

Cobalt Templar didn't let her get any distance on him, burning through the air until he was right in her face again. His own expression was one of carefully controlled anger and distaste.

"Then I will fight. I will struggle! No matter the cost, I will fight for the freedom of those who can't fight for themselves! Now sit down and shut up you crazy γυναίκα!"

With that, he suddenly jabbed his solid-flame spear forward once more; at first, it didn't seem like it would hit at all, but he suddenly changed the direction of the swing, and the spearhead slammed into her left side with little warning.

"Ha!"

[Raveled]

The flaming woman tried to avoid Cobalt Templar's spear, but to no avail. She felt the hit in gut, grunting in surprise and pain. When he pulled it out she spat a mix of blood and saliva in his face, laughing. "If you fight for someone else, then they don't deserve what they get! THAT'S an insane world view. That's why the world's on FIRE!" With the last word the orange and red flames leapt up over her entire body again, and before long they moved to engulf Cobalt Templar, somehow heating up the hero's insubstantial armor until it seared his skin!

Glowstar was having a little bit better situation. He launched himself off the deck and back into the bridge in time to see the other woman bring the rifle around in a blow that ended cracking off the gorilla's chin. The ape reeled back and the hero didn't miss the opening. He blasted her with a single beam, but at this short range the effect was amplified. She caught the shot in her chest, bouncing off the window and falling to her knees. She clutched her belly even as she drew a heavy, nickel-plated pistol from her side... But after a quick glance at Glowstar and the angry Professor, she tossed it to the side and put her hands on her head. "Hell," she said. "It's just a job. Don't take it too personal."

[Raveled]

GM

Down on the pier, things were also progressing towards a swift end. The folks with the sub-machine guns continued the fill the air with lead in an attempt to, not so much bring the flying heroes down, as to make sure they couldn't relax while they were floating in the air. The crab-suited warrior took a flying leap and swung a massive fist at Freedom Angel's haloed head, but the divine messenger twitched aside at the last minute, evading the blow.

A couple of the dockworkers rushed over to help the figure in the bodysuit to his feet; he shrugged them off roughly and shook his head, trying to get his bearings again. Meanwhile, the "chimp-plus" bounced between several of the stacked boxes on the deck, ending his flight with his feet in the chest of one of the gunfighters. Bruiser, for his part, picked up one of the crates and tried to smash one of the faux-teamseters, but his target dodged the blow and the only result was a spray of wood splinters and packing peanuts.

[KnightDisciple]

The fires wash over Cobalt Templar, but do nothing to him.

"Thanks. Needed a tan anyways."

With a wave of one of his arms, the last of the flames clinging to him winked out of existence. The young hero in blue set himself on the deck of the ship, feet wide apart as he considered his opponent.

"You know what. All I wanted this morning was some donuts. Now I'm stuck fighting you, Miss Crazy Fire Lady, all to free unjustly imprisoned people your employers have experimented on. And my girlfriend's probably going to get cranky at me."

He moved his hands together, cupping them to one side of his body as blue flames appeared in mid-air and swirled to a growing sphere between his hands. This went on for several seconds until it was the size of a basketball, the compacted flames roiling around. CT gave a vicious grin.

"Which makes me cranky too."

Then he throws the sphere of fire with great gusto. Unfortunately, it was so much gusto that it just barely missed striking the apparently insane woman. Templar frowned as he considered his target.

'Less power, more accuracy.'

[Avenger Assembled]

The angel of Freedom continued his work as he fell among the armed thugs, sweeping his way through them like the wrath of an angry god. His flaming sword cut through the heavy rifle one carried like cutting through the air, then he reversed the blade and smashed it, pommel-first, directly into the gunman's face, then on the backswing he brought the blade around and struck down the armed soldier behind him, taking down the gunman before he could shoot the angel in the back. "All you are doing is ensuring your defeat will come with shame and pain! End your struggles now and go to honorable jail!"

[Dr Archeville]

Observation: Impact of suited organic into battlesuit/large robot has impeded smaller organic, but left no mark on larger entity.

