It's some time after the adventure that ended in the defeat of the mysterious madman behind the underground invasion, and the Citizen Patrol has been praised worldwide as heroes!  Notoriety has it's ups and downs.  Awards ceremonies and TV interviews have filled up Mittens' schedule, and anyone else in the team willing to make an appearance, leaving her to have to delegate a lot of stuff - such as actual heroism.  Chapters of the Citizen Patrol are popping up in cities across the globe, and it's getting rather overwhelming keeping track of just the regional leaders, but the uniform seems to have caught on and a Citizen Patrol member would be easily recognizable anywhere in the world... if not for the popularity for non members to buy them.  Same way you wouldn't be able to identify a baseball player by the jersey for all the fans who wear 'em.  Of course along with all the fans come the critics and the occasional fistfight will break out between them the same way they will over sports teams.

It's a windy afternoon with some clouds rumbling on the horizon and Mittens is finally escaping the latest televised award ceremony interview thing.

"Whew!  That took a bit longer than I thought.  I'm famished!  I'm thinking Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger."

Emerald pulls up on her motor scooter and looks up with goggled eyes at Mittens. She smiles brightly, pulls her goggles up to rest on her forehead and says, "Had a feeling you'd be hungry. So I brought this scooter to save some time."

"Whee!" Mittens cheers, "Scooter!  Fun!  Thank you, Emerald!  Can I drive?  I promise I'll drive safe."

Either way she'll hop on.  "Whee!"

Once the pair park, she tweets her location and an open invitation for anyone who wants to join.  Outside the food place a street musician tips his hat to the ladies.  "I call this number, 'The Citizen Patrol,'" he says before starting to play an up-beat, happy tune.

  Joe would never have expected a crossing guard vest, regardless of its color scheme would ever become popular.  Well, except for joggers maybe.  On benefit at least is he can cram the thing into a jacket pocket while trying to do less patroley things like already enjoying the simple things in life.  Such as soda and french fries.

  It's not until the two fuzzy ladies show up that he notices Mittens's destination declaration.  Hey, sometimes you want to avoid touchscreens when your hands are greasy.

Emmy would let Mittens drive due to the promise of driving safe.

Once in the restaraunt, Emerald gives Joe a bright smile and a wave before heading over to where he's sitting. "What a nice coincidence. It's a small world, after all."

She has a seat and plays with her feet, her toes flaying. "Mittens and I had some TV interview things to do today, but that's done now. So what have you been up to?"

"Love it!" Mittens tells the street performer cheerfully before dropping a $2 bill in his upturned top hat.  She follows Emmy in and joins the Joe ambush.  Any cover he may have had by hiding his vest is now blown.  Given that their fuzzy faces stand out in a crowd, the ladies were turning heads long before they wound up on the cover of Time Magazine, but these days anyone they're with is worthy of notice.  But the patrons of the burger place aren't crowding them for autographs just yet.

"Yo, Joe," Mitts greets while scribbling on her tablet PC, "Can I have a fry to hold me over?"

She holds up her improvised sign which reads, "FAMISHED!  Will autograph for food!"

A few take notice and chuckle.

  "Hi Mittens, Emerald.  Yeah sometimes the world feels town size at most.  Retroactive have a seat."  Well, that's close enough to manners right?  Joe punks down some fries on a napkin for their spoksewoman of a LOLcat.  "Just been having a quiet day.  Aside from getting somebody's goldfish out of a tree."

Emeralds blinks. "We've been through weirder, sure, but HOW did their goldfish wind up in a tree?" Emerald looks at the sign. "You know, Mittens, you COULD just order something to drink to hold you over. That takes no time. And don't those interviews provide you with something to eat before and after? If not, something to drink during? Or were the interviewers jerks who had no concern for your stomach?"

"Thanks, Joe!" Mittens says with a cheerful smile before noming on the fries.

"They had a water cooler and coffee maker," she answers Emmy, "No catering or caviar this time.  Honestly it's my own fault for forgetting my sammich.  But yeah...  how does a goldfish wind up stuck in a tree?"

   "Because sometimes kids do dumb things?  Tree climbing with a recent plastic bag pet shop purchase isn't the dumbest thing I've heard related to pets I guess.  Though at least they realized it probably wasn't a good idea to try to climb back down and hold a bag of water at the same time."

  Kids like castles, castles have moats, but not even built yet tree houses are not a good place to hope for a moat full gators, let alone goldfish.

Emerald orders some food and gets to the idle chatter with Mittens and Joe.

Mittens gets the following texts:
 Angel saying she's at a meeting.
 Liberty saying she's at school.
 Timothius saying he's at school.

Though it shouldn't be too long before the two kids get off school.

Meanwhile, Emmy does what she can to hurry the food order, including going to get Mittens' drink for her.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Tue 16 Oct 2012.

"Heh..." Mittens chuckles, "Sounds like something I mighta done as a kid.  Though I think I'd remember if a famous superhero rescued my pet."

To Emmey she bows repeatedly.  "Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Whattapal!  Whattapal!  Whattapal!  What a pal!"

One of the customers opens the exit door and an unusually strong wind outside gusts through.  He holds his arm up to shield his face and presses through, so the wind isn't strong enough to keep a grown man from his car at least.

  Joe fortunately, has the reflexes to catch the napkins before they are scattered to the far corners of the eating establishment.  This is where in real life he would assume New England Weather, but then he hasn't fought three out of four of the usual elements in real life.

  "If there is an air elemental out there to round out the set, I swear I'm finishing my fries first."

Emerald eyes the wind and then looks at Joe. She peaks out the window, tail swishing behind her. "If there IS an air elemental, did we ever figure out what we'd do against such a thing?"

Mittens is assuming New England weather for a more personal reason.  "I'm not getting any blips on my adventure radar in a three block radius that would amount to more than just a skinned knee," she says, pulling up the news on her tablet to search for weather reports, "So if there is an air elemental, it's both very powerful and more than three blocks away."

Emerald sees an ordinary windy day outside the window.

"I did some research into that.  Seems ancient cultures can't agree on how to fight elementals.  At best they mostly agree that fighting wind with wind is likely to fail."

Mits takes a break to gulp down most of the drink Emmy got her.

  "Well, it must be boring weather then that can't even ruin an umbrella if Mitten's says so.  As for dealing with it, probably would require getting lucky with it's mechanical weak point like the other ones so far."  Handful of fries is go, omnomnom.

  "Or finding a crate full of Plus One Swords or something, I dunno, I'm barely qualified as a lifeguard, without any of the certifications even they have."  Could be worse Joe, you could be a He-Man Extra.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:46, Tue 23 Oct 2012.

Emmy looks up at Mittens. "Weather like this makes me think of some different clothes I have at home, oddly enough... well I wish I could help, but I haven't had any brilliant ideas."

Emerald ear-perks. "Plus one swords?" she giggles then tilts her head to lean it in her head with a half-lidded smile at Joe. "You play D&D?"

About then, Mittens gets a text from Liberty:
"School's over. Tim and I are heading your way."

Mittens chuckles at Joe's suggestion of using magical swords.  She nods and says, "The first two had a set of magic looking bracers that the police recovered and locked up in evidence control.  That's all I know about 'em outside the conjecture posted on UFO sightings websites.  But if I were to take a guess, whomever opened up that tunnel near the park for the army of orc-looking invaders has a pair of those mystery bracers and is still at large.  My next guess is that Joe is right about having to target the bracers and that an air elemental type baddie would be nigh invulnerable otherwise."

Mits answers the texts with "Yay!  Looking forward to seeing you!  Watch for tornadoes...  it's SUPER windy!"

"Lib and Timothius on their way."

She sends a yellow alert to the rest of the Citizen Patrol, warning them of the possible air elemental.

  "Hardly any more nerdy than my love of Customizable robot and space ship video games.  Though more reading material does tend to be involved."  Joe only has the abilities of a super powered Track And Field athlete, he's missing some of the other parts of that stereotype.

  Joe also finishes his fries while they are still warm, progress!

Emerald nods. "The bracers are the weakness. Let's hope that's the same for any other future possible elemental enemies we fight."

She then looks at Joe. "We should play sometime... maybe a LAN party."

Shortly, Lib and Tim show up, hugging themselves as if feeling the need to hold their clothes on. They then head over to the others, hair frazzled.

Mittens gives Emerald and Joe a smiley nod.  "I'd love to join if you set anything up.  Maybe we could play Citizen Patrol Ultimate Combat once it's released.  I hear good things about its gameplay from the sneak peek playtests.  The graphics and music are of course unfinished but should turn out well given the big names working on 'em."

She giggles at the entrance of the frazzled children and rushes to glomb her lil bro.  "So cute!  Heya, Timo, howzit goin?  Me Joe and Emmy were just..."

She's interrupted by a guy with sunglasses dressed like a stereotypical director / producer followed by a camera man.  The two burst through the door and the guy with the sunglasses demands, "What are you doing here?!  There's some kind of wind monster headed for my set!  I have a van outside, so let's get..."

The interruption is interrupted by Mittens' red phone ringing.  She holds up a finger to hush the ranting filmmaker as she answers the phone.  "Mittens here.  Uh-huh.  OK.  Yes, actually, he's right here with me.  Oh.  Ouch.  On our way!"

She hangs up and looks at Timothius.  "Officer down.  EMTs can't evac him.  We'll need your healing, bro.  We can go in Mr. Playton's van."

She glances at Emmy.  "Prolly too windy for the scooter.  Sorry.  Ride with?"

  "I know we're starting to get a track record and all.  But am I the only one who thinks the 'help little old ladies across the street' organization being the first thing people think of for dealing with giant killer monsters is crazy?"

  "Kid with the air catching anatomy in the van first."  If this was a publicity stunt he was going to sidearm that camera into the director's head.

Timothius is already on his way to the van.

Emerald gives a worried grin. "I'm as light as my scooter. You really think I'm going to be much help?" Hers is the kind of scooter that weighs about 30 pounds.

Liberty says, "If it looks like it's too dangerous when we get there, just find an escape. But let's go see first."

Emerald nods and follows after Tim. Liberty is right behind her.

"If you believe the hype about us, it's surprising we're not expected to single-handedly solve all the world's problems overnight," Mittens answers Joe as she piles into the van with the others.

The interior has two rows of seats along the walls facing each other.  Speaking of publicity, the director at least recognizes an opportunity and once everyone is situated tells the cameraman, "May as well film the heroes while I drive us there.  Maybe we can use it in the extras section of the DVD release."

Meanwhile Mittens continues her thought.  "I've done my best to make public exactly what we can or cannot do and debunk all the myths, but apparently the myths persist."

To Emmy she points out, "You also present a smaller profile, so catch less wind.  My guess is I'll have just as much trouble as you."

The van rocks a little from another gust of wind.

  A good singing voice helping survive a war with aliens probably would be the best we could hope for there."

  It's been years since he saw Twister.  But if he see's a cow drift by the front of their van through the air he's going home.

Joe wouldn't be alone. Nobody would be any use if everyone was blown around helplessly.

The two children seem fascinated with being on the inside of a van with rows of seats. Though the van rocking seems to worry Timothius and Emerald.

Liberty says, "Mittens? What if..." she glances at the camera crew. Then says, "Never mind. I'll save that question for AFTER the fight."

Emerald looks at the camera men and says, "Since we're not there yet, ask us what you want." her tail swishes.

Mits leans over to Liberty ans whispers in her ear, "Now you've got me curious.  What were you gunna ask?"

"You all seem so fearless," the cameraman says, "Is there anything that scares you?"

"Talking in front of a group of people," Mittens answers, "Or in front of a running camera.  Friends getting hurt.  Rejection, scary movies, riding in a van toward a living tornado...  Hardly fearless."

"Well if you all are scared, why do you do what you do?  Why not wait for the National Guard to show up or something?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Sun 18 Nov 2012.

