Scene #4150: Welcome to ELITE

Owner	Pose
Dr. Vahzilok	A government liaison who is part of ELITE (Enhanced Logistics for Insight and Tactical Excellence), Susan Davies, has called for heroes of the Natural Origin or whose powers come to them naturally, such as via training, etcetera. The run-down of the mission is given when people meet with her at City Hall in Atlas Park, directing them to speak to Laurence Manfield, a doctor by the hospital who has come into information regarding a report of a missing person. There's been three cases like this just in the last week. After speaking to him, he indicates that all the leads so far point to an abandoned office building right here in Atlas Park. The heroes go over there and see what they can find. The last person to go missing is a reporter named Mike McGillicuty; the heroes should be keeping their eyes out for him. Whenever they arrive, they find it's a relatively small building. Only a single story, with a hallway, a conference room, an intake desk, and a couple of side rooms. The marching of booted feet on concrete can be heard down a side corridor, and men in military-looking gear are gathered near the welcome desk, discussing something.
Yang Xiao Long	BAM. That's the door, being pushed open by some blonde in a revealing outfit. "Hey boys. Got some questions for ya!" says Yang, as she strolls right on up to the desk, beaming brightly before leaning on said same. "Have you seen a reporter, name's Mike McGillicuty. I have a picture here if you need it." she offers, going to start digging in a pocket.
Princess Luna	Floating down on graceful wings close behind the blonde is a pony! More specifically a bipedal winged unicorn woman. She blinks a few times at Yang's chosen approach. Straight to the point. It could work, assuming these men aren't involved in the disappearances. "Isn't this building supposed to be abandoned?" she asks as she enters, letting Yang fish out that photo while she takes a look around the room. Her wings fold neatly against her back as she steps inside.
Alexis	Alexis's athletic fighting ability was natural. Argue all you want about it appearing magical or what not, but Pokemon abilities are perfectly natural to whatever species they may be. So good enough as far as she's concerned. Not really important other than fluff, let's get down to business. And quite possibly the only reason the pink-haired tomboy doesn't just kick in the door is because Yang beats her two it, struting in like she already owns the place and going to flash the picture around. "Gotta admit, I kinda like her style." That said, Yang is already being bombastic so Alexis holds back a little, instead eyeing up the mean in.. military hardware? Riot gear? Hard to tell around Paradon. How much does that even do versus a super powered maniac, anyways? Either way, seeing already heavily armed people around makes her decide to be safe instead of sorry and clicks one of her pokeballs. "Take guard, Checkpoint. But no striking unless aggressive moves are made first, ok?" The Quilladin does his best to strike a valiant pose despite his squat rotund form. "<Fear not, milady! I shall be thy stalward sentry while delving the depths of this...>" He actually pauses to lean back a bit and look up at the disappointingly modern looking architecture. "<.. Uh.>" Taps a clawtip to his chin. "<Cannot quite define this as a dundgeon... None the less!>" He promptly resumes the pose like nothing interrupted it. "<Your safety shall be paramount regardless the precariously peril you proceed upon!>" Alexis, just slaps a hand to her face. "I should of named you Don Quixote..."
Revan	The last time Lowri Revan-Shan was in Paragon City, it did not end well. If anything good had come of her previous mission, it had been that their ragtag group of heroes had managed to save many lives...and it had finally given her the necessary boot to the arse to settle certain issues back at home. The Republic now had the ideal representative out in the multiverse, and her husband now had definitive proof that she /was/ coming back. All in all, it had been a very good outcome. Save for one looming issue, that is. The Jedi Guardian was forced to put that particular issue in the back of her mind for the moment, however. She continued to do her own part searching when she could for her missing friends, though they remained strangely elusive. In the meantime, Lowri could only do what she could in their place. In their honour, if worse came to worst. After obtaining what information she could from her contact -- Natural, perhaps to the surprise of those who assumed Force abilities were superstitiously labelled 'space magic' by some -- she made her way to the described building...and then raised her eyebrows as a certain busty blonde barged in with equal parts style and brute force. Well, that was certainly new...in its own way. The odd-eyed Jedi made her own way in following Alexis and a blue-hued winged woman with a single horn and glittering long hair she hadn't recognised. "Well. A hammer works, too...not that I really have any room to talk, considering," she quipped with a shrug and a subtle smile. Lightsaber hitls remained at her belt and she made no motion to grab them...yet. Sure, things were likely to become lively very soon, but it wasn't as if there weren't enough things around to Force Lift when things turned interesting.
