Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 2: Resistance

[Joani]

Hicks drew Adrian closer to himself placing his arm over his broad shoulders and spoke in a low voice.

"I know you guys most likely hate the government but I'm here to help you. Now your face seems strangely familiar to me. Ever heard of Valiant? I think you and your sister look like his kids. Maybe you've been too young to know about him but let me say he was one of the most reverred Mutants back in the old days.", he waited a brief moment before he continued looking right into Adrian's eyes.

"What the people need right now is someone just like Valiant. Someone they can look up to and follow no matter the odds. Your semblance to him could rally people, make them fight against these bastards and reclaim what is ours. I'm sorry to put this on your shoulders, kid. I wished we had him back here. He and my stepbrother were friends."

Hicks looked expectantly at Adrian. He knew he was asking a lot from the kid but he had to.

[Adrian Moss]

Yeah, what would Valiant do? What would Dad do? Dad is dead, and for what?

"I'm no Valiant. I'm no leader ... but I'll do my best. Some one has to look after my sister though. I'm the only family she has ever known and I'm not going to let her down."

Stepping away from Hicks,

"I'll go were the most fighting is. It is what I'm best at. I guess that makes me a distraction."

Even if I go it alone, he thought glumly.

[Joani]

Hicks looked at Adrian's sister who was sitting with the other young kids eating her breakfast. He furrowed his brow as he watched her and asked Adrian, "How old is she?"

As Adrian looked over to her he could see that Rebecca was 'growing back' to the size she was before the whole spaceship shit happened. Rebecca seemed oblivious to the changes but the other kids had all stopped eating as the young girl that was just as tall as them got bigger and bigger.

[Adrian Moss]

"Fourteen," he whispered. "She's not ... not fully grown into her powers yet."

Yep, she was growing again, but Adrian couldn't make heads nor tails of what inpsired her changes. The Kid went to her side and held her.

"You are changing again," he whispered. "It's okay, but you need to be aware of it again. You look ... older and your clothes are getting, umm, tighter."

[Joani]

Rebecca didn't seem to understand at first but then almost squealed as she realized what was going on. "Oh no! I thought it was over.", she blushed deep red with embarrassment and tried to get away but Adrian held her. He could feel that her strength had increased considerably and he had to exert some of his own mutant strength to keep her restrained.

"Nonono...", Rebecca almost cried.

Hicks watched the kids and sighed then he raised his head to get Travis' attention.

"Like I said - 'Ms. Plum' calls the shots here. I'm just helping out.", he grinned at the nickname Travis gave her and winked at him.

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah closed her eyes for a moment, deep in thought. She was thinking of the things they could do, and the times they had used it, for everything from the innocent games of their youth, all the way up to running from their lives. Their powers, like their names, were something they had guarded together, and shared with no one. Only their parents knew what and who they really were, and even telling just the what was difficult enough. But it had to be done, and these people, after all, seemed to be doing the same. Her brother could see the images as clearly as she could as she played them through their minds like so many old home movies. Then she sighed a little to him. Her gaze turned to the poor girl who seemed to be experiencing some kind of accelerated growth. A little flicker of sympathy crossed her feature's at the girl's obvious distress, and it was that more than anything that prompted her to speak, so that she could take a little attention off the girl's and save her a little embarrassment.

*Alright.. here goes nothing, right?*

"My brother and I command the elements. They come when we call, and do as we say. There are.. certain things that we can do easier than others.. but given enough time, and patience, there is little we haven't been able to accomplish thus far. We can also do things together with our powers that we can't do apart. Like those two, we work better as a team. Unlike them, we must remain together."

She was quiet for a moment, her mind flashing back to some of the horrifying moments on the ship..

Click to reveal..

Savannah's screams ripped through the silence.

"I can't do it, I swear, I can't do anything anymore!! You h-have to stop, please!!"

