Raichel Willis is sitting in the train, en route to King's Row from Talos Island. She's standing, holding one of the support bars when there's a rumble and the train rocks, lights flickering. Raichel, like a lot of the other passengers, peeks out to see what could have happened. There was an explosion and part of the tracks is now missing!

Never fear!  Thunder Slash is here!  Raymond happened to be on the train and yanks hard on the emergency brake line.

"HEY EVERYBODY!" he hollers, "FETAL POSITION UNDER THE SEATS, NOW!  This is gunna get rather bumpy."

He then smashes the nearest door and flies through and toward the blasted bit of track!

  You know, people may complain that waiting for the trains to arrive is incredibly boring (even in an amazingly efficient rail system with a 30 second wait, tops).  But then things like this happen and you start to miss a boring wait.

  "The rails exploded! That's bad!"  Hmm, okay...  He has no idea if he can make 'rock rails', or if they would hold up a train very long.  So he attempts the more sensible action of Magical Slows Things Quicksand!...  Well, some of it is on the rails, and the traffic below was already at a red light anyways... (Or that any car crashes would be too bad at 3 miles per hour tops)

OOC Style:  Pulling the emergency brake?  You are wonderful.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:25, Sat 21 Jan 2012.

The people in the train have little choice but to hang on. Seeing a door is now open, Raichel grabs the nearest passenger and flies out with them, before setting them on the ground. The train manages to slow down before Raichel even gets a chance to go back for another passenger. "What in the world caused that?" Raichel asks.

A nearby PPD officer is running to the scene and slows down, seeing things are OK now. "This is the second incident like this." the police man declares. "We've definitely got a serial bomber."

"Interesting they should target the railway," Raymond says, "I'm guessing the last bombing targeted the railway too, then.  I'll wager that before long whoever's responsible will send a video full of threats and demands to news agencies across the city."

He eyes the structure for any other signs of danger or clues.

  Emergency breaks brakes are what in the world caused that Raichel... Well, that and sand (somehow), but 'Causes Stop' is a bit more effective than 'causes slow'.

  "Maybe they resent having needed to take public transportation in the past?... Okay I'm terrible at detective stuff."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:37, Tue 31 Jan 2012.

The clues are blatant. There is evidence of a bomb. The people are shaken, but not dead, thanks to the efforts of the heroes.

Raichel mrfs... "Anything magical going on, Alloy?"

Should Alloy check, there actually is an aftertaste of Magic. Though not the kind that would make things go boom. All too familiar though; feels like Circle of Thorns.

"Let's get these folks off the train at least," Raymond suggests.

He then offers to the folks in the train a lift on the superhero elevator.

"Or you could sit tight till the railroad engineers determine that the structure won't collapse from the train moving in reverse.  One at a time, please.  In order of nearest to the door to furthest."

  "It's all vague and stuff.  The Circle was involved somewhere, if the Rikti can mess around with magic then I guess nothing is stopping the Circle from using old fashioned bombs?"   Said the Robot Wizard.

  "Did either of you notice anything when you were on the train?  You were closer to the explosion than I was."

Raichel headshakes. "Didn't notice a thing... just a sudden rumble from the explosion."

A rocket slams into the ground right in front of Raichel. "EEK!" Raichel exclaims, startled by the rocket. Out of the butt of the rocket pops a television screen. On the screen is some nerd. Buck teeth, glasses taped together, pimples, you name it. But when he speaks, he has a radio show host style voice.

"Greetings, citizens and heroes of Paragon City. You no doubt have noticed the structural integrity of your train stations has been compromised. Well I can fix that. I can make it resistant to such explosive power. However, instead of getting paid for my patented project, it was stolen from me, along with its patent, by Crey, who are now legally selling my invention to Paragon's own Longbow Military Division. I have presented my case to Paragon's representatives, and nothing is being done. In fact, I was laughed out of the office. I just wanted the city to be safer, and instead of caring about the city, Paragon's officials care more about war. The best way to hurt Paragon's officials is to hurt transportation. So... here's what I want: I want Paragon to use my invention to make this city explosion-proof. And then, pay me 10 million dollars. I will then disappear and your city will be safer. Thank you, have a nice day."

Raymond stares, jaw agape at the strange message and message delivery method before blink-blinking and looking in the direction where the rocket came from, expecting maybe some clown car with a rocket launcher to be speeding away.

"That was... different."

  How does one react to a sitiation like this?  Apparently in Alloy's case 'talk to the rocket'. "10 million dollars? That's worth at least... as much as all those statues the city representatives promised to make but have never made by now.  Or all their personal cars put together.  Can you just ask for their cars instead and then they can take your bomb proof trains as an example Mr. TV Head?"

The television turns to face Alloy with the man's face still there. "Cars don't buy things, Mr Archmage. And actually, for your information, each of those hero statues cost in the range of 1 to 2 million dollars each. So if you meant existing statues, I'm asking for less than it cost to make all those. If you meant the occasional statue made in your honor that were promised at random, then I might be asking more than all those combined."

Raichel asks, "Why do you care if the city is safe and then go and endanger the lives of the people on this train?!"

TV swivel to face Raichel. "Calm down, young lady. Not only did I know you were aboard the train, I also know a few other heroes were in the area. Heroes use the trains more often than the average citizen, after all. Besides... a few deaths from a train is worth it to prevent thousands of deaths down the road."

Raichel looks furious. "You sick, twisted..."

TV-guy says, "Say what you will. I've made up my mind and I have stated my price. Good day." the TV explodes.

Raymond uses his electric armor to sense the direction the signal to the TV was coming from... KIDDING!  ;)

"Ironically, trying to stay calm would be a good idea in this situation," Raymond says, sighing to let off some tension, "Even if it was suggested by a villain.  I wonder if one of his other rocket TVs bothered giving instructions on how to hand over 10 million.  Cash delivered to a location we don't have?  Transfer to account we don't have the numbers to?  I get the feeling that every word this guy says is a lie, diversion, stall or something.  But this isn't my field of expertise.  I just smash stuff with a big weapon.  Oh!  And rescue folks off a train with flight."

He continues his previous chores and lets more clever folks try and unravel the mystery of where to find this guy.

  "Well of course Crazy Revenge people don't make sense, they are Crazy.  Or maybe he's just taking on what he can deal with?"  Crey stole my life's work and did mean things to me! I shall have my REVENGE!...  Against the other people who laughed at me instead!

  "Should we go to the patent office and examine the design? In case it's like that show where the most of the creators of a renewable clean energy source shafted the main scientist and it turns out their revenge scheme was because the one they stole had a design flaw where it eventually blows up the atmosphere and that's why he was trying to stop them?"   boy, you sure can ramble when you don't need to breathe.

Raichel helps as well, continuing to fly up and down. "We'll let the others in Redemption know. Somebody is bound to figure this out, or have seen other pieces of the puzzle."

Spinning bat symbol comes to screen and moves away from screen.

Back at the Redemption HQ, Raichel is reporting what she saw.

Emerald frowns. "A deactivated train? That's gonna hurt a LOT of people. Heroes that would have saved lives will now not get there in time. Does this man have any idea what he's done?"

Raymond shrugs.  "As I mentioned to them earlier, I suspect everything this guy says is a lie or at least a half truth.  Anybody's guess how sane he is.  But he at least knows how to put together a nasty plot.  So best not to underestimate him."

  Alloy hopes nobody gets Generic Named because of that Bat Symbol <.<  >.>

  "Yeah, not everyone has access to a full range of teleportation beacons.  I think they tried opening up a public system once but there were problems with people ending up in nearly identical alternate dimensions."  And now we have an answer (not necessarily a correct one) for why there are Three Atlas Parks at all times.

Emerald says, "We need some teams: One to get some volunteers to help people and heroes get to their destinations. One to look into how to find this jerk. One to look into actually finding a way to pay the guy. One to help with preventative measures on future explosions. What teams you three wanna be on?"

Raichel says, "I wanna be on the assault team once he's found. In the meantime, I'll be part of the preventative measures."

"I may not be much of a detective, but I can get around pretty fast," Raymond answers, "I'll join the emergency transportation team till we find the villain.  When we do, I'll be more than happy to help with his arrest."

  Alloy looks as uncertain as a robot with no facial expressions can.  "I don't know, all of those sound important and I want to help.  Do you think I'd be better at a particular one?"

  OOC Style: Translation, Alloy will tag along for what would be more enjoyable for the both of you to play out.

