The clerk's initial distrust starts to fade away as Billie flashes her cash around--not to mention he actually gets a look at her. Billie manages to secure six backpacks, flashlights, and sleeping bags (though Mus’ad may have some troubles with the fit), a decent digital camera, 4 shop style lights on stands, 100 feet of rope that should even be able to hold Mus’ad, two sets of camo fatigues and 2-3 sets of ‘normal’ clothes for everyone but Mus’ad, a case of about 80 MREs, a solar shower, a space heater, and a very overpriced crossbow with two dozen arrows. All up it comes to about $3600, everything seems to have a slightly inflated price, but what can one expect under the conditions…
Initiative: Belledonna (KC), Drones (7H), Fins (5H), Devil’s Advocate (5D), Mus’ad (2C)
' Idiots! I realize none of you have the wits of a stunned guppy, but can't you see I'm working here? I'm trying to infiltrate the new Omega Cell that just broke out of containment yesterday & you are '
Notice: and
Sotto voce: "Good call Bella...."
One of the fins--the left you think--responds, his mental tone still holding a hint of suspicion. What do you want us to do then Sir? It would be suspicious if we just let you go...
'You are correct. Fall back when it becomes appropriate.' 'Selling this is going in ledger. I'm going to have to break one of the toys. get to explain it to your superiors.'
Round 1 5D
---------------------
Voice low to Mus'ad: "It's Bella, not a V'sori. I think she's trying a bluff....Smart girl. Let's keep quiet and back her if she needs it."
The Devil's Advocate draws a pistol, glancing back at the clerk as the punk girl turns OFF the red eye sight. "Just another day in Star City, right?" She smiles as she takes a braced stance concealed by a display of hiking boots.
Mus'ad's piggish eyes twinkle with delight at the present... though he is momentarily given pause when DA speaks of subterfuge. Brow furrowed in confusion, he adopts a fighting stance and stands ready next to DA "So Fin big man not real... why need bluff when can kill instead?"
Agility: and
Initiative: Belledonna, Mus’ad, Devil’s Advocate, Fins, Drones
Professor Mayhem looks over the warehouse in disgust. Filthy humans can't even watch out for the magical inscriptions that he had drawn about... he wasn't going to waste time to redo them again for them to get wiped out. He would wait for the others so he could explain to them why the inscriptions were there and tell them in no uncertain terms that they are not to mess with them.
The V'Sori disappears, leaving Belledonna standing in it's place, as a violet/pink light emanates from her eyes. A moment later two of the drones and a fin stagger, seeming disoriented, while the other fin, and two drones bring their weapons to bear on Belledonna.
Well, they have either bought it & are trying to make it look good...
Or, I had better hope that Advocate & Mus'ad are ready to come out & 'play'
"They didn't bite. Go time!
Billie's figure blurs for a moment as Rebecca activates the deflection field.
Assuming the storefront is not armor-glass The Advocate will activate the Red eye and fire two quick shots at the nearest Fin aiming for an unarmored location if the target is wearing armor.
After firing The Advocate will move to heavy cover if available or dive behind a concealing shelf unit and drop prone.
If the shop front is armored glass DA will move to the door or to whatever exit Mus'ad makes and shoot as indicated above, going to cover or prone as able.
Mus'as leaps into action... quite literally. Two ponderous steps are taken forward before he pushes off his forward foot as though twere a coiled spring and Mus'ad becomes an aerial ball of angry meat. Crashing through the glass window as though it were paper, the culturally transposed fist of fury attempts to land a double armed haymaker on the Fin that retains his senses...
Leaping Bludgeon: and
For:
+24=33
Mus'ad burst through the shop window, flying over the heads of the ranks of drones, landing atop the unshaken fin. That he kept his wits about him doesn't seem to aid him however, as Mus'ad's fists land upon his head, caving in his helmet.
Advocate quickly flicks his targeting reticule from the dead fin to the still standing one, moving it rapidly over the target as he searches for an unarmored spot which he can't seem to find. Finally he simply aims at where the armpit join of the full-body armor, and squeezes the trigger twice. Blood fountains from the holes punched in the join, the fin dropping his weapon as he looses strength in the arm, before he follows the weapon to the ground, unconscious and rapidly oozing a viscous turquoise fluid.
