Spacefurry

Chimera Chimera balked a little as she peered through the Smokey pink mist with a squint. Being accused of being a villain was ridiculous. Sure she was technically trespassing on the boat… on the word of a known criminal element… Okay, maybe it didn’t look good from her side. But she was there for a good reason. She wanted to ease up when Gas Man. Set down his weapon, but she was to on edge already. When the card slid to a stop by her feet she quickly scooped it up. Beanpole’s blood was sticky on it, but she was already covered in it. Chimera looked up at Nightscale. “What? No!” She said quickly. “I mean, I know him. But I just… had a tip that criminal called Machete Max was possibly on board.”

GM It didn’t take long for Diamondlight, Sea Devil and the duo of detectives to catch up to the branching paths. With Diamondlight’s aura they could easily see the shape of Nightscale further up ahead. The teenage hero was trying somewhat to be quiet, and he was doing an adequate job of it. In the darkness beyond Diamondlight’s effect little stirred. Detectives Pascal and Ramsey follow the trio, watching the moving shadows as they go. The foliage grew closer together and the trees are older and larger. The smell of ‘blood desire’ Nightscale was following begins to intensify. Growing thicker, like a miasma to his supernatural sense. The thicket of trees and brush hid the trail they followed from the rest of the park. After a little walking it opened up some to form a small pocket of smaller brush. Leaves and sticks littered the are in a thick layer. It seemed though, that even here one could escape trash and litter though, jnas some could be seen scattered around. To one side Sea Devil and Nightscale spot a glint of something metal among the brush. Diamondlight’s aura shifts as he passes it unnoticed, the shadows retreat and the two can see the body of a medium sized dog laying lifeless tucked into the brush, half covered in leaves and pine needles. Dried blood mats the short fur around its throat. The wound that caused it was small and vicious, but not as ‘intense’ as the one’s seen on the other two human victims. It is doesn’t look very old, maybe a few hours tops. Nightscale notices something else as he looks around. Something about the area seems almost familiar. In his minds eye the small clearing is replaced but an alleyway and it clicks. The way the leafs and trash gathered. Someone is using this spot to hide away.

Okay, let me get Notice checks DC20 from everyone. If you pass that, then a Survival check DC20.

Predator Predator was thoughtful for a moment before nodding to noone in particular. “Thank you for your assistance on this.” She thanked Eira. “I look forward to your report. If you’ll excuse me.” She nods to her before turning away. “I need to rendezvous with others involved in this investigation.” She accepted Echohead’s call as she walked through the building. The Ukraine was a point of tension, understandably so. “Your assessment is a valid concern. We can not dismiss the possibility of forces attempting to ‘give us the run around’ as it were.” Predator made a thoughtful sound. “Hmm. Data can also be manipulated, but I can not see how they could have known we would have been able to access the drone’s core so quickly. The drone’s memory banks point towards the Caribbean, the isle of Montserrat to be more precise.” Unless this entire situation has been manufactured. She thought darkly to herself. “Either way, we will need clearance and transportation from your superiors Agent Echohead.” She continued as she moved towards the exit. “I think we can agree, Montserrat may be the safer first choice, barring sudden volcanic disturbances. Beyond that, we will have to see what we find. Any thoughts or concerns?”

Leon was all grins until the big man stepped forward. He looked at his roommate, who returned it with uncertainty. He was sure Luke could handle the bigger man. The biker leader smirked down at Luke as he bent down to rest his elbow on table. Leon gave him an encouraging thumbs up. Luke leaned in and took position, the man’s hand nearly enveloped his. Another of the bikers came up, set a hand on top of the two and counted to three. The big guy was as strong as he looked and Luke had to actually put in some work to hold him off. The cheers and jeers from the bikers echoed in the diner when the teenager didn’t immediately lose. Leon was smirking as he watched. His smirk slowly started to fade when Luke didn’t start to gain ground. He knew his roommate could take him… couldn’t he. They had agreed not to draw attention with their powers on the trip, but this didn’t count. It just a bunch of old bikers. No one would find out. “Come on man, you can take him.” He encouraged, but slowly Luke began to lose ground and Leon started to sweat. The calling from the bikers was getting more excited. Leon watched in horror as slowly, inch by inch Luke’s hand dipped. Maybe he friend was just trying to be funny and playing around. Ya, that’s it, right before he loses he’ll suddenly turn it around. The back of Luke’s hand hit the table with an audible thunk and the bikers roared. Their boss grinned and stood up. “Not bad kid. Haven’t actually had to work for it in a long time.” Leon gave his roommate a ‘what happened’ look, to which Luke only shrugged. The first biker reappeared in front of Leon with a sh*t-eating grin. “Too bad, you little snot. I’m gonna enjoy this.” The biker cracked his knuckles. “Best, two outa three? Take that as a no.” Leon tried to persuade to no effect. He put up his hands defensively. “F*cking karma.” He managed to mutter before a fist connected with his face and another round of hollering from the bikers erupted. Leon stumbles back a step or two but manages to stay on his feet. Luke could tell his friend had rolled with the blow and probably hadn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have. “This it because I was being a smart ass isn’t it.”

