On the southwestern border of Columbia, out of Ecuador, a joint taskforce of American, Brazilian, and UN troops are preparing to march into Columbia.  The sky is overcast, the temperature a chill 5C; it looks like rain.  Clustered throughout the allied forces, men and women wearing brightly colored spandex uniforms huddle together in final planning sessions, their mere presence bolstering the morale of the troops around them.

On the other side of the border waits the Columbian military.  It is a respectable force, with fortified heavy weapons stations and armored vehicles to support the rank and file troops.  Air support is on standby within Columbian airspace, waiting for orders to strike.  There is no sign of novas among the Columbians.

-

The path to war was long and circuitous.  What began as an increase in illicit drug trafficking, including designer nova derived compounds, grew into a powerful movement within the Columbian government.  The War on Crime declared by Utopia destroyed the old model of the criminal cartel, and its methods of distribution, nearly eliminating organized crime and the sale of “hard” drugs such as cocaine and heroine.   The same War on Crime also created opportunities for consolidation of criminal enterprises, provided incentive for the creation of new designer drugs, and created a need for the recruitment of novas to thwart policing efforts.  One visionary leader rose from the ashes of defeat to unite the remains of the most powerful criminal organizations throughout the Americas, and with a combination of foresight and serendipity, managed to evade the notice of the world’s most powerful policing attempts, hiding behind a veneer of disorganized and isolated cells.

As the power of the organization grew, it was inevitable that they would tip their hand, but they managed to delay the process until they had near hegemony over their home country of Columbia, via a combination of bribery, legitimate improvements to the country’s infrastructure, and the promise of power beyond the wildest dreams of the Columbian government, the ability to create novas.  The involvement of the cartels with the Columbian government remained a well hidden secret, masked by nova power, diplomatic chicanery, and well-planned movements of the cartels themselves; even when connections were revealed, evidence was sparse and difficult to act upon.  Sao Paulo, and the discoveries of T2M:A, changed all that.

With the botched attempt at inducing eruption, the Medellin Cartel, and the danger they represent, was exposed to the world.  Or a part of it at least, since the real events were never revealed to the public.  The world at large was duped into believing that the Sao Paulo incident was an act of terrorism, meant to show the power of the Columbian government, which had been recruiting those novas within its borders in an effort to create a military force; Columbia was making the first moves in an attempt to become a world power.  Nova building efforts in the country, that had until recently been viewed with either admiration or at worst indifference by the world community, were re-cast as the beginnings of a nova army, a clear violation of the Nova Non-Proliferation agreement (Quantum Powers Non-Proliferation Treaty).  The truth of the matter, that novas were being engineered, and that a criminal organization rose to world power with the support of novas, was shielded from all but the UN security council… and any world governments the cartels had gone to in the process of recruiting allies.  If any outside the security council knew anything regarding the true situation in Columbia however, they remained silent and held their own council.

Despite evidence, the UN chose to attempt diplomatic agreement before forcible disarmament, and even after diplomatic means were exhausted, many countries were in opposition to the violation of the sovereignty of a nation based upon supposed nova militarization, for which there was only limited evidence.  Only the unified action of the Security Council made it possible to eventually force through an agreement.  Columbia would open itself to Utopia inspectors, who would guarantee its claims of innocence.  Columbia refused, and promised to defend its borders with full military force.   Brazil, as a means of retaliation for Sao Paulo, offered its country as a staging ground, and its troops for use in the confrontation.  After a buildup in Brazil, the troops marched moved into Ecuador with the country's blessing (thanks to promises of aid money from the US) to await the push into Columbia.  The date for inspection was set for January 1st of the coming year, setting the stage for the military conflict about to unfold.

-

Caestus Pax, Skew, and several specially hired DeVries elites stood guard above the thousands of assembled troops.  Their job was to ensure that nothing larger than a bullet could reach the men and women below them.  Pax, hating his required roll but understanding its necessity (he was the most powerful telekinetic in the world; who else could protect the troops from missile and heavy weapons fire as well as he?) had deferred command of the field operation to Impetus, who would lead the other teams, and coordinate them.  The remainder of Pax’s team would remain behind to guard the guardians, protecting Pax, Skew, and the others while they deflected attacks.  T2M:A, T2M:E, and T2M:AP were to engage any nova hostiles, and protect the allied troops.  Due to the terms of the QPNPT, T2M was not to engage the Columbian military, though it was fully allowed to protect its own allies.

Comstock is in charge of his team, Thorn T2M:E, and Smoke leads T2M:AP.  Frostburn is in charge of the HQ team and communications between R&D, Logistics, and the field teams.  In 5 minutes allied troops will cross the Columbian border, and the world holds its breath in anticipation, waiting to see how Columbia will respond.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Place yourselves, set up whatever scene you want, and we’ll start the action.  You can plan over in the HQ thread, or you can “go over the plan one more time” here, your choice.  Comstock has authority over his people in the field, though Impetus is once again serving as major coordinator.  Any OOC questions should be asked over in the OOC thread, or in spoiler blocks here.  Sorry about the delay, hope this turns out to be a good time.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:06, Fri 30 Aug 2013.

Guard the troops.  For once, Comstock was not pleased with this arrangement.

Generally, Pax was the advocate of shock-and-awe combat, eager to wipe the field clear of opposition and leave cleanup to the baselines.  But today, Comstock wanted to be the spearhead.  Far ahead of anyone else and able to apply his own discretion to an uncomfortable situation.

"Sol, I've got a bad feeling about this."  He shook his head and looked away from the border.  At 5C, it far colder than should even be possible at the equator.  Localized phenomena?  Nova powers at work?  The overcast sky was equally ominous and would complicate airstrikes.  Caution was the watchword of the day.  Brazil had agreed to provide a staging area for the attack, but there were scarcely any roads worth mentioning between here and their destination.  Ecuador would provide access, but their army refused to provide aid for fear of retaliation.  Likewise, a large body of additional forces were stationed in Panama to protect the canal.  All it would take was another Sao Paolo and global commerce would be set back fifty years or more.  Everyone was nervous.  The one piece of good news was Venezuela: the country's leadership had declared themselves neutral in this one.

So it came down to this field headquarters in Tulcán.  And a real army.  No strategic bombers, no weeks of preparatory destruction to soften targets.  Just a land invasion aimed straight for Medellin and Bogota, with god only knows how many novas between here and there.

"I know I'm just a grunt, but I think this is going to be a bloodbath unless they let us take point."  He had a rifle, for all the good it would do him, and a backpack full of plastic explosives, detonators and medical supplies.  "I mean, what's the difference between the Colombian army shooting at us and shooting at the soldiers?  It's still an act of war and justifies reprisal."  He wished he could just portal into Bogota and make the fight personal, but that would probably just end with the capital in ruins and four or five million dead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:51, Fri 21 May 2010.

Imp hung in the air, midway between the defensive perimiter set by pax and team tk and the ground forces. This was going to be a bloodbath. Two huge forces of novas squaring off against each other with humans in between them, ready to be turned into chum. He hoped they could minimize losses until the two real combatants could lock horns. "Impetus to all teams, report in. Over. "

"Bad feeling?" Solitaire chuckled, "I suppose that's right, if you're given to understatement." She was seated on a big plastic weapons crate which probably had man-portable AA-missiles or somesuch thing. Nobody had complained when she appropriated two of them for her own purposes, not that she was actually planning to use them later, she just needed a flat surface to play her game. That, more than anything else, betrayed her tension to those that knew her, the lack of concentration.

"I'm not overjoyed about it either, but I don't think they can cut us loose on the country. The bigwigs aren't capable of it. Just the nine of us on America could probably topple the whole place, quickly too. Then every world leader would be forced to take off their sunglasses and look us full in the face, in all our terrible glory. They'd think, 'A dozen of them took out a nation' what if they wanted the world" Solitaire shook her head, her eyes were sad. "We'd be a threat, no, the threat. Underlined, capital letters, italics. And there are only two things to do with threats, control them, or remove them. None of us would stand for that." She leaned back, looking up at the sky and closed her eyes. "I'm afraid it will come to that anyway, sometime soon. Despite all we've done, I still don't they can truly conceive of our potential, and that will be a rude awakening when they do."

"Still," Solitaire said, fixing her usual grin back in place, gathering up her cards and standing, "Just now all we have to do is kick some ass, right?" She thumped him affectionately on the shoulder, then reached up to key her comm unit.

"Solitaire here, whatcha need Imp?"

Gale stood leaning against the other side of the weapons crate Solitaire was playing on, listening to the conversation.  She'd been quiet since the previous night.  It was understandable; this was her first warlike combat.  Mexico had been just a raid, they knew they were going to win.  Here, there were too many unknowns.  Did the other side have novas?  How many?  With what powers?

She tilted her head skyward, feeling the wind blowing over the troops.  There was another weather manipulator here; the conditions all spoke to it.  But since they had baseline troops with them, she wasn't going to pull out her own tricks yet.  At this point, they would probably cause more harm than good.

"Just kick some ass."  He let Solitaire handle the check in with Imp and checked the digital map on his cell phone.  Great little tools these.

"Flare?  Gale?  How are you two holdin' up?"

"Just making sure everyone's ears are working.  Novas are to report or their Team Leaders, I am here to assist the teams in coordinating on the field of battle, not to usurp contol.  This mission is standard protocol, do not engage unfriendlies 1 on 1, under any circumstances, and two, three, or four on one is preferred.  Ten on one is, of course, the ideal.  We accept any and all surrenders, and anyone involved in this conflict is, according to the UN charter, to be granted full legal rights as prisoners of war.  Utopia is in charge of policing novas that are captured.  And that at least one or two novas are to escort or watch captured novas until they can be placed in Utopian custody, use your mox injectors as you deem necessary.  Notify myself or Frostburn when you take down an enemy combatant and we will send assistance as soon as possible.
Also, be aware that many of the novas we will be fighting may be under duress or coerced into fighting.  No fatalities unless there is absolutely no other option.  Novas who seek to hide in urban centers are to be engaged and neutralized.  We will try to minimize civilian casualties but we will not allow the precedence to be set that hiding behind civilians will work.
Also, novas will not engage baseline combatants using deadly force unless they present a reasonable threat to our well-being.  I don't know what that would be for Comstock or Pax, but for many of us this means that small arms fire directed at us by soldiers is to be met with either capture or to be ignored.   If anyone has a problem with these orders, speak up now."

Phantasm sits nearby, listening to the conversation.  Her eufiber is tuned to a garish neon pink camouflage with skulls covering it; the outfit does absolutely nothing to hide her, but it does make her an exceptionally easy target for snipers and small arms fire, hopefully drawing a bit of it away from the soft, baseline targets around her.
http://www.vistalatina.com/ima..._skull_camo_pink.jpg


"It sucks, but Sol pretty much nailed it.  We can't show how powerful we are, not on this scale, or we'd have have the whole world against us.  It's one thing to see it on paper, or see us take out some criminals, but most people just don't get how powerful we really are. Even when they see us fighting other novas, it's just mostly surreal for them.  If they saw us fighting human armies though, then they'd finally understand, and that would be a bad, bad thing.

They may see it anyway though, depending on how the day goes.  Where do you think the novas are?  You think they'll hit us on the border, or wait until we move through their troops on the border?"

"Huh."  Zero pipes up from behind, possibly teleporting in for dramatic effect. "I never thought of it that way. Man, I wanted to go all Terminator on fleshy little people who can't Q-Bolt my butt. And now you are all making all this... logical, well thought out arguments against me punching stuff."



"If they are smart and rotten, the latter. If honorable or arrogant, the former. Do we know what their 'style' is?"

"I'm no Patton ... but if I wanted to slow down a big old force like this, I'd set traps, destroy the road, and hit the column at the border after the head of the column was a few miles in."  Comstock looked up at the sky again.  "I'd also make a lot of bolt-holes, SAM-sites, and have a few fliers around to trash those big expensive planes modern countries use to control the field.  For the most part, the only way to threaten planes in the last thirty years has been with other planes.  I hope someone sent the USAF guy the memo on that, because even someone like Zero or Gale here could destroy whole squadrons on short notice."  Gale could just confound the navigation sensors or smash them to the ground.  Zero was unpredictable, but Comstock imagined him teleporting from cockpit to cockpit incapacitating pilots or leaving grenades behind.  He reflected, then, that he was the only one on the team that couldn't really do anything about aircraft.

He ran a hand over his head.  "Tell Imp ... T2M:A is clear for op."

Suzukaze sits crosslegged meditating near her teamates. She listens to the conversation of how this battle is going to be a bloodbath. She starts speaking to no one in particular. "A bloodbath is an understatment. These guys  were trying to make their own nova's, and whatever drugs. Do we even know how successful they were? What if their whole army is made up of their created nova's or are suped up on whatever drugs?" She stands drawing her blades she stares out across the battlefield. "Worst case scenario. Our human allies get slaughtered, and we are possibly outnumbered. We have the experience though. We work together. This day will be ours."

At 0700, the order goes out to move.  The restless troops, already in position for the last hour, are more than happy to actually be doing something, and anxiously start forward.  Engines hum to life as troop transports prepare to roll over the border into Columbia.  Across the border, Nova eyes can make out a great many enemy troops, but not even half of the full Columbian military force is accounted for.

As the first of the transports moves over the border and no fighting occurs, the younger, less experienced soldiers release the breath they'd been holding, anticipating an attack right after the crossing.  The more experienced soldier know better however, and maintain a wary vigilance, as do the novas guarding them.  A fortunate thing for the troops, as ranged artillery from further inland begins to pepper the task force, but is deflected by Pax's crew.  Several mines slip by the scanners and anti-mine vehicles, heavily damaging one transport, but the rest are countered by the various T2Mers gaurding the front.

Baseline enemy troops make no efforts to engage, though snipers begin shooting at novas and baselines alike, using high caliber rounds, as the allied troops move by.  Oddly enough, the snipers present more difficulty to the nova defenders than the artillery or traps, simply because they are harder to detect, and more random in their targeting, and several troops are hit.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
If I could get soak scores from peoples with their next post that would be dandy.  I want DV's too, but I just remembered that there was some rewrite required on how DV's actually work, which we never resolved.  I'll try and get something on that posted soonish.  As far as responses to this, feel free to post any special tactics or powers uses, as well as any specific actions you are taking besides just moving forward.

---

Quentin had remained silent as the team had waited. He'd been typing madly on a small laser-projected keyboard¹, optimizing the team's software, updating and finalizing the battle maps and redirecting a few satellites to be over the area with higher frequency. When the order was given to move out, he flipped the keyboard off and joined the others in their advance.

Lacking the ability to wear Eufiber, he'd adopted the same camouflage outfit used by the US Army. Since he didn't need many of the features provided by standard battle dress (canteens, compasses, ammunition and the like) he was loaded out with mox injectors and a series of other anti-nova cocktails along with a small supply of medical aids. He had opted to carry a standard-issue officer's sidearm with a single clip for the event that he ran out of juice and needed to protect himself.

None of this was obvious after the first gunshot was heard, though, as he brought his shielding up. It was impossible to tell what the inky black humanoid shape surrounded by light-distorting ripples was wearing. "Well," he said with a wry tone in the voice, "at least we know they care."

¹http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/
[Private to GM: Current soak vs bullets is 46B/43L. Subtract 4 successes from accuracy before determining if it is a hit (from Gravitic Shield), and I get a 3 success counterattack (Ripple Shield), hit or miss. My soak is different for different conditions, so let me know if you need it for other situations.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Tue 25 May 2010.

As the first colunm of troops moves across the boarder a large hologram of Imp sprang to life, hovering above the troops, loudspeakers booming out his message, "My friends, I understand why you are doing what you are doing, that you've been told that your way of life, your families, your country will be destroyed by the invaders.  You have been lied to.  Your government has been bought by men who traffic in misery and death, parasites that drain the blood from men and women like you.  you know Utopia's reputation.  You know that we build, not destroy.  You know we create jobs, schools, hospitals, and better lives.  My friends, do not fight us, lay down your arms and return home, or come and talk with any of the Utopian personnel that you see here.  We can make Columbia strong again.  Make her the jewel of South America, help us to help you."*  The troops below the eidolon moved with determination, knowing that they were serving to bring peace, stability and aid to a ravaged country.  Behind Imp shook his head, what made him any different from people like Goebbels?  Brainwashing the opponents, even if it was for the best of reasons, still felt dirty.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
using almost live and most of my other mega social enhancements to kick auto sux up to around 20 or so.  With the roll we're looking at 25+- for anyone who can see/hear the broadcast and speaks Spanish.
Init: 18
DV: 9
Soak: 11/8

---

This message was last edited by the player at 11:02, Fri 28 May 2010.

Gale stayed close to Flare and Solitaire.  She'd partnered up with the other fliers at various points during this campaign, and so she felt the most comfortable being near them.  Just before she crossed the border, she remembered to create the swirling vortex of air that protected her.  Once the snipers started shooting, she was thankful for that.  Unlike some of the others, a bullet could kill her very easily.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Spent 3Q to activate wind shield.
Current Quantum: 25/28
Soaks: 14B/12L

---

"Team: no rule says we can't track down those snipers and tell the troops where they are.  Locations.  Fliers, make it happen.  Over."  Comstock marched defiantly onward.  Bullets and missiles did not scare him anymore.  Impetus looming presence above gave the march a sense of righteous purpose.  Voice of God, huh.  Gun propped against his shoulder, he sauntered on, unable to shield anyone with his powers except by providing an obvious target.

"Hey Flare: I don't care what they said in your orders and I don't care if we're on the edge of a national park or ecological reserve.  If the fighting starts in earnest, I want that jungle aflame like napalm in 'nam.  Antaeus will fix anything we break anyway.  Over."  He trusted Solitaire, Quentin and Zero to do their jobs and do them well, but some nagging sense of seniority or responsibility kept him nagging to newer team members.

And then there was Phantasm.  He clicked over to a private channel.  "Hey P: save your juice for when the shooting starts.  I don't want to see any ghosts calling out coordinates.  We'll need you to make a mess when the bad guys play their hand."  'Big brother' was a distant and dictatorial presence, sending tons of mixed signals her way, singling her out.  [Private to Phantasm: Phantasm knows Comstock well enough to recognize that he's not acting normal.  Could be interpreted a few ways: he's passive aggressive toward P, obviously coming to hate her because of the Teragen philosophy; he's planning something out of the ordinary, maybe something illegal; he's too worried about her, treating her like a little girl; he's becoming an image-hound, too concerned about appearances and public image to tolerate her anymore.  Take it as you like it.]

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
DV: ~2

Soak
Stamina [4B/2L]
Mega-Stamina (Resiliency) [+8B/+4L]
Armor 4 [+12B/+12L]
Eufiber Suit [+3B/+3L]  (assuming three points of quantum charge)
Persistent Total Soak: [27B/ 21L]

Comstock won't waste his juice trying to stay fully buffed the whole way, partly because he doesn't want to weigh two-thousand pounds while he traipses across a wet jungle.  Once a major battle starts up, though, he'll turn on:

Density Control (Increase) [+7B/+7L] (total 6 quantum spent) 7X weight!
Molec. Manip. (Second Skin) [+6B/+6L] (1 quantum)
Total Buffed Soak: [40B/34L]; will spend more on Density Control as appropriate.

---

Flare didn't want to do this. Didn't want to be here. War wasn't anything she'd ever wanted to join.  A skirmish to do good, or just to cut loose, she could handle, but no matter what happened today, things would change, the world would likely change.  War, blood bath, battle, these were the short-term. Painful and frightening, yes, but temporary. It was what came after that had her pale and drawn.  Nothing could take back what they would do today, and the eyes of the world were upon them.

She pulled out of her musings at Comstocks okay to light up the rainforest.  Shaking her head and cracking a smile she preps for battle.

"You got it boss-man, though I'll let you deal with the environmentalists screaming that I'm the eco-antichrist."

She could delay destroying the ecosystem for just a bit, however, and stays off the ground and out of the main treeline while lighting up.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
19B, 17L for soak

---

"You got it, Comstock." Gale said in response to the order to find the snipers.  Her voice was serious; she was trying to keep the nervousness out of it.  She was a pro at this by now, right?

With her wind shield to protect her, she located the snipers one by one, and relayed the location back to the baseline troops.  Let them choose how to deal with it.  She wasn't as frustrated as the others that she couldn't touch the baselines, possibly because of her interactions with Peter last night.

Phantasm dodged another sniper round, but avoided bringing up her shield in hopes of conserving energy.  Teammates sent on missions with her have likely noted that she is almost always able to react to even the most unexpected dangers, an ability that is showing itself far more obviously than usual in the current situation.

"Sure thing 'Stock, this isn't my first time out you know."  Phantasm was tired of the distant leader bit.  He was worse with her than the others even, and after the closeness they'd shared during the early days on the team it was especially galling.  What the hell is wrong with him?  Maybe it isn't even me at all, maybe he's in some sort of trouble... I need to talk to him when all this is over, really talk...  Teen egocentrism warred with loving concern, as it occurred to her that Comstock's distance might be for reasons other than some personal problem with her.

As Phantasm idly analyzed her friend's behavior and possible discussions they might have, the rest of her mind was busy going over their current situation: locations of snipers, possible ambush points, the army in front of them, and the most efficient methods of engaging the enemy.

The snipers were well hidden, but Gale was able to pinpoint their locations, and allied troops quickly took them out before they could take a heavy toll on the troops and their vehicles.  The nova defenders were hit several times, but their defenses were too strong for even the high powered rifles to penetrate.

Despite the casualties taken so far, resistance is surprisingly light.  Many of the tactical analysts had expected the Columbians to make a stand right at their border, but they are instead allowing the invaders to move deeper into the country before striking.  Gale and Solitaire, from the air, can see that enemy troops are paralleling the allied forces on either side, and a series of hills up ahead hides a large, encamped enemy force (heavy weapons emplacements, several tanks, a large number of troops).  Everyone can see enemy helicopters in the distance, out of combat range but positioned to quickly engage if needed.  Allied jets are on call, prepared to engage enemy air support, and should likely make short work of the helicopters.

Even those with merely baseline intelligence can understand that the force is walking into an extremely disadvantageous situation.  Rather than meet the invading force on the border, the Columbians have positioned them between a reinforced defensive position and two smaller strike forces.  Now the troops either attack, or wait for air support to dislodge the enemy forces and deal with those waiting in the jungle... The choice is clear.  The Columbian government is notified that their army will be engaged by air support if they refuse to move, and after no response HQ sends out the order for allied troops to hunker down and wait for the explosions to finish.  Bombers are en route to the location, and artillery from waiting gunships is being targeted...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
What do people do?  Any last actions before the enemy troops get pounded into oblivion by superior firepower?  After one more round of posts here, action should get started in earnest.

---

Hovering above the troops, Imp ran through scenarios in his head.  What would the most effective use of novas be?  To eliminate the relatively cheap soldiers, or to destroy the heavy artillery and bombers that would make an untenable tactical position far more manageable.  Perhaps even a brainwashed or leveraged nova suicide run at the battleships, or even teleport in with a ton of explosives, set it, and teleport out."Imp to fliers and HQ, do we have defenses in place that can deter a nova strike against our artillery positions and air support? Also, any contingency plans in place to counter nova teleporter hits on our battleships should be on full alert. Over."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:21, Tue 01 June 2010.

Quentin continued to analyze the intelligence data they recieved, attempting to formulate possible scenarios and tactics. "Most of the artillery should be fine, though the ships should be put on alert, I agree. Without knowing much about the exact abilities their novas possess, it is difficult to formulate countermeasures. 'Expect the unexpected' isn't really very helpful." He looked around at the terrain as he spoke, matching up the information he'd received with actual locations. He patched in a feed from the air units to his headset to monitor their strike as it progressed.

"Accurate, but yes, hardly helpful. Still, that's what makes this job fun right? The excitement." Solitaire said, making one last joke before Bad Things began to happen. She wore her confidence like a shield, and tried to make it a balm for those around her. Victory was not simply assured, but inevitable, after all, she was there.

Solitaire reclined in midair, scanning intently despite her relaxed position. She was fully confident of her ability to stop anything slower than a laser, and even with that she was only gonna give even odds. Still, Solitaire could only be in once place at a time.

   Zero takes the form of an ordinary soldier and mingles with the Baseline troops, hoping to protect them from within their ranks.

Suzukaze holds back from charging in knowing her speed can get her into the battle without a problem. She surveys the area and what is occuring. A purple aura surrounds her briefly.

---

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

22:40, Today: Suzukaze rolled 6 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,8,10,10,9,6,9. force field in columbia.
22:39, Today: Suzukaze failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1. init columbia.

Init: 20after activating enhanced init
DV:8/11 at full speed
Soak with forcefield: 21B 19L

---

Comstock waited.  Like a spring he was winding tighter and tighter with all this anticipation.  He could switch it off, just squeeze a few muscles and close his brain off, but he resisted the urge.

"Fuckit."  Slinging his gun over his shoulder and checking his pack, he started striding forward.  "Sol, Imp ... Team: I'm calling their bluff.  They're free to try and shoot me if they've got a problem."  Taking a deep breath to calm fears of death he didn't realize he still had, Comstock did something irrational and walked toward the Colombian position.  "If anyone asks, I'm just taking a stroll to Bogota.  Over."

At his pace, plodding through mud and undergrowth, everyone would have plenty of time to react before he actually got anywhere.  He didn't intend to fight anyone, either; he just recognized that they couldn't really stop him and that the closer he came to their positions the worse their situation would become.  Let the lawyers figure this one out.

"Roger that, Costock.  Remember to pick up some postcards for that basketball team you're coaching."  Imp grinned, it was stuff like this that made him love the man of titanium.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I needed to note this somewhere, I figured here was the best spot.  T2M:A is at the front of the force, situated throughout the first third of the long allied convoy snaking through the shitty roads leading through the hills and forest.  Forest isn't as dense here as it is to the east, but it is still moderately thick.

---

Impetus' call to the opposing troops seems to have fallen on deaf ears, an unnerving sight for one used to the masses falling in line at his slightest whim.  His own people are motivated however, and any faltering morale is bolstered by the knowledge of their righteous mission.  HQ notes that they "have people" guarding the ships (elites hired for the job? everyone on utopia's side, at least in terms of field operatives, is on the ground...) but that they will certainly maintain alert.  Pax comes through as well: "We've got the back covered, you just make sure that your people can defend the front if things start blowing up... and tell 'the world's strongest man' to be ready with some of that metal control he has, and not to depend on his muscles for this one."

---

Gravitas, spending all his time analyzing the situation, comes to a disturbing conclusion: after accounting for human (and nova) irrationality, terrain, troop placement, environmental factors, weaponry, technology, and a host of other interrelated factors, it is clear there is something out of place.  [Private to Gravitas: They either have more novas than anyone should rightly have, or they are led by an insane and immensely persuasive leader.  The plan is set up in such a manner that it leaves gaping holes in defenses, and fully half the Columbian military is not on site; these positions would need at least 100 novas (of the relatively low power levels anticipated for those artificially erupted) to be tactically sound.  Assuming Quentin trusts his own analysis, this is bad, bad news for the Utopian assualt, which anticipated a maximum of 30 weak novas and a few strong individuals.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Spend a point of quantum on analyze weakness please.  This epiphany comes too late to stop any of the bad stuff about to happen, but does benefit you greatly; you know that the novas revealed in the next few walls of text are not the entirety of the nova forces on hand, probably only half.

---

]

---

Comstock walks for 5 minutes, moving towards the enemy position.  While he isn't fast in nova terms, his strength and stamina allow him to move at a fairly rapid rate for someone on the ground, and he is able to move through any intervening mines or road blocks as though they weren't there.  Finally rounding the first of many bends in the road that passes through the upcoming hilly terrain, he sees an entrenched gunner positioned to his left, halfway up the hill at the start of the next bend in the road, and disguised from casual air patrols (satellite imagery picked up a small structure here, but was unclear as to its nature).  As Comstock moves within range (only about 1500' separates him and the gunner due to the positioning of the hill), the enemy troops become extremely agitated.  One man shouts on a radio, while the man on the guns begins firing into the metal man.  Another man beside him in exactly the same cammo uniform puts his hand on the barrel of the machine gun (the very hot machine gun) as it fires.  A current of energy arcs between and around the stream of bullets cutting into the terrain and pelting Comstock.  The bullets hitting him stung a bit, but when the arc of energy contacted his body, Comstock felt his nerves burning and was nearly knocked over by the force.  Apparently now was the time to armor up, before this supercharged machine gun ripped him apart.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
a picture of a twin machine gun, for flavor.  The position is actually built into the hill, and has an overhang.  It might be able to take a peripheral explosion, though likely not a direct hit.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twin_M2HB_machine_gun.jpg

---

Planes are moved into position, artillery targeted, and radio transmissions note the bombardment is about to commence, right as Comstock meets the first of the enemy resistance.  As the planes move in, the Columbian defensive tactics become clearer as the T2M:A leader's actions seemed to have startled the opposition into an early response.  Before the planes are actually in position, a handful of nova flyers are in the air [Private to Solitaire: (Solitaire counts 6, one is the color of the background sky, making him hard to see)].  Small forcefields (of many varieties, ranging from opaque energy fields to flaming walls and even a cloud of dust; it's actually pretty in a strange sort of way) pop up throughout the enemy troops, and around several of the helicopters and heavy weapons emplacements.

