Variant Earth 13 E Mail Game Archive Number 32

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Thu May 8, 2003  12:22 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

Geoffrey turns to Moebius, "If that one comes with the package, forget it."
Gunslinger smiles.
"Ha.... unfortunately... he just sorta turns up... like a bad penny. The good part is, he makes a nice target for the..."
He takes a drink and finishes with a bit of sarcasm,
"...Bad guys."

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Thu May 8, 2003  8:07 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Looking around a moment for the source of the echoing and booming "EVERYTHING," Jinx shrugs and turns to Masque, "Riiiiight. Anyway, Ari here is going to get us a rope or somesuch to climb down into the facility. Not that your portals couldn't do the trick, but I currently don't have any urges to leap through holes in reality."

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri May 9, 2003  6:38 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Och nods in answer to your question, Rebound, and the two of you leap headlong into the staff entrance to this mysterious facility.  You manage to barely avoid the cameras' glare, and rocket down the hallway in question with almost record speed.

Making it to the 't' intersection you spied previously, you see that both hallways lead to what appear to be large warehouse areas.  Looking at each in detail, you see that the things are several stories high each - they SHOULD be sticking out over the ground, but they're not.

Either you're deeper than you previously thought or something is amiss.

Regardless, inside the warehouses are row upon row of what appear to be stasis pods, pods like those that recently housed Disco Head himself, and which he may very well be after.  If not all of them, perhaps a few... you never know.  Maybe he's got friends in there.

You're still not seeing that villain, but then, he does have control over light... could be right next to you.  Paranoia aside, you do see signs of life in the two warehouses you can see, in that there are two or three skeleton crews going about and maintaining the pods.

Keeping folks in line, as it were...

Elsewhere, the most of you descend down a rope that Ari eventually fished out of her series of multi-dimensional storage devices, and make your way down into the formerly-secret subterranean complex under this N.S.A. warehouse.  Looking about, you see it is quite vacant.

Aside from rubble generated by Disco Head's blasting his way in, there's naught here but empty offices.  Of course, there's a LOT of them, so it takes you all a bit to verify that.  The problem is that it's rather quiet down here.  No Disco Head.  No Rebound.  No Och, even.

You eventually make your way to the central office that Masque was booming about in eerie fashion, and find that, when you open the door, he wasn't exaggerating.  The thing is empty.  Not empty as in 'lacking furniture', so much as 'is a bizarre void in space-time'.

It's just ... gray in there.

Elsewhere again, the two fellows driving the B.A.H. Toiletries truck shrug at you, Stone Cold.  "Uh, whatever.  If anything, we're fighting a battle against the evil forces of Charmin, dude.  You should lay off the pipe and let us get back to work."

They proceed to then ignore you unless you provoke them further... sort of.  One of them is still watching you, though he's pretending not to...

?!

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri May 9, 2003  6:55 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

Moebius shakes her head at you, Gunslinger.  "Of course I know what you do, buddy, I just figured I'd ask before I assume.  You know what happens when one does that.  Other than some technicalities between us, we seem to work pretty good together anyway.

In response to you, Geoffrey, Moebius frowns.  "Yeah, he- she- whatever it is, seems to be tagging along with us.  But despite its apparent stupidity, Charlie does have a few redeeming qualities.  It is versed in space travel, and has considerable experience in this area of work.

"Or sho it says."

You both note the 'sho'.

A few feet away, the Bartender looks at Harry.

"I figure the person owning that staff owes me about one hundred dollars, so... if you can produce that, and s/he cannot within a week, I suppose it's yours, pal."  The bartender then rests her hands on her hips... which are coincidentally where her guns happen to be.

And not the guns you're thinking of, either.

Apparently Harry the Space Pilot is annoyed with this, and storms off towards the exit/elevator.  Of course, that's when - as if on cue - the elevator opens up, admitting three people into The Bar.  They're quite a bunch of characters, too.

One of them is all decked out in blue.  Long, blue hair.  Blue goatee.  Blue coke-bottle glasses.  Blue leather trench coat.  Blue T-shirt.  Blue jeans.  Blue boots that look a couple centuries more advanced than they ought to be.  Heck, he's even got blue, fingerless gloves.

The second, she's dressed a bit more risque.  The lady is practically bone white in hue, save for a hint of brown in her skin, and is wearing black leather hot pants, a black leather vest with apparently nothing but a red bra beneath, and spiked, oversized black leather boots.

The third is... Charlie Chicanery.

And not the one standing at the bar...!

Harry the Space Pilot seems somewhat more distraught at this.  He looks back and forth, back and forth, eyes and head bouncing between Charlie Chicanery and Charlie Chicanery.  He then resolves this bizarre problem by drawing his gun and firing.

He picks the Charlie in the elevator.

(hoo hah!)

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Fri May 9, 2003  10:00 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip description of super-prison)

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."

> (snip description of 'activity' in super-prison)

"Dammit! I wish he would just jump out so we can get his on. All this sneaking around reminds me too much of things I just don't want to think about anymore. Left or right...neither way seems terribly different."

Rebound waits around for a bit, hoping something will catch his attention as he continually scans for something different.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Fri May 9, 2003  10:53 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> It's just ... gray in there.

Ari pulls a quarter out of her pocket, and tosses it into the eerie office, just to see what happens.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Fri May 9, 2003  1:34 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "Or sho it says."

"I suppose, if you can keep it on a leash or something similar..."

> (snip Harry's attack)

"Well, now I imagine that this establishment is rife to break out into
fisticuffs and firearms imminently. Or, perhaps not yet. I still have
barely touched my drink and I mean to finish it."

Geoffrey powers his force field up to max and starts to layer some other
abilities on top of it to try and keep things somewhat calm. Next, he'll
spread a Psi-Web over as large an area of the bar as he can manage, so that
people will stay put. Finally, he'll start dampening energy beginning with
the center of the mayhem. 

Rolls: (Init: 8, FF: 59, PW: 82, ED: 37, anything else: 76, 67, 48)

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue May 13, 2003  6:07 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"Well, he was right - it is...empty."
 
If nothing happens after Ari tosses in the quarter, Jinx snags a bit of rubble and nudges it toward the threshold of the empty room, letting the rock stick into the room for a bit before pulling back (without touching any of the grayness).

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Tue May 13, 2003  12:37 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

O.O.C. Now now Mr Lohse. Help me clarify things before I respond. Is said psi-web affecting those of us at the table also?

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Wed May 14, 2003  7:55 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

OOC: No need to be so formal...said psi-web would wrap around, but not include, the "group" at the table.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Wed May 14, 2003  1:36 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Masque watches the quarter drop and the rock... slide.
 
"You know...we could always just go in."
He conjures forth a mystical steed.
"These things do fly after all. I wouldn't stand behind them though. They still kick."

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Wed May 14, 2003  1:54 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "Well, now I imagine that this establishment is rife to break out into
> fisticuffs and firearms imminently.  Or, perhaps not yet.  I still have
> barely touched my drink and I mean to finish it."
 
"Sonofabitch. Don't we ever get a break."
He draws his guns, not firing though. Just has them ready. Turning towards Geoffrey, he notes his tone.
"You're doing something aren't you?"
 
He kicks back and pours himself another shot. "I hope so, 'cause I wanna finish this bottle."

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Wed May 14, 2003  3:56 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "You're doing something aren't you?"

Geoffrey smiles knowingly, nodding in Gunslinger's direction.

"Yes, I am trying to keep this scuffle from getting too far out of hand.
Like you, I plan to finish my drink without interruption. And, truth be told, one simply does not rush a good scotch."

Geoffrey keeps his concentration up, preparing to enclose the group in his force field, or take more drastic action to keep the ruckus out if necessary.

From:  "Charlie SS Clay Jr." <cclayjr2@juno.com> 
Date:  Fri May 16, 2003  8:36 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

'If they are just delivering tolietries, why is gumby watching me so hard.' He thinks to himself as he moves out of sight and passes into the ground to circle back and watch them.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Sat May 17, 2003  8:19 am
Subject:  Out of town.

Hey, gang(s).

Gone 'til monday, hopefully with no internet access. Everybody behave.

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Sat May 17, 2003  11:36 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> He picks the Charlie in the elevator.

Ha ha ha.

And here you thought i was going to start some sort of violence with this Hairy fellow. Shee-it, i'm not that dumb - after all, my plan did in fact work perfectly. The other me notwithstanding, of course, since i'll admit that i didn't anticipate my worse half showing up to cause trouble... much less with some other thugs i never heard of before.

The point is that everybody is ignoring ME.

i am just going to kick back, work on the grogs that have gotten me in hock, and am going to watch things unfold some. The KEY here is that i, Charlie Chincanery, will be watching to see if the bartender leaves her post. If so, i am going to hop over the bar and break whatever safety device she's using to hold my time travel staff hostage.

Plan b, of course, will be to SEEMINGLY fly to the aid of my matter-duplicator counterpart, and assuming i don't get pummeled by either Hairy or my other's friends for some reason - as this occurs when fights break out amongst folks of our stripe - and steal whatever cash she's carrying.

i assume that she's got at least a hundred on her... mu hu heh heh heh.

Applicable rolls:

plan a
* agility FEAT to avoid the bartender's notice: 71.
* reason / power FEAT to outsmart lock-thingie: 53.

plan b
* dodges against possible incoming attackseses: 83.
* 'rolling' my counterpart: 48.

any other rolls possibly required:

11, 87, 03 (rassm frassm)

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun May 18, 2003  11:36 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Observing the two immensely large storage bays for cryogenic pods, you hang around for a few minutes waiting for something to happen, Rebound, and eventually it does.  Down the hallway to your left, you suddenly hear something that makes you hate this line of work.

"Hoo hoo hoo hee hee hee!"

Sounds like Disco Head.

Turning that way, you and Och see him floating around in that warehouse suddenly, and zapping one of the maintenance crews you spied earlier.  They fall down clutching their eyes, since he just gave off a flash like a hundred Halogen (TM) bulbs breaking at once.

It left a lingering spot in your vision, even this far away!

To this Och simply says "That's convenient..."

Elsewhere (and how), most of the rest of you struggle with the nature of this rather empty office.  As you nab a piece of rubble, Jinx, Ari flings her coin into the null space before you, and before you can do your 'rock slide' trick, the space makes a loud "THAMM" noise.

It's loud enough to make your ears hurt, but you see an otherwise ordinary office suddenly has taken up residence in the formerly empty space before you.  There's a big desk, and all kinds of bookshelves, full of both books and strange, 'Batcave' style knick knacks...

About thirty feet above, and somewhat to the left, you duck around the corner of the warehouse, Stone Cold, and note that the two guys in red, white and blue delivery uniforms (?) quit paying attention to you.  Eavesdropping, though, you can still hear them.

One is attempting to talk into an intercom.  After pushing the button, he bellows "HEY!  We're here to make a DELIVERY.  Anybody HOME in there?!"  The two wait for about thirty seconds, and then get antsy.  So antsy, in fact, that they look each other in the eye and pull guns.

Strange guns, though... unlike any you've seen truck drivers possess before.  They're thin little affairs, mostly consisting of a handle and a rounded surface curving around the fingers - there seems to be some sort of crystal on the outer edge.

The things could almost be mistaken for brass-knuckle type weapons... almost.  They stop talking at this point, and with their free hands begin communicating in hand signals.  Looking around to ensure nobody in the neighborhood is observing, they then shoot the front door in.

Their little guns appear to have quite a bit of kick, for the seemingly invisible force they project knocks in the twelve foot tall, reinforced steel garage doors before them.  They then rush to the edges of the wrecked entrance, and after peeking in, enter forthwith.

?!

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun May 18, 2003  11:51 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie
 
Masque uncovers his ears and vanishes the horse.
"Oooomph!"
He gets back up off the ground muttering something about remembering next time to get off the horse first.
 
Peering inside the room, he says;
"Isn't that handy. All we had to do was insert a quarter."

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon May 19, 2003  12:42 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

"Charlie!"

The unknown fellow in the blue get-up freaks out upon seeing his apparent friend get blasted by Harry the Space Pilot, and prepares to return the favor by... manifesting twin, bright blue-colored steel Colt .45's out of his very hands, but is suddenly distracted.

By... Charlie Chicanery.

You fly over the ruckus since there is quite a lot of vertical space to play with, Charlie, and make your way to your counterpart's side rather quickly.  Arriving there, you see that she's got a smouldering hole in her shoulder, and is somewhat unconscious, but still breathing.

So you take her wallet.

Before you can make your escape, you get a curious look from the guy in blue, who says "Who the hell are you?  You're not like some sort of time-travel duplicate or something, I hope..."  He tries to advance on you, but is suddenly suspended in place by an odd web of energy.

This doesn't seem to stop the other one, though.  She vanishes in a burst of light and instantly rematerializes next to Harry the Space Pilot, and after pulling a blade apparently crafted from some sort of rainbow-hued metal, slashes at the man's arm.

"Hah!  You ass, nobody can contain Everywhere Girl!"  She didn't kill the guy, but has definitely disarmed him (not literally, mind you - he still has an arm, just no gun).

Harry says "ARRGH!" at this and, finding himself unable to move, gives unto this 'Everywhere Girl' a nice strong head butt.  "Ass my ass!  You and your stupid friends screwed me out of a time travel staff, and I means to collect it - why else do you think I'm here?!"

Well, actually he came back for other reasons, but still.  Providence and all that.

Meanwhile, the rest of you are simply chilling at your table, watching this strange tableau that really doesn't have anything to do with you at all.  As you leisurely drink your drinks, nothing overt appears to happen to immediately threaten the three of you.

Though you note that your psi web isn't working well against the teleporter, Geoffrey.

Moebius shrugs, however.  "You know, this just doesn't feel right.  It's a bar brawl, and oddly I seem to have nothing to do with it... for once."

Anybody do anything?

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon May 19, 2003  2:19 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip Moebius sarcasm)

"You hit that one right on the head Moebius."
Gunslinger spins his gun on the table.
"As long as they ain't aiming at me, insulting me or both... then this ain't my fight."
He taps his glass.
"However, if they spill my drink... they're dead."

