Dawn of the Zobos (IC)

[Supercape]

"Bring him to the front and keep his arms locked, don't want him doing anything stupid."

Synth nodded. "Sounds like you have done this before" she mentioned as she took Shank's arms in a powerful lock with both arms.

"This kind of ties me up" she said thoughtfully.

A bulge appeared over her baggy sweat shirt on either side, growing quickly. Then, from out of the bottom, two more hands appeared, then arms, and Synth shrugged off her sweat shirt completely, now standing there in just an athletic sports top and with four arms, two of which held Skanks own limbs firmly behind his back.

"That's better" she murmured. She turned her head to Catalyst "told you I could lend a hand" she smiled.

"Sweet Jeesus!" gasped Shank as he looked over his shoulder "what are you?"

"Enough talking, lets move!" said Synth, trying to copy Catalysts more firm manner.

[Supercape]

GM

A minute later

Catalyst had barely put her foot on the accelerator, with Synth firmly holding Shank in an armlock beside her, when two shambling figures approached the van.

They were ragged, even for hobo's. Their clothes looked filthy, shredded, dirty... and so full of holes they would not possibly keep out the biting winter wind. Their skin looked sallow, and the eyes looked hypnotised, like in a trance. They must have been freezing.

For all that, they moved fast, and were heading straight for the wheels of the van.

"Look out" shouted Synth at Catalyst, needlessly.

"That's...that's...Boris..." spluttered Shank, in recognition.

[Aoiroo]

"Not any more he isn't."

Catalyst hit the break and turned the car. It slid a bit but didn't hit the shambling things. Lowering her window she shot out with one pistol while she kept the other hand on the wheel. The shots caught the zobos and expanded into a snare halting their movements. Turning the car around she accelerated more cauciously.

"That drug I found, it was a chemical construct with similiar if not identical effects to a drug that was heavily circulated last Halloween. Assuming that Boris was injected with that, then we can assume that he is no longer Boris as he is a being that has been animated post-mortem."

[Supercape]

The shambling figures moved slowly and reacted even slower. Catalyst had stopped them dead in their tracks. Completely bound, they stumbled and fell.

"That's extraordinary" blurted Synth. "What is that, in your guns? I haven't ever seen anything like that before!"

shank struggsled against Synth's grip but without any effect. He was sweating and looked scared out of his wits.

"Keep still!" ordered Synth, increasing her grip on the man.

"And look out, here comes more..." she said nudging Catalyst with a third arm. From out of the various abandonmed buildings, more figures started shuffling. They were far away still, but there numbers were growing.

[Aoiroo]

"Insulation foam, you can buy it at any hardware store. Though mine is altered quite a bit, it's very useful, very sticky, hardens and keeps anything in place."

She thought about it for a second,

"And absolutely perfect for what I'm about to do next."

Rolling down the window she glanced out at the shambling zobos, they weren't going to cover much ground, but they did have numbers, which needed to be remedied. She pulled herself out of the seat and sat on the window ledge,

"Synth, when I say, crank the engine and drive us out of here. I'm gonna provide us cover from the roof."

She looked over at Shank,

"Also, don't you try jumping out, unless you want to join the moving deceased."

Climbing onto the roof she sat herself into a seated position and then shot the foam at her legs. It stuck her onto the roof but it didn't go high enough to go much past her waist. She held a pistol in each hand then yelled below,

"Drive!"

[Supercape]

Synth had never driven before... she hadn't had the time, or the money. But she knew how to, in principle. It seemed quite easy to her, steering wheel for steering, accelerator, breaks, gears...

And her brain was good at picking that stuff up. And excellent at co-ordinating her body to do so. She ran through the operations in her head at speed, before grabbing the wheel firmly with two of her arms, and stepping firmly on the accelerator with another.

"Lets go!" she said, with a trace of excitement.

The Van lurched this way and that, trying to avoid the lumbering figures - who may have been ungainly, but were not, by any means, slow.

