[ToV] Short Attention Span Theater (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Tuesday 

April 26, 2016 

3PM Palermo Time - 9AM Freedom City time 

 

There's an English-language newscrew in Palermo this afternoon, the BBC crew's report on Italian tourism having been transformed into a worldwide spectacle by means of the Internet. 

 

"Some sort of hideous monster moving its way through the city-" A hazy image of a warped parody of a man, some eight or nine feet tall and nearly nude, dressed only in rags and covered in hideous, pustulating boils. 

 

"seemingly emerged from the bay and is now making its way through the heart of this beachside community-" It becomes abundantly clear as it, he, passes, that whatever he is is infectious - a wave of that giant fist, and a barricade of the city's Carabinieri, military police posted here for anti-Mafia duty, are on the ground, screaming and writhing as boils erupt from their own flesh. 

 

"rampaging through this historic city like nothing we've ever seen before-" He doesn't even bother to knock down the house at the end of the seaside street, instead simply powering through it as he heads into the older, more built-up, more populated parts of this city over half a million. It's abundantly clear that there is no power on Earth - or at least no power in Palermo, that can stop him. 

 

"With the current Papal crisis occupying Italy's defenders, we may be alone. This is-" The newscaster screams, his handsome face writhing in agony as the boils erupts from his flesh, and the camerawoman drops her camera and screams as well, catching one last image of the monster leering at them as he passes by. 

 

-

 

This is the fourth day of the crisis. By the time the Freedom League arrives in Palermo, everyone knows what they're dealing with. This is Shkhin - this is the Plague of Boils. 

 

 

 

 

[Fox]

"I'm going to argue for containment as a first priority," Gaian Knight said into his League communicator; he stood on an earthen platform, well above ground level, looking down at the path of destruction with obvious concern. He we already moving in the thing's general direction, though he was keeping as much distance as he thought he could afford - no telling what it could do yet. "He can't even get near people without hurting them. If we can blockade him off, even for a little bit, we buy time for people to get out of his path - or for us to do it for them. Best case, we draw his attention and either take him down or lead him on  clear path out of the city or into the water. Thoughts?"

 

Tiamat rumbled overhead, turning slow circles in the sky as she, too, watched from above...though with keener eyes than her friend. "I do not relish the thought of finding out if scales can boil," she said, turning her great head to scowl at her prey, "but I may have to if we must get close. We may be no more immune than the common people."

[alderwitch]

If I can see him, I can probably affect him. Some people are immune to my abilities, of course, but I'm here to do whatever I can to help. That was the young psychic from AEON from where she floated outside of comfortable shouting range in her new white and blue costume. Still, Psyche was a known member of the Liberty League, even if she spent more time wearing a suit and working within AEON's tower than out in the field. She was there to offer what aid she could but the young woman was deliberately taking a back seat to the Freedom League's chosen tactics. This wasn't her team and she wanted to fit in where she was needed. After working on a superteam since she was a teenager, Alex well understood how critical it was that people worked together once in the field. What do you need from me?

[Thevshi]

"Well, you and Fleur are the best choices for trying to pin him in or at least slow him down."  Velocity replied into her communicator where she was zipping around out ahead of the path Shkhin was following, helping move children and others who were not so mobile out of the danger zone.  The speedster had read the reports from the previous days, which showed just how dangerous theses "plagues" could be. 

But while they had some understanding of what was happening, the how, and the why were still not completely clear. 

"Then we let Psyche try to put him down?  Or at least slow him down."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Not gonna get boils unless damned thing can give it to corpses - and even then, is not gonna stick." Comrade Frost was animated but professional, speaking in the tones of a man who might have had a big pot of coffee - if he could drink coffee. "If hitting it in head doesn't work, I get in its way, see what it makes of ice. Bet it doesn't like those boils frozen." He put his hands in his pockets, his eyes wide as he studied the situation, and the conflict in the city. This was far from his first apocalypse - but they never did get much easier. "Why the hell would Boils attack here?" he demanded of no one in particular. 

