Super Hero High: Prometheus Rising (IC, Open)

[Altruistic Paladins]

Bramwell and Makoto

"We do not have an infinite amount of tries. When we attempt to start a fire and if he tries to put it out, who is to say nobody will attempt to kill us for what they would see as an obvious attempt to kill them? I doubt they will resume what they were doing after they saw us attempt to set fire to the building they were in. What if they take too long to leave and the structural integrity of the building is compromised before he can leave? If we go with your plan, we have to assume no back-drafts will happen, no fire will leave the exits completely out of use, none of the toxic gasses will kill them, there will be no failures of structural integrity, convection will not kill them, none of them will stay in there long after it has become dangerous, that this guy is not upset enough to commit suicide, and that everybody will leave in a timely and orderly manner and not accidentally trample their leader in the process of trying to escape? No matter what we do, there will be assumptions made," Bramwell said.

[Mighty Asgard]

Tyler sighed, "yes, we don't know everything, so we have to make assumptions. If my assumptions are wrong then our enemies might die, if your assumptions are wrong then some of us may die, and I know which of those scenarios I prefer. You want us to rely entirely on one person, who in the past hasn't exactly demonstrated a great ability to remain calm under pressure, and if he fails then the entire plan falls apart because none of us had any idea what it was actually about. All of this because you make another assumption, with no evidence, that this target of ours can read all our minds, except for Bramwell's. If he could do that I think he would have moved somewhere else by now, since he'd know we were coming, and otherwise he'd still be able to easily figure out exactly who to aim for to fuck up your plan."

[Altruistic Paladins]

Bramwell and Makoto

"With every plan comes assumptions. Our objective is to get the guy from point A to point B. If he dies, then that goal is incapable of being accomplished and we are all at fault. I never said I was holding the assumption anymore. Right now, we need to get this work done. It cannot be done if we sit around and bicker over sematics. If you would like to hear then plan, then I can telepathically send the message of it to you. Remember that, should he proceed to stop our plan, then the burden for failure is now divided between you and me. If my plan fails now, then I alone hold the blame. Since I trust in my team mates. Let us put this to vote. Do you trust me to go through with the plan and accept all blame for it's failure should it do so and give the credit to you for it's success since you were able to pull through with the plan, or do we all want to share in the blame should Jefferson Davis proceed to do something to cause our plan to unfold? Makoto, since you are close to me, I do not want you to vote since your vote would be biased," Bramwell said.

[Camicon]

"No!" I shouted, "No votes! As it stands we can't even agree on the most basic aspects of this scenario, and now you want us to vote for a plan that we don't understand, for a person half of us don't even trust? Excuse me for thinking that's a fucking stupid idea.

Now listen up! It isn't an assumption that Bramwell's mind is shielded. Look at the course of events. Bramwell reads John's mind. Suddenly, he can't anymore. We know that John has the ability to emulate powers he comes into contact with, and that telepathy is a power of the mind. we also know that mutants are far and few between. The chances of John coincidentally having stumbled across a different mutant with telepathy, or some similar mind shielding ability, are astronomically small. John adopted Bramwell's power, and his mind became shielded. Whether or not this was a gut reaction, and active use of the power, or simply a passive by-product, is unknown. So, Bramwell, stop making elaborate plans and kindly do what is requested of you, when it is requested." My voice was heated, I knew. Tyler had made some valid points. We would be working off of assumptions no matter what we did, and Bramwell's inability to listen and sloppy thought process wasn't helping matters.

I heaved a sigh. The longer we stood here arguing, the longer John Doe and his thugs would have to prepare for our arrival. Even without any sort of telepathy, it was wholly possible they already knew we were here. None of us were exactly making an effort to be quiet.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Yes, I will do so. Your last request was that I 'make a plan, tell nobody else about it, and then use my telepathy to direct us into positions and actions when it is necessary, and no sooner' to paraphrase. We need to get to work. Let us move out. I still have a plan in mind. Thank you for getting me back on track," Bramwell said in a sincere manner.

