Justice League: Founding (Prologue)

[NineOfSpades]

---Prologue---



Metropolis isn't known for being a particularly busy city, though by any real measure it is. Night or day, something is always moving about in the city streets. A taxi cab, perhaps, ferrying a corporate mogul from the airport after just arriving after a late night red-eye flight. A teenage couple, enjoying a walk through the scenic park, the moonlight illuminating the affection they felt for each other. A stray orange tabby cat, poking through a trash bin outside the Pizza Parlor at 5th and Main, and yowling with delight upon spying a discarded scrap of pepperoni. Even in darkness, the city doesn't sleep.

But, just after midnight, one of the quietly stirring members of the city ceases to be quite so quiet. An alarm is tripped, by a man who curses at himself for making such a rookie mistake. Forgoing subtly, he reaches into a large duffle bag and pulls out a crowbar. It only takes him a few moments to smash through the lock and access the warehouse. "Luther's such an idiot. Guy spends a billion dollars on a new chemical plant, then pays minimum wage on the guy installing the door lock. Serves him right, too" the man chuckles to himself, pausing a moment to adjust the skii mask on his face, before pulling out a small handgun and entering the industrial warehouse.





>>>Sending Authentication
>>>Bravo-Green-8-8-Red-2-O....Verification Confirmed.

SHADOW didn't ususally engage in missions like this, but it wouldn't be the first time exceptions had to be made. Two weeks ago, Jen Joh-Il had passed away due to heart failure, leaving his eldest sun, Jen Joh-Un to take over as the leader of The National Republic Of Gwiyeoun, likely making Joh-Un into one of the most powerful 18 year olds in the world. Thankfully, Joh-Un was far more open to peaceful contact with the western world than his father had been, and had opened the boarders of Gwiyeoun for the first time in 30 years to allow a handful of UN ambassadors to enter his lands.

Gwiyeoun is technologically behind the rest of the world, but SHADOW has solid intelligence indicating that the nation has a store of Xenotech somewhere within its boarders. That is where you come in. Your Primary mission is to infiltrate the peace talks and get close enough to Joh-Un to determine the location of the Xenotech. Additionally, there is reason to believe the death of Jen Joh-Il's death was not due to natural causes. Should an attempt be made on his life, your secondary objective is to protect Joh-Un. His death would likely trigger a power vacuum among the upper military leaders of Gwiyeoun, which could spiral into outright civil war. Similarly, any overt action on your part could put additional strain on the negations and draw undo attention onto our organization. Unless the primary or secondary objectives are endangered, we expect your actions to remain covert.

A cover identity has already been established to get you past their security. You have been issued a press pass and are going undercover as a reporter assigned to cover the negotiations.

Good luck Agent


If nothing else, Jen Joh-Un certainly knows how to throw a banquet. In the lush ballroom of the Grand Palace of the People, it would be easy to forget you were in the middle of one of the last great modern dictatorships, or that despite the massive buffet, most of the people in this country fought a daily struggle against starvation. Hopefully the efforts of this evening would change that. The actual negotiations weren't scheduled to begin until tomorrow morning. Tonight was just a show of power. Your target hadn't shown himself yet, but even with his absence, there were still a lot of high-value people gathered in this room. All together, maybe a hundred dignitaries, ambassadors and politicians had gathered, plus twice that number of security guards and staff. It was a lot of people, and a lot of variables. But then, if it were easy, they probably wouldn't have sent you.




Something was amiss in the world. As always, the three of you were able to feel it before you knew exactly what was wrong. Trinity ensured you were up to date on the ebb and flow of events in the world. And today, the flow was inundated with sorrow, desperation, fear and despair, emanating from the southern tip of the united states, all along the Florida Coastline. And it wasn't hard to figure out what was wrong, either. Even without your divine intuition, all it would have taken was the simple act of turning on a television. Because then you'd see that reports were coming in of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of missing children, all vanished without a trace sometime the previous evening.

Sorrow, desperation, fear and despair. These were form your enemy took today. The enemy of injustice, of strife. People were crying out for someone, anyone, to help them. It was on your shoulders to see that their cries did not go unheard.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets hadn't even had the news on for a full minute before they saw what was going on in Florida.

Amy just stared, eyes glued to the screen as name after name, picture after picture went by. Nadia pulled out her phone and started scanning through news sites and social networks. Caleb hopped on the computer and started pulling up other newscasts. The three of them had spent almost five minutes trying to gather as much information from the media as they could before they realized five minutes had passed and they hadn't left the house yet.

Scrap sparring, scrap showers, scrap breakfast. Those things all took amounts of time measured in minutes. If changing clothes hadn't been something they could accomplish in a period of seconds, they'd have been flying to Florida dressed for sleep. As it was, not a one of them remembered the existence of shoes.

Disappearing children were kinda a big deal for them.

And we're off to Florida! And yes, they are making full use of Quickness 6 to get as much information as they can from the news and stuff in those five minutes. As far as where they're heading more specifically, if the disappearances are clustered around an area, they'll head for the densest or central part of the cluster. If it's more a trail, or if there's no discernable pattern, they'll head for the most recent one. In any case, they'll be aiming to get to the FBI building or, failing that, police station nearest the target point.

EDIT: Also, are the spoilers meant for organization, or secrecy? That is, is it okay if we read the GM posts for other PCs?

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

The glittering blanket of Metropolis skyline glimmered and winked below in a beautiful blur of black-and-gold as Ultrawoman sailed peacefully overhead. A quiet night so far, the kryptonian had taken to the skies at an almost leisurely pace and tracked back and forth across the sky in a pattern that cast her superhearing across whole multiple city blocks at a time like a giant, invisible fishing net. Couples arguing, people talking, TVs and Radios…she heard it all, but for the most part she let the majority fall away as unimportant. That is, until she heard the all-too familiar sound of a crowbar against metal followed by the cocking of a handgun.

Hovering in the air, her blood red cape dulled by the night and billowing about her figure voluminously, Ultrawoman watched as the masked gunman entered the warehouse. Her irises glimmered a pale gray as peered through the walls with her X-ray vision to further inspect the mans actions. Instinct told her that he was a thief or a saboteur. That was the most likely outcome…but she couldn’t see any reason why she couldn’t first observe the man before making a concrete call.

“Have to give him points for the ski mask and snub sixshooter,” the she muttered to herself, “not many these days are going for the vintage look.”

Ooc:
Hovering half a kilometre away in the sky, watching the guy with X-ray vision. Ultrawoman will hold her action as she observes him, if it looks like he’s going to do something criminal then she’ll act.

[Arcran]

Abigail tugs at the collar of her blouse, not fully comfortable in the attire. It wasn't that she never wore such attire; she did have a social life, after all. No, it was more the fact that she was in a room full of potential hostiles without some of her most essential equipment. Abigail was more of a black ops agent than a true spy like this, putting her in a bit of an awkward situation. Still, she was psychic. At least that would make it a little bit easier to find an assassin or threats, right?

Of course, the most important thing to do would be to figure out who belonged to who and, in this situation, that meant the hired guns. As Abigail makes her way down the buffet she slides her glasses up the bridge of her nose, hoping that the tinted lens would be enough to hide the slight purple glow as she began to routinely scan the minds of the guards, keeping a lookout for Jen Joh-Un to finally arrive.

The mission would be simple. Find the guards who were working for the wrong side, if there were any. Take them from the wrong side and put them on her side. Allow the attack to occur but under her direct supervision. Save Jen, get him to flee to a panic room. Once he was alone tear apart his mind until she can find the location of the Xenotech. If everything went as planned this mission could be complete and the hostiles nullified before Jen even had a legitimate threat leveled against him.

Of course, things never did quite go as planned. That's why they sent her.

How much of my Equipment do I actually have?

We'll be doing a few things! First up is scanning for minds that seem to be somewhere they shouldn't be: [roll0]

Athena will then start scanning the minds of the various guards around the party; she has Cumulative Effortless Mind Reading 13 so she should be able to break through their minds fairly easily, but if you'd prefer I rolled I can do that.

[NineOfSpades]

From your vantage point in the sky, you've got an excellent view of the scene. As you watch, the intruder takes a moment to assess the inside of the building, flicking on a small flashlight to illuminate the interior. Long rows of storage containers line the inside of the structure. From the looks of things, its probably a holding bay where Lexcorp keeps their chemical imports until they get shipped off to some factory or lab site. The gentleman goes to work quickly, moving through the rows with the sort of swiftness that suggests that he's been inside before, or at least, that he's familiar with the layout.

However, as he moves deeper into the building, you begin to have difficulty keeping track of his whereabouts. The thick, metallic walls of the vats are obstructing your viewpoint. However, it looks like he's carrying some sort of electronic device, about the size of a loaf of bread, which he connects to the underside of several expensive looking pieces of equipment. A digital display on each device shows a clock counting down.



Your coordinated search efforts have picked up some of the big details, though the story is still unfolding and a lot of the information is still speculative as police and investigators struggle to put together a picture of what has happened. But then, they don't have your ability to quickly take in such a mass of information either. Which is likely why they haven't yet established the fact that the abductions appear to have begun along the northern edge of the state, and have proceeded southward. Another detail that you happen to spot, is that for every child that's been abducted, there are dozens upon dozens more that were overlooked. Whoever or whatever is responsible, they seem to be picking their targets, not just acting opportunistically.

However, there is only so much you can get at from your own home, and so any further investigations will likely require getting feet on the ground (so to speak). Based on the 'trail' you were able to figure, the best place to start is a section of everglades about 50 miles west of Disneyland.

The site in question is pretty rural, and from the air, you can see a string of small towns inter spaced with large expanses of marshlands so thick that you can't even see the ground through the canopy of leaves. The humid air rising up carries with it the cries of birds and wildlife, who go about their daily business unconcerned with the sorts of troubles that their human neighbors face. Its not long before you spot a circle of eight or so flashing lights, along with a dozen other civilian vehicles, looking to be a group of local police and concerned citizens. At a guess, it was probably a search party.




Your scans told you a lot of interesting things. Firstly, the estate was a veritable anthill of tunnels and secret passages, though which you identified the minds of many servants scurrying about behind the scenes, making sure that their guests had plenty of wine, or that the spilled tray of shrimp puffs was quietly swept up. Deeper down, security staff ran patrols. In some ways, it reminded you of SHADOW. Except for the fact that SHADOW soldiers were well trained, and actually signed up for their position. From what you've heard, you wouldn't be surprised if half of these men only kept working to avoid getting sent off to a labor-camp somewhere.

Still, while there are plenty of discontent thoughts, none of them have a spark of the sort of anger or fear that would push one to strike out.

Turning your attention to the guests, and their bodyguards, reveals a different story. The ambassadors were clean, all of them quietly turning through their notes and speeches, getting ready to appeas the whims of a spoiled brat-turned head of state. Their guards are doing much the same as you are, scanning the room for potential threats, though their efforts are limited to their eyes and ears. However, your search is interrupted when you get to the minds of the Vlatavan ambassador, a blond haired gentleman of average height and a fairly frail looking build. His clothing was a outdated, though that might have just been a result of the ceremonial cape he wore over his shoulders. His retainer of guards, a trio of large, imposing men who were squeezed into formal suits that looked a size and a half to small, were similarly resistant to your probing. Efforts made to breach the mental barrier which shielded them only produced a sudden burst of nausea and disorientation on your behalf.

Before you can press further, The man of the hour arrives, as announced by a thundering drum roll. The gold-leafed doors to the ballroom open, and in walks Jen Joh-Un. Or, more accurately, Joh-Un is carried in. The overweight young man was seated in an ornate throne which was carved from what looked to be ivory and marble, and was lifted up by a pack of a dozen very uncomfortable looking men, who strained under the burden which they carried.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets arrived at the area they had roughly identified as probably the most recently hit, and all swerved off in different directions. They were about five miles apart when they noticed, and flew back to regroup, holding position in the air for just a couple minutes while they had a discussion at the speed of thought.

~You need to take a moment to think,~ Trinity's ever-calm voice said into their minds, cutting through the haze of fear and fury.

~We don't have a moment to think! Someone abducted dozens, maybe even hundreds, of kids. Over the course of a night or so, in all likelihood!~

~Also, the trail leads entirely too close to Disneyland for my tastes. I mean, seriously, who does that?~

~...You're actually making jokes at a time like this? Really?~

~I think I raised an entirely legitimate and valid concern, in fact. That said, let's be clear. There was a string of child abductions while we were sleeping, and that's terrible. But, I mean, we're awake now. Game set match, you know? Still, there's no point in wasting time, when yon search party could use some angelic aid, and probably a morale boost for that matter.~

~A small rural search party isn't likely to know much, especially being near the most recent abductions. We need to get to a large city's police station, or preferably an FBI headquarters. They're the ones who will probably have more solid leads.~

~What we need to do is conduct an overflight search to see if we can spot anything amiss, then canvas the neighborhoods of every child taken in this area to see what people saw. Which takes time. Which is why we shouldn't be wasting any.~

~Astonishing. Three equally valid and practical options for solving the problem. If only there were some way to take all of those possibilities, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, consider their costs and benefits, and come up with a cohesive plan of action allowing us to enact them in the most efficient manner so as to accomplish our goal more quickly.~

~...~

~I wonder, if we were possessed of such a miraculous capability, if spending, say, five minutes implementing it wouldn't end up saving more than five minutes in the long run. Alas, I am merely an angel of Faith, Hope, and Love, and the virtue of Patience is entirely outside of my-~

~You've made your point.~

~Lovely.~

~So, Trinity, question. If it turned out we had a quadruplet out there, do you think reuniting with them would unlock your Angel of Snark magic?~

~Guys!~

~Alright, well, splitting up is pointless, because of Trinity's weird magical square-cube law.~

~Also known as, trying to do three things at once being distracting.~

~Not necessarily. We don't need super speed to talk to the search party, and an overflight would be straight visual processing and flight speed. One of us can talk to the search team while the other two fly over the area to cover the most ground.~

~Alright. Good. And if that doesn't turn up anything, do we go to the authorities first, or start canvassing?~

~The authorities would probably want us to do paperwork.~

~They'll already have organized and analyzed some information, hopefully. Getting it pre-processed will help, and give us something to work with for the canvas. And they'll be getting information in from a lot of streams. Investigations throughout the state, call-ins, BOLOs, all that. We can sort through all that stuff a lot faster and more comprehensively than they can, and that's worth doing. It's also going to be faster than canvassing ourselves, so we should do it first.~

~And then we canvass if that doesn't turn up anything.~

~Sounds like a plan.~

~Would it not also be useful to speak with members of your mass media?~

~Meh. These days, whatever they know, the internet knows within a couple minutes. Just make a note to check the news sites and social networks periodically and we're good. If it looks like the sort of thing that we're not going to be able to solve quickly, we might consider making a statement or something, just to reassure people. But frankly I'm betting on not even having to call in late to work!~

~Human communication technology never ceases to fascinate me.~

~Nadia, you want to talk with the search team?~

~Sure. Just do me a favor and fly in with me, yeah?~

~Yep. Amy, how about you go further down the coast, in case the kidnapper's already moved past this point, I'll head back up it in case he left clues behind or is still in this area?"

~Works for me.~

And then they were on the move again. All three of them flew towards the search party, side by side, and as they neared it they briefly slowed just enough that they would be clearly visible. The three split apart again - with intent this time - when they were almost directly over the party, Amy turning south and Caleb north, while Nadia dove straight down, flipping twice in the air as she plummeted for the ground (being needlessly showy was a solid thirty-three-point-buncha-threes percent of the point of being a superhero, far as she was concerned) and landing (well, actually, coming to a hover about a foot off the ground - again, this was swampland and they had kinda forgotten to wear shoes) before the police and civilians.

"My name is Nadia Springs, Angel of Hope," she said in a clear, confident voice, giving the group a gentle smile. "I'm here to help. You guys are looking for the missing kids, right? You have any leads?"

While Nadia talks, Caleb and Amy are basically flying over the area to sweep it for clues. At Flight 13 and with enough Rapid Vision to make up for it, plus Extended Vision 2 and Quickness 4 (since they lose Nadia's two points of Quickness), they should be able to cover a pretty big area in decent time. Their vision also Counters All Concealment, so things like foliage, murky water, shadowed areas, marsh mist, and the like won't impede them, although they can't see through solid objects.

Either Perception or Investigation, whichever is more relevant/useful, they're both the same anyway: [roll0].

For the sake of GM sanity my general plan for these three, when they split up, is to try and make it so only one of them really needs to be "on screen" at a time. Naturally, if you have other ideas that's another story entirely, but like for now Caleb and Amy can just conduct their search in the background while Nadia does the talking bit.

I'm keeping extended telepathic discussions in spoilers for cleanliness and so people who don't care don't have to be bothered with them, but anyone who wants to read them can, they're not secret information.

Also, while I am playing Trinity himself in the telepathic talks, I consider him a semi-NPC. Kinda like a cohort in D&D, I suppose. If you ever need to usurp control of him for purposes of Complications, info-dumping, or whatever, feel free.

[Arcran]

Abigail frowns as she finds herself literally sickened by trying to read the Vlatavan's minds for a multitude of reasons. First off, she didn't like being blocked out. Secondly, the apes he had crammed into suits could prove a challenge if they were immune to her gifts. Finally, seriously? There was no way the threat would be so openly villainous looking, right?

The barrier was the first concern. Without a second thought Abigail attempts to push into the mind of one of the guards, probing and testing for any cracks, hoping such an act wouldn't cause more sickness.

Next up was maintaining her cover which, fortunately, was quite easy; as Jen appears Abigail pulls out a pen and a notepad, subconciously checking that the durasteel blade that SHADOW insisted was knife was still strapped to her thigh. Of course, she is strategic with her placement, putting herself within a few steps of the Vlatavans.

The final step was insurance which, in this case, meant finding the biggest gun in the room and making it hers. The soldier quickly begins looking through the crowd, doing her best to locate something at least assault rifle sized.

First up, using Mindfray on one of the goons. Progressive Weaken Will 13, Resisted by Will, although it's only weakened against Abigail's attacks.

I'll also look around to find a guard with a big gun, focusing on ones she identified as more veteran while scanning.
Perception: [roll0]

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


When her target begun sifting through vats whose materials toyed with her X-ray vision, the Kryptonian glided into the warehouse. Using the entrance provided by the interloper himself, the towering superheroine drifted in quietly upon silent thoughts as her flight allowed her to float close to the roof as she watched.

Curiousity morphed into concern, however, when Ultrawoman spotted the oblong-shaped device that the infiltrator stuck to the bottom of some hydraulic equipment - particularly as it started to count down in what was ostensibly a detonation timer. Not permitting the impostor the time to place a healthy distance between himself and the package, Ultrawoman descended quietly until she was within ten to twenty feet of the masked saboteur.

"Going to be taking that with you?" Ultrawoman asked, gently floating down with her arms folded over her abdomen, and her blood-red cape flowing behind her, "because I'd like to see what happens when that dial finishes counting down. Lucky we've both got front row seats to find out, huh?" she wore the slightest of knowing smirks.

ooc:


-Readying an action to use Interpose on any door or piece of equipment that the guy might make a dash towards.

- She's also looking him over with her X-ray vision to see if he's got any other weapons or equipment on him.

[NineOfSpades]

The reaction of the assembled search party is pretty dramatic. Its not everyday you see a literal angel descend down in your time of need, after all. Most of the crowd, about 40 people in total, are left in a stunned silance. A few of them viably begin weeping, though their tears are clearly of thanks. An elderly woman clutched at a rosery and began to offer a prayer of thanks. One of the police officers, a younger looking fellow, begins to go for his firearm, but is waved down by what you presume to be his superior, before a brief scolding is administered on the deputies level of jumpiness. The overall experience is one of a hushed reverence and awe.

The highest ranking officer present, a black haired man proudly sporting what had to be the bushiest handlebar/mutton chop combo you'd ever seen, approached. "Uh...Uh thank you, Mrs. Springs. We uh, That is to say.." He seemed to be having a bit of difficulty getting the words out. "We were just about to get searching for Some o' our missing young'ens. Two boys, Guss and Taylor, brothers. Went missing in the night. The uh, Tracks we found outside the boys house were headed this way. But we ain't seen nothin' uh either of them yet" The man paused a moment, scratching at the side of his head with one hand. "Is...Is it really s'bad as the news said? I mean, anklebiters missing all 'cross the countey?"




Cracking away at the mental barrier is tricky, but not impossibly so. All it takes is knowing where to apply pressure, and the ironclad defenses begin to falter. In this case, it seems as though the resistance was being channeled through the man in the center, not from his guards. Once you glean that, it was all to easy to interrupt the connection, leaving your targets brain wide open.

I'm guessing your going to mind read the guy. If so, just let me know OOC and I'll add the mans thoughts into this post

Scanning the room, its hard to say who exactly has the biggest guns, since a lot of the security staff from the visiting ambassadors are, much like yourself, dressed in formal ware. But scanning the room tells you that the most heavily (or at least, most visibly) armed are the trio of Joh-Un's soldiers stationed at the enterances to the ballroom, who are sporting what look to be StG-44 assult rifles. While relics compared to modern weaponry, and probably bought from Russia on the black market, the guns still would do a mighty fine job of spraying off a hail of lead in whatever direction you happened to aim them.



The masked sabatour froze when you spoke up, before relaxing and slowly turning round to face you. "Figured as much" He mumbled to himself, holding his hands up in surrender "You just had to bumble in here, didn't you? Gotta figure your the big hero, and I'm the thug criminal" The man's voice was surprisingly calm, though touched with just a hint of frusteration. Certainly not the reaction you usually got from street-thugs. "I've seen you on the news, ya know? That thing you did with the ocean liner, that was pretty sweet. I'm not looking to pick a fight I can't win. But I gotta make sure this poisonous sludge" He gestures towards the nearest chemical vat "Doesn't get let loose"

Your X-Ray vision is able to see he's carrying what looks to be another 5 (currently unarmed) explosives, as well as what looks to be a remote detonator, and a revolver.

[Arcran]

Abigail quickly stifles a grin as she punches through the defenses, intending to get a more concrete grip on the man's mind.

As she stands in the crowd, notebook at the ready, Abigail reaches out with her mind, putting pressure on the mind of the guard and doing her best to turn him into nothing more than extension of her will. If the older man was the source of the barrier then she'd need to deal with him but building herown strike force and gathering information was more important for the moment. After all, nobody had sensed her control yet, right?

Using Mental Domination 13 (Dazed, Compelled, Controlled), Resisted by Will

[Quellian-dyrae]

Nadia kept that gentle smile on her face. She couldn't help but enjoy this part, however dire the circumstances. To be fair, it wasn't the reverence and awe itself. Well, not primarily at any rate. Knowing that just by showing her face and saying she was here to help, these people were already thankful, were already feeling that much closer to getting the children returned, just stoked Nadia's spirit.

She a little look, caught somewhere between amusement and apology, to the deputy as he got scolded, subtly mouthing the word, "Sorry."

"All along the state," she answered, her voice soft, but not grim. Respectful to the scope of the crime without ceding an inch to doubt in the face of it. "My brother and sister are flying over the area as we speak, searching for clues. We aren't trackers, though, so until they get back I'll defer to your leadership," she said, managing to keep a grimace off her face as she settled to the ground and moved to take up a position among the search party.

All too often in her line of work, she played the role of the champion, the savior, swooping down to fight the evil and save the day. And for sure, she loved every minute of it, providing that symbol, that inspiration to people. But the fact of the matter was, never did hope burn brighter than when a person felt in control of their own destiny. She wouldn't deny these people that opportunity, especially when the simple fact of the matter was that she had no experience whatsoever at tracking.

"The brothers, Guss and Taylor, do you know of any reason in particular why someone might have taken them? Perhaps a custody issue, or something of that nature?" She doubted it, considering the wave of abductions, but it was always possible that these two kids in particular were an isolated incident. "Or was there anything special about them that might have attracted an attacker's interest?"

Nadia can't track, but she can at least point out details she notices. She'll Aid the search team's Perception checks to track; after the bonus for Teamwork, she automatically provides a +5 bonus. I mean, I don't know if NPCs actually make rolls and such, but that's the level of assistance she's able to provide, at any rate :smallamused:.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawoman kept a firm exterior, her eyes flat, her arms folded and her face impassive as the man before her explained himself. This wasn't the first time she'd heard ill of Lexcorp...if it wasn't their junk that was bad enough that they threw out and her pits had to deal with, there was rumors of corruption, embezzlement and environmental putrification that skirted the edge of believably.

A silence hung between the pair as Ultrawoman looked him up and down, her blue eyes paling into a grey momentarily before turning back to their normal color.

"You've got another five explosives on you," she stated matter-of-factly, "and a detonator in your right jacket pocket."

"You seem like you know your way around here, and what's in these vats, and you're only packing a cheap six-shooter that you brought along 'just in case'. You're also carrying explosives, the type that requires pretty specialist knowledge to put together. So I'm guessing you're an engineer or scientist for Lexcorp.

If you do have the best of intentions at the front of your mind, do you really think exploding that stuff all over the surrounding city blocks and into the harbor is a good idea? Think you're okay with seeing the local kids on the 6 O'clock news with chemical burns, or the damage this stuff would do if the tide took it out into the ocean? Or if it gets vaporised and spreads over the whole city?"

ooc:
Persuasion Roll: [roll0], +2 if he finds her attractive.

Insight Roll: [roll1] to get a feel of what he's really thinking (if he's lying to her etc).

Readying an action if he makes a move for the detonator or if he attempts to "bump" himself against something and set it off in his coat.

[NineOfSpades]

Imposing your will onto the man wasn't too difficult. With his defenses already lowered, it wasn't a difficult matter to assert your influence and bring him under your whims. Unable to resist, he was now little more than an extension of your own will.

As you established your mental dominance, the Ambassador from Vlatavan began moving towards Joh-Un. This, alone, was nothing especially out of the ordinary. Indeed, the majority of the assembled guests were making at least some movement towards the 'Glorious Leader', if for no other purpose than to make a show of being seen.

Perception Check, Please




Murmors could be heard through the crowd, confirmation that things really were as bad as they seemed. Some still seemed to be in denial, or at least disbelief. But your prescience was enough to fortify their spirits, a physical reassurance that all would be well.

The sheriff rubbed the scruff on his chin, thoughtfully. "Can't say with any uh great certainty. But, that is, I figure they were both pretty normal boys. Went to school, church on sundays. I had to haul Guss in once for spraypainting Daryls Pharmecy, but other than that, nothing criminal or out uh the ordinary that I can figure. They's good boys, all things considered."

Meanwhile, the other two thirds of the siblings search was turning up nothing. Well,that wasn't preciecely accurate. They were turning up nothing No tracks of any kind, be they human or animal or otherwise. Nor was there signs of wildlife to be seen. Aside from the swampy undergrowth, and the constant hum of the various species of insects, there wasn't a single living thing to be seen. For lack of a better word, it was eerie.




"Technically speaking, I'm unemployed now" The man corrected. "And yeah, I know enough about this to do it right. Blast'll set fire to this rust-bucket of a building. Fumes won't be toxic, I guarantee that" Still, despite his resistance, it seemed like the guy was at least open to conversation "I get it, alright. Your not big on what I'm doing. But I gotta stop this stuff from getting out. I'd say more if I could, but I've got....lets just say I need to be careful not to identify myself, or some folks I care about might end up getting hurt. If you've got a better suggestion, I'm all ears. Just be quick about it, Timer is ticking"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Nadia nodded to the sheriff and-

~Nadia, start getting those people turned around. I don't think it's safe here.~

~Uh...we're here?~

~There's nothing around. Human. Animal. This entire area is empty of everything bigger than a mosquito, those people and us aside.~

~See though, it's the "and us" part that makes me question this whole "don't think it's safe here" bit.~

~Nadia!~

~But, it's like...angels, though. Remember? With the magic, and the punching, and the awesome...~

~It is not our place to put these people at additional risk, Nadia, however slight that risk may be.~

~Well, as long as we're all agreed that the risk is very very slight!~

"Everyone, I'm sorry, I just received word that there's something amiss in this area. Supernatural, possibly. We need to get you all back to safety before we can explore further," she said, still just as cool and calm as you please, as though the whole thing was a vaguely annoying protocol she had to follow. She looked to the sheriff, "Two questions: where should we bring you, and have you ever gone flying?"

By the time she finished speaking the words, Caleb and Amy had returned, and flew down to the group.

Unless the townsfolk argue or something, they'll fly them back to the town, Caleb and Amy taking them in ones and twos twos and fours while Nadia stands guard over the rest.

Eh, and just because it doesn't pay not to, let's first go ahead and roll a quick Insight check on the group to make sure they're not faking/lying/actually supernatural predators disguised as people/whatever. [roll0].

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

“You’re a smart man,” Ultrawoman started, her pose remaining, “a smart man that can figure out ways to walk away now and become a whistleblower to expose what Lexcorp is doing with or without other likeminded groups, if it is as illegal and harmful to the community as you say. But what you’re doing now,” she gestured towards the explosive with a tilt of her head, “is going to result in me getting rid of those explosives and handing you over to the authorities.”

Again, Ultrawoman let the silence of a pause hang between them for several seconds before continuing, “choose which way this ends.”

Ooc:
Persuasion roll: [roll0]

If he's lying or trying to be deceitful, Insight: [roll1]

If he tries anything, Initiative: [roll2]

[Arcran]

Tell me the plan now, Abigail says directly into the mind of her new puppet, leaving no room for disobedience with her mental control. As simply as possible, and quickly.

Even as she does so, Abigail reaches her mind out towards another of the big goons, pushing and prodding as she tries to find a way in. Controlling one way good for information but controlling two should be enough to neutralize the threat.

Of course, Abigail moves forward with the crowd, making certain to stay within easy striking distance of the Vlatavan ambassador. If he made a move Abigail needed to be ready to strike.

Mind Fray on another one of the big goons.

Perception: [roll0]

Also, note that Athena's Communication is Rapid so it goes 10x faster than it would speaking.

[NineOfSpades]

The majority of the search party are willing to be escorted back to town without a fuss. As much as they wanted to find their missing children, they also knew to back off when things were over their head. However, the Sheriff was obstenant about retreating. "Kids still missing" He said "So I ain't leaving till they're found" His attitude inspired several of the other officers to insist on staying as well.


Nothing seems amiss in the crowd. Concern, Fear, Anxiety, Worry...all the emotions that one would expect, and all of them genuine



Far as you can tell, he's being honest with you, aside from the care he's taking to keep his identity secret.

"You know, when you put it like that-" The masked man never got a chance to finish that sentence, as the first explosive charge went off at that moment. A split second later, another two blasts. The building rocked back and forth, as acidic smoke filled the chamber. The force of the detonations flung the masked man backwards, where he slammed into one of the many chemical vats, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. Above his head, a chuck of metal sharpnel impaled the container, spilling a thick, oily concoction of liquds outwards, which rained down on the unfortunate bomber. He only had time to meekly whimper "oh no" before he began to violently spasm and cough. Fires were beginning to spread across the wooden flooring of the warehouse, and alerts were blaring loud.




The man who you'd dominated nodded ever so slightly, and began to respond to your mental interrogation. I am to protect Count Werner Zytle for the duration of his visit. I should also remain curtous and amicable to other guests, and to refrain from voicing any political oponions which might upset Joh-Un. I am responsible for driving Zytle to and from the airport. He droned.

Your psionic assault breeched your second targets mental barriers just as quickly as the first. Like picking a lock, the door to his brainwaves was now open.

However, as you scanned the room, something caught your eye as amiss. The guards, who only moments before were stationed at the entrances to the ball room, were suddenly absent. It must have happened when you had your attention focused on the count. One could be mistaken for thinking that the guards had simply stepped outside. All at the same time. Except there were a few droplets of what you recognized as blood, which had splattered against the wallpaper near to the main doorway.

[Quellian-dyrae]

While they flew the majority of the search party home, the three deliberated on the subject of the officers.

~We can't let them stay.~

~We have to let them stay.~

~They'll slow us down, Nadia. And if we encounter something dangerous, we'll have to protect them.~

~We can fly them with us just as easy as we can fly them back to town. And maybe slowing down is the smart play anyway. You guys didn't spot anything from the air right? But they were already following a trail. So let's just keep following the trail and maybe it will lead us to the kidnapper.~

~It's too risky, Nadia. We can't-~

~It's a risk they're choosing to take. It isn't our job to curtail their choices, or to send them scurrying home when they want to help!~

~It is if their choices are going to put them, us, or the children at risk. They need to trust us to handle this, not try to insert themselves for the sake of personal pride.~

~*Sigh* Amy?~

~Um...how about a compromise? As long as they can lead us along the trail they were following, they can stay with us. But if they lose the trail, then that's all they could have done anyway, and we bring them back home.~

~I'm good with that.~

~Alright, makes sense.~

"Okay, if you guys can lead us down the trail you were following, that's fine. If we lose the trail though, we have to bring you home. You'll be more needed in your community than wandering around the swamplands, and we might need to expand the search outside your jurisdiction, and we wouldn't feel right leaving you out here alone if there might be a supernatural danger. Okay?"

Persuasion: [roll0], additional +5 if Attractive applies.

[Arcran]

Abigail mentally kicks herself, wondering how she had missed the disappearing guards. The blood is more than enough cause for concern for Abigail, especially considering she hadn't heard anything. What exactly was she up against? To eliminate the guards they'd need to have some concealment with all the travelers and, with the number of guards removed, there had to be more than one.

Remaining calm despite the circumstances Abigail begins to look around the room, finding each nearby mind and locating its body, trying to find a mind without an obvious physical form to accompany it.

Looking for hidden people: [roll0]

If she finds anybody she will attempt to read their mind.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawomans eyes widened in shock as the explosion caught her completely off guard. At the least she had been relying on the saboteur in front of her knowing when his own explosives would go off. Evidently she had placed too much faith in him.

Darting over to the spasming, pain-wracked man, Ultrawoman seized him and flew off. She remained within the factory, however, her x-ray vision and keen eyesight allowing her to pick out the chemical shower that all warehouses like this would have if they were handling dangerous substances.

Landing right next to it, she leaned him up against the wall - or at the least lay him on the ground. Activating the shower and either placing the handle in his hand or pulling it down with a stiff tug, Ultrawoman made sure the water kept running over him and washing his figure, "Stay right here!" she said before her figure rocketed off again.

Returning to the scene of the explosion, Ultrawoman hovered above and drew in a deep breath. Focusing her strength, she blew a blizardly gale across the entire area, as ice started to form over vats, vaporous froze in the air and fires were met with a stronger competitor.

ooc:
Move and grab against the Saboteur, then taking him over to a chemical shower.

Then Power Stunting off her Arctic Breath an Environmental Condition - Extreme Cold, over the whole area to put out the fires, contain the goo in the vats and pause any other explosives that might be in the area.

[NineOfSpades]

With the squad of police leading the way, the search party and their guardian angels entered into the swamp. It wasn't exactly easy going, the foliage was , as was the humid air. Muck seemed to cling at the feet with each step. Yet, they made progress. The 'trail' wasn't much to go on either. Even at ground level, the land seemed to defy your efforts. At times, you could even look back, and footprints that should have been left by your group were already vanishing as mud filled in the indentation. Still, the group carried on, spurred by the occasional evidence that they were on the right path. A broken twig, an overturned stone. Little details that would be all to easy to overlook without the proper training. And still, all was quiet...

But, perhaps it was your lack of training, or just the fact that you had three sets of eyes working together, but you noticed something that seemed...out of place. Flowers. Now, this alone was not that unusual, there were a variety of small flowering plants which littered the area. But there was a few larger flowers, white round petals. If you took them together, it looked like they formed footprints, leaving a trail that split off from the direction you were heading, turning more easterly.

Expertise (Nature) And Perception Check, please




Your scan was enlightening. The room was still filled with the guests as you expected, but they were not alone. 9 New individuals could be felt. They kept to the corners, the shadows, creeping about silently. Their minds were human, that much you could tell. But they were invisable. And they were organized. You knew your tactics, this was a military group. And they were turning this ballroom into a killbox.




Your visual scan of the Factory failed to locate any sort of chemical or emergency shower. Evidently, whoever had built the factory had clearly not felt the need to install any. For the time being, the bomber's suffering would go unaided.

Your efforts to deal with the fire are more successful. Like a micro-blizzard, your gust of arctic breath covers the factory floor, coating everything in a layer of ice. Its a scientific fact, afterall, that chemical reactions stop if you super cool the atoms.

[Quellian-dyrae]

It was Trinity who noticed the strange flowers and pointed them out to the triplets. Caleb spoke up, "Sheriff? Those white flowers...are they normal, in this area? They seem kinda...strange. They only seem to grow along that line, it looks like."

