Situated in the desert, 100km outside of Las Vegas, this once abandoned military base serves as the Headquarters for T2M America.

Bustling with U.N. and U.S. troops, media, scientists, and novas of all sorts, the T2M:A HQ is a hive of activity around the clock.

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

This base needs description.  Work together in spoiler text to create what you want, if there is something you want to work together on that is.  Or, if you just want to each pick an element and describe it, that works too.  Or do both.  But I would prefer you guys to describe your renovations before we use this thread for actual play, b/c I want to have a nice setting for you.  It will also show some of what you've done with your time.

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This message was last updated by the GM at 21:13, Fri 30 Aug 2013.

Comstock stared at the new, reinforced bunker that formed the center of the facility.  It was covered in nickel-chromium-steel, bonded together by quantum power instead of welds, bolts or rivets.  Behind the steel was solid granite they'd quarried out in large blocks and reinforced concrete.  The whole thing wasn't actually very expensive: with some determination and effort, Comstock could make just about any piece of steel into the correct shape for nearly any task.  Testing revealed that the structure could reliably resist most bunker-busting munitions, explosions, and nova powers.

"You guys think it's too much?  I mean, steel's cheap.  I could add more."

There'd been some talk of "field technologies" and other protection against energy-based attacks, but that was beyond Comstock.  He just had an instinct for building solid, durable edifices.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Alright ... so going way back to the OOC thread, there were a few things to be built for the new base:

1. New Barracks.  Everyone gets their own living space, even the UN troops assigned to us.
2. Nova Car-surfing course.  Complete with shielded space for spectators.  We sell tickets.
3. New Laboratories.  Big initial investment cost, but I think we could talk Utopia into fronting the money.
4. New Gymnasium.  Because we have a nice new pool, and we might want a workout space capable of handling Comstock and Solitaire.
5. The World's Biggest Arcade.  Just ... y'know ... because.

Other mentionings I've seen have been a movie theater, a geothermal power source, and that we call the place Fort Diablo or something similar.  A quick reference: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...d_geothermal_systems )

The real question now is how the heck are we going to do all that digging?  And what else does the base need?

---

Solitaire moves to stand directly next to the bunker, and raps it sharply with her right, and normal, knuckle. "Not bad, not bad." She comments, eying the structure with mild disinterest. She then spun and slammed the same fist into the building, full force, there was a odd gong-like noise, the kind of sound buildings seldom make, but there was barely a dent in the steel.

"Good job Comstock, that ought to stand up to anything short of a nuke." Solitaire joked, but her eyes glazed a moment, and she rubbed her upper left arm with her right hand. "Anyway, wanna go play catch with that bus in the back parking lot? Nothing else to do today, and its good to keep your arm in, don't'cha think?"

Imp looks around at the construction, what with Comstock's metallurgy, Gravitas' designs and a small army of other Utopians he was feeling slightly superfluous.  Still, he could organize, and while middle management wasn't glorious it was something that he could do and feel mildly useful.  While he was organizing projects, requisitioning resources and handling any interviews that needed his trademark geniality he was desperately planning how he could help out, get the base that Grav had envisioned built to his specs, and still not become so obviously skilled at this that he'd be stuck behind a desk for the rest of his natural life...

Phantasm decided she would be the night construction crew.  When things slowed down in the evenings, and normal baselines and novas went to sleep, she created an army of constructs to help her dig the holes for building foundations, transport dirt and building materials, and generally get everything ready for Comstock, Solitaire, and Gravitas to put into place the following day.

The solitude was nice, it gave some time to think.  And the work let her practice her engineering skills, and learn to more intricately shape her constructs.  She still couldn't get the nightmare element out of them, but she stopped caring about that a long time ago.  What she did learn to do however was create precise tools integrated into them to help with her work.  Her construction equipment, instead of looking like psychedelic cartoon monster trucks were now sleek lines and a veritable swiss army knife of tools, all of which looked deadly and gruesome.

As she worked, she walked her new cat, Fluffy.  Rescued from abusive owners, the burned animal wasn't actually fluffy, which was the point of the name.  Fluffy was a nice cat, always happy to be loved.  And though it wasn't the reason she actually got him, it did help that he raised her popularity 3% (27% with animal rights groups), and increased her toy sales 1.5% (new bonus Fluffy toy included).

Comstock took a moment to focus, and the dent in the steel eased itself out.  "Whoa, don't do that too much, or you'll grind down the concrete behind it.  The contractor will have to come back in and reset it, and that part sucks.  But yeah, let's have some fun."

Tossing cars and boulders was a riot.  It never got gold.  The bus lasted all of three tosses before Comstock botched the catch and it collapsed under its own weight.  "Alright, you're going to have to explain how the heck you're so delicate with things.  I just break 'em."

Floating above the base with several rolls of blueprints in hand, Quentin surveyed the work so far. Things were coming together nicely. The extra funding had helped, as had crash courses in base construction during the war. It all came together to make a better, more complete whole.

Quentin's favorite part was, of course, the lab building and its machine shop annex. The nova-scale gym was nearly complete - it'd been both the easiest and hardest thing to build. The structure itself was relatively simple, it was one of the largest buildings on the campus and it was mostly empty space. They'd incorporated some Danger-Room-esque elements straight out of comic books and he'd done what he could think to do to provide or invent equipment that was up to nova standards of both rigor and wear-and-tear.

He nodded to himself and pulled his phone out to discuss a few more things with one of their contractors for tomorrow's work. He floated towards the ground as he did so, allowing Earth's gravity to reassert its dominance. Once he was off the phone, he'd need to put in some more time on the projects he had going in the lab, mostly unfinished work for various aspects of the gym.

He considered that he should probably make some calls to his advisors at the various universities he was enrolled in, but opted to put that off 'till tomorrow. It was probably too late now. He'd earned his PhDs in physics and mechanical engineering during the War and was currently working through a medical program and a philosophy degree (which he was opting to work for a BA in first before working at the graduate level, since he had almost no background in it). His curse, he often pondered, was his desire to know. He'd probably be a student for life. Fortunately he didn't need to sleep; that was about the only reason he had the time to combine so much academic work with his actual job for Utopia.

Early on the Monday following the fundraiser, Frostburn has called the team out to the courtyard in front of the dorms.  A sense of deja vu likely washes over at least a few of the team as they stand there in the crisp, pre-dawn air.

"Alright guys, just because the holidays are here doesn't mean we stop training.  And we have two new recruits here that need to be integrated into the team.

We need to freshen up on urban combat, and continue with getting you people educated.  And catch the newbies up to the rest of you.

Also, I'm not always going to be around to train people.  I want Sol, 'Stock, and Grav on the newbies.  You are in charge of training them as you see best.  If you suck too much I'll step in, but I'm pretty sure you're up to it.

We've only got until the January second to get you ready for this crime busting gig, so lets get cracking people!"

---

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

You guys are in charge of training the newbies, and yourselves.  Even Slider, since you have only worked with her a little, and part of the reason for the drills is to familiarize yourselves with each other.  This is both so that things stay interesting (and you get to avoid a repeat of the exact same stuff we did the first time around), and so that you can show some of the things you've learned and indoctrinate your people the way you like.  Occasionally Frostburn will break in with advice.

As you do that, I'm going to run some classroom stuff, experiment with having multiple scenes going on in the same thread.  If you want to reply to both in your posts, just separate them with a break of some sort.  In these I hope to go over science knowledge and protocol stuff.

---

Between exercises, the team is directed to return to the classroom for a bit of private time with their tutor.

"I want everyone to break into groups.

Suzukaze, Flare, I want you to formulate an answer to this simple question, based upon your knowledge of Utopia and of the world:  What is the purpose of Utopia, and your role in it?  After you've answered this, tell me how you would stop an anti-nova riot that has occurred around a Rashoud facility in a deeply religious part of the United States.

Gravitas, Dr. Zero, Phantasm:  You are at a party, a very public party with rich and influential guests that is being covered by the media.  You find out that a powerful criminal nova is there, and that several terrorists are supporting this nova.  How do the three of you handle this situation to the greatest benefit of the organization and public safety?

Solitaire, Impetus, Comstock: There has been an accident on a nuclear submarine, a collision with an oil tanker, near the coastline of a nation that is on poor terms with the submarine's nation.  The submarine is a potential hazard to the country, there is the risk of a war between the two nations, and the toxins being spilled by the tanker are an ecological disaster.  Fix the situation as best you can.

You have 5 minutes to discuss amongst yourselves."

In reply to Professor Uma Bharati (msg #9):

"One of Utopia's main purposes is to establish a society where there is a peaceful coexistance in the world between baseline and nova. And our purpose is to be that of the ambassadors and keepers of peace." She pauses for a second thinking of the next question. "I would try to talk with them first and try to use their religious background. I'd say.... If you are truly religious individuals then you believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans. And if they indeed are the first then deep down we are all connected. Adam and Eve were blessed with Eden, but were driven from it by the work of evil. Please think of us as humans blessed by gods to prevent that evil from occurring again... And if they didn't listen or needed to be calmed into listening I'd see if the facility had a nova with the ability to control emotion. Not to control their mind just to reduce their hatred and anger into something soothe and calm."

"Uh ..." Comstock blanched at the time limit.  "Uh, we could ... well ... I know I could survive the nuclear reactor.  I think I could anyway.  So first thing I'd be trying to prevent meltdown.  One of you two should probably get me there since I don't swim very well."  He thought back to physics and the emergency manual.  "I could double or even triple the lead shielding on the reactor ... maybe turn the uranium and plutonium or whatever into something inert or eat it.  I don't know.  Never tried it."

He looked to Solitaire and Impetus for help.

"Wonder if I could just lift it up and fly it somewhere safer? Hrmm... Though I suppose the first thing you should do Comstock is put the tanker back together. Really, what do we know about stopping a meltdown? Navy's generally train their people for that I would think. I'm sure we could do something about it if we have to, but I think the tanker is the priority. Toxic chemicals are rather hard to clean up." Solitaire wondered where these convenient tankers of toxic chemicals came from, and where they were going, as there always seemed to be one around, then shrugged. "If the sub's reactor goes critical, then that becomes another problem to deal with. The question said it was a 'potential' hazard, its not going to blow up right away."

In response to Uma Bharati:

"I think Utopia is supposed to be creating peace between nova, non-novas and pretty much everybody.  I don't think it would be a good idea for me or us to try and stop the riot, that just makes people even more paranoid that we're going to take over, or whatever.  I think Suzukage's method is best if we are going to get involved, but I think there would just be more resentment if nova's tried.  Combating mob mentality, even with social skills, is unlikely.  I think the nova's should stay out of site and non-nova's should dispurse the crowd as peacefully as possible"

---

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

Anyone from the party group want to weigh in?

Also, did anyone have any training that they wanted the new people to experience?

---

When it was Comstock's turn to put the new recruits through training, he had everyone get some packs, grab water, food, whatever they thought they were going to need, and took them out north, into the hills and desert that was technically part of the base.  Once they'd walked and found a suitablly empty spot, he sat.

"Okay ... so ... none of us are tired from that, right?  We're pretty tough.  I wanted us to walk because we're not going to walk a lot in next few months or whatever.  But everyone else does.  They can't jump mountains or fly through the air or open holes in space-time-whatever or any of that.  They've got feet and ground and that's it.  And they get tired and hungry and ache and do all those things I don't anymore.  Any of you get to meek Shadow Walker?  Freaky guy.  I don't want to end up like him and I don't think any of you do either, so that's why we're walking."

"Now, the rest of us did some training right here not too long ago, so I figured it was good enough.  I'd have you dig a hole, but that'd be stupid.  Construction and that stuff isn't central to what we're doing in the next few weeks.  Instead, I want you three to kill me.

"No, not really.  Don't look like that.  Like ... this is basic combat, 101, with an emphasis on regular guys.  My trick is that I'm indestructible, so anything you can do I could probably take.  I want you guys to practice non-lethal take-downs, anti-nova tactics, lethal force, everything.  In a few hours we're heading back over to the old base and you're going to show me everything you can do to break buildings and terrain.  And then we're going to practice fighting with me and not breaking buildings and terrain.  You want technique and form, you'll have to track down Phantasm and ask nicely.  But I like teaching with experience.  Hit me enough times and you'll have a good idea for what will crack a nova, what will kill a baseline, and what's the best force-level to respond to something.

"Oh, uh, one more thing.  You're all getting punched.  I let the doctors know ahead of time.  I won't be hitting you with everything I've got, but no one's getting back to their dorm without taking a solid hit or two.  I've got to know that all of you can take a hit and keep moving.  And not just because the team's counting on you, but because I need to know you can get up and get away instead of dying."  Comstock paused.  "I don't think I need to explain about the Iraqi chemical weapons incident.  Point is that you're stepping into the shoes of good men and women who couldn't run fast enough or breath chemicals.  I want to know that at the end of the day, after being punched, flattened, and blown up, you can either run fast enough or take whatever the world's throwing at you."

He set his pack off to the side and straightened out.  "Alright, any questions?  Who's gonna be the first to take a swing?  I'm gonna start near my max until you get a good feel for how hard you hit."  There was an audible cracking sound as Comstock went heavy and sank about an inch into the ground.

"Well, pretty much the same as Flare said.  We can't really mess with the guy in the middle of a social gathering.  Especially not one that important, we'd lose too much public faith, not to mention the fact that all the wrong people would start thinking we were weak.  Best to try and ensure that the criminal doesn't get noticed and then track him after.

If we just had to do something, and it was the three of us...  Well, I'd probably make a bunch of critters and pair off with Grav to protect the people, move in myself to make a distracting attack, and then let Zero pound on the nova from surprise."

In reply to Comstock (msg #15):

Solitaire sat on a nearby rock, one knee drawn up to rest her chin upon, hands clasped over her ankle. She was just here to observe, unless Comstock asked for help. Solitaire wanted to know what the rookies were capable of, what she would need to work on with them, and firsthand knowledge was always better. She watches for patterns that could be exploited, excess movements that could be trimmed or any other weakness in their technique that jumped out at her. Once you spot a weakness, you could hammer on it till it either broke or went away. Better now than in the field. People died if that happened in the field.

Imp pulled himself up on a rock beside Sol as Comstock got himself worked over by the trainees.  It seemed like it had been so long since basic training, but it had really only been a year or so.  So much had changed.  Some things hadn't though.  "So, Sol, I'll bet you that the feisty young lass with the katanas can make 'Stock ooze a bit of silver.  If she doesn't, I'll swap in for you at that Evening With T2MA for some of our corporate sponsors next week.  If she does you get to go to Cidad Juarez and help rebuild the ghettos in two weeks.  Waddaya say?"

Once she gets over the initial shock of the statement, Flare does her best to 'kill' Comstock.  Her physical training is nearly nil at this point so beyond the basics of punch and kick, she feels and is pretty useless.  After a few minutes of slowly growing more and more frustrated Flares arms burst in a gout of flame and she jumps back and away from everyone.  Sheepishly looking at the group.  "Whoopsie, it kind of gets away from me when I get ticked off."

"That's one option. If push came to shove we could also literally try shoving the nova through a portal to change the venue, or at least give us time to deal with the baseline terrorists without worrying about him." Quentin made a thinking face, "When fighting a nova, you're at an extreme disadvantage if you don't know their abilities. Making some calls to discretely see if we have any info on him before acting would also be prudent."

Comstock took the punches.  He even swayed a bit so she wouldn't feel totally ineffective.  "Alright ... alright.  We'll get you some hand to hand experience.  You've got good instincts.  But for right now more fire, less control.  Nuke me."  He spared Solitaire a look that asked how am I doing?

"She's got speed all right, but I'm not so sure about power. I'll take that bet. Really, I was looking for some way to get out of that anyway, even if I lose, I win." Solitaire shoots a grin at Imp before returning to watching the sparring. "She could outmaneuver him easily, but that's not the objective of this exercise is it? No. I'm more interested in what 'Hot Stuff' there has. Think she'll be able to singe him?"

Solitaire gives 'Stock a thumbs up from her rock and mouths You're doing fine. Then she calls over to Flare "This isn't just Unarmed training, start blowing stuff up, we're in the middle of nowhere."

"I dunno, she'd have to get him really, really hot to even have a hope of it triggering his pain sensors, assuming he has them anymore when he's all metallic, and hotter yet to do anything damaging, mind you, he is just going to stand there and take it." He thinks a moment, then "Remember, if one of you can't damage the enemy, work together to take him down!" Imp calls over with a thumbs up.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Wed 02 Sept 2009.

Suzukaze bows towards Comstock. She then takes off at full speed creating a circle around him, and hopefully kicking up some of the desert sand to create a cover for herself. She dashes out of the circle and attempts to sweep Comstock's legs before returning. She continues using the hit and run tactics delivering kicks and going back into the circle. She then draws her katanas and charges them with energy. Still employing the hit and run she strikes him with her blades. She aims specifically for the arms and legs in hopes of taking out his offense or dropping him to the ground. When her turn is done she bows and returns to her spot.

Freed of worry Flare starts to let go.  Small gouts that can be laughed off turn into large blasts, and by the time the Fire storm hits Flare is laughing with glee at finally being able to cut loose.  Her accuracy with the attacks is perfect and the attacks themselves would be devestating in a fight.

"Wow, that felt awesome! So how was that?"

There is an area about half the size of a football field that is a charred deadzone.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Lethal blast did 20 dice of damage damage per blast, and the final storm did 10d and halved movement and visibilty

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

Comstock stood, dusting a coat of carbon and dust off of himself.  "Ow," he winced.  The firestorm had been a bit surprising -- not lethal, but certainly more ferocious than he'd expected -- but Suzukaze moved like a pro.  Despite his weight, he hadn't braced well enough and somewhere in the middle of the onslaught he found himself staring at sky.

"Alright," he huffed.  "Okay, it looks like you've got some experience at this.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say you like single opponents and small groups more than platoons or gangs, right?"  He checked for wounds.  "What the heck did you do to your swords in the middle of that, anyway?"

"Flare: feels to me like you could be incinerating cars and armor.  If we're ever going up against tanks and the like, I'll show you how to aim for the ammo and engines.  I think you could probably cook off ammo and fuel without hurting anyone.  And that's a technical kill.  Best kind."  He was still hot to the touch, the air above him shimmering like a mirage.  "You played around with that a lot?  The fire, I mean."

He cracked his neck left, then right, and pointed at Slider.  "Alright, Landers, don't just sit there.  I still need you to kick my ass a bit.  There's gotta be something you can do with portals and kicks or something."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Out of curiousity, what kind of speed, accuracy, and damage are we talking about, Suzukaze?  I need to know if you hit hard enough for Impetus to win a bet.  All totaled, Comstock's soak at this moment maxes out at 29B/25L.

---

In reply to Comstock (msg #26):

"I would welcome the challenge of any situation. Just in this case with your abilities a direct confrontation would be in your favor. My speed is an advantage, and I hoped my tactics would be effective in both protecting myself while still being offensive. I'm able to surround my blades with an energy. I haven't yet determined if I build up the energy from my speed and focus it through them. Or if it just part of my powers."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Well in combat I move at 164M/action... Out of combat my max hypermovement alone is 1500kmph (932mph). Accuracy of the strike should be normal and doing 17 dice lethal damage with 5 auto successes.

---

"Who, me?  I'm not really big on the whole combat thing... I guess I'll give it a go though."

Suddenly the ground falls out from beneath Comstock... and he keeps falling.  Slider creates a warp under him, with a terminus immediately above the initial gate.  before he can get smart and throw himself to the side as he falls, she makes another set of warps in between the first.

"Now, I can't keep this up all day, but I can do this for a while at least.  Just let me know when you get bored."

---

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

Warp can be used as an attack with dex+warp.  Since you weren't dodging, I figured I'd just go ahead and auto hit you.

Slider displays a little more versatility with her abilities than a standard warper.  Since I've already stated that I'll allow people to take Warp as part of other powers, it seems fair to give people that take the power separately a little bit of a boost.  5pts in strengths seems fairly appropriate, though you can tell me if you disagree.

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This message was last edited by the player at 02:02, Thu 03 Sept 2009.

Comstock nodded to Suzukaze.  He was, in fact, bleeding from a few small cuts and at least one deeper cut on his shoulder.  Nothing that would really slow him down, but definitely damage.  "I have a feeling in any contest except the head on, you'd probably win.  I'm too damn slow for this."  He smiled at her.  "You'd kill the Olympic record running like that, you know.



"I'm bored!  I'm bored!"  This was, by far, the most unnerving experience of the three.  "Doesn't count as kicking my ass, though!  Just delays the inevitable!"  A bit of vertigo was kicking in, but he tried to maintain some presence and decorum even as he fell for the sake of morale.  "Now I know what happened to those Elites in Kinshasa."

