[Masks-IC] Hard Times in Halcyon City: Chapter 1

[truemane]

DANI
Amy's eyes widen and her mouth drops open. She jumps to her feet and scuttles back a fer steps until she hits Dani's desk and then stops and tries to get hold of herself.

"You're... you... you're a Mask? A Mask? Dani, you can't! You... it's dangerous! It's... You could die! It's too..."

Her face tightens and tears fill her eyes.

"Mad? How can I? How could you even... Mad... ? ... More like scared! And..."

And she leans in with a stage whisper. "What would your father say? Endangering yourself for those kind of people?"

MOTH
A couple of quick searches show that Marcy Maguire runs the 'Mask Beat' at the Halcyon Herald. Mostly fluff pieces and gossip columns. Who was seen doing what, when, to whom and at whom and with whom. Those handful of Masks with public identites frequently appear in the manner of celebrities.

She used to go back and forth between science and tech and business for the Herald until a few years ago, when she abruptly switched to her current assignment.

So far as Moth can tell, her writing is much better than the things she gets to write about, and even the fluffiest fluff pieces have hints of real insight, real investigation, behind them. Her older pieces were very good, and showed a very keen mind.

The piece of [feces] David Wilkinson (Mask beat for the Tribune), however, seems to be, in his heart, everything that Marcy is on paper. His pieces are shallow, scathing, baiting, rabble-rousing. And many times more popular than Marcy's.

She's out of the warehouse now and into the back lot. She's not heading straight toward the fenced-in truck-and-trailer graveyard where Moth has her ship stashed. But she shows no sign of slowing down or stopping.

ANGEL
Detective Park's eyes fill with alarm and fear and she throws herself backwards onto the floor and rolls away to the side.

Burke fares little better. He's already out of the way, however, and he drops to a crouch, fumbles for his gun, pulls it, manages to point it, tries to yell something, no sound comes up, he drops the gun, scrambles for it...

And meanwhile, Angel feels its rage reach a boiling point and he feels a wave of power crash out of him and the walls and with a massive flat THUD the floor and ceiling and walls shake and shudder as cracks appear in the plaster and tile. The windows burst outward in a spray of glass and from above, below, and either side come the crashes of things falling and breaking and screams of fear.

And he knows it's not anywhere near done yet

And then, Detective Park, into her radio, voice, wavering but firm: "This is Park! Park 35183! Backup! Backup! Backup now!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'll do Cleo as soon as I know I have everything correct.

[Eldest]

MOTH
A couple of quick searches show that Marcy Maguire runs the 'Mask Beat' at the Halcyon Herald. Mostly fluff pieces and gossip columns. Who was seen doing what, when, to whom and at whom and with whom. Those handful of Masks with public identities frequently appear in the manner of celebrities.

She used to go back and forth between science and tech and business for the Herald until a few years ago, when she abruptly switched to her current assignment.

So far as Moth can tell, her writing is much better than the things she gets to write about, and even the fluffiest fluff pieces have hints of real insight, real investigation, behind them. Her older pieces were very good, and showed a very keen mind.

The piece of [feces] David Wilkinson (Mask beat for the Tribune), however, seems to be, in his heart, everything that Marcy is on paper. His pieces are shallow, scathing, baiting, rabble-rousing. And many times more popular than Marcy's.

She's out of the warehouse now and into the back lot. She's not heading straight toward the fenced-in truck-and-trailer graveyard where Moth has her ship stashed. But she shows no sign of slowing down or stopping.

Well, hm, this is a crack in a bulkhead now ain't it? Er, not a problem yet, but promising to be a nasty one and soon. As far as she's concerned, Moth is a public figure here: this planet appears to have a social class specifically for adventurers, vigilantes, and outlaws, and divides them further based on if they're doing things to keep society stable or pursuing their own agenda. Moth appears to have been sorted into this category when she got here, and for some reason she was declared on the "pro society" side: obviously past deeds or indeed her own protesting aren't counted in this collective decision. She has actively tried to avoid rocking the boat too much since, which has cut down on her prank options. Somewhat. She's creative.

(She didn't get much news of masks and their antics when she was growing up, being a sheltered child. Honestly, this made the initial Earth Re-Contact all the more interesting.)

However. Her ship is hers and there is no chance she's going to let that get publicized before she has it fixed and able to stop people from forcibly seizing it. So obviously, somehow this lady needs to get stopped and directed before she decides to tell all about the ship itself.

Moth hops down from her vantage point and swoops through the air, ending up gently floating in midair a little below head height, conversation distance from Reporter Maguire. Balancing all the little gravity impulses to get zero-g floating on a planet is both a computation and useless in a fight, so she usually doesn't bother, but it does look showy as heck. The effect is only mildly ruined by the ducky sleep pants and dirty bare feet.

"I like your writing! The Red Legion piece did a good job getting across the complex alliances in that fight. Man, a five-way brawl must be hell in two dimensions."

[JNAProductions]

DANI
Amy's eyes widen and her mouth drops open. She jumps to her feet and scuttles back a fer steps until she hits Dani's desk and then stops and tries to get hold of herself.

"You're... you... you're a Mask? A Mask? Dani, you can't! You... it's dangerous! It's... You could die! It's too..."

Her face tightens and tears fill her eyes.

"Mad? How can I? How could you even... Mad... ? ... More like scared! And..."

And she leans in with a stage whisper. "What would your father say? Endangering yourself for those kind of people?"

"He knows already, Amy," Dani reassures her friend. "But what do you mean 'those kinds of people'? They're poor, sure, but since when does money matter for whether or not you deserve help? It's not the rich and powerful who need heroes-it's the people who can't help themselves."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I don't really have much more to say, before Amy gets a chance to respond. I know longer posts are supposed to happen, but unless you want me to do a LOT of writing for Amy...

