"Hey there.  You gonna give up, or do I get to grind your skull to powder to make you stop?" Not a lie, not a threat, just an honest question as Phantasm takes evasive maneuvers to avoid the arms while applying her boosted strength to the task of crushing the defenseless skull, bracing it in the crook of her arm as she grinds into its temple with her knuckles.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Str 5 + M.Str 3 from shapeshift. Not sure how you want to resolve the action though, so feel free to roll whatever for me.

---

Zero scratches it's head for a second, trying to figure out how to flank disembodied limbs, but then quickly tries to beat down on Bone-yard's arms.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Quickness, Precision activated.

19:10, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,7,1,3,1,9,5,7,1,2,5. Strike Boneyard 1 (1Meg).

If that hit: 3 Damage Successes + x extra attack successes + 5 Mega-Str Damage.
19:11, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,5,4,9,8. Damage Roll 1.

19:11, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,1,9,3,1,7,6,9,5,2. Strike Boneyard 2 (1Meg) Quickness.

If that hit: 2 Damage Successes + x extra attack successes + 5 Mega-Str Damage.
19:11, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,6,9,2,5,8. Damage Roll 2.

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC: In the interests of expediency, I'm summarizing the end of that face-off.  The numerical advantage is just too great, and play-by-post battle sapped a lot of energy from the thread.

---

Boneyard was down.  Even with all his strength and armor, he was outnumbered and outmaneuvered.  Dr. Zero numbed his arms with precise strikes and was far too skillful to let him get a firm grip.  His torso, clumsy and unguided, smashed everything in its path but harmed no one.  And his skull was in the grasp of Utopia's demon-girl.  He tried to paralyze her again, his teeth chattering together, quantum fear crawling up her spine, but a little more force to the temple ended that attempt.  "I'm all yours, pretty.  My contract's up anyway."  That toothy grimace must be what Boneyard considers a smile these days.

Impetus and Flare tidy up the mite-heads, and like proper drugged up berserkers they put up one hell of a fight.  Rising again and again to the fight, the last handful manage to throw old tires and parts.  They collapse at last, smashed with TK and on fire, shouting and roaring slurred Spanish war-cries.  Tough as they were, at least half, if not all of them may survive to be questioned and examined.

And without support, the battle begins to press in against Juan.  Toe-to-toe with Solitaire and Gale, the big guy found himself evenly matched and regularly outflanked.  Impetus momentum control turned his strength to weakness -- his motion sent him in wrong directions, leaving him vulnerable to blow after blow.  Gale's claws could not cut him, it seemed, but defending against her left him more vulnerable still.  Eventually, he gathered his strength and made another quantum leap toward the garage door, hoping to break through and put some distance between him and T2M.  With one quick motion Impetus redirected his movement into the ceiling of the enclosure.  He pulverized concrete but didn't break through, and Solitaire caught him as he fell.

Alegría's undocumented powers availed her little.  Suzukaze was relentless in her assault, and the terrain favored close combat over firearms.  Periodically the fight would drift back near Comstock and the would-be general of a new revolution found herself dodging mortal blows from the savaged chassis of a pickup truck.  Bleeding from wound after wound, she found herself cornered at last.  Quick, but not quick enough, she finally dropped her empty gun and raised her hands, a blade at her throat.  Comstock dropped the truck and breathed a sign of relief.

Gravitas, meanwhile, quickly determines a means of sapping outgoing radio and electrical signals.  Alegría and Juan each try, in the fighting, to trigger more explosives again, but fail, their grasp of their own technology insufficient to overcome Utopia's best minds and technology.  His field of increased gravity keeps the baselines docile and immobile for the most part, making cleanup even easier.

Frostburn's voice came crisply over their headsets.  "Team?  Your video feeds are a little fuzzy.  What is your status?  Over."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Phantasm, Solitaire, Suzukaze: if any of you want to get any last-minute poundings or killing in on your respective targets, just say so.  Otherwise, there's still explosives around the city and one nova unaccounted for (la Mascara), so this whole thread can finish up with some heroics/theatrics if anyone likes.

---

Imp breathed a sigh of relief.  "Thank god that's over with," he muttered to no one in particular.  He walked over to an equipment shed and grabbed multiple lengths of chain and cable, then started binding the mite heads, he started trussing up the 'roid monkeys one arm and two legs behind the back lashed together from knee to foot and elbow to wrist.  He looked around at the rest of the team, "How're we doing everybody?"

Suzukaze leans in close to Alegría tightening the blade against her throat.

"You will tell me who hired the assassins or I'll have your head to go along with Tao's..."

