Viridian Dreams Forum

Run around screaming about how evil we are OBVIOUSLY.

I'm with NotReallyHere on this one.

With NrH on this one.

I say we observe and then take down the police if it looks like Volt is in danger. There is implied to be some pretty strong prejudice against Meta's and it just seems wrong to abandon her to that.

Volt has taken out the power grid at hospitals, probably killing children. Thus, Volt is a child killer. Thus, we should side against her.

In all seriousness, Volt has a power which has done severe collateral damage. It seems she has not really taken steps to minimize this damage, still travelling along power lines she knows she could be shorting out. That's quite selfish. Plus, she was kind of a dick to us. If we help someone, we should help the cops.

If they attack us too just because we're a meta, we'll know we made the wrong decision and we can get out of their with Volt in tow. We can fly, you know.

Mia waited for a moment until the cops and Volt had all but disappeared down one street, most of the people watching the violence almost immediately following them. When the street was all but clear, save for a few unconscious cops, Mia quickly took off up to one of the rooftops and then immediately hunkered back down, following the trail of rubber bullets and electrified guns and cops they left in their wake.

As Mia caught up, careful to keep herself out of sight so that she could jump in when it was necessary, she saw the action continue. Volt seemed slightly out of breath, her hair standing a bit less straight than it had when she saw her outside the store. At the other end of the street seemed to be one of the lifts the police were talking about, ready to disconnect the power should she make a jump for it.

A series of unseen rolls behind my screen

The cops were right on her, the officers having all but caught up to line up their shotguns. With a simultaneous fire the hail of rubber bullets went for Volt, the girl trying her best to avoid the incoming volley. However, most of them struck home and, while it seemed she was able to take the hit, more welts appeared on her skin.

Roll(1d100)+0: 70,+0 Total:70
More unseen rolls

Volt grit her teeth as she kept on running, spinning around to face the cops for a quick moment. A quick flick of her wrist and a jump of electricity was sent flying at one of the cop's shotgun, Manly's finest suddenly finding himself clubbed upside the head by his own weapon.

The police quickly reloaded their weaponry, opening fire on Volt again. This time the girl couldn't even pretend like she took the hits just fine, as the volley of bullets just struck her dead-on, leaving large, painful looking bruises all over.

Roll(1d100)+0: 6,+0 Total:6

"Okay, that's it!" Volt screamed in pain, glaring down Manly's finest. "I just wanted to leave, to get out, but if you assholes want to fight, I'll give you a fight!"

Volt's hands flew towards the adjacent power cables, blasting them out at the ends facing the lift. Opening her hands up and sending yet further pulses of energy, she pulled the live wires towards herself.

Mia almost wanted to scream out in horror as Volt was violently electrocuted, screaming out in what sounded like an odd mix of pain, anger and... delight? Violent sparks and bolts of electricity were beginning to fly off her body, the Manly police quickly overcoming their own shock and awe as they quickly brought up their radios, trying to order the lifts to cut all power to Manly.

From her position on the rooftop, Mia looked around to see the various lifts being moved into action, even as Volt seemed to positively glow with energy. The welts and bruises on her skin began to heal over as her hair stood up straight, small arcs of electricity forming between the various strands. After a while, the police's radios seem to come to life, probably confirming that power into the town had been cut.

However, judging by what she was seeing, Mia was guessing that whatever residual power was left in Manly was going straight to Volt. After another few seconds, Volt's very veins seem to run a light blue, as if electricity was coursing through them rather than blood. Her hair took off in a violent series of arcs, seemingly being made up solely of electricity.

The shocks from the power cables died down, as did Volt's screams. She seemed to come down from whatever state the process had put her mind in, raising her head to look dead on at Manly's finest. Her eyes were an intense shade of almost white-blue, as her entire body crackled with electrical energy.

"Well shit."

I think now would be a good time to run/fly the other way.

Alright then, let's go, grab Emily and our parents and frolic out of town for a little bit.

Alternatively, fly, grab Volt, and the fly her out so she can't do any more damage and she gets to 'just run away' like she wanted to. Then we can have a chit chat.

I agree lets GTFO of Dodge.

