ic Dueling Storms

[EternalPhoenix]

PC

 

Queenie hadn’t been idle. She’d been flying back and forth from the long since drowned beaches, slowly expanding the circular pile of sand around the main resort entrance. Now, they had a fairly decent amount of space to work with, as evidenced by the fact that a dumpster fit into the space with more than enough room for the people to scramble into the resort. In addition, the sand wall now was 15 feet high. Hopefully, it would do. The doors didn’t appear to be watertight. She was taking a short mid air breather to admire her fast work, when Miracle Girl mentioned the people in the market. Queenie said a very bad word. “Endevour, get those people inside.” Hyperactive’s return grabbed her attention, and she held up a finger so he’d give her a moment. She’d been preoccupied the first time he was here with the wall. Between that and the roar of the wind, she simply hadn’t noticed he was there. “The water’s at least ten feet high out here now. I am not counting on it staying out of whatever water systems they have. Miracle Girl, I’m sending some help your way.” She floated back down and addressed Hyperactive. “Nice to see you! People go inside here! The Island has a street market! The buildings are about to come down! They have people in them! Miracle Girl is already there, but she might not be fast enough! Go!” She shot into the air again. Not for more sand, but for something that had been bothering her. “Endevour, after those people are inside, come back to the highway with me. If there was one car out there, there’ll be more.” The fact that the younger heroine should hurry went unsaid.

 

[EternalPhoenix]

Sha’ir

 

Compared to the relative violence of the weather outside, the eye was very calm and quiet. Until Sha’ir’s spell shattered it. The woman opened her eyes, spoke a word Sha’ir didn’t know, and the Hands of Hoggast simply went away. Her eyes fixated on him. Her expression full of slight annoyance. “Do you have any idea how much concentration it takes to hold this spell together, novice?” She did not even pretend to wait for his answer. “No, of course you don’t. Because you’re a novice.  Do you know what would’ve happened if I actually lost my concentration?” Again, she didn’t even pretend to wait. “No, of course you don’t. Because you’re a novice.” She exhaled irritatedly. “Do you even know how to simply say hello, instead of rudely summoning The Hands of Hoggast at me?” You guessed it. “No, of course you don’t. Because you’re a novice.” She turned away from him for a moment, and her eyes flitted across the entire eyewall. “Well, at least you didn’t try to dispel it. That would have gone poorly for the entire Western Hemisphere, if not the entire planet.” She faced Sha’ir again. “Well? Speak up, novice. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

 

Miracle Girl & Hyperactive

 

The seas had just about claimed the market. It stood on a relatively high point, and thus the water hadn’t hit the ten foot mark that the resort had. Still, it was easily three and a half feet high and rising visibly. Like water in a bathtub. The inhabitants hesitated briefly, and the building swayed drunkenly as the wind pushed at it like the hand of a giant. This convinced the first group (three mothers, five children, and two injured non-native college age women) to get into the dumpster. Other buildings seemed to sway with every wind gust. Window glass was ancient history. And the howl of the wind was all anyone but the heroes could hear. For Miracle Girl had been seen flying to the rescue, and now cries for help (warped by the wind) poured at the teen hero from what seemed like every direction.

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive looked around the scene. He kicked up his mind as fast as it would go. He rolled his shoulders out as the world went dark and still. The last word most people thought about when they met Hyperactive was brute force. Honestly though, it was his usual approach to hero work. He took off, it was probably seventy five percent of his speed as the world went totally blue. He dashed up a wall and grabbed two children up out of the building. He deposited them back in the resort. 

 

Hyperactive ignored anyone near to a window, the flying Miracle Girl could get to them. He was going for people who were trapped. He zipped back and forth between the buildings as they stood all but stock still to him. With a swoop he snagged someone who was a moment from being pierced by twisted rebar. In a dash he snatched up a woman who had actually fallen out of a window on the back side of the marketplace trying to grab her baby, then picked up the baby on the way down. When he finally managed to check out every hidden nook and cranny he actually hit the wall in the resort after depositing the last person and forgetting to phase through it. In a gasp he found himself laid out on his back head spinning. 

 

"I'll be fine." Hyperactive managed as he stared up at the ceiling. He retracted the face mask and looked upwards. He hadn't ever done anything that had required that much control. The near light speed running was still a very new capability. "Just gimme like thirty seconds." 

