The New Defenders: Light the Fire

[Zigwat]

Raphael City Times - April 23rd - Criminal activity on the rise! Statistics have shown that crime has been on the rise at least 36% in the past five years. Captain Marcus Hewett has gone on record to say that his police station is on 12 hour shifts for the foreseeable future, as their numbers have been dissipated due to several reasons, mostly due to fatalities.

The Mayor has said that he is on the verge of calling a state of emergency if this continues to grow into a larger problem.

---

"Can you believe these damn papers?" James stood at the newspaper stand, reading the current issue, much to Al's disliking. "The city isn't that bad. Why in the hell would they declare a state of.... of...." That was when there was a gigantic shadow covering most of the street that they stood beside.

Both Al and James looked up as someone, or something walked down the street. It was a very, very tall man, his muscles were gigantic, and most of his upper body was plated in metal. His face was stern, and grim as he approached the police station. He stood around eleven feet tall, and his frame could be compared to that of a bull.

Three police officers walked out of the station, toward their squad cars, and saw the monstrous man that approached them.

"Whoa, hey! What the hell is that?!" The officer in the front pulled out his pistol. "Hold it right there!"

The giant kept walking, absolutely no regard for the officers as they pulled their pistols on him. As he kept getting closer, they opened fire, but even the parts of his skin that didn't have metal on it were simply covered by skin with metal underneath.

As he got to the building, he swung his fist to the side, and smashed the side of his hand into the wall, destroying it, and drawing the attention of all the patrons.

[RainbowLantern]

Henry was used to being processed. He had been arrested a few times since he ran away from home. He could avoid it but he likes the fun of getting out of it rather than avoiding being captured at all.

He was just getting ready to get his picture taken for his mugshot when things started to happen. He heard gunshots. The man taking his picture looks confused. Suddenly the wall comes crashing down and on the other side is a giant man.

"Oh crap. Someone needs to get a picture of this," Henry says. He ports over to the camera which is now unattended as the officer felt He had higher priorities than keeping an eye on the punk teen deemed so incredibly dangerous that he was still completely handcuffed.

Despite the handcuffs, Henry managed to grab the camera and turn it around in order to take a selfie with the giant in the background. He then turns it on the giant and yells "Hey dude, you want one for your scrap book? I'm a big fan of your work. So you think I could get an autograph later?"

For my role play purposes, I am going to keep a running tally of all of my active gates. I have a limit but it is far higher than I'll ever reach. This is mostly for plot/role play. For simplicity sake I'm assuming none were created before the game starts even though that's highly unlikely.
Police Station: 1, locked

[redzimmer]

Resolute

Michael Stern fakes a yawn as he sutures a cut on a young gang-banger's arm.

"...and we don't need to get the cops involved, right?"

He had heard this enough times to know the underlying truth: another escalation of violence. He makes a mental note to scout this kid later as Resolute, just to see if he can channel their youthful spiritedness to better things.

After shooing out the youngster, Michael checks the Raphael police scanner Twitter.

Shots fired. Assault on police precinct in progress... it gave location and advised keeping clear.

Michael goes to the chief physician and claims an oncoming case of the flu and a request to cut out early. His boss is surprised since he's never taken a sick day, but years of a double life have made lying an easy skill for Resolute.


***

After finding a quiet corner of the clinic's public washroom, Michael manages to slip into his scrubs/costume. Hopping out the window which he helped install (with an extra hinge so he can fit through), and rushes to the scene.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." he mutters.

[Linken]

Marcus is on the scene incredibly fast, looking around anxiously before spotting the huge giant. He'd ready up his bat, ready to rush in. He'd speed around the thing thundering down the street, trying to find anything wrong with it and how to fix it, preferably by beating the hell outta it. A smile's on his face.

"Hey! Hey, big guy! Big guy right there, want a beatdown? I'll give one to ya! If ya really want it! Do you? Course ya do!" Half of this is said at super speed, half of it is said normally. He hops up and down, trying to get it to notice him and follow. "Come ooon, ya fool! I'll have ya!"

He'd twirl his bat in his hands, impatiently watching and waiting for the giant to react at all. He also sees a flash- a camera, maybe- taking a picture. Course there's pictures. Why wouldn't there be? It's a massive giant standing in the street. At sonic speeds, he'd take his phone from his pocket (surprisingly undamaged) and would snap a picture of the massive colossus, before turning the phone off and putting it back from whence it came.

[redzimmer]

Resolute

Resolute is surprised to say the very least when two other-what was the right word?-enhanced individuals appear to confront the armoured giant.

