Royal [IC]

[pyrefiend]

Axon regards the earpiece, then drifts an insubstantial "hand" through it.

"I can't wear that."

He floats quietly next to Malice. He isn't much for plans, but this one seems simple enough.

[swrs3d]

Hourglass holds a hand too his ear,

"All good up here, lets get on the move as quickly as possible."

[Business Scrub]

@Party sans Perceptus: Without further ado, Malice drives off towards his apartment, dripping sewage. Ever with the snarky comment, Scia: "I would read your mind, but even then I would have no idea what you were thinking."
Polarus is a bit more concerned. "Is anyone else as freaked out as I am about that? How did they know where I live..?"

After a few minutes, the group reaches his house, and pulls into an open garage area.

Spoiler: The Super Base?

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[El Zombi]

"If this looks like an empty warehouse, that's because it is. Or, more accurately, was. Feel free to drop off any of your stuff in the living space downstairs. I'm going to take a shower."

The garage looks like a pretty normal industrial garage with a motorcycle off to one side. The walls are made of brick, with a 20ft high ceiling. Some tools lay strewn around in the back on a workbench, typical stuff to work on cars. The exits from the garage, however, are more subtle. He walks up to one of the walls at a seemingly random spot and presses on a slightly raised brick on the wall. A hidden door opens in front of him, and Malice motions towards the new entrance.

"This way please."

Malice shows the group around. The living space looks pretty good for an underground bunker, if looking a bit out of use at the moment. The walls an ceiling are bare concrete, but the floor appears to be made from tile. Malice lays down the purple armor he collected, as well as his bag of personal possessions, on the table in the living/dining room

"This place used to produce high class drugs for the mob, but they abandoned it after a police raid," He points to a bullet hole in the wall behind him, "and I got it at a bargain price from the government. They looked at my funny when I asked them to keep in the secret doors and asked questions like 'why would you want that?' and 'how could you possibly know about those?...'" Malice trails off a bit.

"...Then I lost my house in an unfortunate accident and, now homeless, was forced to live here! So please, make yourselves at home!"

Then Malice heads off, grabs a change of clothes, and takes a shower.

[pyrefiend]

Axon walks around the halls of the building, exploring its ins and outs.

This feels right. It might even be my home now. But I don't like waiting.

He strolls around listlessly, feeling a little bit on edge.

[El Zombi]

Once malice is done cleaning up, he throws his clothes in the wash, and then goes to repaint the armor his colors.

Spoiler

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Taking 20 on a craft check for a total of 25.

After he is done with that (assuming the group waits around all day for Perceptus) Malice begins work on fixing up a working earpiece for axon.

"Hey Axon, can I borrow you for a while? I'm gonna try and get a comm that you can use in your alternate form."

He's going to use very thin copper wire wrapped around a current carrying wire (the current being provided by Axon's alternate form) to form a levitating electromagnet around the commlink.

Spoiler

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This is essentially making the flight power (levitation) for the equipment, so 1 equipment point, essentially.
Design Check: (Knowledge Tech DC 11): (1d20+5)[24]
Construction check DC: 11(1d20+5)[17]
Total time: 2 hours

[swrs3d]

While Malice gets cleaned up, Hourglass hops on a computer and and finds every piece of information he can about Voigt's background, and if there are any leads that might hint at the origin of the sphere, well its a long shot but they need to start looking somewhere.

Spoiler

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Take 20 on search or knowledge since search doesn't technically apply to web searching, so which ever you think is more appropriate.

[obilisk260]

Woops, wrong door. Well, might as well make use of the opportunity.

Perceptus walks into the stall and relieves himself, and after washing up, walks back out of the bathroom, and through the other door.

[Business Scrub]

Spoiler

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So I'm on my phone at the moment. I can post Tims stuff from memory, but I need stuff from my computer, so I won't be able to post for the others until I get back.

