Sorrel puts his hands up. Quentin saves him the trouble of trying to pull back the vines, or explain that he can't... Or doesn't yet know how. There wasn't anything left to do but to speculate on his imminent punishment.
S%@#. S$~&. S~&&. S#$!.
I'm better than this. I've trained. I've put in the effort and time. I need to be better than this.
Tox, his nerves taking a recent blow looks around frantically to make sure he hasn't forgotten something or hasn't messed something else up. He was supposed to be the experienced one, and it was coming apart at the seams.
Michael focuses just enough to avoid becoming a repeater for Solmira's... whatever this emotional broadcast thing is. But the aggression she's putting off definitely resonates with him.
"Nothing larger than this", he says, offering up the controller for his drones, about the size of a large smartphone. "I've got a spare at home. Shall we go say hello?"
If Solmira doesn't object, Michael will try to just walk up behind Snowflake, and open a conversation with "You're ruining a lot of people's evenings, you know."
Solmira grabs the controller. "You can say hello. If I say anything, it shall not be with words."
In just a moment, Solmira has the controller cracked open, finely manipulating the properties of the device's components to better resemble those of the materials of her home. Earthen materials just didn't seem to be able to handle the strain from the techniques commonly applied at her home...as it is, what she'd made was a crude, temporary mimicry.
With the properties suitably altered, she rearranges and reshapes the parts altogether to produce the intended result, before injecting concentrated sunlight to provide the power it needed to function.
She puts the casing back together, and the controller looks normal. Most people wouldn't guess it would now create an intense, localised heatwave at the push of a button. With any luck, it would last a minute or two before giving out.
Solmira starts to move into the blizzard. Good luck kicking up a snowstorm with this thing active. She can just beat her down and be done with it.
He can't fix this? Damn it, can he at least move the plants off them? Cryonova says, you can tell by her tone that she's more worried than angry. there's at least half a dozen injured, a good number of whom will be dead if she doesn't fix this fast. anything you can do (pull people from the vines, get sorrel to dismiss the vines, getting help.) will get you a good deal of goodwill
meanwhile, sorrel, you notice most of the standing gang members quickly disarming themselves. a couple junior freaks are one thing, Cryonova is another. but one of them is trying to call someone, what do you do?
Horus sends the last of his opponents flying toward the wall, stopping them short and then binds them with zipties he had in the pockets of his jacket.
I think that's everyone. Horus says
No one else up here. Arne confirms.
Great, then gather up the money. 5-way split. Horus instructs
Dibs! Machery shouts, holding up a bunch of what look like stamps, or stickers, and a large bag filled with capsules of white powder.
Take whatever you and Arne want, we'll dispose of the rest. Horus says, to Machery. You as well, if you've got something you're into.
What's the haul? Mach calls out, as Arne returns
Well, they had 10 or 20 in money from business as usual and a briefcase with half a mil in it!
When you get within about 10 meters of her, Ava notices you. she turns, and you see something frozen under her eyes. When she sees you, she nearly deflates. She touches her Scepter to the ground, creating a number of icicles to spring up in two loose half-circles between you and her. You should leave, Michael. I don't want you to got hurt.
"I-I can try... Hold on, Quickie, that one's on her phone. She might be contacting their leader, yeah? We don't need this to escalate any more." Sorrel nods to the one on their phone.
Reaching out, and taking some confidence from Cryonova's benevolent tone, Sorrel pictures what he's asking for. It doesn't have to un-grow, or even die. Obviously, that wouldn't get an answer, but vines wither in the winter, like hibernation. That's a part of nature. Like Cryo said, even moving away from them would be helpful. Just so long as these people are safe.. or safer.
I spin my fingers quickly to whip a whirlwind and knock the phone loose.
It flies much harder than intended and shatters on the wall. We won't be able to find who they were trying to call.
More to the point, this was supposed to be a precision move. Instead I've made myself look stupid in front of Cryonova. Dad wouldn't make that mistake.
"Oh good. I don't want me to get hurt either, so we're in agreement there!" Michael says, acidly. He keeps walking toward her, moving around the half-circle of icicles. "I thought you were supposed to be pretty smart, so why are you just..." he waves. "... calling a blizzard, out in the open? What'd that house do to you?" He watches her eyes as he circles.
Where Michael is close, Solmira is more distant, a figure partially obscured by the blizzard except for two brightly burning eyes that glare between the icicles at Snowflake. Her arms rest by her sides, one hand holding the jury-rigged drone controller.
