Scene #7421: SOR5: Interception

Owner	Pose
Karlan Nobles	LAST TIME: There was a factory! It is no longer a factory. It is ruins in the shape of a factory. There were robots! They also exploded. OST: https://youtu.be/Xeloqt4Wkcw NOW: It doesn't take long for Adam (cop in yellow, evasive about questions) to find out where the shipment of robots is headed. The reason for the vigilantes' haste in tracking down said robots is reiterated by Doctor Zan (beefy cyborg in blue, old): The robots have been loaded with an experimental and highly explosive substance, and downtown Wood Oak City has been identified as a testing location for the explosive-laden machines. The purpose of such testing has not been determined, but the local team would rather not find out that reason after the fact. Thus, they've called everyone to intercept the ship carrying the shipment of robots out at sea, its path going the long way around the city's coast. It's quite a large barge, if somewhat old and rusty in various places, but it's surprisingly compliant with modern safety standards as far as having life preservers, extra flotation devices, and even fire extinguishers on board is concerned. Numerous heavy-duty shipping containers on board with all manner of forklifts to move them around, winches to move them around on and off the ship, and plenty of scuba-diving ninjas overseeing bikers in making sure nobody unsavory (to them) gets on board. They're all on guard, but nobody seems to know that any Elites or vigilantes have boarded just yet. Coincidentally, the vigilantes and anyone joining them directly have managed to sneak in through the lower decks, but there's also the possibility of getting onto the main deck directly for the more agile or daring types. Today's team consists of Adam (cop in yellow), Blaze (cop in red), and Pramanix (not a cop). They haven't made their move just yet, waiting for everyone to get into position or raise the alarm before they move out.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's managed to not break the group's cover just yet, joining the locals in infiltrating the lower decks of the ship. "You guys know where they're keeping the robots?" she asks Adam and the others nearby. "If so, I'll go the other way and make a whole lotta noise to draw away any guards for ya." she offers, cracking knuckles and deploying her weapons, the golden bracers extending from their idle form to cover her forearms.
Nova Terra	Running a vigilante covert ops team is not cheap. Even when you've got the capabilities to mine and extract your own minerals and vespene gas. That which isn't required to maintain existing equipment goes towards constructing more. And yet other expenses abound. Which is why Nova is always on the lookout for ways to augment their supplies. Exploding robots can be one such way! Which is why when a source informed Nova of this particular mission, she decided to offer her services to assist. To that end, Nova has snuck on board with the vigilante group, currently in the lower decks with them as they prepare to go for the targets. Speaking of, Yang asks about them. Nova replies, "It's a container ship. Probably in some containers, either on the deck or in the cargo hold. We'll probably have to search for them, or find someone who knows where they are. I'm going to head for the deck." Nova then glances at the other blonde, "If you want to make a good distraction, I suggest going to the engine room to take out the engines. That'll draw a lot of attention. And at the rear of the ship, it'll be far from the cargo."
Karlan Nobles	"All over the place. You see all those containers?" Adam points upwards, noting the vast number of containers stacked all over the ship with an affirming nod to Nova. "They're mixed in with all the furniture and other stuff. Blending in with the crew, even. If you want to start a scene over on the other side, that..." Adam taps his chin. "That's not a half bad idea, if you think you can handle it." Blaze shrugs lightly as she lowers a pair of binoculars, ducking back down behind their vague amount of cover to follow up on that suggestion. "Careful taking out the engines if you want to try that, though. These robots are loaded with some kind of explosive, and who knows what could set them off. A chain reaction here is the last thing we need if we want anyone alive to actually stop this whole..." She seems hesitant to say something, and Pramanix raises an eyebrow with a mischievous grin on her face. Pramanix: "Scheme?" Blaze: "Ugh... yes, scheme. Sounds so freaking cliche... Anyway. While you're doing that, we'll locate and dismantle any of the robots we can find. If stopping the ship by taking out all of the crew ends up being the best way to do that, then that's fine by me." With that plan settled (more or less), it's time to move out! The local vigilantes (and Pramanix) wait until the distractions begin, and then they start to move through the lower decks, systematically and methodically beating the crap out of everyone in every room they sneak their way through. Resistance is currently minimal: The usual guys with knives (but now some of them have green hair), pipe guys (with red pants), and the occasional scuba-diving gear'd ninja, but the alarm has not been sounded yet.