@Perceptus: You weave between the guards carefully, and go through the door to the north after your business in the bathroom.
It appears you've strolled into some kind of living quarters: it's a bit louder in this room, and the agents here are more active. To your left, a man deals out a poker hand to his friends. In front of you, a woman sits on a couch staring at some kind of textbook. All around them, people talk casually the kind of things you might expect from office banter. Some folks drink beer out of a can. A couple watch the Golden Bears squaring off against the Redskins on a large flat screen tv.
Above all a purple suited agent, possibly the same one from before, watches passively. There is a door to the left, and one directly across, as well as the one you came through.

[obilisk260]

Perceptus walks casually across the room, and out the door on the opposite side.

[Business Scrub]

@Perceptus: You narrowly avoid contact with one of the agents and open the north door. Inside, almost abandoned save for a pair talking quietly, is a room with several long tables, and double swinging doors leading to a kitchen on the side. There is an ajar door here, leading to what seems to be a janitorial closet. Besides that, there are no other passages here. The pair looks up at you and go quiet when you enter.

[obilisk260]

Oh, maybe they have one of those fire escape maps in the kitchen. I mean, fires do occasionally start in kitchens, and I haven't noticed one anywhere else, and I can't keep wandering around here aimlessly.

Perceptus walks into the kitchen, and looks around for any kind of map on the wall.

Spoiler

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Notice check: (1d20+11)[30]

[pyrefiend]

Axon walks over to Malice when he's called, and watches him build whatever he's building.


"What are you doing?"

[Business Scrub]

@Perceptus: You walk through the swinging doors, into the kitchen. It appears these men and women are well stocked: the area is like what you might see on a cooking show. As luck would have it, you were right: this kitchen does have a fire escape plan. Though the map isn't kind enough to show you the entire building, it does give a bit of information.

Spoiler: Fire Escape Plan

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In the event of a fire or related emergency, workers are instructed to exit along the marked path.

(The map shows only the necessary rooms: the rest have been blacked out. The red path leads back the way you came to the garage, then though the right door, and apparently up one or more flights of stairs.)

On your way out, however, you find the doorway blocked by the two that had been talking in the corner. They stand in your way, such that passing them would only be possible by pushing past or flying over.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing over here?"

@Malice: You set to work as soon as the grime of the day has been washed off. First: a bit of sweet looking armor, and possibly also an F.U. to Voigt and his crew. Then, you draw up simple plans for a suspended adapter for Axon's earpiece. Normally, such a thing would be difficult to say the least, but when your power source generates all the current you need, it becomes much simpler. You notice a few minutes into your work, Scia has started watching silently over your shoulder. In no time and with some of Axon's help, you modify his earpiece to float just beside him.

Spoiler

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Sorry, but no reallocating power points once their spent. Until someone spends the points on a device power, the earpiece has to be re-built after every event.

@Axon: Feeling a bit at home, you drift between the activities of the others. Not too long in, Polarus starts to get bored as well. She speaks to everyone, but since you're the only one not occupied, she speaks mostly to you.
"Well..? Are we going to form a plan? There's like, twenty people in danger right now. Actually probably a lot more. Please tell me we're not just going to spend the rest of the day ******* around on the internet and... err, whatever it is Malice and Scia are doing."
She flips on the TV. "Let's see if the news caught wind of any of this yet."
-Channel five bringing you up to date with the world as it turns. Oil drilling off the coast remains at a standstill today, but why? Exxon isn't saying. After commercials, we explore this and more: An earthquake that rocked San Fran and the man with the gall to bomb a police station. Stay tuned.

@Hourglass: With your speed, you notice for the first time how infuriatingly slow computers are. Still, you hunt around for news on Voigt. As you go, a few news lines catch your eye before you find what you're really looking for.

Spoiler

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The Unbreakable Man: Francisco Inquirer brings you an interview with the supposed "Unbreakable Man". Todd Hewman (28) claims to have an impervious body, and boy has he shown it....

Spoiler

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Break-in at San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts: What they news isn't telling you about what was taken...

