The two agents entered the rustic room and took a seat. One of them took a swig out of the mug.thormond(https://wintreath.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fxko0LFc.jpg&hash=2ff0989884bb26224d6c7489992401a7)
"Ó, fífl það" Thurmond muttered as he opened the door, allowing the two men into his home. The room was very rustic in appearance, with fur pelts everywhere, very basic furniture. On the wall a bow hung over top a selection of small axes, only two designs, but many clones of each.
Thurmond walked over to his kitchen, grabbed a jug of liquid and two handmade mugs and a horn, then carried them over to the two agents.
"So, what is it that the mighty FBI would want with me eh, what have they told you about me?" He asked in a soft yet cold tone, as he poured them each a drink and then himself one. Then he sat down in a chair and motioned towards the adjacent couch while he awaited an answer.
The two agents entered the room and were fairly disgusted.drunk danny(https://ak2.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/2845216/thumb/1.jpg)
Daniel groggily woke up from his slumber on the beat up easy chair, reaching inside his jacket pocket for a pack of smokes. Getting up and walking to the door in his underoos, he was barely able to determine the identity of the people knocking on his door. He wouldn't try to run, that would only solidify his identity. No, he would keep up the role of the tired, hungover vagrant who couldn't possibly be anyone of importance. Opening the door, he intended to let out a hardy burp, but it ended up coming out of the wrong end.
Fuck it, Daniel thought, same effect...
Stumbling as he let the agents inside his filthy apartment, he blurted out something stupid to really nail it home.
"Come on in ociffer, the whiskey's fine. Dunno what he did, but I'm sure he was a Detroiter."
Had he gone too far with that one? Nah, cops are idiots, even if they're federal cops. And besides, he wasn't entirely sure he was sober at any point in the day to begin with, so being this way came naturally.
The younger agent outside snarled. "I'm afraid it's urgent, Mr..."fate(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ff/7d/28/ff7d28711d19a59ceba91a12ad4bda34.jpg)
Arcadia looks at the agents and says "Mmm I'm busy what is it" arcadia goes back to his computer continues his work and says "can you guys come back some other time?"
Daniel was about to continue the stupid charade while he looked for a way to melt both of these dickheads' faces off, but when money was mentioned he nearly spit out his liquor.The two agents entered the room and were fairly disgusted.drunk danny(https://ak2.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/2845216/thumb/1.jpg)
Daniel groggily woke up from his slumber on the beat up easy chair, reaching inside his jacket pocket for a pack of smokes. Getting up and walking to the door in his underoos, he was barely able to determine the identity of the people knocking on his door. He wouldn't try to run, that would only solidify his identity. No, he would keep up the role of the tired, hungover vagrant who couldn't possibly be anyone of importance. Opening the door, he intended to let out a hardy burp, but it ended up coming out of the wrong end.
Fuck it, Daniel thought, same effect...
Stumbling as he let the agents inside his filthy apartment, he blurted out something stupid to really nail it home.
"Come on in ociffer, the whiskey's fine. Dunno what he did, but I'm sure he was a Detroiter."
Had he gone too far with that one? Nah, cops are idiots, even if they're federal cops. And besides, he wasn't entirely sure he was sober at any point in the day to begin with, so being this way came naturally.
"Ugh, Jesus Christ..."
"You live in here? Don't actually answer that. We know."
They sized up Daniel for a moment, then one of them spoke. "Do you watch the news a lot, Daniel? It doesn't seem like you do, but as a man with superhuman powers like yours, you absolutely should."
"A more important question might be whether or not you are willing to help us for a decent amount of money, all in cash," the other agent said quickly. "We have an offer for you."
The two agents entered the rustic room and took a seat. One of them took a swig out of the mug.thormond(https://wintreath.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fxko0LFc.jpg&hash=2ff0989884bb26224d6c7489992401a7)
"Ó, fífl það" Thurmond muttered as he opened the door, allowing the two men into his home. The room was very rustic in appearance, with fur pelts everywhere, very basic furniture. On the wall a bow hung over top a selection of small axes, only two designs, but many clones of each.
Thurmond walked over to his kitchen, grabbed a jug of liquid and two handmade mugs and a horn, then carried them over to the two agents.
"So, what is it that the mighty FBI would want with me eh, what have they told you about me?" He asked in a soft yet cold tone, as he poured them each a drink and then himself one. Then he sat down in a chair and motioned towards the adjacent couch while he awaited an answer.
"Hmm. Did you make this mead yourself, Thurmond? It's very good."
"We didn't come here to talk about old-school beer," the other agent snapped, annoyed. "Anyways, what we were told was that you have the capability to help us in an investigation."
The first agent put down his mug and nodded. "That's right. Tell us, Thurmond, have you been watching the news lately? You've heard about a certain 'Vegas Diner Incident', right?"
arcadia looks at the older agent "Mmm you think flattery will get everywhere? but yes to be a hero sounds nice" arcadia looks at the younger agent "Mmm this one needs to chill out ahahah" arcadia goes to get his suit on.The agents were both confused.
"You heard correctly, Mr. Morris," the lead agent said, handing the drunk a piece of paper. "Five hundred thousand dollar payout guaranteed, which becomes between one million and five million if you do your job well."$$$$Daniel was about to continue the stupid charade while he looked for a way to melt both of these dickheads' faces off, but when money was mentioned he nearly spit out his liquor.
"Heh, I think the bourbon must have gone to my ears because I thought I heard you say that you're looking to hire me."
That can't be right can it? Maybe I really am drunk. I mean, there's absolutely no way in hell that Uncle Sam wants to pay a guy who they probably know is a domestic terrorist for anything,
right? It's probably a trick, gotta get ready for a fight...
The dry agent nodded. "Right. However, it's not the woman we are concerned with, but with the boy who got shot. He's gone missing from the hospital, and we are looking for superhumans to help find him."wörkThurmond grinned as he took a sip, "I am glad you like. I did hear about that já. Terrible thing indeed. But what "capabilities" do I have that can help you? Last I heard a woman was dead and some people were shot. I don't know about what you think I can do, but necromancy is not in my repertoire of skills." With that he chuckled and took another sip. He set the horn in a stand and got very serious in the eyes. "And what makes you think I would help you? Is there anything in it for me or is it just "For the good of the people" kjaftæði, erm, bullshit?"
The agents were both confused.
"So, you're agreeing to everything," the younger agent asked, ignoring Arcadia's trollish dig. "We haven't even told you-"
The older agent waved his hand. "Ah, shut it. Given how uncooperative supers have been in the past, this is a blessing. We can fill him in at Sacramento."
The younger agent nodded, tossed Arcadia the necessary paperwork, and left with the older agent.
"You heard correctly, Mr. Morris," the lead agent said, handing the drunk a piece of paper. "Five hundred thousand dollar payout guaranteed, which becomes between one million and five million if you do your job well."Daniel's pupils immediately dilated to twice their normal size at the mere mention of such vast sums.
The other agent nodded. "All you have to do is sign here and show up to our facility in Sacramento, where we will brief you and the others on the rest. All expenses will be paid. Are you interested?"
The dry agent nodded. "Right. However, it's not the woman we are concerned with, but with the boy who got shot. He's gone missing from the hospital, and we are looking for superhumans to help find him."Thurmond's eyes mellowed out immediately, tracking he could do, not to mention the cash sounded mighty fine to him.
He adjusted his clip-on tie. "As for the reward, this is all for the good of society, but we know nobody except idealistic kids work for free."
The agent who drank the mead handed Thurmond a piece of paper.
"Here's the contract. Five hundred thousand dollars guaranteed, between one and five million dollars payout if we like the way the job turned out. All reasonable expenses paid until the end of the year or until we get results. You'll get more details about the case and our expectations at our site in Sacramento, California."
The dry agent nodded and looked at Thurmond intently. "Do we have a deal?"
| Justinian Ezkantion | Daniel Llewellyn Morris | The Westside Scorcher | 27 M | CE | Fire. Explosions. |
| Cinciri | Thurmond þrumði-øx | The Berserkr | 22 M | CN/CE | Electricity. Jump. |
| Fayt | ?? | Arcadia | 25 M | LG | INT. STR. SPD. Sword. |
| Elbbsas | Emme Plane | Optical | 22 F | LN | Energy Wall. |
| Aethelia | Maya Saraswati | Mesmer | 17 F | NG | Illusion. Phase through. |
| Doc | Isaac Perry | Aztech | 40s? M | LG? LN? | A lot. Defense suit. |
| BraveSirRobin | - | - | - | - | - |
| xXTheHydraXx | - | - | - | - | - |
"I'm afraid you'll have to meet the rest of the team at the Sacramento facility," said the dry agent. "We do not have the time, resources, or the inclination to provide an escort to someone who doesn't need it. We'll pay for your transport, as a courtesy."mellowThurmond's eyes mellowed out immediately, tracking he could do, not to mention the cash sounded mighty fine to him.
"Alright, you have yourself a deal friends." he said, and turned and started to gather some objects in a bag, namely clothes, a longbow, a quiver full of arrows. and some other generic tools. After this he threw some full bottles into his bag and slung it over a chair.
"Will I be going with you? Or am I supposed to find this base myself?" he asked once everything was in order, finishing his preparation by holstering his tomahawks to his belt.
The agents both hesitated when they saw Mesmer. They nodded at her invitation and quickly shot words at each other under their breaths.needs more artemis fowl references(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/94/53/c3/9453c3b7397c5a7692121911b375bf4a.jpg)
Maya Saraswati was enjoying a night alone at home reading while her parents were out. The knocking was sudden and unexpected.
"FBI"
Not again... this isn't the first time they've mistakenly come to deport Maya's family.
"Power Crimes. Open up."
Oh, they're not here for Maya. They're here for Mesmer.
Uncertain whether this would lead to unwanted obligations, Mesmer decides to use some illusions to make herself appear unfit to fulfill their requests.
To check that they really are FBI, Mesmer thinks <How can I open the front door as they request... if it is not real?> and phases through the door slightly to get a good look at them, before stepping back, deciding the door is real after all, and opening it slowly.
"Hello... I am sorry that I may have to disappoint you..."
Mesmer opens the door all the way, revealing her (illusory) arm cast, crutches, and bandaged ribs.
