Epic M&M: Issue 4 (IC)

[Agamon]

You are completely frustrated by the time you reach your room. You slam the door and kick off your shoes. One shoe lands next to your door, where you see a furry paw attached to a long and furry leg.

"About time, sport," you hear from your bedroom door. You whip your head around to see Monica, in hybrid formed, dressed in her little sundress and a smile. "I'm not used to waiting so long," she purrs at you. "And I need a good backscratch after getting Rebound put to bed. Poor guy was wiped right out." She reads your expression. "Problems, sport?"

Sanjay's smile returns. "Nothing I can't handle, ki...er, Monica," he says awkwardly. "Sanchez put me to work, sorry. I've been looking for you, actually, and..." He looks at her as though he finally notices her in her dress. "...and, uh...I do owe you a backscratch, don't I?" he says with a grin.

 

[Elementor]

Vincent
You make it to the war room. Trailblazer looks rather miserable. Michelle looks miserable.

"Sit down, partner," Trailblazer says. "Let's see if I can channel Thunder again. What the hell were you thinking when you ignored the fact that Split had a gun to the back of Nurse Ogawa's neck!? Damnit, I'm starting to sound like him."

"Simple. I went to investigate an area of the building that ARIS had lost all control of. Michele asked me to," Vince says calmly while nodding at Michele. "Anyways, I get there but mostly everything seems normal until I see an open fridge and the nurse. Thats when I realized I was surrounded by a bunch of Splits. They had blood samples and my missing wing. When Split held up the gun to the nurse, I couldnt just surrender. I wasnt in my uniform and ARIS was down. I had no way to let anyone else know what was going on. I was alone." Pausing for a second to take another bite before continuing, Vince clears his throat. "Anyways. I tried to take out the Split that was holding the nurse captive first but they shot me with some kind of tranq guns. As soon as I was able to gather my wits, I took out our guard, checked to make sure the nurse would be ok, and then tried to recover the stolen items. I ended up taking out 3 Splits in the process and caught the girl that I believe disabled ARIS and got Pooky who had been shot, back to the infirmary for help." Still eating, Vince offers to Trailblazer, "Hotdog?"

 

[Deva]

He stands just over fifteen feet in height. His claws are easily half a foot in length on his hands, though shorter on his feet. His black and brown fur bristles and his eyes glow red as he glares at you. Saliva drips from his mouth and his tongue lolls out over his immense fangs. His face is contorted into a snarl and he pulls and pushes at his chains, trying to reach you. With a start, you hear the door slide closed behind you.

"You must exhaust him. Wear the beast down until he can control it. It regenerates swiftly. Do not step beyond the circle."

At the immense size of Jackal, Raisa's face pales and she turns to Xi. "You're kidding me, right? This is some sort of sick joke to warn me from butting in where I'm not suppose, it has to be!"

Xi settles on a mat, opening a book, leaving you to accomplish the wearing out of Jackal.

With a small whimper, she moves to the edge of the circle and grips tightly the staff in her hand. Okay Rai, do it quick and hard, get it over with so you can get out of here. There is nothing to it, just imagine he is a piniata. A scary, hairy, uber piniata that will tear off body parts if he ever gets out of those chains.... She looks up at Jackal. "Por favor, não me come!(translation: please, don't eat me)"

Squeezing her eyes shut she pulls back the staff like a baseball bat and swings at Jackal with everything she's got.

 

[Dalamar]

"I think I will head for some sleep now, Sanchez." Johan wearily heads off to his room and does his evening chores. Before going to bed, he speaks to ARIS one more time.
"ARIS? Can you announce, that the people who are to be in my team tomorrow are to go to sleep immediately, unless they have been given orders from senior EPIC members to do something, in which case they will finish whatever they have been ordered to do, and then go to sleep. I don't want needlesly tired members in my group tomorrow."
Johan then

OoC: I think it's, what, around nine or ten in the evening? If it's not that much, then Johan asks ARIS to delay the announcement till 9:30PM.

 

[Calinon]

China
Raisa
The staff impacts Jackal's midsection with a loud smack and bounces off him. Jackal doesn't so much as flinch, but he does roar and strain at his shackles, pulling the chains taught with his power. The beams he is attached to groan, but do not break. He is straining so hard that the collar about his neck is cutting off his air supply. After a minute, he relaxes back, glaring balefully at you.

