ic Metallic Mesozoic Monsters!

[Raveled]

Hanover, Freedom City

September 27th, 2014

Afternoon

It was a day like any other in Freedom City; the sun was shining, birds were singing, and there were police vehicles pulled up in front of a shred laboratory in Hanover. Lights flashed and junior officers cordoned off the area, while other officers in body armor kept windows and doors covered. Corona observed all of this from high above and approved of the crisp movements and precision. However, she wasn’t the sort to watch trouble happen, and so before long the alien in the hardsuit had planted herself in the middle of the carefully orchestrated chaos. “I’m Corona,†she announced. “Whichever y’all’s in charge here, I’d like to take a jawin’ with him.â€

“Sergeant Brant.†Corona turned around and faced a tall man with brick-red skin. “And you just fell out of the sky, so hello. I don’t suppose you’re here to tell us what’s causing those noises in there?†Corona was about to ask for some clarification, when a rumbling roar split the noonday street. She turned and watched as a great bulk eclipsed several windows -- at once -- before moving on. “Yeah, that thing. I don’t suppose you know what that thing is?â€

[horngeek]

Corona wasn't the only one who noticed the activity- Memorial dropped out of the sky, pulling off a perfect landing on the pavement- dust slightly thrown up as her feet dropped lightly onto the ground.  Her scarf played out in the wind, as the red-haired cyborg looked at the window.  "Oooooh, so that's why there's all the Justices around, huh.  Sorry, police officers.  Need to get the correct terminology.  Anyway, I'm Memorial, pleased to meet you... Corona, was it?"

 

Kyla tilted her head in respect, both towards Corona and the Sergeant.  "Anyway.  No idea what that thing might be, but we could always go inside and check?  I mean, I don't know about you, but I'd say I'm tough- and fast- enough to keep out of the way of...

 

Whatever that is.  Actually, what is that place, anyway?"

[souffle_girl]

Emily was working in the workshop when HAL brought her the news.

"What? They're around where? That's a little close for comfort. I swear, if it's that Steampunk fella again, this time I'm going to give him the beating of his life!"

HAL commented in a number of beeps and bloops Em didn't bother to reply to; she was already giving commands to the control console to unclamp her suit and run a quick systems check, then she squirmed her way into the control seat, only her head sticking out of the armor.

"Stay here, HAL. I'll be back soon," Emily said, starting up the main engine and walking out of the main door in loud thumps. Ten minutes later, she landed with a precise, controlled burst of her jump pack on the ground in front of the police.

"Sorry if I'm late. What's going on here?" she scanned the faces around, noticing the police and a couple of supers she never met before. "And before you ask, my name's Mechanized."

Edited October 11, 2014 by souffle_girl

[Raveled]

Corona nodded at the two arrivals and did her best to suppress her reaction to hustle them off. Abnormally powered individuals liaised on a whim all the time on Earth, as she understood; she would just have to adjust. At the very least, though, she could try and teach them the correct method for doing things. "First we oughta establish a line a' communication to those still in the building. Or at least learn who is and ain't supposed ta be in there."

"Building is owned by a realty agency in Boston," Brant said. "It's leased to a company called Real Fantasy. They're an SF/X company, they do CGI and machines for commercials and indie movies. They only person listed on the lease is the company founder," he added, "and we can't contact him. We tried calling in but no one picked up."

Corona nodded, noting that the police had taken the first few logical steps. "Then I reckon the next thang to do is ta' walk up and knock on tha' door."

[souffle_girl]

"I kind of specialize in knocking down doors, if that's needed. What can you girls exactly do, if I may ask?"

 

Emily then took a look at the building, trying to guess the best entry strategy. [OOC: Knowledge (Tactics) check]

[Raveled]

"I put the disagreeable into a arrestible frame a' mind." Brandt gave her a sideways look and shrugged with one shoulder. "I always talk to 'em first" she sadi. "I don't take pride in hurtin' folk. But I make sure those sort of folk ain't gonna be hurtin' the right sort of folk."

[horngeek]

"Well..."

