RUBY CITY DEFENDERS! Issue #2 - Caught between a Hammer, a Sickle... and a hard case!

LIGHTNING BULLET floated down the middle of the stairwell with the old lady in hand.

The family - mother and two kids - ran down the stairs as fast as they could (not very fast) to try and keep up, screaming and wailing all the while...

Then there was a BOOM! from above and DarkRaven was flung backwards a couple of feet as the door smashed in towards him! Smoke and dust spewed into the stairwell and would soon fill it in seconds!

What on earth was going on up there!?!

Darkraven coughed and spluttered down to Lightning Bullet "Keep going! I'll see what happened!"

He pulled his cape over his masked mouth and opened the remnant of the door into the dust filled corridor.



"Gotcha," Lightning Bullet yells back, "just don't do anything stupid!"
"Well, stupider than what we've done so far," he mutters to himself.

He looks over at the children, wondering if the youngest is small enough he could use his legs, wrapped around the child to carry her[him?] as well as the grandma. That might speed things up a bit.

ooc: If he can, he will try to do so. If he can't ... oh well, it's the thought that counts.

LIGHTNING BULLET

The kids scream when LB tries to close to them and wrap his legs about them, but won't let their Grandma go either, wailing and tugging on her.

In short it was a noisy, stumbling, tricky rescue but a rescue nonetheless!

OOC And its going to take a few more minutes of gently floating down and with the mother + kids in tow.

Oh and in the next round or so you'll have another surprise but to mention it now would ruin it...

DARKRAVEN

Stumbling into the corridor and coughing, DarkRavens' ears were ringing but he was alive still, somehow.

Bullets tumbled off him where they'd struck and flattened and he knew what his predecessor had done that had gotten him killed. Gotten too confident.

He was bullet resistant, not bullet proof. Now he was black AND blue, but to get out of this he needed to make sure the bad guys were down for the count. Whatever had happened in the corridor had clearly gone wrong for them and worked (for once) in the heroes favour.

Coughing and with cape covering his mouth DarkRaven crossed the corridor and... CRASH!

He fell through the damaged floorboards with his super dense increase weight (OOC he weighs 1500lbs)

With a muttered curse he founds himself half in and out of the floor, wriggling to free himself and cracking wood with every movement.

Then he looks up into the room still filled with smoke.

"Gotcha." growls a voice and a Tommy Gun is cocked!

CAPTAIN CONDUIT

CC sees DarkRaven step into the corridor, unhindered by the smoke as his eyes switched to thermal/infra red.

He also sees the now bulky dark clad hero fall through the weakened floor and wriggle, somewhat stuck and half in/out of the floor! Then he hears something else. The cocking of a Tommy Gun from inside the room!

Was this the end of another hero called DarkRaven? Were the name and the powers cursed, somehow???

Captain Conduit can make out the goon with the tommy gun just fine with his thermal vision, but that creep probably can't see him, but he'll make a run for the landing below after he fires a shot at the armed bad guy just in case.

Dice Action: Lightning blast the guy with the gun before he can make swiss cheese out of Darkraven.

Move Action: After the blast, go down to the level below and try to open the window there or go in a door to enter that level below if there is one.

Captain Conduit saw enough of the Mobster with the machine gun through the smoke and took aim with his finger...

OOC Lightning 8 + 2d12+0 11,10+0 = 21 (29) vs
OV6 + modifier 2 (there is a partially blasted wall in the way and distance from where CC is) + 2d12+0
9,11+0 = 20 (28) Success +1
EV8 + 1 (EV9) vs RV6=3 RAPs. Already injured the Goon is on Body 1/6

"Gaaaahhhhh!" screams the mobster as he feels lightning dance over him! His gun goes off into the floor, what was left of the wall, the ceiling... but not DarkRaven.

"Wha...? Captain?" says DarkRaven. "Thanks pal! Just the breather I needed! I need to concentrate..."

DarkRaven teleported from the hole in the floor to the ledge where they'd been before... Just twenty feet from where Captain Conduit stood on the fire escape!

