Prime's voice, sounding slightly digitized, booms out, "Let you go? If we continue this altercation, you stand very little chance of escaping, but significant risk of sustaining bodily harm. Surrendering to us now allows you to forgo that fate. If you offer us this information, we will make certain your cooperation at this stage is noted when you are transferred to the proper authorities."
Gumshoe smiles "And I thought I was the comedian here. 'Wah, we're losing, let us go and we'll you what we know.' Tell ya what, bucko, tell us what you know and we won't fill your unconscious partners here in on how you tried to rat and bail on them." he jerks his thumb towards the unconscious villains.
Intimidat check
"I think Gumshoe's got a point there. What do you think your buddies will do when we tell them how you tried to double cross them? I'd expect they'd be pretty upset. And come looking for you when they got a chance."
Gargantua starts off laughing as he tries to put up a tough act, "Hah, like you bunch of pansies scare us off...." His voice trails off as he turns back to Cannon, who has a grimace on his face, as though considering which ditch he's about to jump into.
"Fine, you wanna know what we know? We don't know a thing. Same as you, I expect. Cyberknight's the one in charge, if anyone here would know more, it'd be her. We just were looking to see what Mars over there knows about this whole Stormer thing goin' on. Figure he's probably the got his hands in the most research businesses in this area, he'd have a good idea of what happened." Cannon nods towards Maximillion Mars, who still yet stands behind his desk as Cannon points towards him. He hasn't moved since the fight started, hands in his pockets as he watched the entire fight take place. He seems to be watching the exchange between you and the villains, an impassive look on his face.
CA
GA
Breakneck lets the others banter with the villains, still suspicious of the timing he puts his attention to Mr. Mars. Wonder, does this have something to do with him. After Gargantua waves at the impassive billionaire, Breakneck says, "Are you okay, Mr. Mars? No harm has befallen you, has it?" He engages in conversation to assess trustworthiness.
Was Mr. Mars surprised by these events or expecting them? Is his calm his nature, or knowledge he was in no real danger?
But his overly fast metabolism throws off his usual ability to read people a bit and he gets, nothing or worse.
Taking one hand out of his pocket to wipe away a piece of debris that apparently had the audacity to settle upon his shoulder, he turns to Breakneck. "I am indeed fine, and your concern for my well being is appreciated. My office, on the other hand, has seen better days. Well done on apprehending the individuals responsible for that."
"Mr. Mars; have you alerted the proper authorities? If you have not, could you now do so? I would like to see these superhumans appropriately restrained and disarmed as soon as possible. We will be required to remain until this is accomplished as regular law enforcement will lack the resources to adequately pacify them."
He turns to the other new super human champions, so newly minted. "A apologize for not making my presence known at an earlier time. I offer my assistance to your team. Though I was attired differently during our initial meeting in the merchantile disctrict known as Yellow Brick Row, I am the same individual that aided you there. I am Prime."
Mars pushes a button on his telephone, "Marcy, please see about having law enforcement come to retrieve four uninvited guests. Also please arrange to have some personnel repair the damage to my office." An affirmative on the other line meets his request.
{b]"Ok, apparently we have a few moments....should we wake up Cyberknight and see is she is willing to talk to us?"[/b]
Breakneck hears the suggestion and is none to keen on the idea. "Best to leave her for the police. I suspect we'll get nothing out of her either, and I don't want her pulling some trick to escape. I just hope the local police are up to dealing with these, um, Super-villain types- that hasn't been common around here." Breakneck will live with the mystery for a while.
Damn, I'm glad nobody wanted to take that offer. I don't want to see those scumbags on the street again.
"Maybe there's some special facilities we need to escort them to or something?"
"Given how little superhuman activity there used to be in this town, I expect they will have to call the Federal authorities. They likely have a rapid response team given how spread out the superhuman events have been." adds Don.
looking over to his dad he nods, then he turns back to the rest
"Likely the locals will have to call the Feds for this kind of issue. There has to be an FBI office around here somewhere, and I bet they will call for some kind of special team which could get here quick."
"Well, ya probably should have tried talking before B&E, A&B, kidnapping, or whatever else you had in mind. Still, you've got a point about Mr. Mars here and his tech contacts. Hopefully he can help us find out what's what." Gumshoe says to Cannon. He looks at Mars, not expecting an answer, but looking for any betrayals in his demeanor.
