64 Degrees and Cloudy

Log Info

Title: 64 Degrees and Cloudy
Emitter: Amy
Characters: Amy, Jerry, Samantha, Sasha
NPCs: Ms. Dormer, A pair of psycho teens, A trio of mystery men.
Place: Thomas S Wooton High School
Time: 9am-ish
Summary: A visit by a internationally renowned Astronomer to a local high school nearly turns into a deadly school shooting rampage. One eerily similar to a knife attack in Japan a few days ago. Strange things are clearly afoot.

Thomas S Wooten High School

One of the most recently built schools in the district, Wooten High is located in the gently rolling hill country on the outskirts of town. It's an attractive setting for a school. The school itself is, naturally, institutional-ugly with a side of lowest-bidder post-modernism.
Today, the large parking lot is full of yellow school buses carrying kids from high schools all over the district. Dr. Eileen Hathaway's little soiree turns out to have attracted a not inconsiderable crowd. Either the high school students of Cove City are more interested in astronomy than the casual observer would believe, or they're just taking advantage of a chance to get out of three morning classes.

"Nice of them to include us private kid schools," Sasha says as she gets off the Steranko bus. In deference to the schools' modestly-low profile, she's pretty thoroughly closed, between jeans and sneakers, a jacket mostly zipped up over her tank top, and even a pair of gloves. "Remind me why we're here?" Sasha asks Amy.

"Well, I'm here to see if this chic's got any new pictures." Amy replies, stretching and yawning a little as she shivers in the unseasonably cool air. "Her website's got some amazing ones from the Hubble." she adds. "You know she's big into SETI and that new project they've started to search for Earth-like worlds?" she asks, buttoning her denim jacket up and receiving Disapproving Frown # 18 from Ms. Dormer at it's patches. Once again, she shrugs it off.

Jerry certainly is interested in the astronomy, since he has a small guidebook with him as they exit the bus from Steranko - he hops off the last step and turns around, looking for the main entrance. "We should hurry; I don't wanna be in the nosebleed section or behind a pillar or something."

Sam nods to what Amy said. "Awesome stuff. I'm thinking she's going to have some interesting things to say." She's dressed in a burgundy T-shirt and a pair of khakis, with a black nylon windbreaker jacket worn open over them. And she also nods to Jerry. "Yeah, let's get in there and make sure we get good seats."

"Um, guys?" That would be Sam, speaking quietly, meant only for the other Steranko students to hear. "Don't look, but some guys with binoculars or a scope or something just set up on the hill at our two o'clock."

Sasha puts a hand in Jerry's, rather distracted by a variety of things, in fact, as she focuses on him, and to a lesser degree Amy and Sam. They all came together, after all. "Right, seats," she says with a hurried nod, tugging Jerry's hand to pick up the pace, just stopping when Sam makes her comment. "What? Seriously?" she asks.

Jerry squeezes Sasha's hand as she takes his, studying his guidebook held up with one hand now. "Wow, black hole rotation and what?" he says as he looks to Sam, stopping along with Sasha. "What the hell?" He doesn't look around suddenly or anything. "I forget; you're the one with the telepathy? Do they mean anyone harm?" he says, already getting a cocky look on his face that suggests imminent violence to be perpetrated on someone of the criminal persuasion.

"You see 'em too, Sam?" Amy asks, cocking her head and peering curiously at the mysterious duo. "Who has telepathy?" she asks, "I thought you were into computers, Sam." she asks, looking between Jerry and Samantha confusedly. "Weird…they're just sorta standing there…watching."
Indeed, that's exactly what the two figures by the dark-colored SUV seem to be doing. They don't seem to notice the four Steranko students are doing the same to them, which could be for the best. One of the two takes his binoculars down and raises his right arm, as if to check the time.
Speaking of time, the apparently clueless chaperone that's been sent along to shepherd these four kids is starting to clear her throat with annoyance at her charges. "Shouldn't we be going inside now?" she asks.

