Dan is relaxed and amiable as the agents sit down to speak with him, sliding a manila folder to them before they even have a chance to speak.
In the folder are a number of official documents from Joint Operations Command, Special Affairs Division. A yellow sticky note on the top page has a phone number and a serial number.
"I'll answer want I can, but you're going to need to talk to these folks. I want to help, but I'm afraid having me on board is going to make your jobs a lot more complicated."
• Can you please give us an overview of your powers inasmuch as you’re familiar with them?
"I'm sure Mars' security cameras show me seeming to step out of nowhere, so you know a bit about what I do. I'm afraid the details are classified."
• How long have you been operating as a “hero?”
"You mean with these guys? Since yesterday."
• What motivated you to start?
"I find that explosions outside my bedroom window are pretty motivating."
• What were you doing on the day of the Silver Storm that you were able to get there so quickly?
"I was sleeping, and that's classified. How I got there, I mean. Not the sleeping part."
• Did you know any of the others before Mars recruited you?
"No."
• Did you know Maximilian Mars previous to your encounter with F.O.E. and the Freedom League at MarsTech?
"No."
• Are your powers dangerous to others in any way… other than when you use them on someone?
"I don't think so, but again, the details are classified."
• Where did you get your powers, or if you’re not comfortable revealing that, what’s their origin?
"Classified."
• How long have you had your powers and how experienced are you with them?
"Come on, I'm being nice. You should know better by now."
• Why did you decide to become a, pardon the term, vigilante instead of joining a government agency or program?
"I wanted a change of pace?"
• Do you have military experience?
"Seriously, just call the number I gave you."
• Do you hold advanced degrees of any kind, such as engineering or the like?
"Don't remember. It's a long story. And it's... you know."
Dan had been quiet, not really sure what to do now that he was exposed. He followed and listened and was definitely impressed and appreciative of Mars' facilities. It was Mars' personal admissions that sealed the deal for him.
"Mr. Mars, it looks like you and I have some similar views, and some similar reasons. I can't say yes quite yet. I have some complications to attend to, but assuming I can sort all that out, I want you to know I'm willing."
Dan shakes Gumshoes hand and shrugs. "Not really my choice, actually. Cat's pretty much out of the bag now though. No idea what I'm going to do next, but I'll keep helping out if I can."
"It's over. Raven is here. She wants to talk. Hang on."
And then they were back, Mars seemed to spill out of the shadows of the twisted architecture, supported by a dark skinned man in cargo pants and a thigh length hooded jacket.
He holds up his phone and nods at Gumshoe, but doesn't say anything.
Sorry, for some reason I wasn't getting gameplay updates for this game. I was about to ask what the delay was. Didn't realize it was me.
Dan was feeling a little out of his league. Doc Metropolis was on a rampage, and Dean remembered the last time he'd tangled with the good doctor. The rest of the crew he'd been shadowing seemed to have things pretty well in hand, but their focus was all over the place and people were still in danger.
Mars was the problem. He was the trigger to all this.
From behind the seemingly unflappable executive, Dan spoke up. "I'm getting you out of here. Hold on."
Dan is going to Shadow Jump Mars away. I'm thinking that the company's carport might be more stable and less full of people.
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."
Have I met any of these guys during my government days? I was more black-ops, and these guys were the poster boys, but I figure there might have been cross-over sometimes, possibly to do with my rescue.
Or I might have gone up against them when I was a villain.
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.
Just in case my handler wants to keep metahuman issues out of the hands of local government. Any one of these guys would make a complete mess of a local jail.
Sigh. I hate that trope. I don't mind people being able to shrug off bullets with super powers, but I really do mind when people without any protective powers can't be dropped by a gunshot.
Action Adjustment. If I delay my action until Cannon's about to fire, can I make him blast Cyberknight? What do I need to roll?
Dan wasn't in any mood to be tangling with a team of mercenary supers in a closed space. Tempus was the one that worried him the most. He walked calmly up behind the man, invisible in the shadows of the room, drew his gun and put a single round through the back of the the time-traveler's knee. The muzzle flash illuminated him for a split second, and then he was gone again.
Handgun:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22 I don't think I recorded the damage that guns do. GM, can you please roll it for me?
Dan slips to his apartment and uses his computer to convert the convenience store recording into a data file, clips it to size and then sends to the video to Gumshoe with a text.
Present for you. Tell the kid in the gi that he's doing good work.
Good idea, kid. Dan thinks to himself. While the others talk Dan starts busying himself slipping into the security rooms of the surrounding buildings and checking the angles of the external cameras, looking for one that might have caught video of the blast.
Well, the group just starting out. It makes sense that the costumes wouldn't be great.
Maybe Evil Eye can take the costumes that we throw together and magic them into something more impressive.
There's also the option of going for a less overtly superhero-y costume, like Rorshach (trenchcoat, mask and hat), or the Punisher (tactical gear and a spray painted skull). We'd be less flamboyant and able to change in and out of costume quicker, which definitely has it's benefits.
Straightjacket could actually wear an actual straightjacket. They are normally put on from the front and secure in the back with straps and velcro. He could wear it backwards like a jacket with super long sleeves, which his arms would expand into when he uses his powers.
I think it would look pretty cool to have the sleeves dragging on the ground until he activated his powers and then used them to immobilize people. It could also lend itself towards a "crazy" superhero persona.
Checking in. Dan had a bunch of stuff to do on his own during the lab scene, so I'm going to keep quiet and let everyone else have some spotlight time.
Dan walked with his hands in his pockets at the plodding place of someone who wasn't thrilled with the situation they found themselves in.
