IC: Halcyon Days (Masks RPG Game)

[herodofcows]

Halcyon Days

Issue 1: Wildsiders

Musical Accompaniment

The issue opens on the front lobby of the Halcyon City Museum of Modern Art. The walls are hung with paintings of various degrees of abstraction, and the warm wooden architecture stretches up several stories. A passel of guests are entering and leaving, far more than one might suspect on an early Monday afternoon.

BOOM

The front doors of the museum are abruptly knocked right off their hinges. Through the smoke, several dozen Wildsiders come jetting into the museum, flying at crazy angles and immediately swarming all over the lobby.

Spoiler: Who Are The Wildsiders?

Show

The Wildsiders are a local superpowered gang. They're headed up by a quartet of metahumans, but their rank-and-file members are mostly unpowered teenagers who have been enhanced with jet-powered vambraces and greaves. These pieces of armor also project a low-grade forcefield which allows the wearer to burst through most walls with relatively little damage. Most also wear gas masks or hockey masks or other semi-durable means of covering their faces.

In practice, this tends to result in a bunch of crowing slogan-chanting teenagers flying through the air like drunken birds of prey. The Wildsiders mostly run on smash-and-grabs and assault/battery, but the bosses tend to be a little bit more vicious.

"Here we GO! Here we BE!"

"WILDsiders!"

"Get f***ed! Get WRECKED! Taste blood! Taste JET!"

"Lift 'em, drop 'em! Take 'em, break 'em!"

"WILDsiders!"

"Burn it down, fry it up! Wildsiders, turn UP!"

"WILDsiders!"

Several of the flying miscreants immediately zoom deeper and higher into the museum. Others stay in the lobby and begin attacking the panicking civilians. A few more make a beeline for the artwork, smashing and burning the exhibits as they go.

Into this scene of chaos steps Madcap, one of the Wildsider lieutenants. He wears a red-and-purple cavalier's outfit and steps with a certain bandy-legged springiness to his motions. He smiles widely beneath his Chernobyl sunglasses, and at a gesture conjures up one of his spiked chains.

"Glorious, my vultures! My pets! My hawks-o'-war!" he calls grandiosely in a phony posh voice, "Have at them! Break and rend and tear and score, but don't forget what we came here for!"

He stops in the middle of the room and extends his arms outward. His spiked chain coils around his shoulders like a pet snake.

"WILDsiders!" he roars.

"WILDsiders! WILDsiders! WILDsiders!" gleefully respond his footsoldiers.

[gailforce]

Musical accompaniment for Ai's day out.

Ai has gotten good at filling up the time when Malcolm and Ghost are in school and Index is absorbed in a project that he doesn't want her help with. On those days she flits around the city, trying to do the things that normal humans do. Often she picks a person or a group to follow around, changing her appearance every once and a while so that they don't get suspicious or scared.

Today she's following two older women who are taking care of three small children. She first encounters them on the subway. One of the women is struggling with the smallest child's stroller, which has gotten caught in the gap between the train and the platform. Ai helps her free the stroller, and the woman gives her this incredible crinkled smile. Ai likes her immediately, and decides to follow her and her companions for the rest of the day.

First they go to a matinee movie. Ai gets a blue slushie, and enjoys it very much, even though it makes her human tongue look weird. She enjoys the movie as well, although it is perplexing. It is about sentient cars. Ai has learned that cars are not people (and so it's okay if they get smashed or break down or are left out all night in the rain), but these cars seem to be people. They talk and make expressions, and one of the children gets very upset when it seems like the red car got hurt. Ai will ask Malcolm about this later.

Next, Ai follows the women and the children to a fast food restaurant, where she gets to eat french fries, and then to a big, modern building of glass and wood. The Halcyon City Museum of Modern Art. Ai, looking now like a teenaged tourist, trails around after the group, listening to one of the women talk about how paintings, even ones that just look like splatters of colors, can make people feel things. The children don't seem interested, but Ai is fascinated. The paintings do make her feel things. She likes it.

She's standing in front of an enormous canvas covered in slightly different shades of black paint when the explosion rocks the building. For an instant she thinks that maybe this is art, too, until she hears the screams.

Ai runs towards the grand staircase, where the screams are coming from. She sees the Wildsiders crash into the atrium. There are too many of them for her to take on by herself, she can tell. She has to make a decision. Security guards are ushering panicked civilians out of the emergency exits--if she flies down now, she'll just create more panic. She loves the artwork, but she knows that most humans would say that there are more important matters at hand. But Ai can fly--that's something that most humans can't do. That is how she should help.

Ai rockets after the Wildsiders flying higher and deeper into the museum.

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: None

The large holographic calendar that hung in Sebastian's main room was a constant reminder of just how much time he needed and just how much he was wasting when he ran out into town to get food or some other errand. Luckily the home PC was keyed into his PC-R so he was never too far from a reminder of the dozen or so coded tasks that had yet to be completed. Which made today like any other day as Sebastian moved about the city, bahn mi in hand and headphones on blaring something loud to cover up the sounds of the streets around him. That is until a warning comes over the music, bringing the punkish boy out of his own thoughts. Some attack on a museum? It didn't take long to hoof it over to the Museum of Modern Art, less time to get into "costume" for what it was and start casing the joint. A ringleader and a gang of would be hoodlums, that gave all sorts of possibilities. If he could just find the right angle.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Going to go with an Asses

(2d6+2)[5]

Ahhh...I did not miss you garbage dice roller. Still get to ask a question from Criminal Mind so going to ask

How could I best infuriate or provoke Madcap.

[Comissar]

Charlotte walked through the museum without really paying attention to it. Instead, she had her phone in hand, idly scrolling through her social media feed with a faint frown on her face. "I swear, I saw it just this morning."

Beside her, Tanya rolled her eyes, "You know what, I'm not even that interested now. I mean, who even really cares if a new group of heroes show up. They're all a dime a dozen nowadays anyway."

Charlotte shared a sidelong glance with Leanne at that comment, her friend just shaking her head and mouthing "Forget it."

