Girl Genius hadn't gone half a block before she heard the piercing shriek.
She stopped, turned, and there he was - Charlie Harris, better known as "Switchblade" on the streets. He turned to face her, his hands still full of the purse that he had just taken from the 80 year old grandmother behind him.
"Charlie," sighed Girl Genius.
"You're back? I thought we run ya outta da hood!"
Girl Genius sighed deeply. "Yes, I am back. No, you did not run me out of the 'hood.' And I have had a very long day, so I will cut you a break. Give the nice lady back her purse and we'll call it a day. "
The shotgun blast knocked her clean off of her feet. Surprised, she checked the suit, but it was unmarked. Running over the math in her head, she realized that the shotgun was capable of knocking her down because her weight wasn't sufficient to countermand the force of the shot. However, it was also apparant that the shotgun couldn't penetrate the suit.
When she had come back, Overhaul had become even more focused on her safety than he had been before, with the result that every single one of her suits had had massive armor upgrades... even if it sometimes didn't look like it.
She got to her feet. "Hello, Paul," she sighed.
"It be Darkness! Ya know dat!"
"Yes, yes, yes, it sounds very scary," she waved him off as she walked towards the pair. "I am sure that the people in the jail will be impressed by your scary name." She was prepared for the next shot, which was repelled by her armor as easily as the first one had been - but this time, she was not knocked down. "Now look, both of you are making a mistake. This isn't the Mark III suit that I busted you in last time, this is the Mark II. It has good armor and good weaponry. You're both under arrest and if you make me subdue you it is going to hurt. Come on now, at least make an attempt to show some common sense."
Another shotgun blast was her only reply.
Paul had the nerve to look surprised when enormous ice crystals suddenly blossomed at his feet. He had enough time to try one last shotgun shell before he was struck by something that strongly resembled a snowball. At its touch, ice instantly crystallized on his body, its coldness instantly shocking him into unconsciousness. Charlie tried to run, but he wasn't fast enough to get out of range, and moments later he was lying face-down on the sidewalk. Girl Genius handed the little old lady her purse and waved as she went her way.
"That was very impressive."
She turned.
A van had pulled up. Eight operatives had emerged from it, all of them wearing the symbol of the Cray corporation. The speaker was a man dressed in a white lab coat. "We'll be confiscating that suit now."
"Like hell you will," she spat, turning away. "See you in court."
His voice sounded amused. "You didn't think we were giving you a choice, did you?"
The blast knocked her off of her feet and through a plate-glass window. She landed in a rain of tinkling glass and ice crystals as the Cray operatives moved in.
((OK tags anyone!))
Girl Genius was already swearing when she picked herself back up from the floor. The window had been part of a retail store, long ago, but it had been long since abandoned, and the building was mostly empty, except for some junk strewn here and there.
They did not chase her inside - not that she had much choice. It didn't take her a moment to climb back outside. With a chill, she realized they were waiting for her.
The chill deepend when she took in her surroundings. She had been so distracted, so deep into her own thoughts, that it hadn't struck her before. The area was quiet - too quiet. Nothing moved. The old lady and the two hellions were gone.
She had been lured here, and like an idiot, she had fallen for it. They had all been in on it, even the old lady. Now Crey had cordoned off the area, nice and neat, so no one could see the fight. Even if she won, a complaint would devolve into a "he said/she said" scenario, one that deep-pocketed Crey was not likely to lose.
She normally recorded her outings, but she was known for doing so, and Crey had taken that into account. Her visor included a heads-up display, and it was alight with red dots. The hit hadn't compromised the armor, but a number of things were being suppressed - specifically, camera, microphone, and on-line connections, among others. She was cut off.
Crey had been busy for the moment it had taken her to climb back out of the window. The van - and the white-coated men inside of it - were now enclosed in a force field. The field shimmered in such a way that it appeared to be a double or triple bubble, each set up inside the other.
For a moment, they all looked at each other. "Waiting for me to realize what you had done?" She said dryly.
"Well," the white-coated man replied, "That and for the air units."
Girl Genius's eyes automatically went to the appropriate spot in her heads-up display, only to see a flashing red light. "Aw, hell," she spat, dodging just as a series of flashing energy bolts shattered the pavement where she had been standing. On the ground, the armored units swung forth their guns and started blazing away.