The first of the jets moves through, sent ahead to engage the enemy air support.  Solitaire, Gale, and Flare all clearly see the fighter rip into an enemy helicopter, only to have the majority of it's bullets deflected by the combination of a spinning vortex of air, and the light armor on the vehicle.  As it streaks past, the planes engines suddenly sputter and die; electronics on the plane falter and it goes down without radio contact, with the pilot managing to eject before crashing.  The allied planes keep moving unless ordered off, and artillery begins raining down into the enemy.  There are losses, but far less than there should be due to the nova defenses.  Still, if it hadn't been for Comstock forcing their hand, the enemy would have had an even greater advantage on the allied forces.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Imp, orders?  They will respond to you, as the leader regarding nova engagement.  Gravitas, actions, plans, advice?

---

---

Back with the troops, Zero is happy to note the high spirits of the brave men (and women; drivers and "non-combat" personnel supposedly, but still very much in evidence, and still very much "in combat").  Right up until the enemy starts using their artillery as well.  A great deal of the enemy troops were not in evidence, and intelligence was having an extremely hard time pinpointing the placement and amount of the enemy's heavy artillery (counter intelligence, nova interference, and good old stealth techniques).  Zero knew there would have to be some resistance of course (it didn't survive the civil war and the the mongol hordes expecting otherwise, as the tabloids are all too ready to point out) but it was still surprised by the ferocity of the shelling as it commenced.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Defensive actions from anyone that wants to help would greatly aid the troops, as the full weight of the enemy artillery is focused on the troops (fuck the Geneva conventions protocol, they already are using weapons of mass destruction, otherwise referred to as novas, that are prohibited by international law, so they might as well go all out), since the only things engaging air support are the enemy helicopters, which still haven't actually fired.

---

Zero also notes something... Off about the enemy troops paralleling them in the jungle.  They seem a little too in sync, at least the front of the column does...  [Private to Dr. Zero: They... They are an illusion!  Not all of them, but enough to slightly change the position, throwing off targeting of heavy weapons, and allowing those troops to be elsewhere, like right up on your people.  Zero's quantum senses are beginning to pick up weak node pings coming toward the troops, and his eyes see disturbances in the undergrowth nearby despite there being no visible troops.]

---

Suzukaze's speed allows her to move along the column rapidly, addressing conflict as it comes up.  She observes the fog cloud roll in, obscuring vision and limiting her response ability, and hears gunfire from both the front and back of the column.  She dodges the first of the shelling as it pounds into the ground around her.  Moving to the edge of the column where she has room to move, she is faced with a multitude of paths.  She is a wild card in this fight, stealthy and fast, and with no particular opponent engaging her... But where does she strike for most effect?

---

Phantasm, at the very head of the column, and all of the flyers (Gale, Solitaire, and Flare), are all faced with very difficult choices.  They have more freedom of movement, but who do they help?  A fog bank rolls in in front of them, a chill mist that shouldn't be there.  It blocks line of site.  Moments after, gunfire opens up from within, shooting primarily at Phantasm.  Only her precognitive abilities save her from anti-tank ammunition that rips apart the vehicle she was riding on, as she flips out of it onto the ground nearby.

With the fog bank to shroud their movements, three helicopters break off and move straight towards the T2M:A flyers, firing their guns.  Bullets bounce off of the women in the air, or merely dissolve as they touch Flare's flame shield.  When the begin firing their rockets however, things may go more poorly.

---

HQ begins transmitting to Impetus:
"Enemy engaged at coastline, underwater combat, waiting for more data..."

"Base is under attack from artillery, lighter than expected, Skew moving to convoy guard duty to help repel artillery assaults at your position."

Frostburn:
"Antaeus suggests that toxins may be present in the environment, he feels a disturbance in the local plant life; he has moved to position nearby to prevent the destruction of the forest to the extent that he is able... and he refuses to take part in combat otherwise, don't waste time trying to convince him otherwise."


Thorn:
"[gunfire in the background, and yelling troops]We're getting some action down here, enemy troops moving in on the back of the convoy, more than should be over here.  Firefight along the whole back half of the convoy, Asia team is engaging too.  Several novas, totally unpredictable, blasts of fire, ice, even pebbles...[ripping sound, as earth tearing; scream turns into a gurgle] And apparently stealth novas.  Watch your backs out there.

---

---

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

Did we roll initiative?  Even if we did, please post it at the top of your next post, for my reference, along with updated DV's as per the new post I made.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Also, I know this was a long post, and overdue.  I'm gone over the weekend, so you guys should take a little time, really read over it and get a feel for the situation.  I'll try and break down some of the stuff that you are dealing with to make it all a little less confusing:

Impetus: Taking charge of the situation, deciding how the baseline forces respond to the novas, and coordinating the teams; also defense, since he actually has enough kinetic control to deal with the shelling to some degree.

Suzukaze: You can help virtually anyone, but who do you help, and who do you let down?

Solitaire: Perception, defense, and helicopters coming straight for you are the primary concerns.  Speed makes it possible for her to actually deal with other situations however.

Zero: Defending the troops, and that thing you noticed.

Phantasm: Defending the troops, not dying from a hail of heavy weapons fire that's trying to take you out of the fight before she can be an issue.

Flare: Helicopters, limited visibility, incoming artillery fire... and enemy troops in the jungle.

Gale: Messed up weather, limited visibility, and the helicopters.

Comstock: An entrenched position, an enemy nova that actually managed to hurt you, and the larger fight that you are now separated from.  Go back and help?  Run forward and act?  Choices to be made.[Private to Comstock: do you have movement modes?  Leaper perhaps?  ability to steal a car or something?  I don't want you out of the fight, but this is potentiall an issue if you are stuck right in between action points.  You might have to get... Creative.]

Gravitas: Intellect and power suite gives many options, but threat assessment and prioritization of challenges will be the most difficult thing from a player perspective.

Remember everyone, this may seem like a lot, but you are 100+ xp novas, and you have a lot going for you.  This may not be a winnable scenario (I didn't decide the outcome prior to designing it), but it is salvageable potentially at the very least.  You also have a lot of options.  This will be a long fight, and I will probably try to start some side stuff and more vignettes when i get back so that we have more than just this for the next several weeks.  I will also try to be more frequent in my responses (I think my writing block has broken a bit).

Hopefully this will be interesting, challenging, and most of all, FUN.  If you have any suggestions let me know over in the main thread or via PM.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:06, Fri 04 June 2010.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Almost forgot. Init 19, DV 3

---

Whether by pure deduction or by some node-inspired flash of insight - he is unable to distinguish between the two anymore - Quentin comes to a startling realization. He ran numbers through his head one more time to confirm his revelation before keying his comm unit.

"Gravitas to HQ: Everything points to our original estimates being incorrect. Enemy tactics suggest that they've got more - way more -  novas than our projections indicated. That or their leader is certifiably insane." He took a deep breath, allowing the bad news to sink in for a moment before he got down to specifics; he'd found that often helped people accept the reality of the situation, "If our original estimates regarding the power of the artificial novas is correct, their tactics suggest they have more than three times our maximum estimate of 30; I'd say at least 100, maybe more. That, or the general power of the artificials is considerably higher than we thought."

He pauses for a few minutes as reports get radioed in from other fronts and attacks by nova-supported Columbian troops begin to pour in. He absorbed this information like he did any other, assimilating it into his existing body of knowledge, improving his models and estimates. He keyed his comm unit to broadcast to unit leaders, "All units: Be advised, there are more novas than have currently engaged our forces." He keyed off general broadcast mode on his comm unit and switched back to the encrypted T2M:A frequency. "Gravitas to Comstock: It looks like you forced their hand, big guy. All hell is breaking loose. We're probably going to have more novas inbound - maybe more than we can handle, still working on that."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Fri 04 June 2010.

Comstock went heavy and stood, crushing the ground beneath him.  The extra plating he'd wrapped around himself had probably saved his life, but was torn and scorched; he'd need to take more from the machinery ahead when he was done.

"Bad move!"* Comstock uprooted the largest tree or boulder he could find and charged, using it as a shield.  Covering the open ground was the hard-part.  He just needed to get in reach.  Once he was up to speed and the shots were ringing out again, he hauled back and threw his improvised weapon with all his might.

Gravitas' warnings came in as he moved.  "Copy Gravitas."  It wasn't good news, but at least it was news.


[Private to Rydi: No, Comstock doesn't have extra movement modes.  That was something of the point, actually, something that would continue to frustrate him until he starts sucking down Mercury like Zero suggested and tries to emulate its properties more closely.  He does, however, have a little skill driving.  Creative I can manage.  After all, Comstock's greatest tactical contribution is often just that he is impossible to ignore; unless stopped, he can wreck just about anything.  In a worst case scenario, he'll just use his molecular manip to make himself an enormous set of legs from a tank or something.  That will speed him up a bit.  Assuming he can win the upcoming fight against lord-only-knows what.]

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Init: 7 (if it matters)
DV: 2 (New System)
Soak: rises to [40B/34L], 7 quantum spent

Dex+Athletics to throw huge whatever: two successes.

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
DV=7, Init=22, soak=32 (4+18+2+2+6)

---

Phantasm hits the ground and rolls, springing to her feat almost instantly.  Looking around, she decides that her first priority is getting her defenses up, followed by finding some way to defend the baseline troops behind her.  She shifts her internal organs and bone structure to make herself both more lithe and durable.  Then she focuses on the her anger and indignation at the blatant disregard for life and world peace the Columbians are showing, and imagines that she can almost feel the palpable fear of the troops around her; she takes that emotion and turns it into a glowing, twisting, screaming shield of angry ephemeral faces, coating herself with it.  Finally, she grabs on to the field of energy around her and pulls, drawing on both the fear and anger to create giant solifuges that take on form and solidity as they draw away from her.  The effort falls short however as her concentration is disrupted by yet another hail of bullets aimed strait at her.  All she manages to pull out is a single man sized creature, enough to defend herself for the moment, but not enough to help out any of the troops.


"This is Phantasm, I'm taking more focused fire than I think I've ever gotten before, I'm having trouble concentrating here, and I can't see through this fog to take out the people shooting at me!"  The strain of constantly dodging and trying to activate all her abilities at once is clear in her voice, but she doesn't seem panicked.

---

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

Activate Multi-tasking, shape shift, forcefield, and q.construct, for a grand total of 9 spent this round.

6 successes on Shape shift [2 str, 2 dex, 2 armor]
You rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((3,5,5,7,10,2,4,7,9,7))
You rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9)).

4 Successes on sheild = +18 soak
You rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((9,2,3,8,4,3,7)).

1 successes on q.construct, this blows
You rolled 1 success using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 ((1,1,4,2,5,9,4)).

---

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
init 20, dv 5, soak 21B 19L

---

Suzukaze races to Phantasm's position. In a blur she appears in between Tasm and the hail of bullets her swords drawn and swinging madly in an attempt to cut down the bullets. Any getting past her blades she makes no attempt to dodge leaving it up to her force field to shield her and herself to shield Tasm.

Imp processed the information coming in, scores of enemy novas embedded with the troops, huge amounts of firepower and artillery.  This was going to be messy.  He cued his headset and began firing off orders.
"Impetus to attack aircraft, keep your distance from enemy air units, use missiles at range and peel off from attack no less than 300 meters from targets.  Over."
"Impetus to ground forces.  Concentrate fire on enemy targets, maintain defensive positions. Over."
"Impetus to T2M, stick together, don't run off alone.  We've got scores of enemy novas out there, focus on one target, then move onto the next.  Use of deadly force is authorized.  The enemy combatants have embedded themselves with baseline combatants, this makes any and all enemy units on the field a potential threat, take nothing lightly.  Concentrate on the novas guarding the heavy weapons and air units. Over."
"Impetus to Frostburn, be advised to have medical staff move to readiness state alpha, we're going to have heavy casualties, nova and baseline alike.Over"
"Impetus to Comstock, once you've dealt with that machine gun get back to the rest of the troops, signal if you're in danger and I'll get Grav to get you out of there."
He hung in the air above the ground units and below the other fliers, scanning the battlefield, This was going to be worse than the Equatorial Wars ever were.

---

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

Init: 15
Dv: 7
Soak: 11b/8l

---

This message was last edited by the player at 00:53, Mon 07 June 2010.

Zero tries to focus it's strange, enhanced Quantum senses to figure out the location and power of at least one of the hidden Novas.

After trying to learn more about it's query, Zero opens fire unceremoniously on the hidden soldiers.

---

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

Zero activates Quickness, Medical Prodigy. Ebony Aura & Q-Attunement is already activated.

Enhanced Quantum Attunement:  7 Successes
20:49, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,3,10,5,5,5,10,9. Medical Prodigy, 3 Mega.

20:55, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,1. Reroll, Ingenius Quality, 1 meg.

Medicine/Q-Attunement: 7 successes
20:58, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 7 successes using 18d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,7,7,5,5,1,6,5,9,1,5,7,6,7,2,8,10,3. Medical/Q-Attune, 1 Meg.
20:59, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1. Reroll, Observant Quality.

Quickness Action: Shoot at hidden enemy: 9 successes
21:02, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 5 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,2,7,1,9,7,8,6,4,5,1. Shooting Invisible Guys .
21:02, 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, Mega.

I'll look up the gun rules in a sec to strife them.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 01:05, Tue 08 June 2010.

Gale's shield seemed to be protecting her from the helicopters well enough, she'd worry about the higher fire power in a second.  She wasn't allowed to attack them anyway; at least, that's what she'd been told.  Right now, she'd just been informed that there were a lot more novas than they expected.  And she doubted that these novas were going to play by the same rules.

Her first priority was protecting the troops on the ground, and with all this fog, nobody was going to be able to see anything.  She concentrated on her own affinity with the air, and summoned a wind to get rid of the fog, trying to shove it back onto their enemies, if not disperse it entirely.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Spending 3Q to increase wind in the area.  Total 22/28
22:32, Today: Gale rolled 3 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,5,5,6,5,10,5,7,4. Get rid of fog.

DV: 6

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This message was last edited by the GM at 15:35, Tue 08 June 2010.

Round 1

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

I rolled initiative for a few people I couldn't find it for.  Sol is still ? because of enhancements available to her.
Phantasm: Init 22, DV 7
Suzukaze: Init 20, DV 6 (9 w/Hypermovement)
Zero: Init 19, DV 5
Gravitas: Init 19, DV 3 (talking)
Flare: Init 19, DV 5
Impetus: Init 15, Dv 7
Gale: Init 13, DV 6
Comstock: Init 7, DV 2 (stone toss)
Solitaire: Init ?, DV 3 (6 w/Hypermovement)

Please keep track of Quantum expenditures in this fight (a running tally in your spoiler box would be useful), it will be a long one and may actually matter for once.

---

I22:
As the battlefield breaks into chaos, Phantasm attempts to create cover for the troops, only to be distracted by massed fire on her position.

I20:
Suzukaze appears near her teammate, bullets flying off her purple forcefield as she searches for a target for her blades through the fog.
[Private to Suzukaze: with blindfighting and quickness activated for 2q, you could actually attack the people shooting at you if you want to.  Just let me know and describe the action if you are interested.]

I19:
Zero scans the area, seeking out quantum signatures and identifying their patterns.  He sees 3 in the bushes, and identifies them as low level novas, all three with enhanced physique and stealth skills, one with the ability to cloak others as well.

Gravitas relays information to the allied forces, warning that there are likely many more novas than initially accounted for.
[Private to Gravitas: you want to do anything else?]

Flare flies into the jungle where the line of enemy troops are, and unleashes a hellish storm of flames, incinerating everything around her in a 50m radius.

I17:
Zero strafes what appears to be thin air with its firearm, and suddenly the air fills with screams of wounded men, the Doctor's bullets apparently hitting something.  After firing he gets the creepy feeling he is being watched, as though someone were literally right behind him, ready to pounce...

I15:
Impetus issues orders to the allied forces, and prepares for combat.  With sudden realization of both his very imminent danger, and of his own capabilities, the air around him stills, the kinetic energy shunted aside.

Zero gets the feeling it should dodge left.  Always one to obey it's instincts, the Doctor feels something move by.

I13:
Gale attempts to forcibly clear the fog shrouding the battle, summoning a wind to push it away.  As a gust cuts through the area, the battlefield is revealed.  At the front of the column 5 tanks are clearly visible.  How they appeared there in such short time is unknown.  The heavy weaponry is still orienting, with those at the front firing into Phantasm and Suzukaze, while the others have yet to fire.

With visibility clear, the other teams can now fight the troops attacking them more effectively, and target some of the novas among their ranks.  The planes are able to better avoid the enemy novas as well.

I12:
Flying novas move to intercept the T2M:A flyers, 1 toward Solitaire, 2 towards Gale, and 2 towards Flare. They are attacking with guns, quantum blasts, claws, and knives, as is most convenient to the situation. [Private to Solitaire: The extra nova you spotted in the previous post is moving in on Gale]

The one on Solitaire breaks off at the last second, moving to Flare instead.

Gale manages to easily out fly her attackers.  Thinking she has avoided the novas for the moment, she is shocked to feel something sharp painfully pierce her side, inches from her spine.  What had hit her?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
2dmg after soak.

---

Flare manages to dodge all but one of her attackers, and that one hits her only to have his bullets melt in her fire shield, spattering her eufiber with molten metal that never touches her skin.

I11:
Solitaire suddenly shoots toward Gale, frightening the nova flyer that veered off before Solitaire rockets past her, ignoring her completely, and striking at something only she can see.  Solitaire feels bone grind and flesh tear as she actually rips through the hidden nova assaulting her teammate.  The nova becomes visible as he falls from the sky, his right side missing, eufiber uniform in tatters on that side of his body.  Gale feels the impact, and then sees the bloody mess of a man fall.  Apparently these novas are less... durable and versatile than the average nova.

I10:
The enemy troops act, attacking in earnest. The 2 front most tanks ahead of the column of allied forces open fire.  Their canons aim at Phantasm and Suzukaze, while their automatic weapons change targets, firing at the baseline troops.  The two women are a blur, barely dodging the shots aimed at them despite the assistance of computer targeting systems on the tanks.  The baseline troops are not so fortunate however, and the front of the convoy is ripped apart in a hail of automatic fire.  The 3 tanks in back begin firing in front of them, and will be in position to better aim in only a few moments.

Jets in the air head Impetus' warning, and switch to missile fire to take out the helicopters.  They manage to destroy 1, but 2 more planes are destroyed as the pilot of one helicopter throws up his hands, a look of strain on his face, and a pulse of energy detonates the missile right as it is being fired.  Debris from the first jet destroys the second, which was in a tight formation with it.

Enemy ground forces in the back are engaging the troops, and far more are positioned there than should be, giving them a decided advantage.  A small force of invisible men are attacking the front-west side of the convoy, away from the kill zone in front of the tanks.  Only the bullets hitting the shocked allied troops warn of the attackers' presence.

The helicopters target the T2M:A flyers with their guns, only to miss or have their bullets deflected by the powerful shields of the novas.  They move in closer in hopes of getting better shots.

I7:
Comstock hefts a giant piece of the rocky hills, throwing it at the hardened structure, crushing it.  The soldier is buried and likely dead, but the nova manages to dodge aside, pulling a firearm as he goes.

I?:
Solitaire acts.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
as always, let me know if I miss anything.  Those with quickness actions or who haven't acted please go.  I will accept the next round of actions now; if you haven't taken your first action, post that, then I'll update this post, then please post your second round actions. I will give overview posts of the battle every couple of rounds as well as tick by tick initiative.  Any questions or concerns?

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This message was last edited by the GM at 15:58, Wed 16 June 2010.

Gale spins to try and see where the attack came from, at the same time, reaching back to find out what it was that made it past her wind shield.  Even bullets had been blocked by it, so the fact that something made it through bothered her.

She probably wouldn't have that long to examine whatever it was before she'd have to worry about the helicopters.  Just long enough to develop an instinct for the object and where ever it had come from.

Her maneuverability would make her able to avoid the helicopters until she, Flare, and Sol figured out a real plan of attack.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Quantum 22/28

---

Charging onward, Comstock made straight for the enemy nova.  He covered the distance at a sprint, tearing the landscape up behind him with thunderous footfalls.  He knew he'd need to weather whatever the nova sent his way, but figured the gun on his back wouldn't do more than annoy the other nova.  He could cover 500 meters in about 50 seconds ... he just needed another minute.

"Copy Imp!" he shouted between breaths.  "P, hang in there!"  Letting someone with this sort of firepower get away could mean the death of anyone softer.

tick 15
Imp focused, felt the energies gathering within him, and felt an odd resonance.  He'd always noticed that the air around him grew a bit colder when he used TK or when he flew, he sapped the momentum of the molecules around him for energy apparently, but what if he wasn't just sapping the molecules around him as a side effect, what if he made that his priority?  He channeled the energy blazing through him into a self perpetuating arc around his body and sensed a shield of pure force ripple around himself, fluctuate a bit, then hold steady.  Feeling much more secure, and bullet proof, he flashed down towards the newly visible tanks that were aiming their cannons at P and Sue, then reached out and in a remarkable display of quantum control and coordinated energy streams, picked them up and hurled them en mass towards the enemy troops.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Soak is now 26B/23L.  TK roll netted enough sux for 200,000kg, which should just get all 5 tanks.
DV: Now that I'm in motion and all hypermoved up will be 9.
Quantum Remaining: 22. 

---

[Private to GM: If you want the tank flippin to happen in round 2, that's cool, if it happens in round 1 you may need to retcon some stuff, but is even cooler (and totally up to you of course).  the tank weights I mentioned in the PM were in something called short tons, which are units of 2000lbs instead of 1000kg regular tons ( making them roughly 10% lighter). This means that 5 of them would be around 193,000kg.  Ish.  Which means I could affect all 5 of em. Hopefully. Again, totally up to you.]
This message was last edited by the player at 12:29, Thu 10 June 2010.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Init 23, 1 Q spent for Enhanced Initiative. Acting after attack on gale, due to not being around at the start of the fight.
Soak, 18/13
DV: 6 in flight

---

Solitaire watched the enemy nova's approaching, 2 to 1 were not good odds, but she wasn't overly concerned. These things weren't Novas, they were the corruption of that ideal, one might possibly classify them as true Aberrants, for they were unnatural. It was sad, really, and pointless. So many of them were going to die today, and all for masters unworthy of service...

Solitaire realized she had spaced out for a few moments when she heard Gale hiss in pain nearby, cursing, she spun, locking her gaze on the nigh-invisible one she had spotted a few moments ago. It was about to have a very unpleasant meeting with her fist. It couldn't outrun her, and the target your couldn't see was the most dangerous, it was a priority.

As she shot past, Solitaire shouted at gale, "Invisible, I'll get it, watch your back."

---

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

09:38, Today: Solitaire rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7. Reroll.
09:38, Today: Solitaire rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,10,2,3,3,2,2,8,5. On the mostly invis one.

3 Sux

---

This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Thu 10 June 2010.

This message was deleted by the player at 00:48, Fri 11 June 2010.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I19, DV5, 19B, 17L, 21/30Q left and 5W

---

Tanks and Novas and massive troops, this could get very heavy very fast.

"Okay, I am going to go for strafing the enemy, if people can draw a bit of the land to air fire, I'd appreciate it.  Remember, Comstock, you did say lighting the place up was okay."

Flying further into enemy and away from where her own party are engaged (and catching some tanks if Imp somehow didn't get them all) Flare unleashes a firestorm.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Flare rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,2,3,1,5,4,10,9,3,8,1 To set off the fire storm.  It does 10L to everything in the area (fire) reduces opponents dice pool by two, and halves movement.  It basically levels everything in a 50m range.  I am attempting to fly far enough into enemy lines to avoid catching any troops, and if needed I would burn some extra quantum to lessen the size of the blaze.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Fri 11 June 2010.

Zero first tries to focus it's strange Quantum awareness to "see" it's invisible attackers. If successful, the Doctor will "blink" behind the Nova with the ability to make others invisible and attack in a fury of blows.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Quickness, enhanced Quantum Attunement, and Precision Enhancements are in effect, with Event Horizon Power.

Quantum Attunement is being used to neutralize the invisibility of Zero's enemies by using an awareness roll. (Aberrant Core pg 164)

Awareness Roll: 3 successes
17:53, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,9,7,4,1,2,4,5,9,3,5. Awareness Roll, 1 Mega.

Event Horizon: 4 successes
17:44, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,7,8,3,5,5,5,1,3. event horrizon, 3 meg.

Combat Teleport behind enemy invisibility granting Nova: 4 successes
18:25, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,6,3,5,9,4,7. Combat Teleport, 1 Meg.

Attack 1: 12 successes (Meg is a 10) - 2 Blindness Penalty if Awareness Roll failed.

18:29, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 8 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,7,6,9,7,8,7,8,6,2,5,10,2. Zero PUNCH! 1 Meg+2 Rear Accuracy Bonus.
18:30, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,7. Dexterity Reroll, Agile Quality.

If successful:
Damage Roll 1: 2 successes + 5 Mega Strength + X extra attack successes.

18:36, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,9,5,5,1. Damage Roll 1.

Attack 2 (Quickness 1): 7 successes (Meg is a 10) - 2 Blindness Penalty if Awareness Roll failed.

18:34, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 7 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,9,8,10,9,4,5,10,9,2,9,1,5. Zero PUNCH! 1 Meg+2 Rear Accuracy Bonus.
18:34, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,2. Reroll, Agil Quality.

If successful:
Damage Roll 2: 3 successes + 5 Mega Strength + X extra attack successes.
18:36, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 9,10,6,5,9. Damage Roll 2.

---

Phantasm looks around, rapidly assessing the situation as she dodged the heavy weapons fire.  She sends her creation to leap onto several soldiers in the nearby jungle; hopefully they would kill each other trying to shoot it.

"Thanks for the help 'Kaze!  We need to do something to protect these troops, the tanks and the enemy soldiers in the jungle are both a problem... I'm going try and get some cover up, you do what you do, rip some things apart!"

---

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

15q spent

Quantum Construct again, +1 diff and x2 quantum.  Won't pay maintenance on the first one when it becomes necessary.  Spending 1w on the roll.

9 successes after difficulty, spent to create 32 giant-sized plant abominations (that are 4x the size of a human, 12 hurt health levels, 1 mega str, 4 str/stamina, +1 soak; 4 spent on size, 5 spent doubling).
17:24, Today: Phantasm rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7.
17:24, Today: Phantasm rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10.
17:24, Today: Phantasm rolled 5 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,4,3,7,10,5,5,9,9.

---

Phantasm's shield undulates, hands groping outward, faces separating themselves then shooting out towards the trees on either side of the road, trailing streamers of rapidly growing green vine/tentacle/webs that move and grope at the surrounding environment.  The constructs lash themselves to the trees, creating cover between the tanks and the troops, as well as a canopy to protect from artillery fire.  When the enemy moves too close to the constructs, they are pulled into the thorny tentacle vines, ripped apart, and their remains ground into a red paste that drips from the trees to the ground below.  At the center of each web of vines, a malevolent face stares out, eyes glowing a brighter green than the surrounding phantasmal vines.

Solitaire watched the man fall for a few seconds, then glanced down at her hand.

The hand that had just killed someone.

She watched the blood run down her arm, mental processes grinding to a halt. She hadn't ever actually killed someone before. At least, not directly, not that she knew of, not face to face. There might have been a few casualties to collateral damage, but it had never been with her own hands. Solitaire had prided herself on the fact, all her non-lethal takedowns, broken bones and bruses.

