Chipped Chaos Session 1

Princess Guard - The New Era 2016/06/10 	 Titan Charm Caleb Rift Harlequin Ken Princess Linandere 10

Undermoon Embassy
One of the issues discussed during the formal team diner at Westnarch was that with the rising tension in Undermoon Ghost's duties preclude her spending any time on Earth. So the overall administration of the Princess Guard will be in the hands of Princess Liandere with Titan as field commander.

Princess LIandere has asked all active members of the Princess Guard to attend a meeting at the Embassy, both to refresh memories of the facilities available to the team and so she can to get to know the team better since Ghost is busy elsewhere.

A portal appears a few feet off the ground and parallel to it. Caleb steps through it, facing the ground, and promptly drops the remaining distance, rolling to his feet and looking around with an 'I meant to do that, really' expression on his face.

Charm has been sitting with an air of calm awaiting the arrival of others. Only her eyes darting about the place betray her newness to the place, and perhaps a bit of anxiety. She does break into an amused smile at Caleb's arrival.

Caleb has the grace to at least look a little sheepish. "I'll get the hang of these Undermon portals one of these days, honest I will."

Moments after Caleb's horizonal arrival a loud deep toned alarm bell starts ringing within the Embassy buildings and grounds. Diplomatic staff hurry to their assigned rallying points and guards race to duty stations, off duty guards struggling to don armor and buckle on swords as they run.

Caleb facepalms. "Oh. Right. I keep forgetting about that."

Rift did get word about the meeting and just happened to be on Earth at the moment, she has been on the other side of the cosmos recently and just a little bit out of touch. She is here, holding her helmet under one arm, though there is a black mask on her face that still conceals it a bit. She starts to say something as she sees Caleb arrive and then blinks just a little as she hears the bell. She did walk into the Embassy herself rather than rift in.

Charm asks, curious, "Do humans not tend to have such wards?"

Caleb pulls a small sign out of a hole in space that reads "It's OK, that was just me. Sorry." and holds it up.

Caleb shrugs. "Some do. Usually if I'm porting into warded human areas, I wasn't actually invited, and the guards really _are_ trying to kill me."

Titan shows up at the Embassy a couple of minutes late. It looks like he might have been coming from another meeting, since he's actually in a suit.

Charm observes dryly, "If you set off the alarm often enough they might yet try."

Caleb chuckles. "Point."

The Embassy seems to be in a state of alert, with extra guards at the gates and guard patrols hurrying from location to location.

Caleb muses "It would be embarrassing if the Embassy really were under attack right now, and here we are just casually assuming it's just the ward that cried wolf."

A pair of guards come into the PG building. "Any sign of intruders here?" the senior guard asks Charm.

The scarlet clad Harelquin wanders into the meeting a few second after Titan. "My, what a madhouse out there? Did something abscond with someone from somewhere?" he murmurs in his European accented RP.

Caleb points to his sign.

Caleb is holding a sign that reads "It's OK, that was just me. Sorry."

Charm says, "No intruders that should not be intruding."

Titan looks to Harlequin, "I'm not sure, honestly. But we've had enough invisible assassins around already that caution is warranted."

Princess LIandere enters a few moments after the guards. She looks at Caleb in a visibly disappointed fashion, "I thought we had discussed this, Ableman Caleb. And you assured me you would arrive outside the gates in future." she observes in a mixed tone of irritation and amusement.

Caleb nods. "Sorry. I forgot." He seems to be trying to look abashed, or at least not quite as entertained as he actually is.

Charm stands and curtseys to the princess, to a depth appropriate to her assumed role.

Rift cocks her head to the side and looks at Titan, "Invisible how?" she asks, "Might be able to check for them..." she just breaks off. "Not my place sorry, Haven't been around in a bit,"

Harlequin bows to Princess Liandere. "If it pleases your highness, I can show Ableman Caleb ways to, hmm, enter more quietly." His tone holds gentle amusement.

Caleb raises an eyebrow. "That'd be cool. Especially if they work against wards in general!"

Titan shrugs and says to Rift, "Magic, I'm assuming. I've had two try to stab me. Unsuccessfully. Well, they stabbed me. It just didn't hurt." Caleb says, "That counts as unsuccessful in my book."

Harlequin glances over at Tiatn. "It is fortunate they were unsuccesful, Titan. The poison on the blades is almost inpossible to cure. Almost."

Rift nods and hmms, "Maybe I should be around more. I should be able to sense that sort of thing unless it masks their physical presence in this spatial plane." she nods. She then turns and drops into a bow, she isn't wearing a dress so a curtsey just doesn't seem right.

Princess Liandere nods to Titan first and then to all the team members. "So I've been informed. I would urge all of you to be vigilant. Several of our most proficient world walkers are engaged in seeking a way to the Lost Realms. The King has agreed to set aside a area for the gray elves to have as a settlement if they cease their hostility."

Titan bows his head, "I'm glad to hear it."

Charm thinks. o O (Not everyone will be.)

Caleb nods, briefly serious. "Vigilant it is, then. Usually I detect assassins when they try to kill me, admittedly."

Charm says, "Do they often do that?"

Caleb says, "Well, depends on what you mean by 'often', I guess. I mean, most of the asssassins I've met have either been on my side, or have been trying to kill me. But I guess that doesn't mean much, statistically speaking?"

"Like, I probably wouldn't notice them otherwise," he adds.

Harlequin chuckles. "Well, they would ahrdly be assassins if you did. The profession tends to pride itself on /not/ being notices until too late."

Caleb nods. "Exactly."

Charm says, "Preferably not even then."

The Princess continues, "So far the world walkers have not succeeded in finding any such way. But.. moving on to the busiess of this meeting. Ghost is unlikely to be able to be on Earth for the foreseeable future. My daughter is at Westmarch. So I will be taking charge of the Princess Guard. As far as possible I will try to leave you to handle team business as you see fit and limit myself to directing which situations must be addressed only when that occurs. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer them..." At this point a messenger from the communications tower rushes in.

Harlequin turns his attention to Princes Liandere then cocks his hed to one side in a bird like manner as the messenger bustles in.

Charm was expecting introductions to be made - the messenger changes things. Presumably this must be important.

Titan doens't interrupt any further than he already has. He looks over at the messenger to see what the news is.

