A New Chance

[Thrall_Of_Ao]

Oblivion

The bartender swaggers on over to you, cleaning a mug. "Evening Draven. Slow night. People are afraid to go out. Even more afraid to start fights. Makes your job easy. ...You feeling alright? You look a little... off."

Oblivion
"Club Umbral"
9:08 PM

Draven nods grimly for a moment, before replying, then becoming statuesque as he replies without making eye contact his gaze cast down at the black marble bartop. Leaning heavily on it, his hair concealing most of his features, he starts to speak in low tones, just audible over the music.

"In general, I'd say a little fear is justified wouldn't you? With guys running around the city that seem to be made of pure shadow, I'm honestly suprised that anyone is out tonight.
Running his gloved hands through his jet colored locks with a sigh,

Glancing up, Draven says "I'm a little suprised you're even here, when you could be home catching the game" saying the last part with the slightest of smirks. "You better believe I'm glad I got the night off".

He pauses momentarily, appearing to mull things over before continuing in calm amiable tones, but highlighted with a sharp edge of frustration.

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how much this is going to change everything for everyone," he says, slowly shaking his head as he speaks, then looking up and giving Andy a level look "So, to answer your question, no Andy, it's definitely not going to make my job easier, and no, I'm not feeling alright. I'd say I'm feeling super off today actually. So, do me a big favor and get me a shot of Jager...and make it a double."
He'll pull out a $50 while he says the last part and slides it across, his eyes returing to contemplation of the depthless black bartop.

OOC: Anderson (Andy for short) has been aquainted with Draven since he was eighteen, and has known him well since he started working as a part time bouncer for the Club about a year ago.

*Remaining nights plans: He'll have a few more shots, tell the door man to let in a chick that fits Tasha's description if he sees her, then go back to the bar and nurse a mixed drink (Liquid Cocain is wonderful) while he waits (I'd like to RP this whether or not she decided to show).

If she doesn't show after an hour, (the time continuity's kind of hard to keep track of but I mean by around 10PM), he'll check out the second floor just to see who would actually be up there, if anyone, on this particular night, but probably not participate, although that could end up being a power discovery type moment, then, after thanking Andy for the excellent drinks and conversation, head out and do a little roaming of his own in the down town district, feeling strangely...disatisfied.

[Xerxes Shadow]

"Unff! Fummfafafitch!" swears Joe, swiping at the one with the knuckles. "Jmf die!"

ROLLS: 21 and 16 to hit; if a hit, 6 and 13 for damage.

[The_Snark]

Judith

Why am I the go-to girl for all the people who want to look into Balchem? is the thought that echoes through her mind as she processes what the man (Nerros?) has said.

"If by dig up dirt you mean find out more about what was going on, sure," she says after a few moments. "They probably deserve it, but I'm not about to go digging up anything that doesn't exist. And in return, you can answer some of my questions." She gives him a level look, which then disappears into a look of commiseration.

"Can't go out in sunlight at all? That's..." She grimaces. "That's a change, all right, and not something I'd want... So to start with, how did the explosion happen, anyway? Some idiot knock over the wrong vat, or was there something else behind it?" If he was who he said he was—not that she could see any reson why he'd be impersonating a scientist nobody had heard of—he ought to be one of the few people who could tell her that for certain.

Something else occurs to her. "And how the hell did you know whether I was in the blast?"

[BloodyAngel]

(On second thought... Tasha does have more to do tonight, due to a hastily made impromptu roleplaying idea. Thus...)

"Holy @#$%! I forgot!" Tasha said, loud enough to hear herself over the music blaring in her earphones. "I had a date tonight! Son of a... he's going to think I stood him up!"

Tasha had gotten a bit too distracted with all the madness to remember that she had made plans with a guy from her Modern Philosophy class. Draven.... or David... or... No. Definately Draven. She remembered because it was like Eric Draven... the Crow.

Tasha gave up on her report, saving it and leaving the last page unfinished. She got quickly dressed to head out, and grabbed her keys. Heading out to get her car, she headed off to the club that Draven had chosen as the meeting place. Not her kind of place really... but she knew where it was at least. Plus it had a bar, and she had a fake ID. That would do!

Tasha will arrive at the club almost an hour late... due to a combination of forgetting about the date in the first place... and traffic. She will show up and get inside... looking about to see if Draven is even still there.

Tasha is dressed up as well as she could be in 20 minutes... Wearing a simple black t-shirt, a matching skirt, and knee-high black boots with a needless amount of metal buckles.

