olopi

It had been a long night for Cassidy Bauer. A recent …accident… by one of his clients forced him into a fair bit of (likely unpaid) overtime. It was mainly damage control, making sure said client didn’t do anything else that would worsen the situation, and then crafting some sort of statement of apology. And then convincing the guy to actually be sorry. At 2 AM, Cass decided enough was enough, and decided to move the entire mess to tomorrow, his mood was already terrible enough. He’d finally managed to shut down enough to sleep, when it got loud outside. As good as the rent was, he really had to consider moving. This place was becoming more and more of a pain. Still, that also had to wait until tomorrow, for now he had to spring to action. Maybe it’d help him blow off some steam, he’d not gotten involved in any sort of crimefighting for some time. So, within a few seconds he’d turned to smoke, turned invisible, and slipped through the window of his apartment. From there, floating above the street, he had a nice vantage position. Perhaps he could figure out just what was going on…

GM The man only flinched further when leviathan’s arm came closer. He got a bit less tense as, instead of what he likely assumed, Leviathan grabbed the pepper spray. After what followed, that changed yet again, as the hacker dug himself further into his chair, to the point where the padding was actually starting to get worn down. He nodded ever-so-slightly when Leviathan walked away. If he’d made any moves, it was likely enough that Leviathan would hear it, so he made his way towards the source of the other noises, where he could stare down a corridor towards one of the doors leading out of the building. A few men, dressed in all sorts of styles, were standing in the hallway, eyes turned towards the door, where Bonfire stood, blocking the exit, hands crossed behind his (non-existent) head. “Come on guys, is this all?” Behind him, outside the building, Leviathan could spot what appeared to be a mirror image of himself, staring into the warehouse with quite a stern expression but not moving. As a few of the men turned around at the sound of leviathan appearing, and stumbled back in response, he also caught view of more setups similar to the one he’d just pried open, each equipped with the same style of PC, desk and chair setup, even if all of them seemed to be personalized to some degree.

Yeah, with the bonus from the pepper spray that's way more than enough to get the guy to freeze up even more

Barrier “escorted” Hyperslice back to the ship, and then a bit further. After all, if they had the information that the likely culprits were acting within distance that could be travelled on foot, there was no reason not to pursue them. Perhaps they’d find something that confirmed the suspicion, or led them towards something that would prove productive. And if nothing else, it gave Barrier some time to get to better evaluate her Haassaan colleague. She wasn’t entirely sure what they were looking for. The info had been sparse, the Indigo Moon were operating in the area, but that was about as much as Barrier had gotten. There was always the potential of being reactive. Two strangers intruding on their turf was likely to alert the gang. But chances were being more proactive was a good thing. “So, what do you suggest? Should we let them know we’re here, and if we do, who are we going to be while doing it?”

Feels like as the resident Social Media Hero Bonfire would have quite a bit of interest in investigating this, but feel free to pick others with less threads over me!

Hakim wasn’t entirely sure about this entire thing. He had a bunch of concerns, and the time he’d had to think between originally agreeing to everything and it actually happening hadn’t helped. There was so much that was just bound to go wrong, and it could all go downhill pretty fast, even with the support he and Warp could offer. And then there was the issue of identity. These people already knew a bit too much about him and his façade as Sha’ir, and appearing as a person using magic would not exactly better it. At the same time, there probably was not much else in the way of getting in. And there was an ever-so-small chance Mars was using some sort of magic protection. In the end, he decided for a layered system. First he grabbed enough to disguise him a fair bit, including a full mask he’d worn underneath his scarf before, to further conceal his identity. It meant that there was nothing that he could be told by. Onto that, he added an additional layer, giving him the appearance of a fairly average citizen of EC, an amalgam of all the people he’d seen on the street while walking to a café that day. Over that, his uniform consisting of his enchanted scarf. And over that yet, another layer of normal human appearance, this time styled closer to Mars himself, with a few changes made so it wasn’t obvious. A cloaking spell above that to supress the magical signature somewhat, and he was good to go. Wearing a casual streetwear outfit loosely based on his actual closet (or at least creating the illusion of wearing it), he showed up, not doing a lot to hide his face or otherwise protect this fake identity. “Yeah, this looks like the right place. Everything in order?”

