(Hope you all don't mind, fast forwarding a little)

Thanks to the opening The Marvel came through, there are rescue teams ready and waiting to help rescue everyone, even the orcs. Who are, of course, arrested. However, it's just too many orcs and the countdown ends:

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1......... just kidding. I was only here to make you focus on running while my master ran. Ha. Ha."

Liberty sighs in relief and the rest of the orcs are promptly rescued. Timothius is not looking well and is rushed off to the hospital along with all the other heroes. Worst off is Harry, who looks dead.

(We are en route to the hospital. This is our chance to converse with and get to know "The Marvel". We'll say he's in the same ambulance as Liberty and Joe while Mittens is in the ambulance with Timothius and Haalima. Harry is in the same ambulance as Michael.)

Mittens made no comment about having a conscious being inconvenient and instead focused on the task.  One whole badguy rescued before time ran out, wooo!  During the final countdown, she cupped her hands over her brother's ears expecting the explosion to be painfully loud...

"Where's the kaboom?" she asks, impersonating Marvin the Martian, "There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom. Note to self: install self-destruct bluff message in supergroup base."

Inside the ambulance, she tries to find something to say or do to help sooth Timothius without distracting the medical team from their job.  She ends up just humming the Transformers theme song for him.

---

OOC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8rYotiiFP8

  Now that the rushed circumstances of Orc smashing turning into Orc rescue is over, Joe takes a moment to check up on Liberty.  "You going to be okay Liberty?  That looked worse than you getting caught in an exploding car."  He turns to the Actual Super Hero? The Marvel and says "Thanks for the help out of nowhere, I'm more used to expecting problems out of nowhere."

Liberty ugs... "Actually, I'm not feeling too good. I think I must've swallowed some bad stuff they were force-feeding me... and my feet feel like I've got paper cuts all over them."

Timothius weakly smiles at Mittens, glancing to Haalima and back at Mittens. "Are you two OK?" he asks quietly.

The tall muscular man wearing the mask grinned at Joe, his white teeth sparkling in the light of the ambulance. He gave Joe a thumbs-up as he laughed. "Do not mention it! I, THE MARVEL, could not stand by while innocents were in danger. Though I will feel much better once we get this little side-kick to the hospital!" He turned his attention to Liberty. "Hang on, little hero! We'll be there soon!"

Haalima returns Timothius' smile and pats his head gently. "I dare say we're better off than you, little guy," she said. "Sorry it took us so long to get to you."

"What she said, heh," Mittens answers, thumbing over at Haalima, "Really, the biggest hero today is likely the one who was hurt the worst: the psychic Harry.  He was the one who led us to you with his telepathy.  Without his help...  well...  I'm just glad things worked out as well as they did.  And thanks for helping save the day, Haalima.  Obviously, this means a lot to me personally."

  Despite everything they had been through, for some reason The Marvel in all their 'I Am A Real Super Hero' stylings seemed the weirdest out of everything.  Maybe it was due to how close to 'normal' it was instead of something over the top like Water Monsters or Tiger Horse Ballerina Belly Dancer.

  "Now that everyone is mostly safe, I'm finally angry that science jerk got away.  Someone who kidnaps and tortures children still running around is bad enough on it's own, but this one has crazy stuff backing him up."

To The Marvel, Liberty gives a helpless smile. The guy really takes this hero thing and goes with it, which was one of the things Liberty was hoping to do. "Thanks for the assurances." she's also happy that neither Joe nor The Marvel are treating her like there's no need for concern, despite her powers. Well, OK, no surprise coming from The Marvel as he's not familiar with Liberty. But still.

Liberty looks at Joe and says, "Yeah. Me too. Soon as the doctors help Timothius, I'll have him heal me and we can go looking for that mad man. I'm not sure the doctors can do as much for me as he could... if he's OK, that is. He seemed fine on the outside, but he was acting pretty zonked."

As usual, touching Timothius at all causes one to feel pleasant, so Haalima would get that from patting him on the head. He looks up at Haalima and says slowly and quietly, "I would be sorry too.... in your position." he then looks at Mittens and says, "They should have.. put me in the ambulance with him. I was.. too weak.. to tell them to... sis? Get me to Harry. Soon as you can."

