ic Miniature Heroland

[Scuffles]

Stupid robot! Kristin growled under her breath as their mechanical foe declined a perfectly good opportunity to shoot at her and shot someone else instead. In truth she wasn't totally disappointed with the outcome. With her hands planted firmly on her hips she stood and watched as heroes converged on and battered the robot.

It'd not dying fast enough. I don't really want to draw any more attention without getting into costume..

Kristin narrowed her eyes at the robot and focused her mind as tightly as she could, avoiding the power leakage that caused her signature green light. She lashed out, but without the light as an aiming point aiming was difficult. The telekinetic energy missed will over the head of the robot and dissipated harmlessly.

Still atop her car, Kristin grimaced as her head started to ache fiercely. That kind of concentration and focus still took it out of her.

[Azuth65]

The robotic hostage holder's body shook as it attempted to follow it's targets, the large screen flickering through several still-frame expressions in between the SMPTE color bars. The Securitron's arms flailed about, seeming to pause before one target, making an echoing booming sound then tracking to the next. Sparks intensified their pouring forth from exposed wires while plumes of greasy black smoke from internal fires billowed from ventilation slots and the holes made it it's chassis by Jubatus and Wisp's attacks.

"Ma-" it started before it's speakers cut to a high pitched whining noise as it's body rocked with spasm of jammed servos and gears, "-on't like th-"

[Cubist]

Okay, 'bot-boy here isn't the sturdiest of mechs, Jubatus observed. Wonder if he's TEMPEST-rated? He extracted a C-cell battery and some electronic components from their respective vest-pockets. The other hero-types kept the machine busy as, with a few deft wire-twists and drops of conductive adhesive, he rigged the battery to release all of its stored energy in a microsecond—a pocket-sized EMP.

The fastest cat alive blurred up beside the robot. He made the final connection on his gimmicked battery—shoved it through the shoulder-gap Wisp had torn in that shell, as deep inside the mechanism as he could manage—blurred back a few feet (perhaps an inch or so of real distance, but given the scale they were operating on now...)—and there was a respectable KTZAKK!!, accompanied by convulsive jerks and sandpaper-grinding-transmission noises as the robot's servomotors went screwball. Jube's accelerated eyes caught the motion of gear-fragments, shooting out from the shattered 'bot like shrapnel; he caught them all before any civilians were in danger of being hurt.

Closest threat neutralized. True menace still at large, Jube thought. He got his sensors out again, this time on the lookout for any signals the dead robot might have emitted as a kind of 'deadman switch', and looked at the crowd to see if anyone needed assistance, medical or otherwise…

[Scuffles]

Kristin winced just a little bit at Jubatus blurred in behind the robot and it promptly tore itself to pieces. She reached up to rub at her temples in an attempt to shake off her telekinesis induced headache, thinking I wonder how he did that?

With the danger apparently averted for now at least she vaulted down off the model car she had claimed during the fight and started back towards the group of civilians. Hopefully nobody noticed the light of my barrier while I was up there achieving pretty much nothing...

As she walked past Victoria she flashed her classmate a grin and whispered "Nice shot!"

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy dusted herself off, the damage done by the robot having already disappeared She must have still been in her lawyer mind set because the first thing she thought of was pratical thing. She wandered over to Jubatus and lowered her voice.

“Good to see you again Jubatus.The robot mentioned explosives, you think you could check out the structure for them?â€

She wasn't a natural leader, but she understood people and what they needed now was reassurance. She jumped up onto one of the cars, giving a wave to Wisp as she did, and addressed the confused crowd who had been shrunk with them.

“Ladies and gentlemen if you all just remain calm. My name is Revenant and can assure you that myself and my colleagues will find a way to reverse this effect. What I need you to do is get move once we've found a safe location.†she gave a comforting smile “Don't worry everything is going to be fine.â€

Now all she needed was some idea of what they needed to be done.

