Imp is pensive before they head out.  this would be the first time he'd ever had to put himself on the line for someone else.  He didn't know if he'd be able to jump in between a merc nova and civilians, he thought he could, but he was totally green, totally untesed.  Still, this was important, this would help to define himself as being totally separate from who he was before.  That and he'd never been to Africa.

Quentin is relatively happy with the plan. Not only will they be largely non-combat, but his most recently developed ability would undoubtedly be invaluable to the effort when moving civilians out of harm's way. He only hoped that it would be enough. "I assume we'll have some sort of interpreter on site to help us with giving directions? I speak a lot of languages, but I don't think any of them are African dialects."

Solitaire leans on a nearby wall, paying attention to Frostburns briefing, and idly chewing a stick of bubble gum in a slightly bored sort of way. "Aw, so we dont get to scrap with anybody? Bummer." She shrugs and blows a bubble. "Ah well. Be good to be doing something though. We won't let you down Frosty."

Phantasm has little to prep.  She makes sure her suit is in a streamlined form, begins reading a few books on the languages used in the area if the base has them, and waits patiently until it's time to leave.  Though she is nervous, she is more than ready to get this started instead of it just weighing on her mind constantly.

Dillon wore his eufiber uniform, packed nothing save the equipment necessary for the job, and spent the remaining hours quizzing Phantasm and Gravitas on the region in question.  His questions were generally military related: weather, terrain, population, political borders, etc.  "I just want to make sure we're not being sent into another Mogadishu, you know?  No ambushes, angry crowds, watching our asses in the street, getting shot at by the people we're trying to help, that crap."

Idly, while he waited, Dillon stretched out 'the metal', forming it into claws, armor, hammers, and every other small shape he could manage.  It was getting familiar.  Almost reflexive.  Dillon guessed that was a good thing, but on the other hand he was too scared of asking Sam what the hell happened to him to treat his own progress as completely innocent.  "Uh ... Prodigal, what'dya think's up with the snake ... thing ... on Sam."  Prodigal kept reading his bible, self-absorbed.  He'd been quiet lately.  Not really a help.

He did have one thing left to do: he'd asked for a gun with rubber bullets, so he'd have a familiar piece of equipment when peacekeeping and so he'd have something less lethal than his punches when heavy.  No word back on that yet.  Might be an image thing ... Utopia couldn't have their Novas seen with weapons or war or something.  He wasn't sure who he'd talk to about that, but 17:00 was coming around pretty fast.

Sam had been sitting quietly and listening to Frostburn's briefing on the mission, but Zeus was paying attention to... other things. "My goodnessssss," he whispered in Sam's ear "that's Miss Frossssstburn. Mmmmm, wouldn't mind getting my coils aro-" Zeus stops abruptly and whips around in Comstocks direction. "Snake thing?!" He shouts. "I asssssssure you I am no mear thing! I am-"

Sam rolls his eyes. "Cool it, Zeus. And pay attention, to the right things."

Zeus shot another angry hiss at Dillon, then settled down to actaully listen to what Frostburn was saying.

The Doctor walks up to Dillon, whistling "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena." Zero is wearing knee high boots, wrist long black gloves, and jungle fatigues. It has big motor cycle goggles on top of it's mask and a long, camo scarf around it's neck.

"Something seems to be troubling you, Mr. Stock. What's up?"

Frostburn will give you access to any weapons you like before deployment.  Comstock trained with weapons earlier in the week, but was not officially issued one until deployment.

)))

The mission briefing is... Brief.  Mostly it goes over information on rules of engagement, how to approach conflict situations, what to do with the media on site, and various other repeats of things you've heard already over the course of the last week, in class between drills. More will come after transport.  Frostburn spares a worried look at Sam during his outburst, but seems otherwise calm and collected.

"St a y  close  to  m ee...  Do not     stray  or you  will be    l o s t."