The two drones affected by Belledonna's mental blast struggle to right themselves, while the other two unnafected ones move. The leftmost one takes several steps closer to the enraged Mus'ad, reaching out to touch him with one crackling gloved hand, while the other finishes lining up it's shot on Belledonna, and fires several blasts of energy.
Mus'ad quickly elbows the Drone's arm aside as he turns to the new threat, while all three bolts 'miraculously' miss Belledonna, sizzling past her through the shattered window into the shop behind, splashing over a rack of coats, which burst into flame.
Initiative, Round 3: Mus’ad (AH), Belledonna (AD), Devil’s Advocate (9C), Fire (3S), Drones (2D)
Laughing heartily Mus'ad spins and lashes out at drones with elbow and knee with gay abandon. "The Kashmiri blender destroys you... even though you are not worthy of being crushed by my fist."
The Advocate looks about the shop.
1. What is the clerk doing?
2. Is the cash register/valuable stock unattended? (and the greedy hindrance kicks in)
3. Is there anything other than the rack of coats on fire?
3a. Is the flaming rack something that could be hurled clear of the shop now that there is a Mus'ad sized hole in the front?
4. Are there extinguishers handy?
Mus'ad crushes the chest of the drone who just tried to attack him, before leaping the few meters to the next one, and likewise pummels it into submission.
Violet light flares around Belledonna's eyes and the faceplate of one of the drones, which then simply stands idly, awaiting instructions.
The Devil's Advocate meanwhile turns his attention to his more close in surroundings. A few meters from him a fire merrily blazes, sending a growing pillar of smoke up towards the ceiling. The clerk can be seen hiding behind the counter, deciding whether he'd rather burn to death, or get pulverized or shot; his attention consumed with his immediate survival. As DA looks around he can't seem to spot any extinguishers.
Tongues of flame lick from the rack of coats towards other racks and displays, but apart from some singeing it remains localized to the coat rack for now.
Initiative, Round 4: Mus’ad (QD), Drones (10S), Belledonna (9S), Devil’s Advocate (9D), Fire (8S)
Notice:
Seeing the slackened eye of one drone Mus'ad disdains destroying it for the moment. There is no pleasure to be gained from crushing something when it is unaware of your magnificence.
Instead he reaches out and grips the other drone by the shoulder... and attempts to punch it's head off of it's body...
Fighting: and
For:
With the only living/conscious drone under Belledonna's control the danger seems to have passed. The fire within the camping goods store triggers the smoke alarm, and the sprinklers activate, soaking Devil's Advocate and his purchases as it extinguishes the coats.
'Remove your armaments & armor.' Belledonna directs the remaining Drone.
"Are there any survivors in the store?" She asks DA & Mus'ad.
Mus'ad is saddened greatly by the lack of resilience shown by the drones and fins. He despondently picks up the one who's skull he crushed... shaking the corpse to see if he might bring it round... so he can hit it again.
"Well done! We have about five minutes until company arrives so time to gather up their toys and vanish."
'Billie' Hauls their purchases out to the street and then moves to the dead fin Mus'ad is not playing with and rapidly strips it of everything that comes off easy starting with its gun. All this goes in the backpack.
"Pity we can't take the armor. Time to go!"
Once out of sight of the shop and any security cameras 'Billie' presses a few buttons and where she was standing there is now a morbidly obese man in a stained yellow sweater and leaning on a walking cane.
"There that should help hide the pack"
The Advocate walks towards the nearest Mag-lev station.
The remaining drone buzzes at Belledonna's instruction but doesn't move.
Devil's Advocate is able to collect three fusion grenades and two blaster rifles from the drones, but nothing else that seems particularly useful apart from the armor.
b]"Damn. Hate leaving them here but dragging bodies around is a non starter."[/b]
"Who said anything about dragging?" Belledonna replied. Pausing a moment to find her bearings, she turns to the drone, the odd lightshow about her eyes & the drone's helm cycles faster for a time & the Drone takes off in a Southerly direction.
