Since 1982, when the masked hero of Freedom City known as The Raven began fighting crime and the powerhouse known as Centurion struggled against super-threats, the world has been aware that there are those among us with fabulous abilities. Over the years, many more heroes appeared in Freedom City and on the East Coast in general, and formed a team known as the Freedom League.
Across the US, a number of super-beings have risen up in the last several years. In response, the US Government created Aegis, an organization responsible for monitoring and, if need be, dealing with such beings.
St Louis has been absent such heroes, until recently. It seems like in the last two years, a number of such beings have sprung up. Some of these have met before, others have spent their time on different cases hearing only rumors of one another. Today, this warm June day, is the day they come together....
A blonde teenager sat slumped over a table in some downtown diner. He was waiting for some of his friends to show up, but they were starting to run late. A strawberry milkshake with a long bendy straw led to his lips, and he drank it absently. There were several attempts to stave off getting something before they arrived, but those attempts quickly collapsed under the full weight of what it meant to drink a delicious milkshake.
Though this was starting to seem like a worse idea after his third glass. By now, he was debating on weather or not to use a device and travel back in time to half an hour prior, and warn his past self about the dangers of excessive milkshakes.
"Booooored...." He groaned out, before taking his current glass in hand and then leaning back in his seat. Just where were those guys?
A lovely day, to say the least of it. Atticus was peacefully enjoying an outdoor meal at a local restaurant. Though, the mood was chaffing under the supposed "hidden" agents monitoring him currently.
He waved at them, and gestured for them to join him for a meal. They didn't so much as move.
Pity...and I'd thought I'd be able to have some decent conversation for once.
It didn't help that the young woman who had passed by not five minutes before, had waved at him in a flirtatious manner. Faster than her hand landing back at her side, each of the six agents had reached for their stun guns at the same time. It couldn't be helped, they knew his power set, and had to be wary that he wasn't manipulating anyone.
At least this is on Aegis' bill. He thought as his burger and fry set arrived.
Reece walked out of the office building smiling. It had been a good visit with Dr. Veltman, she had cautiously approved of his plans. But then she was always cautious.
Looking up to the sky, he felt the warm sun on his face and decided to take a walk. It would do him good to be out among the common people for a while...
Careful, don't think that way! They're people, there's nothing common about them. He mentally warned himself.
Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, oblivious to the stares of the sweating people, he strolled along the sidewalk. His pitch black glasses were focused straight ahead but he was really scanning everything around him, looking for anything unusual.
He was anxious to get started...
The show was great. And the next few days he had some alone time. So movies. Food. And just some R&R. No need to think about routines. No need to stress about safety. Just him. This shop. And the 5 scoop ice-cream that was about to be placed infront of him
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Chris wadded up the paper from his sandwich and dropped it in the bag at his feet. He pulled out his paper and quickly reviewed the box score from Friday night’s game. Garcia had pitched a gem, giving up four hits, but no runs. And the Royals were having a good season. The win put the Cardinals in first place, and they now had twice as many as their losses. He had to admit, the Redbirds were in a great
position heading into summer. If they could keep up their momentum, they would likely win the Central running away, and might even break 100 victories. Not a bad time to be a sports journalist in this town.
He glanced around the park as he folded his paper and laid it on the bench. Leaning back, he thought about the post he’d written earlier that morning. He pulled out his phone and logged into his admin
account - over two thousand hits so far, solid response. And that wasn’t counting what he was getting from the repost on the NBC Sports regional feeds. He liked the guys at NBC – they had continued
working with him even though he had turned them down last year when they offered him a full-time gig.
But it wasn’t even an option - he would have had to move to Los Angeles. The money was good, but not great, and L.A.? No thanks. And of course, the Dodgers. What a bunch of no-talent hacks.
Chris shook his head at the thought – St. Louis was home, and he was exactly where he wanted to be…His watch beeped and Chris glanced down. It was time to get moving if he wanted a decent seat for
pregame questions. He grabbed paper and trash, wadded up everything together, and tossed it into a nearby can. Standing up, he ran his hands over his pockets: wallet-check, phone-check, keys-check. He
paused for the briefest moment, and then patted his last pocket: mask-check.
