"Well damn.. he likes bringing in trios.. something else to tease him about." Val said with a wide, and wicked, grin. She glanced around as she replayed what Tower had told her when walking into a situation blind. Ask (for advice), Assess and look for an angle that gets you in and out. She figured in a year, or six, he'd let her help out iwht another fight but till he, and she suspected Myth, were  satisfied that she understood how to avoid a fight she was support. Truth be told, she didn't mind, was less wear and tear on her meager supply of rugged Mythwear. Boots in her size were a pain to get.

"Got any flyers or just runners? And can they go up vertical surfaces? I figure I could go in high, spot him, and fly in and out. Reduce the chance of the fight moving out of there before the rest of his team mates show up to put them in shackles." Val said, giving the officer a look that told him she didn't plan on starting with 'pummel the baddie' as her plan for contact. She was more worried about Tower getting ganged up on (again).

The officer looked at Valerie as his look of relief faded before her eyes.

"Ma'am are you new at this? Do you realize how serious a situation has to be before we would try an evacuation on this scale? Grady Memorial Hospital is in the threatened area. People are going to die because we had to move them just so they would have a chance!.."

"..and Tower doesn't have any teammates."

"I don't think you're taking this situation seriously enough. You need to get your head in the game!"

He speaks quickly and earnestly and then runs off to help a little girl up before she can get trampled.

With that roll Val is able to notice that the slide of the officers service pistol is locked open in the "I shot all my bullets and now I'm out" position.

"Okay.. time to break the rules." Val whispered as she jumped into the air and headed into the area. She figured that she needed to get to Tower, find the speedsters and break every damn rule that he and Myth yelled at her over the last few weeks. She looked for clues to the speedsters, recalling some of the things that Tower told her to look for and how to use the environment against them. Most speedsters could be tripped, distracted and were fairly 'squishy'.

She kept high in the air initially to scout out the area. She was looking for four things: Tower and three speedsters.

As Val moved deeper into downtown she spotted a man in an APD uniform hanging halfway out of a sixth floor window. They way he was stuck in the shatterproof window suggested he had arrived there from OUTSIDE rather than in.

He was breathing and moving slightly.

Val had a secret, she was a lot more heroic than she said she was. Tower was breaking down the fundamental issues she had, being the 'kid who shouldn't have lived' then becoming the exaggerated 'juggxrnaught teen' that was bullet proof capable of flying and tossing cars. She wanted to help folks, to repay the debt that she felt she owed to all those folk that kept her alive over the years.

So she couldn't help but divert her search and rescue the man.

"Hey.." She said as she slid in close and eased the man upwards into the hole, away from the multistory drop. "I got you.. in you go, can you talk? How do you feel? Are you okay?"

At close observation it appeared that the officer's body armor had prevented any permanent injury but he was obviously stunned. With Val's help he made it into the building through the hole he had made in the lexan window.

"Th..thanks ma'am."

He knelt inside the hole though it was unclear if he was resting or just unable to stand just yet.

"There's three of them...and they can fly too." He glanced at the hole he had just come through. "Strong as hell. Small arms are completely useless."

"I was trying to signal a Category 4 alert but something is jacking with our comms. Maybe if I get up to the roof I can get a signal out."

"You better hurray Ma'am. If Tower don't get some help soon he done for!"


A quick reminder that in the world of Foundation parahumans are rated in Categories from 0 (Sub-Cats) to 5 (world destroying threats like The Sunkiller). Yeoman would be rated Cat 2, Val and Tower are considered Cat 3, Patriot and Dr. Myth are considered Cat 4 (though some dispute Myth's rating as too high).

"You should stick to the indoors if you're going up there. Skydiving without a chute is better left to folks like me. Call in folks who can fight these guys, odds are I'll need to get Tower to a hospital if hes' been fighting with folks that high up the encounter table." Val said before stepping out into midair and looking for clues for where Tower had been fighting.

Typically that entailed property damage, though he did his best to avoid it but size 84 wides were hard to miss.

The officer seems to agree as he turns and jogs toward the nearby stairwell.

As Val flew deeper into the shadowed valleys of downtown she saw no further immediate signs of parahuman combat. What she did detect were occasional shock waves powerful enough to rattle her nigh-invulnerable teeth.