Caleb says, "So, what situations -- " and then notices the messenger. "Never mind"

The fae messenger hands the Princess a sheet of parchment.

"Mmm... This is a note addressed to my daughter. Someone calling themselves Ms Winters is asking for assistance." the Princess says, reading further, "... it seems there is considerable and general disorder in the human city. It says here that ATMs are giving out money and disorder and riots are taking place." She looks up, "What are ATMs?"

Caleb 's eyes widen. "Nah," he says to himself, "gotta be a coincidence."

Harlequin murmurs, "Mechanical devices linked to banks that distribute money one has on account with them, your highness. And from Ms Winters, you say?"

Titan raises a brow, "Automated Teller Machines. Hmm. That's the vampire woman, isn't it?"

Rift blinks a little and tries to rememeber some things. She has been away too long, she needs to focus more on this side of the cosmos. She looks around at the others as someone answers and so she doesn't need to.

Caleb says, "If it's the same Ms Winters, then yeah. Nicki Winters, late of Harrisburg."

"Well, late of pretty much everywhere, I suppose," he adds as an afterthought.

Harlequin nods to Titan. "Yes, Lady Winters of Harrisburg. She is back in her chosen demense." He glances around. "She has mellowed a bit since recovering from her last, hmm, death. And yes, ATMs spewing money is a problem. Any of us any good with electronics?"

Caleb says, "Software, yes. Hardware, no."

Charm says, "A vampire - that is a human _morthun_?"

The Princess nods, "Ms Winters is what it says here. Harrisburg is the location where assistance has been requested for. I don't know what connection Ms Winters has with my daughter that brings this request." She looks at the team memebers questioningly.

Titan shakes his head, "Honestly, I'm not sure what connection she has with your daughter. I know she had some ties to Starguard. And heroes that helped Harrisburg. But I'm not sure I've ever spoken to her directly."

Harlequin shrugs. "Your daughter was a member of the team that originally defeated Ms Winters. As a part of the parley to secure her imprisonment, the team agreed to protect Harrisburg. I believe. This was before my time in Harrisburg."

Rift does raise her hand, "I have a bit of knowledge about electronics." says the one in the enhanced leather power armor.

Harlequin glances over at Charm. "Essentially yes, but the exact details of the, ah, creation of a vampire are different, Ablewoman."

Caleb shrugs. "I've met Nicki Winters, the Harrisburg vampire... she does feel sort of protective of the place. Which, I mean, it's good that _someone_ does, I guess." He seems uncertain about that. "If this is the same lady, well, it's probably worth checking out. Dunno what your daughter's connection to it is, though."

Caleb adds "Just for the record, though, not all Winters are vampires!"

Princess Liandere nods, "If there is an obligation of honor it must be met." She hands the message to Titan. The text is in Fae, beautiful handwriting, except for an address in English. Joe's Garage, 128 Baker Street, Harrisburg. "Go and see what assistance you can give."

Charm smiles to herself. Her first mission!

Harlequin ambles over to glances at the note. "Ah, Joe's. He does good work on older cars. Pity about the drinking though. I know exactly where it is."

Caleb peeks over Titan's shoulder with a viewing portal, and is about to look up the coordinates of the address when Harlequin comments. "Cool. Can you get us there fast?"

Harlequin adds after a moment. "Joe's also has one of the few working ATMs in the 'Burg."

Charm says, "Preferably without setting off the alarms again!" Caleb laughs. "Yeah, that too."

Titan takes the note and nods to the Princess. "We'll check it out."

Harlequin smiles. "Well, the wards are rather opaque if come at from the right angle." He looks over at Princess Liandere. "May I have your permission to open a Gate, your highness?"

Rift nods her head and slips her helmet on and secures it, there is a hiss as it seals. The diamond shapes on the chest of the armor pulse a little. "Recon?" she asks, voice mechanically synthesized now. "Oh just head there?" she does bow to the Princess again. She then glances over and had forgotten there are others with similar abilities around.

The Princess nods her permission to Harlequin.

The dark robed Harlequin makes a quick series of gestures while murmuring under his breath. A silver-blue dot of light appears about 6 feet from him then explodes into a cicular opening about 2m across. Through the Gate one can see a confusing scene in front of a ramshcakle garge with the word's Joe in faded lettering on it.

To those with the appropriate sense, the Gate is magical in origin. Thaumaturgy to be precise.

Charm watches, curious about how one opens a gate to a place which isn't fundamentally the same place.

Caleb confidently hops through the portal. He never learns.

Titan smiles and nods to Harlequin, "Thanks." He steps through, muttering to himself about being dressed wrong for this.

Joe's Garage, Harrisburg
As soon as the gate opens the sound of what seems a full scale battle can be heard. Energy weapon fire, shotguns, a couple of automatic ballistic weapons the popping and booming of light and heavy calibre pistols. And the sound of revving bike engines.

Charm pauses, trying to make sense of the sounds, before she too steps through.

Harlequin waves people along. "Move along, two by two, just like the Ark. I will be last thorough." At the sounds of the weapons fire, he murmurs, "Your Highness? I suggest you reapir to the other room, please?"

The Princess does so with all graceful haste. As the heroes step through they emerge in the midst of a serious gang fight. There are about 30 Hellions in and around the garage. They have the energy weapons, maybe a dozen, and pistols. Circling the garage like native Americans around a wagon train are about an equal number of Road Ragers on bikes employing swinging bike chains and heavy wenches and several machine pistols.

Rift blinks and she fades from sight as she wraps herself in spatial energy. She moves through the rift, easier than rifting into the middle of an unknown situation and tries to take stock of what is going on, glad she is armored and protected by her aura.

Charm looks about in confusion at the scene. Then reaches for her bag and draws out her harp.

Ken has arrived to, well, pick up his mom's car. Which is at Joe's Garage. The teen looks at the gangs circling, and just grumbles. "Hey!" Any mystics? Well, you're probably looking at a raging inferno as his armor appears around him, helmet and all. "I'm just here to pick up my mom's car! You guys want to let me past, or do I start punching!?" Poor Ken probably has no idea that there's other heroes around, but he's in full on symbiote armor mode. And one hand is currently shrouded in flame.

