[M&M 3e] Second Chances

[PalusAbel]

"We are under no obligation to answer your questions, Mr. Dickson." Elizabeth steps forward to address the reporter. She looks him up and down to get a sense of his character; he would soon be removed from the premises if he could not be trusted. "More to the point, we are unable to confirm nor deny any of the facts you seek." The peculiar phrase stuck out in Elizabeth's memory as something suspects were supposed to say during interrogation. It would, hopefully, cut off his line of questioning.

Spoiler: Actions

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Insight check to Evaluate Mr. Dickson.
Insight: (1d20+10)[15]

[TooManySecrets]

This is gonna be bad. In Nate's experience — which, granted, was mostly limited to trying to find ways to wheedle out of work — you had to treat the boss with kid gloves. While Mister Reporter wasn't the boss by either physical stature or actual hierarchy, he could definitely make their lives miserable. If Elizabeth kept trying to stonewall him so abruptly, who knows what might happen?

"What my, uh, 'colleague' is saying," Nate says, stepping forward a bit and making sure that the freeze ray was pointed to the ground, "is that, uh, any questions you have will have to be, like uh, directed to the, uh, Mesa City police. You and your readers can rest assured, however, that, uh, everything that can be done to keep them safe is being done."

[Anubis Dread]

"I really don't give a damn what you write in your article or record," Michael told the report bluntly. "But I feel like I'd get chewed out if I didn't advise you of the fact that this zoo may still be crawling with animals that could eat you up and sh** you out quicker than you do a front page tabloid article."

[Zelphas]

Spoiler: Elizabeth: Insight Result

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As far as you can tell, Mr. Dickson is looking for a story. You can't quite read what kind of story he's looking for at the moment though--maybe he doesn't know himself? He's excited, though he's hiding it pretty well. No matter what, this could be big.

OOC: At the moment, Mr. Dickson is Indifferent to you. He's just here for a story.

Mr. Dickson smiles thinly in response to Elizabeth's confrontational manner and Nate's stuttered assurances. He looks slightly nervous for a moment when Michael mentions loose animals, but quickly hides it behind his professional demeanor. "No one's forcing you to answer any questions, Miss..." He gives Elizabeth the chance to introduce herself, and then continues. "For the sake of time then, just a few questions that perhaps you can answer. What do you want to be called? Is this--" he gestures to the frozen Ogrillan "--the only reason you were here? What's next for you?"

As he speaks, your radios crackle to life. "Hello? This is Agent Branch. It sounds like everything's gone quiet in there; is the target neutralized? Over." Mr. Dickson suddenly looks incredibly interested.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily took out her radio. "Target neutralized sir. Over." She elected to keep the response simple and to the point with the reporter present.

[Arcran]

"Everybody cool off a bit," Howard says as he listens to Stone and Elizabeth. He was surprised the reporter hadn't just turned tail at that point; two superhumans just told him to leave? And he flat out ignored them. "The poor man is just trying to do his job and, at least as far as I can tell, is doing a fairly good job at it. Breaking into a zoo with animals of questionable containment? That shows dedication," Howard says, a very familiar smile stretching over his face.

"Personally, I'd love to answer your questions and I'm sure you'd love to talk to me," Howard says, his tone already apologetic. "Unfortunately, we have an ape man that I'd put at a conservative half-ton to get as far away from a zoo as possible. This time safety has to trump what we both want," the literomancer states, a sad frown on his face as he motions for the others to try to get moving.

"Of course, I'd love to talk in the future when there are less pressing concerns. My people will contact your people, The Mesa City Star, correct? Perhaps we could start with something a little more formal, preferably one that doesn't start with us catching you in a bush," Howard says with a quick chuckle, the conman act quickly coming back to Howard.

Of course, internally Howard was torn. Did the reporter recognize him? if word got out that Howard Silvers was out and about again it could prove trouble for the team. It'd be impossible for them to accomplish anything, especially with the press hunting them down to try to put some nasty spin on Howard's tale. On the other hand, working with Branch was the only real way to go free and, by extension, the only way to start to pay for what he did.