But she'd killed this one.

He was a nova (sort of), she hadn't held back, and he'd just stabbed Gale, but... But... As Solitaire watched him fall, she felt something inside her die with him. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it had been important, to her, if nobody else. And she mourned its loss.

Eyes hardening, Solitaire clenched her fist and looked back at the others. There was work to be done. For some to live, others must die, this was a basic truth, and if people were to die today, it would not be her friends.

Gale was wounded, so Solitaire moved to support her, flashing up next to one of the Aberrants and spinning to add momentum before lashing out with with a booted foot.

---

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

16:59, Today: Solitaire rolled 9 successes using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,10,8,10,1,5,1,9,2,3. Spin-Kick to the face.

Kersplat
My goodness that is satisfying.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 00:02, Tue 15 June 2010.

Suzukaze looks to Phantasm and gives a slight nod of the head. She then crouches on the ground holding one blade on the ground the other behind her. She closes her eyes reaching out with her senses. She try's to locate as many of the enemy as possible nova or human.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Dice hate me.. Let me know if I should make multiple rolls for different targets. If I fail expect the same next action...

21:06, Today: Suzukaze rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,7,1,9,2,6,1. Blindfighting in Columbia.

---

Round 2

I22:
Phantasm covers the terrain around the troops in monstrous webbing to provide defense.

I20:
Suzukaze lets her senses stretch out to take in the area, spotting several enemy troops positioned in cover off the road.  More snipers likely.
[Private to Suzukaze: you don't have to take an action to try and perceive once blindfighting is active.  Also the fog is gone, so the primary source of your vision problems is also gone, though since there are other hidden targets around, it is probably good to have the enhancement up anyway.  Did you want to take a quickness action this round, and/or add more to this one?]

I19:
Zero's vision tunnels as it focuses on the nova emitting the stealth field... And then it disappears, leaving its former attacker still invisible, but rather confused and with no targets except baseline troops.  The Doctor appears behind enemy lines, right beside its target, and lashes out with a blindingly fast strike, cutting through the nova's defenses and eufiber to leave her unconscious and bleeding.  The stealth field lifts, revealing the rest of the enemy troops, and two more novas running at the good Doctor.

Gravitas selectively shifts the gravity in the area of Zero and the ambushing enemy troops, pulling down on the enemies while leaving allies unaffected.

Flare acts... And sees the charred bodies of human soldiers still twitching nearby.  Two novas are still alive, and burning, as they fly towards her.
[Private to Flare: school burning flashback, as well as the strong urge to shut down your firestorm (conditioning recieved from Utopia training), you can spend a willpower to resist.]

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The novas following her didn't pull up in time to avoid the firestorm last round.

---

I17:
Zero punches another of the enemy novas in the face as it weaves through the surrounding gunfire.  The nova, this one a rough looking older man in his late 40's, looks quite dazed, but isn't out of the fight just yet.

I15:
Impetus, in a display of raw Quantum power, shows the world why novas-as-weapons are a terrifying prospect.  All 5 of the tanks in front of the column of allied troops lift into the air as the ground under them is ripped upward.  The sound of grinding metal fills the air as the tanks land again, all of them overturned, and most of them inoperable.  Enemy and ally alike take a moment to marvel at the show of force.
[Private to Impetus: technically you had to lift the ground under them or face multiple target penalties.  Figured you'd prefer to hit them all, so I made the minor change. ]

Troops begin dying at Zero's former coordinates, for no apparent reason.

I13:
Gale is frozen in shock as she deals with the piercing pain in her back...  She also feels just a little more clumsy in the air, and feels her control over the winds slipping...

[Private to Gale: Mox in your system from the attack.  Your quantum abilities are at +2 diff now.  Adrenocilin will counteract the effects of Mox, if you can get to a medic.]

Solitaire pauses a moment in shock after she takes out the invisible nova that hit Gale, but quickly recovers, spinning to kick another of the flyers in the face.  The energy crackling around his hands fades slowly as his headless corpse falls to the ground far below.

I12:
Only 2 of the nova flyers initially attacking the T2M:A flyers remain in the vicinity, one a woman that shoots lasers and has an aura of light around her, the other a burly man in body armor wielding a minigun.  They both watch in horror as their comrades are brutally killed in front of them, despite their quantum power.  The woman bolts, retreating to the helicopters (which are keeping their distance), while the man begins shooting, pouring rounds into the general area, missing both Gale and Solitaire.

The helicopters open fire again.  Gale barely dodges another burst of automatic fire, while Solitaire is not so fortunate in her attempts to dodge a missile.  The weapon hits her in the back as she comes out of her kick...
[Private to Solitaire: did you want to activate absorption?  Reduce your damage, as well as protecting Gale from the blast radius. Also gives you a nice mid fight att boost.  Just let me know.  Also, descriptive text had you staying in place to eliminate the other novas around Gale; that's the only reason you got hit, as otherwise your dv would have been too high.  Not that it will likely matter, your soak lets you eat missiles. ]

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
waiting on response before calculating any damage or mentioning blast radius.

---

The novas attacking Flare continue through the firestorm, momentum carrying them toward her.  One attempts to slam into her, but misses by several feet, slamming into the ground instead, and rolling into the trunk of a large tree; he moves groggily to his knees.  The other manages to tackle her, wrapping his eufiber covered arms around her burning body as he averts his face and tries to crush the life out of her.  While she cannot move, his hold hasn't yet managed to injure her... He, on the other hand, has burns on every exposed bit of flesh.

I10:
The enemy troops act.  Those in the tanks begin frantically trying to make any of their vehicles work.  The convoy is still being shelled, but the monstrous vines prevent most of the damage, at least in the front.  The enemy troops (now visible thanks to Zero) attacking the front of the allied convoy move up to finish off those remaining, though many are eaten by the glowing vines before they can engage.  Suzukaze will be deep in enemy combatants soon, though she easily dodges their attacks.

Jets are holding off from further attacks, due to difficulty hitting anything, and their already heavy losses, as well as the need to engage columbian fighters moving onto the scene.

I7:
Comstock charges at the nova gunner.  The nova, a look of terror on his face, turns and runs, heading for a jeep hidden in the bushes around the hill.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:21, Sat 26 June 2010.

Gravitas looked at the troops on the ground, the helicopters and the now-overturned tanks. There were a few novas among the enemy, but he knew there were more. There had to be. The big question was really how to draw them out. Presumably they had them set up in waves - and one of their goals would be to try to tire out the various Utopia novas before they joined the fray. Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of simply waiting for further enemy reinforcements to show themselves, there was a more immediate need for action.

Gesturing toward the two enemy novas near Zero and the other troops that had just appeared, Gravitas commanded the earth under them to pull harder on those above it. He exempted his allies from this heightened attraction. Others in the area were not so fortune as they felt their own weight rapidly multiplying.

"Once the novas have been neutralized," he advised nearby soldiers, "secure the others."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Gravitas rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,3,4,7,9,6,6,7,4,7,7. Wits+Gravity, 2 Mega.
This is actually 7 successes. This is sufficient to increase gravity by a factor of 3.5. A 200lbs soldier becomes 700lbs. Mechanically, they lose some amount of Str and Dex and any fliers in the area get to make a roll to stay airborne. This affects an area with a 27m radius (roughly an area about 60 yards across) up to 45m away from Gravitas, who will move closer if need be. The power allows you to freely determine who is and is not affected, so allies of all sorts are excluded from the effect. Gravitas's intent to primarily to affect enemy novas, but to also snag as many baseline combatants as he can in the process.

3q cost, along with putting up shields at the beginning of combat puts me at 17/30q. Gravitas will be denying all requests for transport during the combat in order to preserve his power for other tasks.

---

Imp nodded in satisfaction, 5 tanks out of the fight, P and Sue turned loose upon much softer things.  He let his momentum carry him back up a hundred meters or so and surveyed the battlefield.  T2M seemed to have the situation under control, but he feared that this first wave was simply meant to soften them up and make then use resources faster than they could recharge.
"Imp to all teams, keep those status reports coming, if you need backup, let me know.  Don't blow your load right away everybody, this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint."  His gaze caught Comstock juggernauting off into the jungle.  "Comstock, this is Impetus, do you need assistance? Over."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Fri 18 June 2010.

Short on time and determined not to let the bastard get away, Comstock charged the jeep.  He did not slow down, instead powering on without a care to personal protection.

If he reaches the jeep before it pulls away:
Comstock slammed into the jeep like a wrecking ball, flipping it over like a cheap table and tossing out the passengers and all its cargo.  Rather than wait for the jeep to fall to earth normally, he shifted his grip on the metal frame and slammed the vehicle back down to earth directly upon the passengers.  The speed and force of the impact caused the gas-tank to spontaneously detonate, bathing the wreckage in flame.

As he watched the wreckage for survivors, he flicked on his comms.  "Impetus, this is Comstock: everything is under control here.  Over."



If the jeep gets away before Comstock can knock it over or destroy it:
"Damn!"  As the jeep accelerated away, Comstock drew the carbine off of his back and fired, aiming for the vehicles tires.  Rubber bullets would be hard pressed to bring it down.  Mechanically, he spoke into his comms.  "Impetus, this is Comstock: engaging high impact target.  Will return once target neutralized."  The deafening rapport of rifle fire probably made his message difficult to understand, but this was acceptable.

Previous Action:  Gale hovers in the air, letting the idea of the injury sink in.  She hadn't really been hurt up until this point, the winds whipping around her were sufficient protection.  Then again, she hadn't been in a conflict like this before. She barely registered Sol's warning about invisible novas before the faster woman took off, taking care of the opponent.  Invisible flyers?  Great. was all she could think.  She shouldn't have been surprised, it was bound to happen eventually.

This Action:  The winged woman gaped as she saw her wind shield sputter in and out of existence.  Despite her concentration, she was having problems holding it together.  And flying, which had always come naturally to her, suddenly required thought to maintain it.  For a moment, she panicked.  What was going on?

Then an expression of realization and instantly, she was relaying the message to others.  "Everyone, they're using Mox in their attacks.  Watch out for stealth novas especially."  She had to admit, that was a devious idea.  Now, not only were they getting ganged up on, but the other guys were going to try to bring them down with drugs.

She didn't have time to contemplate it much more, before there was a fresh round of attacks.  After the first barrage from the man with the mini-gun, she dove in, and attempted to pull together one of her spikey wind balls.

---

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

Elemental Anima Lethal Blast (4Q)
17:13, Today: Gale rolled 4 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,10,3,2,5,9,3,1,4,1,6. Lethal Blast Columbia. (3 mega)
Damage: 8 levels + 17:15, Today: Gale rolled 3 successes using 6d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,10,3,4,7,8. Damage for Lethal Blast.
Quantum 18/28

---

(Delayed round 2 post)

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I19, DV5, B19/L17, 18Q 4W

---

Flare is frozen for a moment at the destruction she'd unleashed. The memories of her eruption, which involved mostly property damage, are now overlayed with the smell of charred flesh and the screams of the slowly incinerating.

[Private to Rydi: I spend the will to keep on burning things]

Seeing that two people (slightly crisped) are still on her tail, Flare does a loop in the air and lashes out with a wave of fire.

"Just give up now. It will hurt less in the long run."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
One of the two pursuers are hit with a Lethal Blast
Flare rolled 6 successes using 13d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 7,5,10,7,7,4,10,1,2,3,7,3,5 Actually 9sux with megadex 3
And Flare rolled 7 successes using 20d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,3,2,2,9,3,3,10,4,1,2,8,6,10,3,9,4,8,4,8. Lethal blast In summary 9 to hit and 7L in damage.

---

Round 3

"They're using MOX?! Damnit all..." Phantasm shouts to herself and anyone near as she scans the area for anything threatening.  With the tanks out of commission the battle was much safer for their side, at least for the moment, but the thought of invisible novas with mox... The thought was frightening.

Phantasm pulled her constructs in, tightening the perimeter and easing some of the frontward defensive barrier to fill in gaps elsewhere.
Phantasm to the team, I'm going to be busy maintaining our defenses.  I've got the juice to do other stuff if you need, but I'd prefer to conserve it.  Phantasm out.

Switching her headset over to a private channel with Comstock, she updates him on the situation.
We're fine over here, Imp took out the tanks.  But we're playing almost totally defensive right now except for Zero and 'Kaze... And Flare, who burnt out a contingent of troops... That's gonna be great on the news... And... I'm scared, they have mox too, and a lot more novas than us...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Quantum Construct is not specific in whether one must concentrate on the creations to make them go about their business, but I assume you would, especially for complex stuff like making them choose between friend and foe.  And they have a "sentience" add-on, which I didn't activate in hopes of getting more critters.  So for the time being Phantasm will be maintaining her constructs and directing them; any other necessary actions will occur with Quickness, but for the meantime she will conserve energy.  And surrounded by constructs she doesn't have to face the mox users, or her phobia-powerlessness.

---

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I19, DV5, 19B/17L, 17Q, 4W

---

Round 3
The breath is whooshed from Flare’s lungs as she is tackled in mid air by another flying Nova.

 “Let go ::gasp:: you bulky moron!” 

 It was time to crispy this critter.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
pumping and extra quantum into the fire shield, so it will do damage, 10L, to the grabby jerk.

---

Flare spins in mid air and attempts to use her rather pitiful brawling skills to break the hold on her.  She is a bit too squishy for hand-to-hand combat.

She somehow remembers to check in with the boss in the midst of her struggles.

"Flare here Comstock, a bit of trouble with one flier, but I think I've got it handled." She thought about taking time out to apologise for the massive damage to the terrain and opposing troops, but figured that could be done publically later, assuming they survived.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Flare rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 8,6,4,2,3,1. Break hold with meg str 1. Since the first die is megastr it should be 2 sux

---

This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Mon 21 June 2010.

Gravitas concentrated on maintaining his gravity field while the affected enemies were being mopped up. When the report came in that they were using mox as a weapon, his mind began to race again. Certainly stealthy attacks with the drug would be some of the most effective. He was carrying a limited supply of adrenocilin, but it probably wouldn't be enough for everyone. "Gravitas to HQ, we're going to need adrenocilin distributed to T2M novas for use as a counter to mox-based attacks. Please reiterate to everyone that adrenocilin can be addictive if used to often, so it should only be taken as a counter agent to mox."

He flipped his comm unit back to the T2M:A frequency, "Gale, I have some of the antidote with me if you're able to disengage long enough to rendezvous, unfortunately I'm a little tied up at the moment."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:01, Tue 22 June 2010.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC: confirmed in PM, I got the jeep!  Also, purely cosmetic description of his power usage here since second-skin was already active.  I just wanted to chew some scenery. ;)

---

As Comstock watched the nova slowly crawl out of the burning wreckage, he found the remains of the smashed engine-block and spoke to it in his way.  It adhered to his skin, spread itself out and hardened, blotches of oil and gasoline seeping to the surface of his skin to catch aflame themselves.  His armor repaired, his attentions returned to the human cannon that had hurt him earlier.  "Under international law and UN edict ... something ... you are under arrest.  Surrender peaceably.  Or not."*

He was distracted.  The word coming over his headset wasn't good.  His team would be fine.  They were the best fighters in the world.  The more rational course of action would be to continue down the road, force the Colombians to respond to his advance.  They would have to abandon their ambush.  Furthermore, only he could safely disarm the variety of death-traps ahead.

Suddenly he realized he was clenching his brain shut.  Little 'sis was scared.  Gale and Flare didn't have any sort of experience with this.  They needed him.  "Team, this is Comstock!  I'm on my way back!  Just hold on!"  Picking up the wounded nova and trying not to think about whether there might have been another human being that he inadvertently liquefied using his whole strength on the jeep, he twisted part of the jeep's steel frame around the nova's arms, hoisted him like a bag of potatoes and started running back as fast as he could.  "Don't make a scene and don't make me choke you out."

Round 3

Reports

Operations:
A calm, dulcet voice reports battle status from Utopia HQ.
Home base is still taking only light attacks.  Skew will reach convoy in 30 seconds.
Combat on the shoreline is intense, ships are retreating from position.  Multiple enemy novas killed in water.
Enemy troops appear to be retreating; tactical think-tank suggests following them rather than allowing them to escape.
Enemy artillery is positioned in the valley north and east of your position, and should be viewed as a primary target.
The commander of the military is requesting a conference with the field commander... Patching him through now.

Allied Forces Military Command:
What is likely a communications officer begins the conversation, but is quickly replaced by the voice of an older man, yelling into the mic.
What the hell is going on out there?! We've lost 2 planes and hundreds of troops in seconds!  And the ships... Your artillery support is going to be light, the ships have to move out, one is on the verge of sinking as is.  All you've got from us is air support, and the troops you've already got.  Tell us what you need, and what we can do...

Frostburn:
We already have some adrenocilin on sight, we'll get it moved to your position.  Also, Antaeus is throwing a fit about the forest being on fire, and acting erratic... I don't know what he's going to do, but he may take some sort of action soon.  Watch out.

Thorn:
The enemy is retreating back here.  We got two of their novas, and injured at least a dozen of them, but then everyone ran off.  Whole damned area went dark for about 10 seconds, long enough for 'em to get into the forest... I'm ordering my team to stay put, haring off into the jungle like that is invitation to fall into whatever traps they have waiting.

---

Actions
I22:
Phantasm concentrates on controlling her creations, pulling them in tighter, and adjusting their position to provide the best defense.

I20:
Suzukaze acts.
A large unit of troops is moving in, firing at 'Kaze and Phantasm, who are all that is left of the allied forces at the very front of the convoy.
[Private to Suzukaze: aside from the approaching troops, you detected several invisible or camouflaged enemies in the surrounding area.  The most important to note are the nova ripping into the baseline troops at Zero's old coordinates (before teleport), and the group of 5 troops approaching 'Kaze and Phantasm under the cover of some sort of Holo field that prevents them from being seen, much akin to the invisibility used in the film Predator.]

I19:
Zero acts
The gravity in the vicinity has weighed down all of the enemy troops around Zero, making it painfully easy to immobilize them.

Gravitas declares that he has adrenocilin, though he is busy maintaining the artificial gravity around Zero, and thus cannot move from the area himself.  He also reports to base that supplies of Adrenocilin are needed.

---

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

---

The allied soldiers' commander nearby nods at Gravitas' orders to deal with the enemy soldiers, and waits as Zero finishes off the novas.

Flare's flame shield intensifies, engulfing her opponent.  The man's flesh bubbles and he convulses, his skin sticking to Flare's eufiber suit as he clings to her.  In death his grip slowly loosens as muscle and tendon are eaten away in the intense heat, and empty eysockets stare up at the young nova from where the attacker fell to the ground.
[Private to Flare: Also, death by flame isn't something most people are used to seeing every day... Also, your programming is kicking in harder.]

I17:
Zero Quickness?

I15:
Impetus acts,
And transmits to Comstock

Troops continue dying at Zero's former coordinates, for no apparent reason.

I13:
Gale hurls solidified air at the nova with the minigun.
If it weren't for the clumsiness of her target, she wouldn't have even hit him.  But fortunately for her, he virtually flies into her attack, and the sharp wind bores through his defenses.  His coordination grows even worse, and he begins to lose altitude as he tries to recover his focus.  He is bleeding through his armor.

Solitaire Acts
The missile impacts Solitaire, but the bulk of the resulting blast is siphoned into Solitaire's glowing arm, protecting both her and Gale from most of the damage.  The shrapnel alone is not enough to damage her.
[Private to Solitaire: went ahead and assumed you'd activate absorption, since i didn't hear otherwise.  Hope that's ok.]


I12:
The Helicopters move away from the scene, taking whatever contingent of novas was in them.


I10:
The enemy troops are firing at Suzukaze and Phantasm in the front, while those still in the forest are retreating.

Jets move to eliminate enemy fighters, only to have one of their own peal off and begin attacking allied fighters.  After eliminating two jets, the plane dives, heading for the ground at the center-front of the convoy...
<spoiler>Responses are allowed before this happens, though they should be listed as round 4 responses.

I7:
Comstock crushes the jeep, then uses the bent metal to bind the nova that is only barely clinging to consciousness and bleeding from multiple wounds.  As his armor repairs itself, Comstock sets out to return to his team.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:24, Sat 26 June 2010.

"Impetus to all teams, do not, repeat, do not move to engage the retreating enemy assets." He scanned the sat feed on his HUD, "Transporters, is there any way for 50% of the novas on our side to be transported to 2km the far side of enemy lines, over?"  The enemy novas were green, probably greener than T2M had been before the EQ wars.  Being hit from all sides by superior firepower, and being denied the ambush that they probably had been assured, would demoralize them, make them break formation, and hopefully go down without that much of a fight.

"Not from me," Gravitas chimed in, "you'll have to find another taxi. Its too draining of a procedure for me to really employ in a zone as hot as this." He concentrated on keeping the gravity field up as he tapped a few buttons on his HUD, bringing up the tactical analysis the think-tank had come up with for critique. "Though failing teleportation, some stronger fliers could carry a few others in a ballistic trajectory over the battlefield - it'd take slightly longer, depending on the fliers, but could potentially accomplish the same goal."

Slider's voice comes in over the headset.
"I can, but I've already used up some juice doing other stuff, so I can't make a whole lot of trips."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
You guys can feel free to talk to each other via comms, and if you haven't updated for this round, please do so.  After this round, things will quiet again, and you can talk some more, and make plans.  The tactical team at utopia will have things to say to you too.

---

This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Mon 28 June 2010.

In another time, another place, Gale might have tried to save the man she just injured.  Right now, she had her own injuries to worry about, and her own concentration to keep.  She was in no condition to play valiant superhero.  "Sol, I'm going to go find Grav," she explained and then took off for Gravitas's location.  Flying was getting a lot harder, and if she didn't know how much longer she was going to be able to keep this up if she waited.

Flare trembles a bit as melted parts of her enemy slough off, carrying things, yes that would be preferable to slaughtering.

"I think I could carry someone or something, and fairly fast, as long as they don't squirm too much."

"Alright team, enemy fliers seem to have made themselves scarce.  People on the ground, regroup, take out enemy troops and continue on towards our objective."  He frowned, "Imp to Pax, what say Sol and I give you a hand taking out the enemy artillery on the ridge-line northwest of our current position?  The three of us should be able to handle whatever's coming our way and taking the guns out will free up our novas shielding the ground troops.  Over."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:06, Thu 08 July 2010.

Comstock made his way out of the undergrowth, prisoner in tow.  A few retreating scrubs ran past him, spraying fire back at the rest of T2M.  One even set up a mortar.  Comstock gently smashed the offending weapon underfoot.  "Drop you gun and get moving."  The man didn't drop anything and just ran.  Someone even tried to shoot him, the bullet ricocheting off of his head.  Figures.

"Copy, Impetus.  Team, I'm just going to leave a little trail.  And if anyone sees any hard targets just say the word."  He pulled his GPS out.  "Alright, on the bounce.  Last one to Caracas is buying.  Over."  Until he had somewhere to leave his prisoner, he'd just have to haul the man around.

Zero hears of it's men dying, and realizes it's arrogance, yet again. It assumed the other Novas would have lost their invisibility. What a powerful woman to have shielded them even after her own defeat! The Doctor picks her up and teleports back to the battlefield.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Z uses Quickness to seize the unconscious Nova who started the invisibility of the other Novas. Dr. 0 then uses Combat Teleport to return and will attack the renaming Novas once the new round begins.

---

When Zero returns to his former position, whoever was there is gone, and there is only a pile of allied troops to show that the nova combatant was even there in the first place... Whoever did this was likely not a nova of the 'engineered' variety.

The other troops are in full retreat, blending back into the jungle, teleporting, or flying away.  The shelling continues, but between the various Utopia teams shielding the troops, everyone is protected for the moment.  HQ is attempting to figure out what is going on (reports coming in state that missiles have been fired at the positions from which the shelling is coming from, but seems to have had no effect, and info on the enemy HQ is not currently forthcoming).  The team has a moment to interact, regroup, and reassess their situation.  Those unfamiliar with real warfare are likely more than a bit shell-shocked, while veterans of the Equatorial Wars are seeing unpleasant reminders of the nature of nova-civilian conflict, and the potential for even greater carnage if this continues.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Talk amongst yourselves, lets get the ball rolling again.  Play your characters instead of taking actions.  Lets have some fun for a bit.  After people get a chance to talk, I'll give you a full status report, collect a few actions, and give you a summary of the next stage of the invasion based on your actions.

Some of the above actions may get glossed over; while I encourage people to go back and have a look at what's happened, don't get too hung up on the nitty-gritty details.  Let's just get back into the feel for now.

---

"I...I..." It was over so fast, so carnage ridden. Hovering in the air Flare is half tempted to flee herself as the enemy troops disburse.

"Can we let them go? If they're leaving it means we've won right?" She drifts after the enemy, willing to go another round if thats what the bosses think is good, but taking care of the wounded and dying would make her feel so much better.

Really, she couldn't take much more.

"Sorry, Flare, all this means is that there's a few minutes down time before the killing starts again."  Imp scanned the field, looking for any sign of enemy infiltrators.  "So, Grav, do you have any theories why they weren't affected by the broadcast, that's the first time I've ever failed to swing at least one person over to our side."

"Siddown."  Comstock dumped his prisoner on the ground when he made it back to the others.  He cursed his slow legs.  "Do not try to run.  Do not try to escape.  Cooperate and things will go well for you."

He surveyed the damage from the big fighting.  "Looks like you guys had a party."  The wounded UN troops were a kick in the gut.  "Damn.  Hey Imp?  Give it to me in brief, what happened?"

"In brief?  Well, we were way underestimating their numbers of novas and willingness to commit them to this action, heavy losses were taken, in some cases entire units were wiped out by invisible novas, and we lost quite a few aircraft.  Good news is that we gave better than we got, I think.  They're falling back to their secondary defensive positions, I would advise not giving them time to really get entrenched.  Also, we've gotta do something about their artillery, I'm hoping that Pax and Sol and myself can go make it stop functioning."

Comstock nodded and surveyed his team.  "Thanks Imp.  Flare, how you holdin' up?  Good?"  He gave her a thumbs up and kept scanning for Phantasm.  "P?  Where are you?"

Gale landed next to the others, but not with nearly as much grace as usual.  Stumbling forward, she started digging through the supplies, looking for the antidote to the Mox that was making its way through her system.  Once she found it, she sat on the ground and shifted her eufiber to give her access to a vein.  Her wings seemed to be pulling her back, as if they were a heavy weight.

"Dammit.  Can I get someone to come over and inject me?  My hands are shaking too much."  Truth was, she really hadn't learned how to give herself a proper injection.  "Being hit with Mox feels like wicked bad acid drop," she mumbled.  It didn't help that she'd been hurt in addition to that.  She hadn't gotten a chance to look at the wound, especially since it was on her back.

"On it," Gravtias said, reaching into his own lightless form and retrieving an injector. He hurried over to Gale and injected the substance into her. He didn't bother sterilizing the injection point or otherwise bandaging it. Nova physiology usually took care of that sort of thing in fairly short order.

"Now, turn," he said putting a hand on her shoulder to indicate that she should turn so that he could see her back. He briefly checked the injection point to ensure that nothing foreign had been left behind, but aside from the small puncture wound, there wasn't really anything there. "Pretty accurate, but also small. It looks like they hit you with it in one of the places where it'd circulate the fastest; obviously they also hit you pretty hard to make it through your shielding. I can give you a band-aid for it or something, but that's about all I can do at the moment." For better or worse, his abilities did not include tissue repair. "The adrenocilin should take effect here in a minute or two. Just as a reminder to everyone: Adrenocilin can be addictive if it is taken frequently or in large doses. I advise you to avoid using it unless you know you've been injected with mox or something similar that requires a counter-agent."

He turned to more tactical business. "They've got a lot more novas than we expected. I suspect that they've only got a small number of natural eruptions among them. Those individuals look to be about as powerful as we expect from novas. The mass-produced ones," something in his voice reflected a distaste of the idea, "are certainly super-human, but not nearly to the degree that most novas tend to be."

Solitaire landed lightly, neither winded nor wounded, a little more emotionally scarred than before perhaps, but all things were relative. Her wardrobe had taken a beating though, that tended to happen when you took a missile right in the back.

"You want some artillery broken Imp? I can make that happen." She said, taking a moment to attempt to get some of the blood out of her already trashed clothing. However, it didn't really accomplish anything so she abandoned it.

