The River Claims Its Own (IC)

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As the various groups set about their tasks, the amount of work that generally needed to be done served to cut down on the opportunity for much conversation.  Because of Jubatus' speed, his group finished their tasks far more quickly than the others.  While Steven and Lt. Lidimo went to assist the other groups, the humanoid Cheetah and John both opted to use the available time to get a bit familiar with the area around the base camp.

 

The airstrip and camp were located on a wide plateau, with the only nearby major elevation change starting about a kilometer to the north, where the terrain began to drop down towards the Messalo River for two kilometers.  The terrain was mainly savannah, with scattered clumps of acacia (thorntrees) and palms.  Jubatus found a pair of small streams to the north and northwest, carrying runoff down to the river.  The speedster also noted that the western edge of the camp was near what appeared be the hunting territory of a lion pride. 

 

Just as the unpacking and organizing was completed, the next cargo transport arrived, kicking up a tremendous amount of dust as it landed on the dirt runway.  The unloading of all the food and water supplies for those affected by the flooding was relatively quick thanks to Edge's telekinesis, allowing the transport to depart once unloaded. 

 

Storing the unloaded supplies into the tents that had been set up went relatively quickly, and the cargo areas of the two HUMVEES were also loaded up with food and water supplies.  Once the work was done, the group all gathered near the HUMVEES as they prepared to start visiting the affected areas and assessing the situation.  Dr. Conte and Denise Gorrell, the senior engineer, both spoke during the meeting.

 

"The areas directly affected by the flooding stretch for more than 65 kilomters along the Messalo," Gorrell explained to the group as they examined a map that was set out on the hood of one of the HUMVEES.  "There are approximately 20,000 people living in villages and small towns along both banks of the river in that area, all of whom are likely directly impacted.  Those are going to be the main priority of our relief efforts for the near term.  Depending on how much damage the agriculture in the area has suffered, up to another 40-50,000 in the region could be affected as well.  Part of our visits this afternoon and early evening will be to assess the damage and work that needs to be done at the various sites.  We will also be distributing food and water to those that need it.  We will be splitting into two teams, one to assess the northern bank, the other for the southern."

 

"In addition, the medical teams will be evaluating the health needs of those in the area."  Dr. Conte added.  "If there are any injuries requiring immediate treatment, we will likely be transporting them back to the base camp.  I am sure many of you understand this, but I will remind you all, over the next couple of days it is very likely we will be coming across the bodies of those killed in the flooding.  Everyone needs to be very careful about any potential contact with blood or other fluids from anyone we come into contact with.  The HIV/AIDS infection rate is about eleven and half percent in those aged fifteen to forty-nine, which is actually lower than the average in a number of neighboring countries."

 

After answering any specific questions, the group was split into two teams, Dr. Conte leading one, and Gorrell the other.  In addition to the two HUMVEES (one for each team), DI had provided the expedition with five Land Rover Defender SUVs.  Four of those would be used to transport the two assessment teams and medical supplies (two for each team), the fifth remaining at base camp, along with Colette and two of the security personnel. 

 

As the groups were getting organized to depart, Gorrell came over to Jubatus.  "I am sorry I have not had the chance to talk to you about this sooner, but I wanted to mention one of the specific ways that your expertise will be helpful in the next couple of days.  One of DI's long term projects in this area is two schools that they have set up, one on each bank of the river, that are in the affected area.  Both have a variety of technology to help expand the educational options for the students they serve.  We need you're assistance to assess what is damaged and in need of replacement, as well as to consider ways to improve what we currently have and how to protect it from any future flooding or the like."

Edited March 27, 2013 by Thevshi

[Raveled]

Blue Jay had stayed quiet as they unloaded the medical supplies, partly because of fatigue and partly because she had learned that the best way to understand a new situation was to watch people who were already acclimated to it. Her few questions had centered around things like powder disinfectants, UV emitting bandages, and hand scanners that were all borderline miraculous to her.