But those aren't why you're here. Turns out, Voigt isn't so hard to find things on. He even has an entry in wikipedia, though it's not quite as fleshed out as you would hope.

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Hans Geralt Voigt, (Born October 3rd, 1972), is a German American engineer and physicist. Born in Munich, Germany, Dr Voigt is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has earned renown for his theoretical and practical work on nuclear fission, superluminal communication, and general quantum entanglement. In 1994 he co-founded Royal Incorporate, and in 2007 the less successful Acumen Corporation. Little is known of his early life or reason for immigration. He was briefly a Social Rights Activist particularly active in the New England area.

(Attached is a picture of Hans Voigt, who is indeed the face you saw earlier today.)

[El Zombi]

Malice answers Axon's question.
"Building you a way to communicate in your alternate form. It's a rough prototype, so until I get the special parts I need, it might be a bit fragile."

Malice then responds to Polarus.

"Well Perceptus gave us two times to meet up with him, one of which was a few hours from when we lost contact. That happens to be roughly now, so we should head to the city center, and check to see if he made the rendezvous. If he hasn't, we can hopefully start to track down Voigt with some of the information Hourglass has been gathering on him. How's that going, by the way?"

[obilisk260]

Oh crap, not good.

Perceptus prepares for combat by stepping away from the illusion. He casts an obscuring field over the room, including the two agents. There, hopefully nobody will hear or see the fight, that is, if there is one.

The illusion speaks, with a confused look on its face, "What seems to be the problem?"

[swrs3d]

@Malice
"Well Voigt is definitely the guy we're looking for. There really isn't any other information on him places other than wikipedia. It looks like we might want to look into Acumen corporation though, it looks like that's what Voigt did after leaving Royal. Come take a look at the page."

[El Zombi]

Malice walks over to Hourglass and checks the monitor.

"Hmmm... well this info is better then nothing. We should check out this Acumen Corp. I'll take my bike and check the town center for Perceptus. Everyone else, take the van and head over wherever Acumen is or was headquartered and I'll meet up with you there."

Malice makes note of the address (if available) of the Acumen headquarters and writes it down in his notebook.

[Business Scrub]

@Perceptus: You create a warped field in the air, containing the sound inside it, and blocking out the vision of whatever transpires inside. The two agents let out a small gasp as the field expands over them. Then, they change to concern.
"S**t! He's a mutie! None of us do that."

Quickly, they bring clenched fists in front of them, while scrambling for a radio on their belt.

Round 1

The two agents shout into their radios. Who knows if your obscuration did the trick though? Only time will tell.
"Mutie! Escaped one in the kitchen. Code red!"
"Seal it off! Seal the exit! Mutie disguised as a worker!"

Spoiler: Initiative

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Agent 1
Agent 2
Perceptus

[obilisk260]

****, that's not good. my field won't stop their radios. Time to take these two out and get out of here. Hopefully before reinforcements arrive.

Perceptus launches a focused telekinetic punch at the first agent, hitting him in the chest.

Spoiler

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Blast, DC 20 toughness

Perceptus then moves away from his current location.

Need to stay mobile, can't let them figure out where I am.

The illusion summons a bright gold shield and takes a defensive stance.

"Bring it on!"

[Business Scrub]

@Perceptus: You force a mental punch straight at one of the agents, who takes it full in the chest and is launched off his feet. He gets knocked up, hits the ceiling once before landing face up on the table, very unconscious. At the same time, you hear chatter over their comms, from an unknown voice.
"What?? Ok, stay there. Keep eyes on him. Do not lose him, understand?"

The remaining agent takes a look at his comm, then at you, then at his unconscious partner.
"F**k this!" And he bolts out the door, leaving you alone in the kitchen. Well, if you don't count the downed one. You can hear a flurry of activity from the other side of the door start up.

