[October 3rd, 2008. 1:20 AM] [New York. The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. The Naked City. Somewhat Less Naked Since Guiliani Was Around, But Still.] [It's a city with a million stories to tell. But we don't care about most of those; really, for now, all we care about are the ones in a nifty red coat.] [The Red Coat finds herself up on a rooftop in the Diamond District, looking down at the mostly empty street below. Word had spread through the fence community that someone was looking for someone to buy a big wad of diamonds. A *big* wad of diamonds. The kind that could only come from this one block in Midtown.] [And so, for the past two nights, The RedCoat, who is like the Red Coat, but actually in this game, has been stationed on a rooftop, keeping an eye on things. Somehow, she has the feeling that something's going to go down tonight...] [Session Start] * TheRedcoat checks six and the lit-ness of the windows around her, then turns her attention back to the street. [It's quiet. Not too quiet, since this*is* Manhatten, but the Midtown area tends to be fairly well deserted at this time of night.] * TheRedcoat makes sure she isn't backlit, and reaches into a pocket, coming out with a lighter and a cigarette, which she, um, lights. [A few cars, mostly cabs, pass by, but there aren't may pedestrians.] * TheRedcoat sucks in some lung cancer and waits, careful to ash into the gutter when possible. [Yup. Whole lotta nothing going on.] [In between puffs of sweet sweet nicotine, you hear a commotion down on the far end of the block.] * TheRedcoat looks down in that direction. Is that within her visual range? [It is. You can see two figures, both in black suits and ties. One is holding a briefcase and cowering against a building, and the other appears to be menacing the first with a hand axe.] * TheRedcoat squints and puts out her cig, stepping carefully over the rooftops to get a better look. [It's hard to get too much detail from the rooftops, but that's definitely a hand axe one of them is holding, and the other guy sounds terrified and is begging not to be hurt.] * TheRedcoat ponders and checks the area to see if Hand Axe Compensating For Something dude has any likely escape routes or places where friends might be hiding. [There ain't a lot. There are no alleyways or anything, and the street is relatively well lit, although someone could conceivably be hiding around the corner or in a building.] [Meanwhile, the guy with the axe backhands the other guy and demands that he open up the briefcase.] * TheRedcoat puts on her gloves and proceeds to head down the wall for a better look. Say, about 4 stories down or so. [Axe guy is now shaking the briefcase guy by the collar, demanding that he open up the briefcase. Briefcase guy is blubbering, insisting he doesn't have the key.] * TheRedcoat looks around to check for other activity on the block. [You see bubkis.] * TheRedcoat grips the nearest pipe with one hand and the sash around her belt with the other, and waits to see what happens. [Axe guy starts to loose patience, slugs the other guy in the stomach, and starts kicking him. "Dammit, open the fucking briefcase!"] * TheRedcoat mentally facepalms. [The guy with the briefcase is down on the ground, feebly trying to defend himself as he gets kicked or stomped every few seconds.] * TheRedcoat waits some more. * TheRedcoat moves down another couple stories, though. [Axe guy has apparently lost patience, and pins one of the guy's arms up against the wall. You can see now that the briefcase is handcuffed to the guy's wrist, and Axe guy is rearing back with his axe...] * TheRedcoat sighs, rolls her eyes, and whips the sash down to grab Axe guy's wrist. [You flick your sash down, and manage to snare the guy's wrist. Both of them look up, suprised. The axe guy yells "What the hell?!" ( +] ) * TheRedcoat slides down the pipe, keeping a hold on the sash. [The briefcase guy scrambles to his feet. "Oh, thank god you're here!" He opens up the briefcase... and pulls out a handaxe of his own. "I really thought you were gonna chop off my hand, dude. Didja hafta hit so hard?"] ["Hey, had to look realistic." "Guess you're right."] * TheRedcoat lands and pulls out a gun with her other hand, keeping axe guy #1's wrist firmly leashed with the sash. She trains the glock on briefcase man. "Oh, please." You have an axe and you were*kicking* him to try and get him to open it? I was going to let you work it out and see how far you were willing to go, but after a while the Amateur Hour started making me sick. [Now that you're down on the ground, you can finally get a good look at them. Both are in identical black suits with white shirts and ties, and both look like frat boy types... in fact, they both look like the same frat boy type. Identical, even.] [Suddenly, a voice calls out from behind. "Sorry about that. Good goons ain't easy to find."] * TheRedcoat shoots guy #2 and flicks the sash to break guy #1's hand. "Yes, I hope you'll find it'll be more difficult after this." [Redcoat blows away the first guy; he looks down at the hole in his torso, then looks back up at Redcoat. "Not cool..."