Blue Sheild: PPD Themed RP Static Team recruiting, You'll love it

Downloading patch now, and then I have to shop for some enhancements for the new powers I picked up when I respec'd Shannon.

Oh, and I have to straighten out her power trays too.

"I'll catch you on the flip side as they used to say." She was the first to drop comms. The rest of the members of Blue Shield soon followed suit, saying their goodbyes.


One-by-one they left Independence Port where they had just finished up a successful campaign against the Council. Eventually it was just the big troll, Magmauler left on the train platform. He cocked his head to the side listening to the destination of the incoming train, Brickstown, and smiled.


Stepping off the train he exited the station and leaped into the air, heading towards the gates to Crey's Folly. The guards at the gate simply waved the big officer through without issue.


Striding into the once prosperous industrial area, Magmauler leaped onto one of the catwalks around a set of abandoned storage silos. Thirty feet in front of him a company of Nemesis troops turned to address the intruder.


Slugs flew through the air, deflecting off the troll's tough skin. Charging forward he swept three of the soldiers off the walkway, watching as they fell fifty feet to parking lot below. A heavy punch sent another sprawling to his back, and a vicious kick left another clutching a broken leg.


A burst of flame engulfed the troll, to the delight of the remaining Nemesis soldiers. They cheered as the massive Warhulk doused the police officer in burning napalm. Their cheer was short-lived.


Magmauler leaped forward tearing the flamethrower arm from the massive robot, using it to crush one soldier, and batting the last two from the catwalk. The flamethrower clanked as it fell to the metal walkway and the troll turned on the Warhulk.


Turning, the massive troll grabbed holding of the mech and hoisted it into the air, holding it overhead for a moment. Then with a might yell he hurled it to the street below, watching it burst into flames with a wide-eyed look of fury on his face.


The video was paused, leaving his face on the screen as the three men assembled looked on in silence. The video and sound from the surveillance drone had been surprisingly high quality.


Seated behind his desk, Chief Conrad Bochco leaned forward and rested his hands on the desk, "So he takes down some Nemesis soldiers. Big deal. Those butchers have it coming. He's a little rough, but so what? That's why he's there."


One of the other two men, Dr. Karl Lenkoff, stood and moved to take the DVD from the machine. "It's more than that. You know it Conrad. You saw the look in his eyes." He looked to the third man in the room, "It's what we saw when he first came in from his undercover work."


Bill Grove, head of Internal Affairs, nodded at the doctor's comments. "Look Chief, we've got a problem here. Luckily we might just be able to head it off before it gets out of control."


The doctor flipped on the lights, bathing the room in the harsh glow of fluorescent light. “From what I can tell, it's his adrenal gland that is the problem. While we were able to purge the Superadyne from his system, the drug irrevocably altered his adrenaline. As he exerts himself more and more, the adrenaline is acting like the drugs used to. He's losing himself to the monster he once was.”


Chief Bochco mulled that over for a moment, “So, what can we do?”


“Well, we've been looking at a few ways to alter the gland, make it less toxic. It might also be possible to replace it, or remove it, but I'm not confident that either of those options will be good for the patient's future health. Medication might help, but we haven't found anything we feel would provide a permanent solution.”


“So you see Conrad,” Grove spoke, his irritating nasally voice grating on the chief's nerves, “there are a few alternatives, and I hope they work. I really do. But if they don't, we've got to be prepared to handle the situation.”


The chief stood right up, sending his chair rattling into the wall behind him. Slamming one hand down on the desk he pointed at the head of IA with the other. “Handle the situation Bill!? That's one of my officers you're talking about. You best remember that.”


“Yes, one of 'your' officers Conrad, and if he goes nuts and kills someone in the field, a civilian god forbid, that'll be on you.”


“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” the doctor tried his best, as always to be the voice of reason. “We need to keep our heads here if we're to find a way through this.”


The chief took a deep breath, back down a little, the colour leaving his face. “Worst case scenario doc?”


Karl flipped through the folder he'd brought in with him. “Given the gains Detective Hiller has been making in strength and invulnerability, I very much doubt the team would be able to stop him if an incident were to occur. Likewise, hardsuits and normal officers would be ineffectual. Psi-Division and Awakened Division would be the best bet, but even then the odds would not be good of escaping without casualties.”


“Christ,” Conrad sat back in his chair, leaning back, “it would be a goddamned disaster, is what you're saying. I can't have cops killing cops.”


Grove spoke again, “That's why the good doctor brought this to our attention. We need to work on finding a way to help Mr. Hiller, and have a plan in place in case we can't.”