Now they were planning to move pout, separating into groups. Jay glanced at Edge, feeling distinctly that she wanted to be in whichever group he was a part of, while at the same time feeling she would only be a hindrance to the Mighty. She blew out a breath and spoke up. "I'll go on the south bank," she said. There wasn't any tactical reason to go one way or the other, but most of the people from Freedom City seemed to be going south and she felt vaguely more at ease around them.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Raveled

[Avenger Assembled]

Edge wound up with Gorrell's team, for all that the urge to just go there himself was quite strong. But he knew that he was part of a larger organization now, and that meant that he had to work as part of a team. Showing up by himself without the rest of his team around him would only confuse everybody, not to mention him, and leave him without any idea of what he was supposed to be doing. "If you tag the equipment caches here with GPSs, I can get them set up over at the engineering site." The sad part was, though Mark had occasionally pushed his powers to the point of repairing bodies, it was incredibly dangerous work - he was far better at building then mending. 

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Once the two teams were finalized, everyone began boarding their respective vehicles and in short order the two groups were on their way.

 

Blue Jay found herself sitting in the back of the South team’s Land Rover.  To her amazement, Edge was seated next to her, the older hero successfully resisting the urge to just rush ahead of the group.  Gorrell was driving the vehicle, with Lt. Lidimo next to him in the front passenger seat.  Dr. Rangan and Nurse Myers were in the row of seat directly in front of Blue Jay and Edge.  Kvesic and the other security team member were in the cargo HUMVEE. 

 

Being far faster than either of the South team’s vehicles, Jubatus opted to just run alongside as they made their way down bumpy dirt roads towards the river and the first village on the south bank.  They did not have to go very far before they were able to see the Messalo River though the trees alongside the road.  Even as far away as they were, it was not hard to tell that the river looked “bloated†with excess water.

 

It was not much longer before they had reached the first village along the southern bank of the river.  The small village was located close to the banks of the river, and as such had suffered a considerable amount of damage in the flooding.  It was evident that several structures closest to the river had been completely destroyed, while a few others had partially collapsed.  Standing water was still present among most of the remaining structures at what appeared to be just over knee level.  A number of men were moving about the crude structures, apparently trying to gather up what they could salvage from them.

 

There were a few structures at the southern end of the village which were on higher ground and appeared to have been spared the flooding.  Most of the rest of the villagers were gathered near them or under large canvas tents which had been erected on the high ground nearby.  To the west of the village was an area cleared for agriculture, much of which was also flooded.

 

As the two Danger International vehicles came to a halt on the high ground to the south of the village, a few male villagers started to make their way over.  Lt. Lidimo quickly exited the Land Rover and moved forward to greet them, speaking in a language that was clearly not Portuguese. 

 

The men responded in the same language, but only half seemed to be paying attention to the lieutenant, as they were staring in apparent awe at Jubatus as the humanoid cheetah stepped into view.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The group bound for the northern bank of the river had a much longer drive to make, having to head east for about forty kilometers until they connected with a roughly paved highway that ran north/south, which they followed to the north towards bridge which would allow them to cross the Messalo.

 

John had opted to ride in the cargo HUMVEE, which was being driven by Steve Wilker and also had one of the security team members riding inside as well.  Wilker, a young man in his mid-twenties, had initially tried to engage John in conversation about what interest he had in humanitarian work, but had quickly given up on the attempt.

 

Lais Tambe was driving the Land Rover for the northern group, with the other security team member riding shotgun.  Dr. Conte and Nurse Cofield were in the middle seats of the vehicle, with Giang and Marcus were in the very back seat of the Land Rover.

 

Now that he found himself in such close proximity to the Asian teen, and in a rather enclosed space, Marcus realized that there was something about Giang that was magical in nature, but he could not quite pinpoint what it might be.

[Semi-Autogyro]

John had volunteered to police and dispose of any bodies that they would come across during their relief efforts, as he was naturally immune to disease and poisons. Not to mention that the normally gruesome task did not bother him in the slightest, but the blase way he mentioned it garnered the teen some odd looks.

 

Which was why he was a bit taken aback when Mister Wilker tried to talk to him about humanitarian projects. Eventually it got to the point where it was extended periods of awkward silence, at which point John decided to take in the vistas from the cupola instead of attempting small talk. 

