To Save The World!

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

OOC: Based on recent events, I suppose it would not be unreasonable to assume that the Whistler, as a non-powered human, is probably being ignored in-game, as opposed to the other possibility that the post was either missed or ignored on a basis other than the fact that the character involved is a civilian.

OOC: Oh, thought you were still doing your own thing and didn't need me leaping inIC: "Who is this?" was the reply to Whistler, "This is a secure line and your called ID is not registered. How did you get this number?The meeting in the building, as watched by Carapace and Gadgeteer, was already mid-way. A few policians and officials, and even a couple of heroes were in one of the halls listening to someone who's uniform marked him out as a general."No, at this point we think it would be more sensible to keep Lockdown under wraps. We have twelve hours, I'm sure you can stop one mad shark.""Ah, that would be my cue, yes?" That was Tek, shuffling through a few notes he'd brought, "I'll start with the obvious, how she-we're fine calling a sentient shark in power armour a she, right?- managed to get the message broadcast worldwide. From what I can tell an initial signal was sent up from Earth, which was then bounced around pretty much every satellite it could reach. The transmission's trail is too looped round itself for me to trace properly on my end, you'll probably have better luck looking on a terrestrial level."That brings me to my second point, about what threat she poses. She's new, so there's no clue to what her MO might be, but if she hasn't picked a city yet I'd say its unlikely she's got a robot army on standby. More likely its some kind of weapon that could potentially strike at any city on the planet. And given that she's already shown a capability to manipulate satellites...Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd say our fish has hooked herself a Kill Sat."That started a chorus of hushed whispers until the general started up again, "Can't you just find her weapon and destroy it, or block her signal from your fancy space base?""I could try, sure," Tek said, not sotting the concealed hostility "But as I mentioned, she bounced her signal round so many sources that I'm essentially looking at a static white-out when I try following it. It would be quicker for me to just nudge all your satellites out of orbit, but that would be an even worse option." The alien shrugged, making his skin ripple, "Its up to you guys from here. Find Hexas and stop her or just give her the info she wants. If you won't tell us anything about Lockdown we can';t know how dangerous it would be for her to know it."

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

"Ah... Either way, that could be rather useful," Taylor said right before putting the phone to her ear.

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"I'd say so." Steven actually didn't care too much; while the power was fine and all, it was largely impractical. Most of the time you couldn't keep your grip or concentration when your enemy is fighting you. A nice party trick, but hardly combat effective. "Will we be sticking around for the League to show up? As I mean you did have that shoot, and if you give me a moment I could make sure that guy won't be escaping anytime soon." He didn't particularly want the League anywhere near him; he was smallfry compared to what they went up against, but if they did have records on him, well, it'd be problematic.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: His thing for a long time has basically been waiting to be useful.IC(Whistler): "I, uhmm... I have my ways of getting these sorts of things, alright? I go by the Whistler - might've heard of me? Hero, based in Scotland, I bust up bank robberies and do the occasional charity event? Anyway, err, yeah, I'm calling because I need to know what you lot are intending to do about this current situation - you know, the talking fish situation - and whether you need any assistance, or if I'm free to sort of follow my own err, initiative on it."

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

"As long as you don't hurt him more than necessary, do whatever," replied Taylor as she hung up. A quick call was all that was needed. "Actually, it should only take a few minutes for someone else to be here, so only kick him again if he tries to get up."

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"Few minutes?" Steven basically squeaked that out. Smallfry didn't have records, right? No one cared about a Peruvian street thief. Heroes always focused on the west, America, Europe, the supposedly civilized places. Of course, if they had records of what he did in Britain... this would not be good. "Uh, um, yeah, right, I'll do that."

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

OOC: Holy snap i compleetly utterly forgot about this RP.....Um..so can anyone tell me what happened?(no, i did not wait till now to say anything, I really forgot to ask)

[Transairion]

