Depths of Regina - Turn 1.9 - Workout with Isobella
On July 13th, Jack contacts Isobella...
JACK: Jack will meet with Isobella whenever she can manage to
make a meeting, but the gist of the initial message is that we have
found some work that we know she is qualified to do, and would like to
offer it to her as a chance to work alongside us and get to know a few
of us a bit better.
ISOBELLA: Isobella would have no problem setting up a meeting on
short notice. And since she's more or less concluded the
investigation as to who might attack the waste transport, there's no
reason for the meeting not to be at the SCE offices.
JACK: If and when we meet, he will explain that a company has hired
SCE on a temporary basis to fill a shortfall in their security forces, and
that we would offer her 300cr per shift worked, and of course there's
the benefit of having some time to get to know one or more of us as
we will often have one of us working alongside her, since many of the
shifts require concurrent workers. If she seems put off by the pay or
worried about having expenses he's willing to go as high as 400cr
without too much trouble.
ISOBELLA: Isobella will take the first offer, and will make a counter
offer of buying in as a partner (if she's acceptable). As for her
qualifications for security patrol, she claims she's perceptive and
doesn't miss much. She's a fair shot with her personal hand gun, but
that she's a master of hand-to-hand combat. She also asks if body
armor would be appropriate, patting her attache case and saying that
she has her own.
JACK: "I'm sure body armor is perfectly acceptable as long as it's
legal in the section of town you're working in, we'll double check that.
What kind of body armor is it? As for being a master of hand to hand
combat, that's an interesting claim to make around me and my
friends, as you may someday find out. I myself am a lot tougher than
I look, and Vana can beat me at least half the time we spar.
ISOBELLA (OOC): I'm assuming this meeting is occurring at the SCE
office.
JACK (OOC): Sure thing, though initially my intent was to be talking
privately, so unless people wander into my 'office' they won't be
interjecting.
ISOBELLA: Isobella gave Jack an appraising look, "And perhaps a bit
more experienced than you look, eh? The body armor is a custom set
that's been in the family for years. It much better than what you can
buy off the rack, but it's not powered so it should be legal. I can
show it to you if you like. How about a friendly sparing match? It's
been a long time since I've found a sparing partner that was even
close to being a match for me. You can set the rules, playing for
touch points or actually trying to knock each other out. I take it
your tough enough that I shouldn't be able to do any serious injury
to you, and with my armor on I should be able to take whatever you
can dish out. And if I've over estimated my own abilities..." she
shrugs, "then it would do me good to be knocked down a peg or two.
And if my armor isn't as good as I think it is, well I'm a registered
class C mutant, my ability is to heal fast. Either way, it's the
easiest way for you to determine what kind of combat roles I'm suited
for."
JACK: "I appreciate you trusting me enough to share your mutancy, it
makes things simpler. I have been wanting to talk to you about that
and wasn't ready to bring it up until you did, or until we had the
chance to work alongside one another, to find out how comfortable
you are with the idea of working and dealing with mutants on a
frequent basis. Each of the founding members of our team is a
mutant, including myself of course. I believe I am considered a Class
A these days, though I haven't exactly gone in for testing lately. I will
be happy to give you a sparring match, though I will start out
defensively testing your ability to withstand my blows, I don't want to
hurt you. Unfortunately I cannot control my defenses, they react by
instinct, apparently, so you may hit me as hard as you like, since I
can't lower my defense appropriately." Jack demonstrates briefly by
slamming his fist into his chest with resounding force, causing a flash
of glowing golden light to surround him, and slowly fade away. "Rest
assured you won't hurt me, I have taken a howitzer round to the chest
without a scratch before. I can still be worn down and knocked out, of
course. If you enjoy our match, I'm sure some of the others will enjoy
facing a new opponent as well, and it will help to know each others'
capabilities in case we ever have to face trouble together.
TECH: Jack is not trying to intimidate Isobella with his display, but if
she is easily impressed it might make a difference. I figure his display
is worth +1d6 at this point, the GM can overrule me. [rolled 5 4 4 2 6 2
(2) - Total: 25, Body: 7] effect for
his Presence attack. He is very matter-of-fact about this, so play it
however you like, the roll is just for role-playing aid.
ISOBELLA: Isobella watched as the glow faded. "Impressive. I try to
stay out of the way of howitzer rounds myself, though with my armor
on I might be able to survive one. I have fought powerful mutants
before, people who could lift entire buildings, while wearing less
armor than I'm wearing now. With my heavy armor on, I'm not worried
about being hurt." She smiled as she continued, "Besides, to hurt me,
you'd have to touch me, and that's not easy. As for sharing my
mutancy, I'm registered so it's not hard to find. I'm looking for a
place that tolerates mutants without prejudice. I could overcome some
prejudice if I had to, but I'd rather not have to.
JACK: Jack registers a little curiosity, then continues, "Well that's
one hurdle you won't have a problem with here, if anything it actually
helps you since we don't like having to hide all the time.
----------
OOC: I'm sure those of us who are doing the paperwork have to hang out
around the office more often, and have to go back and forth to get
documents, etc. Even in the 24 1/2 century I’m sure that the bureaucracy
requires forms filled out in triplicate.
VAREQ: "Just here to drop off those energy weapons certification papers,"
he says, dropping a pile of paperwork on Jack's desk with a hint of
disgust. He raises an eyebrow when Jack shows off his force field.
JACK: "Thanks, Vareq. Isobella was just asking me for a sparring
match, and letting me know that she's a mutant herself. If you'd like
to stretch and warm up a bit yourself as a break from the paperwork,
you're welcome to join us.
ISOBELLA: "Two on one? Sounds fun to me," commented Isobella. "Do you
have a room here, or do we need to go find a dojo?" She seems ready
to take you both on, at least for a sparing match.
VAREQ: He turns to Isobella with a crooked grin. "I don't think we've met
officially before, but we've seen each other around. I'm Vareq," he says,
offering a hand. "I push paper around here."
JACK: Jack scoffs a bit, "Yeah, and I'm just a pretty face. Paperwork
is a necessary evil in every society, I'm grateful to have your help in
dealing with it. At least we get to do a few of them electronically ;)
ISOBELLA: "Hi. I'm Isobella Holmes. I'm hoping for a job here,
perhaps I could help you with paper pushing if my other talents
aren't needed."
Vareq is about six feet tall, muscular, with glacial blue eyes and
fashionably long black hair that hangs a bit in front. He wears a sports
fleece and cargo pants.
ISOBELLA: Isobella is tall with a lean, athletic build. She has thin
prominent nose and angular features which wouldn't look bad on a guy,
but doesn't look good on a woman. Brown eyes, and neck length brown
hair. Healthy, but not what most would call a beauty.
ISOBELLA: "I think at the very least I'll be able to give you a good
workout. Do you have a room for combat practice here?"