As much as it pained Conrad to admit, the ******* was right, “Agreed. I'll have to let Detective Washington know, and the rest of the team. They deserve to know.”


The others nodded as they left the room, leaving the chief alone to ponder the potentially disastrous situation, as he stared down at the DVD on his desk.




Planning an arc for Mags in the nearish future.

"Chief Conrad Bochco." I like it.

I took note of Mags slamming that defeated Council Soldier into the wall last night, and probably should have said something - if not to him, at least to the rest of the team.

And now for something completely different...


Unlocking the door, PPD Officer Shannon Callahan slipped into her modest but tasteful apartment. A large orange cat lifted its head and gazed at her lazily from the spot on the coffee table where it was sprawled.

"Hiya, Buntzie, how you doin'? You have as rough a day protecting our apartment from silverfish and suspicious looking dust bunnies as I did protecting the city from super-powered maniacs?" the petite redhead asked as she rubbed the surly feline's prodigious belly. Buntz simply sighed and went back to napping.

"Anytime you wanna switch places big guy, you just >uff< let me know," Shannon grunted pulling off her boots and socks. Checking her answering machine she found one message. Suspecting it was from Lionel, the socially inept actuary her sister Lynn had set her up with last weekend, Shannon left the light blinking and sat down to go through her mail.

"Bill, credit card offer, bill, credit card offer, Christmas card from aunt Miriam, and... bill. Ah well, nothing that can't wait a few days. I'm gonna take a much deserved bath, Buntzter. I'll feed your fat *** later, ok?" Shannon said, scratching her largely indifferent cat behind the ears.

Shannon padded into the bathroom and began to fill the tub with hot water. She then lit several vanilla scented candles and stragtegically placed them around the rim of the tub. She dumped grapefruit-infused bath salts into the water as the tub filled, and then slipped out to the kitched to pour herself a glass of Pinot Noir. "I sure hope Giz, Mags and Hill Street never get wind of my girly rituals, Buntzie; it'd ruin my reputation!"

Returning to the bathroom, she shut off the water and began to slip out of her work clothes. She sucked air through her teeth as her pants slid past the massive brushburn on her left hip and the large bruises on her right thigh. Her left knee was swollen and aching from when a war wolf slammed her into a metal catwalk.

She grimaced in further pain as she pulled the dirty, torn t-shirt gingerly over her head. As she surveyed her reflection in the mirror she realized her entire right side was black and blue. "God, I hope I didn't crack any ribs," she thought. Long, but superficial claw marks from the "vampyre" that snuck up behind her marred both of her shoulder blades.

Dropping her no-nonsense white cotton panties and sports bra to the bathroom floor, Shannon eased her battered and bruised body into the hot, scented bath water. She laid back, took a sip of her wine, and, as hard as she fought not to, Shannon "Shenaniguns" Callahan began to cry.

She covered her face with her hands and soon the weeping turned to sobs. After a few minutes, Buntz walked into the bathroom. He sniffed the pile of discarded clothes and then sat down and started at the distraught girl in the tub.

"Hey there, Buntzie. Did my silly crying wake you up?" Shannon sniffed, dabbing her eyes with a tissue and taking another sip of wine. "Sorry 'bout that. I know you need your beauty sleep. The thing is, I don't know how I'm going to keep doing this. At first it was fun to face off against those creepo zombie makers, and the Heavy Metal magazine rejects, but now I'm out there fighting wizards, and aliens, and things that can tear me in half with their bare... claws.

"I'm scared, Buntzie. The martial arts classes and body armor help, but I don't have steel-hard skin, or super fast reflexes, and I sure as **** can't out run bullets. I'm just a normal human cop, and I couldn't ask for a better set of partners, but how long's it going to be before some evil robot or crazed sewer monster or whatever gets in a... a lucky shot?

"What am I gonna do, Buntzie?" Shannon asked as she began to tear up again. The normally aloof feline walked over to the tub, nuzzled Shannon's outstretched hand and began to purr.

"Heh. What in the world are you doing, you weird cat? Comforting me?" Shannon half-laughed. Buntz meowed in response.

"You're probably just hungry, but either way, thanks. I guess if it wasn't for idiots like me who fight super mutants and interdimensional demon-things, regular people like you wouldn't have a chance, huh?

"Good pep talk, Buntzie," Shannon smiled at her typically surly cat, "Just do me a favor, okay? Don't tell the guys about this, and you'll get a nice juicy can of tuna every night for the rest of the year."