  "I'm scared I'll eventually do something so stupid it kills me instead of merely hospitalizing me.  Some days having a functioning conscience is regretful...  Yet somehow I still hang up on most charity telemarketers."

 Joe decides not to bring up how unhelpful the SWAT team was last time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:27, Sun 18 Nov 2012.

Emerald, still looking nervous, says, "I seem fearless? Geez... I'd hate to see what scared looks like. I'm pretty scared right now. But as far as why I'm going? Because I have to. Why do terrified little kids go up on stage to give a speech they don't wanna give? Because there's no choice. I'm scared of the same things normal people are. I just choose to help when and where I can."

Timothius says, "I'm pretty scared... I'll be staying behind cover, but I'm going because someone might need healing. And I can give that to people. My ability to fly is null and void in this situation. If anything, I'm a little worried my wings will catch some wind and yank me around."

Liberty looks around. Then says, "Well unless I get blown around or whatever, try to stay behind me. I can take punishment." She starts pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "You know, what Joe says is true. A conscience is not good for your health in times like this. But I'll take bad health over guilt any day of the week. And I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone in this van when I say that. And yes, I realize it seems like it's easy for ME to say, but believe me... I CAN get hurt. I almost suffocated in that exploding car. I'm expecting to get blinded or something while fighting in the wind. As for what I'm scared of? I'm scared of regret."

The cameraman asks relatively predictable questions on the trip there.  How do you plan to defeat the monster?  What was that about a pinned police officer?  Etc.  Mits dons her Citizen Patrol vest on the way there.  The sounds of traffic outside eventually gives way to the whine of sirens, the report of gunfire, and the rapping of debris pelting the van.  The van comes to a stop and the director looks over his shoulder.  "Well here we are.  I don't see where the monster is, but it's gotta be close."

"Alrighty then!" Mits answers, "Out I go!"

She opens the back doors of the rocking van and piles out.  Outside the van looks like a war zone because on top of the stuff blown about by the wind, apparently the set of the movie was intended to look like a fight between humans and aliens.  Several smashed vehicles are strewn about, scorch marks pepper the asphalt, smoke is billowing from a few barricades, etc.

"Over there!" Mittens shouts over the noise of the wind, pointing to one of the overturned cars, "I see a crate full of soldier helmets!  Those of us who's heads aren't harder than helmets should wear 'em!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:37, Tue 20 Nov 2012.

  "Hoping they have the same obvious weak spot as the other ones, mostly."  Joe follows out of the Van, and comments  "I don't think the costume armor is rated for protection, but then even cheap plastic is better than nothing."

The trio head for the overturned car. Liberty yells, "I'm grabbing a helmet too, if there's enough helmets to go around, thank you! Just because a brick to the head won't kill me doesn't mean it's pleasant!"

The prop helmets were made out of construction helmets so while they're not bullet proof, they do offer some protection.  Which is a good thing considering the occasional bit of debris that comes crashing down from above.  A Humvee rounds the corner down at the end of the block and screeches to a halt.  The soldiers and civilians riding in the back are armed with machine guns and they open fire in the direction they came from.

After a few seconds, the driver shouts, "Cease fire!" with his megaphone and the shooting stops.  He then drives up the road past the overturned car the Citizen Patrol is hiding behind, stopping between them and the movie maker's van.

"Hey look!" one of the soldiers shouts, pointing, "It's those super-mutants!"

One of the civilians whacks him on the back of his helmet!  "That's super-HEROES, jerk!"

He turns ans smiles at the group.  "Good thing you're here!  Looks like emergency services can't get to where they need to be.  If anyone can help 'em out, it's you.  Hey!  We should give them this truck!"

The soldiers and civilians glance at each other then at the producer who grits his teeth and winces, muttering something about the insurance company killing him.  "Do they really need it?"

The driver jumps out and tosses the keys at Joe.  "Officer trapped in his car and possibly bleeding to death I think counts.  Turn right at the end of the block.  The car will be half way down the next block on the left.  Watch for fallen power lines."

"Please drive safely," the producer says.

"Alright you pansy Hollywood fairies!" the civilian shouts at everyone in the hummer, "Vacate and make room for the real heroes!"

They pile out as ordered, leaving their guns in the truck.

"Give Emmy the megaphone, please," Mittens asks before hopping on and grabbing a machine gun.  "Lemme guess.  Blanks?"

"Yup."

"Ex-Military?"

"Sgt. Johnson, U.S. Army retired.  An honor to meet you."

"Aw, shucks.  Thanks!  Likewise!"

Johnson starts giving Mits a crash course in using a machine gun and the driver offers Emerald the megaphone.

"It's blowin' harder than a opree lady 'n Sydney!" Cade shouts to his Uncle Liam as he looks outside.

Their apartment building, in the downtown area, had recently become apart of some scene in a big budget movie, and Cade was enjoying the first-hand experience. Until recently when the wind picked up.

Strong winds were pelting the window with debris, making visibility near impossible. "Imma go down and scope 'round." Cade says as he races out the door, down the four flights of stairs, and then outside.

Uncle Liam barely has a chance to mutter, "Be careful," before the apartment door swings shut.

The winds immediately swept his hair back, making it easier for Cade to dawn his bandanna and his sunglasses. A large smile crosses his face, he lets out a whoop of excitement and takes off running. He turns a corner and jumps. With the strong winds his gliding ability is enhanced tenfold. More than he's used to. Which isn't a good thing as he quickly approaches a van and Humvee.

"Wurtch It!" Cade screams, bracing his arms in front of his face.

---

Sorry for the long post (in terms of time passed). But I figured Cade needed to be introduced, and to do so required "several minutes" to pass.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:18, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

  Helmets.  They hurt less than a brick to the durable skull.  "A jaws of life would be worth ten of me from the sound of it." Key catch, moving towards the truck.

 "So, if these are loaded with blanks... Why did you bother shooting them, and why give them to us?  Weather conditions and bleeding officers not enough of a show?"

  At Cade's scream and incoming collision, Joe wondered if it was a bad sign that his initial was to be glad he wasn't in the front seat yet.  At least he'd be oka-Damnit conscience, why you gotta be starting problems?

  It was probably the end for a certain windshield, but a Joe between Cade and car would probably make things hurt less for the Australian.

Liberty tries to rush to be between Joe and Cade, but *probably* won't make it in time.

Timothius is thinking "Why is that guy flying at us when the wind isn't throwing me around yet?" and thus, doesn't dare unfold his wings. He takes cover behind Mittens, figuring she'll protect him if glass shards start flying. And then he can heal whoever needs it.

Emerald also takes cover, though she goes to be behind the jeep.

If it were anyone else, high speed flight followed by sudden stop would probably end in catastrophic injury for both rescuer and rescued.  But as it turns out, Joe's inertia-defying abilities are handy for catching falling people unharmed - even if they're falling sideways.  THUMP!

"Nice catch!" the retired Sgt. says, "The sound of gunfire apparently repels the thing more often than not."

"Was wondering that too..." Mittens comments, "I guess it makes some sense.  The last several elemental enemies were thinking beings.  Maybe this one has a memory of 'gunfire bad!'"

She waves hi at the Aussie guy.  "Hello, Mr. Featherfall!  Dangerous place for floaty types.  So unless you can turn that off and are willing to go toe to toe with a living tornado and/or rescue a police officer trapped by downed power lines, I strongly urge you to exit stage right with these fine thespians."

Meanwhile the movie makers are piling into the van.  With the permission of the producer, the cameraman hands the camera over to Sgt. Johnson and gives him a crash course in film-making.  "I set it to automatic.  Just point ant shoot."

Johnson laughs.  "I think I can handle 'point and shoot!'  Thanks."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Sat 15 Dec 2012.

An adventure?! The thought of joining a group of known Supers was pure jubilation. It never even crossed his mind that 1) they knew nothing about him, or 2) his name. But Cade doesn't care about semantics at this point, he's just, magically, befriended a group of people he's been watching on the news for the past several weeks.

He jumps at the chance, "Sure!" he exclaims. He whoops around and does a little Gangnam Style dance to celebrate.

  Joe was so glad that worked out better than planned.  His optimism had been limited to 'the only casualty would be a windshield, and shaking bits of it out of my shirt'.  So merely a dented hood was just spectacular.

   He eyes Cade's Fat Asian Dance.  "...Eh, it's a better fad than the Macarena."   Or was it?!... Yeah, it was.  Maybe Emerald an Halima would do the subway pole swing for some ridiculous contrast.

  Joe finally heads for the truck driver's seat.  "I promise not to drive over any ramps unless there is literally no other course of action."

Just because Joe landed OK doesn't mean Timothius won't immediately rush over to Joe and Cade and check on them. Cade dances, demonstrating he's fine. Joe hops into the driver's seat, also demonstrating fine-ness. So Timothius quietly gets in a seat and buckles in.

Liberty and Emerald hop in. Emerald giggles and looks towards Cade. "Nice t'meetchya, Psy. We'll have to do some more dancing together later on."

Liberty says, "Hey, Mittens... I think we just met another you. As a guy. With an Australian accent."

At first Mittens giggled at the silly dance and was compelled to dance along but after hearing Emerald she stops, straightens out, and clears her throat.  "Name's Mittens.  Leader of the Citizen Patrol.  Hop on and tell us your name and abilities.  But again...  Only if you'll be more help than hindrance.  There's at least one person's life at stake here.  Who if he winds up dead because the rest of use were distracted by your doing something foolish, his blood will be partly on your hands."

Those who hop on the back with Mits and the Sgt. won't have access to seat belts, but they'll have access to machine guns and ammo.  Johnson will hand the camera over to Mits to give a quick demo on how to use the guns.

"And just because these are blanks doesn't excuse you forming bad habits like aiming at non-hostiles.  Do that and I'll kick your ass."

"Never even crossed my mind, Sir."

"G'day. Name's Cade Cairns," the Aussie boy speaks as he gets into the vehicle. "Can glide, have good eyes, and claws. And recently found out I'm like the Doc. Dolittle that is. But I prefer to think I'm more like Irwin or Dundee." He accepts the machine gun with a HUGE smile.

[EDIT: A 15 year old with a machine gun. No matter where you're from, you know this isn't a good thing]
This message was last edited by the player at 06:52, Sun 16 Dec 2012.

 "so, nothing like Mittens then, right." Joe comments, once everyone is in he'll drive onwards to suicide Citizens Heroics and stuff.

  "Seriously, why the guns that can't shoot anything?"

Liberty frowns. "Hey! Mittens is a hero! She wouldn't do that!"

Emerald says, "Calm down, Liberty. He doesn't know Mittens personally. If he didn't take precautions, he wouldn't be a responsible man." Emerald then looks back at Johnson. "Liberty has a protective personality."

Timothius says, "Ironically... we're the ones with super powers, but if Sgt Johnson decided to, he could probably kick our butts."

Emerald then looks at Cade. "Dunno what you know about us, but I'm Emerald, this is Mittens, Liberty, Timothius and Joe. I can speak any language and have some decent senses."

Liberty hrms? Then says, "I'm tough. Bullets only leave bruises. And I'm strong too."

Timothius says, "I can heal people by touching them. I normally can fly, but as you showed, Cade, these winds aren't good for that..."

The road comes to a T at the end, beyond which is a rusty chain-link fence that blocks access to a run-down warehouse and the bay beyond.  Destruction is everywhere, some of it caused by the wind, some of it caused by age, some cosmetic put there by the movie set crew.  Like the smouldering space ship sticking out of an old abandoned apartment building.  To the right the wind damage is the worst, and as Johnson described, about half way down the block there is an emergency crew setting up a perimeter around the trapped police car... again.  Looks like the barricades were blown about recently.

At the far end of the block, a twister appears from around the corner!  No sooner does it show itself than the winds pick up intensely and the rescue workers dive for cover!

"OPEN FIRE!" Johnson orders!