---------
JACK: "I think we need to take things slowly in terms of buying into
the company, however, there are things we need to get to know about
each other before we can honestly be certain we're a good fit. I myself
like you just fine, but then I've barely met you :) Once we've taken a
few shifts together we can definitely revisit the idea though.
ISOBELLA: Isobella smiled, "Of course, you need to make sure I'm
someone you all can work with, and that I can back up the ridiculous
claims I've made about my abilities."
JACK: "I could care less if you are able to take down a charging rhino
in combat, I can do that, and yet I'm not one tenth the investigator you
are. Each of us has his strengths and weaknesses, it's more about
establishing a comfort level with each other.
ISOBELLA: "I was referring to what I told Kyle, that I'm there best
there is in the detective field."
JACK: "Ah, I don't think I had heard that particular assertion :) In any
case, we can go practice in the garage, I think. Didn't Midnight set it
up as a hard enough room to allow practice, Vareq? I can't even
remember the last time I sparred since we lost the ship. Or did you
want to use that place outside town you'd picked for teamwork
practice? If we end up going there, we may as well invite the whole
team for a little 'blowing off steam' party, and practice our teamwork at
the same time.
JACK (OOC): The good news is we haven't really gotten the news
about the WME job yet, so we can have a little fun before things get
too insanely busy ;)
GM: We can say that you decide to turn the artist studio into a
practice room. Instead of putting the research lab in there, you move
that to one of the offices nearby.
KYLE (OOC, and very tongue-in-cheek): Sure, it's always the smart guy who
gets edged out. In high school we got a tiny computer lab while the jocks
got a brand new gymnasium. In college, the football team got millions while
the engineering school had to beg for every new piece of equipment. And now
I get my lab wedged into a tiny office for the sake of a gym. I ask you, is
there any justice in the world? <sigh> I guess might does make right. At
least this time it didn't involve wedgies. ;-)
GM: I'll be fairly busy this weekend so Keith if you want to run a
mock practice session, go for it. Each of you are speed 5 with Omen
and Isobella at DEX 29 and Jack at DEX 23. I'm neutral on how you
want to play this out so I'll let you all figure that out on your own.
KEITH: I certainly wouldn't mind running it, but my intent was just to get some
numbers and give some vague role-play oriented results, not nitty
gritty. If noone minds, we can do it as a real match though, up to you
guys. I definitely would not be teaming up with anyone against any
one person, not Isobella nor Vareq, my matches would be solo. If
they want to have their match first, they have my blessing, but I have
a feeling Vareq will benefit more from watching my match with her and
seeing her style in advance ;) I have a feeling it will come down to
mostly luck and/or special skills/talents, because Jack has plenty of
skill to offset the lower dex (unless they are both just as skilled). If
Jack gets either one grabbed it's pretty much over unless Vareq goes
mental, and even then it could be close.
----------
KYLE: When the subject comes up, Kyle will tell Jack that he's told
Isobella that they may have some work for her, and has asked how her
firearm skills are. She's said that she can do okay with the pistol she's
familiar with, but isn't primarily trained to deal with weapon-relatied
situations. SHe noted that she's better off afterthe conflict trying to
figure out what went on.
JACK (to Kyle outside the conversation with Isobella): Thanks, all I'm
truly worried about is that she won't look like a dufus trying to hold a
gun. She's intelligent enough to know what she can handle and what
she can't in a combat situation, and knows how to call for backup,
which is what we should all be doing on a security job anyway. We're
of course hoping that nothing untoward happens during any of our
shifts, and they're boring grunt jobs, but no guarantees.
KYLE: Isobella also wanted to warn us that if we hear that Fren's Spike is
going to attack the shipment, that's not true. It's a result of her
investigations and is a ruse started by her.
----------
ISOBELLA (OOC): Besides having a very high dex, Isobella is also
highly skilled at her martial art, not so much so in general combat.
Mostly I wanted to show off her armor, giving you an idea of what she
can do and learning what the rest of you can do is also interesting,
but doesn't need to be played out.
ISOBELLA: Once brought to the practice room, Isobella donned her
armor, pulling it out of her attache case and over her street clothes
in less than 3 seconds. She had obviously practiced this a great deal
in order to prepare herself so quickly and smoothly. (OOC: Armor
doesn't have real weapon limitation). The brown armor covered her
completely, leaving no scrap of skin exposed. The back had a slim
equipment backpack, but it appeared to have been damaged some time
ago but never repaired. The front had a black stylized emblem of some
sort of animal. The overall effect was something that wouldn't be out
of place on a mutant acting as a superhero.
JACK: Unfortunately since it's such a non-standard set of armor, it
might be more difficult to explain to the bosses at Tolgrath. I would
personally prefer to see you use one of our standard sets of Kevlar+
just for the security mission, so that you will blend in more.
GM: The Thunderfox armor would be a bit much for security duty. It
is uncommon for these security guards to wear more than light kevlar.
Think typical security details in RL.
ISOBELLA: "No problem. I'd prefer to go with something loose fitting
so it doesn't interfere with my martial art. My armored long-johns
provide about the same protection as Kevlar, so I don't need a second
layer of armor. It's hard to get armor that doesn't restrict your
movements."
---------
ISOBELLA: Once she had her armor on, Isobella struck a pose for a
moment, "Thunderfox armor. Been in the family for years, there's
nothing else like it. Think it will pass for security duty?" She then
pulled a folding stick off her belt, twisted a handle to straighten
it. She then put the tip on the ground and leaned on it, making it
obvious what it was, a walking stick? "Ready any time you are, how do
you want to do this?"
ISOBELLA (OOC): Isobella is pretty much a pure martial artist, no STR
but plenty of martial arts damage level, high dex, and lots of skill.
Very hard to hit (I hope!) while very likely to hit what she's aiming
at. I can go into specifics if you like. I don't think anyone would
recognize her art, since it was very short lived and never spread
far. (OOC: however it is a real art from the past) It does seems to
involve a lot of throws. If her opponent doesn't have breakfall, they
are going to be getting up off the floor often. :-)
JACK: Jack doesn't mind getting hit that much, but he does fight fairly
defensively, usually using Defensive Strike jabs while he judges the
enemy's style/strength. He's OCV 12 and DCV 11 when he does this,
though one of those is an overall level so it could be 11 and 12, and
probably would be in a sparring match like this. He does have
Breakfall, and Acrobatics for that matter, and his style is more that of a
wrestler. One thing that may affect Isobella is that the more times he
is struck, the brighter the flashes off his bio-field are, eventually
getting painfully bright (flash damage shield). It also has the side
effect of making him look really impressive ;)
----------
VAREQ: Smirks as he looks her up and down in the skintight armor.
"Thunderfox armor...Kinky.".
He looks at Jack and shrugs. "Oh, this is going to hurt...me, probably.