The machines fed the commands into her, she could feel muscles tensing for the blast that couldn't come. The haziness overpowered her, and she stumbled, only the restraints of the machines they had her plugged into keeping her up. This room was a different one than the one they were normally taken to. This one had only one machine, and they had wheeled her there on a gurney - she didn't know how long ago for sure, but it had been maybe close to a day. They alternated between forcing her abilities, as they did when they were hooked up to the machines at the same time, and periods of rest. Eventually, though, no matter how long they let her rest, the flames that roared through her had died, and fizzled, and no matter how hard they pushed her, there was nothing left. She didn't feel him near anymore, they had taken her too far away.. she didn't know how far too far was, but though she could hear his voice in hear head.. it was always there, no matter what, and she clung to it like a lifeline.

*Jeraldine?! They're trying again? Why won't they stop?! God, why won't they just leave you alone?*

*I don't care, as long as they don't do it to you.. but I think they will, Siegfriend, I think - AUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!*

Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt another jolt surge through her, trying to command her body to do something it couldn't. She felt another high-pitched scream of agony as it was ripped through her raw throat. Finally it stopped, and she let out a sob, and cried out to them, though she didn't know if they even understood what she was saying.

"Please.. please, we're too far away, you have to let me be near him again.. I swear I can't do any more.."

The silence lasted only a moment, before Savannah shook her head a little to clear it.

"I control Earth, and Fire. Simon controls Water, and Air. I think that's how they were using us to power their ship."

[SalmonMax]

Juno watched the interplay between Hicks and Adrian, then his sister, and felt a little stab of jealousy for some reason. Adrian and his sister. The two twins. Ronnie and Travis. It would have been nice, she thinks, to have had someone like that. Oh, she'd had her dad...and she had Six and the other kids...but that was different. She'd always been different from them...there were things they'd just never understand about her, or how she felt.

Abruptly she got up and went to Rebecca, crossing around to the other side of her from Adrian.

"Hey," she says softly, "I sometimes grow too. Maybe your powers are a little like mine. If that's so, then getting upset will only make them harder to control. When I was younger, I had to stay in my room a lot, because I'd get mad and start changing...and my dad didn't want anyone to know what I was. So I learned that if I just closed my eyes for a second and imagined a sheet of white paper...blank white paper...and just concentrated on that, I could stop it from happening. You want to try it?"

[Tim Wiley]

Tim sighed as he straightened himself from the doorjam he was leaning against. He wished he didn't need to explain what he did again, but Hicks and the others weren't present when he spoke of them last time.

"I can do everything that the rest of you can do, on a more limited and focused scale. If we need another person to heal, I touch the General over here." Tim points to Kevin. "Now we have two people who can heal wounds. I suyppose if I touched these two..." Tim motions towards the twins, "I could play with the elements too."

There was more he needed to add... "In addition to speed reading and a photographic memory, I seem to be able to drain energy from other mutants and add it to me." He paused. "So I guess what we need to decide is: where would I be of greatest benefit?"

[Joani]

Rebecca looked at Juno and nodded at her, "I... I try."

She closed her eyes and imagined the blank white paper until her breathing slowed down. She stopped growing but didn't shrink back.

"Is it over?", she asked nervously. Her clothes were about to burst if she made a wrong move and Juno and Adrian could see that she looked like she hit the Gym a bit too hard. Her body was somewhere between Juno's and Ronnie's both in size and buffness.

In the meantime Hicks listened to the other Mutants making mental notes who should be in which team.

"Thank you kid, sounds useful. We'll think about where you'll be most useful.", he said to Tim smiling confident.

[Travis Kincaid]

"I know my opinion might mean squat at the moment but the nice thing about America is that I still get to have one. I think Sponge Bob here would be best as either an extra healer or as a backup extraction mode. Mrs. White there can open holes in space or something equally Star Trekkie, and that's a hand way to get in and out without all the fuss of getting in and out." Travis finally got up off the floor with a hand up from Ronnie. "Of course I'd want to make sure that your aptitude was equal to the task before we relied on you for a backup exit strategy kid. No offense."

[z-May Allman]

"Your opinion is fine," Ronnie said in a tone that allowed no argument. "I'm able to do some neat tricks that help me fight, and I'm good at fighting. My best quality, probably. But mostly some claws, tougher body, even can double my size. I don't like the last one much - means I fight naked and am naked after." Her purple eyes narrowed as she looked around the room, looking for a masculine grin or snicker.

