Heroes of Millaine IC 2 - Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Wilson

In maybe half a minute, Kolya arrived, walking over with a friendly smile. "Hey there," she said, looking to Sarah with a big grin. "Congratulations on the new superpower! If you'll all come with me, we can get you registered and evaluated."

Kolya led the way to the elevator and up to the fourth floor. From there, to a large, and largely empty, room, with a computer desk by the door, a few chairs on the other side of it, and otherwise just plenty of space. There was a white dotted line drawn across the room about six feet in from the door.

"Alright. Sarah, if you'll please go to the middle of the room, we can see what your powers can do. If one of you want to fill in the registration data while we're at it, the form will come up on the computer, or we can do that afterwards."

Of course, it was right at that moment that Maestro's telepathic message arrived.

Sean

While Valerie and Emily continued chatting, Eskiro led you out into the hallway, just for a bit of privacy. He looked at you with a serious expression, and asked with concern obvious in his voice, "Did you guys talk with Declan? Is he okay?"

Waterworks, Maestro, Copycat

It took scant moments for Maestro to get access to the city's camera network, piggyback that connection to the various private security cameras, pull up the location and timestamp, and get a clear shot of Ryana as she left the diner, heading east.

Spoiler: OOC

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Perception check please!

[Llyarden]

Sean

"Okay is a...relative term," Sean said after a few moments' silence. "I think he's legitimately upset that we - Beth especially - found out about what he did. But I'm also pretty sure he'd do the same thing again if he had the opportunity." A slight snarl crept into his tone at these last few words. "And at the moment the only thing I can think to do about it is bring it up at that...Hearing thing that's going on. Because the other Heroes -" he managed to refrain from sounding scornful "- don't seem like they're gonna do anything about it and someone has to."

Wilson

~Is it so difficult for us to have one day of peace?~ Wilson responded over the mental link, with a touch of irritation - more irritation than might be expected given the situation. ~Very well.~

He took a moment to look around the place - the closest he'd come to one of these places before was the Defiant attack on the small-town Assembly building, and a couple of cases back in his life at SIDE - before returning his attention to Kolya and speaking aloud. "I hope you don't mind the question," he offered a slight shrug, "but what sort of security precautions do you have for storing this stuff?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sean

Eskiro's face remained calm - Eskiro rarely seemed anything but calm, really - but you could smell his surprise and uncertainty as you said that. "Is...that wise? I...I mean, I don't really have all the information, but it just seems..." he struggled to get a coherent thought out. You could tell that his friendship with and loyalty to Declan were conflicting with the reality of what he had seen that day, a reality that perhaps he had not allowed himself to fully acknowledge.

Wilson

Kolya got a proud smile on her face as you asked about the security. "Oh, it's top of the line. All Assembly computer systems, of course, are...well, I suppose you could say, 'given orders' by experienced technopaths. It's like, if normal cyber security is the equivalent of a sleepy rent-a-cop, what we have is like dedicated special forces operatives. Only information flagged for public view is even connected to the internet at all. These computers are connected to our local intranet, and the data is stored in our on-site servers. The Assembly's global intranet has a database of IDs and such to find the data, but it's only accessible on-site through the local servers. All of the data also has several layers of encryption, so even if someone were able to get past all the security, unless they have the encryption keys they'd get nothing but gibberish. And of course, then there's the security measures we're not allowed to talk about," she finished with a little wink.

Waterworks, Copycat, and Maestro

By now, the Millaine Municipal Camera Network and Maestro Mentallo were old buddies. (The MMCN had a personality that was something of a mix between a gossipy nosy neighbor, an over-eager journalist, and a grizzled police detective three days from retirement who was too old for this ****, and traditionally greeting Maestro with "So. Who are we throwing Declan at today?") It was a trivial matter to pull up Ryana leaving the diner.

Evidently, Ryana didn't have any particular defensive driving training. Or maybe she just wasn't aware of how many cameras there were in Millaine. Or just of the fact that she had attracted the attention of the Heroes of Millaine. In any event, it was almost as trivial to keep tabs on her car as she moved from camera to camera, arriving after twenty minutes at...well, apparently at a motel.

Spoiler: Perception DC 15

Show

You notice, however, that the parking lot is almost entirely empty, and the sign nonetheless indicates no vacancies.

She goes into the office for about five minutes, comes out heading quickly for her car with a sorta confused/chagrined expression on her face, and drives off. Following her path, she arrives at the Assembly building within about half an hour, spends several minutes inside, and then is heading back for the motel.

By the time the camera feeds catch up to the present, she's about three-quarters of the way there.

[manwithaplan]

"Looks like we're coming at just the last moment," Tom commented, watching as they finally began to catch up to present time.

"I know that street. We've got about seven minutes until she arrives. We should..."

