[IC]Dare To Dream! (M&M)

[GravityEmblem]

Ellen runs, as fast as she can, out of sight--once it's safe to transform, she can regenerate in the sun and dive back into action. She enters the form of Sparkle Knight and flies high into the sky, letting the sun shine on her and assessing the situation.

[Volthawk]

On any other day, a sudden loss of power would just be one of those things, but after just coming up with a theory about a conspiracy using blackouts to control information about the paranormal, it warranted more suspicion. Grabbing his phone, Adrian starts calling the numbers the other heroes gave him. If he was right and something was going on, it was a reasonable assumption one of them was involved.

[GravityEmblem]

As her phone started buzzing, Sparkle pulled it out to hang up--only to find it was one of the superheroes from the bridge. ("Robot dude," the caller ID read) She took the call and answered, "This is Sparkle Knight, can you make it quick? I was just shot in the chest and I'd like to figure out who as soon as I finish healing."

[SwordCoastTaxi]

The Saint:

Crawford puts her hands on the table saying, "You can walk away from us, John, but you don't have anywhere else to go. Do you really think your new friends can protect you? And as 'talented' as you are, you can't escape us forever. You can be the hero here. You can protect the world from confused evil. You can be more .... or, you can be forgotten."

She shakes her head and looks at John …


Sparkle Knight:

As Sparkle Knight soars airborne, she sees her 'protector', the detective, race into the alleyway shouting she should go to a Riverside warehouse address! Then, while running, the man disappears!


Nomad:

Shadows run outside the house! Nomad makes his calls, but the sound of the front door being kicked in echoes across the house! He hears mumbled chatter! The light click of rounds chambered sounds across the space! Nomad has unfriendly company ….

[Rhyvurg]

John pauses, looking at her. "I don't know who you think my 'friends' are, nor what talents you think I have. You clearly have a serious problem, but so far you haven't told me why you're coming to me with it. Why do you think I can help you?"

[Volthawk]

"Trouble here too. We're being targeted by a conspiracy. They are out to get you, and they might know who you really are. Good luck." With that, Nomad hangs up, putting the phone down and putting his helmet on. He considers his options. Escape was a possibility, but surely they'd know he could teleport. There might be countermeasures. Besides, this was an opportunity. First contact with their new enemy. He could learn something here. Activating his suit's visor, he projects his senses towards the front door, wanting to get a good look at who was coming before they saw him. This wasn't his first time being hunted, although it was the first time humans were the hunters.

Spoiler

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Using my Remote Sensing power - for reference, it has Subtle 2 (completely undetectable), No Conduit (sensory effects like flashbangs or whatever covering the remote sensor don't affect him) and Simultaneous (he can see and act normally without penalty while the power is active), and if he needs to make a Perception check he has +10.

[GravityEmblem]

Sparkle sighs. This warehouse could be someone in danger, in which case getting there as soon as possible is a priority. Or, it could be a trap, in which case calling for backup is important. She begins flying to the address, calling the other superheroes as she goes.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

The Saint:

Crawford says, "Everywhere around the country, every day, people emerge to commit crimes that standard law enforcement cannot cope with. They are well-equipped, well-trained and very motivated. My department was specifically founded to combat these people. We have the equivalent equipment, training and motivation to counter them."

She hadn't touched her food or drink.

Instead she stared into John's eyes, "I recruit personnel for our work. You, caught my attention, because despite your coyness, we both know without a doubt you are special, John. I can see your potential. You're nearly the most-powerful individual I've encountered. All you need is to be properly trained. You would be paid well --- $250K a year. To start. If you progressed the way I imagine you can, you could write your own check, eventually."

She stands, preparing to leave, "I'll give you an hour to make up your mind. It's a leap of faith, I know. I made that leap myself --- and I've never regretted it. Good day, John."

Crawford places her business card on the table and walks for the exit. From several nearby tables, a group of men and women in suits rise and surround her as the group moves to leave the restaurant …


Nomad:

Nomad sees two, then two more gunmen move into the hallway headed his way! They're wearing tactical bodysuits and armed with some kind of high-tech assault rifle he's never seen before! Their faces are partially covered (nose and mouth) by cowls!

