The Unclean Spirit Entered pt 3

Log Info

Title: The Unclean Spirit Entered pt 3 (final)
Emitter: Amy
Characters: Alia, Amy, Jerry, Samantha
NPCs: Mischa Belikov, Angry Assassins, Angrier Russian Militia, Progress (Neo)
Place: Moscow, Russian Federation
Time: 1050hrs
Summary: The attempt to protect Belikov from his assassins turns to a wild close-quarter gunfight. Our heroes meet a Russian legend.

Alia suddenly flickers, glowing a brilliant emerald green as she shouts, "Sniper!" With that, she flies /through/ the window, arrowing towards the central building? but without seeing the glint of light, she's only got a general direction to go towards, which isn't quite enough to prevent the shot. Well, aside from being a glowing green figure launching from the building, that is!

Shatter nods as Alia phases through the wall, and once she's gone he sets up his own barrier: a curtain of purple energy over a section of the window. The hard-light barrier flickers into existance, as the masked teen moves to cover the programmer.

"DOWN!" Volta shouts, bolting to try and bring Mischa out of the line of fire.

In the other tower, the shooter is confronted with a challenge, first, Alia's incorporeal form shoots towards him in a flash of emerald light, throwing his aim off at a critical moment. His first shot goes wide, shattering both windows in a storm of noise and glass shards. He recovers quickly, the second shot stopped by Jerry's force-field, the bullet ~tinking~ to the floor, mushroomed.

The Steranko Institute: Alia spends a hero point.

The Steranko Institute: Amy awards Alia a hero point.

Lumina flies into the room, or rather she hovers outside the window as she blasts the sniper in the chest with a light blast. She glows a brilliant emerald now, as she says in French, "I would advise you to surrender, before things get messy." The sniper doesn't look too badly hurt, but the alien looks quite ready to continue.

Shatter stays in front of the programmer, hands up and apart slightly, transferring energy from wind, lights, power - even the people around him - to pump into the purple energy shield in front of him. "Get down and stay down," he says calmly to the programmer. "Lumina will mop up your would-be killers, then we can continue our talk."

Having just been -zapped- by some glowing, teenaged flying….-something-, the sniper's reaction is automatic, line his cross hairs up on her midsection and pull the trigger. He misses, of course, adrenaline and surprise affecting his aim somewhat as what was supposed to have been a simple hit turns more complicated.

"Dammit!" Amy growls, popping up to fling a bolt of electricity out of the window and in the general direction of their attackers.

Meanwhile, both of the formerly unarmed men ignore Alia's warning to surrender immediately and jerk a pair of 9mm handguns from their shoulder holsters. It would appear, they're apt for a fight.

Samantha yells to Mischa, "Help me tip the table on its side so we have cover behind it!", as she kneels down and starts trying to push it over. As she's doing so, there comes a metallic 'clack' from the door as it locks at Sam's mental command. She'll use her telekinesis-like control over metals to help her tip the table if need be, but most likely, her own strength and that of a full-grown man will be sufficient. Sam's own protective field, meager as it may be, flickers with little blue arcs of electricity around her.

As soon as he can line up a shot, one of the sniper's compatriots, a tough-looking guy with red buzz cut hair snaps off a round at Alia, missing by just a little. The guy knows what he's about, he's already lining up his next shot as if he knew he'd miss the first time.

The Steranko Institute: Alia spends a hero point.

Lumina suddenly glows like a miniature sun, and unleashes the energy in a radiant wave around her. The blast knocks out some more windows, and two of the would-be assassins duck and cover, but one gets blasted and knocked for a serious loop. Her tone is angry now, and her French is decidedly clipped with rage, "Do I need to ask this again. Surrender. NOW."

Shatter looks to Samantha and Mischa, then back to the window. "Now.. OK, can anyone see what's going on over there?"

This glowing green apparition can holler all she likes, the man with the Dragunov is a professional with a job to do, not to mention a felon in a country where they're not noted for treating felons very kindly. With his target now out of sight thanks to the flipped table, he chucks the sniper rifle in Alia's direction and starts hauling ass for the door. "Fall back!" he shouts, his accent clearly British. "Fall back now!"