Here goes nothing."
He snaps forward and throws a lightning punch at Isobella.
TECH
Strike, levels on DCV
OCV 10 [rolled 15]
DCV 12
9d6 [rolled 1 4 1 1 5 6 3 1 4 - Total: 26, Body: 6]
Vareq misses handily, so it's Isobella's turn, then we will go to
SPD/DEX order following post-phase 12 recovery. Be sure to show
the endurance you are expending with each action as well.
ISOBELLA: Isobella responds by trying to grab Vareq's arm and
twisting it to force him to the floor in intense pain
ISOBELLA Tech: Overall levels on DCV, 2 Martal arts levels on DCV, 4
on OCV doing Joint Lock/Throw maneuver for OCV 15, DCV 14. Roll
[rolled 14] to hit, if successful [rolled 4 4 6 1 5 - Total: 20, Body: 5]
NND damage, target falls. Defense
is "Defenses against joint-bending" (UMA page 148), resistance, rigid
armor, stretching, STR more than double Isobella's (10 STR), etc.
Vareq will fall to the ground (you just hit a 12), but he forces the joint
out of the lock before it has a chance to do much damage (he has greater
than a 20 STR).
He grits his teeth and smiles through the pain. "Not bad, but you'll have
to do better than that."
OOC: Vareq is strong enough not to feel much pain from that maneuver
(just enough to force him down). Oh well, it works great on normals
that we don't want to damage. :-)
ISOBELLA: "If you insist," said Isobella as she realized the futility
of trying a joint lock on someone so much stronger than she. Isobella
released his arm and spun around attempting to deliver a low kick
just as Vareq stood up. She didn't want to kick a future teammate
while he was down...
ISOBELLA (tech): Save phase till Vareq stands up or attacks without
standing up. Dex vs. Dex roll of 15 [rolled 14] to move after he stands
but before he attacks. Low strike and same skill level allocation
gives here OCV 14, DCV 16. If hits, damage [rolled 4 5 5 4 1 6 2 1 1 1 2 1
- Total: 33, Body: 8] and knockback roll
[rolled 16]. Uses 1 END.
ISOBELLA: Oops, forgot to roll for the attack OCV 14 [rolled 12]
VAREQ: stands up and gets thumped. (OOC: he was going to wait until she
attacked anyhow). His head snaps back and then forward again. A tiny
trickle of blood roll down the side of his lip. He wipes it off with the
back of his hand and grins.
"I think I need to work out more," he says, retreating away to get some
distance.
TECH Phase 3
Activation for armor 14- [rolled 7]
Get up and back up 4" (half-mov! e)
SOBELLA: "Let me know when you've had enough," said Isobella as she
closed the distance and lashed out with her walking stick. The attack
set her up to dodge an expected counter attack. Her motions were
smooth, practiced, and far too graceful for someone in their early
20's. Someone with a mutant enhanced agility could be that good, but
only decades of practice could make ones moves so smooth.
ISOBELLA (tech phase 5): Half move 4", attack using Jab (with walking
stick for +2d6). OCV 15, DCV 17, roll to hit [rolled 6], damage if hits
[rolled 6 4 3 4 4 2 3 3 3 5 6 3 - Total: 46, Body: 14], knockback roll
[rolled 9]
You connect strongly, getting a bonus +1DC for rolling half what you
needed to hit, so add this damage [rolled 6 - Total: 6, Body: 2].
Knockback is 5" + whatever
body is on that die, so roll that many dice of additional damage.
VAMPERINA: Vamperina will be around for this battle but will not
participate. She mainly wants to get a measure of how good Isobella is in
combat against Jack and Vareq.
ISOBELLA OOC: Feel free to ask about her martial art style. So far
the throw is similar to Aikido and the kick close to that of Savate,
but using a walking stick as a weapon is probably new to Vamperina.
Jack is watching with interest, waiting for either one to make it clear
that they're done. Vareq's retreat made him consider it, but he
guessed it was not quite done yet...
VAMPERINA: Vamperina is also impressed with the young woman's ability in
hand to hand combat. However she continues to watch, knowing that Vareq is
not a one trick pony and has a few other tricks up his sleeve. It will be
interesting to see how the woman fares against other types of attacks.
VAREQ: As Isobella runs towards him Vareq shakes his head and says.
"That's enough of that, young lady"
His eyes turn solid black in a heartbeat and the air around him boils.
OOC: since she has to spend a half-phase crossing the room to get to him,
he should be able to half-phase fire before he gets swatted...
TECH:
DEX roll 15- to try to fire before she crosses the room [rolled 12]
Activation 15- [rolled 12]
Psi-bolt, push 2d, levels on OCV, spreading, OCV 16 [rolled 12]
(note that Martial arts DCV bonuses and leve! ls don't count for ranged
attacks)
Damage 13d [rolled 5 6 4 5 4 3 2 2 2 5 1 5 3 - Total: 47, Body: 13]
knockback [rolled 2 6 - Total: 8, Body: 3]
I had forgotten that this was a new phase. Isobella had not rolled for
timing, and I personally agree that moving to attack should take
longer than just attacking, unfortunately the Hero system doesn't.
Isobella make a Dex roll for timing your attack, and if you tie his roll of
12, then the tiebreaker will be the movement. If you win, you get your
hit with the cane, if you lose or tie, you get tagged with this blast and
fly backward instead.
GM: We normally would die roll for characters on same dex to see who
acts first. Unless Vareq had a held action he wouldn't be able to
interrupt Isobella's action. This is a fairly loose combat so play it
out however you want.
ISOBELLA Tech: Isobella's DCV is only 15 vs. ranged attacks (10 base
+ 2 overall on DCV + 3 from manuver). Vareq hit easily, sending
Isobella crashing across the room. Does this attack go against PD or ED?
ISOBELLA: Sounds fair, Dex roll 15 [rolled 12].
OOC: It's an energy attack.
OMEN:
Reality hisses and stretches. The floorboards are torn up as the psibolt
shatters it's way to Isobella and sends her crashing into the far wall.
Omen shudders. He stretches his neck out with a few disturbing pops. His
hands clench and unclench. Then his eyes fade back to forgiving blue again
and he breathes a deep sigh.
He runs across the room to make sure Isobella is okay (OOC: I'm sure she
is. I take it she wasn't Stunned.) Seeing that she's not injured, he grins
sheepishly.
ISOBELLA OOC: No she wasn't stunned, she was knocked senseless (-1
stun). The knockback would probably be less than her PD defense.
ISOBELLA: Isobella had been dazed by the blow, barely hanging on to
consciousness. She clawed her way back to full awareness in time to
see Omen bending over her.
"Sorry," he says, helping her up off the ground. "You win. There's no way I
could have kept up with you without...cheating."