The three were on a school trip as part of their arts and humanities course. In theory, they were here to research and critique pieces of modern art, being split into threes so that there was some discussion between them. In practice, however, the trio were just killing time until they were meant to meet back up in the lobby for the bus back to school.

Charlotte glanced idly at a piece of white canvas, drawn on with white pastels, and painted with white vinyl. "Who even buys things like this? Anyone could make it..."

"Right?!" Tanya came to a stop, turning to face the other two and primed to start a lecture, "I mean, it's not like anyone really-"

A sudden explosion rocked the building, drawing panicked yells from everyone. The trio turned to face the entrance hall, and Charlotte's stomach dropped.

Why now?!

Turning to the other two, she yelled, "Get to cover, I'll try and find Mrs. Davis!"

Catching the look in her eye, Leanne nodded and grabbed Tanya's arm, dragging her away before she could protest, "Right! Be careful Charlie!"

Sprinting away from them, Charlotte did her best to dodge the raining rubble, glancing up occasionally to keep an eye on the Wildsiders. The sight of Ai rocketing after several of the goons brought a smile to her lips. Good to know she wasn't alone here.

Reaching the ground floor toilets, Charlotte raced along the stalls, diving through the wall of the first empty one she could sense. Digging her costume out of her bag, she changed as fast as she could, phasing herself free of her civilian clothes to speed matters along. With lives on the line, she'd just have to bear the embarrassment if someone burst in. Luckily, nobody did, and she ran back through to the entrance hall as Ghost.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Given it'll take time for Charlotte to get into costume, she's effectively using this time to 'arrive' as Ghost, meaning she might miss out on some of the details of the early fight. Will leave it to Herod to decide how much she's missed and when she gets back into it.

[Thokk_Smash]

Elastiboy
Conditions: None
Musical accompaniment for Malcolm

"Brrap, brrapp, boom bang bam!"

Malcolm Porter walks down the sidewalk of Halcyon City, cheerfully singing one of his recent favorite songs. Singing is sorta a loose term, I suppose; he sounds out the beats in a rhythmic way, but chooses to eschew the lyrics in favor of letting his emotions carry the meaning.

It's a lovely Monday afternoon to be outside, but by all rights Malcolm should be in school right now. He'd gotten there on time in the morning, and went to all of his morning classes, but after lunch he'd begun to feel his restlessness reach its boiling point. Plus, Mr Gilliam's classes had all been in the morning. Those were the classes he's really interested in. The others he knows he'll barely pass, but at least Mr Gilliam's lessons he puts his full effort in.

So in the rush after lunch he slips out and plays a little hooky! He makes his way through the city, voice even more "outdoor voice-y" than being outdoors would warrant. Perhaps he's making a bit more noise than those around him would appreciate, but he's not meaning to annoy anyone, honest. But perhaps he'd annoyed someone way more than he should've, 'cause someone pushes him roughly out of the way without warning.

He spins in place to steady himself from the momentum and looks for who pushed him. To his surprise, it's a kid around his age in the getup of those Wildsider jerks! He looks like he's in a real big hurry to get someplace...that's probably not good. Probably a job for Elastiboy!

Malcolm dashes into a nearby alleyway. The second he is out of sight, his appearance begins to shift and change. His normal clothes of a bright red shirt and jean shorts melds into his skin, to be replaced by a skintight suit that is maroon in color, but is somehow bright and dark at once, with blue highlights running down the arms and legs. His head is covered by the same material, concealing his features somewhat.

With the benefit of the elasticity of his legs and his own athleticism, he easily keeps up with the Wildsider goon as they make their way through the city. They quickly arrive at the Halcyon City Museum of Modern Art, and the increased number of goons makes it obvious even to Elastiboy what's about to happen. Unfortunately, they all charge the doors the second Elastiboy arrives, leaving the newly-minted elastic boy behind the ball.

That's never dissuaded him before! He jumps from the building's roof he'd been on and bounces a bit as he lands unhurt. His springy legs propel him through the doors even as the crazy-hat-guy rambles on and on.

"Wait, are they vultures or hawks?" he asks the group at large as he coils his legs. With a burst of speed he launches himself at a group of Wildsiders who are about to lay waste to a group of innocents.

Spoiler

Show

Rolling Savior to Defend Someone: (1d20+2)[3] I had M&M/D20 on the brain when I rolled that; re-rolled in the OOC and got a 10. I'll use the success to either add a Team point or gain Influence over someone in the crowd; @Herod, do we have a pool of Team points yet?

Edit: We are, uh, not off to a good start with these two rolls

[herodofcows]

As Ghost emerges from the restrooms, she sees the tableau of terror begin to unfold! About a dozen Wildsiders are swooping towards her classmates, crowing and exulting as their quarry flees and panics. For a moment, it looks as though things are about to go badly . . .

BOIOIOIOIIIING!

. . . until Elastiboy launches himself headlong into their midst! Two go veering madly off-course, cratering cartoonishly into the ground and not getting back up. The remaining Wildsiders scatter, jetting clumsily away from their quarry as they circle around to face their new foe!

"Anyone got plans for the rubber man?"

"Knock him out, smash about!"

"WILDsiders!"

As Elastiboy squares off with his foes, the panel pivots over to Madcap. He appears to be watching the Wildsiders wreck the art in the lobby and move deeper into the museum with every sign of indulgent enjoyment. However, he abruptly whips his arm out and sends his chain coiling around Index, who has been lurking nearby. The chain drags the young hero into the lobby and deposits him directly in front of Madcap.

"Can I help you, sirrah?" he asks, voice dripping with condescension.

The panel now shifts upstairs, following Ai as she zooms after the pack of Wildsiders with dogged determination. Unlike their fellows, they seem less interested in vandalizing or assaulting people. Instead, they blow through walls or doors until they've reached the room housing Mina Yen's "Halcyon In Mixed Media". The mostly-metal sculpture (if you can call it that) is a room-sized abstracted map of the entire city, with the various boroughs and neighborhoods being stylized in different colors and materials. Visitors can only walk along the edges of the room, which are roped off from the sculpture proper.

This group of Wildsiders comes crashing down onto the sculpture itself, skidding and marring the impeccably shaped surface. Two of them pull out what appear to be laser cutters of some type and begin slowly cutting away at a particular part of the city. The others spread out as though standing guard . . . and notice the extraterrestrial do-gooder's pursuit.