GM Inside the container, Leviathan could see quite an impressive setup. In an area that couldn’t even hold his entire body when transformed, an entire work desk had been set up. Two monitors connected to what, at first glance, appeared to be quite a fancy PC, a comfy chair, and a variety of gadgets, most of which he couldn’t identify at first glance. And, sitting on the chair, a person. Male, fairly young, wearing a hoodie and trackpants. He wasn’t one of the men Leviathan had seen before, but the scene really told him enough. The man’s reaction also helped, having essentially frozen in fear, before letting out a massive scream at the sight of Leviathan casually ripping open his container. There was a can of pepperspray tucked away between the monitors, and the man seemed to be eyeing it. Just then, Leviathan heard the sound of clattering metal, suggesting some other containers had opened…

Barrier nodded as Sitara turned to her. She spoke so that everyone could hear it. “We will head back to the craft. Radio contact will be open at all times, we will be able to rejoin you should anything happen. I doubt we will run into trouble ourselves on the way back but should anything come up we will contact you.” Then, she turned towards the Officer. “Thank you for your help. Should anything come up, I will make sure to contact you. I hope we will be able to get to the bottom of this, from the sounds of it, asking for our help was the right call. “ With that done, she walked out the door, after her two allies. She walked in on the conversation just in time to hear the last few words. Barrier knew some things about the young Haassaan, and it didn’t quite sum up with what she’d just said. But that was a concern for later. “There’s ways to change that. Let’s go, you might get to do it earlier than expected. “

Rookies… Barrier didn’t agree with Hyperslice’s … well, most things. She felt that this wasn’t the style of investigation required for the current mission, it was something more worthy of some of Barrier’s less lawful allies. Which had it’s own use, but having Praetorians on official assignments act like this, it didn’t sit right with her. And that didn’t even touch on what else she thought of the way too fast Haasaan. “I doubt we will find much information here, at least not while acting in an official fashion. I would thus suggest we turn our attention to what Sitara has brought up, if they are using the technology for anything, it will likely be putting out some sort of signature we can trace. We should figure out where we can start. If we assume it is related to the restoration, is there any one company that seems the most suspicious? “ Then, she addressed Dressa. “Officer, can you inform your people of these recent developments and forward whatever data you may have or dig up to us? I believe a large group of people will be more efficient at figuring out what we’re looking at, but we have a certain wildcard factor that any criminal enterprise may not be able to deal with. “

GM Upon touching the car, Leviathan could clearly feel that it had been running only shortly before, with the engine still not having fully cooled down. It wasn’t enough to leave any serious burns on his scaly hide, but it warmed him up a fair bit. There wasn’t much else in the room, but judging by what Bonfire had said, it was almost guaranteed they were somewhere in the room. There was a chance they were hiding, since the boxes were clearly large enough to allow somebody to duck behind them. Leviathan began to ponder what could’ve happened, as his nose picked up something. The smell of stress, of fear. Strong enough to suggest that it was coming from somewhere close-by, and unique enough to know that it wasn’t his own. He followed the smell, which led him towards one of the largest ULD’s, stored next to one of the building’s walls. It was just about large enough for a person to be hiding inside, and Leviathan’s senses didn’t lie, somebody very stressed was inside….