Girl Genius had been training hard in her absence from Paragon City, and it showed. She dropped and rolled and the energy blasts missed her by inches.
She didn't even bother trying to touch the van, though she recognized how vital it would be. Blasting through a triple force field in one shot was highly unlikely; blasting through with enough energy to fight afterwards would be even less likely. Coating the field in ice might serve to obscure the vision of the van's occupants, and maybe even muffle transmissions if she was lucky. But coating it would take time...
...time she simply did not have.
There were eight of the flying units immediately visible. She rolled on her back, momentarily pointing both arms straight up. Another energy blast shattered the pavement an inch from her ear, but she ignored it.
The blast of ice didn't make much noise, certainly not as much as the energy blasts that had occured a moment ago. The whitish crystals shone for a moment as they formed around her fists, then shot upwards with considerable force: force enough to completely coat the torso of one of the flying units, gumming its wings and jetpack. It whined in protest - but did not fall. The process had taken only a moment as Girl Genius continued her roll, moving away from the pavement which was blasted to dust as she jumped to her feet.
The ice blast was more useful against one of the ground units that got too close, not damaging him, but encasing him neatly, and leaving her an opening which she took without delay.
The Crey suits were somewhat bulky: but her own suit was a gunmetal-blue metallic color, sleek, and shining, giving her much more manuverability than her opponents, and she used it to its fullest effect. Several units went down under her determined assault, but it was apparant that she was woefully outnumbered. She couldn't help but wonder, as she ducked behind a wall (which splintered immediately under the blistering assault from the other side,) where they had come from - surely they couldn't all have fit inside the van?
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something - a reflection in the windowpane of a building, its image showing another van. She thought at first it was a Crey vehicle - but no, it was all wrong, it looked almost like a...
...news van?
The top of the wall released a cloud of dust as a large chunk was blown out of it, narrowly missing her head. Yes, a news van - how had it come here? Crey had to have this area barricaded off? That was all she needed on top of all this - some reporter who would come along and report (truthfully) that she was attacking peaceful, law-abiding Crey forces. She pictured her face on a paper in the post office, under the word, WANTED.
She just hoped that whatever idiot was driving the vehicle had the decency to have super powers - she had had some experience with rescuing non-super-powered reporters, a tricky job at the best of times. It had its rewards (as she had found out later, to her great surprise) but the rewards were easy to forget in the thick of combat.
Part of the wall shattered as she moved, and she forgot about the van momentarily, blasting twice and noting that the air units took two hits apiece to bring down, keeping an eye on her ever-touchy power reserves, and wondering what the approaching, rythmic BOOMing noises were, just as the van rounded the corner.
((OK tags!))
((OOC: I have been gone for some time and have re-done my suits. Please ignore (more or less) the signature: I will try and get new pictures/info up in a few days.))
Thirty feet away from, and on the opposite side of the Crey security van, a transparent, human-shaped ripple in the air took a quick look over the situation. Judging by the numbers, the corporate goons wanted something bad, and he had the feeling that the op wasn't legit...like a whole bunch of their other ones.
The figure took a knee and shouldered an equally-invisible tube weapon, pointing it at the center of the squad of hovering units from some distance behind. Those were new. It must've been something Crey picked up when they bought out Lockhart. Without their air cover, though, the powered armor on the ground wouldn't be nearly as confident in their advance.
He hoped.
"Microwave round."
-Round loaded. Confirming target lock...Confirmed.-
A very visible two-foot gout of flame erupted out of the back of the LRM Launcher as the young man squeezed the firing pin, sending a metallic object streaking towards the group of Crey operatives. The state-of-the-art projectile was non-lethal, of course, but if it did its job properly it would feel rather unpleasant...
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
The explosion was spectacular. The units closest to the blast dropped at once, and the rest scattered. Several of them looked like they were having trouble with their machines. Any cries they might have made were drowned out in the wails of the equipment.
Their tactics were superb, considering their surprise: a section of them peeled off, blasting in the area where the shot had come from. Girl Genius whipped around briefly, trying to see what had happened, but didn't really have time to consider it.
With a series of THUMPS, the large robot turned the corner. It was an enormous thing, one of Crey's best, a powerhouse of weaponry and armor. It was the sort of thing that a team of heroes might have trouble stopping.
Whatever Crey wanted here... they wanted it bad. There was an investment of tens of millions of dollars stomping down the street, hunting it.
