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I'll see if I can find the 2e rules online. I made this character for a 3e game set in the amalgam universe, as a combo of Deathstroke and Taskmaster (more neutral than evil, he worked for the SHIELD analogue), but the GM shut it down before it could really take off. May use something like this. An urban commando of sorts. He was PL 14 though, and it was already hard to build, so maybe not.
"That was probably to get them to work faster. Shorter deadline breeds more urgency, and they still have an hour of leeway if the work starts running behind schedule."
Slade mulls it over and decides he'd rather not deal with a bored speedster. "Go. Amuse yourself for a while, but be back here by 5:45. Get back here at the maximum SAFE speed if I tell you to."
"New plan. We wait for this boss to show up. Maybe we can hear something else straight from the horse's mouth. Since they're making replacements, they must have somebody to either ship them to or are coming to pick them up. Maybe we can even find out how they're getting them around the city. "Haunt, since you're basically undetectable I want you in the actual warehouse. Hover near the ceiling so they can't touch you and you should be fine." "The rest of us will array ourselves around so we can see the place from every angle. We'll be ready to move at a moment's notice." "I'll be moving in a bit closer so I can hear them. That shouldn't be a problem for you, Shayera." "Any objections?"
For as long as possible, Slade tries to keep up with the rest of the group by hopping along rooftops, only resorting to hitching a ride with one of the other members if they get too impatient or Quicky chimes in that things are in urgent need of attention.
Slade gives the trident weapon an appreciative look. "I'm keeping this." After Quicky's report: "All right, let's head out. Don't want to miss anything."
Slade finds some cinderblocks or loose bricks and heaves them as high as he can in the air, then fires at them with the trident.
"Let's see what kind of destructive power it has. Anyone see some cinder blocks around here?"
"Stairs are for normal people."
"Sure. Just don't drop me, this armor is a hell of a lot heavier than it looks."
"I'll come along. I'm curious as to how these things work too."
Slade comes out of his trance and slaps the side of his head. "Now I remember what's been bothering me about Destine. He's an AAtlantean too. Saw him in an old video of Super Soldier fighting Maxiseth and his troops, and his helmet got knocked partway off." "Can't believe I almost forgot that."
"If you set it on fast forward I can watch it quickly. Doesn't help if it has audio though."
Slade helps anyone who attempts to examine the trident with what meager technological skill he has. That done, Slade goes into a short meditative trance, searching his memory for any helpful trivia that could give some insight into their situation.
"See if you can find a building to get on top of that will let you see the whole warehouse. Tell me how many people come and go."
"Because capturing and interrogating Maxiseth, an Inhuman with unknown powers of indeterminate magnitude is a much taller order than investigating a hopefully empty or lightly guarded warehouse." "It may come to that, but should not be our first move."
Sledge takes a deep breath, and relays the information he knows from the reports about Maxiseth and the Atlanteans. "Maxiseth in particular? As I said, not much is known about him except that he's insane, helped the Axis during World War II, and he's of Royal Atlantean blood...so has some manner of superhuman power, like the other Royals we know of. His goal may be the same as it's always been: Kill his brother and the queen, and take the throne of Atlantis from him. But that's just his ultimate goal. In the short term I have no idea what he'd be targeting, but I'd be willing to bet it furthers that plan somehow. He may just be trying to arm his followers and raise an army to assault Atlantis, though I doubt anything that direct." "His brother, Black Ray is incredibly strong and durable, and has an array of powers based on creating and controlling soundwaves, which grants him flight, echolocation, control over sea creatures, and crushing shockwaves. The other royal Atlanteans have similarly destructive abilities, so Maxiseth should only be approached with extreme caution during this mission. It took the whole Justice Squad to take him down before, so if you encounter him alone, call for backup and try to stall." "Atlanteans in general are superhumanly strong and durable, and will likely be armed with those trident weapons. Given what the members of this team can do they're not likely to be a large threat individually, but should not be underestimated." "I can recite the other reports word for word if you want, but that would take a while."
Slade mentally files a note that Shayera is more unstable than reports may indicate, but stays silent.
"Yeah. Just be careful not to get caught." he states the obvious for Quicky's benefit.
"We know nothing about Destine, except that he's VP of operations. SHIP and PILOT both have suspiciously little information on Hammerdown or anyone who work there. We've got no dirt on them, no details on their internal structure, or anything else." "That's why I was suggesting we investigate them first. There might be clues as to what the weapons are for, who they're being purchased by, and anything else we want to know either at that warehouse or in another of their buildings."
After the info exchange: "This surveillance footage confirms this is worse than it already seemed. Maxiseth, or Brinedart as he's calling himself now, is crazy and his abilities are largely unknown. Given he's of the royal Atlantean bloodline, they're bound to be significant."
"I think our first move should be to investigate Hammerdown. We're in the dark on the fine details of their operation, and knowing more could give us a way to shut them down permanently, since taking out Maxiseth likely won't put a stop to the weapon operation, or get the already shipped weapons off the street." "Input?"
"Sure. But you'll have to cover the bill this time."
"Hm. We'll figure something out when it comes to it." "For now, let's get moving."
Slade rummages around under the seats for a backpack. Assuming he finds one, he tosses it to Shayera. "Yep."
