Story 8: Be Careful What You Wish For 2

Page 1-3, Tier 1-2: Diskette, Metal Lass, Miss Anima, Mr. Music

The first page is split into 8 panels, the top 4 being dedicated to the people on the island. As we all recall from last issue a quartet of heroes (and possibly Proty – Christian is dealing with some life stuff right now, so if Proty is here, he’s shot right up into the atmosphere to look for Adom, and will return as soon as needed) went through the gate and landed in a perfect two-point landing/a three-point defensive crouch/scrambled directly into a tree/landed face first in the loam. Monster Boy, seemingly oblivious to their presence, is ranting at the skies now that Bubble Boy and everyone else in Bessie have vanished under the waves.

[BR: I am shifting this to combat time, though you guys don’t _have_ to attack; let me know if you’d rather explore, run for it, what have you. Before anyone asks, no, no one is wearing their flight gear.)

Round 1

28 Diskette:

Diskette thinks, "I don't want to kill him, but he's got those giant beasts, and probably the smaller ones we saw in the back. He's a Tellagi, too, so he's got a force field even if it's weak enough to consider him crippled--I don't know that a blade at short distance would make an effective threat. So," her blade appears, in the form of a fencing baton, "blunt weapons it is, ideally it shouldn't do more than bruse him." And with a leap, redirected at top speed with a disc, she's begun her assault.

[BR: Diskette’s attack base is 16, +4 for an attack from behind = 20, applied to the TK defense type = 1. Ouch! Damn Tellagi. The roll is a 15, so she would have connected without the force field. Since this still carries knockback potential Diskette can’t immediately know that she didn’t do HP of damage.]

There’s a blur of speed and Diskette takes off as if catapulted forward, her ‘sheathed’ blade’s arc of swing slamming hard into the back of the ranting murderer. Monster Boy goes flying forward, clearly taken unawares. He rolls a couple of times before coming up, his force field streaked with black mud and green sap.

“You! I see you managed to squirm your way through one of your little disks before the end came!” He pulls himself up with a sneer. “How does it feel, knowing you ran away while your friends died?”

17 Miss Anima/Mr. Music

Miss Anima, already up in her branch, has her hand ready to animate a sketch of Officer Erin, when she hears Mr Music’s voice whisper over the comms.

"Stay in touch and out of sight," says Mr. Music softy. "We need to coordinate and take him down."

She glances down and sees the team leader rolling quietly into the shade of the tree she’s hiding in, sacrificing his truly glamourous costume to keep himself hidden.

Instead of following through with her first thought she instead opens her comms line as a one way call to Officer Erin to capture Monster Boy’s ranting confession for the record.

Officer Erin picks up the line immediately and Jinnjahl can see the text-translation scroll by, and whispers something in the phone. The text line reads “You’re alive! What’s happen…yes, of course you can animate me, just be careful!”

A second later and a remarkably cognizant of what’s going on Siobhan Erin is also hidden on the tree branch.

[BR: OK, so Miss Anima was still down power from her full power use creation of the radioactive sphere, and now another 8 for creating an Officer Erin. That leaves her with 30 Power remaining. I am assuming that Mr. Music is using his action to roll to cover and set up an Evasion, meaning he is -4 to be hit until his first action of next round.]

17 Monster Boy (He loses the tie because he’s lower level): “I bet Gorvo’s still alive in there,” Monster Boy says, pulling his khopesh from his belt and slashing it down into the ground cover three or four times, making it clear that he can keep the edge of the blade effective even through his force field. “It’ll take a while for the radiation and pressure and lack of air to get him. I spent eight days in the desert, staying alive through force of will. How long do you think your precious Bubble Boy will last?

As is her wont Diskette hasn’t been stationary during this, looking for ways to get at Hardo, and her movement has kept him from spotting the other Legionnaires, including the spitting mad Metal Lass as he rotates to keep her in sight.

"I'd rather talk about you, frankly," Diskette says, moving to a branch, a hill that looks a bit like a scale, and taking a vine to swing past the mad Telurian in rapid succession, her weapon shifting or even disappearing as she does so. "I mean, we're kind of the same, aren't we? You lost most of your fields, but you gained an amazing power. I'm not nearly as tough as a normal Terran due to my family's crazy experiments, but I can cut holes in space. But look what you're doing with it! Trying to destroy people you've never met? It's like you're not even trying."

Finally she alights in the wrong spot and the ground underneath her erupts into a mass of tentacles. There’s a desperate flailing leap that has her clear of three of the serpents nesting in the Gamera’s jungle muck when a fourth drops on her from above Thousands of cilia-lined scales undulate in unison as the creature clings to her costume like Velcro and undulates up her. By the time she realizes she’s caught she is hanging in mid-air, seeing venom dripping from the fangs of the serpent, just a few inches from her face.

The other three serpents writhe around on the ground, as if waiting for something to do.

[BR: this is, of course, totally part of the cover image for this month, with the classic villain ranting at the tied up heroes. Just, ya’know, with the added animate tentacles thing.]

“All too easy,”

[BR: The serpents have a base of 5, dropped to 2 for Stretching defense, +1 for level vs. level because all animals are 4th level attackers. The attack rolls were 11, 14, 15 and 2, so she got snagged by one. No damage yet, but the serpents can be treated as an entangle.]

16; Metal Lass “I can take his attention off Diskette,” Metal Lass whispers into her communicator. “Tell me your ideas on how to teach this kot-pthlal a lesson.” She calls to Hardo’s blade and slides into the patterns of “Seeds are Scattered by the Wind”, envisioning in her mind’s eye a dozen tendrils rising from its edge, wrapping themselves tightly around Hardo’s body.

[BR: Ok, so magnetic has a base of 13 to take control of metals, 14 when you add her Accuracy mod. TK defense drops that to a 5, since we are dealing with overlapping psychokinetic controls, level vs level brings it to a 6. The roll is a 10. Now, i don't want this to be a complete waste of Diane's action, so we're going with this... Diane, feel free to correct if you feel this is out of character.]

Metal Lass silently extends her power, with gestures that keep her out of sight and a slow whisper of exhaled breath, only to find it stymied by Hardo's personal force field - the focusing of her will on the metal against his to encase it inside the tellagi personal field comes as a surprise. Give time, she is sure she could overcome it, but right now she has control over only the sliver of the khopesh's edge that is outside the field, and she may lose that if Monster Boy realizes what is happening and brings the blade back into his defense.

Immediately she blunts the blade's edge (already nicked by his foolish display with the plants), and prepares herself to yank the weapon off line should he try to use it.

[BR: basically any attack bonus for the Khopesh is gone due to the blunted edge and Metal Lass messing with it as he tries to use it, and the damage drops from +1d6 to +1d4.]

[BR: Beth put forward the idea of Miss Anima animating a sketch of Bubble Boy, from which there was vigorous agreement from the peanut gallery. I assume this is part of a coordinated plan of attack based on Mr. Music’s comments earlier – is Diskette holding her action until everyone else makes their move? She’s likely tough enough to withstand some damage from the snakes and can listen to Monster Boy rant. Then she, Mr. Music and Miss Anima can act in concert, Monster Boy acts but any direct attacks are already messed up by Metal Lass control of his blade edge, then Metal Lass goes. Does that meet with general approval before I have Monster Boy rant and lord things over his bound captive?]

“You think I’m not even trying?” he says with a sneer. “Count yourself lucky, Last of the Legionnaires. Count the world lucky. With the world having witnessed how easily I crushed the beloved team of Bubble Boy’s hangers on, I don’t need to prove my power by crushing the city. In a way, your friend died saving the United Planets itself. I imagine someone will make a monument to him.”

Diskette feels the serpent shift around her, tightening. A real Terran wouldn’t have to worry as much about this, or about the venom, but Diskette could easily be crushed or poisoned.

“I would find and destroy such a monument, of course, but it’s a good thought. You’re fortunate that it serves my purposes for one of you to live through this. ‘I only am escaped alone to tell thee’ sort of thing.

2: Mr. Music, Miss Anima, Diskette

Miss Anima pulls out another pad and touches a page to animate a sketch of her presumed-deceased friend. In a somewhat shaky voice, she whispers, "Please distract him," and jumps, fleeing into a higher branch of another tree.

