Assuming everyone's of similar mindset as Enkidu, you kill anyone who's uninjured and tries to resist you, those who are uninjured and run away get away, but you ask everyone you can catch if the main bad guy is dead. You finally find a guard who's dying who says he was near his boss when the building came down, and saw him buried under tons of rubble.
The gang is officially taken apart!
Anything you want to do before the next mission from Dr. Destruction?
After a couple of days have passed, you hear Dr. Destruction's voice in your earbuds, saying "I've got a new recruit, and I'm assigning him to your cell. Fill him in on the situation and show him the ropes."
Alpha is doing maintence on his equipment, Beta and Gamma (his duplicates) both working on their own equipment as well. After they finish, they swap to make sure no one has missed a critical error.
"Anyone know when the new recruit is dropping by?" Alpha asks.
As if on queue, there is a knock on the door.
Continuum teleports outside, but away from the entrance of the building and then walks to the front to see what the newcomer looks like, before teleporting back inside to open the door.
Continuum sees a large man waiting outside the building. Heavy-set with a handlebar mustache, he dresses in fatigues and a oil stained vest.
Two things immediately stand out - the heavy, military issue Heavy Pelicase propped next to him, and the fact he is missing his right arm...
The front door thumps heavily a couple of times, then a voice with an Australian accent pipes up;
"Yes, yes, no need to scream. This is a secret base, after all, you walrus." says Continuum before opening the door.
There is a brief moment of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma pausing their maintenance work. While Alpha and Beta continue their work, Gamma set's his equipment down and moves to greet the newcomer.
"Welcome to the team." he says simply. "I trust you're not an invading force?"
The burly Aussie flashes a manic smile at Continuum's chastisement, then whispers theatrically;
"I'm sorry lil' fella. Didn't mean to wake you up... Your parents home in your not-so-secret-base? Never mind... here's one of the adults...
As Gamma approaches, he waves his one good arm in greeting;
"Beauty mate! Nah, no invasion here. Doctor-D sent me to bolster your minorities an' disability quota."
"Names Bax. Or if we're using our supervillainous codenames then it's Pincer. As in "The Plunderous Pincer". Ye might have hear of me? Before the ETs arrived an' everythin' went bloody cactus.."
Grinning he opens and shuts his one good hand in a pinching/claw motion.
"Well if the Doctor sent you, then you must be useful by his standards. And if I've learned anything in this...'job", its that he has high standards. I don't suppose he also sent you with instructions, his latest orders?"
Enkidu looks up from his book from where he is lounging on the couch. It appears to be a biochemistry text book; the cover labels it "Advanced" and lists it as the 4th edition, followed by a long list of authors. He's in his frequently used "wildman" form, looking something like a cross between cromagnon man and Mr. Universe.
Seeing the one armed man at the door, he looks him up and down once or twice, and then goes back to his book.
"Welcome aboard, don't cross anybody, don't get killed, beer's in the fridge."
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"Alpha there is correct. You'll probably want to dial back your A$$#hole back a bit." comments Continuum, who then turns and makes his way back into the base.
Pincer enters the base with a nod at Continuum;
"Duly noted mate. Last thing I want to come across as is an ar$ehole, bein' an ambastardor of the great and mighty Oz! Heh!"
He lugs the heavy box behind him, before coming to a stop near Alpha;
"Nah sorry... Doctor-D just told me to get me arse here pronto. So here I am... Me an' the claw."
A day later, Dr. Destruction's voice is heard in your earbuds :
"You may or may not be aware that after his death in the wake of the V’sori betrayal, the U. S. President’s family went underground. In the ensuing years, his wife Julia, daughter Jana, and granddaughter Mary moved from safe house to safe house, always just one step ahead of the V'sori agents. It has just come to my attention that they have now all been captured, and are currently being held at a former state police station on the outskirts of a mainland city. But in just a few hours they will be taken to a V'sori battleship in low-Earth orbit, where they will be beyond help. I'm sending you the co-ordinates of the compound where they're being held. It is very heavily guarded, so a direct assault may not be the best option. Time is urgent, and it is imperitave that you get *all* the family members out alive! Do not fail me!"
What do you do?
"Rescue the president's family? Is this a cheesy 90's action movie?" comments Continuum to the group after receiving the orders.
"So, does anyone know what they even look like now?"