The gate opened outside the ring of Hellions and inside the circling Road Ragers. ie, in the cross fire zone."

Nexus fades out and drops through the floor, with the intention of moving under the ATM and porting it elsewhere, though that will presumably take some time.

Charm backs away from the Road Ragers and tries to identify the leaders of the gangs.

Titan looks around at the surrounding gang members, and in a booming voice he shouts, "Everyone stand down and disperse!"

Harlequin steps out of Gate after the last Princess Guard moves through and lets it close with a quiet chime that is lost in the din of battle. As he raises the various shields about himself with a flick of one hand, he shakes his head at the sight of the Road Ragers and the Hellions. He makes note of the mystically empowered 'power armor' beyond the Road Ragers. "Hmm, interesting," he murmurs softly.

Several of the gang members in front of the garage actually seem to take notice of Titan's shout. They pause briefly, considering what to do.

Some members of the Harrisburg Watch are stood well back watching. But they are outnumbered and out-gunned.

Charm begins to play her harp and to sing an unearthly, peaceful song - a strange contrast in this setting!

Rift just holds for the moment, still hidden by her spatial cloak, ready to do something should things not stay calm, if they don't listen.

The Road Ragers circling the garage who were of the opposite side ride around into the area. The Hellions at the front cease firing, and the ones at the rear hurry around to the front to see what is going on and come under the influence. Music, and Titan's presence, smoothes the savage ganger it seems. Which is just as well as one of the Watchmen who has a police scanner radio shouts over, "I've just heard there's metas trashing police at the Docks."

Harlequin looks at the Watch member then calls out, "Thank you, Galvez." He then looks around. "Where is the young lady in the leather? Well, I assume she is a lady..."

Rift shimmers into view as she removes her spatial cloak, which she was about to anyway, "I am here." she says and then frowns, "Is this settled? then, or do we need to split up?"

Nexus doesn't hear the Watchman's announcement, being underground as he is, but he can see the action and he notices all the gangers calming down. He pops back up and solidifies near the ATM, ready to port away with it (or try to, anyway) if the fighting resumes, just in time to hear Rift's question.

Harlequin nods. "No, I think we should remove the source of the conflict. Do you concur, Titan?"

Titan shakes his head, "This isn't settled. Not yet. We might need to split up. Can we get a portal opened to the docks? Half the team can head there."

Turning, Ken shakes his head and moves closer. He tilts his head a bit. "Meta's at the docks? Eh... anyone got a faster way there!? No one gave this thing enough speed." He looks at the other heroes about. Tilts his head. "Hey... who are all you guys anyways? Oh, and can someone tell 'em hold on to the Hunt's car? Gonna be a bit late."

Rift nods, and looks at Harlequin and then to Titan, "Removal of the source of the conflict shouldn't be too hard."

Titan nods. "Or we wrap this up fast. And then head to teh docks." He says a bit louder while he adjusts his cufflinks, "There's no way these chumps can hurt me, anyway."

The same Watchman shouts over, "I've told Nicky what's happened. She asks can you smash the ATM keypad so nobody can use it?"

Harlequin smiles behind his mask as Ken speaks. "We are the Princess' Guard, Sir Knight! Here to render aid at the request of Lady Winter." HIs gaze rakes over the Hellions and Road Ragers. "Who is none too pleased with this." His gaze returns to Rift then to Nexus who is by the ATM. "Can you, sirrah? Take care of it. Or should, umm, hmm, what are your names?" He gestures to Nexus, Rift, Charm and then belatedly Ken.

Nexus shrugs. "Sure." A moment later the keypad is in his hand, though it's somewhat unclear how it got there. "Easier than porting off with the whole ATM, I suppose."

Harlequin whispers over the PG comm link. "Titan? Perhaps you could tell them to bugger off? The Hellions and the Road Ragers that is. Then we can head to the docks."

Titan nods to Harlequin, and he says in a loud voice to the assembled gang's. "We disabled the ATM. None of you are going to control it. Shove off!"

Nexus attempts to remote-view the docks while the others deal with the gangs, to get a sense of what's going on where, exactly.

Threre's a lot of grumbling but with the ATM out of action the gangers heed Titan and disperse, the road Ragers doing damgerously close ride-bys as a parting guesture.

Ken looks over at Harlequin. "Knight? Uh, dude, it's just some weird suit of armor that got stuck to me." He looks considerate, "I didn't really get a name yet. My name's Ken Hunt. I'm really just here to pick up my mom's car." Looking over at Titan, the teenager in the powersuit's helmet slides backwards, disappearing into the rest of the armor. "Dude... aren't you Titan? The movie star?"

Titan doesn't back off as the Ragers ride past. After all, it's going to hurt them more than him if they collide with him. He looks over to Ken as he's spoken to. He chuckles, "Um...yes. That's right."

Titan is currently dressed like was coming from a premiere.

Harlequin murmurs as he looks around, apparently counting the heroes present including Sir Ken Hunt. "Hmm, yes, I think I can..." he mutters to himself. "So, who is up for kicking metas who attack police? Because I am about to open another Gate. Fortunately this one is easier since I just have to cross space and time not dimensions."

Nexus looks up from the remote-viewing portal he was looking through. "The Watch is right, there's a fight on the docks. Couple of dozen folks in body armor fighting with police, all in white suits. Hostages." He thinks a moment, then adds to Harlequin, "If I take you to a good arrival spot, can you open a gate from there to here so whoever wants to join us there can? Seems safer than just apearing in the middle of everything."

Charm is looking about at her surroundings in puzzlement and dismay - but notes to Harlequin. "I'm ready."

Titan nods. "Let's go." He looks over to the Watch folks nearby, "You have this under control here now?"

Of course, Ken's probably searching for a pen or something. Movie star, autograph. Mom would kill him otherwise. Then he hears the bit about the docks. Ken smiles over at Harlequin. "Sure. Erm... can I go tell the guys in the garage that I'll be late and have to go kick some people attacking police around?" Then it seems it hits him and he looks around, then at Titan. "Uh... anyone else fire proof, by the way? Sorry, should probably ask that more often."

The Watchmen nods, "Yeah. And thanks. This is happening all over. Nicky is sorting out another rumble but she can only be in one place at a time. We're got this now."