[truemane]

JUDY
Levi's face softens in sympathy. A little furrow appears in her perfect brow, her smile fades to a slight frown. Her shoulders slump just a little. Her eyes lose some of that shuny lustre. She steps forward and takes Judy's arm in hers. She is tall for a woman, and looms over Judy until she takes a knee beside her and, in doing so, guides the teen to sit at a nearby desk.

"We're so sorry you're having problems. Especially those kinds of problems. That sounds very distressing. Nothing you say needs to leave this room. Can you tell us a little more about it? We have access to a great deal of resources. Perhaps we can help. I'm sure we can help. I would... we would... love to help."

And she smiles up at Judy, but this smile is warmer than the other one. More friendly.

MOTH
Reporter Maquire leaps back with an adorable little MEEP of surprise. She takes a breath and puts a hand on her chest and laughs and shakes her head.

(however, for a moment, a very brief moment, at the exact instant of her surprise, when she jumped back, Moth clearly saw her hands go up in a defensive stance and her face go resolute rather than scared, before she caught herself and adopted the 'silly me what a goose' expression she's wearing now. Reporter Maguire has clearly seen some action of some kind)

"Oh!" she titters brightly, "I'm sorry! You scared me! I'm such a goose."

And then the fact that she was staring at someone floating in the air using alien tech sunk in. And her eyes went wide.

"It's you! Moth, right? I knew I'd find you here. I'm Marcy Maguire of the Halcyon Herald. And I'm working on a piece about new Masks in the city. I heard about your involvement in last night's events. Could I speak to you for a few minutes? I'm sure everyone in Halcyon City would love to hear your story."

DANI
Amy's face pinches up a little in anger. "I didn't mean it like that. You know I didn't mean it like that. Of course you don't need money to deserve help. What would be the point of that? I don't mean people who can't help it, I mean those people who won't help themselves. Who'd rather just live in a dirty old parking lot, causing riots and problems instead of getting back to work. That's someone else's property! There's programs, you know, for people. Places they can go. Things they can do."

She shakes her head. "But never mind that, your father knows? And he still lets you? And you still do it? I'm sorry, Dani, you know I love you, but it just seems so... selfish. What would he even have if he lost you?"

A pause.

"What was on the card Vigil gave you?"

[Quagmire]

Spoiler: Angel

Show

Conditions: Insecure (-2 defend or reject influence) Angry (-2 comfort or pierce)

Current labels:
Danger +2 Freak +2 Savior +0 Superior -2 Mundane +1

Potential: 1/3
Doom Track: 2/3

The screams are what snap Angel out of it. When it came to driving away anyone who tried to intimidate him, Angel and it were in an accord. The pair that had came to his door were now fleeing and he let the them, unafraid if whatever backup they would summon. But hearing the people he wanted to protect screaming in fear, that was a shock to Angel. ”Stop, we’re going to hurt someone. This is my home.”

But as he said it, Angel knew there was no way to stop the power that it was conjuring. Thinking like a scared kid or trying to be a hero wouldn’t help the people in danger, he would have to think like it. This wasn’t just rage, Angel could feel the wounded pride underneath. So he thinks of a way to show the world the power it wields, without hurting anyone. “Destroying our own domain isn’t going to prove anything. We can show them why they should be in awe of us, something that proves that we are greater than anything they know.

When the next wave of power arrives, Angel takes control of it, raising his hands in the air, tearing walls and entire rooms from the building and levitating them in the air. Reaching for more material, he rips apart the asphalt of the roads outside and the ground underneath to get at the ruins he knew were under this part of the city. Standing in the middle of the cloud of levitating building fragments and ancient stonework, Angel and it start putting something together. Instead of a cheap apartment building, this lot would house a fortress-monument to show the glory and might of Angel’s patron.

Spoiler

Show

Basically what I’m trying to do is use the rage/power that is being conjured to disassemble and rebuild the building instead of just destroying it. I’d say something like this is definitely is outside the scope of Angel’s normal powers so I’m marking a doom for ‘overexerting yourself’ which brings me to 3.

Also this is ‘using my powers to reshape my environment’ so here’s an Unleash roll (2d6+2)[7] I don’t want this to be unstable or temporary so I’ll mark Guilty.

[JNAProductions]

DANI
Amy's face pinches up a little in anger. "I didn't mean it like that. You know I didn't mean it like that. Of course you don't need money to deserve help. What would be the point of that? I don't mean people who can't help it, I mean those people who won't help themselves. Who'd rather just live in a dirty old parking lot, causing riots and problems instead of getting back to work. That's someone else's property! There's programs, you know, for people. Places they can go. Things they can do."

She shakes her head. "But never mind that, your father knows? And he still lets you? And you still do it? I'm sorry, Dani, you know I love you, but it just seems so... selfish. What would he even have if he lost you?"

A pause.

"What was on the card Vigil gave you?"

Dani looks the other way. She's not sure how to react to what Amy's saying. She loves her friend dearly, but... Does Amy just not get it? These aren't bad people, these are people who've been dealt a garbage hand and are doing their best with it. "He knows-and while he always makes me promise to be safe, it's not something I can really stop doing. I have powers-I have to use them to help people."

She shakes her head a little, and pulls her phone out. She scrolls through some pictures and enlarges the photo of the card. "Some kind of hero agency thing. Take a look."

[Kaworu]

Judy kinda didn't know what to do. The reasoning of Levi seemed okay, but... at the same time, she could not let go of a feeling that something about her is so... fake? Like, she was wearing a mask this whole time?

Of course, she could not prove that. Plus, maybe she was paranoid? The problem was, it was their first meeting, so it was kind of hard to tell something more about her. And this had make Judy very, very cautious.

Additionally - it was she who was a hero – people were supposed to ask her for help, not the second way around.