Spoiler: Actions

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Whatever rolls you want I'll just take ten on. 28 for Persuasion/Deception, 26 Intimidate.

[Zelphas]

"Affirmative," Agent Branch responds. "Good work. Head back to base, then, unless you have something to pick up at the gift shop."

Mr. Dickson looks intrigued by your words. "An exclusive... All right. Just give me your contact info, and I'll get in contact with you right away," he says eagerly. "The paper prints tomorrow, though... for now, just give me a name. Something to call you guys, to keep the readers interested." he finishes, still holding out his recording device.

Spoiler: OOC

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Due to Silvertongue's Diplomancy, Mr. Dickson's status changes to helpful! He'll probably write up a glowing story of your heroics, in the hopes of securing that exclusive. He still wants a name, though; either individual names, or a group name.

[Anubis Dread]

"I'm not giving out my real name, and we haven't picked out pseudonyms yet," Michael replied plainly. The authorities should be able to take care of any other animals in the area, it was time for them to go. "If I ever decided on one you'll be the first to know. If you happen to be in the area when I'm saying it," he added. Odds are they'd just release them all as a press release though.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Copy that," Lily replied. Of course, she wanted to discuss the scent trail before actually leaving, but that she definitely didn't want to talk about in front of the reporter. She looked to him then, "Yeah, sorry, you caught us a little unprepared. Next time, we'll have names and stuff for you, but we haven't had a chance to discuss that sort of thing amongst ourselves yet. You ask us now you'll just get a bunch of stupid stuff, end up calling me Flower Girl or something, just doesn't make sense. Contact info we can do I think...mmm..." Come to think of it, Howard probably didn't have a cell phone, did he? And she didn't think telling him to get in touch with Agent Branch was a good idea. "Well, my cell is 555-8377, anyway."

[PalusAbel]

Elizabeth remains silent. There is no evident hostility or ill-will in the reporter's actions, so would answering his questions truly be that problematic? She hesitates, unsure of whether what she is about to say will come back to bite her later on. "In my circle, I am known as the 'Fighting Redwood'. Someone back at your office may know the name; I have no contact information to give you, but perhaps my epithet will suffice."

[Arcran]

"We can't give you everything on the first meeting, can we?" Howard says, his grin easy. "I don't quite have a permanent address at this point; how about you give me you card and I'll contact you as soon as I'm able?" Howard asks, actually honest about the request. They would need to get there name out at some point and, fortunately, it seemed like Dickson would be a source that may even be slightly biased in their favor.

"As for a name, just call us what we are; the people that took care of the insane animal problem at the zoo. Don't know what you managed to get on your camera but it should more than suffice to keep the readers interested," Howard states, wondering if he should perhaps be a little more clandestine. Exactly how low of a profile were they supposed to be keeping?

"As for my name," Howard says with a wince that is more real than fake. "That will come a bit later. People aren't ready for that yet," Howard says, not wanting to risk the damage it could cause the team for others to know he was out and about. "Until then, just call me Silvertongue," Howard says, the name rolling of his tongue. It wasn't entirely original, of course; a book character with a power similar to his own had a prior claim to it. Still, it was perfectly fitting and, with his past, had a sort of twisted irony to it.

"Until we meet again," Howard says, offering his hand with a bit of an apologetic grin.

[Zelphas]

Mr. Dickson looks disappointed, but perks up slightly when Elizabeth gives her fighting name and Lily gives her number. "All right, here's my card," he says, fishing out a laminated square and handing it over to Silvertongue. "I'll get in contact soon." He shakes Silvertongue's hand with a smile, nods to the rest of the group, and walks quickly away, shutting off his recorder as he goes.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily waited until he got far enough that she was fairly certain he wouldn't hear her, before pulling out her radio again. "Agent Branch? Sorry, there was a reporter waiting for us after we finished up. When we arrived at the zoo, I caught the scent of the gas that gave us our powers. Or, an inert version, anyway. I estimate the scent to have been about a day old. It's probably responsible for what happened here. Here's the thing, I think I can follow it. It might be worth trying before we head back to the school. Do we have leave to do so if the others agree? Over."