Harlequin shouts out to the Watch. "Galvez? Can you make sure Joe gets Mrs Hunt's car finished? Tell him there is a bottle of Jack if it's done when we get back as a bonus."

The Watchman laughs, "I'll tell him, Mage."

Titan nods to Ken, "I am, more or less. I'm not sure about everyone else."

Charm says, "Fireproof? I'm not!"

At with that the scarlet clad Harlequin raises his hands and intones something softly. A silver-blue spark froms then explodes out into a circle about 2m across. "Same as before, two by two. I will follow behind. I would suggest you be ready for battle."

Titan chuckles and says to Harlequin as he steps through the portal. "Always am."

Nexus shrugs and goes along, entering alongside Titan.

Rift nods and looks, "Just don't hit me, my aura should deflect most." she says and the gems in her armor's chest flare some more and then she moves to follow after, saving her energy, she might need it.

A grin is flashed towards Charm. "I'd stay well back, then. And don't shoot the human fireball." He heads for the portal, his helmet closing back up but leaving his face visible. Then he looks over at Rift. Blinks. Looks over the armor, then at his own. "I feel like I got the short end of the stick on my armor now."

"It's not a contest," Cale tosses back over his shoulder. "But if it were, she would totally win, it's true."

Port Authority Office, The Docks
As the heroes arrive they see the police are pinned down behind patrol cars. Several of which are burning. Most of the white suited people, who some will recognise as the Top Hatters gang, are behind crates as cover. Three are just standing out in the open. The woman with the excessively long fingers seems to be forcing the scared looking dock electrican to wire up a portable generator to the ATM. Maybe to keep it powered up when they finish tearing it loose from the building.

Titan sighs, "The ATMs again. Wonderful." He looks back to the others, "Anyone able to whisk that guy to safety?"

Nexus shrugs. "I can try, but no guarantees it won't get him killed."

Ken was about to leap forward, crouching and a bit of heat coming from under his feet, then pauses as he sees the hostage. "... well, shoot..." He looks considerate, then looks at what's under the hostage. "Hey... there a way to get under them?"

Nexus considers trying to snatch the electrician out of Top Girl's grip, but decides it's too risky. He looks around for other at-risk civilians and notes they have sensibly gone to ground. He stops short, frustrated.

Titan only sees four metas. And dredging up old OLD memories, he recalls that the Top Hatter gang has three male metas with physical attributes similar to the Twins (but not the Twins training or skills thank heavens) and a female shape shifter. The rest of the gang are well equpped normals.

Titan says, "I think...let me try distracting them. If any of you get a chance to whisk him out of there, and you think you can do it without getting him killed...go for it."

Titan says, "I believe there are three metas in the Top Hatters. Kind of similar to the Wolfguard. So...quick martial artist types."

Charm says, "let me try...."

Titan looks to Charm, "What do you have in mind?"

Martial artists? Ken's head snaps over towards Titan so quick there may or may not have been some after image. "So they're fellow fighters? 'Cuse me, I gotta go see this..." He moves towards the police line.

Charm sings a what might be called a siren song, playing the harp once more, trying to entrance the woman with her song.

Harlequin lets the Gate close with a soft chime as he steps through. "Hmm, interesting." But for once, he lets Titan do his job without interfering.

Nexus does nothing, but prepares for an opportunity to grab the electrician if it seems safe to do so.

Titan moves to the police line as well, though he steps just beyond it, to try to draw the attention of teh other gang members...so they perhaps won't notice the woman getting affected by the song.

The woman seems to be falling under Charm's influence.

Rift nods, "Going to try to get the lessers." she calls and then there is a shimmer of red as she blips out and appears behind the crates with the other Top Hats and that doesn't stop there as her form blurs and starts to bounce around between the Top hats as she goes to hit them all, or at least tries to and then shimmers and appears back where she started.

Harlequin murmurs softly over the PG comms. "The Ablewoman has charmed the Top Girl. Now might be a good time to free the electrician."

The hi-tech body armor the top hatters are wearing soaks up some of the damage that Rift inflicts but enough gets through to stun the majority and knock half of them off their feet.

Nexus' eyes narrow as the hostage-taker appears distracted. He thinks for a moment, mutters "OK, here goes nothing...", then reaches through a portal to grab the electrician with a detached hand. If all goes right both Caleb and the electrician will disappear, reappearing about 50 meters away at a safe location, near an ambulance if there's one nearby.

Hooray! The electrician is pulled free from the distracted woman's grip, he disappears and reappears (alongside Caleb) near a fortunately unnecessary ambulance.

Titan reveals an ability he doesn't often use. Or at least hasn't up until now. He flies over to where the meta members of the Top Hatters are, remaining vertical, like he's carried over to them. Again, he adjusts his cufflinks. "I suggest you surrender. Now. Before we have to hurt you all."

Harlequin raises his eybrows behind his face covering mask.

Titan causes the gang members in front of him to at least hesitate. Though they don't look like they're going to stand down, just yet.

The top hatter meta closest in front of Titan can't help but glance down as Titan adjusts cufflinks. "Nice cuffs. Geoverni? I get mine there as well." he says distractedly.

Titan chuckles. Not quite the reaction he was looking for, but it'll do.

Nexus briefly wonders if he's in a Geoverni commercial.

A small hiss is heard as Ken raises up and almost skates over to where Titan is. "Hi! Sorry to interrupt, but the big guy here said some of you are martial artists? That true?" Ken looks around at the other standing members, then shrugs. "I'm just asking, 'cause it's been a month or two since I had a good fight here."

The top hatter meta confronted by Ken has his attention partially refocused. He boasts "We're the best." and poses in what he clearly considers a martial arts pose. Which reveals that he has no idea about martial arts whatsoever. They're fast and strong, equal to the deadiest hand-to-hand fighters ever seen in the city... but they've been too lazy to study the martial arts.

Harlequin tilts his head from one side to the other as he observes the field of combat. The mage then takes a step forward, fading from sight then appearing halfway between the police and the Top Hatters. "Time for a time out, Top Girl," he murmurs to no one in particular. When he speaks, a cold wind briefly blows carrying a faint hint of dry decay as gray light flashes from his left hand and leaps at the long fingered meta."