"So put me up front or give me a big-ass gun."

[Mr Fox]

Sly would have preferred to not stress the fact that he could get into peoples minds, but there wasn't much choice right now. "I'm a telepath. If communications go down because of GI Joe and his friends, I can relay info between two groups, but it means allowing me to talk directly to peoples minds. I doubt many of you would be comfortable with that, but it's on the table. Also, I've never tried to scan an alien so I don't know if it's possible, but I might be able to get into one of their minds and learn things now that I know they exist. I can also sense minds so I might be able to tell people where they were. I'm no fighter though. I've got no skill with offense or defense so at best I'm a tag along that needs to be protected, but maybe a useful one."

[SalmonMax]

Juno grinned encouragingly. "Looks like you're getting a handle on it. Just try not to think about it. Somewhere your brain and your body know what to do...sometimes thinking just gets in the way."

She gave Adrian a wink, then picked a chair nearby to plunk down in and said to the others in the room, "I guess I'm sort of like Ronnie. Not exactly, but close enough for what you guys are talking about."

[Grav]

Annalise nodded to Tim. "Duplicating my powers adds offensive, defensive, Flight, and the warpgate capbilities you already saw. Having another healer is a good idea, but If we're going to try for the moon, two of us trying is a better idea."

My protective abilities are weak against energy based attacks, but very effective against physical attacks."

It was far more than she'd ever admitted to being capable of doing .

[z025]

"Perhaps we should focus on a smaller target to begin with? This group isn't exactly a trained combat unit, or any type of unit at the moment. We need to find out who can do what to these machines and the aliens that control them, and I'd rather not find out while hoping that they have somewhere to breath on the moon. My sister and I....we've never really used our powers to fight, mostly because we'd've been caught pretty easily if we did. We're not exactly subtle. There are these robots here in Vegas, aren't there? Why don't we try picking off one or two of them first and see if we can make it through that as a team." His eyes glanced around at the lines of distrust, fear, and loyalty in the room.

He shrugged. "And I'd be willing to be his point of contact if we're in different groups," he motioned towards Sly. "Telepathic communication as a first option might be better than hoping that these aliens aren't tapped into any mechanical signals being sent."

*Trust me,* he sent to the startled Savannah. He smiled at her, not hiding his thoughts but doing as little as possible to attract her attention to certain ones.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian looks up from his sister to Simon then to Tim.

"Tim, if you could copy two people, having you be both a means of transportation and as a telepath might do the most good. Otherwise, if one groups gets in trouble how can they contact the other. Is this possible?"

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis nodded, "Well put. We're nothing but a mixed up band of mutants. Something smaller and more local is a very good idea. Captain, are there any nearby locations that are under enemy control? Places that it would help to free?"

[Tim Wiley]

Tim looks back at Adrian and Annalise. "Well..I can only copy one person at a time. And when I do, it is only for a limited time."

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian nods and thinks for a few seconds.

"Maybe it's best for now, Tim, if you focus on copying and learning how to use our various offensive and defensive abilities, because you can pick and chose."

More generally,

"Who decides what teams we are on? Frankly, I haven't a clue on how to successfully pull this off ... except we put Sly and Anna in command and control, so they can communicate safetly in as schedule to keep us coordinated and Anna can bring us all together if needed. How does that sound?"

[Rorx]

Tom listened with interest to the Twins defining their powers and the rest of them restating theirs.

"Morgan, I don't mind acting as a link if necessary. We've known each other long enough that I doubt i have any secrets left from you. [grins]"

He turns to address Orphan and Hicks, "I quess I'm on the offensive team. I have some ability over Sound and Vibration and have managed to take out 3 of the Robots so far with blasts of resonance tuned sound. Other than that I can hear in both the subsonic and ultrasound ranges as well as being able to listen in on radiowaves."