[olopi]

Uuuuuuh…

 

Of all the reactions he’d expected, this certainly wasn’t one of them. So what was this all about? Was it just a bluff? Was there more to it? There were quite a few questions in his head. As well as some general curiousness. Clearly she knew a fair amount, if she even knew about the hands. And was able to dispel them this easily. So, what was her deal? What did she gain out of it? How was she involved in the entire thing?

 

And just why did she think she had the right to address him like that? Sha’ir the Spellsmith was … okay, a rookie, that much was fair. But also a being of vast mystical powers, or something! And important enough. If she wanted to act all harsh, he could too. He kept his counterspell ready, able to unleash it at the first offensive action against him. Unlikely in a situation like this, but that much preparation was fair.

 

He raised one of his hands, slowly moving it across the air in front of his body, to indicate everything he was seeing. “All of this. Shut it down.”

[The Sailor]

Sakurako swept her eyes over the scene when she caught something odd. Then something worrying.

 

"Umm... something seems off here... very off..."

 

Seeing that everyone dashed off when she noticed something very, very wrong was happening right under everyone's nose was starting to anger her. "Alright if you people would just give me 5 seconds to breathe, you'd know that I think I found an atmosphere manipulation system!"

 

"I'm noticing some atmospheric heating around these antennas scattered across the area that I can see through this rain, and the pattern matches trying to manipulate a storm system. I know, sounds conspiracy theory, but the way everything's moving is telling me I found what's creating one of the storm systems! Thing is these antennas... ARE AT THE DARNED RESORT!"

 

"Thing is you people are just jumping about with no damn organization and we've put survivors right at the center of this whole crisis!!!"

 

Sakurako disobeys Queenie, running into the resort, looking for the means to control the system.

[Heritage]

Miracle Girl got back on the horn as she was loading her next set of passengers into her dumpster, which involved a bit of flying, a bit of super-speed, and a whole lot of finesse. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't think of any good way to broadcast in the storm without yelling to be heard.

 

"We might not have a lot of choice! Bad guy might have picked the toughest building on the island for his or her apparatus because they knew it was the only thing that could take the punishment! If we put them anywhere else, the storms just going to sweep them away! I know it sucks, but even with our combined powers, I don't think we can build anything stronger in these conditions! Over!"

 

Once she had another load, the blonde heroine brought it back to the resort, only this time, she turned all her senses upon the structure, seeing if she could help locate any more dangers inside.

 

"Scanning the resort with IR and X-ray vision! Over!"

Edited June 6, 2017 by Heritage

[EternalPhoenix]

GM

 

Sha’ir The Spellsmith

 

The young woman briefly seemed confused. Then she glanced down at the ground. “Oh, that. Unavoidable side consequence of this. This isn’t my power at work. I’m amazing, but I’m not a god. It’s just a simple spell combination. I’m sure you wouldn’t understand.” The more she talked, the more her word choice and speaking pattern resembled that of someone at least a decade younger than she appeared to be. “Divert half of the energy from one storm into a mirror version to block its escape route. Then the two storms fight until their energy runs out.” She frowned, and for a flickering instant she actually looked a decade younger. “That should be any minute now.” This line was delivered with absolutely zero confidence, but the same amount of haughtiness. All at once the effect failed, and there was no young woman there. Instead there was a barely pubescent girl, and she was clearly both terrified and more than a little out of her depth. She (Hispanic and wearing a glorified tube top, loose skirt, thigh high socks, and an oversized witch’s hat) didn’t appear to have noticed her disguise had failed. She whispered, barely loud enough for Sha’ir to hear (and obviously she didn’t expect him to do so). “And then I’ll go save my friends.”

 

Endeavour

 

The trail led downstairs, deep into the basement. Storage (food, cleaning supplies, extra fabrics, etcetera) areas abounded. Rooms for the mysteriously vanished resort staff to get changed in. Have lunch in. Quick exits upstairs to just about anywhere in the main resort. Kitchens for the dining areas upstairs. The effect was kind of like underground Disneyland, but on a far smaller scale. Meanwhile, the power lines Endeavour was following thrummed with energy. One was obviously electricity, but the other two (and there were two) would take a little more thought…

 

Miracle Girl

 

Miracle Girl’s eyes easily found the devices and the power lines that led from them into the basement…and lower. There was a (very deep) sub basement, but her special eyes couldn’t penetrate whatever material the ceiling and walls were made out of. She did, however, note the staircase leading down. The door wasn’t made out of the same material, and it was guarded. Two of the missing resort staff were there, and they were armed with rifles of some kind.

