Jenni smiles as she rises above the water, "We're...just here to help.  Speaking of," she extends her hand and the green glow envelops the guard, "I need to make sure you're okay. Thought I saw blood in the water."

Out of the water, floating in place, EM will check the man for injury, looking for torn clothes, lifting his shirt if necessary to find any sign.  If he were bleeding hopefully it would be easier to find this way and she could rush him to EMTs if necessary.  As she conducts her examination she asks, "I'm glad Lachesis found you when she did.   Why don't you tell us how you ended up stuck like that."

Use Move Object to hold guard above water and look for injury.  She doesn't have precise so she'll have to use her hands.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:48, Tue 02 June 2020.

  Lachesis dropped below the surface of the water abruptly, clutching her forehead with both hands.  Bubbles came up—a lot of bubbles.  Some of them rose as though through molasses, some so quickly that water hit the underside of the landing above when they popped at the surface.  The microphone picked up her voice, but even accounting for the muffling effects of the water, there was nothing that sounded like words.  It was a few seconds of this before she surfaced again, gasping and scrabbling toward the railing for support.

  "Damnit, you didn't tell me it was Lizzie!  Hi, Liz."  The exasperation was ever so clear in her voice.  She breathed heavily for a second before continuing.  "Cut me off already; you know I can't add your thing to mine.  Just tell me which way to go: we need to get to Mangatang fast.  Green, you good here?"

"Well, damn." Lizette responded.  "Was worth the shot.  Give me a little bit.  I'm trying to synch the maps.  Getting real-time feedback from anyone on-network...  The more you--well everyone else--sees, the more I can fill out the map.   SolidState's mapping gave us a big leg up.

Down one floor, then down the corridor about 500 feet.  If the map's right, your kid's pretty much right underneath the swimming pool. 
This message was last updated by the player at 02:53, Sun 07 June 2020.

The guard has a pretty nasty gash on his left side, from knee to ankle.   No deformities though... so no broken bones.

"Some of the housekeeping staff.is trapped was trapped a floor down.  Radio interference was getting bad.  I was able to swim to the security office.   I knew there was an O2 tank and regulator.  Got left behind last week.  Just lucky there was actually any oxygen in it.

Anyway, I was trying to get above the water-line to let the rescue-guys know where we were, when the wall caved in above.  It was loud and killed the lights when it happened.  This stairwell's near the outside, I I figure something crashed into us.

"Radio's gone.  But  since you're here, I'm guessing they heard me after all.  Did you get the others out?  Five housekeeping staff.   The water level was rising real quick. " There was a restrained fatalism to his words.  He'd guessed that the others hadn't actually made it.

Abruptly, he looked up, glanced at Emerald Star and then Lachesis. "Um... okay?"  Then his eyes lit up--literally--with a sort of cyan colored glow.

"Oh, man! What the hell?"  Hs whispered.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:52, Sun 07 June 2020.

~Hi I'm Hunter.~  Lizette said.

The guard's eyes went wide. "I'm Bryan.  Bryan Hayes.  I'm Hotel Security.  But, you know, this is like my third day..."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Sun 07 June 2020.

Please see Message #37

  "Five... hundred... Ugh.  But the swimming pool helps; I'll just head toward the risk of the ceiling collapsing on us."  Lachesis turned to scowl at the stairs leading down, but it wasn't in her nature to stop planning.  At times like this, her eyes jumped all over, like during REM sleep.  Nothing that showed through a blindfold, obviously, but when she wasn't wearing it, it was easy enough to catch her looking further than usual into the future.  She might have sighed, but she was still breathing hard already, so she settled for shaking her head in disgust.

  "Welcome to the exciting world of simulated disaster, rookie.  I need your air tank."  She held out a hand in his—and, of course, Emerald Star's—direction, gesturing impatiently with a finger.  "Femme Fusion here can make sure you get out safe, but I need to move fast and I can't do it without breathing the way she can. Your housekeepers are still alive, but not for long.  Come on now."