 

Memorial smiled.  "Right now I'm pretty limited compared to where I would be at full capacity.  I can still fire and fire lasers at any threat that might be in there, and I'm quite a bit stronger than a standard human.  If needed, I could probably make a window entry, give supporting fire?"

 

She looked at the... movie set?  Remembering the shadow that passed by the windows.  "Whatever's in there seems like it was pretty big to me- we don't want to all go in by the same entry point and get bunched up, right?"

[souffle_girl]

"My baby's big too," grinned Mechanized, "I think it's settled then. I take point and break through the main door, Memorial provides covering fire and Corona... whatever you do best"

That said, Emily walked over to the main entrance and checked her force cannon.

"I'm going in!"

 

Diverting all energy to the suit's servomotors, she kicked the door smashing it open like paper and made her way through the remains.

 

"Let's see what's lurking here," Emily said, calling up her HUD to scan for threats. "And girls, stay behind my frame. It'll cover you," she added to her companions.

Edited October 9, 2014 by souffle_girl

[horngeek]

Memorial nodded, lifting up off the ground.  She looked for a proper window for a second... before drifting up.  "Okay, ready!"

 

As Emily smashed her way through the door, Memorial rushed forwards, smashing her way through the window.  Instantly, she slowed down, diverting power to her lasers- just in case there was something there.  Her white scarf fluttering slightly in the draft from the now-open window, the cyborg scanned the room carefully, looking for any threats.  

 

And sighing at the state of the building.  Something big was responsible, or something pretty strong.  And she wasn't sure there were any animals on this planet that could cause this much damage.  Or at least, this type of damage.  But then again... she was pretty new, here.  

[Raveled]

Corona flew off after the other two women. 'Whatever she did best' was emphatically not barreling in through the front door, but no one wanted to discuss a more complicated strategy. She followed in close behind the armor-suited woman, and once through the door she angled herself upwards. The rood was crisscrossed with exposed girders, and she ended up hovering just below them. "Throw down y'all weapons," she commanded, glowing like a flashlight, "and y'all can walk out under yer own power!"

She wasn't prepared for her canned speech to be met with a basso roar. The floor of the shop was crowded with heavy machinery and wooden workbenches, scattered here and there. More than a few had been upset or crushed to splinters under the weight of a massive quadrupedal reptile. Its back was covered in overlapping plates, and as the women menaced it the plates began to turn upwards and outwards to form nasty-looking spikes. Its long tail was tipped with a bony protrusion that it swung heavily.

Corona blinked. Her briefing this planet hadn't included anything the size of this monstrosity! "So we all gonna call this a pet violation, then?"

[souffle_girl]

Emily was ready for terrorists, power armor, burglars, even bulky mutants. But never in a hundred years she would have expected to find a large and intimidating dinosaur smashing things up in a building.

What was that thing? A real dinosaur? A robot? A clone? And what in the world was it doing there in the first place?

 

I really should get the camcorder integrated in the HUD. Things like this just deserve filming, she thought, then raised her gun.

 

"OK... You're just a very big, very scary lizard... Now be a good dinosaur and don't jump at us, will you?"  Mechanized said, not really knowing what to expect.

 

A lizard the size of a tank... and likely just as powerful she mentally added.

[Raveled]

"Right. Time to put tha uppity lizard in its place and go lookin' for the owner." The space-woman glowed golden and the power gathered in her arms and fists. With a cry she fell from the sky, striking the dinosaur squarely on its armored plates. The shockwave was a spectacular particle effect, but the beast didn't seem bothered by the hit. In fact, it seemed to siphon off some of the her golden energy. It traveled up the spines, arcing from one to another, growing in power as it went, until it zapped back to Corona! She crossed her arms and caught the blast on her bracers, and seemed unaffected.

"Okay," she shouted back to the other heroes. "Is that a normal thing for them ta do?"

[souffle_girl]

"I hardly think anything is normal about this," Mechanized told Corona.

"Well, so much for energy weapons; looks like we need to take care of it the old fashioned way. Computer, full power to servos, and let's hope the armor holds!"

With that, Mechanized charged straight at the monster, trying to land a two-handed blow on the creature. Her armored fists connected with the softer chin of the beast, that let out a growl.

