ic It's Still a Planet to Me [IC]

[trollthumper]

Friday, December 13th, 2013

Somewhere Around Saturn

12:32 PM

 

The time had come for some action. 

 

Kyle had been getting ready for work when Mentor had called in. A distress call had been picked up on Lor frequencies a few hours before, and had finally made its way to Mentor's networks. A mining vessel had encountered critical engine failure somewhere around Charon, and taken environmental systems on line. There were two days of air left on the ship, with a narrow window for Lor rescue vessels to enter nearby space. Conditions were so bad that the miners were broadcasting salvage rights to rescuers over the frequencies. 

 

Kyle, of course, was thinking more altruistically. After arranging a sick day and getting some coffee, he took to the skies. The atmosphere was left behind in a few seconds, and the Moon a few minutes after that. Usually, it would be a quiet, contemplative flight to the other end of the system - but he'd arranged some company this time. 

 

"You ever get tired of this?" 

[Thunder King]

Henry was glad to be helping with the situation at hand. While he had no problem fighting super villains and taking down bank robbers, it made him feel like he was truly doing a hero's work when it came to saving people. He would admit that he enjoyed a good fight, but helping people, making someone's life better or saving their life, was a better use of his time. At least, that's what he thought.

 

"Sometimes, but then I'll see something I've never seen before, or really look at something for the first time, and I remember that while it's kind of routine to me, I shouldn't ever lose sight of how amazing it is just to be out here."

[Blue Rose]

"Captain! Incoming distress call!" A woman with gigantic ears and huge, black eyes announces the message from her station at comms.

"Who is it from?" the captain asks, her tone dispassionate, as it must be for the job.

"A mining vessel near Pluto, ma'am. They're offering salvage rights."

Silvia quirks an eyebrow at that. "Interesting. Helm, set a course." She grabs a handset to broadcast across the ship, "Excursion team to stations; prepare for rescue operations." Then, one final order. "Gunner, ready a full broadside. This may be a real distress call, or it might be the oldest trap there is. We will not be caught unawares."

With the flip of a switch, she sounds the signal for the rest of the crew to man battle stations as the galleon blazes through the stars, a river of starlight in her wake.

[trollthumper]

Silvia's ship soon arrived at the vessel. It was clear from the exterior that this was a mining vessel - the usual utility of form, somewhat rough-angled and meant mainly to serve as decoration for the cargo containers. But it was fairly polished for a mining ship, and the designation stood out in resplendent golden Lor script. Two figures stood outside, studying - one in the green armor of a Star Knight, the other in a blue and gold outfit.

"Nice ship!" came the hail over comms. "the more the merrier on this one. And now that we're all on the party line... Lor vessel, this is Star Knight Steward of Earth hailing. Please respond."

Silence. Absolute silence.

"yeah, that's always a good portent..."

[Thunder King]

"This isn't good. I'm no expert on rescue or salvage, so I'll let you take the lead." He said, turning back to the other ship. "That ship, that's the first I've ever seen anything quite like that." He said. His voice was a combination of confusion and a hint of admiration.  "Hope the Captain is friendly. Wouldn't want anyone to get hostile over salvage rights. This whole thing doesn't quite feel right. I'll be on guard while we're in there."

[Blue Rose]

That's never a good sign. The silence, or the presence of the star knights. And is that a human in the middle of it? Odd.

"Helm. Bring us close enough for unassisted rescue."

The good captain takes up the comm, to make sure nobody gets an itchy trigger finger over the move. "Attention cargo vessel. This is Captain Silvia of the Ages Lost. We are currently on an approach course to surround your port airlock in our environmental field." A more comprehensible answer than, 'personal magic air bubble,' to most. "All personnel, exit through the stated course; we are ready to retrieve you."

The move isn't more likely to get a response than the last hail, but it's worth the attempt.

[trollthumper]

"I've seen a few like that," Cavalier said to Henry. "A number of them are the custom jobs, made by people who want to call back to their planet's age of exploration, only with solar sails instead of canvas ones. Few of them, though... few of them actually have magic, or a reality engine, or some other sort of mojo that makes it actually work instead of being a hard lesson in the perils of vacuum." 

 

Question is, which one have we got here?

 

As Silvia's ship came up portside with the Lor mining vessel, Cavalier felt free to pop the locks. Once the doors were open, he was able to get in, leaving the airlocks open long enough for anyone who wanted to follow along - but not long enough to send atmosphere rushing out. As he entered the ship proper, the layout came to him like it was second nature. He'd been on a number of mining ships before - sometimes for supply runs, sometimes to answer distress calls that turned out to involved a plague, a parasite, or weirder things. Here was the galley, here were the bunks, here was the ore processor. 

