ic Man vs Nature: Here Comes the Boom

[Heritage]

As soon as she saw the blood oozing out of the wound, Grim was furious with herself. "S###s###s###s###s###! Damn it, s###!" She had to get him to medical attention, now, but she already had four kids tucked into her little bower, which Grim had a feeling would soon have blood soaked into its bed of pine needles.

 

Finally she made a decision; she would run over to the shelter as fast as she could, drop off the four kids, then make a mad dash back to the bus driver. To keep a lower profile wind-wise, she would have to go on all fours; the shapeshifter slipped back out the window, took on the shape of a huge wolfhound, and began bounding across the muddy streets towards the shelter.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

Velocity held up her hand to stop the old woman that was volunteering to leave as her gaze remained on the man that had spoken up. The speedster did not have time for any macho posturing or egos, or even just pure selfishness.  "See, it is not just a bus, it is a bus filled with injured children. And I see plenty of room in here for them. The storm is almost fully past, so it is time to start doing what can be done to help those that were caught in it."

"Since you wanted to speak up, you have just volunteered to come with me to help move the children here." She added. "Or…you can just end up taking a nap and we will get them moved here anyway."

[EternalPhoenix]

The wind roared in Queenie’s ears. She couldn’t hear anything over or under that omnipresent sound. So, she’d just have to use her eyes. At first, there was nothing and no one. What’d you expect, McQueen? Lines of adoring brown people hailing their savior? Nothing’s that easy, sunshine. Then, on top of a hill, a building had collapsed and was sliding down said hill. There were no flies on Maybelle McQueen. She flew over to the collapsed building as fast as she could and made a nice big colander to catch all that debris. She dug the edge slightly into the side of the hill so that nothing would slide under it. An trick she learned in the kitchen long ago. She just hoped she could hold it all.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Velocity's lack of tact did nothing to ease the man's furor.  The red flush of pallor on his cheeks were a testament to how upset the man was to be openly challenged.  When no one rushed to his assistance he had no choice but to hold his tongue.  However, his body language  made it readily apparent that he did not lie his authority being in question.  Grumbling all the while he walked over to the door and opened it.  Immediately getting knocked down by the sudden burst of wind.

 

---

 

Grimalkin's movement was fast even under the worst conditions.  But, she was no Velocity.  Her new form found itself tested under the trying conditions of the storm even as it began to showed further signs of dying down.  However, the Grimalkin wolf pressed on.  Her sense of smell dampened it did nothing to curtail her charge.  While she couldn't clear the distance for making it to the shelter fast enough, it helped in narrowly avoiding a tree taken off the roots.

 

---

 

Fortunately, Queenie's giant energy colander managed to catch the runaway pieces of debris without any escaping through the holes in the bowl.  However, the real test came in keeping everything inside the bowl as the weight of the material gradually increased.  When the pieces or rubble and debris were fully collected the chef was left with a decision.  How to clean up this kitchen?  She was on a definite time constrained as her construct remained tested under the weight of the material.

[Thevshi]

Velocity was behind the man in an flash, catching him before he fell too far and quickly setting him back right on his feet. "Come on now, are you telling me that you cannot handle a bit of wind? I’ve been out running in that for a little while now, just have to lean into it."

Once the man was steadily back on his feet, the yellow clad speedster gave a little nod with her head. "Well, no need to waste more time, there are kids out there that need to get to shelter and some help." With that, she moved out the door in a blur, stopping a short distance until the man followed after her. She then pointed out the direction of the bus, stating she would run ahead and bring back another of the children for him to carry back to the shelter, so they could make something of a chain, even if Velocity was the one covering most of the chain's distance. Then she was off back toward the bus.

[EternalPhoenix]

Queenie was stuck. Now what? I caught it. But I can’t just toss it somewhere. Hmm. She thought. The weight grew more oppressive. She thought some more. The weight pushed the limits of tolerance. Then, an idea struck. The colander shifted into an oversized gravy boat with a lid. Slowly and cautiously, she poured out the debris on the road leading to the residential area. Don’tblowawaydon’tblowawaydon’tblowaway. For the moment it appeared nothing would, in fact, blow away. However, the job was nowhere near done. Now, let’s see if anyone was in that building, eh? Shouting’s out. I can barely hear myself think. So, I’ll just have to look. This is a job for…darn. None of my tools will work. So then, simplest way. One more gravy boat, a bit smaller this time and with no lid. A silver tendril reached out and started grabbing smaller debris pieces and tossing them into the gravy boat. Who knows? Maybe there is someone under here. Even though I hope not.