Yang Xiao Long	Close Range is Yang's territory. She nods to the others, then sets off down the corridor towards the back of the ship and the engineering section. Any guys she comes across get a face full of metal gauntlet before they can sound an alarm, using her gauntlets to launch herself over the heads of some, and even kick-stepping off of walls through turns and dropping a knee into the faces of others. The recklessness of her advance does let some knives and other weapons get solid contact. Piercing her Aura and leaving quickly sealed cuts and gashes in her exposed skin. "Come on guys. This isn't even a challenge!" she crows, grinning devilishly as she tries to make as much noise as possible.
Nova Terra	Close Range is very much not Nova's territory. But she can manage. Nova splits off from the others, beginning to make her way up towards the deck. Yang is expected to create a diversion. Which is good. Nova's cloaking in such tight quarters wouldn't do much good. It'd be too hard to get past anyone without touching them. And with such limited viewing cones, even a brief ripple is likely to be seen. This explains why Nova resorts to more convential stealth methods. Keeping herself pressed up against corners, Nova reaches out with her mind to sense any of the thugs approaching her. There's some coming. Nova steps out into the corridor, in view of them. The thugs charge. The two at the front suddenly get flung into the wall as they are hit with a blast of telekinetic energy, dropping their pipes to clatter on the floor. A third charges Nova, knife sweeping out towards her. Nova raises an arm to block, the knife partially cutting into the hardened synthetic fibres of the Ghost's suit, but failing to get all the way through to skin. With her other hand, Nova launches a quick palm to the thug's chest, backed by another blast of her telekinesis to send him flying. Nova then snatches the dropped knife out of the air, spinning around and sending the weapon flying towards the shoulder of one of the ninjas trying to sneak up behind Nova in scuba gear, guided once more by Nova's mind. Who needs to be able to fight well in close quarters when you're a powerful psychic? Nova continues heading for the deck, intent on finding someone who can point out all the locations of exploding robots. Like these thug's boss, or something.
Karlan Nobles	To an extent, Yang fighting on her own means things might be somewhat easier for her to handle. She might not have backup immediately ready, but she also won't need to worry about collateral damage or friendly fire should she decide to really go nuts. The din of battle gets the attention of nearby guards, but they're sufficiently focused enough on her that they don't have much time to go for the alarm. Instead, their numbers simply start to swell as expected, buoyed by the addition of yet more ninjas (this time with katana) and some heavy dutier opposition! It's those fire-breathing fat guys. This time, though, some of them are wearing GREEN. Instead of belching out flames, they let loose with poisonous mist! With Yang taking on the role of HEAVY DISTRACTIONS, it's pretty easy for Nova and the others to work their own angles. Without even seeing where Nova is, the goons don't have a great angle of attack to aim anything at. A few of them do make some token efforts to swing at the air around them, but her biggest obstacle doesn't show up until she's about halfway up to the deck. It's those denim-jacketed red guys again. Instead of running around with knives and being made of flesh and blood, however, their skin is shining bronze, their eyes gleam with an unnatural sheen, and they seem to see right through her cloaking field! They're not particularly fast, though, but they could be dangerous if they're left to direct the rest of the (figuratively) blind mobsters!
Yang Xiao Long	Poison! Aura doesn't protect against that kind of damage being applied, but does help slow it down in her system. She coughs, and staggers as those fat men belch out that poisonous smoke. "Brothers, what the hell have you guys been eating? That's rank." she complains, hopping back from them and setting a stance before throwing both fists forwards. The shotgauntlets report and a pulse of combined kinetic force from both rips open the corridor as they compound... an attack she wouldn't do if there were friendlies nearby.