[Electra]

"Containment is good," Fleur said into her radio, "but you're going to have to give me a few minutes before I can jump in." She was already down in the midst of the stricken crowd, administering plant poultices and ointments as quickly as she could. The afflicted people were in horrible shape, even if the plague was not immediately life-threatening, she couldn't stand to leave them in pain when she could help. "Let Psyche take a shot at getting his mind, and if that doesn't work, I'll try and pen him in." She took a shrieking baby from its mother, shuddered at the eruptions ruining the fragile pink skin, and kissed it on the forehead. "There, there," she murmured. "You're all right, it's going to be okay." And the baby was all right then, and could be handed back, but there were just so many people! 

[Thevshi]

"Why have any of the plagues hit where they have?"  Velocity said in reply to Frost's open question as she continued to help clear the path ahead of civilians and any others.  "Two in Freedom City, and amusement park and a hospital, but the others in Providence and Nuevo Laredo?  There is no apparent connection between the locations yet." 

The yellow clad speedster skid to a halt as she continued to wave people in a direction away from the approaching plague bringer.  "So, we ready for Psyche to take the first shot and then be ready for a backup plan as needed?"

[Fox]

"Sounds like a plan; backup in progress. Tiamat, hang back to play distraction or heavy hitter if we need you; I don't want to test the boiled scales theory any more than you do, but if we're going to test it, be ready to hit him like a ton of bricks."

 

Gaian Knight dropped out of the sky, grabbing the edge of his platform as it flew through the city at roof height. Everywhere he went the earth flowed up and out, bits of broken architecture and the ground from beneath the city coming together in a solid patchwork of a spike-topped wall, two stories high and almost half as thick in places. It ran between the buildings, zig-zagging wherever he could put it that would be in the path of the seemingly-malicious being and not in the way of fleeing civilians...though where that wasn't an option, he left open doorways hopefully barely too small for something of its stature, large engraved arrows pointing citizens to their nearest exit. "Let's hope this guy's not a great climber - or can't turn into mist, or heaven only knows."

[Tiffany Korta]

 

GM Post

 

Whilst the boils were rather unpleasant they didn’t seem to be to deliberating, most people seemed to be shock at this sudden plague that had befallen them. Most were just happy that someone had turned up to help and there were many relieved voice, mostly in Italian but with a smattering of other languages.

 

Meanwhile the giant man, the apparent nexus of it all, was just standing as if trying to decide on something. His mind was easily open to the vast psychic powers of Psyche.

 

There were normal memories of party nights, fuzzy as if under the influence of alcohol or worst. BUt these memories were crowded out in the blind rage of anger, unfocused anger at the world for not being exactly what is should have been. And he was driven move on driven by a source even he didn’t understand for an unknown destination.

 

The man looked around him, apparently finally taking in what was going on around him, before projecting himself high into the air with a single leap. At the top of the leap he briefly paused before he began to fall back towards another part of the city.

[alderwitch]

Psyche kept her touch light, delicate and pulled back when he fled. Reaching for her communicator she fumbled for it and volunteered, "I can get into his thoughts fairly easily, but he's confused and angry. His memories, the recent ones, are fuzzy but normal. A party. I think he might have been drugged. I'd have to go deeper to figure out what's driving him but he's being spurred towards somewhere - he doesn't even understand it himself."

 

Her words were almost unnaturally calm and unruffled despite the chaos although perhaps a little sad. "I think someone - or something - has made him into a weapon. I am reasonably certain I can push back into his thoughts again. What would you like me to do?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Damn. Frost hated when innocent people were turned into weapons - it made everything more complicated. "All right, I suggest rest of us engage it in body - you engage it in mind." At the sound of a distant crashaboom, Frost dissolved into a cloud of icy white mist, albeit one with two glowing red eyes. It was a surprising look - if you weren't a study of history or the League, anyway. "Suggest we talk strategy on way to battle," he said quickly, racing down the street towards their target, albeit staying ready to leap through one of his teammates' portals if a more rapid transit seemed necessary. Such a lovely old town. They are probably going to put foul concrete blocks where these buildings used to be, feh. 