"If your goal was to attract attention," he tells the behemoth, "then congratulations."

Looking at the speedster and the teleporter, he simply nods.

"Er, hello."

[The Dark Fiddler]

For Sakura, it's just another day with her friends. The warm weather meant it was time to head to the skate park, something they hadn't had the chance to do for quite some time. Between activities, they were sitting around, talking and browsing on their phones. Sam, one of the older kids, passed their phone over to Sakura silently. A few very recent posts on social media about a large metallic man attacking a police station downtown.

Sakura nodded and handed the phone back. "It's time," Sakura said to the others. They all whooped and cheered as they sprang into action. They'd practiced this. With amazing speed, they all helped Sakura into her costume, and with a few kind words to her rollerskates she took off towards the police station, hoping she could make it before too much damage had been caused.

[Zigwat]

That was when the S.W.A.T. got involved with the whole endeavor. The giant man smashed his way into the front lobby, paying no mind to the speedster, as it did not seem to have a mind, causing great panic among those who were reporting crimes and filing paperwork. All guns went to hands, and there was a whole lot of yelling as the giant automaton stomped his way into the building. After all of the warnings, shots began to fire, and the SWAT team ran in from a neighboring building. It all turned into a gigantic mess. Now, there were assault rifles being fired off, and they had about the same effect.

Without any delay, or even a decent recoil from all of the bullets hitting it, the automaton swiped its hand across the desks in his way, taking the officers with them, even sliding into some civilians that were being evacuated through the emergency doors. It was no use. The giant metal man began making his way through to the back, where the cells are.

There were a lot of inmates in the cells, some of them just for overnight confinement, but some of them were awaiting court hearings. However, there were four of them that were being moved to the State Pen. These four were captured during a break-in to a very large warehouse that had many electronic devices that suited their needs.

They were due to be shipped to the State Pen that very day, but as the doors to the cells were pulled off of their hinges, and the gunshots were heard, all four of them grinned as the other inmates moved to the back of the cell in shear terror.

[redzimmer]

Resolute

"Well then. Can we safely take shooting it off the list of options now?"

Searching about, Resolute checks the cast aside officers for life-threatening injuries. then he follows the automaton to its destination.

As he approaches, he looks about for anything that might be useful as an improvised weapon...

[Zigwat]

Around Resolute, there were now many splintered desks, however, they were particle wood. It seemed the real wood desks were in the single offices, like in the Captain's or the Chief's office. There was also a flag stand with the state's flag hanging lazily to the side. Filing cabinets, coffee makers, lamps, computers, and many other, normal office things. One thing stood out from the others though. It seemed one of the officers was a former Marine, and had his ceremonial sword on his wall above his desk as a decoration.

[RainbowLantern]

Henry was a clever boy. Not necessarily a smart boy but a clever one. He is pretty sure he knows what is going on. He focuses on the four men trying to see if there is any sign of action from them. Then he gets an idea.

Henry opens a tiny gate in front of him and sticks his head through it. His body remains headless next to the stand up camera but the head is now floating in front of the four inmates. Far enough away that he will be able to pullout if they try anything.

"Where you guys trying to go? I know this guy was the rescue plan but we could make him the distraction while I get you out. What do you say. We can even stop by the bank and raid it. The cops won't stop us. They are busy. Just get me out of these handcuffs and I'll get you out of here." To emphasis the point he opens another tiny portal and holds out his handcuffed hands through it below his head.

"Deal?"

For my role play purposes, I am going to keep a running tally of all of my active gates. I have a limit but it is far higher than I'll ever reach. This is mostly for plot/role play. For simplicity sake I'm assuming none were created before the game starts even though that's highly unlikely.
Police Station: 1, locked. 2 tiny, locked.

[redzimmer]

Resolute

Resolute picks up the sword with a shrug. Ornamental swords aren't known for their resilience, and against a bulletproof giant?

Well, better than nothing.

Keeping a reasonable distance, he sees the giant bearing toward a quartet of detainees...

And a floating head.

[Linken]

Marcus hits his bat against the ground a few times, before giving up and suddenly appearing slightly closer, out of reach but still pretty close. Close enough to see the four-and-a-head men. He'd be unsure how to react. Let's think now. Pistol bullets travel at Mach 2. Marcus travels at Mach 3. Now, he'd pick up any stone from the rubble he could easily carry but large enough to cause a bit of damage, before starting to run around for three seconds. He'd suddenly toss the stone into the air and smacks it with his bat, using his reaction time to see exactly where it was. The stone heads straight for the giant's.. well, body. He'd grin, waiting to see the effect.