[The_Lonely_d12]

Davan
"Drop the purse, and I'll let you go. If you don't, I'll try not to hurt you, but I'm not promising anything."


OoC:

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Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Still trying not to kill him, and I don't want to beat him to a pulp either.
That being said, I think now I'll try snatching the purse back from him instead.
attack roll for disarm (1d20+10=20). Not sure if I get the +4 bonus for it being easy to snatch or cut away, so I didn't add that in.

I'll end up doing the same actions as before afterwards.

[evisiron]

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Nosferatu

"Why would I think you drink blood? What's a Nosfortytwo anyways? Oh wait, a vampire? Dude, that's cool. And dude, like why are you asking me what my powers are? My name is Inferno, I'm shooting jets of flame to fly, and oh yeah, I"M ON FIRE! And unlike everyone else, I got my powers from box of Cracker Jack's. Geez, man. I could draw you a picture but that would just complicate things. Yeesh.

'They' is basically the other costumed guys that stopped the Reaper. We were talking with the Mayor after words, and they got tired of calling me 'you' or 'fire guy' because I hadn't come up with a name yet, and I wasn't going to give them my real one; so one of them called me Inferno, and it stuck.

Umm, nothing personal dude, but I'm like heading home, and I want to keep it like secret, and having a vampire follow me home is just kinda weird. So unless there's anything else..."

Nosferatu


"Ah, you are the one who fought against that shadow character. Well done. And I thought it would be worth asking about the power. If I were you, I would be calling myself 'Ice Master' or something odd. Admittedly, your power (or at least one of them) is pretty obvious, but it would be worth it when a villian stocks his lair with extra heating fans instead of walling the place with flame retardant sheets. But no, there is nothing else. I bid you goodnight" *small bow, flies away if no reply*

Nosferatu will continue heading to the police station, keeping an eye peeled all the way.

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OOC: Yeah, I was going with a prepaid phone. Its what I use in real life (no signatures, just cash, hurrah for less admin), and forgot a subscription would have details. But no, this phone should be 'clean'.

[PlasticSoldier]

Orig.

"Fine zip your fly. Now back to the interrogation. Is there anything besides the guards that can alert the cops. If so, how can I prevent it from alerting the cops. "

[geez3r]

Oblivion/ Tasha(eventually

Andy puts the glass he was cleaning away, and takes the money you put down on the table. He comes back a moment later with your drink and change.
"You make a few good points Andy. I don't think I looked at this too far down the road. But if I keep looking a long ways off, then I can't see what's in the here and now. Try not to think too far man. What will come will come, and we'll deal with it when it gets here."
===========================
Time passes, and just as you are getting ready to leave, Tasha walks into the bar.

Joe/ Reaper

Joe takes his revenge on the brass knuckles guy, cutting him pretty deeply, but he's still willing to fight.
The thug with the bat tries to hit the Reaper again, but again fails to hit home.
The thug with the knuckles decides that he needs to get some payback on the Reaper and attacks him, but again finds nothing but shadow.
Finally the guy with the switchblade attacks the Reaper, trying to injure him, but fails to make contact.

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attack and damage rolls (1d20+7=22, 1d6+6=8)
attack and damage rolls (1d20+5=8, 1d6+6=9)
attack and damage rolls (1d20+8=19, 1d4+6=8)

Judith

Nerros looks relieved when you say you'll help him. "Well, there wasn't any quite as sinister behind the cause of the blast as you might suspect. Over the past few years, Balchem has been trying to get on the cutting edge of the field, and then surpass that mark. That being said they've basically been pouring more and more money into R&D, and have been rounding up all of the new tech other companies come up with. Normally there wouldn't be anything wrong with that, except that they've basically been stealing other people's creations and smuggling them in with our regular shipments.

I was doing some digging when I discovered a document revealing their practices. Now normally I would have just reported this to the officials, but one of the new "acquisitions" needed to be stored at a temperature that Warehouse 112 couldn't maintain. Because the practices were illegal, very few people knew about the existence of the chemical, and those that did would not want its existence going public, so I had to rush down there myself... I was, regrettably, too late.

Now as for how I knew you were in the explosion, I could kind of, I don't know... see it I guess. There's like some weird energy coming off of you, and off of me, so I put 2 and 2 together."

Davan

You successfully steal the purse back from the theif, who decides to cut his loses and bolts.