"...but I'm not in the best shape right now to do you a favor. Come in and tell me what you would like from me, I just can't make any promises."
she continues as she fake limps away to give them room to enter.
"We'll cut right to the chase," the head agent at the door said. "I'm afraid we are short on time."family circus(https://aptenvydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/cariliving.jpg?w=660)
On the one hand, Emme thought, eyeing the men through the peephole, they could be lying and are actively malicious. On the other, even if they are lying they’re taking the time to be cordial, so I may well see what they have to say.
Yawning, Emme opened the door.
“You aren’t the usual patronage of the circus,” she said as a greeting. “And since the circus isn’t performed in my lodgings in the middle of the night, I’ll assume you are here for a difference performance altogether.” Emme stepped aside and gestured the men into the room. “Drinks? Or would you prefer to cut straight to the chase? I only have water, regardless.”
"We'll cut right to the chase," the head agent at the door said. "I'm afraid we are short on time."Emme raised her eyebrows. ‘Pay you handsomely’? They didn’t even need to add that -- a missing person, violent circumstances, information that risks being lost to the aether? Fascinating.
"Yesterday morning, a young superhuman disappeared violently from a hospital in Las Vegas," the other agent said. "We are assembling a team of superhumans to find this person of interest before he dies or vanishes for good, and the information he could have provided goes to waste. We would be willing to pay you handsomely for your service to society. Are you interested?"
Mesmer knew immediately after 'life is in danger' that she was going to go along with them. Perhaps that could have been her... she reacted strongly to discovering her powers as well, but fortunately didn't have any especially dangerous abilities... she had to help this person, not just for the thousands who may be hurt, but for the one you must be hurting right now.I can't make such references, I haven't read that series, though I remember considering trying years ago...The agents both hesitated when they saw Mesmer. They nodded at her invitation and quickly shot words at each other under their breaths.
"It's her alright, but I wasn't told we would be drafting an invalid for this kind of work," one of the agents muttered to his coworker. "Are we wasting our time with her?"
"I wasn't told about this either," said the other agent, pursing her lips. "I think something's not right. Let's see this through."
They entered the room and stopped where Maya stopped. "We were wondering if you would be willing to help us solve a certain case," the female agent said. "We need your help to find a young superhuman person of interest that has gone missing. We have reason to believe that his life is in danger, and if we don't get him back, thousands of others may be in danger too. We would be willing to pay you very generously. Would you like to join?"
The agents smiled. One of them handed her a small stack of paperwork. "Sign here. These papers will explain what steps you need to take next. You'll be meeting us at our facility in Sacramento, California. We look forward to seeing you there."8/8 gr8 b8 m8Emme raised her eyebrows. ‘Pay you handsomely’? They didn’t even need to add that -- a missing person, violent circumstances, information that risks being lost to the aether? Fascinating.
“Succinct,” she complimented, “and intriguingly presented. A fine elevator pitch. Color me with interest, sirs. Where do I sign, and where do I go to meet the rest of this team? Las Vegas?”
The agents were startled by the transformation, one of them even flinching toward their gun, but once Mesmer explained herself they seemed to relax.I wonder if they're worth a re-read...Mesmer knew immediately after 'life is in danger' that she was going to go along with them. Perhaps that could have been her... she reacted strongly to discovering her powers as well, but fortunately didn't have any especially dangerous abilities... she had to help this person, not just for the thousands who may be hurt, but for the one you must be hurting right now.
The mention of pay brought her back out of a trance, thinking about how confused the poor boy must feel right now.
"Well, if I'm going to be paid... I could use some money for college, moving out of my parent's house... potential medical expenses..."
Mesmer dismisses the illusions to reveal herself to be physically able.
"Sorry about the deception, I just prefer to avoid being used and didn't know you came with a just cause. I will join you."
The agents smiled. One of them handed her a small stack of paperwork. "Sign here. These papers will explain what steps you need to take next. You'll be meeting us at our facility in Sacramento, California. We look forward to seeing you there."The moment the men were gone, Emme rapidly flicked through the papers. These certainly appear legitimate, she thought. Let us see… California, California, that is certainly a trip. I wonder why there, when the event itself occurred in… hm. Perhaps it is simply a matter of better facilities? No matter -- more accurate conclusions can be gathered once I am there.
The agents left, allowing Emme to prepare herself.
textThe agents were startled by the transformation, one of them even flinching toward their gun, but once Mesmer explained herself they seemed to relax.
"Ah, good. I was hoping our agency wasn't trying to recruit someone as injured as you look..."
"As for payment," the male agent said, handing Mesmer the paperwork, "here's the contract. $500,000 guaranteed, between $1 and $5 million if we like the results."
"Meet us at our offices in Sacramento, and you can start from there."
The agents departed into the night.
Emme, or rather, Optical, was feeling somewhat out of place in the conference room. Likely it was an illusion brought on by the agents around the walls. She tried to avoid letting it get to her, keeping her gaze fixed on the screen to the exclusion of everything else. The security agents at the door kept stealing her attention. But that makes sense, Optical reasoned. After all, they have guns and can likely fire them faster than my reaction time.Info Dump=Photo=
FBI regional offices, Sacramento CA
A large conference room had been reserved for the occasion. At the end of a large oak table was a screen, lit up by a projector, displaying the seal of the Bureau. A diverse group of about a dozen or so people were seated around the table, dressed in different levels of formality and expressing different amounts of stress. These people were the superhumans that the FBI was contracting. The agents from before were all standing or seated at the edges of the wall, chatting with each other and discussing the strange happenings of Power Crimes in the same overwhelmingly bored tone you would expect water cooler discussion at IBM. Security agents, brandishing assault rifles, stood at the doors and in the corners of the room, waiting for something to happen.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, something did happen: a grey-haired man in a black suit and tie entered the room and cleared his throat. The agents sat at attention.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Special Agent McGrath, head of the Bureau's Power Crimes division for the state of California. I'm assuming you've all done the paperwork, so if you haven't, please talk to one of us after the briefing and we'll be happy to help you."
No response came from the peanut gallery. None was supposed to, yet it seemed that he was expecting a response. McGrath coughed awkwardly. "Alright, well, let's start."
The agent pressed a button on a remote and a silent video of the CCTV footage. Police, pistols drawn, approach a child who appears to be sobbing over a pile of flames. The video paused, and a laser pointer from McGrath circled the image of the boy.
"This video was taken about two months ago. That kid right there, his name is Andrew Knox. That lump of fire he's grieving over was previously his adoptive mother, Eva Sterling, an exotic dancer who was also known by her stage name 'Krystal'. We believe she was killed by a superhuman we have been tracking who is a regular of organized crime. But that's not important to our situation, because he's not a suspect for our concerns and there's another investigative team on that front anyways. We are concerned with Andrew here."
The screen switched to something that looked like a color school photograph. A boy with short dark blond hair, green-opal eyes, and freckles was smiling into the camera.
"Eight years old, Caucasian, blond hair, green eyes, four feet and three inches tall and fifty-two pounds. Now, at first glance 'Andy', as his classmates and teachers called him, might not seem like someone of interest to law enforcement, except maybe as a witness to his own mother's murder. That's certainly what the LVMPD believed, anyways."
The screen switched to the CCTV again. Smoking wreckage from a number of squad cars was strewn across the scene. A long smear of blood was all that remained of one police officer. Another rolled on the floor in extreme pain, clearly wounded. Another had been knocked on his back and was staring dumbfounded at the scene, but was holding a gun in the direction of Andrew. Andrew himself was lying face down and still, in a slowly expanding pool of his own blood.
"Guess again. Not only was his mother's murder super-related, but little Andy here is a very powerful super himself. If that officer hadn't managed to get a shot off, the story here might be different."
The picture changed to a mug shot of sorts, taken while Andrew was sedated and recovering from surgery. He looked more or less the same, minus the smile and plus an oxygen mask and dark circles under his closed eyes.
"Luckily, he survived. While he was recovering at AMG Specialty Hospital, though, this happened."
A picture of Andrew's destroyed hospital room appeared. Police and firemen observed the damage, taking notes and pictures of the evidence.
"Early on Tuesday morning, there was an unexplained explosion, and Andrew Knox disappeared without a trace. We want you to find him and bring him into federal custody."
The screen went black, and Agent McGrath took a position at the head of the table.
"Now, I know the two questions that should be on everyone's mind here. 'Why are we going after him, and why did you drag us along for this?'
Well, the reasoning for the first question is simple: Andrew and his powers still pose an unacceptable threat to public safety. We need to make sure that he won't be hurting anyone else. On top of that, we also need to make sure he isn't being hurt himself. Our bureau has reason to believe that his vanishing act at the hospital was not an escape but a kidnapping, as hard as it may be to believe. If someone, particularly someone related to the ongoing investigation into Eva's murder, has decided to take Andrew hostage or kill him to remove a crucial witness, we would need to get him back ASAP. And since he was still recovering at the hospital when he departed, Andrew might not have much time left before he succumbs to his injuries, for good this time.
As for why you all are here? Well, we needed contractors for this one. Everyone knows the only reliable counter for a superhuman is another superhuman, but since this kid ended up killing a cop in his rage, we would have a hard time finding someone in a reputable superhero group who would quietly take the case for us. It's also imperative that we get to Andrew before the CIA or local police departments do, as the former would steal all the glory (and probably start conducting illegal experiments on him), while the latter would illegally kill him on sight after what he did to the LVMPD. We believe that both of these options are wrong, but we certainly can't challenge them publicly on this. We need to simultaneously distance ourselves from this case while ensuring that it gets solved. How do we do that? By buying out a group of superhumans, of course."
Agent McGrath nodded. "So, there you have it. You all are our secret weapons, and your task is to save Andrew's life. Now, any questions?"
Agent McGrath shifted in his seat. "Let's start with your first question. No, we don't know the full extent of his power. We simply don't. The Vegas Diner Incident is the only such situation where we have evidence of power use by Andrew Knox. He wasn't in the American Super Act Register, and he personally had no run-ins with the local, state, or federal police before that day. It's possible that the trauma awoke something within him, or that he had been hiding his capabilities since his birth. We simply can't answer that. The only thing we know about his powers is that Andrew is super strong, super fast, his powers aren't ranged and he is not bulletproof. That's all we know.optical observationEmme, or rather, Optical, was feeling somewhat out of place in the conference room. Likely it was an illusion brought on by the agents around the walls. She tried to avoid letting it get to her, keeping her gaze fixed on the screen to the exclusion of everything else. The security agents at the door kept stealing her attention. But that makes sense, Optical reasoned. After all, they have guns and can likely fire them faster than my reaction time.