Emerald says, "I feel ya, Alloy. I'd love to help on any of those measures... and I would be able to with decent efficiency. But transportation's my specialty, so I'll likely be doing that. As for you, Alloy... you admitted you're no detective, so finding him is out for you. Don't supposed high finances or figuring out how to get said finances to jerk-face is your forte either. I think you'd be great at danger prevention. Let's find out who all in our SG is doing what."

Transportation team: Emerald, Raymond
Jerk-finding team:
Jerk-paying team:
Kaboom prevention team: Alloy, Raichel

(OOC: Translation, we can haz up to 4 different scenes going on.)

"Don't you guys have some rich kid into all that high finance stuff?" Raymond asks.

Lucky is not only wealthy in influence but is also wealthy in actual currency.  Like in a certain movie, his random picks in investments do so constantly well, that the firm that he hired was the target of corporate espionage.  Not that they minded too much.  "Oh look!  Lucky's firm invested a million shares in ADR Delta!  BUY!BUY!BUY!"  Word gets out and ADR Delta's value skyrockets, snowballing the effect.  But Federal investigators put an end to that.  Now they just get normal returns.

But thanks to this Lucky had to learn at an early age how to do things like the “Double Irish” or the “Dutch Sandwich” to move large sums of money around overseas with as little red tape as possible.  Otherwise, that children's hospital he funded would have gone belly-up.

"And I figured most super groups left the detective work to the police."

He shrugs.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Thu 09 Feb 2012.

  "It seems to vary a lot.  Sometimes the police tell us what they found and then we hit bad people until they stop doing bad things.  Other times we look for the clues the police or ancient magical organizations based outside of universities can't find and then hit bad people until they stop doing bad things."

  Alloy stops to think for a moment, then says "Have heroes and the police ever found clues at the same time?  Maybe we could try that."

Emerald says, "Yes, Raymond. Lucky's a rich kid who might know a thing or two on that. There's also Angel."

Antoinette walks past the group, heading for one of the teleporters. Emerald says, "Antoinette? Where are you going?"

Antoinette says, "To find the sad man."

Emerald ohs. "You mean the one who bombed the train tracks today?"

Antoinette says, "Yes."

Emerald hrms and looks around. If Bamzor is handy, she waves him over. "Hey Bamzor! Could you team up with Antoinette and make sure she doesn't get hurt?" If he's not available, of course, Emmy would simply call on Tread, May or Liberty.

Emmy looks back at Raichel, Raymond and Alloy. "Well I'll get word out while helping Raymond with getting people where they need to go. Let's get started." She heads to Talos with Raymond while Raichel heads for Atlas with Alloy.

Transportation team: Emerald, Raymond
Jerk-finding team: Antoinette, Bamzor (Or some tanker anyway)
Jerk-paying team: Angel, Lucky
Kaboom prevention team: Alloy, Raichel
This message was last edited by the player at 20:01, Mon 13 Feb 2012.

Raymond huhs.  "Didn't know Angel was into all that high finance stuff.  I just know her as a marksman... woman... whatever.  Never asked about her day job.  Good to hear there'll be a knowledgeable adult who can help with that end of things.  Not sure how to feel about the source of clue finding being so inconsistent."

He casts an uneasy glance at the creepy girl who calls a terrorist "the sad man" as if she's some horror movie psychic who sees into the minds of serial killers.  Right.  Moving right along to Talos with the cheerful singer.

  Bamzor just got back from Birthday performance, so the hulking robot is still sprouting rainbows everywhere.  "I'll make sure she gets hurt less at least." Taunting and punching only does so much when a Girl can wander off into Lala land in the middle of a firefight.

  Alloy meanwhile asks Raichel, "Do you think they will try to bomb the Croatoa path next?  That's the only place I can think of where people normally only ever take the train to get to and from."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Fri 24 Feb 2012.

Raichel slams her fist into her hand. "Right! Good thinking. Let's rustle up some heroes and go looking for bombs along that line." She hurries over to the Croatoa telepad and starts tapping at the computer.

Antoinette is a handful, yes. But she can also be an easy person to watch over just the same. :) As for where she goes? Seems she is headed for the Talos telepad.

Emerald takes Raymond to help people to and from places. She hums while she works, and tries to help the best way she knows how; coordination. She gives Raymond a bright smile. "You OK, big guy? You seemed a touch off earlier. And I'm sure that explosion rattled you a bit..."

"Thanks for asking, Emerald," Raymond answers, "I can't shake the feeling that there's a lot more to this case than meets the eye.  That this is all a diversion.  At least...  _{I hope so.}  Because if the reasons given are true...  To put lives at risk...  for money...  makes me so...  angry!"

His skin begins to crawl with lightning.

  "Would it be better or worse if the man threatening lives if his life saving methods are not used was because he's crazy stupid, or because he doesn't care about the safety at all?"  One answer, both answers suck because both answers involve exploding trains.  The Robot Wizard follows after the Sparky Girl.

  Meanwhile, Bamzor goes along with little miss psychic who may or may not see coming a lot of metal fist in a lot of faces in the near future.  Of course, you don't need to be psychic to know there are good odds of this happening at any given time when it comes to Bamzor.

Emerald reaches up to put a hand on Raymond's hip as she looks up at him. "Yeah... me too. But we'll see justice done. We always do."

The lightning? No biggy. Emmy resists that big time, remember? :)

Meanwhile, Raichel shows up in Croatoa with Alloy as per the teleport device. She looks around. "...I wonder sometimes. Just like I tend to feel more at home in not-so-magical places, do you feel more at home in places like this?" She begins to fly.

Antoinette goes to Talos with Bamzor. She reaches to hold hands with him and begins walking to Detective Basinns. He notices Antoinette and raises an eyebrow at Bamzor. "Hey, Antoinette. What brings you this way?"

Antoinette says, "The sad man is hiding in Circe Island."

Detective Bassins says, "The who-what now?" he looks at Bamzor. "You her translator?"

The lightning wouldn't hurt Ant either.  It only harms bad guys.  The same way Axe Cop weapons do.  Convenient when swinging a huge weapon around in a hostage situation that it magically phases through the hostage.

Raymond gives Emerald a hopeful smile.  "You're right.  Justice will prevail.  I'm always so encouraged by your positive attitude, Emerald.  Thanks!"

  Alloy shrugs as they rocket after (So much easier to hold a conversation during travel than a few words in passing per bounce).  "The Cabal get confused by a Payphone, and that with their recruits being from around here these days.  Plenty of Magical sorts make me feel at home, but for the most part the "official" Arcane people and places, Heroic or otherwise don't.  Serafina still won't sell me anything..."   Now now, you just missed the level window for that mission, They sell stuff to Gadget Gun...  oh who are we kidding DOWN WITH SERAFINA!

  "It should, and does, come down to the people in them and not their expertise that makes one feel at home or not.  Places like Portal Corp may be under heavy guard, but they treat their work as just part of life.  The Midnighters are decent enough but still seem to think Magic is rare and mysterious.  I found my magic tome in the garbage, and they go shopping at the local Pandora's box like everyone else."   At least, they do when the Midnighters Vendor lady is out getting more Tea.

---

"Not usually my job, but...  Antoinett's figuring the man claiming responsibility for the Train bombings will be found on Circle hotspot Circe Island.  She's pretty good at taking care of herself, but I'm mostly here to non-lethally crush people that try to hurt her in the process of the investigation."

OOC Style: http://tf2wiki.net/w/images/e/...ob_but...heheheh.wav

Emerald nods. She looks about. "Alright. Here we are; New Troy. Let's tell the people to meet us here." she pulls out her police radio. "This is Emerald of Rime calling, over?"

In a cool tone, a familiar voice responds, "This is Detective Croquette, read you loud and clear, Emmy. Sing me your song."

Emmy smiles and says, "I've come with Raymond aka Thunda Slash to volunteer for helping people get to their destinations. If the fine boys in blue could send word for the people of Talos to meet Raymond and I in New Troy, over at the base portal next to the train station. This is for people who need to go *long* distance. People going to Skyway City or Founders Falls need not apply."

Detective Croquette responds, "Thank you Emmy. And thank you too, Mr Slash. I'll spread the word. Your help comes at a good time and on behalf of the PPD, I'd like to thank you and tell you how relieved we all are to hear this."

Emmy says, "Back atchya, PPD. Without heroes like you, Paragon would fall apart."

She smiles up at Raymond.