OOC: Nope, not a Digimon Kumata: our monsterous foe is from a live-action series. See the red eye/visor in my sig for another hint!Speaking of my new sig, which I made myself in Paint (which is why it looks so horribly mangled), this is my official sig for this secondary plot arc. To Save the World!: Invasion led right into To Save the World!: Breakdown, the plot of which will twist in very shocking and interesting ways :evilgrin:NPC: "I'm afraid not... I did not expend all that effort preempting his landing in the Himalayas simply to discover the wrong person. Since he'd used up most of his strength just surviving, he made easy prey for me to-""For you to steal most of his powers, memories and take his cloak as a trophy before leaving him for dead... whats to say he couldn't have taken you down himself, but you attacked him when he was pratically dead already... face it Mastermind, your nothing but a vulture, preying on the weakest psychic's you can find... you're only so powerful now since you've had to take so very many" another competitor interrupted; a male in a form-fitting purple spandex supersuit with a spiky "P" on his chest. Mastermind frowned, turning away from Sluice and Fellyward and with a flash of his aura dragging the villian foward."And how often you feel the need to run your tongue, Psystrike. You are lucky your psychic abilities are so pathetically poor I would be weakening myself by taking them... but do not think that fact shields you from my wrath should you continue to irritate me so" Mastermind snorted, telekinetically slamming Psystrike into the hard floor: any counter-telekinesis on Psystrike's part was so overpowered by Mastermind as to be non-existant. The bold psychics actions had freed up Masterminds attention from Sluice though, leaving his back turned to them while Psystrike was made an example of...

Edited February 10, 2012 by Transairion

[Rumpelstiltskin]

OOC: Okay, after my customary apologies, let me see if I can respond to everything that needs responding to.Kumata: Excellent work on Psionick, that's a pretty good design of what I had in mind for his armor, and from what I can see of it you nailed his physical appearance. As for transparency, I think that it would probably be just a tad more opaque in order to hide his identity, but I still think you did the concept justice.League Headquarters Group: It seems we're going absolutely nowhere fast. Since apparently even with reinforcements the Coalition guys are outnumbered, I'm going to go ahead and increase our ranks again in an effort to overpower the Heroes and get the heck outta there. Trans, if you'd like to come in and run some Heroes over with KILL, I think it'd be more than about time. ISNN Group (Nihilo/Negafire): If either of you guys wants to join the Lady Hexas plotline, I think we can work out ways for your characters to jet. Nega's got a legit cover story, and it'd only take a little bit of work to get Nihilo tossed out of the mission, as well. It'll take some crafty thinking to keep Mr. Mystery from whalloping you guys for it later on, but I figure I only started the plot to give you guys something to do, I'm making a mess of it, and if you guys think you have a better shot with TPTI then by all means take it. As for Soundless: Since I conveniently left him somewhere with absolutely no screens of any kind around, I'm gonna have to wrap up this alley thing and either say this happened before the broadcast, or have him catch word of it on the streets somehow. I'll post him later.Now, where was I?IC: (League Headquarters - Loadstone)Great, I'll get us right over there, Loadstone thought to Mystic, turning into the labyrinth of hallways leading to where the Villains were. He made no comment about the Lady Hexas thing, but his eyebrows rose nonetheless.IC: (League Headquarters - Coalition)Spex hit Shard full blast, intending to cut a hole clean through the Hero. Had he had laser vision, it would likely have diffracted once it hit the crystalline Hero, mincing the hall with a discoball-like effect. Instead, the beams created a scorchmark on his skin and would obviously have continued to do more damage had Shard's punch not connected. Spex dropped Aquarius as he was knocked flat on his back, away from Mr. No-One's bullets and possibly allowing Shard to get hit by them.---That had to be awkward, stabbing someone as they dove through your legs. Grau mistimed the stab once again, the heel of Maple-Man's boot knocking the rapier aside as he finished rolling and sprang to his feet. Inwardly congratulating himself on the maneuver - he was no spring chicken, after all - he swung his maple-staff around at Grau's hand, figuring that if the rapier was solid, the hand holding it had to be, too...---Across the floor, forgotten in the midst of the battle, Impact groaned into consciousness. As he blinked, trying to get his bearings again, he rolled off the ice litter, wavering as he climbed to his kness. Though he could hardly keep a thought straight - or identify Coalition from League, for that matter - he was pretty sure that they were still outnumbered, even with a few more friendly faces present. Wait, this wasn't the hallway he had been in a minute ago; how had he gotten here?Skyra heard someone take a deep breath behind him; turning, he found a somewhat short, thin woman wearing a dark purple suit and a mask that fanned out in a frill, almost like a billows. She flashed him a quick smile, then let loose that breath. Minty-fresh, hurricane-force winds issued from her mouth, the gust likely to slam into Shard and the other Heroes as well as Skyra. After a moment of not letting up, it became clear that Blowhard's lungs were able to hold far more air than a normal human's...IC: (NPC - Zaparus)It was unclear what Zaparus thought about the sudden broadcast of a talking shark, but he shifted in his seat and fidgeted with his glasses nervously. Inquisitor, on the other hand, seemed suddenly eager. "I'm not sure exactly what that was all about, but it's bound to be all over the ISNN," he said, stifling an excited grin. "We should be there by now; what's taking so long?" Sticking his head out the window, he found the limo swamped in bumper-to-bumper traffic."What on Earth?" he asked loudly. "Traffic's blocked," he said to the others. "I hate to suggest it, but we may have to walk the rest of the way. It's only a few blocks away; it may be faster, if none of these cars are going to move soon."OOC: Hope I didn't miss anybody/anything!~Lord Rahl~