Solitaire sighs, setting back down on her now scorched rock. She had deemed a expeditious retreat prudent, her clothes were rather less durable than she was. "Guess I'm on construction duty. Ah well." Solitaire then breaks into peals of laughter at the sight of the Perpetually Falling Comstock, it was brilliant. She thought she saw a faint bit of patina on him, guess he could turn green when heavy too.

"Ok kids, now we know you can dish it out, but can you take it too?  Perhaps you should do the honors, Imp. Comstock and I could pitch them to tomorrow, and I probably would, I'm not all that good at holding back if you recall. Remember out last sparring match Comstock? Took me an hour to find you after I threw you to the next county."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:16, Thu 03 Sept 2009.

For a finishing touch she makes one last portal, which spits Comstock out horizontally instead of vertically, roughly a hundred meters in the air.  Using the momentum he'd built, its almost as though he were flying... at least until the several tons of him hit the rocks.

"Yeah, I used that one a few times, but its really draining to keep up for very long.  And uh, I'll play with Imp a bit, wrestling with him could be fun, but I'm waaay too squishy to play very hard.  My eufiber and a bit of extra endurance is all I've got between me and a very messy accident."

"Right there with you Slider, any of these four could turn me into pudding, or pot roast, if they connected.  Alright, which of you lovely ladies wants a piece of me?" Imp smiles sardonically and stands up on the rock he's perched on, then strikes a classic double biceps pose.  The sunlight glints of his perfect, slightly wavy golden hair, his bronzed skin gleams with a faint hint of perspiration, and his muscles are perfectly symmetrical and look like they're carved out of rock.  He hops down and heads towards the dead zone Flare created and squares off against Slider.  "You did really well against Stock, turning his momentum against him, and really that's what a lot of the classic fighting styles are about, using their energy against them.  But what are you going to do if your opponent can either fly or negate the effects of your rifts?"
Imp and Slider circle each other for a bit, looking for openings, Imp seems completely at ease, casually moving to the left, waiting for Slider to come at him.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
got 5 sux on a dex MA roll, if Imp wins he will throw slider into a handy rock outcropping 15m away, using just enough force to leave her wounded.  I've got a damage pool of (sux)+5str+8(from the throw)plus [5] auto sux from mega str.I'll use my precision str enhancement to make sure i don't accidentally cripple the poor girl, if that's an issue.  Also, got to use my str specialty "well Built" first and probably last time!

---

This message was last edited by the player at 07:34, Thu 03 Sept 2009.

"Yeah ... yeah, I remember."  He picked himself up off the ground with a grunt.  There was a groaning sound from his joints, but nothing else to indicate damage or discomfort.  "Alright.  With that nasty business done ... yeah, let's split up.  I'm calling Flare, since she needs basics, and that way you," he pointed to Suzukaze, "can work with someone more your speed."  He gave Solitaire the thumbs up and mouthed knock her around a bit, turning the thumbs up into a punching gesture to get the point home.

He stopped holding onto the extra mass and took Flare aside.  "Alright, let's start with the basics before the pain.  I'll be teaching a lot of US Army H2H, since that's what I'm good at, and a bit of Phantasm's martial arts, which I don't really know the name of."  Honestly, he thought P was inventing her own style as she got faster and stronger.  "First thing is stance and breathing.  It's everything ..."  The introductory lesson dragged on as long as it had to.

After a few minutes of advice on stance, bracing, and recovery, Comstock nodded to Flare.  "Alright ... ready for a good idea of what you're up against?"

"So that leaves you with me." Solitaire says to Suzukaze. "Sorry in advance if I actually connect with anything. But you should be all right."

Solitaire stretches a moment, loosening up and getting a kink out of her neck, then she rises a few inches off the ground. Suzukaze was fast, probably twice as fast as she was, Solitaire would need the upward mobility to even it out. She eyes Suzukaze critically, moreso than she had before. Solitaire was a bit philosophical about fighting, you didn't really know somebody 'till you sparred with them. You could hide aspects you didn't want people to in other circumstances, but fighting was honest, everything was laid bare.

Solitaire thought so, at any rate, it was why she liked to fight.

"Lets begin then shall we?" says Solitaire with her customary grin, and launches herself forward with a slow spin kick. It was easy to dodge and Solitaire continued past Suzukaze, stopping her turn facing the other woman. Gravel crunched as Solitaire arrested her momentum with one foot, then sprang forward again, this time with a low leg sweep, also slow and easy to dodge. Her next attack was faster, as was the one after that, Solitaire took her time, building to full speed, but measuring Suzukaze's responses as she went. Eventually, the two were nothing but blur's.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
3 sux on the sparring match, figured I should just roll once for a overall feel of it, don't really need to go into full combat. Solitaire isn't trying to smash her or anything anyway, just gauge.

---

Flare definitely seems less than thrilled with the concept of defense but takes up a stance and nods.

"I'm ready to try.  If I can't defend myself I'm going to be fodder very quickly.  Its better to find that out with you guys, rather than in the field."

There is a slight burst of flame around Flare, which reduce to the shimmering mirage one often sees on asphalt in the summer. "Ready"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Flare activates elemental shield, which gives 2 soak.  She also has mega stamina 1.  She is totally pwned by something like Comstock, but her dex and martial arts pool is 9, (3 mega dex) so she has a shot at dodging.

---

In reply to Solitaire (msg #34):

Suzukaze prepares  herself sheathing her katanas and focusing her energy. She attempts to use her speed and martial arts to dodge and block Solitaire's attacks. She remains defensive studying Solitaire's movements. She holds back alittle to much letting her get in some good hits, but she waits for her opening. She feints with a kick aimed at Solitaires abdomen only to launch herself to aim a kick at her head.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Rolled 2 successes on forcefield gaining 7 soak. Also 2 successes for the sparring.

---

Sol manages to get a "light" punch in, just grazing Sue's side as she feints in with the head kick.  Both combatants are moving faster than those without mega-wits or a special perception enhancement can even see.

"The goal of this isn't so much to teach you specific facts, that is what your other classes are for.  The goal here is to encourage you to think, and apply your knowledge.

Flare and Suzukaze, you are both correct in your assessment of Utopia.  As to your problem, it is most beneficial to let the problem resolve itself without interference, so long as no serious injuries occur. If we were to involve ourselves, the most efficient method would likely be very similar to Suzukaze's suggestion.  In addition to the things you've already mentioned, I feel you should understand a bit more about Utopia's role.

It has no real control over the world.  Certainly it has raw force that can be exerted upon people, even nations, but that only goes so far, especially as the nova population expands daily.  We maintain our influence by maintaining popularity, moral superiority, and the appearance of fairness and impartiality.  If we lose these, we lose our power to effect change in the world.  T2M is one of the primary tools that allows Utopia to maintain this image.  Not to say that you are useless or that your efforts don't have an impact, but to Utopia your greatest contribution is as a presence influencing public opinion.  While you are defeating a nova criminal, you make the public feel safe, prevent human-baseline conflict, and allow Utopia's other projects, such as ending world hunger and curing disease, to be implemented successfully.  The defeat of the "super villain" in a comic book fight televised on international TV, or this new internet N! channel, is far more important in how it is viewed than merely stopping the criminal.

Now, I know that the rest of you have already heard this, but I do hope you were paying attention, and that you remember to keep this in mind as the new campaign against organized crime begins.  I'm certain many of you are wondering why you are participating in such an action, and hopefully this answers some of your questions.

As to the other problems:

Quentin, your assessment is correct, in that determining the abilities of the nova criminal is of paramount importance, and in the method of handling the nova.  Your power set is especially useful in this regard, though do remember that once combat begins your warping abilities are likely to be less accurate and provide less distance.  Phantasm's assessment was also useful, both in terms of using the constructs to shield the people, and in simply allowing the nova to go if there is more than a very tiny risk to the public image of Utopia.  I would still like to hear from Dr. Zero on the topic.

Those dealing with the accident... You can do better.  You were not entirely wrong in your assessment so far, but you are missing details, and not fully utilizing your abilities."

"Come on you two. I'm hardly the brains of the outfit." Solitaire chuckles. "An ecological disaster is Anataeus's bailiwick, we should get a call off to him as soon as possible. In the meantime, out focus should be on the tanker. Assuming there's a hull breach, Comstock could fix it. Imp and I could airlift survivors to the coast, giving us a bit more flexibility to handle the tanker. I don't think we have the right skill set to deal with the oil already in the water, but we could certainly prevent more from being spilled after we arrive. Everybody likes you Imp, think you could keep the two nations from shooting each other while we work?

Really, Solitaire figured that she would do much better in a real emergency, she wasn't a thinker, and had a bit trouble stitching her ideas together without a crisis to focus them.

Comstock frowned and rubbed his head.  "Doc, it's not like we can ..."  He stared, frustrated and obviously concentrating.  "I'm missing the point.  Our focus is the ships."

His voice became flat and mechanical.  "We head to the submarine.  The crew could suffocate down there.  I'll correct the greatest hull instabilities and modify the ballast pumps using one of Gravitas' designs to ensure rapid buoyancy.  Solitaire will lift the submarine from the ocean floor and take it to the sinking oil tanker wreck.  Once adjacent, I'll patch the damage to the tanker, bond the two craft together and use the additional buoyancy of the tanker to keep the submarine afloat.  Meanwhile, Impetus will see to the crew and work with them to use the communication's equipment aboard the submarine to reassure the government of the United States or Russia, whoever owns the submarine, that their weapons are not compromised and that there is no cause for worry or conflict.

"This part of the plan relies on either the submarine crew speaking English or Impetus being able to work with Russian.  Naturally, the nation with the nuclear submarine is a higher priority since they are more likely to be the aggressor.

"Stage two: Impetus will have to persuade the crews of the tanker and submarine to evacuate to safety to prevent radiation or toxin exposure.  I will perform similar modification to the pumps aboard the tanker that will allow us to draw the spilled crude and nearby sea-water back into the tanker.  Solitaire will give us the speed, moving heavy equipment and helping me keep an eye on the overall integrity of the vessels.  If any ships from the local nation's navy come to investigate or take charge of the situation, it falls to Solitaire to dissuade them before they can upset the delicate situation.  The effectiveness of this relies on one of those fluid dynamics model things that Gravitas was showing me.  Ideally, we arrive within an hour or two of the impact, and something like 40-50% of the spilled crude could be drawn back into the vessels within the first hour of our operation.  With time and sufficient quantum, I could probably increase the overall capacity of the vessels, but they would not be very seaworthy for quite some time.  The best solution would be to moor them on a sand-bank or something.

"Stage three: If the second nation is still hostile, or if they are interested in imprisoning the crew of the submarine, then ... I don't know.  I guess the easiest thing would be to let Impetus speak with local authorities as Utopia's Ambassador while we tow the vehicles out of the nation's waters.  Under the law of the sea, I think once we get out to international waters the incident could fall under the UN's jurisdiction and thereby become an officially Utopian matter for the higher-ups to resolve as they like."

"Utopia repairs and returns the vessels and crews to their rightful owners, offering full medical screening to the crews as a test for new techniques and a PR move, and uses the situation to simultaneously push our improved, safer tanker designs in the UN and advocate for a greater degree of maritime security transparency to prevent similar incidents in the future.  The services of Dr. Antaeus' terraforming projects are offered to speed the recovery and cleanup of the remaining crude oil.  I'll use some of the scrap to construct a monument to the incident as a backdrop for media coverage."

His analysis finished, Comstock gave a thin smile, still serious but sounding a bit more like himself.  "I might have made a mistake, and there's a chance that my engineering skills are insufficient for this whole thing, but I ... I think that cleans most of the problems up.  Anyone have a problem or a suggestion?"

Dr. Bharati pauses, then shakes her head once.

"No, that sounds good... Very good job.  Are you feeling well Comstock?"

He looked a bit concerned.  "I don't know.  More ... damn I don't know.  Clearer?"  He ran a hand over his head.  "Probably just hanging around the brains too much. But I've been reading too."

Solitaire stares at Comstock a moment, then grins enormously and claps him on the back. "That's our Leader."

Imp snaps out of his reverie, "Sorry guys, was just thinkin about the last time is was in the middle east.  I think Dillon's right.  He and Sol should focus on the ships while i deal with the various governments.  I don't speak Russian, but I do speak all the romance languages, and for some strange reason both varieties of Tolkien elvish, and Klingon.  Anyways, I'll reassure the various governments that their tech won't be compromised then I'll get to work trying to talk with the regional powers, make sure that they don't do anything drastic, or at least give Dillon and Sol some heads up before varying navies show up to cause trouble.  I'll spin it as hard as I can that this is an unprecedented opportunity for the nation to benefit from the infrastructure that Utopia will surly need to build to help with the cleanup.  Some questions though, Doc. How much power do I have as a member of T2M?  Do I have full diplomatic immunity?  How much of what I promise will the Project follow through on?  How many of our resources can I commit without going to a higher up?  What happens if they open fire on us? I'm pretty sure small arms won't do anything, but a cannon would probably kill me outright."

In reply to Rydi (msg #37):

Even though it was a light punch Suzukaze staggers a bit. Slowing down to a halt she takes a couple steps back and bows to Solitaire.

Comstock nodded, took a few steps back, and drew back for a devastating punch to the guts.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Two successes on the attack.  The perpetual problem of accuracy rears its head again.  We're going with Mega-Strength 3 on this one, for a grand total of ~17 bashing levels on contact.

10:31, Today: Comstock rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3,4,5,2,7,1. (Str + Brawl) Punching Flare.

---

Flare is stoked, and totally ready to dodge as Comstock swings back.  And for a moment it does seem like she takes to the air in a rapid dodge, ten feet...fifteen feet...twenty...and as she falls a blast of fire propels her away from the ground.  She catches herself and gives a very cheeky grin.

"Okay, I was nearly lauched into orbit, but aside from that all is good."

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Flare's soak, fireshield and eufiber (that she still wears normal clothes over because it looks weird) allow her to, barely, negate the blow.

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This message was last edited by the player at 02:38, Mon 07 Sept 2009.

In reply to Suzukaze (msg #45):

"Good job kid, I had trouble keeping up. I'll have to work on that." Solitaire grins, it had been a while since she had to push herself that hard, she was actually a bit winded. "Now, while not getting hit is a valid defense, you need to be a lot more careful than someone like Comstock or myself who can more or less just ignore small to moderate attacks. Keep that in mind, the problem with active defenses is that you can never let down your guard. But good work all the same.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Mon 07 Sept 2009.

A portal opens up overhead and Quentin floats down through it. As he, like Solitare, wasn't able to use eufiber, he was dressed in camoflauged pants, a black, featureless tshirt and combat boots - clearly what he considered appropriate for training. "Sheesh, I'm like 5 minutes late and everyone's already gone. I'd have never found you all if it wasn't for that... like... firestorm thing a few minutes ago."

He settled onto the ground and observed the training already in progress.

"So, when you all are done with your punchy, kicky stuff, should I handle some ranged combat training?"

Comstock nodded, impressed.  "Good form!  Looks like you could take a bit more."  She didn't seem fazed, which was a good sign.



"Hey Quentin!"  Comstock called.  "Be my guest.  We've been covering some of the more basic topics.  I was about to push Flare here for a round two."  He shook his fist at Flare and grinned.

He brought Quentin up to speed on everything they had already done.  "Imp's been helping out.  Are you sure he's not in multiple places at once?  Always seems to get more done than me.  Anyway, Flare probably needs some instruction in the boom boom parts of artillery and the human condition.  You might want to trade notes with Slider: I know back in the day I would have loved to have a little window that could open to give me a firing solution on any position from any angle.  You guys might have a new tactic to put together.  Suzukaze ..."  Comstock gestured like his head was about to explode.  "She's fast like Solitaire.  I can't keep up.  Doesn't seem to shoot at anything either, just uses those swords.  She ... she probably just needs to know how to coordinate with fire so as not to get shot."

It finally clicked that Suzukaze's swords had managed to cut him but didn't appear to be damaged.  He reached his new sense out to get a "taste" of the swords and see what they were made of.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Yes, I ended a sentence in a preposition.  Also, can Comstock get a read on the composition and materials chemistry of those swords?  I don't have my book on me here at work, so I've forgotten the die pool I'm supposed to roll.

---

Flare landed again and wandered up to Comstock.

"So round two 'in which Flare gets flattened for surviving the first hit' or moving on to ranged destruction?  For my part, I think I'll be lobbing fire from a distance whenever possible, but I can see where the close combat training could keep me from getting pulverized if flight isn't possible."

Flare had killed her flame shield to conserve energy, but pops it up again as she expects some attack from somewhere.

"If I didn't need you sharp to listen to the professor here I'd flatten you, alright."  He reached out to put her in a playful headlock and give her a noogie.  "No, Quentin here's probably a better teacher for what you need to know about.  You come back to me when you're done and need to practice those non-lethal takedowns I mentioned.  We're going to drill them until it's second nature."  God Almighty, Comstock thought, when did I become the Sarge around here?

He saluted Quentin.  "All yours, man."

Comstock gave a smile and extended a hand for a fist bump.  "I do what I can, you know?"



"Dude ... freaking Klingon?  You kidding me?"  He had no idea what Tolkien elvish was, but he'd seen Star Trek.  "That's a real language?"

Imp smiled, slightly embarrassed.  "Yeah, well, when I was in high school I was a hard core trekkie.  Had a uniform, wore Vulcan ears to school occasionally.  Kinda helps to explain why I didn't get laid.  I studied Klingon so I could talk with my buddies and not have anyone around understand us on the woefully hubristic assumption that people would want to know what we were talking about.  Guess the eruption just made everything I studied fall into place.  Same with Sindarin.  I learned that to impress chicks at gamer conventions.  Of course, your usual gamer convention was a massive sausage party, so it sorta failed as a dating strategy.  Might be effective as a team code language actually, I'm betting you no evil mastermind worth their well kept mustache would have even the slightest idea what we were talking about."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:57, Wed 09 Sept 2009.

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

They are Suzukaze's, she can tell you what she had them made from.  But you should be able to sense them easily enough.

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In reply to Comstock (msg #50):

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
You sense that they are made from titanium.

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"OK kids, today's lesson ought to be a bit more fun than yesterdays, for you guys at least." Solitaire grins from the hood of the old jeep she happens to be sitting on at the moment. They were all in the southwest corner of the base today, it was scheduled for demolition later this week anyway, and Solitaire figured she could kill two birds with one stone with today's exercise. Besides, consequence-free destruction was fun.

"Question: What do Nova's do best? Answer: Break things. Like So." Solitaire hops down off her perch, and to demonstrate, grabs the jeep, picks it up easily then spins around a few times and hurls it into a nearby office building. "See? Easy. That's the problem. Just about any of us could level a city block in seconds, with next to no effort. Oh, and before you ask, this whole area is both clear, and your free to destroy it. I also took the liberty of posting some guards at a safe remove to make sure it stays that way. Now, where was I? Collateral damage, right. Pax and 'The Book' She makes quotation marks with her fingers, and sounds as if she has nothing but disdain for 'The Book', "would tell you to do everything in your power to keep it to a minimum, blah blah blah responsibility. Now, while that's all true, its also completely unrealistic.  Its going to happen, and happen a lot.  So today I want to you cut loose, have fun and blow shit up. Learn how to break things, how much force it takes to topple a brick wall, shatter pavement, bend steel. Whatever you can think of to do.  Once you understand just what it takes to break something, you'll know how to not break it too.

"One last thing, we'll be keeping an eye on you, but keep an eye on each other too, I don't want any accidents. Too much paperwork. Now, are there any questions? I think this is pretty self-explanatory though."

Comstock dutifully stood behind Solitaire, backing her up and ready to march through the soon to be rubble.  He, Grav, and Sol were could safely and reliably walk or fly through explosions and collapsing buildings, dropping commentary and tips along the way.  He felt like smashing a few things himself since the business in Mexico.  It was a guilty pleasure that went against his better instincts, and he hoped no one saw him doing it.

"This sounds like fun.  Anyone ever play duckhunt?  Old nintendo game?  I bet I can give us some target practice, at least for a little while"

Slider opens a portal under a large piece of rubble, high in the sky.  If not blasted in mid air, it will demolish a small building upon landing.

"Some things I really want to learn to do are make my portals move, and learn to cut into an object.  You always see in shows how something will get cut in half by a teleport field... Kind of like that.  I think eventually I'll be able to do it, at least on non-living stuff.  They seem to resist it less.  But the real useful thing would be moving them around, even just changing the angle on them.  Buuuut... I've been working on it for a while and they just won't budge.  Maybe one day. Maybe one day."

Flare gives a slightly demonic grin as she takes off the ground.

"Nope, I think I got that.  Break stuff, check. I just wish we had a stereo system out here.  I have sooooo much appropriate music for this kind of thing."