Not waiting for a response. She takes her other blade and runs it through Alegría. Pulling it out she drops Alegría to the ground and walks out of the building. She then reaches out with her senses to make sure there is still no one loose on the grounds.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
21:51, Today: Suzukaze rolled 5 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,1,4,7,9,4,9. blindfighting... mexico search

---

Comstock stalked up to Alegría, checking her wound.  "Suzukaze!  Head up top and look for bombs!"  His jaw was set and the hum was in his voice.  "That's an order."

Flare took a second to catch her breath and ambled to the main body of the group. She was a bit disturbed by the attack on an unarmed foe.

"Umm...that was, well..." It was crazy that went beyond words and a bit scary to see such ruthlessness in a teammate. "I can heal her, at least a bit. I'm pretty tapped out but its worth a try."

With using more Quantum after such a lengthy battle, Flare is staggering and fairly done.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Unless she can and does resist, Alegria is healed 3L

---

Imp stopped, stunned.  "Jesus Christ, I thought we were supposed to be the good guys here, Sue." He said to her retreating back.  "Frosty, you get all the action down here?  Enemy leadership in custody, some need medical attention."  He continued tying up mite heads, he was no medic and it looked like Flare had things under control.  "If her lawyers use abuse of captives to get her off, I'm gonna..." He muttered to nobody in particular.

Alegría winced and swore as Flare worked her magic.  "You ... Utopia ..."* If she had a stream of insults in mind she held her tongue.  When she found she could run her hand over her gut and not reach inside, she conceded a weak smile and switched to accented English.  "Your friend's going to make more enemies than friends."

The horrible squirrels faded away at last and the remaining prisoners were restrained.  At least a few had seen the incident, and at least a few were staring at T2M with hateful eyes.  The Mite heads were restrained, and it looked like they would need major medical attention ASAP, before the drugs in their systems began to wear off.

Gale was stunned that Suzukaze would do such a thing.  The others had voiced their disapproval though, and since she was the newbie on the team, she didn't feel the need to add her voice to the mix.  She instead focused on helping to round up the last of the cretins.

Gravitas addressed Frostburn directly via the comm, "It looks like things have been settled here. I've managed to disrupt the method they were planning to use to hold the city hostage, but there are still a number of live bombs scattered about. We're going to need to find them and disarm them. Recommend we evacuate anyone that might still be in the area until we've found them all."

As the remaining mite heads were restrained, he went over to began a quick examination, then barked into the comm for specific supplies in order to treat them.

Solitaire watched from her perch atop Juan's unconscious body. She'd probably (definitely) hit him harder (a lot harder) that was strictly necessary after she'd caught him, but well, he had it coming, and she disliked him intensely. Respected his abilities, he had taken her down once, but still, he was a jackass. Such a waste of potential.

For the moment, Solitaire was content to keep an eye on things, Nova's recovered quickly from injury, some amazingly so, and she'd be damned if Juan got away this time. She could go sort out bombs once he'd been suitably dealt with.

Comstock watched Suzukaze leave.  He didn't even care if she did go to look for bombs, he just wasn't about to have an argument on policy with her now, not in the middle of an operation.  After that, he loomed over Flare and read Alegría her rights.

"Copy Gravitas.  The Mexican Army has evacuated the area you're in, but at least one of the explosions was outside the cordon.  If you've got any insights into the cleanup, we'd be grateful."  She turned away from the microphone and sent a full map update to the team.  "Slider's heading your way-" on cue, Slider arrived with a Utopia security team to drug the hell out of the captured novas and restrain them, "-keep me informed.  Over."

"I don't suppose you'd like to let me put myself back together," Boneyard asked Phantasm and Zero.  "I don't take drugs well, and in all likelihood them cuffs won't be enough for me.  But I promise to play nice."  His eyes slid to the side to consider Juan, unconscious and beneath Solitaire's boot.  "You have cable TV in the cells?  I'm not beneath a little kiss-and-tell if you've got cable TV.  And a nice brioche."

"Quiet!  Tell them nothing!" Alegría hissed.

"Hey Sol.  You think Juan's going to tell us anything?"  Comstock asked.

Phantasm looked over at Zero and shrugged.  What could it hurt, right?  And generally a little respect and kindness went a long way toward getting info later...

"Sure.  I'll just uh, set you on your body...  Your cooperation will go a long way toward making you look better in court.  I'm glad you're smart enough to figure out which side to take, even if it's a bit late in the game."

Phantasm waited for someone to take her prisoner off her hands as she made small talk and read him his rights.  She looked around at the mess the team had made, and was rather happy.  Things could have gone so much worse.

Once it was obvious that the goons weren't going anywhere, that nobody was going to bleed to death, and that the others were either out of the fight or had given up Imp began moving around the bay they were in, looking in trucks, crates, and cabinets.

