The team wakes on a beach. The coastline seems clean and smells of sea air. Once again, your memory is vague on certain points, like how you got here. Mindhaze has a headache once again. There are several backpacks full of gear, including food, water, and medical kits. Moley's pack has a advanced Giger counter. There are notes written in each pack:

Team Moley,

You advanced iodine treatment pills should be taken if before you leave camp. This medicine will shield you for 24 hours from any long term radiation sickness to a certain level. Anything beyond that can be prevented by Warhead. Stay clear of direct contact with the reactor and you should be fine. Moley's suit and Warhead should not require pills in any case, thus more for Mindhaze's use.

The disruption chip should be applied to Download's metal section of his skull. It is partly magnetic, and will take about a minute to upload the virus to his CPU after contact is made. You must keep him from removing it.

Note-the Giger counter should show any moving sources of radiation-which will be any beta infected moving in patrols to guard the reactor. The map should show you where to go.

Sure enough, there is a map with the diablo canyon power plant laid out, including your location half a mile away. There is also a broadcast device to signal when you are ready for pick up.

OOC:
Please feel free to keep posting in the HQ, as you have a day to finish whatever you where doing there.

Richard woke up slowly, confused for a moment, and blinked several times. Then realization dawned on him, "doesn't really get easier..." He rubbed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

He looked around and his face changed. He smiled and looked over at Natalia, "And you say I never take you anywhere nice!"

Then he looked in his backpack, and read the note inside. He looked over at the other two. "Alright then. Diablo Canyon. Good times."

Moley woke up feeling the same as he always does when waking up to a mission. The pack he had prepared was laying next to him. He opened it and produced a circular object about the size of a normal humans palm which he offered to Mindhaze. “I built you a device that will overlay your suit to protect you from the radiation. There are some additional benefits which you may or may not use. One is altering your cerebral wavelengths to be able to interact with machines. It may help if we have to deal with any computers Download has that will cause us issues. Simply place this on the front of your suit, and it will integrate itself. An AR display will appear outlining its abilities.”

"Alright, alright, I will..." she said, holding her head in agony, once again in response to Moley's words. These headaches were getting ridiculous. She was seriously considering blocking their memory blocks from her mind. It would be a massive rule break, but if she was able to, they wouldn't even know.

Smiling at Richard, she nodded,

"I guess I stand corrected, don't I?" she said, asking a second later, "Have anything for a headache on you?" she was hopeful sounding, but they both knew better.

Standing up, she grunted in pain, but tried to shake it off. Focusing inward, she managed to quell the pain just enough that she could function.

Sure enough, in addition to the anti-radiation drugs, there is a decent amount of aspirin. Mindhaze places Moley's device on the front of her suit at the belt level. Sure enough, it projects a digital screen and a glowing aura over her body, with a tiny digital mole-like creature hovering near her eyeline. Its basically a mole version of Clippy-and speaks in word bubbles.

"Hi! I am the Mole energy enchantment prototype! Or MEEP!"

Mindhaze quickly realizes no one else can see MEEP's message, as it seems to be contacting just her. Actually using her own telepathy to communicate with the machine, as Moley himself said it could.

Moley's Giger counter is ready for use, and as soon as he turns it on it shows him a massive radiation signal half a mile away.

Warhead can sense the energy, almost drawing him to its source. He needs no equipment to do so, but almost feels like there is a free food just sitting there and waiting for him to arrive.

Richard - no they were in the field so had to think of himself properly - Warhead looked around slowly, then closed his eyes for a moment. Without looking, he pointed one arm. "Radiation, and a lot of it, is that way." He unconsciously took a step towards it before stopping himself and opening his eyes.

He shook his head. "Don't think I've ever felt that much all in one place before."

He glanced at Mindhaze. "You okay to go?"

Laughing softly as the chipper voice popped into her mind to speak with her, she thought back at it,

Well thank you Meep! I appreciate your assistance today! she thought it was cute, like a small pet she would have at her side... or her front.

Turning back to Warhead, she smiled wanly, throwing 4 aspirin back into her throat and swallowing with a small amount of trouble,

"I should be fine. They just... when they rummage around up there, it hurts a bit when they have to rip your defenses out first." she said, lifting a finger to her temple to show the 'there' clearly.

Turning, she was ready to move towards the radiation, if they were.

OOC-I am assuming you are heading to the reactor now? Just waiting on Moley's agreement.

Moley looked down at the Geiger counter that was indicating the same direction as Warhead. He starts walking in that direction. “We can start walking there most of the way. Is there any point where we would want to tunnel underneath to get a read on their numbers or stay topside?”

Warhead looked over at Moley and thought about it for a moment. "I mean...I don't know offhand. There could be a good reason for it, but for now I think we just walk and then see what we see. We can, likely, back and go underground as needed if we see a reason for it."

He gave a shrug. "And it's not like you or me would be stopped by most materials if we really wanted to dig under and come up inside of the plant I guess."

He kept walking.

"I could also fly us there, rather quickly... so long as nobody is so heavy that I can't telekinetically hold them up." she shrugged. She figured at this point they were in basic agreement, it was just a question about how, not "if".