[Zigwat]

Marcus's attack hit, and hit quite hard on the automaton's back, causing it to almost lose its balance as it stumbled forward. The automaton stalled for a moment, then it looked directly at the speedster. Reaching to its side, it picked up a desk along with its cubicle wall, and threw it at Marcus at a very fast rate. The speedster may have been fast, but it was a very large desk, and the automaton threw it at such a speed that even if and when the speedster sped to dodge, it nicked Marcus on the shoulder quite badly. While there was no serious damage, it would cause Marcus pain for days to come. Thankfully, though, the automaton carried on with his mission to break the four inmates out of jail.

----

"Who the hell are you?" One of the inmates said to the head that was now sticking out of the portal. "And what are you doing here?"

As Henry looked at them all, he saw that they were not four men, they were three men and a woman. The woman was deemed entirely too dangerous to be held in the women's cell, which held three detainees at the moment, so she was put with her three counterparts. All of them gave Henry the stink eye.

"Stop by the bank? Who does this guy think he is?" Another man said as he approached the head sticking out of the portal. "Listen Mr. Head, we ain't looking for new blood, as interesting as your abilities are. We're bustin' out of dis joint right as we speak, and you come in here, thinkin' we're just gonna let you into our plans? It ain't gonna happen! Now, since I'm in such a good mood, I'm not gonna use your head for basketball, so long as you get the hell outta here, and let us be on our way. Speaking of which, you might wanna move."

He said, pointing behind the head, at the giant mandroid coming to the jail cell, putting its hands between two bars, and pulling them apart. The bars bent to its will, and it stood aside to allow the men and lady to leave, and they started to walk out of the cell.

Players Read:
Alright, Marcus rolled a great 10 that hit the automaton with the projectile, however, the automaton rolled a 9, which sent a desk flying into the speedster's shoulder. It would have been a full-on hit, but since you're a speedster, it only nicked your shoulder.

Henry rolled poorly in the diplomatic talk with the inmates, so they did not trust him, and then I rolled to see if they were going to use your head as a punching bag, but they did not. So there's your rolls, gentlemen. Good luck!

[RainbowLantern]

Henry was clearly not satisfied with the response. Nobody fell for his brilliant plan. This is just out right irritating. Henry pulls back through his gates and thinks for a second. Just a second. He needs no longer.

I bet I could pull someone else through a gate with me, he thinks to himself.

He lays down on the ground still handcuffed. He reaches his arms out in front of him. He then opens a gate directly below him that will open up directly behind the rear person in the procession out of the cell. He will grab their ankles just long enough to open another gate (so far less than a second is all the time he would need for contact) that would take the two of them to another cell which is still closed. He will instantly gate out himself and attempt to repeat the action with the other three members of this rag tag group. If he knows of four cells that are still in tact, he will put each into a different. If that isn't the case he will use as many as are available but make sure that he ports to a different point in the cell each time so that they can't just stand and wait for him.

If anyone figures it out enough to kick him, it should be okay. As long as it isn't a fatal blow, he will heal (as well as each of them will) each time he passes through a gate. So he will take blows if needed in order to get enough contact to gate them into a new cell.

At the end of the process he will return to the camera and watch to see what happens.


For my role play purposes, I am going to keep a running tally of all of my active gates. I have a limit but it is far higher than I'll ever reach. This is mostly for plot/role play. For simplicity sake I'm assuming none were created before the game starts even though that's highly unlikely.
Police Station: 10, locked. 2 tiny, locked.

I need to math on this one, I need 1 to get behind them, 1 for each of them to port into a new cell and one to get back out of that cell... so another 9?

[Linken]

Marcus damn near swore as his shoulder was clipped. He was used to pain, being a sportsman and all, but holy cow did that hurt. Never had a table chucked at him before, most he had was a few barstools in that one fight he had. Then again, at least it wasn't full force, and at least he could partially dodge it. He decides that a tactical retreat would be best for now, seeing as how the table near took his head off. He'd slowly back up, before running at his top speeds and leaping onto a wall and running straight up it on to a rooftop. Hooray, physics. He'd look down for anything he could use to press the attack on the thing- or to just stop its movements. He'd hold his arm as he waits on the (thankfully flat) roof, hopping up and down impatiently as he waits for the thing to make its next move. At least he hurt it, right?

