As Richter and X jog toward the plant, Firedrake circles in the air till he sees the van. They do not expect a dragon and thus are fully unprepared when their windshield explodes under the force of a claw reaching through to grab the wheel. The van, still 2 blocks away from the power plant, careens and falls on its side into a ditch. From the inside, sounds of muffled shouts and loading clips are heard.

Android starts jogging toward the radio station and finally sees it, power generator outside and all... guarded by a quartet of armed terrorists. He is far enough away not to attract attention yet... which means rather far being that they are on the lookout and have scopes and automatic weapons.

Richter and X approach the power plant, the place with the heaviest concentration of remaining terrorists. The outer perimeter, surrounded by the twisted remains of a fence, still has a number of still burning cars and debris around it making the area thick with smoke and making those who still breathe have to move carefully through the chemical laden air. The pair are able to regroup on the other side of an overpass directly adjacent to the plant, where they can peek around and get a full view of the collected terrorists moving the crates into the building. There seem to be 10 or so with 2 big guns and numerous small arms between them. They also seem to be yelling frantically into the radio.

Meanwhile, the building full of civilians is still burning...

Richter signals to X to duck behind one of the larger pieces of wreckage before quickly surveying the area. He looks over at X, "Any plan or do we just charge?" he whispers.

"I run in and block, that should minimize the amount of fire you take going in and with any luck these two frisbees of mine might take out the heavy guns on the way in as well."

((Incorporating myself into the action "as if I'd always been there", which seems to be what would work better. Stretches believability a bit, but oh well))

Glowbe runs to the radio station behind Android, as ordered, and when she catches up to him outside the perimeter of the building, she offers her help in a low voice.

"I could give any or both of us a shield that would considerably reduce the damage we could receive from their guns, but it would make us visible. I could also help in taking them down non-lethally, but only at short range."

With that, she looks at her companion and waits, as if expecting orders from him.

Android peers at the terrorists. What worked once might work again. The weakness of a scope is the narrow field of vision you have while employing it so even if he were to draw a little fire it would give Glowbe the chance to flank.

[If possible he'll alter his eufiber to match the color of the pavement Wits+Style maybe? 7d10]

"I'm going to try to get a little closer and put one in 'the World'. If I'm spotted I expect they will fire on me, use that opportunity to flank them."

Kyle gives what he hopes to be a reassuring smile before dropping to the ground and beginning a low crawl towards the group using whatever cover he can find [Dex+Stealth 5d10]. At a low crawl i expect it will be next round before he is in range to use a power.

If he goes unseen he'll stop about 50 yards away and place one of them in 'the World' 6d+1Mega and make it appear as though some SWAT members have come around the nearest corner opposite his friends so that he fires across them. Depending on his level of influence he may also move the positions ofhis friends so that they appear to be out of harms way when they are in reality very much in the way.

"Sounds good. Then we'll follow in right behind that" X whisper's back.

"I can handle the small arms fire no sweat, so just be sure you hit those big guns or we might be in a bit of troube."


Will activate FF once Richter throws the "frisbees" and will attack all terrorist with his "Force claws"

Richter stands from behind the burned out wreck, sights one of the heavy guns and slings one of the sewer caps toward the weapon. He then immediately begins to charge toward the power station and throws the second sewer cap at the other heavy gun emplacement as soon as he has a clear shot.

.

One of the Jack's at the burning building looks around for a fire hydrant and (assuming he spots one), starts to give orders to the others.

You, change and knock that thing over, then take two others and gate to the radio station.
You, make a gate between the water and the fire.

At the sound of weapons loading in the van, Siggy 'adjusts' his plan and swoops over to face the undercarriage, unleashing a gout of flame (4d to hit, [4] + 4d Lethal damage) at the gas-tank, hoping somewhat optimistically for a Hollywood-style explosion. He is hovering 10 meters away from the van, only a yard off the ground, which probably isn't the best plan, but he's in a hurry...

A host of events happen across the city at the same time.

Richter flings two sewer caps, the first catching the preoccupied guard neatly in the chest taking him a good 10 yards back, most likely dead and the second misses its mark by only a few inches, instead crashing loudly into a steel girder behind and rebounding into a pile of metal debris. The guards are all caught shocked for a moment as the stony giant begins to rush and then they open fire. They take less notice of X, allowing him an alternate route around the wreck of a truck and putting him among the crates and in direct hand to hand range of the terrorists.