Shadow Walker concentrates as his form flickers in and out of the early evening shadows.  A rift of some sort oozes out from a nearby shadow and mars the air with its presence.  A free standing shadow, a hole in the light.

"   W  alk  with me."

He moves through his portal, and Frostburn is the first to go through after him.  When you walk through, you are in a world of black and white.  The objects around you flicker as though only partially there, and the angles are somehow... wrong.

Shadow walker speaks again, and this time his voice comes through perfectly, though with a hollow quality (sound is strangely muted, yet echoes, in this place).
"This should be a short trip.  Do not leave my presence, and do not interact with anything here.  Simply walk where I lead you."

At that, he begins walking.  The landscape is a disturbing copy of the base, with just a few minor details off.  As he walks, he takes turns seemingly at random, not even leaving the base.  But as he goes, the details distort further, until you don't recognize the base you are on.  Then there eventually is no base, though it is hard to tell when exactly the base was gone, and only a barren plane of black, white, and grey appeared.

The trip through the base was eerie, and people constantly felt eyes on them, and saw glimpses of things following them, right at the edge of their peripheral vision.  Those with the ability to percieve hidden observers were even more on edge, as though a hand were lingering only centimeters from their shoulder, about to touch them.  The trip into the wasteland was worse, far worse.

Everyone begins to see things in the distance that look like ghostly images of people, those they have known in the past, others merely strangers (though those with enhanced memory will note that even the strangers are people they briefly met, on a bus or a subway, or in the grocery store).  They grow closer the further you walk, and appear to be playing out little dramas.  People long dead live here, and they call to you occasionally, urging you to join you, or cursing your name.  Some that walk here are exactly like you would expect them to be, as you remember them being.  Others are greatly changed, with different attitudes and styles of clothing, horrible wounds or more beautiful features.

The landscape changes, and and water appears on your right, a vast black ocean without end.  As you walk further, you see yourself at the edge of the water.  These doppelgangers stare at you as you pass, sometimes beckoning, sometimes waving you away with a look of horror (at themselves or you is unclear), and sometimes merely cocking an eyebrow or smiling, as if to ask whether you like what you see... And what you see are versions of yourself, some only slightly different, others leading wholly different lives.  Sam the successful businessman and politician, exchanging pleasantries with potential backers. Solitaire a corpse laying in a coffin her dear friend alive and looking over her with sadness.  Phantasm chained in a basement and wearing a manic grin.  Comstock standing on a hill littered with human skulls.  Zero holding a baby and kissing his wife (without a mask, others may not even recognize his face).  Frostburn behind a desk as a social worker, stamping 'denied' on a welfare application.  Prodigal leading his congregation from the battlefield as they wage jihad.  Harley, bonded to his eufiber, a monster living only to feed on the blood of the guilty, holding the corpses of inmates at a prison.  Gravitas, alone and empowered, eyes seeing into infinity but blind to your passage.  Life after life, what might have been, what might still be, flash before you...

---

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

Anyone looking for anything in particular?  If so, you can make whatever roll you feel most appropriate and you might get a flash of insight... or horror.

---

The ocean begins to recede, and eventually you are in the wasteland again, surrounded by ephemeral images out your past, and... perhaps your future?  Soon structures are visible once more, and Shadow Walker begins his strange dance of twists and turns, with each change in course leading to more dense construction.  You are in a village now walking up to a BRIGHT light, a tear in the fabric of this world.  Real light, with colors.  Shadow Walker guides you through.

And you emerge in a village.  It is difficult to tell how long you've been in that other place, but your watches say no time has passed. [Private to Gravitas: your time sense didn't work in the other place, but you can tell when you get through that roughly 5 seconds have passed.]

Shadow Walker gives you a moment to adjust.  As you calm down, and re-orient yourselves, it may occur to some of you that you never saw any other selves belonging to your guide, or in fact anyone talking to him...

"Well," says Quentin, trying to break the silence and recover from that ordeal, "that was creepy as hell. Next time, can we go my way? It is, I think, less distressing."