The strangest aspect of these gunmen is Nomad can see them, but he can't hear them move! The quartet seems to be tactically "clearing" the home, room to room ---!

[GravityEmblem]

Sparkle sighs at the lack of response, and dials the number from the FBI agent.

"Hello? This is Sparkle Knight, the blue-skinned fairy superhero?"

[Volthawk]

These days, Nomad's mind worked much faster than a normal person's, allowing him to quickly come up with some conclusions. They appeared to have some kind of advanced technology that allowed them to muffle their sound - sensible, if your business was quickly and quietly eliminating those that would threaten a conspiracy. He had to assume those guns had similar technology, and nobody would hear the shots they would soon start firing. Did they have a way of harming him while was in phase? He wasn't sure, but in any case that couldn't be the priority here. He had to focus on offence, get these people down and get what information he could.

Moving closer, he uses his suit's systems to remotely grab some of the furniture and throw it at the closest gunman.

Spoiler

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Attacking with Move Object, +2/-2 Power Attack. +10 attack, DC 23 Toughness vs damage on hit.

[Rhyvurg]

John takes a slow breath and picks up the card. Fine. Fine. If that's the way it had to be...so be it. John puts the card in his pocket, then makes a series of rapid movements, to the kitchen door, then to the back, never moving to somewhere he can't see first, leapfrogging at just under the speed of sound to avoid crashing into anything, or anyone, until he's outside, then flying around to the front of the building to catch Crawford as she comes outside, standing on the sidewalk as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "I'll have conditions."

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Nomad:

The lead intruder turns sensing the incoming sofa, but gets hit full on despite the attempt to avoid the hit! He falls against the wall, his weapon falling away! The three others squat and move against the walls to reduce their signature while raising their weapons to fire! A flurry of pulse-energy blasts rain across the hallway in Nomad's direction --- all of the blasts hitting walls harmlessly! Nomad's never seen weapons like this that don't do structural damage ---!


The Saint:

Crawford's entourage draw handguns when John appears, but she raises her hand and waves them off! People on the street pause and try to slowly walk around the scene! Crawford's security keep their weapons trained on John as she says, "Of course. What are we talking about?"

[Rhyvurg]

John is impassive in the face of small arms. "I won't be anyone's puppet or weapon. If I want to break off the deal, then I'm gone. I'm not enlisting in any kind of military, and I won't serve something as fickle as Presidential policy."

[Volthawk]

Again, that made sense once you the premise that they had advanced technology. Not leaving bullet holes must make cleanup much easier after they execute someone. Grabbing the sofa again, he throws it at the next soldier - he's going to have to do some apologising about the state of the furniture once this is over.

Spoiler

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Another Move Object attack w/ PA for +10 attack/DC 23 Toughness.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

The Saint:

Crawford looks down and smiles, then waves off her bodyguards, who holster their weapons. She gazes at John, "Well, first and foremost, my department does not fall under the aegis of either the Pentagon or the Executive. We have a level of operational freedom requisite to our particular mandate. And, while we do expect compliant employees, we have more than our share of free spirits within the organization. I'm probably the worst of them. You should meet our staff. Come to the Goodman building, tomorrow morning, 6 a.m. Sharp."

The door of a nearby limousine is opened and Crawford steps in, then looks back to John, "You think you know the world, John. Most people do. But, the greatest enemy of progress is the illusion of knowledge."

The door closes and the limo rolls into traffic as her entourage moves to their adjacent vehicles and drive away ...

[Rhyvurg]

John watches her go, trying to decide what to do. But, at least one thing was simple. He gets his phone and sends a mass text to everyone else he'd met at the bridge. Woman approached me claiming to be a fed, offered big $$$ job to work for her, knows a lot about me, might know about you too, be careful. He hits send, pockets his phone, and heads home. He needed time to think, he's fully aware of the danger he was flirting with. Spending time around people like this meant they'd have time to figure out who he really was, and how his abilities worked. If they did, they might find a way to switch them off, and then he'd be reduced to an attack dog, with no more free will than the car Crawford just drove away in. Once "they" had an in to control you, they never relent, they'll want more, until you can't even go to the bathroom without permission, and they'll use his power as justification to do it, citing him as an exception to the Bill of Rights due to how dangerous he is, and his hidden criminal history. And all it would take is one election cycle to get him locked up in a bunker in Alaska, shackled for the rest of his life with a number branded onto his forehead... Well, there was only one solution that he could see.

