Log:Careful What You Steal

Don't Count Me Out Yet 2008/05/29 	 Lightray Narosia Rebound Variable Skysabre 1

Don't Count Me Out Yet, Scene 3
The basement of the old low-rent apartment block has been taken over by local youths. There's a ghetto blaster going full volume. The walls are covered in vivid graffiti. Boxes and crates serve as chairs and tables. One area has a battered table-football machine set up in it. There's also sufficient numbers of easily portable objects of low to moderate value to indicate the occupants are engaged in minor thieving.

Once upon a time; there were petty thieves operating near the Industrial Park. A gang of youths, generally not given to violence but with light fingers. A call goes out over the usual channels, Tri-D, radio, etc, for meta assistance at the Industrial Park.

Skysabre soars overhead in falcon form, having picked up the radio call on its internal communications system.

Rebound bounce-glides out to the scene.

Outside a run down apartment block the road is blocked by several police vehicles parked at a distance. There's a basement window, It's open. Half in and half out, draped over the window frame, is the unmoving body of a youth.

Variable glides in in a more condor-like shape. Well, some sort of big bird anyway.

Narosia teleports onto the scene, her temper as is increasingly the case, slightly off kilter whenever called to met out justice. So yes, glowy eyes and shrouded robe.

Skysabre doesn't immediately become involved with the police. It moves into a circling pattern over the building, switching to thermal vision.

One police vehicle, the closest to the apartment block, is burning.

Skysabre discovers the top floor of the apartment block has lots of people gathered on it. That's as far as its thermal will penetrate the building structure.

Variable flies down toward the police vehicle, changing shape last second: she's doing her fire blanket trick again to try to smother the fire.

Rebound circles overhead, trying to spot the policemen who belong to the vehicle.

Skysabre drifts towards Rebound. "Good afternoon, Rebound." It greets him. "I can register many individuals on the top floor."

The request for assistance was lacking in any details. However almost immediately the question why is answered. Something slivery glittery moves inside the basement, visible briefly through the window, as a plasma beam spears out at the Variable as she swoops down.

The plasma beam catches Variable as she flares in towards the burning police vehicle, and she is hurled tumbling across the street and through the wall of the facing apartment block vanishing deep within it.

Skysabre immediately transforms into its combat mode after the attack on Variable. It begins listening for transmissions from the building.

Rebound calls over to Skysabre. "I think that came from the basement. Can you see down there?"

Shielding her eyes from the sudden blast of light, Narosia lags behind knowing that Variable was hit. "Light powers?" Inwardly, she lets free some inventive latin curses at the thought.

Skysabre is picking up very high frequency transmissions, digital, massive information contant judging from the bit-rate, and probably encypted. There are several sources, at least three, and the sources seem to be in an interconnected network.

"I cannot see into the basement." Skysabre replies. "But there are many individuals on the top row and a large data transfer occuring from within the building. I will attempt to decode."

Rebound continues to circle. He calls to Skysabre. "We should scout out the situation. I'm going to bounce down and grab some police radios so we can keep in touch. Then I'm going to see if I can sneak into the basement." He banks and swoops down trying to land by the police barricade.

Skysabre manages the decrpytion. The data is massively complex. It would guess a hive processing process, layered. Although there are three physical locations for the transmissions Skysabre would estimate the number of processing units in the network to be in the tens of thousands. It's at machine code/raw data level, probable a mixture of command codes and sensory data. Skysabre will need more time to completely decode the sensory data and get sensory information, but It thinks it could transmit back and at least impair the network so some degree.

A police officer crouched down behind a vehicle looks over at Rebound. "I'm glad to see you. Is the flyer okay? Ambulances have been called."

Rebound says, "I'm going to find out in a jiffy. Officer, do you have ah, four radios we can borrow?"

Skysabre gets onto the police frequency as it continues to circle. "I have discovered a significant data transfer emanating from this building...I have not yet been able to piece together the entire picture but it is massively complex and linked to tens of thousands of data terminals. I may be able to interfere, requesting guidance."

The officer tells Rebound. "I have a spare in the car." He calls out, "Get your spare radios out. The metas want to borrow them."

The officer hands Rebound a spare radio. "Uh, there's someone transmitting. I think it's for you."

Rebound takes the radio. "Yes? Rebound here." He talks on the radio and beckons for the officers to hurry up with the spares.

Skysabre repeats verbatim its last transmission.

The officers gather the requested spare radios and pass them over to Rebound.

Narosia nods her becowled head at Rebound, silent for the moment while he takes care of the talking side.