"And I'd agree that the imitations aren't up to scratch, it's like they're not nova's at all, just shadows of something else. I don't like it, they're an insult to all of us."

"Over here 'Stock.  You're slow, don't run off again, or at least get a carry from one of the faster people, we could have used you back here."

A bit of anger crept into her voice as she looked around at the damage, followed by chagrin as she realized her outburst wasn't helping anybody.

"Sorry, I'm still maintaining these constructs, it's draining, and I took a bit of a pounding at the start.  Not used to this kind of mass conflict stuff, haven't done this since... the EW.  I know we're all trying here, and I'm sure I'm not the only one with some bad memories coming back up.  Forget I said anything."

Turning to her other teammates, Phantasm continued.

"And 'Kaze, thanks for the assist.  Next time that comes up, we should have a plan.  Maybe you can race in, take out the source of the fire while I take the brunt of it?  You're fast, and you can get places I can't, but I don't want you taking direct fire like that for me again unless you suddenly trade Comstock for his powers... But still, thanks.

Imp... Yeah, what DID happen out there?  They weren't even phased by you at all.  We should start investigating the bodies they left behind, maybe they have earplugs in or something?"

Seeing Phantasm was a wave of relief.  Relief mixed with guilt and frustration.  "Hey I- ... sure."  He didn't want to fight with her now.  He was just glad she was alright.

"By the way team, this is ... I never did get his name, but thus far he's been cooperative."  He pointed to the prisoner wrapped in metal.  "He packs a punch and I don't think he's a knock-off.  If someone would do the honors of moxing him, I'd be grateful."  He checked his phone-map to get a sense of where everyone stood.

"Grav, if this is the way things are going to be, I don't want to give them any time.  Can you spare the juice to portal me straight to Bogota?  Right down their throats."

"I hope to god it's not something as simple as an earpiece, Tasm. We were hoping that I'd be able to deal with a fair number of the enemy troops without having to engage them in combat. This might mean fighting the entire Columbian army before we're done."
"And Comstock, do you really think that you can do enough damage fast enough to vet them to divert troops back to the capital, that's assuming their wartime hq is in Bogota."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:03, Sun 15 Aug 2010.

Suzukaze looks to Phantasm and nods in response to her thanks. After Impetus responds to Comstock she takes a step forward.

"Imp and Tasm are right. Your too slow. If we need things done fast we need speed. I have it, but your by far the strongest and most durable."

She pauses slightly as she thinks.

"Either I tag along, we somehow transfer my speed into you, or..." She pauses again. "I go alone. I lack your destructive force so I would need bombs, grenades whatever we have. We make sure I'm traced so my position is known. If I run out of anything we have Grav or Slider get me back here to rearm and back there. It would have to be well timed, and what do we do if your right and it works. Do I get out or will you all be rushing in?"

Gale stayed sitting, listening to the conversation and taking deep, calming breaths.  This was her first conflict of this size, this magnitude.  She hadn't been in the Equatorial Wars, and it showed.  Her eyes focused on some spot on the ground in front of her, boring into it, as if she could see through the soil if she tried hard enough.  The conversation went on around her, the words buzzing around her head.

Solitaire touched Gale lightly on the should as she passed in a reassuring sort of gesture. She tried to say a lot with the tap, such as 'You'll be all right' or 'We'll look after you' or any number of other things that might have sounded patronizing if she said them wrong. But it was mostly just a 'Hang in there' sort of tap.

"You know, I think going off buy ourselves and blowing up the capital would sort of give the wrong impression don't you? We could have just done that in the first place without going to all the trouble with the U.N. We chose to do this the legit, and hard way, that means good people are going to die. That's war. We can't fight all their battles, What we can do is protect them from threats they can't handle, such as other Nova's. If we knew where the hell they were producing them, I'd suggest we hit that, but we can't just go single-handedly topple a government without opening Pandora's Box. If we want to accept that backlash, we certainly could, the question is if we should."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:08, Sat 14 Aug 2010.

"Agreed.  If we had been able to do this just as a T2M op we would have.  We need to maintain the polite fiction that it's a UN operation supported by us, otherwise we send the very problematic message that a group of novas working together can take out a country with a reasonably modern army in something under a day with no back up.  I don't think we want to send that message, right Big Man?"
Part of Imp really did want to send that message though, proclaim to the world that novas were not tools to be pointed at problems or resources to exploit.  They were something worth of respect, awe, admiration and a touch of fear.  Sadly, the more he understood the human psyche the more he realized that it would be fear that won out, followed by hatred.  Hatred would lead to unchecked aggression and then there would be the war that the Mathematician warned of.  Far better to colonize mars or a planet that was outside of the solar system, live apart from the teeming hordes of humanity...
He kept his thoughts to himself though, for now there was a job to do.

"What if we took over? Explain to them that the number of enemy novas are far superior to what was originally thought. Tell them that if it continues like this then it would only increase civilian casualties on both sides."

"We can't just take over.  I just-"  Comstock paced and ran a hand over his head.  "Alright, not Bogota, but there has to be a military base.  A hard target.  Or some way of finding the labs.  We have to do something."

Too slow.  "Out here, I'm practically useless.  I need metal.  Buildings."

HQ begins reporting more data, as the team continues to discuss the situation.

Points of interest include:
1)The artillery is coming from two points, one somewhere in the valley ahead (roughly 20km), and another base only about 15km out from the capital.  The position near the capital has been hit repeatedly by precision air strikes and long range missiles, but to no effect (other than a few planes going down due to strange interference).  The missiles detonate in air 1000m away from the actual military base, or fall to the ground without detonating.  The valley base has been hit a few times, but the position is fortified and they do have nova defenses as well, so damage has been minimal.

2)The naval assault is still on hold, as the US government is unwilling to pointlessly lose major resources fighting novas... But the actual nova hostilities have been "concluded" with no further description.

3)Satellite tracking of the troops shows a teleporter must be active in the region, as they are moving far too rapidly, especially the vehicles.  Probably more than one, given the amount of movement going on.

4)Sources in Bogata have reported that the government is warning people of invasion by the "U.N. tyrants" and is freely handing out guns, and syringes filled with drugs to protect them from the "mind control powers" of invaders and "give strength in the face of adversity."  Preliminary analysis suggests a mixture of nova derived combat drugs (in much lower concentrations than typically seen in premium grade drugs like mite) and a previously unknown compound that shuts down the mirror neuron system of the human brain (thought to control such things as empathy and emotional understanding of others).  Long term effects are unknown, and there are likely to be worldwide repercussions, but for now all they can say is that the drug will limit the effects of psychological warfare and increase troop staying power, with the detrimental effects of increased hostility and lowered interpersonal cooperation in the absence of strong leadership.

Imp pulled up a holographic map of the region.  "So, we've got artillery here," He pointed to the next valley over, "but we don't know where the army is falling back to.  We also know that the city is going to be really, really, problematic.  I suggest crippling their artillery, and hounding the army's retreat for now.  Let our transporters get some rest, maybe a couple hours to recover some juice, then an all out offensive on the main base near the capital.  Our artillery should maintain a constant barrage on their positions to not let their defenders get any rest, maybe cycle the barrages on different sections of the base so their defenders are going to have to move around, or weaken themselves further by shielding the entire base.  Meanwhile, let's get a strike force together to commandeer their artillery, try to minimize collateral damage and take out the troops guarding it so that we can use it to supplement our own guns.  I'd suggest three or four of our faster fliers carrying a couple ground pounders each to deal with any nova resistance and either have Slider on standby to gate in a detachment of special forces or have one of our fliers capable of carrying a container holding fifty people or so take transport duty."
He exhaled, "We're not going to be able to take the city in one blitz, much as we'd like to.  I'm guessing that the cocktail that they're feeding the populace won't have that long of a high, and that they should all crash within an hour of taking the stuff.  I recommend staging some mock assaults to get them to shoot up, then pull back and wait for the drugs to run their course.  Maybe insert some stealth novas to do some headhunting to eliminate any enemy commanders they find in the city.  Anybody else have any ideas?"

Doing my job for me again, Imp.  Before the frustration could set in and make him do something stupid, Comstock squeezed his brain shut and focused on the task at hand.  He'd been mentally prepared at the party.  It was the waiting that was making him impulsive.

"Since a swift resolution is out of the question ... let's neutralize the artillery in the valley.  Twenty kilometers isn't that far.  Furthermore, using captured barracks locations will save resources and reduce our environmental impact.  Every little bit helps."  He spared Flare a reassuring nod, to remind her that she did the right thing and was following orders.

Glad that her outburst had been ignored for the time being, and that people were working toward something like a new plan, Phantasm joined in on the conversation again.

"How are we going to do that?  I'm personally sick of sending these people in to die, and this is only the start.  We should have the novas go in and break that place.  They've already shown that novas are being used for offense and defense both, so can't we just hit their military targets with our nova forces?  Keep the casualties to a minimum?  I mean, I'm not saying we take Bogata with Imp's winning smile or anything, but just their military targets?  Maybe surround their position with our troops to make it look good?  Just sending the troops into that valley though... that's suicide."

While waiting for an answer, she looked around at the new girls from the corner of her eye.  'Kaze was crazy, so she didn't react normally to all this killing... Nice to have something positive come out of her "condition" for once. No judgement there, at least not on that part of her insanity.  After all, I'm not really the poster girl for sanity myself...

Flare and Gale though, they looked terrible, and the shock was setting in.  They're new to this life, this kind of violence.  It'd be nice to comfort them, but now isn't the time, they'd likely just break; better to ignore it, let them push it all down and get the job done.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:22, Mon 16 Aug 2010.

Flare had taken a few deep breaths and had, somewhat, gotten her act together. This was not the time to mill around while the others made everything work.

"What about an air strike? If novas went in and blew the artillery we'd have it cleared out pretty well.  On the enviro and casualty side, if I'm not doing the destroying, I can use my abilities to keep the explosions and flames to a minimum.  It might take the miltary targets with a minimum of damage as well as show that we aren't just here to wreak havoc."

She felt a bit bad about her major part of the havoc wreaking, but she could deal with that later.

"20 Km is about sixty to ninety seconds for me, less if i push it, I'm guessing that Pax can do it in less.  Sol, how fast can you get there?" Imp toggled his earpiece, "Pax, you don't mind taking a break from blocking shells to go kick some ass, do you?"  He turned to Comstock, "Alright boss, who do you want in on this and how should it be done?"

Gale got to her feet as feeling returned to her limbs.  Solitaire's gesture had been a comfort to her.  But they weren't out of the water yet.  There were a few more waves to catch before she was ready to call it a day.

"I can provide backup for Flare.  Help control the fires and explosions," she offered, trying to make sure she was at least appearing useful to the team.  She could feel her powers returning, and so she didn't doubt that she could get a little more work out of them.  "I'm not as fast a flyer, but I can catch up."

"20km? Just under a minute, I think." Solitaire replied, rubbing the tip of her nose in thought. This was a math question, she wasn't very good at math. "Want me to go take care of it? I'd be back in 10. Wouldn't even be flashy."

It'd be easy, spike a few guns, bust a few heads, pretty much a day in the life. Course, the guns were a bit bigger, but that didn't bother her particularly. Course, if Pax would be coming along, it would be nowhere near as pleasant.

"Time for a little shock and awe?"

"If our missiles and artillery are not reaching the targets, they might have some sort of shielding up to stop them. We don't have much intelligence regarding the powers of the Columbians - you (plural you) may or may not be able to breach the shielding they've got set up," Gravitas frowned in thought, though the inky blackness of his shielding did not betray this expression to anyone else. His form shrugged instead, "We just don't have reliable data yet."

"Data has become irrelevant.  We're the heaviest assets on our side, so we need to engage quickly."

"Shock and awe."  He nodded stiffly to Sol, whose strategies always had an appealing directness to them.  "If Grav's right and they've got some kind of shield going on, we will do better to avoid spending quantum on an airstrike.  Someone throw me or give me a lift.  Once I've hit the ground and the shock and awe has them shaken, Impetus will use his devices to demand immediate surrender."

"Input?"  He scanned everyone's faces.  He couldn't read Zero, he'd given up trying to understand Suzukaze, Gravitas and Phantasm met or exceeded expectations, Sol seemed in her element, Flare and Gale were operating at expected and acceptable efficiency.  Impetus' powers interfered with his judgment.  His team could do this, he reasoned.  Keying over to Frostburn and the support staff, he called for baseline troops to follow and secure the valley after T2M attacked.

"I'd have Sol give you a lift, that way she can take out any interference on the way in and bust stuff up with you on the ground.  I can use the projector system to demand a surrender, but it won't be nearly as effective as we're used to, the cocktail they've injected themselves with makes them mostly immune to anything i can do that with my voice," he exhaled, clearly frustrated, "I am a bit concerned that they have wired everything to blow when we arrive there.  I don't know if even you can take several hundred artillery shells going off at once with you in the middle of them, bossman."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Looks like you've decided to do a strike with just the Americas team.  If you could make a descriptive post of your plans/role in the encounter, as well as perhaps notifying the other teams, we can move on to this new descriptive combat thing.  Probably won't last more than a couple posts per person, I want to keep it moving quick.  I'll respond to your coming posts with a summary, you will respond to that, I will respond to those, and perhaps one more exchange, and then resolution.

I will keep this going quickly, so I'll give a 3-day window for responses to flow in, and then post my response for the exchange.  I was tempted to make it 2 days, but I wanted to give everyone a chance at it.  If you aren't actively posting, you will be placed as part of the scenery, mildly useful but not killable.  Any questions, please post them in the ooc thread.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:12, Fri 20 Aug 2010.

"I will take the risk.  You can tell me I was wrong later."

---

When plans were underway, Comstock was hoping that Solitaire would just use him as a projectile, hurling him into the largest bunker, tent, or artillery piece.  Anyplace where his mass could cause a kinetic kill.  Any artillery he could get his hands on he'd either break or seal over.  If there were any heavy vehicles, he would overturn them.  If it was metal, he could render it inoperable in moments.

He was relying on the rest of the team to do their job, just like always.  They could think faster than he anyway, and as long as he made a real mess of things they always found a way to take advantage of it.  Any novas in his way were just begging for his patented sleeper-hold.  In three years it hadn't failed him, and he was only getting stronger.

"A few hundred artillery shells is nothing, at least for me and 'Stock, possibly Grav. Might want to let us go in and set off any traps first before you all head in though." Solitaire replied, grin back in place. Oddly enough, she had the same idea Comstock did, and chuckled softly at the prospect of flinging him at whatever target looked hardest. She'd bet it would break first.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Sat 21 Aug 2010.

Gale nodded, shifting from foot to foot.  She would do whatever the others needed of her, but right now, she wasn't sure exactly what that was.  Comstock and Solitaire could probably handle this all on their own.  She moved to stand beside Flare.  She made eye contact with the other woman.  If they had to, they'd be their own team.  Team Backup The Heavy Hitters.

Imp smiled, it was good to see Comstock's reckless streak re-emerge.  Hopefully it was that and not bloodlust, bloodlust from Comstock would be as odd as emotional stability from Sue, or getting personal details from Zero.  "We'll follow your lead bossman," he looked around at the rest of T2MA, flashed that trademark smile and let his chest inflate ever so slightly, then winked roguishly, "Any of you beautiful people want a lift, I promise not to hum Ride of the Valkyries."

Looking at Imp..."I'll be perfectly fine on foot thank you." Suzukaze turns to look at Comstock. "Do you want me to go ahead and scout it out? Or do you want to just go for it?"

Quentin frowned, though it wasn't visible. "I'm not sure I have enough juice left for a round trip if I do anything while we're actually on-site. It may be best if we go more conventionally - that'll also give us a chance to see what we're up against first-hand." Quentin's voice betrayed his doubts. If missiles and other artillery were having problems with hitting the target, that implied that some sort of quantum-fueled defense was in place - whether that was some sort of shielding or just a bunch of novas standing there and shooting lasers at incoming projectiles was sort of irrelevant as far as artillery was concerned, but it could make all the difference for a nova strike force.

"I'd say just go for it," Comstock said.  "While they're trying to figure me out and keep an eye on Solitaire, take them out."

After a few stressful minutes of hurried planning, T2M:A is off, leaving behind the other teams to guard the allied troops.  The plan is fairly simple: deploy Comstock via Solitaire, and follow up with nova aerial attacks on the base from a safe distance.  HQ has authorized the plan, and ceased allied attacks on the valley.

The flight towards the base shows blasted landscape, a few charred vehicles with heavy weapons on them, and several entrenched gunners (most of them dead, though a few fire into the sky at the novas streaking by), but little else; apparently the enemy has not been using the valley as a whole to house its military forces.  The Columbians seem to have instead set up small crews throughout the valley to harry anyone moving in, small enough to represent acceptable losses while dealing heavy damage to anyone trying to move through the area.

The enemy base itself is situated in the wall of the valley, a hardened facility that is able to withstand a great deal of conventional punishment, and whose positioning makes it difficult to target.  The position is further reinforced by a metallic lattice covering the walls and stretching out over the grounds for several hundred yards in all directions, supported by large poles.  The lattice hums lightly as electric current passes through it, and EM sight shows strong magnetic fields around it that interfere with electronic systems and repulse metallic objects coming in from above.  The metal is some sort of exotic compound, likely created by Lambert Asani, the failed revolutionary of the Congo, and hidden cause of so many of Utopia’s problems (now under arrest and imprisoned at an undisclosed Utopia holding facility).  Under the protective lattice, damaged in several places by air strikes it was unable to fully repel, sit artillery pieces, missile racks, and several helicopters preparing to take to the air.  The large guns are currently shelling the area outside the valley, while missiles are turned toward the approaching novas, and the helicopters move to block their path.  Troops sit in entrenched foxholes on the perimeter, ducking their heads below ground level in hopes of surviving the rain of death that is only partially deflected by the Columbian’s defenses.

Impetus, with a bit of aid from Gravitas, is able to deflect the first barrage of fire directed at the team, as Suzukaze, Solitaire, and Comstock all head directly for the facility.  Solitaire launches Comstock at one of the large vehicle bays set into the side of the valley wall, where he crashes through the metal lattice and into one of the missile platforms, destroying it.  Suzukaze moves in on the ground, cutting through the simple barbed wire and climbing over the entrenchments with ease.  Impetus, Gale, Gravitas, and Flaire hover in the sky nearby, both as a distraction, and as potential backup in case problems occur.  Zero and Phantasm lurk, likely using Zero’s teleportation to appear behind enemy lines.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Ok, if you would give me your general actions for the combat, I will roll dice, and give a summary of what happens at the front of the base, along with another descriptive blurb for what you find as you move inside (if you bother to actually go in, you could just crush the place and be done with it).  I’ll put a 3 day timer on this, and hopefully be a bit more faithful to said timer myself.   Any questions, feel free to ask them on the OOC or in spoilers here, whichever you feel most appropriate.

---

Once teh team was inside the enemy perimeter and it didn't look like there would be another barrage of missiles soon, Imp headed directly for the helipads.  Ignoring the fire coming from the troops, but wary about enemy novas, he attempted to disable the helicopters by the simple expedient of grabbing anything large nearby (fuel barrels, rocks, crates...) and throwing them telekinetically into the spinning blades.  Once done with the copters he took to the skies again to see where he could best turn his attention next.

Comstock got his feet back under him.  A moment later, with no explosions or other surprises, he'd checked his headset to see that it was still operable and ordered the team to attack.

Heavy as he was and still clumsy at manipulating materials outside his own body, Comstock opted for a rampage.  He stalked across the base, heading for the largest weapons platforms -- starting with anti-air missiles, working down to tanks and heavy guns -- he could see.  He'd punch, grip and throw pieces of scenery.  Larger obstacles were shattered under his spiked fists.  If a nova made the mistake of standing before him, they would be ground into the pavement and throttled violently into unconsciousness.

With any luck, Comstock wouldn't kill anyone.  But he'd willfully destroy their capacity to fight and leave dozens of injured in his wake.  This was only rational.

Gravitas hung silently in the sky, visible only as a dark spot in the middle-distance from the ground. He prefered to reserve his remaining energies for an emergency rather than spend them wreaking havoc upon the army below. It only made sense - Comstock's abilities were less draining than his own.

One of the curious quirks of nova physiology was that metahuman enhancements to basic human attributes, like strength, were generally easier to sustain than projected energy and other similarly external manifestations of nova might. Presumably it had something to do with the conservation of energy in general, but the topic was as-yet largely unexplored in nova medicine; more immediately important subjects had been covered instead.

As needed, Gravitas would intercept large projectiles leaving the area or otherwise use wide-area gravitation fields to lock down sections of the enemy emplacement, but otherwise waited in reserve for their heavier hitters to make a mess of the place.

Gale stayed in the sky with Gravitas and Flare.  A lot of her power went into being protected, and so she brought up her wind shield again.  Since Imp had taken care of the helicopters, there was only the missiles to worry about, and she was pretty sure that she could dodge those, now that she had her mobility back.  Regardless, she made sure that she could bring up her wall of solid air, should it be necessary to protect her or the others.

Solitaire left the hard targets to Comstock, concentrating instead on disabling  any Novas in the facility, followed by ground forces and lighter vehicles.

She went through the base like a buzzsaw in a leather jacket, flipping jeeps, breaking bones, and doing her dead level best to wrack up the most impressive bit of destruction she could. Due to the drugs these people had in them, any show of force had to be devastating in order to break their morale. Luckily, destruction was what Solitaire was best at.

"Hmm, compared to the first wave we went through earlier this isn't too bad."

Listening to Comstock and Sol break stuff on the comm was a pleasant distraction to the earlier carnage, as well as the mild panic of being in heavy combat.
Flare flies in loops around the valley wall to draw artillery, which she then destroyed with whip-like gouts of fire.

She tries to keep an eye on the skies and top ridge of the valley as well for any unexpected arrivals.

"Hey Gale, since we're up here anyway, care to keep an eye on the horizon? If the enemy does have teleporters, we could be swarmed pretty quickly."

Suzukaze races across the grounds of the base. Cutting down any enemy in her way. She searches for any command centers. She bursts into the buildings and attempts to incapacitate enemies before destroying any equipment.

Comstock and Solitaire fall on the base like the hands of god.  Vehicles are crushed, and all the shielding is torn down.  Comstock remained on the exterior of the base, further disabling the enemies ability to make war.  Artillery pieces turn toward him, and missiles fire on his position, but they do little to stop his inexorable march of destruction.  After only minutes, the enemy's heavy weaponry is utterly destroyed, and Comstock shows no more damage for his efforts than a dulling an pitting on his normally pristine silvery exterior.

Solitaire, moving into the base proper after a bit of vehicle tossing, encounters nova resistance.  If you can call the weak, engineered superhumans novas.  3 of the engineered enemy novas attempt to defend the corridors of the base, backed by platoons of hardened soldiers immune to Solitaires aura of awe, but they fall quickly as Solitaire simply floats through their best attacks without harm.  Further into the base, 4 of the engineered novas attempt to attack Solitaire en mass, but they fair no better.  Between her endurance and the energy absorbed from the enemy's attacks, Solitaire was unstoppable.  A quick assist from Suzukaze as she ran by sealed the enemy nova's fates.  After eliminating all the nova threats she could find, Solitaire began dismantling the base itself, ensuring it would not be usable for any sort of aggressive action, at least not without significant repairs.

Phantasm and Zero move into the bowels of the base, eliminating the baseline soldiers before they can mount a defense, or hurt themselves in the process.  Of course, in the prolonged effort to subdue the soldiers, several are severely injured anyway, either due to painful but non-lethal injuries from the T2Mers, or friendly fire taken in the attempt to shoot the superhumanly agile novas.  After the battle, Zero and Phantasm find a stock of the combat drugs being given to the troops and a collection of odd devices, as well as seeing the tail end of a retreating column of troops as they walk through a closing teleportation gateway.

'Kaze, in a violent dash, cuts through any troops in her path as she enters the base buildings set into the mountain.  Able to rapidly cover ground, she clears tunnels as Solitaire moves through the heavier defenses.  After providing a timely assist to her teammate, Suzukaze forges on further into the base, cutting power lines strung on the ceiling, using her blindfighting to guide her way.  Eventually, through her node, she senses a large power source ahead.  She cuts down a group of guards before entering a large chamber with some sort of reactor housed in it, men in lab coats frantically typing away at computers and flipping switches.  Several of them chant "For the greater good, we die for the greater good" in unison.  With her accelerated thought, 'Kaze quickly realizes that the scientists here are attempting to blow the reactor... its a trap.  Cutting down the scientists after attempts at questioning them fail, 'Kaze hopes that she was fast enough.  But moments after the last of them falls, she hears a computerized voice announce "Remote detonation sequence initiated, 45 seconds remaining to detonation."

----

In the air around the base, the remaining flyers deflect enemy fire and clear out surrounding troops.  Impetus grounds the majority of the helicopters permanently, using his telekinesis to mangle the blades of the machines.  The few helicopters that manage to take off are rapidly eliminated, as precise gravitic and kinetic distortionsfrom both Gravitas and Impetus disrupt their ability to fly and send them crashing into the ground.

After the strike on the base is well under way, 5 jets streak through the air, engaging the aerial novas.  Flare and Gale are both woefully under-equipped to deal with the heavy machine gun fire and missiles.  Gravitas, after rapid analysis of the enemy weaponry, as well as his own team's positioning and defenses, concludes that he will have to extend his shield (and expend his precious energy) to protect his teammates.  But once protected, the elementally aspected women are able to apply fire and air to devastating effect, melting away metal, cutting off air flow to engines, and ripping apart vital structural elements of the fighters.  Only 1 plane manages to escape.

----
Phantasm and Zero report in on their findings, both the drugs/equipment, and the retreating troops.  Aside from the loss of what were likely the important personnel and the remaining enemy novas, Utopia seems to be in firm control of the base.

But just as the Utopia novas seem to be close to a quick and painless victory, Suzukaze's voice quietly informs the team of her findings.  "Everyone, it seems we have a problem. There is a reactor down here, and it's going to explode in 45 seconds."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Hope you don't mind 'Kaze, I figured you would be kind enough to tell everyone they were about to explode, and with that out there, people can respond to the primary threat rather than limit their next posts to random cleanup stuff.

So, one more round of posts should bring this part to a close.  Hopefully this is asatisfactory method for moving things along.  Seems faster than what we were doing at least...  All we have left after this is the final base, and that has a few important plot elements embedded in it, so I want to give it some attention.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:35, Thu 02 Sept 2010.

"A nuclear reactor? Any idea how many megawatts?"  Imp turned to Grav, Gale, and Flare speaking at super human speed, "In order for the reactor to blow it has to sustain high temperatures long enough for it to go sub critical, yes?  Unless they have conventional explosives in there to make it go super critical we shouldn't have an explosion, but it will be an ecological disaster.  If Flare and Sol can lower the temperature and bleed off the excess energy that should stop the reaction or at least give us enough time to disable the damned thing, right?"
While he waited for Grav to respond Imp broadcast to HQ and Mobile command, "This is T2MA, we have a potential nuclear incident to manage, they may be using this as a diversion to cover a counter attack, be alert."

A nuke, of course they have a bloody nuke. This really was just like the Wars. Solitaire reached up and keyed her mic, ignoring the odd bullet that still pinged off her. "Boss" She said levelly, meaning Comstock. "I can be there in 5 seconds."

"A reactor?!"  Comstock and Solitaire were still in the base.  There was no way they'd get out fast enough.  And none of her powers were going to be useful here.  Just hovering here talking was eating up that 45 seconds quickly.  She barely understood what Imp was saying, otherwise she might have realized that she could help lower the temperature.  Or, if she wasn't mentally freaking out, she might have thought of it herself.

She was just too overwhelmed to actually do anything to help.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I'm playing my Overwhelmed flaw here.  Hope nobody minds.  :)

---

As Suzukaze warns the rest of the team she moves around the reactor searching for anything to shut it down. "Please everyone get to safety. I don't know what I'm doing but I have to try and stop this. Save yourselves!" As she looks over the reactor she also checks for any sort of safe area nearby or if she'd have to bolt out of there. She thinks to herself... I can activate my forcefield when it's close. If I die here then at least I'll die doing the honorable thing. "Tell my family I love them."

