ic Pale Moonlight (IC)

[Thevshi]

While she had been helping Jubatus and Silver Spider get things under control in the Fens, Velocity had heard of the incident involving a US Congressman over in Bayview. Figuring someone from League should probably go check on things, she had called in that she was on her way and set off. That had been less than thirty seconds ago.

 

She was now drawing close to the scene, her goggles zooming in from a few hundred feet away. She recognized a number of teenage heroes on scene, at least one of whom she knew as associated with Claremont Academy. They appeared to be trying to help, and did not appear to be yelling about dealing out had justice and the like, so she figured it was a safe bet that they were not more of the robot duplicates.

 

In a blur of yellow, the speedster came skidding to a halt a short distance from where El Heraldo, Kit and Warp were standing. Her long brown hair swished to the side from the sudden stop, and she took another quickly look around, far quicker than the normal human eye could follow. Man, there are a lot of bodies here. I don't think I ever had to deal with anything like this when I was as young as them.

 

Form the perspective of the three teens, as soon as the figure skidded to a halt, she gave a faint smile. "Hey, I'm Velocity from the Freedom League. I got word about the incident here. I would have been here quicker, but I was dealing with a similar situation in the Fens."

 

"Your El Heraldo right?" She asked focusing on the Puerto Rican teen. She then glanced at the two teenage girls. "And you two are Warp and Kit? Are you students at Claremont as well?"

 

"Is this all of you?" She then asked.

[Curious Key]

Warp took a step back as Velocity arrived on the scene, still holding her phone to her ear and listening for the dial tone. She hardly had the right to be surprised when someone appeared out of nowhere, but she was a little alarmed. The news Velocity brought, on the other hand, was enough to make Kat's eyes grow big. "There's more of these things?" She shook her head, not wanting to believe it.

Though Warp didn't know Velocity, if she already knew about Claremont there couldn't be much harm in telling. "I'm from Claremont, yeah." She sounded shaken, still. "All but one. Blodeuwedd is in there," she pointed her thumb to the broadcast truck. "Trying to figure out what's going on."

[Ari]

Heraldo heard Velocity arrive just a little before the others, but the rapid thuds of her feet on the cold ground had him expecting a small army of very angry people to pour out of the streets, not a speedster blurring up to them. He looked utterly horrified at her mention of a 'similar situation', and glanced wide-eyed at Kat. Smiling weakly as she confirmed their names he said "El Heraldo, yeah. Nice to meet you Velocity."

He nodded at Warp's explanation, adding "The robot that..did this, it's on that roof, it exploded when it got too banged up" he pointed up at the smoking and charred top of the building where the fight had gone down, was still for a moment and then turned to Velocity with a dismal look and added "I'm sorry, I didn't think to bring it down. I-I didn't want to touch it..." he shook his head sharply and floated a bit into the air "What can we do? Is there anything we can do?" glancing at the van the resplendent paragon added "If there is, better tell Blodeu, she's pretty much the best person to lead us right now." he said with another weak, but admiring smile.

He turned suddenly to Kat "You..thanks Warp. I don't think we could have won without ya." darting down he gave the lean mutant a quick, warm hug with his powerful arms, then got back to attention facing Velocity.

[Blue Rose]

With the Freedom League here, Sam gets the feeling they're about to be strongarmed out of this while getting no information in return, in favor of letting the adults take care of things. Normally, she'd be revving up for an argument, but she just can't muster the spirit for it. In the time it takes her to gather up anything more than a nod in answer, Heraldo and Warp have already more than answered. The question of how she's feeling has long gone completely ignored.

She prods at something scorched and stringy with her foot. The non-charred portions are too light to have been hair. Maybe some mesh that was under the skin? Or electrical insulation? Or maybe the insulation from her jacket? She's not sure what to think as she moves a piece of the... thing she'd kissed not ten minutes ago, then something shiny catches her eye. She's amazed to find it more or less intact, as she lifts something up by the charred remains of a string. A glass brooch of a robin, still mostly red, that she'd gotten Tona on their first date. It's covered in dings and scorch marks, and only has half a wing left, but she pockets it anyways.

She goes over to the van to get Blod. "Company," she says, gesturing her friend out with little more fanfare than that.

[Tiffany Korta]

She stepped out of the trailer and paused before Sam, dropping her voice to speak with her.

“There are more of them out there, Freedom City’s in chaos. But none of us would blame you if you can’t carry on." She put a, she hoped, comforting hand on Sam shoulder. "But I promise you that as soon as this has settled down we’re going to find the real Tona and punish whoever’s done this.â€

As she passed down to see the newcomer. Remembering she hadn’t changed from her reporter’s disguise she changed it to her normal costume.