Looking up at Titan, Ken sighs. "Why is it whenever I finally find someone who might give me a good fight in this place, they're always some brawler? I mean, this guy doesn't even have a single bit of skill to him!" He looks back to the Top Hatter that spoke to him. "Seriously, you expect a student of the Jigen Hao-Ken style to accept THAT to be a martial arts stance? You have got to be kidding me."

Harlequin reminisces, "We are fighting the Top Hats. Top Girl is presently a bit confused and also in a state of rigor mortis thanks to Charm and Harlequin. Caleb just rescued an electrician literally from her clutches. Titan is trying to intimidate the Top Hats but at least one of them is asking Titan's sartorial choice in cufflinks. And Ken is thinking these guys are posers for not knowing real martial arts. Rift is preparing a devastating attack."

The Top Hatters are in various states of disorder. Most of the lesser members are stunned by Rift's bouncing them about. The three major male members have been distracted by comparing dress with Titan. Mystery is breaking free of Charm's influence but under the effect of Harlequin's spell. The senior police official on the scene shouts for the police to hold fire in case they hit the heroes. And the five still effective lesser members of the gang fire at Rift. Who having moved back to the police line has distance and cover to assist her.

Energy beams lash out from five weapons but none hit Rift. The police cars take more damage, although the beams seem, albeit damaging, less than worrying in meta terms.

Rift manages to avoid getting hit by the energy beams and then glances back over there. She looks at the five and then she shimmers in a flash of reddish light to appear among them and do what she did before, blinking back and forth as she tries to hit them and then appears back where she started.

Nexus observes Rift's stunt admiringly, taking mental notes.

Harlequin glances over at the Top Hats getting knocked about like so many overdressed and over-privileged tenpins. A broad grin rests on his lips behind his mask's faint smile. "Oh," he murmurs in his European accented RP English, "That looks like it hurt...Good."

Mystery struggles against the paralysis imposed on her.

But this time her concentration is distracted by observing Rift's impressive effect and she makes no progree towards freeing herself.

Rift bounces around between the gangers, and knocks almost all of the rest off their feet, a few of them are taking a dirt nap, and those still standing don't look like they will be for long, "Give up." she calls out, her voice mechanized by her helmet.

Charm plucks her harp once more, and sings a melancholy tune, designed to move its listeners to pessimism and inaction.

The heavy numbing weight of depression falls onto the villains like a blanket of sorrow and despair.

Although 'nearest target' is often a highly theoretical category in Nexus' case, his attention is still on Mystery, the Top Hatter who'd initially taken the electrician with two hands hostage, and who was still restrained by ... A gentleman would no doubt refrain from hitting a bound target. Perhaps surprisingly, Nexus does the same, porting next to her and readying a blurry hand. "Trust me, you don't want me to stick this inside you. How about you just stand down and let the police take you all away?"

There's no visible reaction. Mystery can't even blink or move her eyes at the moment.

The male meta gang members react finally, although it seems their hearts aren't really in it. One takes a punch at Titan, another at Ken, and the third moves across to swing a fist at Nexus.

Titan takes the punch to the chest without wavering, and looks down at the gang member who hit him. "Really?"

Nexus sidesteps the punch while keeping his fist cocked at Mystery's temple.

Two of the three punches are simple misses. Titan is hit with no visible effect on him. The expressions of despair on the villains' faces deepen as though they aren't surprised. As if they kind of expected a result like this.

Nexus says, "People. Give it up. You've already lost, please don't make us hurt you to prove it."

Ken sighs. He looks at the guy who just punched at him. "Nonono... look, you're doing it all wrong." He starts to glow as the mystics would feel a surge of somewhat mystical energy, that spirals around his fist if they are actively watching him. "THIS is a punch." Said punch? Well, a nice big flaming fist on the poor Top Hatter that continues past him.

The Top Hatter is hurled back several meters by the flaming fist. His hi-tech body armor soaks up a lot of the effect but he's off his feet and looking sadly at the scorch marks on his white suit.

Ken blinks. Looks at the Top Hatter that he just hit. Quirks an eyebrow, then looks at Titan. Then he calls towards the rest of the heroes, "Hey, whoever said these guys use martial arts, your information is wrong! This one can't even take my Hosaskiken well!"

Nexus looks askance at Ken. "I'd ask you what a Hosaskiken is, but I'm afraid that it's just a set-up for a horrible pun."

Titan rolls his eyes, "They don't teach 'flaming fireball whatever' powers at local dojos."

Ken calls back towards Nexus, "Martial arts technique. Ah... what was the translation? Oh, Flame Tip Fist." He looks over at Titan. "Wait, they don't? Fine, fine, I'll hold back on flaming fireballs some." He looks towards the Top Hatter. "Hey, c'mon! Just the downplayed stuff. I won't hit you with that again."

Nexus glares irritated at his pendant.

Harlequin sighs softly as he takes a step forward towards the melee and discorporates into bluish-silver light. He fades back into sight out of nothingness next to Top Hatter of who just tried to hit Nexus. "If one acts likes an animal, one may have to be put down like one." His eyes glow a sooty, unpleasant red then blast out a beam the same color at the Top Hatter 'martial artist'

The Top Hatter struck by Harlequin's spell moans and grabs his head with both hands in obvious pain.

Titan reaches out and attempts to apply a headlock on the gang member who had punched him in the chest.

Titan applies the headlock and noogies the gang member just enough to embarrass his target. "I'm going to say it only one more time. Give up before I actually have to hurt you."

The grabbed villain struggles for a moment and then sags, "This is hopeless." he says. The other two active villains nods in agreement. "Yeah." and "I say let our lawyers deal with this. I don't want to take a beating and they got the dock guy away from Mystery anyway. We're not getting paid enough for this." "Okay, we quit."

Titan says, "Good choice."

Ken looks between the villains and Titan. "You're no fun. I didn't even get a good warm up from this." He folds his arms over his chest.

The police ask you to wait for the Meta SWAT team to arrive to take the villains into custody. That takes a few minutes. The Top Hatters seem docile enough, the lesser gang members surrendering along with the leaders.

Nexus attempts not to make fun of the Top Hatters enough to inspire a resumption of hostilities.

Harlequin wanders over to the ATM that the Top Hatters were trying to make off with. "Are any of you good with machines? We still have no idea why these ATMs are spewing out money. Which is the cause of all of this mishegosh."

