Shoot First (Worm/Games)

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Work hard, do your best – 10 Votes
Drop out. It's too much to do everything at once - 9 Votes

You spend every spare hour - of which, you discover, there are 24 – of the next few weeks training. You spar with Armsmaster. You drill tactics and gun skills with Miss Militia, who, much like you, no longer needs sleep. You work on your team skills with Velocity, Assault and Battery. You discuss improving powers with Dauntless, and he gives you some helpful tips.

You find that there's only one member of the Protectorate you can really talk to, though. Triumph. He's your age, and, although he's got kind of a shitty superpower, he's a fairly nice guy.

He's also the mayor's son, and doesn't understand how the whole 'poor' thing works. Your buddies at university did, but you don't have the chance to talk to them.

You have to drop out of university to keep up your training. It's a really tough situation, but you had to make the call. You couldn't train and be good enough to make up for your mistakes with that distraction.

You can go back once your head's on straight again, and once you have more of a grip on your power. You hope. You're worried that will never happen.

All that training does pay off – you gain seven levels, enough to put you to ten total.

You don't know what that really means, beyond an improvement to your mana pool, which you can see as a bar on the bottom left of your vision.

Finally, however, it's time for you to go on your first patrol. It's the start of March, and you're raring to make your first appearance. There'll be a press conference to introduce you, and then you're immediately going to hit the streets.

They're sending you out with two other heroes, and you get to decide which area to patrol.

You also have a selection of new abilities to pick up.

How do you handle the press conference?

[ ] Quietly
[ ] Confidently
[ ] Inspirationally
[ ] Write In (One word)

Which heroes do they send with you? Pick Two.

[ ] Armsmaster
[ ] Miss Militia
[ ] Velocity
[ ] Assault
[ ] Battery
[ ] Dauntless
[ ] Triumph

Which gang's district do you patrol?

[ ] Empire Eighty-Eight
[ ] Azn Bad Boys
[ ] The Merchants
[ ] Coil's Mercenaries


You get a perk for hitting level 5!

[ ] Stretch Like Armstrong: Increase your melee reach by a further 5 feet!
[ ] Regular Feeding: The Bio-Mechanical Thing recharges 50% faster!
[ ] You Should Be More Surprising: Mana regeneration increases by 5%!

You get a talent for hitting level 10!

[ ] Horrifying Hands: Further increased melee accuracy
[ ] Shock and Awe: Your electrical attacks have an increased chance to stun enemies.
[ ] Double-Tap: Your close-range firearm accuracy is increased.

Your skill Electrosmith increases by 1 rank for reaching level 10!

You get a skill for hitting level 10!

[ ] Bio-Mechanist: Gain the skill Bio-Mechanist, allowing you to improve your bio-mechanical Thing.
[ ] Explosives: Gain the skill Explosives, allowing you to improve your explosives.
[ ] Sorcerer: Gain the skill Sorcerer, allowing you to improve your spells.

 

[Kadmus]

AN: Check out Dakka's character sheet. It's been updated!

Spoiler

Confidently – 7 Votes
Miss Militia – 10 Votes
Triumph – 7 Votes
The Merchants – 7 Votes
Stretch Like Armstrong – 12 Votes
Shock And Awe – 10 Votes
Sorcerer – 7 Votes

---

The press conference is intimidating. There are a good hundred people in the conference room, crowding around with cameras and microphones, eager to get a sight of the newest Protectorate member.

You're stood on the stage with Armsmaster, who you're fairly certain is scowling under his helmet, likely because this is time he could be spending Tinkering, and Director Piggot.

She's not spoken to you yet. Ever. She's nominally your boss, but from the way the others have talked about her, the longer you spend without having to talk to her, the better off you are. You doubt she's really that bad, because everyone hates their boss.

You have centre stage, though. You're stood in front of a podium, with your speech spread out in front of you, and you're dressed up in your crisp new costume. It's comfy and easy to put on, and it's not skin-tight or revealing, so you consider it a win.

You lean forwards, resting both hands on the podium, and speak into the mics in front of you.

"Good evening, everyone."

The crowd falls silent, desperate for you to fuck up.