~They do also seem to grow in a pattern that resembles footprints, to some degree.~

~I'm thinking...Summer fey? Or I guess a druid, maybe...~

~I thought people who grow flowers in their footprints are usually, you know, nice.~

~Superpowers don't come with a personality test. Present company excluded, I suppose. Might this be a false trail?~

~I'd bet on a handoff, myself. Flowerfoot waits around here, sends dupes or minions or whatever to grab the kids and bring them, then heads off in a different direction.~

The triplets poked around the area real quick, to see if there might be any evidence of someone having waited here for an extended period, or any other potential clues.

Investigation: [roll0], with Quickness 6 to search the area for clues.

[Arcran]

Abigail uses her senses to lock in on the location of the invisible operatives, preparing for the worst. As of now, there were nine presumed hostiles, all invisible. At the moment she had a very large knife and two guards of questionable actual skill. Three were near Joh-Un, likely preparing to execute the objective. At the moment it would appear she was the only one aware of the danger and, unless she did something quick, Joh-Un would be dead.

So, without wasting any time, Abigail does the simplest thing: unleashes the full fury of her mind towards the operative who is presumably the leader.

Going to use Extra Effort for two Standard Actions.

Going to throw the first Mental Domination at the center of the trio nearest to Joh-Un. If that fails or only gets a first degree success (it is Cumulative) I'll use the second Standard Action to Mental Domination the same target, otherwise I'll hit another member of that trio closest to Joh-Un.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Staring at the scene before her as she transformed the factory into the set of Frozen, Ultrawoman nodded in satisfaction as she turned into a blur and shot right back over to the saboteur.

"Hang in there!" she said to him firmly, hoisting him up in her arms and barging out of the factory into the night sky. Immediately spotting a fire hydrant below, Ultrawoman rocketed down beside it and lay the saboteur nearby. Knocking off one of the caps on the hydrants arms, Ultrawoman used her hands to direct a firm shower of fresh water in the mans direction to cleanse him of the poisons.

[NineOfSpades]

Your coordinated search of the immediate surroundings, though certainly icky from the bog muck and assorted fungi and molds, was also effort well spent. Buried down in the grime alongside the flower trail, was a shoelace. With a little tugging, the shoelace revealed it was still attached to a child sized sneaker (With stylish light up heels). There wasn't any sort of overgrowth on the shoe itself, so it likely sunk into the muck no more than a day or two ago. Examining the footprints also yielded some data. The impression in the soil was deeper than the markings left by the three of you, or by the police, suggesting whatever left the markings was fairly large. The actual 'prints' were a bit odd (Well, beside the fact that they left flowers blooming in their wake). The overall shape was human, but it lacked any of the fine details that you'd expect from a barefooted human. They lacked the sort of indentation that would indicate individual toes. Whats more is that, you realize, the fact that there are any indentations at all is odd. Through your treck, you've noticed that the ground seems to swallow up any sort of trail. Yet these prints here are hours old, and still fairly clear.

Before you have time to consider the matter further, a cry can be heard from up ahead. The police force are under attack! Looking up from the trail, you can see all manner of vines and undergrowth rising up from the marsh, like a thousand angry hands, ensnaring the officers. One of them managed to get a shot off, but only one, and it did little to stop him from being completely entrapped.

Like a wave, the plantlife seemed to awaken as it moved towards you, grasping and clinging, coiling and growing with the intent to trap you tightly within the vines.

Roll Reflex Vs Ensnare, and then initiative



Your Target is now Dazed. Good job!
Your mental assault could not fully penetrate your targets mind. But your effort was enough to slow him down considerably. You felt the mind stumble, and the two other brainwave patterns nearest paused as well, likely concerned. However, they continued on with their mission.

To your eyes, it appeared as if Joh-Un was struck by nothing. The man just doubled over, clutching at his gut. Those nearest to the leader recoiled in shock. Other guests weren't even aware anything had happened yet. That would soon change, however. The assassins unvailed themselves, revealing a pair of black-clad individuals. They looked rather like ninja, though most depictions of shinobi did not include modern weaponry or optical camouflage. One of the trio you'd intercepted held a sword blade, which pressed into Joh-Un's throat, deep enough to draw a thin trickle of blood. The other held a firearm, which was aimed at the crowd.

Panic began spreading as a scream broke out. The body guards and soldiers moved to protect their charges (With the exception of your mental puppets, who stood and awaited orders). A few of them moved to draw their weapons. They did not get very far, however, as shurikens appeared, buzzing through the air and knocking the weapons from their hands. More of the assassins appeared, locking down the room. The entire movement was executed in only a handful of seconds.

The last to uncloak was the man you'd attempted to mentally subdue. He was dressed the same as the others, though unlike them, his face was uncovered. It was not an especially remarkable face, with the sole exception of it being an identical match to that of Jen Joh-Un's. And this man was smiling, even if his seemed unable to properly focus.
Roll Initiative! Also, take a hero point, since you've now got a room filled with VIP you need to protect



You felt...something. It was a sensation that was rather unlike anything you'd ever felt before. You limbs didn't seem to move like you wanted them too, the movements were ungraceful and required more effort than it should have. Perhaps this was what weakness felt like?

Spraying water over the writhing form of the bomber, the chemicals are quickly washed away. What is uncovered is not the man you'd seen only moments before. His skin was a deep, unnatural violet, like a bruise over the entirity of his body. It looked emaciated, and seemed to pulse and twitch, like some sort of fleshy tumor. Most of his clothing had been burned away by the acidic compounds. "No...No...somethings...I can't" He mumbled, seeming in a daze His voice was deeper now, and raspy, like a man struggling to find breath. "What...happened. I... my head, why's it so loud? I'm...I'm cold" He took a step towards you, beedy black eyes gazing into yours. "Your so...bright...so warm...I need...I need it. I need your Warmth" He staggared forward, gaining speed. One step, then another. The he left the ground entirely, and flew forward towards you, Bellowing "I NEED IT!"



http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/10/100647/2299513-parasite.png

Great rolls there, but I'm going to give you a hero point and say you still failed. Sorry, but trust me, it'll be a more entertaining fight this way.

Downside is, your powers are now impaired. Take a -2 penelty to all checks you make that require the use of your powers, or, in the case of powers that don't require checks (Like flight, for example), reduce their rank by 2.

Upside is, you get hero point (As mentioned), and you get to roll initiative. Yay!

[Arcran]

Abigail looksabout the room in concern, watching as more and more assassins appeared. The invisible squad had been bad, but this? This was going to make keeping Joh-Un alive much more difficult, especially if his apparent clone was in the room, clearly with intent to harm the original.

Still, she'd already got a foothold in the mind of the copycat. While he likely could tell something was off the source should, fortunately, be completely anonymous. With the slightest of frowns Abigail pushes herself, trying to break fully into his mind.

I need to know what weapons you have and what your boss is capable of, Abigail states, multitasking with the various tasks on hand. "Resume protecting him as well."

With that taken care of, Abigail begins to look about the room, trying to determine exactly what the odds here were.

Second verse same as the first! Using Extra Effort to double Mentsl Domination Clone-Un. Using a Hero Point to mitigate the ill-effects of that.

Also counting the bad guys! [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

The vines came as a surprise, wrapping around the three siblings. They struggled and shifted enough that they couldn't get too firm a grip, but they were still annoying.

"Gah!"

"Rrrgh!"

"Little punk!"

~Who's attacking us!?~

~I don't see anyone!~

~Since when don't we see anyone!?~

~Clearly, we are being scried upon from afar.~

~Unless they've just got some sort of really strong cloaking ability.~

~No.~

~Okay then.~

~Seems...a little arrogant, to just assume-~

~No. If you would excuse me, my good hosts, I would have words with this druid.~

~So we've ruled out Summer fey, then?~

From the triplets would suddenly flare with white-gold brilliance a beacon of shining light that clung to them in fiery auras of golden power, burning the vines that held them. Their eyes blazed like stars - silver and blue and pink - and when they spoke, it was in a single voice of thunder and music and light. "Cease! And show yourself! By order on High!" All who beheld them would know the glory of the Divine, and repent!

Extra Effort: Power Stunt off of Divine Magic.

Angelic Manifestation: Affliction 13 (Entranced/Compelled/Controlled; Will; Perception Area [Sight], Cumulative, Concentration); Enhanced Damage 13 (Reduced Regeneration 5).

Move Action: Meh (actually, giving an order might take a move action come to think of it, if so use the move action for that if necessary).

Standard Action: Use the Affliction power of Angelic Manifestation. Everyone who can see Trinity must make a DC 23 Dodge save to avert their gaze. Those who fail get a DC 23 Will save vs. Cumulative Entranced/Compelled/Controlled Affliction.

If the cops are Compelled or Controlled, their order is to act normally (or just not given any orders).

Any enemies who are Compelled or Controlled are commanded to cease all hostile action and come before Trinity.

Damage save to break Snare at end of turn: [roll0].

Current Status: Fatigued, Hindered+Vulnerable (Pending).

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawoman grunted and blinked her eyes as she leaned forward beneath the erosion of her strength - the wind taken right out of her as she felt a vulnerability she had not experienced in a very long time.

"What the hell is..." she gasped, before that...thing interrupted her.

"You're so...bright...so warm...I need...I need it. I need your warmth!"

Looking up at what the saboteur had become, Ultrawomans eyes narrowed at whatever the heck he was now, "Hey, listen, buddy, you're not feeling too hot right now but you need to calm do - "

She as interrupted as he catapulted himself forward, arms outstretched, "I NEED IT!"

Acting on instinct, Ultrawoman ducked to the side in the face of his charge. As the big man went past her, his feet connected with her strategically placed leg to send him toppling forward.

ooc:

Standard Action: Trip Attack: 1d20+9=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4821063/)

As UW has Improved Trip, she's nominating ice man to make an opposed Acrobatics roll against her Athletics roll. She'll also take +5 to her Athletics roll from scoring a Crit.

Athletics: 1d20+22=31 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4821064/)

He has to beat that with an acrobatics roll, otherwise he goes face down in the pavement.

Move Action: Flies about 30 meters up, watching the guy.

[NineOfSpades]

The second Joh-Un freeze's up, his natural thoughts and neural processes having been pushed backwards. Though his will is still battling yours, the balance has shifted, and you now are the dominant power.

In your mind, the enthralled guard speaks I am carrying a Glock 22 pistol on my shoulder holster. I also have a knife strapped to my left ankle. The count has control over the Vertigo effect.

Meanwhile, the assailents seem to realize something is wrong, now that their leader has frozen in place. They begin shouting to one another, in a language you don't understand, thought its clear they are planning their next move. You likely only have seconds before they reach a decision.


Your light booms out, along with the words. A moment passes, and then their is silance. The plants do not slow their progress, and continue to spread and entwine over you. The muffled sounds of the police could be heard. Which was a relife, at least. If you could hear them, it likely meant they could breath.

Another Reflex vs cumulative entanglement, if you please.



With a swift strike to the back of the leg, the man was sent tumbling. An interesting sight, given he was still floating. He crashed down a few meters away, ripping up a section of pavement. However, he seemed uninjured, only gripping his head a moment and rolling over onto his back "Please...It hurts...Give me your warmth...It....It" He looked up at you, and for a moment, there was fear in those eyes, fear and pain. But then there was a brilliant red light, and twin beams of crimson energy lanced out, narrowly missing you and slicing a gash along the face of the building behind you.

[Arcran]

Command your men to act normally but do not, under any circumstances, give the order to kill Joh-Un. Act as normal but make no hostile actions, Abigail thinks frantically, trying to force herself the rest of the way into the imposter's mind to take full control. At this point there was quite literally nothing she could do other than try to secure his mind and figure out a plan once the risk towards Joh-Un was at its minimum.

What exactly is Vertigo? the soldier asks the guard. And how exactly does your employer feel towards Joh-Un, to the best of your knowledge?

Also, how's your underhand toss?

Another Mental Domination on Clone-Un. Seeing a trend here? :smalltongue:

[Quellian-dyrae]

The divine flames blazing around the triplets burned the vines clinging to them to ash, and kept the ones that continued trying to ensnare them from getting too close; for now at least. Still, the attack hadn't abated. They continued manifesting Trinity's glory, trying to overwhelm the presumed druid with prolonged exposure, but it wasn't an ideal strategy. They had no way of knowing how well it was working.

Sometimes, even telepathic speech wasn't needed for the three to communicate intent. Caleb stood defiant amidst the vines, blazing with glorious power, but Amy and Nadia took off. Nadia flew along the path of flowers, hoping to follow them to their source. Amy, in case that didn't prove fruitful, took off on a spiralling aerial search pattern, seeking to locate their attacker over a wider area.

Move: Get flying. Caleb retains his current position. Amy starts flying in an expanding spiral to search the area. Nadia flies along the path of flowers as far as it can take her. Perception: [roll0].

Standard: Concentrate to maintain Angelic Manifestation. Another DC 23 Dodge to avoid followed by DC 23 Will vs. Cumulative Entranced/Compelled/Controlled Affliction. The effect emanates from Caleb's location.

Current Status: Fatigued.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawomans face was a puzzled mixed as she watched the creature first plead for help and then attack her. Deftly she dodged out of the way as hot, searing red light lanced past her form and etched a jagged gash across the face of the building behind her. Debris blossomed in all directions as the facilities edifice was smeared with power and chunks of concrete rained around the paragon as she encircled about the hefty beast before her.

"Snap out of it!" she barked at him, trying to speak to the saboteur at the centre of that...thing.

A glow started to gather in the sides of Ultrawomans head, coalescing into her eyes as she prepared to shoot back with her own response...but she paused. This thing wanted head...what if that would only make it stronger?

Pursing her lips, dissipating the energy she was going to use, Ultrawoman shot forward in a blur. Moving right up to the thing, her hands shot out to clamp onto its shoulders...


Attempting a Grab action.

Attack: 1d20+9=21 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4822026/)

The Thing has to resist a Grab DC of 27.

If she's successful, Ultrawoman is then going to fly straight up into the air. She can travel about 30 miles a round in this state, so she'll go about 10 miles up.

She's holding him in such a way that he can't latch onto her. So she's grabbing his shoulders. She's got Improved Grab and Improved Hold, so she's not vulnerable while doing this. Additionally, if he fails his first resist check, he's at -5 for all future checks.

[NineOfSpades]

Like domino's, you leverage the foothold you have in your targets mind, pushing further into him, till every synapse and neuron is accounted for and brought under your will. Oh, he fights. And is still fighting, somewhere in his subconscious. But for all practical purposes, his mind is now another of your drones.

The Second Joh-Un gives a few sharp orders. The rest of the men falter, confused. This wasn't the way the plan was supposed to go, but they also knew to obey orders. You'd bought time, that much was certain.

Meanwhile, the bodyguard answers your questions to the best of his ability. The vertigo effect is some sort of mental technique that the count has mastered. It causes extreme disorientation and nausea, I don't know how exactly. The Count detests Joh-Un on a personal level, but is willing to put those feelings aside for now, since he believes that a treaty between our two nations could be mutually beneficial. I was picked last for the company baseball game this year.

Leader guy is now fully under your control. Yay!



Scattering in three directions, each of the earthly angels goes about their own task. Nadia, following the trail, finds it leads to a small grove of trees about a thousand yards from your current position. The grove surrounds what looks to be a tunnel down into the earth. Its impossible to say how far it might go. Thick, gnarled roots wal the edges of the pit, and seem to be moving in a manner that is not unlike the pulsing of blood laiden veins.

Amy's sprial search reveals nothing of note of the surrounding area, though tree brances would occationally make a move to grab at her as she passed, but she was far to swift for the slow moving limbs to have any chance at success.

Caleb shone out brilliantly, but it was for naught. Without the other three, the vines seemed uncertain as to where to direct their focus. Instead, the captured officers began being pulled down into the earth, the vines muscling through the muck and dirt as it draged the men down.

I rolled an intelligence check on your behalf. It occures to you that the reason your divine light might not be working is that whoever is controlling these plants may not be relying on visual means to direct them. Afterall, plants don't even have eyes.




You grabbed your target. That was the easy part. You felt his cancerous skin, it was cold and clammy to the touch. Wherever you made contact. And you gave it your all, you really did. But, with your own powers weakened, it wasn't enough. For all your strength, whatever had happened to this man had made him your match, and the two of you weren't going anywhere at the moment. Hopefully, he wasn't your superior...

"Yes...YES! Come to me. Let me hold you! Give me More! More! MORE!" he cried out, a mix of hunger and relief in his tones, as if your touch was soothing a great pain he felt. But just as quickly, he switched, becoming sorrowful as he wimpered"I'm sorry, I Can't stop...I need to take it from you...It hurts so much..."

Just as you grabbed onto him, he tried grabbing back. Holding with vice like fingers. Wherever you made contact, even for a fleeting instant, it felt like your body was going numb. But not just that. It was a sensation not unlike fatigue and exhaustion. Like you'd been working your powers to their limits. You were being drained.


Attack roll: [roll0]

If that hits, roll Fort DC 28.

Also, keep in mind all your powers are still at -2, and that includes your enhanced stamina and strength

[Quellian-dyrae]

~I'm not seeing anything guys.~

~I got something. I'm heading in.~

~No! These vines are trying to drown the police in the swamp muck. We get them to safety first, then go in together and deal with the druid.~

~Little punk! Okay, on my way back.~

~I like how you used the prospect of harm to the police to convince Nadia not to rush headlong into danger alone. Yet again.~

~After the first seven times, you start to think about these things.~

Amy and Nadia flew back to where Caleb and the police were, and the three angels flew into the center of the squad. "Sorry for the delay guys! Here you go!" Nadia said as the three joined hands, forming a triangle facing inward. The divine fire blazing around their bodies poured into the center of the formation, gathering into a brilliant orb of golden flame burning bright as the sun. The siblings lifted their heads skyward, light again flaring in their eyes, and a beam of light shone down upon the orb. It exploded outward in silent fury. The police would only feel a cool, soothing tingle where it passed over their skin, but it would blast every piece of plantlife within forty yards of their position like a bomb.

If that freed the police, and left the area reasonably clear of plantlife, Caleb would tell them, "Stay here, whoever's doing this probably can't attack you without plants around."

"And they're about to be too busy to try anyway!" Nadia added exuberantly, as the three of them took off for the cavern Nadia had found, flying in without hesitation.

If it didn't free the police, however, they would maintain their positions to try another tack.

Move: Gather up at the center of the police.

Standard: Straight up Divine Wrath on...basically all the plantlife in the vicinity, Selective to exclude the police and any other animal life nearby. I'm not really sure how to best resolve this mechanically. I imagine it might be most appropriate as a Counter, or maybe simply the damage to the vines will let me roll my damage against the Affliction. In either case, the power rank check is [roll0]. I am also hoping to blow away any plantlife in the 120' radius area (Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage Object), in hopes that the attacker's Remote Viewing has a plants Medium, or its vine attack is Limited to areas with plantlife, or something like that.

Move-by Action: If the police are freed, fly to and into the cave, following it until it is fully explored, they encounter something significant, or (in the unlikely event that) they run out of movement for the round. If the police aren't freed, don't use Move-by Action.

Current Status: Fatigued.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

That was...different.

Was this what cold felt like? It had been so long since she had experienced it. Not since the training fields on Krypton had Ultrawoman felt the life-draining touch of frost upon her skin. Nor since arriving on earth had she met anything that could physically resist her!

Snapping back to the present, Ultrawoman spun on her verticle axis to avoid the large, grasping hands of the Thing as those bit mits enclosed upon her. Narrowly avoiding his grasp, the Kryptonian shot off again into the air, cape billowing behind her.

Drawing herself back around and looking down at the Thing, Ultrawoman decided against a previous inaction. She couldn't just beat the snot out of this guy - the Saboteur was still in there somewhere. He wanted warmth though...she had that.

A red-orange glow coalesced around the sides of Ultrawomans face before her eyes lit up and a pair of writhing beams shot down straight into the Things chest.

ooc:
Heat Vision to Hit: 1d20+10=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4822679/)

[Arcran]

Who you are, your plan and any nasty surprises you had planned, Abigail shoots towards the leader, intending to not waste any time. At this point her only hope to salvage the situation is to find out what their plan is and interrupt it. At the very least, under the current circumstances, she might be able to get the objective out of the room with minimal actual harm coming to him.

[NineOfSpades]

On June 30th, 1908, the Tunguska event generated a blast wave that leveled 770 square miles of forest in an instant, leaving nothing but scorched earth behind. While your efforts are certainly smaller in scale, the parallels are unmistakable. A sudden pulse of energy from above, a flash of light, and then the landscape is scoured of all things green, leaving nothing behind but the smell of ash and burnt leaves. The officers stumble a bit as they are suddenly released from the vine's grip, though it'll likely take a moment or to for them to fully extract their lower extremities from the muck and mire.

After the initial blast wave, the swamp areas at the edge of the effect appear...cautious. There's no other word for it. The plants move and twist, agitated, but uncertain. The three of you are a threat, something that does not belong here. But you are also, clearly, to potent of an enemy to simply dispose off.

The flight was not a long one, from your perspective. Though, accounting for speed, its almost certain you were at least a hundred feet underground. Probably further, the passageway twisted and turned, sometimes doubling back on itself. If the air outside was humid, this was like a sauna. But such distractions didn't matter, not when you were closing in.

At last, the narrow tunnel came to its end, terminating in a vast subterranian cavern. Hundreds of small mushrooms and fungi dotted the cave floor, a few of them were faintly bioluminescent, casting a twilight glow over the foreboding space. At the far end, there was a makeshift throne of some kind, growing out of the ground. Millions of fiberous roots all connected to it, or more specifically, the man sitting atop it. He was humanoid, roughly speaking. His body looked to be composed of the same sort of mire and muck you'd spent the better part of this morning wading through.

The man did not move as you enter, he simply looked at you. Taking a few deep breaths, an action which appeared uncomfortable for him, he spoke with a somber, deep voice that reverberated through the hollow space. "Are you proud?" He asked, with a tone that conveyed a sense of disappointment, like a parent about to scold a child for misbehaving. "Are you proud of what you've done? For saving those men's lives?" he paused as a sudden coughing fit prevented him from speaking further. "At at what a cost? A few acres of land? Does that seem a fair price? I meant them no harm. And now it'll take decades for the green to grow back. So I ask...are you proud of yourselves?"


Though his thought process was clearly still very disrupted by the transformation he'd undergone, it appeared that reflex kicked in, as he jetted sideways, and with a great deal more percision than he'd displayed with his earlier attempt at flight. The burning lances of energy left two scorched lines in the ground, but not a scrach on your target. "No! No No No!...You Don't...Urg...my head is....Arg!" For a moment, frustration seemed to overcome the man, the confusion he felt boiling into anger. He slammed a fist into the ground, which generated a large crater. "That isn't...Its wrong! I need your light...your...the word....the word....Energy! I need your energy! I tasted it...not enough though. It makes the pain stop....You need to give it to me! Or...Or I'll Take it from you!"

Confusion, frusteration, pain. A cocktail of negative emotions that blurred inside the mans head, blinding him to rational thought. You could see him looking at you, and his eyes were hungry. Lunging forward, he once more attempted to seize hold of you, to drain more of your power away. And if give the chance, your pretty certain he'd take everything you had.


Attack roll: [roll0]
If that hits: Roll Fort please!




My name is Jen Joh-Sun, Brother to Jen Joh-Un, rightful leader of The National Republic Of Gwiyeoun. I am here on behalf of my master, and for the glory of the Lea- Before your conversation could progress any further, however, something triggered inside the mind of Joh-Sun. A psychic block of some sort, and a potent one at that. In a heartbeat, your connection was severed, and your control was lost.

Back on the physical plane, Joh-Sun shook his head, dazed, before snapping back to his senses. He barked orders, and the troops he'd broguth with him responded. "Whoever attempted to invade my mind" Joh-Sun spoke, addressing the assembled audiance. "Reveal yourself now, or I will paint these walls with the blood of every person in this room" Joh-Sun then pulled a handgun from his waist holster, and fired a round into Joh-Un's chest, causing the young world leader to howl in sudden agony and double over, clutching at his chest. One of the bodyguards tried to take a chance to draw a weapon, but he barely moved an inch before another of the assailents had thrown a knife through the man's shoulder. These people were not playing around.

Joh-Un was clearly suffering from his injury. Thankfully though, the shot hit low, and you could tell from experience that, while painful, such an injury was unlikely to be fatal, provided medical treatment could be provided. Of course, causing pain may very well have been the point.


Sorry! But just having the bad guy explain everything? Where's the fun in that? You know what is fun? Suspenseful scenes. Well that, and the hero point you get for the inconvenience. Get heroing!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy actually did get a kinda guilty look on her face, but Caleb shot right back at the plant controller, and if the muck-man's voice held the disappointment of a parent's lecture, Caleb's rang with the conviction of an angel pronouncing judgement. "Are you? Turning the natural world against police doing their duty? Cowering in a cave while you use your powers to harm others who have offered you neither violence nor threat? You care so much for the green, then why are you lording over the swamp muck when powers like yours could be used to enrich the plants of the world, and provide for your fellow people in the process? Do not question our actions, O Lord of the Mud and Creeping Vines; we know where our obligations lie, and do as we must."

~We...really should like...plant a few trees or something, after this though. That seems like the right thing to do.~

~Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, I guess.~

~I mean, it'd take us like, what, an hour, maybe?~

~We can do it Saturday.~

~Dude, Amy, c'mon! Don't interrupt Caleb when he's going all Wrath of God and stuff! You know I like watching that!~

~Eh, I pretty much said my piece, I think. Long as he doesn't keep acting like a PETA reject and lecturing us for saving cops. Arrogant little uppity...~

~Oh, okay cool. So, dispense with the beat-down?~

~Um...peaceful solutions, maybe?~

~But moo-oom, I don't liiiiiike broccoli...~

...

~Just...kid- peaceful solutions are cool. Yay peace!~

~I...do worry about you sometimes, Nadia.~

"Listen, we don't mean you any harm," Amy chimed in, more...politely. "We're sorry if we damaged your domain, but Caleb's right, you shouldn't have attacked the police. Now, if you'll just answer a few questions for us, we can be on our way and you can, I mean, go back to being all...reclusive and stuff. Okay?"

Let's go ahead and try Persuasion. [roll0], +5 if Attractive applies. EDIT: Hah! Wow, okay then. Unless raw skill bonuses are enough, or he accepts the peaceful solution on its own merits, sounds like it's time to dispense with the beat-down. :smallamused:

[Arcran]

Abigail almost curses as the man breaks free; after all, he had been entirely under her control. She should have made him off himself while she had the chance.

And now he was demanding the psychic to step forward. That could be an issue if she, well, wanted to not be murdered at this point. She needed some help.

If you wish to save the life of Joh-Un, I require the use of your bodyguard and possibly his life. Simply think your answer.

At the very least she'd know for sure where the Count stood on this issue. If he refused, well, she'd have no choice but to step forward and hope for the best.

I have Rapid, so this should be able to take place quickly enough to not warrant well, killing everybody.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawoman twisted her body to the side and felt the air-pressure and cool atmosphere rush past her as that...thing launched himself but failed to connect.

Her red cape spinning slightly from her back, Ultrawoman sped after him and came to a halt several dozen feet above him. "Snap out of it, damnit!" she barked down to him, "Whatever is gripping your head - remember you weren't here to fight me!"

Breathing in deep, Ultrawoman filled her lungs before exhaling a deep freeze across all before her. A gale of iceborne air frozen over the immediate surroundings of the the Thing and saturated all with permafrost as the heat was drained from the area and temperatures plunged below zero.

ooc:
Using her Arctic Breath on him. It's a Cone effect so it hits automatically. He needs to roll Dodge vs DC 23, otherwise he becomes first Vulnerable and then prone.

As it's progressive, he needs to roll it again next round, and so on and so forth, until he succeeds.

[NineOfSpades]

The man shook his head, dismissing Caleb's arugments with a curt "Tch". For a moment, he shifted slightly in his chair, a motion with produced a small flurry of motion as the plantlife throughout the cavern shuffled as well. There was a sudden smell of freshly turned earth, but it lasted only a moment. "You three are young, and very foolish. Expect me to just wave my hand and undo all the blight that has been inflicted? Feed the hungry? Repair the rainforest. All I'd accomplish is teaching humanity that they can abuse the green without fear of consequences, safe in the knowledge that I'd be there to clean up their mess" Another pause for breath, he seemed to be steadying himself somewhat. "You don't see the bigger picture, and then you act as if your ignorance justifies your actions. If I wanted any of you dead, you wouldn't have made it ten steps off the road."

With great effort, the Swamp-man heaved himself upwards, off of his throne, and stood. "Now...I doubt you journeyed all this way just to give me a verbal lashing. We both know why you three are really here, so how about we skip to the point. Yes, I have taken the children. No, I will not be releasing them. And before you consider taking them by force, I will give you fair warning: We are in the heart of the everglades, with hundreds of miles of swamp and forest in every direction. You have no chance"




There was a few moments of confusion at the mental contact but, given that you were able to converse at the speed of thought, such confusion was quickly dealt with, enabling you to get to the heart of the matter. I don't care whether or not Joh-Un lives or dies, but these assassins are an annoyance I cannot stand. So long as my saftey is guarenteed, and that obnoxious thug is put in his place, you may have whatever use of my men you require. As before, the mental contact left you with a deeply unpleasant sensation of dizziness and nausea.



The gale-force blast of artic wind caused the ambient temperature to plummet. The effort was challenging, your powers were still not at their peak. Even so, Ice began to creep over the man, and for a moment, it looked like he was unsure what to do. However, he quickly reacted, rotating his body at inhuman speeds, creating a micro-whirlwhind that blew away your freezing breath before it could establish a strong foothold. "I...Can't...I can't remember! I need to feed...that'll help...make it easier to think"

Around the corner, about two blocks out, a squad of police cars rounded the corner, along with a firetruck. They likely were summoned to respond to the warehouse fire, but now, with the meta-human brawl, it seemed like their priorities have shifted. The human parasite looked at Ultrawoman, then to the approaching emergency vehicles, then back again, before giving a small grin. Turning his head, he fired off a blast of your heat vision, the crimson beams lancing through the engine block of the fire truck, and detonating the fuel tank. A roaring fireball erupted, engulfing the vehicle and two of the surrounding police cars. Those not caught in the initial explosion didn't fare much better, as they served aside, trying to avoid crashing into the wreckage, only piling up appon one another.

Going to compel your heroic instincts. There's now 20 firefighters and police officers trapped in a burning multi-car pileup. However, if you divert your attention to fighting the, you'll have to divert attention away from your fight. Take a hero point for the dilemma!

[Arcran]

Unless you can use your "Vertigo" without being detected I see no reason I would require extra aid, Abigail thinks, beginning to formulate the beginnings of a plan.

With a thought the psion probes towards the leader's mind, trying to find an opening so she could remove him without issue in a few seconds. At the same time, telepathic conversations cross the room.

To the unfortunate bodyguard who couldn't throw, Abigail simply gives orders.

Step forward. Confess to being the psychic abd request a medic for Joh-Un.

I'm sorry, Abigail throws in at the end, more for her own concience than any real feeling of regret.

Almost simultaneously Abigail reaches out to Joh-Un telepathically, trying to soothe the leader.

Don'tpanic. I may still be able to get you out of here unharmed, but I will need your help. Any hidden guards, escape passages, anything I can use to get you out of here I need to know right now.

Mind Fray on the big bad!

Using that Hero Point for another Standard that I'll use to read Joh-Un's mind. What I do depends on how successful I am.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Both Caleb and Nadia got angry looks on their faces and opened their mouths to deliver a scathing retort and fiery challenge, respectively, which would likely be followed up with gloriously crass and wonderfully undignified physical violence! But Amy took each of their hands in hers and gave a gentle, calming squeeze...

~No.~

~He took the kids, Amy! And he attacked those cops! And I don't care what he says, he was pulling them down to try and drown them in the mud. I was there, I saw it!~

~He knows he can't beat us. He knows we can fry his plants in here just as easily as we did out there! He's just trying to make us doubt ourselves, and it won't work! We take him down, now, hard and fast, and-~

~And then what, Nadia? Do you see any kids around? We need to learn where he's holding them. Saving the children is what's important here, not assuaging our own egos and proving we're the biggest, baddest angels on the block. This guy is talking. We don't have to settle this with violence. I'm not sure it would help even if we did.~

~Once we defeat him, we can compel him to tell us where the children are. Force him to release them.~

~Or we can try to settle this peacefully, and maybe get one more powerful superhuman using their powers for good in the process. Trinity, what do you think?~

~Personally? I think I should most enjoy putting this upstart druid in his place. But yours is the better way, Amy. We can always resort to combat if words fail.~

~Well, I mean, just so long as we're clear that we're doing this because we're nice, not because we're scared. Because I think we can trounce this guy in comfortably under half a minute. Just putting that out there so there's no confusion on the subject.~

...And the two took a deep breath a closed their mouths.

Amy spoke then, calmly, softly. "No, sir. We don't expect you to wave your hand and undo it all, any more than we could wave our hands and make sure every child on the planet has enough food, and a proper education, and a loving home. Just because you can't solve the entire problem at one go doesn't mean you shouldn't work towards an eventual solution."

"I...imagine that's what you're trying to do here, right? You don't seem like the type who would have taken those kids out of malice, out of sheer hate. Can I ask you why you did it? What you hope to gain here? If you think us naive, then please help us to understand."

Not trying to convince him to abandon his goals or return the kids or back down or anything. Just to explain his intentions. If Persuasion is required, Routine it for 30, or 35 if Attractive applies. Routine Insight for 30 to assess his response.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawoman was not a scientist. She was not an engineer. In fact, she lacked expertise in most of these fields outside of field-repair and jury-rigging. Yet as she watched the Thing shoot energy lances from his eyes a creeping suspicion came over her that there was something oddly familiar about what he was capable of doing....

She absorbed sunlight and turned it into power. So did he, except he needed heat.

He was strong, tough and shot beams of heat from his eyes. So did she.

He also didn't develop any powers until she had been holding him after he was covered in that muck when that bomb went off.


There was something unusual about this....


The blare of police and fire brigade sirens tore apart Ultrawomans split-second day dream as the Kryptonian turned her head to look at the incoming authorities with a mix of fear and relief.

Then Thing opened fire.

"No, wai - " is the only warning she got out until a massive fireball erupted from the ensuing pile up - the heat conflagorating to such temperatures that even Ultrawoman felt it upon her face at this distance. It didn't take super-hearing to discern the cries for help and the instinctual wails of terror at the idea of being burned alive.

Gritting her jaw, she turned and looked at the human parasite.

"Right, you had your chance!" she barked, her eyes narrowed with a steely anger.

Ultrawoman became a red-and-white blur as she rocketed forward and drove her fist into the Things chest, then her left, then right - again and again in avalanche of blows that was finished with a vicious uppercut aimed at the parasites jaw.

No sooner had she plowed into the parasite, Ultrawoman took off again - her figure coming to hover over the smoldering death-trap of the cops and firefighters vehicles.

Much as she had to douse the fire that drew their attention in the first place, Ultrawoman drew into her lungs deeply before exhaling in a freezing cone that blanketed the fires.


ooc:

Thank you very much for that Hero Point...

...which I'll immediately spend on an Extra Action!


Move: Flying right up to Parasite Thing.

Standard: She's performing her Rapid Punches on him: 1d20+9=15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4828226/). That was a pretty piss-poor showing but remember that his active defenses are halved against Subtle 2 attacks, so his usual defense of 19 becomes 14 (9/2 rounded down), so that'd still hit. It didn't crit or hit him by much, so the extra damage of this ability is, sadly, wasted. He still needs to take a DC 34 toughness check though. made worse by the -2 penalty, so she misses entirely.

Spending a Hero Point for Improved Roll:

Improved Roll: She's doing another one of her Rapid Punches against him: 1d20+9=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4828236/)
Much better. That's a crit, and it's more than 3 degree's above his defense of 14! Even though she rolled a 27 because of the -2 penalty, succeeding by 10 is 3 degree's of success according to page 14 of the book! That means he has to make a DC: 15 (base) + 17 (strength) + 5 (crit) + 5 (multiattack) = 42 toughness check.

Move: Move-by action to zip over to hove over the cop/fire cars.


Extra Action: Arctic breath over it all!

Spending a hero point to protect against becoming exhausted from using the extra effort twice.

[NineOfSpades]

The guard steps forward, and within his mind, you feel his subconcious fighting to resist you, as it is well aware that the commands you have ordered will not end well. The nature of the survival instinct is hardwired into the mind, and cannot be so easily defeated. Even so, your hold over the higher brain functions is to strong. "I confess. I am the one who-" He began to speak, but was silenced as gunfire erupted. Through your contact, you feel the pain recoiling through his nervous system as multiple rounds penetrate his chest and abdomen. A moment later, he goes into shock and collapses into unconsciousness. Whether he'll ever get up again is uncertain, but the possibility dwindles smaller with each passing second.

However, his actions do provide a distraction for your psychic assult. The leader of the assassins mind is weakened by your efforts, though perhaps not yet completely vulnerable.