She assumes Officer Erin can figure out something sensible to do.

[BR: 8 Power down, Miss Anima is now at 22 Power]

Just as the serpent is about to crush the air out of Diskette’s lungs there is a loud thud as Bubble Boy drops from the tree and confronts Hardo Senn. Monster Boy’s head turns and he stares slack jawed for a moment. “You! You’re dead!”

[BR: Myles, you’re free to play the animated BB if you like, but I am assuming you action is starting a full power force field around yourself and approaching Hardo to drive him round the twist.]

The three remaining serpents, still under orders to restrain anyone on the island, surge forward out of the undergrowth, only to be completely stymied by Gorvo’s Fully Operational Force Field.

“No! come any closer and your friend dies!”

Hardo brings the Khopesh up to slash at Diskette’s face as a warning, only to have it, blunted and pulling back from its target, accomplish nothing.

Diskette feels a sudden hot pain at her back – not enough to do damage, but she sure felt it! – as a concealed Officer Erin blasts the serpent holding her with her energy pistol. The creature writhes in shock, giving the Last Daughter of Felos the opportunity she needs to squirm free and alight to a stepping disk well out of the creature’s range.

“What!?!” Monster Boy yells again, obviously unprepared for this turn of events.

[BR: Diskette still has the main body of her action, and Mr. Music can go. Getting Hardo to calm down is likely a lost cause due to his weakness (Phobia/Psychosis) but you can bet you’ll have bonuses to making him either more angry or, if you want to push your power to claim next levels extra emotional effect now, ‘panic’ or ‘fear’.]

There is a flashback panel, with young Ode in the Monastery, speaking to one of the ender monks

“But why would I want to make people Afraid? Isn’t that one of the negative emotions?”

The monk, his eyes shaded in his hood, shakes his head. “The only negative emotion, young Ode, is to have no emotions at all, to be unable to feel. All others are useful or not, as circumstances warrant. When someone is so bound up with rage or foolhardiness or even euphoria that they are about to do themselves or others harm, a little fear might be the only way to save a life.”

Ode starts singing a low, almost infrasonic dirge, dredging up his memory for the tune.

Hardo, watching a quietly smiling, supremely confident Gorvo Van approach him, brushing his serpents away with a flick of his force field, simply breaks. With a primal scream he turns and starts a headlong flight from the scene…

[BR: Roll to push the power needed a 39%, roll was a 33%, attack base was 11, roll was a 9. Ode’s Power score is reduced by 16 for Pushing the power, current power is 31. It’s now Diskette’s action – she can’t move as she’s already done that, but she can attack….]

That flight is cut short as Diskette dematerializes a piece of ground ahead of Monster Boy’s headlong flight. His foot drops into nothingness, his forward moment slams his ankle into the edge of the teleport disk and send him sprawling into the ground, followed by what has to be a painful wrenching of his leg as he rolls back up with his forward momentum.

[BR given circumstances I’m applying what would have been your HTH damage to his Power score as that had to hurt, force field or no…]

1. Metal Lass

Monster Boy is staggering for a moment, trying to recover his footing enough to run, but Metal Lass doesn’t give him a chance. The Metaxian is a blur of fury as she leaps to within a few feet of hi and delivers what would have been a brutal standing kick to his chin had it not been for his force field, but it causes him to step back and interpose his kopesh.

“YOU!”

A move she had been anticipating – grabbing the uselessly flat blade for leverage against the otherwise slick force field she pivots under his upraised arm, yanking him even further off balance and is satisfied to hear something go ‘pop’ in his shoulder.

“HAVE!”

A downward heel kick into the back of Monster Boy’s now unbalanced knee gets him off balance even further…

“NO!”

letting her complete the move by tossing him fully in the air into the of the nearby trees, which he hits with a satisfying thud.

“HONOR!”

[BR: attack roll is a 1, hitting despite the force field. Meta Lass does 2d4+2 damage between her natural weaponry and heightened attack, and has a bonus where anyone she hits has to make a save to stay on their feet or be tossed around by the strength of her Forms. He missed by 1 point and went flying. 7 HP damage, which he w3as in no way prepared to roll with… His d% roll to remain conscious against that damage is an 08, so close, but no cigar in taking him out with one shot. ]

ROUND 2

[BR: Monster Boy's between rounds roll to shake off the emotional control as a 12%, but his Charisma is only a 10 so he doesn't make it - he's still operating in fear. Everyone except Metal Lass and faux Bubble Boy get actions to take him down before he acts again.]

28 Diskette:

"You know," Diskette quips, "We'll likely stop hitting you if you surrender and turn the turtle around. We'd want revenge, but Robot Boy can survive almost anything, and Future Boy probably saw this coming and had a plan. I hope." She vanishes into a teleport disk, then appears above Monster Boy in a gravity drop--which turns into a two-handed swing of her blade against his form as she redirects her momentum past him by hooking onto a sui-distant tree branch with her calves through a second portal.

[BR: 10 out of 10 for style. Alas, the attack roll is a 7]

The blunt blade rings Hardo's force field like a bell, but while the visibly wavers under the ongoing physical and psychic assault (along with the pain of his dislocated shoulder), but still holds.

17 Miss Anima/Mr. Music

Miss Anima says softly over the team communicator, "Ready with a skimmer if one's needed in a hurry." She doesn't try to call one before it's needed -- she's starting to run dry and would rather recuperate for a few minutes and then call one with enough longevity to actually get them home. But if Monster Boy tells the Gamora to dive she'll grab a skimmer to buy three minutes.

[BR: assuming a held and prepped action. And...]

Officer Erin steps from behind a tree and opens fire on Monster Boy, her energy weapon set to a constant stream of fire, a bright green beam of light into his force field, keeping up the pressure as she strides at him. "Diskette's right. There's no way out, Senn. Don't make this any worse than it already is."

Hardo staggers backward - the magnetized plasma beam isn't penetrating his shield, but the fear instilled in him is making him doubt his already weakened Tellagi abilities. It's clear from Jinnjha's vantage point that it's just a matter of time before his defenses are overwhelmed, unless something else happens.

Ode is considering using his music to try to fight Monster Boy's control of the Gamora or the local wildlife on it -- if that's a possible thing. (If it isn't, let me know and I'll think of something else.) He figures even if he can't completely stop Hardo, if Hardo's focusing on keeping control of animals, then he's at least somewhat stymied in fighting Ode's teammates.

Mr. Music abandons the song of fear, trusting that the lingering echoes will stay with Hardo for several minutes, and digs his hands into the loam of the Gamera's back, snaking his fingers through the damp earth until at full extension he brushes against what he hopes is a shell and starts tapping on it in a calm, repeating, unavoidable beat. The fight, the forest, the ocean, the world fade away as the young Monk finds a common musical thread with the giant sea-creature and enters into a state of harmony with it.

The beats thoughts are ponderous, but Ode doesn't sense any immediate outside control. There was the echo of one once, a harsh, demanding voice in its mind that pulled it from its brothers and sisters, leading her and her children away from the pod. It is gone now, but this direction is as good as any for now, and every time she had tried to change course before the prodding voice had come back. Better to stay going this way, and mourn the loss of her son, who could not have survived that leap from the water. The mind god is cruel, and demands sacrifices.

17 Monster Boy (He loses the tie because he’s lower level):

With a primal scream Monster Boy waves his arms and then returns to bolting into the gamera-shell jungle. From her position in the tree Jinnjahl can see one of the local predatory sea 'birds' turn and look at her. The avian at first appears to be colored with well camouflaged green feathers on its wings and head, with purple feathers on its breast, and a small circular design at the center of the breast. Then her vision shifts and she realizes that the breast isn't feathers, but smooth purple skin. Then the lumps of the skin become apparent - there's some sort of star-shaped creature adhering to the birds torso...?

Then the design in the center of the breast opens wide, revealing a circular maw with rows and rows of nested razor sharp teeth that seems to extend far deeper than it has any right to.