[Cubist]

In the midst of the hurry and bustle, Jubatus had time to kill.
 
But then, Jubatus always had time to kill—his default tempo of 6, not to mention his Timeshift power, ensured that. Once the base camp was properly set up, the speedster did some reconnaissance, familiarizing himself with all the terrain within a mile of the camp; he was alert for disturbances and discontinuities, anything which might hint at the presence of a hostile force, but found nothing which fit that profile, unless he counted the area to the west which a pride of lions regarded as its territory.
 
He wasn't sure how he felt about that, so he filed the information away in his mind and continued working. In between moving boxes and helping assemble the camp's various structures, Jube made a point of talking with Lt. Lidimo, inquiring about what sort of super-powered opponents might try to interfere with this mission of mercy; the feline could have asked Edge, but the reality-warper scared the crap out of him he felt that Lidimo, being an officer in the Mozambique army, would be a much better source of information in this context. And Lidimo was very likely to be a better person with whom to discuss the possible tactics they might use in response to one or another type of assault.
 
Jubatus tried to wrap his head around the magnitude of the problem they were solving. Just the bare dimensions of the problem were disquieting; sixty-five kilometers of river, twenty thousand people affected to varying degrees… and then there was the lurking, unspoken question of when would the Messalo River give an encore performance? After several unsuccessful attempts to find flaws in the plan as he understood it, the feline decided he'd just accept that the people who'd assembled this plan actually had a clue.
 
Because if they didn't know what they were doing, it was a sure thing that he, Jubatus, was even less competent in this context.

More than once,the feline regretted that he'd not been able to properly research the area before he signed up to do this job. He'd had to put a number of his freelance contracts on hold, and cancel others, and too damn many of his clients insisted on interacting with him in ways that required him to stay downshifted to a tempo of 1 for extended periods of time…
 
Whatever. He'd made his choice, now he had to live with its consequences.
 

As the groups were getting organized to depart, Gorrell came over to Jubatus.  "I am sorry I have not had the chance to talk to you about this sooner, but I wanted to mention one of the specific ways that your expertise will be helpful in the next couple of days.  …  We need your assistance to assess what is damaged and in need of replacement, as well as to consider ways to improve what we currently have and how to protect it from any future flooding or the like."

 
The cheetah nodded, and said, "I'm on it." He still wanted to know why he'd been sought out for this mission; he certainly wasn't the only hero-type with technological expertise, nor yet even the only tech-savvy hero who'd ever been involved with post-disaster recovery. But no matter why he'd been specifically invited to join this effort, that invitation had been extended. He had accepted it. And by Vulcan, he was going to do the job he'd signed on for!
 

Once the two teams were finalized, everyone began boarding their respective vehicles…

 
Jubatus wasn't happy with who'd ended up going where—Oh, frigging joy. Edge.—but he said nothing, tried to conceal his antipathy for the transmuter. My problem entirely. Not his fault he freaks me out. He blurred ahead of the Land Rover, checking the road surface for anomalies which might indicate someone had meddled with it, say by burying a landmine? He also examined all the land within a half-mile of the road, just in case there might be any unpleasant surprises hidden in the surrounding greenery. Maybe it was a waste of effort, but Jubatus would rather check and find nothing, than not check and be surprised, later on, by some insane zealot with far too many high-calibre firearms.
 

They did not have to go very far before they were able to see the Messalo River though the trees alongside the road.  Even as far away as they were, it was not hard to tell that the river looked “bloated†with excess water.

 
The overly-wet river, just waiting for the next heavy rain, was not a happy-making sight. What would happen the next time the damn thing ran Much Too High? The locals clearly weren't prepared for the flooding that had just occured… Jubatus sighed. Yes, most of Africa is horribly mismanaged, but a big chunk of that can be blamed on a centuries-long history of colonial exploitation. It is what it is, so deal with it, Jube.