- Please, listen... - she began – It's not that I do not trust you – this was a lie, but very nicely put, nobody would have known that she had her assumptions and uncertainties – but at the same time, I believe this very knowledge would endanger you. Look, it's no secret that I am a hero, and I am sure that it is no secret either what your company wants to do with Ancient Atlantis research. What if some kind of supervillain will add 2 to 2? And, I do not know, kindap and torture you in order to get secret knowledge about me? As you see, it is a basic defensive mechanism to not involve you. For your own good, I mean.

- Also, I do not know yet what my problem is like in a long run. Maybe I will overcome this on my own? Or it will just vanish after some days? And, if it is this kind of a problem – and well enough it could be – then if I would told you about it, you would just worry over nothing. This is also something I wanna avoid. I am a hero. I should be a shoulder and shield for other people. And when I can have my moments of weakness, I should not bother a typical Joe with that. It is not how things are supposed to work.

- But, if neither me, my superhero friends nor Natla Tech will be able to help me, I will surely go to you and ask for your resources – Judy smiled at Levi. This time it was totally honest.

Of course, she did not know how a typical company could help her – her troubles were of a supernatural source – and possibly, there was little she they could have done about that.

Still, it never hurt to try to be friendly.

[truemane]

ANGEL
A mighty wind tore through the infinite floating fragments of Angel's home. Swirling and roiling and howling with its rage and pride, it tore the voices from throats even as they spoke and turned all the residents' screams of terror and fear into one single raised cry.

Detective Park struggles to find her feet. She looks back over her shoulder and yells to her partner, "BURKE! CALL IT! CALL IT IN!"

And she creeps forward, holding onto a table, a chair, the sofa, for support. As she creeps forward, Burke can clearly be heard speaking into his walkie #Burke, 42135! Wharburtun and King! Omega-6, repeat, Omega-6! This is not a drill! We need help now!"

Meanwhile, Park crept closer to the levitating powerhouse that is Angel.

"ANGEL!" She calls out, "WHAT DO YOU WANT? DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY YOU'RE RIGHT BECAUSE I'M AFRAID? BECAUSE YOU CAN HURT ME? HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM SANTIAGO? YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS! PUT EVERYONE DOWN AND LET'S TALK! YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS! I KNOW YOU DON'T! PLEASE!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Park is trying to shift your Danger down and your Mundane up. If you accept (and fight back against it), you can clear a Condition in addition to the shift. If you reject (and give in to it), mark Doom in addition to other effects.

JUDY
Levi listens, nodding along, her eyes still soft and kind and locked on Judy's. They're blue eyes. Very blue. A deep blue like the deep ocean in a storm.

"Everyone needs help sometimes," she says, her voice kind but still flat and clipped, as though she were reading a script in her head, "Even heroes. Especially heroes. That's what Oberron Industry's Young Heroes program, and the Grey Wolves programs, are all about. Helping each other to make the world a better place."

She pauses as though thinking for a moment. Her eyes lock onto the Ankh around Judy's neck. She smiles. "That is a beautiful peice. Did you make it? May I see it? Just for a moment?"

DANI
Amy, still obviously quite agitated, and still standing, takes the card and reads it. Her brow furrows and her lips are pressed together in a tight line. And then her eyes widen and her face lights up.

"But this, this is great! Don't you see? This is help! They can help you! Help keep you safe and help you be part of the solution and not out causing more problems." She winces and looks sad. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just mean it's easy to make mistakes when you're on your own, hard to know what's the right thing. But with advice from experts and grown-ups who know what they're doing, then you can help, really help."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Amy is trying to shift your Savior up and your Freak down. You can decide whether or not you're susceptible to her words or not. If you are, you can then decide to accept or reject. HOWEVER, if you accept the shift (and therefore, implicitly, agree with what she's saying) you can clear a condition or mark potential as well.

[JNAProductions]

DANI
Amy, still obviously quite agitated, and still standing, takes the card and reads it. Her brow furrows and her lips are pressed together in a tight line. And then her eyes widen and her face lights up.

"But this, this is great! Don't you see? This is help! They can help you! Help keep you safe and help you be part of the solution and not out causing more problems." She winces and looks sad. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just mean it's easy to make mistakes when you're on your own, hard to know what's the right thing. But with advice from experts and grown-ups who know what they're doing, then you can help, really help."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Amy is trying to shift your Savior up and your Freak down. You can decide whether or not you're susceptible to her words or not. If you are, you can then decide to accept or reject. HOWEVER, if you accept the shift (and therefore, implicitly, agree with what she's saying) you can clear a condition or mark potential as well.

"I'm not on my own. I've got the team on my side..." Dani says. "But... I'll call them later, okay? I'll talk to them. I can't promise I'll sign on with them, or anything like that, but... I'll hear them out."

"Thanks, Amy," Dani says, and gives her friend a sideways hug.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Freak down, Savior up, Angry cleared.

[Eldest]

MOTH
Reporter Maquire leaps back with an adorable little MEEP of surprise. She takes a breath and puts a hand on her chest and laughs and shakes her head.

(however, for a moment, a very brief moment, at the exact instant of her surprise, when she jumped back, Moth clearly saw her hands go up in a defensive stance and her face go resolute rather than scared, before she caught herself and adopted the 'silly me what a goose' expression she's wearing now. Reporter Maguire has clearly seen some action of some kind)

"Oh!" she titters brightly, "I'm sorry! You scared me! I'm such a goose."

And then the fact that she was staring at someone floating in the air using alien tech sunk in. And her eyes went wide.

"It's you! Moth, right? I knew I'd find you here. I'm Marcy Maguire of the Halcyon Herald. And I'm working on a piece about new Masks in the city. I heard about your involvement in last night's events. Could I speak to you for a few minutes? I'm sure everyone in Halcyon City would love to hear your story."

Moth smiles her most disarming, "I am totally not a lethal threat" smile at Reporter Maguire. It's not, strictly speaking, true, she's not built for a fight per say but she's scarier than the average person on this planet and she knows it. Reporter Maguire probably also knows it, given she knows Moth's name.