Nosferatu

You and Inferno part ways, and you head off in the direction of the Police HQ. You don't spot anything too noteworthy on your way, but there are a few instances of people closing their blinds when they see you flying. You eventually arrive at the Police HQ, where you receive directions to where you should go to register and get asked the standard questions for registration.

"Will you be using your powers while costumed or in a civilian identity?

What is your name and/or alias?

What are your powers?

What do you plan on doing with your powers?

Do you have any police, military and/or medical training?

Do you have a criminal record?

Are you interested in receiving Police training?"


Legion

"There are silent alarm buttons underneath the teller counter. If no one presses the button that you're golden. The buttons can be deactivated from the security room."

[PlasticSoldier]

"Ok, I'm assuming that can also deactivate the cameras as well. Now... where is it."

[BloodyAngel]

Tasha (No really, it actually is this time...)

Tasha will look around the place a bit... letting her eyes adjust to the dim lights, until she spies Draven sitting by the bar like he's some old-time detective with a chip on his shoulder. The club itself wasn't really her kind of place. Everyone always assumed from how she dressed that she was into the entire goth scene... but really... she just liked the look. She'd take her angry, mosh pit inducing rock and metal any day. Still... at least it was a place that didn't place nothing but hip-hop dance remixes.

I'm not that late... or he'd have left. What's it... quarter-til? Wow... I must have been speeding. She will think to herself as she heads to him across the club. I think I'll give the telepathy thing a rest though. It's giving me a headache. Besides, I might not want to hang out with him if I see some of the stuff in his head. I know I'll never be able to look at Heather the same again, and she's so quiet and nice!

"Hey!" Tasha will say, loud enough to be heard over the music, as she sits down next to Draven at the bar, Sorry I'm late. It's been a pretty crazy day! To be honest, I almost forgot we had plans... What with all the supermen on the news. It's insane! I didn't believe it until some lunatic attacked the mayor.

[evisiron]

Nosferatu


After following the various instructions, and trying to appear in control despite the admin, Nosferatu eventually get to a point where he can be properly registered.

"Will you be using your powers while costumed or in a civilian identity?

"Costumed. Standard 'protect the ones I care about' situation"

What is your name and/or alias?

"You may call me Nosferatu"

What are your powers?

"Like a creature of the night from stories of old, I can fly and am extremely resilient. I also seem stronger and faster than ever before."

There is a slight pause as Nosferatu considers the implications of mentioning the other power...

"I can also sense others 'supers', and tell them apart from uneffected people"

A thought crosses Nosferatu's mind, about other uses of the list and who might try to gain access to it.

"I have not been able to go near anything with garlic on it, and cannot bear the sight of crosses. Thankfully however, I do not need to consume blood to survive."

The last sentence is spoken with a slight smirk.

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OOC: Considering the amount of things this guy is likely to have heard in the past few hours, I was not sure a bluff roll was needed. Still, just in case... http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1375439

What do you plan on doing with your powers?


"Helping people. I suppose the first thing would be to help prevent violence in the wake of this 'incident', both from super powered criminals to mobs of hate filled humans"

Do you have any police, military and/or medical training?

"I do not have any official training"

Do you have a criminal record?

"No"

Are you interested in receiving Police training?"

"Yes, but at a later date."


"I had a question. Would I be able to receive some kind of police scanner, or a diferent way to get in contact? I would like to know as soon as possible if something should decide to go on a rampage."

*Before Nosferatu will leave, he will use the Detect Power (full 3 rounds, 3PP) to see if any other Supers are in the building*

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Future Plans: Finish up at police station. Go and try to purchase a new 'blank' phone with prepaid minutes (so no ID necessary). Return and give the new phone number to the police so they can get in touch if the radioactive goo hits the fan. Glide around for another hour or so. If all is quiet, return home (in as a confusing route as possible) and try to sleep.

[The_Snark]

Judith

"Huh. That's..." She gives him a curious look. "If you can see who was affected by the blast..." She trails off, storing that information for later. That could be very useful, though.

"So Balchem's been grabbing ideas off other companies. Figures. Well, that's something to start with—we know what kind of evidence to look for, anyway. Did you find out where the unstable chemical was taken from? The rest of them, too, actually—it might have been a reaction between two or more of them..." She frowns. "Probably too much to hope that they kept accurate records of illegal activity, though." And even if they did, a legal investigation would tip them off... they probably wouldn't shy from destroying the records. So much for just giving our infamously nosy press an anonymous tip and calling it a day.

She returns to her earlier thoughts. "Have you thought about what you're going to do with that ability?"