Satisfied that his work was done, or perhaps bored when she didn't get out of the tub to feed him - you can never tell with cats - Buntz wandered out of the bathroom and left Shannon alone with her thoughts and fears.

0.0
Wow! Just wow!
That was some good writing guys. It's going to be hard not to have Gismo react. He does take it personally if some goes down. Heá alittle over-protective some times.

Bah, can't make it tonight. It's the wife's last day off before Christmas, so she wants to go see a movie. Have a good one.

Sorry about the last weeks, we had inspections, so they had me do as much as I could. I'm back.

Glad to hear it. Shannon is about halfway to 41, and she really wants/needs the extra protection Body Armor will give her.

Sorry, Guys. I won't be able to make it tonight. Work is crazy right now.
Happy Holidays to you all and I should be on next week. I have the week off, thank the appropiate religious figurehead.

Mags will be there tonight. I may need to take a short break about halfway for laundry, but should be good other than that.

Water for my apartment building was off for two days. First so they could fix a broken water main, then to fix another one that broke when they fixed the first one. Now I see them digging up the street a little further down. Awesome! At least my water's back now.

Sorry to hear you won't be around Battledog. Happy Holidays, and I'll think of you while I'm drinking a beer during the annual Christmas Day Die Hard marathon that is my personal holiday tradition. Can't celebrate Christmas without the greatest Christmas movie ever made.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope you all had a good one.

It was fun last night.
Thanks for joining us, Omegahealer!
Hope to see you next week.

Hey, everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I will be unable to join you tonight. Have fun and I should be able to join you next week.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" Shannon Callahan asked as she ducked her head into the office of Police Captain Lucille Francis.

"Ah, Shannon, yes. Please come in and shut the door behind you," Captain Francis replied. "You know Police Chief Bochco and Commissioner Daniels, don't you?"

Shannon's mind was racing as she shook the extended hands of her two superiors. "Did I do something stupid? Did someone die?? Did someone die because I did something stupid???"

"Relax and have a seat, Corporal," the Chief of Police chuckled, "I can assure you, you're not in any kind of trouble."

"Quite the contrary, in fact," the Commissioner added, "But I'll let Captain Francis explain."

"Thank you, Commissioner," Lucy Francis began. "As you know, at first I was resistant to allowing you to join Chief Bochco's 'Blue Shield Initiative', partly because your arrest record here in Kings Row was second to none, and I didn't want to lose one of my best officers; and partly because... well... you're a bit impulsive, and I really didn't want to lose one of my best officers."

Shannon blushed and swallowed nervously at the veiled reference to her reputation as the reckless "Shenaniguns" Callahan.

"But after these last eight months, I've come to realize that I was wrong to have hesitated," Captain Francis continued. "Your bravery in the face of incredible danger and overwhelming odds has been nothing short of exemplary. Many young officers in this precint would do well to follow the example you have set."

"And your leadership of the Blue Shield Initiative during Detective Washington's extended assignment... abroad, was impressive. Most impressive," Chief Bochco added. "For the last six months 'Blue Shield' has brought in more dangerous, meta-powered individuals than any other division of the PPD. Well done, Corporal."

"Thank you, sir," Shannon said, smiling proudly.

"That is why we asked you in here today, Officer Callahan," Commissioner Daniels continued, as he stood up. "In light of your bravery in the line of duty, your leadership in the absence of a superior officer, and at the recommendation of Captain Francis, Chief Bochco, and Detective Washington, I hearby confer upon you promotion to the rank of Task Force Commander of the Paragon City Police Department."

Shannon merely sat in her chair blinking. At least she assumed she was still sitting down; her whole body had gone numb. "Task Force Commander?" she thought, "That... that can't be right. That's like three, no four ranks above Corporal. That's the highest field rank available in the PPD, and only one step below Captain! I must have heard him wrong. Or it's a joke. No, it couldn't be a joke, that would be too cruel. I must have heard him wrong. Why are they all looking at me, and smiling? How long have I been sitting here? I should say something, but... what do I say? What if I heard him wrong and make an idiot of myself accepting a promotion they couldn't possibly have given me. Oh my god, I hope I don't puke!"

"Officer Callahan? Corporal?? Shannon!" Captain Francis barked in amusement.

"Wha.. huh?" was the only response Shannon could muster.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Commissioner Francis asked.

"I... I'm sorry sir, I'm... I'm not sure I heard you correctly," Shannon replied tentitively.

"You heard me correctly, Officer. We are promoting you from Corporal directly to Task Force Commander. It is a badge you should wear proudly," the Commissioner said, gesturing to Captain Francis who was holding out a black leather box that contained Shannon's new badge.