[Mr Fox]

Sly smiled at Tom and chuckled, "I really try not to pry in to peoples lives, I figured out a long time ago that I'd really rather not know. Some people don't believe in the concept of TMI, but trust me, TMI really exists." He looked at everyone, "So three teams then? One to stay here that includes myself and Anna, and two to go out and make an attack run with me coordinating the two teams? Si...Simon and his sister on one team and Tom on the other."

[Stargaizer]

From his spot next to the door, Kevin spoke up to Hicks. His voice was as emotionless as it had been since he saw the clinic. "Captain, I can heal, as you've heard, but I am also impervious to most regular levels of damage and I can create forcefields. I created one during our escape from the spaceship and held off two of the robots, but I had to push myself to the brink to do so. Also, as an important note, I can't heal myself; so the only one who can bring me back from overexertion is Tim there.

Especially if the diversionary group employs hit and run tactics, I believe that I would be much better suited for the main group. I'll give my life, if I have to, protecting the people we need to bring all these things down. And I do like the idea of a few test runs locally. However, as much as we learn from these encounters, the enemy could learn as well; so we need to be careful.

On a personal note, do you have a list of the casualties from this area? Also, would it be possible to get or find a working phone line? I have some people I need to contact, and who might be able to provide some international support."

[Joani]

"Looks like we're having a hell of a squad here - some of you have worked together which is more than I expected. Those who haven't - don't worry too much about it, best teacher is on the field.", Hicks did his best to keep morale high.

"As for a phone line. The only line I can offer is at Nellis Air Force base where we just came from. So I suppose that'll have to wait for later. Ms. Reyes should have that list on her - would you be so kind and share with the old man?"

Hicks turned around and started to draw a rough map of the area with chalk on the board.

"The Aliens have their base directly at the MIC - at least that's what our intelligence is assuming. There is a spacecraft or whatever that thing is supposed to be that hovers about 100 feet above the MIC. They have established a perimeter defense from there and haven't moved further into the city since. We could evacuate most of the citizens but some are missing or dead. That thing is the only target I can think of. If we can destroy it we should land a crippling blow to the enemy in Las Vegas and I can tell you if word spreads that they're vulnerable other cities will follow our example and attack. With your abilities we could help out other cities - like the Capital for instance. That should be our next stop once we liberated Las Vegas."

The way Hicks spoke it sounded as if they only needed to execute the plan. Where did that man take his confidence from?

[Travis Kincaid]

"Or we could take the ship and bring our fight to the enemy," Tavis knew that the Captain wouldn't like the idea, the army usually preferred more certain operations. Travis himself had some doubts, for one he hated the idea that if they used the ship it would mean leaving mutants in those tube to power it.

[Tim Wiley]

"If I am the only one who can heal the general, then I suppose I should go with that group. When I am not healing, I could communicate, fight, or help with travling."

Tim had not forgotten Travis's comment about him being an animated cartoon Porifera who wears oddly shaped clothing, was that it was right in it's description of his abilities. He sighed, then walked over and put his hand on the general's shoulder. "I believe some of us still have some healing to do, and since I should get to the business of familiarizing myself with everyone's stuff, I will get started? Besides, I know I think better when I am not bleeding all over the place."

Later, he was going to show Travis what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a sponge when he had healed everyone he could.

Click to reveal..

Q. Attunement: dropping power level by one to prevent virus damage.

(09:08:08) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,3,7,7,5,4. [2].

QP. 26

[SalmonMax]

"Okay!" Juno said loudly. "Sounds like we have a plan. We go take the flying saucer. Which, as a bonus, is probably holding all the mutants and people they took from Vegas, right?"

Like maybe my dad.

"We let them all go..." She trailed off at that, realizing the same thing Travis had. These ships used mutants for power. But at the same time, only one of those ships would be able to stop the aliens from just coming back in and setting up shop again.

"We kinda have to leave the ship here though, or else the aliens will just come back."

She slapped her desk. "Getting ahead of myself. Lets worry about getting the ship first. What's the plan? Fake getting captured and let them put us on board...then BOOM we start cracking skulls? C'mon, throw ideas out. Doesn't matter if they're good, lets just get the juices flowing."

