Log:Capelli-Cangelosi War, Scene 4

Capelli-Cangelosi War 2016/10/21 	 Caleb Ellbeth Sword Dancer Daemon Wolf Sidewinder Road Ragers

4

A seemingly endless grid of primary roads, with some services, and quiet roads of middle-income houses and lawns: this is Newtown, or the Western Sprawl, as it is often known. Founded in the 2020s, in the backlash to the alien mania following first contact, it is an assertion of all that is human, mundane and boring, juxtaposed with the Alien District and those two periods were in history.

Newtown is not all uniform; styles of house show the expansion of city like the rings of a tree, and the neighboring districts too have their influence: the poverty of Harrisburg has seeped into the north as wealth has crept into the south and the students have invaded the northeast. Only the Alien District has failed to leave its mark.

Ellbeth(#2336PeACcF?)

Ellbeth's fusion of racial backgrounds originally created a youthful exotic beauty that has aged gracefully, to an almost classical Mediterranean appearance. She's not overweight however, as she'll tell you repeatedly given an excuse. Attentive green eyes with a distinctly humorous glint glance out behind semi-mirrored sunglasses. A knowing gaze suggestive of having seen a lot, forgiven most and forgotten little. Is it something about the posture of her body and the firmness of her jaw however that indicates a steadfast resolve and a determination to make her views heard?

A silver clasp gathers her hair into a long ponytail of snow-white hair down her back. She wears a shimmering full length hooded mid-grey damask robe hemmed with dark sable fur, belted at the waist with a white slash and held shut at the neck by a silver owl brooch, the hood thrown back. A long polished oaken staff inscribed with arcane runes is held in her left hand while her right hand holds a state of the art laptop computer.

Caleb(#2759PenACcF?)

A man in his 20s with mid-length white hair, unnaturally pale skin and eyes, and a tuft of beard currently bright red. He's 5'10" and about 210 pounds with a gymnast's build. He has a brightly colored bird tattooed on the inside of his wrist and a two-inch long scar on his neck. He wears four small stud earrings in his left ear (ruby, emerald, diamond, and sapphire) and an irridescent bracelet on his left wrist. The overall effect, though odd, is memorable and surprisingly aesthetic.

Kihzra(#1460PenACcF?)

Kihzra is a woman in her twenties, 5'9" in height, with a lithe, athletic, and aesthetic figure. Her eyes are blue and her flowing hair orange. She bears herself in a confident manner, while being alway light on her feet.

She's wearing a tight midriff-showing tank top, or similar garment, sorts, sandals, earrings, a necklace, and some intricate golden armbands. Strapped over her shoulder, almost always, is a long cylindrical bag, not entirely zipped closed.

Daemon(#2788PenACcF?)

Devilish vigilante, known info-broker, but also a complete unknown. Every trace of him on the internet is regularly wiped out by seemingly innocent account holders. Rumors abound, but in person he is a relatively short super-hero, about 5'6 and despite his strength is very wirey. Daemon has a lean & powerful build- yet comes in at just 5'5. The Nanosuit consists of an plated black body suit leading up to a cowl. On top of that, is his helmet- thinner than a Motorcycle helmet but in the same style. This helmet seems solid & opaque, giving no hint to who hides beneath it. When his helmet's mouthpeice is opened, it looks as if his cowl covers the upper part of his face leaving his nose, mouth, and chin exposed.

His gauntlets have a number glowing surfaces that seem to have panels above them. These surfaces glow with a green-blue haze that leaves streaks in the air as he moves. The functions of the gauntlets change depending on the need, and so different panels lift or shift as needed- but move silently. His gauntlets are a bit thicker from the wrist back until his mid-forearm, then wrapping under and rounding out to end at his elbow in a spindly point. Each knuckle has a glowing slit going up it.

The Nanosuit has a webbing like texture to it on the underarms & ribs down to shins and feet, with the exception of the center toe 'pocket'. The feet of his nanosuit have his toes arranged like tabi shoes commonly attributed to ninja.

These 'un-webbed' areas are slightly plated- looking almost like a carapace over the shoulders, across the chest & down the spine, with a similar angular pattern like his helmet. To the left and right of the final spinal plate are 2 pouches that seem to be sealed with no obvious way to open them. Though this area is most often covered by some cyberpunk jacket, hoodie or shirt usually with the sleeves rolled up.

Everything about his look screams Cyberpunk & carries a sleek yet utilitarian technological feel.

Wolf(#2803PenACcF?)