'Dealing with it' meant, above all else, recognizing the reality of the situation. He'd have to find out what the local standards were for residential construction, and what resources were actually available to help with the restoration job, and…
 

…a few male villagers started to make their way over.  Lt. Lidimo quickly exited the Land Rover and moved forward to greet them, speaking in a language that was clearly not Portuguese. 
 
The men responded in the same language, but only half seemed to be paying attention to the lieutenant, as they were staring in apparent awe at Jubatus as the humanoid cheetah stepped into view.

 
Jubatus didn't care for being stared at, but he was used to it. Stares came with the territory when you weren't quite human. However, there was something about these particular stares… he found them disquieting in a way that simple gawk-at-the-freak just plain wasn't. As soon as he and Lidimo had a mutually-free moment, the cheetah asked: "What's up with the locals? I mean, I expect to attract attention, but never anything like that. So, hrm, what's the deal?"

[GranspearZX]

Marcus did what he could to keep busy, but mostly he felt largely in the way. At a loss for what to do, he was especially grateful when they all started moving again, leaving base camp for the first village. It had, of course, occurred to him long before that his long-standing issue with large bodies of water might become an issue. The last time he panicked, the Beast Rune had taken completely over, and somehow it hadn't gone on some crazed rampage when it did so. He didn't want to think of what would happen if anyone else was actually around, and he was bound and determined to face his fear one way or another.

 

Now that he found himself in such close proximity to the Asian teen, and in a rather enclosed space, Marcus realized that there was something about Giang that was magical in nature, but he could not quite pinpoint what it might be.

 

Marcus noticed it the second he was seated next to her. He suspected it on the plane, but now it was a lot clearer--he could smell magic. Somewhere. It was somewhere around her, but he couldn't be sure without asking and potentially sounding awkward. It was actually a somewhat familiar smell to him; his own magic was elemental in nature, though in a primal, physical sort of way because of the nature of the Beast Rune.

 

But then again, awkward had never stopped him before.

 

"...Tsunami, right?" He wasn't about to use her government name. After all, he wasn't sure if it was that sort of situation, and protocol dictated that they use code names anyway. Plus, he was almost certain he was mispronouncing her real name in his head, and spared them both potential embarrassment. Added to that was the fact that he was terrible at starting conversations... There was really no turning back now though. "This is gonna sound weird, but... you wouldn't happen to be... ah... magically-inclined?"

 

Yeah. Totally not awkward.

[Thevshi]

Giang had also been relatively quite while she had been working alongside Blue Jay in helping unload the medical supplies.  The system devised by Danger International to allow ease in setting up the field clinic helped make the task one that could be done by anyone, even someone like the Asian teen who had little in the way of medical or first aid training.  There had been even less opportunity to speak with anyone during the time the group handled the unloading of the transport plane and organizing those supplies.

 

When it came time to be split into two groups to make initial visits to the affected areas, Giang found herself on the team headed for the northern bank of the river.  The Asia teen had given Marcus a small smile as they ended up in the back of the Land Rover, being bounced around as it made its way along the rough road from the airstrip until they reached the relatively smoother highway that would take them across the river to the northern bank.

 

Giang had been quite during the trip, taking in the terrain and sights as they made their way.  However, when Marcus spoke up, the Asian teen turned to give him her full attention.  "Yes, though please, you can call me Giang."  She replied with a small smile as he sought to confirm her code name.

 

When he asked his question, she seemed to consider it for a moment before she replied.  "I am not entirely certain what you might mean by 'magically-inclined.'  However, I have for sometime suspected that my powers might derive from some sort of mystical source or connection.  But I have never been able to confirm this suspicion."

[Raveled]

Blue Jay had chosen the south-bound team because they made her feel less on-edge than the northward team. Now the world seemed to be mocking her for her choice, by having her sit right next to Edge the Mighty. The vehicles had pulled out of camp and she had taken to staring out the window, trying to desperately think up something to say to the man that wouldn't sour his opinion of her. It wasn't just that he was one of the Companions who slew Omega -- the Furions tales painted him as almost apocalyptically powerful, and she didn't want to offend him.