[Thevshi]

Psyche's report was troubling, considering it did little to explain the mystery of who was behind all these plagues.  But Velocity knew right now their primary focus was to contain and stop the man rampaging in the city, and then see what they might be able to do to help him. 

"That sounds like a reasonable start."  She replied to Frost's comments about how to deal with the man as she turned away from where she had been getting people to move and quickly ran toward the other section of town the man had leapt to.  In seconds, she was atop a building looking down the street he was now on.

"Okay, I have him in visual.  How do we want to start this?"

[Fox]

"Well, so much for walls," Gaian Knight grimly observed, begoggled eyes watching the man as he hurled through the air. "I'm with Frost: we may need to take a more direct approach here."

 

"At least he cannot fly," Tiamat noted, wheeling in the air to follow their foe. "It is a small advantage, but an advantage none the less."

 

"Mmhm. We still need to keep civilians out of his path, and I'm still on-board for getting into his head - don't put yourself in too much danger, but if we can figure out what he's been sent after, it'll help...and if we can shut him down and get him some proper care, all the better. If we can keep him busy long enough, Fleur and I can try to cage him in properly - something he can't jump out of...if he doesn't have any other tricks."

[Electra]

"All right, I'm catching up with you guys. Good news is, I can fix the boils if he gets a hit in on anybody, so don't worry too hard about it." Fleur finished healing the last of the afflicted people in the group she was near. "I'll be back very soon," she promised the crowd, "we're going to stop this from spreading any more." Touching her fingertips to the pink flowers in her hair, she watched the boil-carrier hurtle through the air, then headed in his direction, teleporting as close as she thought she was likely to get. 

[Thevshi]

"Okay, time to draw his attention and see about maybe slowing him down some."  Velocity replied before she started off in a blur of yellow toward the man responsible for the chaos gripping the city.  Passing a short distance from him, the speedster slowed down just enough that she could be seen as her right hand moved in a blur that was almost impossible to follow, quickly throwing several steel ball bearings at hypersonic speeds. 

The five projectiles all hit Shkhin, but he was apparently very tough, as he took the hits with not visible effect.  But Velocity was already gone, speeding down the street to skid to a halt a couple blocks back in the direction he had come from, but still out in the open where he could see her.

[Electra]

Another quick teleport had Fleur stepping out of a plant just ahead of the unfortunate fleeing disease vector, but only by a second or two. She tossed a handful of seeds in front of her in a wide spray, and everywhere they touched the ground, thick vines sprang from the earth, fully formed and seething like snakes. The instant her quarry touched down in the midst of the vines, they were on him, first dogpiling him with sheer weight, then wrapping around him like a cocoon, all but mummifying him in a shroud of green. "All right," Fleur reported, "I've got him for the moment, he's blind, deaf and helpless till he breaks loose. What now?" 

[Fox]

Tiamat hit the ground with a stone-shuddering thud, claws braking her slide across the ground until she was just within a dragon's arm's reach of the man. She circled him, cautiously, wings folding back across her sides.

 

"Now we secure him and allow the psychic another chance," she rumbled, lowering her head to peer at the plant-wrapped prey. Her tail lashed, great scale-covered muscles rippling in quiet anticipation. "We also ensure that if he breaks free of even your chains, he does not get far."

[alderwitch]

"I'm so sorry," Psyche apologized to the creature from where she floated behind the first line of the heavy hitters, her hands up in front of her face as she gestured. As one hand gestured out, the formidable weight of Psyche's presence lashed forward, unseen but no less potent. Her earlier touch had been little heavier than a butterfly skimming the surface. This, however, held the full weight of the potent psychic's honed abilities behind the thrust as she lashed out to drive through the minimal resistance that his mind presented. The regret on her features was clear, although there was no guilt. Psyche was well aware that this was the best course of action to get to the bottom of the matter but that didn't mean she enjoyed peeling back the layers of his thoughts to filter through to what she needed. There was no strain that flickered across her features as most of the time, the young psychic put her effort into keeping her thoughts inside her own head.

