Zenith Watch #4: A Miracle of Science

[fireinthedust]

((y'know, Hellfencer, if you or any of the others would like, I could always use a Zenith or two in the new Freedom League. This wouldn't end Zenith Watch (who in my mind also includes Kroton, Mr. Justice, She-patriot and Celerity), but could speed up your post frequency))

[Blackbird]

Without flinching at the close-range gun-fire, Eagle Owl lunges at the agent infront of him. Without turning to see if his opponent went down, he moved further into the house to engage the other agents.

((Really sorry 'bout all this, been really busy with exam week. More like a week and a half really, and I'm still not quite done. I'll try to get online to post more, though.

All-Out Attack -5 defense/+5 attack and Power Attack -3 attack/+3 damage. If I get close enough to other enemies I'll surge for another attack.))

[sun_tzu]

((Tiger Claw? Doublethink?))

[mutecebu]

((Oops! I posted this a *long* time ago, looks like it didn't go through.))

((Hmm... is Heroic Surge in 2e? I know when you successfully grapple someone you can melee them, but I'm not sure if you can melee in the first turn without some feat or not.))

Doublethink and Jane start working on the encryption, utilizing the Zenith Watch computer, the Rodtech systems, and Jane's expansive neural network.

Doublethink lets Jane do most of the work, he's still working on re-writing his ballistics calculations when the bullets are sent through the side of a wall. He scans through the wall (noting locations of support beams), picks targets far from any of his teammates (second floor if applicable), and fires.

I become a sentient being and you still use me as a networking program!? Doublethink responds with a whip-crack sound effect.

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Right, in this version full-auto still only lets you shoot at one person, or do a sweep at a lot of people I think. I'll stick with a single higher-velocity bullet for this attack, no sense in bringing the house down. (not automatic)

[sun_tzu]

((All right...Not sure what's up with Tiger Claw, but it's way, way more than time to progress!))

Doublethink shoots at the agent Eagle Owl has wounded, but, slowed down as it is by the wall, the bullet doesn't fully penetrate the agent's armor. It does, however, unbalance him, and his own shot misses Eagle Owl, who, using his wings to do a backward flip just below the ceiling, lunges at another agent, sinking his talons in and taking him out.
Another agent painfully shoots Nightbane in the chest (though the bullet doesn't penetrate). That's when Tiger Claw jumps him through the window, knocking him out.
The agent EA was fighting gets several more shots in, all quite painful (another stun hit), but EA's hand elongates and hits like a missile from an unexpected angle, hitting him in the face with his own gun. He crumbles down.
The fifth agent does something with his gun - some bullet replacement, you think. Whatever it was, he tries to shoot Nightbane with it. The bullet whistles right next to your ear.
Meanwhile, Doublethink and Jane are making progress in hacking the damaged satellite. You still need to identify the data packets they're sending back to their base.

[fireinthedust]

EA is going to go after the Agent shooting at Nightbane. Still using the elastic form to strike him BUT I'd like to describe it as EA elasti-biting him, almost elasti-swallowing him (though I don't have Engulf, so I suppose we'llhave to settle for gnawing on him a little; still, this could count as a grapple attempt, which I'd get a huge bonus on because of elongation).

(ahem)

IC:

EA zips through the space between himself and the agent attacking Nightbane. With a mighty roar, like unto a tyranosaurus rex chomping down on a lawyer, the manly masticator stretches his mouth to the size of a cave. getting close enough to bite down, he tries to chew the agent mightily, before he can shoot Nightbane full of super-lead.

[HellFencer]

Nightbane

Not even flinching as the bullet pounds against his chest, instead Zach lightly brushed it away and launched into a full out attack on the nearest agent. He would even step on the agent's feet to keep him from being knocked away, simply to finish his assault.

Quickly, he looked around for another target, hoping to pound his lights out as well.

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Ok, the feet stepping is just for flavor. If he goes flying, I'd like to make sure I'm done with him first :P

I'll heroic surge -> attack the next nearest agent if I can.

[Blackbird]

Eagle Owl pounces on the nearest agent, feeling the adrenalin rush through his body as he stabs the Shadow operative. Before his first opponent is even down, he's already eagerly looking for fresh prey.

((Full All-Out Power Attack, surge for the next enemy if the first guy goes down.))

[sun_tzu]

((sorry for the on-off schedule...on a trip to see some family out of the country.))