Charm is more curious about the Top Hatters. "What does their uniform mean?"

Titan waits until the SWAT team shows up to take the gang members into custody before giving the ATM much serious thought. Instead, he focuses on making sure they don't try to escape or start something again.

The ATM is almost torn free of the wall of the Port Authority building. However the ATM is still powered up. And some attempt has been made to connect a portable generator to the ATM so it could be removed without shutting down.

Nexus shrugs in response to Harlequin. "Some." The gang seems well in hand, so he adds "Let me see what I can see." He doesn't actually get any closer to the ATM, but his hands start moving quickly through a small hole in space.

It's absolutely not the heroes' fault. The SWAT team cuff the villains and lead them off to the meta paddy-wagon. But as Mystery walks over a drain cover she goops into a runny liquid and drains away through the grate of the cast iron cover into the sewers.

Titan blinks as Mystery escapes. "Wonderful."

Nexus looks up from the portal he's working on and swears. Loudly and repeatedly. He peers through through a viewing portal, trying to spot her.

Harlequin looks over after Mystery makes her escape. Then with a shake of his head turns back to the ATM. He randomly enters a few numbers on the keypad.

Nexus swears a few more times and shrugs. "Sorry guys... she's gone."

Whenever Harlequin enters a number between 1 and a 100 the ATM issues a pre-paid credit chip with that sum in dollars on it.

After grumbling a bit more about Mystery's escape, Cale eventually returns his attention to the ATM's insides to see if he notices anything anomalous.

Harlequin enters four different numbers then starts to juggle the chips slowly as he continues to gaze at the ATM. "Why only between 1 and 100? Why not higher amounts?" he muses.

Ken whistles a bit as he looks around at the others. "So... we got crazy ATMs now?"

The police, those not arguing about who's at fault over Mystery's escape, tell Harlequin, "It's every ATM in the city. Might only be a 100 dollars a pop but there must be millions involved.

Caleb says, "Well, I don't know about 'crazy'... I mean, they're ATMs, giving out money is their job." He doesn't actually seem very concerned. "Just... overzealous."

Charm says, "Where does this money come from?"

Harlequin murmurs as he begins palming, disappearing, and re-appearing the credit chips. "Banks put money in the ATMs for the convenience of their customers, Ablewoman. All banking institutions use them. Unless one has a properly encoded card and personal code with the bank the machine is operated by, one cannot get money from them."

Caleb whistles, impressed. "This is some _very_ tight hacking. Like... I don't think I've seen anything like this since that robot dude when I was a teenager."

Titan dusts himself off, though he managed to keep mostly clean in the fight, such as it was. He walks over and just listens to the others while they analyze what's going on.

Charm says, "So the problem is the machines are giving the chips out when they shouldn't?"

Caleb nods. "Right, exactly. They're supposed to deduct money from the user's balance when they hand it out, and stop doing it when there isn't any."

Harlequin looks over at Caleb. "Does it seem impossibly tight?" His tone is mildly curious. "And yes, that is it exactly, Ablewoman. And I fear I did not catch your name earlier in embassy." He bows slightly to charm. "My apologies for that."

Caleb shrugs. "Impossible? I dunno. I mean, I couldn't do it on my best day. We're not looking at an ordinary hacker, more likely an AI or technopath or something. And, I mean... there's an _arrogance_ to this. Like whoever it was didn't even bother to do it the easy way, by targeting one network at a time, they just... did it. Like Titan here taking down an ordinary mugger, y'know?"

Titan sighs, "I must admit, I can't remember the last time I had a slugfest that was a challenge."

Caleb nods. "I'll remind you that you said that, when the time comes."

Ken shakes his head, then blinks. "Hey, you guys never told me exactly who you are. You some sort of super team or something?" He looks over at Caleb. "Actually, sometimes normal muggers are challenging. I'm about half as tough outside of this thing. Not many expect someone trying to kick 'em hard enough to go a couple feet."

Charm says, "I am Araiina of the house of Talloth, sir. I do not know how to address you, I fear, for I perceive that you have some skill of the higher arts that are foreign to the fae."

Harlequin hmms as he makes one credit chip disappear then leans over to pull it from the soundboard of Charm's harp. "I am by far no expert at electronics and certainly not programming, but is there anything like a, hmm, tag? in the programming. I understand some hackers cannot resist. No self-control." He murmurs all this while returing to juggling the credit chips.

Harlequin murmurs, "Oh I am called Harlequin, Ablewoman Araiina of House Talloth. Or, rather, that is my use name."

Charm says, "Ah, and my use name is Charm."

Harlequin looks at Titan then to Ken. "Sir Titan can explain best, I have no doubt, young knight."

Caleb tilts his head to one side. "Hadn't been looking at it that way... let me see what I can find." He returns his attention to the ATM, looking at the code less from a functional perspective and more from an artistic-flourish perspective. "Oh... and I'm Caleb. Friends call me Cale. Or Nexus, if you want to use name me, I guess," he adds with a chuckle.

Titan looks to Ken, "We're the 'Princess Guard'. Formed originally by Princess Stephanie of Undermoon. Originally a group meant specifically for bodyguard duty, but now it has more of a 'general hero' kind of feel to it."

Caleb looks intrigued, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. "OK, I'm not sure what this will do, but if it was a booby trap I'm thinking it would have gone off by now, so let's see." He initiates the display.

The screen of the ATM loses the 'Input a number between 1 and a 100' message and changes to a outline of a cracked CPU chip in front of a eight headed arrow... and beneath that logo the words 'Demonstration One."

Caleb grabs a picture of the image on his PDA.

Harlequin looks at the image for a moment then raises his eyes to the sky, one may assume, as he tilts his head up. "Chaos? Really? has someone been reading too many old sci-fi stories?"

Charm says, "What do you mean, Harlequin?"

Harlequin sighs softly. "The eight headed symbol is one of the myriad ways to represent Chaos. The concept of Chaos. It may, in this case, represent the use name of the hacker. Or an organization."

Titan raises a brow, "Except...isn't Chaos a real thing? Like...with an agent on the planet?"