That got their attention. Now--
The hover squad's return fire started peppering the young man's general location, causing him to quickly step backward by reflex. One of the energy blasts caught him in the shoulder, spinning him around and knocking him to the ground. The cloaking device flickered for a moment, revealing a caped hero dressed almost head to toe in white and dark blue, features obsured by the tac goggles over his face.
"Ow..."
The cloak stopped flickering, and the humanoid ripple quickly regained his footing and darted into an alleyway across the street, hoping it would branch into others. He took a brief moment before entering to turn at the waist and chuck a cylinder at the flying corporate monkey who winged him.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
The alleyway did indeed branch out into others. The corporate monkeys - he had at least half a dozen - saw him throw something and took on altitude suddenly. They did not, however, abandon pursuit.
Girl Genius spotted the enormous robot as it turned a variety of barrels towards her general vicinity. "This is just not my day," she sighed, and ran for it just as the automatic shells began bursting in her wake.
But they did not shoot shrapnel: they burst in stars and streaks of lightning. If they got too close, they stood a good chance of knocking her out... leaving her alive, and the suit undamaged.
She ran.
((OOC I am heading to bed for the evening, I work nights so I will be on later. I am leaving it here hoping for some additional posts. 
))
The cylinder arced through the air, missing its target, and fell to the ground where it burst into a sticky, webby mess.
As the agents began filing into the alleyway on their jetpacks, they saw a larger cylinder slide across the ground from behind a corner where the alleyway branched, spinning as it slid and rapidly spewing a cloud of inky black smoke in every direction and into the air...
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
They scattered at the smoke before zooming back in. The smoke, however, did its job well, making it impossible to see anything in the next several alleyways, let alone a hero with stealth capabilities. It looked as if he had lost his pursuit for the moment.
Some of the ground units had fallen back to regroup, but that left the robot. It turned, its massive cannons whirling ominously, before spitting more sparks. Girl Genius again spun out of the way, but this time she was less lucky: her foot contacted water on the street. A hydrant had broken some distance away, soaking its surroundings. The electricity coursed through her, and she swore, the insulation of the suit barely keeping her conscious.
The figure looked back down the clouded corridors, reading the number of agents left through a thermal filter on his goggles. He took out a good number of them with the rocket. He could probably get the rest of them right here.
Having placed an object about halfway up the wall a few yards away near the entrance of the corridors, he let the agents file all the way past him, then backed up past them almost to where he'd come in. Bending his knees and turning his back foot sideways, he spread his feet out into a stable fighting stance.
"Safeties off."
-Confirmed. Generators hot and armed.-
Pointing his right arm straight forward and grasping it with his left one, he stared down the outstretched limb like the barrel of a rifle, aimed straight at the back of the last, oblivious agent in the line. Smoothly, he curled the fingers of his hand from the last inwards to the first, ending with his thumb clasping into a fist. The gauntlet sheathed over his arm responded immediately, generating and concentrating energy into a floating, shimmering blue ball in front of his hand. He let the energy grow until his whole arm shook, as the gauntlet tried to contain the massive buildup.
And then he opened his fist wide.
The powerful recoil from the orb's launch flung his right arm upwards; his stance helped a lot, but his left arm was what it took to keep his right from gaining enough momentum to knock him on his butt. The ball of energy, meanwhile, streaked towards the Crey agent like a ruthless, vaporous blue comet.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
The blue ball of energy scattered his opponents like tenpins. Many of them were knocked cold; the rest were flung aside like toys. Their power armor prevented the worst of their injuries, but they were all knocked down, and would have to get back up.
Above him, though, he heard a mechanical voice: "Secondary threat detected," it droned, followed almost immediately by a sound normally associated with an extremely large energy weapon.
Two things became apparant as the voice spoke: first, he was relatively close to the giant robot and, second, his massive build-up of energy had drawn its attention.
[ QUOTE ]
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something - a reflection in the windowpane of a building, its image showing another van. She thought at first it was a Crey vehicle - but no, it was all wrong, it looked almost like a...
...news van?
[/ QUOTE ]
The news van came to a stop just out of sight. It was a battered old vehicle. It was all the under funded news station could afford but it did the job.
The side door suddenly opened and the driver/cameraman jumped out. The back doors of the van also suddenly opened and Steven Harris jumped out and handed the cameraman his camera.
