New Aeon 1 IC

[Queen Sapes]

Issue 1: The Starry Night

December 23, 2016, 9:23 P.M.
New Aeon City, Michigan

Settled on the northwestern shore of Lake Huron and nestled beneath the massive peaks of the Legacy Mountains are the glittering towers of New Aeon City. Supposedly named for its settler’s dreams of what it would become and then renamed upon its rebuilding, New Aeon is a gleaming metropolis that rivals the other great cities of America from New York to Freedom to Los Angeles to Emerald. New Aeon is a city of the future, with a bustling heart of massive skyscrapers that shine in sun and moonlight, advanced technology at every corner, and a booming economy to rival any city in the world. New Aeon is a place where fortunes can be made overnight, where people can make their lives, loves, and families. It’s a place where the everyman can be hopeful about the coming day, and be assured in their hope. And compared to places like Los Angeles, New York, Freedom, and Emerald, it’s a place people can feel safe. At least it used to be.

The holidays have come to New Aeon, and with them came the winter and the endless snow falling from the sky New Aeon is almost famous for. New Aeon is remarkably well-prepared for the snow every year, and while they streets are still nearly choking with snow, the constant army of plows keeps them safe to use. The roof of every building in the city is coated with at least a foot of snow, trees and bushes across the city have replaced their leaves with snow and ice, and the temperature regularly dips near zero thanks to the icy chill off Lake Huron.

Living in the frozen north doesn’t get to the spirits of the people of New Aeon, however. If anything it makes them bolder as you regularly see people out on the streets shopping beneath the twinkling of Christmas lights, there’s a group of carolers at every other block, and children playing in the snow everywhere you turn. New Aeon is a wonderful place at Christmas, the already brilliant city taking on an other-worldly feel as winter sets in and the people beat the falling snow back with smiles.

But snow wasn’t the only thing that fell out of the sky this year in New Aeon. Exactly one week ago the sky opened up in a sudden display of the impossible as a rift between dimensions tore through the peaceful night. Thousands of objects poured out of the rift, including rubble, whole vehicles, random junk, an entire skyscraper that thankfully landed in the bay, and thousands of people. It was only with fast action by New Aeon’s large superhuman population that almost every one of these falling people were saved, but it quickly became apparent there was no going back as the rift sealed itself, leaving parts of another world stranded in New Aeon.

In the week since the city has been a busy place. Construction crews have been working 24/7 to repair damage across the city, numerous humanitarian groups have been working to relocate the displaced dimensional refugees, new supervillains believed to be from that other world have been dealt with, and new heroes have been spotted across New Aeon. If one were to listen to the right people on the streets, the right rumors, and know the right people, one would find the city changed a lot more than a sudden population growth the night the rift opened.

New Aeon’s underworld was rocked by the rift and in the chaos much of the status quo has changed. The old-fashioned and long-standing crime boss of New Aeon, the Conundrum, is pushing his Strangers to take more of the city to put under his influence. The Dacani mob, formerly interstellar refugees, now wants a piece of the action outside the Alien Quarter for itself. Rumors and scattered reports of werewolves, vampires, zombies, and other nightmares continue to pour into the police department. There is word of the Dire Queen making moves on the city’s underworld, and people continue to report vigilante action by the “hero” Thanatos as well as a doppelganger with one white wing.

A strange blue eye has appeared on the phones of numerous people across the city, a man on the other end attempting to speak with them. The police force speaks in hushed tones about a pair of mutilated bodies they fear may be the early work of a serial killer. A madman in a homemade costume screams about how he is supposed to be the greatest hero of Aeon. Conspiracy theorists claim proof the man who killed JFK is in New Aeon. Artifacts have disappeared from museums and private collections across the city without a trace. The Conqueror Worm lives. There are mumblings of celebrity villains like S.E.L.F.I.E. and the Clique coming to New Aeon. A few people have reported seeing a robotic golem of hard light appear out of nowhere to disrupt crime around the city. People have nightmarishly realistic dreams of crossing paths with a man with stars for eyes who laughs.

It’s almost all rumor, of course, but the feeling is identifiable in the city. Every person on the streets from the smallest child to the oldest senior knows the same thing. New Aeon needs heroes.

But for the moment, New Aeon City is quiet. The city of approximately two million people is sitting calmly, with a lazy snowfall covering the streets as cold water laps at its feet. It’s a relaxing kind of quiet that is too rare in today’s world, helped by the muffling of the snow and the lack of traffic due to construction. It’s almost quiet enough that you’re tempted to call it a night, but just before you leave the city to sleep, you hear the unmistakable sound of an explosion off towards the New Aeon bay. It’s time to go to work.


The sound of the explosions draws you to New Aeon’s harbor and bay area, directly on the shore of Lake Huron. The bay of New Aeon is a relatively empty place when compared to most of New Aeon, dotted with short buildings and warehouses. Numerous docks dot the shoreline, most filled with ships that have come in from the cold. Earlier in the week the harbor was busy with the movement of ships bringing aid and relief, but as the city stabilizes that had steadily died down. A few of the cargo ships docked in the harbor have groups of people gathered near their ramps waiting to intercept late packages for Christmas.

The bay area also makes home to New Aeon’s pier, which houses the cleverly named ‘Pier Park’. In truth it’s a small handful of rides built at the end of the pier, currently dormant for the winter save for the Ferris wheel, but the park draws the attention of thousands in the summer and makes the already busy waterfront even busier.

A couple of the ships docked are salvage ships with crews dedicated to diving into Lake Huron to examine the wreckage that fell from the rift into the lake. Most of these ships are empty save for one, with a crew already dressed in cold-water dive suits for the season. They don’t appear to be headed out yet though, and most of the dive team instead watches the water, staring deep into the darkness of the lake, ready to swim.

There are a couple of oddities on the docks as well, namely a large number of snowmen built here. Most of them are naked in the cold, one or two appear to have been smashed by children or falling rubble, and a few of them are dressed up in various outfits. There’s a doctor, a man in a suit, a cowboy, and what appears to be an attempt at a spaceman. A few police linger on the docks, scanning the crowds for any trouble.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Hnnnnn..." April slowly stirred awake, how long was she asleep for? April rubbed her eyes a bit as though trying to wipe away the sleep before using her other arm to steadily lift her torso from... the couch? April looked at the table in front of the couch and noticed her phone, a thermos, and what appeared to be a note. April huffed out a minor laugh, "Olivia..." she mused; now April remembered. Earlier in the day she had been on the phone with the manager of a fairly well-known model in Aeon City, apparently she or the manager cancelled the shoot that was supposed to happen this afternoon and April had been arguing with him to no avail before she just collapsed on the couch to stare at the ceiling and bemoan the missed opportunity and money this shoot would've brought her and Olivia. They were making some headway in this little business of theirs and this was going to be quite the setback. April must have fallen asleep at some point.

April read the note, words of encouragement, a thermos of hot cocoa as a pick-me-up, the obligatory "you're working too hard," and lipstick kissed on the end of the paper. "You don't know the half of it Liv," April thought to herself; there was, after all, a whole half of her life she had let no one else in on. Ever since she was in high school years now April was one of Aeon's local superheroes: The Dragonfly! Quite frankly, the Dragonfly has been a busy superhero, that unexplained rift opening up introduced a lot of chaos into Aeon City and Dragonfly was frequently out on the street trying to smooth it over; that plus keeping "Life-Size Media," going was costing April untold hours of sleep at this point. In fact that nap was probably the most sleep she'd gotten in a while.

April looked at the note again, particularly the lip mark left on the end there. Is Olivia just being Olivia or...? April shook her head in an attempt to banish that line of thought, she was still waking up and that was too much thinking to deal with without more rest, or some cocoa... April's wanting gaze was guided back to the thermos on the table. "I am a weak woman," April sighed defeated before picking up the thermos. She wandered over to the window, almost hypnotized by the snow being highlighted by the city lights. April shrugged and contemplated the thermos. How much of this should she drink before she lays down and takes this wonderful opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Then the distant explosion.

"Of... course..." April groaned on the inside. She quickly unscrewed the lid of the thermos, chugged that hot cocoa, not like the heat would bother her, all while power-walking to her room.

Some time later the sky above Aeon's streets featured something else besides the snow. Somewhere around six-inches tall a young woman with red hair, with a single blue highlight in it, wearing blue spandex, with a flame pattern decorating them, iridescent wings, and a visor over her eyes was zipping through the air towards the sound of the explosion; the Aeon City docks. It didn't take too long before Dragonfly could see the police officers gathering. Dragonfly swooped lower to where the police were barricading the civilians from getting to close, carefully hovering to where she was still on the other side of the police line and just above the crowd, "Excuse me! Officer!" Dragonfly's voice was pitched thanks to the shrinkage, and the closest officer was probably the only officer who could hear her at that size, "Did something happen here?"

[tonberrian]

Since the arrival of the interdimensional rift, Menta had been hard at work helping clear the streets and offering what support she could. In her few minutes of rest, she marveled at the people - only very recently had she seen so many people in one place, and it was a constant amazement to see and meet new people every day. Rather quickly she realized that the people were not nearly as interested in meeting her as she was them, however, and she spent more time peoplewatching. These Earthlings had such strange customs - they did not like it when people entered their house without their permission, and yet once a year a jolly fat man in red visited every house to deliver goods and was thanked for doing so. And their fascination with this currency of paper and plastic, exchanging labor for it and exchanging it for goods. It was all very confusing.

After the explosion came, a shimmer appeared in the air above the docks, out of which materialized Menta. She glided down, looking for one of the local peace-keepers. "Excuse me? Do you know what happened?"

[The_Admiral]

"I'm just going down for some food that isn't literal ****, yes I know I can't tell the difference, it's the principle of the matter dammit." a heavily wrapped up man argued with someone, over the phone as he stood in line, relieved that the USD was another constant between this dimension and his home.

He sighed as an explosion rocked the sky, "Apha, you heard that? Scan and report, I'm going to ask around." he says as he rushes out of the fast food place, towards the source of the sound, he stops by the first cop he sees asking,

"Sir, what the hell just happened?"

[Thokk_Smash]

New Aeon is a truly beautiful city. From the skyline to the harbor, there are sights to see: people, buildings, and everything in between. It's not easy to see what it takes to keep such beauty maintained. Some people don't want to see the nitty-gritty, don't want to look deeper than the surface.

Tourists and the rich and famous have that luxury. They have the leisure to ignore the more ugly aspects of New Aeon. Those less fortunate don't have that choice. And while the falling snow is absolutely gorgeous, and the plows do excellent work at keeping the streets clear and salted, the lowering temperature is a time bomb of hypothermia waiting to happen for those unfortunate enough to be caught unprotected in the snow.

Such is the fate of one man in a group of homeless men in the lower part of town. At least one of them may have succumbed to hypothermia had they not been visited by a man wearing a vibrant-yet-practical orange and yellow form-fitting outfit. He radiated heat like a furnace; just being near him allowed the men to begin to heat up.

"C'mon, we need to warm him up slowly," Stoke says to the hypothermic man's fellows. He instructs the men to get a makeshift awning over them to keep the snow off, and he suddenly appears to have fuel for their dying barrel fire, as if he'd teleported it to him. He sets them to warm little tins of water for the man to drink.

"Try to keep him warm through the night," Stoke advises the other homeless men. "He's not perfect yet, but he'll make it through if you can just make sure he stays warm. Go to the Blaise Clinic tomorrow, and the staff can help you there. I hear the owner doesn't charge for his services as often as not. Sounds loony, I know, but what've you got to lose?"

Stoke stays with the recovering man for a quarter hour longer before zipping away with a final word of advice. The Phoenix within him chirrups out a note of support at his actions; in quiet moments such as these, he can feel a sense of rest from his soulful guest--like a dog settling circling its bed, or a bird settling into its nest. In situations not involving the Dark Phoenix, his guest is usually content to stay out of Stoke's way. Stoke's gotten the hang of his powers in the past year and a half, after all.

He is just about to go to his clinic and make sure it's stocked before returning to his rounds when the first explosion goes off. The Phoenix within him perks up. It wouldn't be the first time the Dark Phoenix had made its presence known in such a way. Brandon hopes it's not the case here.

~"Thom, there was an explosion by the docks. I'll let you know if it's anything serious. The way the week's been going, I wouldn't hold my breath for 'not serious', though."~

Even before he was halfway through that mental communication, Stoke has already arrived at the docks. He sees several figures he recognizes as fellow superheroes approaching the police. Good; it's always good to coordinate with local law enforcement. But he's noticed that, ever since he got his powers, the right way tends to be the slow way. He never had an overabundance of patience before, and now he has the speed to back it up.

And so it is with a soft "ffft" of displaced air that Stoke zooms through the dock, looking for anything out of place or noteworthy. He takes special care not to disrupt anyone or anything, just in case the police already started doing their thing.

Stoke will be running through the docks and seeing what there is to be seen. He moves at Speed Rank 14 and Quickness Rank 14, so 60 miles in a single move action. Since his Perception and Investigation are equal, I'll roll once and assume he used whichever one you prefer him to use to get info from the scene: [roll0]

[Avalon®]

"Alright! That's a wrap! Happy Holidays everybody!" the director shouted. Production had gone into overtime on the set of "Gran corazón grande entre el cielo y la tierra - Segunda Venida", in no small part due to the unfortunate mistakes done by one of the supporting cast, a certain someone who, in another life, wears a shiny golden suit and answers to the name Golden Matador.

"Feliz Navidad everyone!" Carlos shouted as the crew slowly made their way out of the TV station and on to their holiday plans. Gently breaking off from the crowd, he makes his way to the alleyway beside the station and after a few quick flips and jumps he is on the roof and extracting his carefully hidden uniform from its hiding place. There's been rumors of something preying upon the homeless, the gutter trash and the night shift workers of New Aeon City and it seems that it will be another cold and boring night patrolling the city for this malevolent hunter.

Matador had barely donned his uniform when a series of explosions were heard from the dock area near Lake Huron, some distance away. Keeping to the rooftops to avoid traffic, the Golden Matador speedily makes his way to the source of the commotion. He arrives after a few minutes of a dead sprint with all the pomp the flamboyant superhero can muster.

"Never fear, for the great Golden Matador is here! Now, can anyone here tell me what the hell has caused those blasted noises that could be heard from here to Calantrava?"

[Dorni]

Thomas Powell leaned back in his chair, drank deeply from his freshly brewed tea, and looked at the results of his latest test displayed on his monitor. Negative. Good.

For the past week, the city had been dealing the immediate consequences of the rift that had opened just over the bay. His network had buzzed with nearly nonstop updates and requests and he'd done what he could to make sure help had gotten to where it was most needed, which was exactly why he was sequestered in his lab once again.

The rift itself was inexplicable. It had opened out of the blue, dumped its contents, and then close immediately after. What was it? Where had it come from? Was it even safe to handle the debris it dropped? The city's scramble for a response had been an opportunity for Powell Technologies to step up and prove its mettle. His lab was full of portal debris that he'd been testing. Swabs for alien microbes, chemical sampling for unknown elements, radiation sweeps, UMID, spectroscopy, NMR, Microscopy, Psychic & Magical Resonance testing, on and on. All of it was negative, and that was good.

Well, Thomas reflected, good for the city. He'd been unable to disprove the refugee's tales of coming from an alternate earth, nor find any difference in the materials or underlying physical laws that governed their matter. For the city, it meant that the clean-up would be easy, or at least they wouldn't need to take any special precautions during the cleanup effort. It was still a bit of a letdown. An alleged inter-dimensional rift opened above his own city, and it hadn't even done him the courtesy of depositing something alien for him to study.

Thomas drank more tea and shook his head. Maybe having an actual alien working in his lab was spoiling him.

He paused from his study at Stoke's communication. His next test could wait. ~Agreed, best to make sure. Keep me informed of all developments and I'll pass along any info I get.~

He concentrated on his network, quickly finding the connection he wanted. He smiled to himself - the aforementioned alien was already at the lakefront. ~Menta, I've received a tip about an explosion near the docks.~ Doubtless she was already on it, but protocol had to be observed. ~Cause unknown. Could be something, could be nothing. Would you like further updates as the situation develops?~

That done, he minimized his analysis in favor of bringing up the Communications array. The computer that powered his lab was constantly scanning police and emergency channels, but sometimes he liked to do it himself.

Making use of the Communications feature of his Headquarters to scan police, emergency service, and social media channels for information from the scene. He'll further see if he can determine the approximate area the explosion happened in and any notable places, targets, or rescue efforts nearby. Investigation [roll0]. I expect this to be limited by the situation happening in real-time, but worth a shot.

[tonberrian]

As always, the return from Menta is guarded and brief, and under-laid with the base Loran thought-stream. Menta isn't yet fluent with English, but she is capable of real-time translation when she has someone to communicate with. ~Affirmative.~

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Menta, the Golden Matador, Silver Sentinel, and Dragonfly all converge towards the same officer at the same time, who looks visibly relieved to have heroes in the area. The woman smiles with relief and says, "There was an explosion nearby, we're not quite sure where though. With the way the water echoes and distorts sound in the area, some of the men think it came from the inner city and some think it came from in the bay itself. We've had no actual reports of anything in the last couple minutes, so we're hoping we all just heard something."

You notice some of the dive team turn on the boat and watch your group of heroes as you question the officer, one of the divers reaching up to his ear piece to talk to his men as they watch you.
Searching the whole of the docks for any signs of trouble or cause for concern, you come up with relatively little. A few stray bullet casings in an alley a couple of blocks away from where the heroes are gathered, the ingredients for a pipe bomb scattered across two blocks, and no actual sign of an explosion anywhere in the area. Upon hopping up on the salvage ship though, you are able to spot a series of fairly massive footprints in the snow on the deck. The footprints are easily the size of a grocery cart each and head off the side to the water. While the divers stand around watching the area, the water, and the heroes, it seems at least one of their number is already down in the water.
The docks are a fairly important area to New Aeon, and there are a dozen targets, almost all of which are warehouses, with the only two standouts being the amusement park and a warehouse where rick people store their most expensive boats in winter. Rescue efforts are practically nonexistent in the docks, with only a few scheduled maintenance crews coming next week to repair road damages. Scanning all available sources points to no real idea of where the explosion happened, only that it was somewhere around the docks with reports that it happened somewhere on the docks, somewhere in New Aeon, or out on the water.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly slowly pivots around in her airborne position to take stock of the other costumed people; a purple-skinned one and a man dressed in a gold outfit much like those matadors; neat. Hhaving done that Dragonfly turns back to the officer, "No smoke or fires reported then?" Dragonfly asked.

[tonberrian]

Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser. These must be other "costumed vigilantes" looking into the mysterious explosion. And one is so tiny! But no matter - with no leads on where the explosion originated from, Menta should report back to PsyNet. ~No location on explosion - multiple sources? Two other vigilantes on site - one tiny female in blue, one male in gold.~

With that, curiosity must be sated. Menta turns towards the blue lady. "How are you so tiny, human?"

[The_Snark]

For your average citizen of New Aeon City, the day is winding to a close. For the intrepid Sparrowhawk, it has only just begun!

Well, maybe not just begun. Contrary to local rumor, Sparrowhawk is not so much a creature of the night as of the afternoon; most of the city's birds are diurnal, after all. New Aeon is home to nightjars, whippoorwills, and of course a smattering of owls, whose keen eyes and ears are invaluable in this line of work. But the colonies of crows, rooks and gulls, the colonies of swallows, the omnipresent pigeon flocks - all of these are sluggish at night, and see no better than a human might. Nevertheless, enough of the city's petty crime takes place during the evening and early night hours that it's worth staying out most nights - especially since Olivia Bertinelli does not, at the moment, hold a job that requires she keep to a normal schedule.

This last week has seen more action than most: where an ordinary week might see no more than a handful of muggings and petty robberies, the night is now rife with strange creatures, refugees both benign and sinister, and opportunists drawn from across the nation. Tonight, however, seems unusually quiet, and Sparrowhawk is contemplating turning in early and perhaps attempting to return to something approaching a human sleep cycle when -

BOOM

Just had to tempt fate, didn't I, Olivia chides herself. A moment's thought sends several owls winging their way towards the sound; Sparrowhawk herself follows at a somewhat more sedate pace.

Investigating via bird: [roll0]

[Avalon®]

Some movement from the direction of the divers catch's the Matador's eye. "Curiouser and curiouser."

Keeping his body slightly tense and ready for any action, the Golden Matador turns to the police officer. "Any good bites from the wreckage today Kapitan?"

[The_Admiral]

"Thank you officer." he replies as her moves to interrogate the dive team acting suspiciously. He stops himself in his tracks, as Matador cut in ahead of him.

Sighing he stays quiet for now, attempting to stay mostly unnoticed and listen in on the interrogation for information.

[Nintendogeek01]

With that, curiosity must be sated. Menta turns towards the blue lady. "How are you so tiny, human?"
"Human?" Dragonfly thought to herself, "Strange way to address me unless... ah... must be an alien," the diminuitive superhero reasoned as she pivoted in the air to properly face the purple-skinned one, no biggie, there were a few aliens at Claremont after all. "Just my superpower," Dragonfly answered out loud, "I'm Dragonfly, you are...?"

[tonberrian]

"I have taken the name Menta, because I am a Lor mentat. I have what you call... sidekick? powers. This language, it escapes me." It takes a second to realize what Menta is saying doesn't match up with how her mouth moves, or even the sounds she's making. She's broadcasting what she means directly to you mentally.

"You are one of these 'super heroes' I have heard about? I have been called one as well. Can we become 'allies' or 'friends'?"

[Nintendogeek01]

"I have taken the name Menta, because I am a Lor mentat. I have what you call... sidekick? powers. This language, it escapes me." It takes a second to realize what Menta is saying doesn't match up with how her mouth moves, or even the sounds she's making. She's broadcasting what she means directly to you mentally.

"You are one of these 'super heroes' I have heard about? I have been called one as well. Can we become 'allies' or 'friends'?"
"Powers," Dragonfly answers, "A sidekick is a person who helps you and studies under you," she adds. Mentat? Well she did call herself Menta to boot so... psychic maybe? Uh-oh, can she read minds? Ahem... ignore that thought... "Well I wouldn't mind getting to know you," Dragonfly responded to the friendship request, "But for now we should get back to this."

Dragonfly once more turns to face the police officer, "So, if I can ask, what do you know?"

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

"No fires, no smoke, no injuries, no accidents. I'm thinking it's nothing, just a trick of sound or maybe from some other town on the water near here," the officer states while rubbing her neck. She then looks to the Golden Matador as he question her. "Nothing today. We don't have any government dive teams scheduled for this week or next. Resources are busy with the rest of the city so the only people diving are private tours of the water. Some people come from around the world to see the water under the ice," she states, nodding towards the fairly thick layer of ice that has built up between some of the piers.

You're not quite sure what to make of the diver going for his comms. On the one hand it's a little suspicious that the diver would speak on his comm while watching the heroes, and that the group of divers just seem to be hanging around doing nothing while large tracks lead into the water, but on the other hand his posture is rather relaxed as is the rest of the group. It's entirely possible that this is simply the crew to a ship for tourists who are currently diving in the water, and they're just making sure nothing went wrong below water. That doesn't account for the large, square footprints in the snow though. It's possible that it's an illegal salvage operation, although why they're on the docks and not out in the actual lake loses this theory some credibility.
Through the birds you find the group of gathered heroes, roughly five in number easily visible. You sight the dive team, who stand around onboard their ship, and the officer the heroes are actively speaking to nearby. You don't spot anything like smoke or fire nearby, the docks are completely clean of anything like that, but out in the water maybe 90 yards out you can tell the water is bubbling like lots of air was suddenly released.

