Log:ACRO - Stage 2, Scene 4

ACRO - Stage 2 2005/08/25 	 Joanna Lightning Rachel Bilbo Sally NK7 Steel Technohammer Ruger Know-How Headache

4

Locke Circle

Locke Circle has come to be known as the technology center of town. With its manufacturing companies, as well as retail businesses, people come from all over Colonial Bay to purchase the latest in high tech technology. The streets are kept clean and bright, obvious that a great effort is taken for the care of this community.

Lightning and Rachel are flying by, chatting about the Metahuman Studies program at CBSU.

Rachel hrms then says "I've been going there for a bit taking tech classes how come I havn't heard about this at all?"

Locke Circle(#819RDn)

Locke Circle has come to be known as the technology center of town. With its manufacturing companies, as well as retail businesses, people come from all over Colonial Bay to purchase the latest in high tech technology. The streets are kept clean and bright, obvious that a great effort is taken for the care of this community.

Lightning says, "Well, from what I understand, it's a graduate program, part of the Medical School."

Lightning says, "Roxie's working on her disertation, about how metahumans channel energy. You spend some time in a chamber, having various imaging technologies pointed at you while you do it. It's not at all painful."

Rachel nods some thinking about it "That sounds really intristing."

Lightning says, "When I got out of the hospital, after my accident, I went looking for someone who knew something about powers... Roxie's helped me a great deal."

It's midafternoon, and the nearby factory is relatively quiet, strangely enough. There's a flash of purplish light inside the factory, and then a solid black circle with a purple outline appears outside the factory...and four people step out of it into the street. One in power armor, the other three...not. The one in power armor is carrying a decent sized crate.

Rachel says, "Hmmm, well she was rather helpful I bet, but did you find out how.." she stops mid word"

Lightning follows Rachel's gaze, and then blinks, surprised. "There's something you don't see every day," she comments.

Steel has changed into her battlesuit on the maglev coming over here, giving her fellow passengers a thrill, following up on the conversation she had earlier with NK7.

Bilbo is hopping from rooftop with rooftop, his homemade 'alien detector', which he made from a tv-remote, parts from an old Pacman arcade game, and a walkman occasionally giving a half-hearted beep. He pauses to give the device a good shake in hopes it'll start working, but instead it crumbles to pieces in his hand. "Eeeping piece of Eeeping junk. I knew the eeping thing wouldn't work. Should have used parts from a Mrs. Pacman game instead . . ."

NK7 is right behind Jessica, somewhat overwhelmed by all the people on the street. He is looking around nervously at the large gathering.

Steel comes on the scene from S. Golden Sands Rd. She looks around for NK7, and for anyone else who might have heard her radio transmission.

Rachel stops in the air next to lightning seeing the armored person with the crate and curses some before calling out, "HALT, ID YOUR SELFS AND YOUR BUSNESS"

Steel looks over at Rachel and sighs, "Heaven's sake, you should know me by now. This is NK7. Just met him so I don't know anything about the guy other than he claims to have a lead on Pride's activites."

Ruger mutters over his loudspeaker to the gang member with him. "Nice choice...daytime theft in THIS city. I should have known the heroes would swarm like sharks." In response, Know-How looks back at him, "Ok...so I didn't see it coming."

Silver Spider enters from N. Golden Sands Rd..

NK7 says, "Uhm, Gregory is fine. You can call me Gregory."

NK7 says, "But we can save the introductions until after we deal with these idiots."

NK7 looks at Ruger and shakes his head.

Lightning listens to Steel's introduction. "er... I think Flare was asking about /them/." She indicates the other suit of power armor with a wave of her hand.

Know-How looks out at the assembled group of heroes descending upon them, "Now now...we can talk this over." He then motions to Portal, and mutters something to him. Portal nods in response.

NK7's fingers loosen from fists and spread out as wide as he can make them reach.

NK7(#1937PenACcF)

A wiry, lithe young man with a gaunt complexion stands here slightly slouched over. He has jet black, wavy hair coming just past his chin. He's very handsome, but his features seem inwardly focused and he looks by result, seemingly unapproachable. His green eyes are so pale in color it's difficult to tell when stop and when the whiteness of his eyes begins. His face is not so much shaven as it is without hair save his thin eyebrows. He stands at about 5'9" and is wearing a floor-length dark brown trench coat. A pair of thick worker's gloves are visibile in the coat's outer left pocket. He has a black t-shirt on and dark blue-jeans with blue tennis shoes.