[Reythan]

Claire opened the door to Axel's classroom and saw Axel sitting on the floor, meditating. The chairs were moved away from the center of the room, and a rope around 1 inch thick made a rough circle on the floor. Axel said to her; "So, ready to begin?" Hera replied eagerly, "Definitely!" "Enter the circle, and sit comfortably." She sat down, across from Axel. "What are we doing first?" "We are going to learn the most important skills any Awakened individual must have: concentration and focus." "But...those are the same thing." "No, concentration is the act of gathering your mental and physical energy, and focus is preparing this gathered energy for application through magic." Axel stood up, and placed a small grey sphere in the middle of the circle, between he and Claire. "Many teachers start off with small spells like conjuring lights or manipulating small flames. But they did not have the same experiences as I have in service to the Council." Claire was taken a bit aback by this, but tentatively asked "What experiences?" "I was a Lictor, a member of the Council's armed forces, essentially." Claire remembered that one of her mother's friends was a Lictor, "Titus..." she thought. He always wore long sleeved shirts, but she saw his arm one day when his sleeve was caught on a branch. It was covered in a lattice of dark, tattoo-like tendrils, fluidly snaking around his upper arm and reaching his elbow. "Oh, okay." she said. "What am I learning, then?" "Telekinesis, one of the most useful spells I know." he sat down across from her, and breathed deeply. "I want you to take a few deep breaths, and concentrate. Clear your mind. What do you feel?" Claire responded "I feel...energized. You know that feeling when a piece of plastic sticks to your finger because of static? Like that, but everywhere." "Interesting. I always felt like the room became a bit warmer." "What do I do now?" "Keep concentrating, and focus on the power, focus on that feeling you have. In 3, I want you to say "Izango, manipulatzeko!" and mentally direct all that power on the sphere, feel the spell working." Axel waited a moment and said "3...2...1". And on that cue, Claire said "Izango, manipulatzeko!", and the sphere went flying towards Axel, who scrambled out of the way. "Good, good. Now, we are going to work more towards controlling the energy and manipulating it, not exhausting the power of the spell in one burst..."
OOC: Will continue in another post

[Camicon]

"Yes, I will do so. Your last request was that I 'make a plan, tell nobody else about it, and then use my telepathy to direct us into positions and actions when it is necessary, and no sooner' to paraphrase. We need to get to work. Let us move out. I still have a plan in mind. Thank you for getting me back on track," Bramwell said in a sincere manner.

"No. What I've said, twice now, is that you should attempt to shield everyone's minds from telepathic intrusion. Like Tyler said, making a plan and not telling anyone about it should not be our go-to plan, so stop acting like it is. I suggested it, and even I know it has the potential to turn into a mess of unimaginable scale. The only reason I suggested it is because it's better than the alternative, which would be walking into a situation where our enemy knows exactly what we have planned. As it stands, we have the time to come up with something better, so that's what we should do. Unless John Doe tries to sneak away while we stand here arguing, which he very well might." I turned to Cassie. "Would you mind using that Clairvoyance power of yours every half minute or so? Just so we always know where John Doe is."

[Altruistic Paladins]

Bramwell and Makoto

"I have been trying to figure out how that would work for the last 15 minutes now, but there is no logical way to do that. It is not like destroying somebody's persona or broadcasting Manos: The Hands of Fate to force somebody to surrender. Simply put, there is no logical way to shield people. As far as I can tell, the shielding is a passive result of being a telepath. I have been quietly experimenting, and even if I did accidentally stumble across a way to do so, I will not know I did so because I can not hear his thoughts to know if he can hear other's thoughts. There is simply no logical way of finding out beyond trial and error with another telepath that is actually saying what is working and what is not rather than sitting in a pub silently and doing nothing. Because this is something where there is going to be know way of knowing, I am going to say that we should operate on the assumption that there is no way to do so until proven otherwise, which I doubt he will be compliant enough to make possible. There is no possible way to solve the situation of how to shield your minds in this scenario without prior knowledge. Considering how I can read the thoughts of the thugs still, I could argue that there may be no way to do so at all. There would be no logical reason for him to want us to see what is happening down there with clarity and leave myself trapped. If I were in his position and knew how to block telepathy for other people and I knew there were people comming for me, I would be shielding everybody's minds so I could yell for them to get their guns and prepare for an attack while I run out the backdoor and book it out of town, not sitting upset in a corner," Bramwell said.

