G.E.A.R.S. - Issue #1: Fall of a Titan

[The_GrinningMan]

https://i.ibb.co/sVPS55t/Issue-1a.jpg

Rather than the songs of birds one might hope to enjoy on a warm Sunday morning in early May, the six heroes that make up Eclipse Squadron are being treated to the droning hum of a G.E.A.R.S. super sonic VTOL transport as it screams through the sky toward the city of Prague. The interior of the transport is bathed in cool blue lights that run along the floor and ceiling, as well as the glow of a holographic monitor situated just behind the cockpit bulkhead.

There are enough seats for twelve people to sit comfortably, so the group of six has more than enough space to be comfortable during the trip from G.E.A.R.S. headquarters in the international waters of the Gulf of Mexico to their destination. The transport launched five minutes ago, and should be arriving in Prague within the next fifteen minutes.

As everyone settles in for the flight, the holographic monitor is displaying news broadcasts of their intended target. A massive creature resembling a cross between a humanoid turtle and a squid is rampaging through the city destroying buildings and causing chaos. Over-layed on top of these images is the face of Warden Miller, the man known as Anvil and Eclipse Squad’s handler. The dark skinned man looks grim, his eyes shadowed by his heavy brow as he is no doubt watching the same news feed.

“Kraken began his assault thirteen minutes ago and our latest reports are projecting one hundred six dead and rising,” Warden Miller briefs the squad, “The local vigilantes are doing their best to get civilians out of the hot zone, but none of them are strong enough to stop him, and the Iron Stars are busy in Moscow dealing with Blizzard Lizard and the latest hoard of Crystalmite’s minions. So we’ve been called in to put Kraken down.”

A file appears on the screen detailing Alexander Fedorov, the man known as Kraken as Warden Miller continues, “Fedorov is a genetic mutation. His current form is a transformation triggered by extreme emotion or pain. We don’t know what set him off this time, but anger is a god bet. He can lift roughly one hundred tons and breaths a chlorine gas. Watch out for his tentacles, they give him a two kilometer reach. You need to knock him out or get him to calm down so he changes back to a human form. Remember that this man is not a villain. While transform Fedorov has no control over his actions. He’s running on pure animal instinct. He’s likely scared and angry, possibly injured.”

Warden Miller looks down at something off screen then back at the squad, “ETA is twelve minutes. Once you enter Prague airspace the pilot will drop altitude and you will perform a combat deployment. Understood?”

[Inspector Valin]

The heroine in white spandex with the domino mask fiddles with her hairband, trying to secure her pink ponytail as she studies the live footage. She's been working on getting it right for a few minutes now, ever since they entered the transport. This is a long way from her first mission, but she can't recall one quite this extreme before and the calming blue lights aren't doing much to help. A major city under attack, over a hundred already dead and rising. Eclipse Squadron are going to have a ton of eyes on them today. A lot of people will live or die based on how they deal with Kraken.

So, you know. No pressure.

Miller's words snap her back to the moment. Best to meet challenges with a positive attitude and a ton of energy. The young Agent turns to grin at her superior, tipping him an easy salute as a spark of rose-coloured energy floats over her hand. "Non lethal. Got it, Warden." She turns back to the screen, studying the behemoth closely. "Do we have any intel on Fedorov? If we're going to try and calm him down, we'll need to work out what happened first. And he doesn't seem like he's in the mood for talking."

[Lord Raziere]

What a strange, yet exciting world this is. Back on Planet Hexagon, all was one being in many bodies. It was slow, all bodies worked in lockstep, commanded by a single mind. A planet that nonetheless did not have a transport vessel like the one Septina rode on. One would be surprised than alien species capable of making faster than light travel has not even invented the car. Indeed, the Hexagon Hivemind in fact lagged behind humanity in many areas due to the fact that it is a single mind, an intelligent highly powerful mind older than any human and capable of organizing its bodies on scales humans can only dream of, but still just one mind. It designed for its large scale needs, not its bodies, because that was what it needed. In contrast, humans had cities and nations and individuals and so on- it was far, far more complex.