Goodnight sweet prince, and a flight of angels sing the to thy rest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmd1qMN5Yo0)





The Swamp-man listened to your empassioned argument, and paused, considering it. Seconds turned into moments, and moments into minutes as he contemplated the issue. Perhaps he was just stalling for time, but he made no outward movement of aggression, and kept his distance from the three of you. Eventually, he seemed to reach a conclusion, as he turned back to you three and spoke. "Spores...are you familiar with them?" he asked, before continuing on, not actually waiting to hear your reply "They are seeds, microscopic seeds, that drift on the wind and find new places to grow. Every year, I look forward to when the mushrooms bloom and set their spores free. However, this year, I felt the spores as they traveled, and they encountered...something. I don't know how to describe it, other than hostile...and infectious. I steched out my senses through the green, and as far as I could reach, I felt this presence...Hundreds, potentially millions have already become host to this plague. You three as well, perhaps, though I doubt you'd know it even if you were. Still, I sensed a few who had not yet become contaminated, or who were not yet so far gone that I could not save them. So I brought them to me, for safe keeping, and that I might heal them" The long explination seemed to take its toll, and the man needed to rest a moment before finishing. "It is slow going...but I feel I have made progress...I would say more, but I cannot be certain of where your allegiance may lay. I cannot risk having all that I've accomplished be so easily undone"




In physics, an Impulse is defined as a force, multiplied by the time over which that force is applied, and is directly proportional to the change in an objects momentum. Your hailstorm of fist-strikes, each packing a tremendous force, are sufficient to cause a massive increase in Parasites momentum. Or, in more direct terms, you hit him a lot, causing him to be catapulted backwards through the air.

In the same split second, your breath was able to disperse all but a few lingering embers of the fire. Though the civil-servants who had been caught at the heart of the blast were still badly burnt, it was nothing compared to the damage they would likely have sustained had your response not been so immediate.

Returning your attention to your opponent, who was still tumbling end over end as he flew backwards. The first object he struck was an office building at the end of the street, a good twenty blocks away. Glass, plaster and cubical farms did little to slow him down, and her punched right through to the other side. The same thing took place for the next four buildings he hit, till at last (As you could see with your x-ray and telescopic vision), he struck down in central park, skidding several times and upturning earth, before splashing down in one of the fountains which decorated the bike-paths. He didn't get up, or even seem to move, beyond a few errant twitches and the occasional wheezed breath.

As the police and fire crews went to work at aiding their fellows who were in most direct need, one of the officers approached you, looking off into the distance at the holes in the buildings. He gave an impressed whistle "Remind me never to get on your bad side. What the heck was that thing?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

...Well.

That had gone from bad to worse.

~Okay...so how do we deal with that?~

~First, let me just say that we all really appreciate you not giving us an "I told you do." Seriously, Amy, that's just really classy of you.~

~Um. Sure. Yay peace. But if we can focus on the plague now?~

~Plagues are annoyingly difficult to punch in the face.~

~First thing we have to do is identify what it actually is, and if it's a threat. Just because the guy has good intentions doesn't mean he's right. Frankly, he seems a bit unbalanced.~

~You'll be receiving your Understatement of the Year Award in the mail. But yeah, more info is good.~

~We...do also have to figure out what to do about the kids. I mean...if they're in danger, we can't just bring them back. But...there's a lot of families out there being torn apart over this, and I don't think breaking the possibility of some evil plague thing possibly infecting everyone but the kids and them being quarantined for their own safety would go over well. Even coming from angels.~

~Agreed. That said, their physical safety takes priority. Assuming they are indeed safer here. That's the first question.~

"Okay," Amy said. "Thank you. That's good. That means we all want the same thing here, for those kids to be safe. We understand why you're hesitant, so what can we do to prove that we're not hosts to this malevolence? You said you felt it, is there a way you can scan us for it? And if you do find it, that you can heal us of it like you did the others? That way we can help you."

In addition to the continuing Routine Insight of 30 to oppose any Bluff attempts, Routine Insight for 30 to Evaluate whether this guy seems trustworthy in general.

[Arcran]

Abigail winces as the guard is hit, feeling the connection falter slightly as the man fell. At least he was alive for now.

Of course, standing stoically as a man is shot likely isn't the best way to respond. So Abigail cowers and screams before dashing over to the man as he falls, tearing at her dress for a makeshift bandage.

"Can we get a medic in here?" Abigial cries, acting as if she is desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

As she does so, Abigail begins to press on minds around the room, trying to secure enough to make the basics of her plan possible.

Just going to start mind controlling random people in the crowd until Un keeps talking or does something. If he beats Mind Fray I'll do something.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Panting and leaning against a lightpost next to her, Ultrawoman blinked and looked down at herself in disbelief. What the hell was wrong with her? Why did she feel like this?

Exhaling a sharp breath and rolling her shoulders, the superheroine took herself up to the pile of cars and helped in several places were officers and firemen were trapped - her heat-vision and strength allowing her to bypass any twisted bits of metal.

Back upon the ground, Ultrawoman was approached by the officer. From where they stood, both of them were able to see the flight path parasite had taken through five buildings, his final trajectory resulting in Central Park.

To the cops humor, Ultrawoman snorted lightly in amusement, smirking a little. "No idea officer," she said, "I caught him inside one of Lexcorps warehouses sticking explosives onto vats of some...chemical. He seemed terrified of the stuff. I tried to talk him out of it, but we didn't have as much time as we thought..." she gestured with a nod to the smoldering ruins of Lexcorp as an indication of what she meant. "Some of it got onto him and...well he came that..."

"I wouldn't clean it up without Hazmat suits, just to be sure," she nodded.

Straightening up, rolling her shoulders once again as she took several steps forward, "and try to get a meat-truck."

With that Ultrawoman shot off once again, her blood-red cape billowing voluminously behind her a she sailed over to central park where she came to hover over Parasites downed figure.

This was a...new event for her. Still breathing deeply as the pangs of fatigue tugged at her limbs (also a new sensation for her), Ultrawoman chewed her bottom lip as she went over options of what to do with Parasite.

...she couldn't just let him go, he was clearly mentally troubled. He'd ignored her almost completely, and whenever the man within had peaked through to plead with her he was just-as-quickly shoved away by whatever new instincts had been assimilated into his mind.

Also...with his strength...she doubted any current prisons could hold him. They certainly couldn't hold her.

Making her decision, Ultrawoman breathed in deeply, then breathed out over Parasite. Where normally he'd be coated with sheets of ice that would impair his movement, this time it was as if he was being entombed within a glacier.

Once the deed was done, Ultrawoman gasped and staggered backwards. Almost coming to a knee, she breathed in deep and exhaled to build a regular rhythm as the burning sensation of exhaustion set about her usually empowered figure. She hadn't felt this way since she was on Krypton...

Looking behind her to the string of builds which now each contained a monorail hole, Ultrawoman swallowed and straightened herself up.

"No rest for the wicked..." she uttered to herself as her figure lifted off the ground and she took off to inspect the insides of each building to ensure no one was trapped.


ooc:

Power-stunting this:

Affliction 10: "Perma-freeze"
1st degree: Fatigued, 2nd Degree: Defenseless; 3rd Degree: incapacitated, alternate resistance (Dodge), Cumulative, Increased Duration (3 - continuous), Custom Flaw (Can Melt).

And with that she's Exhausted

[NineOfSpades]

While the swamp-hermit-plant-man does seem a bit offputting, and is certainly not the most outgoing and pleasent of individuals, your efforts have detected no falsehoods on his part. And while you can tell he is definatly keeping the details of what he is up to from you, it really does seem to be out of concern that you may already be infected with the plague he's chasing after, and not out of any efforts to mislead you. At the very least, his motives seem genuine and earnest

Your, for lack of a better word, gracious host actually seemed pleased to hear that you were willing to submit to his examination process. "While the infection is airborn, its fairly easy for me to locate its presence. Once its taken root, however, it becomes far more subtle." underfoot, the earth and roots shift, a deep rumbling reverberated through the empty space. Several layers of moss and undergrowth peel away, making room the the emergence of three large organic pods to rise up into the chamber. Each was roughly the size of a coffin, though you hoped they would not end up serving as such, and appeared to be filled with some sort of sap or fluid. "If you'd be so kind as to enter these germination pods, I'll be able to disperse my spores through your body and search for infection. The process is painless, and should take only a matter of minutes. If you are not contaminated, I will gladly show you where I have the children. Any aid in curing this disease would be most welcome: There is to much work for me to handle on my own. And if any of you are contaminated...well" He paused a moment to scratch at his chin "Once discovered, the plauge tends to lash out. Violently. I suspect it'll likely usurp control of your nervous system, and then you three will attack me. In which case, I will of course defend myself. Non-fataly, if I'm able. Though I'll likely give you a good thrashing for the damage you caused above" Though the three of you were gifted with empathy that was entirely trancedent to the human concept, and able to read even the most deeply buried variations of intonation and body language, none of you could even venture a guess as to whether that last comment was meant as a joke or not. "In any case...after the infection is identified, I'll go to work at cleaning it from your systems. I've managed to refine the procedure by practicing on some of the local wildlife. A regrettable process, but an unavoidable one. Animal tissue is so much more difficult for me to work with. It'll take me three months to fully disinfect bodies of your mass"



Before you can reach the guard, two of the assailants move to block your path, shoving you backwards. Though you could likely bypass their blockade without much exertion, doing so would threaten to break your cover. Not doing so, however, risked the man who'd acted as your proxy in this fight. Either choice might result in the loss of life, with no clear way to know which would be better.

Through the room, you spread your thoughts, snagging one mind after another. With each one, you perceiving a rising panic. Everyone can feel it, the impending dread as something is about to happen. Jen Joh-Sun, perhaps feeling paranoia and doubt after the mental intrusion you had inflicted upon him, did not seem as well composed. Perhaps that was just a side effect of your more insidious efforts at weaking his mind. In any case, he spoke out, ordering his men "The risk is to great: Our objective must be completed. We are switching to the failsafe. Kill everyone in this room". For a moment, the men under Joh-Sun's command actually seemed to hesitate, grasping at the consequences such an overt and aggressive act would bring. But they did not falter. Safty's were switched off, and bullets fitted into their chambers.

Before the slaughter could begin, two of the gunmen seemed to just collapse. It almost looked as if they were having some sort of seizure, as they lay rolling on the floor. One began to vomit. You noticed that the Count was gazing intently in their direction.

Climatic Finish: GO!
You have managed to take control of six bodyguards. Joh-Sun has not been able to overcome the Mind Fray effect




The ice enveloped parasite, wrapping around him like an artic blanket. Only once, just as you were finishing, did he appear to stir, and even then, it was only for a moment. But perhaps that was just a trick of light, a distortion caused by the way the crystalline lattice of ice bent and distorted the image within.

The damage to the buildings looked pretty bad, but only at a superficial level. Paperwork was scattered, lighting fixtures had become dislodged, and broken glass covered the floor. Tomorrow, more than a few office workers would likely be facing a very unpleasant Monday morning. But the buildings themselves were undamaged and in no danger, except for perhaps the possibility that a stray pigeon or two might fly inside to roost.

Below you, the emergency workers do their duty. The injured are tended to, the fires are dealt with. The area immediately arround the warehouse is surrounded with a makeshift blockade to keep anyone from getting to close, at least until the hazardous waste crews can get in. Before to long, the battleground is adorned with a sizable team of plastic-jumpsuited specialists who are already starting the slow and methodical work of scaping the toxic sludge back into its proper containers. But in the meantime, you feel your strength returning, the dullness to your senses and the lingering fatigue fade away. Whatever process Parasite had done to you, it seemed, was thankfully temporary.

Just about the time you begin to feel like your old self, a very expensive looking sports car rolls up to the scene. The few on-site reporters who'd already managed to assembled seemed to flock towards the vehicle. But they weren't there for the young woman who got out of the drivers seat. No, the news crews were clearly looking to get a comment from the man whom the driver opened the door for. He was a fairly tall figure, dressed in a suit that probably cost just as much as the car he'd arrived in. Based on the confidence he seemed to exert, that suit was worth every single cent.

Lex Luthor, venture capitalist, industrialist and resident multi-billionaire of Metropolis, had arrived.

[Arcran]

"****," Abigail mutters before lashing out with her mind at the leader, seeking to enslave him again. At the same time, Abigail sends a simple message out to all her thralls.

Fight.

At least if they were killed it wouldn't reflect badly upon her.

Without hardly moving Abigail sends out another mental blast, seeking to take down as many enemies as possible before they can attack.

Mental Domination on Twin-Un. If that doesn't completely dominate him I'll hit him again, otherwise I'll blast one of the other assassins.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets eyed the pods warily...

~Does this strike anyone else as a monumentally bad idea?~

~Just because if he's lying we'll all be completely helpless in his weird-looking bio-pods covered in that sap stuff that he can almost certainly make do a terrifying variety of things to us? Meh, I'd rate it a slight risk.~

~Which, translated from Nadia-speak, means a monumentally bad idea.~

~But if he's not lying, and he doesn't seem to be, it's harmless, and will probably get him on our side.~

~I'm down to say that, multiplying out the odds that he could actually be lying to use without us figuring it out, by the odds that even in the weird pod things we couldn't manage some daring escape, the risk is downgraded to trivial.~

~It's a matter of trust, Caleb.~

~Yeah, well, I don't trust him. I don't know enough about him to trust him.~

~You make a terrible Angel of Faith sometimes, you know that?~

~Yeah, well, in the real world, sometimes pragmatism has to outweigh ideals. Trust has to be earned.~

~It does. Both ways. This is how we earn his.~

~I would argue your point Caleb. Neither pragmatism nor ideals ever need outweigh the other. Rather, both should work in concert. If you go through the process one at a time, then if he tries anything, the other two can still intervene.~

~Unless what he tries is, as just a random example, some sort of undetectable mind control plague.~

~The future can never be certain Caleb. The question is, do you have any better ideas?~

~...Not as such, no.~

~Then it's a risk worth taking.~

~Fine.~

~I'll do it.~

~Could have called that one even if I wasn't in your heads. Caleb is the best choice for this.~

~What, so he can learn an important lesson about Faith? I was joking! Caleb's a great Angel of Faith. He's all about-

~Because if he does do something we're not expecting, we want you weakening his defenses and Amy able to provide healing. Lockdown won't be as useful in these tight quarters and if one of us are in that pod, we don't want to stall with a defensive game, we want maximum offense, so my powers are strictly less valuable to us in this particular tactical situation.~

~I see you've taken my point about ideals and pragmatism working together to heart.~

...For a second or so, before Caleb said, "Very well. But I trust you won't object if we submit to the process one at a time." He stepped forward to the pods, taking a moment to consider one more time if there was anything he was missing here, any reason he shouldn't do this. But unless he came up with something, he'd step inside.

So, this is something I probably should have asked earlier, because it's actually good to know just in general, but what's your policy on Insight results? Can Insight actually be trusted in this game for anything other than "You detect the subject is lying"? I'm realizing that I don't actually know for sure if my previous Insight checks succeeded or failed; it's entirely possible that the guy has a Deception of 21+, or even a bit lower but he rolled high. Basically, are Insight results more:

Subject Lying, Insight Succeeds: You detect the subject is lying.
Subject Lying, Insight Fails: You can't get a read on the subject.
Subject Telling the Truth, Insight Succeeds: You detect the subject is telling the truth.
Subject Telling the Truth, Insight Fails: You can't get a read on the subject.

Or:

Subject Lying, Insight Succeeds: You detect the subject is lying.
Subject Lying, Insight Fails: You do not detect deception.
Subject Telling the Truth, Insight Succeeds: You do not detect deception.
Subject Telling the Truth, Insight Fails: You do not detect deception.

If it's being handled in the former way, so I can take the previous results as something I can hang my hat on mechanically, Caleb will enter the pod. If the process runs as he said it would without any harm, Nadia and Amy will then go through next and the whole thing can be processed in one post.

If it's being handled in the latter way, so Insight isn't actually able to detect truth, only lies, then I'm going to spend a Hero Point for Inspiration on whether or not entering these pods is a bad idea. If that comes back okay, then Caleb will enter, and if everything goes well Nadia and Amy. If it comes back that it would be a bad idea, Caleb won't enter and we'll progress from there.

If it's being handled the former way, but two degrees of failure can return a false negative (i.e. Subject Lying, Insight Fails by Two Degrees: You detect the subject is telling the truth) then I'll still spend the Hero Point, since that still means that Insight is an untrustworthy method of detecting truth. If it takes three degrees of failure I won't spend the Hero Point. I'mma at least trust that the guy isn't rocking Deception rolls of 40+.

Yes I'm a little paranoid, but it's worth it when you're about to enter a weird coffin-shaped plant pod in the lair of the guy who controls plants. And the thing about Insight is just good to know for the future.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

It didn't take Ultrawoman long to spot at least someone who needed some assistance, though only of a mundane variety. Through the scrap and twisted edges of the holes within one of the skyscrapers, Ultrawomans x-ray vision picked out a lone survivor that was huddled within an office whose front had been torn away by an airborne parasite.

Floating into the area, Ultrawoman spotted a lone office worker, his middle-aged figure crouched behind what would have been the desk for a middle manager. Caked with dust and visibly shaking, his eyes latched onto her figure the moment she was silhouetted by her blood red cape against the dust and debris.

"Wh - who the heck are you? What the hell was that thing that did this? Was it terrorists?! Is the city under attack?"

"It's all over, you'll be fine. The building isn't safe to be in right now so I should get you out of here."

"And who do...hang on, you look familiar," he stammered, still crouched behind his desk, brown dust clinging to his other-wise grey suit, "you were that one that helped out in the Philippines, weren't you?" He asked as if superbeings were a common occurance around the world, rather than a rare, but growing phenomenon.

Ultrawoman offered a terse smile and shrugged, "Just helping out. Here," and she held out a well-muscled arm, her hand open for him to take, "I'll get you out of here. There are emergency crews on the ground that can see to you."



oOo

By the time Ultrawoman emerged from the damaged building with the man on her back and holding her shoulders, small clusters of people had formed a patch-work quilt of crowds upon the ground. Bathed with the hue of emergency vehicle lights and embedded with the flash of cell phone camera's and TV news reporters, all it took was for a few people to look up and spot the Kryptonian for the message to get resounded and the body of people to coalesce.

When she set down to release the office worker into the care of emergency workers, the individual groups had amalgamated into a full crowd - a crowd that surged forward through the police barriers to almost mob the Kryptonian.

Not expecting to be mobbed by a sea of faces, Ultrawoman looked startled as she was quickly surrounded by people from all walks of life, some reaching out to touch her, some holding up cell phones and taking pictures, and even more still throwing a hail of questions at her that she had no ability to respond to at once (well, at least in a way that they could be received). "Where do you come from?", "Who are you?", "What are you?", "Can you help me?", "What's your name?", "How do you do fly?", "Can you teach me to fly too?!", "Are you single?", "Are you human?", "Do you believe in God?", "Why did you destroy parts of our city?!"

As superfast and superstrong and invulnerable as Ultrawoman was, Laura felt her brain snap-freeze beneath the onrush of attention.

"I..." she stammered, her thoughts muddled.

Fortuitiously it didn't last long as quickly a News microphone and camera were shoved in her face, "Ultrawoman! Amanda Stone, Metro Public Broadcast! What do you have to say to the people of Metropolis?"

Blinking, composing her thoughts, Ultrawoman held a breath in her throat as she looked down the lens of the camera. Even knoew she could feel people grasping at her shoulders, arms, her cape - some hands even trying to take small bits of her clothing as souvenirs.

"I have to speak with the police officers on the scene," Ultrawoman answered, "please try to keep things orderly."

With that her figure levitated off of the ground - some grinning as they watched, some gasping, others going wide-eyed and others still carrying a hint of jealously in their gaze.

Her statuesque figure hovering above the crowd, blood red cape billowing behind her, Ultrawoman looked upon the group as camera's flashed, her mind racing with questions of her own as she was confronted by what her vigilante efforts would only bring more of in the future.


https://s.yimg.com/cd/diminuendo/1.0/original/3f1a1f1986c19ad8770f3cf7ff31175d214dde64.gif

Inhaling and turning to look at the clusters of police officers helping direct both clean up of the buildings, hazardous material and Parasite himself, Ultrawoman flew over and landed gently next to what looked like the officers in charge.

"Officers," she greeted, "I just want to let you know, that whatever that thing is," she gestured towards the ice-entombed Parasite, "don't let it thaw without some serious security in place. He packs a hell of a whallop."

And then, Lex Luther arrived on the scene...

[NineOfSpades]

At your command, the room erupts into a sort of controlled pandemonium. Guards rush up in unison against their captors, dignitaries and diplomatic scramble in a startled panic. The assassins, up until now, had remained what could only be described as commendably stoic, even in the face of mental invasion on their leader. As one well trained operative to another, you had to at least give them some respect for their ability to stay focused on their mission. But nobody could have prepared them for an entire room of hostages to go from fearfully docile to an outright madhouse in the span of one second.

Of the nine assassins, three of them were downed as they fell to the combined weight of their hostages dogpiling on them. Since the three were still struggling, it would be unwise to count them out of the fight right away. One of the assassins raised his firearm, but was clubbed with a chair from behind by one of Joh-Un's catering staff, and did not get back up. That left five hostiles for you to deal with, and the first target was Joh-Sun. Your mental probing strikes deep and true. As before, you feel the ingrained mental locks rising up. But this time, your approch is more cautious, more surgical. Rather than trigger the mental barriers and risk being shunted out, your able to keep your focus on controlling the conscious mind of Joh-Sun. If given time, you've no doubt that you'd be able to crack the locks that keep whatever information is stored inside his mind secret, for now, merely dominating his body and actions will have to do.

That is of course, if you can avoid getting your head blown off. As it was noted, there's still quite a number of assassins in the room who are up and fighting. Four, to be precise, now that Joh-Sun was dealt with. One of them was dispatching a group of security guards, cutting them down with swift and precise sword strokes while protecting the other three, who began firing off bursts of gunfire into the crowd. One of the bullets struck you as it passed, grazing the arm.

And a DC 21 Toughness save will tell us how badly it hurt!




At your request, the Swamp-Man nodds "Hmm? Yes, I suppose that is agreeable. Just...don't get to close to one another after I've cleared you...as I said, the sickness is airborn. Last thing I need is to have it just jump from one to the next. Then we'll just spend the rest of the day going in circles trying to figure out who's been exposed."

Since you'd already reached a group concensus as to who'd be the Lucky individual to go first, Caleb is inducted into one of the pods. It feels much like you'd expect, stepping into a vertical cylinder full of tree-sap. Sticky, thick, and a little to cold for comfort. Caleb would likely experiance a moment of discomfort as the sap entered his mouth and nose, flooding down into his lungs. But since he had no difficulty breathing (Don't ask what he was breathing), the moment of discomfort would soon pass. In fact, it actually would start to feel quite nice. Very relaxing.

Very, Very Relaxing. Like he could just drift to sleep. Of course, that might just be a side effect of having tree-sap dripping into his nerves.

Outside the pod, The old man sighed and shook his head. "Well, there's no mistaking it: He's infected alright." he said, turning towards the two other siblings, now looking far lest trusting of the two. "And by association...I'm rather inclined to believe that the two of you are as well.I figured as much...plague's spread plenty far by now" Roots rose up behind the man, ready to spring to his defense, as he looked at the two off you, clearly expecting you to put up a fight.

DC 24 Fortitude save for Caleb vs Fatigued/Exhausted/Unconcious



For referance, Lex Luthor is voiced by Clancy Brown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4TC1xMyZDI) as he shall always be.

Luthor stayed silent as the mob of reporters began hurling questions at him. After soaking in the attention for a moment or two, he raised a hand, and the clamor began to die down enough for him to speak "Esteemed members of the press, I will happily answer any and all questions you have tomorrow at a press conference. You'll be receiving email's shortly with details as to the time and place. For tonight, however, I am simply a concerned citizen who's come to offer his assistance to our cities finest."

Reaching into his pocket, Luthor pulled out his phone, pressed a button, and issued a three word command "Come on in" And with that, three large helicopters (Unmanned drones, from the looks of things) swooped onto the scene, coming to a hover over the burnt out warehouse, before despensing several large tubs which began sucking up any of the remaining chemical waste before it had a chance to spread. "I've also taken the liberty of making a sizable donation to the fire and rescue service, to help cover any of the valient hero's medical needs. Last thing we want is for their insurance rates to go up" He paused as a chuckle ripped through his audience. "And on that note, I suggest if any of you still feel the need to interview someone, you should be addressing these fine men and women. Their the ones who deserve our praise"

It was flashy, it was impressive, and the press seemed to eat it up. Whether genuine concern for the people of this city, or just a very well executed PR stunt, Luthor had the crowd eating out of his hands it seemed. His personal assistant cleared a path for him, as he made his way through the mob of reporters, who began to disperse once it was clear that he had meant what he said about not answering any questions this evening. A few of them followed behind him, with camera's trained on his every movement. At least until their recording equipment suddenly failed on them in what was clearly not some coincidence.

Now free of his hanger-on's, Luthor walked forward, towards you, with a fairly casual smile on his face, hands comfortably in his pocket. From his posture, it's clear that he's not especially intimidated or awed by your superhuman feats. Instead, he simply walks up and starts talking, as if you were just two people at a bus stop. "I gather that your the one I should be thanking, for dealing with this evenings unfortunate incident. You have my gratitude" He says, extending a hand to shake "Lex Luthor, though I imagine you already knew that"

[Arcran]

Abigail doesn't even flinch as the bullet connects with her arm, scanning the room rapidly. Four active enemies, with three attacking the crowd, one defending and assorted others already in the process of being incapacitated by her side. She couldn't take them out one by one; that would simply be too slow. No, she needed to be a bit broader. With a grimace Abigail forces herself to widen her mind, feeling like her head was about to burst as bursts of mental assault erupt across the room, focused on the assassins.

Stay still and await further instruction, Abigail states to her puppet, making her way through the crowd to Joh-Un, glancing around to see if any of the assassins fall from her assault.

Power Stunt time! Using a Hero Point to negate, meaning that Abigail is still just Fatigued.

Mental Screech: Selective Area (Burst 2) Damage 13, Subtle 2, Resisted by Will.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

Perhaps it was coincidental, but the contrast between Lex Luther and Ultrawoman couldn't have been stronger. He arrived in his flashy car, dazzled the crowd with showmanship and drew the loving gazes of the media...while Ultrawoman stood among the police and firefighters in the chance that any further assistance might be required.

As Lex extended his hand and made his declarations, Laura felt her skin tingle a little at the smug, slimy businessman she had gotten used to having to deal with in this city. That he was involved with producing that...stuff was, only further compounded the suspicious air about him. Ultrawoman, however, maintained the veneer of civility as she returned his gesture. She reached out and gave the man a firm handshake (firm for him anyway).

"It's good to see you're remaining civic-minded." she answered in her clear-accented voice.

"From what I saw the building went up fairly quickly," Ultrawoman said, gesturing to the factory, "any idea what was being stored there?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb struggled free of the pod pretty much the instant that supernatural fatigue began to descend upon him. That was definitely not part of the deal. He got free so fast Amy and Nadia didn't even get a chance to experience their share of the echo of the effect, and he regarded the plant man with a stern gaze.

And then he was pronounced infected, and gave a sigh as he figure out what was going on here.

~He's-~

~Insane?~

~Yeah we...figured that out too.~

~Totally insane.~

~We probably should have figured it out earlier, all things considered.~

~Farmer Crazypants of the Nuttyfarm.~

~I mean...there might have been a plague. It was fair to hear him out at least.~

~Who comes from a long line of farmers...~

~You're not the one who now desperately needs a shower. Why did I decide to be the one to go into the pod again?~

~All of them pretty much equally crazy...

~Because you're a good brother?~

~I think it probably has to do with all the mushrooms.~

...

~Huh?~

~Hm? Oh. Nothing. So, new plan?~

~I mean, I'd kinda hate to attack him now, because then he'll think we're infected by the plague...~

~He already thinks that, though.~

~But I mean, we'll have given him a reason to.~

~Yeah, but, we need him to tell us how to get to the kids. We're not going to convince him. I mean, we could try, and be right back where we started. Or we could just start looking for them and he'd attack us first, but at the end of the day all that would do is give him the first strike. Wouldn't actually change things, you know?~

~Yeah...I guess. But...can we at least attack him nicely?~

~Totally.~

~We'll just make him think happy thoughts until he does what we tell him.~

~It'll be fun!~

To the plant-man's credit, he wasn't wrong.

Completely deluded, certainly, but he had predicted they would attack him after he pronounced them as plague-afflicted.

Less because of mind control, more because he officially needed to get out of their way now.

But, you know.

Not wrong.

The triplets advanced, Caleb intoning a litany of protection, casting a blessing of Faith out over himself and his sisters, a shining silver light that would ward off enemy attacks. Nadia and Amy reached out, not striking with fists or weapons, but with gentle touches, light brushes of their hands as their eyes shone with sky blue and gently pink light. Their touch would fill the plant man with feelings of Hope and Love; confidence that they were not threats or enemies, warm friendship and a desire to aid them.

Initiative: [roll0].

If we act first:

Free: Configure Triplecast. Caleb's Blessing Linked to Nadia and Amy's Castigate: Deflect 10 (Reduced Range [Close], Burst Area, Selective) Linked Affliction 10 (Will; Vulnerable+Impaired/Defenseless+Disabled/Controlled; Cumulative, Multiattack, Extra Condition).

Move: Close with plant man.

Standard: Attack with Triplecast, Power Attacking for 3, at [roll1]. On a hit, Will DC 23+Multiattack vs. Cumulative Vulnerable+Impaired/Defenseless+Disabled/Controlled Affliction. Additionally, Trinity is Defended at [roll2] (after Improved Defense).

EDIT: Well, meh to you too, dice :smallannoyed:.

Current Status: Fatigued.

[NineOfSpades]

Reverberate, despite being an apt description, is not the technically correct term to be employed, since your abilities dealt with telepathic projections of will, rather than sound waves. Still, it certainly seemed as though your psychic shock wave reverberated through the consciousness's that surrounded you on all sides. Each mind, unique in its own way, dealt with the impact differently. Some were unfazed. Others stumbled a moment, gripping at their heads. One of the assassins Trapped under the visiting ambassadors from Cuba, Turkey and two Albanian dignitaries, had an instantaneous seizure before lapsing into unconsciousness.

Thats not to say that your side went without its own casualties. Gunfire in an enclosed space will do that, though you managed to avoid a direct hit, eight other individuals were not so lucky. Blood stains would be tricky to get out of their black-tie formal wear, though that was probably not their most pressing concern at the moment.

Noticing that their leader was just standing in place, vacently staring off into the middle distance, the assassins quickly shouted to one another, trying to coordinate. Two seemed to notice your movements towards the center, and picked up on it as being out-of-the-ordinary. That, or they simply were trying to protect Joh-Sun. In either case, they turned their weapons on you and opened fire. As this occured, one of the restrained assassins managed to get a hold of his sword, and quickly made ribbons of those who'd been pinning him down, allowing an opportunity to rise to his feet.


Tracking for combat, for the purposes of clarity.

Two Toughness Saves, DC 19 and DC 21 please!


Joh-Un: Uninjured, but Controlled

Assassin 1: Uninjured, Guarding Assassins 5, 6 & 7

Assassin 2: 1 Injury, no longer dogpiled

Assassin 3: Natural 1, KOed (Also Dogpiled)

Assassin 4: 1 Injury, Dogpiled

Assassin 5 (Gunmen): KOed

Assassin 6 (Gunmen): Staggered, 1 Injury (Shooting at you)

Assassin 7 (Gunmen): Uninjured (Shooting at you)

Assassin 8: Dazed, 1 Injury






If Lex had any awareness of the doubts you held towards him, or your personal opinion of his character or his company, he showed no inkling of concern over them. Glancing over at the rubble, Luthor responded to your inquiry "What was kept there was my most recent efforts at eliminating world hunger. Vertenium-Cortenide, or at least that was what we were planning on calling it anyway. Obviously, after tonight, we'll have to take it back to formula and rework it so that there isn't a repeat of this incident. In any case, It was designed as a sort of ultra-fertilizer. Sprayed over crops, it'd magnify their ability to absorb energy and nutrients by a thousandfold." He seemed honestly annoyed, though not especially upset, at the loss of his product. Most people would probably take a chemical spill of this magnitude, and so close to a major population center, as something to be seriously concerned over. Lex was unmoved. "But that's just a setback. I'd rather talk about the opportunities that this evening has created. You do a lot of good work, and I'll be the first to admit, I'm something of a fan of yours. Would you care to come with me to my office? I've got a proposal I'd like to pitch to you"




The Swamp-Man didn't have to move to avoid your attack, his plants did the work for him, rising up to sway aside the attempts at making contact, preventing your holy-radiance from reaching him. However, your holy barrier did much the same to his efforts to ensnare you within his vines, leading to a standoff. "Whatever you may be, let me make one thing clear. No matter how far your plague spreads: Nature will still win" He didn't seem to be talking to the three of you, so much as talking to whatever plague he believed was inside of you.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb and Nadia were pretty much done with the plant man's crazytalk, but Amy shouted back in frustration, "There is no plague! We're not infected by anything! Just release the kids and everything will be fine!"

Caleb ceased his litany and reached out, silver light glowing around his hands and in his eyes as he attempted to channel the power of Faith directly into the plant-man's body, physiologically weakening his resistance. Amy and Nadia kept up their efforts, working to break through his resistance and take control of his emotions.

Free: Reconfigure Triplecast. Caleb's Censure, Nadia and Amy's Castigate. Weaken Stamina 10 Linked Weaken Awareness 10 Linked Affliction 10 (Multiattack, Cumulative, Extra Condition).

Move: Nah.

Standard: Attack with Triplecast, Power Attacking for 3, at [roll0] 30 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?419977-Founding-The-Justice-League-OOC&p=19622384#post19622384). On a hit, Fortitude DC 23 vs. Weaken Stamina and Awareness and Will DC 23+Multiattack vs. Cumulative Vulnerable+Impaired/Defenseless+Disabled/Controlled Affliction. These effects resolve simultaneously; a failure on the Fortitude save will not apply a penalty to the Will save from lost Awareness, and a failure on the Will save won't apply a penalty on the Fortitude save for Impaired or Disabled.

Current Status: Fatigued.

[Arcran]

One bullet catches Abigail a bit harder than the previous, causing the soldier to falter slightly, eyes burning purple in rage as she formulates a plan. As men die around her Abigail begins to fade away, replaced entirely by the soldier.

Fire on your men, Athena says, telepathic voice cold.

Of the remaining assassins, the swordsman appeared to be the most dangerous. Without hesitation Athena reaches for his mind, slamming into it with psionic force as she tried to dominate him even as she dashed towards Joh-Un. She needed to get him out of here as soon as possible; every second he remained was another he could be cut down by a stray bullet.

Trying to mind control the swordsman!

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


New fertiliser, pigs arse, Laura thought inside Ultrawoman’s mind. Yeah, sure. That’s why that saboteur risked everything he had to try and get rid of it. It didn’t take superhearing to tell that Lex Luthor was a slimy businessman. That look, those words…Ultrawoman thought the best of people, but Laura had been around trash long enough to know when something stunk. And now he was going to attempt to buy her with whatever shady deal he had in mind…

On the outside, however, Ultrawoman offered a polite smile, “I appreciate the offer, but another time perhaps, Mr Luther,” she answered, shaking his hand with one hand and gently clasping his shoulder with the other.

“The authorities have things in hand here, but there’s always more people out there that need a hand. Keep up your good work.”

With that, Ultrawoman lifted off the ground gently and levitated up a dozen meters or so. Red cape rippling in the breeze, her tall figure turned and catapulted off with a gentle sonic-boom! as she lanced into the sky at speeds that made a fighter jet look like the Wright brothers plane.

[NineOfSpades]

The Hermit of the swamps was not an especially fun being to make contact with. It was like trying to grip sponge jello. Bog Flavored Jello. Sure enough, once you did get a hold of him, the divine power flowed into his body. However, he quickly pulled away from you, leaving you with a handful of muck and peat in your hand, with him looking none the worse for ware, aside from the fist-sized hole, which quickly filled itself in as the plantlife regrew over the 'wound'.

"If only that were true, child. But I've seen enough to know its real. And you would see it to, but its inside your mind...shielding its presence...gathering strength" He said, somberly. Your intuition told you that, even though he was fighting with you, he certainly didn't seem to be enjoying his work.

He reached out again, sending more vines to ensnare the three of you, as he had before, just like when he tried to grab the police officers. The brances were certainly plenty strong enough to hold you, if they got could get a solid grip.