Rachel says, "So are ya gonna put the stuff down and turn your selfs in?" she says to Ruger and the man"

Steel laughs. "Oh. Right. Never noticed them. When you're seen one battlesuit another makes little difference."

Silver Spider gracefully swishes along the streetline, flipping and tumbling through the air as she vaults around a lamppost, her graceful frame slipping from leap to swing to leap again as her practiced sweeps bring her closer. o O (Huh? Wtf is that?)

The woman in the small group of thieves just seems to be looking at all of the heroes, one at a time.

Bilbo hops over to the edge of a roof with a nice clear view of the supervillains, getting ready to leap away if they take a potshot at him, (forcefield on). He spies Silver Spider and gives her a little wave, calling over to her, "Come over here! Big battle about to start . . ." He then scans the area for a place to pick up a quick bag of popcorn. Not seeing any, he contents himself with popping a few pieces of gum in his mouth.

The woman looks directly at Steel..."Hmmm...a lot of Starguard is here."

Steel nods. "Sorry to disappoint you but it's not you we came form. But what the heck, any villain in a storm. Haven't had a workout for a while."

NK7 begins to visibly light up a bit, and then with some struggle returns to normal. He moves back from the crowd a bit, and is somewhat off balance.

Lightning says, "Now, wait a second, guys... don't go flying off the handle. We don't /know/ anything illegal is happening here."

The woman looks directly at Steel, "Why don't you just shoot your teammates with that thing?"

Bilbo bobs his head from the roof, calling down, "Er, yeah. Aren't we supposed to wait until AFTER they commit a crime?"

NK7 says, "They did say the word "robbery," but I have to wonder if this isn't some sort of distraction..."

Rachel glances at NK7 wondering what is up with him

Silver Spider's eyeslits widen. "Oh, good god..." She says as she swishes forward. "Who the heck are these guys?" She swishes and hangs from a lamppost near the little crowd of supervillians. "This looks like the B team, all right. Did we leave 3000, The Burning, and Doctor Jackal at home?"

Steel draws a black fletched arrow from her quiver and shoots it into the ground right in front of her own feet.//Darkness arrow, ocv 8, dcv 7.

Portal proceeds to open his cloak up...revealing darkness....pure black. The edges of his cloak turn purple, and another gateway appears behind him...about nine feet in diameter.

Silver Spider idly flips upside down. "Say...do you turkeys have a union? I hear they have great benefits after your teeth get knocked i...CRAP....I can't see her anymore! Who thew that?" She howls. "How am I supposed to make fun of the bad guys when they can't SEE me?"

Lightning raises her force field, not sure what's happening, but cautious.

Rachel sees what is happening and trys to start speeding towards portal

The gang member chuckles, "Tell you what...if all of you turn around and coutn to ten, we'll turn ourselves in." You can all see the group of suspected thieves, and what they're doing. Steel's darkness just covers herself.

Steel becomes hidden to normal sight within a 8 metre diameter cloud of dark smoke, which probably extends to cover several others in it's effect.

Lightning flies down, closer. "Er... what exactly would you be turning yourself in for?"

The gang member chuckles, "Why...questioning, of course."

Silver Spider flips up and over to block access to the other portal, hanging from another lamppost as she raspberries Portal. "You know..." She says. "For a B team guy, you're pretty smart. Turn around and count to ten..." She laughs. "Tell you what! I'll give you til the count of three, and then you can deactivate the stupid little gateway, which constitutes a violation of several federal traffic and immigration laws, and then I won't have to kick your fat booty back to Dover Delaware where your secret base is."

Rachel says, "Questioning, as well as for possable robbory" she lands next to portal "I suggest you do as she asked and close the portal""

NK7 holds his hand up, fingers outstretched, towards Portal.

Lightning raises an eyebrow. She looks at the crate Ruger is carrying, looking for any kind of identifying markings.

Portal replies in an otherworldly ghostlike voice....sounding cold, and gravelike. "One...cannot...close...so...simply...what...one...has...opened."

There are just numbers on the crate. No big labels in a language, or anything.

