For posting mission related material.
This message was last updated by the GM at 21:07, Fri 30 Aug 2013.

Three months into the year, the campaign against organized crime was a rousing success, and Utopia's popularity was on the rise. Though the campaign was limited to the Americas and Europe (Asia and Africa blocked any policing within their area), the campaign was watched worldwide and had spectacular ratings... E!, the budding nova entertainment network, had special access and was thus able to provide wonderful on-site coverage paired with "backstage" interviews.

For those on the ground, the campaign was mostly following instructions.  Wade into 16 meth labs in a day, hunt down the head of a mafia crime family, eliminate a black market arms dealer, and so on.  The baseline criminals provided little resistance, and if there were novas involved, then they were remaining elusive.

Two days ago this all changed however.  A tip from a member of a mexican drug cartel suggested that there was a cell of novas supporting massive drug operations throughout the Americas.  The operative was convinced the novas would kill him for disloyalty (he had stolen cash from them) and so came to Utopia for protection.  His head exploded 3 hours after arrival at the Mexico City base.

The Mexico location that the informant had given was empty, though they were able to apprehend buyers and confirm that the novas and their people were indeed there.  From the information Utopia has, the next major transfer of merchandise will be taking place in Kansas City, and from there distributed across the United States.  There is absolutely no information on the novas in question, except for one: Juan Tajillo, a member of a biker gang with drug running operations throughout the United States, and who served prison time for knifing a man to death.  He erupted in prison but escaped before Utopia could bring him in.  He is known to be nearly invulnerably, and to have control over electricity (degree of control/power unknown).

The location is a popular club in the area, converted from an old warehouse. The time is 9pm, Saturday night (4 hours after T2M Americas is informed of the upcoming raid).  The plan is to enter the building and clear it of civilians.  To Pax's intense irritation, he is in charge of safeguarding civilians, as is all of T2M Europe (specially assigned; potential for civilian casualties is too great, yet capturing the novas is of paramount importance), while America is to fight the nova couriers and immobilize them for further questioning.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

So, club, at the edge of Kansas City Downtown (which isn't exactly large, to my knowledge).

Civilians on the inside and outside both, and despite a full team of novas to guard them, they might still be at risk or in the way.

Unkown novas, all of whom are needed for questioning.

Any questions?  Any preparations before mission?

---

Imp scanned through the files on the wall display, one side displaying things like club blueprints, sewer access, maintenance tunnels, aerial photographs, anything to give himself and the team a better lay of the land.  The other half of the screen showed all the information on Juan Tajillo that Utopia could collect.  Criminal record, school history and grades, prison psyche tests, relatives, everything.  Imp was hoping that they would be able to pull some kind of personality profile and probable responses on his behalf.  Also, and perhaps most importantly, did Juan have the mental wherewithal or predilection to be the leader of this operation or was he probably going to be following somebody else' orders.  This looked like it would be a pretty simple smash and grab, but hitting a club just as it was opening for business smelled like trouble.  Trouble the drug runners were no doubt counting on to make T2M hesitant about really unloading. Too bad for them T2M practiced specifically for these exact situations.  "I say we should shut down all the gas and electricity just before we go in, then have Comstock and Solitaire rip the building up and throw it into the abandoned lot across the street.  This club is a single floor so any civvies should be safe in the middle of the floor. Or, we could try something more standard like hit all exits at once, have sol and myself on overwatch, and use gates to get the civvies out, then pound the crap out of them.  Any chance we ca get Antaeus or Quake to plug the sewers so they can't escape that way?"

Quentin made a face, "Something tells me that the collateral damage from ripping apart the warehouse is more than we want to deal with. Even with the power and gas cut, it'd be pretty messy - literally, since there's plumbing to consider as well. Falling debris may also hit the civvies." He shrugged, "I think I favor a more orthodox approach, but I'm in for whatever looks to work best." As usual, he deferred to the others in terms of tactics. "Though blocking sewer and underground exits may not be a bad idea - is it too late to get someone down there just to be our eyes in the dark? They wouldn't even need to stop them, just let us know that they were leaving."

"I can smack down anybody that tries to fly out, and darkness doesn't bother me either." Solitaire smirks."Ripping out the building would be fun too, but like Grav says, messy.  In short, I can do anything. The problem is the lack of intel for this op. I don't like it with all the baselines that will likely be there, it could get bad quick. She scowls at that, but her normal expression returns as she adds, "We'll just have to be quicker. There any special rules of engagement? Or is it the standard 'in one piece if possible' set?"

"Well there are three possible strategies I can think of.  One is we send in our stealthiest members or lesser known members to scout it out. Two if we have to hit them quick we send in our fastest members, and stick our strongest to guard outside if anyone gets through. The third would  the reverse. We send in our strongest members to let their strength do quick work, and use the faster ones to guard the outside. We would need at least one guy who can fly to guard the outside." Pausing to think. "There is a possible forth option. Depending of how strong Slider's or Grav's powers are for creating their portals. If they can open them under the bad guys and transport them into a secure location."

"Combat porting could be a very effective strategy but there are a couple problems to overcome. First, Slider and Grav'd need some pretty precise intel on where the targets were to be effective.  Also, if any of them can fly it won't work nearly as well as we want.  I like the idea of some of us going in first but we'll have to overcome any abilities related to quantum detection, I can't dorm down like Harley could, and I'm pretty noticeable, but, really, all of us are way to well known to saunter in sans disguise.  'Cept Zero, that is." Imp nods towards Zero, smiling a bit ruefully as he remembered being forced to lay an egg in the hallway a few days earlier.

"Well, I think I'd be able to target them ok, but when all that quantum is flying around, it's hard for me to port past a short distance.  Not sure that we could get anything secure enough set up in the immediate area."

"Remember that you have at least one more body while I'm around, maybe more depending on the quantum field fluctuations in the area.

For my part, I think we should get some bugs in there, watch the area for when they get there, wait for whoever they're meeting, and then send both teams in.  Have Slider set up two portals, while Grav stays free to play battlefield control.  Then all of us up close and personal fighters can wade in.  Too bad we don't have Sam around anymore, he'd be useful here, provide some ranged backup... But we do have Flare, and she's got similar powers, so she could fill that same role."

Imp waved a hand in the air.  "Umm, 'Tasm, I know that I'm the pretty flyboy what talks to the news, but, uh, I can blow shit up at range too." He smiled then grew serious, "Perhaps not as impressively as Flare, but I can play Apache to 'Stock's Abrams if needs be. I think, as we learned in Africa, we should hit hard and fast and overwhelm them with superior numbers and brute power.  They're probably better at fighting than we are, more used to using their powers to take what they want, and even If there are only 3, that we know of, mind, we shouldn't underestimate what they can do.  Countries in Africa wage war on their neighbors with just 1 or 2 elites per side and look what happened to the locals and the environment there."

"Oh, yeah.  I always forget you can shoot stuff too."  Of course she didn't forget, she didn't forget anything.  But it was fun seeing how long it would take him to notice he was left out of something.

"Standard doctrine says three to one advantage is to be maintained at all times.  Since we're being backed up, our first objective is the swift detainment of the cartel novas."

"I'm going in there: it's my prerogative and it's a strategy that hasn't failed us yet.  If I can get ahold of any of them, I should be able to keep them out of the fight by myself."  Comstock flexed his fingers in anticipation.  "Can anyone find out if the place has a basement?  I need to know if there's a limit to my powers while I'm in there."

"Okay ... let's talk to our pals and see if we can get the club under surveillance.  A camera or two inside would be great, but audio is going to get screwed by the club noise unless there's some new, top-of-the-line mic we can use."

"I think we should probably just do this in one go.  Not exactly optimal, but chances are someone's going to have weird senses to see us coming.

"Solitaire, I want you and Impetus in the sky.  Combat air patrol, and if you hear the word come right on down through the ceiling.  You're our fastest, and if anything goes wrong I want you with a bird's eye view of the situation so you can make the right decision and put out any fires."

"Zero, Suzukaze: I want you casing the joint before the rest of us come knocking.  It's not likely that either one of you is going to get recognized ... at least as long as you tone it down a bit, doc.  Suzukaze is fast enough to get out of any trouble and Zero I trust to find a way to win even if he gets cornered.

"Flare, Slider: you are in charge of getting the civilians out.  And it's not just because you are new.  Flare, you managed to take a solid punch putting up one of those shields, and Slider's the best 'porter in the world as far as I know.  If you two work together, you should be able to get the bystanders out of the way without injury and look damn good doing it.

"And that means that Gravitas, P and I are on party crashing duty."  He paused.  "Alright, thoughts?  Input?"

"I don't mind working with the T2M Europe crew to handle the civilians, we want to make sure they all make it out okay.  Do we have blue prints? If the Nova's are going to be in some shady back room, we could just pull the fire alarm or call in a bomb threat to get the norms out, then lay into the Nova's as they come out."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:00, Thu 17 Sept 2009.

Comstock nodded to Flare.  "See, the funny thing here is that even though Pax and Europe are on Civilian detail, I haven't been given any guarantee or statement of where that begins or ends.  Logically, that means that they will move in to assist.  Functionally, since I don't get to sit Pax down in this meeting here and assign him a part in the assault, they could do anything.

"I'm just planning on them missing the memo and acting to 'secure' the civilians that we actually get out of there safely.  And that means that you, in the middle of the fight, have to stay on top of things and make yourself a wall between the bad guys and the bystanders."

"Blueprints for the building should be on record," Quentin considered. "I'm not sure if we're going to be able to contact City Hall fast enough to actually get them before we start, though. It's likely that they'll make us wait 4-6 weeks or something similarly obnoxious." After hearing the rest of the plan, Quentin nodded. "Are we going in for the unsubtle approach, powers out and all no-non-sense?"

"Well ... if Zero and Suzukaze do their thing right, I figure that we might be able to jump right in on top of them.  Powers blazing, shock and awe."

"That should keep things interesting, just save one for me OK?" Solitaire laughs, then turns to the newer members. "This'll be your first real op, just keep your heads and everything will work out.  Now lets kick some ass shall we?"

"Agreed. I have a question, though.  What if one of them has a deadman's switch that'll cook off the club if they're taken down?  After Iraq I'm a little paranoid."

"Then hopefully Pax's powers live up to his ego.

Sorry I'm late everyone.  Seems like I'm always late.  Meetings are like that.

Anyway, Pax is on shield duty.  Hopefully his TK will channel any of the blast.  Slider, you will be helping with that as well, after the initial 'port in of the teams, by setting up a portal over the top of the area to the middle of Antarctica.  Hopefully, that combined with Pax's shield will funnel out any explosions.  Even better if they targets attempt to escape through the portal, then we can just follow and not even have to worry about civies.

Here are the specs on the location.  We already have several camera in place, set up by our baseline operatives (yes, we still have baselines working with us you know).  Unless any of you can dorm down (which you can't) you should probably stay at a safe distance though, we don't want a stray surge of quantum to alert these guys.  But Slider should be able to port you in at a different location, if some of you want to take a stealthy approach to the mission.  Otherwise, whatever you want to do we'll go with.  Just let me know if you have any special requests or needs, and I'll get them taken care of.  I'll take Comstock's final plan when its ready.

Oh, I'll be on sight as well during the raid, if you need me.  We're calling in auxiliary members and having them babysit the bases while we're out.

Just remember, this is kind of a big deal guys. This is the first real lead we've had on nova criminal involvement, though we knew it had to be there. If we can get these novas, and make them talk, then we have a huge new opening into accomplishing the current mission.

Any thing else before I go talk to the Europe team, and coordinate them with out plans? "

"What is the official line on these novas and our involvement, I know that Pax will get most of the limelight on this one, but if we are cornered by a camera crew what are we supposed to tell them about the involvement of nova criminals?  What is going to be done with them after their arrest?  What court will they be tried in?  Will they be tried in a court of law at all?  Forewarned is forearmed and all that jazz."  Imp flexes his hands, he's eager to be moving, to be doing something, and this looks like a golden opportunity to do something worthwhile.

"Well, for the most part you can just deflect.  This is part of an ongoing investigation, therefore you can't reveal much.  But any Nova criminal will be tried by the legal system of their country, just like any other citizen, though due to the special requirements for housing such criminals, Utopia will likely be involved in their detention.

If for some reason the media finds out more than they should, well, tell them something about how novas have their occasional bad apples, just like everyone else, but that you can't comment further."

T2M:E and T2M:A wait in a building overlooking the downtown area, far enough away that their presence is unlikely to be sensed. The club is rapidly filling up, and the teams wait impatiently for the novas to arrive. Hidden monitors show that several major drug buyers from the region are already in attendance, with another coming in from the parking lot. They leave the main area, avoiding the dance floor and bar entirely, going down into a large, renovated set of offices in the back (likely the area warehouse management used before the club was converted).

))))))

Shadow Walker traveled the sea of shadows.  His eyes captured the endless possibilities.  He played more and more with the idea of never returning, but his sense of honor demanded that he do his duty... Perhaps if he could shift the possibilities, or report back on what he saw, he wouldn't have to return directly.

Wait, what was that?  A set of eyes... Yes, he had seen it.  Not entirely uncommon, for an instant at least, as some had the ability to see the possibilities align. But these eyes lingered, probed, tracking the lines of what might be as they converged with his people.  He tracked further ahead, and saw two paths diverge from that point, one in which T2M failed its mission, and the world spun into chaos.  In the other, they succeeded, and the chaos was postponed for a time.  What was the catalyst?  Ah, he and the roaming eyes.

Shadow Walker understood.  This seer was powerful, and she would influence the unfolding of events.  But she was limited as well, for she didn't walk the shadows, merely observed.  She didn't understand the sea...  Slowly Walker cast his shadows across the Sea, pulling out phantoms to obscure the Seer's vision.  He cast them back and forward from the juncture, obscuring what was and what might be.  The Seer would know that her sight was being occluded, but would know little else.  Perhaps they could speak, and share a moment in this place while the shadows danced and fell into place...  He should warn the others though, they should know... Walker dipped his fingers in the water as he knelt above the roiling sea, walking on its surface.

)))))

T2M:E and T2M:A wait in a building overlooking the downtown area, far enough away that their presence is unlikely to be sensed. The club is rapidly filling up, and the teams wait impatiently for the novas to arrive. Hidden monitors show that several major drug buyers from the region are already in attendance, with another coming in from the parking lot. They leave the main area, avoiding the dance floor and bar entirely, going down into a large, renovated set of offices in the back (likely the area warehouse management used before the club was converted). The more sensitive of the group became restless, but couldn't put there finger on why.  Deja vu?  Not quite. The feeling of being watched? Not exactly?  Almost as though something had changed.

A billboard standing near the club was tagged in graffiti and covered by the shadows of an overpass. Nova eyes could make it out easily however. Gravitas and Zero had seen it several times, likely had read it automatically.  Moments before, the graffiti was a collection of random tags and symbols.  Now, the writing is different... not the writing, the meaning.  The symbols come together to form a message, for those that can piece it together: "They watch from the shadows, but the shadows block their sight." Scanning the area further, zooming back, a shadow covers the area like a cloak... a cloud passing in front of the moon, two holes in it staring like eyes... Then the moment is gone.

)))))

The monitors beep, detecting a surge in quantum energies.  A portal opens, and novas begin walking out into the office to meet their customers.

Juan steps out first, and motions more people through.

5 men run through next, some holding large guns, some carrying the merchandise. One sets something up on a tripod, and the device starts flashing.

2 unknown novas walk through, on guard for attack, clearly wearing eufiber suits. One of them has white skin (not "Caucasian white", more like "chalk white"), and the gunmen he stands next to seems to shiver as his breath mists the air. Nothing else really stands out on the other nova, though he does look familiar... Suddenly Solitaire remembers a run in with 3 men that looked exactly like this guy.  It was in the middle of battle in the E.W., and she never saw him since, but the memory stuck with her.

2 more novas follow through, and the face recognition software on the monitors gives a match: Shooter, a cocky former elite capable of channeling intense bursts of quantum energy, and Hardbody, a nigh invulnerable heavy with a record of working for any South American syndicate willing to pay him.

It looks as though someone else walks through as well, but before the team can see what happens, the monitors go black.  Apparently the bugs are being jammed.

Pax begins relaying orders to his team, and "suggests" that Comstock get going as well.  Pax is going to warp into the club area and sweep all the baselines toward the door while the rest of his team preps to evac them, then he will set up the previously discussed forcefield while slider sets up a portal in the sky above.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

I rolled randomly to see if anyone might have known the two unknowns.  Any further data will have to be found on site, as jamming is permanent.

It's up to you when you want to jump them, but you probably only have a 10 minute window where you can be sure they'll still be there.  Let me know anything you want to do before hand, any special porting locations, etc.  Comstock should probably take the lead on this, coordinating his team, but people should feel free to comment and interact before he gives the orders to roll out.

Feel free to ask for any clarification you need on the above post.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 11:22, Mon 21 Sept 2009.

"So 'Stock, you ready for us to go on this?  Did you have anything specific you wanted from us?"

Phantasm was focused, preparing for the action to come.  Internally, she altered her body chemistry, shifted bones slightly, and put herself in the appropriate frame of mind. Externaly, her force field comes to life, oddly silent for a change, as if it could sense the tension.  Her eufiber shifts slightly, covering her hands and projecting tiny spikes from the knuckles.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

1q on Multi-Tasking
1q on Physical Prodigy
3q on Shapeshift
2q on Forcefield

weave roll at minus 3 for being untrained: You rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((6,5,3,8)).
=1 succ

You rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,3,9,1,1,3,8,10,2,5)). 3 mega
You rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((10)).
=5 succ on Shapeshift
(Armor 2, Invulnerability (sensory effects) 1, +1 m.dex, +1 m.str)

You rolled 1 success using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,6,2,6,3,8,6,4,2)). 3 mega
=1 succ on Forcefield (dice are not kind anymore...)

---

"That guy," Says Solitaire, tapping the screen, "either has two twin brothers who aren't here, or can be in multiple places at once. Saw him back in the Wars, no idea what he can do apart from that, aside not get himself killed, which is more than a lot of us from back then can say. I'd be careful." With no other insights to offer, she checks her headset, puts it on, and kicks off, giving the rest of the team a thumbs up as she does so.

"OK, showtime people, lets do this quick and clean, no mistakes." Those listening could hear her smile through the headphones, "Mistakes mean paperwork."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:35, Tue 22 Sept 2009.

Quentin stares blankly at one of the billboards in the area for a moment before returning to his senses. "That's weird," he said mostly to himself before turning to the others. He seeks out Frostburn specifically and asks, "Is Shadow Walker on this mission?" He can't think of anyone else that has such odd powers over shadow and who might attempt to relay a message couched in such terms.

Quentin takes a moment to pull gravity around himself, taking on the purple-lined black form that Elites in the Wars knew to be Gravitas. "I am ready," he says after he's finished whatever short conversation with Frostburn follows his question.

Flare, all shiny and eager to be useful, is practically buzzing with energy.  Her 'I'm ready' is obvious.

"Fuck.  5 novas?  Two or 3 of them known elites, and a porter to boot?  Last time we had a showdown with almost a dozen novas we wrecked dozens of acres of rainforest.  Let's hope you're as good as they say you are Pax, those shields are gonna take a beating.
Also, base, let us know the coordinates of any quantum use outside of the perimeter after hostilites break out, their porter may be inside and will probably try to get them out of the trap to a fall back position.  Overwatch moving into position, let us know if you need us to engage, Big Guy."
Imp follows Sol into the overcast sky, they stop and hover together just inside the cloud layer. "If anybody comes our way I'll take em from the front, fire off some blasts and fuck with their maneuverability while you move in to take them down while they're disoriented.  Sound good?"

"Honestly... Keep it to yourself, but we haven't been able to get in touch with him for days.  Every time he goes out, he stays longer, gets more lost in that place he goes to."

"Hum," says Gravitas, his voice sounding somewhat distant as the sound waves struggle to escape his now-immense personal gravity, "I think he's sending us some sort of message, though I can't much interpret it beyond that he's trying to help us. He says," Gravitas squints at the billboard to ensure he's reading it correctly, though this motion is totally lost on the others as his form is relatively featureless with his shielding active, "'They watch from the shadows, but the shadows block their sight.' I don't know if that is any less cryptic to anyone else..."

The air around a few feat beyond Frostburn and Gravitas chills for a moment, an aura of stilled air molecules dampening sound.

"Well... I know that we've put some effort into using nova precognitive and clairvoyant abilities, and it would stand to reason that others might be doing the same.  We've also spent some time attempting to learn how to block such powers, maybe 'Walker figured out some way to do that...