"It might. I bet that they've rigged it to go super-crit though," he chose the shortest and most expediant words to say that he could, eliminating extra vocabulary he would have normally use. Potentials and possibilities began collapsing in Quentin's mind, just as the timer in his head he'd started the instant Sue notified them was counting toward 0. He didn't pause to think, he could think and speak at the same time. "We've got to stop it," he said jumping directly to his conclusion without explaining his reasoning - no time for that. "I'm going. Join me if you want; won't keep the gate open." He didn't even want to think what a thermonuclear explosion would do inside one of his wormholes - not until this was over, anyway; probably tear apart space-time in the local vicinity or something. The math could wait for later. He tapped a key on his HUD control, searching out Suzukaze's location so that he could form the gate. Another finger keyed his comm, "Gravitas," he identified himself to the channel as he began to form the near side of the bridge, "Will attempt to halt reactor." By the time he'd finished speaking the swirling blue doorway had opened in front of him and he hastily made his way through it. Ten precious seconds already wasted.

Once through the portal he got his bearings as rapidly as he could and headed to the nearest terminal that looked like it might provide access to reactor controls. [Private to GM: Once through the portal, Gravitas briefly assesses his remaining energies and, if he has enough, maxes out Time Control in an attempt to slow down the reactor and buy time to halt its destruction. Since Grav's temporal control is a form of gravitational manipulation, this would probably be visible to anyone nearby as ripples in space coming from Grav in the direction of the reactor. It'd be totally unnoticeable to anyone at a distance, though. If maxing requires a visual display, its probably waves of purple-black energy similar to his shielding and gravitic bolts.]

Comstock held out an arm, hoping to hell that she had the same ideas he did.  "Get me there, Sol!"  He wondered if he'd be able to survive the meltdown if this didn't work.  "We can stop it!"

With Sol's help, he could touch the reactor and disarm it.  She'd bleed off the reaction, he'd change uranium to lead.  They didn't need much, just enough to halt the reaction.  "Sue!  Disarm any bombs now!"  He felt Gravitas' power wash over his nearly two tons of mass.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Fri 03 Sept 2010.

Imp looked at Gale "get to safety kiddo, that's an order." To Flare, "go or come, it's up to you my dear." he then darted through the portal. once inside he took quick stock of what was where and what kind of reactor it was. He may not be as bright as Grav but he had a grad degree in physics from his baseline life. Once he knew what was what he would know how best to apply his powers.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:21, Sat 04 Sept 2010.

Flare paused for perhaps half a second, "As if there is really any choice." And dove through the portal.  Even if she was going to die via radiation, she could at least go out helping stop a disaster. There were worse ways to go.

Gravitas teleports, pausing only long enough to allow his closest teammates through his closing portal.  Impetus and Flare manage to barely squeeze through the closing iris, leaving Gale floating in the air over the base, watching residual fires from the team's swath of destruction flicker below her.

Solitaire, in response to Comstock's urgent request, races to the front of the base and picks up the ponderous team leader, hooking her arms under his and rocketing off into the base.  Their flight is rapid, but the twists in the tunnels combined with the unknown layout create an unacceptable delay.  The team's juggernauts share a look, and a realization.  Without discussion, Solitaire speeds directly toward their other teammates, punching through walls and the mountain itself, with Comstock helping to cut through particularly dense areas of rock and reinforced metal.  They arrive just in time to sense the chain reaction falling into place, too rapid to interfere with...

---

Inside the immense room housing the bulk of the reactor, Suzukaze frantically searches for a way to dismantle the device, to no avail.  The structure is too large for someone of her abilities to quickly demolish, and the complex mechanisms and computer programs are outside of her area of expertise.  She is resigned to the idea of her impending death, knowing that at least she saved her teammates, and pauses a moment to reflect on her family, when a flickering blue portal irises open into the room.  Suzukaze's eyes flash with anger, her sacrifice would be for nothing... But wait, maybe they could do something to stop the explosion?  If they refused to leave, perhaps she could help them.

---

Gravitas' mind went into overdrive the moment he heard 'Kaze's warning, and upon entering onto the scene, he immediately accessed the computer terminal.  Fingers nearly a blur as they danced over the keyboard, Gravitas broke through the simple security measures and accessed the program governing the reactor.  Upon inspection, Gravitas realized that there were two problems: 1) the reactor would take a greater amount of time to shut down than was available, at least 47 seconds using the computer, and it was an unstable device to begin with... telling it to shut down might not even work, and 2) the schematics of the base indicate that it is wired with enough explosives to bring down the entire valley, crushing anyone in it, and destabilizing the surrounding terrain enough that landslides might harm the allied troops.  The second problem was solvable, as long as Zero and Phantasm were still available.  Still typing furiously, Gravitas radioed his teammates: "Zero, Phantasm, the facility and the surrounding countryside are rigged to blow, explosives are positioned at the following points which I'm scanning and sending via my HUD.  Nature of explosives unknown, but they seem to be remote operated and have individual trigger mechanisms.  I suggest disarming the outer devices first, as they will collapse the entire valley. Gravitas out."

Gravitas quietly contemplated for a moment, keyboard clicking in front of him.  The first problem... Perhaps he could do something about that, but timing would be tight. He could just teleport Comstock in, but this was a sensitive situation, and if the man failed to use his budding molecular manipulation correctly, they would all die.  Impetus could do this, but needed more time.  Gravitas himself could do this, but he too needed more time, and he had only enough energy remaining for one more large burst of power.  But if he was right, all three of them could enact their solutions, which would be their best chance at success... Never stopping his keystrokes, Gravitas explained the situation, and told his nearby teammates how they could help to minimize the explosion, if he couldn't finish in time; he didn't bother to tell them that they wouldn't be able to finish before the timer ran out.  As he explained, the air around him rippled, as though in a heat shimmer, and his aura of dark energy expanded... Through the darkness of his shielding, tiny pinpricks of light were strangely visible where his eyes should have been, shining like stars in an endless night.


---

Impetus was right behind Gravitas as he entered the room.  After taking stock of the situation, Impetus realized, with a shock of trepidation, that this was a problem that his smile, perhaps even his powers, would not solve.  And a problem that his mentally gifted teammate could solve more efficiently, despite years of study as a baseline.  But nonetheless, this was something he could conquer, and for once it would be the nerdy, awkward young man doing the work, not the mask, not the man that he had almost convinced himself that he had become.  After a firm admonishment to deal with his emotional evolution later, when they weren't all about to die in a nuclear explosion, Impetus set to work.

Using his knowledge, supplemented by advice from Gravitas where necessary, Impetus coordinated Flare and 'Kaze as he carefully used his TK to open up the machinery so that Flare, and hopefully Sol, would be able to bleed off energy; even if the explosion was stopped, the heat and radiation would still have to be bled off of the poorly constructed reactor, as the cooling and shielding were already failing.  He raced to find some answer, and thought of several ways that he could most likely shut down the reactor, if only he just had more time...

---

'Kaze helped to disassemble the machinery and prepare the fail safes that Impetus and Gravitas were trying to put into place.  After she had finished helping Impetus with all she could, Gravitas informed the room that there were explosives nearby that would also need to be dealt with.  Suzukaze, with her speed, was uniquely suited to the job, and she ran through the nearby tunnels collecting as many of the devices as she could, not even bothering to disarm them.  Instead, she simply deposited armloads of explosives in a room as far from the reactor as she could get; hopefully, according to Gravitas, the explosions would be in an area that wouldn't cause as much damage, and the bombs wouldn't be as effective when exploding in an uncoordinated manner.

---

As the team worked to prevent the coming disaster, it dawned on everyone that they were going to be too late, and that they were likely to either be destroyed in the blast, or at best trapped beneath tons of rock with a molten, radioactive reactor core.  As the moments ticked down,

Impetus hugged Flare, who fortunately didn't realize that their time was up, even as he furiously manipulated the reactor's machinery with countless overlapping TK fields, struggling to accomplish what couldn't be done...

Flare watched alertly, waiting for the moment that she could bleed off the heat from the reactor, not knowing she would likely die before she could act...

Suzukaze raced against the clock to collect the explosives that would bring rock crashing down around them, before running back to her teammates to watch their final moments.  If she was going to die, it would be with her companions...

Gale watched from above, helpless to intervene, and with only comms chatter to let her know what was happening.  A tear rolled down her cheek, and somehow she couldn't bring herself to leave the base, her teammates, and her last chance at a place to belong...

Sol and Comstock burst through the ceiling, crashing through metal and rock. Comstock reached out to the unstable metal that was already reacting far too fast for his powers to grasp and manipulate, while Solitaire's arm grew blindingly bright as it absorbed the radiation that was already leaking from the poorly shielded machine.  Both realized they were an instant too late...

Gravitas continued to type, seemingly oblivious to the explosion that was already in progress, while internally he was awash with anticipation, dread, and a certain fascination as he tested not only his powers, but his intellect, betting his life and that of his teammates on one perfect moment...

---

Those present near the reactor sense a change in the reactor core through their nodes, as the quantum energies begin to emerge from the unstable radioactive core, nova perception and processing speed allowing them to see the last moment of their life in all its horror and grandeur.  The moment seems to slow to a crawl, and a wave of quantum power washes over everyone present... but from the wrong source.  All eyes are drawn to Gravitas, shielding down, eyes full of stars, leaning heavily on the computer terminal for support as he stares intently at the reactor.  The reactor which still hasn't exploded.  He reaches over to the computer and resumes typing with the hand not supporting his weight, eyes never leaving the reactor. Execute Shutdown Procedure.

Comstock watches with his quantum fueled senses as the nuclear reaction begins to occur, but freezes in place.  It is an awesome sight, as the radioactive metal is poised between potential and pure energy, between what it is and what it is trying to become.  In that timeless moment, the metal man realizes that he can firmly hold the uranium in his mind, and shape it to his will.  In that moment he also sees what else he might one day be able to do.

Impetus finishes his efforts to shut down the reactor mechanically, as well as finding the safest and most efficient way to bleed off the energy from it, and he directs Flare and Sol in doing so, even as explosions sound throughout the complex, and a single large explosion rocks the entire base.

The reactor will not explode, nor will it contaminate the local area.  But the team may yet die inside the walls of the valley.  Impetus is spent, and all exits are closed.  Digging through the mountain would destabilize it further, and while Comstock and Solitaire could survive, the others would be killed in a collapse.  Suzukaze's efforts had provided them with precious moments, but it was only a matter of time before it all came tumbling down.  A common thought was shared amongst the team as they looked at one another, ironic smiles slipping onto Imp and Sol's face, Grav and 'Stock sharing a stoic, knowing look, while Suzukaze and Flare cried lightly as they stood waiting for the inevitable.  it all comes down to this?  Really?  Huh.  I guess it was a hell of a run, and we did a lot of good... and we're together here, at the end.

---

As they stood, knowing that most of them would die, with the exception of perhaps Sol and Comstock, an eerie glow lit between them.  Greenish skeletal fingers clawed the air, seemingly from nowhere.  Dozens of them ripped and tore at the empty space surrounding them, pulling back space itself.  The hands pulled in jerks, ripping a hole in reality.  Floating skeletons could be seen through the hole, and they used the leverage provided by the wider space to rip the hole even larger, revealing a familiar expanse of twisted vehicles and destruction.  Through the hole, the team saw their three missing teammates, and the outer area of the base that they had just demolished.

Face unreadable through his mask, the Doctor spoke wistfully, "We thought you might have forgotten to prepare an exit strategy for this situation, but then realized you had obviously intended US as your exit strategy."

Phantasm, on her knees and obviously exhausted, croaked out a few words of her own.  "I figured you could use a lift, but if you don't need it, I can close this up...  But seriously guys, this is hard, stop staring and hurry the hell up will you?"  A thin, strained smile played across her face, and her eyes twinkled with amusement despite the seriousness of the situation.

---

After rushing out of the eerie portal, the team was together once more.  There was still much left to be done in Columbia, but Utopia had won a victory, and the team had won a much more personal battle, one which revealed the bonds and worth of its members.  Only one victory in a greater war, of which Columbia itself was only a single battle.  But it was a start.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Hope this was nice, and that I didn't take too many liberties.  Anyway, mechanical stuff, and logistic stuff: Grav and Phantasm are spent, Zero is likely low from his various powers uses (figured zooming around to collect the explosives in the valey would be a priority for him, saving the baselines and all that), and the others are probably fairly low on Q.  The enemy are still attacking, and they are launching an offensive from their shielded base near the capital, so there isn't really time for "downtime" to recharge unless you want unpleasant consequences.  But you do have the other teams to rely on, and your troops, and a few other resources that will play out over the course of the next posts.  Impetus made a certain request to the Pantheon after all...

So, take a minute to regroup, talk, expound on your internal emotions/thoughts/etc. and generally have some interaction time.

Oh, also, if you want to add anything, any actions or interactions that would have happened in the above post, feel free as long as they don't change stuff around, and you separate it somehow from current interactions.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 08:33, Sat 04 Sept 2010.

Solitaire laughined nigh hysterically as she walked out of the impromptu portal. It was equal parts adrenalin (or whatever passed for it with her) rush and the massive dose of radiation she'd absorbed, and by god she felt good. It was a heady, intoxicating feeling, like she was almost drunk, and the power, she seethed with it. It crackled up and down her body, pleasure, pain and ecstasy all rolled into one. Her arm glowed like a star, she felt as if she could move the planet out of alignment if she pushed at it right then.

"How long has it been since we pulled off something insane like that? I mean, does anything compare?" Solitaire laughed again, falling backwards onto the grass, limbs splayed, and paused to catch her breath. Laughing was hard work when you sometimes forgot to breathe after all. She dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Could you all feel it? When it was about to go? Such power, such purity. That was us. All that we are was contained in that moment of infinite potential. It was beautiful.

Then her voice returned to normal, the usual amused undertone back "Even if we were about to all die. Bravo G-man, saved our asses again, and mines too pretty to be a cinder."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Sat 04 Sept 2010.

Imp collapsed next to Sol, utterly spent.  He wiped blood from his face, he'd pushed hard enough to bleed, again.  Hadn't done that since Rio...
"I would just like to say that you are all magnificent, beautiful and fucking crazy.  That moment there, when, well, you know when, was the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me, and I couldn't hope to have gone through it with better friends."  He spat blood knowing he sounded corny, then tapped his comm set.  Nothing.  Looked like the design boys hadn't expected to need to shield them from being at ground zero of a nuclear explosion.  His voice dropped to a whisper, "Working together we can stop a runaway nuclear reaction, make time slow down and do the impossible.  Maybe there's hope for us yet."
He lay back and looked up at the sky, deeply amused that all those hours spent hunched in a lab with nobody but his equally awkward friends and an unhealthy amount of Mountain Dew would help save his entire world.  Maybe Jason wasn't so useless after all.

Gale was initially standing with Dr. Zero and Phantasm, one hand hanging by her side, the other grabbing that arm at the elbow.  An awkward stance, reflecting her uncertainty at how to react.  Her emotions were in turmoil.  She'd been useless again, but this time, she probably wouldn't have been helpful even if she had gone with them.  She'd really thought they were all going to die, and now that they hadn't...

When Flare stepped through the portal, she couldn't contain herself anymore and caught the other woman up in a fierce hug the likes of which no one here had seen before.  Arms and wings wrapped around her teammate, and her claws dug in slightly into Flare's skin.  "I thought..."  Tears traced their way down her cheeks.

[Private to Flare: Hope you don't mind, but I'm treating Flare as sort of Gale's closest friend on the team, since they came in about the same time and seem to work together a lot.]

Flare clung to Gale, trying not to tear the wings, "Me too, I thought it was over..." before attempting to drag the beleaguered Gravitas, Impetus and anyone within arms reach into a tight group hug.

She tries to stall the growing hero worship she feels for these beings. She was one of them, and more importantly they deserved more than drooling sycophants around them.

"Geez, a bit of altering time, space, and our life expectancy and you're all wiped out. Sad how age catches up on you."

Before any shell bombardments could start pounding the area a shield of fire spring around the group.

"Well seeing as Gale and I didn't get to show our stuff much yet, perhaps we can provide some cover and transport on our out of here."

It had been close, and terrifying, but the reactor explosion paled in comparison to the memory of the power of her teammates. The wash of energy that flooded the area. Powers that surpassed human and possibly even normal nova levels of achievement.  That was a more important thought to take home and ponder.

[Private to Gale: Its never a problem! Actually I could see a Gale and Flare shopping trip in our futures when the major battles are over. ]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Sat 04 Sept 2010.

Gravitas stumbled through the portal, one hand at his temple. He had to jerk out of the way of a snapping bite from one of the skeletal figures rending space as they passed through the exit. He used the other hand to catch himself before face-diving into the ground. Wisps of purple-black energy, the final remains of his shielding and... whatever that had been... trailed off him, evaporating into the air.

He had a headache. He hadn't had a headache this bad since... Well, since his eruption. He kept his eyes screwed shut for a few moments, hoping that it might help, but the blinding light he felt like he was seeing wasn't really light, and it wasn't coming from in front of his eyes.

"I have a favor to ask," he said quietly, obviously straining for the energy to even speak. "Try to avoid telling them I did that," it seemed almost too crazy of a thing to ask. "Maybe the timer just wasn't accurate - bad tech. Nick of time and all." If he were a baseline, he'd be gasping for breath. As it was he just felt like his head might explode. "They don't need to know." He left the antecedent of 'they' up to the individuals to decide, he trusted them with this secret, just as he had been entrusted with secrets of theirs.

He took a deep breath, more as a means of attempting to center himself than because he felt like he needed the air. "In any event, that was marvelous. Well done all around - no one of us could have possibly done that alone."

After the last of her teammates were through the gateway, Phantasm allowed the constructs to close the portal, and then let them dissipate into a haze of sickly green energy that blanketed the area for a few moments.  Slowly, she tipped over, stretching out on her back amidst the rubble of the base, pink cammo eufiber protecting her from the sharp metal and other debris.

Staring up at the sky, she replied to Gravitas in a hoarse whisper, "Secret's safe with me.  But same here, no one needs to know about teleporting monsters.  You know, I'm not even sure how I did that, or they did that, or... whatever."

Pausing a moment to ponder, mind sluggish from lack of quantum, Phantasm's face took on a look of mild panic before she clamped down on it.  I hate being this low on reserves, it's like I'm just a normal person or something, and that's... Terrifying.  Maybe I can pull a little from the suit, assuming it doesn't fight back.  Phantasm squeezes her eyes tightly shut, and her suit writhes around her as the the color drains out of it, leaving it a matte gray mass.  It creates small feelers that pat at the surrounding area, draining the life from the few weeds growing up out of the dirt around Phantasm, and then returns to normal.  As does Phantasm.

Much more calm and collected, hoarseness fading from her voice, Phantasm moves to a sitting position to look around at her friends.  "So, I think the three of us missed some fun in there.  What happened?  It looks like things got sorted out, since we aren't all dead right now..."

Suzukaze moves silently by Phantasm and Gravitas placing a hand on their shoulder as she passes. She walks off from the group head hung low... I'm completely useless. I couldn't even die honorably. I'm a plague on the team. She stops about 10 feet away and stares off into the distance. I could have stayed behind. Rid them of my existence. Would they have stoped me? Dragged me from there kicking and screaming?

Comstock felt a million miles tall.  His footsteps were tectonic, his weight unimaginable.  Gravitas' power shutting off was an incredible relief.  His head was a vice.

Thirty seconds passed.  He eased his muscles, drew in breath, re-adapted.  The crisis was over.  As this realization fell into place, he finally let go.  "Good ... good work team."  A wide smile stretched across his face.

He gave Phantasm a thumbs up.  "Suzukaze found the reactor about to blow.  I think the place was rigged to blow and she did something about that, too, I kind of lost track of things.  Gravitas and Impetus did something to shut down the reaction while Sol threw me at the problem.  I think I knocked the uranium down to lead or something, so there shouldn't be any more immediate risk of fallout.  And Sol's got all the juice of a new star."  He ran a hand over his head.  He felt funny.  Like a shook-up beer, happy and tense and ready to burst.  "How'd you ... ?  Nah.  Tell me later."

Uncharacteristically weak, he lay back on the ground.  Part of him could still feel the reactor, like it was a part of him.  Or that could be nerves or imagination.  His mass kept dropping.  He tried running back through what he'd just experienced, but it confused him.  He didn't want to lock-down again, so he let the thinking go and just felt happy.  He gave a tinny, reverberating chuckle.

"Okay ... five or ten minutes, we have to look alive again.  Still a battle going on out there."  He didn't seem nearly so commanding lying on the floor.  "Grav, you probably ought to hang back.  You too P."  He had trouble speaking, forced himself to breath a little more, then continued.

Would he have survived a nuke to the chest?  He wished he knew.

Imp pulled a silk handkerchief from the pocket of his suit, walked over to a broken open water barrel, and washed his face clean of blood, smoke and dust.  Once clean he headed back towards the others, passing near Sue as he did so.  "You did well in there, Sue, very well.  You probably saved all our lives.  Thank you." He then rejoined the rest of the team and sat down.  "So, now that I know what a microwave burrito feels like, and we're, many of us, totally out of juice, what's say we ask for a lift back to the army and try to help end this war.  I just hope to god that there isn't another wave of hopped up proto-novas coming our way."

Solitaire shot Imp a grin, "Don't worry about that, anybody fool enough to mess with me right now would get punched all the way to Pluto. I can handle rearguard if needed. We're good. IF you gimme an hour, I'll be good as new."

[Private to Rydi: None of my abilities really cost much if any Quantum, my pool is 28, and I recharge 6 an hour due to Node 4, I don't expect I'm more than mildly winded, if that. That, and I'm totally hopped up on spare energy at the moment.]

"I'm not sure we'll have an hour," Gale replied, sad to break the happy mood.  But the team, her team, was alive, and that was most important. Right now, she had to continue to do the best she could, despite her moment of frozen terror from before.

Since most of the others didn't have working comms, she made the call into Frostburn to send a helicopter or a portal or something to get them all back to the main army.

Frostburn sounded concerned when her voice came through on the comlink.  "Gale?!  What the hell happened out there, we lost contact with the whole damned team after they went in the base, all we got was some garbled transmission from Suzukaze about a reactor, and then you didn't respond to questions...  No, on second thought don't bother with an explanation yet, just get back here, we'll go from there... I take it calling for transport means the situation is resolved, so it can wait a few more minutes.

Slider is available for a gate, but if you have any flyers at all it would probably be better for her to conserve her energy. We can send Pax as an escort if you need him though, your call."

Imp groaned at the thought of Pax being their escort back.  He'd probably not gloat openly, Imp'd planted enough seeds for that to probably not happen, but having to deal with him would take more energy than Imp though he had left.  "Think we can get back in one piece without an escort, everybody?"

"Only if someone is willing to carry me," replied Quentin. He suppressed the urge to yawn, he didn't need the sleep, no matter how tired he might feel. "If a few of us are still good to fly and/or carry, we should be good without Pax."

He stood up from where he'd nearly collapsed. It felt odd to be so drained, he'd rarely let himself spend his reserves so freely. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the cooling remains of the reactor buried somewhere in the base below. It was powerfully tempting to attempt to siphon some of that distant nuclear power off and attempt to process it through his own node. Best not to though - best to wait and let the quantum power that flowed through everything slowly refill his cup. It wasn't as if he needed the full might of his powers immediately, though it would be more convenient to just portal away.

"I'm gonna call for a union break when we get back," he said, attempting to joke. "Though we may need to organize a union first."

"Hmm, maybe the League of Beleagured Novas? We could drop tanks on things to protest our treatment.  Oh, and I think I can carry one or two of you, so we should be fine without Pax."

Comstock sat up and rubbed his neck.  "Ask Frostburn how far we are from the fighting and whether there's any nova combatants in action right now."  His eufiber corrected itself, removed any smudges or tears and otherwise adopted the white-and-blue look of a T2M uniform.  The reverb left his voice, but he still sounded subdued rather than charismatic.  "This ain't no union shop, ladies gentlemen and zeroes.  We work for pride and satisfaction."

Slowly, he rose to his feet again.  His skin was periodically dripping, blotting out through his suit, and generally indicating thoughtfulness, awe, and distraction.

"Don't forget fame and the adulation of the masses, those are at least as important as free coffee and donuts in the break room."  Imp stretched his arms and shook himself, "I can carry a few of us back if I pull some juice out of my suit, not going to be of much use if we get jumped though."

Gale relayed the questions to Frostburn.  While she waited for a response, she looked at the others.  "I can carry someone who isn't Comstock, provided they climb on my back.  My arms just aren't strong enough."  She turned to the metal man, giving an apologetic smile.  "Sorry, 'Stock."

Suzukaze walks back to the group. She walks slowly towards Comstock and looks up at him. "I still have a little left to get me to the battlefield. Even if I drain myself I still have my swords and fighting skills. Please... I want to keep fighting." The look on her face has never been so serious or determined. Yet her eyes show signs of being worried. Whether it's from almost dying to the reactor, or that she doesn't fully trust herself on her own. Yet something about her reaches out appealing to Comstock.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Activating seductive looks to try and help in her persuading Comstock to let her fight still. Also how much jungle is there and how close is it to night? Cause it might trigger Suzukaze's phobia.

---

Comstock stared back at Suzukaze, taken aback.  "I ... "  He turned quickly to Gale.  "Gale, what's Frostburn saying?  Are we flying back or is Slider opening the door for us?"

Suzukaze was still staring at him.  "We ... doctrine states I'm responsible for keeping the team together, and after a high intensity engagement it's ... important to draw the team back to regroup and reevaluate our fighting potential."  Shit, was she really going to press this argument?  He felt cornered, frustrated, even a little confused.

"Lets just grab one of the less wrecked jeeps, long as there's someplace for you all to sit I can fly you back. Easy enough." Solitaire commented, still on the ground. "Just like we did back in the wars with that car. Or was it training? Doesn't matter. Anyway, lets leave Slider to her break, I can manage."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:11, Mon 13 Sept 2010.

"That was Africa, yeah, good times." Imp grinned, "Which one of these do we want to ride in, maybe that one," he points to a troop transport that is missing most of the cab, "should be roomy enough."

"Yeah.  Like old times."  Comstock headed over to the truck and dusted any debris off.  He kept peeking back at Suzukaze, unsure what to make of the sudden change in her behavior toward him.

Imp, ignoring the strange vibe between Sue and 'Stock, trotted over and hopped into the back of the truck, he then began unceremoniously clearing out the rubble and detritus to make it slightly more comfortable.  job done he lay down on one of the benches, waiting to see if one of his teammates would move him, sit on him, or some strange combination of the above.

Being less drained than most of the crew, Flare stepped over Impetus (unable to resist poking him) and settled in between two benches, leaving the seating free for the tired. She kept an eye on the interaction between 'Kaze and 'Stock, but didn't have anything to say.  If she wanted to run back to the battle field, it was pretty much her right.

"You're awesome Sol, let me know if we need a shield."

After everyone is situated, Solitaire transports the team back to the rest of the troops.  The trip is much slower than her normal flight speed due to the quality of the vehicle (it wasn't designed for air travel), but despite the sedate flying there are no attacks.  This also gives the team a chance to really look at the terrain, and the damage they've done so far, both to the enemy and to the environment.

Once back with the rest of the allied forces, the other teams are quite anxious to hear about the assault.  Asia/Pacific and Europe both moved in to fill the gap Americas left when they went on the offensive, and the leaders from both teams approach when they land.  Thorn is kind enough to hand Impetus a new headset, taken from one of his team, though he doesn't have enough for the others.

Frostburn and HQ continue to pump in a stream of information on the enemy.  The trip by foot to the capital will likely be harried by more hit and run attacks augmented by novas.  They still have no word on the primary military base, and the bulk of the vehicles seem to be concentrated there.  Allied naval forces are still staying away, and allied planes are keeping a healthy distance from any enemy targets due to the high attrition so far.  The enemy are still shelling the area indiscriminately, and Anteaus has threatened to "sink the whole damned capital" if something isn't done soon (unspoken, but understood, is that this likely will result in issues between the genius and his Utopia patrons in the future).