Silver Spider's eyeslits narrow. "So let me get this straight. You, genius, have opened up this gateway, which you CAN'T CLOSE?" She shakes her head. "Where does it go? Because I was joking about Dover, Delaware!"

Steel draws a yellow fletched arrow to her bow inside thew cloud of smoke, and shoots at Rachel.

Portal looks at Silver Spider..."You...don't...want...to...know."

NK7 says, "thanks."

Sally yelps, "Mum? What are you doing?"

Rachel sees the arrow comming and right before it hits her she puts 1 and 1 togeather and yells out "MENTLIST! DEFEND" she doesn't finish it as the arrow hits her and the gas stuns her.

Bilbo eeeps loudly at this startling development, then hocks a mouthful of his patented supersticky bubblegun at Steel. After all, she just took a shot at his extra-special superfriend, Flare, beloved patron of the monkey masses. He grumbles a bit at Flare calling him a mentalist afterwards. Afterall, other monkeys might have psychic powers, but that doesn't mean HE does. He gets along very well just with his gadgets, thank you very much!

NK7 says, "Could he shoot where the arrow came from?"

The gum disappears into the darkness. There's no indication whether or not it hit.

Silver Spider shouts. "Who's the mentalist, people! Can anyone tell me?" She shouts as she flips towards Portal, vaulting atop him and trying to stand on his head while she unleashes an energy bolt at the woman. "You seem to be capable of identifying Starguard members, so that makes you a serious threat..." She says as the blast rockets towards her in a corkscrew bolt of blue and green

Silver Spider thinks. o O (Oh, crap. I probably just shot an actress or something.)

The woman is slammed into by the blast...and there's a cracking sound. She flies about six meters, and skids to a stop on the pavement. There's...a bit of blood.

Silver Spider looks at the others. "Look...I didn't mean to shoot her that hard..." She says in a steely voice. "But if the rest of you don't give up now, I'll be forced to get rough with the rest of you. Rougher than that."

Bilbo eeps in horror, "You . . . you killed her!" as he stares at the bleeding woman, having not had a lot of experience with supervillains bleeding.

Silver Spider turns to Bilbo. "I didn't use enough force to kill most humans..." She says firmly. "Unless she was vulnerable to bioenergy, she's probably okay..."

Know-How doesn't wait...and runs for the gateway, diving through it head first, at full tilt.

NK7 says, "sees the apparent plan and decides to take his original shot at Portal. His whole body lights up for a moment and a blast exits at his hand towards Portal's direction. After the blast, he is thinner than he was before shooting it. "

Silver Spider lets out a yelp as Portal fires. "HEY!" She yowls. "That's my big fat booty you're shooting at!" as she dances wildly on Portal's head.

NK7 looks confused and says, "Sorry, I promise I wasn't aiming for you."

Portal is slammed into by NK7's blast...knocking him out from under Silver Spider. He's thrown backwards...through his own gateway...and the edges of it start to collapse. Silver Spider manages to avoid getting hit herself, and lands on her feet. Ruger notices the turn of events..."GAH! I knew it! I KNEW it!"

Rachel sits there a dazed look on her face as she shakes her head being right next to the portal and sees it falling trying ta move the 1 foot to get into it

Silver Spider tumbles to the ground as she watches Portal go through the gateway. "HEY!" She shouts! "Bonehead boy still can't close that thing!"

Ruger growls a bit over his intercom, using his left hand to spin the cylinder on his right arm. "Fine...'tis gonna be THAT way, eh?" He raises his arm, and aims in the vicinity of NK7.//8d6 Explosive vs. PD

Sally and Joanna have suffient experience of mind control to realise what is happening. They call out to their mum, telling Steel to snap out of it. "Wake UP Mum! Shoot the bag guys!"

Silver Spider's eyeslits narrow. "Kids?" She says as she looks over at Steel, and then at Sally and Joanna. "Oh, my god..." She manages. "Steel, they're yours?" She says. "Do you mind if I get them the heck AWAY from here before grenade lad here shoots again?"