Since your mind is probably already exploring multiple streams of thought right now anyway, here's a somewhat related question for you Gravitas: what less advertised uses of nova powers do you think are being explored, both by our organization and others?  Don't bother answering, just something you might contemplate."

In reply to Impetus (msg #27):

"Sure thing, keep them distracted and I'll knock 'em out of the sky." Solitaire said brightly, as she usually was just before a mission. It usually only lasted until stuff started blowing up, but that was to be expected, after that she entered 'mission mode' and stopped smiling. Still, beating down on criminal Nova's was enjoyable, and if Pax was keeping an eye on the baselines (God, how it must be driving him crazy, it was great!) she could cut loose a bit more than she usually did, assuming any of them fly or the ground team didn't masterfully take them all without firing a shot.

But whatever, should be fun.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Thu 24 Sept 2009.

Indecision.  Go or not?  Comstock was torn.

After Imp and Sol were in the sky a few moments, he nodded to Phantasm.  "Make sure you come out of this in one piece."  That said, he keyed his own headset and put on a stern voice.  "Alright, people, can the chatter.  There's five hostile Novas.  Repeat that, five confirmed Novas.  Everyone keep careful count while we're in there.  That brings our numerical advantage back.  Do this by the book, straight, and if you need to go ahead and nuke the building just make sure nobody gets hurt.  We can rebuild clubs, we can't rebuild people.

All of you know your roles.  If you lose track of things, make sure you are either moving civilians out of the op-area, arresting and detaining baseline criminals or engaging one of the enemy Novas.  T2M:A, your priority should always be engage."

He paused, a few moments of static filling the line.  Too late to step back from this.  "Frostburn, Pax, Sol, Zero, Slider: Operation is go."

Comstock went heavy and turned to Phantasm and Gravitas.  "I'm expecting you two to keep me on top of things if they start getting out of hand.  Okay Slider: whenever you're ready."  It was Slider's turn to carry some weight.  At her discretion, they'd portal in.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:44, Wed 23 Sept 2009.

"Well, here goes.  Good luck everybody, and be careful out there."

Slider focuses, spreads her arms wide, and creates two portals, one for each team.

The T2M:E portal leads into the front of the club, while the T2M:A portal leads to the back room.  She sets it to come out near the ceiling facing downward, in the center of the room, allowing the team to quite literally "get the jump" on the enemy.

Gravitas steps through first and immediately reverses his personal gravity so that he adheres to the ceiling rather than falling to the floor below. He opts to let Comstock be the one to 'drop in' on them. Gravitas was much better suited to being ranged support anyhow.

Comstock finished drawing out his skin just as Slider finished opening the window.  Weighing in at nearly a ton, he took a running leap for the tripod, hoping to crush whatever flashing device they had beneath his foot.  His voice boomed like an angry machine, tuned to a low, unsettling frequency. "Drop your weapons and surrender NOW!  You are under arrest!"

If all went well and his landing didn't destroy the room, before he had even finished his speech Comstock was straightening out and spinning to impale Hardbody on his arm, hand shaped into a brutal spike.  He aimed directly for the solar plexus.  Something about another so-called "Invulnerable Man" rubbed him the wrong way, and it would be a morale victory if the other side lost their heaviest hired muscle within seconds.  He would trust in the Doctors if "Hardbody" wasn't hard enough.

In his head, he kept that running tally of targets so he wouldn't lose his grip on the situation.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
For my own benefit and anti-confusion...

Confirmed Enemy Roster in Club Back-Room:
- Juan Tajillo (Near-Invulnerability, Electrokinesis?)
- "unknown nova" (possibly the 'Porter)
- "Chalk" (Elite. Cold powers?)
- Shooter (Elite.  Blasting)
- Hardbody (Cartel. "Invulnerable")
- Possible Unknown Nova?  (Last to arrive.  Jams bugs?)

Baselines
- Five men, ~2 with "large guns", ~2 with "merchandise, one with tripod and "flashing device"



Alright.  So.

Initiative: 15

Attacking. Six Successes on a simple strike at Hardbody.
15:43, Today: Comstock rolled 5 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,7,9,6,7,2,9,8. (Strength + Brawl) Punching Hardbody. Spending willpower for +1 success.

Hope that cracks his DV.  Damage is Lethal with Claws active.  25 levels with Mega-Strength 5, plus a damage pool of eight (Strength + Strike + Claws).  If Hardbody is hit, I'm hoping he'll at least fly through a wall.



Spent 8 quantum buffing.  Usual 6 for max-density upgrade, 1 for claws, 1 for second skin.  I'll calculate full soak when I get home and have my books, but it's ~30+ B/L.

EDIT: Defense = 3

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Fri 25 Sept 2009.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Those going in should roll initiative, and declare their actions, similar to what Comstock did.  The novas are not surprised, they knew something was going to happen, and were on guard, but you have tactical advantage and can pick your targets.  This round they will mostly be responding to you guys, rather than taking the initiative.

Once I get actions in, and initiatives, I will do a description of the fight in initiative order, like I started doing on the last fight we did.  Also, could you guys list your DV's for me with your initiative?

---

Top of round 1:
Comstock crashes into the room, cracking the foundation of the building as he crushes the jamming equipment set up in the room.  The monitors flicker back on in the staging point.  He looks around for Hardbody, finds him, and starts to move toward the enemy nova...
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:35, Thu 24 Sept 2009.

From his vantage point on the ceiling, Gravitas takes a moment to survey the criminal novas and attempts to evaluate which would be the best for him to pursue. Comstock was probabably going to go for harder targets, he new his destructive potential, and it was wasted on any of the humans present (who he'd largely be able to ignore) and most of the softer targets. Problem was, with novas you could never be sure who was the soft target. Their intel gave them a few leads, and he could see Comstock finding the one their info had described as particularly tough.

Surveying the scene, gears clicking into place, Gravitas held out both of his hands towards the various assembled novas. He needs to do two things. The first is to divert the attention of as many of them as he can, and the second is to actually make some sort of impact upon the fighting. To that end he sprays a bit of fire somewhat randomly, not really aiming for any of them, but tracking towards the chalky white nova. The last thing they needed was for Comstock to be frozen into a block of ice or some such thing. With any luck the others would have their attention split. Particularly with three novas entering the scene, all of them with very... different methods of attack.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Combat Paralysis means roll two dice and take the lowest for Init:
You rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,10)).
This leaves me at an 18 as well.

Edit: DV formula is [(Dexterity + (Appropriate Skill) + (Defense buff from Equipment) ) /2] + Mega
My DV is 5 before attacking and 4 after attacking.

Dice roller hate: Today: Gravitas rolled 4 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,4,4,2,7,5,8,3,3,4,8. Dex+Grav, bolt, 2 Mega.
Since the first 7 is on a mega-die, this is actually 5 successes to hit whitey.
Damage used against nova targets is lethal until they look severely injured, will then switch to bashing to incapacitate rather than kill (yay for Gravitic Bolt being able to freely switch between the two). Won't roll damage until it is required, but it is 10 successes+8 dice for lethal (plus acc, if any).

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This message was last edited by the player at 05:17, Fri 25 Sept 2009.

On the outside, Flare prepares for the screaming hoard likely to be running out, while picking a likely window to crash through if things go badly.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
  Flare activates her fire shield once the others have burst into the warehouse.

You failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,6)). So 4+14, 18 on initiative.

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This message was last edited by the player at 16:40, Thu 24 Sept 2009.

In reply to Flare (msg #38):

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

if you could post your initiative roll that would be helpful

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Before Slider opened the portal, Phantasm created a small, vicious looking sheep with fangs, rotting skin, matted fur, and rolling eyes.  She whispers to it "attack what I attack".

She replies to Comstock with a wink, and says "You to D'."

Once the portal opens, Phantasm leaps through and immediately springs towards Shooter, lashing out with a series of rapid strikes from the front, as her sheep moved to flank and rip at the novas legs and groin with its sharpened teeth.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Before we go through the portal, I want to have a critter made, since we have prep time. It means I'll have to refresh my shield and stuff sooner, but I figure the extra round is worth it.

Initiative =19
You failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5)).

Defense =7

Critter roll: You rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,4,3,5,1,7,2,9,7)). 1 will, 3 mega
=4 succ... Dice roller hates me now.

Hateful Mutant Sheep:
(1 critter, sheep size, sentient [2succ]; armor piercing fangs [3], dex 5, str 5 [2], martial arts 5 [1], m.dex w/quickness[3], luck 1 [1] {no successes on the roll, so its a wasted point})

When I go through, I want to try and take out Shooter.  I want to go after him myself with a series of attacks, while sheep goes in from behind for the kill... And assuming I've read his file, if he's a killer, I don't intend to pull any punches.

[Flurry of blows; 2 mega-dex, 2 mega-str, lethal damage is 10L+5d+Acc]
You rolled 2 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,4,5,6,6,4,5,1,9,7,6)).
=2 succ

You rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((10,7,6,9,9,2,9,9,1,10)).
You rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((10)).
Nothing on last reroll
=11! succ, dice roller loves me again!

You rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,8,9,4,5,7,4,9,4,3)).
=5 succ

[Sheep bites, 1 mega-dex, second attack 5 ticks after first; added quality Viscious (actually Fast, just sounds better), since the constructs seem to function like a standard nova, just at lower points; dmg = 6d+Acc & uses armor piercing extra]
You rolled 4 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((6,6,9,1,10,1,3,10,4,9,2)).
You rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9,10)).
nothing on last reroll
=6 succ

You rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9,3,4,6,1,5,5,1,4,10,9)).
Nothing on reroll
=4 succ

---

Solitaire yawns and stretches, loosening up as the first crashes reach her and Imp's ears.

"That would be Comstock.  And that sounds like Phantasm. Ohh, that didn't sound healthy... Think they'll leave any for us?" She continues to make comments about the ensuing carnage in the back room, as this is both amusing, and allows her to keep a tally of whats going on, all the while listening for any indication she should jump in.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:14, Today: Solitaire rolled 6 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,1,6,8,2,4,6,10,8,8. Keeping an ear on things.

Init 22:17, Today: Solitaire rolled 12 using 1d10+8 with rolls of 4

DV is 5, for what its worth.

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This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Fri 25 Sept 2009.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
DV=6
Initiative=21
07:45, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8. Initative.
I'm sorry I haven't posted more in this topic. I'll try to contribute more, but it's been a little crazy.

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"Dunno, really.  If they gank 'em fast it'll be great for morale, and make criminals keep their heads low, but a stunning midair battle between us and them will do the same thing, and increase our action figure sales, so I'm going for option 2."  Imp stretched and rolled his neck, then focused on drawing the energy bubbling inside him into a fever pitch, his hands started to glow slightly and his eyes similarly started to shine with and eerie bluish light.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Init is 21.

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This message was last edited by the player at 11:37, Sat 26 Sept 2009.

Top of the round:
Comstock crashes into the room, cracking the foundation of the building as he crushes the jamming equipment set up in the room.  The monitors flicker back on in the staging point.  He looks around for Hardbody, finds him, and starts to move toward the enemy nova.

21:
Zero lurks, and Imp floats, waiting for something to happen

19:
Phantasm acts, leaping through the portal and moving towards Shooter before her teamates can react.  Her first punch misses as he sidesteps, but after that she's able to track his movement and connects with her other attacks... But only barely manages to pierce the invisible force barrier around him (1L).  The construct faires worse, and merely latches on and gnaws at the force field, not managing to penetrate the field despite its needle sharp fangs.

18:
The entire front of the building is blown out.  Civilians are shoved out, and are shepherded by T2M:E and Flare.

GravItas takes aim at "Chalk", but he easily anticipates the shot and ducks around it, returning fire with a lance of chill air that is lost in the spatial distortions around Grav.

Shooter smiles and holds his hand out, index finger pointed, much as children pretending to be shooting guns.  Focused quantum bursts blast from his finger tips.  Phantasm manages to dodge the first, but the second rips through her layerd protections and cuts into her side (5L after soak), while the third makes short work of Sheep, leaving only a crackling residue of quantum energies where it stood. Phantasm "Dies".

17:
Juan realizes that their mission is blown, and leaps out of the building through the roof, grabbing the merchandise on the way out.  His leap carries him through the portal set up above the building, into a nice chunk of the antarctic.

16:
The unknown nova's powers get an explanation, when he suddenly partitions off two more bodies that look exactly like him.  The clones run at the T2Mers, one at Phantasm and one at Comstock, and begin striking at them with fists and feat.  The blows miss, but there is clearly superhuman strength behind them.  Plattoon, the nova cloner, takes a moment to recover.

15:
Comstock's spearhand slams into Hardbody like a massive chisel, throwing him through the club's back wall, and into the side of the garbage can outside (5L).

Imp rockets down into the fray from above, using Juan's exit hole as a reference point.  He sends a blast of kinetic energy into Shooter and manages to compress the enemy novas shield enough to cause some minor damage (1B).

12: Solitaire chases after Juan, and manages to hit him while he's still in the air (he still nearly manages to dodge even then), and knocks him back through the portal, though he doesn't fly with the speed and force he should have with that hard of a kick...

The baseline criminals lift their BFG's and fire into Comstock and Phantasm.  Phantasm nimbly dodges, while the bullets do nothing but bounce off of Comstock and spray the room with shrapnel (the baseline that brought in the jamming tripod is severely wounded by the flying bits of metal).  The bullets continue on through the walls and out side.  Pax's force shield isn't up yet, so several people are hurt. T2M:E novas are protecting as many as they can, but it's crowded downtown.

9:
Hardbody rips himself off of the warped and mangled dumpster.  He sways a little as he stands, but rather than being threatened by the silver man that threw him through a wall, he seems angry.  Hardbody charges Comstock, bowling him over, but doesn't even manage to scratch the chrome plating.

Bottom of round:
Frostburn gives a play by play via radio, so that everyone is on the same page, inside and out.

Juan slams back down into the club, back in the room he started from.

An invisible figure lurks, looking for a target...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Those that haven't acted can insert themselves where they like, as long as it's below their initiative.

Things people might want to respond to:
Juan is running, and people can give chase there.
Phantasm is just got fried by a heavy energy projector, and has both a nova clone and a mook on her
Civilians are getting shot by big guns spraying bullets from inside, and Pax hasn't got a full barrier up yet

As always, if I missed anything, let me know.  Once Sol/Imp/Zero have acted, we'll go to next round.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:49, Sat 26 Sept 2009.

"I'll take the tough guy shall I?" Solitaire cheerfully says to Imp, as they watch Juan leap up through the portal. She gives him a small wave and reports to Frostburn she's in pursuit before she rockets off after Juan with a sonic boom.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Now, I'm assuming here that I can catch him easily, as he's only jumping.

---

Solitaire catches up to him with little effort, and leans around his left side, hands clasped behind her back.

"Leaving so soon Mr Tajillo? But the night is young, don't you want to dance?"

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, Solitaire spins and lashes out with a booted foot straight at the back of Juan's head, intending to smack him through the portal to where he could do little damage. The nice thing about non-fliers in the air, was that it was much harder to dodge.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:56, Today: Solitaire rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,8,9,6,3,4,10,1,6. Boot meets Head.

damage 7[25]+any extra

---

In reply to Solitaire (msg #45):

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Primary post edited to reflect Sols action

---

Phantasm hadn't ever been injured that badly.  Her dexterity and forcefield had always saved her, but her forcefield wasn't performing today, the trapped nightmares were quiet and barely clawing for escape.

What now?  A quick analysis said that if he hit again, she'd go down, for good this time.  But his hit would probably have killed an average nova... If she played dead she could stall and then re-shift to deal with this guy, or at least try and push emotional energy into her shield, get her focus back.

Phantasm let the blast hit her, and fell over "dead". Her shield flickered out, and she laid motionless on the floor.  She would roll if it looked like Shooter was going to make another attempt at blasting her, but she figured he had more to worry about right now.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

1q Trickster
play dead: You rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,10,4,7,3,6,4)). 3 mega, 3 auto for trickster
=7 succ

This shouldn't take an action I don't think.  Had to roll multiple times to get the dice pool right, messed up the multi-action penalties for the round the first times.  I think that is the right pool.

Once the round is over, I'll declare more actions.  Either dual activation of f.field and QC, or shapeshifting to a more dangerous form and reactivating force field.

---

At the corner of his awareness, Comstock realized Phantasm had been hit.  Then she hit the floor, obviously dead.  On reflex, Comstock's body shut out the shock.  His pupils dilated and dispassionate calm came over him once again just in time for Hardbody to bowl him over.

On reflex, he rose, braced, and shoved back against Hardbody, aiming an uppercut directly for the Nova's skull with a rude left fist covered in fractal spikes and jagged edges.  He didn't hold back: obviously the big guy didn't know when to stay down.  "Phantasm is dead.  Lethal force authorized," he called over the comms.  Too slow he swung at a Platoon Clone with his right, catching only air.  Too many threats.  He needed to be faster than this.  If Hardbody didn't go down, Comstock was determined now to kill the Nova as quickly as possible to eliminate a potential threat and free him to engage the remaining enemies.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Round 2 -- Confirmed Enemy Roster in Club:
- Platoon (Cloning) + Two Platoon Clones.
- "Chalk" (Elite. Cold powers.)
- Shooter (Elite.  Blasting.)
- Hardbody (Cartel. "Invulnerable".  Injured.)
- Possible Unknown Nova?  (Last to arrive.  Could just be a person.)
- Baselines: Five men, 2 with "large guns", 2 with "merchandise, one with broken tripod (injured by shrapnel)

Above the Club and through the Portal:
- Juan Tajillo (Near-Invulnerability, Electrokinesis)


Finally got back to tally everything.  Soak totals to: [34B/30L] thanks to Second Skin.
Eight quantum and one willpower spent so far.

EDIT: Attempts to attack Hardbody invalidated by dog-piling Platoons and a lot of ice!  New actions below.

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This message was last edited by the player at 01:10, Wed 30 Sept 2009.

Once it is apparent that nobody is heading skyward, and that the team has taken casualties in the office Imp radios in, "This is Impetus, permission to leave overwatch and engage." 

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
If said permission is granted Imp will drop into the room and fire off a qbolt at Shooter. 6 sux to hit, damage is [15]+8dice, plus any potential extras from sux to hit.

---

"Granted.  Light 'em up."

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Ok, Imp's action is on record, and we'll skip Zero and Flare for now and assume they're busy or whatever.  I updated a few more things as well.  Will start a round two post when I get a few more actions in.

I'm taking the next round of actions now.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 21:50, Sat 26 Sept 2009.

Flare desperately wants to join the melee, but with the civilians still in danger can't risk it. As soon as the baselines have left the warehouse Flare creates a wall of fire to block the possible bullets and other projectiles from the ensuing combat.

"As soon as the baselines are safe behind Pax's shield I'll be right in."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Fire shield covers 10 cubic meters and follows me, I'm spreading it 2 high and 5 wide (so 6 by 15 feet) and has a soak of 10. It is maintained, but will dissapear if I leave the ground.

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This message was last edited by the player at 06:33, Sun 27 Sept 2009.

Round 2:

21:


20:
Platoon joins his clone in beating on Comstock, pulling out a reinforced combat knife and stabbing down into his shoulder.  The knife breaks as tons of force slam it into Comstock's impenetrable body, and the point slashes through a ceiling crossbeam entirely.

Mystery acts, leaping onto Imp's back from the shadows and repeatedly stabbing him in the side, underneath the armpit (5L after soak).  While Imp can certainly feel the attacker, he is completely invisible.  To onlookers it is as though Imp suddenly sprung a red, gory leak.

Zero lashes out at Imp's attacker, but misses. Using quantum sight, he can see a blurred cloud of quantum energy clinging to Impetus' back.

19:
Phantasm reshapes herself into a more combat proficient form, then closes the distance between herself and Shooter.

Suzukaze dashes in, dodging around the many obstacles in her path, and cuts into platoon with her katanas.  Her blades manage to connect, but make only a tiny cut.  Suzukaze feels some sort of subdermal armor resisting her blades.

18:
Pax's shield goes up, surrounding the building.

Chalk scans the field and decides to take a more tactical role int he fight.  He gestures at Comstock and Gravitas, and they are suddenly surrounded in ice (multi-action to break out, automatic for Com, 12 successes required for Grav or a quantum power usage would make it automatic).

Shooter, quite satisfied with himself and not noticing Phantasms approach, takes aim at the metal man, convinced he can pierce his defenses. Shooter fires off 3 focused blasts in rapid succession, two of which manage to deal bore into Comstock's chest, pitting the metal and scorching the area around the holes (4L). Shooter's minor wounds appear to be closing.