"What I do is kind of like telepathy, but it only works for computers and stuff, yeah," Sam says. "Aaaaand…" She pauses, with a look of concentration on her face. "One of them's got a digital camera, and he's panning from the road to the parking lot and back. Seems to be paying more attention to the parking lot, like he's looking for something."

"Claire's the telepath, Jerry. Not Sam. She's a technopath," she says. Sasha squints over towards the direction Sam indicated. A silvery flash in her eyes, for those watching, as she activates her heat vision - no, not the laser-zapping way, in the sensing heat kind. "That's…not good…" Sasha says. "Hold on a sec…." Sasha's attention drifts, then her head shakes. "Shit. Nothing. Maybe they're doing radio silence?"

Jerry frowns. "Kidnappers, it sounds like. I doubt we'd see them if they were assassins." He puts his guidebook away. "We could make a call, tell the cops 'Hey, there's some weird guys checking out the highschoolers', or.. "Can you pick up any comm on other wavelengths, Sam? Talk to their tech and see what they want?"

"If they're kidnappers, why are they standing around watching the rest of the kids go inside?" Amy points out, indicating that a good chunk of the other students have either already filed in or are lining up to do so. "Wouldn't it be easier to go in once the show's started? Little bit of stealth and some chloroform and 'Hey, why isn't Johnny on the bus?'" she points out reasonably. "And if it's us they're after, they don't seem to be paying us any mind."

"If we're going to call the police, then let's do it from inside the building." Ms. Dormer says pointedly. "Come on, kids, you're attracting attention." she urges. "Bad enough Amy has to show up like she's going to a Metallica concert." she grumbles.
For their part, the observers remain still and…observant.

Sasha makes a face when Ms. Dormer slams on Amy's outfit. "Hey, I like the outfit, Aims," she says. Sasha narrows her eyes slightly, ready to break off and head for the car.

"I'm trying, but my radio senses aren't any more directional than, well, a radio is…" That's Sam speaking again. "Wait — Not sure if this was them, but I just heard someone say… 'The package is en route. ETA, five minutes,' and then someone answered by clicking their mic."

Jerry frowns as he hears this. "Give us six minutes?" he says to the chaperone. "Something isn't right, here."

"I'm coming with you." Amy says, shaking Ms. Dormer's hand off her shoulder as the woman attempts to gently restrain her. "This stinks like a ton of dead fish."

Realizing that whatever tenuous control she migh have had over her charges is now gone, Ms. Dormer relents. "Fine…I'm going in side to phone the police. Whatever you guys do, do _not_ reveal your identities." she cautions them all. "The last thing we need is for Steranko to be come Superhero High on the news tonight."

Sasha pulls away and follows just behind Amy. "Remember," she tells Amy in a low voice, "I'm more armored than you are." She looks over her shoulder towards Jerry and Samantha, nodding her head a little to hint them to circle around and flank.

Jerry gives a quick nod. "That's why I always keep my costume with me," he says in a low voice. He makes a point of looking at his guidebook and ambles off quickly to flank the observers, and try to get a better angle on them.

"Costume? Damn….why didn't someone mention that to me?" Amy sighs, shaking her head a little. "Hey, Ms. Dormer, look out for this for me, will ya?" she asks, pulling her jacket off and tossing it to the woman. "I'm going to want that back, too." she adds firmly. "Won't be happy if I don't." And with that, she follows Jerry and Sasha. "Fair enough, Sash, just don't get too close to me, I gotta start throwing lightning bolts." she cautions. "Don't wanna zap you."

Samantha moves off with Jerry, trying to monitor for more transmissions, now that she's found the frequency the suspicious chatter was on.

As the foursome start to circle around to find a good spot for taking on the two mystery men, a four year old Ford compact slips into the parking lot, and begins to drive around it in slow circles. Once, twice, three times it goes 'round before finally, almost reluctantly, comes to a halt in one of the few remaining parking spaces, it idles for a few moments before the engine cuts out.