"I am greatly honoured to be here tonight. I'm new to my powers, but I've always wanted to make a difference. To make the world a better place. Now, I'm in a position to do just that. As a member of the Protectorate, I'm here to protect you. It's in the name; some people ignore that."

You straighten up a little, leaning further forwards.

"I'm here to fight for you. I'm here to put my body on the line so that the good people of our city don't have to fear for theirs. I'm here because it's the right thing to do."

You're standing at your full height now, getting into it. The PR guys are good.

"I stand here before you tonight, fully prepared to die for you. I want you all to sleep sounder, because you know that the good men and women of the Protectorate and the PRT all feel like that. We're all here to make the sacrifices needed, so that you don't. So you can go home tonight and be with your loved ones. So you can take your children to school, without fear. So you can live your lives, free of worry."

You manifest your shockgun, the barrel pointed at the floor, and straighten up.

"Know this; I will not rest until you are all safe."

You give them a crisp salute – one that you've spent a good twenty-four hours practising in front of a mirror – and march off the stage.

The crowd erupts into noise; questions, cheers, clapping – it runs the gamut.

But you have somewhere else to be tonight.

XxXxX

The night air is old and crisp as you, Miss Militia, and Triumph leave the PRT building. You're in the lead; not because you're in charge, but because you're the one who can get shot without dying.

"So, Dakka," Triumph says. "Merchants turf first."

You nod, and manifest your shockgun. It's big, impressive, and as non-lethal as you can get without being your shock-gloves. Miss Militia, meanwhile, is switching weapons every five to ten seconds.

You think she might be showing off a little. You certainly don't have her versatility.

The walk through the night streets is quite relaxing, actually. You aren't in any hurry to get there, and most of the people you pass run up and ask for photos with the three of you. It's nice, in some ways, that they feel safe enough around you all to do that.

In other ways, it's a pain in the ass. What should be an hour's walk, followed by a couple of hours just being seen on the streets, is turned into a solid two hours of stop-starting as you are halted every few minutes.

Nevertheless, you grin and bear it. Miss Militia and Triumph seem distinctly entertained, too, and glad that they're out of the spotlight for a little while.

Of course, the fun can't last forever, and you eventually pass out of the well-lit and populous areas of the city into the dingy, run-down area that's Merchant territory. It's also where your apartment is.

The patrol goes well, for a few minutes. The prostitutes wave half-heartedly at all of you, barely moving from their positions leaning up against walls. The drug dealers retreat down alleyways, cutting short any sales they're making.

And then, of course, you hear the sounds.

The sounds of fighting; gunfire, explosions, what sounds like energy blasts, and something that you could swear was a train whistle.

What do you do?

[ ] Call it in, let the PRT and police deal with it.
[ ] Call it in, get Protectorate backup
[ ] Call it in, then go check it out
+[ ] Stealthily
+[ ] Obviously

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Call it in, then go check it out – 14 Votes
- Obviously – 10 Votes
- While our patrol partners are stealthy – 8 Votes

You fall back on your training. Call in all altercations.

"Console, we have a full-blown war over here."

"Copy, Dakka. Proceed as seems necessary, PRT vans are en-route."

You nod to your teammates, and they give you reassuring looks.

"Can you two go around the sides, try and get a good angle on it? I'll walk up and make myself an obvious target."

Miss Militia nods. "Give me a few minutes and I can get onto a roof. I'll comm you when I'm in position."

"I'll cover the other side." Triumph's grin is visible under his lion helmet.

You aren't certain just how stealthy a guy whose power is 'shout so hard things explode' will be, but it's certainly going to be better than your ninja skills. That is, higher than zero.

Your two colleagues depart, splitting off into dark alleyways. You feel kind of dumb, just waiting in the street while they get into position, but soon enough your comms crackle again.

"In position. Haven't got eyes on it yet, I don't want to risk being seen, but I can hear Skidmark from here."

"Same. I think they're against the ABB, I can hear Cantonese."

You sidle up to the corner and peek around, just to get a good look.