Pincer pauses from sipping on his beer as Dr Destructions' latest orders are barked to all and sundry;
"Strewth! Reckon we'll get some kinda reward if we free the Prez's ladies? I mean if we ever get rid of these alien bludgers that's a mighty chip right there!"
The burly Aussie moves to his kit-box and begins donning his battle suit with its heavy claw appendage;
"Feck knows Conti. Sure Doctor-D could ping us their digi-images... Failing that... Can't be too many three generations of Sheilas under heavy guard at the place can there?"
Pincer snorts a laugh to himself as he continues to prep;
"Proper smart-arse me."
"Pics could be useful on a number of fronts. Once things go sideways, which they will, obviously, Alpha and I can lure away the reaction as up to three hostages and a rescuer."
He changes into a teenage girl to illustrate. He continues on, his voice shifting into the lilting cadence a teen as he does.
"That way, while Continuum is getting to a place where he can teleport? All the goon guys will be, all chasing us? And while they're distracted? The hostages can make a clean getaway?"
He shifts into a disreputable looking mercenary. "If we can get a guard or two, we could also replace them, and have someone in position to help as backup if needed. Delta might serve well if we want someone in position, but not sure we'll need them."
"I'm assuming we'll use some variation of do-gooder plan A for this? Sneak in, find the hostages, try to sneak out, invariably get caught doing it, and fight our way to freedom from there?"
"We have to assume they'll have some means of suppressing teleportation, or this would be too easy. If they can suppress all powers, we'll be in big trouble."
"If we're imitating do-gooders, who's going to shoot the lazer from space?"
Pincer watches Enkїdu transform from beast man, to teen girl to shifty merc, then grins - clearly impressed;
"That transmoglification you do ain't ever gettin' boring mate... You do famous folk? Actors or musos? Be like watchin' TV!"
The Aussie pauses as he does some servo-checks on his heavy pincer arm;
"They're being held in an old blue heeler station right? Reckon they'll have any swag there worth us borrowing? Know the Prez's ladies are the mission priority but might be other stuff there worth liberating... Eh?"
Searching the Internet, the most current images you can find of the late President's family are 3 years old, so at most the grand-daughter might have changed appearance significantly.
Dark Angel flutters down from her quarters on the upper level to join the conversation. She assesses the newcomer with a curious eye but offers no comment. On hearing the ultimatum from Dr. Destruction, she raises an eyebrow.
"I doubt that the likes of we will accrue any appreciable rewards from this. More likely, all praise will go to our 'employer'. In any case, adolescents are notoriously uncooperative. We may need to subdue them for their own well-being."
"As noted in the briefing, a direct assault is out of the question. Even if we survived, the hostages almost certainly would not. As for nullification, I would be very surprised if they are able to nullify my powers, as they are divine in nature, not scientifically-bestowed or mutations."
"Children are expensive disease factories. I'll let one of you handle the actual kids."
Pincer allows his claw to spark with energy and grins;
"Heh. Got me a stunner built into the Ol'Pincer. Likely send the little blighters to sleepy-time if I shock 'em."
So...I haven't seen a consensus on a plan...or even a real plan, for that matter (altho Enkidu did throw out some pieces). More discussion! :)
"So it sounds like we should do some version of a smash and grab; we'll need a distraction, likely handled by ole' nightmare fuel here" Continuum points at Enkidu as he talks, then continues "But he'll probably need backup. We need to have transportation set up to allow us to get away, and then we'll need the actual extraction team, which should probably be me and one other person. The timeline should go something like this: team D (for distraction) starts doing what they're gonna do. Once that is going on, team E (for extraction) goes into the facility directly. Once there, we locate the family (whether they are in one or multiple locations, then deal with the security, then teleport to team T (for transportation). After that, team D hightails it outta there."
"Questions?"
Pincer waves his claw in affirmation;
"Sounds a plan Conti. They're being held in an old cop station right? We should be able to get some floorplans or sumthin' online... Means we ain't goin' in blind. Even if the place is locked down tighter than Jock's wallet, we'll still have an idea of where Team E'straction need to be. goin'?"
"I'll have to agree with what Continuum's proposed. I can send Gamma with him to provide support, and an extra teleporter if he allows it. If I and Beta split up into different groups, then we can maintain communication even if comms go down.."