There's two boys in the Ford and it appears they're having a very heated argument, gesturing wildly with their hands for several minutes before coming to some kind of agreement.

"Shit," Sasha mutters. "Guns." She looks over towards Jerry and Samantha. A moment later there's a vibration in Jerry's cell phone. It's a text from…well, Sasha's head. /Guns. Be careful./

"Whoa. They just said, 'Package has arrived. Curtain's going up,' and got the mic-clicks back again…" That's Sam with the radio report. "Be alert and stay frosty, people." Yeah, she plays a lot of squad-combat video games.

"Thanks, Hicks." Amy chuckles grimly. "Wait…Sasha, did you say guns? The hell?" she says, keeping low and moving next to Jerry.
'
Jerry one-hand texts 'gt it' to Sasha, even as he moves casually with Samantha over to the side, just acting like a couple of teens talking. "Got it," he says to Sam. "OK, then; radio Sasha and see if that car is the package. Sounds like it," he says as he fades back between two large SUVs and goes to one knee and one hand lightly touching the ground. He concentrates and a purple ripple of energy passes over him, his clothes disappearing and his purple-and-black bodysuit revealed. He looks towards the others, mask in place over his eyes, and thumbs-up. He keeps out of sight, for now.

Sasha leans in towards Amy, stopping her from walking too far ahead. "Warned Jerry and Sam. So we want to wait to watch this go down? See how bad things are?" she asks. "Or do we just want to stun the fuck out of them? Because that's sounding pretty good right now."

"Nice trick," Sam says quietly to Jerry, as she wanders 'nonchalantly' away from him — and closer to 'the package', if that's what the car represents. She still has a couple other vehicles between her and the little Ford, though, as she reaches out with her power…

"If they've got guns, I don't think 'watching this go down' is an option." Amy replies firmly, starting to feel her electromagnetic field snap into place, roiling the air around her body like a wetsuit. "I need a frickin' mask." she snarls, pausing to glance back up the hill.

The two inside the car are now visibly gripping shotguns and apparently trying to psych themselves up to get out and carry out whatever maniacal plan they're cooking.

So why wait? Sasha saunters up to the driver's side door of the Ford. Sasha clenches her hand into a fist and punches through the window, amid a shattering of safety glass."You really don't want to do that," she growls. Her hand grasps for the barrel of the shotgun but misses, probably because of all the shattered glass in the way.

Only a few steps behind Sasha, Amy reaches the car, only to realize that there's not a hell of a lot she can do to the two inside of it. Any attacks she makes would be either canceled by the glass, distributed around the metal of the car, or, quite likely, windup hitting Sasha instead. So now, it's a waiting game.

Okay, car. Two guys with guns in the front seat. Sam's opening move, using her power to override circuitry in the car's safety systems… *BWOOOMPH* The airbags deploy, smacking the two gunmen forcefully in the face.

The Steranko Institute: Jerry spends a hero point.

Seeing the women have the kids in the car well in hand, Jerry goes for the SUV. He rockets in a low nape-of-earth flight across the parking lot inches above the pavement then arcs upwards as he pours on the speed, dropping out of the sky towards the SUV; he lands on the hood and the SUV flickers with a foxfire glow of purple energy, stressed metal groaning and pinging. Then he slams his glowing fist into the hood of the SUV, caving in the metal. The masked boy glaring into the front windows of the SUV. "Give it up, now," he says to the driver.

Sasha makes a heroic effort to snatch the shotgun out of the boy's hands, but his grip is just too tight. A fraction of a second later, Samantha zaps the car's computer to deploy the airbags. Both boys take them clean in the fact, knocking one completely senseless as the bag drives the shotgun he's holding into his face. His glasses ricocheting off the passenger's side door and into the backseat. The driver, though thoroughly smacked, both by airbag and shotgun, fires his weapon with a loud ~BLOOM~ of double ought buck that tears through the roof of the car. "Free Hauser, bitch!" the young man snarls, trying to get his weapon back under his own control.
Meanwhile, Jerry's unexpected arrival at the SUV throws both observers and the driver into something of a tizzy. Soon they're yelling and cursing the young man, demanding to know exactly what he thinks he's doing.

