[X]: Inquire more about the PRT
[X]: Look more into the situation in Europe
[X]: Ask if Jetfire can retrieve your ships for you
[X]: Mission 1c: Nazi punks fuck off
Mission 1: Nazi Punks, Fuck off!
Headlines
Freak Snowstorm shuts down schools in New England
Students face an extended vacation from school as a result of the sudden January blizzard sweeping in southwards from Canada in what meteorologists are describing as a record-breaking polar vortex. Many however, are baffled by the polar vortex's sudden shift further southwards, diverting from a continued westward approach to sweep over the eastern seaboard. With temperatures continuing to hold well below zero, residents of the area are strongly recommended to avoid going outdoors.
UFO Sightings increase dramatically following meteor shower
After a sudden and unexpected meteor shower earlier tonight following an unexplained detonation in high-earth-orbit, the incidence of UFO sightings across the world has increased dramatically. UFO enthusiasts consistently and repeatedly cite a consistent list of UFO shapes in their sightings and have posted many attempts at categorising them. Authorities have continued to refuse to offer comment regarding the sightings or if they have anything to do with it.
Neo-Nazi paramilitary activity on the rise
Neo-Nazi paramilitary groups have increasingly exploded in number, aggression, organisation, and lethality over the past few years, showing ever-increasing dominance of middle-class white suburbs pressured by political and economic uncertainty and Endbringer attacks. Attacks on non-white communities, left-leaning groups, Jewish areas, Romani peoples, Slavic immigrants, LGBT organisations, and disability advocates have more than tripled in the past year alone. As these groups grow increasingly bold and have begun to seize control of a number of populated areas and hold more openly violent rallies, authorities seem reluctant to properly confront the growing menace of the far right.
Japanese far-right paramilitary launches coup
With the Japanese economy in ruins following the devastation of Kyushu and mass exodus from the home islands, the Kōtei no kaze; a recently formed Japanese far-right organisation that openly claims the legacy of the Empire has amassed its forces to seize control over what remains of Japan, moving soldiers into the capital and declaring that it will rebirth the Japanese nation as it prepares to confront the remainder of the Japanese government. The group's ability to rapidly build-up such numbers, organisation, training, and equipment continues to baffle experts who are still at a loss to explain where the Kotei no kaze had even originated from.
Scion's disappearance continues to baffle experts
Scion's disappearance shortly into the new decade continues to be one of the most vexing mysteries of the parahuman community. While his whereabouts have always been somewhat difficult to track, his complete absence over the course of the past twenty months has been a cause for enormous concern, particularly due to the Parahuman community's continued reliance on him to deal with Endbringer attacks. While Endbringer attacks have also been on the decline, the lack of certainty as to his location has been cited as a pressing worry for multiple governments and parahuman teams.
Strange wildlife continues to appear around the world
Unusual fauna never before encountered by biologists has only continued to increase in the frequency of sightings and appearances. While only some are hostile, many are considered to be extremely dangerous and are a matter of parahuman or military concern. Few patterns seem to exist that can serve as a predictor for when and where these creatures will appear, but the damage to the ecosystem caused by their appearance has heightened ecological worries by many scientists as they race to try and find answers.
New Religions continue to grow
New faiths such as the Cult of the Void Father, the Temple of the Changemaker, the Church of the One, and the Faithful of the All-Knowing have continued to grow alongside a rash of Satanic, Angelic, and Neopagan cults of varying size and openness. Few unifying trends can be found among the various new religions save for an eagerness to acquire more converts and a predilection towards mystery cult structures that keep certain secrets of the faith beyond the prying eyes of outsiders.
Disappearances among the Homeless spike once again
Once again, the rate of disappearances among homeless persons has increased substantially. With a lack of discernable cause or reason for these disappearances, authorities have found themselves unable to offer any theories and have generally declined to comment or speculate. Common theories often link them to the increased sighting of monstrous potential Case-53s rumoured to be seen in underground cavern or sewer networks in cities around the world.
Samus
You flicked your eyes over to Legend and Piggot who were busily whispering about what their superiors would likely think of the situation. It was clear they hadn't counted on you being able to listen in on their conversation so closely but you weren't in a rush to spoil the surprise for them just yet. As they started to finish up with a mention of how Eidolon would likely need to be informed of several of the going-ons here, you spoke up to catch them off guard. A trick that Ian had taught you, catching people mid-sentence with a question tends to interrupt their train of thought and makes it harder for them to formulate a coherent lie to you. And you never liked being lied to.
"You said you were with the Parahuman Response Team yes? How exactly do you carry out your duties and why do you want me to join you?" You asked, politely but plainly, getting straight to the point while you swung your legs beneath the table and leaned in to make it clear that you expected an answer soon.
"We act in full accordance to the law and to the constitution of the United States, miss Aran." Piggot's seemingly reflexive canned answer almost made you roll your eyes. So old fashioned, why single out your unmarried status?
"But what does that mean exactly?" Arne asked, clearly about to say something likely to make Piggot outraged. You could see it in the way he quirked his brow, emphasising his right one. That was usually a prelude to the Cylosian boy asking something he had a feeling was likely to make the other person uncomfortable.
"Yeah, the police of your country in this time period are already well known for brutality and a strong bias in enforcement! Are your police like that at all? I haven't seen...anything really to suggest they aren't." You added as Jetfire let out a robotic laugh while Legend's face formed a hard line.
"We can't not enforce laws if we want a stable and safe society. Especially when so many existing threats to the general peace would gladly take advantage of any lapses in security." Legend said calmly, clearly trying to avoid coming off as lecturing you out of his courtesy towards younger people.
"But why do people turn to crime in the first place?" Arne asked, clearly interested in the answer as he shifted a bit forward and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand, bent on top of a seat. Different societies would tend to give him different answers to this question, and he was always interested in seeing just how they differed. The look on his face was difficult to read beyond curiosity, but then Arne had a habit of flipping between easy as an open book to read to being outright inscrutable to people lacking in psychic empathy.
"There aren't enough resources to try and quash every incident of poverty, desperation, or emotional disturbance. People need to be able to function on their own merits once they've been put on their feet. I'm sorry but we don't live in the sort of ideal world where everyone's needs can be taken care of." Piggot seemed to already know of the sort of angle that Arne was going for, which you figured was from an experience with dealing with people who'd prod her about the system she represented.
"Do you?" You asked.
"I'm sure even your far flung future has crime to deal with." She said.
"And in my country, we try to treat those people too." Arne said coldly.
"We are rather technologically behind where you say your societies are at. We don't have the same sort of Star Trek means of providing for a Utopia. We're trying to work with what's realistically achievable. Even the Soviets have laws to enforce and peace to keep." Legend tried to explain in an effort to defuse the situation. You weren't so sure about that yourself. More could always be done to make a situation better. Anyone who said that things were good enough was either deluding themselves or had a vested interest in keeping them from getting better.
"I'm not here to enforce your laws though, I'm here to help people." You say.
"We can work together then, but you need to understand why the rules we have are there. We can't have loose cannons enforcing their own personal vision of justice as they see fit." He responded.
"Joining us would also likely mean fast-tracking you both into receiving American citizenship, finding caretakers for the duration of your stay here, and ensuring that you will continue to receive a top-quality education. Not doing so will mean you will need to handle the system on your own." Piggot said, trying her best to sound reasonable even if you were having a hard time believing a lot of what she was saying was necessary. Why would you want to become a citizen of any of the countries here? You already had parents who loved and cared for you, and you were probably better educated than nearly anyone on this planet.
Did they just want to have access to your abilities on demand?
"Tovarisch, in the spirit of international solidarity I must note that you would be asking them to commit to a single nation's priorities and defence when we face threats than endanger mankind as a whole. Not to mention that you are hardly the only person in this room who could offer such deals. The Soviet Union would be pleased to accept your residency here, should you desire it." Nurzhan said, straightening himself to add to his posture. It seemed almost petty, an offer made partly to counter the other one.
"Please...stop with the recruitment ads. I just want to focus on the mission." Arne said, rubbing at his temples with clear and visible irritation. You lay a hand on his shoulder as he exhaled and looked ahead, rapping his fingers against the table while Winterpyre once again proved to be a surprising voice of reason following one of his demonic bellows.
"Indeed, we are here to discuss matters of very dire importance that concern at least two Earths. Let the star child say what he needs to." The Demon said.
"Yeh, we're on somethin' of a timer 'ere. Got a lotta blokes muckin' about an' not enough manpower to deal with 'em all."
Arne
"What are things like in Europe? How did neonazi groups become such a problem at this point in time?" You decide to ask, attempting to form a picture of the situation in your head. Your mother was of the people, and thus by the law of the Talmud you were also of the people. Beyond that, the idealist, racialist, imperialist, fascist, and darwinist vision offered by the heirs of the NSDAP rankled at the very core of your worldview. So the threat of a forty-eight thousand-year-old ghost in the form of Nazism that even into your distant future refused to rest quietly in its grave clawing its way back into relevance disquieted you tremendously. Especially when this was rather sooner than Nazism started to crawl its way back into the mainstream in your historical recollection. But then, the Soviet Union had dissolved by this point too.
"After Scion appeared in 1982 and got rid of the world's nuclear weapons, the Cold war basically came to an end. NATO and the Warsaw Pact decided to focus on their ends of the table and let the other be. There were some bumpy snags here and there, but the onset of parahumans meant that both sides had more to worry about at home than abroad." Legend started, alright so far that all seemed to make sense. It would explain why the political map of Europe seemed to be in almost...stasis really. Nothing being allowed to really shift or change.
"There were even efforts at trying to broaden cooperation between both blocs to deal with parahuman threats. But a lot of cold warriors got miffed that their pet issues were being ignored, and many of them decided to form their own groups. One of the most commonly problematic is the Gesellschaft, Neonazi nationalist group that got its start in west and east Germany from people who wanted reunification at all costs."
Samus drew her eyes to a hard glare and stopped her fidgeting as her lips pulled into a frown. You yourself felt your fingers come to a stop, and you straightened yourself in your chair to let Legend know you had his full attention.
"They truly got their start following the first endbringer attack in Iran, in 1992. The chaos and havoc caused by the appearance of giant monsters like in the old movies made many people very anxious. Made them want to know someone was looking to protect them and would stop the refugees that many media sources were scaremongering about from disrupting their way of life." Nurzhan picked up from where Legend left off, but Samus blurted out the question that was already on your mind before you could voice it. Always quick to voice what she thought she was.
"Endbringer? I saw that on your news but I'm not sure what they are besides being overly large monsters." She said.
"You know of how the Japanese would say, Kaiju movies da?" Nurzhan said.
You both gave a somewhat blank stare at the Commissar who realised his mistake to the satisfaction of Legend and a slight smirk from Piggot.
"Ah, so the local giant monsters then. Primal Earth has many such creatures. Each of Paragon's boroughs has at least one famous for regularly rampaging through it." Winterpyre said, getting a nod of affirmation out of Jetfire.
"Bloody awful it is, dunno 'ow anyone stands it."
"...Paragon City sounds awful." Legend said, quirking a brow high over his mask.
"It has its charms." The demon snorted.
"We're getting off...topic, can we refocus, please?" You said, slightly annoyed at the adults derrailing into whatever they fancied talking about while you were still fixated on what you saw as important. You let the tightness in your chest uncoil, breathing out to let them know that you had calmed down.
"Of course. They are a group with many sympathizers with substantial resources, and this has allowed them to claim the ability to induce parahuman triggers, creating their own supersoldiers. Or so they say." Nurzhan said, stroking his moustache as he ruminated.
"And with their money and those kinds of assets, they came to dominate most other Neonazi groups, folding almost all of them into their hierarchy as subdivisions. Their leader keeps to the shadows, but many believe he is a parahuman with the ability to convince people who listen to him talk of just about anything he tells them. Of course, that's only a theory. He's clearly charismatic, but tries to avoid getting into the limelight." Legend pipped in.
"The Empire-88 in my district has often been a nuisance, but I don't really have the resources to spare to properly contain them." Piggot said with a sigh. You had your doubts on that, but you kept them to yourself. While you did not trust Piggot, you weren't going to make an incident here. But you did turn to Samus and whisper something into her ear.
Samus
"Can we take a look at their actual resources? See where their efforts are actually going?" Arne asked, getting a nod out of you. You were willing to extend some benefit of the doubt to the grown ups here, but you operated under the philosophy of trust but verify. If Piggot here wasn't forthcoming about how much effort she was putting into dealing with the troubles in her backyard you'd soon know all about it. This often made you a touch..annoying to many authorities due to your inability to leave well enough alone and insatiable desire to know more, but if it was the right thing to do; why keep it a secret?
"So...you basically have an ultranationalist problem right?" You said, taking a look at the data offered to you.
"That would be the long and short of it da. These groups have been increasing their numbers, organisation, and the lethality of their equipment tremendously these past few years and we're struggling to find the sources. We know that Bavaria is one of their major nests, Bavaria has long been a hotbed of the German far-right and if I had to guess, they're probably hoping to succeed where Hitler failed." Nurzhan said, flicking through a few files on his tablet to find the report he needed and tapping it to display the gathered intelligence on the holographic screen.
"Beer Hall putsch? Why haven't you warned us?" Piggot stammered.
"I have, but your government doesn't seem to think you have the clearance for it." He said bluntly.
"I know about it." Legend assured her, drawing a hard glare from Piggot. Secrets once again proving their greatest power is to spoil relationships.
"Well, can we stop it?" You asked. If they were really planning to try and march on Munich there really wasn't enough time to be dilly-dallying around with twenty questions. You had half a mind to just go out there and handle it yourself but well...you didn't have access to your starship at the moment. That drew a pout out of you. You were doubtful you could fashion anything to a similar standard with the materials available on this planet.
"'Course we can. Just a bit of a matter of having to slip into Germany an' getting an idea of what exactly is goin' on there. The bleedin' gits gone and got themselves a yummy mummy rollin' them in dosh and sneakin' them the flashest bits an' I'm keen ta learn who the silly sod is." Jetfire said, bringing up some scans of Gesellschaft Soldaten with clearly atypical augmentations and access to military grade or even beyond weapons that they should not have been able to access in the Federal Republic of Germany.
"Oh, Jetfire. Would you please be kind enough to allow me to request a favour?" You said with the utmost politeness, almost offering him a bow as the Autobot turned his head towards you.
"'Course ducky, go ahead."
"I'm not a duck..." You murmured before clearing your throat.
"Arne and I have our starships still in orbit but cloaked. If we give you the telemetry data for them, could you fetch them please?" You said, making pleading eyes at the autobot, having learned well the power of giving a stare like a puppy to the right person to make their hearts just melt. Jetfire let out a bit of a laugh and nodded.
"'Course, 'course. I'll have the spacebridge on it on the jiff." He said, your armour mentally sending a command to the ship to allow this transition to take place as you gave him a wide, cheerful grin.
"Thank you so, so so much!" You said excitedly while Arne flashed a small grin.
"Well, at least I won't have to wait to see what the damage is in person." He said, relaxing slightly before Nurzhan put down another file onto the computer, letting the projector demonstrate the profiles of Molotok and Serp.