He and Mittens shoot at the tornado, bright flashes exploding from the barrels!  The tornado changes direction and disappears around the corner again.

"Wow..." Mittens says, "Can you get us around those power lines to the rescue workers, please, Joe?"

---

For visual reference:
http://www.rreini.com/dixiehwy-mi/jefferson-dixie.JPG
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/...169_6f4e0d0690_z.jpg
The orientation in those pictures is all wrong, so don't take them as gospel.

Cade looks at the "shiny new toy" like a five year old looks at presents on Christmas.

Guns. Superheroes. WOOHOO! this was all to much. His heart races with excitement.

Cade’s heart wasn’t the only thing racing, because at that very moment a van came around a corner with squeaking tires. The van has ‘Coleman’s workshop’ written on the side with big letters, though slightly scratched up from the debris. As the passenger seat’s door is kicked open it flies off because of the heavy wind. “gaw… I told you to be careful miss.” Synch sobbingly exclaims to the tall redhead, knowing it’s his dad’s van and he will have to pay for repairs. “Hey, Don’t blame me, blame mother nature.” Sarah shouts while exiting the van.

As she nearly loses her balance when the wind catches her, Sarah is rather glad she left her favorite jacket in the car as Synch suggested. She isn’t wearing the citizens patrol vest nor a helmet, or protection of any kind except for the usual tank top, baggy trousers and an eye patch with a smiley print.  “nice breeze, any idea what’s causing it?” Sarah shouts while walking towards Mittens. “And text me next time there’s some kinda emergency fuzzy one, ya know I hate missing a fun suicide mission. Any way sticky powers can help?” Sarah shouts with a smug grin. At first glance she sees that the small ones will have a hard time with this wind.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:35, Fri 21 Dec 2012.

  "Well, I stand corrected about the guns then.  At least I'm wrong in a convenient way for once."

  As Joe maneuvers the car around the sparking safety hazard, he comments "Being able to get beaten unconscious without suffering brain damage has it's appeal I guess, when you consider the alternative."

  A wild (but Sober) Sarah appears!  Joe rolls down the window and comments "Well, not being blown onto our asses, or keeping live power lines from whipping around in the wind sound good, yes. Hi Sarah.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:38, Thu 27 Dec 2012.

Liberty pouts a little as she removes her helmet, "Downside of being the tough one in the group: It's my job to get hurt so that nobody else does." she then offers the helmet to Sarah. "We could REALLY use your help here, Sarah. You're the best we got to combat something that sends everything flying. With your sticky powers, maybe we can be made immune to the whims of this monster... and I volunteer to be the first to try that out. If the wind pulling me against your stickiness is painful for me, I'll let you guys know to NOT do that so that your limbs don't get pulled from their sockets."

Emerald says, "Good thinking, Liberty, but once you are stuck, what are you going to do to stop the monster?"

Liberty says, "Gimme something to destroy the bracers and I'll use it?"

Timothius says, "Can't we try having Emerald talk peace with it first? Like the last two times?"

"That's what this megaphone's for, kiddo!" Emerald says with a bright smile, patting the megaphone.

Johnson chuckles at Cade's enthusiasm and comments, "You've got guts, kid.  When you see the recruiters at your highschool, go Army."

"Oh, hi, Sarah!" Mittens cheers, "Synch too!  Good to see you!  The wind is from that seems to be a wind monster that's apparently afraid of the sound of gunfire..."

No sooner does she say that than she's interrupted by the sound of distant gunfire.  It doesn't sound like a machine gun.  More like a dozen or so police officers firing their pistols repeatedly.  The sound is coming from the direction that the tornado monster went.

"Nuts!  Bet that's going to drive it right back to us!"

Several rescue workers approach one of them carrying a jaws of life machine.  "You're those superheroes, right?  The power company says they hit the off switch for this area, but that power line is still sparking.  If any of you can safely get close enough to use this and free the trapped officer, I can give you a quick demo on how to use it."

"Safely is a relative term today, I think."

Cade looks at Johnson and gives him the thumbs up.

When the rescue workers come around the corner with the jaws of life, Cade is reminded of the crocs back home. Which then reminds him of Steve Irwin. S mall tear comes to his eye and he says some silent words of reflection.

"Krikie mates, we better get goin'."

Synch greets back with an awkward smile by raising his hand. He figures it might be safer for him to stay in the van for the moment, seeing there is little he can do against a tornado with his synching powers, nor can he take bricks to the head that well. All in all he would be more in the way then of much use, but he will stick close by for if they do need his help for something.

Sarah nods at Mittens “sounds like we got ourselves a nice mess again fuzzy leader” She then accepts the helmet Liberty offers her and puts it on. “Thanks kid, I guess that’ll come in handy. Not sure if gluing ya to the ground is a good idea but it’s worth a shot, just gimme a sign when ya wanna try.”

Turning her head, the tall redhead looks at Joe with a smirk and says: “ So you’re volunteering to get passed the sparkly wires of death as long as I sticky em to the ground? Consider it done.”  As soon as she says it Sarah focuses her power to make small sticky spots where the wires hit the ground.

  "I'm sorry to say that I have the most experience with the city's electrical system, but I am planning on avoiding it this time around."  Joe wouldn't have much luck freeing trapped people if he was shocked unconscious again, after all.

  "Thanks for lowering my odds of electrocution Sarah, if I'm real lucky I won't have to drag people past the wires either."  That said, Joe approaches the car full o civilians carrying the safety approved sharp object.

Liberty says, "...I would have been perfect for that job if not for needing to be the experimental tornado distraction. Be careful, Joe!" she snatches a gun and hurries off to be in the path of the tornado before yelling, "Alright, Sarah! Glue my feet to the ground and the gun to my hands!"

She then stands firm, hoping she'll be able to single-handedly handle this latest monster.

Meanwhile, Emerald gets ready with the megaphone. When the tornado shows up, she'll yell out, "We are the citizen's patrol! My name is Emerald. We are here to HELP people! How can we help?"

Timothius just makes sure he's with Mittens.

The live power line stops dancing about when Sarah glues it to the ground, but there's always a danger of the wind either pushing someone into it or breaking it free.  Joe must look responsible and capable enough to the rescue workers because they give a quick demo of the jaws of life and hand it over to him.  "Simple as an electric screwdriver.  Just two directions: open and close.  Real trick is wedging it in.  Might take several tries."

As Mittens guessed, the twister reappears from around the corner, kicking up the wind again.  The rescue workers immediately dive for cover.  Johnson and Mittens open fire, but a tree branch breaks free and spirals right for them!  Johnson ducks for cover beside the Humvee, and Mits grabs Timothius' arm to drag him to cover as well.  CRASH!  The branch shatters the windshield!  The twister continues on it's course toward the bay, the wind pelting the heroes with mostly harmless debris.

Emerald hears what everyone else hears.  Some describe the strange noise of a twister as a cross between the roar of a lion, the rumble of a freight train, and an unnerving sound like a squealing pig.  But with her unique ability to understand language, she knows that somewhere inside all the chaotic noise is the heartbreaking sound of a child screaming for help in utter terror drowned out by dozens of other fiery voices that together sound just like part of the wind to everyone else.  Voices shouting things like "Daddy!"  "They're shooting guns at me!"  "I can't see!"  "Make it stop!" all at once.

Having never been in a heroic situation Cade holds back to see what the others do, and then help out where needed.

  A lifetime of practice in a combination of deadpan and disapprovingly incredulous facial expressions leaves Joe at least occasionally looking like he knows what he's doing.

  At least on the way to the trapped people, Joe manages not to lose his footing and land on live wires.  He shouts over the wind just in case, "Get ready to get out fast if your ride doesn't take more holes being pried open into it well."

  Jaws of life are go!  No shark theme though.

Emerald wiggles her ears and then looks towards the others. She scurries to Mittens. "The tornado is a small child... I'm going to keep trying to get through to whoever it is. Meanwhile, stop shooting."

She puts the megaphone to her mouth. "Liberty! Cease fire!"

Liberty looks confused, but shrugs and stops shooting.

Emerald sings at the tornado through the megaphone,

"Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby

Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why, can't I?"

She figures if anything will get through, it will be the sound of a comforting song.

"Wish I could do as you ask!" the trapped police officer shouts in reply to Joe, "My legs are pinned!  Probably broken too!  Don't suppose un-pinning 'em will make me bleed out, do ya?"

CLANK!  RIIIIP!  The jaws pry open the crumpled door on the first try!  But then the wind catches it and rips it off it's weakened hinges!  Sure enough, the entire dash and steering wheel have been smushed down onto the officer's lap!  Blood soaks his pants legs.

"What?!" Mits shouts in disbelief at Emerald's assertion that the tornado is a child.  She and Johnson drop their weapons.

Emmy's song works!  She can hear the voices start saying things like, "I hear music!"  "I know that song!"  "Is that Mommy?"  "Mommy still loves me!"  "I knew he was lying!"  "Mommy!  Help me!"

The tornado begins moving in Emerald's direction!  The wind and debris are getting more and more severe!

"Shield Emmy from the flying junk, Lib!  Try and lure it away from us, Emerald!  Toward the bay is probably best!  They'll need help getting over the fence in the way of the shore, Johnson!  Timothius!  Let's go help that officer!  Cade!  Try and free the Hummer from the tree limb!  Watch for broken glass!"

She arm-arounds Timothius to help him get to the squad car without being blown over.

After having glued Liberty’s feet to the floor on her sign, Sarah had tried to keep her eye on both the power lines as on Liberty. With just her one eye and combining it with dodging some debris from time to time the tall redhead was rather distracted to notice what else was going on. This got interrupted when Emerald started singing ‘over the rainbow’. Sarah couldn’t help but give her a surprised look, even more so when it seemed to actually work.

She snaps out of it when Mittens divides the orders. “Right, erm… Lib, get ready to be unglued” She shouts before freeing Liberty from the ground, then the red giant moves towards Johnson “gonna need some help with that, old man? “

  "I'll be honest, I'm barely qualified for CPR and the Heimlich.  But you probably won't bleed to death before we can reach people who can give you your knees back."  You know, if nobody gets decapitated by a car door in the meantime.

  "I could leave you in the car if you really like, but that would be silly at best."  That said, Joe will get to work freeing the guy unless they protest to such a thing.

"Drive?! Me?! I, I," he stutters, "I don' even have a permi yet."

Liberty does as instructed and shields Emerald on their way to the jeep. Once Emmy is in the jeep, Liberty immediately starts rushing for Joe and the officer.

Timothius obviously sticks with Mittens, so him going where he's asked is a given. Heck, he would have been on his way already if not for being afraid of being pulled away by the winds.

Emerald gets into the passenger side of the jeep and says to Cade, "No time like the present to learn, right?" She looks and sees the jeep is manual transmission; the more complicated style of vehicle to teach. "Oh fudge..." She stands on Cade's lap. She turns to face Cade and speaks clearly and concisely. Nevermind she's a talking fox. "There's three pedals. The leftmost pedal is the break. You use that to stop. The middle pedal is the shift. The right pedal is the gas. Keep your left foot touching the middle pedal and your right foot touching the right pedal, but don't press them unless I tell you. When I say "left foot", you'll press the middle pedal, where your left foot is. When I say "right foot", you'll press the right pedal. When I say "break", you'll move your left foot to the break and press it. So all you need to worry about is "Right foot, left foot, break". Got all that?"

Emerald peeks her head out the door window and yells to the tornado. "Sweetheart, would you like to play the name game? I'll start! Mommy Mommy bo-bommy, banana-fanna fo-fommy, me-my-mo mommy! Mommy! ...now you try with your name!" she then turns to face forward again, listening carefully to hear the child's name.

For as much as people dislike getting that song stuck to their head, at least it's so memorable that anyone you meet who doesn't know it, should catch on quickly. And in this case, it was a way of asking the child's name without sounding like "mommy doesn't know your name".

