internet, meet [insert title of glam's webseries]

[mxglam]

To Glam's continued delight, more kissing sessions happen on the following days (when they're feeling like a boy). They haven't met her parents as her official boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever yet, and don't mind it too much.

News about Purity's escape surprises exactly no one, but the Protectorate's reputation suffers a blow because of the attack; after all, the heroes were beaten on their home turf. The PHO forums are abuzz, though rumors of Glam's death at the hands of Hookwolf (probably started by same) prove largely unfounded.

And Glam really should get to their webisodes and start building a steadier rep. And that's (one of the reasons) why they're in Lorica's workshop a few days later.

"So what should I do? I haven't posted anything since Purity, should probably make this more of a habit."

Comments

[acanofworms]

He nods curtly at Glam's power description. "Evac of the surroundings and unharmed civilians," he answers Lorica.

He outlines their strategy, not very detailed because no plan survives contact with the enemy and because they have very little time, asking Lorica some questions about how to best employ the other Wards.

[thinkering]

Lorica recommends leaving Windflower behind - it's going to be crowded chaos, killing Butcher is an unacceptable risk, and keeping her covered will divert cape attention. She wants Echo sniping nonlethal ammo from a nearby roof with a bot, Glam ready to pop a copy to cover her if Butcher teleports up there, and Lorica herself will take a coordinator role - she thinks her bot network can control an appropriately hardwared decoy of her body, though.

[acanofworms]

Armsmaster adjusts their strategy, and then they're ready to go.

[thinkering]

While they're riding there Lorica wants to test Decoy Lorica, please, Glam.

[mxglam]

There she is!

[thinkering]

Bots attempt to move her via the usual feedback mechanisms in the armor that amplify Regular Lorica's movements.

[mxglam]

It works! A bot looking at her might be able to tell them apart, but a human probably wouldn't.

[thinkering]

Excellent.

Transit's a little ahead of them, getting neighbors of the bank away from it so if the Teeth make a casually violent getaway there won't be anyone to be casually violent at who they don't already have. If he can do this without being noticed for a minute or two so much the better.

[mxglam]

A minute or two is right. They stay for a few seconds on the roof of a nearby building so that Rewind can send them back there if need be. Echo, real Glam, and real Lorica are positioned. Two Glam-copies are produced, and they are go.

Boost, Warp, and eight of the nonpowered Teeth are visible from the window. The civilians are on the floor, with the nonpowered pointing guns at them. As expected, Boost has an impenetrable area in front of the building, and as soon as one of the heroes tries to get in, one of the civilians inside is summarily executed. A "warning."

[thinkering]

Velocity slips past anyway. Boost's effect isn't continuous. And Boost is distractable.

Once Boost is distracted, robots go in and summarily shoot tranquilizers at all the Teeth they can identify. (Lorica's robots are pretty good at identifying things.)

[mxglam]

Once inside, they can get a proper view of the civilians. Warp's metal balls are on top of them, shaped like... metal balls, really. And completely unlike the way the civilians are (not) moving, which would seem to imply they're being held by strong metal constraints.

The Teeth the bots can identify are all wearing hodgepodge pieces of armor, so they're actually pretty easy to recognize, but not that easy to tranquilize. Three more civilians die before they start gunning for the bots.

"Rewind, can you get the civilians out of the metal things?" Glam asks as the heroine starts resurrecting the dead.

[thinkering]

"What the - they're not even in anything," says a bot in Lorica's voice. "The - it's just an illusion, they're not really - they're just marbles sitting on people!"

[mxglam]

"What?" Glam asks, but before they can comprehend Rewind pulls a civilian from their restraints and-

they're free. Restraints gone, just marbles, really.

Without further ado, a Glam copy and Rewind start getting the civilians out. Dauntless uses his speed-giving boots to evade and his shield to block shots from the nonpowered Teeth while reaching them with his Arclance and trying to electrocute them.

Boost struggles against Velocity, trying to keep him away, and Warp tries creating new illusionary obstacles for the heroes. Armsmaster and the other Glam copy storm through them to go after Butcher, Flamethrower, and the two remaining nonpowered, who are probably holding the rest of the bank's staff hostage.

[thinkering]

Bots chime in with alerts whenever people seem to be reacting to things that aren't there. The Lorica duplicate is big enough to pick up a couple freed people at a time and fly them to Transit so the heroes evacuating them can go back into the fray.

Miss Militia's got rubber bullets and is willing to aim them at Boost in melee because Velocity's sped up enough that he's barely interacting with matter. When she's alerted that there's not really anything between her and Warp and a robot helps her aim she can shoot at Warp too.

[mxglam]

The nonpowered are tougher and better trained than they look, not going down easily at all. But going down, still, with Dauntless and bots.

Suddenly, an explosion hits the civilians, the Lorica-copy, the Glam-copy, and Rewind. Butcher is suddenly among them, and instead of healing herself or the civilians, Rewind starts mindlessly attacking him.

Half a second later, Boost boosts herself back with enough strength that she hits the wall just before Butcher explodes there, hitting the nigh-immaterial Velocity with the blast.

"Stranger protocols active on Butcher!" Rewind calls on the comm, too injured to be proud of remembering this tidbit of the book, before rewinding her memory and damage away.

[thinkering]

A bot reminds Rewind of her assertion. Other bots hunt down Butcher.

Velocity is hard to buffet but he's not invulnerable to burning. He's down. Rewind's bot directs her his way.

Miss Militia directs her fire at Butcher, aiming carefully so as not to put the lie to "nonlethal ammo".

Glam's bot alerts them to the need to reassemble the exploded decoys.

[mrdauntless]

Dauntless drops his assault, leaving the two remaining nonpowered Teeth to the bots and going after the civilians to cover them with his forcefield-generating shield.

[mxglam]

Glam - the real one, watching the fight via cameras - resurrects bots, and Rewind starts fixing civilians and handing them to the Lorica- and Glam-copies.

Butcher teleports right up to Dauntless-

[mrdauntless]

-whose forcefield protects him from the fire, but is dropped a moment later so that he can attack Butcher with his Arclance.

[thinkering]

"DAUNTLESS, STOP THAT," commands a bot.

Other bots are being knocked into each other by Boost as they try to tranquilize either her or Warp, who are standing together and very hard to approach.

[mrdauntless]

Dauntless seems unable to stop it, he just keeps attacking, but Butcher has apparently decided that the Arclance causes too much damage because he teleports right up to Miss Militia, ending Dauntless' mindless rage-

[thinkering]

- and Miss Militia's rubber bullet gun becomes a machete and she swipes it at Butcher - (bots start desperately trying to tranquilize the villain, abandoning the prospect of getting past Boost for now) -

[acanofworms]

- who hits her with quite the strong punch, what with the whole "superstrength from a bunch of different sources" thing, throwing her away in a very ungentle fashion.

Butcher teleports out of the way just as an electrified metal ball connected to a chain flies through where he'd been standing, coming from the door to the back of the bank where Armsmaster's standing.

[mxglam]

Rewind has quite finished with the civilians and gingerly zigzags over to Velocity.

Freed from that responsibility, Glam conjures their copy a following stun gun. The copy shoots at Butcher, and the energy blast bends and curves, trying to catch him.

[thinkering]

"Stay back from Butcher, the mind control shit might have a range limit!" a bot advises Armsmaster. "Rewind, get you and Velocity and Miss Militia out!"