Zero gauges his distance a bit better, and connects with his second attack.  I trickle of blood oozes onto the floor; apparently its blood isn't invisible.

Gravitas shatters the ice surrounding him, and sends a bolt of gravitic distortion at chalk, but between escaping from the ice and his blocked line of sight, Gravitas finds that his aim is off.  The wall separating the club from the offices explodes as his bolt hits it.

Flare holds action until after Shooter is cut up as she sees Phantasm approaching.

17:
Juan yells out in a thick accent as he falls "You can just let us go you know, you don't all have to die... Only that one!" When he lands he leaps into the air again, farther and faster this time, aiming for Solitaire.  He barely misses, punching through the roof again, and ricocheting off of Pax's wall several times before popping back through the portal again.  He seemed confused before he went through.

Phantasm rips Shooter to tatters, cutting through his shielding.

Flare tackles Shooter, and carries what is left of him out of the building,  burning his now shieldless and unconscious body.

16:
Platoon clones act, moving to wrestle Comstock to the ground.  Both tackle his ice coated body and tip him over onto the ground, holding him there (Knockdown + Hold + Imprison).

15:
Phantasm rips apart one of the Platoon clones, which then dissolves into stray quantum energy, much as her own constructs do.

Comstock surges up to standing again, reversing the hold on the remaining platoon clones with sheer brute strength, and rips it in half.  Its flesh turns into a fine red quantum mist that quickly dissipates.

Imp puts his hands behind his head, and releases his built up energy. There is a crunching sound, and Imp can feel skull fragment in his hands.  A dull thud behind him and the loss of weight on his back signal that the nova assassin is down.  Still not visible though.

12:
Solitaire rushes Juan again, back into the cold arctic.  He's more than happy to let her grab hold...

The baseline criminals spray fire, in a bit of a panic now.  They target the new attackers, Zero and Impetus, but manage to miss horribly.  Fortunately between fire walls and forcefields, no more baselines are injured... except another unfortunate criminal that was holding the merchandise, who dies from a very large bullet to the chest.

9:
Hardbody takes advantage of the Comstocks distraction to slam into him from behind.  He puts everything he has into it; apparently his ego can't handle another nova that's "harder" than himself.  He's screaming something about being the best, or the most powerful, or something.  Hard to make out as it sounds more like rock grating on itself than comprehensible speach.  Hardbody barely connects, but Comstock hardly feels it (1B).

Bottom of round:
Frostburn gives a play by play via radio, so that everyone is on the same page, inside and out
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:27, Thu 01 Oct 2009.

In reply to Rydi (msg #53):

Zero tires to spot a sign of the invisible attacker hurting Impetus.

If that fails, Zero pushes onward, hopping the chaos of battle will allow Zero to connect.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Zero is trying to spot a physical sign of the invisible attacker's whereabouts. Hopefully it can see:
The indentations the attacker's weight would cause to Impetus' skin/Eufiber.
That Impetus' body language would show added weight.
4 successes
22:16, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 4 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,6,6,9,9,1,8,9,1,2,2. Perception, 1 Meg.

Either way, Zero will attack. Quickness is activated. 1 Quantum.
22:19, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,8,5,6,3,6,7,5,4,4,8. Attack! 1 Mega.
There should be a +2 Difficulty Penalty if Zero didn't spot the Mystery guy.

22:24, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,1,9,5,9,8,10,9,10,3. Second attack, +1Blind Diff-1meg.
There should be a +1 Difficulty Penalty if Zero didn't spot the Mystery guy, as Zero has used it's Mega-Die to offset on +1 Difficulty Modifier. If Zero does see the man, I will roll the Mega latter.
I'll roll damage if any of this works.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 02:27, Tue 29 Sept 2009.

This message was deleted by the player at 04:02, Tue 29 Sept 2009.

Phantasm contemplates what exactly she needs, running through possible powers and the outcomes of various scenarios.

She needs to pierce the protection on these novas; they were really tough, and if they didn't take them out soon, people would start dying (possibly her).  She maintened her current form, but extended delicate yet extremely strong bone blades from the grooves between her knuckles, honing them to monomolecular sharpness and reinforcing them with quantum and metal.

She needed speed.  Build up the fast twitch fibers in her muscles, smooth the joints further, push the CNS to its max, burn quantum through it to move her beyond anything in nature.  The world slowed.

She needed better protection too.  She pushed her anger and pain outward, and the ephemeral green wraiths around her screamed and wailed in pain, briefly drowning out the sounds of battle.  The pain in her body subsided as she shunted it aside, feeding it to the monsters that lived inside her.

Then she moved.  Kicking herself up to a crouch, Phantasm then launched herself at Shooter.

In less time than it took to blink, she lashed out with her new claws repeatedly, cutting into his back and head savagely.

Not waiting for the body to fall, she let the momentum of her attacks carry her past Shooter, and towards Comstocks fallen and frozen form, where she cut into the Platoon, not particularly caring which one was "real".

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Action 1:

Re-shift: You rolled 5 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,10,9,8,4,2,9,5,9)). 3 mega
=8! successes

(Claws 1, Armor Piercing Enhancement, Armor 2, Str +1, Dex +1, Quickness x 2)

Force Field: You rolled 5 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,9,9,9,9,6,10)).
You rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9)).
=8... Ok dice roller is just screwing with me now.

Current Soak = 35L!
Dmg = [10L]+6dL+Accuracy

Athletics: You rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((8,1,6,5,5,9,5,6,10,5)). 2 mega
nothing on reroll
=4 succ to leap

3q S.Shift
2q F.Field
1q Sensory Editing (ignore wound penalties)
2q Quickness twice
4q Armor (pretty sure that you have to activate the shifted powers, which I forgot last activation)
1q Protected Senses (last turn as well)
2q Claws w/enhancement
=15q on top of what I've already spent, running low.  Thank goodness for 6th instar nodes...
------

Action 2:
Attack on Shooter: You rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((10,6,7,2,7,7,6,10,4,3,8)). 2 mega on all attacks
nothing on reroll
=8 succ

Attack: You rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,3,9,8,5,7,4,8,2,8)).


Attack: You rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,6,1,1,7,1,2,2,8,8)).

-------

Action 3:

Attack: You rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,10,2,3,7,10,5,1,5,10)).
You rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9,8)).
=8 succ

You rolled 2 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((1,2,6,10,6,6,1,8,4,3)).
nothing on reroll
=2 succ

You rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,7,9,5,10,2,2,5,1,8)).
nothing on reroll
=9 succ

My spoiler text is waaaay too long.  Sorry guys.

---

In reply to Rydi (#53)

As soon as the Pax's shield goes up, Flare flies back at the warehouse.  She pushes some extra quantum into her shield and attempts to
throw herself at Shooter who has hopefully been shredded to death by Phantasm, but just in case...launching the both of them straight out the back wall of the club (if there's any wall remaing and if there are no convenient windows to go through)  The sooner he is out of the way the better.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
1 quantum to have Flare's fire shield do damage (5L)

Flare attempts an Aerial Slam to Shooter (pg 256)
Dex + Propel to hit, she uses 1 mega dex to offset the +1 penalty of the maneuver and the other two in the roll.


You rolled 4 successes using 12d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,7,6,5,1,7,3,2,2,9,2,9)). The last two were mega dex for a total of 5 sucesses. And she'll spend one will for a 6th sucess.

Damage is str +3 dice Flare rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,1,5,4,9,2,9,3,2. Proper damage for Slam w/flight. Her soak is 14 so she offsets the 1 damage she would have taken from the maneuver.

In Conclusion: Aerial Slam 6 to hit, 2B 5L damage, and hopefully Shooter goes on a Flame-ride out of the building.  6 Quantum and 1 Will used so far.

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Spending 1 wp to change actions.  Also, am assuming that since Imp can feel Sneaky Mcbackstabber, he's not going to have dice pool penalties for having an invisible opponent.  Unless he's invisible to touch as well, which would suck.

---

Imp dropped through the skylight in the ceiling and drew bead on Shooter, before he could act, however, he felt something hit him in the back and then his right side light up in pain.  His bellow of agony as whatever it was pieced his side choked off as blood blocked his windpipe and sprayed Shooter, standing only a few feet away.  His vision starts to go black around the edges and he knows that if something isn't done soon, Imp will be.  he shoves his hands behind his back, between himself and the attacker, then he lets the stored kinetic energy go that he was preparing to hit Shooter with, hoping to blast his attacker free.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
got 7 sux and 4 sux total on the two shots, point blank canceled my dice pool penalties, spent 1wp per blast for an auto sux.  4 quantum spent.  [15]+(8)damage, plus extras from the attack roll.

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Updated.

Imp, you didnt act in the round, so you shouldn't have to spend a will to switch actions.  You shot Shooter last round.  And honestly, I'm not really going with that rule anyway, as it just confuses things more.  People post what they post, and if something gets in the way of that, they can just adjust their action as needed.

Zero, you should give me damage, and what kind of attack you are making, with your attacks.  I just need dice, not actual rolls.  Also, you forgot your event horizon thingy again.  I rolled it for you.

Flare, Shooter is mostly dead, should be assured now that he's hugging an inferno.  He was a regenerater though, so that's probably good.

Grav, Sol, Comstock, and Sue are still left.

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Suzukaze surronds herself with her forcefield and draws her katanas charging them with engery. She then charges at full speed at Platoon slashing him with her blade. she turns to prepare to charge back.

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Init is 18
1 success on force field roll to gain 5 soak
8 sucesses to hit Platoon
Damage is leathal rolled 4 plus the 5 auto from megstr makes 9 total leathal

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Sorry, Rydi, was confused...

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Imp, slightly horrified at the sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh on his back, but more horrified by the satisfaction he felt by doing so....floated backwards, trying to get his back to a wall and fired off a blast at Chalk.

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2 sux on the roll, I'm guessing that a poor innocent desk just got blown up.  Bloody roller...

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This message was last edited by the player at 09:03, Thu 01 Oct 2009.

"Really, its no fun if you keep running away. Surely you can do better than that." Solitaire said, but in reality, she wasn't as confident as she looked. It was unfortunate really that this bunch had turned out to be reasonably competent combatants. It didn't bother her specifically, but the rest of her team were much more fragile then she was. Juan was trying to escape, which was annoying, she needed to put him down quickly so she could take some heat off of Imp and Phantasm, who wasn't dead, which was good. It would have been most unfortunate if had been, but Solitaire figured Phantasm was tougher than that.

Solitaire kicks of after Juan again, attempting to grab him. He was going down now then Solitaire was going to get back to the main event and pound on some  of the criminals pounding on her friends.

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1 WP spent for a Grapple Smackdown.

19:12, Today: Solitaire rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7. Reroll 'Wiry'.
19:11, Today: Solitaire rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,3,4,6,7,2,9,8,4. Clinch for Smackdown.

That would be 5 on the clinch roll.

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This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Wed 30 Sept 2009.

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Zero will make basic strikes, in the form of palm strikes. The Precision Enhancement is in effect. Damage will be 5d10+2(strike)+5MegaStr Bashing.

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This message was last edited by the player at 02:25, Wed 30 Sept 2009.

Shooter, Chalk, and Platoon did their best to take Comstock down.  He had to admit, they were doing a good job of it.

"Nggghhh," he grunted.  A dull, silvery-red substance was pouring out of the holes in Comstock's chest, a column of steam rising where the hot fluid met the rime.  The Platoon clones piled on, bits of ice cracking away under their blows.  "C'mon you ..."

In one fluid motion, Comstock cracked open the icy prison and reached for the clones trying to hold him down.  "Gotcha you little...!  His hands twisted into enormous metal claws, aimed to crush and decapitate.  Rising to his feet, he tried to drag the men into his inexorable, inescapable grasp.

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Three actions:
1) Break free of prison (-3 penalty, but automatic thanks to Comstock's strength)
2) Stand-up from Knock-down (-4 penalty, but automatic.  The rules appear to demand my standing up.)
3) Break from hold and try to clinch any of the platoons.  (-5 penalty, possibly automatic due to Mega-Strength)

If it's decided that I can turn the grapple back on the clones, then they are going to take horrible, horrible damage to the tune of 8[25] Lethal.

---

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Updated round 2 post.
Round appears to be over.  Will start on new round later today, feel free to start posting after reading over the changes.

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Being trapped in ice was a new trick. He'd been immobilize before but never quit in this fashion. He concentrated for a moment and sent out a gravitic shockwave, attempting to shatter the ice and allow himself to act. Assuming this works, he takes aim at Chalk again and fires a second time. Unfortunately, the haste with which these actions followed one another and the obscuring nature of the ice proved to be sufficient to block a clear line of sight.

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Actually, I hadn't gone in round2 yet. Spending extra quantum per discussion with Rydi to break out of the ice and then the q on the bolt.
23:21, Today: Gravitas rolled 1 success using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,5,6,5,5,10,3,4,3. Dex+Grav to-hit, 2 Mega.
Dice roller hate. Assuming a failure in the above text.

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Updated for grav.  Once I get a couple of declarations for round 3 I'll put up the post for it.

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Flare drops the charcoal briquette (shooter) and turns in the air surveying the scene.  She sighs.  Ever since eruption she had though of all the possible novas she'd have to fight and going against an opposing elemental user was in her mind, the most annoying.  But with the other two criminals being hand-to-hand fighters, Flare decides to try to take on Chalk.

"This day just can't get any worse."

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Flare delivers a lethal blast to Chalk.  Attack is Dex+ EM and she dedicates all her dex to the roll.

Flare rolled 6 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,8,6,9,8,9,6,2,4,3,10,4,3. Lethal blast on chalk.
The last 3 were mega dex so the total is 8 sux.

Blast inflicts [Quantum x2] levels + (power rating x2) dice of lethal
        damage *20 dice currently*
Flare rolled 6 successes using 20d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,8,9,7,3,4,7,6,6,5,1,1,3,3,5,9,6,6,8,2. Damage to Chalk.
And with that craptakular roll 6l damage incurs.

Grand total is 6 to hit 6L damage on lethal blast, 9Q and 1W used.

---

Solitaire, having clamped herself onto Juans back, snakes her arms under his and back behind his head, then wraps her legs around his waist for good measure. She leans in close, whispering "Gotcha.". Now to find a good spot to drop him. Nope, nope, not bad. Ah, perfect!

"Please buckle your seat belt, we may experience some turbulence." Solitaire says, tilting back aiming them both straight at the hardest looking patch of ice she could find. She cackles exhilaratingly all the way down till they hit.

This is quite nice this time of year. Solitaire thinks idly just before impact.

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09:47, Today: Solitaire rolled 5 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,5,7,8,2,9,4,6,7. Contested Hold roll. With Mega-Strength, that would be 20 sux.

Damage is +6 for a smackdown, so its 11[15], I'll edit if anything needs changing from Juan's action, but he shouldn't really be able to anything that's not reflexive.

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Looking towards Impetus Suzukaze shouts. "Platoon is armored somehow I couldn't penetrate it!" She then shifts her focus to Chalk and takes off full speed comming at him she begins to circle him as she did Comstock in their training. She then bursts out for a quick strike before resuming her place circling around him.

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16:01, Today: Suzukaze rolled 5 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,8,8,4,6,8,7,7,1,2,1,4,1. hit on Chalk.

16:01, Today: Suzukaze rolled 7 successes using 17d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,4,8,10,5,5,5,10,4,5,5,7,2,10,4,5,9. dam on chalk.

Should be 12 lethal damage

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Taking more careful aim, Gravitas sights along his arm at Chalk and opens fire on him again. Purple-black pulses of energy shoot down at the chalk-white nova from Gravitas's position on the ceiling.

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You rolled 5 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,3,8,7,5,7,10,1,4,6,5)).
Little more love from the dice roller. Rerolled the 10 for quality and got nothing. Since the first 7 is a mega dice, this is a total of 6 successes to hit, considerably better. Since this has a half-decent chance of hitting, I'll go ahead and roll damage as well.
You rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,2,8,7,1,4,5,5)).
10+3=13L, plus any extra from accuracy that happen to carry over - provided I hit at all

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Top of round 3:


20:
Only the original Platoon is left standing, and he seems a bit worried... he dives behind a pile of debris that might once have been a desk.

Mystery bleeds.  He contemplates how ironic it is that if he remains invisible, the medics won't see him, but if he shows himself, either the T2Mers or his own people might kill him.  He drags himself off to the back corner of the building, surrounding himself by the most structurally sound of the remaining walls.

Zero trails Mystery to his corner and hammers into the quantum blur, slamming the novas head against the wall and leaving a dent. In the head, and the wall.

19:
Phantasm Leaps after Platoon.

Suzukaze changes targets, running and slashing at "Chalk".  She hits, and chips off bits of an icy second skin (1L) but finds that her blades don't penetrate further than the surface.

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While I remember: if you want to spend pts on the Armor Piercing enhancement for your Claws, I'm fine with that, especially since it's gonna be your primary offensive power.

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18:
Pax and T2M:E are fully in control of the crowd, and are currently getting medical aid to the injured.

Chalk creates a massive convection current and twists his eufiber to form a sort of kite, enabling him to fly straight up and through the portal.

Shooter gasps weakly as the pain overwhelms him, and he realizes that he isn't going to be coming back from this one... He idly wonders how mama will get her meds, and whether all the fun he had was worth all this... then he slips away.

Was that a twitch?! Zero's fist slams into the stealthy nova once more, nearly crushing his windpipe. Fortunately for Mystery, Zero realizes that its opponent is unconscious, nearly dead in fact, and pulls its punch.

Gravitas manages to finally make a solid hit on Chalk, but the gravitic flux seems to have no effect at all.

17:
Flare blasts Chalk with a massive gout of flame as she chases after him, which melts through the outer layers of his ice armor, dealing more significant damage to him in the process (3L).

Juan holds his action.

Phantasm attacks one of the carrying clones and it dissipates.  The clone it was holding drops to its feet in a crouch, and she elegantly rips its throat out.

16:
Platoon has apparently made more clones, as three Platoons leap from cover, each carrying another Platoon, and run in separate directions away from the fight.

15:
Phantasm cuts through another pair of clones as they run, but again missing the real Platoon.  Her third swipe manages to de-spine the final carrying Platoon, dropping the real one on his butt.

Comstock grabs onto Hardbody, locking out his joints, and then jerks. HARD. A snapping sound is followed by an arm being ripped off.  The arm converts to flesh again, the spindly, sickly arm of a small, weak man.  Hardbody's eyes open wide in shock, and he begins screaming.

Imp fires a kinetic blast targeting Chalk, but between his wounds and Chalk's sudden retreat, the shot goes wide, tearing a larger hole in the roof... Which is looking fairly unstable by this point.

12:
Solitaire cements her hold and squeezes Juan into submission, or at least attempts to. He seems... Amused? As they fall into the ice sheet (a nice jagged protrusion aimed for Juan's back), he starts to laugh, a deep rich belly-laugh. The impact is jarring, and for a moment it looks like he won't be getting up...

But as Solitaire moves to disengage after impact, Juan grabs her firmly by the calf and reals her into a clinch.  He's strong, incredibly strong, and he manages to lock onto Solitaires neck. He begins brutally twisting and squeezing the life out of her (11B).

The baseline criminals run from the area, realizing they are totally powerless to impact the fight.  They knock debris out of the way as they run, but slam into Pax's barrier once they reach the club perimeter. The way they moved was more like a super-strong nova than a human, strangely.

9:
Hardbody thrashes about, dealing a few glancing blows to Comstock (1B), then grabs at his stump in pain and falls into a ball on the ground and rocks.

Bottom of round:
Frostburn gives a play by play via radio, so that everyone is on the same page, inside and out
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:45, Mon 05 Oct 2009.

In reply to Rydi (msg #72):

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I was going to but wasn't sure if I could spend it while we are still in the combat or if I should wait until it's over.

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In reply to Suzukaze (msg #73):

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Updated for Imp.

If you can think of a good way of working the new ability in that is dramatically appropriate, you can buy it in game. Perhaps Maxing the power?

---

Comstock smashed a foot into the floor, contacting some rebarb.  He focused on trying on the frame of the building, hoping to twist some barricades into Platoon's way.  "Keep the pressure!  Two on one!  And someone keep an eye on that cloner!  Imp, are you-!"  Comstock's headset whined with feedback as Hardbody connected with Comstock's head.