---

Cade makes me think of the scene in Taken 2 where the daughter has to learn to stunt drive when she doesn't even have a license yet.

"Nonono," the officer answers Joe nervously, "Guess I was hoping that Hummer could push my squad car someplace safer so the pros could take over.  But don't worry about qualifications.  You got here without getting knocked over, which is more than I can say for the EMT's"

With the twister getting closer, the debris pelting the car sounds more and more like a hailstorm.

"Sure thing, young lady," Johnson answers Sarah then turns to Mittens, "No offense, miss, but you're a lightweight and just about as likely to be blown over as your brother."

"I drive a stick!" Mittens shouts back to Emmy.  "Johnson and Sarah will get you to Joe."

She's already in tears for having to part with him so soon after the insanity the other day.  She runs over to the Hummer.  "Lemme drive, I have an idea.  Emmy, tell the kid to take off the bracers.  Assuming there are any.  Cade....  Let's hope I don't have to ask you to try plan B."

If given the wheel, she'll drive toward a post of the fence blocking the way to the bay to knock it over!

The voice inside the tornado tries to sing along with Emerald.  "Casey Casey bo-b-b... I c-can't!"  "It hurts too much!"  "I'm scared!"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Wed 23 Jan 2013.

  "You wanted somebody to RAM you to safety, with your legs like that?"  Joe gets to work unpinning the unnamed officer's legs (while glancing at their badge).  "I'll be generous and blame the blood loss for coming up with that winner.  Tim might be able to grow your legs back if they got snapped off at the knees from that kind of stunt, but I'd rather not have to find out."

  What's a bedside manner?

Cade slides out of the driver's seat, a bit sad. But when you're feet don't quit reach the pedals without sitting so close the the steering wheel that any closer you'd be the steering wheel, it's probably for the best.

"What's your plan then?" he asks Mittens.

Emerald lets Mittens take over driving and yells out to the tornado, "It's OK, sweety! Listen, Casey; There's something on your wrists... try to take them off." she really couldn't think of a clever way to go about it, but figured she didn't need to in this case anyway.

Liberty makes it up to Joe. Hair whipping from the wind, Liberty yells over all the noise, "You got a pair of extra hands now, Joe! Tell me how I can help!"

The officer's badge has the name O'Riley written on it.  He chuckles darkly and stares at his blood-soaked legs.  "Well when you put it that way it doesn't sound like such a good idea.  So strange to be the helpless victim for a change.  You should hear some of the crazy stuff people say to me."

When Timothius reaches the squad car with Liberty his emergency room experience kicks in and he instantly recognizes this as a 'maim rather than kill' situation.  There's a good chance that his healing power will stop the bleeding and save the officer's life, but at the same time there's no way to set any broken leg bones right, so they'll fuse in their current crippling crooked configuration.  There's a chance corrective surgery could fix that, but there's also a chance that even after several expensive and painful procedures the damage will be irreversible.  The only other option is to try and somehow apply an improvised tourniquet on each leg, but getting anything around his legs looks near impossible for as tightly as the crushed dashboard is pinning him to the seat, but there might be a way.

Mittens slides the seat as far forward as it'll go and barely reaches the pedals to throw the truck into gear.  Before long she's headed right for the fence.  CRASH!  The fence falls before the military SUV.  "Plan B is you floating up the center of the tornado to try and smash the bracers with a tire iron.  Hopefully without getting mortally wounded or breaking the kid's arm in the process.  Then use your floaty powers to carry yourself and the kid back down to safety."

"I can't!" Casey answers, "They're stuck!  "He tricked me!"  "He lied!"  "The bracelets are making it worse!"

The tornado continues to follow the Humvee toward the shore, pitching fence bits in all directions!

  "Thanks Liberty, help take his better looking end while I keep his legs from dragging on the ground in a bit."  Joe didn't care to count how many safety rules they were probably breaking.  But some days proper procedure was just going to get somebody killed more slowly at best.

  Speaking of which, he (possibly) stops standing there doing nothing and actually frees the cops legs this time, with more reason to now that Tim is here to make bleeding out between the time it takes to free them and reach Tim kind of a non issue.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:46, Fri 15 Feb 2013.

"Float?!" Cade says in surprise to Mitten's choice tactic. "I can glide ... can I help?" he says pleadingly.

Timothius is quick to point out to the cop, "The moment I touch you, you'll start to heal." he puts on gloves. "So let me set your legs right. I've learned this from real doctors, so please trust me here. It's going to hurt. A lot."

Liberty says, "What about something for him to bite down on?"

Timothius says, "He could use your finger. If somehow that actually hurts you, just touch me and your finger will heal."

Liberty gets to helping Joe with pulling the guy out, of course. Once that's done, Timothius immediately gets to working on the cop's lower half, making sure to set things in place before preparing to pull off his gloves. Liberty provides her finger if the cop accepts biting on a little girl's finger. Once he's SURE the cop is ready for it, Timothius would touch the cop to get him healing.

Meanwhile, Emerald calls out to Mittens. "He can't get the bracers off! Once again, it's up to us, Mittens!" She thinks back to if any of the bracers looked like they had locks that could be picked. Of course, with all the wind blowing around, that likely isn't an option anyway.

With a destroyed dashboard pinning the officer's legs so tighly, the combined strength of Joe and Liberty is just enough to forcibly pull the officer free, but as soon as they begin to try he screams in agony.  Should they keep pulling anyway, they'll find out the reason for the screaming as the sharp edges of the wrecked dash cut into his legs and strip the flesh from his bones from his knees to his feet.  On the bright side, if they allow him to be thus shredded, Timothius will see exactly where the break is: just below the knees.

The cop isn't going to bite anyone's finger regardless of what the team decides to.

"Nuts!" Mits answers Emmy.

She turns to Cade.  "Float.  Glide.  Either one is way more likely to succeed than hoping a cat always lands on her feet or I'd do this myself.  But even then what I'm suggesting is extremely dangerous.  Jumping into that tornado could kill you.  If you're not absolutely certain you want to risk it we'll try and distract it while I think up a different plan."

The group is quickly running out of land as they approach the bay, so Mittens takes a sharp right turn.  Meanwhile the voices in the tornado are starting to panic.

"Mommy?"  "I can't hear her!"  "She's dead!"  "I killed her!"  "No!  Mommy!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:08, Tue 05 Mar 2013.

  "Well, eer, that sucks."  How eloquent, Joe.  Despite the life threatening circumstances for many here, he's starting to find this all more depressing than worrying.  (The sounds of children convinced they just killed their Mommy on the literal wind can do that).

  If they actually have time,  Joe would use the spreader aspect of the jaws of life to make the metal shards not so pressed in why is Joe so terrible at useing this thing?!... Oh, right.  Because there's only so much a set of glorified pliers can do for a guy sandwiched between wreckage.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:53, Thu 07 Mar 2013.

Liberty squeaks when she sees the peeling flesh. "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" Liberty says panicked! "What'll we do now?!"

Timothius winces, but says, "I don't know how good my power is, so I couldn't say if I'd be able to re-attach his legs..."

Liberty yells, "Stupid car! Leggo of him!" and start yanking away at the sharp edges they discovered, trying to remove them entirely. Thankfully, her power keeps her from being cut, but who knows how much leverage and strength these pieces of car need to be removed.

Meanwhile, Emerald calls out, "Calm down, Casey! Mommy's still here! I was just talking to a friend! I'm looking for a way to help! Just focus on my voice!"

She proceeds to sing again.

Rodney stashed his tenspeed bike under a different car, hoping he could find it later.  He saw the trouble the others were getting into.  His power wasn't spectacular, not to mention it tended to leave him naked and vulnerable to most predators of the world... but here it was.

He pulled off his shirt and let the howling wind have it.  The sandals went too as he hopped up to slide across another abandoned vehicle.  Out of his pocket he pulled three vials inside which was an almost black soil sample, glancing at Liberty, after all it was seeing her that made him stop here to try and help in the first place.

"Do you need some kind of specialty tools?  What's going on?  You know there's a tornado... if it hits the water we're looking at a hurricane. Where's everyone else?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:33, Fri 15 Mar 2013.

Because it would take more force than what is needed to lift a cement truck to unbend the collapsed dash, professional rescuers might have switched tools to something that could remove the seat from its rails so they could pull it out from under the victim and free him that way.  Or maybe pull some over-sized jacks out of their tool bag and jack up the dash.  But between the lack of tools, downed power line, and torrent of debris from the raging tornado, the Citizen's Patrol doesn't have the luxury of a gentler rescue.  On the bright side, the officer will live thanks to their efforts.

Now that the tornado has been diverted to the shore line, sand, mud, water, driftwood, and other sorts of stuff replaces the sorts of debris that was flying around before.  But at least the winds near the crushed squad car have died down enough that the rescuers are able to bring down a stretcher without being knocked over.

Meanwhile Sgt. Johnson approaches Rodney and offers him a helmet.

"I've seen your face on TV.  You're one of those mutant super-heroes, aren't you?"

He points at Sarah.  "Well that one is holding down the power line to keep it from whipping around in the wind."

He points at Timothius, Joe, and Liberty.  "Those three are extracting an officer from a wrecked squad car."

He then points at the Humvee on the shore being chased by a mini tornado.  (Mini because instead of reaching all the way into the sky, it's about 10 stories tall.)  "And the rest are keeping the tornado with a kid trapped inside busy."

About then, several armored vehicles show up at the far end of the street, two blocks away, some of them armed with rocket launchers, others with large machine gun turrets.

"Shoot!  Looks like they're fixin' to light up the mutant tornado, and they don't know there's a kid inside it!"

WHAM!  A big piece of debris slams into Sarah, knocking her off her feet!  The power line breaks loose from her "glue" and starts whipping around!

"No way I can get to 'em fast enough with my bum knee to warn 'em.  I'll help the glue girl.  If you want to help, get down there and tell them to hold their fire!"

Meanwhile, Mittens' Hummer gets stuck in the mud and sand of the shore!

"Abandon ship!" she suggests, "Get outta here, Cade!"

Cade takes off for the emergency vehicles.  Mittens rummages around and finds a tire iron then sheathes int into her belt.  "To smash the bracers if needed."

She then uses her pocket knife to cut out some seat stuffing.  "Here's hoping this'll work.  Emmy, try and have the kid come to the truck!  I'll try and use this to sop up some oil to help slip the bracers off!"

She then pops the hood and works on getting some oil.  Meanwhile the kid cries, "Mommy's alive!" and continues to follow Emmy's voice.  "I'm wet!"  "It's cold!"  "Something is scratching me!"  "What smells like fish?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:49, Sun 17 Mar 2013.

Rodney's soil samples went back into pockets as he nodded to the police officer, all but one, which went into his teeth so he could use his hands to assist climbing and vaulting over things.  His first object was to get their attention as he closed, getting above the street level and running/hopping across the top of some vehicles he waved his arms above his head as he approached the heavy firepower.

"I can't decide if we're the worst rescue team ever, best available, or both."  Probably both.

During all the carnage, he takes note of the military showing up. "...I think we may need to decide soon if we need to do this fast and brutal, if we want to get him out of here before things start exploding around us."   Until then, Joe still helps Liberty in trying to get the Cop out with as little horrific flesh rending as possible.

Liberty says, "I am going to punch whoever made these elementals. So hard." She looks up at Joe. "We don't have a choice. It's either free him and put him in lots of pain initially, or don't free him and he dies. There's a loose wire out there. I'm the only one who can handle it. Sorry, Joe."

She runs off towards the wire. "I'm getting the wire!" Liberty yells to whoever can hear her. She will, of course, grab the wire the moment she gets to it.

Meanwhile, Timothius is on stand-by for the moment the cop is free of the car.

Emerald says, "We're going to the beach, honey! I'm hoping the water will help! Just keep following my voice!" she starts singing a Beach Boys tune about playing in the sun.