Mittens nods to Timothius and explains to the medics, "He has a very potent healing touch.  Famous in the city's hospitals.  Still unexplained by science, but he has saved the lives of dozens simply by touching them.  So if it looks like there's no saving Harry in the E.R., the Trademark Timothius Touch might be worth a shot."

  "Maybe if we're lucky they will get all of you the same ER room or something.  Though as much as I want to find this guy-" right, mentioning just what you want to do to them if you find them would probably be bad.  "Even patched up you should probably take it easy for a bit first."

  He glances over to The Marvel, "I don't suppose you got mad scientist tracking skills to go with the Armor punching ones?"

(Fast forwarding a bit)

The doctors actually listen, but they are sure to care for Timothius first before "using" him to heal the others. Once Timothius is able to heal the others, they are back to full health, though all are still instructed by the doctors to take it easy for a while.

Emerald met the group at the hospital and expressed her concerns. Once she gets an update on what happened, she offers for The Marvel to join the group. Regardless of the answer, though, she meets the others back at base...

Once Mittens was sure Timothius was well enough, she dealt with giving statements to the police and to the press as well as texting the Citizen Patrol members, requesting that they meet at the base.  She is of course all in favor of The Marvel joining the group and arm-twists for him to at least come to the meeting to help plan how to catch the mastermind behind this latest caper.

At the base:
Once they're ready, she gives a quick summary of what's happened then addresses the group.  "First thing's first.  Now that we know that mutants are being targeted for kidnapping, I will be sending out a group text on a regular basis to check on everyone's kidnapped status.  Please reply to these as soon as you can so we know you're not kidnapped.  If you will be unable to reply for several hours, please let me know when you will be available again.  Next topic:  Catching the bad guy..."

She begins giving a detailed description of the mad scientist.

  "I suppose while it's not the safest of places, with a beach house you can see an orc horde coming from a good ways off.  And not like anywhere else is much better so may as well have a good view in the meantime."  Not quite off subject, as Orcs out of nowhere was cause for Liberty snatching.

  "Got to wonder why the guy even needs to kidnap mutants considering what he's already been doing though.  Why does a guy who can make attack elementals and subterranean orc armies need to outsource for abilities?"

OOC Style: Crazy RL is no excuse to my own brain. Waiting on me?! I'm so ashamed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:26, Thu 15 Mar 2012.

Emerald looks over towards Joe. "He kidnapped Timothius specifically. In Tim's case, he just wanted the boy's power. Imagine an army of orcs and elementals who could heal each other. Basically, they'd be unstoppable. Meanwhile, Liberty, if I recall correctly, described her horrible experience as being exploited so they could learn what hurts her. Considering she's the toughest in our group, that makes sense. Learn your enemy's weak points. And Harry, well, it's entirely possible the mad scientist wanted Harry's telepathy so he can give commands remotely without anyone being able to listen in to any frequencies. Sadly, with people who crave power, it's the same as people who crave money; They could be rich with what they crave, but it's never enough."

Liberty is playing with her feet. She shrugs and says, "Speaking of being kidnapped, Tim and I weren't anywhere near each other when we were kidnapped. I say we travel in pairs from now on. It'll be harder to kidnap someone if there is someone else with them ready to run, call police, or kick your butt."

Angel says, "I agree. Buddy system and texting to make sure everyone's OK. Which should remain a regular thing for us even after we catch the mad man. Speaking of catching him, Harry was able to telepath an exact image of the scientist to a police artist. But Harry also doubted the guy shows his face much publicly anyway."

Timothius is just sitting next to Mittens, hugging his knees.

Mits side-hugs her bro to comfort him and nod-nods to the points being made.

"Good points.  And speaking of wanting more money and power when you already have it, one wonders how the reclusive villain got all those resources he had...  Maybe he's got some shadowy group or individual who's funding his research.  If they're from another country... this could mean war."

There is a knock at the door so Mits peeks through the peep hole then opens the door.  Framed by the now open doorway stands a naval officer in full white dress uniform.  When he sees Mits he takes off his hat and introduces himself with a slight bow.