 

Hyperactive

 

Resting from his exertion, the Waco Warrior finally had a chance to notice the oddest thing about this resort. Not the sturdiness of its construction, but the total lack of staff. Everyone who could have possibly worked here was nowhere to be found. The refugees were, of course, pleased that he was helping and thanked him profusely. The people who were already staying here were pitching in to help those refugees who needed it. But the staff? Vanished so completely it was as if they were never there.

Edited June 8, 2017 by EternalPhoenix

[EternalPhoenix]

PC

 

At Endevour’s announcement, Queenie blanched. She was in the middle of pulling out the last of the stranded and mere seconds from drowning motorists. She managed all seven of them held with the Ring, and it was about time to head back. She said a very bad word. She knew she didn’t like how sturdy the resort was! “I’m sorry, Endevour. I didn’t know. I’m just a chef; I don’t know that much about tech.” She thought about the biggest construct she could manage, but…it wouldn’t be nearly large enough to hold the entire population of the island. Bigger than a dumpster, for sure, but not nearly big enough. So she started flying back. It was not easy, as the wind was still a menace. “But Miracle Girl is right. It’s the sturdiest building for miles. There’s simply nowhere that’s both safer and close enough to put them all.” She sighed out of sheer frustration. “I’ve got everyone I could find and I’m on the way back. If you find something, let me know and I’ll back you up.”

[olopi]

 It couldn’t have been some ancient evil. It couldn’t have been some not-so-ancient evil. It couldn’t have been … just anything that was heroic to fight. No, it was … a young teen of some sort. So was this what the heroics actually were like? Was this what happened?

 

Sha’ir did his best to not change his expression while the other mage was talking. She was hiding something, and she probably had a good reason to. More than one. And he really couldn’t judge that. Instead, he waited for her to finish, and then, calmly approached. He did his best to not sound threatening, even shutting down the additional boom he’d magically added to his voice.

 

“Why, though? How about we just shut this storm down right now, and then go deal with whatever else is happening? No need for all of this. “

[The Sailor]

Endeavor notes the power that's being sent around. She knew that she was going to need help with this and starts backing up to the more "public" area of the resort. She responds to Queenie. "I think I got some intel on matters I'm heading back to the common area... not gonna tackle this alone. It looks like there's some sort of metahuman plugged into the system here, as I'm seeing a heat signature that matches what happens when a metahuman uses their power. I'd rather not crack this egg without yours and MG's help."

 

Sometimes discretion was the better part of valor... if this resort was the sturdiest shelter, it would be best to investigate it once it could be safely dealt with... or perhaps the storms could be controlled from here? What sort of climatic damage could be caused attempting that?

 

She couldn't lose thought here, she needed to get back to the new batch of survivors. "And I've got one heck of a moral and ethical dilemma to think about..."

 

"By Halley's weather charts..."

Edited June 13, 2017 by Sailor

[EternalPhoenix]

PC

 

Queenie set down her refugees behind the sand pile, and shielded them with a silvery pot lid as they scurried inside. “I’m back, Endevour.” She landed and took a moment to reshape the sand wall so that it stood taller. And looked a bit more like a wall, rather than a big pile of wet sand. She walked into the lobby, cutting off her force field in the foyer so she wouldn’t drip. The water fell to the already drenched floor. She glanced at the returning Endevour and the recuperating Hyperactive. “Really, I am sorry. I had no idea. After your friend gets here, maybe we can stop this before it gets completely out of hand.”

[Heritage]

Casey shook her head at hyperspeed to clear off some of the rain, which helped for all of two seconds. She then radioed in her report, still having to raise her voice over the wind to be heard.

 

"I am seeing some sort of sub-basement deep under the resort! It is shielded versus my x-ray vision, so they obviously don't want any prying eyes! There is a staircase leading down, guarded by two probable hostiles, both carrying firearms! Be happy to join in on any party crashing! Over!"

 

She then floated down into the lobby, squeezing as much water out of her hair as she could; she didn't shiver, because she really didn't get cold, but being soaking wet still wasn't fun.

 

"Hi, guys! Good work out there!" She flashed a quick smile, then sighed and put her hands on her hips. "So, what's our plan?"

Edited June 20, 2017 by Heritage

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive Rolled back on his palms before springing to his feet. He'd also been working to fix his water logged communicator. Basic radio, nothing fancy. He'd also managed to tune in to the conversation. 

 

"Two hostiles? Ok well that seems way more my speed." He chuckled. "I'm down to just unplug this and hope the storm falls apart, or at least one of them. But this is way beyond my expertise." Hyperactive held his hands up and shrugged. "I'm down to go talk in the basement or do some head kicking! Talking and Kicking, kinda specialties. Didn't realize this storm would be so huge." 