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon May 19, 2003  3:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Ari arches an eyebrow.  "Cool."  She gestures.  "AFter you, Stoney."  If he doesn't explode, she'll follow behind and gawk at the geegaws.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon May 19, 2003  6:44 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

O.O.C...... Stoney?

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon May 19, 2003  6:57 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Bah! I meant Masque. Durrrrrr.

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Tue May 20, 2003  2:31 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> Arriving there, you see that she's got a smouldering hole in her shoulder, and 
> is somewhat unconscious, but still breathing.

> So you take her wallet.

"Smouldering"? Feeling British, there?

> (snip mystery blue guy getting psi-webbed)

Oh... providence. And not Rhode Island's, neither.

"That's right, sweet cheeks, i am your friend Charlie - the Charlie from NEXT THURSDAY!" i will waggle my fingers at him for effect. "i've come back in time to stop you all from making a FRIGHTFUL mistake, and winding up all dead-like."

With that i think i will nip this little conflict in the bud, and (while my other half is still comatose / dazed / sugar-buzzed / whatever) swipe the staff that i so lovingly procured for the other me.

HAHAHAHAHA!

And you people think i'm an unthinking boob.

i seem to recall that this is, in fact, what Harry was after, after all. Well, he seemed to want mine, but then i didn't promise this fellow love and apparent sexual favors in the future. Much less my prized, time traveling beaut.

Oh yeah, what kind of cash moneys did my other have in her wallet?

Chris something-or-other wrote:

> "However, if they spill my drink....they're dead."

"Huh... so much for altruism."

Assuming i could hear this over the band and the two people actually FIGHTING in the bar there.

i find myself tempted to shoot at the Funslinger just to rile him up, but... naah.

Too bad i'm not telekinetic, either. heheh.

(that should do)

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Tue May 20, 2003  3:05 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "Huh... so much for altruism."
 
Gunslinger DOES in fact hear this over the din and picks up his gun, aims and fires a bolt of gravitic energy at.......
 
"Altruism huh....I got yer altruism right here bud."
 
.....the very staff that Charlie is after. Making it too heavy for ol' weinie arms charlie to attain.
(rolls...init-7, to hit-84, effect(general extra gravity forces I guess)-42)
 
"You never said WHO I had to help out." He says with a grin.
 
Pretty sure that Charlie will have a look of incredulous disgust on his face or is he/she just that ugly... hmmm... either way... Gunslinger says,
 
"Don't you fret little lady. The effect will wear off...I don't want you to mistake confiscating for being easy after all. Maybe you'll get it... maybe you won't. Think of this as a lesson."

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue May 20, 2003  5:44 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx cringes at the loud "THAMM" noise, "Craptastic! That was loud!"
 
Peering into the room, Jinx takes note of the contents before entering, "Well, it doesn't look too nasty, but keep alert. Who the hell can say what'll happen to us if we linger in the room too long. Say, Ari, where do you think the quarter went? Where do you think it landed?"
 
With that, Jinx would make a quick once-over of the room, keeping an eye out for said coin.
 
OOC: Random rolls: 88, 49, 89, 98, 97, 08
 
From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Tue May 20, 2003  11:00 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> Say, Ari, where do you think the quarter went? Where do you think it landed?"

"Good question.  It can't be anywhere TOO bad, because it's where the furniture came from.  Which means if it was, say, HELL, the furniture would ahve been destroyed."

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Wed May 21, 2003  3:16 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "You never said WHO I had to help out." He says with a grin.

"By Jove, i do believe you've fallen off your rocker!"

> Pretty sure that Charlie will have a look of incredulous disgust on his face 
> or is he/she just that ugly... hmmm... either way... Gunslinger says,

i will only amuse you with a twitching eye at this point. Knob.

> "Don't you fret little lady. The effect will wear off...I don't want you to 
> mistake confiscating for being easy after all. Maybe you'll get it... maybe 
> you won't. Think of this as a lesson."

rrr... screw this.

"Cockmongery! Cockmongery, i say!"

So now i'm confused. Here i was trying to simply avert having this place blown to bits, and actually use my head for once, but nooooo. i'm not even sure why i was bothering, i mean Hell, i have a particular hate-on for this cruddy bar and its cruddy gun-toting bartender. Why's everybody but me got to be toting guns and shit? Shit. i ought to pick me up one of those gravity guns that the Funslinger's lugging along so i could weigh his ass down to the floor and leave him a big brown present where he ought to have a nose.

But this is the nice, new, PROFESSIONAL Charlie Chicanery.

Not counting me rolling my counterpart, there.

um

Anyway. Still confused here. i suppose i'll amuse the noseless wonder and attempt to pick up the staff, but i'm pretty sure i'm not strong enough; my powers don't involve super strength.

So.

Assuming the other me doesn't recover yet, i'll take a close look at the people fighting there, and prepare, with my ordinary staff, to blast the lady with the knife if she doesn't lay off. i mean, i may not KNOW that guy, but i imagine i recall seeing him on the roof and stuff where i so recently used to life. i should at least be neighborly and whatnot... even though it may not do any good; me Charlie know nothing about no energy dampening field, nope. Though i'm not shooting yet, so we'll see.

Hey!

Would that energy dampening hoo-hah (again, i don't KNOW about it, but out of character, as it were) dampen Gunslinger's gravity effect? 

Maybe i'll try REAL HARD to pick that thinger up.

Wouldn't that surprise HIM...

hehehehehehehehhehehehehehehehheh

From:  cclayjr2@juno.com 
Date:  Wed May 21, 2003  6:07 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

'Delivery my @$$.' Stone Cold moves to the top of the truck checking briefly before quietly following them in. "Why do all of the villains have all of the cool artillary.

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Wed May 28, 2003  6:32 am
Subject:  quick note dinger

Hey everybody... sorry about the delay here; was waiting for Doug to  respond, but I just found out he was out of town.... whoops.

I'll get back on everything as soon as possible - say, after I get off work  Wednesday night. Groovy?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Thu May 29, 2003  6:45 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

After a bit of shuffling, Masque enters the mysterious, un-vanished room - and since he doesn't pop, you do as well, Ari, Jinx.  All three of you then proceed to inspect the room in a cursory fashion, checking out all the weird knick knacks - but finding no missing quarter...

A random sampling of strange knick knacks, though, include the following:

* An article entitled 'Hyperspatial Meta-Constructs and Making Someplace from Other Places', cut from a magazine whose title (not to mention very existence) you are all woefully un-familiar with.

* An apparently gold-plated disco ball, about the size of a baseball, on a small wooden stand suggesting that it, and the delicate electronics and micro machinery within, have been used as a paper weight.

* A giant penny.  Well, not giant so much as large enough that the head on the 'heads' side looks about as big as a regular human head.  And the detailing is downright uncanny...

* A 'Thaumatech' employee badge, with a photograph (and, according to the badge, a D.N.A. imprint) of the fellow in the red shirt that you recall was so recently badgering Stone Cold.

* A 3 3/4" action figure, with articulation aplenty, of each member of the group, complete with tiny accessories.  Ari's figure seems to have a bag that can hold way too many accessories for its own good...

* And, finally, a box of Things and Stuff.  This curious item seems like an ordinary cardboard box, about three inches cubed, that constantly rattles as though full of, well, stuff.  And things.

Even after you open it and remove all the odd puzzle pieces, keys, and left socks, you can shake it and then extract even more... things.  And stuff.

Elsewhere, you follow those two truck drivers into the front of the warehouse, Stone Cold, noting that sirens aplenty are approaching your position... sounds like fun is abrewin'.  Watching the two from afar, you find that they're not too amused with what they see.

"Holy Shit!"

One starts to frantically make calls, talking to someone who is seemingly an operator at 'B.A.H. Dispatch'.  They look all around the place, inspecting the signs of recent carnage, and eventually one of them comes to a conclusion.

"Hey, Bob - there's somebody in the lower level..."

The duo then proceeds to climb down a rope left there by someone else... into the hole that Disco Head blasted into the floor.

Elsewhere again, while you guys check out the weird stuff this fellow has adorning his bevy of bookshelves and desk proper, you hear a slight stirring outside the office.  Sounds like... pebbles and such dropping from the hole you so recently climbed down...!

!

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Thu May 29, 2003  7:06 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

You attempt to pick up the staff, Charlie Chicanery, and do indeed find the thing to be too heavy for you; while Geoffrey's energy dampening does, indeed, reduce the effect of the Gunslinger's gravitic hoo-hah, it doesn't reduce it to the point that you can lift the staff.

You can likely roll it around on the floor, but that's about it.

Oh, and you got about a thousand out of your counterpart's wallet.  You find this as you inspect the thing, and note that she's got a few credit cards and a fake I.D. as well.  "Charlene Chicanery," indeed.  This could come in handy, you imagine.

The man in blue sees you inspecting the wallet's contents, and scowls.  "From the future, huh?  How do we know that you're not just that OTHER Charlie, the one that showed up thanks to an accident with a matter duplicator, huh?  You seem dressed like her..."

As you two converse, the fight between Harry and the so-called Everywhere Girl does indeed continue, though this time Harry gets in a good shot.  She misses him with her knife, and gets a face full of knuckles as a result.  Not bad considering he's rooted to the spot.

"Bitch, get off it!" he says.  "Your lady-friend there promised me a time travel staff for services rendered, and I intend to collect.  Or did you forget that when I was flying your sorry asses around local space a couple thousand years from now, huh?  Huh?!  I can't HEAR you!"

He then punches her again.

About ten feet away, Moebius laughs at'cha, Gunslinger.  "Heh... can I spill your drink and say it was them?  They're having all the fun..."

Through all this, Geoffrey seems to be concentrating on something intently... (yeah, that's a clever dodge, eh?)

By Jove.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Thu May 29, 2003  10:21 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> * A 'Thaumatech' employee badge, with a photograph (and, according to the 
> badge, a D.N.A. imprint) of the fellow in the red shirt that you recall was so 
> recently badgering Stone Cold.

> * A 3 3/4" action figure, with articulation aplenty, of each member of the 
> group, complete with tiny accessories.  Ari's figure seems to have a bag that 
> can hold way too many accessories for its own good...

Ari grabs these particular things, then shoves them into her backpack.  "Look!  A tiny plastic me!"

Then, noticing the rustling sounds, she starts for the door.  "We'd better get outta here!  What if whoever's coming down pops this room back out, you know?"

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Thu May 29, 2003  6:02 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx frowns and scratches her head a bit at all of the oddities lying about, "Now that's just not normal..."
 
Tensing at the sound of the movement, Jinx nods to Ari after her suggestion to vacate the room, "Right. Good idea. Everyone out."
 
Once everyone had cleared the room, Jinx would do her best to make use of any rubble as cover then call out to the area of the hole, "Halt and identify yourself! This area is currently under a high level of threat from at least one time-displaced criminal making use of lethal technology. If you are not equipped to deal with this threat please retreat to a safe distance; approximately 1 mile."

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 2, 2003  9:16 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> To this Och simply says "That's convenient..." 

"Not the word I would have used, but I suppose it'll work. Let's go!"

Rebound heads into the warehouse, trying to get behind Disco Head. He keeps one eye closed, just in case...

If he can get behind Disco Head, Rebound will do his best to take him by surprise, explosively launching himself at the villain. If not, well, he'll launch himself anyway and hope for the best.

(Rolls: Init: 7, Launch: 100!!!!, Hit: 15, (the dice giveth...), Dam: 62,
Else: 69, 78, 72)

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 2, 2003  9:21 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

Lost in a grand meditative state, Geoffrey concentrates on trying to find some way to stop or at least slow down the teleporter without taking a more active role in the fight. After several moments of concentration, Geoffrey gives up in disgust, annoyed at his own lack of subtlety, and detonates the knife.

(Rolls: Init: 7, PK: 51, anything else needed: 12, 98, 87)

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 2, 2003  9:26 am
Subject:  RE: [v13]

OOC: Sorry for holding things up on y'all. I've been "out". OK, so mainly it was just my back that went "out", but a fun-filled way to start a vacation anyway...

From:  "Charlie SS Clay Jr." <cclayjr2@juno.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 2, 2003  5:11 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

'What have we gotten ourselves into this time?' he thinks to himself.  Instead of following them down the rope he tries to merge with the wall and beat them down there. 'I hope the others are fairing better.'

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Wed Jun 4, 2003  6:29 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> "Now that's just not normal..."
 
Masque shrugs as he picks up the everything box... tosses it around and opens it up.
"HEY... this is my sock. I lost this just last week!"
 
He meanders around...poking at this and prodding at that.
"Oooooooo."
 
> Tensing at the sound of the movement, Jinx nods to Ari after her suggestion to 
> vacate the room, "Right. Good idea. Everyone out."
 
"Oh no!. I happen to think this is the safest place thankyouverymuch. We have no idea who is out there... coming after us... coming to steal our socks."
His eyes glow and he takes on a very angry... well sorta angry tone.
"SOCK STEALERS!"
 
> (snip Jinx feint)
 
"Right." Masque says as he peers through the door at Jinx and Ari.
"You tell 'em. I'll be right here...pot shotting away from my cover... right here...in this safe room... with all the stuff....it has a door....that we can close....right."
..and with that he blinks out of the visible spectrum, keeping an eye on Jinz and Ari so as if they need any help, he can....do something.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Wed Jun 4, 2003  6:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

About ten feet away, Moebius laughs at'cha, Gunslinger.  "Heh... can I spill your drink and say it was them?  They're having all the fun..."

> After several moments of concentration, Geoffrey gives up in disgust, annoyed 
> at his own lack of subtlety, and detonates the knife.
 
Gunslinger turns and motions to Geoffrey,
'I think your friend here has taken care of that issue."

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  2:58 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> You can likely roll it around on the floor, but that's about it.

Bleah... how sad. Cure you, Gunslinger!

> Oh, and you got about a thousand out of your counterpart's wallet. 

Score! That'll at least lemme get my own time travel doohickey back from the angry bartender... hey. Is she doing anything, or just watching all this unfold?