"You nearly have her, monster. Surely, you will not give up so easily," Xi says tauntingly from the sidelines, in his rasping voice.

Jackal lets a low growl out and lunges again at Raisa, chains pulling taught. Jackal starts sounding like a dog straining too hard at it's leash.

"Strike him again," Xi orders. "This will take quite some time."

X12
The rest of your dance session passes without much incident, though you remember your vision with far more vividness as you continue. The sun is nearly completely gone when Li finally stops.

"It is late," Li says, marking the time. "Go and rest, please. Tomorrow, you will need your strength," she says without explanation. "I will return your shirt after I bathe, yes?" she says as she walks up the path towards the bath houses.

As you get closer to the bunk houses, you see that there are lanterns lit within the forbidden dojo. *cue scary voice and ominous music*

New York
Neutron

Sanjay's smile returns. "Nothing I can't handle, ki...er, Monica," he says awkwardly. "Sanchez put me to work, sorry. I've been looking for you, actually, and..." He looks at her as though he finally notices her in her dress. "...and, uh...I do owe you a backscratch, don't I?" he says with a grin.

"Among other things," she growls, stepping forward and grabbing you by the front of your shirt, dragging you into your bedroom. With a twist and a growl, she quite literally flips you over and slams you back first onto the floor. She ends up standing over you, and shrugs out of her dress. "Backscratch later, sport," she purrs as she tackles you. "I need another itch scratched first. And we'll talk about this Kitten thing too," she adds with a none-to-pleased growl.

And Sanjay might wake up in the morning...

Vincent

"Hotdog?"

"Not funny," Trailblazer says. "Did you even, for one second, consider Nurse Ogawa's safety? Did you even try to negotiate? Forget the second question, I already know the answer," he grumbles, clicking a button displaying camera footage in the infirmary. "Aw damnit, I'm already able to bring relevant footage up mid conversation without trying," he sighs.

"The people that work here are just normal people at a normal school. Some are mutants, some aren't, but all of them have a right to be protected, not have their lives treated as unimportant!" He bangs his hand on the table with that statement and lets out a curse. He pulls out a package of cigarettes and moves to light one.

"Trailblazer, EPIC is a non-smoking facili..."

"ARIS off," Trailblazer says, lighting up and inhaling deeply. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff," he sighs contentedly. As you start to talk, he holds up his hand to stop you, taking a few more long drags.

"Think before you do, partner. If you found a bank being robbed with four or five gunmen inside with hostages, you wouldn't just blow in there without any concern for the hostages. You sure as hell better not be doing that around here anymore either. And don't be going to the infirmary any time soon unless you are bearing a whole helluvalotta gifts and heaps of appologies to Ogawa. Sanchez already convinced her not to quit, and we don't need you making her mad again."

Johan
"I will dispatch the message as requested, Johan," ARIS replies.

It's a bit earlier than 9PM but not much. You see Anna heading back for the workshop with Sanchez. She's cleaned up and changed, and thankfully doesn't look to be in any pain.

 

[Dalamar]

"On a second thought, I might just as well check on Anna before going to sleep.
Johan pulls a clean shirt and pants over his night clothes and heads outside to the workshop to see what the two are up to.

 

[Deva]

Jackal lets a low growl out and lunges again at Raisa, chains pulling taught. Jackal starts sounding like a dog straining too hard at it's leash.

"Strike him again," Xi orders. "This will take quite some time."

"Do you get some sort of sick pleasure from all this?" Raisa glances over her shoulder at Xi, an unimpressed expression on her face. "And just who are you anyway? You look so much like X12 it's uncanny."

She turns back to Jackal, adjusting her grip on the staff, and strikes him again. "This so totally sucks. Is he going to remember any of this? I mean, I like the guy when he's not all wanting to rip your heart out."

As she talks, she will continue to hit him - reluctantly and not enjoying any of it of course.

 

[Elementor]

Vincent
"Not funny," Trailblazer says. "Did you even, for one second, consider Nurse Ogawa's safety? Did you even try to negotiate? Forget the second question, I already know the answer," he grumbles, clicking a button displaying camera footage in the infirmary. "Aw damnit, I'm already able to bring relevant footage up mid conversation without trying," he sighs.