Then there's no more time for looking as dozens of these airborne monstrosities explode from the trees, all claws and fangs and lamprey mouths, and descending on the Legionnaires with Monster-Boy's fear-born fury.

Diskette becomes a blur of motion, knocking the incoming predators away from her with a combination of her blade and a series of smaller disks as shields. It's not enough to stop everything - there is one painfully close call that she has to hurl herself out of the way of, but she is fundamentally unscathed.

[BR: one attack hit, but she managed to roll with it; along with the use of the defense she is now down to 48 Power and is still at 9 HP]

The animated Bubble Boy image is, not surprisingly, able to avoid the attacks inside his force field, and looks deeply concerned at the state of the rest of the team

Metal Lass adopts the Form of 'palms against the rain', doing the best she can to defend herself despite the lack of metal in the environment to produce her usual defensive shields. A lifetime of training is crucial here, as she swats aside several of the birds she cannot dodge, but one of the creatures snags her hand with the lamprey mouth. She avoids panic and flicks it free before it could adhere, but the digestive juices sprayed from the maw leave a stinging burn on her hand.

[BR: the creatures have a base 6 with their claws, +1 for levels = 7. The -4 to be hit in unarmed combat due to the Forms saved her here, and only one hit for 3 points, which she rolled with. Current Power is 31, current HP is 5.]

Miss Anima is able to leap from tree to tree in a desperate attempt to get away...

Knowing that her planned summing of a skimmer is now useless, she flips a page to the skimmer's pilot, Tom Greenland (last seen in story #2, and starring in the one page story 'tales from the institute of last chance medicine). Greenland materializes on the tree limb just as Jinnjahl leaps away to avoid the birds, and being ever the man of action finds his bearings immediately, pulling out a slugthrower and blasting one of the birds out of the sky. This draws most of the birds targeting Miss Anima to him, and one of the raotps raking claws tears a long strip off of his shirt, leaving his faultless pecs exposed.

Miss Anima, nearly exhausted, tired to find cover, but leaps into the path of one of the birds, The two collide, but for once Jinnhajl is the one thing with the greater mass, and she manages to reach the next tree limb and swing to relative safety, picking up only superficial cuts from the collision.

[BR: Miss Anima takes 1 HP and 2 power for rolling with the attack, and used 8 power on summoning Greenland. She has 3 HP and 12 Power remaining, and is nearly incapacitates from fatigue.]

Mr Music, deep in communion with the Gamera, feels something land on his back and tear into his flesh.... Readers can see it land and larch itself with its claws, tear open Mr. Musics back with its razor sharp beak, and shoving a piece of flesh into its abdominal maw.

[BR: The one attacking him hit, doing it's maximum of 5 damage which he's not in a position to roll with. After communing with the Gamera Mr. Music is a 23 power and 2 HP.]

Officer Erin is also flocked by the birds, and three of them score long, deep gashes on her with their claws and beaks. None of them have latched on, but she is bleeding freely from wounds that will likely leave her in shock in seconds.

[BR: hit three times for nigh maximal damage. Any Wynathian will be rendered unconscious quickly...]

16: Metal Lass.

BR: Diane, you're up, then Bubble Boy. Are you giving chase, trying to take out birds or mounting a defense?

DK: Her friends are being attacked — it would be wrong to abandon them. Are you up for a second flashback?…

[BR: Flashbacks for all! (Robot Boy Flashback: still stuck in the planetary crust...._]

The sepia tones of a flashback panel shows a group of young Metaxians sitting quietly on their heels during an engineering class, a young Ahn Dolar near the front. An arm-length stick lies in front of each student.

“Calling metal is natural and instinctive,” the instructor explains, “as is the impulse to shape it for different uses. But we would never have developed civilization if we had not also learned how to combine metals with other materials.”

“Indeed,” he continues, “combining materials can give you a product that is stronger than the sum of its parts.” He pulls a handful of copper filings out of his sari and tosses them onto the ground. “Now, children, your sticks are already flexible. See if you can make them denser."

[Idea here: grab a decent-sized stick from the ground, pull enough metal from the environment to coat and weight it, then use the cudgel to smack birds away from Ode.]

The particulate metal flies up from the Gamera's crust as she swings the club, leaving a line of sparkly flakes in the air behind it and, conveniently for the physics, having the lib be much heavier when it hits than when she started the swing. The bird is hit with a clear 'thwack' and goes flying off under power not its own.

[BR: technically it's one action to get control of the metal, but in the moment, I'll let it slide... hey, wait... her roll to push her power with the Metaxian Diplomat trait came up an 18%, so we'll let it slide that way!]

The faux Bubble Boy, recovered from the shock of the attack, finally has a chance to act. There's a rush of air as a rapidly expanding force field pushes most of the birds - and some of the vegetation! - away from the Legionnaires and their allies. The only ones still in danger are Diskette and the faux officer Erin.

"Everyone hold your breath - I'll let the air back in under the dome, but I needed to get the birds away." Bobble Boy says, while helping Jinnjahl to her feet.

Page 1-3 Tier 3-4: Bubble Boy, Future Boy, Robot Boy

The remaining heroes are inside Bessie’s control room, which is inside the mouth of a Gamera, which is inside the ocean. They can feel the Gamera lurch as it begins to dive. [Bonus points for figuring out why it’s diving again….]

Future Boy is able to keep Bessie mostly gravitationally anchored, so the other team members aren’t flying around the room. The control panel is showing minimal but growing damage as the ship – with Bubble Boy’s protective sphere down – is being battered. The radiation outside is something the ship can resist for a bit, but like the damage to the skimframe it will eventually overwhelm Bessie’s resistance. Communications are completely blocked by the radioactivity and thickness of the Gamera’s shell.

Emergency lighting is giving them a view of the outside. As Gorvo and Adom both know, the Gamera’s beak is primarily for defense and scraping up the ocean floor. The baleen structures on the sides of the mouth could capture the gravskim in their folds, and the ‘ground’ under them is beginning to shift as the Gamera’s vestigial ‘tongue’ is coming into play – if they don’t stop irritating the interior of the mouth by banging into it the tongue will push them down the gullet where the rest of the rocky solids go, and from there into the creature’s fissionable interior.

Gorvo scans the control panel in alarm. "Bessie integrity won't hold for long. We've got to get the Gamera to open its mouth. Anyone know how to irritate a turtle's throat? What would a Gamera rather spit out than swallow?"

[MC: The joke about titillating an ocelot comes to mind.]

Bubble Boy also concentrates on raising his stronger shield again. He has a horrible feeling they're going to need it.

The force bubble returns around the ship, and everyone sees the easing on the systems as the indicators move from Amber back to Green, but it’s clear that this is holding off their problems rather than resolving them.

Future Boy turns on enough AG to avoid continuing to touch the tongue, then starts adjusting controls, redirecting thrusters, and bringing dead boards to life as he bends Bessie's chaotic mess of engine to a singular, but delayed purpose. "I'm just guessing, not predicting. Yet. But based on the timing of the Gamora's dive, either it dove for freedom when our compatriots distracted it, or it's going for Miss Anima's lure, or both. In the former case, we're going to need a new plan after this one fails, but in the latter, well, if you're going to ingest a big piece of metal, you're going to want to open your mouth."

"Does Bessie have the power to get us out against the inrush of water at depth?" Gorvo asks. "If our involuntary ride dives to chase Metal Lass's lure the water pressure is going to be immense. I can form my force field into a cone, or similar, to help punch through the flow but it's Bessie's engines that will provide the oomph!"

"You're right," Future Boy says, and even with me redirecting everything I can to thrust, it might not be enough. We do have engines I'd been testing that could help as boosters, but they're sitting in a locker, they'd need to be attached to the outside of the ship to do anything!"

The locker pops open and the unwieldy bulk of the boosters is revealed. They are, fortunately, sleekly designed with easy to use attachment points (once one removes the plating on the hull to attach them) almost as if someone had unconsciously seen that there would be the need to make use of these in extreme circumstances….

"Robot Boy," Gorvo says, trying to keep his tone calm. "Are you strong enough to manoeuvre the boosters into position? I can try and keep my force field up around you and Bessie in case the Gamera opens its mouth prematurely. My force field will make a gobstopper too big even for this monster's gullet."