Okay, Sasha totally fucked that up. She's fully ready to shift over to stun-gun arm and zap the bejesus out of the guy when the airbag goes off. Distraction! Sasha lets go and leaps back, her glove rather scorched from the heat of the barrel. Not that it matters to her anymore. Her left arm starts morphing around, reshaping her hand and forearm into a bulky cylinder with a set of prongs on the end.

With one hostile clearly KO'ed and the other starting to get antsy, it's getting hard for Amy to sit on the sidelines. Especially now that shotguns are going off only a few feet from her. Diving to Sasha's side, the young girl just manages to get a blast of electricity into the hole Sasha punched, giving the would be Trenchcoat Mafiaoso a 50,000 volt massage.

"They're… They're talking about a character in a computer game!" That's Sam again. "Something is REALLY not right here! I mean, beyond the obvious!" Meanwhile, the one danger the poor unfortunates in the car still represent would be if one if one of them, despite the battering they've taken, manages to fire again. So Sam's going to prevent that from happening. <Safeties ON> *Click* *Click*

Jerry frowns at the men in the SUV, and powers up his super-strength, arms and hands flickering with strengthened force. "'Fess up; what are you up to with those yahoos in the car with the shotguns. Answer quick or I throw this thing into the bay and you can take your chances."

Amy's electrical attack causes the passenger to do a Saint Vitus' dance before he slumps over, semi-conscious and groaning, still holding the shotgun, but only weakly. These two bozo's war is effectively over, thank heaven. Now that they're both down, it can be plainly seen by anyone who cares to look they came loaded for bear. Semi-automatic shotguns and the pockets of their jackets are bulging with shells. A chorus of wailing sirens announce that CCPD is on their way, and in force.
We're just here to obser…" The driver protests before another cuts him off in mid-protest. "We haven't broken any laws." the oldest, and apparently, most senior of the trio says flatly. "We haven't broken any laws at all."

"Good idea," Sasha agrees. She reaches in and clonks the driver solidly on the head. It's easy with her metal hand. "We hit our time limit yet?"

"Wait…" Amy says, hauling open the driver's side door and tilting the unconscious boy towards the steering wheel. If the kid just happens to hit his head on it, well, who cares, really? "Lemme get his ID, at least his name." she explains, fishing for the boy's wallet.

Jerry frowns at the men in the SUV. No guns. And.. he frowns, the masked teen standing. "Sure you weren't; people run secret surveillance all the time. Don't try to drive this heap; the axle will probably snap if you hit a speed bump." With that, the costumed teen leaps into the air and quickly arcs down on the other side of the complex. Minutes later, Jerry ambles over to the doors to the center, by the chaperone.

Sasha turns around and walks away from the ford, heading towards the SUV. She nudges Jerry a bit, helping get him away and saying to him as they go."So do we know anybody named Hauser?"

Samantha rejoins the group. "I do. Sort of. He's a character in a computer game. I was just playing it this afternoon. His followers yell the same thing those two idiots did."

Sasha does a double take. "So they're really that….crazy?" she asks in disbelief. She rubs her eyes.

"Okay." Amy announces as she finds the boys license. "We got Matthew Erich Thomas." she reads, then tosses the thing back in the car. Apparently someone could care less about the chain of evidence. "Why is it these weirdos always have three first names?" she muses, joining the others.

"Um, hell.." Jerry says as he rubs the back of his neck. "Something on the news about that.. in Japan or something. "The guys in the van were.. weird. No guns, and it's.. but they did say something about observing." He shrugs.

"Get in here!" Ms. Dormer calls, holding the auditorium's doors open and frantically motioning the teens inside. "Good work, all of you." she adds. "Cut it kind of close, but good work."

Samantha says, "Or there's something weirder going on," Sam answers Sasha. "But then, we /never/ run into weird stuff. Except like /every frigging day/.""

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License