[Heritage]

The Grimhound paused for a few seconds under a corrugated metal awning that created a veritable waterfall, soaked to the bone and growling in frustration; the cold didn't bother her as much the wind and damp.

Why the hell am I even down here? I'm no good at this kind of work!

There was a rush of wind and splash of water as what could only be Velocity tore past.

See, she's in her element down here; I don't know what the hell I'm playing at...

But down here she was, and there was nothing to do but soldier on; the magical canine panted a few times and plunged back into the wind and rain, determined to make it to the safety of the shelter at any cost.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Heritage

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Determination and grit proved worth its weight in gold as the open door allowed Grimalkin to catch the scent of the emergency shelter.  Her hearing also further alerting her to the entrance way of the building.  Clearing the last bit of distance Grim was able bound inside catching whiff of Velocity's recent presence in the room there lingered a tense atmosphere in the room.

 

What came next was a series of confused scrambling and screams with some people taking the appearance of a large black dog as an omen.  The self styled leader of the shelter was too busy outside trying to  brave against the elements and start Velocity's requested chain.  Ironically as the only hero(ine) on the island nation not hampered by the language barrier, Grimalkin understood the next bit of conversation all too clearly.

 

<"Someone get a rifle!">  

 

<"I'ts just a dog calm down."

 

---

 

The gravy boat worked for diverting the runoff.  The resulting area looked like a landfill more than collapsed building and various debris.  Included in that debris was luckily a notable lack of corpses.  A definite improvement over the potential loss of life involved with the initial landslide.  Queenie's aerial search didn't immediately alert her to any trapped civilians.

 

There were clearly  enough collapsed buildings to look into individually.  The possibility for someone to be trapped inside remained just as strong as before.

 

---

 

Velocity arrived back to the bus scene.  It took her no time to notice that there were less children aboard the bus.  Even less time for her to hear groaning from the bus.  But, in the interim she could not see Grimalkin anywhere around.  The wide berth of visual circumference provided by her goggles did, however, allow her to spot the wolfhound when she had left the shelter.  Lastly, she could even see that the furor of the wind was beginning to die down.

 

But, Velocity was no observer.  Grabbing two children she easily managed to cover the distance back to the man who was not a fan of the Speedster.  Returning to the bus in the blink of an eye she had all the time in the world to act.  The chain which was only beginning to form began bringing the children inside.

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia only allowed herself a moment of satisfaction at dealing with the impending disaster, there were after all many more disaster happening on the island tonight. Floating in the air for a few second she listening to the high pitch sounds trying to get an idea of where she had to go next.

Then in a flash she took off flying at her top speed toward the source of the trouble.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Triakosia's keen hearing had led her far away from the residential or commercial areas of the island.  Instead, she seemed to have ended up in abandoned lot.  In the center of this lot was a giant dome shaped building with two smoke funnels.  Outside were various small metallic boxes that served some sort of purpose.  But the reporter was not a nuclear physicist so she couldn't offhand recall their purposes.

 

However, Dancia knew she was looking at a Nuclear Reactor.  Because the design was similar to one found in a famed 1960s newspaper.  While there a space age feel to the whole thing.  The technology inside was no doubt dated.

[TheAbsurdist]

Fortunately Asad could move shelves and other things wholesale into the back of the truck.  He was being as careful as the situation allowed for, which was minimal at the moment.  It wasn't like he could absorb the energy of a storm, or stop a storm.  But realistically he wasn't going to focus on the negatives, instead he was going to focus on the 'win moments.'

 

"<Don't worry!  I will get you and this to safety.>"

 

Of course as he kept working, and pushing, and occasionally slipping on the slickened ground, he started to glow and coruscate with Cherenkov radiation.  It wasn't going to irradiate someone, but it is visually impressive with what resembled blue flames were flickering and licking across his form.

[Heritage]

The massive dog shook itself violently, spraying water all over the town residents huddled in the shelter; it then sat back on its haunches, was surrounded by pale gray mist, and turned into short, damp slender girl wearing a domino mask and leather uniform of some kind. The beautiful girl looked sheepish and shrugged. "Sorry! Then she cleared her throat and proceeded to speak in perfect, accentless local Spanish.