"Good driving Jim. I thought we almost lost them." He told the cameraman as they sprung into action.
They had gotten a tip off that Crey were up to something and had started following the Crey van. They had been working for months trying to expose the truth about Crey that most heroes knew but could never prove.
It had been a year since Steven Harris had last seen Penny (GG) and he had not suspected she would be there. He did not even know she was back in town. It had been a very rough year for Steven but ultimately one that had made him a better person.
His time trapped in the middle of war between The Lost and The Vahzilok with Girl Genius, Dr Sanstand and a few of his students had made him re-evaluate his life and see just how bitter he had become. So he had quite his job with the big news station where he was responsible for twisting truths and making heroes look bad and taken a much more morally correct job working for a smaller TV station trying to show the truth behind companies like Crey.
Steven wanted to get closer and help but he knew there was nothing he could do that would not put him danger and make him another thing for the hero fighting to worry about. The best thing he could do was made sure the events were recorded as they happened to back up the heros story when needed. As Harris watched the events unfold something strange caught his eye.
"Look. There." He said as he grabbed the lens of the camera and guided the camera mans view.
"I don't see anything." Replied the camera man as he tied to focus again.
"Zoom in. On the other side of the Crey van." Steven said pointing with some urgency in his voice.
"I still don't...." He zoomed in closer. "Wait... I see it. Some kind distortion."
[ QUOTE ]
Thirty feet away from, and on the opposite side of the Crey security van, a transparent, human-shaped ripple in the air took a quick look over the situation.
[/ QUOTE ]
The rather spectacular explosion that followed coursed both Steven and Jim to cover their eyes and turn away.
When they looked back Steven final caught a good view of the hero Crey had first attacked.
"Penny?" He said quietly to himself. The armor looked different but the style looked like hers.
"Come on." He said to his cameraman as he started to lead. "We're getting a little closer."
"Boss - " Jim was his camera man, and he nodded.
A couple of armored suits had come around the corner, turned their heads in their direction - and raised their weapons. Not at Harris - but at the cameraman. Crey, as always, was on the lookout for bad publicity. Jim looked scared out of his mind, but kept filming.
But the hero had seen them, at least one of them, for clearly there was another - a large blue explosion happened nearby and even over the clouds of smoke it was obvious that Crey operatives were flying. The explosion was followed immediately afterwards by a truly gigantic bolt from the huge robot, which splashed down in the area where the explosion had originated, though it was impossible to tell if it had hit the hero that had caused it. The pair of Crey goons that had spotted Jim and Harris turned their heads.
The Crey personnel were immediately encased in ice, top to bottom. "Are you NUTS?" Penny screamed at the cameraman. She was too far away, without a clear viewpoint but with far too many things on her mind, to recognize Harris at that moment, though she knew him quite well. "Why aren't you three blocks away from here? Haven't you ever heard of telephoto lense- yaaaaa!"
The momentary distraction was fatal. The enormous robot made a surprisingly quick grab with one of its limbs and succeeded in picking Girl Genius up. She cursed magnificently, uncorking an enormous blast that froze the pincer solid, succeeding in making it drop her. However, by that time she was fifty feet over the pavement. Her suit had some flight capabilities, and she tried to dodge the second pincer, but it closed around her ankle. "Dammit!" She threw more ice. "Let go! LET - GO - !"
But she couldn't throw such an enormous blast again so soon; the recharge time wasn't significant, but it was there, and nothing could be done about it. Building up the ice sufficiently to freeze the pincer would take only a moment, but it might be a moment she didn't have....
((Tags all!))
The young man lowered his arms and surveyed the "carnage." "Huh," he said to himself, "whaddya know, like dominoes."
Of course, he'd planned to get them all caught in the bottleneck in the first place, he just hadn't expected it to go so well. Deciding to clean up, he stuck a gauntlet out to one side this time and started curling that hand into fist.
[ QUOTE ]
"Secondary threat detected,"
[/ QUOTE ]
He craned his neck far upwards, towards the ominious booming voice. Seeing the robotic colossus tower over him, he immediately whirled around and started backing up fast, apparently not caring if that's where the hovering (or not-hovering) agents were.
"Oh nonononononoNO, boots! Gogogo!"
-Unknown command.-
"You pieces of--!"