[Kumata]

OOC: Japanese... live-action... must be Power Rangers, then?IC: Once he had located Tek - in the middle of an important-looking discussion - Gadgeteer began to watch carefully. Unless this was some sort of negotiation, it seemed less likely now that the grey-skinned creature was an agent of Lady Hexas. Security cameras did not pick up sound, but they did zoom in, and there were enough cameras at different angles within the room to discern the lip movements of everybody involved. Gadgeteer was recording the proceedings and would study them once they were over. It wasn't the first time he'd had to do something like this - during his time as the mercenary Dreadnought, he'd embarked on the odd mission to spy on certain politicians or businessmen and dig up dirt on them for a potential blackmailer. Of course back then he'd had access to high-tech bugging equipment, but the point was that he was a good enough lip-reader that the task wouldn't take very long; only the grey-skinned one might prove a hindrance.IC: Whilst Psystrike distracted Mastermind, Sluice ran over the latter's words in her head. He used up most of his strength surviving... he did promise me he'd see me again... Psystrike says he stole his powers, his memories... no, don't get your hopes up Sarah. Stay calm, stay logical. Is there another explanation? Is it a ruse, or am I misinterpreting the facts? Think!​After a few moments of frantic brain-wracking (during which Mastermind was thoroughly embarassing Psystrike in front of the onlooking crowd) a solution came to Sluice. If it was all true, if Mastermind had indeed stolen Silver's memories somehow... then he'd most certainly react to this:"Well now, I wonder who we're scheduled to fight," she said, apparently addressing Fellwyd whilst looking up at the large screen, but speaking loudly enough for Mastermind to hear her. "There's our names! Looks like we're up against Ikusen Sakeme, Darkness, Rush, and Abyss..."

[Transairion]

OOC: Nope, but you're getting there... think rubber and throw realism out the window :)IC: Mastermind had been busy stepping on Psystrike's back with a mutated foot, pinning him to the floor when Sluice began to speak. He naturally paid it no attention until the names began, and his mind snapped to places elsewhere involuntarily.He was floating in an aquatic malestorm, rubble and various heroes engaged in their own battles all around. But in the centre was a woman, with the faint outline of an ancient being around her... goading him, slashing and assaulting him on every medium: phsyical, mental... even psychologically using the body he possessed...Then he snapped elsewhere, a dark cloaked psychic slashing red wristblades against his own, pushing him back before retreating and unleashing a torrent of lightning upon him that felt like it was tearing his body apart. That one was joined by another in a bright orange suit, who raced around as a blur, sending a second woman... the same was before, sprawling. His arm raised and he fired a blast of energy to defend her...But then she didn't need saving anymore, standing over another villian and causing them to writhe in pain as he exerted the crushing depths of the sea upon them... he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, disrupting her action and causing her to give a look of utter disdain to him... and it hurt... w-why did that look hurt him so?All this time Mastermind's aura had flared and he took motionless, as if in a trance... then he snapped back to reality and growled feircely."Sakeme!" he snarled, a wristblade indentical to the one Silver produced appearing on one arm. Sakeme stood before him now, superimposed over Sluice's unrecognisable form... and Mastermind had just taken a step towards her looking like her had every intention to behead her. Either Sakeme had a penchant for messing with psychic's, or Mastermind was remembering far more than he should have experianced...

Edited February 10, 2012 by Transairion

[Toa of Dancing]

OOC: Godzilla?

Dieter Geist, Grau/Mansion Holding Aquarius, Helping the EscapeIC:

The rapier was tossed into the air and caught by the other hand, Maple-Man's staff swished through the other. Then, figuring this guy needed to be beat in submission, Grau kicked the guy in the face. He then tried to grab the hero behind the head and slam said round object onto his knee. Stepping back from this - successful or not - the phasing villain placed his rapier in its sheath and pulled the massive claymore off his back.

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

Taylor tried not to giggle at Steven's squeak. "Don't worry, no one will ask any questions. I'll say that you're a civilian that helped. It's true enough. And remember? You're a woman, Denise, not Steven."

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"Illusions against the League? We're talking professionals here; just my luck they'll detect the, uh, what did they call it again? Alpha radiation? Omega radiation? Yeah, omega radiation. They'll detect that. Not that I did anything, eh, strictly evil of course."

