Scene #1254: Tracking the Travelers

Owner	Pose
Defiant	The inside of the Pendragon, Defiant's personal dragon-shaped craft, isn't the most comfortable thing, but given that it could hold a dozen, it fits the various Elites and Defiant himself - clad in his heavy duty, green and gold armor - comfortably. Defiant is a big man, six feet tall, wearing armor that looks like it was made for a fight. It resembles a high-tech knight, with scales and various draconic touches bringing to mind some sort of dragon-themed warrior. His helmet is featureless except for the visor that sits across his eyes. It terminates on either side of the helmet with flared frills or, perhaps, wings on either side. "We're coming up on the target now, Defiant," a woman says from the front of the craft. "Two minutes." "Then we'll make this quick," Defiant replies. Activating a holographic panel on the wall of the craft, Defiant brings up a series of images. "We call these villains the Travelers. They've been making some trouble in Brockton Bay recently and we have been asked to step in. We expect to face Trickster, Sundancer, Genesis and Ballistic. If you have questions, ask them now."
Rory White	"What kind of situation did you get me into?" Rory mildly complains to her companion. This is the kind of thing she kind of signed up for, but... it's biting off quite a lot. "I do! Specialties and temperaments would be helpful... since we're trying to subdue them!"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa looks over at Rory for a moment with a bit of an innocent look on her face, she does reply for the moment. She looks over to Defiant for a moment and listens. "So what are the deals on their power sets if I might ask? Also how vunrbale are they to stunner type weaponry if I might ask?" Kotone's got flash bangs and some other suprising she's left the SHIV behind today becaue there's no real riot control variant. She is however weaing a suit of heavy armor or some sort from the lookf of it and she'd have and Rory would know she was using this as an field test for it.
Auron	Auron's here as well. He's wearing the oufit he got from Altair a while back, though the hood's back at the moment. His sword has had to be laid flat on the floor to keep it out of the way. He's okay with that; the damn thing is almost as tall as he is when he's standing up. He's sitting with his feet apart, elbows propped on his knees, and his fingers interlocked. Listening to the conversation, for a moment not speaking. When questions are invited, Auron leans back, and tilts his head up a little and inquires, "What are these 'Travelers' capable of? What sort of abilities do they have?" Best to know how to deal with them early, right? Or /if/ he can deal with them, at least to know which of them to stay away from.
Defiant	Defiant nods. He taps a series of commands into the holographic terminal and brings up a series of pictures. Each individual wears a black and red bodysuit with a mask that obscures their face. "Trickster," Defiant begins, "Their leader. He is a Mover with a teleport classification. He can swap any two objects within his line of sight, including himself." Trickster, it seems, wears a top hat as well. The next is a woman. "Sundancer. Blaster. Her power is to create what we can only describe as a miniature sun which she can move as she wishes." The third figure is a man. Bigger than Trickster and with much thicker armor on, like a football player or SWAT team member. "Ballistic. Striker/Blaster. Any object he touches, he can infuse with enough energy to fire it at speeds at over one thousand seven hundred miles per hour. Do not get hit." The next image is multiple. It's like looking at a multitude of giant monsters with tentacles, fanged maws and everything one might expect. They're all from different occasions and all are different. Who knows what they might look like now. "Genesis. Changer nine. Shapeshifter." Defiant looks to Kotone. "Their armor is insulated against minor electrical charges. You will need to hit exposed skin. Our goal is to drive them off." "ETA sixty seconds," says the voice from the cockpit. Canadian.
Rory White	"O-one thousand seven hundred?!" That's a RIDICULOUS figure. Rory's now rather spooked. Spooked especially for Kotone. Just WHAT is going on here? But she doesn't express much more than that... instead rapidly checks her strange-looking weapon and its canisters... "Surprise will mean a lot here!"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa makes mental notes on this but the one ith tentacles? She flat out shudders for a moment, at that ya. She's lived in Japan long enough and been wise to things for far too long. "Right and them not knowing what they can do." She looks at Rory for a moment. <<You okay? These guys are dangerous but they are ... understanable unlike ... the things you may end up seeing in the field.>
Auron	Auron listens to the information, filing it away for later use. Insulated against electric charges, huh? Good thing he brings a variety of elemental attack items. Subduing them, not killing them. So no assassinating. He nods. When the ETA is announced, he reaches down to the floor where he's put his Katana. He has a feeling they're going to have to pile out pretty quick.
