Superhuman Genesis

[NerdyOgre254]

Chapter 1

Wednesday, January 15th, 2014, 10:22AM

It's a cold but sunny day in Manhattan, and the streets are filled with the sounds of people rushing about their day, going from place to place for reasons known only to themselves.

The sun is out, but high winds take away any warmth provided, and everyone other than the few tourists wandering around have rugged up.

You're in the vicinity of the corner of West 86th Street and Columbus avenue. Sitting right on the corner is TD Bank, a single-story small business bank, surrounded on all sides by small independent shops of all varieties. The common fixture of a Starbucks can be seen further down West 86th Street.

What are you doing in this area?

[HopeHubris]

Khaldun walks down the street, appearing to be just a regular man in a nice suit.
He looks around, listening in on any interesting conversations as he heads towards the bank, one of many he uses
This mundane existence is so dreadfully boring

[Zelphas]

Christopher is sitting in the Starbucks, drinking coffee. He doesn't really need it to keep him awake anymore, but hey, coffee is coffee, and he did technically just get off a night shift. Best to keep up appearances.

As he sips his coffee, Christopher scans his laptop, searching through sites of Hebrew lore and mythology. "Still no sign of an Ifriel..." he mutters under his breath, resigned.

[Mekboy]

Rachel was sat in Starbucks. She hadn't ordered anything, but they didn't seem to be bothering her yet. She was engaging in her favorite hobby - people-watching. People were so interesting! The sheer variance, even in the people she could see from where she was sat, was amazing.

[Space Lawyer]

Agent Li
Central Park, Manhattan
10:22, 15-Jan-2014

The cold wind sent ripples across the Central Park reservoir, but Agent Li was well-insulated against the stabbing chill. A thick wool overcoat and a quality suit. Basic and boring, enough to blend in, not enough to be memorable. It was one good point of the Agency; they provided high-quality clothing. An agent dressed frumpily would stick out.

She had recently been assigned to the New York office. This place was always a hotbed of unusual activity. The rich that congregated here had an unfortunate knack for getting their hands on potent artifacts, while a lot of the extraterrestrials chose to land down around here. The most common theory for that preference was that they saw the movies humanity had been beaming into space for decades and thought that landing in New York City was just what they were supposed to do.

<While you do cut quite the dashing image standing on the windswept lakeside, you really should get going. There at least five subjects within your vicinity.

Of course, Martin wouldn't appreciate just sitting outside, or being around other people. Being such an extraordinarily strong telepath made being around others uncomfortable, and his clairvoyance essentially meant that he could just sit in his comfy chair at the office and see the world. Still, it would be nice if he could give others a moment of peace and privacy.

<And you should really mind your own business. I haven't been back here since cultural navigation training, and I just wanted to take in the sights. It won't take that long to find them and make contact.>

She sets off towards Columbus Ave. It was going to be a long day. After all, subjects could always be touchy about first contact.

[Drakeburn]

Melvin C. Gregory

Mel somehow found himself walking by Starbucks at West 86th Street and Columbus avenue. All he wanted to do was to cool off from what has happened. From New Jersey to Manhattan, things just don't seem to be going well for Melvin ever since.
Glancing at the place, he noticed somebody familiar. It was Christopher...... whatever-his-last-name was, with a laptop and a cup of coffee. If there was anybody Mel needed to talk to, it was him.

"Hey Chris. Mind if I help myself to this seat here really quick?" Mel said as he got near Christopher's table, grabbing a seat and sitting down in it before he could finish talking.

[Zelphas]

Christoher looked up, surprised. The youth who just sat down seemed familiar...

Then it hit him, and he swallowed down a wave of guilt and anger. Melvin Gregory had been the son of George Gregory, a man who had been submitted to the Sloan Kettering Cancer center with a strange form of cancer just a few months ago. Christopher had begged and pleaded with the director of medicine, Dr. Burgess, to be assigned to his care, but Gregory had been placed under more 'experienced' doctors. He had met the family a few times and gotten to know them somewhat, but Mr. Gregory had died before Christopher could find an excuse to get to him.

"Of course, Melvin; what do you need?" he asked, closing his laptop and facing the youth squarely. Hmm, he seems.. bothered by something. Well, I can't blame him; it hasn't been long, after all. Still, why would he want to talk to me?