[Kumata]

OOC: Since he's been relevant in two universes recently, here's Ikusen Sakeme! In both universes, this 'psychic ghost' form is superimposed over the body of Sluice. Maybe one day I'll colour him in the way he would have actually looked 400 or so years ago.

IC: Sluice backed away. She'd gotten her answer all right, but also provoked an unexpected reaction in the mental mutant. She could see a flickering blue image surrounding her body, like a web of psychic energy - and she recognised enough of it to know that it was the form of Ikusen Sakeme. Given that she was still in full control of herself, she knew that the ancient warlord couldn't actually have returned - not to mention his aura was purple, not blue. This was Mastermind's doing. He was advancing towards her with a psychic blade extended - the memories she had triggered were affecting him more powerfully than she had anticipated. But perhaps she could calm him down in the same way.

"Uh... I uh, I heard it's been snowing in New York... and Photon says you don't have to worry about this month's rent..." To the onlookers this was probably the most bizarre exchange they had heard. And a small part of Sluice felt sorry for Fellwyd, who must be utterly lost at this point...

Edited February 10, 2012 by Kumata

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

"What could you have done? You don't seem like the type of guy to kill anyone without a good reason, and petty thievery can be overlooked," said Taylor with a roll of her eyes. She grabbed the discarded dress, brushed off the dirt, and put it back over her suit.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Toa of Dancing

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]What to say, what to say? "Well you see the universe, being it's usual antagonistic self, loves to put me into awkward situations were there's a fine line between right and wrong." Technically true. "Petty thievery isn't something I'm worried about; I quit that once I got to Britain." Eh, it was a toss up. "I'm more worried about, say, someone not understanding the facts and putting them together wrong." So he was sliding down the truth scale. "For instance, there was that one time I was accused of grand theft auto; in actuality I was getting a drive home by a guy because, as usual, the universe had my actual car impounded. Then he took a corner to fast, I hit my head, my illusion dropped... and then rather than face facts he accused me of kidnapping and stealing his car." The entire truth, sadly.

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

"Ah. Well, then... Sounds pretty odd. What did you do to the universe for it to make you its chew-toy?" she asked, trying to think of how that could be explained away, if possible.

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"I don't know, maybe it was made about how cliche my life is. Illegitimate child of wealthy businessman and poor Peruvian woman. Such a cliche, but it may surprise you to find out that's a common happening. Businessmen need to keep their minds occupied while away on business trips after all, but that's another discussion for another time." Steven shrugged. "What I want to know is why you haven't punched me in the face again. By all rights you should; I'm acting suspiciously, already admitted to being accused of multiple crimes... what makes you want to pound that geokinetic's face in but not mine?"

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

IC(Fellwyd): As Fellwyd had already decided that this whole planet was pretty much mad anyway, the confusion he was experiencing now barely stood out against the general background of confusion.Nonetheless, things appeared to be getting a bit violent, and as his erstwhile traveling companion had apparently manifested some hologram of an armored being with a sword, he wasn't entirely convinced that he should intervene, and, instead, began searching for a quiet corner to sit down in while sanity either reasserted itself or fled the scene entirely.

[Snelly]

IC: SkyraThe blast from the breath lady took him by surprise at first, sending him flying in the air. As soon as he realized what had happened, he quickly took control of the winds blowing him away, and used them to keep himself in the air, he was now hovering. His vacuum around the phaser was gone however. Straightening himself, out, he began to slow down the winds as they came toward him and his allies, the initial blast would have hit them still, but he wasn't gonna let it happen twice."Nice trick, here's mine.." Using some of the stolen air, he sent a similar force of wind back at her.

Edited February 10, 2012 by Snelly

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

Taylor didn't respond for a moment, for she was trying to fathom the answer herself. Then, seeing a hero flying towards them, she finally said, "I don't know, maybe it was your willingness to help. Even if it was somewhat selfish, you helped me capture a villain."

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"An interesting take on the universe." Steven sighed as the hero neared. "A flyer? Huh. I doubt he'll be able to carry this hulk off."