The jacks, working in concert, manage to find not only a hydrant but a city water main... as one of them shifts into a mirrory substance, the other opens a gate... just as he is doing this, he also notices feeble cries for help, in a language he doesnt understand, from a car wreck nearby. Apon further inspection it looks to be a mother and wounded young son trapped by cars on either side. The boy does not look to be in good condition, being pierced by broken glass.

Firedrake whirls around in the air, having ample time to recover long before the startled terrorists in the van do, and unleases a full gout of flame. As if by design, the crash had pierced the gas tank just enough that the fire hits its mark and, true to wishes, the van explodes in a fireball... MUCH bigger than Siggi expected, sending him hurtling backwards and slamming into the support of an overpass. While he isnt permanantly damaged, he shakes his head dazed and wipes blood from his lip, which he bit. His shoulder also got a sharp chunk of chainlink fence inbedded in it which he gingerly extracts. (2 levels lethal... the van clearly contained not only detonators but also explosives)

The explosion is loud enough to be heard even at the power plant, the burning building and the radio station.

Android sneaks slowly as close as he can get to the terrorists, though this area of the city is not covered in debris so it is less forgiving for deception. It takes longer than expectd with the 4 guards on the sharp alert around the whirring generator. Finally, Android belly crawls behind a low hedge half way around the building putting him in range for his "world". The terrorist opens fire through one of his comrades and part of the generator which promptly start making loud clunking noises, though not quite stopping. The others fire in the direction he is firing in, though the one hit manages to spin in place and then duck out of the way. All are now very aggitated, enough so that the first who fired spins and catches another one, this time in the face, with a full burst. At this point, the original wounded one fires a single shot into the affected one, ending his seeming madness. Still, the remaining three are firing randomly in a number of directions.

Moving with the Quickness that only a Nova can,
using the explosion as his chance to catch the terrorists by surprise, X unleashes a barrage of kicks and punches to take out the terrorists as quickly as he can.

Glowbe attempts to use the confusion created by Android's little trick to approach the confused terrorists without being noticed, and then quickly knocking them out by launching her globes at them, before they hurt themselves or anyone else.

Muttering an impressive stream of German curse-words, Siggy pulls himself to his feet, and uses his Nova stamina to begin Regenerating the wounds he's taking. [Only 1 per round, so it will take him 3 rounds to heal the damage from this explosion and the previous gunfire.]

He takes to the air, and resumes his trek to the power plant.

Realizing that there's no point in being quiet Richter lets out a great bellow and charges the nearest group of men. Charging into the group of men Richter swings his massive hands about him batting people out of the way with his titanic strength or grabbing them bodily and hurling the into their peers.

The Jack holding open the gate yells at another to investigate but continues to concentrate on keeping the gate open and shifting water into the fire.
Jack briefly wonders,
*What language is that? Maybe Portuguese? Uh-oh, he’s hurt pretty bad, worse than I’m going to be able to deal with.*

To the woman (In Spanish)

“Stay there. Help is on its way”.

He yells to the others (In English)

“I’ve got a seriously wounded here. I need someone strong to move a car, and maybe evac afterwards.”

The Mirror’ed Jack hesitates and looks back at the one of the others, who gestures for him to move to the car. He will move the car to gain access to both of them and get a better look at the kid’s injuries.

Startled by the explosions and the scattered fire of confused terrorists Android stays out of eyeshot hoping Globe can handle things from there.

If the generator they were using is no longer functional he tries to contact the rest of group. If it's still working he'll attempt to Control the generator [Man+CK 7d+1Mega] from his maximum range and force it off, then send a message to the group for a status report.

Richter, taking bullets left and right which are not piercing his armored hide, manages to scatter the cluster of terrorists by fear first and brute force second. In a very short amount of time, the small group around the crates of what now turn out to quite possibly be nuclear has run, taking pot shots behind, or been beaten into submission.

Those who tried to escape via vehicles found the furious claws and stinging blows of X, blocking off the escape route to behind the power plant or to standing trucks. X only had to seriously injure one with his claws, the others were simply pummeled or intimidated. Now 3 of the criminals are in custody, 6 others have been rendered unconscious, 1 is in serious condition from X's claws and 3 have fled the scene. The crates of explosives have been secured and, from the looks of them, are lead shielded. A chill runs up your spine at the potential harm that could have been done if things are as they seem.

Siggy arrives at the power plant in time to see Richter and X finish their work.

The gate above the burning building is steadily pouring water down over the fire. It is having some effect but it is only one gate and it is a raging fire. At this point, the entire front facade of the building is an inferno. It would be a miracle if there were survivors and yet, with the newfound freedom afforded them, the firefighters have resumed their fight.