As quickly as she can EM disconnects the harness holding the tanks and dive belt in place and passes them to Lachesis (plus mask and any other related items Bryan has on his person).  Once done she nods, "Going to get Bryan to the EMTs, I'll catch up."

Retracing her path in, Star will move at fastest comfortable speed for the injured guard back to medical personnel.  She'll waste little time in returning and heading back down the flooded stairwell to the lower level and down the corridor to the swimming pool.  if Mangatang was indeed holding back the water from the room's occupants currently it seemed reasonable he'd be able to do so after they'd breached the door.

  "Aight.  I'm going in.  I'm kind of expecting an ambush, but that's my gut, not a cape thing.  If I get to them safely, I'm gonna try to get even some temporary safety, then slow us all down to give everyone else time for a rescue before the air supply runs out.  Don't count on it until you hear me, though."  Cassandra fumbled with the mask for a few seconds, not only less familiar with them but holding herself in place with an elbow hooked over the railing.  She got there, though.

  And then she took off.  Her bubble of accelerated flow was unmistakable: the water piled up in front of it and collapsed behind, until the flow stabilized into a wave rolling past her.  It was a rare sight; her powers were almost never this visible.  There wasn't much opportunity to appreciate the display though, since she was moving a few hundred miles per hour.  She vanished down the stairway in a flash and maintained the pace down the hallway below, according to Liz's display.

  If someone else could have properly experienced Cassandra's perceptions, they might have understood why she complained so much about the swim.  The world stretched out ahead of her, in the direction of the flow of water, but surfaces were incomplete and disconnected, made of only what she might brush against in passing.  All around her, though, it closed in until there was nothing at all beyond her armspan.  If she drifted right into the center of the hall, the walls didn't even exist until several feet ahead.  Behind her, only an empty void.  At least she could claim she was shivering because of the cold.

Really just using Speed here.  Call it 7 ranks at most, because she's fighting the environment so much.

Alicia flinched when a massive chunk of concrete suddenly ripped through the doorway and a shower of plaster powder that followed momentarily obscured her view.

"Be careful!  I'm on the other side of that door!" she warned Solid State over the communicator as she moved away from the line of fire in case her teammate followed up with a similar attack.

What affect water? the shrunken superheroine thought quickly.  Freezing it or evaporating it were possibilities but affecting this large of a volume of water would require a lot of time.

Absorb it?  Anything that could possible absorb water was probably fully soaked when the wave surged into the building but it was worth a shot.  If she could distract it, maybe she or Solid State could come up with a better idea.

OOC:  Looking for something absorbent that's dry or water-tight.  It's not likely that the bad guy is going to be defeated by a roll of the Quicker-Picker-Upper, a napkin dispenser, or a sealed bucket of kitty litter, but this is the first panel.
Is there a walk-in freezer that the creature could be lured into?
22:03, Today: Alicia rolled 7 using 1d20+4.  Perception 4.

@Emerald Star & @Lachesis

Emerald Star was able to get Hayes to safety.  It was almost anticlimactic that there was no impediment to their exit and her return.

Lachesis pushed through the harrowing emptiness of the corridor, kept going straight only by the inference of the inference of the walls.

Lachesis knew that sound traveled faster under-water.  But it was disorienting.  It was difficult to tell from whence the sound actually originated.   Sound through water didn't vibrate the ossicle bones in her ear.  It vibrated the heavier bones of her skull.   Someone was beating on something in a rhythmic function, keeping a steady tempo.

And there was singing of some sort.  Two tones, maybe three.  It was difficult to tell.  The higher-pitched tones traveled more easily.


--
OOC: She gets to the appropriate place.   But until she opens it up, she doesn't know for certain...  Question: What kind of entrance does she make?

As his systems came back online, Solidstate found himself holding his breath.  He'd have to tinker with the suit a little.  a water-attack shouldn't have done so much damage so quickly.  Maybe examine submersible technologies and calibrate the suit for variables in ambient pressure environments....

He found his mind wandering off, and though it was only a split second, he castigated himself for the inattention.