<"Hello, my name is Grimalkin, and I've come to help."> She traced a large circle on the wall, which then opened into the little grotto of safety where she'd stashed the four unconscious children she'd rescued from the bus. She reached into the pocket and pulled out the first child, then gently laid her on the floor. "<My powers may seem strange or frightening to you, but I assure you they are safe and I put them all at your disposal."> As she started to bring out the next one, she indicated the outside with a nod of her head. <"A man is bleeding to death out in that bus; I need a volunteer to help me save him.">

Edited December 1, 2014 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

Whatever else the man she had forced to become the closest end of the chain thought of her, Velocity was glad he had done as directed, and that others had moved out to help as well.  She was not down here to try to win any popularity contests, not when there were people that needed help and the selfish attitudes of some stood in the way of that.  Still, if she tried to get the man to take part in any other rescue efforts, she would try to do so in a way that was not a direct challenge to his authority, and hopefully he would not be so difficult.

 

Putting the thought from her mind for the moment, the speedster focused on zipping back and forth to retrieve more children from the bus, taking some all the way to the shelter herself when the small chain that had formed was going too slow.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Grimalkin & Velocity

 

The chain of people outside of the building steadily increased.  Not quick enough to match the rate of the speedster running back and forth.  But, still significant enough to speed, by the average person's measure of the word, the process up.  There was a constant display of water splashing all over the place as Velocity rocketed back and forth.

 

In the meantime.  A young man in his mid twenties agreed to go with Grimalkin.  Claiming to be a paramedic.  Baring the elements the pair began their trek back towards the bus.  By the time they had made it back to the bus.  Velocity was down to only three children left behind.  Which meant they only really had to contend with the bus driver.

 

Asad & Queenie

 

Queenie's search of the area was eventually able to find a mother and five year old daughter trapped inside their underground cellar.  At the time it was covered by debris of what used  to be the house.  Something that was no trouble for her to clear.  Airborne she was able to see, even through the violent winds that had slightly died down further, the bright azure colored wisps of radiation coming from a figure.

 

Unbeknownst to Queenie that effulgent light belonged to none other than Asad.   As soon as Asad finished loading the truck and man inside to the best of his ability they took off.  Avoiding the timely collapse of the pharmacy.  Road conditions weren't what one would consider safe.  So now the hero carrying a truck had to decide where he was going to go.

[Heritage]

Grim was greatly relieved to see almost all of the kids out of the bus; she led the young man to the badly-injured driver. <"Okay, here he is! What do you need from me? I can make just about anything made of wood, stone, paper or cloth. Or glass or plastic, just no metal. If we need to move him, I can do that, too.">

She didn't want to forget about the ambulance in the river, either; someone might still be trapped in there, plus it might still have some badly-needed medical supplies. As soon as she could, she had to fly down and check for survivors.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Heritage

[TheAbsurdist]

Now... now it was a matter of figuring out where to take it.  So he headed inland, trying to find a place that would somewhat sheltered from all of this.  Not that he was a science geek, so he would adjust his grip to yell at the pharmacist, "<Where... where is there a shelter or some place to go?!>"  Hollering because he had no choice.  Fortunately he didn't have to move anything further, which allowed for someone to see him glowing in the middle of the storm.  Still he lowered to the ground, as he didn't want to hold the trailer in the middle of the air.

[EternalPhoenix]

Through gesturing and lots of smiles, Queenie managed to communicate that she in fact here to help. Yes, the big saucepan was safe to be inside. No, it wouldn’t abruptly disappear. Queenie idly wondered if the ring had translation abilities, but did not ask the VI. More important things to get done today. And so they were off towards that glow in the distance. Which turned out to be a glowing person, of all things. Like Maybelle was one to talk. The ring’s powers glowed a bit, too. The glowing person was carrying a truck. So he was kind of strong, then. She thought about hitting him first, as he seemed more like a looter than someone who was helping, buuuuut…it’d be too rude. So she came up with a different plan of action.

While Asad pondered his dilemma, the wind and rain that had been hammering against Asad’s body eased. A blonde angel decended from the heavens. “Hi, sunshine. Why are you carrying a truck?†Wait, she wasn’t an angel. Just a beautiful woman encased in transparent silver. The same transparent silver that was all around the two of them and the truck. Wait again, the five of them. The man with Asad and those two in-was that a saucepan? And what was shielding them from the weather? “That’s a bundt pan. You can make bundt cakes with it. What? It’s umbrella shaped.â€

[Tiffany Korta]

Dancia knew more about Nuclear reactors than she really cared to know, they had regular safety briefings at the Raymond  Nuclear Plant normally after super villain attacks. It was where they sent new reporters to test their resolve, especially as it barely made a few column inches, but in Dancia’s case it was actually useful.

She couldn’t check the reactor itself from the outside, they unhelpfully lined it in lead, so she flew toward the plant to try and find the control room, hopefully she could determine how bad things were in the reactor.

 

How difficult could it be?