Time took care of the problem for her, as the convoy pulled up outside the first village on their path without a word being exchanged between the heroes. She popped the door and jumped out, far more comfortable surveying the scene of wreckage and devastation than she had been sitting in an air-conditioned car. This sort of thing was almost familiar ground for her; granted, nothing was on fire and she didn't have to worry about a follow-up attack, but she knew what it was like to see a place you thought of as your home be destroyed.

Jay didn't wait around for orders, making a beeline for the nearest collapsed structure. She peered into the wreckage, trying to see if there were any wounded individuals or intact containers underneath the rubble. After a minute or so she realized she was being watched and glanced up, making eye contact with one of the villagers. She remembered something about French being fairly prevalent in Africa, so she tossed out a "Bonjour" before going back to her examination.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Jubatus

 

When Jubatus had talked with Lt. Lidimo back at the base camp, the officer had proven to have little in the way of information about any superpowered opposition, indicating that he had no information about any such individuals operating in this area.  He also was not expecting any specific hostilities to the humanitarian aid efforts, noting that Mozambique's civil war had ended over twenty years ago, and the country had been considerably stable since then.  The lieutenant recognized that the possibility existed that there may be looters active, but he had no reports of looting at present.  According to Lidimo, the only significant armed presence in the area was the security detachment for PanStar Heavy Construction, the company that was building the damn that had partially collapsed and be a significant cause of the flooding.

 

But despite the lieutenant's belief that there was no imminent threat to the relief efforts, the humanoid cheetah still felt that an abundance of caution was never unnecessary, especially when he could take that caution without slowing down the rest of the group.  Scouting ahead of the Land Rover and the cargo HUMVEE, Jubatus soon discovered that, at least in this instance, there was no need for concern.  There were no buried landmines along the road, no armed men waiting in ambush, just jungle and the dangerously overburdened river.

 

As the group arrived at the first village to suffer from the flood and set about determining the extent of the aid the village would likely need to recover from the flooding, Jubatus found a moment to speak with Lt. Lidimo about the strange stares he had been receiving from the villagers that he encountered, which had included a group of children that had come over to where the humanoid cheetah had been working to look at him for awhile.

 

The lieutenant glanced over at a pair of nearby villagers, who appeared to realize they had been staring and moved back to work, before looking back at Jubatus and giving a small smile.  "They are Makua Mr. Jubatus."  The officer stated.  "The majority of them are animists, they worship the spirits of the animals, plants, even the river.  There are also a number of local legends involving the great cats, lions and cheetahs, which used to be more common in this region."

 

Blue Jay

 

Moving into action almost immediately after the vehicles had come to a stop, Blue Jay had to wade into the knee deep water to get to the nearest collapsed structure, a small, one story home.  The water made examination of the rubble a bit more difficult, but the teenager was rather certain there was no one still trapped underneath.  She could make out some things floating in pockets of space beneath the rubble, but none of them appeared to be of particular use to the present survival needs facing the villagers. 

 

The village she had greeted in French regarded her a brief moment before he made a reply in the same language she had heard Lt. Lidimo speaking with some of the villagers that had approached the DI team.  His expression seemed friendly enough however, as he went about searching through another partially collapsed building for things that could be salvaged.

 

Edge

 

As Dr. Rangan and Nurse Myers, made their way over to the villagers gathered in the few above water buildings and makeshift shelters, Mr. Gorrell was pulling out two pairs of wadding boots from the back of the Land Rover.  He offered one of the pair to Edge.  "Care to accompany me in going over near the edge of the river to get a better idea of what might need to be done to get the flood waters out of the village?"

As he began pulling one of the pairs of boots on, he continued.  "If understand correctly, the teenage girl that went with Dr. Corte's group north has the ability to move water?  While you are a telekinetic correct?"

[GranspearZX]

"Consider it confirmed." Marcus smiled faintly and nodded. "Sounds weird, but I can smell it on you. It's not a bad smell, mind you... It's not like it's necromancy or something. Smells more like elemental magic. "I guess that's about what I meant; 'magically-inclined' can mean a lot of different things. I know a lot of the theory behind it, but there's still only so much I can actually pull off. Typically the physical stuff. Anything else takes a lot more time and energy than I usually have to spare."

