<strong>Hero Points:</strong>4 (Rakutsu), 3 (Amy), 2 (Everyone Else);<strong>Luck Points:</strong>3/5 Conditions: None<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=331796.msg15966856#msg15966856">Quote from: Raku on 29-08-2021, 03:02:52</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”How did this happen?” Rakutsu asked with a slight hint of worry. A small part of him started to cringe at the idea of what could have caused the injury. ”Did you cut yourself on something? Stabbed by flying debris?” He was on his knees, so he can be at eye level with the scar. </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>“Honestly I don’t remember,” Chris answered. “One moment I was walking around with Eliza and the next thing I got zapped and tumbled into something sharp. Probably one of the buildings or pipes broken from the Silver Storm.”<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”I’ll let you be the first to see any if I get one.” He smiled up at Chris to make him feel a bit better.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>“Heh, well I’ll look forward to that...well probably not. Would hate to see you get hurt.”<br/><br/>He started to scratch his head. “Umm, thanks for visiting man. You’re actually the first one to do that; it means a lot.”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Rakutsu gains a Hero Point</div></div><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Once all that was finished, he gave a flat look to Leslie’s choice in costume. <br/><br/>”Any reason you chose to expose your chest and crotch like that?” Seriously, her costume has two big holes to let her boys go free! Sure they are still covered, but still! Did she know about the distraction tactic or was she feeling adventurous? His hope was placed in the former.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>“Because I like it, okay?” Leslie retorted defensively. “Besides, the plants make for good armor already.”<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”Sure....” He gave Amy a doubting look (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/opbs2yrb-II/hqdefault.jpg) in regards to her sword. No one with sense just brings props out to fight with. ”Also, why is it see through?”</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>“Because I like it?” Amy responded. “It’s not showing off<em>that much.”</em><br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”Jealousy isn’t a good look for you, Leslie.” He teased regarding the size of the psychic’s chest. It was a good tactic to separate her civilian identity, but he was still iffy on the amount of skin showing. Why do heroines insist on skimpy costumes so much? He needs to do research on that. <br/><br/>”It looks like throwing Lesile’s and Amrita’s costumes together makes a complete one....” This kid really had no fear of a woman’s potential wrath, did he?</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><br/>Rakutsu felt a fibrous tendril snake its way around his left leg.<br/><br/>“Neither is being shallow, Rakutsuuuu,” Leslie hummed. Thankfully the vine receded when Amy crossed over to their field of vision.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”I like it! It’s simply and effective for good movement!” Somehow, Kaitlyn’s was the only one he didn’t have criticism for.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Kaitlyn cheered at Rakutsu (and the rest of the group’s) positive reinforcement. “Thanks, I feel great in it, too!”<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">”I’m perfectly fine with the usage of your telepathy.” He said without hesitation. ”Its a effective means of keeping communication with each other, if she can maintain it while doing other things. Possibly better than communicators, but keeping them on hand is good too. You all have your own opinions on it, but don’t deny the usefulness of it. But I’m good with using old fashion eat pieces until you guys get more comfortable with the idea.” He placed a lot of trust in them and Amrita. Hearing her voice at the park helped give him good experience with it.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Kaitlyn suddenly moved into a brisk pace. “Oh I just remembered! I’ve got stuff to show you all!”<br/><br/>The others followed suit, finding her about to open up a sleek back box. Inside were various tools and devices wrapped in plastic, albeit it was clear many were already opened.<br/><br/>“I’ve got some things that’ll be useful for our secret identities if we’re serious about this,” she said as she removed a bag with a half-dozen SD cards and ear buds.<br/><br/>“On the cards are programs that give false movement data to your smartphones. If we start moving fast and flying vast distances, the GPS satellites will pick up on that. You should also make it so that they can’t auto-connect to WiFi hotspots when traveling.”<br/><br/>She passed the devices to the others. “The ear buds are commlinks. And if you give me a day or so I can even set up auto-messaging systems for your phones that can Tweet and do other stuff while we’re...busy, to keep up appearances.”<br/><br/>“I’d rather not have a robot pretending to be me online,” Leslie said. “Particularly if it sends something out that’ll get us cancelled.”<br/><br/>“Well, I’ll make adjustments to avoid that too.”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OCC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Everyone gets a Hero Point for good role-play!<br/><br/>The gear is an effective free rank in the Equipment advantage, granting everyone a Commlink and smartphone (audio recorder, computer, GPS, visual recorder combined into 1 piece of gear). The anti-tracking software is merely an explanation for how superheroes don’t blow their identities via their smartphone tracking data.</div></div><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: impact;"><strong>The First Patrol</strong></span></span><br/><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/SplUHNA.jpeg)</div><br/>The next few days proved to be very productive in regards to training. When Amy wasn’t exercising or sparring she practiced speaking with various insects and issuing them simple orders and tasks. Leslie set up a miniature garden, experimenting with various plants and took to carrying bags of seed in a utility belt. Kaitlyn was busy putting together gadgets for herself and the team, fashioning a needle-like sword and wrist-mounted dart-launcher for Amy that can deliver nonlethal chemicals to tire out potential evildoers along with miniature ‘sticky grenades’ that send out a cloud of metal homing pellets to knock out specific targets when detonated. For herself Kaitlyn made modified stun guns, using tonfas as the foundation. She also got her hands on smoke pellets and flash bang grenades alongside more common-sense gear like a first aid kit purchased from a pharmacy. Back home Ryoko and Teruko were particularly nice lately, having things set and chores done by the time Rakutsu got back home while asking about his day. They were certainly more chatty than last week.