"You will be travelling with Molotok and Serp in their civilian guises, given the nature of this operation you may find it wise to only make use of your power armour when necessary. The Gesellschaft's benefactor may flee if spooked too soon, or the fight you would end up drawing may cause heavy damage to Munich. As this country is a NATO member, the PRT will be providing you with chaperones and a trusted West German confidant will keep in touch." Nurzhan said as he seemed satisfied that his operation was the one you decided to go with first, a beatific smile on his olive-skinned face while he threaded his fingers through his moustache.
A few minutes were needed to discuss things between the various groups, plans had to be arranged and calls made. You'd have to go out first and wait for the designated chaperones to arrive after receiving some civilian disguise clothes that let you fit into the general populace of Munich. But with the rather ad hoc nature of this mission it'd take a bit of time for everyone to arrive, especially as at least one of the parties had to arrive on relatively short notice. But how bad could a few minutes of waiting be?
Arne, Munich Airport, 2 hours later.
The January air of Munich was cold but not overly so. Certainly not within the confines of the airport as you stared at the food they had on offer and couldn't believe how it almost seemed to assail your nostrils with low-quality ingredients. The meat probably even came from an actual animal. While not above hunting in the right circumstances, the thought of eating something raised for the slaughter rankled at you, and you pushed the pork on the plate to the side. Every moment of waiting was agonising and you were bored out of your mind. You fidgeted intensely, Samus occasionally laying a hand on yours to get you to stop shuffling your fingers before you'd eventually resume again out of anxiety. The seconds all seemed to stretch onto infinity and you've probably memorised every inch of the food court here by now, adjusting your blue hoodie and glaring at someone staring at your distinctive red eyes and white hair and then doubling the intensity of that glare when they saw Samus and began to leer.
"Fraulein, if you want a good time with a proper man instead of a boy look my way!" The boy said in German, probably two years older than either of you. Roughly shaved with dirty blond hair and dull blue eyes. Samus looked towards him and raised a brow before shaking her head. Even if he hadn't insulted you, she'd have turned him down based on his half-hearted attempt to look rugged and his noxious personality.
"When are they going to be here? I'm sick of waiting..." You said, hazarding a sip from the soda and sighing. Passable, not good, but passable. It would have been better if your tongue couldn't taste some of the less pleasant substances that went into it.
"The food is awful." You say with a pronounced sigh at the end, speaking in Federal Galaxan to Samus so that no eavesdropper would be able to understand either of you.
"I knoooow, right?" Samus says, making a face at the Pizza she had half-finished.
"I can taste the despair this cow felt when it was milked." Samus said with a displeased expression.
"Too much salt on everything. No seasoning." You mumbled until you sensed the presence of people approaching to your left, a blond young man and a black haired young woman pulling up the seats next to you with trays at the ready.
"Privet!" Irina said as she scooched in close with a grin.
"Aren't we supposed to be speaking English or German here?" You said as she laughed a little.
"It's only one word of Russian." Samus said reassuringly.
"Oh of course, of course, my bad. I am Irinia, this silly lad here is Viktor, but I'm sure he'll let you call him Vitya soon!" She said, offering the two of you watches pulled from her purple sleeve.
"Gifts from the motherland, special communicators that won't draw attention. Also tells time with atomic clock precision and can play some games." She said as Viktor straightened out his green coloured jacket and unbuttoned it a bit, murmuring about how he hated going from cold to warm weather so quickly.
"Where's the rest of the group?" You said, looking over at a man in sunglasses with his arms folded who seemed to be trying to read a newspaper but from your glances at the direction his muscles were twitching was clearly monitoring you periodically. His occasional coughs or brushing of his face to seemingly wipe it clear guises for when he had to lower his head closer to a communicator in his neck cuff.
"We're being monitored." You said frankly, gesturing towards the seemingly unassuming brown-haired man.
"Ah, that's the westie. Don't mind Hans. He's shy." Viktor said with a snort.
You still had your suspicions, but you decided to keep them to yourself for now as Samus spotted someone approaching and waved over enthusiastically. "Guten tag!" She said with a voice so energetic that it could be used to power every city in a star system if only its dynamism could be tapped into.
You recognised the red hair of the man and the way he walked from the outskirts of Brockton Bay and figured him to be Ethan. "Hello, dad." You said with your best effort to avoid sounding sarcastic. You weren't too sure if you succeeded given that you weren't really too sure on how people intoned things in this period. "Where's mother?" You said, taking a look around to see where your senses were pointing you towards and well, Battery was about who'd you guess would come if Assault was being sent your way. But there was a particularly serious problem that cropped up in your mind as you let out a sigh.
"...Who thought this was a good idea?" You said with an exasperated sigh.
"Something wrong there kiddo?" Assault said.
"We don't look related." You said flatly, palming your face and looking to Samus for backup.
"Maybe they could say we're adopted or are from a different coupling?" She said with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes, this could work. Stranger arrangements have existed, but there is one problem, genosse." Viktor said in flawless German from the years he spent in East Germany.
"Look, I don't really care about the whole Iron Curtain thing, I just came over because Piggot said you guys needed two people who had met you before and could pose as a couple...and could speak some German. So...not a very wide list admittedly." He said with an exaggerated shrug.
"You two are in your early twenties. We are mid teenagers. The ruse will be very obvious to an observer." He said bluntly.
"Look, Victor, son." He said, patting the Russian on the shoulder in a way that briefly made him flinch but got no further reaction out of him.
"...That is my alias, seriously?" He muttered in a tiny voice.
"The key to getting into places you shouldn't be in is looking like you belong there and acting confident. Just roll with it and I'm sure people will just pass me and Jamie here as having aged well, right?" He said, pulling Battery in towards her, rustling his red coat against hers as she made an "oof" sound.
"So. You'll be called Gemma." Ethan said to Samus who squinted a bit at the name. The crass anglicization of her Irish name kind of sat wrong with her. She was proud of her Celtic heritage, however distant she was in time and space from Ireland.
"You." He said pointing to you "Are now Arnold and I strongly recommend you do something about that hair and eye colour." You frowned at that, you were very...fond of the way you looked, it was one of the most consistently praised features of yours, and so you ended up taking pride in it as one of the few things nobody ever criticised you over. Sure it was...exotic in this time period but changing it felt so...unnecessary.
"And you miss, copycat powers, are just Irene." He said, thumbing to Molotok who looked around and did a faux-look of shock and gasped as if she were surprised that he would dare level such accusations towards her before putting on her best New Yorker accent.
"Why I oughta show you wise guy!" She said in a voice that got everyone to break out into laughter.
"So...you're all done with that food right? ...Can I have some? I got up on incredibly early notice and I could honestly eat a whole herd of horses." Assault said, rubbing his stomach and eyeing Samus' pizza like a starving beast.
"Believe me, he can. Especially when he's not the one paying for the restaurant bill." She said, elbowing him and raising her brows at him pointedly, getting him to raise his hands in mock surrender. She held that glare for a moment before looking both ways and sneaking a slice of pizza into her mouth anyway despite what she had just said. This whole relationship just struck you as very...odd. But once the adults were done snacking and stood up to summon you to get going, Samus stopped you to point out the way that Serp and Molotok's pants accentuated their features, prompting you to stare at them both and nod in approval.
"Do you want to try with them?" You asked her as she gave a wide grin and nod.
"Absolutely!" She cackled quietly, that impish grin so distinct to hers giving you the distinct impression of troublemaking in the future.
...
A blue and white SUV waited for you in the parking garage while a sleek yellow and black camaro rolled up to the agent behind you. The car door opening before you had even reached for the handle confirmed your premonition that it was one of the autobots as Assault and Battery slipped into the front seats and the four of you piled into the rear area. The seatbelts pulled themselves over you all automatically and the GPS screen on the dashboard flashed with Strongarm's face immediately after.
"Bumblebee's more the kind of 'bot to work with humans but he doesn't have enough seats for all of you even with the alt-mode change. And you do all have to ride together to maintain cover. I'm Strongarm by the way. Uh, still doing okay in class Irinna? Vitya?" She said with her tone going from professional to familiar in an instant as the two Russian teenagers gave an enthused thumbs up.
"Right, there's a hotel already booked in that will serve as our base of operations. Hans and Eva already have equipment set up there."
"Hans and Eva working together without either fighting or fucking?" Viktor said quizzically.
"Or fighting and fucking." Irinna said with a cackle.
"Hey come on, little respect for the professional staring contest champions." Ethan said, making a "whoa there" gesture as Strongarm pulled out of the garage and presented a ticket for Assault to punch in.
"Hey I mean, sometimes they don't completely hate each other despite the whole curtain thing." She said with a shrug.
"So how does this whole...robots in disguise thing work?" Battery asked.
"We keep out of sight when we have to exit vehicle mode. Or at least, we erase security footage, sometimes memories too. We've tried to avoid getting close to parahumans by tracking that extradimensional signal you all have in your brains. Jetfire doesn't want us too entangled in that mess." She explained with a bit of nervousness, clearly not being used to speaking to people before Bumblebee cut in over the comms with a few beeps and whistles.
"How much does Area 51 actually know?" Samus asks, leaning in with curiosity as Strongarm seamlessly merged into the traffic of the winding roads of Germany, the low buildings of Bavaria's capital stretching into the distance as far as the eye could see.
"Not really much. They're not even really aware that we're aliens and we'd prefer to keep it that way. The Soviets forced an answer out of us to get permission to set up bases in their territory but most countries that even know we're there just think we're tinker robots." She said with an exhalation of relief. Hrm, you conferred with Samus briefly as Strongarm kept on driving.
"You think we can trust them?" You asked.
"I think so! They seem to be good people. But I'm not sure why they need to keep things so secret."
"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure of Jetfire's explanation." You whispered, speaking as quietly as possible to avoid the Autobot from hearing.
You glanced away from her and towards Munich. A small city of only somewhat over a million people at this point in time, but there was an uneasy tension to it. People on the streets moved with either braggadocious swagger or with cowed intimidation. Your eyes caught a lack of people who didn't fit a certain aryan standard, even though you knew that in this time period Munich was supposed to have at least something of an immigrant community.
Samus pulled your eyes towards some odd-looking helicopters moving in formation overhead, buzzing ahead unchallenged despite not bearing any Bundeswehr marks upon them. They were clearly on patrol of some kind, and moved like they owned the city, one of them ferrying some manner of cargo held closely to its cage like body by means of winch and crane. When one person tried to raise their phone to take a picture of the procession while you were stopped in some traffic, a Policeman seemed to be on the scene immediately. Through the door you could hear them shouting that this was a matter of national security and they couldn't be taking those pictures, roughly snatching the phone out of their hand.
"Something's not right." Samus said, squinting at the scene as Battery tensed herself.
"I'll say, he was on that kid faster than Velocity on a coffee machine." Battery said wryly.
The teenager shouted something at the police officer about having rights only for the officer and his partner to corner her, the girl backing up and reflexively trying to shove back only for her hands to be snatched into the cuffs of the officers and body flung onto the pavement. "Striking an officer? You know where that gets you." He said as he dragged her up and towards his car. Your heart almost stopped and Samus positively radiated anger outwards like a star of seething resentment. You wanted to leap out there and crack some skulls, but you were held back by the need to maintain cover. You might not have any substantial ties to this planet, but the people you were with did, and you couldn't put them at risk with your recklessness.
Samus grabbed at one of the pillows and let out a muffled scream into them, frustrated and digging her nails into them as she tried to work her way through her rising choler. She counted down, she breathed, she seethed, but she didn't explode just yet, in...out...she sighed and exhaled with visible frustration.
Samus
You were Samus Aran and you were bloody fucking furious. Such a blatant violation of that person. Such brutal thuggery on someone merely taking pictures of a curious sight. Something here was rotten and you bet it probably flew Swastikas all day and night. But you couldn't let your temper erupt just yet. The quarry would be lost to the wind if you just let out your rage all at once, and then where would you be? But you had an idea, one that brought a modicum of calm to you.
"Can we track that phone?" You asked.
"Easily, think it's related to the mission?" Strongarm said.
"It has to be. They don't want people seeing that cargo, and its not marked by the local government. I think those policemen were agents for the Gesellschaft even. I don't think they'll be taking her to prison." You said, going down your fingers as you listed off your reasonings. But the oddities of Munich had yet to fully exhaust themselves even in this car trip.
"Hey, look at that!" Irina said, pointing over to a veritable herd of shapes going down the road and melting into the traffic of the city. Trucks moving close together, but not so close that they might immediately draw suspicion moved down the road, all hauling clearly heavy loads in their trailers as they sorted themselves out towards a number of destinations. Warehouses, storage facilities, all with rather large numbers of people waiting for them.
Many of the trucks in particular moved as if burdened with something significantly heavier than trucks would normally be hauling. Overpowered engines letting them haul weights that based on the way the vehicles were moving, had to be in the scores of tons. While an ordinary person might have missed such details it all seemed so insultingly obvious to you. Who did they think they were fooling? This has to be some kind of major weapons shipment. Vehicles, robots, power suits and heavy weapons no doubt. These people were clearly preparing for some kind of putsch shortly and this city seemed to be borderline asleep to the possibility!
"This place gives me the creeps. Something is about to happen." Serp said with a gulp.
"Yeah, I get ya. I've counted what seems to be a small army's worth of likely goons so far. It's like they're barely even bothering to hide anymore. Probably figure they already own the place." Assault said, scowling a bit as he got a read on the area.
"Then why aren't people doing anything!?" You blurt out, getting a few beeps and whistles from bumblebee over the comms in response. Though Assault and Battery were clearly baffled by it, you managed to decipher his warbling just fine. Most people were just afraid to act out, and the authorities were largely either cowed to submission or weren't overly bothered with the idea of what was about to h happen when they were focused on "more immediate concerns". That made your blood boil, you could almost feel your heart attempting to leap out of your throat and wanted to scream once again, but the car ride soon ended as you briefly caught notice of two people pulling into an alleyway to have a quick conversation with each other about how the weather was and the likely forecast, though you recognised that forecast as inaccurate. Likely some sort of code, and your suspicions only hardened as they raised their arms at each other, quickly making a salute that made you go cold before you dashed inside.
The check-in was relatively uneventful, and the relatively meagre possessions the two of you brought with you were easy enough to put away as you filed into the cozy but not really extravagant looking room.
"Home sweet home." Assault said.
"Don't grab from the mini-bar, the prices are high-way robbery." Battery cautioned as Arne looked at the drinks stored within and then shrugged.
"I don't see any robbers hidden there."He said to you, prompting a nod of agreement.
"Oh...right...expressions uh...they're very expensive." Battery said before the door knocked and a blonde woman dressed as Hotel service staff harrumphed and urged you all a little closer.
"We have a few targets of interest for you. If you are ready to move out as soon as possible. Things are accelerating quite quickly." She said with a rather flawless Bavarian accent. A bit too flawless, probably Eva in all likelihood.
"You've already seen the helicopter and the police infiltrators. The trucks a third. My best guess is that the Helicopters are bringing in some time-sensitive equipment that requires a rush-delivery, while the police infiltrators are looking for people they can...pressgang shall we say?" Eva said with a hurried, hushed voice as if she were perennially worried about the possibility of someone eavesdropping on her, though she wasn't too obvious with the fact that she was leaning in.
"The trucks are likely bringing in heavy munitions of all kinds, enough to drive out the Bundeswehr and non-compromised police assets with ease. I however, have some leads on where the trucks might be coming from, as Hans and I have determined that they use fake license plates to guise the fact that they were manufactured from a different timeline; the models being ever so slightly off from what is commonly available. All trucks seem to stop by this building here." She said, quickly passing you a phone and tapping on a marker on the map.
