Freedom City Champions #1!

[RedRajah]

...don't tell 'em anything. Go to that astral plane thingy and move away from this place enough to fly unseen! Thomas' panic was palatable, though mixed with obvious distrust.

"When innocents are threatened -- overwhelmed -- especially by foes willing to kill, if one who is able to safely stand against those shadows can then protect others, then one must not remain hidden and silent. These men were willing to use lethal force against your people. And the machine in the sky called for aid..." The angel shrugged, acknowledging the news report from the copter. Then he made a few gestures with his hands as if shaking the tension out of his fingers...

 

"በዓለማት መካከል እጓዛለሁ!"

 

...and vanished.

 

OOCYep, poppin' off to the Astral Plane to get away far enough from the warehouse and the cops/media before returning to reality.

[Jedaii]

Riverside Warehouse, 12: 43

 

Vendetta:

Kane looks as the heroes depart leaving her alone in the office - and shrugs, "So, this won't be easy. Not like with the Freedom League. I said before - it's like we're fighting ourselves." She walks and grabs the laptop then exits the office headed for the warehouse exit, directing officers to tag all the crates and their contents ....

 

Grigori and Ironworks:

The heroes leave the warehouse without any hindrance - officers call in Ironworks' departure and receive a "Stand down" response from Commissioner Kane ...!

[Papa Bear]

 

 

Vendetta 

Seamus McDougal, Secret ID,  Character Sheet

---

Seamus wanted that laptop. He knew the FCPD needed it for evidence, but he'd really like to take a look at what was on it and see if this guy had anything to do with his current investigations and, if there was anything new, how he'd have to make adjustments to his grand plan. He watches Kane leave the scene contemplating whether it would be worth breaking into the FCPD to try to clone the drive on the laptop or not. He wasn't yet ready to face off against the Police yet. He knew it would be coming and his plan tried to kick that can down the road as far as he could. Fighting against the FCPD was going to make things much more difficult. He didn't want to hurt any of the officers just trying to do their job, but knew that at some point, with the current laws as they stood, it was an inevitability. Once they got involved, it would make his 'war' against the city's organized crime exponentially difficult. His goal had been to go under the radar for absolutely as long as possible.

Of course, two appearance in the Vendetta Battlesuit in as many days was likely to push the clock forward, not backwards. That was not good for the plan. Plus, with the emergence of these new 'heroes'... how far did that push up the clock? Seamus couldn't yet account for them in his plan. Any one of them could do something that irked some politician and suddenly the 'anti-vigilante war' would be on. The one good thing about the additional heroes was that the FCPD would have more than one vigilante running around Freedom City to deal with and that was good for him... especially if he could stay under their radar... and breaking into 1 PP would certainly not be 'flying under the radar'.

Still, he really wanted to see what was on the laptop.

He'd simply have to wait

and plan

Its a good thing Seamus was patient.

The armored hero watches the scene as the CSI teams start setting up outside and the officers lock down the scene. He watches Kane get in her car and drive away. Then, and only then, does he activate his thrusters and slowly hover up off of the ground, his cloaking field masking his movements. He drifts to one of the large open loading bay doors and floats out of the warehouse and up into the sky before kicking on his main thrusters and launching himself higher into the sky and back toward his base of operations.

[coreal]

 

Paul Petrovski

---

A casual exit, down a few cross roads, behind a fence under a fire escape to take off the mask, then eventually back around the long way to his parked car. Start it up and drive off for a while before he puts the battery back in his phone and gets back to work.

In the meantime, might as well listen to the radio reports of what went down tonight. See just how badly they make it sound for those that showed up to put an end to things before more cops got hurt.

And then to more pressing matters, like hoping whoever ordered the steamed fish dinner that is stinking up his car actually leaves a decent tip.

