"Honestly, I'm surprised this has not come up sooner."  Good thing nobody here had one of those 'I will literally die if my Mutation turns off' mutations, that would have sucked.

  "Let's see, what haven't we done yet?  It's probably going to be fire this time."  Probably not, Joe.

"Hmm," Mits thinks.

She immediately speed dials the special hotline she as asked to call whenever an emergency too big for 911 services to handle pops up.

"Agent Sorrel?  This is Mittens.  2nd and Maple, headed North.  Me and all the mutants with me have suddenly lost our super powers just now.  I suspect an area of effect wider than my Spidey Sense's range.

"Angel, please turn us around.  I want to see if our superpowers return if we cross that same threshold.  If so, then we'll know that we're likely dealing with a stationary power neutralization area that isn't growing in size or following us.  If not, keep going till we notice a change.  Finding the edge may be the only way to get started understanding what's going on."

Timothius looks over at Joe and says nervously, "But we did fire already. In the form of a dragon who was made of fire."

Angel turns the bus around and begins driving the opposite direction. Even as she does, the road breaks open behind the bus (where the bus WOULD have been going if they didn't turn around) and a rock golem starts crawling out!

Timothius yells towards the phone, "Rock monster!"

Liberty says, "We need to figure out what we're going to do while Angel's driving."

Eli just clings to his parents.

Angel steps on the gas and the bus moves away from the rock monster. Both the rock golem and the bus pick up speed.

  "Right, all the disasters are starting to blur together."  At liberty's comment, he says "Well, we are a bit lacking in construction equipment at the moment.  I don't suppose we're owed any favors by crane operators?"  Well, it worked in a movie.

"Thank you, Angel," Mittens says, turning on the emergency blinkers, "Please honk in the most siren-sounding way you can think of.  Joe's got a good idea.  See if you can find a construction site or some place sparsely populated."

To the phone she says, "Headed South now.  Rock person made a mess of the road and is now following us.  Unknown if he's hostile, but we're not taking any chances.  Our vehicle is a small bus."

"Liberty, call your parents.  Tell them what's happening.  You too, bro.  Eli, you know wires.  We may need you to hot-wire a bulldozer later on.  Emmy and Joe...  I wonder if you can talk him down with a 'sweet cop / jaded cop' routine.  Remember that 1 out of 3 elemental monsters so far was a scared little girl.  The other two were thugs.  Mr. and Mrs. Vogel: an aerial view would be helpful.  See if you can find a live news feed with a news copter view.  Thanks, everyone."

Angel says, "I'm heading away from population."

Mr and Mrs Vogel look for the aerial view as asked.

Liberty calls home and says, "Mom? I'm on a bus, being chased by a rock monster..."

Timothius is about to call his parents, but stops. "Wait. Why am I calling mom again? Wouldn't that needlessly worry her? What can mom do?"

Emerald peaks her head out the window of the bus and says, "What do you want?!"

The rock monster growls and groans.

Emerald peaks back in the bus. "....I don't understand a word it's saying!"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:07, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

  Joe jaded cops, "Could you please stop breaking things?  That would be great, and more people would think you are cool.  You want to be cool right?"

  Joe suspects peer pressure will not work, but trying to get them to jump off a bridge through other means may very well happen at this rate.

Mits snickers at Joe's attempt at rock monster persuasion.

To Angel, she says, "Thanks!"

To her bro, "To ask permission to be heroic even without our superpowers.  It would make our group look bad to have a bunch of minors without superpowers try and take on a rock monster without parental consent."

She sighs, "And of course, we'll look bad if we do the sensible thing and let the National Guard handle this one.

The person on her phone chimes in, so Mits puts her on speaker, "All relevant emergency services and authorities have been notified.  Now please ask the driver to head West when possible.  And if it looks like you are outrunning the monster by a wide margin, please do your best to allow it to gain a little on you.  So long as it believes it can catch you, it's not attacking schools, or hospitals, or other crowded places.  We need you to distract it long enough for us to assemble and contain the situation."

"Got all that, Angel?" Mits asks.