He looks around, marking the village's structures and any notable land marks. Unconsciously he starts to put this information through a mental atlas, despite his lack of familiarity with Africa in general. If any villagers are about, and particularly if they appear to be frightened by the sudden appearance of nearly a dozen novas, Quentin does what he can to ease the shock of their arrival, sheerly through his bearing and appearance. Lacking eufiber, he has opted for utilitarian clothing. He's donned fatigues for the most part, lacking any indication of unit or rank, durable clothes that will also be useful for their pockets, clip-points and other such features. [Private to GM: To clarify, if there are any baselines around that seem to be particularly apprehensive about the arrival of the Utopians, he'll drop Sooth and Awe to make it seem like this is a grand entrance that heralds great things rather than the scary arrival of a handful of real-life demons or whatever.]

Turning to Frostburn he raises the most immediate question that comes to mind, "So, where are we now?" He can vaguely guess at their absolute position based on his gravitic sense of the relative position of the sun and moon compared to where they left, but that didn't tell him the name of the village or anything about where the local political boundaries were.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:34, Tue 16 June 2009.

"Heh, awesome." Solitaire comments of their surroundings. Her hands are casually in her pockets, and she appears unconcerned with the warped reality around her. In point of fact, she seemed rather amused by it. It took a lot more than that to spook...

Alex...

It was rather disconcerting to be staring down at her old self in a coffin. But no, that was wrong. It had been a closed casket, they'd never found enough of her to bury after the fire. And she hadn't been crying either. It had hurt too much to cry, but then, she had been the quiet one, Alexia probably would have.

Solitaire looked up from her corpse to Alex's face, swollen with grief. It hurt physically to see her like that. Alex... Don't..... I'm right here." She reached a hand out to touch her, comfort her, then stopped.

Do Not Touch.

She ripped her gaze away, but turned straight into another vision. She saw herself kick in a door to a hotel room. The woman inside turned in shock and surprise, but Solitaire was already on top of her. The woman slid sideways into nothing, almost, but shadow-Solitaire grabbed her by the throat and threw her into a wall, planting a foot on her chest as she sat there, stunned. "Nothing personal," And with a smile, she reaches into her jacket for the enormous handgun concealed there, and puts a .50 caliber round though the woman's head. There was a pin on the collar of shadow-Solitaire's jacket, it reminded her of Project Utopia's logo, but was different.

The scene changed again, She and Alexia were sitting in their apartment, making course schedules and cracking jokes the way they always used to. Then it switched again. Her shadow-self stared at a beautiful caped man with adoration in her eyes. Again. She sat meditating in the heart of a star, glowing with energy.

The last scene was the worst though. It was Alex, who looked older, half her face was scarred with burn marks. She just stared at Solitaire, a knowing smirk playing about her lips. It was the look she'd always had after a particularly good prank.

It was too much, Solitaire screwed her eyes shut and followed.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Think Balalaika from Black Lagoon, if you seen that, or just google her.

---

-----

"Ok, I think that's the last time I bum a ride off you Shadow Walker. No offense, but I think I'll fly back when were done here. She looks up at the sun for a moment, then concentrates and her skin develops a nice tan, it wouldn't do to get sunburned the first day, now would it. She looked a bit shaken by the episode, but was clearly trying not to let it show.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:21, Wed 17 June 2009.

Sam had been looking at Frostburn, not staring exactly, more like an idle gaze. Zeus was uncharacterisically silent; he was giving Dillon the stink-eye. "How dare he call me a thing." he hissed quietly. "Sssssamuel, I want revenge." Sam gave no answer. "Oh don't tell me you ssssstill staring at Miss Frosssstbu-" Zeus saw that his host wasn't staring at Frostburn anymore, but at one of the visions.

Sam's pace had slowed to a crawl. "Muh... Mom?" He saw the way his mother was before he was born. "I'd only ever seen pictures... but it's almost like I could..." He reaches out to her.

