Psyche briefly imagines the movie Deep Rising and her face scrunches up in fear and disgust.

"...I think I'll stay up here where it's nice and safe and there are no superpowered lamprey worms trying to eat me. But I can go down there if you think I'd be more useful with the meteorite."

Anathema had donned the trench coat again for their trip on the seas. This was driven more by matters of practicality than modesty; her highly reflective skin in the unbroken midday sun was something of a sight hazard which she wanted to minimize for her peers. Plus, the salty sea spray was making her metallic flesh feel blotchy and gross, just uuuugh~!

"I admit that the notion of superpowered giant squids had not escaped my notice," Anathema says. "I have not heard any obvious reports of eldritch monsters appearing on the news but it is best to be prepared for anything. I cannot say I relish the thought of fighting but if it comes down to it I think you will find I am tastier in a scrap than you would expect."

While they she plays with a bag full of highly polished ball bearings, making a somewhat obnoxious clacking noise as she rolls the heavy chrome balls in her hands. As they approach the target sight she dons a pair of low-light vision goggles and begins hurling the ball bearings overboard as hard as she can at semi-regular intervals. As hard as she can is not all that hard.

Psyche watches as Anathema does her imitation of a demented pachinko machine, and eventually her curiosity drives her to ask:

"Ah... May I know what you're doing that for, besides doinking the wildlife?"

OOC: I have an idea but conversation is good!

"Hehehehe, doinking~!" Anathema singsongs happily. She tosses out a ball bearing with a girly, dainty flick of the wrist with each repetition. "Doink, doink, doink. That is a fun word!" She wiggles and giggles a bit longer before turning serious with such abruptness that it's like flicking a switch.

"The ball bearings give me three hundred and sixty degrees of vision, which combined with these goggle thingies-" she taps the device on her head, "should give me a rough idea of the local topography."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Sat 18 June 2022.

Psyche pauses to try and puzzle out the potential mechanism of this vision. Apparently she can see through reflective surfaces, or something? But wouldn't that be kind of useless if they were underwater, where everything was dark...

Then she notices the NVGs Anna-thema is wearing. Clever clever!

"That's a brilliant idea! I wish I could do that, it would be like having miniature camera drones and such."

Star Phoenix had not considered how long it would take to get to the location of the underwater mountain where the meteorite went down.  It was infuriating waiting for the snail's speed, compared to his usual Mach speed flight travel, sea vessel to lumber across the seas to the location.  He pondered leaving the ship and coming back in a week... but did not want to leave the women in the company of strange sailors without him there to make it clear they were not entertainment.  It was probably unnecessary concern... but he felt responsible since he hired the crew and ship.

He did make one foray from the ship... going trans-orbital and a quick light speed jaunt to Paris to purchase a chic stylish woman's black leather duster. After spending a few hours healing and doing deeds of heroics in France. Wrapping the longcoat in solid plasma for the return flight to the ship.

The evening he knocked on Anathema cabin door {or entered and knocked on the bathroom mirror to get her attention} and presented it too her, "Hey, I was in France earlier today... helping out.. healing y'know..my thing... when I saw this duster in a fashion window.. and it fit your ..er proportions perfectly.  Uhm, so I thought it would go particularly well with your metallic skin-tone.. and protect you from the elements, better than that hobo's ratty trench coat you wear.  Perhaps, when this is done.. I could take you to get some nice clothing you like... if you're like into that...?"

Regardless how she accepts or rejects his 'gift' he leaves the duster with her...

Star Phoenix stays around the ship mostly watching the crew and trying to learn a little about sailing and the salvaging equipment and underwater sensor equipment they brought...

When finally the ship arrives he watches as the crew get ready to start doing the sea floor sonar and radar sweeps.  Consulting with Captain Max Henderson to coordinate the crew's efforts with the Supers searches so no effort is wasted.

He was on deck waiting for Anathema to do her remote sensing thing enjoying how she made everything a game.

He explained to the uncomprehending Psyche, "You see Anathema can sense perceive out of any reflective surface.. within about a 2 mile area I think... so the ball bearings have a 360^degree spherical reflective surface; giving her a Very wide angle to remote view through!"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:02, Sat 18 June 2022.