Raichel says, "I thought it was more that the Midnighters look for rare and mysterious magics, not that all magic is rare and mysterious? Ah well. Heh... what do you consider an "official" magical sort? Someone who kicks butt with it? Someone given a title who organizes other heroes? Or Someone who practices magic, but is technically an official even though it has nothing to do with magic."

Detective Basinns nods slowly. "...right. Well it's worth looking into. I'll tell you what. Go there, see if he's there. If he is, let us know. You got our number."

"Uh...  You're welcome, sir...  What she said," Raymond answers awkwardly.  He rubs his leg with the back of his foot, blushing while he waits for Emerald to end the call.  When she does, he sighs.

"Yeesh.  Talk about humbling.  They do what we do, but without super powers!  To receive praise from them...  Thanks for saying what you did.  They deserve it!"

He gets to work helping Emerald.

  Looks like someone forgot about all the Power Armored Cops, and the Psychic Cops, and the legions of Kheldian fused police officers countless would be bank robbers from the Rogue Isles have to deal with.

  This of course, doesn't remove the fact that yes, there are plenty officers who have to fight crime with only unique Hawaiian shirts to aid them.

  "I guess official may be the wrong word for it? The Legacy Chain is a 'group', but they do things like stalk that nice Mirror Spirit Lady citing power corrupts lines while still hiding themselves from everything that could or would do the same to them.  Though I guess I can understand wanting to skip the paperwork for registration.  At least the Midnight Squad have some reasons to be more secretive these days."   You know, having your old HQ blown up during the Rikti war and all that.  Mirror Spirit meanwhile, is basically Pan Flute if she were a Mirror based ghost thing.  Bladed Butler made sure to apologize after their battle

  "Basically, those that figure the whole Magic thing puts them or those with it above others, even if by 'above' they consider magical dangers more important than otherwise."   You sound a bit more sophisticated than your usual Enthusiastic childlike robot personality tends towards there Alloy.

---

  Shorter post is go!  Bamzor nods, "I will do so, and hope your busy job leaves you a moment to answer."  So, personal theory why you can never Cellphone detectives (even if they are always standing there).  No time to answer the phone.

  That dealt with, Bamzor shall lead Antoinette... Or would that be the other way around? I was hard to tell with her.

OOC Style: In double checking the Legacy Chain stuff I came to find OMG SERAFINA IS LEGACY CHAIN!
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Thu 08 Mar 2012.

Antoinette follows Bamzor with that blank look of hers. Upon getting to the Circe Island, Antoinette seems to still be following without noticing all the CoT in the area. Who promptly seem to act like the powerful Bamzor isn't there. As Bamzor walks along, the CoT members occasionally glance at him nervously. Though this doesn't stop them from continuing their demon worship rituals and such. Lucky for them, none of them are in the middle of sucking someone's soul from their body.

All this, though, and no sign of the "sad man" yet.

Emerald glances up at Raymond and says, "No problem."

The radio call was heeded. Many people of all walks of live, citizens, police, a few embarrassed supers who often feel the need to explain themselves for not having a supergroup, some rogues and vigilantes, etc. The rogues and vigilantes that Emmy doesn't know, she simply helps. But there are a few she seems hesitant to help. "I'm afraid if I don't, they'll feel as ostracized as I once was and lean all the more towards villainy. But on the other hand... if I help them, they may do wrong on *my* watch. Raymond, get on the Redemption's frequency and ask for someone to follow these questionable folk. I realize we're starting to spread our group thin, but I think we have enough to at least follow these people for a few, then move on to following others, just to keep a brief eye out on them..."

Raichel nods to Alloy. "I'm guilty of that sometimes. I think everyone is guilty of feeling above others for any reason. But I know what you mean. Some like to have it so pronounced, they think it all the time and don't even think it's wrong to believe such. For what it's worth, Alloy, I admire you and what you do, but mostly I admire that you're a hero."

As the two arrive at the train in Salamanca, they see some people under the tracks. As un-populated as Salamanca tends to be, there aren't any around who would notice. Except the purposeful Alloy and Raichel!

"Sure thing, Emerald," Raymond answers.  He makes the requested call and Philip agrees to do some of the requested oversight.

"Now it's my turn to encourage you.  You're doing the right thing.  Denying someone a lift for what they might do would make more problems than it would solve.  Imagine if someone were denied service at the grocery store for their reputation.  That wouldn't go over well."

  "Raichel, the fact I'm more awesome than Avalanche Shaman's is just scientific, and Arcane fact, duh." Maybe he got your point still?  "Thanks Raichel, You're awesome too! "

  At the sight of potential shenanigans, the Robot Wizard lands on the ground beneath the tracks.  "Hello, I'm a Wizard.  How are you today?"  Well, direct approach at the very least might get SOME results?  If not always good ones.

---

  How fortunate for the Circle they aren't doing anything overtly worth Lightning Rodding over to them.  Yet.  Bamzor polishes a Ghost Slaying Axe while Antonette does her thing... Or at least, he thinks she's doing her thing, which looks like when she's just hanging out.

  Just in case, Bamzor starts doing the rounds of the various 'DO NOT ENTER' door sealed cave entries on the off chance the girl starts headbutting one of them.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:52, Tue 13 Mar 2012.

Emerald nods. "I'll have to let Phil know later that I appreciate his watching these people..."

Other than that bit, things seem relatively uneventful for Emmy and Raymond for a while. Then the ambush. "The point was for people to NOT be able to get around! You're foiling everything!" says some Hellion as he charges the duo with a group of his own, throwing fireballs.

Emerald looks over at the group, the fireballs getting absorbed into her field of power and she looks up and over at Raymond. "I guess it's on?" she then holds a hand forward and summons a Nemesis Staff before shooting energy at the lead hellion.

Raichel lands with Alloy. The duo finds several Circle of Thorns members. "...KILL THEM!" the one says before they all start attacking.

Meanwhile, Antoinette does go to a door, but she stares at it. "This one." she says softly.

Raymond nods and retaliates against the ambushers, fighting defensively and pulling punches.

"The guy you work for can't pay you!  If you're fighting for future payment, you're fighting for a lie!  Because even if his demands are met, the money will go to an overseas bank!  He'll be long gone before you can collect!"

  Alloy has enough time to say  "Well that's not very nice" before he gets an Earth Caster boulder upside the head.  This displeases Melty appearing behind the arcane mob.  "..."  You tell em Melty.

  The robot wizard borrows from the Plant Kid movelist and stomps stalagmites.  Sure, Earhquake is always good and conveniently ally safe, but why take chances next to the train station.

---

  Bamzor nods.  He could check if the door was unlocked, but kicking doors down is something you know need the flimsiest of excuses for when its Action Time!
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:41, Sat 17 Mar 2012.

The hellions attacking Emerald and Raymond retort, "We're not fighting for pay! What are you? Members of Hero Corp or something? Has it occurred to you we're doing this to get back at the city council for ignoring what could improve life for the city?"

Emerald says, "Then stop fighting and let's talk! We don't work for Hero Corp, but we do work hard to help this city! If what you say is true, we're on the same side!"

Emerald holds her hands up. She or Raymond could solo these guys with ease. But that's not the point.

Raichel is with Melty. Still hovering, she shoots a ball of lightning that zaps the entire group at once! "No killing today!" she regrets she can't heal Alloy, but at least she can lay down the retribution alongside Melty.

The Circle, of course, gladly retaliate and the fight is on. Thankfully, the Earth Caster can't seem to knock Raichel down with earth powers due to, you know, hover. And she keeps his attention so Alloy can stay on his feet.

Door bashed in! Bamzor sees a standard cave mish style cave. Some CoT are there and notice him. "KILL THEM!!" Yup. CoT are one-track minded.

Antoinette, however, empowers Bamzor with one of her buff powers.

Raymond is still raging, but has enough self control to lower his weapon on Emerald's cue, but only just.  He even drops his lightning field.  But if they so much as make one false move, he'll be ready to retaliate.  In fact, to drive home the point, he drains them of their endurance.  Technically won't harm them, but probably feels less than pleasant.

"Rare chance to avoid being clobbered into the clink, IF you listen to the lady."

  Alloy can totally heal himself, fortunately.  As well as keep his footing around earthquakes because it would just be downright silly if the robot who makes them all the time fell down because of them (that's our -KB slot excuse and we're sticking to it).