Imp nodded his thanks to Thorn, then did his best to catch up on the situation with Frosty. "Allied forces, this is T2MA, we're all present and accounted for, the nuclear reactor in the artillery position was rigged to blow.  Situation is contained, and we'll want to send in some energy absorbers after we're done at the capital to make sure the area isn't going to contaminate the region."  He cued his headset to talk to Frosty, "We're also going to need some humanitarian aid there, there's a lot of wounded men there that we were not equipped to deal with, mounting a massive rescue effort to see if anybody is alive in there is probably not plausible at this point, but if we can get the army base pacified within 12 hours or so we should be able to divert some of our nova assets, and maybe some of our reservists, to assist in looking for survivors."  He then broadcast to the team leaders on the field.  "How are we doing people?  How much juice do we have left?  Wounded?  should we wait for 8 hours or so to get some rest before hitting the main base, or do we go in now?  Do we have anybody who can recon the base before we go in?  Talk to me people."

"I can do recon."

"I might need an hour or so to catch my breath," Quentin considered. "I'm pretty much out of juice, but I should be able to recover with a bit of rest." He stared off in the direction of the enemy. "Well, at least enough to keep going." If he could get away from the bustle of the military for a while, he might be able to concentrate a bit more on recovering his reserves."

"I could go for a cheeseburger right about now, but other than that, I'm more or less good." Solitaire commented cheerily from where she reclined in the air nearby.

Comstock kept quiet until a few other team leaders and friends reported.  "Fifty percent capability.  Ready, willing, able to fight."

He gave Phantasm a how you doing? look.  Profound as he felt, he wasn't going to order P into the shit until he was sure she was good and ready.

"I've still got a little juice.  I could maybe stir up a couple weather phenomena, but not much more," Gale commented.  She was avoiding making eye contact with anyone again, pretending to inspect her wings, mostly so they wouldn't see how useless she felt.  Weather changes probably weren't going to help that much.  They certainly couldn't stop something like a nuclear reactor.

Gale's comment gave Comstock an idea.  "Imp: if you're calling the shots, what's the limit of power application?  Could Gale and Antaeus work out some sort of compromise?  A flood or extreme low pressure system to make our point?"  Symbolic violence.  More poignant than the outright and direct brutality Utopia could bring to bear.  "Make them think God himself is on our side."

He was trying to keep his secret objective in mind.  There had to be a way to get away from the others and destroy the labs.  He'd never considered Suzukaze a real ally before, but maybe, just maybe she could help.

"Well, I can do stuff if you give me an hour or so, but I'm not going to be making any more constructs for a while unless we're being killed or something.  Not sure what I'd be good for in this situation, but I'm for trying whatever you need."

Phantasm looked drained, but not nearly as much as when they first left the enemy base.  Her suit was still irritable and snappish from being tapped for energy, but it only occasionally whipped out little tendrils to grope the surrounding plant life, and her teammates, for sustenance.  Good eufiber, yes, that's a good eufiber colony, just settle down... No! Bad colony, leave Gale alone!  Groping eufiber pseudopods withdrew grudgingly back into the rest of Phantasm's suit.

Although still pumped for more combat, Zero decides to wait for it's comrades to rest. It notes with fascination the greed if Phantasm's Eufiber colony, and wonders to itself what Comstock is thinking. He seemed deep in thought.

Suzukaze walks amongst her teammates glancing at them as she passes. She finally stops in front of Phantasm taking notice of the tendrils of eufiber. She kneels facing her removing her swords. "Would you like to join me in a little meditation," she simply asks of her. She draws her katana's and leaves the sheaths in front of her she points the tips of the katana's downward and drives them into the ground in front of her just off to the sides. Sitting back she closes her eyes. "If you wish to join just do as I do. Control your breathing relaxing yourself. Then just shut everything distracting out. It's just yourself body and soul and the life force around you and beyond." Her voice dies down to almost a whisper as she centers herself, and soon falls so silent even her breathing seems unnoticed.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Wed 22 Sept 2010.

Phantasm watches as 'Kaze enters into meditation.  She was never much for the whole sitting still and doing nothing thing, even before erruption, and since then her heightened processing speed made minutes of meditation seem like hours... But why not.  Despite her odd personality, 'Kaze was perhaps one of the few people that could understand how isolating her rapid thought processes were, and there was no reason to alienate her by refusing.

And since Phantasm's thoughts kept rushing faster and faster these days, the eufiber was putting up a bit of a fight, and she was pretty worn out, maybe some centering would help.  Perhaps some sort of quantum feedback between them would even help her get the meditation thing down a bit.

With a shrug, Phantasm sat down in front of 'Kaze and began to meditate, or at least try.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:56, Fri 24 Sept 2010.

"Screwing with the weather, that's an idea I can get behind."  he cued up Frosty, "Frosty, tell me how many weather manipulators we have on site.  I'm guessing a massive storm could really put a kibosh on their will to fight."  He dialed Antaeus, "Antaeus, this is Impetus, we're looking for a way to bring the military base to its knees without destroying more of the surrounding terrain than we have to.  Is there any way to convince you to move some earth and flood the valley, or can you create an earthquake to break their defenses?"
He turned to the rest of the team mic cued to broadcast to all the other novas on the network, "If we rush into this and try to win in a day people are going to get killed.  we'll soften them up for a day or so, then hit them, hard.  If we don't crack them we'll rinse and repeat.  I want those people who are most drained to take a 4 hour break: take a nap, or just lie down, i don't care.  Once they've rested, then another group can get some rack time.  No more than 25 percent of any given team should be down at any given time.  Team leaders, you make the call who's out first."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:54, Sun 26 Sept 2010.

Frostburn replied to Impetus:
"We have Gale, she's our primary weather controller.  I might be able to help as well, depending on what your plan is. Times like these make me miss Pratima.  Anteaus heard you, but he's busy moving a rare species of flower and won't answer any of our questions... Wait a second, we've got a transmission coming in from the Columbians, and great, its on the freaking news... Let me patch it through to you."

The comms click over, and a woman's voice can be heard, speaking in grave, threatening tones.  The words are in English.
"The sovereignty of our nation has been violated.  Our people die at the hands of Nova military forces.  The United Nations, at the behest of the powerful and corrupt nations vying for world hegemony, and with the aid of Utopia, their blunt instrument of totalitarianism, has declared war on freedom.  In this war, we have few options; our military is small, our novas not trained for warfare as those of Team Tomorrow, and our equipment is nowhere near as sophisticated.  If this war continues, we will be forced to take drastic measures in order to protect ourselves, and the other free nations of the world.  We will use nuclear force.  Withdraw from our country, or your entire invading force will be destroyed, along with the beautiful and irreplaceable environmental resources that the rest of the world seems to value far more than our defenseless citizens dying at invader's hands.  You have 3 hours to withdraw, and for the sake of all the world, we hope that you do so."

Frostburn clicks back over at the end of the transmission, but says nothing for a few moments.  When she does speak, her tone is subdued and worried.
"Our science people say that they really could have nuclear weapons available.  With what we've seen of their nova tech, and their ability to synthesize exotic materials... We didn't detect any of the traditional signs of that sort of program, but until today we didn't know the extent of their ability to shield their facilities.  We... Wait, it looks like you have someone coming in by air, lone flier, large male, not sure who he's with.  We just picked him up coming from the northwest..."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
as always, sorry that took so long.  Scene transitions are hard for me sometimes.  Should be fairly fast from here, very little left to go before this is over.  Continue interacting, check on the new arrival, formulate plans, stress a bit over the idea of dying in nuclear fire, or whatever else you want to do.

---

The sheer stupidity of it all was too much.  He'd just witnessed miracles, the building blocks of the universe crashing together, splitting apart, freezing in place.  They'd narrowly survived the forced meltdown and spared the planet the aftereffects of another nuclear fire.  And now this?

"... no way in hell."  And before he knew it, he was locking down again, focusing very hard on something invisible to the naked eye.  "Someone ... find out who that flier is."  Colloidal silver dripped from his brow.  Central to his actions was one seemingly unshakable assumption: They can't kill me.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
OOC: Okay ... this is as good an excuse as any to spend some XPs on something he had in mind.  Over the next few minutes, Comstock is trying to turn his metal skin into the machinery for radio transmission.  He may need to look around for a large metal object to use as a dish or antenna as well.  He's got the engineering talent, I think, and the Mega-Perception Enhancement Hyper-Enhanced Hearing: Radio Scan covers broadcasting and receiving.

In the future, he might grow practiced enough to internalize the machinery so the enhancement will work as advertised, but for now I imagine that there will be bursts of growing radio interference scanning back and forth across the frequencies until he gets the hang of it.  Should be easy for Grav and others to figure out what he's doing.  His intention in all of this is to talk immediately and directly back to the idiot on the other side.  If Imp has taught him anything, it's that you can't let the bad guys have the last word or control the dialogue unchallenged.  If he needs more juice, he'll start pestering Gale boost his broadcast.  He ought to have the Quantum to keep this going at least a little while, and most of his favorite powers are low-cost, permanent duration anyway.

---

Listening to the boradcast made Imp start trembling, every fiber quivering with rage.  His hands clenched and unclenched, brow furrowed and the muscles in his jaw stood out in stark relief.  "They're broadcasting to us, not their citizens, otherwise they'd be using Spanish.  Their delivery method will be, I'm guessing, a 'porter.  No conventional means would get the job done."  Imp swore, punching a nearby boulder hard enough to make the rock crack.  "Why is it that every despot uses the same fucking language to defend their actions, the same pathetic rhetoric to sway the masses, and resorts to the same stupid tactic of I'll shit on everything rather than let somebody else have it?"  His fist slammed into the rock again.  Cracks deepened.  He grimaced, turned to Sol, "Any way for you to soak up another nuclear bast today, beautiful?"  he clicked his mic on, "And who the hell is that flier?  Do we have eyes on him?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:05, Sun 26 Sept 2010.

"When we make that union," Quentin said, sitting down on the ground nearby, "I'm going to lobby for a 'One Nuke/Day' clause. Seriously." After determining that this location seemed to be acceptable by whatever arcane criterion he was employing, he lay out flat on the ground with his arms spread out to either side and stared up at the sky. "Can they come back later?"

He could imagine himself absorbing photons and other radiation that managed to make it past the Earth's magnetic field. He tried to imagine this somehow refilling his power reserves, but knew that wasn't how it worked. Still, he hoped laying flat against the Earth like this might help. Unlike probably nearly everyone else on the planet, he could feel the way the Earth pulled at him, a comfortable, constant tug. Similarly, he could feel it rotating as he detected the shifting relative position of the sun, the moon, and the other planets - distant, invisible, but still exerting tiny amounts of gravity on him and everything else in the universe. This constant presence was, in some strange way, comforting to him. He hoped that, barring distractions, it would help him keep calm enough to refill his reserves somewhat faster.

"We'll destroy the world because you showed up? How retarded."  Flare takes a moment to collect herself after the absurd threat of destroying a country to keep their sovereignty.  "We need to track these nuts to their source and stop them. Wouldn't it be hard to hide a nuclear weapon facility even in this terrain?"

Solitaire chuckled at Imp's question, "Flattery will get you everywhere you know. But in all seriousness, It would be easier to intercept any missiles they might launch than to contain an explosion. I'm good, but once it blows..." She trailed off, it had taken all of them at the reactor, and it had been a near thing, if they had more stashed around, this could get ugly, and fast.

"As to our guest, I could eye him in a minute or if you want. Unless somebody else is closer."

In an effort to feel useful (and because she still had a little energy left), Gale took to the sky to try and get a look at the incoming flier.  She actually had really good eyesight, so she might be able to spot who it was without having to get too close.  But with all the nuclear threats, they needed to know for sure if this was friend or foe.

Gale flew into the sky, where her keen eyes spotted a very unexpected visitor.  She had only seen him once before, at Orzaiz's party, but Geryon's muscled form and slightly superior smile were unmistakable.  He was heading for the allied troops, though at a slower pace than some of the faster nova fliers.  Whether he was simply not gifted with rapid flight, or just taking it slow so that his presence could be noted, was unclear.

Gale relayed the information to the rest of the team, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.  "It's Geryon.  He's heading for the troops.  Orders?"  She didn't know enough about Geryon to say whether he was here to help or to hurt.  Imp, Sol, or Grav would know that.  Regardless, she started flying to intercept him, or follow him, depending on how much faster he was.  She knew she would need to keep an eye on him.

Comstock didn't care about Geryon.  He figured the big guy might even like what he had to say.  When everything was finished, Comstock broadcast his voice across every frequency.

"To all points, especially the pinheaded idiot speaking for the Colombian government, this is Dillon Amargosa.  This is Comstock.

"I have received your transmission.  Let me to correct you on a few points: first of all, you have no sovereignty, so there's nothing violated.  Out where I'm from, the definition of a sovereign government is one that enjoys the free endorsement of its people in elections.  You stop conscripting, brutalizing and drugging your population and have a few fair elections and then maybe you get to make that argument.  Until then you can drop the righteous act.  It's bullshit and you know it.

"Second of all, stop putting words in my goddamn mouth.  I am not here to save plants.  Burn them for all I care.  I am here to save lives and end injustice.  Your government murders people and wages war on its neighbors through criminal organizations.

"Third of all, you do have a military.  If you've forgotten that, I can show you pictures.  They've been shooting at me all morning.  I'd say it's a pretty modern one, but don't exactly know because except for US Army boot-camp way way back my training is in PR and humanitarian aid.  Not fighting wars or running death camps.  I'm so nice, I even warn people before I punch them, so I must be out-of-fucking touch.

"Now I'm sick of your lies and crap.  You have nuclear weapons?  Want to pick on more defenseless people?  Sounds like a blast.  I'm telling my team to pull out, but I'm not going anywhere.  I'd like to see you dickless wonders fire those nukes if you're so scared of little old me.  In fact, I'm guessing you are in Bogota right now, so I'm going to head right over there as fast as these two feet will take me.  You feel like burning your land to the ground instead of admitting you're fascists and in the wrong?  Go for it.  But all the bombs in the world aren't enough to stop me.  I might not even feel it.

"This is Dillon Amargosa.  I'll see you in a few hours, and if you aren't willing to back off your shit than you'd best pray to God for a miracle.  Out."

Another wave of static blared over all frequencies as Comstock shut down 'transmission' mode.

With a frustrated grunt, he found his carbine, cracked his neck, grabbed a spare radio and stood tall.  "All of you heard me on your headsets, right?  Make ready to pull everyone out."  Next he rooted about for some metal siding or other discarded material and then went about fixing any damage to his extra plating.  He was low on juice, but was sure he could stay heavy for hours if he really needed.  He just wouldn't be able to perform his usual miracles.  "I'm headed out that way, and if they're dumb enough to try anything stupid I expect all of you to stay out of it."

Solitaire laughed at Comstocks diatribe, not just a chuckle, but a true laugh, light and musical. God, there were days she loved this job.

"Show them who's boss, Boss. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go have a chat with Geryon for a moment."

With that, she took off, heading to intercept the massively muscled nova before he caused too much trouble. Upon reaching him, she reclined easily in the air next to him, waving a hand cordially in greeting.

"Heya Geryon, here to join the party?" Her gaze flicked around the air about them as she spoke, "Anybody else hiding around here or is it just you?"

Even with his eyes closed, Quentin could image the look on Comstock's face. "I really can't recommend you going in alone," he protested weakly, knowing full-well that he was too exhausted to do anything about it. "I share the sentiment, but they've probably still got some of their test-tube novas in reserve, and at least a few of their natural ones as well."

"You should wait a few for the rest of us to catch their breath."

Suzukaze sits in silence becoming one with her senses and surroundings. She feels the breeze of the wind against her as her mind drifts. Her focused perception picking up the conversations of her team as her mind trails off. The images nearly dying from the reactor. How she was willing to just give up and sacrifice everything to thoughts of Shiro and her family. Finally to her meeting with the mysterious Logan. Her head drops slightly at the thought. She raises it again and without opening her eyes speaks to Phantasm...

"I owe you my life," she pauses. "We all do. But I was willing to just give up everything before the others came. I thought all was lost. I know I've done a lot of things to make you hate me, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to change that. I get to see my family again."

Suzukaze opens her eyes staring at Phantasm. "You know my cousin likes you. I don't know if you have someone, but happiness and love are precious things. If it's what you do in life, your family, friends or significant other. You must treasure these moments. You've seen what happened to Shiro. He was my happiness and my love. I would give up everything for him. But I've lost him, and today my family almost lost me."

Suzukaze stares down at the ground. "If you take a good look at my swords. The one on my right with the purple handle is Seiatsu, and the one on my left with the black is Nokemono. If anything happens to me promise that you'll bring them home. Seiatsu I want Miho to have, and if he should ever wake Shiro is to have Nokemono." She stands pulling her blades from the ground and re sheathing them. She bows to Phantasm. "Thank you for the chance to see them all again." She takes a knee. "And whatever life throws at you make sure you have happiness." She stands and walks off.

Imp's rage abated, then evaporated as Comstock expounded.  He smirked.  Grinned.  When the diatribe came to an end he wryly cocked an eyebrow, "Very well done sir, couldn't have said it better myself.  Except for the you going there alone.  That's crazy talk.  Not happening."
News of Geryon made his momentary good humor fade.  What the hell was he doing here?  How wold Pax respond to one of the Club so vocal in his views on nova separateness?  This could turn into a disaster.  "Go get him Sol, get there before anybody decides to do something stupid."

Phantasm sits with Suzukaze, trying to find a calm amidst her rushing thoughts and the chaos of recent events.  After moments that felt like hours, she started to feel a glimmer of the state she was looking for, a state of awareness without though... And then 'Kaze spoke.

Phantasm tried to get in a few words to contradict 'Kaze's self deprecating diatribe, but was mostly unsuccessful.  She settled for just replying to her last comment. "I... But... Yeah, I'll take them home for you..."

Still confused by 'Kaze, and then the odd turn of conversation, Phantasm yells out to her rapidly retreating companion "Hey, Thanks!  And I don't hate you!"

So confused... And what was that whole deal about her cousin liking me?

"No.  Get out of here, that's an order.  I can survive a nuke, the rest of you probably can't."  Granted, he'd never tested the idea.  He looked around for his XO to back him up, but Solitaire was still in the air.  "If it goes bad for me, I'm sure one or all of you can start taking big risks again.  And any minute the rest of Utopia and the allied commanders are going to start pitching a fit and getting political again, so it's better if its just me that's screwing things up."

It was about then that it started sinking in precisely what he'd done.  Were they going to fire him for going off script?  Would the Colombians take his speech at face value and fire their WMDs early?  Too late to back off now.  The doubt sapped some of his bravado and enthusiasm though.  "I really mean it, team.  Let me take care of this one, okay?"  He was already slowly walking away.

Gale flew up to Geryon, who stopped mid-air once he saw that he had been noticed.  Her sharp eyes caught a smirk on his face as he waited, hands on hips, for her to reach him.

"Hey there.  Playing with the big kids today?  Can I play too?"

His arrogance dissipated somewhat as Solitaire approached.  He lost the smile, and became much more serious.
"Yeah, and yeah.  Impetus made a request, and we've decided to give him what he wanted.  Though we make no promises as to whether he'll enjoy what he gets.

Either way, when you make your assault on the capital, you have help."

There was more to his plan, and he wasn't hiding it.  But he seemed sincere in his offer, and was certainly a powerful and useful ally in a battle where Utopia novas were heavily outnumbered.

---

The rest of the T2Mers on the ground were beginning to realize the full weight of Comstock's reply.  Frostburn came through with a muttered "Aw, shit" before everyone began talking at once.  Pax, screaming over the line, HQ telling Comstock to hold his position, and the other T2M teams asking what was going on.  General verbal chaos prevailed for several minutes.

Gravitas, and anyone else with a modicum of intelligence, realize that if a nuke was going to drop, it would be most useful for them to do it soon, and at the allied forces current coordinates.  Everyone is on edge, and tensed in preparation for whatever is about to happen next.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I want a moment more for people to talk before moving things forward.  But just a few moments of in game time. If people want to do anything, let me know.

Is Zero still around btw?  His quantum sight might be useful right about now...

---

Suzukaze stops when Phantasm says she doesn't hate her. She raises her right hand brushing back her hair. It almost seems as if she is about to turn back until she picks up Comstock's outburst and notices him start to walk away. She races in front of him placing her hand on him as is she could really try holding him back. She looks up at him. "Please don't go. I'm supposed to be the crazy one not you. We need you. We're not a team without you. And besides you wouldn't be able to stop me from going with you cause I would just beat you there."

Imp grinned again, "Sorry, 'Stock, but since I'm technically not on T2MA anymore, and am responsible for managing nova assets in this one, you can't really order me around.  But anyways," he toggled his headset, "Anybody who can possible see a porter doing their thing, or notice someone who can become invisible spread out and take sentry, everybody else, Comstock's called their bluff, let's hope that's what it is.  defensive positions, begin pulling back from this position.  I would suggest we novas move away from the baseline troops as we will be the primary target, but that might be what they want.  be ready for anything."  He then paused for a minute and closed his eyes then pulled more energy from his suit; he then focused on his node and his eyes in a way that he almost never did.  When he opened them again he saw the world awash in quantum energy, his compatriots shone like angry stars while the the baseline troops faded into the background.  He then flew up a hundred meters or so and slowly spun in place, searching for any trace of the enemy.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
activated quantum awareness.  Down to 2 quantum in my suit.

---

"Hey look I ...!"  This wasn't how he'd thought it would all happen when he was angry a minute ago.  "I'm not crazy!  Are you listening?"  He gave up on Imp, who'd turned to his headset and strategy, and so focused on the protesting Suzukaze.  "No, I can't stop you.  I've never been able to stop you from doing a damn thing.  But what are you going to do when you get there?"  What am I going to do when I get there?  "They need to see what one man can do.  All of you need to focus on saving lives and minimizing damage."  The words felt weak, even as he said them.  He wasn't good at this.  Persuasion.  He stopped walking, just a stone's throw from the rest of the team.

The hand-radio at his side started barking with chatter again and he shut it off.  He needed to focus.  He wished he could keep working the radio with his skin.  He wished he knew what the Colombians were thinking.  No matter what he did now, chances were he'd be too slow to have a major impact on the battle.  Again.

Imp dialed his headset so that it would only be heard by Comstock, "One man can give heart to an entire army, my friend.  It's not how many skulls you can break with your own hands."

Comstock might have felt a weak tugging back towards Quentin as the other man gestured futily at him, shaking his head, "Its just not a good idea, even supposing that everyone gets out of the way and they only drop this thing on you... I mean, you might be nigh invulnerable, but the second you're looking a nuke in the face, that 'nigh' part is going to catch up to you real fast." He kept shaking his head, as if rejecting current plans - not that there was really anything he could do about it, either way. "No, gotta find it before they launch it, or intercept it before detonation and port it away - fat chance of that. Most modern nukes use a pressure-sensitive trigger so that they air burst at an optimal altitude. Any bombs they've got are either tech they came up with from scratch - which means it could be anything - or stolen from someone else - which means a pressure trigger."

Quentin was, he knew, rambling at this point, and not really to anyone in particular. He was too tired to care who he directed his nearly stream-of-consciousness dialogue at, he just hoped someone might find it useful. "No, gotta know what sort of delivery system they're using - that would do wonders for figuring out how to prevent detonation."

Flare had been mulling over Comstock's decision for a bit and weighting the pros and cons.

"Sorry Bossman, for once I'm in agreement with 'Kaze.  You going out there alone may not be suicide, but it won't do anyone a hell of a lot of good either.  Also think about what it would look like to the world if you managed to stop them.  One man in T2M can intimidate a country.  Suddenly we are an even bigger threat.  At least if we're seen in groups people assume its our combined strenghts and training that make us so effective. Do we really want to give the world another reason to fear us?"

God but she hated even trying to think this way. The big picture was meant for brilliant minds like Grav and Imp. She managed a grin anyway.

"And besides, if you think I'm going to miss the chance to watch you catch a nuke and lob it into orbit you have another thing coming."

Flare was fresh and new (as she had done little in the last battle) so she pops a fire shield and prepares to either follow along with Comstock or give him a lift to the front.

Phantasm walks to where 'Kaze and the rest were trying to talk down Comstock, face unreadable.  When she's beside him, she looks up at his quicksilver eyes, and shakes her head.
"Suzukaze's right.  So's everyone else.  Not only are you too important to just throw yourself at death, not only will it be ineffective... but you'll also have to go through all of us to do that."

Moving closer, she lowers her voice so that only those nearby can hear,
"You've been through too much these last few years, we all have.  This is the end though, after this the world is different, and I get the feeling that we're going to be looking for a new line of work.  Don't let it all slip through your fingers Dillon, don't get lose who you are.  We just need to get through this one last mission, and 'Kaze reminded me I don't want to lose the only family I've got left.  We're all coming out of this in one piece."

Turning away from Comstock, she looks over at Gravitas, as she mulls over their options.  "You're right.  If I were them, I'd port it in, small hole, something we couldn't follow.  Question is, where do they send it?  The army attacking them, our HQ, or some populated city somewhere?  I think they only have a limited amount of resources to use though, if they had an unlimited supply of nuclear weapons then they'd be taking a harder stance, maybe detonating a few as a show of strength.  That's assuming they aren't bluffing of course.  And if they just have a few, then they'll have to use their resources carefully... and we have to hope they use them in a way that will let us counter their attack."

"Well Geryon, and whoever else might be listening, might I direct you to our little enclave over there?" Solitaire said brightly, pointing over at where T2M:A was gathered. "Everybody else might take it the wrong way, and since we are 'on the clock' at the moment, I'd really prefer not to deal with that kind of mess if you would be so kind?" She gazed at him mildly, as if to say, 'I'm not going to stop you if want to land in the center of things, its your business, but it would be much easier this way.' "Excuse me for a second."

She reached up and keyed her headset to the team channel to weigh in on the issue. "You know Boss, I've got your back either way, 100%, your call. And yes, I can still hear you from up here, if I really listen."

"Anyway Geryon, where was I? Oh right, so, who all did you bring along? Or are you going to keep it Hush Hush? Solitaire rolled lazily over in the air as she spoke, keeping her gaze locked on his, but not particularly concerned.

Gale hovered near Solitaire, crossing her arms.  'Playing with the big kids' indeed.  It was interesting to watch the instantaneous respect that Sol got from the huge hulking nova.

She didn't really have a lot to say about the situation with Comstock.  He was the leader; if he thought that was the best way to handle things, who was she to argue?  She did, however, try to keep a watch for anything unusual (besides Geryon) here in the sky.

"Ah ... damnit!"  He looked back and forth, everyone's words bringing him back out of it.  The bad guys were supposed to just shoot at him.  When the hell did all this get so complicated?  "They can't shoot it at a populated city!  It's ... alright, Grav, P, I'm stuck.  Make a best estimate of where we need to go."  He locked down and wracked his brain, trying to think through all the briefing data, maps, CIA reports, anything that could give him a hint as to where the Colombians might keep their weapons or launch facilities.  Coming up with nothing, he turned to other problems.

He turned the hand radio back on and tried to tune out the buzz in his head.  "Frostburn: get me Slider right now.  There is no time to explain, just do it.  ... I'll talk to Pax in a minute, but right now I need Landers."  He regretted the loss of the smart-software in the burnt out headset, which would have cut many seconds off of the effort.  He'd broadcast the signal over his skin, but did not yet trust that everyone would not hear.

When he finally got her: "Slider, this is Comstock: whatever happens in the next five minutes, we will need you to make a portal for us.  Get over here, over."  The team's quantum resources would have to be conserved for whatever happened.  "Slider, it is important.  Over."

As he waited for an answer, his eyes fell back on Phantasm, Gravitas, Imp and the others.  Even Suzukaze.  His expression softened for a moment.  Keep focused.  Plenty of time to feel emotional later.  "Everyone.  Thank you." he mumbled, acknowledging the need to supply an emotional response.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:50, Sun 10 Oct 2010.

Zero salutes. "Si, el capitan!" and takes position. The Doctor activates Q-Attunment to spot invisible attackers

Geryon replies to Solitaire, grinning a bit. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours.  When are you hitting their main base, we want in on the action."

---

Slider shows up seconds after the call, despite being ordered by several people, Pax included, to hold her position.  Maybe it was all the time she spent with the team, but whatever the case, she seems to owe more loyalty to her fellow team members than to the leadership of Utopia.

Landers arrives via a small gate, perhaps attempting to conserve energy, while attempting to juggle several medical kits and new comm units in her arms.  A few drop to the ground as she says, in near perfect imitation of her action figure "Never fear, Slider's here!" The grin that accompanied her statement is cut short by her next statement however.  "At least until they fire my ass and sue me for breach of contract.  What's up, and what can I do to help?"