Zeus saw they were lagging behind they others "SAMUEL! It's not real. Now come on, I know you don't want to be ssssstuck here."

The shaken lad spared one last look at his mother's face before he rushed to the others. He didn't really care about what was going on around him, not right now. His eufiber clothing's color changed to match his mood: From green and brown camo, to a very stark black.

"Whaa-?" Dillon grimaced.  "Sorry ... uh ... sorry ... Zoots ..."  Dumbfounded, he muttered surreptitiously, "Guess you got super-hearing too, huh."



"Whoa, look who ... damn it's like out of an old movie.  Lookin' sharp, doc."  He had to admit there was something cool about the look.  "I'm just ... hangin' here.  Hoping Frosty will requisition me some hardware.  Riot loads.  Something less ... damaging, you know?"  It didn't take a mentalist to recognize Dillon's uncomfortable momentary reverie.  Like clockwork, he sucked down an energy drink to keep from talking more.  It went down like water.

Later, when he finally got the okay, he grabbed as many magazines of training rounds as he could and stuffed them into a bag, then picked out an M4 carbine he could sling across his back.  A pair of flash grenades didn't hurt either.



The mode of transit was bizarre.  After warp holes, phantom teddy, and mach 3 flight this was the weirdest.  As he followed Shadow Walker, he focused on the valve in his brain and tried to muscle it shut just in case.

Maybe it was a lack of creativity or a need to follow orders, but Comstock tried to ignore the assorted images of the team.  He hated the manic Phantasm in particular.  His own face was inescapable, though.  He wasn't a man: he was an elite.  There it was, one possibility out of millions.  Comstock the elite served no one but himself, slaughtered without mercy, enjoyed power and respect ... it had a perverse allure.  Comstock turned away fast; he just didn't want to consider how he might get so used to killing.

--

Stepping out on the other side, Comstock gave Shadow Walker a nod of respect.  "Orders?"  However twisted or wrong Shadow Walker was, Comstock didn't think he had any room to criticize.  Simultaneously he looked over the rest of the team to make sure no one was too shaken up in transit.  No berserking on the first day in Africa.

This was Africa ... right?

Imp didn't know what was more disturbing, the images that the others faced or the ones he didn't.  The Shadow World through which they passed seemed to hold horrors and wonders of potential futures that they might never know, but all he saw was himself as he related to his teammates.  The visions were always focused on them, while he was fuzzy, vague, clearly a bit player. As they emerged into the world of the real he blinked, then shook himself.  No sense having the cobwebs of what might be chain oneself to one course of action.  Imp checked his watch, then toggled it so that it showed his GPS coordinates.  "Well, we're where and when we should be, I think," Imp said.  "And Sol, yeah, next time we fly, or thumb a ride on a tramp freighter or sea turtle or something."  Imp starts to move around, looking for a HQ, or, failing that, someone in command.  "Let's see how many people we can save today, Team Awesome."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Thu 18 June 2009.

Phantasm doesn't react to the things she sees, though she is rather disturbed by them.  The basement was the worst, because the details were wrong.  It was a different basement.  She catalogued everything she could about the scene, and then moved on.  The other images were just... weird.  Her arm in arm with Imp, walking down the red carpet of some prestigious awards thingy.  Her, on a throne, talking to a court made of her creations, and asking a monstrous teddy what should be done with the real life visitor that had come to beg her aid.  Her in a barren wasteland, wearing a more youthful face, with a sky that has two moons.

She was happy when they were finally out.  As interesting as it was, it was too much this close to their mission.  She just wanted to focus on that, not on futures that might be.

----

Once they step out, Phantasm takes a look around, committing everything to memory and scanning the area for pertinent details.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Thu 18 June 2009.