> (snip man-in-blue-speak)

Hm... think quick, think quick... don't tip myself off... "Er, yeah. Of course i'm dressed like her - these ARE my clothes, after all. i just went and got them back after i came back in time. Jeez, i gotta 'splain this to you? S'not like i was giving them away permanently or something. The jerk gave away my place, you know... the last thing i'm going to do is give him - her - whatever - any of the stuff i'se got left."

Hehehehe... yeah, me big jerk, me.

If he don't buy it i'll just hit him with my normal, not time travel staff or something.

Yessssss

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  5:21 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

(whee, charlie and chris finally woke up)

While the two of you continue to simply observe matters from afar, Gunslinger, Geoffrey, it seems that things are pretty much continuing on as they were before.  The trick, though, is that you reach out with your psychokinesis, Geoffrey, and attack Everywhere Girl's knife.

All other things considered, the knife should've just popped like ... like nothing, really.  But it's still there.  In fact, you didn't even see it glow or anything, other than the otherworldly, rainbow-like sheen that the metal it's made from seems to possess.

Interesting, that.

In the thick of things, or at least adjacent to them in a manner different to Gunslinger, Moebius, Geoffrey, and Slow Jim, you deliver your line to the man in blue ... everything.  He looks you up and down, and seems to be considering what you've said quite deeply.

"Hm.... I suppose that's possible.  But then, why're you trying to take your own staff, then?"

Before you manage to sock him one, though, you hear a familiar stirring below you, Charlie.  Looking down, you can see that you - or at least, your counterpart - is stirring.  She says something like "Nnnn...", and it would appear that she's going to live, lucky you.

Meanwhile, as all of you stall, Harry the Space Pilot and Everywhere Girl continue duking it out.  You imagine that Harry's more intent on winning, but this Everywhere Girl seems to have powers - lots of powers.  She can teleport, is somewhat resistant to injury, and heals fast.

It's almost not fair, really.  But then, Harry started it...

Y'all do anything else?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  5:41 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

You leap at Disco Head and, as it turns out, miss spectacularly, Rebound.  You smash into a shelf full of stasis pods, and knock it down real good.  Dozens of the things fall to the ground, though apparently they're pretty darn sturdy, because none of them break.

Or make electronic noises, or start hissing gas, or what-have-you.

"Ah, Rebound!  So nice to make your acquaintance yet again.  It's funny how we keep meeting like this... you'd think I should need a restraining order.  Heh.  I'm glad you could see this, really... behold!  A generation of American citizenry, unconstitutionally held by its government!"

Disco Head then indicates the pods all around you with more than a little bit of flourish.  "See!  See what our so-called 'Land of the Free' has in store for anybody who's born 'different', or invents anything they deem too 'radical', or knows what they shouldn't!

"Do you see why I'm so angry now, do you?  I can imagine that this fellow here," he indicates a pod on the ground, "the 'Atomic Apocalypse', may warrant imprisonment - if only based on his name plate.  But me, ah.  All I did was invent a revolutionary mechanical technology.

"And here I was placed, with all the others.  Is this what you're fighting for, Rebound?  Do you wish to protect a system that will gleefully add you to its collection as soon as you stomp my head in?  How about you, dwarf - how does this sit with your beliefs?"

Slightly elsewhere, you smoothly sink into the earth beneath you, Stone Cold, and slide right down to where the two men you've been following have descended into some manner of underground complex.  You hear Jinx shouting something about time travelers or somesuch.

It seems that these fellows don't buy it, however.  "Heh... good one, lady.  You see, we here in the B.A.H. have what we call procedures, not to mention spoken phrases that we can use to quickly tell ourselves apart from would-be infiltrators like yourself.

"So, why don't YOU come out here, and surrender, before we have to do something rather painful to you and your friends..."

Well, at least one of them identified themselves.

Not that you've heard of any 'B.A.H.'

Now what, everyboody??

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  5:42 am
Subject:  Skipping Town

Hey everybody, I'm fleeing the scene of the crime until things cool off, or 
something to that effect, so I won't be back until next saturday. Don't 
blow up the planet whilst I'm vacationing in Minnesota, eh?

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  2:21 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip bah-men speak)

"Well, how about you go back to that warehouse, find the biggest tallest ladder you can, and use it to jump up our butts?"

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  3:06 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> Interesting, that.

Geoffrey stares at the knife for a few moments incredulous that he was unable to get rid of it. "At first, I just wanted to finish my drink, but now, this is starting to annoy me. And that is not a situation that can be tolerated."

> (snip fight)

> Y'all do anything else? 

Geoffrey watches the girl popping in and out of places, watching the pattern of her dodges, feints, and what have you. He carefully times his next move...

Still watching, Geoffrey Nods to Gunslinger and Moebius, "This ruckus has persisted quite long enough, wouldn't you say?"

He then delivers a telekinetic blow, full-force to the back of the girl's head as she is making an attempt to stab the disgruntled pilot yet again.

(OCC: Rolls: Init: 7, TK: 97, Dam?: 81, Psi Web:51, Energy dampening: 52, anything else: 34, 23, 94)

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 6, 2003  3:23 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip Disco Head rant)

"I've got a question for YOU this time...Do you really think cracking open all of these high-tech paperweights is going to make the world a better place? Do you even for a minute believe that human nature would allow all of these 'different' people to just get along with everyone else? One thing I know for sure, is that 9 times out of 10, if you give someone power, they'll use it to dominate other people. At least this way, your regular Joe can go down to the supermarket for a six-pack and not get blasted into oblivion."

Rebound pauses in his soliloquy, hoping Och has managed to line Disco-Head up for a viscous blow, to ask one final question....

"Let's call this whole mess off right here and go get a beer, throw some darts, and forget about it. What do you say?"

Knowing full well what Disco Head's answer will be, Rebound will launch himself at the ceiling above the villain to bring down a cloud of dust and at a minimum diffuse some of the light of the Disco demon. That is, of course, if Disco Head doesn't just agree to the beer.

(OCC: Rolls: Init: 10, Launch: 88, Hit:(how do you miss a ceiling?) 55, Dam:
50)

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Sat Jun 7, 2003  5:00 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx shakes her head at the response of the B.A.H. agent, "I didn't say I represented the individuals maintaining this base of operations, merely that I'm trying to stop someone from ripping this place to shreds. I'm glad you've got some decent password/counter-password techniques, but a fat load of good this did you guys in protecting your site from Disco Head."
 
After giving the agents time to let that statement sink in, Jinx would continue, "I am merely acting as a concerned citizen with the abilities and training necessary to possibly make a difference. I suggest we cease hostilities between ourselves and attempt to work together to deal with the current threat. How's that sound, bub?"

From:  "Charlie SS Clay Jr." <cclayjr2@juno.com> 
Date:  Tue Jun 10, 2003  3:24 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Stone Cold moves quickly to smack one in the back of the head to knock
him out then the other, to at least try to get to the bottom of this. 
'BAH???' He thinks moving to get behind them, before layin' da
smackdown.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jun 15, 2003  11:34 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "This ruckus has persisted quite long enough, wouldn't you say?"

Gunslinger nods.
"Agreed."

> (snip TK attack)
 
Gunslinger takes careful aim and is ready to fire a force blast at the "Everywhere" girl if Geoffrey's move doesn't quite work.
(rolls... in case they are needed... if not...than i ain't shootin' at her....to hit:43, force...32)
But before that he takes a gander at the Bartender wondering what she's up to... if anything at all.
"Yo".

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jun 15, 2003  11:39 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip first half of jinx speak)

Masque hollers out,
"YEAH!"
 
> (snip second half of jinx speak)
 
Masque wanders out, still invisible, to the group of B.A.H. agents and situates himself outside of Jinx and Ari's firing trajectories and counts the operatives, noting what and where their weapons are.

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Sun Jun 15, 2003  11:28 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "Hm.... I suppose that's possible. But then, why're you trying to take your 
> own staff, then?"

"Weren't you listening to me? i'm from the fucking FUTURE! i'm trying to SAVE you all from yourselves, mother fuck. if i stop us from going to the future again tomorrow, we all can't get dead. Freaky future plagues and whatnot that we brought back and killed humanity with. Duh."

Before he figures out that i couldn't travel into the past to stop myself from traveling into the future if i steal my time staff from myself before i can do either, well... i hit him. With my tachyon staff.

> (snip other Charlie waking up)

Fucktastic.

Hell, i'll try to pick up her staff one more time, and whilst the other me's still confused and whatnot, i'm gonna pop the guy in blue with a tachyon blast full force. i figure if he's hanging out with a gang that includes the teleporting uber-broad there, he should be able to take whatever i can dish out. Yesss.

Some fun dices:

initiative - 7, to hit - 65, to perhaps dodge - 47,

All right, strategy time. Assuming that i take the blue fella down, i'll work my way towards the bar despite whatever my female counterpart says or does. 
Now, if i DID get ahold of her staff, i'll take it with me, but if not, eh. Either way, i'll use my newfound fortune to buy back my own staff, then worry about the future then. Hmm.

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Tue Jun 17, 2003  3:10 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

The two B.A.H. fellows seem less than amused with the two of you, Ari, Jinx.  To the former, they simply sneer at your comment, but at you, Jinx, they seem to get kind of irked.  "Yeah whatever, lady.  When you've fought as many aliens, demons, and whatevers as we have, we'll talk.

"Until then, though, why don't you just give up before we have to perforate your pretty little self..."  These two just don't seem all that agreeable, but then, would you be if somebody'd just blow'd up your place?  Though, in retrospect, somebody just did...

As they get ready to pounce, as it were, you slip out in your invisible mode and check them out proper, Masque.  Looking at these two fellows, you see that they're wearing blue jeans, red T-shirts with 'B.A.H. Toiletries' written on them, and of course the obligatory Nike shoes.

They are both carrying what look almost like brass knuckles, though they're made of chrome, not brass.  The things consist of a hand grip with a curved metal strip covering their fingers, and there's some sort of elongated crystal on the 'punching' side.

Looking closely, you think you see the tell-tale bulge of a knife under the jeans of these fellows, each hidden under their left pants sleeve.  Other than that, though, these fellows don't appear to have any other weaponry on them.  And there is only the two of 'em.

You see or hear no other stuffs going on.

Before you can do anything about their increasing belligerence, though, a mass of stone takes humanoid shape out of the surrounding stone-ish walls, sneaks behind the two B.A.H. guys, and thumps each on top of their heads, knocking them senseless... you can almost see stars spinning 'round 'em.

Nearby, after a fashion, you rant at Disco Head, Rebound, and he sneers.  Well, you can't SEE it, what with the, er, disco ball on his head, but you can tell from his demeanor.  During your pause to breathe, you see Och indeed start to circle around the villain.

"Oh, Rebound, Rebound, Rebound.  You think that I am here to release ALL of these people?  Tut tut tut... no, that won't do.  I only came here to release several specific folks, people that I require to do my bidding during my imminent California vacation, you see.

"Seriously, Rebound.  All I wish to do is avenge myself on the person responsible for my missing 26 years.  That's it.  Why oppose me, when it could just as easily have been you in one of these pods?  You KNOW that the government will try it sooner or later..."

As to your offer to go chill, Disco Head laughs.  "Ahh, a beer.  Now that does sound tasty.  But alas, I have a POINT to make first..."

You then leap into the air, and do indeed knock down a large amount of material from the ceiling, dust and drywall stuffs that coats a rather large area with its choking cloud of unpleasantness.  "Oh, now that's just dirty pool, you."

Speaking of dirty pool, you see Och race towards Disco Head as you bounce away in a random direction.  He leaps into the air and, with a pro baseball swing, smashes the villain in the head with his golden axe.  "That's for wrecking my HOME, you jerk!"

Reeling, Disco Head falls to the ground, a large percentage of his disco ball smashed, little bits of mirrored componentry now lain askew around him.  Sitting up, he sounds quite angry.  "Why, you little ass hole!"  Pausing to collect himself, he brushes the dust off his tacky pants.

"Very well then.  That's how you want it...!"  Snapping his fingers, Disco Head yells out "Miss Behavior!  Front and center!"  Manifesting literally out of nowhere, you see a beautiful young lady with a ridiculously large afro appear, wearing a silky blue evening dress.

And the largest high heel shoes you ever did see.

"Miss Behavior, since these cretins insist on interrupting my plan for Justice, I believe that it is high time that you activate my contingency for this turn of events..."  Miss Behavior's eyes glow for a split second, and you see a nearby pod vanish.

"Heheh... sure, Rebound, you and your stunted little friend can keep fighting with ME if you like, but I've just released three of the world's most dangerous super-beings on the hapless streets of Washington D.C.  Mu hu heh heh heh.  Heh heh HEH heh heh!  Heh heh HAH hah haha!!"

This guy is really starting to annoy you...

From:  cclayjr2@juno.com 
Date:  Tue Jun 17, 2003  11:41 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"What nonsense is this clown talkin' Rebound and who did he let go?" Stone
Cold says stooping down to pick up the blasters from the Nike brigade.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Tue Jun 17, 2003  5:01 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> This guy is really starting to annoy you...

Rebound doesn't think about it. He doesn't weigh his options. He doesn't consider the alternatives...

He simply punches Disco Head. And then punches him again. And again. And again. Until disco boy either passes out, manages to slip away, or otherwise escape.

"no! No! NO!!!! You will not go to Cali, you will not pass go, you will not collect $200! I'm so damned tired of you schmucks popping up all over the place, that I would crawl into one of these friggin' pods if it would guarantee that no more of you losers would pop up!"

(OCC: Rolls: Init: 9, Attack#1: 92, Attack #2: 66, Attack #3: 90, Dam: 63,
79, 25, Anything Else: 86, 68, 14, 53)

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Tue Jun 17, 2003  9:38 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip bah-men speak)

Ari gives 'em the finger.  "How do you know we haven't, suckaduck?"

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Wed Jun 18, 2003  6:36 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx rolls her eyes as she listens to the goons respond, and is about to respond when she hears the guys go "thud" after Stonecold crumples them.
 
Peaking around the corner to see what happened, she'd quickly move to the stunned men and try to kick away their weaponry.
 