[Camicon]

I have been trying to figure out how that would work for the last 15 minutes now, but there is no logical way to do that-

"Then next time, say something." I snarled at him. My patience with Bramwell was wearing extremely thin, so I turned away and did my best to ignore him. "If we're working under the assumption that JD knows what we have planned, anything complicated will fall flat on it's face. We need to force him into a proverbial corner. Simply give him no other options. I'm a little hesitant to flush him from the pub, merely because the potential he gets away from us is so large. He knows the area, and I don't think any of us do. Correct me if I'm wrong," I say to everyone. "As dangerous as cornering him in that pub will be, it gives us the best chance at getting him to the checkpoint, alive. I think fanning out to surround the pub, and then sending two small teams in through the front and back, is probably our best approach right now."

[Kershya]

While everyone is arguing what to do. Antonio and Shade formulate a plan.

'We only did this for a single city block.' Antonio thought.

'It's a simulation. We need to try.' Shade said.

'Very well, go.' Antonio thought. Shade then take the form of a shadow as quick spread his influence to the surrounding shadows. Stretching as far as he could before coming back to Antonio. 'Any luck?' He thought.

'No, its too far. I could help them but you could end up hurt, being in the line of fire.' Shade thought. Antonio then realize something.

"A decoy!" He shouted, "Shade can act as a decoy and lure them out. Bullets can't harm a shadow, living or not." Shade then came out and take the form of Antonio again, but in the form of a slouching beggar with a walking stick.

"Alms for the poor?" Shade said with an accent.

"Other than stealth, and other stuff, Shade is great for acting the decoy to fool the police." Antonio said.

"I could also do spying, reconnaissance, robberies, weddings and bar mitzvahs." Shade joked to lighten the mood.

[Mighty Asgard]

Tyler nodded in agreement with Tara's plan, "if we are going to attack him while he's in the pub that's probably the best way to go about it. As long as we make sure to leave him no way to slip past us he can't get away, even if he somehow learned about the plan."

Antonio suggested that his shadow could act as a decoy, which did sound good in theory but probably wouldn't work in practice. "I don't think they would care too much about some beggar, they are criminals after all. Especially since Bramwell's earlier stunt has tipped our target off to the fact that someone is after him. I think that they would just try to shoot him as soon as they spotted him, and when that doesn't work Doe might try to mimic your power which might make him much harder to catch."

[Kershya]

Antonio suggested that his shadow could act as a decoy, which did sound good in theory but probably wouldn't work in practice. "I don't think they would care too much about some beggar, they are criminals after all. Especially since Bramwell's earlier stunt has tipped our target off to the fact that someone is after him. I think that they would just try to shoot him as soon as they spotted him, and when that doesn't work Doe might try to mimic your power which might make him much harder to catch."

Shade then change into Antonio if he's a real estate developer with facial hair.

"Well ah'm helping 'ere at least. If ya blokes stop arguing, we might be busting those goons out of 'ere." Shade said with a somewhat southern accent.

"Ok, that's terrible. You're speaking like a southerner yet using British terminology. But he's right, we need to do something or they'll get away, or if some hidden timer runs out." Antonio said.

[Corrian]

Cassie nodded to pretty much everything said to her related to John Doe. Like keeping track of him every once in a while, which was sort of her plan anyway, and whatever else was said to her. "Will do. At least I have something useful to contribute....." She muttered to herself, sighing. Apparently she felt kinda useless in this mission, if not useless in general.

"Makes sense" Caitlin said in response to Tara not really wanting to find out what happened if she got decapitated. It seemed all too freakishly possible to her that she could just die being decapitated, being able to regenerate or not. She shuddered. "That is a creepy mental image, watching your body re-attach itself. That just sounds like some terrible horror movie" She joked, but was partly serious at the same time. When it was confirmed there was no helmets, she just let out a sigh.