The child Jack found seems to be breathing irregularly and covered in blood... from a glance, the mother has gone into shock as well, more from terror for her child, but is still conscious enough to begin to plead for help. The mirrored Jack rips away at the mangled car in front of them, sadly noting the slumped over body in the drivers seat, and disengages the wreck enough for the door to be opened. The mother, not really knowing what to do, waits with mouth drawn closed and eyes fll of tears, not sure what she should do next. She is too scared for her child to be full of fear or panic.

Glowbe manages to get off a square hit on one of the terrorists but not quite enough to take him out of the fight. He is clobbered pretty hard and sent reeling off balance against the generator, dropping his gun, but is beginning to regain his balance. The gunmen, still full of panic, pull together enough to pinpoint Glowbes direction and begin to fire at her.

Meanwhile, the generator whirs to a halt from Chronogeists mechanations. He remains unseen.

Suddenly, everybodys communications earpieces buzz for a moment and come to life.

In a few breathless sentences, Alecia appraises everybody to everybody elses situation and location.

**Damn wrong Ident.**

Richter looks about the area, it appears that the situation is under control here. Exiting the building Richter waves to Siggy, "You and X stay here and keep the area under control, I'm going to see if the others can use my help."

With that Richter takes off at a run, his massive frame and loping stride leaving crater like footprints in the asphalt.

Jack says to her and over the radio,

(In English) “In about 30 seconds I’m going to make a gate back to Utopia medical. As many wounded as possible should go through then.”

The mirrored Jack pulls the car apart until he can get at the kid, then he and the unmirrored Jack check to see where all the blood is coming from. If either of them can figure that out and it something he can deal with (by applying pressure perhaps) then he will do so. Regardless, the mirrored Jack will pick up the kid, and move to where the gate will form. The unmirrored Jack will yell to the mother, (In Spanish) “Follow me” and try to get her to follow.

Fearing for the safety of his companion Android scans the surrounding area for a car, truck, van or bus (preferably one that was abandoned while still running). The first one he sees he will try to Control [6d+1Mega, +1 WP].

The vehicle will target the terrorists, activate the emergency/parking brake, gun the engine up to 8000rpms, then release the brake causing it to speed into their fortification scattering them or at least drawing their fire. (If the car was on I guess this would be a Drive maneuver roll [6d, I'm using Wits rather than dex since it's mind controlled] maybe with a diff similar to that of emergency stop. If he has to start the car first this won't happen till next round)

Watching Richter take off X turns to Siggy "You should go with him to. I'll finish securing things here while you guys take care of that fire and getting those civilians out."

X makes sure that all the terrorists are firmly secured including the ones unconscious. He radio's in for medical personal to assist in helping the one he serious injured, taking his time in doing so.

Seeing the weapons pointed at her, Glowbe lifts a shield around herself as quickly as possible, the glowing bubble hopefully stopping most of the bullets. She thinks of shouting at them to surrender, but then realizes it would be pointless to try and get heard over the noise of the automatic weapons, so she tries to knock another one down, see if they get the message.

Responding to Xavier's last comments, Siggy curtly says, 'Right!' and taking one last look at the power plant location and not seeing any more immediate crises cropping up, Siggy wheels in midair and heads for the people in need of rescue.

Any wounded he finds en route, he'll, as gentle as possible, scoop up with his oversized talons of coherent force, and bring to Jack's position for evacuation.

The gunmen open fire on Glowbe just as she gets her shield up, allowing only one bullet to get through first... that bullet, however, clips the hapless Elena on the side of her torso, entering and exiting the skin next to her stomach. A burst of pain and spray of blood later, Glowbes shield takes the remainder of the bullets but she stumbles back in shock. (3 levels lethal)

Looking frantically around the area, Android spots just what he needs... an automated car. In this modern age, enough cars exist with fully computerized navigation systems... perfect for the situation. The car silently whirs to life as Androids willpower projects over and through it and slowly circles for a minute to face the furiously firing terrorists. Android starts in panic for a moment when he sees Glowbe take a hit to the stomach and almost looses his concentration but manages to focus it into speed as the cars wheels screech on the broken street, heading for the terrorists. They do not manage to dodge to the side as the newish Ford Comet plows into them and scatters the two firing into the air with the crack of bones and broken weapons.

The remaining terrorist ended up being a single techie in the radio tower who gives himself up shortly after seeing the shattered remains of his brethren.