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: "You know about as much as we do," sighed the voice on the other end, "I'd say follow your own initiative, see if you can find Hexas before we can." The voice paused, "Or see if you can dig up anything on Operation Lockdown. General Warner seems to know what it is, but he's not telling anyone."The meeting in the Un began to disperse. Carapace and Gadgeteer had got all the information they were going to get from this. They were on their own for now

[Half-Dragon]

IC: In point of fact Shard's chest was unmarked - pure diamond is formed under heat and pressure that make anything less than volcanic heat seem insignificant, laser-based or not. Cutting was similarly ineffective, only diamond cuts diamond. The blue guy would have to try something else if he wanted to- Was the wind picking up in here? Shard paused and tried to hold still in mid-air. Yep, definitely picking up - if he could feel it, it must already be pretty strong. A moment later this was confirmed as he began slipping away toward the wall, slowly at first, but picking up speed very fast. He tried to counter by moving against it, but it quickly turned out his ability to move crystal (such as his own body) being similar to telekinesis depended entirely on his strength of will. Right now, the wind was stronger than his will. Before long he was literally standing on the wall with the unnatural exhalation keeping him pressed against it.*H-D*NPC: One of the disadvantages to full-body armor was that, when someone started blowing at you with this kind of force, you didn't generally pick up on it before it became troublesome. It's impossible to feel the wind on one's skin underneath all that metal and kevlar. Thus by the time Ultionis noticed the new arrival, it was already a struggle just to get to cover behind an overturned couch. This soon turned out to be no use at all, as the couch began moving only moments after he'd taken refuge behind it, and it wasn't long before Ultionis was pressed against the far side of the room. But there was one ray of sunshine in this storm: Aquarius had been blown the same way, and was now only two yards away. The soldier began crawling along the corner where the floor met the wall, toward the supervillain (who by now was likely suffering severe blood loss, damage from being tossed around so much while injured, concussion and probably more). The plan could still work. If he could just... get... closer...(H-D)NPC: Carapace shook his head in frustration. That was all? They didn't even seem to have a backup plan! Who appointed these fools? Not him (this time). "ETA on bank data," he demanded of a nearby computer, which promptly displayed an estimated countdown. Fourteen minutes to gather all available information and sort it all out. Was this what his operations had been reduced to after the invasion? What a mess.But no time for moping. He tapped a few more keys and began a call toward one of the only members of the UN he had appointed this time around, having been unable to rig it in most countries what with one thing and another: The French representative, Armand Bouvier. He hadn't been in the meeting, but he should still have access to anything the other members did. If he didn't know what Operation: Lockdown was, he could probably find out. And he would, if he didn't want anyone to find out about his little scandal with the First National Bank of France...{H-D}

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

"I wouldn't be surprised if he could. Looks like that's Gravitate, who has control over gravitational forces. If the name wasn't obvious."

[Alex Humva]

IC [NYC/Steven]"Gravites can fly? How the **** does that work? Unless he can micromanage these things to an extreme all the gravity control would let him do is make super bunny hops."

[Toa of Dancing]

Taylor Finch, Goddess/New York City, Speaking with StevenIC:

At that point, Gravitate fell, then jumped again. He would land beside them with this jump. "He can hop rather far and high, yes," said Taylor with a grin.OOC: XD

[Transairion]

IC: "Snow.... b-but....Photon never asks for rent..... E-ENOUGH!" Mastermind thundered, the shaky illusion of Sakeme fading away as Mastermind managed to regain some sort of control over himself. His eyes were narrow glowing slits of disdain as he took another step towards Sluice."I don't know how you know what you do, but learn to hold your tongue or I will come after you" he growled, turning and stalking away from the girl... he'd just been made to be vulnerable and weak in front the crowd he'd spent intimidating for ages... and now they would believe he was a beatable entity, and not the unstoppable force he'd made himself out to be. Dispelling the wristblade Mastermind made to wait until his first fight, whenever that would be... and prepare himself for the certain next encounter with the girl-who-knew-too-much.OOC: If it saves time, I have no opposition to Mastermind V NPC fights occuring at the same time as Whirlpool/Fellyward V NPC fights

[Kumata]