*THUD*] [The second guy has his wrist snapped nastily, and goes down in a whimpering heap. Meanwhile, Redcoat needs two defense rolls.] * TheRedcoat then pulls the sash back and ducks and rolls, coming up gun-first to face the other direction to see who's behind her, and manages to avoid two daggers seemingly thrown from that direction. [Redcoat sees a figure standing in a doorway across the street. He's a hipster-looking guy wearing an Apple logo t-shirt, juggling a pair of nasty-looking daggers in his left hand. His right arm appears to be missing. "Not bad. They weren't kidding when they said you were good."] * TheRedcoat 's eyes widen in disbelief. "Well, I should*hope* not!" [He leisurely steps out into the street. "Not good enough, of course... not when you're up against Mac the Knife."] * TheRedcoat gives him a "you must be kidding" look and fires. [Order: Redcoat, Mac The Knife] * TheRedcoat fires, but is seemingly thrown off by the missing arm, and the shot goes off. [Mac grins as the shot goes awry, and throws another pair of knives at you. "You aim needs work. I won't even need to use my patented iPod shuffle to avoid your attacks!] * TheRedcoat dodges one knife, but get pegged by the other. She backs up against the wall and whips out with both gun and sash. [Mac pivots to avoid the sash, but gets clipped in the side with a bullet. He scowls, and throws a knife at your knee.] * TheRedcoat takes it right where she's supposed to! She goes down on the other and puts her sash away. * TheRedcoat fires with the glock again as she takes the dusky red fedora off her head and flings it at him. [Mac seems surprised when a hat goes whizzing past his face, and is about to make a derisive Bond reference when he gets blasted in the chest with a shot from the glock. He looks down at his shirt in horror as it slowly soaks in blood. "This shirt was signed by Steve Jobs himself! DAMN YOU!" He throws two more knives at you.] * TheRedcoat gets hit. Twice. Owx2. * TheRedcoat shoots again as the hat comes around for another round and Mac dodges it by a hair...right into the bullet. [Mac actually manages to pull off an impressive move, swatting the hat out of the air and knocking it down the block. Unfortunately, he's so proud of himself for doing that he forgets to dodge when Redcoat shoots at him, and takes another bullet to the shoulder.] [Mac stumbles backwards, and glares at you. "... okay, this round to you. Next time, I'm gonna take that coat of yours and make an iPhone holder outta it!" And then he's gone in a puff of smoke.] [The two goons, meanwhile, have... melted, for lack of a better term. Steaming goo is leaking out from their suits on the ground.] ...all right,*that* part was rather unexpected. * TheRedcoat uses the sash to bind her knee and hobbles over to look at the goon!remains. [As you hobble down the street, you hear something above you. You look up, and see someone in a dark red jump suit with a large, odd looking rifle and what look like rocket boots slowly coming down from the ground. "Are you okay?"] * TheRedcoat eyes this person. "I will be all right. Who are you?" [As she touches down, you quickly recognize her, as she's one of the most famous superheroes in the world: Solaris, former leader of The Rampart. She's almost as tall as you (if you weren't wearing heels), with short red hair and a slim, athletic build. The jumpsuit she's wearing is snug, but not skin-tight. "Solaris. You're Redcoat, right? Sorry I got here too late to help you."] * TheRedcoat gives the supersuper a just-this-side-of-smarmy "sincere" smile. "Oh, that's all right. You can't be everywhere, after all." * TheRedcoat eyes Solaris. "Can you?" [She sighs, and slings her rifle over her soulder. "When I was younger and dumber, I used to think so. Now, I know better."*pauses* "Which is half the reason I'm here."] * TheRedcoat eyes her some more. "Half?" ["Yes. The first reason I'm here is that your name was on a list of targets found on villain caught earlier today. We didn't have any way to contact you, so a few of us have been looking for you to warn you."] * TheRedcoat starts to say something, stops herself, and nods cautiously, eyes narrowed in thought. ["The *second* reason I'm here is that the hit list we found was also the list of people we were planning to approach over the next week or so."] ...approach? [Solaris coughs. " 'Recruit' would probably be the more accurate term."] * TheRedcoat tilts her head in a "go on..." sort of way. ["You've seen how bad things are getting. It's even worse than that, really... we've been keeping