Nova Terra	Nova stops in her tracks as she runs across a larger group. There's no point in cloaking now. Those robots ahead apparently equipped with high tier sensor packages. The kind that break through Nova's cloak. No matter. Nova smirks as she reaches back for the large Canister Rifle on her back, "If this is all the resistance that's facing me... Yang must be doing a good job." As the thugs charge, Nova snaps her rifle up with barely a moment to aim before unleashing a barrage of 25mm bullets towards the robotic thugs. Her gun can penetrate tank armor. She thinks it'll do the job here too. But even as Nova is trying to put those robots down, the more fleshy thugs rush her. She begins to duck and weave around their assault, picking up on their thoughts and intentions to attack in order to anticipate and move out of the way. In return, Nova unleashes savage bashes with the butt of her rifle, quick suit-enhanced punches as well as swift kicks between raining bullets down on the robots.
Karlan Nobles	"Ehehehe... Wouldn't you like to know?" The men in green laugh in unison, leaping this way and that with far more agility than their bodies should allow. Although they're able to avoid the worst of Yang's blows, the shotgauntlets rip through the ranks of their underlings, leaving the big guys with precious few meat shields left. Instead, they're joined by a familiar face. His build and his black tank top make him look like a certain bartender from a previous encounter, but he looks considerably younger and vaguely different enough that it's probably not that same guy despite the similarities. Still, despite all that, he still kicks stupidly hard, and he has the poison-spewing big guys with him! The Robo-Galsias, meanwhile stand little chance against the high-powered weaponry Nova brings to bear against them. The thugs that have more sense than bravado wisely decide to take a dive off-screen, and the ones with the revere... Well. They're forced to take a dive regardless, albeit at the slightly-less shooty end of that rifle. The true danger, however, comes in the form of those robots that she shoots through. As they lurch forward with the last of their power, they dive for Nova, trying to catch her as they self-destruct! Needless to say, things are starting to get rather loud rather quickly. Hearing all of this, the locals (and Pramanix) start relaying messages over the radio as they fight their way towards the deck as well. Blaze: "What the hell's going on over there?" Adam: "Come on, Blaze. You can't be that surprised. This is... What, the fourth time we've been through this?" Blaze: "Four? Maybe for you, but... Wait, when were the other three?" Adam: "... Anyway. We're on our way up. Ghost, the captain should be nearby. If we don't get there soon enough, regroup with Fists. We'll hold off what we can!"
Yang Xiao Long	Yang snorts, and shifts to hop back as Wayne joins the fray. She barely manages to backsomersault under a kick, his boot catching the buttons holding her jacket closed, pinging them off, causing the jacket to hang loose. "... asshole! This was my favorite jacket!" She snarls, shifting her stance after regaining her footing. She slams her fists together, causing a wave of force to ripple off of her, hair beginning to glow and her eyes shifting a darker shade of purple, not yet going red. Once she's released her Semblence, she kicks off the deck and aims for the poison bros first. Take out the support, the boss guy will go down easier. Using her enhanced strength and speed, she pinballs around the corridor, hitting and running while firing her kinetic shots to shred at her targets.
Nova Terra	Nova is a little distracted beating off the fleshy thugs to notice the robo thugs diving towards her. At least, not until the last moment. Their intentions are rather clear though. The whole 'exploding robots' thing being why they're here in the first place. An aura of blue energy flares up around Nova as she unleashes a blast of telekinetic force at the last moment to try and knock the robots away. That part of the corridor goes up in an explosion. Several moments later, Nova walks out of the leftover cloud of smoking, coughing and a little scorched across her suit and skin. But not dead! After the coughing, Nova gets out in response to Adam, "Got it. I imagine he has what we need." Nova begins moving again, using her telepathic abilities to sense out the Captain's whereabouts and close in on his location. All the while sending more thugs slamming into doors and bulkheads with her mind should they get in the way.