"Confidence. I am certain that it is well within my capabilities." Adom refrains from asking what a gobstopper is, figuring he can download the reference at a more opportune moment. "Shall I move into position?"

Adom is able to lift both boosters with effort - mostly due to their unwieldy bulk - but when he places one down beside the airlock for the second attachment he finds moving just one to be simple enough to move. The airlock cycles as Bubble Boy expands his force field to its maximal radius. The space between the field and the ship is still awash with sea water and Gamera saliva, so it is hardly an ideal environment. At least the liquid is constrained and stable inside the field, so Robot Boy doesn't have to worry about being washed away while he maeuvers to the connection point.

From inside the ship Tok and Gorvo hear the whine of the airlock as it strains to force out the water that spilled in when Robot Boy exited, but eventually the display there moves from amber to green - Future Boy is confident that the airlock will be able to cycle the remaining times to get the other Booster out and Robot Boy back in. 95% chance, easy. Though after that another cycling would be 33% at best....]

Once that noise is gone they can make out the rhythmic sound of footsteps along Bessies hull - Adom isn't swimming there, he's somehow walking directly along the side of the ship!

[BR: Mechanically it's a d20 save for him to move one booster easily, and with a 25 STR he succeeds automatically. both boosters would be a d% against 3x your STR and the initial roll inside the ship was a 77. I figured Adom wouldn't try to push his luck! Adaptation defense easily protects against the irradiated saliva/seawater combination. As for the clinging effect, yes, Robot Boy could have used the Jumping power to jump to the force field and back to the ship, or swum over, but this seemed easier. With the airlock clue I'm pretty sure everyone can guess what the next problem will be... it's not air or space out there - removing the hull plate will flood Bessies' circuitry with radioactive fluids if it's not kept away from the connection point during the installation. In THEORY Bubble Boy is experienced enough to maintain two separate high power force fields at once, so he can keep up the one around the ship and then extend a second to push back the liquids, but it would be easier timing wise if he were outside and could extend his personal force field over Adom first, but that means going outside, and risking another run at the airlock...unless Bubble Boy tries to carry one of the boosters with him using his field for extra strength..... This is the "how many ways can we make Bubble Boy's life suck show, but I look forward to hearing other ideas.]

[MC: Okay, how do people prefer we tackle this? Can Future Boy roll Bessie inside the force field so that the access hatch is facing upwards with respect to gravity and out of the radioactive seawater/saliva? I like the image of Robot Boy sticking out of the hull as Bessie spins. If not, I'd lean towards the two force-fields approach, rather than risk the airlock failing or letting the seawater.]

[BR: Ooh, rolling the ship inside the bubble to take advantage of the air pocket hadn't occurred to me! There isn't a ton of space, but there's enough to try it as long as Fututre Boy does well on his piloting....]

[JK: Sure, lets go with this. I don't have description to chain onto, but consider it tried when it comes up. -- ]

[CI: We're not waiting on me, are we? I'm cool with the plan too. RB is happy to play human (sorta) hood ornament while FB does his piloting thing.]

BR: It's mostly on me - crazy week at work with the Gala Thursday night and hiring rush on. Anyway, I want to clarify something: The intent is to find a way to spin the ship so that the access hatch that Adom needs to open to install the boosters is outside of the water. Pop the hatch, install the booster, come back and get the second booster, repeat? Bubble Boy never has to exit the ship with his personal life support force field? Awwwww.... I'll take anyone one person confirming this is the plan and then I'll write everything up.]

[CI: Sounds like the plan to me.]

There’s a slow whine of the engines and Adom feels the water flow around him as the ship rotates. There’s a sudden rush as he breaks the surface inside the small air pockey in Bubble Boy’s sphere of protection.

Speaking of Bubble Boy, Future Boy can see the stress on his teammates face where it is reflected in the control panel as the Telagi is extending his powers to keep all of them – except perhaps Robot Boy, who for all the young genius could calculate might be able to survive the digestive tract of a Gamera – alive.

Bubble Boy, for is part, can see a bead of sweat trickle down Future Boy’s face as the Wynathian used his unique brain to calculate the exact best way to hold the ship stable as Robot Boy worked. Could there be anyone else on Charkesh, or indeed in the galaxy, able to do what he was attempting right now?

Adom, for his part, methodically shifts the booster to one hand as soon as he is free from the liquid, and with the other hand di-engages the locks on Besse’s hull to open the connection point. There is no room for error.

It is the exact worst possible time for the Gamera’s tongue to slam into Bubble Boy’s sphere, so of course it does. The feedback forces Gorvo to grab hold of the support straps to keep his feet, but the sphere holds. The impact still jostles the liquid inside sending it sloshing up to the now open interior of the ship. Future Boy’s hands work the controls instinctively, shoving the ship upward to keep the radioactive liquid out of the ship’s circuitry, and does so at the cost of slamming Robot Boy into the sphere. He hears Future Boy’s gasp in a distant way, so engrossed he is in his new task.

Future Boy sees his internal monitors spike to the warning zone as his palm and sole gravetic attractors strain against the impact. Bessie’s hull panel flies from Adom’s hand into the radioactive saliva, but Robot Boy is able to grip the booster with both hands and with robotic precision insert it into the ship. There’s a click and whirr as the systems interlock and Future Boy sees the booster engine come on line.

The sky, such as it is, over Robot Boy darkens as the questing tongue swings back to dislodge the irritant, but Future Boy, completely in the zone now, deftly dodges the enormous, barnacle encrusted muscle.

One down.

Adom felt an urge to grin, an urge that must needs be left unfulfilled, because he has nothing equivocating facial muscles. "Uncertainty. Robot Boy to friend-kin designates Bubble Boy Future Boy: What now?"

"I'm not sure," Future Boy says. "I can't spin the ship a second time--we don't want to immerse the booster into the acid if we can avoid it. If you can get back in without assistance, is there a way for you and Bubble Boy to get the booster safely out of the airlock through the acid and in place before we reach the ejection point?" (JK: If possible, Tok will make a prediction of how much time they have left before the Gamera gets in range of the falling radioactive material and accelerates, assuming it started falling as soon as the Gamera engulfed Bessie)

"I can't drop the outer force bubble now. It would expose the attached booster to the Gamera's secretions. My personal field should hold long enough if I get into the airlock and push the second booster out to Robot Boy still covered in my personal bubble.

[MC: How heavy are the boosters? Gorvo might not be able to manoeuvre one at all if they're heavy.]

[JK: Future Boy was able to handle them without assistance in de-stressed circumstances, so presumably there's an appropriate mover available if they're heavy enough to be difficult to shift.]

[BR: each booster weighs close to 500 lbs, but that's inside the range of what Bubble Boy can lift with a force field these days. And yes, there is a lifter unit, but that would probably be awkward in this scenario.]

Gorvo cradles the second booster in a bubble and manoeuvres it into the airlock. "Ok, Future Boy, cycle the airlock once Robot Boy is in position."

• Right, Gorvo, don't let your shields down now. Think of it as like a glorpspitter back home, only a thousand times bigger.*, thinks the Tallagian teenager. *It will ruin more than my costume if the acid gets through.*

The airlock cycles, and Gorvo is awash in the toxi brew that surrounds the ship. Thankfully it’s not so acidic that it’s damaging the airlock (or Bessie’s sturdy hide!) and it is just possible for Gorvo to liken this to one of his many undersea diving trips back on Tellag… were it not for everyone’s lives hanging on the line. One good push gets him outside the airlock, and he falls into the familiar swimmer’s rhythm as much as he can, arms down, feet kicking, his personal force field flattening and extending at the feet out of familiarity born of hundreds of hours of practice.

The pressure on the first big force field is painfully erratic and the Gamera sloshes around, and it’s in contrast to the persistent weight of the booster pick inside the other bubble. Gorvo is simultaneously doing endurance swimming, holding a heavy weight at an arm’s distance and carrying the psychic equivalent of full body armor.

Adom watches him approach, and can see the strain wearing on the young hero. But Bubble Boy never falters.

[Midrange save on Endurance gave a 24% out of a 30% target. Made it!]

