Zero looks for a place out of sight, preferably above everyone, to port to. (Perhaps on one of the unused nuclear devices?) If it manages to confuse these fighters, it tries to line up the teleporter, and take him out. Nothing else matters but eliminating this chief threat.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Quickness.
1st action: Combat Teleport to hidy hole.

2nd action: stealth roll: 7 successes
13:54, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,9,1,9,10,9,5,3,5,6. Stealth Roll, 1meg.
13:54, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10. Reroll, Agil Quality.
13:55, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2. Reroll, Agil Quality.

3rd action: take the shot: 6 successes + surprise attack successes if Stealth was successful.
13:59, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 4 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,1,1,4,7,8,6,5,4,2,9,10,6. Rifle+2acc, 1Meg, +1Will.
14:00, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8. Reroll, Agil Quality.

If that hit: 4L
14:02, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,7,6,6,5,10,7,9. Rifle damage.


Are there any gas or poisonous exhaust vents into the lab? Do any of the soldiers have tear gas grenades?

What would be involved in setting off one of the nuclear weapons inside the base? Is this something Zero could achive with reasoanable speed with Fast Tasks, and it's knowelege, and could it do it before the teleportation barrier was droped? Zero would weigh if it could set off the bomb to take out the teleporter before he can escape this rare trap.

Right now, The Doctor would consider everything secondary to incapacitating/killing the teleporter, and it will risk trying to dodge a nuclear detonation to achieve this goal.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Tue 23 Nov 2010.

Suzukaze moves to Impetus and kneels on the ground beside him. "Imp is right. Let them try. Other than Comstock and whoever was outside the range of the blast none of us are in condition to continue. We need time to recover and recharge. They send another nuke and we're most likely done for. If they succeed then great. If not then they at least bought us some time." She puts an arm around him trying to help him to his feet.

After Imp and Geryon had their say, before the cacophony of voices grew much louder, just as it seemed he'd fallen catatonic and just as he finished considering everything he had just heard, Comstock thrummed to life.  He burned some juice and stepped forward, the imposing thud of his movement demanding attention.  Addressing the gathered authorities, he tried to keep his comments brief, politic and efficient.

"Sirs: with Caestus Pax out of commission, I find myself in the unenviable position of field commander.  I have no intention of retreating."  There were others with more 'valid' claims on the position, but Comstock gave himself even odds none would speak up.  "Slider, make sure someone's with Pax at all times.  I want to know the minute he's ready to take command again."  He made a contemplative sound, like a motor, considered earlier speculation then looked out at everyone with a flat expression.

"Nuclear retaliation will take too long.  The men and woman of Team Tomorrow ... and Mr. Geryon's friends ... can bring this conflict to a decisive end and minimize the loss of life.  A member of my team has already infiltrated enemy ranks."  He hoped he was right about that.  Otherwise, Zero was probably dead.  "To maximize our advantages, we ought to attack within the next hour.  When we have arrested and detained their leadership, the remaining forces will have no other options but to surrender."  Logically, they could choose continued resistance and annihilation.  But again, Comstock thought that better left unsaid.  "Forming a united front against this sort of criminal conduct reaffirms the most basic aims of the Project and the United Nations.  We may never get another opportunity to prove our intentions through action."

"At this time, I am recommending a direct assault on the capital.  Novas will break basic defenses, clearing a path for conventional troops to take and hold ground.  Frostburn, will you ask the staff to begin preparations for mobilization and identify primary and secondary objectives.  I invite questions, but ask that any discussion be kept brief and comprehensible to all present."

He gave Flare a look, his face moving from mask-like indifference to encouraging confidence with obvious, visible effort.  Some of the onlookers might misinterpret this, he considered after the fact, but there was no stopping people talking.

Flare repressed a shudder of revulsion at 'Mr. Geryon's friends'...douche. After quelling the urge to glare, she turns a grim smile and a nod to Comstock.

"If you think this is our best chance, I'm with you to the end 'stock."
Using her node to draw to recover quantum faster had been as useful, and disturbing, as Phantasm had said, but at least she had the juice to help the team again.

[Private to Rydi: In the main book it said to roll to see if I acquire taint for drawing energy that way.  Just wanted to confirm it was so. ]

Gale hobbled through the gate, leaning heavily on whoever was helping her.  She was pretty sure she was going to be out of commission for the rest of the battle.  She was quiet, most likely still in a state of shock and confusion, though she wouldn't have been able to put it so succinctly.

She collapsed when she was finally told she could stop hobbling.  Pain shot through her left side.  After taking a moment to catch her breath, she sat back up.  "Can I get someone to help me?  I need to reset my wing."  After an aide came over to help, she directed him to bend the broken left wing until it matched her right one.  "Good thing I studied this in school," the injured woman gasped as the limb bent slowly and unwilling to its natural position.  "Ok.  Ok.  Now we have to wrap it, so it doesn't move.  This is so much easier on small birds."  This was gonna take a while, but it wasn't like she was going to be going anywhere anyway.

"Thanks Sue, but I've got this powerful attraction to the ground for the moment," Imp said with a wry smile that was at least half wince.  "I hate to be a burden, but could I perhaps get some pants?" Imp said, to one of the passing workers.  "Actually, as breathtakingly beautiful as everybody here is, perhaps pants all round, and shirts, if it's not too much trouble."
He turned his head to face Comstock, "You're field leader, no question about it, but I'm supposed to be in charge of co-ordinating nova assets in site, so I'll take charge of getting lists of missing, wounded, walking wounded and combat ready, see what we have by way of equipment and give you as much information as I can gather in 15 minutes and report back to you, alright?"
Once he had recovered his breath after his speech he, leaning heavily on Sue, got to his feet, then hobbled off to take stock of what few resources they had left.

The bickering between world leaders became a dull hum in the background, as the wounded novas, medical response team, and hazmat team attempted to prevent any further casualties amongst the nova survivors.  Thorn, though injured himself, aided the technicians in setting Gale's wing before whispering "I'm sorry" and returning to his own team.  Flare and Saul continued to provide what aid they could, but the irradiated burns resisted much of their effort.  Gravitas discussed logistics via headset with HQ and Frostburn.  Solitaire hovered near Comstock, the two of them providing an eerie calm in the center of the storm.  Impetus helped with logistics and dissemination of information, while Phantasm aided in the task, using her multitasking to good effect.  Suzukaze's speed was put to use distributing medical equipment and new gear, gaining a pair of scimitar from a dying Arabian elite named Djinn in the process.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Any and all of this would make good vignette fodder by the way, especially the swords...

---

After minutes that crawled by with agonizing slowness, the voices were in agreement: Team Tomorrow would do whatever was necessary to end this conflict as fast and decisively as possible.  Despite a vocal minority fearful of nuclear retaliation, the majority of the countries involved refused to allow another country to hold the threat of instantaneous nuclear attack over the world.  Impetus' speech helped many to understand the gravity of the situation and the need for immediate action.

A mere 20 minutes after the twin nuclear detonations, Team Tomorrow once again was thrown into the fray.  Those that could walk and had enough quantum left to be useful assembled around Slider, while Geryon gathered the Teragen forces willing to participate.  The milling crowd tried to make sense of the day's events as it waited for the final push... What had happened?  How did the enemy accomplish and carry out their horrible plan?  How would they breach the enemy's sheilding?  Who lived and who died in the attack?  Did Pax survive?

Only two answers to the many questions were forthcoming.  The first was provided when Caestus Pax floated through the air, twisted and burnt flesh filling the air with a charnal smell as he hovered, mouth twisted in a rictus of pain.  His body was incapacitated, but the air around him crackled with quantum power waiting to be unleashed.  Through gritted teeth, Pax's voice slipped out in a whisper, amplified a thousand fold by his TK: "Today, we win.  We will not stop, we will not fall back, we attack until this is done.  Too many have died for this... WE WILL WIN."   An awed and horrified crowd parted as the unconquerable hero floated into position near Impetus, torn between admiration for his determination, and fear at the sight of a bastion of strength brought so low.  When next to Impetus, one of the few that had won Pax's trust, the burned man whispered "I'll need another headset... and I'll need someone to guide me, I can barely see... but I'll make this happen, we will... we will win."

The second answer came moments before Slider was to open the portal and the Teragen's requested media complement assembled around her.  As the last camera moved into position a shining beacon of power fell from the sky, wrapped in a blanket of plasma that licked the air around him like flares leaping from a small star.  Divis Mal presented himself to the crowd, letting them bask in his presence before piercing them first with his gaze, and then with his voice.

"My brothers and sisters, it is a tragic and glorious day.  So many of us have fallen in needless combat, fallen to serve the needs of a humanity that attempts to enslave us, divert us from our destiny.  We are at the gates of a glorious new age, and we must take the first steps towards our destiny; to do this we need to be one. Realize that it is only novas who can lead this journey. Homo sapiens sapiens had its chance -- it is now the age of the One Race.  We must break the chains that bind, not merely the social chains that tie us to those that would use our power to petty ends, but the chains on our souls that we cling to for fear of a greater cosmos and a greater responsibility.  We must discard our tired ideologies and emerge from the chrysalis of our past... Ours is a new legacy, to be forged only by Nova-kind.  I am Divis Mal, I am a Nova, and I am bound by no rule of humankind; I choose to forge a new destiny for myself, and for my people.  I urge all of my brothers and sisters to stand with me and make the same choice..."

Divis Mal continued to speak the words of his Null Manifesto, declaring that novas were not subject to the rules of humankind, and that they were a people above and beyond the humanity from which they came.  The audience could not help but attend to his words, such was Mal's power, but their reactions were diverse.  Some nodded with each of the demi-god's words, some stared in blank wonder, and some scowled as they realized that this day would mark the end of Utopia's efforts for peace between human and nova.  Finally, one nova elite asked the question that was burning on the lips of many in the crowd: "If we're supposed to be separate an all that, why you here fightin' for the man?"

Mal smiled approval at the elite before answering, "We are here not to fight for humanity, but to make them understand that we are not their playthings, and to show those of our kind that they are not to pervert our divinity by destroying one another in service to lesser beings.  This petty government and its criminal element, in collusion with deluded novas, has killed scores of our brothers and sisters, an unforgivable crime.  And they have done worse things, far worse.  I had intended to wait for a more opportune time to share my message, but I could not stand idly by and watch this travesty."

With that, Mal turned to Slider, gesturing to her with a command he had no right to wield... But despite the flash of anger that crossed her face, she opened a portal to the Columbian's primary military installation.  The Allied novas moved forward, to the final battle in the short but deadly Columbian War.

Frostburn watched it all happen.  As she coordinated the assault, she took a moment to comment to the awestruck technician beside her "You know Bobby... Hey, Bobby, snap out of it, we've got a mission and that isn't god over there, just a nova with a messiah complex and too much juice...  Now, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, you know Bobby, I think I'm going to retire when this is all over.  This is a hell of a lot of work, and no matter what you do, it just gets worse... What say you and I get better acquainted over drinks on some nice sandy beach while the rest of the world goes to hell?"  Bobby's shocked look is quickly accompanied by a moment of contemplation, followed by a sincere and gravely serious "Yes ma'am.  That sounds like a helluva plan."