Karlan Nobles	Blaze: "Why is she Fists?" Pramanix: "He can't call you both Blaze. Although you both seem to have similar..." Blaze: "Similar /what/?" Pramanix: "Nothing, nothing~" As the locals and the vigilantes are dealing with their own battle further below, Yang and Nova have their own foes to contend with all the while. Yang's targetted attacks on the poison-breathing duo bring them down quickly, their training to fight people trying to get in close not doing quite as much against someone who's comfortable enough just barraging them at range. The Wayne, lacking those sizable meatshields to let him kick the everloving crap out of Yang, finds himself on the receiving end of multiple not-quite-direct shots that still leave him in a crumpled heap after not too long. Nova's telepatahic powers make it rather easy to pinpoint the Captain's location amidst the swarm of thugs, as well as battering those on the way to the Captain. Even though the alarm is all but sounded at this point, the thugs keep swarming, but they're beaten back easily enough with the frequent application of psychic energies to their bodies. What's even more convenient is the fact that the Captain is moving positions rapidly. Yang gets to see exactly why. As she rounds a corner not too far away from Nova's location, she'll see the Captain: a massive, yet fleet-footed man in red suspenders and brimming with old-timey boxer energy. He, along with several jetpack-bearing ninjas, are in the middle of fighting a relatively smaller and considerably more unkempt blonde man, dressed in ragged clothing that's probably a size or two too small for him that just makes him look like some kind of hobo. With more people arriving, though, the Captain leaves the hobo to the jetpack ninjas. He goes for the new arrivals, dashing in with considerable speed for someone his size and delivering entire flurries of blows in what otherwise looks like a single punch, yet each hit carries the strength of entire haymakers with them!
Yang Xiao Long	Yang rounds the corner, and gets a face full of rapidfire haymaker. She goes flying backward into the wall and makes a dent in it from the impact. Most people would be fgorgiven for thinking she's out of the fight now... anyone that's fought with or against the young Huntress will know better though. As the Captain turns for another target, the dented wall explodes, releasing Yang in her now resplendent, flame-wreathed glory. Red eye lift, and she steps off, causing the entire ship to lurch slightly from the equal-opposite reaction of her leap. She goes in for a flurry of blows to the Captain, mimicing his own rapid-fire technique, but adding the kinetic blast of her shotgauntlets to each swing.
Nova Terra	Nova rounds a corner to find one guy in strange boxer wear going toe to toe with a hobo. ... ... Yeah no. She's not playing by those rules. As the boxer Captain turns his attention to her, bounding over to unleash a a rapid fire punch combo at her, Nova simply gives him a wave as blue light washes over her body, cloaking her from view. The Captain's punches blast through thin air, where Nova had been a moment before but since moved. Then while he's busy punching Yang and then in return getting punched by her, Nova casually walks over-still cloaked-to wrap her arms around a large pipe attached to the wall. The pipe begins to creak and warp as Nova leverages the increased strength of her suit to rip it off the wall, finally tearing it free and causing water to start spraying out. It splashes over Nova, briefly disrupting her cloak when it does. But it's too late. The Captain already dealing with Yang's counterattack, Nova walks up with large pipe in arms and swings it at the boxer. Nova would have just shot him, but she kind of needs him alive for some intense 'questioning'.
Karlan Nobles	The Captain, mighty as he is, is still fighting on the back foot with his support being occupied and quickly dunked by the karate hobo. Dissheveled as the unidentified man is, he fights with far more skill than he looks. Granted, he also looks like a brick shithouse, but being able to punch fire helps. Also, the karate hobo is punching fire into the jetpack guys. The Captain does't even get a chance to move to support them, either, as he's beset by Yang and Nova in short order. Although he's able to block against the initial volley of their combined assault, blocking doesn't get him any closer to actually landing counterattacks of his own. He only manages to sneak in a punch or two at most before he goes down like a brick shithouse built considerably worse than the last one. With the Captain subdued, it's time for Interrogation Start! Adam, Blaze, and Pramanix are still on their way/cleaning up, and the karate hobo seems to be rummaging around in the captain's cabin. What do you do?
Yang Xiao Long	Yang lets out a breath, releasing her Semblence before jogging off to join Karate Hobo. "Nova, you got the fat fuck alright?" she asks without really waiting for a response. She pokes her head in. "Hey buddy, what's shakin'?" she asks, before slipping into the cabin to check what he's looking for. "You, uh... you okay?"