“I’m Blodeuwedd.†What more needed to be said?

[Thevshi]

Velocity gave a solemn nod at Warp's question about there being more of these robots. She then looked back at El Heraldo as he mentioned where the robot that had done all this was, and apologized for not bringing it down. "That's okay, it should keep up there for now. I think the brainy types are not want for the remains of some of these things to examine. And I know there is at least one, maybe two, that have been taken intact as well."

 

Seeing the other girl, Kit start towards the van Warp and El Heraldo had indicated the fourth member of their group was in. Waiting until Kit and Blodeuwedd came over to join them, the speedster then looked around at the gathered teen heroes. "Okay, here is what I know so far. At pretty much the same time this morning, heroes, and a couple of villains, seemed to go nuts all across the city. As you all have figured out, those suddenly murderous heroes and villains are robot duplicates. There seems to have been at least one robot duplicate for each team in town, the Freedom League, the Atoms, the Interceptors and others. There were also some duplicates of solo heroes as well. Most of those have been dealt with so far, but there are still a few out there, including a teenage girl calling herself Quickstep."

 

"Right now, we don't know what happened to those who have been replaced or what can be done to help them. I am sure the brainy types are working on that right now, and once I hear of any plan I will let you all know."

 

"While we wait for the smart guys and gals to come up with something, the city is still in chaos and we need all the help we can get to try to deal with everything. If you don't feel up to this, the best place to go right now would be Freedom Hall. But if you're up for it, I have a job you can help with."

 

Velocity paused a moment, looking around at the four before continuing. "The brainy types have identified unusual radio signals that are being sent out from transmitters positioned all over the city to the rampaging robots. There is one not far from here and another over in Southside. We need you to go to those locations and destroy the transmitters. Apparently the transmitters are being guarded by Foundry Myrmidon robots, the big eight foot tall war model ones, so you will need to be ready for a fight."

 

The older heroine paused again as she looked at the teenage heroes. "Look, I was about your age, or only slightly older, when I happened to blunder into something Raven was investigating. I ended up having to face off with the Tyranny Syndicate copy of Johnny Rocket on my own, with no likelihood of backup. You all have each other, so I am sure you can handle this." Man, do I feel old. Velocity thought to herself as she gave her little pep talk.

 

She took out a small card which she held out to Blodeuwedd. "This is the frequency for the Freedom League's emergency channel. I will be monitoring it while I go to deal with some more of these transmitters downtown and in Kingston. If you have any problem, give me a call, and I should be able to be wherever you are in a few moments."

[Curious Key]

Warp blushed bright and red as Subito hugged her, arms pinned for a brief, big-eyed moment before he let her go and spared her a stammered answer.

Velocity filled them in on the rest, and Warp's eyes just got narrower the more she listened. "D . . . Quickstep was here first, and started making a mess of everything. When Robo-Jay shot down, she tried to hit everyone on stage. Except Quickstep." And why would the robots hurt each other, after all? They were worked toward . . . well, something. "Wait!" Warp stepped a little closer. Her hands clenched, unclenched. "Do you know where it's gone? The Quickstep robot, I mean. Is it caught yet?"

[Blue Rose]

Breaking transmitters? Not as glorious as slipping past the front gate and busting the kidnappees loose, but it'll-

Wait, Foundry? Myrmidons? Crap. She'd only had one run-in with Foundry, and it was enough to know it was a bad idea. Most of her tricks didn't work on robots, and after helping the Phantom Fox steal something important, she knows not what, while blowing up half an installation and killing who knows how many of their people... well, they might not have forgotten the accomplice just yet.

But that's not important right now. This mess needs to stop, whoever they are.

She walks up to Velocity, cutting right past Warp and looks the League member dead in the eyes as she lays out their terms. "They have Blue Jay," she says, and it should explain everything, but she goes on anyways. "We'll do this, but when it's time to stomp this out at the source, I'm going, too."

[Ari]

Whatever there was to say that would clear the air, Heraldo couldn't think of it. He offered a crisp "Well, if the Foundry is sending their soldiers up here, we'd better try and discourage 'em." he shrugged and looked from Kit to Velocity. This was something he couldn't help with either. 'I tire of that feeling Me too...'

He landed next to Blodeuwedd, telling the speedster "Warp and Kit can teleport. Just tell us where to go and we'll be there in moments. We can fight robots, at least." he glanced at the rooftop again, wincing at the thin smoke curling from it. "Let's make at least some kind of a plan before going, in case we get in trouble right from the start. Won't do any good just to keep making stuff up. Adaptable, sure, but it'd be good to have something." he suggested, wondering darkly if this wasn't at least partly because he wanted to delay their next fight.