If nothing explodes or zaps her, she'd pat them down quickly and call out for someone to get some more rope or something else to contain the goons until sense can be talked into them or we can find the source of our mutual ire, namely Disco Head.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cwacers@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jun 22, 2003  2:02 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Masque reappears right in front of the two B.A.H. agents and waves his hands around.
"Booooooogiiieeeee booooogiiie..booog........"
..and stops.
 
> (snip Stone Cold's attack) 
 
"Oh." 
...says Masque.
"Nevermind."
Not quite sure what to do know, he simply pulls out a mint. And eats it.
 
> (snip Stone Cold's confusing post)
 
Masque looks at Stone Cold in a very puzzled way.
"Umm...Stoney pal, you alright?"
He picks up a piece of rubble and looks under it.
"Rebound?..You there?"
He opens a random door.
"Reeeeebound!?"
He shrugs.
"Nope..he's not in there either....Oooo oooo I know....You are playing a trick aren't you Stoney? You and Rebound have some sort of Alien Mega-Telepathy thing going on right!"
He claps his hands much like a happy Child.
"NEAT!"
He stops and seems to ponder.
"Orrrrrrr.....Rebound is invisible too...."
Turning to Jinx he says, 
"Can you see Rebound? I can't. I didn't think he was here but Stoney is talking to him. Of course it could be too many Dried Frog pills. Those will make me talk to people that aren't here either....Harumpph anyhow. I think we need to find Rebound and Och right quick though..wouldn't you two say so? Then again..Stone Cold seems to be talking to Rebound. Maybe Stone Cold IS Rebound.....That would be sooo cool. We could try and separate the two and then we would have an extra team member..and then we could....."
 
Masque simply trails off of whatever line of thought he was ranting about and starts calling out Rebounds name. It worked for Stone Cold apparently.
 
<It pays to pay attention to the game ya know.>

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Sun Jun 22, 2003  11:08 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx frowns at Masque, "Uh...no. I don't see Rebound. Maybe he went in that strange room?"

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  5:44 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

A few seconds after the two guys in red, white and blue are k-o'd, the two of you move to disarm them, Jinx, Stone Cold.  You take their curious blasters and their knives, and a more thorough search reveals that the two weapons are all that each carry.

They both have some sort of small ear piece, however.  And all KINDS of identification.  If you didn't know better, you'd think they were members of the F.B.I., C.I.A., N.S.A., the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and the Department of Agriculture.

Having done so, though, that leaves you with no more opponents to speak of, though you do hear plenty of sirens in the distance.  Sirens that are getting louder despite your depth.  Perhaps they're rather close, since the sound can only filter in through that hole, there.

...

Elsewhere, you leap at Disco Head and pummel him mightily, Rebound.  He makes lots of 'oomph' and 'aargh' sounds, and before he can recover enough to turn his nasty light-based devices against you, you seem to knock him out cold.  You beat Disco Head.

He's not dead or anything, just very, very unconscious.

As you stand up, feeling pretty darn good about yourself, your inherent paranoia stops you before you can gloat or kick him in the groin or anything, as you realize there's still some sort of super-powered person here that's not quite unconscious.

As you turn on Miss Behavior, you start to feel a bit queasy even before you can say anything.  You think you're going to throw up, which is admittedly a familiar feeling since your transformation, but before you do you fall to the ground with a wet slappy sound.

You feel like you've been turned inside out, and when you can focus your vision enough to see again, you get the impression that this is, indeed, the case.  Looking at yourself with your limited field of vision - movement is incredibly difficult - you see bits you shouldn't.

Not to mention sounds.

But the sounds aren't coming from you, but from the lady there.

"Heh... nice trick, eh, mystery man?  Masks are passe, by the way.  Oh, and don't you worry about this, you'll get better here a few seconds after I leave.  I have to concentrate in order to warp space around you enough to swap your bits here and there."

As she kisses what you think is your brain, she then laughs.

"After all, I'm a lover, not a killer."

She then vanishes, along with one or two more pods.

And, of course, the unconscious Disco Head.

True to her words, though, you do return to normal right after she leaves...

?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  6:12 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

(whoops- I seem to have forgotten something)

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense?  How can you travel back in time if - gackg!"

You blast this blue-haired fellow dead-on with a tachyon blast, Charlie, and fling him across the establishment.  He hits a wall adjacent to the bar and lands on the floor with a painful thud, and though he's still breathing, he doesn't appear to be stirring at all.

(though you noticed that it didn't seem as 'big' a blast as usual)

Several feet away, you study the Everywhere Girl for a few moments, Geoffrey, and you tag her with a TK blast when she reappears above Harry's head.  This sends her flying as Charlie managed with that blue-haired guy, but she isn't quite so easily beaten.

"Who the what the?!"

She seems dazed but not out of fight just yet, at which point Gunslinger tags her with a force blast from his antique pistol.  This, coupled with the damage Harry already dealt her and your own psionic assault, DID do the trick, and she seems to finally lay down for a nap.

As it were.

(even if your force blast seemed a bit... less, Gunslinger)

Through all this, you've noticed that the bartender doesn't seem interested in interfering.  In fact, when you said 'yo' to her, Gunslinger, she simply nodded back to you, as though she didn't care.  Since she hasn't drawn yet, that could be the case.

As you approach her, though, she apparently senses your intent, Charlie.  "What, you going to pay me with stolen cash?  Well, I guess since, legally speaking, it could still be considered yours... that's fine.  I suppose..."  You get the impression she's toying with you.

She hands over your staff after you pay up, and as you claim your own staff back, the other you sees you holding both (yes, the gravity on your other's staff finally wore off, no thanks to Gunslinger).  "Hey, what the hell do you think YOU'RE doing?"

That's when Moebius lets loose with a fireball.

(though, again, it seems smaller than her usual chaos-fest)

She blasts the other Charlie with that powerful gout of flame, and by the time she finishes her stopping, dropping, and rolling, the counterpart to your Charlie passes out from the pain yet again.  Looking at Moebius, you find that the time sorceress is looking a bit sheepish.

"What, everybody else got to..."

?

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  11:10 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Ari tries to filch one of the ear pieces, so she can hear what's being said on them.  yeah!

After pantsing their foes, she looks around.  "Where's Och an' Rebound?  They musta gone down the other way.  We better go find them before they beat up Disco Face without us."

From:  cclayjr2@juno.com 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  7:59 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"Yo' people we better get our bounce on 5.0 is here." He says making sure the
ghostbusters are secure and keeping the weapons moves to catch up with the others.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  1:02 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "What, everybody else got to..."

Geoffrey laughs, the tension and concentration visibly draining from his face as he lets everything but the force field drop.

"Yes, we all seemed to get in a shot. I must say that we do seem to work rather well together. Perhaps the partnership we discussed earlier would be an even better idea than I originally thought. Even the unbalanced 'woman' seems to be of some use."

Geoffrey thinks for a moment, gets up and goes to speak with the bartender.

"So, how much of a tab have my companions racked up so far?"

(some monetary response, no doubt)

"Here's double that. We'll be taking our drinks to go."

He then casually walks back to the group.

"It seems our bill has been paid. Let's go somewhere a wee bit less raucous to discuss this. Oh, and bring your drinks. No sense wasting them."

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 23, 2003  1:16 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> True to her words, though, you do return to normal right after she leaves...

Rebound totters to his feet, stumbles into one of the fallen pods, and moans loudly as he slumps to the floor again. 

"Floor. Floor seems good. Yep, I think I'll just sit here on the floor.
How about you Och? You feel like puking too? The son of a bitch got away again. With some pretty nasty reinforcements, I might add. Do you suppose..."

Rebound tries to stand again, failing miserably...

"Umph. Um, yeah, floor. Do you suppose, these government goons have some sort of database where we could look up Disco Head and his favorite super goons. Maybe find out just what we are up against..."

Rebound pulls out his slate and starts trying to see if he can tie into the base's systems from here, hoping he can open a portal and get back and well, maybe find out what happened to the rest of the group.

(OCC: Roll to access/figure it out: 14...maybe he'll just sit there and wait for someone to come and get him.)

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue Jun 24, 2003  7:27 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx frowns at the sound of sirens then shrugs, "Well, at least their response time could be worse."
 
Taking a look up the hole, Jinx asks the group, "OK, anyone know how we can find Rebound and Och? We need to locate them prior to evacuating the area."

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Wed Jun 25, 2003  4:54 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (whoops- I seem to have forgotten something)

Yeah, mister i-hate-brazilians.

> "Hey, what the hell do you think YOU'RE doing?"

> That's when Moebius lets loose with a fireball.

Hah. Hah. Hah.

Hell, i'll say THAT out loud.

"Hah. Hah. Hah."

i will then walk up to the crisped, yet unconscious version of my august personage, and gloat, hoping that, on some unconscious level, she'll still hear me over the din of her own sizzling flesh.

i'll even put one foot on her chest for good measure.

"See here you, i hear that you traded sexual favors AND ONE TIME TRAVEL STAFF for some sort of conveyance from this fellow here," at which point i will motion to Harry the Space Pilot.

"Am i correct in this, Mister Harry the Space Pilot?"

i brandish all three of my transient steel staves at him for good measure. Yes, i know i only have two arms... don't ask.

i will eagerly await Harry the Space Pilot's response, then probably either way will respond in the affirmative to this Geoffrey fellow - whoever the hell he is - and grab my imbibements.

"Who're you, again?"

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Thu Jun 26, 2003  12:04 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> "Who're you, again?"
 
Gunslinger shakes his head and stands up.
"Alrighty..I agree with you Geoffrey. Thanks fer the drinks. I owe ya one."
 
Turning to Moebius.
"You know..we really need to get someplace quiet. We have been traveling all over this damned country and everywhere we go. Something bad happens."
He smirks.
"It's a good thing that we are the Bad that's happening though."
He starts to walk to the door and then stops.
"Hey barkeep, take this. If you need anything... give us a call on this frequency."
He writes down a number and gives it to her.
"Now Geoffrey. You got any idea where we can go? Mobieus and I...and apparently Charlie now. Really don't have any place ..that's quiet."

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Thu Jun 26, 2003  12:07 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"Right."
Masque says as he falls over in that trance.
He quickly searches the place in astral form and once he locates Rebound and Och, he will open a portal to them and then one directly to the Ship or whatever it is.
That is of course assuming he does locate them.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Thu Jun 26, 2003  1:11 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip Gunslinger speak)

Geoffrey smiles. "I know just the place. That is, if you all promise not to wreck the place."

He directs the group to a nice-sized apartment he still keeps for "slumming" just outside of the village.

"Here we go. It's pretty small, only 2 bedrooms and all, but it'll work for the time being. "

Geoffrey flips on the stereo from across the room, and quickly flips it back off when he realizes it's set on the Barry White collection.

"Hmmm, a bit of an electrical glitch there. I'll have to get that fixed.  Well, make yourselves at home." 

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri Jun 27, 2003  6:27 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

The three of you proceed to completely rob and humiliate the two B.A.H. guys, Jinx, Ari, Stone Cold.  Both Jinx and Stone Cold, since they were intent on 'confiscating' their weaponry, get ahold of one knife and one blaster, and you do indeed get an ear piece, Ari.

Plopping it in, you hear a bevy of chatter.  Several people are talking about an attack on the 'hyperdimensional access point' to the 'high security ascendant human holding facility'.  Sounds like they're all converging on said location, too.

Those sirens you hear above indicate that this may, in fact, be the case.  Of course, it might also be the explosions you're starting to hear in the background.  Thoom.  Ba-ka-koom.  Blamm.  Not really loud, as of yet, but you can nonetheless feel them through the floor.

In the corner - well, in one of several corners available - Masque drops into yet another trance, and from what he's ranted in the past, you guess that he's released his astral form into the space around you.  Since poking him with a stick don't wake him, you may've guessed right.

Allowing your conscious mind to flow out of your body, you zip and zing along all the possible places one could hide a cloaked man, a dwarf, and perhaps a fellow with a large disco ball for a head, and you fail to find either, Masque.  None of them are here.  At all.

Gone without a trace...

Somewhere else, you hear Och grunt at you, Rebound.  "What do you mean, 'feel like' throwing up?  I - hurrrp!"   Apparently your diminutive friend was just as whammied by Miss Behavior, and is perfectly content to just lay on the ground a few feet from you.

Recovering your wits slightly, you open up the electronic slate you recovered from Elys' hoard, Rebound, and find that you have no idear how to link the thing to the portal generating mechanism in Elys' former domicile.  You see something else, though.

You see how Disco Head managed to find this place, much less secure the release of certain troublemakers.  Apparently, he used the electronic slate to make some sort of 'passive quantum impression' of various data transmissions, then the computers here.

That crafty cuss apparently pulled several files from some agency you've never heard of, something called the 'Bureau of Ascendant Humans'.  He's got about ten dossiers of various villains locked up for various nefarious deeds on here, not to mention a readout of their security systems.

But, from what you've seen, you guess these folks are now at large...

While you wait for a rescue of some sort, you are approached by someone... though it's not necessarily a friendly face.  It's that guy who was so interested in Stone Cold's rather violent behavior, the man in the red shirt, blue jeans, white hair, etc...

"Made a mess here, eh?"

!

From:  cclayjr2@juno.com 
Date:  Fri Jun 27, 2003  4:30 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"Yo ya'll I feel a bounce comin' on somethin' proper. We need to get while the
gettin' is good. Got me?" He said storing the blaster and the knife, so he
could inspect it later.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Fri Jun 27, 2003  11:44 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

> Gone without a trace...
 
"!"
...is all Masque says to himself in the astral. Zooming on back to his Body proper, Masque gets up and flinches at said booms and what-not.
"Umm..I don't know about Bouncing. I think that might hurt. Our bodies aren't made to bounce but I do think we should get outta here. I can't find the others..at all. I don't even think they are here. I looked everywhere. My magicks simply can't find them."
He takes a mint from his pocket.
"Anyone want a mint? They are tasty..mmmmmmmm."
 
He starts to do his portal opening motions then stops.
"Where do y'all wanna go? We can either get back to the ship or introduce ourselves to the rest of the agents here and we know how that ones gonna end up. I am thinking that the spider might be able to help us locate the others though. There's bound to be some..techhh..tec.....techno.....Bah....stuff on that thing that might help."