He paused for a second. The dynamic entry strategy wasn't going to work today. Well, it would, but it wouldn't help with their legal crisis. Maybe it'd be smart to play things by the book for once. As much as was possible for the Heroes of Millaine, anyway.

"Actually. I think we should play this one safe. I can handle Ryana myself - I'll get her to pull over and I'll do my best to talk her down. If that doesn't work, at the very least, I can waste her time. While I'm doing that, you too can go and deal with this motel. We know where it is, after all. But do it nicely. Knock on the door, say you're Hero Corps and you want to know what's going on. Again, just talk them down or arrest them or something nice. You can have Sean, me, and maybe Wilson on call if it goes bad. What do you guys think?"

[Zelphas]

Waterworks gives Copycat a pointed look as he talks aloud, then sighs. Am I being too paranoid? she asks dryly over the mindlink, before continuing the conversation vocally. "I don't think you should go up against her alone, Copycat. Whoever's been sending those robots to attack you... it can't be the same person who's sending drug-controlled Dreamers to capture me, but they're working together. If you confront Ryana, the nano-controller might push to attack you, and Ryana can create sonic blasts. Not that I think you'd be in trouble from that, but it might escalate the conflict."

She looks back to Maestro. "Maestro, whoever these two are... they're both at least as smart as you. There's no way that the guy in the motel is anything more than another victim or minion, and he or she has probably already been told to expect trouble since the drop didn't go smoothly. If I get within a mile of this, my listening post is gone, and I can't lose M-my listening post. This is the first hint of anything that I've gotten from this guy, and if I lose this now, then I don't know when I'll get a chance again."

Waterworks paces, clearly agitated. "This guy tracked down my location, but didn't actually know where I was. Maybe he hijacked your APEX satellite or something, I don't know, but it means that he can find me, he's always going to be able to find me, and he's going to keep sending innocent people after me until he gets me or I get him."

Spoiler: OOC

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Deception?: (1d20)[6]

[manwithaplan]

Hey, we're right about to launch an offensive. And we just tracked this woman on the city camera system. I think whoever's watching us and is smart enough to actually be doing that has already acquired some inkling of our intentions.

"I think you're letting your fear cloud your judgement a little, but alright. If you want, Maestro and I can confront Ryana together." He smiled and nodded towards the genius, remembering when they took on the world's leaders and politicians together over video call.

"I was going to go disguised. We could both do it. If the robots come...Suzanne and I actually came pretty close to beating them, you know. You can come or not come at your discretion. But 'Works, we're dealing with minutes. We can deal with whatever's in that motel in the short-term, and I think we can put together something to stop these guys from tracking you by the end of the day, but this transaction needs to be stopped immediately. There's no use in standing around talking about what won't work or what's risky."

[Capt. Infinity]

The line "at least as smart as you" stung a great bit more than it should, but Maestro pressed on. "I'm fine with whichever, and I can almost certainly see into getting you off their radar. But Waterworks, I suggest that we hit this from both ends. Ryana may have political red tape to hide behind if we fail to catch her, but our mystery pickup is a non-entity at this point, and we need them caught. If we're going after her, you need to get that buyer. You're the stealthiest among us. Get up behind them secretly, and make sure they don't escape. Don't be discreet if you can't manage it. We want them BOTH down, FAST."

On top of this sentence, Maestro alters his telepathic messaging to allow for a private Waterworks alone. ~Look Darla, I don't know what you're hiding, and I'm not gonna force you to tell me. But if you can trust anyone with whatever it is, you can trust me. I'd like to think I'm the reliable one around here, and I want to make sure at least someone's in on whatever you're doing before Sean inevitably witnesses the fallout. ~

[Zelphas]

Waterworks takes a few deep breaths, then laughs a little and shakes her head. "You're right," she says to both of her teammates. "Sorry, it's just... I thought I was really well-hidden, and having someone who wants to use the Maelstrom able to track me down kind of freaked me out. Is Wilson able to help us out on this? I think one person talking to Ryana with Wilson coming to back them up, and two people going after the motel guy makes the most sense. Ryana probably won't attack anybody; sorry, that was really paranoid," she finishes, smiling sheepishly.

To Maestro, she adds, This isn't something that's going to blow up in my face, Maestro, I'm almost certain. It's just--it's something I need, and it's something that I can't let anyone else know about. Not yet. Please. If--if it becomes a problem, I'll tell someone, but it won't.

[Llyarden]

Sean

"I think you have about as much information as any of us," Sean responded. "I don't know how much Beth told you, but Declan was so occupied with his little vengeance mission that she would have killed someone if I hadn't stopped her. That's about all the information there is. As to whether it's wise...I doubt it. But, as much as I'd love to hope that Beth can talk some sense into Declan, if she doesn't manage then the only other option is ignoring what happened. And I'm not going to do that."