Septina hears and observes the briefing. This individual they were observing was capable of somehow biologically transforming themselves, defying mass and known physics in the process. Fascinating. Yet in power it lost reason. Behaving like an animal. Hunting and handling animals was the closest thing that the Hexagon Hivemind ever got to this "combat" concept that humans seemed to do so much of. Mostly because the hivemind never had an enemy that could equal itself, while humans seemed to have no end of them. How did humanity become more advanced by having more problems? It was a mystery to Septina. One that she had to solve. But time to focus on saving lives. A new concept to the bee alien. The Hivemind of course, never had to worry about such things- lose a body to disease or an animal attack or a natural disaster and it always had more bodies and planned around such occurrences so that it would survive and repopulate itself. The idea that each life was analogous to a snowflake due to the minds within and thus as many needed to be saved as possible, made things....hard. But she welcomed this. Clearly these humans were doing something right if they can somehow figure out how to work together for this goal and be an "individual" at the same time and thus agree upon the fact that lives needed to be saved despite not being themselves. What a strange paradox.

But, if this man had a mind of animal, then Septina had an idea:
"Understood, Warden Miller. My species has used its mind powers to calm down animals and non-violently manipulate them in the past for purposes of environmental preservation. I could try to mind control Fedorov to calm him down and keep him from attacking anyone else, if that is okay."
She remembers when she first arrived that someone people were nervous about perfectly normal, non-violent mind control and she had a few misunderstandings about applying it. Obeying the rules of this weird idea called "culture" is so confusing. She wasn't even sure what that word meant!

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4a/da/35/4ada3505bc9b4d4fe89d04c15b91b3fb.jpgInk (Karloff Rasch) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2213462) Power Level 12 | Dodge 12, Parry 0, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will 12 | Damage 0 Kraken. Two kilometer reach, breathes chlorine. Scared, Angry, Injured. Knock him out or calm him down. Simple enough. Put him down... No. He must not have meant that. Not this squad.

Ink, sat down checking his shotgun as his suit shifted around little. Nonlethal but dangerous. He altered the intent behind the magics ever so slightly and loaded fresh shells, reabsorbing the old ones.

"Warden, I assume if there's no inhibitor we don't know of any weaknesses to this form?"

This was looking like it was going to be a long day, they'd pulled him from the library this morning when the call had been made about Kraken. Of course there was no way to plan around Kraken, but it had still been short notice on what would have otherwise been a day off. This was to be his first encounter with Kraken, and hopefully his only. He didn't enjoy dealing with those not in control of their powers or themselves in general. There seemed to be more everyday as the number of empowered grew by the year. He understood that it wasn't their fault but that only made it harder to keep them under control. Most countries weren't okay with the idea of imprisoning the innocent...

[Rhyvurg]

Marcus rubs his chin, listening to the briefing. Bringing something down without killing it was not his purview, but then a cruise missile strike would not be lethal in this case. Others seemed to be handling evacuation, but focusing on that was difficult, his instincts told him to challenge the dragon head on and match it's might with his own. But that was not the mission, glory and victory were not always the same thing. He was also aware of his lack of fear, which any sensible person would feel at the idea of fighting a giant monster, but when he thought about how odd that was, in his mind's eye all he could see was himself standing over Kraken's defeated form, before a cheering crowd. When Bumble Beauty (he tried to think in code names in the field) said she might be able to control it, he nods. "Beauty, how close do you need to be to try and control his mind?"

[Lord of Gifts]

Giant monsters roaming the Earth was never a good thing. Kraken assailing a major city was definitely bad. The indiscriminate fury of a storm, guided by animal instinct. Given the current death toll, and the number of civilians still in the vicinity, disaster would be an apt description.

The situation was complicated further by the fact that Kraken wasn’t a mindless beast, or a villain. Fedorov was a victim of his own powers, just as much as anyone else. Even if collateral damage wasn’t a concern, and it certainly was, they couldn’t just tear him to pieces. The threat had to be contained, for the sake of every living thing in hundreds of miles, but the mission was more damage control than an outright assault. Still, even if a peaceful solution could be found in the end, Kraken couldn’t just be talked down like a person, and a certain level of violence was inevitable.

It was so hard to plan for this. Every time Fedorov moved around, new risks and conditions had to be accounted for, and there was still no reliable way of predicting when and where he would trigger. In scant minutes, Maya had gone from relaxing by herself in the Gulf of Mexico, to preparing for battle with Eclipse Squadron, in transit to Prague. Tightening her grip on the shaft of a heavy spear, she started to run through the factors in play. Local vigilantes were evacuating civilians, but some may still be in danger. Long tentacles gave Kraken a considerable reach, while chlorine breath made close engagement a dangerous prospect. Close proximity of buildings with such a strong attacker was a recipe for serious property damage, resulting in a crowded battlefield. Most importantly, Kraken was a bestial form, driven by anger. If they were to save Fedorov from himself, the key seemed to be identifying the source of his anger, and bringing it under control. Failing that, they would need to swiftly employ extreme levels of controlled violence, subduing the beast through force without inflicting critical injury. Of course, that was much riskier than plan A, and hopefully it wouldn’t be needed.