It takes guts to charge an artillary line full of nervous and heavily armed soldiers, but on the bright side, none of them so much as points a rifle at Rodney as he approaches.  "Civilian!" one shouts, "Clear the area!  You're in the line of fire!"

The rescuers who showed up with the stretcher are quick to help Joe get the victim onto said stretcher.  "If you carry the other end I can focus on first aid," one says to Joe before looking over to Timothius.  "I remember you!  You're that miracle healer!  What kind of treatment have you already administered?"

Liberty manages to grab hold of the thrashing power line just before it would have whipped over toward the squad care but by now she and the wire are both wet from the sea water being blown around, so she can feel some of the power trying to use her as a short circuit.  But fortunately she's only getting a small fraction of the current because she's not being touched by the exposed part of the wire yet, but she's still getting enough juice to light up a Christmas tree.

"I like your singing."  "I'm coming mommy!"  The tornado continues to follow Emerald's voice.

"Let the kid know I'm going inside the tornado to help take off the bracers!" Mittens asks of Emerald.

She takes cover as the outer wall of the tornado envelops the Humvee, rocking it so much it looks like it could flip over on top of her!  After the outer wall passes, inside the dark center is an extremely strong updraft.  Mits clambers up on top of the truck then dives into the updraft which carriers her dozens of feet into the air toward what could be described as an over-sized child made of cloud wearing two arcane looking bracers!

Rodney shrugged, taking the vial out of his hand, "If I'm holding up your shooting then, with all due respect, hell no.  There are children caught in that whirlwind.  My team is trying to get them to safety and stop the disaster.  What made anyone think that hurricane force winds wouldn't rip rockets off their flightpath and fling them into civilian structures or your own vehicles?  Do you have energy beam cannons or railguns in all this?"  He was genuinely concerned about the physics, not trying to be an ass... and he had the vial on hand in case someone planned to try hauling him off... it would only take a few seconds.

  "Carrying a stretcher will probably be the easiest thing I do all day."  He comments as he gets to that.  Or at least, Joe hopes there will be less screaming involved than the rest of basically everything that's been going on so far.

  "I'm also expecting that we might have a child falling a few dozen feet out of the center of a tornado later, as a best case scenario."

Timothius answers the rescuers, "I haven't yet... we just got him out and I was hoping to set his bones right before I regenerate him." He lets the pros get to the bone setting while he takes his gloves off and as soon as he's allowed, gets to regenerating the cop's flesh, wincing from the pain the guy is in.

To Joe, he gives a nervous smile. "I can fly... so wherever the kid falls, I can catch him and soften his fall. Thankfully, I don't think anything falls while inside a tornado. I'd be more worried about the kid getting impaled by debris if the tornado stays even without the kid's powers to sustain it..."

Liberty is giggling. "This stu-huff ti-hickles!" she cringes a little like one would when being tickled, and desperately fights her instinct to curl up so she doesn't touch the exposed parts of the wire. It's not like she means to look like she's laughing at the situation. But even people who are genuinely annoyed with tickling wind up laughing and smiling if enough tickling is done (Prerequisite: The person in question has to be ticklish). It can't be helped.

Emerald continues towards the waters of the beach while singing, hoping tornado boy will follow her there. "Casey, dear! Mommy's friend Mittens the Cat is coming to you to try to pull the bracers off, OK? So if you feel someone touching you, don't panic! It'll be OK!"

"What?!  There's kids in there and you think they're still alive?!  How is that even poss..."

"Captain!" one of the soldiers interrupts, "Civilian spotted on the shore, and the target is headed right for her!"

"Prepare to fire!  Brigs!  Phelps!  Get this man out of the line of fire!  The rest of you hold your fire till I verify his story!"

He gives a stern look to Rodney as the soldiers approach.  "Smart weapons.  If we don't use 'em, that civilian and many more could be killed!  How can I know your story is true?!"

A basketball sized object exits the tornado at over 200 mph and arcs directly at Liberty.  As fast as it's going, she only has a split second to decide if she'll drop the wriggling power line in order to dive out of the way!

Meanwhile the tornado picks up in intensity.  "Something is grabbing me!"  "Is it the cat?"  "I'm scared!"  "She's hurting me!"

By the time the bone is set the officer has been securely strapped onto the stretcher and is ready to be carried to the ambulance.  Once there, Timothius can tell his healing touch has stopped the bleeding.

"We can take it from here.  Thanks for the help!  Now be careful out there!"

"I know I kept a lower profile than most... and this is what I get... trouble when people think their jobs are in danger..." he muttered under his breath as he pulled the vented rubber stopper from his vial and downed the contents, "That's not a civillian.  We're the Citizen Patrol.  Moderate mutations who specialize in helping people out.  We already lured the tornado away from population centers... I assume you've been tracking this thing... do its movements make any more sense than it being more or less directed if not controlled?  My codename is Wyrm... and this is why.  I promise I'm not going to leave any lasting harm to any of you if you try to move me, but I also promise... it won't really work.  Let my people do what we do.  We'll get split lips and bad cuts, but we won't shoot kids because someone is trigger happy and scared."

His fingers melted into his hands and his eyes and ears melted into a featureless extension of a longer thicker neck.  His arms were in short order nearly five feet long on thier own, his torso and legs forming a trunk that was looking to be nearly ten feet long.  He didn't smell bad yet, but then, he had an hour before he started to dry out and then half an hour before he reverted with some REALLY dry skin unless he got himself watered in the meantime.  Most of his body was segmented black and maroon, darker than his previously dark skin, his hair was thick wormy extensions like a mane of tentacles that twisted and traced reflexively.

  Joe would figure on diving for cover while still holding onto the power cable as an option, but that's just him.  Of course he's a bit to busy holding one end of an injured officer on a stretcher to do more than shout at liberty "Duck Lib!"

  He's not ignoring Rodney, he's just really really preoccupied right now.

Emerald says, "It will be OK, Casey! You know how the doctor has to prick people with a needle sometimes to help them! Same with my friend helping you! You said you were already hurting anyway, so just hang in there! Be big!"

Liberty hugs the wire while dropping to the ground, pretty much tackling the wire. She considers shorting out the wire somewhere, but is currently too busy trying to make sure it stays in her grasp.

Timothius nods at the medics and looks over towards the tornado. He notices Rodney has showed up and is helping. Then he notices the militant types are arguing with Rodney. He's a little torn; go dive into the tornado after his sis? Or help Rodney? With the cop now more or less healed, and Rodney doing what may be considered scary and/or hostile, Timothius rushes over towards Rodney. He's waving his arms wildly to try and catch the attention of all the new arrivals as he runs towards them.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:56, Mon 22 Apr 2013.

Rodney's 'head end' split open, "Tim... I know how your weight hits the ground, help the others.  Salting me is more a threat than a rifle or handgun.  Rockets might kill me, but its a risk we take.  I'm in relative control here... as much as any superpower incident is controlled anyhow, I've given my word not to harm anyone... and you know I'm good for that, but I will not be moved until one of the Patrol gives me the clear or the soldiers kill me," his voice was thick and stuffy, not unlike one might have expected him to sound with a bad headcold.  His tail end undulated slightly becoming at rythm thinned but nearly fifteen feet long from tip to arms.  There were no teeth like the horror movie worms... just a soft tissue inside the mouth that was bright orange.

The soldiers all recoil, mouths agape in shock at the huge talking... thing confronting them.  One even shoulders his rifle and flips the safety off, but the commander is quick to shout, "Hold your fire!  Stand down!  Non-hostile!"

The two soldiers ordered to move Rodney hesitate and ask the commander, "Orders, sir?"

"Stand by.  I hope to hell I'm making the right call giving him the benefit of a doubt.  Contacting HQ.  Sir!  Civilian claiming to be..."

He begins to explain the situation on using the radio integrated into his helmet.

Meanwhile, the object headed for Liberty strikes her and shatters to pieces against her sturdy back.  It must not have weighted much because it doesn't budge her.  Rather suddenly, the tornado falls apart and the resulting winds die down to a breeze.  In it's place, about fifty feet in the air over the shore line, Mittens is holding tightly on to a small child.  It'll only be a split second before the two begin to fall!

Timothius does NOT waste time, runs, unfurls his wings, and FLAPS! Keeping just 4 feet above the ground is not the easiest thing, but he's hoping with all hope that he will be able to at least soften Mitts' fall, IF he gets to her on time. The plan; head for where he expects Mitts to fall and then curve upward to intercept her on the way down.

Liberty winces, wondering how badly she would have been hurt if she had been a normal person. She's grateful it didn't hurt her badly.

Emerald watches helplessly, hoping Timothius will get to Mitts on time. There isn't anything else Emmy can do, really.

  Matt is pretty sure at the moment the only way he could break Mitten's fall would be to throw the stretch and cop underneath them.  Of course, thankfully, Matt isn't strong enough or a huge jerk enough to use a wounded officer as thrown cushioning.

  Well, thankfully for the officer.  "We might need more stretchers in a few seconds."  At least the tornado stopped and normal emergency service could get through though.

Whoosh!  Wham!  Sploosh!  Timothius collides with Mittens and Casey midair, altering the speed and direction of their fall just enough that they crash into shallow water rather than slam directly on land!  Any available rescue workers immediately rush to the beach with stretchers as Joe suggested, ready to perform first aid on the fallen.  The child is out cold but relatively uninjured because of the splashdown cushioned by Mittens shielding her in her arms.  But Mittens on the other hand had the breath knocked out of her then inhaled a bunch of sea water so she's sputtering while doing her best to keep the kid above water.

Timothius takes his long-sleeve shirt off in order to expose more of his fur/skin. He goes to grab Casey and says, "Mitts, grab hold of me!" as he manages to keep breathing and holding his breath at a normal rate to keep from sputtering like his sister.

Liberty is a bit busy holding a sputtering LIVEWIRE to really do much but stay put.

Emerald sees that the emergency team has Mittens taken care of, so she goes to check on Liberty. Then sees she can't help her directly. So Emerald heads for the military looking types that Rodney was currently dealing with.

Rodney moved like a worm.  It didn't make great time but sheer size caused it to be only slightly less efficent than human walking speed.  Burrowing would be slower but a human couldn't burrow nearly as quickly.  He left this spot that was in line toward the beach.  "Thank you gentlemen for giving us our shot before blindly taking yours."

  Joe sighs, glad to see that the fall has only uncomfortably inconvenienced Mittens and random kid so far.  "Well, at least nobody's dead yet.  Better than I'd have expected for a tornado in the middle of town."

  Even that felt like an unrealistically optimistic standard to Joe, and he was holding a stretch with somebody almost rendered legless.

Mits grabs hold of Timothius's wrist but her grip soon slips away as she passes out from complete exaustion and lack of air.  The child has no such problems as she clings to Timothius, screaming and crying in a strong voice that sounds like two or three voices combined.  Meanwhile the EMTs arrive and get to work administering first aid.

The soldiers Rodney faced off against stare in wide-eyed surprise.

"Hey, thanks, whoever you are," the Commander calls after Rodney.

He then orders his troops to stand down and await further orders from HQ.

Now that the wind has died down, the power line in Liberty's hands has stopped snaking about but continues to spark some at the end.

With a thank-you to Joe from the EMTs, the injured police officer is secured inside the ambulance and whisked away.

Seeing as the EMTs arrive, Timothius is relieved. He doesn't notice, however, that he is still holding on to Mittens when an EMT tries to pry her away. Timothius follows the EMTs and yells over the sounds of the ocean waves, "I wanna keep physical contact with both of them while you do your thing! As long as they are touching me, they will be healing at a very fast rate!"

Emerald, meanwhile, meets Rodney part of the way. "Rodney! Things are OK now!" she yells ahead before getting closer. "You can change back whenever you want."