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Fri Jun 27, 2003  5:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Jinx nods to both Masque and Stonecold, "Right. We'll have to try and locate the others once we've evacuated.
 
"I don't think that these guys will be ready to chat seeing as we just clubbed two of their agents and 'confiscated' some of their unorthodox gear. But we should keep a tab on this place so we can perhaps contact them later when things have cooled down and explain our actions. There's no reason to get some acronym for an enemy. Or at least another one, that is."
 
Turning to Masque, "So, I think getting back to the ship would be a good idea. Can you open a portal there?"

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Fri Jun 27, 2003  11:30 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

"Hey, gang... we better beat feet.  Sounds like all those guard goon guys are coming this way.  Maybe if we get back to the ship, we can find Och and Rebound."

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Sat Jun 28, 2003  9:48 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Onion Pie

Masque blinks.
"Umm....I just said that."
 
Nodding to Jinx.
"We're not an Acronym are we?"
He says as he opens a portal to the ship.
"All aboard!."
And he steps through after the others step through.

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 30, 2003  2:44 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

The bartender just smiles at you and tells you just how much the Gunslinger and his odd cohorts have tallied, and once you pay up, she's more than happy to invite you all back.  You'd think otherwise, but then, you DID break up that fight there...

Immediately thereafter, Gunslinger, the bartender takes your card, with presumably your number... and hope she has an advanced radio.  "Sure thing, buddy."  You're not sure what to make of that.  She almost sounded sincere... almost.  She's so mysterious, this one.

Then, Moebius nods to you.  "Yeah, peace and quiet would be nice for a change.  Egads, I haven't had a peaceful night's sleep since I left Sigil.  And I didn't have too many before that, you know, what with sharing space with a bunch of trigger-happy nutjobs.  Whee."

Once you get done taunting your significant other, Charlie, Harry the Space Pilot looks you up and down.  "Yeah, that's about it, in a nutshell."  He seems like he's not sure if you're going to shoot him or not.  But then, you're brandishing stuff at him.

(moving a wee bit forward to the apartment)

Moebius looks around and seems okay with the place, even with the Barry White included.  "Okay, it looks pretty nice - I promise not to wreck the place.  Or at least not START any trouble.  But if you've got super powered nuisance neighbors like Och seems to have..."

??

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 30, 2003  12:20 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Onion Pie

> (snip electronic slate results)

"Well, that answers that question. The bastard used OUR systems to break in here! That tears it. I need to go to criminal college so I can learn how to keep up with this guy."

> "Made a mess here, eh?" 

Rebound, exasperated, exhausted, and out of patience, rants:

"Mess? What mess?
You-mean-the-super-villain-tromping-around-California-with-ten-of-his-best- buddies-while-God-knows-what-chaos-is
-happening-on-the-streets-of-Washington-right-now? No, that's not a mess.  Do you mean the pod people scattered all around the place just waiting to spring out and cause even more havoc? Nah, that's not a mess either. The fact that you keep showing up after all the fighting's done and have the balls to act smug about it...now that's just messed up! Just who the hell ARE you and what do YOU want?"

He's still not sure standing is such a good idea, so he'll just sit there waiting for some sort of response.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jun 30, 2003  12:39 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip ominous moebius speak)

"Don't fret, none of the neighbors will start anything, let alone speak to
us. They keep to themselves. This is a no-questions-asked, no-names-spoken
kind of place. You know, or maybe you don't. Either way, we will most
assuredly not be assailed by the neighbors. Now if that's all settled,
let's get down to business."

Geoffrey settles down in the easy chair with a snifter of brandy, gently
swirling it around, waiting for the others to settle down.

"Firstly, do you have a business plan, or is this a spur of the moment idea?
My suspicion is that you have not thought this through enough to get that
far. Someone get a pad of paper and a pen from the desk and take this down.
This will be a fee-for-service company requiring an initial deposit
determined by an estimate of the materials and personnel required by the
particular circumstances."

Geoffrey pauses, waiting for the rest of the group to mentally catch up.

"Secondly, we will not hire out as assassins. There's just too much
competition in that market these days. However, the problem solving
'troubleshooting' market, if you will, is rather open to competition. Our
services will not come cheaply. I expect that we should be compensated no
less than $1,000 per billable hour per employee on the job. That is over
and above expenses."

He pauses again.

"Are you with me so far?"

He doesn't bother pausing further.

"Thirdly, we will always complete any mission we accept. Period. If it turns out to be a double-cross, then we complete the mission, and then deal with whomever set us up. Or, if our time-manipulators are as capable as I hope you are, you will go back in time, call me, and give me the code-phrase to not accept the mission. Our reputation must be without blemish. We must be paramount. Nothing else will suffice. Anyone not willing to put in the effort, can walk now."

Geoffrey waits to see how this all sinks in before proceeding further.

(OOC: Well, that's what he plans on saying/doing anyway. Feel free to interrupt as you see fit)

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  1:07 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip Geoffrey speak about his neighbors and pad)

"Just my kind of place."

> Geoffrey settles down in the easy chair with a snifter of brandy, gently
> swirling it around, waiting for the others to settle down.
 
Gunslinger settles down. In a chair. Lights a cigar and pulls out a flask of his own very special whiskey. Old Grand Dad, vintage 2001.

> (snip Geoffrey's 'firstly')
 
"This was her idea."
He points a thumb towards Moebius.
"I am in it for the ride. I am a Bounty Hunter. A Bad ass Time Travelin' Dimensional Crossing Bounty Hunting Mother Fucker From Outer Space actually. I hunt people, things, whatever you want to call them...for money. That's about it. So this isn't that far from what I do."

> (snip Geoffrey's 'secondly')
 
"So what yer saying is... We should Milk the clock then."
Gunslinger pauses to take a swig.
"I can deal with that."

> "Are you with me so far?"
 
Gunslinger raises an eyebrow.
"The only one you need to speak slowly to is the transgendered one."
He motions to Charlie.
He raises the other eyebrow and looks at the door... and shakes his head in dismay.
"Code phrase." 

> (snip Geoffrey's 'thirdly')

Gunslinger sits up and takes his feet off the table.
"Okay. Here's the deal. I have no problem with this however...we seem to work pretty well when push comes to shove. I can already tell we got some serious egos here though. Moebius and I are bad enough but when we found Charlie...."
He shakes his head.
"..and now you. All in all this ain't a bad thing but we are gonna have to learn to swallow our pride. I have done this before on another Earth and lemme tell you. The people I worked with... super egos along with extremely super powers. Hell... we didn't even get paid for what we did. We were....Heroes."
 
(theoretical pause.)
 
"I also am not sure you know the problem with Time travel. Maybe Moebius can explain it better than I can though but I'll give ya the short of it. Time travel is never without consequences. I know all too well about that. I merely have a device without any bells and whistles that allows me to travel through time. I rarely use it anymore. The world I was in a few dimensions to the left was strange. No consequences. I could do whatever I wanted..but here..they even have Time Cops here..TWO groups of them apparently. I am beginning to think that they aren't sanctioned by any entity I know of in the here and now though. Mere vigilantes if you will. So even simply going back in time to give you a code phrase can be bad. Unless we got all our ducks in a row of course."
 
Gunslinger stops....
"You know...I want to test this theory actually. You won't even notice."
Gunslinger gets up, walks to the door and begins setting his watch. He notes the exact time to the millisecond right NOW and pushes a button and...
 
He appears back in time right before Geoffrey gets on with his third point and simply says..
"Code Phrase."
..and sets his watch to return back to the exact instant he left.
 
He smiles and sits back down.
"Now we shall see if this works."
Turning to Geoffrey, 
"So yeah....I think I can tough this one out. As for the others....it's their call. You mind if I stay here until I can find a place to stay? Moebius and I were kinda forced on this world with pretty much nothing but material possesions and even some of that was broken.."

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  5:47 am
Subject:  Whoops

(eesh, I'm trying to stat up a city or something, and I have to answer mail... hmm.  I need more time in the day, methinks.)

You all decide to head back to Harry's space ship in order to better track down both Och and Rebound, and one at a time, you step through Masque's portal to find that, since it empties out within the space that is now currently NOT occupied by that vessel, you have a slight fall.

About eight feet. 

It's not enough to really hurt any of you, but you all land on the concrete in a heap, and it takes you a few seconds to figure out just what the heck happened.  Apparently, Harry's taken off or something.  And Rebound's the only guy with the device necessary to hail him.

D'oh.

On the other hand, you think you may know why, upon looking around the immediate area.  You can see several plumes of smoke rising from the city.  Not gigantic fires, but it looks like somebody's just blown a few things up here.  Then another one goes.

THOOM.

It's a dull, loud explosion, accompanied by yet another plume of smoke.  The trick this time, though, is that you can see something else rising from the blast.  It looks like someone... or something... is flying out of the blast zone.  It arcs up for about thirty seconds, then returns.

With another explosion.  THOOM...

The strange thing about the movements of this person/thing is that, somehow, they reminds you of... of Rebound!  The only difference, of course, being that he usually doesn't generate fiery explosions when he hits... just concussion blasts.  Or something like that...

Hmm.  Elsewhere...

The man in the red shirt looks down at you, Rebound.  Not in a demeaning sort of way, but simply because, well, you're on the floor.  "First of all, that's not smugness, that's sarcasm.  I figured you would sort that out for yourself... huh.

"Secondly, I'm not trying to show up after the fact, it's just that without the assistance of my super-powered operatives, it's hard for me to get from New York City to Washington D.C. as fast as you and your friends apparently can.  I don't have a space ship from the future, see..."

It would seem that this fellow has done some homework.

"As for your questions, I suppose it couldn't hurt to answer them.  Not because I have you mounted in a spring-loaded death-trap or anything, mind you, but because thirty seconds after you leave here, the access to this facility will be moved.

"And within twenty four hours, the contents of this facility itself will have been transferred elsewhere.  Also, of course, because nobody on earth is going to believe what I'm about to tell you.  We're very good at keeping quiet, I'll have you know.

"To start with, my name is Jake Russell, and I'm the leader of this organization, the Bureau of Ascendant Humans.  This may sound silly to you, since you've never heard of it, but the B.A.H. has been in operation since the seventies, working to protect humans from super-folk.

"It's the brain-child of former President Ford, who found the government's then-current policy on super humans - kill them on sight - to be abhorrent.  He wanted something that more closely resembled the standard American Justice System to apply to people like yourself.

"The only problem was that, over time, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the government - Hell, the whole world - was being overrun by an uncountable number of secret societies, alien cabals, and other such nonsense, so he built the B.A.H. in secrecy.

"It's so secret that, once I managed to form it for him, he insisted that even he have his memories of the whole thing erased... in case he, too, was co-opted at some point.  The result of our work is what you see before you, the last line of defense for humanity."

He motions around with his arms wide, indicating the facility here.

"We, the operatives of B.A.H., do our damndest to keep whacked-out super-folk from trampling all over innocents - even if they're not all that innocent, really.  We exist to keep the world sane and normal, and not toiling under the thumb of some demon lord or somesuch.

"The only problem is that most people with ascendant powers, no matter how they get them, seem to think they have the right to rule the world, or impose their will upon it in some fashion.  As such, we have to stop them.  Cold.  Some we can rehabilitate and return to society.  Some..."

He again motions to the pods around you.

"Some, they must be held.  While it's not a perfect solution, it's better than just killing anybody that is green because of an unfortunate accident at conception, or has a weird knack to conjure forth eldritch bolts, or any other abnormal capability.

"Since no prison can truly cope with people possessed of such incredible powers, we have to put them in stasis until we can manage to hold them consciously... or something.  Admittedly this is the hard part to sort out, but I find it preferable to GENOCIDE."

Jake then stops to clear his throat.

"Anyhow, there's only seven of those fellows that are likely on their way to kill a man that doesn't even remember putting them in jail.  Disco Head was true to his word, and has placed three of the people he has freed loose on the streets of Washington D.C.

"I'm about to go get them back... how about you?  Or do you still hate me too much to care?"

Having said or done nothing to this point, Och merely looks you in the eye, Rebound, apparently not sure what to do at this point... hmm.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  10:47 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> About eight feet. 
 
"Oomph!"

> THOOM.
 
Masque brushes himself off and..
"Oh dear. That's inconvenient."

> THOOM...
 
Uncharacteristically, Masque doesn't say anything and simply conjures forth three of his magic Horse'sesesses.
"Let's Go!"
He jumps on one and heads towards said exploding person...post haste.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  10:49 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Ari points.  "I guess we'd better go investigate that, huh?"  She looks in The Bag for some kind of conveyance.  "C'mon, jetpack.  C'monnnnnn, jetpack.  Where's a jetpack when you need one?"

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  10:50 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

He stops for a second and slaps himself on the forehead.
"Do'h!"
..and conjures another Horse for Stone Cold and continues onward.

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  6:45 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Jinx eyes the spectral steed standing next to her with some uneasiness, "Normally I'd opt out and just walk, but that bombastic bozo doesn't look like he's going to stop anytime soon."
 
With that, she mounts (heh) the horse and follows after Masque.
 
"OK, folks. We're going to have trouble keeping this low profile. Do your best to incapacitate the guy without removing his head in front of news crews, got it?"
 
Turning to Stonecold, "When we get closer to the fires, see if you can extinguish them with your cold powers without encasing the area in ice; we don't want to suffocate anyone that might still be in the area. Also, use your ice powers to butress any structures that look like they're going to collapse. If you get a clear shot, take the opportunity to encase him in ice; that might help keep him from igniting things."
 
Now calling over to Masque, "If this guy does anything other than blow things up on contact, we might need you to help Stonecold trap him; maybe some magical manacles or something like that."
 
And with a question to Ari, "Hey, does that magic bag of yours have any helpful medical tools like a first aid kit or something to help with burns? We might be the first people on the scene and I'm sure there are some injuries. Maybe a fire extinguisher for those spots Stonecold misses."