[tonberrian]

"Oh. Okay." Menta concentrates, releasing her astral form to look around the area and investigate.

Menta is using Sense Projection, searching the area. Gonna roll Investigation and Perception to see if she finds anything.

Investigation: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[Dorni]

Tiny female in blue? Shrinking was an unusual power. ~The tiny female is most likely Dragonfly.~ He sent Menta. ~Hero, known powers to shrink, fly, and control fire. Been active in the city for a few years, good reputation. As for the male, Can you tell me anything else? Gold is a popular color choice. With your permission, would you rather I took a look?~

PsyNet sipped his tea, pondering. This was a puzzle. The reactions he could find suggested the explosion originated from either the docks, New Aeon city, or out on the water. Which is the same as saying 'we have no idea'. That struck him as a little odd though. The blast had been heard over a fairly wide area and the falling snow would have muffled the sound so it had to be fairly loud and large. Even on a night like this there were always a few people out and plenty of buildings overlooked the lake front. The snow was thick, but it wasn't a blizzard. He'd have expected at least one person to claim to have seen it. That suggested it was a blast coming from somewhere either without people or out of any sight-lines. He couldn't rule out the docks or the city itself, but he lowered their odds. As for it coming from out in the bay... any ship would be in a hundred sight-lines and and otherwise there wasn't much that could explode on the water.

Maybe instead of on-the-water, it had come from under it? The idea fit. Snow and ice on the lake would hide it, and the difference in sound transmission rate between water and air would have distorted the sound and hid the origin. It seemed a good fit.

~Menta, you might want to check under water.~ No need to bother Stoke with this just yet. His fire powers made a poor fit underwater, but it wouldn't be a barrier to Menta at all. ~Could be that someone has an interest in the rift artifacts down there.~

[tonberrian]

Menta assents to using her eyes - she's not using them. She makes sure to scan the depths of the water as well.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke scratches his head with a frown. What are these divers doing? If there's no government-sanctioned dives scheduled*, that means there's really no telling who these divers are affiliated with. A whole skyscraper fell into the lake last week--who knows what else may have fallen in and now lies in wait to be found? These could be treasure hunters looking for a payday, and that'd be the best-case scenario.

Worst case, they're part of some villainous organization and are trying to find things under the surface to use in their nefarious plans. It'd help explain why they're so calm despite heroes obviously poking about, if they're experienced members of some acronym villain team.

~"Thom, there's a group of divers just watching the water. There are tracks on the deck of the ship that show something with large footprints was here--maybe an underwater mech for dive expeditions. They're the best lead I've got, so I'm gonna approach them. If there's anyone else in your network around, spread the word, will you?"~

With that, he zips over the deck of the salvage ship to the crew of divers. "Hey, there, fellas," he says in tones so bright they threaten to dazzle the ears. "Dunno if you've noticed, but there was a bit of an explosion around these parts a little bit ago. You guys know anything about that?"

(*=assuming the policewoman's answer was hearable with a Routine Perception of 25 from where Stoke is)

Stoke's Dynamic Array is set to: Speed 5, Quickness 10, Cold Immunity 10, Feature 3 (Spend Luck as HP for removing fatigue)

I figure the Quickness 10 (more or less x1,000 normal Routine action) would let me catch any minute traces of reactions on their faces for Insight purposes.

[Avalon®]

Something doesn't add up. Might as well take a look at those divers.Matador grins widely at the officer. "Turistas eh? Perhaps they'd like to have a meet and greet with one of New Aeon City's shining stars? The Golden Matador!" Turning his back on the others, he starts to make his way to the group of divers. "Maybe I'll even sign a couple of autographs for them eh?"

The Golden Matador casually makes his way to the group of divers, muscles tense under his suit, as he draws a handful of his signature calling cards from a hidden pocket. "Hola everybody! Quite a nice day to come and see the one and only, when they made him they broke the mold, Golden Matador as well as see the wonders of this world beyond our own." Sadly it looks like his grandstanding is eclipsed by a fiery speedster zipping past him to talk to the divers.

Array is currently set to Bulletproof Parkour so he can get to the divers quickly if things do happen.

[The_Admiral]

Keith places his hands into his coat pockets, subconsciously attempting to shrink himself. He slowly approaches the dock carefully observing the diving group for any tells as to their motives.

[Dorni]

Another puzzle piece slammed into place. ~Stoke, those divers aren't with rescue efforts, and tourists don't do night dives with overhead ice on short notice.~

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

The divers turn away from their random positions of watching the heroes and the water and focus on Stoke and the Golden Matador. It's extremely difficult to see anything of their faces underneath the masks they wear to insulate from the cold, but one of the divers reaches into the neck of his diving suit to pull loose his mask and reveal his stubble-covered jaw to speak. "We heard something like that, yeah," the diver says to Stoke first with a nod. "Dunno what it was, but it's kinda creepy being on the water with stuff exploding around the place," the diver says very casually. He's a bit caught off-guard as the Golden Matador starts introducing himself, and his mouth distorts into a confused frown. "Um, sorry, can I ask you two to both not stand on our boat? It's a private vessel, you see, and our bosses wouldn't be too happy with, uh, strange men onboard," he says, clearly trying to be insulting about Stoke and Golden Matador's styles while avoiding direct insult at the same time.

Just as he finishes his request there's the sound of water suddenly rushing out of the way out in the bay. Roughly 90 yards out in the bay, past the thick layer of ice covering the water, the water surges away as something emerges. It looks like some kind of bizarre ship almost straight out of a sci-fi movie, colored dark maroon and spotted with bits of mud and seaweed. It appears relatively intact save for the gunk covering its surface, and appears to be floating not on its own but held aloft by a ring of buoys attached to it. The divers all turn to the sound and see the ship, with at least three of the ten men clearly confused by the sight even under their body-obscuring gear.

Out of the corner of your eye you spot movement that draws your attention. You quickly turn to look and see nothing moving where your eyes were drawn to, just the cowboy snowman standing there on the neighboring peer. You hadn't noticed it was that far out on the pier before. It would probably be a hassle to work around resting in the middle of the pier like that.
Searching the area you find nothing of real interest that could possibly have related to the explosion until you search the water. You spot the ship rising out of the water before it surfaces although it takes you a second to reach it in your astral form to inspect. A quick examination of the ship shows you it's clearly alien, very likely Grue engineered judging by its design and markings. It's small, enough to fit maybe 3 people comfortably, and appears to be several decades old. It's likely a ship from some planned invasion that crashed in the lake, or possibly a deposit from the other world. Diving under the water directly down from where it rose 90 yards out in the water, you find a small cluster of similar ships sunken at the bottom of the water. Many have damage and are pushed apart from one another like they were hit by an underwater blast, two are open and filled with water, and one is nothing more than a twisted shell of what was once an alien spacecraft. You'd guess that was where the explosion came from, although what triggered it is unknown to you. You also find yourself wondering where the bodies of the Grue inside the ships went.
The divers are a somewhat suspicious lot to you. They're too calm in this situation, no obvious wondering about the explosion, no nerve about the superheroes, not even more than a small concern when the ship in the water appeared. They're calm and collected, and in the last week that has always meant suspicious.
You don't pick up anything suspicious about the divers other than how unreasonably calm they are when dealing with superheroes.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Well, I guess I'll just ask around the docks and see if anyone saw..." Dragonfly begins when the dark ship emerged from the water, "... anything," she finishes as she stares at the distant figure. "I'm gonna go check that out," Dragonfly says, practically mesmerized before zipping through the air toward the ship, choosing to stay somewhat low and closer to the surface of the water to avoid attracting too much attention.

Now for the stealth roll: [roll0]

[tonberrian]

Menta's astral form snaps back as she realizes the importance of the space vessels she saw. Grue. Shapeshifters. And no corpses, either. Probably not there for her, but better to be safe than sorry. She rapidly opened a dialogue with PsyNet. ~Possibility of shapeshifters at the docks, Grue vessel spotted.~ After a moment's hesitation, she opened a mental dialogue with the "super heroes" she had seen earlier arriving, who were probably not Grue agents. ~There are likely shapeshifters here. Trust no one.~

As she scans the docks... hmm. Was that snowman there before? No, no it wasn't. Menta rises into the air while lashing out with telekinetic force at the snowman!

Free actions to speak to with Golden Matador and Dragonfly telepathically, free action to switch array to Telekinesis, move action to gain some height and standard action to attack with damaging move object 10; DC 25 Toughness.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Menta quickly slashes through the air with her mental blast, blasting all the snow that made up the snowman into the air and throwing the figure that was inside it up in the air as well. The figure's body flies a few short feet before flopping in the ground face down, its body literally severed in half at the waist. At any angle the heroes stand in, it's difficult to see much detail of the figure, but what everyone can see is that its uncovered head and the hole that is made in its waist both glow a bright yellow, and judging by the way the snow is visibly melting near its severed waist, it glows hot. The figure lies motionless for a moment in the snow, its arms beside its head and the cowboy hat the snowman was wearing just a short reach from its right hand.

Then suddenly the glowing part of its waist reaches across the foot of distance to its torso and reconnects itself, the waist and legs snapping back to meet up with the rest of the body. With one of its hands it reaches into the air and slams the hand back down onto the pier in a fist. It then shakes its head in the snow before starting to pick itself up. "Grizz told me to stop tryin' the snowman gambit, I shoulda listened," the figure mutters to himself as he stands, picking his brown cowboy hat and placing it back on his head. "I ain't usually a s'posin' man but looks like ma just rang for supper," he says aloud, brushing the snow off his clothes.

The man standing on the pier is an odd sight. Not only was the snowman he was in dressed up like a cowboy but he too is one, standing on the docks in a brown coat that reaches past his waist and flaps a little in the wind. He wears blue jeans with brown boots that have spurs on the back that make noise with every step he takes. He wears a red flannel shirt with a silver star pinned to the chest pocket, and a red handkerchief is tied around his neck to complete the image straight out of the old west. That is if it weren't for his head and hands. None of the heroes have ever seen a sight like this in any capacity.

He glows a bright yellow light, his entire skin emitting it from within, although it's difficult to call it skin. He honestly looks more like loose plasma bound together in a humanoid shape beneath some invisible skin-like layer. He does have hair on his head, although it's more like the plasma has shaped itself into a rough approximation of hair, but he completely lacks a face. Instead, a single marking in the shape of an arch dominates his face, although it looks somewhat like a scar at spots along it. None of the heroes familiar with the Alien Quarter (the local refuge area for all alien species) can name his race, not even Menta with all the knowledge passed on by the Lor. Eventually, everybody falls upon something akin to the same idea: a humanoid star, who also dresses like a cowboy.

"Howdy!" he calls to everyone, raising a hand and tilting his hat. "Folks call me Tumbleweed, on account that's my name. Now I don't know where the hard feelings came atwixt us, but I was gamlin' a Lor would be a sight more hospitable to a fellow space traveler. Now I won't hold a grudge, it ain't in my spirits to, but I'm gonna ask a favor as recompense. See I love Terrans, they's the best kinds of people I run across, but I got a pining away for the galactic highways. Can't tell what stardate it is, but I best be headin' home on account I don't recollect how I got here, and that there Grue scout ship is my way home."

You recall that the Grue are a shape-shifting race of alien warlords and invaders that have spread war and chaos across the galaxy in their quest to conquer the galaxy. They regularly have moles on other planets in various forms and are a hive-mind species with few exceptions. Pseudo, a rogue Grue and member of the Freedom League, and Changeling, a Grue from another peaceful dimension, are some of the only known Grue on the planet and some of the few who seek peace with other races. Most of the time the Grue found on earth are an early investigation squad seeking to prepare the planet for invasion or gather information on the heroes of Earth.

[tonberrian]

Menta was taken aback. Well, there are odder things in space.

Or maybe not. Best not to take any chances. Menta reaches into the star-man's mind, to try and grasp the truth of the situation.

Insight on his truthfulness: [roll0]
Mind Reading (Opposed by will): [roll1]
DC 20 Perception to realize mind is being read

[Nintendogeek01]

~What? Wait, is this Menta?~ not the first time a psychic had talked to her mind, though the last instance of this was a student at Claremont practicing their telepathy so it had been a while, so this came as a surprise all the same, ~What do you mean shapeshifters?~ before she could get an answer though Menta rose up in the air and cut a snowman in half! Surprising but kinda random, at least that's what Dragonfly thought until she saw that something inside the snowman had been cut in half with it! ~Geez Menta!!!~ she mentally exclaimed, ~That's awfully extreme isn't it!?~

Of course then whatever, or whoever as it turned out, it was began pulling themselves back together and being nearly nonchalant about the whole ordeal before introducing himself. ~Erm... okay I guess he's alright,~ they all mentioned the ship being a Grue ship? That would explain the shapeshifter warning. ~If this turns ugly I'd rather be able to get the drop on him so... I'm gonna go look at the ship, can you keep him talking?~ she asked before resuming her stealthy course to the ship, ~Oh and Menta, it's still generally not cool to cut people in half, just saying,~ she added as a quick aside.

Just going to keep on flying as unnoticed as possible, if you need me to re-roll stealth let me know.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

While Tumbleweed waits for his answer, Dragonfly continues to make a beeline for the Grue scout ship floating in the bay. The water out in the bay is dark and deep, even harder to see in at night, and with the snow falling it hurts visibility even further. However, as she gets closer and closer, she can quite clearly see a bright light emerging from the depths, extremely quickly. Before she can even alert the others, the light breaks the surface and leaps out of the water, stopping short about ten feet in the air. The light dims and everyone can plainly see a man in power armor hovering in the air on a set of jet boots. His armor is a mix of grey, white, and dark grey, with numerous glowing red accents along the joints and making up the face plate. He pauses to scan the area before speaking.

"What's this I hear about somebody trying to take our catch?" he questions angrily over his suit's loudspeaker, the suit giving it an electronic muffle. He flies over a few feet to be closer to the Grue scout ship and rests his hands on the roof. "One of a dozen and it's the only one intact! I believe by the law of 'finder's keepers', it belongs to Trident, and more importantly, Steelhead," he says, pointing to himself gloatingly.

Closer to the docks the ice suddenly begins to crack as something pushes through it. It shatters into pieces as a much larger suit of power armor pushes itself through the ice onto dry land. The second suit is easily twice the size of the other, close to the size of a semi-truck, painted orange and styled like a crab with one hand ending in a large pincer. The suit turns to address the heroes and Steelhead. "What do you mean 'And more importantly, Steelhead'?" the second suit asks in a woman's voice also warped by her equipment. "All you did was buzz around in the water while I did all the heavy lifting!"

"Ah, don't worry Trawler! You'll get your cut," he says as he waves off her criticism. "Soon as we crack some skulls trying to take our catch," he says, flexing his gloved hands into fists. On board the boat, the various divers pull loose daggers from their utility belts and hold them defensively around the heroes, giving all of them a wide berth. On the pier, Tumbleweed tilts his hat up and takes in the whole situation before looking to the heroes and giving a quick nod with what might be a grin if he had a mouth. The space cowboy takes off down the pier ready to jump onto the ice and make a run for the ship.

Roll initiatives everybody! :smallbiggrin: If your roll is above 15 you can attack in whatever order, if not then the villains go before you and you'll be up in any order after them.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0235/5929/products/GRR9120e_451_1024x1024.jpeg?v=1369985514
http://orig01.deviantart.net/101f/f/2009/010/1/5/trawler_from_fmw_by_d_mac.jpg
As far as you can tell, in every single thing that Tumbleweed is stating, he 100% states what he believes to be the truth. Reading his mind proves to be a much greater challenge though. You pierce what you believe to be his mind and find it to be utter nonsense within. He's focused on thinking about a dozen or so bounties rather than the situation he's in, most of his memories are disconnected gibberish events, and the only concrete thing you pull from his mind is the plot to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If he's a Grue then he's an awful job at imprinting memories by the Grue, and if he's his actual self then you feel bad for him.

[tonberrian]

Okay, so maybe there aren't Grue around currently. Just a very confused star-man and some... powered exoskeletons? They seemed to be responsible for the explosion under the water and wanted to take the Grue vessel. That seemed like it should be illegal, but they said something about the "Law of Finder's Keepers" and really this should be handled by PsyNet. ~Who are Trident and what should I do to them? What is 'The Law of Finder's Keepers'?~ Menta gathers her will, preparing to unleash her might on the larger one's mind.

Free action to communicate with PsyNet, free action to switch array to Mental Blast, Standard Action to Ready to blast Trawler on PsyNet's sayso (DC 25 Will vs damage).

[Thokk_Smash]

Even with all his speed and alacrity, Stoke can't respond to the rather fascinating cowboy alien masquerading as a cowboy snowman before the two villains arise from the ocean's depths. It seems that greeting the alien arrival would have to wait for later.

"Near as I can remember, the corollary to that law is "Losers Weepers"," he shouts to the tin-can man with a smirk. "And you're gonna cry so much that little tin can you're wearing will rust over!"

He gives a saucy grin to Steelhead, one meant to infuriate and distract. From the aether a majestic cry arises, as though of a bird of prey in flight. A burst of fire erupts from Stoke to wrap around the assembled heroes. The fire takes on a semblance of a bird before settling below the skin of the heroes. "Go hog wild, guys!" Stoke shouts merrily.

Move action: Taunt Steelhead: [roll0] opposed by Deception, Insight, or Will (Penalty for using Deception as a move action negated by Chatterbox Benefit)

Standard action: Use Phoenix's Protection--all PCs and non-enemy NPCs within 30ft of Stoke are Deflected at Rank 14 Deflect, with a +2 bonus from Improved Defense. It's Selective, so the Minions aren't helped. Any roll of 10 or less counts as 10 without adding +10. The Deflect Rank is capped by PL limits, and so Toughness-Shifted characters are Deflected at whatever their Toughness will allow. They also have Evasion 2 and Instant Up for the round.

Golden Matador: 1d20+15
Sparrow: 1d20+16
Dragonfly: 1d20+16
Stoke: 1d20+16

Status: Fine, Deflected
HP: 1
Luck: 5/5

[The_Snark]

A-ha. Found you. It's a gull that first manages to catch sight of the disturbance in the water. That would explain why nobody is sure where the sound came from - not to mention why nobody saw it, explosions weren't usually inconspicuous. But for it to have been audible so far away, from underwater... what the hell was under there?

Well, she'd find out soon enough. This would have been a lot easier in daylight hours; cormorants were just about the best diving birds a girl could ask for, short of actual penguins. (Alas, hardly any crime takes place at the South Pole.) But they, like most other diving birds, were strictly daytime fliers - cold water and colder air were not a seabird's friend. Her talisman might be able to rouse a few, she's never figured out how the calling works, but if she can't, she'll have to make do with ducks. Ducks don’t much like night-time either, but there’s so many of them about that she can always find -

Orrr whatever it was could just bob up, that works too. Sparrhowhawk absently clamps down on the gull's instinctive fear-reaction to large things surfacing beneath it, instead circling to get a better look. It's actually big, not just big-looking to a bird, and... is that a flying saucer? Sure, why not. Sometimes Sparrowhawk misses the days when it was just regular criminals, unhinged inventors with a gimmick, and the occasional guy who fell into a vat of chemicals...

... like these guys. Illegal salvage isn't the most heinous crime, but the two powersuits and their goons look like they're about to cause some trouble. Sparrowhawk nudges her birds out over the bay.

Not acting yet since I rolled low on initiative/am waiting on Well-Informed results, but figured I may as well get up reactions to earlier stuff in the meantime. Also, I am assuming that Sparrowhawk already has her full complement of 4 flocks summoned - she usually does when she's out on patrol, since it's generally too late once she gets into a fight

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Steelhead kicks on his jets and begins moving quickly towards the pier, putting his palm flat out in front of him as he flies towards Menta. He's distracted from his approach by Stoke's quick taunt, and fires just a brief second too quickly. A small series of metal beads fire from his glove, breaking apart as they fly towards to extend an electrified net that barely misses the hero. He instead continues flying forward, disabling his loudspeaker with an audible thunk as he takes to the air, moving up roughly 30 ft into the air before stopping to survey the area.

"Plan 9, go!" Trawler shouts to the divers as she quickly submerges back beneath the water, also cutting off her loudspeaker as the water overtakes her power armor and she vanishes beneath the layer of snow and ice that obscures the water. The divers all nod to themselves and then suddenly break in different directions, seven of them jumping over the sides of the boat to land on the ice and continue running, while three make it down to the dock where one quickly grabs the officer from before and holds her at knifepoint while the other two sprint away. Meanwhile, now further out on the ice, Tumbleweed continues his mad run for the Grue ship.

Stoke:
Steelhead Will Roll: [roll0] vs DC 25. Fail, -2 to Roll.
No further rolls necessary.

Steelhead:
Standard Action: [roll1] Actually 15 vs DC 16 to hit Menta. Dodge DC 16 (Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile). Miss.
Move Action

Trawler:
No rolls necessary.

Divers:
No rolls necessary.

Everybody can go now in whatever order, even the people who already had a turn in Round 1 since it will basically count as moving immediately on to Round 2.
Trawler and Steelhead are two of the three heads of Trident, both experienced, if somewhat risk-taking and foresight lacking, illegal salvagers, smugglers, and amateur treasure hunters. Trident is their smuggling and salvage operation which operates out of a unknown vessel currently believed to be out at sea, and both are technically under the leadership of an unknown woman only known by her call-sign 'Coral Snake'. Trawler's suit is a sophisticated diving suit believed to have been built by the previous Trawler, now deceased, and she spends most of her time in the suit capable of withstanding deep sea pressures and battles with superhumans. Steelhead's suit is stolen technology previously owned by Brande Management, and it has all the capabilities of Trawler's suit with the added advantages of lasers and flight. Real name of both are unknown as they typically stick to fleeing crime scenes rather than fight it out.

Steelhead's defenses are generally equal to yours. Trawler's are higher.

[The_Admiral]

"They never learn," he mutters, making a run for the police officer, elbowing her assailant in the face before he could even react.

He then leaps into the air in an act of near superhuman athleticism and somehow kicks another one of his allies twice in the face. Recovering on the ground, he lowers his profile onto the ground, snapping his leg out to strike a third minion in the face.

He then resumes his combat stance, one leg forward, stable position. He shouts, "Officer, you okay?"


Move Action: Auto Succeed the athletics check to gain running, move 30 to elbow the guy 60 feet per move action.
Standard: Roll To Hit to punch. If Succeed, triggers takedown and he moves to takedown another minion.

To Hit
[roll0]
DC 19 Toughness Multiattack

another To Hit
[roll1]
DC 19 Toughness Multiattack

THird to hit: 17
DC 19 Toughness Multiattack

[Dorni]

Thomas Powell set aside his Tea and leaned back in his chair. Menta was many things. Brilliant. Helpful. Idealistic. Direct. And Naive. For all her intelligence, she wasn't an earth native and often lacked the context to understand earth ways. Like 'Finder's Keepers'. One corner of his mouth threatened to smile. He was NOT going to laugh at her. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on his connection to his assistant, casting his mind to her along the bond between them.