Tactical Analysis: Direct assault, aiming for critical joints. Attempt grapple to pin; secondary plan: retreat to air, notify harbormaster.

Protectron launched itself at the crab-like heavy suit, bringing one mighty metal fist crashing into its left knee. "Apologies for this damage, but we must cease your criminal activities." But for all its robot might & electronic precision, the blow did not do much; the suit was heavily dented, but the operator did not seem to lose any mobility. Protectron exercised its mobility by zipping back and up into the air, out of immediate range of any retaliation by the battlesuit.

Contacting harbormaster...

~ALERT! ALERT! This is Protectron. I urge you not to let the ship moored outside pier 13N free from the marina. Vessel contains organics engaged in criminal activities concerning the enslavement of other sapients. Repeat, do not let the ship out.~

[Raveled]

The paramilitary pyromaniac easily dodge the blue-flamed counterattack, laughing breathlessly. "Aw, is baby getting cranky? I'll get you a bottle, I just have to heat it up first!" The woman planted both feet solidly on the deck, then spread her arms wide and willed the fire down them. It burst in a sphere around her, making the tar on the deck sizzle and bubble; Squirt had been winding up for another strike, swinging off several of the higher stacks, but he wasn't able to turn in time and blundered right into the firestorm. He swung back out quickly but his webbing through, and he hit the deck hard.

Back in the pilot house, the gorilla rubbed his chin with one hand, eying the disarmed mercenary. "It'd be easier to dismiss the attack," he muttered half to himself, "if I wasn't wondering if my jaw was broken." He moved over to the command console and started examining it, trying to figure out which controls would stop the vessel. "Just don't move, or it'll be woman overboard."

Glowstar, for his part, flew back out the window and over the ship. He spotted Cobalt Templar and the arachnid in combat with the flame-slinger and made an immediate decision; flying overhead, he blasted the woman with a burst of red energy. It struck her in the side and forced her to take a few steps to regain her balance, but she wasn't down yet.

[Raveled]

GM

The battle on the pier was becoming much quieter now that most of the gun-wielding opponents were out of the fight. The battlesuited figure glared after Protectron (well, the helmet looked rather angry, anyway) and spoke for the first time. "I'm not some ground-pounding grunt," it said, deep voice booming over the docks. "I'm prepared for all-weather combat!" Rockets fired in the base of the suit's boots and it rose after the golden robot, slowly but gaining speed. When it was within reach the suited figure took a swing, but the more nimble android was able to dance out of the way.

Down on the pier the remaining gunman both ducked into cover simultaneously, dropping the magazines out of their weapons and inserting new ones. That odd cessation of weapons fire allowed Screech to jump through the air, flipping several times before landing on the martial artist's chest, fists first. His tail and prehensile feet came around to grab the man around his waist, but as the pair fell the jumpsuited villain's head cracked on the wood of the docks and all the fight went out of him.

The elephant man, for his part, was beginning to think that brute force wasn't the way to go. He moved more slowly among the boxes and crates, serendipitously coming across the soldiers as they were reloading. The humans met the hybrid's gaze for a long moments before scattering in opposite directions, but Bruiser was surprisingly quick on his feet. He grabbed one by the shoulder and swung him around, slamming the man into and through a wooden packing crate. The man dropped to the ground, suddenly boneless.

Protectron's on-board radio crackled as someone replied to his hail. "This is the United States Coast Guard," the female voice said. "Operator, please identify yourself and the vessel in question."

[Avenger Assembled]

KTANG!

A bullet ricocheted off the angel's flaming sword, and Heyzel whirled to face the last standing gunman, whose hands shook as he fired another shot directly at the advancing angel of Freedom. Freedom Angel swung his blade yet again, slicing the bullet from the air with another KTANG! An implacable force of divine vengeance, the angel advanced on the frightened criminal, pointing his flaming sword directly at his heart. The battle was turning and the heroes and their newfound allies were at the edge of victory; nearly every criminal was laid low, and the two beings might as well have been alone in the world. His halo flaming like a divine torch, the angel said with fervor, "Surrender now, foolish sinner, and divine mercy will be yours." With that, he flew up higher and intercepted the large battlesuit in the air, fearlessly confronting technology with divine power without a qualm.