IC: Sluice watched Mastermind go. The crowd of criminals that surrounded them were torn between looking after Mastermind in fear and surprise, and staring at Sluice with confusion. None of them understood what had just happened or why, but a good number of them appeared to have enjoyed seeing the cloaked villain display a sense of vulnerability.Sluice turned around, and was surprised to see that Fellwyd had gone. A few moment's searching revealed his location to be a nearby corner - luckily his unique appearance made him easy to spot. She strode over, mouth twisting into a nervous frown."I'm sorry about all that. This has... gotten a bit more complex than I thought. Mastermind has, er... stolen my friend's memories." She wrung her hands, then raised one to her earpiece, activating it so that she could contact Esp."Um... I've just spoken to Mastermind," she said, trying to ignore the growing headache she was feeling. "According to him, Silver escaped the Mothership somehow, but used up most of his strength surviving the descent. Mastermind sensed his landing in the Himalayas, attacked him, then stole his powers, memories, and cloak. And I know that at least the memories part is true. But I did have a question: you've been scanning Earth for any sign of Silver for weeks, with no results. If..." She swallowed what felt like a tidal wave of emotion. "If Silver was dead, would he fail to show up in your scans?"IC: As the officials at the UN began to disperse, Gadgeteer guessed that he had attained the most significant data he could. Wrenching his arm free of the post, he stalked off into the nearest alleyway, crouched behind a dumpster and played back the video of the meeting at a slightly slower rate. This was where his reasonably good lip-reading skills came into play. He studied the captured security feed for over twenty minutes until he was certain that he had arrived at the most accurate interpretation of the discussion. With a mental command his HUD went black. Sitting back, the armoured man began to mull over what he had gleaned:- The UN wants to keep Operation: Lockdown secret, but may alter their stance if things get more desperate- The grey-skinned creature owns a 'space base' (!)- Lady Hexas most likely has in her possession a weaponized satellite- However, her broadcast was sent from a place on Earth meaning that she is not currently on-board the satellite weapon; in turn suggesting that it cannot be boarded and is a weapon onlyGadgeteer considered what his own stance was on all this. He didn't much care if a city got destroyed, provided that it wasn't a city he was currently occupying, so he had no personal desire to stop Lady Hexas. However, aiding in her downfall would earn him a great deal of hero credit, so there was a business interest. But could he be of any use? His resources were very limited. His skills were more unique, but he was willing to bet that there were a few members of the League who possessed engineering prowess to match his own. So what did he have that the others didn't? What could he offer to the scenario that another couldn't?And then it hit him. Morals - or, his lack thereof. Heroes and the government all followed their own rules, be it the law or a personal code. Viktor was unhindered by such detrimental things. And it was with that in mind that he stood up, reactivated his HUD, and began to form a plan...

[Alex Humva]

OOCRule number one of superhero powers; always overthink them.IC [NYC/Steven]The man grabbed the large villain, dragging him -slowly- over as the gravite landed. "Alright mate, here's your pickup. Careful, he's heavy."

[Kumata]

IC(NPC): "Get on the ground with your hands over your heads, or you're all gonna ****ing burn!"This was no idle threat, as the man dressed in the white-and-red supersuit unleashed a swirl of roaring flames around himself in order to demonstrate just how prepared he was to carry it out. With various yells of terror both the customers and staff present in the electronics store dove to the floor. The supervillain that had just barged in, Infernal as he was known, launched a bolt of white-hot fire into the corner of the store, obliterating a security camera that had hung there. Then he marched towards the cash register, using a superheated finger to melt it open and begin grabbing handfuls of banknotes from inside.IC: In a single bound Gadgeteer's high-pressure pistons propelled him a block away from the scene of the crime, a bulging bag clutched in one of his iron hands. He landed upon a rooftop, took several steps, then hopped into an alleyway below. After glancing around, utilising thermal imaging to ensure that there was no-one close by, he pulled open the bag and examined his haul.In his time operating as a mercenary there had been several ways that Viktor could be contacted. The most efficient was via any number of email accounts operated from within the deep web. Several of these accounts he had registered as part of one or two villain-for-hire contact networks - again, all located on the invisible, concealed depths of the internet, but perfectly accessible if one knew how to reach them. Viktor did, and it was by accessing one of said contact networks that he had discovered that one Zachary Jackson, alias Infernal, was a pyrokinetic supervillain based in New York who would be happy to commit any petty crime, no questions asked, as long as he was paid upfront. There were one or two small bank accounts of Viktor's that the government hadn't yet located and frozen, and it was one of these that he emptied in order to pay the villain. The request? Rob a certain electronics store. Infernal had seemed happy to comply, given that from his point of view he was being paid to obtain more money; a win-win scenario. Until the Police or League show up, Gadgeteer thought, but Infernal hadn't struck him as a very intelligent man.The true purpose of Infernal being hired to (attempt to) rob said electronics store was to provide a distraction whilst Gadgeteer burgled its stockroom behind. And that had worked perfectly, for Gadgeteer had managed to pilfer a hefty collection of items and depart the scene before even the hint of a siren met his ears.So now he was crouched in an alleyway, fiddling with various electrical devices, both hands and mind working furiously as he devised an enhancement to the communications capabilities of his armoured battle suit. His best course of action concerning the Lady Hexas situation was to locate the source of the villainess' broadcast, for, competent though he was, he doubted he could get his hands on the Operation: Lockdown files if a shark with a killsat couldn't manage it.In the corner of his HUD a small timer had appeared. Viktor had put it there to keep him aware of exactly how long he had left before the twelve hours were up; it would urge him to remain focused and not to waste time.