certain things from the public so as not to cause a panic. We're taking losses, and we were outnumbered to begin with; there just aren't enough of us to handle all the attacks, and we're starting to wear down."] ["I know you're pretty new around here, but you come highly recommended. Johnny Beam speaks highly of you, and Smasher says he owes you his life."] I see. * TheRedcoat blinks. "That notwithstanding, I hadn't realized things were quite *that* grim." [Solaris grins slightly. "Smasher also says he wants me to get your number, but I told him he'd have to do that himself."] * TheRedcoat snorts, not entirely able to conceal her small answering grin. ["But yes, things are that grim. Those of us who were part of the team left behind can't deal with everything that's happening. We're a band-aid on a bullet hole. So we decided to try to put together a team to get proactive; to get some of these people off the street before they can cause more chaos."] * TheRedcoat raises an eyebrow. "An offensive task force?" ["To a degree, yes. Part of any law enforcement is always going to be reactive, but we have an idea of who's working together and who's just taking advantage of the situation. We'd like to go after the former, thin the numbers of the organized group."] I see. * TheRedcoat flicks her glance downward. "Nice boots, by the way." ["We could use your skillset and experience. The other heroes we're trying to get on board are... a bit raw. Not a ton of experience. Blunt force. We need someone with a bit more seasoning, a bit more of a delicate touch to balance that out."] [Solaris blinks. "Thanks. Standard issue; they're pretty manueverable. A lot better than what we worked with when I was at NASA."] I see. I don't remember hearing that you used boots. [Solaris frowns. "I didn't."] * TheRedcoat eyes her again. "Oh?" [Solaris eyes you warily, then sighs and shakes her head. "Let's just say that there are circumstances that make it prudent for me not to overuse my powers. Which is part of the reason we're in such a tough spot."] * TheRedcoat relaxes just a little bit. "That...does make sense, yes." * TheRedcoat then just ordinarily eyes Solaris. "If you have done your research, you are aware that I don't do much work as...part of large teams." [Her right arm is suddenly coated in liquid fire; you can feel the waves of heat off of it from where you're standing. "This help confirm my identity?"] * TheRedcoat starts and hobbles back a bit, blinking. "It does rather, yes." [She nods. "My apologies. You have every reason to be a bit suspicious. And yes, I've heard that about you."] [The fire around her arm fades. "I've also heard that you're eager to be known as Redcoat now, as opposed to that old name."] ["I've worked with people from all sorts of backgrounds, some clean and squeaky, some... not so much. But saving the world... that kinda thing works wonders."] Yes. W--I felt it was best for there to be a separation in the two. ...I*see*. (s/in/between) ["I'm not asking you to decide now. Think about it. If you're interested, in three days go to any Metrocard machine and touch the upper left corner of the screen three times."] ["Around 10 PM."] * TheRedcoat raises an eyebrow. "Interesting. I will think about it." I assume this is a closed invitation, of course. ["Yes. We're looking for five people."] Ah. Five. That is not so large. * TheRedcoat nods to herself. Thank you for the information. [Solaris pulls a small device out of a pouch at her waist, and holds it out to you. "This'll help speed up the healing, if you want. Cutting edge nanotech."] * TheRedcoat takes it, both eyebrows going up this time. "Oh. Thank you very much." * TheRedcoat looks at it and tries to figure out how to use it. [There's one side that says 'put against skin', and another side with a big red button that says 'PUSH ME'.] * TheRedcoat blinks and uses it then. [You feel a tiny pinprick against your skin. After a few moments, the bleeding in your various wounds starts to slow. "It'll take a few hours, but it'll heal the worst of it."] All right. Thank you. * TheRedcoat hands it back. [Solaris takes it. "I'm gonna head out. I hope to see you in three days."] Very well. Thank you for the information. [Solaris nods, and flies off.] * TheRedcoat turns back to checking out melted goon remains and heading down in the direction of where her hat landed to pick it up. [You see a bunch of no-longer steaming goops inside the suits, which are filled with axes.] * TheRedcoat pokes at it a little with the axes. [It burbles.] * TheRedcoat wrinkles her nose, takes a couple of un-gooped axes and stuffs them in her coat, and heads down the way to get her hat. [Her hat has melted too.] [Just kidding, it's just a bit dirty.] * TheRedcoat brushes it off, puts in on, and walks off into the night. Her coat is probably flaring about behind her. [Session End]