Again, both Cassie and Caitlin mostly listened to what was said. There was a lot of discussion, and disagreements. Which they both hated about equally. This was why Cassie never liked working with big groups of people, because it was almost literally impossible to get everyone to agree on the same thing. Big groups often seemed to make situations worse and more difficult, not easier. This was pretty much the same opinion of Caitlin, and Caitlin had always had the thought of being a solo Vigilante like Batman. But even Batman needed help at times, like with Alfred. There was a high chance that Batman wouldn't be who he was if it wasn't for the support of Alfred, and she knew she'd likely need that support as well when she went all rogue and vigilant when she graduated. They both just looked surprised that Bramwell survived whatever it was he mentioned. They both just knew it was some powerful weapon, that to both of them, shouldn't even exist. They hated mass destructive weapons. But that was just the way of life these days.

Caitlin nodded in agreement to the arguing thing. At least they had somewhat of a plan: Cassie staying back, and the others going in. She looked to the others, and said, "Arguing will get us nowhere". Then she quietly muttered to herself something along the lines of "This is why big groups are worse then small or non-existent groups". In her mind, they might of accomplished more by now if they just had 2 people, instead of the fairly large group of people arguing.

[Camicon]

C"This is why big groups are worse then small or non-existent groups."

"I thought that was common knowledge," I said. "there have been studies around for decades. Large groups of people handle stress very poorly. Small groups of mixed genders, that know each other well and are tolerant of phobia's, and generally athletic with clearly defined goals, are more likely to remain calm during a stressful situation. None of us know each other very well, except for you two." I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder at Bramwell and Makoto, without looking at them. "We have no sort of group cohesion, or any sort of clearly defined group hierarchy. That's why we can't come to a decision, and then act on it." Damn, was this ever a frustrating situation.

"You know what, screw it. If this was the real world JD would be long gone by now. Cassie, Caitlin, Tyler, you three are with me. We're going to circle around the back. Everyone else, in exactly ten minutes you launch an assault on the main entrance, so start planning. Bramwell, you tell us," I motion to Cassie, Caitlin, Tyler, and myself "How the assault is going to be conducted, in exactly nine minutes. Once the battle starts you keep us updated on how it's progressing. This is simple people: surround him, subdue him, move him. Try to avoid using your powers against him. We've got these Taser guns, so let's us them. Everyone clear? Good. Let's go."

And then I started jogging. If nobody listened to me, then I would attack the pub on my own. At the very least I figured I could take out most of his thugs. Maybe even get John to do a runner, and then everyone else could ambush him with Cassie's help. It was better than sitting here arguing for another half hour. Hopefully, splitting the group and imposing an absolute deadline would help the group operate better.

[Altruistic Paladins]

Bramwell and Makoto

"Makoto will start by directing a nice spread of hydrogen goes into the room nearby those who are going to be attacked. Cassie will need practice handling the stresses of combat, even if it would better serve this specific scenario to have her take up a covered position and monitor the position. Cassie, Tyler, Tara, and Antonio will take up position near the door that leads to the back-rooms of the bar. Caitlin will have position on the opposite side of that wall. After moving along a stone-wall into position and reaching the deadline, I will start the attack from the front of the bar in a covered position to ensure they are distracted and give myself a nice viewpoint of the bar's actions. After ten seconds, Antonio's special smoke grenades will go into the room with Makoto's telepathy ensuring the smoke affects only them and none of you. After the smoke grenades go off, fire your stun guns at them to produce the desired result of them being burned by the controlled hydrogen explosions and the various effects of the smoke. Tyler, Tara, and Antonio will storm in through the back-room door while Caitlin will enter through the opposite side of the same wall. Telekinetic assistance from Makoto shall be provided via my point of view. Do not move in a path that would put you in a line of site from the bar. Are we clear?" Bramwell said in a clear and calm manner. He and Makoto were delighted at this type of high-level planning.

