[Unionverse] Capecon 2010

"Look for anyone dressed as either Lord Recluse, or perhaps a Drow Elf. Rushmore, crowd control." BODICIA broadcast to the network of commslinks currently in the area that she linked to the Unity Network. Switching channels, she broadcast a message to Joanna. "Once you're done, let's see about that signal he's broadcasting. I'll grant you access to a core of mine, let's see if we can work it out and get our own signal going."

Cauter passed his coffee cup to the girl he had gone off with. "Listen, I want you to stay here and keep your head down. I need to start searching." With a pat of her arm, the power-suited man began to try and head into the surging crowd.

Flying up into the air, Rushmore drew in a deep breath before shouting out "STOP RUNNING FOR THE EXITS! YOU'RE GOING TO GET SOMEONE, LIKELY A CHILD, TRAMPLED!" Hopefully a floating, stars-and-stripes clad giant of a man might be able to draw some attention. A crowd surge would not be good.

::I'm into the network. Trackback's slow going, but at the very least it gives us an eyeball on the security grid. Linking into the tacnet now.::

Jo was working overtime now, her neuralware linking through Bodi, to the one borrowed core. Not enough, but where Joanna could stay withn the bounds of the strictly legal, Josie could bend those edges like crazy. A few threads on a mainframe in Paris. Some more on a high-end gpgpu beowolf cluster at a university in Adeleide. From a hundred fleeting moments of CPU time in a hundred places, she built a distributed system, all funneled back through her own expert systems, tied into the BODICIA core. A fearsome analytical engine, at the joint call of one of the most devious technical minds to step out of the Islands, and one of the most complicated AI's yet produced. This she bent to the task of isolating, extracting and quantifying the Spoiler's signal, checking for patterns, algorithms, to create a mimicing signal, right down to any sequences being broadcast.

::Right, I'd guess this scrawny little goit will probably be using a signal based on a seeded generator algorithm to create a unique sequence, precisely to avoid what we're trying to do. All we have to do is reverse engineer it... oh, this is so on.::

Amongst the crowd, three figures could be spotted, all wearing various versions of Lord Recluse's signature spider legs, one made out of cardboard tubes that were hanging limply from being crushed, the other two more professional in design.

The first was trying to get out of the main exit but the wall of civillians attempting to flee prevented him. Another was dashing around the auditorium, trying to find someone to help him. The third was near the stage, taping The Spoiler's antics on his iPhone.

"Wow, this is great YouTube material..." he muttered, oblivious to the panic around him.

Meanwhile, the signal continued to be broadcast to across the area, radiating from a device on The Spoiler's belt where a number of pouches hung. The sequence was encrypted but appeared to be cycling down. Within half an hour, it would peter out entirely. The Spoiler appeared to be unconcerned with it, instead choosing to continue on with his bizarre photoshoot.

Will nudged D, as he watched the Spoiler's antics

"So, did they hire this guy, or is this all really happening? He's either a fan or a very bad actor."

He watched him pose and monologue, seemingly oblivious to the increasing panic as the bomb threat was revealed

"There's no way a guy like that would really blow up his captive audience"

::Got him. Encrypted decay-cycling signal, straight out of the movies that one, from his belt device. I think we can break it and spoof it, if we had to. But he's going to let it run down in 30 minutes.... Either he's suicidal, broken enough to blow us all to kingdom come regardless of whether he gets what he wants... or this thing stinks like a week old fish.::

While Jo wrestled with the encryption sequence, with the aid of the ad-hoc system that she and BODI had built, she was letting her optical prosthetic do Lord Recluse costume do pattern-matching.

::We need someone to work out if those bombs are really there. If there's something in nanotech that can give a blast yield like he claims, it has to be pretty high-end stuff. Know any nanotechnologists? I'm still betting he's nutzoid though.::

Amy shook her head as the pulse stunned her senses for a moment. She regained her sense and watched on...there was little she could do but wait, she was sure the other heroes more suited to delicate hostage situations were already doing something...As Amy lacked any 'items of power' she handed nothing over.
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Terrance meanwhile clattered to the floor, there was a small beeping sound as his system begun a reboot. Everything was functioning fine thankfully. Terrance decided to go into 'stealth mode' folding in his arms, legs and his anti-grav engines, keeping his feet unfolded to allow him to shuffle along the floor, weaving in and out of the crowd of people. It was all very Metal Gear Solid just with a tiny toaster, edging himself closer to the stage...