The village that you've walked into is bustling, though the people are obviously a bit nervous due to both your entrance, and the T2M people that got here before you.  T2M has equipment spread out around the perimeter.  Reporters have portable generators sitting beside jeeps, with camera equipment plugged in.  Caestus Pax is floating in the air above the village like some sort of petty god, overseeing everything as the rest of his people set up barricades for the villagers to hide in.

When he sees you've come through the rift, he drifts over and begins talking to the group as a whole.
"Nice to see you've finally gotten here.  I hope you got all of your relaxing out of the way, because it's going to be hard work from here on out.  The building crew could use some help setting up shelters and your flyers should join ours in perimeter flybys.  Frostburn... comms could use you once you get the kiddos settled in."
At that, he drifts back up to the sky, not waiting for replies.

---

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

There actually was supposed to be one for Imp in there.  I miss counted.  Though it does have interesting implications for him not being there... is it because his identity dissolves into what other people want from him? Because the real guy behind the smile is still that nerdy guy, and that guy died? Some weird power interaction?  I'll let you expand out on that, since it's actually more interesting that way than just another possible future.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:31, Thu 18 June 2009.

_{"god I hate that fucker."}

"Ok, you 'kiddos' can run off and play after I brief you on the situation.

We are on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.  DRC has decided they want part of Uganda, and has stated they will be moving their forces in to occupy the area first thing Monday morning.  Since we haven't seen troops, they are either in transit now, or are being transported under nova power.  Or they're just sending in their nova hired guns and national novas.  Either way, Utopia has decided it's not ok to use novas as weapons of war, and the U.N. has decided that the unprovoked assault on the DRC is unacceptable.  Though of course the DRC has threatened the area around them with novas of their own, and is supposedly "protecting" their southern border with Zamia right now, which is where our other team is currently.  The whole situation is a chain of dominoes, and they're still falling, so we are stuck responding as things occur.

Your job is simple: protect the people.  There are shelters under construction, and plans for evac if the troops overrun the area, but if you can improve things, do it.  If you think you can improvise something better, run it by us, then do it.  Utopia doesn't seem to have a whole lot in the way of contingency plans by the way; they expect to win this straight away.  I'm not so confident, and would suggest the brains among you start planning triage for our operation if everything goes to shit.

Here's your headsets, turn them on.  Now, kiddos, you can go play in the dirt and fly around like good little novas.  Good luck, and if you need me, call."

Sam still wasn't doing very well. He took the headset silently and fiddled with it for a few seconds, then wandered off to explore the village. Zeus was getting annoyed. "Oh don't tell me you're going to ssssssulk this entire mission!"

"Well excuse me you little bastard! But I don't have the luxury of being a soul-less monster! Zeus was surprised by Sam's sharp tonuge. "I... never even got anything to remember her by."

Zeus thought it would be best to leave Sam alone for a little while. But then he had an idea. "Excuse me Sssssssamuel, but your mother was from the Sssssssioux tribe, correct?"

"Yeah. What of it?" Zeus went straight to work zapping Sam's eufiber all over. "Hey! What the hell?!"

"Shut up and hold sssssstill."

It took a while for Sam to see what Zeus was doing, but when he did he felt much better. "Wow... thanks Zeus. This... this is-"

When Zeus had finally finished, he dismissed Sam's thanks. "Hmph. YOUR emotionssssss were interfering with MY judgement, and since I'm the only one with any senssssssse in this operation, I need to be able think clearly."

Zeus weaved his host's eufiber suit into a beautiful Sioux buckskin. It fit much better than his other clothing, and breathed very well. Sam was unphased by his friend's callousness. "Alright Zeus," he said with a smile. "whatever you need to tell yourself to feel evil." Feeling refreshed, Samuel moved with more purpose, searching for anyone who may need help with anything.

"Thank you! I've been trying for a little more pinash. If I'm going to be a target, I might as well look good doing it. Though I think I've forgotten somethings." Zero snaps it's fingers and an officer's cap weaves itself out of the Eufiber making it's glove. "There we go. Ha-cha, cha, cha."