It's utter chaos in there, with the Merchants in the middle of the street, firing up at the abandoned buildings around them. You can see Skidmark, using some sort of field effect to fire bricks and glass at the buildings. You also see someone in a ramshackle mech suit, a forest of massive pipes along their back pumping steam and hot air into the night sky. You assume this is Trainwreck, a cape whose power is either 'crude Tinker' or 'really weirdly specific telekinesis'. Possibly both.

Several of the non-powered Merchants are down, bleeding and writhing or still. Someone – presumably the mech-suit guy – has smashed up the street enough that they have cover now. Gunfire is raining down on them from the buildings around.

Then someone throws a grenade, and it erupts into a pillar of ice. It fell short of the Merchants, thanks to some quick action from Skidmark, but it sends chills down your spine.

Well, time to go.

You turn the corner and stride down the road, shockgun in hand. You come to a stop just by an alleyway, so you can run if you need to.

"HEY!" You bellow, and everything stops. All the fighters turn to look at you, surprise written on their faces. "Stop this shit."

You're pretty sure you hear Miss Militia facepalm.

"Surrender and this will go easy for you."

Their response is pretty obvious, in retrospect.

How do you handle it?

[ ] Focus your efforts on the capes, Miss Militia and Triumph can take the mooks.
- [ ] Lethally
- [ ] Non-Lethally
[ ] Focus your efforts on the mooks, Miss Militia and Triumph can take the capes.
- [ ] Lethally
- [ ] Non-Lethally
[ ] Get into that building and find whoever threw that grenade. They need to be handled ASAP.
- [ ] Lethally
- [ ] Non-Lethally
[ ] Run like fuck, this is a lot of bad ideas.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Get into that building and find whoever threw that grenade. They need to be handled ASAP. - 11 Votes
- Non-lethally – 15 Votes

You sprint to the side as the villains open up on you, zigging and zagging as you move forwards.

"Miss Militia, Triumph, handle the Merchants! I'll deal with whoever's in the building!"

"Roger."

Triumph's response is to step out from the alley he's been hiding in and let out an earth-shaking bellow, knocking a number of the Merchant mooks over with a visible shockwave of force.

Above you, Miss Militia starts to fire, the hollow-throated cough of a grenade launcher filling the silence left in the wake of Triumph's shout. You hear the fizzing hiss of containment foam, and then you're past the Merchants, diving through the window into the building the grenade came from.

The room is small and has two ABB gangsters in it, one with a pistol, the other with a shotgun.

You switch to your electro-shock gloves as you come to your feet, and seize the nearest ABB gangster by the wrist from a good eight feet away. She convulses, once, and drops to the floor, slipping through your invisible fingers.

Non-Lethal Takedown! 2XP!
Melee Takedown! 1XP!

You take advantage of the other gangster's surprise to close with him, and your invisible hands grab his face. He drops, the shotgun clattering to the floor as he falls limp.

Non-Lethal Takedown! 2XP!
Melee Takedown! 1XP!

You can see the others in the building on your minimap. It's not too crowded; there's only six more people in here, that you can see. You can also see the progress of your team outside.

Miss Militia is still on the rooftop across the street, and every time she moves another of the Merchants markers goes grey. Triumph seems to be fighting Trainwreck, and you can hear the bellows and screaming metal as they trade attacks.

You stand next to the wall directly opposite the nearest ABB icon, in the room next to you, and reach forwards. It feels weird, like an extra set of limbs stretching out of the palms of your hands, but you manage to lay your ghostly palms on the person on the other side of the wall, and they're down before they know what's happening.

Non-Lethal Takedown! 2XP!
Melee Takedown! 1XP!

There are still two people in that room, though, so you switch to the Thing, and flick it to the knockout setting. You can hear the little glass spheres rattle as their wings start to vibrate.

You kick open the door to the next room and stride through, Thing held in front of you in a confident, steady grip. You use both hands, because Miss Militia beat that into you right at the start.

You pull the trigger as the first gangster comes into sight, then again as you sweep right to bring the other into your view. Another squeeze of the trigger, and another little glass globe flies through the air.

They impact at almost the exact same time, the clear, oily liquid inside splashing onto the exposed skin of the gangsters' arms, and they both sway on their feet for a few moments. One manages to half-lift his gun, but after five seconds, they fall unconscious.