 

But it was still probably the cleanest mining ship he'd ever seen. The walls didn't have a streak of rust or oil, and the air still smelled fresh, as if it had perfectly preserved planetary atmosphere. 

 

"Man," said Cavalier as he stepped through the halls, "leave it to the Lor. Even their roughnecks are pristine. All right, we need to find these guys and --" 

 

He turned the corner and found the Lor he was looking for. Three of them, all in standard blue collar space gear, all passed out on the floor. "Found 'em. Solar Sentinel, Captain Silvia, could use your help in here. These guys may need medical attention." 

[Blue Rose]

"Recovery team, with me."

The good captain floats off the ship, a trio of crewmembers following down the gangplank, joining the Star Knight in the ship. She gives the ship an appraising eye, unimpressed. Lor ships never inspired. Too controlled, too sterile. And no way of knowing if their cargo is even worth the salvage.

"Tend to them," she commands her team as she sets to more important work without distraction.

Her eyes shut and she lets out a low hum, the echo inaudible to most, but clear as crystal to her as it bounces throughout the ship, giving her the lay of the land.

[Thunder King]

Henry walked to the crew and bent down, looking them over a bit for physical harm. His powers could let him heal others, but only if there were wounds. He wasn't sure how it worked.

 

He bent down and let the healing energy flow out of him and into the Lor. The Lor glowed for a few moments, and then nothing.

 

"Hmm." He said. "That..." He stood up. "That's not good." He looked up at Cavalier and Stormbreaker. "It's as if they're brain dead, but if they are, how are they breathing? There's nothing physically wrong with them, but they're not responding, either."

 

He was no expert on physiology, Lor or otherwise, but this raised an alarm in his head. Instantly, he was on alert. "Something is very wrong here." He said. "We need to tread lightly."

[Blue Rose]

"Regardless, they are stable for now. So long as we can get them to safety, a specialist can worry about the details of their condition another time. At present, I count ten crewmen still alive; however, there is something else. Possibly a lifeform I haven't encountered before..."

She takes stock of the situation. Resources, options. Including a particularly brutal option that isn't available on her own ship.

"Take these three back to the ship then come back," she orders her team, and they start tending the injured.

"We should head to security. If we can access the surveillance system, we may be able to identify the intruder. Perhaps even seal it in or space it."

[trollthumper]

"Yeah, we've officially gotten into weird territory." Cavalier flicked his wrist; the armor shifted around the gauntlet, regathering in his palm and coalescing into the form of a blaster. "All right, everyone, defenses on high. We're dealing with brain suckers from outer space. If you have to open fire, make sure they're still in a condition to help us switch this back... if they can."

 

---

 

Meanwhile, Back on Earth...

 

Detective Curtis stood outside of the apartment building in Lincoln, trying to catch her breath and not think about what was inside. Living in Freedom meant there was a fair deal of "unusual" crime, and a number of detectives dreading getting such cases. They knew that the matter would likely be out of their hands, and it was up to the heroes to net the collar. Besides, she had trouble thinking of an earthly force that could have pulled off what was going on inside. 

[Brown Dynamite]

One would think being able to see the future would mean a lot less time listening to police radio frequencies for cases worth investigating.  One would be dead wrong.  The psychic investigator known as Foreshadow loathed the idea of not jumping into every opportunity to help out the Southern districts of Freedom City.  An odd mixture of obsession and loving the adrenaline rush from being into the thick of things kept him on his toes.  So at the first sign of the interesting nature behind Detective Curtis' case Foreshadow had made his way for Lincoln.

 

Silently arriving on the scene hooded acrobat would clear his throat to alert the apparently startled detective that he was on the scene.  From his perspective she looked shaken, worried even.  

[Blue Rose]

"I would sooner get the crew off, space every compartment on the ship, collect the salvage, then find a specialist, but I shall try... to..."

She trails off for a moment, then doubles back towards the ship to bellow after her crew, "And tie down the patients!"

At that odd decree, she returns and explains. "We must be cautious. It may not just be a mind wipe, but a mind override. Be wary the victims."

At that, she leads the group further in, in search of the security room. Whether or not the others follow her lead is their business.

[trollthumper]

On Earth

 

"Glad to see you could make it," said Curtis. "We've got another one."

 

She led Foreshadow up to the third floor, into an apartment that was a mix between Oriental rugs and thick leather-bound books and the finest things one could buy from Ikea. Lying on the floor, sprawled out like she was trying to crawl for the door, laying a woman in her early thirties, clad in sweatpants and FCU sweatshirt. Her eyes were wide, as if locked in terror. 