  "Please hold still while Raichel and Melty hurt you." he asks while adjusting his heavily modified sonic scrubber to provide Raichel with convenient protections... It probably doesn't actually make it polite to sling stone and crystal imprisonments around just because he asked.

  The retaliatory boulder he threw at that first Earth Caster meanwhile is just downright rude.

---

Bamzor /E knuckles.  No real point as, you know, robot hands.  Except for STYLE POINTS.  "How fortunate you wear face obscuring hoods.  It means you won't notice the difference when I rearrange them." A bit more verbose than the usual grunt of a taunt, but it will do.

  Bamzor will favor facepunching any Air Thorn Casters because Electric on Electric violence.

When the smoke clears, Raichel is sitting on the second-to-last defeated foe. Melty defeated the last foe at the same time as Alloy. Raichel looks down at the foe she's sitting on. "Guess we better wake one and start questioning him."

---

When the smoke clears, Bamzor has totally owned the group of CoT. Yay Lightning Rod! Antoinette helped, of course, but it's hard to notice the little girl when BIG GOLD ROBOT PUNCH YOU IN FACE AND LIGHT YOU LIKE CHRISTMAS TREE!!

....even if the little girl controls time itself.

Antoinette goes to hug Bamzor, looking down at one of the downed enemies. "They're laying down." she says softly, probably unaware they are hurt since they got hit so hard so fast, they didn't have the chance to cry.

...What? Antoinette responds to tears.

The bad guys actually stop fighting to give their story. Which is pretty much that the mastermind behind all this fed them the same propaganda he spewed on that TV earlier. They seem to honestly believe they are fighting for the city's right to have better protection.

Emerald has this helpless expression, like she is trying to fathom how these thugs could be so... gullible? Dumb? Etc?

Raymond puts his weapon away and glances down at Emerald for a cue on what to do next, then looks back at the Hellions.

"It seems I misjudged you.  I stand corrected."

He looks down at Emerald and asks, "What do you think?  Should we join them?  Maybe we could talk to the big boss about your ideas on a more effective approach for helping the city?"

Bluff isn't exactly Raymond's best skill, but it's worth a shot.

  Double Rock Toss.  Always a good time (For the one's tossing the rocks.  Just ask Warwolves).

  "Yeah, it is hard to ask people why they hate trains when they are unconscious."  That said, he digs out ye olde Medicine Training Standard Issue Doodad and provides glowy green lines of feel good for Raichel's Seat.

---

The shiny smashey machine is thusly hugged, and carefully goes to headpat the little girl.  "Yes, many more will be laying down before we are done most likely."

  Some seriously wall clipping scale 'laying down' will probably occur if something manages to get Antoinette hurt.

Emerald pauses before laughing a little. "..you know? I feel silly. I guess I assumed Angel would be talking to the mayor in order to arrange paying our mystery man, but that doesn't mean she would be talking to the mayor the whole time. Let's go give a visit to the Paragon City Hall."

The Hellions frown. "Are you trying to trick us into going to jail?"

Emerald refrains from face-palming. "The opposite. Besides, the prison isn't inside City Hall, guys. Let's go."

The hellion responds cautiously, "....OK...."

Raymond isn't able to figure out why Emerald would take these guys to City Hall but shrugs and follows along.

"I'll update the supergroup so they know why we're not helping with transporting people."

He then conveys and update to the SG of what he and Emerald encountered and what they're doing about it.

The guy wakes up in pain and with someone sitting on him. "BWAAAAH"

Some things are just unforgettable. Someone naming themselves Tard and going Bwa is one of them.

Raichel looks down at him. "Oh come ON... I'm not that heavy. Don't be such a wimp."

---

Meanwhile, back at Bamzor land, AMBUSH! From both in front and behind. Antoinette continues to slow down her opponents and put them in pockets of frozen time, but some sneak past and ignore Bamzor's taunts. Why? Because little farm girl is more obvious target than giant metal death machine. Duh.

Antoinette squeaks!

  "Maybe you're sitting on his bruises and burns?  A lot of these guys seem to have forgotten that possessing someone's body means dealing with the downsides of a body."  Of course, they probably find that worth it... Most of the time.

  "Look, please tell us why you hate trains and I might heal you."

---

  Bamzor is displeased.  Having hung around police stations way to much of late (So many bank robberies), Bamzor has "Borrowed" some Teargas grenades.

  If Antoinette would be crying anyways, there's no problems throwing a teargas grenade into the carnage right?  Of course not.  There would have been an ensuing amount of CARNAGE, but all the ghosts practically clinging to him is messing with his retribution.  In the meantime, he hands Antoinette his Ghost Slaying Axe.

Emerald heads to city hall and thanks Raymond for informing the others. Once there, the two can see Shelly, walking around like she works there. "Oh hi, you two!" She walks speedily to Raymond and Emmy. "Who's this with you? More heroes? Commuters?"

Emerald explains the situation.

Shelly ohs. "Well then lemme get you an appointment with the mayor. Things ARE busy, with lots of people trying to see him, so don't expect to be first in line. Or to even see him today."

"Thank you, Shelly," Raymond answers.

He scans the office for a flier or a form, snatches a pen, and writes in the margin.  He then hands it over to Emerald.

---

OOC: He's of course working on the idea that the badguy's lair has yet to be discovered because he hasn't been told otherwise IC.

Raichel hrmpfs and gets off the guy. "Better not try to run. Now talk."

The attractive young pokemorph gets off the guy. Who calmly pauses a moment, examining himself. Then says, "I will not tell you *anything*, fools!"

Raichel sighs. "....why?"

The CoT guy says, "Because I only share vital information with members of the Circle of Thorns. And because you beat me up. Good enough reasons?"

---

The tear gas grenade only spreads so far anyway. Antoinette is indeed crying. And when given a ghost slaying axe, she swings at random, eyes still squinted closed, while crying. This means she hits ghosts and CoT members with it. Not on purpose, but she WAS given an axe and she's confused. When her daddy gave her an axe, it was so she could chop up wood. This is made more evident by the fact she is chopping in an up and down motion rather than sideways.

Emerald simply nods, looking up at Raymond.

Shelly returns and says, "Got you a meeting with the mayor in about 2 hours. I've got a break coming up... if you guys don't mind taking a break yourselves for some food, maybe I can kill some of that time with you over lunch?"

---

OOC: Quite alright. The PLAYERS know the badguy's hideout has been discovered, but even Bamzor can't be 100% sure he's discovered the badguy's place since, you know, while Antoinette is 100% accurate, the badguy could have booked it.

"Thanks, Shelly," Raymond answers, "And thanks for the offer.  I was just about to suggest that these guys could take me to the boss so I could arrange a meeting between him and the banker who'll be paying him.  But if you're offering lunch maybe they'd rather just give me directions?"  He gets the pen ready to write down the directions.

  "Not really, I mean you were trying to blow up load bearing structures.  You can't honestly expect that you'd be ignored and any of the 18 dozen heroes that pass through this area regularly would just let you do it."  Alloy shrugs, "I guess we just hand em over to the police at this point and move on."

---

  Hey now, vertical slashes are among the most powerful of attacks when it comes to entering battle with a GIANT BATTLE AXE!!!  Antoinette did just fine.

  "You're doing fine Kid, keep it up."  That said, Bamzor decided to act with a bit more haste and sped up his Standard Smashing Process of faces.

The Hellions look at Raymond like "huh?" and the lead Hellion says, "What? We don't know where the guy is..."

Shelly says, "And I don't know the details either. You'll just have to wait for the appointment... I'm sorry." she gives an apologetic expression to Raymond.

Emerald blows upward on her hair. "Let's go have lunch then. We can discuss other methods to deal with this situation in the meantime..."

Raymond eye-twitches at the uselessness of the Hellion, but he consoles himself with knowing that at least it looks like his ploy would have worked.  He nods to the two little ladies and follows their lead.  "I wonder how the others are doing."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:29, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

Speaking of the others, Raichel nods in agreement and helps Alloy take the prisoners back to the nearest precinct. "You did great, by the way. Not sure if I say enough how much butt you kick, but I'm sayin' it now while I'm thinking to." she proceeds to list some things Alloy and Melty did. Shining moments. The prisoners look VERY annoyed. "Cut it out! You both STINK!"

Raichel says, "....well that wasn't a very nice thing to say. Didn't your mom teach you if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"

"....BWAAAAA!" Yes, that never gets old for the narrator.