You all hear a low rumble that sounds like a plane at first, or maybe thunder. But there's hardly a cloud in the sky, and the airport is ten miles away.
Atticus: Just across the street from your sidewalk table is Kiener Plaza. You watch in amazement as the entire middle section of the park suddenly drops away from view, people, fountains and all. All around you, car alarms are going off.
Axel and Chris: From a couple blocks away (different directions from each other), you hear a thundering rumble, as if there has been a bombing or plane crash. Screams ensue.
Reece: You sense the topography in front of you, a large part of Kiener Plaza, is now gone. Dust from some sort of collapse now fills the air. You also hear hundreds of car alarms, and, the people around you have slammed into the ground. You barely manage to retain your footing.
Theodore: From inside the diner, looking out across the sidewalk tables and the street packed with cars, you can tell some ruckus is occurring at the Plaza across the street. The whole building shudders slightly, and suddenly the air is filled with dust and screams.
He imminently sits up, placing his glass down on the table. Seems that something was going on, and with dust and screams, it's possible that something was a building getting destroyed. Luckily, he's just the man– er, kid... guy? Guy for the job! And hey, he was just complaining about boredom just now anyway. Wjat better way tl cure that then by being a hero!
Some cash is tossed down, at least a hundred dollars over the price, but calculating a proper sane tip is way out of his priorities right now. Drink paid for, he rushed out of the dinner and... into the alley, so he could get suited up proper. Wouldn't be a good idea going out there as he was now.
"Come on come on, let's see what I got here..." He fiddled with a wrist-watch, and started to subconsciously pull on his powers. All of a sudden he became wrapped in a green light, and his clothes instantly changed to a previous point in time. "No... no... Not this one, ew..." From A metallic battlesuit, to a simple labcoat, and to some sort've black spandex outfit. All of which previous designs, all of which were utterly terrible.
"Aha, there we go!" He finally settled on his costume for the day, a white and black labscoat with metallic plates, black rubber gloves and boots, and a pair of black pants to join them. On his face was some sort of gasmask, the left side modified to display a clock. "Well, it'll do for now at least... time to get moving!"
"Oh dear..."
Atticus stands up and brings one hand to the side of his head, his index and middle finger pressed firmly. It was an old habit to help him focus learned when he was younger and had less control of his power.
Atticus reaches out with his telepathy and "pings" all the living beings in the area. He then takes a cursory reading of the thoughts to gather as much information as possible, then relay the helpful stuff to the necessary parties.
Stunned for a brief moment, Reece can't believe what he is sensing. "You wanted something unusual, didn't you..." He mutters to himself as he runs across the street into the trees at the edge of the plaza. Once he senses that no one is close enough to see him, he concentrates and his jacket starts oozing and reforming like modelling clay until it has covered his head and hands, the zippers and pockets vanishing. It changes from black to a deep blue with a stylized white "G" on the front and he leaps into the air to scan the affected area more thoroughly.
At first. He just stared at his ice-cream. On the ground. Gone.
"Just great... there goes my day of R&R..." he sighs then goes out to see what's up. But good news is not what he was expecting.
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Chris finds himself moving even before most of the people around him hear the explosions. Ducking into a small alley, he pulls off his Ripken throwback, and wraps it around his phone, wallet, and keys. He leaps into the air, pausing to drop the bundle on the roof as he flies past. Gaining altitude, he pulls on his black mask and begins searching for the source of the chaos.
I'm only going to require rolls on telepathy if it's being resisted or if there is something unusual in play.
People all about are terrified and/or in minor pain (having fallen onto the sidewalk, etc). However, there are several people who are seriously hurt and very afraid in the rubble. The image you're getting is like a combination bridge collapse and sinkhole.
Also, there's something...else. Several other minds, or maybe just one, that you can't read or comprehend. Definitely not human.
at the edge of the area that vanished.
