Before Sawtooth could say another word, the volley of gunfire and energy bolts hit him at full force, knocking him back. He took a running start and lept into the air to volley over the crowd and landed in the middle of a nearby parking lot, cracking the pavement as he did. As soon as he could, he began lobbing cars at them; Size, shape, it didn't matter, so long as it was heavy and made a satisfying noise when it slammed into people, it'd do.

Edited by bestmand902 on Jul 21st 2020 at 4:48:31 AM

Sawtooth, No Sawing!

"Hold that thought!" Bri told the Trickster as she dashed off once more, diving in front of a fascist goon and simply using her own body as a shield as the car slammed into her. She planted one foot back, the concrete shattered underneath and the car bent around her body.

"HA!" She cried as she threw it into another car, deflecting it from another of the wrongful armed men. She turned to them, waggling her finger. "If you guys don't have any special powers or training to help you survive, you should definitely-" She winced, grabbed her arm with the other hand and forcibly popped it back into her shoulder. "-you should definitely all get out of here. But first!"

She grabbed the goon she had save from Sawtooth's first car. "We're gonna talk!" Holding him by the hips, she jumped on a car and then bounced off of it unto a rooftop.

The Superpower Brawl

As Roland outright walked right through a stream of bullets fired by Dead-Ahead and crushed his gun into a wreck, it was becoming quite clear to Dr. Elite that they were losing. And badly.

Onrush was flailing around in quite a pathetic state on the floor, Hammer Lass was being constrained by some kind of netting, Gun Lass was on the floor bound down by Hans' powers, and American Avenger was letting out screams of pain as his nigh invulnerable skin showed it was only just nigh - before long he too was a bloody mess on the floor. Alive, but incapable of acting any further.

"NAAAAAAAARGHHHHH AAAAAAIIIIIYAAAGH!!!" Elite screamed in pain as he rolled over on the floor and activated one of his devices.

All of a sudden there was a flash of some kind of gray light - all of the Americorps started to shimmer and then were pulled into the gray light, vanishing from the field.

By the time it was all over, all that remained was a broken bauble on the floor to mark the fact that Dr. Elite had decided to beat a hasty retreat.

Rick's March

Rick was prepared for this kind of thing and shot down a few of the thrown cars Sawtooth threw his way, but then someone else leaped in, took one of his men, and then ran off with him. Rick grumbled and wondered when Obsidian City became home to all these freaks and abhumans as far as he was concerned. And then he got a notice that Dr. Elite used a retreat sphere.

"My fucking god, can none of these people do anything right without me on the scene?"

Rick looked around and ordered, "Alright, everyone fall back to base. We're done here."

The federal forces following Rick quickly turned and began to retreat from the field back to base.

In one solid move by the New Justice International group, President Sutler's crackdown on Obsidian City was decisively beaten.

Brute Force & Her New Friend

Bri dragged the fascist goon up to the roof top, deposited him on his feet, looked him over and her hands blurred. Where she touched, she grabbed a side arm, an emergency knife, the emergency gun in his boot, the frag grenade, the smoke grenade, the flash bang, the tazer, the bolos and the truncheon, depositing the lot in a pile behind her. She let him keep the can of pepper spray, because it was important he felt safe.

She looked behind her and tutted. "Huh, all your friends. Alright, mister, I have some questions!

"What do you stand for?"

"I stand...for restoring order in this city...and serving the greatest President in our lifetimes..." The goon rasped out, held up by Bri Fo.

Meanwhile, in the Americorps Headquarters...

"I quit! Nobody told me that the leftists in this city could fight, let alone choke me with the power of their minds!" Rudy Folken was obviously incensed, he'd come expecting an easy fight and an easy propaganda win for the President. Now he was leaving behind soiled uniforms and a ruined pride.

"Rudy, please," Hammer Lass tried to intercede, "They got the drop on us last time, but next time—-"

"There won't be a next time. I'm almost 70! I'm not made to be throwing haymakers at young people out there. You can count on my support on the air, but until then, I'm out." With that, Rudy left, looking back over the battered remaining members of the team.