[Rorx]

Tom grins at Juno's enthuisiasim and joins in, "Ok, how about heading down towards the MIC, perhaps upto the top of one of the casino's on that side of town and have Grav here warp us inside the thing if she can. Once inside we escort Orphan to somewhere she can plug into their local network and shutdown all the local robots. Get Orphan back out and destroy the local network so they can't reactivate the robots then take out any other defenses to capture the ship. How's that for an outline of a plan? And yeah I probably have watched too much scifi on tv in my time."

He turns to Orphan again, "Actually I have another question for you Orphan, how do they control the Robots? I tried scanning the radio and microwave spectrum for any signals from them and came up blank. Although I was exhausted last night when I tried it."

[SalmonMax]

"Dude!"

Juno slapped her desk again and sat up.

"I've got it. You totally gave me an idea. What if all these ships have the same layout inside, right? So we can go to the MIC, and once she sees where the ship is, we know where the power room is...just like on the other ship we were on, right? Then she can just pop us right in there and we can unplug it!"

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis nods, "That's a good point, and if true we could easily disable all their operations worldwide within a few days. Pop in, free the mutants, pop out. The ship destroyed itself once it had no mutants to feed off of so I don't think we will need to do anything other than free the mutants."

[z-May Allman]

"Well, except the destroying itself in Earth's atmosphere," Ronnie remarked dryly. "Don't get me wrong, we have the start of a great idea here, but we need to get the ship away from Vegas before we set it to blow. Orphan, could you accomplish our primary objective - stopping the invasion altogether - from one of their ships, or do you need to be on the base for that?"

[Ira Sagebrush]

"They have their own network that they all communicate via. Much like a more advanced and thorough version of our internet...think something akin to the classic, Independence Day. If the location of the Vegas transport ship is known, that would work fine, usually they are cloaked, so I hadn't taken that into consideration. Once I get to a central hub, I can take down the whole network, which will if nothing else, cut off their ability to give orders and prevent further commands out to the Terminators, though they will continue to operate semi-autonomously."

Sam was visibly more relaxed seeing everyone on the same page and at least willing, at face value, to put in their efforts.

She turned to Kevin, "And I can get you a telephone line out, I am jacked into the web right now, but it is spotty at best, many of the central servers are down and where you dial to may be cut off."

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah listened quietly to the conversation around them, but for a moment, her temper flared in her mind, along with a healthy dose of confusion.

*Siegfried! Why - I mean, what on earth made you offer to..*

As she spoke, her thoughts flickered through his, trying to figure out, as she was asking him, what would have possessed him to offer Sly more access to their minds. Then her attentions fell upon the right ones with seemingly pinpoint accuracy, and he could feel a wave of several emotions from her - surprise, amusement, and a slight touch of jealousy. After all, before they were taken, they were too young for this to be an issue, and it was the first time either of them had experienced even a vague interest in someone else in that manner.

*Oh.. oh!*

She was quiet after that for a moment, unsure of exactly what to say.

[z025]

Though nothing other than plans had been spoken of in the room for several minutes, the pale blond Simon was slowly turning a lovely shade of pink.

*Thanks....* came the droll rejoinder as he felt his cheeks respond to her discovery. *Y'know, they're talking world domination by aliens and oversized Terminator machines over there. You might want to keep an ear in the conversation, since I think they expect us to be blowing them up pretty soon.* His mental tone was teasing as he tried to focus on saving the world instead of more confusing personal matters.

[Savannah Tanner]

*Yeah, yeah.. alien domination. Got it.*

His own emotions, as always, had bled into hers, and Savannah could feel a similar blush creeping up her own cheeks, although it was more in response to having discovered her twin's new emotions. Her eyes flicked over to Sly for a brief moment, and she looked him over - she couldn't help it. Siegfriend's interest had piqued her own. After a moment, she forced herself to glance back at the front of the room, where everyone else was still talking, and hoped Sieg hadn't noticed her own response..

[Tim Wiley]

Tim proceeded to heal Kevin, followed by Adrian and his sister. At that point, he stopped. He would need more energy to continue in a couple of more poeple and Travis was right in front of him. Should I tell him? A wry grin crept across his face as he healed Travis. He leaned down and whispered in his ear. "If you will excuse me, I need to borrow some power from you. Sponge Bob doesn't work for free."