Michael was trying to talk to her. And as much as she wanted to, she;d have problems with him if she threw the first punch. That was the last thing she neAnd at the moment, where she was once trying to avoid doing anything with telepathy, she was now having a much easier time justifying using it to voice her displeasure privately.
She reaches out to Snowflake's mind, and once she had just enough of a connection to start speaking, Snowflake finds a new voice ringing in her head.
You know he's not going to just leave. Not when you're causing people problems like this. The powerful cocktail of displeasure that came with the message did enough to say she counted herself as one of them. I'm sure you're aware he will only be idle so long if this continues. If you truly want to avoid conflict, I'd suggest easing off on the blizzard being a little more open with him so this can be resolved quickly. I'd ask you to back down altogether, but I doubt I'm so lucky that you'd just agree.
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When it was all over, Tox could feel his stomach sink a bit. Until now, the costumes, powers, and action were all part of what he normally did. But now, he was standing there with a sack full of cash, probably dirty money. Maybe even blood money.
He has second thoughts about Machery, who apparently was getting ready to go on a drug filled wonderland ride.
Paying bills seemed so....stupid now.
"I'm gonna take a quick look around." he tells the others.
He then goes searching for information, stuff he can use to help his real team track the spider thread up to the boss if possible. He also keeps his bugs on the weapons, insurance that no one sneaks off with them. He didn't sign up to help arms dealers.
"When you guys say dispose of, do you mean call the cops?"
Moving the vines was... less good an idea than you thought. the vines are more responsive than you expected, and one whips toward a bodega, mercifully closed, and send glass flying. [ooc]Take your pick of 2 of the remaining conditions
The phone flies from the woman's grasp, and she raises her hands I was calling the police, like Cryonova said to, I swear!
Ava drops the icicle shield, letting you get closer as she gestures with her scepter toward the house, as the wind picks up. She turns back to you, more tears running down her cheeks, dark shadows under her eyes, silver hair bedraggled. She's not in a good state, hasn't slept in days, Emotionally unstable. The person in that house let a lot of eople get hurt. They let at least one person die, probably more. Just leave, please.
what do you do?
Up in the room, you see a machine for counting money, dozens of wads banded and labelled, and the aforementioned briefcase. It's definately pretty beat up, you don't use a nice briefcase for clandestine transactions. There is a Pawnbroker's price tag (20 bucks, not bad), Sanford and Sons. You've seen it before, on the other side of town.
Well, sometimes, we'll drop them over by the precinct, and leave our tag, if We're trying to make a point. or we'll dump them in the bay. We were gonna drop them in the sewers this time... But it's kinda a non-issue. Horus sasy as you come back down
Yeah, White hat inbound. Gadget Girl, in the Sleipnir, We want to get lost soon. Besides, we have another appointment.
what do you do?
I shake my head, embarrassed. This is why I hate rushing into things!
With the vines moved, I start helping the injured.
"Gotcha. Thanks for the outing. Was fun in a way. Try not to get arrested."
Tox will flee the area, drop off his share of the loot at the nearest charity organization, and go home miserable and regretful.
Trying to be the hero to fill the growing hole inside only made things worse. Now, Sorrel would surrender, but he's already on his knees. He would run, but there is nowhere to run but the forest. He's caught between these two places that he doesn't belong.
One thing he is certain of, he won't be going anywhere without his team again... if they ever let him out of containment. What are they going to do to him? They just found him inciting gang violence, and injuring innocents. He's a villain now for sure, maybe even a monster. Was this to be his life? Constantly afraid the next mistake would be the end of any semblance of a normal life? How much of that is real, and how much is just his own insecurity?
Sorrel buries his face in his hands. Gloves against the hard edges of a gas mask. Always separate. Always at arms' length. Sorrel felt his third eye slide open, and he finds he can see through his mask. Beyond his splayed fingers, he sees the truth in the things around him.
Michael approaches her, sympathy on his face. "Oh. I'm... My condolences. I know how you feel, just wanting to do something." Grandpa... "I've been there too. Can you tell me what happened? If whoever's in there is a threat, I'll help you take them down." If they're not, we're going to have to stop you instead.
Thank you, Quentin Cryonova says, freezing and shattering three of the death-vines, before throwing down a beeping device, probably a homing beacon.
