Hero Academy #2: Whodunit

[Green Bean]

Leshii finishes struggling with the prisoners, and manages to drag the two mages into the next room, shooting some 'subtle' glances at her teammates. Particularly the ones with enhanced strength (or a teleporter gun). As she leaves the makeshift cell, she leaves one of her extra arms behind. In the original motel room, she pauses for a moment and concentrates. Her left eye closes and literally seals over, and reopens on the arm with the prisoners.

"Right, now that that's settled, how do we want to do this? Good cop, bad cop?"

[sun_tzu]

"Hm...I think I can do a convincing good cop. Anyone up for bad cop?" asks Improv.

[Green Bean]

"Honestly, I'm much better at looking scary than being scary. Sekhmet?"

[Zarthrax]

FX comes to with a start. "Pancake! Wait, what happened? Did I miss the ENTIRE fight?!?"

[Green Bean]

"Nah, just the very end. They didn't last very long."

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Powerhouse

Powerhouse looks towards Improv and sighs "I can be the bad cop I suppose...considering I'm the one here who could probably pass for a villian if I wanted to" he said with a shrug, nodding towards Improv to indicate he was ready

((sorry for the wait guys, I'm back, assumed this was dead...I'll try to be around as often as I can, real life permitting))

[Green Bean]

"Passing for a villain? I can help you with that."

Leshii positioned herself such that her body blocked the prisoner's sight of the extended arm sticking out her back. Then, she slumped against the door frame as her form shifted. Once she had finished, she was an identical twin of one of the mystics in the other room. Of course, Leshii's form had some 'minor' imperfections. Her robes were viciously torn apart, and dark greenish-purple bruises covered the skin that showed through. Her other eye had vanished, leaving two eye sockets looking for all the world like they had been slowly roasted by divine fire, and her neck appeared to be snapped.

((Circumstance bonuses ftw! ))

[Axelgear]

Sekhmet just stays seated where she is, clasping her head in her palms. "Don't bother trying to look scary," She manages in a groan, "Make them think they're insignificant. Evil is greed and desire and power. You have to make them feel impotent, like they're nothing. That's if you want them intimidated anyway... Or you just threaten them and carry it out on their colleagues..." She then winced and clutched her head once more, whimpering like some sort of animal in a thunderstorm.

[Green Bean]

Leshii gave Sekhmet an odd look (as best she could as an eyeless corpse). "...Okay, I think you need a few more minutes."

[sun_tzu]

((Welcome back, Mick!))

Improv wakes up the mystic with some smelling salts. The mystic tries to move, realizes he's tied up with stuff his minor super-strength can't break, and looks around. He goes bug-eyed when he sees Leshii's form to the side. "Wha..."
"Ah, you're awake." says Improv. "Then maybe you can answer a few questions for us."
The mystic looks at your group. "Who the trench are you?"
"Sorry, you must have misheard. I said you could answer questions, not ask them."
The mystic glares at him. "And why should I tell you anything?"

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Powerhouse growled somewhat at the man, from beneath his helmet he glared directly at the man, and took several steps forward

"Physics..." he said simply leaning in towards the man "The average human bone can't take the force that I can deliver..." he said taking another step forward towards the man

"I could go into great detail about how your bones and circulatory system could be crushed under my hand, effectively destroying whatever limb I chose to lay into...should I go for a leg? And arm?" he said taking another step forward and reaching out with a single finger and running it along the man's chin

"Or that fragile little neck of yours...make you able to only talk" he said with a dark chuckle afterwards

[sun_tzu]

"I am...more resilient than you give me credit for..." The mystic is probably telling the truth, given the strength he and the others displayed earlier...but he nevertheless seems unsure of himself, his eyes quickly darting to the hole his head made earlier in the ceiling after a punch from Powerhouse.
"True enough" says Improv. "You were showing some minor, low-level super-strength back there. I'd love to hear more about it, really. You mystical types usually don't have this kind of super-powers.
But, just between us?" he begins whispering in the mystic's ear. "Powerhouse - that's the biker? - he's in the hundred-ton class at least. And he's not exactly a pacifist. So I suggest steering the conversation away from comparisons of your respective strengths."
Improv then pulls back, and goes on: "So, for starters: Who exactly are you guys? This place used to be a Golden Dawn hangout."
The mystic snorts. "Those losers? Ditched them last year. Most of the New York chapter got %#@*ed by Valerius; me, I managed to lay low."
"Ah. So then, when you needed a place for...whatever it is you're doing...You remembered this place."
"Exactly. Happy now?"
"We're not done yet. You haven't answered my question, for starters."
"Who we are is none of your business."
"But what happened to Brick is."
This time, the mystic falls silent. You can guess he wasn't expecting that.
"We know Brick came here shortly before his death. Care to explain?"
"...I have nothing to say."