[Tiffany Korta]

Grabbing her bag and goggles from Subito she put in an ear bud she’d borrowed from Claremont’s. As she but on the rest of her gear she listened to Subito take charge of the situation. She could help but feel a little proud at that.

“I figure the best tactic would to be to take advantage of our Teleporters. I’d suggest that Warp drop’s Heraldo and myself near the machines, then either clear out any innocent or help us harry the robots. Whilst we’re doing that Kit can teleport behind them and disable the transmitter. Apart from myself she’s probably the stealthiest of us, and has a talent for breaking things.â€

She check that everyone seemed ready, of cause they didn’t rely on equipment like she had to.

“Unless anyone has a better plan? But I don’t think we should leave things too long.â€

[Thevshi]

Velocity shook her head slightly at Warp's question. "She showed up in the Fens where some other heroes and I were trying to deal with the robot duplicate of Bee Keeper. Set fire to a tenement building, killing a bunch of bystanders, shurgged off a solid hit from me and then teleported away again once the Bee Keeper robot managed to all but knock out the other two heroes I was working with. I have not heard any reports so far of where she might have gone."

 

When Kit stepped up and glared at the speedster, the older heroine met the gaze unblinking as she listened to the girl's demand. "Look," she stated in an even voice, "I understand that this has likely hit very close to home for you all, but do you think your unique in that? Star Knight and Bowman were my teammates for more than a year, and I have stayed in touch the last few years after going to reserve status and joined them on a few missions when they needed me. I consider the Atoms to be friends, and you can sure as hell bet that Tess and Chase want to know where Maximus and Victoria are. It is a good bet that the same can be said for the other teams that have had one of their members replaced."

 

"Right now this is all pretty fluid and there is still a lot of confusion out there. For all I know, a rescue effort could be being launched as we speak through some dimensional portal or the like. Or it could be days before we figure out enough to know where to go, let alone how to get there, to help those who were kidnapped. I already said I would keep you all informed on what I learn regarding any attempt at a rescue. I cannot promise anything, but if given the chance I will be sure to add what support I can to any of you being given a slot in any rescue mission."

 

As El Heraldo and Blodeuwedd took charge and began discussing tactics on how to deal with the defenders when they reached the first location, the speedster provided them with the addresses for the buildings which had been pinpointed as the sources of the transmissions in Bayview and Southside. Then she just stood silently by as they continued their planning. They knew their abilities and those of their teammates far better than she could hope to, so unless they had a specific question for her, she felt there was likely not too much she could offer in terms of helping them plan.

[Curious Key]

Warp looked down at the pavement, bared her teeth. There was that word; killed. Kat looked back at the stage where all the dead T-babies had been lain out, her shoulders falling sharply. She sighed and shook her head gently from side to side. When had Dorothy been replaced? How much had been her, and how much had been . . . ?

She turned toward Heraldo and Blod, standing a little straighter. "I can take us anywhere. Let's see if I'm hearing this right; we get to one of these places and smash anything that looks important, and whatever's keeping them safe." Warp turned toward Velocity, eyes shifting from grey to a vivid red.

[Blue Rose]

Well if you know that much, you know why I'm gonna be there, Kit thinks to herself, but she doesn't say it. The course is the same either way.

"The robots aren't important," she corrects Warp, choosing to let the sting of Blod's double jab subside while they go with her plan. "Fighting them's just a distraction. You keep them busy, I'll disable the transmitter, and when I give the word, we get out, whether or not the bot's still standing."

She takes a breath and clears her head as best she can. "Ready any time," she declares, hoping the others will take it as a cue to become the same. Why'd it have to be robots?

[Thevshi]

Velocity had a small smile as the teens prepared themselves to leave in order to get back into the fight. "Don't be too quick to dismiss the robots as unimportant." Velocity spoke up when Kit mentioned not fighting them any more than necessary to destroy the transmitters.

 

"Certainly the transmitters are your primary objective, but you will need to see what happens once they are down. It may be that the war bots just shut down, which will be a lucky break. But, it may also be possible that once their primary directive of defending the transmitters is no longer possible, they could revert to a secondary directive, such as going on a rampage. Leaving a bunch of eight foot tall, heavily armed robots that can shrug off anything the police can throw at them short of an anti-tank round rampaging in the streets won't help bring things back under control."

[Ari]

Heraldo spoke up "Kit does make a good point though, Ms. Velocity. We need to cut off whatever signal's bein' broadcast first more than we need to smash some robots. And besides, I bet we can tear up those Foundry goons pretty good. They won't get past any of us!" he added with a note of pride and a faint smile.

Turning to the others the young paragon said "Alright, let's get going! Warp, Kit, you can get all of us to those places no problem? Let's get go do the superhero thing."