Now, mind you, Reporter Maguire's a threat of sorts to Moth, too, and she's hoping that the fine lady doesn't know it. Best to pretend not to notice the defensive pose, and let it pass. Friends are better than enemies.

"I mean, I can chat, sure?" Moth rotates onto her "back", dangling with her head facing towards the reporter, tilted back as if hanging off a bed that was just too comfy to get up from when your roommate wants to talk about what kind of pizza you're getting for dinner. "I figure y'all are fairly, uh, new to the space scene, so there's some limits on what I can tell you."

The people in charge of enforcing new species contact get real, real particular about how you do it. Moth going "home" involved getting past the cordon bubble around the Sol system already and justifying it by pointing out that yes, she's technically a returning experimental specimen. A toothy grin drifts across her face as she thinks of the red tape her existence generated.

"So yeah, 'sup?"

[Kaworu]

Judy nodded, listening to Levi. Yes, even heroes needed help sometimes – and accepting help coming from other heroes was much, much more acceptable than bothering regular people. Maybe she should participate in this program? After her powers will return, of course...

When Levi asked to hold the Ankh for a little bit, Judy just said “Em...” that lasted for a while. During this short moment, she did nothing – maybe with an exception of raising her hand to the amulet – but in her mind, a tempest of thoughts tumulted.

“Oh no! She wanna my Ankh! What shall I do? I still do not trust her and there is definitely something fishy about her... but she is so kind, there's no social possibility of refusing her, at least while not causing an uproar! And Mr. Smith is there, too, so I have to be extra nice. What do I do? I certainly do NOT wanna give her my Ankh! But there's no logical, polite reason to say no! Aaaaaaaaa!”

“On the other hand, maybe I am overreacting? This I just a communications device and I am not sure if it even still works properly for other people. What is the worst thing she could have done? Send a telepathic message to Skitter? There are much, much worse things that could happen... and this is pretty innocent. Even is she is truly fishy, and I am not being paranoid – which I could be, to be honest – there is not much damage she could do with my Ankh. Plus, she needs not only to touch it, but also concentrate on what she is gonna say and to whom. So maybe I should stop panicking over nothing?”

All this thoughts appeared inside her head in mere few seconds, after which she had mahe up her mind.

- Sure... - she said, rraching for the chain of her amulet, removing it from her neck and giving it cauciously to Levi.

She just hoped she was not making a big mistake...

[Quagmire]

Spoiler: Angel

Show

Conditions: Guilty (-2 assess or provoke) Angry (-2 comfort or pierce)

Current labels:
Danger +1 Freak +2 Savior +0 Superior -2 Mundane +2

Potential: 1/3
Doom Track: 0/3

Angel looks down at Detective Park with a cold dismissive glare, raising a hand to sweep her aside. The fact that she is standing up to Angel despite the power being displayed only adds to it's rage and pride. But Angel still heard what she was saying, and Angel was forced to think about what he was trying to do. He looked around in horror at the damage he had done to his home just to avoid admitting she was right. His face fell and when he started speaking his voice was just a normal teenager's voice, though somewhat shaking. "That's not... no, that is what I was doing. I'm sorry... I didn't know it could do something this big, and I didn't know the powers would start affecting me this much this early. I want to stop this, keep anyone from getting hurt. I'll don't know if I can still control this but I'll try."

Angel closes his eyes and tries to think. He tries to sort out how much of what he is feeling is him and how much is it but the difference is hard to tell. He was the one who wanted to show Park the scale of the conflict, but he didn't want to hurt anyone. And it was the one who cared about the glory of an ancient age, not him. He had accepted the powers to protect people, not for some sort of glory or recognition. Angel opened his eyes and shouted, speaking directly to the raging wind and roaring cry of his patron. "The deal was that these would be MY powers, and destroying my home isn't how I want them used. So we're done with this." He reaches out his hands and takes hold of specific things floating in the air and slowly drags them back to the ground, trying to fight the raging wind and power around him as he does so.

Spoiler

Show

I am accepting the influence, and clearing insecure. Also I think I'll be able to clear Angry at the end of this scene because 'break something important' is a way to clear it and I did telekinetically tear a building apart and all that.

[truemane]

MOTH
Marcy Maquire's face both softens as Moth talks. Softens and relaxes. But her eyes remain sharp and ready. She takes a breath, like a performer might before walking on stage, and checks to make sure her recorder is recording.

"Marcy Maguire for the Halcyon Herald. Recording for Small Masks Big Jobs, Profiles in Courage. Subject, Moth."

And she looked up and she was smiling. And it was a bright and friendly smile. But she was clearly a woman with a job to do and she meant to do it well.

"Okay, Moth, thank you for your time today. First, I'd love if it you could tell our readers a little about yourself. Where in space are you from? What are things like out there? How did you find yourself down here? What made you take up the Mask?"

And her eyes traveled a long and appraising look up and down Moth's body. But it wasn't Moth she was checking out with almost amorous intensity, it was her tech.

"And I would love it if you could tell me a little but about your gear."

And then, right at that very moment, something in her pocket started beeping. A sharp, shrill, little sound that cut through the ambient noise and started slow and got faster by the moment.

Marcy spay out three words that would never see print in the Herald and looked up, her face angry and sad and conflicted.

"I am so sorry... I can't believe this... I have to go... I'm so sorry... maybe we could do this again soon?"

Even as she speaks she's backing away and turning to run toward the front of the warehouse.

And just then the ankh around her neck that Cleopatra had given her starts emitting an urgent telepathic signal. Danger. Someone was in danger.

Angel.

Angel was calling for help.

JUDY
Levi held out her very white, very smooth hand. Her nails were immaculately cared for and her fingers were long and thin. She held the ankh and turned it over in her hand, her eyes staring at it with some intensity.