[Zelphas]

There is silence from Agent Branch for several seconds. "Affirmative. Follow that trail," Branch finally responds, sounding on edge. "Report your location every five minutes. If you run into any hostiles, do not engage without confirming with me. Radio me, and I'll send backup immediately. Over and out."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily licked her lips. Okay. That sounded serious. "Copy that," she said, then looking to the others.

"Um..." she said with a little shrug. "Thoughts? Or should we just...go, I guess?"

[PalusAbel]

"Our mission here is completed, and we have just been assigned a new one." Elizabeth speaks in a flat, matter-of-fact tone. She flicks her eyes in the direction the report left. "Since we made the report, I think we are obligated to pursue the lead, unless there are any among us who are unfit to continue. I am, myself, physically well, though I should like to find a change of clothes, at the very least."

[Anubis Dread]

"If they're giving us more work we should take it," Michael replied, looking around carefully. The smell had started here is what they said? He couldn't detect anything. But he might be able to find some tracks somewhere nearby...

Spoiler

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Tracking: (1d20+5)[11]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily nodded, and started sniffing around to try and pick up the trail.

Spoiler

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I'll Routine the Perception check to track for 25.

[Arcran]

"I say we go before we need to come up with a cover story for more reporters," Howard says, dropping the facade as soon as the reporter was out of sight. He does carefully pocket the business card; he would talk to the reporter, after all, but with not the same excitement one might have expected from his enthusiasm a few seconds ago.

"If we can stop more people from becoming.. infected?" he says, trying the word but not liking the taste of it, "We have a duty to."

[TooManySecrets]

"Right, right, once more into the breach dear friends. Time to stick our hand into the meat grinder to see if it's, uh, sharp." Nate is laying the sarcasm on pretty heavy. "Unless Doc Proxy has some sort of ironic love of the zoo, he used his gas here for a reason. We have like no clue why he came here, no clue what he's planning, and no clue of what we're walking into. That's not just dumb. That's like frighteningly dumb."

"I don't know about you guys but, uh, I like living. Since I know we're going to end up doing this anyways, I'd like a little bit of warning before dying." Nate moves as if to look at a watch but, given that he's (a) not wearing a watch and (b) he's wearing a tie-dyed supersuit so he couldn't use one even if he did, he stops himself quickly. "Look, I'll be back in about .... eh, make it like a minute."

Then Nate disappears. No phase trail. Just poof he's gone. Except without any poofing.

Less than a minute later, he's back again just as abruptly as he left. On his left upper arm there's what looks like a remote control to a TV but with an antenna and what looks like a tiny speaker tied down with a strap. He's also carrying a ball of shiny metal maybe about a foot in diameter. The ball is featureless, save for four cylindrical holes from the top to bottom of the ball evenly spaced around the circumference and maybe about an inch in from it. Nate lets the ball go and it slowly floats upward. You can barely hear the soft sound of fans humming above the cities background noise.

"Since we don't want to-" "Four Unidentified Unique Heat Signatures Detected," the little radio interrupts by squawking in a tinny blare. Nate squinches his eyes before he presses some buttons on the remote. "Add to database. As I was saying, we-" "Adding To Database." At least this time its volume is reasonable, though still tinny. "-don't want to be surprised so, like, uh, I made this little thing here to help see the baddies before we do. It's got like heat vision and, uh, can see electricity, and can do both through walls. That should help with the whole, uh, meat grinder thingie."

The little metal ball starts to float in a lazy circle around Nate.

"The drone is running off battery power so it's doesn't have too much time. A few hours, maybe. Could be a bit more or less. So, uh, I'm ready, I guess."

Spoiler: OOC

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Free action to switch to Long Jump Teleport. Double move action to Extended Range Teleport. That gives me a teleport range of 250 miles. Unless Mesa City is redonkulously big, that's more than enough range to teleport back to HQ to build some stuff.

Invention: Semi-Autonomous, Enhanced Vision and Bodyguard Protocol Drone. It's just Enhanced Sidekick 18.