It is definitely a sinkhole type effect. The ground has given way perhaps a hundred feet below the surface, taking everything above with it. It's a jumbled mess.
Notice:
At the moment, that's all you notice, but you're sure there are people down there somewhere, at least a few. There are always people mulling about Kiener Plaza.
Bridger sees essentially the same damage described to Reece above.
Notice:
However, Bridger can hear the screams of several people who must be among the rubble, or under it.
You three may act when you wish; Stopwatch and Jester will arrive after you've taken your actions.
Atticus reaches out to the terrified minds and uses his inner voice.
Help is on the way...
He will use Emotion Control to instill within them a feeling of hope to counteract their despair and fear.
On the offchance I need to roll since they're scared and this will be affecting that,
He reaches out to any minds that were out of the danger zone and sends a warning.
There is something dangerous, something alien here. Flee quickly and call for help. Quickly!
And if i can get one more action in, then he will reach out to any minds (including the detail tracking him) and send a mental map or instructions to where the trapped civilians are.
To a limited extent, sure. They will be more subjective in their meaning that language, though, and rely on the perceptions of the individual receiving them.
Discovering people trapped by the collapse, Bridger gapes at the destruction before flying down as fast as possible to begin freeing them.
Bridger swoops in to the area of destruction. He manages to save 3 people in relatively short order, but from his super-hearing, he can definitely tell there are at least a dozen others, some of whom are rather deep.
"Are you the man who talked in my mind?" an older black woman asks, holding on to a beautiful bell-shaped purple hat as the hero brings her in for a landing on safe ground.
Interesting...Some kind of hero so quickly to the scene?"
Atticus reaches out and contacts Bridger with his telepathy. He sits down as the conneciton is established and helps himself to another sip of cola.
"Here to help I assume?" he speaks into his mind, "They've all calmed down which should help with the rescue process. Do be careful though, I sense a few alien presences that may bring some trouble."
Axel sighs again, this was not fun or funny. Best get help going, the more lives lost, the more laughter is taken from the world
He jumps past a lamp pole, and emerges close to the wreckage
As the man he assumes to be a hero starts digging his way through the rubble, Reece flies down to land next to the hole. Reaching out with his mind, he starts lifting some of the larger debris and moving it to one side to clear a path in front of him.
When he senses the first living pattern the other hero unearths, he calls out "Can you detect the people who are buried? If you let me know where to dig, we can get them out much faster."
"You don't have to shout you know. I can 'hear' you just fine."
Atticus sends a vague mental image, a sort of mental compass to draw him towards the nearest survivor. Emulating some kind of sixth sense.
"Odd, your mind seems somewhat familiar..."
No, it's cool. I'll let you know if you surpass the limits of your powers or do something that requires a roll.
Go for it.
The young hero rushes up to the scene precisely on time, and not a second to late or too early. I mean, he would've arrived here earlier he worked out the specifics of actual time travel, but this is the best he can do for now. "No need to fear, the Stopwatch is here!" He cheerily announces.
Taking just a dew nanos to analyze the situation, he realizes there's not enough material here for him to rewind just yet, at least not without risking the civilians. With all the rubble though, injuries are bound to have taken place. He rushes towards the most visibly injured person he can see, and readies to tend to get rid of their injuries. "Fellow Heroes– Bring the wounded to me, I can tend to them!"
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Nicola Tesla had been casually flying high above the city, taking new readings on his latest design for solar power. He'd heard rumors that NASA was taking another look at Dyson-things, and was determined to be the first to nab that. Sure, copy-cats were trying to use the technology that -he- invented to apply it first, but -he- was Tesla. THE Tesla. The very thought that he'd pioneer so many electricity-based technologies and then not be remembered forever as the father of electricity was just...inconceivable! Too bad that bastard Edison wasn't alive to see this. He'd been industrious, but a bit slow and very limited in his thinking. Direct current! Sheyah. Riii--
His internal gloating is immediately interrupted by a seismic disturbance of a non-insignificant magnitude. He suspends his data-collection and flies toward the disturbance...which is quite a bit of distance away. It takes him some time to get there, and he starts wondering if he couldn't fly faster. That would take a re-alignment of the tachyon emitter....