She touches a hand to three injured thugs, and Hyla, in turn, freezing each of them. there are 5 wounded remaining. I ned you to tend to those 5. freezing them until Vitas can come will do more harm that good. can you do that for me, Quentin?
Your third eye sees, as if through fog, the people here, tied with strings. like puppets, or maybe strung together like lanterns. them, quicksilver, you Hyla, SLam. and all of them are connected to one source, elsewhere in the city. This encounter was't an accident.
The lady at community action tries to ask you questions, as she sees you leave the bag on the doorstep, but you slip away before she can get much out.
as you skulk away, the police scanner function of your comms comes to life
We have a situation over in the dockside, cryonove, quickmans kid and a few other supers on scene, several wounded are reported in a gang thing gone really wrong. and something is going on in the park, snowstorm. probably more supers. the voice says. what do you do?
She's not... it's not about being a threat, Michael. it's about being dangerous, about hurting people, or letting them get hurt. no one else would do anything, so I am. She says, the wind intensifying further. have you ever wondered why we're only allowed to deal with the kind of monster that wears a mask?
I give a nod and start with first aid for the five injured. Dad drilled me on field medicine since before I had powers, so it comes naturally to me.
He could see it now. This wasn't some random gang he'd managed to accidentally escalate. This was planned. Sorrel's goggles were steaming up from the tears he was failing to hold back and the breath he couldn't quite catch, and his hands shake like leaves in the wind, but that one piece of information was clear... and he had a trail.
Sorrel stands, takes a few steps in the direction the strings lead him, then turns to look back at Quickie and Chryonova. They are dealing with the present situation--better than he could--and there was no telling if anyone would believe what he saw or give him another opportunity to- to even leave TITAN. This was his only chance at redemption, as desperate as it was. He could still be a hero.
Springing into his full, leaping gait, Sorrel bounds down the street in the direction the threads are leading him, navigating by second sight alone.
I look up from first aid to see Sorrel take off. I should follow him, but this vine wound isn't going to stuff itself with gauze. I flip on a 1-1 communication channel.
Ricardo, what the heck? Get back here, you're only making things worse. Cryonova is like a mountain lion. If you run, she'll chase you.
Michael shrugs. "Not really. I guess...it just only seems fair. Right? You and I, we can do things most people just can't. Using your powers on a normal, that'd be like... killing someone in their sleep. Cowardly. Monstrous, even." He pauses, and shivers as the storm continues to intensify.
"C'mon....people are trouble. Your teammate is in trouble. You can do this...You can do this!"
Tox tries to shake himself out of the insecure feeling that's crawling in the back of his mind and forces himself to head back to the docks.
Normally, Tox preferred to stick to the shadows, radio in, and let his bugs take point with him striking at the vulnerable spots.
Not today...
Tox zeroes in on Kid Quickman's location and rushes in, fully revealed, venom primed and looking around for the enemy.
"Kid Quickman! You okay! Just got the message."
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The lines converge somewhere nearby. 4 blocks away, perhaps. it's powerful, extremely so. either one of the chosen are in town... or, more likely, it is Harbinger.
Around this realization is when everything goes cold., and a wall of ice rises before you.
You both watch as Cryonova fires a blast of her ice energy , giving a nice patina of frost on everything between herself and the ice wall she erects before Sorrel. Sirens cry out in the distance, and the 5 injured are still unstable. What do you do?
No, Michael. she growls, shards of ice solidifying around her. Don't do that! Twist everything around until its our fault, make everything about Them being the victim, no matter what they've done! No! she shouts, sending out the barrage of icicles toward the house
In a panic, Sorrel has a hard time controlling his comms. "You don't understand." His voice cracks through the speaker in his mask. "He's blocks away." The distress rings clear over KQ's comm link. "He's watching, con yo!" Without context he just sounds crazy to anyone other than his fellow elemental channeler. "[B]He brought us all here on purpose." He may still sound crazy with what he's telling KQ. "I can see it. I can see- I see..."
Sorrel's cleats cut against the layer of frost surrounding the wall, and he kicks his forelegs, rearing up on his hind legs to avoid colliding with the surface.
Solmira activates the heatwave device and starts stomping forward, racking up her body density. Enough was enough. She tosses her jury-rigged device over to Michael as she quickly hits the comms, trying to ignore Sorrel. "Cover the house, Michael. Let me have this."
With that, her attention turns fully to Snowflake.