Designing the SAEVBP Drone* is a DC 28 (10+18) Technology check and takes 18 hours (1 hour per pp). 18 hours is Time Rank 14. Nate has Quickness 15, so it takes him 3 seconds to design. He also does the check as a routine check and automatically succeeds at it.

Constructing the SAEVBP Drone is a DC 28 (10+18) Technology check and takes 72 hours (4 hours per pp). 72 hours is 3 days which is Time Rank 16. Nate's Quickness reduces that to 12 seconds to construct. He does it as a routine check as well and automatically succeeds at it.

It takes Nate a grand total of 27 seconds (6 seconds to teleport, 3 seconds to design, 12 seconds to construct, and 6 seconds to teleport back) to make the SAEVBP Drone and come back. The rest of the time is him getting over being woozy from the teleport and trying to find that tool that he just had I know I put it down right there just a second ago but now it's gone darnit.

* Nate really needs to get better at naming things. SAEVBP is pronounced "save-beep", incidentally.

Semi-Autonomous, Enhanced Vision and Bodyguard Protocol Drone	PL 8
STR STA AGI DEX FTG INT AWE PRE -3 — 0 0 0 -2 0 -4
OFFENSE INITIATIVE +8 Unarmed (Hovering into things menacingly) +0 Close, Damage -3	DEFENSE DODGE 4 FORTITUDE — (Immune) PARRY 4 TOUGHNESS 8 (14 vs Physical) WILL 10
ADVANTAGES Interpose, Improved Initiative 2	SKILLS Expertise: Informing People Of Danger 10 (+8), Expertise: Seeing Things You People Wouldn't Believe 10 (+8), Intimidation 0 (-4), Perception 0 (+18 w/visual), Stealth 0 (+8), Technology 0 (+18 to identify)
POWERS Enhanced Vision [Technology]: Enhanced Perception 18, Limited to Visual; Enhanced Technology 18, Limited to Identification; Senses 16 (Infravision, Penetrates Concealment, Quirk: poor penetration; Detect Electricity 2, Acute, Accurate, Analytical, Penetrates Concealment, Quirk: poor penetration; Analytical (All Visual)) • 26 points CommLink [Technology, Radio]: Senses 1 (Communication Link (Armband Radio)); "Chatter Speak" Senses 1 (Communication Link (Armband Radio)), Rapid 2, Limited to Nate • 4 points Ducted Rotor Fans [Technology, Air-Based]: Flight 4, Quirk: no ground movement; Permanent • 7 points Titanium Plating, Nanoreactive Underlayer Armor [Technology]: Protection 8; Protection 6 (Limited to Physical) • 11 points Small Body: Shrinking 8, Innate • 17 points Construct [Technology]: Immunity 30 (Fortitude Saves) • 30 points Expert Programming [Technology]: Enhanced Will +10, Permanent • 10 points
Power Points: -28 (Abilities) + 3 (Advantages) + 0 (Defenses) + 105 (Powers) + 10 (Skills)
Total: 90/90
Note: The quirk (poor penetration) for SAEVBP's Infravision and Detect Electricity means that its vision does not entirely penetrate concealment. Every inch of intervening material imposes a -1 penalty to Perception. I am also assuming that Detect Electricity is vision-based. The limitation on Enhanced Technology means that SAEVBP can identify what a particular piece of technology is and it's function (which would include recognizing a technological trap), but can't do anything else (e.g. operating, repairing, disarming a trap, etc), mostly since it lacks any hands.

[Zelphas]

Michael finds himself unable to pick out what trail Lily is following until they exit the zoo; the zoo is well-traveled enough that any attempt at traditional tracking is near to impossible.

Lily fares far better. She picks up several instances of the scent throughout the zoo; whoever or whatever was carrying this scent wandered through most of the zoo. All of the scent snatches in the zoo are older than the one you picked up at the entrance, though; the scent's source isn't in the zoo anymore.

When you make it to the entrance, Michael begins being able to follow the trail as well, as the amount of foot traffic stops being so heavily packed. To Michael, it seems that the scent Lily is following is carried by a man. The man is either thin or small, judging by the lightness of the footprint you find in some dirt near the side of the parking lot, and the shoe he was wearing was falling apart. The trail leads southwest, away from the more affluent commercial district of town and into a poorer, more industrial section.