[GravityEmblem]

"Hey, Agent Kendrick?" Sparkle says, flying through the city. "It's Sparkle Knight, the blue-skinned fairy superhero? So, there's a conspiracy targeting us supers? They covered up the bridge incident--I presume you know that already--and just launched attacks on me and the robot dude. In our secret identities. But a detective, the one that gave blue dude a card, if you noticed that, he saved me, and gave me an address to a warehouse before disappearing into thin air. So, yeah, I thought you guys should know. I'm heading there right now, actually--" she gives him the address. "If you think I need backup. Just keeping you posted."

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Nomad:

The sofa goes airborne and smashes into another gunman knocking him senseless while leaving a fist-sized dent in the wall he was pressed against! His weapon clatters to the ground as the sofa comes to rest in the middle of the hallway! The remaining pair of gunmen begin to shuffle back out of the hallway and then sprint for the front door, out of Nomad's sight!

Nomad's left with two incapacitated gunmen in his hallway, a damaged wall and well-worn sofa. The other gunmen could still be in his home, around a corner ….



Sparkle Knight:

Kendrick, on speaker-phone --- Sparkle Knight can hear a car engine throttle down --- says, "What? Wait --- what conspiracy? Who attacked you? I'm aware of the media blackout. City Hall wanted to keep you guys under wraps until you were introduced tomorrow. My bosses agreed. What detective? I --- I meant to warn you about dealing with others. I've been investigating FCPD for months. There's a lot of corruption you don't know about. I'm midtown now, but headed your way. Maybe three minutes. Don't tell him anything, understand? Especially about me. Use your phone recorder when you meet him so I get that evidence. If he's who I think he is, you could be in great danger! Just delay him until I get there!"

You hear an engine rev as the call ends!

[Volthawk]

Hm. Even more advanced stealth technology. Well, if radar or infravision weren't picking up, he had to wait and see if they were still around - the good thing about assassins was that they had to actively do something rather than just lurk there.

Reaching down to look at one of the guns, Nomad moves it into one of the suit's interdimensional pockets. He'll give that a thorough inspection later, when he has the time to work properly - hopefully it can't be tracked across dimensions.

Phone in one hand, he makes some calls as he starts figuring out if he can get any pieces of that armour off of easily. First, he calls the friend who's place he was staying at, apologising for the damage he just caused, suggesting he spends the night out with his wife, and explaining that he has to leave. Then, he tries the other heroes again.

Spoiler

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Naturally, if they are around the remaining two can interrupt him during this, but I figured it was best to set out the plan rather than do many posts going back and forth about ifnevey little step gets interrupted.

Nomad's interdimensional storage can store 200lbs of material (at least some of which is taken up by his stockpile of tech since he's moving that too), and he can take 100lbs by teleporting, to give an idea of how much he can move - he'll want to get as much of this tech as he can.

[Rhyvurg]

John pauses in the middle of putting his phone away. Missed calls? He mentally kicks himself for not adding names to the numbers yet and chooses the most recent to try to call him, which would be Nomad. "This is John, who is calling?"

[GravityEmblem]

Well, that's ominous... Sparkle thinks. So, the coverup was the FBI, but if Robot Dude's right...jeez, this is too much for my little head. Thank god this conspiracy doesn't know about my silver weakness. ...they BETTER not know. Sparkle arrives at the warehouse, glancing around cautiously. Her phone is out, and the recording app is open. Hopefully, the detective doesn't tell her not to trust anything the FBI says, or she's in a real predicament.

As she thinks this, she gets a notification--or sees an old one, at least. Blue Dude, mentioning something about a mysterious woman, who knows more about his superpowers than she really should. Yeah, that checks out with what Robot Dude said--a conspiracy, apparently. I just got attacked, in my CIVILIAN form, no less. And I was saved by that detective dude who gave you that creepy business card, and he directed me to a warehouse at [the address]. So, the two (three?) events are 100% related. I'm meeting up with him soon, but SA Kendrick (FBI dude) tells me not to trust him. Wanna come? Backup would be nice.