OOC that may alter your desire to go to the lower floor CC.

Both heroes could now hear sirens wailing at the ground level and dozens of cops spilling out of squad cars into the hotel! With the lift out they'd be using the stairs... and so was Lightning Bullet and the Scientists' family! With the way the cops were right now they might start shooting first and asking questions later, despite Conways' protest!

LIGHTNING BULLET

The kids scream when LB tries to close to them and wrap his legs about them, but won't let their Grandma go either, wailing and tugging on her.

In short it was a noisy, stumbling, tricky rescue but a rescue nonetheless!

OOC And its going to take a few more minutes of gently floating down and with the mother + kids in tow.

Oh and in the next round or so you'll have another surprise but to mention it now would ruin it...



Having gone down a number of floors and hoping that the crooks don't occupy the whole of the hotel, that regular people are staying here, Lightning Bullet opens the door to the next floor they come to and checks to see if the coast is clear. He hopes to spot a maid cleaning rooms or an open door, some place he could stash the family until things cool down a bit.

ooc: If he spots crooks, people with guns who are obviously not cops, he will close the door and hope he wasn't spotted.

Captain Conduit switches gears and hustles up the last set of stairs calling to Nightraven, "If the short guy and the hostages are out of that mess, let's get gone! Gimme my cape or port us outta here!"

LIGHTNING BULLET

Ignoring the wailing of the mother and children as he hefts Grandma about LB opens the door into the next floor and peeks through... the coast was clear. No cleaners or anyone in the corridor though.

Then he hears something else. Shouting and footstep from lower floors. Peering over the stairwell edge he sees (a fair few floors down) Police pounding up the stairs! Doors slam as they check out each floor as they go but the police are coming up the stairs!

DARKRAVEN and CAPTAIN CONDUIT

DarkRaven teleports to CC's side and hands him his cape, which the hero settles into place. "You save my life I think." said DarkRaven. "I was dead to rights. I mean, when I do that thing to get bigger I'm tough but a Tommy Gun to the head from point blank range? No..." he shook his head. "Let's get out of here."

He put his hand on CC's shoulder and teleported him back to where they'd started the evening, on a distant corner of a rooftop seeing the Hotel from range. The place was swarming with cops and DarkRaven muttered "We need to go back. We have to help Lightning Bullet."

LIGHTNING BULLET

Ignoring the wailing of the mother and children as he hefts Grandma about LB opens the door into the next floor and peeks through... the coast was clear. No cleaners or anyone in the corridor though.

Then he hears something else. Shouting and footstep from lower floors. Peering over the stairwell edge he sees (a fair few floors down) Police pounding up the stairs! Doors slam as they check out each floor as they go but the police are coming up the stairs!



Lightning Bullet waves the family to follow him into the corridor of the floor he looked into [which floor is it?] and heads towards the outside fire escape or where he hopes one might be. Maybe he can get Captain Conduit's attention and get him to help get these people out of here before the cops show up.

"Where'd he go? I was waiting for youse guys to head down the fire escape. The other direction had nuthin' but a room full of armed goons."

Lightning Bullet

The diminutive hero emerges on what looks to be around the 5th floor having gone down as many floors with grandma and the family in tow.

There are people in the corridor now - patrons of the hotel - who are looking about confused. Some are talking about what is going on, others mention about the fire alarm, the explosion and rumble of the building from above, the gunfire...

Then they turn at the wailing of the kids and the screaming of the woman!

OOC To get to the fire escape the hero must push past/around/fly over (with granny) the people (men, women and children) in the corridor.

Captain Conduit and DarkRaven

The pair on the outside of the building see more police pour into the building and know this situation is getting worse.

Looking across at the distance to the hotel the pair looked for some sign that Lightning Bullet was escaping with the family...

And they saw something else.

From this distance the details weren't clear but the uniform stood out against the streetlights...



He skidded to a halt in a blur of motion and cloud of dust and was around 100 yards behind the police vehicles as they screeched up outside the halt and officers jogged into the foyer of the hotel. He seemed to be observing and looking up at the hotel to where smoke poured from the top floor...