Rebound	Subtlety is a lost art. Especially on Rebound. The kangaroo enters after Alexis, having arrived to the building by jumping her way there from the initial mission point. She's probably not ENTIRELY natural origin, but her combat abilities primarily come from her years of training, so as far as she's concerned it counts. She ducks through the door after the group, taking in the sight of the armored gentlemen near the counter, "They don't look like rent-a-cops." She says, loud enough for Alexis to hear, as she plans on how to get in there and attack them, should they prove to be hostile. Especially with the way the rest of the gathered group seems intent on barging in and throwing pictures around.
Dr. Vahzilok	By this point, the knowledge that the Multiverse exists is pretty common throughout Primal Earth. While some may think of it as 'something out there somewhere' instead of something they are now part of, Paragon City sees people from other worlds so regularly it's just sort of been accepted. Thus, even something as unusual as a unicorn woman or a kangaroo lady or a pokewhatsit or all the other weirdos doesn't earn much scrutiny beyond what's necessary to determine that this group who have just barged in are likely heroes. And that's enough for the soldier-looking men to start yelling, "Intruders!" as they draw their weapons and begin spraying the entry way with buckshot and submachine guns and automatic pistols. Welp.
Princess Luna	And...just as Princess Luna was expecting, these guys are not here to help them. She thrusts a hand out as they yell, and a shimmering translucent blue shield bubble forms around her and the entryway. Bullets richochet at random angles, many back toward the men firing them. As she does this, she holds her other hand out behind her and in a burst of sparkles a long scythe appears. It is mostly in case any of the men close in, but for now she maintains the shield bubble to give her allies a place from which to launch their own attacks. And, once she has her scythe and shield, she starts walking steadily toward the men, closing the gap and increasing the likelihood that their richochets will hit them. The steely gaze Luna is now wearing, along with her frown and the way her mane and tail are now flowing dramatically despite there being now wind, make it clear she means business. "Lower your weapons and surrender, and you may all yet survive this encounter!" she declares, her voice gaining an intimidating double tone to it and causing the room to rattle.
Yang Xiao Long	"You coulda just said 'no'!" gripes Yang, as she hops back, and crosses her arms in front of her, weathering the hail of gunfire with her Aura, then deploying her gauntlets to return the favour with explosive bolts she literally punches back at them. "Why. Does. Everyone. Have. To. Do. This. The. Hard. Way!?" she growls out with each blast of her gauntlets back at the Council guys. The bolts go off like fireworks. Don't worry, property damage will be MUCH higher if she keeps 'tanking' like that.
Revan	"I'm thinking that's a 'no'," Revan drawled to Rebound, folding her arms even as the heavily-armed group sounded the alarm. "They don't look like ex-military or mercenaries...more like an actual military." When the firing actually started, however, the platinum blonde blurred into action. It seemed as if only a fraction of a second passed before ignited lightsabers were already in her hands, not so much deflecting the metal bullets as melting those which came her way once she moved outside of the Equestrian princess's protective shield. "Thanks!" she called out as she made her move. "Par for the track," she quipped to Yang -- though the other likely wouldn't get swoop racing slang -- even as she closed the distance with a Force Leap, lightsabers trained on disarming them first. Metal weapons tended to react poorly to plasma blades, in her experience.