Non-Lethal Takedown x 2! 4XP!
Double-Tap! 1XP!
Sandman Bonus! 1XP!

The last three are up the stairs, although two are rapidly approaching you. You come round the corner with your shockgun in hand, pointed up the stairs, and wait, watching the little arrows on your map.

They move in what you recognise as a professional manner; cover and clear, cover and clear, as they quickly get to the stairs. It's a straight shot up, and they do the sensible thing for anyone with urban combat experience.

They roll a pair of grenades down the stairs at you.

"Fuck."

You sprint in the opposite direction, making it around the corner just in time to avoid the worst of the explosion. You're lifted off your feet by the force, and then the explosion reverses, and you're sucked around the corner by the miniature black hole that's formed at the bottom of the stairs.

It only lasts for a handful of seconds, though. Long enough to mangle your leg as you're dragged halfway into it, but that won't kill you. The second explosion, as the gravity effect destabilises, throws you into the wall, but you slide down to the floorboards with a grin on your face.

This counts as cover, and you're already healed by the time the two icons at the top of the stairs start moving again. You wait until they're committed, halfway down the stairs, then you point your shockgun and pull the trigger.

Non-Lethal Takedown x 2! 4XP!
Double-Tap! 1XP!

Two well-armed men slide the rest of the way down the stairs, twitching slightly. They're much better equipped than the gangsters you took down before; each of them is wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet, and armed with an assault rifle and grenades.

You step over their unconscious forms.

Shockgun ammo acquired!
TTBG ammo acquired!

Ignoring the alerts that have popped up in your field of view, you walk steadily up the stairs, shockgun at the ready. The last red icon hasn't moved much in the whole time you've been in here; it occasionally moves up to a window and back again, but other than that, nothing.

You burst into the room they're in with your gun raised, and just have time to swear as you realise you've tripped another explosive, this one attached to the door. It's not anything fancy, just a more-powerful claymore, so far as you can tell, but it hurls you out of the room again.

You shake your head to clear it, and push yourself to your feet again.

The last red dot seems to be a woman in a gas mask, holding a grenade launcher.

Which she has pointed at you.

"You seem pretty tough." Her voice is flat and mechanical, routed through a synthesizer of some sort. "Excellent. I needed a new test subject."

What do you do?

[ ] Bakuda needs a little electro-shock therapy. Non-Lethal Combat.
[ ] Man, fuck TTBGs, especially ones pointed at you. Run Away!
[ ] You heard what this psycho did to Cornell, no-one will miss her. Lethal Combat.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Bakuda needs a little electro-shock therapy. Non-Lethal Combat. - 12 Votes

You ready your shockgun-

BOSS ENGAGED

'MAD BOMBER' BAKUDA

ARENA FORMING

-and what the fuck.

The entire top floor of the building – the one you're currently on, that is – starts to warp and change around you. The walls creak and groan and shoot away from you, dragging the floorboards with them, and the small, two-room storey seems to have suddenly grown to at least a hundred feet to a side, with the clattering of falling wood.

The expansion isn't perfect, far from it – you can see huge chunks of missing floor, and the empty blackness that's beneath it. The walls are likewise not continuous, and the complete lack of anything you can see through the gaping holes is terrifying.

Bakuda looks just as shocked as you feel, staggering slightly as the floor under her shifts awkwardly, dragging her away from you. Finally, the floorboards buckle upwards explosively in a few dozen places, raising low, splintery walls at random intervals around the now-massive empty room.

Holy shit.

ARENA PREPARED. GOOD LUCK.

Bakuda throws her head back and emits a staccato buzzing sound, her shoulders heaving. You realise she's laughing.

"This is excellent, test subject!" She raises her grenade launcher and fires, and you scurry to the side and roll into cover as it detonates.

This one throws glass razorblades out in a swirling tornado, and you're glad you're behind the wooden barrier, because you can hear them hitting it like a high-speed chainsaw.

You fire blind over the barrier, aiming your lighting at Bakuda's icon, even though you know she's too far away to hit at the moment. She jerks back anyway, and dives for cover herself.

At least the lightning dealt with the glass-storm.