---

Meanwhile, Bamzor and Antoinette make it to the back of the cave where a monitor sits. On it is the face that appeared on the other monitor. "Ha! Well, heroes, I'm VERY impressed you found me, but your efforts are wasted. When I learned of your arrival, I escaped and left this monitor here to mock you. Neener, neener, neeeenerrrr!"

Antoinette points at the monitor. "That's him."

The monitor says, "Pfff... cute kid. You bring KIDS to do your work these days?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:42, Mon 23 Apr 2012.

Emerald says, "I'll check in." she gets on her Redemption Com. "Hi, Redemption. This is Emerald. Mind if I get a status update?"

Angel can be heard on the com. "Well I was on the way to talk with the mayor when he got kidnapped. So I'm kinda trying to rescue the mayor. I've found some really capable heroes to join Lucky and I, so we'll be alright."

Raichel and Alloy would hear what Emmy asked and what Angel said, though after Alloy has had a chance to answer Raichel and/or the prisoners.

Similar with Bamzor and Antoinette. Who is STILL pointing at the monitor.

  Melty has no sulfur involved, thank you very much.  "Thanks, fortunately while half my stuff isn't as showy as others, I know I'm Helping.  Don't listen to the mean man Raichel, you're still cool."

  Alloy replies to the latest SG chat type stuff <SG>"Some Circle Mages won't be kersploding the Croatoa train.  I'm more surprised they didn't get jumped by the local factions.  I hope the Mayor is okay... Which Mayor?."<SG>  Gordon Bower, Mayor of Croatoa at least knew the sewer problems in his jurisdiction weren't as bad as the Sewer Network.

---

  Bamzor comments, "She's older than I am at the very least.  If age were an accurate gauge of functionality, your help up front would have been better off."  Hmm, to take Antoinette's pointing as mental quirks or literally... Literally it is!  <SG>"Monitor system with the Doc's face on it in a Talos Cave past some Circle...  Ant's doing the pointing thing, so I may be punching the monitor in a minute<SG>

  Bamzor glances around for anything else of note before he will resort to 'Tear Monitor Out Of Wall For Evidence'

"Thanks, Emerald," Raymond answers.  When he hears about the Mayor being kidnapped he hovers off the ground, sparking with electricity, ready to rush to Angel's aid.  But then she says she doesn't need any help.  He floats back down and tries to calm himself.  "Lunch sounds good."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Thu 03 May 2012.

For all intents and purposes, Bamzor tearing the monitor out was effectively the "glowie" of that mission.

Sadly, however, the Narrator is unable to find ANY information about ANY mayors anywhere besides the now dead Spanky Rabinowitz. >.> Paragon Wiki, CoH main website, doesn't matter. Not an easy thing to find. So to answer Alloy is currently impossible aside from saying "the mayor of Atlas Park" and/or mayor of Paragon City itself.

---

Emerald responds to Bamzor, "Well don't destroy the monitor. Just take it and bring it to HQ. I'll meet you there. Alloy, Raichel, take those guys to the local authorities and, if you feel like taking a break, join us for lunch in the base." she then looks at the others. "Guess we'll be having lunch at the base. Let's grab a to-go order or something."

Shelly loves sea food... but also kinda likes trying out the stuff surface dwellers eat. So it's pretty easy to order something they all enjoy. Then they all head to the base.

"The Circle is in on this too??" Raymond answers in surprise, "Emerald and I were ambushed by some Hellions at the Talos station.  They said they weren't hired by the mastermind, rather they were convinced of the rightness of his cause and acted independently.  I wonder if his transmissions have some kind of mind control signal.  Any chance of finding out why those CoT are backing this guy?"

He nods & follows along with the others to have lunch at the base.

Emerald enters one of the portals that leads to the Redemption Supergroup Base. Once inside, she heads for the substitute meeting room. This is a room with a table, some files, and is next to the telepad room. This room is often a little messy due to its function: To meet, and immediately head for telepads.

Once she sees everyone there, she presents Antoinette, Raichel and Raymond with the food (Shelly already has hers). She hands Alloy some rock candy for Melty, and whatever it is that's normally given to Alloy and Bamzor in place of food during lunch time. She also raises an eyebrow at the sight of the monitor when Bamzor brings it. "Alright, everyone. Antoinette pointed to this monitor and, the way this city works, I wouldn't be surprised if the monitor itself is our bomber. We have 3 topics to cover: The monitor, the Hellions, and the Circle of Thorns."

The Hellions frown. "We ain't got NOTHIN' to do with those cultist freaks!" one says. Another says, "Yeah. And they creep me out." "Don't be such a wuss." "Weren't you the one who runs screaming like a little girl when you see Vahzilok around?" "Enough, guys. This is getting us nowhere."

Emerald says, "Besides.. there's no shame in running and screaming like a little girl when you're talking about Vahzilok." At least, when they are in slightly overwhelming numbers and are a level or two higher than you. But she doesn't say that.

Antoinette says, "The sad man is in the screen." she points at the monitor Bamzor got.

(OOC: The meeting room and the substitute meeting room have yet to be built, but I have such wonderful plans for them. I figure the main meeting room would be something like when the whole supergroup is meeting for whatever reason, while the substitute meeting room is more for a team's worth of capes meeting to discuss how to deal with an immediate problem. I.E.; what Emmy is using it for.)

"Thanks for the food, Emerald," Raymond says before digging in.  He glares at the Hellions but holds his tongue.  When Ant makes her strange claim he sweatdrops, wondering if it's worth the effort trying to make sense of anything the strange girl says...  but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"What do you mean by that, Antoinette?  Is it haunted by someone's ghost?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:42, Sun 20 May 2012.

  Bamzor shrugs, "I'm gonna guess either AI remains stored inside the monitor, I mean we find them in glowing trash barrels so why not a Monitor...  Or it's a ghost scientist like Raymond said.  The Circle posses scientists all the time when they go out back of Portal Corporation for their Smoke breaks."  This has been your 'Silly justification for Enemy Type' of the day.

  "When it comes to the Hellions, the likely answer is that they are just kind of Dumb.  One Supergroup thought a really, really poorly thought out attempt to rob their base by the Hellions was them being put up to it by Arachnos.  Nope, just dumb." Oh hi, reference to new lowbie content.

  Alloy adds, "They tried to claim Arachnos did set them up so they should totally be let off when it was brought up."  Both robots glance around as they can feel the very Universe itself straining to keep from exploding due to their interaction.  Then slowly back away from eachother.

  "Seriously though.  You're making faustian bargains, have literal Girlfriends from hell" No offense to the less malevolent demons, of course,  "And you're calling the Circle cultist freaks?  I mean, they don't even have the baggy robes anymore."

Antoinette says, "Yes." as soon as Raymond asks her his question.

The Hellions don't look too happy with Alloy. "You disrespecting us, you walking scrapheep?"

Emerald says, "Heyheyhey! Nobody's disrespecting you and we're definitely not trying to start a fight. Just chill so we can get to the bottom of the more important issues, like if Paragon's governing body really has been ignoring genuine attempts to improve city life."

Antoinette says, "Turn the monitor on."

Emerald says, "Er... yeah. Um... we need a techy to fix this monitor so we can chat with the guy."

(OOC: Because of the fact Alloy is a robot, but a MAGE and not a techy, I'm reminded of one of my favorite Transformers lines of all time and it came from the new "Transformers: Prime" series: Human asks Arcee "You're a machine and change into a motorcycle... don't you know how to repair a motorcycle or build an engine?" Arcee responds, "You're a human. Can you build me a small intestine?")

Raymond skews his lips, and decides to not get involved in the discussion with the Hellions.

"We need a tech expert to hook up a damaged monitor," he says in the Supergroup's channel, "You available to help with that, Eli?  We're in the base."

He glances at the monitor. "I'm no expert, but...   don't haunted TVs turn on without being plugged in?  Oh wait...  I think I got that notion from a movie.  Never mind."

  "Oh, I can probably patch it up if you just need it working.  Just don't ask me to build you a new one, or a better one."

  He doesn't bother looking back at the Hellions when he comments "A bit tasteless in my choice of words, but when you get down to it your choice of methods are the same.  At least for where you get your Arcane push.  Though some would consider you smarter than the original Circle.  You didn't get your bodies stolen because you believed 'hey, stab this demonic sharp object into your heart' would work out in your favor."