[Doggie_arf]

Alex Mason

Alex jogged slowly along West 86th Street, dressed in a faded blue tracksuit and cold-weather jacket. He had left his apartment earlier in the morning, supposedly to jog around the city and pick up some groceries. In reality, the jog had only taken about 15 minutes; the rest of the time had been spent practicing his fine control in one of the abandoned subway tunnels. He'd reappeared in an empty side road he'd scouted out on an earlier trip, ran a few blocks to work up some sweat to mask the smell of old tunnel, before stopping to make his purchases at one of the small shops along West 86th.

Granted, it probably did seem rather strange for him to be moving around the city on foot, considering the abilities he had at his disposal. Apartment security had enquired after his well-being after he'd failed to sign out for three days in a row, however, and he didn't want to make them any more suspicious. Hence his newfound 'jogging' habit, to give himself an alibi that would satisfy the provost's paranoia. Not to mention that he needed the exercise.

The green and brown of the Starbucks stood out against the assorted shops in the vicinity, about 165 feet from his current location. To Alex's eye, the franchise outlet's appearance clashed with the surrounding shops. Maybe that was the point, to attract the attention of customers, but still...

Anyway, coffee was coffee, and he still had another project to work on later in the afternoon. Adjusting the grocery bag on his shoulder, he headed towards the Starbucks...

[Mekboy]

Rachel shifted her focus to two people sitting together - one with a laptop, the other a teenager with thick hair. She smiled to herself, wondering what they were here for. Perhaps they were friends, meeting up after years apart? She did love making up these stories...

[Drakeburn]

Melvin took a quick deep breath before beginning.
"You might know what I've been going through, with my old man..... gone." He tried his best to not to show his pain and sorrow. This wasn't the time for that!
"But I'm starting to experience...... Something else."
He took a couple quick glances at their surroundings. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to them. Everybody seemed to be minding their own business at the moment.
"Listen, you're probably the only person I can approach about this. If my mother and older sister knew about it, they'd freak out! And being kinda new here in Manhattan, I don't know who else to trust. Can I count on you to help me get through this?"

[Zelphas]

"You can trust me, Melvin. I'll do my best to help you with whatever you need, and I won't reveal anything you tell to me to anyone else," Christopher responded, outwardly the image of a calm, confident man. Inwardly, however, his thoughts were racing. Something else? If this isn't about his dad, what could it be? Drugs? He wouldn't go to a doctor he barely knew about that. What else?

Christopher didn't notice he was toying with the small green amulet around his neck until he chanced to look down. Forcing his hand away, he looked back at Melvin and smiled. "What have you been 'experiencing'?"

[Drakeburn]

Melvin's gaze caught onto a small green amulet Christopher was toying with. When he forced his hand away from it, it looked as though it was in slow motion. Christopher's question helped him snap out of it, whatever it was. Everything seemed to be happening normally now.
Melvin responded with a head shake.
"I can't really talk about that out here in public. It is a really........ complicated condition. I'd prefer if we discuss this somewhere more private. Can I perhaps make an appointment?" He tried to act casually at the last part. He noticed that there was somebody watching the both of them. Maybe he was overreacting, but he didn't want to take any chances.

[Space Lawyer]

Agent Li
Columbus and W. 86th, Manhattan
10:24, 15-Jan-2014

Kiki kicks through the mounds of dirty slush pushed up on the sidewalk. The long shadows cast by the surrounding brown brick buildings didn't help the temperature much. Her face was going to be bright red by the time she actually found any of these people and made contact.

She pulls out her phone and flips to the dossiers. Might as well get the teleporter out of the way first. Anyone who could teleport was inevitably a pain. They were hard to find, and when they didn't want to talk, it was obviously impossible to get them to stay. Hopefully this one can't attack with his teleportation. The ones who could do that particular trick always involved a lot of cleanup. It was hard to explain why chunks of the landscape had just disappeared, so it would always involve large amounts of cash for some quick demolition work, or just the brute force method of wiping memories.

Oh, and this one just had to go and be average. Male, caucasian, brown hair, brown eyes, average height. Kiki could see at least a dozen of those without moving her head. It was a lot easier when they had green skin or flaming eyes. Might as well get some coffee. I'm going to be here a while. She heads over to the close-by Starbucks.

[Doggie_arf]

A blast of heated air washed over Alex as he entered the Starbucks, bringing along with it the smells of brewed coffee. The store didn't seem very crowded at this time; only two of the tables were being in use at the moment. A young teenager appeared to be discussing something urgently with an older man at one of the inside tables; the young lady seated at the window table seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. The two tables were separated by 12 feet and 3 inches of space, and Alex idly wondered just how much the latter could hear of the former's discussion. Or why she was listening in in the first place.