Ruger(#1803On)

This is a tall suit of power armor, entirely the color of gunmetal, aside from the black letter 'R' on the left side of the chest. It's relatively form fitting, but still quite solidly built. The helmet covers the wearer's full head, and has a blackened visor, as well as several slits in the front where the wearer's mouth would be. The feet are large metallic boots. The left gauntlet is similar to the feet...but the right forearm looks like a large revolver cylinder, with one of the holes at the top.

Joanna shouts, "I'm okay. Second rate villains like these can't hurt me."

Sally says, "I was created to fight the toughest heroes in the world."

Joanna says, "Not that I fight heroes anymore. I'm on your side now."

Bilbo blinks a bit at this, "Ooookay. Supervillain kids. Steel's gone bad. What an unusual day . . ." He gulps nervously.

Steel decides to finish one target before moving onto the next. Drawing another black fletched arrow she shoots at Rachel again.

Steel lowers her bow and steps out of the cloud of smoke. "Okay girls, I'm back with you now. Sorry friends, got a little mind-danced on for a moment."

Lightning raises an eyebrow at Sally and Joanna. Created? But the explosion, and its source, are more important at the moment, and she spreads her hands wide, throwing an arc between them, and then stretching it out towards Ruger.

The electicity arcs around the power armor...and there's a scream over his speakers...he clutches his helmet with his left arm, and then looks to Lightning..."Ok...now you're dead..."

Lightning grins pretty.

Silver Spider's eyeslits widen. "My god, you guys aren't even the B team." She says as she looks over to the children. "Hang on, kids. I'll have you out of here in a jiffy." She looks over to Lightning. "Nice shot, gorgeous..." She says with a wink.

Sally calls out to Silver Spider. "I don't want to spoil your fun. I'll go down the street out of the way, okay?"

Silver Spider leaps lightly over to the children. "Hang on, kids..." She says as she extends arms. "I'm getting you guys away from this as best as possible, okay?" She extends a hand to each child and tries to grab onto them, to carry them up to a rooftop. "You'll be safer up here..."

At the end of phase 2...the gateway collapses...with a sound of wind rushing into a vacuum...leaving a slight ripple effect in the air, like when you 'see' heat...

Sally and Joanna grab onto Silver Spider to help her take them up to the rooftop. They look a bit sad and apologise for wasting Silver Spider's time when there's villains to fight.

Bilbo's eyes narrow. With a harsh high-pitched battlecry of "Let loose the Monkey of War. Feel the might of my awesome squirtgun and the unstoppable force of, um, water unleashed!" He glances around quickly to see if anyone is laughing at him, then gives his super-soaker a few pumps and fires off a half-hearted blast at Grenadeboy.

Ruger is slammed into...he grunts as the water hits the metal armor with a 'bang' sound. His feet dig in, and tear up the pavement as he's driven back about 2 meters, still standing.

Bilbo gulps, "Oh. Okay. Um. That wasn't me. No sirree. Um. Some OTHER monkey with a squirtgun must have fired that off. Yep. Thats what happened. Er, look! there's a much more impressive superhero closer than I am!"

NK7 looks at Ruger in disgust and says, "Grenades at children? You... MONSTER!!!" He again lights up and blasts a somewhat more fiery version of his earlier blast. Again, after the blast towards Ruger, he is thinner in appearance.

Silver Spider looks down to Sally and Joanna. "Listen, kids...keeping people safe is what being a superhero is all about. It's not about beating the heck out of people." o O (Gonna have to call the hospital for the telepa...) "OHH, SHI!@#$!" She manages as the merciless lethal bolt of energy rockets towards Ruger.

Random Factor soars down from above.

NK7's blast seems to bounce harmlessly off Ruger's armored shoulder. He doesn't even notice.

Silver Spider turns to the two little kids. "Sorry about the language." . o O (I hope Steel doesn't kill me for that...)

Sally and Joanna nod to Silver Spider. "That's what my old school principal used to tell us. But Mum misses being a soldier I think. She enjoys thwe fighting."

Rachel growls standing as she launches her self at the armored man swining her arms like she has a sword at his shoulder

Rachel her sword blinks into exitance then puffs out right before hitting rugar and she curses

Ruger spins the cylinder on his arm, and levels his gun at the person who's hurt him the most. Lightning.//11d6 EB vs PD

Ruger(#1803On)

This is a tall suit of power armor, entirely the color of gunmetal, aside from the black letter 'R' on the left side of the chest. It's relatively form fitting, but still quite solidly built. The helmet covers the wearer's full head, and has a blackened visor, as well as several slits in the front where the wearer's mouth would be. The feet are large metallic boots. The left gauntlet is similar to the feet...but the right forearm looks like a large revolver cylinder, with one of the holes at the top.