Seeing the squad car has long been vacated, Liberty looks for someplace to tie the live wire so it won't be touching the ground, then trots over towards the EMTs. On the way, she feels the back of her head to see if the flying object made her bleed or not. "Hey! I might need some help!" she yells to the EMTs before even looking at her hand. She fully realizes most people would be dead if they went through even one of the things Liberty has just been through.

Rodney nodded sinuously then shook a bit, "Ten minutes minimum changed time... or the dirt I keep the sample alive in isn't completely digested properly.  Too much leads to G.I. distress... and if there isn't a need to change back, I like to let that happen.  Oh and people will see how amaising I really am if I don't have some pants when I start changing back.  Did you know that a worm's entire body is its genitalia?"  There was a thick sound from him that might have been a laugh as he started gathering his stuff once more.

  "We're lucky the cop is too physically traumatized to fine you for indecent exposure then at the moment Rodney."  Does this mean Rodney will be covered entirely by a censor blur every time he's on the news now?

  He makes his way over towards Liberty, even if he's fairly certain she'll live considering she's been inside things that exploded, what she been through probably still sucked.

"Sure thing, Timothius," an EMT answers, "I've heard about your healing powers."

A normal tornado would have likely killed Mittens in seconds, but this baby tornado took several minutes to mortally wound her with innumerable bits of debris shot into her at over 100 mph and the equivalent of sand-blasting every exposed bit.  Mits had stopped breathing from the force of the fall knocking the last of her endurance out of her, but between the oxygen mask the EMTs put on her and Timothius' kung-fu grip, she's breathing again before they stuff her into an ambulance and whisk her away.  The child is mostly uninjured and is fully healed by the time Timothius is seated in the ambulance carrying Mittens to the E.R. but he'll have to put up with pleas for Mommy and Daddy the whole trip while the EMTs try their best to remove the larger bits of debris from Mits' shredded flesh.

Cade wound up with a broken leg and is taken in another ambulance with Sarah.  Liberty has indeed been through much worse, so aside from the cut on her head the worst she suffered was some mild burns and some bruising.  She's bandaged and taken in an ambulance to the E.R.

Before long the rest of the group is offered rides to the hospital waiting room by rescue workers and police.  Once they're human shaped enough to properly fit in a car seat and wear a seat-belt.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:58, Sat 22 June 2013.

Rodney found a good private place and changed himself back with a practiced skill.  It only took him about two minutes to be ready to go with the others, his bike secured to one of the attending vehicles.  He was worried about the people he knew a little more, but there was also concern for those he didn't know the name of.

Emerald, of course, gets to following her allies to the hospital.

Timothius doesn't mind putting up with the pleas as long as the kid doesn't look ready to turn into a tornado. And Liberty just lets the medics do their thing while clearly worrying about those not as sturdy as herself.

  As concerned Joe is for his friends, there was only so much room in an ambulance and there were plenty of people actually wounded or dealing with the wounded who needed to ride in them more.  Fortunately, Joe unfortunately (yes, both) knew the way to the hospital by now.

By the time Mittens is hurried to the ER, the kid has fallen asleep.  The emergency wing is crowded with injured soldiers, technicians, and aliens: the actors, extras, and crew that were on the set when the mutant tornado struck.  Those with more serious injuries than just a few bruises have already been patched up.  A few of them are talking to a TV crew.

"It was real freaky.  There was this sound like..."

He goes silent and gulps.  Another continues.  "...Like school bus full of dying children."

"Yeah.  Then there was this explosive roar that shattered all the windows."

"And there was this rumbling thunder that just wouldn't stop."

"Sun was still out!  No clouds!  And then..."

"Then all hell broke loose!  We were filming a war zone, but this put our special effects to shame.  My spaceship was flipped over like a tinker-toy!"

The TV crew takes notice of the Citizen Patrol members showing up and the reporter is quick to start rattling off a barrage of questions about what happened.

Inside the ER the surgeon is quick to tell the orderlies to remove Timothius from the room.  "Mutant powers are no substitute for modern medicine!  Get that darn freak out of here!"

He then works feverishly with the rest of the team to save the life of Timothius' freak of a sister, muttering about being reduced to being a veterinarian.  Timothius recognizes the technical terms thrown about by the nurse and it sounds very bad.  Apparently all the debris in the tornado left Mittens shattered and shredded.  The surgeon will have to do a miraculous job of removing all the shrapnel from her vital organs, setting the broken bones right, relieve the pressure on her brain, etc.

Timothius is sure to go straight to the media people. "I have the power to quicken people's natural healing process, but have been ejected from the ER where my sister is! That doctor is trying to save my sister's life, but I'm afraid his misunderstanding of my power is going to deny her the extra treatment that could have been needed to save her life! Somebody PLEASE get a hold of this guy's superior, or the surgeon general, or someone so I can be there to immediately accelerate my sister's healing whenever that's needed!"

Liberty shows up to the camera men, pointing at one of her bruises, "Lemme demonstrate." and she goes to Timothius to demonstrate on camera as she touches him to finish removing her bruises and such.

Emerald goes to the two kids and tugs on them before whispering in their ears.

Rodney actually face-palmed.  He kept his multitude of thoughts to himself, but also figured it would be more helpful for him to go in and keep more an eye on mittens.  The doc had a problem with strange looking folk, and while Rodney could look even more strange than both of them together... it was a temporary thing, not in effect right now.  He anticipated less direct confrontation with the doctor and trusted Emerald to smooth over at least some of this mess out here.

  Because timing was odd like that, Joe showed up at the end of Tim's media frenzy.

  He has a simple idea, though it kind of depends on the medical staff doing a good enough job to simply have mittens survive to a point that allows visitors.  Then oh hey Tim right there at her bedside with less screaming.  Of course, announcing the obvious right now might make people all against allowing visiting hours in the first place.

The reporter is quick to point the mic to Timothius to get the scoop on the controversy.  The nurse behind the reception desk gets on the phone, dials, and gives a thumbs-up to Timothius with a look on her face that suggests she's taking him seriously.  The reporter then retracts the mic back and says, "This is Linda O'Niel.  I'm speaking with Timothius, renowned member of the famous Citizen's Patrol famous for his healing touch.  From the look of it, a nurse is calling for the supervisor of the Doctor who ejected him from the E.R. to help get him access to his dying sister.  Timothius, could you tell what condition your sister was in?  What happened to her and how serious are her injuries?"

"Mine are pretty serious," an actor with a bloody bandage over most of his face says, "They said there's no chance I'll ever see out of my right eye again.  Suppose you could fix me up while this gets sorted out?"

"Me too!" calls an alien with an arm in a sling.

"Me too!" calls another injured person.

A line starts forming, but disagreements begin stirring about who's injuries are more urgent.

Rodney finds the crew too busy to take much notice of him yet.  From the looks of things the situation is serious, but the team is working with practiced efficiency.

"Unbelievable!" the main surgeon grumbles, "Another wound I'm going to have to re-open!"

"Beats the kid bleeding to death on the way here, right?" one of the assistant surgeons answers.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:52, Wed 24 July 2013.

Rodney was somewhat un-surprised to learn that accellerating the healing process didn't give so much due time for the body to correct issues.  A moment later and he was dialing the phone of any registered teammate down by the door.  He had about five minutes left of his earlier worm change lasting... he could still be drastic if needed.  Tim needed to know... proof was best... he looked for x-rays that might show older Tim-fixes.  If it was a stopgap, fine, but Tim needed to know if broken bones were healing warped.  He turned the sound of his phone off so if Tim was ranting it wouldn't draw attention but they would still hear what was going on in the room Rod was in.

Timothius looks at the nurse, ready to answer, when people start interrupting. Timothius looks upset. He looks back at the nurse and says, "My sister is dying! I recognized the terms they were throwing around! That man in there is going to meticulously remove shards from her vital organs, setting the broken bones right, relieve the pressure on her brain... I can be healing these people in the meantime, but there is definitely a lot that needs to be done, but I'm convinced that my sister's chances of living through this will be improved if I am allowed to touch my sister the moment the doctor has taken care of the more important parts."

He immediately turns to the line of people and says, "Stop arguing! My power works so fast, you'll all get the healing you need before your injuries become permanent! Come at me 6 at a time and put a hand or something on me." Timothius takes off his shirt and raises his wings to the ceiling to allow for more surface to be touched.

 In this time of crisis, the hurt and sick crying out for aid, and Mittens's life in the hands of a cranky (but seemingly competent) doctor...

  Joe comes back from a hospital vending machine.  He has little pretzels.

  "...I'm gone two seconds, and Tim's taken up stripping to pay for his sister's hospital bill."

Controversy abounds over Timothius' miracle healings, but there are thousands of statements and pictures documented on the Citizen Patrol website extolling the "Most Life Saving Boy In History."

"I've got an perfed appy over here," one of the surgeons says.

"Working on the triple A lac," the main surgeon says.

Blood geysers clear to the ceiling.

"Applying second compressor," says one of the nurses, sounding almost unconcerned.

The bleeding stops just as suddenly and the team continues their work methodically.

"You know I saw this show the other day where they-heheh, get this, had the readout of a patient's leuks at over 9,000!"

"Give me a break.  But that's par for the course in Hollywood."

Meanwhile, at Timothius' insistance, the disagreements quickly subside.  Half a dozen injured people reach out to grab hold of Timothius.  Most let out a sigh of relief, but the one with the face bandage lets out a cry of pain and recoils!

"What the hell!  It's getting worse!"

"It hurts because you're experiencing a day's worth of healing in a second," an important looking man in a business suit and a security badge hanging from the left pocket says as he approaches.  A security guards accompanies him.

"You were probably given pain killers.  Normally it would have taken hours for your body to metabolize them."

A nurse puts a hand on the shoulder of the man with the injured eye and gently guides him to sit in a wheelchair.

"Hello, Timothius.  Your reputation precedes you.  Welcome to J.T.R. Memorial Hospital.  I'm James Phelps, Director.  I hope you'll forgive any rudeness from Dr. Adams.  He has personal reasons.  But he's a darn good surgeon."

"Linda O'Niel, channel 4 news," the reporter interrupts, "So are you saying you disagree with Dr. Adams ejecting Timothius from the E.R.?"

The man ignores her and offers a handshake to Timothius.

"If there's anything I can do for you, just ask."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:28, Mon 29 July 2013.

At the sound of his phone, Timothius checks it, opens it and looks around for Rodney with a curious look only to be distracted by Mr Phelps coming. Timothius leaves the phone open, though, so Rodney can hear what Timothius is distracted with. Emerald and Liberty answer their phones as well, curious on what Rodney was up to.

Timothius says in a pleading tone, "To be honest, Mr Phelps, Dr Adams is saving my sister's life with all he can! And I believe you when you say he's a good surgeon! He can be rude to whoever he wants as long as he saves her! But I know enough about the terms that were being thrown around in that room to know that her condition is rather bad and if she flat-lines, I want to have the chance to help! I'm not a doctor, but neither is a scalpel or defibrillator and doctors use them all the time! I'm not trying to tell anyone how to heal, just asking that I be used for my sister to live! Surely a doctor as good as Mr Adams can find a way to use me that will guarantee my sister's life!"

Despite all the exclamation points, Timothius isn't yelling (though maybe raising his voice), simply speaking with clear desperation.

  Joe answers the phone (we blame his phone service, not the poster on the delay) "Hello, would it be a bad sign if I recognized what I'm hearing?"

"Yeah probably," Rodney spoke into the phone, "The doc here is having complications from a lot of injuries that didn't heal right.  I think it might be relying on Tim for so long... or for so much.  I'm thinking that we need to get Tim some medical schooling... or perhaps an apprenticeship with the good doctor now that we'll all have a pretty good idea of what the other can accomplish.  Timothy assisted procedures might become an excellent side project for them both."

Mr. Phelps looks at the E.R. door, looks back at Timothius, and nods.

"Come with me.  I'll get you in there.  What is the nature of her injuries?"

He begins walking toward a door labeled "surgical supplies."