"Congratulations, Shannon, I'm very proud of you" the Captain said handing Shannon the box. "Detective Washington wanted to be here as well, but he to attend a meeting with Internal Affairs this afternoon. We'll let you share the good news with the rest of your 'Blue Shield' teammates."

"Congratulations," the Commissioner said, shaking the still semi-numb, but now apparently standing, Shannon's hand.

"Congratulations, and good work," Chief Bochco added, "Keep this up and one day you'll be taking over for me."

Shannon involuntarily snorted with laughter at the thought of herself as Chief of Police, and quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. Everyone else cracked up and it finally sank in that this was really real. "Mickey Callahan's little girl - an honest-to-god PPD Task Force Commander," Shannon thought, "Holy ****, I gotta call dad and tell him!!!"

"Thank you all so much," Shannon gushed, "I promise I will NOT let you down. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go call my dad!" She said turning around and promptly tripping over her chair and sprawling flat on the floor. "You didn't see that," she laughed embarrassedly as she rushed out of the room.

*Ring, Ring*

*Ring, Ring*

"Hello?"

"Hey, Giz, it's Shannon."

"Hey, bosslady, what's up?"

"I found a disturbing memo in my inbox at the station this morning."

"That sounds ominous."

"It is. It seems there are some law enforcement bigwigs from DC, New York, and L.A. in town this week. The Commissioner has organized a cocktail party with them tonight, and I have to go!"

"Ouch."

"And I have to wear a... a... a gown."

"Double ouch."

"Yeah, I can tell by the snickering you're really broken up for me. Anyway, the reception starts at 6:30 and and runs until 9 or 9:30."

"So, we're on our own tonight, huh?"

"No, because you're going to call me around 6:45 and get me out of there. I don't care if you're just rescuing a kitten from a tree - call and make it sound like a world-ending emergency."

"You want me to lie? And risk getting the Police Commissioner mad at me? Sorry, Shan, no can do. Besides, it won't kill you to get all dolled up and have some fun for a change."

"What do you mean 'for a change'? Your mom and I had a blast at Beefcake's on Saturday night. She's hilarious!"

*pause*

"Giz...?"

"You must never speak of that to me again."

"You going to call and get me out of this party?"

"Nope."

"So there was this one dude with huge pecs, and your mom..."

*Click*

"Dammit. Hmmm... I wonder if I still have Drew's number..."



Just my little way of reminding you all that I have a work dinner to go to tonight and will therefore be AWOL for tonight's Blue Shield get-together.

Gizmo looked at his phone as if it betrayed him. He really didn't need to hear anymore about his mother and his commanding officer's get-together. He had already had a full after-action report, that was immediately followed by the Question. the same Question he got from his mother everytime she met one of his female friends.
"So are you two dating?"
Arrrghhh!
Why can't a guy have a female friend and not be dating them. Besides, she is his boss. His mother just couldn't see reason.
"Your 27. Time is running out, son." echoed through his brain.
Gismo place his phone on the table and picked up the partially diassembled Match Compensator and continued his cleaning.
"Shan's out with the Chief, Drew's is away doing some peacebringer stuff with Sunstorm. Mags should be here tonight. Hopefully, the rest of the team will show up tonight or we are going to be alittle short on personnel."
He assembled the heavy pistol and did a quick check on the trigger.
"Perfect."
He waved his hand over the other pistol. It rose from the table, broke into its component parts, and floated down onto the spread cloth on the table. Picking up the barrel, Gismo started cleaning again, desparately trying not to think about his pretty boss in a cocktail dress.

((I remembered Mouse. Drew is away as well. We see what trouble we can get into tonight...maybe try and get are friend Mags the Handsome badge, just for kicks.))

Lt. Drew Hill finds himself sitting across from PPD Chief Conrad Bochco. The chief stares at Drew intently before he finally breaks the silence.

“Lt. Hill, I have been very impressed with your accomplishments with The Blue Shield,” the police chief says. “Especially, in light of your earlier reluctance to join the team.”

“I understand and appreciate your praise, sir,” Lt. Hill responds. “I am grateful that you and Sunstorm persuaded me to reconsider my choices. At the time, I did not realize just how much I could help all of the people of Paragon City, not just the ones in Downside. It has been my honor to serve with my fellow teammates.”

“That’s good to hear. As you know, I have used you as a face, if you will, for the Awakened Division. Thanks to your good example, the city has been more comfortable interacting with members of this division.”