---

Zero flowed like blood over the asphalt, dodging the sprays of bullets aimed for it, and 'porting after the enemy nova.  Superior tactics and abilities gave the Doctor an edge, but Zero was low on energy and severely outnumbered; the constant 'porting could not be maintained for long.  A quick 'port on the vertical surprised the less developed intellect of the enemy teleporter, and a shot to the head ended the threat permanently.  But other novas were arriving, and Zero was out of options.  The doctor teleported to the nuclear devices, intent on stripping the control panel and wiring it to explode; the shielding should protect the nearby city from the worst of it, and these "people" could clearly not be allowed to live.  As Zero ripped the paneling off the device however, it felt a ghost of a sensation pass through its body, setting its nerves on fire.  An insubstantial woman phased up through the ground near Zero's head, which was now laying limply on the ground.  Zero instinctively translated her words as she spoke to the approaching novas.  "This one is down.  Crafty, but apparently not immune to my neural disruption.  If you want information, you should get Marco out here to rip it out."

Moments later a nova telepath approached the helpless Zero and began painfully digging into the Doctor's brain.  Hmm. This must be Marco then.

---

Once on site, the novas fanned out into the pre-planned attack formation.  Several attacked prematurely, adrenaline and desperation urging them forward, but energy blasts slid harmlessly off the shielding that expanded a kilometer from the base in all directions.  Seeing the attacks fail, and the massive power holding the forcefield in place, devastated the morale of many of the Allied novas.  The Teragen were grim and unimpressed however, and their leader merely floated to hover near the shield.  Reaching out a hand, he caressed it as he spoke to those behind him.  "This is stolen power, used to protect unworthy lives.  I will not fight with you today, this is your battle.  But I will ensure that you CAN fight, and that the battle will not end in a holocaust for my people."  As Mal spoke, the formerly invisible shield became a shimmering matrix of energy, with power bleeding out of it into Mal's raised hand.  Mal turned back to the crowd, and pointed with his other hand, "Caestus Pax, my brother, your courage and determination have won my deepest respect; come forth and let your blow be the blow that shatters this barrier and leads the charge for our people's freedom!" With that, mind dulled by pain but spirits rallied, Pax hovers beside Mal; with a cry that shatters the ground around them, the shield falls, and the final battle of the Columbian War is joined.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Who is where, doing what? Who is on scene, who is back at HQ, and what are you all doing?

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:48, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

Safe in his own body, Comstock considered exchanging words with Pax, perhaps a statement of gratitude for his well-being, but ultimately decided it was an inefficient use of limited time.  He positioned himself at the head of the formation, though he knew those faster than he would quickly leave him behind.  His job would be to grab hold of the strongest enemies and incapacitate them, or else demolish fortifications so others could apply their power greater discrimination.  Opportunities would present themselves.

The powerful quantum and personas surrounding him hardened his mind.  And Divis Mal's overpowering presence rattled him, slamming against his head like a battering ram.  He'd heard mention of the man but wasn't imaginative enough to conceive of such a luminary.  Mal even took charge just as Comstock preparing to try his fists against the barrier, and the question -- would I have been strong enough? -- followed him long after the battle.  Thinking about how insignificant he was compared to that strength, even compared to Solitaire, Impetus, Pax, and all of the others only dulled his edge.  So throughout the battle he negated the self and fought entirely by the numbers.  Like an angry machine.  An agent of Utopia's will.

To his teammates, he was intractable.  In efficient syllables he dictated actions, exchanged information or else kept silent.  He hardly seemed to breathe.  He crossed a kilometer inside of 100 seconds and hardly slowed in demolishing a wall to get inside.  Once the initial fighting was concluded, he applied himself to two objectives: recover Dr. Zero and destroy Colombian Nova research.

If by some miracle Comstock was first to find Marco working over Zero, the encounter would end swiftly and brutally.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:29, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

Imp stared in awe at Pax, if only for a second.  "Jesus, Pax, you look like shit." He said, then laughed, a wet tearing laugh.  Apparently his lungs were as screwed up as the rest of him.  He smiled after the pain cleared, "I'm as empty as a diplomat's promise my friend, but I will be your eyes."  he took a moment, recalled every fight he'd ever seen Pax in, all his moves, all the statistics on his powers.  "Also, stay low, I couldn't fly to save my life right now."  When the battle came, they would work in lockestep, Imp mirroring Pax's every move, anticipating his next, and using his speed to keep pace with Utopia's most powerful man.

Imp looked up as Mal descended to Earth, like the host of the Nephalim choosing to involve itself with the race of man.  Almost exactly like that, Imp thought wryly.  He winced again at Divis' Speech.  Was now really the right time? Imp was all for rubbing people's face in the fact that if you fucked with novas they'd fuck back, and harder, with spiky appendages, but, seriously?  He put his hand on Pax's shoulder, sensing his tension, "It's ok, my friend, he's here to help," his voice low, comforting.  He knew Divis had heard him, knew that Divis knew he knew.

He stepped through the portal, standing in Pax's shadow.  Ready to do his part to bring this regime down and make anyone who thought to exploit his brothers and sister weep in terror.  This was for his brothers and sisters who would never have the chance to show the world how amazing they could be, for the poor wrecks who had been enslaved by their lessers, and for all those novas yet to exist so that they would never need experience this kind of atrocity.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Imp will be using his synergy ability to work in perfect lockstep with pax.  He'll be relying on his (un)natural physical prowess to aid in the assault when he can.  He will not kill soldiers unless he has to, but if he encounters brass who violently resist he won't be overly concerned if they die at his hands.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 13:32, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

"Dang." It was the only thing the Doctor could utter before the pain ripped through it's head. Their were far more Novas here then Zero realized. There must be an option. Zero pitied the poor fool rummaging through it's memories. There was little to nothing of value to the enemy. All intelligence was worthless post nuclear explosion. All the troupe positions would be either wiped out, or radically changed, and the Doctor's private life was a shamble of distorted and confused nightmare imagery. The Doctor found most of it's memories boarding and disturbing, but the physiological wasteland that made up the Doctor's mind might prove a pointless distraction to a paranoid mentalist, especially if they tried to find symbolism or code in the mental refuse.

An idea started to form.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:37, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

Gale gave a strange look to Thorn.  What did he have to be sorry for?  It became clear as he started to walk away.  She lifted a clawed hand, reaching for him, and then let it drop.  She wanted to keep him from leaving, keep him from going back into the fray, keep him here with her.  He was the closest she had to someone she felt she could take comfort in, the person she had been closest with ever.

But they were both basically soldiers, and he was a leader of a team.  There was no time for comfort.  So this is war, she thought.  Is this really what I signed on for?  Is this the place where I belong?  In a field full of death and pain and loneliness?

Pain derailed that train of thought.  Her wing was reset and bandaged, but her whole left side still felt broken, and there were burns.  She refused to be healed; there were people who were worse off than her, like Grav.  Most of her injuries could still be treated with normal medicine, or after people had a chance to recharge.

She begged someone for a headset so that she could listen in.  Most of her other teammates were going back into the fight.  She wanted to know that they were ok, that things were going to be ok.

To Solitaire, there were three types of people in the world. Baselines, Novas, and Divis Mal. Religious was not the right word for the respect she felt for him, but it came closer than most others in the English language, and that he had come and given his blessing to what was, in a very real way, the culmination of T2M:A's vengeance was a powerful motivator. What was she doing? Phasing out of things, going into Chrysalis at a time like this. Mal was here, Mal was watching, Mal had said there were asses yet to be kicked, and so they would be. His presence gave her the focus to stall, if only briefly, her coming metamorphosis, there was still one task left for this Solitaire to perform.

She fell upon the last bastions of Columbian resistance like an angry goddess. The fire to Comstock's ice. This was retribution for the wrongs done to both her, her friends and Novakind itself, and those who offered any fight at all knew at last what sleeping dragon they had awoken. This wasn't about the UN anymore, or Project Utopia. This was justice delivered by those whose powers put the old gods of legend to shame. This, was the time of the Teragen.

There were few things that could stand before Solitaire even when she was in a good mood. There was almost nothing that could when she was pissed off. Now was on of those times. Woe be to anything that got in her way.

Suzukaze races throughout the area trying to help as much as she can. When she comes across the dieing Djinn she calls for help from medical the medical teams. But it's too late for him. Passing his swords to her before his death she promises him vengeance.

She makes her way to the rest of her team and is shocked by the sight of Pax. Mal's arrival angers her slightly as she does not trust the nova. She closes her eyes and swears to herself about the thought of teaming with his group of novas. Yet they are not the enemy. The enemy who hurt her team and fellow novas. Who have harmed so many, and destroyed so much in the process. She opens her eyes as she knows what must be done.

When the attack commences she holds back to get a feel for the new swords in her possession. Watching as her comrades can't break the force field she begins to pace back and forth still testing the blades. She stops and stares as Mal goes to the field and summons Pax to shatter it. And once it is down Suzukaze charges. Making her way across the compound she searches for an entrance. She wants the ones behind all this. Not their lackeys or their fake novas. She wants them to suffer for what they've done.

In spite of his injuries, Gravitas would not hear of staying behind. He had not touched the ground since they returned, instead opting to float. He'd allowed medics to bandage up the places where his appendages were now missing, and some smelly salve had been applied to some of the burning. Still, he knew he needed extensive medical treatment and another round of radioactive detox. Even with all of his injuries and the pain that would surely have sent baselines into shock by now, he found he wasn't impaired. Perhaps his brain was simply shunting the pain away, now that he acknowledged there wasn't much he could do about it at the moment. Perhaps it just overclocked its way around the screaming klaxons of warning shooting through his body. Whatever the reason, he knew that he was, as far as it mattered, fine.

Before the small army of novas departed, he generated a field around himself, rending and wrapping Earth's gravity and his self-generated gravitational force around himself. He'd be damned if he let himself be caught with his quantum-pants down again. Admittedly, he'd had good reason the first time around and he'd shown his teammates, his closest friends, really, the extent to which his control over nature's fundamental forces had grown - and how much he'd been hiding from Utopia and everyone else.

He meditated silently, his eyes half lidded, as Pax and Mal collaborated in shattering the shield. His matte black form rose high into the air as his allies began to advance but he did little aside from float along silently. He tried to keep with them as much as it was practical to do so.

Once they started to encounter any sort of significant resistance, he broke his silence. "Field coming up," he announced as he ended his concentration. He thrust his intact hand toward the ground, mentally pushing Earth's gravitational field deeper. The gesture was a fairly familiar mnemonic to most of the team, it helped him to focus when he was boosting gravity's pull.