Dodge DC 25 vs hindered and Vulnerable/ Immobile and Defenseless





Joh-Sun twitched momentarily, an almost imperceptible signal of his unwillingness to follow through on your commands. But he was powerless to do anything more than such a small gesture. He raised his firearm, unloading several rounds in the direction of the swordsman, at the same moment that you struck at her mind. However, the will you felt inside was focused, and resisted breaching. The same could not be said for their body, which was struck twice, drawing blood. Neither hit would be fatal, however.

Then the swordsman stood up streight, looked at the twin brothers,Joh-Sun and Joh-Un, one cowering and one enslaved. Looking back, the swordsman spoke to the remaining assassins"Sun's compromised, and we're losing men. Abort the mission, we are retreating" Two things struck you in that moment. One was another bullet. The other was the fact that the voice was female. The swordswoman then drew her sidearm, and fired a shot directly between Joh-Sun's eyes. This would mark the second time of the evening that you were there to experiance the sensation by proxy, of feeling a man's mind break into unconciousness. Unlike the bodyguard, however, no amount of treatment was going to save Sun.

The assassins drew several grenades from their belt pouches, tossing them freely into the air. A pulse of light, a sound like thunder: Flashbangs. Not that identifying them did much to help with the shock to your system.



DC 20 Toughness vs another round of bullets. Also 3 DC 18 Fort save vs Dazed/Stunned/Unconcious (Not cumulative).

The room is filled with blinding light, making vision impossible for the next round. However, if your not KOed, you can mentally sense the assassins retreating (Grappling hooks up through the skylights, in fact).

If you stick around, there only appear to be a few casualties, all of them bodyguards or Joh-Un's staff. Lots of injuries and unhappy dignitaries. And one very, very terrified Joh-Un.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets managed to dart away from the vines, before renewing their assault, all three of them this time focusing their power into imbuing the plant-man's mind with their virtues. They attacked more cautiously, though, ready to leap aside if the vines came for them again.

"We have an angel living in our heads! We are telepathically bonded to each other constantly! There is no possible way there is some sort of sleeping mind control plague in our heads!" Amy shouted back.

"You're imagining things, dude," Nadia added in a more amused voice.

First off, going to use Assessment on him as a free action at +20 from Insight (secret roll made by GM). If I succeed by enough to get exact stats, priorities are Will, Fortitude, Parry, Toughness, and then anything else.

Move: Nah.

Standard: Attack with full force Castigate, Defensive Attack for 4, Power Attack for 1, at [roll0] 26 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19633195&postcount=144). On a hit, Will DC 21+Multiattack vs. Cumulative Dazed+Vulnerable+Impaired/Immobilized+Defenseless+Disabled/Controlled Affliction, and he'll have to repeat the save at the end of my next turn.

Current Status: Fatigued, +4 Defense this turn.

[Arcran]

Athena curses at each event in turn. Tonight wasn't a good night for her powers apoarently, and losing Joh-Sun was extremely inconvenient. Even more, she was blind.

More than a little angry, Athena pulls out her sword, tracking down the mind of the swordswoman and flinging the blade just above her, hoping to cut her escape. Was it a good plan? No, but with the mental fortitude the woman had just shown? She didn't have many other options.

Not sure what to roll here, so I'll just do AC
[roll0]

[NineOfSpades]

Will: 15, Fortitude: 15, Parry 8, Toughness 15. Dodge Is Lower Than yours. Attack abilities are higher than yours. Your opponent is more powerful than you are.

"A-Aaaaugh" groaned the old man, stumbling backwards, disoriented and weakened. He seemed genuinely shocked that you'd managed to inflict any sort of harm to him, and certainly concerned about it, since he redoubled his efforts at subduing you before you could do the same to him.

From above and below, thick and sturdy branches sprouted, forming what looked like the trunks of trees. A naturally grown cage of oak and maple. If he couldn't ensnare you with vines, seemed he intended to box you in with his trees.

Create (Trees) to box you three in. DC 25 Dodge check to get out before it closes around you.


It took a good thirty or fourty seconds before your normal senses were functional enough to make out what had happened, as the last of the flash-bangs light died down and your ears stopped ringing. Most of the guests were still on the ground, either crawling on their hands and knee's or curled up and trying to get their baring. Civilians weren't exactly prepared to handle three flashbangs going off at the same time.

Above you, embedded in the plaster of the wall, was your knife. It didn't appear that your toss had managed to stop their escape. But you did manage to hit your target at least, there was a trickle of fresh blood along the edge of the knife. Get a sample, you might be able to pull DNA. Better than nothing, right?

Forgot to add this in the previous post: I was going to give you a hero point for the DM fiat to cover their getaway. And I'll give you another one for a job well done: You got through that entire fight without ever getting identified as anything other than a News reporter. Well done!

[Arcran]

Athena shoots a quick glare at the ceiling before noticing the blood on the sword. Hephaestus had worked with less before, so perhaps everything wasn't lost? The secondary objective had been accomplished either way, meaning all that remained was the xenotech.

Stepping with purpose Athena makes her way to the wall, pulling her sword free and returning it to its sheathe, doing her best to not contaminate what blood sample there was. Following that the super soldier makes her way to the exit Joh-Un had supplied her with, beginning the trek to his safe, treading carefully and avoiding cameras all the while.

Stealth: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets pressed ahead doggedly, seizing their advantage. Amy and Nadia darted around, the three surrounding him in a triangle formation, aiming to cut off any escape to minimize the chance that he could box them in. Then they went at him again, letting the lingering power of their full-force Castigation do its work while they pulsed their power into his body.

Move Action: Surround him! If possible, since people don't actually move in turns, I'd like to basically try and keep this formation even if he moves. Maybe with an opposed Acrobatics or Athletics vs. target's Acrobatics or Athletics check?

Standard Action: Attack with straight-up Censure, Defensive Attacking for 5, Power Attacking for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Fortitude DC 25+Multiattack vs. Weaken All Abilities (except INT and PRE). He'll have to repeat the save next round as a Secondary Effect.

Reminder: He must now save again against the Castigate (which is Cumulative).

Current Status: Fatigued, +5 Defense this turn.

EDIT: ...DIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

...I'mma let that one stand.

[NineOfSpades]

Security was elevated to red alert, or whatever the local equivilent of that was. Outside the windows you passed, soldiers were massing, with heavy artillery for support. Looked like they were gearing up for out and out war. Guess they didn't take kindly to having their supreme commander taken hostage and threatened with death. Not to say that inside was much a picnic either, with security forces doing sweeps up and down the hallways. That was in addition to the usual amount of camera's and motion sensors.

It was almost enough to challenge your abilities.

Reaching the security console hidden just where you'd learned it to be, your able to enter the access codes (Straight from the horses frontal lobe!), which causes the concealed paneling to slide aside, and granting you access to Jen Joh-Il's vault of dirty little secrets. Inside were three long rows of filing cabnits, along with a small desk and a reading lamp. Very old school data storage. Untraceable, unhackable, and impossible to remotely tamper with. But then, given the state of the country, such a low tech security solution may not have been entirely by choice either.

Searching through the records would take some time, but with the door closed behind you, there was little to no chance that you'd be caught snooping where you shouldn't be. Most of the records, while interesting, were not especially useful to you. Lists of political dissidents and persons of interest, bribes and blackmail, weaponry storehouses, and a few invasion plans targeting negiboring countries. Pretty mundane stuff for a dictator.

But eventually your persistence was rewarded with something up your ally. A printed record, indicating that nineteen months prior, an unknown object had violated Gwiyeoun airspace at supersonic speeds. Fearing an attack, two military fighter jets were scrambled to intercept. One was taken down, with the report only indicating that it crashed due to 'loss of pilot'. The other managed to fire several missiles into the hostile, causing it to crash into the ground.

Examination revealed the target was entirely organic in nature, and possessed at thick exterior which resembled that of terrestrial deep sea invertebrates. The final note indicates that the organism was declared dead by on-site examiners, and that it was moved into a research facility located ninety miles from your current position, where it remained until Gwiyeoun science could advance enough to actually perform an autopsy without risk of compromising such a valuable subject.

The data here, once in the hands of SHADOW, would be more than enough to coordinate a mission to extract whatever had crashed into this backwards nation. All that was left to do was facilitate your own extraction.




Still dealing with the impact of your first assault, The Swamp-Thing didn't seem prepared to be flanked on three sides. However, he reacted with surprising speed. His body splintered, breaking down into individual branches and roots, which curled downwards into the ground, meshing with the abundant plant life already there. In a heartbeat, he had vanished, merging with the jungle which surrounded you. However, his presence had not fully dispersed, for his voice spoke out to the three of you, seeming to come from every direction at once. "Such...foolish...children. You understand nothing...and in the face of your ignorance, you turn to violance. The last resort of the desperate and the foolish." His voice was more labored now. Whatever you'd done had taken a toll, it would seem. "I ask again...are you proud of yourselves? By distracting me from my work, I've had to divert my focus away from the kids who needed my help. It'll take months to recover the work I've lost...and I am far to tired for that."

The wall of the chamber cracked and split, folding back to reveal a passageway, beyond which you could see a long tunnel. And at the end of it, there appeared to be more of the plant-pods that had nearly caught the three of you. These ones were occupied. "Take them: Take your prize, you short-sighted simpletons. Take them back to the surface where they will lose their very souls to a disease that's already claimed so many. I should never have thought that any mammal would be capable of seeing the larger picture." While it was clear that the man was tired and drained, the way he put such a venomous emphasis on his words, it was clear that he held you three in a very great deal of disdain. "I think I shall devote my time to a more worthy species...perhaps Oak tree's...yes...that would be better..." the voice said, trailing off.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb ignored the plant-man's parting words outright; his conviction would not be shaken, and he had more pressing concerns. Amy, likewise, though kinda disappointed that it had to go this way, turned her attention to the people they could help.

Nadia, on the other hand...

"Dude! You realize you attacked us first, right? Twice, actually!"

...

"You're darn right we're proud! Any day we can rescue a bunch of kids from a delusional nutjob like you is a good day in my book! Chasing your viney butt off like a whipped dog was also kinda satisfying."

...

"Oh gee, yeah, I can see how being distracted for two minutes would definitely wreck months of work. Especially when the kids you were doing the work on were reported missing, like, this morning! Wait wait, let me guess, it's a time-warping evil mind plague, right?"

...

"Uh oh guys! He's working on oak trees next! You know what that means - he's going to start kidnapping all the acorns! Someone better warn Squirrel Girl..."

Caleb and Amy were, by that point, hard at work on getting the children out of the pods, whispering minor spells to cleanse them as they went. If the kids were unconscious, they'd lay them gently on the ground to rest while they retrieved the others. Otherwise, they'd speak to them as soothingly as they could, assure them they were safe now.

Unless anything happened to interfere, as soon as all of the children were free, Caleb would go to retrieve the police from where they left them, informing them that they had found the children and flying them back to town to start making calls to see where they should go. Then he'd fly back and two of them would bring the children, each carrying one or two at a time, to the small town, taking them to the sheriff's office (or some other location as directed by the sheriff), while the third kept an eye on the children and poked around for other secret passages, in case there were more. Once they were cleared out, they'd go to lend whatever help they could in coordinating getting the kids back home - up to and including flying them right into their parents' arms.

Investigation in case of any other secret doors: [roll0].

And yes, I know Squirrel Girl is Marvel but come on, like I could pass that one up? :smallbiggrin:

[Arcran]

Athena can't help but give herself a small smirk as she pockets the file. At least this part of the mission seemed to be going better than expected; the alien was even already dead, which made all of this a hell of a lot easier than she had been expecting.

The next step, of course, would be to extract her gear. Without wasting any time and making excellent use of her ability to sense minds, Abigail makes her way back to her own quarters, intending to collect her gear before making it far enough away from the compound to finally get extracted.

[NineOfSpades]

Justice League: Chapter 1
A Better Tomorrow


November 17, 2015


Ultrawoman
In the aftermath of your battle with Parasite, things had been briefly hectic, but settled down fairly quickly. Lex Luthor had issued his press statement, taking full responsibility for the event, even though he was also able to show extremely convincing evidence that neither he nor his company was personally to blame. The sabatour, identified as Dr. Rudolph Jones, had been working as a chemical engineer for Lex-Corp's advanced botany program. Jones's medical record showed a history of mental illnesses, punctuated by periods of intense paranoia and schizophrenic episodes. He'd been terminated from his position several weeks prior to the night he broke into the chemical storage warehouse. Jone's has been moved to S.T.A.R. Labs for containment and hopefully a cure for his new found condition will be found.

But most of that isn't really pressing on the front of your mind at the moment. No, you've got a company to manage, and right now, things are pretty busy. Just this morning, eight of your employees called in, expressing their absolute gratitude for the time spent working with you, but unfortunately, they each felt that this wasn't what they were meant to be doing, and that they were leaving the company to seek work elsewhere. With a sudden shortage of drivers, you certainly would have your hand's full coordinating your remaining workforce, or risk falling behind schedule. Thankfully, it was all hands on deck. Like a well oiled machine, your staff was busy and proactive, taking on the sudden extra workload without complaint. Heck, they seemed outright joyful. Certainly that was taking some of the stress off of you.

From your office, your super senses have little trouble keeping an eye on things going on in your vicinity. Which makes it easy for you to pick up on something odd. The Radio in your garage, in between playing some of the 80's greatest hits, had a news story which perked your attention. Apparently, Thousands of people had form a calm, orderly, single file line which stretched for several blocks outside of The Metropolis Police HQ. Each and every one of them was there to turn themselves in for crimes they'd committed. Granted, most of these 'criminals' were only guilty of minor things. Speeding, unpaid parking tickets, littering. But there were also some embezzlers, muggers, and what looked to be the majority of the local organized crime families. All of them waiting patiently, making friendly small talk with one another.

Athena

Not everyday can be 'Covert Ops Mission' day. In fact, like most organizations, much of S.H.A.D.O.W.s time was devoted to fairly mundane tasks. Filing reports, performance reviews, training exercise, and general, day to day operations. Even as a member of the highest tier squad, you weren't except from the occasional review meeting and discussion. Which was exactly what this mornings agenda held for you. For several weeks, they'd been prepping for first contact with the Omega designated as Ultrawoman, under the project heading of Operation Handshake. Extensive monitering, psychological profiling, research probes and hundreds of man hours of work. Officially, this was just another assessment meeting. But anyone with eyes could see that the final go/no go for this assignment was likely going to be decided soon.

The Media has lots of ideas about what such a covert group would have as their secret meeting room. Lots of moody lighting, the kind that keeps everyone in shadows. Holographic display screens, walls of monitors, maybe a big table that everyone sat at. Reality was nothing of the sort. It looked more like a classroom than anything, with a simple overhead projector and a large white board, along with a podium for whoever was running the briefing to make use of. No giant table, or sinister swivel chairs. Just a few rows of desks, with some paper and peciles provided for note taking. Thats not to say S.H.A.D.O.W. didn't have the resources for such elaborate and technological props. But practicality was the name of the game. And most meetings don't require Holo-projectors, and trying to take notes in bad lighting puts strain on your eyes.

For the meeting itself, it was pretty sparse. Hephestus and Zeus were both present when you reached the room, and greeted you cheerfully, along with some friendly teasing over your most recent assignment, specifically asking if you intended to stick with your new calling as a political journalist. But all in the name of lighthearted bonding. Of course, all such ribbing stopped when General Eiling entered the room. And older man, he'd long since passed his prime as far as being a soldier went. But he remained an intelligent and resourceful member of the military, with a distinguished service record which had elevated him to his current position. While not a member of S.H.A.D.O.W. in the formal sense, he worked as the organizations intermediary whenever it needed to cooperate with the U.S. government, and so was a familiar face to all of you.

"Alright everyone, please, take a seat. We've got a lot to cover and not a lot of time to do it in" he said simply. "First order of business, we are terminating Operation Handshake. This Omega, I think we can all agree, is no threat to us or the people of this planet." Both Zeus and Hephaestus nodded in agreement. "Secondly, we've got unconfirmed reports that the Tomato crops in southern Indiana are suffering from an outbreak of beetles which are threatening the crop. I don't need to remind any of you just how important it is to the nutrition of this great nation that we intervene in this matter. We've already re-tasked orbital satellites to start tracking the spread of the infestation, but I want you three suited up and ready for deployment as soon as we've identified a suitable pesticide to safely deter these bugs without harming them or the tomato crops. Any questions?"

Trinity

The safe return of the children had taken a fair amount of time, most of it spent making sure every missing child was accounted for, and then returned to the correct home. But, as the old saying goes, anything worth doing was worth doing right. As for the Swamp-Hermit, he'd seemed to completely disappeared off the face of the earth. The cavern where he'd been keeping the children had collapsed in on itself mere minutes after you'd evacuated the last child, and there'd been no reports of unusual plant activity since then.

That said, your encounter had not gone without leaving its mark. Occasionally, when attempting telepathic communication between the three of you, Caleb would experience a sudden, painful headache. Though only lasting for a few moments, and even though each such incident would only occur every few days, it was still a distressing development. Some lingering effect of the time spent inside the plant-pod? Maybe. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any side effects.

This particular morning was much like any other for the three of you, until shortly after breakfast, when your normally peaceful routine was interrupted by a knock on the door. Opening it up, you were greeted by the familiar friendly smile of Mr. Geppi, your mail carrier. "Morning folks, and might I just say it is a dozy of a fine day today. Got a few letters for ya here, just one second" he said with his songbird like voice. "Ah, here we are... well drat, nothing but a couple of bills I'm afraid. Wish I had something better for ya. Say, you three fine folk planning on heading down to the community center? I hear they are orginizing a big clothing donation for some of our fair city's homeless. I'll be swinging down that way later myself, once I finish my route."

Now, to the untrained observer, this might not have been that unusual an event. In fact, only someone who'd been living in the negiborhood a while would notice something amiss. For you see, Mr. Geppi was probably one of the nastiest mail delivery workers to ever live. He did his job to the bare minimum required to avoid getting terminated, and complained constantly about...well...everything. There was even a rumor that he'd spit in people's mailboxes.

Of course, Mr. Geppi's attitude wasn't the only thing amiss. Outside, you could see most of your neighborhood was boxing up old clothing, preparing to make their donations. A noble sight...but a jarring one, to see them all doing it at once. And on a Tuesday Morning. For a cherity event that hadn't been advertised or spoke about, as far as you were aware, until today.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets took the bills and thanked the mail carrier with warm smiles, not showing any of their honest surprise. "Really? Hadn't heard of that. Yeah, almost certainly," Caleb said.

Then, as soon as he had gone and the door was closed, Caleb and Nadia both turned and gave Amy a look.

"What?" she squeaked.

...

"It wasn't me!"

...

"...That would be wrong."

The two cast sidelong looks at one another, and exchanged shrugs.

"I suppose it's possible we're rubbing off on them," Nadia suggested.

"They're obviously under psychic influence."

"...Mind plague?"

"But at least it's a friendly mind plague!"

"It's not a mind plague. Sir Vinesalot was insane. We should check out the clothing drive. If it's nothing, whatever, we make some donations and maybe Nadia's closet doesn't reach critical mass come Christmas. If it's something, maybe we can get more information on it."

"And, um, do what with it? I mean...if people are being nicer, that's not exactly our job to stop, right?"

~It is exactly our job to stop,~ Trinity's voice rang in their heads with intense conviction, drawing a wince from Caleb as it provoked one of those headaches he'd been having. ~If something is curtailing the free will of mortals on a large scale, it is our duty to prevent it. Whether it seems a pleasant compulsion or not.~

"And to be fair, just in general, nice mind control doesn't mean beneficial mind control. As just about every supervillain we've ever fought can attest. If this is the first move of someone planning an attack of some kind in hopes of targeting a populace pacified by kindness, we have to nip it in the bud."

For just a moment, a dark frown crossed Amy's face at the thought of someone using the ideal of Love to bring harm to others in such a way. Oh, she had used her magic to pacify foes plenty of times - but always with the intent to neutralize them painlessly so they could no longer cause harm.

"Sounds like a plan. But, uh, we can, you know, hold off on stopping them long enough to give people a chance to donate to the clothing drive first, right?"

"Oh obviously."

~That was my plan all along.~

"I mean, it's just good sense."

--

An indeterminate but narratively convenient amount of time later, having gathered up some bags of clothes to donate (and then, in Caleb and Amy's case, gone on their morning rounds to give Nadia a chance to hem and haw about which of the outfits that she hadn't worn in months she just couldn't possibly give up), the three of them were on their way to the Community Center.

Investigation while Amy and Caleb are on their rounds to see if they uncover more widespread signs of this odd kindness: [roll0].

[Arcran]

"Oh, shut up Zeus," Athena says playfully. "Just because you're jealous that I got to wear the mini-skirt this time doesn't mean you get to be all pissy," the super soldier says, giving a geniune laugh after.

Of course, that laugh dies in a manner of picoseconds as Eiling enters the room. Abigail instantly sits straighter, hands upon the table, ready for the mission briefing. At the mention of Operation Handshake Athena frowns, not sharing her teammates' happiness at that fact.As far as she was concerned, anything that powerful on her planet was a threat. The only good alien was a dead one, and the only tolerable kind was of the off-world variety.

When Eiling begins talking about beetles, a momentary look of confusion ruins the soldier's stoic demeanor before hastily being removed. Professionalism was key, after all.

Of course, mentally there was no way of knowing what Athena was saying. Beetles? Is he serious? the soldier sends to her companions, her mental "tone" clearly conveying her confusion. Heph, do you know anything about this? If anybody did, it would be Hephaestus, but this seemed odd.

"Sir, are these beetles extraterrestrial in origin?" Athena asks, trying to rationalize this. After all, insectoid aliens were nothing new.

[BananaPhone]

"I know Carol - talk about a future model for the Thighmaster 5000!"

The four morning show correspondants chuckled.

"You're right Jim - my god, how did she get that fit?"

"I wonder what her boyfriend thinks!"

"That's if she even has one..."

"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

The joint laughter of vacuous crows rolls out of the TV screen as Laura Ember sat slouched forward with her rump upon the lip of her chair and her chin and mouth hidden beneath her hands while her eyes glared coldly at the television, hiding whatever violent fantasies were playing out inside the kryptonians head.


http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/415/209/3b4.png

Surrounding Laura was the humble office of her waste management empire, at least as far as empires could be stretched across a major city. Clean and fresh on a Monday morning, its prime feature at this present point in time was the large flat-screen TV hooked up onto the wall that sat opposite of Laura's desk, where the Madam Proprietor herself sat upon a plush chair and gazed daggers at the four giggling idiots of Breakfast With The Four. Two men. Two women. Four vacuous, unoffensive-looking people that sat on a couch within a studio surrounded by screens that looped the most recent footage of Ultrawoman, Breakfast With The Fourt was an ultimate test for Laura as she struggled to keep her blood pressure down.


"...hah-hah-, that's right Jenny, we'll have to wait and see!"

"Not to mention - bicep curls! Come'on, look at this womans shoulders. I wouldn't be surprised if some doping was involved."

"Oh, big accusation!"

"It's not a 'big accusation', she never addresses anyone that doesn't talk to her on the scene! What's she got to be worried about? We've tried advertising for her to come along to the studio whenever she wants!"

"Hah, maybe she's too busy hitting the gym."

Joint laughter.

A soft growl escaped Laura's closed lips.

"Um, Ms L?" a soft voice piped in from the office door.

For several seconds Laura did not respond, but slowly her blue eyes swiveled in their sockets to rest over the short-haired secretary. The woman offered a bright, friendly smile as soon as she was noticed.

"Yes, Jennifer?" Laura asked slowly through her clasped hands, eyes still narrowed.

Jennifer walked into the office still wearing her sunny smile and clasping a tablet computer in her hands. "Well!" she started off, her voice just as cheery as her disposition, "You'll be happy to know I've found some replacements for those that departed our service today. At least the good thing about them quitting means we don't have to pay them severance packages!"

"Wonderful." Laura responded flatly, her eyes returning to the TV screen.

"Oh, don't be like that!" Jennifer grinned, "they've gone on to lead better lives! Greener pastures!"

"Yeah, I can see such bountiful fields opening up before them with a high school degree in one hand and garbage-truck driver experience in the other."

"Well I see someone today is a Miss Grumpypants!" Jennifer chirped, pressing a few buttons on her tablet and then turning it around so Laura could read its surface, "See? Eight new people! All starting tomorrow. We'll have them trained up in no time."

"Doesn't it concern you?" Laura asked, finally taking her hands away and sitting up in her chair. That she was a supremely athletic woman was still evident in the well-tailored ladies suit she wore.

Jennifer's confused look piqued Laura to continue, "Eight people, already on fifty five kay a year, with benefits, and with little transferrable skills in a grim employment market, just decided to up and leave on the whim of finding something better?"

"Hmmm..."

"And now criminals are just lining up to the police to hand themselves in..."

Jennifer pursed her lips as she thought a little, then shrugged, "Maybe it's that Ultrachick?" she shrugged, "did you see what she did to that...thing last night? Wam!" she threw a play-punch into the air, "Pow!" an air-uppercut, "Straight through 5 buildings! Did she ask for anything? Nope!" she beamed, "what criminal wants to stick around and end up on the receiving side of that?"

"People aren't deterred from crime because they're afraid of the consequences, people steal because they either enjoy it or because they need to."

"Still," Jennifer shrugged, "what else could it be?"

Laura grunted skeptically, "Time will tell."

Standing up from her chair, Laura walked over to the window of her office and peered across the street with her hands clasped behind her back.

Eyes narrowing once again, "Sooner or later, time will tell." is all she said as she let Jennifer prattle on behind her.

[NineOfSpades]

Trinity

Flying high over the city, the three angelic champions are literally able to take in the big picture. And the picture is either very good, or very not good, it wasn't exactly clear which would be the more appropriate descriptor. As you'd previously seen, your entire negiborhood seemed to be bustling with cheer. Children frolicked through the streets playing friendly (And non-competitive) games with one another, though it was a school day, so their presence alone was somewhat amiss, as they ought be in class by now. The streets were full, not with cars, but with people. Walking about, chatting, hauling bags of goods to donate. Some were serving lemon-aid to anyone who was thirsty. Older citizens simply sat and watched, cheerful smiles on their wrinkled faces. The same could be said for the next block you passed over. And the next after that.

And the one after that as well.

Street after street, block after block, everyone was out and busy. When people passed each other on the street, they would smile and extend a kind greeting. A corner hot-dog stand had a neat and orderly line. Each person, upon reaching the front, had their exact order ready, and money in hand. Not that it mattered, the vendor seemed pleased as punch to give away his goods, though he'd occasionally be convinced to accept a small tip for his services. Further towards the center of town, you could see that there were some individuals driving cars. Mostly those who required their for their profession. Garbage men, construction workers, delivery trucks. That sort of thing. And from the looks of it, not a one of them was traveling even the slightest bit over the speed limit.

The community center, from above, almost looked like a fair-ground. Tents had been erected to help with the overflow of donated goods, long rows of free food lined the roadways, and everywhere you looked people seemed positively bursting with joy and goodwill towards one another. Of course, it wasn't just the Community Center that was so abuzz with charity. The Hospital had at least a thousand people gathered to donate blood, and a similar number of kindhearted citizens were assembling around the airport, ready to fly off to distant parts of the world to help those less fortunate then themselves.

Athena

Of course he's serious: Kids need their vitamins, don't they? And sorry about Operation Handshake being canceled. I know you put a lot of work towards that. Still, Ultrawoman seems very nice, I'm sure we've nothing to worry about Zeus thought back at you, seemingly a bit shocked that you'd even ask. Hephaestus likewise seemed surprised at your concern I'd read some of the initial projections, but I'd no idea the situation was this bad. They were right to bring the three of us in on this one, if we don't act fast, who knows how many family-owned farms will go out of business.

General Eiling, after hearing your question, looked down at his notes for a moment, before finding the relevant information "They're alien alright...looks like a subspecies of Epicauta vittata, Canadian Blister Beetles. Darn pests usually stay north of the boarder, but we had a warm summer, and now they've spread southward."

"And I'm guessing none of them have a green card" Zeus Joked. Both Eiling and Hephestus paused to laugh at the comment. "Right you are, soldier, Well said. But, returning to business. I've recieved word this morning that one of our field agents has just gotten married over the weekened. I think it'd be nice of us to sign a congratulations card for them."

A knock on the door interrupted the meeting. A lower level technician poked his head in "Sir, our Long range satellites are redeployed. Deep-space observation is currently offline, but we have reached our maximum imging resolution on the beetles current location."

Eiling smiled again, putting his hands on his hips. "Excellent news. Fuel up our transport jets." Turning to the three of you "Departure for Beetle Ground Zero is in 20 minutes. Good luck team"

Ultrawoman


"But of course, all of our comments are meant in good fun, right Jim?"

"Oh absolutely. I for one have nothing but the utmost respect, and adoration, for our benevolent protector"

"You can say that again!"

"Let's hear it for her folks, a big round of applause for Ultrawoman"

At the command of the show host, the audience dutifully erupted into joyful applause, giving praise to their caped hero and all that she'd done for them. It was heartfelt and earnest, and completely out of tone with the normal attitude that the show-hosts normally held. After the crowd settled down a bit, the conversation continued.


"So, and I apologies for changing the subject, but what do you all think of the Governess's new Criminal-Forgiveness program?"

"Oh come now, you know I hate talking politics"

"Well, like it or not, its all I heard about on the ride in this morning, so I'm curious"

"Before we get into that, Why not remind our viewers at home what exactly this new policy entails"

"Sure thing, Jim. For those not in the loop, the proposed bill would allow prisoners to convert their sentance to community service, provided that they were sorry for what they'd done, and they promised never to do it again."

"Now hold on a second. Your telling me that some violent killer could be let out early, just for saying they were sorry?"

"Oh no, not at all"

"Well that's a relief"

"See, for anyone convicted of violent crimes, they have to additionally write an essay explaining that they've learned their lesson"

"Yeah, that sounds pretty fair"

"Agreed"

"Well, keep your fingers crossed that the bill goes through. Not that I'm worried, the buzz from the state senete is that it's got a pretty substantial backing."

"I bet its only managed to get that kind of support since three other states have already passed the law into effect"

"I imagine that'd be a safe bet, and early reports are showing the program has done wonders to cut down on prison overcrowding."

"Lets just hope all these ex-convicts don't start over crowding the line at Starbucks"

The crowd laughed, as did the other hosts.

[Arcran]

A vein begins to bulge on Athena's forehead but, apart from that, the supersoldier maintains her composure.

You two can't be serious, Athena says, disbelief clear. We cancel a multi-month operation out of the blue, then go after beetles? We're soldiers, not farmers! Start acting like it! Athena snarls. I swear, if this is some elaborate prank...

"Sir, if I may," Athena says, choosing her words carefully. "Do you think this is the best use of resources? Without our deep space satellites we are far too vulnerable. Even more, why are we tasked with this rather than recovering the xenotech uncovered recently?" she adds. "This mission seems like a waste of our talents."

As she finishes, Athena looks at the others. This was not normal by any means. Handshake being called off was plausible, but this?

While it was likely a poor idea under normal circumstances, this was different. Still sitting at attention, Athena reaches for Eiling's mind, trying to see what was wrong with the General.

Going to try to read Eiling's mind! I also have Mental Awareness, so I should hypothetically be able to sense non-Subtle influence anyways.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets didn't fly at anywhere near top speed. A low, leisurely glide over the city, taking in the sights of what the world looked like when the very concept of evil seemed to have been removed from peoples' minds.

It took about two blocks to undo the points Trinity and Caleb had made in Amy's mind.

"I don't want to try and stop this," she said quietly.

~It isn't real, Amy. It is a supernatural compulsion placed upon-~

"Yes it is, Trinity! It is real! Those clothes that people are donating are real clothes that are going to go to real people in need! That blood that those people are donating is real blood that is going to save real lives! The emissions that would be given off by all those parked cars are real and would have caused real damage to our planet!"

~And the wills of these people are just as real, and are being curtailed.~

"Really? Are they really? I mean...we have free will, right? Caleb and Nadia and me? Even though you're in our heads, our wills are our own, are they not?"

~Of course.~

"And yet, we're better people than maybe we otherwise would have been because of your presence. There are things we just won't do even though we could. We have the will to make the choices, but if we don't actually make those choices, if we never would actually make them, we may as well not have the ability to choose. You could step in and forcefully prevent us from ever choosing to...to...kill someone in cold blood. And it wouldn't change our lives one iota, because none of us would ever do that anyway. It might actually be better, because it would mean that some insane amount of stress can't potentially get us to do it even though it's not something we want to do."

It took five blocks for Nadia to be convinced.

"And it looks to me like everyone still has choices. Some people are choosing to get a hot dog instead of lemonade. Some people are choosing to give blood instead of clothes. Some people are choosing to keep doing their jobs because they're important and need to get done too. Why should free will have to include the will to do evil, to make the wrong choice? We already have all these different rules and laws and mores and taboos that kinda soft-ban bad stuff. Would a hard ban really be much worse? If this is the result?"

~You aren't wrong, but you aren't seeing the entire picture either. No, the possibility for evil is not required for free will to flourish. It is simply a thing that exists. Like a disease. And concealing it from human hearts and minds may make things more pleasant in the short term, but it does not remove evil from existence. Humanity must learn and must grow to overcome evil, must build up their immunity to it, must develop knowledge and, who knows, maybe their technologies as well, that can overcome it.~

~A disease that a species has long lived among may cause misery and even loss of life, but the species can over time become immune to it - or, in the case of a species as creative as humanity, develop their own tools for eradicating it. But a disease suddenly introduced into a population that has never encountered it before, or that has gone so long without encountering it as to lose their immunity, can devastate the entire species.~

"But...Trinity look at them! They're happier!"

"And they're helping each other!"

Caleb had lasted ten blocks.

"And who's to say that humanity isn't ready? We've lived with evil for a darn long time, and we've developed all manner of things to help curtail it. But it's like...it's all just a treatment, you know? Minimizing the harm it causes. Maybe this is what we need. Something to remove the infection entirely."

~And if this is a trap? A plan to pacify humanity leading up to an attack? Remember, my Hosts, this is not a sudden decision by your people. It is a decision that was made for them. Someone laid this compulsion, and they did not do so without a reason.~

"But we have no way of knowing that that reason wasn't to make the world a better place. The ideals of Faith, Hope, and Love have guided us well so far. I see no reason to forsake them now."

~And I would never tell you to! I would, however, sooner put my Faith and my Hope in the capacity for human virtue than in some enchantment cast upon them.~

"Look, how about a compromise? As it stands, it's not like we actually know how to stop this in any event, right? So we'll keep our eyes open, see if we can learn what's going on. If it turns out it's some nefarious plot, we stop it, and hey, who knows, maybe people will realize afterwards how much better things were living like this and try to get back there for real. And if it turns out to be well-intentioned, we let it ride but work to make sure it won't leave humanity susceptible to some superplague of evil in the future. Win-win, right?"

~I find it doubtful that such a sweeping use of mental compulsion can possibly be well-intentioned. But the choice, as always, is yours.~

The triplets were smiling as they landed, walking over to one of the tents accepting donations to drop off their clothes before looking eagerly around at the festive gathering.

"I'm gonna go help at the blood drive," Amy said, walking over to the hospital to offer healing to those coming out.

Caleb nodded, heading off himself in search of some of the event's organizers to offer his services where they might be useful.

Nadia, for her part, took right back to the air. The community center gathering was super cool, but let's be real. She was the Angel of Hope. Her whole shtick was helping lead people to a better future.

And suddenly, somehow, the future that she had spent the past five years fighting for had arrived.

She wanted to see it!

I leave it up to you which of the three stays "on screen".

[BananaPhone]

Laura Ember

Even the ever-optimistic and cheerful Jennifer Hastings paused and blinked at what the TV was spouting off.

"Th...wha...? Write an essay?"

Looking over her shoulder at the screen, Laura furrowed her brow as she turned and strode towards its, hands on her hips. "Are you..."

"Huh?!" both women said in unison.

"They've snapped!" Laura spoke after almost a minute of silence, "they've finally lost their marbles completely!" she pointed a finger accusingly towards the television screen as the audience joined in the madness with an empty, braindead chortle of their own.

"Ms L? Will I become a vacuous idiot too?" Jennifer asked from behind.

"If you work hard enough," Laura responded, her voice almost robotic as she spouted off the pre-prepared platitude that was fired off in the detection of whimsical hope.

Realising what she'd said, "Er, I mean, what? No! No, stop sucking up all the oxygen, I need to think!" Laura uttered, eyes a little wide as she turned back to stare at the TV, her face frozen in a rictus of disbelief.

Lauara could only stare and blink.

"Because, I mean my mom used to be like 'Grrr, Jennifer, your sister got the beauty and brains and you were just the crap that was left over!'" Jennifer continued in the background, waving a closed fist about and putting on an annoying accent to best mimicry her mother-dearest.

"Well I'm sorry mother! But not all of us can marry a handsome astronaut and give you 4 grandkids while also earning a six figure salary from their home-run business, I never..."