Wilson

"Of course," Wilson agreed with a smile to match Kolya's wink. "So externally the place is pretty much hack-proof. But, with all due respect...Millaine has suffered for people having hidden agendas before." He gestured out in the direction of the (rebuilt) memorial. "That was the military and not the Assembly, of course, but what's to stop some low-level worker coming in and waltzing off with all the information you store here?"

It was rare that Wilson found his SIDE-trained habit of always digging for information coming in useful in a social situation. Usually it just annoyed people - and that probably wouldn't change here - but at least it wasn't out of character for him to keep asking questions.

Plus, of course, he was a concerned father. That would probably help.

[manwithaplan]

"Alright, clock's ticking, I'm going to go and talk to her."

Tom turned to move away from the camera system, mentally calculating an address in his head.

"You can contact Wilson or Sean if you want, but I'm not letting this simmer anymore. Please don't get us in any more legal strife."

Then he was gone, a small shift in space causing him to vanish from the building entirely.

-

Miles away, Tom reappeared on the sidewalk, not far ahead of Ryana's route. Assuming she continued to take the main road, she would be coming around the next corner in just a moment.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sean

Spoiler: OOC

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I suddenly realize I've been using Colt's text color for Eskiro .

Beth...hadn't really told them much, actually. He had gotten the sense that it was something like 30% that she didn't know too much beyond what they did and 70% that what she did know, she didn't particularly want to talk about. "Wait, vengeance mission? I mean, I know Declan went...overboard back there. But it...surely, there was a legitimate threat, yes? I thought there was something about a plasma cannon...?"

Wilson

"Oh, no, low-level workers don't have access to the private database records. The public ones, sure, but...well, like, I for example can post information to the database, and I can perform ID lookups to see if we have a certain power somewhere in the system or something like that, but I couldn't actually pull up contact information unless it's public, and I'm a full evaluator. Even in like the big cities like Verdania there'd be maybe two or three people in the building who could actually access the database directly. Here...I think Ryana's the only one who's authorized? Don't quote me on it, but I'm pretty sure. We take the privacy of these registrations very seriously. We have to. Our registrar is something like ten times the size of the government one, because people know we'll protect their information."

She finished with a bright smile. "So don't you worry. No one will be able to track down your daughter and pester her to use her powers for them or something."

Sarah was patiently waiting for the grownups to finish talking, but Mary was regarding you with a slightly querying gaze. It wasn't that these weren't good, sensible questions, or anything, but...well, you both had worked for the Assembly (in a light-touch sort of way, sure, but still, Hero Corps and the ACC were both Assembly organizations) for a while now. While she didn't know the specifics of the security measures either, she knew the Assembly information security was extremely well-regarded. And she knew you well enough to know that when you started asking questions, there was almost certainly an extremely good reason behind them.

Copycat

Ryana's car actually came around the corner literally a second after you had arrived. She was kinda speeding. There were only a few other vehicles on the street, and a couple passers-by (some of which smiled and pointed as they saw you appear). She hadn't slowed down much for the corner and the nearest stoplights were green, leaving you with only a few seconds to act! (Okay not really because you could totally just blink a bit further down her route if you needed more time but pretennnnnnd it sounds better that way!)

[manwithaplan]

"Oh, damnit!"

Without hesitating Tom up and sprinted out onto the road, getting right in front of Ryana's car.

"Stop!" Planting himself firmly on the ground, he spread his arms out wide. "Ryana!"

All across his body, skin began to harden and ripple, slowly forming out into a suit of natural diamond armour. It would be nice if she could stop the car voluntarily, but ultimately her compliance was no factor. He couldn't let her through.

Spoiler

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Taking Impervious up to 13. I've got this guys.

[Capt. Infinity]

Maestro nods to Copycat as he leaves, before turning to Darla. "I'll take the front door. You sneak in through the drains." He directs the hydrokinetic, before entering his office proper, and walking up to the teleporter in front of his desk, which was already assembling into full form at his mental direction. "I'll appear nearby and walk in on foot. Let me know when you're in position so I can approach the door and knock." There was a flash of light, and the faint scent of ozone as Maestro warped out of the building, appearing a building away from the motel in question.

As nonchalantly as possible, Maestro walked into the building's lot, shifting his attire to look as inconspicuous as possible, stopping just short of the window of the offending individual. He waits patiently. ~Give me a signal when ready, Waterworks. And let me know who I should answer the door as, I can do anybody you can think of, but I'd rather be someone who wouldn't get blasted or shot at from behind the door.~

[Zelphas]

Waterworks watches Copycat leaves, and sighs, before nodding to Maestro. "On it. I'll let you know when I'm in place." She walks quickly over to the nearest source of water, leaping directly in without fanfare.