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Powerhouse chuckled again "Really?" he said reaching towards his belt and retrieving one of the hypermass balls, tossing it up and down in his left hand

"These are called hypermass balls" he said pausing to look at the man "They don't look it, but they're about two hundred pounds a piece" he said looking down briefly

"The human hand's got a lot of bones in it, all of them fragile little things, able to be broken rather easily, let alone if I were to throw it down at even half my strength" he said taking another step forward "Brick and his superiors will be the least of your concerns little magic boy" he said pausing "Now please, start talking, last I heard mystics need their hands to do their magic...I wonder if that's true" he said holding onto the ball and raising it directly over the man's hand, pausing briefly to see if he was going to say anything

Spoiler

Show

If he gives another bit of 'Screw you' the ball comes down

[sun_tzu]

((8 points in the Intimidate skill for the win.))

The mystic, by this point, is sweating heavily.
"Powerhouse, please, let's not rush" says Improv, putting himself between you and the mystic - but from the expression he shows you, he seems satisfied with how you're doing. He then turns back to the mystic: "Look, I'm sorry, but...These guys aren't Liberty League. I'm not their leader, I can't really tell them to play nice."
"I...I...I don't know much..."
"Then just tell me what you do know."
The mystic gulps. "It's...It's Dr Knack you want! All we did was help him power up Brick. You get Knack, you get all your answers!"
Improv's demeanor swiftly changes. You can tell he's suddenly become a lot more interested. "You know where to find Knack?"
"Sure! Sure! He's got this lab where we helped him with that Brick experiment thing. I can give you the address!"

((By the way, concerning what he said in my previous post...I think I mentioned that some time ago, Golden Dawn got in a "villain vs villain" war with Global Might, which they lost. Badly. Valerius, a powerful vampire, is one of Global Might's members (and, incidentally, Techno-Paladin's arch-nemesis), and decimated Golden Dawn's NYC chapter.))

[Axelgear]

Sekhmet, whose statements and manner remained subdued until this moment, leapt to her feet. "Where?!" She bellows as her mind continues to roil and force itself back into place, and suddenly it hides behind its old shield of Sekhmet. The violent persona was a place to hide within when she was mentally imbalanced before and it did so admirably again. Sekhmet's hands burst into flame and her eyes seer a deep red as she seems to leer, even at her short height, to ten feet and roaring thunderbolts. However, the moment the thug gives her any sort of answer, she is instantly subdued once more and slips out of view before clutching her head, the last fragments of her psyche slipping back into place.

[sun_tzu]

Sekhmet, whose statements and manner remained subdued until this moment, leapt to her feet. "Where?!" She bellows as her mind continues to roil and force itself back into place, and suddenly it hides behind its old shield of Sekhmet. The violent persona was a place to hide within when she was mentally imbalanced before and it did so admirably again. Sekhmet's hands burst into flame and her eyes seer a deep red as she seems to leer, even at her short height, to ten feet and roaring thunderbolts. However, the moment the thug gives her any sort of answer, she is instantly subdued once more and slips out of view before clutching her head, the last fragments of her psyche slipping back into place.

The mystic recoils in surprise. "Gah! Warehouse in the Bronx! Warehouse in the Bronx!" He eventually manages to stammer out a full address.

[Green Bean]

As the mystic finishes giving them the full address, Leshii rises to her feet, shedding her broken appearance. She shoots a sly look over at Sehkmet. "And you said making them fear for their lives wouldn't work."

She approaches the bound captive. "So, what should we do with these guys?"

[Zarthrax]

"Well, as far as I can tell, we have two choices. Leave him for the police, or physics experiments. I vote option B."

[sun_tzu]

((Let's assume you're done with the interrogations of the other two. They say roughly the same thing as the first one.))