“I am sure it is the members of the division who have increased their popularity among the citizenry,” Lt. Hill says. “I accept that I may have helped to some degree, but, I believe the men and women of the Awakened Division deserve all the credit.”

Chief Bochco nods slowly. “That’s a very admirable point of view. That’s why I have invited you here. I want to increase your profile in the department. A gesture illustrating the trust we have in the Awakened Division. So, I am giving you a promotion.”

“Indeed?” Drew says raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, indeed,” the chief says. “Lt. Drew Hill, I confer upon you the rank of captain. Your position on The Blue Shield will remain the same and you will continue to report to Commander Callahan. Next week, you will attend a ceremony where I will make an announcement of your promotion and, of course, feature the Awakened Division.”

“I see. I am honored by your decision, sir, but, I wonder if it is necessary to do so much to promote this division to the exclusion of all others,” Drew says. “It seems it might cause some disharmony within the ranks.”

“Spoken like a true leader. You let me worry about any disharmony. You just keep being a shining example. Speaking of shining…” Chief Bochco hands Drew a folder. “I want you to… revamp your look a bit.”

Drew opens the folder and finds an illustration of a model wearing a different variation of his PPD Awakened uniform. At the top of the page, he reads the words ‘Gleaming Sentinel’.

“You wish to give me a code name and a new uniform?” Drew asks looking up from the folder.

“Exactly. The uniform change was a given because of your promotion. I just thought a few alterations would be in order because of your stature on The Blue Shield. The name shows that you’re comfortable with becoming a Kheldian and serving with the PPD. I hope it will encourage others to follow your example. We could use a few more like you on the force.”

Drew looks at the designs again and returns his gaze back to the police chief. “I am uncomfortable being thrust in the spotlight as this will undoubtedly do, sir, but, I believe in the greater good. I wish to support your efforts to make the city and its citizens safe. If this will accomplish that, I will do it.”

“I appreciate your cooperation, Captain Hill. Oh, one other thing. There is a cocktail party I am giving tonight. I have invited a number of high-ranking law enforcement officials to attend as they are here for a few days to take a look at PPD operations. I have asked Commander Callahan to attend as leader of The Blue Shield. I want you there as well so that you will serve as our shining example of the Awakened Division. The reception is being held at McDuffie’s and starts at 6:30 sharp.”

“Yes, sir,” Drew says.

“Good. That’s all I have. See you tonight.”

As Drew walks out of Chief Bochco’s office, his phone rings. He checks the caller ID and sees, with some delight, that it is Shannon Callahan, Task Force Commander and leader of The Blue Shield.

“Hello, Shannon. How are you?”

“Drew, I need your help,” Shannon says. “There’s a cocktail party going on tonight. Chief Bochco has pretty much commanded me to go.”

“Yes, Chief Bochco expects me to attend this gathering as well,” Drew says.
There is a momentary pause before Drew hears Shannon’s response. “Well, crap.”

((Ha! Awesome! And grats on the promotion!))

Hey, I'm assuming this group is still around. Do you have room for any new people? I've been interested in doing rp for a while, and this group in particular and the new animal pack has inspired an idea that would be perfect.

The character would be K-9 Evolved, a police K-9 genetically and cybernetically enhanced. He'd be about as smart as a 6-10 year old, can talk, and is able to act more independently than a regular dog, but still just a smarter more humanoid dog. I'd even be fine with someone rping being his handler, but it isn't really necessary as he's smart enough to be able to do without one. Claws/wp scrapper was what I had in mind.

The thing is, he'd be a new toon, so not sure if you'd like that or not, or even if you're even interested in anyone new. If you're interested though, I'd love to join you.

sounds fun we'd be happy to have you. We're not so serious about keeping in-level and my character is behind enough that we can catch up together on off days if you want.

We have room on the team, and I would definitely be open to new members. If possible, I'd say try to get him him up a few levels so he had a respectable attack chain and then meet us next Tuesday.

A member of the illustrious K-9 unit!
That would be great. We could use the help finding all the explosives and drugs we seem to be hunting.
On a side-note, hoping to run Gismo through the Sister P TF this weekend. Should we make it group thing? ((I'm just trying to get the badge while lots of people are running it.))

Welcome to the group, cat.

It would be nice if we could work our way up to a consistent group of 8 so we can do all the fun TFs out there.

You know, oddly enough...my character Magisterum was originally intended to work heavily with the PPD as a sort of....psychic tracking-dog. but of course...he isn't a dog.

He's a vampire now...but I haven't really whipped out his badge in quite some time.