"Whatcha doin', girly?"

"Wrong time, wrong place, wrong space for your face!"

"Gonna try something, wannabe?"

"F***in' WILDsiders, yo!"

Spoiler: Ghost

Show

Nobody has noticed you yet, and you've got two teammates that could use an assist! What do you do?

Spoiler: Elastiboy

Show

Team added! However, you've now drawn the attention of the others! What do you do?

Spoiler: Index

Show

You were pinched while watching! Mark a Condition. However, as to your question:

Madcap wants to appear impressive. It's the only explanation for the accent, the "edgy" sunglasses, and the more-or-less coherent ensemble. Make fun of his appearance or his affect and he will most certainly fly off the handle.

Spoiler: Ai

Show

They've seen you and they're clearly ready to throw down. Looks like they're trying to keep you off their friends! What do you do?

[gailforce]

Ai
Conditions: None

Ai rolls her many-pupiled eyes.

"I'm not a girly," she says. "And you shouldn't be doing that."

Ai shifts into intangibility and flies up and over the Wildsiders' heads. Hovering a few feet above the center of the art installation, she shifts her arms into long, whip-like tentacles and strikes out at the two Wildsiders trying to laser-cut away a section of the sculpture.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So assuming this is directly engaging:

[ROLL]2d6-1[/ROLL]

ETA: Well I messed up the automatic dice roller somehow, so I rolled in the OOC thread and got a 4. womp womp

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: Angry

Sebastian lets out a few choice curses as he's wrapped up in chains and drug, annoyed, along the floor. He's quick to palm a grenade from is pack as he's brought face to face with Madcap, look of displeasure firmly in place. "Now why'd you have to go and do that? I just grabbed this and you're getting in my way?" he asks, holding the grenade up which to most wouldn't even look like a grenade for all the arcane modules and crafting that's gone into it. If one squinted it could be art? "How'bout you take it and let me on my way?" The grenade was one of his Cryo-Blasts, a concentrated rune of Ice with various mechanical trappings that would make it explode out and form a rather hard ice shell around whatever was in proximity. Which meant him, which was why he was discreetly trying to move away.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

How about we fail another roll? Trying to trick Madcap. That'd be an Are you Watching Closely.

(2d6+2)[9]

So! I'm going to take

-You get an oppurtunity (hopefully blowing the grenade up in his face)
-You avoid further entanglement (by hopefully blowing the grenade up into his face)

[Comissar]

Charlotte is quick to take in the scene in front of her. Ai was nowhere to be seen, but Elastiboy and Index had arrived. Her heart sank, then leapt again as she saw the Wildsider goons go for her classmates, only to be foiled by Elastiboy. Of course, that now left him centre of attention for nearly a dozen of them. Running forward, she quipped "Play time's over boys, let's pack it in."

Once she was close enough, she leaped up to the two nearest, reaching out to grab their ankles and phase them down and out of their gear as she fell back to the ground.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

So, rolling to defend Elastiboy by phasing two goons out of their high tech jets and equipment? Let me know if it should be a different move instead!

(2D6+3)[10]

Edit - So, with a 10 I can add a team to the pool?

[Thokk_Smash]

Elastiboy
Conditions: None

Despite being outnumbered and surrounded, Elastiboy's grin doesn't waver. His hands are up in a loose stance, but for all his disadvantage he might as well be on an outing amongst friends. "Do you guys keep forgetting your group's name? Izzat why you keep shouting it?" He easily dodges a strafing strike from one of the teens. "You should really keep track of that! Maybe you could write it on your underwear?"

Ghost's assistance is met with a widening of his grin. "Hey, thanks, Ghost!" he says jovially as he punches his way through the circle. He takes a few scrapes (punches don't really hurt, but they do push him around a bit!) and pushes down on his legs once more. The tension releases and springs him to the wall, where he jumps off once more to end up directly above the group he'd been fighting. "I think it's time for you guys to take a nap! Rapid-Fire!" From above he rains down blow after elastic blow, arms seeming to be a blur as he punches at the terrorizing teens.

Spoiler

Show

Rolling to Directly Engage the enemy, not sure it'll do anything but at least I'll get Potential if it doesn't! (2d6-1)[7]

Oh, hey, it's a hit! I think, given the fiction (he's hitting down, so he can't really move the Wildsiders into a different position to give his allies an opening, and I don't know what would be taken away from them) I'll go with "Impress, Surprise, or Frighten the Opposition as the result. I await your direction on which Condition to mark.

[herodofcows]

In the lobby, Madcap grabs the cryo-grenade off of Index and gives it a critical once-over.

"Hmmm, a fellow thief, is it?" he trills, sunglasses flashing, "Now, what manner of pittance have you filched, young-"

FSSSSSSSH

"AWK!"

Madcap staggers backwards, trying to free himself from the sudden deep freeze that has engulfed his face and right hand. In his consternation, he trips over his own chain (which now lies limp and unmoving at his feet) and goes sprawling.

Behind him, the gang of Wildsiders is not having a good day. As Ghost and Elastiboy lay into them like a well-oiled machine, the young n'er-do-wells find their defenses ineffective and are quickly smacked down like flies. Robbed of their high-tech jets and forcefields, they are all revealed as middle-and-high-school-aged children as they are smashed to the ground.

And some of the museum patrons notice this.

". . . Oh my God, did you see that?"

"That was . . . brutal!"

"Hey kid, leave them alone! They're done! It's over!"

The remaining Wildsiders in the lobby stop destroying the artwork and begin to approach the teen heroes . . . cautiously. Warily.

In 'Halcyon in Mixed Media, Ai's plan runs into a bit of a snag. Her attack sends the two Wildsiders flying, all right. Unfortunately, they're still holding their laser cutters, and as they tumble . . .

"AAAAARGH!" shrieks one, clutching at their smoldering side as they tumble off their laser cutter. The smell is hideous, and they're clearly grievously wounded.

"Holy . . . Alex!" yells another, rushing to the side of the wounded one.