Paper - 4 Paper Trail to the City of Sin - 2 Everybody Wants to be a Cat - 2 Blackstaff - 0 (+4/ GM) = 4 Graveyard of the Pacific - 0 Chimera - 6 Golden Dead - 6 Predator - 5 Teching the Tech - 5 GM - 2 (x2= 4) (4 to Blackstaff) Let the Bodies Hit the Ground - 2

Chimera “You’re not going to die.” Chimera reassured Beanpole. He was rambling, but she was beginning to think it was a normal reaction for the man. At least she was sure that meant he was in better shape than he looked. Pale was not a good color for him. She looked up at the dragon hesitantly, but after a moment nodded. She was in no position to fight and it could have easily caught her off guard, but it hadn’t. If fact, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen the creature actually attack anyone. Maybe she had jumped the gun and over reacted. The purple smoke was drifting over the deck towards them and her nose started to itch even past her mask. But it was the voice calling to them from beyond it that really concerned her. It was too calm and menacing. Wait… Metal Hawk? Were they talking about her? “Can you do anything about the smoke?” She asked the dragon, taking a step away from the purple haze. She looked around quickly and spotted a good spot. A length of flat ductwork about waist high, off to the side. Moving quickly she laid Beanpole down to get a better look at the injury. In the better light she grimaced. “I’m sorry Beanpole.” Said honestly. “This is going to hurt.” She took one of his hands to give him something to squeeze. With her other, long thin talons grew. As carefully as she could, two of the razor sharp claws reached into the bloody wound. It only took a few seconds, but it felt like minutes before she felt the small solid object in the softer flesh. The material of the bullet was no match for the techno-organic symbiote. It extended from her claws and enveloped the foreign matter. Even as she carefully withdrew it the symbiote was already ‘digesting’. Luckily this meant she didn’t have to do more damage pulling it out. Chimera breathed a sigh of relief and quickly set the makeshift bandage to to place. She had gotten lucky and she knew it. The dragon! She had been so wrapped up in Beanpole it had slipped her mind.She turned around looking for it.

Okay. Wasn’t sure how far that roll would get me.

I’m not sure what kind of stunt it would be, but I was thinking she might try to use the symbiote to find the bullet and remove it. Actually, how bout some kind of Heal Others using the techno-organic nanobots?

Chimera “Nonono!” Chimera demanded as she quickly torn open Beanpole’s shirt to get a better look at the wound. The mention of explosives dismissed as not important and forgotten for now. “Stay with me.” She wiped at the blood. He was able to talk and react, that was good. She reached around in search of an exit but found none. That complicated matters, but only a little more. As long as the bullet hadn’t punctured the intestines she gave him better odds of surviving. Peritonitis would kill the poor man before she could get him to safety. “Not so bad.” Chimera tried to sound confident. She couldn’t chance digging around for the bullet blindly. For now, she focused on getting pressure on the wound. She tore long strips from his shirt for a makeshift bandage. “Beanpole!” She tried to get a response. “Still with me?” Chimera scooped Beanpole into a princess carry. “We really need to stop meeting like this.” She tried to joke, but she was glad the symbiote covered half her face.

Predator Predator made a noncommittal sound at the mention of the Caribbean. She watches as Eira ‘digs deeper’ into the artificial remains. She could only nod at the woman’s assessment of Cardenas’ possible death. “Not without mystical aid.” She added, the word sounding only a little uncomfortable on her tongue. It wasn’t something she enjoyed working with. ‘Magic’ was difficult to account for. To measure or factor for. At time it down right resisted any attempts to quantify it. And that made Jean more than little… miffed when she was forced to deal with it. She had had systems in place to deal with it back home, but she did not have them here in this world. Setting aside those thoughts she turned her attention back to Eira. “Any idea how long this has been presenting itself as Ca-“ She cut off as the drone began to speak. “Hmm” She looked from it to Eira. “Any ideas on wha-“ Predator stopped again. “Miss Katastroff?” She asked, a hint of concern in her normally calm tone. The shift of her tone and the tilt of her head is minimal as the helmet’s internal microphone picks up. “Understood. I’m with the consultant now.” She eyed Eira. “I’ll rendezvous with you as soon as possible. Things may be more complicated than we believe.” She added somewhat cryptically.