Before we run for it, what do our surroundings look like? Are there any fire hydrants, heavy objects to throw etc? I'm sympathetic to Volt, but if she slaughters a squad of cops and levels half the town, there is going to be a hell of a lot of anti meta fallout. If we fly as fast as we can and smash into her feet first, we might knock her out. Or we could find something heavy to throw at her to leave her open for the cops. We could at least keep her busy till those H.A.M.M.E.R guys show up.

I'm going to side with Joe's proactive suggestion; let's tackle Volt feet first straight into the small of her back. Oh, and make sure to get what we have of our Crane costume on while we're at it.

Now that I'm not posting from my phone when my boss wasn't looking anymore, I've had some additional thoughts.

1. They've cut the power and Volt drained any remaining voltage from the lines. Before we leap into action, we might want to consider stealthily tearing a bit of the rubber insulation off one of the cables and wrapping it around one of our fists.

2. Do we know how durable Volt is? Would a normal person be taking any more damage from the rubber bullets than she is? If she's no more durable than a normal person then we shouldn't have any trouble knocking her out provided we can land a hit. Roughly, how strong is Mia right now?

I have to agree with Joe on this as well.

Joe’s plan is prudent and well thought out, and I approve of it. Volt cannot be allowed to continue her actions, but we must also protect our self. Rubber out hands and cover our face, its time for some suerheroing. and lets be sneaky about it people, the best way to keep the cops from shooting us, is to not let them see us

Mia grimaced a bit as she tightened her flight gloves on her hand. Her position on the roof nearby didn't leave her near the insulated wires torn from their positions, and she doubted she could sneak her way there right in the middle of what was bound to be a huge brawl...

Fighting a bear and fighting a pretty scary looking Meta-Human in one day. At least Mia could say today wasn't dull.

Sucking in a lung-full of air Mia secured her helmet over her head and, lifting herself a few feet into the air above the roof did a quick somersault in the air to pick up speed...

Flight Attack (Strength + Dexterity) Roll(1d20)+6: 10, +6 Total: 16
Volt Dodge-Flatfooted (1/2 Dexterity) Roll(1d20)+2: 8, +2 Total: 10
Volt Resist Stumbling (Strength) Roll(1d20)+5: 11, +5 Total: 16
Volt Resist Damage (Constitution) Roll(1d20)+10: 7, +7 Total: 14

Mia dashed forward as Volt raised her hand towards the police officers. With a quick flip in the air Mia flew towards Volt with her feet tucked into her chest. Just as the electric Meta-Human took notice of Mia, she found Mia's feet knocking square into her chest, seemingly (if slightly) knocking the wind out of her.

Mia's boots, and their soles, took the brunt of Volt's static, Mia reasoned. Still, she could feel a light amount of static energy charged around her legs from Volt's proximity. It was far from hurting, but it did tingle.

Kicking off Volt's chest Mia flew back up a bit, Volt stumbling back a few steps as she was forced to regain both her posture and her breath. Now Mia had the attention of both Volt and the Manly police, who seemed to be suddenly split between looking at the newly arrived Meta and the dangerous, electric one.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Volt asked, grunting as she rubbed her chest a bit. The blue sparking in her veins seemed to now focus around where Mia hit Volt.

"Yes, on behalf of the Manly Police Department, you are asked to identify yourself." One of the officers said, sounding authoritative, if slightly afraid.

Well, who the Hell do you think you are?

"I am but a stranger, wandering down the road of life. One who seeks only to aid those on the side of Justice; and protect those who would be harmed by the actions of the Selfish."

"I am but a stranger, wandering down the road of life. One who seeks only to aid those on the side of Justice; and protect those who would be harmed by the actions of the Selfish."

If Mia can do a passable spanish accent then this could be funny.

'I haven't really thought of a name yet. I guess you could call me... The Crane? Yeah, that'll do.'

I think we should try and reason with Volt and make her realise that slaughtering a bunch of cops is only going to make things worse for her. She's never going to be able to hide away in Detroit if she's being hunted by H.A.M.M.E.R, the army and who knows who else. I'm not sure she'll listen to us, but we need to make it clear to the cops that we're not here to cause trouble and that they can focus on her without worrying about us attacking them.

So her stored voltage focused itself on the part of her body that was struck; possibly lessening the impact? Does that mean that if she was hit from multiple angles at once, she wouldn't take the hits so well?