Lightning is blasted in the chest by what seemed like a howitzer shell...she goes flying across the street, and strikes a building...

Lightning slides down the side of the building to strike the ground, where she flops like a rag doll.

Ruger laughs...."THAT's the stuff!!! This armor ROCKS, baby!" He looks around at the group, "Fine...I didn't need those losers...who's next!"

Silver Spider lets out a low whistle and glares at Ruger. "That's it, buddy. You just bought the farm...' She says angrily. "Someone see if Lightning is okay. Pinhead and his grenade gun are mine!"

NK7's eyes sharpen on Ruger. "You won't make it out of here in one piece, Ruger."

Lightning shakes her head, and slowly gets back to her feet.

The twins growl on seeing Lightning get flattened. "She helped me. Go take him apart, miss."

Steel looks up at Silver Spider, "You claiming him? I'm booking the next slot then."

Ruger hears his name, looking to NK7. "This armor's reputation precedes me, eh? You know my name? The prior owner was a chump."

Sally and Joanna will stay where Silver Spider took them, staying out of the fight zone so they don't distract SS from hammering Ruger.

NK7 says, "Maybe it's chumps that seem to be the ones who keep picking up the armor, no offense Bilbo."

NK7 says, "Wait, that's chimps."

Silver Spider extends a webline and rockets down towards Ruger. "Actually, I'm of the free shots persuasion..." She says. "The fact that Lightning's hot and I'm the swinging sort of Spider only reinforces my resolve..." She arcs towards Ruger and launches a bolt of energy at him from the side that will knock him towards Steel. "Batter up!" She says cheerfully. "Cricket or Baseball, it really doesn't matter..." as she rotates into an upside down position

Bilbo sighs softly at NK7's display of anti-primate prejudice, and shakes his head sadly, but doesn't respond to the obvious provocation.

Again, Ruger is blasted...grunting..."OW! Alright...THAT one hurt." Strangely enough...he isn't knocked anywhere. His feet continue digging into the pavement, causing it to curl up around his heels.

Ruger(#1803On)

This is a tall suit of power armor, entirely the color of gunmetal, aside from the black letter 'R' on the left side of the chest. It's relatively form fitting, but still quite solidly built. The helmet covers the wearer's full head, and has a blackened visor, as well as several slits in the front where the wearer's mouth would be. The feet are large metallic boots. The left gauntlet is similar to the feet...but the right forearm looks like a large revolver cylinder, with one of the holes at the top.

NK7 again aims for Ruger, this time with his armor in mind.

Ruger grunts again..."Ow...how'd that get through the armor?"

Rachel trys to swing again her shield ebbing lightly as she swings at his body with a odd motion mimicing a stabbing her fists flaming

Rachel the sword works but as ruger shifts with the blows she misses him completely

Ruger spins the cylinder again, and aims at Silver Spider...there's a massive kickback as he fires, his arm surging back several inches as the shell leaves the barrel.

Silver Spider tumbles flips and rolls as the blast catches her in the chest, making a "Hkkk..." noise as she rolls back up into a combat stance. "All right..." She says. "Hunting season's over, jackass. I'm through playing with you..."

Ruger chuckles, "Tough talk for someone with a backup of like...a half dozen people."

Silver Spider snickers. "Uhh...I hate to point this out, smartguy, but except for Lightning, no one else has hit you yet.'

Sally and Joanna remain where they are.

NK7 coughs.

Steel draws a red fletched arrow from her bow quiver and nocks it. Without a word she shoots at Ruger.

Ruger chuckles. "I bet your friends would be so upset...with you calling them no one..."

Bilbo scrunches up his nose at Silver Spider's remarks, "Excuse me? Monkeys don't count, is that it. Oh, you're happy to have us press your pants and mop your floors, but soon as one of us becomes a superhero its all like, 'Silly Monkey, vanquishing supervillains is just for kids . . . er humans.'"