ISOBELLA: "Now you see why I try to avoid getting hit. The armor will
keep me alive, but it can only do so much about keeping me awake. But
no, I'd say you won that match. No one said anything about not using
other abilities, so that wasn't cheating. I must say I was surprised
by how accurate you were with that eye blast!"
He looks around at the torn floorboards.
"I'm going to have to sign up for a lot of shifts to pay for the damage
around here."
VAREQ: "Yeah, well, I thought I could be cocky and keep pace with you
without using my Power," he says."but you were about a millisecond away
from cleaning my clock so I got desperate."
OOC: Vareq does not fight with any martial arts style, nor does he have
super-strength. He just hits hard and fast (although not fast enough). He
was definitely pulling his punches, though.
"I think I've learned enough about your hand to hand skills to last! until
the bruises go away. However, in the past few encounters we've had the
targets hadn't had the decency to stay in striking range. I don't suppose
you can use a gun?"
Vareq pulls out a laser pistol from a concealed holster the back of his
pants.
He deftly flips the weapon around and hands it to Isobella butt first.
VAMPERINA: Vamperina continues to watch impassively. Having had to deal
with the ranged attacks of the mutants on Qantseqr, she knows all too well
that Vareq is right. Had it not been for her phenomenal sprinting speed,
she would have been useless in that battle. She leans forward to hear how
Isobella normally handles opponents that use ranged weapons.
JACK: Jack patiently waits his turn to try his hand at stopping
Isobella. He would have little hope given her demonstrated skill other
than a lucky grab, except for one little trick up his sleeve...
----------
Returning from a recent shopping trip, Surge and Midnight head to the
workout room. Joining them is Kyle as he asks them about the new
purchases. Midnight looks especially pleased as he holds a
medium-sized box. The three enter the workout room and look a bit
surprised by the large gathering inside.
SURGE: "Hey Guys. Getting a workout?" Noticing that Isobella was in
the room and that they were in the middle of a sparring match Surge
waited for a pause to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Surge. You must
be Isobella."
Surge appears as a young man in his late twenties. His appearance is
plain in many ways - lean build, average height, short curly black
hair and pale white complexion dressed in a common outfit, not
terribly fashionable but not offensive. He is not particularly
attractive and seems in all ways an average joe with one exception -
his eyes. His eyes are a brilliant, vibrant blue - bluer than any
typical human's eyes. It's as if they radiate an electric blue light.
His eyes scan the workout room quickly and hint at a someone with a
sharp mind. His movements are quick and graceful. His manner is
relaxed while it reminds you of someone who has taken too much
caffeine.
SURGE: After initial greetings are over, Surge unbuttons his shirt,
revealing a smooth, white colored suit. "You guys like it? It's my
new Ultra Suit. It offers much better protection than kevlar and is
much lighter weight, self-patching and breathable. That's all the
rage these days you know."
MIDNIGHT: Meanwhile Midnight sets down the box off to the side.
Opening it up, he pulls forth a small globed shaped metallic object
about the size of a human head. He turns it over looking at the
bottom where a small control panel is revealed after sliding back a
protective cover. He looks just like a kid in a candy store. He
jumps slightly as another globe emerges from the box and hovers
nearby. Several lights are visible on the globe as it hums quietly
hovering on its own power. "Surge!" Midnight exclaims in an
exasperated manner.
SURGE: Surge laughs, "Sorry, I couldn't wait to play with one."
Turning to the rest of the group he explains, "These are Meinobots,
the latest crazy is portable combat simulators. They can simulate a
wide range of defensive and offensive capabilities though their
offensive powers are harmless. They just deliver a bit of a shock.
Wanna try one out?"
ISOBELLA: Isobella asks, "How much punishment can they take, or is
the idea just to tag them?"
JACK: Jack looks on with interest, both at the new armor and the
meinobots.
JACK (OOC): I am particularly curious about the armor, as it's
something that would fit in well with Jack's image and style.
SURGE: "Actually, they are surprisingly hard to damage. You can
easily 'stun' the devices as it were but that's fine. When the lights
come back on you know that it has recovered. I've heard that they can
survive long falls without internal damage as well as high powered
projectiles and energy blasts. Though I wouldn't try truly damaging
munitions on it, such as bombs or armor piercing bullets. They're
electronics are self-generating so even if you do a lot of damage, it
should come back online. The outer shell is not self-patching though
so you would have a few holes to deal with."
VAREQ: "Look, I've been meaning to get everyone out in the field so we
can run some drills. Why don't we just do it now? We can all pile in the
aircar, fly a few klicks away from city limits, and really open up with
everything we've got."
GM: We can say that no one has any immediate obligations that would
keep you from a short training session in the nearby mountains. You
could find a location within a 30 minute flight from here so squeezing
in a 1-2 hour workout would be possible. If you all want to do it, we
can make it so.
ISOBELLA: "Do you mind if I join you? I think I could use a bit more
of a workout against real opponents, especially ones good enough to
touch me."
JACK: Jack raises one eyebrow at Vareq, "Only a few clicks? Have
you seen the sensors they have at the starport? Make it ten clicks
and you've got a deal. I don't want to set off every UFO alarm in the
city the first time I take a little hop across the field.
SURGE: Surge shrugs, "I've got several hours before I need to be
anywhere. I'm game if everyone else is."
MIDNIGHT: "I'd love to give these things a real workout!" Midnight answered
the idea of a group outing with excitement before he even realized Isobella
was in the room. "Sorry," he added with an extended hand, "I’m Midnight."
JACK: "Everyone, meet Isobella. She's a mutant, and knows that we
are all mutants now that she shared that with me. She's also
interested in working with us more long-term, even expressed interest
in 'buying in' to SCE. She's here to show us a little of what she's got
to back up her claims, and to get to know us a little more too. She's a
wily opponent, and a skilled martial artist in strong body armor.
You've been warned...
ISOBELLA: "Pleased to meet you Midnight." She holsters her gun and
folds up and stores her walking stick before reaching out a hand to
Midnight. "Don't worry, I don't throw people to the ground without
provocation."
----------
ISOBELLA: Instead of taking the offered pistol Isobella draws her
own, a Defiance Super Shock stun gun. "I'm trained with this one, but
I haven't practiced with any other pistols. If outside, I can use
jump jets in the armor to close with someone who's not too far away."
VAREQ: "Jump jets!" he says with surprise and amusement. He also notes
something on the backpack which appears to be broken, but doesn't say
anything. The laser pistol disappears back into its concealed holster.
"You're just full of surprises. I don't suppose you can actually fly with
those things? We could use another long-range scout."
"Okay then, I think you should be okay for short to medium range
encounters. Only two more questions, then. One, what other surprises do
you have? Extra senses, retractable wings, any midgets in there?"
"Two, what position could you fill aboard a starship? Pilot, gunnery,
engineering, astrogation, sensor ops, medical, any of that?"