Gorvo manages a tight grin through gritted teeth at his robot friend. He slides the booster forward, extending his bubble to encompass Robot Bot as he does so. **Just like you learned at school, Gorvo. One field near and small, one field far and large.**

Bubble Boy is bouncing in the water as he passes his load to Adom. Both are now inside Bubble Boy’s personal force field, as is the entry port, and Robot Boy’s sensors pick up the drop in radiation from the shielding.

Future Boy, deep inside the zone of probability, sees an immediate crisis with two branch points – he can either let the gamera’s tongue slam them into its beak, doing not insignificant psychic damage to Bubble Boy from the impact, or he can dodge and weave, tossing both his allies and the spare booster into the water again. In seconds the Gamera will open its mouth, so their opportunity to escape depends on either letting Bubble Boy take the hit – in which case Robot Boy will be able to complete the installation – or hoping that they can make it back out of the water to complete the install, or trying to do this on only one booster….

Future Boy's voice comes clear through the team earpieces. "Bubble Boy, you're going to want to brace yourself; sorry about this."

"Wha..?" Bubble Boy tenses his psychic muscles and braces for impact. **I am a mountain. The rest are clouds. I am a mountain. The rest are ...**

The Gamera's tongue slams the bubble hard into the inside of its beak. For Bubble Boy, the strain is like nothing he had ever felt before - by comparison being hit by the Coutal over Bat Island was child's play - but unlike that time the seconds Future Boy had given him to prepare let him keep the field up, but with significant personal pain. Robot Boy can see that Gorvo had broken a blood vessel in his right eye, leaving a bright scarlet splotch inside the white of his eye,

[BR: The attack didn't hit, but I am invoking a brand new dramatic overwhelming damage rule, where Gorvo takes feedback from attacks doing more than twice his endurance score in damage, losing 1 power per point over that threshold. That's 17 Power lost, and Gorbo is a 13 Power, 5 HP.]

[Adom, Gorvo, I assume you're slamming the booster in place, but then what? Grabbing hold for dear life? making a desperate break for the airlock? what's the plan?]

[MC: I think it would look most exciting on the page if Robot Boy clung to the hull, while holding on to Bubble Boy, who in turn keeps up the force field as Bessie powers through the flood of in-rushing water. Maybe three tight panels focusing on each boy's face and a fourth wide or tall panel showing Bessie, a wake of turbulent bubbles behind her, jetting up and out of the water.]

Page 4-5 Tiers 1-2: Diskette, Metal Lass, Miss Anima, Mr. Music

DK: I’m voting for a pause to administer first aid and make a plan of attack.

JK: While it's the end of the fight, Diskette and Erin are still more exposed and in danger -- so Diskette will go to Erin's rescue as long as she remains encorproated (which means that despite being basically OK and active, Diskette can't chase after Monster Boy right away).

[BR: over lunch with Beth I pointed out that having the Legionnares and the animated Bubble Boy inside the force field gives everyone some recovery time while the animated Erin and Tom can harry Monster Boy because, as animations, they're gone in 3 minutes anyway. If we want to have the relatively undamaged Diskette go with the animations that works with her arrogance, as it leaves her exposed the moment that her backup disappears....]

Tom is going to want to harry Monster Boy, because he's been through this before (Tom's crippled original likes being piloted by Tom and has gotten Jinnjahl to do longer-term pushing her power animation) and knows in three minutes he's back unconscious in the picture, and if he ever comes out again it won't matter if he's gotten a broken arm, or even died, this time around. He can spend the next three minutes sitting tamely inside a force field, or he can spend the next three minutes running around the forests on a Gamara's back and making life difficult for a bad person. The second appeals to him a great deal more.

Brian said that Erin's a law enforcement officer and when the civilians are protected by a force field that will outlast Erin she'll want to do something about the criminal lunatic. Erin's also a Terran, not that any of the players know this, and isn't likely to be slowed down very much by wounds that would put most people into shock....

Jinnjahl would be reluctant to ask her animations to go off and get into a fight while she stays safe (even though logically there's no reason to -- a dead animation isn't actually harmed.) This doesn't mean she's going to object when Tom volunteers.

Ode may have tears running down his face at this point. What he'd like to do is guide the gamera on a path that deviates slightly at first heading back to the group and checking just on the off chance that the child survived.

Tactically, this buys time as, hopefully, Hardo won't notice at first, but I suspect Ode is sufficiently focused that he's thinking more of the gamera than anything else... although it's possible he's channeling his own sorrow as the death of his teammates sinks in, for surely there is no way Bubble Boy and the others survived]

DK: In which case Dolar will definitely try to give Ode first aid, at the very least putting pressure on his wound.

***************

Tom Greenland yells 'Hey, you rangy Quarmite! Get back here! and takes off through the woods after Hardo, his slugthrower booming again as he runs.

Diskette leaps to Erin's side and slaps away two of the lamprey birds that were harassing her. The identical duplicate of Erin give her a grateful look and says "Thanks. Now stay here - I need to keep that madman occupied."

Jinnjahl watches her creations run off through the woods, breathing heavily and meditating on the nature of consciousness and free will in what she makes.

"No way," Diskette says. "I can take him if I catch him off guard, and we're still on a clock, I think" (Diskette remembers the Gamera changing course. What does that mean?); "you get his attention, I'll take him out."

Dolar, having run to Mr Musics side and slapped the lamprey bird away with her metal-plated stick, finds that the team leader is weeping freely, his arms buried in the loose soil. a quick glance up at the sky confirms her suspicions - the Gamera is moving at a subtly altered course.

After another quick glance at the depth of Ode’s wound, Dolar rips off the bottom half of her sleeve, folds the fabric into a pad, then kneels and gently presses it against his torn back.

**Stay calm,** she thinks. **Ode is my work-mate, attempting a Great Task. It is my duty to assist.* She brings the slow current of her home's South Continent’s Great River to mind, matches her breathing to Ode's rhythm, and applies steady pressure. “I am here,” she murmurs. “My strength is your strength."

Mr. Music can feel the pressure on his back, but it's a clam, gentle one that assists in his connection with the Gamera. Metal Lass is confident that her ministrations will prevent Mr. Music from suffering any further damage from the wound.

Diskette speeds through the woods lightly, letting Erin's duplicate take point while she keeps a lower profile, using her agility and occasional power use to keep herself quiet, if still fast.

The woods blur past Diskette, with her falling through disks when she can see far enough ahead to make the trip worthwhile. It doesn't take her long to catch up with Tom, and from there to see the still fleeing Monster Boy. Then Monster boy vanishes for a minute, and by the time Diskette catches up with where he vanished she sees the evidence of a landslide, where the Gamera's back is taking a steep curve down towards the waterline. Senn had managed to catch himself on the lip, and the shock of the fall seems to have cleared his head.

She sees him glare up at the tree line, but is able to duck down to cover before he spots her. Officer Erin skids to a halt nearby, but isn't able to duck down - Patin can see that the Science Police officer is still, improbably, going strong after taking several wounds. A quick moment of eye contact with Patin and she takes two steps away from the Legionnare while aiming her weapon, "No where left to run, Senn!"

Hardo looks at her with a sneer, "this is my kingdom here...Let me show..."

Before he can finish the threat Greenland bursts from the woods with a screaming, running charge, bounding down the cliff face on pure momentum and slamming his considerable bulk into Senn's smaller form. The youth's force field keeps them anchored, but his immediate concentration is shot as the animated daredevil pilot tries to get his arms around the force field to lift him into the air.

Diskette takes advantage of Senn's relative immobility to open a few small portals beneath his force field, grabbing onto him through one of them in the most inconvenient place she can manage (ideally around his neck; this is a pose, not a (physical) attack). "Do you know?" She asks, speaking softly through another small portal, "I am getting really, truly, tired of Tallagians. Gorvo is so conscientious, so helpful to other species he thinks are fragile just because we don't have our own personal force field, that he keeps 'saving' me while I'm in the middle of perfectly safe stunts and making me look like a helpless damsel. And you're worse. Blessed with an upgrade, you don't even have the confidence to do something great with your powers, instead you've tried to murder people who never did anything to you. And worst, you might have succeeded." At that, she opens up a third portal underneath his field for a vicious pommel-strike aimed at his head.