Silver Spider turns to Ruger. "Uggh..." She says. "You're right, you're right...' She says, tilting her head. "Oh, by the way, there's an arrow in your back. You are so easy to distract. I wonder who Ruger number seventeen will be, after they're done passing the armor around..." She says cheerfully. "Oh...and laugh while you can, monkeyboy..."

Steel's arrow bounces off of Ruger's helmet. He looks over in her direction. "Was that supposed to hurt? Or are you just trying to distract me?"

Lightning, befuddled, thinks, "Silly Monkey? Spider and Bilbo's love child? No... that would be 'Spider Monkey'...."

Steel keeps looking at Ruger in silence.

Bilbo deeply considers the complex strategic elements of the battle situation. Then, decides on his next battle strategem with the unfailable 'eenie meenie minie moe' tactum. With the terrifying cry of "Beware human, for you are about to witness a level of sheer stickiness never before seen by mortal men. . . " he tosses a double handful of bubble gum into his mouth, chops ferociously, then spews the entire mess at Ruger

You can hear Ruger audibly sigh..."Oh...great." He appears quite stuck, at least at the moment.

Silver Spider's eyeslits widen. "Oh, my god, that's disgusting..." She says as she moves over to Ruger, and points her fingers at him. "Tsk..." She says as she lifts a hand to his mouth. "Shush..."

Silver Spider lifts her hand and webs his mouth shut with webbing, making sure his nose is free so he can breathe. "There you go."

Ruger looks like he probably has a sealed system in the armor. He's going to be fine, as long as his air holds up in the armor.

Steel sees another steel-tip arrow would simply cut the power armor free, so with a small sigh she changes to a gray flighted arrow and fires.

Silver Spider sighs. "You know, Steel..." She says. "I think this is probably the best thing we could possibly do." She wraps more webbing around Ruger's midsection. "So, you guys want to watch me roll him to jail or what?"

NK7 says, "Let's take him to jail and get that armor off of him."

Ruger lets loose with a shell into all of the stuff entangling him...you hear a THUMP as he does.

Some of the gum and webbing and netting is knocked away...but not all.

Steel whispers under her breath, "... anyone got a tin-opener?"

Bilbo is a bit perplexed about what to do. . . so, he chews up some gun, sticks it to his star guard baseball cap, then smooshes it over the viewing plate in Ruger's helmet so at least he can't see anything anymore.

NK7 says, "Well, it seems you guys have this under control."

NK7 starts to leave, but then turns around to Ruger, "So do you know anything about Pride, tin-man?"

Silver Spider grins to the others, and turns to NK 7. "Somehow, I don't think Pride Tien Lung would hire a loser like this guy.'

You only hear a muffled sound in reply.

Lightning shakes her head again, clearing it. "Quite a punch that guy packs," she comments. She goes to the unconcious mentalist, and checks her vital signs.

Bilbo hurries over to the nearest garbage can and drags it over, then, using pieces of chewed up gun, begins gaily decorating the struggling Ruger with rotting banana peels, empty fast food containers, and all the wonderous really smelling bits of stuff that people threw out.

The woman is alive. But barely. She need medical attention badly.

Silver Spider turns to look at the woman. "Oh, my god..." She manages as she hurries over to the mentalist. "We need a paramedic, NOW!"

Lightning pulls the cell phone out of her pocket, and dials 911. After a moment, she says, "This is Lightning. I need an ambulance, and peace officers equiped with psionic dampner gear." She pauses. "No, I'm not kidding. Yes, /that/ Lightning."

Silver Spider lifts up a hand and casually reinforces the entangle. "Bilbo! Stop that! Covering him in garbage will get you sued!"

Within minutes, there's a paramedic team on the scene...faster than the police, interestingly enough.

Bilbo pauses in his decorating, "But . . . its just like Christmas . . ." He grumbles a bit as he stop his decorations and scurries over to the injured woman. "Ooooh. You said she was okay dokay, Spider. . . Did you hit her too hard after all?"

Lightning looks at the Paramedics, suspicious after her last run-in with the paintball crowd, but lets them take the mentalist.

Silver Spider turns to Bilbo. "I think I must have...she's bleeding badly. Oh, man, I screwed up bad..." She mutters. "Can't believe this chick didn't wear any armor. I think we were set up..."

The paramedics take a look at her, and get her onto a stretcher as best they can.