Jennifers voice zoned away in Laura's mind as the Kryptonian watched the TV, her ears drawing in the words and sentences of those who were further and further away (and had something useful to contribute).

Was this just happening in Metropolis? Or was it nationwide? This wasn't normal. It had to be some type of mind control. Maybe even some type of chemical in the air. If she could figure out a radius-of-affected, perhaps she could draw a centre on where it was all coming from...

Quick as a flash, Jennifer turned and headed out of her office door. Several seconds later the red-caped Ultrawoman was sailing over the skyline of Metropolis, her super-powerful hearing and eyes taking in what she could to try and find groups of people who were acting normal.

Back in the office...

"...and I told her: I'm a damn good personal assistant!" Jennifer beamed brightly, grinning from ear to ear as she was now standing, hands on her hips before she realised she was alone.

"Ms L? Huh, where'd she go?"

ooc:

UW is using her super-hearing and sight to find large groups of people who are acting "normal", she's hoping to mentally create a map of an "affected" zone, believing that this is some type of mind control or chemical in the air.

Perception: 1d20+13=30 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4852384/)

[NineOfSpades]

Athena

Whoa, you need to calm down, there's no need to get so worked up Zeus cautioned. Hephestus was of a similar mindset Keep this up and your going to get benched for the Mission.

General Eiling furrowed his brow for a moment "I don't think I appriciate that tone. You know as well as I do that I don't have any say over mission assignment. If I had my say, you three wouldn't be off squashing bugs in the middle of some farmers market. That's a job for lower level field agents. I'd rather put the lot of you to work on the Make-A-Wish program. Lotta sick kids who's days would be brightened up, I can tell you that. But that's not what we're here to talk about. So, unless you've any further outbursts, let's get back to the briefing."

Inside the Generals mind, you found his thoughts were simultaneously very much in line with what you'd expect, and very much abnormal. The sensation was difficult to describe: It was like putting on a familiar piece of clothing, only to unexpectedly discover that it was soaking wet. Eiling's thoughts seemed to be mixed between frustration at having to delegate this briefing (Apparently he was filling in for another Administrator who'd taken ill today), as well as reviewing the notes he still had to cover (Types of pesticides that were authorized for use, secondary engagement positions, contingency plans in case the tomato crop's proved impossible to recover: that sort of thing). There were gaps in his thought process, large sections of him mind had been rendered completely intern, mostly focusing around his removing ability to experiance certain emotions. It didn't appear to be mind control, at least not of the sort that you were accustomed to, since you didn't feel an external presence that was influencing his behavior.

Trinity

I choose all three!

At the hospital with Amy, Things were running smoothly. Dozens of people were laying out on cots as they gave their donations. Other people were patiently waiting their turn, conversing with one another. Doctors and nurses scurried about, having a little bit of difficulty handling everyone, but eagerly doing their best to work quickly without compromising the quality of their work. However, with your arrival and subsequent aid, progress was able to increase, a fact that everyone was grateful for, a fact which was made abundantly clear to you as person after person took the time to compliment you on your work, and to give thank's for you aid.

However, the donation drive was interrupted as an ambulance pulled up, but had to stop before reaching the doors due to the number of people gathered, though the crowd did their very best to part out of the way and allow passage. The back doors came open, and out popped two EMTs and a large hispanic looking gentleman who was impaled through the chest with a length of rebar. The EMTs were whistling a little tune to themselves, not really seeming to be in any great hurry. Then again, neither did their patient, who was politely insisting that he was fine, and that his injures were nothing more than the result of his own clumsiness. For a guy who was lossing a lot of blood, he was astonishingly content. Almost no one else present even spared him a second glance once he insisted he was fine, aside from the EMT's handling him, who responded to his comments with assurance that they had better bring him inside 'just for a quick check up'.

Over to the soaring angel of hope, Nadia's flight brought her over one of the cities cemeteries, a smaller park that was well kept, with rows of headstones marking the dearly departed. A funeral appeared to be under way, and a small family gathering stood around the open grave as the casket was being lowered in. From your overhead view, you had an excellent vantage point to witness the event. The priest was preforming his ceremonial duties, but stopped when one of the younger family members, a boy who looked to be no older than five or six, announced that he was bored and hungry. The young lads father responded "You know what? I am to. Lets all go get some ice cream, maybe have a nice picnic...we'll come back and finish up here afterwards". The assembled mourners all seemed to agree, and simply walked off, along with the priest who tailed behind by a few paces. The group just up and abandoned the coffin, heading off for a nice treat, and chatting pleasantly as they went. No one appeared sorrowful over the death of a loved one, or even mildly upset, for that matter.

Caleb had a wonderful time at the community center, though his fun was occasionally interrupted by one of the sudden onset headaches which had been plaguing him of late. Though getting more than one in a single day, much less several in under an hour, was a new development.

Ultrawoman

Your superhuman senses were vast and powerful, but finding anything that could be defined as a group of normalicy was a feat that seemed to be beyond even your abilities. Metropolis was likely one of the nicest places a person could ever chose to live, and that was a fact that was widely known. But as you ventured outside your office, the Metropolis of today was all of that turned onto overdrive. It was like something out of the end of a schmaltzy up-beat musical. That wasn't even that big an exaggeration. Large groups were actually singing and dancing with each other (Though their dance routines didn't appear to be coordinated, and the songs were just peppy pop-garbage from the top of the record charts).

Just like the news said, there was indeed a line streching for about eight blocks (And still growing) that wound its way along the sidewalks, tracing back to Metropolis Police HQ. Seems anyone who'd ever done something they felt guilty off was lining up to confess and make amends. You even spotted a few folks with bags full of incriminating evidence against themselves, all eager as beavers to hand it over. Though with the new law being proposed, it was questionable how many (If any) would stay behind bars for long, should they be sentenced.

And the people cheered for you, everywhere that you went. No questions about your motives, no looks of doubt and fear, nor was there the outright religious awe that your presence would sometimes provoke. With your super hearing, you could take in all of the praise and adulation directed at you. Whenever you'd swoop between buildings, people would stop whatever they were up to and wave out their windows, wishing you well and thanking you for all the hard work you did.

But your searching did eventually uncover two things that seemed amiss in Metropolis: Happiest City Ever. The first was a discovery, some common connection made with careful examination of the people you passed by. Under the penetrating gaze of your X-Ray vision, you could see through their bodies, and examine the different layers and tissues. And, within the nervous system spread through the bodies, there were tiny, black specs that clung to the nerves. Even with your ability to see objects far smaller than the human eye could ever hope to perceive, they were to small to distinguish with clarity. But in every person you examined, there were millions of them, spread through the spine and brain, riding the neurochemical pathways of thought.

The second thing amiss that you noted was that the LexCorp central office tower appeared to be completely shut-down. No employees inside the building, all the doors and windows were locked tight and the lights were all off. Or, almost all off. One man was sitting in the Penthouse office, and he looked to be very, very busy.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman



It was almost too good to be true. Like something out of a vigilante's dream, the scene below Ultrawoman as she sailed over the city was almost too good to be true...everyone happy, and getting along. No crime. No violence. No thievery and skullduggery. It was just a society where everyone got along, as if no more socioeconomic compulsions pushed anyone into conflict. Scenic. Idealic. Fake.

The Kryptonian pursed her lips as she beheld the manipulations below her. Someone, somewhere was doing this. This was a -

There!

Slowly but surely, Ultrawoman came to see them - the small, black flecks that saturated the nervous system of every member of the village of the damned.

Furrowing her brow as she paused midflight to observe, Ultrawoman almost stared slack-jawed and wide-eyed at the nearest civilian as her X-ray vision almost dissected them for her inspection.

Foreign invaders...that's the only description that minutes of staring could produce. Microscopic invaders. Where they parasites? Some type of nanotechnology? How did they become so wide-spread so quickly? Who had the technology to even do such a thing?

That was when Ultrawomans gaze fell over Lexcorp, and the one and only individual at the apex of its height who was still working.




oOo




Ultrawoman floated outside the window of Lex Luthors office, positive that he was inside. Being able to see him with her X-ray vision as well as listen to his heart-beat would confirm her suspicions.

Reaching out, Ultrawoman knocked on the window.

[Arcran]

"Sorry sir, I've just been under a lot of stress lately. No further questions," Abigail says out loud even as she extends her mental reach to Hephestus and Zeus, trying to figure out if their minds were similar in makeup. As she'd said before, this was odd. Heph? He might be on board for something dull like this as it could let him try some new toy. But Zeus? He'd never even think of considering this!

As-is, whatever this was was currently an active threat. The deep space satellites were the early warning system and, without them, they were in no small amount of danger.

Assuming Zeus and Heph were similarly affected, Athena reaches out to the minds of all three of the men in her presence at once, pushing on the disabled sections of their minds and trying to bring them back before she ends up spraying pesticides.

Going to do a Powerstunt!

Stunting off Mental Domination. I'll be doing a Close Area Simultaneous Sustained Nullify (Mental) 13!

And my roll for that: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Nadia watched the funeral break up curiously.

~That doesn't strike you as wrong? That they would simply forego honoring the death of their loved one for immediate pleasure?~

~I mean...kinda, but maybe not. I'm still operating under all my normal socialization which says it's wrong, but really, the dead aren't the ones helped by funerals. The living are. If they don't need a funeral to deal with their grief, then there's not really any point to having one. Unless, of course, you'd care to confirm or deny that the afterlife exists and that a proper funeral measurably helps the souls of the departed in some way, in which case I'm sure I could fly down and tell them that and they'd throw the biggest, most send-offiest funeral within their capacity to throw.~

~No comment.~

~Admittedly, leaving the coffin out and the grave open like that's a little untidy, but they said they're going to be back to finish later. If that's the price of an entire family being able to lose a loved one without feeling pain, well, thank you for the discount, I'll take two.~

--

Amy was almost embarrassed how much thanks she was getting. She was typically received pretty warmly at hospitals just in general, but this was beyond the pale. She wasn't like Nadia; she was perfectly content to do her job under the radar. This was...

Honestly, it was kinda nice. She made it a point to respond with every bit the same amount of warmth and gratitude to the people who had come to donate blood.

When she saw the injured man come in and basically wave off help, Trinity spoke into her mind. ~You are okay with that? A man clearly in need of immediate medical care telling doctors not to bother with him, and them actually listening?~

~He's trying not to be a bother. It's ill-advised, but it isn't bad. Especially...~ she sent back, as she walked over to the man with a gentle smile on her face. "Here, let me," she said. "I'm sorry, this might hurt some, I'll try to keep it to as little as possible."

Then she'd rest one hand on his wound, pink light gently pouring into it, as with her other hand she slowly pulled the rebar free, taking care to make sure the space it occupied had a chance to heal as she withdrew it to avoid causing further harm. Hopefully the constant flow of healing energy would keep the pain to a minimum.

--

~That is the third time in the past hour, Caleb.~

~It's just a headache. Nothing I can't-~

~No. The three of you may be willing to overlook the hazards of this influence, but I am not going to allow you to overlook a hazard to your own health. The hospital staff look like they would be overjoyed to help you. Go get a...what is it. The thing that your doctors use to look like your brain. Named after an animal?~

~CAT scan. It's not named after cats, it's an abbreviation for...something. I'll be fine. And these burgers aren't going to cook thems-~

~Caleb!~

*Sigh* ~Alright, Mom,~ Caleb sent, passing off command of the grill to another volunteer and heading for the hospital.

--

As Caleb walked towards the hospital, and Nadia flew off from the cemetery, and Amy slowly healed the injured man, Trinity spoke into all of their heads.

~Your analysis was incorrect and you should revisit your conclusion.~

~What analysis?~

~That what we are looking at is a removal of the capacity for evil. There is nothing even remotely evil or wrong about mourning the death of a loved one, or seeking medical attention when you need it. It is not evil that has been removed from these people, it is negative emotion. They do not feel pain, they do not feel fear. They do not feel anger or hatred.~

~Really? Gee. Gosh. I guess that just leaves them with stuff like, I dunno, Faith, Hope, and Love, or something. What a terrible state of affairs. Definitely something we should work immediately to correct.~

~Very cute, but there is a difference between ideals and emotions. Feelings are not good or evil, not right or wrong. They simply are. As an ideal, there can never be too much Faith, Hope, and Love in the world, but an imbalance in one's own mind and spirit can be a terrible thing - as all three of you well know from having spent the past five years using those very emotions as weapons! Do not doubt the destructive power of even the brightest emotion left unchecked, nor the value of even the most uncomfortable.~

~You have spent maybe an hour living in a world where only the brightest emotions are allowed to be felt, and yes, it seems great at first glance. But humanity is not purely rational. Your emotions are what drive you. Without some measure of pain and fear, you never feel any reason not to do something. Without anger and even hatred, you have no drive to fight that which should be fought. And do you think evils cannot be done out of love, or hope, or joy? Do you think harm cannot be wreaked in the name of brighter feelings?~

~Sure it can, but even if it's not perfect, it still seems like a huge step in the right direction.~

~For now, perhaps. But this sort of imbalance comes with a cost. Consider this: what is it going to be like for these people if you stop this, and put everything back as it was?~

~Assuming they remember it? I mean...it'd be miserable, Trinity. That's kind of the point.~

~Everyone would remember how happy they were, and they won't feel that any more, and it'll just hurt them!~

~Plus, like, all the stuff they did that maybe they wouldn't have otherwise done would just be a pile of regrets. Especially when they realize they regret it and think about what that really says about them.~

~My thoughts as well. So now answer me this: what happens if you fix it a week from now, or a month from now, or a year from now? What happens if you do nothing, and the being responsible removes it, after that time? Or if whatever energy maintains the effect expires?~

The triplets were silent.

~I know you want to believe this is a good thing. I know you are hoping that there will be no side effects. I know you want your people to be happy.~

~But this is not the way. Those emotions are not the result of some foul demon or corruptive curse. Humanity developed them for a reason, and it is a reason that still exists. Drugs make people feel good too. It doesn't mean they are healthy.~

...

...

~So what do we do?~

Trinity's telepathic voice was soft, sympathetic. ~First, we see what is wrong in your head. Then we figure out what is wrong in everybody else's.~

Caleb gave a slow nod, his eyes briefly closed, as he walked into the hospital. "Okay."

Amy drew in a slightly shuddery breath and wiped her eyes as she went to join her brother. "Fine."

Nadia just rolled her eyes, and turned back to fly for the hospital. "This is gonna suck."

[NineOfSpades]

Ultrawoman

From outside the window, before you even so much as lifted a finger to touch the window, you could see that Luthor was not quite his usual self. He appeared rather disheveled, having done away with his business jacket, literally rolling up his sleeves as he looked over dozens of piles of papers. With your vantage point, you couldn't read all of them. But what you could see was quite an eclectic set of documents. Medical records, CAT and MRI images, weather charts, newspaper articles, a pile personnel folders and dossiers that was stacked so high looked about ready to topple over under its own weight, some of which were stamped with a big, red CLASSIFIED.

With your knocking, Luthor turned, and though he seemed surprised to see you, he didn't look concerned. If anything, he might have seemed a bit relieved. Straightening his tie, he pressed a panel on the wall, and the window pane swiveled on its axis, opening up so that you could enter this mans personal sanctum.

"I hope you'll excuse me if I skip the pleasentries today...it would seem the ability to be rude is in rather short supply." He said, rather curtly. Under your vision, a few details were apparent. The first was that, like so many others you'd seen today, Luthor's nervous system was compromised. However, he appeared to be physically resisting the effects. His body was working hard, like that of a marathon runner's. A few beads of sweat gleamed across the man's hairless brow. Even his breathing was rather labored. "Have you managed to find the source of this pandemic yet?"

Athena

Your telepathic defibrillation of your colleagues grey-matter was immediately noticeable at the physical level. All three of these men briefly began convulsing, muscle spasms overloading any conscious control they had over their bodies.

"Damnit Athena, your out of line and out of control" Eiling snarled with anger, turning red like a ripe tomato. "I'm taking you off mission for that. Hephestus, Zeus, both of you will have to handle...the...beetles?" Eilings anger gave way to confusion and disbelief "What in god's name are we doing?"

"A better question would be, why is this the first time any of us are questioning the mission." Zeus said, still holding the side of his head.

"Not quite" Interjected Hephestus, who was gripping his desk for stability as he got his bearings back. Looking to you, he continued [COLOR="#ADD8E6"]"You saw what was happening from the start. If you hadn't acted, we'd be tromping through some field in the middle of nowhere right now"

"Yeah, nice work"

"Better hold off on the thanks kids, because we're up to our eyes in **** here." Eiling interrupted, tossing the folder of papers to the ground, letting them fall where they may. "These reports are all fully official, straight from the top and down to us. Not one person until now had any objections, which can only mean that as of now, SHADOW has been compromised. Actually, Scratch that. I saw the early morning updates on the state of the planet. Paris, Moscow, Beijing, London, Washington...All of them are skipping along and singing happy songs, not an angry thought among them. This thing is global, people. Its not just shadow, Earth is pacified to the point of being completely undefended. We need to"

"General, with all respect, as you said yourself, our minds are already compromised. We don't know to what degree our thoughts and actions are being influenced, even now. I suggest we defer to the only person who we know is thinking clearly"

"I'll second that" Zeus said, looking to you with confidence in your ability to take charge. "At least until we lose control again, your in command"

Trinity

"I'll be the first to admit, I've never done a brain scan on an angel before" said the cheerful doctor as he sat in the booth. Caleb was strapped down to a table, the whirring disk of the CAT scan slowly circling around his head as the images were captured. "Though I suppose I also never believed in angels either, least till now. Ha, guess this day is full of firsts. And you know what, I must say its so nice to see young people like yourselves...er, assuming you are as old as you look that is. But even so, angel or no angel, taking an interest in your health is always a swell idea, don't you think" the spindly, bookish technician chirped pleasently.

"And, here we are then, one Angelic CAT Scan. Hey, heh heh, do you think the Vatican would like this image when we're done. Assuming you'd sign for the release. Some doctors might not care much for doctor/patient confidentiality, but not me! No sir, I'd never even think about showing a patients private information without their express permission, no sir!"

After unstrapping Caleb, the three of you were able to gather round the technicians computer monitor as the image appeared. The layers of Caleb's skull and brain were clearly visible. While you weren't exactly medically trained professionals, you would probably be safe in guessing that the tiny black spots which covered the inside of his head weren't supposed to be there. It looked like someone had splattered Calebs brain with droplets of ink. Nor, if you had to guess, was there supposed to be hundreds of tiny green spores interwoven through the nerves, wrapping them tight, forming a sort of barrier. "Well, and take my imput with a grain of salt since I just work the machine, I'd say everything looks fine to me" grinned the physician, apparently completely unaware of the very visible abnormalities he was looking at. "Based on the headaches you desribed, my best guess is that its either dehydration, or stress related. Maybe try drinking a cup of tea every once in a while. Er...again though, I'm not trained to offer a full diagonsis. If you'd like, I can schedule a time for you to speak with one of our neurologists. That is, once an opening in their schedule appears. They've been taking on quite a few charity cases today, so it may take a week or two before anyone here can see you. Sorry if that puts a little raincloud over your day"

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


Ultrawoman furrowed her brow a little as she noticed that Lex Luther had been 'compromised'...yet he wasn't acting particularly altruistic.

Was he so full of hate that this was just bringing him into equilibrium with a normal person? Was he that cold? Or willful? Whatever it was, the Kryptonian was a little taken back that Lex was able to retain control over his personality.

For now.

"I've only been over the city," Ultrawoman responded as she floated in through the open window and drifted gently onto her feet.

"Do you have access to any records that indicate noticed contamination? If we can see where the first reported cases were observed, perhaps that'll lead us to a source."

Looking him up and down once, Ultrawoman continued, her voice lower, "do you want to know where they're located?"

ooc:
With her X-ray vision she'll see if she can get a glance at any of the Classified files on Luthers table.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Um, probably better if you didn't," Caleb answered, a bit distractedly as they looked over the results of the scan. Trinity wasn't a fan of anything that might cause his presence to unduly influence mortal faith.

"How can-" Nadia began to argue with the doctor as he pronounced everything fine, when even they could see it clearly wasn't. This whole super-happiness bit had seemed a lot more fun when it wasn't getting in the way of diagnosing what was wrong with her brother. But Amy set a quelling hand on her arm. Getting angry at the doctor wouldn't accomplish anything.

"Thank you for your help," Amy said with as much sincerity as she could muster, the three heading out with the CAT scan images.

"Okay, so, I think it's safe to say that there is, in fact, a mind plague."

"...Granted. I will note, however, this this is not mutually exclusive with the hypothesis that the Mud Lord was completely insane."

"He was trying to do what he thought best. It isn't fair to begrudge him that. And if these green bits mean what I think they mean, he was trying to help you."

"Unsuccessfully, mind. You two are perfectly fine, I'm getting headaches."

"The latter is probably because you ended the process early, so the defense isn't perfect, and the headaches are a side effect of it trying to fight off the plague thing. Like a symptom of your body trying to fight off a disease. The former...I don't know."

"My guess? Either we're already so awesomely positively minded that the mind plague was like, 'Oh, okay, I must have already hit these guys, my work here is done,' or we're so awesomely strong-willed that it's like, 'Curses! I cannot beat their awesomely strong wills! Foiled again!'"

"Or Sir Sporiffic is responsible for the mind plague, and we would have all been fine, but I had to go into the stupid pod in the first place."

"Caleb, seriously, it's time to admit that he was only trying to help."

"Question now is, what do we do about it?"

"I might be able to purge it. Both things."

"Little risky. If the stuff is airborne, I'll just be breathing it in again, and if the spore stuff is protecting me, even partially, it may have a greater effect."

"But we haven't been affected. And remember, the Hermit said we were all contaminated. Chances are, even without the protection, you'd be fine for the same reason we are, whatever that is."

"Maybe. Maybe not. What if it is just that you guys are already too, well, nice for it to further influence. I've got, well, a bit more anger in me than you two do, I think it would be fair to say."

"Oh, stuff it, Caleb. We're no more immune to negative feelings than anyone."

Caleb considered, and nodded. "Alright. Let's give it a shot, anyway."

Amy nodded and stepped forward, placing her hands on Caleb's shoulders and closing her eyes, concentrating. She gathered all the power she could from Trinity, harnessing it, focusing it, stoking it with all the love she felt for her brother into a blazing, purifying fire. And then she sent it rushing through him, and through their bond, herself and Nadia, aiming to burn out every trace of impurity throughout their bodies.

Extra Effort - Power Stunt off of Divine Magic.

Purify: Nullify Impurities 13 (Broad, Simultaneous, Precise, Reduced Range [Close]) Linked Healing 10 (Restorative, Persistent).

Standard: Attack Caleb with Purify. Caleb intentionally renders himself Defenseless against this attack. All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Nullify at [roll1] after +5 for auto-crit and +5 for Power Attack. Caleb also receives Restorative Healing at [roll2] (no bonus since Healing doesn't naturally require an attack roll) in case of side effects of the purging. As per normal, all three of the siblings are affected by this power.

Current Status: -5 Defense this turn, Caleb Defenseless this turn, Fatigued as of next turn.

[Arcran]

Abigail bears Eiling's fury stoically, a small grin crossing her face as the General realizes exactly what is going on. Zeus' request gets the slightest of surprised looks from Abigail, but the psionic soldier quickly recovers. She had full leeway to do whatever she wanted to keep the world safe and, fortunately, she had the beginnings of a plan. If nothing else, a vote of confidence from Zeus meant something.

"First order is that none of you are to get out of my sight," Abigail says, looking at each of the three in turn and letting her gaze linger on Eiling slightly longer. "Right now I'm suppressing whatever turned everybody into babbling idiots, but I have no idea how far away you can get before my control over that slips away," she says with emphasis, making sure everybody understands the severity of the situation. "Second order is we are going to get our equipment, the get Heph whatever equipment he needs to begin running a blood analysis. Run yourself, Zeus and Eiling and, if the agent is biological, isolate where it is. If it's not, keep running tests until you can figure out what it is. My probing only found that certain emotional parts of the brain were shut off, nothing more."

"After we have the equipment, we're going to Control. Zeus, get ourt Deep Space Satellites back where they're supposed to be. If there's a fleet moving in on an undefended Earth we need to be ready. Eiling, get the techs to work looking for a broadcast signal or at least where this originated from. If we find Ground Zero maybe we can trace this back. I'll get to work seeing if I can break a few more people free as well as trying to better discern what exactly is turning everybody into a god damn Carebear."

"Any objections?" Abigail says, looking to her new team. If nobody answers in the negative the interm-SHADOW director begins to fulfill her own tasks, starting with suiting up and getting her rifle.

Poseidon. Apollo. Artemis. Report to Control, the psion broadcasts through her telepathy, trying to get as much of her squad together as possible.

[NineOfSpades]

Ultrawoman

The classified files were not the sort that you'd expect to see. No large print graphs and charts, no incriminating photographs or juicy backmail documents. No, just pages and pages military reports, committee meeting transcripts, Payroll sheets...you felt your eyelids getting heavy just scanning through the boring pages. No common threads jumped out at you.

Luthor leaned back a moment, waving his hands at all his paperwork "You want records? Well, here is what I have to work with for on-site information, and I've spent all morning looking for information. You know what I have to show for it?" Frusterated, Luthor shoved a stack of paper over and let it fall to the ground. He steadied himself, taking a few breaths before speaking again "Digital information has been tampered with, and I can't get anyone on the phone to transfer paper-records from any of the off-site archives."

" Scientific curiosity aside, I don't care much to know where the source of this outrageous mockery of goodwill is coming from, I care to see it stopped before the other shoe drops". Going to his desk, Luthor grabbed a scrap of paper and scribbled down some information, before handing it to you. It was coordinates, along with pass codes of some kind. "I doubt you've heard of SHADOW, but they are something of specialists in this area. If anyone has a beat on whats happening, I suspect you'll find them there. I'd call this a gesture of thanks for your help with my warehouses...but I'm afraid this particular gift is purely being done in my own self interest. So I suppose I'll still have to consider myself indebted to you for that."

Trinity

If you were expecting a big, flashy result well...you were sorely disappointed. Yes, the divine energies washed through Caleb, but its not like he began screaming in tongues and an evil spirit burst out of his mouth, or that he suddenly felt like a million bucks. Caleb felt fine before, and felt just as fine afterwards. Without any obvious external symptoms to observe, and no subjective changes for Caleb to experience at the moment, there wasn't much you could do but wait and see if he kept getting his headaches or not. Well, that, or go back for another round of CAT scans. Which would probably mean waiting your turn, and it was hard to say how long that might take.

Athena

Before sending your mental call to your fellow deities, you recall that Posidon, Apollo and Artemis were currently running an operation down at one of the research bases down in the Antarctic. As such, it'd be a bit of a long wait for them to arrive, even if your mental comm-link could stretch that far.

The rest of your team got busy with their own work. It was somewhat slow going, since keeping the group together meant traveling as a unit, so there was little opportunity to divide and conqueror. It didn't help that SHADOW was running pretty slow itself. Military efficiency had given way to office-level gossip and friendly chatting, which made assembling the medical gear for Hephaestus an exercise in your patience.

But still, everyone falls in step under you without complaint (Well...almost no complaint. Eiling grumbled a little, but that was likely nothing more than him not being used to have to do this sort of leg work). While Hephestus was tinkering with his toolkit, Zeus worked on bringing your eyes in the skies back online. His success was nothing to sneeze at, but not ideal either. "I sent the authorization codes to restore the long range network, but it'll take a few hours for the Satellites to get back into proper alignment. Till then, we've only got Lone-Of-Site for about 50% of the sky, so were not out of the blind yet. I also automated the alert system to notify us if the scanners get any hits. I doubt we can trust any of the intelligence officers to get the message through to us right now"

Shortly thereafter, Hephaestus finished configuring his scanning gear, and began preforming his examinations of the group. Rows of data streamed down the screen in raw information. A few of the graphs made sense to you, but you didn't have the expertise to make heads of the rest of it. "I'm...I'm not sure what to make of this." He said, his tone puzzled and uncertain, which was a rare thing to hear from a man who usually had all the answers. "The equipment is working fine, and when I read through the results individually I can tell were infected with some sort of biological agent. But when I try and put the information together...I keep getting results that say were absolutely fine."

Eiling snorted "Well thats useful to hear, can't even say for certain that somethings wrong with us. Can't you venture a guess at least, a gut feeling?"

Heph grimly responded "Gut feeling: The infection is blocking my frontal lobe from making the connections needed to identify it. Which would also suggest that it is both intelligent, and working to overcome Athena's efforts to keep it dormant."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy and Nadia both fixed Caleb with almost identical inquisitive looks, their heads tilted slightly to the side. Caleb just shrugged. "I feel fine, but I felt fine before, the occasional headache aside."

"Awesome! In light of this utter lack of evidence to the contrary, I'm going to officially proclaim you fixed. Forever!"

Caleb just blinked and made an unconscious hand-shrug. "Great. Sure. Sounds good," he replied, deadpan.

"So...now what?"

"I mean, that was a lot of energy. I could use a nap, myself."

~Nadia...~

"Yeah I knew that wasn't going to work. Okay. So, we're figuring there are two possibilities, right? The first is, someone who legitimately thinks this is improving the world. So we're talking, someone with loads of power and not a ton of wisdom behind its use. Second is, someone using this as a set-up for a large-scale attack."

"Research time?"

"Research time."

The twins flew first for the library, and then for home, checking out various books, old newspapers, and articles regarding major powers in the world - and beyond it. Once they got home with their pile of research materials, they started going through them, pulling up more sites and articles on the internet, and flipping between news channels, searching around for any information they could find on people or organizations who might have the power, the affinities, and the desire to pull off something like this, or for any sign of people who might not have been affected or who appeared to be looking into the matter themselves, as well as a general sense of the scale it was operating on. Assuming their apparent immunity wasn't due to Trinity being in their heads, it stood to reason that in a city of millions (and, potentially, a world of billions), there were at least some others who were unaffected.

Throughout the process, they'd communicate and compare notes telepathically, to try and see if they could provoke another of those headaches from Caleb. It wouldn't confirm he was free of the effect, but it could potentially refute it, and if that was the case, they'd rather know it than not.

Investigation, using Quickness 6 to speed it along: [roll0].

[Arcran]

"Keep working on the others, but make it a secondary priority," the psion says to Zeus, less than pleased with the actual results. "Start working on trying to track where this started. If we find Patient Zero or whatever the hell this thing had, maybe we can stop it."

At Heph's news, Abigail's face momentarily drops. "So we're on a timetable then," Abigail mutters, trying to see if she can make sense of Heph's results to no avail. "If it's intelligent, it'll eventually find a way past my suppression and could even find a way past whatever is making me immune," Abigail says. "Heph, do a test on me. See if I'm infected or if something else is going on. Eiling, Zeus, our top priority at this point is finding where this came from and finding others that are resisting. Zeus, focus on the former, Eiling, the latter. Look at all the data individually, not as a whole, so we can avoid whatever block Heph is suffering from. If you find anything interesting, contact me immediately," Abigail states before beginning to try to track the origin of this plague of goodwill herself.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman

Laura had never heard of SHADOW, but during her time in the marines the names of all sorts of outfits had flown past her. From marine recon to Delta Six, the names had run the gamut…but shadow? Really? Did they have an underground lair in a volcano as well?

Snorting lightly in amusement, Ultrawoman held the note up to read the coordinates therein. While still grasping the piece of paper her eyes looked upwards to lock back onto Lex’s face. There weren’t many times that she’d get to see him like this…sweaty, unkempt…desperately clinging to the last vestiges of control that he had before his mind slipped away into whatever Pleasantville fantasy land had gripped the rest of the human population. So he was mortal after all…

“I might hold you to that one day,” Ultrawoman smirked as her figure gently lifted off the ground and started floating backwards towards the open window. As she drew closer the fingers of nighttime air that whispered past the opening reached in to ruffle her blood-red cape.

“I can’t say if this will help…but something tells me that next time I see you, you’ll be happy either way.”

Departing the building, Ultrawomans figure turned and rocketed off into the night sky.

The world around the Kryptonian became a blur as she shot off at Mach 42, paper grasp safely in her palm as she ventured forth to what she could only assume to be SHADOW HQ.

[NineOfSpades]

Trinity

Its a tricky matter to search, since generally, things like happiness and peace are not the sort of things that people feel the need to question or report on. At first, your efforts are directed in the most logical direction, looking for information about large-scale positive trends. That lead proves pleasant, but perhaps not the most useful. Worldwide, violence, hate, poverty and warfare have been on the decline for decades, while acceptance and peaceful communication have been on the rise. Its good to see, but doesn't point you any closer to answers.

Taking a step back, and coming at the problem from a different angel, you start looking at who might be equipped to cause this sort of event. In that light, you can at least narrow down a few possibilities. The fact that the good-vibes hit everywhere simultaneously means that either its been effectively carpet-bombed over the planet (which would be unlikely, someone would have noticed), or the more probable option that whoever was pulling the strings here had been working over a period of months or perhaps even years, spreading their influence and leaving it dormant until the population had been saturated.

With that in mind, you finally have something specific you can look for. With a global scale, and a prolonged exposure period, you start searching the net for a potential delivery system. Briefly, your led down a red herring, getting caught up in online debates over air-plane chem trails, but its all just conspiracy theory BS. Brushing past that, you find an anomoly that sticks out. Could be nothing, could be something, but it seems like there's been an uptick in the number of meteor impacts over the past five years. Its a fairly minor change, only a few percentage points over the average. But its something. Looks like the most recent asteroid struck in Gwiyeoun, shortly before an indecent in which a peace conference was attacked by a group of currently unidentified terrorists. The details of the story are sketcy, and there appears to be details missing. A cover up, of some kind?

And just lack that, following the line of thought that includes a cover up, and your right back on the crazy conspiracy sites. Funny how the net seems to loop back to insanity.

Athena

Heph's test doesn't exactly bring good news. Its not bad news either...well, that's not true, its definatly bad news. But its also confusing news, the sort of confusing that suggests that theres something amiss, an unknown factor thats at play. Because Heph's test seem to show that Athena is indeed infected, same as the rest. The microbial infection has infiltrated her nervous system and wormed its way all the way down to the bottom layers of her neo-cortex. Which begged the question: Why wasn't she being affected?

Eiling and Zeus's work goes slow, since neither of them are experts in the field of information analysis, but they get by as best they can. Finding a patient zero seems to be going nowhere, this effect hit virtually everywhere at once. Even with the most up-to-date data and tracking algorithms, the best they can a manage is to narrow down the search area to...oh, about half the planet.

The General chims in, looking up from a moniter"We've got something...our counter-intelligence servers just lit up like a roman candle. Someone out there is searching hundreds of web pages that the IT guys have flagged as containing information related to past SHADOW-ops. Running a trace on their address...I think" Eiling smacks the side of the monitor "Blasted piece of junk...give me a stack of paper-files over a hard-dive any day."

Heph jumps in before Eiling does any damage to the network, and gets the trace program running. However, before the application can finish, a Warning message flashes on screen. "Local-radar has detected a fast-moving incoming, on a straight trajectory towards us. Looking at the profile and size....Heh...Athena, looks like you might be getting a chance at Handshake afterall. ETA is 40 seconds and closing"

Ultrawoman

Flatland....flatland....Flatland...Mesa....Flatlan d...Flatland...river. The Term Middle Of Nowhere had never been more fitting, just miles of badlands and desert in every direction, the good old desert of the American Southwest. Even at your cruising speed, it was a flight that felt like it dragged on and on. Though that might have been your own eagerness to get to the bottom of things.

Now, reaching the coordinates, there was a momentary pang of dismey, since it just looked like more rocks, hills and shrubs. Had Luthor Been lying? But no, unlike most desert, this patch of wasteland had a veritable anthill of tunnels dug under it. Big ones too. Not that you could see inside, the walls were to thick. Probably meant they had a nuclear reactor or two providing juice for the place. Though even if you couldn't see the inside of this underground base, your other senses told you that SHADOW was home.

Better hope they were expecting a visit.

[Arcran]

Athena's eyes flash in rage as the alien begins to close at a high speed, grabbing her gun and sliding her helmet on without a second thought, blinking twice as the familiar HUD appears in front of her.

"Eiling, keep running the trace. We'll see if we can get some human assistance," the super soldier spits, doing a quick once-over on her firearm to make sure it was functioning properly. It was, as it always had been, but the action was so ingrained in the woman that it was almost automatic. "Heph, get whatever defenses we have online, just in case. Zeus, finish suiting up and be ready to go to the surface. Assume the alien to be hostile; we're not taking any chances here, especially if she's immune to whatever charity parasite is affecting the rest of the world," Athena states, turning on her voice modulator to help protect her identity slightly more. Was it useless? Of course, the alien had enhanced vision. That wasn't the purpose of concealing her identity at this point. "Hell, if she's immune she's probably the one that caused it," Abigail states, eyes flashing purple beneath her visor as she sends a single word into the mind of the approaching alien.