She looked up.

"It's very beautiful. It reminds me very much of the later work of Subma Riner, a highly respected Atlantean artisan. Did you make it? Are there more? What do they do?"

DANI
Amy heaves a sigh of relief and collapses into Dani's arms, tears already coming from both eyes. "I'm sorry I got so upset," she cried, "I was just so worried you didn't like me anymore and then this and I got so worried and I didn't know what to do!" She babbled on that way for some minutes.

She got hold of herself and sat down on the bed, took a tissue and wiped her eyes. Took some deep breaths and calmed herself.

And then she looked up, face serious, "So... what's it like... you know... with the... with the bugs?"

She sounds very grossed out.

And just then the ankh around her neck starts pulsing urgently into Dani's mind. Danger, it said, danger.

Angel was calling for help.

ANGEL
The thing inside his head laughed and screamed in joy and anger. For the first time in thousands of years, it was doing what it was meant to do, born to do, trained to do: to challenge the very gods with its power and mastery. It's audience were but two frightened police and no longer the entirety of the arcane elite of Atlantis, but it felt so good, like stretching one's legs after sitting for days.

Angel could feel the power course through his like electricity and fire and could his body start to pull itself apart with the very force of it.

For every small thing he managed to take hold of, it flew two more out of his grasp. He tried to pull the power back, to divert it, to control it, but it was like trying to turn a river aside with one's bare hands.

Ironically, it was Angel's disapproval that seemed to pull it back from the brink. Somehow, the idea that Angel wasn't having as much fun as it was dampened the flow. Even if only a little.

And then...

Outside, on the street, Angel could see through the floating disconnected pieces of masonry and steel and possessions of everyone who lived in the building...

There was a low, slow, flat dissonant hum that filled the air. A sense of tightness in the skin. A sudden wind that seemed to come from all directions and no direction. It was familiar somehow. Angel tried to place and had just realized that it was last night when he'd felt it last...

When there was a blaze of light and heat and three great glowing orbs appeared in the sky. The orbs faded, leaving behind some familiar forms floating five stories above the street...

Luminary is in the centre. Beside him is Vigil and his owl Swoop. And other other side of Luminary, rathe than the tall thin woman from last night, is an unfamiliar figure. This guy is short and slight. He looks young, younger even maybe than Angel. His suit is tightly interlocked mail of some sort that iridesces slightly in the light. His Mask is made of the same material, with a high-tech visor over his eyes.

Luminary speaks. "Vigil, see to the people. Save who you can save, take them to safety. Static," he says to the younger one, "Stand back and see what you can do about whatever's causing this."

And his brightly glowing eyes lock on Angel. "I'll go handle who's causing this."

As the others scramble off, he flies straight toward Angel's position.

[JNAProductions]

Dani swears under her breath. "Amy, I'll tell you later-Angel's in trouble. Can you take care of my stuff for me? Make sure it doesn't get lost?" she asks as she pulls her mask and costume out. "Thank you."

Where are you, Angel? she thinks back as she grasps the ankh.

[Kaworu]

Judy wasn't particularly happy with Jevi questions, but since she decided to give her Ankh, she should follow. She said “A”, so she should also say “B”.

- Well... according to the Atlantean lore I studied, I made this amulet. It has three brothers, to whom it is connected. Basically, it enables telepathic communication between its holders. I needed pure gold, and a lot, as you can see – right, the thing was the side of a hand, and heavy at that – but luckily Natla Tech had given it to me. It is very useful in case of some troubles or just simply when I and my friends are separated. Little thing, but crucial.

[Quagmire]

Spoiler: Angel

Show

Conditions: Guilty (-2 assess or provoke) Angry (-2 comfort or pierce)

Current labels:
Danger +1 Freak +2 Savior +0 Superior -2 Mundane +2

Potential: 1/3
Doom Track: 0/3

Angel grits his teeth trying to ignore the pain of the immense power he was being used as a vessel for, and stop himself from slipping back into it’s mind. It would be so easy to just let go, but who knew what would happen to his home if he did.

When the amulet reactivates and he hears some teammates on the other end, he clutches the amulet and replies with frantic thoughts. Amulets are back, that’s good. I’m at my apartment, and I need help. The police are here and my powers are out of control and everything is-

Then he was distracted by the entry of Luminary and his team. Angel maintains eye contact with Luminary as the adult hero flies at him. His eyes were glowing too, so it seemed oddly fitting. Angel just floats in the center of his vortex watching Luminary approach, not moving to attack or defend himself or even speak. He waited to see what exactly Luminary would do, and what his intentions were.

Spoiler

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I’m trying to Pierce Luminary’s Mask, (2d6)[10]
what do you want me to do?
what do you intend to do?
how could I get your character to [help try to fix what’s going on instead of fighting]

[Eldest]

MOTH
Marcy Maquire's face both softens as Moth talks. Softens and relaxes. But her eyes remain sharp and ready. She takes a breath, like a performer might before walking on stage, and checks to make sure her recorder is recording.

"Marcy Maguire for the Halcyon Herald. Recording for Small Masks Big Jobs, Profiles in Courage. Subject, Moth."

And she looked up and she was smiling. And it was a bright and friendly smile. But she was clearly a woman with a job to do and she meant to do it well.

"Okay, Moth, thank you for your time today. First, I'd love if it you could tell our readers a little about yourself. Where in space are you from? What are things like out there? How did you find yourself down here? What made you take up the Mask?"

And her eyes traveled a long and appraising look up and down Moth's body. But it wasn't Moth she was checking out with almost amorous intensity, it was her tech.

"And I would love it if you could tell me a little but about your gear."

And then, right at that very moment, something in her pocket started beeping. A sharp, shrill, little sound that cut through the ambient noise and started slow and got faster by the moment.

Marcy spay out three words that would never see print in the Herald and looked up, her face angry and sad and conflicted.