'Keep yourself out of sight of others & head to location.' As she gives him a mental image of an abandoned lot only a few blocks away from the Warehouse. "Shall we depart as well?"
Mus'ad brings a small smile to his face by disposing of the dead fin... by throwing it through the window of the store that was not yet broken. After that he sighs, stretches out a kink in his back and then sets to follow the others kicking at occasional stones as he sulks.
The drone sets off immediately after being given it's instruction, heading towards Southpoint. The rest of Mus'ad's Harem follows it after the titular member indulges in some further violence, making their way back to the warehouse, where they find the Professor still scrawling symbols on floors, walls and even the ceiling.
A few days pass with no sign of Bad Penny or Masque at the warehouse. The professor completes his preparations and converts the warehouse into something more palatable--at least temporarily. Belledonna brings in the captured Drone, and DA goes to work at butchering it up and figuring out what it is and how it ticks.
"Ah bella my dear I did not know you delivered." The Devil says with a smile.
Once drone is in what ever lab the Professor agrees to provide The advocate will fully restrain the Drone before converting the Chameleon device into a series of specialized tools, sensors and expert systems.
Rolls: Kn. Biology wild total 5 or 9 if interface applies. Kn. Electronics wild total 5 or 9 if interface applies. Plus or minus any lab modifiers.
After cleaning up the Devil's own will start examining the blaster rifles and grenades.
If there is time The Advocate will take a further look at the communicator watch that the Doctor provided. What exactly does it do?
Headquarters (4) - 10 HQ Points
Command Center (1)
Personal Quarters (2) - 8 heroes
Teleporter (3) - Teleport Door up to half a mile from base that can accommodate up to 10 people.
Well-Hidden (3)
Kitchen & Dining (1)
Professor Mayhem places the sigils and begins to summon in the various locations in the warehouse.
I will drop Kitchen & Dining to make it Average. The place doesn't have to look nice, and nothing I got requires a facility bonus.
Mus'ad is sullen, grumpy, prone to rage and unhappy at being idle... in other words Mus'ad is Mus'ad. The days between the last time he managed to exercise his knuckles stretch like saltwater taffy and do not pass easily.
The others have likely taken to completely ignoring the bestial wrestler as he wanders the street in search of good tandoori and entertainment of a more martial nature... as in people to punch... in the head...
By the end of the first day the lair has been transformed from a slightly musty, empty warehouse, into a simple, dark lair. One corner has been walled off, containing 8 alcoves, two on each wall 'bunk bed' style with a moderately comfortable mattress and clean sheets--two of them large enough to accommodate Mus'ad. Beside that is another room, with a large archway opening into a room with a large wooden table, a dozen chairs, and an opaque oval taking up most of one wall. The final feature of note is a large circular platform against one wall in the remaining open space, encircled with strange runes and symbols.
The first time everyone leaves the place they struggle to find their way back, their memories feeling fuzzy as they try to navigate to the unfamiliar location.
He discovers a number of interesting things:
- The creature's biology as far as he can tell roughly matches up to human physiology
- The creature's 'lungs' and 'trachea' have been supplemented with an artificial system resembling gills, potentially allowing them to operate underwater
- Superfluous organs (stomach, digestive track, reproductive organs) have been removed to make way for a large internal capacitor in the abdomen, it is this capacitor that powers the drone's weapons
- The right arm contains a large superconductor cable which runs from the abdomen capacitor to both the Blaster Rifle implanted in the drone's forearm, and the drone's armored glove
- The right hand/glove seems to contain several contact points that would allow it to discharge electricity directly into a target with direct contact
- Contained in the left hand/glove are vibro-blades which can extend from each finger and thumb
- Progressing his examination to the creature's head he finds it less recognizable as human, at least superficially. There is no sign of a nose, and the mouth has been replace with a respirator device. The eyes are cybernetic, able to function more efficiently in adverse conditions
- The brain has been significantly altered, but the ability of his scanning device and the information Rebecca is able to retrieve can only go so far. Whatever performed the many surgeries this creature has undergone did so with incredible finesse and accuracy.
At some point during the process the drone ceases functioning.
Late in the evening of the third day (approx 08:40pm) after the prison break the communicators provided by Doctor Destruction indicate an incoming message. When activated, the below message plays.