Slade thinks for a moment. "We want to be a bit lower key, but if we take some back alleys and move quick we can make it to Josie's without being seen by too many people. Not like the rest of us are very inconspicuous either." he gestures to his armor and the helmet under his arm. "If we move fast enough we might get there in time to see Josie kick Grayson's ass for bringing in outside food and drinks." 'For future reference, is there any way you can tone it down? If we want to sneak around it'd be helpful if you could cover the glow with clothes or something."
"Yeah. Haunt's there, and Blue Spider might be too. He's based out of the NYC area in any case."
Slade slides into a seat nearest the cockpit and buckles himself in, clipping his helmet to the mesh on the wall behind him.
Slade finishes reading files and wracking his own brain about the same time Quicky finishes his snacks. "Yes, looks like they're connected. Richmond Destine is VP of operations for Hammerdown Transportation. Haunt confirmed that Hammerdown was the company moving the tridents, so you two must have been in the same place around the same time. We need to work on your sense of awareness, Quicky." "The people who attacked Shayera match what little we know about Atlanteans as well. I think it's time we learned more about Hammerdown." At Fusion's question: "Yes, time to get moving. Let's pick up Haunt and Blue Spider, and then Quicky can guide us to that warehouse. Seems like our only cncrete lead so far."
"Yeah, but I never said it was urgent, I just asked how fast you could get here." Slade rub his temples a little bit. "Doesn't matter. SHIP will fix it." "Fusion, you'll want to hear this too." "Haunt called me earlier and said there was Atlantean activity in Gotham. Someone was loading crates of weapons, tridents that shoot powerful blasts of some kind. Wingblade said she ran into someone with a similar weapon who tried to kill her with it, so some are already on the streets." "So we're going to gather the rest of the team and investigate."
Slade arrives a few moments after Quicky does, and scowls at him. "How much damage did you cause this time?"
"Well, 'waiting' might be too strong a word. There's a chance he'll get there before I do. But yeah, we're going to take Quicky with us."
"It's 10 in the morning, Quicky." "Something's come up. How soon can you get to PILOT HQ? I can brief you when you get here."
While they're prepping the jet, Slade buzzes Quicky. "Hey, Quicky, you awake?"
Slade blinks. "Sure. As long as you don't mind SHIP standard issue black. Though we might have some PILOT blue ones lying around."
"Sounds like it might be one of those weapons Haunt mentioned." "I'mcoming to pick you up, along with a number of other people. I'll call in the SHIP clean-up crew for your little incident. Just give me the location of the bodies." Slade doesn't seem particularly fazed by the fact that three people are dead, beyond the fact that it will be somewhat inconvenient to cover it up.
Fusion: "I should be ther ein a few minutes, unless something comes up." Wingblade: Slade slows down a bit. "Are they still alive? And what did the weapon look like?"
Slade tries to contact Fusion again. "Fusion, it's Slade. We need to get to work. Haunt just contacted me with something about Atlanteans selling weapons in Gotham, and we haven't even gathered the team yet. Are you ready to fly? I'm on my way to the hangar now." Slade sets off at a brisk walking speed (covering ground about the same way a normal person would in a fast jog).
Slade snorts. "One of these days you're going to irritate someone without my signature saintly patience and all around friendly demeanor."
", something's up. We've got Atlantean activity here in Gotham, and possibly near DC. Seems we've got a hundred or so trident-like weapons capable of high powered blasts being shipped from Bethesda to New York City, released by a Mr. Richmond Destine. This may be serious." Slade winces as Haunt practically yells his name into the receiver. "You know, these microphones are really good. You can talk normally." He shakes his head and lets Haunt continue. Once he's finished: "Are you sure it's Atlanteans and not someone stealing their tech? Though either way, it's worth looking into." "I've got some people to gather up, but I'll see what I can learn from here and on the jet while I get them together, and then we'll meet you in Gotham. Any particular place?" While he waits for Haunt's reply, he closes his eyes and searches his memory again. 1.) What does Slade know about the Atlanteans (culture, level of technology, current leader[s], diplomatic relations)? 2.) What does Slade know about Richmond Destine? 1a & 2a.) (I'm going to look up the files in a moment) What does SHIP and PILOT know about these subjects?
Slade sighs. Off to a great start. Seeing as he can't get a hold of his pilot for some reason, he decides to spend some time wracking his brain.
1.) What do we know about the Hive? 2.) Who are the major players in New York and DC? 3.) How well funded are PILOT and SHIP?
4.) Are there any other active superheroes/teams currently?
"Yeah. I'll keep in touch, Maria." He sits for a moment, looking over the Greymonday file.
When he's done with that, Slade runs his fingers through his hair and grabs his helmet. He straps his sword to his back, and begins walking toward the hangar. Back in the field again. Been a while.
Slade taps the rectangular screen he's slid into a slot on his left arm brace, and it glows to life. He holds it near his face, and taps a small orange button. "Fusion, was it? This is Slade. It's about time we got moving. If you have any last preparations to make, now's the time."
"Just call me Slade. Everybody else around here does. Codename is protocol but nothing says I have to use it." Once Fusion has departed, Slade turns back to the monitor. He sets each video on fast forward, and spends a minute or two watching the footage. "Yeah. I think I can give them some pointers. There's a real skilled bunch here, but there's always room for improvement. Just at a glance most of them are very specialized. They're good at what they do, but I can teach them to branch out." "When can I meet them?" |