Bonfire (3) Freedom of Information (2) Good Company and Good Cheer (1) Barrier (10) Revanche: Under the Sword (5) Praetorians: The Eden Program (3) Space Jam (2) Bird of Arms (13) Nature versus Nesting (6) Dry Run (6) From Beneath you It Devours: And Now for Something Completely Different (1) Sha'ir the Spellsmith (3) Skyjam (2) Spider on the Roof (1) GM (15) Tonight there's Gonna be a Jailbreak (5) Diaspora: Where none have gone Before (4) Freedom of Information (3) Diaspora: The Gathering Storm (1) Diaspora: The Trek Outwards (1) Trade Terminal Trouble (1) GM point allocation: Bonfire to 25 Barrier and BoA to 15 Refpoint to Barrier

Powers I believe you’re overpaying for the Disintegration? Unless I’m missing something that only adds up to 63. Which would mean you could raise it up to rank 12? Edit: APPROVED

Entering the bar, Barrier followed her standard protocol for info-based bar visits. She walked over to a corner close by the exit, and before even ordering, sized up the room. There was nothing that immediately stood out, which in bars like these meant that the only things she’d likely find were rumours and gossip. Which, when she had a whole bunch of official information to go off, didn’t seem nearly as useful as it did other times. Still, perhaps there was something to be overheard. She casually (as casually as Barrier could, at least) walked to the bar, where she ordered whatever local flavour the bar had to offer, before just standing off to the bar’s side, listening into whatever conversations were happening. Once the analysis came in, she walked back over to her allies. “It appears we’ve found a potential lead. Officer, what do you know about the local nanotech industry, off the top of your head?”

“Yeah, I’m with Spider on this one. Not that we couldn’t get in, and not that I don’t want to, but … yeah, breaking and entering isn’t quite my thing, I think. Doesn’t really fit who we’re trying to be. And if you-slash-we just happen to get in and take a few looks around …” “Ah, who am I kidding, it’s not much better. But let’s see what Mars’ got to offer, I guess. Could be worth it. And between me and Warp, we should be able to get out if it goes south. “ It was a great opportunity. Getting a chance to see parts of Mars’ tower that weren’t the meeting rooms for pitches and the likes, which Hakim had seen on a handful of occasions before. Perhaps there was something there. Perhaps there was nothing. And even if he could already feel his conscience say that this was a terrible idea, part of him was too curious to pass it up.

Sorry for the long wait, didn’t catch that this was already in the Bank! Also; APPROVED

“May not fully understand them, correct. Same applies to them, however. Can only try to convince them to change their ways, but seeing how they do not make an attempt, there is not much reason to. Do not understand why they would prefer weakness. There is nothing they have that I do not. Yet they seem to not understand that, to assume that there is more to it. “ “Am not talking about military, or about full-time change. To be fully defenceless is a choice, it does not take much to gain enough powers to not negatively affect others. Those you mention are not weak, they have done something to not be a weakness. There is more to it than combat knowledge. “ At this point, Jann was mainly saying whatever came to mind at any point in time. He was not entirely sure what was happening, so the short break was all the more welcome, as Jann caught the bottle with ease and began to unscrew it.

GM “Alright. Not particularly happy about it but it’s probably the best thing we can do. Don’t think we need a signal, you busting through the door should be good enough when it comes to that. Gimme a minute, then I’ll be in position. “ “Time to do this, then.” With that, Bonfire once again disappeared, floating away. Everything was quiet now, as Leviathan got a better look at the gate. Large and heavy. At least he didn’t have to worry about having it slam into the opposite wall of the building. Time passed, as he got ready to bust straight through. And then, one estimated minute later, he slammed into the gate, ripping a Leviathan-size piece of metal out of it and onto the ground behind. It was nice and loud, and followed by what clearly was somebody screaming. Probably because they hadn’t expected it. The warehouse’s inside looked similar to others Leviathan had seen. ULDs of various sizes were stacked on the floor and on large, stable shelves. And right in front of him there was the car the hackers had escaped with. But at first glance, he couldn’t see any of the hackers.

APPROVED

GM The cloud waited for a big longer, as it seemingly grew ever denser. And then, all the sudden, it burst forward, into the room. From Bliss’ perspective she could see that it actually was two clouds, not one growing denser as it had first appeared. The clouds didn’t get far before Starshot’s bolt of plasma ripped through them, passing straight through both of them. It did have an effect however, as the clouds stopped. It looked like the plasma’s heat had set them on fire, as their colour changed towards a blue where the plasma had hit, with it slowly expanding outwards. Only moments afterwards, they had turned completely blue, and sunk towards the ground, where they formed a thin layer which crept forwards at quite some speed, even if it seemingly grew ever thinner.