You and Michael are BOTH fools. He for stubbornly avoiding your bloody point, and you for getting overemotional and giving the person you speak of a lenient fate. I agree with your point, but death is a most primitive retribution - and most powers are too easily lethal.
...well, that's not all in your case. You have also given me an excellent excuse to vent my frustrations on you.
Forget Michael. What are the words, on this planet...ah, yes.
FIGHT ME.
Psychic pulses start slamming into Snowflake's mind as Solmira breaks into a flight-assisted run, practically gliding across the ground even as each step marks the ground with her new weight. The lack of light to respond to her prevented a barrage, but it would not stop her from delivering some very heavy punches, nor battering her mind till she was too disoriented to even conceive of fighting.
Throwing all semblance of finesse or restraint to the wind, Solmira opts for sheer force and brutal satisfaction. And if she managed to hurt her badly...well, it wasn't like she was going to be here much longer. Michael could complain all he liked, but she needed this. And who better to exercise this with than a girl attacking the powerless?
Michael nods to Solmira, and offers an apologetic shrug to Snowflake as he heads back to her target's house, taking in the current state of the structure and looking for a way in.
Remember your notes, you've done test, you can do this. Nothing should go wrong.
Tox loads up some special venom in his hands, stuff that will slow the heart rate and restrict the vessels. It should slow down their bodily state to a point where they're still alive but prolonging the time that they can be saved.
After all the talk about Tox joining the beat'em up gang (and after watching Sorrel lose his mind and run off) there's no way I'm going to let Tox poison some injured gangbangers. I slap his hand away.
Behind you, a figure lands. It's Kite, one of the other Halcyon interceptors, with a high-energy weapon. Hands on your head, I'm going to get you in class-E restraints, until this is all sorted out. If deer can fold their legs up under them... do that. She instructs, voice extremely calm. what do you do?
KQ's hand immediately goes dark green, almost black near the Veins. that is a new effect... Quenting, you expirience a pretty dreadful amount of pain Are you Angry at Tox for hurting you, or Afraid of the pain?
You see flashing lights, looks like there was better than average response time. Cops and paramedics. What do you do?
You close easily, snowflake rendered powerless by the device. One blow is enough to make her crumple to the ground, shuddering and clutching her abdomen. do you feel Guilty for going all-out against a helpless girl, or Afraid of your own strength? what do you do with her now?
The house is snowed in, frost pretty well coated on the windows. there is a woman huddled up in the corner, away from the windows. Solmira's device has taken out the storm, but the house is gonna take a while to defrost. What do you do?
On a miss, the device works, but it has a completely unintended side effect that the GM will reveal when you use it.
I shove Tox away. [b]What? Did your new friends send you to take a few gangbangers off the table permanently? I can't believe I stood up for you tonight![/ooc]
Worse than useless. Sorrel carefully eases down onto his knees and folds his hands behind his head. "Esta a pocas cuadras-
tan poderoso. Nos trajo aquí ..." Too shaken for English, Sorrel mumbles the phrases at the floor. His eyes, all three of them, are closed tight.
Moving quickly, Michael makes an entry into the house. He approaches the huddled figure. "Not sure what you did to piss her off, but you're lucky we were nearby. Is there anyone else in here?" he asks, teeth chattering.
Tox is filled with gut wrenching panic.
How does he know? he thinks, as he recoils.
"Why did you get in the way!?" Tox shouts back, clearly defensive and angry.
"You know I can use my venom for medicine if you hadn't jumped in the way and gotten yourself an extreme dose!"
Venom starts vaporizing in Tox's breathe, as failure upon failure begins to compound on him, and he starts losing his usual composure.
"And who I spend time with is my business! Or were you so paranoid that you could have a poisoner on the loose that you had to get my secret identity, for safety reasons? What!? Your daddy put you up to this? C'mon Kid, just tell me. Am I your teammate, or just some Dangerous weapon?"
Estará bien, pero necesitas calmarte. Los adultos pueden manejar esto. Kite says, in almost perfect Spanish. [Why don't you tell me what happened, while Cryonova and Vitas deal with the others?] She says,
The woman, in her mid 50's, looks up at you. I... theres no one else in the house, my husband is out shopping. What's happening? she says.