His team was, as usual, unaffected; such was Gravtias's control over the force of nature that was his namesake. Others felt themselves gain half again their normal weight. As he continued to concentrate, the gain compounded - again and again and again. This was not totally extraordinary - he had, under laboratory conditions, demonstrated the ability to increase gravity's pull be even larger amounts. In this case the extraordinary feature of the effect was its scope. Normally when he created wide-area fields, he was limited to an area roughly sixty yards across. This field's effects were clearly visible on structures and vehicles more than two football fields apart.

Though this size was relatively small compared to the battlefield, it was vastly larger than any field he'd generated to date. He followed in his teammates' wake, his crushing gravitational field weakening targets within it. Some vehicles sunk into the ground under their own weight, several temporary structures simply collapsed, and baselines had to struggle just to move. He seemed to be content contributing this boon and little else. He responded to any calls to reposition the field on more strategic targets and contributed clipped sentences of aerially gathered intelligence, but otherwise concentrated on maintaining his boosted field throughout the battle.

[OOC: Only two sux on the roll to max quantum - a shame, I was hoping to make it even bigger. Maxed quantum succeses both go to increasing the area of the field, doubling it, and then doubling it again. Its final size is a sphere roughly 236 yards across (exactly 108 meters in radius). Five sux to bring the field up each increase gravity by a factor of .5, so gravity in the field is increased to 3.5g's. I always feel like this power's effect is sort of weak =T. The power is concentration, so as long as it is up and Grav isn't doing much else, it doesn't even have a maintenance cost. For anyone familiar with Star Wars: I feel like an Interdictor Cruiser.]

Zero felt the weight of the large nova pinning it to the ground.  'Porting was out of the question, the other nova staring into the Doctor's eyes and the power dampening drugs made sure of that.  Playing with telepaths always turned out miserably, resisting usually just made sure the experience was excruciating instead of merely violating, but Marco seemed to take special care in maximizing the pain as he attempted to shatter the walls protecting Zero's mind.  The Doctor lost track of time as the mental battle continued, seconds dilating to what felt like hours, before its defenses began to crumble. Unfortunately for Marco, his pursuit of Utopian secrets was about to uncover the REAL Zero.

Zero's hand curled upwards, reaching painfully in an attempt to clutch the syringe hidden in its sleeve.  Only a few centimeters separated the doctor from the adrenocilin...

---

After the shield protecting the Columbian forces shattered, the perimeter of the base became a deafening, fiery hell.  The Columbians let loose with all of their artillery, and their jets took to the air.  Lesser novas unleashed streams of quantum energy that tore the ground, while high explosives destroyed entire sections of the nearby countryside.  Helicopters fired missiles into the area, as the unchallenged Columbian fighter planes rained explosives on the entire area.  Tanks and weapons platforms created a kill zone capable of destroying any military force unwise enough to engage in a frontal assault, while troops occupied foxholes outside the base and fortified positions within.

The few Allied jets that lent air support, and the allied vehicles that came through the gateway, were destroyed almost immediately by nova powers they had little defense against.  But the most dangerous attackers were not a military force, nor were they so easily swayed from their course.  The world's new quantum gods fell on the Columbians like a force of nature, unswayed by the consuming chaos and with the mandate to take whatever actions necessary to decisively end the conflict.

The novas were a disparate lot, each with their own reasons for fighting.  The Utopians were weary and wary veterans of first the Equatorial Wars and now this horrible conflict; they had lost too much and would see the battle to its end, despite the fact that what they fought for had shown itself to be merely an impossible dream, an ephemeral fantasy of a future Utopia that could never be.  The Elites were a mixed and rugged lot, some veterens of the same battles as the Utopians, others young hotshots that began the day hoping to make a name for themselves; the money and fame no longer mattered, now their fight was personal, a debt to their fallen friends and their own honor, a debt that would be repaid in full.  The Teragen, alone among the novas on the field, were unsullied by the horrors of battle; they were untested in combat, but were possessed of power, idealism, and a naive faith in their own invulnerabilty that would carry them forward despite all opposition.  The entire Pantheon was present, all save Apostle who was strangely absent.

As shells burst around them and quantum fire lit the sky, the 32 Allied novas moved forward in an inexorable advance, watched by the unblinking eyes of a dozen cameras held in the hands of quaking reporters taking shelter under the watchful gaze of Divis Mal.  The fresh Teragen novas spearheaded the effort, while the exhausted but determined Utopians and Elites followed closely behind.  The allied novas tore through the sky in a deadly dance, flying right through jets and helicopters as they engaged their lesser Columbian counterparts.  Solitaire, Geryon, and the other rapid flyers were like bolts of lightning as they struck, leaving ruin in their wake as they moved towards the base itself.  The novas on the ground decimated the tanks and troops blocking their path.  Some, like Suzukaze and Orzaiz, glided through the combat cutting down their foes and dodging the worst of the enemy fire, while others like Comstock merely marched forward, paths undivereted by direct hits from artillery and explosives.  Energy manipulators like Gravitas, Phantasm, and Pax controlled the engagement, twisting enemy fire, and changing the nature of the combat.  Some fell in the battle, overwhelmed by sheer numbers, thwarted by random chance, but most came through relatively unscathed.

The advance took a few minutes at most, but those few minutes changed the world, redefining the relationship between novas and humans forever as both finaly understood how different they really were.  Human forces were swept aside by novas as though leaves in a gale; humans truly understood the power of novas, and novas began to fully understood their own power for the first time.  Upon reaching the fortified portion of the base, a new and different battle began, equally world shaping and engrossing to those watching.  Once at the walls, the allied force was met by the Columbian novas, both the lesser engineered novas, and the crime syndicate novas that precipitated the war.  25 novas engaged at least tripple their number, and the base was anihilated in the conflict that raged for the 15 minutes that followed.  Survivors of the battle gained unequaled respect in the eyes of their peers, even as they gained equal parts awe and infamy in the minds of humanity.  Songs were written, and baseline and nova alike would later ask "where were you when they fought?"

Perhaps it should not have had the effect it did, given that the horrors of the Equatorial Wars played out on the media stage only a few short years ago.  But after the carnage in the allied forces' approach, and the tension built by the rapid escalation of the conflict, this final engagement was bound to become a part of the world's zietgeist.  Further, the conflict was far different than the Equatorial Wars in multiple ways, not the least of which was the combatants.  While the Columbian novas were roughly on par with the combatants in the earlier war, the allied novas were hardened veterans of nova combat or hyper-evolved novas exploring the limits of the nova condition... or both.  The battle that took place twisted the limits of what was previously thought possible, before completely shattering notions held precious by humanity regarding the nature of reality.

---

Back at the allied base, hushed silence ruled as the baseline forces watched the events alongside wounded novas.  Only the comms station and the leaders of the base were active, as they frantically attempted to feed in data and coordinate the attack. Santiago, the Mathematician, aided Frostburn in organizing.  He absorbed the incoming data and worked with the Utopian strategic center in Europe as they calculated optimal tactics for the situation.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Ok.  We're at the end.  Finally.  I want you guys to tell each other what happens, and I'll give you some guidelines to do it.  For everyone that is present, I want a post with the following components:
-3 enemy novas as opponents, with brief descriptions and whatever abilities you like.
-a description of what you are doing, cool stuff, awesome scenery destruction, and whatever else cool and inventive you can think of.
-a somewhat open-ended resolution, so that I can incorporate the following...
-in spoiler blocks, I want 3 dice rolls that summarize the most important actions you are making in the fight, whatever they may be (if you are taking multiple actions in a single action, note that and how many, but don't give me a long string of rolls)

For those back at hq, I want your experience of the battle as you watch it on live camera feeds accompanied by comms chater.

Zero, you can do one of the action posts to, probably with the novas that subdued you.  You have a shot of adrenocilin to counter the mox, stored in your left sleeve.  I'd also like a descriptive of what happens to poor Marco as he pries into your brain for your deep secrets (a few hints at those secrets would be nice, but full revelations are unnecessary).

---

This message was last edited by the player at 08:49, Mon 03 Jan 2011.

Dodging enemy fire while cutting down the baseline soldiers seems easy enough even with her borrowed blades. To her it seems like nothing. Yet to others who catch a glimpse of her, and not used to seeing her in combat are almost awed by her deadly grace. A deadly wind. She moves on through the compound before coming across a massive nova bone spikes protruding from his body.

Slowing to a stop Suzukaze and the enemy nova begin circling each other. She searches for a weakness. He charges but he is slow. Easily she dodges him and turns just before he does. She notices no spikes on the back of his legs. He lifts a nearby crate and hurls it at her. He's already charging as she dodges the crate and she is barely able to dodge him. He grazes her shoulder and she almost drops one of the swords. She regains her composure as he begins to charge her again. She turns and races for a nearby wall letting him keep pace. She uses the wall to flip over the nova. As she drops she swings the swords slicing behind his knees. Then swinging them back across she cuts his achilles tendons dropping him to the ground. She stands jamming the blades into his back.

As she pulls out the blades she is tackled by another nova, but is able to use his momentum to flip him. She charges swinging one of her blades but it passes through him. Her momentum carries her past him, and she has to regain herself. He's running from her now. He blades erupt with energy and she swings firing a blast at the retreating nova. Charging as soon as she fires the blast it catches him knocking him to the ground and disrupting his concentration on the power. She is on top of him driving a blade into his shoulder. He cries out something but Suzukaze doesn't understand the language. "You must be new. That or one of their fakes." She raises her other blade but stops as she catches sight of another nova. She pulls the blade from his shoulder and stands tilting her head to the side he takes the hint and runs off.

She turns to the new threat who is already moving towards her. A female nova with six arms claws for fingers. Suzukaze charges turning slightly she lowers her shoulder and slams into the enemy. The enemy nova however wraps her arms around digging her claws into Suzukaze's flesh. Gashes are cut into Suzukaze as the two slam into the ground and she is thrown from her enemy's grip. The enemy nova leaps in the air to land on top of Suzukaze, but she manages to lift her legs kicking the nova aside. She activates her force field as she raises from the ground. The nova prepares to strike but meets the force field, and Suzukaze's blades meet her stomach. The nova tries to claw still with what it has left. Suzukaze twists the blades and pulls them out letting the body fall to the ground.

She drops her force field and flinches from the pain of the gashes. She stares down at the nova a frown on her face. She takes off again racing through the compound. Suddenly she is tripped up. As she falls to the ground she feels a tightening around her ankles moving up her legs. She turns to see the metal wrapping itself around her lower body. She hears laughter as the swords are pulled from her hands and more metal appears wrapping itself around her arms. She turns to see the enemy nova as the swords reach his hands.

"So now where do you run to now speedster?"

He positions a sword and comes at her. But before he can strike she is pulled into the ground and lands into arms. She watches the blackness of the void disappear, and the face of a old friend appear.  He's looking down smiling at her. "Hey Suzuka."

"Paul?" She can't believe he's here.

"Goddamn you both. I'm gon..."