"Probably the primary loading point. Good odds of someone important being there. Hans has also pulled up records of the employees of the parahuman research facility being replaced steadily but surely. Likely looking to steal some important data. Finally, a large number of very expensive hotel suites close to the mayoral office were recently purchased en masse. They're likely gathering troops there. I'm not sure which one is likely to bring you to the benefactor the fastest, if I had to guess maybe the Trucks or the Helicopter, but once you have confirmed information on their intentions; we need you to act as soon as possible." She said, her serious and business-like voice almost never breaking its practiced monotone, revealing virtually nothing of her emotional state. Even with your psychic empathy she was hard to read.
"We should probably check on the mayor first. I'm not comfortable with letting them get that close to the municipal authority. Especially with what happened the last time Nazis gathered in large numbers at Munich's beer halls." Battery said before Vitya shook his head.
"Nyet, the munitions need to be stopped from reaching their staging areas above all other priorities. They are going to cause havoc if we let them get their forces into place." Serp said. He spoke with genuine concern, waving his arms and then folding them over. He looked out at the city and then back at the room. "There are more than a million people here at risk if they get their soldiers armed in time."
"I need to know what they're doing with the people they're dragging away. The Gesellschaft's file said they often experimented on people. We can't let that keep happening." Arne said, adjusting his jacket and looking back out at the city as he tried to imagine where they might have taken that girl, what sort of building would they stash her away in and what sort of fate she might be suffering. It was something you emphasised with. "I'm not sure if they're actually planning an invasion, it seems too obvious and too out of line with the trade deal initially suspected. But I know that they're going to do something awful to people like her they just...snatched from the street." You sympathised the most with Arne's position and his focus on the human scale issue. But was it really the most important target?
"You said that Helicopter had time-sensitive equipment yes? Or at least, think you did?" Strongarm asked over the comms.
"Ja." Eva answered.
"That seems to be the most important target then. Whether this is a planned attack or simply a trade show, whatever's in there is going to be something valuable enough to demand attention at the highest level. I'd bet my spark that we'll find what we're looking for there." Strongarm wasn't super committal to that answer it seemed, but she did have a certain logic to it. If it was an important rush job, they were likely to have someone who mattered look over it.
"Look, if we cut their supplies off at the head then we shut the whole thing down. Seems to be the easiest way to cut the knot. Whether its an attack or a sale, no merchandise, no operation. Seems simple to me." Assault shrugged. Ahah, you understood that reference. You'd cheer at that if you weren't already so busy with everything else going on.
"The Parahuman research is almost certainly going to be used to torture people tovarischi, we can't let them get away with it. We could probably rush in, take the data quick, and still have time for the rest." Irina said, seeming firm in her answer.
Bumblebee buzzed in to tell you that he'd back whichever play you'd go for, trusting your judgement which would make you the deciding vote. Though in his opinion, it didn't quite matter as he believed all of these were going to be interlinked, disrupting one event in the chain was likely to unwind the whole plan. And in his experience as a scout, they were likely going to converge their assets towards a more central area to maximise their chances of success. Probably in a space where they could assemble troops without being spotted like an emptied warehouse. Furthermore, the initial intelligence said that this was a financial deal, and he wagers that the appearance of preparing an invasion might be a ruse to intimidate most parahumans away from their operation by a show of overwhelming force when in reality they're probably planning something besides a second beer hall putsch.
"Once you make your choice, you'll need to scope out what's going on and shut it down."
[]: Arne is right, go for where the cell phone signal is.
[]: Assault is right: Hit the depot
[]: Battery is right: Look at where they're renting out hotels.
[]: Irinna is right: Check on the laboratories.
[]: Serp is right: Stop their munitions from reaching staging areas.
[]: Strongarm is Right: Track the helicopter
[]: Bumblebee is right, they're going to congregate into a recently acquired space to assemble everything for a big show and they're bluffing about how strong they actually are.
[]: Write in
[X]: Bumblebee is right, they're going to congregate into a recently acquired space to assemble everything for a big show and they're bluffing about how strong they actually are.
[X]: Bumblebee is right, they're going to congregate into a recently acquired space to assemble everything for a big show and they're bluffing about how strong they actually are.
The Gesellschaft is the largest and most well funded Neonazi and Volkische organization on this incarnation of Earth and its most prolific international terrorist group in size, frequency of attacks, scale of operations, and number of fatalities caused by its operations. Operating primarily within Europe but also controlling subsidiary organisations around the world such as the Empire-88 in North America (referring to the numerical position of the letter H in the German alphabet as a means of referencing "Heil Hitler"), the Southern African SVDV, the Oceanian White Guard, and the Legion Buitre in Latin America; the group is largely regarded as having global reach. With a network of wealthy sympathizers and controlled enterprises of both a criminal and legitimate network, the Gesellschaft's resources far outstrip those of most other similar groups, and the offers of its wealth, technological resources, and prestige have allowed it to subordinate most other similar groups.
The Gesellschaft violently advocates for German reunification and the reintegration of Austria and the "lost territories" Germany was forced to cede at the end of the second world war into a reborn Reich and the subjugation and eventual eradication of the "asiatic subhumans of the east" as well as the eradication of "undesireables" within Europe proper, particularly within the realm of what is seen as rightfully Aryan territory. These include, but not limited to Jews, Roma, the disabled, Black Africans, Slavs, East and Central Asians, Muslims, Queer people, the Neurodivergent, Indigenous Americans and Oceanians, Freemasons, Communists, Liberals, Feminists, "Racial Traitors", Anarchists, Pacifists, "Cultural Degenerates" and more. Attacks on these groups are seen as a vital step in progressing through the ladder of the Gesellschaft's hierarchy and its vassal organisations are expected to meet certain quotas of violence against these groups per year to ensure that the progress of the "Volkskrieg" continues unabated.
The Gesellschaft's leader bears the title of "Kriegsfuhrer" and is entrusted with the prosecution of the conflict until its completion, with the aim of complete revenge for Germany's defeat in the second world war and the triumph of the Herrenvolk being non-negotiable to its plans and aims. The Gesellschaft also commands the ability to artificially induce parahumanization within individuals, allowing it to produce "Ubermenschen" for its goals and seduce the simply power-hungry to its objectives and cause. This has likely been one of the principal causes for its dominance over the white supremacy movement, but another has been a surge in support from an unknown and likely extradimensional benefactor that has provided it with a massive influx of funding, material support, technology, and manpower that has allowed it to step up its objectives to an unprecedented degree.
The Organisation is principally based in Bavaria, German-speaking Switzerland, and rural Austria, where the traditionally reactionary countryside of the Catholic German-speaking areas has long proven to be fertile recruiting ground. It also has assets in other areas of Germany such as the Democratic Republic and parts of Hannover and the Netherlands left devastated by Endbringer attacks. It has expanded beyond these regions, though its anti-slavicism has left its presence east of the Oder river somewhat weak. With its aspirations for controlling all current and former Germanic territories however, it hardly shies away from attacks against the eastern bloc, particularly due to its virulent anti-communist rhetoric. The Gesellschaft's leadership however, is believed to primarily visit in London rather than its heartland in Catholic Germany.
Samus' Notes: I'm not going to let them keep on carrying out whatever operations they please. Or any at all even. This all comes to an end now. Then once we've dealt with them, maybe we can help these regions heal? I'm not sure how much I can do on that front, but I want to try.
Arne's Notes: The dispossessed with nowhere left to turn but told to crave leadership turn to people like these as they always have. Repairing that will take mending the damage already done. But in the meantime, we should smash them at every turn.
Samus
"Where did you say those laboratories were?" You asked, Eva's eyes flicking over to you behind her shades. She passed a data packet from her equipment to your watch, your eyes looking down and seeing where it was marked on the GPS. Easy enough to reach, you could probably be there in about ten minutes if you went with bumblebee or strongarm, sooner if you went on foot. But you weren't exactly keen on waiting that long given that they were probably ransacking the facility for all the research they could. Research they were doubtlessly hoping to use to augment horrific programs that would serve to hurt millions more in the future. Not on your watch.
"Should we all head there? It doesn't seem like their most important objective. Likely to be a secondary task honestly." Serp asked. Your attention fixed on him briefly as your lips drew into a hard line.
"You don't know their capabilities all that well, I don't think splitting up would be a very good idea. Instead, we should you know...go together as a squad and take it out fast. And besides, we should think about long term threats." You explained, Arne stopping and having a thought about your point before nodding and speaking up.
"They probably want to further their understanding of the source of your abilities. If they're producing parahumans, they probably want to get any information on them anyone else has." Arne said, getting an affirmation out of you. He was speaking sense, as he usually did.
"And what about all their forces elsewhere?" Serp asked.
Bumblebee cut in once more with a series of chips, chirps, and whistles. He spoke of how they likely didn't really need to make such an obvious show of force in a city that was already essentially the heartland of their operations in Europe. They were unlikely to need to use an army to take over Munich given that they essentially already controlled the city down to the mayoral authority being in their pockets. He said that in all likelihood; all the forces being gathered here were likely being prepared to be moved out elsewhere, possibly to efforts to try and secure a power base in the north or plan an attack to the west or east.
His words had a ring of truth to them, and it seemed to convince Strongarm at least.
"Right, I won't claim to understand human politics all that well, but I do know that trying to stage a takeover of a city you already have in the palm of your hand is a waste." She said.
"Alright, I'm convinced. But what can we expect there? I'm not exactly bulletproof so I'd like to avoid running face-first into machine gun fire." Assault said while you had a think about tactics. You and Arne were immensely durable, as were the two autobots. Molotok could shrug off most impacts but had a vulnerability to thermal DEWs, Serp was somewhat tough but still not remotely rated for taking heavy-duty firepower head on. Looking at assault and battery, blessed spirits of the sacred departed you weren't sure if they could withstand the pistols here.
"Well, we just need to get close to surprise them before they can try to cover their tracks. We will, as you westerners say; get the drop on them. We will just need a bit of Maskirovka." Irinna said with a daredevil look that you immediately took a shining to. Oh you think you would like her quite a lot, especially as she started to rub her hands together in eager anticipation and formed a particularly impish grin on her face.
"So we're not just going to kick down the door?" Assault asked.
"No, she's got the right idea. If we come in guns blazing they'll probably try to pack up and leave. But if we can sneak up on them..." Battery said before Arne finished her sentence for her.
"We could take in some for questioning before they have a chance to flee. With a proper cordon not a whole lot of the-" He said before Battery, who would already displeased at being interrupted glanced over at him as soon as she caught the word "some" and then harrumphed rather noticeably as soon as she deemed that she had heard enough. Arne paused and you sensed a fleck of trouble in the causeways of destiny, a tangled snarl of potentially difficult fates stemming from this particular moment.
"What do you mean "some", Arne?" She said rather pointedly, folding her arms and raising a brow as if she were speaking to her son rather than a stranger from the stars.
"...A lot of them will choose to fight to the death and will have to be eliminated?" He said, clearly confused at the line of questioning.
"Yeah, I thought that was obvious? They're going to use lethal force against us and most won't de-escalate." You say, a frown slowly creeping its way onto your face as you study Battery's transforming expressions and then a slow sigh escaping her lips as she palmed her face. Frustration, that was something you recognised pretty easily. The loosening serpent of tension being replaced with a malaise of disappointment that made you question what you had done wrong.
"Alright, kids. You two are guests on this planet, and all of us are guests in this country. That makes it especially important that we don't kill people we don't have to. It's not our place to decide who lives or who dies without first letting them have the benefit of their day in court." She started, this lecture almost seeming to come off like an automatic script as if she had given it a thousand times before. She very well could have even, given that she was often in contact with the Wards of her home city.
"You do realise these people have enough firepower to flatten large sections of this city right?" Strongarm said incredulously.
"Look, I'm all for protocol, but this seems to be more of a military situation than simply a criminal one. They're armed for a major conflict and they already have the city under control. You can't just treat them like street punks in need of resocialisation." Strongarm continued, clearly baffled by this line of thinking.
"This city doesn't even have enough prison capacity for the sheer number of people we would be arresting!" You blurted out.
"...H-how do you know that?" Ethan said before you resummoned your gauntlet in a fizzle of light and let out a stream of data from the green orb at the centre of the back of its hand Serp's phone which buzzed in his pocket briefly before he took it out; sliding out the mechanical keyboard and squinting at it as he input his passcode; Chekov413 if you were following where his fingers were going correctly.
His eyes widened and he almost dropped the phone. "Nichego Sebe..." He murmured.
"...What's up Victor?" Assault said with concern.
"Based on this data she pulled, the whole city's police force is compromised going by their internet traffic. Bundeswehr facilities too. The mayor? Attends their secret rallies. Every major corporate head? On secret electronic messaging lists. This -entire fucking city- is in the pocket of the Gesellschaft." He said with alarm, running his other hand through his hair and murmuring to himself rapidly in Russian.
"How did you get all that?" Assault asked.
"My armour is part of me, a piece of my soul." You started as if this was a completely normal sentence to make. "I can access some of its abilities even without it on. Scanning is one of them." You said, hardening your expression as you dismissed your gauntlet and let your normal hand show itself again, wriggling your fingers a bit.
Bumblebee cut in to confirm your report, having been running his own electronic reconnaissance while everyone was busy. Arne and Strongarm would add their own affirmations soon afterwards after thinking to double check your information.
"Hahaha so Munich, safest city in West Germany..." Assault said as if he was about to have a panic attack.
"Is basically completely overrun by fascists. Well, tovarischi, I think this makes our work simpler, nyet? We need not bother with cooperating with authorities." Irinna said, cracking her knuckles and looking like this was the best news she had ever received in her life.
"Right, but I still like that quiet approach idea of yours better, works better for us squishies." Assault said, sighing a bit as he didn't look forward to going up against groups armed to military standards.
"Wait...maybe the two of us and one of the autobots could pull their attention from the front and you go in with another one of them from behind?" Arne proposed, snapping his fingers in realisation. You rather liked that idea.
Arne
You summoned up your gauntlet and projected a hologram from the crystal at the back of its palm bringing up a map of the university's Parahuman studies wing attached to its Chemistry and Pharmacy facilities.
You had studied the floor plans in your mind after scrounging through the internet for them, vaguely annoying but not at all difficult work. Why so much of this information was restricted to students and faculty was beyond you, but it was a simple matter to slice in through the code.
"Okay here's the stuff I've got. tTe entrance to the parahuman studies facility is accessed through an entrance beneath building B of the LMU Fakultat fur Chemie und Pharmazie." You said, highlighting the structure and its modified floorplan, showing a tunnel into a subterranean facility where the city of Munich's premier university conducted most of its research on the parahuman phenomenon. It seemed kind of basic to you, but you guessed they may have run out of space for a proper above-ground building.
"So what sort of opposition are we up against then, kid?" Assault said, getting a bit of a glare from you as you rankled at the descriptor of "kid". You knew what you were doing, you'd been literally raised for stuff like this. You sighed, relented and let go of the annoyance, focusing on just presenting the data you had like you were supposed to.
"Based on the posted guard schedules sent through their internal messaging systems; they've established a perimeter around the red lines of roughly fifty groups of five patrolmen." You said, drawing a hard look of worry from Irinna as she stroked at her chin.