Comstock watched Slider and Flare go to town on bits of debris and buildings and smiled.  "Looks like they've got a knack for this kind of thing."  He found a small building nearby and walked through it, shattering it in a series of heavy blows.  Pure stress relief.  After he crawled out from the debris, he set his arm down on a pipe and began drawing all of the useful metals out of the rubble.  Old pipe, rebarb, nails, and more slowly stretched and twisted their way out towards him before adhering together in a growing, jagged ball.

Productive day.  Seemed like they has the basics of being a Nova-hero down.  Now everyone would just have to meet Dr. Bharati's standards of grammar, punctuation and notation.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Just trying to wrap this up like we mentioned in the OOC thread.  If anyone wants to write more about breaking buildings or have a meaningful conversation around the backdrop of destruction, awesome.

---

Flare strafes a few vehicles to see if she can actually make them melt, she can.
Beyond that she pretty much uses all her quantum making fireballs and then putting them back out. Apparently the putting them out takes a great deal more effort.

"Alright, I think I've got the basics of destruction down, but if you guys (Comstock and Solitaire) wouldn't mind sparing me some time to work on physical combat in the future I'd appreciate it."

Solitaire chuckles slightly evilly. "Be careful what you wish for... But we can bring you up to snuff if you'd like. It'll probably be a little slice of hell though, bruises teach best, but it'll be fun once you get the hang of it."

After making sure everybody was present and accounted for Imp went through Grav's portal into the medical facility.  Every step he took left a bloody footprint, whoever'd stabbed him in the back had done a very thorough job of it.  Now that the excitement of combat and the chase was over he was also really starting to feel it, the wounds throbbed every time his heart beat.  He gratefully sank down onto a stretcher that was wheeled over to him by some medics they injected him with something that kinda sorta took the edge off as he was wheeled into surgery.
A couple hours later he was up and about again, not moving as well as he usually did but not too bad all things considered.  the blood transfusion had helped too.  He went in for debriefing along with everybody else, this exhausting day was almost over and all that was left was the paperwork, sigh.

Solitaire stepped through the portal as well, shooing the medical personnel that came to meet her out of her way with a, "Yes, yes, its only as bad as it looks. I'm fine. Go patch up somebody that needs it." There wasn't all that much the medics could do for her anyway, she'd be fine a few days. What she really needed was a stiff drink, some French Toast and something hard rocking. Perhaps she'd go hit up a club later, there were a couple that owed her favor's even if they didn't know it. Looking in on them might be a good idea. A good way to blow off steam too.

"Your report..." The little voice in her head said quietly, and Solitaire groaned. First, she got herself well and thrashed, and now she had an after action report to file. Well, the sooner she did that, the sooner she'd be somewhere fun. But first, the cafeteria. One had to have priorities after all.

"Look, Doctor, I'm fine.  If I could pose for pictures and talk to a reporter without losing my place or pissing off Pax, I can't be that injured, can I?"  Dr. Greenburg and a few other medical staff didn't want to let him get down to work without a thorough examination.  The holes in his chest had bulbous, red-black caps of various metals and tissues that weren't going away, even after Comstock pushed the metal back under his skin.  "It's normal, okay, we saw this after that guy in Kinshasa took a swing at me.  You said it was fine then, remember?"

Getting through the gauntlet wasn't easy.  Eventually Dillon got creative.  "Look, Phantasm needs a full work-up anyway, since she nearly bought the farm, and you'll be able to figure out if Shooter's little bolts have any lingering effects on us from looking at her."  He felt kind of bad about siccing the hounds on P, but he really needed to fill out a pile of paperwork.  And P needed looking at since for a few moments Dillon had thought her dead.

"Noooo...!" Suzukaze screams waking up. She begins pushing herself back with her left arm her right arm covering her face. Her whole body trembling with fear. "Don't kill me Shiro! Please don't kill me!" Tears begin rolling down her face.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Had this in missions, but with the followups being here now I deleted it and reposting it here.

---

"What?  Why... No, I'm fine, really, I... damnit, just leave me... Fine, just make it quick."

Phantasm let the doctor take a look at her, remembering after he stared at her pointedly to move her eufiber aside.  She was surprised by how bad the wound looked when she glanced down, blood seeping from the singed hole in her side, likely piercing her intestines.  It hadn't felt that bad certainly, but then she had cut off the pain almost the instant that it occurred.  She hadn't reactivated it for fear that it would be debilitating, and in hopes that she wouldn't have to let on how bad she had been hurt.  She figured now wasn't the time to see what her pain threshold was, so she kept that part of her brain cut off as the doc probed the wound, took tissue samples, and patched her up.

The doc seemed put off by her lack of sensation, and the way she watched him work.  Apparently he wasn't used to having the person he was operating on watching the whole process.  Occasionally he would ask if she wanted something for the pain, but by the end he just did his job without comment.

"Is this gonna be done soon?" she asked after about 20 minutes.

"We uh, we need to get tissue samples, do blood work, insure that there aren't any odd effects from the energy that you were hit with.  And this damage is pretty severe, you've got internal damage... You probably should just try and stay still while we take care of this."

So Phantasm let the doctor and his assistants keep working, regretting the whole time that she burnt so much energy that she couldn't just shift the wound away before anyone realized how bad it was.  Oh well, maybe this'll be good for me, pretend like I'm normal for a while.  And hopefully people'll just assume I spontaneously manifested claws instead of thinking I'm a shifter...

After getting patched up and filing his paper work, as well as Dillon's, god knew the big guy had better things to do than to fill out reports in quadruplicate, for 4 different departments, in 3 different languages. He then headed over to the broadcast center to do his thing, then headed over to the pool complex to get some hot tub time in.
The warm water combined with his fatigue to make a powerful soporific and soon he was dozing, floating just below the surface of the water, letting the jets move him around.  In his head he saw 'Tasm bleeding on the ground, Sol laying in a crumpled heap in a snowbank, 'Stock bleeding that shiny quicksilver that seemed to be his blood and felt the white hot pain in his side again and again.  Each time the images grew clearer and clearer, brighter and brighter, but at the same time, less troubling.  This was their job, this is what they had to do, he could live with it.
He pulled himself out of the water, feeling refreshed and more than a little hungry a few hours later.  He hit the cafeteria and dug into a mountain of food, steaks, salads, fruit, potatoes.  he chatted with people around mouthfuls of food, smiling, laughing, displaying the infectious good humour that was his trademark.  Afterwards he sought out/hunted down the other members of the team and did his best to cheer up those who were feeling the worse for wear, and to laugh with those who were in better spirits.

Flare, having used up the majority of her quantum in battle, is somewhat useless as the others are being patched up by the medical team.  After three different doctors poked, prodded, and generally offended her dignity, it was accepted that, no she never actually took a hit in this battle and yes she was fine dammit!

"Thank God for healing powers. I'm not getting within 30 feet of a doctor ever again."

Flare jets out of the medical as fast as she can without hitting her powers. Determined to get some distance from the medical tormentors, then a snack and a nap.

Network ratings soar as the public avidly takes in the battle in Kansas.  T2M and Utopia receive both praise for their extreme success (only 3 people were hurt, and they were healed before anyone could see how badly) in apprehending dangerous nova criminals, and condemnation for endangering civilian lives in a raid on a very public location.  But overall, the praise is far in excess of the condemnation, and the public is highly interested in the "war on crime", where interest was previously lagging.

All novas with social skills or investigative skills are requested to aid in interrogation of the criminals, and further investigative assignments may be given, depending on the information found.  The novas are currently being held at the T2M:E facility, in preparation for transfer to the Bahrain facility after interrogation.

Zero taps Flare on the shoulder, and when she turns around, says "Boo."

In reply to Rydi (msg #71):

Did Zero's earlier Investigation rolls into Juan reveal anything? They where made in the mission thread.

Zero:

Zero tries to stabilize/save Chulk.

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


   

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

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

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

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

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

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This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Wed 14 Oct 2009.

Attempts to track Juan in the ice storm failed, but after returning to the base, Zero immerses itself in the existing data on Juan, and then follows up on contacts and former friends of the criminal nova.

Juan was a member of a prominent biker gang in his youth, and gained a reputation for loyalty, efficiency, and cold-blooded brutality as an enforcer for his gang.  He is in his late 40's, and helped to build the gang up from a local organization to a multi-national organization responsible for running drugs, smuggling weapons, and laundering cash.  Recently the organization has had a great deal of contact with South America, and seems to be gaining a large amount of it's drugs from South American suppliers.  Apparently there are new, nova derived drugs on the market, and the South Americans are capitalizing on the new market.

Juan himself has been busy since his escape from prison, organizing his gang further, making alliances with other organizations, and settling old scores.  Detailed information is difficult to obtain, because he killed anyone with loose lips after gaining his powers.  Most of the information Zero is able to obtain comes from trickery and reading between the lines.

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

Any specific questions? I'm willing to give more info on a 10 success roll, but I would need a specific direction you were wanting to go with the info.

---

Zero is trying to see if it can find some weakness in Juan. Psycological or Quantum mutations (Taint/Aberrations).

He seems like a very, very shrewd criminal. Really, the worst kind of man to get Nova powers. Zero is eager to take him down before he becomes an even more entrenched threat.

Zero is also hopping to see if it can trick some info on where Juan might go to lay low, and what other powers Juan has.

The scene: T2MA's conference room.  4 days after the raid on the club.
Imp leans forward in his comfortably padded chair, "So, now that we've had a few days to digest what went down, and to heal up, what do we think we could have done better?  I think we didn't perform to terribly, only one got away, and none of us got killed, if only barely."  He frowns, "I should have been more circumspect when i went off overwatch, and I shouldn't have left Sol to deal with Juan alone.  There are reasons we have those protocols, and I think I failed to support her when she needed it.  It's my fault that he got away, or at least I am a contributing factor in his escape.  I'm sorry, Sol, I should have had your back."

Dillon nodded.  "Pax is asking I do something about you and all that.  So, at least publicly, you're on my shit list.  Fact is, I was in command and just assumed Sol could take the guy."

"Ultimately, the doctrine is a failure.  Bad intel left us in an untenable situation.  Training and professionalism got us through, but it could have been worse.  I'm writing a report advising three-to-one numerical advantage as a condition for engagement, and I'm thinking that we should look into making some in-house tech to even the odds in the future."

"Dont worry about it Imp. Its ok." Solitaire says, making a brushing aside gesture.



"Your not the only one, I was just careless, and he was a tough bastard. I stomped on him hard, and he took it with a smile, didn't seem to phase him at all." Solitaire frowns, tapping her fingers on the table. "On the upside, he's hopefully still freezing his ass off in Antarctica."

"And hopefully he'll be freezing his ass off for a loooong time too.  Its a bit of a swim back to civilization.

I didn't do to great in there myself btw.  I let that hit get through my shields and then had to play dead while you guys were getting beat up on.  Sorry.  Hope I made up for it at the end there."

"I was terrible. I was barely able to do anything while in the club. Then in the snowstorm I find Juan only to have him get away. And I only got Chalk because I pushed myself way past my limits."

"I think we did pretty good. We caught most of the bad guys, and it sounds like the baselines were okay. I'm all for 'protocol upgrades' and stuff, but I think it is important to note that we are all okay, and most of the bad guys are not."

Zero reclines in it's chair, thoughtfully. "Let's not beat ourselves up. I completly agree there is a lot to learn from this encounter, but it has gone off far better than I hoped. This Juan... the parlininary research on him reveals he is a very dangerious and polished criminal, and I suspect he has a lot of Quantum gifts to throw around. We shouldn't see our failure to capture him as a personal one. He's a big fish. If we encounter him again, we will be prepared and we can win."

"Yeah, but the problem is that we know that PR is going to spin it so that the mission was a total success.  We, however, will know that we did something wrong, and that Juan, emboldened by his escape, and by laying the smackdown on one of T2M's heavy hitters, will have achieved that much more street cred.  We're going to have trouble from this one, serious trouble. 'Tasm, you did great, it's not easy to fight with one of your kidneys hanging out.  Sue, you found a white man in a snowstorm in Antarctica, then you took him down.  Doing that makes you a superhero, that was terrific. " Imp stretches and flexes his arms, then cracks his neck. "And yeah, we need in house tech, we really should have a 3 to 1 advantage whenever possible, and Pax can kiss my ass."

"I'll try not to let him know.  You looking to trade-in Crimson Dawn for a bigger badass with a grudge?"  Dillon was half-joking, half-cautioning his friend.

"Alright, so lots to learn, lots to be happy about.  Before we're done here, Dr. Zero's going to give us a full and complete report on everything he's learned about Juan.  So we can start planning another operation.  War on Crime wins the hearts and minds of the public, but is hell on our days off.  First, though:

"Sue, you were on top of things and quick to respond to change in battle.  Biggest problem I saw was target acquisition.  We'll work on coordination and team-work to make sure you're mincing soft targets and controlling the battlefield.  The fact that you managed to catch up to both Juan and Chalk proves to me once and for all you're an asset to the team."

"And Flare ... nice work in there.  You covered my ass, stopped the bullets and did your job well.  Not a scratch on ya either.  Round of applause for our new faces and their first combat mission."  Comstock clapped, expecting the others to follow along in his team-building praise.

"Solitaire ... still want to be second in command?  Until we figure out how the hell Juan overpowered you, try to reign in flying solo.  It's always worked out in the past, but I don't want to invite disaster, you know?"



Dillon looked down at some paper in front of him.  "That sort of brings me around to the tech-thing.  We want competitive edge, and since we're obvious in the media people can plan for us better than we can plan for them.  So, we've got the research lab and big fabricating equipment here, and any special metal parts we need I could probably figure out with some time.  I've got a few ideas: uh, laser swords," Dillon mumbled, a little awkward saying something so preposterously nerdy aloud, "some kind of limpet mine or shaped charge for other tough guys like me, stuff like that.  Some kind of super-body armor too, since this eufiber stuff is great but some of us can't wear it."

He waved a hand and looked back up at the team.  "I dunno.  Thoughts?  Anyone have a toy they want?  This is the first time since the wars that we're going to have some real time to invest in R&D."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:17, Mon 19 Oct 2009.

"I think we need some kind of tracking device. I wiki'd nanotechnology and I'd like to see some kind of injectible or spray nano tracking device so we can find the guys who manage to get away from battle.  Don't know if it's possible though."

"Instead of external headsets I really think we need our coms devices to be something we can put in our mouth, like a cap on a tooth, and a hud that's displayed on a contact lens.  If flare goes hot her headset is going to get crisped, unless she can somehow control her fires so that they don't damage stuff she's wearing.  Also, having the dental unit also relay things like health and location to HQ, which is then shown up on our HUD would be really, really useful.  Some sort of super hard, and rapidly hardening, glue/foam would be ideal for taking down people with powers like Sue and myself, y'know, lots of speed, not so much strength.  Or things that send out a pulse that scramble people's nervous systems, which would have to be nullified by something we carry on ourselves.  You don't see the swat team go into a house wearing t-shirts and packing 9mms.  They go in loaded for bear, with massive numerical advantages, and if we are going to be the people that police other novas, I think we should use the same tactics."

"Yes boss, I'll be good." Solitaire says, jokingly demure. "But it takes the challenge out of it. New comm equipment sounds good to me, but tech isn't really my thing.  All the armor I've ever needed is my jacket, and the I've yet to find a better weapon than a boot to the head. Although, a laser sword has promise, if Grav can build a lightsaber I'll carry it around." She chuckles, that was an image. If Grav didn't invent one, somebody else would, probably a nerdy nova with telekinetic powers, then there would be real Jedi running around. The lawsuit would be hilarious.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:24, Mon 19 Oct 2009.

"Trackers ... foam ... scramblers ..."  He scribed it all down, along with a reminder to look up what 'wiki'd' meant.  "I don't know squat about nanotechnology.  I'll start reading up on radios and things, though.  Maybe I'll be able to help Grav or P with communicators."

"Okay, anything else?"

"The laser swords could be a good idea especially if you were able to make a stun setting. You know for non lethal scenarios. I could definately help train everyone not familiar in techniques. But I'll just take my normal ones here. Maybe if we could produce an unbreakable metal that is non magnetic and could cut through anything. Then  my katanas would be even better."

"Ooh, 'Kaze has a good point.  Non lethal weapons would be good.  That way if we should be in a large fight we can use non-lethal to subdue the weaker people and save our powers for the end boss type novas"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Tue 20 Oct 2009.

Those keeping up with tech (Grav, Zero, Phatasm) and military advancements (Comstock, Zero, Suzukaze) have likely seen a few things like those mentioned, such as the hardening foam which is being used by some elites and military forces already, or articles in scientific journals discussing the future of implanted communications tech.  But the other things are firmly in the theoretical stages (or so far above your Utopia clearance level that they might as well be), and even the equipment that already exists could be further improved upon.

Quentin takes notes mentally as his teammates begin to brainstorm about tech. He weighs each idea on the scales of practicality, feasibility, and time/monitaey cost. "Some of that is already possible," he notes. "Adapting existing communication and armor tech to nova purposes shouldn't be too hard." He grins, "I may need some time to create 'a more elegant weapon' though. I won't say it's impossible though - not yet."

He already had some ideas - highly focused magnetic fields and careful power modulation. The real trick wasn't so much making it a finite length as making it strong enough to actually cut something and yet still have a self-contained power source.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Wed 21 Oct 2009.

Dillon nodded to Suzukaze.  "I'm working on that unbreakable metal.  Right now, the titanium is lighter and faster than steel, allowing you to take better advantage of high velocity and acceleration.  The day I make something better, you'll be the second to know.  Right after our Utopia bosses, who'll probably go nuts at the idea of an unbreakable replacement for steel."

He scribbled down 'non-lethal' and 'stun-swords/batons?' in his notes.  "Alright brains ... any volunteers for a particular project?"

"I don't mind working on some of the crap work on these projects.  Running numbers, formulating different design specs, that sort of stuff.  I can do all that in the back of my head while watching tv or something, so it won't be too much work.  But I'm not really great for the inventing thing, I'd rather just expand on the work I'm given.

You know what I'd like to see?  Some sort of material that auto-attunes to quantum signatures, or maybe that draws power from an attuned nova to increase the strength of its molecular bonds... That would be your super steel right there.  Good luck making that btw Grav."

Comstock stared off into space.  "Huh."

Quentin made a face, "Doesn't eufiber already satisfy those criteria?" Though he'd seen the research that'd been done regarding eufiber, he didn't have much first-hand experience with the stuff. Something about his personal quantum signature seemed to kill the real stuff.

"I think so, but it would be nice to have somthing like that didn't shriek and die if I touch it you know? Solitaire had lost count of the wardrobes she'd ruined during her many run-ins with high-explosives. Something that would, for a lack of a better word, heal itself would be a godsend. She was getting annoyed with the way people stared when she went to go get a new pair of jeans. She could, of course, hire people to do that for her, but really, she didn't like to be dependent on other's for anything. It was a essential part of her self-image to be self-sufficient.

Gravitas's new toys were usually fun though, even if Solitaire had no idea how they  worked.

"Not exactly.  I know you don't really use it so you aren't as aware of it's properties, but it does have some limitations.  Now, you could probably use it as the basis for some other sorts of synthetic materials, and that would be an option, but just the eufiber itself... not really.  And I'm not sure how I feel about eufiber anyway, having a colony of hungry little critters that respond to my will is great and all, but it's also kind of weird, and a potential weakness, as you've seen yourself Grav, since it can die off.  It seems like it'd be nice if Dillon or Sol could pick up a weapon and it wouldn't break under their strength, or if Flare could put on armor without it bursting into flame, and without having to pump juice into it just to protect it.

You know... maybe it would be fun to work with some inventing after all.  Sorry to tangent slightly here, but it just occurred to me that we could probably work on eufiber itself, make some weird variants.  Not sure if its necessarily useful, but it'd be informative and interesting.  My suite responds totally different than most of the others I've seen, for example.  Could we maybe cross it with other strains and get new properties?  I'm sure R&D has messed with that sort of stuff too, before they handed out our stuff, but it would be fun to play with ourselves."

Armor would be cool.  I love my eufiber, they are named Fred, but something that can't die would be nice.

"Alright.  That's a fair amount to work with.  Definitely enough to start working.  If anyone else has any requests or ideas, let me know or bring it up at our next meeting.

"Alright, Doc, floor's yours.  Tell us what you've got on our buddy Juan."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The conversation felt like it was dying down, so I thought this would be a good close to the "Aftermath from Clubs, Coke, and Civvies."  Zero, if you want to keep posting and submit a plan for how to deal with Juan and his cartel friends, thread's yours.

