2000/01/01 - New Year Festivities

[veekie]

Early Dawn
The night's celebrations were intense, to say the least. Specials across the city engaged in an impromptu competitive aerial display, sparked by an exchange of friendly fire between Tinkerbell and Pyrebird, which eventually led to nearly every special with a flight power or ranged attack of some sort joining in the mess, encouraged by the alcohol and other recreationals on the street. Fortunately, little lasting damage resulted, but the air shook to the sound of powered explosions and sonic booms into the dead of night.

A large number of Specials made their debut on New Year's Eve, though most of the villains that did so were also spending their first nights in captivity. Crime does pay, but stupidity does not. The dawn of the new millennium is oddly peaceful. Too early for the younger Specials to wriggle their way out of the house, while most of the older ones are nursing extensive bruises, hangovers or both.

OOC:
Character intros, and how you plan to get to the scene of the crime.

[Agita]

Kiley waits at the intersection a block from Whitethorn, wearing a wine-colored zip hoodie over a black Weezer t-shirt with the hood pulled over her head. She squints at her smartphone's screen, shielding it from the sunlight with her hand while she browses news sites for details about last night's events just in case there actually are reporters who'd put their duty above celebrating. Or tries to, anyway. The service isn't great as it is, and her power only makes it worse, she's found.

Investigation (1d20+5=20)

[Bozwevial]

A little later to get out of bed than usual, when Sam does hurry out of Whitethorn's gates in a fleece-lined denim jacket, his hair is still damp from the shower. Thrusting his hands deep into his pockets, he lopes toward the street corner, idly checking the contents of his pockets to make sure he hasn't left anything behind, like his phone. Today's plans aren't too important in the grand scheme of things, but it would be pretty embarrassing to botch a first run for lack of communications.

[veekie]

There is no shortage of news of last night, just about every news site was full of reports, speculation and hysterical fear-mongering regarding the festivities. Most of it could be easily filed away as baseless speculation, or irrelevant, particularly the rash of Specials that wound up being arrested, but a couple stand out.

A Changer nicknamed Kong by the press had somehow gotten out of police custody unseen, which seemed quite the feat given that Kong was thirty feet tall at the time of arrest. He was taken down by a mob of heroes after kidnapping a young girl and climbing up a building. Nobody was seriously hurt or traumatized as a result, but the Adams Complex in the Gleam is expected to be closed for the week while the building is inspected and repaired.

Old Harkin has taken severe damage to it's main streets after Fissure, Colossus and Mountain engaged in a pitched battle in the main street, both Harkin High branches are closed due to being inaccessible, and the students are all preemptively grounded. Plumbing is in ruins, but Tsunami has, unusually enough, offered her services in maintaining a water supply.

Pyrebird has continued to be sighted across the city, despite the best efforts of Tinkerbell, Snow Princess and Bullet. Given that she has reportedly been seen in three different places at once, it is suspected that an illusionist is complicating matters. Finally, the Marianne Museum of Fine Art has been closed for the day due to damage from the explosion of Toymaker's latest plastic monstrosity.

Sure looks like a busy night.
----
Just as Sam approaches the corner,  the squeaking of the aged bus approaches. It would be a short ride to the train station, and from there, the Beachfront.

[Agita]

She doesn't notice him right away, immersed in following up on the news about Pyrebird and that museum, but Kiley greets Sam with a small smile when he comes close. "'Sup. You sleep as badly as I did?" She briefly pockets the phone and lowers her hood when they get onto the bus, dropping down on a window seat and resting her small backpack on her lap.

[Bozwevial]

Sam smiles widely, suppressing a yawn with one hand. "Bad sleep and lots of it, the best combination." He fishes a bus pass out of his pocket as they get onboard the bus, settling into the seat next to Kiley and tucking his own backpack under his legs. "What's the news on the partying?"

[veekie]

Hunting further through, the Marianne Museum reports continue to express the authors' thanks(or in some cases, amusement) that none of the exhibits were significantly damaged by the explosion, but that several support pillars have been badly cracked. Owing to the urgent repair work necessary, the museum is closed to to the public, while supports are brought in so that the artwork can be rescued and the damage repaired. Oglers are discouraged as the display hall is unsafe and liable to sudden collapse if disturbed.
It goes on to describe a number of the more notable exhibits, such as 'New World Order', a 'sculpture' which appears to be mainly a broken brick wall, 'Parallel Arguments', an abstract painting, and  'Wasted', a stainless steel scale model of a toilet, which might have fallen prey to the explosion. Several commentators remark that nobody would know the difference if they got exploded.