"They are everywhere!" she yelled up to Catalyst. Every time she turned the Van, across rail tracks and between abandoned, broken down buildings, a few figures appeared in front of her. And whatever they were, she was not prepared to run them over.

[Aoiroo]

Reloading her rounds she shot off into the distance as they drove trying to pin the figures where they stood. It was hard to do the first time, the wind velocity on a moving vehicle greatly veered her shots. She bit in a curse and prepared her next round, this time waiting quietly for a closer shot. Not that they were helping much with their pace. However, they weren't daunted and all game into a closer vacinity in just a few more seconds. Aiming her shots just a bit to the side to account for movement she blasted each and every one of them with a spray of PB foam that anchored their shambling forms to the ground as the van drove away.

[Supercape]

"I think I'm getting the hang of this!" yelled Synth as the Van sped away, churning up Dirt and gravel as it sped off from the glued figures.

"Who...or what where those things?" she continued, directing her question at Catalyst above her, through a wound down window "and have you stopped them?"

Surprisingly, it was Shank who answered.

"Its them that dissapeared" he replied, white as a sheet "and they weren't breathing when they got carted off, least not anyway's I could tell. Those men, they poisoned them, made em go stiff as a board, stopped breathing, probably stopped their heart stone cold too. What in Gods name did they do?" he yelled, scared and angry all at once.

"He's got a point!" yelled Synth back at Catalyst. "What did they do? and what are we going to do about it?"

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst leaned to try and hear but really couldn't make out the questions with the wind wipping around her head from her perch. So yelled for her to stop first. Getting off the roof wasn't terribly hard. She lit her legs up with a small flame ball and it burned away the PB foam rather quickly and she slid off and got into the cabin only to get a repeat of their questions. She started up the engine as motioned for Synth to move and slid into the drivers seat.

"What they did was that they killed them, just like they said, their hearts stopped."

She started down the street and turned off heading towards the police station,

"What they also did was that they filled them to the brim with a chemical stimulant, got them going again except now they're brain dead. I guess if you want to call them something zombies would be appropriate, though probably not in the movie sense. They aren't contagious anyway, there wouldn't of been the need to kidnap the homeless in the first place, they would of just infected one and let it roam free. Also, it doesn't seem like previous substances like zombie powder is in play here. No, this is a new chemical agent that is making them dead but not quite dead and someone is controlling them otherwise they wouldn't be moving even if the bodies did come back at least enough to get moving again in the first place. The chemical alone doesn't seem like it could do that, so we may be dealing with a mentalist who is moving the bodies, or if we're staying strictly scientific mind which I'm guessing is the case there might be an additional inplant, probably like a chip on the spinal cord to replicate electrical pulses or the like encrypted so that they won't just listen to anyone. Which makes me think, on second thought that we should probably capture one. But not until we drop you off at the police where you'll be protected. You are still a weak link afterall Shank, so please don't escape unless you want to join the rank of your not quite dead companions."

[Supercape]

GM

You are still a weak link afterall Shank, so please don't escape unless you want to join the rank of your not quite dead companions."

"Hey no complaints here!" said a whitened Shank "I'd prefer to keep living. And at least a police cell is warm and keeps you fed..." he continued. He didn't need much persuasion.

Catalyst's Van soon pulled up outside the nearest Police Station, a smallish affair, not well maintained by the look of things, but servicible nonetheless. It was quite near.

After marching Shank in, this time with Synth just sporting two arms, they were met by Detective Gomez. She was an attractive woman with jet black hair scraped into a tight bun, maybe 40, or a few years younger, with a short but powerful frame and an attitude to match. He beauty was just tinged with the haggard sleeplessness and stress of life on the force, and she had the trace of a scar running above one eye. She wasn't a stranger to fights.

"You are talking about, what, a Zombie Apocalpse?" she laughed, despite the testimony of the two heroines and Shank. She leant back in her chair and sized up the situation, sipping a coffee so strong it could be smelt ten yards away.