Bilbo looks between the pair, "Um. . . They seemed pretty surprised to me . ."

Lightning walks over and pats Bilbo on the shoulder. "Nice job catching the bad guy, Bilbo."

Just before the police show up, another suit of power armor jumps down from on top of the factory.

Technohammer(#1634On)

Big. That's the way to describe this huge suit of power armor, approximately 8 feet tall. The suit is metallic looking...and mostly white and silver. The helmet is white, aside from the darkened visor. The armored torso is white with the abdomen a red color, with a large letter 'A' where a belt buckle would go. The arms and legs are silvery-metal, and the gauntlets and boots are red.

Under his right arm is a rather large weapon of some variety, with a rotating set of cylinders, and tube to the armor's large white backpack. Next to the energy pack on his back is what appears to be a rocket launcher.

Bilbo grins up at Lightning, "Second time the gum worked! Caught two Stingers with it the first time!"

Silver Spider looks up as the second suit of powered armor comes flying down from the sky. "Ohh, crap..." She manages as she moves slowly with the stretcher, taking a moment every few feet to re-web Ruger up.

Technohammer chuckles quietly, "Nice job. Want some assistance, so you can stop webbing him up?"

Silver Spider looks over to Technohammer as she continues webbing him. "Uhh...sure..." She says. "As long as you're on the right side. Can anyone here vouch for metalhead here?" She tosses another blast of webbing Ruger's way.

The woman is taken away by the paramedics...off to the hospital.

Bilbo carefully considers the new power armor guy. Hmmm. . Blue and white. . . Blue and white. . . Looks sufficiently heroic, I guess. "Er, this guy a superhero?" He points at Technohammer.

Lightning goes over to look at the crate Ruger was carrying earlier. Is it still sealed?

NK7's fingers spread out.

Technohammer replies, "Flare could have. But, it appears she's no longer here." He chuckles, "I'm neither. I'm a mercenary. But, being one of the designers of Ruger's armor, I can shut it down remotely."

Bilbo gasps, "By the Monkey King's fluffy tail . . . He's the criminal master who built the supervillain's armor! Super Friends, to arms!" With that, he takes an aimed shot at the tube linking Technohammer's weapon to his backpack power supply.

Silver Spider shrugs. "Well, Mercenary..." She says firmly. "Are you under contract at this time?" She asks. "No offense, but we might be able to roll him to jail from here.'

Technohammer is spun about...but the cable doesn't break. He rolls to his feet, and looks at Bilbo. "And I thought you were smart. You're looking at charges for assault now."

He doesn't fire back at Bilbo.

Bilbo keeps a steady eye on Technohammer, "Freelance super-armored mercenaries who built powerarmor for supervillain wannabees? Sounds illegal to me!" He activates his comm and contacts Starguard for any outstanding warrants on his obvious miscreant.

NK7 sees where this is going and slips away to investigate the factory.

Silver Spider turns to Technohammer. "Uhh, sorry about the monkey." She says, turning to Lightning. "Can you give him a hotfoot or something before these two burn the city down?"

NK7 leaves Locke Circle and enters Optimum Manufacturing.

Bilbo frowns as he listens to his comm, he quietly mutters into it, "Er, how about misdemeanors? Traffic violations? Come on, give me SOMETHING!"

Technohammer strides toward Bilbo, pointing at the monkey, "I helped bring in two of ACRO power armored agents! I told the police that they were mutants inside power armor, so they would know to use suppressor cuffs! And now, you're giving me a hard time?!? Heck, I'm working with one of your teammates!"

Lightning is still looking at the crate?

Bilbo's tail droops as he sniffles a bit, "I was just trying . . . I thought . . ." He reaches into one of the pockets of his coveralls and pulls out a small slightly melted Snickers bar and offers it to Technohammer as he squeeks, "Um, Friends?"

Silver Spider sighs. "Look, he's not going to be your friend! YOU OPENED FIRE ON HIM!" Silver Spider says. "Lightning, are you going to be okay?"

Technohammer shakes his head, and stalks away from Bilbo, walking toward Ruger. He looks to Silver Spider, "I realize that you could keep webbing him up, but this will make it easier for the police to unwrap him, and get him out of that armor." A panel opens up on his left arm, and he touches a couple buttons with his right hand. You hear Ruger...stop moving. And his voice becomes more frantic.