[Lord Raziere]

Marcus rubs his chin, listening to the briefing. Bringing something down without killing it was not his purview, but then a cruise missile strike would not be lethal in this case. Others seemed to be handling evacuation, but focusing on that was difficult, his instincts told him to challenge the dragon head on and match it's might with his own. But that was not the mission, glory and victory were not always the same thing. He was also aware of his lack of fear, which any sensible person would feel at the idea of fighting a giant monster, but when he thought about how odd that was, in his mind's eye all he could see was himself standing over Kraken's defeated form, before a cheering crowd. When Bumble Beauty (he tried to think in code names in the field) said she might be able to control it, he nods. "Beauty, how close do you need to be to try and control his mind?"

Oh right. This strange second name business. This particular group of humans insisted upon it. The Hivemind never needed names before discovering their existence. But now Septina was here and there was no end to them, with multiple ways to refer to one person, things added on top of the names called titles and so on. It was real strange this categorization system they called names, seemingly not designed for efficient labeling at all. And apparently there wash hundreds of others languages with completely different rules. Why?
"Oh! To answer the question Sol Invictus, approximately thirty feet away. I see the problem, against something that big its comparatively short in range. To do it, I might need a distraction to make sure I get in range and pacify Fedorov without being interrupted."

[Inspector Valin]

"Or a friendly teleporter! Remember?"

Warpdrive waves a glowing hand at the squad's token alien, glancing back to the Warden for permission to talk tactics before returning her attention to the rest of the team.

"My max transport weight is about four hundred pounds: not enough for a full squad deployment. But my max distance is in the miles. Kraken can do two kay em through size, I'm clocked at twelve if I can keep him in sight, twenty four at utter max if I'm going all out. I can get you that close, Bumble. The problem's going to be holding our position. If we bunch up to provide you support, it won't be hard for Kraken to come down on the lot of us. But if it's just you there, and your control can't hold him? You'd be target number one. Messing with his head would probably make Kraken even madder - I don't know if I can get you out in time."

No easy options. Warp taps her fingers on her armrest, trying to think back over her squadmate's profiles. "What we need is some strong protection. Kraken's got overwhelming physical force and gas. Is there any way for us to stay safe within that thirty foot radius?"

[Lord Raziere]

Bumble Beauty thinks
"Well if we need to figure how to calm him down without my mind control, I can also read minds. I can even do it from further away than thirty feet- I just have to perceive him for that."
Why mind reading can be done further than mind control has good reasons involving psycho-active physics and how much control one can exert upon a mind using a certain amount of psychic force that are too complicated to get into here. Just know that farther the mind powers extend, the weaker the control, much like how the hivemind cannot control its bodies when they get a certain distance away.
"I just hope that I can figure it out while his mind is enraged, especially since I little experience with your planets ways. Does this Fedorov have a history of related incidents that could form a pattern to give me a clue of what I need to look for?"

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4a/da/35/4ada3505bc9b4d4fe89d04c15b91b3fb.jpgInk (Karloff Rasch) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2213462) Power Level 12 | Dodge 12, Parry 0, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will 12 | Damage 0 "I can breathe Chlorine. I can't shield anyone, but I'm fast on my feet and can distract him."

[Inspector Valin]

"Bumble. Were you distracted by something?"

Even amidst the tension in the VTOL, Gennifer caught that, and couldn't quite resist a grin at the alien woman. Had Sol talking to her, calling her 'Beauty' left her a little flustered? Probably not but it was funny to think about something so mundane - Warpdrive chuckles before getting back to the matter at hand. "Anvil - sorry, Warden Miller just laid that out: extreme feelings, anger or pain are the most likely trigger. So you're looking for what happened recently - probably about thirteen minutes ago when the attack started, and whatever it was probably caused a big emotional reaction in Fedorov. We need to know what it was, and as much context as possible, so we can convince him it's okay now. If someone hurt him, GEARS can keep him safe from them. If it was a personal, emotional thing, like relationship drama... I guess we'll help him work through it."