[BR: roll to hit is a 1! Damage is 7 points, but he’s able to roll with some of it so he’s still up.]

“Aaargh!” he screams, blood flowing from the scrape on his scalp, and yanks way so violently that Diskette has to pull back out of the field or risk having her arms wrenched. He’s managed to pull free of Greenland, and is teetering on the edge of the gamera’s carapace, nearly in the water. Greenland is is preparing to deliver a flying tackle – it seems the animated daredevil is awfully cavalier with his short bursts of existence – when a gigantic sea serpent rises up out of the sea, lightning quick, and swallows Tom in a quick bite and gulp. The snake rears up out of the water and its eyes fix on the girls on the ridgeline.

“Oh Grife…” Erin mutters, and with a glance over at Diskette shifts her pistol to overload and precisely carves off the barest edge of the gamera’s shell under Monster Boy’s foot. He’s preparing for another spittle-flecked rant when suddenly there is nowhere to stand and he collapses into the foaming water.

And with that, officer Erin vanishes, leaving Diskette alone at the edge of the ocean.

Pages 4-6 Bottom 2 tiers: Robot Boy, Bubble Boy, Future Boy

[MC: I think it would look most exciting on the page if Robot Boy clung to the hull, while holding on to Bubble Boy, who in turn keeps up the force field as Bessie powers through the flood of in-rushing water. Maybe three tight panels focusing on each boy's face and a fourth wide or tall panel showing Bessie, a wake of turbulent bubbles behind her, jetting up and out of the water.]

The moment the indicator lights turn green Future Boy revs the engines, running directly at the Gamera’s beak in advance of it opening. Outside Robot Boy has adhered to the hull with all four gravity clamps, acting as a brace around the increasingly exhausted Bubble Boy. Then the Gamera opens its beak and the inrushing water is a wall slamming into the force field, pushing the entire unlikely affair backwards until the boosters are able to pressure past the first impact.

Bessie shoots out into the ocean, passing by the radioactive sphere as they go. The Gamera’s mouth snaps closed a comfortable distance behind them, and Adom and Gorvo are able to make their way back to the airlock. Bessie can withstand the conventional water pressure and water just fine, so Bubble Boy is able to slowly lower his field to let the outside water in and the inside water out, releasing the radiation, the toxic saliva and no small amount of humanoid panic to wash away into the sea. Tok, eyeing the controls, is comfortable in their ability to reach the surface now, and in a few seconds he’ll have the communications gear back on line.

Before they re-enter the airlock, Tellagi and Robot both notice something wrong – the Gamera, having gained its prize, is struggling to swim back up. This should be easy for the creature, unless it was wounded in the mad leap that dragged Bessie into its mouth to begin with….

[BR: thoughts, observations, actions? The crew of the Naiad might be able to minister to the wounded Gamera if it could just reach the surface, and it’s likely to be able to stay on the surface if it can fight its way back up. Or you could take this as a loss and return to the surface yourself, because while Bessie can survive this for a little while longer, she can’t do so forever.]

"I don't know if we can help," Tok says. "We won't know what the status is topside until we can get the comms online, and while Bessie is a powerlifter, she was never designed to move something the size of a small city. But it looks to me like it's just one of the Gamera's jets that's not functioning right; either it's taken on water or it's gotten clogged. If we can act as the missing jet, it might be able to make it to the surface. But there will be risk, and if our friends need us..."

Gorvo says, "Hardo is probably still gloating that I was swallowed by the Gamera. I couldn't live with myself if that Tallagian killed one of these amazing creatures. We've got to help it."

"What are the positions of the other Gamera? Maybe we could shepherd the injured one towards his companions."

Adom studies the struggling creature, trying to reconcile what he is observing with what he learned on his previous expedition. "Concern. Thrust will not be sufficient. Buoyancy has been compromised. The creature must be made lighter."

"Lighter? How in the name of cracked spheres are supposed to lighten a Gamera? Fill it with helium?" Gorvo's pitch rises in alarm. "Is there any way to make a Gamera vomit? Or to scrape its shell clean?"

Future Boy's hands begin moving on Bessie's in parallel as he responds, quickly entering the notes on a complex symphony whose outlines he has only conceived mere seconds ago as if he had studied it for weeks, until the vehicle only awaits the final command--to begin the symphony's execution. "It's possible, Bubble Boy," he says, "that in the heat of the moment, you have forgotten that 'making things lighter' is the entire purpose an antigravity device, such as the one powering Bessie. While Bessie's antigravity engine is, indeed overpowered for a boat of this size, I admit that I am more than uncertain that it is capable of affecting a colossus like our one-time testudinal foe, and less certain that Bessie's engine will survive the attempt. But if we are agreed on the necessity, I am willing to make it." His hands, finishing their frantic dance, end it to rest on a now glowing button.

"I guess that might do the trick, Future Boy. If I expand a bubble under the Gamera as big as I can, its buoyancy and Bessie's antigrav together might be enough to lift the poor creature to the surface."

[MC: What's the largest diameter bubble Gorvo can produce? About 60 feet? Can Gorvo produce a small bubble and expand it, essentially producing a vacuum bubble for maximum buoyancy? If he can produce a 20 metre diameter sphere, he displaces about 4000 tonnes of water. However he can only move/lift about 1.5 tonnes with his fields, so displacing 4000 tonnes of water is probably out of his league.]

[BR: three things: 1) The rules for pushing the power let you do a full power push for x64 to your ability. Gorvo would be able to push/move 96 tons with a diameter of up to 975m. Metrics being all logical and stuff the weight gives him 96 cubic meters of displacement, or a 2.84 meter sphere - barely enough room for an orc to guard a chest. 2) my degree is only in comic book physics, but in comic book physics we can ignore the weight and go with the volume if you're willing to sacrifice the pure vacuum and get some help from Bessie's pressurized air supplies in the life support system. The force field is then only needed to direct and contain the air bubble that will be displacing the water in any event, as the water pressure at this depth is not sufficient to keep the air in the ship if you open the door and start spraying pressurized air out] 3) the reason Comic Book Physics operates this way is because you can put the characters under greater Risk (written in physics as RI), which has a multiplicative effect on carrying capacities and structural weights - RI also reliably explains why large objects don't fall apart when superheroes lift them. In this case you'll be sacrificing the air in the life support systems even as Future Boy is straining the systems in other ways. Naturally Adom and Gorvo with their Adaptation and force field based life support aren't as concerned about this, but Future Boy would be putting himself in serious jeopardy. 4) Either plan, on its own, has a small chance to work; together they have a much higher chance to save the gamera. Even if they work (i.e. you save the gamera) they carry a chance of leaving you with no propulsion or no air or both underwater. Place your bets, people....]

[MC: I'm all for comic book physics. Pressurized air, force field bubbles and antigravity propulsion. A match made in four colours. By our powers combined, let's lift this turtle!]

[JK: If we're combining -all- our powers, well, a transhuman motor pushing from outside the bubble might be efficatious, given the masses involved and the need to focus the antigrav on the Gamora rather than Bessie's mass ]

Future boy hits the execute button after positioning himself, and the anti-gravity field expands, albeit weakly, over Bessie. The lights are flaring across the ships controls about what a very, very bad idea it is to risk all of the ships propulsion in this fashion, but the boy of tomorrow presses on, compensating here, manipulating there, desperately trying to keep everything running.

Behind him, Robot Boy overrides the airlock, grabbing hold of the emergency bars in the chamber as Bessie pumps all of its atmosphere out into the dark, the enormous bubble is held in place by Gorvo, his eponymous power being used to keep it intact as it rushes up into the narrow space between the gamera and Besse’s hull. Unable to escape around the enormous shell, it starts pushing the artificially lighter than normal beast up against the water. Everyone can feel their entire rickety contraction rising even as the air pressure in the ship drops lower and lower. For Adom and Gorvo this isn’t a problem…

Seeing grey spots around the outside of his vision Future Boy takes one hand off the controls long enough to grab one of the ‘in cae of emergency’ masks that dropped down into his field of vision as soon as this insane stunt started. With a deep breath his mind clears and he can see what’s happening.