He gets distracted, and only arriving at the area of the gaping hole brings him back to the current situation.
To everyone else, they see a normal-looking man in a nice business suit fly around, then down into the hole.
Tesla sees a self-proclaimed "super hero" (he still laughed at that term!) trying to rescue people individually. Another one seems to be building a...bridge...or ladder? Of come kind. He smiles like a kindly uncle to a bright but naïve nephew.
"Please, please, excuse me. I believe I have a more efficatious manner of getting these people back to their normal elevations. Stand back, please."
Tesla gets himself of a level with the sunken park, then...
reverses gravity.
Everyone that he can see in the hole is floated back up to the surface. Except for the superheroes. He figured it would be rude to try to affect them, so excludes them from the area of effect.
If anyone is trapped under rubble, that rubble is lifted off too.
"Anyone else?" he calls out, smiling.
As Tesla reverses gravity to free some of the trapped civilians, he also sets himself (and the other heroes) up for attack. Underneath the rubble lie several quadrapedal ant creatures. They begin firing energy weapons as they continue to collect wounded on the bottom level...
"Whoa, now that's a neat trick!" He shouts, as the gravity is thrown upwards... revealing the insectoid creatures. "Aw man, I hate bugs!"
Bridger looks at the woman in confusion before realizing what she's asking him, "Oh. Um, no, I don't do that. Excuse me..." he replies before diving back down into the hole.
Bridger hears the mental message as he reaches the bottom, and thinks back, "Thanks, but calm or not, they can still die under all that rock."
Setting down, he sees another man land beside him wearing a blue suit with a white "G" on the chest.
"Yeah, and thanks for the help," Bridger says. "Three over there." pointing toward a mound of rock and dirt.
The shout that somebody could help the injured is a welcome relief, and then watching as the debris and people begin rising into the air allows Bridger to relax for a moment. But as the people and debris provide a clear view, he sees the ant creatures, and their lasers, and their capture of wounded people at the bottom of the shaft.
Quickly, he tries to think another message, Hope you're still there, found your aliens - giant ant things. Trying to kidnap people down here. Could use a few more friends.
Bridger shouts at the man in the blue outfit, "Name's Bridger, by the way. I'm going for the wounded!" before flying straight toward the monsters.
Reece grows a bit apprehensive as he feels the intrusion in his mind and instinctively tries to put up a barrier between his thoughts and those from outside. He realizes that the telepath is only trying to help, but he still doesn't like it.
He thinks a brief "Thanks" to the unseen 'voice' and nods to Bridger as he starts to move the rubble over the nearest victim only to have it float away from him. "Another one? I didn't know there was a convention in town!" He remarks lightly. "I'm Guardian..." is all he has time for before the creatures start firing.
He puts up a telekinetic barrier and gives their other helper a mental shout, Can you get in their heads? What are they and why are they doing this?
Atticus sets his meal down, a bit irritated to actually have to act to move things along faster.
"Ants eh? You skin is armored, but let's see how your minds fair."
He then sends a meesage to each ally in the surrounding area.
"They're bugs, I don't speak insect so I've no idea what their motives are. However, they are hostile. I encourage violence."
Emily hurried along the sidewalk, glancing at her watch and cursing inwardly Damn it! I'm running really late! God I wish I hadn't let Chloe talk me into this.
Suddenly, from up ahead, she hears a low rumble followed by a cloud of dust rising from where the noise seemed to come from. For a moment she freezes and then, as car sirens start adding their wails to the sound of screams and collapsing rubble, she begins to run, not away from the noise like those around her, but instead towards the disturbance....
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Tesla looks around at all the helpful people and smiles. "Thanks, guys," is all he says. It seems appropriate, and if he talks any more without first consulting his phone he usually just makes people mad.
As the insects are revealed and seem to be outright kidnapping people that seems just downright evil. And insects being dominant over mammals is just right out of the natural order of things. Darwin would NOT approve.