"Two hundred and fifty men?"
"I'm not done. Reserve patrols of another two hundred and fifty personnel are waiting to rotate in but would be called in if it gets serious. They've also got parahumans and "special assets" on stand by to deal with any hardcore resistance." You said flatly. "Based on this...they're not expecting a fight, but they're prepared for one. If they're moving around this many people in the open, they probably think nobody's going to stop them." You said with concern, rubbing a bit at your chin and shaking your head.
"So thankfully, we're here to make sure they don't keep believing that." You smiled a little.
"The local police department also would report anything suspicious to the Gesellschaft's command too." Samus added, showing a series of messages showing the precinct command of the police department reporting quite happily to the Gesellschaft's Gautier for the city of Munich and that their forces were at their disposal. "It's disgusting, but it's what we have to deal with."
"You know, when I came here I wasn't expecting to have to fight the cops..." Battery grumbled before shaking her head and trying to move past it.
"When German police and intelligence tried to infiltrate neonazi groups, they decided to infiltrate back. Now infiltration is one of their chief sources of money and organization. I've been trying to untangle the network of compromised double-agents fo years. Wish I had more luck." Hans' voice crackled over the radio link to Battery's concern, surprise, and no small amount of fear.
"I mean, it does make sense. Infiltrate the people with the most power to shut you down and turn them into assets. We see it a bunch back in the Bay with the Riot cops." Assault said, to which you nodded. Based on your studies of these kinds of extremists, law enforcement was nearly always the first target for their subversion.
"Meanwhile, a group of about fifty people are busy rifling through the information in the university to locate anything of interest. They've been waiting for an excuse to raid into the university for years now. Not sure what's been holding them back for so long, but it's no longer there." You added.
Bumblebee chimed in to add some more information pilfered from his cyberscouting; being almost as skilled at electronic reconnaissance as he was at conventional exploration and discovery. He informed you that motorised patrols were also present, generally distributed along the lines of a single car's worth of people per group. In the rough area there were about twenty two such groups who would likely come if called. Not to mention the "heavy assets" who would bring military grade force if particularly fierce resistance was encountered.
The Gesellschaft owned this city to the point of regularly holding rallies and expanding its operations from merely focusing on parahumans to trying to build a new brownshirt army of street fighters among unpowered individuals as well as a paramilitary outfit. But most concerning was that they were constantly getting supplies for military grade ordnance despite not making any discernable purchases from any known arms dealers. It was as if the weapons they were getting were just popping out of the ether. Which to bumblebee, indicated that their dealer was almost certainly not of this earth.
"So with that in mind...I think I could maybe, crack into their communications and divert some patrols to clear out a way for infiltrators to get in through? I'd want at least one of the Autobots to follow you though. Take the heat for you." You said, looking at the gathered group.
"Yeah, if you can't reliably survive low velocity munitions like these it would be horrible to ask you to jump in front of them. Even if you're all so brave to try it with your damaged genetic code and substandard armour." Samus said with an easy smile, the unknowing insult getting a tch out of Assault and a raised brow from Irinna.
"Damaged?" She said with a quirked brow.
"You people have so many genetic diseases...most of you won't even last a century." You said with a sad sigh, they looked like nice people too. It'd be a shame to have to see them age and die if they didn't accept treatment for their poor health.
"Wow, here I thought I was on the right diet and exercise plan. Thanks for that." Ethan laughed, seeming to be in good heart about it all to your immense confusion. With a risk of cancer like his and the extremely poor methods of treating such a trivial disease available to this world he shouldn't be laughing so hard about it. It seemed like a horrific way to die.
"Honestly, unless you have some magic gene editor doohickey to fix that in five seconds don't worry about it. Living to fifty in this line of work is enough of an accomplishment." Battery said, trying to blow it all off like a joke as she cracked her knuckles and thought of a plan.
"Well...with a restore station it wouldn't take five seconds...it'd take much less time than that." Samus said with a shrug to the confused staring of Assault and Battery while Serp and Molotok looked at each other and then simply shrugged and muttered something about people from space being very confusing.
"Primus don't get me started on organic life spans...you all act so weird when we tell you that five million of your stellar cycles isn't that long." Strongarm added.
"Five million years ago there weren't even any humans Strongarm! Perspective, please!" Irinna snipped at her.
"Okay, okay, please focus..." You said, disgruntled at the off topic derailing of this conversation and the lapsing into what you saw as annoying, childish bickering about stuff that didn't matter.
"We need a plan of approach. Once we're close, I can send you guys local camera footage for some additional intel, but we need to decide how to get there. All in on sneaking around, guns blazing, or splitting up?" You said, pondering the map's information like it was a holy text.
Options:
[]: Everyone go in and kick down the door, gives the Gesellschaft the least time to complete their theft but carries the most risk for more fragile members of the team.
[]: Go all in on stealth, everyone moves in to sneak in, only revealing themselves when fairly close. This will take the most time, but ensures that more fragile members of the team will be put at little risk.
[]: Divide team into stealthy and loud groups; even balance between prior two options.
[]: Write in
Suboptions:
[]: Keep team unified; Move as a single group (not compatible with Divide team)
[]: Divide Team; Specify who goes into which group
Free options:
[]: Request character profiles for Strongarm, Molotok, Serp, Assault, Battery, and Bumblebee.
[]: Local news headlines
[]: Additional scan logs (request three things that Arne or Samus have seen that do not have scan logs)
[x] : Go all in on stealth, everyone moves in to sneak in, only revealing themselves when fairly close. This will take the most time, but ensures that more fragile members of the team will be put at little risk.
[x]: local news headlines
As an aside, how detailed would you all like the character profiles to be? They're not going to be as in depth as the protagonist profiles because they're not POV characters obviously.
[X]: Divide team into loud and stealthy groups; even divide between both.
[X]: loud team Arne+Autobots. Stealth team Samus+humans
[X]: local news headline
Arc 1: Fourfold Endeavour. Mission 1: Nazi Punks Fuck Off! Part 3
[x] : Go all in on stealth, everyone moves in to sneak in, only revealing themselves when fairly close. This will take the most time, but ensures that more fragile members of the team will be put at little risk.
My apologies for the massive delay with this post but I was initially thinking to create this whole magnitude-based stat system before I realised that this was delaying the post by an unacceptably long margin and decided to just stick with purely qualitative descriptors of strengths and weaknesses that would both be much easier on myself and also allow this post to just come out already. Maybe I'll keep working on the new stat systems in the background, but for now; we're not going to be touching that mess.
Especially because this has been holding up literally ever other writing project because of my perfectionist tendencies.
Stats aren't really equalised, especially at the beginning. Samus and Arne are far and away more your primary instruments in combat, while the Cybertronians are much tankier and hit harder than the Parahumans and Metahumans as a rule until you've put enough effort into helping them catch up. Parahumans and Metahumans have a wide variety of special effects though.
Samus and Arne will have their sheets redone in a style similar to this at some point.
Solar Cannon: Very High Rate of fire, Very Highly Chargeable, Great Armour Penetration, Very Good Shield Disruption, Very Good Damage, Very long Range, Targets are considerably more vulnerable to follow up damage, Strongly Incendiary. Charged Shots deal AoE.
Laser Cutter: Continuous Rate of Fire, Incredible Armour Penetration, Very Good Damage, Strongly Incendiary, Very Long Range.
Stinger: Continuous Rate of Fire, Very Good Armour Penetration, Good Damage, Extreme Shield Disruption, Extreme Stunning Effect, Very Long Range, Chains between multiple targets, Extremely Electrified.
Scatter Blaster: High Rate of Fire, Good Armour Penetration, Extreme Damage, Good Multi-Target
Multi-missile launcher: Low Rate of Fire, Great Armour Penetration, Great Damage, Extreme Range, Large Area of Effect, Great multi-target
Mini-missiles High Rate of Fire, Great Armour Penetration, Great Damage, Very Long Range, Large Area of Effect
Grenade Launcher: Medium rate of fire, extends Grenade range.
EMP Grenades: No Armour Penetration, High Shield Disruption, Very High Base damage, weaker against biological targets, stronger against mechanical targets, Very Strong EMP effect, throwing range, large area of effect.
{*]Plasma Grenades: Very High Armour Penetration, Very High Damage, Throwing Range, Very Large Area of Effect
Gamma Grenades: High Armour Penetration, Very High base damage, Weaker against Mechanical targets, Stronger against Biological Targets, Throwing Range, Highly Sickening, Large Area of Effect.
Detonation Hammer: Medium Attack Speed Penalty, Great Armour Penetration, Extreme Damage, Great Concussion, Large Area of Effect, Long reach
Energon Blades: Melee Weapon, No Attack Speed Penalty, Very good armour penetration bonus, Good Damage Bonus, Highly Energised, Highly Superheated, Short Reach, x2
Armour:
Light Type Cybertronian Armour: Powered, Good Strength and Speed Enhancement, Good Self-Repair, Highly EMP resistant, Shielding generating, Easy to repair, Incredibly Durable, Great Armour Save, Great Damage Reduction. Facemask protects against blinding, deafening, and atmospheric effects,
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits
+: Expert Scout: Bumblebee is tremendously good at finding out things that he shouldn't and has a critical success range for scouting on a roll of 70 or higher on the D100 and on the confirmation roll.
+: Ancient Warrior: Bumblebee is an extremely experienced combatant and is quite literally built for conflict. Bumblebee rerolls all failed combat-related rolls and has his critical hit range increased doubled and needs to triple confirm to critically fail.
+: People's Champion: Bumblebee is one of the most empathetic and kind autobots around and naturally gels well with the dispossessed, meek, young, or disadvantaged. Bumblebee gets strong bonuses to positively affecting these people. He also gets this bonus in dealing with mental health issues thanks to his long experience with comforting others who are down on their luck. He also rerolls any failed morale check twice if someone more vulnerable than him would be endangered by him failing that check.
+: Goldbug's Luck: Bumblebee is one of the luckiest autobots whom fortune tends to favour. In background rolls, bumblebee gets an additional 3d10 rolled to be added to each dice except when he gets a natural one and a second natural one on the confirmation dice.
+: Everyone's Friend: It is very easy to build platonic friendships with bumblebee, with the threshold of positive interaction needed to improve a platonic relation with bumblebee being significantly lower than average, he also gives improved cooperation benefits for friendships.
+: You don't seem right: Bumblebee is very good at picking up possible imposters and his success range for picking out any possible infiltrators amongst the ranks is never lower than a roll of 50 or above on a D100 rolled during every social interlude or mission.
=: Robot in Disguise: Bumblebee is a Cybertronian and is thus given a robot's list of built-in capabilities, resistances and immunities as well as some particular vulnerabilities, as well as some particular to Cybertronians. For the sake of the Manton Effect and similar limitations, Bumblebee is considered to be partly between life and machinery, making him resistant but not quite immune to powers that only affect organic or inorganic material. He can also transform into vehicles relatively close to his robot mode in overall size.
-: Mute: Bumblebee lost his voice box in the Great Cybertronian Civil War and cannot speak conventionally, being limited to sign language, text messages, or soundbite clips. If these are not available or cannot be interpreted by the person he is speaking to, he is incapable of communication and at times he will be incapable of getting across his exact meaning if the other person cannot receive a text message or signage from him.
-: We're Here to Protect People!: We're here to Protect: Bumblebee is adamant about protecting people who are in need of defending and will not agree to any plan that will unnecessarily leave people who can't help themselves at risk without a difficult diplomacy check and will insist on accompanying people he sees as more vulnerable and are lacking in other guardians.
-: You're my friend, and I want to be there for you: Bumblebee can accumulate stress points at a high rate if someone he has bonded with goes out of contact with him for a long period of time. Especially if he has reason to worry for their safety. He will also be likely to intercede in social complications out of a protective urge.
Subject is a sort of robotic mimic known as a Cybertronian named Bumblebee, presently taking the guise of a 1984 Volkswagen Beetle. Spatiochronal analysis suggests that he is not from either this universe or from yours but reveals an age of 5,379,129 Earth years. Analysis indicates that subject is powered by novel energy source referred to as "Energon". Energy readings are especially concentrated in the core region of the body within a spiritual analogue referred to as the Spark. Bumblebee is fully sapient and is capable of altering configuration between vehicular and bipedal mode. The presence of multiple concealed weapons has been detected, but overall systems are inferior to your own in efficiency and sophistication; compensated for by greater size. Further analysis indicates that subject is incapable of intelligible vocal speech due to relatively recent damage. Bumblebee's records indicate that he is a native of the colony world of Velocitus in the whirlpool galaxy.
Relationships:
Strongarm: Bumblebee and Strongarm are close friends, and as such can roll a diplomacy check with full modifiers to relieve stress points twice between missions and once during a mission. They also gain a strong bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can use a few special techniques when working in tandem.
Windblade: Bumblebee and Windblade are best friends, and as such can roll a diplomacy check with full modifiers to relieve stress points thrice between missions and twice during a mission. They also gain a Magnitude very strong bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can use special techniques in tandem.
Physical Health: Great
Stress Levels: Healthy
Experience: Incredible
Training: Phenomenal
Leadership: Great
Morale: Impeccable
Combat Skill: Fantastic
Intrigue Skill: Very Good
Diplomacy Skill: Very Good
Administration Skill: Great
Academic Skill: Good
Tech Skill: Great
Vehicular Skill: Great
Esoterical Skill: None
Esoterical Potential: None known
Esoterical Resistance: Decent
Strength Category: Phenomenal
Durability Category: Phenomenal (Phenomenal Shielding, Phenomenal Armour)
Resilience Category: Phenomenal (Incredible Shielding, Phenomenal Armour)
Speed Category: Very Good/Excellent (Vehicle mode)
Cleverness: Very Good
Perception: Incredible
Weapons:
Neutron Assault Rifle: Incredible Rate of Fire, Very Good Armour Penetration, Very Good Damage, Very Long Range, Targets become moderately more vulnerable to follow up damage
Path Blaster: Medium Rate of Fire, Incredible Armour Penetration, Extreme Damage, Phenomenal Range
Scatter Blaster: High Rate of Fire, Good Armour Penetration, Extreme Damage, Good Multi-Target
Subsonic Repeater: Absurd Rate of Fire, Good Armour Penetration, Good Damage, Medium Range
Magma-Frag Launcher: Low Rate of Fire, High Armour Penetration, Incredible Damage, Long Range, Huge Area of Effect, Very Highly Incendiary
Mini-missiles: High Rate of Fire, Great Armour Penetration, Great Damage, Very Long Range, Large Area of Effect
EMP Grenades: No Armour Penetration, High Shield Disruption, Very High Base damage, weaker against biological targets, stronger against mechanical targets, Very Strong EMP effect, throwing range, large area of effect.
{*]Plasma Grenades: Very High Armour Penetration, Very High Damage, Throwing Range, Very Large Area of Effect
Gamma Grenades: High Armour Penetration, Very High base damage, Weaker against Mechanical targets, Stronger against Biological Targets, Throwing Range, Highly Sickening, Large Area of Effect.
Energon Blades: Melee Weapon, No Attack Speed Penalty, Very good armour penetration bonus, Good Damage Bonus, Highly Energised, Highly Superheated, Short Reach, x2.