He smiled at the speedster, "Thanks a lot, Velocity. We'll take care of this, good luck with your mission!"

[Curious Key]

"Yeah," Warp said, looking sideways at Kit. "Let's not leave a bunch of huge death robots in Freedom." It seemed to her that they'd already worked out the plan in the first few seconds, and everyone was in a hurry to repeat. How many of these robots were out killing while they talked? "Next stop; Foundry transmitter."

Warp turned away from the group and stared intently at nothing. The air in front of her split vertically with a soft wail, pulsing with a virulent red light. She looked back and pointed a thumb toward the sinister portal, nonplussed. "This should drop everyone outside, it'll feel weird, but it'll get you there." Warp marched into the rip and out the other end.

[Thevshi]

Ms? At least he didn't call me ma'am.  Velocity thought to herself as she watched the four teenage superheroes from Claremont prepare to head off to tackle the first of the transmitters in the southern part of the city.  A small part of her envied their camaraderie.  She had been younger than they were when she had started out as Velocity, and had been all on her own for the first couple of years.  Well, you did turn down that invitation to attend Claremont, so large part it was your own damn fault. She thought to herself.

 

"Good luck to you all as well."  The speedster then said aloud.  "Once your finished with those two transmitters, give me a call and we can see what else needs to be done, that is if there isn't any word on trying help the kidnapped heroes. And remember, if you need any help, don't hesitate to call."  She put an emphasis on the "if" that suggested she did not think they would need help.

 

"Talk with you soon."  And with that she was off in a blur of yellow and a *WOOSH* of air.  The teenage heroes heard a *CRACK* echo from down the street, followed by a deep *BOOM* as Velocity broke the sound barrier.

[Tiffany Korta]

On her way over to the portal she paused and whispered into Subito’s ear.

“When this is over you need to sit down and talk to Kat. Just tell her I know, I’m really good at reading Body Language, and I’ll fine with whatever happens.â€

Without missing a beat Blodeuwedd strolled towards the rent in space, pausing right in the edge of the portal.

“Well are you two coming? These transmitters won’t shut themselves down.†She gave a tight smile “You don’t need me to say it, but there are no other people right now I’d rather have by my side. Let’s go do this.â€

She then walked into Warp’s portal without missing a beat.

[Ari]

"Ow." said Subito, eyes shut tight as the *BOOM* of Velocity's sound barrier breaking thundered through the air. Opening them again and blinking several times, the brightly-dressed boy nodded once to Cerys, muttering "I'll do that.", and followed Warp through the portal she had carved in space, telling Kit and Blodeuwedd before they vanished "I'm pretty hard to miss, I'll try and distract the robots from you two. Kit, you've tangled with the Foundry before and we haven't, we'll need your help to know about weak spots and stuff." squaring his broad shoulders Heraldo walked quickly through the unearthly door, felt himself hurled through a delirious void, and stumbled awkwardly out next to the lean young mutant, almost falling onto his hands and knees as he dazedly struggled to regain himself.

"Urgh, I don't think I'll ever get used to that, Katni-I mean, Warp, blugh." he panted, glancing sheepishly up at the girl in black, standing up straight and tall as he recovered "Alright, now let's see what we've got."

[Blue Rose]

Thinking about things like aftermath and fallout. These might be important in the new line of work. Much easier to just get as far as possible after pulling the job to avoid it entirely. Occupational hazards, it seems. The robots matter.

"I'll take my way," Kit informs Warp and Blod as the portal opens. Best not to be in the middle of them when they start drawing all the attention. And she wants to give her friends a head start to get the party started before she tries to slip in past the chaos.

And that's when Subito suggests something utterly dumbfounding. 'Tangled with?' The notion tumbles through Kit's head for a time, and for a moment, she wonders how he even knew, but the job where the Phantom Fox went rogue was one of her more famous, even if she didn't talk about that one very much. But does he not understand how stealing works? It's not a break-in, smash-face kind of job. "They're weak to running and teleporting far out of sight, and to not getting caught in the first place," she answers, giving all the useful tips she has against Foundry.

With that, she makes her way to the nearest shadows and falls through to the south side of town, emerging in some patch of shadows near the transmitter. Sadly, without clairvoyance, exactly where she ends up is a less precise game than Warp's.

[Curious Key]

On another day Warp might have cracked a smile, she might have leaned down, given Heraldo some trouble and helped him up. Instead, she stared up at him and gave an almost imperceptible nod. "Sorry." She turned back toward the transmitter's address, the madness of the Day of Wrath erupting all around them; mad duplicates just out of sight tore the city apart in their quest for mad justice, and they were standing on the edge of what had brought insanity to Bayview.. Eager darkness whispered around Warp's fingertips, her eyes burning like coals. "Let's go."