<br/><br/>It’s been a little over a week since the Silver Storm struck. Although already present days before, the news reported that Daedalus and Dr. Metropolis of the Freedom League were meeting with city council leaders and repairing damages. Ecstatic texts from Rakutsu’s friends confirmed that Rex and Adolfo were out of the hospital, and Chris got out earlier on account of his good health. Things were seeming to look up now.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Where was the Freedom League during all this time?</div><div class="spoiler_body">If Rakutsu cares to check out freedomleague.net and various world news, he’d learn that Johnny Rocket, Star Knight, and Thunderbolt were busy taking down a terrorist cell that managed to rediscover and rearm a lost Soviet nuclear missile silo in Kazakhstan. Siren and members of the Atlantean royal family were saving Syrian refugee ships in the Mediterranean from being sunk by the Blood Eagle, a xenophobic supervillain and self-described “Defender of the West.” Centuria was in space saving astronauts from a malfunctioning space shuttle, while Daedalus and Lady Liberty were dealing with a rampaging kaiju off the coast of Hawaii. Bowman and Dr. Metropolis spent the last few days disarming the scattered Midnight Sun bombs in Freedom City that were set up by the cold-themed supervillain Madame Zero.</div></div><br/>One Saturday evening after a hard day’s training, Rakutsu and his proteges were eating out at a thankfully-undemolished Thai restaurant. The loud screech of tires followed by the sounds of car alarms going off in the distance alerted their attention.<br/><br/>“Oh no, that sounded like a car crash!” Kaitlyn exclaimed.<br/><br/>Amy ripped open a packet of chili powder, watching as a once-hidden bug flew towards it. She let out a quick clicking of her tongue and then it flew off.<br/><br/>“Guys, this is not a drill, or a car crash,” she said after some time, her voice halting.<br/><br/>Amrita’s eyes narrowed. “Well, this is what we’ve been preparing for.”<br/><br/>Her next words came telepathically.<em>Suit up.</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/CLLaUGQ.jpeg)</div>Scene Music (Deux Ex: Human Revolution: Milwaukee Junction) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlB3w-gmXLw)<div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/dDT9Qif.jpeg)</div><br/><br/>Skid marks and broken glass left no doubt as to the source of the crash: a van plowed through the front door of a building bearing the sign<strong>Red Jade Imports.</strong><br/><br/>Three men nonchalantly exited the deliberately-crashed van as the occupants within the building scattered. Two of the men were tall and muscular, appearing like otherwise normal humans save for one silver arm gauntlet on each of them. The third man was much shorter, barely breaking five feet and with iron-colored flesh that glinted in the light. They all had M4 carbines, the taller men already had them drawn and loaded but the shorter man still had it slung over his back.<br/><br/>“How long are you two dweebs going to give me the silent treatment and let me in on the plan?” the short man asked.<br/><br/>“Guard the front door with Bryce,” the taller black man answered. “If I find anything on the floors above, he’ll tell ya.”<br/><br/>The short metallic man rolled his eyes. “Long as you don’t cramp my style.”<br/><br/>Bryce, the blonde man, gestured with his gun at an office worker standing in the open frozen in shock. “Looks like we got a popsicle, Manning.”<br/><br/>The black man was about to move, but the metallic man raised his hand.<br/><br/>Don't worry, I got this. Go on, get out of here!"<br/><br/>Clapping his hands together, the loud<em>clang</em>snapped the person out of his senses and he ran away through the emergency exit.<br/><br/>“Idiot, he could’ve been our hostage,” Manning said as he started to ascend a flight of stairs.<br/><br/>“Pshh, that’s not my style. This gun, and these guns,” the short man said as he flexed his biceps, “are for cops and supes, not civvies.”<br/><br/>All the while, an unassuming fly on the wall watched and listened to the unfolding events...<br/><br/><hr/><br/>“I don’t know what’s up with the gauntlets,” Amy began, “but the third guy’s a metahuman if I ever saw one.”<br/><br/>She worriedly looked out over at the opposite building from which the criminals occupied. The building itself was six stories tall, while the Menagerie was located on the roof of a nearby fourth-story building. Kaitlyn nervously checked her wrist-mounted computer while Leslie grilled Amrita and Rakutsu for advice. Below, near the ground floor, the blonde man and the metal man were keeping watch for anybody brave or foolish enough to approach.<br/><br/>“Well, what do we do?”Leslie asked. “Do we even know what they’re looking for?”<br/><br/>“If they’re there to steal something, they certainly aren’t being subtle about it,” Amrita answered. “They’re probably looking for someone or something in the company. Something either very, very valuable or very, very illegal. We should prioritize getting any civilians on the upper floors to safety.”<br/><br/>“A SWAT vehicle’s on the way,” Kaitlyn said as her computer played chatter from a police radio. “ETA ten minutes.”<br/><br/>Leslie gritted her teeth. “Just three guys with guns, one’s splitting up, one doesn’t want any hostages, and the Freedom League’s in town. They’re really confident or really stupid.”<br/><br/>“Or really powerful,” Amy added.<br/><br/>“So Ra-I mean Sleeping Wyvern!” Leslie exclaimed. “Got any ideas?”<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Rakutsu knows that Red Jade Imports is a possible front company for the Sun Yee On Triad. Most of the people there are regular workers, all the better to have the appearance of a legitimate business, although it’s most likely that one of the managers is in on it (or being coerced to let them use their business).</div></div>