The bubble is holding, and the Gamera is on his way up. The anti-gravity did its job, but systems are dying across the ship. Bessie starts to drift away from the mottled shell, moving from 3 centimeters to 30 centimeters to…

It’s entirely possible that the young heroes will have saved his magnificent creature at the cost of their own lives.

[OK, You’re less than a meter away from the gamera but it’s pulling away as you start to sink. Air pressure is below safe human levels but the bubble is holding. Still, once the Gamera is too far away Bubble Boy wouldn’t be able to keep the water from getting in and keep the bubble supporting the gamera intact. The Gamera needs only another 30 seconds or so to surface. If YOU can surface, Bessie will stay up as long as she’s not flooded with waterm and Tok can repair everything quickly enough. Adom is in the airlock, Gorvo is right behind him in the ship. Tok is at the controls.]

Adam observes the obvious strain under which his teammates are suffering. He begins the process to exit the airlock. "Resolve. Excuse me. I must take a short trip if this vessel is to be salvaged. It would be remiss of me to allow any of my soft-kin to drown on my first field mission. "

[BR: some minor edits because the airlock was open to vent your air supply out. Pushing your power required a d% roll against Sx3 (thanks to your Protective personality trait) and you rolled an 03!]

Gorvo and Tok watch as Robot Boy clambers out of the ship faster than they might expect from his bulk and grabs hold of the Gamera, digging his metallic fingers into the thick external shell even as his other hand latches onto Besse's spaceframe. The metal whines and pops, but holds as the long buried robot supports the entire weight of the Legion's ship between the fingers of two hands. They start to rise again.

Adom continues monitoring his internal diagnostics, which are holding up surprisingly well under the pressure. Within moments the Gamera has surfaced. Adom is able to brace his feet against the edge of the shell and 'leap', pushing the shuttlecraft ahead of him to clear the edge of the creature's bulk and letting them bob to the surface as Bubble Boy releases the air filled field. His audio-detectors pick up a thump that is very likely Gorvo collapsing from the continued strain and a gasp from Future Boy, who by this point his lungs must have been aching for air.

Page 7: Aftermath on the Gamera

The resting Legionnaires on the Gamera’s back; with Diskette trudging back into the frame after several minutes of fruitless searching for Hardo.

"Hardo fell," Diskette says, "a hundred feet into deep water -- and I couldn't find a trace of him, on the surface or below it. He's gone. And the worst of it is that part of me is satisfied."

Dolar looks up from her seat at Ode’s side, her mouth set in a hard line. “Hardo endangered an entire city, injured Ode, forced a Gamera to eat our friends, and tried to kill you. You would have to have been made of stone to NOT feel satisfied.”

"Thanks," Patin says, "But...I just wish I had some closure. A body, a prisoner, something. I didn't even do it -- I got some good blows in, but he fell when; the Officer Erin image shot his footing out from under him after he threatened me with a sea serpent."

One of Dolar’s eyebrows rises up in surprise. “I did not realize Jinnjahl’s projections could act with that much initiative. Surely the Erin-projection was only doing what Erin-herself is trained to do.” She shakes her head, settling into the form depicting the ambivalence of new knowledge. “Nonetheless, she was protecting an innocent - you - from a person who had already shown a willingness to murder. Hardo may have earned our pity, but nothing more."

"I'm hardly innocent," Patin protests, "unless the only guilt is the act of murder. But I continue to believe the images have free will--they might act largely like their originals do, but they also know themselves to be temporary projections who cannot permanently die unless Jinnjahl stops summoning them. Hardo is gone, and good riddance, after he had the Gamora eat our friends--Future Boy, the real Bubble Boy, Robot Boy--I keep thinking there was something I could have done, used my powers to get them out, but it happened so fast."

His arms still buried in the soil, fingertips still touching the gamera’s shell, his Gamera Mr. Music feels a sudden rush of gratitude and joy from the enormous creature, its slow moving thoughts registering the miracle occurring below it. Dolar can observe Ode weeping, but the tenor of his body has shifted from loss to… something else.

“Ode?” says Dolar, feeling the shift in tension in his back. “Is something wrong?"

A minute later there is a loud splash as the other Gamera resurfaces. Ode wispers "Maybe... maybe the others are..."

Adom's voice crackles through the earpieces of the Legionnaires' communicators. "Robot Boy reporting. Gamera Two has been relieved of distress. Self and other Legion-kin are unharmed. Legion vehicle designate Bessie in need of repairs. What is your status? Over."

Gorvo groans. "Are we alive? My brain feels like a plate of spiced noodles. I never want to do that again." He slumps against Bessie's seats and shuts his eyes.

"We're injured but not life-threatened. Hardo fell." Jinnjahl reports in barely more than a whisper.

No one would need even the most basic literacy in Metaxian body language to read the surprise and joy in Dolar’s forms.

Patin's normally controlled and critical body language, most recently sid and upset, shifts for a moment into unabashed wonder.

Adom studies Gorvo. Although the soft-kin of his homeworld were prone to speaking in metaphor (and, perhaps more to the point, simile), he continues to struggle with the colloquialisms of his Legionnaire brethren. "Curiosity. What kind of spice?"

Gorvo opens his eyes a fraction. "Tallagian fire-spice, it feels like. Or maybe someone just poured flammable hydrocarbons in my ear. I'll be fine; just give me a few planetary orbits and I'll fine."

Having taken a bit longer to recover from his force field-wearing or strong-as-tungsten friends, Tok finally finds the breath to speak up. "I...mostly feel like I was punched until the wind was out of me, then a few times more for good measure," he says weakly. "But there's nothing broken."

The next panel is the Legionnaires on the Gamera’s back – Ode still looking a little spaced out – at the edge of the shell, looking out over the bobbing Bessie in the ocean. At the far right of the panel, towards the Gamera’s head, we can see the beast’s head out of the water looking at her rescued calf. The two teams are now separated by little more than a few meters of ocean.

Two ships are approaching – one the UPSV Naiad, the other a SP vessel from New Metropolis.

Diskette concentrates for a minute as the two ships approach, and a portal appears in the air before the Gamoran Legionairres, easily large enough to walk through.

Meanwhile, Tok makes arrangements to link the still technically (surprisingly) seaworthy bessie to the same ship [JK: In the interests of simplicity ], and the group disembarks onto their host vessel once the tow is arranged.

Gorvo and Dolar stand near the back of group, conversing quietly. "Really, I'm fine. I just need a check-up and a recovery meal…"

“You are certain? I don’t believe I have ever seen you push your gift as far as you did today.” Dolar shifts into the form denoting concern for a beloved companion. "When that Gamera grabbed Bessie and disappeared into the water….”, her eyes flick downward. “I have never felt so bereft. Or so angry."

"I'm glad you're okay, too. When we went down with the Gamera I had no way of knowing what was happening to you all on the surface.”

Dolar raises her chin to look full into Gorvo’s face and laughs. “At least we had air to breathe! The rest was much as you'd expect – each of us used their gifts as they could, to distract or frighten or restrain Hardo. And he tried to harm us in return. And succeeded.” Her forms shift to show pride in a work-group’s accomplishment. “But Gods’ anvils, he did not win."

The Naiad is hanging back, focusing mostly on the rescued calf. “Adom, this is the Naiad. By Clark are we happy to see your signal on line!”

Adom pauses cocks his head quizzically. "Gratitude. Your concern is appreciated. I am nearly indestructible and unharmed. Curiosity. Who is Clark?"

"His mother thought he was lost," says Mr. Music, watching the calf. "She... thought of Hardo as... a god. A cruel one, but one who must be obeyed. And that her son was the sacrifice her god demanded."

"That is...," Patin responds, "well, given the apparent absoluteness of Hardo's power over animals, not entirely wrong. As long as one posits a cruel, insane god who views you as tools, anyway."

"Wait," a reply from the Naiad comes back, "you were actually in psychic communication with the Gamera?"

"Not psychic," says Ode. "In harmony with the Gamera."