From:  charlie s clay jr <cclayjr2@juno.com> 
Date:  Tue Jul 1, 2003  7:39 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

"So what your saying is that I can't impale him on an ice buttress??" He
smirks but is looking rather serious. "The rest I got." He said. 
"ready when you are."

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Wed Jul 2, 2003  5:48 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot
ADVERTISEMENT

> "Yeah, that's about it, in a nutshell."

"Heh. That slut. For months i've simply tried to cop a feel and she gives me the cold shoulder, and then she screws the first swarthy space pilot she sees...
feh. Here, just for that, i'm gonna GIVE you this. i gave it to her before, but i'm repossessing it. Merry XXX-mas, Harry the Space Pilot."

i then throw him her time travel staff.

i didn't particularly want to do that, but i particularly wanted to humiliate my 'other' there.  Ressurect ME in a female form, will she? Hoe. Or, continuing with the x-mas theme... Ho. Ho. Ho. Anyway, i am not totally without mercy, so i will not leave her empty handed, oh no. i will gift upon her the completely normal transient steel staff that i had been carrying around with me. Should she run into any danger, this will at least let her defend herself in a normal fashion.

i assume Harry will give me untold platitudes and so forth, and as soon as i am done basking in the glory of his joy, i will indeedd collect my bowls of grog an hie to this 'Geoffrey' fellow's place. i guess.

Now things get tricky.

Doug Lohse wrote:

> (snip Geoffrey's thingie about his pad)

Mister Christopher wrote:

> Gunslinger grins.
> "Just my kind of place."

No kidding. i swear, every time i try to heal up from some gunshot or kick to the gonads, it seems somebody's trying to blow something up in the immediate vicinity. Though, on retrospect, i guess i can blame that short hairy guy that i used to live across the hall from... weird coincidence, that.

Hmm.

"Yeah, this will do just fine."

> (snip those two sitting down to chill)

Charlie will settle down as well. She assumes that there is a comfy couch here somewhere in the place, and, also assuming that Moebius, space-hog that she is, hasn't already splayed herself all akimbo about the thing, Charlie will have a seat.

A dignified seat, at that.

And while Charlie cannot necessarily pull a bottle of whiskey out of her nether regions (not without considerable practice; this is a freshly cloned body, you know), she does still have several bowls of grog handy. You might wonder how Charlie flew across New York City with several bowls of grog and failed to spill any. The answer for you: Saran Wrap (TM).

Doug Lohse wrote:

> (snip some of Geoffrey's 'firstly')

"i'll handle that. i ain't drunk yet."

i have several bowls of grog that will take care of that momentarily, but nonethlessssssss... i'm good.

> (snip Gunslinger's trademark phrase rant)

"You can cross dimensions?"

i'm aghast. i seem to indeed learn something new each and every day. i hate true clichs.

"Irregardless," i so love that word, "that works for me. i'm still used to working contracts, as it was me out of the two Charlies you now know that actually WORKED for a living. i swear, i don't know how she kept in shape, sitting on that couch and eating bon-bons all day. Must've been the se... never mind.  Sorry to babble."

Doug Lohse wrote:

> (snip Geoffrey's 'secondly')

Mister Christopher wrote:

> (snip Gunslinger's response to Geoffrey's 'secondly')

"That's fine with me, also. i prefer not to kill people unless they do, in fact, need killing. i'd rather not contract out death... but i like this 'problem solving' notion. It's like my old job, but i presume you lot won't try to kill me off if you don't need me anymore... i'm sold.

Charlie Chicanery will then drink some of a bowl of grog.

Doug Lohse wrote:

> "Are you with me so far?"

Mister Christopher wrote:

> Gunslinger raises an eyebrow.
> "The only one you need to speak slowly to is the
> transgendered one."
> He motions to Charlie.
> He raises the other eyebrow and looks at the
> door..and shakes his head in dismay.
> "Code phrase."

"Heh..."

i almost shot Gunslinger again, this time direct-like, but i will behave. This isn't my place. Not that AIE promised not to trash it, but still.

"Joo soo funny, Mister Odoriferous."

Drinking the rest of my first remaining bowl of grog, i will also continue.

"Don't you worry about me, Good Sir, i am keeping up just fine, despite what my otherwise esteemed colleague might think."

Heh.

Doug Lohse wrote:

> (snip Geoffrey's 'thirdly')

Mister Christopher wrote:

> (snip Gunslinger's response to Geoffrey's 'thirdly')

> (snip Gunslinger complaining about time cops)

> (snip Gunslinger doing the time travel test thing)

> (snip Gunslinger asking for a place to crash)

Christ, i thought he'd never shut up. i wonder what'll happen when Moebius starts talking? eep.

"First off, i agree with you completely, Geoffrey.  Nobody wants to hire third rate boobs to do a sensitive job - or jobs - like we're talking about.  Despite (again) what Gunslinger thinks, i am all professional when on the job. He's only seen me when on vacation, you see, and doesn't really know the real Charlie Chicanery. Or," looking through my new wallet, "Charlene Chicanery... ugh."

This requires more grog.

"i'd have you check my references with Extra Solar Enterprises, but then... we parted on hostile terms.  Them trying to kill me, in fact. But i digress once more. As far as the time travel thing goes, i also think Moebius is the expert. i literally just got this thing, so i'm admittedly a novice... though i've seen how much trouble careless use of it can cause - thanks to my clone or whatever. Hey!

"You know, if we're working together, we ought to give Geoffrey one of those spare temporal stabilizers we bought from that timesmith. after all, while we have protection, he doesn't... and that's not fair if we're going to be incorporated."

Aha... y'all thought i forgot about those thingers.

"Though i suppose i need a place to stay, too... and i guess a legally binding identity. i think my counterpart has stolen mine, and i don't want her having any access to my bank account. The hoe hoe hoe. i think we'll have to work on that... er."

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Wed Jul 2, 2003  4:43 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

> "I'm about to go get them back... how about you? Or do you still hate me
> too much to care?"

"Jake, you seem to be coming clean, and what you said makes a whole lot of
sense, but I have to wonder...just how did your defenses fail so quickly.
We only arrived here mere moments after Disco Head, but he still was able to
wipe out your guards without much effort at all. Where are your heavy
hitters? And for that matter, how do you plan on getting those three back
without your heavy hitters?"

Rebound thinks for a moment, mulling the possibilities over.

"Tell you what, I'll volunteer (spoken like the curse it is to him) to help you get them back. Perhaps you are smarter than I took you for and sent your heavy hitters to protect Ford already."

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  6:47 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

The three of you get on the otherworldly steeds and rocket on towards the strange cause of these explosions, Masque, Jinx, Stone Cold.  You all realize that Ari isn't amongst you when Jinx asks her about first aid implements, but before you can do anything about it, he's here.

The apparent cause of these plumes of smoke all 'round D.C.

Your horses stop short as he lands right before you in the street, kicking up bits of fire and concrete all the while.  The force of his impact almost blasts you free of the horses, but you all manage to hold steady in the face of this mayhem.  However, he's looking at you.

Peering at this strange fellow, you see nothing but hate in his dull orange eyes, and his skin!  The man appears to be covered from head to toe in horrible burn blisters, his skin black and cracked with nasty, angry pink bulges scattered everywhere.

"RrrrgGGggm rhHhhhhAArRrrRg gGRrrrRm!"

He doesn't seem to coherent, but then, look at him.

"RgggAARrr RraaAaaAII AIE am the ExploDetonator!"

He then detonates.

Fire and you assume some of his skin blasts outwards from his body, not far enough to coat the lot of you in anything gross or fiery, but definitely enough to state his intent.  "ArrRRrrgGgGggghhHh!"  The ExploDetonator then begins trudging towards you.

He's walking with a strange, almost zombie-like gait, both of his arms extended towards you, and only one leg performing the actual forward motion; the other is simply dragging behind him as if broken, or otherwise useless.  It's almost creepy...

About a half-mile back, you're digging fiercely through your bag for something that might allow you to fly, Ari.  You keep bumping into something there, but it is repeatedly slipping from your grasp.  After about ten seconds, though, you manage it...

And pull out a backpack.

It wasn't quite what you expected, of course, but it's something.  Curious, you open the pack and note among the various contents a sparkly blue belt, one holding three balls.  It's weird, in that two of them are red and white, like that fellow Nonce you ran into earlier today had...!

Of course, a note is also attached to the belt.

"Dear Sir or Madam,

It would appear that I can no longer care properly for my friends, so I am hoping that, should you be so kind, you can watch over them for me.  They are all still rather young, so with the proper guidance, they can grow into true friends of yours as well, even if they miss me still.

They're all rather eccentric, but each have a good heart.  I hope you do as well, and can raise them for me...  Within my notebooks are detailed instructions on handling and caring for each of my three Pokmon, and should have anything you need.

Again, thank you!

- Sandy Jones"

As soon as you handle the belt, one of the balls opens up, emitting a sphere of energy that resolves itself into a rather... strange entity.  This creature looks almost like a six foot tall Brachiosaurus, with a much shorter neck - though made entirely from plant-like substances.

Its body is brown, almost bark-like in coloration, with four large leaves extending from its back.  Also, it has three green ridges ringing its head (which, thankfully, seems to have no sharp, pointy teeth within), and what look just like bananas beneath its chin.

Upon taking in its surroundings, it looks at you and its eyes go wide.  It then says "Tropius?"

(For reference, I rolled up a 00 on my Technohol 13 random number generator when trying to see if you found anything 'good', so I have decided to subject you to some vicious, yet useful in-game playtesting here, Emar.  Hope that doesn't horrify you any - mu hu heh heh heh.)

Elsewhere again...

Jake looks at you and frowns, Rebound.  "Well, our tacticians haven't studied all the footage our cameras took, Rebound, but my guess from what I've seen here so far is just that Disco Head is... Disco Head.  He's one of the most dangerous people that we had contained here.

"He seems to think that we've been holding him just to keep his revolutionary micro-mechanical technology away from the masses, but the truth is that he's just a little bit insane.  Not gibberingly, terrifyingly insane, just sort of delusional.

"Long story.  My main concern is a) how he got out of here in the first place, and b) how he managed to find his way back.  I can't honestly figure either of these out, truth be told, since this particular location isn't technically within our normal space-time.

Jake pauses before continuing, as if hating what he's about to say.

"As far as our 'heavy hitters' are concerned, the sad truth is that we don't have enough of 'em these days.  I built seven different teams to deal with all manner of threats to mankind, but the fact is that ascendant humans are multiplying rapidly.  Too fast for us to keep up with.

"B.A.H. has managed to keep the peace since the seventies, but things are starting to spiral out of our control.  Too many influences from too many clandestine groups are simply stretching our manpower too thin.  That's kind of why we've had to leave a few people to their own devices.

"And part of the reason that I was around when you and your friends had your little fight back in New York City.  I was there to see if you all needed 'dealing with', or if you were mostly out to use your powers for the good of your fellow man, and yadda yadda yadda.

"You all mostly seem okay, though I'm concerned about just HOW violent one or two of you are turning out to be."

Och looks at him unhappily.  "But you didn't interfere, despite the carnage going on in my building.  A couple people DIED there today!"

Jake gives him a look right back.  "Yes, I know, and I'm truly sorry, but what difference could I have made?  There were upwards of thirty super folks brawling on your floor, and I'm just an ordinary human.  Well, an EXTRAORDINARY human, but still.

"Against super psis and otherplanar wizards and what-have-you, I'd have maybe been able to hold my own, but that's about it."

Och just scowls, but seems like he buys it.

"As for your offer of help, I truly appreciate it - and will take you up on it.  You too, Och, if you're not to pissed off at me right now, either.  I figure we'll take care of the jerks rampaging up in D.C. first, then head on to California.

"This might make a save for Ford pretty tight, but I think it's best to clear the troublemakers out of the heavily populated city first... unless you disagree.  If not, then follow me!"

With that, Jake runs to the office from which you entered this bizarre prison, and you see that this older gent is in FAR better shape than his bone-white hair would indicate.  But then, you saw him make his escape from Och's apartment building...

Once you hit the office, he throws a switch by the doorway, and the room makes a 'THAMM' sound, apparently announcing its return.  "Seems somebody's been eating my porridge..."   He then enters and starts to take his clothes off!

Before you can panic, you see that he's actually got some sort of Spandex costume on beneath his jeans and long-sleeved red shirt.  "Sorry, figured I should dress for business before I get smeared into the pavement.  While these guys are angry, they're really angry at ME, see...

"Most of 'em remember that it was ol' Captain Cocksure that nabbed 'em in the first place."  Before you can laugh or anything, he just shrugs.  "Hey, it was in the Seventies.  We had all kinds of silly names back then.  So there, 'Rebound'."

You see that Jake looks similar despite his costume change.

He's wearing a red Spandex shirt, blue Spandex pants, white boots and gloves, white hip holsters (occupied), white boot-knife sheathes, and a silver belt with a blue belt buckle - the latter of which has a white star in the center.  How patriotic, yes?

Once you all enter the office (assuming you're with him, that is), Jake pulls the accounting book and shifts the office back to it's original location - thus bringing you all back to Washington D.C.  He then makes his way out of the warehouse via a rope leading to the surface.

Left in the huge ol' hole Disco Head made.

This, of course, after making sure his two operatives are still alive.  It looks like these two guys in red, white and blue ran into some sort of trouble, and wound up with big lumps on the back of their heads.  And, naturally, got de-panted in the process.

"Hmm...," says Jake.

"Who to go after first...?  Who, indeed...!"

?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  7:09 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

"Thanks, lady."  Not quite the response you were looking for there, Charlie, but at least the guy seems a bit relieved.  "Look me up sometime if you ever make it to the future.  Or back to Och's place, I s'pose... you're all right."

You're not sure, but it sounds like that was an offer?

Either way, that settles that, and now...

Back to the Future!

(or present... feh)

To your delight, Charlie Chicanery, Moebius isn't hogging the entire couch (I assume there is at least one handy).

To your first point, Geoffrey, Moebius shrugs.  "Well, it's not a matter of having thought things out that far so much as I suppose I'm a little bit less organized.  We just sort of did things back in the day, you know, 'for better or ill'...  But this will do."