 

[Jedaii]

Freedom City

The news media rumbling from the previous night explodes into a frenzy of conversation about Freedom's new vigilantes! Every local TV channel has emergency broadcasts of the warehouse shootout aftermath! National news coverage also zooms in even closer to examine and debate Freedom's plight! All sides dug in a little deeper: Faye Nelson doubles down on the vigilantes' right to defend their fellow citizens from criminals; Mayor O'Connor avoids the topic but championed the efforts of FCPD and all those involved in saving lives while defending the city from lawlessness; STAR Squad Commander Maddicks assured locals that he would intensify his unit's mandate to bring the costumed vigilantes to justice over their involvement in the murder of veteran FCPD patrol officer Roy Jackson! Nevertheless on the streets of Freedom City reporters expose via live interviews growing public support for the vigilantes!

[Papa Bear]

Seamus McDougal

CEO and Lead Designer; NuTech Inc. (Secretly Vendetta)

---

The news of the death of Sergeant Roy Jackson hit Seamus hard in ways the entrepreneur / vigilante had not expected. Jackson had been Seamus' "inside man" on the police force, though Jackson didn't know that. In the early days when Seamus was establishing his company, NuTech, a few interactions with the FCPD were necessary and Roy Jackson had been 'the point of contact'. It wasn't much, but they knew each other's faces.

Then one day about a year later, Seamus went into a local Bodega for a quick bite and got in line behind Roy Jackson on his lunch break. They struck up a conversation and Seamus offered to buy the sergeant his lunch. Jackson refused because officers couldn't be seen accepting favors. Seamus said their involvement had been over a year ago and that he'd pay for any officer's lunch for all that they do to serve Freedom City. Jackson did sell the rest of his assigned tickets to the policeman's ball to Seamus, which technically was a favor of sorts as Jackson looked good selling all of his tickets and didn't have to worry about it any more but it was an 'acceptable' favor by FCPD standards.

Seamus didn't even go. He should have. DeAndre Phelps was pleased with the tickets and felt like it was good business for NuTech to be seen supporting the FCPD. Phelps attended, of course, but Seamus lost track of time, as he so often does, working on the proto-type for his cloaking device.

But that day in the Bodega, Seamus and Roy Jackson ate lunch together and talked, got to know each other a bit. Enough so that Jackson invited Seamus to poker night when one of the regulars was taking his family on vacation to 'The Big Apple'. Jackson teased Seamus that they needed someone at the table whose money they could take. Seamus lost intentionally. He could count cards incredibly well and the officers at the table were fun, but not necessarily good at poker. It was harder to count cards at poker than blackjack, which was how Seamus got some extra money to pay for licensing and permits when he first started his company.

From there, the two of them became casual friends; the occasional lunch together and Seamus filling in at the poker table from time to time. Seamus probed Jackson for intel. Once Roy asked why Seamus was so interested. Seamus told Roy that he'd wanted to be a cop most of his life and just found it all very interesting. It was almost true. there was one year when Seamus was young when he wanted to be a cop. But then one year he wanted to be a baseball player, and another an astronaut, and so on and so forth. "That big brain of yours wouldn't let you, huh?" Jackson replied, seemingly satisfied with Seamus' answer.

Seamus had seen Jackson as a contact in the FCPD and a source of intel, provided he could ask the right questions in the right way that got Jackson talking and not saying things were classified in some way. Seamus was insanely smart, but that didn't mean he was good at schmoozing.

But now Seamus realized that sergeant Jackson was more than a contact, he was a friend. Jackson's death would be added to the list of reasons Seamus began the Vendetta Project and as motivation to see it through to the end.

[coreal]

 

Paul Petrovski

---

Someone saved just days before, gone in another spate of violence in the city.

It just makes Paul punch the passenger seat of his car as he delivers some particularly pungent Indian food down near the river.

"I just have to wonder if being rescued the first time, and speaking out in support of us, put a target on his back from higher up. Made sure he was at the point of things tonight. Or maybe he just was the kind of cop to be at the point of things. Wouldn't be the first time he took action that put him in harms way after all."