"Your allies have fallen and your lackeys lay at our feet. You have no chance for victory. What lies within your grasp now is the nature of your defeat. Will you surrender with your dignity and your power intact, hmm? Or shall you and your creation appear on the news as so much broken scrap, your genius crushed by the power of heroic resolve and divine justice?"

[KnightDisciple]

"My parents taught me to never take food or drink from strangers."

He moved surprisingly gracefully for someone so large, ducking behind a nearby crate for the split second that it survived the blast from the apparently insane woman. The ash and fire that then washed over him seemed to do nothing at all as he turned to face her once more.

Cobalt Templar closed the distance in nearly the blink of an eye, like a living comet of blue flame. His right hand pulled back and forms into an enormous blue hand that lashed right at the pyromaniac's face.

"And lady, they don't come much stranger than you."

[Raveled]

The battlesuited figure tried to stand strong in the face of the angel's words, but that facade didn't last long. With a mechanical growl, his jets gave out an extra burst of power. "You haven't seen the last of us," he promised. "You'll rue the day you crossed Section 13!" With that he blasted off into the sky, faster than the eye could follow. Back on the ground, the lone gunman left standing glanced around and tossed down his weapon, folding his hands on top of his head and waiting.

Cobalt Templar's blow caught the pyrokinetic across the bridge of the nose, throwing her several feet away. When she didn't get up again, the arachnid hybrid stalked over and kicked her once, before jumping up to the top of a stack of crates. On the bridge, the Professor seemed to intuit the controls very quickly and brought the vessel to a quick halt; now he was searching for the button to lower the anchors.

Glowstar disappeared into the wheelhouse for a moment before reappearing and zooming down to the deck, landing near Cobalt Templar. He handed the older Claremonter a clipboard with a long list of numbers and names on it; after a minute he realized it was a copy of the ship's manifest, and the long serial numbers must refer to the crates in some way. "I don't see anything here labeled 'experimental animal hybrids,'" Glowstar said. "I guess we'll still be doing this by hand."

Even as the fight seemed to be ended, the heroes could hear sirens coming in from the mainland -- and could see boats with flashing lights angling in from the Centery Narrows.

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar gave a sigh of relief as the clearly insane fire-controller finally went unconscious. He dismissed the hand-construct and shook his head.

"Man, that's some serious crazy right there...Give me just a sec here, Glowstar."

With that, he unceremoniously picked the woman up by the back of her uniform and flew her to a spot out in the open, before moving back to the crates. He glanced at the manifest, and sighed.

"Yeah. I'll start at the front of the container group, you start at the back. The others pitch in as they can. Sound good?"

If Glowstar agreed, CT would move to the bow and then begin systematically checking containers one by one, hoping to free more captives...

[Avenger Assembled]

With the others liberating any remaining prisoners, Freedom Angel went about flying the other prisoners: the ones who had actually sinned, off to jail so they could receive a fair and just earthly punishment for their transgressions. While he was disappointed they hadn't caught the one in the big armored suit, they'd driven him off peacefully and won the day, thus doing good even to the bad. He gave some sympathetic talks about mercy and justice to the goons who woke up on the way, most of them at least momentarily getting the wrong idea about waking up in the company of an angel after being punched, blasted, or sworded across the head. It had been a good morning's work. Even if it was going to be hard getting those doughnuts now.

[Dr Archeville]

Protectron flew down and rejoined the others, glancing over the clipboard Glowstar and Cobalt Templar shared.

Replaying last 30 seconds of audiovisual recordings at x25 speed.

Taking snapshots of combatants, filing for later reference.

Reviewing combat maneuvers... incorporating analyses into combat matrices

Tactical Analysis: Continued engagement with Unknown Battlesuit would have resulted in severe damage to physical structure. However, time spent attacking me would give other heroes time to deal with other combatants and mount concentrated counter-offensive. Additionally, maneuver to grab and throw Unknown Martial Artist at Battlesuit proved highly effective; shall file for future use.