Defiant	The Pendragon brakes, hard, as the thrusters engage suddenly. Hovering only meters above a Brockton Bay street, a loading door opens on the craft and Defiant leaps out. He lands, hard, and the asphalt shatters around his feet. That armor is tough stuff. Reaching down to his belt, he pulls a small cylinder free and, with a shake of his hand, the cylinder becomes a long two-pronged spear. The Travelers take notice. Down the other end of the street, they appear to be hacking into a terminal inside of an overturned PRT response vehicle. The crew are down on the street, unmoving. "Shit," Ballistic murmurs, "Is that fucking /Dragon/?!" The other Travelers seem to settle into defensive stances. Trickster and Ballistic to the front, Sundancer behind. The giant vaguely humanoid rhino-beast lurking beneath a bit of a building overhang must be Genesis. That explains how they tossed that van onto its side. "I will deal with Genesis," Defiant remarks. And, with that, he charges. With each step of his charge, he flickers out of visibility with a flash of light. Ballistic moves over to a metal bench on one side of the street. "Everyone, out!" Dragon snaps from the cockpit.
Rory White	<<They cannot truly kill me and wouldn't know how to sabotage me. You are my main worry!>> Rory transmits back... then... there's a flood of connections from her to Kotone. <<Establishing Tacnet links!>> If Defiant's armor doesn't have his own suite or similar, Rory would be surprised, but he's being pinged with the request too. Once a connection is established... Kotone (and possibly Defiant) will get quite a lightshow on their displays. The Travelers become hilighted in red and name matched based on given images, friendlies in green. As Rory deploys a Saucer surveillance drone a battlefield map appears in a corner of vision and updates it with everyone's positions and the surrounding layout. Any nearby civilians will be marked as white dots on the map, even if infrared's needed to find them... Rory steps out and immediately dives for some cover. "I'll support you, Kotone!" And support indeed she is. Because a few more tiny robot drones fly out of the Dragon-ship on tiny rotors and zip off in preparation for an ambush... or maybe distraction.
Auron	Auron waits after Defiant exits, until Dragon's command, wanting to make sure he's not going to mess up any plan that was come up with. Just before he does, though, he pulls the hood of his outfit up, and loosely ties a gray scarf around his neck. An idle thought passes through his mind, that he should get one of those ninja masks to cover up his face. Because the hood won't hide the scar. Anyway. He leaps out the same way Defiant did (presuming the door is still open), the sword going over his shoulder as he does, and lands in a roll. He pauses at the end of it, still crouched, to take in the scene. Plans begin to form...
Kotone Yamakawa	<<Nothing I'm not fond of it either but this armor needs to be tested once it's been proven able it will be able to be deployed. Look I don't want them to end up like I did.>> She doesn't go on and she pauses as she gets the hud update it's like a gane she's got to admit she notices features of the HUD as she now heads out and she moves. <<Right!>> Kotone hits the gorund running and doesn't seem to be too heavily armed, well she's got a battle rifle packing reaper rounds across her back as she starts to figure out whom to go after...
Defiant	Just as the last Elite clears the dragon-craft, the metal bench /slams/ into the side, causing the entire mechanical dragon to slew to one side. Dragon rights her craft, and then gets it out of the line of fire, hovering it above the battlefield. Defiant continues his charge, still blinking out of sight with every step. And then, suddenly, Trickster waves his hand and Auron is suddenly crouched where Defiant is, with a very angry Genesis bearing down on him! Defiant takes a second to adjust his momentum as he finds himself where Auron had landed, and he decides that he's just going to try charging Genesis again! Ballistic, it seems, has come loaded with some ammo. Ball bearings. He touches each one, and sends off a quick one-two shot of supersonic metal orbs in Kotone's direction. Luckily, Rory has taken cover. Whether Kotone will be so lucky remains to be seen!
Rory White	Kotone will find herself being given some support! Rory's aiming to ruin Ballistic's aim as much as she can. One of the tiny rotor-drones shines a laser pointer down at Ballistic's eyes. Or at least at the spots in the mask where he's looking out. It's incredibly bright and VERY irritating, enough to make the eyes water out of sheer reflex! Rory's taken cover physically, but this is in part a ruse. She's still helping!