The other Wildsiders round on the extraterrestrial like a pack of mad dogs.

"Bad move, freak!"

"Rip it up, shred it down!"

"Take it to Madcap!"

"WILDSIDERS!"

Spoiler: Index

Show

Okay! Madcap is on the ground, partially frozen, and looking silly! Take a +1 forward to whatever you do against him!

Spoiler: Elastiboy

Show

Mark Guilty. The crowd thinks you might have gone too far against the Wildsiders.
They're trying to shift your labels +1 Danger/-1 Savior. Accept or roll to reject!

Spoiler: Ghost

Show

Uh oh . . . The crowd thinks you might have gone too far against the Wildsiders.
They're trying to shift your labels +1 Danger/-1 Savior. Accept or roll to reject!

Spoiler: Ai

Show

Mark a condition of your choice! Looks like you can either fight the Wildsiders or try to help the grievously-injured one! What do you do?

[gailforce]

Ai

Conditions: Insecure


Ai lets out a bubbly screech, like a tea kettle boiling over. This wasn't supposed to go like this! She was just trying to protect the lovely art, and stop them from doing whatever they were planning on doing with the part they were cutting away. But humans are so fragile--they can be cut so easily, and they're so clumsy with the few limbs that they have, and it's all so confusing. No matter how hard she tries, she always seems to do something wrong.

And now she's done something that Ghost and the others will think is horrible. She has to fix this, and now, or everyone will hate her and she'll be alone again.

"Stop!" she screams. "All of you, just--just STOP!"

Her arms snap back to their normal shape and size. She shifts again into intangibility flies further up, darting over the heads of the Wildsiders still standing. Despite their yelling and swearing they aren't a threat to her, not really. They're just humans. She hovers six feet above the injured Wildsider and their friend.

"I'm--I'm sorry," she says to the injured Wildsider--Alex, she thinks, their name is Alex--and their friend. “I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. Can…can I help? I think I might have something with me that could help.”


A tendril springs from her waist and wraps around Alex's dropped laser cutter. "Don't freak out," she says as soothingly as she can. "I just need to borrow this."

She pops open the laser cutter and examines its insides. It's a simple mechanism, like a much more straightforward version of the nodes of the electromagnetic debris net she was occasionally assigned to repair back on her home world. She can use a small refractor chip to reverse the polarity of the radiation, and add a microdiffuser to shift the particles into waves. The new ray should soothe the burn, and make the damaged flesh heal more easily.

Ai draws a small silvery square, like a thick credit card, from her pocket. Still in mid-air, she sits down and shifts her thighs into a wide, desk-ish surface. She lays the square on her thigh-desk and pulls at it until it expands into a large toolbox, which she pops open and rifles through. She pulls out something that looks like a little glass square and a tiny blue funnel, and slots them into place in the laser cutter. She shrinks and stows her toolbox again, then floats down to Alex's eye level.

"Hold still," she says. "This won't hurt." She clicks the laser cutter on.

[Thokk_Smash]

Elastiboy
Conditions: Guilty

It must be said: for all his exuberance, Elastiboy only became, well, Elastiboy very recently. He's spent some of that time fooling around with his new powers. He's thought up cool ways he could use them to fight crime. But this was the first time he'd really put his all into an attack with his new powers.

And so it is not only the museum patrons who are shocked by the sheer damage Elastiboy just caused.

Elastiboy hears the bystanders' comments faintly, as if from far away. As he falls back down to earth, all he can look at are the kids--kids his own age!--that he'd just punched into the ground. God, they look so still...

"I-I'm sorry!" he shouts, apparently at the Wildsiders he'd just beaten down. He doesn't bother trying to land properly, instead bouncing off the ground comically until he gets to his feet near one of the downed kids. "I-I didn't mean--are you all--I'm so sorry!"

Heedless of the slowly advancing pack of Wildsiders, Elastiboy grabs for his phone and dials 9-1-1. "H-hello!" he says in a loud voice as he kneels next to one of the kids. He doesn't think they all look too bad, but what does he know? "I'm at the Museum of Modern Art. I punched some Wildsiders out, but they're just kids, I think they might have concussions--please send ambulances!"

All the while Elastiboy's expression is one of pure guilt, with not a hint of malice.

Spoiler

Show

Rolled an 8 in the OOC to Reject the crowd's Influence; chose to mark Potential by spending the round calling 911 for an ambulance for the kids Elastiboy just probably gave concussions to.

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: Angry

Sebastian is quick on his feet, while not the fastest or strongest in his team...let alone age group...he knew how to avoid his own weapons. "Now see...you could have avoided that if you'd just paid attention." he sighs, pulling his Sparrow Revolves from his pack and rounding them on the downed Madcap, placing a few good shots down at the prone villain with extreme prejudice. "You're not a real villain, you're just some douche in cosplay. Get the hell out of here, you and your men. If that lot can handle them, you're not fit for the big leagues. You disgrace."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So...going to go for two rolls and hopefully that's ok. First I'm going to use the +1 on a Directly Engage - If I can get this to a 7 obviously Resist/Avoid Blows

(2d6+2)[6]

and then just go with a Provoke - Telling Madcap to leave with is men.

(2d6+2)[11]

Come on sweet sweet Potential. Welp...I'd really like that attack to go through. So unless someone (or you) have a problem I'd like to spend a Team if we've got it selfishly as described in the OOC. Sebastian is...literally ignoring the team to put the hurt on Madcap. I'd boost Danger up and make that a 7 and Savior down.

[Comissar]

Charlotte feels a tightening in her chest as the Wildsiders fall still, and the crowd calls out. Under her helmet, she grimaces. They were young, some of them even looked younger than her. She glances briefly at Elastiboy, both worried that he might have gone a bit far, but also that he might be taking the crowd's comments to heart. The gang still needed to be stopped, after all. What they were doing was illegal.

Spotting the slowly advancing group of remaining Wildsiders, she moved herself just in front of the distracted Elastiboy. Doing her best to keep a neutral stance, she called out "I know you just want to be someone big and important, you've got these fancy gadgets, a guy who gives you direction." She shakes her head, pointing back at their floored comrades, "But what you're doing isn't just illegal, it's really dangerous!" She brings her hand back up to her chest, "Trust me on this, I know!"