Alexis	Alexis is briefly distracted by Princess Luna gracing the doorway. Isn't that... no wait, the Luna she's met isn't anthropomorphic. Though at this she just smirks faintly. "You remind me of someone else I know..." And then gunfire. Well, that answers the question of who's on what side. As soon as gunfire starts there's a shadowy 'poof' as her Ageislash manifests in front of her, remaining in it's guard stance as Alexis grabs on to use it for cover. Checkpoint reflexively rolls up like the hedgehog he sort of resembles. Except instead of being fast, this hedgehog has tough bark-like armor and Bulletproof, resisting the gunfire even more. It's still not enough to keep him from making extravegant chit chat. "<I doth believe this counts as aggressive action!>" Because everyone knows Talking Is A Free Action in comic books. "Yes, yes it does." Without lowering the Ageislash shield Alexis winds back with one foot, and takes advantage of Quiladin's overall round shape to kick him towards the gunmen. Until midair he uncurls, and with a valiant cry of "<Have at thee!>" forms a mace-like ball of spikes around a fist with Needle Arm and swings for the head of whichever gunman he's about to slam into. "<Feel the smiting of my spines, knave!>"
Rebound	The gunfire makes it hard to ignore the troopers, "Son of a bitch." Rebound mutters to herself, as she tries to defend herself by moving for cover. Not a lot of cover to move to, though. She'll have to just go at them directly. She jumps over, and then plants one foot on a wall, pushing off of it, and driving through the air so she can launch herself right at one of the troopers. Her right hand's gauntlet fires forward in a roundhouse punch, trying to lay into his head with the strike and sprawl him out. Taking him off of his feet should help take him out of the fight.
Dr. Vahzilok	Though they have military training and not the kind of firepower you just find on the street casually, having their bullets thrown back at them and their weapons cut in half is probably not something they were trained for. Among the injuries they take from the former, and the staggering of being thrown back by force-powered disarming, the following gauntlet blasts send them flying, even as a spiked hedgehog-mon collides with another's face, and then Rebound punches another so hard he flies into a wall, bounces off, and then hits his head on the floor when he falls. It sounds like someone in another room is speaking, from the faint echoes... Just down the side corridor. With the guards at the entrance taken care of, now it's time to go face whoever's behind this and try to find the captive.
Alexis	"Good job, both of you," Alexis states as the last guntoting guard falls to the ground. The Aegislash just emits a ghostly ringing sound that has a vagely pleased sound to it at the praise. "<Just doing as thy said would,>" Checkpoint replies, and salutes. Except he salutes with the paw the spine-mace is formed around, bonking it against his own head and nearly toppling over sideways. "<Egads! Mustent forget to sheath weaponry.>" He wobbles back onto both feet as he dismisses the formation. Alexis has to try really hard to not snicker at it. "Let's keep moving on." The ghostly shield and sword continues to hover around her protectively.
Princess Luna	Princess Luna lowers her shield when the guards are taken care of, then continues on. Her ears perk at the voices, and she momentarily wonders how the commotion didn't raise any suspicions. She counts them as lucky and makes her way down the corridor. "I have heard that a few of my Multiversal counterparts are about." she says to Alexis as the move, though she speaks softly to try and avoid being detected. The pony's ears stay perked as she listens for which door contains the voices. When she finds it, she pauses, then motions to Yang. "Would you care to do the honors?" she asks quietly, then stands to the side.
Rebound	With the initial guards down, Rebound makes her way up towards the hallway, peering around it briefly, "I think it's probaly safe to assume they know we're here considering homeboy down there was firing a shotgun indoors without ear protection." She jerks a thumb at the unconcious guy before she looks back down the hallway, "So who wants to knock the door down and offer to sell these guys some girlscout cookies?" Seems she finally noticed that the entire team is female.
Revan	Once the fight was over -- in a matter of seconds, really -- Lowri was able to make out the faint whispering. She held a hand up with hopes of holding off the inevitable assault from a team of very deadly women to listen in as long as she could. They were, after all, on an information hunt. If the Force was on her side on this, she tapped into its powers to attempt listening in on the conversation, extending her senses outward towards it. An unorthodox ability, to be sure, but Revan tended to favour the unconventional.