At the battlefield, a pair of glowing purple eyes opened in the air just in front of the psychic's forehead. They darted across the battlefield, briefly lingering on each combatant before settling on the criminals and their prize.

~'Trident' is a criminal organization of thieves, smugglers, and illegal salvage operations,~ he broadcast back to Menta and Stoke at the speed of thought. ~Both individuals wearing the mechanical suits are Trident Lieutenants. The large orange one is Trawler; his suit is advanced tech capable of withstanding the ocean depths. It is tremendously strong and can withstand super-human impact; it will likely prove very resistant to physical attacks. It isn't flight capable and I recommend keeping your distance. The smaller one goes by the name Steelhead. Not as durable as Trawler, but it has similar physical capabilities with the addition of flight and laser-based weapon technology. Neither one of them is lacking courage, but they're known to attempt to flee if they're in trouble.~
~They're also not known for having great minds - the 'Law of Finders-Keepers' is a taunt used by earth children. It roughly means 'I claimed this first, so it belongs to me now.' I believe mental attacks may prove effective.~
~The possibility of Grue present is noted. I'll prepare a countermeasure for detecting shapeshifters once this action is over. I don't recognize the space cowboy's race, but I don't believe he's with Trident. Focus on defending the Grue ship and apprehending Trident for now. We can sort out the cowboy afterward.~

PsyNet concentrated further, projecting even more of his energy through the link and sending it to the assorted Heros, who would find themselves filled with a feeling of great strength.

For any Hero who attacks Steelhead or Trawler with a toughness-resisted attack, PsyNet Team Attacks with them as a reaction. Please roll a Team Attack assist at +19, Damage Rank 6

[tonberrian]

Oh. Well then. Menta should have realized it when they attacked her, but these Trident folks were apparently bad people. Menta's combat training kicked in. They were after the Grue saucer, so her objective should be to stop them. Menta moved toward the saucer and concentrated, releasing an unfocused burst of telekinetic force at the group of divers running for the saucer.

Free action to switch array to Telekinetic Burst, move action to approach the saucer, standard action to attack the Trident goons - DC 25 Toughness save vs damage, 30 ft burst centered on the center of the group, no Dodge check to resist it since it's a Perception range effect. Probably breaks the ice under them, too.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly
Hero Points: 1
Condition: Normal

Training and regularly going out on patrol certainly helped here, as a younger and less experienced Dragonfly surely would've yelped when the two metallic menaces burst from the ocean depths near her! Dragonfly kept her breath as still as she could while the two villains made clear that they were not here to play nice. "Not to say I'm old..." Dragonfly thought to herself as she made a beeline for Trawler!

Unfortunately the villain had already dived under the water! Dragonfly couldn't help but click her tongue in disappointment, she was an alright swimmer in a casual environment but not when she's shrunken and her fire powers really wouldn't work if she was completely submerged. Luckily going after Steelhead barely required any course correction on her part. The action was already beginning to light up the dock as Dragonfly closed the distance between her and Steelhead!

"Let's see if I can fry some circuits through that suit!" Dragonfly thought silently to herself as she increased her relative elevation to fly up behind Steelhead, the dark metallic surface of his suit zooming by her, lit up her hands and began hurling a multitude of blue fireballs at the base of Steelhead's armored neck and right shoulder before zipping away over the top of Steelhead's left shoulder and making for cover!

I do not know the exact distances so let me know what is and is not feasible for Dragonfly's movement range and I will gladly edit.

Move Action: Stealth roll to try to sneak up on Steelhead: [roll0] vs. Steelhead's perception.

Standard Action: Dragonfire barrage on Steelhead: [roll1]

Result of Standard Action: If attack check succeeds by less than +5 of Steelhead's parry then Steelhead must make a DC23 toughness save. If Attack check succeeds by 5 or more against Steelhead's parry then he must make a DC25 toughness check. If Attack check succeeds by 10 or more of Steelhead's parry then he must make a DC28 toughness save!

Move-by Action: In the hopes there is enough movement left, stealth away to cover, in case another roll is needed: [roll2]

[The_Snark]

First things first: police officer being held at knifepoint. Sparrowhawk may not think much of the local law enforcement, nor they her, but she's not about to let anyone get stabbed on her watch. Not if she can help it. A chorus of cawing, chirping and low hoots fills the air, as birds converge in a spiral on the docks. Some fellow in plainclothes is there before she can muster the numbers to interfere properly, tackling the knife-wielder first. Good for him, if he can pull it off. If not, the birds will take advantage of the distraction he provides.

Out over the water, more birds start to wheel around the hovering Steelhead, though these ones are keeping their distance. Not much a bird can do to a suit of powered armor, and if she's heard rightly Steelhead is packing some serious firepower in there. But they can distract him while the flying woman does the job, and the man inside the suit may be the weak link. Battlesuit or no battlesuit, the birds are an eerie sight: a dozen different species all fly in perfect formation, their calls blending into an unsettling arrhythmic cacophony.

If any of the minions Keith is attacking are still standing after his attack, one flock will hit them with an area attack: Dodge DC 19 for half effect, followed by Dodge DC 19 (vulnerable on failure) and Toughness DC 19 against damage.

Two of the other flocks will be attempting to demoralize Steelhead:
Aid roll: [roll0]
Intimidate: [roll1] + 2 aid bonus = 24

... while the last one will use Startle and Set-up to feint, trying to render Steelhead vulnerable to whoever next attacks him (probably Dragonfly).
Startle: [roll2]

[Avalon®]

Things were a blur to Matador as Steelhead and Trawler came up from beneath Lake Huron, an energy being came out of a snowman and called itself Tumbleweed, a Grue ship was dredged from the lake bottom and the everyone started fighting with everyone else.

Trying to make sense of the blur around him, he spots two pairs of divers making off in different directions. Thinking fast, Golden Matador hurls several playing cards at the furthest pair hoping to at least stop them in their tracks.

Targeting the most distant of the fleeing divers.

Attack:
[roll0] DC 22 Toughness, Multiattack

If one diver drops, then performing Takedown on the other
Attack:
[roll1] DC 22 Toughness, Multiattack

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Silver Sentinel snaps forward, charged by his training and PsyNet's psychic augmentation, lashing out his elbow to catch the first diver in the face. There's an audible crunch as his nose breaks and he's sent flying backwards on the dock. The second diver, throws up his hands to defend himself but is too slow as the Sentinel kicks him twice hard, another bone breaking as the guy is sent sprawling. The third tries to turn and run but is once again caught off-guard as the hero lashes as his face, catching him in the side of the jaw with his foot and landing him on the ground.

Out on the ice, Menta ignores Steelhead's attack on her in favor of lashing out with her psychic energy towards the divers apparently running for the spaceship. Tumbleweed is a ways ahead of them and out of the range of Menta's psychic blast, but can just as easily feel it zip past. The ice underneath the three divers closest to the blast site is blown apart by the blast, sending them up into the air. One of them falls short of the large hole blasted in the ice and slams into the hard layer covering the water, knocked out cold on the ice as he slides. Another is thrown in the air and his limp body falls down into the icy water. The third flies to the edge of the hole, slamming against the ice and hitting his head hard on the ice's hard surface. He slides into the water unconscious.

Dragonfly takes up Menta's battle, the pint-sized hero clearing the distance between her and Steelhead as he settles his flight. Steelhead's on-board sensors pick up Dragonfly as she buzzes towards him, and he turns back on his loudspeaker. "Buzz off," he responds, going for the most obvious retort. He can't keep away from the hero though, as Dragonfly delivers a barrage of fireballs extra-charged by PsyNet's link into the metal armor. The armor, ice cold from the time underwater, doesn't react well to Dragonfly's fire and creaks angrily at the sudden heat explosion. "Ah!" Steelhead screams, reaching around to his back to try and protect himself. "What's the deal, trying to boil me?" It's enough distraction that Steelhead fails to see the flocks of birds coming straight for him, filling his vision with flapping wings and pecking beaks. He leaps back through the air in surprise. "Birds now? What is with you heroes?" he shouts, clearly in a confused panic state.

Back on the ship, the Golden Matador whips out two hardened playing cards, throwing them with a well-practiced hand across the ice towards a pair of divers making a run for the edge of the ice. The playing cards find their targets and hit them in the sweet spots of the spine, causing both men to seize up for a moment in pain before collapsing on the ice.

Silver Sentinel:
Diver #1 Toughness Roll: [roll0] vs DC 29. Out.
Diver #2 Toughness Roll: [roll1] vs DC 26. Out.
Diver #3 Toughness Roll: [roll2] vs DC 24. Out.
(Benefit from PsyNet's team attack. Total +5)

PsyNet:
No rolls necessary.

Menta:
Diver #4 Toughness Roll: [roll3] vs DC 30. Out.
Diver #5 Toughness Roll: [roll4] vs DC 30. Out.
Diver #6 Toughness Roll: [roll5] vs DC 30. Out.
(Benefit from PsyNet's team attack. Total +5)

Dragonfly:
Steelhead Perception Check: [roll6] vs DC 24. Beat. No Stealth Bonuses.
Steelhead Toughness Roll: [roll7] vs DC 33. -1 and Staggered.
(3 degrees of success for Dragonfly's multiattack, 4 degrees of success vs. PsyNet's team attack. +10 total to base DC)

Sparrowhawk:
Diver #1 Dodge Roll #1: [roll8] vs DC 19.
Diver #1 Dodge Roll #2: [roll9] vs DC 19.
Diver #1 Toughness Roll: [roll10] vs DC 19.
Diver #2 Dodge Roll #1: [roll11] vs DC 19.
Diver #2 Dodge Roll #2: [roll12] vs DC 19.
Diver #2 Toughness Roll: [roll13] vs DC 19.
Diver #3 Dodge Roll #1: [roll14] vs DC 19.
Diver #3 Dodge Roll #2: [roll15] vs DC 19.
Diver #3 Toughness Roll: [roll16] vs DC 19.
Steelhead Will Roll: [roll17] vs DC 24. Impaired. -2 Penalty to Checks.
Steelhead Intimidation Roll: [roll18] vs DC 20. Vulnerable to next attack.

Golden Matador:
Diver #7 Toughness Roll: [roll19] vs DC 27. Out.
Diver #8 Toughness Roll: [roll20] vs DC 27. Out.
(Benefit from PsyNet's team attack. Total +5)

[Thokk_Smash]

"Heard, understood, and wanting to tell you that I already knew half of that, Thom," Stoke replies to the mission control with a mental grin. "I'll see if I can't keep 'em from running away."

He sees that Steelhead is the only remaining lieutenant visible, and so decides he should be his target. "Hey, Tin Can, over here! You're not good enough for that stolen piece of work!"

With that, he focuses inward for a moment. Fire, white-hot, springs to his hands, and he fires it at Steelhead, looking to melt the hard surface of the armor.

Move action: Charge for energy

Standard: Attack Steelhead with Firebird's Fury, All-Out/Power Attack +5/-5 at [roll0] vs DC 26 Defense-resisted Damage

Status: -5 Defenses
HP: 1
Luck: 5/5

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Stoke lobs a fireball, Steelhead turning towards Stoke's taunt through the flock of birds just as the fireball soars through the air aimed straight for him. "Oh crap," is all he's able to murmur over the loudspeaker before the fireball impacts straight with his helmet and throws him. His turbines cut out on him as he is thrown through the air, plummeting back to earth over the ice. The power-suited man slams into the ice, shattering his own hole in its surface as he falls through into the water. The armor bobs back up to the surface, facing him upwards towards the sky unconscious with fire-blackened armor.

Steelhead at -1 and Staggered
8 out of 10 divers down.

Stoke:
Steelhead Toughness Roll: [roll0] vs DC 31. Out.
(+5 from PsyNet assistance (Roll was OOC))

Steelhead:
Standard: [roll1] vs DC 24 to hit Dragonfly. Toughness DC 25.

END ROUND 2.

[The_Admiral]

Shifting his focus to the final two thugs, Keith moves, faster than one would have thought him capable of moving at first glance at his bulky winter wear. Weaving under a strike, he delivers a quick one two punch to the gut of one of the divers, before elbowing the second in the chest.


[roll0]

[roll1]

Both are multiattack DC 19

Autopass the athletics.

[tonberrian]

With all the visible targets out of the way, Menta concentrates on focus of all the trouble today, lifting the Grue saucer out of the icy water with the power of her mind.

Free action to switch array to Telekinesis, standard action to pick up the saucer and move it up out of the water and possibly closer to dry land.

[The_Snark]

S***.

Assuming Trawler has the good sense not to surface again after that display of firepower, the fight is over, but her work isn't. Steelhead himself should be fine, his suit was sealed and combat-ready... and apparently it floats, too? Good for him. The other two (she does a quick count, yep, all others accounted for) might not be so lucky; they were wearing diving suits, but she's not sure they were wearing their masks, and unconscious in the water at night is a bad place to be even if you're not worried about drowning. What kind of idiot decided smashing the ice under fleeing crooks was a good idea?

The birds cluster above each of the downed three, marking their locations; the few waterbirds she's gathered slip in to try and keep the men afloat, or at least try and keep faces abovewater. Sparrowhawk, meanwhile, has abandoned her alley hideout and is running for the shore, pulling out a burner phone as she goes.

"Emergency services, what is the nature of-"

"Two men fallen through the ice out in the harbor, maybe more. Neither is conscious, they're wearing diving suits but I don't know if their masks were properly secured when the ice broke. There is fighting in the area, one downed powersuit in the water and another still at large, several heroes" - or people who beat up criminals, anyway, but now is not the time - "on the scene. The fighting might be over, I'm not sure."

"Thank you, miss. Are you currently sa-"

"I'm fine, just hurry up and get an ambulance to the pier." The dispatcher manages to get one last question out before she hangs up, asking her to listen and confirm they'd heard everything right; Sparrowhawk grudgingly concedes that makes sense. Then she hangs up, stepping up the pace as she gets out onto the ice.

Sparrowhawk's going to leave hiding and run out onto the ice to try and get the goons out of the water before they sink/freeze/catch hypothermia. It might not be a concern, depending on what their diving suits are like, but no point taking chances. Not sure if we're out of combat time yet.

Moving twice, Athletics to boost ground speed: [roll0]

... and talking on the phone as a free action. :smalltongue:

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly
Hero Points: 1
Condition: Normal

"After you metal head!" Dragonfly retorted to the armored menace. Dragonfly ducks through her cover and swoops back out, she lurches to a stop in mid-air when she saw the myriad of birds flying around Steelhead! "Crap crap crap! No not in the mood to be a Christmas dinner now!" however Dragonfly calmed down when she saw that the birds were targetting Steelhead.

"Oh thank God, now then..." Dragonfly was about to fly back in to blast Steelhead however the other flaming hero here managed to blast Steelhead and send his now nicely charred armor back down to the icy water below.

~Sweet, I don't know if this mind thing is still on but if it is watch out for the small blue thing flying for the ship, I'd like to check it out before Trawler gets back,~ Dragonfly, tries to, say on the mental chat, though she honestly wasn't sure if it was still up.

Got some time away from the get together to post something minor. For what actions matter Dragonfly is flying toward the ship.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Silver Sentinel quickly clears the distance to the remaining divers, taking both of them out quickly without trouble. Their unconscious and injured bodies slump over on the ice as Sparrowhawk runs across the ice to fish the two divers out of the water, leaving Steelhead to bob in the bay unconscious. The divers are hurt but their suits were equipped in a way that they weren't in great danger of drowning in the water. They'll be fine after a few days of recovery.

Further out on the ice nearly to the point it ends, Tumbleweed spots Menta lift the several ton Grue scout ship out of the water, Dragonfly zipping through the air to inspect it, and comes up with the best plan he could possibly make in under a second. He brushes back his coat with one hand to reveal a well-hidden holster dangling on his hip. With the speed only a gunslinger could accomplish, he whips the gun from its holster, pointing the alien revolver at Menta as the brand on his face scrunches up as he aims. "Lil' lady, I'm a fair type, so I'm gon' give you a count of three to put my new ship down," he warns, keeping careful watch over Menta. "One, two..." he manages to reach before a beam of pure white light blasts down from behind Tumbleweed into the ice in front of him.

The air hangs for a moment as Tumbleed, arch on his face stretched in surprise, pauses to realize what happened. "Aww, jumpin' cometbugs, I know what this part is," he says in a disappointed, slightly beaten voice. He twirls his revolver in his hand twice before slapping it back down into its holster and turning around.

"Sri Li'Anaa Tul, Star Knight of Space Sector 2814," says a booming yet feminine voice, clear to everyone in the port, from the figure flying about ten feet in the air a few yards behind Tumbleweed. She's clearly humanoid, if not human, and appears to be wearing some kind of armor. It's gunmetal grey in color, although it shines rather nicely, and covers her entire body from head to toe. Her armor appears to be segmented, with overlapping parts to provide total protection and reinforce a number of key areas. The most notable detail of all is the eight-point star symbol on her breastplate, which glows white from within. She carries a sword made of identical light, which appears to ripple slightly as she holds it ready to strike at the first sign of trouble. Notably, she also appears to be managing flight without any kind of assistance via turbines or wings.

"Unknown Entity Number 13, known as 'Tumbleweed', place your hands in the air and prepare for arrest," she orders Tumbleweed, taking immediate charge of the situation. "You will be detained at the nearest recognized prison facility in New Aeon City, Earth. Lor Female," she says, speaking directly to Menta. "Place the Grue vessel on the docks, relinquish control, and prepare for questioning. I will be taking all Grue-related materials for further investigation. Failure to cooperate will force me to immediately arrest you," she warns, her stellar sword shimmering to emphasize her point. "Terran Female," she addresses Dragonfly. "Do not approach the Grue vessel or you will be arrested and delivered to local authorities," she warns. Star Knight then boosts herself into the air a few extra feet and shines light through the whole area, illuminating Silver Sentinel, Stoke, Sparrowhawk, Golden Matador, and Steelhead in her light. "All 'superhuman' Terrans will remain present for questioning as well. Failure to assist is grounds for immediate arrest."

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z119/liquidgrainstorage/mutantsandmasterminds/Star20Knight1.jpg

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly did indeed lurch to a halt when the Star Knight appeared, and that made the arrest threat REALLY unnecessary. "Okay! Yeesh! Blame a girl for trying to stay a step ahead of Trawler!" Dragonfly yelled back in response, at least as much as her diminished size would allow before fluttering back to the docks proper, "Just a 'don't approach the ship' would've been fine for your information!"

[The_Admiral]

"..Eeer, I'm not superhuman, so may I leave?" he replies to the Star Knight, hands meekly raised into the air.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke flinches a bit and freezes up at the Star Knight's booming appearance. He hadn't been planning to go for the Grue ship, but he still can't just stand still--and not just because he can't sit still normally.

He brashly raises his hand to get her attention and says, "Miss Star Knight, there's still a guy in the drink over there, and even with his armor he has a chance of catching hypothermia. And I need to check the the others who were in the water as well. Could I grab him out before the questioning? I won't move close to the ship, cross my heart."

"Thom, are all Star Knights this much of a harda**?"

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

The Star Knight watches Stoke and Silver Sentinel as they request their freedom of movement. "Approved, Terran Male," she says over the wide space. "Make it fast and attend to any visible injuries. Do not activate the armor or I will assume hostilities," she warns and switches her attention to the Sentinel in disguise. "I'm detecting high levels of dimensional energy within you and on your person, higher than ambient levels of dimensional energy. I also witnessed your aptitude at handling other combatants. You are staying for questioning."

[tonberrian]

Menta places the Grue saucer down as instructed. "There are more Grue vessels beneath the surface. Possible source of the earlier explosion." She assumes a position of surrender, despite floating in midair and obviously capable of impressive psionic abilities. She also reaches out with her mind to try and read the Star Knight's.

Putting the ship down, and then switching the array to mind-reading and using it, assuming we aren't in combat time.

[roll0]: Mind Reading vs. Will, DC 20 Perception for the Star Knight or anyone with an appropriate super-sense to detect.

[The_Admiral]

"Yeah I can explain that, Commander Keith Walker, Codex Alliance, my ship's in orbit." he replies, internally cursing, of course she could sense dimensional energy.

[Dorni]

One of Thomas' psychic eyes opened, mirroring the real Thomas' raised eyebrow of interest. He seemed only mildly concerned about the Star Knight throwing her weight around. Sure, as a matter of intergalactic law she could haul detain them just for not cooperating, but for now cooperation was the preferable option anyway. Trident may have decided to try their luck searching the bottom of the bay here by chance, hoping to luck into useful artifacts that came through the Rift. Possible, but in the last week the bay and the city had been the focus of all kinds of attention and searches. Getting caught was a real possibility here - one borne out by the night's events - and with the reward uncertain it might be argued an unnecessary risk.

But if they'd known the ships were down there, that would justify the operation and the risks involved. It also begged the question of how they'd gotten that knowledge and suggested that more might be going on. The presence of this new Star Knight would be consistent with the latter situation, although it also had unpleasant implications about the stakes.

And Thomas so wanted to get his hands on that Grue starship.

~I recommend cooperation for the moment. It seems an unlikely coincidence that a second Star Knight should be assigned to Earth and just happen to take an interest in an illegal salvage job. I'll be along shortly.~

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke gives a jaunty, irreverent salute to the Star Knight. "'Fast' is my middle name," he says, and exactly a microsecond after the last syllable he's off to the races, metaphorically. In the blink of an eye Steelhead and the two waterlogged divers are laid out on the docks side-by-side. Stoke is a blur around them, checking pulses, looking for visible wounds, guesstimating internal temperatures. The temperature around him has risen noticeably, enough that even the waterlogged the divers would begin to warm.

"Thanks for grabbing them, by the way," he says to Sparrow as he zips around, his voice warbling a bit due to his movement. "Funny how I was slower on the uptake for that, huh? Name's Stoke, what's yours?"

He lays a hand on the final diver's forehead and nods. They ought to be in no immediate danger. "When did you get to Earth anyway, Miss Star Knight?" he asks loud enough for all to hear. "I thought the Earth only had the one, and her armor's golden."

Routining a Treatment for 25 to triage and check up on the divers and Steelhead.

[The_Snark]

Great. As if the local authorities weren't enough, now we've got space cops dropping in and throwing their weight around. If circumstances were different, Sparrowhawk would be tempted to flip the Star Knight the metaphorical bird and pull a vanishing act. Being an officer of the law doesn't give you the right to look down on people, like they're all criminals waiting to happen. Bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, that.

However, she's out in the open right now, and the Star Knight can fly. (Not to mention who-knows-what-else.) She's not going to shoot herself in the foot for the sake of a pointless gesture. She folds her arms and stays put, her body language expressing some of the irritation her mask would otherwise hide.

"Sparrowhawk," she answers, giving Stoke a brief nod in greeting. Good to know she's not the only hero here who cares about that sort of thing. "I've seen you out and about a few times, I think. Solid work."

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

"Thank you for the information, Lor Female, and for relinquishing the ship but I must remind you that attempting to read the mind of a Star Knight is a worse criminal action than non-cooperation," she says, barely disguising the threat behind her words. "I am giving you a warning this time, since I assume you've spent enough time around Terrans to forget such a crime. Do not attempt it again."