Val turned over as she came around a building corner, using her slow roll to look for potential attackers, before focusing in the direction of the shockwaves. It gave her time to think thru the rules of combat that Tower had been teaching her.

Never announce yourself unless it helps the fight.
Look for an advantage.

There were others, but when you're going into a three on one fight with the man who is teaching you to fight calling for help, those are the things she focused on. She wished she had stuff like some of the characters in the books she read, like Astra from Wearing the Cape with her 100 pound titanium maul.

"Focus, on finding Tower and getting him clear." Val muttered as she stayed high to look for the fight, see what was going on before making her play. Odds were she'd only get the one shot at helping her friend.

As Val flew high scouting the streets below a courtyard came into view, the courtyard at the Marriott in fact. The most obvious thing in the courtyard was Tower, over twenty feet tall and battered from head to toe. His clothes were a mess.

Three near invisible blurs were swarming around him, one yellow, one red, and one blue, and each time one of them touched tower there was a shockwave like a 500lb bomb and the giant hero was rocked.

Tower rep for defending Atlanta was well deserved however and he was taking the beating lying down. While Val was watching his spit blood to the side, glared through one swollen eye, and smacked the red blur into a nearby building.

Somehow during all of that Tower looked up and saw Val's arrival. What confused her was he didn't seem relieved but instead printed across his enormous battered face was fear and concern, obviously for her.

In her ear she hears,"They got your powers Val, all of them and then some, and there's another one around here...at least one more."

Before she can even process this information Val realizes that she is not alone in the sky.

A man simply appears only a few feet away. Tall, as tall as Val, and well muscled over a lean athletic frame putting her in mind of a champion swimmer...or fighter he had golden hair an his eyes were obscured by glowing energy.

"Hello Valerie Dobson. I am Thane of the Oberon. You are summoned before the Throne. I have come to take you there as you do not know the way."

He seems to await a response as if there wasn't a battle going on nearby.

'Gosh and here I am in a tee shirt and yoga pants.' Valerie thought as she forced herself to look past the obvious 'minder' that had been sent to 'fetch' her and  her mentor/friend who was getting beaten down by three similarly empowered foes.  It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the threesome running down her friend got there.

"I'd be happy to, after I help my friend out. I don't suppose you know anything about those three?" She asked bluntly. She'd read a lot of quotes from a lot of heroes a lot of them came to mind. She was watching three heavily powered men beat her friend down and they had thrown at least one cop into a situation that would have resulted in his death had she not came by.

"Call them off."

"The Trifecta Ultimate are merely performing their duty."

"Not only did this churl refuse to disclose your location but he struck Prince Stormhold so hard he hasn't come down yet."

The glowing man gestured at the sky as he spoke.

"I'm sure that the Prince was the epitome of politness and manners. I'm still a child in the eyes of many on this world, and one doesn't tell just anyone where your students are in any matter." Val said as she looked at the trio. "Three on one.. real fair. They stop now.. or I don't go anywhere willingly. I'm sure the Throne wants me to come along willingly. You want to drag me to it bloody and broken..." She pointed down where her mentor and friend was being beaten on.

"You think he's stubborn? Try me."

"You have been found and if your protector will agree to cease combat there is no reason for the Trifecta Ultimate to continue. Prince Stormhold may be more difficult to convince."

He seemed to think one his words and then looked at her meaningfully.

"You do need to understand that you have no choice but to answer the call of King Dondarian."

"As a wielder of the Power Imperial you are required to answer his call. To do otherwise would forfeit your grant of power. None of us wishes that to occur."

"Perhaps if you inform Lord Tower that you will be accompanying us the battle will cease.

Arrogance was clear in these people, Val thought. Two things kept her from flipping off the King's representative. One had been Dr. Myth's charge weeks earlier to think more on her actions. The second was that Tower had drummed many rules in her head in the meantime. One of which was really simple. Don't start anything you can't finish.

Possible superior wielders of the Power Imperial? Definitely in that category.

Was very tempting though, she though as she flipped over and dove for the ground. Dr. Myth hadn't said much bout the Oberon, simply they were the wielders of the power that had cured her of her myriad conditions and they were a race of warriors. She had thought they were more like the samurai with duty and honor, not so .. well conan like with 'smash any insult in the face...'.