They both look towards him as he's getting ready to come for them and stops suddenly. Then she sees him standing behind the enemy nova. Tragic stands his hand extended into the nova as he disintegrates him from the inside out. The enemy drops to the ground, and Tragic floats over as Paul places her standing on the ground. Tragic raises his hands and the metal around her begin to disintegrate away. Paul releases his grip and she backs away from them as they stare at her.

Paul turns to Tragic... "Thank you for helping to save her from him."

Tragic doesn't look to Paul but keeps his eyes on Suzukaze. "Don't thank me. I owe her atleast that much if not more. Someday Wind I may decide to join a side, and hopefully we will see each other again." He then disappears into the ground.

She then stares at Paul relaxing somewhat. "And what about you decide to leave the Assassins finally?"

He steps up to her and caresses her cheek. "No...They sent me to make sure your still alive. He wants to make sure we're the ones who kill you." He looks down saddened and takes a few steps back. "Shiro?"

"He's in a coma. He's safe." She watches Paul turn as he is about to leave. "Leave the Assassins Paul. Just stay here and fight. Join me in Team Tomorrow we could use you. Please just stay."

"Sorry Suzuka but I'm where I have to be right now. You know for someone who just went through hell your still beautiful." He then teleports away.

She stands against the wall for a moment before making her way over to the fallen nova to retrieve the swords. She looks around as if expecting another surprise. One of the assassins, a enemy nova natural or fake but nothing. She has passed the main fighting but can still hear it going on. She ponders rejoining the fight, but decides to continue in search of those in charge. She races off...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
17:41, Today: Suzukaze rolled 6 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,1,5,10,9,1,1,9,8,1,9,8,2. melee 2 columbia.
17:41, Today: Suzukaze rolled 7 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,9,1,7,3,10,10,8,4,10,1,5,3. athletics columbia.
17:40, Today: Suzukaze rolled 8 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,9,1,3,8,7,8,6,9,5,3,6. melee columbia.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Wed 05 Jan 2011.

During the charge across No-Man's land, Comstock absorbed withering fire.  But four novas took up positions directly ahead.  Two were elites, DeRez and Klaxon, and the other two looked like Colombian genejack bastards, their skin falling off as horns and scales and other aberrations spiral out of control.  DeRez was the real threat.  Comstock focused hard and maxed, and every bit of unattuned metal on DeRez twisted and warped to restrain her.  Enough for a a few seconds.  Klaxon tore into the ground ahead of the oncoming allied novas, tearing it apart with electromagnetic vibration.  Others flew over the cloud of debris, but Comstock tore through the rubble, his superheavy frame finding traction despite the attack.

The visual obstruction bought the bastards a spare moment to prepare their own counterattack.  The first met Comstock mid-air: the metal man's fist met the mutant woman's, a shockwave tearing across the battlefield.  The stronger nova won out, shattering the woman's arm without stopping.  Before he could reach DeRez, the other Colombian halted him in his tracks, levitating him off the ground where all his strength meant nothing.  The first Colombian regenerated her ruined limb, but disappeared in another explosion.

Comstock dug deep and burned more quantum, his mass increasing exponentially.  The telekinetic -- his shoulder patch read Xolotl -- grit his teeth and broke out into a sweat, his grip slipping.  Before the other Colombian could attack again, Xolotl lost his grip and Comstock slammed into the ground once more.  More artillery shells dropped directly on him, his momentary immobility giving a gun-crew the chance they needed to correct their fire.  It didn't matter.  The metal man actually had to scale his power back in order to move without tearing the ground apart.  His smoky, battered shape emerged from the ruined stretch of ground a dozen feet from Xolotl.  The man uttered a curse and gave Comstock the evil eye, warping probability and throwing Comstock off just long enough to turn to smoke and run.

Destroying the man was irrelevant for the moment.  DeRez had broken free of her restraints, and Comstock felt himself beginning to disintegrate into component atoms.  Hastily, he grabbed a clod of broken, rocky earth and threw with all his might, breaking the woman's jaw and interrupting the power.  He hustled, enduring another barrage of non-localized sonic destruction as Klaxon tried to narrow down his kill zone.  He'd never been good at that, though, and anything less than a nuclear device or naval magnetic rifle did little more than knock Comstock around now.  Overhead, the battle was a dance of light and agility, but down here even the speedsters were forced to the sidelines.  As waves of force washed over Comstock once more, he found himself in reach of DeRez and leapt through a wall of frost someone had left as a final bulwark.

They were nearly on top of the bunker now.  DeRez licked her lips in a moment's hesitation.  Comstock knelt, dug his hands onto the ground, and overturned several tons of ground over her, folding the ground like a carpet.  Klaxon covered the short distance to his partner and aimed a punch for Comstock's kidneys.  The syringes in the nova's glove shattered ineffectually, and Comstock, without ceremony, enclosed a hand over Klaxon's face and wielded the brightly-costumed elite like a flail against the ground ahead of him.  DeRez slipped away from the onslaught, her body little more than a pixelated image in extreme low-density.  A brush of her hand bestowed the same quality to Comstock's arm, despite the furious protests of his node and body, and Klaxon slipped through his fingers to skip across the ground like tossed pebble.

Quick as lightning, DeRez struck Comstock three more times, her hand penetrating his body.  Everywhere her insubstantial limbs touched grew more like her, the molecules flying free from one another.  Ribbons of spent quantum burned in the air, a static crackle filling the air, and the metal man forsook his charge to deal with the threat.  Without thought, he squeezed his node harder to counter DeRez's attack, Phantasm's martial arts instruction barely helping him keep up with the hyperdextrous nova.  The battle moved closer to the bunker, every meter costing precious strength.  Another nova's catastrophic death filled the air with superheated plasma and rivulets of molten stone.  Like brilliant rain, the droplets illuminated the dark battlefield.

Falling back another dozen feet to evade more incidental damage, DeRez locked eyes with the metal man and tried to disintegrate him again.  A layer of his outermost skin peeled away into an electron dust, but he ignored it to reach out for the wreckage of an artillery piece, bits of metal floating to him and replenishing his body as quickly as she could blast it apart.  He aimed a kick at the ground beneath DeRez's feet, sending an explosion of debris through her frame, then aimed a thrust at her heart, his hand forming the rigid edge of a knife to tickle her organs.  A trickle of blood appeared, then pixelated.

In surprise and pain, DeRez drew back.  "How'd ...?"  The metal man's machine nirvana permitted no reply.  He pushed the attack harder, each seeking out the killing blow, something to turn the conflict.  But for the most part they could only harm each other limb-to-limb, and in the last stretch of open field there was no terrain for either to seize advantage.  Pragmatically, DeRez dove back through the walls of the bunker complex.  Comstock radioed his progress to the others and tore a wall from the structure.

---

Behind him, Comstock had a few friends of his own in the ranks yet.  There was Hydra, who always had a knack for picking the winning side and who followed in Comstock's wake, belching noxious clouds of poison to keep the stunned or wounded incapacitated.  A few times she took some heavy debris or a wave of hot plasma, but each time another two of her appeared where the first looked to have died.  Soon, her lips were green with venom and her hands were covered in blood, Klaxon and others lying at her feet.  Quantum expended, the horde of Hydra held back, managing the battlefield and finding the cameras to pose over her handiwork.

---

Inside, a few of the Colombian military opened fire.  The outer edges of the complex were death-zones, layered with plastic explosives and deathtraps.  An improvement on the idea the Zeta's had.  After dropping inside, Comstock momentarily lost his sight as a cloud of chemical weapons and shrapnel thickened the air.  His body seized for a moment as he breathed in nerve agents, then metabolized the compounds and returned to functionality.  He radioed a warning to the allies ahead and behind, then stepped through a reinforced wall to find the computer that controlled the suppression system.  Alarms were going off, and someone was shouting orders to regroup.  Without concern for the compound's labyrinthine passageways, Comstock moved in a straight line toward the center.

Another minute passed as the battle raged outside between those who could not simply ignore harm and Comstock began searching the compound.  Comstock's charge brought him to a set of walls intended to halt nuclear assault, and after some determined effort he gained access.  The woman nova he'd met in the initial charge was on the other side of the door, apparently fast and tough enough to have retreated out of No-Man's Land, and rewarded his efforts with a howling maw of fangs and razors.  Her shoulder patch read Carnivore.  Comstock quickly determined that she was the better hand-to-hand combatant, and capable of regenerating most harm.  Unfortunately for carnivore, despite her bestial features and prodigious strength, she did not seem capable of harming him.  So as Carnivore expended considerable effort to latch onto Comstock's back and crack his shell, he just advanced further and ignored her.  He reached for one of the objects in the room that looked like it might be a nuclear weapon, and in her frantic panic to stop him she made a mistake, and Comstock managed to catch hold and smear her across the floor.  He didn't spare the time to see whether she would regenerate from that.

Now in the soft belly of the compound, Comstock turned to searching.  "Engaging enemy reserves," was all he radioed back to the others before he began stalking the halls.  Novas unlucky enough to rally deep in the base -- perhaps hoping to turn the tide after the allies had blunted their edge and spent too much quantum -- found themselves forced to respond to the Equatorial Wars veteran.  The numerical advantages of the Colombian novas didn't mean much when they wasted their efforts against a nigh-impenetrable opponent.  Those ahead of Comstock and behind found he'd blazed a path of disorder and destruction that left the enemy force reeling.  Their defeat was their need to protect a base and could not simply flee out of reach.

Before Comstock could find Marco and/or Dr. Zero, he found something else.  A lab.  Full of medical equipment.  And banks and banks of computers.  Was this the genetics lab?  In the absolute calculus of his locked-down mind, he stood by his earlier decision: no man should possess the power to create another nova ...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Rydi, I leave it to you whether or not Comstock does anything more than screw up Colombian e-mail servers.  I've also tried to leave the fates of the four antagonists I introduced -- Carnivore, Xolotl, Klaxon and DeRez -- somewhat vague.

Three die rolls.  Let's go with Strength + Might / Brawl for his usual antics [with mega-strength 6, 35 successes ...], Quantum + Molecular Manip. for the fancy moves to carry him through the battlefield of the Nova Age [5 successes!  Woo!] and Int + Engineering for his final gambit at data-destruction [3 successes].

12:31, Today: Comstock rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,10,8,4,10. [Int + Eng] Hope this works ... .
12:30, Today: Comstock rolled 5 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,3,6,10,8,1,9,8. [Molecular Manip] for fancy moves.
12:29, Today: Comstock rolled 5 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,3,10,9,8,4,7,10. [Strength + Might] for destruction.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:43, Mon 10 Jan 2011.

Flare had recoiled as the will of Divis Mal reigned upon the area.  There was something in her since becoming a Nova that rebelled against authority.  The urge to rebel against a being with delusions of divine authority made her shake with both fear and excitement.   She had thought, and still might be correct, that Pax had the monopoly of arrogance but he paled in comparison to the Arch-angel delusion of Divis Mal.  Perhaps this was unfair to her fellow nova, or perhaps it was her awe and terror causing her to respond much like a pitchfork wielding villager of old.  But in the end, too awed to speak, she held her tongue.

