Extracurricular activities
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:53 pm
This post is related to the events of Crime and Punishment thread, specifically the RP event involving three missing students.)
The group of teenagers stood just inside the warehouse, outfitted in their various patrol garb. Hank exuded a remarkably calm demeanor, considering. Lauren was difficult to read beneath the protective sheath of flame, though her concern for her friends was clear. Lorne was not unlike a hunting cat, poised to spring as soon as the direction of his prey became apparent. Roach seemed as though he was straining to pull any psychic clues or fragments of thought from the dusty building. Even Donovan's little robot seemed to be fervently gathering and analyzing any data that might give the group some idea what they were up against. JD tried to steel himself, grit his teeth, and be a part of the team.
He wondered briefly if his act was as miserably transparent as he thought.
He wanted to be here. He knew this was important. Mister Druce wouldn't have set this in motion if wasn't. On top of that, three students were missing, and probably in a world of trouble. The fact that Sondra was one of them should have driven him harder, but it only deepened his frustration and doubt. He'd noticed her missing the evening before, but he thought little of it. He figured she was at some cast event for her show, or a late rehearsal. He assumed everything was fine. He thought a moment about Henry's confident posture, his assured tone, and felt a twinge of jealousy at him, at all of them. To him, they *looked* like heroes, and he felt so unprepared to be with them.
He followed as the group moved through the warehouse searching for evidence of their friends, Lorne and Donovan scanning for medbadge signals, Roach continuing his psychic scrutiny. JD rounded a corner, and what followed seemed to stretch and distort, as though a dream.
They looked to be soldiers of some kind, armed with a variety of weapons and adorned in urban warfare fatigues. Hank interceded as they opened fire, their barrage absorbed by the crackling energies surrounding him. The group laid into them in return, scattering the organization of their squads. Donovan's drone held a point for the group to gather and recover, administering aid to their injuries and shorting out the equipment of advancing soldiers. Lorne bounced about, confounding his opponents, tearing into their protective vests and hammering them with swift blows. JD assaulted the soldiers with spikes of frozen nitrogen, pulled from the air around him and rendered vitually frictionless in the impossibly cold moment of their creation. A bolt of blue energy hit him squarely, and he felt himself sink to the ground, his vision blurring. One of his comrades called out something about power sapping weapons, and moved to dispatch the soldier.
As his head swam, JD inhaled deeply. The soldiers closing in around him cried out in pain as the ambient heat of the area, including that in their bodies, pulled rapidly away, fueling the boy. His head ringing as he snapped back into focus flush with energy, he drove his knee into a shivering man's chin, sending the soldier sprawling cross the rime coated floor.
The fight resolved, Hank spoke, laying an unconscious man against a crate.
"Roach, what do you have?"
Concentrating a moment, Roach's face betrayed a vexed and nervous feeling.
"They...oh, man. They think they're Goddamned American heroes."
The looks of the group made the hit to their morale clear, but they proceeded, what seemed a wordless agreement passing between them that whatever or whoever stood before them, they would not let their friends down. JD couldn't tell whether the stubborn and stoic drive of his companions gave him confidence, or whether the adrenaline and absorbed energy had sent him into an almost narcotic haze, but his doubts fell away as he proceeded. There was only room for his friends, for the people who wanted to hurt them. And, perhaps most acutely, there was Her.
When the man dressed in a smartly cut suit walked out to address the group, the experience once again seemed surreal. Powerfully built, bald, and bearing a scar over one eye, the man's intimidating appearance was nothing compared with the brutally stern authority of his voice. He declared himself an agent of the NSA, and the youths' presence in a restricted facility to be wantonly criminal. While the accusation struck them, they refused to accept that Mister Druce would lead them astray, and moreover what they had seen was anything other than an attempt to hide the kidnapping of their friends. As the agent retreated, covered by more soldiers, the group would soon have their accusations vindicated.
The soldiers held other prisoners; a doctor, a hero, a cop. What these people were doing here was a much a mystery to JD as why Sondra and the others had been captured. What was clear was that the ones who kidnapped them were organized, equipped, and numerous.
Tracking the scarred man down, they were beset by a new group of soldiers, wearing not fatigues and carrying rifles, but donning powered armor, complete with energized gauntlets. The new wave of soldiers powered into the teens with ferocious vigor. One caught JD firmly in the abdomen, sending him careening into a stack of palettes. The man strode forward and grabbed JD by the straps on his chest, lifting him to finish the boy. Terror and fury intermixed powered JD as he grasped the power armored arms holding him and poured his concentration into them. The soldier screamed in pain as the gray surface of the armor grew bright, as JD began to render it molten. In an instant, the realization of just what was happening came to him, and JD desperately pulled the energy back into himself, leaving the suit solid once again. JD stared into the visor of the man facing him until the moment was cut short by Lauren, as she delivered a wallop to the man powerful enough to send him literally flying. His armor shattered on contact with her fist, the treatment JD had given it rendering it brittle as glass.
Together, the regrouped teens beat back the onslaught of soldiers and the scarred agent himself, and found their missing schoolmates. As the dust settled, JD found himself unable to wait for police to arrive. Later he would think of the ramifications of opposing a group of rogue government agents. Later, he'd wonder whether he'd done well in the eyes of his friends. Later, he'd feel sick as he realized how close he'd come to killing that man.