Gun Girl was still shaking on the floor, remembering that Hans - the one she'd denigrated and saw as disloyal - was the one who ultimately spared her.

American Avenger was being bandaged up and healed by onsite medics, every odd minute screaming or shouting again in pain.

And Dr. Elite had managed to heal himself, though not with his dignity intact.

As the team started mingling in their HQ, just due south of Aquavect's main HQ (as if saying whose bidding they served immediately), the gargantuan main doors to the central room swung open and a single figure entered. Standing about six feet tall and looking distracted and robotic, the young figure swung his head around and stood in front of them all, "I give you countless powerful weapons and items for your arsenal, I grant you powers and abilities beyond your wildest dreams...and you Schweinhunden, zu vermasseln!"

He sounded conspicuously older than his body would allude, and he began quickly walking in front of the Americorps, who quickly lined up, obviously afraid of angering him further. The figure ranted further, "In ze great war, men would be afraid to fail Mein Fuhrer once! And here you sit on your blasted laurels licking your wounds."

"But...Dr. Neuron, we tried our best," American Avenger tried to speak up, still uncomfortable from how much bandaging was on him, "Surely we had no way of knowing—-"

American Avenger suddenly collapsed, screaming in pain as electricity coursed through his body, an inbuilt device for "ensuring discipline". He fell to the floor, thrashing, his blood spilling out again on the floor as he did so. Dr. Neuron outright ignoring the looks he got as he followed by slowly shutting off the shock device.

Dr. Neuron managed to clasp his body's hands behind its back, "But, since your ineffectual scramble has led me to learning our enemies powers and natures...sich großzügig fühlen..."

Two more figures in shadow entered the room the same way Dr. Neuron did, and Neuron stated coldly, "Now however, the great and famous Dr. Neuron will make sure that you do this right!" He had sent for a...hiring to take place, and all the while he had some changes he had in mind for the team.

Gun Girl cringed and crawled backward on her hands as two lab assistants brought out a garrish, disturbing looking mechanical suit riven with tubes, chains and thorns...distinctly in her direction.

Brute Force

“That’s a good start!” She said cheerfully, more holding the man by his shoulders and keeping him on his feet. “Why don’t you tell me more about that?”

Rebecca - Sewer Entrance

The rat person definitely seemed more trustworthy than the psychos with guns who apparently thought you dealt with homelessness crisis via murder.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, let's do that."

Rebecca jumped downed the manhole, not bothering with the ladder and instead manipulating the sewer water to break her fall.

"Yay! Sewers! I like sewers!"

"Of course you do."

Obsidian City, Magpie, Makquer'el, Shelly

"They ran away with their tails tucked in-between their legs, like the cowards that they are," Makquer'el noted disappointedly. "Now we must continue onward to Aquavect's base of operations. Between Black King, his Pawns, and this 'Americorps,' I'd wager that we've blown through most of their defenses like a monsoon in wet season."

"I wouldn't bet on that, Mak," Shelly said, speaking up suddenly. "I'm willing to guess they have one last-ditch line of defense. Don't let your guard down yet."

"We should really get going already," Magpie urged. "Aquavect already knows we're here. Time is of the essence if we're going to take them down once and for all."

While everyone was standing around being self-congratulatory, Trickster poofed away in a puff of smoke to where Bri and the goon were when nobody was looking.

Obsidian City Rooftops, Trickster

"Ma'am—ma'am!" Trickster called. "You know how those goons showed up all of a sudden? I have it on good authority that they were deployed to beat up anyone on the streets that looked at them funny, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have gone easy on people without powers, either."

"If you look at the news, the recent protests happened because Aquavect is poisoning the water supply that it provides," they continued. "You should come with us—Aquavect is pants-wettingly evil, but I suppose you want to see for yourself. No doubt we'll find lots of evidence once we storm their HQ."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jul 25th 2020 at 9:19:55 AM

Obsidian City - NJI

Roland was in full celebration mode, doing a full on admittedly somewhat corny dance in place and then pumped his arm as he reveled in the victory. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he had won against Aquavect in a way that mattered. Everything else felt like it was just interrupting evil's dance on this city's grave. Now? Now he had reason to feel hope that things...things were going to get better soon. Even if it meant going against this "President Sutler" and his champions.

