Opening Moves Issue #1: Bombs Away

[jasamcarl]

A time for rest. That is what the descending of dusk is suppossed to herald for most people.

But then again, most people haven't experienced a night in Bay City. For the residents of this idyllic west coast metropolis, there is always something to be done in preference to nothing. It's a boom town, flying high on a rising tide of computer and robotics business following the 90s dot com bust. But though the city itself didn't aquire its bread and butter industries until after that financial downturn, it still weighs more heavily on the City's citizens than any power mad scientist, intergalactic conquerer, or assorted other super villian that frequently harrass other communities ever could.

And so the people work and innovate, hoping to make this upward curve of the business cycle permenant. Like viewing the bay itself from a distance on such a night as this, the soaring skyline of the city marked by light from hundreds of different offices gives it a decepting tranquil quality, masking the waves of petty dramas and upsets that work underneath the facade.

Sometimes this energy works its way to the surface, as the bright light and licks of flame emenating from behind the large office buildings, in the inland slums of the city, would indicate...

And sometimes there are those people that rise to the surface as well, not willing to resign their work to the boardrooms and cubicles....

OOC: ok, heroes. Decribe what your pcs are doing on this seemingly nondecript nite. Apologize for being so long winded, btw. Just my take on Marvel's heavy handed narration.

OOC Thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=104522&page=1&pp=20

Character Sheet Thread:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=104633

 

[Hellzon]

Kineto

A time for rest. That is what the descending of dusk is suppossed to herald for most people.
But not for college students, including Jason Nagano. As we readers get a peek through the windows of Jason's miniscule apartment, we see the resident himself by his desk, leaning over a book. Jason looks up, and we get a look at his face. Black hair and almost equally dark eyes are probably the first that gets noticed, before our hero gets up and walks off to the kitchenette.

Hero, you ask? Yes, hero. See that book he was reading? Yes, that one - "Principles of Physics". Well, this particular student violates most of what's in that book on a daily basis. He is Kineto, master of the kinetic forces, protector of the weak and enemy of evil men.

But this evening seems to hold nothing but studying, it seems to Jason, as he returns to his desk with a mug of coffee. Or maybe it does...

 

[Thanee]

Ghost

How does a restless soul rest? A ghost?

Ghost moves along the office cubicles of the Bay City Chronicle, one of the larger newspapers in town. Invisible, intangible, unnoticed. Like Elisa. It's her second visit here during the past weeks, or months? Who knows. Who cares. Noone cares for Elisa anymore.

On her first visit, a while ago, she had found the name, Elisa Cameron, and a mentioning in her file, that this reporter was missing. That was three weeks after she returned to life, or rather unlife. After she became a ghost. The Ghost. Life did just go on as normal then. No mentioning of her name. Nothing. Noone was there who cared for her anymore. Just another entry in the endless list of victims.

Even during the late hours this place is busy, but Elisa isn't around anymore. She isn't around anymore. At least not the way she was used to, whatever that was. The only thing she knows is, that it was different. But nothing had changed tonight. Not that she really expected it. Life's just going on. But this night was quiet until now and so she decided to give the place another visit, maybe some of her memories would be coming back.

Nothing.

 

[Elfy]

Nagi the Stormrider

Two days ago, a single storm cloud moved over the center of Bay City and has lingered stationary high above the buildings despite the ever present strong coastal winds. Although the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning are ever present, the storm cloud has not yet cast down rain on the concrete, steel, and glass below. While not alarming, such unusual behavior is sure to garner the attention of curious meteorologists.

A feminine figure casually lies on her side, one of her arms acting as an improvisational head rest, and observes the citizens scamper about their lives below. A bang of her medium length, silver-white hair slowly slides down in front of her Asian eyes and she moves it back behind her ear with a casual slide of her fingers. Electrical arcs constantly dance around her pupils, playfully flickering across her ice-blue irises. A light breeze blows and rustles the flowing, Asian-styled clothing she wears slightly; the dark shades of black and purple of the more rigid parts of her clothing contrast against the bright, sun-themed colors of the more flowing sections of her clothing, yet somehow don’t seem out of place.