The building is doused by Jacks gate and soon Siggi is tearing apart the building looking for wounded. Glowbe is quickly treated by the paramedics who, now that the danger is over, seemingly flood the streets. The team reacted in enough time to minimize the deaths, though even after the carnage many people are wounded, dying and dead. It takes the team the rest of the day to evacuate those affected by the loss of power, those hurt by debris, those burned and those shot. The death toll totals around 130 and the wounded are three times that. Nothing remotely near the amount that would have been affected if the cases of spent uranium were linked up to the detenator. A minor nuclear explosion at the epicenter of the city would have taken out over a million innocent people.

The group claiming responsibility, at least the most likely of the few that do, is a fringe group of political extremists fighting for certain border separation. This was fueled by a recent raid by the government into one of their enclaves where a number of people, including innocents, were gunned down. You all read the briefing, disgusted at both parties. You saved many lives which is the most important thing.

After 20 hours of hard work, you are all flown back to the nearest Utopia outpost and, after a brief rest, back to home base. Being that the team is a satelite team, home is the remarkable and unique ship, the Prometheus. It is not only the base of T2M Satelite, it is also Utopias first mobile Rashoud facility, made for moving response to crisis situations that might require Nova outreach and medicine. It is something of a cross between yacht and a miniture aircraft carrier, complete with three helicopter pads, an enormous living area, state of the art medical and nova medical center, recreation area, public area for guests and tours, nova sciences lab and even a heavily fortified above deck area for power testing. It is as much part of the PR stunt as you are and somewhat revolves around you. It is currently docked in Cuba, where you are all flown.

Everybody flops down on the oversized couches in your suite common room, stunned by the amount of work, physical and emotional, that you were just put through. The huge flatscreen stays silent as the room as you all finally breathe a sigh of rest and relief.

Once aboard the ship and in his cabin Richter concentrates on his node, squeezing the flow of Quantum to his body until it is reduced to less than a trickle. His rocky body falls away leaving the much less impressive, or imposing, figure of Jameson behind. He quickly removes his damaged working gear and dresses casually before joining his teammates in the rec room.

Not many on the ship besides his teammates realize that Jameson and Richter are the same person and he likes to keep it that way, as such he maintains a private cabin and has requested special close circuit monitors so that he can ensure that he leaves and enters his cabin unnoticed in human form.

Flopping down on a couch he lets out a sigh of relief, "It feels nice to relax doesn't it? Anybody want to get some dinner later? There's a great place in Havana the cook told me about, It'd fun if we could try it out..."

After the only work left is for the paramedics, Siggy returns with the others to the Prometheus.

His draconic energy-aura fades away, leaving him spotless and unsullied, as if he had not spent the last hours digging through burnt-out shells of buildings searching for survivors, and carrying bodies, some living, some not.

He's quiet on the trip back to the ship, and while he's never exactly chatty, he's always a larger than life presence, and tonight, he seems somehow smaller than normal.

He goes to his room, changes out of his Utopia uniform, which is marred by a single bullet-hole, even if the injury is long since healed by his regenerative Nova metabolism, and returns to the common room in time for Jameson's mention of dinner.

"Hell yes. I could eat a horse."

Jameson snorts, "Taking the whole dragon thing a little too far aren't we?" he quips.

"I could use a drink or ten as well, I'm not yet used to the messy kind of buisness we're in."

Elena let herself fall on a couch, her uniform becoming a pair of faded jeans and an ancient-looking tee with a slogan printed on it that was so deteriorated as to be unreadable. Her wound didn't seem to be bothering her much, but she looked absolutely exhausted. She simply looked up at the ceiling, her face an uncharacteristic neutral blank. Although at Jameson's question she managed to look at the rest of the people gathered and give a slightly weak, small smile before speaking.

"You're right, we all need some rest and refreshment. If we're allowed to, It'd be nice to get out a while. And... yes, have a drink or two."

X changes his eufiber into a t-shirt and some baggy jeans as he lounges in the break room. He turns on the TV to looking to catch up on some baseball scores.


Richter's offer to catch something to eat reaches X's ears. "Yeah some grub would hit the spot right about now. Count me in."

To Glowbe X goes "Are you up for this Elana" he asks. His concern for her is very evident "You took quite a shot out there, and I wouldn't want you overtaxing your self right now."

Jack not so much sits as lays in his chair and with his eyes closed sorts through his memories.

Jack says,

"As badly as I need to sleep and sort, if I go to sleep this hungry I'll really suffer for it latter. I'm in."

Jack picks up his cell phone, hits quick dial, and says (probably into an answering machine),

"I'm back. I'm OK but I'm not going to be good for anything until I get some food and sleep. I'll call later."