[Camicon]

I was about twenty feet away when Bramwell started speaking again, and just like that, something inside me snapped.

"Goddammit Bramwell! Did you hear anything I just said? Are you trying to get everyone killed? John Doe is holed up in a pub. With alcohol in it. And you want to fill the place with hydrogen and then light the fucking place on fire? While some of us are in there no less! For starters, I don't see any massive supply of hydrogen handy for you to use in the first place. Even if we did, I'd destroy the stuff before I ever let you get your hands on it! Secondly, I already told you how we are going to split the group. Myself, Cassie, Caitlin, and Tyler, are going around the back. The only thing I want to have you do is keep everyone informed, as I have already told you three times now! You have not demonstrated a single iota of common sense so far, and apparently listening is a foreign concept to you! Now sit down, shut the hell up, and let somebody else plan the attack! Are we clear?"

Looking back on it, I think it must have been a little bit comical. Me, five-feet tall, one-hundred pounds soaking wet, tearing out a boy almost twice my size.

[Mighty Asgard]

Tyler had followed Tara, thinking that her plan was the best one so far, when Bramwell started babbling again, coming up with an even more idiotic plan than before. Apparently GI Joe didn't understand that setting the place on fire while some of them were inside was a bad idea, despite having been opposed to setting the place on fire while they were not inside because it would be 'too dangerous'. He was about to tell Bramwell just how stupid his plan was, but Tara beat him to it. She didn't hold back at all, essentially telling him that he was an idiot and should just shut up, which Tyler fully agreed with.

"I agree with her," he said, looking at Bramwell, "just do what you're told."

[Northern Dominus]

As Dominic was observing the actions of the students there was a click in his "ear" as another simulation pod was activated and the occupier was a faculty member.
Burton Malik hadn't been at the station for very long but things had certainly been busy since his arrival to say the least. Granted his piloting a small shuttlecraft had caused a bit of a stir but that had quickly faded in the face of introductory Astronomy classwork as well as studying and working with the station simulators in preparation for another class altogether.

At the moment that was all secondary. As Dominic observed the unfolding operation Burton's 6'2'' frame materialized behind him and moved forward, coalescing beside him entirely. It was an odd thing, going from a pod room to a simulated control room, but no more odd to Burton than some of the things that DARPA had flung at him over a year ago.
"Greetings Mr. Morseno, how are the students handling this simulation so far?"

[Firstaria]

Daniel also entered the room, a little dazed.

" Please don't tell me I missed so much, I was occupied in various things and couldn't come sooner."

He was really interested in the simulation, since it could easily prove the grade of preparation and control of the students. From this point, they could see if there was a real chance to have created the next generation or no progress at all...he trusted the students, but not enough to be sure of the result.

[Mighty Asgard]

Dominic looked over at the pair, "hello Burton, Daniel." The control room was quite similar to the white room that the students had been in earlier, but all in black. Dozens of screens were hovering in the air all around them, showing the students and the simulated bad guys, and at will they could also play audio from the scenes they were showing. Dominic shut off the audio for a moment so he could speak with his colleagues.

"They haven't done much yet, I'm afraid," he said with a frown, "mostly they just argue about what they should do. Bramwell and Tara are the main planners of the group, it seems, with minor input from mainly Tyler and Antonio." He sighed, "as for the plans they've come up with: Tyler suggested that they set fire to the pub where the target is hiding, Antonio offered to use his powers to make an illusion of a beggar to distract the target, Bramwell first suggested that everyone do very odd things to confuse their target, and then that they create a hydrogen gas explosion when everyone was inside, and Tara has suggested a somewhat simple but rather sound plan of surrounding the pub and then attacking. She's the only one so far who I'd consider for a leadership position during missions."

[Firstaria]

Dominic looked over at the pair, "hello Burton, Daniel." The control room was quite similar to the white room that the students had been in earlier, but all in black. Dozens of screens were hovering in the air all around them, showing the students and the simulated bad guys, and at will they could also play audio from the scenes they were showing. Dominic shut off the audio for a moment so he could speak with his colleagues.