"All I know's that Alia just lit that room up like the frickin' Fourth of July!" Amy calls, trying and failing to catch sight of another target. "Too damn far for me to try and help her." she grumbles. "You really better be co-operative, we get you out of this." she adds for Mischa's benefit.

Alia's blast does find it's mark where one of the trio is concerned. Ears ringing and eyes half-blinded by the alien's energy blast, he staggers, partially deafened, in the direction of the door, firing weakly in the vague direction of the girl.

The Steranko Institute: Amy awards Alia a hero point.

Alia's blast does find it's mark where one of the trio is concerned. Ears ringing and eyes half-blinded by the alien's energy blast, he staggers, partially deafened, in the direction of the door…

Crouching behind the table with Mischa, Samantha asks Jerry, "What's happening over there? Maybe we should be getting out of here? There's gonna be a lot more attention than we probably want around here Real Soon, I'm thinking."

"Don't have to bloody tell me twice!" The redheaded shooter replies in a French accent, not even bothering to shoot as he attempts to get clear of this disaster. In the distance, the distinctive two-note 'BEEE-BAAH' of a European siren can be heard, several of them, approaching rapidly.

The Steranko Institute: Alia spends a hero point.

Lumina flies past and partially /through/ the now-fleeing assassins, and hovers in front of them. She smiles sweetly, "Now, you boys didn't want to stay and chat? I'm hurt." Another conical wave of energy rips from her hands, knocking two of them down, leaving only the redhead standing as she gives him a look, "Stay put, else this will become decidedly unpleasant."

Shatter shakes his head. "No, I can still see flashes from over there; Lumina is still kicking some ass. Whoa! She just lit up the whole floor. Mike, you probably want to get ready to run.."

The redhead is feeling a little toasty, but still defiant, even while his comrades do their best toast impersonations on the floor, groaning inarticulately at the massive jolt their nervous systems have taken. "Baisez-vous, chienne? vous don' ; t savent qui nous…" he begins. Before he can say another word, there's the sound of many boots running towards the door along with much, excited shouting in Russia. And something else, a massive shape blurs by the window, a flash of white and blue….red cape blasting behind in the slipstream…

"What the hell?" Amy says, eyes going wide as she catches a glimpse of the shape. "Eh….heh, I think we're going to have some explaining to do really soon." she says, wincing even as the room fills with the sound of rushing boots, rifle butts crashing against the locked door repeatedly.

"Um, I think that's our cue to GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" That's Sam — directed at Jerry, obviously enough. And she hasn't even SEEN the blur outside.

For someone about to be taken into custody by some fairly pissed Russians, the redhead's playing it awful cool. "Do me a favor, will you?" he asks Alia, smirking a bit as the door is battered down and the room begins to fill with handgun-waving Militia. "Tell Belikov Monsieur Blanc said dosvidanya." he smiles, just before he's thrown to the floor and given what can only be termed a professional beating.

Lumina waves towards the assassin, then says to the cops in French, "The other two are right there. I'm sure when they regain consciousness they'll have quite a tale." With that, she bursts out of the building, flying rapidly towards the others as she shouts, "There's a Russian Neohuman here, and plenty of cops. The cops have those assassins, but we need to leave. Did you get what we need?" The last is said towards Sam, as the alien looks a bit agitated.

"What the shazbat was that!!" Shatter says as he catches a brief glimpse of cape and costume. "Oh, we need to be going, and quick." He looks over to the doors and frowns. "Micky, get ready to hold on to your lunch," he says, dropping the force screen and stepping to the window. He puts gloved hand to the plate glass and concentrates, the glass whiffing away into micro-dimensions as it's atoms are torn apart and consumed. Cold wind whips into the office. "OK, form up and me and I can get us out of here; I assume you're coming since you don't want to answer any awkward questions, do you, Micky? Mainframe, you have the package?"