Fathom looked on with a confused expression.  "How does your seeing through the ball-bearing thingies get filtered by the goggles?" The dynamics of it hurt her brain.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Sat 18 June 2022.

"I'm reflecting in that polehole thingus over there," she gestures at one of the ship's windows, "which propagates the fact that I am wearing goggles to all of my reflections. My instance in this reality can't see anything, but my reflected selves can tell me what they see!"

Star Phoenix smiles brightly at Anathema, "You are a Quantum Entanglement Marvel..Anathema!"

Anathema giggles. "Entangly~!"

The ball launched by Anathema made contact with the water before sinking rapidly. As it descended, Anathema could see fish swimming and the occasional human trash.

A crewmember of the Medusa who had experience in diving had explained that you could see mostly normally until 30m, after that light condition began to drop until 500m, after that you only had eternal darkness. Lucky, the ship had a reserve of underwater flashlight and aquatic torches.

Everyone was watching Anathema as she followed the descent of the ball. The oceanic floor at their point was between 400m and 450m and it took some time before the ball reached it.

At first, she didn’t see anything that could have been the meteor, but after a minute, she caught the glimpse of a light near the position of the ball.

[OOC: Here we go. Anathema, I made a Perception roll difficulty 20 for you, you failed (rolled a 9 so a total of 19). No more information than just a light at the bottom of the ocean.]

Anathema had been tossing out many ball bearings; she still has a half-full jar of the things at her feet. She makes idle and oftentimes asinine conversation as the vessel goes about doing its business.

Suddenly she stops and cocks her head. "Huh, that's odd. Ummm, here, let me try this..." She turns her back to everyone, kneels, and slips her shiny new trench coat (courtesy of the Star Phoenix!) off her shoulders so that it rests in a bundle around her hips. The silvery-blue flesh on her back ripples and shimmers before an image of what Anathema is seeing appears in her reflective skin. The image has a horrifying fishbowl perspective due to the curvature of the ball-bearing. "Is it working? Do you see it?"

Star Phoenix smiles appreciatively to see Anathema wearing the stylish black leather woman's duster; it does indeed look fabulous on her slender frame.  He must catch himself and come back to reality regarding the mission.

Stepping forward to peer at her naked back... trying to ignore the slender lines and shoulder blades of her hour-glass figure he swallows and comments, "Yeah a light of some sort that should not be at that depth.  Could you point in the direction of the Ball bearing were viewing here?"

He relays her indicated direction to Captain Henderson to begin their underwater terrain radar scans and reconnaissance salvage drone deployment in the indicated direction.

Regarding Psyche, "Keep us mentally in contact ok?"

Then looking over to Fathom, "Ok no time like the present. Shall we dive?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:05, Tue 21 June 2022.

It wasn't lost on Fathom that Anathema had ignored her offer of underwater LEDs with mirrors.
 Fathom had made the mistake of getting the LEDs and mirror setup without actually talking to Anathema about it.

But you know better! the little voice in her head said.  Anahita had been mostly quiet through the journey. Communicate!

This was, after all, the first test of how the four of them might work together.  Everything they did was going to be them figuring out what the pecking order was and how they were going to interact.  And the success of this might suggest whether there was even a chance of doing something in the future.  If Fathom could convince Star phoenix of her plan, it might not matter.  But she still had to hedge her bets.

By the time Anathema's little ball-bearing made it to the lower-reaches, Fathom was getting jittery-impatient. It was time to actually do something.

Hopefully Star Phoenix wasn't going to boil away half of the ocean.   Fathom wondered what impact his fiery presence was going to have on the creatures of the deep.

"About bloody time."  she muttered to herself, and let her robe and floppy-hat fall to the deck.   Her skin was iridescent blue all over, counter-contoured with shades of purple and cyan.  She wore a simple black one-piece racer out of respect for history and propriety.  She'd opted for a a simple black high-cut lycra racer, something she was familiar with.

Fathom nodded then  without waiting, dove overboard, executing a graceful arc into an dive with minimal splash.  Almost like she'd trained for that kind of thing.

