Big City, Investigation Day One. 11:05pm
Steel staff on his back, Kairos unwound the thin cable line from within his belt. The buckle served as a weighted hook. He spun the cable around his head in an ever-widening radius as he closed on the trio of arsons!
The young hero placed the arcing cable into the path of two of the three men and the cable wound tightly around them. “What da hell?” one of them snarled, dropping a burning Molotov cocktail.
Kairos answered the question with a left hook to his jaw. POW! One of his foes was unconscious.
The other bound man growled: “Freakshow, you don’ know what kinda trouble you just bought for yourself! Jimbo, ice this mook for me, willya?!”
The third man, Jimbo, turned and pulled a pistol from his waistband. He smiled coldly, “Only too happy to help.”
Suddenly, lightning struck the top of a nearby telephone pole! SHAKOW! The rainswept alley was lit up from the electrical explosion. Then Kairos saw something he didn’t believe: there was a man… a man in the lightning!
He leapt down to the ground. As he walked toward the others he spoke calmly into a wrist device: “This is Lightning Strike. Contact 911. Send firemen to my location immediately. Over.”
Then he pointed his hand at the one called Jimbo and a jagged streak of white-hot electricity flew from his fingertips. SH-KOW! Jimbo lit up and for a moment you could see his skeleton. Jimbo fell to the wet ground, smoking. He didn’t move.
Lightning Strike looked at Kairos and his bound captive when suddenly, SKASH! …windows on the second storey of the burning building crashed out. Tommy gun muzzles peered out from the broken glass, three or four of them. “Let ’em have it!” barked a deep voice from within the burning building and the guns opened fire, spraying out a hard rain of hot lead upon our heroes!
(OOC: Actions?
FYI: Kairos, Lightning Strike and their bound captive are all in the killing field. Carrying the captive out of harm’s way will slow down whoever carries him.)
------------------------------------
Nanite’s dead eyes watched as Slingshot quickly searched the darkened slum apartment for clues to her murder. He came up with:
Nothing electrical in the apartment was working, including Nanite.
A window onto a fire escape was open.
There was something near Nanite’s hand! KRAKOW!! Another lightning flash illuminated the dark room and revealed what it was. Like a dying woman writing a message in her own blood, Nanite had spelled something out in the clear puddle of her own leaking coolants. It said “LU-“ The third letter was unfinished and unrecognizable. But it was clear that she intended more than two letters!
Slingshot called it in to Agent Sam Drake at CHESS. “Understood. We’ll send out a team now,” Drake replied.
Then Slingshot hurtled himself up into the rainy night, far from Nanite’s dead silver eyes.
(OOC: Continued below…)
------------------------------------
Sentinel learned the names of the CHESSmen he was working with to monitor criminal activity in Big City. Onboard the Omni-Carrier, Sentinel was steadily gaining a reputation for being a respectful, friendly team player.
The search for ‘DS’ returns thousands of possibilities. Searching will continue.
From his interaction with ‘extranormals’ and ‘mundanes’ onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, Sentinel detects that there is a difference between their energies! And Sentinel was right; this information in the wrong hands could prove disastrous!!
(OOC: Remember, your range with Energy Sense is 100 feet. And this power is not always ‘on.’ You have to concentrate to use it. Tell me whenever you want to attempt it. Thanks.)
Later, in the alley, Sentinel reports to CHESS on the lack of activity, and inquires on their ETA.
Agent Sam Drake said coolly, “CHESS Team is scrambling. ETA ten minutes. Satellite detects a fire nearby. Burning building. A block or two from your communicator transponder.”
Sentinel looked through the downpour and could see orange light in the sky above the storefront he was staking out! His energy sense currently detects no extranormals within his range.
After the long black cars pulled up, Sentinel’s black energy field flows off him and slides across the street like an oil slick.
Rain was falling harder than time in Sing Sing. Visibility was almost nil. Leadership of the men can’t be detected, but the unmistakable clicks of guns being readied could be heard and Sentinel leapt into action!