Edited May 11, 2016 by alderwitch

[Tiffany Korta]

 

GM Post

 

Going through his mind Psyche got flashes of his former life, that of a layabout who seemed to do nothing but travel around enjoying the nightlife of Europe. An empty life that he began to blame everyone else for, an anger that began to build but a life that he continued to live. Then one night someone came and offered him a chance to get revenge on them all. All he would have to do was destroy one little manor house...

 

There she knew where he was going. But something felt off, wrong...

 

The man who had offered him power looked up, straight through the memory, at her. And then he smiled.

 

Suddenly the vines that surrounded seemed to stretch and almost glow before they exploded off of the figure, who seemed to be even taller before as he roared his defiance at the assembled heroes.

[Fox]

Tiamat was ready for the man to break free; as soon as the vines began to break she shifted her weight, bringing one great clawed forearm up....only to be foiled by the foliage, errant plant matter knocking her strike just a hair off-target.

 

She growled in self-imposed frustration, falling back onto all fours to re-assess. She was no coward, but anything strong enough to snap Fleur de Joie's hold was worth caution and teamwork.

[Avenger Assembled]

Lacking Tiamat's sense of self-preservation, as well as being considerably more sturdy when it came to surviving physical assault, Comrade Frost swarmed up behind the monstrous man as a cloud of icy frog, wrapping featureless limbs around that hideously warped torso and clinging on. The temperature dropped, and dropped fast, as he grappled Shkin, icy crystals spreading over the foul fluids on the man's body in a way that was unpleasant to look at - much less be part of. But Shkin didn't like it, and Dimitri pressed harder, feeling skin begin to turn cold at his touch as the first stages of hypothermia set in. "/See how you like that, you disgusting man-monster!/" he declared in guttural Russian.

[Fox]

Gaian Knight did not speak Russian, though he certainly got the gist of the message from Frost's voice. For all that he didn't want to hurt the man if it could be helped, he found that he agreed with the sentiment.

 

He brought both hands up into glowing fists, the collection of pebbles and stones orbiting his platform following the gesture as if caught in the wake of something far larger; the ground under their defiant foe cracked, long bars of hard stone lancing up to snap closed over his head like the jaws of some great, earthen trap. "Hope you're getting something good off of him, Psyche," Gaian Knight grunted, dragging his hands together to grow crossbars across his makeshift cage. "I'm not going to lie: I'll do my best to hold him, but if he can snap Fleur's vines like that I'm not amazingly optimistic it'll last for too long."

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

 

The big bulk of the creature was far to slow to react to the sudden rocky cage that grew around it, instead yelling ineffectively as he was trapped within. But it was soon joined but a the sound of him bangong against the rock, suggesting the that he wouldn’t be held within for long.

But for now the team had a few seconds to consider what to do with this giant man that could quickly inflict more boiled up everyone in the nearby area.

[alderwitch]

"He's definitely being empowered by something else - someone else. Here, let me show you." Psyche's voice was calm as she responded to the statement, letting the hand that had been outstretched fall to her side as she projected the brief scrap of memory - the location and the man's face - to the League members on the off chance he was a more familiar presence to any of them. 

 

"I do think that whatever caused this has left him more vulnerable to my particular methods but if I were to use that to hold him, some of you might find that method objectionable. I try to avoid seizing someone's control away from them but sometimes it is temporarily necessary. Power for revenge is not an uncommon bargain."

[Avenger Assembled]

"What?" asked Comrade Frost, briefly startled by the young woman's words. "Your powers are fine!" declared the cloud of icy mist still pooling and coiling around Shkin, holding down the icy shell of bodily fluids that kept cracking and reforming as the giant slowly advanced forward, obviously hobbled but still in some sort of fight. "Weeping sores are exceedingly unpleasant! Get in his brain and eat it for all I care!" he declared.