"I am so sorry... I can't believe this... I have to go... I'm so sorry... maybe we could do this again soon?"

Even as she speaks she's backing away and turning to run toward the front of the warehouse.

And just then the ankh around her neck that Cleopatra had given her starts emitting an urgent telepathic signal. Danger. Someone was in danger.

Angel.

Angel was calling for help.

Moth was all ready to preen. She was excited. And then this. Lovely. She knows where Angel lives, it's early enough that nobody's going to be up (it's not even midday! Who gets up this early?), so that's her guess as to where.

"Sure, I'll find you later, cheers." And with that, she switches from flexing the finesse of her grav generators to the power, falling upward in an arc, looking to get on top of these building around here and head towards the biggest lightshow that she could see. Angel has problems with subtlety.

(One eye idly watches where Reporter Maguire is headed, while it can. If we're unlucky, it's the same spot.)

[truemane]

SKITTER
Amy goes a little crazy when she sees the mask come out. She leaps up on the bed and starts looking around with crazy eyes. "OmigodpleasenobugsOhmigodnobugs!" She's squealing and panicking just a little.

Through the Ankh, you get the very clear sense that Angel is at home. Which isn't too far away.

JUDY
Levi locks eyes with Judy as she speaks, nods approvingly. Smiles. She looks more closely at it. But she doesn't lean over like most people would. She keeps her back perfectly straight, her head looking ahead, and brings it up to her eyes.

"It's a communicator, correct? Telepathic? But it doesn't seem to be doing anything right now that I can see. Hm." And then leans forward until her lips are almost touching the ankh and she shispers a single word of Atlantean. "Am-tet-kanakh."

Awake.

And a crackle of bright blue energy crackles across the ankh. And Levi's eyes flash blue for just that same moment. And suddenly it's working. Judy can feel the others again. Can sense their presence again.

And immediately she knows that Angel is in trouble.

Levi smiles her sharp, corporate smile. But this time it feels a little smug? More sincere anyway.

MOTH
It's daytime so lightshows are probably out. But looking up into the low-rent neighbourhood where Angel lives and she can see a plume of construction dust rising into the air. Basically a homing beacon.

The other eye sees Reporter Maguire dash down the long warehouse hallway, pause, look back, decide it's safe enough, and dash behind a pile of broken crates. There's a single flash of red-orange light, so brief it might not have been there at all.

And then silence.

ANGEL
Luminary flies through the air toward Angel, wreathed in a corona of powerful energy, eyes afire, hands clenched into fists. The air all around them grows immediately, uncomfortably hot.

As soon as he sends out the thoughts through the Ankh, he hears Static, still floating behind them, shout, "Call's gone out boss! They rest are on their way!"

And just then, in an instant, Luminary blinks through the remaining distance and punches Angel right in the face with one blazing inferno of a fist.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Roll to Take a Powerful Blow.

What do you want me to do?
-I want you to fight. I want you to fight so I can show everyone how much stronger I am than you.

What do you intend to do?
-Beat you into submission and turn you over to my boss.

How could I get your character to [help try to fix what’s going on instead of fighting]
-Surrender yourself to my custody. And maybe fix the building but that's honestly more for PR than anything.

[Quagmire]

Masks HT

Spoiler: Angel

Show

Conditions: Guilty (-2 assess or provoke) Angry (-2 comfort or pierce)

Current labels:
Danger +1 Freak +2 Savior +0 Superior -2 Mundane +2

Potential: 1/3
Doom Track: 0/3

The hit knocks Angel to the ground, and when he gets back up he is bleeding and generally looks like he got solidly punched in the face. But he continues to stare down Luminary, angry but with a bit of a smile. “You want a fight? You’ve got it. Whether it’s at school, on the streets, or in the middle of a magic tornado, when someone tries to start a fight I don’t back down just cause someone’s bigger and stronger than I am.”

At the same time, it lets our a cry of exhilaration. Displaying power by tearing apart this building had been a challenge, and that challenge had been accepted. A hero, shining and arrogant like the heroes of legend, had come hoping to bring down the monster in a grand spectacle of a battle. Truly, it was the age of myth reborn.

Angel rises through the air to face Luminary. With his eyes glowing with power, his body covered in soot and dust, and his face stained with his own blood, Angel looks a bit like a monster. He fights like one too, extending his hand and telekinetically throwing pieces of the building at the glowing hero. Some hit their mark, while others miss and crash into nearby apartments or stores. Detective Park had gotten him to remember his humanity a few moments ago, but now Angel doesn’t even notice that he is destroying his home and the homes of his friends and neighbors. He just keeps up the fight, trading blows with Luminary and paying no mind to the devastation being caused.

Spoiler

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I decided on the ‘lose control of yourself and your powers in a terrible way’ option. Which in this case means giving up on trying to resist it and save the building, and instead using it to fight in a way that causes even more collateral damage. Also this is a Directly Engage so here’s a roll for that. (2d6+1)[9]
-gonna pick ‘impress surprise or frighten’

[Kaworu]

Judy got her Ankh working again, and at the very same time, she realized that Angel is in trouble. Big trouble, apparently. Her heart started beating fastly, worrying about her friend.

- Thank you – was all she said to Levi, holding her heands and asking for her amulet. She did not wanted to grab it directly from her hands – it would be rude – but at the same time she had no time.

She bit her lip, thinking. Was she wrong about her? Maybe... she was not fishy? Some wizards were weird, after all. Should she trust her with her secret?

Angel. Angel was in danger. No time to think.

- Actually - she said, looking Levi in the eyes. She returned the smile weakly – I have lost all my magical powers. Probably because of the Healer. I did not wanted to start a fight with him and... that was the last time I was able to use my magic. Or my Ankh. Do you think you could do something about that too? - she asked, friendly and hopefully.

She was not sure she was making the right decision, but she did not had the luxury of thinking it thought. If she wanted to help Angel, she had to take some risks.