She dropped to hover by Tower announcing herself as she came down.

"I'm Valerie Dobson, stop now and I'll go with you." she yelled as she came to a stop about a yard from the ground. She stayed to one side to not block Tower's view and to give him cover from one side. She figured if the men he was fighting came at her to restrain her, she could go for one of the grabs that Tower had been teaching her to let her mentor get a solid hit on one.

She hoped she was doing the right thing.

Immediately the three streaks of color froze in the air and resolved into masked humanoids each dressed in an armored uniform of their chosen color.

Tower looked as if he were going to continue hostilities for a moment before releasing a long exhale and reducing in size to around seven feet tall. He grabbed the lapels of his jacket and settled it around his shoulders and dusted rubble off of his chest.

Thane drifted down and landed next to Val.

Everyone continued to eye one another for a few pregnant seconds until at last the warrior in red looked up at the sky and spoke from behind his mask with a surprisingly soft voice.

"His highness may be...less agreeable when he returns."

"I will deal with the Prince."

Thane was calm but the three warriors were clearly ill at ease.

Tower moved next to Val but remained facing the others.

"I ain't givin' a shit what His Highness thinks. They ain't brought nobody with 'em that can take you out of here if you don't wanna go."

When he was really really mad Tower's usually erudite accent went to something between a hillbilly and intercity Atlanta. He was clearly past that point now.

"Rule #7: Trust Dr. Myst.. He's as cryptic as a fortune cookie fortune but he sees things clearler than we do. I told you about my experiences with the man, you know I think he'd got a doctorate in cryptic but hes' also the smartest person I've met. HE asked them to help me out." Val shrugged at him as she looked up in the sky. "So, you punched him into orbit.. I so want to see the footage of that punch. So, how big a tool is he?"

She glanced over a the others, taking in the three soldiers and Thane.

"Thane says they can take the power from me, and you know what that will do to me. I'll be dead in months if not sooner. So, I trust Dr 'Fortune Cookie' and you look after my parents till I get back." Her voice dropped to a whisper for just Tower. "If I have to sucker punch him.. what works?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Sat 20 May 2017.

Tower leans in and in a grave whisper says, "Broke my hand."

Val can clearly see the swelling across his knuckles.

A faint whistling sound can be heard in the distance and all of the Oberon except for Thane look skyward in expectation.

Val almost thinks there is a faint smile on Thane's lips as he announces,

"His Highness returns!"

Bare seconds after he has spoken something impacts the street a short distance away causing an explosion, a blinding flash followed by a shower of dust and tiny debris. It is possible that normal humans would have been injured but this crowd is merely soiled.

"That ain't cool. You're  as tough as me but I'm used to breakage remember? ." Val said as she watched the aliens and considered things. Four on one, Thane was clearly the alpha of this set and he looked smug as she heard the whistling sound coming from he sky. The Prince is back and boy I'll bet he's pissed, she thought as she looked up and spotted his return a moment before impact, and a colossal show off too apparently.

In her wheelhouse, only showoffs and arrogant villains in movies did that type of landing when they can do the the 'float down gently' trick she knew everyone here but Tower could pull off. This was to make a point.

She really hoped it wasn't 'I've come to squash Tower like an ant, just let me pull on my shit-kicking boots.' She looked to Thane with a firm gaze.

"No retaliation or you can start round two." She slid to stand by Tower from his injured side. "You going to need a hand punting him back up into orbit?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Sun 21 May 2017.

The dust settled and the form of a man, a very large man even by the standards of those gathered here, began to resolve itself.

He wore a helmet of shining metal and a cape that appears to be made of some sort of animal hide. At his wrists, waist, and boot tops showed a different metal, gold in color. Of matching gold was a mace carried in his right hand. Like a scepter but clearly a weapon and not a simple symbol of status.

His eyes burned with a light that Val knew to be the Power Imperial...a lot of it.

He is clearly in the midst of a serious rage. Nevertheless he speaks rather than strikes.

"I saw that the fighting had ceased and so diverted my attack. You have prevailed through negotiation Laertes?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Mon 25 Mar 2019.