 

"Marisa Franklin. Thirty-two years old, American history professor at FCU. EMTs haven't moved her yet - my request - but are ready to go at the signal. Field analysis indicates she's like the other two, though. She's still alive, still breathing - but there's nothing on behind the eyes. At all."

 

Around Pluto

 

Cavalier followed behind Silvia, blaster drawn. There always was something about mining ships that had him reaching for his gun - back in the day, he'd blamed it on watching Alien one too many times. But this time, at least there was cause to that paranoia. In the distance, he could hear some sort of humming - maybe exposed wires, or an overclocked drive...

 

Silvia was first around the corner, which meant she was first to get a glimpse of the thing. The humming of powerful electricity grew louder suddenly, like a Doppler effect. But that was nothing compared to the din of gossamer wings flapping out a tattoo. The thing blew past the mouth of the corridor with the speed of a sprinter, but she'd gotten a good eyeful. A long, lizard-like torso clad in gray skin, ended in bird-like legs with talons; gigantic wings that mixed the features of a bat and an insect; and at the end of a long neck, a bulbous head that looked like the crown of a mushroom. It was gone again... but only for a few seconds. Soon, as if doing a double take, it poked the top of its head around the corner; below that, Silvia could see something with the rough shape of a gun coming from what must have been its hands, lightning crackling from its barrel. 

 

"Bzzzzzzz?"

[trollthumper]

Cavalier came to a halt as Stormbreaker did up ahead, and was glad he did when he heard the buzzing. He raised his blaster, ready to dash out from cover. "Think we've been --"

 

Before he could even finish the sentence, the strange insect-thing moved out into the hallway, sparking cannon at the ready. It let out a buzz that sounded more like white noise than anything else as its weapon discharged, arcing through the hall. The bolt struck Stormbreaker right in the chest, causing her to fight for control of her muscles. She'd experienced worse, of course, but this still didn't feel good. The thing down the hallway flapped its diaphanous wings, somewhere between a moth's and a bat's, and let out another shriek. 

 

"Well, there's our answer. Light him up!" 

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow kneeled down to get a better look at the woman sprawled out of the ground.  As an FCU student, albeit with a spotty attendance record opting for a lot of online courses, the sight of the professor hit a little close to home.  Her blank terrified stare inspiring nothing sort of sympathy for her condition.  "So this is the sort of thing that is going to end up as an urban legend kids tell around a campfire years from now.  Lucky us.  So how was she discovered, neighbors heard her scraping away the floorboards or something?" Specifically he wanted to know what else they someone could have heard that could point into the direction of explanation as to what could have left someone looking like this.

The details were important, Foreshadow knew he needed stop to it before there was a victim number four in this macabre horror piece.   Being shot at, jumping from buildings with a slim chance to release his swing line safely, people literally raining fire upon him.  Those were the sort of risks he expected in the night to night affairs of the Southside.  This was something entirely different.

[April]

"I am unable to reach her mind," a soft French-accented soprano stated.

Whether the masked and hooded figure--small but clearly feminine, if the voice hadn't been enough of a clue--had always been there, just arrived or followed the detective and the other hero in was anyones guess. But she moved about the crime scene with preternatural grace, and a silence that clearly indicated that she is being seen only because she had decided to allow it.

"Even those in a coma leave something behind I can touch," the telepath explained in her quiet voice. "With the Professor I can sense nothing." She paused. "Nothing local, that is. Her mind feels... receptive, like an open receiver on a telephone or a radio."

[trollthumper]

Curtis started slightly as the Blue Fox emerged from the shadows and explained what she'd discovered. "I'm guessing you know how to handle a crime scene," she said, "so we can skip that whole discussion. So... whatever's managed to boost the professor's brain managed to install a remote connection. Like... there's no one home, but someone can still make sure the lights and water stay on..."

 

She shook her head. "Man, that's a crappy metaphor. God, I hate dealing with this psychic crap." A moment's thought, then a glance over to the two heroes. "No offense to you two. This is probably second nature for you. So. nobody's on the line, but the connection's still open. Any idea where the other caller is?"

 

As Curtis said it, Eve could feel something resound in the professor's mind. While there was still nothing, there was a sense that the distance between one end and the other wasn't that great. The culprit might still be in the neighborhood...

[April]

"Most people do, Detective Curtis," the Blue Fox replied, her tone giving no indication as to whether or not she was offended by the detective's offhand comment. If anything there was a slight undercurrent of amusement, as if the telepath were sometimes counted among those that hated dealing with 'this psychic crap.'