Then the subaudible ping of systems online sounded, and SolidState lifteded his hand and extended his mind to wrap a cocoon of force around the water-creature.

"I'm going to try to wrap in it in a cocoon of force.  Enough to hold it, but not break it.  I've got to run an analysis of who or what this is.  We don't know if it's sentient or an extension of someone we haven't seen..."

If it was actually made of water,then he had to treat it with kid-gloves to get the right amount of pressure to keep it contained while not causing it to dissolve out of his grasp.



--

Going to power-stunt the Move Object power to grant it Damaging, to try for a Grab.
SolidState rolled 15 using 1d20+7 to dodge vs 14
SolidState rolled 18 using 1d20+9.  Mover Object - Contain Water guy
This message was last edited by the player at 10:16, Mon 15 June 2020.

ROUND 2

+24 Alicia
No action this round, lost surprise.
+20 Waterworks
Waterworks rolled 14 to attack SolidState with Water-Canon
Cumulative Line Area Affliction that gives you Dazed/Prone
   SolidState rolled 15 using 1d20+7 to dodge vs 14
      He dodged successfully
      Waterworks attack misses!
+05 SolidState
SolidState rolled 18 using 1d20+9.  Mover Object - Contain Water guy
   Waterworks rolled 14 Dodge vs Move Object Grab
      SolidState's Grab Attack is successful!
      Waterworks rolls 12 Dodge to Resist vs DC24
         Waterworks failed by 3 degrees!
Waterworks is now Defenseless, Immobile, impaired
SolidState is now Hindered & Vulnerable while maintaining the grab

"All Right!" Solidstate let out a triumphant exclamation as he felt the bounds of psychic force containthe water-thing.  It sloshed back and forth, but without enough momentum, it seemed unable to break free of his containment field.


"I think I've got it." He said over the comms.  "But what the hell do I do with it?"


@Alicia & @Solid State
"The Nook" is just a big open room for continental breakfasts and the like.  But there is a small galley kitchen attached.  It makes sense that there would be a couple of big storage rooms beside...  One for dry-storage, the other a walk-in freezer.  So, Sure, there's a walk-in-freezer.

{ "It's possible it's drawing strength from all the water around it" } EM answers SolidState over the comm, { "Trying moving it out of the building to higher ground and break its contact.  Otherwise fire, cold and electricity all historically impact water in negative ways.  Cold or electricity might be your best bet to slow or incapacitate.  Since no one is getting fried wading through the building it seems a safe bet the building has no power." }

She gently deposits Bryan with the EMTs, "He's got a sizable gash on his leg.  I can't be certain but I don't think it's broken."  Rising again she offers a smile and small wave before rocketing back again.

{ "I have to admit," } she chimes over the comm again,  { "I've always wondered about the effect of increasing viscosity.  You know, adding instant cement or, don't laugh, even flour, pudding or jello.  Granted it would probably take a lot of jello." }

She enters the building from the rear, flying down the hallway once more, { "Lachesis and I should be at the maintenance room momentarily.  Will radio again when we're able." }

Then the elevator shaft is before her and there is no time for further comm chatter.  The emerald glow drops below the waterline, descends the shaft in a heartbeat, and disappears down the same flooded corridor Lachesis had previously taken.  She keeps the brightness level of her radiance high, hoping to illuminate any more of the opposition that seemed likely to be lurking nearby.  Assuming it finds Lachesis at the doorway to the storage room without incident she'll slow to a stop and pause a moment to give the woman a chance to register her presence.

She'll be sure to reduce her brightness before they breach the room, if the people in there had been trapped in the dark all this time the intense light would be overwhelming.  If the door is stuck fast she'll see if Lachesis has a way to open it; otherwise a low powered Plasma Blast should be enough to cut through it without harming anyone on the other side.

I've actually got room to add Precise to Plasma Blast.  Use it like a cutting torch to cut a hole through the door if we can't open it by force
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Tue 16 June 2020.

  Tone was one of those funny things that Lachesis' power distorted anyway, and while she made some accommodation for the downshifts out of habit, there were natural limits to that.  Three orders of magnitude, it turned out, were more than she could really make up for.  And so it happened that she never even heard the singing, or whatever it was, before she tried the door.