Black tentacles erupted, seemingly from the ground! One of the cars was knocked over onto its side!
A thick, black (but non-sticky) tendril lifted a man high into the air and he screamed for his life! The other men turned from the storefront and looked up in horror!
Suddenly, the storefront doors flew open! Backlit silhouettes of several men who had been waiting in ambush were now visible in the doorways.
Steel staff on his back, Kairos unwound the thin cable line from within his belt. The buckle served as a weighted hook. He spun the cable around his head in an ever-widening radius as he closed on the trio of arsons!
The young hero placed the arcing cable into the path of two of the three men and the cable wound tightly around them. “What da hell?” one of them snarled, dropping a burning Molotov cocktail.
Kairos answered the question with a left hook to his jaw. POW! One of his foes was unconscious.
The other bound man growled: “Freakshow, you don’ know what kinda trouble you just bought for yourself! Jimbo, ice this mook for me, willya?!”
The third man, Jimbo, turned and pulled a pistol from his waistband. He smiled coldly, “Only too happy to help.”
Suddenly, lightning struck the top of a nearby telephone pole! SHAKOW! The rainswept alley was lit up from the electrical explosion. Then Kairos saw something he didn’t believe: there was a man… a man in the lightning!
He leapt down to the ground. As he walked toward the others he spoke calmly into a wrist device: “This is Lightning Strike. Contact 911. Send firemen to my location immediately. Over.”
Then he pointed his hand at the one called Jimbo and a jagged streak of white-hot electricity flew from his fingertips. SH-KOW! Jimbo lit up and for a moment you could see his skeleton. Jimbo fell to the wet ground, smoking. He didn’t move.
Lightning Strike looked at Kairos and his bound captive when suddenly, SKASH! …windows on the second storey of the burning building crashed out. Tommy gun muzzles peered out from the broken glass, three or four of them. “Let ’em have it!” barked a deep voice from within the burning building and the guns opened fire, spraying out a hard rain of hot lead upon our heroes!
(OOC: Actions?
FYI: Kairos, Lightning Strike and their bound captive are all in the killing field. Carrying the captive out of harm’s way will slow down whoever carries him.)
------------------------------------
Nanite’s dead eyes watched as Slingshot quickly searched the darkened slum apartment for clues to her murder. He came up with:
Nothing electrical in the apartment was working, including Nanite.
A window onto a fire escape was open.
There was something near Nanite’s hand! KRAKOW!! Another lightning flash illuminated the dark room and revealed what it was. Like a dying woman writing a message in her own blood, Nanite had spelled something out in the clear puddle of her own leaking coolants. It said “LU-“ The third letter was unfinished and unrecognizable. But it was clear that she intended more than two letters!
Slingshot called it in to Agent Sam Drake at CHESS. “Understood. We’ll send out a team now,” Drake replied.
Then Slingshot hurtled himself up into the rainy night, far from Nanite’s dead silver eyes.
(OOC: Continued below…)
------------------------------------
Sentinel learned the names of the CHESSmen he was working with to monitor criminal activity in Big City. Onboard the Omni-Carrier, Sentinel was steadily gaining a reputation for being a respectful, friendly team player.
The search for ‘DS’ returns thousands of possibilities. Searching will continue.
From his interaction with ‘extranormals’ and ‘mundanes’ onboard the CHESS Omni-Carrier, Sentinel detects that there is a difference between their energies! And Sentinel was right; this information in the wrong hands could prove disastrous!!
(OOC: Remember, your range with Energy Sense is 100 feet. And this power is not always ‘on.’ You have to concentrate to use it. Tell me whenever you want to attempt it. Thanks.)
Later, in the alley, Sentinel reports to CHESS on the lack of activity, and inquires on their ETA.
Agent Sam Drake said coolly, “CHESS Team is scrambling. ETA ten minutes. Satellite detects a fire nearby. Burning building. A block or two from your communicator transponder.”