Flare just nodded, and couldn't do much more than agree with that assessment. Once Alegria was situated she gave herself some time to recoup.  Checking on the injured and putting a bit of first aid to use.   Her recent training in first aid was quite useful when she was too tired to use any more powers.

"I wonder if we could get the people of this area to help us with clean up in the region now that the these people are out of the way. It would lessen what we have to do and give them control over their homes again."

Gale approached Boneyard, since he seemed willing to talk.  More so than Alegría, and Juan was unconscious.  "I want to know what it was you guys did to Cloudburst.  She didn't seem like a willing participant in all this."  Try as she might, the new recruit had problems seeming as intimidating as Comstock or Solitaire.  But she opened her wings a little to try and make herself seem larger, stronger, tougher.  She wanted these villains to know that just because she was weaker than the others didn't mean she could be pushed around.

Solitaire shrugged in response to Comstock, "No Idea." She was clearly really only concerned with the fact that they ought to have enough evidence to put him away for a very long time. Perhaps it was a bit vindictive of her, but she didn't like to lose. She was however rather amused by Gale's attempts to be intimidating, the kids heart was in the right place.

Picking up Juan's unconscious body with no visible effort, she handed it off to the security team. "Extra care with that one, hes a real bastard."

Boneyard righted himself, a variety of sickening pops accompanying the reattachment of his tissues.  Once he'd stretched his neck out and some of the security team had cuffed him as a preliminary measure, he smirked at Phantasm and Gale.  "Thanks.  The general, she knows where the bombs are.  And if this went badly, she has a man to kill the governor."  He rolled his shoulders to expose some of the very few softer tissues as a medtech tried to drug him to muffle his powers.  "Cloudburst wanted an edge in combat so she got that drug pump put in.  Don't seem to have helped her much."  He shrugged.  "I heard they got it from friends down south, but I don't follow tech much."

As Impetus and the others poked around, they found plenty of evidence that the Zetas were being supplied with government weapons and ammo.  Probably bribing officials.  The trucks were full of everything the gang wanted cleared out at the last minute, too, enough to start busting every minor drug peddler for four states at least.

Comstock turned his efforts to cleaning up the wreckage.  Alegría resisted efforts to restrain her, though with Boneyard spilling the beans like a civilized elite she was changing her tune.  "You need me conscious.  My threat still stands.  I'll deal for my life, the city will suffer extreme damage otherwise."  She shouted to get Flare's attention.  "Hey!  American!  Listen to me: I have people everywhere.  You don't want the population looking for bombs themselves.  Trust me."

Comstock relayed what Boneyard and Alegría said to Frostburn.  "I'm sending troops after the governor now.  Reyes is still missing though."  The Mask.  "The Mexican army doesn't know how he got past them and out of his house, but he's not there anymore."

Juan seemed out for the count.  Just to be safe, the security team poured an insulating, fast-hardening foam over him.  Can't be too careful.  Slider gave Sol the thumbs up.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Thu 19 Aug 2010.

Epilogue

La Mascara, whose powers apparently extended beyond a talent for wrestling to include changing his face, was stopped with bomb in hand, ready to destroy the governor's mansion and everyone in it.  The Mexican Army cleared the streets and began their building to building search for all of the leftover explosives.  The Zetas were crushed, utterly and completely, Antaeus' survey allowing every inch of the tunnel complex to be uncovered.  And the accumulated evidence acquired in the operation painted a picture of corruption and exploitation running through the entirety of the Mexican government.

After some discussion, General Zuniga ordered the captured prisoners quickly rounded up and sent out of the country to await trial.  The Mexican media exploded, nationalists howling that Zuniga was a traitor working for the Americans, reform-minded progressives calling this a chance to put every last liar and cheat to trial where their bribes won't save them.  Project: Utopia and T2M are heroes, however, having carried out a clear and sweep in incredible circumstances with scarcely any harm to the people of Chihuahua.  Footage of the aerial duel with Cloudburst makes N! and other news agencies, calling up comparisons to the Equatorial Wars, and select bits of combat footage from the team's headsets are edited and released to give a first-hand perspective into the battle with Alegría in the garage.

Furthermore, over the next six months the hasty shelters built by Utopia for the evacuees are turned into the beginnings for a new suburb, one built with sustainability in mind.  Services and conditions there are dramatically superior to those in the middle of the city, and the low cost and success of the endeavor leads to a Utopia sponsored redevelopment project.  As the Zeta complex and the old barrios are torn up, Chihuahua prospers, its people enjoying a quality of life previously only dreamed of.