You switch to the Thing, and move. You keep low and fast, circling around so that you have a better angle on Bakuda, and hope she doesn't know where you've gone. You have to jump over one of the bottomless pits, and you very carefully don't look down.

The grenade that explodes into golden streamers that eat holes in whatever they touch confirms that she doesn't see you; it's fired at your previous hiding place.

You pop up and empty the Thing's payload of knock-out rounds at her, ducking back before you see if they hit or not.

"Fucking asshole!"

Yeah, they hit.

"Think you're clever?"

You kind of do, really. But you're sharply aware that she should be down by now, so she's probably wearing something that blocked the anaesthetic. You keep moving, switching to your electro-shock gloves. You're pretty sure you can actually go straight through armour with these, combined with your ranged touch ability.

Another grenade lands just in front of you, and you feel everything slow down as you desperately backpedal. Your right arm and leg are trapped in the time-stop bubble, but you heave, and you slide free. You can feel the agonising pain spread across your body at that, though, and you know that if you didn't have your weird bullshit powers, you'd have just lost those limbs.

You collapse behind one of the barriers while you wait to recover, and you can see Bakuda's icon move towards you. There's a triple-cough, and you make a split-second decision.

You vault the barrier and run towards her. She's out in the open, standing arrogantly in the middle of the room with her grenade launcher raised, and you close the distance quickly, propelled by the explosions behind you. They even help lift you over another terrifying hole to nowhere.

Your shockgun fires repeatedly as you approach her, then fades away as you get into close range, swapped out for the electro-shock gloves. Your gunfire didn't seem to phase her, so you figure she's insulated somehow.

But you're too close for her to fire that lethal grenade launcher, and now she's in trouble. She smashes you in the face with the stock of the weapon, but you ignore the pain and jab forwards, your electro-shock gloves crackling with energy.

You feel your ghostly hands clasp around her face and arm, and she lets out a buzzing whine before she stomp-kicks you in the knee and stumbles backwards.

You keep close, making sure she doesn't get enough space to fire again, and keep grasping at her, your invisible extra reach letting you put your electro-shock gloves directly against her skin, under her armour and costume.

She won't last much longer; she may be a cape, but she's a Tinker, and still essentially a baseline human with regards to toughness. The problem is, she knows that too, and her finger closes on the trigger of her launcher, pointed right at you.

What do you do?

[ ] You can take the hit, but it's going to suck. Power through and make sure to capture her, even if it means she might get hurt in her own explosion.
[ ] Dodge that shit as much as you can, but you'll still take some damage. You may have to step back a little, but you can still catch her, although there's a risk of her escaping.
[ ] Let her go and avoid it completely.

AND

The first person to post each option, give me a d10 roll for that option (Use the forum dice roller). This will inform how well the option goes; high is good, low is bad. 1s will suck.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Dodge that shit as much as you can - 12 Votes
Roll: 7, above average!

You make a split-second decision and let go of her to jerk your head backwards, your now-free hands going up to bat the grenade aside as you throw yourself in the opposite direction.

It goes off ten feet from you, and you feel the hungry tendrils of the bizarre explosion snare your legs and abdomen, cleaving right through without stopping. It hurts like fuck, but you can deal. It didn't kill you outright, and you get better from everything else.

Even better, Bakuda's uninjured from the blast and has her back to you as she tries to run out of the... well, the 'Boss Arena', you suppose. You push yourself to your feet, your already-whole legs coming up underneath you, and sprint after her.

You tackle her with a flying leap, wrapping your arms around her upper body and pinning her arms down to her sides. Your electro-shock gloves fire, clamped to the skin of her sides, and she convulses for a long few moments, pinned under your weight, until she goes still and you get the alert.

BOSS DEFEATED!
NON-LETHAL TAKEDOWN! DOUBLE XP!
NON-LETHAL TAKEDOWN! SPECIAL ITEM ACQUIRED!
20XP!
Bakuda's Bomb Manual Acquired!
Level Up!

You untangle yourself from the unconscious Tinker and take all of her weapons, then cuff her arms behind her back with the special anti-Tinker handcuffs you have. They're basically bags of containment foam that you shove the cape's hands into, so they can't move them to Tinker with.