Gods above, if they have to try and provide relationship counselling to a giant monster... Warpdrive takes a long breath at that prospect, before nodding in resolution. Being an Agent meant doing what had to be done. No matter how out there your missions might get. She claps her hands once, glancing between her fellow Eclipse members to ensure everyone's focused. "Okay. I think we've got a plan here! Uncle... Ink can keep him busy, I can go in from a different angle to divert his focus even more. Bumble can mind probe from extreme range to try and work out what caused the transformation. If possible, stay as close to the LZ as you can while keeping line of sight with our target." As her outline continues, she waves a hand towards the team's designated fast-talker with a smile. "Sparrow, it's probably best you hang back with Bee Bee. When she gets the information, you come in as loud and over the top as you can to get Kraken's attention. That's our signal to stand down while you try and work through his issues. It'll be harder to do that if you've been fighting him the whole time - we can try and get him to talk while we fight, but you coming in fresh without having thrown a punch will probably get the best shot at talking him down."

That's the basic plan. Now comes force addition, thanks to the squad's two shiniest members. The pink haired heroine takes a quiet breath before turning to Marcus. "Sol, I'm gonna guess you want to go hand to hand with Kraken." Before the powerhouse can object, Warpdrive raises her hands. "I ain't stopping you, so long as you remember we're not killing him. It's your call if you want to get in close for this. But remember, plan A here is getting him to calm down. So... can you try not to say anything that'll make him angry or want to fight you? Don't call him out for attacking civilians, call him a monster, anything like that?"

It sucks she has to do this, but she knows Sol can get really into his fights: better to bring it up early than risk it happening later. Trying to keep her mood high, Warp turns to the other light focused member of Squadron Eclipse. "Photon, I'm not sure which side of this makes more sense for you. You could be useful with Bumbles and Sparrow - help evac any remaining civilians with your dupes, keep the bird and bee safe and use your lights to draw Kraken's attention when it's time to talk. But you'd also be really useful trying to keep the big guy busy while Bee Bee does her thing, so long as you feel safe in close like that. Where'd you like to go?"

[Glitchy]

Photon was taking up three of the available seats in the VTOL as it sped toward their latest mission. Photon Prime, the original Connie Cross, sat between two of her Others listening to briefing and watching the news footage. On her right, a Photon has the lenses of her mask covering her eyes as she scans through the internet using her suit's computer, searching for the most recent events involving Kraken. How long ago he last mutated and what had triggered it last time. On her left, another Photon is quietly freaking out, one leg twitching rapidly up and down as she considers what they are flying in to. This wasn't her first mission, but she could count the others on one hand, and those had all been far more mundane than fighting a godzilla size monster in the middle of a major metropolis, "What the hell am I doing here? Am I really ready for something on this scale?" the Other's mind is absolutely whirling, working through all of Connie's fears and doubts while the Prime focuses on the mission.

When Warpdrive asks her what part she wants to play in the plan, Photon Prime gives her a cocky smirk and leans back in her chair, "I'll take all of the above of course," She looks back and forth at the Others then back to Warpdrive. Her entire body glows for a moment and a new Photon stands up from the seat while the Prime continues to recline. The new Other smiles and speaks, "I'll stick with Sparrow and Bumble," she then steps over to the alien's side. Then another two Photons stand up from Prime and speak in unison, "We'll focus on civilian evacuation," they announce. From her seat between the two original Others, Photon Prime gives Warpdrive a wink, "The rest of me will play distraction. As long as I'm in flight, the gas breath shouldn't be able to touch me. I'll dazzle him and keep his attention on us," she wiggles her fingers making sparkles of colored light dance between them.

It's a fine display of brash confidence. Too bad it's just another mask for the heroine to hide herself.

[Rhyvurg]

Sol shakes his head, smiling slightly. "It's true I want to fight this monster head on, but I know where that urge is coming from. I'm fast enough to help with evacuations while Beauty tries to calm him down. But I can also try to halt his movement if that doesn't work, keep him in the same area so he can't destroy more than he already has."

[Lord of Gifts]

"Agreed."

Sparrow acknowleged her role in Warpdrive's plan. "If he's going to listen, we need to build trust, so I need to make a good first impression." That was the key to most cons, but the same rule held true in honest negotiations. "Focus on distraction. Don't take any risks, and don't engage unless you have to. He's running on animal instant right now; if one of us hurts him, he'll see us all as enemies." She shot a cautious look over at Sol Invictus. It was clear that his power wanted him to slay the beast, and Maya considered that a last resort. His words were reassuring though. Marcus had a good heart, and was thinking rationally. Containment was definitely the way to go, at least to begin with.