"Captain Meyers, liaison for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mam.  The U.S. armed forces could use your group's help preventing global nuclear war.  In return we offer our full backing.  May I enter, please?"

Mits blink-blinks and gestures for him to enter, which he does.

  So!  Let's review.  Durable yet easily kidnapped little girl.  A Catgirl. Would Totally Ace Gymnastics Class Guy.  Dude Who Turns Into A Worm.  You get the picture...  Government's apparent first choice to deal with World War 3.

   "... I, that, the thing goes what how."  Complete mental failure is what we have here people.  Probably not just in Joe.

Angel gets up and looks at the man sceptically. She offers him a seat as soon as he's close enough.

Emerald blinkblinks, not sure what to think. Then quietly hums "it's the end of the world as we know it" to herself while watching the guy enter. Once he's closer, she smiles at him and salutes casually.

Timothius stayed at Mitts' side. Upon hearing what the man said, he ducks his ears.

Liberty hops to her feet. "Global nuclear war?! What is this world's problem?!"

Angel goes to put a hand on Liberty's shoulder. "Shh... let the man speak."

Captain Meyers nods to Emerald's salute and takes the seat offered by Angel.  He takes out his wallet and hands it over to her.

"You'll find my identification and business card in there.  Please pass it around.  The number on my card can be verified with any directory service.  Standard procedure is to have the office call ahead before I arrive, but apparently they weren't able to reach you."

"Our listed number still goes straight to voicemail," Mittens explains.

"Let me start by saying thank you for your efforts today.  Intelligence has uncovered some evidence that what you faced today may represent either the prelude to a conventional foreign invasion, or a trick to goad the U.S. into a military response that, given the current international political climate, could snowball a chain of retaliation that may end in global nuclear war.

"While the risk assessment team has assigned a small number to the chance of this happening, much of their results are based on guesswork and it is my duty to make sure that the risk is minimized.

"If you were planning on tracking down the enemy who escaped, I urge you to share any and all information you find.  If you find him, you must not attempt to apprehend him alone.  Call me and the police and tail him.  It is of extreme importance that he is captured alive and by the book.  However it is of the highest importance that he not escape.  He is to be considered extremely dangerous.  Do not engage unless you see no other choice and are willing to risk your life."

Mits side-hugs her bro, rubbing her chin.

"So...  Hunt badguy.  Update authorities.  Be careful...  In other words, you're telling us to do what we were going to do anyway."

"Requesting...  But yes.  Apparently so."

"K!"

  "Call the professionals in case of emergency instead of leaving it to bizarre adolescents and the occasionally hairy adult, got it." Oh look!  Joe found his sarcasm that is still 100% honest again!  To the shock of nobody.

  "Any chances of filling us in just why it's a nuke war that's come to be a possibility?  Is this guy known to be trying to swipe some himself or something?"

Angel nods. "Along what Joe's asking, and you having asked us to share info, we'd appreciate any and all information you have on the guy. All we know so far is that he has a group of orc-like beings, 2 giant suits of armor, a machine that can use someone else's inherent powers, and the ability to make a base of operations right under our noses without anyone noticing."
This message was last updated by the player at 05:02, Sun 25 Mar 2012.

Michael comes out from the showers here at the main building, finally managing to wash all the blood and grime off of himself. He comes out wearing jeans and an undershirt, deciding to pad around barefoot for now. He has been feeling more and more comfortable around this group, which hopefully wont unsettle anyone else. If the scars from his hands had been bad, the ones going up his arms and under his shirt look like they had been incredibly painful.

After his shower, he does feel much better. The only thing left is some food. Towel around his neck, he heads into the kitchen to find some grub when he hears something about nuclear war from the entryway.

'Guess food will have to wait,' he thinks, instead grabbing a soda and making his way into the other room. He leans against the doorway and pops open the can. Should anyone look his way he will nod to them in greeting, but otherwise makes no sign of trying to speak.

Seeing that Liberty is as energetic as always brings a slight smile to his otherwise grim fave, but it goes back to normal when he regards the suit.