"Commander Walker," she says, turning to Silver Sentinel and nodding at him. "I hope you'll cooperate with my investigation to your full abilities. After which, if I am not called away, I will be pleased to assist with your current business on Earth." She pauses as Stoke addresses her, picking up on both Stoke's name and Sparrowhawk's. "I can provide that information. I have been on Earth for thirteen of its solar days," she explains as she flies down towards Tumbleweed who is patiently awaiting his arrest. She places two small chips on his wrists which almost instantly blink into life, creating a pair of hard-light handcuffs. "Sri Montoya, the Star Knight in golden armor, is currently off-world to be evaluated by Mentor. I was stationed here as her momentary replacement, and was in Freedom City when I detected dimensional energy transference down from orbit and old Grue ship signatures."

Oddly enough, the Star Knight's surface thoughts are actually her actively narrating the events that are happening as they happen. It's incredibly analytical, likely a way of watching the entire scene and making sure she doesn't miss any dangerous details as she does. She's a professional down to the last thought. As Menta reads her mind though, suddenly the internal narration stops and her thoughts go flat, right about the moment she warns Menta away from reading her mind.

[Nintendogeek01]

The diminuitive Dragonfly had sat down cross-legged on top of the nearest mooring bollard to the group, her chin resting in the palm of her left hand as the same elbow was supported by leaning on her left leg; while her right hand's fingers tapped on her right knee impatiently. She wished Star Knight would get the questioning over with so she could go somewhere else to throw her authority around, well okay no she didn't she honestly would rather Star Knight go and take some meds or something to chill. After all Dragonfly could be out stopping a burglar, or if she was especially lucky back to her apartment to chill out.

Dragonfly sighed as Star Knight threatened Menta, poor girl. The other fire guy... Stoke he said, she watched the blur go in and out of the water with the defeated villains, he's got a good heart. Not that she would've let anyone drown herself but that was consistently one of the problems of her shrinking power, she just was not able to carry anyone while using them. She's braved burning buildings full size to rescue people but she knows she can't swim well enough to pull men wearing full diving gear out of the water.

Dragonfly looked over again as Stoke exchanged words with the one who called herself Sparrow. "Wait... those were your birds back there?" Dragonfly pipped up from her position at the top of the bollard.

[tonberrian]

Menta immediately ceases mental contact.

[The_Admiral]

"........so while we wait, I'm guessing you guys are the local heroes?" he asks the motley crew, slowly approaching them as he places his hands back into his pockets to keep them warm.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Yyyyyyup..." Dragonfly answered before pursing her lips to blow some air upward, just enough to blow away a small portion of her bangs that was hanging in front of her visor, "Or at least I am when I'M NOT BEING GIVEN THE THIRD DEGREE!!!" she yelled in Star Knight's direction before sighing and shaking her head, "Ah... sorry, sorry," she said in the direction of the man addressing her. Dragonfly's iridescent wings fluttered and lifted her from her cross-legged sitting position, giving her just enough lift to stand back on her feet, standing atop the mooring bollard, "Not your fault I'm here, anyways, I'm Dragonfly," she told the man rather amiably before holding out her diminutive hand as though asking for a handshake.

[The_Admiral]

"Nice to meet you Dragonfly, I'm Keith Walker, though I think you all heard that when I went name and rank on the Star Knight." he replies, extending his hand to her in greeting while smiling.

[tonberrian]

Menta floats down toward Dragonfly and Keith. "I am Menta, a Lor Mentat. What is the Codex Alliance?

[Thokk_Smash]

"Hero, Good Samaritan, overworked and underpaid; that's us," Stoke says with a cheerful grin.

Anyone close to Stoke would be able to notice that the air around him is markedly warmer than it had been. Not necessarily enough to raise a sweat, but comfortable.

He turns back to the Star Knight with an earnest and curious expression. "So you felt something unEarthly come down from orbit and that brought you here? And what'd Tumbleweed do to warrant an arrest?"

[Nintendogeek01]

"Nice to meet you Dragonfly, I'm Keith Walker, though I think you all heard that when I went name and rank on the Star Knight." he replies, extending his hand to her in greeting while smiling.
"Eh..." Dragonfly said with a shrug, "This way we can actually introduce ourselves," she said before taking the tip of one of Keith's fingers and "handshaking" it.

Dragonfly then turned back to Sparrow while Stoke turned his attention to Officer-&!%$# up there, "So really... were those your birds earlier?" Dragonfly asked; the more she thought about it, the more she wondered how many of this girl's birds she fried in panic or self-defense over the years.

Oops.

[The_Admiral]

"Essentially, it's a military alliance and unified Command of political entities capable of inter-dimensional travel, combating The Collective, a more imperialistic faction entity. Though hopefully you guys won't have to worry about that, as long as nobody smashes the dimensional barrier like a few days ago, it probably will be beneath the Collective's attention. Also the dimensional transport was me, I wanted some non recycled food." he replied rather jovially.

"Why don't you turn back to full size? Can you do that?" he asks, taking the finger shake somewhat in stride.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Why don't you turn back to full size? Can you do that?" he asks, taking the finger shake somewhat in stride.
Dragonfly fluttered up close to Keith's ear for a whisper "Oh and deprive Ms. Space-Officer of her chance to look down on me? I'd hate to take that away from her," Dragonfly answered him at a whisper, her high-pitched voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm before flying back down to her perch on the bollard, giggling a bit, "But I kinda like it at this size while I'm out and about, I'll grow back if it's a huge inconvenience though," she more seriously answered.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

The Star Knight settles down on the dock, dropping Tumbleweed on the ground on his feet to wait for her. She approaches the Grue ship and summons her sword of light to her hands. With a few practiced strikes, she manages to tear a human-sized hole in the side of the ship through which she steps through into the vessel. She vanishes for a few moments as she investigates the inside of the alien craft, light flaring with various strikes inside, before emerging with a generator-sized object in her hands. The object glows brightly as she envelops it in white light before it vanishes completely. "Tumbleweed is wanted for two counts of unlawful murder, one count of bounty hunting without a license, sixteen counts of crossing into forbidden territories, three counts of interaction with protected underdeveloped species, one count of tax evasion, and two counts of farm animal theft," she lists off, looking to the star man who stares silently down with a blank expression.

The Star Knight looks to the nearest officer on duty, nodding her head to the woman. "The Terran criminals attempting to take ownership of this vessel are now your responsibility. I request this vessel be sectioned off and moved to the 'Alien Quarter' station for disposal." She then turns and looks at the entire assembled group. "I have concluded my investigation. This vessel is over five decades old and contained records of Grue ejection prior to crashing on Earth. No Grue infiltration is suspected in the local populace. I have detained the technology onboard that would be of threat to the local populace, and you are all free to go about your business." She nods to the group and begins hovering in the air, preparing to leave.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Hmph!" Dragonfly crossed her arms and made the best harumph she could at her size; the fact that this Star Knight has given her "permission" to Dragonfly to do what she's been doing since she was a student did nothing to endear her, she was still an overbearing &!%$#. Still, now that time has been thoroughly wasted by her it was time to get back to doing what was actually important. Dragonfly flew over to the officer from earlier, "Ma'am, would it be alright if we asked these guys some questions? Once we've actually restrained them of course," she requested of the officer.

[Dorni]

The energy eyes above Menta's abruptly flared brightly and projected a purplish beam that widened like a triangle at the ground in front of the Lor Mentat. The beam swept upward, its surface glowing with shapes that it appeared to be rapidly assembling into something. Moments later the beam vanished as quickly as it appeared, taking with it the second set of eyes that had hovered over Menta.

In its place stood a man in a thick wool coat, wearing one leather glove and in the middle of pulling on another. He closed his eyes and leaned his head to one side, reaching up to massage his shoulder, working out some kind of knot. "Oh... that's better."

He opened his eyes and turned a genial smile on the assembled Heros. "Ah. Stoke, good to see you again. Keith, Dragonfly, Golden Matador," he smiled at each Hero as he named them, "its a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Splendid work with Trident. If you'll allow me just a moment though."

He turned to the police officer. "Ma'am, if you'll permit it, I will gladly assist with this vessel's disposal. I can see to it that it's disassembled safely."

Using Network Redistribution to Teleport to the scene. Tonberrian, Menta would have the ability to refuse to allow his teleport to happen and I apologize for presuming that Mental would consent to the teleport, but I wanted to get Thomas on the scene quickly. If Menta would not allow this, please advise.

[Avalon®]

"Quite."

Turning to face the assembled superheroes, Golden Matador begins to pull out more of his calling cards and begins handing them out to everyone including the police officer and the Star Knight. "Before you all go about your merry way, allow me to introduce myself. As if I need introduction. I am the one and only, fabulously famous Golden Matador! Once hero of Freedom City and now a resident of the lovely New Aeon!"

"Now... Who are all of you again?"

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

"Sorry, sir," the officer responds shaking her head. "I've got specific orders to get this transported to the Alien Quarter for disposal. There are people there with special training and equipment to properly dismantle and dispose of this vessel. From the sound of what the Star Knight said, your whole group is off the case, and I'm just following her orders. Please step away from the vessel," she asks politely yet sternly to PsyNet.

[Nintendogeek01]

Another new guy? Where did he come from? Well at least he's polite, "Um... nice to meet you, who are you?"

"Quite."

Turning to face the assembled superheroes, Golden Matador begins to pull out more of his calling cards and begins handing them out to everyone including the police officer and the Star Knight. "Before you all go about your merry way, allow me to introduce myself. As if I need introduction. I am the one and only, fabulously famous Golden Matador! Once hero of Freedom City and now a resident of the lovely New Aeon!"

"Now... Who are all of you again?"
The question was cut off when Dragonfly was handed a business card that, while not impossible to lift, was a bit cumbersome to hold for her size, "Ah! Hey!" Dragonfly sighed and went to set it down on the nearest surface off the ground, "Ahem... Dragonfly," she answered once she got back.


New Aeon Port

"Sorry, sir," the officer responds shaking her head. "I've got specific orders to get this transported to the Alien Quarter for disposal. There are people there with special training and equipment to properly dismantle and dispose of this vessel. From the sound of what the Star Knight said, your whole group is off the case, and I'm just following her orders. Please step away from the vessel," she asks politely yet sternly to PsyNet.
Meh, the ship was well out of her hands a while back anyways, only reason she was heading for it in the first place was to head off Trawler and that's a non-issue now, "And about questioning the members of Trident we caught here?"

[tonberrian]

Menta takes the card curiously. "I am Menta, a Lor mentat. Now that the Star Knight has taken custody of the Grue ship, what shall we do next? It does not appear that the other Trident person, Trawler, will show up."

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

With the sudden appearance of PsyNet and the flamboyant distraction of Golden Matador introducing himself, the officer completely overlooks Dragonfly's question. "Um, yes, since that doesn't seem to involve the Grue ship, that'd be a great help. Other officers will be here shortly to take them into custody, but I'm sure there wouldn't be an issue with you questioning and restraining them."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Thank you officer!" Dragonfly responded before swooping in among the other gathered heroes, "Does anyone know how to make sure that armor of Steelhead's stays off? Don't want him to blast us the moment he wakes up," she asks any of the other heroes, "Oh! And the other guys! Excuse me a bit!" she then zips off and starts to search the other divers. Hopefully anything she finds is smaller than that business card, the weight may or may not be a problem but stuff tends to be cumbersome to hold at this size.

Routine perception for 19.

[The_Admiral]

"I'll handle that, most suits should have something." he replies, approaching Steelhead, attempting to undo the armour from his body.


Perception 25 to find any emergency release buttons.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

On the third diver she searches, Dragonfly unzips a waterproof pocket and finds a small piece of paper inside with a hastily written message on it. Henah Huil, Z System Accounting, Jefferson Street. There's no address or number on the paper, just the name of the place and what street it's on. Off the top of her head, Dragonfly knows Jefferson Street in particular is almost entirely dominated by the Alien Quarter, which makes it a tad confusing why a human diver going after illegal alien tech would have an alien accountant's name in his diving suit pocket.

While Dragonfly looks over the note, Silver Sentinel manages to find a small switch on the internal underside of Steelhead's helmet. Flipping the switch releases a puff of pressurized gas from the helmet, which is easily able to slip off now. Removing the helmet reveals the rest of the bolts which can be switched to release him from the armor and completely remove his real offense.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly unfurled the paper and backed up to read the, relatively speaking, huge print on it. Curious, far as she could tell this diver was human, but Jefferson Street is the alien quarter, hell she's been there a few times to snap photos. "Hey! What do you make of this?" As Keith was the closest one to her she dragged the note up into the air with her to hand it to Keith.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke regards Tumbleweed with new eyes after the Star Knight's revelation of his crimes. "Well, if his rap sheet's that big, can't let him get away," he says with a noncommittal voice. At the Knight's dismissal he gives a jaunty faux-salute and a lopsided grin.

He turns back and zips over to Dragonfly with a curious look. "Ooh, lemme see," he says, checking the paper quickly.

Well-Informed on the location on the paper: [roll0]

[The_Admiral]

Keith shrugs as he replies, "Sorry I'm not from this universe, so I don't really make much of that..."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Oh... duh, my bad," Dragonfly said in response to Keith; he and Star &!%$# did mention dimensional energies. Dragonfly was now basically flying behind the note and holding it up like a signpost for Keith and Stoke, "Anyways, this street's largely a part of the Alien Quarter here in Aeon. Found it in one of their pockets," she said, turning to look at the diver she found the note in, making sure to keep her gaze on said diver since right now she was using both hands to hold the note open.

"Might be something if we can't get anything else from these guys..." she then looked down to Steelhead, now out of his armor, "We have anything to restrain him with first?"

[The_Snark]

Dragonfly then turned back to Sparrow while Stoke turned his attention to Officer-&!%$# up there, "So really... were those your birds earlier?" Dragonfly asked; the more she thought about it, the more she wondered how many of this girl's birds she fried in panic or self-defense over the years.

"Yes. Don't worry about it, I learned to keep my distance pretty quick."

Sparrowhawk busies herself helping Walker - or Commander Walker, if he likes; she's never heard of his group before, but from what he says that's not surprising, they sound way above her pay grade - remove Steelhead's armored suit. First time she's ever gotten a look at the inside of one of these things. Funny how you never think about how you get in and out of a suit like that. From the outside it's all lasers and rocket boots, inside lots of little bolts and screws and... things. Mechanical engineering is not her forte. Fortunately Walker seems to have some idea what he's doing, and it isn't too hard to just mimic what he's doing on the other side.

A bit of the conversation near the other captured divers catches her ear, and with a thought she sends an owl winging silently over to Stoke and Dragonfly, perching on the former's shoulder to read the note.

Trying my hand at Well-Informed to see what Sparrowhawk knows about the person and firm on the note: [roll0]

[Dorni]

Thomas' smile changed to one of patience. "Yes. I'm one of those people with the special training and equipment to properly dispose of this vessel. I apologize for not introducing myself." He stepped away from the ship and offered a business card with a hint of a flourish. "Thomas Powell, owner of Powell Technologies, inventor and problem solver at large. I've performed Hazmat related tasks for the city previously; there's a non-zero chance that once your office processes the report they'll call my office to take care of it anyway. Releasing the ship to me would save both you and I on the paperwork. If you'd prefer to go the long way though, I won't stand in your way."

Whether the officer accepted the business card or not, he turned to the rest of the Heros. "Of course, technology isn't the extent of my services. Perhaps you've heard of me by the name PsyNet."

"Let me take a look at that," he offered, kneeling next to Steelhead's open armor and examining it, humming quietly as he worked. Advanced technology it might be, but it wasn't magic. He found a diagnostics panel and opened it, determined to break the suit's security and remove Steelhead's access. Failing that, he'd just disconnect the power supply.

When the note was revealed he shrugged, still absorbed in working the armor. "Trident's a smuggling operation," he offered distractedly. "They need to sell the things they dredge up to get money out of it. This is alien tech; whomever the buyer is probably has contacts among aliens. Using an accountant to handle the transaction would be a sensible layer of separation to put between themselves and Trident. If Steelhead doesn't give up anything in interrogation, our next step is to pay this accountant a visit and learn what his role in this is. Either that, or this goon was suddenly interested in setting up a retirement account."

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

It takes a few minutes for PsyNet and Silver Sentinel to collectively free Steelhead from his power armor, but once they do the man is left unconscious in the freezing cold with nothing but his boxers on. There were no diagnostics to be found, and only one of the three power supplies for the suit could be properly disconnected. The suit could still technically run but it would be a hassle to get into and would only operate at two-thirds its best. Thankfully the police cars are arriving to save the nearly naked man from the cold, and they even managed to bring a truck to transport the Grue ship. It'll be taken to the Alien Quarter to be disposed of by non-human authorities on the tech, despite the best efforts of PsyNet to secure it for himself. Steelhead's suit is to be taken by the police as evidence and stored in a secure vault at one of dozens of locations. The police wait for Steelhead's interrogation by the heroes before he's to be loaded into the car and taken away.

By your internal map of the city, you know quite clearly that the accounting office is in the Alien Quarter, just at the fringes of the territory sectioned off for the intergalactic refugees finding new homes in the city. It's a nice part of the city, though it can get quite bizarre with the dozens of different cultures mixing together there. The accounting firm you've seen a few times and it seems rather benign and dull, just some random accounting firm that either caters to both human and alien or a human firm that decided not to move when the new neighbors moved in.
You don't recognize the name on the paper but you do recognize the accounting office. While you don't know for sure, you're fairly confident with the chatter and rumors you've picked up on that the accounting office is actually a front for the Dacani Mob. The Dacani are an alien race with a particular interest in money, business, profit, and domination through deals. It's rumored that the firm serves as a laundering scheme, although the books are clean and prove none of that. Still, given that it's mostly Dacani who frequent the place, the rumor has stuck.

[Dorni]

"Of course," Psynet continued, "in my experience the hired help either think they're immortal or aren't thinking long-term at all. Neither one of those are the types who think about retirement, so I figure its the former. Z System Accounting is a front for the Dacani Mob. The Dacani are an alien race with a particular interest in money, business, profit, and domination through deals, that type of thing. A little investigation should tell us whether they're the buyer or the middle-man."

[The_Admiral]

"So it's a mob thing? I'm already missing just dealing with aliens wanting to invade." Keith grumbles as he listens to the information dump.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Of course," Psynet continued, "in my experience the hired help either think they're immortal or aren't thinking long-term at all. Neither one of those are the types who think about retirement, so I figure its the former. Z System Accounting is a front for the Dacani Mob. The Dacani are an alien race with a particular interest in money, business, profit, and domination through deals, that type of thing. A little investigation should tell us whether they're the buyer or the middle-man."
"Oh... that's... something," Dragonfly remarks, "Alien mobsters huh? Well..." she smirked a bit, "That'd make an interesting comic book. Anyways..." Dragonfly landed on the nearest elevated surface to the group and began doing stretches as though to limber up, "I could try to sneak in, see if I find anything, being my size does have it's advantages," Dragonfly suggests.

My internet returns!!!

Anyways... is there still time to make adjustments to my build or did that sail by?

[tonberrian]

"Should we not wake this 'Steelhead' and find out why he is here? I can help with an interrogation."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Oh right!" with the discovery of the address it had slipped Dragonfly's mind, "Erm... so... who wants first go?" she asks, her mid-air posture looked a little sheepish, "Well... come on... would YOU take me seriously if I were interrogating you?"

[Thokk_Smash]

"The Dacani Mob, eh?" Stoke says as he takes out his cell phone. "We oughta get a bit more info before that, Dragonfly. Be back in a jiffy."

He zips away to a deserted alley and begins the arduous process of talking with people who don't move at his speed. Eye-gougingly dreadful, as I'm sure all can agree.

"Charley, buddy, what's going on?" he says to the man on the other line: an old friend from before the fire, Charley Potter's an up-and-coming intern at a local law firm. "I need some info on Z System Accounting; anything you've heard of mob connections or the like. Apropos of nothing, of course."

Using Contacts to make a quick Investigation on Z System Accounting and associated stuff: [roll0]

[The_Admiral]

"I'll ask," he says, squatting in front of Steelhead, to eye level. Shaking his shoulder he waits for him to wake up. As it seems like he's stirring, he then says, "Hello, I've got some questions for you."

[tonberrian]

Menta concentrates, looking into Steelhead's mind.

[roll0] - Mind Reading vs. Will, DC 20 Perception to even notice.

Edit: Luck makes it 22.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Steelhead stirs with an agonized groan, then slowly blinks himself awake and looks around. He locks eyes with Silver Sentinel as the man begins speaking to him. "Hi," he says, coughing at the words a bit. "I'll answer 'em. Sure. But I'd like to see my lawyer first," he says, grinning with a smile that shows too much teeth.

Stoke, New Aeon Port Alley

"Z System Accounting?" Charley asks, making sure he got the name right. "I've heard about them. Apparently a good accounting firm, especially if you're an extraterrestrial. They've got mob ties, everything I deal with seems to run past them but nothing ever sticks. The Dacani mob are good at what they do, and everything legal involving them is tied up in intergalactic affairs. What I wouldn't do to have a Star Knight in the city and take care of all this sometimes..." He sighs before continuing. "Trying to pry them open about their dealings is nearly impossible, they're people are better than the best humans by a long shot, but we've been trying to track a few deals here and there. Nothing concrete or even circumstantial has come of those though. Word is they're trying to finalize their claim on the Alien Quarter and then spread into the Conundrum's territory."

With some resistance to your invasion, you manage to slip into Steelhead's mind, past his surface thoughts, his personal thoughts, and into his memories. Most of his surface thoughts and personal thoughts are mostly about how Silver Sentinel could use a good punch to the face, how his face feels kind of burned, and trying to remember his lawyer's number so he can give the guy a call. His memories are laid bare to you, leaving them up to you to piece through.

[tonberrian]

Menta concentrates further.

Looking for info on the job - why Steelhead took it, who offered it, what he was going to do with the Grue saucer, how he even knew about the saucer in the first place..

[Queen Sapes]

Peering into Steelhead's mind, you begin pulling memories specifically about the job. There was no job offer connected to him, only a black haired woman with green eyes slapping a file in front of Steelhead while he's on some boat in what looks like the Bahamas. Instructions were simple: retrieve one of the ships from the bottom of the New Aeon Bay and carefully remove the power core for transfer to some unnamed client. Payment was nearly ten million to Steelhead alone, with other money mentioned for Trawler and a handful of assistants. The rest of the ship was up to the highest bidding to net even more money for the crew. How anyone knew about it, how the job was offered, and who it was offered by are all up in the air. Even Steelhead doesn't have memory of verbally agreeing to the job, just nodding as he read the form and hopping in a submarine to head out.

[tonberrian]

"Steelhead was after the energy core in the ship. The one that the Star Knight took away. He doesn't know who wanted the core, or what they were going to do with it. The rest of the ship was to be sold off to the highest bidder."

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly had her arms folded and her head tilted inquisitively while hovering behind Menta, "If he doesn't know who hired them, how were they supposed to get the core to whoever hired them?"

[The_Snark]

"Via a go-between. It's a pretty standard precaution once you get to a certain level of organized crime: the folks with the money like to stay as far from the guys on the ground as they can, make it harder to pin anything on them, so they hire a third party to do the talking for them. I'm guessing that's where Z Systems Accounting comes into the picture. If somebody offworld wanted to get ahold of Earth goods under the table, the Dacani'd be a good place to start asking around."