ISOBELLA: "You've seen all I have for combat, other than a few more
martial arts moves. I've also got a pair of decked out LG shades, a
set of lock picks, a bugging kit, and a disguise kit. As for a
starship position, that's something I'll have to learn. After all
those year with such a narrow focus, it will do me good to learn
something not directly related to detective work. The closest I can
come is driving a ground car or hacking into a computer.
KYLE: "All those years," he says with a raised eyebrow. "Hardly a comment
one would expect form a new college graduate."
ISOBELLA: Isobella shrugs and says, "Well I've been studying how to
be a detective for most of my life. Everything I've studied has been
focused toward that goal."
----------
VAMPERINA: "What position on a starship interests you the most? Right
now, our team includes 3 starship pilots (Vamperina, Jack and Vareq), 2
astrogators (Kyle and Surge), 1 engineer (Surge), 1 gunnery officer
(Midnight), and 4 gunners (Midnight, Vamperina, Jack and Vareq)."
VAMPERINA: "Kyle or Surge, do either of you have your Sensor and Comms
Officer license? I don't remember."
KYLE: "I have both an astrogator's license and a sensor and comms officer
license, so I can act as astrogator or hold a bridge watch. I've been
working on training with Surge on brushing up my mechanical skills, but
with everything else going on, that's been a bot slower than I originally
intended."
JACK: "Obviously with only one engineer, and him being combined
with one of our astrogators, we could use a little more redundancy
there, if you are at all mechanically inclined. As for Sensors and
Comms, we don't have anyone officially licensed as such, but being a
pilot requires competence in several of those skills to take a bridge
watch. I know Surge is also very good with the sensors, of course.
JACK: "In the end it's more about what you will enjoy doing, because
forcing yourself to become an engineer when you hate machines will
just make you miserable :) All this is a ways off though, it's not like we
have a ship of our own any more.
SURGE: Surge looks at both Vamperina and Jack with a bit of
disbelief. "I just passed the sensor ops test a few months ago.
Surely, it's not that minor." Surge jests. Turning back to Isobella
and the others. "Yes, I am licensed as a chief engineer, 1st
astrogator and senior radio and sensor operator. I would be happy to
tutor anyone in any of these areas. I know I have been assisting
Vamperina in getting her knowledge of Astrogation ready for the test.
Kyle recently passed his astrogation test with flying colors."
VAMPERINA: Vamperina looks at Surge in mock disbelief, "Surge, I already
took my test and passed it with flying colors a few months ago. Surely
it's not that minor!" Then, more seriously, "to obtain a commercial
pilot's license, a smattering of astrogation knowledge is necessary. I
may eventually work towards an astrogation license but, if I do, it
won't be anytime soon. And I guess if we are talking only about
licensed starship positions, then we only have one starship pilot, that
being me ... unless Jack or Vareq has passed the test recently." She
looks questioningly at Jack and Vareq.
JACK: "I'm a licensed pilot but only in an atmosphere, I didn't take the
Starship pilot's test. I'm also a licensed Ship's Gunner - Rockets,
while we're talking licenses. I'm a firm believer in being able to DO the
skill without always having to have the perfect license for it, I'm almost
as good at being a starship pilot as Vamperina is, but I can't pass the
test for all the sub-skills required.
VAREQ: "Badges! We don't need no steenking badges!" he says with a
ridiculous accent. "I'm not big on tests. If you need me to get certified
for something, just give me a few days warning."
----------
VAMPERINA: "Isobella, have you ever served as a crew member of a
starship in any capacity, even as a sargeant-at-arms, cook, steward,
etc.? In other words, do you have a rudimentary knowledge of starship
operations and procedures? If not, that would be the place to start."
(OOC: In other words, does she have a one or two point vehicle
familiarity with starships, In this game, that just means that you know
your way around starships, how to operate the toilet, what to do in
emergencies, etc.).
JACK: "Or how to work a spacesuit properly at least?"
ISOBELLA: "My only time on a ship was as a paying passenger. You've
seen how fast I can get a space suit on, but I'll need to get it
repaired so that it IS a space suit again. Getting the life support
systems repaired just hasn't been a pressing issue."
JACK: "That was a spacesuit? Hmmm..."
SURGE: Surge glanced over her armor, "Interesting. Yes, it does need
a bit of work for certain. Wow, how old is that suit? The circuitry
is not done in a common technique these days."
ISOBELLA: "This suit's been in the family for years, it was a
prototype developed during the third frontier war. I think the
project was dropped because it was cost prohibitive. It's been
modified a few times since then. The damage happened about 12 years
ago. I inherited it along with a good chunk of money, most of which
went for tuition."
---------
JACK (sub-text, unspoken): All those years... and she seemed to
notice an inkling of my age right away too...
JACK (GM): As one of the older ones around *snicker* it's certainly
possible I'd pick up on something old about her, or recognize her suit
if it was in use as a superhero costume at one time, or something. I
obviously got the Holmes reference, and her features aren't that
different from what Holmes was supposed to look like himself... A
distant descendent?
ISOBELLA (OOC): The Thunderfox armor has been around in some form or
other for a very long time. I'll leave it up to the GM if Jack
recognizes the name or stylized fox emblem and how much he remembers
about the person who wore the armor. Jack is probably the only person
alive who knows of that Holmes and what he looked like. He could ask :-)
KYLE (GM): BTW, is there anything Kyle might find odd about Isobella's
suit? I was thinking mostly from a material science standpoint (SCI:
Metallurgy, SCI: Polymers, SCI: Plastics, SCI: Ceramics, ... all on 16-),
but I'd be interested in any other criteria (SCI: Ergonomics, SCI:
Propulsion Systems, SCI: Environmental Systems, etc.).
Here are a couple of rolls. Use what ones you need. [rolled 14] [rolled 13]
[rolled 10] [rolled 14]
GM: Unless Joe indicates otherwise, you don't notice anything by
looking with your naked eye. I did expose this with Surge's last post
though Surge's EM sense can look at the details of the electrical
properties of the suit without lab equipment. I'm pretty sure if you
studied it with any gear you would notice some things about it.
KYLE (GM): FWIW, we'll try this one as well. Are there any clues Kyle might
observe about Isobella that might give him a clue she's older than she
looks? Maybe SCI: Linguistics to notice she has an arcahaic accent; SCI:
Anthropology to notice some odd habits; SCI: Physiology to notice something
about her physical makeup.
GM: No, unless Isobella is trying to be obviously out of place, she
would give off no hints that she's not what she appears. Isobella is
highly skilled in personal interaction so she could keep those things
well hidden if they existed in her normal demeanor, which I would
assume is not the case. It's not like she's a caveman that was just
thawed yesterday. She's been active in the present moment for ... a
long time. :)
JACK (GM): If she's actually related to the ancient Holmes in any
direct way I'll definitely pick it up, just by being familiar with the real
English accent and mannerisms. Noone in the group really knows
that I'm from the same world his author lived on, and probably acted
in more than one production of one of his stories, though probably not
as Holmes himself, I wouldn't fit the part ;) I don't exactly advertise
that I'm one of the original Solomani humans.