Sentinel looked through the downpour and could see orange light in the sky above the storefront he was staking out! His energy sense currently detects no extranormals within his range.
After the long black cars pulled up, Sentinel’s black energy field flows off him and slides across the street like an oil slick.
Rain was falling harder than time in Sing Sing. Visibility was almost nil. Leadership of the men can’t be detected, but the unmistakable clicks of guns being readied could be heard and Sentinel leapt into action!
Black tentacles erupted, seemingly from the ground! One of the cars was knocked over onto its side!
A thick, black (but non-sticky) tendril lifted a man high into the air and he screamed for his life! The other men turned from the storefront and looked up in horror!
Suddenly, the storefront doors flew open! Backlit silhouettes of several men who had been waiting in ambush were now visible in the doorways.
“Chop’em inta bits!” a voice barked and the Tommy guns let loose!
BUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDA!! The men from the cars were massacred in a hail of bullets! Rain and blood mixed on the dirty pavement. The only survivor was the one the tentacles had lifted high into the air, and he was still screaming.
The killers peered out into the rain, perhaps seeing the tendrils for the first time. The storefront doors slammed shut, and shouting could be heard from behind them!
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sentinel, Slingshot was in midair over the Bronx. Gliding in for a landing, his arms formed large ‘parachute-wings.’ From his vantage point:
He saw the tentacles and the Tommy gun massacre described above!
He saw that the storefront Sentinel ID’ed was a block-long building, and its back was on fire!
He saw a flash of lightning, and figures fighting, in the alley behind the storefront building!
He did not see Sentinel.
(OOC: Actions, Sentinel and Slingshot?)
Thanks!
------------------------------------
Slingshot:
Nanite's Apartment (If I may):
1- Can I tell if this was done recently or a while back?
(Things like, is the fluid still flowing out of her?)
2- Since I was planning on flying out of the window anyways. Can I have a look around as I leave? (especially if #1 is recent?)
3- I'm also looking for anyone that might be looking at me as I leave. Say, a neighbour/snoop that might be looking at me through a window. I'll memorize the location for.. further/later investigations.
Landing at the Tommy Gun Massacre:
While he soars into the air, he makes adjustments to arrive at the right spot. He does so absentmindedly. "How could I have been so stupid." He's still preoccupied with Nanite as he nears the site
He sees what transpires in the alley. His focus very much becomes the here and now. "Sweet Jesus." These people ARE at war. I just landed straight into a battle. No wonder Sentinel called for backup. I would too and I'm the tough one! Right now, I have to come up with something that will keep them busy while the rest of the people show up. I hope that won't be too long..
Actions:
Having seen the massacre and judging that at this point they are the greater threat.. I would like to change my form into a giant ball and essentially bounce/land/roll into these people. Chaos and mayhem is the goal, more than damage. So knocking them on their collective asses and possibly lose their weapons as opposed to straight damage.
------------------------------------
Kairos:
Kairos gathers his energy and, like Greek athletes of ancient times, begins to sprint toward the entangled man. Seeing that the one that he had punched has fallen from the loosely-tangled coil, he bodily strikes the sole remaining man and carries through, picking him up and flinging the captive as well as himself behind a nearby dumpster, hoping that the Tommy-gunners’ aim is higher than the two prone men laying on the ground where he and the electrical man had downed them.
The arsonist, hopefully stunned from the initial body slam and then the other as they fell behind the dumpster, slumps while Kairos unwinds his cable from the man, listening to the big .45 caliber slugs from the Tommy guns play a staccato tune on the big green steel trash container.
“I think this ‘Lightning Strike’ can probably take care of himself”, is the thought playing through his mind.
Waiting for a lull in the shooting, hopefully an indicator of reloading, Kairos gathers his climbing cable. When a lull occurs, he will sprint out toward the building from which they are firing, hoping to get to one side or the other of all of the windows (though he is, of course, at ground level) and will then, if possible, throw his grappling hook up and try to catch it on something significantly higher than the gunners’ windows and halfway between them with the goal being to be able to swing the cable across the windows and disrupt the gunfire while simultaneously climbing and gaining height to try and get to the windows. He’ll have a couple of his mini-chakrams out and held in readiness to throw and deter anyone sticking their head out too far. If he gets to the windows, he’ll try to get in and engage in hand-to-hand.