Dan sends out a quick text message, still obscured by the shadows.
Hi Mom. I'm babysitting some special needs kids that partied a little too hard. The police are probably going to get involved. They might need some help. Thought I'd let you know in case you felt like getting involved.
Cannon sneers at Gumshoe, "Yeah, like he'd admit to anything, or tell us anything for that matter. It's the way it works, the strong take what they want. You all got lucky this time, but I'll love blasting that smile off your face. And your head while I'm at it." Cannon just lays down, hands on the back of his head as he smiles up at the gummy man.
Mars on the other hand turns to Gumshoe. "I'm certain AEGIS will be here shortly to apprehend them. They have specialized equipment for this level of threat. I am curious as to what help you may think I can provide, though?"
Five so far. I'll let you know if we pick up any more.
"Would you mind calling Aegis for us, Mr. Mars? We have our hands full at the time. I'd like to hand these guys off as soon as possible."
Breakneck still thinking it's an amazing coincidence that the villains attacked just as they entered, says, "I'll just make a quick check around to make sure there's no problems. Back in a sec" And he will be or at least within 4 of them.
Breakneck zips through the accessible areas of the building looking for anything unusual. Is there anyone of staff or visitors that seems less suprised? Are there camera crews? Do they all seems legitimate? Is there someone making a getway, not just trying to leave because a fight is going on?
See something?
To tell the difference between suspicious behavior and reasonable under the circumstances.
"If this is some sort of distraction, it has been very effective at keeping all of our attention focused here, thus far."
As you all sit and discuss, one of Mars's people come in, bearing several pairs of thick bindings. Mars responds to questions before being asked, "Several different technologies are worked on in these labs, including the need to restrain powerful creatures. Fortunately they should work temporarily until AEGIS arrives." Cannon and Gargantua submit to being shackled, while Tempus and Cyberknight have little choice in the matter.
The task completed, Breakneck has taken off to check the premises while Prime works to scan emergency stations.
While this occurs, Straightjacket, who happens to be standing near the hole outside, happens to see a strange sight. A bubble rises up from the concrete walkway outside. As the bubble reaches a decent size, it sinks back down to reveal four figures. Four figures that require little effort on our Heroes to recognize.
Bowman. A smart mouthed archer with a variety of trick arrows at his disposal.
Dr. Metropolis. A man able to manipulate the very urban environment as a weapon.
Johnny Rocket. The teams resident speedster.
Seven. A witch, and newest member of the team.
These four are not Stormers, nor are they villains. This is the Freedom League. They have dealt with the likes of SHADOW and Omega. These are heroes.
As they appear, Dr. Metropolis calls outs. “We should have known you couldn’t be trusted, Mars! And now you’ll pay for what you’ve done!” Before you can reply, Dr. Metropolis shakily puts one hand to his forehead and yells, “Get out of my head!” With his other hand he points at Mars. Immediately, the buildings come alive around you, steel and concrete flow like mud to form grasping hands and swinging mallets, while the other Freedom Leaguers quickly follow his lead and attack!
Johnny Rocket starts the combat, charging into the heroes and launching a series of strikes outward, seemingly in imitation of Breaknecks own actions you have witnessed up to this point. As he moves in, he charges straight up the wall and into the room, lashing out.
EE D
EE T
GS D
GS T
Pr D
Pr T
SJ D
SJ T
Ah, to clarify, he was using an area attack power. They work as follows.
Step 1) Determine targets affected. In this case it's a 30' spread, with selective meaning he can choose who to target.
Step 2) All targets make a Dodge roll versus DC 10+Rank of power. In this case, DC 16. This means you make the toughness roll versus half the power rank instead of full effect.
Step 3) All targets hit make a Toughness roll versus DC 15+Rank of power+strength (as this is considered a strength attack). So the DC is normally 23, or 20 if you made the save.
One thing I didn't take into account is Evasion. This means that Gumshoe and Straightjacket both made their dodge rolls. Didn't really change things though since Gumshoe made the Toughness anyway, and Straightjacket still failed the reduced Toughness DC.
Does that clarify things?
Breakneck returns from his six second checkout of the building and grounds to find all hell has broken loose.
"What happened? What's going on here?"
Breakneck will defend himself but not attack yet.
"Explain why you are here and why you attacked us!"