For as little damage as Hardbody did, he managed to rattle Comstock's brains about.  The second skin of carbon-steel was looking dented and mangled, it's shine dulled, and where his silvery skin showed it was leaking a bit.  "Stand down!" he grunted.  He thought about using the voice, but couldn't keep his head about him enough to really make it work.  "Alright, asshole-"

His patience wearing thin, Comstock moved to grips with Hardbody, aiming to catch Hardbody's arms in double overhooks and squeeze.  If he got the clinch, he'd take Hardbody's struggling just to dislocate the Nova's shoulders and deliver a few solid headbutts.  Reacting to instinct and intent, Comstock's eufiber and metal skin grew fractal spines and jagged edges, threatening to tear Hardbody apart.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Move: None.
Action: Clinching Hardbody to bring him down quickly.
Everything else is flavor as I try to integrate Comstock's move into the flowing action.

Looks like four successes after Comstock burns his second willpower.
20:58, Today: Comstock rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,3,6,2,10,4,9,1. (Strength + Brawl) Clinch Hardbody.
20:58, Today: Comstock rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9. Rugged Quality Re-roll.

Damage is, once again, 8[25]Lethal.

If they wanted Comstock to stick to his usual Bashing and handcuffs, they should not have pushed Comstock hard enough to believe his team-mates might die.

Sitting at 8q, 2wp used and 4L, 2B in damage by the end of this action.  Fair amount of health to spare.  Soak is still 34B/30L.

---

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Zero will try to spot Mystery's blood to track and attack it before it runs out of range. Zero will change it's actions if this fails, but I made and attack roll, just in case.

22:32, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,6,9,3,4,5,2,3,4,1,7. Perception,,Blood, 1 Meg.

Attack: 4 successes.
22:33, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,6,3,2,7,8,6,4,6,6,4. Attack, 1 Meg.

Attack: 6 successes.
22:36, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,9,2,9,1,1,9,2,9,6,3. Attack, 1 Meg, Quickness Action.

---

Solitaire laughs weakly, then coughs a few times, oddly, she's still smiling. A bit of blood trickles down the from from the corner of her mouth. Punctured lung? Maybe, couple broken ribs at least. I'll live, probably. What really hurt was the defeat, the failure. She thought she'd left all that behind when she erupted, but it followed her still.  Still not good enough. She chuckles again. Life's a bitch huh?

"Not bad... Kid... But you... Could have been... *cough* so much... more." The last word trails off as Solitaire goes limp and the oblivion of unconsciousness claims her.

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Is it too late to edit that I was using Precision on that attack as well? I didn't mean to kill the little thug.

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Phantasm seeing no other clear targets, Phantasm moves toward the debris where Platoon hid himself.

Once there, she slashes at any Platoons close enough to hit in a wild flurry of attacks.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Spend a round moving up to Platoon, activate quickness twice.

Attack 1
You rolled 2 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,5,1,4,5,2,2,3,7,9,4)).
=2
You rolled 4 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,1,9,9,3,6,2,8,2,9)).
=4
You rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,3,10,10,5,2,1,2,2,4)).
nothing on re-roll
=4
Attack 2
You rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((3,9,9,8,10,4,8,3,5,2,10)).
You rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,7)).
=8
You rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((1,7,10,7,10,7,2,1,10,7)).
You rolled 2 successes using 3d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((8,3,10)).
You rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((10)).
nothing on last reroll
=11
You rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((6,10,10,6,8,9,7,4,4,4)).
nothing on reroll
=7

Dmg same as before.

Sorry it took me so long to post.

---

(For round 4)

Flare continues to chase after Chalk.  She is concerned of the the ever-weakening roof, but any of her powers would likely worsen it, so bad guy round up it is.

"Give up now, and I promise the beating will be lessened."

Upon reaching the fridgid arctic hell, and immediately losing sight of her quarry Flare turns her sights to her two team mates, one down and one beating on a bad guy.  Flare dives to where Solitare lays unconscious. Looking at her mottled throat, Flare doesn't think she'll be able to do much, but she tries anyway.  "Please,oh please, oh please..." is repeated as she pushes her healing power at Solitare, trying to heal even as the healing is taking effect, needing this to work better than it has in the past.  There is a rush of power as the healing continues and Solitaire ends up significantly more healed than Flare had thought she would be.

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Solitaire is healed 4b. Flare likely burned a will trying to force the healing to work better. A note on Flare's improved powers will be posted in the ooc thread.

Healing level 2 uses 4Q to heal 4B, Total 15Q and 2W

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This message was last edited by the player at 10:44, Mon 05 Oct 2009.

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Round 3 final update in.  Round four is now up for posties.  When I get a few more in, I'll put up a round 4 page.

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Comstock's eyes shot wide open in surprise as Hardbody's arm dropped.  "Get down and stay down!"  He shoved Hardbody away so the man could curl up on the floor, then stomped his way back through the concrete.

"Copy! I'm working on the roof!" he shouted over the comms in response to Frostburn's update.  His foot found rebarb and he tried to feel out the building's frame.  If the foundation's rebarb still tied into the steel frame he was in business.  If not, it could take him a minute or more to begin influencing the shape of the roof.  His aim was to reach out and repair the worst structural damage, mending the largest wounds.

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Just getting this post in here now.  Will edit with the Molec.Manip. rolls in a few moments.

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Zero stands over Mystery one split second, and than behind Juan the next. It strikes at Juan without pause in it's motions. Surgical strikes.

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Event Horizon: 4 successes.
23:15, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,1,1,6,7,2,2,2,9. Event Horizon, 3Meg, .

ATTACK!!!: 5 Successes.
23:17, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,4,1,4,2,1,10,6,3,1,2,7,8. ATTACK! Rear +2, 1 Meg, +1Will. No Games.
23:18, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. Agile Quality.

ATTACK!!! Two: 6 successes
23:20, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 4 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,10,2,7,2,6,4,9,4,4,1,6,2. ATTACK! Rear +2, 1 Meg,. No Games 2.
23:20, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. Agile Quality.

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This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Mon 05 Oct 2009.

Top of round 4:


20:
The primary Platoon looks around frantically for a way out, or a weakness to exploit.  Finding none, and standing in front of an angry, bloody terror surrounded in a sheath of moaning, monstrous faces, Platoon slowly holds up his hands in a sign of surrender.

Mystery is unconscious.

Zero moves through Slider's portal, and attacks Juan... His blows seem to do little.

19:
Phantasm acts

Suzukaze acts


18:
Pax and T2M:E are still handling the crowd... It's amazing that despite such power, it takes a half dozen novas to handle a crowd without injuring anyone.

Chalk continues his flight, and creates a large storm in the area, obscuring vision and movement for 5 kilometers behind him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...&feature=related

Shooter died

Zero attacks again, his fists pounding in to Juan to virtually no effect.  The large man barely pays attention to Zero, more focused on escape than fighting at this point.

Gravitas acts

17:
Flare takes off after chalk, blasting as she goes.  By the time she crosses the threshold of Slider's portal however, she is assaulted by by fierce arctic winds and blinded by the ice in the air.  She shoots off in the direction she last saw him, but she will likely be unable to catch up to him.

Phantasm quickness action?

15:
Phantasm quickness action?

Comstock begins to reshape the roof, shoring up its structural integrity.  There is in fact metal left in the ceiling, a great deal of it, as the place began as a warehouse.

Imp acts.

12:
Solitaire, in her unconsciousness, feels only very, very cold as the winds pick up.

Juan decides against attacking the new nova on the scene, and hopes that he managed to kill his former opponent.  He doesn't have time to make sure however, as if he doesn't escape soon, he won't escape at all.  Juan makes a massive leap, into the heart of the storm, and all visual contact on him is lost.

The baseline criminals pound on the force field.

9:
Hardbody moans and rocks.

Bottom of round:
Frostburn gives a play by play via radio, so that everyone is on the same page, inside and out
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:43, Mon 05 Oct 2009.

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Of note, Chalk will be utilizing the Weather Alteration power to cause a whiteout in the area.  He has enough quantum to create several more storms, so it will be difficult to catch either him or Juan.  The damage from the power is minimal, so no one should actually be hurt by the extreme cold... Though it is slightly higher damage than normal due to the already hazardous temperatures.

I'm happy to provide further disambiguation of the scene if anyone needs it.

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Imp rockets through the portal after flare, squints as he hits the antarctic cold and ice and heads up, trying to avoid the worst of the turbulence, he heads into the wind, believing that Chalk is most likely trying to slow his pursuers down.  If he can get a glimpse of chalk Imp will reach out and redirect his forward momentum straight up, hopefully he won't be able to deal with vacuum very well...

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
DV 8, Quantum 24/30, WP 6, -2 dice pool penalties, -5 health levels (Lethal)

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This message was last edited by the player at 09:09, Wed 07 Oct 2009.

Zero picks Solitaire up and steps to the side, vanishing into a strange shadow. The Bad Doctor appears next to Suzukaze, and taps her on the shoulder. Suzukaze suddenly realizes she is falling through space, lost in a strange world of opaque shadows, until her feet feel the earth on the other side of Slider's portal.

The arctic wind slams in their faces. Zero's voice echoes over the intercom. "We are on the other side of Slider's portal. The 'Ice Man' seems to be making a mess of things, and 'the thug' is running through this blizzard. Can you sense them?"

Zero tries it's own extra sensory perceptions, trying to locate their minds, or eyes spying on them, or see through the storm as it can see through walls. If it spots them, it will try to direct teammates in their direction.

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I'll make the appropriate rolls soon. I'm away from my books right now.

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This message was last edited by the player at 01:25, Tue 06 Oct 2009.

"I'll try my best."

Suzukaze closes her eyes and sets herself in a stance her katana's raised glowing in the purple energy. She reaches out with her senses searching for Juan a slight tilt of her head she takes off faster than she has shown previously. She pushes herself to search as much as possible.

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I'm activating blind fighting and using it to search the area while running if possible. I'm also activating Enhanced Movement in addition to my Hypermovement to increase my total speed x4. I also forgot about my Quickness in earlier rounds so I'm going to activate that as well if possible. So if I find him I'll be able to launch an attack.

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With no other targets in view, Gravitas heads out through Sliders portal, bracing himself for the gold winds on the other side. He opens a portal for himself, targeting the other end high overhead so he can try to visually track the origins of the ice storms for his teammates.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Spending quantum for portaling and for flying, but not really doing anything else this round aside from just looking around. Let me know if you want to have me actually roll for the portal, but given that I'm not actually targeting anyone with it, it shouldn't be a big deal.

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Phantasm was a bit confused and annoyed by Platoon's surrender. She would have to guard this guy until he was taken into custody, which meant she wouldn't be able to help the rest of her team.  But with most of the team gone after the last two criminals, she was probably more useful here anyway.

"You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..."

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Belated Rolls:

4 successes.
21:20, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,6,5,8,6,7,1. Tele Scan!.

Rereading High End Electromagnetic Scan, I don't think it is appropriate, as the white out is not a solid object.

Creeping Feeling only requires a Quantum expenditure to instantly reveal the location of spying eyes. If the are watches, Zero spends the point to find them.

---

"Slider: the team's pursued Tajillo through your portal.  How long can you hold it open for them?"  He clicked over.

"Gravitas, you're ranking man over there now.  Keep the group together as best you can in case anyone falls out of comm range.  Keep at least enough juice for one good portal back; we don't want to loose anyone out there."

The building wasn't pretty.  Trying move through the metal, hold it together and talk with Quentin while bleeding from the chest wasn't wise either.  There was an audible groan somewhere above Comstock but little obvious sign of progress.

"How you holdin' up, P?" he asked without turning.  She was his only back-up now, and he couldn't exactly stop what he was doing.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Round 4 -- In the Club:
- Platoon (Surrendered)
- Shooter (Deceased)
- Hardbody (Incapacitated?)
- Unknown (Incapacitated)
- Baselines: Five men, 2 with "large guns", 2 with "merchandise, one with broken tripod (injured by shrapnel)
---- Phantasm

Antarctica, through the Portal:
- Juan Tajillo
- "Chalk"
---- Dr. Zero, Flare, Gravitas, Impetus, Solitaire, Suzukaze

Status:4L, 2B in damage.  Soak 34B/30L.  9Q, 2wp spent.

Finally, the long promised die roll.  Repairing the Roof with Molecular Manipulation: one success.  At least Comstock didn't make it worse.
^{21:59, Today: Comstock rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,7,6,1. Hold the Building Together (-3 Maimed).}

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

The round-by-round seems unnecessary at this point, to I'm switching things over to descriptive mode again.

---

Suzukaze manages to find Juan and attempts to immobilize him, but he ignores her efforts, much as he did the efforts of Zero and Solitaire.  He leaps into the blizzard.

Flaire heals Solitaire enough to get her back on her feat, though she's likely still a little dazed.

Slider replies to Comstock, "I can't hold it all that much longer, but Grav went through so as long as he stays in one piece, they should be ok..."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Imp, Grav, Suzukaze, and whoever else is searching: How long are you willing to continue searching for Chalk in the middle of this storm?  Once I know that, I'll give some results.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:13, Thu 08 Oct 2009.

Phantasm repeatedly clenches her fists and her gaze darts about rapidly as she tries to reign her hyperactive nervous system and the urge to do violence.

"I'm fine for as long as I need to be, don't feel a thing but I'm really having trouble not ripping these guys apart they keep moving and twitching like they think they're going to do something and that guy at your feet keeps rocking its getting on my nerves and DON'T FREAKING MOVE TRIBBLE BOY! anyway how's the roof doing?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Thu 08 Oct 2009.

"Ugh." Solitaire groans, reaching a hand up to her forehead. "Anybody get the license plate off that truck? Jeez, what a headache."

After extricating herself from Zero's grip, for that was frightening in a undefinable but nevertheless very real way, Solitaire takes a minute to examine her injuries. They didn't seem all that serious, a cracked or broken rib or two, a dislocated shoulder and neck, lots of bruising.  All in all, she'd had worse, though she was having trouble thinking clearly enough to remember when. There are two rather sickening cracks as she forces her shoulder back into position, then her neck, Solitaire then moves both of them experimentally, wincing. Satisfied she wasn't cripplingly injured, she turns to Zero.

"So, did we win?"

Since its in the arctic and in a blizzard, Flare looks for about 30 seconds before giving it up as fruitless.

"Okay I'm going back before important parts start breaking off."

Gravitas continues to attempt to gain altitude, though the storm makes it slow going. "Roger that, Comstock!" he yells at his comm above the howling winds. "Everyone on this side," he continues to shout, "I recommend fliers try to gain some altitude so we can try to get eyes on the target without all this goddamn snow in the way."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
My intent was to try to get above the storms to see if we can track him from a higher altitude. If he is creating a series of these storms to cover his tracks, they may actually BE his tracks if we're high enough up.

---

"Gravitas, this is Impetus, I will ascent to 45000 feet and proceed on heading 359.  If you take the opposite bearing we can cover more territory.  Over."  Imp heads up above the weather, and begins scanning, trying to find a snow white man in a blizzard in Antarctica, this wasn't going to be easy.

"Not yet. We are tracking the 'Snow Cone' and that big bruiser who sucker punched you through Slider's portal. 'Mr. Ding-a-Ling' has made a snowstorm to obscure their retreat, but they are out here."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Has Zero sensed their whereabouts mentally?

---

"Really? Thought I'd be out longer. Did Flare patch me up? Well, now's not the time to be slacking off." Solitaire lifts up off the ground, gives Zero a thumbs up, and rockets back off to rejoin the search, though her flight is a bit more wobbly then usual.

"Ok, now that I've had a little nap, which way did they go?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Thu 08 Oct 2009.

"Roger that Grav."

Flare flies up and on a separate heading than the other fliers until the air is pushing uncomforatably thin or until she breaks free of the snowstorms, whichever comes first. She then tries to find a direction in which frosty the snow-tard might have gone.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Rolling perception investigation, just in case its needed.

Flare rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,6,5,1,10,9. Searching for the white wimp (Chalk). Spending a will so the roll is less sad.

Total 3 sux

---

Suzukaze doesn't give up in her search still using her speed to cover as much of an area as possible. She prepare's her blades to be ready as soon as she finds Juan if she does.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
If I find him I'm going to max out claws as you suggested in message 74 to justify buying Armor Piercing while still in the combat. The plan is if I find him and can catch him I want to impale him with my blades. If I come up on him from behind stab him in the back and out the chest or vice versa if I can get him from the front.

---

"Hey!  Rise and shine, Sol!  Frostburn, you copy?  She's still with us."

A slick, silver-gray ooze was slowly clotting the holes in Comstock's chest.  He concentrated hard on the task of strengthening the roof.  Pieces of metal began to stretch and bond of their own accord.  "Gravitas, this is Comstock: Slider's getting to her limit, so the portal's going to close down soon.  Once P and I have turned the hostiles over to Pax, we will head your way to support.  Over."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Second action of fixing the roof, four successes with one dot of Mega-Int.  That's about 40kg of metal I can reshape and repair.  Maybe that does the trick.
^{20:24, Today: Comstock rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,8,7,3. Repair the roof, 2nd action.}

---

Back in Kansas, the roof is sufficiently repaired to prevent structural collapse, and the prisoners are behaving for the time being.  Upon getting updates on the situation inside, Pax lowers the shield, and the rest of T2M:E flood in to secure the criminals.  They have a surprisingly hard time with the baselines, who put up quite a fight, but they still make short work of securing the area.

Down south by many thousand kilometers, the rest of T2M:A are having a VERY difficult time locating anything in the ice storm, as winds slow movement and the cutting ice flying around reduced visibility.  Zero attempts to sense for watching novas, but apparently their quarry ran as far and fast as they could from the immediate vicinity.  The flyers, Imp, Grav, and Flare attempt to spread out and get some sort of visual indicator of Chalk's presence, with several of them flying above the storm.  Suzukaze scouts out the ground, and investigates areas that look promising.

Chalk is tricky; he's set up several areas of overlap and turbulence within the storm that stand out, and investigating all of them takes some time.  By the time the better part of an hour has passed, and quantum is running low for everyone, it appears that both Chalk and Juan have gotten away, but Suzukaze spots something in the snow ahead,the silhouette of a man, while investigating one of the last places suggested by Gravitas.  She charges her blades, focusing more power than she has ever channeled into them before, knowing she only has one shot if it is Juan.  She leaps, closing the distance between them in less than a second, and plunges her blades into the man. He falls, critically wounded... It's Chalk.  The storms begin to die down immediately as Chalk falls into a shock induced coma.

After another hour of looking, it is clear that Juan is not going to be found; he must have moved beyond the search pattern before the storms ended.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Cleanup time.  Juan is gone, prisoners are secured, wounded are in and taken care of.  Now it is investigation time.  Imp, Zero, Phantasm, and Sol all have social abilities that can be of use in interrogation, and everyone can make any rolls they think would be useful to further track info on stuff.  And of course there is also recovery time, as several people were wounded.  This was a hard fight and people will prbably want to talk about it.

---

Suzukaze stares down at Chalk then glances around quickly. With no sign of Juan she feels the exhaustion of pushing herself past her limits. She collapses to the ground. Hoping the others will find her soon she closes her eyes.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Sue, maybe radioing it in before you pass out would be helpful...

---

As the storms die down below Imp spots a flash of red and the glint of sunlight off Sue's katanas.  Imp to team, converge on coordinates 93south, 1823 west.  He drops down out of the sky and lands beside Sue and Chalk, notes the damage to the latter, and the catatonia of the former, then "Grav, we're going to need medical evac, bogey is down, Sue is unconscious.  Base do you read?  Prepare for 2 incoming wounded, advise on most appropriate medical facility to gate to, over."  He then checks Sue's pulse and does his best to bandage Chalk's wounds.  After they're safely away Imp will resume checking for Juan, then, frustrated at their inability to find him, will grudgingly give up, after making sure that any and all non essential personnel in Antarctica are advised to evacuate until Juan has been located.  And to take their food and supplies with them.  Imp didn't know if Juan could fly, but on the off chance he couldn't there wasn't a much better prison than the antarctic.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:59, Fri 09 Oct 2009.

At Impetus' touch Suzukaze's eyes open slightly. "Water..." Her eyes close again entering a slumber. She dreams...

"Yeah, your not getting rid of me that easily."

----

Later, Solitaire banks sharply after hearing Imps radio signal, heading for the specified coordinates. She sets down a few feet a away, looking at the two prone bodies.

"Is she just sleeping?" Solitaire asks quizzically, then grins. "I think some physical training is in order. Don't you?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:40, Fri 09 Oct 2009.

"It looks like we found our snowman, but the other has escaped. Securing him, it looks like Suzu got him pretty bad," Gravitas alights once the storms begin to dissipate, his shielding dissolving away.