A nurse wheels the face bandage guy down another direction.  Inside the E.R. the surgeon takes notice of Rodney and snaps, "What the heck are you doing in here?!  Get out!"

"Ow..." Mittens groans in a raspy voice, "If this were that operation game my nose would be lighting up like crazy right now.  Ohai, Rodney.  Good to see ya.  Where's Timothius?  Is he ok?"

"No talking, young lady," one of the assistant surgeons tells her, "Your lungs were punctured and talking will worsen your condition."

"Pfff..."

Rodney snorted as he started out the doors, "Tim's alright, it sounds like things are cooling down but he was freaking out pretty hardcore.  Let the docs do their work little lady.  Don't give them crap, you've had a lot of stuff not heal quite straight.  If the docs think a little in advance, knowing that your little brother is going to be touching you, maybe they'll leave stuff in a position to be quick fixed so that you don't have to come in for days of surgery after this.  I'll catch up to the little dude and make sure he's reigned in for now."

He then supplies into the phone, "Stick with Timmy.  I suddenly got a dirty feeling... and all that sheds with the outer layer of the changes... so we need to be careful."

Timothius follows Phelps and begins listing the problems he overheard.

Emerald puts her stealth to use and sneaks after Mr Phelps while hanging up the phone. She mentally kicks herself for not thinking Mr Phelps might also be a mutant hater who simply looked nice. But with Emerald sneaking into the supplies room right behind the two and vanishing into a hiding spot, she figures this could turn either very ugly or really nice.

Liberty follows the group from a distance and eventually just stops short at the door. She leans her ear against the door Phelps entered so she can hear what's going on. Unlike Emerald, she didn't get the idea in her head that Phelps could potentially be evil. Instead, she is simply curious.

  It is for the best of everyone's peace of mind that Rodney didn't sneak inside in time to see the geyser of blood... Then again, all anybody has to do is look up to see the results.

  Despite everything and his usual inclinations,  Joe actually takes a moment to just leave this situation be.  He wonders if it's optimism, or not being cynical enough to not expect the need to strangle a crazed doctor with the cords to a defiblirator(however the hell that's spelled)

OOC: I wonder if Pfff is a muffled laugh, the sound of mittens leaking, or both.

Phelps dons a surgical robe and begins scrubbing.

"Sounds like you know your stuff, Timothius.  I'm very impressed.  You probably already know that the body's natural response to injury can sometimes do more harm than good.  Fluid buildup in the lungs or brain for example.  My guess is that Dr. Adams isn't too bitter to refuse your healing power when the time is right.  But he might be too proud to allow you to 'interfere' should your sister flatline.  So I'll sneak you in using this surgical cart as a way to hide you near her should she need your help.  Be careful to only intervene if it is absolutely necessary."

Assuming Timothius goes along with the plan he'll be secretly wheeled into the E.R. where he'll find that his sister's condition has improved so much she's even being allowed to talk.

"Is it true suture is made out of catgut?  Oh the puns I could make with that right now."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:38, Sun 11 Aug 2013.

Timothius' eyes go wide with hope and he nods eagerly. Liberty moves away from the door and to a different spot, looking relieved. Even as Timothius is being wheeled out, Emmy sneaks out right after and calls the others. "Nothing notorious. Mr Phelps is actually sneaking Tim into the ER so that if need be, he can heal her in an emergency."

Fast forwarding a bit...
The grumpy doctor and his team did a stellar job of patching up Mittens so Timothius didn't need to intervene in the E.R.  But it was far from pleasant.  Once the numbness of shock wore off she went from joking around to screaming and crying.  Once the surgeons were done she was wheeled to a recovery room.  Phelps was sure to get Timothius in there with her and before long she was completely healed!

"Thanks, bro!  Boy am I starving!  Need a change of clothes, though."

  Joe somehow doubts visiting hours have quite kicked in for the recently close to dying.   Now that everything is over for the moment, he wonders where the kid Mittens had gotten so hurt saving had ended up.

  "Am I the only one halfway expecting mole people to attack the hospital because five minutes can't go by without something incredibly stupid yet dangerous going on?"

Emerald says, "At least mole people aren't made of empty air? But no, you aren't the only one. I've made sure people are on alert..."

Liberty shrugs and says, "I don't remember a problem arising right after solving another. But I'm expecting it anyway."

Meanwhile, Timothius says, "Mom and Dad brought a spare set of clothing, but until the hospital clears you to leave..."

Tornado kid was moved to the pediatrics ward once the ER staff discovered whatever booboos there might have been were completely healed from the ambulance trip with Timothius.  The aggressive reporter tries to get statements from Joe, Emmy, Liberty, and Rodney on their opinions about Tim's mistreatment and what should be done about it.

"Sweet!  Thanks!"

Mittens is quick to get changed and check herself out over the objections of the hospital staff.  "Just because you feel fine doesn't mean there isn't a hairline tear in one of your arteries."

"So I'll hold Timothius' hand.  Starving!  Must Eat!  Ohai, everyone!"

She waves to the rest of the group with a big smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:16, Tue 10 Sept 2013.

  "No comment?  I already do and say enough stupid things on camera as it is."  Saving the city is stupid looking a lot of the time, at least.

  Joe waves back to Mittens.  "Hi Mittens, glad to see you're doing better.  Sorry you had to go through all that in the course of saving small children.

Emerald looks up at the media and says, "It wasn't that bad. For one, if Timothius didn't have powers, he would have been ejected from the ER anyway. People just need to get used to us, is all. And look! Mittens is OK and has Timothius with her. So something was already done about it, one way or another. My opinion: Everything worked out and the doctor was only doing what he felt was right. Maybe in time, he'll think to include Timothius. But for now, I'm just happy he saved my friend."

Liberty doesn't look like she'll be as diplomatic as Emerald, but after what Emmy said, Liberty mulls it over. "She's right. The doctor saved Mittens' life. That's what matters."

Timothius waves at the others alongside Mittens.

Around then, Angel comes in the hospital, looks around, notices Mittens and the others. "You're OK! I had heard you all were in the hospital and that Mittens was in critical condition!" she looks around at the others. "I came as fast as I could..."

Mits smiles and waves in reply to Joe's welcome.

"Thanks!  Worth it since the kid survived."

She takes note of the answers to the news lady.

"Did I miss something?"

The news lady aggros and says, "Your brother was ejected from the E.R. with the surgeon calling him 'mutant freak.'  What do you say to the mistreatment of your brother while he was trying to save your life?"

Mits arm-arounds Timothius, faces the camera, grins, and waves.

"Hi Mom!  Hi Dad!  Timothius saved the day again, so we should be home in time for dinner."

She notices Angel and waves.  "Ohai, Angel!  Good to seeya!  Thanks to Timo here, I'm doin' fine."

She looks back at the news lady.  "Timo and the E.R. team from what I'm hearing.  So while Rudeface and McMeaniepants may have been less than mature with my precious lil bro, it sounds like I owe him and the E.R. crew a thank-you for saving my life.  But I'm famished!  I think I lost my last dozen lunches spinning around in that tornado."

  "Hi Angel, Is this a bad time, or a good time to get a reminder of what your medical coverage policies are?"

  Joe looks back to the reporter, and is still trying to figure out if she's just really hoping for some controversy, or has an very blunt way or trying to get Mutant Sympathy for the viewers.  There is no flashing 'pull right trigger' prompt though, so things have not gotten out of hand yet.

Angel pshaws. "Thanks, Joe... but you don't need to worry about my medical coverage."

Timothius says, "There's still a bunch of people in need of healing. I'm hoping I can heal them in time before any of their injuries become life-altering."

Emerald says, "Hey Mittens... how's about tomorrow, we all meet at HQ and have a party to celebrate victory?"

Liberty says, "That gives me something GOOD to look forward to."

"Soundsgood," Mittens answers hastily.

She turns to the nearest nurse.

"Need food!  Where get?!"

"Uh... there's a vending machine in the caffeteria."

No sooner does the nurse point than Mits takes off running.

"Foood!"

Once she has a snack she slumps down to the floor next to the vending machine and sends out a general text to everyone inviting them to the victory party that Emmy suggested.

---

OOC: Can fast forward to party scene next post if you like.

  Joe worries for the quality of the hospital food, more than the usual stereotype if the Nurse is pointing out the Vending machine inside the cafeteria as the best source of food.

  "I agree with Liberty there, sounds like a good idea."  That said, he heads over to keep an eye on Mittens because Tim is somewhat busy at the moment.

OOC: Time drive activation is good.

Timothius proceeds to heal those who need it urgently. He is also sure to avoid the doctor who healed Mittens. The guy is busy and likely won't let Timothius say thanks. Instead, Timothius gets a thank you from the hospital's gift shop in order to write in it "Thanks for saving my sister's life. I do not know how to thank you aside from giving you this card and staying out of your way."

He seals it and asks the nurses to give the card to the doctor at a time when he isn't busy and/or is heading out from work.

Angel keeps Timothius company the whole time so he has an adult with him and eventually leads him to the others.

Meanwhile, Emerald and Liberty keep Mittens and Joe company until Angel arrives with Timothius. It didn't take Tim too long to heal people since half of them were barred from him and the other half just had to touch him for a few seconds. And he was focusing on only those who needed urgent aid. So he was back to Mittens within a half hour or so.

OOC: Fast forward is good

Mits was sure to offer a bite of her snack to Joe and thank him for the company while she checks the news with her smart phone.  She then asked Joe to handle the party preps while she did her best to calm down the contraversies the news media was trying to stir up over 'the military shooting artillary at a child' and 'Timothius getting thrown out of a hospital by a militant mutant hater.'

The following day her parents take her, and Timothius if he's up for it, to the party early to help set up.

  Joe takes it upon himself to ensure that there is Icecream and soda to be had by all. (combining these will have to be done on the guests own time).

  He waves hello to Tim and Mittens's nondescript parents, well aware that descriptive parents can be more trouble than it's worth.

Emerald has already gotten a good deal of stuff ready. She had purchased things the other day and the base is decorated with victory banners. Upon seeing Mittens and Timothius arrive. "Very nice of you to come here so early hoping to help." Emerald says.

Timothius says, "So it's just us four so far?"

Emerald says, "Yep! Honestly, I thought it'd just be ME this early. But since you're here to help, I'll show you what would be very helpful."

The parents of the kitties are human and they wave back to Joe.  Mits is dual wielding cell phones, busily texting with her right hand and holding the other to her ear with the left.

"It would be an honor!" she chimes with a tail wag.

She smiles and waves to Emmy and Joe.

"I'm at HQ.  The address is listed.  We were about to throw a victory party.  Sure!  Should be plenty of time.  Right.  I understand.  Lookin' forward to see'n ya!  Blessings back atchya!  Ta-ta!"

She hangs up, sends the text, then looks at everyone with a bright smile.

"That was the First Lady!  She plans to pay us a visit toward the end of the party!"

  "Well it's hard not to be early when you're helping set things up..."  He manages not to drop the cooler full of soda, then puts it down, asking for clarification.  "So, when you say first lady are we talking presidential?"

Timothius looks downright terrified.

Emerald looks over to Mittens. "You've been on a lot of shows lately... Candid Camera put you up to this, didn't they?"

Mits smiles and nod-nods to Joe and headshakes to Emmy.  Timothius' mom gives him a comforting pet.

His dad shrugs.  "Not sure why anyone would be surprised.  You all have been global news for some time now and I'm quickly running out of fingers to count the number of times you've saved the city on."

"She said we can expect the Secret Service to show up in 2 or 3 hours to do a preliminary security sweep.  Standard procedure stuff.  She said she'll be bringing her kids.  'They're big fans of your team.'"

  Joe glances to see if Timothius's dad has lobster claws for hands considering their claim would be vastly exaggerated in his opinion otherwise.  "Well, hopefully the president's kids aren't picky where their icecream comes from." Cartons from a grocery store!?  Madness!  Presidential children clearly demand all their icecream made on an Icecream barge for that extra wartime desperation flavor.