"The information Mindjack brought me reveals that there is a power source located deep beneath Star City that the aliens haven’t discovered. I need access to that power source for my own purposes.
"Finding it won’t be easy, however. It was created by the villain named Terron some years ago, and its exact location died with him. It is my firm belief that the Undergrounders who live beneath the city know its location. Persuading them to share this information is another matter.
"You’ll need a very heavy piece of equipment to make the power terminal useful to me, it should be delivered shortly. You'll need Mus'ad to carry it, or else find another way to transport it.
"Since Bad Penny and Masque seem have reconsidered my offer, I'll be sending someone along to replace them, his name is Happy Jack."
Approximately 10 minutes later there is another message from the Doctor, only text this time.
"You've been busy; good. Collect the device from the storage facility at <address>, unit E28; the code is 4723" the provided address is to a storage hire site a few blocks away.
Turncoat
"How much are they paying you?"
Your hero somehow convinces or bribes a minor foe to perform a small favour--such as helping the hero escape, revealing the location of the "boss" etc.
Mus'ad listens to the message, but doesn't bother reading the text afterwards. Turning to DA he speaks "Fine... Mus'ad come and lift heavy things for you..." scratching his itching scalp and scowling.
"Ah, 'professor', I see you've made productive use of your time as well. Good, 'idle minds' and such..."
Once Isabelle notices Mus'ad's general dis-interest in anything not involving violence, she will try to arrange a 'play-date' for him. She, Oz, & Mus'ad will go looking for another patrol comparable to the one that netted DA a drone & other toys to play with.
"I can't help but think you are using a condescending tone with me. I am not your underling or lackey" He gestures at Oz, and then continues, "It appears that our benefactor has work for us again. Do not go running off to play on your own."
1. So can The Advocate solidly confirm or deny that the drone was human? Or at least made from human and/or atlantean bits?
2. Any evidence of non-drone life? Tattoos, piercings or branding sort of things
3. Are any of the bits recoverable? I realize converting them will take time just looking for "possible with work" vs. "you have got to be kidding".
a. The artificial gills?
b. Capacitor? Could be useful to supplement high draw power needs. Mainly fluff I suppose.
c. Implanted rifle?
d. Could the shock glove be adapted to something usable?
e. Could the hand-knives be converted to a vibro-dagger?
4. What type of energy, for the purposes of the Energy Control power, do the Drone/Fin blasters use?
"That's not too far away. I am not so certain I like the good Doctor knowing exactly where we are..... Does anyone know anything about Teron or these Undergrounders?"
1. As stated previously the drone's physiology appears to be very heavily modified human, or at least something very similar to human if not. It's impossible to be certain with the amount of modifications, but from what his systems can tell him there's nothing there apart from the tech that wouldn't be in a human.
2. The skin layers have been completely removed and replaced with armor, it no longer has ears, about the only thing he can determine is that there are no burn marks on the musculature that one would expect from a branding.
3. All of the parts are designed to function as part of the whole, in an organic form. You're not really going to know until you tinker with it. Implantation into another host would be the most likely to work. The weapons could potentially work separately, but would require some other sort of power source. The capacitor is way above DA's understanding at this point, so doing anything with that would be extremely iffy.
4. You've spent pretty much your entire time focused on the drone, but from what you've seen some sort of plasma, so I guess... heat? I'll have to get back to you.
Belledonna easily slips into the creature's thoughts, but finds little of interest, memories of it's recent patrolling, it resting in an odd electronic 'rack', it mercilessly slaughtering someone. When DA starts to remove it's armor however, she feels pain bloom in it's thoughts, thought there is little outward indication of such.
As Devil's Advocate and Mus'ad approach the location given, a pale grinning figure in black blurs up to them. "Hail and well met, new friends! Had the deuce of a time finding it, which is odd as I've visited most places in this city, but never mind.". He briefly pulls a sleeve to show his Omega comms unit. "So, shall we about tonight's business?"
Though her significantly slighter figure is easily missed next to/behind Mus'ad's, Belledonna answers quickly...
and Telepathically. ' business. look like some jape-ing, capering fellow...'