If there is no appreciable lull, he’ll try to push the dumpster toward the building and attempt to accomplish the actions above but with a shorter sprint from the cover of the dumpster.
OOC: Can I see any of the other heroes at this time? Have I heard of them and their actions? If so, what specifics do I know?
------------------------------------
Lightning Strike:
Lightning Strike has only milliseconds to act (Of course in comic book time, that's like the last two minutes of a football game).
OOC: I am thinking of two options but I am not sure of the environment.
Option 1: Does this area of the Bronx have overhead wires going into buildings or underground? Even a cable or phone line would work. If there is one, LS yell to Kairos "Get those men out of the line of fire", and then will attempt to turn back to electrical form, enter the overhead wire and head into the building.
Option 2: This is the harder of the two options since I have never attempted it but if there is a large metal item like a light pole near us, LS will attempt to create an induction field around it by encircling it with his own electrical field. If my physics serves me, when we used to wrap a wire around a nail in class and run current through it, the inducter would become like a magnet and would hopefully attract the bullets away from Kairos and the prone men.
Option 2 is my first choice which would then be followed by Option 1 so that I can get into the building and take out the gunmen in my next action.
------------------------------------
Sentinel:
Kirk was dismayed by the deaths of the men; although they certainly wished no worse for their victims, Kirk had wanted to avoid any loss of life. He had considered the possibility that his actions against them might put them in harm’s way, and been prepared to move them away to avoid just this scenario, but things just happened to quickly for even him to respond. He hadn’t counted on the “victims” waiting on the “hit men”. That was the only explanation for their being at the doors, armed, and ready to fire before Kirk could counter their move.
Still, he had saved one of the men; and certainly confirmed that the location had to be checked out further.
Kirk spoke quickly into his communicator to update Drake, and his teammates if any were enroute with their channel open, “Drake, it was a hit! I tried to prevent it, but the forces in the building were apparently already alerted to it and took out most of the men that came for them. I managed to save one and will attempt to interrogate him before entering the building. I’m currently undercover, but had to improvise quickly so as not to give away our involvement here. Should the situation not change and our men arrive,” Kirk swallowed clearly uncomfortable with his current role and having to explain it to Drake, “I’m currently all dark with black tendrils of energy emanating around me,” and adding with some exasperation likely due to the adrenaline rush of the situation, “I look exactly how you fear me to be. Out!”
Since the doors were slammed shut, Kirk didn’t need to immediately deal with the killers in the building, but didn’t want to delay too long in case there were other exits for them to get away. However, he wanted to try to get any usable information from the thug he had saved.
The tendrils of black death pulled the thug towards the alley toward Kirk. They relieved him of any weapons if he hadn’t already dropped them in fear. Working almost like arms they turned him upside down as they drew him toward the alleyway. The thug could see a greater mass of energy and tendrils and what appeared to be the form of a man within them below him.
As the thug hung upside down Kirk drew him closer toward him until he could hear his voice and see he was dealing with what appeared to be a man controlling the tendrils.
In a voice deeper and more menacing than his own, doing his best to channel his inner Jack Bauer, Kirk said, “You know what I want to hear. You’d best start talking quickly … and I better like what you have to say!”
OOC:
Other Stuff:
Regarding Kirk’s use of energy power and being able (apparently) to spot extranormals … Kirk will do his best to put up mental guards in his mind to protect this secret. In computer terms he would put up firewalls and scatter the data through various links to prevent its being discovered. The data would not be kept in one contiguous form to be easily plucked. Finally, if it was discovered he would use his remaining mental energies to have an intruder discover that this was “a power” he gained that he wanted to keep secret. He would do his ultimate best not to link his reasoning on how it works with the power, so that unless someone really turned his mind inside out, they’d think he just had the superpower to discover other extranormals, not his theory that it is linked to his energy perception, or that extranormals have a different energy readings… thus he would hope that no one would know to begin to start testing different forms of energy readings to discover extranormals (that perhaps his power could be duplicated in a scientific way).