Sparrowhawk looks down at Steelhead and frowns. "Pretty sloppy of them to carry a business card on the job, though. Sure you don't feel like being helpful? Your rap sheet tonight doesn't look too bad, but one of your guys threatened a cop with a knife. If whoever takes your case is in a bad mood, they could try to nail you as an accomplice. Assault with a deadly weapon, on a police officer. You know what the sentencing for that looks like?"

Above them, shapes circle in the dark, too far to be made out clearly by normal human eyes.

This is... probably Intimidation, in the end? Maybe Persuasion. Subtract 4-6* from the roll below if it's the latter.

*4 if Attractive applies, 6 if not

[roll0]

One of her flocks will Aid, taking 10 on Intimidate for a total of 25 - that's a +5 bonus to the check.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke blinks. "Well, there is a Star Knight in the city right now," he says. "She's grey-armored instead of gold, says she's filling in for Earth's normal Star Knight so she can take some test or whatever. If we can connect the Dacani mob with illegal activity relating to alien things while she's here, do you think that'd help make the case stick better?"

[Dorni]

"Sounds like a good fit for Z System, but I'd be curious to learn more about 'Plan 9'." He casually tossed the question to Menta, ignoring Steelhead. "Trawler might be able to carry the Grue ship, but he wouldn't be a ferry for their entire crew. They've got a ship or a base somewhere nearby that they can regroup at. Can you find out where?"

[tonberrian]

Lookin' for info on a Trident base!

[The_Admiral]

"Huh, fair nuff." he sighed standing up and walking towards the rest,

"I am willing to offer my assistance, I have a ship in orbit with advanced scanners."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Sounds like a good fit for Z System, but I'd be curious to learn more about 'Plan 9'." He casually tossed the question to Menta, ignoring Steelhead. "Trawler might be able to carry the Grue ship, but he wouldn't be a ferry for their entire crew. They've got a ship or a base somewhere nearby that they can regroup at. Can you find out where?"


"Huh, fair nuff." he sighed standing up and walking towards the rest,

"I am willing to offer my assistance, I have a ship in orbit with advanced scanners."

"A spaceship!? That. Sounds. Awesome!" Dragonfly did nothing to hide her enthusiasm.

Once she'd shouted that out though something else clicked, "Wait... what about that boat they were using?" she asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the boat behind her. The same boat the divers were on earlier.

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

Steelhead chuckles a little to himself at Sparrowhawk's threats. "Of course I know the sentencing," he replies. "But I've got a pretty good chance of getting a mistrial seeing as your telepath friend is searching my mind without consent," he says, nodding to Menta with a wink. "Seems there's not much I can answer that you aren't going to pull out of my head, but you can try."

Stoke, New Aeon Port Alley

"Filling in?" Charley asks, genuine confusion in his voice. "Our Star Knight isn't gone. I'm watching footage from yesterday of her and the Freedom League fighting Gigantosaur. Her being the gold one, that is. Are you sure it was a Star Knight?" he asks trying to clarify. "If she was a Knight, she might be able to take this whole case from us and deal with it herself."

Pulling from Steelhead's memories, you find that he doesn't actually know where the base currently is. Coral Snake, the only name for the woman with green eyes that Steelhead has in his head, keeps the main base's location secret from him for whatever reason, although he was told where their base might be currently. The Sea Serpent, as it's known, is a massive submarine either off the coast of Sri Lanka, Brazil, or Antarctica currently. Steelhead was told all 3 were a possibility for the next month should he get captured and then escape, but if they succeeded the location would've been encrypted and sent to their smaller submarine. That is currently somewhere in the middle of Lake Huron, but Trawler apparently had the tracker for it. Even if she lost its location, Steelhead knows that Trawler could make it back to the Sea Serpent without it if need be.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke, New Aeon Port Alley

"Filling in?" Charley asks, genuine confusion in his voice. "Our Star Knight isn't gone. I'm watching footage from yesterday of her and the Freedom League fighting Gigantosaur. Her being the gold one, that is. Are you sure it was a Star Knight?" he asks trying to clarify. "If she was a Knight, she might be able to take this whole case from us and deal with it herself."

Inside Stoke's mind the Phoenix gives voice to his own internal frustration. "They sure looked like a Star Knight," he says. "D'you think the Dacani mob have the stones to have someone pretend to be a Star Knight? They showed up just after we beat their lackeys from Trident."

Through Tom's mental link, he thinks, ~"I've got a friend who says Earth's Star Knight fought with the Freedom League yesterday. Seems like the grey-Knight was a liar. Might be worth holding it over Steelhead, see if he knows."~

While he thinks this, he has already begun to zip off in the same direction the "Star Knight" flew off to. He heads for the nearest and highest point from which to spot them, hoping that their glowing contrails will still be visible if he runs far enough. As he runs, he thinks back to the Star Knight's actions and words, trying to reconcile them with what he now knows.

Stoke will be running at Speed 18 and Quickness 14 in the direction the Star Knight flew off. Perception to spot them: [roll0]

Edit: For the record, Speed 18 is 1,000 miles per move.

Edit edit: Routining an Insight for 28 to analyze the grey Star Knight's behavior, since it doesn't seem like Trident or the Dacani Mob would've been behind her appearance to save the core-thingie.

[Nintendogeek01]

New Aeon Port

Steelhead chuckles a little to himself at Sparrowhawk's threats. "Of course I know the sentencing," he replies. "But I've got a pretty good chance of getting a mistrial seeing as your telepath friend is searching my mind without consent," he says, nodding to Menta with a wink. "Seems there's not much I can answer that you aren't going to pull out of my head, but you can try."
Dragonfly cringed a bit, Menta really needs to get up to speed on the local law, and social cues while she's at it. ~Menta, word of advice, don't let the bad guys know you're reading their mind if you can help it,~ she said on the mind chat before fluttering off toward the boat, the divers were previously on, ~I'm gonna get started searching in here, extra pair of eyes will help if anyone wants to.~

I know investigation is more appropriate for searching something like a boat or vehicle, but perception is going to have to do so... whatever penalties you think are appropriate for [roll0]

[Dorni]

"Oh, can it," PsyNet replied to Steelhead in a tone suited for correcting a particularly dense student. "You were seen committing a plainly obvious crime by multiple eyewitnesses including an officer of the law. We don't need the telepathy to put you away. Hell, we don't even need to show up. You should be worried less about us and more about her." He nodded toward Sparrowhawk.

PsyNet paused at Stoke's mental sending. It... actually might be best for him to hold on to that particular bit of info for the moment. Revealing it immediately accomplished little, and it would take a little time for the police to verify the claim, during which they'd have Steelhead locked up. There was also an off-chance that whomever set up this operation might have their people in the alien quarter ready to move on the ship. If that were the case, following the ship would lead to them. ~Noted. I think it would be better to sit on that intel for the moment. Steelhead was being kept in the dark about the operational details; I highly doubt he'd be aware of the Star Knight's identity. So long as we don't tip our hand that we're on to them, we might be able to find them again by following the ship.~

He glanced up at the sky, considering. Trident, the Dacani Mob, Tumbleweed, a fake Star-Knight, stolen Grue technology... there were a lot of pieces that didn't quite fit. On the surface it seemed like a pretty straightforward, if well-organized salvage operation, but it wasn't quite adding up. There were a lot of pieces in play and the timing was too perfect for what could have been a simple job. It felt like a puzzle that he was missing important pieces to. Involuntarily, he felt a slow smile spread on his face. He could use a good brain-teaser.

~Keith, you said you had a ship in orbit?~ he questioned over Menta's mind-link. ~I'd be much obliged for your assistance in this matter. There's something I need from the Star-Knight*. Could you track her for me before she gets too far? If you'll allow it, I can keep us mentally linked. If you come upon any information or require assistance, let me know and I'll be there. Likewise, if I come upon anything I'll update you as well. This offer is also open to anyone else who wishes to work together on this.~

Deception [roll0]You can tell PsyNet is choosing his words deliberately with regards to the Star-Knight.

[The_Admiral]

"Sure, don't see a reason not to," he replies, giving his assent as he heads to follow Dragonfly to search the boat for clues.

[Nintendogeek01]

~Keith, you said you had a ship in orbit?~ he questioned over Menta's mind-link. ~I'd be much obliged for your assistance in this matter. There's something I need from the Star-Knight*. Could you track her for me before she gets too far? If you'll allow it, I can keep us mentally linked. If you come upon any information or require assistance, let me know and I'll be there. Likewise, if I come upon anything I'll update you as well. This offer is also open to anyone else who wishes to work together on this.~
As Dragonfly searched through the boat with Keith she pondered this offer. Admittedly this guy coming out of nowhere to try and appropriate the ship they just fought supervillains to secure and then kinda just making this offer to everyone else as an afterthought sort of rubbed her the wrong way, like they weren't already a part of this. Now he wants to speak to Star-&!%$# again? What for!? What was this guy's angle?

Still... at least when addressing Keith he'd had the courtesy to make what at least sounded like a mutually beneficial deal on the surface. More importantly though, Dragonfly had already decided she was going to look into Z System Accounting and she could either do it tripping over anyone else who was going to, or work with the all the people who'd also expressed interest in the front.

~Powell right?~ Dragonfly asked in reply, ~I don't know why you'd want to talk to Star-&!%$# again, that's your business, but I'm more interested in Trident and the Dacani personally. If you were still wanting to help stop the bad guys then I wouldn't mind the help.~

[Queen Sapes]

New Aeon Port

"Heh, guess I'm doomed then," Steelhead responds to PsyNet with enough sarcasm to kill a planet. "I give it a week until I walk free. Two tops," Steelhead replies and winks to PsyNet.

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon

Stoke appears in a split second at the view port of one of New Aeon's tallest skyscrapers in the downtown area. A few couples enjoying the romantic view are surprised at Stoke's sudden appearance and take a few steps back as the hero scans the skies. There's nothing in the sky, not a hint of a glowing streak going across the sky. It's a beautiful view though, the snow making New Aeon twinkle beautifully. "Not a chance," Charley responds over the phone. "Dacani are too smart to risk impersonating a Star Knight, and I don't think they'd waste the resources."

Everything the Star Knight did while around you seems to make perfect sense for an alien law officer dealing with the ship of an invading race. She arrived, took control of the situation, confiscated the ship and disabled it, and took into custody a criminal trying to steal the ship for himself. Nothing seemed biased towards the humans, Trident, or seemingly any third party. She did her job and left, plain and simple. If she was acting she was a perfect actor playing the role without flaw. She seemed completely legitimate.
You enter into the ship's cabin and find it rather empty. There's a few scattered chairs and a dinner table for any crew onboard. Trash covers the table as it seems Trident stopped to pick up some fast food before getting to work. Most of it is eaten, although there are a few fries left over and a number of receipts scattered on the table with the wrappers. No wallets or any papers are to be seen.
Following Dragonfly in you focus your attention more on a scattered handful of papers on the ship's console. Reading through the papers it seems that the boat is a rental from a small town about fifty miles up the coast. Makes sense to not use their own ship and risk it getting taken into custody, although it does mean there's no tracking the ship back to Trident.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Hmmm... nothing," Dragonfly sighed in frustration as she fluttered about the interior of the boat, "You find anything?" she asked Keith.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke waves an apologetic hand at the couples he had interrupted. "Apologies, good citizens! Please return to your respective romantic nights!"

He zips back outside in another split second. To PsyNet only, he thinks, ~"Tom, my contact says the Dacani wouldn't impersonate a Star Knight, so they probably weren't behind it. The 'Star Knight' was after a Grue ship--I've got next to no knowledge of Grue, but could it have been a Grue? Can they replicate armor and stuff as well as body features?"~

"Thanks for the info, Charley. I'll let you get back to your cases; God knows you've got enough of 'em."

He waits for Charley to reply before hanging up. His speedy form blurs through the city in the direction the Star Knight had left. Every patch of snow is inspected, every alleyway where a Star Knight might have touched down is explored. He doesn't stand still long enough to be seen clearly, although New Aeon natives might be used to the sudden "whoosh" of air. He goes as far as he can in his search, trying to find a spot where the Star Knight might have touched down.

Routining an Investigation at Quickness 14 to investigate the area where Stoke saw the 'Star Knight' leave. Total result of 25.

[The_Admiral]

"Yeah they rented the boat about fifty miles up the coast, small town called, Mystery? Huh." he replied, rather befuddled sounding at the name.

[tonberrian]

~Steelhead doesn't know where the main Trident sub is, the current location hasn't yet been determined. Trawler has probably escaped to the sub they arrived in and could be anywhere, planning to rescue Steelhead or meeting up with... Coral Snake? Trawler had the tracker for that sub, so there is no way to trace it here. Also, there are other Grue ships beneath the water. Perhaps we could examine one of them and its power core, to determine what they might be using it for? What could be so unique about the Grue power core that they raided it?~ Menta communicates over her telepathic link with Keith, Dragonfly, PsyNet, and Sparrowhawk.

Rolling Expertise: Grue on what makes that power core unique compared to other power cores.

[roll0]

[Nintendogeek01]

"A rental... great," Dragonfly sighed as Menta chimed in, ~Yeah and the boat's a rental so we're running low on options for catching Trident. What about the Dacani? They still have an office to investigate,~ she paused for a bit before adding, ~Also... I'm not really built for diving~

[The_Snark]

"Heh, guess I'm doomed then," Steelhead responds to PsyNet with enough sarcasm to kill a planet. "I give it a week until I walk free. Two tops," Steelhead replies and winks to PsyNet.

"Twenty bucks says the system'll bog it down longer than that," Sparrowhawk replies amicably, apparently abandoning her attempt at interrogation. "They'll want to keep you off the streets until the city's settled down a bit. Try and cut down on the number of people who might make trouble, you know? I figure you're right about the mistrial, if the lawyer you've got on call is any good. Trying to get solid evidence out of a fight is a pain. But you know what?"

She settles down cross-legged on the ground beside him. "I don't really care. Nobody got hurt tonight, which makes it a win in my book. As long as you keep things that way, you're okay in my books. I mean, I'll still fight you, but I won't be playing hardball, and I won't be looking for you in my off time. Unless you do something boneheaded, like your guy with the knife almost did tonight." She raps him on the forehead with her knuckles. "We know what you look like. I've got eyes everywhere in the city; PsyNet over there has eyes in half the eastern seaboard. We don't have to wait for you to rob a bank before going after you. So keep your boys under control next time, yeah? Don't give us a reason to care about bringing you in. You're better off getting taken in playing softball than escaping with blood on your hands."

I'm not actually sure if this ought to be Intimidation, Persuasion, or if it needs a roll.

[The_Admiral]

<....I have an idea, lets split up, I'll dive down, grab a core and warp it up to my ship, it has a workshop you can use, Bird girl, Psychic Guy, maybe Nacho Libre can investigate the accounting firm, Tiny, Speedy and Purple girl can investigate Mystery, if they rented the boat there, there still may be some traces of their presence. I'll join Team B when I've finished the lifting.> he /says/ over the mental link.

[Nintendogeek01]

~I think I'd be better off going to Z Accounting,~ Dragonfly weighed in mentally, ~I'm better at going around unnoticed than I am at asking around for information, and besides what are we going to learn? A few guys rented a boat? That's not going to take us to Trident,~ she adds.

[Dorni]

Thomas inclined his head briefly toward Sparrowhawk in approval as he reevaluated his options. ~Actually, I'd prefer to stay here for the moment. Turns out that Ms. Tul was quite possibly lying to us - the Freedom League's Star Knight was on earth yesterday. If she was lying about that then it's possible she was lying about the rest too. Stoke is currently attempting to track her down.~

~Keith, if you're able to find another ship core, even if it isn't fully functional, I'd like a look at it. I should be able to engineer a scanner that can track either her or the core she took. If Dragonfly wishes to investigate Z System Accounting I'm all for it, but someone should also keep an eye on the ship itself. It's possible that whomever arranged this operation still has an interest in it. They might try to intercept it on its way to deconstruction, and if they do we might be able to trace them that way. I also don't have anything against sending someone to Mystery. They may have rented their boat from there, but there's no telling if they parked their sub somewhere nearby the city. Failing that, salvage ships aren't precisely common to rent. The group they rented it from might remember something useful about them. Its a longshot, but it might be worth checking out and it costs us little to attempt it.~

~My link will let us keep in touch if anyone finds anything, and if we have need then I can bring us together from wherever we happen to be via the link as well. I just need a handshake to set it up.~ Thomas offered his hand to each of the other Heros in turn.

Tagging anyone who accepts the handshake as part of the network.

[Nintendogeek01]

Thomas inclined his head briefly toward Sparrowhawk in approval as he reevaluated his options. [COLOR="#0000CD"]~Actually, I'd prefer to stay here for the moment. Turns out that Ms. Tul was quite possibly lying to us - the Freedom League's Star Knight was on earth yesterday. If she was lying about that then it's possible she was lying about the rest too. Stoke is currently attempting to track her down.~
Dragonfly was exiting the boat right as PsyNet was informing them of this, "SHE DID WHAT!?!" a really high-pitched yell, full of pint-sized fury, resounded from the dock beside the boat, and they can literally see Dragonfly cackling with blue fire and letting off steam, ~Oh that pompous armored conniving lying two-faced &!%$#...!!!~ after... yelling... sufficiently in the mind-chat the flames and steam slowly die down on Dragonfly's body and anyone close enough can see her taking some deep, slow breaths. ~Okay... o...kay! Ahem... now I DEFINITELY want to look at Z-System Accounting, I don't know if that'll get us closer to Star-&!%$# but Dacani, AKA the space mafia, doesn't sound like the worst jumping off point to start from,~ she remarks before fluttering closer to PsyNet and shaking his finger, her previous caution with him, at least for the moment, being overridden by her heightened motivation to get to the bottom of the energy core theft. ~Alright I'm off,~ she said before flying toward the Alien District.

[Queen Sapes]

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

Zipping through the Downtown area of New Aeon trying to find any semblance of a clue that the Star Knight passed through, you don't manage to find much of anything as you travel. Not until you enter into an alley roughly a mile and a half from the docks. Lying on his side on the ground unconscious, wrists free from any energy cuffs, coat blowing a little in the wind, is Tumbleweed.

New Aeon Port

"You make a good point," Steelhead offers to Sparrowhawk. "He's a rookie, not the best we've got, but wanted to give him a shot. He won't be back on any crew, and you can be assured there won't be another crew coming to New Aeon again. Not when half of their heroes melt things for a living," Steelhead says, nodding towards Dragonfly and looking around for signs of Stoke. The police approach and stand Steelhead up, turning him towards the police cruiser to take him away.

One of the things the Grue have on the rest of the races of the galaxy, aside from numbers, a hive mind, and shapeshifting that is incredibly powerful for some, is their ability to produce energy. A single Grue energy core for even something as small as a scout ship could run the entire Eastern Seaboard for decades without stopping. The Grue mass produce these cores and use them without hesitation in their technology. However, they have a fairly significant downside. The cores are extremely unstable when turned on and liable to self destruct and release all their energy at once if they aren't constantly contained. That's one of the reasons a Grue ship, even small scout ships, will have multiple crew, as it requires someone constantly maintaining the core to make sure it doesn't destroy the ship. On the plus side for them it makes every grue ship a potential suicide bomber, as a ship whose crew is killed won't be able to control the core, and once it crashes the core will detonate and devastate everything for miles. The ships in the bay must have been deactivated before submerging, or detonated in space before crashing to Earth, otherwise they would've blown up more than a bit of New Aeon

Grue are capable of shapeshifting to replicate appearances, clothing, and even Star Knight armor. However, you're fairly certain they lack the ability to reproduce the Star Knight flight and energy weaponry.

As for getting ahold of the Freedom League, the short answer is you usually can't. Long answer is that the League are often solo heroes who come together primarily to deal with large scale problems. They don't commonly operate together, and more than a few don't operate in Freedom City. They do have a call in number to report a problem, but nearly everything they hear in the call in is nonsense and it never links to one of the heroes. On very rare occasions where the number has been flooded by thousands of unique calls about a horrible disaster, invasion, or villain, the Freedom League respond, although most news reports indicate they already knew of the issue and were on it.

[The_Admiral]

"Well ****, I'll pull up the Core and probably check in on the small town, INSTALL!" he says, pulling out a bulky phone shaped object, flipping it open and pressing a few keys. In a flash of white light, the giant piles of clothes is replaced with a silver spandex like costume with a helmet on top.

"Good luck with that." he adds, giving Dragonfly a thumbs up, as he leaps into the water.


Autopass athlethics for swimming,

Perception for finding a power core, He has Darkvision.
[roll0]

[Avalon®]

"It is all fun and games until somebody loses an eye... or in this case, nearly their life."

Tilting his head to Keith, Golden Matador sends him a thought. ~Need a hand with that power core?~

Helping Silver Sentinel with finding a new power core if he agrees to it.
Athletics check for swimming is autopassed due to the base modifier.

[The_Admiral]

<You sure you want to? I have a full environment suit.> he replied over the brainwave.

[Avalon®]

Matador gives a mental shrug. ~Meh. How deep can it be anyway?~

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke takes a second of his time (which, to the outside world is about a fraction of a second) to look at the area around the prone Tumbleweed for blatant signs of travel. Once that is done, he speeds and kneels next to the fallen alien.

"Tumbleweed, hey," he says as he turns Tumbleweed to lay on his back. Although the alien's biology is significantly unfamiliar to him, he does his best to ascertain his vitals. "Wake up, man. Are you alright?"

To Tom, he thinks, ~"I found Tumbleweed, but no 'Star Knight' yet. He doesn't have the energy cuffs on anymore, I'm trying to wake him up now."~

Perception on the area to find more clues: [roll0]

Routine Treatment (presumably with -5 circumstance penalty for an alien physiology) of 20 to triage Tumbleweed and see if he's seriously injured.

[Queen Sapes]

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

Stoke zips around the area looking for any clues he can see. Unfortunately there's nothing, aside from the fact it looks like a fair bit of trash and dumpsters were pushed away by Tumbleweed's impact. The ground underneath him is actually cracked, and with that in mind it's amazing Tumbleweed is in one piece at all. Turning him over, Stoke can see that the entire front portion of his body is torn up and the plasma that makes up his insides appears to be leaking out as his membrane has been torn completely open. His hat slumps off his head over onto the ground as he lies there not making any sound. Then the membrane kicks back into life and his body knits itself back together again. His body wraps itself back up, his face coming last as the membrane reappears and shapes itself into his featureless face. Then the arch scar reemerges from the membrane, giving him his only facial feature. With a grunt he turns to his side and immediately grabs for his hat. "That ain't no Star Knight," he says to Stoke as he braces himself to stand up.

Silver Sentinel and Golden Matador, New Aeon Bay Underwater

The two athletic men dive into the water to look for the Grue ships, and while the icy cold water doesn't touch Silver Sentinel, Golden Matador is immediately reminded of how cold it can really get in New Aeon during winter. They both swim for the bottom of the bay which thankfully only takes maybe thirty seconds of swimming for the two. Golden Matador is left in freezing cold darkness down in the water, while Silver Sentinel is able to see what Trident was doing down here. Every ship is badly damaged and almost all are completely destroyed or submerged into the mud. There are scattered bits, but no more intact ships. A large crater stands at the center of the group of wreckage, directly below where the Grue ship surfaced. It takes a few seconds of looking around, but Silver Sentinel manages to find what looks to be some kind of metal box embedded in one of the ships. It has a dozen different cords connecting it to the ship's wall, which is the only fraction of this ship still intact, most of which look like they'll take some effort to budge, but the box appears to be identical to the one the Star Knight took from the other ship.