Psyche raises an eyebrow as Anna-thema does her impromptu strip show. Was it really wise to take off her clothes in public, in front of a bunch of sailors? Still, Justy said he trusted them, so... good for them, then. Anna certainly didn't seem to care, and Fathom... well, she sounded like she'd make her opinion clear if she didn't like it.

"Uhhhh... It looks... kind of glowy? Maybe we could throw a flashlight over the side to try and shed more light, but that might not work as well as expected. Anyway, for light I think we could have Justy's firebirds try swimming over to them to light things up; assuming they can survive in the water."

In response to Justy's comment abotu mental communication...

"I can try to keep everyone in mental contact, but I should warn you that there might be a range limit to this; I haven't been exhaustively testing what I can do, but more than a few city blocks might not be doable."

PM  Private to Psyche.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Fri 24 June 2022.

Justy nods, "Right let's do this!"

He begins emitting sunlight, golden and warm... then steps to the ship's side and steps off the gunwales no graceful dive or leap and just plunges into the water feet first... sinking about 20'ft before igniting his phoenix aura for flight thrust...

The effect is .... substantial as the water around him volatilizes with a dulled muffled Explosion into steam!  The water ambient temperature absorbs most of the volitalization... but creates a substantial shockwave of expanding gases and steam that does rock the ship slightly and causes an area some 20'ft wide of steaming boiling water to rise to the surface.

Star Phoenix's fiery bird aura is hindered to an area of steaming bubbles that brightly emits light in addition to the sunlight he is already creating... and heats the water around him to a boil in a radius of some 15'ft... but the phoenix Aura is still presents... its beaked now boiling scowl evident at some hidden perhaps sub-conscious discomfort 'Justy' is feeling at the watery environment... or maybe .. some hidden consciousness to the effect separate from Justy, cause he himself is laughing!

_{"Hahaha! Well I 'should' have expected that.. this feels weird... not breathing water its hard to make myself heard forcing the steam or perhaps boiling waters past my vocal cords ~ but I'm not touching the water mostly just very thick steam... it..kinda tickles and feels weird.  Can you hear me Fathom?  Don't get to close.. don't want to scald you!"}

His voice did come through though as if muffled.

_{"Well let's not dally.. let's get to that meteorite..."}

His 'Aqua-Flight' maneuvering does seem less agile but he continues to have full control over his flight path and direction...

He turns and heads in the direction of the meteorite leaving a trail of boiling steam in his wake that quickly begins to cool in the vastness of the ocean's ambient temperature his brightly glowing Phoenix Aura still majestically flapping slowly it's great boiling wings as he descends into the depths...
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Fri 24 June 2022.

"He's going in already? ...I think I will follow you guys down there after all. Give me a bit..."

In the blink of an eye, Psyche has somehow managed to go from a sensible jeans and shirt combo to a flattering hot pink wetsuit and rebreather, and then she goes in after Fathom and Justy do.

The group began to slowly descend toward the mysterious light. Fathom was obviously in her element and was easily swimming around, the other was not that lucky has they were forced to swim like human or use powers who were not made for water.

But they were not pressed by time, and they finally arrived at the bottom of the ocean. The light could be see shining nearby.

[OOC: I remind that the Flight effect is reduced to rank 1 if you use it. Now I need a Perception check for everyone, DC20.]

Oh, yeah, dice. right.  Naturally, the dice rallied against me.

Goosebumps rise on Psyche's body as the chill waters of the Sea of Japan close over her. It's not painfully cold, but it's definitely a little unsettling. She can swim, but that's from her high school days. Though she has powers to help her out now, the sight of the infinite blue depths is a memento mori in its own right.

Ah, hello? Testing, testing...

OOC:
17:17, Today: Psyche rolled 23 using 1d20+10.  Perception.

Star Phoenix continued to mover smoothly through the water slow but steady leaving a wake of boiling water and steam.

He could almost make out the source but his own steaming aura of boiling water and emitted sunlight tended to drown out detailed visuals...