 

[perivas]

Doctor S-3

A lone feminine figure in a labcoat sat atop the five story building watching men load boxes onto a truck in the alley across the street. She was only a barely noticeable silhouette against the otherwise moonless evening sky. Lil' Pete the Snitch had under some duress revealed to her the impending exchange of arms between Crime King's thugs and the extremist terrorist group Al Samar this night. He had told to her that the exchange was happen at an unoccupied warehouse. But given the past economic downturn in Bay City, there were just too many possibilities. Instead, she had scoped out the Crime King's various areas of operation and identified this as the most likely origin of the weapons delivery truck. So, she sat here waiting for the night's events to unfold.

With any luck, Lil' Pete would also be right about the poor quality of the weapons themselves. Crime King...though the leader of a notorious criminal syndicate...was still quite patriotic and would not be inclined to sell out his own country to those such as Al Samar. Lil' Pete had better be right, or this mission was going to turn ugly real fast. A cold wind blows across her face and Doctor S-3 shivers a bit. Reflexively, the nanobots envelope her exposed skin to protect her from this very minor threat. She then wills them to soften just an inch of the concrete block below her to form a more suitable seat. It was going to be a long night after all...might as well get comfortable....

 

[Karl Green]

Spyder

Typing away at the computer, David Johnson sat quietly at the back of the college computer lab, trying to work out the latest problem for tonight's homework. Nothing really new, he sighed and rubbed his temple man not another headache? Just straining my eyes staring at this stupid screen.

Stretching he saves his work and shuts down the computer. Collecting up his papers he heads out the door, not even really looking at the few other fellow students who were still typing away, obvious to everything but the screen in front of them.

Outside, David heads for a side ally smiling for the first time today Ah perfect… this is what I need. A little fresh air and adventure. Maybe some wallcrawling and looking around the city will work the kinks out. Scrambling to the roof of the lab building, David changes out of his 'normal' cloths, his jumpsuit worn underneath, and put them with his dark glasses into his backpack. Slinging it, Spyder now is ready to face the city and the day… not the shy awkward community collage dork, but a hero. Yea, Rose would be proud I sure hope she is ok, but she has to do this alone. Bay City is my city and I am going to make this a place she will be proud to come home to…

With that Spyder heads out into the city… jumping. flipping, running from rooftop to rooftop…

 

[hero4hire]

STRONGARM

Stanley lounged on the leather couch. He payed little attention to the television that was on. The discovery channel was playing a special on Roman History, very similiar any of the previous programs on Rome the channel had shown before. In fact Stanley was to engrossed in his book to know if he had even seen it before. An old worn out paperback was clenched in one ham-hand. It was a book he just picked up at the used bookstore downtown. Old enough the price-tag on the book was 95 cents when it was new. Entitled 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', the essay written on the nature and significance of "quality", fascinated him. Around him in his sunken livingroom, the walls were lined with bookshelves. If the books themselves had any system of arrangement, only Stanley knew, for they seen haphazardly strewn about thier resting places. Books on Taoism sat next to Stephen Hawking's 'Brief History of Time'. JD Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' sat next to a Hypertext Preprocessor Manual. Engrossed as Stanley was, he did not note he was being stalked until it was too late.
'Meow' a black housecat jumped on his chest and batted at the yellowed book.
"Whoa, Behemoth did I forget to feed you?" Stanley asked the cat rubbing it under its chin. The cat purred and hopped down and ran for the food-dish. Stanley got up and stretched. Cracking noises were audible as his joints and spine popped into alignment. He flexed a bit, which wasn't abnormal, Stanley always looked as if he was flexing his overdeveloped physique. He couldn't help it. He walked past several pictures of a muscular kid, him, standing next to various oddly dressed characters. One picture, of his father, was the spitting image of him.
Stanley hurried as the cat continued to protest its hungry condition, louder this time.
"I'm coming...yeeeesh!" he picked up the bag of food and overturned it over the dish. 3 kernals of food fell out..."Damn...forgot to get your food Behemoth." he said to the cat. "Looks like I'll have to go out and get some."

 

[jasamcarl]

Kineto: As you continue to read and brood, you are suddenly shocked to reality by the awareness that you're apartment is rumbling. The vibrations end as quickly as they begin, but outside you hear screaming. Outside your window, you can see some pedestrians walking along your block, murmering to themselves, presumably about what the distrubance was. Some begin running up the rode heading east towards the slums to satisfy their curiosity even as other, poorer looking individuals are desperatly running in the opposite direction.