LEAVE.

"Let's go give her a hell of a handshake," Abigail states, beginning to get what defenses she can available as she waits for a response.

Technically I think Abigail should be able to continue the Power Stunt outside the immediate area, but I'm not quite sure. Eiling might go back to not working as well. :smalleek:

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Aaannnnnnd...we're done here," Nadia said as the seventh successive link led to yet another message board about crazy chemtrail theories, leaning back in her chair with an exasperated huff.

"So. Meteors. Maybe..."

"Does lend credence to the whole 'impending alien attack' idea."

"They may not necessarily be evil aliens. They could just be really really disrespectful aliens running a scientific study of some new drug to cure violent behavior in criminals, or something. Or even benevolent aliens trying to stop humanity from fighting, and stuff."

...

"...I mean, it's not impossible."

"Strictly speaking, if it's the meteors, we don't even know that there's an intent behind it. Who knows what sort of weird cosmic radiation is out there in space. Or maybe the 'alien' is the parasites themselves, and they just arrived on the rocks and then spread through air and stuff."

"Or physical contact. And they make people be nice to each other because then more people are going to, like, shake hands and hug and kiss and stuff, and that lets them spread to more hosts, or whatever."

"Given the scale, though, you'd think airborne would be more likely."

"For a normal disease or parasite, sure. Maybe. But these things didn't cause a single symptom for years. Even if they just spread through contact, with no reason to guard against them, they wouldn't need to be airborne."

"But the sudden trigger makes it less likely. If it were an incubation period, people would have still changed over time, the first ones to contract it changing first. This was an infection that spread quietly and then was suddenly triggered all at once. That suggests an intelligence behind it. And likewise, if it were experimental or benevolent, they wouldn't need it to cover the entire planet before triggering it. They could get what data they needed with a partial sample, and they could enact change by triggering the results upon infection."

"Yeah, sorry Ames. Most likely reason for spreading it quietly and then triggering it all at once is for tactical advantage, which suggests hostile intent."

Amy just sighed and gave a weary nod. "So what do we do?"

"We need to find a cure, somehow. Which probably means getting a sample of the meteorites, in the short term."

"Chances are at least some of them were taken to like museums or NASA or something, right?"

"Well let's see..."

Investigation to try to trace where some of the meteorites ended up: [roll0].

[BananaPhone]

Posting from phone.

Ultrawoman

The Kryptonian snapped to a halt as she pulled up abruptly above the designated coordinates. Paused and still, her eyes flashed a pale grey as she peered through the ground to detect the network of tunnels and hallways that made up the clubhouse of the spooky secret society.

LEAVE

That they wanted to keep secret, apparently.

Pursing her lips and shaking her head once in response to someones uninvited probing, Ultrawoman looked again for what was the obvious entrance point. Whether it was a hanger opening or a blast door hidden behind several feet of rock, she'd find it.

...and when she did, she gently floated down to stand in front of it.

Hands on her hips as she stared up at the large, hefty crag of rock that played a part in the bases camouflage, Ultrawoman considered ber options.

She could try talking to them...but that would be tricky. She doubted any of them could hear her speaking, nor was she positive of the "senders" ability to read message...plus the less incentive she offered for whoever-that-was to poke around inside her brain, the better.

Nope. It seemed like the best way was just to knock and say hi.

Ultrawomans eyes glowed a bright orange before lances of energy speared forth and scythed into the rock formation. Dragging her impromtu-plasma torch in a circular shape, Ultra cut a massive hole in the rock, its edges steaming as amber-gold molted sludge sloughed off. When she was finished, the Kryptonian stepped forward and reached into the newly-made boulder, driving her hands inside it in a shower of splattered quarry. Pulling her arms backward, she dislodged the entire cut-out piece and tossed it away. Through the dust and steam and dissipating deadly vapors, there was the entrance...

Stepping up to it, Ultrawoman reached one hand forward and gently knocked on the front door.

"Hello?"

At the same time a tremor tickled the Kryptonians feet as hundreds of tons of freshly cut rock landed behind her.

[NineOfSpades]

Sorry, this is not a full length reply, but I HAD to get a word in before the two of you started duking it out.

Several guards were waiting inside the entrance hanger. While it was clear that they'd recieved word that you were coming and alert messages as to how to respond, the current mental state of the troops was less than regimented. So instead of armed men shouting for Ultrawoman to halt and put her hands in the air, there were several armed men currently in the middle of hanging up a "Welcome: Ultrawoman" Banner over the bunker's security gate. One guy was even inflating balloons.

[Quellian-dyrae]

It didn't take too long for the triplets to determine that there wasn't anything on-line regarding the meteors. At least not that they had the credentials to access. Still, it was probably a fair bet that NASA would have some of them, or if not, information on where they could be found.

Normally, trying to get classified information out of NASA wasn't exactly a likely proposition, but they had two advantages.

First, naturally honest and friendly demeanors.

Second, the fact that the entire world had gone crazy with niceness.

Nadia took out her cell phone, ran a quick search, was overjoyed to find that NASA hadn't set up one of those generic contact forms and actually had a phone number on their contact page (http://www.nasa.gov/about/contact/index.html), and made a call. Assuming someone picked up (possibly after going through an automated system (I'm not checking whether or not the real NASA has one of those :smallamused:)) she said, "Hey. I'm sorry to be a bother, my name is Nadia, and I was doing some research into recent meteorite activity over the past few years. I was really hoping there might be a chance that I could take a look at a couple of them, but I just can't seem to find out where to go or who to talk to to do it! But I figured you guys at NASA would probably know, right?"

Caleb and Amy cast each other sidelong looks. ~Is the Southern accent really necessary?~

~It...am I talking in a Southern accent?~

~Uh-huh. Yeah.~

~Huh. Weird. Um, yes, absolutely necessary. Definitely. No question. All part of the plan.~

Her siblings cast each other another uncertain look, and Nadia gave them a thumbs-up.

Let's go ahead and try Persuasion: [roll0].

Also, I have no idea why I can't seem to help but read Nadia's request as if Brenda from the Closer is saying it, but I can't, so it's canon :smallamused:.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman


The Kryptonian stood there as the hefty steel hanger doors started to expand and open, a small bolt of surprise jolting through her system.

It didn't take long to see why. The moment the dust settled Ultra's keen eyes picked out the party decorations and the hanging banner and a breath escaped her lips.

Once more her eyes flashed a pale grey as she scanned those present, temporarily ignoring their hearty welcomes.

"Damnit...they got to all of you too..." she exhaled, shaking her head with pursed lips.

[Arcran]

"Damn it Heph, I said turn the guns on!" Athena half shouts, voice modulating through her helmet to come out as neither male nor female. "We don't have time to waste on a cure when there's a hostile alien cutting holes through our front door!" she adds, turning on the various auto-defenses and, if possible, setting them up to be able to be triggered on her command.

"Zeus, you ready to go?" she asks before stretching out her mind, making sure that she can accurately sense the alien before making any other moves. Unless the alien had abnormal psionic capabilities (which she wasn't), she should have no problem neutralizing the threat before it could make a move. If the whole organization hadn't gone absolutely bat**** with kindness perhaps they'd be able to bring her in, contain her, maybe even get some samples in case her kind made a move against mankind but, as-is, simply removing her would have to do.

[BananaPhone]

"I need to speak to your commanding officer. Where are they?" Ultrawoman asked the group, hands on her hips.

[NineOfSpades]

One of the soldiers stepped forward, extending a handshake to Ultrawoman. "Lieutenant Fulmen is currently overseeing operations in the kitchen, mam. He's coordinating the welcoming party. On site Administrators Are down in the Com-rooms. I can give you a tour, if you'd like"


------------------------------


"I did turn the guns online! Someone must have disabled the Friend-or-Foe targeting system. I'm bringing it back online now, but I need to be sure none of the targeting parameters have been interrupted, or the turrets will turn the hanger into a blender" Heph said, defensively, typing furiously on the access key-board.

Zeus followed in your wake as you headed for the surface access lift, before braking off. His heavy robotic body was to much for the normal elevator to carry, especially with the weapon modals equipped, so he needed to use the heavy-duty vehicle lift. Athena would be on her own for the first thirty seconds of this engagement, a fact that she'd be fully aware off as the personnel elevator doors opened, and you got your first eye-to-eye with the Cape-clad extraterrestrial.

[Arcran]

As Athena rides up the lift she extends her mind to the few allies she has, making contact with both Heph and Zeus.

The second the guns are online, inform me, Athena states to the former, mentally preparing herself which, when said of a psion, means decidedly more.

Zeus, be ready to blast her with everything you've got if I give the signal. Drain the batteries, Athena adds with more than a hint of sadism. Handshake is assumed to be hostile and complicit with the infection until stated otherwise.

When the lift finally opens, Athena doesn't waste a second. Her telepathic grip fires out at the alien's mind, tearing away at barriers without any regard for the mental sanity of the alien. Of course, the alien wouldn't know; after all, while Athena was brute in her use of force she was just gentle enough to avoid detection.

"Soldier, a tour is a grand idea," Athena states at the idiotic idea. "Go prepare for a tour with the others. I'll welcome our new friend personally," Athena says, the venom in her voice carrying through the voice modulator even as she levels her rifle at the intruder, watching her every move even as she burrows into the alien's psyche.

All of Athena's powers are Subtle 2 and insidious. Her armor hides her identity, so barring X-Ray vision gender should be ambiguous.

[BananaPhone]

Offering a smile, "A tour won't be necessary soldier - I need to speak to your commanding officer."

As if on cue the elevated ding!ed open and out stepped another member of SHADOW. This one, however, seemed more aggressive than those of their goodwill-infected kin, something Ultrawoman suspected due to the rifle muzzle that they had leveled in her direction.

"Is this..."

Looking in the newcomers direction, Ultrawomans eyes flashed a pale grey...(waiting on Nines response)

"...her?"

Perhaps surprising for Athena was the "aliens" will - it was stronger than what she'd encountered so far in the lines of duty. Instead of just being an open book whose pages she could ply through at her own leisure, she only received slivers of information - torn pictures of a much larger novel of events. No parents. Born from a surrogate, artificial womb. A civilisation thousands of years ahead of humanity. A planet collapsing in on itself. Hiding on the streets. Tour of duty in Afghanistan. Standing here right before Athena.

[Arcran]

Wordlessly, Athena broadcasts a message to the assembled soldiers.

Answer no questions from the alien. Go prepare the facilities for a tour. Leave now, Athena says, putting her full mental force behind the last phrase.

"I'd suggest you don't use your powers if you want to leave here," Athena states, ignoring the hypocrisy of her statement. It wasn't like the alien would leave here in anything but a body bag anyways. "Why are you here and, more importantly, how did you find us?"

Of course, while the aliens' mind was less malleable than many before it, Athena had as long as she could speak to the alien to simply tear into her defenses, breaking them away one by one. By the time Zeus arrived and the guns were online the aliens' mind would be an open book and easy to neutralize with a few well-placed points of pressure. It wouldn't be the first time Athena had used the tactic.

The images did little more than anger Athena. A civilization that far ahead of mankind didn't simply end. That level of technology couldn't allow the civilization to end after a single planetary collapse, meaning that the thoughts in the alien had to be plants, possibly to make her more malleable when her people arrived in force. At least, that was the most rational thought in Athena's xenophobic mind.

[BananaPhone]

Athena wasn't seeming to get much more out of the aliens mind. Maybe the inter-species nature of the mental consortium made it more difficult? Maybe she was far more strong willed than others Athena had run into? For whatever the reason, she got little beyond her initial mental impressions.

The hopeful look in Ultrawomans eyes disappeared, however, as her flashing-pale grey orbs rolled up and down Athena's figure.

Sighing, her shoulders slumping, "You've all been compromised," she said wearily as she rubbed her own face as if thinking what to do next.

"It still got to you all, even though you were all in what I can only assume to be a fully NBC sealed bunker. Perhaps everyone has been infected for some time, but it's all just laid dormant..."

Ultrawoman paced slightly back and forth, talking to herself before seemingly remembering that Athena was there and had asked her questions.

"I'm here for the same reason that has you worried. I - " Ultrawoman paused as she considered the armored government spook in front of her, "find it curious..." she corrected herself.

"That you're infected like the others, but you show none of the symptomns."

Narrowing her eyes in thought, Ultrawoman remembered the word to her earlier: LEAVE.

Such a stark and unwelcome proclamation despite the pleasantville vibe that had washed over the world. And once more, here, in this room, all the other soldiers were cheery to see her yet this one came along and shoved a gun in her face demanding to know why she was here and how she found them.

"That was you that spoke to me outside, wasn't it?"

[Arcran]

"I don't know what you're talking about in terms of symptoms or speaking to you," Athena states flatly, not moving an inch with her firearm. The less the alien knew of her capabilities, the better. "As far as I know, this is our first meeting. Now why don't you tell me exactly how you found us, otherwise I might be inclined to start firing."

Of course, Athena is more than a little surprised at the aliens' seeming disappointment in her being infected. She's assumed the alien had been the source or at least complicit with whatever was causing the infection, but it seemed that wasn't quite the case. At the very least, she was every bit as confused as Athena appeared to be. Of course, even if the alien was against whatever infection seemed to be crossing them, she was crossing more lines than Athena could count by simply being here. Either way, they'd need to improve their security tenfold after this and eliminate whatever security leak had led the woman here.

At the end of the day, even if she wasn't hostile the woman was an extraterrestrial which, in Athena's book, was enough to attack on sight.

[BananaPhone]

"So it was you..." Ultrawoman says softly, her voice trailing off as she confirms it all in her head. Lex Luther had been infected too yet he had managed the willpower to fend off the infections compulsions for long enough to aid her. Perhaps this woman was similar? Maybe that was why she was wearing the fully enclosed bodysuit?

One hand still on her hip, her other hanging by her side, Ultrawoman offered a half-smile, "Haven't you see the news in the past few months? I'm where ever I'm needed most." her smirk was almost playful.

"And right now I'm the only one on this planet that doesn't have colonies of black microbes attached to their nervous system that has turned the place into a saccharine utopia. One man was able to stave off its effects for long enough to tell me of this place in the hope I'd find what I need to put an end to whatever is happening.

But here I find the usual: everyone is infected, everyone is in happy-land."

Ultrawoman then pointed at Athena, "except you. Your spine and brain are riddled with them, but, to iterate, you're not showing any symptoms."

Ultrawoman tilted her head slightly, "Paranoid and suspicious, certainly. Unless this is the friendlier you," her lips curled up as if she had just bit a lemon.

[Arcran]

Athena had still not moved a muscle from her initial stance, something that her armor made significantly easier to accomplish. The soldier also feels no need to correct the alien on the fact that there were three others (mostly) free of the microbes' control, although that was a minor detail. "If you want less paranoia, give me something. What is the name of the man who told you the location of this facility?" she reiterates. "And why are you trying to stop this."

Of course, waiting for an answer was never Athena's style. While she continues to brush away the defenses on the aliens' mind like cobwebs, she also takes the liberty to dive in just slightly, trying to see what name came up when the alien thought of her source, as much to confirm if the alien was telling the truth as to find the source.

It's probably been about thirty seconds, right? :smallamused:

[BananaPhone]

ooc:
I made my rolls - you've got what you've got :smalltongue:


"Why am I trying to stop this?" Ultra asked, seemingly a little confused as to why someone would even ask such a question.

"Because it's robbed the world of free will, clearly." she answered as if stating the obvious. "I imagine as the first phase of something larger."

"That same free will that allows me to protect the confidence and privacy of others. I understand that that is a difficult concept for someone in your line of work to understand," she continued, gesturing with her eyes to the surrounding secret underground lair of the secret police called SHADOW.

"Now, if I had any hostile intentions we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'm not interested in your secret pillow fort in the desert. I'm interested in finding the source of this contagion and neutralising it, and the longer you stand there pointing a gun at me the longer whatever that source is has to prepare.

Now, are you going to holster that and help me, or am I going to have to do it on my own?"

[Arcran]

"You? Want us to help you?" Athena says in a modulated voice. "You carve your way in here, demand to speak to a commanding officer and refuse to answer questions? And expect us to help you?" Athena says, voice cold with rage. "We have the situation under control. If you wish to assist us I may be able to accomodate that, but there will be conditions, starting with you revealing who gave you our location," Athena states, gun not moving an inch.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawoman shrugs, "I knocked on the front door and your boys let me in. You're right, I can see you've got it all under control," she winks.

"If you really must know, it was Lex Luther that told me to come here. He had the idea that I'd be able to find help here, but I'm starting to doubt his belief in you. But given the state he was in the last time I saw him, I don't think he'd be disappointed anymore."

[Arcran]

"That's a good first step," Athena states even as she sends a mental message out to her team to not annihilate the alien yet.

Truth told, they could use the help, especially if the alien could tell if people were infected. If they could negotiate the proper terms, maybe this could be mutually beneficial?

"If you want to assist us, I have terms that are nonnegotiable. Are you willing to listen?"

[BananaPhone]

Was she joking? Surely she was jesting.

Perking an eyebrow in a hint of amusement at what she perceived to be either sly humor or hubris, Ultrawoman spoke plainly, "You have my attention."

[Arcran]

"The second this threat is neutralized you allow us to wipe all records of SHADOW from your mind. Agreed?" Athena states, still not budging. An alien helping was one thing, but an alien with intimate knowledge of SHADOW? That was unacceptable.

[BananaPhone]

Hand her mind over to the secret police and trust that they'll just do what they say? Ultra carried the legacy of Krypton inside her mind. As far as she knew her memories were all that was left of it. She'd put all that at risk just to protect some spooks secret hideyhole that she didn't even care about? That they even had the technology or ability to do this suggested a practice of the art and its development...how many peoples minds had that cost? The very nature of the entire idea reeked of a facism that made the Marine in her clench her jaw at the idea that this happened beneath the flag she once wore on her shoulder.

A single shake of her head, "That's not going to happen. Pack up and move if the thought makes you so uncomfortable, but I've got too much to lose up in here to risk handing it all over to people that don't exist and who're in the habit of "wiping minds". Try your Big Brother Gestapo crap on someone else, but make sure I'm not there to witnesses it. What's your next offer?"

[Arcran]

"That is the only offer. There are too many security risks of an alien carrying that knowledge to warrant you retaining it. You have my word only memories involving SHADOW will be tampered with, for whatever security that brings you. This whole damn planet is alive because of us, and if you think your ego is more important than that..." Athena says, trailing off slightly.

Alien uncooperative. Prepare countermeasures, Athena states, prepared for whatever direction this confrontation takes and she continues to worm her way into the alien's mind.

[NineOfSpades]

"Hey now you two" Interjected one of the Soldiers "This is not a very positive line of communication"

"Yeah, seriously, I understand you both have strong feelings on the matter, but getting hostile won't fix anything."

"I think Jen keeps some herbal tea in her desk. How about I head down there and ask if we can brew up a pot, then we'll all sit down"

"That's a great idea. In the mean time...how about you two put aside your differences and hug it out?"

The peaceful moderating of the soldiers was interrupted by a loud siren going off, signaling the vehicle lift had arrived. With the whir of heavy motors, one of the side walls inside the entrance hanger swung open, revealing the hulking mechanical form of Zeus. As the "Welcome: Ultrawoman!" sign broke loose and fluttered to the ground, The leader of the Olympians stepped forward, armed for bear, but choosing not to train his weapons on Ultrawoman. In this small a space, unloading the full firepower he had would not only be damaging, it would mean putting the fellow soldiers in the line of fire.

For a tense second, nobody moved.

[BananaPhone]

Cape Canaveral

https://cdn2.gbot.me/photos/Oe/WE/1345756307/Cape_Canaveral-Cape_Canaveral-20000000005064601-500x375.jpg
A Birds-eye view...


Several kilometers into the atmosphere, Ultrawoman knifed through the clouds at twenty miles a second. Lips pursed and mind focused, she went over in her head all she knew about this microbial infection which, unfortunately, wasn't much...

All she really knew was that it was everywhere. She couldn't pass a soul in the street without seeing those tiny black mites clinging to their nervous systems, her own anatomy proving the sole exception that she had encountered. Why was that? What made her impervious to their influence where others were susceptible? And how long had this contamination festered before brewing to the surface? Too many questions and not enough answers...worse still it wasn't exactly in any field in which she possessed expertise. Ignorance, it seemed, was a fairly effective restraint that even she was sensitive too. Narrowing her eyes as her skin bristled at the idea of being so vulnerable, Ultrawoman sped forward as she emerged into the air-space of Cape Canaveral.

To those below that bothered to look, a patch of cloud swirled in upon itself as a flash of red came lancing out of its insides and arched downwards towards the town. Rocketing downwards in a trail of sound-waves and residual vapor, Ultrawoma abruptly halted a kilometer above the town skyline, red-cape billowing in the altitudes breeze as she scanned the rooftops for her contact.

"He could've given me a phone number at least..." she muttered under her breath.

[Arcran]

Athena sat on the top of the Gran Royal Hotel, looking at the mobs of infected humans below. While she'd known that the whole world was like this from the information she'd gathered at SHADOW, actually seeing it was something else. In their current state mankind couldn't defend against a stray dog, much less a dedicated invasion force from space.

"Heph, everything still functioning?" the super soldier says into her radio, knowing that she is far outside the range of her normal mental communication at this point. Athena scans the skyline for now, trying to make out the incoming Ultrawoman and quickly finding it fruitless, resorting to simply trying to find the mind of the extraterrestrial. Of course the only person not infected by this plague was an alien, although whether that was simple luck or something more sinister remained to be seen.

Either way, Athena does little to remain inconspicuous, standing in plain view atop the hotel's roof, some small part of her hoping that she'd get to do Operation Handshake her way in a matter of minutes.

[BananaPhone]

Ultrawomans eyes dragged across the roof-tops in search for anything that stood out from the ordinary. It didn't take long to spot the lone woman nestled atop the skyline. Either she was who UW was here to see, or she was in for a pretty large coincidence.

Rocketing down from the atmosphere and coming to a hard-stop a bit above Athena, a dush of wind sending all loose debris in the area fluttering away, Ultrawoman considered the SHADOW agent and hoped for the best.

"Either you're the one Luthor sent me to meet or this is a fairly big coincidence," she offered with a smirk.

[Arcran]

"The former," Athena says simply, keeping her hand firmly on her rifle as the alien floated above her. Of course that's what the alien would do; put herself above Athena. It was subtle, but it was enough to irk the soldier just slightly.

Without a second thought Athena begins to probe the alien's mind, hunting for the emotional shutoff that had been so prominent with Heph and Zeus and finding none of it.

"You're not infected. How?" Athena asks, continuing to probe about perhaps a bit more than she should.

[BananaPhone]

"Hello to you too," Ultrawoman smirked as she floated down towards Athena and gently touching down a few feet in front of her.

"Would that I knew, I'm afraid. But..."

Her eyes flashed a pale grey as she looked Athena over. Seeing something disheartening, Ultrawoman sighed softly and shook her head with her eyes closed, "but you are..."

Pursing her lips in thought, she continued, "everyone else has gone off into happy land. Lex's nervous system was riddled with them yet he resisted for long enough to arrange this - how are you doing it too?" she asked, curious.

[Arcran]

"Because I'm just that much of a bitch," Athena says without emotion, not wanting to admit that she had no idea how the hell she was resisting the infection. Her personal guess was that it was something to do with her psionics, but the alien didn't need to know that she had that capability yet.

"Aside from Luthor, have you seen anybody else resisting the plague?" Athena asks, turning on her radio for that last part so Heph and Eiling could be included in that question.

[BananaPhone]

Utlrawoman perked an eyebrow at Athena's response, "I'll take your word for it."

Putting her hand on her hips and gazing out over the skyline, Ultrawoman continued, "Lex was struggling though. If we can't find the source of this contagion I doubt I'd return to find him in control. He said that if any organisation could find out where this is coming from, it'd be yours. Have you made any progress?" she asked hopefully.

[NineOfSpades]

The report in from Heph was mixed with good news and bad news.

The Good news:

Long range sensors were back online, and there was no sign of any massed fleet of ships within range of the scanners. Invasion, thankfully, didn't appear to be on the horizon.

Tracking back the telemetry data, Heph noticed some anomalies. He throws around a lot of science terms that would require a four year intensive doctoral study to decipher, but gets to the long and short of it. He's narrowing in on the location of what could be the source of whatever is asserting control over the population. Present data suggests between 350,000 and 410,000 KM over Earths surface, and within 5 degree's of the equator line. He's having trouble keeping his mind on task to narrow that down, but has automated the computers to refine the sweep so they'll crank out some coordinates soon.

The Bad News:

The mental-push you gave to overcome the Happy-brainwashing is starting to fail. Eiling is barely capable of functioning, and Zeus is mostly relying on his neural implants to counterbalance the infection. But that's a stopgate measure and it won't last long.

Several soldiers have attempted to interrupt them, non-violently, but repeatedly and despite being ordered to keep away. Zeus thinks that they're being forced to investigate what your team is up to. If thats the case, whoever or whatever is behind this is not only aware that someone is looking for it, but it is acivly working at tracing its way back to Athena and anyone else not under its control.

Three unidentified, small, fast moving fliers are inbound to your area.


Not so far away from there...


NASA was, as expected, quite pleasant for The angelic trio to chat with. Oh sure, they don't usually like to show off their newest asteroid samples, but, well, what harm could their be in it? Nadia sounded like such a sweetheart over the phone. With just a little prodding, you had your invitation to come on by and take a look.

The flight down was pretty uneventful, though it was enlightening to see. Only recently, you'd made virtually the same trip, while seeking missing children. Now, as your wings carried you along the same path, over the same cities, it was remarkable just how different they all looked. Without the bustle of traffic, or people worried about their jobs, it was enriching to take in....at times you needed a moment to remember how artificial it all ways.

Up ahead, was the Florida Costline, and a little further past that, was NASA's Deep-Space Material Science Lab. Home of every egg-head on the eastern seaboard who dreamed of spending their days poking through whatever rocks happened to drop out of the sky.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets flew along at speed...although maaaaaybe not quite at maximum speed. Amy, in particular, seemed to be lagging behind occasionally, watching the world below with a gentle smile on her face. Caleb, for his part, was trying to keep the pace up. Not even as much out of urgency as just because...well, they're going to NASA!

As Amy paused again to watch yet another in the parade of spiritually uplifting events that the flight was showing them (maybe something in the vein of members of different religions all working together on something, that was always a winner), Nadia dropped back to hover beside her, setting a hand gently on her back to urge her forward. "You're just setting yourself up for more pain, Ames," she said softly.

"Shh," Amy replied, though she did start moving reluctantly forward again. "I'm pretending."

Nadia gave her a kinda sad smile and a quick hug, and on they went, headed for NASA, and hopefully answers.

[Arcran]

"Copy," Athena states as she receives the influx of information from Heph. "Set the program to automatically alert me when it finishes, just in case," the psion states, assuming that the worst case scenario wouldn't have occurred so quickly. She'd assumed Eiling would quickly fall back into the normal routine, but for some reason she'd thought Heph and Zeus would be able to hold out just a little bit longer against the mental assault. At least they had a baseline, although just knowing it was close to the equator did little to assist Athena.

"Whatever this is, it's tracking resistance," Athena states aloud to the alien. "It's in an equatorial orbit, but that doesn't help us much. I should get some new information soon but, for now, it looks like we have inbound," Athena says, looking at the sky to try to find where Heph's warning had come from and, when her eyes undoubtedly failed her, pushed forward with her mind, sending out a simple message as she does so.

Identify yourself.

If it was the plague, it wouldn't bother. If it was a friendly? Well, they shouldn't object to a simple order like that.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The triplets were just flying along when there was suddenly a fifth voice in their headspace. That was...kinda weird, actually.

"Does NASA have telepaths?" Caleb asked no one in particular, a little bemused at the idea.

"You know what? I'mma say yes and no one can convince me otherwise. HEADCANON!"

~My name is Amy Springs. My brother Caleb and my sister Nadia are with me. And you are?~ Amy sent back politely. Which kinda made her notice...that demand had been anything but polite. Did that mean whoever it was wasn't under the influence of the mind plague?

It would make sense, she supposed. If anyone could resist it, it would be a telepath, right?

[Arcran]

You can call me Athena, the telepath responds, noting the politeness with a twinge of apprehension. Obviously, the three weren't directly linked to the plague but, for all she knew, they could be just as infected as the rest and on their way to remove stray cats from trees. If they weren't (and were actually human), it would certainly make getting places far easier, which could only help.

I am going to need you to prove you are not under the influence of whatever is going on, for obvious reasons. Try to make me cry, Athena states, an amused note creeping into her telepathic "voice" at the end, even as she begins to manually try to search for the empathetic shutdowns that had had plagued her team.

[Quellian-dyrae]

~Why would we want to make you cry? We don't even know you! That would be so mean...~ Amy sent back, a little horrified at the idea.

Caleb, more keen on accepting the tactical ramifications of the premise, sent back, ~**** off.~

Nadia wore a gleeful smile as she started coming up with an increasingly ludicrous string of truly epic insults to throw back to prove their, uh, lack of innocence? But Caleb's straight and to-the-point response beat her to it. ~Ha! Nice.~

"Caleb!" Amy said sharply, sounding scandalized.

[Arcran]

Athena allows herself a small smirk as Caleb manages to confirm that he isn't infected. Amy, she was still less than sure on, but at least one wasn't infected and, if the other two were, likely would have taken the time to inform Athena of that fact. Unless, of course, he hadn't noticed yet.

Myself and another who has avoided the infection are currently on the roof of the Gran Royale Hotel, if you know where that is. If you want to assist in stopping whatever is going on, meet us there as soon as you are able.

Five people. Five uninfected people out of the entire world, at least as far as they knew, going up against some sort of extraterrestrial threat in earth's orbit yet far outside the range of anything she could fly herself. This was going to be interesting.

[Quellian-dyrae]

So Nadia, of course, proudly responded with, ~**** off!~ and a big, puffed-up smile.

~Pretty sure we already got the point across, Nadia,~ Caleb sent, although there was a clear note of dry amusement in his telepathic voice.

~The two of you...~ Amy complained.

~She wanted to make sure we weren't infected, Amy.~ Nadia sent.

~I am aware. The correct response is, "Yes, we are aware of the mind-plague and no, we aren't infected. Or at least, if we are, we are not subject to its effects." Just because the enemy is using niceness as a weapon does not mean we should stop being nice.~

~We don't know where it is off the top of our heads, but it shouldn't be hard to find. We'll be there shortly,~ Caleb sent in actual response to Athena. Much as it pained him to admit, this did seem like a more practical lead to follow than going to NASA. He wasn't really sure what the next step of that plan would have been anyway.

And with that, the three of them went off on a rapid flying search pattern to locate the hotel with two people standing on the roof. If they encountered multiple buildings that fit that description, they would make use of some sort of probability algorithm to determine which was the correct one. The specific details of the algorithm are uncertain, but "the roof where one of the people is in a full suit of powered armor and the other is wearing a bright red cape of all things!" being a heavily-weighted factor in it was a virtual guarantee.

So it would not take long for the three angels to descend to the roof with the superhero and the super-soldier. "Hiya!" Amy greeted them cheerily.

[Arcran]

Athena silently thanks Hephaestus for making her visor opaque, as the five-foot tall winged angels descend from on high. He grip becomes a little tighter on the grip of her rifle as they descend, mostly due to the fact that humans are decidedly not able to fly on giant colorful wings and partly because she wasn't used to not knowing what was going on when encountering an alien or Delta, which the three have to be.

Either way, they seemed to be friendlies that didn't have to be friendly which, as of now, was a bit of a rarity.

"Greetings," Athena says to the group through a heavily modulated voice filter. "Ultrawoman, Caleb, Amy and Nadia. Caleb, Amy and Nadia, Ultrawoman," Athena says in the way of greetings, getting everybody acquainted with one another, hiding her displeasure at the name "Ultrawoman." Seriously, how much pride did these aliens have?

"Have you three managed to find anything about where this came from?" Athena asks, not feeling the need to waste time with pleasantries and not particularly wanting to volunteer her information first.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Glad to meet you both," Caleb said, he and Amy stepping forward to offer handshakes to the two of them, but Nadia, well...

Nadia was a little busy trying not to hyperventilate. Her face had broken out into this huge, excited smile. Had her eyes turned into little stars, it would not have looked out of place. "Oh my God..." she said slowly.

Amy stifled a little giggle, and Caleb just sighed and murmured, "Oh dear..." He knew what was coming and also knew he was powerless to stop it.

"You're ULTRAWOMAN!" Nadia...well, we'll call it "exclaimed", although the less generous might have gone with "squeed".

"We haven't been able to learn much," Caleb answered Athena, trying to ignore his sister's antics. He was aware that he didn't really know these people, but they had heard of Ultrawoman and he figured it was a safe bet that anyone she was working with was probably positively disposed to the human race as a whole. Regardless, the Angel of Faith had little qualm about extending others his trust when he had been given no reason not to.

"I saw you on the news when you rescued all those people from the ship!" Nadia continued gleefully extolling.

"It does seem to be caused by some sort of tiny parasite that attaches to the brain and nervous system. We've confirmed that I'm...infested, at least, although not apparently affected. Although we tried something that may or may not have removed it; haven't been able to confirm that. Normally I'd assume the same applies to my sisters, but there is one environmental difference that may have resulted in me picking up a partial dose of the effects where they wouldn't have."

"...space station was on fire and you're all - Zoom! Whoosh! And What!?..."

Amy opened her mouth, but Caleb just added (like a kid being forced to eat his vegetables), "Although it's been determined to be more probable that the guy who did it was actually trying to inoculate me. And no, it's not likely that he'll help us, although I suppose we could try him if we have to." Amy smiled and patted him on on the shoulder.

"...OHMYGODTHEGIANTSPIDER!!!..."

"We've theorized that the parasite has been spread through meteor impacts - there's been a slight uptick in them in recent years - but that's more speculation than anything. We were on our way to NASA's Deep-Space Material Science Lab to see if we could check that out, but admittedly, it was a pretty weak lead."

"...with a flipping tank! And it goes flying..."

"What about you? Either of you have any firmer le-" he was cut off by Nadia shoving her camera phone into his hands. "Quick Caleb take a picture!!!!!"

It was absolutely necessary and I regret nothing.

[Arcran]

Athena shoots a glare at Nadia, although the effect is somewhat undercut by the fact that, well, the girl couldn't see her face. The last thing the alien needed was something feeding its ego more, and the task at hand was more important than being a fangirl.

"We have similar findings as to the source," Athena states. "Small microbial parasites, all throughout the nervous system. I'm infected as well, but somehow seem to be resisting the effects. I was going to have tests done, but the disease is blocking my scientists from actually learning anything besides the basics," Athena states, giving out perhaps a little more information than she should. "The meteor impacts information is new though, and possibly worth investigating."

"As for my leads," Athena says, hoping that Heph had managed to automate the computers enough before the plague took control, "All I know is that there is something in equatorial orbit around the world that seems to be the source. Well, if you can even call it orbit. No space shuttle can make it out that far," Athena states with confidence, remembering the astronomical distance it had been away. "That visit to NASA might not be a bad call in the end."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Whether it was considered eavesdropping or not, Ultrawoman couldn't help but hear what was being said between Athena and her unseen contact. Athena could've been standing a couple dozen kilometers away and the Kryptonian could've still heard everything she said.

410 thousand kilometers over Earths surface? Ultrawoman thought to herself.

"That's as far away as the moon..." Ultra spoke out to no-one-in-particular.

Perhaps more disturbing, however, was the idea that some central intelligence was able to perceive the world through each human that had been brought into its contaminant hold. Whether Ultrawoman was acquiring a little paranoia herself or the military woman inside her was observing the situation through a cynical lens, a pacified, open and friendly populace would be much easier to exert control over than one intent on resistance...

They also had incoming.

Her shoulders straightening up, Ultra looked about and swept her gaze across the horizon in a 360 degree motion, her keen eyes sifting over the minutia of the skyline until she spotted - there!

They were just flecks at first, but they quickly expanded into a trio of...angels?

Blinking her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief, Ultrawoman stood there in bewilderment as divine intervention literally drifted down to meet them. Apparently, if an omnipotent entity did exist it was quite the fan...

The combination of the bizzare introduction and Nadia's praise disarmed Ultrawoman of her thoughts and left her smiling bashfully, one toe almost curling upon the spot as warmth flushed through her cheeks.

"Please, you're too kind, it's what anyone would have done if they could..."

"That's what they've been calling me, I didn't get to choose it myself unfortunately - I'd probably bungle they attempt. I think you three might have more going for you!"

The flattery and praise neutralised any thought Ultra had of the current situation as Amy moved up next to her and insisted her friend take a picture. Under normal circumstances this was something the Kryptonian was becoming used to, but this was not a normal circumstance. Instead she played along as if she were still green; a dopey, but genuine half-smile as the camera flash went off and Amy and Ultra's image was captured together.