He begins to administer first aid to Chalk before he bleeds to death of his wounds. Once Chalk is no longer bleeding he takes a quick look over Suzu. "Looks like she's just exhausted. She'll be fine in an hour or two." Once he receives info on the best place to medevac Chalk and Suzu to, he opens a portal to that location and gets the others through. For his part, Quentin, now that he can be seen past his opaque shielding, is looking pretty exhausted himself.

"That was," Quentin would say later, "harder than I expected it to be."

This message was deleted by the player at 19:54, Sun 11 Oct 2009.

Zero tries to stabilize/save Chulk.

After this, The Doctor tries to investigate Juan's wearabouts.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
7 successes to try to save/stabilize Chulk
22:30, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3. Ingenius Quanlity (Med Roll).

22:28, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 7 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,1,1,5,10,7,5,9,9,7,9,1,7. Med Roll, save Chulk .

10 successes to Investigate Juan.
22:33, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 10 successes using 20d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,7,1,7,8,7,5,5,9,8,6,4,1,6,4,9,8,2,7,7. Investigation Roll, 1 Meg.

22:31, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,8. Ingenius Quality, Investigative Prodigy.

22:29, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,4,10,7,10,7,8,6. Investigative Prodigy, 3 Mega.

---

Comstock sat down in the war-room, waiting for a sign.  Sooner, rather than later, he was expecting a call.  Another operation.  Something.  Since the War-Room had been revealed at the moment of its super-secret unveiling the first time, Comstock felt somewhat compelled to second- and triple-check the shielding on the place.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:39, Tue 27 Oct 2009.

In the wake of the Kansas raid, things quiet down for the team, at least for a short while.  Impetus’ incredible charisma, in combination with Utopia’s massive media influence, is more than enough to cover up the few wounded bystanders, and the several brutally slain novas.

The remaining criminal novas are alive, but in an extremely unpleasant situation.  Hardbody is perhaps the worst out of the lot, as he never recovered from having his self image so terribly shattered; he sits and holds his stump as he stares out of his cell most days (Utopia didn’t getting him a healer).  Mystery fared little better, sitting in a coma for over a day, and then showing signs of brain damage after waking (though, to be fair, the damage could have been there before, as his brain scans show erratic, abnormal activity).  Chalk, possessing less powerful recuperative abilities than the others, nearly dies; even after regaining consciousness, he takes weeks to fully heal.  Platoon is in perhaps the best situation, as he heals after only a day, and is in talks to be released (“standard courier contract guys… of course I didn’t know what was being delivered… well, in all the fighting I didn’t realize you were law enforcement, especially with how violent you were… sure NOW I recognize you, but then, well, I just don’t process things as fast as you Utopian eggheads… Yeah, I think you should talk to DeVries and the the lawyers now, I don’t really feel like you have my best interests in mind.”)

Questioning the novas takes weeks, due to healing time, implanted resistance, and the fact that they are not entirely aware of all the details of their work.  After 3 weeks however, a picture does begin to form.  In the aftermath of Utopias earlier crackdown on crime, the societal changes after the EW, and the recent “War on Crime”, the South American cartels were brought to near extinction.  In the power vacuum left by the various criminal syndicates, a new cartel emerged, combining the best pieces of the old powers, while being much more adaptive to the needs of the modern world.  This new syndicate has deep ties to several South American governments, as well as a small army of novas working for them.   Also in their favor, the cartel possesses a line on several new drugs, many of which are derived from nova biochemistry, that give them a tremendous edge in the drug trade.   While details on the cartel were sparse, Utopia has enough to begin further investigations.

Over the course of the next several months, the various T2M’s carry on the current operation, and by August, they declare the “War on Crime” an official victory.  The victory, internally at least, is hollow however.  Not only does the South American cartel gain ground and elude investigative efforts, signs are emerging that new mega-syndicates are emerging in both Russian and Japan.   While Utopias efforts cleaned the streets and eliminated the old criminal structure, it also paved the way for new, more successful criminal organizations to emerge.

Novas captured in raids are questioned, and then just… Disappear.  Officially they are moved to the more secure Bahrain facility, but little is said about them after transfer, and no one without special clearance is allowed into the facility.

During the summer months, as the current project crawls to an end, more stealthy operatives in the T2M teams are sent on reconnaissance missions to various parts of the globe.  Zero is given authorization to further investigate Juan and to build upon his own private investigations (this could also be a subtle hint from the leadership that they “know what’s going on” with their operatives, even in their off time).  Gravitas’ extreme intellect is called on to calculate probabilities of various criminal movements, and to collate the massive amount of data that Utopia has collected in the past several months from various law enforcement agencies around the world.  Phantasm and Flare are used more than once to infiltrate organizations as young and vulnerable new victims (against the vehement protests of Frostburn, who seems to not want to put anyone but Zero on undercover work; bad experiences perhaps?), gaining valuable information on cell structure and movement/recruiting patterns.  Suzukaze receives several missions, on her own and accompanying Zero and Phantasm, to remove criminal cells before the cells can react (questionable ethics are involved here, but the various governments involved allow the actions without protest).  Even the powerhouses like Comstock and Solitaire see occasional use, as their various abilities make them highly effective in certain niche situations, or when the stealth members fail to stand up to a particularly powerful nova.

Of T2M:A members, only Impetus sees virtually no use in the criminal operations.  Since being knifed, Utopia has been protective of him, and they have expressed on more than one occasion that they desire his image to stay clean for better PR work (and thus involvement in the more covert operations is not an option).  Of course, Impetus is still extremely busy,  but he is now a full time PR consultant, and is also used as an “inspirational example” to the masses, giving talks to crowds around the world on a variety of topics, such as drug abuse, education, equal rights, tolerance, and nova/human relations.  The team as a whole suspects that it is likely Impetus will be transferred to a support role, and move auxiliary status to better serve all the T2M’s, much as Slider, who is transferred off Americas in July as the conflict there slows down, and the problems in Asia heat up.

Early to mid-August is a much needed break for the various T2M’s.  With the official operations at an end for the “War on Crime” the teams are able to revert to simple disaster response, and with new members coming in on all the teams, the workload is decreased.  Vacation becomes a much more viable option.
The respite is short lived however, as new religious tensions heat up.  The invasive nature of recent Utopia operations left many frightened that their privacy and rights would be abolished, and the ease with which baseline criminal organizations were toppled lead to a (justified?) fear that normal humans would be unable to compete with novas if conflict occurred (this should have been obvious already, but people require a context to put things in before they realize the obvious sometimes).  The Church of Archangel Michael sees an incredible influx of new members, and anti-nova bigotry is on the rise, especially in the US.  In response, nova-based religions rally, leading to conflict between sects, in addition to occasional hate crimes on both sides of the nova fence.  T2M:A is called on in several instances to intervene, but is often unable to do much, for fear of public backlash.  Even Impetus’ magic is sometimes not enough, as some factions within the far right begin to accuse him and Utopia of using mind control rays through the television, and encourage members to stop watching the “liberal media machine”.

As August winds down, religious tensions are high and T2M is on high alert… But doing pretty much nothing.

The team hears Frostburn's voice in their ear as they walk through the portal, and into a disaster area.

"Sorry everyone, I can't join you.  I'm staying here for coordination once again.  And sorry we don't have any more info, this literally just happened, roughly 2 minutes before I called you... in the time it took you to assemble, satellite feeds showed the area devastated, with smoke coming from several buildings.  No planes or aerial novas were spotted, and no radiation has been detected, but other than that we're pretty much flying blind kiddos, so be careful.

Get yourselves through the portal, and we'll take it from there.  We'll experience a moment of static as your headsets orient...  and we should be back up.  Everyone coming through?

You are the first responders, so don't expect any help for a bit, at least until the city gets people in.

I'm picking up visuals from those of you with visors, be sure and look around so we can get the full scene...  If you have any questions, the team on this end can hopefully get you fast answers, so just ask."

The area immediately around the portal is blasted, with debris everywhere.  For those with knowledge of physics and/or military grade explosives, whatever happened here happened in the air.  Some sort of high energy explosion occurred above ground level by at least several stories, and took out all of the areas' tall buildings.  A few one and two story buildings are still standing, but only barely. Several fires erupted, either due to the initial explosion, or the damaged gas and electric lines going through the area. Many bodies can be scene, in overturned cars, or the rubble of destroyed buildings, most are unmoving.  Some survivors may be found deeper in the rubble, or possibly in the shelter of the unsteady, but still standing, buildings.

"My God! Frosty, are you getting this?  This was either nuclear or a truly massive conventional bomb."  Imp panned around the destruction, taking it all in.  "Moving to search for survivors in the standing buildings, Nothing looks to have survived at the epicenter.  We're going to need backup on this one, Frosty, as much as you can get.  Alert all medical staff to move to situation red.  Expect massive numbers of casualties." Imp kicked off and rocketed to the standing buildings, seeing if he could hear somebody moving, or crying in the rickety structure.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
For the rescue mission Imp will be using his TK to shift debris, perhaps entire buildings, and hold the buildings steady until he can check to see if there are any survivors.  Rubble will be moved to the epicenter, as that area probably won't have any survivors that could be further buried.  Unless someone has a better idea.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 02:53, Sat 09 Jan 2010.

Comstock adapted himself to the environment, breathing in glass fragments and insulation with the air.  "My god ... where do we start ..."  Comstock let Impetus do the command work and assess the situation while he regained his composure.

Short of better ideas, intimidated by the scale of the event, Comstock made his way to the epicenter of the blast.  He searches for radioactive material or undetonated explosives or anything that might be a persistent danger.  Along the way, he uses his power to seal up any gas-leaks he comes across.

"Definitely some sort of air-detonated explosive," Quentin confirms over the comm. He visually scanned the surrounding buildings and tried to estimate which might contain the most survivors. "Casualty count is gonna be through the roof on this one." He splits off and begins the search for survivors.

"Let me know if you need a hand. I'll do the same."

Gale couldn't help but let her jaw drop in shock.  The level of destruction was the kind of things she'd only seen in pictures and documentaries.  It was much worse first-hand.  It took her a moment to let it sink in.

Once she recovered, she split off to look for the fires, focusing on the largest first.  She put the fires out by creating a vacuum around them, leaving them no oxygen to burn.

"Bloody Hell." Solitaire mumbles as she stepped though. This was bad, like The Wars bad. Such waste, the things humans did to one another were truly appalling. She cocks her head slightly to the left, listening intently, then kicks off the ground and flies off toward the nearest survivor she hears.

"I think we're gonna be racking up some overtime on this one, keep an eye out for hostiles too, anyone that can do this has to have an agenda" She comments into her mic, casually throwing several tons of debris over her shoulder at the same time. She'd thought heard breathing coming from the bottom of the pile.

As she took in the destruction, Phantasm's body shifted to filter out the toxic air in the area, as her force field, already active, began to writhe.  Several sheep-sized ants, covered in groping hands, dislodged themselves from her and ran off into the rubble to search.


"This... is going to be a problem.  It isn't nuclear, or we'd be feeling the burn already, and the blast probably would have expanded out further.  But heavy explosive for sure.  survivors will be under a lot of rubble, we need a way of getting rid of it, permanently.  Matter dissolved, converted, destroyed, or just moved somewhere out of the way to be sorted later... Slider, Grav, and Imp could portal a lot of this stuff out to a safe sight to be combed through by emergency workers and researchers maybe?"

Phantasm went to work herself, looking for survivors and keeping an eye out for enemies.  The task was large, since she lacked the kind of mass-effect powers or flight the others had, it was extremely daunting...

"Main problem there is just the size of some of this crap. I can only get the portal to open say... three meters wide. Plus there's duration, keeping those things open for an extended period just isn't possible - at least not for me." Meanwhile Quentin had thought he'd heard survivors below a collapsed wall. He lessened the effect of gravity in the area and began tossing aside sections of concrete.

A hundred-handed ant crawled into the wreckage near Comstock.  "Hello?  We're here to help ... uh ... nosotros estamos aqui para ayudarles!"  Moments later, he'd wrenched open the ground to find a man and a woman trapped in the remnants of a bathroom.  "Come on.  Don't be afraid."  The ant skittered along to find someone else, and Comstock directed the two to the edge of the disaster area.

A few survivors and strange looks later, Comstock tapped his comms.  "Somebody should have told me they speak Portuguese here.  A nice lady with a concussion and some burns just told me my Spanish sucks.  Any luck with the rest of you?"  He hadn't found anything hostile.  "Hey Gale ... do us a favor ... see if you can calm the winds and keep the particulate matter from spreading around.  That stuff's a major health risk."

He knelt and put his hand to the ground, feeling for building frames, steel supports, rebarb ... some picture of what was and whether there were basements and empty spaces in the urban apocalypse.

"Yeah, mostly Portugese, some people might have proficiency with Spanish or English, and the local dialect here has quite a bit of Italian mixed in," having removed a wall from on top of a group of huddled families, Quentin began to direct them out of the disaster area. "O que aconteceu aqui?" he asked them; 'What happened here?', though most seemed to shocked or afraid of him to answer coherently.

He tapped his comm again, "Try questioning the people you find, folks, we need to know what happened here. Who on the team speaks Portuguese? I do, for one."

Sure thing, Comstock.  But I don't speak anything but English.

She attempted to calm the wind, leaving the airborne debris to drift slowly straight to the ground.  She'd give it a push, but she was pretty sure that would just stir it around some more.  So she went off in search of survivors also.  She tapped into the feel of the air.  Even though there was no air, where there were people breathing, even unconsciously, the air would move.  She headed for those locations.

Suzukaze sheaths her katanas as she surveys the damage the rest of the team already getting to work.

What am I doing? I should be hunting down Fire and the rest of the assassins.

She moves from body to body carrying the dead to one area and helping survivors to another.

It dosen't matter what I do I'll always be the same. I'll always be a killer. There is no redemption for me.

She's carrying the one of the dead a girl no older than Miho.

I couldn't save these people. Even with my speed I can't do everything or be everywhere.

She lays the girl down brushing the hair from the girls face.

"I'm no better than the people that did this to you."

She moves on to the next body.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:33, Mon 11 Jan 2010.

"I'm fluent in Portugese," Imp reported over his com system.  He was busy Clearing rubble away from the broken off foundation of a highrise.  Or at least, it would have been a highrise, hours ago.  Now it was a broken stump that terminated a few stories above the ground.  There were a lot of casualties, wich was encouraging, there were more dead bodies though.  He was glad that he didn't need to sleep any more, because images of this day would haunt his nightime hours otherwise.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
3 sux on perception awareness.  boo.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 03:34, Tue 12 Jan 2010.

Comstock, and Zero are both able to sort through the rubble effectively, utilizing their powers.  Solitaire and anyone else with keen perception (2+ mega-dice) are able to locate survivors at the surface level.

Gravitas' lower gravity fields are an incredible boon to the operation, allowing rapid movement of large quantities of material, and letting the weaker team members help with even heavy tasks.  Comstock, Solitaire, and Impetus are all more than capable on their own of course, and Comstock serves double duty, shoring up the structural integrity of what is left in the area and limiting further destruction from utilities.  Suzukaze and Phantasm serve light duty, clearing people out after the heavy rubble is cleared, moving quickly from point to point and setting up a triage area.

Flare and Gale are less adapted to rescue operations than some of the others, at least in terms of digging through rubble and such.  But their aid is invaluable in limiting the spread of destruction and eliminating secondary threats.  Gale manages to limit the amount of escaping gas and particulate matter, and to eliminate still burning fires.  Flare does the same, and extinguishing fires and healing what few people it will make a difference for.

After about 5 minutes on the scene rescue operations are well under way, and Frostburn radios that Slider will be on the way with extra help shortly, roughly 3 more minutes.  City personnel are staying clear of the main blast area, but are setting up outside of it, prepping to receive wounded.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Good job so far, please continue with your interactions.

Also, I need a perception check from peoples to move to the next chunk of plot.

---

Rubble. Solitaire was really starting to hate rubble. It seemed to be everywhere she went, as if she'd offended it in a past life or something. She'd been mostly relying on her keen hearing up to now, as while her eyesight was also very good, she couldn't see through cement, though come to think of it, she wasn't sure she'd ever actually tried. She paused her digging a moment, staring intently at the rock, willing it to turn transparent.

It, quite stubbornly in her opinion, didn't. So she resumed the process of throwing wreckage behind her, after making sure nobody was there, of course. It wouldn't do to make a pile on top of somebody after all, it would just be more work later. You could tell where she'd been by the stacks of what had one been probably quite charming buildings.

Solitaire found the object of her current search huddled beneath a bed, which was quite a feat, considering it was only about the size of a twin. Amazing what people could do if they set their mind to it, really. While she didn't understand a word of what they were babbling, she smiled, and pointed toward the nearest medical tent. They didn't look too banged up, and it wasn't far.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Activated Hyper-enhanced Hearing. 1Q

22:45, Today: Solitaire rolled 7 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,10,8,2,1,5,6,5,4,7,10,5,4. Listening Hard.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 07:02, Tue 12 Jan 2010.

Comstock dug diligently.  He'd found a few burnt-silhouettes on the remains of another high-rise.  Like a damn war.  Worse than New York by far.

When he let his eyes track into the EM spectrum, though, he could see a group of people hiding in a stairwell inside.  He'd dug a hole down to where they were when the whole building groaned, shifting violently.  A cloud of dust rose up over the building as huge fragments of concrete and broken glass fell to earth.

"Fuck!  Got ahead of myself.  Everything's alright, I'm holding this thing up, but I don't know how long this shitty concrete will hold together.  Uh ... Suzukaze: would you mind slipping in there and helping those people out?  Soon would be good."

Whoever's first on scene, Comstock's wedged himself into the building like a bracing frame.  When he dug his way in, he unwittingly removed something vital, causing the damage.  It wouldn't be too hard to sneak past and into the dark interior.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Perception Awareness nets two successes.  Woo Mega-Perception.
_{01:19, Today: Comstock rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,6,4,3,4. (Perception + Awareness).}

---

Gale was focusing on a set of breaths she had found: one shallow, and one fast.  She followed them to leaning building, of which the second floor was half missing.  She flew up onto the remains of that second floor, looking for the two figures.  Near the opening she entered from there were halves of bodies, and in some places, just random limbs.  Faces with unseeing eyes.  She felt sick, and it was only the fact that she knew two people were alive in here that she kept going.

She found them huddled in a corner, and as she suspected, they were children.  One was unconscious, and the floor in front of them was cracked, which explained why they hadn't tried to get out yet.  The winged woman approached slowly, offering her hands to the boy who was awake, watching over his little sister.  He seemed frightened until he saw the cross at Gale's throat and the gray-silver wings.  "Anjo!" The boy broke off into a string of Portuguese, which Gale couldn't understand, but she picked up that he was wanting her to help his sister.

She nodded, picking the little girl up carefully.  She didn't want to injure her further, though the girl seemed to have only suffered a bump on the head.  Since the boy was bigger, she turned around, motioning for him to climb on her back.  He wrapped his arms around her neck, and a good thing, because at that point, the cracked floor broke beneath them.  There was a short cry from the boy until Gale engaged her wings, flying out of the building and toward the medical camp.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
13:08, Today: Gale rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,6,8,1,6,4,5,6. Perception + Awareness.
02:17, Today: Gale failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2. Acute Sense (sight).

---

This message was last edited by the player at 08:17, Wed 13 Jan 2010.

In reply to Comstock (msg #129):

"Yes. I'm on it."

In a blur Suzukaze races past Comstock and snatches up whoever she can carry. Only bringing them just outside to prevent any delay. After a few trips she gets the last person. She slows as she approaches Comstock.

"This is the last of that group."

She then brings them all to where she has been grouping up the other survivors.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
17:11, Today: Suzukaze rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,4,1,3,5,5,7. perception (1 mega)+awarness. God it hates me...

---

Flare feel some humiliation as she was staggered by the weight of the destruction around her for several long minutes.  Her worst exposure to destruction was the CNN nightly news, so the shock of real carnage left her staggered.  Using her extinguishing abilities to help Gale in limiting damage felt like a wasted effort, but anything was better than standing there watching everyone else be useful.

Flying in and around the destruction allowed Flare to rescue a few people without disturbing the rubble and causing possible collapse, but after the first few victims were pulled out and healed it became apparent that her powers would run out long before the streams of injured.

"Por favor, minha filha é prendida para dentro. Ajude-a!"

The middle aged man she was carrying out of the damage was gesturing wildly, albeit weakly, and in turning she saw a small motionless form.

"Yes, I'll get her."

She nodded and sat the man among the other injured wiping her eyes as she turned away to go and get the body.