OOC You guys are a couple of hundred yards away from the newcomer and no indication he has seen you.

Lightning Bullet

The diminutive hero emerges on what looks to be around the 5th floor having gone down as many floors with grandma and the family in tow.

There are people in the corridor now - patrons of the hotel - who are looking about confused. Some are talking about what is going on, others mention about the fire alarm, the explosion and rumble of the building from above, the gunfire...

Then they turn at the wailing of the kids and the screaming of the woman!

OOC To get to the fire escape the hero must push past/around/fly over (with granny) the people (men, women and children) in the corridor.


LB looks for any man who seems to be in the military. Bases are fairly close by to the city, just an hour or so drive with a weekend pass or on leave, some might be around here. He's looking for military haircut and straight military bearing and perhaps a tattoo. If he spots one, he will try to figure out which branch of service they are in, Navy and Marines being most likely, with Air Force third and Army trailing behind. Then he can signal one of them by singing out a few bars of their marching song or a cry they tend to use. Like: "Tell it to the Marines!" or "All Hands On Deck! Prepare for Battle stations!" or something simliar.

LIGHTNING BULLET

OOC All of that seems a reasonable assumption. Let's see how LB gets on.

First to spot one:

Int 5 + 2d12+0 4,5+0 = 9 (14) vs
OV3 + 2d12+0 12,4+0 = 16 (19) Failed

Might be none here, might just be out of luck!

The people in the corridor are looking more panicked now, pressing the button for a lift that doesn't work and some heading for the fire escape - which the diminutive superhero is peeping from!

Trapped and not sure what else to do the midget-sized hero opens the stairway door and steps into the hallway. He puts the grandmother down but holds onto her arm as he hovers about 3' off the floor so he can be seen better. He glows a bit [I guess Flash at 0 APs would allow that? or would it come under some kind of non-cost power effect?] to help get more of their attention.

"EVERYONE!," he shouts. "I'm Lightning Bullet, one of the new local Superheroes! There's a criminal gang upstairs fighting, that's what you are hearing. The elevators are locked and won't work. Everyone evacuate down these stairs quickly, the police are on their way up them and can help you get to safety."

IF enough folks did that, it would probably slow down the police's advance, giving him a bit more time to figure out how to get his charges to safety.

"Can anyone speak German," he calls out as some folks begin to move past him and his group. "This family was kidnapped by those criminals but only speak German. I need someone who can speak German so I can let them know I am trying to help them."

Captain Conduit puts his cape on. "There's another commie in tights out there. I'll lead him away from here. You teleport around and find Lightning Bullet. And if you can prevent any trigger happy cops from shootin' at me, I'd appreciate it."

Captain Conduit then flies up and over tot he other side of the building, so the speedster and the cops would have to skirt the perimeter of the building to get a line of sight to him after his initial flight over the hotel's rooftop to the far side of them.

LIGHTNING BULLET

OOC let's see how lucky you are. This is a straight up roll vs roll.

2d12+0 1,12+0 = 13 vs
2d12+0 1,2+0 = 3 Huh. That's a fail (counts as zero/fumble).
+5 vs RV 0 =5 RAPs

Success.

"Yeah! Ah can! Was a 'terpretor in th' war!" said a fellow coming out of his room. He leaned heavily on a cane and walked with a pronounced limp, hence the delay.

"Ah heard 'bout you super duper types but never believed what ah heard on th' radio. They shure do grow 'em small where you come from boy." he drawled.

People gaped but otherwise gave Lightning Bullet a wide berth as they filed past into the stairwell with the German family stood to the side, mother hugging the children.

The veteran limped over in his dressing gown. "Ah was all set fer bed too an' now th' buildin' sounds like ah'm back in th' war. Tryin' ta ferget all that stuff ah saw..." he muttered. The man looked to be in his forties but his eyes looked older, like the horrors of war were something he'd never forget and booze was the only solace.