[Cubist]

“Good to see you again Jubatus.The robot mentioned explosives, you think you could check out the structure for them?â€

Jubatus nodded. He approved of Revenant's vocal caution; reminding the crowd of civilians that they might yet be in deadly danger… was not a plan likely to yield any helpful results. Matching her low tone as best he could, the feline replied, “Second item on my to-do list, after checking out the 'bot's remains.†Then he upshifted, extracted a pair of multi-tools from his vest, and began to dismantle the robot for detailed study of its inner workings…

[Cubist]

…and the only 'surprise' he found was a transceiver, just the thing for a remote unit to receive orders and send status reports back to its controller. Jube's vest provided a signal analyzer; apparently, the robot's orders were coming from someplace towards the west end of the scale-model layout he and the civilians were stuck in. Be nice to pinpoint the direction better than that, but considering all the interference from metal in the structures around us… fine. Zip around, take multiple readings, triangulate the source. But first— He extracted a pair of small gizmoes from his vest, earpieces that wouldn't have looked out of place in one of the original Star Trek episodes, and handed one to Revenant. "This thing is a short-range communicator," he said, and he inserted the second unit into his own ear. "Should be able to keep in touch no matter where we are. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta run."

Triangulating the source of the robot's control signals was a sound plan, but Jubatus shelved it early on. First, the scale-model streets of the layout were filled with scale-model police officers—action figures of both genders, riding on toy motorcycles. And what are the odds of these dolls not being equipped with all kinds of lethal accessories, hm? Second, and more importantly, his nose caught an acrid odor—the scent of an explosive!

It was the work of an upshifted moment to find the bomb: Deep in the lowest level of the parking garage that all the shrunken people had been deposited on. Jubatus was impressed at the level of detail that Fun Time Toys had put into this layout—Who the hell would ever even see THIS part of the damn thing?—but there was work to do. Namely, figure out how to neutralize the bomb, preferably before it went off. The cheetah didn't understand why Toy Boy (or whoever it was) had bothered with a shrunken explosive device in the first place, rather than something full-sized; even a firecracker would be seriously dangerous to someone shrunk down to this scale! Doesn't matter, Jube. Just be grateful that whoever-it-is was determined to waste some of their time and effort and resources on this rather than be more rational-slash-efficient about it. And shrunken or not, it's still a bomb. Needs to be dealt with.

The cheetah examined the bomb with care—and some non-invasive instruments. He didn't learn as much as he'd have preferred, but given the data at hand, it looked like the bomb would go off when triggered by a radio signal… so with a battery and a few electronic components from his vest, Jubatus slapped together a white-noise generator and put it next to the bomb. There. Fairly weak, but the inverse-square rule is with me; let's see any external signal try to punch through that!

And then Jube waited, just in case the bomb was set up to detonate if it didn't receive a 'heartbeat', a regular series of "not yet" signals from its distant master. While thus occupied, the cheetah spoke to Revenant over his commlink: "Found a bomb at the lowest level of the parking garage we're on top of. Since I found it by the scent of the explosive, I'm assuming it's the real thing. Looks to be triggered by radio, so I set up a white-noise generator to jam the denotation signal when it's sent. Don't know what tricks might be up the bomb-maker's sleeve, so better move everybody to a different location regardless. Also found a transciever in the robot, seems to be connected to a source towards the west end of this layout. Gonna try to trace it down more precisely."

[Azuth65]

[Revenant]

The crowd calmed with remarkable speed for the circumstances they currently faced. The spokeswoman stepped forward, hand outstretched to the (much) older woman. "Thank you," she said before addressing the other heroes on the rooftop, "Thank you all."

[Jubatus]

The small light on the collection of C4 blocks blinked a few times as the world's fastest cheetah placed his improvised white-noise generator by the receiver. While this was not the only collection of explosives on this level, wires stretched from the pillar the main body of explosives were strapped to out to other similarly constructed collections, it seemed the only one with a radio receiver.

[Scuffles]

As Revenant, who thankfully looked none the worse for wear after being blasted calmed the crowd Kristin sneaked away to the edge of the building and peered over the edge, looking up and down the model street. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a pair of surprisingly mobile figures in police garb astride what appeared to be fully working toy motorcycles.

I'm never betting on a sparring match again..

Swiftly she made her way back over to Vicky, still doing her best to avoid attracting any attention. "I think we might have more trouble on the way," she told her friend in quiet tones as she stopped beside her and folded her arms. "There's a pair of.. well.. toys in cop gear on motorbikes and I think they're headed this way. Got any bright ideas about how we can get these people somewhere safe?"

[Azuth65]

Wisp stood back from the crowd, almost expecting another robot like the first to come rolling up out of the shadows of the garage. She didn't think it was likely given Jubatus had just gone down there but she'd learned the hard way from her time in the Doom Room that unlikely was not even close to impossible. Climbing atop one of the cars she tried to better examine the skyline and surrounding area.