Timothius' dad has normal hands. Hilarious as it would be for the guy to have lobster claws for hands.

Emerald says, "Security sweep. Heh... what would they be looking for? A bomb? An assassin? Because if they are looking for a security system, remember Angel has this place filled with cameras and audio devices so that we will at least have evidence of stuff going down here at the base."

Timothius says, "Don't they have stuff like that in the oval office?"

Emerald says, "Yes, but that's their security equipment... they might not like the idea of our group recording everything that goes on here."

Mits taps at her smart phone.

"'Secret Service security sweep,'" she says aloud, "Meh.  All I'm getting is headlines on scandals and news on one of their dogs falling off a roof in the line of duty.  Nothing about what to expect when they show up.  I guess it's a secret."

She glances at Joe and grins impishly.  "If there's any left by the time they get here."

  "I solemnly swear I will not upload anything stupid the presidential family says on the youtubes.  Patriotism is hard. Double standards regarding being caught on security cameras goes for nearly everyone on the planet though, even if not nearly as many get to have a say in the matter."

Fast forwarding a bit, the party is set up and the guests arrive! Pretty much the whole SG shows up, thankfully, because they all get to meet the First Lady and her family!

Liberty seems especially excited about it, and yet doesn't act too fangirlish.

Even calm, cool, self-controlled Angel seems to blush and bite her lower lip in excitement when she gets to meet the First Lady. Pretty much the whole SG is filled with excitement and happiness.

Emerald religates herself to waiting on people as she serves everyone whatever drinks or ice cream orders. The ordervs, of course, are more out in the open for people to help themselves.

Emerald informs the guests that she has a bunch of stuff planned out to late into the night.

Of course, the First Lady gives Emerald a job offer since the fox is capable of speaking any language. Emerald lets them know she'll think about it (Even if her kneejerk reaction is YES!!). ALL of the members of the Citizens' Patrol, however, are offered safe testing of their powers so everyone not only knows their limits, but can train in a safe environment so that in a REAL danger, they will be able to handle things like second-nature.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Wed 04 Dec 2013.

Mits wasn't sure what to make of Joe's oath and just answered, "Thanks?"

During the party Mits was also helping with making sure everyone was having fun but allowed herself to join in should anyone challenge her to DDR or the like.  She's sure to carve out some time for her timid little bro and introduce him to one of the presidential kids.

She also runs interference with the press to make sure they didn't detract from everyone's fun, but they'll of course be happy to get anyone else's statement on current controversies such as National Guardsmen threatening to shoot a mutant child or medical professionals who refuse emergency services to mutants.  Mits asserts the controversies are based on bad journalism and does her best to clarify what really happened.

She turns down the offer for government superpower traiing for the time being on the basis that she doesn't have the time to spare at present and she's pretty sure she has a good grasp on how her power works anyway.

"The nearer, more dramatic, and more immediate the event, the higher the chance I'll be able to predict it.  Sometimes I'll pick up small, far away events well ahead of time, and sometimes I'll be taken by complete surprise by an orc army popping up right in front of me.  But both cases are rare.  An internet fan even calculated the probability I'll sense something and so far his numbers have been pretty accurate."

  "I think I'll pass on the lab conditions, thanks."  He could see it now, let's test what caliber bullets it is when it switches over from painful to debilitating!  Can you survive a fall from orbit? For Science.

  Aside from that comment though, Joe manages to avoid sarcasm and remain polite for the sake of presidential sorts.  He is surprised at accomplishing this, especially since he decided to help out Emerald and some of the usual results of catering service vs party guests.

  Then again, he suspected presidential visits probably had a better quality of guest than the gun club his mother was a part of.

Emerald smiles at Joe and thanks him for his help. To the offer of free training, Emmy opts out, though she thanks them for the offer.

When offered a safe testing ground, Liberty seems all for it, but only if her parents OK it. Upon seeing Liberty volunteer for it, Timothius asks to try it out as well.
Angel just assumes for all the mutants, so she doesn't bother answering.

Emerald is sure to compliment Mittens' skills at DDR, being as she herself is decent at it due to some natural dancing talent. However, Liberty seems to be an expert DDR player. Timothius tries, but is merely an average beginner. Angel mostly amuses herself with watching others play. Though if prodded enough, she will try it and prove to also be a beginner.

Mits smiles and is thankful for compliments sent her way.  After the obligatory photo ops, mini speech thanking the heroes, handshaking, and whatnot, the First Lady takes her kids home.  Mits shoos the news reporters and the party becomes a private one again.  Mits grabs some ice cream and plops onto the couch.

"Been meaning to add my own thanks to all you awesome people for all you do.  So... Thanks!"

  Through either design or coincidence, Joe does not end up on the electric dance pad.  Once it's back to just the usual freaks (And Angel) he comments "That went better than expected, but then my expectations are a bit skewed lately."  Surprise, none of the party guests lit themselves on fire trying to get soda.

  "It's fine Mittens, you're the one dealing with all the text messages."  all those tiny letters add up.  That's almost as bad as a tornado accident right?

Emerald says, "I would say 'no problem', but that would be an untrue statement. Instead, I'll say you're welcome and you know the rest of us are grateful for you as well. You were the most injured of us from this latest event."

Liberty says, "Stupid multiple problems... if not for that giant cable flailing like a drunk break-dancer, I would have been jumping into the tornado. I should have been the one to jump in there..."

Angel says, "Except you can't magically be at the right place at the right time. That's Mittens' power. You contributed by making sure other people didn't die, Liberty. You can't be everywhere."

Timothius says, "Nice to be just 'us' again..."

Emerald says, "As exciting as it is to meet the first lady, yeah. I would take relaxing with you bunch over anyone else in the world."

Liberty says, "....it was still cool."

"You're welcome!" Mits answers with a big smile, "And please don't fret that you can't do everything, Liberty.  Chances are if anyone else had tried to wrestle with that power line, they'd be dead today.  And I agree it was cool to meet the presidential family sans the president at our party.  And that it's just us now.

"Speaking of texts, dunno what disaster you were expecting, Joe, but if recognition counts, brace yourself.  We've been asked permission for a big time movie to be made about us!  And we've been nominated to receive The Presidential Medal of Freedom AND The Congressional Gold Medal!  They're the civilian versions of the Medal of Honor if you didn't already know."

Nom!  Bite of ice cream followed by a little victory dance.

  "I sort of doubt I'm worth that.  While the rest of you already deal with this, I don't think I'd be doing any of this if I wasn't able to survive doing stupidly dangerous things so well.  Though Liberty probably would anyways even without being bulletproof."

Lib smiles brightly from the mention of medals. "Cool!" and then looks at Joe. "Thanks, Joe."

Emerald says, "Speaking of civilians, it sure has been convenient none of us have been drafted into the military. I'd like to keep it that way."

Angel says, "You leave the PR to my PR department. I'll make sure you don't get crucified or called 'un-American' for not joining the military."

Timothius says, "Ironically, it would mostly be Joe or Harry we'd need to worry about since they are the only men in the group."

  Talk of only Men being a target of the draft reminds him of the stupid story of how his parents met.  "Thanks Angel, I somehow suspect it would take more than simply asking 'do you really want to be known as the president who brought back the draft?'"

Mits smiles and nods at Lib then answers Timothius.

"Far as I know there's no call for a draft.  Though the Citizen Patrol has been accused of being a thinly veiled private military.  Supposedly we work for whomever is responsible for the recent disasters as a cleanup crew for escaped test subjects.  Sounds like the plot for a SciFi flick.

"So yeah!  PR very important!  Thanks, Angel!"

"So any objections to there being a full-scale movie about our exploits?  I'm told that we're welcome to audition to play as our own roles.  Or be hired on to help the actors who wind up representing us.  There's also talk of a gameshow, 'Can You Keep Up With A Superhero?" for raising charity funds.  Sounds fun!"

Angel ponders. "If the movie involves me at all, I should participate. It would aid our PR immensely."

Emerald says, "I doubt they can get another fox to play my part. I'll go check on that. But yes, I'm fine with a movie about us, as long as it's not putting us in a bad light."

Angel says, "I'm sure if it were portraying you badly, they wouldn't invite you to try out for parts."

Liberty says, "I can be in a movie?! Awesome! I've GOTTA try!"

Timothius says, "I like the idea of a movie made about us... and I doubt they will find another winged cat to play my part, so I'll go see how good I am at my part..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:54, Mon 13 Jan 2014.

  "If that were true, then at least we might have a better idea who that asshole scientist is." Being in on a conspiracy does tend to give you more info to work with.

  He shrugs, "I won't stop them from making a movie, though I figure I'd be as bad at acting as Emerald would be good."

"How hard can it be to act as one's self?" Mits asks before stopping herself, "Way to open a huge can of philosophical worms, Mittens!  Quick!  Change the topic!  Oh yeah!  Speaking of our talented Emerald...  Hare are things coming along musically, Emmy?  I've been itching to jam with you.  And I'm sure Timothius is interested in the music angle too."

Emerald says, "Things are going pretty nice now that we're all over the news. Record companies are paying attention to me. It's humbling, though... I've been finding out how far I have before I can sing professionally. So I got a singing coach. I'll be taking dance lessons too, though, since I tend to get energized when I sing and I don't wanna look like an idiot when I move my body on a stage."

  "Well, there would be trying to keep a straight face while I reenact electrocuting myself like an idiot for one example."

  He looks to Emerald.  "If the internet has any truth to it, the awkward flailings of a fox accompanied to music is very popular."

"Good to hear!" Mits says with a smile, "Maybe I could give you dancing tips and you could give me singing tips."

She sweatdrops at Joe.  "Mittens scratches out, 'idiot,' and inserts 'brave hero' in its place.  Copy!  Send to print!"

She checks her phone for tweets.  "Inanycase I'm looking forward to seeing our story on the silver screen.  And hearing our music on the radio.  Hopefully now that we've run the gamut of elemental monsters we'll have an extended reprieve."

---

Ready to start a new chapter.  We can either go right into the next big over-the-top adventure, or we could have a chapter of just laid-back RP first.

Emerald nodnods to the dance lessons and such. "You know.. now that studios are starting to notice me, I should get to work on a song about us and what we do."

Angel ponders. "Maybe not right away... would sound like bragging. Let someone else brag about you instead. But if you do make a song about us, just be sure it doesn't hit a recording label."

---

Go for it! I'd like relaxed that leads into adventure (rather than jumping right in). Yay new chapter! I might intro a character while we're at it!

"I suppose surviving does mean I get to make that claim, instead of becoming an nomination for the Darwin awards."

OOC: What the tiny fox said.

Mits smiles that Joe relented to being complimented and nods to Angel.

"Good point.  The are already dozens of songs about us, but none that I know of yet that brags about our most recent adventure.  But give it a day or two and I'm sure at least one will crop up."

She tries to continue to be sociable while working on scheduling interviews and awards ceremonies but hits a wall as the taxing day catches up to her.  She's sent sprawling unconscious on the couch.  Daddy then carries her exhausted self upstairs and tucks her in bed to nap until it's time for Timothius and the family to go home.

Emerald has her own version of exhausting herself. Namely cleaning up from the party once Mittens is asleep. She does accept help, though.

Timothius and Liberty, of course, are kids and thus, on kid schedules. They fall asleep long before the adults do, so as they get tired, their parents wind up taking them home.

Angel decides to spend the night at HQ and winds up lighting the fireplace for some calm, relaxing times for those who stay up later (such as Emmy).

By the time the girls are ready to go home, though, they realize they are too tired to be on the road, so Angel pulls the couch out into its bed form for she and Emmy to sleep in it.

  Joe does the boring thing of helping with cleanup, and is far from tired.  However once things are all set, he heads home himself before seeing or realizing it turned into a slumber party.