[EternalPhoenix]

GM

 

Sha’ir The Spellsmith

 

The girl snapped a haughty “I just told you.” However, her obvious terror made it less convincing. Also, her accent was decidedly Hispanic now, a further sign of whatever had been disguising her. “My storm is stopping the other one from leaving. Unless you want a double powered storm hitting Miami. Or Washington. Or Freedom City.” It was then she took a good look at herself, and even the act of being haughty and superior dropped away. “No, no, no. Carmen, no.” Desperation filled her voice and face. “Please, you’re a superhero, right? Can you help us?” She stifled a sob. “My friends and I were the sworn defenders of Buenos Aires. We defeated an enemy. The UNISON man that took her away, he said there was a school for us in Los Estados. But he did not know. We had no money to bring our families. Cesar Sionis, the owner of that island, has a lot of money. He promised to help. He lied.” The girl started to cry a little. “He is mad. He wants his revenge on men named Stratos and Gardener, and he needed our power to get it.” She wept openly, in the way only someone who could truly see no way out could. “I refused and ran away, but then there was a storm growing. Carmen and Maya would never do this! We are heroes! We promised each other we would protect, not destroy!” She sobbed shamelessly, nearly incoherent. “Please, you must save my friends from this madman!”

[EternalPhoenix]

PC

 

Queenie looked at the three younger heroes. Heavens, when had she become the mature, rational adult in the room? Well, whatever. “The plan is to go ask those two rifle toting goons what’s going on here. If they need a beating, we’ll give them one.” She clenched her ring hand into a fist in front of her body. “If the door’s locked, then we knock.” Her force field flicked back on, and she glowed brightly with power. “Real loud.” Some lunatic had endangered thousands of lives with this stunt. He had better have a good reason, or Maybelle McQueen would take great pleasure in bludgeoning him unconscious. “Endeavour can handle the tech involved. Miracle Girl and I can watch her back, and Hyperactive can sweep through any other goons down there.” Three years in Freedom City had taught her a thing or two about basic combat tactics. “Sound good?”

[Heritage]

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Casey with a shrug. She has no problem taking orders or following plans from others; as a lifelong Girl Scout, she was very comfortable in hierarchies and perhaps a bit too eager to please adults and authority figures. However, she was by no means a blind follower; if her gut told her something wasn't right, she had no problem politely inquiring about what the heck was going on if things smelled fishy.

 

The blonde heroine looked between Queenie, Hyperactive and Endeavor as she wrung a bit more water out of her hair  "Shall we go?"

[The Sailor]

"Thing is, we don't know the situation in there, it could be a meta being held against their will. We should go in considering there might be a mad scientist in there. Anything outside of that is speculation."

 

She looked to the others. "That and if we can get control of that device I can start undoing the damage this thing has done... Two hurricanes suddenly appearing in the Atlantic well out of season is going to cause severe cooling of the waters around here, disrupting migration patterns and messing with the world climate."

 

She sighed. "Not to mention I appraised AEGIS that I was going \here... I'm not sure what their plan is, I'm no agent yet, so I have no clearances, just a hotline number, but I know this could end up being a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel sort of problem..."

 

"Speed's of the essence at this point." Sakurako said. "I'll bring up the rear. Someone's gonna have to look over that monstrosity and see what needs to be done." She said, adjusting her suit. "And I'm not the 'up close' sort... sadly."

[olopi]

That was that then. Was there anything more needed to convince Hakim? Nope. It was time to act. Time to save some people. And possibly overthrow a government? Was the island private? Possibly? He hadn’t checked. And it honestly didn’t matter much. Whatever came now was more important.

 

He raised his hand, spectral energy gathering around it. “Are you coming too? Or do you want me to handle it myself? “

 

Some help would probably be a good idea, all things considered. But he was ready to handle it himself, it sounded like whatever this was, it would not be a major challenge. The energy continued to gather, as he lowered his hand, and drew a circle in the air in front of him. Immediately, something formed around it, an inky black void forming in the middle.

 

“This will take me right to your friends. Step through if you want to.”

 

And then he did just that. Hopefully he’d properly adjusted everything. Last time this very spell had sent him into a place he didn’t really need to see from the inside…

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive took in all the conversation quietly. He was already flipping a coin when he heard the phrase: "speed is of the essence." 