  Alloy will go to pick up the Monitor and bring it to a more convenient worktable like location.  "I feel somehow the inventor will be so disappointed we have no giant flamethrowers or laser turrets to try and turn against us.  We will probably want Eli around when things get real technical though, dealing with a mad scientist and all."  Repairs would commence at the speed of The Script.

OOC Style: Surprise!  Alloy is not ironically ignorant in technical matters!  Though aside from his own workings he's only as qualified as his "Maintenance and Janitorial duties" deal would suggest... For a mad scientist aid.  Igor!  The cable is out!  Though the most fancy Tech thing he's done is jury rig his Sonic Scrubber ala Praetorian clockworks into his Sonic Resonance device.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:09, Sun 10 June 2012.

The Hellions not only seem satisfied with Alloy's comment, they even laugh. "Honestly! Who stabs themselves? For any reason? ....besides suicide, of course."

Eli responds to the call, "I'm available. Comin'."

Emerald says, "Well, Eli, turns out Alloy is good for repairing the monitor, but we may still need you for any technical jargon."

Eli answers, "OK."

Eli arrives around the time Alloy has the monitor up and running. The face of the bomber is on there and he looks annoyed. "Curse you... for stealing one of my monitors, of course."

Antoinette points at him. The guy rolls his eyes. "Good grief, what IS this girl's deal anyway?! How did you get ahold of such a wierdo?!"

Emerald says sternly, "Don't be mean." complete with finger-shake.

(OOC: As a fun side note, I checked the paragon market for costume slot, found it was for sale! So I slammed the 500 or so points it was going for and BOY did that set me free! I immediately got to work! My cherubs will now be complete (there are 6 cherubs, so need 6 slots), I was able to have the slot to have Raichel right there with Team Rocket Liberty for my pokemon trainer, and that's just for starters. I tried to make Timothius' mom for "Velocity", but... for her to be complete (I made the costume a while back), I need auras unlocked. So I'll need to figure out what other costume I'll give Vel when I get level 30 since I'll have 2 empty slots then. Still working on Angel and Emmy, but chances are that sixth slot will be the incarnate unlocks for those two.)

Raymond can't help but chuckle at Bamzor's stab at the Circle.  "I didn't know they did that.  Jeez.  They're crazier than I thought."

He of course is angry with the Monitor Man for his comment.  "Her 'deal' is she's figured you out, villain!  She knows that you're a ghost in that machine.  And you know what happens to evil ghosts?  Eternal prison in an artifact, that's what!  So you'd best be spilling bomb locations if you want to prevent that!"

  "He's trying to extort the city and blow up public locations and we're going over his manners..."   Robots can feel Dejavu, though it may be cross game and cross character Dejavu in this case.

  "We already know all the possible bomb locations when it comes to directly attacking the rail system though. Foreknowledge would mean less need to watch the entire rail of course."

  Alloy doesn't comment that it was quite possible 'Eternal Prison Artifact' was already the case the were observing at this very moment.

The monitor responds to Raymond, "Who are you calling villain, you self-righteous slave of the corrupt government?! You stand up for filth and sit here interrogating me like you're the police, when you're nothing more than a vigilante at best!"

His eyes then dart to Alloy. "You bunch are SO smart. You obviously don't need me."

Antoinette gets watery eyes. "Don't be sad, Mister... my friends DO want to help."

Emerald glances at Antoinette then looks back at the monitor, looking just as angry as Raymond. "Say whatever you want to make yourself feel better about yourself; it won't change the fact your bombs put people's lives in danger. Which is countering the very point of your goal. You're not just a villain... you're a hypocrite."

The monitor responds to Emerald, "To make an omelet, you gotta crack a few eggs."

Shelly says, "But in doing so, you make the people not want anything associated with you. And the people, NOT the corrupt officials, are the ones you wanted to know about your intentions."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Mon 02 July 2012.

Raymond folds his arms, narrows his eyes, and scowls.  "I say we make a ghost omelet."

He glances at Antoinette.  "I think your sympathy is wasted on him.

Then to the group, "Alloy's right.  We're wasting our time on him.  He's not cooperating, and what little he could have to offer in his own defense isn't worth much anyway.  Let's just hand him over to the ghost cops and be done with him."

  "I never really understood that phrase.  Eggs for omelets are just food with no chance of being a life.  People are not eggs. Maybe I'm taking it too literally?"

  Alloy considers the angry scientist's image, the turns to double check simple things.  Such as if there ever was a submission for such things this Scientist claims were denied due to money, and claimed to be interested in now.  "All sarcasm from both sides, well, aside...  All this just seems off."

Emerald says, "But Raymond and the bomber both have a very good point that they seem to be agreed on. We should be handing him over to the police. As of now, the city still doesn't really know we have the mastermind."

Shelly squeaks! "Right! I feel stupid... let's get him to the cops then!"

Eli says, "I'mma check if this monitor has any memory on the way there."

Antoinette goes to hug Raymond. "Love is never a waste."

The Hellions roll their eyes. "Man... what makes mage-bot think there's something going on beyond what the guy is claiming?"

Angel comes through on the supergroup com. "I took a peak. There were claims for a superstructure project that the politicians of Paragon weren't willing to give the cash for. But as for the conspiracy theories on whether they proceeded to use the same invention for military means? That will probably take digging that involves some of us using superpowers."

"You're not the only one who thinks that, Alloy," Raymond agrees, "On both points.  Ends don't justify the means.  And the whole situation felt suspicious to me from the start."

He doesn't avoid Antoinette's hug and just frowns, holding his tongue rather than argue with her.  He nods to Angel.  "Let's start plan...  Hmm..."

He gives a suspicious glare to the villain.  "You're so convinced of your claims, here's your chance to put your money where your mouth is.  Where will we find evidence to prove your claims?"

  "Vanguard might have picked that sort of thing up, but then they have a habit of paying their bills.  Mostly I'm just getting too used to problems being more complicated than they have any right to be.  I suppose we can all Blame nemesis for that one."

Blaming nemesis was also a nemesis plot, we swear.

Emerald says, "Not everything is a Nemesis plot." Well now we know which load-screen Emmy subscribes to. "But they certainly make everyone paranoid, like you said."

At Raymond's request, the computer monitor looks hopeful. "You mean it? Alright! All my work, though not the originals, can be found at the following location:" he proceeds to give coordinates. But he warns that getting in is the trick since it's deep in yet another cave full of traps and dangerous machines.

Eli says, "... Well since we have the coordinates, I can calibrate one of our telepads to take us directly there. It'll take me about 5 minutes."

Emerald says, "Do it. The less danger we put our teams through over this, the better. Besides... the only urgent thing is if there are any bombs left."

Raichel looks at the monitor. "ARE there any bombs left?"

The monitor says, "...yes."

It's then the group hears Angel over the SG radio with a bunch of chaos in the background, "Help... hurt bad... mediport field disrupted..."

Eli fumbles with his SG radio, nearly dropping it. Emerald uses her radio, "WHERE, Angel?"

"Peh...peragrin..." Angel's voice responds, sounding even weaker.

Raichel was crouched and ready when Angel was starting to answer. Even as Raichel charges off to the PI telepad, Emerald starts following and says, "Alloy, you're in charge of the bomber and finding his stuff! Bamzor, come with Raymond, Raichel and I to Paragin!"

Shelly looks at Alloy. "I'll take care of the Hellions."

Eli goes to work on the telepad that leads to Pocket D. He figures if there's one place he can temporarily cut the SG from, it's PD since most of the SG has a VIP pass that allows them to teleport straight there anyway.

Raymond's skin is crawling with lightning and there's a miniature sonic boom when his afterburner kicks in on his race to the telepad.

"Hang in there, Angel.  We're on our way.  Sending a team invite."

Assuming she accepts the invitation, he locks on to her location and blazes toward her, activating his super speed stealth to avoid any unwanted attention on the way.

  "Thanks Shelly, you're a much better host than me anyways."  That said, he patiently (well, as much as you can in this sort of situation) waits for Eli to finish his task.  "How many bombs, and is there anything of note that would make safely defusing them more troublesome?" Alloy doesn't have much practice with that whole 'Sonic Cage' trick.  Even if he did, it would only work on one bomb at a time.

  Bamzor meanwhile, mostly follows Raymond's example in hurrying through the Telepad process and high speed flight.

Angel Rescue Team:

Angel accepts the team invite from Raymond and so, Raichel prompts Raymond to invite her, Emerald, and Bamzor as the the team streaks across the island. Emerald keeps up with the others because of teleporting, materializing next to them sometimes ahead and sometimes right at the same spot, only to vanish again.