Click to reveal..

Healing each person two Health Levels

4@4QP: 16 qp

QP left: 10

Energy Siphon on Travis and each person after that

Dropping a Mega to avoid virus damage, -1 for hurt: (05:58:10) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 7d10 and gets 5,6,1,7,8,9,9. [4 sux]

-6 qp's drained if sucessful VS willpower

QP: 13

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis gasped as Tim touched him. Weariness seemed to flow into him from the younger man, or perhaps some amount of his own vitality was being robbed. "You fucker. Do that again without my say so and I'll make you wish you hadn't." Travis' whisper back was harsh, anger grated in his voice, there was no room for misinterpretation.

Click to reveal..

Willpower roll

(10:24:39) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 3d10 and gets 8,1,8.

2 sux

Healthy / QP 22/28 / WP 3/3

[z-May Allman]

Orphan's information was welcome news. "Let's not mess with the Terminators. We can fucking take those shits. Let's take out the mother-ship, then mop up.

"More thoughts?"

Her ruminations on the plans were interupted by the kid, Whathisname, creating more problems. Ronnie's eyes narrowed at the troublemaker. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked, feeling like she was a counselor at a pre-school camp. "Because if you do something like what I think you just did, that's not the way you fucking treat an ally, even one you don't like. And if you do it to anyone here without asking and gaining their permission, I'll turn you into a gooey paste."

What is it with these immature fucks? Ronnie lamented. 'Untrained newbs' only covered so much shit before you just got to the point where you were a jackass. Some of these people had already crossed that line.

[Rorx]

Tom looks perplexed at Orphan's reply, "Ok, they have there own network, but if it works on radio, microwave or any sonic range I should be able to find it, even if I can't translate or crack it. So any idea what it uses? Or do we just call it magic and leave it at that?"

He turns to Ronnie's comment, "Yeah, we know we can deal with the Terminators, but it isn't exactly easy for us and I don't have any idea how many of those things we may have to deal with, do you?"

[SalmonMax]

Still leaning back in her seat, Juno watched the planning and sparring, and then hopped up to her feet. "Be right back."

She headed down the hall outside to the administrative offices and poked her head in through the door to give the walls a look. If she knew her school offices...and she'd seen enough...there should be... Yeah.

When Juno returns to the lounge, she's hauling a big sheet of paper with her. She puts it down in the middle of the room, finding space to drape it across several chair backs that then support it.

It's a map of Las Vegas.

"Seems like maybe we should find a safe place that's closer to the MIC to hole up," she says. "Then we can scout around to see what kind of robots they have and where, and what else there is."

She looks up at Joshua. "Does it hurt you if those little...trolls you make get killed?"

[Stargaizer]

Kevin still didn't trust this 'Orphan', and didn't want the possibility of her overhearing anything that might be said when he talked to his people. However, the intel and/or support might be useful, and he mightn't have the time to waste.

"As soon as we're finished here, I'll need that phone line." he said, emotionlessly to 'Orphan'.

Kevin was the first to have the warming sensation of healing flow through him by way of Tom; and while he appreciated it, he felt as if he'd let everybody down by not being the one to do it. And, while he did not approve of Tom's actions with Travis, especially while he had his power, Kevin had other things on his mind.

He walked over to Juno, tapping her gently on the shoulder to get her attention. Once he had it, he asked softly, with a slight tremble in his voice, "The Captian said you had the casualty list? Might I be able to borrow it?"

There was as much in him that wanted to see that list as wanted to never even be near it. But he had to know; he had to know the fate of those who worked at the clinic.

Providing that Juno gave it to him, he'd go to a corner, out of everybody's way and direct line of sight, and would look for everybody who worked at the clinic, leaving the discovery of Miriam's fate to the very last.

Click to reveal..

Tom should only be able to heal 2 HL's with the Healing power that he borrowed from Kevin. So, unless Joani says otherwise:

(( [Hurt -1] || 28/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))