"You felt that, didn't you? And there's more where that came from!"

Edited October 13, 2014 by souffle_girl

[horngeek]

Memorial looked at the beast.  "Oh, aren't you adorable.  And interesting, too!  Anyway, I'm not sure whether it's energy weapons, or just close-up energy weapons.  And my strength-boosters aren't really at the point where they can handle something like this, soooooo..."

 

Diverting power to laser - right arm.

 

A circular set of... holograms?  Energy foci?  Appeared around Memorial's upper arm, spinning around as they extended a little past her hand.  As Memorial pointed her arm at the dinosaur, red energy focused in the palm of her hand... before shooting out as a laser, the burst of energy slamming into the creature.  She felt a little bad about this, but they couldn't let any people get hurt...

 

And then Kyla watched in fascination as the spines charged themselves again.  "Okay, so it doesn't really protect the thing, it looks like, it just responds to any- whoops!"

 

The returning arc slammed into her... and then the cyborg looked up.  "Hey!  That could have damaged- okay, no, it couldn't have damaged my scarf, that thing's tough, but still, that scarf's pretty valuable to me and it's the principle of the thing!"

[Raveled]

The monster roared, rattling the windows and burying Corona and Mechanized in a wave of halitosis. The Lor officer gagged behind her helmet and almost didn't notice it when the creature pivoted, swinging its long, club-like tail at the duo! She turned at the last moment and took it on her shoulder, though, deflecting most of the force.

Corona looked the creature over, considering her options. She couldn't very well punch it since it could just throw that back in her face, but if the laser was any indication then blasting it from afar was out as well. Well, she still had one trick up her ultra-strength sleeve... She leaned back for room and brought her hands together in a forceful clap, sending a wave of displaced air through the shop. In anything with ears the pressure wave should have scrambled its brains, but the dinosaur merely looked at her dumbly and tried to take a bit out of her arm.

[souffle_girl]

When the dinosaur's tail came swinging at her, Mechanized tried to avoid the strike but her armor was just too bulky. The HUD flashed up like a christmas tree when the end of the blow connected with her armor's right arm with a loud thud, and for a brief moment the arm lost power.

 

"Memo. Don't go punching dinosaurs in the face again!" she mumbled, frantically fumbling around the controls until the suit was up and working again, but by then she had lost her chance to strike back.

 

"I guess I'll have to look for an alternate tactics."

[horngeek]

Memorial winced as she saw the strike.  "Ooooh.  I'll try some more long-ranged support..."

 

Her laser cycled up again, and fired... this time missing the beast.  "Okay, need a better angle here..."

 

The cyborg heroine drifted slowly around, trying to place herself at a better angle.  And wishing she had her muscle boosters working, this was... annoying to say the least.  This thing was well-made, whatever it was, and it was a shame to damage it like this... but since it was well-made, they couldn't really deal with it entirely safely.  

[Raveled]

The dinosaur bellowed and its beak-like mouth latched onto Mechanized's robotic arm! There was a screaming of metal as it began to compress, shearing the metal between impossibly strong jaws.

"Right, this is roughly how much I'm willing to put up with." The space-suited heroine flew into the air and over to a lathe. She gripped it, and with a yell ripped it from the ground. Ironmongery in hand she returned to the beastie and began beating on it, the blows ringing through the workspace. Its thick shell distributed the force of the blows, though, and it didn't seem like any real damage was being done.

[souffle_girl]

Mechanized's armor screeched under the beast's attack, servos hissing as they strained under the sheer power of the two fighters. Emily tried to shake her arm off the thing, but it just didn't let go.

 

"OK, then, let's see if you like this!" she spat out,, a red flash blinking on her HUD a momnt before the flamethrower strapped on her suit's arm roared up, vomiting a torrent of flames.

The flames almost missed, but they managed to scare the monster away.

[horngeek]

Memorial frowned.  This thing just wasn't going down.  

 

And it seemed like it could retaliate against energy-based attacks.  That could be... bad.  

 

Right now, though, her servomotors were really not up to the task of dealing damage... she needed to redirect repair systems there.  Or see about reconnecting power.  