Rebound bounds over to Narosia and hands a radio to her. "We'll use these to keep in touch." And then he bounces away again to check on Variable. He plans on grabbing her, and then jumping to a safer location. As he moves, he's also on the radio. "I'm not sure what it is, but I gut tells me that you should jam it."

"Affirmative." Skysabre replies. It holds still, initiating a counter-transmission. "Though likely my processing power will not be significant for full impairment."

When Skysabre starts the transmission the data changes encrpytion key. Skysabre is keeping up with the changes at the moment.

"This is a sophisticated network." Skysabre comments.

Narosia wields the radio inexpertly, prodding it using a bony finger but gets the gist within seconds-or gets its use as long distance telephone device. "Careful." She mutters, heading for the building with much trepidition.

Variable comes to, but has the sense to stay out of sight till she gets her strength back. That hurt!

Rebound bounces into the building after Variable. He calls out her name. "Are you alright?"

"I recommend that we develop a strategy soon." Skysabre replies. "Whatever they are doing it is succeeding."

Rebound radios. "Can you tell where the transmitter is? Is it the top level, or the basement?"

Variable says, "I'm ok... just going to take me a while to get my strength back."

Narosia looms into the rooms, melting past a few walls to find Variable.

Rebound hands Variable a radio. "We may not have much time. They are broadcasting something from that building. Skysabre is trying to jam it, but he can't stop them for long."

As Narosia appears, Rebound turns to her. "Narosia, can you teleport us into the building, beneath the top floor?"

"We will have to enter the basement." Skysabre replies. "That is where the transmitter is."

Variable says, "OK, but I'm not really strong enough to change shape yet - or at least not and do anything afterwards."

Narosia says, "...Worry not. I will shield you in the meantime."

Skysabre becomes aware the number of processing nodes is increasing. At the moment moderately slowly, the low end of the curve, but the graph is a classic exponential.

"Are they using a network, or building one..." Skysabre comments. "Gathering more machines. The signal growth is exponential. We must move. I can provide cover fire on their firepoint and perhaps offer a distraction."

Rebound says, "The transmitter is in the basement."

Variable says, "Let's go, then."

Rebound says, "Skysabre, any notion of where they're drawing their power from?"

"No." Skysabre replies. "You would have to consult the city's power grid." Its plasma launchers emerge. "I am ready to fire."

Rebound says, "Ok. It's time so do this. Skysabre will try and blast their plasma guy. I'll go first, you two follow up behind me, ok?"

Variable nods. "How are we going in?"

"Do you have teleportation or phasing capabilities? I am preparing to collapse their firepoint." Skysabre transmits.

Narosia jams the button for communications, "Not en masse."

Variable says, "No... Looks like it's the window for me. Which means I have to get rid of the wings."

Skysabre shifts around in the sky. "Then perhaps we should make our own entry."

Rebound says, "I can stretch pretty thin -- I don't need much of a hole. Narosia can slip in. Let's go, shall we?"

Variable says, "Just let me change..."

Variable changes into a thin tall and muscular form. A lot of the weight is in a clubbed tail.

Rebound says, "Ok, Skysabre will block the sniper window in the basement, Narosia and I will come into the basement through the walls, Var and Sky will come in through the first floor. Sound good?"

"Affirmative." Skysabre transmits in reply.

Narosia says, "Understood."

Rebound gives a thumbs up. "Let's go. Skysabre, hit it."

Narosia inhales-no actual requistite but she feels in need, to look by the endless frowns adorned on her features. A simple step, her body becoming a mere female shaped outline of dark matter.

Skysabre dips to a lower angle, raising its arms and aiming for the window. It's not trying to shoot into the building and hurt people, but to make firing from it a very bad idea.

Skysabre changes plans in mid stride. Probably not a good idea, but that hunk of meat in the window and a coding block on killing humans has that effect. The Air Commander shifts to the other side of the house and unloads, trying to draw their fire to the other side.

Rebound bounces up the building and tries to find a way to slip into the basement, through a crack in the aging building, or some part of the ventilation system.

Variable crosses to the building trying to stay out of the line of fire.

Rebound disappears into the air vent.

Skysabre's blast digs a depression into the wall but doesn't quite penetrate.

Skysabre needs a bigger hole, and that whole network multiplication thing isn't good. It sights up again, trying to get the attention of those inside.

Burst of plasma tear into the side of the building, gouging a deep hole that throws dust and pulverized drywall into the air.

Variable smashes a ground floor window with her clubbed tail and hurries inside, seeking a way to the basement.