---

Impetus, straining to use his quantum senses, feels more than sees a distortion nearby.  Likely it is outside his range of quantum sight, but it is further towards the bulk of the allied troops.  As Impetus notes the fluctuation, he also notes that Zero's mysterious senses seem to have caught the distortion as well.  The Doctor's head jerks around as his finely attuned quantum perception notes a vortex of quantum energy building, similar to the teleportation gates made by Slider and Gravitas.  But the T2M teleporters are all on location, all accounted for...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
There is a single moment (action) to react to what is going on with the rapidly forming gate; a shouted warning followed by movement, attempts at disruption, etc.  Currently Imp and Zero are the only ones that see it, but with appropriate warnings others can react as well.

---

"GATE!" Imp shouts a warning into the headset in mid motion, diving towards the spatial disturbance.  He angles his flight so that it will take him into the portal, hoping that he can catch who or whatever is coming through and carry it back with him to the other side.

Gale gasps as she hears Imp's warning and turns.  It takes her a moment to spot anything, and she doesn't spot the gate directly.  She spots Imp flying for it.  Since Geryon didn't seem to pose an immediate threat, she took off after Imp.  She would make herself useful this time.  She would!

Suzukaze turns towards the sound of Imp's voice as he shouts the warning. She watches as he takes off. She hangs her head staring at the ground for a split second before going over to Phantasm. She places Seiatsu in her hands then takes off chasing after Imp.

Zero, feeling reckless, teleports blindly onto the other side of the gate. The Doctor will try to hide on the other side if a hiding spot is available.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Activate Quickness
Activate Teleport
20:53, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 10d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,4,7,5,1,3,3,1,5,4. Hide! 1MegaDex.

---

The gate that irises open is barely large enough for a person, and what comes through is about the size of a motorcycle.  The object is vaguely cylindrical in shape, mounted on all-terrain wheels for ease of movement, and registers to quantum senses as radioactive through heavy shielding.  The gate closes almost immediately after the device is through.

Impetus, 'Kaze, and Gale move toward the gate, and are in close proximity to the object as the gate closes.  Slow seconds speed by, and what is very likely a bomb rolls to a stop...

---

[Private to Dr. Zero: to actually trace a teleport you will need either an extra for your power, or an enhancement on your perception.  I would suggest the enhancement, it's cheaper in the long run.  I will assume you plan to buy it, and act accordingly in this scene.]

The Doctor, with keen quantum senses, fast reactions, and perhaps a bit of insanity induced bravery, uses the gate as a conduit to activate his own strange travel abilities...

And finds himself at the enemy base, standing in the middle of a contingent of heavily armed men serving as a guard contingent for the enemy teleporter that has plagued Utopia for the last year.  The area appears to be a small part of a much larger military base and air field, cordoned off from the rest of the base.  Three more devices exactly like the one that went through the gate are lined up and ready to roll.  The sky above look like there is constant heat shimmer, at least to normal senses, but in quantum sight the entire base is surrounded by a shimmering lattice of quantum force that prevent all travel in or out of the base (the hole made to allow the gateway is already closing).

Seeing the object rolling out Suzukaze's mind begins to race... Shit... This can't happen. It can't... She charges the object as it comes to the stop she grabs a hold of it and takes off. I've got to get it away from everyone... Far away... So far...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Figure if my mega strength of 1 isn't enough to pick it up since it's on wheels I can hopefully push it like a nuclear battering ram.

---

Zero is impressed. Thoroughly impressed. What minds could have constructed such wonders? It was a wonderful days to be a Nova! (All that remained of it, at least.)

How to proceed? That was up to the hostiles all around the bad Doctor. If Zero had slipped in just so, and was not spotted, Doc would camouflage itself as another guard, and see how best to sabotage the whole affair.

Or perhaps trying to assassinate the Teleporter was the best course of action. They could not send more bombs without his support, but Zero had little way of knowing the creature's power. Oh, wait. Yes it did. Camouflage (if not shot), then Z would see what this Nova could do.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The Doctor will activate the Copy-cat Enhancement, & change it's uniform via Eufiber, to match the soldiers. Zero will then try to use Quantum Attunment to see what the Quantum, Node, Taint ratings, and description of Q-Powers the Teleporter has.

Medical Prodigy Roll: 3 successes (3rd Meg was a 9)
15:32, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 1,2,9,5,1,7,4,1. Medical Prodigy, 3 Mega .

Q-Attunement Roll: 6 successes. Wow. Only Meg exploded at 10.
15:35, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 3 successes using 14d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,8,5,1,2,1,3,8,2,4,5,1,2,1. Medical/Q-Attune, 1 Meg + 1 Will.

[Private to Rydi: Cool. That sounds like a fun Enhancement. Thank you. :)]

---

"Sue, no, wait, the timer's probably too short to..." Imp cried in warning as his lightening quick team mate grabbed the bomb and attempted to whisk it away. Knowing he was too late and too little he triggered his force field and tackled Gale, figuring that, unaided, she would have the least chance to survive the impending blast.

Comstock charged as fast as he could.  Jam the detonator, stop the bomb, transmute it ... anything.

Solitaire watched her teammates scrambling about with interest. She wasn't particularly bothered by the (presumed) nuke, after all, if it could be dealt with, they would handle it, if not, well, there was no point worrying about things you couldn't stop. And anyway, its not like it would kill her.

Upon further consideration however, it probably would kill Suzukaze, and while that might be the whole point of her insane little maneuver, as the girl had a martyr complex a mile wide, she was still part of the team, which meant she was under Solitaire's protection.

"Seems things are heating up, I'll be just a moment, make yourself comfortable, and ready any Nuclear level defenses you might have."

With a jaunty little salute, Solitaire streaked off on an intercept vector with 'Kaze, keying her radio as she went.

"'Kaze, hand off to me, I'll fling it out of the atmosphere."

Well, if there's time, that is. She thought.

Too slow, too slow! Gale cursed inwardly as she watched her teammate sweep the device away.  " 'Kaze, don't--oof!"  Whatever warning she had been about to shout was cut off as Imp tackles her.  About to protest, she realized almost too late the danger she was in, and activated her own force-field, putting the wall of solid air above the duo to protect them both.

There was no way that Flare could stop Sue, and very little she could do about the nuke. "This is going to be bad" Flare pulls a fire wall around herself and as many of her teammates as she can.  Hoping, rather than believing, that the extra protection would have any effect in stopping a nuke.

Suzukaze hearing Solitaire's voice quickly looks to spot her teammate. She hesitates but lets go of the nuke. She turns the other direction and looks for a ditch or something to hide behind before activating her forcefield. She closes her eyes and tucking herself into a ball her elbows on her knees and her hands behind her head.... "Please God.... Please"

Hanging in that seemingly endless moment from when the bomb appeared and whatever was about to happen happened the strangest things took prominence in Imp's mind.  His daughters, both of them, would he see them again?  Would anybody fulfill his dream of surfing a solar flare?  Would mother move back to Seattle?  And, my goodness, didn't Gale smell good.  "If we're going to die right now there's something you need to know," he said at super human speed, "you smell great."  He flashed her that trademark grin, then prepared for that awful white flash that he was pretty sure was coming.

Quentin, too spent to be able to exercise any of his otherwise-great power, turned his head and watched silently as the mechanism rolled out of the gate. He could feel, to some degree, the gate's opening and closing, and knew that the Doctor was leaving a split-second before he actually did, probably tracing back along the gate to find their would-be assassin.

As it was want to do, his brain kicked into overdrive analyzing the device, determining what its external mechanisms and probable internal composition. Of course, given the amount of time he had available, his analysis would not have time to be completed - and it would avail him little in any event.

Bereft of his defenses, Quentin was at the mercy of his teammates and could only hope that they would find a solution before they were all reduced to ash.

Low on energy, and too slow to keep up with what will likely happen over the next few seconds, Phantasm digs deep into her suit and pulls from the environment around her, putting up her shield and projecting a half formed moaning soul from it.  The phantasm flies toward Suzukaze, reaching the weapon and wrapping itself around it just as 'Kaze hands it off to Solitaire.  Phantasm then leaps to tackle Gravitas, attempting to cover him with her own shield.

The entire time from the opening of the gate until Solitaire could grab the device took perhaps 3 seconds.  Unfortunately, the reaction that would cause a massive explosion was set to go off after only 10 seconds.

Comstock is able to turn some of the exotic material to inert lead, but the material was not very pliable under his seeking quantum fingers, especially when the work was done from yards away.  Solitaire manages to fly it higher, but even moving faster than the speed of sound, she is able to move only a small distance in the time remaining.  Those nearby can feel the energies building within the device through their nodes a split second before the blinding flash of white fire sweeps over the area.

Even with Comstock's manipulations and Phantasm's quantum cocoon around the bomb, the device is incredibly powerful, overwhelming Solitaire's energy absorption and burning into her flesh.  Even as her clothing disintegrates and her flesh begins to sear off, it never occurs to Solitaire that this explosion would be her death.  Perhaps that confidence, and the Marvelous display of a woman standing in the heart of a nuclear explosion, is what allows her to live.  As the energy coruscating over her skin forms into a glowing energy matrix, wrapping her in a protective shield and replacing burnt skin, Solitaire feels a strange transformation beginning to occur as she drops from the sky like a falling star.  Only a short bit of time remains to Solitaire before becoming... Other.  Minutes, perhaps an hour; enough time to see the end of the war, and to say goodbye.[Private to Solitaire: you're alive, but that threw you into chrysalis.  I was planning on downtime after the war anyway, for people to go into chrysalis, so not as bad as it sounds.]

On the ground, the blast is incredible, searing all life within a mile of the blast.  Or at least all life not infused with its own internal quantum fires. Solitaire's energy absorption reduces the blast enough that most of the T2M members come through mostly intact.  Forcefields buckle under the blast, eufiber bubbles and screams, skin blisters under the heat and debris thrown by the shock wave pierces bone and breaks skin.  But through their combined efforts, most of the team lives.  The army, and the forest around them were not so lucky however; the ground is littered with skeletons of the dead and the earth is a twisted and scorched mockery of the verdant jungle it once was.

Comstock, one of the few who remained standing through the blast, looks around at the holocaust before him, and despairs.  At least his orders to move people had saved lives; much of the army was out of range of the blast, though radiation treatment would be required by virtually everyone in the area.  Slider had ported out moments before the blast, saving many.  But there were still so many dead, even a few of their own: Giesha and the Commander, lacking significant defenses and staring at the sky when the blast hit, were scattered to the winds.

Of the Americas team, injuries are severe, with multiple broken bones and severe burns, but all are alive.  Quinten is perhaps the most injured of the group; his left leg below the knee and the fingers on his right hand were outside the area of Phantasm's shield.  Now those parts are simply... gone.  He is also severely burned and likely suffering radiation poisoning and broken ribs from having Phantasm pressed into him.  Cruelly, he is still conscious, his superior brain no longer capable of 'turning off' in the face of trauma.

The others are at least intact, but are still badly injured, crippled by the wave of destruction.  After a few moments, Slider reappears, Saul following close behind.  They look in awe at the destruction, marveling at the damage, then averting their eyes in horror and shame.  Silently, they begin helping those left alive to stand, and healing those they can.  The earth rumbles, and seems to moan, almost as though a sentience bound to it is crying out in agony and impotent rage, and then goes still.

For those left standing and who can think past their pain, the inevitable thought now is: what now?  They were broken and battered, and the enemy still could have more of weapons like these.  But Utopia did have 2 advantages... First, they had allies nearby, the Teragen.  And second, the enemy thought they were all dead.  With that in mind, another question loomed in the minds of the T2M members still conscious: how much more were they willing to endure, and how far were they willing to go to see this war finished?

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
How far indeed.  Everyone, even after healing (both from Flare and Saul), will be down at least 3A wounds.  Grav is down 5A after healing.  And quantum is running short for many.  There is plenty of tainted Quantum for a recharge lingering in the area (hey, maybe the background radiation of the area would even go down a notch); I'll even give you a once in a lifetime deal, and let you take a point of Permanent Taint to refill your quantum to full.  There might be time to spend an hour recharging, if you want to leave Zero to his own devices (they think you're dead, and they're going to want to posture and threaten for a while).  Up to you on how you want to finish things off.  Oh, and for those wondering, the deus ex machina that is Anteaus is out of the picture, his senses overwhelmed by the blast.

---

---

Zero was spotted shortly after its arrival, but quickly disguises itself, taking the form of a nearby soldier and diving into their ranks.  In the moments of confusion before the Nova orders both the soldier and his new twin shot, Zero does manage to intuit the powers of the Teleporter however.  While far more durable than a human, the 'porter is hardly a peak specimen of nova virility; rather, he seems to have a very strong talent for teleportation, one rivaling that of Slider, but little else to defend himself with aside from slightly superhuman speed of thought and reflexes.

As it analyzes the 'porter, and the soldiers shove their teammate and his double from their ranks to shoot them, Zero feels the wash of quantum energy as the nuclear blast hits its former location.  What happened?  Did its friends survive?  What about the helpless baselines?  This war had claimed far, far too much, and all in the name of petty power struggles and wealth... A cold anger rolled across the Doctor's skin as the soldiers' guns barked, tearing through their fellow and bouncing off of Zero's armored skin.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
You take no wounds from the gunfire, but your position is exposed (the minimal successes on your stealth roll didn't hold up unfortunately). Oh, and you're trapped inside this quantum bubble, 'porting out won't work, though you can 'port around inside it.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:26, Tue 16 Nov 2010.

Everything happened in slow motion for Gravitas - that wasn't terribly unusual for him. What was unusual was the utter sense of helplessness he felt as he watched events unfold. It was ironic, he thought, that he was unable to do anything to save himself or anyone else because of his actions in preventing a very similar problem only minutes earlier. He watched as his teammates attempted to disable or damage the device, and ultimately as Solitaire grabbed it and attempted to fly it out of range of the team, the army unit, and the ground. In a way, Gravitas knew that things would actually get worse that way. Most nuclear weapons were air-detonated for a reason. The calculations running through his mind changed in real time as he watched her rocket up. He heard the sonic boom a split second later, a harbinger of what was about to come.

Though a part of him, the scared and human part, wanted to close his eyes it was overruled by the rest of him. Instead he watched, opening himself to the quantum of the world. He'd been near nuclear reactors before; he knew that it was often possible to siphon off some small amount of their emitted radiation and re-purpose it for his own needs. He doubted that such a technique would do much good here, but he wanted to know what it was like to have that much power wash over his node before the heat wave hit and killed them all.

Some amount of regret hit him - rather hard in his midsection. He readjusted his gaze briefly to see that Phantasm had thrown herself on him and was extruding a force field. Perhaps that might help. The calculations adjusted again.

Then he felt - and saw - the initial wave of the explosion just as the calculations produced solutions; pure black-body radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum washed out at the speed of light from the point in the distance that Solitaire had managed to get to. The power he felt coursing through his node was immeasurable and certainly well beyond his ability to harness.

He could already feel that parts of his body were not shielded from the blast, he jerked in his right arm as far as it would come to protect as much as he could from what was to come. They were all being heavily irradiated, but the worst would happen when the heatwave/fireball arrived in a short moment. His expression hardened in a wince and he whispered hoarsely: "This is going to be bad."

Then the shockwave hit them, slamming the prone Phantasm into him, and him into the ground. The heat came with it. Terrible heat beyond imagining. Excruciatingly, he could feel that parts of his body were evaporating in the heat - an extreme of temperature too alien to the environment for his adaptive physiology to deal with and far, far beyond the tolerance of even his nova-enhanced tissues. He felt the fingers no his right hand leave him, he had not been able to bring them all under Phantasm's now-buckling protection. His left leg was beyond his ability to save. Phantasm had landed on him at an angle and her smaller body was simply unable to cover him entirely. Skin, muscle, and bone vanished in the blink of an eye.

Everything caught on fire. Vehicles, trees, and anything that remained of the army units were tossed around as if at the whim of a child in a tantrum.

Later, Quentin would be unsure as to exactly why he remained conscious in the aftermath of the explosion. Perhaps the overdrive under which his brain operated was sufficient to allow it to continue operation even when every pain receptor in his body was singing in harmony. This possibility would mark the first time he would ever regret his abilities - they had deprived him of the mercy of unconsciousness. Perhaps worst of all: he would never be able to forget even a single moment of the experience for the rest of his life.

The terrible animal scream he emitted was scarcely a human thing. It was a primal expression of distilled agony that went far beyond the thresholds of what the human brain had ever been designed to cope with. Quentin's unblinking eyes, black and cold, stared upward at the sky as it lingered, exhausting the air in his lungs and somehow continuing despite the expenditure thereof.

When it finally ended many seconds later, he coughed up blood and began to shake uncontrollably. Truly this had been the worst day ever.

Solitaire felt no pain, there was only the memory of it, a moment of agony so intense that she could not even scream, and then, peace. It was the actualization of the power she had brushed against at the reactor, a raw, elemental force of destruction, dispassionate and pure. But it had not consumed her. Nothing could, and she knew it to be true. She smiled as she fell. Perhaps it was a good thing she didn't know much about physics...

---
Upward, faster, faster. MOVE IT! You can do this. You can do this, Solitaire does NOT fail. The throbbing in her Node told her time was short, too short. Harder. Faster. Spin for additional momentum, a whiplike throw... Bright light.

Pain Pain PAIN.
---

The wind felt sensual, caressing her skin, but perhaps that was the wrong term. Her whole body was covered in the same opaque, indefinably colored energy as her left arm, and she emitted a soft silvery glow. Solitaire also realized she was naked, and felt a sharp pang of loss. Being nude didn't bother her, after all, few looked as good as her wearing anything or nothing, and modesty for its own sake had never been a particularly large part of her character. No, it was the loss of her jacket that hurt more than any physical pain, and her deck of cards. They had been her talismans, her keepsakes, her last links to Alex.

Alex...

---
The explosion seared her flesh, her clothes disintegrated, her hair burned away, her eyes went milky white as they were blinded. It was impossible to tell where she ended and the tempest surrounding her began. There was only the slow crumbling of her body before the onslaught. "It's not over, not for you." Who? There was only fire, no. Was that a face? "You always were too stubborn for your own good. You will find me, when the time is right. But you must live."
---

Solitaire knew she wasn't thinking clearly, if she were, she would not be studying her hands or her hair (well, the fine, billowing strands of energy that her self-image demanded of her no longer existing hair). She would be flying back to her friends. Odd, she couldn't think how to do that just now. It had been so natural before. Ah well, falling wasn't too different, and everything felt so peaceful at the moment.

---
Phantom hands cupped her cheeks, and the face seemed to lean forward and kiss her forehead, then. Clarity. Pain ceased, Solitaire knew what to do. It was not the fire or force that was destroying her, it was the energy. Energy didn't hurt her, it empowered her. She concentrated, and the explosion roiling about her coalesced, replacing the burned away flesh the same way her left arm had 'fixed' itself. "Find yourself, then find me."
---

"We become who we are meant to be." Solitaire whispered.

The crater she made when she hit the ground was rather substantial.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:43, Tue 16 Nov 2010.

One minute he was hanging in space, heart racing, waiting for whatever was going to happen.  Then it did.
First there was light.  Searing, burning, all encompassing light.  Gale vanished from before his eyes, he was unsure if she had been vapourized, or if he was the one who had been reduced to atoms, or merely been blinded.
After the light came the heat.  An impossible wave of heat.  He tried to assimilate, acclimatize, to adapt but it was too much, too fast.  Then something smashed into him like the fist of an angry Sol.  They were removed from the sky and crushed down into the earth with a terrible finality.  Like a fly that had been batted out of the air and crushed under the heel of an impossibly strong, capricious child.
he tried to twist, to make himself land first, but the ground came up too fast and all he managed to do was to crash into the earth beside Gale.  Everything went black.
He opened his eyes, judging from the mushroom cloud ascending immediately above him he had only been out for a few seconds, he got a glimpse of blackened wings and blood beside him before he was quite literally blinded by pain.  It felt like he had been skinned and broiled, from the top of his head to his heels wave after wave of agony rolled over him, threatening to overwhelm his sentience with simian howls of pain and fear.  He tried to find that inner spark within himself, the vital core of his node, something to allow him to surpass his baseline self, but was unable to do so.  An improbably close, impossibly distant howl of pain brought him around, he was intitiall unsure if it was his own or not, but the distraction it granted allowed him to ever so briefly regain the higher self and assert contol over his meat once more.  He found he could see again, although everything was bathed in a very strange milky haze, even though all was black and burned around him.  He raised his hands to his ears and felt instead a sticky mass of something that he could only assume was his own blood and the radioactive ash he was now wallowing in.
He sat up, fought against the flood of agony, and failed to overcome the wave of nausea and disorientation that hit him when he moved.  he lay back down until the world stopped spinning and he stopped vomiting, somewhere inside he was glad to have been facing away from Gale.  He once again tried to sit, and found he could do so, if only just.  A groan from beside him told him Gale had survived.
He forced himself to stand, the effort nearly overwhelmed him once again, but he managed to claim hsi feet, then to help, and receive help from Gale to struggle out of the crater they had made when they landed.
He looked around, saw other figures in the wasteland.  He tried to cry out, but all that emerged was a hoarse whisper.  He looked down at himself, realized that he was naked, but didn't care.  He stumbled over to the only thing he could see that was standing straight, glowing with heat, but seemingly unharmed.  Comstock.  It was good to know that somethings would always be there, even if some crazy sonofabitch dropped a nuke on them.

On reflex, a thin film of silver and gold formed over Comstock's eyes and melted again, flowing in rivulets down his face as he watched the explosion.  As he let go of his additional mass, he extracted himself from the ground where he'd sunken in, smoke billowing from his skin and eufiber as it smoldered.  The wind picked up and he breathed in, and as the hot gas burned in his lungs he was glad, for once that he could neither smell nor taste it.

It was too much.  All just too much.  And so he pushed it away, his fury, his fear, his grief, and his despair growing more distant and small until he could deal with the world again.  Now secure behind the mental shield he'd been determined to avoid, he tried to reason out what had happened.

In his panic, he'd reached deep.  His node was swollen, probably a result of maxing out to manipulate the bomb.  He had never managed to do it from such a distance before.  The improvement was something positive at least, and he had found enough reserves of quantum to keep going.  He'd never had much luck with attunement though, so despite his best efforts his hand radio was destroyed.

No matter.  After a few moments, he was listening on all frequencies again.  Methodically, he made his way over the rubble.  The rising cloud of superheated gas would rain heavy particles over a considerable distance, but the jungle should be able to recover.  He sought out his team, a simpler task with the burning of the landscape, and counted.

"Impetus," he called to his friend over the roaring wind.  "Take cover and standby."  As he searched, his eufiber colony busily consumed the slagged metal and ammunition and other equipment he'd been carrying, then restored itself to the black-with-blue-stripe T2M:A uniform, smoke still rising off of it.  He tried to review the events leading up to the blast to see where people were, but it was a fair amount of action in mere seconds.  Impetus had tackled Gale, Suzukaze and Solitaire had fled with the bomb, Phantasm and Gravitas he had no idea.  Dr. Zero had disappeared, who knew where it was now.  Flare had covered herself in a shield -- ah, there she was.  Ferocious winds tore across the landscape again, ash and debris obscuring his vision, but when they cleared he started taking note of the larger craters and resolved to investigate them.

The radios were giving him nothing, something alarming until he recalled the nuclear EMP and ionized air would jam up traffic for a time.  Even still, he did his best to broadcast back to Allied command This is Comstock.  Status good.  Be advised bomb delivered by portal.  He repeated himself a few times, even once in Morse code, to try and make sure something got through.

That done, he marched toward Impetus so he could be heard better.  "Help find the team," he shouted.  "Need to get the wounded to safety, minimize the aftereffects of the bomb and prepare counterattack while they still think you're dead."  He paused a second, Impetus' nakedness registering with a painful psychic twinge.  "Your eufiber has died.  Once we have everyone, exit the blast radius.  You are unprotected."

Gale had just enough time to turn pale and then red at Imp's comment before the blast.  How could he joke at a time like this?  How could he smile?  She was about to stammer something in reply, but all hell broke loose.

Gale closed her eyes against the flash.  She honestly didn't know that much about nuclear explosions, other than they were bad, but anything that bright shouldn't be looked at.  Her grip on Imp tightened, claws digging into his eufiber, and she hid her face in his chest.  Bracing herself for the blast.

It took longer than she expected, or maybe it just seemed that way because all she could hear were her own wingbeats.  Those stopped too as the heat washed over her.  Having no adaptive abilities, no extreme strength of body, and just the force fields and eufiber to protect her, the pain was unbearable.  Each silver-gray feather turned to a scorched black.  The dark patches on her uniform etched into her skin as burns before crumbling away entirely.

She didn't have time to scream, not that she didn't want to.  Barely conscious as the pair fell from the sky, she didn't remember hitting the ground.

A moment later, maybe longer, she didn't know, wakefulness returned to the battered winged woman.  A groan, a sound that didn't even begin to express the pain she was in.  Oh god, she thought at first, I can't feel anything.  Thinking herself paralyzed, she quickly tried to move one of her wings and gave a yelp.  It wasn't that she couldn't feel it; her brain was having a hard time sorting out that much pain.

As Imp helped her up, she tried to get the extent of her injuries.  Her whole left side, the side that had hit the ground first, felt broken.  Arm, leg, maybe a couple ribs, probably small fractures.  Her left wing was definitely bent at a wrong angle, and given the ringing in her head, possibly a concussion was on the list as well.  And all that was aside from the burns.  Her eufiber was in shreds.

"I'm afraid that was too gnarly for me," she mumbled as an apology to Impetus as they climbed, no, crawled from the crater.  While he went to go talk to Comstock, she looked up at the sky.  The mushroom cloud was pluming, she could feel the fallout being carried by the faintest breath of wind.  "I gotta stop it."  There wasn't much she could do, but she could lower the temperature to stop the cloud from growing more, and still the winds to keep the effects from getting spread even farther.  She spent what little power she had left on that effort before falling to hands and knees.  She had never spent all her juice before, but now was as good a time as any.

Phantasm curled around Quentin, trying her best to protect him.  Her shield was strong.  No one really understood how much damage she could take, and she'd always tried to keep it that way by being smart enough not to be in the line of fire if she could help it.  But now she'd test her limits.  Her brain processed idly, much as Quentin's must have been doing, as she contemplated the energy about to be released.

As she attempted to pull her shield tighter around both of them, molding it around her friends face and torso to create a seal with the ground to protect from the heat wave that would wash over them, two things occurred to her.  First, if he survived, Quentin was going to lose his leg; she hadn't been able to cover him completely, and though her brain processed it, her body was far slower than her mind, preventing her from doing anything about it.  Second, she realized that she didn't really now the man she was protecting very well.  He seemed like a good person she supposed, but she never really much about him, or at least the human part anyways.  Even the nova, Gravitas, was not much closer, despite the fact that she was one of the few people on the team that could understand him.  But instead of getting closer, they just lived parallel lives.  Maybe if we survive this, we can hang out more.

The blast wave hit.  Phantasm could see the light even with her back turned, behind her shield and closed eyelids.  The heat, thankfully, didn't touch her, washing over her shield.  The blast and debris bent her shield inward, and she felt debris pierce it, cutting her, going through her and being stopped by her shield on the other side.  Microseconds later, but still slow enough for her brain to process, she felt the full force of the blast wave hit, slamming her down on Quentin, and pushing them both several inches into the ground. She could feel ribs break from the compression, and knew her friend had to be doing far worse.

When it was over, she weakly pushed herself up, trying not to touch Quentin any more than she had to.  God,he is so messed up, will he even live?

"We'll have help here soon Quentin, just... Hang on.  Just hang on..."

Then her eyes caught the area around their small crater, and what remained of the allied forces nearby.  Flashes of the disaster after the EQ Wars came to her, and she couldn't help thinking that if this was all there was, all that their work had led to, maybe they should leave this world behind.  It was wonderful, this power, but the cost was growing too high.  She didn't know if she could go on as a normal person anymore, but maybe the world would be a better place without people like them in it.