According to team tracking, Angel is over at Portal Corp, and when they get there, the place is a wreck. LOTS of bodies, though most of them belong to Rikti. Many a scientist lies dead among the ruins, but the bunch find Angel looking not long for this world, currently in human form, laying at the controls to the Portal that leads to Firebase Zulu. Looks like the portal is a different color than normal.

There are still some Rikti there, looks like some are at Angel's body, trying to mess with the controls. Others are at the portal itself, some examining, others just standing by.


Bomb Defuser Team:

The monitor answers Alloy. "There is one bomb in every section of the city. And when defusing them, just don't cut the black wires."

While still staring at the portal and trying to concentrate, Eli asks, "What happens if you cut the black wires?"

The monitor answers Eli, "Premature detonation."

Eli ohs. Then smiles. "Got it, Alloy! We now have a portal that leads directly to this guy's evidence. Does the place include where you put the bombs?"

The monitor answers Eli, "Yes."

Eli says, "Then I know where we're going first..."

Meanwhile, Shelly is escorting the Hellions to the Atlas beacon. She looks over to Alloy and Eli. "Don't trust him. Be careful when you go to this place he gave you coordinates to; It could be a trap."
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:24, Thu 19 July 2012.

Raymond of course invites the rest of the group to the official team to help facilitate them finding Angel with him.  He slams into the ground among the Rikti then taunts them!  "I AM YOUR OPPONENT!"

He then slams the end of his titan weapon down on the ground in front of him, creating a powerful shock-wave aimed at knocking down the Rikti at the controls!

"I'll draw their attention away from Angel," he coms the team, "Someone get her some greens!"

  Bamzor takes in the view, and has other thoughts on the matter.  "Right, unless doing so would make it stuck in the 'on' position, please back away from the console.  The Shadow Shard is just lame and none of us want to have to deal with that today do we?"

...  Wait, they keep a TUNNEL portal that has Firebase Zulu as one of it's destinations in freaking Atlas Park these days.  Then again, they also keep the time portal to the Doomed Future ruled by Lord Recluse in City hall so... Yeah.

---

  Alloy sighs, "That's the problem with obvious traps Shelly.  Even when they are obvious, you still go through with it anyways."

Angel Rescue Team:

Emerald and Raichel land, Raichel immediately going to hand Angel some greens as asked. Emerald notices a few Rikti trying to aim their attention at Raichel. Eyes narrowed, Emerald says something in the Rikti language that seems to REALLY tick them off and they turn to face her with malice. She then twirls energy in her hands and slams it into the ground, shooting kinetic energy outward to all the Rikti and knocking them on their butts.

Meanwhile, the ones noticing Raymond start immediately crowding him. Emerald then teleports over to Raymond. She goes to his backside to face her back to his. "I got your back, Raymond! Let's teach these Rikti how we throw down!"

Angel seems to have enough wherewithal to take the greens given to her and peeks her eyes open. "Thanks for coming..." she manages in a weak tone, pulling out a gun. Raichel puts a hand on Angel's and says, "Let the others handle it. You fire those big boys and the Rikti will just come back at you."

The Rikti are not push-overs, however, and while Raymond, Bamzor and Emerald seem to almost act like the Rikti are barely scratching them, it seems just as hard to bring one of the Rikti down. Then an important looking Rikti starts casually walking towards the group. In a deep robotic voice, the commander speaks up, "These are some of the more powerful heroes. We have what we need. Retreat."

The Rikti all seem to heed his command and start teleporting away, as if being beamed up. The commander throws his hands to either side and creates a large repultion field that, should any of the heroes try getting close, will push them away. "Well fought, heroes. Farewell." he teleports and a timer is heard over the building's intercom: "Self-destruct sequence initiated. T minus 5 minutes."

Timothius calls on the Supergroup channel. "Invite me!" and he can be seen entering the room.


Bomb Defuser Team:

Shelly answers Alloy, "True enough. Just be careful is all..."

Eli gives a thumbs-up with a bright smile, "Force Field technology combined with his sounds? I think we'll be alright. Thanks, Shelly!"

When the two arrive at the destination, it looks a lot like one of the Praetorian psion prisons. Eli immediately begins putting forcefields on Alloy. And since he's expecting a surprise attack or trap, he also puts up a personal force field once he has the large force field active.

Some searching soon reveals a computer with all kinds of files and plans on it. Alloy is, of course, techno-savvy enough to find out these are the files they are looking for. Eli is staring in amazement. "This is simple yet brilliant! I feel kinda silly not having thought of this..." he's in geek mode, distracted with the genius of the design.

"Thanks, Emerald," Raymond answers, "I'll have to learn whatever it was you said to them.  Thanks for helping Angel, Raichel.  So Angel...  glad you're ok now...  you know what they were up to?  Don't suppose anyone here knows how to work that control panel and stop the self-destruct?"

He of course invites Timothius when asked.

  Alloy takes a moment to consider some of the quirks of his abilities.  He can't protect people from the damage of Psychic powers...  But he can protect himself and others from all the nasty side effects and has the Bestest Golem Ever.  Buffage is of course shared with the young scientist.

  "You can't think of everything Eli, and now you have thought of it so you can stop feeling silly."

---

  "Okay, that was weird."   Yes it was Bamzo-  "Since when did the non-Traditionalist Rikti treat others with respect?"   Probably not the most crazy thing going on right now, Bamzor.

  "Right, okay.  Good news, I have a potential way to evacuate everyone in the building to saftey through the League system if we can't stop this kaboom.  The bad news, I have to be where it's safe instead of helping evacuate others to do it." That is probably the most sissy usage of Incarnate powers possible, but hey, supposedly Bamzor is Hero alignment so yeah.

OOC: I just did a quick curiosity check.  there are only two Melee protection power sets that have Repel (as opposed to KB) protection.  Stone armor, and SHIELD DEFENSE.  Turns out that while you activate/babysit shield Defense's Mez protection like Super Reflexes,  Shield Defense version is BETTER.

Angel answers Raymond in a weak tone, "I think they were grabbing some experimental technology that was being used on Firebase Zulu... and figured they would try to cut us off from our troops there while they were at it."

Timothius arrives, now that he was able to home in on the others. He lands, wings flapping a few more times while he jogs over to the others. Seeing Angel still low on health, he heals her the rest of the way.

Angel says, "Well you got me curious, Bamzor, but I'll wait and see. Go do your plan, Bamzor. I'll see about finding a scientist who can defuse the bomb."

Raichel asks, "Will you need any help, Bamzor?"

---

When Alloy speaks, Eli shakes it off and says, "Right. So let's pack up and go."

It is, of course, then that a bunch of those psychics we mentioned (seers) come seemingly out of nowhere and begin shooting brainwaves at Alloy and Eli!
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:13, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

"Good work, Angel," Raymond answers, "Hang in there."

He exhales in relief when Timothius shows up and heals her.  "Thanks, Timothius.  Looks like Bamzor's got the evac covered, so I'll be heading to the hospital to look into why the mediport system wasn't working for Angel."

  "The effort involved will be 'Stand between police drones at the ferry and wait for the evac signal'.  So unless you need practice in standing dramatically while nothing happens, it sounds like a one robot job.  Thanks though."  That said, Off the large robot goes.

---

Sudden ambush with little prep time! Oh goodness what do you do oh wait, wait.  We know the answer to this one.  Volcanic Gas.
"Right It's time to run like sissies for the exit.  Probably more seers and assorted where those came from soon enough."

  Alloy refrains from just popping open an Ouroboros gate and shoving Eli through it for sake of dramatic tension.

Angel Rescue Team:

Angel begins searching the scientists with Timothius. Timothius heals the scientists as he comes across them. Finally, one who can operate the primary controls is found. He gets to the computer and gets to work while Angel and Timothius continue searching the others.

Raichel, however, stays by the side of the guy who's operating the computer. "I don't know the first thing from these advanced computers, so you'll have to let me know if things aren't working out."

The scientist says, "Actually... I'm finishing the sending of all the backup data. The self destruct sequence can't be reversed. Those blasted aliens locked it."

Raichel says, "Keep trying. If worse comes to worse, I know Bamzor will have us out of here."

Meanwhile, Emerald looks around and begins tapping away at one of the less advanced terminals. "Times like this, I wish one of our more techy team mates was here." she comments to nobody in particular since Raymond has headed off to the hospital. SPEAKING OF...