Zero leans in a bit and speaks softly to Comstock, trying to keep it private. "You know, I once hit a... criminal a little too hard, once. I know it can... be a little unnerving. I've learned to control my strength since then." Zero paused. "I wanted to ask about this back at training, but the investigation eat into too much of my time. I've read the injury reports back when we where fighting '2-D Man.' If you'd like, I'd love to spar with you in our down time, and show you some of the trick's I've learned to hold back from breaking people without slowing down the offense. And perhaps you could show me that impressive voice trick of yours? What do you think?"

When Frostburn gives Z access to weapons, it ops for a sniper riffle, extra rounds, three handguns it puts on it's person, and takes a note from Comstock and grabs some flash grenades (and regular ones).
_______________________________________________________________________________

In the Walker's realm...

A young boy walks from the shadows and follows by Zero's side, staring at it with a warm smile. "Papa. You've come." Zero does not acknowledge him in the slightest. After several paces, the boy stops and watching the group leave, adds "I'll be waiting for you."

Zero looks back and asks "Are you really dead?"

"Yes..." says the boy, softly.

"Then rest..." The Doctor turns around and walks on. Zero's stiffened body language seems suggest it is chocking back on other words.
________________________________________________________________________________

Further on, in the place of possibilities and futures, the group can pass a large courtyard that looks oddly familiar. It seems to be a heavily modified National Mall. The Washington monument is missing a good 30 ft off it's top, and the Lincoln Memorial looks bombed out, though Lincoln's statue is still mostly intact.

Soldiers in black uniforms march in goosestep in single file across the Mall, and large, robot like sentries stand outside the buildings, scanning the skies and earth. It looks like something from a post apocalyptic sci-fi movie.

A twelve foot tall figure strides into the middle of the marching forces. It is a mechanical, humanoid thing, and it is impossible to tell if it is advanced robotic armor worn by a man or robot. It's one sensing eye gleams purple, and behind it hovers, weightlessly, a metal cross. A wiry, mustached older man in a torn up business suite is crucified to it, and the cross silently follows the metal giant. "Ahhhhh... the Capital. I'm thinking of moving it to New York. It is the Empire state, after all. And I do hate swamps. What do you think?" asks the giant in a deep, seductive baritone. The older man does not answer, and barley has the strength to look up. "You know, you never did answer my question about what you meant by sacrifice...

"I... sense a temporal ripple. What are you doing?" The old man focuses briefly.
"Just... showing someone something they should see."
"Oh?" asks the giant, quizzically. "Who?"
"You."

The Doctor has a hard time turning away, but forces itself to move on.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:29, Thu 18 June 2009.

"Thanks mommy," Imp smirks and throws a cheeky wink at Frostburn.  "Alright everybody, the first thing these people need is clean water, then food, then shelter, in that order.  I think I'm going to be best utilized building stuff, I'm not as strong as Sol or Comstock, but I can knock together a building in no time flat.  Also, if needs be I can take care of the press.  I don't know if Caesus Pax knows if I can fly, but I think I'll be more valuable on the ground, at least for now."  After their brief huddle is finished Imp will throw himself into putting together shelters, setting up generators, digging wells/privies and anything else that he can help with.
He is little more than a blur of action, setting up tents in a matter of moments, knocking together more permanent structures in minutes.  He takes a break every so often to talk with the press, or to slow down enough so that he can be photographed.  He also spends some time comforting any kids who seem to be without parental supervision, anything he can do to help he does.  In the back of his mind he is still wondering why he was always shown in relation to others, why they weren't shown in relation to himself.  he was doing what he was doing for himself, wasn't he?  It wasn't out of some slavish desire to be all they wanted him to be, or all he thought they wanted him to be...  He will continue to work and do PR until something happens.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
re rydi: yeah, that's what I thought happened, it can be hard to keep track of everybody.  and I do like the idea of Imp's future being totally dependant on those around him, at this stage in his development he isn't so much defining himself as conforming himself to the ideals of those around him, both his seductive enhancements do this.