Surreptitiously Ultra's performed a regular-becoming ritual; her eyes flashed a pale grey as she looked the trio over.


ooc:
Nines - are they still infected?

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sweet! Thank you so much!" Nadia said as Caleb handed her phone back with a long-suffering shake of his head.

"I do apologize for my sister," he said as Nadia reviewed the picture, showing it to Amy who just kinda nodded along with a bemused smile on her face for a few moments, before clearing her throat and giving a tilt of her head towards the other two supers.

"Right, sorry!" Nadia said, putting her phone away. "Okay, orbiting battle-station about a moon's distance away. Got it. That's actually pretty decent security."

"It's not necessarily a battlestation..." Amy said. "Actually, do your people know how big it is?" Amy asked. "Like, if it's just kinda, I don't know, car or plane sized or something, it might just be releasing the parasites, but if it's like...really big it could have guards and soldiers on it and stuff, right?"

[Arcran]

Athena glares at the alien as she clearly listens in on her radio conversation. Using her powers with no regards for personal privacy? She was supposed to be a hero, not the damn NSA.

"That's about all the information I have for now," Athena states slowly. "Whatever this is is doing its best to make sure people don't try to find it. Either way, until we have more concrete information, there's not much we can do. With that orbit and the equator as a baseline there's not a whole lot for us to go off of," Athena says, stating the obvious. "The world would be in ruins before we were even halfway to finding the source."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

Athena's glare manages to shakre Ultra's bashful, almost shy-like mood in the wake of Amy's dotting patronage. Instead her smirk returns as she shrugs with a 'eh, **** happens' expression. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I talk loudly when I get excited too." she winks.

Listening to Athena explain, Ultra straightened herself back up. Strong arms folded over her abonmen, she remained quiet as the telepath lamented the death star being out of their grasp. Or at least, mostly out of their grasp.

"Anyone got a camera on them?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Or a phone with a recorder? If you give me about a couple of hours I could go and take some pictures of it to see what we're dealing with."

Ultra then tilted her head, stroked her chin and looked off in a slightly ajar direction as she allowed herself a moment of thought.

"Or I could borrow a satellite from NASA and turn it around to get a better view...I'm sure they wouldn't mind? That could be faster."

[Arcran]

"A normal camera would be nonfunctional before you were even halfway there," Athena says, shaking her head. "And unless you want to push a satellite around the world, that's not going to help us either. Within five degrees of the equator and 410,000 km out? That's a hell of an area to cover. No, we need more infrastructure than that," Athena states. "If we can get to NASA I can override the parasite on the scientists, at least for awhile. If they have enough satellites they can turn around, maybe we can find it the old fashion way," Athena states, realizing that she should have just remained at SHADOW. Besides muscle, which she had, the newcomers hadn't contributed much.

"I'll see you two at NASA," the psion states, making her way to the edge of the building and, after a second of work, begins to rappel rapidly down the side with her grapnel, intent on making it back to her jet.

"Heph, any news? Still sane?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

"Oh of course," Ultrawoman started, "what would I know? I've only been there..."

The Kryptonian watched, arms folded and smirk slightly amused as Athena hefted herself about and started repelling down the face of the building like she was a ninja. Taking several steps forward until she was on the lip looking down at the other woman, Ultra's face remained impassive as she brought up one hand and cupped it to her mouth to act as a speaker, "the stairs are back there. I understand if you didn't see them..." She gestured with her other thumb over her shoulder.

Shrugging and wearing a little "Oh well, I tried!" smile, she turned about and faced the angelic trio and shrugged her shoulders, "she's just eager I suppose."

Walking back to conversation distance, "Well, Madam has given us our marching orders apparently," she said with a playful smile.

Ultrawomans figure drifted silently off the ground to hover several feet in the air, her cape bristling gently against her legs.

"If there's anything you want to share on the way, I'm all ears. Miss Sunshine has been pretty tight-lipped, but I can at least say that you were right about before - any infection you may have had is disappearing."

At the same time the Kryptonians ears picked up Athena's conversation with her henchman.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Another opt-" Caleb began, but not before Athena had hopped off the roof.

"Aaaaaaannnnnd.......too slow!"

Caleb shrugged, looking to Ultrawoman as she walked back over (at which time, Nadia also mutely handed over her camera phone. Because she was ULTRAWOMAN and she could TAKE PICTURES in SPACE!). "Another option might be magic. We might be able to manage some sort of scrying or transportation rituals that could help. Would take a lot of power to reach that far, but it might not be beyond us. We've never really tried any rituals that advanced, though."

When Ultra confirmed that they were indeed free of the infection, a look of relief flooded Amy's face. Nadia just gave a bright grin and said, "Man we're good."

Caleb gave a little smile, the three siblings flying down after Ultra. She was right, they could talk on the move. "So you can detect the presence of the parasites, then?" he asked.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

Ultra perked an eyebrow, "Magic?" she asked, the beginning of a skeptical smirk arching her lips.

For an alien that had come from a distant, highly advanced civilisation the idea of magic and divinity was rather...well, silly. As oxymoronic as that belief was. Supernatural entities and divine beings never really featured into her upbringing or national psyche...magic was just a form of science that wasn't yet understood. But, Ultra herself could fly, shoot lasers from her eyes and punch giant spiders, so stranger things had happened!

"Have to tell you, I didn't really expect divine intervention," she says as the four of them take off in the direction of NASA command, no-doubt casting a shadow over Athena as she clambered into her flying machine.

"Where do you guys come from?" she asked.

"So you can detect the presence of the parasites, then?"

"Not exactly," Ultra responds, her eyes forward and hair fluttering in the breeze as they sailed over buildings and vegetation, "I can see through things, as odd as it sounds," she snickered slightly, "everyone has these black microbes affixed to their nervous system. They're all infected with them. Yours, thankfully, are dead and rescinding." she offers a reassuring smile.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Star City," Caleb answered, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Hope it's not too big a disappointment, but we're humans."

"We have an angel in our heads though," Nadia hastily added. "He's plenty divine, even if he won't come clean about which divine. And we're gonna intervention the heck out of this weird parasite thing!"

"What about you? Where are you from?" Amy asked.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

"Not really angels?" Ultra repeated, although she didn't sound surprised, "the pranks you could play on people who thought otherwise." she grinned mischievously.

The Kryptonian paused for several long moments after Amy asked her question, her lips pursed and hair waving in the air.

"A long way away." she finally answered emptily.

"That's what makes this planet so important. I've got no idea what's hovering above the earth, but if they're linked to these microbes they've got a lot of explaining to do..."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I know, right?" Nadia said with a mischievous smile. "I mean, um, no. Of course not. That would be wrong," she amended in an unconvincing monotone.

"Not us personally. Trinity is though. We're pretty sure," Caleb clarified.

All three of them looked a little shaken at Ultrawoman's answer, and what it and - more importantly - her tone suggested. Oh, they might not have had the whole picture from just those words, but even the incomplete idea was enough to trigger their sympathy. Amy pretty much instinctively reached out to set a consoling hand on the super's shoulder.

Yeah I'm good to go whenever.

[NineOfSpades]

"Still sane" Heph responded, appearing to keep a positive attitude, despite everything. Though perhaps that was just the effect of the microbes in his brain re-exerting themselves, dampening his ability to fully experiance the stress and fear of having his behavior overwritten by an unknown extraterrestrial intelligence. "And don't worry, everything that can be automated has been automated. Whenever the trigulation protocols finish, you'll get sent the data directly. I also took the liberty of disabling my access to the transmission commands. It'll keep anyone from using my noggin to delete the data before the systems finished running."




The Deep-Space Material Science lab was not exactly the crown jewel of the NASA facility. While they do impressive work, the limited availability of materials which had originated outside the solar system made their particular branch of research rather difficult. Sure, there would be the occasional meteor fragment, or shards of glowing radioactive material, but these samples were precious and treated with the greatest of care. In short, it was a place that even geologists would likely feel the need to nudge along and say 'hurry it up guys'.

Access to the building was usually restricted, barring a tour group of elementary students. But this was not a usual sort of day. On the Phone, the Trio of angels had spoken with Dr. Cadence Fawks, who now stood at the front gate as she awaited the groups arrival, passing the time by sharing photographs of her grandchildren with the doughy looking security guard.

With none of you having ever met the woman beforehand, it was hard to say how great an influence the plague was having on her. Certainly, she was taking the arrival of a covert ops telepath, a cape-clad extraterrestrial, and three physical representations of (potentially) Biblical grace with a level of opens that simply had to be unnatural.

"Good afternoon everyone. My name is Dr. Cadance Fawks, though you can call me Cadie if you prefer. When we spoke on the phone, I didn't think that you'd be bringing along any guests, but I'm not about to turn away the scientifically curious from my doorstep. Come on in!" With a swipe of her security badge, Dr. Fawks opened up the gateway past the perimeter fence. A rather pointless gesture, given that everyone had arrived here by way of air-travel. Chalk it up to common curtsy.

As the group walked towards the large, square and drab looking building, Dr. Fawks merrily spoke, her tone suggesting that she was, at least at one point, a professor of sorts, as she addressed the group like she was giving a lecture. "The sample you were asking about is actually rather interesting. Though I would say 'frustrating' would be a better word. When we first brought it in, everyone here was jumpy as a june-bug to get a look at it. All of our early-assessments suggested that it could very well contain actual microbial life. I don't need to tell you how big of a find that would have been. Imagine it, holding physical proof of abiogenisis, of life traveling from one planet to another, sheltered within the core of an asteroid." Inside the building, a few business casual scientists were loitering around, sharing a cup of coffiee and chatting with one another, as other employee's sat at cubicals and typed away. Those you passed didn't seem to be actually working on anything at the moment. Just the opposite. People were cleaning out their desks, getting rid of old documents. From snippets of conversation that you picked up, it wasn't hard to gather that the building was being preped for conversion into a school to teach job-skills to impoverished and unemployed citizens. Even here, charity and goodwill abound. And through it, Dr. Fawks kept up her little speech. "Of course, our early predictions never really panned out. I must have inspected the charts and graphs a thousand times, and they all kept screaming at me 'There's Life here!'. But everyone who's worked on the project with me is in agreement that it's impossible. The rock is biologically inactive, and the readings are just faulty equipment. We were going to put in a request for some new mass-spectrometers and electron microscopes, but I think that money is going into upgrading the kitchen now, so we can start teaching cooking classes"

At last, in the heart of the building, you reached the Material Storage Vault. Through the viewing window, the five of you were given a front row view of the large, pale white stone that had fallen from the sky. its surface was pitted and scarred, almost looking like tunnels had been dug through it. Comparisons could be drawn to a termite mound, or an anthill. After giving you all a chance to take it in for a moment or two, Dr. Fawks finally opened the floor up, by asking "So, any other questions I can help you with?"

[BananaPhone]

ooc; Should've brought this up earlier.

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


On the last leg of the flight, Ultrawoman piped up, "You mentioned something cured you of the infection? What was it? And how? You haven't been reinfected so I"m assuming you've now got immunity. Could it be used on more than one person?'



oOo


Ultrawoman stared at the swiss cheese monolith, her eyes going over it like a fine-tooth comb:

ooc:

Perception!!: 1d20+13=33 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4874698/)

Applicable Senses: Extended 4 (Vision), Microscopic Vision 1, Penetrates Concealment (Visual), Ultravision

[Quellian-dyrae]

"We basically fried it in one shot with raw holy power. Man we're good," Nadia answered with a grin.

"It took a lot of energy though, and it was basically single-target. We were able to kinda spread it between all three of us because we're linked through Trinity, but it's not a large-scale solution," Amy clarified.

--

"Thank you so much!" Nadia said cheerily to Cadie, slipping into a Southern accent for some odd reason. They followed along, Nadia nodding and occasionally chiming in with little comments and unimportant questions. Caleb was looking around with undisguised curiosity, not really talking, but clearly interested in the facility.

Amy got a kinda pained look on her face as soon as they met Cadie, and it only deepened with every happy, friendly, carefree scientist they passed. She knew and had accepted that this had to be stopped, but the constant reminders of what the cost was going to be weighed heavily on her.

When they got to the room with the meteorite, honestly, the three didn't quite know what to do. They hadn't really had a step two of this plan.

Fortunately, at the time, they also hadn't had a specialist in all things alien and a woman who could see through objects with them. So, you know, that changed things.

Cadie's description of their findings brought to mind Caleb's CAT scan, where the parasites were clearly visible, but the doctor had simply ignored them. They made a note to mention that to the others as soon as they were alone.

[Arcran]

"Thanks Heph. Keep it together just a little longer, alright?" Athena says, voice tinged with an abnormal note of sympathy. "I'm going to fix this."



Athena, like the others, looks at the rock critically, reaching out her mind to probe the stone for any sort of intelligence, hoping to have some link to space through the stone.

Almost simultaneously, Athena pushes her mind towards Cadie's, trying to drown out the alien influence with, well, her own.

"Cadie, I have a few questions for you but, first, I need you to tell me your real thoughts on the repurposing of this facility," Athena states, modulated voice stern but not unkind; after all, it wasn't Cadie's fault that Athena needed her mind at the moment.

Don't want to Power Stunt a cure again, so I'm just using Mental Domination on Cadie.

Using my Memtal Awareness and Detect Minds on the stone.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman



Ultrawomans mouth was agape in a rictus of horror, her eyes wide open.

"Burn it. Burn it now. Kill it with fire!" she hissed before shaking the shock from her system.

Ultrawoman remained vigilant and just glared intensely at the...thing through the viewing window. When Cadie was done answering Athena's question, Ultrawoman spoke up, her eyes still fixated on the rock.

"I need you to tell me, or find out, what the trajectory of this thing was before it crashed on earth."

[NineOfSpades]

Dr. Fawks made the slightest of twitches, a microscopic tremor as Athena pushed on the scientists brainwaves, exerting pressure and obediance. After that, the good doctor was completely willing to chat about her feelings. "Oh, the renovation project? I think its complete and total bull ****" she said, not losing any of the cheerful emotional tone, even as her words themselves sounded absolutely livid. It was a sharply contrasting dicotomy. Like listening to Mr. Rogers read a passage from the Karma Sutraa. "The trajectory? Why, its...its..." She scratched her head, trying to knock the memory loose. "Huh, you know, its the strangest thing. I could have sworn we checked that. Hold on a second..."

Pulling her phone, Candace dialed a quick number, before putting the line on speaker. "Hey Dave? Its Cadie. Quick question, did you ever do the trajectory calculations on the P22 Asteroid?"

"22? Yeah I...I'm sure I did. Let me check my notes...here..." Some shuffling of papers could be heard. "No, thats not it...I'd swear we did the math on that, but its not in my records. Must have skipped that step. I've got the composition data though, if that helps. 43 percent oxygen, 20 percent silicon, 19 percent magnesium, 10 percent iron, 3 percent calcium, 3 percent aluminum, 0.42 percent chromium, 0.18 percent titanium and 0.12 percent manganese, plus some spare change worth of trace elements"

"Huh, that doesn't sound right. Thanks for the help though, talk to you later" Dr. Fawk hung up her phone, returning her attention to the group. "Sorry, I think some of our files are misplaced. Probably got mixed up in the shuffle here. Those numbers sound like it came from the surface of the moon, but that couldn't possibly be right, since the moon doesn't make a habit of throwing stones at us, am I right?" She chuckled. "I'll have to check back at my office, see if I can't find the numbers for the trajectory"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Athena?" Caleb asked. "Can we...?" he tapped his head briefly with his index finger.

[Arcran]

Of course, Athena states, opening a line with Caleb. I'll keep the line open, so to speak.

"Cadie, are you in contact with the other NASA locations? Specifically the launch sites," Athena asks, assuming that the woman was at least free to speak her mind following that answer. "We may need to make a trip."

[Quellian-dyrae]

~Thanks. Just wanted to mention, when we got me checked out and found the parasites, the doctor didn't seem to notice them. I mean, they were clear enough on the CAT scan printout that we could see them right away. This parasite appears to be capable of outright preventing those it infects from noticing any information about it. Really, if we want that data, we'll probably need to look at the notes ourselves.~

~What did you see?~ Amy sent to Ultrawoman through the link (assuming Athena had connected them all), a...trifle concerned about her reaction.

[Arcran]

I experienced the same. Even when I was suppressing the parasite people were only able to find individual data sets. They couldn't compile them into anything useful, Athena states, looking at the rock with a modicum of fear as she feels the mind routing itself through the stone.

What are you? Athena demands of the mind she feels pushing against her own, already throwing up mental barriers against this new presence, unsure what to do. What mattered at the moment was who was stronger; her, or the thing piloting the parasites.

[NineOfSpades]

If the stone heard Athena's question, it gave no indication as such. For several drawn out seconds, Athena could feel another presence investigating her. It made no effort at communication, nor did it attempt to exert control over her. It simply probed, investigating the mind which had made contact with it, before finally retreating back to dormancy.

Unaware of what was transpiring on the telepathic plane, Dr. Fawks answered Athena's question "Well, of course I have some drinking buddies who work over at the launch center, but I doubt they'd be able to get a rocket ready on such short notice. Much as I might like to, we just can't afford to send anybody who asks into space. Not at these gas prices, at least"

[Arcran]

"We just need a vehicle. We can supply our own propulsion," Athena says, momentarily shifting her head towards Ultrawoman. "All we need is something with enough shielding to keep us from getting completely fried by the radiation on the way there."

Something is probing telepathically right now, Athena broadcasts to her companions. It hasn't done anything and is dormant now, but whatever is up there might know where we are, in which case we could be in trouble, Athena says, mentally broadening her senses to make sure there weren't suddenly minds traveling towards them in unwanted numbers.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Cadie, would you mind terribly if we kinda explored a bit? We'd love to see more of the place, but we don't want to be in your hair. I'm sure you've got work to do. I promise we won't mess with anything or get in anyone's way or anything," Nadia requested with her best friendly smile.

Persuasion: [roll0], +5 if Attractive applies.

[NineOfSpades]

"Well, I wouldn't mind a little more free time, it's really not much of a bother to act as your tour guide. Besides, there are some dangerous pieces of equipment we've got here. Dangerous and expensive. So I really would prefer that you not be wandering off unattended." Cadie said warmly.



You were used to a certain amount of 'background noise', a natural consequence of your senses being so far advanced. In most cases, such noise would fade together into a dull white noise, unless you specifically focused on it. However, your ears were met by the sound of uniform footsteps, propagating in all directions. With a glance, your eyes peer through the walls. All around you, the employee's were moving, sealing the building shut, piling desks and cabinets against doorways, barricading windows. All of this was done without a word, each person staring ahead with a vacent (though peaceful) gaze

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Stepping forward and placing one hand against the viewing window, Ultra watched in silence as the ocean of microbes stream unceasingly from the chalky asteroids centre

"It's spewing them out by the millions..." she trailed off, still a little captivated by the unique and disgusting image, "how many more like this fell across the earth? It's venting those microbes out unceasingly!"

As she turned her head to speak the Kryptonian noticed what was happening elsewhere in the NASA facility. Her eyes flashed a pale grey as she observed office workers, engineers and scientists vacantly barricading the doors and attempting to lock the place down.

"Whatever it is that's guiding this all...it knows we're here, and it wants to keep it that way," she stated, eyes still shimmering grey as she looked about at the walls and ceiling.

[Arcran]

Without a second thought Athena uses her mental perimeter to begin reading the minds of office workers, quickly confirming what Ultrawoman had said through the movement of, well, minds.

Of course it found us, Athena broadcasts to the team, hand instinctively drifting towards her rifle. We're right next to one of its main focus points. The barricade won't do anything, but we need to get out now. Get out with minimal casualties, meet at the Kennedy Space Center? That's our best shot at finding something with enough shielding that us mere earthlings survive the trip, Athena states, trying to figure out the best way to get to the moon. No fuel, but that's what you're for, she adds, mentally nudging Ultrawoman. Unless somebody has a better plan.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

Arms folded over her chest, Ultra considered several options for a second before settling on a course of action.

There was no use attacking the chalky meteor...it was contained for the time being, and there was no guarantee destroying it would achieve anything in the grand scheme of things. Likewise it was equally pointless to attack the NASA employee's and force their way out of the complex.

Pursing her lips, she spoke over her shoulder towards the triplets, "You guys said you can do magic, yeah? Can you create a little pocket environment for yourself and Athena to survive an improvised moon landing?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well. That all sounded...less than ideal.

~Yeah, we can pull that off, no problem~ Nadia sent.

~Um...?~ Amy asked, sounding rather less certain.

~We'll need to figure out a ritual for it,~ Caleb sent. ~I mean, we've never tried space travel before. But if that's what we have to do, then we'll figure it out,~ he wasn't as casually certain as Nadia was, but his quiet confidence that way would manage was no less self-assured, for all that. ~But first, yeah, let's get out of here, head somewhere more secure where we can put a more cohesive plan together.~

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

"Because unless you four want to meet whatever is controlling these things while floating around inside bulky, heavy astronaut suits, you're going to need to come up with something."

Turning her attention back to the company of shuffling NASA employees, Ultrawoman pursed her lips and nodded once, "well the front door isn't an option..." she uttered as she looked up at the ceiling.

Her eyes flashed that pale grey as she peered through several floors before picking the ideal trajectory that involved the least amount of damage to wires and other expensive looking equipment. Satisifed, the sides of her head abruptly glowed a hot orange and coalesced into her eyes as a pair of swirling spears of burning energy lanced forth and cleaved through several floors. The scent of ozone filled the air as discs of material fell from each affected ceiling, their circular forms wreathed in freshly sheared orange-hot melted metal and sparks.

"Come'on!" the Kryptonian encouraged, reaching out with one hand to grab the only one among them who couldn't fly - Athena. Unless the telepath resisted she'd feel Ultra's hand ensnare her by the collar before watching the improvised ceiling-tunnel rush past them as Ultrawoman took off outside.

[Arcran]

Of course, Athena does resist, doing her best to escape the superhero's grip as she pulls out her grapple, easily scaling the side of the hole created by the alien.

Once on the roof, Athena modified her tool, turning it into a zipline before gliding towards her means of transportation.

What. The ****. Are you doing, Athena asks, mental voice icy. These are civilians. We literally could have walked out the frontdoor with no issue. Carving up the building was entirely unnessesary, Athena states, absolutely livid as she looks at the smoking hole.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


"Then they can bill me," Ultra answered bluntly, tiring of the operatives self-important need to do things on her own.

"Whatever these microbes are they've changed their minds and made room for an alien entity to coordinate them like a hive - they could just as easily change what they're capable of physically. I'd prefer to avoid breaking some mindless employee's arm because I had to shove him out of the way. But if you'd like to find out yourself, then go ahead," she points back to the building, "they're waiting for you. Maybe they can do you a favor and dislodge that stick from your ass while they're at it."

Turning and addressing the triplets, Ultra's expression changed from tired and impassive to open and friendly in a heart-beat, "like I said, that thing came from the moon and it's venting these parasites by the millions. There's no guarantee there'll be an atmosphere there for you to breath, and being stuck inside a heavy, cumbersome astronaut suit won't do you any good if there's something hostile up there. You said you might be able to use some of your...magic? To help you survive instead? What help do you need?"

[NineOfSpades]

From the rooftop, the five of you had a fairly commanding view of the area. The Laboratory was somewhat removed from any nearby structures, which gave unobstructed sight lines of the nearby city. On any other day, seeing cars on the road would be normal. Yet, for each of you, there was firsthand experience showing people had been avoiding use of motor vehicles unless they were a necessary part of their occupation. Now though? It started with just a trickle, mostly police cruisers. But that trickle was rapidly growing into a flood, as everyone and their grandma was converging towards the Deep-Space Material Lab. A hundred cars? Two hundred? It was hard to say. But there was close to 80 thousand people living in the immediate area, and they were being mobilized.



Looking south, you can see the launch site at Cape Canaveral is also being targeted by a jolly caravan of civilians

[Arcran]

Athena simply shakes her head. The woman could fly at mind-boggling speeds; how hard would dashing out the front door have been?

Pressure, air, radiation, temperature. Those are what we need, Athena states, listing off the three most obvious dangers for space. She had her own air but when space was involved redundancy was hardly a bad thing.

Either way, we should leave before any more buildings are destroyed.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb couldn't hide a wince as Ultrawoman tore through the NASA building. She could see through objects, so probably she hadn't hit anything important but...yeesh.

Nonetheless, they flew up after her, landing beside the two on the roof.

"We just need to get-" Amy began, but Caleb cut her off with, "-to the beach! Good place for rituals like this. Um, because the beach is kinda a place of balance between all four terrestrial elements - fire, earth, water, and air - and that'll give a boost to a spell designed to shield us from the effects of the fifth element, aether."

It would have been painfully obvious he was making it up on the spot even if his sisters weren't giving him confused looks. "Uh...Caleb...?"

"Trust me. Beach."

[Arcran]

Had Trinity possessed x-ray vision and a rampant disregard for privacy, they would have seen the look of disbelief on Athena's face.

"If you can do it here, please do," Athena says with a disproving tone. "While I'd say we're not reallypressed for time, the longer we wait the higher the chance one of the happy zombies hurts themselves," Athena states as she makes her way over to whatever roof access there is and attempting to fashion a barricade with whatever junk was on the roof.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"We, um, do actually have to go-" Amy tried again.

"To the beach!" Caleb interrupted insistently.

~Okay, hey, Caleb. I'm like, all kinda of a fan of beach trips. You know that. Normal circumstances? Totally down. But this really isn't the time for it.~

~...Why do you think we need to go to the beach?~

~Can't say. But we need to.~

~Caleb. It's us, of course you can say.~

~I'll explain later. Just trust me, it's important. It'll take like ten minutes and it's time well spent.~

[Arcran]

"The beach it is," Athena says, modulator barely hiding the tired tone in her voice. "You two lead the way; I'll catch up," Athena says, trying to plot her way across to her jet while avoiding most of the enemies.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy and Nadia nodded, but Caleb kinda grimaced. "Honestly, Athena, it's better if you let one of us fly you. That jet's a lot more likely to be noticed landing, and if we get interrupted by a swarm of infected, it's not going to be helpful. And I think we're going to going to need both of your assistance to perform this ritual."

He was still obviously hiding something to both Athena's and Ultrawoman's perceptions, but he did sound sincere about the need, if not the reasons. Amy and Nadia seemed if anything even more confused, but their brother had asked them to trust him, and so they did.

[Arcran]

"Fine," Athena states, pointedly taking a step towards Trinity.

"Heph, if you can, start working on something to let me fly. This is ridiculous," Athena whispers, hoping that building a flight mechanism for a friend was appropriately goodwill focused.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

"The beach?" she asked, perking an eyebrow as the "angel" told her where they needed to go.

"You're the expert!" Ultra conceded with a shrug as her figure lifted off the ground and started off, blood-red cape billowing as she kept near Trinity during the trip, acting as an escort.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy and Nadia both took hold of Athena (chances were only one of them was needed to fly her, but they weren't sure how much that armor weighed) and lifted her up into the air, Amy taking the opportunity, as they did so, to ask cheerily, "So um...you're a HALO fan, I take it?"

Caleb took the lead, flying up, up, high above the earth. High enough that even with their extended eyesight, the triplets would have trouble making out the people below - which should certainly be high enough that any people down there couldn't discern them, even if they did happen to look up. Then he flew off for the coast, moving at speed as further security against detection from people on the ground.

He flew over the coast for a bit, scanning it with eyes inured to high-speed flight, seeking out an area that was clear of people and isolated from any on nearby stretches of beach - but, importantly, still reasonably close to at least one more populated section of beach, or populated area. Far enough that they shouldn't be seen, but close enough that people could potentially still reach them.

He flew down as fast as he had flown over, his sisters following at an equally breakneck speed, fluttering their wings to slow them to a sharp but harmless stop mere feet above the ground (Nadia was wearing an excited smile when they landed). Amy and Nadia released Athena, and once everyone was on the ground, Caleb said, "Okay. Athena, keep your mindlink open to all of us. It will help me channel the power from you guys more easily. Ultra, I need you in the sky, high enough that there's a strong wind, and also so that nobody sees you. Just kind of concentrate on the wind, take notice of it as it passes over you. But while you're up there, pay attention to the surroundings as well. If you see a bunch of cars or people heading towards us, alert the rest of us immediately. Athena, you just need to draw a circle in the sand and stand in it, and again same deal, just concentrate on it enough to intentionally take notice of it, feel it beneath your feet, etc. Amy, you just need to stand in the sun somewhere. Nadia, you get in the water."

"Wait, what?"

"I need all four elements, Nadia."

"But- You- This- ...!" Nadia fixed her brother with a glare. "This ritual better work Caleb, or I am going to be really mad at you," she said sternly, before taking out her phone* and wallet, passing them to Amy, and heading into the water. "Gah it's cold! I am clearly and intentionally noticing that it's cold!"

Amy just looked at Caleb. "I could have done the water thing, you know."

Caleb only gave her a little smile and kissed her cheek.

"...Don't be mean to our sister," Amy admonished him.

"I would never."

Giving him a bemused smile and a shake of her head, Amy went to stand in the sunlight.

*I assume that since Plan: Take Pictures In Space was tabled for the time at least, Nadia took her phone back from Ultra off-screen.

In other news, just for the sake of speed I posted a fair bit here. Obviously, if anything happens on the way that prevents any of this stuff (such as an appropriately semi-isolated section of beach not existing anywhere on the Florida coast (hey the happy plague may have convinced like half the state to go to the beach today, I don't know!)), I'll totally retcon. I just figured the chance that it would all go without a hitch was high enough that I may as well post it at one go.

On the more mechanical end, Caleb's idea for a ritual does actually seem like reasonable arcanobabble, so if Nines is okay with it, I'll totally actually perform the ritual here. I did kinda assume they'd need to actually go home to get some books and props and things though, so if they can't wing it here, that's fine too. Alternately, I didn't actually spend any EP on their home, so Nines may decide that they need to actually go to a library or bookstore with a decent occult section to gather the necessary materials. The actual point of being here has nothing to do with the ritual itself. My main question, whether or not the ritual is possible here (and assuming Athena and Ultra continue to play along) is: do the Infected keep coming for us despite the measures Caleb took to get us here undetected. If the ritual isn't possible, he'll wait about ten to fifteen minutes doing vaguely magicky-looking things to give them a chance to make their presence known (if it is possible, based on what I'm looking to do, it'll probably take a bit over half an hour to complete).

[Arcran]

"Blame the engineers for that one," Athena mutters in response to Amy's question. "Never played the games, never plan. Playing a supersoldier is a lot less interesting when you actually are one, oddly enough," Athena says without emotion, helmet concealing her slight smirk.

And done, Athena states. Think at me, if that makes sense, and I'll relay it to the others.

At mention of the circle in the sand Athena looks at Caleb a little incredulously, but doesn't object. After all, while aliens and technology were fairly normal to her, magic was almost completely alien. In a smooth motion the psion draws her "combat knife" (is it really a knife when the blade is three feet long?) and draws a halfway decent circle, sending her psionic powers towards it in a futile attempt to aid the ritual.

Of course, at the same time, Athena extends her mental senses out, searching for any and all human minds coming towards them.

Just as a note, Athena's Detect Minds has Extended and Radius. On a routine check, she should be able to detect an average person at 2,000 feet away no problem.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Ultra gives Caleb a small, casual salute in response to his direction - her figure lifting off and catapulting into the air. Barely a second later she was just a pin-point in the distance, unnoticeable to those who didn't know where to look.

Up above the beach turned from a sandy-brown footing to a thin slice of her birdseye view. With the cool wind rubbing against her skin and her yellowed hair carrying about in the breeze, the Kryptonian let out a soft sigh as she waited patiently.

Out of habit, Ultrawoman let her hearing seep across the surrounding countryside for kilometers abound. Where once she had floated above the earth and heard the plea's of those in need she now heard only the empty sounds of a still planet. It was hard to believe that a day had come where she wanted to hear of those needing help, if only to offer an island of sanity amidst the invasion of these microbes and their unseen master.

Pursing her lips and looking upwards at the stars, she gave a small thought for just what was up there and whether there were more of them. Not all things that came from that expansive, star-studded void could be malcontent, could they? After all, she turned out alright.

Time would tell.

[NineOfSpades]

So, there you were, loitering around on a beach, concentrating on various sensations from the world around you. All you needed was some zitar music and scented candles, and your team would have crossed completely into the 'new-age-medicine' crowd. Though, ironically, you were activly working to prevent a world where everyone connected on a higher plane, and lived in harmony. So there was that.

It took over an hour for the magical energies to gather, and it was hard to say that it was time well spent. Nadia's toes were shriveled up like rasins from standing in the surf, and were it not for the groups divine protection/body armor/solar absorbing cells, the whole lot of you would probably have had some pretty nasty sunburns.

Ultra woman and Athena, with their enhanced senses, were best equipped to keep lookout. But even that was uneventful. Every five or ten minutes, a convoy of vehicles would be spotted, but each one turned away down another road before getting to close. Seems that whatever was out there, it was still seeking you out.

With only a few minutes remaining, things seemed like you were going to make it. But Ultrawoman was the first to spot a military convoy line heading for you. As before, you waited to see if it would veer off course, or change directions. But there could be no mistaking as it closed in, that this time, you'd been found.



Combat! (Well, I suppose you don't have to fight. But we are going into combat rounds here.

The ritual has 60 seconds left till completion, however, if any of you leave the element you've been assigned to focus on for more than one complete round, then the spell will be broken, and you'll have to start the ritual over.

There are currently 4 military trucks approaching, and 2 APC's escorting them. Ultrawoman can see (And I presume will relay the fact) that each truck has 10 soldiers in it.

The Trucks are 250ft out, and closing in. They have not started shooting yet, so you do have the opportunity to strike first.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Ever since the convoy had been approaching the Krytponian had been watching. Like a mouse floating in thy sky, watching its targeted mouse down below, Ultrawoman was watching...always...

Okay, not really - but close enough. As the convoy drew nearer she found herself whispering "turn away..." under her breath in the futile hope that they'd go the way of all the other patrols and turn off down a different avenue. But not this time.

Looking down at the triplets still dancing around a circle and waving a stick into the air to cast their magic spell, Ultrawoman figured that Athena probably already knew of the convoy's approach. She'd never encountered a creepy telepath before, but what movies and TV told her was that they could detect minds out to a great distance! At least she hoped.

Pursing her lips and swallowing, the Kryptonian decided to act. The artificial breeding that had produced her infused her with the desire to take the initiative and act, and that's what she was going to do. The triplets needed her to remain in the air so that's what she'd do, but she had several ways of neutralising the incoming threat without killing anyone.

Ultrawoman didn't even need to move much - her figure remained just a pin-point in the sky. But from that speck lanced a brilliant spear of energy that, to Athena and the Triplets, seemed to lance out into nowhere in the distance and cut across the ground.

ooc:
Surprise round!

Standard Action: Using her "Heat Vision Strafing", it's got a range of 1300 feet and it's a Line area effect of 30 feet. She's slashing it across the right-side tyres of as many trucks as she can to immobilise them. Hits automatically, DC 28.

[Arcran]

They aren't the enemy! Athena mentally shouts, rage pouring off the soldier as she watches Ultrawoman's laser cut a wide swath across the trucks. Did she not understand how gasoline worked? Lasers and heavy machinery was just asking for an accident.

Athena's approach, on the other hand, was far more nuanced. Without a second thought she presses her mind out towards the first of the trucks, mentally grasping at the mind of the driver and giving him the simple command of turning the truck around safely. These weren't civilians already lost to a foreign influence; the triplets had already shown the presence of the aliens could be purged. All they needed to do was buy time, not cause needless civilian causalities.

Mental Domination on whoever is leading the convoy to order them all to turn around. He's turning his truck around either way, but should also order everybody else to do the same.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Nadia loved her brother dearly and would absolutely never, ever want to do anything to hurt him. I want to make that abundantly clear. So, with that in mind.

Nadia was going to kill Caleb!

This was not what she had envisioned. She was wet, she was cold, and this ritual was taking freaking forever. There was no reason this had to be done at the beach. They could have gone home, set up a proper ritual circle with proper books and candles and incense and absolutely no ocean. What was Caleb even thinking?

And now infected people were coming. Naturally. Well, fine, Nadia had some pent-up aggression to relieve and she was more than happy to- ~Stay in the water! We're almost done!~

Scum and a half!

So Nadia just stood there, shivering. She saw her siblings start projecting some shields of divine energy in preparation for incoming attack, and with some choice mutterings, did so as well.

Move: Maintain ritual.

Standard: Defend.

Sorry guys, ranged superiority isn't really my thing and with move actions spoken for, Move-by Actions are unavailable. If the fighting gets going in earnest I'll have Caleb and Amy close and start contributing more directly, but for now I figure it's best to just stay out of direct line of attack.