Several hypotheses jumped into mind as Agent McGrath reached his conclusion. Some were absurd, some were tentatively plausible, but all required further evidence before stepping from thought to theory. But first things first….
Optical leaned forward onto the table and raised her voice.
“I have three. First, do we know the exact nature of Mr Knox’s abilities, and have there been other documented incidences of his abilities prior to these incidences? Second, do we know why ‘your bureau’ believes this to be a kidnapping and not a runaway, or is that classified information? Finally, what are the abilities of the superhuman that killed Ms Stirling?”
Three seems a sufficient number, for now, Optical thought, folding her arms and waiting for an answer.
Arcadia looking around at the other supermans not sure what to think "So you want us to find a kid? I can do that myself half of these guys I would happily fight not work with HaHahAha, is this a joke? you aren't telling me everything are you?" keeping his sword in hand, thinking this is a joke some of these supermans are dangerous would kill for fun.The security guards noticed the sword and raised their assault rifles at Arcadia in anticipation of a bloodbath. Agent McGrath put up a hand.
The security guards noticed the sword and raised their assault rifles at Arcadia in anticipation of a bloodbath. Agent McGrath put up a hand.
"Easy, take it easy! I don't want any shooting going on here! Those damn AR-15 bullets are expensive!"
This elicited a nervous laugh from some of the agents, who slowly and stealthily drew their service pistols and prepared to eliminate the mad swordsman if they had to.
"I'm glad you are confident in your ability to find Andrew, although I shudder to think what would happen if you got to him first alone. We have told you everything that we know about this case, and if our answers to your questions aren't enough for you, you are free to walk out that door. We'll shred your contract, and pretend like we never spoke. If you want to stick around and if you value your own life at all, here's what you should do: sit down, shut up, and lose the damn sword."
He walked up and stood face to face with Arcadia with a snarl. "And no, I am not fucking joking. Are we clear on this, or are you and I going to keep having problems?"
The security guards lowered their guns and the agents relaxed a little bit. McGrath bowed his head. "It is all we know. Thank you for your cooperation."be humbleArcadia backs down and drops the sword on the ground keeping the attitude that he's right still but not sure on the enemies ahead "Mmm I guess if thats all you know" thinking about why did they ask me to come there, "ok we'll do it your way" sits down but feeling lied too....
"Absolutely," Agent McGrath said with a smile. "We're glad to have you on board.""wHERE IS HEE?"The others are suspicious too... this is good. Though Mesmer's approach may be different, perhaps these people will do the right thing after all. But first, she must appear compliant, this seems like the right time to reduce the tension of the room.
"Seems straightforward enough to me, I don't have any questions."
Mesmer casts an unnoticeable illusion after she has the attention of the room.
"I can guess why you chose me: I prefer to do things non-violently. When we find Andrew, I will help keep him calm, so that he may be brought into safe custody."
Mesmer gives a quick look towards Arcadia, intended to be interpreted by the FBI as reassurance that Mesmer will try to keep him in line, but which actually has another purpose...
In front of the eyes of Arcadia, too small for anyone else to notice, a tiny line of text appears: "We will find him, but we do not have to do it their way."
...and disappears as Mesmer looks over to let him know that the message is from her.
Edit: Lol, Agent Waldo. Just makes me think that the only reason this NPC has a name is that we'll have to find him later, ie "Where's Waldo".
When Daniel lit up his cigarette, pretty much every human in the room stared at him like he was from Mars. One agent attempted to speak up.uh sirArsonist? Check.
Pyrokinesis? Check.
Kills people all the time? Check.
The odds aren't looking good Daniel thought to himself That guy is probably me
When the Agent mentioned Central America, though, a sweet sigh of relief could be audibly heard coming from Daniel's mouth. Nevertheless, a little extra stress-killing couldn't hurt, so he got out his pack of cigarettes and started smoking. That fine taste of American tobacco could always ease the worries, and today was no exception.
"So," he began, the smoke pouring out of his mouth, "Obviously the kid is off limits, but what about his 'kidnappers'? Fire coming out of your hands isn't exactly something you use to save people. Can we kill them if we want?"
McGrath sat up. "Any other questions before we break?"Optical had flinched as the tension in the room rose, and remained tense as it fell. The guns had all too easily rippled from ‘nonthreatening’ to ‘why hello, yes I am able to shoot you in the face.’
Agent McGrath sighed. "Look, there's a lot of unknowns with this kid. There was an explosion at the hospital, but he didn't use any explosive power when he freaked out during the Diner Incident. Therefore, we don't think he can make explosions. Again, we simply don't know everything about Andrew here. So I would advise caution. Now, are there any other questions?"the scientific methodOptical had flinched as the tension in the room rose, and remained tense as it fell. The guns had all too easily rippled from ‘nonthreatening’ to ‘why hello, yes I am able to shoot you in the face.’
Thankfully nobody began to shoot one another, so Optical reframed from cocooning herself in shields. No sense pushing the situation further on edge. As the other woman spoke, and then the man with a cigarette, Optical went back to taking her notes.
Hypothesis one is inoperable. As is five, while six is exceedingly unlikely given the agent’s reaction to the fellow with the sword, and they are the ones who gave the contract so it wouldn’t even matter -- though it would be an unsatisfying conclusion. I do hope that the display here hasn’t lowered our eventual payment. Two, three, and four are all still within the realm of possibility, though it may come to pass that it is a seventh or eighth possibility that I haven’t considered... hold on.
Optical leaned forward to catch everyone’s attention again. Her brow was creased in an uncertain frown.
“I would like some clarification. You stated that all you know of Mr Knox’s abilities is that he gains super speed and strength. You outright stated that his abilities are… not ranged, I believe were your words. So then… are explosions part of Mr Knox’s abilities? I would have thought those would count as ‘ranged.’ I truly am sorry, I believe I misunderstood something, and that we cannot have.” Optical gave the agent a cheerful smile. “A mirror desires accurate reflections, after all!”
"Yeah, one more," a slightly intoxicated Dan said from the back, surrounded by cigarette butts and empty beer cans.Agent McGrath shook his head. "Maybe, but probably not. It really depends on the crime and how well you do your job here. I certainly hope that you don't have anything to..."
"Will we be pardoned for any crimes we may or MAY NOT have committed previous to this little outing?"
Arcadia walks out of the building thinking way to much about what just happened "I need a beer after that ahah" looking at Daniel, "you look like a man who knows his beer ahahah" stops looking at Daniel, "Mmm but yes they didn't told us much" Arcadia looks at the Thurmond, "so we find this kid by finding the kidnapper? are we even sure if the boy is alive?" waiting for the others to see what they think about whats next or to do next....
still unsure about some in this group, with a look in his eyes of being superior to some here, but feeling calm....
Daniel was about the respond to Arcadia's little attitude, but Thurmond did it for him. He was starting to like this viking guy, and they seemed to possess the same 'do the job, get the money, kill any motherfucker that gets in our way' approach.Arcadia walks out of the building thinking way to much about what just happened "I need a beer after that ahah" looking at Daniel, "you look like a man who knows his beer ahahah" stops looking at Daniel, "Mmm but yes they didn't told us much" Arcadia looks at the Thurmond, "so we find this kid by finding the kidnapper? are we even sure if the boy is alive?" waiting for the others to see what they think about whats next or to do next....
still unsure about some in this group, with a look in his eyes of being superior to some here, but feeling calm....
Thurmond looked and the scientist with a raised brow, as the mans eyes dart from one to the other, and bluntly says "If the boy is already dead then we try and find him and drag his corpse back here for them to autopsy and remove from their oh so important threat list. If he died before we even started looking then we might still get paid já?" Taking note of the Arcadia's visible superiority complex he added, not exactly threateningly (more as advice), "And do not think that just because you have a degree it makes you more a threat than some here, something tells me experience is key. Armor and a sword will only get you so far against things such as fire or, dare I say, rafmagn...erm....electricity."
Arcadia walks out of the building thinking way to much about what just happened "I need a beer after that ahah" looking at Daniel, "you look like a man who knows his beer ahahah" stops looking at Daniel, "Mmm but yes they didn't told us much" Arcadia looks at the Thurmond, "so we find this kid by finding the kidnapper? are we even sure if the boy is alive?" waiting for the others to see what they think about whats next or to do next....
still unsure about some in this group, with a look in his eyes of being superior to some here, but feeling calm....
Thurmond looked and the scientist with a raised brow, as the mans eyes dart from one to the other, and bluntly says "If the boy is already dead then we try and find him and drag his corpse back here for them to autopsy and remove from their oh so important threat list. If he died before we even started looking then we might still get paid já?" Taking note of the Arcadia's visible superiority complex he added, not exactly threateningly (more as advice), "And do not think that just because you have a degree it makes you more a threat than some here, something tells me experience is key. Armor and a sword will only get you so far against things such as fire or, dare I say, rafmagn...erm....electricity."
Arcadia turns to Thurmond "Mmm so its just about the money?" thinking hard about these supers "you don't care if the boy is alive or not? ahahah its all about the money right?" hoping for a good reply but Arcadia knows what it will be..
Arcadia turns away from the group with little hope that the hospital will help find the kid alive...
Thurmond looked at the scientist with a straight and serious face. "When you have been through what I have been through, then ja its about the fucking money. Unfortunately only those with serious pasts seem to realize the realistic version of life we live in." He said, motioning towards Daniel, whom had agreed with him. "I know what happens because I've done this myself a few times, and know the risks involved and the realities of these situations, perhaps your super intelligent brain is lacking in wisdom?" He asked sarcastically as he turned towards Optical and asked much more politely, "Well miss? what do you and your paper think? Are you coming with me and Daniel to the hospital?""If you would not mind me tagging along," Optical said, inclining her head to Thurmond and Daniel. " 'My paper' and I were interested in heading there as soon as possible. Unless, on reflection, there are nearer leads to look into first?"