Since his reasoning is really just his scientific theory, and it is a “power” of his to do this, it is possible that his reasoning on how it works is wrong and his surface explanation is the truth, so hopefully it would be believed if his mind was somehow invaded past his defenses.
Kirk is also not foolish enough to think that he has made some sort of breakthrough never before discovered. It’s likely someone else has done this before him, but he doesn’t want this information to be used in the wrong way due to something learned from him.
This whole thing will require more thought and perspective for him to be at ease with it and he won’t speak of this to anyone at this time and only in the future with someone that he trusts entirely.
On his discovering this, he does want to check with time if the extras have different levels of intensity indicating different things, different perceptions/readings, etc.
And a big thing would be to check those supposedly normals that he is working with …
in particular, Grey, and most definitely Drake – especially Drake since he is still trying to understand what is driving him. Also, does Doc Rocket have a normal aura … or is perhaps his scientific genius also (at least partially) a gift. Let me know if I’ve had the chance to check any of them out thus far or if I had any other surprises using this power. Thanks.
------------------------------------
OOC GM Replies:
Sentinel said: “Regarding Kirk’s use of energy power and being able (apparently) to spot extranormals … Kirk will do his best to put up mental guards in his mind to protect this secret. In computer terms he would put up firewalls and scatter the data through various links to prevent its being discovered…
He would do his ultimate best not to link his reasoning on how it works with the power, so that unless someone really turned his mind inside out, they’d think he just had the superpower to discover other extranormals, not his theory that it is linked to his energy perception, or that extranormals have a different energy readings…”
OOC GM Reply: Okay. Your newly trained telepathic ability “Thought Shield” is some help here.
But if you really want to bury this power in your psyche, it would be more like the mental barriers Professor Xavier placed on Jean Grey in the X-Men films to bury Phoenix.
This means that Sentinel would NOT use this ability. It would become buried, dormant, forgotten. Is that what you want?
If not, it will be tough to hide its existence within your mind while you are still going around using the power. If you elect not to completely bury it, Kirk still has telepathic defenses to try to protect the info.
Let me know what you want to do.
If you don’t bury the ability, and go around checking out the men of CHESS and Doc Rocket, then I can give you results. Thanks.
Sentinel: “Kirk is also not foolish enough to think that he has made some sort of breakthrough never before discovered. It’s likely someone else has done this before him, but he doesn’t want this information to be used in the wrong way due to something learned from him.”
OOC GM Reply: Sentinel recalls Dr. Swastika ranting that he had discovered that the source of superpowers in extranormals resides in the human brain. (way back in Issue 20: ‘In the Power of Dr. Swastika!’ –Educational Ed!)
Slingshot: “1- Can I tell if this was done recently or a while back? (Things like, is the fluid still flowing out of her?)
2- Since I was planning on flying out of the window anyways. Can I have a look around as I leave? (especially if #1 is recent?)
3- I'm also looking for anyone that might be looking at me as I leave. Say, a neighbour/snoop that might be looking at me through a window. I'll memorize the location for.. further/later investigations.”
GM Reply: 1: Fluid is sticky, almost dry, and no longer flowing.
2: On his way out the window he sees a small crowbar on the fire escape outside the window.
3: Slingshot sees a suspicious pair of eyes watching him through a crack slit in curtains in a window across the seedy alley. Above the eyes were pink hair curlers. Below them was a ratty, floral bathrobe. Before rushing to aid his team mate, he memorized the windows location.
BUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDABUDDA!! The men from the cars were massacred in a hail of bullets! Rain and blood mixed on the dirty pavement. The only survivor was the one the tentacles had lifted high into the air, and he was still screaming.