Ryan however was examining something and in a distinctly more morose mood than the other heroes in the field.

Kris approached him and asked, "Hey, we just kicked the government stooges' asses all the way back to base, what's up? You look kinda down in the dumps."

"That'd be," Ryan said, showing he had one of the broken devices in hand that had been used by Dr. Elite, "Because I think there's a source of all this new tech the Americorps and Aquavect have. There'll be more than just Zugzwang and Aquavect's far right thug corps there."

"Make sure we're all ready..." Ryan tossed the broken device off to the side, "We're gonna be hitting Aquavect's water purification central control zone."

As Ryan tossed the device out and the team got ready to go, the device split open after a moment...the edge of an emblazoned swastika visible inside.

Sewers

Down in the sewers, a group of very familiar people seemed to be trying to move something. It looked like a selection of extremely heavy devices, and the people in question would be known by any hero who had been out and about in Easton for a long enough time. Those people down in the sewers trying to move the tech around were Blitzkriegs, the powered armored agents of hatred.

And whatever these things were, they were taking care to bring these things in undamaged.

Bri Fo and Trickster

The goon outright shouted at Trickster, "That is all liberal fake news spouted by the illegal superheroes in the New Justice International group, who are funded by that rich degenerate Isaac Noble!"

It was obvious that the people picked for Rick's march were not picked for their even tempers or ability to be fair to those they might be required to arrest. Rather, they were picked as political favors and with loyalties in mind.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 25th 2020 at 9:36:38 AM

Brute Force

”News? Like on the Internet? I mean, I hear a lot of things. Show me!”

Both goon and hero-god started pulling out their phones to show her their own particular brand of news. “No, no. You have to take turns!”

What resulted was a approximately forty minute video splurge. It started with current events but quickly drifted over to videos on more general topics, like constitutional freedoms, economics and human rights.

Bri listened intently to both of their video lists and commentary. She noted that Trickster was less likely to resort to, but not always avoid, name calling. Also, the topic of human rights made Trickster’s side more appealing to the goon.

The idea of helping and accepting people even if they were different, and stopping people from bullying them, even went put in more academic words, appealed to her sense of decency. She also thought about the future of the Brute Force School Of Brawny, Hardy And Mighty Martial Arts, and the kind of students she wanted to attract.

She nodded her head, standing from her cross legged position and grabbed the goon. “Hold on,” She told Trickster. Brute Force zoomed off the roof, dragging the goon across a few others and into an alley besides a jammed up dumpster.

“I put some of your friends in there to keep them out of harm’s way. You’ll have to move that car off if you wanna get them out,” She stepped away. “Okay, I hope to see you later when you learn to be a nicer person! Bye bye!”

Brute Force jumped back up and hopped back over to the rooftop with Trickster.

“Alrighty, show me the way to your secret hideout!”

Nariko - Obsidian City Brawl

As the villains teleported away, Nariko came to a stop, before casually flicking her wrist, causing the blood to fly off the edge of her new sword. She'd cleaned it off completely in one stroke.

"Well, that was anti-climactic." She remarked. "Least I got a cool sword out of it."

She strode over to Magpie and the others, ready to follow them back to base. "I'd call that a pretty big win." Nariko grinned. "If that's how all your fights go, I look forward to fighting with you guys."

Fight's over. Everything alright on your end, sis?

Kimiko - Sewers

Yeah. Kimiko responded, leading the girl down the sewers. "My family has a hideout down here, if you wanna lay low for a bit."

Normally she'd be hesitant to reveal that, but the unusually dirty girl was clearly a hero of some kind, given the spandex. And there was something about her that both sisters found strangely trustworthy. That was fast.

Bad guys here are pushovers, apparently. Also, I got a new sword.

Nice. Kimiko smiled. Hopefully they keep sending guys with weapons after us. We could start a collection. You think they have lightsabers?

Given the tech they were working with? I actually wouldn't be surprised.