Charlotte sags slightly, taking in the damage already caused to the museum, "I don't want to be fighting you, but you've already caused a lot of property damage, and I can't just let you go, but if you come quietly? Even better, if you give up on this whole Wildsider thing? I won't need to fight you, and I can at least put in some good words for you."

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Rolling to try and comfort the Wildsiders in the lobby that Ghost won't take this any further if they don't push her. Let me know if this should be something else!

(2D6+1)[7]

[Thokk_Smash]

Elastiboy
Conditions: Guilty

"Guys, I really, really don't want to keep fighting you," Elastiboy says as he gets to his feet. His face still clearly shows his remorse, but it's mixed with a mulish expression. "I want your friends to get looked at, and I hope you do, too. So, just...stop, so your friends don't get caught in the crossfire. Because I can't just let you run amok here."

[herodofcows]

In the lobby, Madcap is flailing around like a rabid beast. He manages to partially scrape some ice off of his face, drawing blood in the meantime. His eyes dart around like those of a caged animal, and his breathing is ragged.

"WILDSIDERS!" he shrieks, "WE DEPART! GET WHAT WE CAME FOR AND GO!"

The Wildsiders are silent for a beat, and then . . .

"BAHAHAHAHA!"

"Old man done lost his balls!"

"No stones of his own? Old man, go HOME!"

"Wildsiders, take him out! Show him what we freaks are 'bout!"

They kick up like a cloud, zooming all over the place like swarming insects before all converging on Madcap, who gestures at them all with unmasked fury.

"CURS!" he yowls, as they fly towards him, "BASE VILLAINS!"

His chain abruptly whips back to life, wrapping around him and hoisting him gracelessly out the door.

The swarm of Wildsiders follows him out hooting and hollering. For a beat, all seems calm and quiet. Everyone begins to pick themselves up and dust themselves off. The panel shifts past the three heroes, past the isolated guests, all the way to the bruised and battered high school student group. Mrs. Davis is at the center of them, frantically checking names off of her clipboard and going sheet white as she realizes . . .

"They . . . They took some of the students!" she screams, "Charlotte, Leanne, Robin, Corey .
. . I can't find them! They took them!!!'

Upstairs, in the Halcyon exhibit, Alex the injured Wildsider's eyes flutter open as Ai's device knits her flesh together. For the briefest of moments, the Wildsiders are all still.

"What did . . ." begins Alex . . .

KZZAT

The device suddenly surges with alien energy, zapping Ai into insensibility! She crumples to the ground, briefly stunned. The Wildsiders hover over her, uncertainty and panic on their faces.

"Oh s***! What do we-"

"Forget her, get the map piece! Get what we-"

"Forget THAT, the retreat just sounded! We have to-"

"Just go! GO!"

In a flurry of motion, most of the Wildsiders leave the room. Alex stays back for a moment, picks up the unmodified laser cutter, and finishes cutting out a section of the sculpture. She glances up at Ai apologetically as she does so.

". . . Sorry," she murmmers, "But Boss Nutter'll kill us if we don't come back with this . . ."

She grabs the section of the sculpture and, with a final glance, flies out the room.

[Comissar]

Conditions: Guilty

The Wildsiders were fleeing before Charlotte could properly process what had just happened. She just stands still for a few moments, letting the quiet sink in, before walking over to Elastiboy. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she quietly asked "You doing ok..?"

At that point, a familiar voice cried out.

"They . . . They took some of the students! Charlotte, Leanne, Robin, Corey . . . I can't find them! They took them!!!"

Charlotte felt her heart drop. Quickly scanning the assembled students confirmed her fears, they were really gone. Head whipping around, she yelled "Come on! We have to get them back!"

Running out the door, she scanned the sky for signs of the Wildsider's retreat, her gut twisting as she did.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Should've stopped them leaving!

[gailforce]

Ai

Conditions: Angry, Insecure


Ai tries to scream and lash out at Alex, but she can't. The electromagnetic radiation coursing through her (from her other, even stupider mistake, says a voice in her head that sounds like Quartermaster Yavraolth'xuxz) is paralyzing. It's all she can do to keep hold of her form.

After an agonizingly long minute, the jarring vibrations in her body stop, and Ai is able to pull herself upright and look around. The art installation is destroyed, a huge section of it cut away. The rest of the room is trashed, too. All the Wildsiders are gone. She never should have helped them. She should have bound them all up in her limbs when she had a chance and dropped them in a disgraced heap in front of their leader. None of them had even stayed to see if she was alright. She had been stupid to think that she was doing the right, the human, thing by helping the injured one.

Feeling angrier and stupider than she's felt since she arrived on Earth, Ai flies back down into the wrecked atrium just in time to see Ghost run out. She lands next to Index.

"What happened?" she asks him. "Or, um, what's happening?" She tries to keep the rage out of her voice--she's heard that anger is an unattractive and negative quality in humans. And she doesn't want to be a bad human on top of being a terrible and useless alien.

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: Angry

Sebastian watches impassively as Madcap retreats, tucking his hands into his pockets as silence resumes. It's short lived of course, panic rising as someone shouts about hostages. Not his problem really, he took care of his end. Of course that wasn't going to cut it with the team or the inevitable presence of the hero squad probably on their way currently so Sebastian picked his way to the center display in the lobby and parked his rump firmly.

The arrival of Ai only receives the usual sullen gaze before he rests his eyes on the main doors, offering a shrug. "Someone left loose ends." he mutters, fishing his headphones back out of his pocket before placing them over his ears. "They'll clean it up." He had no idea who had incited the Wildsiders to take hostages, or even if someone had, but it seemed unlikely punching their leader down so hard prompted it. "Should probably get out of here though. We're not going to be alone for long. Take the others with you. I'll clean up here." The Wildsiders were probably long gone but considering their vehicles and strange aversion to soap there should still be a trail. He punched in a quick search into his PC-R, a holographic image of a bloodhound appearing along with a small blurb on its function to humans insofar as hunting and crime. "This should help."