The reporters are waiting at the entrance, and once again mob you with questions. You see that Mr. Dickson has made it to the entrance before you; he gives you a smug smile and a wave before getting into his car and driving away.

January 8th, 2015
12:14 P.M.

After about twenty-five minutes of walking as the trail meanders through steadily worsening streets and Nate's SAEV-BP occasionally squawks [X] Unidentified Unique Heat Signatures Detected" as you pass people on the streets, the scent finally leads to a squat concrete building nestled into a dead end between a run-down thrift shop and the shadiest liquor store anyone but Elizabeth and Michael have ever seen. In faded black letters, a sign above the door reads "Caring Friends Homeless Shelter". An equally faded cartoon portrayal of a man sitting down to a bowl of soup is also displayed on the sign.

[Anubis Dread]

"...this time the mission data did NOT specify we don't kill the target," Michael notes with a growl, smashing a fist into the palm of his hand to emphasize the point. Prisoners were one thing. Even if he was one of them, they'd at least done something. Gassing a bunch of homeless people was just sick.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Lily kinda stared at Nate a moment as he returned with the new invention. She knew his power was super-inventing or something but...he had whipped that thing up in less time than it would take her to make a sandwich.

Note to self: when community service has been completed, ask Nate if he would like to help end world hunger.

Lily made sure to check in every five minutes as ordered, and she took out her radio one more time as they arrived at the building. "Scent trail leads to Caring Friends Homeless Shelter on {insert street name here}. No hostiles detected as yet, we're going to check it out, but if you're planning to send backup you might as well send them on ahead. Over."

She didn't head straight for the door though, figuring Nate would want to scan the place with his device first.

She grimaced as Michael spoke and turned to him. "Okay...Michael, I kinda get where you're coming from, but killing shouldn't be our first plan of action ever. It's wrong, and whether someone lives or dies is not our call to make. Aside from that, we're in this for six months, but do not think for a second that the people behind this operation wouldn't love to have access to our powers for longer. A few murder charges they can add to the books is all they would need, however justified you may think them to be. For all of our sakes, please, we have to resolve these missions non-lethally unless doing so places other lives in immediate peril."

"All that aside, we don't know what's going on here. The trail we're following could be from someone using the gas, or it could be from a victim of it taking shelter here. Even if it is trying to gas the people inside, Doctor Proxy doesn't act directly. That's pretty much his entire schtick. The person we're tracking could easily be an equally innocent victim of his powers. And if it isn't, if it's a person who is willingly working with him, then he or she might be able to provide information on his operations. Capture is, by far, the most tactically viable action in this circumstance regardless of any other moral and legal considerations."

[Arcran]

Howard gives a low whistle as Stone pops away, only to return a few seconds later with a robot floating by him. Somehow he got the feeling that Stone might be far, far more powerful useful than the rest of them. What was he going to do next, create cheap power for the entire planet? The conman hastily pulls some armor from The Hobbit as they exit the zoo, doing his best to once again mask his identity from the press.

While the group walks Howard mindlessly flips through The Hobbit, thinking quietly. He needed to find a way to pull multiple things out of the book, simply so he could have some sort of armor on him at all times, otherwise apes throwing rocks would be almost enough to kill him. So far he could only sustain one object; maybe with some help from Protagonist he could work his way up to more than one?

"We aren't killing anybody," Howard states simply, looking at the homeless shelter. Hopefully, in the future, he'd be spending a lot more time at these, assuming his community service went well.

[/I] "Want me to scope the place out a bit?" Howard asks, pulling out To Kill a Mockingbird and flipping through it rapidly, figuring that it likely had the best chance of containing some sort of rags.

[Anubis Dread]

"I'll head in directly," Michael stated. "This way if it turns out it's urgent I'll be in position to rush to any location inside the building."

That and he wasn't sure if a floating drone or whatever Howard could pull up would be all that subtle. Sure they were small and all, but if someone did see it they'd immediately know what was up. Sometimes the old fashioned way was the best way...