  Ordinarily, she would have made an entrance.  Ordinarily, Lachesis did nothing without showboating at least a little.  But it's hard to overstate how much she hated being in sims, and being forced to swim was almost as bad.  Both?  All her bravado was quiescent, her ego on the defense against the miserable conditions.  She just slipped in through the gap.

@Lachesis

The room was a mess.

Of course, the room was more than 3/4 submerged udnerwater.

There were five or six rows of industrial metal shelving units that extended into the distance.  There were heavy boxes still on some of the shelves, but also an inordinate amount of clutter free-floating in the water--various items at different depths depending on their relative bouyancy levels.

And at the far end of her awareness, a pressure-change that would've been the bubble SolidState's nanos had picked up.

And someone--definitely someone--banging away on something metallic.

There were voices, mottled and muddled through the water, but Lachesis could tell excitement from fear.  And they were excited.  It was kind of hard to miss.  They were cheering, after all.

As she drew closer, the forms resolved.  Five people.  One stood over them, arms extended and head back like he was in the midst of a cinematic scream.  Another was crouched down as if he'd been sucker-punched.

The sheer telekinetic power that held the water at bay came from the boy who was crouched down.  He was holding the bubble through sheer force of will, but there just wasn't anything else left in him but the maintenance of it.

The shock in the situation came from the woman that stood over him.   She was absolutely thrumming with power too, though Lachesis couldn't quite determine what the power-effect was.

And all about them, dust and debris swirled around and around and around the bubble...
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Sun 21 June 2020.

EM pauses at the sight of storeroom, momentarily awestruck.  As a slow smile spread across her face she glances to Lachesis to gauge her teammate's reaction, then back to the room.  Slowly she floats forward and tests the bubble with an outstretched hand.

If it appears to allow passage she'll float inside, pulling Lachesis with her as she does so.


Not certain if we're going to continue this or not but posting just in case

We can wrap it up to a fair conclusion :)

The bubble allows passage.  Two of the five look up from where they'd lay, startled and amazed--not the least reason was because, Emerald Star was, after all, green!.


The woman standing with arms outstretched lowered her head, stopped gazing at the ceiling.   "Please."  she said.  "This is killing him.  Get him out.  Get them all out."

[Uh, so... Forsythe?]  SolidState called out.  [I kind of one-shotted your guy.  Okay.  two-shots, but he caught me surprise!  I wasn't thinking.  You coulda thrown more of a challenge at us, you know.]

[Now that I've got this water-guy, what do I do with him?  I'm through to the swimming pool, but there's a lot of debris.  it'll take me about ten or fifteen minutes to clear this place up.]


Waterworks sloshed back and forth in SolidStaet's invisible grasp, straining and reforming into various shapes, all constricted.  The trick was told hold him a delicate container, not try to squeeze the life out of him....
This message was last edited by the player at 13:58, Tue 23 June 2020.

  "Wrth ah jid??" Decompressing Lachesis' speech was a muddled process at the best of times.  Doing it while she was in a noisy environment and relying on the larynx mic was basically a lost cause.  She took in the situation as well as she could, under the circumstances, but there were too many unknowns to really be certain what was happening.  The figure standing above the boy could very well be the one she'd heard earlier.  Cheering was a pretty weird thing to be doing down here, so, a mind controller?

  Deciding it wasn't worth the risk of being wrong, she went with her gut.  Decoupling time from speed and breaking the conservation of energy was always dangerous, but it beat whatever stupid quantum crap happened when she tried to throw bullets without doing so.  Gamma radiation, for one.  And in this case, it was more like kick.  She braced herself in the doorway with both hands, drew a leg up, and waiting for a nice, big piece of debris to line up just right with the mad-laughter weirdo's ba—Oh, there was Emerald Star.  Well, that would be much easier.