Gonna need a Fortitude check for the cold. Golden Matador can hold his breath for 1 minute and 48 seconds before needing to make Fortitude checks to also avoid drowning. It has been 48 seconds under the water.
Dragonfly, the Alien Quarter

Dragonfly heads out alone to New Aeon's most unique district, the Alien Quarter. With the Earth poised to be the next addition to the intergalactic community thanks to its advances in space travel, Earth has accepted thousands of alien refugees of a dozen various wars throughout the galaxy. These refugees have in turn been relocated to some of its most populated cities. Freedom City has their refugee camp located on an island off the coast of the city, Star Island. Emerald City has set up refugee camps in the Elysian Forest just outside the city. New Aeon elected to house its refugees inside the city, in what used to be the most run down section of the city.

Since the alien refugees were moved into what has become known as the Alien Quarter, the district has thrived greater than it ever did before. The streets of the Alien Quarter are lit up with holograms, neon, and the myriad colors of dozens of alien worlds that put flashy cities like Tokyo and Las Vegas to shame. Even at this time of night the streets are packed, thanks partially to the nocturnal races living in the district, and the market stalls that clog the streets are still teeming with customers. A few humans roam the streets in groups, most likely tourists interested in the sights of other planets, although a few actually run stalls.

The section of street directly surrounding Z System Accounting is just as packed as any other portion of the Alien Quarter, but surprisingly the Accounting firm sticks out. The street is full of stalls making it impossible for cars to come through. A number of alien engines have been repurposed and turned into generators which sit on the street powering the neon lights and holograms displaying advertisements in dozens of alien languages, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Swahili for whatever reason. Immediately next door to the Accounting firm is a tourist guide shop, which judging from the signs on the door specialize in information about Earth and tours of the Alien Quarter. On the other side is Pop's Barber Shop, a holdover from before the Alien Quarter was here that has since adapted to human and extraterrestrial customers. The shop is packed inside, all eight seats filled with alien races. With all the chaos around it, Z System Accounting is particularly dull and that causes it to stand out.

The font above the door is plain and grey, just a shade darker than the actual paint on the building, and reads the place's full name. The windows are tinted dark to protect customer privacy from the outside, and despite the 'open' sign on the door the building has zero foot traffic. Dragonfly comes to rest just outside the firm on a market stall ran by some kind of creature that is easily five times bigger than her normal size and appears to be the missing link from alligator to armadillo. Two aliens that look remarkably similar to fairy skeletons rest on a nearby lamppost holding hands with each other and chattering to each other in an alien tongue. They notice Dragonfly's proximity to them, chatter and snicker to each other, and then leap off the lamp post and flay away down the street.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly eyed the building up and down from her roost, only averting her gaze for a moment when she heard the snickering from the nearby "fairies" before they flew off. Meh, whatever.


~"I found Tumbleweed, but no 'Star Knight' yet. He doesn't have the energy cuffs on anymore, I'm trying to wake him up now."~
~Alright, I just arrived at Z-System Accounting, I'm going to look for a way in,~ Dragonfly replied over the mental network, ~Let me know if anything changes, I'll keep you up to date as I go,~ she adds as her wings flutter for take-off. This wasn't her first team case after all, though she's been teaming up with others less and less since her Claremont days; just how things played out. Either way she hadn't forgotten what she was taught, and keeping up-to-date with your teammates was an important part of teamwork.

Dragonfly started to search around the building proper for an entrance inside, especially one someone as small as her could squeeze inside of; she didn't know what the Dacani needed to make a space habitable for them, but this is an Earth building still and even if the Dacani don't breathe they'd still need to make sure their building could accommodate whatever species their customers turned out to be.

[roll0]

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke steadies the man...alien...humanoid and helps him to his feet. "Take it easy, man. You took a big fall, from the looks of it."

To the alien's comment Stoke nods grimly. "We gathered as much, though it sucks we couldn't figure it out earlier. Did they say anything before they dropped you off?" Stoke says the pun without a single twitch of expression.

[The_Admiral]

<Follow me,> Keith 'says' tapping matador on the shoulder and slowly pulling him towards the core.

<I'll disconnect it, help pull it up> he says, slowly removing the wires connecting to the cores.

[Avalon®]

~Okay. Better make it quick though. I think I feel my lungs burning.~

Matador blindly grasps for the edges of the core and prepares to pull when Keith gives the signal.

[Queen Sapes]

Dragonfly, the Alien Quarter

After some brief poking around the building, Dragonfly manages to find a small air vent on the backside of the building. It doesn't take much to melt the bolts off the metal plate covering it, and with that Dragonfly has a small path into the building without announcing her presence.

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

Tumbleweed settles his hat back onto his head, tugging it down as he dusts himself off from the fall. "She wasn't much for small talk, but she did make mention that it might be best ta head for the hills," Tumbleweed explains, checking that his gun is still in its holster and undamaged by the fall. "She's plannin' to use that core on the city like a bundle of dynamite in a saloon. I have a suspicion it won't kill me, but safer than sorry. Best be moseying along."

Silver Sentinel and Golden Matador, New Aeon Bay Underwater

It takes a few seconds to uncouple the cables, but Silver Sentinel manages to remove half of them from one side of the core. Golden Matador takes the opportunity to pull on the core, but the core resists movement and Matador's strength is slowed by the water. The core budges a couple centimeters before Golden Matador's grip slides from it. Half of the core remains hooked up to the broken portion of ship wall, and its only moves a few centimeters from the indent it apparently rests inside of.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly smiled a bit as she slowly hovered closer to the panel, ~Alright... found my way in,~ she remarked, ~I'll keep checking in as I go, if I go silent for too long assume something went South,~ she says before flying in.

Come on... dice roller! [roll0]

[The_Admiral]

Keith gestures to Matador to pull the thing up as he carefully removes the wires from the power core.

[Thokk_Smash]

"What?!" Stoke cries when he hears Tumbleweed's news. "We can't let that happen!"

Mentally, only to Tom, he thinks, ~"Tom, Tumbleweed says the fake Star Knight implied they would use the ship's core to bomb the city. I'll keep up the search on my end, but we need to find her ASAP."~

To Tumbleweed, he says, "How long do you think it'll take you to find another space-worthy ship? Help us stop her, and we can help you."

[Avalon®]

~Okay. Hope this one does it. I think I only have one more good pull on me before I have to get another breath of air.~

Planting his feet firmly on the the nearest stable surface, Matador begins to pull the thing up.

Whether or not he manages to pull out the core, Matador begins to swim furiously up to the surface in order to get a another breath of air.

[Queen Sapes]

Dragonfly, the Alien Quarter

Dragonfly makes her way through the vents trying to find some open grate she can peer through. After a few attempts which leave her staring into rooms empty save for unoccupied desks and locked filing cabinets, she finds one grate that opens into an office where a Dacani woman is typing away at several holographic screens. Dragonfly can't make out any details of the screens from here but can see the woman quite clearly. The Dacani have a single eye that dominates much of their ink-like slime body, typically purple although the color can deviate from Dacani to Dacani in exact shades. The woman's iris is a light pink, almost white, and her hair appears to be tied up in a ponytail behind her head. She wears a very simple black vest, black skirt, white undershirt, and red tie as she works at the computer. On the front of her desk is a plate that reads 'Hanah Huil'. As she's typing at the desk suddenly she pauses. She hits a few keys in quick succession on the sensor in front of her and then listens intently to someone Dragonfly can't hear. She sighs heavily. "Fine. That's what you get with Terrans. We'll work something else," she says to the other person and hits another string of keys which appear to close the call.

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

Tumbleweed pauses in his stride out of the alleyway and turns around. He considers Stoke's offer for a few moments. "Now I reckon that I'll rustle up a new ship come a month or two. Take a handful of bounties on criminals and cattle rustlers and such in the time between. But I don't feel much obliged to risking my own skin against that woman, be she Star Knight or not. Take her on you'd have ta be atwixt fool crazy and plum stupid. I only take those jobs for good pay," Tumbleweed suggests to Stoke rather than the ship offer.

Silver Sentinel and Golden Matador, New Aeon Bay Underwater

Under the water of New Aeon's bay, Silver Sentinel works at freeing the core from the rest of the cords connected to its casing. Matador takes another go at the box, this time free from the restriction of the cables, and manages to budge the core almost loose from its indention. Fearing drowning, Matador leaves Silver Sentinel to finish retrieving the box and makes a mad dash for the surface. Golden Matador surfaces and takes in a deep breath followed nearly twenty seconds later by Silver Sentinel carrying the core case.

[Nintendogeek01]

~Hey, anyone still listening in on this thing?~ Dragonfly asked over the mental chat, ~I'm looking into a Dacani woman's office, she's still at work. Her desk reads... Hanah Huil. Huh... that first name's oddly Earth-like unless they have weird pronunciation or something,~ Dragonfly remarked as she tried to make out the screen to no avail. ~Can't tell what she's working on from here, she said something along the lines of 'Fine. That's what you get with Terrans. We'll work something else.' Think it might be related or a coincidence with our case?~ she asked while trying to get as many details about the room as she could from where she was.

Perception: [roll0]

[tonberrian]

Menta floats over to the surfacing group. "Be careful with that core, it is extremely dangerous. But with it I believe I can devise something to find the other one."

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke considers his words for a minute--which means by the time his thought process has come to an end, barely a second has passed.. "I prefer to think I'm merely protective of my home, and I'd like to think you would be, too," he says as he moves closer to the alien. "But yeah, you've got no stake in this fight. Definitely no chance to earn some clemency from the galactic feds, unless the 'Star Knight' was lying about your rap sheet, too. And for sure, no need for a pretty good job with a local rich boy who could probably use someone with your ability, and might even consider this to be better than a job interview.

"Guess I'll just wish you good luck, then," he finishes, and offers his hand for a shake. His endearingly bright smile hides a shrewd assessment of the alien before him, hoping to glean something from the, well, alien features.

Deception to Trick Tumbleweed into thinking helping would be in his interest, either out of altruism or the thought of getting a job: [roll0] Crit! Total of 40

Insight on Tumbleweed's reaction to Stoke's comments, if any: [roll1]

[Queen Sapes]

Dragonfly, Z System Accounting

Glancing around the room through her narrow viewpoint, Dragonfly tries to take in her surroundings and get a good grasp on the specifics of the room. It was fairly plain, with a large wooden desk with a chair behind it currently seating the Dacani woman, and two chairs in front of it for guests. There is no other visible furniture in the room, not a computer, file cabinet, lamp, or even a plant. Two spouts from a fire suppression system poke out of the ceiling, with what looks to be a fire alarm speaker wired into the wall opposite Dragonfly. The only other thing of note in the room is the sensor bar that rests in front of the Dacani. It's about the size of a human keyboard but is entirely a featureless black. It appears to give off a faint light whenever tapped by the woman, likely indicating keys, and it's quite possible it's the source of the projected hologram screens.

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

Tumbleweed pauses for a moment as Stoke offers his hand. The scar on his face ruffles a little as he looks over Stoke, and then suddenly bursts out in laughter. He slaps his knee before swinging his hand around to shake Stoke's hand. "I was bettin' you'd fold!" he says, his lack of features displaying nothing but his voice clearly happy. "I like this waterin' hole. It ain't no home, not that I much recall any home 'a mine, but it's a place to hang your hat. You can guarantee me a bounty on the Star Knight, before or after we bring 'er in, and you got yourself a deal."

[The_Admiral]

"I'll bring this up to my ship for containment, want a lift to Mystery? I'll be warping there later."

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly begins carefully aiming her hand in the general direction of the fire-suppression spout, but then has a thought here... ~Okay you guys have been quiet but now I REALLY need some input here. Anyone know if water is harmful to these guys? I mean... they look like ink,~ she asked.

[tonberrian]

"I'll bring this up to my ship for containment, want a lift to Mystery? I'll be warping there later."

"It needs to be studied, yes."

[The_Admiral]

"Good, hold on, Alpha warp up for three and cargo, check local maps and prepare a warp down to Mystery." he says into his communicator, flipping it close. He then holds onto Menta's shoulder and a flash of silver light fills both their visions.

They reappear in a white room as Keith then continues, "Alpha, show her the way to the lab, and show Matador the ready room. welcome to my ship."

"Affirmative commander, please don't my designation is not Scotty." a somewhat female robotic voice replied as a line on the floor lit up.

[Avalon®]

"Beats walking there. I'm in."

With a wry grin, Matador exclaims: "Beam me up Scotty!"


Up on Silver Sentinel's Ship

"So... anything fun to do here up on your spaceship?"

[The_Admiral]

"Let's start with getting you dried off before you catch a cold."

[tonberrian]

Menta heads to the lab and begins analyzing the grue power core and creating a tracker to find the one the fake Star Knight stole.

Inventing! Detect Grue Energy Signals [2], Extended x3 [3], Tracking [1], Penetrates Concealment [4] = 10 PP. Spending a hero point for jury rigging cuts down the time to a minute to craft at DC 25.
Technology: [roll0]

[Avalon®]

"That would do nicely."

A FEW MINUTES LATER...

Matador steps out of a hot shower, a damp towel around his neck.
"That hit the spot."

Taking a look at his surroundings while putting on the rest of his uniform, he calls out to Keith. "Do you have a training room here or something?"

[Queen Sapes]

Decommissioned Sentinel Battlezoid, Low Earth Orbit

On-board the Battlezoid currently stuck in Earth's orbit, Menta gets to work on the energy core. Using spare tech lying around the ship, Menta is able to crack the core and jury rig its contents into an actual energy tracker. The device is clearly rickety and haphazardly thrown together for time, but by the time Golden Matador returns from his shower it's ready for use.

[Nintendogeek01]

If she didn't think it'd increase the odds of her getting caught, Dragonfly would be sighing in frustration right now; she volunteered to join PsyNet's mental network, she shook his hand and everything, and yet she's still basically flying solo here! Dragonfly mentally apologized to the Dacani woman if something about this went horribly wrong...

Dragonfly slowly stuck her hand through the grating in the vent, conjured up a small spark and shot it in the direction of the sprinkler before ducking back into the vent.

Since it's an inanimate object I'm just going to routine check the attack check with a small bit of flame aimed at the sprinkler.

stealth check to back away from the vent opening: [roll0]

[Avalon®]

Matador takes a look at Menta's jury-rigged device.
"Are you sure this thing will track that other core?" he asks incredulously.

[tonberrian]

"Roughly 95%. There is also approximately a 10% chance it detonates.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke keeps up his beaming smile as he shakes the alien's hand. "Between stopping an imposter posing as an intergalactic police officer and saving a city from certain doom, there'll be bounties to spare," he says with a laugh.

Mentally to the others, he thinks, ~"Hey, guys, Tumbleweed's okay and he's willing to give us a hand! How's it going with the whole 'finding the core' deal?"~

Out loud, he says, "So you're sure the 'Star Knight' didn't let anything else slip? No megalomaniacal gloating other than that one-liner you mentioned? I wish all super villains were like the comics."

Deception for the first bit: [roll0]

[Avalon®]

"How big an explosion are we talking about here?"

[Queen Sapes]

Dragonfly, Z System Accounting

Dragonfly blasts the the sprinkler with a small spark from her fingertips and almost instantly the combination of flame and smoke trigger the sprinklers in the room and throughout the building from the sudden uproar of sound. Hanah Huil takes a moment to pause as the sudden downpour of water soaks into her clothes before letting out an annoyed sigh. She taps a few keys on the tablet in front of her before standing up from her chair and sweeping the tablet off the desk. She walks out of the room with the tablet tucked under her arm, headed out of the building most likely.

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

"Not a peep," Tumbleweed answers Stoke. "In my experience most varmints don't gloat as much as they like to shoot. Where ya' reckon we start lookin' for your Star Knight?" Tumbleweed asks, bouncing his fingers on his hip.

[Nintendogeek01]

Well that got her out of the room as intended, unfortunately she brought the device with her. Here's hoping these guys are obeying basic fire safety as practiced on earth. Dragonfly made to quietly get out the way she came while pinging up the mental chat one more time...

And hoping that FOR ONCE someone is actually listening...

~Hey guys, I got Hanah Huil out of the building. She took her tablet thing with her, and if she's doing Dacani business on there we have a shot at getting a lead on this mess, so please, get over to the alien district. If we're going to get a look at that device I need help, I won't be able to get it away from her without making a scene,~ there's a pause when she thinks back to the fire alarm and the sprinklers going off, ~Erm... well a scene that doesn't immediately make someone shout "superhero!" that is...~

To get out of the building undetected! [roll0]

[The_Admiral]

<We're on the way.> he replied over the brainwave as he dismissed the armour covering his body as he entered the room where Menta was showing off her new invention to Matador.

"Catch." he then announces, tossing randomly picked shifters to both of them. "We're heading to the Alien Quarter, ready?"

"We're warping down Alpha."

"I refuse to speak with you until you apologise for complaining about the food." the computer replies with Keith visibly rolling his eyes.


Randomly is for you to pick colours. :P Also scene skip teleport.

[Queen Sapes]

Dragonfly, Silver Sentinel, Golden Matador, and Menta, the Alien Quarter

As just under a dozen Dacani and assorted alien species exit Z System Accounting to gather on the street outside, Silver Sentinel, Golden Matador, and Menta all suddenly appear on the scene. They're almost immediately overtaken by the crowd roaming the streets, their arrival barely sparking any interest, although their costumes certainly draw the attention of several people. Most everyone looks at Silver Sentinel like he's more than a tad silly, Golden Matador receives a few people grabbing at notebooks to snag signatures, and Menta steers eyes away from her. A healthy radius is drawn in the crowd immediately surrounding Menta. Dragonfly is able to get out of the building by remembering the route she came in through, zipping out of the building's vent systems.

Sparrowhawk, New Aeon Port Rooftop

As the team of supers who took down Steelhead and his crew disperse, it left Sparrowhawk without a direct connection to any of them. One sped away at superspeed, one flew into the night, three teleported off-planet apparently, and one simply gave a quick nod before teleporting away to destinations unknown. That left the bird-themed vigilante of New Aeon without much of anyone to call upon for something of a lead, so she returned to her nightly patrol. First step was scaling to a nearby rooftop, then off to the next one, the one after that, and so on until she found someone in need of rescue or criminals in need of a beating.

Sparrowhawk leaps from rooftop to rooftop, scaling a building's side on occasion where it's needed, until as she pulls herself over a ledge onto a rooftop she's forced to freeze in place. "Hello!" shouts a man standing only two yards away on the rooftop. He's young, late twenties at oldest, with incredibly average features and dressed in an orange winter coat with fuzzy hood and jeans that look brand new. His hair is buzzed to the scalp, not quite bald, but clearly kept short on purpose, and a pair of tortoise shell glasses rest on the bridge of his nose. He stands on the rooftop with a glass of some kind of alcohol, his eyes locked on Sparrowhawk. It's quite odd, she didn't notice anyone standing on the rooftop from the neighboring one, and none of the birds she keeps in the skies saw the man either, and yet here he is, his own eyes like hawks watching her. "Busy evening we're having, aren't we?" he asks, nodding over his shoulder to the bay area. "You're a local hero here, aren't you? I'd like to talk to you about some things."

[Nintendogeek01]

Out of the building's ventilation system, Dragonfly flew to an adjacent building to observe the street from a bird's-eye view still at her tiny size. Okay good, they did follow proper fire safety protocol, and it looks like the others were arriving too, ~Hey guys! Yeah I see you, but please don't look for me, let's keep me incognito for now, please and thank you,~ she says as she begins scanning the crowd for Hanah Huil, ~Okay, Hanah Huil should be among this crowd, she looks...~ Dragonfly describes her over the mental chat, ~Hopefully she's still carrying the device with her.~

Refer to earlier in the topic in one of Sapes' posts for Hanah's description, I'm too lazy to look it back up again, :smalltongue:

Anywho... perception: [roll0] Damn it.

[tonberrian]

Menta turns on her Grue energy tracker, unconcerned by the possible annihilation of the city.

[The_Admiral]

<Sure thing,> he snappily replied as he begins scanning the crowd for someone, anyone matching that description.


Percept
[roll0]

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

Dragonfly surveys the crowd, trying to pick out Huil's alien features in a sea of extraterrestrials, and comes up completely short. On the ground though, Silver Sentinel has slightly better luck. Hanah Huil passes right in front of him, the tablet tucked under the arm opposite the side Sentinel sees. She's moving with purpose through the crowd, most of the alien species present moving out of her way or at least making themselves less of an obstruction for her where possible. It doesn't appear to be out of respect for her specifically, but rather out of respect for her species and what they mean in the Alien Quarter.

Meanwhile, Menta completely ignores the situation going on around her and instead switches on her tracker. The haphazard device slowly stirs itself awake and the screen to display direction of signals stutters awake. A quick ping from the device and the first pulse is sent out to scan the city, the energy tracker's readings spreading across the city. Three dots light up on the screen, one very clearly in the Alien Quarter, one in the downtown area, and one on the mountainside just outside the city. With the group's numbers running low since dealing with Trident, it can't be a good idea to split up to search all 3 locations seeing as nobody has any idea how strong this Star Knight is. Plus there's only one tracker, and one can't easily give the location exactly to two additional groups.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

After an extended silence, wherein one might come to the mistake that he has fallen asleep on his feet, Stoke replies, "Well, it'd be good to know which direction she went in last. Didja see if she made any turns after she dropped you off? I know hurtling through the air is pretty distracting, but it'd be good to know."

[The_Admiral]

<Found her, going to follow her before I lose her,> he piped in on the mental chat, walking behind Hanah, thankful he actually demorphed.

[tonberrian]

~I have three locations on possible Grue energy sources.~

~Also, why are we after this woman? Shouldn't we just take her tablet now?~

[Nintendogeek01]

~I have three locations on possible Grue energy sources.~

~Also, why are we after this woman? Shouldn't we just take her tablet now?~
~Oh, neat. Where are they at?~ Dragonfly asked as she tried to spot her partners in this case, ~And to answer your questions; the Dacani aren't entirely unrelated to this case; they may have wanted a core for themselves and might know something based on what we do know. As for why we don't nab it now, a huge crowd of people wouldn't be happy to see superheroes grabbing suspected evidence in plain sight. We operate on the good faith of citizens counting on us to do the right thing, we can't appear to break that trust, and it's not always as easy as saying 'it's for a good cause,' when from where they're standing they can't see what the good cause is.~

[tonberrian]

~One signal is here in the Alien Quarter, one downtown, and another out of town entirely.~

~So what is the plan, then? Do we follow the Dacani woman and wait for her to be alone before retrieving the tablet?~

[Queen Sapes]

Stoke, Downtown New Aeon Alley

"Uh..." Tumbleweed says, dragging out the syllable as he thinks. "Up? Cowgirl hit the clouds then dropped me like a sack of pebbles. I reckon it's the eighth or ninth longest drop I've taken. Say partner, reckon you could carry me to tha' Alien town? I could ruffle some local feathers, see what stirs up to the top of the pot, least get us a drink to think on."