---

Once the meeting was over, Comstock wanted to look in on Hardbody.  Last he heard the nova wasn't dead, but he hadn't heard if they could reattach the arm or not.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:59, Wed 21 Oct 2009.

"-and P, you have got to keep your powers under control!"  Comstock's voice rumbled with ambient subharmonics, proof of his frustration.

The team was stalking back into the central bunker after the bust in Henderson, a bit scratched up but none the worse for wear.  Except for alarming the crowd and destroying a house.  Comstock's second skin and eufiber were forming edges and fractal patterns as his brain churned through events, reviewing mistakes.  "Hey!  Are you listening?"

Noticing the others, he moved to take Phantasm aside and out of the corridor, trying to keep his voice under control to curtain eavesdropping.  "Your ghosts damn near tore a man apart back there, and I don't want to see them freaking out anymore crowds!  What if there had been a camera on us just then?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Picks up after the vignette of the same title.  Whereas that was just a self-contained little thing that assumes maximum ass-kicking and awesome for everyone, crowd participation is welcome in this little post-action fracas.

Edit: This arc adjusted to occur in August, 2003.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 05:35, Fri 13 Nov 2009.

Her voice raising, Phantasm replies angrily to Dillon.
"What the hell do you want me to do Dillon?  I summon MONSTERS to eat the bad guys, that isn't exactly a PR dream-come-true, and never will be.  And it didn't even go after that guy, it just growled a bit at the dumbass when he ran in for a look at the 'cool nova action'.  Serves him right for being stupid.  Oh, and also, even if my creations managed to become all bunnies and rainbows overnight, I'm pretty sure the baselines would still be weirded out by them anyway; the quantum energies seem to disturb the people almost as much as the images, kind of like some of the really warped novas when they're interacting with baselines.

And since the making 'phantasms' is what I contribute to a fight, not having them around isn't really an option, now is it?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:05, Tue 27 Oct 2009.

"You haven't exactly been playing it subtle with the shifting out there P!  I-" he paused, rubbed his forehead, "I'm not asking for miracles out there.  Just keep it reigned in, okay?"  It came off harsher than he meant.

Shocked into silence, when she talks again, Phantasm's voice is quiet and flat.
"Just because you have the ears of a garbage can doesn't mean that everyone else does.  Nice of you to share with the whole team though.  I didn't see you complaining when I shredded Shooter to save our asses, or when monster teddy bears leveled a city block back in the EW.  But sure, next time I'll keep it all reigned in, and you can save your own ass."

Phantasm storms off, away from the meeting, and doesn't look at anyone as she goes.  She slams the door to her room, scaring the cat, who hides from her under the bed.  Everyone's running away from me it looks like...

A few tears tried to make their way out, but her body adapted to conserve the water, and really, she didn't want to give in to that particular weakness anyway.  Settling onto the bed, she stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out who she was, who she wanted to be, and what would actually make her happy.  Because this just isn't cutting it anymore...

---

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

Trying to crack open the secrets so that the team as a whole can get an opening into P's past and powers.  Hopefully it will eventually make her more useful and integrate her in more.

---

In reply to Comstock (msg #102):

"You know Boss," Solitaire, leaning forward over over Comstock's shoulder, says as Phantasm departs, "You probably could have handled that better."

She hadn't been trying to eavesdrop, but she couldn't avoid hearing everything short of the movement of air molecules in her vicinity. She'd drifted up behind him as their conversation had finished, since she'd found it odd to hear them arguing like that, 'Stock and 'Tasm had always been close. Stress, she figured, it was a killer.

"Since you gave me the Exec slot, I do feel I should point that out. I'm not really into all the PR stuff, Imp handles that, but I can tell you that if the baseline public doesn't trust us yet, they're not going to at all. We're not Super-Heroes Comstock, we're just Super-Human." Solitaire floats over him and sets herself down in front of him. "But please, don't project your own frustrations on Phantasm, she's got her own problems.  You don't need to look any further than her creations to see that.  But they're just that, her problems, she doesn't need yours too." She pokes him in the chest for emphasis. "She didn't do anything different than she always does, and now your telling her she screwed up. You think perhaps that all of her 'phantasms' are so creepy as a way to put on a brave face? To be bigger and meaner and tougher and scarier than anything she might face to compensate deep seated self-confidence issues?" Solitaire spoke from experience there, she had a bit of that. Not that she would admit it. "She might be a good deal more fragile than you think, but you know her best of us, still, for somebody who's skin is made of metal, its really easy to get under it."

Solitaire turns away, walking off toward her quarters as well, but turns her head and says over her shoulder, "If you want her to be less scary, you should find out what her problems are and help her work through them, don't just tell her to 'reign it in'. We can't do that, our powers come from here." She taps her head with one finger, then continues away. It was kinda funny really, Solitaire was only good at interpersonal relationships at one remove. It was why she had such a small group of friends.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Tue 27 Oct 2009.

"Damnit P!  I didn't-" he froze, realizing his mistake.



Comstock ground his teeth together as Solitaire echoed his conscience, angry.  Mostly at himself.  "I try to keep it thin, Sol," he muttered.  "And you're probably right."

Comstock turned back to the others, speaking plainly, defeated.  "Was everyone listening?  Any other secrets you guys want me to spill?"

Imp was busy doing Media Fixation, as he had started calling it, while the rest of the team was tying off the loose ends behind him.  It didn't seem right that they should be doing the grunt work while he stood in front of the camera and yammered on and on about social responsibility and working together to build a better tomorrow.  Still, if he hadn't been doing his job somebody might be able to see the body of the perp 'Tasm's construct had torn in two.  As it was even people at home, on tv, or watching this stuff weeks later on their computers would be unable to notice more than green glowing action happening behind his trademark grin.
Once the fireworks were over he made his way back to where the team was regrouping.  He didn't have Sol's hearing, but he was no slouch either.
"Yeah, 'Stock, most of us heard it.  It's what we do, take human and ramp it up further than it should go.  And, speaking of secrets, I'd love to know your dad's chili and ribs recipes, I've eaten at rib joints all over the world and haven't found anything better."  Imp's natural proclivities towards being a peacmaker were probably pissing people off, but still, somebody had to do it, and it might as well be the person who nobody could dislike, even if they wanted to.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
not using any quantum fu on people, just being my normal unnervingly charming self.

---

Suzukaze catches up with Solitaire. "Hey Sol... You want to come with me to check on Phantasm. I like to plan alittle trip. Leave the guys and all this behind for a bit. Something other than the usual drinking and partying we usually do on off times."

"Honestly though, PR or not, baselines are expecting crazy shit from us.  As long as they don't get eaten I think its fine.  Whether its my flame, Suz's swords, your metal or Phantasm's shadows, its all just one big theme park to the norms."

Being serious so serious for so often was starting to bug Flare, so she just let the attack of giggle come as a strange thought passed through her head.

"I can see it now, 'I was eaten by a giant demonic teddy bear and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'"

In reply to Suzukaze (msg #107):

"A lot of that drinking and partying is my idea you know," Solitaire chuckles, continuing to walk. "But It would good to get out and do something else, I suppose. Did you have something in mind? Whatever it is, you might want a disguise as well, it's much easier to have some fun if we're not 'us' in the off hours."

"No need for us to wear disguises. A Uncle of mine owns a hotel with hotsprings. Nice and secluded . We can just unwind and relax. Just us girls the guys should be able to hold everything down. What do you think?"

Zero walks out from behind Flare, seemingly from nowhere. "Oh! I like that! Excuse me." Zero whips out a black cellphone, taps some buttons, and stats talking. "Hello? Mary? Yeah! Zero! My co-worker's given me a killer idea for Phantasm shirts for the concerts. 'I was eaten by a giant demonic teddy bear and all I got was this lousy T-shirt' Yeah? I know, right? Good stuff! Please have the artists send me some stuff asap, and we'll see if we can get them ready before next month's concert. Thanks! TTFN." Zero hangs up, happily. "So, what is your bank account, so I may reimburse you for your brilliance, my dear Flare?"



"Can I come?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Fri 30 Oct 2009.

Flare stares for a few seconds before pulling out a battered checkbook.

"That would totally, and awesomely, rock and can I have a t-shirt too?"

In reply to Dr. Zero (msg #111):

Suzukaze turns and looks at Zero confusingly. "Ummm.... I'm sorry Zero but just the girls..." She pauses for a second putting her hand to her chin she grins. "Although if you want to pose for some naked hotsprings photos. Annette would simply love them the next time I go visit her. Hey that would be a good merchandise idea T2M pinup calenders. The ladies of T2M for the guys, and the men of T2M for the ladies."

"But of course." The Doctor wrote the account number down.



"Oh, Lord! I'm too modest for this line of inquiry! Toddles!" Zero waves and leaps over a nearby fence.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:38, Sat 31 Oct 2009.

Suzukaze turns to Solitaire... "Holy shi... Did I.... Did I just creep out Zero? Is that a first?"

"I believe so, and I think there should be some kind of prize for that achievement."

"Quite possibly, though I suspect that the Doc is more put off by the fact that he'd have to remove his mask than posing nude in the first place." Solitaire smirks, "A good effort just the same. OK, so Suzukaze, go grab Phantasm. Flare, go find Slider, ask for a portal, and why not invite her to tag along too. I'll go check in with Frostburn ans schedule some 'emergency training'. Grab anything you'll need and meet at the Teleport pad in 15 minutes. Sound good?"

-----

A few minutes later, Solitaire pokes her head into Frostburns office, inquiring, "Hey Frosty, all of us girls are going to a hot spring Suzukaze's uncle owns to blow off some steam. Thought I'd clear it with you, and invite you if you wanted to come along, but its a hot spring, and you know. You do the ice thing."

-----

A few minutes after that, Solitaire seated herself on the edge of the platform, setting her backpack with a change of clothes and a few other essentials next to her, and waited for the others to show up. She wondered perhaps is Suzukaze had wanted a bit more than 15 minutes to set this up, then shrugged, spontaneity was a good thing, and Solitaire couldn't remember the last time she'd needed a reservation for anything.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:34, Sun 01 Nov 2009.

Suzukaze nods back at Solitaire. She turns and pulls out her cell as she races down the hall. She slows down as she approaches Phantasm's door. Ending her conversation she closes her cell and knocks at Phantasm's door. "Hey Phantasm. It's Suzukaze. I know we have had differences, but I'd like to make things right. May I come in?"

In reply to Suzukaze (msg #118):

"Ah... sure thing.  What's up?"

Suzukaze opens the door and walks in. She bows to Phantasm. "My Uncle and his family run a hotsprings resort in my home country. So I made plans for us to go. Just us girls. A girls night or few you could say. Just get away from all this and relax leave the guys behind. Solitaire just went to clear things with Frostburn, and Flare went to get Slider. Sol is probally on her way to the platform or on her way. I'd really like it if you could come. What do you say?"

In reply to Solitaire (msg #117):

Frostburn sighs as she puts down the paperwork on her desk and closes the laptop.

"Well, I hope you have fun.  We're dead around here, and you don't have any charity events on the horizon for another week or so.

And I'd actually love to go, but I don't think its a good idea for me to be seen fraternizing with you guys, I'm about to become your boss instead of just your trainer.  Shouldn't have come as a surprise they were finding someone new, since 'Walker blew out of here... Just surprising they want me for the job.  But anyway, you'll hear more about it in the briefing when it becomes official in a few weeks, but I figured you'd like the heads up early.

OK Sol, get out, enjoy, don't let the paparazzi catch you doing anything too crazy."

"Ah...
Uh...
Sure?"
Phantasm confusedly grabs a few things and then follows 'Kaze out of the room, wondering as she leaves, What am I getting myself into now?

"This is going to be great. I always loved the hotsprings. So relaxing." Suzukaze makes a quick stop in her room grabbing a few things. Then leads the way to meet the others. A quick discussion with Slider over where to transport them to. She looks the happiest anyone on the team has seen so far of her. She looks around. "So everyone ready?"

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I'm not sure if this should be moved over to one of the other threads like off the clock.

---

Those who aren't aware of the girls trip to the hotspring are probably a bit shocked to see Flare running to and fro in a flame bikini with matching sarong in the middle of a Nevada base. Then again this may be tame compared to some of the other novas.

Flare nearly runs over Slider as she finds her.  "OOh, will you come? You should its going to be great! I saw it on one of those history shows with samurai and geisha and stuff, so can you? If your not too busy?"

She looks expectantly at Slider, who looks back wondering what is wrong with the girl for a bit, when Flare slaps her own forehead.

"Sorry, I'm psyched about vacationing.  Suz and all the girls are going to a hotspring in Japan and we though you might like to come, and might be willing to port us there."

After getting some sort of nod Flare darts off to find her favorite flip flops.

In reply to Frostburn (msg #121):

Solitaire chuckles, "You know I like that quiet life Frosty. And when have I got caught doing anything crazy. The closest was the picture of me with a thong floating over my head outside Archon that first week. I can spot a camera man a mile away. Sure you don't wanna come?"

-----

Solitaire watched as Slider opened one of her portals, she was always interested and amused by the way very similar powers manifested very differently in the hands of different Nova's. Grav's portals seemed to either hyper-compress the space between two points, or something, like a black hole. She wasn't familiar with the physics (or lack thereof) behind it. Slider's portals on the other hand, seemed to simply ignore the intervening space completely. It was as if she could slice and patch bits and pieces of reality together. She made a note to go find some other porting Nova for further comparison.

"Lead on Suzukaze, this is your show."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Wed 04 Nov 2009.

---

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

I'll reply to this in "off the clock to facilitate transfer.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:56, Wed 04 Nov 2009.

After the girls wandered off, Comstock gave a thin smile.  "Thanks Imp."  He grimaced, the act of forcing the metal back inside taking some effort this time.  "I ... guess I'll ask my Dad next time I see him."  He lingered a few moments, then turned-in to write his after action reports.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:35, Fri 06 Nov 2009.

"Woah, wait up a bit, big man." Imp hurried to catch up to his friend. "Those reports can wait." He escorted the titanium colossus off to a quiet corner o a nearby parking lot. "The others might not be able to tell, but I know the stress is getting to you.  I know you never really wanted to be in charge, which is why you're the best man for the job.  I also know that you haven't played basketball in ages.  So, here's the deal.  You meet me later tonight at the basketball court and get some of that weight off your chest, and I won't arrange it so that your mom is made personnel manager for the base and is given her own place right across from yours, and I won't tell her how stressed out you've been.  Deal?"

Comstock stared hard at Impetus.  "You know ... it's even worse that you aren't bullshitting me or hitting me with any of that ... stuff."  He waved his hand near his head.

"'Tis true.  It's sorta like being in the police station and having the big gorilla crack his knuckles and say 'we can do this the easy way and the hard way, makes no difference to me' and you know that he's telling the unadorned truth.  However, I respect you too much to fuck with your head using social node fu.  Seriously, we'll shoot some hoops drink some beer or degreaser or whatever.  Just because you're the strong one all the time doesn't mean that you don't need some tlc too."  Imp has that friendly, joking tone to his voice, with an undertone of total sincerity.

"Alright, alright ... business first, then I'll pull three or four hours aside, alright?"  He gave Imp the thumbs up.

---

Later at the basketball court, waiting for Impetus, Comstock dribbled and shot from the three point line.  He made the shot about as often as he always did.  Maybe slightly more often.

Imp sauntered over to the courts, they were far nicer than they were when the team had arrived, better surface, better nets.  Lights.  In one hand Imp had a large box of beer, each bottle from a different highly renowned German brewery.  In the other he had a stereo, loaded with what Dillon's high school yearbook had said was his favorite music.  Floating ahead of him was a chunk of grey rock.  It was maybe the size of his fist.
"Hey buddy," Imp said, "your form's improving."  He set the beer down, put the stereo down beside it and pushed play.  He floated the rock on over to Dillon.  "This is a piece of ore we got from the asteroid belt, it's about 60kg, careful. I was thinking that you'd run out of Earth based stuff to emulate, and that you'd find something weirder more interesting."  He popped the top off the case of beer and handed his friend a bottle, then selected one for himself. He took a swig, waled over to the half court line and drained a basket.  "So, tell me, Dill, how you doin'?  You seem to be a bit stressed."
[Private to Comstock: I was reading the companion and came across extreme density in density control, allows mega str 6.  Thought you might find it interesting.]
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Sun 08 Nov 2009.

"Oh ... hey, thanks man."  Dillon smiled, looking at the nickel-iron hunk with a bit of wonder.  "I ... y'know to tell the truth, I haven't really reached out a lot.  Just stuck with steel, rebarb, silver, copper ... simple stuff.  Haven't even touched that vial of mercury Zero gave me back on day one."  He considered the rock a moment more, then put it down and went to collect the basketball.

"I ... look Imp, this is a bit fast and weird.  To me.  All this.  Hell, I didn't even know you a little while ago.  Now I've been on damn near every continent backing up Pax and the rest.  And, like ... and with the reorganization at the end of last year we're not just the Auxiliaries anymore, we're a full Team.  T2M Americas."  Comstock dribbled a bit.  "Fuck, man ... it's not like I can't handle it, but I wasn't made for this, you know?"

[Private to Impetus: Saw it awhile ago, actually, and it is a much cheaper way to reach Mega-6 for Comstock.  Also, the near infinite soak buff is nice.  It's on the list as a future buff, along with Superheavy Armor, ]

"A little fast?  Christ, man, we've gone from Joe Below Average to the very apex of fame and acclaim in less time than it takes to housebreak a puppy.  We deal with international incidents, we are spokesnovas for god knows how many brands that we couldn't afford before, and we have paparazzi crawling all over us.  It's a huge load!" He takes the ball from Dillon and drains another basket. "None of us were made for this, I don't think anybody has ever been made for this, but we can take the pressure and turn into something that can withstand it, gain power from it, and become something more.  Speaking of pressure, and release, how's dating going?"

Dillon laughed.  "Been a bit busy, Imp.  Not really a priority."  He collected the ball again, dribbled a few times, then passed it to Imp.  "And the answer's no, man, no.  I'm not making time for that."
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:05, Mon 09 Nov 2009.

"Fair enough," Imp laughed,  "But really, why not?  It's one of the most human things that we can do.  Even if it's just a one night thing the post coital glow makes you feel like you really connected with somebody, even if only briefly."  Imp dribbled back to the top of the key at the opposite end of the court, then spun, jumped, and shot.  He started jogging back to Dillon as the ball swished through the net, "I know that my relationship with Caroline has really helped keep me sane, helped put things in perspective, helped keep me connected with other people, instead of just seeing them as things that need to be saved."  He sauntered over to the case and pulled out another beer, one of the benefits of being a nova was that you could enjoy beer all you wanted without getting the least bit drunk, which was also one of the downsides.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Mon 09 Nov 2009.

"How's Caroline, anyway?  I haven't really seen much of her."  Dillon grabbed the ball and tried another shot himself, avoiding the question.  "That whole philosopher-club thing of yours still going on?"

"She's good, really good.  She's pretty busy, just like we are, jetting around, talking with people, organizing things, researching.  Sometime,s when she forgets herself, and she really starts into what she thinks about who we are and what we're capable of I can barely follow her, but the breadcrumbs she leaves behind are fascinating.
And yeah, the discussions that are going on are amazing.  You should really come with me, or one of the others, one of these days, It's refreshing, talking with people who treat you as an equal, not as an icon or some jumped up Carebear."
He took another drink.  "Dillon, what do you see us doing in 5 years?"

Dillon missed his shot but managed to score on a layup.  "Uh ... pffft ... early retirement?  Fighting with China for no good reason?"  He collected the ball and tried spinning it on a fingertip.  "Probably putting out fires.  Just like now.  I mean, that's not all a bad thing.  It's a hell of a lot more than I was doing with the US Army, and it might suck for me but I'm seeing real benefits."

"Yeah, but why is it us who're putting out fires?  Really?  Novas aren't the ones starting the wars, but we're the ones fighting them.  Why are we the ones on teh front lines, getting our deaths glorified on N!?  I bet you if I grabbed a video camera and filmed human soldiers killing other human soldiers with AK-47s and tried to get paid for putting it on TV I'd be demonized within heartbeats.  I'm guessing that in 5 years we'll still be doing the same things, just in different places, simply because humanity will lean on us like a sick man on a crutch.  Until the crutch is taken away he'll never be able to walk on his own, and he'll be able to do so many more things than he could leaning on his walking aid.  That's why I'm talking to kids all over the world, that's why I'm making education such a big deal, Humanity is more than it's allowing itself to be, just like novas are more than we're allowing ourselves to be. Meh." Imp trots over, grabs the ball and begins dribbling, ball a blur between his hand and the court.  "You're one of the most reliable people I've ever met, Dill, but this media circus has gotten to you too.  It's driving wedges between us, making us strangers to those most like us.  A friend of mine said that he foresaw war, war that will happen between baselines and novas, and he doesn't know if our actions are holding it back, or fanning the flames."  Imp smiles, sardonically, "Looks like there might have been some underlying need to get stuff off my chest as well."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Mon 09 Nov 2009.