Over the next year, international law experts conspire with a few Mexican legislators, and by Christmas of 2004 corrupt officials and legislators are being tried outside of Mexico on the weight of the T2M captured documents.  Despite an uneasy feeling that the country is now under the thumb of foreign powers, the government begins to function again.  Utopia gets to open schools and community redevelopment centers.  It is, nominally, a success story, and one that encourages international policymakers to trust the UN and the International Court.

---

But, as might be expected, no victory is ever complete or perfect.

In the aftermath, Juan Tajillo disappears.  He'd been sedated, drugged until his powers wouldn't work, manacled and given plastic gloves and booties to insulate him.  Only hours before he was to be transferred to a more secure location, the camera shows a Latino male appear in his cell and leave with him.  The Cartel, it seems, has purpose for him yet.  So much so they were willing to risk getting their mysterious teleporter on camera.

Cloudburst recovers.  She agrees to testify and remain in Utopia's custody in exchange for immunity from prosecution and medical assistance.  From the story she tells, an operation for gear to make her more competitive on the nova scene left her with a debilitating, crippling addiction.  She was given the choice to keep working for the Zetas and collect a tidy sum or pay up for regular treatments.  Going to the authorities would mean admitting that the adrenal-accelerator machinery she'd had installed in her own body came from her dealings with drug dealers.  It was an ugly side to Elite life.  The hardest part was that the baseline doctors had tried to enslave Cloudburst on Alegría's orders.

La Voz, Espericueta and La Mascara end up at the secure facility in Bahrain.  They all constitute threats to public order, it is decided, and the facilities there will rehabilitate each of them in time.  Boneyard avoids this fate only due to good behavior.  As long as he can watch his 'soaps' and gets good food, he does not seem to care where he is.  Maybe boredom will set in eventually, but in the meantime he's kept under watch at a closer Utopia facility.

Alegría's charisma has been working over the Zetas for months.  The commanders are all brutal anti-American revolutionaries, mistrustful of any and every 1st World Institution.  The general herself had ambitions to continue playing Utopia with threats and information about the rest of her army, but telepaths pry her secrets from her with ease.  She has no real understanding of herself or her powers -- not even the budding time manipulation she showed in the fight -- just that she wants to fight and believes getting dirty is worth it if the cause is just.  Whether she'll stand trial or not remains up for debate, but she makes a bad poster-child for teragen-esque philosophies.  All the politics, none of the heart.

But the most interesting gem the detectives and telepaths glean from her brain concerns Prometheus.  He was not a prisoner: he had simply masqueraded as one in an effort to escape justice.  The details are not revealed to T2M:A, and the matter is handled privately.  Soon, Prometheus is working for Triton Pharmaceuticals, and by late 2004 he's rehabilitated and allowed to interact with society.  His file is closed.

Furthermore, Tao's hard drives are delivered to a decryption team.  The products are, likewise, not discussed, and enter into the larger pool of evidence used in future trials and investigations.

[ Edits to complete this later ... it's past four AM ]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:42, Fri 04 Feb 2011.

[OOC: could I run a small mimi-event following this? I have an evil idea to put the fear of God into the Cartels.]

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Sure. If it is set after Columbia, the cartels are much weaker, but still around.  If before Columbia but after Mexico, they are still going strong, but beginning to fray a bit from having to work on too many fronts at once.

---

[OOC: Cool. Thank you. Phantasm? Would your PC be up to help Zero with some wet work?]

---

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

---

<OOC: Mu-wha, ha, ha, ha!>

<IC:> "Mu-wha, ha, ha! says Zero to his fighting companion, the terrifying... Phantasm!" Zero says this with a flashlight help under it's chin in a dimly lit broom closest (that it checked with Creeping Feeling and Investigative Genius). The Doctor opens up a large drawing pad with drawings of the quality a 4 year old could produce. "I have a plan. It'll be cool. We punch bad people, so it'll be cool."

Zero opens the first page. It has an ugly picture of what might be Juan Tajillo & the nameless teleporter who freed him. Thankfully, they are labeled. "OK. So these two assharts just escaped. I say we make ourselves look like them..."

Zero turns the page to a bad picture of Z & Phantasm dressing up like Tajillo and the teleporter, than flips to another another panel of them poping into a room with squiggle guns and scowling stickfigure men. "...teleport into one of these guys safe houses. Then you, as Tajillo act like your unstable & brutalize them." Zero flips to a page of Tajillo/Phantasm breaking stick figure people in half.

"I act all good cop, and try to stop you by teleporting you out of there. We rinse and repeat once or twice. It'll make them think Tajillo's gone nuts, and make it hard for him to hide & be trusted! Is this my most best idea, or what?" It seems like Zero has had a bit of sugar before the closest meeting. 
This message was last edited by the player at 02:51, Sun 10 Oct 2010.