As the crowds rushed by the Militia stand, Karnac stepped out and grabbed one fleeing attendee.

"Hold it Mr Spider," he said, "What're you carrying? Did you pick up anything while you were here?"

The Lord Recluse lookalike struggled slightly in the giant's hold but to no avail.

"No! I just came here, I hadn't even bought anything yet!"

Brian let go and the panicked citizen ran off, heading towards the crowded door.

"You think they must have been given something?" asked The Amber Banshee.

Her father nodded. "How else would he have managed to smuggle those bombs in here?"


At the stage, the iphone wielding fool realised that people were running. He turned to ask his friends only to find that they were gone.

"Hey, why'd everyone running?" he asked to no-one in particular. He wasn't about to run in this mass, not with his sack of merchandise that he'd spent all day collecting. And especially not in this costume which he'd been handed an unexpected prize for earlier in the day.

Terrance had a plan, this 'Spoiler' fellow seemed to desire attention and a chance to show off...so that's exactly what he'd give him...

His casing shimmered turning black with a the infamous skull and cog logo. He fired up his anti-grav jets and took in a deep mechanical breath, he didn't need to but it made him feel better.

Hovering into view and using his best automated voice setting he begun his spiel.

"Hello Capecon goers, are you interested in having real superpowers? Thanks to the Necrotech New You program we can give you a gift of the gods, answer the trivia questions provided by this unit correctly and win not only free participation of the New You program but two weeks, all expenses paid, in the world renowned Golden Giza casino and hotel, please see www.Necrotechtoastydreams.com for terms and conditions, those under eighteen must seek permission from a parent or guardian before approaching this unit. You have twenty seconds to shout out the attention grabbing phrase, 'I love you Talkie Toasters!' to get this units attention..."

That should get his attention and distract him from beating up heroes both real and fake for a while...Terrance was about to unleash his trivia buff...he didn't spend all the time studying useless facts for nothing...

The Spoiler turned to see the sudden advertising blurb next to him.

"Ooh, what's this?" he exclaimed with delight. He studied the advert with interest before motioning to his assistants.

"I think perhaps we might be done here," he said. "This combined with the pictures from this show should be enough to convince Professor Malevolent that I am evil enough to join his organisation. Let's prepare to bring down the house!"

His assistants nodded and began packing up the photography equipment while The Spoiler fiddled with a device on his belt. He'd allowed half an hour for the event but the bombs could be accelerated easily enough...

It wasn't before the last table she had to hop to collapsed upon her landing and forced her to roll to ground level when she finally got close enough to the iphone Recluse to scan him.

"Alright, buddy." she announced to the apparently clueless fan ahead of her as she approached him, checking him out from a distance in the hopes of finding anything bomb-like on him. "Hold it right there while I make sure you aren't about to pop!"

However, after a few seconds of scanning, long enough to actually pick anything worth picking up... she overhead the spoiler's decision to level the place early.

"Uh-oh."

Erica! Molly called the robot butler she left back at her own table. How's your repairs going?

I think I sh... what are yo......lanning, Miss?

I think this dork's gonna try and drop the place early! Can you get on your feet and get to the stage quickly?

Yes, Miss. However, there is the risk that he may notice my approach and...

DO IT!

Terrance begun his questions, he really needed to keep this guy distracted.

"Please answer the following questions in order, there are five questions, ranging from easy to difficult, answer all five correctly and you win the fabulous prize mentioned..."

"Question one, name the series, episode and episode air date that featured this music?," playing a brief snippet of the music."

"Question two, what role in which 1983 fantasy film was British actor Bernard Bresslaws last major feature film before he died?"

"Question three, 'who loves you and who do you love?' name the film, the role and the actor playing the role from which the quotation comes."

"Question four, name all the fantasy and science fiction films and TV series that actor Kevin Sorbo has starred in."

"Question five, whose biography is entitled 'If chins could kill: Confessions of a B Movie actor'?""

Some tough ones and a few easy ones, Terrance would hope it would keep the villain distracted long enough for someone to snatch the belt...

Jen frowned, scrambling along the outside of the hall vents. In the past she would have been swearing non-stop under her breath, but her recent injury and repair had mellowed her somewhat. Now she was merely concerned about getting an inside access point in time.