They are, though you wince at the pun, very handy.

Her grenade launcher and various TTBGs are stored in your inventory easily enough, and you sling her over your shoulder with a grunt of effort. She's not massively heavy, and you're pretty damn strong now.

The room has, while you've been busy tying up your captive, returned itself to its original state, although there's some grenade damage to it. And by 'some' you mean half of it is gone.

The sounds of fighting outside seem to be dying down. You check your map, and see that the Merchants' icons are fleeing.

What do you do now?

[ ] You've captured a dangerous cape and six ABB gangsters. That's a good haul, and you need to get them locked away.
[ ] Let's go for broke. Try and run down some more gangsters, really clean up around here.
[ ] Write in.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Call Miss Militia – 10 Votes

You, very sensibly, open up comms with your team

"I've captured Bakuda, how are you guys doing?"

"We've chased off the rest. Skidmark got away, but we got Trainwreck. Bring her down."

You nod, even though no-one can see you, and make your way down the wrecked stairs. You open the front door and walk out into the street, Bakuda still slung over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Good job, Dakka, Triumph." Miss Militia's eyes are crinkled, like she's smiling beneath that flag. "Two villains in one night. It's a good catch."

Triumph nods. "Thanks. But you were instrumental too, Miss Militia."

She shrugs. "Either way, that's two dangerous parahuman criminals off the street, and..."

"Six on my end," you pipe up.

"Twenty three gangsters for the BBPD."

Holy fuck, that's got to be a fair chunk out of both gangs' manpower pool.

You deposit Bakuda next to the unconscious form of Trainwreck, and start to haul the unconscious ABB gangsters out of the house, cuffing them as you go. It doesn't take long before the three of you have a nice big line of captured gangsters lying in the street. The PRT and BBPD arrive not too much later, and after that it's all over save the paperwork.

The paperwork which takes the rest of the night, and a good chunk of the morning, to fill in. Man, capturing capes is an absolute red tape nightmare. It's a good job you don't need to sleep; Triumph is looking dead on his feet by the time you're done, while you and Miss Militia are as fresh as ever.

Well, you need a shower, no doubt, but otherwise you're ready to just go out and fight some more crime. Your damage immunity and redistribution ability doesn't extend to grime, it seems. Which sucks, but on the plus side, the showers here are really nice.

You have the rest of the day to yourself. What do you want to do with it?

[ ] Hang around the Protectorate base and chat with the other heroes.
[ ] Hang around the PRT base and chat with the guys there, maybe see what the Wards are up to.
[ ] Lose the costume and hit the town. Do some shopping, maybe hit up some friends from university, if they'll still talk to you.
[ ] Write in.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Check the loot from Bakuda – 9 Votes
Hang around the PRT base – 8 Votes

You remember the alert you got after beating Bakuda – something about a bomb manual?

A thought summons the book in question into your hands. It's a slim thing, almost more of a pamphlet than a book, and the cover is just a big, cartoon explosion. You open it up, and see a bunch of technical diagrams and chemical formulae. Which you sort of understand, oddly.

Do you want to identify one kind of TTBG?

Fuck yes you do. The book dissolves in your fingers, and the knowledge of how to pick out a single type of TTBG fills your head. They aren't recognisable from outside, but there are ways to tell, and you know that you can decide if you'll get that specific type of grenade or a random one.

Handy.

After that, you stroll out into the cafeteria to grab some coffee and food. You're dressed in your 'cover' uniform – that of a PRT desk-jockey – so you can eat and drink without worrying about needing to conceal your face. Your costume doesn't let you do any of that.

You chat aimlessly with the other men and women at your table, mostly discussing how their jobs are going and what their plans for the weekend are.

Your plans are 'training', for the foreseeable future. At least you have 'off-duty' hours, like now, when you can pretend to be normal.

Breakfast is all too brief, and you swap back into your hero costume. You figure you'll hit the gym for a couple of hours, work on your aim and melee skills. The electro-shock gloves are definitely proving worth the effort to learn how to use effectively. Especially with the added range.

There's already some people in there, working out and chatting and laughing, most noticeably two of the Wards. You should probably introduce yourself; you'll be working with the kids in the near future, after all.