Angel says, "I got all that, thanks. I like their thinking."

Timothius says, "And if they give consent, mom and dad will look bad."

Emerald says, "Could just get consent from the authorities, who we're working with. Either way, I'll be happy when I can finally communicate with the rock person."

Liberty says, "I'm gonna hold Tim's hand so that if I suddenly start feeling good, I'll know we have our powers back."

The bus DOES seem to have the umpf to outrun the rock monster. But Angel slows down a few mph to let the monster think it can catch up.

  "I like Emerald's idea.  Mittens recent phone call will help there."  Because look they already told them to endanger themselves.

"Good plan, Lib.  Do that."

Mits nods to Emmy and Joe, then puts her phone on speaker.

"Bus full of minors without super powers.  Your plan seems to be working.  But admittedly puts the passengers at greater risk.  We need official consent for minors to be hero-ing."

The emergency person on the phone answers, "You're not going to get that from me or anyone else.  Unless one of those kids have unusually selfless parents.  But I've never been against people with the guts to risk themselves for others to choose for themselves.

"Sounds like I'm going to have to treat this like a bus full of normal school kids situation, then.  Never mind the last suggestion.  Just go as fast and streight as you safely can until you get to the police barricade.  Then, do as they direct."

Mittens heavy sighs.  "Rodger.  Still no super powers.  Will advise if that changes."

Liberty squeaks! "I just felt Timothius' power!"

Eli meeps, "I can calculate again!"

Emerald peaks out the bus window. "What do you want?!"
The monster growls and groans again!

Emerald then yells, "Why?!"
More rock monster groans ensue.

Emerald peaks back in the bus. "Well that answers that, at least. He says he wants us to die. When I asked why, he said he just likes to kill people and as powerful people, we make for more alluring targets."

Angel looks dizzy for a moment, but shakes her head and focuses on the road.

Liberty starts opening a window. "Stupid rock monster..."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:17, Tue 10 Mar 2015.

Bump for coherence sake.  :p

Hope you rest well when you get to it!

  Well, confirmation that Joe's cynicism was in fact all natural then as it remains exactly the same amount as before.  "Right, he'll probably just ask to punch me in the face for this but could you remind him that he's chasing a buss full of mostly children?  Punching a 12 year old girl in the face _{who can deadlift probably more than me} doesn't really impress anybody."

"Powers returned!" Mits hollers at the phone, "About 50 yards before 4th aaaand... Candle!  Also, Emerald said..."

"Yes, I heard," the phone lady interrupts, "Do not alter course!  We have several units on an intercept.  You should see the police barricade up ahead soon.  Please park about one car length or so from the barricade and hurry to the other side."

"Something tells me a police barricade won't even slow this guy down.  He probably weighs over 10 tons.  Have you seen what a 10 ton wrecking ball can do to a brick wall?  Cop cars'll be tinker toys!"

"Good point.  Standing orders are to execute a pincer attack when he reaches the barricade, but...  OK.  Turn right ASAP.  And keep the rock monster talking."

Emerald yells out the window what Joe just said. The monster groans back.

Emerald peaks back in. "He says it will impress him. And he's all that matters."

Eli's dad grabs Liberty and yanks her back into her seat. Liberty squeaks. Eli's dad says, "Now is not the time to separate from your friends, young lady. Stay seated until the vehicle is no longer moving."

Liberty slouches. "...yes sir..."

Angel steers right as per the instructions.

The monster, of course, follows.

Timothius says, "Sure is nice we have emergency people directing us..."

  "Of all the times for somebody to not have self esteem issues." Compare, most people on the bus (self included) to, murderous rockface.  A can do, self help book attitude isn't always a good thing.

"Narcissism can be a weakness too," Mits points out, "Maybe mocking him is the best way to keep him occupied.  Or flattery.  I'll leave that up to you."

To Lib she says, "Don't be eager to get in a fight with this one, Lib.  You may be as tough as a rhino, but even a rhino would be turned into a road pizza if a 10 ton wrecking ball landed on it.  I think if any of us has any chance surviving a fight with it, it's Joe and his physics-defying ability to change direction midair."