Thurmond looked at the scientist with a straight and serious face. "When you have been through what I have been through, then ja its about the fucking money. Unfortunately only those with serious pasts seem to realize the realistic version of life we live in." He said, motioning towards Daniel, whom had agreed with him. "I know what happens because I've done this myself a few times, and know the risks involved and the realities of these situations, perhaps your super intelligent brain is lacking in wisdom?" He asked sarcastically as he turned towards Optical and asked much more politely, "Well miss? what do you and your paper think? Are you coming with me and Daniel to the hospital?"
"If you would not mind me tagging along," Optical said, inclining her head to Thurmond and Daniel. " 'My paper' and I were interested in heading there as soon as possible. Unless, on reflection, there are nearer leads to look into first?"
Optical then looked over to Arcadia. "Finding Mr Knox alive would be the optimal result. Our pay increases if our employers were pleased with our efforts, does it not? Mr Knox living equals them being happy." She bit her lip. "Plus, I'm fairly curious about him. A brand new cape, who discovered his powers in the worst of circumstances... you have to admit, that is fascinating. It would be a shame if he was already dead."
“Transportation is not a mirror’s forte,” Optical mused. “The FBI as the agent said is attempting to distance themselves from the case, so they likely would not appreciate us asking to borrow a plane. Unless they prioritize solving the case over distance... who knows? Unless one of us has a plane hidden away, we may be better off splitting for now and meeting at the hospital."
Optical steepled her fingers, glancing for a moment at Arcadia's sword and Thurmond's axes.
“...Perhaps it may be worth asking for a lift, if it makes things easier,” she said. “Or we could just borrow a plane without asking, if someone here knows how to fly one. No, wait, that would certainly upset people. Unless they would prefer us asking forgiveness rather than permission, to accomodate for how they wish for us to act independently… or maybe that would be unnecessary, and travel by land would be better... or there may be a cape somewhere who can teleport us, though that seems unlikely....” Optical’s voice trailed off as she thought.
Thurmond started up the van as people got in, and as they drove he began addressing some comments. "The table is usually for either cardgames, illegal dealings, or occasionally a great place to shove a non-cooperating fellow's face in a few times to get them talking. Underneath is usually an icebox, should have some waters, which granted are usually used for waterboarding, but it is just bottled water so feel free to drink some." Turning to David, Thurmond reached in a secret compartment in between the two and pulled out a cooler of assorted alcohol and said "Of all our....coworkers, I think we will get along fairly well." And gave the man free reign of said cooler."Keep giving me free beer" Daniel said, smiling with contentment, "and that prediction just might come true."
"ah thank you Maya" throwing the book at Daniel "Oops sorry"the book hit the back of Daniel's seat and fell to the van's equivalent of the ground.
"ah thank you Maya" throwing the book at Daniel "Oops sorry"the book hit the back of Daniel's seat and fell to the van's equivalent of the ground.
Daniel was barely controlling his desire to melt this fucker's face off and twist his little pansy ass sword up his ass, but that probably wouldn't be contributing to his salary, so this time he gave Arcadia a warning.
"Listen up you little shit, if you throw one more fucking thing at me I'll blow your legs off, drive to Nevada, and throw you in the middle of the Mojave, see how far you get before the buzzards peck your eyes out."
"I'd recommend you shut your god damned mouth before I blow a hole in that pretty little costume you've got on.""ah thank you Maya" throwing the book at Daniel "Oops sorry"the book hit the back of Daniel's seat and fell to the van's equivalent of the ground.
Daniel was barely controlling his desire to melt this fucker's face off and twist his little pansy ass sword up his ass, but that probably wouldn't be contributing to his salary, so this time he gave Arcadia a warning.
"Listen up you little shit, if you throw one more fucking thing at me I'll blow your legs off, drive to Nevada, and throw you in the middle of the Mojave, see how far you get before the buzzards peck your eyes out."
"ah funny guy" Arcadia laughing hard "Meh you think you would win? I don't need my sword to beat you" Arcadia looking calm as hell "are we there yet?"
"I'd recommend you shut your god damned mouth before I blow a hole in that pretty little costume you've got on.""ah thank you Maya" throwing the book at Daniel "Oops sorry"the book hit the back of Daniel's seat and fell to the van's equivalent of the ground.
Daniel was barely controlling his desire to melt this fucker's face off and twist his little pansy ass sword up his ass, but that probably wouldn't be contributing to his salary, so this time he gave Arcadia a warning.
"Listen up you little shit, if you throw one more fucking thing at me I'll blow your legs off, drive to Nevada, and throw you in the middle of the Mojave, see how far you get before the buzzards peck your eyes out."
"ah funny guy" Arcadia laughing hard "Meh you think you would win? I don't need my sword to beat you" Arcadia looking calm as hell "are we there yet?"
"are we there yet?"Yes. Yes you are.
"I got a couple questions: 'who the fuck names their kid Keisha?' and 'how do I piss off the dragonborn?'"Agent McGrath face palmed. "A lot of Americans name their kids Keisha, Daniel, and maybe if you wanted to piss Keisha off you can ask her the ignorant-ass question you just asked me. Next."
"nope I'm good""Spartan. I like it. Maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were." McGrath grinned. "Try to keep Daniel in line then, eh?"
McGrath nodded in approval. "Brilliant plan, Mesmer. It would certainly fool me. I'm afraid that explosives aren't on the equipment list, but you do have access to oxygen tanks and a pyromaniac. Make of that what you will.leeeerooooy[There's an Agent Jenkins too? Now I am going to be disappointed if Agent Waldo doesn't get lost at some point, and if Agent Jenkins doesn't immediately Leeroy in to find him, preferably in a place with a lot of other people and objects that look like Agent Waldo. Yes, I know those are both real names that real people can have.]
Mesmer was uneasy. A dragon? The fire breathing kind from the novels? She has phased through solid matter before, but was uncertain if it would work on fire. Dragons may be easy to disbelieve as fantasy, but fire is very real. However, it's unlikely that Mesmer was recruited to be a fighter...
"The first step of the plan. Is it to deal with the police first? If it is, then I have an idea about how I can contribute. They are here for the child, yes? One who is known for leaving behind explosions? I can create a decoy, make it look like Andrew is attempting to escape. If/When the local police attack, we cause an explosion, centered on 'Andrew'. Perhaps your equipment will do this... or perhaps one of the others here can assist with that part. Without a body to leave behind, they won't discover that it was only an illusion, and will think he either escaped, or died. That should distract and hopefully send them away. I'll have to stay outside, my abilities require my concentration, and a visual on what I am doing, and I may need to improvise if they don't react as expected, but while I'm doing this the others can move in to confront the... dragon. Does this make sense?"
Mesmer is uncertain, but the way I imagine her power should work, it will FAIL on fire attacks. She wouldn't last 5 seconds in battle with a dragon. There may be other opponents Mesmer will be effectively immune to. This isn't one of them.
Turning to Arcadia, Daniel decided a putdown would be for the best,
"Hey, tin can, shut up and let the grown ups talk, will ya?"
Next, he turned to his other comrades and said, "Now listen, I've got something that might help with this situation, so when we suit up and plan our approach i think we can find a way to deal with this dragon easier."
"Mmm tin can me will you you're the bad guy not me... don't make me do something you'll regret later" Arcadia looking pissed off "so we done here?" looking in Daniel's direction wanting to hit Daniel and hard... "look you little bastard stop this shit or I'll make you stop..."
"Mmm tin can me will you you're the bad guy not me... don't make me do something you'll regret later" Arcadia looking pissed off "so we done here?" looking in Daniel's direction wanting to hit Daniel and hard... "look you little bastard stop this shit or I'll make you stop..."
"Oi smart one, don't go fighting new wars when you have other battles to fight, especially when you will be outnumbered and out gunned." Thurmond shouted at Arcadia. "For once can you focus on the task at hand?" Turning to Daniel he stated more calmly, "What is this plan of yours? I understand that fire an explosions are a specialty of yours?"
"I should be able to cut Mr Knox off from the others when we find them," Optical volunteered, "but I've never had a dragon be convexed by them. I do not know how effective that would be. We would need to be quick, regardless.""Of course," replied Agent McGrath. "Time is of the essence in this one. As soon as the police realize that something is going on, they will be all over you."
"Daniel you heard that right? you fuck about I'll put you in line ahah"
aTurning to Arcadia, Daniel decided a putdown would be for the best,
"Hey, tin can, shut up and let the grown ups talk, will ya?"
Next, he turned to his other comrades and said, "Now listen, I've got something that might help with this situation, so when we suit up and plan our approach i think we can find a way to deal with this dragon easier."
aa"Mmm tin can me will you you're the bad guy not me... don't make me do something you'll regret later" Arcadia looking pissed off "so we done here?" looking in Daniel's direction wanting to hit Daniel and hard... "look you little bastard stop this shit or I'll make you stop..."
Agent McGrath scowled. "Gentlemen, please. If I have to make sure you all are playing nice with each other, I'll consider voiding your contract, which would mean you lose a lot of money. Let's focus here."aaa"Oi smart one, don't go fighting new wars when you have other battles to fight, especially when you will be outnumbered and out gunned." Thurmond shouted at Arcadia. "For once can you focus on the task at hand?" Turning to Daniel he stated more calmly, "What is this plan of yours? I understand that fire an explosions are a specialty of yours?"
Agent Jenkins raised an eyebrow and gave a concerned look toward Arcadia. He gave no expression that he was carefully watching and analyzing the mad swordsman.mwahaha"Mmm" Arcadia's starts to move away from the others, walking back and forth talking to himself "my work is close to finishing just might mmm yes, yes that might work ahahah ahahah AHAHAH" Arcadia turns back to the group walks back in line "I'm ready when you are"
"Not a bad idea, but remember what I said earlier," McGrath responded. "Keep civilian endangerment to an absolute minimum. You can do whatever to the terrorists and the police, although for the latter try not to make it too much of a massacre. We did warn them, but we don't want this to spiral out of control, and I imagine most of the responders are ignorant of their department's reckless decision. And remember, we need Knox alive: that's what this, all of this, is about."DISCO INFERNO"Well I don't just create incindiary blasts, I'm also immune to them. So I'm thinking if we can get Kesha or whatever her name is to try and fireblast me, it might give you an opening. Also, the renaissance fair employee is pacing back and forth and laughing maniacally, think you can give him some EST?"