[Tar Palantir]

The Reaper whirls about, his claws flying in a dervish of death, to cut down the switchblade wielding thug. He cries out, "Feel the fear, and pay for your crimes!"

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Attack and Fear the thug, 3 PP. I can't suppress it, so I have to watch my PP. Should have 27 left if I hit.
Attack - (1d20+9)[11]
Crit - (1d20+9)[23]
Damage - (1d8+1)[6]

[The_Lonely_d12]

Davan

Davan turns and walks back to the woman, and hands her purse back to her.
could that have been any easier? I could have taken him with one hand behind my back even before this explosion happened.

"Here you go, ma'am. Have a good evening, and take care around here at night. Not everyone is out to stop crime around here, and it can be dangerous walking around here by yourself.

OoC:Assuming she doesn't have a long conversation planned, I'm going to politely make my way off to a bar for a few minutes, and later home.

[Xerxes Shadow]

"GOD! JUST DIE!" screams Joe, whirling his katanas at the knuckles-guy.

ROLLS: 28 and 19. Damage: 11 and 14.

[Thrall_Of_Ao]

Draven/Oblivion
9:45?
Club Umbral

Taking his shot, slamming it back, and clapping it decicively down on the bartop, he listened to Andys response, nodding minutely as he let the drink settle.
He speaks up after Andy finishes "Very Zen of you Andy, but you're right, this is definitely a 'one step at a time' kind of situation. Hey, who knows, maybe we'll all get lucky and find out only one self proclaimed insane mass murderer will have gained inhuman powers, and the one that did will never escape custody", he chuckles darkly as he finishes.
He shrugs,"Let's just hope it gets better before it gets a whole lot worse eh?"

Ignoring the money and sliding the shot glass back across the counter, he pulls out another $5 bill, adds it to the stack of change and says, "For now, open a tab, keep em comin, and please keep the change."

He takes up the second shot and holds onto it a bit, looking into the murky "deer blood" before downing it thoughtfully , as APC's "Weak and Powerless" played in the background, the projected images of the creeping and crawling creatures of the earth devouring...the feral eyed woman crawling about on all fours, looking about, as if searching for something that cannot be defined.

Briefly glancing at his glass in disdain when Andy wasn't looking, it was becoming more and more obvious to him that the effect produced was definitely...less intense. Now that he thought about it, not only the effect, but the flavor as well seemed to be...muted somehow.

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(1d20+7)[10]

How much have I changed? I have irrefutably been given god-like power, but at what cost? He takes his gloves off, carefully placing them in his coat pocket, then ordering a 'Liquid Cocain' when Andy came back. No need to risk anyone wondering how I'm holding the old Fire Water so well...

I wonder if she'll even show...he mused to himself, stroking his goatee thoughtfully as he sipped his drink, not that I need an excuse to sit here and have a few drinks after a day like today. She's a little on the short side, but could definitely have potential, and those boots she wore were really sexy...
Maybe I should check out the second floor. I'm...curious. Stretching his hands out on the bar as he thinks this, enjoying the feel of the cool marble beneath his fingertips, the feel of the entire surface, the feel of the woman at the other end of the bar as she swirled her fingers idly on it...he ran a hand over his face, refocusing himself, and prepared to rise. So much for not looking like I'm getting smashed, maybe I should just get the hell out of here before anything more bizzar happens...

That was when he felt her. A presence, heavier somehow than the rest in the room, moving past the crenelated entrance pillars, approaching him. So intense, yet so fragile, like a grenade in a wine goblet, waiting to be...

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Power Detection, activated and sustained long enough to get the full measure of her power level, and possibly pick up on any other superhumans in range.

The APC song came to a somber end, the rippling pool of blood loop flashing up on the screen, fading into "Black No.1"

His nails scraping across the polished stone beneath his fingers, he resists the urge to glance over his shoulder at the woman who could only be Natasha, as she approached him, managing to smoothly lace his fingers together into a more relaxed pose as she sat down next to him.

He nods at her greeting and watches her coyly as she settled herself onto the barstool.
Listening patiently as she made her explanation, Draven observed her out of the corner of his brooding gray eyes, the faintest of smiles slowly surfacing to hover around his lips. And I thought I was having a hard time focusing before...

"So, let me get this straight, superhuman lunatics on the news distracted you so much that you nearly forgot our date? Obviously, you're easily frazzled, I suggest a drink, it really helps with "the sky is falling", feeling, trust me, I know. In the mean time, I'll try and decide whether or not I want to forgive you for letting me wait around long enough for my ass to almost fall asleep".

