peterverse | rogue, meet hero

peterxy posting in

Most of the time, patrolling is a dull, uneventful affair, somewhat akin to the Ankh-Morpork City Guard ringing their bells and calling "All's well!" at night.

Sometimes, it's not.

Dauntless was not expecting to run into two unpowered Asian gangs (Japanese and Korean? that's what it looks like at a distance) duking it out in the middle of the street. Granted, it's the evening, and it's not quite the most well-frequented of streets, but still.

He decides to call for backup, not because he wouldn't be able to take them on, but because he's supposed to do that whenever confronting another parahuman or a large number of non-capes, at least until he graduates. He turns the comm on and describes the situation - a bit over a dozen people on each side, arguing and brandishing blunt weapons and in some cases guns - then waits and watches.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

thinkering

"He keeps scoping out the battlefield - Velocity, here, have a tranq dart, you're faster -" A robot offers Velocity a dart from its supply. "I'm going to take out some streetlights."

Robots go and short out streetlights.

From:

mxglam

The rogue gets the idea and flies close to Dauntless. "Your stuff's too bright, stop moving," they say, an androgynous voice making assumed pronouns unclear.

Dauntless blinks and stops moving for long enough for the rogue to make a small spheric device that produces thick but quickly dissipating smoke around them, covering their body from about shoulder down. Dauntless gets the hint and lowers his spear so it's also hidden by the smoke, while keeping his shield (which doesn't emit light yet) up to protect against potential stabbing.

Streetlights start going out one by one,

The Mover attempts to stab them once, forcing Dauntless to swat him away with his spear, but then he's ashes again.

From:

thinkering

Lorica and her robots can see in the dark. Where is he?

From:

peterxy

He-

-seems to be gone.

The darkness makes Dauntless uncomfortable, but he doesn't move. No new copies of the Mover appear.

From:

thinkering

"That seems to have done it, at least for now," Lorica says over the private comms. A robot lands on the rogue's shoulder to whisper in their ear too. "Anybody have something good to trap him with if he comes back when a light goes on again? Foam? Velocity?"

"Sprayers fall apart when I run them," Velocity says ruefully. "We can call in the PRT; they'll take a few minutes, though."

"Rogue?"

From:

mxglam

"I can make a foam sprayer appear, or pretty much anything. It's getting him to be in a single body for long enough to count that's the problem."

From:

thinkering

"Don't have to illuminate much space. He may've already run off, though."

From:

mxglam

"If we illuminate anything again he might just think - correctly - it's a trap, though, and not come back anyway."

From:

thinkering

"Yeah. Might be a lost cause. Worth a try?"

From:

mxglam

"I don't have a finite supply of whatever, I could try setting an automatic trap around any illuminated areas that automatically foams them."

From:

thinkering

"...Sounds good. You want to handle the light on your own too or should I fix a streetlight?"

From:

mxglam

They don't heave a sigh of relief that she believed them because that'd be telling. "I think it's better if you fix it. Hero, can you hold the smoke thingy?" they ask that of Dauntless.

"Uh, sure."

"Great, don't squeeze it too hard, though." They leave the smoke thingy with the Ward and start setting up a strange device out of pieces that appear out of thin air - or were they there all the time? The effect's confusing.