He glanced back at Ai with a dozen questions swimming in his head, but they could wait. The most important was "Where were the others" of course but those were details Ai needed, and details he didn't. The less he knew, arguably, the easier it would be to lie. At the very tail end of those questions was "are you ok" but he didn't see any bleeding...if the alien bled at all...that question really raised a dozen more, none of which were pertinent in the moment. "Go." was all he expounded, motioning back to one of the emergency exits.

[gailforce]

Ai gives Index a slightly quizzical look, but nods. It feels good to know what she's supposed to be doing.

She flies over to Elastiboy and alights on top of some rubble. He seems upset, but Ai still struggles with reading human body language, so she won't say anything yet.

"Index said we should leave right now, because someone's coming, and he'll take care of it," she says. "I think he also wants me to turn into a dog thing with big ears and a droopy face."

[Thokk_Smash]

Elastiboy
Conditions: Guilty

Elastiboy watches the Wildsiders and their leader flee with eyes that are still creased with guilt. He leans against a nearby wall and looks anywhere but at the Wildsiders he'd downed.

He turns his head at Ghost's touch and gives a shaky smile. "I..."

Before he can reply in full, the teacher cries out the missing students' names. It takes him a second to put two and two together--he'd recognized some of the students from school, but it's not like he saw anybody he's friends with--and his eyes widen. "Charlie!" he yells in fear, before realizing what he'd said. "...horse!" he finishes lamely, reaching down to grab his leg as if in pain. It's not very convincing.

They've got to go after those Wildsiders! He hesitates on instinct, though: even without Ai dropping in to tell him what Seb said, he knows he shouldn't leave the scene of a crime, especially one he had a hand in stopping. Plus, he wants to see that the injured Wildsiders are seen by the EMTs.

Then...he remembers something very important.

His foster brother knows about Elastiboy.

His foster brother does not approve of Elastiboy, not fully.

His foster brother is a police patrolman on the beat.

His foster brother is a police patrolman on the beat in this area.

His foster brother will be here soon and see the powerless teenagers he'd just beaten down.

Malcolm suddenly decides he wants to be anywhere but here.

"Yeah, we need to go after those Wilsiders who took the students," Elastiboy nods after several moments of interesting facial expressions (including, but not limited to: deep thought, realization, anxiety, desperation, and mulishness. Ai's interpretation of said emotions notwithstanding). "...He wants you to turn into a dog? Like to sniff 'em out?"

Elastiboy runs for the door and launches a hand at the nearest rooftop, trusting that Ai could easily keep up with him. He scans the area for Ghost in case she hasn't gotten too far away.

Spoiler: @Herod

Show

If you want more info on Mal's brother, Martin O'Malley, just lemme know. I came up with his job as a police patrolman relatively in the moment (by that I mean it hadn't been decided when I thought him up), but it seemed to fit too well to not make him such.

[gailforce]

Ai

Conditions: Angry, Insecure

"Um, I think so?" Ai replies. "He showed me this info sheet about scent hounds and tracking and---oh, okay, you're going now!"

As Elastiboy bounces off, Ai glances over her shoulder at Index. She isn't sure about this--it seems wrong to leave him alone, but at the same time he very clearly wants her to go. He's a very confusing human. She gets the sense sometimes that he doesn't particularly like her. It's frustrating.

But she shouldn't be thinking about that now. She can try to figure out how to make him like her later. For now, she should try to be useful. She can prove her worth.

Ai shifts into a large bloodhound and zooms off after Elastiboy, jowls and ears flapping in the wind.

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: Angry

Sebastian saw the others leave, much too focused on the door...and any possible avenue of escape when the hammer came down. Chances were high it was going to come down too, couldn't fart the wrong way without a superhero rushing in to make sure everything was clear. The others were clear though, which meant he got to say whatever he wanted and since that was the case well...he might as well put on a show before getting the hell out.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Just reposting. Got a six on my Assess but still get to ask a question which is "what's the best way past the cops" when they get here.

[herodofcows]

Index

As the others depart, the sirens outside approach closer and closer. There's a beat, and then . . .

"FAMOUS POTATOES!" roars a voice off-panel, "What in the Northern Mockingbird happened here?"

The panel perspective shifts to the busted-open museum doors. The Scythian stands within, flanked by beat cops and fully bedecked for battle. As emergency medical personnel and the police begin seeing to the civilians, she makes a beeline for Index.

"All right, kid," she growls peremptorily, "You wanna explain this Blackeyed Susan?"

Spoiler: The Scythian

Show

The Scythian is a premiere member of Halcyon City's major supergroup, the Defenders. She is an immortal that has lived upwards of six thousand years, and spent nearly all of them working as a soldier of some description or another. She's rough around the edges, but possesses the kind of perspective that only a thousand-plus-year lifespan can bring and ultimately does the right thing whatever the cost.

She goes to battle bedecked in golden armor and a distinctive high-capped helmet. It's not her original armor, but rather a high-tech damage-resistant equivalent of her own design and reforging. She carries an entire arsenal on her back and at her hip, wielding everything from bows to guns with equal facility. She doesn't kill anymore (mostly), but she's very skilled at fighting to wound.

Spoiler: Famous Potatoes? Blackeyed Susan? Northern Mockingbird?

Show

In the recent Weight of the World storyline, the Defenders moved heaven and earth to rescue a group of children from the clutches of the nefarious Murder of Crows, all while depowered. The Scythian had the climactic moment here, swooping in boldly to defeat the villainous super-team all but singlehandedly.

Upon their rescue, a local news team had hastened to interview the children. What, they asked, had it been like to be saved by the Scythian? What feats of derring-do had the lucky youngsters been privy to?

What followed was a group of six-year-olds excitedly telling the newscaster every single swear word that the Scythian had used while demolishing the villains. She'd used about every curse word, blasphemy, and obscenity in the English language (as well as a few others), and every single one was now repeated on live TV by a bunch of precocious youngsters.

As such, the Scythian is now only allowed to swear under specific circumstances. At all other times, she is semi-voluntarily under a spell devised by the Defenders' mystic powerhouse Eldritch: all ordinary swear words are now auto-magically replaced by state mottos, capitals, flowers, animals, tourism slogans, etc.