Auron	Whoop. Not good. Auron finds himself too close to Genesis for comfort. But instead of immediately getting out of the way, he concentrates a moment, raising a hand in front of his face with the first and second fingers pointing up. Whorls of what look like a heat mirage surround him briefly, and his blade gleams yellow. The hesitation leaves him BARELY twisting out of the way in time, and as he does, he swings the blade. The edge is not aimed to hit Genesis, however. The flat is. The hit is designed to 'tag' Genesis. It may or may not hurt. But what probably will is the explosion of chi that follows. And THAT is designed to weaken an enemy's skin or armor to make it easier to cause damage in the future.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone is getting rounds more or less fired at her. She's thankfully given time to respond as Rory makes a move on Ballistic. She hits the ground hard and shits now to lob something at the super villain, just what is it? Why it's flash bang which will detonate a second later while Kotone tries to scramble up she needs to get in close, after all.
Defiant	For a second, it almost seems like Rory and Kotone's tactic will work. Disrupt Ballistic with a laserlight and then hit him with a flashbang. It really does almost work. But Trickster spots the flashbang and swaps it for one of the flying drones. When the flashbang detonates, it does so with less disruption to Ballistic. Still, the villain is trying to find some cover and he settles behind a dumpster. That's good. Hang on, wait. Ballistic /shoves/ the dumpster down the street, towards Kotone and Rory! The dumpster clips a parked car and its path doesn't even change. Auron tags Genesis with the flat of his blade. The explosion blasts a great chunk out of the shapeshifter, and it - he? - roars in pain, bringing both of its meaty fists down to try and crush Auron into the dirt. Luckily, Defiant is there. He swings his spear and lops one of the limbs off at the elbow, the head of his spear surrounded by a grey nimbus that parts the shapeshifter's thick skin like it isn't even there. Isn't that Armsmaster's tech?
Kotone Yamakawa	Her flash bang is no longer in place it goes off it isn't in the right spot and she sees he's behind a dumpster? Wait can't he just make things go like a bullet? That's where Kotone starts moving, this is why she does not get hit she leaps into the air vaultiung to a level a normal human couldnm't and comeing in for a landing causing the pavement to crack from the impac, she's up and closing in at top speed, she's dropping any pretense that she's flesh and blood as she's trying to close in, if she can use her shock gloves she'd might have a chance but she's have to get him exposed /somewhere/.
Auron	Auron's nimble, but he's also carrying roughly a hundred pounds of metal. While he might have been able to barely twist his body out of the way of a charge, swung fists are another thing. Thankfully, Defiant takes half the problem off at the elbow! Which gets a nod of thanks. Though the other fist is still on its path. Getting that sword up to his shoulder to block the fist is his only real choice. And it only dissipates the impact enough that it doesn't instantly snap Auron's collarbone. As it is, he grunts in pain, forced to a knee. However, he turns on that knee, other leg out in a sweep, aiming his heel to hopefully slam into the back of Genesis's ankle. Auron's hope is, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Hopefully not on top of him him. That would be unpleasant, and in his current position he has little chance to dodge.
Rory White	Rory would possibly SCREAM if she were human. As it is, her mind is not operating at normal speeds. It's far, FAR slower, operating in bullet time. Her body isn't able to keep UP with that, but being able to react the very moment the dumpster starts skidding means-- WHOOSH! Up she leaps. The car goes skidding beneath her and thankfully slows the dumpster. Sparks are flying!! ... But the dumpster clips her foot and sends her WHILRING backwards through the air, spinning lopsidedly and crashing in an awful tangled heap across the pavement! No screams. No sounds. A few sparks from some torn synth flesh but she's not even MOVING... She isn't, but her drones are. Three more, these ones much heavier fly up seemingly out of nowhere. The size of small dogs, and-- and... ... And they don't seem to be doing anything. Only because -real lasers- are not visible to the naked eye. But Ballistic will be getting very hot under the collar very fast! The trio of drones are working to cook him out of that armor or incapacitate him through pure overheating! Rory's not a fighter. So she FIGHTS DIRTY! And kind of strangely.