"Well, you see it all in Freedom City. But this is far out. You sure they weren't just some Hobo's out for a mugging? Have you got, you know, any evidence?" she asked earnestly.

[Aoiroo]

"Not a zombie apocalpse, maybe a zombie work force, or a small zombie miltia. They aren't contagious, and they aren't fast, and honestly the bodies weren't in the best of shape when they got them. But it is bad, the homeless population is being killed to build them up for what purpose I don't know. As for evidence, other then our witness, there is this."

She held out a new closed vial with the chemical formula,

"This is the chemical responsible for this, I looked at it myself. Send it to the Lab, or the Freedom League, or Archetech, they'll confirm it for you if you won't take my word for it. We can likely also get one of them if we go back, I trapped at least three dozen of them in a nice sticky snare. Even if they do manage to escape, the person behind likely won't back down."

[Supercape]

(GM)

Detective Gomez reached over and carefully took the chemical vial from Catalyst.

"So this is it? I suppose I could send it to the...Hold on...." she interrupted as her desk phone rang.

"What? The Soup Kitchen? I'll be over in a bit..." she said to the caller.

"Now then" she continued turning her attention to the chemical vial. "This does start to look a bit suspicious I suppose I should get...Hold on..." she stopped again and looked at her bleeping pager.

"Assault on Stephenson Street? What?" she blurted looking at the message on it.

"Anyhow..." she continued "...I'll ask...WHAT NOW?" she fumed as a rookie police officer jumped up to her breathless.

"Detective Gomez! There has been a break in at a pharmacy store by the railroads! the ones the junkies...er...I mean addicts, use..." he spluttered.

Detective Gomez looked at Catalyst, Shank, and Synth.

"Well, I just think I started believing you..." she said with a raised eyebrow "...We got to put a stop to this now!"

[Aoiroo]

"I think we should get the soup kitchen, much more likely to have a high concentration of homeless so it will likely also have no longer living but still moving homeless."

She thought about it,

"That is a mouthful, zombie would be the appropriate word, given they aren't contagious or magical, so huh, what to call? Zomeless? That sounds like zoneless. Zobos? It doesn't matter, we need to get going, Shank you stay in the cell do what the police tell you and please god don't do anything stupid."

Catalyst turned heel and headed to her van before stopping,

"Synth, would you be so kind as to assist the cops?"

[Supercape]

Synth squirmed. Of course she would love to help the cops. But they might start asking questions like who was she, did she have any ID, that sort of thing.

Which could lead to problems. and the last thing she wanted was a conflict with the cops. They were the good guys.

"Sure" she replied with a Smile to Catalyst. " Errrr....what does that mean, exactly? You want me to fill them in whilst you are at the Soup Kitchens?"

[Aoiroo]

"Well that, mostly though I want you to be there to help them out if and when they get overwhelmed. Regular guns are nice, they just don't have the sheer stopping powers mine do and plain old bullets in police grade pistols are fine for regular criminals, but they aren't nearly effective if the targets already dead."

She pulled a phone out of her pocket and handed it to Synth,

"That's got push to talk so we can keep in touch in case either one of use needs help. Hopefully though we'll get this under control and figure out who's behind this mess."

[Supercape]

"That's got push to talk so we can keep in touch in case either one of use needs help. Hopefully though we'll get this under control and figure out who's behind this mess."

"Yeah..." mumbled Synth, taking the mobile phone. She had never used one before, much less owned one, although she had just about grasped the principle of telephones and mobiles. She turned it over a few times.

"I guess its easy enough" she said, optimistically, tucking it into her trousers.

"I'll help the police, if they will have me. And I'll do what they say. And I hope we can stop this before anybody else gets sucked in, I really do...."

She gave Catalyst a wave as she left the police station.

"See you later, at the Soup Kitchens!"

[Supercape]

GM

A little later, at the Soup Kitchens...

As Catalyst pulled up her Van, she could see the Soup Kitchen was in disarray. The van was overturned, and partially smashed. Soup cups, and soup, lay littered on the floor. There was the odd splattering of blood, and even a torn jacket on the ground.