Armour:
Medium Type Cybertronian Armour: Powered, Very Good Strength Enhancement, Good Self-Repair, Highly EMP resistant, Shielding generating, Easy to repair, Phenomenally Durable, Fantastic Armour Save, Fantastic Damage Reduction. Facemask protects against blinding, deafening, and atmospheric effects,
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits:
+: Memorised Protocol: Strongarm gets and gives a strong bonus to any checks revolving around protocol, legal codes, rules, regulations and other such structures.
+: Autobot Elite Guard Training: As part of the Autobot Elite Guard, Strongarm has received training from a military tradition honed over millions of years of combat. She doesn't need to roll to confirm criticals and never critically fumbles combat rolls.
+: Ancient Warrior: Strongarm is an extremely experienced combatant and is quite literally built for conflict. Strongarm rerolls all failed combat-related rolls and has her critical hit range doubled with any weapon and needs to triple confirm to critically fail.
+: Made of Sterner Stuff: Strongarm can roll a d100 whenever hit and on a 70 or above she simply ignores the hit entirely even if she otherwise failed to save.
+: Cool Head: Thanks to her Elite Guard training, Strongarm keeps a firm head on her shoulders and can never automatically fail a morale check and doesn't take stress penalties to morale or leadership checks.
+: Enduring: Strongarm takes three times as long to risk getting stressed from overwork as other characters.
=: Robot in Disguise: Strongarm is a Cybertronian and is thus given a robot's list of built-in capabilities, resistances and immunities as well as some particular vulnerabilities, as well as some particular to Cybertronians. For the sake of the Manton Effect and similar limitations, Strongarm is considered to be partly between life and machinery, making him resistant but not quite immune to powers that only affect organic or inorganic material. She can also transform into vehicles relatively close to his robot mode in overall size.
-: Bad at improv: Strongarm takes moderate penalties to most types of rolls if forced to act without any sort of plan in mind or if something completely unexpected and unforeseen comes up.
-: There are rules for this! Strongarm requires diplomacy checks to convince to do actions that go outside of standard Autobot protocol.
-: Underconfident: Strongarm has confidence issues when it comes to working on her own or taking her own initiative without orders and will take a morale penalty if operating without guidance.
Strongarm has been active for about three point three million years, young by Cybertronian Standards, but has spent virtually all of that time in combat or covert duties. As such she is considered a young but dedicated soldier; rather by the book and a stringent observer of protocol. She is one of the most promising newer members of Jetfire's crew and is a stickler for making sure that all protocol is followed, particularly those relating to secrecy and ensuring that the disruption done to Earth's societies isn't overly extreme. Though empathetic, her focus on combat training means that she's not the best negotiator unless she has a rigid system she can navigate and take advantage of. However, her experience in the Elite Guard means that there's rather few combat situations she can't handle, and she's decently well-read. However her inflexibility regarding protocol makes her somewhat poor at stealth operations. While stubborn and willful, she's reasonably humble and always has a mind for making sure that the job is done right.
Relationships
Bumblebee: Bumblebee and Strongarm are close friends, and as such can roll a diplomacy check with full modifiers to relieve stress points twice between missions and once during a mission. They also gain a Magnitude +3 bonus to cooperative checks when working together.
Molotok
Description (In Lieu of Image):
Passage said:
" The Russian girl was wearing some manner of mask and a colourful but practical looking military produced costume with green coloured inset plates, red trimmings, and the occasional gold highlights; she looked rather nice. She was definitely someone who spent a lifetime continually working out, with the armour padding of her suit giving a good impression of the contour of her musculature. Closer examination also showed that the outfit seemed to have attachment points for added plating".
Irinushka wears her black hair long and straight down to about the midsection of her back, her features are slender and agile rather than powerful; clearly built for moving as quickly as possible. When relaxing but in uniform, she wears a mask that can cover most of her face save for her hair with a removable mouth-filter and eyepieces and adjusts her hairstyle with a hairband to keep her identity protected. Like most Soviet bloc heroes, her uniform is meant to be primarily practical with some concessions made to fashion and individual preference within reason. When in battle gear, she attaches carefully weight distributed semi-powered armour designed by the "Spetsproizpo" (Spetsial'noye proizvodstvennoye podrazdeleniye: Special Manufacturing Division), Tinkers with access to the resources of the whole of the Soviet Bloc divided into teams based on speciality.
Her armour is meant to cover her weaknesses without impeding her or requiring too much in the way of intense maintenance. Made with special materials highly resistant to most forms of energy transfer and fitted with semi-powered systems that allow it to carry itself, the plating added to the armour is styled off of Soviet "Ratnik" infantry patterns. A military-style helm fitted with an eyeshield and filtration guard protects her head, keeps her up to date with the OGASnet and communications sent her way, and wards her from atmospheric poisons. The hermetically sealed plated body armour helps screen out radiation, electricity, cold, and heat, and keeps her at a comfortable temperature. Its colouration is largely the same as her underlying uniform, and her helm fits her hair by unknown means.
The insert nature of the plating also makes it easy to repair, simply slotting in replacements for damaged or destroyed portions of her outfit. and stitching up any tears in the dura-fiber construction of the fabric. She wears a service patch on her arms, the Soviet Red star in the midst of her helmet's forehead section, and her personal symbol of a golden rocket carrying a platinum coloured hammer to the stars lies at the midsection of her uniform and on her chestplate. She also usually has an infantryman's backpack on her back to carry supplies when on long missions likely to take her far away from the usual lines of support. Like most Soviet heroes, she rejects wearing actual capes as pointlessly exposing herself to a potential hazard.
Real Name: Irina "Irinushka" Vladmirovna Kuznetsov
Aliaes: "Hammer", Molotok, Probzhen (Short for "punching woman"), Tovarishch pushechnoye yadro (Comrade Cannonball),
Gender: Female
Species: Parahuman
Orientation: Bisexual
Age: 14
Ethnicity: Great Russian
Affiliation: Soviet Union (Otmolsoza)
Height: 5'7/171 centimetres.
Mass: 59 Kilograms
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Black
Physical Health: Great
Stress Levels: Healthy
Experience: Decent
Training: Very Good
Leadership: Good
Morale: Great
Combat Skill: Good
Intrigue Skill: Good
Diplomacy Skill: Very Good
Administration Skill: Good
Academic Skill: Very Good
Tech Skill: Decent
Vehicular Skill: None (Doesn't know how to drive)
Esoterical Skill: None
Esoterical Potential: None known
Esoterical Resistance: None
Strength Category: Moderately superhuman
Durability Category: Moderately Superhuman (Augmented by kinetic absorption and redirection, decently durable armour and variably strong shielding)
Resilience Category: Very Good (Shielding can be bled through by energy attacks but is extremely effective against kinetic attacks, low-grade armour)
Speed Category: Great
Cleverness: Very Good
Perception: Decent
Weapons:
One Handed Kinetic Hammers: Melee weapon, moderate rate of attack penalty, low armour penetration bonus, low damage bonus, short reach, moderate concussive, x2.
Two Handed Kinetic Hammer: Melee weapon, Moderate Rate of Attack Penalty, Low armour penetration bonus, medium damage bonus, medium reach, moderate concussive, two handed
Containment Foam Grenades: N/A armour penetration, N/A damage, Strong Restraining Effect, Medium Area of Effect, Long Duration, Throwing Range.
Flashbang Grenades: N/A armour penetration, N/A damage, Strong Blinding Effect, Strong Deafening Effect, Medium Area of Effect, Throwing Range.
HEAT Grenade: Low Armour Penetration, Low Damage, Incendiery, Small Area of Effect, Short Range.
Frag Grenade: Weak Armour Penetration, Weak Damage, Medium Area of Effect, Throwing Range.
Armour:
Otmolsoza Thermal-Armoured Costume; Semi-powered, Low Armour Save (improves to medium against energy attacks), Low Damage Reduction (Increases to medium against energy attacks), Highly EMP resistant, Effortless to repair, Helmet protects against blinding, deafening, and atmospheric effects,
Collapsible Riot Shield: Offers cover, increases armour save and damage reduction, can be used as a weapon with somewhat increased melee damage.
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits:
+: Energetic: Irinushka loves being part of the Otmolsoza and the opportunity it gives for her to feel powerful, accomplished, and like she's making a real difference in the world. She always rerolls failed saves against Stress Gain and takes two missions without a break to have to save against Stress gain.
+: Star Pioneer: Irinushka is a well-beloved part of the Otmolsoza and gets a significant bonus to diplomacy within the Earth Bet Soviet Bloc.
+: Charming: Irinushka gets a moderate bonus to diplomacy checks with people in her age group who are orientation compatible with her.
+: Momentum Shard: Irinushka has the Momentum Shard and can absorb, manipulate, and generate kinetic energy in large quantities, she can absorb most kinetic impacts and store the energy inside of herself for usage for nearly any physical purpose, basically storing energy points such as regenerating her shielding, healing some injuries, augmenting her speed or hits, using some special attacks, or giving some boosts to her comrades; making her extremely flexible. However, she needs to consciously absorb energy, otherwise relying on simply passively deflecting incoming energy or imparting it into herself. She also does have a limit to how much energy she can store at once due to her physiological limitations.
+: Ready for action: Irinushka never needs to make a morale check to fight a new and unheard-of enemy or situation with confidence.
+: Familiar with non-human combatants: Thanks to working extensively with the Autobots, Irinushka does not take inexperience penalties when it comes to fighting non-human enemies.
=: Otmolsoza member: As part of the Soviet Union's principal party-aligned hero team, Irinushka has certain special access privileges within the boundaries of the Soviet Bloc. However, she does draw suspicion outside of the Earth bet Soviet bloc, especially within more anti-communist areas.
-: Carrier of Burdens: Irinushka needs a diplomacy check to dissuade from taking actions that may cause herself harm when she believes that others would benefit from putting herself at risk.
-: I want to help!: She will have to save against stress point accumulation for every mission she is benched without being sent off on side-tasks or joining the main mission.
-: I can do this: Irinushka will require a diplomacy check to convince her to accept aid if she feels like she can succeed at a task without it and if helping her would take up significant time or resources from that person.
Actually named Irina "Irinushka" Vladimirovna Kuznetsov, Molotok is a young parahuman attached to the Soviet Otmolsoza (Special Protection Youth Division of the Soviet Union) and a native of the city of Arkhangelsk. Irina bonded to her extradimensional symbiont following an encounter with a rampaging tinker made robot of Swedish origin derived from the illicitly acquired corpse of a Decepticon slain in an aerial engagement acquired by the tinker Svartalfar before the Autobots could recover it. Originally developed with the hopes of helping to fight Endbringers, the lingering code from the fallen machine's repurposed Cybertronian components meshed poorly with its new programming when Svaltalfar thanks in part due to Gesellschaft sabotage; resulting in a monstrosity that rampaged across the baltic for two weeks. Due to the severity of its attack on Arkhangelsk, she has a double bond to her entity.
The incident gave her the ability to store, manipulate, and amplify kinetic energy for various purposes, such as absorbing incoming blows, forming shielding, significantly augmenting the force behind her impacts, move objects, enhance or drain speed, leech energy to accelerate natural healing, or even releasing them as impact blasts or shockwaves. Her status as a general-purpose take all comers melee combatant, and tremendous capacity for punishment has made her indispensable to the Sentinels at Arkhangelsk. However, Irina has been diagnosed with a martyrdom complex and a tendency of unnecessarily taking on the burdens of others and worsened mood if unable to offer assistance. All while she often refuses to ask others for help even when in need out of a feeling of not wanting to burden others.
Relationships
Serp: Irinushka and Viktor date each other rather openly and have a strong and healthy romantic relationship. As such can roll a diplomacy check with doubled modifiers to relieve stress points four times between missions and thrice during a mission. They also gain a great bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can utilise a great many powerful cooperative techniques.
Serp
Description: (In lieu of picture)
Passage said:
a nearby companion in a more red outfit as the blond set down his fighter pilot styled helmet and ran his hands through messy locks. He gave the impression of having recently been sweating quite a lot, and you could see a few beads still dripping down his forehead.
Another look at him confirmed that he was built for agility and finesse rather than raw power, and the insets of his suit seemed mostly to accentuate the muscle groups of his body in a rather flattering manner. Like her outfit, it had attachment points, and like her, he wore a small mask that covered part of his face but not quite enough to be likely to guise his identity from anyone who knew him. He shrugged off more of the plating of what you presumed was his full armoursuit, offering it to a drone who took it off of him as he wiped his brow and dabbed at his face with a cloth.
Viktor wears his messy blond hair down to the midsection of his neck, his sharp blue eyes usually highly attentive as he looks around the room. He's a sharp-looking, handsome young man who fits all the ideals of the Soviet Union's youth, almost seeming to have crawled out of a propaganda poster at times When in uniform but not in combat, Viktor wears his red, khaki, and black uniform-costume as well as a mask that can cover his entire face, including with ski-style goggles, or have parts removed to expose his hair, mouth, eyes, nose, ears and the like as needed. When in combat however, he utilises custom-fitted power armour produced for him by the "Spetsproizpo" (Spetsial'noye proizvodstvennoye podrazdeleniye: Special Manufacturing Division), Tinkers with access to the resources of the whole of the Soviet Bloc divided into teams based on speciality.
His armour is meant to take advantage of his ability to improve equipment to greater performance level, thus while it might seem to be somewhat standard as he doesn't have a dedicated Tinker following him around constantly; he is able to force it into capabilities well beyond its designed parameters. Significantly more durable, with a greater degree of augmentation, improving the modular equipment able to be fitted into it as per mission requirements, and far better at absorbing incoming hits without harming his body in his possession, Pasternak is able to function as one of Arkhangelsk's most versatile heroes, who can take the fight without fear or concern of harm in most engagements and taking on most challenges that get in his way.
The armour also helps to store the large number of grenades he uses for many situations, though in the case of operations with the autobots, he swaps out many of the nonlethal instruments he has for devices more likely to cause at least some damage to Decepticon opponents. Though so far the autobots are somewhat resistant to the idea of giving humans their weapons technology, the coming crisis might finally break Jetfire's reluctance as a crisis on many worlds begins to brew. Something he is actually looking forward to.
Real Name: Viktor "Vitya" Zinovyevich Pasternak
Aliases: Serp, "Sickle", Rezhumal (Short for "Cutting Boy"), Tovarishch khvatayushchiy (Comrade Grabber, after his tendency to help himself to other people's personal belongings to see how his power works with them)
Gender: Male
Species: Parahuman
Orientation: Bisexual
Age: 14
Ethnicity: Great Russian
Affiliation: Soviet Union (Otmolsoza)
Height: 6'0/182.44 centimetres.
Mass: 71 Kilograms
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Blond
Physical Health: Great
Stress Levels: Healthy
Experience: Decent
Training: Very Good
Leadership: Good
Morale: Great
Combat Skill: Good
Intrigue Skill: Good
Diplomacy Skill: Very Good
Administration Skill: Good
Academic Skill: Very Good
Tech Skill: Decent
Vehicular Skill: None (Doesn't know how to drive)
Esoterical Skill: None
Esoterical Potential: None known
Esoterical Resistance: None
Strength Category: Significantly Superhuman
Durability Category: Significantly Superhuman
Resilience Category: Decent (Decent armour, no shielding)
Speed Category: Great
Cleverness: Very Good
Perception: Decent
Weapons:
Okhotnik Pistol: Medium rate of fire, Dismal Armour Penetration, Dismal Damage, Medium Range, X2
Wrist Mounted Submachine Guns: Great Rate of Fire, Dismal Armour Penetration, Dismal Damage, Short Range, x2
Wrist Mounted Sawn off Shotguns: Weak Rate of Fire, Weak Damage, Weak Armour Penetration, Very Short Range, x2 (Can fire slugs which have Very Low damage, Very Low armour penetration and short-range, or taser shells which have minuscule damage, moderately electrified, mediocre stunning)
Ballistic Knives: (Counts as a melee attack with slightly increased armour penetration and damage and medium range)
Gauntlet Chain-Bayonets: Melee weapon, Moderate attack rate penalty, low armour penetration, low damage, more effective against inorganic targets, point blank reach, x2.