"Excellent plan," said Agent McGrath, "but there's one thing missing. Jenkins, if you would.""buddies? buddies"Thurmond just sighed and stated, "I saw we ignore him until our plan is set. Also that plan is genius" Thurmond raised an eyebrow, whispering so that only Daniel could hear, "I'm beginning to think you are not as much of a drunk as you let on heh heh. This is a good tactic in the world we are facing ja?" Thurmond turned to the group. "So Daniel goes in as distraction. The suit said that dragon scales are bullet proof, meaning we will need something stronger than just blades or standard equipment to take it out. Anything that breathes is my nature a conductor of electricity, so I would be able to weaken it by sending electric pulses through it. After the beast is weakened, someone, perhaps Arcadia, can get close enough to attack weak points. I would assume these to be the wings, eyes, and interior of the beast. Optical can use her power to shield us from any gunfire or other threats, and Mesmer you try and distract the SFPD, something you and Daniel can work in tandem with, ad I assume while he is, heh, "taking fire" Thurmond paused to enjoy his shitty pun, "He could assist you with the explosion. Sound good to everyone?"
"Excellent plan," said Agent McGrath, "but there's one thing missing. Jenkins, if you would."Thurmond nodded, disregarding the needle gun but putting on the eyepiece and strapping the ballistics armor on underneath his vest. (Which is lightly lined with Kevlar, enough to deal with 9mm but not much more). He turned to the Agent Jenkins, "I have no need for a needle gun, I'm a natural tazer."
"R-right."
Jenkins threw three large duffel bags on the main table.
"Inside these bags are several important pieces of equipment. This bag here has radio headsets with which we will be able to communicate with you from the outside. It also has an eyepiece that will serve as a HUD that will guide your path finding and your aim while inside the hospital. This bag here has ballistic armor, fitted to each of your sizes. You'll definitely want to be wearing these if the SFPD starts shooting or if the terrorists are armed, regardless of your bulletproofing abilities. This bag over here is chock full of CIA weaponry, which I will let Agent Jenkins explain to you."
Jenkins nodded. "H-here we have several high-power n-needle guns. The d-darts that these f-fire are filled with a sedative that has been carefully c-calibrated to bring down someone of Andrew's height, weight, and a-age. One of them will be s-sufficient for this, uh, purpose, but if you intend on using these darts for a-adult humans I- I would recommend applying t-two or three darts, depending on the s-size of the assailant. Be very c-careful you don't, cause an, uh, an overdose in any of your t-targets or inject your- yourself, however."
He took out the dart guns and handed them to everyone. "T-there's also tear gas, f-flashbangs, tasers, p-pepper spray, handcuffs, and, uh, and silenced pistols in here. T-take whatever you, uh, you want."
Agent McGrath folded his arms. "Alright, looks like we are just about ready to go. Any questions, ideas, or comments before we truly begin?"
"Can we keep the eyepiece and or the armor?" Optical asked immediately. Hopefully it is not harder to maneuver in it."Y-yes you may," said Jenkins. "T-the identification numbers have, uh, have already b-been removed, s-so having it around s-shouldn't be a, uh, a liability."
Agent McGrath scowled. "Watch yourself, Arcadia. If you do anything to anyone else on this team without a good reason, I'll put you in the same prison cell as the terrorists for the rest of your life."heh"the armour you can keep ahah" Arcadia looking cool as hell "no worries I'm fine just... no no its cool I kinda like this plan ahahah he might die ahahahah" Arcadia looking at the tech he was given "mmm who made this? some drunk guy meh" Arcadia walking away thinking about this team turns back "hey if Daniel dies can I have his body? I would like to find out how he's not dead from drinking and smoking ahahah" Arcadia with a evil smile "right I'm ready if you are Daniel?"
"O-Of course," responded Jenkins. "I t-trust that you, uh, know your own a-abilities. M-make sure you don't do anything, uh, anything reckless, h-however."don't taze me broThurmond nodded, disregarding the needle gun but putting on the eyepiece and strapping the ballistics armor on underneath his vest. (Which is lightly lined with Kevlar, enough to deal with 9mm but not much more). He turned to the Agent Jenkins, "I have no need for a needle gun, I'm a natural tazer."
Brushing off Arcadia's usual bullshit, Daniel put on his armor and inspected the needle gun closely."B-between three and, uh, ten shots, d-depending on the size of the t-target. I w-wouldn't use it f-for that, uh, purpose, however." Jenkins adjusted his glasses. "I-it's very i-inefficient as a, uh, lethal w-weapon."
"So..." he began, with a tinge of morbid curiosity, "how many shots would it take to kill someone with these things?"
Thurmond took a quick look towards the men in suits, "You never answered my first question, what condition should the terrorists be in not including the boy?" Thurmond held his axes in his hands with a solid grip. "Because I would really like to beat the shit out of someone right now, without it being strictly illegal.""Use your judgement," Agent McGrath responded. "That's all I'm going to say."
As the others were speaking, Optical was taking her equipment."One or two minutes, for its, uh, its intended t-target. It w-will take l-longer if, uh, if you're u-using it on s-someone else."
"...How long does it take for the sedative to become effective?" she asked.
Arcadia looks up "I'm good to go""Alright then, time for everyone to get a move on." Agent McGrath tapped on his computer, sending up a complicated architectural diagram. "The best entrance to the hospital will be through the electrical service tunnels under it. There's an entry point not far from here, and an exit point within the main building. Knox and his companions are on the third floor, room 307-A Now get out of here and good luck. We'll keep in contact over radio."
Thurmond nodded and silently walked over to the entrance point originally mentioned. Once he was in the tunnel and waiting for the others, he immediately started charging up electrical energy from the wires in the tunnel, not enough to really affect anything, but enough to crate an overcharge of energy for a powerful strike during the fight to come, lightly chanting a Nordic prayer in Icelandic."So what do you think?" Daniel started, trailing behind the electric Viking, "Should we distract the cops or the Dragon lady first? I've got ideas for both. You've heard about the dragon, and the cops..." Daniel hesitated for a bit, waiting until the others were out of earshot.
"So what do you think?" Daniel started, trailing behind the electric Viking, "Should we distract the cops or the Dragon lady first? I've got ideas for both. You've heard about the dragon, and the cops..." Daniel hesitated for a bit, waiting until the others were out of earshot.Thurmond sped up as he heard the message, saying quietly to Daniel, "That much is obvious, but as long as we can maintain that it was necessary I doubt that we can be yelled at too much for it, I saw if we can distract the cops we could probably use that as a chance to draw the dragon and her compatriots out of hiding, perhaps even draw them in close enough in by feigning as allies and try to take them out before dragon mode can be engaged." Thurmond turned to the others and back to Daniel, "Plus that at least keeps the cops of our back while we take on the beast.
"...Well, there's gonna be some property damage. A lot of property damage. Not that I care, but it might be something I need to do on my own in case one of our teammates decides an ugly warehouse is worth more than their lives. And I don't know how badly we're gonna need that distraction in the first few minutes."
"So what I've figured..." Daniel began, but he lost his train of thought when the radio chatter began. The fact the raid had started changed a lot, and it fucked with his plans, so he decided to look for something else he could do on the fly."So what do you think?" Daniel started, trailing behind the electric Viking, "Should we distract the cops or the Dragon lady first? I've got ideas for both. You've heard about the dragon, and the cops..." Daniel hesitated for a bit, waiting until the others were out of earshot.Thurmond sped up as he heard the message, saying quietly to Daniel, "That much is obvious, but as long as we can maintain that it was necessary I doubt that we can be yelled at too much for it, I saw if we can distract the cops we could probably use that as a chance to draw the dragon and her compatriots out of hiding, perhaps even draw them in close enough in by feigning as allies and try to take them out before dragon mode can be engaged." Thurmond turned to the others and back to Daniel, "Plus that at least keeps the cops of our back while we take on the beast.
"...Well, there's gonna be some property damage. A lot of property damage. Not that I care, but it might be something I need to do on my own in case one of our teammates decides an ugly warehouse is worth more than their lives. And I don't know how badly we're gonna need that distraction in the first few minutes."
"So what I've figured..." Daniel began, but he lost his train of thought when the radio chatter began. The fact the raid had started changed a lot, and it fucked with his plans, so he decided to look for something else he could do on the fly.Thurmond simply nodded, simply saying "The plan is good enough, in terms of getting down, I can handle it, I practically have shock absorbers for shins. The others getting down? To be honest I don't care about the others well being once the job has been done." Thurmond thought about the dragon, "If I can reach it I should be able to administer enough shock to interrupt her muscles, like a powerful tazer. Even better would be to "accidentally" trigger a heart attack. Otherwise he simply go for obvious weak points, such as eyes or wings, and see if pain can revert her transformation."
"I've got it, Thor. If we can get a floor above the cops I can start a fire to serve as a barrier. If they can't pursue to the third floor it should buy us time. The obvious downside is that we can't get back down, so we're gonna have to jump for it when we're done. It's a pretty shit plan, I'll admit, but I don't think there's anything better I can do. Once the cops are off our back I need the window pane girl to shield us from the bullets while I taunt Kesha into her dragon form. Then you guys split and I take that fire breath. I won't be able to distract her long though, cuz she can still bite my head off, so you'll need to move fast once she's figured out fire doesn't work on me."
"Sounds good to me. Now let's look for stairwell and get to the third floor as fast as possible. If they're going by the main entrance they'll be taking the nearest stairs from there. I set that area on fire, and they can't follow us.""So what I've figured..." Daniel began, but he lost his train of thought when the radio chatter began. The fact the raid had started changed a lot, and it fucked with his plans, so he decided to look for something else he could do on the fly.Thurmond simply nodded, simply saying "The plan is good enough, in terms of getting down, I can handle it, I practically have shock absorbers for shins. The others getting down? To be honest I don't care about the others well being once the job has been done." Thurmond thought about the dragon, "If I can reach it I should be able to administer enough shock to interrupt her muscles, like a powerful tazer. Even better would be to "accidentally" trigger a heart attack. Otherwise he simply go for obvious weak points, such as eyes or wings, and see if pain can revert her transformation."