She clapped Gale on the shoulder as she wandered off to join the battle, trying to lend support as the other woman seemed a bit distraught at Thorn's leaving.  'Hopefully you'll see him again, Gale.'  Flare bemusedly thought of the man who'd managed to catch her attention. One that would likely never hear of or return her affections.  At least she'd always have destruction.

The scene after porting makes zombie apocalypse look like a petting zoo.  Novas fly in with their respective talents laying waste to targets on the land and in the sky.  The baselines didn't have a chance, and the newbie novas were out gunned.

After arriving Flare did what she did best, took to the sky and reigned destruction down on the enemy.  Tanks melted as she reigned down flame and bullets burst harmlessly against her shield.  She tried to keep an eye on her team mates, more for direction than to protect them, but quickly was fighting alone.

"Shit!" A small spike of ice broke her shields and cut her face.  The nova hovered about twenty yards away grinning like an imp and glowering as he conjured more ice to launch her way.  The poor man, he was arrogant because he got a lucky shot, and probably thought that garish lavender body suit was a pleasant fashion statement.

Flare wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and erupted into flames, "Alright newbie, let's play."  A horrendously boring minute past of searing bits of Icy's stupid suit off and watching him realize his error in challenging her.  Finally she was tired of playing, and really too spent from healing to play cat an mouse.  In a burst of flame she jet into Icy, body tackling the man, and with a whoop of victory power drove him straight into a cliff side, while safely behind her shield.  Bits of rubble reigned down on the opponents below and Flare followed the pieces down, landing on and smoldering another tank.

Flare thought it would be easier to fight people who were grounded, but was sadly mistaken, a few seconds had past and she was being crushed by Comstock's horrendously underpowered cousin.  Thankfully she'd had some battle training with a much better version of this nova and quickly kicked him off, then used her superior speed to out maneuver him before finally leaping on his back and hanging on until the man was reduced to charcoal.  "Sorry man, but I don't have time for playing."

Flare barely had time to gloat when she screamed in pain.  The ground rose up and tried to swallow her.  She dodged, but barely.  Her leg had sunk into the ground to the knee and was currently being crushed.
 Launching fire at the laughing lunatic, likely the cause of her current dilemma, did little to stop him.  She was too tapped for anything but drastic measures, and the pain was causing her to lose focus.  A hand would be great if there were any to spare, otherwise things were going to get messy fast.

---

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

I left it open in case someone wanted to chime in and do some group rescue/destruction. Otherwise I'll follow up with frying him, a lot.

-Flare rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,10,5,3,2,9,1,1,4. Icy-Hot battle.
-Flare rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,5,1,8,2,5,10,1,8. Smiting his ruin on the mountainside.
-Flare rolled 3 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,6,9,1,1,4,4,7,1,4. Turning big guy into charcoal.

---

Gale was sort of numb at first.  Numb and yet on edge.  Her injuries were wearing her out, but she wanted to see the result of the battle.  She wanted to make sure there would be no more disasters today, even if she personally couldn't do anything to stop them.  She wanted to feel involved.

The camera feeds were...terrifying.  She had no other word for it.  The winged woman, not much more than a girl, thought she knew what it meant to be a Nova.  What that entailed.  In actuality, she was still thinking like a baseline.  Like her little brother.  Novas were like superheros from comic books, right?  But she couldn't recall a comic book scene that looked like the battlefield she saw.  The level of destruction was just too high.  This was more than just superhuman strength or speed or being able to fly. The sky was lit up with quantum energy.  The earth was splitting in the wake of her comrades.  And compared to the armies of history, there weren't that many of them!

What power, then, did novas wield?  What power could she wield?  Her own powers had grown since she had joined T2M.  Was there a limit?  Did she really want to know?  The images were harsh.  They were forcing her to face something she had been avoiding.  Novas and baselines really were two different categories of people.  She could no longer straddle the line between them.  She couldn't be a baseline, with her wings and powers, but she had tried, going to college like normal people her age.  She had resisted committing to the idea of being only a nova; she wasn't as powerful as the others, surely that afforded her some leeway.  But now, with the bald-faced proof in front of her on live television, she had to make a choice.  Or rather, she had to face the fact that she had no choice.

Gale turned away from the screen.  She didn't want to watch anymore.  Instead, she focused on sorting out the chatter from the comms, using that to make sure her friends were still alive.

Concentrating on maintaining his suppression field, Gravitas floated over the battlefield. A few human combatants took pot shots at the flat-black form hovering over their heads, but waves of gravitational force invalidated their aiming, throwing bullets in every direction except in the one they were trying to hit. When Gravitas deigned to notice them, he would shift the colossal gravitational field he was employing in their direction, multiplying the weight of their equipment and bodies until they were all but pinned to the ground.

Though his original intent had been to offer aerial support to his allies, he came to recognize within the first minute or two of the conflict that the righteous rage they were worked up into was working just as well as his assistance could. He contented himself with neutralizing enemy baseline emplacements, destroying artillery and bunkers with their own weight.

At some point the Colombians let their dogs out; though they'd encountered a few novas during their initial push, it seemed that more and more made their way onto the battlefield. A few made their way toward Gravitas. He rapidly judged the first pair to reach him to be artificial. One shot some sort of energy blasts at him - lasers? - that deflected harmlessly off his shielding. The other quadrupled in size, no doubt planning to pluck him out of the air and then shake him like a rag doll. Gravitas did not give him the chance. He shifted his gravitational field to encompass the pair. While the blaster was forced to one knee her power didn't seem to be much affected.

The now-giant man, on the other hand, had to contend with the square-cube law. While his own power allowed him to violate that principle within the context of his own abilities, Gravitas vastly increased the man's weight. Lifting an arm ten feet long normally required a fantastic amount of strength - a nova's powers would normally allow them to do so as a matter of course, regardless of their strength. It was a part of their body, and thus it moved just as it would if they were normally sized. Novas routinely violated the laws of physics in ways like this when using their powers; Gravitas himself did so despite his knowledge of the subject. However, the nova and his powers were expecting a certain amount of weight. His body, despite being infused with quantum, required that certain parameters be static in order to function correctly. His heart had to pump blood this hard to get blood to his brain, for example. His powers allowed his heart to do that work. They did not allow it to exceed that amount by enough to offset the burden Gravitas placed on it.

Gravitas floated just out of reach for a few moments, doing nothing except maintaining the field he'd brought into existence at the start of the battle. The giant wobbled as it began to black out, before falling over sideways as he rapidly shrunk down to his original size. The look on the blaster's face was one of incredulous disbelief. More laser-like beams lanced up at the blackened silhouette of a man. Gravitas ignored them and moved on.

A few bunkers and other emplacements later, Gravitas was confronted again. This time a grinning man - probably an elite by the looks of him - stood on the ground. He didn't really seem to be doing anything. Gravitas was about to pass him by when a wave of vertigo hit him. He stopped in mid air and tried to regain his equilibrium, but it was hard. Concentrating was getting hard - he felt like he was on a ship in particularly bad weather. He let Earth strengthen its grip on him again and settled back to the ground, mostly. While one foot did contact the ground, the other no longer existed. He had to continue to fly in order to stay upright. Fortunately he didn't have to think about which direction he was going - the quirks of his method of propulsion let him go 'down' without much fuss.

The grinning nova produced a handgun and fired a few experimental shots at Gravitas to confirm that firearms wouldn't get the job done. He shrugged, reached into a duffel bag sitting on the ground next to him, and retrieved grenade. This he also lobbed at Gravitas. Though his mind was still swimming, his layers of shielding ensured that the grenade never even made it to him. The gravitational warping expelled the grenade in a random direction before it could even go off. The grinning man's grin turned into a scowl, as if he were angry at the loss of the grenade. He bent over to rummage through his bag again, apparently unworried about any sort of threat Gravitas might pose.

Squinting to concentrate and attempt to aim. Gravitas shot of a short series of his own blasts. Most missed wildly, his lack of balance and inability to concentrate throwing his aim off. For better or worse, one of the stray shots did hit the man's bag. It immediately exploded. When the smoke cleared, he was still standing there, apparently untouched. One did not, after all, become an elite without having some ability to defend one's self. His mock happy-go-lucky demeanor vanished, replaced with anger. Gravitas could feel the other nova's concentration wane a bit and his vision cleared up. He fired another volley only to see them disperse upon contact with a force field a few inches from the man's body.

"Seems we're at a stalemate, friend," the other man said, his English was excellent, but his accent was definitely French. "What say we just go our separate ways?" Something about the way the man made his suggestion made Gravitas want to agree with him. He resisted the urge and shook his head, trying to clear it further.

"No," he replied. His head was clearing up enough for him to be able to concentrate again. Either the other nova was loosening his grip, or Gravtias's mind was adapting to the strange vertigo. "This is not a stalemate." He'd lost his concentration on the over-large gravitational field he'd made earlier. Fortunately that freed him up to do something different; he began to gather the local gravity.

"But surely you can see - You cannot hit me with your blasts, and I am out of weapons; not that they were doing much anyhow," he shrugged, his grin returning, "So we are at an impasse. Either we can go our separate ways," the words hit Gravitas like a truck, he'd not been expecting something like this, "or you can lower your shielding and let me kill you with my bare hands. The choice is yours!"

Gravitas staggered back from the force of the man's words, floating a few inches into the air when he belatedly remembered he was missing a leg. Gravitas was notoriously difficult to affect with mental powers, his complex brain resisted most attempts outright. In the process of trying to think around the other man's command, he nearly lost track of what he was doing. "No," he said again, denying both options he'd been presented with. He finished gathered the force he needed, "Checkmate." He corrected the Frenchman. A blue vortex irised open beneath the man. While under combat conditions, he was normally only able to get a few hundred meters of distance out of his portals. That would, he hoped, be sufficient for this circumstance. The man immediately fell into the yawning gateway. Gravitas had positioned the other side as high as he could directly up. With any luck the man wouldn't be able to fly. Even if he could, it'd take him a while to re-enter the fight.

Floating away from where he'd confronted the Frechman, Gravitas began a search for his teammates. He'd gotten separated and though he had handled those that confronted him with little problem thus far, he recognized that he was also still severely injured. Having an ally nearby could only be an advantage to someone in his state. He began to ascend in order to get a bird's eye view of the ongoing battle. His ascent was cut abruptly short when the ground suddenly gaped open, surged upwards, and swallowed him whole.

He felt a twinge of annoyance. Surely whoever this was had observed his most recent battle, it had ended just moments previously. Surely they were aware that he could get out of any means of confinement. He waited silently for a few moments, thinking he might humor whoever this was. It was as dark as a cave - the area was completely enclosed. He felt the area begin to sink back down. Earth control of some sort, it seemed. He briefly wondered if powers like these were how the Los Zetas in Mexico had created their underground tunnel network. Similarly, he wondered if such a network might infest parts of the Colombian jungle.