"Psst!"
A vent cracked, popping out of its sockets quietly, a featureless helmet poking out and an armoured arm motioning her over.
"It's a tight fit, but enough to move in," the figure explained, as she shimmied over. Jen glanced him over, HuD scrolling as she ran her optics over him.
"X21 Ice Wolf, Hero and Vanguard associate?" she asked quietly, as she slid into the wide but low ventillation shaft.
"Yeah. PPD?" he asked, sparing her a glance.
"Inspector Kerringer, SRU."
"Right. Seems like this nutter is going to blow up the hall pretty soon as is. I think the folks on the ground are tracking the bomb, or bombs," Wolf explained, stopping by a vent and peering through. "But we need to nail the git on the stage..."
Jen peered through, zooming in on the figure on the stage and his escort, trying to formulate a plan.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

Hope walked casually towards the building housing the Cape Con event. She was precariously balancing several cups of coffee and a bag filled with various pastries. All that was running through her head was how much she didn’t want to be here. Imogen had invited her along and has told it would be good for her; phrasing the initiation as though is wasn’t exactly voluntary.

Hope shuffled her careful balancing act so she would be able to open the door. She sighed, bracing herself for the mass nerds and over zealous fans that would be inside. She hoped she would not be recognised and that she could blend into the back ground, only to be a runner when needed.

As she got closer, something didn’t seem right. There were what appeared to be people standing either side of the doors. Their body language was hostile, as though they were on guard duty. She could hear muffled yells and through the glass she could see people running around manically.

“Oh this isn’t good!” Hope murmured to herself. She dropped what she was carrying and ran off down the opposite side of the building before she was spotted.

“I need to get in.” She said to herself as she looked around. Then she spotted the vent for the aircon. Pushing her muscles she jumped, gripping tightly to the drain pipe running down the wall next to the vent. She pulled a small pen knife out of her pocket and started to remover the cover. After what seemed like hours of un-screwing the cover Hope had it hanging from two screws. She clambered into the vent and replaced the loosened cover behind her.

She started crawling slowly down the vent, the dusty confines turning her black jeans and white t’shirt grey. She sneezed as she kicked up some dust. “Does anyone like, clean these things?”

She carried on crawling hoping that at some point she would find a clue as to her direction and where she needed to go.

There was a bleep from Terrance.

"Correct on the film from question number two, I also asked for Bernard Bresslaw's role within Krull as well, question five is correct, one point, question four, please included the full titles of the Hercules movies he starred in as well not just the series, question three and one have yet to be answered..."

While Terrance was waiting for the answers he begun scanning to try to pick up the frequency of the signal and to see if he could replicate the broadcast of it, thereby taking The Spolier out of the loop.

Hope finally found a vent in the air duct. As she peered through it she could see she was over the main hall, just past the entrance. People were panicking and running in terror. They risked causing a riot, she needed to move quickly. As she moved down the metal tunnel, she passed vents and she saw heroes of all calibres. Some she recognised and some she didn't. She let out a small sigh of relief when she saw the Militia table, at least she knew she would have some people to fall back on.

She carried on crawling along the air duct, trying to figure a way out without being noticed. Hope paused as her nose started to itch. She put a hand over her face and tried to suppress the sneeze that was building up. It forced its way through her hand and echoed up and down the air duct.

The Spoile was still mulling over the remaining questions, not sure whether asking his attendents would count as cheating. One of them was close by, nervously looking at her watch, conscious of the time left on the bombs. It was then that the sneeze could be heard from above, echoing through the air vent.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, reaching for his staff.

Erica took the quick, but stealthy approach to get to the stage. Well, as stealthy as snaking under every table in her path while her most basic motor functions were now up and running. The plan was simple. See if she could get under the stage quickly and undetected and strike from below while The Spoiler was distracted. With any luck, she'd have recovered most of her strength by then, but her internal diagnostic software wasn't giving too much hope of that. She had -some- of it back, but she remained uncertain that it would be enough.

This may prove difficult, Erica called over to Molly, who remained by the Recluse-a-like she originally targeted but started to edge around toward the side of the stage.

If all else fails, Erica, throw a damn table into his face! Molly answered, before she caught The Spoiler reacting to something above him. Actually, you may want to do that pretty soon. Hang fire until I give the word though!

Josie muttered a naughty word or two, under her breath ::Bodi, we're out of time. Powering up transmitters. Take my signal and rebroadcast, we're locking him out of bomb control.::