He'd been shot by giant robots before, even stepped on by giant robots. Those hadn't been the most pleasant of experiences, and he'd be darned if he was going to let it happen...
...again?
He watched in amazement as the attack built up, but never happened. The Crey colossus turned one hundred and eighty degrees, stomped off in a seemingly random direction and then scooped something up. It's claw abruptly turned into a big ball of ice.
So that's what its after...?
First thing was first, though. He would have to hurry to find out whatever was really going on, but he couldn't leave those agents at his back. Turning behind him, he made a fist with the same hand as before, and then almost immediately opened it again, swinging it in an arc in front of him through the bottleneck alleyway at the Crey agents, causing a torrent of energy to wash its way towards them.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
[ QUOTE ]
The Crey personnel were immediately encased in ice, top to bottom. "Are you NUTS?" Penny screamed at the cameraman. She was too far away, without a clear viewpoint but with far too many things on her mind, to recognize Harris at that moment, though she knew him quite well. "Why aren't you three blocks away from here? Haven't you ever heard of telephoto lense- yaaaaa!"
[/ QUOTE ]
Now was not the time for Harris to explain they could not afford good telephoto lenses. He felt a stab of the old anger and someone telling him off but realized she was right. He had gotten to close. Old habits die hard and he had been thinking too much about getting a good shot even if it was for a good reason this time.
He pulled Jim into a crouching position behind a wall so they were better hidden but could still watch.
[ QUOTE ]
The enormous robot made a surprisingly quick grab with one of its limbs and succeeded in picking Girl Genius up. She cursed magnificently, uncorking an enormous blast that froze the pincer solid, succeeding in making it drop her. However, by that time she was fifty feet over the pavement. Her suit had some flight capabilities, and she tried to dodge the second pincer, but it closed around her ankle. "Dammit!" She threw more ice. "Let go! LET - GO - !"
[/ QUOTE ]
"Dam it... I wish there was something we could do." He looked around as if for something to use.
"Jim! Have you got the flare gun?" He suddenly asked urgently having remembered it.
"Here." Jim replied as he handed it to Harris. "But I don't think its going to do to much good here. The buildings are too high and I didn't see any other heroes around on the drive here."
The flare was a way for news teams to signaling near by heroes of trouble since in some cases they were the first on the scene or got into trouble themsleves.
"I don't plan to use it as a signal. Get ready to run if this goes wrong." Harris told Jim as he pointed the flare gun at the robots face and then fired. With any luck it would confuse the robots sensors for a short time.
The flare whizzed up near the robot and its heat-seeking sensors tracked it. Girl Genius took advantage of the moment to finish freezing the other pincer solid, freeing herself. She was still thirty feet in the air.
Her power reserves drained, she didn't even have enough juice left to power on her jets, and instead rolled with the fall. The suit prevented her from being killed, but the car she landed on was totalled.
She was already moving when the gigantic metallic tentacle slammed into the pavement, leaving a hole, and another one followed. Girl Genius jumped left, then right, then ran, away from the reporters, drawing the robot in the other direction.
"Erm - great footage so far," Jim still looked scared, but was filming the action, cool as a cucumber. "Any other ideas, boss?"
((tags))
[ QUOTE ]
"Erm - great footage so far," Jim still looked scared, but was filming the action, cool as a cucumber. "Any other ideas, boss?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Harris ducked back behind the wall with Jim. "No. I'm open to suggestions."
"I don't think we can get the van out," murmered Jim. "At least we are getting good footage."
It seemed several minutes later when the rampaging robot stopped, seeming to be confused, many of its lenses and sensors thickly coated with ice. It stomped around randomly, trying to break ice off of a piece it could not reach, scattering the foot soldiers, who scrambled to get out of its way.
Girl Genius darted on the other side of the wall with them. "That ice won't last long, you guys should get while the getting's go-" She stopped abruptly. "Harris?" She couldn't believe it was him. What was he doing here?
[ QUOTE ]
"I don't think we can get the van out," murmered Jim. "At least we are getting good footage."
[/ QUOTE ]
"If we have to run just leave the camera. The footage is not worth our lives." Over a year ago such a statement would have been completely alien coming from Harris. In fact he would have more likely called Jim a coward worm if he showed any idea of running and not getting the perfect shot. However Harris was now talking with experience. It was not worth their lives.