A few moments later, the tub in the motel room makes an almost imperceptible gurgling noise as Waterworks appears beneath the drain, extending a droplet-thin tentacle upwards to see what she can see.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Stealth: (1d20+21)[38]

Perception: (1d20+12)[14]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Waterworks and Maestro

While Maestro took up position, Waterworks made her way in. There weren't any water sources directly inside the office, but the bathtub of the nearest room got her pretty close. Slipping out of the bathroom, she found the room occupied by a broad-shouldered, dark-skinned young man. He was wearing a grey sweatsuit, and was sitting on the bed, appearing to be watching television. Or, at least, it would have been if it weren't for the fact that the tv was off. So really he was just staring at a blank screen.

Copycat

Ryana had a nice car.

It was a car in classic style, with an unblemished white paint job, the top down, and actual tires. You didn't see those too often anymore; even for the non-flying cars, hoverpads were more common these days. Easier to maintain, unaffected by most adverse driving conditions, and much easier to maneuver with (not to mention parallel park). No, this was a car-lovers car. This was the sort of car you drive for the love of driving.

This was made clear when Copycat leaped out in front of Ryana. Most people, in such a situation, their eyes would have widened, their mouth opened, you know, there would have been some sort of reaction on their face. Not Ryana's. It wasn't due to any particular personal coolness or unflappability. She just didn't have time to make a facial reaction.

So how she managed to pull a short-brake, a quick swerve that almost looked like it was going to send her vehicle into a complete spin-out, only to correct in comfortably under a heartbeat and shoot past Copycat without even slowing down...I couldn't even tell you.

She zipped past the mimic, but pulled to a swift, smooth stop along the side of the road about half a block down.

See, Ryana would have to be someone who loved to drive.

Because if she didn't, she would have no use for a car when she could just unbuckle her seatbelt, leap out of the car with a single bound, and take off flying through the air propelled by waves of concussive energy from her hands at three times the speed of sound.

Spoiler: OOC

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At her Flight speed of 10, she'll arrive at the motel in about a round.

[manwithaplan]

Tom curled his lip as the car stopped and Ryana, having removed herself, blasted off at mach 3. Typical day in Millaine. Without missing a beat he turned on his heel and sprinted perpendicular to the concussive blaster, failing to address whoever was still watching as he dived headfirst for a grate in the gutter.

Splash!

The mimic's watery form exploded out of a manhole on the middle of the road, several miles from where he'd just been. He was still fleshy human, but a large number of watery appendages were seeping off of him, and all at once they tensed and lashed forward at the rather incredible driver as she would have shot by. There would be no cuts or bruises; wrapping his new limbs around the woman, Tom attempted to grab her mid-flight and hold her, pulling with enough strength to balance her thrust.

"Come on, talk to me! I'm not going to stop you, Callahan! You stand down, you talk to me about this, and then I'm going to let you go through with it!"

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Free Action: Stunting out all of Waterworks' stuff. Elongation to 10, Extra Limbs to 5.
Move Action: Follow the Current to be a bit ahead of Ryana. 30 feet or so in mechanical terms.
Standard Action: I Manhandle her! All-Out Accurate Attack 2. Attack (1d20+13)[20] for DC 26 Strength or Dodge against grabby grabby.

Status: Normal.

[Zelphas]

Waterworks takes in the scene, being careful not to draw the man's attention in any way. Maestro?... something's wrong. The guy in the room here is staring at a blank screen. I think he's drugged. Hold on... moving stealthily, Waterworks exits the room she's in, slipping over to the next room to observe that as well.

Spoiler: OOC

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Retconning post, so Stealth and Perception rolls are in the OOC.

[Llyarden]

Sean

Sean...kinda blinked once or twice. He hadn't quite expected that Beth wouldn't have let the other members of the ACC know what was going on. In his (admittedly limited) experience the ACC weren't like the Heroes as far as keeping secrets from each other was concerned. "Okay. Starting from the beginning, then." He did at least have the common sense to glance back and forth to check no-one was listening before explaining to Eskiro what had happened in the forests.

Wilson

~Well, other than learning that Callahan is likely the only person who could have taken this data, I don't think I can find out anything else without seeming suspicious,~ Wilson reported over Maestro's mental link. ~And seeming suspicious would not be ideal if she isn't working alone.~

He returned Kolya's smile and then grinned down at Sarah. "Well, I think I've taken up enough time away from the real star of the show today. Shall we?"

He noted Mary's suspicious gaze without much surprise - she knew him well enough to know when he was going into 'detective mode' - and made a note to tell her what was going on later.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Copycat

Your water tentacles caught Ryana solidly, binding her tight. She struggled fitfully, and that didn't let up as you spoke, but did slacken some.