Prime stands ready; his palms glowing, stunners armed.
"What the hell! I thought we already beat up the bad guys."
Gumshoe flinches and turns liquid. this is new "Wait... there's been a mistake..." of all the cliches, I gotta fall into the middle of superhero on superhero meet-up brawl.
Breakneck holds off an attack, while Prime readies his blasters for the heroes to attack.
"Explain why you are here and why you attacked us!"
Johnny responds to Prime while he moves about the group, "We attacked you because your siding with Mars!" A sudden blow connects with Prime, not quite inflicting any harm, "Seems you're pretty tough."
"Now why don't you all come out of there and say hi to us!" Bowman calls up as he fires off an arrow, sending the entire room entire a cloud of thick smoke, obscuring vision. The attack is met by a blast from Prime, barely avoided by Bowman as he leaps out of the way, the arrow almost seeming to dance around Prime's blast as it comes flying.
"Siding with Mars? We showed up and got attacked by some bad guys, and now you attack us. What the hell is your problem?" Straightjacket yells as he stretches out of the room, into the middle of the attacking heroes.
"Yeah, I'll play, I'm sick of getting pounded on when I didn't ask for trouble. "
with that he will attempt to wrap up Bowman.
who nimbly dodges out of the way of the apparently clumsy gumby clone.
Gumshoe jumps down adjacent to Seven. "Talk your teammates out of this insanity. We're not your enemies, even if Mars is."
Breakneck, seeing a disaster unfold before his eyes as supposed heroes assault good people, makes a decision between fighting, running or something else. He thinks of calling 911, then realizes that the overburdened city could take hours to answer.
He strides in, taking care not to close with Johnny Rocket. He states clearly, "If you have a lawful warrant for Mr. Mars, who I just met a minute ago, execute it with no inference from us. But stop attacking people that have done no wrong. I'm sitting down and shutting down my superhuman abilities, and will peacefully wait for the police to arrive, and more unjustified violence will be on you."
Breakneck follows his words sitting down, and stops the odd quivering that accompanies his superpowers. He looks and is quite defenseless.
They better be true heroes, or I'm not going to live through this. But someone has to make a stand for the right.
Straightjacket leaps down from the smoke, attempting to entangle Bowman. Blinded from his emergence, he is unable to strike the nimble archer, who leaps around his limbs, avoiding his attacks, "Seems to me you like the trouble, stretchy! And I'm enjoying the workout, nice light activity!"
Gumshoe attempts to reason with the heroes, met with Dr. Metropolis's own words, "Do not listen to them, Mars must be stopped...ARGGH! Get out now!!"
Johnny turns and says something to Seven as he speeds back and forth in the fray.
A calm voice from the shadows near Dr. Metropolis that seemed to change the direction it was coming from as it spoke said "Long time, no see Doc. I've been meaning to thank you for helping me out, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind. Why don't you have your crew stand down and we'll try to sort this out without the dust up. You say Mars is the bad guy, I believe you. How about you believe me when I tell you that the only other bad guys here are trussed up on the ground."
"To our knowledge, Mr. Mars is a citizen in good standing with no warrants for his arrest. You have attacked us unprovoked. Now stand down and explain why you have taken this aggressive action!"
Dr. Metropolis turns for a moment to the side, a confused look on his face. "I remember...." Suddenly he lets out a yell and begins to twist the very buildings nearby.
As you all watch, the building begins to buckle and twist, within the structure the walls come alive and lash out, girders twisting into fists and striking towards Gumshoe and Mars, cables lashing out like whips at Prime and Evil Eye, the sidewalk outside lifting up and attempting to smash Straightjacket in between. Out of character for the normally calm Dr. Metropolis, this is the power of the freedom league unleashed.
Evil Eye is able to put a forcefield between him and Metropolis's attack, but the sheer force shatters it, inflicting damage upon him. Prime on the other hand nimbly dodges most of the attacks, the rest unable to penetrate his skin.
The girders striking against Mars and Gumshoe slam into both of them, Gumshoe mitigating most of the damage from his gummy nature , whereas Mars takes the girder full force, knocking him out the hole in the wall and dangling towards the three story fall below.
Straightjacket takes the slamming concrete slabs full force but only suffers a minor wound from the attack.