Nova Terra	Nova lets go of the large pipe, letting its heavy weight clank down on the floor hard. Blue light washes over her once more, again revealing her as she decloaks. She begins to walk towards the fallen Captain, responding to Yang's question with, "With pleasure." Nova leans down, the fingers of her gauntlet wrapping around the Captain's neck before she lifts his large mass up and drags him along to pin him against the wall. Her grip is strong to keep him there, uncomfortable, but not enough to choke him completely. Nova's eyes stare into the Captain's as she smirks, saying, "You're going to tell me everything you know about those robots. Where to find them. How to keep them inactive. Everything. And you don't have much choice in the matter." Nova focuses her mind on the Captain's, beginning to forcefully dig out the knowledge whether he likes it or not.
Karlan Nobles	When Yang approaches karate hobo, his first instinct is to whirl around and nearly punch her right in the face. Thankfully, his reflexes are on point, and he stops himself moments before impact. "Sorry. Uh. Bombs." He motions at one he's dug out from beneath a desk, lifting it onto said desk. "There's a three of them on this ship, and..." He taps on the timer on the front. Four minutes, twelve seconds. "How fast can you search the rest of this ship?" He asks, giving Yang time to answer and relay any information she might need to while he feels around the bomb carefully. Once he finds a certain spot on the bomb, he taps on it once as if checking something, then rams his fist right through it. Somehow, it works. "Two more." MEANWHILE The Captain (Red Bear, once she does some digging) is not in a good place. He's being interrogated by someone probably half his size, he can feel something rooting around in his brain that'll probably get him murdered once his boss finds out, and there's three more people approaching in the distance with a miniature pillar thing tucked under the largest one's arm. "Gh... What're you gonna do, torture me? Nothing you can do would be any worse than what the bossman'll do once he finds out, anyway!" Truth. "Besides, the boss didn't tell me anything you wouldn't know already, anyway." Half. "We're on a need-to-know basis, see? And I don't need to know." Truth. Except he's not just thinking about those. He's thinking about the locations of the robots (one per shipping container plus three more hidden among the thugs for testing, 24 total). He's thinking about why he had to bring them in the first place (he was paid a lot and didn't care about why). He's thinking about the trio coming closer with that weird bulbous thing they left in the basement and why there's an ominous looking timer on it now. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the answer to the rest of the questions.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang, to her credit, doesn't even flinch when that fist nearly slams into her face. She doesn't even call him on it, just segwaying into the next pressing question. "Bombs? Crap." she pulls out her Scroll, switches it to local radio mode and transmits. <Guys, we've got a problem. There's bombs on the ship... 2 more to disarm, just got one of them. Some dude helped us with the Captain.> She then looks over at Axel. "If we don't stop these bombs... what's going to happen?" she asks, before she starts making for the door. "Talk and walk, we don't have time to waste on a cutscene."
Nova Terra	Nova looks more and more upset as she digs around in the Captain's mind, listening to him and easily learning what he knows. Which isn't much. Nova hmphs, "Useless. Mostly." She releases her grip on the Captain's neck, letting him collapse in a heap. She doesn't know what the local vigilantes have planned, whether it's death, or capture. Either way it's not much of a concern to her. Nova turns and starts walking over to join Yang and Axel, muttering quietly to herself, "What a letdown. I thought they had more." Then more loudly, Nova says, "There's one robot in each container." She crosses her arms. Though raises an eyebrow at the mention of bombs, "Bombs? Why the hell would they plant bombs on their own ship?" Nova considers for a moment, then facepalms, "It wasn't them..." She jabs a finger over in the Captain's direction, "Red Bear over there didn't know it was a bomb." Nova storms back over to Red Bear, her armored boot clanging down menacingly hard against the deck right next to him as she asks, both verbally and mentally, "Where have you seen others like that!?" She points at the disarmed bomb.