News on Pyrebird is more certain, while she has been sighted across most of the city, the only places which have actually spontaneously caught fire were in Old Harkin(8 AM), Silver Trees(5 AM) and Harkin's Pocket(2 AM), indicating an illusion based Special wreaking havoc in the Gleam and Beachfront areas. Why someone would do that however, cannot be determined yet.
---
The bus ride is largely uneventful, save for an intersection being occupied by a small Distortion, necessitating a detour around the meter-wide pocket of what looks like hot chocolate. The suspension squeaks noisily as the bus pulls in at the train station, unloading the few who're out this early on a holiday.

[Agita]

"Um... about what you'd expect. There's a new changer who's apparently a King Kong fan... And Old Harkin is a war zone and every last student there grounded." Kiley snickers. "Pyrebird's been on a rampage, which isn't much of a surprise... there's apparently an illusionist imitating her running around too. And... there's this." She hands the phone to Sam to let him check out the news on the Marianne Museum himself.

[Bozwevial]

Sam flicks through the news while stepping off the bus. "...Huh. I guess that's modern art for you." He grins, handing the phone back to Kiley so he can buy a train ticket. "Wonder why someone's imitating Pyrebird? Festivities, maybe...that, or they're planning something else."

[Agita]

Kiley answers with a big shrug. "Copycat? Spreading chaos? Maybe they're in cahoots so nobody's sure where the real Pyrebird is." After getting her own ticket, she also gets two bottles of coke out of a vending machine and starts digging into the Kong story, mostly out of curiosity.

[veekie]

Continued digging uncovers some rather spotty video footage of Kong's initial appearance, some amateur reporter panning down the street to view the celebrations. A thirty foot tall, twenty foot wide giant ape charges out of a barely ten feet wide alley and scoops up a girl of approximately elementary school age, leaving her mother open-mouthed before it starts scaling the nearest building with one arm. The kid looks delighted, at least until half a minute later when the video cuts out from the visual overload of a dozen different energy beams intersecting.
According to the report, as the girl seems merely stunned by the close proximity of energy attacks, she was returned to her mother in good order. Nobody on the street was hurt by the giant creature, though the falling rubble from the onslaught caused a number of minor concussions and cuts. The ape was hauled away by a modified container truck, but was nowhere to be found when the container was unsealed.
---
Meanwhile, the train pulls into the station, ten minutes late. It's empty enough that Kiley and Sam could easily have most of a car to themselves, save for an old man muttering to himself in the corner.

[Bozwevial]

Sam picks a seat in the nearly empty train car and settles in, glancing over at Kiley's screen. "Kong? I guess I shouldn't be surprised he picked New Year's to show up...No one's hurt, at least, so that's good news."

[Agita]

"Uh huh... Well, he got out of a sealed container without a trace, so there's got to be a mover power at work, or the monkey wasn't the actual special and he's actually a master." She packs the phone away and takes a drink from one of the cokes while offering the other to Sam. Then, she leans in a bit and lowers her voice to a mumble, so the old man won't pick it up. "That museum, though. Easy target?"

[Bozwevial]

Sam takes the coke gratefully and drinks, mulling it over for a bit before quietly responding, "Probably...Not the toilet, though. That'd just be embarrassing." He stretches, yawning hugely again.

[Agita]

Kiley snickers silently at that, causing the air around her shoulders to flash with color briefly until she has herself under control. "Well, we'll play it by ear." There's a short pause as she takes a gulp herself with a crooked smile. "...Hopefully not by nose."

[veekie]

The train is pulling into their station when a bird shaped flash of red light flits past the windows in a crazy arc, pursued by a flying boy in a sky blue jumpsuit, electricity stabbing skywards. The public announcement system crackles with static,
"Specials engaged in combat in area. All passengers, please remain calm and seek shelter in an orderly manner. I repeat. Specials engaged in combat in area. All passengers, please remain calm and seek shelter in an orderly manner. The station is not under attack, do not panic and beware of collateral damage.

OOC: Perception rolls.

[Bozwevial]

Sam stares out the window at the high-powered chase, one hand reaching down to grab the straps of his backpack. "Pyrebird?"

Perception (1d20+6=21)

[veekie]

The old man meanwhile, fled the train as soon as the doors open, with a surprising turn of speed, and the train cars emptied.

As far as Sam could tell, that definitely looked like Pyrebird....except he didn't feel the heat wave that such a close flyby would have produced. The boy meanwhile, looks like Arc Spark, a minor hero Blaster/Mover based on electrical powers, he should be quite thoroughly outclassed here if Pyrebird wasn't just messing with him.

[Agita]

Kiley's quite used to nobody else recognizing her jokes as such, but there's still just a little bit of disappointment each time. In this case, though, the announcement does a good job of distracting her from it. "I guess so. Her or the copycat. That report did say something about the Beachfront..."

Perception lol (1d20+2=7)

[Bozwevial]

"No, wait, it's the illusionist again. No heat, and Arc Spark's not really up for a fight with her in the first place." Sam jumps to his feet. "Well, no time like the present. We should move quickly before they realize what's going on."