"They haven't done much yet, I'm afraid," he said with a frown, "mostly they just argue about what they should do. Bramwell and Tara are the main planners of the group, it seems, with minor input from mainly Tyler and Antonio." He sighed, "as for the plans they've come up with: Tyler suggested that they set fire to the pub where the target is hiding, Antonio offered to use his powers to make an illusion of a beggar to distract the target, Bramwell first suggested that everyone do very odd things to confuse their target, and then that they create a hydrogen gas explosion when everyone was inside, and Tara has suggested a somewhat simple but rather sound plan of surrounding the pub and then attacking. She's the only one so far who I'd consider for a leadership position during missions."

Daniel looked at the screen, and then nooded, although a little disappointed. " Planning before attacking is a good thing for me...but unfortunately I think they are forgetting something: the target could easily have already left the building. Main priority in a capture mission is to assure the target position, then to block all his exit routes and then neutralize and bring him to the extraction point. " He looked at the others, then said " Experience and COM.SUB.IN. training. Tara's plan sound the most reasoning, but Antonio is the only one who until now though to use his powers to advantage and to lock the target in position. "

He took a moment, then said " Tara can be a good team leader, but the students doesn't need that now. They need a tactician, someone capable of turning the situations around to his advantage or to accomplish objectives; Chinese warlords often had strategist helping them...their power came from their ability to inspire and make the others listen to them. Tara's plan may sound logic, but if it fails the class will lose faith in her... "

Then, he looked at Dominic " What the bad guy has at his advantage: Powers, man, knowledge... "

[Mighty Asgard]

Dominic looked over at Daniel, nodding slightly, "I think Cassie has been keeping track of where the target is, at least the simulation shows her using her powers periodically, and Bramwell has been telepathically looking through the eyes of the target's henchmen to see if he is still there. At least they've done that part right. I think that their knowledge about the target's ability to copy powers makes them hesitant to use them against him, they're worried that he'll get stronger then. I'm not sure why Antonio is different, perhaps his split personality disorder gives him a different view on things."

He looked at a few of the screens around the room, "I don't think any of them has the undivided trust of the others, unfortunately, which is probably part of the problem here. But it is likely that they will learn to trust each other more with time."

[Ularn]

"Time is one thing we do not have," Scott announced, suddenly appearing in the control room with another click. He was wearing a black body-armoured skinsuit with red trim - a simulated replica of his own costume which the pods assigned to his virtual avatar by default. "Shuttle launches at seven-am tomorrow," he continued, striding purposely through the black to join the other faculty members. He was scowling, having studied the video feeds from the simulation for several minutes before climbing into one of the pods himself, "We're on HMS Ocean by oh-nine-hundred and in the middle of Kildare by ten. The rogue supers might not be trained by The School but they're older than our students and experience is going to be on their side. If they take this long discussing tomorrow then they're all dead.
"So if can't get the students working together, I suggest we don't try it. Break them into smaller groups; ones, twos and threes at the very most, and assign them to squads with the army. Make it clear that they need to follow all the orders the squaddies give to them. If they can't plan or work as a team then its too dangerous to let them do either,"

[Firstaria]

Daniel though about the situation, and quickly said " Dominic, you know I hate to mess with other's lesson...but Scott is right, we need to put them under pressure. Make the target move towards an exit point like an airport of a train station. They will realize that if they don't act soon, they will lose the target and fail the mission. "

Daniel was also eager to see the result of the long training. Had them realized the other type of Control they needed to learn to perfect themselves? He also looked at the situation and though how he would have solved it, having different ideas but unable to check some of them.

[Ularn]

Scott shook his head, "Pretty sure the nearest airport to Kildare is at least fifty miles away in Dublin. If they try to get on a train tomorrow then we can cut them off even sooner. Also, this gang is probably going to be disorganised and scattered. More likely and more necessary that we prepare for is that, rather than running, they'll panic and try to fight their way out."
Scott waved his hands slightly and a console appeared in front of him. "What say we put 'John Doe' on the offensive?"