Karlan Nobles	Blaze: <<"Bombs? Just our luck... Wait.">> Adam: <<"This wouldn't happen to be it, would it?">> A moment later, an image of the bulbous machine Adam is carrying comes through. It looks identical to what Yang just saw the karate hobo punch a hole into, albeit with three minutes left on the clock. Axel, overhearing this, speaks aloud while on the move. Axel: <<"Bring it to the deck. It'll be easier than explaining.">> Thankfully, he does start to explain as he breaks into a run, headed towards said cafeteria on the other end of the ship. "Best case scenario, the entire city gets irradiated. Worst case scenario, it explodes, and everything still gets irradiated." And yet, punching the bomb seemed to work before. Fancy that. Red Bear, meanwhile, lets out a pained grunt as Nova nearly puts that boot into his face while Adam, Blaze, and Pramanix gather around to add to the general INTIMIDATION factor. "What? A bomb?!" Truth. "I don't know anything about those!" Truth. "But I think I saw one downstairs and another in cafeteria... I thought it was an ice cream maker!" Truth. Once the final bomb is found, Axel performs the delicate task of disarming them by punching holes into the sides. As with previous days, there's now an opportunity for questioning!
Yang Xiao Long	"Nothing is ever straight forward is it?" groans Yang, grabbing the thing off Adam and following Axel to the final bomb location, to disarm both at once. Afterward, she rejoins the group, and finally asks. "So, firefist... what's your name?" she asks. Yes, she saw the fireworks. Yes she's sizing Axel up as a sparring partner. What's it too you? Adam and Blaze get a sidelong glance. "So... what /am/ I nicknamed 'Fists'?" she asks, arms folded under her chest, face set in a neutral-grump expression.
Karlan Nobles	"Axel Stone, ex-VCPD." the karate hobo answers, much to Blaze's confusion as she approaches him while looking utterly baffled by everything about him. Blaze: "When did you get this beard? And when did you get this /wide/? It's only been a few months!" Axel: "Warp gates. Has it really only been a couple of months?" It seems he's being kind of evasive, too, and Blaze's irritation is rather obvious. Alas, it does't seem like he's going to clarify anything about that anytime soon. Adam, meanwhile, responds to Yang more directly by gesturing at Blaze. "She's already Blaze. Calling you both the same name would be confusing, yeah? So..." He does a few jabs in the air for emphasis. "Just like how the disappearing act is Ghost."
Nova Terra	Nova smirks in satisfaction as the Captain continues to offer the information they need. Nova has to admit he was a little more useful this time around. She's not sure what kind of radiation levels they might have to deal with and whether her siit would be enough protection. Better to not find out. Nova joins the others in collecting and disabling the last of the bombs, before she asks, "So are you going to let us in on who's try8nv to irradiate the city?" Pause. Then Nova realises something, asking, "And does the irradiation mean they got their hands on nuclear material for these bombs?"
Yang Xiao Long	"My name is Yang... if you really need a nickname, call me Firecracker." she replies, going from grumpy to a shiteating grin in the blink of an eye. She then looks over to Nova. "Could be the power source of the robots themselves. Atlas androids use Dust power cores and they can cause elemental effects if they go critical... generally a giant electrical surge similar to an EMP." she shrugs. "May not be entirely intentional, but with what I know about Mr. X? Wouldn't put it past him."
Karlan Nobles	"Mister X, of course. Just because he just got elected doesn't mean he can't blame the last mayor for anything that goes wrong." Adam answers Nova, nodding at her second question. Adam: "Afraid so, Ghost. Where he got it from, I don't know, but I suspect it has something to do with the research he stole from Doctor Zan. Axel: "Raxine. Atomic number 122, highly radioactive and explosive. Mister X wanted to detonate it downtown to make it look like the US was under attack." Blaze: "Because of that Lima incident? Axel: "Right. Lima, Mexico, the last explosion..." Blaze: "What 'last explosion'?" Axel: "Almost explosion. It didn't happen thanks to... You know." Axel makes a punching motion similar to what he did to disarm the bombs just minutes ago, then nods at Yang. Axel: "Exactly, Fis... Er. Firecracker. It's an efficient energy source, but even more effective as a weapon." Zan: <<"To think he would use my research for this... Please, find his base, and stop him. You're the only ones we can count on at this point.">>