The Shape passes by again, coming to rest at the opposite window as the Militia haul the now thoroughly beaten and tightly handcuffed redhead to his feet and begin dragging him out of the room. It's a man, a _big_ man, the kind of man that could literally go bear-hunting with a switch, dressed in a gaudy-looking blue and white body suit with a long red cape that billows heroically in the wind. Slowly, floating like Superman in mid-air he begins to turn…and holds up his hand, palm up. Immediately, the battering on the door stops.

"Yeah, everything interesting is on my…" It's at that point that Sam has stood up from behind the toppled table, while answering Jerry's question. "…oh, fuck." Yeah, she just saw Super-Tovarisch hovering over there.

"Well, _shit_." Amy sighs, shaking her head a little. "I hope you guys like vodka." she notes, before turning towards the now clearly petrified Mischa. "We'll do what we can for you." she says, voice clearly indicating how much she thinks that might be under the circumstances. "Jerry, at a dead sprint, how fast do you think you can reach the Embassy?" she asks.

Lumina looks sharply at Amy, "Negative. We're talking our way out of this." She then turns towards the Neohuman hovering outside the window, and raises a hand. "Hello… or, um, parlez-vous francais? I regret I don't speak Russian." She smiles a little, looking rather sheepish.

Shatter folds his arms and gives a disarming smile. "Not nearly fast enough, I'm guessing," he says to Amy, though he continues to look at the caped Russian. "And he's floating like /right there/, Volta," he says. "Hi, yes, um, kept this dude from being shot by those French dudes over there," he continues, hoping the man speaks English.

If this was the U.S., or anywhere else English-speaking, Sam would be tuned into the police bands to have a better idea of what's going on. Here? Not going to do her any good, so she's not bothering. Instead, she stands there next to Mischa, looking fairly ridiculous in a coat made for someone nearly a foot taller than her, and with the borrowed Russian fur hat on her head.

The man floats slowly towards where the four would-be heroes stand, still holding his hand up, palm forward. "There is nothing for you to fear from me." he calls in good, if slightly accented English. If it happens to sound like the voice of God, well, a sharp eye will pick out the throat mic and speakers on his blood-red belt. Russians are nothing if not dramatic. "You have protected a Russian citizen from harm, and for that, I thank you." he adds. "I merely ask what brings you here." he says reasonably.

Shatter is in his mid-to-late teen years, already at six-foot-two with a slim muscular physique that is still filling out with power. His hair is raven-wing black, touseled and wind-blown; his eyes are a dark blue. His features, regular and with an air of maturity about him that most callow youths his age lack.

His costume consists of a skintight one-piece short sleeved purple bodysuit, with a series of large white circles patterned in a wide band across his chest - the circles fragment more and more as one looks from left to right. It's accessorized with black boots and gloves, and a dark purple domino mask conceals his identity.
"Okay, I got nothin'." Amy snerks, totally not expecting this turn of events.

Lumina looks at Shatter, and says softly, "In this case, I think we should be honest." She then looks back towards the floating man, and smiles with a charming expression, "Thank you, sir. We were here conducting an investigation, when the assassins over there." She gestures towards the other building, "attempted to assassinate this man here, before we could find out what exactly was going on."

Shatter hesitates, glancing to the hero, then back to his teammates, then back to the floating man. Then he nods and says "This could take a bit; here's the pertinent details," he says as he summarizes. "So, we came here to see what we could find out, and talked to Micky here, only to find out he's being bent over a barrel by the French," at which point he goes on to explain the rest of the story. "And then we ended up here," he says at last.

For her part, Amy just bucks up and stands ramrod straight in front of the Russian super. "We're trying to stop this from happening, he's trying to help us." she adds.

For his part, the Russian merely nods, and the door is sent splintering down by the Militia, careful not to disturb the four foreigners, Mischa Belikov is immediately handcuffed. "This man is a traitor to the Motherland." the Russian declares. "I can understand your sympathy for his plight, but do not share it." he says firmly. "As for you, I must ask you now to leave our country never to return again without proper invitation. However, I do not want you to think us ungrateful for your actions here today." he adds. "Is there a way to contact you, anonymously, of course. Your investigation sounds as if it is great importance to both our countries."