TECH: Insanely obscure knowledge roll in case it matters [rolled 12]. Keep
in mind my Ubiquitous talents...
TECH: Erudite scholar of culture on 8- [rolled 8]
[private turn sent]
ISOBELLA (OOC): Isobella drinks Earl Grey tea, but that's the extent
of her English Mannerisms. But then, a lot of people drink Earl Grey
tea :-)
JACK (OOC): If Isobella mentions her ancestry at all, or Sherlock by
name, or calls Kyle Watson, or says "It's elementary" even once, I will
be curiouser and curiouser. It's on the tip of my tongue... If she's
older than she looks she might recognize me eventually too, I wasn't
always a very private or secretive hero.
ISOBELLA (OOC): If I asked about a specific era, I'd be giving away
how old she is :-)
----------
VAREQ: He looks around impatiently. "Are we going to hit the field or what? We need to make a decision, folks. If we're not going out for combat drills than I need to get some gear."
MIDNIGHT: "I'm game, but we can't make this a long term exercise. I have a cool defensive systems seminar to check out tomorrow!" That same gleam comes back to Midnight's dark eyes.
SURGE: "I've scanned a few places in the nearby mountains that should be secluded enough to be a fun playground. What exactly were you thinking Vareq?"
VAREQ: 'What's on my mind is that we have a security team without a decent
set of tactical protocols. The one time we've been in a full-scale assault
there was no coordination, no teamwork, and as a result we were almost
defeated by a force half our size."
JACK: Jack smiles and replies, "You may not have seen much
teamwork but there was definitely some there. We all knew who had
to be taken out first, and the others knew that I could keep the big
bruiser busy while it was done. I even helped Vamperina reach the
area of the shrinker by throwing her there. I admit we could definitely
use some more practice, especially with new team members and
losing old ones.
VAMPERINA: "Yes, the main issue here is that we have three new people
since last time we conducted this type of training. As we head out for
training, each one of us can give a short briefing of our strengths and
weaknesses, attacks and defenses, our main tactics for attack, as well
as any special senses we have. I will go first."
GM: Moved Vamperina’s explanation to a new section.
VAREQ: "We need to know a few basics: each person's offensive, defensive and
movement capabilities, and more importantly, how those abilities might be
combined. For example, whoever can see through Midnight's darkness field
might be able to use it for defensive cover. Or, since Kyle doesn’t have
any significant offensive capabilities, at least none that I know of, he
could use his teleportation to bring short-range fighters closer to
combatants."
JACK: "Actually we practiced a lot of that before we met you, which is
why Surge often stays closer to Midnight when he can, and I don't.
It's time to update each other on what we can do though, I know my
practice has been paying off with something the others have never
seen.
VAMPERINA: "Our last practice session was right before departing for
Qantseqr. That's where we refined our tactics around Midnight's
darkness field."
VAREQ: "So, rather than sitting around talking about it, I say we just go and do
it. Jump in the aircar, run a few drills, then get some dinner."
JACK: "Agreed. Another thing that will help is a short talk afterwards
trying to come up with possible scenarios of opponents and figuring
out who is best to tangle with whom. I for instance am pretty much
the worst possible person to go after a miniscule character like that
shrinker who can move faster than I can, undetectably, and remain
hard to find even when attacking. The best I could do is hope to
catch him off guard with my new attack and splatter him against a
tree. Surge, on the other hand, is the worst possible person to go toe
to toe with the bruiser who is nigh unstoppable and unblindable :) We
all have our strengths and weaknesses, and it's time to help each
other figure them out.
VAMPERINA: "Agreed, the shrinker was a problem last time. He was so
small that he was incredibly hard to hit without some sort of area
effect attack. Surge and Midnight proved to be most effective against
him."
----------
VAMPERINA: "I generally classify myself as a martial artist whose style
is based on the ancient Solomani tradition of Kung Fu, with the
exception that I never use weapons in conjunction with my martial arts.
I hit with my fist or foot, and supplement martial arts skill with brute
force and mental focus. My attacks are more effective because of my
mental control of my own body. This same mental focus allows me to
harden my epidermal layer such that small arms have little chance of
doing real damage if they are not armor piercing and even the effects of
brute force are greatly reduced. In combat, I rely more on my sense of
smell than my sight to target opponents so Midnight's darkness field
does not bother me. From previous training, he is aware of this and has
spread his darkness field over myself and my opponents knowing that it
would not limit me, but could very well limit my opponent. We used this
tactic effectively in the last battle on Qantseqr against the enemy
mentalist. I also heal wounds very quickly."
VAMPERINA (TECH): DEX 35, SPD 7, Damage is combination of martial arts,
40 STR and Body Weaponry (H-T-H Attack). Defenses are invis FF,
combined with 50% resistant DR and kevlar body suit. Running speed is
21". Has discriminatory, targeting smell. Has Regeneration.
ISOBELLA: "I'm also a martial artist, though I doubt any of you have
heard of my style. Baritsu was a forgotten art even before the
Solomani left Earth, with only my family still using it. Saying that
I'm the galaxies master of Baritsu isn't saying much since as far as
I know, I'm the only living practitioner. The art consists of throws,
kicks, and cane strikes, though I can use my fists if my cane isn't
available. I depend on well placed blows to make my attacks
effective, though I doubt I can match the raw power that some of you
have. For defense I depend on my Thunderfox armor, which also gives
my mobility, but only for a few jumps. I also wear armor like what
Surge just demonstrated underneath my cloths. And I heal quickly
without scars. I don't have any special senses though. I think I'd be
best against hard to hit targets such as other martial artists. Or
alternately working with a heavy hitter where I knock a target off
their feat to make them easier targets for the heavy hitter.
ISOBELLA (TECH): Dex 29, Spd 5, 6 levels with martial art, 2 overall.
Damage (10 to 14 DCs) mostly from martial arts damage classes, some
from 10 STR or +2d6 walking stick. Defense is multiple layers of
armor, enough to survive, not enough to stay conscious from a good
hit. Running speed only 7", but can do 6 superleaps of 33" before
needing to recharge. Has regeneration.