"Gotten to me?"  Dillon stared, dumbstruck.  But you're the ringleader for that circus.  "You're giving off some weird signals Imp.  First you want me to think about dating, and now you're talking like you're not human at all anymore."  A bit of silver started seeping out onto his skin.

"Look, I'll ... I try not to think too hard about this kind of stuff.  Don't have time and I don't think at light-speed like the rest of you.  I don't know if there's war ahead or not.  There's always war, I mean, but I don't know if I buy this race war thing, us versus them."  He ran a hand over his head.  "I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a monster, but I'm trying Imp.  I don't mess with moon-rocks or go dating.  I don't push my powers and I stay focused, and that keeps me more me for a little longer."

Imp settles gracefully onto the bleachers.  "I guess I am sorta juxtaposing things, aren't I?"  He frowns and takes a long pull of beer.  "Guess it's all still not clear in my head, maybe Grav has it all sorted out, but I'm still groping my way through blind, I think we all are.
They've gotten to me, the project and the media, you know.  On the one hand they want us to be these shining paragons of power and honor that everybody should look up to, and look to to solve their problems.  On the other they want us to be the guy next door, just like everybody else except for that little grey lump in our brains.  I'm not sure who I am, but i think it's neither of those."
He finishes the beer, and another one levitates out of the case, opens itself, and floats over to his waiting hand.
"I'm not sure about this race war either, you know me, Mr. Peacemaker, but, well remember teh fear and hatred that was in teh news just after the Equatorial wars?  Yikes.  There's fear and hatred on the other side as well, I've met some former Elites who're plenty angry at and frightened of baselines.
And you, a monster? Hah.  You're always in control, always doing the right thing for the right reason.  I'm jealous, really."

"Nah ... I just follow my instincts, you know?  I want to keep what defines me and I know that some things I just ... don't have much say in."

"I mean," Dillon took a seat himself, "well shit as long as we're being forward about all this, you can talk damn near anyone you want into damn near anything, including sex.  Definitely sex.  But you've been pretty clear that it, you know, bothers you that it's that easy, right?"

"But then there's me.  Like, what happens if I meet the girl, it's going well, there's kissing and everything and for whatever reason she's okay with the fact that I've got skin like a kitchen appliance.  Still nothing we can do.  Assuming my fluids aren't toxic -- another reason I've been staying away from Zero's sample, man -- if I go to bed with someone I'm probably killing them."  He paused, imagining the frightening scenario in his head.  "Hell, it didn't take much for me to break that Elite, Hardbody.  I just wanted to break his shoulder.  I start thinking about that and going to bed with someone makes me feel sick."

Recomposing himself, Dillon reached for a bottle of beer, just holding onto it.  "No, man, don't want it.  And I know there are people out there that don't get it, don't understand, so I try to make sure they know I'm on the right side.  I think people will stick by me.  Most people, anyway.  And more people will stick by you if you ask 'em.  That's why I don't like this 'race war' talk.  If I learned anything in Africa, it's that this is all bullshit and the best we can do is make everyone get along and stop drawing bullshit divisions."  He started thinking back to his speech at New Years' and sighed.

"You know, my dad thinks you should run for President.  Thinks I sound more and more like a smart guy every day. 'course, he also thinks Raoul's Mexican."

"There should be no bullshit divisions, really, but there should be no bullshit "we're all the same" nonsense either.  Those of us who have erupted have different needs and problems than those who haven't.  Oh, we've got a lot of the same ones too, but, really, why do I have things like a bed?  I hardly ever use it.  Or closets?  I've got my eufiber, it's all I need.  Utopia gave us some really nice stuff, but it's designed to fulfill needs that some of us just don't have.
And yeah, you would probably kill a baseline if you lost control in the heat of the moment, so would Sol, if you think about it.  I might too, and I'm nowhere near as strong as either of you.  You wouldn't have the same problem with another nova, my friend.  We're not as fragile.  We don't get sick.  We heal better.  Yeah, you tore that guy's arm out of its socket.  You look at some of those gigantic baselines on the old World's Strongest Man shows and I'm pretty sure they could do horrific things to someone that pissed them off.  They still have wives and kids though.  I know that you wouldn't lose control, Comstock.  You shouldn't be afraid of yourself.
If we're talking being afraid of what we can do, I should be pretty damn worried myself. I can make virtually any baseline do almost anything, given enough time.  It's a bit harder with men, but with women, no problem.  It's why I stopped shagging baselines, that and because Caroline is, well, special. If we're all human then I know there's that essence of humanity in you that really longs to connect with somebody.  Hell, it doesn't have to be sex.  Just having a close relationship with someone of the appropriate gender could help you to stay human.
And could you imagine me as president?  I'd have more interns trying to get into the oval office than Clinton ever did."

Dillon cracked a smile.  "Yeah ..."  He didn't sound convinced, but did seem more relaxed.  "You know, I'd actually play you one on one if I didn't know how that would end already."

Frostburn sat behind her new desk.  It felt claustrophobic with all the files, the computer, and the knowledge that she would be trapped in an administrative position for the foreseeable future.  But it was still better than the alternative.  Yes, there would be other people doing the dirty operations, but at least it wouldn't be her anymore.

She picked up the file of the young woman she was interviewing today.  Not that it mattered, she didn't decide who was on "her" team.  Utopia higher-ups made all the big decisions; Frostburn was just middle management.  But it wouldn't do to have the new kid realize that.  People needed to feel that their supervisors were powerful and competent, especially the new recruits.  And she was curious about her new assignment.

Gale erupted early, yet didn't have anywhere near the power of the others from that time period.  And she abandoned her nova life to finish out school, an extremely uncommon move for most novas.  Now she wanted to join Utopia all of a sudden, and Frostburn wanted to know why.

The base supervisor buzzed her secretary, "Send in Gale."

Gale quietly entered Frostburn's office, trying not to look as nervous as she felt.  She hadn't done that many interviews so far, but she supposed she would have to get used to them.  She was dressed in a pinstripe suit, with a bright turquoise scarf that she wore around her neck.  Her wings arched gracefully behind her through special openings in the suit, giving away that she had invested in some eufiber.

She offered her hand for a handshake as she approached the desk.  "Hi, I'm Gale.  Nice to meet you."  She managed to avoid scratching Frostburn's hands with her black curved claws, a deliberate motion, and yet practiced enough that some might not pick up on it.

"Nice to meet you Gale, I go by Frostburn for the most part.  I'll be your supervisor while you are with T2M:A, though you'll make most of your reports to either Comstock or Solitaire.

So.  I've read through your file, and I'm curious... Tell me a little bit about yourself, and why you've decided to only now join up with Team Tomorrow."

Gale took a seat as she nodded to indicate she understood.

"Well, I erupted when I was only 16, I'm sure that's in the file.  I wasn't very comfortable with the whole Nova thing back then, and I was still a minor when Team Tomorrow started up.  I was asked to join because I was part of the original study on Novas."  She shrugged and gave a smile.  "But I was just 16.  I don't think anyone knows what they want to do with the rest of their life at 16.  So I went back to school.  It was familiar, and gave me time to finish growing up."

"Of course, I could have joined at 18, but I was in college.  And then I was in graduate school, well, until this spring."   She shifted positions, a little uncomfortable with this particular subject.  She had been making eye contact up until this point, now she seemed to focus on a spot a little to her right.  "I ended up dropping out because of anti-Nova sentiments within my department.  Someone left a mutilated dead bird on my desk.  It wasn't exactly subtle, you know?"

"In a nutshell, I guess I'm joining because I want to be somewhere where being a Nova isn't a bad thing, and I think I'm mature enough now to handle it."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Fri 13 Nov 2009.

"Hmm... That's a very mature outlook.  Not to sound condescending, it's just that most people that gain awesome power in the span of a few days tend to be a bit more erratic than you.

So, your powers, it says here---"

The phone rings at this point in the conversation, and holds up her hand and smiles in apology for the interruption.  She picks up the phone and says "This will only take a moment.  Frostburn here--"

As seconds pass, her face goes blank, and she doesn't speak.  Finally, she says "I'm on it," and hangs up the phone.

"There are some problems.  Your orientation was going to be a bit more gentle than this, but you may actually be needed since you won't be emotional regarding the situation... Though you may decide not to join after this.  Follow me."

---

Frostburn leaves her office and hits her commlink.
"Everyone that's here, we need to talk, meet me in front of the barracks."

Imp chuckled.  "I could tie an arm and a leg together behind my back.  That'd slow me down.  Ouch!" Imp flew sideways as Dillon gave him a friendly forearm to teh choulder.  "Or not." He grinned, rubbing his shoulder.  "Alright buddy, I guess we've shirked our responsibilities for long enough, time to get back to saving the world." He picked up the stereo and beer.  "Time to go to the media room and make nice with the public.  At least the guys and girls in the control room will enjoy the beer, which'll brighten this long winter's night.  Give what I said about some nova on nova quality time some thought, it's done wonders for me." Imp wandered over to the broadcast building, whistling Christmas carols.  When he was halfway there his communicator buzzed into life.  His casual stroll quickly accelerated to a blur of movement as he rocketed through the broadcast building, dropped the beer and stereo on the snack room table, and headed over to the barracks to meet Frosty.  He didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was had to be better than jabbering at the camera again.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Thu 12 Nov 2009.

Gale gave a polite nod when the phone rang.  Of course, it wasn't Frostburn's fault for the timing.  At Frostburn's reactions though, she couldn't help raising her eyebrows a little in surprise.

Of course, she stood up and followed Frostburn out of the office, her shoes making rapid clicks on the floor as she attempted to keep up.  She didn't ask any questions, assuming that Frostburn would explain what was going on when "everyone" arrived.

"Yeah ... hey than-"


"Ah, fuckin' thing."  Dillon grabbed for his comms and strapped them back onto his head.  "Copy, Frostburn: Comstock and Impetus here, be there in 30 seconds.  Over."  Comstock, metal out, checked over the court for anything he was leaving behind.  "Imp, make it fast then come on.  I hope to hell this isn't another drill."

He jogged out in front of the reinforced bunker they called home, looking for Frostburn and the emergency.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:39, Thu 12 Nov 2009.

Quentin looked up from what he'd been welding and reached toward the comlink he'd abandoned on a nearby table. The comlink floated into his grasp as he shut down the torch. "Gravitas copies, en route." He gave his work area a quick once-over to ensure that everything was in good order and set off at a jog. He had to exit the lab complex and, once outside broke into a sprint to cover the distance between the lab and the barracks more quickly.

He decelerated without actually skidding to a halt and greeted the others with a nod.

Frostburn is waiting with an unknown nova when you all arrive.  Her face is unreadable.

"This isn't a drill, and we aren't going anywhere for the time being.  Walk with me."

Is someone going to get in trouble?  Is this going to be some sort of test, or introduction to the new nova?  Hard to say, but Frostburn takes them on a trip into the training grounds, through the part of the base that never was remodeled and is still empty.  As they pass the building used for their first training session (wasn't that flood scenario miserable?), Frostburn starts talking.

"So, I have some bad news, for all of you.  There have been... accidents.  Or at least there is nothing but circumstantial evidence to suggest otherwise.  I... am just going to say this, sugar coating isn't going to do any good anyway:

Your sister, Comstock, died in a car wreck.  She hit a tree, 30 feet off the road, and hers were the only skid marks.  Her two youngest kids are in ICU.  You'll want to visit I'm sure, I've got all the info.

Grav, your brother died of alcohol poisoning late last night.  Alone in his dorm, drinking BEER.

Imp, your father fell down the stairs to your house and broke his neck.  No, not the ones IN the house, the three steps leading up the porch to the door.

Flare also had an incident, but I'll wait for that until she gets back.  Let them have their vacation."

"Mary?"  This was a blindside.  In classic form, Comstock got quiet and stared into space, thinking.

Quentin's brow knitted up in a scowl. Others in the area might feel themselves getting slightly heavier. "This cannot simply be a coincidence," he stated flatly. "Its nearly impossible for anyone to poison themselves on beer. And for that to happen at the same time as these other events? I'll admit its not impossible - I of all people should know that - but it is too improbable to dismiss."

He was quiet for a moment as he pieced together facts, calculated probabilities, and tried to think about what to do about his brother. What would he say to his parents? He'd never been close to his brother - they were 8 years apart in age, and Quentin's eruption certainly hadn't closed any distance between him and his family. But they'd still been brothers. He was convinced that someone had taken him from him, from his parents, and deprived him of his future.

"Someone is after our families," he concluded. Their recent work against the cartels presented an obvious suspect, "And they're trying to make it look like an accident. Is anything being done about this?" If possible, his eyes seemed to darken further, "The rest of our families should be put in protective custody."

"We have our best clairsentients and post-cogs working on it, but that's about 3 people.  And they aren't getting much, aside that it was in fact an accident.  In all cases.

But that doesn't mean this was just a series of perfectly timed accidents.  People like Anteaus want us to consider possibilities of some sort of quantum synchronicity, while our PR people are afraid to make a big deal, in case it gives people ideas regarding targeting the families of novas.  The Cartels are certainly a possibility, and where my money is.

As for protective custody, well, where do we put them?  We technically have no reason to hold them, and most won't want to go somewhere indefinitely.  We can't keep a full team of nova guards on hand to protect them at their homes, either.  We could bring them here, if you want, and I would pressure Utopia to allow that, but it's your call.

I still need to consult with Flare and Sol as well.

Dillon, you alright?  Imp, you with us?"

Imp snapped out of his shock.  He'd never been close to his father, but there had been something solid, enduring about the man that had made Jason believe that the old guy would last forever.  His mind switched back to the present and neurons started firing overtime.  "I don't know how well the Project will be able to protect them from quantum powered murphy's law.  The all died at nearly the same time, Some of them thousands of miles apart.  Who do we know who has the ability to act on that kind of scale?"  Privately, Imp could only think of one entity who could affect people thousands of miles apart, and he guessed that Mal probably wouldn't be offing baselines in his free time.  "Mother will be moving in here, with me.  Today.  God knows the house is big enough and I'm almost never there.  I'll fly out immediately to talk with her.  She'll probably be in shock, unable to accept that he's gone, she was never really that able to adjust to new information."
He then reached over to Comstock and gave him a one armed squeeze, "Dillon, you in there?  Are you ok?  You can compute later, we've gotta act on this."
His gaze turned to Grav, "Grav, I'm going to talk with some people, see if I can find out about any hired muscle with powers over probability, or people smoothe enough to make these things look like accidents.  people that I can think of who could pull this off are, well, only me."  He frowns and halos of energy begin forming around his hands.  "I can't affect probability, but powers over momentum and persuasion could accomplish this just as easily.  Another thing we need to consider is that the novas in the club hits arrived via portals.  Frosty, can you get some people checking on Elites with gate or teleportation powers who would do wetwork for the cartels?"
Looking around Imp notices the young woman beside Frostburn, "Pleasure to meet you miss, my name's Impetus.  After this situation is delt with I look forward to getting to know you."
then he was gone.  Racing towards Seattle, pushing himself even though he was pretty sure that the Cartels were just sending a message, and wouldn't strike again until they learned if their message had been received.  As he tore through the sky Imp was already planning how to hit the Cartels where they lived.  Utpoia had to play nice, follow laws, not invade foreign countries.  Novas taking time off for family reasons could play hardball.

To Impetus' grip, Comstock's arm was inflexible and cold.  "I'm fine."  His face was a mask.  Not even grim.  Just blank.  "Frostburn: I will need time off.  Funeral.  Other arrangements."  He clicked off again for a second before his eyes finally re-focused on the here-and-now.

"Are we-"  Impetus rocketed into the sky.  "Hm.  Frostburn, who's the new Nova?  Does she have information about this?"

"Of course, everyone is going to need time off.  We have some of the auxiliary members coming in for coverage.  And Gale here is a new recruit.  Poor timing for her to come in unfortunately.  But with everyone upset, she's also an asset, as she isn't going to be as clouded by emotion as some of you are likely to be--"

Frostburn cocks her head to the side as her commlink dings.  Call forwarding.  She looks puzzled, and then forwards her findings.

"Gravitas, your brother... We found trace amounts of an odd compound, similar to mite, in his system.  We were going to do an autopsy, but his body isn't at the morgue..."

Gale's head shot up at the mention of Antaeus.  She had been just following and listening until this point, but that was a name she recognized.  She blinked in surprise at Impetus's introduction and subsequent disappearance.  It took her a moment to recover enough to answer Comstock's questions.

"Um, no, I don't know anything about this.  I'm just the new recruit.  Gale's the name."  She didn't smile, and she didn't offer to shake hands.  Given the severity of this situation, it just didn't seem appropriate.

Comstock nodded to Gale and forced a smile.  "Welcome aboard.  Today I'm Comstock.  This is Gravitas.  Guy that just took off for the sky is Impetus."  He ran a hand over his stubbly head.  "Kind of a bad time for this."

"I think I could have too," muttered Quentin. "That's exactly the problem, there are a lot of powersets that could produce results like this and leave little or no evidence behind."



Quentin's visage darkened further. "Ben may have been having a good time during his freshman year, but he was no druggie - I made sure of that when we started this whole campaign." He turned over some facts in his head. "If they've managed to remove his body from the morgue, we've got a bigger problem than we originally thought on our hands. I want that morgue locked down, no one is to have access to it until we can get someone with extrasensory powers in there. Zero would be a good candidate if we can find him. If we've got any free postcogs, we should get one up there as well. We need to see if any trace energies are left over or if it was taken out in a more mundane fashion."

It made him feel vaguely queasy to be referring to his brother's dead body in such a way. For the moment, though, he had to put any grief he might feel aside. This was bigger than just him and his family, it affected all of T2M:A. They had to find out who did this and how. They had to ensure that those people were brought to justice.

"I'm sorry things had to be like this on your first day. Things are not always this grim - normally its quite the opposite." Any extra weight people might have been feeling began to bleed away as Quentin began to refocus his power. "If I can be excused, I need to go see my parents. I want them to know what has happened and that we'll be doing something about it. Buzz me if you need me, I should be back in an hour or so."

He didn't wait for confirmation. A swirling blue wormhole blossomed into existence above him and he lifted off the ground through it.

Gale nodded at each of the introductions that Comstock made.  "Don't worry, I understand."   She couldn't help but stare when Gravitas made the wormhole.  "Whoa."  Of course, she mentally slapped herself as soon as the word was out of her mouth.  C'mon, Gale.  You're around other Novas, you can't act like you are shocked every time someone uses their powers.  You came here to be around other Novas, didn't you?  She hoped nobody noticed her embarrassment as she assumed a more reserved expression.

Comstock nodded.  He tried to soften his demeanor for the sake of decorum and jerked a thumb in Gale's direction.  "Frostburn, has she received all her security clearances?  You want me to give her a tour while you stay on top of the situation?"

"Comstock... Dillon.  You shouldn't be offering tours to people.  You should be heading off to be with your family right now.

Gale will stay and help out here.  And when you need help, she'll be there to take care of some of your work as well.  It will help orient her to how things are done around here, and give all of you some time off."

----

Upon visiting with their families, Impetus and Gravitas both find that they receive similar responses.  Sadness and pain, of course, as well as a feeling of confusion, as though the floor suddenly dropped out from under them.  There is also a certain amount of... distance and suspicion directed towards the novas.  Not for anything in specific (no one even dreams of connecting the accidents to the novas directly), but the combination of the nova's fame and power make it hard to go home sometimes.  Also, for those with insight into such things, there is a bit of resentment and envy, as the inherent weakness of humanity, so very apparent to the grieving families at this moment, is juxtuposed with the power and good fortune of their nova relative.

Funerals arrangements are made, and the media is mostly kept away.  A few conspiracy nuts in the next few days start talking about the strange coincidental deaths plaguing T2M:A, but they draw very little attention.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
please feel free to roleplay your family interaction a bit.  This thread, and the investigation, will continue with this plot for a while.  Gravitas will be recruited to study his brother, while others will be recruited for investigation.

---

Comstock nodded, face like a whiteboard.  "Then ... you know where all my files are and probably understand them better anyway.  Gale, it was good meeting you.  We'll ... pick this up again later."  He calmly walked inside the bunker to get on the phone.

----

HEADLINE: Utopia's Indestructible?

[[Photos of Comstock, jaw set and skin blotchy with patches of metal.  Also photos of Bob and Susan (his parents).]]

This Saturday, T2M's Comstock was spotted attending the funeral Mary Allred in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Today, The Word exposes T2M's metal man, his previously unseen family, and the growing body-count that Utopia doesn't want you to see!