The weakened structure of the building sends several others about to fall. A fire breaks out in the west building from the force of Metropolis's attack.
EE Success
GS Fail
Pr Success
SJ Fail
Mars Fail
EE Fail by 2 degrees
GS Fail by 1 degree
Pr Success
SJ Fail by 1 degree
Mars Fail by 3 degrees
"We've got to get out of here. The fool is going to tear down the whole building!". Wile he didn't know much about Mr. Mars, Evil Eye wasn't about to let him die when this could all be just a case of mistaken identity. He flew toward the dangling man, grabbing him and trying to fly him safely to the ground.
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"There must be some kind of mind control at work here. They are clearly not acting rationally. Whether there is any legitimate grievance against Mr. Mars or not,
"Oh hell, this just doesn't look good."
"Good to see you've mastered the obvious son"
Mars allows himself to be gathered by Evil Eye, letting out a groan of pain as he's picked up, whispering in pain at the sorcerer. "He's right, something's not right with Metropolis. You have to stop him before someone gets hurt. Over 3000 employees are in these buildings and the Doctor could inflict serious harm if he keeps going berserk!"
On the ground, things take a different turn at the damage as Johnny suddenly starts calling out orders. "Seven, defend Metropolis. Bowman, do something about those people. I'll try to put out that fire." He spares a look at the the enraged Superhero, looking about to charge off to the side.
Seven, looking about confused, focuses on Johnny Rocket's instructions and conjures a barrier around her and Metropolis. "Shining Shield of Sirrion!"
Johnny himself takes off towards the source of the fire, trying to fight against it. The blaze at this point is already severe, possibly too much for him alone.
** spoiler omitted **
Unsure of what the enemy has done, but needing to take down the threat of Mr. Metropolisand his allies, Prime takes aim at the disturbed heroes, and fires his stunners. Beams erupt from each palm as twin blasts burst out from his glowing eyes. He omits the speedster from his targeting as the man is actively trying to stop the fire; a threat to bystanders.
Prime's blasts rain down upon Dr. Metropolis, Seven and Bowman. His attacks miss the sorceress, and Bowman easily dodges between the blasts. The attack against the Doctor strike against Seven's barrier and are reflected back at Prime, though missing greatly.
As Bowman dives and rolls between attacks, he sends arrows flying towards some of the endangered civilians. Four civilians end up pinned to the buildings, by shirts or other clothing, with one arrow heading towards Prime himself. "I'd like to see you try that!"
Sv Sh
Sv Ref
Bw Civ 1
Bw Civ 2
Bw Civ 3
Bw Civ 4
Prime
Several Civilians are still in danger of falling, and many are starting to gather on the roof with little way down.
Breakneck seeing innocents in danger springs to action. He taps his chi, starting to vibrate again as his superpowers spring back. "You're killing these innocents." He attempts to rescue the pinned people, as many as he can reach, taking one to the ground a bit away from the building and coming back. He'll keep this up as long as he can.
He's taking the nearest pinned bystanders, grabbing them, then running down the building and a bit away, then running back up for more. He defends but he's not trying to attack anyone yet.
Straightjacket will stretch out to rescue some of the civilians dangling from buildings if Breakneck missed any. He should have adequate reach, if not he'll move and then do it.
"I thought these guys were heroes?!? What gives?"
Dammit! Dan cursed to himself as he realized the danger to the bystanders. Slipping sideways into the shadows, he moved to help.
Gumshoe sighs and throws a piece of gum at the archer. Crazy. Wonder if this is just another test by Mars or if these guys are for real.
to hit for DC 25 toughness save.
Dan, Breakneck and Straightjacket work together, saving many civilian lives. Each are thanked in turn by those rescued.
Meanwhile, Gumshoe attempts an attack against Bowman, who nimbly dodges the shot as it flies by, taunting. "You should head back to school to fire those spitwads!"
Suddenly a large conference table comes flying out of the building, moved by Dr. Metropolis, to come flying towards Mars and Evil Eye. Mars pushes Evil Eye mostly out of the way but takes the brunt of the table himself. He seems heavily wounded from the attack. "Mars be stopped!"
As the table hits Mars and Evil Eye, Johnny Rocket turns for just a moment and yells out, "Doc, what are you doing!" Seven has a concerned look on her face and even Bowman spares a concerned glance.
EE
Mars
EE
Mars