Anyway, it wasn't really Alex's business; he was just here to buy his coffee and leave. Walking up to the counter (6 feet, 5 inches from the entrance, give or take half an inch...), he took out his wallet, extracting a few greenbacks and a half-filled Starbucks stamp card.

"One grande latte to go, please," he told the barista on duty. "And hold the cream."

[Zelphas]

Christopher raised an eyebrow at Melvin's request for secrecy. Whatever this is, it's serious... or at least the kid thinks it is.

He grinned in response to Melvin's statement of making an 'appointment'. "I'm not really, that kind of doctor, Melvin, but sure, I can pencil you in." He picks up his coffee again and takes a drink. "Just let me finish my coffee, and we can walk and talk. Central park is pretty bare on a day like this."

[NerdyOgre254]

At TD Bank:

Khaldun walks along the length of Columbus street, slowly making his way to the bank. Situated on the very corner of W 86th and Columbus, TD Bank is a small brick building, obviously a remnant of older times. At the corner is a small outdoor seating area, housing a single oak tree and a trio of wooden benches around it. At this time of year, the tree is bare and the benches wet and dirty with snow and water.

[Everyone roll Perception - if you don't have Perception, roll Awareness]

The bank itself curves around the small seating area, made of old brick. The main entrance faces north, with a queuing area for the tellers as you walk into the bank on your left. Ahead is a door leading to the staff room, and to the right is the office area for dealing with customer loans. From your experience, the safe is around the corner from the office area.

Taking up the remainder of the lot is a small carpark only partially filled with vehicles at this early time; a pair of business cars with the TD Bank logo stenciled onto the side, several vehicles of varying size, and a pickup truck with some large sports bags in them. You can also see the manager of TD Bank, an overweight and balding white man, taking a cigarette break under the security camera at the side door.

As you walk in, you are immediately recognised by Denise, a young African-American woman who is the assistant manager of the bank. Prior to your entering the bank, you had noticed she was merely observing, but as you enter her demeanour shifts to one of obeisance fitting that of a customer service worker.

"Good morning, mister Kingston," she chirps out brightly, "Did you need access to your safety deposit box today?

At Starbucks:

[RACHEL] As you watch the people go about their business, typing away at laptops, having conversations, or just staring into their coffee cups and contemplating their existence, you notice an immediate shift in some of the patrons. Before you have time to wonder, your systems register a high-level scrambler frequency deployed in the immediate area - not enough to block out your internal systems, but strong enough to make radio communication impossible. As your systems start trying to pinpoint the direction of the source, you see a teenager in denim jeans and hooded jumper walk up to the counter and ask something of the clerk, while pointing at his phone. The clerk, while handling the change from another customer, examines his screen for a moment, then looks to his phone, and merely shrugs at the teenager.

[ALEX] As you hand the barista your money, a rail-thin teenager in jeans and a hoodie almost pushes past you to the counter, and holds his phone up to the barista. "Hey man," the boy says, "Is there something wrong with your wifi? Signal just dropped." The barista, in amidst handling your order, looks at the register and his phone, and shrugs. "I'll go reset it in a minute. Must be acting up again, sorry about that."

[KIKI] As you absentmindedly play with your phone while waiting for your turn in line, you notice that your cellphone signal has dropped completely. No wifi, no data connection, no GPS, and no telephone signals. Never a good sign.

[MELVIN/CHRISTOPHER] Engaged in your conversation as you are, you're only dimly aware of the loss of service, and the dissatisfaction of the customers surrounding you as their lives are interrupted, if only momentarily.

[Zelphas]

Wait... Christopher suddenly froze, sensing the mood in the coffee house shift. Unfortunately, he froze in the middle of taking a sip of coffee, and the scalding liquid soon burned his tongue. "AHH!" he yelled, spitting coffee everywhere. He could already feel his tongue healing, but still, pain hurts! So distracted, Christopher failed to notice much of anything.

[Doggie_arf]

Alex nearly drops his groceries as the guy in the hoodie jostles him. Shooting the teen a dirty look, he adjusts the bag he was carrying, quickly checking to make sure the eggs he'd bought were still intact. That done, he turned back to the barista handling his transaction, in time to catch the man's comment about the router.