High-Frequency Sickle: No attack rate penalty, mediocre armour penetration, mediocre damage bonus, short reach.
Collapsible High-Frequency Scythe: Significant attack rate penalty, medium armour penetration, medium damage bonus, medium reach.
Containment Foam Grenades: N/A armour penetration, N/A damage, Strong Restraining Effect, Medium Area of Effect, Long Duration, Throwing Range.
Flashbang Grenades: N/A armour penetration, N/A damage, Strong Blinding Effect, Strong Deafening Effect, Medium Area of Effect, Throwing Range.
Napalm Grenades: Very low Armour Penetration, Very Low Burn Damage, Large Area of Effect, Spreading, throwing range.
Thermite Grenades: Mediocre Armour Penetration, Mediocre Burn Damage, Mediocre Incendiary, Small Area of Effect, throwing range, Short Duration
HEAT Grenade: Low Armour Penetration, Low Damage, Incendiery, Small Area of Effect, throwing range.
Frag Grenade: Weak Armour Penetration, Weak Damage, Medium Area of Effect, Throwing Range.
Smart Grenade Launcher: Extends grenade range to medium and allows for rerolls to hit.
Armour:
Otmolsoza Augmented Suit; Powered, Okay Armour Save and Damage Reduction, Improves strength noticeably, EMP hardened, Helmet protects against blinding and deafening effects and atmospheric toxins, Easy Repair.
Collapsible Riot Shield: Offers cover, increases armour save and damage reduction, can be used as a weapon with somewhat increased melee damage.
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits
+: Grindstone Shard: Vitya has the "Grindstone" shard which allows him to improve things that he has in his possession or on his person, including himself. He works from a budget of "improvements" he can dole out to increase overall performance. This effect ends shortly after he lets go or stops having contact with the object, but lasts long enough to apply to projectiles or short delay explosives.
+: Star Pioneer: Vityais a well-beloved part of the Otmolsoza and gets a strong bonus on all diplomacy checks within the Earth Bet Soviet Bloc.
+: Charming: Vitya gets a moderate bonus to diplomacy checks with people in his age group who are orientation compatible with him.
+: Soviet New Man: Vitya loses stress points at double the normal rate as he has managed a good deal of control over his own emotional state.
+: Friends on the other side: Vitya is actually quite well regarded on the other side of the Iron Curtain and receives a moderate bonus to diplomacy outside of the Soviet Bloc on Earth Bet.
+: Familiar with non-human combatants: Thanks to working extensively with the Autobots, Viktor does not take inexperience penalties when it comes to fighting non-human enemies.
=: Otmolsoza member: As part of the Soviet Union's principal party-aligned hero team, Viktor has certain special access privileges within the boundaries of the Soviet Bloc. Though of course, as a child such privileges are limited.
-: A bit hidebound: Vitya sticks close to Soviet protocol and ideals and to the party line of the VKP(B), substantial deviation from protocol will require a diplomacy check to convince him away from with the difficulty being determined by the magnitude of deviation asked of him.
-: Overbearing: Vitya has high standards for everyone he meets and can induce stress in others by his consistent insistence on improvement form just about everyone he meets and is exceedingly difficult to satisfy. This also makes it harder to improve relationship grades (romantic or platonic) with him.
-: Please stop Talking: Victor has a bad habit of saying stuff he shouldn't and can cause strain in relations when he voices unneeded and unsolicited criticism that his partner might not take well if he sees something he regards as substandard.
Viktor "Vitya" Zinovyevich Pasternak js a parahuman member of the Otmolsoza and one of the Arkhangelsk division's foremost generalists. Vitya is able to "sharpen" objects, reshaping them at the molecular level for additional efficiency such as making a cutting edge a monomolecular blade and reinforcing them with extradimensional energy to prevent them from breaking; including himself. Also a double-trigger, Vitya can apply his sharpening and reinforcing to more esoteric effects, such as sharpening his senses, enhancing his accuracy, self augmentation, and getting more efficiency out of used objects. The sharpening effect ends briefly after he ceases having contact with the object, but lasts long enough to be used with projectile weapons.
Vitya was "triggered" in the same incident that saw Irina being bonded to her entity, albeit in a separate part of the city during the rogue machine's rampage. The Otmolsoza partnered the two, due to being the same age and having had a prior relationship before manifesting their abilities, thus leading to the aliases "Hammer and Sickle" under the tutelage of the experienced Soviet parahuman "Nakoval'nya" or "Anvil". Vitya's profile lists him as a brave but sometimes overbearing would-be classical hero and party loyalist who holds people to high standards. While well-meaning and making an effort to be kind, Vitya has difficulties with holding back criticism even when entirely unsolicited. However, his versatility and commitment have ensured that he commands a significant deal of respect within Arkhangelsk
Relationships:
Molotok: Irinushka and Viktor date each other rather openly and have a strong and healthy romantic relationship. As such can roll a diplomacy check with doubled modifiers to relieve stress points four times between missions and thrice during a mission. They also gain a great bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can utilise a great many powerful cooperative techniques.
Battery
Gender: Female
Species: Parahuman
Orientation: Heterosexual
Age: 22
Ethnicity: English-American
Affiliation: United States of America (Protectorate)
Height: 5'4/162.56 centimetres.
Mass: 61 Kilograms
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Brown
Physical Health: Great
Stress Levels: Troubled
Experience: Very Good
Training: Acceptable
Leadership: Great
Morale: Great
Combat Skill: Very Good
Intrigue Skill: Decent
Diplomacy Skill: Good
Administration Skill: Good
Academic Skill: Decent
Tech Skill: Good
Vehicular Skill: Good
Esoterical Skill: None
Esoterical Potential: None known
Esoterical Resistance: None
Strength Category: Variable (Peak human to substantially superhuman)
Durability Category: Variable (Peak human to excellent)
Resilience Category: Variable (Peak human to excellent)
Speed Category: Variable (Peak Human to excellent)
Cleverness: Good
Perception: Very Good
Weapons:
Unarmed
Armour:
Unarmoured Costume
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits:
+: Charging Up!: Battery can take time to build up a reserve of energy for up to twelve seconds to spend it on various needs and abilities such as strength, speed, impact, resilience, and durability. Each second spent charging translates to six seconds of usage for a total of seventy-two seconds at maximum power. She can also expend the energy in a large electromagnetic burst whose power is dependent on how much energy she has stored up. This can be used to infuse objects with energy, repel objects sensitive to electromagnetism, shut down electronics, or magnetise targets. As the limitation is physiological, improvements to her physiology would allow her to store more energy.
+: All in-worker: Battery is significantly more resistant to stress than most and takes at least two consecutive missions without downtime to start having to roll against stress.
+: Dedicated to the Cause: Battery can reroll failed morale checks if failing puts her mission at significant risk of failure.
+: Role Model: When working in Earth Bet's United States, Battery is an inspiration to many young heroes, giving her a diplomacy bonus with younger American parahumans.
+: In the Know: As an adult member of the Protectorate, Battery is given access to certain classified information that most people aren't privy to, including materials still recorded purely in paper format to prevent hacking.
+: Former Ward Leader: As a former leader of the Brockton Bay Wards as well as a former member of the New York Wards, Battery starts off with strong relations with members of other organisations.
=: Protectorate Member: As part of the Protectorate Battery has special access privileges within the territorial boundaries of the Earth Bet United States of America and to a lesser degree, other NATO or American aligned countries. She also gets a diplomacy bonus in interacting with military, governmental, or law enforcement personnel within these areas and commands a degree of respect from other heroes in the area. However she also draws the ire of the less than law-abiding and draws suspicion from those outside of the American bloc.
-: Ties to Cauldron: Battery's powers originate from her contacts with Cauldron and making a bargain with the proverbial devil means that she owes them three favours, she has already completed two, with the last one still to be called by the organisation.
-: Guilt: Battery feels guilty for receiving her powers through such an illicit source and this doubt weighs on her mind, every arc it goes unresolved, the Guilt will threaten to consume her entirely.
-: Unfamiliarity with Inhuman Opponents: Up until very recently, Battery had no idea that aliens were amongst us or that at least one Earth from an entirely different multiverse was in contact with Earth Bet. Battery's combat skill and to-hit bonuses are reduced against alien opponents.
Battery received her abilities from an underground organisation known as Cauldron that works behind the scenes to engender the formation of Parahumans and guide the Parahuman community along certain lines of development that suit its endgoal. The daughter of a Police Detective who wanted to stop Madcap from breaking out villains from prisons that they worked hard at putting away, she was contacted at an early age by the organisation while looking for equipment that might help her provide assistance to the police. In exchange for three favours, she was given her current abilities; the ability to store energy up to her body's limit and then release it for whatever purpose she could need. This made her a versatile combatant capable of rapid movement or extreme force while still having a tremendous deal of control. While initially working with the New York City Wards, she eventually was transferred to Brockton Bay in her later teen years and eventually grew up to be a fully-fledged member of the protectorate where she has served with distinction. Following a long and difficult courtship by the claimed to be reformed Madcap, the two would marry at a young age as well.
Relationships:
Assault: Assault and Battery are married and seem to have a healthy relationship. As such can roll a diplomacy check with 50% increased modifiers to relieve stress points three times between missions and twice during a mission. They also gain a very good bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can utilise a great many powerful cooperative techniques.
[SLIDE]
Assault
Real Name: Ethan
Gender: Male
Species: Parahuman
Orientation: Heterosexual
Age: 22
Ethnicity: English-American
Affiliation: United States of America (Protectorate)
Height: 6'2/187.96 centimetres.
Mass: 94 Kilograms
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Orange
Physical Health: Great
Stress Levels: Healthy
Experience: Very Good
Training: Passable
Leadership: Decent
Morale: Great
Combat Skill: Very Good
Intrigue Skill: Good
Diplomacy Skill: Great
Administration Skill: Decent
Academic Skill: Low
Tech Skill: Good
Vehicular Skill: Good
Esoterical Skill: None
Esoterical Potential: None known
Esoterical Resistance: None
Strength Category: Moderately superhuman
Durability Category: Moderately Superhuman (Augmented by kinetic absorption and redirection, decently durable armour and variably strong shielding)
Resilience Category: Very Good (Against kinetic attacks)
Speed Category: Great
Cleverness: Good
Perception: Very Good
Weapons:
Unarmed
Armour:
Unarmoured Costume
Miscellaneous Gear:
Traits:
+: Kinetic Shift: Assault's powers are quite similar to Irinushka's, though more limited. On the other hand he can make use of his abilities much more quickly and to a greater degree of fine-tuning. Whereas Irinushka needs to consciously keep up a barrier, Assault reflexively transfers energy attempting to move into him away and he's able to shape the energy he imparts in such a way that he can avoid hurting someone even if he launches them across the room. He can also use energy that he comes into contact with to quickly give himself a boost. Though his greatest limitation is that he needs to be grounded to properly use his abilities.
+: Great with Kids: Assault has a Great diplomacy bonus when it comes to interacting with underaged characters under virtually all circumstances and can easily establish positive avuncular relationships with most children he's allowed to interact with for long durations.
+: This is Fun: Assault has significant resistance to stress accumulation due to greatly enjoying his job, needing at least three missions without a break before accumulating stress.
+: Streetwise: As a former villain, Assault has a perspective of how life is like at the bottom that most of his colleagues don't. He's got a great bonus to checks relating to figuring out how the underworld might work or what might be going on at the street level.
+: In the Know: As an adult member of the Protectorate, Battery is given access to certain classified information that most people aren't privy to, including materials still recorded purely in paper format to prevent hacking.
+: Slippery as an Eel: Assault needs at least two successful checks in a row to restrain or immobiliser and can always reroll attempts to escape from such attempts.
=: Protectorate Member: As part of the Protectorate Assault has special access privileges within the territorial boundaries of the Earth Bet United States of America and to a lesser degree, other NATO or American aligned countries. He also gets a diplomacy bonus in interacting with military, governmental, or law enforcement personnel within these areas and commands a degree of respect from other heroes in the area. However he also draws the ire of the less than law-abiding and draws suspicion from those outside of the American bloc.
-: Criminal Past: Assault's reputation is predicated in large part to his past as the villain madcap remaining buried in the past. If his past is uncovered and revealed, he will take a substantial reputation hit and be forced to give up many of his current privileges.
-: No Energy for me Please: Assault's powers do not work against directed energy attacks, even those of a purely kinetic nature due to only being a single trigger.
-: Unfamiliarity with Inhuman Opponents: Up until very recently, Battery had no idea that aliens were amongst us or that at least one Earth from an entirely different multiverse was in contact with Earth Bet. Battery's combat skill and to-hit bonuses are reduced against alien opponents.
Formerly the Villain known as Madcap, Ethan has the ability to manipulate the transfer of kinetic energy towards his own ends as long as he's on the ground. This gives him a tremendous deal of versatility as he can impact foes with significantly above normal force, move at constantly increasing acceleration limited only by his reflexes, and shrug off the vast majority of hits. After encountering Battery however, he decided to reform in order to win her over and spent much of his time trying to earn forgiveness from the law and her affection. After some time, he managed to succeed to get her to start dating and the two young heroes would form a close affiliation that would see them transferred through teams together and ensured that he would remain close by her side. Considered to be an expert with working with children, Assault is also considered exceptional at needling people into certain responses that he finds amusing.
Relations:
Battery: Assault and Battery are married and seem to have a healthy relationship. As such can roll a diplomacy check with 50% increased modifiers to relieve stress points three times between missions and twice during a mission. They also gain a very good bonus to cooperative checks when working together and can utilise a great many powerful cooperative techniques.
[X]: Divide team into stealthy and loud groups; even balance between prior two options.
[X]: Divide Team; loud team Arne + both Autobots stealth team Samus + humans
Samus
"Why don't we split up?" You propose after taking a look at the information offered.
Arne's eyes flicked over to you with concern at the idea of splitting up given how well the two of you worked together and your lack of familiarity with most of the other combatants here. He already knew that you were proposing for the two of you to spin off apart from each other, something that made him a touch anxious. Just a touch, his anxiety was still manageable for now from what you could sense of the pulsating currents of emotion inside of him. The pale blue of worry and concern, the coiling serpent of not being sure if he can handle being in a past that never was.
Especially in an area crawling with Neonazi groups that stretched all the way up to Franconia and into deindustrialising cities in the north. He could handle himself physically, but socially...this was a supremely hostile set of circumstances. Especially from someone used to societies that had answers to many of the social ills that plagued this country that he already knew wouldn't be accepted at this moment in time. You felt that anguish too, of knowing that there are answers but also that people won't listen to them; so much of your experience with the Federation was coloured by disappointment by its refusal to fully follow the Chozo's example for one reason or the other. And now, even the Federation and Omdyn for all their warts and flaws seemed paradisical.