"What is our plan when we DO get there? Are we just going to stroll in, and hope that he's right there, just willing to fight us?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Moley shrugged. “My thought was to get in close enough to where I can feel out the location of all the infected and him. Then we can plan our route in through as few infected as possible and find a way to keep them out of our hair long enough to deal with Download. I have no problem being a distraction to lure the regular infected away into a pit trap while the two of you keep him busy until I can get back to you. Your thoughts?”

Warhead listened to both of his companions and then thought for a second. "Hmmm...That's not a bad plan, but I think we should take a look and see what all we're dealing with before we really decide or put things in motion, just to be on the safe side."

He glanced at Mindhaze, and gave a shrug. "If you want, sure. We just don't wanna get too close. I'm not sure if the cybernetic systems on our target can or would start shooting if they spotted us or anything. And we don't wanna attract too much attention, in case any of the other powered infected are looking this way, right?"

"Sounds good... how many of them can you trap?" she asked Moley, turning to face Warhead, "And how many can you melt before running out of energy, if that's how it works?" she asked, she was curious. She couldn't really do much herself, but she could keep those two alive, and as long as they were doing their things, they should succeed.

Warhead listened to her, but then shook his head at Mindhaze's question. "No, it won't be a problem for me, especially in that area, and with the Infected being irradiated as well. There's very little chance I would run outta juice. They'd overwhelm and eat me long before I was powerless."

That had been meant to be kind of a joke, but as soon as the words left his mouth he winced because they weren't really funny. He restrained a sigh.

Moley shrugged. “Depends on the size of the whole. Bigger the hole, the more can be trapped.”

"Ok, it sounds like Moley's idea will be the best. Let's get moving, and see what he can 'see' so we can make our plan a little bit more specific." she said, not sounding defeated, but rather hopeful. Despite feeling like their 'leaders' didn't have their best interests in mind, she felt that her little trio here worked really well together.

Moley burrows towards the target. Mindhaze flies along behind him, giving him distance and carrying Warhead with her new suit-enhanced lifting strength. Granted he only moves at 30 mph, and Mindhaze flies at 60. However, their target is only a half mile away so they get to the reactor very quickly. The place is quite obvious, as its a nuclear reactor sitting on a outgrowth of rock just above sea level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...Canyon_NPP_above.jpg

The problem with burrowing is that there seems to be a hardened material directly under the buildings and made of the buildings themselves. Moley is finding that its unnatural, as even hardened steel he can sense the vibrations through. This stuff, whatever it is, seems to prevent that from happening.

There are no infected outside of any of the buildings, but the Giger counter goes off. Warhead can sense the radiation just behind the lead shielding that seems to coat each building.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:53, Tue 02 Apr.

Moley huffs as his digging claws are blind to the metal encasing the buildings. “Can’t get a read through the buildings. Whatever they are made of or coated with us blocking my sight. At least there aren’t any zombies outside. Either of you reading anything?”

It was very odd to be flying while not in an airplane or anything. If they weren't heading their way towards possible doom, it would have actually been kind of nice. As Moley went underground, he glanced over at Mindhaze and grinned as they got within sight of the facility. Hey? The whole thing with the omega blast and recharge...kind of...changed my powers a bit, I think. You up for trying something with me?"

Assuming she was okay with it, he touched her arm and said, "Okay. It's weird, but just go with it, okay?"

Then they both vanished from the air in a burst of red energy, and then suddenly they were standing on the ground, unmoving and not unbalanced at all. He shook his head. "S'a lil' weird still."

Then Moley popped back up out of the ground. He frowned and shrugged. "I mean...there's radiation that way. There's lead shielding, but...I can sense it. in the buildings."

Grinning back, Mindhaze nodded,

"Of course!" she said, and then suddenly they were teleported to the ground. Her mouth opened in surprise, but happy surprise, and she giggled, "Oh my gosh that was amazing! Can you do that whenever you want?!" she asked, clapping her hands together in excitement. That really was a neat power, and he'd just recently taught himself it? That was an amazing feat of willpower, and she was frankly impressed!

Turning back towards Moley, she frowned in thought,

"Would you be able to scratch a hole in the protective coating, and then peek through?" she wasn't quite sure how the whole Mole angle worked, but she figured she'd ask.

Without direct physical contact, Moley was unsure how tough this strange substance was. He got enough of a reading it was more a coating than a separate substance. A layer covering the steel, concrete, and lead of the building themselves. Almost like a some sort of weird spray paint. The point of such a thing was unknown, but it did not stop the radiation signal totally. What both Moley via the device and Warhead could detect it that is seemed to enhance the lead/concreate mix to keep radiation from passing through it. Both heroes seem to notice it also had the side effect of keeping their inhuman senses somewhat baffled.

Now that they where all closer, Mindhaze does detect some of the minds of the infected in the buildings. As per normal, its difficult to get a reading on the mutated beings. However, she also notices that there is some sort of artificial interference. Possible this spray paint is effecting her powers as well. She cannot get a direct lock onto any of the infected, or their specific location.

"Umm..." Mindhaze did NOT seem comfortable, "I can't see anything in there... bits of feelings of minds, but something is blocking my sensory readings. I know this could be accidental, but since we're hunting a genius, let's assume he's put these blockades in place." she shrugged, "I think we're going in blind, but that's sort of been the expectation with Thinkmaster the entire time, so shall we?" she asked, waving a hand towards the surface entrance of this place. She sounded maybe frustrated, but she was resolved as well... determined to help her two friends through this.