Eleven hours sixteen minutes remaining...

OOC: Gadgeteer can be assumed to be slightly ahead of everyone else for the moment, since he needs time to build his communications enhancement thingy. Also I only dusted Infernal off for the purposes of this post, but if anybody wants a quick fight with him feel free!

Edited February 11, 2012 by Kumata

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

IC(Mr. No-One): Standing, as he was, close to an entrance to the room, the spook had been somewhat better prepared than those fighting on the floor when the initial blast of wind had struck, as he had managed to grab onto the doorframe to avoid being blown away. While Skyra dealt with the wind-controller, the spy fired again at Spex, though he kept an eye on the phaser, in case he got a chance to put a bullet or three through him. As before, most of his bullets were aimed away from vital organs, but he made sure to aim one shot at Spex's head, the rationale being that he would have to focus on blocking the shot that would kill him if it hit, instead of the ones that would just incapacitate him.IC(Whistler): When the call ended, he felt rather put out, at least for a moment. While he had somehow managed to get the League's phone-number, there had been no such luck with the UN, which left his best option as catching a plane to New York City.Making a quick u-turn, the Whistler drove back towards his home in Aberdeen, where, like all inordinately rich men who find themselves in circumstances involving a talking shark threatening to destroy a major city, he just happened to have a private jet waiting.IC(Fellwyd): The alien looked up at Sluice, noticing without any particular decrease in confusion that the blue outline had disappeared."This entire planet is completely insane. I have no idea how you humans manage to pretend it isn't."

[Kenpachi Zaraki]

OOC: Since I don't really understand what happened and no one will tell me(i even read back to wher i last posted and still don't understand), I'm going to act a little on my own XD Also i'd like to point out that he won't call out his sword right now.IC:Kaname said under his breath, "My word your still sour about that? Man get a grip." When Sakeme went to attack Fade with his sword, he decided to use this opportunity to leap forward In Lightning form and Punched Sakeme square in the face with over 30,000 volts of Electricity, he didn't think it would hit, but you'd never know.. Any Mind reading he uses will be usless against me while I'm using this form. He was very confident since pretty much every sense and reaction speed of his is going to be ten to twenty times faster, this Sakeme might not be able to keep up. But Kaname knew better than that.Kaname might be done kidding around for once and actually fight.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

OOC: Sorry, Kenpachi, haven't been paying too much attention to that plot, so any help is gonna have to come from someone else.As for this Gravitate Hero, there's no reason whatsoever that he can't fly. It's a simple matter of reducing Earth's gravitic pull on yourself and then redirecting your own personal gravity to propel yourself. (...Or, ya know, as simple as manipulating gravity can be...) Grand Cross has been shown several times to be able to do that, so there's no reason a different gravity-wielder can't do the same. ;)IC: (League Headquarters)Maple-Man backpedaled, drawing Grau farther from the battle. While helping the other Heroes by distracting the seemingly invincible phaser was most likely a huge benefit for them, it also meant that Maple-Man was left battling a Villain who he likely could not beat that seemed intent on nothing short of killing him. Flicking a wrist, he lashed out with another vine, swirling it through Grau's form in an attempt to find something tangible...In responce to Skyra's attack, Blowhard simply stopped breathing out and started breathing in. Once she had inhaled the blast Skyra had thrown at her, the wind currents in the room began to shift as massive winds were pulled toward Blowhard's mouth. This sudden shift forced Mr. No-One's bullets off-track, burying them in the paneling of the wall. Spex, in retaliation, fired off a nice solid blast of energy-vision at Mr. No-One, the equivalent of a serious punch and maybe a bit of an energy burn...Impact spied Ultionis' attempt to get close to Aquarius, and, marshaling a bit of concentration to direct the blast, fired a concussive wave toward him - thwump - carefully curved so as not to hit Aquarius, who began tumbling toward Blowhard and away from Ultionis with the change in the winds...~Lord Rahl~

[Korkoa]

OOC: @Rahl, Yeah, I honestly am not sure what to do... On one hand, I'd love to get Negafire involved in TPTI's plot, and think it would be great seeing him try to pull it off with the heroes. On the other hand, I don't especially enjoy dropping a plot... I'll wait and see what Joe does. IC: Plasmafire felt the winds starting to circle around him, and dropped to the ground. Last thing he needed was to get caught in a tornado. He held his hands out, facing Skyra, and began to heat the air around him. Maybe he could cause Skyra to loose his concentration that way...IC: Magneta hung back and watched the scene before her. She doubted she'd be of any help, so she simply made a mental note of everything Elliott said, to scan over later.