The little girl would never move again, but at least the grieving father could hold her one last time.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Flare rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,6,1,3,10,2,2. Perception + Awareness (No mega or anything)

---

Solitaire, while flying over what is likely ground zero for the blast, detects subtle movement in the rubble, a shifting in the ground accompanied by the sound of grinding metal and stone.  Given that most of the buildings were smashed to the ground and compacted, anything under them should be dead, and certainly should not be able to move the tons of concrete piled there.

Ever the paranoid cynic, Zero activates Creeping Feeling to see if it is being watched.

"I've got movement dead center, checking it out. Requesting backup. There shouldn't be anything alive here..."

Having reported in,  Solitaire descends cautiously, hovering about 10 feet above the activity. She assumes a contemplative position, trying to guess what it was while she waited for somebody else to show up. Not that she was worried, but she'd gotten bawled out, not to mention thrashed pretty well and good, last time for flying solo, and had no desire to repeat the experience.

She suspected it was a Nova, though whether it had caused the damage, or erupted in response to it was unknown, either way, they'd find out shortly.

With Suzukaze and all the trapped people safely out, Comstock let the building go and ran.  The entire building collapsed behind him, a few heavy blocks falling on him with little obvious effect.  "Nice work."  He reached out to give Suzukaze a high-five.



"Ah crap."  Comstock looked to the epicenter of the damage.  "Suzu, you mind going to back her up?  I'll catch up."  He tapped his comms.  "Anyone nearby, go take a look.  Gale: I want you there.  Get where the action is."  Without a good opportunity to break Gale into the team and do proper training, he had to settle for in-the-field orientation.

Gale had just landed with the children, passing them off to a capable medic.  "Got it.  On my way."  She didn't have time to make sure they were completely all right.  The little boy stood by, watching in wonder as she took off again into the sky.

She joined Solitaire shortly, hovering next to the other woman.  "What do you think it is?"  She was watching for the movement now, and listening for the sound.

"A couple ideas, but why don't we just find out? Just stay on your toes." Solitaire replies, cracking a smile. Now that Gale was here, nobody could say she was taking unnecessary risks.

She drops the remaining ten feet, landing lightly and dusting herself off. She then starts digging, throwing debris out of the way in a fairly haphazard way. Solitaire was rather curious if she would have to A: Beat some poor saps face in, or B: Welcome a new nova to their rather exclusive club.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:05, Thu 14 Jan 2010.

In a blur Suzukaze takes off. She slows as she comes up on Solitaire and Gale.

What could be under there.... Sol's tough in case it's a hostile nova. Need to be ready.

Suzukaze draws her katanas and settles into a stance ready to strike at any moment. The blades begin to glow with their familiar energy. She does not move her eyes of Solitaire.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Thu 14 Jan 2010.

Flare drops off the last two survivors she could find and flies over to Solitaire and the others.  She maintains a 20 foot altitude and pops her elemental shield. She also has a fireball in hand just in case any thing pesky shows up.

"Got your back guys, and I'm ready in case anything tries to make a run for it."

The trio of ladies on the ground were overkill for anything short of nuclear (or zombie) apocalypse, but better to be nearby and scanning the skies and ground for traps.

Imp puts the pile of rubble down after pulling teh people out from under it and take sthem over to the triage center that had just been set up.  The wailing of sirens from outside the blast zone was picking up, hopefully the country's medical sector would be on-hand soon to help control the situation.  Then, hearing Sol's message on his headset he pushed off into the sky and hovered above the pile of shifting concrete.  For a sudden insane moment he had a flash of the Underminer from the Incredibles. Funny how some things stayed with you, even after everything changed....

Gale had chosen to drift to the ground next to Solitaire.  She stood behind the other woman as the rubble flies left and right.  She wasn't exactly sure what she expected to come out of that hole.  And she wasn't comfortable staying in one place while she waited for it either.  She leapt back into the air, landing at a different spot on the opposite side.  Then she found she needed to keep moving or get smushed by concrete.  So like a flea, she kept leaping and landing, leaping and landing, at various points around the center.

Quentin kept half an ear on T2M's comm chatter in case someone called his name or needed backup, but otherwise continued the work of freeing those that had been trapped under the rubble left by the explosion. "Alright, everyone out," he told another huddled group as he lifted up what looked to have formerly been a ceiling and casually tossed it aside where it floated to the ground relatively gently. He pointed towards where emergency responders were beginning to set up an emergency relief station, "Head over that way. They'll take care of you."

Quentin headed in the opposite direction, taking short moon-hop style bound as he took the field of lower gravity with him. He peered round, looking for the next set of hapless individuals who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

At the center of the explosion, Solitaire continues to move thousands of pounds of rubble.  As the weight is removed, the motion under the debris becomes more pronounced, and a thick, barnacled hand emerges from the ground, pulling up its owner.

The man, clearly a nova, is disoriented and bleeding in several places.  His barnacle-skin is covered in gashes and singed in places, and he seems to be pulling someone else out as well.  He talks in spanish (not portugese) to Solitaire (who he doesn't seem to see very clearly through the haze of smoke and his own wounds) as he digs.

(translated from spanish) "Well, that was a cluster fuck... Thanks for the rescue, gotta... gotta get Miguel out from under here, and... and then we need to get outa here before someone gets here... Damn, this is a lot of damage... Shit, this has to be like a block or more, shit, shit, SHIT!  We so have to get out of here..."

He finally pulls out Miguel, a short male nova with shiny, gemstone skin wearing a torn eufiber colony.  Miguel apparently isn't as strong as his friend, but seems both more durable and clearsighted.  Turning to his friend he asks in a whisper, "Jose, buddy... do you know who just helped pull us out?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Zero notes that there are helicopters recording from a safe distance, and many sets emergency workers watching him.   Also, a single set of eyes... in the ground?

---

Solitaire, not taking her eyes from the pair, calls back behind her, "Any of you speak Spanish? I got about three words out of that." Then her speech obviously shifts back to the two battered Novas as she crouches down to eye level. "I'm terribly sorry for any, inconvenience, but I'm afraid you two are going to have to come with me." She smiles, in what might have been supposed to be a reassuring sort of way, but came off more as the way a lioness smiles at a gazelle.

Gale landed behind the pair as soon as she saw them being pulled from the ground.   She helped get them the rest of the way out of the rubble.  Regardless of whether or not they caused the incident, they were injured and the team was going to have to get them out anyway.  "Sorry, I don't speak Spanish either," she says to Solitaire.

"Not a word, sadly"

Flare lands and assesses the damage on the Nova's.  They did seem to be pretty banged up, so healing couldn't hurt.

"Can you understand us at all? We're here to help."

It was a bit presumptious, but many people did speak English as a second language, maybe they'd get lucky and these Novas would be such a case.

Imp floats down and lands slightly behind Sol.  "I'm fluent.  So, gentlemen, as representatives of the UN and Project Utopia we request that you come with us and talk about what happened here."  He switched over to Italian, "HQ this is Impetus, we have two novas that have emerged from the rubble at the epicenter.  Requesting addtitional resources.  Over."

Zero tries to spy on the voyeur without giving away that it is aware of him.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
23:44, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,2,6,4,4,8,5,2,1,7. Performance Roll, Fake out Voyeur, 1will.

23:45, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,6,5,4,3,4,7,3,3,7,3. Spy on the Spy, Awarness.

---

Suzukaze is wary to let her guard down. She stalks around the two novas one of her blades dragging against the ground. Her eyes locked on them expecting something to happen.

Miguel and Jose exchange a look, with Miguel realizing that it was a T2M member who helped him out of the rubble.  After an agonizingly slow, stressful moment, Miguel and Jose break and run.  They take off in opposite directions, hoping to lose themselves in the ruins perhaps...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Initiative optional, really you guys can just go in order of posts.  They are running, and won't fight back until hit.  You totally surprised them, and they want as far away from you as they can get... which isn't far, since neither of them have significant movement speeds, at least compared to the flyers + 'Kaze.

---

---

Zero feels confident that it hasn't let on that it knows it is being observed (it does wear a full face mask after all), but the doctor cannot manage to find the source of those prying eyes.  Zero sees nothing but the ground, covered in debris.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:54, Tue 19 Jan 2010.

Suzukaze takes off after Miguel. When she catches up she swings her blades to strike at his legs. Specifically aiming for the achilles tendon in hopes of stoping him. If she takes one off oh well he shouldn't have ran.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
  00:16, Today: Suzukaze rolled 8 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,1,3,7,8,7,9,9,9,2,4,5,8. sword slash on miguel.

---

As he marched toward the action at the speed of human, Comstock caught sight of his teammates and some new figures at the epicenter of the damage.  "Team, this is Comstock: what's happening over there?  Over."  Still a little ways to go.

Seeing 'Kaze go after Miguel, Solitaire takes off after Jose. She contemplates simply flying next to him and inquiring if resisting arrest was really what he wanted to do, but she didn't speak Spanish, and decided to simply go for a headlock.

Unfortunately, his barnacle skin gave her a bit of trouble, slick with blood as it was, that was all right though, he wasn't going anywhere, even if she took her time.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
21:34, Today: Solitaire rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,1,9,6,4,6,4,3,3. Headlock time.

Really, I think its time I develop my own martial art. Hrmm.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Tue 19 Jan 2010.

Jose moves at what might as well be a crawl... He stumbles through the debris almost like a human, with only his superior strength giving him any added speed, since it allows him to wade through the rubble rather than climb it (hopefully no civilians are being further injured in his rush to leave...)

While Solitaire has trouble pinning him down, he won't be leaving soon.  As she attempts to grapple him, he halfheartedly swats at her, but in his dazed mind, all that matters right now is escape.

--

Miguel is faster, he moves with both grace and superhuman speed... but he isn't as fast as Suzukaze, nor as graceful.  Her swords make contact with his sparkling skin.  It is as hard as stone, but 'Kaze's blades are keen and laced with Quantum...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

I'll need your damage total for the attack... I'll roll it, just let me know your pre-roll total

---

Imp sailed over Miguel's head and hovered in front of him, "Stop right there!" he thundered in Portuguese, voice roiling with sub harmonics and raw quantum.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
better roll, 16 sux. If it comes up, psychic shield should not interfere with this/provide mental soak, as per psychic shield's description.

---

In reply to Rydi (msg #155):

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Just posting quick before work I'll make a real post tonight. Damage would be strength + 13 lethal 4 regular and 1 mega so 5 auto.

Edited for the roll: 22:46, Today: Suzukaze rolled 6 successes using 18d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,3,10,5,6,6,9,6,10,10,10,3,3,2,7,4,4,2. damage.

So 11 damage all together Lethal Armor Piercing. Also will not hold anything back from precision.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Wed 20 Jan 2010.

Phantasm is working to pull a small child and her badly injured grandfather out of a collapsed 2 story apartment complex in the north eastern quadrant of the blasted area, the only survivors in the building's remains from what her senses can detect.  When the alert goes up that there are potential enemy novas in the vicinity, she is in the middle of focusing her empathy and horror at the destruction into the creation of a particularly fast DeathTeddy^tm to carry the survivors to the impromptu medical camp.

After finishing, and ensuring that the survivors are safely ensconced in the Teddy's innards, she checks in with the team.
"You need me over there, or are things under control?  Also, no signs of further Nova activity over here, just to put everyone at ease."

Flare follows Jose in the air, but doesn't approach him. He might hurt himself worse trying to struggle, so she just waits until he tires himself out.

She watches Solitaire take him out with a very clean head lock.

"Way to go! Oh, but try not to break him or anything."

She begins dropping down to the pair.

Although normally (strongly) against mental probes, given the sensitive situation, Zero reaches out with it's mind and tries to read the identity of the mysterious entity.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Telepathy roll: 7
11:05, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9. reroll 10.
11:04, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,9,4,7,10,3,9. Telepathic Fact Find, 1meg, 1 will.

---

Quentin continues to pay attention to the comm chatter in case further assistance is needed, but otherwise continues his work. "Is anyone out there!?" he yells in the local dialect while shifting around rubble - half looking for survivors and half arranging it so that it was less likely to collapse further. "If you can hear me, please respond!" His quantum-enhanced senses detect very little. He began compiling a mental map of survivors he'd found and heard of reported to determine the fatality radius.

He set another portion of his mind to calculating the required power output to create an explosion of this magnitude and isolating the number of potential devices that could be used to generate both that explosion and the current conditions (ie: no apparent radiation fallout, possible survivors, etc).

Suzukaze's blades bite into the escaping nova's leg, chipping away a bit of sparkling skin.  While not seriously wounding him, it does slow him down, and combined with Impetus' command, is enough to halt him altogether.  He slowly puts his hands on his head and waits to be escorted to... wherever he's going to be taken.
-
Jose, meanwhile, attempts to make some progress away from the area, with Solitaire right over his shoulder.  He seems to be having trouble seeing where he's going, possibly damage from when he was buried under tons of concrete.
-
Zero is able to detect a mind, though it is shielded from the majority of the doctor's probing.  Zero is able to pick up only a few things before the connection is cut: a flash of recognition for the group; feelings of anger, fear and thwarted desire; an image from the EW, of one of the earliest fights in the front of a certain capital building...  And then nothing, as the mind disappears, and the entity leaves the area.
-
In response to his calls, Gravitas hears barking coming from the rubble nearby.  A multistory business fell on an animal shelter, leaving the animals, and any people that were there, trapped inside.

Solitaire, mildly impressed with her rides desire to escape, adjusts her grip about his neck.

"You get an A for effort." She comments to him, not particularly caring if he understood or not, he'd get the gist soon enough. "Not going to be enough though."

Solitaire hoists Jose up by the neck until they're both floating several feet off the ground and says with a smile, "How long can you hold your breath? I can do this all day."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:43, Thu 21 Jan 2010.

Gale blinked in surprise as the two novas took off running, and again when everybody instinctively split up.  Everybody else had known what to do while she was still thinking.  She flew a little into the air, and then saw that both Novas were under control, mostly.  She landed again as Comstock approached, giving a small sigh.  "You missed all the action already."

"Damn."  He looked at the two idiots.  "If they get out of line, hand 'em over."  We wandered closer and yelled at the two men.  "Hey!  Hablan ingles?  Si o no?"

He meandered over to the crater and looked over the debris, reaching out with his new organs in search of heavy elements, rare alloys, anything that he might associate with the remains of a bomb.  It was a long-shot, but worth the effort.

Flare floats next to the pair as Solitaire subdues the spazzing Nova, ready to assist if it should be needed.

"Think he'll calm down before he passes out? I'd put five bucks on no."

"Right, now that he's cooperating do you want to take care of him Sue?  Your powers aren't as easy to adapt to rescue missions as some of ours are.  Maybe get Flare to watch him with you until we can get some other T2Mers to take them in for questioning.  I'm guessing they're innocent, but we can never be too sure." He switches to Portuguese, "If you'll excuse me, there's about a million people either dead or buried and soon to be dead here, don't do anything stupid, remember, personal accountability and reason are what separates us from mere animals."  If these boys had heard the message of teras hopefully that would be enough to calm them, let them know that there was a friend nearby.

Keeping her sword pointed near Miguel she nods to Impetus then calls to Flare on the com.

"Flare... Impetus and I got the little one. He's returning to help  find any survivors. If you could come back me up escorting him back."

Suzukaze moves to face him. One blade pointed at him the other resting on her shoulder ready to swing down and strike if needed.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but we were just here to help. It was really stupid to run. We probally would have just given you food and aid while questioning you. Now you and your friend will most likely be in holding cells. Still your lucky it was us. I know some novas who would have attempted to kill you when you were free of that mess rather than try to help you."

Quentin's brow creases as he hears the barks and yowls from the building. His priority really was to help any humans he could find rather than animals. He couldn't ignore the possibility that there were very probably humans trapped inside with the animals, though he'd feel silly if he ended up wasting his energy just to free a few dogs.

Committing to his plan of action, he starting going through the motions he'd been using to most effect so far. He significantly reduced local gravity and then began to employ his effectively increased strength to the task of breaking up and removing fallen walls and ceilings and clearing the debris out of the way.

Miguel stares at 'kaze and nods. In broken english he replies "Thank you, no run more" and then follows where he's escorted.  Jose, already injured and exhausted, eventually passes out once Sol is able to get a good grip on him.  The problem of where to put them is now the central issue.

-

Comstock, feeling around the area for out of place metals, senses a trace amount of something, a fairly heavy, radioactive metal, but not one normally associated with bombs... it is difficult to feel exactly what it is, burried under the debris, but digging would eventually reveal it.  Whatever it is, there isn't a great deal of the material, just a few pieces laying amidst the rubble on roughly the same level.

-

Gravitas manages to reduce the weight enough that the movement of supporting debris doesn't bring the entire structure down.  Half of the building is completely collapsed; no sound or movement is coming from the area, even with Gravitas' enhanced senses.  The opposite side of the building, the one further from the blast and not near other surrounding buildings, is filled with barking dogs and a few stray cats.  Many of the animals were released from their pens and cages due to falling debris or the shifting of the building, while many others were crushed or injured.  One of the dogs, a collie mix of some sort, runs up to Gravitas and puts its paws on his chest before running further back into the collapsing building and looking expectantly at him.  It seems to want him to follow.

Phantasm radios to her teammates again after a bit more silence, and after a disheartening period of searching in which all she was able to find were dead bodies, or parts of bodies.
"The corner I'm working doesn't look like it has anymore survivors guys, I'm moving to the next search area.  You still okay with the novas, or you need help with anything?"

Solitaire switches places with Jose, throwing him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, it must have looked rather odd, as he was rather larger than Solitaire. She walks back over the rest of the group.

"Shall I take guard duty? Comstock could probably build a cage of some sort, slow them down if nothing else. Does that sound good?"

One of Quentin's eyebrows went up. "Well, you're a regular Lassie, are't you?" He picked his way over the fallen debris to where the dog waited. "Timmy was trapped in a gigantic explosion, so go ahead, lead the way," he said to the dog. It wasn't as if stranger things hadn't happened to him since his eruption.

"Uh ... yeah.  Heck yeah, there's enough materials around here.  Give me a minute."  He paused.  "You think we should build the cage here?  Or outside?  No, nevermind.  We can pick up and carry thing thing when I'm done."

With all the work he'd been doing on the side for the Christmas Gift Monorail, Comstock was getting a little faster and more precise.  He dug into the ground until he found the remains of a steel frame.  Then he wrenched it out of the ground and proceeded to bend and twist it into a box shape, willing the joins to seep and bond together for strength.  A few minutes later, he'd cobbled together makeshift walls for the cage out of chicken wire, shopping carts, struts, shrapnel, and burnt wreckage.  A bit of sweat -- quicksilver and rust -- seeped from his brow.  "With some time I'd make another frame and pack the space between the two boxes with all this sand and old concrete.  But I hope this'll do."

After the two men were in good hands Imp went back to work searching for survivors, he didn't have the amazing senses of some of his teammates, so, when 'Tasm mentioned that she was changing sectors he called in over his headset, "'Tasm, why don't we work together over here, I can't find people as well as you can, but I can shift more rubble, more safely than you, how bout it?"
He then radioed in to HQ.  "HQ, this is Impetus, where exactly is our backup?  Slider can have 50 people on the moon in less time than you've had to get organized.  Tell pax that I know he's been working hard, and that if he's worried about not having the oomph needed to shift a few dozen tons of rubble at a time, not to worry about his image, I mean, he's tired, probably doesn't have the stamina needed for this kind of work.  Yes, tell him exactly that.  Or send him the recording you have of me saying that.  Do whatever it takes, we need as many people here as possible.  Teen Tomorrow, the auxiliaries, everybody.  We've got thousands of casualties here, if Utopia can't step up to the plate on this one the world's going to know we're a paper tiger.  and send Dir Laragione a copy of our conversation as well. Thanks Sally."

As Flare isn't really cut out for heavy lifting, she gives what healing she can to the wounded, then sees about grabbing blankets, first aid stuff and water from any nearby stores.  T2M can always pick up the tab.

"Hey Gale, since we're not rubble movers, want to fly with me and raid a quicky-mart or something for supplies?"

Flare keeps an eye out for any straggling survivors, and any sign terrorists, but basically zooms to the closest place, which is probably right outside of ground zero, loads up, and flies back.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Flare's got 4 strength and flies at about 200kph
Flare rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,1,3,1,2,9,9. Searching for survivors and shopping.

---

"Sorry Impetus, we are trying to get you more help.  Frostburn is currently speaking to the local authorities, who are surrounding your position, but waiting for hazmat teams and emergency personnel with appropriate gear before they move in to offer aid.