"Copycat!? What the ****, man! You could have totalled my car with that stunt!" she shouted angrily. "Maybe killed me too! Powers aside. Stand down from what!? Talk to you about what!? Sweet Dream, I'd heard you've been kinda erratic lately, but this is crazy! Let me down!"

Spoiler

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Ryana:
Move: Attempt to Escape (DC 26, -2 for Impaired, -5 for Improved Hold) at (1d20+3)[4]. Ha ha
Standard: Attempt to Escape (DC 26, -2 for Impaired, -5 for Improved Hold) at (1d20+3)[13]. No

Copycat is on turn

Waterworks

The next room was more-or-less the same as the first, except the person inside was a pale-skinned, dark-haired woman in her late twenties.

As you slipped into the room, though, she actually managed to notice your movement in the periphery of her vision. She turned to face you, and a certain familiar blank anger came to her face as her eyes narrowed in concentration...

Spoiler

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Initiative:
Waterworks: (1d20+16)[17].
Maestro: (1d20)[3].

???: (1d20+8)[23].

Maestro

Spoiler: Perception DC 15

Show

Your psychic earpiece picks up a bit of psychic static. Someone's sending a mass telepathic message throughout the motel.

Sean

Valerie and Emily were chatting away and not appearing to be paying any attention to the quiet discussion happening in the hall. You didn't smell anyone else in earshot.

Eskiro gave only scant visible reaction to the story, but you could see his face falling gradually and subtly as you discussed it. You could smell his reaction better, a sort of grim disappointment more than anger, coupled with some hints of disbelief. Not that he didn't believe you, more than he couldn't bring himself to just accept the situation at face value. "Is...I mean, you said that Beth said that he got a phone call, right? Could that...we don't know what was said on that call, do we? It could have been...something, there has to be a reason." He sounded (smelled, whatever) like he was trying to convince himself more than you.

Wilson

"Yes indeed!" Kolya said cheerily, looking to Sarah. "If one of you want to fill in whatever information you want to register, I'll give Sarah her evaluation. Now, Sarah, to start, you just go ahead and show me what you can do with your powers, okay? But before you do anything with them, I'd like you to tell me what you're about to do."

"You want to handle the form, hon?" Mary asked. You got the sense that given whatever security concerns had prompted your questions, she thought it better to let you decide what information would go into the database.

"Okay, I can do that!" Sarah said. "Let's see...first, I'm going to make Moro appear! She's my pet dog."

Sarah's brow furrowed a bit in concentration, and the next moment, the glowing version of Moro was again standing beside her.

"Very impressive! Can you make anyone else appear, besides Moro?"

"Mmm...I dunno! I never tried."

"Well according to our scanners, your power is what we call avatar summons. It's a very rare power, even for Dreamers, but the ones we've seen before can usually summon copies of people they know well. Why don't you try to summon your mom or dad?"

Sarah nodded slowly, concentrating for a moment, before asking, "Um, how do I do that?"

"Do it just like how you summoned Moro, but think about your mom or dad instead."

Sarah laughed as if Kolya had just told her to do something silly. "I don't think I can! When I do it I think about how much I miss Moro and how I wish she was here. But my mom and dad are already here!" She helpfully pointed to the two of you.

[Quellian-dyrae]

And because she won initiative

Not hesitating an instant, the woman oh, I'm sorry, the telepath, apparently, lashed out. Waterworks could feel her will slamming against her mental defenses, testing them and seeking any weakness to exploit.

Spoiler

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Telepath:
Move: None.
Standard: Attack Waterworks with Mind Fray. Perception-range attack. Waterworks give me Will DC 20 vs. Weaken Will. This attack carries a Secondary Effect.

Current Status

Waterworks and Maestro are on turn

[manwithaplan]

"You..."

Tom looked at the Dreamer suspended above him for a second before jumping smoothly onto the sidewalk, letting her feet down onto the ground but not removing her from the grip of the numerous water tendrils coming from his body. He paused, for just a moment, as if he was preparing his next few words.

"Look, Ryana. I don't mean to...I feel like this could be taken as somewhat insensitive. But, if you actually crashed your car and died, I could have brought you back to life. I've done it before. It's not even an amazing what-if, Ryana, it's just..." He performed a nonchalant wave of his hand through the air.

"It's just one of my abilities. I could fix your car, too, really fast. So you see, I can un-manslaughter you, and I can un-total your car, but I cannot un-endanger the numerous civilians on your flash drive, nor can I make you un-commit the drastic breach of local security you are about to perform, which let me say, will result in a fairly significant sentence and a very high risk of you losing your job. And probably a lot of credibility as, well, a human being that can be safely employed in an occupation that involves any sort of personal data."

"Anyway, I'm fairly confident that you're about to give sensitive information to somebody who has no right possessing it. I have no idea who's legally in the right here, so I'm just going to restrain you until you give up your mission or it becomes clear that you're not actually doing anything bad. Does that clear up all of your questions? If so, could I ask you some?"