Elastiboy, Ai, Ghost

The Wildsiders are far from subtle operators: the strewn wreckage and panicking civilians they leave behind makes for easy following. The trail goes outwards from the center of the city towards the less populous areas, into the abandoned industrial areas that are relics of Halcyon's manufacturing days. It's difficult tracking, but Ai's enhanced senses lead the team straight and true past abandoned factory buildings and dusty warehouses, over wire fencing and through overgrown lots.

The trail eventually leads to the old Muramasa Assembly Plant. This abandoned car works is a mainstay of hooliganry and black-market shenanigans, as its labyrinthine passages and wide-open assembly floors make for a perfect combination of escape routes and illegal staging grounds.

From the outskirts, it is possible to see several Wildsider guards idly patrolling the perimeter on foot. Smoke is rising from one of the factory smokestacks, and about a dozen more Wildsiders are circling the lip of the smokestack.

As the team takes in the scene, Ghost's phone chimes with several text tones in quick succession. It's Leanne!

S.O.S.

In Muramasa Plant.

Third(?) floor. Got us caged. We're okay 4 now.

They've got Madcap tied up tho.

[Razade]

Index

As the others depart, the sirens outside approach closer and closer. There's a beat, and then . . .

"FAMOUS POTATOES!" roars a voice off-panel, "What in the Northern Mockingbird happened here?"

The panel perspective shifts to the busted-open museum doors. The Scythian stands within, flanked by beat cops and fully bedecked for battle. As emergency medical personnel and the police begin seeing to the civilians, she makes a beeline for Index.

"All right, kid," she growls peremptorily, "You wanna explain this Blackeyed Susan?"

Spoiler: The Scythian

Show

The Scythian is a premiere member of Halcyon City's major supergroup, the Defenders. She is an immortal that has lived upwards of six thousand years, and spent nearly all of them working as a soldier of some description or another. She's rough around the edges, but possesses the kind of perspective that only a thousand-plus-year lifespan can bring and ultimately does the right thing whatever the cost.

She goes to battle bedecked in golden armor and a distinctive high-capped helmet. It's not her original armor, but rather a high-tech damage-resistant equivalent of her own design and reforging. She carries an entire arsenal on her back and at her hip, wielding everything from bows to guns with equal facility. She doesn't kill anymore (mostly), but she's very skilled at fighting to wound.

Spoiler: Famous Potatoes? Blackeyed Susan? Northern Mockingbird?

Show

In the recent Weight of the World storyline, the Defenders moved heaven and earth to rescue a group of children from the clutches of the nefarious Murder of Crows, all while depowered. The Scythian had the climactic moment here, swooping in boldly to defeat the villainous super-team all but singlehandedly.

Upon their rescue, a local news team had hastened to interview the children. What, they asked, had it been like to be saved by the Scythian? What feats of derring-do had the lucky youngsters been privy to?

What followed was a group of six-year-olds excitedly telling the newscaster every single swear word that the Scythian had used while demolishing the villains. She'd used about every curse word, blasphemy, and obscenity in the English language (as well as a few others), and every single one was now repeated on live TV by a bunch of precocious youngsters.

As such, the Scythian is now only allowed to swear under specific circumstances. At all other times, she is semi-voluntarily under a spell devised by the Defenders' mystic powerhouse Eldritch: all ordinary swear words are now auto-magically replaced by state mottos, capitals, flowers, animals, tourism slogans, etc.

Index
Conditions: Angry

Sebastian by this point has managed to pull out a cigarette and light it, storing the smoke within his cheeks though a few misty clouds shows he's been preparing for at least a minute or two. When the Scythian gets in range he lets loose the large plume of acrid smoke, glaring through it with all the unearned annoyance that only a teen can muster. "Fight happened." he answers in his typical terse and clipped speech, another drag on his cigarette followed by another thick plume of smoke. "Madcap and his Wildsiders came in to steal. I moved to stop'em but they just ran. Took some civvies before I could stop'em...rest of the team went to clean up my mess. Not really my wheel house.

That of course was a lie, or at least...Sebastian felt it was a lie. He'd only taken down Madcap and the rest...he didn't really know. He didn't really think it was anyone's fault that hostages were taken but he was more than happy to shoulder the burden of bad press and poor opinions if it meant he could spread the narrative that his team were the real heroes. He was, after all, a dedicated member of the team even if he wouldn't ever say as such. The best he could do was be the whipping boy. Every light cast a shadow and their light cast a pretty big one. He'd be happy to dwell in it.

[gailforce]

Ai

Conditions: Angry, Insecure

As soon as the abandoned plant is in sight, Ai takes off. She doesn't even spare a thought for Malcolm or Ghost. (She will be helpful this time, she will!) She shifts back into her human-ish form and makes herself the color of the cloudy sky above so that she blends in. Sufficiently camouflaged, she speeds off towards the Wildsiders circling the smokestack.

[Comissar]

Conditions - Guilty

Charlotte stood outside the museum feeling lost. She'd managed to follow the sound of the Wildsider's jets down the road a short way, but then they were too far gone. It was with no small measure of relief, then, that she turned to see Elastiboy racing in her direction, accompanied by a Bloodhound..? She shook her head, maybe it was Ai? She wasn't entirely sure what the limits of the alien's shapeshifting were. It didn't matter anyway, it looked like Elastiboy knew where he was going. Turning on her heel, Charlotte raced after him. By the time they reached the outskirts of the industrial sector, her muscles were starting to burn from exertion.

At this moment, Charlotte felt a buzz in her pocket. Glancing briefly between Ai and Malcolm, she half turned so that they couldn't see the phone and checked who was contacting her at a time like this. She felt a wave of relief as she saw it was from Leanne. She tapped a response quickly, keeping it succinct.

Got it. Nearby, stay safe.

As she turned back to relay the information, she spotted Ai rocket into the sky, rapidly shifting colour and all but disappearing. Eyes widening in alarm, Charlotte started to call out before remembering the guards. Gritting her teeth, she turned to Malcolm instead. "They're up on the third floor. Can you bounce us to the second? I can take us through and we'll get the hostages out through the floor before they know we're there." She glanced back at the irregular patrols, "As long as we avoid them on the way in, anyway..."