One luckless agent gets tag-teamed by Nightbane and Eagle Owl. Between the slash and the punch, it's a wonder he's still alive.
The last agent lets several more shots at Nightbane, dodges EA's swallow attempt, and dodges an attack by Eagle Owl before finally getting a kick to the face from Tiger Claw - but not before one bullet hits Nightbane. Some kind of toxin is somehow injected through your skin, and makes you feel like your entire body is on fire. The pain is excruciating...for a few seconds, then it fades.

Doublethink, you're pretty confident you and Jane have identified the destination of the data packets...though it was probably the most complex system you've ever hacked, especially in such a short time.

[Blackbird]

Eagle Owl checks the Shadow agents to make sure they're all incapacitated while he talks to Doublethink. "Did we get what we came here for, Doublethink?"

[HellFencer]

Nightbane

After he made sure all agents were out of commission, Zach turned to Doublethink and nodded with Eagle Owl's statement. "Yeah boss, we got what we need?"

[mutecebu]

"Not yet, hold your horses. How ya hanging in there, Nightbane? Oops, I'm done. We're good to go."

As the Zenicopter comes in for the rendezvous, DT gives the clearing a once-over hunting for traps. Then, he prepares to provide covering fire for his retreating comrades if necessary, paying special attention to the agent with the special ammo, and anyone near Eagle Owl. ((is Bravado with us?))

DT stays where he is. He had only found where the packets were going, and he felt reluctant to leave. He kept copying and storing as much information as possible, to later decrypt fully at his leisure. Always the multitasker, he analyzed the area, studying whatever the agents were measuring, trying to see what they saw. He had what he came for, now he was trying to find what *they* were looking for.

((I totally cracked up reading FitD's post, by the way.))

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Preparing an action to shoot whomever necessary. Downloading is being done automatically. DT's spending the rest of his turn analyzing the area

[fireinthedust]

Alright, but let's get going. I don't mind saying I'm feeling a bit hungry! Heh, just kidding, just staying original and don'ttrythisathome! EA un-morphs into his gaseous form and flies around the windows of the house. He looks into them, checking whether there's anyone inside or not.

[sun_tzu]

((Really sorry for the delays. Between my trip, the forum outage, and various things distracting me, well...
Anyway. Onward with this!))

DT's scanning of the area gets some weird-to-interpret readings. The equipment Shadow was using gives the same, but with more detail. There appear to be some similarities between those readings and those obtained at some of Venture Industries' inter-dimensional research, but...

At this point, the Zenicopter lands in front of the house. Doublethink, you can tell it's being piloted remotely...and it's not too hard to guess by whom.
"Good job, Zenith Watch" says Checkmate through the cards. "Now we not only have their location, but also a reasonable explanation for how we could have their location.
I have taken the liberty of installing a teleporter of sorts into the Zenicopter. It is designed to hack into the teleportation system of the Shadow base, and send you there. If anyone asks, Mr Rod, it's a design you've been working on since your previous scuffle with Shadow.
You will have to act fast. The little girl is extremely valuable, and Shadow knows something's up, so they will want to evacuate her to another base just to be on the safe side. That means that the first thing you'll need to do once you get there will be to destroy their base's teleporter. Second thing will be to find the girl. Once you have her, just try to survive long enough - I'll be sending the cavalry to get you out safely as soon as possible.
Any questions?"

[mutecebu]

"Destroy the teleporter and lock ourselves in? Sounds like a great plan to me! Before we go about sealing ourselves in enemy territory, could you give us a hint as to what form the cavalry would take, or would that ruin the surprise?"

Y'know, if Checkmate wanted to get rid of us, this would be the time to do it.
Agreed. We managed to clear out an entire base on our lonesome before, though, and I'm feeling a little reckless today, though.
What if you guard the teleporter, hack it, or rig it with explosives? Can we create some way to prevent them from escaping without cutting off our main escape route?
Good question.

"Do we need to destroy it? Can we somehow ensure they don't slip by us to the teleporter? Can we rig it to blow up or break down if anyone enters before we're ready to make our getaway?"

((How do the teleporters work? Are they machines that can warp stuff from one room to the other, or do they only go from one teleporter room to another? I.e. would they have to bring the girl past us to the teleporter room?))

[sun_tzu]

Y'know, if Checkmate wanted to get rid of us, this would be the time to do it.