As he waited, no nova had appeared to confront him. Were they hoping he would simply suffocate on the limited air supply, or were they just hoping to remove him from the fight? He supposed they'd been effective at the second, though he wasn't at all sure that the first was even possible anymore.

After exactly thirty seconds had passed without anyone making themselves known, Gravitas spoke, "Hello? No one appearing to gloat?" He waited exactly ten seconds and then repeated his questions in Spanish, just in case.

A laugh echoed through the cavern. Gravitas's keen ears fed the echo timings into his brain and created a rough estimate of the cavern's size. It was bigger than he'd expected. "Now why would I try to gloat?" came the voice in Spanish. Possibly a legitimate nova from Colombia? "I know you can get out. I'm just wanting to see how. Will you blast your way out? Create another of those fancy portals? I know that all costs juice, man; the more I can get you to use, the less of a threat you are to the babies outside." Gravitas heard some shifting noises that sounded like rock grinding against rock. "I'm gonna start shrinking this place, so you gotta decide - how you gonna burn your juice, man?" Based on the echos, he estimated the distance to the other man and the rate the cavern was shrinking. He had about thirty more seconds.

He floated off in the direction of the voice. The response was immedate, "Oh, gonna try to fight me? If you stay down here too long I win by default - I'll just crush ya. Little dirt ain't gonna hurt me none. It knows who's boss." He heard a few heavy footsteps - some sort of stoney armor? The echo had largely ceased - the size of the space had become too small to cause them.

"You want me to use some juice?" Gravitas replied, feeling his confidence boil to the surface. "If you want me to use a whole lot, I guess I'll have to do this with as little as possible." A veteran of the only other major nova conflict Earth had ever seen, it was hard to frighten Gravitas, and even harder to intimidate him. He enjoyed the challenge that had been put forth. "Truth be told," he continued, "I'm glad you encased us like this. Means they can't see us." The footsteps stopped suddenly - was the other nova afraid? That would be gratifying. "I'm gonna show you something I've never shown anyone else." He felt like he'd been doing a lot of that today. "I don't really want the Project knowing I can do this one - they'd probably get scared." He heard stone scrape against stone again - a step back? Gravitas twitched his head to one side, bringing his ear to bear on the sound. The space had continued to shrink.

"Let me show you," Gravitas spoke again, "a portent of things to come." He was, he was fairly certain, within range now. He brought up his matte black hand - the one missing a few fingers - and faced his palm at the other nova. With an application of will, and a tiny expenditure of quantum power, Gravitas invoked his power. He heard the sound of rocks tumbling to the ground in front of him; at a guess, the nova's stony armor had fallen off. The small-ish cavern began to shake as more rocks began to shower from the ceiling.

"What the fuck!?" screeched the other nova, his voice at least an octive higher in panic, "The rocks won't talk to me anymore! What the fuck did you do!?" He heard some rustling as the man pawed at the rocks sitting in a pile at his feet.

Gravitas did not bother to answer. The ceiling of the cavern began to collapse enough that a hole was created; with the hole came enough light to see by. With his hand still leveled out, he blasted the now-defenseless nova hard enough to slam him back into the wall somewhere behind him. Gravitas was fairly sure the other nova was unconscious but didn't care to stay and confirm that. He floated up and out, leaving his knocked out foe to his disintegrating cavern. It was time to regroup.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
No roll is technically required to maintain a concentration power like the gravity field, so I'll just make an Science roll to go "hum, this would be super effective".
Gravitas rolled 2 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,4,5,5,2,7,1,3,6,1. Scientific Genius.
This is 3 successes due to mega dice, so roll 3 extra dice on actual Science roll.
Gravitas rolled 7 successes using 18d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3,3,6,9,2,7,2,10,4,5,5,2,10,5,9,8,3. Science!.
Yep, applying a gravity field to a giant man makes all his organs have to work harder. Hello blackout!

Gravitas rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,1,7,10,1,6,2,6,5. Dex+Warp (2 mega).
4 successes to hit with the warp, this is a combat warp, so I think that also means he gets transported 400 meters directly up. Hope he can fly, or here in a minute or so he's going to be a greasy spot on the ground.

Gravitas rolled 6 successes using 12d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,7,8,9,7,2,8,9,5,5,3,5. Int+Disrupt (5 mega) (12, not 2 :P).
Actually 11 successes, since 4/5 mega dice came up 7+. This is technically resisted by Quantum+Node; assume elemental anima is the power, so Q4, node probably about 2ish, 6 dice get maybe 3 successes, 6 maximum. Assuming maximum, he loses 5 dots of elemental anima, which will be all of them, so it shuts his power down. For the record, this is another of those powers that has been on my sheet since the game started and that I've never found a good opportunity to use until now. Colombia is good for pulling out all the stops.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Fri 14 Jan 2011.

In times of great stress, Solitaire had always taken comfort in four things. The first was Alexa, but she was dead, and had been for years. The second and third were her jacket and cards, respectively, and they were gone now, their loss mourned. The last was Depeche Modes' Enjoy the Silence. It explained her life, cataloged all she had lost. It was one of the few things that nobody could ever take away from her, it was her song, and she needed it now.

Few people had ever heard Solitaire sing, it wasn't something she'd done much of since college, but she's had an excellent voice even then. Music had been a passion of Alex's and her's, they'd even had a band. Well, they called it band, it was really just the two of them and a drum machine. She still had a couple of their cd's (self-published) somewhere. Jessica had possessed both the talent and the training, and so did Solitaire. It should not have been audible above the sounds of the apocalypse about her, but by some quirk of the acoustics it was, and it was like no rendition ever before.

"Words like violence, Break the silence. Come crashing in, into my little world."

There are few things more destructive than a pissed off Solitaire (further enhanced by imminent Chrysalis), and none of them were among the enemy forces. She wasn't sure what the ramifications would be of pushing her limits in her current state, but she didn't much care. She wasn't any more hurt than anyone else, and nobody else was slacking off, and well, she was Solitaire. She was Invincible.

There was energy roiling around in her head, so much energy changing her, and she fed into it, bleeding it off and slowing then change. She then channeled it back, burning power as fast as she generated it. Solitaire glowed golden with the energy transfer, the radiance further magnified by her psudo-crystalline form. She left a fading trail behind her as she moved, as well as the occasional quantum after-image.

Her first victim didn't even know he was dead. His defenses had been good, he might have held his own against her in a normal match. A three layered force field and supernatural toughness. He didn't seem to have any offensive capabilities, he was simply defending his companion, and doing rather wall two, considering the pair was outnumbered so badly. One moment he was there, sweating slightly, holding four allied nova's off his partner. The next, his head was gone and he was falling. A clothesline at mach 3 will do that.

Everything around Solitaire seemed to move in slow motion, the enemies moves clumsy and lethargic. It was an illusion, of course, caused by her hyper-enhanced speed and perceptions, but it made things so easy. She casually ducked a beam that would have easily pegged her normally, and threw a tank in the direction it had come in reply. She heard a pained 'whuf' as it connected.

The Nova underneath, and it was a true Nova, a young one, but a true one, she could tell, for some reason, couldn't have been more than twenty. She had just enough superhuman resilience to survive the initial hit, but not for long. The girl was clearly dying, such a waste. She muttered something in Spanish, which Solitaire did not understand, then something else. Quite a feat considering the tank crushing her. She didn't whimper, didn't cry, just accepted her death with a dignity few could match. Solitaire rested a hand gently on the girls cheek, a last, small measure of comfort, and her singing dropped to a mournful whisper.

"Painful to me, pierce right through me. Can't you understand, Oh my little girl?"

The girl took only a few moments to die. Such a waste, such a waste. The Colombian forces had no hope of winning, yet they fought anyway, defending themselves and their corrupt masters to the end. Solitaire respected that, she would do the same in their place. Still, it was time to end this. She stood a moment, listening to the flow of battle, trying to pick out the sounds of command. She would find their commander, and she would kill her. That would be that.

There.

She looked up, spotting them man just as he thew a T2M Auxiliary limply away. That would be him. He was a big man, well-muscled even for a Nova, dressed in fatigues and looking bored, as if no worthy opponent had yet showed herself. As if sensing her gaze, he looked back down at her, smirked, and raised his hand in the universal 'bring it' gesture. Well, Solitaire was only too happy to oblige.

They watched each other for a few moments, neither making move, gauging the other. Solitaire pegged him for a Wars vet, he would be formidable. Perhaps even up to her standards, one always hoped for a good fight.

The man blinked, and Solitaire moved. She was behind him before he opened his eyes and caught him with a powerful kick to the head. It took him several hundred yards to regain his senses, and then the fight was on. She  had been right, they would have been evenly matched normally. He was stronger, but she was faster. Unfortunately for him, Solitaire currently had enough power to shift the moon out of orbit coursing through her, and likely wasn't quite right in the head either.

It was a excellent fight. It took Solitaire a whole three minutes to kill him and wrecked a good two city blocks. In the end Solitaire decided simply to take his best shot then end him. He punched her where her stomach would have been normally, she didn't dodge, didn't block. Crystal shattered and his fist when straight through her. She thought the sensation most peculiar, and blindingly painful, as she broke his elbow. His momentary shock gave her time to dislocate his other arm, she then wrapped her legs about his torso and took his head in her hands. It was an intimate moment, the end to one of the best fights of her life, a token of respect to her opponent.

"All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here. In my arms. Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm."

CRACK

She let him fall, then gazed down at the hole in her midsection. It was already closing, crystal filling it in as if it had never happened. This was it, she was done. There was nothing left to give. She had pushed right on past her limits, and nobody could do that long. Instinctively she knew that she had to give in to her Chrysalis now or the energy would consume her, literally burning her up from within.

There was one last, blindingly bright flash, and Solitaire fell from the sky again. A perfect sculpture of clear crystal.

"Enjoy the Silence."

In reply to Aberrant-Game (msg #257):

A monotone mantra echoes through Zero's mind as Marco enters. “I am what you are in the dark. I must remember. I am what you are in the dark. I must remember. I am what you are in the dark...”

The walls of Zero's inner mind prove to be paper tigers. They look like the ancient stone of a fortresses' inner chambers, but they crumble to Marco's piercing thoughts like rotted sheet-rock. Painful memories and panic turn the mental scape into a fearful, uncertain pink with splotches on stressed, nervous black. As Marco progresses in sensitive directions, the black splotches of the scenery start to wash out into a very anxious, fearful gray.

Marco can casually walk past the memories of a failed divorcy, a workaholic who had trouble remembering his children's names, until one of them died from illness. His wife, sick of his lack of emotional support, took their remaining children and left him. He had already begun to abuse alcohol long before the incident, and fell completely into a stupor after the separation.

