Futuristic Arcadia: Heroes World Brave

[PiePillager]

"Close enough might not be close at all," Henry sighed. "Sorry about the seating arrangements, by the way...and the general state of the car." Henry apologized to the others. "It's an older model. Also, the easiest one to check for bugs in. Anyway, Akiko....we're not going anywhere near their facilities. We'll be marked from miles away. We're gonna park somewhere out of the way and then you're gonna have to keep invisible and hover the rest of us over to the power plant. They'll likely have other defenses prepared to detect supers. There's bound to be something unforeseen but the least we can do is counteract stuff like motion detectors or laser-tripwires."

The car was driven past a busy street and towards a building near the docks. The fisherman there had already closed up shop and had headed home for the day so there were no witnesses as the car drove past and headed into an alleyway. Henry was careful to drive in the blindspot of a security camera he'd spotted near a warehouse as he slowed the car to a complete halt.

"Remember, they seemed to have some kind of intelligence about us, so we'll have to be extra careful. I doubt this'll be an easy grab-and-go. You ready, Akiko?"

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko nodded and pulled out her gray lantern before hugging it close to her chest. She tried to bury it into herself as much as she could before maneuvering it onto the belt that appeared at her waist. The familiar jingle was muffled at first before the loud, "AWAKEN" signaled the end of her transformation. Akiko stared at the belt for a few seconds before giving a helpless shrug to the others.

"Ready Henready," she said with finger guns pointed at Henry.

"Main thing is everyone is gonna wanna hold hands," she said, offering up her own hands for two people to grab onto. "As long as there's skin contact, I can extend my powers to all of you. The moment anyone lets go, I lose 'em so hold on tight! Might feel a little tingle too."

 

[druidquest]

"Henready?" Lynne wondered aloud, taking Akiko's hand and offering hers to Albert.

 

[PiePillager]

"No, don't encourage her with these..." Henry shook his head at Lynne. "You'll only make way for worse puns. Besides it's game time. We need to focus."

 

[DarKnight36]

"Let's rock," Albert said, grabbing Henry's hand, nodding to the others.

 

[Wing06]

"Never a dull moment!" Klaus quipped before taking Akiko's free hand.

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko looked at the uneven distribution of heroes, three on one hand and one on the other, narrowing her eyes at them from under the helmet. No complaint was made however since Henry was right. So instead, she took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly. She went invisible and levitated off the ground. Lynne and Klaus would feel their hands raise slightly before they too began to rise in the air. It extended to Henry and Albert before all of them felt completely weightless, Akiko's ability to make them intangible kicking in at the end. The only part of them that felt solid was where their hands touched.

To Akiko, it felt like she was holding onto balloons that were swaying lightly in a gentle breeze. Her grip on Lynne and Klaus' hand was light as she just needed the contact for now. Her body felt fine, Akiko once more thankful that Sasha had worked with her before all of this.

"Thank you for flying Shinigami Airline. Please make sure to hold onto your partners and please do not make excessive movement. Thank you!"

Then, it was takeoff. Buildings, birds, planes, it didn't matter what was in their path. Akiko flew as directly as possible, her speed at max. It wasn't at the speed of light but she could certainly outdo any race car.

 

[DarKnight36]

It didn't take long for the group to make it to the power plant. Large towers protruded from the top, giving the site a curious feeling. The grid itself stretched over several square miles, hunched over and crossing the bay of the Ob River. From the top down, it seemed normal but the set up seemed strange.

Albert frowned and pointed out a building that seemed to have been only half finished. Despite this, it was clear traffic had been plentiful from the washed out pavement. A small garage stood nearby.

"Set down there, I have a feeling about that area," Albert asked Akiko.

 

[PiePillager]

"This place looks so plain that it's offputting," Henry noted as they landed down. "Only think that sticks out really is those towers...and who knows what they're really used for." Henry looked round. "What are you detecting exactly?" he asked Albert.

 

[DarKnight36]

"I don't know, it might be nothing," Albert mused, walking up to the building and examining it. Perhaps the building had been used for storage, but as Albert opened the door, it was clear nothing had been kept inside. The front area was spacious, the carpets clean... He frowned. There was something off about it. It was clear cars or other vehicles had been coming and going for some reason. He let the door shut.

