ic Stronghold Blues(IC)

[Ari]

GM

 

May 4th, Thursday, 2017, 2.06AM

Stronghold Security corporate offices, 476 Charles St. An empty hallway.

 

From inside, the Stronghold Security building had almost nothing to remind one they were, in fact, inside the Stronghold Security building. A prominent skyscraper gracing the skyline of a major Atlantic metropolis in whose walls worked hundreds of people making sure that people from all(but preferably the better-heeled) walks of life could sleep safe and sound in the knowledge that Stronghold's technology would protect them.

 

For Josh Kim, university freshman and part-time security guard on the tenth floor, it might as well have been any office building.

 

So it was quite to his surprise when something was happening on his shift.

 

Specifically, somebody was shooting at him. Several bodeys, all with very large guns.

 

And he with none.

 

But he did have a radio! One he was busy screaming into as loud as he could while wood splintered and porcelain shattered around him 

 

"OH GOD PLEASE ANYBODY HEEEEELLLP!"

 

 

 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

In answer to his cries stepped a shape from the darkness what little light there was catching on giant yellow lenses two triangular shapes towered above the shape like mandible on a giant human-sized insect.

 

"I suggest that you gentleman lower your weapons now before there is trouble."

 

Stepping now fully into the light, between the raiders and the guard, was a familiar looking costume of red and yellow. She smiled reassuringly at the guard before looking towards the armed invaders, there shots bouncing off an invisible field surrounding her.

[Ari]

GM

 

The gunfire ground to a brief halt as the people at the other end of the hall digested the brightly-clad arrival. By contrast they were all in dark blue and grey, masked and helmeted with a circled white 'T' on their shoulders.

 

A muffled, filtered-to-Hell voice barked "Finally!" One of them stepped forward, turning slightly to better show off the stark symbol "Hey, hero! Remember this, right? Thanks, ciao!"

 

With that and a wave, the speaker and the shadows of their comrades turned and ran for an open window, anchor lines visible and leading down, the soldiers-apparent flashing and shimmering in the moonlight arcing through the glass walls.

 

"H-hey!" A young man carrying a radio and a look flabbergasted fury stumbled from out of the crevice he'd been wedged in, waving his hands frantically at the gunners "You come in, start shooting at me, then just leave?! What the Hell kind of henchies are you?!"

 

"The smart kind, junior!" With that, the gunmen leaped out the window, grabbed the lines and began racing for the ground. 

 

Except the leader, who paused, turned again, and tossed something at the Scarab's feet. Something round and compact, with a pin missing.

 

"OH CHRIST ALMIGHTY A GRENADE!" Josh screamed, standing paralyzed with eyes as wide as saucers.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Kamala didn’t go into this without considering a number of options, she hadn’t exactly fought this battle already but she’d picked out a few potential challenges and options to defeat them. Grenades were one of the several options that she’d considered and worked out a potential counter in case they were deployed.

 

“Safia activate protection program blast dome.” she mumbled to herself and the built in computer that was tied into her Scarab pack.

 

With that the graviton generator she carried projected a force field around the grenade, that would if her calculation were correct would contain the blast of the explosive. But she wasn’t taking any chances, as gently as she could she pushed the guard out of the way and down one of the corridors running parallel to where they were. If the building blueprints were accurate he could quickly.

 

“Go inform the authorities of all this I deal with the intruders.”

 

Turning her attention back to the invaders she raised her Scarab bite and readied it to fire.

[Ari]

GM

 

The grenade pinged inside the forcefield. There was a sudden jolt that crashed through the air, the floor and into Scarab's very bones. The windowpanes rattled dangerously and the lights in the room flashed. A painting fell off the wall and its glass cover shattered on the floor. 

 

Getting trembling to his feet, hat knocked off and eyes wide behind his glasses, Josh nodded dumbly at the Scarab's command and began to awkwardly run for the stairs, picking up his radio as he ran and babbling frantically into it.

 

Meanwhile the people in the armored costumes were already out of sight, their rappel lines wavering and taut as wires as they bore hundreds of pounds down to cruel terra firma...

[Tiffany Korta]

She had the evidence and the civilian safe so it was tempting to let them get away and capture them another time, the planner in her was very tempted to do just such a thing. Except for a superhero reputation was all, and letting them go would be very bad for the newly started Scarab rebranding. Plus they tried to harm the two of them, and that made her mad.

 

Taking a few steps back she quickly did a few quick calculations, with a zip line descent friction would slow them down at enough that a free falling object could catch them in little time. The math worked out she ran towards the exit they'd created, having no doubt that her calculation would be correct and accurate.

 

"Safiya active the antigrav systems at this time index..." she gave the suit's computer it's instruction as she hurtled down the corridor.

 

Then she jumped out the building to fall toward the escaping thieves.

[Ari]

GM

 

With a rush of wind and the now-familiar sickening shock of the Earth's gravity loosing its grip, the Scarab took flight.

 

Soaring past the flicking flashes of windows reflecting the broad, genial Moon, the darkened streets rushing up to meet her, Kamala had mere moments to enjoy the wonders of wings before she was spotted. The men in the uniforms hadn't gotten far, but had just enough space to hear and see her coming before she could reach them. One looked up, started, and let go of their line with one hand to point frantically upwards.

 

"Hey! She's-!"

 

The apparent commander cut them off

 

"Shut up! We've got eyes! Open fire!"