[Business Scrub]

@Malice and Hourglass: Acumen seems to have a few buildings across America, all in major cities: Chicago, New York, Boston, according to the page. However, the headquarters, as you might have suspected, is here in San Francisco, on the outskirts of the city. However, Acumen seems to be a charity group: a far cry from Royal Incorporated.

[El Zombi]

Hmm even if they look like a charity group, it could easily be front. And it's still our best lead to finding Voigt at the moment.

"Looks like it's here" Malice points at the screen at the address. "I'll meet you guys there."

Malice dons his new and improved armor, and puts on his motorcycle helmet and takes off in his bike (unless someone objects to the plan).

Spoiler

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Anything interesting about the armor?

When he arrives at the city center, he looks around for a few minutes, with his helmet, then heads out for Acumen if he doesn't see Perceptus.

Spoiler

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Notice Check for Perceptus (1d20)[7]

[obilisk260]

Perceptus floats out the door, and takes stock of the situation.

Spoiler

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If there isn't anyone in the room yet, he leaves through the door on the opposite side of the room, back into the locker room.

[pyrefiend]

These people sure love their plans. I guess it's not obvious to them that we don't really need them.

Axon nods when he hears Malice's instructions, and heads over to the van.

It's just like when we made the plan to surround Polaris' house. We went in to the sewers for nothing, all because we tried to hard to control the situation.

[swrs3d]

"Sounds good. See you there."

@Axon "I'll drive so that you can switch into incorporeal if you need to."

[swrs3d]

Once everyone is in the van, hourglass drive off to Acumen to rendezvous with Malice.

Upon arriving Hourglass parks and jumps out of the van, looking around for Malice.

Spoiler

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Notice (maybe we beat him there?) (1d20+5)[24]

[Business Scrub]

@Perceptus: Hoping no one is beyond the doorway, you open the door back to the living room. Immediately, you're greeted with the barrel of a great many of the agents's stun guns.

"Freeze! Err... what? Who opened the door?"

The purple suited figure strides forward around the scattering agents looking for their weapons. She facepalms, saying "He's invisible, you idiots! He has to be at the door, shoot him!"

Spoiler

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Initiative:
Perceptus
Agents x15
Scion

@Malice: You wonder idly about the armor you're wearing as you hop on your motorcycle and drive off. Making your way to the center of town, you briefly scan the blocks for Perceptus, and find no sign of him. Deciding not to waste any more time, you head to meet with the others at Acumen.

@Hourglass & Axon: You hop into Malice's car with Scia and Polarus, and head off towards Acumen. You park a block or so away, and see Malice arriving, looking a bit forlorn.
"Your friend not there?" Polarus says, picking up on it. "Maybe he just needs a bit more time."

@The Party sans Perceptus: You take a look at the building labeled Acumen. It's rather large, blocky shaped, and rises about five feet in the air. You can't see any security cameras from where you are, and the front door looks rather plain and pleasant.

[El Zombi]

"I guess we should check it out then?"

Malice walks up to the door, checks to see if it's business hours for them. If it is, he walks in.

[obilisk260]

Damn, that's a lot of people. I can't fight them all, even if I'm invisible. One of them is bound to hit me eventually. And I have no idea what the agent's powers are. Time for 'Perceptus pretends to surrender: take 2'. Maybe I won't be interrupted by teammates dying this time.

Perceptus walks over to a corner of the room, then creates an illusion of a person standing in front of the door. The man man is sweating profusely, and looks to be in incredible pain. The illusion raises his hands above his head. "Whoa, no need to shoot, I don't want to fight, not that I think you could harm me. You see, I'm..." The illusion passes a hand through the wall, then raises it back above it's head again. "not entirely aligned with this dimension. My mind and body are in a parallel dimension, only a shadow of my form is here. It seems that you have something in this building that is anchoring part of me here. I was looking around, trying to find it. Do you have any idea what might be causing that? It is incredibly painful to be in two dimensions at once. I can't hold out for much longer."

Spoiler

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Bluff: (1d20+14)[18]