MIDNIGHT: "As most of you know, my powers revolve around the manipulation
of darkness and gravity. My primary ability is to generate a field of
darkness which lasts indefinitely and does not affect my senses. The
darkness is impenetrable by normal sight, IR and UV at different levels,
and both Surge and Vamparina have used it effectively, too. Besides the
cover of darkness, I can generate a gravity well around me which deflects
and/or dampensmany incoming attacks. I also have the ability to alter the
gravity in a certain area with great precision. In combat, I tend to use a
variety of darkness bubbles to stop or slow combatants. These powers tend
to cover a large area, so they work best when facing groups rather than
single opponents. I have been training regularly with Vamparina the last
several months, and I have learned some basic martial arts. I can also
very temporarily make myself much stronger and tougher if I'm forced into
a hand-to-hand situation. I'm definitely more of a support person in
combat helping provide cover and slow opponents since the vast majority of
my powers are non damaging."
MIDNIGHT (TECH): Dex 23, Spd 5
Darkness Falls: Darkness to Normal Sight, Explosion w/ personal immunity,
0 End
Personal Gravity Well: Missle Deflection Bullets w/+2 to Deflect, FF
(linked), KBR (linked)
Gravity Manipulation: TK Str 20, Affects Porous, Fine Manipulation
Gravity Bubble: 4D6 Entangle, Explosion
Black Hole Bubble: 3D6 Entangle, Explosion,Stops Sight
Lights Out: 7D6 Flash, Explosion, Selective
Internal Gravity (H-t-H): Density Increase, Clinging Damage Shield
(linked), 3 5 minute charges
Gravity Flight: 5" Flight, Position Shift
JACK: "I am that heavy hitter, though I do try to display a little more
skill lately than just pure raw power. If you can knock an enemy
martial artist to me, I will definitely hold him as long as it takes, if
not
crush him. I fight with more of a wrestler's style, using my strength to
immobilize enemies and keep them from hurting others. My bio-field
protects me from attacks and gives me strength, as well as
phenomenal leaping ability, especially over long distances. The more
of its energy I use at once, the faster it depletes, however, so I often
hold back a bit and don't strike as hard as I can, because I can only
strike that hard a few times before being exhausted. I am extremely
hard to hurt in any meaningful way, and regenerate slowly from such
damage. My biofield can even protect me from exposure to space for
several hours or more before being exhausted.
JACK: "I can also execute a couple of tricks with my bio-field that I'm
still working on using effectively without depleting a lot of its energy,
one of them being a force globe around myself to protect someone
else from danger, and the other being a new attack that I have yet to
unveil. Basically by concentrating my energy and channeling it into
my fist in different ways I can generate different effects, including a
shockwave or affecting a phased enemy (I hope), but this still takes
quite a bit out of me and is an attack of last resort.
TECH: Dex 23, Spd 5, 1 overall level, 2 with martial art. Can push
strength to 90, taking more and more end the higher it goes. Force
field also takes more and more end the bigger the hits that it absorbs.
Physical absorption which powers a flashing damage shield and
presence boost. Usually attacks for 10-12DC defensive strikes, or
grabs with 50-60 Str. Monstrous leaping ability topping out at over
Mach 3 in non-combat, but not particularly maneuverable in combat.
(Again takes more end the more I use, can use up to 19" in combat
speed, but takes a bunch of END).
JACK (OOC): If familiar with the character Golden Boy from the Wildcards
anthology, Jack is based on him. Edited by George R.R. Martin
SURGE: Surge goes next in his explanation of his powers. "My powers center around the manipulation and projection of energy." As he explains, a two-toned blue sphere of energy forms around him. Bolts of energy begin to leap between his open hands. "I have the ability to protect myself with my force fields as well as shape electrical energy into various forms. It could be a narrow lightning bolt to an explosive lightning strike, releasing a strong sonic boom and flash of light. I can also easily damage electrical devices, gently power large sized electrical devices or disable radio waves. Another subset of these powers allows me to talk directly to machines and control them, assuming they lack sufficient security measures such as I did with the training bots. I can also monitor and decrypt radio broadcasts throughout the full spectrum." Surge then begins to lift off the floor, hovering a few feet above the group as he continues. "I can also fly at a fairly fast rate. (20" combat, 80 NCM). As Midnight and Vana mentioned, I can also use radar to see my targets thus his darkness fields do not affect me much."
"The mutation that gave me these powers also transformed my body from a carbon-based to energy-based. Thus I no longer need to eat, breathe or sleep. I can also survive fine in outer space or in extreme temperatures. My body of energy simply doesn't care about these environments. I can also regenerate any damage to my body by siphoning electricity from either a battery or electrical outlet. Finally, I can split a virtual part of myself into computers and the Imperial Net. Storm, as I refer to him, can function separately from myself and is quite capable, in a virtual sense. He also has the ability to communicate with me over infinite space which can come in handy when we're separated by a star system or two."
TECH: Surge only runs at 4 SPD, with a 26 DEX. He does have a OCV with his multipower of 12 (using all levels) and +4 PSL vs range. His primary attack is a 14d6 EB. Most of his attacks are around 70AP and I will raise this as the rest of the group increases their DCs. At max his defenses are 32/27r so he can protect himself well against body damage but he can get fairly winded with STUN. He prefers to work at range which should reduce how often he gets hit. In practice he rarely gets targeted heavily so he gets by on his less robust defenses.
VAREQ: Looks uncomfortable hearing everyone talk about their abilities so
candidly. As all eyes fall upon him, he winces.
"Look, guys, I was an Imperial counterintelligence agent. I had a network
of my own spies, and I caught enemy Zhodani spies. Unfortunately,
sometimes the Imperium can't see what's right in front of them. I took a
more direct approach to Zhodani counter-int. Instead of pointing out their
agents and waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn while my people
were getting killed and reprogrammed, I removed or reprogrammed them.
Effective, but not popular with my superiors, people like Sir Jon. That's
what lead to my dismissal by the Empire."
Vareq's eyes start to swirl with the blackness of space.
"Before I started my own crusade, I was just a telepath and a remote
viewer. I started pushing my limits in order to catch the zho spies.
Unfortunately, when you look far enough past space and! time, it...changes
you."
His eyes become a pure black, the vastness of infinate galaxies contained
within.
"I've seen things...lived a thousand lives...been beyond the edges of our
universe. You can't ever go back from that kind of journey. I don't want
to go back. You can't imagine what it's like to be everything and everyone
at every moment. It's beyond enlightenment, beyond religion."
Vareq shakes his head and his eyes spark out.
"So, here it goes. I can read minds, scan minds, even control minds if I
need to. I see places far away, or even into the past. I don't dare
journey into the future. I can do mundane things with the power as well,
such as the psi-bolt you saw, or opening wormholes to bypass spacetime."
"Frankly, I prefer to use guns and starships rather than looking into the
beyond. Power like that comes with it's own set of consequences."
OOC:
Obviously our characters can't communicate Stats to each other, so that's
why I figured we'd need to run drills in order to feel up each other.
DEX 29, SPD 5, 2 Overall levels
Hand to Hand combat: Vareq has effectively a 60 STR in HtH combat. He's
not superhumanly strong, he just hits hard and fast without using martial
arts, like Bruce Willis or James Bond.