 

He shifted in his seat a little as the cargo van rolled through a rougher patch of the road. "I can't really say if it's important or not... Heck, it's been like two years and I still haven't really used my abilities all-out. At least, that's what I've heard."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's one of my powers, sure," agreed Mark, who was rarely one to brag. When the boots were on, he headed out with the engineer. "I can't fly, if that's what you're asking," he commented, "so we're walking whatever we wind up doing." As his boots squished along on the increasingly muddy surface beneath their feet, Edge had one of the brief moments of disconnect between where he was and what he'd expected to be doing just a few years earlier, but shook it off quickly. "I've been working closely with hydrokinetics lately, so I've got some special training in flood relief. The easiest thing to do is just open a vortex and suck it away somewhere else, or put down a polymer gel and then dissolve that... 

[Thevshi]

Giang nodded slightly as Marcus explained to her that he was able to smell magic on her, smiling slightly as he mentioned that it was not a bad smell.  "Thank you for confirming my suspicion."  She replied. 

 

"I will admit I know very little about magic, or the theory behind it, save for what overlap there may be in the teachings of Taoism or Confucianism.  But given your confirmation, I am rather certain that it is 'elemental' in nature.  I have strong reason to believe that I my powers are drawn from the shui, or water phase, of the Wu Xing.  And if that is truly the case, then there are more abilities I have yet to learn to use."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

"No, I wasn't wondering if you could fly."  Gorrell replied with a small smile as he and Edge wadded into the flooded sections of the village and started towards the river’s edge.  "Just wanted to get an idea about what resources we might have in terms of dealing with the after effects of the flood while trying to do what we can to prevent it from happening again during the rest of the rainy season."

 

He regarded the hero for a moment as they wadded along.  "A vortex?  Where would you be sending it away to?  Some other dimension?  Or just somewhere else nearby?"  He asked.  "While I realize it may seem a bit counter intuitive when we are dealing with a flood here, water is scarce enough resource on this continent that I would prefer not to do anything that permanently removes any significant amounts of it from the ecosystem.  This area may currently have an overabundance, but that can change rather quickly."

 

The pair made their way through the crude buildings of the village, past the villagers and Blue Jay who were trying to locate anything salvageable within the flooded area.  Reaching the banks of the river, Edge could see that there were some earthen levies in place, but that sections of them had been collapsed by what looked like overrun caused by the initial flooding.  The damage was significant enough that the raised water level of the river meant that removing the flood waters in the village would mean that new water from the river would immediately flow into the vacated space.

 

"Well, these are certainly going to have to be repaired before we do anything about the water in the village."  The civil engineer replied as he and Edge continued to walk along the banks of the river, surveying the damage.

[GranspearZX]

Giang nodded slightly as Marcus explained to her that he was able to smell magic on her, smiling slightly as he mentioned that it was not a bad smell.  "Thank you for confirming my suspicion."  She replied. 

 

"I will admit I know very little about magic, or the theory behind it, save for what overlap there may be in the teachings of Taoism or Confucianism.  But given your confirmation, I am rather certain that it is 'elemental' in nature.  I have strong reason to believe that I my powers are drawn from the shui, or water phase, of the Wu Xing.  And if that is truly the case, then there are more abilities I have yet to learn to use."

 

"I still haven't quite figured mine out either, and I've been at this a while. I could be holding back... at least, that's what the instructors think. That's partly why I'm out here. The whole 'facing your fear' thing. I don't really do well when water's involved..."

 

Marcus fidgeted a little at the thought. He could swim, sure--but it wasn't something he was able to do consciously. He'd panic and sink like a stone, all because of a rather unfortunate accident when he was 7 years old. The last time, the Beast Rune had mostly snapped him out of his phobia, and he hadn't been able to reproduce the effect since. But he wasn't willingly going anywhere near large bodies of water... and now here he was, aiding flood victims with a secret fear of drowning in obscurity.