Once inside the building Variable can see signs of damage, almost looking like chunks of the strusture have been 'eaten'. There's a open hole and drop where the basement door and doorway used to be.

Rebound slinks through the ventilation system, trying to find either the transmitter or it's power source.

Rebound finds a good view into the basement area. It's been reduced pretty much to a shell. Mostly every surface looks 'nibbled' away. There are four spider-insect like robots in there along with bodies of youths. The youths are all unmoving but their health is uncertain. The robots are comprised of small retangular blocks looking like lego pieces joined together, silvery in color and glittering with the sheen of a force field.'

Rebound radios. "I've seen this before. Spider robots how eat raw materials and convert them into fuel for spawning duplicates. Last time, we took out the parent robot and the rest vanished. These look different though -- they're moving erratically. I'm in the basement, four robots, a bunch of unconscious people.

"Moving in." Skysabre replies to Rebound.

Variable radios, "Do you recommend another change of form before I come down? What's do you need to fight the spider robots?"

Rebound says, "That club tail should be handy"

Skysabre descends towards the hole it made, flying into the building.

Variable says, "What about that beam that hit me? What's that from?"

Rebound says, "Not sure. The robots used to spit acid - I think they used it to help break down the materials. I'm going in."

Rebound pops out of the ventilation system and tries to hit one of the robots with a giant fist.

Rebound smashes one of the robots, breaking off one of the legs and splintering off some of the lego-like bricks that the robot is composed from.

Variable leaps down the hole where the stairs ought to be and looks about for bugs or other dangers!

Rebound tries beating on the same robot, until it stops moving.

Rebound hits the robot. It flies against the wall and shatters into a thousand bits.

Rebound says, "Skysabre, any decrease in the computing power?"

"If anything it is growing more complex and intensifying." Skysabre replies to Rebound as it moves into the basement.

Skysabre reports to Rebound that the computing power is definitely coming from the robots, and now also from the small blocks on the floor.

Variable steadies herself and tries once again to smash the robot with her tail.

The force field around the robot Variable strikes with her tail is sufficient to block the damage.

Variable strikes at the robot but is unhappy with the result. "Maybe ankylosaur-tail isn't the best way to go. Next time I'll try scorpion-style, over my head, so I can see what I'm doing!"

The three intact robots turn on the moving heroes and release blasts of plasma, two as Rebound and one at Variable. While that happens the small blocks scattered over the floor reassemble into the fourth robot.

Beams of plasma criss-cross the basement hitting Rebound once and tearing gaping holes in the walls.

Variable tries once again to bash the robot, with a growing sense of urgency!

Variable's blow once again glances off the force field.

The robots release blasts of plasma at the moving heroes again, two at Rebound and two at Variable.

More star-bright beams flash and burn into the walls of the basement.

Variable says, "What can we do? If we smash them they just re-form!"

Variable says, "Not that I've even managed to do that....""

Rebound says, "I don't know yet... last time, there was a main one. Smash that and the others fail."

Rebound snatches up two bricks from the smashed wall. He slings them back in his hand and snaps the bricks at the two robots attacking him.

Variable says, "It is just these four, right? There isn't a master computer here somewhere?"

Rebound pulverizes two of the robots withi his makeshift slingshot. "Well, let's try to smash all of them and see. If that doesn't work, we'll need to look for a different approach.

Variable says, "If we can smash them all at once maybe I can shapeshift between the bits to keep them separate - if I can find something to turn into they can't eat."

Lightray flies towards the basement, his feet just a few inches off the ground. His wings seem to pass through most everything. As he reaches the basement, he scans the situation, then targets the closest robot and blasts it with a beam of sunlight.

A couple of legs are broken free of the main body when Lightray's beam hits home, adding more small glittery blocks to the thousands on the floor.

Rebound says, "Lightray, the robots reform from the bits. If we can keep them separated..."

Variable puts everything into it this time, going for a sort of spinning kick, except using a tail.

Lightray says as he nods, "Same creator as the robots in Harrisburg?"

Rebound says, "Similar make, but these now use plasma blasts. Also there's a transmitter down here we need to knock out. I don't think it's the robots though."

With a spinning tail-swipe Variable hammers one of the robots across the basement and into a wall. The robot was fragmented by the blow from the tail so the small blocks shotgun the wall and fall afterwards to lay dull and tarnished at the foot of it.

Variable says, "The ones Rebound was talking about?"

Rebound stretches his arms and sweeps all the robot bits into a neat stack of robot parts. He then spins and tries to slam the remaining robot with a punch.