The killers peered out into the rain, perhaps seeing the tendrils for the first time. The storefront doors slammed shut, and shouting could be heard from behind them!
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sentinel, Slingshot was in midair over the Bronx. Gliding in for a landing, his arms formed large ‘parachute-wings.’ From his vantage point:
He saw the tentacles and the Tommy gun massacre described above!
He saw that the storefront Sentinel ID’ed was a block-long building, and its back was on fire!
He saw a flash of lightning, and figures fighting, in the alley behind the storefront building!
He did not see Sentinel.
(OOC: Actions, Sentinel and Slingshot?)
Thanks!
------------------------------------
Slingshot:
Nanite's Apartment (If I may):
1- Can I tell if this was done recently or a while back?
(Things like, is the fluid still flowing out of her?)
2- Since I was planning on flying out of the window anyways. Can I have a look around as I leave? (especially if #1 is recent?)
3- I'm also looking for anyone that might be looking at me as I leave. Say, a neighbour/snoop that might be looking at me through a window. I'll memorize the location for.. further/later investigations.
Landing at the Tommy Gun Massacre:
While he soars into the air, he makes adjustments to arrive at the right spot. He does so absentmindedly. "How could I have been so stupid." He's still preoccupied with Nanite as he nears the site
He sees what transpires in the alley. His focus very much becomes the here and now. "Sweet Jesus." These people ARE at war. I just landed straight into a battle. No wonder Sentinel called for backup. I would too and I'm the tough one! Right now, I have to come up with something that will keep them busy while the rest of the people show up. I hope that won't be too long..
Actions:
Having seen the massacre and judging that at this point they are the greater threat.. I would like to change my form into a giant ball and essentially bounce/land/roll into these people. Chaos and mayhem is the goal, more than damage. So knocking them on their collective asses and possibly lose their weapons as opposed to straight damage.
------------------------------------
Kairos:
Kairos gathers his energy and, like Greek athletes of ancient times, begins to sprint toward the entangled man. Seeing that the one that he had punched has fallen from the loosely-tangled coil, he bodily strikes the sole remaining man and carries through, picking him up and flinging the captive as well as himself behind a nearby dumpster, hoping that the Tommy-gunners’ aim is higher than the two prone men laying on the ground where he and the electrical man had downed them.
The arsonist, hopefully stunned from the initial body slam and then the other as they fell behind the dumpster, slumps while Kairos unwinds his cable from the man, listening to the big .45 caliber slugs from the Tommy guns play a staccato tune on the big green steel trash container.
“I think this ‘Lightning Strike’ can probably take care of himself”, is the thought playing through his mind.
Waiting for a lull in the shooting, hopefully an indicator of reloading, Kairos gathers his climbing cable. When a lull occurs, he will sprint out toward the building from which they are firing, hoping to get to one side or the other of all of the windows (though he is, of course, at ground level) and will then, if possible, throw his grappling hook up and try to catch it on something significantly higher than the gunners’ windows and halfway between them with the goal being to be able to swing the cable across the windows and disrupt the gunfire while simultaneously climbing and gaining height to try and get to the windows. He’ll have a couple of his mini-chakrams out and held in readiness to throw and deter anyone sticking their head out too far. If he gets to the windows, he’ll try to get in and engage in hand-to-hand.
If there is no appreciable lull, he’ll try to push the dumpster toward the building and attempt to accomplish the actions above but with a shorter sprint from the cover of the dumpster.
OOC: Can I see any of the other heroes at this time? Have I heard of them and their actions? If so, what specifics do I know?
------------------------------------
Lightning Strike:
Lightning Strike has only milliseconds to act (Of course in comic book time, that's like the last two minutes of a football game).
OOC: I am thinking of two options but I am not sure of the environment.
Option 1: Does this area of the Bronx have overhead wires going into buildings or underground? Even a cable or phone line would work. If there is one, LS yell to Kairos "Get those men out of the line of fire", and then will attempt to turn back to electrical form, enter the overhead wire and head into the building.