 

With a little awkward fumbling, spinning and swinging on their rappel lines, the men in Titan Security gear managed to raise their weapons, take aim, and fire!

 

Unfortunately for them, they were aiming at a moving target in the air. Most of the shots whizzed past harmlessly(though true to its design, the force-field generator recognized the chemical composition and vaporized them when they struck the perimeter. No sense taking any chances), but not all. Two shots struck the force-field square with enough power to break through!

[Tiffany Korta]

Kamala carefully monitored the fall from her HUDS noting with some pride how the gravitonic field deflects's their counterattacks, though she'd have one hell of a bruise in the morning.

 

At the last minute, she engaged the field to stop her fall flipping up into an upright position, as she did she put one hand on her Scarab's Bite to steady it as she sent a burst of sonics towards one of the nearest thieves. 

 

It wasn't quite how she'd planned things but it was quite a good test of the suit's systems as she pushed them to there limits.

[Ari]

GM

 

The man shot, recognizable as the one who'd been yelling earlier, bit back a bark as he went spinning and flailing through thin air, legs looped and locked straining as his arms cartwheeled in a desperate effort to regain equilibrium.

 

"You can do it, boss!" one of the other men yelled, taking a shot at the Scarab that whinged off her shield.

 

"I know! I'm fine! Don't stop watching the target!" despite his words the leader took a mighty swing on his chord, passing a hair from the building!

 

"We believe in you, sir!" Another hollered earnestly, absent-mindedly firing a searing-hot lump of metal at a hypothetical point several feet to the left of the Scarab.

 

"Shut up! Focus!" Struggling to lift his upper body, fighting against centrifugal force, the leader was getting red in the face.

 

"League regulations stipulate a minimum of five encouraging statements per associate per assignment." The last had been taking their time, lining up the shot with great care. When they fired with a sharp, sudden crak, Kamala felt  like something had punched her in the chest!

 

"Just getting our kicks in!"

[Tiffany Korta]

Kamala swore under her breath as another shot went through her field, causing a bruise that would need to be explained tomorrow. Even as she cursed herself she was planning improvements to the field to hopefully reduce this problem.

 

Obviously, a direct force wasn't the current solution at this moment so she needed a delaying tactic to determine another more definitive methodology.

 

"Safiya activate subsonic field target on the identified targets," she whispered to her built-in computer systems

 

The sonic weapon began to project a subsonic field around the area that the thugs were clustered around, it would hopefully subdue them without them even knowing where it originated from.

[Ari]

GM

 

At first the cluster of men reacted much like anyone would, if you were to disorient and discombobulate them without apparent support far above the ground. For several seconds they flailed and struggled in ironic imitation of their still-wriggling leader.

 

"Wait! Hold on!" One of them suddely yelled, going limp against the soundwave barrage "Relax! Associate regulations require any captured operatives to be recovered within 48 hours! Only the boss has anything to worry about!"

 

The rest of them started at those words and with a few pained whoops of relief bonelessly collapsed in their harnesses. The leader began to slump along with them.

 

"Never shoulda trusted Tia..." With a last grunt of resignation, he collapsed.

 

Over the high-pitched keening of the Atlantic winds, Scarab could hear a growing ruckus in the building. Stabs of anger, fear, surprise, lust and utter gloom flashed across her consciousness. Lights were coming on up and down the skyscraper, silhouetted figures in armor and uniforms of other security firms hurrying to the roof, some stopping to stare at the sight outside before racing to catch up with their fellows.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

Whilst Kalama wanted to stop crime she really wasn't going to get anyone killed if she could help it, even by accident. Luckily she had many ways to stop that from happening.

 

"Safia activate feather fall protocol on my mark."

 

Calculating the speed and trajectory rapidly in her mind, and getting Safia to double check just instead, and pointing her sonic projector at the ground she created a film of layered soundwaves to soften his fall. As she did she watched the projections of response time, their police couldn't be too far from arriving she just needed to keep them contained for a few minutes more...

[Ari]

GM

 

The rest of the descent was without incident. The Descending Bears disarmed themselves(and their leader when he tried to pull a gun on the Scarab) and placed themselves on the ground in a tight circle, hands loose at their sides.

 

"Now, Scarab," one of them began(none of them had removed their helmets and masks) "I should warn you that we can't answer any questions. It's in the contract, even. Now you may well argue that a contract written with the express purpose of securing the silence of mercenaries hired to help discredit a security firm in return for their employer getting kickbacks when people turn to HIS boss's firm is not something that would be legally recognized as anything but incriminating evidence, but would you say that to someone offering you all 26 copies of said contract?" With a free hand, the Bear retrieved a sheaf of papers and offered it to the Scarab. 

 

"Also this thumbdrive, in case you need to make some copies and transfers and the PDF scanner on your phone isn't working. "

 

"Now, do you have any questions for him?" the Bear nodded to the commander, who was already gagged and glaring furiously at Kamala and his treacherous operatives.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Scarab III

The suit of cause had a voice changer, it was one of the most basic functions fitted to the suit, and she'd spent several hours tuning the voice so it sounded both pleasant and menacing as needed. She strolled toward the group with as much confidence as she could muster, very aware that despite the lifts in her boots she was still much shorter than most of the robbers. Hopefully, her yellow goggles gave her an advantage in such an attempt

 

"Let's start with the basics, why are you here and who are you working for?"