When Kristin walked over, her eyes darted to her friend before crouching. She listened before replying in a hushed tone of her own, "I've got one or two. Did you happen to bring your costume with you?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin hefted her backpack a little higher on her shoulder to show Wisp. "Uh huh. I'm already wearing the jumpsuit, but I've got the rest of it in here. I didn't think it'd be very subtle to just start changing clothes here in front of everyone though. Kinda defeats the purpose."

She paused and rubbed at her temples with two fingers. "I tried a little trick I've been working on for non-shiny TeeKay on that robot, but I have a feeling I missed by like 10 meters. Anyway, any chance you could get me somewhere where there isn't a whole bunch of witnesses so that I can suit up?"

[Supercape]

Synth resumed her normal appearance, in other words: only two arms and of normal length.

She walked up to Revenant and Glow, her t shirt torn and her cap lost. Fortunately, ripped up as it was, it was still more than adequate to maintain her dignity. She looked like something the cat had dragged in, but wasn't exposing herself.

She had learned quite quickly that wearing clothes was practically compulsory. It had been a bit different when she was growing up, but then again, she grew up very unusually...

"What was that?" she asked "has anybody got any idea what's going on? and why?"

[Azuth65]

"Yeah, I can see that. Doubt you want to end up on YouTube again," the snow-haired teleporter whispered as she dropped to the fake pavement from the car's roof. Placing her hand on Kristin's shoulder she continued in the same hushed tone, "Let's find someplace more private to let you change." Looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was looking in their direction she teleported herself and the Aussie to a floor in the middle of the building.

A few minutes later Wisp and Glow, in full costume reappear in a cloud of white and scarlet smoke a few steps away from Revenant and Synth.

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy took hold of the other woman’s hand and shook it, giving her best confident look. All the while listening to Jubatus’s bad news about the bomb.

“We’re going to get everyone out of this, but I need you to keep everyone calm while we sort thing out.â€

She then walked over to Wisp and gave the younger hero a massive hug.

“It’s great to see you again, though next time can we meet when it’s not a crisis?†she flashed a broad smile at Synth and Glow “And both of you as well of cause. Well I think we’ve been shrunk, not the strangest day I’ve had…â€

She dropped her voice so only the gathered heroes could hear. “Juatus has found a bomb in this structure does anyone have a way to get everyone away from here quickly?â€

[Supercape]

“Juatus has found a bomb in this structure does anyone have a way to get everyone away from here quickly?â€

Synth raised her eyebrows.

"I haven't got any idea...and, er why are we whispering?" she whispered. She poked her head up from the conference for a moment, peeking left and right to see if anyone was trying to overhear them, or if there were any camera's or recording equipment. Her months of trying to avoid attention had already imprinted in her an uncanny knack for spotting CCTV and the like.

"And as for the bomb? is there anyway of defusing it? or, failing that, I imagine moving the bombmight be easier than moving the crowd? how heavy is it? how big is it? can we move it? "

[Scuffles]

Bomb?

Kristin's stomach turned a somersault as she processed that information and the greenish glow of her telekinetic shield flared as she instinctively increased the strength of her protection.

"I might be able to cook up a staircase or something for people to walk down, or even a slide or something." she said as she glanced towards the edge of the rooftop. "It's a fair way down though, I've never really tried something of that size. If one of you guys test it out first to make sure it's solid the whole way down I'm sure it would work fine though."

She looked at Victoria. "You could do that right?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Seeing the young heroes concerned Revenant gave a friendly smile. “Don't worry Juatus knows what he's doing, it's just a precaution. And if Wisp can't I'm happy to test your staircase I'm tougher than I look.â€

She looked around at the little huddle of people. When exactly did she take charge of this whole situation? The last time she had met Wisp she was still a fresh eyed innocence to this 21st century world, now look at her.

“Just make sure they all know what we're doing. I don't want to worry them until we know what exactly happened.â€

[Azuth65]

Wisp turned towards Revenant with a wry smile, "Best I take the leap of faith. I mean, absolute worst case of this plan is still better than that fiasco up at the nuke plant."

Eying the crowd she continued, "Probably best we get that escape route setup soon. Maybe have Jube find a relatively secured building, or at least one we could make secure, on this table to hide the civilians in while we tackle the problem of trigger happy toys and being shrunk down to the size of action figures?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy gave a smile at the memories Wisp bought up.