---

"Ha, ha! I love you, Frostburn. We'll make you proud. Alright, let's show Pax' boys how proper shelters are made." Zero will assist it's teammates in erecting shelters, focusing on strategically better places to put them. It tries to spot the best places for an attack to come from. "I must admit, I have a bad feeling about all this. I think the attack will come without warning. They have a cleaver idea..." The Doctor had been practicing it's meditations throughout it's sleep time durring the training week, and had learned a new way to open it's senses to the Quantum fields around it. With minimal effort, the Doctor opens it's perceptions to the fundamental forces of the universe, and looks to see if there are any hidden Novas in their midst while they work, or powers in use.

The Doctor is also curious what it's teammates Quantum fields look like with this new vision, especially Comstock and Samuel, who have been showing some very odds side effects of Quantum development.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Zero uses Quantum Attunment, and keeps it on most of the time, studying all the Novas around it and looking for any odd or hidden Quantum disturbances.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Thu 18 June 2009.

Solitaire blows a bubble with her gum as Pax leaves, eying his departing form critically. "You know, I might like him more if he didn't seem to regard me as a 5 year old." The bubble burst, and she began working on another. "Guess I'm Eyes then. I'll take a look around." Then adds more quietly, "Kiddo, really? Could understand 'rookie' or something, but kiddo? Really" Solitaire continues to grumble a little indignantly as she kicks off and makes an easy loop around the camp, spiraling outward and making periodic reports that range from "All clear." to comments about cloud formations in a rather bored voice, or otherwise humming 'Johnny I hardly knew yah' She also uses this as a opportunity to scope out the other nova's on the scene, and wondering if it might really get bad enough to need both T2M and T2M² in the same place. It seemed like overkill, but made you wonder what the bosses were expecting.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:11, Thu 18 June 2009.

Dillon nodded.  "Yeah ... yeah sure man I'm down for that.  Thanks."  He managed a warm smile.  "Just so the voice doesn't make you ... uh ... react ... again."



Dillon drew the metal out, became Comstock, and shouted his affirmation.  First order of business was a survey of the scene and an understanding of where things needed to be built.  Then Comstock would go about digging whatever holes anyone needed or carry heavy loads.  Barricades were his priority; he understood them and felt comfortable around them.  Barricades always served a clear purpose.  The others could make logistics systems or water pumps, but Comstock was going to help make a fortress just as ordered.

He couldn't help but notice just how ... boring Africa smelled.  A whole lot of nothing.

Quentin called to mind anything he'd read about the area as he went to work constructing shelters and setting up equipment. Unfortunately, he'd been pre-occupied and hadn't done the research he probably should have before coming here. Tactics were not, unfortunately, his strong suit. He'd gained some familiarity with different military-esque procedures over the last week, but he was still ultimately an academic. He did start to devote some of his grey matter towards the topic of logistics, the best ways to evacuate the village in a hurry if needed and which of their fortifications were most likely to withstand assault by infantry, armor, and novas.

He took the chance to observe the main T2M force in action, how they interacted, what sort of synergy they were able to make between their abilities, and what sorts of novel uses they put their powers to.

Zeus found the sight of his host taking orders from the baselines somewhat degrading. "I can't believe you're letting them order you around like thisssssss."

Sam responded with a laugh. "I'm not taking orders from them buddy, I'd just rather not build a shelter that'll fall at the slightest breeze. And the villagers seem to know what they're doing."

Zeus cringed at Sam's use of 'buddy'. "Ugh. Very well." He passes a chilling gaze over them. "But I ccccccertainly hope they know who is in charge around here."

"The main T2M force?"

"Shut up."

"HA!"

Sam tried to find any generators or other electrical equipment that may have needed a kickstart. That went well enough, but he did fry a couple of them.