I wonder how long I should wait to tell her that I know, or if she'll figure out that I do before I actually...I suppose I'll wait to see what she orders. Live in the moment, just like Andy said.

"By the way, don't think I invited you here because of the way you dress, I just like the atmosphere, plus I just happen to work security here on occasion.
Not to mention that it beats the hell out of the alternative as a nice place to sit down and have a decent conversation".

"So what are you having?" he purrs after pausing long enough in between each statement for her to reply to any of them.


OOC: Geez3r, in your last post to Draven, he was calling me by his own name. Maybe he's snuck one to many from behind the bar...after all, it has been a rough night.

[geez3r]

Legion


"All of the bank's security systems are controlled from the security room, if you don't have the bank president's key, or can't walk through walls, you can't get to the security room. All of the tapes for the cameras are stored there as well."

Nosferatu

As you rattle off your answers, you come to 1 of 2 conclusions: 1) this guy has the best poker face ever or 2) he's seen and heard so much wacky crap today that none of this fazes him anymore. After you're done with the interview, the officer responds "Well I'm glad to hear that you would like to use your powers to help others, but at this time, we can't condone any vigilantes. We need to get all of our facts straight and get a handle on things before we basically allow people to run amok." The officer then drops his voice and leans into you "Though if some Super does start flipping out, you could get into our good books if you put a stop to it."

===================================
Power Detections detects nada in your vicinity.

Unless you wish to roleplay it out, I'm willing to just hand-wave the acquisition of a phone and subsequent giving the number to the Police. *Flips coin* And you don't find anything else noteworthy going on, so you return home.

Judith

"Technically the chemical isn't unstable unless it's stored at a "high" temperature; it's perfectly inert if stored properly, which it wasn't because that would draw too much attention to have like a single barrel stored differently than all the rest. I guess they didn't know it would react this violently. As for which company it belonged to, that part was kept purposefully vague, though I would venture to guess that Balchem has probably "acquired" from most other chemical companies on the market by this time. Now as for what I'm going to do with this ability, I'm going to try to recruit others like yourself who were affected, because they have both a personal interest in seeing Balchem brought to justice, and they have abilities Balchem can't predict or guard against. I think it would greatly speed up the legal process, so we can get this over and done with."

Joe/ Reaper/ Thugs

Joe, visibly angered slashed out at the knuckled thug, cutting deeply into him, causing him to cough up some blood, and lean up the wall for support. He's clearly on his last legs, but because you and Reaper have him blocked in, he decides to go down fighting.

Reaper, in classic form, slashes out at the knife wielding leader, but fails to hit his mark.

The bat thug tries yet again to hit the Reaper, but misses his mark yet again.
Captain Knuckles here tries to deck Joe one last time, but he misses and over exerts himself, and he drops to the ground.
Finally the leader tries to slash Reaper back, echoing the cries of "DIE" and very narrowly misses.

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attack and damage rolls (1d20+7=17, 1d6+6=7)
attack and damage rolls (1d20+7=19, 1d6+6=10)
attack and damage rolls (1d20+8=25, 1d4+6=10)

Davan

The woman says "Bless your heart. We need more people like you around." and continues on her way.

Draven-Oblivion/ Tasha

{Clearly you are forgetting rule 0.01: The DM's spelling, grammar and naming conventions are always correct. }

[BloodyAngel]

Tasha

(Well crap crap crap crappity crap! I didn't know ol' dark and brooding could sense supers passively. *waves goodbye to her secret ID*)

Did he just... No... good guess... that's all. Stop being paranoid! Tasha chided herself internally as Draven spoke about the club and it's atmosphere.

It's alright... Plenty of people make that assumption. At least you didn't assume that I write morbid poetry and secretly want to be a vampire. Tasha will say with a laugh, and settle in at the bar.

I'm actually late because I spent all day watching the stupid news, thinking my class tomorrow was canceled. I just found out it's not... and I have a paper due. Which I should be doing right now but... I didn't want you think I stood you up. She will explain... only partially true... but better than confessing that she spent half the day possessing a boy from their school. But I'm here now, and I may as well skip tomorrow if I'm not going to have my paper due so... I'm up for staying out all night if you are.

Tasha smiled, her black lipstick a sharp contrast to her pale skin and long dark hair.

I... have no idea what half of those drinks are... so... I'll just have a screwdriver.

Tasha will pay for her drink herself... and show off her fake ID, if need be. She's only 20, technically... and small enough that she's often mistaken for younger.