"I think we'll be fine. I just need to keep the other humans here safe. Someone needs to take hits for them, right?" You said to reassure him as his expression softened and he gave a nod of understanding. You understood the unwillingness to part from you, even for a brief while, in an unfamiliar setting. The two of you were each other's anchors. But there was logic in what you said, and that seemed to be accepted by him as he defaulted to the mindset of a warrior considering his options in battle.
"That makes sense. Are you sure you want to be the one to take it for them though? I have more equipment for regenerating shielding than you...and I favour close range combat more. It'd be more logical for me to..." He started before you stopped him in the midst of his mind's wondering with a hand to his shoulder, a glance into his eyes and a firm nod.
"Arne, I'll be fine. Don't worry. The Autobots will need someone human-sized to help them out anyway." You assured him, feeling the pale blue start to shift in colour towards something warmer as he accepted your answer and let go of his doubts and fears, even if only for a moment. You were happy to see that you could help, happy to take another step towards feeling more like the champion of the downtrodden and the defender of the meek you so dearly wished to be. If you could help him, you could surely help anyone right?
He gave you a thumbs up and you beamed back at him, returning it with gusto before you two traded your usual secret handshake of clasping your arms together, pulling each other in until your elbows touched and then giving a gentle headbutt before parting ways.
"So I'm guessing that the autobot team will be for the less stealthy approach?" He asked.
"Yep!" You chirped.
"Probably for the best. Arne's...distinctive appearance would make him grab attention without a change in hair and eye colour." Eva said, writing something down onto a paper clipboard. Clever, she was probably aware of the impoverished state of cybersecurity around here. So many backdoors that were so trivial to exploit with anything capable of wireless communication.
"I...alright, fair I guess." Arne said with a sigh.
"I'll accompany the other four. Once we're in, I'll fire up my suit and we'll try to meet up inside." You said, it seemed like a fairly simple and therefore good plan. You'd work out the specifics once you got closer and your distant sight and scan visor could give you a better read of what to expect. That tended to be more useful in your experience than just trying to draw out every contingency well in advance...besides...that was always pretty boring. It was fun to think about the possibilities but a strict plan for every response was just so constricting. Bleh.
"Okay from my scans, all of you can move faster than baseline humans but to get there as quickly as possible without being noticed we'll need to take the autobots." He said, rubbing a bit at his chin and then threading some fingers through his silky white hair as he thought, pacing slightly. He had restless energy he needed to work out, and you couldn't help but pace yourself, walking a bit back and forth to try and shake out some of the tension in your legs. You hated standing around, you hated that slow build-up of lethargy that came with just keeping still.
"Everyone in Strongarm right? Seems like the most efficient setup." Battery said before Bumblebee cut in.
Bumblebee's chirps and whirs over the communications suggested that Arne go with him if he's to accompany the autobots. Thus not giving anyone paying attention reason to wonder why one of the passengers in the SUV decided to stay in the car. It seemed reasonable, you'd assume that the guards would have control over the Campus' security footage systems and would probably wonder why they left one person in the vehicle unattended. Though you stopped to think, wouldn't they notice Strongarm dropping you all off and then moving to rejoin Bumblebee?
"Actually we can handle transport for the quiet team." Hans said, nibbling a bit on his thumbnail that made you briefly aware that it was rather short; likely out of habitually biting off the edges of his nails. You should recommend him some meditative exercises to break that habit at some point, it's a bit unhygienic and there's far better ways of getting keratin into your system.
"This way Strongarm will be able to move into position without having to drop you off. Much simpler you'll find." Hans' answer was more than satisfactory to you, though you were kind of curious as to what vehicle you'd be using. It couldn't be quite as mechanically fascinating as Strongarm was...could it?
"Ah yes, going from a car that can hear everything you say to a car bugged by spooks to hear everything you say." Assault said, making you briefly wonder where in this conversation did Stirner's sociological concepts creep in, or why he was suddenly so concerned with the insect problem. It was a bit hard to keep track of all the period slang of a long-dead language swimming around in your head after a neural download. It was annoying to say the least, but you were determined to overcome the challenge.
"There's insects with proboscises in nearly every motor vehicle here." Arne blurted out to the raised eyebrows of Irina who slowly tilted her head at the white-haired boy. There was a silence, and you suddenly felt bad for Arne as he realised he made a faux pas and shyly looked away from the gathered humans staring him down, Eva confiding in Hans in German about how he was definitely not suited for infiltration ops. That seemed a little rude in all honesty.
"...It's true." He said before Viktor shook his head and muttered a complaint about cultural compatibilities.
"+Hey I don't listen in all that closely.+" Strongarm protested, only for Bumblebee to cut in with a reminder that she recorded everything that went on inside of her to her stammering and plaintive embarrassment.
"You two, how are you going to get your gear on in short notice?" Battery flicked her thumb towards Irina and Viktor.
"Yes, that's a very important question. I haven't seen anything to indicate either of you can teleport your equipment onto your persons!" You said, raising a finger to interject with your point.
"+Oh we'll just groundbridge them in the equipment, shouldn't be that much of an issue.+" Strongarm said almost dismissively, getting a nod out of you before Arne looked at Assault and Battery and sized them up.
"Do you two have any way of protecting yourself from small arms fire?" He asked, his expression was concerned, eyebrows raised in questioning.
"Our abilities should keep us safe, don't worry too much about us kid." Battery said, folding her arms and giving him a confident smile.
"If you say so." Arne said, less than convinced. Of course, you also shared his doubts. Even though you could easily shrug off any of the small arms used in this time, and many of those used in your own time, you wouldn't go unarmoured and unshielded habitually anyway. It just seemed like taking unnecessary risks.
"So I think we are ready then...come with me." Eva said, gesturing the group to follow her.
"Except for you, genosse Skjoldr. Head down to the garage to meet up with Bumblebee. I'm sure you'll be able to find your way." She said, stopping Arne and getting a brief frown out of him before you looked over to him and gave him a hug for good luck, feeling his arms wrap around you and a bit of warmth being shared between the two of you. For a moment your sight seemed to catch a glimmer of an apparition of things to come, the blue and green bifurcated mask almost seeming to flicker over his face as doubt crept into his mind. He was still afraid, and you were too. You squeezed his hand, hoping that you two could reassure each other that everything was going to be alright. And then the figure's visage faded from the unreal sight of your mind's eye and all you could see was his smile, returning one you had given him.
"See you there Arne." You said gently as the two of you gave each other some distance and you moved to catch up with the group.
...
You stopped before some sleek-looking Van with a Volkswagen logo about where you'd expect cars of this era to have. The silver and yellow Kombi vehicle looking nice, but striking you as perhaps difficult to clean. From a glance, you guessed that the engine was a battery-combustion hybrid. Probably meant more to subsist in situations where diesel might be a bit difficult to come by than for any major concern for the environment. You delicately laid your fingers on the door, making sure to not squeeze too hard lest you tear through the metal like sheets of paper.
Suitcases were put into the storage spaces of the van while Battery got onto the carseat and took a look at the manual stick drive and tensed briefly.
"God I'm hoping the manual lessons I took at driving school are still somewhere in my memory." She said as she gulped and caught the keys tossed to her by Eva while she got into her own vehicle with Hans and chatted to him about her expectations for the operations. Hopeful but not wanting to dismiss the possibility of something going wrong just yet. Sensible you figured, but on the other hand, you were you, you could do this. You had to if you wanted to stop this plan from being carried out.
"Relax it's like riding a bicycle. Once you learn you'll never forget." Ethan said, folding his arms behind his head and easing himself into the seat after placing his seatbelt.
"Do you know what west German traffic laws are like?" Viktor asked, Battery paling slightly.
"Oh fuck...I uh..." Battery said as she gulped a bit before wiping a bead of sweat off of her face and setting the car into reverse gear.
"I can help!" You said, beaming. You had memorised the entire legal corpus of the Federal German Republic, this should be easy enough for you to assist with.
"Well...alright, I'll follow your lead then." Battery said, calming down slightly.
"Why could we not just take the metro..." Irina grumbled to herself.
"Aw come on, think of this as a road trip. It'll be fun....I think." He said, shrugging.
"It's not going to be that long of a trip anyway." You said, swinging your legs a bit in the passenger seat and tapping on the suitcase containing assault's costume to your left.
"Nobody has to go to the bathroom right?" Battery asked. Luckily, everyone answered no.
Arne
You inserted your seatbelt as you got into Bumblebee's passenger seat and looked out the window of his Camaro form. His motor vehicle mode pulled out of the garage and checked out seamlessly after manifesting a holomatter avatar. A young blonde man with messy, barely brushed hair that formed a few spikes with a yellow and black coat and nicely fitting jeans. Someone who looked like they'd be about the right age to attend a university actually. You sighed a bit at the sight of the buildings passing you by, your eyes catching sight of Samus hanging by the window of her van and the two of you passing a wave to each other before you went separate roads.
"Earth looks a lot less impressive than I thought." You said, to no one in particular before Bumblebee responded with a few radio clips.
"*There's no place like home!*"
You weren't quite sure you agreed. Nothing about this really felt like home. It was all so dirty, noxious, full of want and need that went by without anyone making more than a token effort at answering it. So full of people who simply just lived without ever getting to go for what they really wanted to do. So much...melancholic acceptance of life just being the way it is without aspiration for anything better. The grey melancholy weighed heavy on your mind, and you pulled your eyes from the sight of dour office buildings to look dead ahead. A stick of gum was extended out of the glove box of the vehicle, held by a mechanidrite to ensure that it was in front of your face.
More of the droidspeak from Bumblebee met your ears. He said that this might help keep your mind off of things, and not wanting to be rude you accepted the offer and placed it inside of your mouth and started chewing.
Hmm...strawberry.
"How do you just stay here and see all these people with so many problems and...not help them with the day to day stuff?" You asked.
"*I try where I can*" Bumblebee responded, splicing in a few clips to make that sentence work with the tone he wanted to give. Melancholic, upset that he couldn't do more and that he was so laser focused on more extranormal problems rather than the mundane stuff that affected the most people.
"That never gets frustrating? Only getting to help a few people at a time?" You ask.
"*Every day.*"
"I, yeah that must feel awful. Sorry for poking into it." You said, deciding to be quiet now rather than continuing to bother him around stuff that only really mattered to you. You probably shouldn't have even brought all that up. You were being inconsiderate of whether he wanted to talk about that.
"*You have nothing to apologise for!*" He seemed to be jovial, as if he liked just having someone to talk to. That felt nice actually, that you hadn't in fact, made another mistake. You almost didn't believe it for a moment, but you came to accept it. You smiled a bit, unsure of whether to look at the dashboard or the holomatter avatar.
"How did you lose your voice exactly?" You asked, hoping you weren't prying into anything too personal. You knew all too well how uncomfortable a lot of probing could be when the questioner didn't mind their space.
Bumblebee's droidspeak was frank, he lost it in the war. Not just any war, The War. The thing that had defined his entire existence, a concept so all-consuming that it had encompassed virtually the entirety of his thoughtspace, his culture, even weighing on his language. It was not simply a conflict, it was the very bedrock of existence to him. And the way he spoke added a weight to his words, one that made the air feel heavy with an overbearing presence while you swallowed slightly, wondering you misstepped for real this time.
He assured you though, that it wasn't your fault. He had come to terms with his injury and didn't really want to bother Ratchet or Red Alert with having it repaired when there were others who needed replacement parts like that more than he did. Though to be honest, you weren't sure that he would have accepted such a transplant even if he were offered. Some people disabled by injury just preferred to learn to adjust to it rather than accept treatment, and while you didn't fully understand that mindset, you didn't really have an issue with it.
"Are you feeling confident about this plan?" You asked.
"*Hell no I ain't scared.*" He said.
"Is that a yes?"
"*You bet!*" You kind of wished he'd stick with the droid speak at times, the clip splicing made it a bit distracting to determine who was speaking as his voice kept on changing with every clip he pulled. Still, it got the point across so you supposed that you couldn't fault it too much as long as it worked.
"+Bee, Arne, we're getting close to the facility. Are you guys ready?+" Strongarm said as her vehicle form followed close behind Bumblebee's, racing down the roadways whenever the traffic would permit Bumblebee to accelerate a bit more. You almost felt like this was likely to get more attention than was really necessary, but it seemed that most people saw how nice Bumblebee's current vehicle mode looked and decided it wasn't their problem. People were really weird sometimes.
Bumblebee chirped and whirred a bit, his speech rapid and information-dense as he went over what he wanted to do. He wanted to scout out the area as best as he could before allowing the others to go forward. As the Scout, it was his job to head in first and pull out only once his mission had been accomplished and everyone would be able to head into the combat zone armed with the optimal information. And even then, depending on the mission, such as one like this; it might still need his direct involvement even after reconnaissance had ended. He'd check over every detail he could and then from there, the group would be able to descend on the weaknesses and critical points he had found.
"Aren't we meant to be the distraction though? All we need to do is find an entrance route for them, make some noise and head in." You said, shrugging as the buildings of the university loomed in your sight as Bumblebee drove ever closer to it. As you had expected, patrols were moving around, trying their best to not draw too much attention to themselves but clearly moving in rough sync. They had some degree of military style training you figured, but their armaments weren't designed to repel anyone of your caliber. Even entirely unarmoured you could take a place like this on without ever worrying about your safety. Though on the same token, it never paid to be reckless.
DC Check of 50
Roll of 46 on D100.
Arne's superhuman senses reduce DC down to 5, contextual bonuses not counted due to roll overkill already providing the best possible result.
You took a quick glance over at the procession and spotted something that might be of interest. A vulnerable point in their patrols through which Samus' group could easily slip on by. Funnily enough, it was the front entrance that they had largely neglected to patrol, believing nobody would be so brazen as to simply try and slip in through the front. At least, nobody who wasn't supposed to be there anyway. Their mistake. But for you and the autobots however, it would be better for you to find a different route to draw even further attention away.
It wasn't that hard for you to pick up on however, they were many things but they weren't particularly invested in trying to hide in a town they figured they essentially owned. The proverbial troops were gathered towards the cargo entrance where a truck was driving into a procession area for its cargo to be processed and handled by the personnel who were currently occupying the university. Just a bit out of sight for most people, but most had seemed to just learn to accept that this was their new life. Well, things were going to get loud shortly. Especially with the reconnaissance data that Bumblebee was gathering and sending to the other team so the two groups could build an entry plan. Though you'd need to get inside to actually decide how you were going to approach the fight for the interior.
It seemed that they had set up a teleportation network that would quickly move reinforcements to the area if they were engaged. And had already begun moving in fresh troops to reinforce their positions as if they were expecting a fight. If you had to guess, they had someone there who had some degree of clairvoyance or precognitive awareness who had told them to expect a much more serious fight than they had initially anticipated. You didn't think it would be enough, but you were now getting a bit worried for Samus' group.
"+Samus, they're bringing in a lot of extra soldiers. I think they're expecting us to be arriving soon.+" You said over a private communications link. You took another look and saw that what were rather clearly armed attack helicopters making use of some kind of holographic disguise to merely appear like civilian aircraft making the rounds, sweeping ominously overhead as they tried to search for what might be causing their seers so much worry. New soldiers also caught your eye, stepping out of the building to man the barricades set up around the university and discourage any interlopers from snooping around.