The SP ship sets to hover over the Gamera’s shell. Officer Erin and Darvish Mal hop out – the former stepping down in an official manner, the latter all but throwing herself off the SP vessel in her haste to get over to the Legionnaires.

There’s a look of deep concern and affection on Darvesh’s face as she races over “Gorvo, I can’t believe CRASHING COMETS!” her voice raises to a yell when she see’s Gorvo’s bruise and the burst blood vessel in his eye. She immediately starts yelling into her communicator, “Medivac! We need an immediate medivac back to the university….”

"Hey, Darvish, good to see you too. Don't fuss, I'll be fine.

"Fine? Fine? Great Galaxies, Gorvo, you're bleeding. BLEEDING! You have no idea what sort of internal damage you could have, what sort of pathogens you were exposed to when your field was down! NO IDEA! If you got hurt... If he...." Darvesh lets out a long-constrained sob of repressed distress and guilt before turning away to give herself a moment to recover. (The scene is highly reminiscent of Eleanor learning that Edward isn't married in the Ang Lee _Sense and Sensibility_, where Emma Thompson just explodes, but with more guilt laced into the relief rather than happiness).

[MC: I love that scene in the film, and the Colonel Brandon scene earlier too. "Give me some occupation or I shall run mad!"]

Dolar steps into Darvesh’s line of sight, stilling her forms to project calm the way her diplomacy instructors have taught her. “Darvesh, breathe and reflect. If Gorvo’s field had broken, he would not have been able to keep water from entering his craft and both Future Boy and he would have drowned. A great task was thrust upon him, and he succeeded. That bruise is his badge of honor."

"That's not entirely true," Tok says. "I forsaw the blow that injured Gorvo, and could have avoided it easily." He pauses for a moment to let that sink in before continuing. "But I judged that the risks of avoidance--and thus not being as likely to escape the Gamora's mouth--were too high, while the odds of Gorvo suffering more than a temporary injury were lower. That Gorvo held up under that strain is to his credit, but it was I that chose that for him--not the pressure of the ocean's depths."

Darvesh looks from one to the other and back to Gorvo, her eyes full of emotion, "Please, Please just take care of yourself."

"I'll be careful, I promise. With Future Boy to look out for me, though, I should survive most of the time."

He gives Tok a sidelong look, eyes narrowed, but a smile plays on his lips.

"You're right though. I'd better get a physical just in case I've picked up some pathogen when my field was down. I'm probably fine, but you know, better safe than sorry."

Gorvo surrenders himself to Darvesh and her ministering.

As Gorvo and Darvesh walk away in the foreground of the panel, Dolar remains behind them, her face impassive, but her posture a knot of confusion and hurt.

Page 8: The Cosmos Club Crime Cartel

“Meanwhile, back in New Metropolis” The underlay, bleed into the edges of the paper background panel of the top half of the page is an areal view of the city, with the first panel to the far upper left corner shows crowds of people who had gathered at the edge of the city to watch the rare site of Charkesh fauna float by. Now they are in full bore panic, with the image of the breaching Gamera swallowing their teen super-heroes and an announcement that the creatures were bearing down on the city running in a loop.

In the next panel the actual officer Erin is standing an arm’s length from a flustered Olles Senn, “Well if you didn’t leak it, who the bloody grief did!” she yells.

“I don’t know! But whoever did surely wanted some chaos!” Senn yells back.

Both of them pause, then their word balloons overlap. “Liel.”

“I’m heading for the club, you warn the SPs!” Olles shouts over his shoulder, his dashing yellow overcoat waving behind him.

“Senn! I have a comm unit you know!” She takes off after him, easily keeping pace while she radios a warning back to Science Police HQ.

The Hoose/Gow Station – 5 minutes earlier

We see a cargo gravskim parked outside the penitentiary, where a skeleton crew is keeping watch since the bulk of the staff are keeping order in the streets. The gravskim’s back door opens and three men get out, all wearing full-body grey refract-suits, faces behind breathing masks and goggles. The lead of these men is quietly confident in his stance, the other two more hunched, concerned and off base.

They push their way into the station where three SP’s step forward.

“Stay where you are,” the Sergeant says, and all SPs draw their stunners, ready to aim and fire at the intruders.

“Woah, woah, we’re special branch,” the lead masked man says, “our authorization’s right outside.”

The SPs involuntarily glace back to the door, which is swinging open. From whatever is entering there emanates an effect drawn as a series of pink circles that are then mirrored in the eyes of the SPs, who have adopted a look of slack jawed imbecility.

As soon as they do, the invaders run into the jail proper, a few moments later we see them exiting with the two captured Liel brood – the middleman from White Raptor’s crime spree and the mercenary captured on Bat Island, recently sent here upon regaining consciousness. They are out the door quickly, leaving the SPs still zoned out by something.

As they exit, a voice from inside the jail calls out – Alba Coryax, from his cell – “So… So I’ll just stay here then? That’s OK, It’s good. This is fine.”

******** Meanwhile, in parts unknown

There’s a group of the distinctive Liel brood – clearly all siblings from a couple of clutches of Wynathians – operating some sort of vessel.

“No sign that anyone has noticed. Surface scans show the UPSV Naiad is in route, but not likely to be able to pick us up. Moving around to the far side of the Gamera now.” Says the one at the controls.

Another, broad shouldered and with an air of command asks “Do we have any sign of what’s going on up there?”

“Negative. The activity around the sinking and rising Gamera is on the other side of this big one. It looks like it got over its indigestion from eating those kids ship. That’s a tough break.”

The large shouldered one grimaces a little, “Stow that. The boss will think you’re going soft.”

“They’re kids,” is the reply, “They may stir up some trouble, but no one deserves to be roasted like that. I just… Crashing Comets!”

This last is from the sudden flurry of activity, with a giant snake zipping past them to breach the surface, followed by blaster fire digging into the ocean.

“What in space is going on up there….” The captain says, and then both men jump again as a figure hits the ocean and start sinking. “Well strike me blind. Just who we were looking for! Get the hatch open boys.”

[BR: Liel’s submarine was last seen in adventure 3, Cranial Lightning on Bat Island]

******** Several hours later, we see ourselves back in the underbelly of the Comet Club, where Ande Liel is waiting patiently for Hardo Senn to regain consciousness. “The SPs come back?” He asks his secretary, who shakes his head.

“No. They didn’t seem happy, but there was nothing that connected us to the raid. You really lucked out, boss!”

“Great men make their own luck,” Ande preens, then turns as Hardo starts to move. “Welcome back, Mr. Senn. You took a bit of a nasty spill there, but my men were there to pick you up.”

“Monster Boy,” Senn mumbles, then sits up straighter. “Who are you, and why should I care?”

“I’m the man who rescued you from drowning, or the inside of a jail for the rest of your life,” Ande smiles, and sits behind the desk, the curtain fluttering behind him. “That, Mr. Senn, makes me your boss, for the foreseeable future. You appear to have a unique gift, Hardo, that will be very useful to me.”

He flicks a switch, and a screen comes to life, showing the room containing the various Tellagi creatures as well as a variety of other monstrous animal collected from across the galaxy. “My passion is predatory galactic megafauna. Your powers will speed the weaponizing of them immensely to assist in my other business ventures.”

Senn’s eyes flick to the screen, then back to Liel. Hardo stands up “Huh. And why should I help?”

Ande gives his smug grin, “Aside from gratitude, and being well paid? This lovely creature,” he touches another switch, pulling the curtain aside to reveal a floating monstrosity of mouth and eyeballs in the space behind him. “Imprinted on me when it hatched, and is quite devoted. The Stalker can hypnotize its prey to stand stock still, waiting to be consumed….” His voice trails off a little, clearly enjoying discussing this marvel of predatory adaptation. “That would be unfortunately, wouldn’t it, Mr. Senn?”

Hardo shakes his head, “You really are terminally stupid, whoever you are. The question really isn’t ‘why should I help?’, it’s more ‘why aren’t I in charge?’ And the answer is “I am in charge.”

“What?” Liel says as the creature moves forward, eyes pulsing with pink energy. We cut to the outside of the Cosmos Club where we can hear the Scream emanating from the basement.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF ADVENTURE COMICS