[redzimmer]

Resolute

"You can't do this. People are getting hurt. You need to stop."

Michael is wary of the metal-clad man, but people are already being hurt.

This creature needs to be incapacitated, or at least distracted from its task.

Years of patching up the worst of injuries gives Resolute a keen idea of where a sword thrust would hurt most. He looks for a gap in the armour and jabs the blade in.

[Zigwat]

Henry failed, and failed hard in his attempt at portal hopping all of the inmates. What he didn't know was that the first one he tried to get into his portal had excessively hyperactive reflexes, and turned to catch him with an iron-hard fist into his back downward into the ground. It was quite clear that this was no ordinary inmate, as his right eye flashed red for a split second as he sneered at Henry.

Resolute's attack plunged into the automaton's crevice where his armor was weakest, and obviously hit something, because the place where the sword hit sparked something fierce.

"Hey!" The female inmate shouted. With a flip, she was able to jump straight at Resolute with a very hard kick. The kick missed Resolute as he dodged it, and her foot crumbled the tile floor, as well as the cement underneath it. "Hands off our robot!!"

Players Read:
Henry attempted a feat that was pretty far fetched, and because of this, his roll had to be nigh-perfect, and he did not even remotely succeed with a 3 roll. He was taken down by the inmate you will now know as Heavy Metal with a roll of 15 on a D20.

Resolute, on the other hand, succeeded with a d20 roll of 16, while his new opponent, Miss Ironclad, rolled a simple 5 for attack, which Resolute easily dodged.

[redzimmer]

Resolute

"Fast Person! Are you conscious? The metal man can injured!"

Resolute turns his attention to the attacking woman, moving out of the mandroid's reach.

"I am obliged to offer you a chance to stop and give yourself up."

Waiting for the inevitable refusal and bravura.

What would I do if the ever did give up?

[The Dark Fiddler]

By the time Sakura had gotten to the scene, things were... chaotic, to say the least. She nearly face planted in surprise as she stopped herself suddenly, trying to take in the scene quickly. A giant robot, and a bunch of people running around... some of them fighting. Okay, great.

"Jeez, couldn't have had an easier job to get myself into this crap?" She curses under her breath, looking back and forth between everybody fighting. "Well, that big metal dude seems to be the biggest threat, I guess..." Her mind made up, she kicks forward at speeds quite a bit faster than simple roller blades should be able to manage and pulls a can of spray paint out of a back strapped to her side. She zooms up behind the automaton and sprays a few characters onto the ground. It's not quite Japanese, but it makes sense to her and to the spirits in the ground: magnetized. With any luck, she'd stick the robot in place.

[Linken]

The speedster looks over the newly-arrived man in weird uniform. Like Scrubs! Or something. He also looks towards the girl spraying weird Japanese letters. He'd smile, leaning on his bat as he thinks of his options. May as well just wait it out until there's another opportunity. Then again, there might be something else. Marcus would quickly look around the ground for any large-ish rocks or pebbles that he could easily lift, but were a bit weighty. Could do this stuff from long range, too.

If those on ground notice him, he'd wave towards them as he looks for something to fight with. Can't chuck a baseball bat, plus aluminium ones are expensive. He looks bored, though, too, and he was quite ready to charge down and try to take this automa-robot out in a swing or twenty.

[RainbowLantern]

Henry, while reeling from the impact ports himself to the furthest available empty cell. Healing himself of any potential internal damages but still needing to catch his breath the old fashioned way. "Let's think Henry. What do we do." For the first time Henry acknowledges the existence of the other combatants. "Well the enemy of my enemy is my friend I suppose." He ports up to where the Speedster is and stands next to him looking down. "Got any plans?"

[Zigwat]

The four inmates did not waste time with any of these guys. The woman fighting Resolute decided that she shouldn't stick around. This was a jailbreak, after all. She started to run, as did the other three. The one who knocked down Henry pressed on the temple of his head, signaling the large metal man to follow them. The metal man began to turn around, but as it walked over the symbol that Sakura put on the ground, it started to get rickety, and its foot seemed to be stuck on the ground.

The man cursed hard, but kept running. They all four ran down the street, making sure to dodge the police.

[Linken]

Marcus damn near hit the teleporty guy with his bat as he appears, before shrugging. He's clutching his arm- seems he has no idea what to do. Dunno what to do, mate. Hit it, didn't go down. Was a very strong move, too. He sighs wearily, deciding to just watch the destruction and tap his bat against the ground while he does so. He'd intervene if he could, but there's no way for him to do any damage.