[King Joe]

OoC: I'm just waiting to see what the person running our plot does. If the Coalition postpones said mission for this new shark lady one, then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I don't just want to disintegrate the door of the limo and run

[thelonewander]

OCC: not sure if i should stop Lone's sub-plot to got do this one. i just might. you guys think i should? IC; Lone saw the shark lady vid, and was question if he should take revenge, or help stop this new threat.

[Transairion]

NPC: The line was silent for a nervewracklingly long few seconds."If Silver was deceased, then he may have... degraded... to the point of no longer being detectable. But there are quite a few scenarios that could prevent him showing up... he could be hidden... whatever Mastermind did to rob him of his abilities could of altered his DNA; even the slightest change makes my search invalid since I'm using his 'standard' genetic makeup... expanding out from that just creates dozens of false hits of anyone with similar human genetics. Unless this Mastermind outright claimed to have executed him, he could still have survived... and having no memory certainly explains why he didn't come back to us" Esp, despite her artifical nature, seemed adamant that Silver was still alive in some form. This was perhaps since the alternative meant an utter failure of her objective, and she didn't seem able to handle Crystaxian extinction very well. After a short delay she continued: "If Mastermind really does have his memories, then it stands to reason he may keep tabs on his sources... were something to go wrong, if he killed the source of these memories then nothing can be done except attempt to purge them: something that would likely rob him of their powers as well. Mastermind certainly knows more than he is telling... continue to compete, and I will send something down to try and discover Mastermind's secrets in the meantime. With luck I will have something by the time your first match has concluded"That something was a tiny hovering sphere no larger than a coin, a remote moving surverlliance device in essence. Given it's nature for spying on things that were meant to be kept private, Esp had not used this device in quite a many years... yet it still reported to be fully functional. Sending the tiny probe outside, it began to navigate the vast expanse of sky as it headed down towards the bunker.********************In New York, stealth wasn't an option. Thus KILL outright rammed through yet another wall (ruining many more priceless ornaments in the process), and finally appeared in part of the mansion that was actually under seige. Given it was rather clear they were stalling far too long in the global League HQ, KILL attempted to speed things up by hurtling towards one of the Leaguers at unheathily high speed... not that most indoor-driving-speeds were unhealthy. The faster that got the heroes off balance, the faster someone would just grab Aquarius and shove him in KILL, and they could leave before two dozen League jets arrived.

[Kumata]

OOC: @Kenpachi - nothing seems wrong with your post there. Sakeme is mind-controlling all of the heroes and is making them fight Fade, Kaname and Plasmafire; that's essentially everything that's going on.@Lone - I reckon you should. Looks like a lot of people are getting involved so there'll be plenty of interaction from other players. Plus I'm sure Gadgeteer would be interested to meet a guy with a built-in nanoforge.

As for this Gravitate Hero, there's no reason whatsoever that he can't fly. It's a simple matter of reducing Earth's gravitic pull on yourself and then redirecting your own personal gravity to propel yourself. (...Or, ya know, as simple as manipulating gravity can be...) Grand Cross has been shown several times to be able to do that, so there's no reason a different gravity-wielder can't do the same.

Technically Steven didn't say that he couldn't fly, just that it would be very difficult to micromanage that effect, as you'd have to constantly keep it up whilst moving in order to achieve the same effect. It all depends on how competent this Gravitate guy is. IC: After Esp had given her reply Sluice stood in thought for a few moments. What they needed to determine now was whether Mastermind had left Silver alive, and if so whether the power/memory loss could have altered his DNA somehow. Sluice didn't know how that was possible, but then again he was half-Crystaxian; their DNA could be linked to the mind somehow. Regardless, finding the answer to those questions would take time. She'd ticked off Mastermind, there was no mistaking that, so he'd doubtful be in any mood to talk to her again... he might calm down later, but for now she'd have to wait.She sat down beside Fellwyd with a weary exhalation. "I used to think I had a normal life. I fit the paradigm perfectly. Normal job, normal flat, normal friends... sorry. Ignore that. I'm just feeling a bit... well, I don't know." This growing headache wasn't doing her any good...

[Snelly]

IC: SkyraBlowhard was changing tactics, so Skyra did the same, he decided to see what would happen to Blowhard if she suddenly was sucking in a vacuum, so he created one around her.