(())

((How do the teleporters work? Are they machines that can warp stuff from one room to the other, or do they only go from one teleporter room to another? I.e. would they have to bring the girl past us to the teleporter room?))

((Assuming it's like the teleporter in the Shadow Base from chapter 2? That one seemed capable of teleporting stuff into and away from the teleporter room - but it needed a lot of very careful and time-costly calculations to select the are to teleport to/from. Anyway, it wasn't able to teleport something from one place to another unless one of those two places was the teleporter room...but it could, presumably, teleport something from/to another spot in the base, if it had been previously programmed to do that.))

"Destroy the teleporter and lock ourselves in? Sounds like a great plan to me! Before we go about sealing ourselves in enemy territory, could you give us a hint as to what form the cavalry would take, or would that ruin the surprise?"

"The details of that will be changed accordingly, depending on how exactly things go once you get there...but the general idea is to create a situation where Shadow can no longer afford to go after this target."

"Do we need to destroy it? Can we somehow ensure they don't slip by us to the teleporter? Can we rig it to blow up or break down if anyone enters before we're ready to make our getaway?"

"Preventing Shadow agents from slipping past you in their own base is going to be, to say the least, dicey. Rigging it to blow up risks hurting the Adrian girl if they take her there. Rigging it to break down means pitting your improvisation skills against Shadow agents experienced with their own tech, and I'd rather minimize risks here. If they teleport her to another base, this is going to be Bad, with capital B."

[HellFencer]

Nightbane

"Don't worry about the teleporter. Once we get on the other side, I'll make sure nobody can use it for a long time." Zach cracked his fingers as he stretched his arms out. "And once we get the girl, no one will be able to get her from us. Afterall, who else has guns like these?" At this point Zach's rare seriousness shifted to jovial as he held up his arms and flexed.

[fireinthedust]

Wait, what if the whole place is Omnimetal? Geez, this is all happening so fast! Okay, let's do this thing.

ooc: EA is prepped and ready to go.

[Blackbird]

"We'll work it out when we get there. Right now we need to hurry."

((Locked and loaded, ready to roll! ))

[fireinthedust]

Are you sure? Like, really sure? I mean, the girl can turn back time! Unless Shadow figures out how to mimic or steal her powers... and I doubt they'd turn back time on themselves! Okay, sorry, but the last time we went into a Shadow base I nearly died. Or was that the time of the death of a thousand unborn sons... Nope, definitely the almost dying part. worst-case is they've got another Omni-metal tank in there, right? Awww... I'm gonna get shot again!

EA goes fleshy again, shaking himself back into the game. Okay, gotta do this, gotta get in there. I'm a hero, I'm a good hero, I'm smart and pretty and a *green* hero! Nightbane, ol' buddy, you with me? Big Bird? Eight-ball, er, Doublethink? Tony the Tiger? Yeah, I thought so. Ok, guys and computer-generated-ai-program-Dolls, let's go!

((so ready for that description, Sunny. Let's do this!

Also: I'm trying to figure out how to make crepes. It's not so easy... totally off-topic, tho.))

[sun_tzu]

((All right, looks like I'll be NPCing Tiger Claw until we hear from Dorni again.))

"Ready as I'll ever, I guess" says Bravado, "though I really hope I won't get shot in the knees this time..."
"Oh, and, four agents in the room you're going into" Checkmate cuts in. "Prepare to attack."

worst-case is they've got another Omni-metal tank in there, right?

You think a note of amusement actually creeps into Checkmate's voice at this point. "Funny you should say that..."
The next instant, there is a flash, and you find yourself inside the Shadow base. The teleporter room, to be exact. Three Shadow technicians and a Gamma Agent appear surprised to see you.

[fireinthedust]

EA lashes out with two rubbery limbs, attempting to knock out the two beta agents. Oh no! I just thought of something else: what if the girl's changed back time so we're all back in that *other* shadow base? What if we meet ourselves and annihilate all continuity? ...that would suck!

((hero point to make a second punch: extra effort to give my punch Autofire, the attack as many as I can. It's strike with autofire, but including my range for elongation; effectively the same as blast!))

[HellFencer]

Nightbane

As the flash of light faded away, Zach was faced with a group of agents. He loved pounding on these guys and this was going to be no exception. Reaching back, Zach curled his hand into a mighty fist and unleashed his fury upon the Gamma agent. "Greenthumb, now's not the time for that!! EEEYAAHHH!" he growled.