And perhaps the worst and most glorious part of it all: She stood.  They lived, and though wounded, she wasn't even burned.  She walked through the destruction like a god.  It was enough to convince her that she might actually live forever; she had survived the greatest weapon known to mankind, walked away from it in fact.  The thought was just crossing her mind when she felt her hungry suit defy her will and spin tendrils of agony into her flesh, trying to rip out the life sustaining quantum it needed so badly.  But of course there wasn't any quantum left, so it fed on her body instead.  When it was done, Phantasm fell to the ground.  Confused she thought to herself that it was a good thing Quentin lost that leg, or she would have fallen on it, and that would have really hurt him in his condition.

Unable to muster the quantum necessary to shut off the pain centers of her brain, Phantasm simply screamed.

Zero looks over at the dead soldier who's form it now held. The stolen face of the dead man scowls in disgust. Zero's head buzzed with the intensity of the quantum that washed over it's senses, and the fear of the fate of it's comrades.

It puts it's hands behind it's back, and pulls the pin to the flash grenade, holding it long enough to shorten the fuse, and teleports, leaving the grenade hanging in mid air right before it flashes. Hopefully it will throw off the Nova & guards.

Zero will try to appear behind the Nova and attack with one blow.

---

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

Activates: Quickness, Combat Teleport, Precision

Event Horizon 3 successes
15:23, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,3,8,3,6,7,1,4,2. event horrizon, 3 meg.

Flash Grenade: Unless they have special protection, everyone in the radius is Blind. No damage (roll failed).
15:26, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 8d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 4,4,4,6,4,7,1,3. Flash Grenade 1(Wit)Meg.

15:28, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,4. Flash Grenade damage, 2d10B.

Combat Teleport, then strike

Strike: 11 successes
15:31, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 8 successes using 11d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 10,9,10,1,7,1,9,3,8,8,9. MA Strike, 1 Meg, 1 Willpower spent.
15:31, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,6. Reroll, Agil Quality.
15:45, Today: Dr. Zero failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 2,3. Forgot Rear Attack Bonus, +2.

And it that connected with the slippery little so-and-so...

2 Str Damage + 1 (Pistol whip, this will break it's handle) +5 MegaStr + X extra attack successes= _Damage.
15:35, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 6,9,5,1,8. Strength damage roll.
15:38, Today: Dr. Zero rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the Target Number system with a target of 7 with rolls of 5,4,7,2. Pistol whip damage (like a Club).

---

Please God... Please... Suzukaze keeps thinking in her head as she tries best to protect herself.

Her mind goes blank at the sound of the blast. The light is blinding even through her closed eyelids. She screams in agony as the heat pierces her force field. The blast hits her slamming her against the ground.

She is out for a moment and awakens with the sounds of her own screams from the burning and force of the blast. She clenches her teeth. God it hurts so much... I'm alive ...I'm alive.... She starts to cry at the thought.

Regaining her senses she opens her eyes and blinks a few times. She tries to push herself up, but falls back down. After a few attempts she finally succeeds in turning over on her hands and knees.

She looks down at the torn bits of eufiber trying to pull itself together. She turns her head searching for Nokemono. She finds the pool of boiling titanium near her she knows Seiatsu suffered the same fate. No... I'm completely useless without them.

She manages to get to her feet, but can only make a few steps before falling back to the ground. Getting back up is again a struggle. She manages though and takes a slow step. She stays still gaining her balance before moving any more.

Solitaire was the closest to her and she knew Impetus and Gale were not far behind. "Sol! Imp! Gale! Anybody! She turns her head as she calls out looking for any sign of the rest of the team.

Imp nodded heavily, First, find survivors.  He looked around, saw signs of life and smiled, black teeth glinting in the unholy light of the cloud above them.  He tried to call out, but failed as his throat was parched by the toxic ash.  He cleared his throat, spat black, then tried again, "T2M, gather by Comstock, lets get a headcount, we need to sort the wounded, walking wounded and combat ready."  he stumbled over to the source of the screaming, found Phantasm and Grav.  "Medic!" he shouted, noting Grav's missing appendages.  he crouched down and touched Phantasm's shoulder, "'Tasm, you still with us?" He inquired quietly.

Eventually, slowly, Quentin stopped shaking quite so much. He lifted his right hand and held it in front of his face, examining its new form. His fingers and a small part of his palm were simply gone, as was most of his thumb. It had clearly been bleeding, but his physiology was apparently beginning to catch up to the damage, as the bleeding slowed and the wound clotted even as he watched it. He imagined the same thing was probably happening somewhere below his left knee. Quentin wasn't sure if he wanted to look down there to see how much of his leg was left.

His throat felt raw and dry. "Lost lots of blood," he self-diagnosed, the sound came out as something like a pained whisper. "Everyone still alive... needs to be treated for radiation poisoning." Captain Obvious to the rescue. He lay still for a few moments, breathing and coughing. He spit out mouthfuls of blood at intervals. He hurt everywhere. The pain was beyond his imagining.

Impetus heading in one direction and Gale working on the mushroom cloud.  Good start.  Comstock headed for the other screams, and as he crested a small hill in the uneven landscape managed to spy the source.  "Suzukaze," he shouted over the vicious windstorm.  "Come with me," he said, kneeling down to lift her up.  "You are unsafe here."

Venturing a few steps away, he found the large crater Solitaire had left.  Not knowing precisely what to make of its contents, he kept his distance for the moment.  But the crater was deep enough that it offered a degree of shelter, so he designated it as his regroup point.  After setting Suzukaze gently down, he marched a few feet away to the lip of the crater where others could see him and kept checking the radio frequencies for anything intelligible through the static.

"Just... AARGH...hurts..." was all that Phantasm could manage to say to Impetus as she gritted her teeth against the pain and waited for the promised medic.  After Gravitas and she were patched up, and she could move again, Phantasm looked up at Impetus again.  "I was fine, then my suit tried to eat me.  Anyway, I can move now, but what are we going to do?  After we regroup that is?  I'm... I can't be without power like this, I'm pulling in some of this energy.  Not sure what it's going to do to me, but it can't be worse than sitting here helpless."

That was it.  She had nothing left.  She'd done what she could to minimize the damage.  An attempt to stand up failed miserably as her broken leg refused to support her weight, dropping her back to the ground.  She was going to have to wait for someone to come help her.

While she waited, Gale finally got a good look at the blasted area around her.  The landscape was almost like an old photograph, everything was black and white.  Here at the epicenter, the image was especially startling.  She could see bodies, no, skeletons, shadows of the men and women they had once been.  The trees themselves looked like bones, jutting up out of the ground.

The young woman was in such shock, she didn't realize she was crying until one of the tears dropped onto her hand.  Who was she crying for?  The dead forest?  The people who died?  That it could have been her, probably should have been her, had it not been for the quick thinking of her teammates?  Even Gale wasn't sure, underneath it all.

"What are we going to do?  We're going to regroup, tally our losses and then think of a way to tear the hearts out of the motherfucker's chests that did this with our bare hands.
So far I've seen Comstock, Gale, and now you too.  There's some movement around so other people survived, but I'm guessing no baseline survived that, not for at least a mile radius, and the radiation is probably going to kill everyone within 5 miles of here, and make an environmental disaster that's going to take a generation to fix.  What if they have more, where are they going to send them?  where are they going to hit?  I don't know."  he knelt down to offer her help in standing.  "It's going to be ok, Grav, we'll get you some medical attention soon."

Suzukaze looks to Comstock as he helps her up. "I don't think anyone is safe here..." Her eyes close from the pain. "We're alive though. Aren't we? What about everyone else?"

She doesn't notice the crater as Comstock sets her down. "My swords melted from the heat. If we go into a fight after this I'm..." She looks up from the ground as he walks to the crater. "My god..." She forces herself to her feet. "Sol? My god is that where she landed?"

Comstock responded to Suzukaze without looking back.  "You are in no condition to fight.  You'll regroup with the others and seek medical attention.  Wait here."

Mechanically, he made his way to Gale and, noting her discomfort, lifted her as gently as possible.  "You are hurt.  Come with me."  He surveyed her injuries and reached the same conclusion as for the others: he and Sol might be able to survive in this, but everyone else was in grave danger.  "We're gathering in that crater there.  Less wind.  Hopefully quick transport out."  He considered the storm.  "Do you think you weakened it at all?"

When they arrived, Gale was set down as gently as possible as well, and Comstock moved a few feet away to the lip of the crater again so he would remain visible.

Gale wiped the tears from her face as Comstock approached.  She momentarily wondered if the others had seen this sort of thing before, this amount of death and destruction.  The loss of life...it was an enormous crushing weight.  That she had survived, and so many had not.

The winged woman hobbled with Comstock to the larger crater, gritting her teeth.  "Have you gotten in contact with anyone?" She asked after he explained where they were going.  "I don't know if I even did anything.  I tried to lower the temp, stop the wind, but..."

She settled on the ground, waiting patiently.  It wasn't like she could go anywhere in her condition.

Solitaire coughed several times, not that she needed to breathe, but she had gotten some dirt and ash in her mouth when she landed. Still, she wasn't uncomfortable, despite the rubble she was lying in, naked, at the bottom of a crater. She was past such petty concerns at this point. Instinctively, she knew there was not much time left to her, she'd absorbed too much, been hit too hard. Her 'skin' was hardening, crystallizing into a protective coating while she processed the excess energy, attempting to control the damage and rebuild her. Pity, there were better times to go into Chrysalis than in the middle of a war. Still, nothing to be done about it. She had played her part for now.

"All right girl, up and at 'em, things to do before you crystallize." Solitaire commented to herself as she rose. She made odd crackling noises as she moved, as the semi-solid energy cracked and reformed. It was an odd sensation. After dusting herself off, unnecessary but psychologically helpful, Solitaire floated to the lip of the crater where she perceived Comstock's energy signature to be. She was still blind, but that wasn't all the detrimental at the moment, considering how irradiated everything was, she could sense her surroundings well enough.

"It's bad, isn't it Boss?" She asked Comstock as she touched down, she looked at him and smiled slightly at the incredulous expression she assumed he was wearing at her question, adding helpfully, "I can't see."

Quentin let his shattered hand fall back to the ground, having seen quite enough. He could feel the waves of radiation still bathing the area through his node. He tried to let as much of it into himself as he could. He'd been completely out of energy before the blast, but with any luck he might be able to recover enough to protect himself - and maybe the others - in the aftermath.

His self diagnoses continued. He guessed at the amount of blood he'd lost based on the estimated extent of his injuries. Phantasm's shielding had managed to protect the pairs skin remarkably well, but they'd probably both be suffering from third degree sunburns to second degree heat burns depending on the area of the body. Despite the choir of pain his nerves were generating, he predicted a minimal loss of concentration or motor functions.

He took a ragged breath and, experimentally, sat up. He expected that the others would attempt to keep him still, but would wave them off if they tried. Reflexively he took a look down at his left leg and immediately felt a pang of lost. Just below the knee his leg simply ended. It looked like it had bled a bit in the immediate aftermath and then his body had managed to clot the wound.

He looked around. The landscape looked about as bad as he felt. He remained sitting for the time being. It was best to make sure he could do that much before he decided to do anything more. His missing leg ensured that standing was off-limits for the time being. He tried to guess at how much energy he was absorbing from the environment and whether he'd have enough to get mobile again.

"I feel terrible," he announced and coughed up another mouthful of blood to underscore the point. Apparently he still had some internal bleeding, probably the tissues in his lungs being crammed full of debris. He hoped it would work itself out soon.

"You and me both, my friend.  I think I've lost all the skin on the back half of my body.  Quite literally.  Although the radioactive ash is making a fine mud plaster," He said with an attempt at humour.  "It looks like everybody on T2MA survived, not sure about everybody else.  Also, no sign of Zero."  he spat a gob of blood and ash, "So, Grav, any suppositions about what this level of irradiation will do to nova physiology?" he said by way of small talk and to allow his grievously wounded teammate a chance to focus on something other than the immediacy of losing most of his hand an half a leg.

Comstock nodded.  "Solitaire.  Yes, it is bad."  He had not recognized her beneath the dust and rubble and quickly decided that it was the loss of her jacket and other physical indicators that had led to his mistake.  "You have survived."  Neither happy, nor sad.

He looked to Gale and Suzukaze, to be certain that the two of them remained unharmed and were seeing the same thing he was.  "Solitaire: how far from the bomb were you when it detonated?"  She radiated power and occasionally tasted of unfamiliar crystal.  Her reaction to the weapon was non-standard.  "Your body ..."  Her body what?  He had no parallel for the experience, so he trailed off.

"Yeah, more or less intact. I'd thrown it maybe ten feet when it blew." Solitaire shrugged. "Could be better, could be worse. I got hit too hard Boss, I've got twenty minutes, forty-five at the outside until I'm out of action. It's funny, I always thought I would be the one to initiate a Chrysalis, not that it would sneak up and sucker punch me. Did everybody else make it? I sense Gale and 'Kaze here, but there too much background radiation for me to get a read on the others."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:55, Thu 18 Nov 2010.

"I don't understand," he reverberated uncomfortably.  "Are you ... dead?"

Chrysalis was a word unfamiliar in this context.  He looked to Gale and Suzukaze to see if they knew.  Even locked-down tight, he seemed to shudder with trepidation .  "Gale and Suzukaze are here.  The rest are coming.  We will get you medical attention."  He looked to the others again, searching for a sign, information, any option he could act on.

Suzukaze nods to Gale when Comstock brings her over but quickly returns to staring into the crater. She is shocked by the sight of Solitaire all battered the crystals forming around her body. A questioning look appears on her face, and she meets Comstock's eyes shaking her head. She takes a step towards her. "Sol. You don't know how glad we are to see you alive. We don't understand what your talking about though. Chrysalis? Is it some power you have that helps to protect you? She looks back to Comstock and then to Gale.

Imp, vision clearing from the aftereffects of the blast, started scanning the area for signs of life.  His head stopped turning when he noticed Sol.  "Looks like you did it, sister.  Is there anybody in particular you want to be left with until you emerge?"  he said in a whisper, counting on her acute hearing to hear the words, even over the howl of the wind, the screams of the wounded beyond the kill radius, and the continued roaring from the cloud that was ascending ever higher into the atmosphere.

Flare, who exhausted all the power she had healing everyone as much as she could, took a breath after healing Quentin of what damage she could.  Those limbs were beyond her ability to heal, but perhaps she could stabilize him enough to heal later on.

"God, I didn't think any of us would survive." She didn't know what this crysalis was, but it looked better than being dead. "Sol, I can try to heal you, it might stave off...whatever is coming." She looked around the blacked field and at her stable but suffering team mates, and finally at her own body, blackened and crisped in places, with one hand charred, but apparently still useful. Getting help for the others would be more useful.

"We have to get out of here. I don't think anyone has the power to deal with anymore attacks." She turns back and looks at Quentin's strickened form. "We need to get those too wounded to move to safety, and I think we need to get help if we are going continue fighting."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:27, Fri 19 Nov 2010.

Taking a deep breath, Phantasm pulls in the chaotic quantum energies in the area, filling herself with power.  She stands, and lifts Quentin, cradling him hin her arms.

Phantasm approaches the crater with silent grace, defying the wounds on her body and the exhaustion of her teammates.  Gravitas is in her arms, held with apparent ease.

"There's another option Flare, if you're willing to risk it.  Most of us have large nodes, at least 3rd or 4th instar, more for many of us.  Use that to pull in this energy.  It... Doesn't feel good, and I can't say what it will do to us, but it sure as hell puts us back in the game."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:06, Fri 19 Nov 2010.

Quentin shook his head in response to two things Flare said and allowed himself to be carried with minimal fuss. "Healing isn't really going to stop chrysalis, if that's what is starting. I'd kill to observe the process first hand, by the way." His voice was still a little raspy. He flexed the fingers of his left hand. Things hurt a little less after the brief healing treatment, and his hand looked less charred and more merely-covered-in-soot. That was probably an improvement. "Also, don't worry about leaving me behind." He took a deep breath and exhaled without coughing. "I believe I am well enough to be mobile now."

He motioned for Phantasm to let him down and got himself balanced on his one good leg. He took another breath, and as he let it out, relaxed gravity's hold on himself, floating an inch or two into the air. He nodded to confirm his status. "Yes, I'm good now." He floated over more closely to Sol and looked her up and down, then waved what was left of his right hand in front of her face to confirm her current blindness. "Tell me: How do you feel?"

Gale didn't realize that Comstock was expecting an answer from her when he turned to look at her.  Part of her was stunned that Solitaire was still alive.  She had no idea what the Chrysalis thing was either.  Even if she did know, she wasn't sure she'd be thinking clearly enough to explain it right now.  She was barely understanding what was going on.  Her eyes widened at the sight of Gravitas as Phantasm carried him over.  His injuries...he'd lost his leg!

A wave of nausea hit her, and soon the contents of her stomach lay on the dirt and ash next to her.  "Ugh..."  She normally didn't have such a weak stomach.  Was it Grav's injuries?  She didn't think so.  Thankful that she was already sitting, she carefully laid down.  Maybe then the world would stop spinning.

"Saul!  Slider!"  Comstock called.  His team needed transportation away from here and medical attention.  It was possible that Gale was experiencing radiation sickness from close proximity to the blast zone.  "Saul!  Slider!  Medical Evac!"  He waved for the two to come quickly and counted up his team mates one more time to ensure everyone was at the crater now.  All save Dr. Zero present.

But mostly he just kept staring, wound up too tight to cry or shout or get angry or do anything more than stand uncomfortably with no obvious options.  He did not understand the Teragen philosophy, and at this moment regretted never involving himself more to at least learn what his friends were going thinking and going through.  "Slider will evacuate us from the operations area.  Most of you should not be here."

"Nobody should be here, bossman. We should all have been rendered down to atoms and been blown away to mingle with the dust and ash of the forest and all those poor men and women who were in no way able to survive that blast. We're still here though, and relative to what we just went through, remarkably functional. This incident will probably make the baselines even more worried, and rightfully so, even unleashing the most powerful weapon in the history of man can't reliably kill us, hell, it can barely give Comstock a sunburn.  This will make T2M a legend. Something that will strike terror into the hearts of those who would stand against Utopia. Especially after what we're going to do to the bastards responsible for this atrocity."  Imp's face, blackened, bloody, yet still alarmingly handsome, was grave.  Angry.  "I'm guessing the gloves are coming off now, yes?" He looked to Slider and Saul, "Can I borrow one of your headsets?  I need to report to Frostburn."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:47, Sun 21 Nov 2010.

Solitaire ignored much of the commotion around her, she wasn't overly interested, as it no longer concerned her. She felt out of sync, at one remove from everything about her, but that was all right, she was, after all. She had several loose ends she wanted to tie up before she disappeared, mostly in the form of parting words and last minute instructions. Her projects would survive without her, which was good, Kat would have use the majority of her finances to continue building the House of Cards while she slept, and each Table was in charge of its own local affairs, it would be fine. Perhaps she should mention it to the rest of the team? No, they had their own problems, and it was her pet project after all. It wouldn't do to have other Nova's mucking about with it. The whole point of it was to preserve human strength and drive to offset Nova dependency anyway.

"You're wrong Imp." Solitaire said, breaking her contemplative silence, "We have not just struck terror into the hearts of those who oppose Utopia, we've done it to everyone. Even Utopia will fear us now, it's what we wanted to avoid all along.  Nuclear weapons were the Baselines trump card, and it came up bust." Then, just for the hell of it, she added an a gasping, raspy tone, "The power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of US."

Solitaire chuckled at her own joke, then resumed her more serious topic. "There will be no more illusions, no more complacency. They'll want us tagged, watched, tracked, under control. I think the days after the Wars will look rather pleasant in comparison. Then it was just a couple dozen of us and some die-hard crazy baselines, the effect was localized. Here though, just look at the death toll. It was them that died, not us. And today is hardly near over. I do not like what I see in store."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:17, Sun 21 Nov 2010.

"Radio still static.  May have to head back for a good signal."  He didn't want to think about Imp or Solitaire's words.

"Some of us died here, Sol, i guarantee it.  We all have powers related to defense, energy manipulation or absorption.  Not all of our colleagues have those powers," his face fell momentarily, he knew Geisha had been here, knew she would be as vulnerable as the baselines in the face of a nuclear explosion. "How many of our kin were erased today, never to realize their true potential, to show all of us their own expression of magnificence?  Too many, i think."  He went quiet, thinking.  Then, "Zero should have checked on us by now if he got away, any ideas on how to contact him?"

The conversation had taken a serious and saddening turn.  "You know," Gale said quietly, "I probably wouldn't have survived either.  If Imp hadn't grabbed me and put his shield around me..."

"Thorn...he won't be happy.  All these people died.  And for something that wasn't even their fight."  She was rambling, saying whatever popped into her mind.  It didn't help that it was jumping around from thought to thought, with no obvious pattern.  "I don't want to be tagged like--like some animal.  I'm a person.  Really."  Yep.  Definitely confused and rambling.

Slider spends her time rounding up the injured for Saul to heal, pausing long enough to hand off her headset to Comstock.  No signal.

The other teams converge on the crater, looks of shock, horror, and numbness playing across the various faces present.  The least powerful members of T2M, as well as many of the hired support staff (several elites and non-T2M Utopia personnel), are not accounted for.

T2M Asia, already lacking a strong permanent staff and recently training new recruits is especially hard hit; the few survivors limp over to Sol's crater and lean heavily on one another.  T2M Europe is reeling from the loss of a comrade, their injuries, and several good friends from Utopia staff (they shared headquarters with most of the support staff that came on the mission).  T2M:E is also silent as they approach, but Thorn stops by Gale as he passes and looks in her eyes, sharing a moment of intense pain for his people, for what happened here, and for the young woman that was forced to see all this suffering.

After Saul and Flare heal everyone enough to travel, Slider opens a gateway, and the survivors hobble through it.  As Comstock is about to come through, bringing up the rear, Geryon flies down to the gate as well, a look of profound anger on his face... "We're here to help, but we'll need to plan this out.  I should come back with you."

---

The gateway lets out near the allied staging grounds, but far enough away that the radiation from the returning novas will pose a minimal threat to the forces there.  Radiowaves suddenly press in on Comstock, chatter across multiple frequencies, as those in charge try to obtain information, organize the forces, and react to what just happened.  Frostburn's voice comes through the headset, "-that you're back, we'll have every nova that can stand meeting at your site.  We have to determine what we're going to do, and fast."

In moments the novas from the camp are there, flying in with medical equipment and doctors in NBC gear who begin treating the survivors.  Frostburn approaches, carrying communications equipment.  As she sets it down and begins turning on the devices, she looks at the assembled T2M survivors, icy calm and intensity radiating from her eyes, "This is about the worst it can get, and everything we've worked for is going to hell, you're all smart enough to have realized that.  But I want you to know how good it is, despite all this, to see you here, alive.  You did everything you could, we all did, and that's what we'll keep doing until this is finished."

Holo-viewers with leaders of various nations, UN leaders, and the Utopia directors populating them, are set up at what is being prepped as the meeting point (those with enough mental stamina to be aware of such things at this point, note that the comm equipment and the viewers are far in advance of anything they've seen; R&D has been busy...).  The setup allows for a real time round table discussion of events and planning session.

The voices coming through are not terribly cooperative however.  Many are calling for a full retreat, in the face of severe losses, further nuclear retaliation, and a lack of nova combatants still capable of fighting.  Some, like the US and Russia, are calling for nuclear retaliation.  Utopia is trying to salvage the situation, calling for a full assessment of what has happened before jumping to a conclusion.  There are also disturbing reports of a nuclear attempt on the staging ground being thwarted, and Pax being lost defending the base.  Slider tells those nearby the details of what happened. "We had only a few second to react. Pax caught the bomb and flew it to me, but I was on the other side of the camp, getting supplies for another trip.  When he came into visual, I opened a gateway and he managed to get it through, but it blew as the gate was closing.  It looked like one of those pictures of solar flares you see on Discovery, it just curled out of what little was left of the opening, and washed over him.  If it was anyone else, he'd have been incinerated, and even with his power he was hurt badly... I'm not sure he's alive, we left right after Saul had a chance to heal him."

As Frostburn notes that communications have been established, and she is about to gesture for Comstock, Impetus, and the other Team leaders to report in, Geryon approaches.  Not waiting for permission, or even an introduction, he starts talking.  "Listen monkeys, because I'm saying this once.  You have help, and if you're smart you'll press your advantage as soon as you can.  We can deal with their shields, and we have someone cleaning up the radiation so that your army won't have their skin melting off in their sleep.  We'll even help you clean out that base of theirs, assuming you take us up on our offer.  Don't think this is about you; what these vermin have done to my people is unforgivable, and a message must be sent.  Working with you is just the easiest way to do it.  And, speaking of messages... We want full media coverage when we tear down that shield, all eyes look at us.  This is not negotiable, it's our fee for handling your mess for you.  Oh, and stop sniveling about more bombs; we've got that taken care of too, and odds are good one of your people is in there right now, disrupting them.  They won't be able to get anything out if you cooperate and do this right."

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Those that know Geryon, and those that are versed in nova powers, likely doubt the sureness of his final statement, that they won't be able to get more bombs out, but perhaps there is more to the situation than meets the eye?  Or perhaps Geryon really doesn't care if a few bombs get lose in the process of eliminating these people?

---

The leaders of the world, silent as the giant spoke, talk at once.  Rage, indignation, curiosity, and suspicion warring for control of the conversation.  The consensus that emerges, the question on everyone's lips, is: "What is going on, and who the hell was that?"

Frostburn, face unreadable, ushers the survivors forward to give their report, and help decide what to do next.

---

Zero teleports behind the enemy nova, connecting only barely with him as he blinks several yards away, dazed from the attack.  Soldiers press in, attempting to immobilize Zero as it in turn attempts to attack the Teleporter that has caused so much suffering to so very many people.  As long as Zero keeps up with the teleporter, it knows that he won't be able to move far, but doing so becomes progressively more difficult as the teleporter moves deep into the ranks of soldiers, ducks out of sight behind the terrain, and makes every attempt to escape.

As the dance continues, Zero moving rapidly through the troops, teleporting when necessary to keep in range, a contingent of novas approaches the scene.  The Doctor notes, using quantum sight, that they are not as powerful as natural novas, but even a dozen weak novas are still quite a threat.
What had it gotten itself into?
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Tue 23 Nov 2010.

Flare reels as the grating tirade of Geryon comes to a close.  "That...that bastard! I don't care if he descended from heaven, and brought McDonald's for the troops, he can take his high-handed demands, and an active nuke and shove them straight up his-" The heck with it, this guy wasn't worth getting enraged over.

She looks to her leaders, namely Comstock and Imp. "Putting that aside, what are we going to do?"

Flare focuses her energy towards helping everyone get to a comfortable place to sit/collapse, particularly the most injured of the group.

"Quentin, I'll see if I can find anything to help your pain a bit more."

Imp paused, let Geryon speak. He didn't know how to categorize the nova, friend, enemy, companion... The closest he could come was peer, but that didn't do it justice either. Geryon's speech was predictable, formulaic. For an entity trying to forge its own path in life he sure went in jejune ways. Still, he was a great straight man. He didn't have much energy left, but, he realized he was saturated with it, probably succumbing to the radiation he had experienced. Might as well do something useful.
"Please, gentlemen, ladies," he began, cutting through their outrage with a transhuman ease. "Geryon's words are harsh, true, but please, listen to him. We Utopians have gone to war, fought waves of opponents, stopped one nuclear generator from going critical and survived a nuclear explosion. We are exhausted, battered, bloody and probably suffering from fatal levels o radiation poisoning," he spat blood partially to prove his point, "know now that there are three paths in front of you, the first is to launch your nuclear weapons at an opponent who can teleport bombs at will around the planet. Tens of millions will die, both here in South America and in your own countries. The second option, to pull back, to appease, to live in terror of seeing a distortion in space and then a silver cylinder and then that awful white flash, is no more palatable. The third, only, alternative is to allow the world to see non-utopian novas step in and finish this, here and now. They may not be photogenic, they may use their powers in ways that humanity find unsettling, but they promise a speedy resolution to this problem and broadcasting what will happen to those who attempt to weaponize novas and wage nuclear war will make would be dictators and empire builders think twice. Don't do this for yourselves, do it for the millions of lives that can be saved, and the suffering that can be averted." he bowed his head and stepped backwards, then crumpled to the ground. He felt coldness in his stomach and wet tears in his muscles as, deprived of the energy needed to use his abilities he cannibalized his own life energy. Hopefully they'd listen.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:45, Thu 25 Nov 2010.

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.