What kind of grenade do you pick to have always available?

[ ] Heal!
[ ] Black Hole Bomb!
[ ] Enhancer!
[ ] Ribbon Field!
[ ] Sub-Nuclear Boom!
[ ] Gravity Up!
[ ] Gravity Down!
[ ] Meat Bomb!
[ ] Ice Boom!
[ ] Time Slow!

Which Wards are in the gym? Pick Two.

[ ] Vista
[ ] Aegis
[ ] Clockblocker
[ ] Gallant
[ ] Kid Win
[ ] Shadow Stalker

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Heal! - 7 Votes
Vista – 9 Votes
Clockblocker – 9 Votes

You decide that healing is pretty much the best option you can get from something explosive. Being able to save lives? That's something hardly any other hero can do. The image of strolling through a hospital and lobbing grenades into the rooms to make people better is kind of gruesome, but also makes you smile a little.

You're pulled from your contemplation by the sight of two of the Wards working on their teamwork. Clockblocker, in his white suit with floating, animated clocks, is standing at one end of the room, tennis balls stopped in mid-air around him. At the other end of the room is Vista, in her white-and-green dress and matching visor. She seems to be throwing the tennis balls at Clockblocker, and the green-yellow projectiles warp through the air in strange patterns, coming at the older Ward from unpredictable angles.

He seems to be managing about one freeze for every ten balls Vista throws at him. The rest of them clonk off his armour and bounce away, only to roll back to Vista across a space that's both a foot and more than fifty yards.

You're feeling a little sick, watching the way that distance works weirdly around the youngest Ward, but it's hypnotic. You can't break your gaze away until they notice you standing there, glassy-eyed.

"Hey there!" Clock waves cheerfully, then flinches as he's pelted by a de-frozen tennis ball.

You blink a couple of times, your brain re-starting. "Oh, hey. I'm Dakka. I'm, uh, kinda new."

Vista snorts, smiling gently. "We know. We do get the news."

Wow. Schooled by a twelve-year-old. "Oh. Yeah, that makes sense-"

"So, what's your thing?" Clock interrupts.

"Thing?"

"Power. You know." He waggles his fingers.

"Oh, right." You summon up your weapons, flickering between them quickly. "This. Plus some regeneration stuff."

Vista has somehow managed to get right next to you. "Nice. Can you only do those four items?"

"For the moment, yeah. But they're useful enough. We caught Bakuda earlier."

"Ugh, I wish they'd let us do something like that." Vista slumps slightly. "We're always told to stay back when there's any risk of danger."

Clockblocker nods. "Yeah, you know how boring it is dealing with muggings and getting cats down from trees?"

You shrug. That sounds much more fun than life-or-death struggles.

"Come on, train with us a little. Show us what you can do."

"Sure."

You spend the next couple of hours working out combos with the two Wards. Vista is amazingly handy, letting you electro-shock people from hundreds of feet away, or shoot them from behind while you're standing in front of them.

Clockblocker's less generally versatile, but instant cover is an amazing power. You're looking forwards to going on patrol with them, when you can. They're good kids, even if Vista tries to act too old and Clock keeps making dirty jokes.

What do you want to do now? You can manage one more thing before your next patrol.

[ ] Write in.

 

[Kadmus]

Spoiler

Test them Heal grenades – 7 Votes

You hop onto the ferry taking you out to the Rig, the Protectorate HQ in the middle of the Bay, and spend most of the trip posing for photos with the tourists. You sign a few pictures, chat a little, and generally enjoy the attention, although you're trying not to let it go to your head. People have already heard of your capture of Bakuda, and there are lots of questions about her. Most of them you can't answer, non-disclosure clauses being a thing.

You grab another quick shower upon your return, because these things are amazing and also you're kinda sweaty. While you luxuriate in the Tinker-tech super-shower, you have a look at your 'Skills' requirements.

Upgrade Magic: Tier 1
Ingredients: Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog.
Effects: Allows you to adjust the roll for spells up or down by up to 2 points.

Learn: Bolt of Elemental Surprise!
Ingredients: Three Small Sticks and 4cc of Mouse Blood
Effects: Teaches you the spell 'Bolt of Elemental Surprise!', allowing you to deliver concentrated Surprise! at range.