The Alien Quarter

Silver Sentinel begins following the Dacani woman as she passes, careful to stay behind by several steps, but also struggling to stay with her as the woman speed-walks through the street and the crowd swarms to fill the space behind her immediately as she passes. In the struggle to keep up Silver Sentinel almost runs into an alien that appears to have a body that looks like a smooth, pearl white, hard plastic bean about the size of a pillow. Long tubes extend from its body through small openings in the shell, and as Silver Sentinel almost knocks the creature over it extends a few more tubes quickly from its body to brace itself. "Peace, Terran of Earth. I do not seek a quarrel with you," the creature says in melodic, robotic, yet peaceful tones that reverberate from within its shell. The being continues around Silver Sentinel, putting him further behind the Dacani. Up on the ledge overlooking the street, Dragonfly spots Silver Sentinel as he nearly runs into the robotic shelled creature, and then spots Huil a short ways away. She also spots the pair of fairy skeleton-like creatures atop a nearby lamppost again. They chatter to each other as they watch her, giggling and snickering to each other every few seconds.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

Stoke taps his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Right, right. I don't know what has gotten into me today, no reason not to walk and talk."

He grabs Tumbleweed by the hand and starts the walk there. And by walk, of course, he means a respectable fraction of Mach speed, and so it is only an instant before they are both standing next to Menta in the Alien Quarter.

Stoke gives the Mentat a jaunty wave. ~"What's this I hear about there being three places?"~ he thinks to her, looking over her shoulder at the screen. "~I've, uh, been kinda forgetting to keep Tumbleweed updated on the Dacani situation. Wouldja mind getting him up to speed on it? He might be able to help!"~

[Nintendogeek01]

~Well Sentinel was following her, but he's sort of bumped into this other alien... you okay down there Sentinel?~ Dragonfly asked Sentinel all while fluttering after Hanah Huil, using the building ledges for cover.

To tail Huil: [roll0]
~Anyways, we went...~ Dragonfly updates Stoke of the direction they went, ~As for the possible core locations... we are already here in the alien quarter, we could learn what we can about the power source here before trying our luck with one of the other two,~ she reasons, ~That's my vote anyways, oh and I'm still tailing Hanah, I'll keep you up-to-date as I go,~ she says. After a pause Dragonfly suddenly remembers, ~Oh right, does anyone know what those, skeletal fairy looking aliens are? About my size?~ not that she would admit it to the rest of the team, but those two aliens continuing to pop up and snicker at her was starting to give her the creeps.

In case anyone hasn't bothered to read the IC version of my post...
Voting to inspect alien quarter core.
Still tailing Hanah
Asking about little fairy aliens
Assume that Dragonfly is fairly constantly keeping team appraised of her path in tailing Hanah.

So no excuses if you ask for something I already said. :smallyuk:

[The_Admiral]

<I'm fine, keep an eye on her, > he thought back as he catches his own balance.

Idly dusting himself off, he replies, to the alien, "My apologies, I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings."

[Avalon®]

While busy signing autographs, Matador tries his best to keep up with the mental discussion.

~So what you're telling me is that our alien lady turned on her tracking device which powered by an alien energy core and it found 3 more active cores, one of which is here in the Alien Quarter?~ Matador mentally asks the other heroes.

~And we don't know if these things are ready to explode or not so I think looking for them should be given a big priority.~

~Of course, things would go a lot faster for you guys if these people aren't around to slow you down... I think I have an idea.~

Signing the last autograph, Golden Matador shouts to the crowd. "Citizens of New Aeon! Now a lot of you know me and seen the work I've done. Now crime fighting is not an easy task, and it gives this hombre quite an appetite. Now since I'm here in the Alien Quarter, I wish to sample all the food the galaxy has to offer."

"Who'd like to show me what's good to eat here?"

~Hopefully this works.~ he mentally tells the others.

Deception: [roll0]
Persuasion: [roll1]

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

Stoke and Tumbleweed arrive in an instant, the humanoid star's arm stretching unnaturally from the force of Stoke's run. Tumbleweed takes a look at his arm, the brand on his face twisting in what might be a confused look, before his arm snaps back into its proper shape with a small flash of light. He flexes his hand and looks to Menta and Golden Matador. "Howdy, folks," he says, tipping the brim of his hat to the two. As Golden Matador attempts to steer the crowd, he does succeed in grabbing the attention of dozens of beings around him who stop to listen. As he continues his offer, most walk away back into the crowd disinterested and some chuckle to themselves before leaving. The skeletal fairies on the lamppost watch Golden Matador's offer intently before one of the creatures turns to the other, gibbers something to the other, and they burst out laughing. Only about half a dozen people actually look to be interested in Golden Matador's offer, four of them human tourists. "Not sure what you were goin' for, but I don't think ya' won," Tumbleweed informs Golden Matador with a pat on the shoulder.

Down the street a bit, Dragonfly continues to tail Huil who walks to one of the vendor booths clogging the street. The man running the booth is dressed in a full-body suit that looks like a cross between a spacesuit and a scuba suit. She stops at the stand and begins speaking to the man, judging by her body language, the man nodding his head rhythmically to what she's saying. Elsewhere in the crowd, the alien being Silver Sentinel bumped into retracts some of the tubes it extended back into its body. "You are forgiven, this is a very busy location, it is understandable," the being replies to Silver Sentinel.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly continued to appraise her case-partners as she followed, though silently grousing that no one else seemed to be weighing in on where to start the hunt for the core, ~Okay it seems like Huil stopped to talk to someone at a vendor, I'm going to see if I can get closer,~ she says before attempting to fly closer, ~Oh and... how's your thing going Matador?~

Stealth: [roll0]

[tonberrian]

~I will take an autograph, if no one else will.~

~In any event, perhaps Matador, Stoke, and I will follow the trail toward these energy signals, while Dragonfly and the Sentinel continue to stalk the Dacani? That seems like it might be the best course of action.~

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

Getting closer to Hanah Huil and the vendor in the life support armor, Dragonfly can begin to make out their conversation, or at least Hanah's portion of the conversation. "As long as you and your crew are able to maintain payments, you will continue to receive power to charge your suits and maintain their systems. We're working on securing a more reliable source, at which point you can increase payment if you would like to begin charging your ship. I have a few men looking into the parts to repair your suits, but if nothing turns up we'll be able to reimburse you for half your investment. Finally, we have found an investor capable of synthesizing medications for the community, and any major needs we will be able to supply in short time. Please make a list of anything you require for my next visit," Huil states to the figure in the suit. It nods its head at Huil's words and her orders. "Once again, if you make contact with any of the following individuals, please inform me or one of my men immediately: Laishe Telfoni, the Elders Twins, or the missing Arcturian princess, Caprice. I've heard reports they came in on a refugee ship, but can't manage to find them. There's a reward for verifiable information." She pauses and looks at what the vendor is selling. She digs around in her pockets and produces two thin poker chip-like discs. "One dried burrowslug," she says to the vendor, setting the discs on the counter in front of him as payment.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly mentally repeats the conversation on the mental chat to bring everyone up to speed, ~Sounds like it's just a business meeting here,~ she remarks once that's done, ~Not that I think Hanah over here is completely guilt free but tailing her may not be worth it when we've got a tracker on a potential location for the core near here,~ Dragonfly said, ~Or do you guys think there might be something else to her?~ she asked.

[The_Admiral]

"Of course, may we meet again in better circumstances." he replied, as he sent the message to the group,<Well then, tracking the cores it is, start with the one in the mountains, less chance of being a false positive.>

[Nintendogeek01]

~If we're voting I vote the one in the alien quarter since we're already here. If the mountain turns out to be a bad guess that's a lot of travel time we'll have spent getting there and back, but if we start here we might still be able to make it to another location with the least bit of lost time,~ Dragonfly voted, ~I'll go where the majority wants to go, just my opinion.~

[tonberrian]

~I would suggest checking the local core first, as well.~

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke makes a mental note of what the woman says to the vendor. Has he heard of anything like that in the past few days, suits needing charging and whatnot?

Mentally, he thinks to the group, ~"If you guys aren't prone to motion sickness, I could easily carry you guys one at a time and make it there in seconds. I could even carry two at a time once, Dragonfly and someone else."~

~"But since we are here, at least tell us the coordinates for the core in the Alien Quarter. Tumbleweed can ask around while we check another place, if nothing else. He seems to have contacts in the area, and those are probably going to help a ton here. So, we should start here first, unless it's in a place we can't readily get to, in which case Tumbleweed can ask around while we scope out another."

[roll0]

[The_Admiral]

<Actually, there won't be much travel time, the wonders of teleportation, I'll be there in seconds.> he replied again over the mental radio.

[tonberrian]

~The closest Grue energy source is located roughly [x meters] in [y direction]. I will be teleporting there relatively shortly.~ Menta waits for Stoke to leave, taking anyone he brings with him, then teleports there herself, aiming for about a thousand feet in the air as to observe before getting closer.

[Thokk_Smash]

~"Sounds good! Dragonfly, want a lift there?"~ Stoke replies. He whispers to Tumbleweed, "We've got a lead on three Grue core signatures, one of them's in the Alien Quarter near either a restaurant/butcher's/barbershop combo or a warehouse. I'm gonna zip us over there and we can scope it out."

He gives Dragonfly and Tumbleweed a moment to reply, then barring any objections he grasps them both by the arm then speeds through the Alien Quarter in the distance Menta described. He stops on an abandoned rooftop in the general area and takes in the surrounding area. ~"Which place is the signal coming from, Menta?"~ he asks, trying to guess himself.

[Nintendogeek01]

~"Sounds good! Dragonfly, want a lift there?"~
~Hang on hang on!~ Dragonfly stealthily slipped away from Hanah and the man she was talking to and zipped back to the crowd, ~Let's not tip off the alien mafiosa. I'm coming back to you first,~ she flies down to Stoke and hovers down next to one of his free hands and is all set to rest in his palm (and hold onto his thumb for dear life). "Ready when you are."

[Thokk_Smash]

~Let's not tip off the alien mafiosa. I'm coming back to you first,~ she flies down to Stoke and hovers down next to one of his free hands and is all set to rest in his palm (and hold onto his thumb for dear life). "Ready when you are."

Stoke offers his palm with a jaunty smile. "Thank you for choosing Stoke's taxi service. Please keep all hands and feet inside the palm at all times."

[The_Admiral]

"<I'll be in last, especially since I'm the least conspicuous.>" he replied as he began navigating his way to the coordinates.

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

The signal from the core tracker leads Menta, Stoke, Dragonfly, Silver Sentinel, Golden Matador, and Tumbleweed to a cluster of buildings. Judging by the signal, the core is active and either in the building below them, which serves as a restaurant, butcher, and barbershop for various residents of the Alien Quarter, or the building they're looking at. The second building is a warehouse with a tall, pure white, smooth spire jutting out of the roof. The upper windows normally available for looking in are covered up from the inside. Outside, there are roughly a half dozen of the strange aliens Silver Sentinel ran into earlier. They're all pure white shells with small tubes jutting out of their bodies for movement, and they stand outside of the warehouse's doors watching the crowds go by around them.

Tumbleweed, still a bit lost from the constant superspeed, looks around and suddenly begins a very high pitched whistle for a few seconds. "Saddle my back and call me a horse!" he shouts, making his way over to the ledge to peer out at the space below on the street. "This is D. Willy's place! Y'all are in for the best cometbug soup you've ever tasted!"

Nothing about Huil's conversation with the vendor strikes you as odd, just general business for the Alien Quarter. Some species can't necessarily survive Earth's atmosphere easily, which is where environmental suits that require charging comes in. The rest is all just simple business, although you do make mental note of the names she gives just in case. Better to run into someone and know there might be trouble than not.

[Nintendogeek01]

Whew... THAT was fast! Dragonfly fluttered out of Stoke's hand and hovered in front of the group, looking up and down the building as if studying it. She then wheels around and flutters over to right in front of Tumbleweed. "Would it be normal for this 'D. Willy' to have a Grue Energy Core?" Tumbleweed clearly already knows more about the place than she does.

[tonberrian]

Menta glides downwards, following the source of energy wherever it might lead.

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

"No chance," Tumbleweed responds to Dragonfly. "Willy's just a cook. A fine cook, but still just a cook." He turns to evaluate the warehouse behind the building, which Menta is already headed towards. "Now those pardners would have reason for one. The Ne'Tal. Robotic, hive minded, religious, secretive, and protective of their business. Trade memories for things, is what I've heard."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Memories!? Do they like... take them take them? Or just copies or something?" Dragonfly asked with a nervous over the shoulder glance toward the building. Her mouth was contorting with visible discomfort at the thought. Admittedly neither answer to her question is that good when she thought about it.

[The_Admiral]

<So, these silver robots with tentacles are these, Ne'Tal? Or am I making a terrible leap of logic?> he replied again, settling into observing.

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

"That'd be the varmints," Tumbleweed responds to Silver Sentinel, nodding at the silver robots. "They nab 'em. You sell them a memory right out of your head. More vivid, the better. In exchange you can get nearly anthin' you want. Goods, information, deeds, bounties taken down, you name it. No copying the memories for savin' either. There's no value to them like that."

[tonberrian]

Menta continues following the signal, not paying attention to much else, attempting to open the door to the warehouse.

[The_Admiral]

Keith hangs back, trying to keep an eye on Menta as she does her tracking.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Oof... yeah... don't think I'll be hiring them as my brokers anytime soon," Dragonfly mused, she visibly cringed when she saw Menta simply trying to barge into the door, "Oh... real subtle..." Dragonfly sighed as she zipped off to hide at a vantage point.

Stealth to hide at a vantage point: [roll0]

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

Dragonfly makes her way over to a vantage point undetected by the Ne'Tal standing guard outside the warehouse. At the door, Menta instead does her best to simply walk straight through the door into the warehouse. As she approaches the door, the two Ne'Tal standing guard by the door extend their tube appendages from within their shell to block her path. "Apologies," the Ne'Tal state in unison in identical tones. "Only Ne'Tal units are permitted to enter to send memories to be distributed. If you would like to trade a memory one of our units will gladly exchange with you," the units state, directing Menta away from the warehouse.

[tonberrian]

Menta frowns, and floats back to the Silver Sentinel. ~The energy source is inside. What do we do now?~

[Nintendogeek01]

~I'll see if I can't find an opening I can slip into, then we can work from there,~ Dragonfly suggested as she began fly about the building as discreetly as possible, hoping to find an entrance she can get into.

Stealth: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

Dragonfly is quite easily able to find a way in, through the jagged opening on the warehouse roof where the spire appears to have pushed upwards through it. Inside, through the hole Dragonfly is small enough to slip through the edges of, she finds several long rows of what appear to be data storage towers filling the warehouse. Several identical Ne'Tal units move through the rows of white towers, occasionally stopping to plug their appendages into the towers. At the center of the warehouse, where Dragonfly enters, is the spire. Dozens of silver cables run from the data towers into the base of the spire, which extends upwards towards the sky. Dragonfly doesn't manage to see any Grue power core in the warehouse.

[Nintendogeek01]

~Okay guys, I've been as thorough as I can be without being seen, and I can't see an energy core in here,~ Dragonfly reports on the mental chat as she flies back to her original entryway.

[roll0]

[tonberrian]

~~There is an energy core in there somewhere. You must have missed it.~

Menta concentrates, searching the warehouse with her ESP.

[roll0]: Investigation
It's a DC 20 Notice check for someone observed by Menta to notice it, and it has Feedback so they can attack it and deal damage to her.

[Nintendogeek01]

Geez Menta's confidence in others is inspiring.

Brushing aside the first sarcastic thing to pop into her head Dragonfly responded, ~It's possible, but how about this? So what if they do? I don't see Star-&!%$# around and we can't prove they got it illegally. For all we know they had one already, and from my understanding there's nothing going on here that strikes me as 'out of place.'~

[Queen Sapes]

The Alien Quarter

"Trespasser," the Ne'Tal inside the warehouse suddenly say in unison. "We must request that you vacate the premises immediately, before we are forced to escort you out or get local authorities involved. We do not wish for conflict but will reach that conclusion should you not comply."

Scanning with your ESP, you are able to successfully find the Grue core's location. It appears to be inside the spire at the center of the room, hooked into the intricate Ne'Tal machinery to act as a power source for their databanks and the spire itself. It's in operation, heavily modified, and judging by the machines moving around it the Ne'Tal are maintaining it remotely. This core isn't the one the Star Knight escaped with.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Yikes, glad I was on my way out already," Dragonfly thought to herself. She hoped they didn't involve the authorities... wait a minute...

Why wait to involve the authorities? Just general 'don't want to bother,' or maybe something else? Insight: [roll0]

Still making for the exit, and apparently not suspecting a thing.

[tonberrian]

~I found the core. It seems to be powering this facility. We should check out the other location downtown, then.~

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

~"Mmm--bwuh?"~ Stoke's mental voice snaps up after Menta finishes talk/thinking...think/talking. ~"We're heading out? On it."~

With that, he summarily grabs Tumbleweed by the arm and jets to a discrete location near the downtown coordinates. With the extra momentum, he makes a quick stop back to the Ne'Tal warehouse area, grabs Keith, and gently cups a hand around Dragonfly and brings them to the same area. Finally, with a flourish, he picks up the Golden Matador and brings him to the rendezvous.

With Stoke's level of Speed this should all be doable in a single round, but please lemme know if I need to adjust anything.

[tonberrian]

Menta teleports to the downtown location.

[Nintendogeek01]

~I found the core. It seems to be powering this facility. We should check out the other location downtown, then.~
~Ah-ha!~ Dragonfly declared in response, ~Have a little more faith Menta; I said I didn't see it, and that would explain why. Not likely to be our stolen one,~ she adds whilst being whisked away by Stoke.

[The_Admiral]

<Where downtown are we head woooahhh.> he asked, as he is grabbed by Stoke.

[Queen Sapes]

Unknown Crash Site, Downtown New Aeon

Arriving carried by the streak of light known as Stoke, the team happens onto a rather gruesome scene. This part of Downtown New Aeon was sectioned off from the rest with chain link fences and black tarps, presumably due to what is at the center of the area, but a quick check of the gate showed the lock broken. The concrete is mostly torn up, revealing lots of dirt underneath that makes the place look almost like a construction yard. Scattered around the fenced-in area are two dozen bodies, no more than 24 hours old. They're all young, youngest looking 17 and oldest 21, and appear to be just a bunch of kids who decided to take advantage of the lax police presence in the area to do some urban exploring. They found an off-limits area, broke the lock, did some exploring, and paid the price for it.

Most of them appear to have attempted to run away and were shot in the back for their efforts, large holes about an inch in diameter running through their backs to their chests. Some have signs of what looks like an animal attack, one with his legs flayed and others with limbs sliced clean from their bodies before death. One unfortunate soul is nothing but a puddle of green goo from the waist up, the acid that dissolved his upper body still steaming and bubbling as his bones slowly dissolve in the soup of acid and flesh.

At the center of the area is an alien ship of some kind. It appears to be heavily damaged by the fall to Earth, with massive holes of jagged metal and frayed wires on all four sides that several people could walk through at once. There are numerous smaller holes along the rest of its body, possible signs of attack or passing through a meteor shower without shields. The inside is dark, but there are occasional flashes of light from something inside the fairly large craft.

At the closest large entrance hole, there are four more bodies. The first is a younger man, probably 19 or 20, with multiple holes in his torso, neck, and head. He was rather buff and fit, with dark black hair. He wears jeans and a red shirt, although strangely he appears to be wearing combat armor gloves that end in frayed lines at his elbows. The gloves are a mixture of white, black, and red. The second is another man, around the same age, with blond hair and broken glasses on the ground in front of him. Before he passed he was wearing jeans and a blue flannel shirt. His body is bisected at the waist, the lower portion a few feet from the torso, and strangely wearing a pair of combat armor boots colored white, black, and blue.

The third body is a woman, late teens, with brown hair down to her shoulders, hoop earrings, tan pants, and a pink shirt. She's lying on the ground, a hole the size of a baseball blasted along the edge of her head, taking her left eye with it. The intact side of her head is lying in the shattered remains of what looks like a pink helmet, her face's expression blank beneath the blood. The final body is another man, late teens, with dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He's not wearing any of the strange equipment of the others, but appears to have been picked up and forced onto the jagged edges of the holes leading into the ship. Three metal spikes pierce him through the torso, tearing his green shirt, and hold him up in the air, his blood covering them and still dripping. About a yard into the ship itself, the group can see what looks to be a Grue core sitting on the floor. Not only that, but judging by their memories of retrieving it, it's identical to the one Golden Matador and Silver Sentinel retrieved.

The moment you see the ship, you know what it is. It's extremely damaged and missing the head, arms, and legs, but it's clear to you what the ship actually is. It's a Battlezoid, or rather the torso of a horribly damaged Battlezoid. Looking at it from even afar, it's identical to the one you currently have in orbit, something extremely strange. In your home dimension while the Codex produced Battlezoids they were almost all unique in some way to the species. The Human's Battlezoid looked Human, one for a bipedal species would look like them, if a species had eight limbs their Battlezoid would, etc. Judging by the torso, this is identical to yours currently orbiting Earth, which would mean it's either this world's equivalent or from somewhere else.

The four dead at the entrance are similarly familiar. You don't know them by appearance, they're completely strangers and judging by the other bodies around they just happened to be here at the wrong time, but you can tell what was happening. They were using Shifters and were in the process of shifting into the armor before they were put down mid-shift. They're clearly not the original owners of the Shifters they were using, if they were the process would have occurred much faster and they could have defended themselves. It looks like it was their first time using the devices, the shift was slow, and whoever killed them took advantage before claiming the Shifters they were using.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

"No!" Stoke screams in his mind at the scene of carnage. What the hell happened here? Without a word he speeds through the area, inspecting the bodies at incredible speeds. The Phoenix inside him is keening restlessly at the tragic loss of life as well.

Treatment and Perception rolled in the OOC.

Also, Expertise (Local) on this for a recent event: [roll0]

[Nintendogeek01]

"Oh my God!" Dragonfly declared out loud at the carnage in front of them. She'd seen some bad scenes before, there was one she remembers that was worse than this actually; but that doesn't always make it easier, and it certainly doesn't make it less tragic. How long ago was this? Could they have gotten here sooner to stop this?

Dragonfly shook her head as though to literally shake off those thoughts. You can't do it over, you just do the best you can from here on. With that Dragonfly went to inspect the ship and the surrounding area more thoroughly.

Perception to spot something that stands out (even if I can't immediately make something out of it like investigation would). [roll0]
However the carnage remained disconcerting and distracting. ~How's that core looking?~ Dragonfly asked over the mental chat, she had to stay focused, and hopefully encourage everyone else stays focused too.

[Queen Sapes]

Treatment: Checking the temperatures of the bodies first, and quickly seeing if anyone is remotely still breathing, you find that the bodies appear to have passed roughly 18 hours ago, around 1 or 2 a.m. It would make sense, what with the holidays so close the site was likely closed for the entire day and thus the bodies are undisturbed. Most of the ones with holes in their bodies appear to have died instantly as their hearts were destroyed, although most of the ones slashed likely died slower or from shock. It's impossible to tell how much the one taken by acid suffered. You also can't tell where that acid even came from. Thankfully all of them have some form of ID on them so their next of kin can be notified after authorities are brought in to.