----

Behind the police cordon, the funeral was a small affair.  The tabloid photographers were irrepressible, pushing in for photos the major papers and networks wouldn't dare touch.  Further outside a religious group was protesting the funeral.  Comstock knew Legal and Public Relations would buy the stories, bury the circus, keep most everything out of the public eye, but that didn't change the tone of the occasion.

Comstock kept the metal in as best he could.  Worked up like he was, it wasn't easy.  His mom fretted and cried, embarrassed.  His dad just seemed numb, too shocked to even get angry at the protesters or paparazzi.  And Comstock brooded, his thoughts in three places at once, his reactions ponderously slow and alternating between shaken grief and distant apathy.

Before his brother-in-law left, Comstock grabbed him.  "What do you want, Dillon?"

"Joe ... I'm really sorry.  I-" Joseph stared hard at Comstock.  He tacitly blamed the nova for Mary and was having a hard time finding his wife's little brother behind the dripping iron and $3000 suit.  Comstock could tell.  "I set aside money for the kids.  All of them.  College and medical and everything."

Joe had four kids there, two in the hospital and every reason to look strong.  He nodded and took the envelope Comstock offered.  "Thank you."  The pause.  "This is because of your work, isn't it?"

Comstock was unreadable.  "I can't answer that."

"What about Bob and Susan?"

"They don't want to budge.  Don't want to be a burden."

"They're two old farts in the middle of nowhere, Dillon.  You can't just leave them there like that."

"Dad's pretty set in his ways."  He looked back.  Susan was crying big, fat tears.  "I can't just uproot 'em."

Joseph nodded.  "Yeah."  He tapped the envelope.  An awkward silence.  "I have to go back to the hospital.  Katy's going to be released from the PICU.  You coming with?  She'd love to see you."

"Yeah."  Katy was four.  She'd never known Dillon except as he was now.  "I'll follow you.  Have to sneak in or this circus will follow me."

----

Pictured here is Joseph Allred, Mary Allred's husband and now single father of six, taking money from Dillon Amargosa.  "Oh, they wanted him quiet, alright," an unnamed source on scene told us.  "The money was to keep Joe from talking to the media ... about T2M's involvement, you know?"  You heard it first here, in The Word!

----

Dillon's parents refused to move, and soon Dillon gave up trying to persuade them to move onto the base.  Meanwhile he insulated himself.  Stopped reading papers.  If not for Frostburn and Dr. Greenburg he would have thrown himself directly back into his work.  As things stood, he bought some plane tickets and took the rest of his one-week's leave for personal interests.

Team,

Heading out for about four days.  Hope nothing goes wrong.  Location and emergency frequency logged daily just in case.  See you around.

-Comstock

----

When he got back, he seemed his old self, driven and ready to get down to business.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:24, Tue 15 Dec 2009.

Impetus touched down on the back stoop of his parents home.  Well, his Mother's home.  the police tape was still up, the scene untouched from this evening when his father had been murdered.  The house was dark, except for a light burning in the kitchen.  That had always been Mother's place.  Where she went to sew or watch tv or play cards with her friends.  Imp walked up to the door and reached up for the key he knew was on the top of the frame.  He unlocked the door, then, after a breath, walked in.  His mother, was sitting, weeping, in her chair at the table.  Beside her were her best friends, Maude and Shirl,  the were patting her consolingly, murmuring empty, wordless condolences.  There was a bottle of sherry on the table.  It was half full.
"Mother, I came as soon as I heard."  The women started, jumped in their chairs.  Of all the people in the world they'd expected to walk in the back door, Impetus wasn't one of them.  Mother lurched to her feet, took a stumbling step towards him, and would have fallen if he hadn't moved to catch her.  She clung to him like a drowning woman clutching a life vest.  She buried her face in his sternum, howling in grief.  Mother's friends stared at the young man who filled the tiny kitchen, his unnerving vitality and contumacious good looks seemed almost grotesquely out of place, here in this grief-stricken house.
Impetus held his mother tight, kissed the top of her head.  Murmured to her under his breath, the same wordless condolences.  He looked at her friends, whispered, "Thank you, but I'd like some time alone with my mother." After they left, he held his mother until she had cried herself out, until she was asleep in his arms.
He wrapped her in a blanket, carried her out into the back garden, locked the door without letting her go, then flew back to Nevada.  He then tucked her into his almost never used bed and lay down beside her, holding her close.  She whimpered in her sleep like an infant, and when she did he whispered soothing sounds until she quieted.  Tears ran down his cheeks, soaking the pillow, someone had taken his father, someone had shattered his mother's world, and someone was going to pay.

Gale nodded in response to Frostburn's remarks.  "Don't worry about me.  You've got bigger things on your mind now."  She really felt bad for him.  The others were able to disappear in some way, see their families immediately.  But this guy, this guy had to sit around and deal with it until he got there.

------------------

The winged woman spent the next few days trying to settle in.  She'd left most of her stuff behind in San Fran, thinking that she didn't need it anymore.  Nevada was all desert, nowhere to surf around here and not that many birds to study either.

She spent some time playing around with her powers, fine-tuning her control over them.  Some of them she hadn't used since she erupted, not consciously anyway.  Gale wanted to prove that she would be a useful addition to the team (otherwise they would have no reason to keep her).  So for the next few weeks, most likely, if she wasn't doing something that someone else had told her to do, she was practicing on one of the rooftops.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:18, Tue 17 Nov 2009.

Moments after Comstock leaves to take care of his business, the teleport pad spews out baselines, all of Japanese descent.  Slider can be hear yelling through the portal before it closes.

Frostburn, confused, radios the base medical staff and police. She then turns to Gale and asks for help getting the new arrivals organized, and apply first aid to any wounded, as they wait for the emergency responders to arrive.

Comstock hears sirens approaching, and sees a crowd of people by the teleport pad in the distance as he's leaving.  He pauses, contemplating what to do next...

Less than 3 minutes later, the rest of T2M:A comes pouring through the portal, dragging roughly 20 wounded snipers behind them, as well as a very exhausted Slider and highly emotional Suzukaze. Zero is carrying an unknown, wounded nova.

Frostburn asks politely to be informed of what the hell is going on...
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:32, Thu 19 Nov 2009.

Suzukaze comes through the portal next to Zero and Phantasm carrying the comatose body of Shiro. Tears streaming down her face. "God damn them all... Please be careful with him.... I'm going to kill them... Shiro why...." The words come out so fast they almost blur together. As they place Shiro down she kneels next to him. "Please don't leave me please." She says into his ear and kisses him.

Standing she turns to Frostburn. "My old team did this. They attacked the resort. They must have been hired to take us out." She turns away from him and begins shouting... My family... Keitaro.. Miho.. " She begins searching the crowd for them.

Gale, of course, started helping people.  She didn't speak Japanese, but luckily they seemed to understand what she was trying to do.  It didn't take long to get people organized by how badly they were injured so that the paramedics could get to the worst first.  Gale knelt next to a woman with a chest wound, trying to minimize the bleeding and keep the woman conscious.  Her wings, being large and in the way, managed to keep people from over-crowding the injured woman in their efforts to "help".  Never a dull moment at least, Gale thought as she glanced around just in time to catch the arrival of more people.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Thu 19 Nov 2009.

Comstock flanked Frostburn, waiting silently for a proper explanation of 'what the hell was going on'.



"Phantasm?  Solitaire?  I need details.  Is there an immediate threat?"  He stepped forward to give Slider a shoulder to lean on.  "You alright, Jenn?"

Flare, a little singed around the edges, trys to sum up.

"Snipers opened fire, injuring the family. Then several Novas presumable Fire, Earth and Void, whom Suzukage relayed might be the force trying to kills us, engaged us in combat."  She looks to the injured Shiro, "I don't know if he was going to fight with or against us, I guess Zero took him out before he could do either.  They were fairly strong, I think equal to us, but they ran."

Flare wanders over to sit against a wall and start healing herself. She's a bit singed, but wouldn't want to interrupt the medical staff helping baselines.

"If they're this ticked that 'Kaze quit, they might try again. It is strange that they were waiting for us, though."

"It could be a contract.  They may also have been watching for Suzukaze to visit, intending to take us out one by one."  Comstock looked over the crowd.  "Are these all of the snipers?  Have they been interrogated?"

"I think it must've been, who else would take us on of their own volition? They can't be that stupid." Solitaire says grumpily, striding through the portal and unceremoniously dumping the last sniper on the ground. "Hold on, I need to get my jacket." She turns back through it, then reappears a 15 seconds later with it and her boots in her hands.

"Yes, most of them are snipers. No they haven't been interrogated.  A couple got away, but I was more concerned with the Novas to run them down. I do however think I put the fear of god into them. Seriously, why does this shit always happen whenever we try to take time off?" Solitaire glances down at her kimono, which had gotten rather artfully ripped and torn during the fighting, so as to show off rather more of her figure than she would otherwise have liked. Rolling her eyes, she thinks Fantastic, I do not need this on top of everything else.

"So boss, any other disasters need mopping up? Our day off has gone to hell anyway. What else could we tack on?

Frostburn turns to Solitaire after her last comment, with a look on her face that says "a lot more could go wrong, and it already did."  But she doesn't actually say anything.

She goes back to getting business settled, making calls to utopia's offices in Japan, and generally dealing with the fallout.  After the team has done all it can, she tells them, "I'll take care of this from here everyone.  Go get some rest, there's more problems that you'll need to know about."

Solitaire cocks her head and returns Frostburn's look with a quizzical one of her own.

"That doesn't bode well, does it?"

"Suzukaze's family wasn't the only target."  Monotone.  Free of inflection.

Comstock made sure to collect the snipers and personally escort them to holding cells, taking care to remind them that, in the event of their escape, they were now in Nevada and leaving the base would constitute illegal entry into the United States of America.  Then, unless bothered, he returned to his room to make his phone calls and travel plans.

Phantasm stuck around to help coordinate, assisting a bit more than the others since she was fluent in Japanese.

Once everything settled down, she decided to hunt down Dillon.  With Grav and Imp gone, that look on Frostburn's face, and the way that Dillon was acting... Yeah, bad things were happening.  There'd probably be a meeting soon, and she wanted to be ahead of events for a change.

She knocked on Comstock's door.
"Hey, Dill', you in?  Everything OK?  You've got the whole emotionless look down great, but you only do that when your not doin' too well... unless you've just started doing it all the time..."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Fri 20 Nov 2009.

Upon finding her family her aunt dying on the ground, and seeing Miho crying. Suzukaze begins to cry harder. She kneels down and pulls Miho into a hug crying into each others shoulders. She wishes she could be strong like Keitaro and her uncle. She picks up Miho and looks to Keitaro and uncle. They nod and Keitaro takes a step towards her. She turns and begins walking Miho in her arms and Keitaro following. Leaving Uncle to reain with his wife Suzukaze takes one last look at Shiro as they pass. She takes Miho and Keitaro to her room. She sits with Miho on the bed and holds her as she continues to cry. Keitaro seeing the shrine built for grandfather goes over and begins to pray.

"Yeah ... no, its fine, just hang on a minute ... I'll be right back."

The door opened and Dillon, skin tinted gray and shining in spots, stuck his head out.  "Hey ... I'm ... on the phone."  His eyes weren't quite vacant.  He was on edge.  "Everything worked out upstairs?  Need me for anything?"

Solitaire gives both Frostburn and Comstock a searching look, and as Comstock departs, asks, "Talk to me Frosty. What happened." She stands there, eyes level, hands on her hips and a slight breeze rustling the hem of her ragged kimono. There was no reason to wait for bad news, it wouldn't make it any less bad.

In reply to Comstock (msg #183):

"No, everything's ok, at least as ok as it's gonna be.  Just... wanted to make sure you were doing alright, but you're on the phone, I'll let you get back to it."
Phantasm leaves Dillon to his phone call, and moves downstairs.  She sits down at the dining facility, and gets something to drink while waiting on the meeting that would likely be called soon.

When Miho finally falls asleep Suzukaze covers her with blankets. Keitaro comes and puts an arm around her. "She'll be fine for awhile. You should be by your mothers side. Let's go." She then grabs his hand and begins walking.

In reply to Solitaire (msg #184):

Frostburn looks frustrated.  She doesn't seem to want to be the bearer of bad news, and since things don't normally bother her, the news must be pretty bad.
"The whole team lost relatives over the course of last night and today; some of the reports were just coming in as the attack in japan occurred.  I'm sorry Solitaire.  I'll have more in the meeting... but while we get stuff together, why don't you go call your family."
Frostburn lays a hand on Sol's shoulder and moves closer as she talks, trying to provide a bit of comfort. Though likely the gesture would be disturbing to some, since a permeating cold has begun to radiate from Frostburn constantly in the last few months.
"I'll clean up things here with Phantasm while you all take some personal time to take care of things.  Meeting in an hour and a half."

Frostburn then goes to Flare and repeats the conversation, perhaps lacking in a bit of the personal concern that she showed Solitaire, but still considerate nonetheless.

---

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

Sol, your mom or your sister, your choice.  Flair, your dad.
You can feel free to call your family as a post, or just return shaken/upset/whatever afterwords to attend the meeting.

---

Zero slinks in the corner, quietly fuming about this audacious attack on it's teammates. It contemplated tactics to get blood for blood.

Solitaire blinks a few times, as the implications caught up with her. She allowed few things into her heart, these days, there simply wasn't room. Her parents, her small circle of close friends, they had a place there, because she was confident they would stay there. Her friends were a part of her present, tough, capable, strong. They could look after themselves. Her family was a part of her past, normal humans, but... One couldn't change the past could they? It was always there.

She calmly walked off the platform, toward the barracks, and reappeared a few minutes later, back in her normal clothes. As she walk past Frostburn, on her way to Slider, she says, "I'll be back for the meeting Frosty, I have to... Check on things." and gives her a 'Don't worry' sort of smile. She then continues to Slider, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Can you manage one last portal Slider? I need to get to Washington. Seattle, Tacoma, anywhere. I'll make it up to you, but please." Her words are quiet, but steady. However, there's an air of tension, almost desperation about Solitaire, quite at odds with her usual self-confident demeanor. Every once in a while, something will crack her armor, and whenever she stops to think about things, her mind goes dark places.

If Slider can make her a portal, Solitaire will take it, if not, she'll thank Slider anyway, and make for her parents house with full speed.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I'll shift what happens to Vignettes, as its not directly relevant to this thread, and I have to head out for a bit now anyway.

---

Slider looks at Frostburn for a moment before embracing her.  She sniffles hard, and mumbles in between a sudden bout of tears "Of course... sniffle... so sorry... we'll make it through... There for each other..."

Sol can feel Slider pulling in power.  Probably not good for her to juice up so fast multiple times in a row, but what can you do, right?  Two portals open; Slider breaks away and waves before walking toward one of them, and leaving Sol to go through the other.

"Take care of yourself, and remember, you have friends here going through the same thing you are."

As Phantasm turned away, Dillon opened his mouth.  He had no words.  He turned back to his room, finished his phonecall, and focused on keeping everything under control.

About an hour later he headed down to the mess, noticing Phantasm there.  "Hey."  He checked his watch.  Meeting soon.  He reached for an apple, hesitating.  He didn't need the apple, couldn't taste it, but wanted to feel like he needed it.  "Any word on ..."  He stopped, remembering the issues with surveillance and his own stupidity.  He turned on a faucet, then sat down across from Phantasm and kept his voice low.  "Any ... any word on your folks?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:33, Sat 21 Nov 2009.

Gale left the woman she had been helping in the capable hands of the medics.  It seemed that there was going to be a meeting, and since she was a member of the team now (or at least it was implied), she supposed she would need to be there.  She wasn't sure where there was though.

She headed toward the building she had seen a few of the others go into, and discovered it was the dining hall.  She found Comstock and another Nova in the room, but she didn't want to interrupt.  So suddenly, the display of fruit became very interesting as she waited for more people to arrive.

After Mother was asleep and Impetus had gotten a hold of himself, he reported to the team meeting.  The mood was sour.  Tense.  Angry.  Normally Imp would try to diffuse it, make everybody relax.  Crack jokes.  Not this time.
He settled into a chair and turned his attention to the side table that was perpetually laden with fresh fruit, baked goods, coffee, juice... He focused and a bagel levitated off the tray, was neatly sliced in two by a knife and then slathered with cream cheese.  A cup of coffee was filled at the same time and a large red apple levitated onto a plate, to be joined by the bagel.  The plate and cup then sailed over to Imp and he bit into the apple with perhaps more force than was really necessary.  He chewed and swallowed, then looked over to the new arrival and gave her a tight smile.  "Sorry about last night, we weren't properly introduced.  I'm Impetus." he proffered a hand.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:16, Sun 22 Nov 2009.

Solitaire touched back down at the base a few hours after she'd left, armor back in place, though still a little ruffled. It had been, emotional, perhaps that was the best word for it. It would do at any rate, she didn't really have another. Glancing toward a clock as she walked to her room, she noted with satisfaction that she wasn't terribly behind schedule, the meeting hadn't started yet, if only barely. Once at her destination, she flicked open her liquor cabinet, it was a night for the bad stuff, just like the day had been. She grabbed a bottle at random off the cheap shelf, not even looking at the label, and turned for the briefing room.

Solitaire took her seat at the table, noting with interest the presence of the new face. Pretty wings. She thought, wondering for a moment what that would be like. Solitaire gave her a nod of greeting, respectful, but terse. Her mood was still somewhat, less than congenial, but there was nothing to be done about it. As she propped her feet up and waited for Frostburn to arrive and tell them what the hell the spooks had found out, if anything, she thought. This will not go unanswered.

In short order, Zero has begone the interrogation of the prisoners. The Doctor's demeanor is disturbingly polite and cordial, so much so that it is unnerving. Zero uses two weapons to make the assassins panic and sing.

1.) It notes that assassinations on Utopian, and thus UN operatives will certainly result in someone's execution. Who that someone is depends on if they can pass the buck to their bosses.

2.) They could wait for a lawyer, but chances are, when the people behind this find out it didn't go as planed (like a half an hour ago), they will certainly start covering their tracks, and that will leave the gunmen holding the bag and await the hangman.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Interrogation Rolls: Successive.
2 Successes First Roll
22:41, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3,6,5,4,6,1,5,5,2,1. Intimidation, 1 Meg.

7 Successes Second Roll
22:42, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,5,10,2,4,6,10,7,4,10,4. Intimidation, 1 Meg.
22:43, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 3d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,10,10. Reroll 10s, Impossing Quality .

6 Successes Third Roll
22:42, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,5,8,9,1,2,10,4,8,1,6. Intimidation, 1 Meg.
22:43, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. Reroll 10s, Impossing Quality .

---

Gale's gaze followed the floating apple, and then the plate to Impetus.  She shook his offered hand gingerly.  "You said before you left.  I'm Gale." Her voice was quiet, mostly because everyone in the room seemed stiff.  "I'd say 'Nice to meet you', but the circumstances could definitely be nicer."

She took a seat down across from him, and folded her hands in her lap.  She noted Solitaire's nod, and returned it with a small nod of her own.  Another person she hadn't met yet.  She assumed that the remaining introductions would be made shortly during the meeting.

"Um, how's your mother, Impetus?  Did she agree to move here?"  She remembered that he had said something about that before he took off into the sky.  She knew that she wasn't exactly friends with everyone yet, but these were her future teammates, right?  Have to start somewhere.

"Mother is resting on base, yes.  Thanks for your concern," he frowns, "The circumstances are a bit strained," Imp begins, then takes a swallow of coffee, "but regardless, it's always nice to meet another peer."  He drains the coffee and the coffee pot hovers over and refills his mug while he focuses his steel blue gaze on Gale.  "You have arrived at what might possibly be the absolute worst time to meet the team, and, quite honestly, some things are going to be said in this room that, if you were to hear them and not report them to the authorities, would make you an accomplice to at least half a dozen crimes, as recognized by the world court.  Nobody in your family has been hurt, you have no vested interest in anybody here, yet.  Nobody would blame you if you went for a walk and looked around the base a bit and came back in an hour or so."

Gale looked away for a moment considering his words.  One clawed finger tapped her chin as she thought through her response.  "Frostburn said I might be an asset, since I'm not as emotional as you are at the moment.  Perhaps I can keep your plans from being too extreme."  She doubted it.  Nobody here had any reason to trust her.  Her gaze returned to Impetus's face.  "Besides, if what everyone suspects is true, then my family is already in danger.  I haven't exactly gone out of my way to hide my identity."

Slider walks into the meeting room soon after Gale gets in.  She grabs a cup of coffee, sits down, then curls in on herself.  She avoids making eye contact with anyone for the time being, instead staring into the steaming cup resting in her lap.