So their access point is down, he thought to himself, still annoyed at the teen's rudeness. Wasn't planning to stay here just to use their Internet, anyway...good thing I'm paying by cash today. He glanced around the shop idly as he waited for his order to be completed. Hope this doesn't take too long - I still have that writeup to get back to this afternoon.

[HopeHubris]

Khaldun notices a man on the roof as he enters the bank
I do so hope he tries something, it should be a nice diversion
"Hmm? Oh, yes, thank you"
Good woman, polite, if I have the chance I'll stop the roof fellow before he can do much of anything


Following the woman if she starts towards the safety deposit room, trying to subtly look around for any sign of danger

[Space Lawyer]

Agent Li
Starbucks on Columbus and W. 86th, Manhattan
10:26, 15-Jan-2014

Oh, just wonderful. A loss of wi-fi could easily just be a kicked cord, but a total signal loss seemed altogether too sinister. This seemed like someone's prelude to a much bigger move. It could also be an infestation by a radio-spectrum waveform, but that seemed unlikely as such thing usually started out smaller, and their next breeding cycle wasn't due for another 40 years.

Or, Agent Li reminds herself, she could just be paranoid. The Agency tended to have that effect.

Still, better safe than sorry. <Martin, I've just lost all standard communication signals. I think something interesting might be happening.>

[Mekboy]

Hmm... scrambler frequency. That was ominous. Rachel stood up from her chair and walked over to the window to watch the crowd, this time looking for anything particularly suspicious looking. Sure, maybe she was overreacting, but when something a bit stronger than that could have done her some harm she couldn't help but take it a little personally.

[Drakeburn]

Just he was about to make progress, it happened again. Everything around him looked like it was in slow motion. From the complaints everybody around him were mouthing out, to Christopher's reaction to getting his tongue burnt. "What's going on?" Mel asked out loud, slightly confused. Everything around him began moving normally as he spoke.

[NerdyOgre254]

Spoiler: Khaldun Kingston

Show

Criminal Expertise Check: SUCCESS
A successful bank heist involves a few things, depending on approach, but the biggest factor to consider is the alarm. Once that goes off, your time is very limited until you get police involvement. Shut down cameras, make sure nobody hits the panic button, and limit access in and out of the building. If you need to, take hostages. Shoot the guards, not the civilians. The second that police realise that you can't be bargained with and those lives are forfeit, they will throw everything at you. Barricade windows, block doors, take cover. Work out how you're going to get into the vault beforehand. Some people will subvert the system and try to walk in with an access card. Some people will put a thermal drill up to the vault door.

And once you get inside? Knowing what's in the safety deposit boxes is as important as getting them out. If you can get inside information on who stores what, you can at least start to put some guesses on the value of what's inside. It's not an exact science though, and the payday will vary.

Then you have to get away. No identifying marks on the vehicle, make it a Plain Jane affair. If the crew can afford it, get a van with tough suspension and a bigger engine. Fuel economy's going to suck, but you need it when you're hauling bags of cash, gold, jewels and your perpetrators in the back too.

You are led around the corner, past the offices to the vault, the main door of which is shut. Her thumbprint is scanned, her eight-digit code is entered, and her security card is swiped through the reader. As the doors are about to open, the lights flicker, and then go out with a loud whine. The screen for the security system flashes from green to red, and over Denise's shoulder, you can see the words POWER FAILURE LOCKDOWN in bright yellow letters. In the offices, the sound of murmuring voices, curious as to the strange event, voice their concern.

Spoiler: Rachel Carver

Show

Perception Check: SUCCESS
Switching sight modes to a radio-filtering mode, you start scanning the area, and as your head turns to view the top of the bank across the street, your view is filled with the harsh colors of what is undoubtedly the jammer. Switching back to normal optics, you see a man (you suspect) in a plain blue suit crouching at the roof access door for the bank. Black leather gloves cover his hands, while his left side is weighted down with a large duffel bag, the strap across his right shoulder. In his right hand you see a pistol with a large silencer on the end of it. You don't manage to see his face, as he puts on a strange Oriental mask as he moves to the open door.

Spoiler: Alex Mason

Show

Perception Check: SUCCESS.
Insight Check: FAILURE.
As you turn away to let other people order, a faint whisper of motion over on the bank's roof catches your eye. Stopping, you stare up at the bank's roof. Moving towards the door of the bank is a man in a blue suit, with a silenced pistol in his right hand. Over his shoulder is a duffel bag, and covering his face is a high-quality ceramic mask of a ninja, with the Queen of Hearts stencilled onto the front of it.