"I've got it, Thor. If we can get a floor above the cops I can start a fire to serve as a barrier. If they can't pursue to the third floor it should buy us time. The obvious downside is that we can't get back down, so we're gonna have to jump for it when we're done. It's a pretty shit plan, I'll admit, but I don't think there's anything better I can do. Once the cops are off our back I need the window pane girl to shield us from the bullets while I taunt Kesha into her dragon form. Then you guys split and I take that fire breath. I won't be able to distract her long though, cuz she can still bite my head off, so you'll need to move fast once she's figured out fire doesn't work on me."
A fireteam of SWAT officers met them in the darkened stairwell, clad in black Kevlar armor and bearing shotguns and pistols and flashlights. They appeared to be moving to sweep the lower levels of the hospital and secure all exits.(OOC(Our group?))
They leveled their guns at the group. "SFPD! Hands in the air!"
huhIf it's at us, I'm very tempted to cast up some illusionary hands in the air to distract them in a way that literally obeys their order.
OOC: Its you guys. I'm not going to post about dragon and co. until you meet up with them.ughhA fireteam of SWAT officers met them in the darkened stairwell, clad in black Kevlar armor and bearing shotguns and pistols and flashlights. They appeared to be moving to sweep the lower levels of the hospital and secure all exits.(OOC(Our group?))
They leveled their guns at the group. "SFPD! Hands in the air!"
“Of course, sirs,” Optical said brightly, raising her hands. In the same gesture she cast a large pane between her group and the guns -- unfortunately blocking off the stairwell. The mirror shone, solid and reflective and hiding them from view.Muffled voices could be heard from behind the barrier.
Optical glanced at the others. “They’ll be calling for backup, but at least we won’t be shot for arming ourselves," she said quietly. "I can make some stairs over their heads if you wish, or we could find another way up, or make them surrender, or kill them." She prepared to cast a second mirror if any other police appeared.
Optical nodded to Daniel. "On it." She raised her hands (mostly for effect) and started 'pushing' the wall forwards, aiming to wrap around the side of the police and leave a clear path for them."Woah, it's moving!"
"You all might want to get your weapons out. And get ready to run or shoot if they slip around the side," Optical said quietly. "A pay check is all well and good, but people can't collect it if shot in the head."
Noticing the shots, Thurmond began crackling with electrical energy. He released a tasing pulse directed at the officers that went around the wall hopefully not killing but at the very least stunning them for a extended period of time.Optical nodded to Daniel. "On it." She raised her hands (mostly for effect) and started 'pushing' the wall forwards, aiming to wrap around the side of the police and leave a clear path for them."Woah, it's moving!"
"You all might want to get your weapons out. And get ready to run or shoot if they slip around the side," Optical said quietly. "A pay check is all well and good, but people can't collect it if shot in the head."
"Stand back!"
Police fired a volley of bullets at the shield, to no avail. When the wall cleared however, they would be ready and armed.
Noticing the shots, Thurmond began crackling with electrical energy. He released a tasing pulse directed at the officers that went around the wall hopefully not killing but at the very least stunning them for a extended period of time.Shouts and screams echoed through the barrier as the front line of police fell to the floor, alive but barely conscious and groaning in pain. Another burst of gunfire slammed into the barrier, bouncing off harmlessly.
As Andrew slammed his body through the rooftop access door (it was locked), Aztech's warning echoed through the starlit skies.-snip-Some aggressive speed-reading and a quick call to Sparrow to run operational intelligence for him later, Aztech felt fairly up to date on the situation on the ground. This boy was superhuman in some form or another, and evidently had some capability to tap into these at times of high stress (Sparrow reported Shrike had about 4 possibilities listed for his capabilities, none of which seemed particularly safe in a hospital).
Complicating matters was the fact that he had been kidnapped by three anarchists pushing some bizarre agenda that he didn't really have the time to dig into. This was made marginally more difficult by one of them being a superhuman, who, supposedly, could turn into a dragon. Which was weird, but, hey, he'd dealt with weirder (see: demon luchadore, lying unconscious in the middle of Rodeo Drive).
Further complicating matters was that the SFPD, generally inflexible at the best of times, was actively gunning for the boy because he'd killed LVPD cops (never mind that, legally, he wasn't deemed responsible). This meant working with them would be difficult, and so he probably wouldn't try. 'Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission' seemed to be the principle on which LAW and most superhuman vigilantes operated anyway. No reason to change this working relationship. They'd have to be all smiles when he left the anarchists glued to a wall anyway.
Furthest complicating matters was that Sparrow had taken the liberty of checking in on the IC networks for anything on the unfolding situation, and the FBI of all agencies (he'd expected those hacks at the Office of Superhuman Activities, but the FBI?) had brought together a team of...varying moral fibrousness (the most charitable tone he could take concerning some of them) to resolve this in the most, stupid, black op, CIA-style fashion possible, and this same team had engaged a SWAT team in a stairwell in the hospital. No reported injuries as yet, fortunately, but that could change very quickly. Always wound up doing so with teams of this...caliber.
Good thing he'd come, and hadn't just tried to palm this off on Victory whenever she got back, or worse, left it in the hands of local PD. He hadn't even gotten there yet, and this was already shaping up to be a pretty rough situation.
Still. Four objectives, in order of importance. Secure the boy. Capture the anarchists. Prevent the black ops team from causing casualties. Keep the police in check.
"We will arrive in thirty seconds," Suit told him, and he snapped out of his mental recap to get ready to deal with this situation before it got even more out of hand.
Time for a big show of force. Use that reputation LAW had to de-escalate the situation.
"Sparrow, get into SFPD comms and the hospital PA and get our theme song going. Time to make an entrance."
And so as Aztech streaked into the heart of San Francisco like a green-and-gold comet, the police officers besieging the hospital stared incredulously at their radios as a rather aggressive guitar solo began blaring from them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsS0cvTxU-8). Amidst the distraction, he took up a position facing the ward the anarchists were believed to be in, hovering midway between the third and fourth story, and calling for their surrender (while implicitly telling the SFPD to stand down as he hovered above them).
"LAW is on the scene. Surrender now and we can all walk away from this. Fail to surrender and you'll be thanking your lucky stars you're already in a hospital when I'm done with you. You have one minute to indicate your surrender, or I'll come in and drag you out."
Now the usual awkward silence while they talked out the merits of surrendering. He'd give them 30 seconds or so before he'd press them again. But hopefully these were smart people, who'd do the smart thing and surrender. Who knew what kind of damage a dragon might do? I mean, one, who even knew how bi-
Wait.
"Sparrow - how big is this dragon supposed to actually get?"
Thurmond heard the rumbling from up above. He could feel his heart rate go up, the electrically charged adrenaline coursing through him. With visable sparks he charged full speed ahead towards the door, not caring if anything was in his way. He kicked down the door in a sparking ball, anything near him would be 'current'(haha get it)ly feeling a crisp 300,000 volts fly through them and likely unconscious now. He saw the strangely suited man flying get nailed in the face, but more importantly he saw the dragon. He ducked behind the nearest cover and waited for Daniel, whispering "Tíminn þinn er kominn dýrið!"While Andrew was jumping off of Keisha's back to punch Aztech in the face, the FBI team arrived. Derek was hit by the electical blast and was blown halfway across the roof, sending his gun scattering. He rolled around on the ground, groaning in barely conscious pain.
Optical hurried up the stairs after Thurmond, reaching the last turn of stairs as a spray of bullets tore through the door. She jerked backwards, despite still being a few steps down. Optical waited for the fire to pause and then cast several layers of mirrors just outside the door. Only then did Optical keep running up and out onto the roof, scattering her mirrors inbetween herself and the shooter. Hopefully, they would obstruct the shooter's view of the door.Thurmond was cursing at the shots when he noticed Optical running up towards him. After she asked her question he simply responded, "Well, I was waiting for Daniel, but he seems to be taking his dear sweet time. We need to get this rifle wielder taken out before we can try and handle the Dragon though." He crackled with electricity and pulled out his bow, and knocked a round ball-shaped arrowhead that appeared to be made out of a light metal. "I could take her out with an electrified arrow but I will need a second and a clear shot. Thing you can provide this my friend?"
She ducked to another piece of cover, taking in the dragon and the child punching at an armored suit. "Excellent, we have a third party," she muttered, then tapped her earpiece. "Agent, in the interest of not accidentally harming any further allies, is there anything else you didn't want to tell us that is pertinent?" As she spoke, Optical was working out which direction she should run to reach the edge of the roof quickly. She was thinking.
Fried. That places the individual up here, on the roof. Now that's interesting. How does the agent have an informant, a main informant, in among three people, all three of which had dossiers detailing bombing, thievery, treason, and the like. It would explain... but... no, I need more data.
Optical then turned towards Thurmond.
"Are you still opting to electrocute the dragon?" she asked. "The circumstances aren't precisely optimal."
Thurmond was cursing at the shots when he noticed Optical running up towards him. After she asked her question he simply responded, "Well, I was waiting for Daniel, but he seems to be taking his dear sweet time. We need to get this rifle wielder taken out before we can try and handle the Dragon though." He crackled with electricity and pulled out his bow, and knocked a round ball-shaped arrowhead that appeared to be made out of a light metal. "I could take her out with an electrified arrow but I will need a second and a clear shot. Thing you can provide this my friend?""The easiest way to circumvent her own cover would be to make some stairs for you to run up, but that requires too much coordination for a firefight." Optical cast a mirror above her cover and stood up, adjusting the opacity, and looked for the shooter and dragon. "But, mirrors are know for a distractive quality."
"No, that's it. Sorry about not mentioning it earlier, but it wasn't exactly my information to divulge, if you catch my meaning. Good luck." The radio fell quiet.optic's fiberOptical hurried up the stairs after Thurmond, reaching the last turn of stairs as a spray of bullets tore through the door. She jerked backwards, despite still being a few steps down. Optical waited for the fire to pause and then cast several layers of mirrors just outside the door. Only then did Optical keep running up and out onto the roof, scattering her mirrors inbetween herself and the shooter. Hopefully, they would obstruct the shooter's view of the door.