(Since the DM is going to be jumping ahead to the next day soon... I think Draven and I should either sum this up... or set a place up to role-play it on the side... which is my choice. Maybe in PM's? What do you think Ao? I don't want to hold the game up... but I DO want to deal with someone knowing she's a mutant.)

[Wiz]

*DING* I don't see any reason not to do what I set in my previous post before midnight and as I wake up. Naturally, in addition to keeping my police scanner on, I'll have the morning news television and radio playing while I do the following... and if anything interesting happens, I'll pause and perhaps modify my morning.

Dr. Harold Smith a.k.a. Pulse

Harold spraypaints everything flat black and then replaces the bulbs with new ones to make sure everything looks kosher, and of the same technological origin. He tests his various devices, the flyer, the flare grips, the sonic screwdriver, the magnetic starfish, and the guns.

He fishes out his untraceable cell and punches in another number. "Lewis? Yes... it's me, can we talk on this line? Okay... yes, I do actually have a request, and it will be a difficult one. I want to know everything Balchem knows about the accident... and I mean everything. Yes, I know it's a really bad time, but do you remember when I helped someone else with a really bad time... good, I thought you might. No... magnetic media might be bad... I've had a computer meltdown myself... a new invention I'm working on. A Photon Disk would be best. I'll call for updates once a week... I know your investigation will be ongoing. What's that... no... Nice try, but you and I know that you can get them to funnel everything through legal... they are going to want to cover their asses every which way. No, I promise, the data is for my own use, nothing will be released before Balchem releases it themselves. Okay, thanks, Lewis."

Harold grabs a quick meal, then sits down in front of the mirror and dons his familiar makeup for Pulse, then puts on his costume, holster, and stows various pieces of equipment about his person. He turns off his police scanner, since nothing significant seems to be happening about the city and takes his usual precautions before departing his home and making a visible show of his patrol. As he soars over the city, keeping his senses active for crime, he also watches for other heroes. "Can't hurt to get to know some of my fellow crimefighters... someone might even want to start a group effort, those four who covered the mayor and took down The Reaper showed good teamwork.

[PlasticSoldier]

((He said he had the keys to the security room when he gave me his keys))


"I distinctly remember you saying you had the keys to the security room, but that's irrelevant. Now last chance where is the security room. "

#1 puts on a mask and gloves.

[Raven T.]

(Since Wiz dinged, I'm going to start the next day, as well...I'm getting bored.)

Alex

Dawn had yet to break over the horizon when the alarm switched on, blaring a big hit by a local metal band. It was another early morning for Alex. Now more than ever he had to show his tenacity and his mettle. If he was going to inspire the management under him, he had to demonstrate competence. He needed people to succeed in this venture. Fear was a poor ruling tool; it didn’t bring about greatness. It is always better to rule with a velvet glove than an iron fist.

Two cups of coffee and a shower later he was ready for work. The weather was supposed to be mild today and he regretted the fact he had been forced to sell his motorcycle when he moved to Rainport. Instead, he grabbed his laptop, his briefcase, and his phone and headed for the Express, a bus route that went from the business apartments on the west side to the major corporations on the east. It gave him quite a bit of time to think on the way. He would have to move fast and he knew of several of the men and women he oversaw would absolutely jump at the opportunity for power. He had noticed that he was a special case in his quick advancement. The board of directors saw him as some sort of golden boy…or a major threat. Either way, his position was such that he could, in fact, make a bid for power, be it here or with his own group.

The bus ran as on schedule as it did ever other day. Influential people didn’t like to be late. Another day, another dollar…but this time, the ball’s in MY court. As he sat down at his desk and took stock of what needed done for the day, he sent out one of his special departmental e-mails to the men and women he wanted to talk to:

My friends,
Recent events have provided a window of opportunity. I am scheduling a business lunch at the usual place. I would ask you to come, even if just for a free meal.

Regards,
Alex.

(These events should take me up to about 7:30am.)

[evisiron]

Nosferatu - Day 2

Robert Wright wakes up back in his bed, in his students apartment. He lies there, eyes open for a minute. Giving a few minutes to review his surroundings, he ponders whether the previous day was nothing but a dream. With a smile, he realises this is not the case.

Moving his arm to sit up, it peels off the bedsheet. Looking at his arm, Robert can see fine hair like protusions reaching from the skin. Slowly, they pull back into the skin.

"What the... did I set down roots?"