Several Auxiliary team members are not able to be located at this time, and the others are being called back from their days off... Slider is working to locate and gather them all.

Pax initially sent... Well, sir, he said that the Americas could handle it on their own, but in light of the video footage the director is going to have Pax's team there in another 5 minutes."

Frostburn cuts in on the transmission from operations.

"I've been sending some of the video footage up the pipeline, and letting them know that the locals are just not prepared to deal with this kind of disaster.  You WILL be getting aid, but it will be another few minutes.  Just keep going as best you can for a little longer.

Flare, the offer to get supplies is a good one, but one person on that kind of job won't work unless they can lift a few tons worth of goods... But there is a situation developing in the streets.  Panic, confusion, that sort of thing.  Not a riot, but it could become one if not taken care of... Normally I'd put Imp on this, but he's busy lifting heavy things right now.  You and Gale, especially with her looks, should be able to manage the panicked citizens a bit.

Comstock, Slider will be opening a portal there shortly, and they'll take the prisoners off your hands."

Frostburn flips off the transmission, and the group hears a bit of yelling as she harangues someone on another line before cutting off.

"I don't give a fuck what kind of 'special' mission he's on, screw the black ops shit, we need more--"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Gale agreed.  She turned to Flare.  The last thing they needed was a full out riot.  "Let's go see if we can calm them down."

She took off into the sky, and once she noticed a particularly active group of people, she started landing near them.  Gently, of course.  She didn't want to cause more panic.  It was only once she was on the ground that she turned to Flare and said, "Um, do either of us speak Portuguese?  That could make things difficult."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

In the busted animal shelter, "Lassie" leads Gravitas to a collapsed area of the building, near where trucks are unloaded and food stored, where moans from several injured and trapped people can be heard.  The ceiling is mostly caved in, with only an area near the eastern wall clear.  Two people in brown uniforms are huddled there, but a large beam is blocking the only exit (the people are visible only through a narrow hole).  On the other side of the room, Gravitas can make out at least 3 voices, and sees two bodies amidst the rubble, one of which is impaled on broken piping.  "Lassie" barks.

-

The streets outside the primary blast area are, as Frostburn noted, starting to fill with panicked and lightly injured people.  The surrounding city, while not destroyed, did suffer damages, including broken windows and cracked foundations, for several blocks further out, much as if an earthquake had struck.  People are frightened and trying to obtain information, as well as aid for cuts and a few more serious injuries.  The emergency personnel are beginning to get a bit overwhelmed, and are likely to become more so as time passes.  The people are a distraction to the emergency workers setting up the camp, and in the areas without any emergency personnel to calm them (such as the soutwest quadrant) the citizens are becoming more unruly (danger of a riot is highest in these areas).

-

After he finishes his impromptu detainment facility and prepares to return to investigate the traces of radiation he sensed, Comstock feels the matter inside his metal prison shift... it is as though matter just appeared in the center of it...

-

Operations lets you know that Pax's eta is 3 minutes.

-

Gale and Flare are given wide room, and allowed to do whatever they want.  They can see signs of the distress Frostburn was talking about around the store they were in the process of entering as Frostburn's communication went through, and inside it.  A few elderly and religious individuals even ask Gale if "the end is coming" and whether she was there to "take them to see the lord".  Of course all of this is in Portuguese, so she may not be able to understand it at all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:55, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

"I'm currently downloading a patch to your earpieces... It is an early version of a translation software program that R&D was working on, but given the circumstances I was able to get them to let it go.

Once I'm done giving instructions, power down your headsets, and turn them on again; the reboot should take about 20 seconds.  When you do, say "Voice Command: Activate translation protocols, authorization code delta gamma sigma epsilon".  The set will then give you a continuous shitty translation of whatever it hears, at a low enough noise level that you should be able to still hear what's going on around you... Once we link it to the HUD it will be more useful, but until then this is the best we've got for those of you not fluent in every language.  Frostburn out, reboot now."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:06, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea, we'd get more done together on this one... I'm moving toward the south west section of this mess if you want to meet me over there.  I'll be looking for survivors..." Phantasm takes off at a run, covering ground far better than most vehicles could, given the rubble; she leaps and rolls over the debris, and shifts her senses as she goes, looking and listening for more people.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

joy, dice roller hate on perception
22:19, Today: Phantasm rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,5,1,10,6,9,4,4,10,3,3.

But I will also shapeshift to electromagnetic vision, any useful hearing enhancement, and x-ray vision if need be, so hopefully that will make it better (I'd be more specific, but I don't have my book on me right now).
You rolled 34 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,6,6,1,10,4,1,4,7,4,5)).

3 successes will go to extra sensory stuff and 1 to a dot of perception I guess.  I figure that's more valuable than strength right now, especially with Imp helping.  Hmm... that extra perception would actually give me a higher pool if I don't manage to spot anything on roll 1...

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Wed 27 Jan 2010.

Huh?  Comstock frowned.  That's weird.  On a hunch, he dug his fingers into the box and pried open a hole the size of his fist to peer through.

"Oooh pigeon Portuguese. No speaking on my part, I think if we hover and look reasonably intimidating it should help with crowd control." She eyes up Gale's wings and smirks a bit, "or you can be the heavenly messenger, and I can be the burning bush. I think that will cow them a bit. "

Gale turned to Flare and nodded nervously.  "I'll try being the compassionate angel."  It wasn't a role she played often; she wasn't a very religious person after all.  She didn't know of many novas who were.

She waded into the crowd, spreading her wings a little to make them look bigger.  A few of the people who had fear in their eyes, asking about end-times and taking them away, she shook her head slowly and laid a gentle hand on their shoulders.  She played up the angelic affect, probably enough that some people could see the halo around her.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Activating Awe-Inspiring.  Only works on those who believe in angels.

---

Flare lets the 'Angel' do her work and circles the area, a vivid reminder that they wouldn't get far if they tried anything.  As people relax Flare simply keeps an eye out for any danger, and any people in the area that don't look like haggard victims.  Its not out of the realm of possibility for someone responsible for this destruction to have lingered at a safe distance to watch their handy work.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I just noticed Suzukaze's request for help in mssg 168, assume I helped before gallivanting off. Sorry.

---

Imp wiped some blood off his upper lip with a silk handkerchief, Sifting tons of rubble around again and again and again wasn't something he'd practiced much.  Still, no rest for the wicked.  "Alright 'Tasm, you direct me I'll shift rubble."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Imp will continue shifting rubble until 'Tasm tells him there are no more survivors in the area, or he gets relieved by the arrival of the rest of Utopia's nova assets, or he passes out, whichever comes first

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

Comstock opens a hole in his makeshift prison, and is rewarded with a stream of pressurized liquid metal... The metal has properties similar to liquid mercury, but is highly unstable and radioactive. Comstock can feel that the atomic structure of the material should not be able to exist at all, and that it will decay into simple mercury after a few minutes, though in the meantime it is irradiating the entire area.  The material was held in the sealed prison under a great deal of pressure, thus its geyser-like eruption.

-

The people near Gale instinctively calm in her presence.  Many of those that seemed to be growing violent are reminded of their "better" natures, and visibly change their behavior, helping those closest to them to move towards safety.  Though a few are convinced that Gale is the angel of death come to take them to the lord, the majority view her as a protector, and hush their fellows.

From her vantage, Flare can see that Gale is making a difference in the area, but that there are several other parts of the city, especially around the blast area, that could use her attention.

-

Gravitas observes the situation... there are several possible approaches to rescuing the few survivors, but whatever happens will have to happen soon, at least for those buried in the rubble.

-

Phantasm detects a large number of survivors in the ruins of a 3 story apartment building that has entirely collapsed under the weight of a 5 story building next to it.  Most of those that were in the top floors of the 5 story were killed, as were those on the 3rd story of the apartments, but there are multiple survivors from the bottom floors of both buildings.

-

Slider's voice comes over the team's headsets:
"-ch me into the conversation down there... Am I in?  Ok guys, 45 seconds until I escort Pax's team in.  Fair warning, he plans on taking over, and being a dick, he's in a mood today.  I... Ok, yeah, I'll be there Pax, the last two aren't even on the pad yet... Anyway guys, help is on the way, Slider out."

-

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
for those without mega strength, these rescue activities are pretty draining on quantum.  Those using special abilities, like forcefields/constructs, kinetic control, gravity, etc. to accomplish their rescues should probably roll to recharge their quantum stores...

also, one more round of responses and Pax's team will be there to "help"

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:57, Mon 01 Feb 2010.

"Hey Imp, we've got a bunch of people beneath a couple of collapsed buildings over here.  I don't think anyone survived on the top floors, but the bottoms have some survivors, if we can get to them at least. I'll try and get some helpers to sort through the rubble, but your gonna be much better for the heavy lifting.  I'm gonna take a second to recharge here, while you get over here, then we'll tackle this..."

Wanting to make sure that she has enough energy to keep going in case of an emergency, Phantasm takes a moment to pull in some of the ambient quantum in the area, using her highly developed node to recharge her energy stores.

After the moment of rest, she looks at the fallen buildings, grim determination showing in her stance and facial expression.  Pulling on the loss and heartache around her, she focuses her will on shaping an army of ant helpers to sort through the debris. For the next several moments, Phantasm's body is obfuscated, as a swarm of sheep-sized ants emerge from her shield and crawl off into the debris, sorting through pieces of rubble many times their own size.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Quantum Recovery: You rolled 8 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((7,5,10,8,3,10,6,2,7,5,7,8,10)).
I was only shooting for six, so this should do nicely... though how do we keep this honest, since we basically get to set our own difficulty then make the roll?

Maxing Q.Construct (4q):
01:13, Today: Phantasm rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,9,7,2.

Creating a Construct, spending an extra will (3q):
Phantasm rolled 4 8 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,10,8,5,3,6,7,8,3,6,2.
sheep size (1), sentient (1), 5 Nova points [adhesive grip, mega str 1, extra limbs] (1), doublings (total of 32 copies)

Total q spent for scene so far (after recharge): around 13, assuming maintenance costs on powers were paid once, and a few enhancements activated. Also spent 2 will.

---

Once Gale has got the crowd calm and actually working on something that will help the situation, she joined Flare up in the sky.  She sighed as she heard Slider inform them that Pax would be making an entrance.

"Let's see if we can get a couple more key spots calmed down before Pax gets here," she said, and then flew off for the currently worst looking spot.

"The hell?!?" Comstock gurgled beneath the toxic stream, falling backwards in surprise.  For a moment he felt light-headed and disoriented, but his body soon adapted.  How the hell did that happen?  With a grunt, he hopped to his feet, grabbed hold of the hole, and tore the improvised box open.

"T2M, this is Comstock," he sputtered, wiping radioactive mercury from his comms and face.  "someone get over here to back me up.  Prisoners may be compromised and need medical attention!  Possible hostile.  Over."  As the crate's contents exploded over the landscape, Comstock looked around in a hurry, looking for a way to contain the irradiated mess.

Quentin frowns. The impaled individual is likely beyond help. With confirmed survivors his first task was obvious: ensure that they remained survivors. Then he just had to get them out.

"I'm Gravitas from Team Tomorrow," he told them in Portuguese, "I'm going to try to get you out. How many of you are there, and what is your situation?"

He concentrated for a moment to again lower the power of local gravity. This had the dual benefit of reducing the chance that existing rubble would further collapse and allowed him to use his strength (peak-human though it was) to move larger bits of debris.

With the two brown-clad individuals as the most obvious survivors, Quentin moves to free them first. Bending down, he tries to get a grip around a section of the collapsed ceiling and starts the process of moving debris.

"Sounds like  a plan to me." Lacking the halo effect of Gale's wings, Flare mostly keeps an eye out for any more trouble while Gale calms the more volitile groups.

"Crap! 'Tasm, I'll be back as soon as I can."  Imp rocketed over to Comstock's position and seeing the mercury covering Comstock and the surrounding area he focused and scooped as much of it as he could see into a sphere hovering above the ground.  "Stock, what the hell happened?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
my crap roll to regain quantum (1 suc) balances against my decent roll to scoop the glowing silver stuff up (12 sux), if it matters, that should be 200 tons affected, if there is that much of the stuff

---

"Bloody hell. This would of course happen with Pax inbound, never going to hear the end of it..." Solitaire grumbles, turning in midair and speeding back toward the temporary cell. As she lands, and surveys the mercury-like substance, she feels a tingle in the back of her node, and asks "Radioactive? How?"

Suzukaze keeps a safe distance. Knowing she most likely can't handle radiation and possibly too weak to carry Comstock out... She circles and watches.

Figures something like this would happen... I'm totally useless here. Except for when those two tried to run... Suzukaze's lips curl into a smile...You get what you deserve Comstock.... We should have gone after my old team. This is all a waste of time.

Flare jets over to Comstock and the prisoners to do what she can. Radiation would probably make it through her shielding, but what the heck, you only live once.

With most of the radiation off 'Stock and the others, Flare checks on the prisoners. Though she is running low on quantum she heals what she can.

"Are you okay, Comstock, or does this stuff hurt you too?"

Comstock shook his head at Flare.  "No.  I'm fine."  He looked around, trying to make sense of the wreckage and find the two novas ... if anything was left of them.  "I don't know.  Something got in and just created this stuff!  Fucking hell!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:10, Wed 03 Feb 2010.

With the gravity lowered, Gravitas is able to get the two easily accessible survivors out.  Those in the rubble are going to be more difficult, but they are very clearly alive, Gravitas can hear their quiet struggles to breath.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Attempts to get people out of there will require a Dex+Athletics role (unless you can think of a better Dex skill), and Analyze weakness can be used to augment the role if desired)

---

Impetus, though drained, manages to clean up every bit of the metallic liquid before it can contaminate the area.  The radiation will still be an issue until the material is moved out of the area, but once Solitaire arrives nearby radiation levels drop rapidly.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Energy Absorption on the arm helps a lot; I'm assuming she spends the activation cost.  And she gets stronger too.

---

Comstock, upon reaching in, finds two drowned and irradiated novas.  Though it shouldn't have been long enough for them to drown, the increased pressure inside forced the metal into their lungs.  The only way Flare is healing them is if she can first raise the dead.

As 'Stock, Sol', Flare, and Imp' look over the remains of the Novas, Slider's portal finally opens, unloading Pax and his team onto the scene over the northwest quadrant of the blast area.  From there they fan out; assuming that no one goes to greet them, Pax will meander over to the cluster of T2M:Aers in about another 30 seconds.

Solitaire's arm begins to glow as it absorbs the ambient radiation, it was always a good, refreshing feeling, and the short boost it gave her abilities was just icing on the cake.

"Well, shit. This is not going to look good on the report..." Solitaire comments offhandedly, crouching down next to the bodies. She grabs Miguel's wrist, picks it up off the ground, and watches it fall back limply. She wanted to make sure they were dead, as she figured she could survive whatever had happened to them, they might just be faking it.

Otherwise, somebody was going to get chewed out, and that wasn't a pleasant thought at all.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Don't have my book on me atm, I believe the dicepool is Stam-Absorption. I'll edit later if i mucked it up.

09:30, Today: Solitaire rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,5,6,8,4,8,3,5,6. Absorption, Missions

Brings me to Mega-Str 5, Stam 5, Mega-Stam 4, temporarily, if I'm not mistaken. 4Q spent.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Thu 04 Feb 2010.

They were dead.  "Hell ... okay, fan out.  Look for someone invisible, someone tunneling under the rock, look for Freak, look for anything that could have done this.  It hasn't been more than a minute.  I'll talk to Pax.  GO!"

Comstock shivered and signaled the mercury to flow out to him, hoping to at least contain the waste and get it out of the two men in a last ditch effort to save them.  Denial hadn't quite left his system yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:31, Thu 04 Feb 2010.

"Oh man, this is just sick." Flare was saddened and disgusted by the drowned men. Her powers were massively destructive, but she preferred to unleash them on buildings and terrain. To allow people to die painfully in molten metal was just cruel.

Flare starts hunting for any kind of trail or sign of who might have done this.  She starts at the current area, rather than flying, since this seems to be a ground based attack.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)


Flare rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,5,4,6,7,8,6,9. Perception + Investigation

---

Angered Suzukaze closes her eyes. Annette couldn't have done this... She's still locked up.... Powerless... Alone.... She reaches out with her senses.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Activating Blindfighting to try and sense anyone invisible.

19:32, Today: Suzukaze rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,6,3,8,5,3,1. Blindfight.


And the dice hate me.

---

"I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not too sure how long I can hold this stuff up, Grav, can you open a portal between here and a safe storage facility rather soon?" Blood was trickling out of Imp's ears and nose, and his eyes were looking alarmingly bloodshot.  The radiation probably wasn't helping either.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
rolled like crap, 1 sux, on the quantum recharge thing.  Spent another health level to get 3 more quantum.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Fri 05 Feb 2010.

Gale lands a little ways away from the prisoner's cage, just before Comstock gives the order to search.  She joins in the search, glad that Comstock was going to handle Pax.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
20:26, Today: Gale rolled 3 successes using 3d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,7,7. Perc+Inv, Sao Paulo. .

Not bad for not having any investigation. >.<

---

Mercury trickled out of the two bodies and joined the larger pool Impetus was holding. "Give me a second, I'll dig a bowl.  It's not real metal ... it's unstable.  Should disappear if we give it a little while."  Comstock looked around for an appropriate spot to manage this.

Hearing the confusing radio chatter and with Imp running to the scene of... whatever... Phantasm figured that someone should continue helping the unfortunate victims of this mess, most of whom were still trapped in the rubble.  And honestly, since no one had called her, and there were already a half dozen powerful novas over there already, she wasn't really all that necessary probably.


As she wondered what exactly was going on with the enemy novas and the weird metal, Phantasm sent her small army of ants throughout the ruins of the apartments, and moved lightly through the rubble herself to pick up signs of survivors.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

You rolled 4 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9,4,1,4,4,2,6,1,2,4,4,8,7)).
Dice roller hasn't been in a loving mood lately.

Ants should be able to move just about anything though, and climb over whatever they need to.

---

Solitaire glanced around the scene, looking for anything out of place. She wasn't a detective-type like some of the others, but she just might have the best eyes on the team. She figured continuing the search and rescue operation really should be her top priority, but an unknown nova, (and it had to be a nova) running around complicated the equation immeasurably.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:17, Today: Solitaire rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,5,5,10,9,9,10,4,9,3. Percep+Aware, San Paulo.

---

Comstock digs an impromptu storage area for the strange metal, coating it with a thin layer of metal so that it doesn't leak into the soil.  But he can tell that the radiation levels are already going down, and the material is changing into a much more manageable mercury.

After a few moments of work, he heads off to speak with Pax, meeting him as he lands a few yards from the scene.

"So, Comstock, did you have to kill the novas?  It's usually better when we can, you know, INTERROGATE THEM!  And what the hell is going on here?  The whole team is clustered around the center of this mess, while the news is recording all this?  Catching us standing around while there are victims to be saved?  Do you know what our public opinion polls are going to show tomorrow?!"

Speaking into his headset, Pax gives orders to his team via their team-chat channel.
"Everyone, spread out and take the top layer of rubble off this place.  Make it fast, these guys have been taking their time, and we need to get as many people out in as short a span as possible"

Comstock can hear at least one member (Ragnarockette? Hard to tell)yelling back through Pax's headset "but if we move too fast people will die when we move the debris!" 
Pax replies "sometimes we just have to make hard choices, and right now I think more people will be saved by getting in there as fast as possible.  And the news sure as hell will appreciate it more.  Now get going, and show our pals on Americas how to run a rescue op!"

-

Impetus manages to settle the remains of the radioactive metal into the hole Comstock made for it before collapsing from strain.  He has the privilege of listening to Pax berate the team as he watches his teammates go about searching for the rogue nova.

-

Gravitas is still attempting to clear out his building.  He can lift the rubble, but the real problem is doing so in such a manner as to avoid ripping the people apart in the process, especially the one with piping through their chest (Dex+Ath or Med to move the rubble and save the last few; there are also dogs and cats in there, if Grav cares).

-

Phantasm's small army of unnaturally strong (and large) ants is actually quite capable of clearing out the two buildings, and she makes large progress there.  Keeping the constructs around will be a drain on her, but likely more effective than anything else she can do currently.  Her shapeshifted ears pick up movement in the rubble about a block down, and Skew homing in on it from the air.  He pauses in mid-air, a look of frustration on his face, and then begins moving metal in the building, trying to maintain the support structure of it while clearing as much rubble as possible... A quick analysis of the situation tells Phantasm that this situation is going to get people killed.