Unfortunately, one poor zobo lay down on the floor, at rest at last. If it had been alive, in any capacity, it surely wasn't know. Its head had been parted from its body in a rather messy fashion and was lying a few yards away. There was little or no blood, a sign of the corpse like status of the Zobo's.

It looked, to all purposes, like a scene from a zombie apocalypse film. And that, perhaps, was entirely understandable. There was even a puff of cold wind to lift up a few discarded plastic cups and a newspaper.

[Aoiroo]

"Shoot,"

It seemed she'd missed the action almost complete, looking through the kitchen she listened trying to find signs of life anywhere. Maybe someone was hiding, or maybe their were more zobos. Either way she would scour the place properly before leaving it be, she needed to make sure anybody who was there was alright. Her cartridges were the snares just in case she hit a non-zobo on accident.

[Supercape]

GM

As Catalyst approached the vandalised soup van, and kicked away wood, rubbish, and on one occasion, a burnt out tyre, she heard a faint groan.

"Help....help...." came the voice.

Pulling aside some more rubble, she found Diedre McManus, the soup lady woman, he leg clearly broken.

"What...what happened...." she mumbled, not entirely coherently.

As Catalyst paused, she heard something behind her. Spinning around, two zobos had lurched around a train, shuffling themselves straight towards them.

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst turned and shot them both dead on with her strongest foam. It held them in place as she kneeled down and helped the woman up, though it meant she had to pocket her pistols to do it, she kept a slow pace to do the minimum amount of pain,

"Someone has been killing the local homeless and using experimental chemicals to reanimate them. In the modern sense they're zombies, minus the usual contagion displayed in the movies."

Moving over the rumble with the woman took a bit of time, but it wasn't long before she had gotten her to the van, before scanning the area again with her infared.

[Supercape]

GM

[quote="Aoiroo"

"Someone has been killing the local homeless and using experimental chemicals to reanimate them. In the modern sense they're zombies, minus the usual contagion displayed in the movies."

[Aoiroo]

Catalyst looked at them,

"No, you're getting in the van, and I am driving you to the police station to one, give a testimony and get a ride to the hospital. I can glue them to the pavement on the way, but this isn't going to stop until we find the source."

Helping Diedre into the passengers seat she looked around trying to scan,

"Is there anybody else around, anyone at all?"

[Supercape]

GM

Diedre paused a moment. She was clearly in a lot of pain, but was made of stern stuff.

"I think...I think I saw somebody, or something, else..." she said, her voice still weak and slow. She looked pale and clammy, and her head was clearly not quite there.

"Larger...dark, he was, like pitch...fearsome..." she shook her head.

"Then everybody scattered, I don't know if they where alive or dead...I don't know...I'm sorry...I..."

"..."

"...where did he go...I can't remember...uhhhh...I feel so sleepy..."

The woman's eyelids fluttered as she hovered on the edge of unconsciousness.

[Aoiroo]

"Stop,"

Catalyst's voice is firm,

"You're in shock, you could have a concussion, or any number of things, I don't know,"

There was a slight panic in her voice as she parked the van at a stop light. About three seconds into the back she had a bottle of iced coffee from the fridge,

"Drink, just, don't black out, not until we get to the hospital and they can be sure. I, I don't deal with this often, but please, please stay concious."

[Supercape]

GM

"Oooh thank you dear, bless you!" she said, slurping down the coffee with a faint smile. The beverage did seem to restore a little life to her. She actually had traces of colour coming back to her cheeks.

"I...I think I know where he went..." she muttered. "Station 66...at least, I think he was headed that way. A few of the homeless, they whispered about it..."

She looked like she was about to drift off, then shook her head to wake herself up, looking around.

"We have to go there...stop this...." she said, grasping Catalyst "...I won't make it to the Hospital..."

To emphasise her words, a few more shuffling forms turned a corner, and a few more from another direction. They were slow, and far off, but it seemed the Zobo's were starting to swarm...