She ducked to another piece of cover, taking in the dragon and the child punching at an armored suit. "Excellent, we have a third party," she muttered, then tapped her earpiece. "Agent, in the interest of not accidentally harming any further allies, is there anything else you didn't want to tell us that is pertinent?" As she spoke, Optical was working out which direction she should run to reach the edge of the roof quickly. She was thinking.
Fried. That places the individual up here, on the roof. Now that's interesting. How does the agent have an informant, a main informant, in among three people, all three of which had dossiers detailing bombing, thievery, treason, and the like. It would explain... but... no, I need more data.
Optical then turned towards Thurmond.
"Are you still opting to electrocute the dragon?" she asked. "The circumstances aren't precisely optimal."
tame"Yeah, yeah fuck you too buddy. I'm still not exactly excited to get fired o-Ah shit she's big. You, shield lady, make sure I don't get my head bitten off, yeah?"
Daniel walked up to where the dragon could see him, but not close enough to immediately bite his head off. Grabbing the needle gun that he knew would do nothing, Daniel shot her while screaming
"HEY KESHA, EAT THIS YOU STUPID CALIFORNIA FUCKNUGGET!!!!"
Sandra managed to slap Derek awake. Now he joined in the fight, sending a spray of gunfire at the heroes while Sandra reloaded.mirror mirror"The easiest way to circumvent her own cover would be to make some stairs for you to run up, but that requires too much coordination for a firefight." Optical cast a mirror above her cover and stood up, adjusting the opacity, and looked for the shooter and dragon. "But, mirrors are know for a distractive quality."
Optical cast a foot-sized platform beside her and stepped onto it, and waited for a pause in the gunfire.
Then she sprang upwards and out of cover, and began to run and tumble and leap and fall from conjured platform to platform, up and out in an unpredictable pattern (helped by conjuring additional panes and paths to conceal where she actually was, and hopefully preventing a bullet to the face), but leading away from Thurmond, occasionally taking potshots towards the shooter with her needle gun.
As Optical went, she cast a pane between Daniel and the dragon when the latter moved to attack the former.
Keisha thought Daniel was dead.
Her mistake.
When the smoke cleared, Daniel had a bit of soot around him, but besides that was entirely unharmed. Now it was his turn.
Charging up all he could and focusing his upmost, he sent an explosive fireball right into the Dragon's back side.
"Gotta do better than that to kill me, bitch!"
Knowing he didn't have much time, he ran as fast he could to the exit. With any luck, those idiots would take the distraction and finally put her down. For now, though, his job was done.
come on and SLAMRight after asking Sparrow, the rooftop door slammed open, and a boy in that nebulous sort of age range boys had between 8 and 12 careened through it, followed closely by three others.
"Oh, hey, good choice," he called out at the people on the roof. "You know, a lot of people don't really do all that great, they add 'LAW' and 'our odds' and somehow get 'we win', which is just really lousy math, but hey you guys made the ri-oh, shit, that dragon is way bigger than I not the facepla-"
It was always the faceplate, he thought to himself in that strangely lengthened piece of time that always happened between 'a very big impact' and 'the very big impact to follow when he smashed into a building'. Which really made the still-playing song in the background kind of hilarious. "Iiiiii ffffooooooughtttt the LAAAAAAW..." and so on.
Or maybe that was just what a concussion felt like. Because, wow. Andrew's fist had really done a number on the helmet. Those dinky little bullets had scratched the paint a little, but there was a pretty good crack going right above his left eye. He could actually see the night sky through it. Or maybe those were the stars you were supposed to see when you were concussed. Suit was screaming (well, saying, Suit never screamed, but screaming sounded appropriate right about now) something about serious damage, repair nanites, and wow that stupid HUD glitch was back again, and jeez he really hoped nobody was in the building behind him when he
hit.
Wow. That. That was a doozy. Mefisto might wanna take lessons from this kid. Stopped about three feet short of going all the way through the building. Time seemed to be about back to normal now. Probably not a concussion then.
"Okay, Suit. New plan. Gold to the roof, then switch to Red the moment we've got target acquisition. Priority target for the lance and pulsars is the dragon, hit the kid and the two goons with immob goo, because I'd really rather not be beating up a kid when the news choppers get their act together."
Getting to his feet (well, not so much his feet as the air as he rocketed back out the hole his body had made through the building), he made a quick glance at the power readout (38%; oh boy that gave him 20, maybe 30 minutes if that kid hammered the shielding with hits like that, stop flickering to 97% you stupid piece of alien junk I know that's not right), before turning the PA on again as the jets cut out and he dropped to the rooftop.
"Okay then," he called out to the newly erupting chaos on the roof as the black ops team had evidently emerged onto it in the 20 seconds or so since he'd been punched (and one of them was promptly incinerated for his trou-oh, maybe not). "Guess you idiots need to learn a lesson or two."
"Situation: Target A is engaging UNKNOWN TARGETS, PRESUMED HOSTILE/LOW THREAT. Target B is MISSING. Target lock on target C. Target D appears unconscious," Suit politely informed him. "Acknowledged", he subvocalized as he lobbed a great big blob of immobilizer goo at Sandra, and another at Derek just to be sure he stayed down, before a bright red bubble of energy flickered into being around him. "And what a lucky bunch of idiots you are, because class is now in session," he noted to his newly captive audience as the thermal lance launched a nice big energy pulse at the dragon.
damn son you trying to end the whole story yourself?Thurmond for the mirror an opportune pause in the shooter's fire, then rolled out and with a cry of "Borða skít tík! (Eat shit bitch)" fired the ball-headed arrow, sufficiently charged to about 300,000 volts. The arrow flew true and landed in the woman assailants stomach. Another much lighter tazer shot came from his hand and hit the guy they needed alive. Thurmond turned to see Daniel yell his great war cry and fire, blast survival said "Its go time!" And with all his might he ran up to the dragons underbelly and lached on, suddenly applying enough electricity to power a small factory (Assuming this would not be fatal).
Andrew arrived, jumping up six stories and followed by a stream of police bullets coming from beneath him. Screams and the flickering of fire from below showed that Andrew did not treat the underpowered police with kindness. Unfortunately, he had arrived just in time. Andrew watched in horror as Sandra, already restrained, was wounded by an electrical arrow from Thurmond. Moments later, Keisha fell from from the sky in smoke and flames, hit by the double whammy of Thurmond's charge and Aztech's thermal lance. He watched her tumble down into the streets below, disappearing from view.welcome to the JAMSeeing the flashes of electricity out the corners of her eyes, Optical looked down. Oh, that looked like it hurt.
Optical adjusted her course. She ended up stopping approximately ten metres directly above the two shooters and peered down at them, watching for movement and ready to form an additional protective shield. She kept the needlegun pointed their way, wishing she had binoculars.
Wait, where did Mr Knox and the armored suit go? She thought she could hear the suit, but she'd lost track of the child.
Sandra groaned in pain as Derek struggled. "Alright, alright! Whatever you say, just get us out of here!"COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVESatisfied that the shooters couldn't shoot her (and wanting to avoid the angry child), Optical dismissed the shield she stood on and made her way back down to the roof, landing beside the bubbled shooters. Optical kicked away any weapons she could see and put a barrier between them and the duo, keeping her needle gun trained on them.
"This building is on fire," Optical informed them. "I presume you don't want to be glued to the roof if it collapses. Cooperate, and I'll remove enough of that so you can walk, and the three of us can move out of the line of fire. Don't cooperate, and I'll knock you out and get you free of the roof anyway. I'd prefer the former option."
Optical took out a knife and waited for the shooters' response.
no worries bro <3Thurmond started to stand up from the barrage he had faced, his light body enhancements having kept him alive, for now, as they were beginning to ache. To anyone paying attention however, they would have noticed that something had changed in Thurmond, his eyes seemed to have lost a portion of their humanity, something.....was off. His breathing became fast and raspy, his head began to twitch aggressively and sporadically, one might almost have seen some foam appear in his mouth. Thurmond had basically lost all knowledge of English, and he began chanting in a low grumbling voice various prayers to various Norse gods. He dropped the bow, and grabbed his tomahawks. To anyone who could see him, Thurmond might just be about as dangerous as the terrorists now, as he was less than human. The vikingr has gone BESERK
Thurmond charged his tomahawks and charged at full speed towards Andrew, all the while screaming an unholy war cry........
((OOC Leaving this opened ended, I overreached a bit with the last post and I apologize for that))
Andrew stood ready, fists clenched and a barely visible aurora of energy shimmering the air around him. Thurmond charged at him with a berserker's rage, and Andrew knelt as he prepared to toss the thunder Viking into the sky.shot through the neck, and you're to blaaame~After running into some random asian dude, Daniel made his way down the stairs. The dragon bitch was presumably dead, but he figured he'd better check anyway. As he made his way down, though, he saw that another platoon of SWAT was trying to make their way up to the roof. As soon as they noticed Daniel, they began to shoot at him. Panicking, he tried to blow up the stairwell. The massive fireball blew away the officers, but it also blew away Daniel as well.
He wasn't hurt by the fire, but the force of it still pushed him out of the window and into the street with a sickening CRUNCH sounding as he landed. He screamed in pain as his shattered leg refused to cooperate with him. Dragging himself to a nearby building, he stopped to catch a breath. He didn't know where exactly they were supposed to rendezvous but he figured the others might. Crawling into an elevator, he took it up to the top floor where he could see what was going on better. When he finally got a glimpse of the situation, it didn't look good. Thor was going apeshit but was badly wounded. The LAW guy was getting the shit kicked out of him. He was starting to wonder if the kid would take them all out. Reaching into his pockets for a smoke, he instead brushed up against his needle gun. Most of the ammo was gone trying to distract that dragon bitch, but there were a couple of needles left.
I only need one, so they said. But is it really worth the chance of him noticing me?...wait, why am I scared of a fucking kid? Fuck that shit, and fuck that little shit! Here goes nothing...
with a quick blast Daniel blew out the window. Lying on his stomach because of his injuries, he took as careful an aim at the kid as he could. His hands were still a little shaky, and he had no idea what distance the damned thing was zeroed at, but when the kid turned around to see the Viking charging at him...
He took the shot.
"Y-yeah. We think so, anyways. Whatever's going on can't be good for him, so we need to end it now."slice&diceThe moment she gained Derek's agreement, Optical conjured a mirror and started pushing the edge under the goo. It wasn't perfect -- she ended up needing to slice at the goo to force it to part -- but she was making good progress, especially when she added another mirror to help "pinch" the goo from the building.