"Hmm," Eve murmured aloud, cocking her head to the side as she regarded the professor. She looked up, green eyes narrowing as she glanced off to the side and slightly upward, staring out past the confines of the apartment towards the roof of the adjacent building. "Whomever did this is still in the neighborhood, and very close."

[Brown Dynamite]

Foreshadow didn't address his viewpoint on the 'psychic crap'.  Though his lips almost parted in such a way so as to form an empathetic smile, knowing all too well the viewpoint.  His concern still laid with aiding the professor and the other victims.  "Running with this receiver metaphor.  If she's not aware of what's going on around her.  Does that leave room for the possibility that the culprit could be aware of what occurs through her surroundings?"

 

Foreshadow's eyes set in the direction that the Blue Fox's head had settled upon.  Unsure of it was an indication to an actual direction corresponding to their target.  Or merely a quirk of trying to track down the mental signal.  Either way it seemed she was able to pinpoint something.  "Close is good.  Means they can get a friendly greeting from the neighborhood watch all the sooner."

[Blue Rose]

The electric shock finds istelf dispersed across metal mail, and the good captain appears to hardly be affected by it at all.  Though it has not gone unnoticed, as she levels a bone-chilling glare at the creature.

 

"Insolent-"

 

Whatever colorful words she might have chosen to round out that statement are buried under a rush of wind towards her palm, which she swiftly redirects into a blast of air right to the creature's chest.

 

She draws her sword, ready to let the pointy end explain to this creature exactly where it went wrong.

[trollthumper]

Freedom City

 

Curtis flipped on her radio. "Dispatch, send out an APB to every cop in the neighborhood. Tell them to be on the lookout for suspicious looking characters in the area of Hartley and Milford. Tell them to keep an eye to the alleys, the rooftops... yeah, I know, I can't really get anything more specific. It sucks. But just be on the lookout for weird-ass individuals, got it?"

 

As soon as Curtis flipped off the band, Sage could feel the connection shifting. It was as if one end of the signal was drawing away, causing the pitch of the silence to shift. 

 

"You're not gonna believe this... we've got movement on Lamont, one block over. Looks like they're bounding across the rooftops."

 

In Orbit

 

Stormbreaker's wind turned out to have more of a brunt than the insect's lightning, as the blast washed over its skin, snaking in under its chitin. The creature twitched, trying to maintain balance on too many legs. It kept its eyes on the heroes and its hands on its gun, but it didn't look like it had the strength to do much more. 

[Thunder King]

Henry charged a blast of cosmic energy, ready to strike at the bizarre alien foe. Unfortunately, the creature seemed to shrug off the blast. Henry was glad that his allies were capable of hurting it, because so far, he felt like it was simply too tough.

 

It had happened more and more lately, that he ran in to foes that could simply shrug off or dodge his best efforts. He had spent so long being more powerful than everyone else around him that he rarely actually trained. His power usually sufficed. Since returning to Earth, he felt like a small fish in an ocean. He felt that it was time to correct this, and learn the true level of power he could channel forth.

[trollthumper]

Gun fights in enclosed spaces. There was a whole chapter in Cavalier's autobiography that could be titled that. Fortunately, he was somewhat familiar with mining rigs like this, and it looked like the insect wasn't exactly operating with his full faculties. He dove for a nearby hatch, the kind of thing that looked like it might provide some cover. The insect, drawing up whatever energy it could muster, adjusted its aim to try and hit Cavalier - and as he did, Cavalier opened fire, aiming for the exposed side of the thorax. The energy bolt connected with the creature's chitin... and burst harmlessly off of a hardened patch. 

 

"They make these things tough, wherever it comes from." 

[Brown Dynamite]

"Got it."  Foreshadow bounded out the window as quickly as Curtis had explained where the sighting was.  It wasn't that he was bad at playing well with others.  That was his predecessor's deal.  No, Foreshadow was just overly enthusiastic in wanting to catch the person committing these crimes.  Even better if it was on a rooftop.  That's where he did his thing best.

 

Drawing his multi purpose escrima sticks Foreshadow combined them and immediately activated the swingline.  Seeking to ascend onto the high rise rooftops for getting the collar.  "Time to have a heart to heart with today's daily monster."  The hooded acrobat was flying through the air in hot pursuit.  Completely driven after seeing the aftermath of what this guy would keep doing if left on his own devices for too long.

 

Alright.  I might be a little tired of this psychic crap too sometimes.