Observation: Local authorities arriving to cordon off area, while adolescent superpowered organics begin to check crates for contents. Actions of Freedom Angel unknown.

"I shall assist in investigating the crates," Protectron suddenly announced in its flat tone. "My scanners should prove useful in assessing their contents." With that, it went to the nearest crate and studied it.

[Raveled]

Protectron, Cobalt Templar, and Glowstar all began searching through the metal shipping containers; before long Squirt and the Professor came over to help. The golden robot's sensors did indeed speed the process up and within a handful of minutes they had found one crate, hidden down amongst the stacks, that was mostly empty. In fact the only thing in it was an apparently angry reptilian hybrid and a broken tank of some liquid heavier than water. The heroes stood back and let the Professor open it. Once the door was unlocked and opened, the gorilla was bowled over by a smaller form covered in bright green scales. There was a few moments of confusion, but before long the lizard-man -- introduced as 'Tails' -- had calmed down and was talking quietly with Squirt.

Down on the docks, police had cordoned off the area and were taking away the criminals that Freedom Angel hadn't personally airlifted to a station house. Before long the sound of a helicoptor's chopping blades drifted over the pier and a helicoptor bearing the AEGIS emblem landed down on the docks and a middle-aged woman in BDUs jumped out. He was quickly stopped by one of the police officers and it wasn't long until the pair were in a heated debate. Glowstar walked over to the railing of the container ship and watched it for a minute before speaking. "Well, looks like the government's here. Anyone else want to handle talking to them? I don't think I'm their favorite hero just yet."

[Dr Archeville]

"As I have already been in contact with the authorities," Protectron said as he took to the air, "I shall continue interacting with them."

Initiating Interaction Mode.

"Greeting, human authority figures," it said as it landed before the AEGIS agents. "I am Protectron. I work with The Lab. I have assisted superpowered organics Cobalt Templar, Freedom Angel, and Glowstar," it gestured toward the pier where the heroes & manimals were, "in liberating an assortment of uplifted animals. They had escaped imprisonment by an organization called 'Section 13,' and we returned to this location to ascertain the veracity of their story. Whoever had been here had already packed up their equipment and was loading it onto that ship there; our attempts to stop them so we could investigate was met with resistance from both nonpowered humans equipped with firearms and superpowered agents, many of whom we have detained. One, wearing a battlesuit, escaped capture, and threatened retribution."

[Raveled]

The AEGIS agent was a woman of medium-height, with sharp cheekbones and a burned-in tan. She listened to Protectron's story with a stony face, though the android could detect a flicker of reaction when he mentioned Section 13. She inhaled sharply and nodded curtly. "Right. Well. We'll take the superpowered criminals into custody and question them on base. The police can keep the baseline lackeys, we'll get to them in time. As for the uplifted animals, we'll have to come to some arrangement, but right now I think it's best if --"

"Excuse me!" The officer on scene was a big, blustering man with a full mustache, almost a parody of a police sergeant. "The FCPD's not a holding pen for AEGIS! This crime happened inside Freedom City. We'll take these guys into custody, and if AEGIS wants to talk to them, well, there's procedures, aren't there?"

The AEGIS agent stepped directly into the sergeant's face and spoke to him in a tone that was a hair below a shout. "Section 13 is a known domestic terror group! If these people are connected to them, it's a matter of national security, and where this nation's security and superpowers intersect, that's AEGIS territory!"

Still up on the tanker, Glowstar leaned on the rail and watched the jurisdictional fracas build, making sure to keep one eye on the bound criminals. Farther down, the uplifted animals were greeting their imprisoned member. "So," he said, directing his question mostly at his fellow Claremonter, "what do you think the chances are of actually getting breakfast today?"

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar stood next to Glowstar, one eyebrow raised as he watched the side-show and kept an eye on their "guests" alongside Glowstar. At the other heroes' question, he laughed.

"I dunno. If we leave the criminals to the "responsible adults" and fly really fast, we should only be a little late for lunch. I think I read a review of a place not too far that's on our way, and almost as good as where you were."

His stomach chose that moment to growl like an angry polar bear.