His termination from his job was soon fallowed by him simply walking away from his house, and never returning. He simply sat down in an ally, and never seemed to leave the streets until he was shot.

Months, years all blurred together between digging for food in garbage bins and begging for change to by the cheapest alcohol he could get. After finishing one such bottle, he sobered up enough to see two men ripping the cloths off of a gagged woman in the current alley he lived in. He hit one over the head with the bottle, and then heard a large thunder crack. Things went black. Then a flash on white. Suddenly he was standing over the two men, his head clear and sober, and his fists bloody. The woman latter told the one man had tried to shot him, but he seemed to vanish.

He took the name Zero, as he wanted to start with a blank slate. He had no pride in his previous failures, and wanted to completely reinvent himself.


Past all this are the hidden memories Zero fears Marco uncovering. They are the recollections of the actions Zero took in it's fear.

The fight with '2D-Man' provokes a paranoia in the Doctor toward it's own team mates. Two new possibilities arose to the Doctor's awareness. One was the possibility of 'Quantum Corruption' driving it's own team mates to madness as it had the woman Z called '2-D.' The other was the danger of an even more powerful psychic taking control of it's teammates.

The Doctor's response was to covertly spy on it's teammates, and catalog any weaknesses they might develop. It was surprised at the number of odd limits to their powers they own psych imposed on them, and disturbed at how many odd weaknesses manifested over time that could only be attributed to 'Quantum Corruption.' It also investigated the weaknesses of Cestus Pax, for much more petty reasons. The Doctor hated the man, and fantasized about beating him is a petty brawl one of these days.

Pax was nearly invulnerable to any attack short of a theoretical nuclear device, but he had a peculiar weakness to mentalists in close range. If they could touch him, their powers could detect holes in his metaphorical mental armor. It had something to do with old self-esteem issues from his adolescence, when his father would get “in his face.”

Comstock had developed a mutation that weakened his mental facilities in extreme temperatures.

Impetus had a deep seated homophobia and machismo issues that made his defenses and superhuman charisma weaken when exposed to naked men in close combat. A naked Nova wrestling him would first unnerve, then capture/kill Impetus.

Suzuka's powers have an elemental affinity with air and wind. As such, her powers weaken significantly when apposed by Quantum Powers with an Earth theme. This was a gradual effect, but also would be amplified if several such themed Novas attacked her at once. It did not matter if they were slower then her. The effect would debilitate her powers even if they could not strike her.

Zero had not yet discovered the weaknesses of the others, such as Gravitas, Gale, Solitaire, Flare, and Phantasm. They possibly had not developed any.

This is all a lie. It's well made, but all of these memories are faked. Zero used a similar technique if a horribly situation with a deranged Nova' psychic before joinging Team Tomarow, though not on this scale. Back them, Zero had weak mental defenses, and was overcome by the Nova, who used Z to murder others. During brief periods of lucidity and privacy, Zero managed used it's medical knowledge of hypnosis to hypnosis itself. Gradually it installed several mental commands, and obscured the memories involved in this. Z was able to catch the Nova off guard and kill him.

Z used these self installed commands to attack the mentalist when he was vulnerable. Zero's current use, amplified with it's growing Telepathy, applies a mantra to activates pre-tailored memories while erasing the originals. The false memories would hopefully made the enemy waste time & valuable Nova resources on it's teammates.

Meanwhile, as Marco is distracted by Zero's shadow play, Zero tries to quietly retrieve the drug that will free it's body...

(OOC:
Activates Quickness & Fast Tasks [to apply medicine]

Quietly Retrieve medicine: 9 Successes
12:22, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,2,2,10,8,6,7,2,9,1. Sneaky retreval, 1 Meg .
12:22, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3. Reroll, Agil Quality, 1 meg.

Apply Medicine: 5 succeses
12:28, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 4 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,5,4,5,2,7,1,5,1,1,3,7,8. Medicine Roll Apply 3 meg.)

Phantasm was a blur as she moved across the field.  Though she lacked the pure speed of her faster teammates, she moved with fluid grace and stayed in constant motion, responding to threats before those around her even percieved them.  And compared to her mind, her body was like a lead weight.

Thoughts moved across Phantasm's mind like a swarm of darting fireflies in midsummer, lighting the darkness as they danced with one another.  As she analyzed the field, she realized she was never this aware before, this hyper-cognitive.  All the complex movements around her were predictable, possessed of a greater symmetry, completely effortless.  And even as she automatically processed the flow of the battle, other tangential topics flitted through her mind in parallel.

Where do we go from here?  Today's display would change everything forever, both the world as a whole, and her own little world with Utopia.  The team wouldn't remain intact after this, either Utopia would select new and less scarred faces for their group, or the internal tensions between those espousing the now public Teras philosophy and those clinging desperately to their slipping humanity would rip the team apart....

This is so terrible, so surreal, so beautiful.  Solitaire was like a glowing star streaking across the sky.  'Kaze moved like the wind, Gravitas bent the very light around him.  Blasts of incandescent energy lit the sky, while a symphony of quantum resonance played across the mind of those blessed and cursed with a node.  But perhaps even more terrible and beautiful was the drama, the play of emotion and will taking place as novas pressed on beyond endurance, and the unwavering will of brave humans allowed them to fight, and die, beside gods.  One could almost see the future shifting, hints of what would come, if only one looked hard enough...

Another wave of horrible, glowing green butterflies grinned from demonic faces as they scythed through the enemy, picking clean bones and boring into tanks with equal easy.  The swarm served a second purpose as well, screening their mistress from the wash of artillery blasts and energy bursts flashing and pounding all across the field of battle.

Who am I?  Was she really one of these quantum gods, chosen arbitrarily to exceed her origins in every imaginable way?  Phantasm could scarcely imagine herself as she was, a weak and defenseless child, at the mercy of those more powerful than she; even her name was lost to a past she hoped to never relive.  But was there room for a person inside this quantum god?  Who was she, but a random fluke of nature and a brilliant conflux of quantum energy?  Since she became a nova Phantasm had grown in countless ways, gaining skill, power, and knowledge... But she was hollow inside.  Phantasm vowed silently to herself that if she lived (a possibility she was startlingly indifferent to) she would become more than she was, a real person...

Phantasm neared the perimeter of the base itself.  Her comrades cleared the way in, the first lines of nova defense destroyed in awesome displays of prowess.  It was like watching myth come to life, the Greek gods driving back the titans.

Pinochio, ha!  I want to become a real girl!  So who's my blue fairy, and who's my Jiminy... Or maybe I'm more like Alice...  This world that novas were creating, it wasn't real.  At least not in a way the human mind was capable of processing.  Eventually, if their power continued to develop, novas would truly be gods, living in a world of their own fantasy with the other sentient creatures out there left as mere playthings.  Who was she going to be in relation to that future?  Would she have the conscience to rise above such temptations?  Was there even a point in trying?

The first nova she encountered wasn't a challenge.  A frightened and angry woman, clearly disoriented but unwilling to surrender.  Phantasm felt a twinge of guilt (and worried that it was only a twinge) as she sent the last of the butterflies to end her.

I wonder how the others are doing...  Would they live past today?  And if so, would they be the same people they were at the beginning of the day?  Solitaire was entering some kind of transformation, and whatever came out might not be her at all.  Impetus was torn to ribbons, Gravitas was missing pieces of himself, 'Kaze was alive only because battle was a more acceptable death than suicide.  Flare was a monster of fire, Gale was breaking down, Zero was quite possibly a casualty, and Comstock... He was becoming the tin man.  No heart anymore, just a robot, blocking out the pain and the horror of it all, processing only the facts.  She missed Dillan; being around him made it hurt less being away from her family, made it feel like she could be normal.  Phantasm hated what this life had done to her, and what it had done to him.  When this was all over, she was going to make sure he didn't lose his humanity, make him leave the team, whatever it took to get him back to the caring man he was when she met him, before combat and death had hammered him away.

Phantasm heard the base being ripped apart ahead of her.  Rather than be trapped inside the building as it collapsed, she exited onto the nearby airstrip where many of the enemy novas were regrouping around devices identical to the one used in the earlier nuclear attack.  And only a hundred yards away, her enigmatic friend layed on the ground being mentally assaulted.

Sometimes you get so far in, that you can't ever get out... Sure, she could have made different choices along the way, but it felt like everything leading up to this point was correct, the only choice she could have made.  From leaving home, to joining Utopia, to this very moment.  Even now she had a choice, she could just leave... but she wouldn't.  Phantasm couldn't take that many novas, not by herself, but reinforcements might be too late.  She had to at least disable the bombs and get Zero on his feat; she couldn't let this end in another disaster, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let a friend go through having their deeapest self violated... Not after having endured it herself.

Phantasm built the power inside her, pulling it deep within to unlock the prison inside her mind.  The place where her fears and her sins lived.  Where the people she'd eaten lived, and suffered.  First came the man, more solid than her other creations, chained and hobbled, with his orrifices sewn shut.  Blind eyes gazed out at the airstrip hungrily as he mewled at his mistress for permission.  Phantasm jerked hard on his chain; she had more work to do.  She pulled in more power, recharging enough for one more push, as she hoped her shifted enhancements and hiding place both held long enough to complete her plan...

So, what do I do if I live past today? First thing, I go have some fun, and take some time off.  Then I quit my job.  Then I get Dillan to quit his job.  Then I go to explore space with Quinton.  Then I go play pretend, find a place to be normal for a while, get some perspective.  Maybe I'll go play nova on the weekends?  And one day, in the far, far future, I'll be brave enough, and entrospective enough, to ask what the hell it says about me that I eat people's souls and keep them in a cage inside my head.

Phantasm unlocked the second cage.  The woman was an unsettling blend of youth and crone, bound in chains much as the man, but with eyes wide and mouth open in a silent scream.  She pulled away, running toward the light of freedom, before Phantasm pulled sharply on the barbed chains at the woman's throat.  She reluctantly complied, coming to crouch beside Phantasm, as far from the man-thing as possible.  She whispered to Phantasm, "Please, no more, please don't put me back..."  Phantasm whispered softly in reply, "Hush now... You'll go back in, there's no avoiding that, but... I'll give you someone new to play with, someone to keep HIM in check, someone to entertain you... but you must do as I say..."

I'm a bad person.

The airstrip changed over the course of 20 seconds.  First came a light, almost imperceptible haze, then a dulling of sound.  The novas should have noticed as they lost track of one another, but long and valuable moments passed before they realized they were under attack, and by then the fog was an impenetrable white wall around them, consuming both light and sound.  The chained woman whined piteously, hoping for Phantasm's approval, as they moved through the fog.  Phantasm ignored the woman's cries, reminding herself that this woman was in large part responsible for starting the Equatorial Wars, and the death that followed her attempted coup.  "Shut up," was all Phantasm said as she slid amongst the enemy novas, attempting to disable any of the still active devices that Zero was unable to reach before being disabled himself.  Then she let go of the chains, and the killing began.