Then the door burst open and more gunfire splayed forth. Optical immediately raised another shield between the battle and the glued-shooters (and herself, obviously), and kept prying Derek and Sandra off the roof and onto her mirrors. Hopefully, once she'd loosened them from the roof she could carry them off the side of the roof without difficulty. Or she could head straight up in the air. By this point, she wasn't feeling picky.
Nearly there. Hm... most people won't be comfortable uncontrollably floating several dozen meters off the ground... also the gunfire must be concerning... oh, there's a thought.
"So," Optical said in a conversational tone. The suit of armour was shouting something as she spoke. "Before the police arrived, I gather that the doctors managed to stabilise Mr Knox? I mean, he's well enough to fight... unless that's all adrenaline and he's tearing up stiches as he goes?"
Keisha slid under the goo stream, expertly dodging it. Her arm shifted to its monstrous form and slammed Aztech into an air-conditioning unit, which then exploded in a cloud of steam and coolant. It forced him to step back for at least a moment.hit me baby one more timeAztech just sort of stood there, bubbled up in his shield and letting the boy hammer away at his shields. Clearly he was getting frustrated with his lack of progress, as evidenced by his annoyed observation that the shield wouldn't 'freakin break'.
"Ah-ah," Aztech tutted at him in response. "Language. Don't make me put you in the corner."
He was, in fact, raising his arms to attempt to do so with some goo (hoping the kid was worn out) when that damn viking ("Alert: bio-electric capabilities observed", Suit told him as he glanced over, which was handy information to have) got back up after being slammed into a wall with enough force to crack the concrete ("Alert: evident superhuman durability"; not quite so handy information there, but thanks all the same) and charged the kid again. Well, he could evidently take the hit, and so Aztech let him, watching as he once again slammed into the concrete (fortunately a different wall; he didn't know whether the concrete could take another hit like that) and left quite the impression.
Somewhere in there, though, the boy had taken a shot in the neck, and was beginning that bleary-eyed, confused sort of stagger that generally predated an imminent, drug-induced bout of naptime. Which was a good thing. Much easier than letting him tire himself out, then wrapping him in goo. He dropped out of Red mode ("Alert: capacitors at 28%"; he'd have to take a quick burn out somewhere nice and sunny and let Suit recharge after this) and made to sweep the kid up before he fell over, when the dragon-lady re-emerged onto the rooftop, albeit not as a dragon, toting some kind of firearm, and almost immediately laying down suppressing fire on that damn viking, who was somehow up once again (A+ for effort; C for execution, which was really how he'd classify most of this FBI team. In fairness, he was looking at a B- himself right now. Not his best day at work).
"For f-know when you're beat, lady," Aztech yelled, lobbing a veritable stream of goo in her direction with his right arm even as he made to grab Andrew with his left.
Thurmond was twitching, still chanting various Nordic prayers and now slower but pissed off more by the bullet wounds. He walked towards Keisha now, flipping his tomahawks, he began a faster walk, with intent to kill, now becoming even less human than he was before.Keisha turned toward Thurmond and snarled. Giving an inhuman roar, she transformed into a dragon again and used her tail to beat Thurmond into the ground. She grabbed Andy in her jaws like a wolf holding her pup, then came and tore Derek and Sandra away from the goo bubbles with her claws and carried them off into the sky, heading north.
*bass boosted noises*No, that's still attached to the roof. What is this--
Something swept past Optical. A rush of wind shoved her and knocked her off balance. Optical managed pin herself in place with a sloped mirror, banished it, then pushed herself back up and glanced to see if Derek and Sandra were unharmed.
For a split second, Optical stared blankly at the empty roof in front of her -- and the abrupt absence of her knife. The goo being pulled away had flung it from Optical's grip. Presumably it had clattered off somewhere, or it remained stuck in the goo (what vampiric creation is that?! I hadn't even made a dent--!) and was now traveling across the sky.
Then Optical leapt to her feet and onto a mirror, which bent under her and flung her upward. Another mirror materialized under her and she kicked off of that. Then the next and the next, bouncing herself directly upward and keeping her eyes on the fleeing dragon. Surely they'd go to ground somewhere... surely....
Suddenly, a team of police and the FBI agents burst through the door onto the roof. Agent Jenkins was holding a smoking sniper rifle and Agent McGrath was holding a GPS of some kind.what what in nunavutThurmond was in pain. Which was a good sign because it meant that he was actually feeling things again. He shook his head and noticed that all the assailants were gone, and that many of the team were not present, with the exception of Daniel on another roof, and Optical was running off after when looked like a bird. Thurmond looked down and then became aware of the three holes in his stomach, which seemed to have completely ignored the armor, which he threw off in disgust. This ended up leaving him standing on a roof, bloody and shirtless, in what looked like the perfect shit storm. Thurmond called out, "Would anyone like to tell me what the hell just happened?"
Optical sighed as the dragon swept out of sight, and dropped her way down to the roof as the agents spilled across it.Thurmond looked at Optical, "I am fine, these wounds will not kill me. The holes are small, must have been small caliber round." He looked around and spotted the dragon on the horizon then looked at the smoking rifle. "Am I to assume you have put some sort of tracking device on them?"
"If you say so, agent," Optical said dubiously. "From where this mirror stands, I seem to see a different reflection. Thurmond, are you alright?"
Agent Jenkins nodded proudly. "A, uh, quick last-minute d-development of t-the mission. Of my, uh, my own p-planning."Optical sighed as the dragon swept out of sight, and dropped her way down to the roof as the agents spilled across it.Thurmond looked at Optical, "I am fine, these wounds will not kill me. The holes are small, must have been small caliber round." He looked around and spotted the dragon on the horizon then looked at the smoking rifle. "Am I to assume you have put some sort of tracking device on them?"
"If you say so, agent," Optical said dubiously. "From where this mirror stands, I seem to see a different reflection. Thurmond, are you alright?"
"I'm getting a pretty strong sense here that you FBI boys never cared about the kid. What you really wanted was the location of these radicals' hideout, probably so you could bust them yourself, rescue the boy, and look great when it came time for budget reviews. Frankly, this is behavior I'd associate with the CIA in some 'third world shithole' as they'd put it, not the FBI, operating on American soil, against American citizens."Agent Jenkins scowled. "R-rude. You w-would never s-see me t-trash talk LAW like, uh, like that."
Thurmond nodded, turning to the team, now sufficiently damaged composition wise. "We should head out as soon as possible" he twisted trying to find Daniel, eventually seeing him in the sniping position he was in. "Are you fit for another go Daniel?" He shoutedDaniel could barely make out a yell from across the street, but the pain was beginning to deafen him. He couldn't move a muscle in his leg or it shot back up. He tried crawling but he didn't get very far before he heard the elevator ding and a group of men in black suits approached him. A syringe went into his neck before he could react, and everything turned to black.
Agent McGrath coughed. "Turns out that Daniel wasn't exactly who we thought he was. He's a wanted man, and the nature of his crimes makes giving him a pardon near impossible for us. I'm afraid he won't be joining us."Thurmond nodded, turning to the team, now sufficiently damaged composition wise. "We should head out as soon as possible" he twisted trying to find Daniel, eventually seeing him in the sniping position he was in. "Are you fit for another go Daniel?" He shoutedDaniel could barely make out a yell from across the street, but the pain was beginning to deafen him. He couldn't move a muscle in his leg or it shot back up. He tried crawling but he didn't get very far before he heard the elevator ding and a group of men in black suits approached him. A syringe went into his neck before he could react, and everything turned to black.
Thurmond raised an eyebrow, counting back all the atrocities he had committed himself, yet said nothing. Realizing that now he was one of the few combat ready supers in this merry band of glorified mercenaries, he chuckled. "I want to be paid, and if tracking down the child and his terrorist associates is what it takes to do so, then so be it." he said bluntly. Walking over and picking up his tomahawks, Thurmond was ready.
"I doubt I'll be of great assistance, but I'll lend my mirrors," Optical said. "Lead the way, agents."”Wonderful. I knew I could count on you guys. Now here’s what we need to do...”
Outside Mt. Hood National Forest, Washington
The United States government has really outdone itself for the raid on the terrorist base. SWAT teams from the PDs of three nearby large cities, a small army of ballistic vest and windbreaker-clad FBI agents, a large posse of local sheriffs and police officers, and a few very out of place looking park rangers with shotguns and hunting rifles slung over their backs gathered on a roadside rest stop that was near their target. Torrents fell from the turbulent grey sky above, soaking everything in warm summer rain. Presiding over them was Agent McGrath, flanked by a distracted Agent Jenkins.
“Just to remind everyone, here’s the plan. Thurmond will be leading the vanguard in to attack and overwhelm the terrorists, as well as rescuing Andrew and locating Keisha Evans. The rest of our forces, with tactical cover from gunfire and dragon-fire provided by Optical, will surround the building, and as soon as Keisha is smoked out by the vanguard will work to take her down. The surrounding force will also be focused on making sure the rest of the terrorists and Andrew end up in custody. We need to take this group down for good: we don’t want anybody to be able to escape this one. We will be supported from the air by several helicopters with snipers in them, along with Aztech who will also provide assistance in capturing Keisha and pacifying Andrew.”
He clapped his hands together. “Now, are there any questions?”
”Understood. We’ll only be really needing your cover when we need to move positions. The idea is to smoke most of them out, and take out the ones that won’t surrender.” Agent McGrath coughed. “Hopefully your shield won’t be needed too much.”-snip-Optical stood under a mirror shard, neatly deflecting the rain, and was eyeing the various guns with some concern.
She cleared her throat. "Mirrors cannot cover every angle and their aim can move faster than I. I will do my best, but you should not act as if you are invincible. I will prioritize those of us near the dragon." Optical then frowned. "Please don't try to shoot through the mirrors either. Other than that, I am prepared."
”I believe we shall.”-snorp-Thurmond nodded at Elbbsas. "Ja, it is important to realize that even we are not invincible either, so do not get calm if we charge in. If you do not help us, we could die, and if we don't, but get hurt, I'll be angry at you." He said, unironically. "Shall we begin?"