 

"Well if we need to move quick." Hyperactive gave a slight pause to see if anyone would laugh. He smiled and locked his faceshield back into combat mode. "Well then why don't we go say hello?" Hyperactive was gone in a moment. The time for deliberation was over. He could go say hello nicely to the people with rifles and ask if they wouldn't mind letting them in. If they declined, well he would knock them out. Nice and simple really. Which was honestly if not his pace, his style. 

 

"Howdy gents, before you shoot, you should know that I am significantly faster than any bullets!" Hyperactive said flipping his signature coin as he reached the two with the rifles at the base of the stairs. "We can try and resolve this element peacefully if you like or I can knock both of you out." 

[EternalPhoenix]

GM

 

Hyperactive

 

The two staff member didn’t even speak, just readied their weapons for combat. Looks like they weren’t in the mood for conversation.

 

Sha’ir

 

The sheer thickheadedness of Sha’ir’s suggestion penetrated the girl’s distress. She looked at Sha’ir like he was the biggest idiot on God’s earth. “Um. I’m maintaining the spell. Which is right here. If I leave, I’m not here to maintain the spell. Which means it goes away. We just talked about this. Gods save us, you are a novice, aren’t you?”

 

On the other side of the portal, a massive laboratory full of machinery and armed guards awaited…

[EternalPhoenix]

GM

 

Sha’ir

 

The Spellsmith stepped through his portal. Machinery thrummed all around him. The room was clearly a lab, and a high ceilinged one at that. He’d stepped out right in front of a trio of person sized clear tubes. They were at a 45 degree angle. One was not occupied, but the other two had a girl each, about the same age as the one on the other side of the portal. There was a control panel, but Sha’ir didn’t have the time to deciper what anything in the room did, much less the control panel. Kidnapped girls to save and all. Also, there was those five guard looking people. With rifles. Who didn’t look like they were happy to see him. And as they raised their rifles and fired, proved that they really, really weren’t.

Edited July 10, 2017 by EternalPhoenix

[olopi]

He stepped through. He knew that wherever he’d appear, it would not go without violence. Still, he took a casual step, and as soon as his head had passed through, he made himself known. He stretched out his arms in a welcoming gesture, and began to speak.

 

 

“Gentl-“

 

 

 

At that point, bullets impacted his coat. One of them stung a fair bit, but it was nothing bad. The magic still held just fine. Immediately, his glowing green eyes flared up, as his robes’ form changed. His voice did too, it sounded more rough.

 

 

“Okay, fine. Can’t have a discussion. Have it your way. “

 

 

 

He raised his hands above his head, and mumbled a formula in what appeared to be Latin. The First Flare of Faton. A simple spell. Effective in close quarters, or so he’d heard. Especially against groups.   And moments afterwards, a bright light filled the room. A flashbang of sorts. It would hopefully stop them momentarily.

[Heritage]

Caseys jaw dropped at Hyperactive's sudden disappearance.  "Wait, hold up! Darn speedsters!" And with that, she too vanished in a rush of wind. Down the hall she flew, zipping down the stairs just in time to see the two guards raise their weapons and hear the distant muffled sound of gunfire. 

 

 Oh jeez!

 

The decision was made in an instant, her hands shooting out to grab one guard in each clenched fist and just slam the two of them together, knocking them out cold as their weapons clattered to the ground. The blonde heroine then gently lowered them to the ground, looking slightly embarrassed as she sheepishly called it in over the radio waves. 

 

 "Uh...armed guards successfully incapacitated. Over."

Edited July 20, 2017 by Heritage

[EternalPhoenix]

PC

 

Queenie wasn’t far behind Miracle Girl. She didn’t hear the gunfire, but she trusted her fellow hero’s judgement. “Got it.” She flew through the door (blasting it off its hinges) and didn’t stop moving. Soon, she was in a large wide open space with techy stuff everywhere. “Um. I think this is the main lab?” More staff with guns where there, however Sha’ir was not. They raised their weapons, too. “And the natives are not friendly.”

[Kolohehonu]

Hyperactive watched Miracle Girl slam the two guards together and then felt Queenie rush past him. He sighed internally. He was fast, but from time to time he was reminded that he wasn't always the quickest. More training at some point. In an instant Hyperactive shot forward and kicked a guard. 

 

"Well then, go ahead try and shoot me." He smirked as he looked at the rest of the guards. He had a feeling, with everyone else here he probably wouldn't get to hit very many bad guys. But hey, there was probably a mad scientist around? Well maybe he'd get to tousle with that.