"What is it ya want me ta say to em?"

=========

CAPTAIN CONDUIT

Reunited with his cape Captain Conduit gets a thumbs up from DarkRaven who vanishes. Then he flies over to the rooftop of a building where he can observe the Russian.

The cops are still pouring into the hotel but now people are coming out of the same (and other) entrances and hampering them. The top floor still has smoke pouring through shattered windows and now a fire has started. the marksmen on the roof have moved - downstairs probably - and no longer an issue.

Captain Conduit peers over the edge of the roof and sees the Speedster zip about. He sure was fast! Almost too fast to see - there may be issues landing a glove - or electrical zap - on him.

He seemed to be scouting about but trying to remain hidden from the cops. CC can't see Conway from where he is - chances are the cop has gone into the building having had to concoct some explanation as to why he was nearby the scene.

The Speedster appears again in a cloud of dust. From this distance (hundreds of yards away) it looks like he's using a payphone... If Captain Conduit moves position again he might get chance to fire on the speedster from behind...

"Thanks! My name is Lightning Bullet, new hero in town. I didn't catch yours," he sticks his small hand out to be shaken.

"OK, tell them the scary looking hero is named DarkRaven and he was trying to them to safety outside this criminal run hotel. But he can only take them one at a time. And only if they don't resist him trying to move them, otherwise he can't do it. He tried."

"Second, we are trying to also keep them away from the police as a number of them are "dirty", under the pay of criminals."

"Let's start with that.




LIGHTNING BULLET

OOC let's see how lucky you are. This is a straight up roll vs roll.

2d12+0 1,12+0 = 13 vs
2d12+0 1,2+0 = 3 Huh. That's a fail (counts as zero/fumble).
+5 vs RV 0 =5 RAPs
Success.

"Yeah! Ah can! Was a 'terpretor in th' war!" said a fellow coming out of his room. He leaned heavily on a cane and walked with a pronounced limp, hence the delay.

"Ah heard 'bout you super duper types but never believed what ah heard on th' radio. They shure do grow 'em small where you come from boy." he drawled.

People gaped but otherwise gave Lightning Bullet a wide berth as they filed past into the stairwell with the German family stood to the side, mother hugging the children.

The veteran limped over in his dressing gown. "Ah was all set fer bed too an' now th' buildin' sounds like ah'm back in th' war. Tryin' ta ferget all that stuff ah saw..." he muttered. The man looked to be in his forties but his eyes looked older, like the horrors of war were something he'd never forget and booze was the only solace.

"What is it ya want me ta say to em?"

Captain Conduit is worried that this Russian speedster is just a scout, who's now trying to call for backup. So instead of focusing on the man, he aims for the nearest telephone pole and its connector box. It should also be a lot closer to him than a man on the ground, since Fred is also flying several feet up into the air. He then lets loose with some high voltage to take out the pay phone's connection before the speedster can say where he's at.

LIGHTNING BULLET

"Ah'm Randy. Randy Rothwell." says the Vet. He turns to the Woman and her children then includes the Grandmother too.

Speaking to them, they engage him in conversation and LB wonders what is being said. Finally Randy turns. "They say if you are takin' them ta safety why didn't ya just say so in th' first place?"

"They also ask why you're so small an' can't carry them out with one of yer weird powers an' ask where her" he points at the mother "Husband is an' did he give ya these powers?"

"What? They can do that now? Whoooo weee! If they'd been able ta do stuff like this in th' war we'd have been toast!"

"She says she'll go with you but she's not leaving th' children an' wants ta see her husband." he added. "And that she's not leavin' her mother." Randy listened some more as the woman ranted. "And she wants safety, an' one o them big American cars and a Huge Refridgerator. An' some other stuff. Sheesh. This lady don't want much do she?" as she continued to reel off a list of wants, desires and must haves. Clearly she thinks LB works for the Federal Authorities....

CAPTAIN CONDUIT

The hero thinks 'outside the box' and directs his effort towards the connecting telephone equipment. With a small application of energy he 'pops' it with a quick zap and turns to where the Russian is making a call.