[ QUOTE ]
Girl Genius darted on the other side of the wall with them. "That ice won't last long, you guys should get while the getting's go-" She stopped abruptly. "Harris?" She couldn't believe it was him. What was he doing here?
[/ QUOTE ]
"Hello. Just like old time Hu? You could have told me you were back in town." There were small traces of his old annoyance in his voice even though he did not mean it. It would always be a part of his character that was there even if it had become much more mellow.
Harris was looking a lot healthier then the last time they had met. He'd dropped the few extra pounds he always carried around with himself and gotten back in shape. He had a few more gray hairs how ever from the stress of going through a law suit with his old TV station for breach of contract when he walked out on air. There was also the stress of looking after Amy since she was still in a wheel chair but that stress was worth it.
"Its good to see you again. Only next time I wish we meet some where a little safer." He said with a nervous smile.
[ QUOTE ]
"If we have to run just leave the camera. The footage is not worth our lives." Over a year ago such a statement would have been completely alien coming from Harris. In fact he would have more likely called Jim a coward worm if he showed any idea of running and not getting the perfect shot. However Harris was now talking with experience. It was not worth their lives.
[/ QUOTE ]
"As long as it comes out of your salary, not mine," grinned Jim.
[ QUOTE ]
"Hello. Just like old time Hu? You could have told me you were back in town." There were small traces of his old annoyance in his voice even though he did not mean it. It would always be a part of his character that was there even if it had become much more mellow.
Harris was looking a lot healthier then the last time they had met. He'd dropped the few extra pounds he always carried around with himself and gotten back in shape. He had a few more gray hairs how ever from the stress of going through a law suit with his old TV station for breach of contract when he walked out on air. There was also the stress of looking after Amy since she was still in a wheel chair but that stress was worth it.
"Its good to see you again. Only next time I wish we meet some where a little safer." He said with a nervous smile.
[/ QUOTE ]
"I just got ba-" But she broke off abruptly. "We ought to talk, but maybe somewhere safer... how good are you guys at driving that van of yours? Say, up that street, and around the corner?"
Jim looked. "The guys from Crey-"
"-won't be a problem." Penny was wearing a completely different suit, and didn't seem to have aged at all, though a little bit of the innocence had left her face. Now she was smirking... she had a plan.
[ QUOTE ]
Jim looked. "The guys from Crey-"
"-won't be a problem." Penny was wearing a completely different suit, and didn't seem to have aged at all, though a little bit of the innocence had left her face. Now she was smirking... she had a plan.
[/ QUOTE ]
"But Crey..." Jim had started again.
"Trust me. Don't argue with the lady." Harris told him as he got ready to run. "We're ready when you are." He added looking at Penny.
On a distant rooftop, Bernie Rhodes was aiming, his cloaking device on... One of the Crey Agents falling before the report of the round echoes off the buildings and masked by the robot's foot stomps.
"I don't want to move any closer to that giant garbage can" thought Bernie, as his being a natural hero makes him very sensitive to being a pancake, "but I need to get closer to provide some cover fire. These buildings just aren't suited to this."
Bernie fires off several more rounds during the confusion, hoping not to get noticed and looking for cover in order to move in closer to the action.
[ QUOTE ]
"But Crey..." Jim had started again.
"Trust me. Don't argue with the lady." Harris told him as he got ready to run. "We're ready when you are." He added looking at Penny.
[/ QUOTE ]
"All right. We can do this one of three ways. One: you can run to the van, fire it up, and drive probably north, while I stay here to work with the robot. I can cover you for your getaway but can't accompany you to the barricade, we can't just leave the robot stomping around. Two: I could take the van and drive south, or three: we could all take the van and drive south. "
"But driving south would put us - "
"Right between its feet, yes. I can certainly understand if you don't want to take the risk, or risk your equipment. I will be glad to cover you while you get out. But that van will drive faster than I can fly while I am fighting, and if we can get the robot to follow us - and it should - I think we could get rid of it in the bay. If nothing else, you should get some great footage." She paused. "But then, you might not want to risk the van..." She smiled at them. "You guys come first, though. How do you want to do this?"
[ QUOTE ]
On a distant rooftop, Bernie Rhodes was aiming, his cloaking device on... One of the Crey Agents falling before the report of the round echoes off the buildings and masked by the robot's foot stomps.