  It was always a bit strange to perceive someone who could move as fast as Lachesis herself, but through time that ran normal pace.  Emerald Star coasted toward Lachesis at a fairly reasonable walking pace, despite all the movements of her body happening in ridiculous slo-mo.  It made her feel like a sloppy animation, or wirework flying in kung-fu movies, with the repositioning not lined up to the action that should have moved them.  Lachesis dropped out of warp speed as the woman arrived and just nodded, lips pulled tight and wide in an awkward grimace, then let herself be the second one to slip out of the water.

  "Wait.  Whoa, you're on our side?  Hah!  I was totally ready to knock you out with a brick.  Good thing you caught up, slowpoke.  Give us a shell?"

"A shell," EM ponders hesitantly, "I...possibly...yes I should be able to extend my solar field enough to enclose the group.   But we've already got a field holding the water back," she motions in the direction of Mangatang and the woman.

Time was of the essence, it seemed clear the woman was right and Manatang needed help immediately.  So she laid out an option.

"My thought, I can widen the doorway and use my gravity field to pull all of us out the way we just came in.  I suppose we could even go straight up if I open up the ceiling but the doorway avoids any falling debris.  It should only take a few moments and we'll be out of the water and the boy can relax.  Maybe there's something you can do to help...speed up...the trip, either for us all or just Manatang."

"Or I'll try creating the shell if you've got another option in mind.  Either way I'm ready when you are."

Lachesis - wasn't sure where the shell idea was going so if want to lay it out I'm good to go with it.  Otherwise I presented an option.  You choose.  Let's end this simulation. :)

  Lachesis' head tilted to one side, facing Emerald Star.  "Yeah, so, I'm not sure when you got on the comms, but they're already pumping water out.  Buy us a second, I'll make it an hour, and the water'll be gone already.  Or yank them all through the bath at once, I don't care.  Just..."

  She turned her head toward the boy for a moment, then back up.  The blindfold made her expression hard to read, but her voice was tense.  "He's holding back a river with only his heart.  Do something."  It was the same metaphor she used for stopping time entirely, something that had never stopped causing injury.

If she wants, she can just move object the group and speed back out.  If she can take over maintaining the bubble, I have a power stunt for Burst Quicken -12 (Diminished Area; Only subjective time) ready to roll.  I can't see your sheet.  Your call!

The relief that showed on the woman's face was evident as soon as Lachesis and Star took over.
She couldn't tell you how she did what he did, only that she could and knew it was the only thing keeping everyone alive.

Her son, Mangatang, had kept them breathing.   But one the bubble was up and safely ensconced in "The Nook" restaurant, both the bubble and the air-flow atmosphere fell apart.   The woman sighed with relief and slumped to one side, the boy slipped into unconciousness.

~~End Simulation~~

Awakening from the Simulation left them with a slight buzzing in the ears that fade over the course of about a minute, and a slight disorientation, unsteady balance.

All four of them were in the same room, and Dr. Tupol Khan and his assistant removed their own head-gear.

"Well done."  Khan said.   "Michael and Analyn Arbeus both erupted in precisely such a manner, though in the Hotel St Ellis in Legazpi, the Philipines.    It was the first recorded tag-team  eruption.   Your friend 'Waterworks'...   is an as-yet unidentified meta.   They have been documented in three verified sightings--twice in Santa Monica and more recently, there's been a sighting here in Emerald City.   At this stage, they have not been clasified as a hostile and are not wanted on any kind of warrants.  The mastermind characters... well, I might save that for another simulation.   We're still perfecting the interface."

"The woman behind Doctor Kan had been talking on the telephone... she hung up and then nodded to Doctor Khan.

"All right then.  Apparently, Director Maddox wants to welcome you to Aegis West." He said with a smile, brushing the dreadlocks from his side.   "Let me be the first to say welcome aboard."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:05, Thu 02 July 2020.

"The interface was amazing, thanks for the practice session Dr. Khan," Jenni smiles to the man, "I'm curious though, what did Michael and his mother do afterwards?  Not everyone joins Aegis so how do people choose to live with their new abilities?"

Once her curiosity was satisfied Jenni joins the others in the director's office.