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Move: Onto the sidewalk, dragging Ryana into a comfortable position. She can...resist, if she wants.
Standard: Ready an Action to re-Grab Ryana if she escapes, using the same trade-offs as before.

Status: Fatigued.

[Zelphas]

Waterworks ripples as the woman's eyes and mind land on her, repelling the mental assault with a bubble of effort. They have a telepath, and she saw me. If I had to guess, every room on this floor (maybe even in this hotel) is about to burst open, and we'll have a lovely wave of drugged Dreamers trying to catch me, she sends over the link to Maestro, backpedaling out of the telepath's hotel room and flowing quickly down the hall to the main office. Meet me in the office. If there's anyone who actually knows what's going on, they're in there.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Move Action: Head towards the main office. Taking 10 on a Mobility check for 31 to move faster.

Standard Action: Hide in Plain Sight: 36 rolled in the OOC due to me being a goof.

[Capt. Infinity]

Maestro's eyes widen slightly at Copycat's message, and his gaze quickly sweeps over the rows of motel rooms, each one suddenly becoming vastly more threatening than they ever were previously.

Already standing in front of the main office for the building, Maestro forgoes stealth (not that he ever had a chance with it) and opens the door quickly, holding out a hand in a stopping motion before speaking out to whoever might be present within.

"Call off your fighters. We just want to talk about this!" Maestro shouts into the room, an expression of honesty and hopeful desperation on his face, attempting to sell the statement he just made in full.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

If anyone's in the room that isn't currently a rage-druggie, call that a Routine 30 Persuasion check to get them to hold off their goons.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Copycat

Ryana...well, she either calmed down or came to the realization that trying to escape Copycat's grip was a losing proposition and even if she managed it the results probably wouldn't be especially positive for her. One of those two for sure. "I...okay, look, I don't even know how you learned about- whatever, that's not important. You're...seriously misunderstanding what's going on here. But sure. Ask your questions, if it'll put a stop to this sooner."

Maestro and Waterworks

In the office was a thin, older man with brown eyes, graying-auburn hair, and a light beard. He blanched in shock as Maestro entered the room. "What fighters? I'm just here to send the-"

There was the sound of many doors slamming open.

Out into the parking lot came a motley crew of gray-sweats-attired, blankly angry Dreamers. Half a dozen of them it looks like. They started looking and/or running about rather wildly, most of them at some degree or another of superhuman speed. The older man cried out.

The dark-haired woman, though, followed Waterworks straight into the office, still lashing out at her psychically. She didn't seem to have any need of her eyes to keep tabs on her target. Waterworks would feel the psychic's will gathering all around her mind, a feeling strangely like a sort of pressure on her skull even though she was currently a puddle of water and did not have a distinct head let alone anything even vaguely resembling bones. Regardless, her proprioception definitely told her it was pressure on her skull. Which suddenly crushed down from all directions (even though the concept of direction was kinda nonsense when discussion a purely mental attack, but that's what it felt like I'm not making this up!)

And worse, after a moment, the other five turned as one on the office, whipping their heads towards it in eerie synchrony with an odd, jerky, almost marionette-like motion.

Spoiler

Show

They all fail their Perception checks to spot Waterworks and waste their turns looking for her. The telepath, however, ignores Waterworks' visual stealth thanks to her Mindsense. The old man contributes nothing useful to either side.

Telepath:
Move: Into the office.
Standard: Attack Waterworks with Mind Crush. Perception range attack. Will DC 20 vs. Entranced/Stunned/Incapacitated.
End of Turn: Will DC 20 vs. the Weaken Will Secondary Effect.

Current Status

Waterworks and Maestro are on turn.

[manwithaplan]

"Aw, damnit." Tom's grip on the woman relaxed a little, and he took a long blink.

"You might be putting on a good act, but okay, I'll admit there's a fair chance we're out of line here. I'll totally take the blame if that's the case, this is a very unfair situation for you. Hang on, I'll get a forum going."

He dipped his head a little as he tapped back into the mental link, a pointless gesture that was more to show her what he was doing than anything else.

Can I get an update? She hasn't exactly pleaded innocent, but Ryana seems to think we've got this completely wrong.

"I don't suppose I could get your version of what's going on?" He asked, eyes pointing back up.

Spoiler

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Recovering from Fatigued this turn.

[Zelphas]

Waterworks flows around the omni-directional psychic pressure (she only recently realized that her 'true form' is a puddle of water, she's just going with things at this point), lashing out with watery tentacles at the woman. The drugged-up psychic currently trying to evaporate me with her mind seems to suggest otherwise, she responds to Copycat dryly, glancing around the room.