[herodofcows]

At the Museum

The Scythian casts a piercing glance around the room, even as the first responders sweep through the civilians and begin taking statements and pulses.

"Beehive State right it's 'not your wheelhouse', kid," she grumbles, coming back to look at Index with eyes that could light a match, "You charged in. Didn't read the situation. People got hurt. That's some bad Painted Turtle to have happen if you were trying to help."

She sighs and puts her hand on Index's shoulder in a gesture that manages to be both reassuring and more than a bit patronizing.

"I get that you meant well, kid. Really, I do. But now we've got a hostage situation because you didn't have your Bluebonnet together. Supervillain attacks are too crazy to have an extra wild card in the mix."

Her attention gets drawn away when Officer O'Malley signals her over. She leaves Index with a final Parthian shot (ironically).

"Next time, steer clear and let the grownups handle it, okay?"

Spoiler: Index

Show

Looks like the Scythian is trying to shift your labels! Danger up, Superior down. Accept or roll to reject!

Muramasa Assembly Plant, Smokestack

Ai remains undetected as she approaches the smokestack. The circling Wildsiders pay any minor air distortion no mind as they circle, their focus seemingly zeroed in within the depths of the smokestack . . .

WHOOSH

Suddenly, the smoke parts! Two figures blast upwards from the depths, coming to rest on the lip of the smokestack. One of them is shirtless, marble-white skin rippling with muscles and intricate tattoos alike. He is Loco, a top Wildsider lieutenant and one-man wrecking ball.

Loco holds the second figure up by the skull, laughing uproariously. This figure is smaller, clad in Wildsider gear. She is . . .

"BEHOLD, WILDSIDERS!" roars Loco, still brandishing Alex by the skull, "BEHOLD!"

The chant goes up, and the surrounding Wildsiders hoot and holler.

"WILDsiders! WILDsiders! WILDsiders!"

Spoiler: Ai

Show

Oh my! Looks like the Wildsider you saved is in some kind of trouble? And at the hands of one of the three top dogs among the Wildsiders,
too! Loco is a powerful foe, to be sure, and discretion might be wise . . . but of course, you'd certainly prove your worth if you could take him down or humiliate him in some way . . .

Muramasa Assembly Plant

Boss Nutter sits at his cluttered workspace in the middle of the second-floor assembly room. He is a squat, slightly portly middle-aged man in a white undershirt and battered jeans. He has random pieces of metallic armor and strange clicking devices all over his body. Beneath a set of oversized goggles, he wears an expression that suggests that he has just taken a deep whiff of mustard.

Before him, and beneath a mix of high-tech scanning equipment and conventional lenses, lies the severed piece of the Halcyon City map sculpture. He looks at it fixedly as a voice off-panel continues a rambling speech.

". . . speaks to disrespect, m'lord, truly, not simply of ME, but of YOUR august leadership. After all, of what use are underlings if they are heedless of their betters?"

Ignoring this, Boss Nutter picks up a small piece of engraved metal and touches the map piece. The metal glows orange on contact. Boss Nutter's eyebrow's rise, and a hint of a smile creeps across his face.

"It was the basest chicanery, m'lord. Only trickery and the tomfoolery of youth. I simply bid that you give me leave to return and hunt down the wretches that used me so ill, and I swear-"

Snarling, Boss Nutter turns around. The panel pans out to show Madcap, beaten bloody and surrounded by half a dozen Wildsiders, all looking at him like hungry cats upon a flightless bird.

Madcap goes silent as Boss Nutter fixes him with a steely glare. The latter points an accusing finger at his lieutenant.

"D'ye ferget th' imPERtence o' this job, ye bastid hoorson?" he spits, syllables icy and Ulster in equal measure, "Yer near failure in thes venture intrests me moor than any mutiny 'pon yer feeble hide! Fie, fie, ye weak-tea Madcap! Fie!"

He gestures sweepingly at the map piece.

"I told ye, did I no'? This job, this bauble here . . . Our paytron offers much and moor to us, by the givin' o' this job! We might be a part o' somethin' grander than our humble steetion, nay, our mere mortality! JUST SO LONG AS WE DINNAE C**K UP OUR END O' THE BARGAIN AN' GIVE THE DAMNED WARLOCK WHAT HE-!"

CLANG

CRASH

. . .

There are a series of silent panels as Boss Nutter slowly turns around and stares at Elastiboy, who has just fallen butt-first from one of the vents that he'd been crawling through and landed in the middle of the cluttered workspace.

". . . WIIIIIILDSIIIIIDERRRRRS!"

Still in the vents, Ghost can peer down and see the tableau below. The Wildsiders are shaking from their reverie . . . but she's still in the vents below the third floor, and she can hear the hostages above . . .

"Please . . . Please, what do you want from us? You already took our money, we don't-"

CLANG

"You wanna SHUT UP? Ain't gonna survive your trial, attitude like that!"

Spoiler: Elastiboy

Show

Oh crap, you've DEFINITELY been noticed! Mark potential and a condition, your choice. What do you do???

Spoiler: Ghost

Show

You're near the hostages, but Elastiboy is in trouble! What do you do??

Spoiler: All

Show

Do note: You won't be able to take on ALL the Wildsiders in a pitched battle and win. You'll have to be smart about this . .
.

[Razade]

Index
Conditions: Angry

All of the Scythian's words are just a dull roar as she places a hand on Sebastian's shoulder, the boy jerking back reflexively away from the touch like it may just ignite him. "Don't touch me." he snaps, glaring even more angrily at the hero as he raises a hand to try and forestall any further contact. "Blow me. How'bout that?" He stands, puffing away angrily at his cigarette as the Scythian turns her back to him. "Eyes over here, we're not done."

A good act doesn't work if you're not committed after all. "When was the last time you got in a fight and didn't destroy a city block? Lotta people get hurt from you heroes wrecking around yeah? So I messed up, got those people taken hostage. Still stopped'em from stealing anything else or hurting anyone else. Let the people who're good at rescue rescue. Let the people good at other things do what they do. Not all of us can be heroes, maybe you should try to be one some time."