Option 2: This is the harder of the two options since I have never attempted it but if there is a large metal item like a light pole near us, LS will attempt to create an induction field around it by encircling it with his own electrical field. If my physics serves me, when we used to wrap a wire around a nail in class and run current through it, the inducter would become like a magnet and would hopefully attract the bullets away from Kairos and the prone men.
Option 2 is my first choice which would then be followed by Option 1 so that I can get into the building and take out the gunmen in my next action.
------------------------------------
Sentinel:
Kirk was dismayed by the deaths of the men; although they certainly wished no worse for their victims, Kirk had wanted to avoid any loss of life. He had considered the possibility that his actions against them might put them in harm’s way, and been prepared to move them away to avoid just this scenario, but things just happened to quickly for even him to respond. He hadn’t counted on the “victims” waiting on the “hit men”. That was the only explanation for their being at the doors, armed, and ready to fire before Kirk could counter their move.
Still, he had saved one of the men; and certainly confirmed that the location had to be checked out further.
Kirk spoke quickly into his communicator to update Drake, and his teammates if any were enroute with their channel open, “Drake, it was a hit! I tried to prevent it, but the forces in the building were apparently already alerted to it and took out most of the men that came for them. I managed to save one and will attempt to interrogate him before entering the building. I’m currently undercover, but had to improvise quickly so as not to give away our involvement here. Should the situation not change and our men arrive,” Kirk swallowed clearly uncomfortable with his current role and having to explain it to Drake, “I’m currently all dark with black tendrils of energy emanating around me,” and adding with some exasperation likely due to the adrenaline rush of the situation, “I look exactly how you fear me to be. Out!”
Since the doors were slammed shut, Kirk didn’t need to immediately deal with the killers in the building, but didn’t want to delay too long in case there were other exits for them to get away. However, he wanted to try to get any usable information from the thug he had saved.
The tendrils of black death pulled the thug towards the alley toward Kirk. They relieved him of any weapons if he hadn’t already dropped them in fear. Working almost like arms they turned him upside down as they drew him toward the alleyway. The thug could see a greater mass of energy and tendrils and what appeared to be the form of a man within them below him.
As the thug hung upside down Kirk drew him closer toward him until he could hear his voice and see he was dealing with what appeared to be a man controlling the tendrils.
In a voice deeper and more menacing than his own, doing his best to channel his inner Jack Bauer, Kirk said, “You know what I want to hear. You’d best start talking quickly … and I better like what you have to say!”
OOC:
Other Stuff:
Regarding Kirk’s use of energy power and being able (apparently) to spot extranormals … Kirk will do his best to put up mental guards in his mind to protect this secret. In computer terms he would put up firewalls and scatter the data through various links to prevent its being discovered. The data would not be kept in one contiguous form to be easily plucked. Finally, if it was discovered he would use his remaining mental energies to have an intruder discover that this was “a power” he gained that he wanted to keep secret. He would do his ultimate best not to link his reasoning on how it works with the power, so that unless someone really turned his mind inside out, they’d think he just had the superpower to discover other extranormals, not his theory that it is linked to his energy perception, or that extranormals have a different energy readings… thus he would hope that no one would know to begin to start testing different forms of energy readings to discover extranormals (that perhaps his power could be duplicated in a scientific way).
Since his reasoning is really just his scientific theory, and it is a “power” of his to do this, it is possible that his reasoning on how it works is wrong and his surface explanation is the truth, so hopefully it would be believed if his mind was somehow invaded past his defenses.
Kirk is also not foolish enough to think that he has made some sort of breakthrough never before discovered. It’s likely someone else has done this before him, but he doesn’t want this information to be used in the wrong way due to something learned from him.
This whole thing will require more thought and perspective for him to be at ease with it and he won’t speak of this to anyone at this time and only in the future with someone that he trusts entirely.