Either way it leaves Paul in a foul mood as he ferries food back and forth into the wee hours, he didn't even seem to care that he was getting a string of bad tippers either. A sign that the app logic was punishing him for short sessions this week, feeding him lower rated deliveries.

[RedRajah]

Safely back at his apartment finally and in the grip of his own personal storm clouds, Thomas never registered the death of a cop at the warehouse.

 

Relief. Relief Jordan was dead. Guilt. Guilt for feeling relief. Anger. Anger that he was supposed to feel guilt and grief. Confused. Confused about what exactly happened. Confused that he wanted to know more about the man's family and background. That he had to reach out in some way, to offer condolences for the sake of propriety. Nervous. Nervous about letting down Ma'at and Myra. Scared. Scared that he'd fall without his manager's influence after all...

"[BLEEP]!"

 

Thomas?

...not NOW, Gadriel...

A drink. Suddenly Thomas was craving one. Or, more than one, more likely. Something just to shut down all the chaos in his thoughts. No booze remained in his apartment though. Not after the incident. He didn't trust himself to keep any at home.

All the while, Gadriel kept quiet. The angel didn't know if trying to push for dialogue right now would be a good idea. He could sense how raw and vulnerable the young man was, wanting to lash out and not caring who got hurt. Just like at the warehouse when he kept urging Gadriel to put down the gunmen permanently. And how smug that unknown man in the office was even with all the violence going on around him nearby. Who is he? Why did he not CARE...

 

...and who were those men at the hotel?

 

For now, that was what had Gadriel most concerned. The other vigilantes in Freedom City -- they could deal with flesh and blood threats like the gunmen. But whatever those priests were, they had had something to do with Dare's untimely death in some way. And he suspected that they weren't human. For Thomas' sake, he had to remain vigilant.

"...we gotta go.." muttered Thomas.

Are you sure that's wise? You've...you've been through a lot this day.

Myra...she needs me, all right? If I can help her with Ma'at-- Thomas shook his head impatiently as he grabbed a jacket and left the apartment. Some music at the club would be an excellent distraction right now...

[pesukarhu]

Jake made his way back home as quickly as he could. He let his body return to flesh, so he wouldn't bust through anyone's roof, then leaped as fast as he could for a few minutes. Finally, he dropped back down into an alley, changed, then headed home.

What a fiasco that was. What was he even thinking? He wasn't cut out for this. Had he really helped at all? Making that wall in the parking lot seemed like a good idea at the time, but had it helped? And, sure, he tied up a few of the gunmen. That probably helped keep a few cops from getting shot, but did it really fix anything?

Some of the same heroes had shown up, so that was something. Maybe if he found some way to get in touch with them, they could coordinate better, get themselves organized. But how? Everyone's probably real cautious because no one wants to get arrested. Heck, if he got arrested, it wouldn't matter what happened to him, but he was sure someone would come after his family.

All he wanted to do was help. Why was that so hard?

On the bright side, he probably did keep a few guys from getting shot. That's something. He hadn't hurt anyone. Sometimes you gotta stick your neck out, and it's not always comfortable. Yeah, until they bomb the restaurant.

Could he get in touch with friendly cops? I think they just said his one sort-of contact hadn't made it.

Could he investigate somehow? He wasn't sure how.

There's gotta be a way to do this better.

Man, he could use a beer.

Finally, he just went out to walk around town. He needed some space to think, and he always thought better when he was walking.

 

[Jedaii]

Freedom City

 

Ironworks:

Jake spends the rest of the afternoon nursing a cold one (or two) at a familiar pub, pondering his next move ...

 

Preserver:

Paul completes a variety of deliveries as the afternoon shifted to evening, then stopped by the center to check in on Mike and the others. Surprisingly he found Monique and the other staffers in good spirits - everyone was chatting about the city's new 'superheroes' - along with the kids, including Michael, who were getting ready for dinner ...

 

Grigori:

Thomas spent remainder of the day with Myra as she prepped for the evening's gig - she was on pins and needles knowing Ma'at would probably be in attendance. Later they made it over to Eclipse where Myra joined her band and Blackchurch met up with Jameson who had a corner table near the stage. As Crossbones rocked the club dazzling the standing-room-only event, Ma'at and Thomas rekindled an old friendship ...