An Akita-like animal with grey-white fur, pointy inquisitive ears, and a cheerful disposition, he is curious about almost everything and pays keen attention to all of the different aspects of his surroundings, his ears flickering to and fro as they swivel from subject to subject.

Road Ragers(#2726TOn)

A bunch of bikers, four men and a woman, all in leather jackets and vests with the logo for the 'Road Ragers' on the back. They're all adults, likely in their mid-20s.

The sound of loud American-made motorcycles echoes reverberates through Newtown as the Road Ragers cruise through the area, three bikes wide, taking up as much space as possible.

The bikers stop in a parking lot, after spotting a couple of people. One Detective Carpenter, and an obvious metahuman. The bikes circle slowly around them. Carpenter calls in to the station, "Yeah...I might need some backup."

Sidewinder(#2699TOn)

A man...or rather, a snake-man with green-ish black-ish scales, stands about six feet tall. He's dressed in a purple and black suit clearly made of kevlar, with dark goggles and a holstered pistol.

Caleb was playing on the beach with Wolf when his PDA notifies him of a police dispatch record that involves meta activity. Checking up on it, it sounds interesting, so he gates in to the relevant area. Wolf can bound through the gate as well.

Ellbeth is walking back towards the Yacht Club after giving a talk at the Harrisburg Elementary School. The sound of revving engines draws her attention. Diverting on her route she reaches a point at which she can see the gang members and someone she knows, Detective Carpenter.

Daemon is bounding from rooftop to rooftop- yanking himself over primary roads with his webline when necessary. He's trying to get out of Newtown now that his business here is over. His contact spilled the beans and he's looking forward to hanging someone by their feet off a skyscraper when he hears the Road Ragers riding through town.

He's about to leave them to their raging when he hears Detective Carpenter's request for backup & the sound of the bikes in the background.

Questioning the city's criminals might have to wait.

Daemon double times to catch up to the Ragers.

Setting up a slingshot on the closest rooftop- Daemon hurls himself into the fray.

He lands just inside the circle created by the Ragers.

"Don't worry Detective- Backup's here." He says with a grin as he tries to identify the leader of the biker gang.

Kihzra, as it happens, chose this day to return to town from her wanderings. And since she's approaching from the west, and generally prefers to avoid the traffic of the main roads, she comes in through Newtown, leaping between the rooftops of houses as she refamiliarises herself with her adopted home. Drawn by the loud motorcycles, which she knows are out of place in this generally quiet neighbourhood, she is soon on a rooftop overlooking the bikers.

Wolf slowly pokes his nose, and then his shaggy head, and then (finally) all of the rest of him through Caleb's Gate, his ears swiveling to focus on the goings-on instinctively

Both the detective and Sidewinder have pistols in hand. The former has his service weapon. The latter has a plasma pistol of some sort.

Kihzra grins and pulls her sword from her bag. Looks like there could be some fun.

Sword Dancer leaps from the root to land between the bikers and the detective, and waves her sword in a dazzling and threatening display. "Am back? Is trouble here?" she grins.

The gang members hesitate...they're still circling, but they may very well decide to not attack at this point. The number of people inside the circle has doubled in short order.

Suzume enters from MagLev System.

Daemon lets Sword Dancer entrance spellbind the Ragers with her swordplay and threatening demeanor.

He uses the destraction to activate the Digistructed Claws on his right hand.

Milliseconds later an intense magnetic field springs to life at the tips of his thumb and first two fingers- each about 2in long.

'Time to stop this Mary-Go-Round' he thinks to himself as he swipes at the closest Rager's front suspension fork. He is attempting to separate the front wheel from the still moving bike in the hopes of causing a pile-up & keeping the bikers too busy to shoot at their target(s).

Carpenter mutters to himself as Daemon takes a swing, "Oh...no....no...no...."

The bike's fork is sliced, and the wheel comes off. The bike crashes to the ground, toppling the rider.

Sidewinder and Carpenter both level their guns at the gang members. The latter had his weapon down at his side, but with Daemon actually attacking one of them, he knows things are about to get worse quickly. "Stand down! CBPD!" He doesn't say it to anyone in particular. Just in general, as he flashes his badge.

Caleb has no actual idea what's going on, but he's apparently Gated into a fight. He recognizes Khizra and Daemon and Carpenter, though, so he's pretty clear what side he's on. He reaches through a small portal and attempts to snatch one of the bikers off of his bike...

...and succeeds. The biker is suspended in midair by a disembodied hand while his bike skids off.

Ellbeth blink spells across the intervening distance to appear beside Detective Carpenter. "She addresses the Road Ragers, speaking in a calm authoritive voice, "Perhaps I can offer my services as a mediator? Because, gentlemen, you seem to be hugely outclassed at this time."