"+I know, I can see it too. Can you do something to make sure that as few of them are in our way as possible? I don't think most of my team mates can withstand the kind of firepower that they're going to be bringing.+" She said back. Of course, she already had the safety of others in mind, that was the most her thing to do. You couldn't blame her of course, your thoughts on the issue were more or less the same.
"+The front door's the least defended point. Just a conventional checkpoint there, if you want to go in quietly; that will be your best bet. Don't think you should bother with the disguises to get inside though.+" You said to Samus. Of course, you weren't super big on the idea of trying to sneak in at all, especially since it seemed like the soldiers had tightened up security. But if Samus thought it could reduce civilian losses it might be worth a shot.
"+Thanks. But Arne, try to make sure nobody who doesn't have to get hurt does.+" She said with a soft tone.
"+...I, yeah, I'll keep them out of harm's way. You take care with your team, alright?+" You said gently.
"+Thank you, Arne. See you soon.+"
"+See you.+" You said back.
"+So, how do you want to do this?+" Strongarm said before Bumblebee began to beep and whistle with his cunning but simple plan to make as much of a mess as possible.
...
"Halt! Sie benötigen eine Erlaubnis, um zu bestehen!" One of the guards shouted, a blue and white van approaching him at high speeds. The mask clad soldier's stahlhelm glimmered a bit in some of the city lights while the goggles on their mask gleamed with menace, hiding the face of the monster behind. But it didn't take mind reading to know that he was growing rapidly more alarmed as the van approached ever faster without any sign or hint of slowing down.
"Scheiße! Sie wird nicht langsamer! Ausweichen!" His companion shouted as the two bailed out of the checkbox they had set up to monitor incoming traffic before the gleaming white beams of light from Strongarm's headlights started to narrow as she approached at a velocity that should have been unattainable by a car of her make. Engines seeming to roar and the rubber-like substances of her tires gripping the road fiercely before she ramped a bit up an incline and smashed into the checkbox, bouncing just a little once she made contact with the ground again and drove ahead.
"Eröffne das Feuer, du Idioten! Töte das verdammte Auto!" The bark of ETC assault rifle rounds drowned out the frantic commands in German, bullets bouncing off of the chassis of Strongarm before she opened up some speakers on either side of her vehicle and released an ear-piercing shriek in either direction. A horrific assault on the ears that most humans couldn't withstand for all too long without shutting down. Weapons fire stopped and heads were clutched by screaming and groaning men who fell to the ground one by one, but some had enough sense to fire up their helmet's mufflers and cancel out any further noise before heavier weapons fire started raining down on Strongarm.
A heavy machine gun clearly not of NATO make, seeming to have been more something that would have been produced by the Third Reich had it endured past its historical death date than anything NATO would have considered using, started to tear at the pavement with what your visor helpfully noted were depleted Uranium slugs. Someone clearly went hard for the equipment these clowns were making use of, but as Bumblebee ramped over a truck's trailer and slammed into the ground, his vehicle mode unfurling his stinger in the form of a top mounted turret to let loose a stream of nonlethal electricity, you couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for them with how outgunned they were.
"Sie sind keine normalen Autos, hol die Panzerfausts!" No sooner was that order given than a barrage of anti-tank rockets was sent forth by some of the soldiers popping out of cover while others fell to the ground sparking with electricity and gurgling as they twitched with pain. Bumblebee swerved around two and took one head on without a scratch, his shielding glimmering briefly until he transformed and ejected you out of the passenger's seat, your blizzard subweapon venting a stream of anti-energy over some of the Gesellschaft troopers popping out to toss grenades in your direction. The blue-white gout of frostflame encasing all caught within it in a delightful sheathe of ice.
Strongarm transformed shortly after, her subsonic repeater thrumming with one shot with every oscillation of the weapon's internal mechanisms, Bumblebee's shoulder pods opening up to reveal a series of missiles that went flying out to seek their targets. Whatever hope the people of Munich had for a quiet day was definitively shattered as they were met with the "pom-pom-pom" of an autocannon going off, your hand catching one of the shells as it moved towards you in slow motion to let you take a better look at it.
55mm recoilless round. Quite decently heavy artillery for a paramilitary group, definitely not any type of ammunition that should be made in this era either. Another look confirms an earlier suspicion you had; Rheinmetall-Borsig make. Supposedly produced in Strassburg which also made little sense.
"Must be from a different timeline then." You said, already forming a theory in your head. The supplies of the Gesellschaft had to be from a nightmarish timeline where Nazi Germany was triumphant to a far greater degree than it historically was, and against all odds; lasted long enough to develop technology that would be considered useful in the early 21st century. But there was something else also interesting, the materials used to make the shell were not found at all on this planet. The atomic structure in fact was something that shouldn't quite be able to form in this universe under normal conditions. Not with a nucleus layout like that. That likely meant a reality with somewhat divergent laws of physics, which largely eliminated most possible branching timelines.
Hrm, you'd need to think about this later, right now you were being accosted by snipers. Not able to harm you, but the fact that they had snipers posted here at all told you that they considered the security of this operation to be deadly serious.
They were fighting quite well, with coordinated calls to action going across their lines as they set up their defensive positions or moved into preplanned avenues of counter-attack. Automated turrets popped out of deployable hatches and roared out with the buzzsaw ripping sound of rotary guns sending large amounts of lead downrange, the ETC flash of
The red lance of energy that spat forth from a wall that exploded outwards with the clanking form of a five meter tall robot however, certainly was rather more concerning. Especially when it was followed by the thunderous sounds of a large number of other machines that had been shunted into the area via teleportation to respond to the threat that was now facing them. Ah, well at least you got their attention.
Analysis of the Wachroboter's construction confirms its extraversal origins. Manufacture and datalogs suggests that this particular machine was assembled in "Reichskomissariat Neu-Deutschland" in what was once Detroit, currently renamed "Kruppstadt" to service the needs of the so-called "Reich-Earth" in its continual wars of expansion with other dimensions to satiate the Third Reich's unending need for more resources and fresh conquests to smooth over internal political difficulties. Analysis of datalogs suggests that this unit is on loan to the Gesellschaft to serve in a capacity that the unit is not privy to beyond that it is to follow the orders of local commanders. Likelihood of transdimensional invasion is very high. Wachroboters are armed with high energy particle cannons and a laser cutter and fitted with high strength reinforcement fields to augment their hyperalloy construction for greater durability. In close-quarters combat they make use of ultra-intensity hydraulic systems to rapidly exert enormous amounts of force. Target the central optic for the most efficient results.
Quick Stats (Relative to Samus and Arne):
Durability: Low (Shielded, Armoured)
Strength: Low
Firepower: Low
Speed: Slow
Combat Skill: Low
Type of Combatant: Ranged firepower
Samus' Notes: An entire timeline...won't be for much longer. Not if this is what they're going to use to fight.
Arne's Notes: Large, bulky, inefficient and unsubtle. I see some things don't change. Good.
Mechanical caniform combatant devised by KUKA Aktiengesellschaft as per the orders of the Wehrmacht Roboter-Kampfkorps to scout out areas with known resistance organisations or infiltrate into cramped conditions and outflank enemies. The Panzerhund makes use of high-intensity flamethrowers augmented by systems designed by superengineers to enhance temperature, spray reach, and fuel efficiency to allow for burns at temperatures high enough to rapidly melt steel. Panzerhunde are most vulnerable to attack against the head, though damage to their fuel tanks will usually prove sufficient in lowering their offensive capabilities. Panzerhunde are incapable of engaging foes at long range, and as such preventing them from closing into melee will suffice in avoiding unnecessary risk. Keeping them away from more fragile team members is highly recommended.
Quick Stats (Relative to Samus and Arne):
Durability: Weak (Shielded, Armoured)
Strength: Weak
Firepower: Weak
Speed: Low
Combat Skill: Low
Type of Combatant: High Speed Melee fighter
Samus' Notes: Many team members aren't going to be able to withstand heat like this. If any of them get close to them, I'll need to jump in. With my current equipment, withstanding the heat shouldn't be an issue.
Arne's Notes: Like poorly built copies of Geri and Freki, dangerous to less durable allies but I should be alright. Seems almost insulting to pattern them off of an animal as nice as a dog though.
Stahlwalküre were originally designed by the Fascist Scientist by the alias of Vandal during the second world war on both the "Primal Earth" timeline that Nightcaster and Eudaimonica hail from and both the "Reich-Earth" timeline that appears to be supplying this operation. These models of the concept of a fast-moving, missile-equipped drone are of course, a great improvement on their counterparts from the 20th century and are capable of high-speed manoeuvres and carry a versatile load-out of missiles for usage against most conceivable types of opponents. However, they are vulnerable to virtually all of your weapons and lack the ability to move quickly enough to evade your seeking weapons. They will, however, come in very large numbers with reinforcements frequently being teleported in as soon as they are manufactured to augment existing forces; viewed as utterly expendable.
Quick Stats (Relative to Samus and Arne):
Durability: Dismal
Strength: Very Weak
Firepower: Very Weak
Speed: Acceptable (Flight capable)
Combat Skill: Dismal (Negligible melee capability)
Type of Combatant: High Speed Aerial Ranged Attacker
"Feinde entdeckt: beseitigen!" Boomed a deep metallic voice, full of completely unguised killing intent as the lead machine approached the three of you. Here we go.
Samus
The car dropped you off at an apartment a reasonably short distance away from the university where you saw that the patrols had been intensified just as Arne reported. The Front entrance was the least guarded of course, simply checkpoints as the Gesellschaft clearly regarded the idea that anyone would just go in through the most obvious route as ridiculous. But they also seemed to keep the rooftops a bit less defended than the rest. There were some people watching the skies of course, but it seemed that most of them expected enemies trying to sneak around through less obvious routes.
"Huh, no use trying to sneak in now. We should wait for some of the patrols to be redirected to Arne's group, then slip in. Easy, keeps us out of trouble." Assault said, sighing as he drew a hand over his face and sighed.
"Nyet, that would take too much time. We should just suit up, rush in, take out the guards from the distance and then storm into the main room. Then we will have a beachhead. We could explore further from there I think." Molotok said, drawing her index finger and thumb over her slender chin.
"From above might be better if you want to go so quickly. Just have Samus crash through the windows, then we follow. Little time to respond, we might get spotted but I think it won't matter." Serp said.
"And expose yourself to all the guns here? No dice. We should just force open a hole in the barricade and cut our way through from there, straighter path, less likely to have guards in places they don't expect people to use as entryways." Battery contested.
Hrm, seems like you'd have to be the tie-breaker here.
Situation:
Arne's group is facing a group of Sixteen Wachroboter, Twenty one Panzerhunde, and eighty-four Stahlwalküre split into three groups each. At least nine platoons of Gesellschaft Soldaten are moving to confront Arne's trio.
This is a medium intensity encounter, with VERY LOW injury risk but HIGH RISK of further reinforcements arriving and GREAT risk of collateral damage.
The objective is to advance deeper into the university while ensuring no or minimal civilian casualties and ensure that Samus' group encounters as little difficulty with enemies capable of posing a HIGH INJURY RISK to its more fragile members.
The enemy is SURPRISED and will take SIGNIFICANT penalties to organising a response.
You are EXPECTING this encounter and thus gain bonuses to combat rolls for the initial two rounds of engagement.
ROBOTIC COMBATANTS are advancing head-on and do not gain flanking bonuses, Soldaten are moving into cover, assuming high ground, and are attempting to both vertically and horizontally flank.
Gesellschaft Parahuman reinforcements are en route and will arrive the next round.
Wehrmacht combat aircraft have been notified and will divert from patrols to provide air support.
The Bundeswehr is unwilling to engage Gesellschaft, 5th Column, and Reich-Earth forces due to numerical disparity.
The Police are CONFUSED and will not respond.
Samus' objective is to uncover the plans of the Nazis at the university while minimising loss of civilian life and to prevent as much of the enemy from escaping with valuable research information as possible. Uncovering secondary Gesellschaft priorities will increase the rewards given.
There are multiple avenues of entry for Samus' group. One is from above, going through a window or a rooftop. This will give the enemy the least time to respond but is also the most visible route. The other is simply kicking in the front door, which will cause the most alarm but will neutralise the largest number of enemies in the initial attack. The next is barging through the barricade, circumventing the most enemies and giving the shortest route to the objective but carries a higher risk of collateral damage as the enemy will likely respond with heavier munitions in areas less likely to be cleared of civilians. The last is just waiting for the enemy to reroute patrols to deal with the chaos Arne is causing. This will take the most time, but carries the least risk to the civilian populace.
Enemy patrols are moving to the opposite end of the university from Samus, resulting in their defences being at under half strength due to assuming that Arne is the primary threat. Primary opposition will be Infantry, Lighter robots, Light Parahuman/Metahuman response teams, and minimal vehicular support.
The Civilian populace in the area is 75% evacuated. The Student body and faculty is 90% expelled, but some might be still on the premise to assist the Gesellschaft with finding what they desire.
Local parahumans are focused on EVACUATION and are UNLIKELY to interfere.
No major known parahumans seem to be involved.
Actions:
Arne:
[]: Go for a highly aggressive approach, draw as much attention to yourself as possible to minimise risk of collateral damage. More likely to take hits and be pressed into melee, but will also give Bumblebee and Strongarm the most freedom of action. Given that you are small however, you will need to take more aggressive action to read as a higher priority threat than the autobots than you would with the humans. You will also need to trust the autobots to deal with stragglers.
[]: Hang back and Support: Let Bumblebee and Strongarm draw the most attention due to their greater size and seemingly threatening nature. This keeps you safe and allows you to move around to eliminate smaller enemies that the two autobots might have issues with, and allows you to eliminate threats at your leisure and also puts you in a position to deal with reinforcements directly. However the Gesellschaft will use heavier munitions on the autobots, increasing risk of collateral damage. The Autobots also suffer from size based manoeuvre penalties and so the engagement will mostly happen in larger spaces.
[]: Balanced approach: Do not favour any particular subset of the team in who draws the most aggression. While not quite having the drawbacks of either, it also lacks the particular strengths of either approach. It will generally require the three of you to move as a group and thus packs the advantage of maximising firepower against enemies, but also minimises your ability to cover a larger area.
[]: Mixed approach: This will require military skill rolls to ensure that the three of you can properly coordinate, with a SIGNIFICANT penalty due to the lack of any existing relationship between you and the two autobots. If successful however, it will allow you to swap between the three approaches as the situation calls for, but if failed you will be locked into one of the prior approaches with a SIGNIFICANT penalty to further military checks for two rounds due to poor coordination.
Target priority (Rank from highest to lowest);
[]: Panzerhunde first: Deals with the enemies most likely to start widespread fires and most able to slip by unnoticed into more populated areas as well as the principal melee threat.
[]: Wachroboter First: Deals with the enemies with the largest amount of firepower and durability first as well as the primary ranged threat.
[]: Stahlwalküre first: Deals with the enemies most able to manoeuvre around the battlefield and attack other characters.
[]: Infantry first: Deals with the most numerous and versatile threat who are most able to control the field of engagement.
Samus:
[]: Assault's Plan
[]: Battery's Plan
[]: Molotok's Plan
[]: Serp's Plan
[]: Write in plan