“I see a lot of potential avenues for an investigation. With the resources and manpower we have at hand, we may have to limit it to what strikes us as the most important. Even then we may have to split up in order to cover everything in a reasonable timeframe. “ Barrier nodded as the Counselor spoke, replying after he’d finished. “Thank you for your assistance. Unless any of my allies still have concerns right now, we will get in touch should we require anything else. “ Then she turned back towards the other Praetorians and the local law enforcement. “I suggest we analyse the data we have right now in order to pinpoint the most worthwhile targets for investigation. Some of them may be better suited to the local authorities than us. “

And after some discussion in refchat delaying things, here you go: APPROVED

GM The two heroes continued through the airport. It was a large open space for the most part. The runways were a fair distance removed, with the road the two of them kept close to leading towards a large building, likely for storage and maintenance. The street was lit, but keeping to the darker parts wasn’t particularly difficult, and most of the security cameras were fairly obvious and easy to avoid too. Some took a bit more care, but were doable too. Once they were close to the building, near a gate large enough for trucks, Bonfire stopped. “Fairly certain they’re in there. I’m gonna give it a quick check. “ With that, he rose directly upwards, slowly fading into invisibility. And then appeared about 10 seconds later. “Their car’s parked inside, and the lights are on. Heard some talking, but I didn’t see any of them. Looks like we’ve got them. Seems to be the place the airport stores all the cargo containers in, there’s tons of them. “ “There’s two main gates, this one and one on the other side, but I also saw at least two staff entrances. I can try locking them down, but I get the feeling we’ll have to act quick if we wanna catch them all. I can loop around and come at them from the other side, but you’d have to somehow get through the door or the gate over there. Or I open it for you, hopefully without alerting them, but if they run we probably can’t chase after … no idea how many there are.

Oh, you ju- Hakim was about to think about what he felt of the current situation, when he caught himself at the last moment. With all that was going on, any active thinking probably wasn’t a good idea, all he knew the dragon could read his mind. And if that was the case, the dragon now was aware that Hakim was aware. And so on. But something had to be done, no matter what allegiances lay where. Even if Hakim still didn’t have any real idea of what was happening. Some presumptions, but that was it. Still, there had to be some sort of source to all of this. Some point the magic was concentrated on. Some sort of point he could attack, whether literally or not, to get into the magical structure of it all and unravel it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He let his Scarf’s magic do the work, as it altered his vision to point out any source of magic. Which, on this place, probably would be just about everything. Then, slowly, he opened them again, ready for a wave of magic to roll over him. All the while, he commanded his book to pull up the section he had on Chinese mythological creatures. Perhaps it would know something. Of course, to the outside observer he was just floating around without doing anything.

Barrier knelt down next to Ruby, doing a quick check of how injured she was. There were two purposes to doing it. The first was that yes, she had just been shot, and that care would probably be required. The second was that it gave Barrier the chance to be close by the team, Voidrunners apparently, ‘s third member, who she assumed they would not just leave behind. And while she trusted them a bit more now that she knew about their role in the Incursion, she still was wary. One of them did make a good point, though. “That would make sense. Considering where they went, I’m getting the suspicion you weren’t their main target. “ She stopped for a second, as her mind sprung to the likely conclusion. “This is the distraction.” Immediately, her shield began to glow once more, and she started to hover, ready to support the vehicles that had moved to pursue the attackers.

Complications: It might be a good idea to elaborate on What’s Happening? as it’s a bit unclear what exactly you mean with it right now. The same applies, to a lesser extent, to the other complications. Abilities A bit nitpicky, but since the Enhanced Abilities will be active most of the time, it’s better if you write them as 22/16 (+6/3) Combat Initiative should be +6/3 as the Enhanced Ability will usually be active Skills Acrobatics would be (+15/12) Please annotate Skill Mastery in some way, in this case I edited it in for you Powers I’m not sure what Teleport (Medium [Body]) is meant to be, could you elaborate?