The bikers are pretty good on their bikes. Despite one bike grinding to a halt without a front wheel, and another sliding on its side, none of the others hit anything...or anyone (like their fellow on the ground). The bikes come to a halt, and one of the women looks at Ellbeth, "Yeah, alright. We were already thinking 'bout leaving, when that ..." She points to Daemon, "...broke Donny's bike! You get him to pay for that, and we'll leave!"

She adds, "Same with the other one. Which ever of you caused that bike to skid across teh ground!"

Ellbeth nods, "If you agree not to press charges against anyone I will personaly guarantee you repair costs will be paid." she replies.

The gang members confer quickly, and the woman nods. "A'right. Deal." Donny gets himself up off the ground and dusts himself off. He glares at Daemon, but doesn't say anything.

Daemon steps forward towards Ellbeth and the foul mouthed biker woman as his claws deactivate.

The plates of his right gauntlet move smoothly as the mechanics beneath do their thing.

"Boy- that's some sense of entitlement you jokers have." He says placing his left hand over his right gauntlet.

"Only in Colonial Bay can a pile of thugs with 20 gallons of gas 2 brain cells between them demand a refund after threatening a police officer." He says venomously as he hands Ellbeth the creditchip he just built.

"I'll keep the peace. But I'll be waiting for you the next time you slip up." He says threateningly. "Should be enough for Dummy- I mean Donny and your pal to get their bikes fixed. I advise you use any extra to get out of town."

The female gang member shakes her head, "What an . Oooo...yeah, you're tough with your powers and all. We got it. The cop hadn't shown his badge yet." She gives some contact info to Ellbeth. The other gang members don't really wait around except to have a couple of their number go off to get a van and trailer to deal with the downed bike, which can't be just ridden off with. They manage to get their act together in about twenty minutes, leaving the heroes, Sidewinder, and Carpenter there.

Caleb gives Sidewinder a sudden look of recognition, then shrugs. "So, I think I came in in the middle, here," he says to Carpenter. "What's the sitch?"

Daemon turns to regard Sidewinder. He speaks to both Sidewinder and the Detective, "So what'd you get yourself into this time?"

As the bikers leave, his plated nanosuit begins to change- shifting and stretching, pulling and bunching up in other places. Then like a wave starting at the top of his head and working its way down, the skintight costume becomes a perfectly pressed black suit- cut to make room for his gauntlets, and a black leather mask that only exposes his neck. (If you've seen Moon Knight in his Detective gear- this is pretty close, but black.)

Carpenter nods to Caleb, "I was following up on the weapons used to in the shootout outside the Yachy Club. Looks like ACRO weapons bought by someone. Sidewinder here was saying he might know who the buyer was. The guys from the dock wouldn't talk. Looks like they were ACRO themselves, so pressure isn't easy to bring to bear."

Ellbeth interjects, "Get a court order and I can take the information straight from their minds." She doesn't mention to the detective, who seems a bit stuffy, that's she's perfectly willing to do it without any court order.

Carpenter nods. "I already considered it. But ACRO agents are very likely to have robotic portions of their brains. Which shut down upon intrusion detection. I'm being cautious. But I thank you for the offer."

Daemon listens intently as the Detective gives the rundown.

"Huh. I heard about that mess on the docks through the grapevine." He says, nodding as Ellbeth offers her particular services.

Daemon of course notes this ability and decides to make nice with Ellbeth so he might procure those services at another time (and hopefully without a court order- though he could probably doctor one up if need be.)

He sucks his teeth after Carpenter mentions the use of Cyberbrains- something he knows a bit about.

He looks to Sidewinder, "So you must be on to something if you're getting harried by the Ragers- who was the buyer?"

Ellbeth smiles, "That sounds like a win-win to me. However I would be astonished if that proved to be any kind of a problem."

Sidewinder shrugs, "Buyer's name is Johnny Cho. Lives in Chinatown. I'm not sure why he cares about Tommy or Sonny, but the weapons ended up in the hands of someone who did. If he was gunning for Sonny, you be sure to let me know, Detective."

Carpenter shakes his head at Ellbeth's comment, "I need to abide by the law. I'm not chancing it." He looks back to Sidewinder, "I'll let you know what I find out from Mr. Cho. If this involves Pride, this is going to get messy quickly."

Daemon nods to Sidewinder saying, "We'll keep our ears open, Sidewinder."

At the same time, he activates a thin sheath of Spydermites on his palm. The little buggers are too small to see with the human eye, but they're there and already pinging away in the back of Daemon's mind.