Sorrel takes a few deep breaths and nods. "Slam, Hyla, and I came to speak to a local super. We though we might recruit him- I don't know. Then, this gang showed up, things escalated, and people go hurt." The young suit takes another breath to suppress a wave of shame and doubt. He slips back into Spanish as he continues. [I started seeing things, w-with my t-third eye. Someone arranged this. The three of us, the gang, your team... Us being here at this time is part of someone's plan, and he's nearby. Blocks away. -and powerful.] Sorrel points in the direction he was headed. "Like he's watching the lights..." He shakes his head. [We're like a string of lanterns- Does that mean something? I don't know. It was so vivid at the time...]
Michael tries his best to put on a Serious Hero demeanor. "I'm with the Institute; your house was attacked by a supervillain. I was hoping you could tell me why. Would you be willing to come back with me, answer a few questions?"
Michael tried not to shiver too much, and wishes again that he was in uniform; it'd be warmer, and give him much better odds of being taken seriously by an adult. He offers the woman a hand getting out of her house, taking a moment to flick on the team comms. "I think we have things under control here, for the moment. Sorrel, you OK?"
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Oh, I'm pissed now. This jerk just poisoned me and then gets on my case for being iffy about a poisoner. And I didn't even figure out his stupid secret identity.
I couldn't care less who you are under that mask. That creep Maximus crashed dinner with my dad to show us a dossier on the raging band of psychos you're hanging out with. They're killers, Tox! It's hard enough debating the lies people tell about you, it's going to be so much harder when what they say is true.
It looks for a moment that I'm done, but really, I'm not done.
And no, I did not know that your venom can be used as medicine because you're such a spooky loner that you never bothered to tell your teammates what you're capable of.
I hold up my throbbing hand, my innate regeneration already healing the damage And not for nothing, but if you're going to lecture someone about not trusting you because you're a poisoner, you should PROBABLY not poison them first!
I drop my hand out of his face. Now shut up and apply pressure to that guy's wound, you jackass. Try your best not to flood him full of poison. I'm going to find out why the hell Sorrel broke bad.
At the mention of his very new cohorts being killers, Tox frowns, and takes a step back.
"What? No...they couldn't.."
Then he remembers the scene with how he met them. They had been rough, but they couldn't be killers....could they? Tox presses both hands to his head and, noticing his venom is leaking, he slowly calms down and begins to retract it back inside.
"Look, I thought you would have noticed by now I don't have crazy martial arts skills. Haven't you ever wondered how guys suddenly pass out when I hit them or my bugs do their work? I have to be extremely precise with my injection amounts, and I've experimented on myself to make sure doses always wear off with no side effects. Think of my hands like a large syringe. What happens when you suddenly push on a syringe really, really hard?"
Tox looks incredulous, but his head sinks. He know's its not Kid's fault. And he had been rushing with that dose, but to admit that now...
"I'll follow your lead for now, but we need to have a talk later." Tox says, kneeling down to apply pressure to the wounds. He does release a slight sedative, to ease the guys pain. Just because Tox was feeling like crap, didn't mean everyone had to.
[Who do you mean?] Kite says, kneeling down next to you, and puttig her hand on your shoulder [To me, it sounds like you used your powers on civvies in a moment of terror, and now, you're trying to externalize this horrific event. You need the deaths to be someone elses fault.]
The man is fading as a figure steps forward. Vitas, the third interceptor. She kneels, touching her hand to the thug you two are struggling to keep alive, and heals the worst of his wounds. What I wouldn't give for a speedster paramedic. she mutters, moving onto the frozen gangbangers. two unfrozen people are still lying there, with their wounds still unhealed.
I don't... I can't imagine why a supervillain would target me. Who was it? She asks, suddenly pale as she leaves the house.
Seeing that everyone is safe now, I rush over to Sorrel.
What the hell were you thinking? Why did you run?
Solmira looks down at Snowflake, and finds herself filled with a terrible regret. And after I scolded her for getting over-emotional...this is pathetic. What on earth made me think this would make me feel better? She is just a girl, and not even one that can fight back now!
Taking a brief moment to herself, Solmira takes some deep breaths. She focuses on the sun's light, the feeling of it washing over her with the blizzard dissipated. When she opens her eyes, she looks calmer, but anger hammers down on the minds of anyone close to her. She gritting her teeth, she picks Snowflake's unconscious form up off the floor.
...if she is arrested, this may well end here. And if she is truthful about why she was doing this...I cannot allow that. I've done enough to her as it is.
Carefully,