"The people that work here are just normal people at a normal school. Some are mutants, some aren't, but all of them have a right to be protected, not have their lives treated as unimportant!" He bangs his hand on the table with that statement and lets out a curse.

Glaring back, Vince seems to have some fire in his eyes too, "Yeah, we should just run and hide under our beds and do nothing until the senior squad gets back. If we are supposed to be heroes then we have to be heroic. Tell me how things would have improved if I just let Split capture me too instead of fighting back? You expect us to put our lives on the line every freaking day we are here and usually for people we don't know or for a cause we couldnt care less about. And we do it. Mutant or not, Nurse Ogawa is here of her own accord same as me and I would do the exact same thing again. So would you. What if Michele and I werent here? Split could have done whatever he wanted to Nurse Ogawa. Then who would you try to lay the blame on. If you guys dont trust us to make our own decisions, you better not all go running off at once. Besides it's not like it was an uneducated risk. We have fought Split before and he has used stun guns before. Not to mention, we wouldnt have my little captive if I just rolled over and played dead like you seem to think is such a good idea."

"And how the hell did you get video footage? ARIS and security was down in that section of the building the whole time."

 

[Mimic]

"Just pretend I'm Thunder," he grumbles, sitting at the table and dropping his forehead to his hands. "What the hell made you think blowing up an entryway to the school dorm would be a good idea? Did I channel him pretty good? Too over the top? Enough emphasis on hell?"

"Your missing the plusating vein on your forehead like Thunder but the rest was pretty good." She says with a smirk.

"I was meeting up with Johan and Anna after sending Vince to recon the infirmary when I was shot. I saw that it was Split and since we know he can duplicate and turn invisible I thought it was best to use and area attack, I didn't realise the amount of damage the building would take though." She says in a more serious tone, she does add the last part sheepishly.

<Once Vince and Trailblazer finish talking>

"About the girl, I don't think she is a criminal per say, more than likely being manipulated by Split somehow. She is only around 13 years old and now thanks to a certain couple of students," she says glancing over towards were Vince is standing, "is probably more scared than she has ever been, I realise we can't have her running around but could I at least bring her some food and blankets?"

 

[Calinon]

EPIC HQ
Michelle

"Your missing the plusating vein on your forehead like Thunder but the rest was pretty good." She says with a smirk.

"I was meeting up with Johan and Anna after sending Vince to recon the infirmary when I was shot. I saw that it was Split and since we know he can duplicate and turn invisible I thought it was best to use and area attack, I didn't realise the amount of damage the building would take though." She says in a more serious tone, she does add the last part sheepishly.

"Yeah, you really screwed the pooch on that one. You are heading to the hospital with me shortly, to check on Rene and Tracey and appologize," he says sternly. "You gotta use that area blast with more care, missy. That's the second time you caused a lot of damage with it. Glass doesn't stand up well to things like that."


Vincent

Glaring back, Vince seems to have some fire in his eyes too, "Yeah, we should just run and hide under our beds and do nothing until the senior squad gets back. If we are supposed to be heroes then we have to be heroic. Tell me how things would have improved if I just let Split capture me too instead of fighting back? You expect us to put our lives on the line every freaking day we are here and usually for people we don't know or for a cause we couldnt care less about. And we do it. Mutant or not, Nurse Ogawa is here of her own accord same as me and I would do the exact same thing again. So would you. What if Michele and I werent here? Split could have done whatever he wanted to Nurse Ogawa. Then who would you try to lay the blame on. If you guys dont trust us to make our own decisions, you better not all go running off at once. Besides it's not like it was an uneducated risk. We have fought Split before and he has used stun guns before. Not to mention, we wouldnt have my little captive if I just rolled over and played dead like you seem to think is such a good idea."

"And how the hell did you get video footage? ARIS and security was down in that section of the building the whole time."

"Partner, it's time to get your head out of your ass and start taking responsibility for your actions like Michelle. What you did wasn't heroic, and it sure wasn't a calculated risk. It was reckless, dangerous and nearly cost Nurse Ogawa her life! He may have used a stun gun before, but what part of you was remembering when he killed the Mag-Lev pilot in cold blood? What part took into account Nurse Ogawa's husband and two kids? And you'd do the same thing again? This isn't like the comics, kid. People die when you put them in harms way.