"Yes," Sam says, breaking her silence while all the explanations were going on. "You can reach us at this email address." Which she then reads off.

Lumina nods, "We understand. Thank you." She smiles warmly towards the Russian Neohuman, then looks over towards Samantha, arching a brow at her to silently ask if she's gotten everything she needs.

Sam replies with a tiny nod, having previously scarfed everything useful she'd found — in encrypted form, of course — onto her laptop.

Shatter shrugs to Mischa, as if to say 'We tried, bub,' and looks back to the Russian super, clearly relieved at this point that he won't be spending the rest of his life in a hole somewhere in power-negation bands. "Um, yes, thank you, um, Progress. We just wanted to keep more people from dying," he says, looking to the others. "I think we have what we need to continue this, in our own country. Everyone ready?"

Shatter looks to the others, briefly. "He's Progress; government operative, like all Russian metas. I'm pretty sure they rotate them out on a regular basis; they just use the same name, so he's a symbol."

Amy sighs softly, shaking her head as Mischa is led away, sobbing quietly under the guard of a half-dozen Militia. "He's unarmed, broken down and no threat." she calls to the burly Russian sharply, narrowing her eyes. "Be _NICE_ to this guy." she adds, feeling the instinctive need to be slightly defiant of authority. "He's got people trying to kill him. That means something." she notes, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest.

"Ha! Ha!.." Progress replies, floating up close enough to really take a good look at his opposite numbers. "GOD, you are _children_…" he gasps, blinking behind his mask. "Very brave children, very brave, indeed." he nods, approvingly. "Do not concern yourself with his fate. He will be given a choice….he will choose to co-operate, or he will not." he says, his massive shoulders rolling slightly. "Now, away with you all. Back to America…..Back to school." he chuckles. "I am Progress." he says, chuckling throatily to Jerry and tossing him something from a hidden pocket in his suit. "You can use this to contact me, should you need." he adds. "Da, you are disturbingly well-informed…." he smirks. "But no matter, we are not enemies, we are friends, go, and do so in friendship. We will contact you when we have extracted anything useful out of those mongrels."

Shatter catches the coin Progress throws him, and slips it into his costume's hidden pouch. "Thank you, sir," he says, and most people have never, ever heard Jerry call any adult 'sir' before. He takes a deep breath and charges up his kinetic field, gathering everyone in after they've had a chance to get their bearings, and moves them out into the open air — then it's again with the dizzying motionless dropping and turning, as he accelerates them out of the city. Once over trees and empty winter-snowed fields he takes off the brakes and they boom past the sound barrier again, going supersonic as they rocket towards the US once more.

"Holy spit, we got lucky," he finally breathes. "There's all sorts of.. rumors about Soviet supers programs. They must.. make a new Progress at some point. Somehow. Anyhow, all those guys are special forces and better."

Samantha gives a wave and a (clearly relieved) smile to Progress, and then is swept away with the rest of the group.

"I think I hate this job." Amy sighs, the time difference and stress starting to catch up with her as she yawns. "I really do." she adds, stuffing her earbuds back into her ears to block out the worst of the wind noise.

Lumina smiles brightly at Progress, returning to her solid form as she gives him a friendly look, "A pleasure to meet you. Hopefully next time it will be better circumstanceeeeeeeessssss!" And then the group is off, flying in Jerry's kinetic field.

Progress waves them off, tossing Lumina a wink before blasting away into the distance…

Along the way, Sam takes off Alia's way-cool hat and hands it back to her, before slipping out of the coat and passing that back to its rightful owner, too. "Thanks. Not sure how well it worked as a disguise, but my fault for not having figured out a costume or anything yet."

Alia smiles wryly, "Well, that could have been much much worse." She shakes her head, looking over at Sam as she slips the coat and hat back on, "Hopefully we found something useful. And if we helped out the Russian government, they might take him down themselves. Or we can parallel our efforts."

They're waiting for the fearsome foursome when they arrive…..Missed classes, missed meals, too many misses to be ignored. The Russians may have waved them off as heroes, but back home, the Steranko people are less than happy. Can you say 'GROUNDED?' Of _course_ you can!

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