[JNAProductions]

Skitter, gathering her swarm as she moves, rushes for Angel's house. She sees the mayhem and destruction, and slows a bit-trying to observe the situation. Dammit dammit dammit she thinks to herself, not wanting to draw attention.

She sees the three heroes, Luminary fighting Angel, Static on damage control, and Vigil rescuing people. She moves to the other side of the destruction from Vigil, and starts getting anyone who needs escape out. She knows that Angel is in danger-but she doesn't know anything she can do to help.

[truemane]

JUDY
Levi smiles. "Of course," she says.

She stands up and moves close to Judy. Very close. Their bodies are almost touching. She leans forward until her lips are almost touching Judy's ear. "I can help you," she says, her voice soft and quiet, her breath brushing against Judy's ear and hair, "Altantean magic takes several of your lifetimes to master. But I can teach you. I would love to teach you."

A pause.

And then she speaks a word: Ramuhn.

Rebirth.

And as her breath once more touches Judy, she feels the blaze of power return to her, the sense of focus and direciton that binds her mind and her spirit and the power within her.

Levi steps back. Her cheeks are slightly flished. She is smiling, her lips slightly parted. But this smile seems almost relaxed. Natural.

"Now you have somewhere to be, I think? Your friend, I think? In trouble? You better hurry."

ANGEL
Whatever it was that Luminary was expecting, for Angel to get back up and start throwing the whole building at him was not it. He is so gobsmacked for a full moment that he takes one, two large chunks of stone right to the face. He is knocked back, and then starts answering with blasts of blazing hot radiation from his eyes and hands. The bolts fly toward Angel, burning the eyes, leaving after-streaks that make it hard to see.

Another volley of bricks comes flying at him and a corona of fiery light surrounds him, burning them to ash.

"A fight? he says, his voice dripping with comtempt, "This isn't a fight, it's barely a workout. I'm not just bigger and stronger, I'm better. And tomorrow the papers will say I saved the city from you. Surrender. You're not threat. You're barely a speedbump. Give up now and I can make sure things go better for you. So they'll say you were a hero who needed some help. And not a villain who needs to be put down."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Luminary is taking advantage of his Influence to inflict a condition on you: Hopeless. You may accept or roll to reject.

SKITTER
Skitter can see Vigil leaping nimbly from floating rock to floating rock, trying to coax scared, hiding people to come with him.

As she looks, just off to the side, about ten feet away, there's a burst of red-orange light, that strange hum rises, and an orb of light appears and fades, leaving behind the tall, thin figure of Frequency.

She looks up, around, and then at Skitter, which makes her jump and go blurry for a moment.

"What... who? Are you the... What's happening?" She says all in a rush, her voice echoing oddly, as though she's saying the same time as several poorly timed recordings.

[JNAProductions]

SKITTER
Skitter can see Vigil leaping nimbly from floating rock to floating rock, trying to coax scared, hiding people to come with him.

As she looks, just off to the side, about ten feet away, there's a burst of red-orange light, that strange hum rises, and an orb of light appears and fades, leaving behind the tall, thin figure of Frequency.

She looks up, around, and then at Skitter, which makes her jump and go blurry for a moment.

"What... who? Are you the... What's happening?" She says all in a rush, her voice echoing oddly, as though she's saying the same time as several poorly timed recordings.

"Skitter. I'm one of Angel's teammates," she tells Frequency. "Angel's got problems-and I don't know how to help. Just get people to safety!"

Using her mobility, Skitter continues to search for those who need help. Her swarm just kinda waits around, quiet and mostly still, to avoid causing any more panic. She's not the kind of figure Vigil is-people aren't as inclined to trust her as the famous do-gooders. But whenever she finds someone cowering, she holds her hand out. "I can help get you out of here-I'm with the heroes."

[Eldest]

MOTH
It's daytime so lightshows are probably out. But looking up into the low-rent neighbourhood where Angel lives and she can see a plume of construction dust rising into the air. Basically a homing beacon.

The other eye sees Reporter Maguire dash down the long warehouse hallway, pause, look back, decide it's safe enough, and dash behind a pile of broken crates. There's a single flash of red-orange light, so brief it might not have been there at all.

And then silence.

Moth... really, really wants to see what that flash of light was. Like, obviously Reporter Maguire has something neat that she's doing and that she's trying to keep secret. She might even be one of the caste of mask people! Hmmm, is it too early to call it a caste system yet? Does it even count if there's only like, two, three castes? Eh, she's not a trained xenosociologist, she'll stick with the words she read while bored and wrung out on trying out a new type of stim that it turned out didn't fit her physiology at all.

There was a point here.

RIGHT! Moth really wants to know what's going on with the reporter. However, somebody's in danger and that kind of sorta takes priority over mere curiosity. Even though Moth really wished it didn't. But that's just how you do when Voidborn.

She springs across rooftops and along the walls of buildings, towards the growing mess.

Spoiler

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I thought I had posted! ;_;

[Kaworu]

Judy took a deep breath, as her magical, mystical, Atlantean powers returned to her. Suddenly, she was feeling different. More powerful, too, but also more energetic and... self-aware? Like a pitch-black band had fallen off her eyes.

It was something – she realized just now – she had longed for so long. Like fish put in water again, able to breathe again. Like warmth of a house and bed after long, snowy day outside.

She turned around and started leaving the room fastly. She stood in the doorway for a moment, turned and looked at Levi – Thank you – she said, grateful – and... I will gladly work with yoo on the Atlantean research – she smiled, then rushed out.

When she was in the outside grounds of the school – just the playing field and some trees with green, long grass under her feet – she had spoken the words. Blue ball of light engulfed her, as she felt weigthless, taking to the skies.

In one hand, she was holding her Ankh – Angel! I'm coming for you! - she send a supportive, telepathical message to her friend.