Kimiko's eyebrows rose a moment, then she blinked as her head snapped towards a sound. She held up a finger, gesturing to Rebecca to remain quiet, as her whiskers twitched. She peeked around the corner.

"Trouble." She told Rebecca. Her sister heard it as well, and peeked through her eyes a moment. "Obvious villains, moving some kinda tech- wait, shit. Those are those Blitzkrieg guys."

Kimiko's eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna take them out. If you don't wanna fight with me, then stay back."

Stay safe. Nariko said.

Don't worry. These guys should be cake. Kimiko replied.

Then she was moving, crossing the distance to the armored figures in an instant, striking the nearest one with a chi-enhanced elbow, intending to send him flying into one of his comrades.

Rebecca - Sewers

Rebecca barely had time to thank the ratgirl before they stumbled upon some familiar villains.

"Seriously? I thought these idiots only operated back in Easton."

Rebecca followed the other girl out into the open calmly, before with a snap of her fingers all hell broke loose.

The dirt and grime that was so prevalent in any given sewer coalesced into a variety of tendrils and blades that extended from the tunnel walls, attempting to penetrate the Blitzkriegs' power armor. Any openings they produced in said armor were immediately filled with flying sewer water in order to short circuit them. Meanwhile, the mysterious objects they were carrying would be pushed toward Rebecca by ripples of grime as soon as they touched the floor.

"What bad luck for them."

Obsidian City, Trickster

"Follow me, then, ma'am," Trickster said, bowing and teleporting both Bri and themselves off of the rooftop with a puff of smoke. "The others are going to hit Aquavect's water purification central control zone now. After we've dealt with this properly, we can accept you into the NJI and show you our base."

Their cloth-wrapped feet pattered down the street as they beelined towards the direction that they had seen their friends go. Quite "accidentally" and "carelessly," their foot stomped down hard on the broken device and the hateful symbol stamped on its insides as they ran past. The Trickster did not slow down for such a trifle of a matter, but their meaning would be clear indeed.

Obsidian City, Magpie, Makquer'el, Shelly

As the group went through the streets, Magpie remarked, "I really didn't expect to see that symbol out in full force ever again like this. I think...I think one of my old enemies has returned. That's not good." She reloaded her gun as she walked, an unsettled expression on her face.

"But that was a long time ago. Are you sure?" asked Makquer'el. "Mortals don't usually live for very long. No offense, I mean—but what does it say about your enemy if he's managed to survive this long? What has he done to achieve such an unnaturally long life? This is worrying indeed."

"I can purify the water once we reach the source of the impurities," said Shelly to the others. "You just keep me from being attacked while I cast my spells, now."

"That would be most wise," Mak responded, agreeing.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jul 27th 2020 at 12:36:44 PM

Rebecca - Discovery

Rebecca true to form having managed to get such a favorable location as a sewer incapacitated the Blitzkriegs within moments of moving against them. They were visibly struggling inside their no longer operational armor, shouting what was surely some vile German profanity.

As Rebecca got the boxes over to her side, she would be able to tell these things were pretty heavy and whatever was inside seemed to not be moving much. Like it was taking up a lot of the boxes.

A minimum amount of effort was needed to open up the boxes, and once they were fully open, Rebecca would be able to see what the Blitzkriegs were bringing in to Obsidian:

A large black semi-spherical device, with numerous tubes across the device's surface, a blacked out timer, and two glowing pieces along the left and right hemispheres of the device. This was a very powerful weapon associated primarily with the villain world "Absolute Authority" and their Foundation for the Future underlings.

It was called a Nihilator Bomb, which apparently was one of the last developed items before Absolute Authority stopped communicating with underlings on this Earth. It was, as the name implied, a very powerful explosive that could through a complicated method overwhelm the capacity for most heroes to regenerate against it or weather its destructive output.

NJI

Ryan caught up with Magpie and Mak, Roland not far behind, and he decided he might as well ask considering they were about to go into what amounted to the final battle with this bunch. "Hey, do either of you two uh...know much about who might be responsible for all this? I mean, Magpie, you're older than you look and all..." He did get a distinct feeling from some of this like Sutler wasn't acting alone.