He offers his outstretched hand to Sidewinder.

Sidewinder looks at Daemon for a long moment. He twitches slightly a couple times, but then he shakes Daemon's hand.

The SpyderMites jump ship and onto Sidewinders palm where they will burrow through to his skin and roost for the next week. Daemon shakes his hand graciously. "Good luck out there." He says with a smile.

Daemon will be able to track him if necessary.

He considers doing the same tot eh good detective- but decides better of it, for now.

Sidewinder heads over to his car, a vintage Plymouth Road Runner. Well, it's a modified version with a modern engine in it. He gets in and rolls down the window. He points to Carpenter, "I'll be in touch, aye?"

Carpenter nods and gives a wave, "I'll let you know how things go."

Sidewinder's car explodes...

Carpenter covers his face, only to get some burn marks on his coat and arm. "< expletive> ! He pulls off his coat and tosses it aside, "We have to get him out of there!"

Wolf dashes toward the ?flaming? car to see if there is anything left of Sidewinder

Sword Dancer leaps clear of the explosive blast like someone in a movie. "Qhah!"

The car is on fire now...Sidewinder isn't moving inside the extremely hot vehicle.

Caleb activates full defenses and attempts to pull Sidewinder's body free of the flaming wreckage

Ellbeth blink teleports to the car immediately after casting a Sphere of Life spell. Sidewinder groans. He's still alive, though badly burned.

Caleb says, "Any reason I shouldn't port him directly to the hospital's burn ward?"

"We need a medic!" He shouts as he leaps towards the car.

The heat at the car is intense, he looks to Caleb & Ellbeth surprised by their durability as he grabs whats left of the car door and snaps it free from its hinges with a loud groaning sound of metal being sheared. His hope is that this will let Ellbeth and Caleb get him out of the car easier.

Its about all he can do- he's no medic.

He sighs with relief as Sidewinder moans in pain.

Carpenter looks over at Caleb, "If you can do that, go ahead!"

Sword Dancer keeps her distance, not being terribly fireproof. Enough other people seem to be up to it.

Sword Dancer attends to the detective's burns, if he permits her.

The detective definitely lets Kihzra take a look at his burns.

Caleb opens a viewing portal to the hospital to pick a good spot while his teammates do whatever field medic work they're inspired to do. When they're done he will open a gate and carry Sidewinder through. Anyone who wants to follow can do so freely.

Ellbeth opens a portal to the city's hospital. Two stone pillars energe from the street and when they reach seven feet in height a lintal stone appears. The air ibside the stone portal shimmers silver and then clears to show the ambulance arrival door of the hospital.

Wolf 's sensitive ears are still ringing from the explosion, but since he can _see_ the victim pretty well from his near-ground vantage he sneaks in a Heal before Sidewinder is hospitalized.

Sword Dancer pulls some sort of smelly ointment out of her bag and applies it to the burns. It's a bit soothing at least, but goodness knows if it does anything useful.

Carpenter winces a bit while Kihzra works on his arm, "I should head through to the hospital too. But uh...thank you."

Daemon watches on- not at Caleb, but around them- looking for anyone hwo might be responsible, or who looks guilty of anything. Most importantly- he's looking out for a second wave of attack.

He elects to stick with the Detective- it would seem he's in more danger than anyone could have guessed.

When the Detective goes through the portal- Daemon will be on his heels.

Sword Dancer assures him, "Is good for burns. In my tribe is used all the time."

Both Sidewinder and Carpenter head through to the hospital with the heroes' help.

Ellbeth says, "If everyone who wants passes through the portal I'll follow and close it down."

Sword Dancer wonders, "Why car exproded?"

Ellbeth looks at Sword Dancer. "Hello, Kihzra. It's been a long time since we last met. I suspect it was a bomb. In fact I'm pretty sure it was."

On the other side of the Portal- Daemon's suit looks brand new. He follows behind the Detective and Caleb.

He looks to Sword Dancer and answers, "Because they were on to something. Considering who's car it was- its hard to be sure its related, but come on... its related."

Sword Dancer greets Ellbeth, "Herro, yes! Is long time. Am back in town now!"

Sword Dancer says, "Is rerated to what?""

Wolf *sniff sniff sniffs* around the wreckage, searching for any clues, such as the scent of someone no longer visilbe and / or explosive material resudue(s) or etc.

Ellbeth shrugs, "I don't know. I've kind of come into this in the middle of events. Detective Carpenter should be able to tell you."

Sidewinder and Carpenter are both taken in to get treated on, though the former well before the latter.