She hoped she was not to late...

[Quagmire]

Spoiler: Angel

Show

Conditions: Guilty (-2 assess or provoke) Angry (-2 comfort or pierce) Hopeless (-2 to Unleash)

Current labels:
Danger +2 Freak +2 Savior -1 Superior -2 Mundane +2

Potential: 1/3
Doom Track: 0/3

Angel reached into the air, hoping to gather enough power to overcome Luminary's shields. With a halo of power around him, he sneered back at the hero. "Strange, you start with a threat but after seeing a show of force you decide to offer help. That law woman did the same thing. What you don't understand is that I might be only a minor obstacle to you now, hero, but things are changing. Soon I will sweep aside Santiago, you, and any other threats to my home..."

Halfway through his monologue, Angel pauses as if what he just said shook him a bit. He lets the blast of telekinetic energy he was gathering disperse, and his stance becomes less aggressive. The light in his eyes flickers and in the brief moments where it is gone he looks desperate and in pain. "You said you can help, please I surrender. I don't know how much of this is me and how much is it but I'm destroying my home. Take me in or do something, I'm not sure how long I can keep up this amount of power before there isn't any of myself left. My team is coming, I'm sure they can help-" As he talks, Angel spreads his arms out to show that he isn’t fighting . However, it's clear that this state of affairs is temporary, and he might return to his previous state of levitating and throwing buildings at any moment.

[truemane]

ANGEL AND SKITTER
Luminary's lip curls up in a self-satisfied smile. Of course this is what happens, that smile says, things always work out for me. All the same, he approaches Angel as one might a wounded animal, one that might still have the strength to bite.

"Static?" he calls out over his shoulder, "Talk to me."

Through, indeed, a crackle of static, he answers: "I can snip the spell or slam the spook. I can't do both."

Luminary, his eyes never leaving Angel, says "Put the building. This one's not going to cause any trouble." Back to Angel. "Are you?"

A ripple of red-orange light bursts from his body and in his hands are large shackles made of solid orange light.

He approaches, one step, two, three... "Hold out your hands."

Meanwhile, Skitter leaps up among the floating and levitating pieces of the building. She sees an older woman hiding under her dining room table. As she approaches, the woman cowers and starts crying harder.

"I can help get you out of here-I'm with the heroes." She says.

The woman looks up, and reaches out...

And then the air is filled with waves of blue energy and a quake ripples through everything and all the pieces start to shake and slip and spin and fall.

The piece they're on tip and the elderly woman starts to slide off...

And at the same time, Skitter see up and to her left three small children hanging on to what was once a ceiling and crying out for help.

MOTH AND CLEOPATRA
By bounding across the rooftops with anti-grav speed, and by streaking through the air with newly renewed power, Moth and Clep arrive to see Angel's entire building semi-disassembled and floating in the air. The streets below are filled with onlookers. Several police officers have arrived and are trying to push the crowd back. The wine of sirens fills the air as several more police cars, as well as fire engines and ambulances pull up as well.

They can see the one called Luminary, in the middle of the building, about to place glowing red-orange shackles on Angel.

They can also see an unfamiliar face, a small, younger hero floating in the air off to the side in an orb of red-orange light. His face is set and focused and he's fiddling with a handheld device of some kind. Blue crackles of energy course all through his grey suit.

And then they see the entire building enveloped in waves of blue energy, and the whole crazy floating house of cards slips and slides and shifts and starts to settle.

[Eldest]

Moth

A blur that appears to be wearing something with ducks on it bounds off rooftop to rooftop, in gentle arcs that never seem to quite follow a parabola, taking a brief second at speeds low enough to be seen to take in the scene. It's a bit like night and day for somebody who had never seen Moth in an emergency, a for real emergency, she's focused and skips past and even off the blue-shield-thing protecting the floating guy she'd normally bother. She zips past the dramatic scene with Luminary and Angel, through a window and out the door of the room Skitter is in, and is laser focused on the kids.

Then the pattern changes. Somebody new's running the debris floating around, somebody who's got different ideas about where things go, and Moth takes a chunk of masonry to the back, skidding across the floor in front of those three kids she meant to save, headed the wrong way.

Spoiler

Show

Failed Defend roll. Feel free to have Moth end up in a dangerous situation if desired.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

11 on the Defend roll. Clearing Guilty.

Skitter sees the situation, almost in slow-motion. She grabs the woman by her wrist, and slides her around, using gravity to help sling the woman around her shoulders. She mutters "Hold on tight," as she leaps to a few of the larger pieces.

She can hear the woman respond, a panicked "Ok," and under the mask, smiles just a bit. You're helping people. You're doing it. She reaches the kids as the ceiling begins to turn almost wholly vertical, the children tumbling down, but Skitter is there to catch them. They land, roughly, in her open arms, and she quickly closes them in a bear hug.

"You're safe," she says, sliding down the chunk of building she's on. "It's okay. I've got you." She moves, slower now, down the tumbling debris and onto the streets below.

[Kaworu]

Cleo finally got to the place when Angel was.

It was looking... well, terrible. The debris that once was a building, floating everywhere, poor people once inside the area covering, afraid of being hit by floating bricks... there was beauty in the movement of the wreck, but also much, much danger.

It did not help that some hero was manipulating it... and seeemingly making much, much bigger mess. Cleo bit her lip... she felt like she should be loyal to Angel and stop Luminary from taking him into custody, but... the people were more important. Even if she felt like a total traitor.

Turning her back to her friend, she outstretched her arms and spoke in Ancient Atlantean. The spell worked. To blue energy of the boy-hero was joined by her own shade of blue, much more potent. Even though she had to fight other's influence on the floating junk, it was effortless for her. All the debris stood in place, where it once floated, envoleped by her blue aura.

It was pretty, too. Like a mosquito frozen eternally in amber.

Spoiler

Show

I'm marking Guilty.