Ken shakes his head. "I wouldn't discount the possibilities." He moves to take a picture on his PDA as well. "Maybe my mom can point me to someone good with this sorta thing."

Caleb laughs. He hadn't known that, but it doesn't surprise him.

Harlequin looks over at Titan. "Yes, it is. But there is no magic or trace of magic here. So, hopefully, knock on wood, throw salt over your shoulder, he is is not involved in this."

Titan nods to Harlequin. "So...someone going to try a number?"

Caleb shrugs and types in '999' for no particularly good reason.

Nothing happens when Nexus types. This does not surprise him. The display code is a stable closed loop. Every other function except the display is disabled.

Caleb nods.

Charm says, "This is a demonstration of power - the first of several? What else could someone do who can do this?"

Caleb bites his lower lip in thought. "So, OK. Whoever this chaoctopus is, apparently it's trying to prove that it's able and willing to destabilize the information infrastructure modern systems depend on." Cale has a way of sounding smarter when he's not paying attention to how smart he sounds. "I'd expect similar strikes on transportation, on garbage collection, on shipping, on health care... anything, really. The whole city runs on bits."

"I guess the question," he adds, "is what do they _want_?"

Charm says, "Not chaos. If that were the goal, they'd just go ahead and do everything they can."

Titan says, "I seem to vaguely remember a plot from something along these lines. But...I can't remember exactly what it was."

Caleb nods in agreement with Charm.

Ken shakes his head, "So this thing got a source so I can just punch it? The whole tech thing's not my big strength here."

Charm says, "A prelude to extortion seems likely - since it is described as a demonstration."

Harlequin shrugs slightly. "I would imagine that in time, Chaos will make it's desire known." He glances again at the ATM. "In the meantime, keeping matters from degenerating further will be difficult. Although you finding the relevant code will do much to help end, Caleb Nexus."

Caleb says, "I assume this is setting up a threat. But, again, for what? Not money... if they can do this, they can steal all the money they want. They might be terrorists... this is a love-tap compared to how much damage they can do." To Ken he adds "Not really. I mean, we can go around ripping all the ATMs out of the ground, but I'm sure the banks are already on that... they don't need us, really."

Caleb adds "One or the other will do nicely," to Harlequin.

Charm muses. "The question is, are their capabilities as great as they appear? Could this be a form of bluff?"

"One hell of a bluff," Cale replies. "I mean... to put it in your terms, it's like someone threatened the Undermoon Embassy by taking every item of significant value in it and burying it a hundred feet underground. Problematic, yes, but if they can do _that_, what _else_ can they do?"

There's a senior police officer on scene now. Coming over she asks what you have discovered.

Caleb summarizes what he found out from the ATM. "The thing is," he adds, "we know there are plenty of entities capable of this sort of thing. AIs, technopaths, superintelligent hackers, the like. Have been for years. They just mostly don't... there's really nothing to be gained from it they can't get more easily. So it's the motive that really confuses me."

Charm says, "If it is as great a feat as you say, then yes. But that doesn't mean that calling it "Demonstration 1" is not a bluff."

Caleb nods. "I guess not, that's true."

The officer nods. "We don't have the motive. And I somehow doubt this is going to be the end of it. You're the Princess Guard team from the Undermoon Embassy aren't you? If, when, we have another incident like this can we ask for your help? From what I'm hearing over the radio you've discovered more than anyone else about what's happened."

Caleb uses his PDA to send a text to one of the few technopaths he knows still active in Colonial Bay, asking if Amelia has any relevant information.

Harlequin murmurs, "Well, Chaos needs no reason other than 'Why not?', yes?"

The message to Amelia gets a automated reply - 'I'm not available at this time. I'll get back to you when I return to Earth Prime.'

Caleb nods, unsurprised.

Charm says, "Hm. Is anyone known to use that symbol currently?"

Caleb chuckles. "At a guess, about two thousand organizations, most of them still in high school. But it's worth checking." He starts to set up a search-bot on his PDA for organizations that seem plausible candidates, and then returns his attention to the ATM while it runs. "While I'm at it... let's see what we can find out about how they breached security in the first place... maybe we can close that hole." He starts tapping away again.

Titan paces back and forth slowly, waiting relatively patiently.

Harlequin hands the four credit chips he got from the ATM to the senior police official while Caleb does what he does.

Caleb hrms. "So, apparently the intruder hacked the encryption protecting the system directly. That is... no cleverness here, no back-doors, it just tackled what was _supposed_ to be the unbreakable part and walked right through it. And they want us to know it, too... they could have covered their trail, but they didn't." He thinks about that a second. "Which is to say, this might be an intentionally misleading trail. Or they just don't care what we find out." He shrugs. "We might be able to find out more from the bank's main network... that's where this all started."

Caleb adds "I could try to hack it, I guess, but does anyone have more official contacts?"

The senior police officer says, "I'll talk to my chief and I guess he'll talk to the Mayor and the Mayor will talk to the bank. I'm sure I can get that arranged."

Caleb laughs, having completely forgotten the officer was there. "I was, of course, offering to hack the bank network only in an, um, metaphorical sense," he adds, unable to suppress a grin.

-

Interlude in Coffee Shop
Amelia arrives more conventionally than the last time. By walking in the door. Her gaze goes unerringly to where Caleb is. "Hi. Getting back to you about the text you sent me." she says.

Caleb was in the middle of doing something complicated on his PDA that involved lots of beeps, which he ignores when he hears Amelia's voice. "Oh hey! Long time, no see. Did you end up doing that, um, prison sentence thing?"

Amelia nods, "Yes. I went back and finished my sentence. Eighteen months. Thanks to Harlequin, Matt, and Hunter, though, my witchcraft was working when I went back. Which made a huge difference."

Caleb nods. "I can see where it would. Well, welcome back! And thanks for getting back to me."

Amelia nods. "I heard about the ATMs going crazy when I got back to Earth Prime. Someone hacked them, right?"

Caleb says, "Yeah. Someone _good_." He relates what he was able to discern from examining the ATM, including the 'calling card'. "I figure that's just the beginning."

Amelia whistles quietly, "Thats... impressive. Better than I could do on my best day. Oh, I could hack any one network given time but all at once? The eight headed arrow is a symbol for chaos. You probably already knew that. But I can't recall coming across the combination of that symbol with the cracked CPU outline. Sorry."