On his discovering this, he does want to check with time if the extras have different levels of intensity indicating different things, different perceptions/readings, etc.
And a big thing would be to check those supposedly normals that he is working with …
in particular, Grey, and most definitely Drake – especially Drake since he is still trying to understand what is driving him. Also, does Doc Rocket have a normal aura … or is perhaps his scientific genius also (at least partially) a gift. Let me know if I’ve had the chance to check any of them out thus far or if I had any other surprises using this power. Thanks.
------------------------------------
OOC GM Replies:
Sentinel said: “Regarding Kirk’s use of energy power and being able (apparently) to spot extranormals … Kirk will do his best to put up mental guards in his mind to protect this secret. In computer terms he would put up firewalls and scatter the data through various links to prevent its being discovered…
He would do his ultimate best not to link his reasoning on how it works with the power, so that unless someone really turned his mind inside out, they’d think he just had the superpower to discover other extranormals, not his theory that it is linked to his energy perception, or that extranormals have a different energy readings…”
OOC GM Reply: Okay. Your newly trained telepathic ability “Thought Shield” is some help here.
But if you really want to bury this power in your psyche, it would be more like the mental barriers Professor Xavier placed on Jean Grey in the X-Men films to bury Phoenix.
This means that Sentinel would NOT use this ability. It would become buried, dormant, forgotten. Is that what you want?
If not, it will be tough to hide its existence within your mind while you are still going around using the power. If you elect not to completely bury it, Kirk still has telepathic defenses to try to protect the info.
Let me know what you want to do.
If you don’t bury the ability, and go around checking out the men of CHESS and Doc Rocket, then I can give you results. Thanks.
Sentinel: “Kirk is also not foolish enough to think that he has made some sort of breakthrough never before discovered. It’s likely someone else has done this before him, but he doesn’t want this information to be used in the wrong way due to something learned from him.”
OOC GM Reply: Sentinel recalls Dr. Swastika ranting that he had discovered that the source of superpowers in extranormals resides in the human brain. (way back in Issue 20: ‘In the Power of Dr. Swastika!’ –Educational Ed!)
Slingshot: “1- Can I tell if this was done recently or a while back? (Things like, is the fluid still flowing out of her?)
2- Since I was planning on flying out of the window anyways. Can I have a look around as I leave? (especially if #1 is recent?)
3- I'm also looking for anyone that might be looking at me as I leave. Say, a neighbour/snoop that might be looking at me through a window. I'll memorize the location for.. further/later investigations.”
GM Reply: 1: Fluid is sticky, almost dry, and no longer flowing.
2: On his way out the window he sees a small crowbar on the fire escape outside the window.
3: Slingshot sees a suspicious pair of eyes watching him through a crack slit in curtains in a window across the seedy alley. Above the eyes were pink hair curlers. Below them was a ratty, floral bathrobe. Before rushing to aid his team mate, he memorized the windows location.
Kairos: Can I see any of the other heroes at this time? Have I heard of them and their actions? If so, what specifics do I know?
OOC GM Reply: You can only see Lightning Strike at this point. Slingshot and Sentinel are on the opposite side of the building you are looking to scale.
A press release went out a few days back, announcing Vanguard, a new superhero team, linked with the US government. Their names were included, but not their likenesses or abilities.
Their names: Blue Comet! Lightning Strike! The Sentinel! Slingshot!
They were credited with stopping a 100 foot tall flying robot that attacked a docking passenger zeppelin atop the Empire State Building about a week and half ago. They saved all the passengers.
GM Replies to Sentinel: Fearing what this information would do in the wrong hands, Sentinel spends a Luck Point to bury within his mind his ability to detect extranormals by their energy aura.
While on the CHESS Omni-Carrier, he employed this ‘energy sense.’ He found no levels of intensity. Subjects read as either normal or extranormal. Results:
Agent Sam Drake: Normal
Doc Rocket: Extranormal
Director Grey: Normal
Sentinel detected no unexpected extranormals within range during the duration of his experiment.