"I am the CRANE!" Pose dramatically for a second, then settle back down. "But seriously, Volt, we should go out where there aren't any power lines and have a talk. Manly doesn't have a hospital, which I'm sure you knew before you shorted everything out, but it's still summer time and a lot of old people are in danger of heat stroke if they can't stay cool."

then turn to the police

"And you guys! Shooting people isn't nice!"

Back to Volt.

"I can fly us out somewhere, if you promise not to attack and be all reasonable and stuff."

No to "The Crane", no to ewuvi's whole idea, yes to trying to reason with Volt. Dunno what to say to the police, though.

Hmmm, Mia hadn't actually given that much thought. Thinking quickly and drudging up the most amazing thing she could, she grinned and crossed her arms.

"I am but a stranger, wandering down the road of life. One who seeks only to aid those on the side of Justice; and protect those who would be harmed by the actions of the Selfish."

She threw her arms out to the side, posing in mid-air.

"I AM THE CRANE!"

Mia held the pose, the cops and Volt just staring at her for a moment.

Mia Perception Check Roll (1d20)+3: 11, +3 Total 14

Some of the cops behind Mia began whispering to each other. Even with her enchanced hearing she found it somewhat difficult to hear them.

"... New Meta... protocol... B-1, B-2... where..."

Ignoring the whispers, Mia looked at Volt.

"But seriously, Volt, we should go out where there aren't any power lines and have a talk-"

Reaction Roll (1d20): 18 Total: 18

Volt seemed to tense for a moment, the sparks of electricity surrounding her crackling a bit, but she didn't immediately act.

"Manly doesn't have a hospital, which I'm sure you knew before you shorted everything out, but it's still summer time and a lot of old people are in danger of heat stroke if they can't stay cool."

The Manly Police actually seemed to relax slightly as they heard this, a few of them that were farther away from Volt relaxing a bit. When Mia turned her attention to them, they all straightened back.

"And you guys! Shooting people isn't nice!" Mia reprimanded the police officers.

Mia Perception Check Roll (1d20)+3: 18, +3 Total: 21

"... Is she serious?"

This statement was barely even whispered as the Manly Police officers looked at Mia in disbelief, the young woman turning her head back to Volt.

"I can fly us out somewhere, if you promise not to attack and be all reasonable and stuff."

Volt Reaction Roll (1d20): 12 Total: 12
Police Reaction Roll (1d20): 10 Total: 10

"... Are you serious?"

For perhaps the first time in the entire day, Volt and the Manly Police seemed to be in perfect sync. Even down to the emotion carried in their voice, a combination of curiosity and disbelief.

"Little miss, I'm afraid you're really out of line here. Miss Galvani needs our help to control her powers. Now, you're being a good little citizen, trying to break this up, but you can't just expect us to let her go. She could cause more damage." Mia recognized the sheriff of Manly a little bit, but she didn't really know him too terribly well. He seemed rather serious.

Volt looked up at her, the air crackling around her as she looked hard at the Manly police. Her eyes seemed to be calculating her options carefully, before she settled on a final decision, a look up to Mia.

"We'll stop when we're within a hundred feet of a power line. No more... and absolutely no less."

Fly away ASAP. Manly's finest is obligated to try to stop us, but the whole 'absolutely no less' makes me worried that Volt might suffer some power incontinence pretty darn soon.

"We'll stop when we're within a hundred feet of a power line. No more... and absolutely no less."

'No, not an option; I'm not pulling you out of here so you can go back to using the power grid as your own personal monorail. I know what it's like waking up with powers you never asked for and it sucks. But that doesn't mean that hospitals and fire stations should be shorted out because you can't be bothered to hitch hike. I intervened here to try and stop anyone else from getting hurt; if you're going to keep shorting out life support machines to save on bus fare, maybe I should help them arrest you.'

As you may have noticed, my sympathy for Volt is starting to decrease. So far, the police chief seems pretty reasonable. Volt, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care too much about the chaos she's been causing.

I agree with Joe.

I agree with Joe, but perhaps it would be best not to antagonize the lightning girl so blatantly.

"Oh, unrepentant douchebaggery. I, uh, I think I hear the crane signal. Welp, gotta go." Fly the hell out of there. If we fly up and away from the cops, it should be pretty tough for them to actually hit us, and we might get out of range of their pellet thingees pretty quick. Assuming we're fast when we fly.