"We have a lot to decide now.  How far this is going to go.  Also, after this, I'm officially off T2M:A and on the auxiliary list.  I'm tired."

Flare freezes up at the news.  Her dad.  The only one who had ever understood her.  Its just too much.  Flare tries to show the composure of her teammates, but she's not that composed on a good day let alone right now.  She doesn't quite making outside before exploding into a human fireball, and likely sindging the people around her and blackening the concrete.  She tries to get away from the base, but only makes it to the 'bus tossing' field before her quantum gives out. Fighting and healing two people was just too much. Flare slumps against an abandoned tank and sobs, wondering how it had all gone so wrong.

"True, but I think the reason that they went after our families is that T2MA has been the face for the decimation of organized crime in the western hemisphere, and the cartels and mobs are telling us that if we hit them, they'll hit us.  You haven't been in on the fighting, or in the papers, so your family should be safe.  Hell, all our families should have been safe." His tone rises a bit, a hard edge bleeds into his usual silk smooth voice.  "Regardless, they think that by hurting those closest to us they will make this a war that we are afraid to fight.  this tells me three things.  thing one, what we're doing is working.  Thing two, while they have enough cash to hit our families, they don't have the cash or the nova firepower to come after us directly.  Our raid on the club must have severely drained their muscle pool." Imp scans the room, notes teh expressions or lack thereof on everybody's faces.  "And we won't go to far, Gale, rest assured, we'll go until the end and then stop."  He takes another swallow of coffee, "Thing three is that they've made a gigantic mistake."

"Indeed," adds Zero while walking in. It still felt raw with enotion after it's break in Japan. What was supposed to be a night of childish humor had gone wrong in every wrong way. "This move. It is the height of hubris. There is a terrible reckoning for sins like this." 

In reply to Comstock (msg #191):

Phantasm makes a confused face at Comstocks question.
"Yeah, why wouldn't they be?"  She walks off after that, irritated that he would even bring up her past after she just let him off for a few months ago.

When the meeting was called, she went to the briefing room and sat down.  The conversation was odd, but she quickly caught up on the gist of it.
"So... Wait... everyone's family was... no one told me..."
She sits, a stunned expression on her face as everything clicks.  How could she be that slow?  She felt aweful, but at the same time, relieved. They can't get to my family at least, no one even knows who I am... Right?  I need to find a way to call them later...

After the revelation, Phantasm sits quietly as everyone talks, nodding at Imp and Zero's comments.
"I agree, but you do know that more of your... more of your families might get hurt in the process of taking the cartels down... we don't have any way of insuring they're protected."

"Oh, you have that right Imp. I try to be nice, not to kill anybody were supposed to take down, to respect my opponents.  And what does it get me? A dead mother." Solitaire knocks back a swig of her whiskey and grimaces. God, this is awful. She thinks, then takes another. "Whoever did this is on the verge of a fourth mistake too.  They're about this close," she raises a hand, her fingers are a very short distance apart, "to making me angry. I think people are going to die if I get angry. I don't know, it hasn't truly happened since I erupted."

Solitaire leans back and looks to the ceiling, running a hand through her hair, she sounds very tired all of a sudden. "My self control is at its limit today, and I don't expect good news from Frosty either. All I wanted to do was save the world, to make people strong. Why do these people insist on making it so bloody difficult?"

Suzukaze walks into the room her face hung low. She plops down into an empty seat throwing her katanas on the table in front of her.

"You are doing the right thing. Making the world a better place. We've always considered you our daughter." Suzukaze looks up at the team. "Those were my aunts last words to me just before she passed. Now she won't be there to see Miho grow up or either her or Keitaro marry." Her voice starts to raise towards the end. "Do the right thing. I'll the the right thing by riding the world of those scum. I'll kill them all!"

Comstock frowned.  Nothing was going well with little sis this summer.  Eventually he got up to follow the others as they gravitated to the conference room.

Comstock leaned against the door-frame, listening.  He'd miss Landers, but he couldn't make her stay on.  Not after all this.




"Cool it!"  Comstock's voice hummed through the entire room.  "Don't forget why we're all here.  We're better than this."

His voice tired, he continued on.  "We know now that we've been successful.  They wouldn't come after us like this unless we were a real threat."  He took a quick headcount.  "Flare and Gravitas will be late to the meeting, but I imagine it'll be alright to start without them."

"First, everyone who hasn't gotten a chance, say hello to Gale.  I don't know much about her, but she's passed basic with Pax and all the screening.  So she's one of us now."  He nodded to Gale, trying to look like an authority figure.  Unconsciously, the metal worked its way out of his skin again, forming a silvery-blue shell.  "Gale, you're going to get a rushed crash course instead of the usual training and orientation, but I hope you'll fit in just fine.  You'll have some extra time with our instructors and experts here at the base, since some of us have to take personal leave."

"And that brings us to the next order of business: in light of the recent killings ..."  Comstock paused, looking uncertain, "I don't know if I have the authority to do this, but anyone who wants out ... you can walk away now.  No one could blame you.  I'll even get your back."  He paused.

"Let me make this clear, though: I didn't sign on here to be a cop or a soldier.  I signed on to be something more.  So no.  No bloodletting.  No subterfuge.  No civilians.  If you stay on, we're going to do this by the book.  Legal.  There's more than just us at stake ... you know?"  He stared at Suzukaze.  "You want personal revenge, walk away."  He picked up Suzukaze's swords and gently handed them back to Suzukaze.  "But I hope you won't."

Imp bit into his apple, the crunch echoed around the room, made silent by Comstock's proclamation.  He chewed thoughtfully.  "'Stock, I'm not going to go after civilians, well, not directly.  But legal?  Four Fuck sake, half of the countries in South America are little more than puppet states held up by international aid and drug money.  Utopia can wipe it's ass with issues of territoriality down there and still come out smelling like a rose as long as we produce results.  Here's what I want.  I want a massive, simultaneous strike on every coke grow op, drug house, processing factory, drug dealer and drug kingpin.  I want representation from every chapter of team tomorrow, hell, I want all of us.  I want full UN backing and I want it green lit in 5 days.  Also, I want full protection for every family member we have left until we've put these fucking cowards behind bars somewhere nice and unbribable, like Baffin Island.  I get that and I promise I won't go out for blood."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Tue 24 Nov 2009.

Suzukaze stands looking Comstock in the face. She takes her blades from him and sets one down. She draws the other and holds it infront of his face.

"Do you even understand what these are? What they are capable of in the hands of someone normal? Or what they become in the hands of someone like us. Do you know how hard I hold myself back when I am fighting? Even holding myself back there is a chance that there will be blood. That someone may even die. We had no control over what we have become. Do you even know what you are capable of? You can try all you want to hold back and have control. But your strength can kill just as easily as this blade."

She resheaths the blade and looks around the table.

"They went after and killed someone close to each of us. I'm the only one who had that member die in my arms. What is worse is that Shiro tried to warn me of the attack before Zero put him into the coma. With my speed I could have probally saved her. I could have made it to her and taken the bullet for her."

She looks back into Comstocks face.

"You have my word that I won't kill any civilians. But you have to understand that my old team is after us. They are assassins. They found a replacement for me, and now without Shiro, Fire will be the team leader. They won't stop until they succeed. The only way to stop them may just have to be to kill them.  And when it comes to Fire I can't promise you I'll hold back. I still owe him for trying to rape me, and now he is responsible for my aunts death."

She sits back in her chair putting her elbows on the table resting her forehead in her hands.

"That sounds great, except...", Gale responded to Impetus's plan, trying not to sound like she was butting in. "Except we still don't know how they did it.  It does seem highly coincidental that all of your loved ones would die at the almost exact same time," she glanced around the group, "but as far as anyone can tell, they all look like accidents.  So, if I'm understanding the situation correctly, they've either got some really good assassins, or they've got at least one nova doing it for them.  It may not matter how much protection we put the rest of the families under, they still wouldn't be safe.  What then?" Her face projected concern; she wasn't trying to criticize.

"Then we put on big, nasty boots, and stomp on them before they can try again. Stomp on them so hard that nobody will ever contemplate trying the same thing." Solitaire says in a hard voice. "And Boss, I'm sure we would all love to do this legit, with Utopia backing and UN support. We need to him them hard and fast and without warning. We need to cripple them. The implication here is that if we can't get the green light on this, we may just do it anyway, even if it costs us our job. I hope to hell it won't come to that, but you've gotta consider the worst case scenario."

"I agree, Gale.  As does Grav.  This is not coincidence, and it'd take way too much effort to set up to have all our loved ones die of accidents at the hands of baseline assassins at the same time, so yeah, there's a nova involved.  Which is why we go after them.  We can survive accidents far better than people like my fifty year old father.  They will expose their asset if they are being overrun, then we capture said asset and have a long conversation.  After we pull down every last one of these motherfuckers.  Of course," Imp looks thoughtful, "this could all be an elaborate ruse to get us to go after the cartels.  In which case we have a whole new problem."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Tue 24 Nov 2009.

"Look, guys, I'm not saying we shouldn't hit back, but we can't just run into it knocking over everyone remotely suspicious.  Christ, you said it yourself Imp, half of those countries are on the take.  We dictate their laws to them, the pushers get out on bribes or bail.  We lean on them, we're First World Imperialists at best, Elites at worst.  Nothing gets solved!"

"We fight the Japs again, I don't see a reason to hold back or play Superman.  They'll probably be attacking us, and that's self defense.  We fight Juan and those fuckers again ... I'm not gonna say a damn thing if they're roughed up a bit.  But if we go around killing everyone that crosses us we're fucked.  Royally, truly fucked.  Just ... over."  He gesticulated wildly to punctuate his words.  "The whole idea, the whole saving the world, making a better future thing, all of it ... we kill that."

He finally took a seat at the table.  "'sides ... the last time we got everything together and did the blitzkrieg thing was Iraq.  I don't want to do that again."

"Ha! Don't insult me."

"By the book, huh? Sure. Why not? I mean, we are UN representatives. We are the world's fucking cops. And the worst thing to be is a cop killer."

"I say we do it sooo by the book, they all get hanged on national TV. We get that. This isn't the fucking comic books. The Joker gets put down like a dog in the real world. So let's put them down!"

"Let's kill them all! Legit! And if any get through the cracks, well, that's what Karma's for. She's a bitch. They'll probably die from some horrible cardiac failure. I'm a doctor of Karmatic Studies. I know these things. They'll all die. Of heart attacks. Slowly."

"Trust me."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Wed 25 Nov 2009.

"Yeah!  Uh..."  Comstock paused, unsure whether or not he heartily agreed with the Doctor's proposed methodology.  It didn't seem to contradict Utopia's ideals, and it did sound very satisfying ...

One of Gravitas's wormholes opened near the ceiling above Quentin's usual chair and Quentin himself floated down through the air into his seat. For possibly the first time since anyone present had met him, he actually looked tired. "Sorry I'm late," he murmured. "My parents aren't taking this well."

He rubbed at one of his eyes with the heel of his palm for a moment."I assume you're discussing what to do next? Well, there's some evidence that these weren't accidents. My brother's body is missing. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it was stolen so that we couldn't run an autopsy." He sighed deeply and continued, "Preliminary reports said that it was alcohol poisoning from beer. Frostburn got a later follow-up that said they'd detected something similar to mite in his system. -as if killing him wasn't bad enough, they've had to resort to body-theft as well!" Several loose objects on the table had started to slide toward him. He closed his eyes and breathed for a moment, and the objects halted their advance.

When he continued speaking, his voice was flat - a match for the bottomless black wells that had replaced his eyes, "I'm going to get what medical reports they've got on everyone's deceased for analysis. I am also going to find my brother's body so that my family can have closure, and so that we can run a proper autopsy."

Body theft.  Murder seemed more and more viable the more this crap piled up.  "Uh ... Zero, that's your thing."  Comstock got more professional as options for what to actually do began to manifest.  "And did you ever find any good leads on Juan Tajillo?"

Gale had to really struggle to keep the surprise off of her face when Gravitas just dropped in.  Man, this is going to be hard to get used to again, she thought as she sighed.  "Ok, I know I haven't been briefed on everything that's going on yet, but I think we need to wait just a little before we make a move.  Against anyone.  You guys need to take care of things with your families, and until we have more clues, we're just guessing about who to attack.  We need a better idea of who did this, and how they did it."

One claw tapped lightly against the table as her gaze traveled around to each of them, searching for their opinions. "I can stay here and start the work while you guys handle other things.  I know how to read lab reports, at least."

Suzukaze looks up and across the table to Gravitas...

"Well you won't have to go far for mine. Aunt passed just about 5-10 minutes ago in our medical ward of a gunshot wound to the chest.  My uncle is with her only a wound to his arm, my ex in the next bed comatose but thats on Zero. And if you want to talk to someone else who was there my one cousin is in my room waiting...." She pauses then looks around in a panic. " No! No it can't be."

Suzukaze jumps out of her chair and begins looking around the room.

"Everyone's relatives deaths were supposed to be accidents. If my family was the target Paul could have gotten anyone in and out before we got there. Twenty plus snipers and five nova assassins is alittle much for four normal humans. They had to have been there for me or for all of us." She looks around at everyone. "How the hell did they know we were going to be there and what time we were going to be." She then looks to Comstock.

"Either someone is betraying us or spying on us. Just like the time with Annette when the camera footage was leaked. The only one who would know for sure would be Shiro. Unless he comes out of his coma to tell us we got to assume either case."

She looks to Zero. "Zero you found the devices the last time right?"

"To be honest, its not all that far-fetched for somebody to be spying on us. We've seen plenty of weird stuff, and we know just how esoteric abilities can get. Perhaps one of them can read probability lines, or perhaps there's a precog on their payroll.  With the right trigger, anything is possible for one of us, you know. But if you think about it, Suzukaze, your family is the one odd bit in this. All of ours were 'accidents', but yours was a full blown strike force.  It makes you wonder, but I have no idea what it means. There were too many of them to be after your family, but too few to expect to beat us. I really don't get the logic. Perhaps they were just after you?"

Quentin nodded, "I agree. If we assume that these are all murders - and for the moment, I am - then sending a nova-backed strike force doesn't fit the M.O. It sounds like a separate group with an entirely different agenda."

Still too many blanks to fill in, he thought. "Did it seem that they were specifically targeting your family or were they caught in the crossfire while this strike force attempted to get at you or the others?"

"I have the assurances of Director Laragione that any and all extracurricular eves-dropping on us by the Project has been stopped, effective immediately.  So, any bugs or listening devices or cameras or whatnot on our persons or in our private quarters are from someone outside.
As to why they sent a roughly even team after you in Japan, well, how would they know you were going there until you arrived?  It's not like you booked flights or planned anything more than an hour ahead of time.  I'm guessing someone got hasty and, maybe they didn't expect to take everybody down, was willing to put their team at risk to get one of you, probably you Sue.  Weapons are useless unless the are used, yes?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:31, Thu 26 Nov 2009.

Suzukaze sits back in her chair.

"The gunmen opened fire on the whole place. They were just caught up in the middle. Which means they must have been after either just me or all of us. After evacuating the civilians we went to confront them. I first went to find Shiro, but when I found him and Zero went to go after Fire. I found him but was confronted by my replacement. I'm not sure who everyone else engaged. But they made their escape through Paul and thats wen we came back here."

In reply to Impetus (msg #221):

Zero activates it's Creeping Feeling to see if the meeting is bugged.

---

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

---

Phantasm has been mostly calm throughout the meeting, and nods in agreement with Gale "You're right, the people with families to take care of need to sort things out before we advance on anyone."

When Solitaire starts talking about precogs and probability lines however, she seems to get a bit nervous.
"That makes a lot of sense, it would tie everything together, and explain how even less known people were hit... If that's the case, I could test the theory.

I'll... Gravitas, I need a portal, to this location.  Don't look it up on the GPS, I don't want a record.  You don't need it anyway I'm sure, you remember the topography of the U.S., and everything else, like most people remember the back of their hand," she says as she hands him a hastily scribbled location on a piece of paper.  Detroit, Michigan.

Frostburn leans on the door frame, watching quietly as the room full of novas argues.
God, the idiots that did this don't understand what the hell they just did.  They could have just started World War fucking III with this little assassination game.  These are some of the most powerful people on the planet; who would be crazy enough to do this to them?

Frostburn lets them keep talking; she needs to know where her people stand, and if she's going to be able to keep them in line.  Of course, she wouldn't blame them if they went off and did something stupid.  But it would probably mean the end of the beginning of something very, very bad...

After Phantasm got up, Frostburn slid into the room, taking a chair and waiting for people to ask the questions she knew they had.
And of course, it makes my job even more difficult, having no good answers to give...

Comstock was relieved when Frostburn finally entered.  He straightened up in his seat, eager for information.  "So what's the word, Frostburn?  Did you get on the phone with Director Laragione or Pax?  What are our options for hitting back?"

Solitaire smiles at Frostburn as she enters. She hadn't had much time for Frostburn lately, she didn't like that, and made a mental note to fix it. After Comstock asks his questions, she adds, "Do we even know who to hit back?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Mon 30 Nov 2009.

Flare finally has composed herself enough to be among others, but has changed into something one would only wear on The Matrix. She is not in the friendliest of moods.

"I'm going to go talk to the cops where I live. My dad is - was a cop.  I plan to comb every scrap of evidence I can find, and when I find these guys I want to burn every single one of them to ashes." She lets out a heavy sigh. "Since vigilantism really isn't good for anything but the egos of vigilantes, I'll forgo the crisping and go by whatever rules there are for this kind of thing. Hopefully I can get some leads."

"Actually, according to the rules, there's nothing we can do.  If, say, the persons responsible are not on American soil, they'd have to have done something foolish like go to a country with extradition treaties.  Second, we'd need evidence.  The claim of "Our family members died at exactly the same time, therefore, it has to be foul play," will hold no weight in court without corroborating evidence. Third, we have suspects, yes, but only tentative ones.  We'd need a trigger man who'd be willing to roll on whoever set this up, and I can guarantee that they'd be far more afraid of the cartels than they would be of us.  Hell, it might be Juan setting this up to get even with us for busting up his boys and ruining his street cred."  Imp exhaled.  "Still, i can't see the world getting too upset if a bunch of coke fields suddenly went up in smoke and drug kingpins were kidnapped and dropped in front of some CIA office or something."

"Then they're fools, it would take us a week to level the continent, with the proper motivation, which somebody has come dangerously close to giving us. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but what if we simmer them, building slowly, a weekend here, a vacation there, hell, with Grav's portals we could take a whole compound out in 15 minutes, be back in time for lunch, nobody would know a thing... To be cynical about it, who would suspect us anyway? We're Team Tomorrow, Project Utopia doesn't do this black ops shit."

Comstock squirmed in his seat as the conversation got 'off message' again.  Right after the discussion of bugs.  He looked to Zero.  "Hey Doc ... are we green?  Should we, like, take this elsewhere?"

R.E. Sol
"No, the Project doesn't, not that we know of.  I'm actually betting that there is a T2M Black.  Somebody that gets to do the things that we have no idea about, hence plausible deniability.  Or, alternately, some of us could moonlight on such a team.  The strategic value of having a deep strike, surgical, blitz team, is such that I'm actually really surprised if there isn't one.  Of course, i'd be the last person they'd put on the team, if PR gets their way I'm gonna be a desk jockey 75% of the time..."  Imp trails off, and stares at the ceiling as a gigantic purple plum lifts out of the fruit bowl and slaps into his hand.  He wondered if the team realized how cool it was for a former geek to do Jedi tk mind trick stuff, hopefully not...

After a look at the coordinates, Quentin brought up a mental map of the US and determined the target location he'd been provided. What the hell is in Detroit?, he thought. His expression betrayed the sentiment. Phantasm hadn't said the location out loud though, so she clearly didn't want others to know. He shrugged, then nodded. "Ok, ready when you are. Planning to stay for the rest of this, or are you looking to head out now?"

When Frostburn entered, Quentin had a question ready for her, "Any news about my brother, or will I have to find him the hard way?"

Frostburn looks at her hands and sighs.  The frown on her face when she looks up says it all.

"I don't have good news for anyone.  There's currently no one to hit back.  And if there were, we wouldn't have the go ahead.  I think if the equatorial wars hadn't gone the way they did, it might not be such a big deal, but between the fallout from that, and the Nova Non-proliferation Treaty, going where we aren't invited is pretty much out.

I was also given some extra data that it wasn't considered... Necessary for us to know until now.

No Quentin, no word on your brother.

Anyway, the report I was given basically says that Columbia is pretty much being ran by the cartels.  We actually don't have much info, all our covert operations are blown before they even get in the country, but satalite data and other indirect surveillance shows that the Columbians have made some pretty drastic improvements to their economy and their infrastructure.  This, combined with who's been seen in contact with the government leaders... well, it suggests big changes.