"Take another right on 3rd," the phone says, "None of you should fight it.  We have Guardsmen inbound with a high-tech arsenal that can stop a tank."

"Won't turning right again take us back into the 'no powers' zone?"

"If your powers go, turn left.  If not, continue."

It is as Mittens predicted. Turning right again eventually lands them in "lose your powers" territory. So Angel steers away soon after and the powers return.

Eli has pulled up an overhead map of the area on his phone to try and figure out what the emergency people are trying to direct Angel to do.

Timothius, meanwhile, is scared, but says, "If it gets too dangerous... I can fly to distract him."

Emerald has been talking with the rock monster and finally plops in her seat. "Well I at least got it blabbing about who is responsible for making him the way he is and responsible for our constant woes. But this rock monster is tough all the way through. Nothing I say bothers him. The fact we're running only excites him. The more of a fight we put up, the better. The more I insult him, the happier he is that we're his target. The more I compliment him, the more he responds with "Well of course" as if my compliments are simply obvious statements. I can not get through to him."

Link back to this game

Red arrow is location and direction of travel.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6486194,-74.133945,17z

  "I suppose survive is true, though even if I had a cordless jackhammer or something I'm doubtful I'd stop him without the mentioned wreckingball."  Now he's wondering if he'll end up getting hit by both at the same time.

  At Tim's suggestion, he says "Tim, you know how hypocritical I am about putting oneself in harms way.  That sounds like it would be too dangerous if you tried to fly above him out of harms way...  Even if that's less likely to be punched in the face than me."

Eli is able to figure out what the phone then explains:

"Good work, Angel and Mittens!  Now that we have 3 points on the border of the no-powers blackout zone, I can relay those to analysts who can draw a circle on the map intersecting those points to predict where else the zone area border is and pinpoint the center to search for the source."

"You're doing great, Emerald.  See if you can get him bragging about what he's capable of.  We might learn something very important."

"That's very brave of you to suggest, Timothius," Mits chimes, "I'm proud of you!

"Joe's right about our chances of beating him.  We need that artillery!  What's the ETA on the tank-stoppers?"

"We already have a squad in place to the east of you, but the blackout zone is probably in the way.  I was planning to have you skirt around the edge as soon as I know where that edge will be."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Wed 25 Mar 2015.

Eli looks at the map and says, "I've got it!" waves at Mittens. "I know where we need to go, based on the collected information!" He proceeds to give directions on how to skirt town towards the squad.

Angel says, "As much as I hate to vote for the dangerous route, I'm thinking we cut through the blackout zone to get to the squad quicker before this monster figured out it needs to hurt other people to get us to fight it. It's not like this bus isn't keeping pace."

Timothius says, "But the blackout zone feels too much like a trap! We can't risk that." he then looks at Mittens. "Let me get a high view of the place and I'll let you know if there are any other bad guys waiting for us?"

Emerald says, "If there are bad guys out there, Timothius, they'll recognize a flying winged cat and try to shoot you down."

Liberty says, "I'm siding with Angel, but Timothius is right... if the blackout zone IS a trap, there is little we would be able to do about it."

  "While inconvenient, driving fast in this thing is pretty much the same with or without our abilities, so really it doesn't make a difference.  Well, if there wasn't something else waiting for us.  I COULD keep up with Timothius reasonably enough, but that feels like ditching you guys even if it's to help make sure he's safe."  And not hooked up to machines again by insane scientsts...

By now Mits is expecting a rocket to hit the bus, so telling Timo and Joe to separate is tempting if only to save two from exploding.  But she keeps her thoughts to herself and sings,

"Don't you know, you never split the party."

"Let's stick together, please.  And taking Eli's rout will more likely hold Rock Face's attention since it'll feel to him like he's gaining on us at every turn.  A direct path is more like to convince him he can't catch us, methinks.  Also, in taking Eli's path, if we sense our powers cut off, we'll know the zone can move.  Not to mention I can't sense traps if my powers are off."