"We were warned to be wary of the frontal assault. I have no problem playing the distraction role, but I think you might be giving me too much credit. If I hastle the front approach, I become that frontal assault. I can weather most small arms, but if they bust out a heavy machine gun or a rocket launcher, I'll last about as long as an elephant does against an elephant gun. Not to mention that anyone worth his salt they have running that place is going to think 'distraction' the second a T-Rex shows up on his lawn begging for attention. A distraction should misdirect them when they already know something is up, not be a heads up that something is about to happen."
"I think we need something more subtle. We need a tech guy who can help us with the security system. We need recon and intel that let's us know what kind of weapons we're facing.
"Plan 'A' should be this; we move in by stealth, get to the marks, and teleport them out."
"And since plan 'A' never works as planned, Plan B would be that if we can't teleport away for some reason, I break away then, causing that distraction you mentioned, to misdirect their attention when they already know something is going down."
"Plan 'C'; if we get caught before we even get to the marks, I break away and cause a distraction. The rest of the team continues with Plan 'A'. Plan 'D' is if I've already had to split off and you cant port out, Alpha and crew duplicate the hostages and he and one escort break off to draw away the main response, while the rest wait and sneak out in the confusion."
"Plan 'E'; everything goes off the rails from the first moment, and plans A-D are sunk... Improvise."
"What do you think?"
"I can't really teleport all of you, and if you saw what I see when I teleport, you wouldn't want me to."
"My wings mark me as... different. As a distraction, I would be less than useless. I would serve better by being transport for one of the victims."
Alpha frowns at Continuum's dissent.
"I'm a power copier, but if you're saying that using your power could damage the psyche...I'm not sure that'd be the best route. Still, we've done worse to get the job done and I'll respect your decision on "borrowing" your powers."
"If we a non-obvious distraction, then we need tertiary targets. Do they have supply depots we can hit? Let's drop a lead to our friends underground of a good raid location. Is there a power plant supplying the target site? Enkidu and Dark Angel can be brawling it out and "accidentally" crush the lines. If we need an accident to happen, we can make it happen."
"I'm used to it, but it can be rough on someone who's never seen the fractured multiverse before. There are some people who literally lose their mind. If you think you can handle it, then by all means feel free to copy my power. Just be warned."
[ood]Just to be clear, that's Continuum's "trapping" for his teleporting. There's no game mechanic for it (like rolling Spirit to avoid going mad).[/ooc]
Pincer sits fine tuning his claw as he listens;
"Fractured Multiverse sounds painful Conti. Might be that Doctor-D has a ointment for that..."
The armoured Aussie utters a harsh chuckle, flexes his bulky pincer then address Enkїdu;
"Gettin' back to the plan... Wildman - yah able to assume the form of an ET or a Fin? If yah can might dupe visuals or cameras at least..."
"I can handle it," Gamma offers. "I'll provide backup teleportation support, and should it prove unharmful, Beta and Alpha can join the collaboration. For now, I believe Enkidu's series of plans should work. Let's start with stealth and cause mayhem should the need arise, agreed?"
You hear Dr. Destruction's familiar voice over your earbuds "I have decided to allocate Pincer to another cell. I will communicate with just him to tell him where to go."
After about a minute, Pincer picks up his things and leaves. "G'day, mates! Good luck with your mission!"
"That's fine then. Let's go ahead and divvy up work then get moving."
So Enkidu's plan A was : "we move in by stealth, get to the marks, and teleport them out" - is that what you all are going with?
Has anyone given any thought to Pincer's last question?
Angel is going to have to serve as backup, since it is impossible for her to disguise her wings. She will hover above the building, awaiting a call from her comrades.
So Enkidu's plan A was : "we move in by stealth, get to the marks, and teleport them out" - is that what you all are going with?
Has anyone given any thought to Pincer's last question?
"I can do V'sori no problem. I can shift into anything in my genetic code, and the V'sori were originally Atlanteans, like my mother. If I shift into one, I can even get the internal organs right; it's flawless. The Fins are a bit trickier. So far as I've heard, they really are aliens, so i cant change into a real one. That being said, I can imitate one pretty well." He shifts into the appearance of one of the 7 foot aquatic humanoids to demonstrate, "The illusion is only skin deep, but I can use Shark physiology as a basis, and use it to breath underwater if needed. Ingortunately, Without ID or passcodes, the impression will only get us so far. Anyone have ideas?"