Ghost: Your reverie is upset by the spectacle of dozens of Chronicle reporters being submerged under a deluge of phone calls, the ringing far outpacing what is normal. Cries erupt from some, "What is it!?" "There's been an explosion...no..more than one in the slums!!" "Gangs are attacking a police station!" Multiple field reporters run over each other, grabbing their jackets as they race out the door towards their story.

Nagi: From your cloud fortress, you are afforded an expansive view of the city. It is a dark thing, little lights speckling the buildings with others racing on the ground between them as homeward bound traffic sets in. That aura of calm is interrrupted by a massive burst of fire that erupts from the more squalid neighborhoods farther inland. Then another explosion sets in near the location of the first. And then another....

Doc S-3: After a few moments more of observation, the truck seems to have been finished loading. It begins to back out of the warehouse. But then, from within the building, a small, bald, chubby man emerges. He runs infront of the truck, blocking its exit, his hands waving wildly, yelling at the driver, "Stop! Stop!!" The driver does so, sticking his head out the side of the window, "What you want, Greasy?" The bald man, irked, keeps his voice high, "He's calling it off. The Boss has something going down in the slums tonight" After a moment, the driver shrugs and drives the car back into the warehouse and the unpacking begins...

Spyder: As you swing and climb amongst Bay City's stone edifices, the nite sky looms large. The glow of stars seems strong tonight, overpowering the man made spectacle that surrounds you, not a common achievement. But then that battle is lost. In the distance towards the inner city, you see several momentary expansions of red and yellow light. It can be little doubt that their has been some sort of bombing...

Strongarm: As you are about to exit your apartment, the monotone voice of the documentary's narrartor is replaced inexplicably by an excited femenine one, "We are sorry to break in, Bay City Residents, but we are getting breaking news. There appears to have been several explosions in the poor landside neighborhoods. We are also recieving reports that a police station is under assault by one or more gangs. We don't know what the exact status of the police station is. The neighborhood has been the site of multiple clashes between gangs loyal to the Crime King and those gangs that refer to themselves as the Black Pool Thugs. As our viewers are aware, the Black Pool has been widely held by city officials to be behind the distribution of the drup known as Mega..."

 

[Karl Green]

Spyder

Spyder: As you swing and climb amongst Bay City's stone edifices, the nite sky looms large. The glow of stars seems strong tonight, overpowering the man made spectacle that surrounds you, not a common achievement. But then that battle is lost. In the distance towards the inner city, you see several momentary expansions of red and yellow light. It can be little doubt that their has been some sort of bombing...

What the...my god! Spyder will pour on as much extra speed as he can and start leaping that way worried about all the people who must have been hurt.
'sprinting speed leaping 120ft

 

[Elfy]

Nagi the Stormrider

Nagi continues to casually watch the many transient lights move though the speckled darkness below her. Low rumbles of thunder and occasional flashes of lightning originate from the large storm cloud which she rests upon, but then the sounds and flashes of explosive force from an unexpected quarter draw her attention more inland. She shifts her eyes and turns her attention towards the area of commotion. Her position shifts to sit mostly upright, using the hand that was her improvisational head rest to support her unbalanced posture, and moves her other hand to rest at her lap. With a neutral expression visible on her face, she says aloud (in Japanese), "Perhaps the time has come for Nagi to venture forth into this new America."

She stands up and then walks towards the edge of the large storm cloud while adjusting her garments slightly. She walks right off the edge, her stride not hesitating any as she does, and as her lead foot comes to 'stand' on air, a tiny, dark cloud immediately forms under foot and expands outwards until it easily accommodates her other foot, which now stands on it as well.

The grey little storm cloud underfoot rumbles slightly and hints of electrical activity as it carries Nagi away from the larger storm cloud towards the commotion off in the distance. The winds of travel flutter Nagi’s clothing and hair, and the coolness of the air seems to not hold any inconvenience for her as she transcends down from the clouds to the maze of concrete, steel, and glass below. She approaches the area of commotion with caution, the small cloud slowing its descent as the area of commotion draws near. She hovers high above the area below and takes gauge of the situation, remaining vigilant all the while should she be threatened with harm by intent or by accident.