"Well, mostly, we're going to let them go" Improv tells you out of the mystics' earshot. "I mean, what exactly are we going to charge them with? Sekhmet punched a hole in their wall. Everything they did could be considered legitimate self-defense. That said, they have been working with Dr Knack, so they definitely don't want the spotlight on them - meaning, we don't need to worry about being sued, either. I'll just make sure the police and the feds keep an eye on them.
So...Head toward Knack's lab? And maybe call backup? Knack's one of the most wanted criminals in the entire State."

[Green Bean]

"Yeah, backup sounds like a good idea. I don't want to go alone against a guy with experimental uber-monsters at his command."

((Quickly, to the Justice Mass-Transit!))

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Powerhouse shrugged "I suppose that'd be best...this is a bit beyond what I'm used to though" he said with a shrug looking back towards the mystic briefly "Besides...I think he'll stay scared for a while...Let's get moving, we're burning daylight" he said motioning for the others to move

[Axelgear]

Sekhmet just frowns at this, stating sharply "Oh c'mon! Shouldn't we be able to book them on some sort of law? Like, evil magic or something? Places like Haiti have laws against raising zombies, shouldn't we have one for this junk? We're heroes, they're the crooks, they're supposed to go to jail after we beat them! Especially after one of them shot me!" Sekhmet growls her words, clearly not liking the idea of just letting them go.

[Green Bean]

"Well, the police'll be watching them, so if they try anything else, they'll be arrested. If it makes you feel any better, we probably kept much worse criminals free back at that mob place."

((Ready to get ourselves a little backup))

[sun_tzu]

Sekhmet just frowns at this, stating sharply "Oh c'mon! Shouldn't we be able to book them on some sort of law? Like, evil magic or something? Places like Haiti have laws against raising zombies, shouldn't we have one for this junk? We're heroes, they're the crooks, they're supposed to go to jail after we beat them! Especially after one of them shot me!" Sekhmet growls her words, clearly not liking the idea of just letting them go.

"Sorry, not that simple. That wall-smashing stunt gives them a pretty solid defense, and there are no laws against magic in general. Now, if we can nab Dr Knack, and he admits to having worked with them...Then that might give us something."
Improv talks on his cell phone for a while as you get into the subway again. "I called those I could, but I think we'll reach Knack's lab first. There's a slight risk he knows we're coming for him - those mystics might have been telepathic for all we know - so we can't really afford to waste any time." He goes pensive for a moment. "To be honest, those mystics kinda worry me. It looks like they've broken out of Golden Dawn - but what really gets to me is that all three of them were meta. Slightly, but still. Usually when you deal with wizards, all they've got is their spells. Those guys seemed to have extra physical enhancements..."

[Green Bean]

"Hmm. The obvious conclusion would be that Knack's juicing them up a little. Of course, they could just be low level metas who picked up a little magic training on the side. Is there anything stopping mutants from casting spells?"

[sun_tzu]

"Hmm. The obvious conclusion would be that Knack's juicing them up a little. Of course, they could just be low level metas who picked up a little magic training on the side. Is there anything stopping mutants from casting spells?"

"Well, no...But all three of them had low-level super-strength. It's a relatively common mutation, but still, it would suggest they all got it from the same source. They could be relatives...Or maybe you're right and Knack's the source of their powers."

[Mick_the_Rogue]

Powerhouse shrugged

"Well, Brick had the same powers I did at first, but none of the flight or lasers or fancy crap. Maybe Knack gave Brick the powers...with some help from someone else...and now did the same thing with his former minions?" he said with a shrug

"Not that it matters...we'll find out soon enough anyhow...what should we expect?...Apart from the usual bad guy defenses like lasers, acid pits and anything else cliche." he said looking back over his shoulder briefly, like it was a nervous tick

[sun_tzu]

Improv sighs. "I don't know. Knack is...well, keep in mind he is Dr Trick's successor. He's damn clever, extremely creative, and sociopathic to a T. Expect high-tech weaponry, mad science on the highest non-Madman level, and probably a few minions, be they humans, robots, or gengineered creations. Also, expect a getaway plan or another - that's why they'll be sending a SWAT squad to surround the place."

[Green Bean]

"Any chance of running into more guys like Brick? I mean, if he can make one..."

[sun_tzu]

"Any chance of running into more guys like Brick? I mean, if he can make one..."

"That's the other thing that worries me. How the heck could he make Brick so powerful? Knack's among the best, but still, that power-up was really something. I really hope he can't make others...Otherwise, it's going to take the full force of the Global Champions to stop him.
Guess we'll have to hope for the best."