Standing up slowly, taking care not to tear any other roots that had grown out, Robert walks to the window. Flicking the blinds open, he is bathed in sunlight. Instantly he feels revitalised and infused with fresh energy. He stands there for a minute, basking in the golden energy, before checking his computer. Looking up the university website, Robert realises with a sigh that most of his classes are still running.

"Education cares not for the woes of this world, I suppose"

Glancing at his watch, there seems to be a fair bit of time before the first class of the day begins. A few minutes are spent gathering books as well as getting some breakfast. He does pause before drinking the orange juice.

"Huh. I wonder if this counts as canibalism now.. Oh well" *Gulps down juice*

Before heading out, he packs the various pieces of his outfit into his backpack, as well as a pair of black gloves that were still in the packaging; neglected since last Halloween. They had a skeleton pattern running up the fingers, and would help him keep fingerprints off stuff. In addition, Robert grabs a few zip ties commonly used as a restraint.

"The cop said I could help by restraining any supers... I sure that would extent to crazy people attacking randomly as well. They could have super powers I guess. Aww, wait. I told him I could sense powers. Oh well, I will just be careful. Better leave the sword behind then. Baseball bat should be fine though"

Heading to the door, Robert pauses for a second.

"Why walk...when you can fly?!"

In a rush, Robert pulls on his outfit, once again becoming Nosferatu. Changing into his 'game face' Nosferatu takes off towards the university taking a reasonably loose route, keeping an eye out for trouble as always.


Summary: Nosferatu has his 'civilian' stuff in the backpack and is flying towards the university.

[evisiron]

[Just realised Pulse is scanning the skies for other heroes, so if nothing in his morning stopped him heading out, and I actually can spot him, the following would happen:]

Nosferatu

Gliding through the air, Nosferatu relishes how much easier it is to move without worrying about traffic. As soon as the thought crosses his mind, he does notice some traffic... a caped figure flying on what appears to be some kind of hover board with smoke trickling from its rear.

With a change of course, Nosferatu soars towards the figure. As he gets nearer, Nosferatu lets his senses increase and 'tastes' the area around him [when within 50ft, using Detect Power for 3 rounds, 3PP spent]. He then raises his hand in greeting:

"Its nice weather to fly in, isnt it?"

[Tar Palantir]

The Reaper lunges forward, trying to rip out the annoying thug's heart.

Spoiler

Show

Attack the thug with the knife. Assuming +2 flanking bonus.

Attack - (1d20+11)[25]
Crit - (1d20+11)[15]
Damage - (1d8+1)[4]

[Xerxes Shadow]

Joe pulls back about ten feet from the thugs and heals himself again for 8 HP.

[The_Snark]

Judith

Judith regards Nerros seriously. "There are other things you could do, too. I'm not saying Balchem doesn't need taking care of, because it does, but this whole business is going to cause a lot of trouble for everyone, and... hmmm. I suppose the police could use that ability, but even if you don't want to go to them, you could still put it to use." Actually... I don't know how much the police could even do with it, legally.

"We already know there are people in the blast who were crazy... or maybe you didn't, but some guy attacked the Mayor at his speech. Somebody should at least be watching to make sure people who have these abilities aren't misusing them..."

[Nelphine]

Murky Day 2

Murky Lyam looked around his apartment. Everything seemed to be losing it's colour, going to black and white. Just like his clothing and his lucky Rainbow Manitee's hat. Murky didn't really know why it was all happening, but it was. His skin was ashen grey and sorta smokey, and his hair and eyes had become varying shades of grey as well. The morning paper had become all greys when he was holding it too, though it had regained some of it's colour when he put it down.

All in all it was very depressing. And muddles of memories of the last few nights didn't help much either. The dog attack while getting the paper this morning was just another thing designed to bring his mood down, barking and biting.. oddly he still hadn't noticed any marks, and the 2 bigger dogs had really seemed to want to chew his leg off.

But none of this was going to stop him. According to the news, superheroes were showing up all over town! 'I'm going to prove to everyone that I'm more than just a cargo handler! I can help people! I'm going to give everyone around here what they want!' Murky jumped up and threw on his steel toed boots and his leather vest (and of course the logo on the front promptly turned grey. He was getting used to that.) As an afterthought he grabbed his armour vest and his Baretta. If he was going to prove that he knew what it took to be a superhero, he may as well start with the Neo-Mafia thugs who sold him the weapon in the first place.

The vest and the jacket were a tight fit over his new arm. Luckily the thing retracted down to a very small size, and sat snugly on his chest. If people saw him with a 20' black tentacly arm thing waving all over he'd probably get a reception like that crazy Reaper dude. No sir. Better hide it, and avoid all the hubbub.