To your second point, she seems indifferent.  "In the past, I've just taken jobs and did them... never messed with this 'hourly' thing.  However, I guess that works - though simpler jobs shouldn't really be QUITE so high... not that I can believe I'M saying that.

"You know, just getting a kitten out of a tree, etc... all that 'Good Will' crap.  Though maybe that could fall under the 'advertising' bit, less so much as like actual 'work' on a 'mission'.  Does that make any sense, or am I too tipsy??"

And, finally, to your third point, she simply nods.  "I'm in.

"It was my idea, after all."  Looking at Gunslinger as she says this.

"As far as what this fellow with the guns has to say, you need not worry about any ills that time travel may cause.  If we cluster up something real bad, or someone clusters us up, as it were, a little note from the future can never hurt.

"Besides, all it can do is draw forth those timeline vigilante cockroaches, and I'm itching for a rematch with THEM.  I will not be regulated in the use of my powers any longer.  I use them as I choose, and will not be told otherwise.

"There's no need to split off eighty gojillion timelines every time we order a bad lunch, but if we've got it, we should use it when necessary.

"On another note, I don't think our individual egos are a problem at all.  I think supreme confidence in our abilities is what will make us the absolute best there is in this particular field on earth - if not beyond as well.  All four of us have unique skills.

"And the power to back them up.  I say feh on that notion, Gunslinger - let the good times roll.  We should work on teamwork, to be sure, but I see no need to rein ourselves in.  And, in case I'm talking too fast, are YOU all following ME?"

She says that with a wink.

?!?

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  7:42 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

> "Who to go after first...? Who, indeed...!"

Rebound hands Jake his slate.

"Well, I can answer some of your questions, but now probably is not the best time to do so. This is the listing of who Disco Head was interested in, and, most likely who he popped out of your pods. You know these goons much better than we do. Give us a quick run-down of who you think he would leave behind to cause chaos, and who poses the greatest threat to society.  That'll make our hunting order rather simplified."

Rebound waits for Jane's analysis of the information somewhat impatiently, shifting his weight uneasily as someone else plays with his toy.

"Oh, and another thing, do you have some sort of containment device or process to use once we take these goons down?"

Rebound stands outwardly ready for action, but entirely unsure of his next move, blaming himself for letting Disco Head get away yet again, second-guessing himself over and over again.

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  8:31 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> And, in case I'm talking too fast, are YOU all following ME?"

> She says that with a wink.


Geoffrey smiles, pausing to sip some brandy, his smile widening as he
remembers the last time he was in this apartment. Tina? Was that her name?
Yes, it must have been Tina...

"Excellent. We all seem to be in agreement as to the basics of the
operation. I agree that we will need to do some advertisement and marketing
to get our name out there, but we should be careful in that regard. Too
high of a profile could lead to some difficult to answer questions posed by
the authorities."

Geoffrey pauses for another sip.

"If we are indeed going to work together, then we should all know in some
detail each other's capabilities. As a gesture of trust, I'll start."

"Physically, I'm in fine shape. I can avail myself well against any of the
normal street toughs we may encounter, however, should we run into someone
who is far above the normal curve, I may find myself somewhat overmatched
physically. But that is not where the true power is any way. The mind is
far more powerful than any simple body. And that is where I excel."

Geoffrey telekinetically moves one of the empty bowls of grog into the
middle of the room, suspended about 6 feet in the air.

"I can manipulate objects through the force of will. I can lift an
automobile as easily as this bowl, but I find this far more useful for
demonstration purposes. This is just the foundation. You see, this bowl
contains a remarkable amount of potential energy, just waiting for release."

The bowl detonates in a roar of energy nicely contained in a forcefield
about 5 feet in diameter.

"Don't worry, I placed a forcefield around the bowl to prevent anything from
reaching you. which, consequentially, is another aspect of my abilities."

"Charlene, would you mind tossing the other empty bowl over here."

(Assuming the bowl is tossed)

The bowl does not make it far as it becomes enmeshed in a psi web.

"I can also make it rather difficult for people or objects to move through
an area."

Geoffrey drops the psi web, holding the bowl in the middle of the room
telekinetically. He then sets the residual grog ablaze with psychokinesis.

"Releasing potential energy is useful, but there are times when it is useful
as well to remove energy."

He dampens the flames until they wink out.

"Finally, another simple demonstration."

He takes a quarter out of his pocket, and weakens it as he takes his time
and explains.

"Every object made of matter has some manner of structural integrity. Some
molecular structures hold their form better than others. This is easily
demonstrated in the difference between a piece of wood one eighth inch thick
and say, this quarter I hold in my hand. Normally, I would not be able to
physically do anything more than soil the coin with my best efforts. But by
spending some time weakening the molecular structure of the coin, it is a
simple matter to..."

Geoffrey easily tears the coin in half, dropping the pieces onto the coffee
table and returning the grog bowl to its owner.

"Currently, that is the limit of my abilities, formidable as they are. In
time, I will hone them further, adding more to my repertoire."

Geoffrey returns to sipping his brandy.

"Who would like to go next, and please take care not to destroy the
apartment in the process. It is, after all, where many of us will be
staying for the foreseeable future."

From:  Charlie S Clay Jr <cclayjr2@juno.com> 
Date:  Wed Jul 3, 2019  10:32 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Awwww damn this can't be good." Stone Cold begins to concentrate as he
gets off of the horse on the far side away from their friend. "Gone away
is the blue bird here to stay is the new bird, a beautiful sight.."
(Still concentrating on his cold).."...were happy to night walking in a
winter wonderland." Blasting him with as much cold and ice as he can
muster at one time.
OCC: (Sorry all happy that I am going on vacation and 5 months till
Christmas)

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  8:06 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> Upon taking in its surroundings, it looks at you and its 
> eyes go wide. It then says "Tropius?"

Ari meeps. "Is that your name, critter? Tropius?" She holds out one hand
tentatively. If it tries to bite her, she'll try to wave the ball at it and
make it go back in. If it seems nice, her next recourse is obvious. She will
nuzzle its head, grin, and ask sweetly...

"Can you fly?"

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Thu Jul 3, 2003  8:07 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip description of first two balls)

OOC: What's the other ball look like?

(also: This is the most insane and beautiful turn of gameplay EVER. I am consistently shock and awed by the crazy things you come up with.)

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Sat Jul 5, 2003  10:21 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip ExploDetonator's approach)

Masque instantly puts up his force field.
"You know, I think there's a salve for that. I burned myself once when the
jugglers were trying to teach...Ummm...that's creepy."
He stops. The guy is getting too close.

> (snip Stone Cold's attack)

Once Stone Cold gets his attack off, Masque will let loose with his Mystic
Bands and attempt to wrap the thing up. (and if he's iced up...even better.)
(init: 3, to hit or wrap or whatever: 35....eeesh.)

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Sun Jul 6, 2003  11:29 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Jinx appears to be nonplused by the Explodenator's intent.
 
"Right, people, let's try and contain him."
 
With that, she'd take a look around for innocent bystanders and Ari seeing as the little chicky didn't arrive with them.

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  6:02 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

You're looking around for innocent bystanders, Jinx, and you find 'em.  Lots of 'em.  There's about twenty people milling about in the streets, all of which are naturally standing around to watch this freak of nature shamble about like unto a burning man.

As that's what he is.

The ExploDetonator doesn't seem to care too much about this, so much as he simply wants to hurt you all.  "Hold meee captive, will you?  Lock meee up as a menace when you creeeated meee, will you?  Ieee dedicated myeee life to the government, and seee what it gets meee?"

The ExploDetonator then explodes, but not before two of you launch your attacks.  You spray a metric butt-load of ice and cold mist at him, Stone Cold, but as it comes in, the shambling, burnt man stops, drops and rolls with unexpected speed, and you miss completely.

Similarly, you fling mystic bands at this ne'er do well, Masque, but he gets off the ground before they reach him, and he makes like some sort of dancing stick-man when they attempt to wrap around him, and wind up tied up in a knot on the ground before him.

The ExploDetonator looks down and sighs.  "Is this all the feds have for meee?  Weak mutants and wizards?  Ieee used to work for the N.S.A. beeefore Ieee was changed into this monstrosity, you would thieeenk that Ieee would at leeeast rate Captain Cocksure!"

His fiery fury then blasts all of you present, inflicting Incredible (40) SD Energy damage before your defenses; of course, since it's not specifically targeted, Masque, you easily deflect the fiery blast - and bits of flesh - flying towards you.

(force field, indeed)

Jinx and Stone Cold, on the other hand, you take ten points of fiery damage after your defenses (assuming your field was contracted, Jinx).  Of course, that's not all this nutjob's tantrum did; it looks like several buildings here are now on fire!

Your bystanders are fleeing for their lives NOW, Jinx, though the target of your other search is still a quandary; you have no idea where Ari got to...

Speaking of Ari, you're back at that wrecked up warehouse, still talking to the strange creature you seem to have just inherited.  Asking it about its name, it nods, and when you check to see if it bites, it instead nuzzles up against you - apparently it likes you.

Then, of course, you ask it the other question, at which point its face lights up.  "Tropius!"  The odd plant-creature then begins to move those giant leaves with blinding speed, and it rises into the air almost like a hummingbird would - well, a rather LARGE hummingbird, at any rate.

Makes you wonder what's in the other two balls...

(Oh, to answer your other question, the differently colored ball is black on top, instead of red like the other two, with a yellow stripe running from one side to the other, starting at the button normally used to release... whatever is inside)

Just a bit behind at this point, Jake takes the electronic slate from you, Rebound, and smiles.  "Well, that answers one question.  I just hope you can't use this thing as well as Disco Head here could... and don't tell me where you got this, neither."

He looks the thing over, and begins to look ... unhappy.

"Jeez, Disco Head seems to REALLY want to keep us busy.  The three jerks running around town right now are... each a handful.  This one here," he indicates an incredibly old man in a tuxedo, "is the Centenarian, and the reason the U.S. government had its FORMER super human policy.

"He's a real piece of work, using his powers to spy for the highest bidder - and was absolutely loyal to no one.  This one, on the other hand," pointing to this man who looks to be burning alive, "is the ExploDetonator.  He was exposed to some sort of... odd chemical.

"Something the N.S.A. cooked up.  I guess they were trying to build themselves some super-soldiers in the nineties, and it went horribly wrong.  This guy was the only guy who ever survived, and he went nuts - but then, look at him."

Kind of cuts close to home, but then, now you know he doesn't know who you are, much less how you came to be, Rebound.

"This last one," indicating what looks like a robot built out of motorcycle parts, "this fellow is an alien robot going by the name of Axer.  We just caught this jerk last month, and already he's on the loose... I'm sure he's having a good laugh at our expense.

"Crap.  All three of these people are who'd I imagine Disco Head threw at us here, since the others are all folks he's had dealings with in the past; none of them were as high as these three on our security protocols.  Also, all of them are equally dangerous in their own right."

Jake sighs, and thinks fast as he hurries out of the warehouse.  "I'm thinking we should go for the Centenarian, since he could conceivably do the most damage, in a global sense, to world security and/or peace.  The others may kill people, but not cause death on a scale as he could."

As you exit through the giant hole Disco Head carved into the place, Rebound, Jake stops as he sees (at the same time you and Och do) Ari out where Harry had formerly parked his craft before leaving, playing with what can only be described as a very odd creature.

Which makes Jake laugh.  "Heh... haven't seen one of THOSE in a long time..."

!?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  6:03 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (also: This is the most insane and beautiful turn of gameplay EVER.  I am 
> consistently shock and awed by the crazy things you come up with.)

As long as it's a good thing... I can never tell if I'm going too far... heheh.

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  8:18 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip the ExploDetonator's attack)
 
Masque's face turns to disgust.
"Eeeewwwwwwwww." 
 
 > (snip fleeing citizenry)
 
As Masque's hands start going into spell weaving action, he yells to Stone Cold,
"Stoney, Get those fires out. Your ice should melt fast enough into water through that heat. This guy is too dangerous to screw around with. It's like the fire eater on crack."
..and Masque opens a Dimensional portal directly under The ExploDetonator's feet to another tiny little place that no one goes to and is tiny, with lots of water.
"If this works, we can get him later."
(69 to get the spell off.)

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  10:36 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

> (snip ExploDetonator's origin) 

Rebound staggers back a few steps at this news, using the wall for support as his whole world view shifts dangerously. He takes back his slate staring at his "kindred spirit", stunned.

"They did this on purpose?!?!?!"

It takes several moments for Rebound to recover enough to get going, his
anger building up yet again.

> (snip Jake speak, return of Ari)

"Ari!!! Where the hell is everyone else? Disco Head got away, but he left behind some really nasty sorts. And what in the world is that thing?"

Rebound pauses a moment, trying to figure out where to go, or even how to get there when he suddenly realizes that the ship is no longer where it used to be.

(Using the communicator) "Harry, Are you OK? We may need an express trip to California if you can swing it."

Rebound follows either Jake or Ari depending on whomever seems to know where to go at the moment.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:18 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip Tropius' reaction to Ari)

Ari grins, and hugs the creature.  "Yay, Tropius!  We're gonna be pals."

> (snip Tropius demonstrating its ability to fly)

"Tropius, can you carry me to my friends?"  If he (it, whatever) allows, she will climb on him (it's a him, damnit) and point in the direction of the Explodude.  She will then try and put him back in his ball, because a plant critter is probably not too safe around a fire generating enemy....

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:18 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip description of mystery ball)

Oh, not sure if I mentioned it, but she puts the belt on, either around her waist, or across the chest, bandolier-style.

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:19 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip Axer description)

OOC: YES!  he is such a cool toy!

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:30 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (snip Rebound speak)

"Hey!  Rebound!  Och!  Some dude!   Masque, Stoney, and Jinx flew off to fight some fireball monster guy thing.  He hops and explodes and hops and explodes."
She pauses.  "This is Tropius.  He's my buddy.  Say hi, Tropius!"

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:38 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

> (snip Ari speak)

> She pauses. "This is Tropius. He's my buddy. Say hi, Tropius!"

"Um, Hi, Tropius."