Yang Xiao Long	"And STAY DOWN!" crows Yang, booting one of the downed guys in the shin, just to add insult to injury. "Right... uh, Girlscout cookies? Might work." quips the blonde, then shrugs and heads down the hallway, before rounding the corner with her fists raised defensively. "Anyone want any cookies? Two boxes for two dollars." she crows. "Every order gets a free serving of PUNCH."
Dr. Vahzilok	The conversation, to those listening in, sounds like a man pleading to be released, and another voice telling him to quiet down and 'wait for the transport to arrive'. Sounds like they found the missing reporter! And it doesn't sound like they've caught wind of the presence of the heroines yet, surprisingly. Maybe the accoustics are bad, or maybe they were too busy yelling at each other over McGillicuty's ultimate fate. So they are quite surprised when Yang suddenly comes into view. "What are the guards doing!?" a Nebula Adjutant demands as he pulls a grenade from his belt and throws it just past Yang... Towards the allies behind her! There's definitely a man NOT in military gear behind these goons, so it looks like that's Mike. As a few others on either side of the adjustant scramble to either rush into melee combat with Yang or or draw their guns to take shots at her and anyone following after her, it looks like the heroines have their work cut out for them!
Alexis	Alexis curses as the man is mad enough to throw a grenade down the hallway towards them, and dives forward to grab Checkpoint before he can rush ahead to fight. Tucking him under her arm she rolls over partway and holds up the Ageislash with her other arm. "WIDE GUARD!" Spectoral energy ripples out from the haunted shield to form a protective field. Wide Guard absorbs the damage from area attacks away from teammates, so Alexis is hoping it'll keep her allies safe from that grenade. Or at least lessen the damage done. Ageislash ends up looking scorched and sooty from taking the brunt of the attack, though it's type combination did minimalize the harm done. Compared to the flesh squishy bodies of pretty much everyone else on the team. But focusing on that, Alexis can't really do anything to attack the guys scrambling for their weapons.
Princess Luna	"Girlscouts?" Luna asks Rebound, apparently not familiar with the organization. The question is quickly forgotten when Yang barges into the room in question. When she hears someone ask about the guards, Luna smirks. "They are taking a nap! And you shall soon join them, villains!" Princess Luna exclaims as she rushes in behind Yang before fanning out. "Release the one called Mike immediately, or face your inevitable defeat!" Then...grenade! Princess Luna doesn't actually know what a grenade is. She is from a rather peaceful world where weapons are not even made beyond swords or the like. Her own scythe looks as decorative as anything. So, she just sidesteps the grenade and keeps going, charging with weapon forward and wings spread. She swings her scythe, but rather than using it to slash the badguys she targets their weapons, seeking to destroy them so that they won't have any way to fight back beyond maybe fisticuffs. Which, she is certain, Rebound and Yang can handle easily. When the grenade -does- go off, Luna is in the midst of the badguy group, so she is only hit with some debris and the fairly weakened shockwave, but it does cause her to stumble forward and wince as a few pieces of debris bounce off of or embed themselves within her back. Her eyes are wide after that. That could have really hurt someone!!
Revan	Revan grunted softly in satisfaction as she caught the snippets of strained conversation. "Well, looks like we've found our missing..." And then Yang charged in. Never mind, then. "Ah well, we needed to go knock together a few heads, anyway." Naturally, the fascist goons were the kind to shoot first and ask questions never, so there was little worry about falling to Dark Side influences by being overly aggressive. Just in time, considering there was the grenade Luna had just sidestepped. "Oh, shards," the Jedi muttered as she darted out of its way. Hopefully everyone else was either as agile or could tank it, otherwise it would be a quick teleport to the closest hospital. But as long as they were tossing explosives...well, she had a few of her own. Sonic grenades weren't fatal, but they were more than enough to put the hurt on their foes. "Here, catch!" she quipped as she detached one from her belt and tossed it to the Nebula Adjutant. Not exactly a respectable Jedi tactic, but Revan had never been terribly good at that part. And if that wasn't enough, a few other Council lackeys would come face-to-face with a pair of lightsabers.