GM All Between Diamondlight’s light copies and Sea Devil’s display no one notices the real Nightscale as he begins to follow the ‘scents of desire’. Even Detectives Pascal and Ramsey are surprised, but being the professionals they are they quickly recover. “Hey, which way did the kid go?” Nightscale Initially the twin ‘scents’ for flesh and blood follow near parallel trails when they begin to deviate from each other. While both seem to head deeper into the park, the flesh trail follows the sparsely lit paved park path. The blood trail though leads down a dirt path into darkening greenery that looks like foot and bike use has created.

Predator The armored hero nodded. “A datamap would prove most helpful.” Predator said as she stood back up. She studied the remains for a moment then turned her full attention to Eirka. “Does it know Mr Cardenas’ current location? Perhaps the last location it knew of? Or possibly a future rendezvous point.” She thought for a moment. “If you can locate a list of directives or orders, that may also prove useful.”

If possible, Chimera will try to quickly tend to Beanpole. Medicine check: 29

Chimera Crap! When had gunfire broken out? She had been so distracted by the dragon she hadn’t noticed the sounds of shooting and screaming. Why was she so bad at this. Chimera hesitated midair for a moment. “What? He never mentioned…“ She shook her head. She’d have to confront Blowfish about that later. “Why would you think I’m a shapeshifter-“ Suddenly a thick purple cloud of gas erupted to obscure the deck. She cursed under her breath as she tried to judge what to do. She was only half listening as Luke rose up higher and unleaded a thunderous roar. A shiver ran up her spine but she shrugged it off. Below though, as the mist slowly began to clear around the edges she could see people beginning to run and panic. Nearly everyone was trying to abandon ship, except for a few she dismissed at the moment. Chimera still wasn’t sure what to make of the flying mythical reptile. Added to the gun fire and tank of explosives the lost of concerns was growing far quicker then she cared for. It was then that she saw something that immediately took too priority on said list. A tall, lanky figure laying half curled on the deck. A small pool of red spreading out from him. “Shit” Chimera dove. She twisted in midair on some instinct, the wings and tail shrinking and vanishing back into the symbiote, leaving her to drop like a rock onto the deck with an echoing clang. She ran towards the groaning figure. It wasn’t until she reached him that she realized who it was. “Oh Gods! Beanpole!”

Paper - 4 Paper Trail to the City of Sin - 1 Everybody Wants to be a Cat - 3 Blackstaff - 1 Graveyard of the Pacific - 1 Chimera - 7 (+4/GM = 11) Golden Dead - 7 Predator - 5 Teching the Tech - 5 GM - 2 (x2= 4) (4 to Chimera) Let the Bodies Hit the Ground - 2

The mental image of SD hopping around yelling “Look at me!” screams auto-success. @Nerdzul so which scent are you going to follow?

Leon eyed Erik across the roof of the car for a moment, before cracking a grin and chuckling. “Ya it is, but if someone your age starts using it unironicly we’ll have to call an emergency teen council to change it.” He teased to see how Erik would react. It was his way of gauging the older man. Leon happily returned Neko’s infectious smile. “Anything for my hime-chan.” Leon opened the back door as Neko settled back into her seat. He slid in beside her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure I will, you have excellent taste.” He agreed, still smiling. Leon had to resist the urge to pull her into his lap and kiss her properly. Instead he leaned in and gave her a small lingering kiss on the cheek. Neko wasn’t the only one who’d change since arriving at Claremont. He had grown at least an inch or two over the last three years. He’d also put on a little more muscle using the school’s gym. It was nothing compared to his roommate, but Leon would swear the dragon-boy had an unfair advantage. All in all, Leon was happy to cuddle up to his girlfriend and looked forward to having lunch with. He chuckled and joked. “So, if lunch goes well, should I expect invites to family dinner?”

Predator The EMP device was small, but it had done its job. As Predator examined it briefly she wondered if it had truly been meant to disrupt the presentation, or if whoever built it knew that the presenter themself was going to be a machine. The strength of the pulse had been strong enough to trigger some kind of catastrophic failure in the Cardenas stand-in, but a focused field that it didn’t disrupt anything beyond the stage. The tech was newer than the robotic remains, but that didn’t give much more to work with at the moment. Predator stepped aside to allow Eira room to work. She watched with interest as the girl rolled up her sleeves and initiated her inspection of the remains. The reactions of the remains didn’t bother her, she was focused on what Eira was doing. “Designers often tend to unconsciously follow what they consider anatomical norms.” She commented off-handedly as she watched. It was rude, but she really wanted to examine Eira herself. Predator compartmentalized those thoughts though as they were counter productive to the investigation at hand. When the construct’s eyes snapped open to stare at her, Predator crouched down. When she spoke she maintained eye contact, searching for any reactions or recognition. “Can we question him?” She asked Eira.