Zugzwang, sure, they were definitely involved too, but it was probably not just them. They had a signature, he felt.

Obsidian City, Storytime With Magpie

"Well, it was such a long time ago," Magpie said, scratching the back of her neck squeamishly. "Back in World War II... But let me see what useful things I can remember from that time."

It was...not the best of times, for everyone. For me.

Do you know how terrible it was? Hearing the screaming of who knows how many people, day in, day out, and not really being able to do a single thing about it? Trying to breathe and only getting a lungful of mustard gas even though you're nowhere near the battlefields? Hearing the begging every day until the voices fade away in the gas chambers, the labs, the furnaces?

Is it a surprise that I almost lost my mind?

The architect behind all that suffering was Dr. Heinrich Von Hechler. He experimented on his prisoners. His victims screamed louder than the rest, in my head. The whole business, it was...unspeakable. He doesn't deserve his title as "Doctor."

I wasn't quite myself back then. I was a mass of super-heated energy trawling under the Mediterranean Sea. I was afraid of what the Nazis would do to me if they found me. Use me as a torture tool? Make me into a weapon? They almost did find me once or twice. I decided it was too much of a risk to reveal myself and merely relegated myself to sabotaging German U-boats.

Perhaps I could've done more, but I worked behind the scenes to make sure the U-boat reinforcements didn't arrive on time to stop the heroes trying to take down Von Hechler. Do you know they found his body, but not his brain? It was missing from the scene. Of course, they pronounced his death a victory and investigated no more. I searched and searched but I also couldn't find him.

Like I said, it was a terrible time. Even I failed to act directly.

But hopefully, we can put an end to this today.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jul 27th 2020 at 9:25:32 AM

NJI

"...Holy shit..." Ryan murmured, looking completely horrified and taken aback by the implications. Magpie just shared one hell of a piece of information about what happened. He remembered the stories from the older heroes, remembered the one time that the famous Golden Age Hero "Spy Crusher" showed up at the New Justice base.

How he was so...spacey, so grandfatherly...but he focused so much when he brought up the story. The story of chasing Dr. Neuron, first trying to pin down his position and assassinate him, and then trying to track down the dark works and actions of the infamous Odessa Network, a veritable Hydra of horrible evils, heads sprouting across the globe.

Roland commented, "In my time here on this Earth as I've learned of your history, few people have induced quite as much suffering in so short a time frame as these "Nazis" did."

"I don't know," Ryan said with a grimace and a clenched fist, "What the hell he's still doing alive, but this has to stop. If the President's working with a monster like him, it means the fucker's even more corrupt than we thought. We have to get Aquavect outta here and...see what we can prove about Dr. Neuron's presence."

The man had been certified dead, but then, he'd been thought dead once already.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Jul 27th 2020 at 11:24:23 AM

Obsidian City - Main NJR Group

Alexander watched as the fools they had defeated teleported away, a hiss escaping him as the one he had been choking escaped his grasp. He'd barely felt Trickster trying to get him to stop, but he supposed it was for the best. It wouldn't do to alienate new allies.

Now they marched through the streets. He saw the little leader of their gang talking with the woman holding a goon, nodded at the rat-woman as she spoke. He was mostly silent throughout, distracted by the whispers only he could hear. Using his powers like that was a heady experience, but not one he could take lightly. His head spun, the voices promising him power if he just let them in, before he beat them back and sealed his mind again.

They were with a new group, now. Trickster had vanished, and now they were amongst new heroes- at least, he assumed they were, as anyone who opposed people like the Americorps were heroes in his eyes.

"I shall guard her," he tells the others, in reference to Shelly. He doesn't seem particularly startled that Dr Neuron might actually be alive, but then again, he wears a mostly constant look of placid calmness unless actively fighting people.

He does comment on it, though. "Nazis. It would be Nazis," he mutters.