Yang Xiao Long	With everyone else getting their hands dirty, Yang just hunkers down for those that /aren't/ able to dodge bullets, or deflect them to hide behind. SHe's not a small woman, after all and with her Aura, she can soak up quite a bit of damage. So she does just that, crossing arms in front of her and just leaning into the incoming fire, feet spread to brace against the kinetic recoil of getting hit that many times. Her Aura does seem to be depleting pretty quickly, with the formerly bright orange-yellow glow about her fading to duller and duller shades.
Rebound	Another room, and more of those goons. Rebound is quick to move in, her natural strength and agility allowing her to bound around the room and find opporitunities to strike at them. Rolling around the side of one of the Council troops, Rebound plants her tail on the ground and falls backwards, lifting both of her feet off the ground. This is a classic attack from a kangaroo, but she's going to plant both feet into his back and knock him through the air.
Dr. Vahzilok	With the combined firepower, skills, and teamwork of the forces of good, the soldiers are soon defeated, including their leader. The kidnapped man, Mike McGillicuty, tells the heroines the following. "I swear, I never meant to get involved with the Council! I was just writing an article on the Paragon City government, and I guess I asked too many questions about the wrong officials! One of their officers came to see me last night; he said I could join them or die! They were planning to take me to a big training base right here in Atlas Park. There may be other people there who the Council recruited against their will!" Mike then rushes towards the exit, probably glad to get out of here. He narrowly escaped a fate of being conscripted into the forces of the bad guys against his will! Though the fact that these 'Council' are forcibly 'recruiting' and 'training' people off the street into their paramilitary group is pretty concerning... As is the news they have an actual facility somewhere, instead of just squatting in abandoned buildings. But that's something to investigate another day... Mission Complete!
Yang Xiao Long	"Good work team. Chalk another one up for the good guys." says Yang, her hair aflame and her eyes smouldering red... but she's bleeding that built up energy off now there's no immediate threat. "Lets go report back and see if we can't get some leads on that facility. Regroup, plan, organize... those kinda things."
Alexis	"<The fiends!>" Despite being tucked in Alexis' arm Checkpoint still manages to somehow pose melodramatically by thrusting out one stubby quilladin arm. "<Fear not fair citizen, this debauchery shall be brought to an end just as thoroughly as this callous kidnapping was.>" No, he does not realize that the man is already fleeing from the building. He's on a heroic speech moment here. Alexis just rolls her eyes at the rambling. "Sounds like this was just the beginning of something bigger."
Revan	"Don't worry," Lowri tried to reassure the beleaguered journalist. "You were just doing your job, there wasn't anyway to know how far this kinrath burrow really went." Just what /was/ a 'kinrath'? Did he really want to know? Probably not. "Just be careful in the future, OK?" The Jedi flashed the freed hostage a winning smile before he departed, turning back to the gathered heroes with her lightsabers back on her belt and deactivated. "Looks like our work here is done, for the most part?"
Princess Luna	Princess Luna lets out a sigh of relief when all of the attackers are down. She listens to Mike's story and frowns heavily. "Indeed." she agrees with the others. She holds out her scythe, and in a burst of sparkles it disappears before she folds her arms over her chest. "Conscripting citizens is distasteful even when it is for the purposes of defending one's borders. But, these men seem unlikely to be a local militia. Do they truly believe they can force the unwilling into a life of crime and not face justice themselves?" she asks as she makes sure all the weapons are secured. "What were those small devices that exploded?" the princess asks once everything is calmed down, then winces as she realizes...she has been hit! Nothing major, but a trickle of red from a hole in her upper arm is a reminder of just what they were facing.