Leon took calming breaths, watching traffic pass. Maybe he should get a car. But that would mean getting a license. And insurance. And car payments. And that would require an actual steady job, not the odd job he did here and there… Geez, was he seriously thinking about getting a job? What had happened to him. To the carefree kid doing whatever he wanted, sticking it to the man? An unknown car slowed and stopped in front of the building and Leon tensed instinctively. But when he spotted the familiar smiling face of Neko through the rear window everything else was shoved aside and he knew he was grinning like a fool. Walking over to the car he smiled warmly at his girlfriend and leaned down. “Hey pretty lady, going my way?” He teased. “Treat me right and I’ll show you a good time. Might even let you hold my hand…” He grinned, but he suddenly thought he was forgetting something. It was about then he felt the attention of someone else and this attention shifted to the front of the car. “And absolutely nothing else.” He quickly added, his grin vanishing as he cleared his throat. “Afternoon, Mr Espadas.” He said trying to pretend he was just flirting shamelessly with the man’s foster daughter right in front of him. Oh geez, Leon mentally facepalmed. This was probably not the best first impression he could have made.

Chimera Her electricity crackled over the black scales under her seemingly harmlessly and Chimera cursed under her breath. One of these days that would work. She didn’t have time to worry about it right now as she tried to hold on. The dragon pulled a loop-de-loop and she was glad she hadn’t eaten at Blowfish’s invite. She scrambled to find a hand hold, grabbing the base of one of its wings just long enough to kinda swing aside. The massive wing buffeted her as she did and Chimera tumbled in the air for a moment. The silver-grey wings snapped open as she tried to right herself. Her long slender tail with small diamond shaped fin at the tip uncurled helping her stabilize midair. Her head rang a little as she fought to bring herself up level with the dragon, but she caught a few words it said. Gangsters. Bombs. ‘Oh my god. It’s a trap!’ She thought. “Max is playing to blow up the ship with Blowfish’s men on board?” “I don’t have time for this.” Chimera declared. “I need to warn them.” She turned and dove for the boat below. Her slender tail wavering behind her… Wait… when did she grow a tail?

@Nerdzul the Skill Mastery 20 should be enough to get you heading in the right direction .

Leon paced the sidewalk outside the apartment building where he shared a little two-bedroom with his best friend, Luke Landers. The neighborhood wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It was one of those refinished buildings from the 60’s that straddled the border between Southside and the Boardwalk. The exterior had been cleaned up, the old architecture on full display and looking well cared for. Just ignore the bars on the lower windows. Of course, the only reason they were able to get it was because Luke’s parents had co-signed for the boys. “Hello Mr Espadas.” “Good afternoon Mr Espadas.” “Hey Mr E!” Leon groaned into his hands. What was wrong with him? Why was he nervous? He’d been running around like a damned fool, playing hero for, what? 3 years now. And before that he was a thief with a significant record. Of course that was sealed now that he was a legal adult. He’s faced villains, monsters, dimensional travel… Hell the only thing he hadn’t done was actually go out into space. Of course, that was only because Coach Razorback had him cleaning the trophy hall after a particularly messy prank in his Junior year when that field trip came around. Leon shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for that. He had to focus on this. He really wanted to make a good impression. Neko had made the arrangements at one of those quaint little cafes in the West End. He hadn’t actually been in those neighborhoods much, maybe a few times in passing before he ended up in Claremont, but really since that he could recall. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was afraid of making a bad impression with her folks and they would convince her he wasn’t good enough for her. And the thought turned his stomach. He glanced at his reflection and second guessed his attire. Leon had seriously considered using paper for his shirt like he usually did, but Luke had talked him out of it. He straightened up and brushed off his slim fit buttoned shirt. It was half black and half black & red. It was a new shirt that he had legally purchased, along with the new jeans and sneakers. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before they arrived.

@Nerdzul the desire for flesh and the desire for blood are two separate ‘scents’

Predator Predator gave Eira a nod. “Hello Miss Katastroff. I am aware of your reputation as well.” The smooth face of the visor lifts, opening on servos on the sides of the helmet to show her vulpine face behind a clear transparent screen. “Perhaps later we can speak more casually. But first official business.” She nods again as she turns and indicates the covered remains. Predator covers the events of the evening from just before ‘Mr. Cardenas’ arrives, up to the incident. Walking over she crouches beside the coving and lifts it. “I didn’t have long to examine it, but I’m confident it is of Terran origin, just not the exact creator. I am more than happy to have the second opinion of a specialist.” She looks to Eira. “A suspect in questioning at the moment confessed to a device in the podium possibly responsible for this.” Predator looks at the podium and stands. “I was just about to confirm this.”