-

Zero realizes exactly what Phantasm does, as he watches another T2M member tear into a building, rescuing 2 kids but destabilizing the whole structure in the process.  T2M:A had been cautious in their rescues, hoping to get more people out in the long run by moving carefully; Pax aparently intends to have everything finished by the end of the day, one way or another.

-

It occurs to Suzukaze that if only they had Annette here, the woman's incredible mental powers could have stopped this nova before he struck.

-

Those searching for the rogue nova find little to go off of.  Gale finds a spot of disturbed earth near the cage (like something came out of it, rather than just the regular destruction nearby), while 'Kaze and the others find next to nothing.

Solitaire, floating in the air, scans the area but finds nothing as well... But then she sees something... A tiny movement on the surface of the ground, the sound of molecules of concrete being displaced?  Her imagination?  Whatever it was, if she wants to investigate further she will have to move quickly.

"Sir, I didn't kill anyone!  There is another Nova on the scene and my teammates are attempting to locate and detain it before it causes more damage or further jeopardizes the situation!"  Next to Pax, Comstock felt like a whining toy.  As his brain clamped shut against Pax's influence, frustration and metallic-tone crept into his voice.  "If the camera crews get worried, tell them we're capturing the perpetrators of this terrorist act!"

His thinking grew more distant and rational as he grew more stressed.  The prisoners were dead, and it was starting to hit him that this whole thing looked like a contrived setup.  He'd sealed the two in the box, and the two had died from drowning in mercury.

Imp glowers at Pax from his recumbent position, then smoothed his features.  That's some fine leadership there Shelby, and a fine plan, he thought to himself.  As much fun as it would be to tear into the wanker there were much better ways of handling the situation.  "Sir, as you no doubt remember from disaster rescue seminars, people can survive for up to a week trapped under rubble.  More if they have water.  Also, the public will see pulling as many people out as quickly as possible as noble, yes, but think about how much better we will look if we set in for the long haul, work in shifts, and show that we care about each and every person trapped in the rubble.  Let the world watch us work ourselves to exhaustion, then climb back into the saddle and do it again, and again, and again.  Let them see you as the unwavering foundation that our rescue efforts are built around. That's the kind of heroism that the world has come to expect from you sir, and I know that you've got what it takes to give it to them like nobody else can."
As he spoke he felt his skin rupture in a few places, he'd never drawn on himself this deeply before, and shouldn't've had to.  Arrogant S.O.B.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
looking through my enhancements and seductive/seductive looks both say "any attempt to seduce or persuade a target..." so, can Imp use the seduction of fame and power to bring Pax around?  If so, 17 sux.  If not, 11 sux.  Used persuader, seductive, seductive looks, and natural empathy.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:30, Tue 09 Feb 2010.

"Crap." Zero was furious with itself. It had thought the strange presence had truly left, and now people where dead do to it's hubris. It tried again to sense the thing out with it's paranoia sense, followed by a mental scan. Zero was truly the worst Doctor ever.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Z activates Creepy Feeling. 1 Quantum.

2 successes on Telepathy Roll.
21:40, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1. Reroll 10, absevant quality .
21:40, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,2,10,8,5,2,3. Telepathy Roll, 1meg. .

---

"Damn, Damnit"

Flare watched impotent as Pax gave his orders, changing their desperate attempt to save life into some action move rescue. Great for press, but much more likely to raise the number of bodies.

She wasn't senior to this group or its supervisors in any way, and even if she wanted to speak out, her powers were nearly useless in getting people out.

Flare opted to take the path she had since she'd been 'recruited' by T2M, ignore Pax as much as possible and try to help as much as she could. Wasn't there a better option?

Far more like the shy Sara that she'd began life as, Flare speaks up.

"I'm, going to help with the wounded.  If anyone has radiation poisoning, I can help with that a bit too."

She floats over to where medical treatment was being set up, a bit disheartened.

Gale crouched near the spot she found, to examine it more carefully.  She'd brush lightly at it with a claw.  She didn't want to call it to the attention of the others until she was sure it was actually significant.

Luckily, if there was one thing Solitaire was good at, it was moving fast. She tracks it for a moment, making sure it was an actual possible contact, not just her imagination. Once she's sure, she keys her mic.

"Possible subterranean contact, quite faint. Tracking now, anybody have a neat trick that could snag it?"

Solitaire broadcast over both teams frequencies, thinking somebody on Europe might have a counter. She couldn't really think of anything her team could do against it, and they seemed pretty spent anyway.

"Ok, folks," Quentin yelled at the others, still in Portugese, "I'm gonna help you out of there, its just gonna take a bit of doing." He carefully analyzed the positions of the trapped people and estimated the amount of damage that'd been done to the impaled man. "Alright, I need you all to try to cover your heads and curl up tight," he advised the trapped people.

Oh so carefully, he began to try to extract the rubble, first starting on the outside and then moving in towards the trapped people, trying to work so as to not collapse everything and treating it all very much like a house of cards.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
You gave the option of Dex+Medicine, so I'm rolling that because the combo amuses me:
00:30, Today: Gravitas rolled 6 successes using 12d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,5,7,4,9,9,9,5,10,4,7,3. Dex+Medicine.
00:31, Today: Gravitas rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9. Reroll - Steady.
Grand total: 7 - stupid mega-dice never roll successes for me.

---

Pax seems contemplative as he ignores Comstock as irrelevant and focuses on the mega-flattery offered by Impetus.  While he didn't like Impetus stealing all the attention, he was right, and the shape he was in he obviously wasn't saying it to get attention... after all, who wants to be on camera looking like that?

"Hmm.  You have a couple of points there Imp.  Good job son, maybe you should have a team of your own one of these days."

He flips on his headset and send out a message to his team.

Alright everyone, slight change of plans here; slow it down, and take it carefully.  We wouldn't want anyone to needlessly get hurt, and people that aren't dead already will likely be able to survive at least a day in the rubble.  And the world would certainly appreciate us working our asses off and playing it safe.  Pax out.

Turning back to Imp and Comstock, he says "Well, what you staring at metal man?  Get your team back to work.  Oh, and Impetus, you might get that nose bleed looked at."
Poor guy.  He erupted with all the looks, but no substance.  We'll have to watch out for the little guy, make sure he stays out of harm's way... too valuable to lose influence like his... long as he knows who his leaders are... 

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Its amazing what successes in the teens can do for you.

---

At Solitaire's broadcast, Pax begins looking for the nova activity she was talking about.

-

Gravitas receives the team chat, processing it in the back of his mind as he works to extricate the survivors in the animal shelter.  His efforts are largely successful.  Aside from a little tearing of the impaled man's intestines, he's able to get everyone out intact.  The building doesn't even collapse when he leaves, so the animals survive for the time being.

-

Zero doesn't notice the nova's presence right off, but after having Sol point it out and dashing over to the rest of the team's location, his quantum sense picks up the presence from earlier moving away rapidly.

-

Gale notes that the disturbance in the ground is in an area that the cage was touching the broken asphalt, and in that spot the material is pushed up, as though something reached out of the ground there.  But not forcefully, and the asphalt seems oddly... shimmery, like part of it is metallic.  Perhaps the chemical structure is changed?

-

Flare manages to help the people in camp get set up, and her presence calms the crowd a bit, knowing that T2M:A is on the scene (and that there is a nova there to respond to any violent overtures keeps the crowd a bit more level headed).  Between Sol, Imp, and Comstock, the majority of the radiation was contained, so no rad poisoning or burns are present, but plenty of crushing wounds and crush syndrome victims need help http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_syndrome

Flare helps stabilize the worst wounds, but is quickly exhausted.  Like Impetus, before long she will be pulling on her own body's resources to heal the injured.

Quentin works quickly to try to stabilize the impaled man, using what few available resources he has on hand, including the victim's clothing, any nearby dog leashes (as tourniquets), etc. Once the man seems to be in reasonable shape, given the circumstances, he fashions a stretcher from anything he can find (a tarp and two reasonably long thin bits of rebar are sufficient), and presses any ambulatory survivors into service as nurses and go-tos as he works. Once complete, he has them haul the severely injured man off to a relief station and then moves on.

I know that Annette is still locked up. I've got to prove it.... I need either Slider or Gravitas...

Suzukaze takes off in search of either Slider or Gravitas. She slows as she comes across them and grabs ahold of their uniform.

"Please.. Please help me. I need a portal into Annette's cell. I need to prove to Comstock she did not do this..."

She falls to her knees. On the verge of not being able to hold back tears her voice is full of worry and sadness as she begins to beg for help.

"Please... I beg of you help me please."

Gale didn't have the experience to be able to say for sure what had happened here.  But the metallic sheen made her immediately turn to the person who she thought would be able to say for sure.  She wouldn't be able to react fast enough to keep up with Solitaire and Pax anyway.  "Hey, Comstock, come take a look at this."

She'd point out the damage to him, explaining how she'd found it.  "This isn't your work, I'm sure of that.  Not sure about anything else about it though."

Once Pax has broadcast his new instructions to his team Imp gets to his feet and heads over to help the wounded.  He didn't have Flare's ability to heal wounds but he did have his OFA certification.  He cleaned the blood off his face with a scrap of cloth and set to work, no rest for the wicked.

Zero starts porting to follow. It reaches out with it's mind once more and tries to read where the thing's home is.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
22:08, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,4,6,2,2,2,8. Telepathy Roll, 1meg. . Ug. This sucked.

---

"Sense it Pax?" Solitaire inquires, pointing for emphasis. "I could smash my way down to it, but if its a phaser, I don't think it would do anything but spook, it, if its not aware we've noticed it already. Not sure I could grab it, even with my left arm. Any ideas?"

Solitaire was annoyed, it was right there and it might as well be on the moon for all she could do about it. Hell, farther than the moon, she'd been to the moon.

Several things happen at once.

Zero 'ports in and attempts to analyze the entity, but the doctor's mind is rebuffed.

Solitaire asks Pax if he can sense the nova, and she is reminded of a moment years back... Her first mission actually, where a man phased through the walls of the capital building.  She thought she had him, but... perhaps not?!

The entity, spooked, attempts to leave.

Pax makes a motion similar to a martial artist making a hammer fist strike.  A TK field slams down on the ground in the general area of the motion, leaving a circular indentation roughly a foot deep by 10' in diameter, and nearly knocking Zero over (luckily it was on the edge of the field).
"Someone get in there and see if we got the bugger."
Fist of Peace indeed.

Confident that T2M:A knew what to do without inefficient orders, Comstock examined the spot Gale showed him.  "Not me ... but it looks very much like my work."  Disconcerting.  Without ceremony, he started kicking the ground, stomping out a circle around the spot.  Then, with some focus and a little help from some metal wreckage, he pried a large plug of ground straight up, a cylinder about two yards in diameter and two yards deep.  "I'll get Gravitas and Zero to take a look at this.  Maybe--"

Pax cratered the pavement around the fleeing assassin.  Comstock stared dispassionately at the wreckage and carefully set his plug of earth down before moving to investigate as ordered.  He kept his stress and anger in his jaw and ground his teeth together as he kicked around in the compacted debris for any sign of their attacker.

"Well, I could have done that... I was hoping for a more elegant solution." Solitaire grumbles, dropping down to the ground and staring at it as if she were trying to see through it. That was, in effect, exactly what she was trying to do. She'd lost the bugger when Pax smashed everything, now she was trying to pick him up again

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)

Activating Hyper-Enhanced Hearing, 1Q

21:57, Today: Solitaire rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9. re-roll again, Observant.
21:57, Today: Solitaire rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. re-roll, Observant.
21:56, Today: Solitaire rolled 5 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,1,6,1,6,7,6,1,7,10,9,8,1. Per+Aware+Hyper, Reaquire Target.

7 Sux, my mega's fail me for once : /

---

'Yow!" Zero falls back and lands on it's head. "Wow! Good one, boss! That was so close! Thank God you where just playing, huh?" Zero was going to enjoy hurting Pax one of these days.

Imp realized that actually patching people up was perhaps not the most efficient thing he could be doing, he contacted Comstock and Pax.  "On site command, this is Impetus, requesting permission to create and run an on-site HQ, I'll take care of the paper pushing and people moving while you deal with the important stuff like pulling people out of the rubble and performing superhuman feats of might.  Can I request a mobile HQ to be ported in from the Nevada base? Over." Once the all clear was given he moved into management mode, arranging things with HQ, on site T2M operatives and rescue workers, and incoming wounded.  Frosty was back in Nevada, everybody else was going strong and hadn't blown their load as early as he had, and Pax was making craters.  If they were going to save as many people as possible, there was going to need to be some middle management.  He wondered about this drive in the human subconscious that made such positions necessary.  Ants and termites didn't have middle managers, and they seemed to do just fine.
While he worked he tapped into his eufibre's stored quantum energy and used it to fuel his ability to make people work together in almost instinctive unity, once this rescue was on track and organized he could afford to take some downtime and recoup, but not yet.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
activating synergy, spending quantum.

---

Comstock, Sol, and Zero all move in to investigate further.  Of them, only Zero can actually perceive the entity, as the nova has apparently blended seamlessly into the ground... where he is laying unconscious, about 2 meters down.

-

Slider, herself nearly as exhausted as Impetus after gathering everyone together from a dozen different locations, makes a final port for Impetus after Operations signals that all the equipment has been prepped for pickup.

-

Pax watches everyone for a few more moments, then floats into the air.
"Well, as much fun as it is watching you all poke at the ground, I'm going to go do some actual work.  Comstock, since you've got all the brains on your team, you can take charge of the central area here and investigate what caused all this.  Oh, and call in Phantasm to work with you, I don't care how much she's getting done, those constructs freak people the hell out.  Report to Impetus for any more orders, and ask his permission if you want to do anything outside of the area, since he'll be coordinating things.  I wouldn't want you to interfere with what we're doing."

Gale was not surprised to find Pax's behavior as infuriating as it ever had been.  Of course, she hadn't had to work directly with him before.  She managed to keep her tongue from getting away from her as she remembered that he was her superior now, pretty much directly.

"Imp, requesting permission to go calm down the crowds outside the blast area.  We don't want any looting, and I'm not very good for this rescue thing.  They seemed to be responding well to my presence earlier."  Might as well make herself 'useful'

Zero picks up the unconscious body of the Nova and examines it. "Hmmmm... Anyone recognize this one? Man, this seems like the second 'phaser' Nova we've dealt with. Do you think this son of a bitch was responsible for this whole mess?"

"Hey Comstock. Should I just port this bastard to quarters myself? Grav and Slider look pretty tired out."

Comstock saluted Pax.  Some part of his brain was infuriated at the field demotion and being put under Impetus' command for a change, but he was already too locked-down for it to affect him.  Instead, he helped Zero dig the unconscious nova out of the rubble.  He did not recognize the man.



He nodded.  Dr. Zero was the most qualified to handling nova prisoners.  "He's all yours.  Watch him carefully.  Call if you need anything.  I don't want him slipping through the walls again.  Have someone check the files ... Utopia might have a whole folder on him, and it'd help to know who he is before he wakes up."

Next piece of business, Comstock tapped his headset.  "Phantasm, this is Comstock: break off your search and come on over here.  I need a hand.  Over."

He looked to Zero again, some degree of expression working its way back into his face.  "She will be upset."  Calling Phantasm off from from rescue was a mistake.  Her armies of conjured minions were an enormous asset for this sort of operation.  "She will not be accepted if we force her to conceal her powers forever.  This only validates people's fears."

As he weighed the merits of recalling Phantasm, he quickly ran down the team roster in his mind.  "Solitaire!" he called across the crater.  "Perform one quick patrol of the area.  When you are convinced that there are no more hostiles, I want you to do what you do best and act freely.  Help out wherever you think you are needed and follow your instincts."  He keyed his headset again.

"Slider and Gravitas, Impetus is now in direct control of this operation.  Help him in putting together an on-site HQ for disaster relief and then start working in shifts to avoid over-exerting your powers.  Over."

Gale was already ahead of things.  That left two.  "Flare, Suzukaze, this is Comstock: report in.  Over."

Finally, he moved onto the last piece of business, his orders to determine the cause of the disaster.  He took a long look around the epicenter of the disaster.  "Zero ... should I take samples from the crater and the area near the crater?  Could you or Gravitas test that to figure out how this happened?"  He'd need cameras, surveying equipment, satellite photos if they were available, radio and op-net signals from around the time of the explosion.  Shadow Walker would have been a real asset.  Comstock experienced brief regret over the fact that he had not formed a closer working relationship with the spook.  Regardless, the sentiment was irrelevant.

Inside the recently arrived command pod Imp sighed.  Either Shelby had had a traumatic childhood which left him socially retarded, or he had been a child of privilege and a star athlete which allowed his social retardation to go unmentioned and uncorrected.  Imp made a mental note to get closer to the man and see what he could do about his overweening arrogance.  The chip on his shoulder was interfering with not only his own growth as a nova, but of the growth of all those exposed to him.  That was a project for later, as for now...
"HQ to T2M, you're doing a great job everybody, keep up the good work.  We've gotten many of the most obvious survivors so don't be disappointed if our rescue rate falls over the next day or so.
I'm breaking the area into a grid, it should be coming up on your H.U.D.s now.  Each grid will be further separated into quadrants, I would like to make our search much more organized, sweep each quadrant, make sure we check everywhere.  I'm calling up a map of the downtown core before the blast, it should tell us where any large buildings' basements and underground parking garages are, those would have a better chance of having survivors.
Ok, done, there should now be the old downtown core with the grid overlayed on it on your HUDs.  Please let me know when you've finished checking each quadrant, and I'll update the grid.
Gale, great idea, go quell looting and riots.  Everybody else, you know what to do, let's get this done.  I'm going to be requisitioning a sleeper car or something for people to recoup in, don't push yourselves too hard, we'll save more lives if we stay clear headed with at least a little bit of juice in the tank.  I'll see what I can do about getting more reinforcements here to help with the search."
Imp signed off and called Frosty.  "Frosty, I'm going to see about getting some more nova reinforcements, if needs be I'll pay them out of my own pocket, but the powers that be know how important it is to show baselines that novas are global citizens, and saving lives is more important than politics."
He then placed a call to South Africa.  "Anna, hi, it's Imp.  I'm looking to hire any and everyone that you have willing and able to assist in search and rescue.  Yeah, Brazil.  It's leveled.  Yes, full pay.  If anybody wants to do any volunteering that'd be great, but if not, they'll get paid.  This could be really good for PR, you know, show the world that Devries isn't just about warfare.  Alright, talk to you soon.  Thanks Anna."
He then phoned Raoul.  "Raoul, Impetus.  Yeah, it has been too long.  Listen, I'm coordinating the rescue efforts here in Brazil.  Yeah, leveled, looks like it was novas, or something.  Right, well, I was wondering if you could arrange a gala or dinner or auction and have the proceeds go to humanitarian aid for survivors here.  You will?  Excellent, thank you my friend, I owe you."
After placing the calls he went back to work pairing people off with others of complimentary talents.  People with superhuman sensory powers got teamed up with people who could shift rubble, disintegrate it or otherwise extricate survivors.  While he was working he sent a private message over to Comstock, "I'm just organizing big man, as far as I'm concerned, you're still in charge."
Hopefully they'd be able to pull everyone who was still alive under the rubble out and give then the medical attention they needed.
He continued fielding calls from people wanting to help out, governments sending in rescue crews, food, water, temporary shelters.  He was also waiting for either Pax or Laragione to contact him and ask him what the hell he was thinking calling in Devries. He was hoping it was the director, he was thoughtful and practical and could be made to see reason without using any of his gifts, not like Pax.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:47, Sat 20 Feb 2010.

Flare manages to tire herself out rapidly healing what injured might benefit from her assistance. Once depleted of quantum, she simply lends an extra pair of hands to moving people and objects to safe locations. She also keeps an eye out for any signs of mob mentality or ill intent.

Suzukaze stops what she is doing, and gets on the com to respond to Comstock.

"What do you want..." Her voice is filled with anger and disgust as she responds. Then remembering Pax is around... "Sir."

"Roger, roger." And Zero tries to blink out of there. He wasn't sure if he should have said something to Comstock about the sudden demotion. Was it Pax' insanity, or blowback from Impetus' mojo? Zero liked Imp, but things like this made the Doctor question a lot.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Combat Teleport Roll: 1 Successes Guess I'll have to do this in steps...
12:25, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,2,6,3,9,3,5. Teleport Roll, 1Meg.

Teleport Roll 2: 3 Successes
12:26, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,6,9,8,4,5,8. Teleport Roll 2, 1Meg.

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