He pulled his hat close down over his eyes, and left his grey apartment. (Already bits of colour were coming back, and the stairway he was in looked a little more drab.. sigh.)

Downstairs and onto the street where his Dodge Charger was parked. Piece of junk. He tried and tried to do all the little upgrades the magazines told him about, but it never seemed to help the car. But to better things!

Murky had to go to find some of the local card players, see if they could lead him to real gang members.

[dfpiii]

Professor Lachlan Dark aka Paragon

It was a great and lasting disappointment to Professor Dark that none of his super powers had made him any more capable of making decent French toast. He had an understanding of the physical principles involved that was unrivalled in all the world - he had given over several hours, a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs to the subject one Saturday night as an undergraduate when he had taken LSD. At least once a month since, he would experiment. That was what he had always done. He was utterly relentless.

Even before he had become gifted, he would have gone toe-to-toe with Einstein on the subject of the thermodynamic properties of milky egg soaked bread.

Nevertheless, he could not actually cook it without burning it.

He sighed and put on his jacket. He had woken up all of his teachers with a personal phone call earlier that morning. They had not really appreciated that, but Professor Dark could care less. He was the boss and it was an emergency.

He stopped at a campus coffee bar open early and asked for French toast. They offered him a bagel, which he took, but it wasn't really the same thing, and some coffee, which he declined. As he did not appear to need sleep any longer, caffeine was pointless.

He arrived to find his faculty assembled and bitching. He didn't want to crush them - though he could; by strength, intellect or sheer willpower - he wanted them on side. He needed them on side.

"Good morning gentlemen," Professor Dark said, entering his office and moving through the throng to sit on the edge of his desk - which was cluttered to the point of uselessness. "I'm Lachlan Dark and while I don't know any of you personally, I know many of you by reputation".

Professor Dark was... possibly... the youngest man in the room. He had to admit that he did not resemble the traditional mechanician. He now looked like the kind of person who received a scholarship for playing some kind of team sport - while his colleagues looked like they had got their scholarship free at the bottom of their ten thousandth box of crackers. At least one of them had more hair in his ears than on his head.

"You'll be aware by now of the Balchem incident and I've no doubt that we'll be hearing more on the news over the days, weeks and possibly years to come. Balchem is an important company and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens to be a major contributor to our funds. This means it is a sensitive issue".

"Any of you might be contacted by the press looking for vague speculation to turn into a story. This could be embarrassing for the Institute and I want to avoid it. Any requests for scientific comment on the explosion, or any aspect of the super powers observed must be referred to me".

"Also, we may find ourselves a target for attack by the less stable individuals who have been affected by the explosion. So I want the to know the details of all secure projects the department is working on - and I want to know the security measures that are in place to protect them - and I want this information as soon as possible. We will review safety protocols and do some creative thinking about how we protect our more sensitive research projects".

"Finally, we have a duty of care to our students. I imagine there's a fair amount of cheap housing, night clubs and so forth in the area. If any of your returning students exhibited markedly different behaviour - significantly better or worse test scores for example - I want to know about it. I'll speak to all of these students myself. I expect this department to show tolerance of any student who displays these new... super... abilities. And I expect some understanding from faculty over the next few weeks, since we may be dealing with a lot of students who have lost family or friends in the last few days - combined with the fact that tensions will be running very high".

"All that said, we are here to teach, we are here to dedicate ourselves to scientific enquiry. Neither of those facts have changed in the last 48 hours. Classes run as scheduled".

Professor Dark gave them time to consider his instructions, but was clearly pushing on to other issues.

“Having heard about some of the abilities displayed, it is clear that some powers fall within the purview of our area of study. Un-powered flight - for example - is an excellent place to start. I intend to set up an informal research group to develop proposals for a full study on the subject of mutate powers and their function in relation to the physical sciences. There’s a Nobel prize in this - and I’ll be damned if a couple of M.D.s at the local sex clinic get all the credit for studying this phenomenon just because they work nightshift. If any of your PhD students are interested then send them my way. I shouldn’t think obtaining government funding will be a problem”.

“Are there any questions?”

[Glawackus]

Andrew/Vox Populi

Andrew wakes up on the couch, massages a crick in his neck, and heads off to shower.

To Do: See mayor regarding Mutant-Human Coalition.

[PlasticSoldier]

Oops forgot a disguise check.

Disguise - (1d20+16)[23]