Each step took him from one shadow to another, moving him from the Redshift laboratory to a nearby rooftop, to an alleyway further down the road, then into an apartment complex, a parking structure, and a subway terminal. He walked up the stairs into the afternoon sun, still wincing even though he was wearing sunglasses.
He walked across the street, into an alleyway and out of his own closet. Sitting down at his laptop he turned on the television to listen to the news, rubbed his eyes, thought for a few minutes and started typing an email.
Dear Mom,
Looks like I'm going back to work again. There's a big mess in town after that explosion. You've probably seen the news by now. There was a truck from some place called Redshift in the middle of it all. I managed to get involved in the cleanup when it blew. Might take a while, but I need a job anyway. Don't suppose you want to send me a care package? This all came out of nowhere and I don't have any work clothes.
Hope you're doing well,
- Dan
GM:
In case it wasn't obvious, that's all code. Dan is emailing his government handler, letting them know about the possible redshift link, and asking for an equipment drop (an outfit and some basic hardware)
Alright. Anything left that might be worth looking into? Dan's better at this stuff than I am, so I'm not really sure what I should be looking for/asking.
Dan pulls out the business card he got from Gumshoe and sends a quick text message, then continues snooping around.
Going into the motor pool office to look at the key board and look for insurance information about the trucks registered to their company. Things like that. I'll cause a distraction if necessary to get anyone in the office, out.
Gumshoe:
A text message from a blocked number comes in on your phone.
Redshift Motorpool has three trucks in it, marked as 1, 2 and 4.
Dan jots down Paladyne industries, as well as the names of any of the scientists he can see. If possible, he reads the notes they are taking and tries to make sense out of what he's seeing.
Technology:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Booyah. Maybe being an experiment in metahuman alterations and having a background in infiltrating super-science terrorist groups will come in handy here...
He's using his phone to record as much video as he can, Zooming in on people, computer screens, readouts, those empty boxes (to get tracking/product codes), basically everything.
Then he moves down into the other two labs, eavesdropping whenever possible.
Shadow-jumping into an active lab might be a really bad idea, so he's paying careful attention to any warning signs or safety instructions. Also, he's looking for security features that might be able to detect him. He's invisible to security cameras and all light based/thermal imaging, but there are other ways to detect people and Dan isn't stupid.
I'm heading to the changing room and snagging a lab coat and some other disguise paraphernalia (if i can find a badge or keycard I'll take that too.) Then I'm hitting the labs starting with A.
I'm paying special attention to any conversations I might hear along the way.
With the others currently tying up the guard and the scientist, Dan decided to move.
Heading in, sticking to shadows. Looking for any kind of posted fire map, or a "you are here" board. Also looking for any kind of company locker room, laundry or uniform storage. I might need to come out of the shadows at some point, so some sort of disguise might be good.
Dan listened from the shadows, raising an eyebrow at the story and jotted down some notes in his phone.
Redshift. Gonna need to look into that. Maybe that detective-looking fellow can give me a hand...
At the moment he was going to need more information. He looked around for the highest ranking police officer on scene.
Everything they know is going to funnel through him, at least until the feds show up.
Dan spent the next few minutes literally shadowing the officer. Wherever he went, Dan followed, skipping between dark patches and trying to piece together what happened here.
Seeing an ambulance slow down and stop because the road was blocked by an abandoned car, Dan gritted his teeth and jumped off the building he stood on. When he passed into the shadow into the alleyway he vanished and came out of the mouth of another alley next to the abandoned car, hitting the ground still running. He yanked the door open and slid into the driver's seat, yanking open the lower panel to expose the wires near the steering column.
A metal tendril slid out of his coat beneath his arm and a two-pronged tool slid out of the end of it and jammed into the key receiver. Another two tendrils slid into the mess of wires.
Technology skill to hotwire the car:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Hopefully that's good enough. If it is, Dan will move the car out of the street, not particularly caring if he has to slam it into other cars or the curb to do it.
Not that it particularly matters since no one has really seen him so far, but I just realized that Nightstrike isn't actually Nightstrike yet. He hasn't picked the name and he doesn't have a costume. He's just a guy in sunglasses and a slightly oversized coat.
So, all the times I referred to my character as Nightstrike during description, please retcon all that to "Dan" instead. :)
As he pulled two more survivors out of the basement of the collapsed building and deposited them safely into the shadowed alley next to the makeshift medical center, Dan noticed the mad scramble of Talents start rushing down the street.
He tossed a small flare on the ground next to the unconscious people in the alley knowing that eventually someone would notice it and investigate. Then with a sidestep into the darkness he was on a nearby rooftop looking at where the Talents were headed.
He could see the cluster of emergency response vehicles and saw a tremor run through a tall nearby building.
Not good.
He ran. Jumping between shadows, moving across the rooftops and covering the distance as fast as he could.
What the hell do you think you're going to do? How are any of your powers going to stop a falling building? he thought to himself. He shook his head and came to a stop, feeling helpless. Watching.
I'm no good at stopping tragedy. Never have been. Guess I'll just have to try to make a difference by cleaning them up.
Posting as Nightstrike's Alter Ego since I'm not in costume.
Dan cursed under his breath.
I'm supposed to be staying out of the spotlight. Dammit.
He hesitated only for a second then moved.
Maybe I can do this without being seen...
He ducked into a shadow and reached. Coming out of the shadows and smoke he grabbed one of the frightened people and pulled. Suddenly they were on the neighboring roof. Dan was not.
I'm assuming the smoke and debris blots out enough light to cause some big enough shadows for me to move onto the burning building. Sticking to those, I'm going to remain invisible, use Hide in Plain Sight and basically pull people through to neighboring buildings. If all goes well, they'll feel themselves get grabbed, everything will go black for a second and then they'll realize they're safe.