 

In the meantime... she raised a hand, the energy cycle powering up again, before she let off another blast of energy.

 

Which still didn't take the dinosaur down, and the resulting energy burst left her with a feeling that seemed a lot like scorching.  If she hadn't been prepared...

 

She frowned, floating in the air.  "Hitting it directly doesn't work that well, but maybe..."

 

She started to look around and see if there was any pillars she could bring down on the beast.  

[Raveled]

Mechanized fired a jet of high-pressure fire directly in the creature’s face, causing it to open its mouth and squeal piteously. What no one was expecting, was for the fire to begin to burn the monster’s face off! Scraps of flesh began peeling off and falling away -- revealing not muscle and bone underneath, but burnish steel and moving actuators!

Corona was gobsmacked. “A robot! Would you credit it?†The robot’s eyes tracked towards the hovering superheroine and with a chomp it fastened its beak-like jaw on her arm. Corona tugged mightily at it, but she could feel the creature begin to crunch into the armoring of her hardsuit. “Well I guess if it ain’t alive we don’t have to worry about bringing it in alive!†The Lor fired a blast of cosmic energy straight into the monster’s gullet, bypassing the reflective armor up top. She must have hit something vital, because the creature was rocked with internal explosions that rattled its frame. Once they died down the monster’s entire body fell to the floor, and lay still, even as the light behind its red eyes slowly went out.

Corona gave a smug smirk and went to pull her arm free of the creature’s maw… and couldn’t. She tugged again, harder, but even though it had been defeated the robot’s jaw was still locked onto her suit! “Uh.†She looked over at Mechanized and Memorial. “A little help?â€

[souffle_girl]

As the thing went down, Mechanized extricated herself from the robot's carcass and helped Corona freeing herself too.

 

"Computer, run a diagnostic on the main systems and give me a damage report," she ordered. The HUD beeped and a checklist started to scroll down Emily's vision. No major damage, thankfully.

 

"Now, what in the world was that thing doing here? For a FX robot, that's pretty complex. And somehow, I don't think FX robots are supposed to attack people."

 

Once again, Emily took a look around to see if the place was secure, hoping there wasn't another mechanical beast ready to jump at them.

[horngeek]

Memorial grinned.  "Yeah, I can help with that."

 

The young woman started prising the jaws apart, enough for Corona to extract herself.  "Well, it could be something from off-planet.  We... ah, doesn't matter.  Or a research project that went a bit off- if you're trying something new, best to have a lookout in case you accidentally create a candidate for the Hall."

 

The odd reference went unexplained by Memorial.  "Or someone's made this thing deliberately.  But in that case, it wouldn't be in a joycrafter's- sorry, a production studio, would it.  It'd be in a public place."

 

Kyla frowned.  "We should probably do some research on this place, see who's in charge."

[Raveled]

Between Mechanized's mechanical strength and a focused cutting laser courtesy of Memorial, they managed to free Corona's arm from the death-grip of the robot dinosaur's jaw. The Lor officer ran a quick diagnostic and everything came up green, so she put it out of her mind and turned her attention to exploring the workshop.

There were mechanical marvels in every corner. Jaws that were bending steel beams, foil-thin sheets of metal that were bent and pinged, but unbroken, and a fully articulated, nasty-looking claw held in a table clamp. A strong smell pulled them further inwards, though, and before long the three heroines were standing at the lip of a wide hole broken in the ground, with a strong smell of sewage wafting out of it. Corona activated her air filters and peered down into it. "Everyone on this planet has indoor plumbing, right?"

[horngeek]

Memorial looked down at the edge of the hole, not breathing. She'd call it holding her breath, but she didn't exactly have to breath at all.

Except to talk. Well, she siupposed that in space, her communications array would do that job, but it was annoying. Also, her communications array wasn't working right now.

The question needed answering, though. "No, actually. I did some looking up, there's wide areas where they've still got some pretty nasty poverty and the like. Sucks for what's possibly the seedworld of our species.

But I think everyone's got indoor plumbing in this city, or close enough that this won't be pleasant. Who wants to go first?