Maestro, can you get this guy talking? I think I can give these guys the run-around for a bit--all but Miss Brain-Crush--and office guy doesn't seem to be drugged, she shoots over the comm-link before vanishing back under the door, picking a hallway at random and speeding down it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Free Action: Switch to Jet Spray.

Standard Action: Jet Spray on Telepath, Defensive Attacking for 2. (1d20+10)[17] Damage DC 25+Multiattack on a hit, forgoing Fast Grab.

Move Action: Choose a random hallway and head down it (1 means she goes right out of the office, 2 means left): (1d2)[1]

Hide in Plain Sight: (1d20+21)[35]

[Capt. Infinity]

Maestro raised an eyebrow at the man's seeming obliviousness, then raised the other in a display of surprise when both several of the doors flew open, and a telepath walked into the room, evidently focussing very hard on something.

The telekinetic transmits a message to all his active comrades. ~This... May have actually been an attempted stakeout by the rage-druggies. Maybe. I'd keep grilling Ryana for at least a few more seconds Tom. In other news, WILSON THERE ARE SIX OF THESE GUYS AND THEY ARE ALL ABOUT TO LEVEL THE BUILDING. I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU JUST GAVE YOUR WIFE THE FORMS TO SIGN.~

In response to his own clamour of worry, Maestro projects a hand towards the telepath who'd just walked in. "First and foremost, let's get rid of the one who can hit us through walls, shall we?" He answered his own question by firing a blast of raw electricity at the woman before him. He turns to the older man as he does so and, in answer of Waterworks' request, begins to question him mid-fight. "While I'm doing this, could you please tell me why Ryana was about to hand you a list of low-level Dreamers? You may not be related to these guys, but I'm pretty sure what you were doing was still REALLY illegal."

Spoiler: OOC

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Free Action to both freak out, and Routine 30 a Persuasion check to get this guy to start talking. Consider a Routine 30 Deception check in play to see if he's actually telling the truth or not.

Free Action: Alter Psychokinetic Strike to give it the [Electricity] Descriptor and add Alternate Resistance [Fortitude].

Standard Action: Psychokinetic Strike against the Telepath. DC 25 Fortitude Save against Damage.

[Llyarden]

Sean

"What was on that call was nothing more than someone telling him where that camp was," Sean replied calmly to Eskiro. "He got told a while back by a precog that the Defiant were going to kill a lot of people. As if Declan ever really needed a reason to go after the Defiant."

He'd not been paying much attention to the chatter over the mental link, used enough as he was to it that he could filter it out and continue with his own business, but Maestro's sudden shout made him jump slightly. With an apologetic glance to Eskiro he stepped away slightly, looking down more to make it clear to Eskiro what was going on than for any aid in concentration. ~Where exactly are you guys? Because I can help, but getting to you may take a while.~

Wilson

Wilson's amused grin at Sarah's (perfectly accurate) response turned a little sour as the mental link continued to flow with activity. ~Typical,~ he muttered bitterly. ~My daughter goes to what is probably one of the most important moments of her life so far and something happens to interrupt it. When we find out who's responsible for this, I am going to punch them in the face.~

He stepped away from the computer and put his best smile on, mostly for Sarah's benefit. "Well, Sarah, I need to go help Maestro for a few minutes with something. How about, while I'm away, you can concentrate on making a version of me appear, like you do with Moro?"

"You said we could finish the forms after we see what Sarah's powers can do, I believe?" he added to Kolya.

About a minute later, he was weaving his way angrily through the flying traffic of Millaine, zeroing in on the location Maestro had provided.

Spoiler: OOC

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Because I perpetually lose track of which buildings have our teleporters; I think Sean is in the building with the teleporter but Wilson will just have to fly there. Wherever 'there' is exactly.

[Capt. Infinity]

~Oh. Right. Directions inbound.~ Maestro mentally chides himself as he sends teh precise geographical location of the motel over the mental link, saving everybody longwinded directions, despite perhaps being about as jarring as someone throwing a map in your face would normally be.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Copycat

Ryana gave a little, impatient huff. "Okay, listen, I can't get into specifics for security reasons, but the file is going to one of the database techs in the Verdania headquarters, there's a reason we're using a non-standard transfer, and it's all above-board. Which you probably could have guessed by the fact that the file is - or was, I suppose, I honestly don't know how you all got the drive I was carrying in my pocket but I'll leave that matter for a later discussion - in the possession of a flame-blasted authorized database technician whose job it is to securely handle this sort of data. Now will you kindly let me go?"

Waterworks and Maestro

The telepath managed to avoid Waterworks' tentacles, but Maestro caught her with his electric blast. She spasmed some, but managed to withstand it more-or-less in-tact. She kinda glanced in the direction of one of the other Dreamers for a moment (as it happens, the young man who was in the first room Waterworks had scouted), and he took off into the air.

