Powers and the City [IC2]

[MisterSaturnine]

"OK, non-hostile. How boring. Oh, and unless you need to tell me something discretely, say it with your mouth, not in my head. Kinda weirds me out. So, what the hell does this thing want?"

Although he stops advancing at the creature, he doesn't drop his guard or pocket his weapons.

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

Across the city, a man in black with a red bandanna over his face is stopping crrimes. Small ones, like muggings, and in front of cameras. After each crime, he puts a poster on a wall within view of the camera, saying:


Meet Me at the docks, checkmate, I have something to show you. Bring a camera.

The posters aren't common enogh to be on every camera, but enough not to be a coincidence that cameras can see them.

[Voshkod]

"Tin, tell it we're sorry, and we're ready to talk, please," Checkmate said. "It may have something useful to say."

A flash message from Continuity. Meeting at the dock. "Jeez. Popular today, aren't I?" He checked his watch. "OK, then."

Near the man in black, an ATM screen starts blinking. "I'll be there at sunset."

[Sannit]

Tin nodded and looked down at the creature. <<We apologize for our companion's rash actions,>> he explained to it. <<Is there anything we can do to help repair our mistake?>>

[Fiery Justice]

(You guys are confusing, is Escher trying to knock out the Alien or Pain relieve it or is he doing it to his own feet?)

[Podger]

Escher takes a drop of the alien's blood from the ground and tastes it. His face goes slack and he sways backward away from the alien. Head buzzing he works to decode the basics of the alien structure.

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Don't care about the feet. Want to both relieve the alien's pain and knock it out. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I'm going to need to know how much Escher manages to decode, DM's call. And if morphine or other pain killer/general anesthetic will work.

[Fiery Justice]

(Your able to decode the DNA quiet throughly, and its obvious enough that the tranqs will work. Assuming you do it)
The creatures mind sends back a message, "Where Momma..." before spiraling off into silence.

[Voshkod]

"Excellent," Checkmate says. "Now, I have a lab near here. I'll take care of this, make sure it isn't a threat. Can't having it running around outside of a biolevel four facility, can we?"

[Sannit]

<<It's a child,>> Tin told his friends, a tint of surprise in his voice. <<It's looking for its mother. I hope the mother isn't much bigger, for your sake, Saint.>>

[Voshkod]

"Child or not, it's a threat until we know it's not. So let's get it out of here before anyone sees it and get it somewhere safe, where I can examine it."

[Podger]

"This is interstellar contact. It should be taken to an SLEA agency, Checkmate. And Tin? It looks like you might get an early promotion. I'd say this alien was wandering about when it was attacked by a gang of young, vicious criminals. There will of course be the video evidence to back this up. Right Checkmate?"

Escher casually tosses his cellphone to Tin. He turns toward Checkmate and waits for a response.

[MisterSaturnine]

"I don't care how big its momma is. If it so much as touches me, it's dead as doornail. I don't need fancy powers to hurt things."

Saint looks a bit uncomfortable. Diplomacy's no longer his element--although he's slowly adapting to being around people he can trust, it's not an easy shift for him.

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

At the Docks, the man in black can be seen rearanging the shipping crates and other objects in the area into a tall pyramid. After he is finished, he sits on top of this pyramid and waits. An hour or so later, a girl with a blue aura flies to him and hands him a folder and stack of papers, then leaves.

[Voshkod]

"Can't spell 'slave' without SLEA, Escher. You're going to hand this to them, and they'll hand it over to the government, and our little multi-legged friend will be on a dissection table within a day. But hey, that's what good SLEA member do, right?" Checkmate's verbal sneer is plain. "Well, look, you go do what you need to do. Some other nutjob in a costume wants to see me."

[Podger]

"I said it once, social and economic problem solving. Who said anything about a government dissection table? Checkmate, you come as close to anyone as controlling the bloody internet. You have, I don't know how much, power in this country and around the world. I have no problem with you guiding humanity through this contact but by no means should we keep this to ourselves."

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So, this is one of the bickering get nothing done superteams. Damn it, can't we fight pure evil gremlins or something? I want to punch somethings face down to its buttocks (and no Escher can't technically do that, hooray for vague, nebulous powers!)

Oh, and are there aliens on Earth or is this first contact?.

[Voshkod]

"Can't trust the government, Escher. Turn this over to them and you're making a mistake. But I'm not about to start a fight over it. I'll get whatever they learn off their servers when they've flushed the little guy's pieces down the drain."

[MisterSaturnine]

"Be quiet or I feed both of you your legs. Let's not discuss politics while ugly here skitters away. Tin, you're with SLEA, right? I say we listen to Checkmate for now, get it to a safe place, and let him look it over. But Tin, you'll be watching and making sure nothing goes wrong--if our favorite computer nerd even starts thinking something funny, you'll notify us. And SLEA, of course. Sound good?"