21:17, Yesterday: Star Phoenix rolled 17 using 1d20+4.  Star Phoenix - Perception [+4]. – 17

[OOC: Not to put too fine a point on this but the 'Aquatic Flight' extra on flight is a flat 1pt and allows flight in water with only a -2rks to the flight speed ranks.  I 'could' theoretically get that with the expenditure of a Hero point.]

The group was near the source of light but is was difficult to see anything underwater, especially this deep. But while Phoenix and Fathom were focused on their objective, Psyche paying more attention to her surrounding. Which was lucky has she was the only one to see three large shadows who were sneaking behind the group. One of them was close enough to be partially in illuminated by the aura of Phoenix and Psyche could see many teeths.

[OOC: I assume you will try to warm the group so everyone initiative test please.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Tue 28 June 2022.

Star Phoenix, given warning turns to see the approaching shadows and maneuvers between their approach and the two women, activating his Plasma Shield... which again adds more heat to the water causing another more powerful steam explosion and pressure wave for the rapidly boiling water in his energetic surroundings as both flight and his 'force field' are nothing more than tightly controlled fusion plasma effects that create solar plasma for thrust and as a field of annihilating energy to protect him from damage.

Hopefully, whatever is approaching will be frightened into withdrawing if not by the huge 500'ft radius sunbright zone of light directed at them {something unheard of at these depths} or by the rapidly expanding explosive wave of boiling water produced by his dual plasma flight and force field powers!

The effects underwater are... quite explosive.

He directs his area of created sunlight to illuminate and totally eliminate any shadows concealing the approaching shapes...

15:00, Today: Star Phoenix rolled 23 using 1d20+7.  Star Phoenix - Initiative [+7]. – 23

Actions -
No Action: Turn on Protection - "PHOENIX Plasma Sheath" {Force Field} Protection: 8 (Cosmic, Elemental, Good, Fire, Heat, Light, Radiant; +8 Toughness; Impervious [+1rk/Rk], Sustained [+0rk], Noticeable: “Burning Phoenix Aura” [-1rk], Side Effect 2: Always – Contact Sets Surroundings on Fire [-2rk/lvl])
Free Action:  Direct Active Environmental power: Light {Bright} - ”Control Fire/Plasma {Environment}”: {Environment} 6 (Alternate; Cosmic, Elemental, Fire, Heat, Light, Radiant; Heat{Extreme}, Light{Bright}, 500’ft radius)
Move Action:  Move to position himself between the approaching creatures and Fathom and Psyche - Making certain to keep them far enough away so as not to scald them with his boiling plasma aura
Standard Action: Total Defense {+4 Defense} w/Defensive Attack {+5Defense/-5Attack} = Defense Dodge/Parry 29
This message was last edited by the player at 19:13, Mon 04 July 2022.

Naomi is too busy trying to avoid the steaming wake Phoenix is leaving behind himself to notice the environment around her, but when she reaches out with her mind on her usual "is everyone connected" sanity check and picks up more intelligences in the water...

...Well, it's a good thing she was mentally prepared for this. Otherwise she might have had an accident.

Looks like giant evil sharks in the water! Get ready, everyone! She thinks over the group's mind link as she calms herself down and considers what she can do in the water.

That would be Fathom's territory, she muses.

OOC:
Ack! Got a sudden burst of work last week and forgot to check! So sorry.

19:11, Today: Psyche rolled 7 using 1d20+4.  initiative.

She will Mind Scan the nearest thing in the deep, a Perception range standard action effect check.

19:19, Today: Psyche rolled 15 using 1d20+10.  Mind Reading Effect Check.

Hopefully that yielded something. For reference...

SUCCESS DEGREE OF CONTACT
1 Surface thoughts: You can read what the target is presently thinking. Mind Reading transcends language; you comprehend the target’s thoughts whether or not you share a common language.

2 Personal thoughts: You can probe deeper into the target’s mind for information. You can essentially ask any one question and receive the answer from the target’s mind. If the target doesn’t know the answer, then you know that as well.

3 Memory: You can read the subject’s memories and recollections. This allows you to perceive them exactly as the target recalls them, one memory per round.

4 Subconscious: You can read memories from the target’s subconscious, things even the target does not consciously know. This might mean repressed or hidden memories, deep-seated psychological traumas, or even other personalities.