Rebound's fist slams the final robot, turning it into more building blocks.

Lightray moves forward towards the pile of glittering blocks then spraeds his hands wide. He attempts to spread the sunlight from his hands over a wider area to affect more blocks.

The sunlight that spreads from Lightray's hands scorches the pile of blocks Rebound had gathered. Under the intense light of the Sun they char, crack, and then melt into slag.

The blocks from the robot that Rebound hit and scattered after gathering the other blocks up reform back into their orginal form, although maybe a fraction smaller as if made from fewer blocks.

Rebound says, "Hah. Maybe that's the secret, Lightray. I've got the wrong tool for the job."

Rebound says, "I think you guys have got this robot under control. I'm going to see if there's anything else down here."

Variable runs over to the last robot and tries to clobber this one the same as the last, since that worked so well.

Rebound goes all stretchy and begins to check out the other rooms in the basement.

Spinning kicks are not the easiest thing to do in an unfamiliar form. Variable overdoes it and ends up crashing into a wall instead of her target.

Rebound's search finds a youth hiding in a crate. The interesting thing is the crate, although broken open, is not nibbled on. The youth has a crowbar in his hands but is curled up in the crate with his eyes shut whimpering quietly.

Lightray seems surprised as to what happens to Variable, but tries to keep his attention on the robot. He steps forward as a sword of sunlight forms in his hand. Lightray sweeps the sword up and then tries to bring it down through the core of the robot.

Rebound says, "It's ok. I'm here to help. Sit tight one minute and we'll have the robots taken care of."

But alas, the blow misses and instead deeply scars the floor beside the robot.

Variable's tail looks rather uncomfortably bent.

The remaining robot fires a burst of plasma at Lightray.

The sizzling beam of star-stuff catches Lightray in the chest.

Lightray winces as the star-stuff strikes him full on in the chest, but he remains upright. "That stings."

Rebound doubles back to the robot room. Returning to something approaching his natural form, he tries to swat the robot flat with a big-palm strike.

The final robot is shattered into a few thousand blocks and the blocks flung across the basement to impact into a wall and drop dull and tarnished to the floor.

Rebound says, "All yours, Lightray"

Variable nurses her tail. "Ow...."

Variable says, "Ok.... I guess ankylosaurs didn't do spinning kicks...."

Lightray looks down at the dull blocks and then nods. "They seem inert." He glances over at Variable. "I would guess not. Are you injured?"

Variable says, "Yes, but don't worry. I'll be able to put it right once I've got my breath back."

Lightray looks over at the youth. "I imagine you have a tale to tell."

The youth tells you all upon questioning that his gang, most of whom are badly hurt but alive, stole the crate from one of a convey of trucks leaving a warehouse on the Industrial Park. The truck was full of crates. They got it back to their hangout here and broke the crate open. They found loads of black 'lego' blocks, only they must be magnetic because they clung together when the youths played with them. Only after they had put a couple of dozen together all the other blocks came to life and formed into a robot (he confirms there was just one robot at the start).

Variable says, "Do you know what warehouse it was from? Or where the trucks were going, or anything?"

The youth can tell you which warehouse the trunks came from. He doesn't know where the trucks were going to. The trucks stopped at a traffic signal and the gang cut open the side and took a crate. He says the truck was full of crates just like this one.

Variable says, "That's really not good..."

Lightray points at the crates. "Which one were the blocks in?"

Variable examines the crate for any markings. And, after a change of shape and healing herself, for any odd smells.

Rebound says, "We need to alert the police and Starguard."

Rebound calls for an evidence collection team, and notifies the authorities.

There is only one crate that hasn't been 'nibbled' by the robots. The youth points to the one he was hiding inside of.

Lightray looks at the crate and taps it. "Why leave this one intact? Could it be the transmitter?"

When Variable examines the crate she sees a logo on it. It's a pair of interlocked gearwheels surrounded by the words 'robo-master'.

Variable takes a picture of the logo with her PDA.

Rebound says, "If the pieces are magnetic, it might explain why light and heat might cause them to break down."

Lightray goes around to the the various gang members and checks their injuries. The most badly wounded he uses the healing powers of sunlight on.

Variable says, "We need to figure out why the robots didn't eat this box - maybe *none* of the robots would eat it. If we know why, we might have a way of containing the robots no matter how many there are!"

Skysabre can tell you the only source of the data transmissions was the blocks. Not the robots, the blocks. Which is why there were so many nodes in the network.