"And listen close, partner. Nurse Ogawa is not here for the same reasons as you are. She's not going out in the field doing investigations and battling crime. She's not battling mutants and normals. She's a nurse. She has nothing to do with combat. Her life isn't expendable like you seem to think it is! None of the staff here should be treated that callously! There is a difference between a bystander and a combatant, and you better learn right quick which is which.

"I thought you had a handle on it really. You take down those thugs at the mall to stop them from shooting more people. You took down the Murphy feller and stopped him from hurting more people. But Split gave you a chance to not have any bloodshed, and you just passed it up. You got enough experiences under your belt to make a better decision than that.

"I'm gettin' darn glad that all the cameras have data chips installed. A few outside got erased from Michelle's magnetic field, but I downloaded the rest back into ARIS now that she's up. And seein' the footage, I'm gettin' a picture that you think you're faster than someone who just needs to pull a trigger to kill a hostage.

"If at any point you decide that being in EPIC aint what you want, that saving people, mainly people you don't know, and fighting crime and terror, usually for governments or causes you don't care about, isn't what you want to do, just say the word and we'll scratch your name off the list. It's that easy. But if you actually want to be here, you learn from your mistakes, and this one was a doozy you don't want to make again. You aint the only one to get people hurt by making stupid mistakes, and you won't be the last. In fact, you'll make lots more, I guarantee. And you'll find out that getting crap from me or Thunder is a cakewalk opposed to the crap we normally have to deal with from the press.

"Here's a good file for you to read before bed. I'll download it to your e-mail. Now get goin', and it'd probably be a darn good idea to start sucking up to Ogawa asap, or the next time you are in the infirmary, she may run out of oral thermometres. Or worse yet, confuse them. She likes black orchids," he finishes, lighting up another cigarette. He rubs his forehead.

"Ah, there's that vein."

Just for when you look at the file, the file itself is a wondefully huge collection of news reports bashing EPIC for mistakes they've made. The standard big news ones about Titan are in there, when he really blew it in front of the cameras. But you find one particularly interesting, from Europe a number of years ago, when Trailblazer made a far worse mistake than you did in similar circumstances, that got six people killed foiling a bank robbery in Germany. Apparently, someone else thought they were faster than trigger fingers.

It's a huge file, several hours long in fact. Might just give you some benefit to read and watch it all...

Michelle

"About the girl, I don't think she is a criminal per say, more than likely being manipulated by Split somehow. She is only around 13 years old and now thanks to a certain couple of students," she says glancing over towards were Vince is standing, "is probably more scarded than she has ever been, I realise we can't have her running around but could I at least bring her some food and blankets?"

"I wouldn't blame Vince for scaring the girl. In fact, frightening her probably stopped her from escaping back into the network. Cosmo told me what he did, but it was better than hurting her still. And don't worry about her. She'll be fine in the holding cell. We aren't M-Tac. She got a change of clothes, fed and a cot to sleep on until she calms down or Grandmother or Angelique get back. Maybe we'll get lucky and get an actual lead on where Split holes up.

China
Raisa

"Do you get some sort of sick pleasure from all this?" Raisa glances over her shoulder at Xi, an unimpressed expression on her face. "And just who are you anyway? You look so much like X12 it's uncanny."

She turns back to Jackal, adjusting her grip on the staff, and strikes him again. "This so totally sucks. Is he going to remember any of this? I mean, I like the guy when he's not all wanting to rip your heart out."

As she talks, she will continue to hit him - reluctantly and not enjoying any of it of course.

"I get no joy from this," he says, his rasping voice making it hard to tell what his emotions are. He stands and comes over to you, stopping your swings. He takes the staff from you briefly. "But he will not regain control if you do not wear the monster down. Strike him here and here," he says, delivering two sharp blows to Jackal's thighs and calves. "As well as here, and here," he says, striking his upper and lower arms. "And here, with a thrust," he says, jabbing the staff into Jackal's stomach, causing the slavering wolf boy to double over. "You need not use so much force. Tire his muscles, wind him, and he will yield," he finishes, handing you back the staff. He turns and walks towards his mat.

"He will remember it all," he says as he walks, "and be thankful to you for helping him regain control." You notice a tatoo on the back of his neck as he walks away, due to your superior vantage point. It is partially covered by his collar he wears, but you can figure it out easily enough.

X3.