Caleb nods. "Yeah, that's about what I figured too. Does your cybermagic thing," he continues, wiggling his fingers for emphasis, "give you any special tools for tracking the source?"

Amelia rubs her chin with a hand as she thinks. "It would probably give me a better chance of tracking back an active hack to the source in time for the informattion to be useful. But after the fact? Doubtful. Unless they are way dumber than expected they'll have gone through a number of proxies and cleaned up any tracable data on disconnect. That's what you found, right?"

Caleb nods. "Yeah, that's what I figured. But it was worth asking... magic doesn't follow any rules of network management. As for tracable data... well, they left _some_ trail. Whether it's a red herring or not, I dunno." He shows her the results he got pointing back to the bank.

Amelia asks if she can link into your PDA to look at the data directly.

Caleb hesitates briefly, then nods. "Sure, go ahead. You go snooping, it's your own fault what you find," he adds with a grin.

Amelia grins, "Just the data." Reaching out she rests fingertips against your PDA, and after a moment the very tips of her fingers seem to sink slightly into the case.

Caleb says, "In case you were wondering," Cale adds, "that's _still_ creepy as heck."

Amelia looks at you, "This is interesting. Did you look at the data you captured?"

Caleb shrugs. "Some, not in depth. Whadcha find?"

Amelia says, "I'm not entirely sure. But while on the surface it looks like they just walked through the encryption... if you examine that part of the data carefully it seems to be a superposition of multiple values. I read an article back in school. Myers and Hanstead, MIT, if I recall correctly. Quantum Computing, the Encryption Holy Grail. This looks something like one of the results they predicted."

Amelia says,, "You're absolutely right about one thing. Whoever it is, with the capability they displayed they're not going to stop at messing with ATMs. That was only the beginning."

Caleb blinks, looks over Amelia's results, nods. "So somebody's gotten quantum computing working for practical encryption, and... they're using it to blackmail Colonial Bay?" He shakes his head bewildered. "I will never understand super-villians. But OK. That's helpful... there can't be _too_ many potential candidates." His tongue pops out between his teeth as he starts to assemble searchbot parameters.

Caleb's Legwork
1. Cale sets up a searchbot program to identify individuals or agencies whose total "hit" score for the following parameters is high (like, top ten candidates): - cutting-edge research into quantum computing, especially quantum cryptography - interest in political anarchy - connection to the eight-headed arrow symbol or the cracked-CPU-chip symbol, or especially to the superimposed dual image.

2. Cale follows up with the senior police officer on the scene to get actual authorization to access the bank's main network. If that moves too slowly he eventually gets impatient and hacks into the bank's network. :-) He's not really looking for anything very specific, but in broad terms he's following the trail from the ATMs to see if it leads anywhere specific.

3. He also does a breadth-first search for anomalous system behavior at the same time across the entire bank network, on the off chance that the trail is a distraction.

4. He gathers a list of all bank system users around the time of the intrusion and runs a cross-check algorithm with the results of searchbot #1, and pays particular attention to anyone who pops up on both lists.

-

(1) The field of potential candidates is even smaller than Caleb may have expected. After a promising beginning the entire field of Quantum Computing bogged down amid seemingly insolvable practical difficulties. Apart from a few oddballs and eccentrics the topic of Quantum Computing has been only of theoretical interest for a couple of decades.

John Myers and Richard Hanstead, these are reputable and well regarded academics at MIT. They are viewed as the world experts in Quantum Computing and Cryptogaphy. They wrote the book. Literally.

Michael (micky) Kingston, child genius, 12 years old, studying at MIT with John Myers as his post-graduate adviser. Michael passed his first degree at the age of 10 and is well on his way to a PhD. In addition to being under-sized for his age Michael is disfigured by a vivid birthmark on the left side of his face. Bullying and intellectual isolation has resulted in a somewhat anti-social and arrogant personality.

Stavros Benton, who is an eccentric amateur inventor. He lives comfortably on the interest of a trust fund from his deceased parents and tinkers with little academic understanding of what he is doing. He travels to attend most scientific conferences not as an invited speaker but pushing his own pet theories in ill attended informal forums. Nobody takes him seriously. He is considered a figure of fun to be laughed at.

Snakebyte (real name unknown), radical hacker and member of the ILF (Information Liberation Front). Little is known about his private identity. Almost nothing in fact. However he has a very ipressive reputation among the black hat hacker community.

HeXer, a known super-hacker villain, associate of the Count. He is currently in Stronghold with zero access to information technology.

DEMON, known to have used the eight headed arrow symbol on occasions. Probably along with hundreds if not thousands of others who aren't significant enough to register on the list. While DEMON undoubtedly would be happy to accquire such technology it would be surprising and out of character if they had devoted resources to delevoping it.

Jesus Sanchaz, illegal immigrant in the US. He used to be a senior fellow of the University in Mexico City, in the Information Technology department. But he had to run for his life when his brother, the now imprisoned ex-Minister of technology of Mexico, was arrested on charges of corruption. Jesus fled on being warned that police loyal to the new Minister had been given orders to pick him up and threaten harm against him to force his brother to confess. He lives in trailer park and works as farm labourer.

(2) The senior police officer proves as good as her word and arrange access to the bank's network for Caleb. That dead ends. There's no obvious, or even inobvious, clues as to how the villains got access to the system in the first place in the logs. (However see below)

(3) The search for anomalous system behavior pays off in what is probably an unexpected fashion. The master terminal in the bank's control room records a login at the time when no system admins should be in there. Checking the recorded CCTV footage it turns out the janitor was in the room cleaning and washing the floor, as he does every night. However he never touched the terminals and has been employed by the bank for years. Further investigation and checking revealed the janitor's mop is emitting a weak radio signal at 2.4Ghz. Disassembly of the mop follows and reveals a hidden router and programmed system to make a connection and download a payload package hidden inside the handle of the mop.

Unfortunately it seems that detection of this was anticipated. The business end of the hidden electronics in the broom handle, the part that logically would have been the Quantum Decryption unit, was sealed in a plactic case and acid was used to dissolve it.

When checked out the other banks affected find the same is true in each bank.

(4) There's no common link between the list of experts and the list of bank system users at the time of the intrusion.