Spoiler

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Stealth: (1d20+16)[19]

Whoops, entered 16 instead of 12. So 15 I guess.

[TooManySecrets]

Nate points at the drone. "Drone." He points to the maybe-homeless-shelter. "Meat grinder." And then he waves his arms. "Bad!"

"Like, at least let the drone give it a scan. Even if you're like, uh, so eager to die, you can wait just a few seconds." Nate pushes a button on the remote. "Scan that building in front of us. Uh, full spectrum. Indicate position of all human-sized or larger heat signatures. Indicate position of all, uh, electronic signatures that match, uh, known security systems or do not match known consumer electronics. Verbose, chatter. Uh, stealth mode."

Spoiler: OOC

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SAEVBP will do the perception check as a routine check, if that's okay. If it is, then it gets a Perception 28 result. Otherwise:

Perception-roll-if-I-have-to: (1d20+18)[30]

"Verbose" means that SAEVBP will give full details of what it sees. Since we don't have all day, "chatter" means that it will use Chatter Speak to tell Nate what it sees at x100 speed (which Nate can understand 'cause it's a special language created so that Nate can understand it at that speed; Howard can probably also understand it since he can understand all languages). "Stealth mode" just means that SAEVBP won't announce any new signatures unless asked to.

SAEVBP is intelligent, so it can understand complicated commands that are in-line with it's normal operation. Asking it to play a game of chess will probably confuse it, though.

[PalusAbel]

Elizabeth scratches her head at all the new developments. Nate sure was something to come up with a robot like that on such short notice. Lily, meanwhile, saved her the trouble of berating Michael for his continued rashness and apparent eagerness to kill. Thinking it best to let that particular topic lie, Elizabeth flatly states, "Waiting for the drone's report would do us no harm."

[Zelphas]

The SAEV-BP whirs in place for a few moments, before letting out a few quick beeps.

Spoiler: Nate and Howard

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The beeps translate to this: "First Floor: No Unique Heat Signatures Detected. No Unknown Electronic Signatures Detected.

Basement 1: Three Unique Heat Signatures Detected 100 Feet North From Base Of Steps. One Unique Heat Signature 120 Feet North, 10 Feet West of Base of--Heat Signature Lost. Possible Reasons For Disappearance: Signature Moved Behind Concrete Wall. Subject Used Heat Cloaking Device. One Unique Heat Signature 170 Feet North From Base Of Steps. Heat Signature Approximately 4.12 Size Of Average Human. Heat Signature Too Stable for Average Human. One Unknown Electronic Signature Detected 170 Feet North From Base Of Steps. Signature Suggests a Containment Field of Unknown Power; Signature Decay Suggests Field Has Recently Powered Down."

As Michael sneaks in, he finds that the soup kitchen at the front of the shelter is worn but clean. The lights are off, giving the beige walls a grayish tint and dulling the gleam of the polished steel counter-top. The inside of the shelter feels no warmer than the outside; it seems like someone turned off the heat in the building.

[Anubis Dread]

The drones report would be invaluable true, but time was of the essence. They had radios - anything pertinent the drone could pick up could simply be sent over the lines.

Speaking of which, the place seemed empty. At least this area was. That wasn't a good sign. Michael hoped this meant that the place was a front rather than the alternative. "Entry is clear, any intel?" Michael called in over the radio as she snuck further in.

[TooManySecrets]

"Here's the scoop, Mr. Furious," Nate says into his radio. "You've got, like, at least four people in the basement. There's also some sort of force field device or something, I don't know what. It just turned off. Uh, three of the dudes are together, the other is a bit further off. Maybe in another room. We're coming in after you."

Nate commands the drone again. "Add the four human-sized signatures to Hostile Person database. Add the larger heat signature to, uh, Hostile Device database. Inform: Field starts to activate again or Hostile Device increases in, uh, temperature or Hostile Persons deviate from position by, ahhh, let's say 10%." "Complying. Beep." It actually says the word "beep".

Nate looks around at the others. "So, uh, after you guys. I'll be like right behind you."