Spoiler: Agent Li

Show

Perception Check: FAILURE.
Insight Check: FAILURE.
Like the buffoon he is, the young man in front of you has stopped moving, and simply stands in your way, staring concernedly across the road in the direction of the bank.

Spoiler: Christopher Horeb

Show

Perception Check: FAILURE.
Insight Check: SUCCESS.
There's a few people looking very tense in the area - a young woman sitting at one of the small booths to the side of the store, and a young man who just finished ordering his coffee. Something appears to have caught their attention on the other side of the street.

Spoiler: Melvin C. Gregory

Show

Perception Check: FAILURE
Doctor Horeb looks to be distracted by something else, and nobody else seems to provide any anser to your question.

[HopeHubris]

Truck full of bags outside, man on the roof and now this, I wonder what could possibly be happening...
Khaldun thinks sarcastically before turning to Denise
"Well, this does not look good, it seems quite likely that your bank is about to be robbed, I would advise you to hide somewhere safe, or failing that, if those hiding places have electronic locks, stay behind me or one of the 'heroes' that are bound to show up"
What to do, hmm
"I saw a man on the roof, what could he be accessing from there?"

[Drakeburn]

"Hey Doc. Are you alright?" Melvin asked Christopher, snapping his fingers at him to get his attention.
He was sure that something was going on, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Things just keep getting and better around here, he thought to himself.

[Zelphas]

"I'm fine, sorry; the coffee was still too hot, I guess," Christopher answered. The burning was already gone. "Is it just me, or is something happening across the street?" he continued, turning to look quickly out the window.

[Drakeburn]

Melvin looked in the direction Christopher was facing, trying to make sense of what is going on. It couldn't be that bad, is it?

[Space Lawyer]

Agent Li
Starbucks on Columbus and W. 86th, Manhattan
10:26, 15-Jan-2014

Kiki glances over at the bank. If there wasn't something immensely interesting happening in that direction, then the young man in front of her was going to pay dearly for being between her and the coffee. This was just supposed to be a simple contact mission. Spend a few hours doing this, then go look for an apartment. Now I get to spend another night in the dorms. Great.

[Doggie_arf]

Alex walked the 7 feet, 2 inches from the cashier to the collection area to wait for his coffee, his mind already dwelling on the half-finished report waiting for him when he got back to his student apartment. Gotta put these eggs in the fridge first, though - that idiot had better not have cracked any of them...

Speaking of rude idiots, the hoodied teen was still fuming at the counter where Alex had been standing earlier. The Chinese [?] girl behind him looked just as annoyed, probably due to said rude idiot having cut in front of her. The man at the table (6 feet, 7 inches from here...) appeared to have choked on his coffee, his younger companion was fussing over him, and there was someone in blue standing on the roof of the bank at the junction -

Alex did a double take at that last, his gaze focusing on the man standing across the street 168 feet away. Normal people tended to use the front door when visiting the bank, not the roof. And they usually didn't go in wearing masks with playing card motifs. Or bring duffels and - wait, was that a gun he was carrying?

Without thinking, he started scrabbling for the phone in his pocket with his free hand, a fact made difficult by the grocery bag he was holding. Perhaps if he called the cops... But wait - what if they ask me to stay and fill an eyewitness report? Dammit.

[NerdyOgre254]

Everyone:
From the front area of the bank, the sound of smashing glass can be heard. The relative quiet of the morning is shattered by a trio of gunshots, and in a moment, all eyes are on TD Bank. Almost instinctively, the people in the Starbucks and the bank drop to crouching positions, hiding in their booths and behind their chairs. Phones come out, and people start dialling 911.

Spoiler: Khaldun Kingston

Show

Denise starts to fumble for her personal alarm system, and presses the button. As this happens, the sound of two suppressed gunshots is heard from the roof access, followed by the thumps of what you assume is two bodies hitting the ground. The door bursts open, and a man in a blue suit - likely the man you glimpsed before - moves in at a brisk pace.Gripped in both hands is a pistol with a silencer. Slung over his shoulder is a duffel bag, and you can see some contraptions inside, resting underneath a small submachine gun. He sweeps his view left, checking for more security guards. As his gaze turns to you, he aims the pistol at your head, and threatens the two of you in a gruff voice, "Down on the ground, hands behind your back, now."

Spoiler: Alex Mason

Show

As you manage to get your phone out of your pocket, you look at the screen and are quite surprised to see the bright 'NO SIGNAL' response on your cellphone.