Not that the country wasn't always corrupt, but now its organized and corrupt.  Beyond that, it looks like most of the cartels have banded together to recover from losing their business from the various "war on crime" initiatives Utopia has set up.  And they've started dealing in new synthetic drugs, and nova-related drugs.  We're really not sure what's going on, but the people up top are worried.  And any action against the cartels at this point would be going after the government, not just a rogue criminal organization.  Or it might even be going up against most of South America, depending on how far this influence has spread.

Look, I know you all are upset.  And yes, I know that's an understatement.  I just... Well, I hope you have the sense not to go and turn the world upside down.  But if you do, I can't stop you."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:14, Wed 02 Dec 2009.

The plum turns into a slippery mass of mush that is forcibly ejected through his fingers and splatters down on the table, his chair and the floor.  "Y'know, every time I hear about that goddamn nova non-proliferation treaty, it pisses me off.  Jesus Christ, are we nuclear weapons?  Are we such a threat that the zips need to pass treaties so that there will be less of of us?  Sometimes I think James is right..."  He trails off, then looks over at the snack table and the moist towelettes lifted off and levitated over to him.  He begins cleaning up.  How he does so without looking awkward or uncomfortable is something of  a mystery.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:28, Thu 03 Dec 2009.

Quentin almost seems to smirk. "In some ways we're worse. We're more mobile, we're able to focus our destructive power, and - here's the kicker - we think for ourselves."

Whatever mirth he derived from the thought was quickly squashed. "I'd like a hand in trying to figure out what happened to my brother's body. If they really did detect one of the nova-derived drugs in his system, an autopsy may be able to give us the leads we need to point out specific culprits - or at least part of the justification we need for a strike." He glances over at Frostburn before resuming,   "I don't think I like the idea of rogue actions against these fuckers either, but if we can drum up evidence - real, solid, admissible-in-court evidence - and Utopia won't give us the go-ahead. Well... Lets just say that I'll need to cash in some of my leave, and I suspect some of the others on the team will as well."

God knows somebody needs their ass kicked up between their ears, but there's nothing we can do until we know who did it. I'm not going to overthrow a country on a suspicion, however justified it might be. When we do find out though..." Solitaire sounds profoundly unhappy, but most of that is from not having a proper target to vent her frustrations at. "Your brother does sound like the place to start Grav, unless we wanted to track down Suzukaze's old team and beat an answer out of them, but that still strikes me as odd enough to just have been bad timing."

Gale seemed relieved that everybody seemed to be voting for a more reasonable course of action.  "We should also get autopsies on the other victims, as soon as possible, I should think.  If they stole one body," she shivered a little at the thought.  "If they stole one body, they might come for the others if they think there might be evidence left behind.

A few minutes after the portal closes, Gravitas gets a text from a number he doesn't know, in a California area code saying "Open up another one please-- P."  "Common" sense (the kind common to the hyperintelligent) indicates that Phantasm is probably re-routing the message through a contact in another area to avoid direct tracing of the message.

After she returns, she sits in silence for a moment, shifting her eufiber back from a cammo suit to a more mundane spandex unitard.  With a face devoid of emotion (kind of like Dillon actually), she starts talking in a crisp, businesslike tone.

"So.  I went to see my family, just to make sure things were alright.  My dad was on the phone, talking about "making arrangements" and my sister had come back home from college.  She was crying about how "she was going to miss Mom."  From that I assume that my mother had an "accident," though I didn't want to spend the excess time there to find out what; I'm sure that I can review the local obituaries later.  Since, to my knowledge no one knew their location, not even Utopia (and I've checked fairly well), this indicates either a leak or purposeful action in a high up intelligence based portion of Utopia or other world power... Or, it represents a nova with a special ability to track either our movements, our connections, probabilities, or who has some sort of time sight.  Or all of the above.  Sorry to leave abruptly, but I thought this would be a good way to eliminate some possibilities for everyone.

So, while I was gone did we decide to destroy whoever is responsible, by the way?  We of course need to find a target first, but afterwords? I do hope we won't be hamstrung by any legal or political barriers."

Phantasm looks entirely calm and collected.  Her eyes are the only things that are a bit off, as they look at very little and shift minutely, as though reading in the air.

Suzukaze stands her eyes closed and her head lowered. As she raises her head she opens her eyes and begins to look around at everyone she stops at Comstock.

"I'm sorry if I am out of place, but I think this is enough for all of us for one day. I know this is important, but I believe our emotions are getting in the way. We need to sort things out, and make sure the rest of our families are safe. If they are comming here for protection we need to get them settled.

As for who to go after then my old team is definately on the list. And if they are just after me then I'm not going to stand waiting for them. If they are after us then someone hired them. We get them we find who it is and go after them next. I can't confront them alone though. The group of us did ok against them in Japan. And I know some of you share my opinion of going after these guys.

However this is where the emotions will be getting in the way. Some of you may stay the same. Yet after things calm down and our heads clear some of your opinions may change. My aunt told the girls when your here your family. We aren't just teamates. We're a family. I don't want to see this family torn apart. But maybe we can travel different roads if needed. We can stay together for big or troublesome sitiuations. And have a sub team who handles missions where extreme measures must be taken.

If we decide to go with this, and if we use this sub team against my old one.... Well I'd like to take charge of it. I know them. What they are capable of. I've also had alot of experience from my time with them. We all follow Comstock though. And his word stands. No civilians are to be harmed.

Now I'd like to be with my family for now. And with Shiro even if he dosen't know I'm there. By the way Zero. What are the chances of him comming out of this? Is there anything that can possibly be done to help?"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:26, Fri 04 Dec 2009.

"No consensus yet."  Comstock hurt to see Phantasm like that.  He put on a strong face and gave her a nod of sympathy.  The paranoia of being watched all the time was killing him.



Comstock cocked his head, his expression inscrutable.  "I can't figure you out, Sue, but no you're not out of place and yeah, you've got good points.  Let's take a break before we start making plans or sub-teams or anything.  Let clearer thinking point us in the right direction."

"Do me a favor though: since your past is coming back to haunt all of us now, I'd like a complete report on your old team.  Anything you think will help, just so we can familiarize ourselves."

Frostburn's news took the spark right out him.  He looked defeated, sure that there was nothing more to say at this meeting.  As Dillon worked to draw the metal back into his skin, he moved like a mountain, ponderous, even his thinking slow.  "I'm not much of a researcher or investigator or whatever and I'm going to be out for awhile, so I guess ... everyone do their usual thing."  He nodded to Gale, remembering team obligations to new members.  "Someone gets to take Gale on as understudy, too, so she can help out and familiarize herself with how we work.  We'll bring whatever info or tech back to the table and ... make a plan."

He stood, as though trying to bring things to a close, and looked to Slider, then to Frostburn.  "One thing's still bothering me though: is there any report on threats or accidents outside of our team?  Anyone go after Pax's folks or anything like that?"  Some bitter corner of Comstock's heart wanted to see the prick suffer alongside the rest of T2M, though he didn't want to see Pax in a rage either.

"You're talking sense, Sue.  Gotta focus.  Animals react, sentience demands us to be proactive.  If you'll excuse me everybody, I'm going to go look after my mother.  I'd be honored if you could make it to my father's funeral, but I understand if you're all too busy.  I'd like to pay my respects at your families' ceremonies as well.  Take care everybody."  Imp walked out of the room and back to his house, deep in thought.

"No.  Assuming this was an attack, it was on T2M:A only.  Whether that was because they wanted to divide T2M, or they just didn't have the resources to hit everyone, or something else, I'm not sure.

Everyone, take your break.  See to families, see to your own psychological health.  You've got a week, barring horrible disasters that the auxiliary teams can't handle.

If you need anything, let me know.  Autopsies are being performed, and records will be available when they're done, and you're ready to look at them."

Frostburn stands up, nods to everyone, and then waits as people leave.  She stops Gale and Gravitas as they leave.

"I don't know what happened with your brother, but the chemical we found in him isn't standard for that type of drug.  What that means for their operation is anyone's guess, and I don't know why they took the body, unless they just wanted to hide their product, or just wanted to play some sort of head game with us.  The records on it are yours though, when you want them.

Gale, are you still up for working with us?  You came at exactly the wrong time, and you've seen what can happen.  But you would be important, and you would be making a difference.  I'd understand if you don't want to stick around, but I hope that you do."

Gale listened as the meeting wound down.  Phantasm's situation seemed to ruffle her feathers a little.  Probably out of all the members affected, she'd seemed to be the most careful about protecting her family.

In response to Frostburn's question, she nodded.  "I'm still up for it.  I knew there was going to be some amount of risk just by joining.  Just let me know what I can do to help."  She looked to Gravitas, sympathetic green eyes seeking his permission.  "My offer to start comparing the autopsies still stands.  I'm not anywhere close to Steve Debow or anything, but I do have some scientific training."

"You know Frosty, I'm not sure I want any time off, something bad seems to happen whenever I try. At least when I'm on the clock I expect it. But some sleep would be good I think."

Solitaire stands as well, giving a slight wave to the rest of the team before heading back to her room. Sleep must have been invented for days like today, and she found herself looking forward to a few hours of oblivion.

Suzukaze stops in front of Comstock and Frostburn on her way out.

"When you are ready to know the information of my old team just come and get me. If you really need to know soon at least give me an hour with my family."

She then turns and leaves the meeting room. She takes her time walking back to her room. Her mind racing with the thoughts of what has happened. She wonders if Keitaro has broken the news to Miho yet. She holds back her tears as she thinks of Miho. 'I have to be strong for her' she thinks to herself.

"As soon as possible would be best. I'd like to get to work on figuring this mess out. Any info we've got on the last known whereabouts of his body, security videos from the facility, and the like would also be nice. I don't suppose we have any psycometers on staff that could take a look at the place?"



"A second set of eyes never hurt." He looked to Frostburn, "Have the files sent to our lab," Quentin persisted in calling it 'our lab' despite it largely being his lab, "and we'll make them available to any team members that want to analyze them. We'll keep a communal analysis log so that we can both benefit from work others have done and add to it. Definitely need to have Zero take a look."

He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, a gesture used more because of mental and emotional frustration and fatigue than physical tiredness. "I suppose I'll be in the lab. I think I'll space out for an hour or two before actually getting to work."

"You've got at least a week.  Use it."  Comstock gave her a nod, then gave Frostburn one.  "I'm out, Frostburn.  I'll see you around."  With one last glance around everyone in the room, he turned to leave.

Impetus walked into the briefing room and sat down in his chair, his usual sinuous grace replaced by a pensive, distracted gait.  He made some perfunctory greetings then leaned back in his chair, waiting to hear what was in store for them this time.

"Morning Imp."  Comstock was already there, an intelligence report on Colombia in his lap, ready to go.  He didn't look up, instead just giving a slight nod while his eyes poured over the text.  "Meeting starts any minute.  You ready to get back in the saddle?"

Suzukaze walks into the room her swords on either side of her waist a folder of paperwork in her hand. She bows in turn to Comstock and Impetus. "Good morning gentlemen." She approaches her chair setting the paperwork down on the table. She then removes her swords and places them next to her as she sits. It does not take much to notice that something has definately changed about her.

Comstock gave a nod in return. "Morning.  You look lively.  What's up?"

Suzukaze looks at Comstock and points to the folder. "I've made a report of my former team. Figure I'll wait until we are all here before handing them out. Also I've found out their location and that they were indeed hired. The funds came from Columbia. I've also been busy attending to my family, watching over Shiro hoping he will wake up. I've also visited Annette cause I really just needed a friend to talk to." She shows little signs of any kind of emotion as she spoke, and without another word she turns her head back. Leaning back in her chair she folds her arms over her chest and closes her eyes as she waits for the others.

Comstock showed no outward reaction.  His silver-blue second skin took on a more coppery hue.  "How ... how is she?  Annette, I mean."

Solitaire felt good as she walked in the door, better than she had in a long while. The funeral had been... Trying... But she'd done good work after it. Her project's were building steam, making progress. She was tempted to sit back and see what they made of themselves without her interference, but she wasn't quite sure if they were at that point yet.

"Hey all. I'm back." She said, taking her chair leaning back luxuriantly in it, propping her feet up on the table. It was good to be home. She almost said something like 'Did everyone have a good holiday?' but figured it really wasn't time time. It hadn't been a good holiday at all really.

"Should I wait until everyone else wanders in before asking what we've found out?"

In reply to Comstock (msg #254):

Suzukaze opens her eyes and looks back at Comstock. "She's doing really well. Getting used to everything. She's really in love with Zero or atleast thinks she's in love."

As Solitaire walks in Suzukaze turns towards her. "Good morning."

Gale quietly came into the briefing room and took a seat that she had learned didn't belong to anyone else.  She didn't say anything in the way of greetings yet, but did give a small nod to everyone.  She still felt really out of place whenever the team met in a group like this, and so she wasn't comfortable exposing her usual mannerisms, choosing instead to be more formal.  She folded her hands in her lap as she waited for the meeting to start, listening to the conversation around her.

Phantasm walks into the room.  She looks around the room, noting Flare, Gravitas, and Zero are absent.  She sits down in her spot, and comments "Guess I'm not late then."

Flare wanders in to the room.  The calm numbness of the recently grieving clear on her face.  She has cards in her hands, all of them condolences, and hands them out to those present.  Seeing several absences she puts the rest to the side. There is one for Zero even though there was no mention of him losing a family member, it is possible that even if he had, he wouldn't mention it to the rest of the group, and perhaps headquarters wouldn't even know.

The cards show super-hero's of old on them, but the messages are personal condolences to each member of the team, minus Gale.  Flare's handwriting/scrawl, is obvious, but several other signatures are unknown.

"These are from me and my family.  We're all grieving, and generally doing so at different places, but I wanted to reestablish that we aren't grieving alone, perhaps everyone could sign everyone elses." Here she pauses and pulls out an envelope. "While I know some of you have more money than God, I though it might be nice if we could make a memorial, to our families.  We haven't figured out who did it, or why, but they were victims of a terrorist attack, against us and should probably be remembered as such."

After a deep sigh, something like a normal smile reaches her face.

"No, Sol, I heard you in the hall, and I would definitely say not a happy holiday, but at least I learned early who in my family can accept me as I am now." "Only the last person to show up is late, 'Tasm, so we're both in the clear."

Quentin entered the room in a somewhat more conventional fashion than he had last time - he used the door. He carried with him a slim laptop, which he connected to the cables on the table when he sat. He looks thoughtful, but doesn't let himself get distracted, instead powering the small machine on and loading up whatever relevant information he has prepared.

Comstock stared at the card.  "Thank you.  It's ... it means a lot."  He spaced out, staring through the card.  "We'll ... we'll have to work on that memorial later."

Looking around the room, seeing everyone, Comstock cleared his throat.  "Uh ... I texted updates to Zero earlier ... and I'm not even sure he's in the country.  Not that it'd matter, but ... the only other person missing is Frostburn, so I think we can start."

Comstock turned his palms up and made a face.  "Personally ... I'm better, focused, ready to go, but I haven't gotten much done.  Brushed up on my Spanish.  So.  I'm hoping Frostburn will be able to tell us what our political limits are for future action, because I want a plan today.  What did the rest of you manage to dig up?"

"Nothing at all here, I was working on, other things..." Solitaire replied, pausing on the last word. She shrugged. "None of my skills would really be of much use anyway, unless I wanted to start breaking legs and violating civil rights. Even if I did, I really wouldn't have the first idea where to start looking that wouldn't set off an international incident."

Solitaire let her feet down, and sat up straight, reaching out and picking up her card. It was old, they hadn't made these in years, not since the public had real 'super-heroes'. As she looked down at it, she felt a nearly uncontrollable urge to laugh. Whoever had picked it had chosen well. The card was vintage X-Men, with a picture of Rogue.

"Thanks, Flare." She said, grinning and sounding a lot more like her old self than she'd been in weeks.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:32, Fri 18 Dec 2009.

Frostburn slides into the room, trying to be unobtrusive with her own laptop in hand.  She listens as the group talks, waiting to hear what everyone has found before commenting.  She figures it would benefit Comstock to lead the conversation anyway, he could use the confidence boost, and the team would benefit from his stability.

"Plenty of time to violate civil rights later.  I might even join you, depending.  Okay, who's next?"

Gale looked around for a second before speaking.  "I didn't find anything that can help find the killers, but," she said quietly.  "You guys should know that the media have made the connection between the deaths and the fact that we haven't done anything for a week.  And they're not exactly being quiet or discrete about it.  If any other enemies in the world are watching..."  She couldn't finish the sentence, but the implication was there.

"I've got some information, but I figure I'll save it until everyone's done. My investigation has gone in an interesting direction, but it doesn't all quite fit together yet. There's a number of... interesting possibilities," Quentin seemed somewhat less troubled than he did last week. "The data definitely indicates a new sort of drug that raises some red flags." He shrugged. "I'll save the rest for later."

R.E. Comstock:
"Ready and willing, big man, they've already got me booked solid for the next god only knows how long running around meeting bigwigs and getting them to support Utopia in our future endeavors. Whatever those may be."
R.E. Flare:
Imp looked at his card and grinned, "Warren Worthington III, hunh?  That fits.  Self absorbed, dashingly handsome, billionaire playboy.  Except the billionaire bit.  thanks Flare."  He stowed the card in the inside breast pocket of his black suit.
"I didn't find out anything.  My abilities aren't so useful for snooping.  Now if we need to get a green light from a government to conduct training operations within their country's borders, I'm your man."

"I assume you moved into trillionaire some time ago, Imp, you could smile and people would turn over their bank accounts. I found nothing that would lead to any large bad guy involvement with my father's death. I found that his killer may have been paid for the hit, but he then 'killed himself out of grief' yeah. Until I'm ready to raze the precinct for answers, I'm at a standstill."


(In response to Gale's input)

"Do you think it's too late for damage control? I think I could get back into action right now, but if it looks contrived in the news, it likely wouldn't help much."

"I don't think there's much damage to control.  They're not saying bad things about you.  But every enemy on the globe now knows that if they hit our families, it's does  more damage than trying to hit us.  It's the chink in the armor.  And I don't doubt that they'll use it again."

Gale sighed, expressing sympathy to the others.  "I know it's depressing.  But it's all the more reason to be careful with what we choose to do, and how we do it."

"Doesn't matter much right now.  Good to know we've still got the eyes of the world on us."

He looked to Impetus.  "How tight is your schedule and security?  Are they trying to move you off this base to the New York headquarters yet, or is it more like they tell you get on these jets or fly and get to these summits and meetings and whatever?  Because I'll want to know if they're going to pull you out of any operations we plan now that you're auxiliary."

Just about everyone had spoken.  "Okay, what about you, P?  And you Zero.  If you're listening."  He looked around the room as though Zero would manifest at any moment just from hearing his name spoken aloud.

"I've got some flex, 'Stock, and I don't get pu on jets, ususally, they tend to let me get there under my own power.  It's faster after all.  Don't worry about me being unavailable for missions, there's an unspoken understanding that if I really don't want to do something everybody will agree that it's not something I need to do.  However, being an auxilliary means that I'm officially not on the team, so you'll probably wnat to change the secret handshake to get into the clubhouse."

Solitaire shakes her head with a smile. "No way man, that handshake is tradition. And your still on our team, whatever the paperwork says, like hell are we going to keep you out. You should know better."

This was getting back into familiar territory. Good old Op's brainstorms. It was good to be back in the groove. Now, all they needed was a target more specific than 'Columbia', unless they just wanted to level the place, which may well be an improvement. The UN tended to frown on that sort of thing though.

"So, whats our next step? Another round of Intel? Or straight into planning our next OP."

Comstock checked through the papers in his hand.  "I want to start that next OP, but I also want to pick everyone's brain on something.  I managed to get a phonecall with Pax ... mentioned flagging morale, need for leave-time, combat readiness.  Now, don't groan: Imp, you might have more luck with Laragione, but I work with what I've got."

"Anyway, I need a little feedback: if Pax or someone else proposes expanding the team, from eight to ten or twelve, what do you think?  I'm not really for it, certainly not so soon, but Pax seems to think that T2M is about regional military dominance and if there's any doubts about our ability to level any country in the Western Hemisphere then we need to bulk up."  Comstock paused, put his report down on the table and folded his arms.  "So ... I'm personally opposed; Gale's file show's big potential and merit, and she's only just arrived to fill Imp's spot."

"I also have an ulterior motive, in that I like my tight-knit family and don't want this to become too much of a business.  On the other hand, more hands means more firepower, potentially firepower that could be scrubbed of public entanglements and less vulnerable.  So what should I tell him?"  He looked to Frostburn, unsure if she'd heard anything about this yet.