 

Vendetta:

As afternoon turned to evening to night Seamus worked tirelessly on technological improvements kmowing he was fast approaching a break-through ...

[Papa Bear]

Seamus McDougal

CEO and Lead Designer; NuTech Inc. (Secretly Vendetta)

---

Seamus' neck hurt and his vision was blurry. His face was mashed up against the heavy wooden table upon which he did much of his work. He'd fallen asleep again. As he blinked his eyes back into focus, he remembered how Albert Einstein would often take cat naps during his work and he felt like he was in good company as he picked up the micro-screwdriver and went back to work.

[pesukarhu]

Jake heads back to his apartment, with only a bit of a buzz from stopping by the pub.

He knows he's no mastermind, but he could at least try to look a few things up. He gets out his second-hand laptop and tries a few searches.

Who is Leoni Pisa? That was the name, right?

Commissioner Kane contact information. That's probably a really bad idea.

How to contact the police anonymously. Also probably a bad idea.

How does the Moore Act define vigilantism? Probably doesn't matter.

How can he get in touch with the other heroes? That angel guy just popped in and out. The armor guy seemed like a bit of a, um, difficult personality as they liked to say. And what was he going to do, the next time he saw 'em, give them his phone number? Hm.

Where to buy a burner phone.

How secure are burner phones?

Anonymous communication. Well, that one didn't help.

Well, nuts to all this. Maybe he should just call the police and ask them nicely if they knew any bad guy hideouts that he could smash into bits. Seriously, a seven-year-old would probably be better at this.

 

[RedRajah]

In all of Thomas' time in the music industry, the best drummers seemed to be in two categories: bombastic wild folks who seemed to be the living embodiment of "Live Fast & Die Young" ala Keith Moon and John Bonham or someone staid, steady and invisible like Charlie Watts or Neil Peart -- at least until they got behind a drum kit.

And came alive.

They were the heartbeat of a song. The driving force, the very backbone of the greatest acts throughout any genre of music. Myra was on the cusp of such greatness. Given the right opportunity, she deserved to take it to the very top.

"What do you think...?" Thomas asked Ma'at. Help out his friend's chances first. Then find out about Jordan's life a little bit more.

He took a quick swig of his club soda, trying to stay lost in the music.

Maybe...

[Papa Bear]

Seamus McDougal

CEO and Lead Designer; NuTech Inc. (Secretly Vendetta)

---

Seamus found he was taking another 'cat nap' and decided that perhaps he ought to go to bed for real. He certainly wasn't getting as much accomplished as he'd hoped. Plus, the nature of his work could have catastrophic consequences if, in his weary state, he crossed wires or improperly installed a micro-chip or some such thing. No, it was time to get some real sleep.

Seamus made his way to his bedroom, brushed his teeth and switched into his night clothes. As he lay down, he thought about his good friend DeAndre Phelps and the ordeal he'd gone through the night before. Seamus picked up his phone and gave DeAndre a call. The last time Seamus had talked to DeAndre, Seamus had told him to take some time. That was still the case. But... "DeAndre? Seamus. How are you feeling man? I just wanted to check in, see if there was anything I could do for you."

[pesukarhu]

Jake never liked shopping, but this wasn't really shopping.

First order of business was gettin' some advice. Bottletop was probably his best bet, he often knew what was goin' on, and he wasn't that hard to track down. He texted him, arranged to meet in half an hour. Bottletop was a sucker for mysterious stuff like that.

When he finally tracked him down, he looked him in the eye and asked, "So, let's just say hypothetically, if someone wanted to talk so he couldn't be traced, like a burner phone or something, how'd he go about doing that right?"

He was sure he'd get an elbow to the ribs or two, but better to get pointed in the right direction.

OOCFinding a burner phone, figure it's a Streetwise roll, so I'm just making that.