The phone rings--another call from Robot Dude. She answers it, saying "This is Sparkle Knight. What's up? I told the FBI about the conspiracy you mentioned--apparently, the government's behind the media coverup, but I feel like there's something else going on..." She's sure to whisper. Just in case.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Nomad:

There's a flash of light at the front of the home, then a huge flaming humanoid stomps into the hallway! The walls and roof begin to burn as the massive fire-being stalks down the hallway! Nomad's Infravision sensor is nearly overloaded by the intense heat radiated by the fire-being as it moves closer …!

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Sparkle Knight:

Reaching the Riverside graphitti-ridden warehouse, Sparkle Knight tries to contact a teammate …



While on her phone, the heroine hears something behind her! Turning, she sees the detective right behind her, as if he appeared out of thin air --- and he was pointing a gun at her!



He says, "Toss that phone in the river. They're tracking it. They know everywhere you go and everything you say or text. How else do you think they found you?"

[Volthawk]

Given the circumstances, Nomad's answer to the others is brief. "They have superhumans and advanced technology. Escaping now. Will reestablish contact when safe." The situation here was getting too risky with reinforcements appearing. Dropping the phone and hoping any trackers on the gear didn't work in an interdimensional pocket, Nomad starts trying to teleport away - he has no particular destination in mind yet, but takes a somewhat erratic route away, varying his precise distance and direction a little every time so they can't just extrapolate his next position in a line.

[GravityEmblem]

"Hmm..." Sparkle says. Superhumans? Advanced technology? This guy's morality isn't looking so great... "Hold on, let me just..." She whips around blows a cloud of pixie dust in the detective's face. If they're going to talk, it's going to be on HER terms.

[Rhyvurg]

John reads the text twice to make sure he has the location right, then lifts off the ground, getting above the roofline before breaking the sound barrier, heading for the warehouse.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Sparkle Knight:

The detective tries to back away from the mystic cloud, waving his hands at it, but his arms fall by his side as he stares blankly ahead --- lowering his gun to his side --- definitely not in his mind! He seems transfixed by something he can't see clearly ….!


The Saint:

He arrives at the Riverside warehouse almost immediately, to see Sparkle Knight next to the detective from Pramas Bridge! The detective looks lost in his thoughts staring ahead blankly with a handgun clutched by his side ….!


Nomad:

Nomad appears in a wild place that seems outside Freedom City --- perhaps beyond Earth as the terrain is different and the stars awkward! In the background, he sees the planet Earth ---!



He realized he's captured in outer-space atmosphere! Was he on the Moon?!?! Then, he shifted again, arriving at what was clearly Midtown Freedom City! Hordes of pedestrian traffic passing and bumping into him! The dimensional matrix obviously had some kind of coding problem that tossed Nomad across barriers! He watches a cop write a ticket for a vehicle improperly parked ----

[Rhyvurg]

Saint lands a short distance from Sparkle Knight. "What's going on?"

[Volthawk]

Space? That was...new. Could they have tried to interfere somehow and caused that, or was it just a coincidence? Something to examine later, in any case. For now, he teleported up to a rooftop and took a moment to take stock of the situation, looking for any sign of the flaming humanoid or any other immediate response. Hopefully whatever just happened threw them off for a while.

[GravityEmblem]

Saint lands a short distance from Sparkle Knight. "What's going on?"

"This guy pulled a gun on me--not that it would have done much--and said to throw my phone away for security reasons. But Agent Kendrick told me not to trust him, and to record what he's telling me. So, basically, either the FBI or whoever this guy is with is working against us. But the thing is? This man clearly has powers, and according to Robot Dude, the conspiracy has access to technology-based superpowers. So, yeah, I made the decision to stick with the FBI." She waves in the detectives direction. "I've got him entranced for the moment, so he shouldn't be a threat. I don't think my control is strong enough to give him any orders, though, so we're not getting anything out of him."