Edited by Cwest5538 on Aug 1st 2020 at 2:56:53 AM

Klöe Kinber – Obsidian City

Klöe had spent her time absentmindedly trailing after the group and blinking off the initial dissociative numbness that came with injecting hyperfluid into her bloodstream. Now that the adrenaline had left her, she was left in somewhat of a sluggish daze. As such she tuned in and out of the conversation at hand, only focusing on the mention of Nazis and grimacing in response to it.

She couldn't help but nod along in agreement to Alexander's sentiment. She made a point to stick close by to them all, casting an anxious look over her shoulder before hardening her gaze and staring dead ahead.

Her prosthetic twitched, and she promptly clutched it at the shoulder with her other hand. The painkilling drug would be starting to level out now—years of repeated use meant it didn't last nearly as long as it did before on her. But it was enough for now. She made a mental note to scavenge for more parts later on in order to refill what she'd lost.

“You have tools and stuff in that base of yours?” she asked vacantly, not really looking in anyone's direction in particular. “Left my stuff at home. Gonna have to restock after this hit...”

Edited by Enirboreh on Aug 1st 2020 at 11:15:51 AM

NJI

"Yeah," Ryan said to Kloe and then crossed his arms as he thought about what was going on and what they'd need to do going forward. The government had really gone overboard in recent times, but the fact they were working with literal Nazis and trying a fascist crackdown on an American City...it was really clear. They'd have some enemies in the American Government more specifically the White House going forward. "We're gonna need to hit that main filtration plant, and I'm guessing going by its importance that's where the Americorps are gonna mount some more resistance."

Ryan said, "Now, my idea of a plan is to bust in, kick some Nazi ass, and get things moving, but I'm not the planning kind of guy. Magpie, you have a plan for getting in and dealing with all this?"

Roland asked, "We know that the Americorps have some kind of base...could we figure out where that is too? I mean they're filming from somewhere."

Americorps

"Welcome, everyone, these would be your new teammates." Dr. Neuron announced as he brought the team together in their new configuration.

Ben Korrino / Shaper noted that one among the new recruits was Ubermensch, a Nazi supervillain whose family had carried that name across three generations now. Seemed this was the youngest one. He spent a moment glaring at Stefan, eagerly anticipating a chance to run rings around the overmuscled buffoon verbally at least for now, but Stefan just breathed and stared down at the floor.

Dr. Neuron's body gestured robotically at the two of them, first at Stefan, "This is Stefan Neumann, and he will be joining as All American Lad..."

"Makes me sick...!" Ben commented between coughs.

Stefan glanced away, commenting under his breath, "...wouldn't be doing this either, if I had choice. But I'm not...given those luxuries. Never have been." He fell quiet even as he started to mumble some more.

Dr. Neuron glowered at this interruption, and stated, "...Ze next remark from you, Herr Korrino, will be punctuated not by coughs but by electric shocks. Now...ahem, the next will be ze Darkwulf, joining us from his...mercenary trade."

"Oh good," Ben commented, "A mercenary and a Nazi Nitwit with no self esteem. This will be great, just great. I know who to blame now if we lose again—-"

Stefan seemed to desperately glance toward Dr. Neuron, as if he didn't feel confident nor comfortable in confronting Ben. Neuron sighed audibly and there was a sound of an electric shock starting followed by Ben letting out a shrill scream and collapsing on to the floor. He might lack an implant, but he didn't lack for a suit.

Bri w/ Trickster

“Hey, this is taking a while,” Brute Force complained. “Ya wanna piggy back ride while you point the way?”

Obsidian City, Trickster

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Trickster said as they poofed onto Bri's back for the aforementioned piggy-back ride. "Whee!"

Obsidian City, Magpie, Makquer'el, Shelly

"We should sneak into the main filtration plant using the sewers," Magpie suggested, just as Makquer'el moved aside a manhole cover. "The sewers in this area are relatively clear of patrols, but once we get inside we should expect some heavy resistance. This route, at least, gives us the element of surprise."

"Shelly and I were clearing out Drowned Souls from the sewers earlier," Mak said as he lowered himself into the manhole. "It should still be clear if we hurry along."