For the moment, he only thought of the quickest way to Crowne hospital, and Sondra.
The group of teenagers stood just inside the warehouse, outfitted in their various patrol garb. Hank exuded a remarkably calm demeanor, considering. Lauren was difficult to read beneath the protective sheath of flame, though her concern for her friends was clear. Lorne was not unlike a hunting cat, poised to spring as soon as the direction of his prey became apparent. Roach seemed as though he was straining to pull any psychic clues or fragments of thought from the dusty building. Even Donovan's little robot seemed to be fervently gathering and analyzing any data that might give the group some idea what they were up against. JD tried to steel himself, grit his teeth, and be a part of the team.
He wondered briefly if his act was as miserably transparent as he thought.
He wanted to be here. He knew this was important. Mister Druce wouldn't have set this in motion if wasn't. On top of that, three students were missing, and probably in a world of trouble. The fact that Sondra was one of them should have driven him harder, but it only deepened his frustration and doubt. He'd noticed her missing the evening before, but he thought little of it. He figured she was at some cast event for her show, or a late rehearsal. He assumed everything was fine. He thought a moment about Henry's confident posture, his assured tone, and felt a twinge of jealousy at him, at all of them. To him, they *looked* like heroes, and he felt so unprepared to be with them.
He followed as the group moved through the warehouse searching for evidence of their friends, Lorne and Donovan scanning for medbadge signals, Roach continuing his psychic scrutiny. JD rounded a corner, and what followed seemed to stretch and distort, as though a dream.
They looked to be soldiers of some kind, armed with a variety of weapons and adorned in urban warfare fatigues. Hank interceded as they opened fire, their barrage absorbed by the crackling energies surrounding him. The group laid into them in return, scattering the organization of their squads. Donovan's drone held a point for the group to gather and recover, administering aid to their injuries and shorting out the equipment of advancing soldiers. Lorne bounced about, confounding his opponents, tearing into their protective vests and hammering them with swift blows. JD assaulted the soldiers with spikes of frozen nitrogen, pulled from the air around him and rendered vitually frictionless in the impossibly cold moment of their creation. A bolt of blue energy hit him squarely, and he felt himself sink to the ground, his vision blurring. One of his comrades called out something about power sapping weapons, and moved to dispatch the soldier.
As his head swam, JD inhaled deeply. The soldiers closing in around him cried out in pain as the ambient heat of the area, including that in their bodies, pulled rapidly away, fueling the boy. His head ringing as he snapped back into focus flush with energy, he drove his knee into a shivering man's chin, sending the soldier sprawling cross the rime coated floor.
The fight resolved, Hank spoke, laying an unconscious man against a crate.
"Roach, what do you have?"
Concentrating a moment, Roach's face betrayed a vexed and nervous feeling.
"They...oh, man. They think they're Goddamned American heroes."
The looks of the group made the hit to their morale clear, but they proceeded, what seemed a wordless agreement passing between them that whatever or whoever stood before them, they would not let their friends down. JD couldn't tell whether the stubborn and stoic drive of his companions gave him confidence, or whether the adrenaline and absorbed energy had sent him into an almost narcotic haze, but his doubts fell away as he proceeded. There was only room for his friends, for the people who wanted to hurt them. And, perhaps most acutely, there was Her.
When the man dressed in a smartly cut suit walked out to address the group, the experience once again seemed surreal. Powerfully built, bald, and bearing a scar over one eye, the man's intimidating appearance was nothing compared with the brutally stern authority of his voice. He declared himself an agent of the NSA, and the youths' presence in a restricted facility to be wantonly criminal. While the accusation struck them, they refused to accept that Mister Druce would lead them astray, and moreover what they had seen was anything other than an attempt to hide the kidnapping of their friends. As the agent retreated, covered by more soldiers, the group would soon have their accusations vindicated.
The soldiers held other prisoners; a doctor, a hero, a cop. What these people were doing here was a much a mystery to JD as why Sondra and the others had been captured. What was clear was that the ones who kidnapped them were organized, equipped, and numerous.
Tracking the scarred man down, they were beset by a new group of soldiers, wearing not fatigues and carrying rifles, but donning powered armor, complete with energized gauntlets. The new wave of soldiers powered into the teens with ferocious vigor. One caught JD firmly in the abdomen, sending him careening into a stack of palettes. The man strode forward and grabbed JD by the straps on his chest, lifting him to finish the boy. Terror and fury intermixed powered JD as he grasped the power armored arms holding him and poured his concentration into them. The soldier screamed in pain as the gray surface of the armor grew bright, as JD began to render it molten. In an instant, the realization of just what was happening came to him, and JD desperately pulled the energy back into himself, leaving the suit solid once again. JD stared into the visor of the man facing him until the moment was cut short by Lauren, as she delivered a wallop to the man powerful enough to send him literally flying. His armor shattered on contact with her fist, the treatment JD had given it rendering it brittle as glass.
Together, the regrouped teens beat back the onslaught of soldiers and the scarred agent himself, and found their missing schoolmates. As the dust settled, JD found himself unable to wait for police to arrive. Later he would think of the ramifications of opposing a group of rogue government agents. Later, he'd wonder whether he'd done well in the eyes of his friends. Later, he'd feel sick as he realized how close he'd come to killing that man.
For the moment, he only thought of the quickest way to Crowne hospital, and Sondra.