Or at least, he's trying to.

He's waiting... and waiting... then he shouts into the receiver, shakes it, bangs it on the booth wall and finally in a fit of rage turns into a blur and punches the thing twenty times in a second, reducing the telephone to scrap!

CC watches him zip up the road to another telephone and try that - then toss the receiver aside in disgust.

With a last look up at the building where smoke pours out of the top floor and faint screams can be heard, he zips off.

Captain Conduit figures he's going to get his buddies...

OOC There is an opportunity to attack from distance but the way this guy moves you'll have a tough time zapping him even with blindside and Surprise modifiers, but it's there if you want it. Otherwise the chances are he's going to return with his friends...

This commie is fast. Trying to pin him down with one blast might be tricky, but while this Russkie is in a metal box (phone booth) Fred is going to try to electrify the entire area. That aught to shock him.

Move Action: Fly toward that second telephone booth up the road before the speedster can exit it. Or if I need to act after, the toward something like railroad tracks in his path.

Dice Action: Electrify the area that the speedster is in instead of targeting the fast runner as an individual.

*SIGH*

"Nice to meet you, Randy. Tell her we are trying to get her to her husband but she and her family are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening," Lightning Bullet says, feeling a headache coming on. "We have to avoid the cops below us, some of whom are on the payroll of the crooks above us, as well as avoid the crooks above. They need to stop screaming and resisting, keep quiet and do what we say. Otherwise, they will be caught by the bad guys and wind up in worse conditions with little hope of being free."

"Get them to calm down somehow," he tells Randy, "while I figure out how to get them out of here."

Lightning Bullet is at the end of his rope. He is not about to go down for a privileged Nazi wife and her privileged mom. The kids are another matter, they are innocent. He is separated from DarkRaven, who could have teleported everyone to safety once they allowed him to. He's thinking his only option would be to try and fly them down one by one, since he was too small to carry two safely, to the van that had pulled up and hope someone was there to keep everyone in line as he trolleyed back and forth with everyone and that they weren't spotted while doing so.

Or just turn them over to the cops and call in the FBI before the dirty cops could "lose" the family somehow.

Admin wrote:LIGHTNING BULLET

"Ah'm Randy. Randy Rothwell." says the Vet. He turns to the Woman and her children then includes the Grandmother too.

Speaking to them, they engage him in conversation and LB wonders what is being said. Finally Randy turns. "They say if you are takin' them ta safety why didn't ya just say so in th' first place?"

"They also ask why you're so small an' can't carry them out with one of yer weird powers an' ask where her" he points at the mother "Husband is an' did he give ya these powers?"

"What? They can do that now? Whoooo weee! If they'd been able ta do stuff like this in th' war we'd have been toast!"

"She says she'll go with you but she's not leaving th' children an' wants ta see her husband." he added. "And that she's not leavin' her mother." Randy listened some more as the woman ranted. "And she wants safety, an' one o them big American cars and a Huge Refridgerator. An' some other stuff. Sheesh. This lady don't want much do she?" as she continued to reel off a list of wants, desires and must haves. Clearly she thinks LB works for the Federal Authorities....

LIGHTNING BULLET

Randy speaks to the family and recoils as the woman starts shouting in German drawing glances from others in the corridor...

He's trying to calm her down and get a word in edgeways when there was shouting from the stairwell. What now?

Lightning Bullet moved to the doorway and looked down. Cops coming up, now within sight.

Up? Smoke, black and cloying, tricky to see anything through that.

He was about to pop back in when he saw a shape moving in the smoke...

A suited goon with a tommy gun! He was ... changed though. Something like scales or a leathery hide had changed his appearance and there was green tinge to it. He was lizard like and moving down the steps whilst covering his mouth with a sleeve.

He was still a couple of levels up but on his way down, carefully. The cops would run into this guy with the hotel residents in the middle! LB stuck his head back in the corridor. Randy was still trying to sell the 'co-operate and you'll get out of this' to the woman who in turn seemed to want assurances that her family would be better off. Lightning Bullet couldn't blame her, he supposed. They'd been kidnapped, held at gunpoint, were thousands of miles from their home and her husband was being forced to work for the gangsters to create a super soldier army.