[NineOfSpades]

With twin lances of burning energy, Ultrawomans eye beams cut a swath along the flank of the vehicles. The energy beams managed to completely sever the wheels from the drive shaft of the first car that they hit, causing it to pitch violently to the side and fall off the road, into a ditch. The impact threw up a cloud of dirt, but from high above the roadway, you could see that the soldiers were rattled, but uninjured. Specifically, uninjured enough that they got out and started running towards the beach, though obviously were rapidly falling behind from the rest of the oncoming convoy. The second vehicle also took a hit, and lost one of its tires, but kept on approaching.

Grabbing a hold of the soldiers mind was not an easy task, since you had to fight not only his subconscious defense, but also the presence that was holding onto his thoughts. For a moment, you managed to get through, but as your thrall reached for the radio to signal the vehicles, the soldier in the passenger seat balled his hand into a fist, only pausing to say "Sorry Jim" and punched the driver in the jaw, delivering a shock which disrupted your control and allowed the Parasites to push your mental assault out of the driver's head.

Despite the crash, the remaining vehicles neither slowed nor altered their course. The APC at the front of the convoy took up position at the entrance to the beach, aiming its main gun down at the ritual site. The other vehicles began sweeping right and left, moving to create a wall and box you in. Though that would seem a fools errand, given the air-capabilities you had at your disposal.



The punch is just fluff, I rolled an opposed check to see if you could overpower the brainwashing. You did not, I'm afraid.

One truck is down and several hundred feet away, so those guys have some catching up to do. The rest use their turn to move into position around the bay area, and will have to wait to disembark next turn.

[Arcran]

Either the parasite isn't making use of basic military knowledge, or they aren't going for a conventional attack. Don't kill anybody, Athena states, the last part aimed at Ultrawoman even as she lifts her rifle from her back, lights shining along the side as the battery charges up in a matter of milliseconds.

What do you want from us? Athena broadcasts to all of the soldiers, even as she begins to subtly worm her way into the mind of the soldier in charge of the mounted gun. Hopefully she could buy enough time for Caleb; if she could just distract the parasite's driver, maybe they could get the ritual complete and be out of here before anything less than savory happened.

Since the punch was just fluff that's fine, but Athena's powers have Subtle 2 and Insidious, so they should be 100% undetectable.

Going to Mental Domination whoever is using that big 'ole cannon.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb could admit it, this was less than ideal.

He was leading the ritual, but really, it wasn't a singular effort. Working a spell this complex required concentration from all three of them. Not enough that they couldn't fight, but enough to make it difficult.

Then again, facing standard military troops, he supposed that was only fair.

Another pulse of elemental energy flowed in. It was worth noting that this ritual wasn't all vaguely mystical song-and-dance numbers. Four ribbons of elemental power were swirling around him, golden sunlight, tan sand, pale wind, and azure water, like four great serpents winding and dancing around the angel as the ritual continue. More power flowed in, and he concentrated, joining his will with his sisters, and poured it into the spell he was casting.

Not long now.

Still, standing idle under a minute of sustained military fire was not a winning proposition. Amy was on the move, and he flew in to support her. As she came down upon that cannon with a blade of brilliant, neon-pink light lashing out in a flurry of blows, he flew up beside her and radiated protective power out around them both, a silvery shield of Faith.

Move: Maintain the ritual.

Free: Reconfigure Triplecast as Damage 10 (Multiattack) Linked Deflect 10 (Reduced Range [Close], Burst Area, Selective) (Amy's Divine Smite + Caleb's Blessing).

Standard: Charge, Amy and Caleb flying at the cannon to attack with Triplecast, Power Attacking for 5, -2 for Charge, at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage. If the cannon is an inanimate object, increase the DC by 5 from auto-crit. In addition, all allies in 30' of Caleb receive a rank 10 Deflect (subject to PL limits based on their Toughness) with a +2 bonus from Improved Defense.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

One would think that Athena and Ultra would get along like a house on fire...both born and bred for what they're doing, one a physical monster the other a mental paragon, both having militaristic upbringings and careers...yet as Athena scolded Ultra again for something that she done all that was translated into the Kryptonians head was 'blah blah blah blah blah blah.'

Watching the truck over-turn and crash into a ditch, Ultra dashed in swiftly, her image a red-and-white blur as she came to an abrupt stop behind the two single-file trucks with exposed exteriors.

Looking inside at the flanks of soldiers with guns armed, the Krypronian drew air into her lungs and then expelled it as a freezing mist that coated the outside and inside of each truck before Ultrawoman shot off again like a dart into the air.

ooc:

Move action: Moving down to behind a pair of the trucks that are travelling single-file in order to catch both of them.

Standard Action: Arctic Breath. DC 23 progressive, 1st degree vulnerable, 2nd degree Prone. Though given that they're minions I think they automatically become Prone.

Move-by Action: Shoots off again into the sky.

Ultra is applying her "favored environment" to defence, so she's got +11 parry and dodge.

[NineOfSpades]

The Subtle 2 doesn't matter in this instance, since the soldiers are already mind controlled. As such, I'm handling it as an opposed powers roll between you and the brain-parasites.


Athena's question was not answered, and despite coming at a new target, the result was the same, the biological control over the nervous system was strong enough to shunt out your telepathic attempts at forceful coercion. The main gunner kept aim at the ritual, while the second APC didn't get a chance to do anything as it was definitively sliced in two by Amy and Caleb. The Trucks had already begun to disperse, and were to far appart for Ultrawoman to hit more than one. But her single hit was still effective. The soldiers closest to the rear of the vehicle managed to get a foot down on solid ground, before being totally entrapped by the ice, which spread rapidly over the tarp and driver's seat, before strangling the engine. They weren't going anywhere.

The troopers filed out of their vehicles, and took up a position in the open, without cover, standing in two-deep rows, looking for a moment like something out of revolutionary war era firing lines. Weapons were drawn by those in the rear, while the front row nelt down and removed their helmets. The fellow soldiers then aimed their assult rifles at the base of the skull, and it became clear that the men and women gathered were not sent here to fight you.

They were hostages to force your hand.

The Squad captain stepped forward and spoke, clear and chrisp. "Good afternoon ladies. This is a swell patch of beach you've managed to find, I'll have to remember to bring my kids here for a picnic sometime. But for now, would you be so kind as to do me a solid favor and surrender? I'd really hate it if my men here executed each other, which they're more than happy to do if you try and resist." He took a gander over at Nadia and frowned with concern "You need a towel, honey?"

[Arcran]

If it was Subtle 1 I'd agree, but the whole point of Subtle 2 is that it is entirely undetectable. The parasites would still be fighting Athena, but they would have no idea they were actually fighting her off.

Athena curses mentally as the soldiers became hostages. If nothing else, the parasite seemed to understand exactly what motivated the heroes here.

"You're already too late," Athena says, mind racing. They needed to disappear, but the ritual wasn't ready yet. If they attacked, the hostages would be killed. If they ran, the ritual couldn't be completed. The soldiers would be giving their lives for their world, but what kind of sacrifice was that? Five minutes ago she would have assume the parasite was making an empty bluff, but after the man was punched...

Slowly, bit by bit, Athena scrapes together a plan. Parietal lobe, base of the brain. Location where sensory information was processed. She didn't need to block it entirely, just enough to make them disappear.

"Good luck finding us again," Athena states before sending out a veritable wave of psychic energy at the nearby soldiers, creating a bubble of distorting psychic energy. Anybody looking in would see, well, nothing where the five heroes had stood before. They were completely and totally gone, with only footprints behind as a memory of the heroes.

Nobody move, the supersoldier broadcasts telepathically to her allies, holding still despite the slight headache the effort had given her. If you do nothing, the only way they can find us is if they walk right into us. Just wait it out long enough; they have no reason to kill the hostages at this point.

Here we go!

Athena is Power Stunting off Mental Domination.

Concealment 10 (Total concealment from all but tactile) (+2/Rank), Affects Others (+1/Rank), Burst Area 3 (120 foot radius, should be enough) (+3/Rank), Selective(+1/Rank), Blending(-1/Rank), Passive (-1/Rank)
Feature: Athena can still see everybody
Final: 50 PP + Feature cost

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy got a horrified look on her face. No, no, no! she thought, desperately seeking some way to get out of this without getting all those soldiers killed.

Because she knew, she knew, that if that's what it came to, they were dead.

The parasite had erred badly with this strategy. Oh, sure, had it just been her, it would have worked as expected. Amy couldn't bring herself to put so many lives at risk. She just couldn't. She would have surrendered, without question.

But her siblings...

Nadia would never accept the premise. Would never believe that she couldn't protect them. She'd resist. Maybe successfully, maybe not, but the Angel of Hope would not stand down in the face of a threat.

Caleb...she knew she could always trust to do the right thing. Even when it felt horrible. Even when it went against his nature. This display of outright mind-control removed any trace of doubt even from her that this plague was a threat to the world, let alone her more pragmatic brother. If Caleb knew the cause was just, he would make the necessary sacrifices to see it through without hesitation - if it were required of him, and there was no other choice. Unwavering conviction even in the face of adversity, the sheer will to do what you believed was right even when all the world was demanding you stand down...that too was Faith.

So she desperately tried to come up with some way out, some way to prevent her siblings from making the choice that would save the world at the cost of several dozen lives...when all of them vanished.

She obeyed Athena's directive unquestioningly, all but holding her breath as the power continued to build around Caleb, hoping against hope that it would be enough.

She felt Caleb's hand catch her own.

~If it doesn't work, we put them down before they shoot. Fear not, sister. We aren't wasting any lives today.~

~Athena, Ultra, if they attempt to shoot, Amy and I are going to try to stop them. Without Nadia beside us, we won't have enough control over the energy to shield you from it. I apologize, but be ready.~

Move: Maintain the ritual.

Free: Reconfigure Triplecast to Damage 10 (Burst Area 3).

Standard: Ready an action. If the soldiers attempt to shoot the hostages or other defenseless targets, they will unleash the Triplecast. Everyone in 120' of Caleb and Amy will have to make a DC 20 Dodge save for half, followed by a DC 25 Toughness save vs. Damage. This attack is explicitly nonlethal.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

ultra was stunned as the groups of soldiers got themselves into position in preparation for an act she hadn't considered they'd go for. Her shoulders cringed and her lips pursed as she watched from high above as a couple dozen people knelt and had guns put to the back of their heads.

Immediately the Kryptonian started thinking....could I do it?

Am I fast enough?

To swoop in and take out every armed soldier, whether through fist or freezing breath, in one go?

The decision would have to wait, however, as Ultra received Athena's instruction and for the first time she felt herself going along with the idea without any hint of weary resignation - there was too much at stake.

[NineOfSpades]

Athena's mental shielding brought down a great silence over the area. Cloaking your presence, blocking the very neural impulses that transmitted information from the senses to the cluster of nerves which transform the raw imput into conscious sensory information, it was a risky gambit. Even presuming it worked, which was uncertain, there was no guarantee that they'd believe the five superhuman had actually departed.

"Well...that was rude" The commander commented, kicking ideally at a stone. "Gentleman, you may fire at wi-". It was difficult to say what the enemy was planning. Killing off the subjects of its mental control would seem self defeating. But with nearly seven billion souls so ensnared, sacrificing a few to deliver a blow to the morale of its opposition was understandable. Perhaps they intended to show you the bodies, to send messages worldwide, images of your failures. But they would not get the chance.

Unable to see what was transpiring before them, the soldiers were cought entirely unprepared as a nova-burst of light erupted. They barely had an instant to even comprehend what was happening before the shimmering wall of energy was upon them, engulfing everything in its path. In its wake, silence.

The soldiers were down, some had been knocked backwards, others simply lay where they fell. Uninjured, but unable to risk further harm to themselves. Only the commanding officer clung to the last glimmers of conciousness. He struggled a moment, laying on his back, and managed to draw his side arm. A small pistol, which he pressed to his temple. His finger, forced to act by a will that was not his own, pulled on the trigger.

The bullet never got the chance to leave the barrel. Ultrawoman's grip, stronger than steel, had crushed the gun barrel in the split second after the hammer had ignited the bullets powder charge. The weapon, now crushed into useless scrap, fell to the ground in a clatter of metal, as the Commander of the enthralled soldiers lost the last vestiges of strength that had kept him from passing out.

It had only taken a moment, but you'd managed to save dozens of lives.



GOOD JOB TEAM!

That was some impressive work all around. Everyone gets a hero Point.

There's no other obstacles in your path, so you can complete the ritual and make your next move whenever your ready.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Amy would have hugged Caleb if he weren't currently surrounded by dancing ribbons of elemental energy, so instead she just squeezed his hand tightly and whispered, "Oh thank God..." Caleb himself, for all his conviction, couldn't help but breathe a little sigh of relief.

Nadia, well, her head popped back out of the water (turned out she was just in the radius of the blast. It hadn't hurt her any, but it had knocked her back some just as a wave was coming up behind her), coughing and sputtering. She cast a glare at her siblings and/or in their general direction, but seeing that the soldiers were all down, it faded quickly. "Yee-ah! And what? Crazy Happy Soldiers are all, 'Mwaha! Surrender or we shall shoot ourselves because we've forgotten how fighting works!' and Athena's like, 'Orrrrrr...gone now!' But Captain Crazy Happy rolls with it and comes up with a brilliant plan to all shoot themselves anyway because seriously these guys have totally forgotten how to fight, people! And then boom! Object lesson! In the face! But CCH has one last trick to play, a diabolical last move that will win the entire battle in a single stroke! That's right, he tries to shoot himself! Is there no way for our heroes overcome this tactical supremacy, this sheer military genius? Renowned superhero Ultrawoman has this to say: 'No, don't be silly. CRUNCH!'"

(Nadia actually wasn't 100% sure of that last bit, she just knew the gun crunched out of nowhere, but she deemed it a safe assumption).

Caleb went through the last bit of the ritual, the ribbons of elemental power flowing out into him, and through him to Amy and Nadia, causing their wings to shine with light and brisk, clean, gently luminous air to start flowing around them.

[Arcran]

Athena glares at the unconscious form of the commander, obviously less than pleased even though they had managed to win. She was up against a psionic force that was stronger than her own, and that wasn't exactly something that she was fond of and, honestly, rarely had to go against. Even then, there was the simple option of blasting them into laserified oblivion, something that would appear to be a little more difficult in their current situation. Either way, Athena lowers the last of the barrier, knowing that the attacks done by the others had rendered the effect all but moot.

Still, despite her anger Nadia's excitement manages to bring the shadow of a smile to her face. It was totally unprofessional behavior, but that kind of raw emotion was rarely seen in Athena's line of work. In the general military it was rare, but among SHADOW? Even the recruits were seasoned veterans.

Good work, the soldier broadcasts, standing firm in her position in the sand. Now let's go show them what happens when you mess with Earth.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Standing over the unconscious body of the final soldier, his crushed gun clasped in her hand, Ultrawoman stared silently at the man before her.

Whatever was driving these people was desparate - that's what she guessed. It already had the world in its grasp and could have ignored the three of them...but it couldn't. Three free out of billions was three too many in its eyes.

Before she returned to the others, Ultrawoman took the time to arrange the unconscious civilians in a straight row on their backs. Simple, neat and dignified. She then took the opportunity to relieve them of every weapon they had, her x-ray vision detecting anything else in the van that could be used as such. She didn't want these people waking up only to follow through with their final imperative.

Finally, Ultrawoman did one final thin: she retrieved vests and rope from within the military trucks. Under normal circumstances the idea of "towing" someone into space was positively ludicrous, but under the influence of the triplets mysterious magic they should be protected. At least Ultrawoman hoped so. It'd suck getting to the Moon only to discover she was towing along four fried corpses.

Floating back over to Amy, Nadia, Caleb and Athena, Ultrawoman set down gently in front of them and held up four vests and several lengths of climbing rope.

"Your spell protects against g-force, right?" she asked curiously, eyebrow raised with a hint of dark amusement and concern lacing her voice.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"It should allow us to safely leave the Earth's gravity, yes," Caleb said, laying a hand on Athena as he did so. Glowing wings not dissimilar from those the triplets had - but composed purely of light rather than having the physical wings backing them, and colored a bright amethyst rather than silver, pink, or blue - simply appeared behind her armor, and an aura of purified atmosphere appeared around her, though it hovered closely to her, lacking the wider area that surrounded the triplets. "No towing is necessary; the ritual will allow us to ascend into the aether as well as to survive it. Honestly I kinda can't believe it worked."

Nadia had reached the group just as Caleb was saying so, her lips almost blue, her hair and clothes soaked and clinging, so she punched him in the arm. Caleb raised a brow at her and politely said, "Ow."

"What do you mean you can't believe it worked? You had me waiting out in probably the only patch of freezing cold water along the Florida coast for over an hour on something you didn't think would work!?"

"I expected to mess around with it for ten or fifteen minutes and then go home to research a proper ritual. But then it started doing working, so I just kept going."

(Amy murmured a little orizon to warm and dry her sister).

Athena and Ultra would hear, through Athena's telepathic link, a resonant baritone mental voice that most certainly did not belong to any of the siblings, ~The fundamentals were sound, and the methodology solid. No reason it shouldn't have worked.~

"In any case, the ritual was a secondary matter. The main point was, now we know that the parasite can't apparently perceive through Athena's senses. Otherwise it wouldn't have taken them a whole hour to track us down. However she's resisting them, it seems to be comprehensive. Athena, the ritual won't provide you with functional flight in an atmosphere, but if you concentrate on the stars, you'll just rise up into space, and then movement should just be a matter of concentrating on what direction you want to move in."

Nadia still had a wan look on her face, but grumbled, "Well, since it worked, I'll forgive you. This time!"

"Wonderful. Shall we?"

...I think. I assume Space Travel movement includes the ability to actually get into space. If not, then yeah, I suppose Ultra needs to tow us :smalltongue:.

[Arcran]

Athena looks over her shoulder, marveling at the purple wings. Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, she might try to get Heph to go the winged route...

As Trinity's fourth voice chimes in Athena looks at Caleb critically for a moment before making sure all of her gear was secure.

"What, are you hiding a quadruplet?" Athena asks. "Actually, nevermind. Doesn't matter for now. Let's go!" the soldier finally finishes before floating up into the sky, concentrating on the moon and doing her best to ignore the fact that she was flying so she didn't lose her focus.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


Still holding the vests up as the triplets explained the fandangled assertions of their arcane wizardry, the Kryptonian stared blankly at the lot of them as Caleb insisted that they all get a move on.

Drawing her shoulders together, Ultra sighed and tossed the vests away.

"Welp, I guess you guys don't need me then! I'll go ahead and see you guys up there!"

Taking a step back, Ultrawomans figure blurred out of existence as she rocketed up into the sky. Nary a second later she was gone - vanished into the atmosphere with nothing but a vapor cone to indicate she had even been there.

"No towing is necessary: the ritual will allow us to ascend into the aether!" Ultra woman muttered under her breath, eyes squinted as she put on a caricature of Calebs voice. "Pompous windbag."

It felt strange being around others that didn't need her help, or, in Athena's case, consistently refused it. She didn't know what to make of that...maybe the government spook was just stubborn...or more likely, the first words she'd ever said to her back on that hotel roof were more true than Ultra had initially thought they were. Nadia seemed fun though - she was at least someone she could get along with. Amy and Caleb seemed a little more reserved...but they were all traveling to the moon together, so hey, Ultra had had worst first dates.

Ultra's figure was quickly wreathed in fire for the briefest of seconds as she passed the atmosphere and emerged into exophere. Sound drained away entirely into white noise and the Kryptonian couldn't help but smile as she looked behind her and out over the blue-white-sphere of earth beneath the glorious sun. Ribbons of color danced along the distant horizon while oranges-and-blues ebbed and waned across the planets surface like a warm blanket.


http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/files/2010/10/gpw-200702-49-NASA-ISS007-E-10807-space-sunset-20030721-Pacific-Ocean.jpeg


So peaceful. So majestic. It was impossible to tell that such a horrifying transition had even taken place across its populace from this far back, yet the sense of perspective wasn't lost on her.

Coming to an abrupt halt and turning to face the planet, Ultra woman waited patiently for the others as she allowed herself a moment to take it all in.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Eh?" Caleb asked.

"Oh, no, that's just Trinity," Nadia said.

"He's the angel that lives in our heads," Amy clarified.

Up the triplets went, rising quickly, though not quite as fast as Ultra had; it would be only a couple minutes before they joined her.

~I think you might have annoyed Ultra a little, Caleb,~ Amy sent.

~Huh?~

~She just seemed kinda, I dunno, snippy I guess. I think she was excited to tow people into space and you kinda just dismissed her.~

~I didn't dismiss her. She asked a question about the effects of the spell, I answered. Why would she be annoyed by that?~

~I dunno...it's just the sense I get. Maybe you should apologize...~

~I'm...not going to apologize! She's fine. Ultrawoman is a superhero and a professional. There is no doubt in my mind that she is completely unruffled by my answering her question.~

~I mean, I get it, I just feel like-~

~Guys...would you shut up and look at this?~

Amy and Caleb's telepathic debate ended instantly as they rose up above the Earth. They made their way to where Ultrawoman hovered, looking upon their planet below them with nearly identical expressions of utter awe.

They were in flipping space!

"Wow."

The word couldn't do it justice, but there was nothing else to say.

~It has been a while...~ Trinity commented contentedly in their heads.

...They didn't quite know how to respond to that either.

They just hovered there, knowing they had a duty to fulfill and they had to move on. And so they would, once Ultra started moving (they figured odds were she'd be a biiiiit better at navigating them to the moon than they would). But not a second before.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman


By the time the triplets had reached er, Ultrawoman had tied her hair back into a bun behind her head. There was no air in space, but nor was there any gravity to keep everything nice and down-ward pointing. Thus, "hovering" still and in place meant that her hair simply...drifted about as if she were underwater, cluttering up her vision, getting into her eyes and making her look like a blonde medusa. Her blood-red cape acted in a similar manner, but it mostly clung to the back of her figure and thus required less attention.

When the triplets arrived, Ultra was gazing across the planet. She offered a pair of raised eyebrows and a smile as she gestured towards the view, sharing its beauty with the new arrivals.

[Arcran]

Athena looks down at the earthfrom on high, marvelingat the view. Somehow the HD satellites just couldn't do it justice.

Every second we waste, somebody could be offing themselves to send a message. Let's go, Athena broadcasts before taking iff towards the moon on shining purple wings. They had work to do.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Reluctantly, the triplets turned their gazes away and flew after Athena. It was a strange experience, flying through space. They knew they were going far, far faster than they ever had in Earth's atmosphere, but it didn't feel like they were. With the air around them a gentle constant no matter how quickly they passed through it, and the only terrain features as such a distance that they barely seemed to move at all, the flight felt almost languid.

[NineOfSpades]

The moon.

There's not much else to say, certainly nothing that would do justice to the sight of the Earth's closest companion. Your journey through space is not a long one, though it feels immeasurably longer, lacking any landmarks with which to measure the time spent in transit. There is only your destination, looming before you as it grows larger, and the world behind you, growing further away with each moment. From such a distance, the sheer enormity of what is at stake is impossible not to contemplate. It is one thing to endeavor to save the world. It is another to actually gaze upon the whole of the Earth, suspended in the cosmic void; fragile and vulnerable.

The voyage is interrupted when Ultra-woman, who's eyes are capable of peering across the vast gulfs of space, catches sight of a reflection of in the distance. With only a minor alteration in your course, it takes only a minute or so before you arrive that this unexpected anomaly.

A lost piece of technology, not a war machine or extraterrestrial fleet, awaits you. Its form is familiar to all, unmistakable even. A small piece of home that was at one point the focus of all of mankind. Now it was adrift, and damaged, with half of its frame crumpled inwards, with bits of wire and metal jutting out at abrupt angles. Even so, there was no mistaking the sight of the Apollo 11 Lander, as it floated silently through the void.

[Arcran]

As Athena lays eyes on the Apollo lander, her eyes flash violet in a cold rage. The parasite had infected her planet, puppeted her friends, threatened to kill soldiers to force them to comply but, somehow, this was the one that broke her. The rest could be written off as calculated moves in a global invasion, but this? This was personal.

Do your country a favor and pick that up, Athena sends to the alien, keeping her focus solely on the moon. Whatever bastard is out there just made this personal.

Of course, Athena wasn't entirely derelict in her duty, quickly scanning for minds within the Apollo craft before continuing on her way.

[Quellian-dyrae]

~Little...punks,~ Nadia sent as they passed the Lander. There was little the triplets could do for it, so they just flew on unless Athena or Ultra alerted them to some other matter of concern regarding it (such as a swarm of parasites or something), but seriously. Punks.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

Ultrawomans form had been gliding gracefully through space since they had departed earth, the silent beauty of the void captivating the Kryptonian as she wondered why she didn't come here more often.

Her entrancement was ended abruptly when her keen eyes spotted a glimmer of steel and gold drifting off in the distance. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what it was, and as a knot formed in her stomach at the possibilities she zoomed over and bore witness to that dreaded confirmation.

Pausing and staring at the half-crumpled lunar lander, Ultra would have sighed if it were physically possible. Though laughably primitive compared to her own races accomplishments, she knew the value of this archaic technology lay in its symbolism for what mankind could achieve if it set its mind to it. An inspiration for generations to come, the lander deserved better than this, and as it drifted slowly through space as the damaged debris of this invasions landing, Ultra couldn't help but see another edifice for what would happen if this invasion wasn't repulsed.

Moving forward slowly, she reached out for its frame, her hands pressing against its metal frame and grasping just firm enough to halt its trajectory.

Looking upon its damaged form in silent reverence, Ultrawoman even ventured to wonder if she saw herself in this thing...the damaged remnant of a time long gone, but whose presence could remain a symbol that lived from generation to generation. Just like this Lander had become an enduring icon, perhaps she could preserve an image of Krypton that would be remembered by -

'Do your country a favour and pick that up' the voice knifed into Ultra's head out of nowhere.

The Kryptonians shoulders squeezed together and her head hung as if her ears had just been assaulted by a nails across a chalk-board - her face tightening and her jaw grimacing.

Looking over her shoulder at the triplets and Athena, Ultrawoman saw that the spook was still focused on the moon and heading in that direction.

'I really hate that woman...'

Holding the lunar lander gently, Ultrawoman drifted back towards the surface of the moon, her eyes scanning, scanning, scanning for...


- there!

A reflection in the sun caught the Kryptonians attention and altered her trajectory. Still grasping the Lander gently, she slowly came in and landed near that small glimmer of silvery light.

The closer she got the more discernible that emission became, until finally Ultrawoman set the lander down within its proximity.

Standing on the lunar surface, her blood-red cape simmering slowly behind her, Ultra took several steps over to that half-buried reflection and reached into the moons floor to retrieve it - her hands grasping something semi-cylindrical and silver. Withdrawing it, dusting it off and gently blowing away the last remnants of moondust, Ultrawomans eyes read its simple surface:


"Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."

Affectionately rubbing the plaques surface, Ultrawoman adjusted it properly and set it back upon a lunar rock and used her thumbs to drive its corner-bound rings into the masonry so that it was embedded properly.

Looking up at the void of space, she gave a small thought for what type of co-existence Krypton could have with earth were her own civilisation still alive.

[NineOfSpades]

Ultawoman's efforts to relocate such a valuable piece of history, delicate though it was, proved insufficient to prevent one of the lander structural panels from breaking loose. Blame might be placed upon the alien, or on the damage to the lander. But perhaps the most likely cause was the black and smiley creatures which came pushing out of the craft, like newborn spiders erupting from their egg-sack.

The creatures were large, about a yard or so from end to end. Five arms spread out from a central body mass, upon which situated a single crimson eye. The lack of gravity seemed to prove no hinderance, as they swarmed around, latching and grasping at the earthlings (be they native or adopted).

Several of the first ones went for Ultrawoman, who was the most obvious target (And physically closest). However, the soldiers reflexes were faster, knocking the star-beasts aside sending them tumbling through space as they regained their barings.

Athena, Caleb And Amy also came under fire. One managed to grasp hold of Athena for an instant, long enough for a telepathic message to blast through, flooding her thoughts with a single word that sounded like thousands of voices screaming in unison. SUBMIT. However, the centralized eyes proved vulnerable to her Durasteel Combat Knife, blinding her hanger-on before it could fully attach itself.

Caleb was also approached, but managed to avoid getting grabbed. Amy, however, was not, being outflanked and grasped from behind, five muscular apendages wrapping around her back and torso, the same voices ringing through her mind YOU WILL SUBMIT

Will save from Amy please. Everyone else managed to avoid getting grappled (Which is supprising). You've got a swarm of thirty Alien starfish on your tail. Good luck

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb and Nadia managed to fend off the creatures flying at them, but Amy gave a cry that made it clear that she was not so lucky.

(It could be heard in space. They were surrounded by magical atmosphere.)

All three of the siblings winced as the telepathic assault smashed into their joined minds, but Trinity's voice rose up to respond with a firm, unwavering, ~No.~

"Get away from her!" Nadia shouted in challenge as dark fury twisted Caleb's face. Amy began glowing with a brilliant pink light, and her twins pointed their hands in her direction. Blue and silver orbs shot from their hands, impacting the aura around their sister as her eye shot open blazing like pink stars-

And white light as bright as the sun exploded from her, filling the field with divine power. Where it touched Ultrawoman and Athena, there was only a faint tingling, coupled with the distant sound of a choir.

The starfish-like creatures, however, were smote as by the wrath of God.

Move: Dazed.

Standard: Divine Wrath. All creepy starfish monsters in 120' get a DC 23 Dodge save for half, followed by DC 28/21 Toughness vs. Damage.

Will to remove Affliction: [roll0].

Current Status: Dazed (but maybe not anymore?), Amy Grabbed, Regeneration inactive this round.

[Arcran]

Athena whips her combat knife back into its sheath, pulling the recently stabbed star towards her before her rifle appears in a flash, a sick grin on the face of the psion beneath her helmet. Tracking the threat, finding where it was and trying to get soldiers to not kill themselves were all things that Athena was more than capable at, but this? Fighting a foreign alien threat? Well, that was a little more in her area of expertise.

Without a word Athena opens fire, bursts of laser fire erupting out the muzzle of the rifle in controlled bursts, targeting a different one of the starfish every other squeeze of the trigger before Athena kicks off the corpse from before, seeking some sort of cover behind the husk of a lander that was floating with them.

Using Multiattack on these bastards! Shooting at 6 for a -6 penalty. Using All-Out Attack at +/-5. Using Power Attack for +/-1. This should bring us to...

To-Hit: +16
Defenses: Dodge 8, Parry 8
Damage: Damage 9

Attack 1: [roll0] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 29 Toughness
Attack 2: [roll1] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 29 Toughness
Attack 3: [roll2] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 29 Toughness
Attack 4: [roll3] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 24 Toughness
Attack 5: [roll4] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 24 Toughness
Attack 6: [roll5] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20. DC 29 Toughness

Also going to use Hide in Plain Sight to try to hide behind our favorite extraterrestrial relic.
Stealth: [roll6]

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/b3c3aee8-4e8e-4d12-afcb-de98276b807a_zpsvbsijdda.png Ultrawoman

Ultra felt a knot lumb her insides as she watched those oily spectres seep out of the metal wounds of the lander like dark blood. Though her initial revulsion compelled her to attack, the KRyptonian stayed her hand as that seed of caution within her mind floated the idea that, what if, now that they were face to face with the operatives of this intelligence there was a chance it could be reasoned with?

Such apprehension was not long-lived, as the booming psychic voice of the alien creatures dispelled any possibility of a more peaceful solution.

With Amy's yelp in Ultra's ear the Kryptonian gritted her jaw and sped forward - her fist connecting sharply with that central eye of the nearest abyssal monster, then the next and the next before shooting a hundred yards off the surface of the moon and above the melee.

ooc:

So I completely bungled my first roll: 1d20+11=31, 1d20+11=20, 1d20+11=30, 1d20+11=17, 1d20+11=14, 1d20+11=31, 1d20+11=14, 1d20+11=31, 1d20+11=24, 1d20+11=23 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4888129/)

This is the revised roll. Ultrawoman is using her rapid strikes ability and using the multiattack to attack 5 tagets for a -5 penalty. She's also using her Accurate attack to trade off 5 effect DC for +5 to hit, and putting her favored environment into To Hit.

Standard Action: To Hit Roll: 1d20+11=16, 1d20+11=20, 1d20+11=28, 1d20+11=31, 1d20+11=22 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4888131/)

I don't know what the aliens Parry is, but I'm going to assume it's 20, in which case Ultra would hit 4 times, 2 of which are crits.

So (as far as I know), 4 toughness saves. 2 at DC 27, 2 at DC 32.

Then Move-by action: Fly about 200 feet into the "air".

[NineOfSpades]

Left and right, the starfish were bursting as they were assaulted by the groups combined efforts, be it divine wrath, Full-Auto custom caliber bullets, or good old fashion punches. To say their numbers were decimated would be inaccurate, the counterattack was crippling, with the remaining starfish creatures now being counted in the single digits. But they payed no heed to the attacks, continuing to swarm and dash. No matter how fast you were, none of your group could be everywhere at once, cover every blindspot.

Athena got hit first, grabbed from behind as she was lining up another sight SUBMIT. Next was Caleb, snatched along the arm as he attempted to outfly the aliens SUBMIT. A second starfish latched onto Amy, joining the first which managed to survive the attack. SUBMIT. For a moment, it looked like Nadia managed to avoid getting snatched, dodging left and right. But the tips of her wings clipped the sucker-covered tentacle, breaking the rythem of her flight, allowing another to latch on firmly. SUBMIT. Ultrawoman was left for last, the remaining aliens needing a moment to close the distance and catch up. Duck left, Dodge right, kick them away and another shows up. The kryptonian was used to flying through space, and had done so countless times before. But never before had the empty void felt so claustrophobic as this. With a suckling, squishy plop, she too was hit, firm grapsing limbs holding strong, just as the sinister presance grabbed hold of her minds. SUBMIT

It was a singular voice. It was thousands of screams. Lacking emotion, or sensation. A command that was absolute and unyielding, repeating endlessly though every synapse and nerve ending.



SUBMIT

SUBMIT

SUBMIT



Great job at the mass damage team, you've dropped their numbers from 30 down to 9. But the dice gods are fickle, and every one of you has been grabbed by one of these mother-suckers. Will Saves all around please.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Shut up!"

"Go away!"

"Just freakin' die already!"

The triplets did not, apparently, have any intention of submitting.

The triplets tried to force the creatures off of them. If they all succeeded to free themselves, then only Nadia and Amy would unleash another blast of divine energy, while Caleb radiated protective power out to his allies to hopefully help them fend off the attackers. If any of them were still grabbed, though, they'd all just pour their power into another blast in an effort to escape by more...direct means.

Move: Attempt to Escape.
Caleb: [roll0].
Nadia: [roll1].
Amy: [roll2].

Free: Configure Triplecast.

Standard: If all three escape successfully, Triplecast as Damage 10 (Burst Area 2, Selective) Linked Deflect 10 (Burst Area, Selective, Reduced Range [Close]). All starfish in 60' get Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage, and all allies in 30' are Defended at 1d10+22 (1d10+21 in Ultrawoman's case, due to PL limit from higher Toughness).

If any of them fail to escape, just do a regular Divine Wrath. Area becomes 120', Dodge DC becomes 23, Toughness becomes DC 28/21, and no Defend occurs.

[Arcran]

Athena mutters a few expletives towards the aliens under her breath before lashing out with a leg at the one grappling her before once again opening fire with her rifle, firing a full charge of lasers into the enemy before switching clips in an instant, quickly finding her next target.

Leave one alive. I might be able to interrogate the bastards, Athena says as she rapidly shifts her aim between targets, firing in controlled bursts with the accuracy only an elite soldier can hope to achieve.

Using Multiattack on these bastards! Shooting at 6 for a -6 penalty. Using All-Out Attack at +/-5. Using Power Attack for +/-1. This should bring us to...

To-Hit: +16
Defenses: Dodge 8, Parry 8
Damage: Damage 9

Attack 1: [roll0] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20.
Attack 2: [roll1] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20.
Attack 3: [roll2] Multiattack, Critical Hit on 16-20.

Also, I should have rolled this in the first place! Expertise: Aliens!
[roll3]

[BananaPhone]

The two starfish that swam through space towards the Kryptonian were too slow – Ultrawoman darted off, her prodigious speed knifing her straight between them and towards the angelic triplets who were becoming engulfed by the alien entities.

Shouldering her way against Nadia’s assailant and freeing her, Ultra gritted her teeth as her hands each latched onto an inky tentacle – holding those two appendages away from the things body as her eyes lit up and amber lances of white-hot energy lanced forth to dissect the thing. Her attack didn’t stop there, as those two spears sliced through that voidborn body to get strafed across the ones further away.

Ooc:

Ultrawoman is using her laser-eye strafing ability on the starfish attacking her and any of them that are behind that one within 30 feet.

Hits automatically, DC 28 toughness save.