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Heroic surge to smack him a second time. I'll follow him if I manage to knock him through the air.

[Blackbird]

Blinking his eyes to clear his vision, Eagle Owl leaps forward to engage the agent nearest to the comm-unit. Contrary to the battlecries of his comrades, Eagle Owl is silent as he stabs his talons at the abdomen of the Shadow operative.

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Surge to attack again if he doesn't go down from the first shot.

[mutecebu]

"Preventing Shadow agents from slipping past you in their own base is going to be, to say the least, dicey. Rigging it to blow up risks hurting the Adrian girl if they take her there. Rigging it to break down means pitting your improvisation skills against Shadow agents experienced with their own tech, and I'd rather minimize risks here. If they teleport her to another base, this is going to be Bad, with capital B."

For the umpteenth time Doublethink felt his leadership undermined by Checkmate, and when he tried to assist with the planning he was brick walled with irrefutable logic. He wasn't a sore looser and would follow along with Checkmate's plan as long as it seemed the best way to rescue the girl. Doublethink knew many colleagues in both scientific and religious circles who wouldn't give up when they were proven wrong. Doublethink liked to consider himself above them, but realized he didn't like it any more than them; it was just so rarely that he found himself so throughly out-planned in the field in combat.

It was funny, Chekcmate's letting the Zenith Watch into his base actually rekindled some of Doublethink's suspicions. Checkmate has proven himself so devious and so able to plan ahead that there really was no way to tell whose side he was on. DT knows Professor Cryo is no fool, and keeping such a dangerous individual in the Cryodome seems very risky. Doublethink also realizes he is probably just a tad jealous. However, there is nothing wrong with being suspicious before you lock yourself in enemy territory.

All of this resolves into "Alright, lets go" with a tad of annoyance.

When Doublethink materializes he already has his game face on, and greets the opponents with a "Surprise!" and a spray of bullets.

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Autofire for good measure.

((I'd advise against using extra effort without canceling it with a Hero Point so early, we can take these agents without breaking a sweat. I wouldn't worry about hitting an alarm, the shadow base probably knows we're here already.))

[fireinthedust]

((yeah, but I don't think I've used a hero point in the last year. I likely have hundreds saved up!))

[mutecebu]

((Oh, I thought you were using a hero point for an extra punch AND and extra effort for autofire, as opposed to extra effort with a hero point to cancel the fatigue. I got it. Carry on!))

[sun_tzu]

((Guys, I don't think Surge exists in second edition...
...That said, forgot to mention that you all got a Hero Point for the previous scene.))

Doublethink's bullets take out the agent and one of the technicians. The other two draw out their guns, but get skewered by Eagle Owl and Tiger Claw before they can shoot.
Precisely 6208 milliseconds after you have teleported in the room, the alarm rings.

Doublethink:

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You have received a message from Checkmate on your datalink: "So far so good. Ending communications now to avoid risk of it being traced. Destroy their teleporter. Here's a tactical map."
There is an attached document - a map of the base. One room is marked as the location of Catherine Adrian. The way there from the teleporter room isn't particularly short - that room is at the lowest floor, while you're three above - but Checkmate has marked an alternate route that involves going down an elevator shaft not far from where you are.
Another room is marked as the location of an Omnicorp Mecha-Tank.

[fireinthedust]

Hah! Well, uh, let's go! Y'know, this may be easier the second time around, all things considered. Let's see what the walls are made of, though.

((Detecting/Notice for the walls and floors, what they're made of; then going along witht he group.))

[mutecebu]

as the alarm goes off:
That didn't take long. Okeydoke, here we go! Black Beauty and Jolly Green Chemist: you two take point, hang a left out the door. This base is bigger, and I'd psych yourself to fight another Megatank if I were you. Now, we have two options: take the long way, or take the fun way. The fun way involves an elevator shaft. I vote the death-trap fun way.

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Preparing action to shoot enemy with ricochet.

((What are our options with the elevator? Is the shaft thin enough for Zach to brace himself on the sides? Would we be able to access the counterweight's cable? I have an idea of us severing the weight while Zach holds the cable and controls the descent. Would DT's forcefield allow him to make stairs inside the shaft?

as they leave the room:
"I wonder how they can afford so much Omnimetal. I think we should pay our old friend the pres. a visit after this."