Defiant	Auron trips up Genesis, sending the shapeshifter to the ground. Luckily, the bestial opponent doesn't land on top of him, instead trying to grab Auron's arm in one meaty fist and crush the bones there. He almost succeeds, too - until Defiant lops off that arm, too. Strangely, Genesis doesn't even bleed from either stump, but they'll have a hell of a hard time getting up now. Defiant spins his spear in an elegant arc, and turns his attention to the rest of the brawl. "Genesis has been neutralised," Defiant reports. "Focus your attention on Trickster - he /cannot/ swap all of us at once!" "You want to take that bet, friend?" Trickster retorts. He's a young guy by the sound of his voice. Early twenties, perhaps. Meanwhile, Ballistic seems to be realising that things are getting quite hot. He steps back, trying to evade the beams he can't see, as Kotone descends upon him. She's fast, but it doesn't take a moment for Ballistic to hurl all of his remaining ball bearings in her direction. "Speaking of a swap, Trickster...!" Ballistic shouts out.
Rory White	Unfortunately there is nothing Rory can do to help Kotone in this situation besides yell a warning the instant she sees Ballistic's hand begin moving in that telltale way. Her drones cannot move that fast, she can't interpose something and doesn't have any equipment to stop those shots! So she does the next best thing. The lasers all recalibrate their targeting instantly to Ballistic's HAND and pump up the power in an attempt to throw his aim off! ...Rory's still on the ground, motionless, faking a KO, though. ... If Ballistic doesn't do SOMETHING, very bad things will start happening to the flesh of that hand under the armor once the heat gets really scorching. It will NOT be pleasant at all!
Auron	Now that he has the time, Auron looks to Defiant with a nod. "Thank you," he offers. Then they have to deal with the others. Trickster's tactical swapping abilities seem like the worst thing to have to deal with. So first, he puts some distance between himself and Genesis, so the shapeshifter can't hear him giving his team a headsup. Then as he circles the fight, he notes over the radio, "Incoming on Trickster. Stay back for a moment." Then he pulls an oval-shaped canister out of his robes, using his teeth to pull a pin on it. Then he lobs at Trickster. There's a lot of things he's hoping. One, that he can do this without Trickster seeing him; two, that his allies stay back far enough for it to work on Trickster and not them!
Kotone Yamakawa	There's a reason also why she's got a nanofiber vest on under the Carapace armour as she attemps to dodge at this point. She might dodge a few but not all of them this isn't a military spec body and she's not got enough experiance or addtional software either way she's caught by an number of them they tear into her armour and there's damage she's knocked off her feet and it looks like she's down the armour however held out better than non tinker armours would native to this world, she's down she's trying to get back up but then she seems to drop to the ground. Did he get her? Or is she like Rory up to something?
Defiant	Ballistic shouts behind his mask, clasping the scorched hand to his chest with his other hand. "What the HELL, Tri-!" Anything Trickster might shout in reply is cut off by the hiss and clatter of a smoke bomb detonating. Trickster vanishes behind a plume of smoke. Sensing that he's not going to get swapped out anytime soon, Ballistic runs for it, heading back in the direction of the rest of his gang. Trickster can be heard coughing, "Just about time to leave, I think. Leave the van! Sundancer, if you wouldn't mind getting us a way out?" Calling through the smoke, Trickster shouts: "Let us go and we'll leave quietly! We'll leave what's in the van!"
Rory White	Rory finally stands. It's an eerie, simple motion without much human-like struggling. Her motions wobble from damaged leg servos but she stands very smoothly. "Then go, and do not force us to repeat this encounter!" Probably not the best way to say 'do this again we'll clobber you' but Rory's far too concerned about Kotone to worry about that. <<Kotone?>>
Auron	Auron pauses, his sword held over his shoulder, waiting for confirmation over the radio. Once that confirmation comes, he shifts to stand normally, letting the point of the sword rest upon the ground, still holding onto the handle. It's his 'at rest' posture; he doesn't intend to attack further unless the Travelers do.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone has been blasted she had intendte to try to lure him in, and she might be able to chase Ballistic down but it might not be wise she's slowly starting to get up as Rory contacts her. <I'll live I think, that was one test I was hoping not to do....> She slowly gets up shaikly and likely is running system checks as well as she's got hit, still the armour did a pretty damn good job she ows Dr. Shen one.