"We can trace the broadcast's signal once we finish this job and get back to base," Magpie grunted as she entered the sewers after the fishing god. "For now, we should focus on this. One thing at a time."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 3rd 2020 at 2:39:55 AM

Kimiko - Sewers

After sending the first guy flying, she prepared to launch herself at another one, only for Rebecca to take care of them herself. The girl somehow took the dirt from the walls and made it into tendrils, which pierced armor and bound the thugs.

"Well." Kimiko said. "You can certainly handle yourself in a fight. Geokinesis, I'm guessing?"

She tore open one of the boxes, looking at the pieces inside. "Ah shit. It's a bomb."

Kimiko relayed this information to her sister before turning back to Rebecca. "My sis is on the way, bringing some friends. Hopefully we can figure out a way to safely dispose of this. Unless you can like, bury it deep underground or something?"

Nariko - Obsidian City, NJI

Nariko tossed the blade over her shoulder as she rejoined the others, catching it with her tail so as to free her hands.

Nodding along to Magpie's story, her whiskers twitched. She surreptitiously slid her phone out of a hidden pocket in her sports bra and pretended to read the screen. Though she was careful to not reveal it to others, as there wasn't actually anything on it.

It was a trick they'd used sometimes, pretending that something they'd seen through twin telepathy had been conveyed via a text.

"Speaking of Nazis, my sister just ran into some in the sewers. And they have a bomb. She and some other hero stopped them, but we should probably get down there and help with bomb disposal."

So saying, Nariko casually leaped down the open sewer cover.

NJI

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Kris stated, and then stepped forward when there was mention of a bomb, "My powers could be pretty useful here. I'm quite good with machines, and I can shrink down and probably defuse the bomb." Kris looked around at Kloe and Alexander. Yeah it seemed these two would be in for the long haul...and Kris honestly worried about them going forward. Chances were they'd be lumped in with NJI going forward whether they wanted to be so or not.

Ryan commented, "Once we get the bomb dealt with, then let's head in down there and take the fight to them once and for all. Their days of pumping poison into the water supply here are done."

Ryan did worry about what was gonna happen with the duties of water supply here, though it was mentioned that Isaac would take care of that.

Down into the Sewers

As the heroes headed down into the sewers per Magpie's advice, they would be able to run into Nariko's sister and Rebecca as well in the midst of trying to deal with the bomb.

There was no obvious switch or wires in the bomb, but there was an obvious connector area that indicated the bomb needed to be connected to something before it could be initiated.

Ryan winced as they went along into these sewers, noting the presence of the defeated Blitzkriegs, "Geez, and I thought the only thing that smelled down here was the sewage..."

The heroes would be able to see that the Blitzkriegs had likely been heading a particular direction - there was a wall that had slid open, presenting a secret passageway likely heading somewhere deeper into the city. Roland looked down into the depths of this passageway. Pitch black down there...

In advance of heading down there, Roland commented, "I can give us some light going in there."

Kris Caulder meanwhile was looking at the bomb, and admitted there was something weirdly familiar about it, but he couldn't quite square it as to where. He shrugged and figured as long as this thing didn't get near whatever was supposed to be connected to it, it'd be fine. Still...

He shrank down to microscopic sizes and went into the bomb and started work - cutting internal wires and stopping devices. It didn't take long for him to come back out and return to normal size standing where he was before. Still can't shake it...

Obsidian City, Magpie, Trickster, Makquer'el, Shelly

"What a bunch of degenerates," Magpie remarked as she looked around at the downed mooks in the sewer. "We should leave the bomb here and come back for it later if we can't immediately send it back to base with someone for analyzing." She then pulled out a flashlight from her top hat, switched it on, and followed Roland into the secret passageway, with Trickster following close behind now that they and Bri had caught up with the rest of the gang.

Makquer'el simply stowed away his net into thin air, which made it disappear in a shower of water. However, he kept his bone harpoon in hand as he followed after Magpie and Trickster, with Shelly tucked safely into his shirt. "Speed is of the essence, and I suggest we advance quickly," he urged. "We are almost upon the enemy's headquarters. Look alive, everyone, as you mortals say."

Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 5th 2020 at 4:13:19 AM