None of that made Lightning Bullets' life any easier though...

Now this Lizard guy moving down the stairs with a primed weapon ready to blaze away... and cops coming up...

CAPTAIN CONDUIT

OOC Technically you don't have an area attack, more like a narrow 'beam'. However you can try a 'trick shot' to do the same thing which increases difficulty. Success on the first check will attack the guy in the phone booth as an actual attack. Because of the nature of the attack it's likely to be reduced from its usual full power 8APs.

Lightning 8 + 2d12+0 7,7+0 = 14 DOUBLE plus 2d12+0 4,8+0 = 26 (34) vs
OV0 (the phone booth) + range 4 + trick shot 4 + 2d12+0 10,4+0 = 14 (22) Success +5 which are used as the APs of power (quick house ruling but sort of makes sense and hopefully works)

Lightning 5 + 2d12+0 6,8+0 = 14 (19) vs
OV10 - Surprise 4 - Blindside 2 + 2d12+0 3,7+0 = 10 (14) Success +3
Lightning 5 +3 (EV8) vs RV8=0 RAPs

"Yeowch!" yells the villain as the phone 'pops' in his hand with the booth suddenly becoming electrocuted! He leaps back with incredible reactions and stumbles backwards and looking about...

Captain Conduit ducks down out of sight and there's a very good chance the villain won't have seen him. he peers over the edge of the roof again and sees the man cautiously looking at the phone booth trying to figure out what happened. He shakes his head, throwing his hands up in frustration and looks back to the hotel trying to figure out what to do next.

OOC And you have a shot at his back if you want but at this range it will be tricky and this guy is fast. CC is far faster and more agile than an ordinary person and this guy is the same magnitude again more than CC! Getting closer would definitely help and - so far - he doesn't seem to have twigged that he should look up as well...

Lightning Bullet darts back to Randy and the others.
"Quick! Get these folks into your room and hide! Goons with Tommy Guns are coming down and about to hit the police coming up and the other folks trying to escape down the same stairs!"

"Give me your room number," he continues, "I'm going to try and stop the goons before innocent folks get killed!"

actions: He is going to try to flash the guy coming down the stairs and then zoom up and try to shock him. After that ... depends.

Admin wrote:LIGHTNING BULLET

Randy speaks to the family and recoils as the woman starts shouting in German drawing glances from others in the corridor...

He's trying to calm her down and get a word in edgeways when there was shouting from the stairwell. What now?

Lightning Bullet moved to the doorway and looked down. Cops coming up, now within sight.

Up? Smoke, black and cloying, tricky to see anything through that.

He was about to pop back in when he saw a shape moving in the smoke...

A suited goon with a tommy gun! He was ... changed though. Something like scales or a leathery hide had changed his appearance and there was  green tinge to it. He was lizard like and moving down the steps whilst covering his mouth with a sleeve.

He was still a couple of levels up but on his way down, carefully. The cops would run into this guy with the hotel residents in the middle! LB stuck his head back in the corridor. Randy was still trying to sell the 'co-operate and you'll get out of this' to the woman who in turn seemed to want assurances that her family would be better off. Lightning Bullet couldn't blame her, he supposed. They'd been kidnapped, held at gunpoint, were thousands of miles from their home and her husband was being forced to work for the gangsters to create a super soldier army.

None of that made Lightning Bullets' life any easier though...

Now this Lizard guy moving down the stairs with a primed weapon ready to blaze away... and cops coming up...

The speedster doesn't appear to have a ranged weapon and he probably can't lift and throw a phone booth, so Captain Conduit sweeps in, remaining a good 25 feet off the ground and out of range of the guy, even if he can run high and then blasts the creep with his electricity!

Move Action: Flight to a spot behind where the speedster is looking and 25 feet in the air.

Dice Action: Lightning Blast!