Yes, I'm a really bad person.

The man-thing gorged.  It projected a twisted mantra "Join me, Help me Understand... Fill me, Fill the Emptiness... Stop the Pain, Join the Pain..." that eventually devolved into flashes of alien insight and feelings of orgiastic hunger projected directly into its victims minds as it shredded and comsumed them.  The woman-thing embraced her victims in a slower horror, pulling them inside a labyrinth of terrifying illusion, leaving their bodies empty, shutting down their life functions, and entrapping their souls to play with later.  Phantasm herself was merciful; she just killed them.

I think I may regret this somewhere down the road... but what alternative was there?

She only had a few moments before they responded.  Though the illusion hid the initial assault, they quickly understood that they were under attack and responded with raw force.  Marco looked up and sent his mind out to counter the fog, doubling the woman-thing over in pain.  Novas converged on Phantasm as she struggled to stay alive.  A bolt of force shattered the final chain binding the man-thing to Phantasm, letting it loose on the field.  The man-thing consumed Marco as Phantasm struggled to join Zero, hoping she could at least get the doctor standing so she wouldn't have to die alone.

---

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

SAVE ME ZERO, SAVE ME!  Seriously though, if you want to get up and finish the scene, go for it.  Plus I've always liked Zero/Phantasm fight scenes, they're so fun and gritty.

My rolls are: Maxed Q.Construct activation x2 to get my two nova monsters and Analyze Weakness augmented Int+Intrusion or Stealth roll to make the perfect plan of attack.

Max 1: You rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((4,7,5,9,2)).
QC 1: You rolled 4 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((2,7,2,5,4,7,8,3,6)).
1 will
=7 successes

Max 2: You rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,4,10,7)).
QC 2: You rolled 7 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((6,9,9,7,3,9,1,5,9)).
1 will
-added diff for double activations... -1 I think, no book on me right now...
=9 successes

An.Weakness: You rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((5,1,9,4,7,2,4,9)).
Int+(Stealth or Intrusion): You rolled 6 successes using 17d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((6,7,5,1,7,10,4,1,6,5,1,1,5,9,3,1,7)).
1 will
=7 Successes (for 17 dice, 3 of them mega, and a willpower, that was pretty pathetic...)

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This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Wed 19 Jan 2011.

The shield came down and Impetus began to dance.  That was the only word for it.  He moved in perfect unison with the shattered wreck that was Pax, it was somehow fitting that Utopia's poster boys, each battered, bloodied and bruised, were leaning on each other for this hopefully final battle of a terrible war.  Pax's eyes were clouded, burned from being too close to the nuke when it went off, his world was a thing of nightmares with shapes distilling themselves from mist and fading back into non reality almost before he could react.  Instead he closed his eyes and let Imp guide him.  Together they rushed forward, not as fast as either of them would have done so just the day before, but still fast enough to be amongst the first wave of novas to hit the barricades.

"Enemy strongman 2 o'clock, 50 meters away." Imp grated, his voice a rusted, shredded mockery of the once silky smooth Voice of Utopia.  Before he had finished speaking Pax had unleashed one of his trademark blasts and blown the nova off his feet and through the building behind him.  More targets presented themselves and Imp directed Pax's fire, each time the blast connected and another enemy combatant was out of the fight.

In between giving coordinates Imp was quietly horrified by how deeply satisfying this battle was.  Some sort of primal need to exterminate the monsters who had killed his father and his friends’ families was having its thirst quenched here today.

A sickening violet bolt of something lanced out of the smoke towards him, he spun, twisted and dropped flat.  The ray blasted past his head and evaporated a nearby machine gun nest manned by what he assumed were men who had angered their commanders.

From flat on his back Imp saw a tank draw bead on Raoul's back, the playboy was fighting with the cock-sure silky smooth confidence he always had less than 10m away, holding his own against two twisted flesh-sloughing monstrosities given human form, clearly not aware of the cannon aimed at him.

Imp cursed and started to move towards the tank when an airplane wing, cleanly severed by something, dropped out of the sky almost on top of him.  He grabbed it, spun in place three times to build momentum and frisbeed the wing at the tank.  In a moment of terrible clarity he saw the wing cut into and wrap around the muzzle, then explode into a cloud of white hot shrapnel as the shell detonated in the barrel.  The tank's ammo stores went off in an explosion that probably would have killed Imp had an enemy nova not tackled him into a nearby building.  He rolled with the impact, pushed with his legs and came to his feet a couple meters away from the woman.

She was small, maybe 5 feet tall, and slightly built.  Protruding from her back was a similar device to what Cloudburst had had implanted.  This one was sleeker though, more refined.  Her face would have been pretty, if not for the look of terribly wooden determination, combined with tears flowing freely from her bloodshot eyes.  Her midriff was bare, muscular but strangely stretched looking, and bore a livid red scar that was weeping blood around the staples holding it closed.  He took all this in in the fraction of a second that it took for her to ready herself and leap at him.

She was fast, damn fast, the jagged bone spurs jutting from her knuckles would have torn Imp apart if they had connected. Thankfully, even though he was totally out of juice, he was as nimble as he ever was, and his unrivaled understanding of momentum made it trivially easy for him to duck under or redirect her blows.  he bobbed and weaved, then grabbed her wrist when she overextended herself, stepped in, and tossed her into an oblong tank of some kind that was covered with a white sheet.  There was the sound of breaking glass and weird syrupy fluid gushed out onto the floor.  His adversary extricated herself from the mess and came at him again, her eyes even more anguished than before.  Imp didn't know why, she hadn't been injured and barring some lucky accident he would be unlikely to damage her.

Weak movement under the cloth caught his eye, but the woman demanded his attention as she swung her barbed fist at his head.  Before the fist made it halfway across the intervening space a tearing, hissing, metallic noise came from the smoke filled hole they had smashed in the wall and the woman went down in a fountain of blood.  A female silhouette ghosted past outside, leaving Imp alone with the bloodied remains of the woman and the shattered equipment.  He moved to the woman, and knelt down beside her and closed her one remaining eye, then kissed the part of her forehead that remained.  "Goodbye sister, though you were never able to become what you should have been, know that this battle marks the end of this kind of exploitation."

He lurched to his feet and, in a normal speaking voice instructed Pax to get airborne until he dealt with the situation inside this building. He then stalked towards the still weakly moving shape under the sheet.  Pulling it aside he saw a tiny baby, no bigger than his hand, skin wizened and purple.  He had wires and tubes sticking out of him, stitches crisscrossed his tiny head and his umbilical cord was grafted to a weird plant like tube.

Though tiny, Imp couldn't help but believe that this fetus looked very much like the woman he had just seen cut down.  He stared in horror for a second, then, "Scripture, I know you can hear me, I need you here.  Please, come quickly." The words had barely left his lips before a shimmering white light filled the room and Scripture strode through the door, robes still clean, a corona of light forming what Imp assumed was a protective shield around him.  Without pause he moved to the baby, then looked at Impetus with an expression of grief, rage, incredulity and something that Imp couldn't identify.

"I will take care of this little one, my friend, and of this facility.  Go now, help end this battle before more of our kindred cease to be." He laid one fine boned hand on the baby and held one towards the other rows of shrouded machines.

Imp nodded, then walked back out the door into the maelstrom and towards the airfield.  "Imp to Pax, I'm directly beneath you, get down here and be ready, something seems to be happening about 100 meters ahead of me."  As he strode forward the building he had just left exploded in white fire that licked over Imp's ravaged back but, strangely, did no more than tickle.  He didn't look back.

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

1st die roll, Dex+MA, 11 sux.
2nd die roll, Dex+Ath, 15 sux including physical prodigy.
3rd Die roll, Wits+Rapport, 4 sux including Synergy.

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This message was last edited by the player at 09:28, Thu 27 Jan 2011.

The Columbian resistance fell and the landscape around the base was reduced to barren waste, all as the cameras continued to record the day's events under the protection of Divis Mal's watchful gaze.

After meeting the nova resistance the Allied forces were hard pressed to maintain the momentum of their advance.  The sheer number of opposing novas were staggering despite being comparatively weaker, and the the fight was completely counter to T2M rules of nova engagement.  The battle at the perimeter quickly became a brutal whirlwind of chaos and destruction, as the Allied forces threw their experience and greater power against the horde of enemy novas in an attempt to maintain their advantage and defeat their opponents before quantum reserves were drained entirely.

For several frantic minutes, the world watched the battle in hushed, frightened awe as the Allied forces were burried under a tide of enemy novas and the flare of quantum powers obscured the battlefield.  Human soldiers fired wildly into the chaos, and several jets circling the area disobeyed orders to fly directly into the battle in hopes of disrupting it long enough for allied forces to regain control.  A final suicide run by an allied fighter pilot heralded a turning point in the conflict; after firing his entire loadout, the pilot slammed his fighter into a cluster of energy projecting novas on the ground near Gravitas' position.  Their blasts tore the jet apart, but failed to eliminate enough of its mass to prevent it slamming into them at full acceleration augmented by 4x normal gravity.  With that cluster of enemy novas eliminated, the world was able to better see the melee; whether the Captain Jordan's sacrifice gave the Allied forces the opening they needed was questionable, but it was nonetheless fortuitous as it left humanity with a sliver of hope that they could actually matter in a world populated by novas.

After the break in the Columbian lines, the enemy novas resistance crumbled and they retreated to the airstrip.  Allied novas entered the base proper, tearing apart buildings and eliminating the remaining baseline resistance with frightening ease before converging on the remaining Columbian novas at the airstrip.  A quickly dissipating haze covered the area, and several disabled explosives (exact replicas of those used to cause the nuclear destruction earlier that morning) littered the airfield.  The Allied novas were met with a scene of carnage as Zero and Phantasm spent the remainder of their energy to battle for their lives.  The remaining Allied novas fell upon the confused, wounded, and terrified Columbian novas like an avalanche, ripping through the lesser novas easily before encountering the last of the Columbian true-novas.  The final encounter was quick and merciless, as both sides fought with the last of their strength for the right to survive.  A few enemy novas surrendered, but the Elite forces killed most of them before the Utopians could stop them.  By the end of the day, after the rubble was cleared and the bodies accounted for, 200 baselines, 3 lesser novas, and 2 true novas were left alive on the Columbian side of the conflict.

As the battle came to a close, humanity exhaled a breath it didn't realize it had been holding.  Nuclear war had been averted, the angels had won the war, and the battered novas that walked away from the war were, despite their awesome power, still mortal beings capable of bleeding and dying.  World governments moved to secure Columbia and inserted baseline troops into its major cities.

The Allied novas said little to each other at the end of the day.  As twilight washed over the quantum gods, they merely looked at one another and the destruction their power had wraught.  A shared understanding passed between them; knowledge of terrible power, the loss of loved comrades, exaltation in victory, and trepidation toward the future heralded by the day's events.  As the stars emerged, the disparate novas separated, returning to their own lives once more.