“Well that’s settled then. Jubulus could you find somewhere safe for everyone to go? And try to avoid any trouble if you can…†she looked at Glow “I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name. You can call me Revenant, or Lucy if you like.â€

She gave a broad smile “When I started I didn’t know about secret identies, just like I didn’t know about Nuclear power or radiation.†She gave Wisp and meaningful look.

“If your ready could you start you staircase? We’ll keep an eye out for any trouble.â€

[Cubist]

Okay… Neutralizing the bomb, I've done as much as I dare, Jubatus thought to himself. And Revenant knows the score, so I'll let her worry about the civilians whilst I figure out where our plastic pal is getting its orders from. Of course, all those action figures with delusions of policehood are a bit of an obstacle… The fastest cat alive pondered the situation for a long, upshifted moment. Haven't seen any flyers yet, just ground-pounders. And… yeah, there's a sufficiency of tall structures, 3 stories and up. Let's see how many of the angry dolls ever look up, shall we?

Thus resolved, Jube blurred up to to the top of the parking structure all the shrink-ray victims had been deposited on, and leaped over to the roof of a neighboring building—success! Not one of the dolls even looked up, let alone took a shot at him! Excellent. Now to zero in on the source of those signals. Blurring from rooftop to rooftop, Jubatus covered most (if not all) of the model layout. Sadly, between the relative crudeness of his signal-tracing equipment and all the radio-distorting metal bits in the layout (nails, staples, and so on), he only managed to narrow it down to five candidate locations. Annoying. Better than nothing, but still annoying. And what's the rest of the crew been up to whilst I was busy..?

Jube's commlink was a rather nonstandard model, and one of its nonstandard features was that it recorded everything within range of its microphones, playing it all back at whatever arbitrary tempo so that it would sound normal to Jube's Timeshifted ears. So it wasn't long, as measured on a clock, before Jube caught up with the conversation. Hmm… yeah, finding a safer place for the civilians is a good idea.

“Well that’s settled then. Jubatus, could you find somewhere safe for everyone to go?"

"I can try. You should know that I've found five points in the layout from which signals are being transmitted; there's the Eiffel Tower, a cruise ship that might be a replica of the Titanic, the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and Big Ben. The Tower's where the shrink ray was fired from, so I'm betting it's a good idea to stay away from it; as to the rest, I'm not sure yet, but I'd recommend avoiding those spots anyway, just on general principles."

"And try to avoid any trouble if you can…â€

"Not a problem. The existing supply of toys on the ground don't seem to have a concept of 'up'—if you can fly or otherwise stay over their heads, you can avoid them completely. Dunno when, or if, there's gonna be any aerial toys to worry about, but we may as well exploit that flaw in the system while it lasts. I'm gonna look for a safer haven, and I'll keep you posted on what I find, if anything. Jubatus out."

Safer place for the shrink-ray's victims… It sure sounded as if Revenant and the rest were thinking purely in terms of on the layout. But they already knew that some parts of the layout had to have been meddled with by the Big Bad, who- or what-ever it might be, so how could they be sure that any part of the layout was truly safe? Of course, given what they'd seen of the Big Bad's scheme thus far, it was possible that BB had a force field or something in place to keep his hostages bottled up on the layout…

Upshifted to his maximum tempo of 40, the fastest cat alive started his Search For Safety by circumnavigating the layout and throwing small objects over the edge. Would the objects bounce off an invisible force field, or be fried in mid-air? And if so, was there any point on the circumference which wasn't covered by that barrier?

[Scuffles]

"You two are going to have to tell me what you're talking about at some point," Glow said as she looked back and forth between Wisp and Revenant for a moment. "But not right now I guess, we've got more important things to worry about. Come on."

She headed over to the edge of the rooftop and peered down. "Alright, one staircase coming right up!" she said, then got herself nicely settled on the edge. Closing her eyes, she focused her telekinetic energies. A small groan of effort escaped her lips as the beginnings of a staircase shimmered into being adjacent to the top of the building. Slowly at first, and then more quickly the staircase lengthened down towards the street level of the model city.

Wincing at the effort required to maintain the structure the diminutive telekinetic glanced towards the other heroes. "Now would be good!" She grinned as handrails raised along the edges of the stairs. "Teleporters first please, I'm not totally sure it's solid."