The other four attacked.

One of them, a big, broad-shouldered, bald-headed, fair-skinned guy, reeled back and swung at Maestro with a massively superhumanly-strong - but, fortunately, also highly-telegraphed - punch. Another, a petite red-haired fair-skinned woman, came zipping in at super-speed. She paused for a moment as she entered the room, and as if waiting for directions, and then went running...more-or-less in Waterworks' direction. She clearly didn't have a great idea of where she was, but she was a speedster, so that only did so much to keep her from basically trying to just run through the area to scatter the puddle that made her up with the impact of her feet. The telepath continued pounding on Waterworks' mind with another blast of mental power. A dark-skinned middle-aged woman with silver eyes suddenly started blinking in and out of being around Maestro, appearing for just a moment to punch or kick before vanishing again to reappear for a new strike from a new direction. The last, a brown-skinned young woman with long dark hair and glasses, furrowed her brow in concentration, and both Maestro and Waterworks would feel the air around them start to solidify into a telekinetic grab.

Spoiler

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Paragon:
Move: Fly off.

Powerhouse:
Move: Into Close range of Maestro.
Standard: Attack Maestro with Slam at (1d20+6)[22]. On a hit, Toughness DC 29 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 24 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless Affliction. Hit

Speedster:
Move: Into Close range of Waterworks.
Standard: Attack Waterworks with Overwhelming Flurry. While she can target her thanks to direction from the technopath, Waterworks still is Stealthed against her and so she takes -5 to hit from Total Concealment. (1d20+9)[11]. On a hit, Toughness DC 21+Multiattack vs. Damage and Will DC 16+Multiattack vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless Affliction. Miss

Telepath:
Move: Just so she has line of effect to Waterworks.
Standard: Attack Waterworks with Mind Blast. Will DC 25 vs. Damage. This carries a Secondary Effect.

Teleporter:
Move: Teleport into Close range of Maestro.
Standard: Attack Maestro with Phase Strike at (1d20+10)[19]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage, Will DC 20+Multiattack vs. Cumulative Vulnerable/Defenseless/Incapacitated Affliction. This attack requires spending a move action to teleport adjacent to the target, and thus can be prevented by Dazing the teleporter or otherwise preventing it from teleporting. Hit since it targets his Parry

Telekinetic:
Move: Into the room.
Standard: Mass Telekinesis as a Grab on Maestro and Waterworks. Dodge DC 20 for half, Strength or Dodge DC 20/15 vs. Grab. This power has Affects Insubstantial 2, so it can affect Waterworks normally.

Waterworks and Maestro are on turn.

Wilson

"Of course, that's fine," Kolya said.

"Okay Daddy," Sarah said with an agreeable nod. Mary got a flat "Seriously?" look on her face. It wasn't that she didn't know the score, but the forces of evil really did just choose the worst possible times. "As fast as possible, please," she requested, and if that meant that the Forces of Evil had to suffer a more painful than usual beat-down, well, they had brought it upon themselves for not checking the Wilsons' schedules before starting whatever these shenanigans were. "And be careful," she added more quietly with a kiss (Mary was entirely aware that you were a Hero of Millaine and thus worrying was a thing best saved for special occasions, but that didn't mean she wouldn't always tell you to be careful.)

She said it quietly enough that Sarah shouldn't have been able to hear it...but the summoned Moro's ears perked up a little, and just as you were leaving, you could hear Sarah say, "Don't worry, Mommy. Daddy is the best fighter!"

--

At your speed, it's a matter of just several seconds to get to the location Maestro had indicated, although even that can be a long time with a superpowered battle going on. And that is also assuming no delays. Such as the kind you might get from, say, a broad-shouldered, dark-skinned young man in a gray sweatsuit with a look of blank anger on his face suddenly flying towards you with his fist drawn back to strike...

Spoiler

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Paragon:
Standard: The paragon spends its other action flying around in a search, and approaches Wilson when he seems him (thanks to his Extended vision).

Wilson is on turn.

Sean

Eskiro grimaced some. He...didn't really have anything much else he could say to that. "I see."

Spoiler: OOC

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Yeah Sean's the one at the base with the teleporter. And ya know what, I'm going to play the plot convenience card and say that after that whole debacle with the Heroes getting captured, Prometheus had gone in and added a dedicated power cell to the teleporter to fuel instant teleports to other locations within the teleporter's range where one of the beacons are, so that anyone at the base can teleport to any Heroes in the field (or other people with the beacons if they're in trouble). Normal restrictions on location do still apply though, since those are built into the teleporter itself (so still only outdoors and only within the teleporter's normal range i.e. Millaine and your expanded jurisdiction). Figure he can use the teleporter and arrive in time to be on turn if desired.