After seeing one of his team-mates shot in front of him and the chaos resulting from his impromptu use of a vehicle as a projectile Android stays quiet for most of his trip home, he checks his email every 20 miutes and searches news sites almost obsessively.

Rather than return to the Prometheus with the rest of the team he returns to his permanent address to decompress and spend time with his wife.

While home he makes an appointment with a Project Utopia counselor. He talks about the event, his expectations and his reaction.

"... At 50 yards away a man getting shot is just like the movies, he spins and falls down. At 20 yards away, 2 men run down by a vehicle you are moving with your mind is considerably more graphic. I am concerned I may have used excessive force..."

The counselor went to great lengths to explain that in the heat of a situation with the lives of so many others on the line his actions were understandable. She said that other novas in his position have had fewer options, some have no choice but to use external powers with many times the destructive power of a conventional firearm to prevent someone from harming the innocent and that in the future he should recall that incident and recognize that he is capable of making the right choice in an emergency. The therapist recommended he speak to his wife about the incident since it was clearly causing him trouble and adding a confused spouse to his stressors was unwise.

Kyle found himself in an awkward position when he spoke to his wife Janice about it. He explained that he had killed two men and she just sort of stared at him blankly. After a moment of silence she said something that almost chilled him to the bone.

"Well that's what you do isn't it. I mean that's why you have powers right, so you can cut out the BS paperwork and stuff that holds back the cops and do what you need to to help people right?"

It only took a second for him to remember that Janice had come from a puertorican ghetto in southern California. Where she grew up it was a coin toss if the cops would show for a shooting so it should come as no surprise she would want novas to be avengers, but to hear it stated so bluntly was, was... jarring.

Dinner in Havana is catered and pomped, as the newest members of T2M would be far too conspicuous to just slum. Starlords seems the obvious option, being that you can get there in as public a fashion as possible and then, after your grand entrance, eat in relative piece. Utopia is surprisingly flexible about letting you keep to yourself when off duty, an unexpected perk in the face of their very dominant reputation. The basic line is "Just remember, you are always on call" so as long as you keep your company issued cellphones on, you are more or less free to do as you please.

"Still, remember Havanas reputation. You are Novas but so are some of the seedier elements there. Havanas underbelly is very dangerous both to you physically and ESPECIALLY politically. Meaning, keep your noses clean! There is alot of temptation out there that would look great in a paper. Page one, Nova saves the world. Page two, photo of said nova in a drug addled brothel. Get the picture?"

Needless to say, the crowds greet you with enthusiasm wherever you go... that is, when they recognise you. The whole terrorist disaster is so new that your next big publicity is going to hit in a few hours, leaving you in a strange place of between stardom. Even now, you can hear murmurs of people talking about a terrorist attack in South America, but the details are just filtering out. Tomorrow you expect to see your faces on every newspaper in existence. Tonight you are simply more Utopian celebrities.

Android passes on dinner, looking pale and haunted, and took a helicopter to the nearest airport and a ride home. The others made their way into the Havana night.

At Starlords, after your red carpet parade, the team of you is ushered to a table on a raised dias where people can see you but not close enough to be pesky about it. The crowds are more polite about your stardom than you might expect, applause and cheers more than autograph signing. Course, it really depends on the timing and night, not the nature of fandom. The photos never stop outside, the paparazzi in full swing, but private photos are not allowed inside, strictly enforced. There is opportunity for Novas, if they want, to take pictures with waiting fans, but that is again a specially sectioned off area. You mostly get applause as you walk through the resturant. About 3 minutes into dinner, a massive bald figure approaches your table. It is none other than Lance Stryker, the infamous XWF powerhouse and media heel. His table, on the next raised dias, is flooded with 3 angelicly beautiful girls in evening dresses of young but indeterminate age, 2 important looking men in business suits and 1 other Nova you recognise an XWF newbie. As with any nova approaching anothers table, the resturant hushes a bit to catch the conversation and, on cue, the music gets a bit louder to compensate. He raises a bushy eyebrow at this change and smirks. His normally gravelly fighting voice is toned down to make him sound less the comic book-esque character he usually represents and more like just another person.

"Hey I heard bout what you done with the attack. Just wanted to say congrats. I got friends down there who were grateful."

Jameson plays the roll of Utopian PR rep for the group generally being unobstrusive unless somethign needs dealing with for the group in which case he will work to fix the problem. It's he who sets up their reservations and ensures that they'll have a moderately quiet dinner.

It's strange, he thinks to himself, For all the fame power and wealth I wished I had before erupting and could have now,I relish these moments for compar