Rebound shrugs.

"There's two more out there causing mayhem. Let the three of them handle the unstable Rebound-knock-off, and help us get the other two."

Pausing another moment.

"You have anything in that way cool bag of yours that can help us locate the other two?"

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  12:50 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> "There's two more out there causing mayhem.  Let the three of them handle
> the unstable Rebound-knock-off, and help us get the other two."

"OK, I suppose.  Who else is out there?  I mean, a fireball monster is pretty crazy."

> "You have anything in that way cool bag of yours that can help us locate the
> other two?" 

"Dunno.  What're we looking for?"

From:  "Lohse, Doug" <DLohse@banknorth.com> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  1:07 pm
Subject:  RE: [v13] Whoops

> "Dunno. What're we looking for?" 

"Well, some really old guy in a tux and an alien robot made out of motorcycle parts. The old guy is the primary target. He's a world-class threat, if you can believe it."

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  1:45 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> "He's a world-class threat, if you can believe it."

"..."

She stops to muse on this. 

"I think I have some binoculars."

From:  "Mister Christopher" <cacers@cox.net> 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  9:54 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip admonishment not to wreck the place)
 
Gunslinger smiles.
"Okay then. I'll go."
He pauses for a moment and turns to Charlie/Charlene.
"Well maybe I can't cross dimensions anymore...lost that device when I crashed into Moebius' house."
 
He settles back into his chair and begins.
"I am simply a genetically engineered Bellicosarian. I am an alien with extra stuff. I was bred as a soldier for the wars that constantly engulfed my planet. I got tired of fighting and for lack of a better word, I deserted. We'll go past that but this way you know how I got my powers. I have an inherent Luck. Things just happen nicely for me although sometimes I think that the Luck builds up so much that it backfires at times. I can't explain it but I know that all of my people have this. It was not engineered."
 
He pauses to think.
"Someone gimme a quarter."
Once he gets one, he tosses it up in the air and says.
"Side."
..and the quarter lands on it's side.
He tosses it up again and says,
"Heads."
..and it lands Heads up.
"I could keep doing that but you get the point.
 
He picks the quarter up and tears it in half.
"I am also much stronger than your average human, I need no silly Jedi Mind tricks."
He shoots Geoffrey a joking grin.
"In fact, I am much stronger than you average alien also. That was engineered. If I chose to go hand to hand in a melee, I can hold my own."
 
He needs another quarter.
"I need another quarter."
He tosses this one up in the air and lets it hit it's apex and THEN draws his guns with lightning speed and fires a gravity force blast at it, sending it spinning through the air. As it is flying to the other side of the room, he fires with the other gun. Sending a Gravitonic blast at the quarter, he drops it. It falls to the ground with a very loud thud. Not a sound you associate with a quarter making when it falls. All of this happens in a matter of seconds.
 
"Go ahead, pick it up. I held the power behind the gravitic blast. It's gonna be heavy..but not real heavy. I have some sort of control over Gravitic forces. Although I wouldn't call it control. I must channel it through some sort of projectile weapon. I used to think that these guns here..."
He lays his old style six shooters on the table with a spin.
"...were what the energy came from but after a little bout with one of my divergent selves, I learned that the power is inherent in me. This too was engineered but I think my government made it so we all thought that whatever energy we had was not inherent  A sort of safe guard so we wouldn't get too feisty with them."
He sighs.
"So until I can master the power so I don't need the weapons as a channel, I must use them. Although..it does add to the image. Actually the more powerful the weapon is, the more powerful my power is. However, in this world..I cannot seem to come across anything that can significantly increase my power. Like say for instance, a partical accelerator. There was so much tech in the last Earth I was on, you couldn't move for big bad guns."
He sighs yet again.
 
"You may have noticed that I hit the quarter unerringly and quickly. That is because this eye here..."
He taps his left eye with his finger and it makes a 'chink' sound.
"...is a cybernetic implant. A targeting computer which allows me to quickly ascertain what and when I need to hit. It has nano devices within that make and deliver an injection of a specialized soup of Adrenaline that cause a brief burst of speed so I can draw my weapons without a moment's notice. That coupled with my inherent Luck can make a devastating combo."
He grins.
"I did that one myself."
He seems rather proud actually.
 
He removes his sawed off, double barreled shotgun from it's holster on his back and lays it on the table.
"Now through this I can channel some weird sort of energy that I do not know the name of. I simply call it the DNA Disorganizer. I rarely use this anymore either. It does bad things. I never know what it's gonna do. Could be bad for the target or bad for me. It basically mutates the target. That's about it. I don't know why my government saw fit to throw that little bit in. It doesn't make sense but I am stuck with it."
 
"So basically I have a little bit of Gravitic control. I can fire blasts of gravitic force and send the target flying back and doing a bit of damage to them or I can weigh the target down so much that it can't even move for a bit. I am Lucky... and can fire a devastating mutating thingamabobber and hold my breath to see what happens."
 
He seems to brighten up a bit.
"Oh yeah. I have gadgets. Mostly acquired through my exploits of being a Bounty Hunter. Confiscations, rewards and whatnot. The time watch, these flight boots, my vehicle, which is basically a long ranger star figher in the shape of a 57 Coupe, and various other things. All of which have proved very useful. I can travel through space. I am very well versed in space travel. I know parts of the universe like the back of my hand. I am well traveled not only in the here and now but through time as well. I have acquired and lost as many gadgets throughout my travels that I never really know what sort of gear I could have. I pick things up all the time."
 
He grabs the quarter and tosses it on Charlie's lap and grins. Seemingly satisfied with the effect of a 50 pound quarter landing on Charlies lap.
"That's about it. Anything I missed I am sure you will find out if we are gonna be working together."

From:  "William Lockwood" <albedo1@cox.net> 
Date:  Wed Jul 9, 2003  5:59 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Jinx does her best to direct the crowd in the appropriate direction, "Citizens! Leave immediately, making use of the sidewalk in a quick, yet orderly fashion! Please do not bother contacting the authorities as this is already being taken care of!"
 
Once that's said, she'll turn to face the ExploDetonator seeing if he is still in this existence after Masque attempts to sneak him through a portal, "Well, that stung! But if your condition is the result of government experiments, we can definitely deal with this in a legal and civil fashion. Give us a chance and we can help you sue their asses."
 
~Only because they were foolish enough to get caught doing something inhumane like that.~

From:  Charlie Chicanery <charlie_chicanery@yahoo.com> 
Date:  Thu Jul 10, 2003  6:01 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

> (snip admonishment to not wreck the place)

Heh.

After Gunslinger does his thing, i guess i will.

"Well, i don't have as long a story as Gunslinger does, but here goes. i guess i'm a mutant, or so my former employer told me. i've got this strange power that allows me to access an extradimensional plane where faster-than-light travel is possible. Some people call this hyperspace, others subspace, whatever. The point is that i can tap into it. The first way i managed to tap into this power was when i figured out that i could fly using it. After that, when i got that job for Extra Solar Enterprises, they told me i could channel raw energy from this plane with the help of a special metal, one they called transient steel... that's what this staff here is made of.

"Other than that, my powers make me perfectly suited for space travel. i can fly faster than light when in space, but i'm also invulnerable to fire, heat, and even extreme pressure... i function the same on the ocean floor or deep space. That's why ESE hired me in the first place, so i could 'obtain' rare thingies for them out in the universe, stuff they knew about but couldn't personally reach. That job didn't end well, but it taught me lots of things about astronavigation and specialized problem solving on missions.

"Surprise aliens and stuff tend to encourage that.

"Huh... i guess that leaves Moebius. This ought to be a hoot.

From:  "Gilles Doyen" <Pinba77@hotmail.com> 
Date:  Fri Jul 11, 2003  8:41 am
Subject:  OOC: Newbie needs info!

OOC: Hello all!

I know some of you, either directly or indirectly, but greetings to all! I have suscribed to this group on Monday (July 7). I've tried contacting Firebomb, our GM, to get info on the character creation process, but to no avail. I've tried the group owner's address and also the technohol address, but still nothing. Anyone can tell me what to do next? Any help would be greatly appreciated! :-)

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Fri Jul 11, 2003  12:33 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] OOC: Newbie needs info!

> (snip ooc stuff)

Hey, I'm here.

Sorry for the delay, I'm just working 13 hour days and such, so haven't had time to handle much e mail goodness this week.... bleah

Anyhoo, I actually have tomorrow off, so's I can answer your questions proper then, if that's coo'.  Not to mention the game mail (for those of you who have yet to answer).

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sat Jul 12, 2003  11:52 pm
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

Voop.

You crack open an extradimensional portal beneath the ExploDetonator, Masque, and watch with some satisfaction as he falls into it.  The only problem is that, before you can CLOSE the portal, he hits the watery surface you deposited him into, and he detonates again.

BOOM!

The ExploDetonator then flies out the portal in a gout of flames and steam, rocketing into the air as he did when you first spotted him.  He lands a few blocks away, and though his feet give off explosions, he seems to direct the force in such a fashion that he doesn't bounce again.

You can't help but think that Rebound should learn that trick.

Meanwhile, Stone Cold (apparently) uses his ice powers to put the fires here out, and Jinx runs up to converse with this troublemaker.  After you say your peace, Jinx, the ExploDetonator turns on you.  "Hah!  Leeegal action?!  You don't know who you're deeealing with!

"Fool.  And for a moment Ieee thought that Ieee had underestimated you, what with that trick your smellyeee wizard pulled..."  The ExploDetonator then leaps into the air, and looks like he's leaning your way as he comes back down to the ground...!

(think quick)

Elsewhere, the creature looks at you after Ari introduces it, Rebound.  "Tropi Tropi Tropius!"  As Ari climbs on the creature, the two of you start to waffle about just who you're going after, and once you make up your minds, you find yourselves lacking a means of finding them.

While Ari digs around for binoculars, Jake simply pulls out his Iridium (TM) telephone and makes a call.  "Control.  I need a satellite fix on the tracers for prisoners Axer and Centenarian - latter has priority."  He listens for a few seconds, then starts running west.

"We may be stretched thin, but we're not dumb...  Oh, and the name's Jake, young lady, since we haven't been properly introduced..."

Assuming that the two of you follow, Rebound on foot and Ari by sky, the both of you find that keeping up with this older gentleman isn't as easy as it should be; despite his apparent age, this guy is in exceptionally good shape, and could almost be an Olympic (TM) sprinter.

And he can talk while running, too.

"Huh... he's only a few blocks from here... hah... just look for the geezer in the pin striped suit and fedora... hih..."

True to his word, the two of you spot an incredibly old fellow strolling down a busy street here in D.C., otherwise minding his own business.  As you approach, though, Jake gets run down by a black and white police Harley - at least, that's what it looks like.

The rider is freaky looking, though... he almost looks like a blow-up doll.  With a movable head, too.  And one that can talk without moving its lips.  "Hah - stupid fleshling, did you not think that I would find the clumsy apparatus you wedged into my tail pipe?"

?!!?

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jul 13, 2003  12:19 am
Subject:  RE: [v13] The Bar vs. Harry the Space Pilot

Moebius scowls at you, Charlie.

"Fine, fine.  As you probably know, I'm a sorceress by trade.  Through hard work I've learned how to manipulate various forces that permeate reality, particularly where the flow of time is concerned.  I've got a whole lot of temporal parlor tricks up my sleeve.

"I can sense anomalies in the space-time continuum, I can shift my visual presence forward or backward in time to simulate invisibility, I can focus temporal energies to create shields or blasts of force, I can age others or control the flow of time, and can of course travel through time.

"Also, thanks to my heritage, I have various abilities that one might consider 'fiendish' in origin.  I'm completely immune to fire and heat, I'm somewhat resistant to non-magical, non-psionic attacks, and I can even fling an occasional fireball at somebody.

"Finally, as a member of the Doomguard, one who isn't a poser and actually believes in what the group stands for, I have certain abilities relating to the forces of entropy.  I can either sense when and how something has been destroyed, or can call upon entropic forces to smite somebody.

"Though the latter is highly taxing.

"On top of this, I like to think I'm an excellent swords-woman, and quite good at both mercenary and explorative work.  I've done both for years, and can roll with most any curves thrown my way in the field - evil gods rising from the dead notwithstanding."

You're not sure what she's talking about there.

Slow Jim looks somewhat sheepish after Moebius' little speech.

"I'm invisible underwater..."

?

From:  EmarZero@aol.com 
Date:  Sun Jul 13, 2003  2:09 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> "We may be stretched thin, but we're not dumb...  Oh, and the name's Jake, 
> young lady, since we haven't been properly introduced..."

"Uh... Hey.  I'm Ari, and this is Tropius!  Say hi, Tropius."

> (snip Axer speak)

"Hey, Rebound, you wanna take care of this Go-Bot wannabe while me an' Tropius chase down the Six Million Year Old Man?"  

(OOC:  Vague nerdiness here: I figured since Transformers are very much real around these parts, that Go-Bots would have become the transforming robot toy series of choice...)

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jul 13, 2003  2:37 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

> (OOC:  Vague nerdiness here: I figured since Transformers are very much real 
> around these parts, that Go-Bots would have become the transforming robot toy 
> series of choice...)

That works.

It's not like the Pokmon craze, though, which is likely a gub'ment cover up (probably perpetrated by Jake there) to confuse anybody who says they actually saw a Pikachu, etc...

There's no stopping that marketing machine, no way no how... heheh.

So don't be surprised if you get mauled by a gang of adoring chillins there. After all, there IS a Pokmon Center in New York... woogy woogy woogy

(yes, I HAVE had too much caffeine)

From:  Firebomb <firebomb@technohol.com> 
Date:  Sun Jul 13, 2003  4:56 am
Subject:  Re: [v13] Whoops

(ah yes, I seem to have forgotten something relating to Rebound)

When you called on your communicator, Rebound, it took Harry a good thirty seconds to respond, but it seems that he finally picked up.  "Hey man, sorry 'bout that.  Had an 'errand' to take care of, but I seem to be done now.  I'll be over your head in a few."

(sorry for the forgetfulness... I missed it in the juggling of all ten of you and Emar's posts... heh) 