Hospital:
Raymond finds the hospital is in a frenzy. All kinds of injured are being cared for and a lot of equipment is on the fritz. A nurse spots Raymond and approaches him. "...Raymond? I'm glad you're here, but I'm not sure how you can help..."

Bomb Defuser Team:

Eli runs with Alloy, "Thankfully, my force fields have mind shielding technology!" he says as he puts up his dispersion bubble. The duo makes it to the exit without much more drama, thankfully. As soon as Eli and Alloy arrive back in the supergroup base as a result, Eli immediately turns and makes it one-way so that the teleportation won't allow the seers to arrive in the supergroup base. "That was intense, but we need to check on the others right away! They could need our help."

"I came here to find out why Angel's medivac wasn't working," Raymond answers, scanning the chaos, "But healing these people takes priority.  One moment, please, while I contact our healer."

He contacts Timothius by the Supergroup channel.  "Lots of injured people here at the hospital and their machines are on the fritz.  You ready for a port, Timothius?"

He looks at the nurse and asks, "How did all this happen?"

  Now that the large Robot Smashey Hero/Part-Time children's Birthday Party Entertainer is in place, Bamzor makes the best possible use of his time while awaiting the signal.

/e bbelectrovibe

---

  "I'd comment how base portals are already secured against uninvited guests, but with he way things are going lately yes please extra precautions.  Thanks Eli."   He shakes his head at the young super genius's outburst though.  "No Eli, we need to work on what you found.  I trust the rest of them to handle their end of things, but you have to do what the rest of us can't now or we might not have a chance later."

  Alloy doesn't even know what it even IS Eli found, so yeah sending the only one who can reveal the latest plot point gallivanting about sounds like a Bad Plan right now.

Angel Rescue Team:

Timothius responds to Raymond, "Thanks for asking first, Raymond. Those injured people will have to wait just a few more minutes. They, at least, are at a hospital. I've got loads of dying scientists out here at Portal Corp's remains. Did you find out what gives with the medivac?"

Angel glances and notices Raichel is watching the scientist. She sends a supergroup message, "Hey Raichel... take a picture of what the scientist is up to and send it to Eli's email."

Raichel responds on SG, "You got it, Angel." and takes a picture every time the screen becomes different. Then starts sending the pictures to Eli.

The scientist says, "Alright. I'm done. We need to evacuate. I think I managed to lower the explosion to not cause too much harm, but... better safe than sorry."

Raichel says, "Good work. Timothius? You ready yet?"

Timothius heals the last scientist he's able to find and says, "No, but do I even have any time left?"

Raichel says, "Not really."

Timothius says, "Then we best get out of here and save whoever we can save."

Having heard Angel, Emerald also takes screenshots. "Good idea, Angel..." she whispers to herself before packing up, grabbing the data on a USB and going to the others.

The signal is sent to Bamzor.

Hospital:

After Raymond hears Timothius' answer, the nurse says, "The medivac towers are down. NOBODY is being teleported to the hospitals. This sent a lot of heroes into a panic and their powers... started injuring bystanders."

Bomb Defuser Team:

Eli says, "I'm working, I'm working." as he looks through the data. "This has everything. Dates of his discoveries, how to build his invention, the proccess he went through to try getting it mass produced for the city... all of it. He was handing his technology on a silver platter to the city councel. They didn't even HAVE to steal it after he basically gave them his blueprints. Hold on..."

He takes a look at his phone and sees texts from Raichel and Emerald, complete with attached photos. His eyes go wide. "Emerald got the exact same schematics from a console at Portal Corp. And Raichel apparently sent me some kind of self-destruct procedures being tampered with using what looks like Rikti coding..." he spaces out a moment before quickly looking through all the data again. "It's making more sense. Inventor offers technology to councel. Councel turns him down. Councel keeps tech schematics. Portal Corp gets their hands on it somehow and tries to provide the tech for the troops in Firebase Zulu. Rikti find out somehow and invade Portal Corp in a concentrated effort to steal an "experimental technology" that was going to be provided to Firebase Zulu."

"How...?" Raymond cuts himself off and sends a supergroup message.  "The P.I. medivac towers are down.  Also, hero powers are now injuring bystanders.  Use extreme caution.  I'll broadcast to the help channel.  Let me know when you are ready for a port, Timothius."

As promised, he then broadcasts the situation to the help channel.  "Calling all heroes!  The P.I. medivac towers are down!  Hero powers injuring bystanders!  Use cation when apprehending villains.  Hospital in need of healers, and tech experts needed for repairing towers.  AVOID PORTAL CORP BUILDINGS!  SELF DESTRUCT EXPLOSION EXPECTED ANY MINUTE!"

  Bamzor busts one last dance move, then hits up the Not-Related-To-Local-Systems Incarnate Empowerment. (If the Hospital evac end of things were not bothering to set up a league for him in the first place, not Bamzor's fault).

  At least he's not teleporting a bunch of unsuspecting people in front of a giant Hamidon monster, unlike SOME people.

---

"I wonder if the more shady ends of Vanguard bought the schematics?  But knowing them they would want the guy who made it in the first place, not second hand plans if they had known the source."

OOC: Ironically, Raymond/Chris would never see the emergency message because they never look at the Help Channel.

Angel Rescue Team:

Timothius, Angel, Raichel, Emerald, and all the scientists are then teleported to.... wherever it was Bamzor went. Which, thankfully, is AWAY from Portal Corp. Sure enough, the place goes boom. It looks like the damage WAS minimized... but that the people would not have survived without Bamzor teleporting them all. (Thinking on it a bit, it makes loads of sense for Bamzor to have gone to the hospital so the wounded PortalCorp scientists would be able to be tended to immediately.)

Thankfully, game mechanics are only used when convenient in this RP or the group of allies could not rush to Bamzor and hug him.

-----------
If the group wasn't teleported to the hospital:
Timothius ohs and says, "Ready for that teleport now, Raymond."

Emerald lets go of Bamzor and says in SG, "Soon as you teleport him, teleport me too and I can get to teleporting the scientists."
-----------

Otherwise, Timothius just gets to work on helping out immediately.

Bomb Defuser Team:

Eli says, "Hard to sa-Oh! Found the locations of all the bombs!" he quickly begins altering the telepads to teleport to the exact spots. Takes a minor alteration, really, so it will actually save time. "Let's get the bomb squad in on this quick."

With a quick call to the cops, the team is able to get a hold of the bomb squad who soon come to the SG base in order to head for the bomb locations.

Raymond teleports Timothius and Emerald to the hospital and any other healers who responds to his broadcast.  "Thanks, you two.  I'll help with bringing in the injured scientists and whomever else needs to get here quickly."  Including repairmen for the hospital's equipment.

  "Right, I'll be on standby for if you need someone punched.  A lot."

---

  "If we make a habit of this, we're probably going to need some extra Telepads."  Fortunately, throwing rocks at Maurader's face had been worth a good chunk of prestige.  The main problems would be potential power limitations.

Angel Rescue Team:

Emmy and Tim thank Raymond back for the teleport, and get to work.

With the repair men, the healers, and the people who are on watch to make sure supers don't use their more dangerous powers around civilians, things are being tended to decently.


Bomb Defuser Team:

Eli says, "Don't worry about it. Crisis like these where the entire city's transportation is cut off and bombs are ready to go off at every tram station doesn't happen often."


Wrapping up:

It's now a couple days later. The bombs are diffused, the bomber has been turned in to the police, and the medivac tech is repaired. It's found out that the Rikti were responsible for the temporary disabling of the medivac tech. Security around medivac towers and its other workings has increased. In order to not spread Longbow forces thin, qualified civilians are offered the job with the bonus that anyone with that job has use of the tech (civilians normally don't get teleported to hospitals as per storyline).

The men in black take over investigations concerning the Rikti event, but the Redemption supergroup knows... it doesn't look good. The Rikti have gotten away with the impact-proof superstructure designs of the monitor bomber. Getting rid of Rikti structures that are built or modified based on this new technology is going to prove difficult at best. And much to the shagrin of a good deal of supers (hero OR villain), chances are the Rikti will start with their defense pylons.

There is little to nothing that can be done now. The Rikti likely have thousands of backup copies of the tech in their databanks. However, the bomber who invented the structure is rumored to be inventing a counter to it in order to take some years off his sentence. Which has many a citizen outraged. The guy was responsible for atemped murder on a grand scale.