Turning towards the resident alien, Sparrow addressed Bumble. "Warpdrive is right, you need to focus on extreme emotions just before the attack started. If you think you have something, probe for associated information. Names, events, context, whatever you can find. The more details I have to works with, the better our chances of calming him down." With that clarification, she spoke to the whole team. "Once I start talking, I need everyone on stand-by, while we see how he reacts. I've never given relationship advice to Godzilla before, and it could go south. If that happens, we have to go in hard, and subdue him with minimal collateral damage. Even if everyone is evacuated, they'll want a city to come back to later." She kept a darker thought to herself. There was no telling what damage Federov had done in the first moments of transformation, and there might be some emotional trauma they couldn't repair.

[Lord Raziere]

Bumble Beauty nods
"Sounds like a plan. I shall look for all of those things in his mind to find out the source of his anger. Apologies, I was lost in thought at the time."
She turns her head to Warpdrive her eyes wide.
"Ooh! Bee Bee. I have acquired a third name. I notice that everyone powerful has at least two names. Does more names give you more power on this planet?"
She hopes that she can understand the reasons of Fedorov. She isn't exactly familiar with Earth yet, so its going to be interesting figuring out what exactly made him do this when she is still new to this world.

[Inspector Valin]

"Heh. Maybe?" Everyone seems okay with the plan as it stands, so Warpdrive leans back in her seat with a chuckle. The teleporter takes a deep breath as she ponders how to explain all this to her alien friend. "A nickname isn't exactly a full on different name. It's just a... version, I guess. Bee Bee would be (*groan*) the first two letters of Bumble Beauty. It's more like a different way to say that name."

"With names, it's less about how many you've got and more who uses what when. It's a sign of how someone thinks about you. If you've only just met, or you don't know them very well you'd use their family name and title, or for us, our hero names. I'd call the boss Warden Miller for example. That's a part of being polite and respectful: personal names are for use by people you really know well, and that isn't supposed to include your CO when you're on the job." Warp chuckles, before waving a hand across Epsilon Squadron. "But it goes the other way too - people who interact with you a lot and like you will usually switch to your personal name to acknowledge that. And if you're close with someone, like a team mate, using a custom shorter version of their name you make up is one step further down that path - a sign of familiarity and a more personal relationship. It's kinda rude if you do it when someone doesn't want you to, but if they are okay with it it shows that they think of you as a friend."

The agent actually blushes a little at the end of that. It made the whole thing sound like a much bigger deal than she'd really intended it. Nicknaming people was just... something she did. Warp chuckles, waving a hand, "And yeah, that means I was probably a bit too quick with throwing out nicknames, really. But does that make sense?"

[Anti-Eagle]

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4a/da/35/4ada3505bc9b4d4fe89d04c15b91b3fb.jpgInk (Karloff Rasch) (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2213462) Power Level 12 | Dodge 12, Parry 0, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will 12 | Damage 0 "Alright, we can try to keep him contained and distracted while Ms. Beauty and Sparrow try to calm him. I hope he can be reasoned with, lulled. I'd prefer not to have to beat something like that into submission."

[Lord Raziere]

"Prague is one of your complex human hives you call a city yes? Any environmental factors that need considering? We may have to perform rescue protocols to save nearby lives before engaging, what is our plan for that. Sadly, thirteen minutes seems too short for an evacuation to have happened."
she says, remembering how the closest thing the hivemind to cities back on her planet was basically a bunch of plain undecorated facilities made for purely utilitarian reasons for its bodies to efficiently sleep, eat and such in lockstep then do as the hivemind directed the bodies to. And so many computers! The hivemind only had one computer on the entire planet to do all that it needed to do, which was archive information in digital format, make art when the hivemind was bored and pick up and interpret signals that psychic powers could not, and was the reason it even found Earth in the first place.
"also I am glad I am....familiar to you? Warpdrive. I don't know what a friend is exactly but I infer it is some kind of given rank or title that is thought positive in this civilization give what I've observed. I gladly accept this and the "nick-name" unless you wish wait until your are less quick with it."
Was she climbing some sort of "social ladder" already? Were there ranks beyond "friend"? There was so many hierarchies on this planet. This one was perhaps the strangest as it seemed unspoken. Also ladders were a silly tool, so much effort to only go slightly higher. The metaphorical ladders were better. also must figure out what this "nick" concept is and why its appended to names like that. Does "nick" mean "alternate" or "short"? Questions for later.

[Rhyvurg]

"Alright, if we're agreed on the plan, we're set to deploy. Just remember, Kraken might yet have some tricks we don't know, be ready to adapt. And, if we have no other choice...be ready to accept we might be forced to kill him."