Local Expertise: You've heard whispers related to what has happened here. A couple families missing their older teenagers who went out last night, but most of it seemed like typical teenagers not checking in with their parents. Now you see where those teenagers have been, and what happened to them. As for the alien spaceship in the center of the area, you haven't heard anything about that. There's been so much chaos caused by the Rift it was likely just one additional thing that slipped under the radar. Maybe it was purposely covered up, maybe it just was assumed to be nothing.
Perception: Thanks to the freshly fallen snow that has been covering the place since earlier today, you can see tracks in the snow. They suddenly appear from out of nowhere near one of the bodies, marching off into the ship's entrance. They're fresh, so whoever the tracks are from clearly isn't the cause of this carnage. If it is Star Knight, the wounds don't even match up with her apparent abilities.

[tonberrian]

Menta sets about analyzing the other grue energy core, trying to figure out how and why it is at this scene of carnage.

[roll0]: Expertise

[The_Admiral]

"....****, they were using Shifters, these people they were killed mid Shift, The wreckage's a BattleZoid torso, probably humanoid. This, was probably a local version of my ship in orbit, someone shot it down, one thing's off though, these kids were new, never used a shifter before, if you've got experience operating one, you'll never get caught mid shift. Wait, no, it's /exactly/ the same." he ponders aloud.

Turning to the other heroes, he adds, "Whomever killed them now has access to working shifters and a Dimensional Energy core, this ship should have been able to take a nuke to the face without even flinching. What's strange is, this is similar to my ship, these things are custom made...... It's too similar..... could be a coincidence......"

[Nintendogeek01]

"What about the rift?" Dragonfly asked, "A lot of stuff came through that rift from another dimension. Could explain it," she suggested.

[The_Admiral]

"Could be...." he mutters as he begins searching, hoping that the gear was left behind.


[roll0]

[Queen Sapes]

Battlezoid Crash Site, Downtown New Aeon

Menta and Silver Sentinel move into the wreck of the Battlezoid itself. Menta sets to work examining the core, finding that it's partially active and completely intact from before. It looks like it was just removed from the Grue Scout Ship, which means that the Star Knight must be somewhere close by. She appears to have hooked the core at barely any power output to the Battlezoid, charging it's reserve power for whatever reason. While Menta examines the core Silver Sentinel moves towards the Shifter storage, carefully​ navigating the wreck. Whatever hit this Battlezoid did a number on it, and while the Dimensional Energy Core appears to have been ripped out of the ship prior to its crash, there is still a little reserve power causing wires to spark and lights to flash.

After a few minutes of moving through, Silver Sentinel finds the Shifter storage, exactly where it is on his Battlezoid. The manual lock is shattered, likely by the kids outside, and the panel keeping them hidden is wide open. There are eight slots for Shifters, meaning it was an eight person team. Red, blue, green, pink, yellow, black, white, and gold. A fairly big team if they were always at their capacity, which is possible. None of the Shifters are present, all have been taken by someone.

"It did," says a sudden voice from within the Battlezoid. The Star Knight from earlier steps out of the dark inner corridors of the Battlezoid, her chest light glowing brightly to light up the heroes in front of her. "This Battlezoid came through the Rift from my world while under heavy attack. I was attempting to assist the craft in its fight and came along with it," she explains, her tone softening as she speaks.

She reaches up to her helmet and it clicks as she grabs it. Pulling up her helmet breathes a hiss of pressurized air as she reveals her face to the others. She's human, a Hispanic woman with long brown hair and strong, sharp facial features. "I'm sorry for the confusion earlier, I'm new to this universe, and I couldn't be sure who I was dealing with. I don't recognize any of you from my home, and there was never a 'silver' Sentinel in world." She speaks with a hint of a Spanish accent, the sign of her parents having a much thicker accent but raising her in America. As she rests her helmet on her hip the color of her armor shifts from grey to bright red with yellow highlights.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. Sri Amalia Belmonte, Human-Mutant Star Knight of Space Sector 2814, Earth, and Universe 365-C."

[Nintendogeek01]

When Star-&!%$# revealed herself Dragonfly got ready to move to a flanking position, but then the woman took her helmet off. Huh... she's not bad looking at all. Ahem... not important!

Dragonfly instead fluttered close to Silver Sentinel, clearly ready to move at a moment's notice however, "Yeah... still not cool to threaten me with arrest, if you even have that authority here," Dragonfly said, "But alright, say I do believe you, what is all this around here then!?"

[The_Admiral]

"That places this ship at post production run of 3563. You're looking at a Battlezoid, a fairly recent production given the linking in of a Gold shifter without Silver. Though Ma'am, I do have a couple of question, what happened to the kids who took the Shifters? More importantly, what happened to the Shifters?" he asks, showing the empty case, worry and near panic obvious on his brow.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

Stoke, still silent as death, has been busily arranging the bodies into a semblance of decency. There is a sickening "sklurch" when he carefully takes the green-shirted teen's body off of the spikes on which it had been embedded. Stoke's face is impassive and set, seemingly without a care for the sickening sounds and smells and sights surrounding him. In the end, the intact bodies are laid in a line, side-by-side, in an empty space in the area. He does his best to close their eyes; he has little chance to fold their hands over their chests, seeing as their bodies are fully in the throes of rigor mortis.

In the end, though he has made countless tracks across the snow and possibly has obscured some clues for the incident, the bodies of the teens are ready for the police to take in. Their identifications are placed on their chests, tucked into shirts or folds to prevent being blown away. Stoke kneels beside the last body in the line, his head bowed and expression unreadable.

And then the Star Knight arrives...

After she finishes speaking, Stoke appears directly in front of her with barely a hiss of air for warning. There is heat rolling off of him in waves as he stares her in the eyes, a fire that is entirely supernatural and not-entire-metaphorical erupting in his own gaze. "If you knew about this, why are these kids' bodies still out here?" he asks in a low voice, his tone accusatory. To hell if it's unfair to blame her for this, even without the Phoenix inside him screaming in rage he'd feel the same way.

[tonberrian]

"Why the subterfuge for the Grue energy core, then? Did you hire Trident?"

[Queen Sapes]

Battlezoid Crash Site, Downtown New Aeon

The Star Knight pauses as Stoke gets right up into her face. She takes a step back, her face getting a little more defensive at the level of confrontation from him. "This is new, and the sign of something bad," she responds, looking respectfully to the line Stoke re-positioned everyone in. "The Battlezoid crashed when the Rift opened over this city, New Aeon, and it fell out of the sky. I came along for the ride. Thankfully the money they use in this universe is identical to my home universe, so I was able to pay for some fences I put up to give some privacy to the Battlezoid. I've spent the last week attempting to repair it and once I discovered the Dimensional Energy Core was removed, I made the decisions to go looking for one. I left for a day, checking on various sites and readings to find a compatible energy source. Eventually I found you all and that Grue Core. I confiscated it, albeit under improper circumstances, and came back here to try and supply power to the Battlezoid so I can use its systems to contact my home universe. That's when I found the bodies as well," she states matter-of-factly to Stoke.

"I've been working on repairing the main systems so that I can review the security footage. My guess as to what happened was the teenagers got interested in the site, broke in, and discovered the Shifter storage. They attempted to use them and they were attacked by... something. Once we can review the footage we should be able to tell exactly what happened."

[The_Admiral]

"Not good, we need the footage as soon as possible, Menta, how confident are you with Grue Cores? Can you boost the ones here up? Goddamit, we need to know where those things went." he replied diverging into a somewhat commanding voice.


Might as well insight into her.
[roll0]

[tonberrian]

"On it."

Menta does science to things to try and get the security footage online.

[roll0]: Technology

[Nintendogeek01]

Insight vs. Star Knight's story. [roll0]
Dragonfly listened to Star Knight's story silently, though metaphorically simmering, if she were literally simmering people would be able to tell thanks to the cold weather.

Silver Sentinel's focus on these 'shifters' caught her attention though. "Silver, what ARE these shifters exactly?"

[The_Admiral]

Slowly, he retrieves his own cell phone shaped shifter as he says, "This is a shifter, they're powerful weapons, capable of granting great power at great cost. Upon activation, it instantly makes the user superhuman as long as it's active, no training required, regular usage, leaks Dimensional Energy into the users body, pushing them to the peak of their species' physical ability while deactivated, however, with this power comes a price, Dimensional Energy is detrimental to mental stability, unless use is carefully managed, operators are eventually driven insane."

[Nintendogeek01]

"So... you use techno-drugs."

[Queen Sapes]

Battlezoid Crash Site, Downtown New Aeon

With the work the Star Knight had begun already in place, it only takes a few moments for Menta to finish boosting the power of the Grue core. The lights inside the Battlezoid begin to stabilize and cease their blinking, a sign that the primary systems are getting back online and the monitors to access the security footage are likely accessible inside. "Think you can access the system?" Star Knight asks Silver Sentinel, pointing behind her into the Battlezoid. "Battlezoids are loco machines, I've been struggling to even diagnose it over the last week. And can we calm ourselves?" she asks, the question specifically directed towards Stoke and Dragonfly. The Star Knight seems genuine to everyone, but even still Dragonfly and Stoke are on edge thanks to their earlier treatment and the horrible scene here. "I understand this is a tragedy, but we need level heads to find who did this. I can't have you here if you're not willing to work together."

[Nintendogeek01]

"What?" Dragonfly asked defensively, "Techno-drugs was a joke... well sort of," she fluttered nearer to the monitor for a better view, "What Silver just explained makes it crystal clear this is serious, and a danger to this city, so frankly I don't think it's your call whether you 'have' us or not," Dragonfly emphasized. "But if you're really here to do something about this then yes I can work with you," she added with a much lighter tone.

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

The air around Stoke has returned to the ambient temperature. He's stopped seemingly trying to set Amalia on fire with his eyes. But his expression has not softened even an iota. The others know that, through most of the night, Stoke has kept up a general amicable and friendly demeanor. That demeanor has not even begun to reappear since their arrival.

In fact, at Amalia's final sentence his smoldering eyes regain some of their blaze. "This is my home, Sri Amalia Belmonte," he says, voice venomous. "You misrepresented yourself to us and lied to us. You left this incredible weapon unguarded, allowing two dozen innocent teenagers to enter and then die against some unknown force, which also was able to enter this place and presumably steal these incredibly dangerous weapons."

"This whole situation is a f*cking sh*tshow, and it's smack in the middle of my home. You do not get to choose whether I help. You do not get to dismiss my anger because it's inconvenient to you."

He closes his eyes for a moment, and takes a breath. When he reopens his eyes, the fire is gone from them, and his expression is neutral again. "I can work with you on this without letting my feelings get in the way. I will not make jabs at you about this, or hold it against you. But this happened on your watch, Miss Star Knight. And it happened on mine, too." His voice is almost tired, and holds accusation as before--but this time, it's obviously directed against himself, instead.

Maybe he's grown too used to his supernatural speed allowing him to be anywhere he wants. Perhaps he's gotten too high an opinion of himself, to think he could keep the entirety of the city safe by himself. Regardless, it is obvious that the tragic incident is something he considers his fault to some degree. He is obviously earnest in his declaration that he can work with her. He wants to help.

[The_Admiral]

"Sure, lets take a peek inside, each one is practically a work of art, makes sense nobody but the crew could operate it." he replied as he walked up to the nearest functioning looking terminal as he began entering his authorisation codes, attempting to access the security feeds.

[Queen Sapes]

Battlezoid Crash Site, Downtown New Aeon

It takes a few moments for Silver Sentinel to access the Battlezoid's systems, and a few more minutes to successfully scroll through the footage across several cameras that give the whole situation. Eventually Silver Sentinel finds a point in the footage, and boosting the microphones to pick up any all speech. The team gather around to watch what had unfolded.

The footage picks up with the culprits already present, almost all of the kids alive and standing in a circle with their hands up. A woman with fire flooding off her hands stands in front of them, making sure they don't move, while they're also surveyed by a giant dog and a man in a suit of armor. At the front of the scene is a figure in silver armor, standing in front of the four teens seen before.

The figure in silver armor looks remarkably similar to Silver Sentinel, although the edges of his armor are clearly much more jagged and rough than Sentinel's own. The man wears a helmet with the visor specifically cut into glaring eyes, a demon mouth open on its front, and two small, silver horns pointing behind its head. On his right arm appears to be several small boxes roughly the size of playing cards, each of various color. Descending from his shoulder to his wrist are Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink, Black, and Purple. All of the boxes are torn mostly open, leaving only broken remains of their cases. Their insides are exposed along with all mechanical pieces, various wires protruding from them and connecting to others or into the rest of the armor itself. On his back appears to be some kind of rifle. He paces in front of the four teens who look clearly on the edge of a breakdown and struggle to hold onto the Green, Red, Blue, and Pink Shifters. He holds his hand on the chin of his helmet and nods approvingly.

The figure in armor appears to be human and is wearing a suit of power armor that covers him from head to toe. The suit is mostly black and grey and appears to be extremely well-maintained, with occasional highlights of green on the surface of the armor. Several tubes of a dark green liquid run along the sides of the suit under and over the arms into the gloves. The helmet is further protected by a metal collar his black cape connects to, the helmet itself possessing a viewport slit and ring of spikes that almost look like a crown. He stands on the ground stoic, the body covered in acid laying next to him visibly bubbling and slowly melting. The poor victim appears to be twitching as he hasn't quite reached death yet.

As far as anyone can tell the giant dog is some kind of monster that looks like a werewolf covered in a mess of thick brown fur. Some of its musculature is visible at its sides, the muscles appearing to writhe and struggle as it breaths. Each finger on its hands and the toes on its paws end in elongated claws stained light brown. Four horns protrude from its skull, all pointed forward ahead of its face. Its eyes are inhuman, all yellow with no visible iris. Its tongue snakes along its mouth filled with fangs, the canines of the creature particularly prominent and jutted forward out of the jaw. The creature is just over one story in height crouched, standing would easily double its size if it appeared that it could stand. A few corpses with slashed bodies lie on the ground around it, and it appears to impatiently pace. Its presence makes the teens huddles in a circle most scared.

The final figure, standing close to the silver armor wearing man, and watching the circle with her hands covered in flames, is wearing an outfit identical to Silver Sentinel's own, but with black replacing the silver. The woman's gaze doesn't pull from the kids in front of her, and occasionally she lunges at them to spook them.

"Yes, you four will do," says the figure in silver armor to the four teenagers he has separated. "Let me introduce myself," he begins, watching them sweat as he spreads out his speech. There's a sadistic joy to his speech that sends shivers up spines. "I'm Silver Psycho, this is my team, the Vanguard, and we're having a little... recruitment drive. One to four of you will be invited to join our team if you successfully manage to use your Shifter, the little devices I've given you, to shift into a suit of armor similar to mine." He points over to the woman in black armor. "Do as you saw a moment ago with her. Shift into a suit of my armor and you'll be welcomed onto the team. However! You cannot shift into her armor. She has crazy mutant powers, not weak fleshy bits like you four. She gets the Black Sentinel armor. You four need to skip straight to mine, no baby steps on this journey, in order to be welcomed to the team! Any questions?"

There's a stillness in the air before the teenager in green starts to raise his hand, his voice quivering slightly as he struggles to speak. Silver Psycho gives him a second to approach, leaning his helmet towards the boy to feign listening before he spins into a roundhouse kick. The kick hits the boy in the stomach and sends him flying into the edges of the Battlezoid, impaling and killing him after a few seconds of sputtered gasps as he drowns on his own blood. Silver Psycho and the others watch him die before Silver Psycho returns his attention to the others. "No questions? Good. Activate the Shifters," he orders and the three remaining teens quickly get to work trying to use the Shifters in a mix of shock and panic.

It takes roughly 30 seconds of confused scrambling, but eventually the first of the three starts the slow shift into armor. The teenager in blue glows brightly as the others look to him to copy what he did to make the Shifter work. Silver Psycho watches the boy in blue's transformation before apparently seeing enough. He shakes his head and sighs before reaching around to his back. He pulls out the rifle and spins it around in his hand quickly which causes the gun to transform into a jagged sword. With another spin he quickly chops through the boy at the waist, catching his torso by the collar. The Shifter transformation ends as the other two are fully enveloped in light and no longer privy to the sight. Silver Psycho stares the boy in the eyes as he panics and knows his death is imminent. He then tosses his torso away behind him into the snow, his glasses breaking on impact. His lower body topples over silently.

Silver Psycho then tosses his attention to Pink and Red. He walks around them, observing the transformation, until he ends up behind Pink as she transforms. He stares through the white for a second before stepping back and whipping his sword back around. The sword returns to gun format and he quickly aims it at her head before squeezing the trigger. The blast sounds like a bass drum, but completely disintegrates a hole in her head. Her transformation cuts off and she topples over, shattering the helmet as she lands on her front already dead. Silver Sentinel then turns his attention to the final teen, the red one. He doesn't even have to look but for a few moments. He angrily stalks forward to where he originally stood and screams in frustration.

"Run!" he screams at the circle of teens, his voice echoing across the area and twisting his voice. The teenagers all take off running, the giant wolf, power armored man, and Black Sentinel doing nothing to stop them. Silver Psycho then flips around and fires a quick series of blasts into Red, cutting his transformation short and killing him. He then pivots and fires blasts at all the other teenagers as they flee. Some manage to get farther than others, but none manage to make it to safety before Silver Psycho cuts a hole into them. Once everyone but the Vanguard is dead, Silver Psycho rubs his head and sighs.

"Spectre, clean any evidence we were here," he orders to the man in power armor who sets to work. "Mutt, take a body and go back home. You earned it boy," Silver Psycho says, rewarding the monstrous wolf. "You stay, we'll discuss what happens next for you," he says, pointing to the woman in black. He then spins on his heels, approaching the four murdered teens and retrieving the Shifters from them. The security footage picks up compartments on his leg armor opening up, where he stores the four Shifters along with the Yellow, White, and Gold Shifters that were also missing. Presumably the woman in black has the Black Shifter.

Silver Psycho then does something odd, and stalks over to the nearest security camera, staring straight into it. He sighs heavily again, before giggling a little. "You know, I really thought that one of those kids could make a Shifter go psycho," he declares, his joy and sadistic edge returning as the Mutt finds a body it likes and vanishes over the fence. "I know that you're here," Silver Psycho says into the camera. "This wasn't the only Battlezoid to fall out of the sky this last week, it was just the most dull until today. I know that you'll find this place. I know you have a Silver Shifter. I know you're alone. I'm not going to come for you yet," Silver Psycho taunts through the camera. "Instead, I want you to do me a favor. I'm going to be sending my... protege, on a little errand in about 24 hours. A local tech firm with lots of fun things to smash! I want you to go and see if she's worthy of joining the Vanguard. Fight her. She's got weird abilities, but I felt that she needed a little boost so I left her the Black Shifter. If you're like all the other Sentinels, you should die pretty easy. You're welcome to bring friends if you have any, the more the merrier! I let her hire some extra thugs from the Alien Quarter, but I really want to challenge her as best I can, so it's mostly putty for people. If you beat her you can kill her. I'll have to after anyways, you'd be saving me time. You can keep the spare Shifter, too. And if you die, which is probably inevitable, just know your Shifter will find a nice new home with me. Buh-Bye!"

Silver Psycho then reaches into an exposed panel on the Battlezoid's surface, ripping loose a wire than cuts the cameras and microphones for the next thirty minutes of footage. When they reboot and manage to come back on, the scene is exactly as the heroes found it, albeit with slightly less snow as it just now starts to fall. From behind the heroes, Tumbleweed lets out a long whistle of disbelief and Amalia shakes her head at the terrible footage.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Oh my God..." Dragonfly's pitched voice utters from her position on Silver's shoulder. "He's not just butchering them, he and his goons are terrorizing them."

[The_Admiral]

Keith stares in shock for a few momments as he processes the events he just saw, fighting off the urge to panic he takes a deep breath. "****, of course, Alpha, lockdown everything, generate code ASDMSST, assume all codes have been broken, relay me any reports of attacks on tech firms." he called in with his Shifter,

"Affirmative commander, there seems to be a Military research site on the outskirts of New Aeon, near certain that it is the target,"

"Thanks, Confirm lockdown, there's an evil me running around right now. Out." he replied, flipping it close as he jots down the location on a scrap of paper.

'Turning' to Dragonfly, he continues, "Yes he did, we can't focus on what he did, we'll have to stop him from doing it again. Know this place?" he adds, showing Dragonfly the location he has written down. A simmering anger and barely restrained panic obvious in his eyes.


You don't carry an Ikea pencil and scraps of paper everywhere you go? :P

[Nintendogeek01]

'Turning' to Dragonfly, he continues, "Yes he did, we can't focus on what he did, we'll have to stop him from doing it again. Know this place?" he adds, showing Dragonfly the location he has written down. A simmering anger and barely restrained panic obvious in his eyes.
"Couldn't agree more... and uh..." Dragonfly paused a bit as she read over the paper Silver was showing her, "Enough to tell Stoke where to go to get us there," she answers as she flutters over to her speedy teammate, "Ready Speedy Gonzales?"

Assume Dragonfly will give Stoke directions at his request.

[The_Admiral]

"Menta, I think I found the location he was describing," he adds as Dragonfly informed Stoke, running over to the alien woman and also handing her the scrap of paper.

[tonberrian]

Menta reads the paper and teleports there!

[Thokk_Smash]

Without a word, Stoke ferries the team to the location one by one.

[Queen Sapes]

[CLASSIFIED] Military Research Site

The heroes, as well as Tumbleweed, all arrive at the military site in an instant thanks to Stoke. It's a large looking complex on the outskirts of New Aeon, where the roads stop being paved and buildings get more and more sparse as you continue. This is one of the only half dozen or so buildings in about a half-mile radius, judging by the appearance of things. The double glass doors that lead inside the building are shattered, with four security guards sitting in the entrance heavily injured. Their wounds look to be seared closed though, the sign of an alien blaster fire rather than whatever Silver Psycho was firing with. There's signs of fire within the building, meaning time could be short if anyone is injured but alive inside.

"Wait," Star Knight orders the group. "We need a battle plan. Hostages and injured should be our priority, eliminating hostiles secondary." She says, laying out the basic foundation of a plan before the team heads inside.

"I'm not much," Tumbleweed begins, "but I can take more than they can toss at me." Tumbleweed pulls his pistol from its holster and spins it in his palm. "This is gonna be just like tha Alamo," Tumbleweed says, making an confused reference.

[Nintendogeek01]

Dragonfly hovered amongst the group and looked at the building. "Menta, keep that mindlink up and keep me posted on the plan. I'm small and the flames can't hurt me, I can begin looking for survivors right away!" Dragonfly informs everyone present, ~I'll keep everyone up to date,~ Dragonfly immediately begins flying ahead.

Come on dice roller let's get along this time: [roll0]

[Thokk_Smash]

Stoke

"Right behind you," Stoke says softly, face clearly showing signs of remembering that ghastly video. He speeds into the building after Dragonfly, though he isn't looking for victims right away. No, he has another idea, and the Phoenix within him is in agreement. So as he runs through the building, he finds every errant patch of fire and exerts the Phoenix's control over it. Perhaps with enough focus and luck, he can put the fire out before more people are burned.

Running through the building, and Countering the flames with Stoke's speed rank: [roll0]

[The_Admiral]

"You guys do that, she'll be expecting me so I'll give her exactly what she wants, evacuate the civilians as fast as possible, I'll distract her for as long as possible, and given that the safeties are probably missing on hers, be quick before I get my ass kicked." he announces, as he runs into the base, shifter up in the air as he activates it.

"INSTALL!" he shouts, summoning his armour. He was going to deal with her, hopefully he could at least draw their attention for long enough that civilians could be evacuated.