He frowns and engages his force field.
As the most recent batch of innocents are cleared of his anti-gravity field he renews his efforts...but excludes all humans and includes the insects.
He charges the anti-grav to maximum power, the insects go up.
As they go up, he flies upward some more, trying to keep them from doing any more harm.
"Well, this isn't good, ants? Heh... ants in your pants..." he chuckles at his own humour. Now would be a good time for his friend to help him out
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Initiative:
Tesla: 25
Guardian: 23
Stopwatch: 19
Bridger: 15
Jester: 13
Rift: 11
Hijack: 10
Ant People:
The situation so far: Several people have been moved out of the whole. Stopwatch is trying to gather the wounded so that he may start seeing to their injuries.
Meanwhile, between Tesla, Bridger and Guardian, you've been able to move a substantial amount of debris out of the way.
On Tesla's action (25), he focuses his anti-gravity attack on the ants.
Of the 12 ants, 5 manage to grab onto something to avoid the effect. The rest fly upwards. As they fly past, you notice they appear armed with some type of rifle.
Guardian's action.
Reece's first instinct is to start hitting the insects hard. But he stops and reminds himself the innocents have to come first.
Quickly scanning the floating debris field, he pinpoints the living matter and calculates the proper trajectory. He scoops up the nearest person and pushes her towards the next man, and the next, and so on like a giant game of billiards until the mass of people flies out of the rubble to land safely near the healer.
Go ahead and make a check to see how accurate you are in gathering them. Use your Ranged Attack bonus. Your DC is not high, but the higher the more people you gather in this round.
Reece catches 4 of the 5 he "sees" and lands them safely toward the one who's announced himself as a healer.
Stopwatch's action. There are 5 seriously injured people near you, the rest just look scratched up and shaken up.
Theodore begins by tending to the most severely injured looking person there, localizing and isolating a specific part of the timestream and starting to rewind it in order to make their wounds... never have happened.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help. Everything will be alright before you know it." He uses a calm soothing voice, as well as he could, as he tries to pacify them beyond what Hijack's powers have done.
The child you just healed is completely whole. It seems they were not injured, after all (time successfully rewound).
Bridger's action.. There is one more person being levitated out by Tesla. There are also several ant creatures in the air re-aligning themselves, and several still in the rubble.
Noticing the sudden change in the tactical situation, Bridger adjusts his flight path away from the ant creatures to intercept the floating civilian and carry her up and out of immediate danger.
Since bridger is directing his own flight to grab one person and it's not resisted, there's no roll needed. He successfully rescues the last visible living person in the air (there may well still be people trapped, though, since some of the rubble is stubborn).
Jester's action.
As he watches the scene unfold, he tries to call the symbiote to aid him in what seems to be a unavoidable combat
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As the Jester prepares his symbiote, the ants are finally free to act.
Hijack can sense a telepathic noise as the creatures begin to act.
Three of the 12 fire at Guardian:
Only one manages to hit, and the damage is not sufficient to overcome DR. Guardian feels the heat, but it does not lasting damage.
Another 3 fire at Bridger:
All clean misses.
Another 3 fire at Jester:
Two solid hits, both of which ablate a layer of protection from his "armor".
The final three cannot compensate properly for being in the air, and their attacks are lost this round.
Rift's action, followed by Hijack.
Emily runs towards the plaza, finally passing the last of the fleeing civilians. As she runs she peers upward What's going on? I need to get somewhere I can see what's going on. Maybe I can help somehow?
In front of her running form a circular shape opens, rimmed with a corona of purplish light which seems to pulse as it swirls. Inside, a rooftop is briefly visible before the blonde girl steps through, and it blinks closed behind her. At the same instant, a matching shape open on the roof of a building overlooking the plaza. Here she appears at the same time as she leave the street below. Running to the building's edge, Emily wraps her scarf around her face as she peers down at the scene.
Let's see how strong your minds are.
Hijack will send an unnoticeable mental lash of energy to one of the Ant Soldiers on the ground, attempting to ensnare it in his control.