"I don't want to move any closer to that giant garbage can" thought Bernie, as his being a natural hero makes him very sensitive to being a pancake, "but I need to get closer to provide some cover fire. These buildings just aren't suited to this."
Bernie fires off several more rounds during the confusion, hoping not to get noticed and looking for cover in order to move in closer to the action.
[/ QUOTE ]
It wasn't immediately obvious, but then it became apparant that the white, force-fielded van was gone. Crey had decided to pull out, leaving the robot and a few operatives to cover their escape.
The robot managed to knock an enormous chunk of ice off of the lens that had been covered. It stopped at once and spun its head around, searching for enemies....
((OOC: After a long real-life absence, I am back!
I am hoping to find some of my old role-playing friends again if they are still around. Some storylines never got resolved, so I have left them in an open status, to resolve later. Feel free to jump in!))
))
Penny rubbed her forehead. "You have got to be joking."
Doc, a tall, thin man in a white lab coat, shook his head. "I am afraid not... there is no doubt about these test results. You are an active mutant."
I can't be a mutant," Penny explained patiently. "Not only am I far too old, but I've been tested extensively in the past and never showed a hint of mutant DNA, not so much as a smidgen. Remember? It was one of the reasons I was chosen in the first place." She leaned back on the table and frowned at him. "If anything, it ought to be showing radiation."
Doc turned a page over on the clipboard. "Nope."
"Or that new Dyne drug I got hit with."
He flipped another page, his face thoughtful. "Nope. No traces of it in your system... clean as a whistle, I am happy to say."
"Well, something is off."
"That is often the case with mutant genetics."
"Doc, how long have you known me?" Penny sounded exasperated. "You know perfectly well I have no mutant DNA."
"Yes, it is rather puzzling," Doc rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Still... there can be no doubts about the current tests. Furthermore, it appears as if you ought to have powers that have manifested themselves... and some time ago, by the looks of this."
"What mutant powers? I can't fly, can't manipulate energy, have no special survival powers, no psychic powers, nothing." She tapped the clipboard. "You have run me through every test half a dozen times, and I have come up normal on everything."
Doc nodded. "Yes, I am aware of it." He put down the clipboard and polished his glasses. "Well... we've done all we can do here. Might as well get dressed. " As Penny nodded, he added, rather hesitantly, "How is Overhaul?"
She hesitated for only a minute, not looking directly at him. "About the same... I think he is glad to be back in Paragon City. We both are."
"You think you will be able to rebuild...?"
She nodded. "Oh, certainly. He's very determined."
"And the lawsuits...?"
Penny thinned her lips.
Things had looked so promising when she had emerged from the sewers last year after stopping the plot with the Vahzilok. Overhaul had been estactic to see her, though her suit had been damaged almost beyond repair. For a shining few hours, it looked as if he was figuring out how he truly felt, and would have the courage to say something about it.
They had received the first of the notices late that same afternoon.
There had been seven lawsuits in all, four of them of them from Cray or its subsidaries, one of them from a broadcasting company, and two from the FDA. Half were still outstanding. Frustratingly, they had had to move from Paragon city to battle them, and had hardly had a chance to say a word to Harris or Dr. Sanstad - or their wives - or anyone, for that matter.
"Some of them are settled, thankfully," she said. "The others... well, we will have to see."
She didn't mention that they had been all but ruined just settling three of the lawsuits. Cray was being relentless with the others. Overhaul had been deeply hurt by the accusations of patent infringement: Penny was horrified at the idea that Cray might be able to take his designs away from him.
She reached, not for her clothes, but for a gleaming silver ball, which pooled in her hand like mercury, before flowing up her frame like a live thing. In moments, she was encased in a silver metallic suit.
Doc looked impressed. "Is that his latest?"
She nodded. "And one of the only ones left." She touched her helmet and the glass visor retreated halfway, so that he could see her face. "Look, Doc... thanks for the tests. Keep the results.... private... will you?"
"You mean from Overhaul?"
"He has enough on his plate."
"I think you ought to tell him."
"I will tell him when we have something more definite."
Doc put his hand on her arm. "Look, if either of you need medical services... I'm here, all right?"
Penny nodded. "All right. Thanks, Doc."
She left his office, and headed out into the bright sunshine.
((Will add a post onto this in a minute. In the meantime, I am baaaack!