Upgrade Shockgun: Tier 2
Ingredients: Solar Panel, 50m Silver Wire
Effects: Increases the area of effect of the shockgun. Extends the range of the shockgun. Increases armour penetration.

Upgrade Electro-Shock Gloves: Tier 2
Ingredients: Solar Panel, 50m Silver Wire
Effects: Increases effectiveness of shock delivered. Enemies hit by the shock will now suffer disorientation, regardless of toughness.

All of those sound useful, and you resolve to ask Armsmaster about access to some more materials for upgrades when you get the chance. You suspect he has most of that stuff either sitting around, waiting to be used, or just a phone-call away.

Actually, you need to talk to someone about these grenades anyway. You tap your comms on, and talk direct to Control.

"Hey, I've picked up a new weapon I'd like to test out. Is there anywhere I can do that without maybe accidentally blowing a hole in the place and killing everyone?"

"Lab Three, Dakka. Do you need any assistance?"

Armsmaster's on Control today. Huh. You didn't think he had to take a shift.

"Uh, I need something to see if the healing grenades will work. Do we have like, lab rats or something?"

"Better. We have vat-flesh that acts like living human tissue. Pretty easy for us to grow on the cheap, and vital for a lot of Tinker experiments. I'll route some down to you."

That's not creepy. But useful, nonetheless.

You manage to navigate down to the lab Armsmaster indicated – it's not in the Rig at all, actually. It's a long elevator ride down, and your best guess puts it a hundred feet below the sea bed. You don't want to collapse it on you, that's for sure, but you can't see a safer place to test your new weapon.

The tanks of fake-human-meat are ready and waiting by the time you arrive, like little fish tanks with raw muscle stretched along the length of them. You only have 5 grenades, so you need to make the most out of this test. You figure the first thing to do is see if they work the way you expect – that is, not blow up and kill everything.

With that in mind, you pull the tab on the first one and lob it to the opposite end of the lab. These grenades look very different now; they're pure white with little red crosses on the side, and are no longer the spherical bomb shape, but more like a little rectangular box. It bounces off the floor a couple of times, and then erupts into a shimmering field of golden light. It looks harmless, so you get closer to it. A tentative poke with one finger doesn't instantly kill you, or hurt you, or anything, so you step into the field.

Nothing.

You run over to one of the tables along the walls and grab a scalpel, then go back to the field and stab your hand. It hurts, but the pain dissipates much faster than you're used to. It works, then. You think.

It also seems to be lasting a long time. The grenade didn't disappear when it started emitting the field; it's actually still just sat on the floor. You pick it up, and the field moves with you as you walk from side to side. Very useful.

The field fades out in a couple of flickering bursts. Five minutes. That means you're carrying twenty minutes of healing grenades at the moment, twenty-five at full capacity.

Okay, next test. You mark out ranges on the floor, from ground zero out to the edge of the field range – you estimate it as having approximately a five meter radius, so one mark every meter out to ten for certainty's sake. You set up a meat tank at each marker, use the scalpel to cut identical wounds in each piece of meat, and then set off the next healing grenade at ground zero.

The wounds start to quickly heal up, leaving no marks behind. You check out to the edge of the ten meters, and the healing stops completely outside the field, just after the five meter mark. Rate of healing seems consistent within the five meter radius.

You inflict steadily more severe damage on the meat as the grenade keeps going, testing just how bad it has to be before it stops recovering.

Pretty fucking bad, is your scientific opinion. You even remove pieces of meat from the whole, and the wounds left behind heal over at the same rate all the other injuries do. You wonder if you could regrow limbs with these?

Anyway, you've got some good results here. You're certain that there's cameras in here, watching and recording everything, and you're just as sure that Armsmaster will be watching them later.

You check the time, and are surprised to find that it's nearly time for you to take over as Control for the night. Deep joy, eight hours spent standing in front of a console.

How do you spend the night as Command?

[ ] Professionally. Your job is important, and people are relying on you.
[ ] Casually: This is a good chance to chat with your fellow heroes, catch up on things, and get tips.
[ ] Write in.