Psi Powers: With activation roll and nasty Side Effects if he fails.
Mental powers in the 15d6 range
Clairvoyance including Postcognition
EB 15d6
Teleport up to 8 people
Mental Defense usable on others at range
Discriminatory Mental Awareness
He's also started to use a new power where he uses projective telepathy to
make himself blurry and hard to focus on: +3 DCV. He has pretty puny
defenses, with some partial regeneration defined as rapid healing, so he
relies on not getting hit too much.
Also has a fair number of weapon, transport, and spy-type skills. !
----------
JACK: "Where did you learn Baritsu from anyway? Don't tell me the
original Sherlock Holmes was your ancestor...
ISOBELLA: "You've heard of him?" asked Isobella incredulously. "I
thought stories about him faded out millennia ago. But to answer your
question, no, my family tree descends from his brother Mycroft."
JACK: Jack sighs with no small confusion, "I always thought Sherlock
was fictional, not real. I even played characters in some of his stories
ages ago, though not the man himself, I could never pass for the thin
man he was written to be. I did manage to play Watson once though.
You're sure he was real? Wow, that takes me back." Looking up
from his reverie he suddenly realizes where he is again, and looks
around at his friends a bit sadly, he falls silent. When he speaks
again it is with a slow surety, almost regretting the loss of innocence,
"I'm sorry I cannot trust you all with my real age. You are good
friends, so let me just say that I am far older than you may think. My
biofield supports my life, I have not aged a day since I was mutated.
There are times I have wished for death, but I have learned to make
the best of it, most of the time anyway. I have chosen to act in
defense of others for as long as I live, and that will be a VERY long
time, at this rate... I just hope you can all forgive me when I someday,
inevitably, fail you too, and lose you."
After a moment's silence, he shakes his head briskly, and continues,
"Well that's not the topic of today, let's go have some fun. And
please, when I tell you you can't hurt me, believe me. Let me have it
with everything you've got, some days I think I deserve it.
ISOBELLA: Isobella thought back to when she last saw a movie about
Sherlock Holmes and realized that Jack was OLD. More than ever she
wanted to join this group! She carefully considered, and then tossing
millennia of caution to the winds, she spoke, "I don't know if any of
you realize this, but Jack has just placed his life in your hands. If
the empire was aware that Jack was an immortal, he'd be whisked into
a research lab so fast it would make your heads spin, as a test
subject for developing immortality for the emperor." She paused, then
continued, "I think it means something that Jack trusts you that
much. I haven't known you long, but I'm going to do the same. I'm
sure you've all seen my CV. The school work is real, but my 'mother'
is simply my previous identity. Once a generation I create a new ID
then fake my death. A few years at collage to brush up on the latest
advances, but mostly as a vacation, then it's time to start all over.
The truth is my healing abilities include healing from aging. I'm not
descended from Mycroft Holmes, I'm his daughter. My father was in an
intelligence agent and my uncle was a consulting detective.
Observation and Deduction runs in the family. For those of you that
never heard of Sherlock Holmes and have no idea what I'm talking
about, when I was born the Solomani hadn't even started into space."
Isobella fell silent to see how the others would take it. The last
time she had told anyone about her great secret was the last time she
had been married, over 1500 years ago.
JACK: "The good news is that immortals and very long lived races are
not as rare as they used to be, so I do not fear for my freedom and life
quite so much these days as I did in the early centuries on Earth.
Even if they managed to reverse engineer that Wildcard virus from my
mutation millenia later, it still would do them no good, I am the only
survivor from that time because 90% of the infected died within a
week. 90% of those that lived past the week became deformed,
though they often were Class C mutants as well. I was one of the
lucky few that developed powers and abilities beyond mortal men, and
of that few dozen lucky ones I am the only one that developed true
immortality, most of them actually died younger than they would have
as normal humans because their bodies could not maintain. Would
you infect a city of 5 million people to generate one immortal?
Especially if you could not predict that the emperor would receive that
immortality, but might instead be struck with a lethal mutation, or
worse, a deformity that made him so unacceptable to the people who
serve him that it could throw the Empire into civil war?
"It would seem Isobella and I are of an age, though she may even be
older than I, which is saying a lot. I am several thousand years old,
I'm not sure I could even come up with an accurate number, but I too
am from the planet that was later called the home of the Solomani,
but to me, it was just Earth at the time. At that time we still had no
proof that life existed on other planets, until the alien doctor
experimented on us by releasing the Wildcard virus. Just one
desperate man with advanced technology, and millions died. To his
credit when he saw what he had done he stayed to help those he
could, but the damage was done.
"I am very disappointed in the behaviour of the race of humans I was
born to, later called the Solomani, in some of the wars that followed. I
took no part in them, and when the psychotic leadership decided my
difference of opinion was a threat to their rule, I fled, choosing to
disown them and pass into anonymity. Some of the history you know
has been edited and re-written by the victors, of course, but still, there
was enough that was vile and atrocious that I will not discuss such
insane times.
JACK: Jack soberly looks around the group, and tries once more to
get things back on track. "Each of you is welcome to talk to me at any
time about what I have said, but there are some questions I simply will
not answer, it is too painful. While you digest this admittedly
planetary-sized chunk of information, why don't we just get in the
aircar and fly out to the mountains, if Surge will provide me the
location I will drive and you can all talk amongst yourselves or just
think about things quietly, whatever you want to do. Once we're there,
let's try to put it aside though, and focus on the training of the
moment, there will always be time later to discuss such things. There
is always more time..."
VAMPERINA: "It's no real secret that I'm a Drakuloni and it's no secret
that Drakuloni are immortal. I'm sure there are imperial scientists
somewhere trying to isolate the genes that produce immortality in the
Drakuloni." Vamperina shrugs and adds, "so I'm also immortal though not
particularly old. By the imperial calendar, I am only 58 years which
isn't even particularly old by imperial standards."
VAMPERINA: "In any event, I think Isobella belongs in our group so I
have no objection to having her 'buy-in' to the company and join us as a
full-fledged member."
MIDNIGHT: Midnight listens intently to Isobella, Jack and Vamparina talk
about their immortality, then he shrugs. "I'm just a kid by any standards.
I'm sure the implications of your age are grand, and obviously having to
live with that kind of memory and history has been a burden for you.
Personally, I'm just glad to know you all." Midnight looks and sounds like
the simple kid he is, he's always been very open and welcoming. "I guess we
have to let Isobella buy in now that she knows all of our secrets, huh?" He
laughs when he says it obviously jesting.
SURGE: Surge listens with interest to the discussion of immortality in the group. “Well, I am not immortal, though as you can surmise from my powers, I am no longer human in the traditional sense. But since not all of us are immortals we should probably head out and continue the discussion in the SkyVan.” Surge then grabs the new training bots and heads down to the garage. |