He pauses, his eyebrows furred in thought.

"Something's definitely wrong here if I'm serving as the voice of reason."

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Wouldn't want that to happen. Yay for pushing your characters in the right direction!

[Fiery Justice]

(This is definitely NOT first contact. There are however, relatively few races that can still be hurt by bullets. Which is most of why humanity has taken a "Stay out of Outer Space" policy. I can do pure evil Goblins though, if you like.)

[Voshkod]

"Escher, you just said it. I know things. You can believe what you want about SLEA. But some day you'll need to face the truth." With that, Checkmate opened the door. "You want to help the alien, go right ahead. SLEA will take care of him for you. I have other things to deal with. Tin, take care. Saint, I will be watching you." With that, he shut the door, and headed for the docks.

The Docks

Surrounded by an almost invisible mist of nanos, Checkmate approached the man. "All right, you got my attention. What do you want?"

[Podger]

"That works well, Eddie. Thank you. Meanwhile I need to go to work, contact me if you need anything."

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I was kidding about the goblins, though the only way we are going to get any fights is if we can't negotiate.

I think my character is lawful good. He believes in the American way, social determinism, and democracy in general, the putz.

edit: nanos? Since when did he get nanos? And yeah I got ninjaed, took to long posting, lets assume that Checkmate took the alien, shall we?

[MisterSaturnine]

"What do you need to get working on, Esch? I don't really have anything else to do, maybe I could help out. If you need anyone to do some strong-arming for you."

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Oh boy, alignment discussion. Heh, Eddie probably started Neutral Good, then slipped into Chaotic Neutral somewhere in prison. With thing going the way they are, he's likely to eventually work his way to Chaotic Good. That, or I get to go through with my secret plan for 'im. And now, it doesn't involve "joining the dark side."

[Podger]

"Heh, no not as such. The price of independence is $8.25 an hour at your local McDonald's."

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

"Checkmate, hello. Or would you prefer me to call you Mr.Dole?" Before Checkmate has time to respond, he adds, "Don't worry. I'm not here to blackmail or threaten. I'm here to help. The SLEA has you on their watch list. They know everything about you: Your powers, your drug addiction, ALL your company's illegal activities. They're just waiting to pounce. What I'm here for is to tell you this, show you these," he hands Checkmate the stack of papers, detailing everything he just told you, " and to let you know you aren't alone. You may remember the so-called supervillan Kingpin? The news put a bad spin on him, calling him a crime lord and mass-murderer, but the truth is that he was much like you. My parents were part of the SLEA sect that knew better. The truth was: Men like you and Kingpin don't do only good all the time, but in the end you help Skyline more than the SLEA ever will. It's because of Kingpin that the cops here are so well-organized, that their cars have service roads to get where they need to go. Those are things you never hear about. And unfortunately, the prevailing view in the SLEA is that you're dangerous and need to be disabled. That file in your hand contains everything the SLEA has on you. It's the only copy. My sister stole it out of a safe at Headquarters. I advise you burn it. So why am I here? I'm here because while you can see everything going on in the city, there isn't much you can do beyong calling the cops. What you need are hands, a personal army, if you will. I'll put my allegiance with you. I don't care if you have me kill, steal or lie. I'm offering myself as a tool, for you to do with what you will. I tust your judgement more than mine."

[MisterSaturnine]

Eddie smiles his patent-pending crocodile grin and lets out a dry chuckle. "I see. Well, then, I'll be checking out my new place of residence, and maybe getting my hands on some new weaponry to keep me company."

[Voshkod]

Checkmate doesn't bother to look at the file. "Lots of people have claimed I'm Dole, or Bill Gates, or a hundred other geeks. None of them have made it stick. But thanks for the information, I'll take a look at it. Now, you don't seem to like SLEA. I'm not a fan either, but I'm not about to break the law over it. Honestly, this whole thing smells like a trap. Why don't you come down here and tell me your name?"

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Yes, nanos. He didn't deploy them meeting with Escher and Tin, because he trusts them and was in his home turf (which had plenty of defenses). When he's on his own, the defensives nanos add a little bit of protection.

[MisterSaturnine]

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Hey, makes sense to me.

Meanwhile, a Mr. Jack Busoni goes shopping, and by the end of the day has his hands on a rapier ((something like the left-most or middle one here)) and some new knives to keep him company.

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Yay for filler posts.

[Fiery Justice]

(Okay, two things: Positions everyone and Should I plot hook any of you?)

[MisterSaturnine]

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What exactly do you mean by positions? Sorry for my confusion.

[Podger]

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Work, and whatever the other's plot hook are that works for me.

[Fiery Justice]

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What exactly do you mean by positions? Sorry for my confusion.

[spoiler]Where are you?