Technohammer closes the panel up. "He's just freaked because the joints locked on him. The breathing apparatus should still work, though."

Lightning looks around. "Fine," she answers. "Just a little dazed. Look at this crate... no ownership markings on it. This guy and his friends were pretty dumb... if they hadn't attacked us, we'd've had no grounds to hold or question them.

Bilbo sighs as he unwraps the candy bar and begins nibbling on it himself. He wanders over to the crate to see if anyone has opened it yet.

Bilbo checks his toolbelt. Hm. Screwdrivers. Hammers. Wrenches. Time to open up a mystery box! He pulls out a hamer and begins prying away with all his monkey strength.

Inside, there's foam packing peanuts. A lot of them. And inside that...it appears that there are some electronic parts. Perhaps they were being stored here in the factory.

Lightning looks over Bilbo's shoulder. "Electronics," she observes. "Anything in here to indicate ownership?"

"Well, lets have a look at these..." She says. "If someone could please do some research in conjunction with the authorities, we might be able to find out what they were after."

Bilbo immediately hops into the crate and begins scrounging around in the peanuts and holding up any interesting parts he finds.

The parts arent' overly high tech at all. Low grade stuff. Again, they might have been used in the computer systems in teh factory they were taken out of. Perhaps they were going to be fenced? Or the thieves got the wrong box?

Lightning huhs. "I half suspected this would be alien-derived stuff, what with what's been going on lately." She turns, and looks at NK7. "I'm Lightning," she says, holding a hand out.

Bilbo scratches his head, confused, "Huh. Low grade stuff. Maybe they grabbed the wrong box - or the factory owner hired em to pull off a fake robbery for the insurance."

Lightning shakes her head, a little confused. "With the exception of the guy in the armor, they didn't really seem prepared for the kind of fight they got. I'm pretty mystifyed by it all."

Silver Spider searches the box and the packing foam. "Maybe you guys want to break down the packing foam..." She says. "You know they can make cocaine look like this stuff, right?"

The police show up, and proceed to load Ruger into a van with the help of Technohammer. One of the policemen asks, "Why's he covered in gum and garbage?" Technohammer replies, "Ask the monkey. He's the one who did it."

Bilbo seems distracted by the packing peanuts. He begins tossing handfuls into the air and watching them drift away in the wind, with a soft, "Ooooooooh"

Lightning laughs quietly, and shakes her head. "I think we just happened to stumble across a gang of petty theives, who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Silver Spider turns to to Bilbo. "DON'T DO THAT!" She shouts. "The peanuts are evidence!" She sighs and begins folding up the box. "So, Lightning." She says. "I don't think so...the wrong place at the wrong time is not for guys who can open dimensional gateways."

Bilbo eeeps as Silver Spider starts closing the box he is currently inside. ..

A policeman comes over to speak to the group of you. "Alright...what happened here? And where's the monkey that the tall armored gentleman was referrin' to?"

Technohammer leaps back atop the factory, and starts walking away.

Bilbo abruptly decides that inside the closed box is probably a good place for him right now. ..

Lightning says, "I think the tall, armored gentleman was mistaken. I'm lightning." She holds out her hand, and smiles pretty. "My friends and I were attacked by the fellow in powered armor... we defended ourselves."

Silver Spider moves over to Lightning. "Actually, his ally used telepathy to make Steel attack us, and then he opened fire." She says. "Telepathic assault, again. Geez, I can't go anywhere without encountering a mentalist these days."

The policeman nods slowly, "Very well...we'll need statements from all of you."

Lightning gives a statement. She sticks pretty close to the truth, but leaves out any mention of anyone who disappeared before the cops arrived.

Silver Spider gives a statement about the mentalist, and is very detailed about the entire situation, including standing on Portal's head. She leaves out nothing. "Oh, could someone get Steel's kids down from that rooftop?"

Lightning says, "I think Steel took care of that already. 8)"

Bilbo quietly tries to sneak out of the packing crate full of peanuts.

Bilbo quietly leaps onto a nearby rooftop and scampers off for a new adventure.

Silver Spider grins to Lightning. "Well, now that that's over with..." She says. "Are you sure you're okay?"