"An unused building with lots of vehicles coming and going," Albert explained, turning to the others. "I'd wager the base for these guys is underground. Perhaps the entrance is inside, or around here. But..." He looked around and sighed. "Well, whatever you guys think. We're here and we seem to be alone, at least for now. I know Sasha warned us about a trap but..." He trailed off, frustration evident on his face. Was this really a dead end?

 

[obscured_light]

"Seems the other detective is failing at detecting," Akiko said smugly before taking another sip from her flask. It was gone in a flash as she pushed up imaginary glasses, a sparkle in her eyes.

"Clearly we are being faced with a hidden entrance or some kind of trap floor. We find the mechanism, we find out secret area. Or explode. Both are strong possibilities," she said with a grin. "Perhaps some of us can search the grounds and I can take half of us beneath the ground? Unless all of you are like claustrophobic or something cuz going through dirt isn't uh, isn't fun."

 

[druidquest]

"If the facility extends underground, they probably have an access elevator, right?" Lynne asked, craning her neck to peak around the side of the building. Part of her wanted to explain the purpose of the towers in a power plant to Henry, but she swallowed the impulse.

"Maybe something requiring an access code?" she mused. "I've dealt with those a bunch before. Should we try sneaking in and digging through desks for convenient sticky notes?"

 

[PiePillager]

"Another weird thing is from all appearances this place appears defunct. There's nothing being generated here, at least not on the surface. There's something faint but it's way down below," he noted, pointing to the ground. "Signs of people coming in but no trace of them i nthe facility itself. "Shinigami. Lead the way to the garage. Let's see if Backlash's hunch is correct, huh? Oh and Akiko..."

Henry just realized, he hadn't asked. "You can make us intangible to the cameras, but does this spectral field of yours mask our voices as well?"

 

[obscured_light]

Akiko pulled herself out of thoughts on whether or not the employees would be allowed to bring their own sticky notes.

"I can sort of..." she started hesitantly. "It's just... typical rules apply and it doesn't necessarily keep us from being heard. Do you remember on the beach when I was talking to that one ghost? The static you heard is essentially what I could do for you all. We could understand each other but any listening devices would hear static."

"Of course it's also restricted by whether or not I'm extending my powers to you guys," she continued, holding up her hands. "We'd have to all be holding hands during this entire field trip to keep it up."

 

[Wing06]

Klaus kicked at the dirt, hoping he'd hear a metallic thud or indication that they stood on top of a hollow structure. "Well, this is only getting more curious by the second," he scratched his chin, day-old stubble threatening to derail his train of thought. "We all agree that there's something more to this; maybe we simply make enough noise for someone to come and investigate?"

 

[druidquest]

"I'm not sure that's the best idea..." Lynne replied, rubbing her hands on her shirt to make sure they were dry.

 

[Wing06]

"I'm open to others," Klaus shrugged.

 

[DarKnight36]

Albert blanched at Henry's misnomer, muttering to himself, "Baron, it's... Baron..."

He looked around at the power plant and an idea came to him. "Hey, how much of a footprint do we care to leave?"

 

[obscured_light]

"As little as possible, Beef Roast," Akiko frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Unless you're confident we can fight the consequences."

 

[DarKnight36]

"Well I could... drain the power from the plant," Albert said after a moment. "It'd cause a blackout but I imagine that if there is an underground base, I'd be able to sense its backup kick on. Give us an idea of where to look. Right now there's too much..." He gestured around. "Noise."

 

[PiePillager]

"Honestly, I'd prefer not to leave any kind of footprint...but uh I was asking if Akiko could mask our voices, because I was wary of their surveillance picking up any trace of us and...." he pointed behind them at two security cameras. Both devices were staring directly at them and both had flashing red indicators on their right side. "So, a blackout sounds good right about now."

 

[druidquest]

lynne considered the flashing lights on the security cameras. "If they've been watching us this whole time, is there any point being quiet? They're probably waiting for us now, right?"

 

[PiePillager]

"If they are waiting for us, I don't think it'd be a good idea to play their game. "They already know we're here and they already know what we're gonna do, so I figure all we can do now is do our best to keep things from going as planned for them as much as possible."

 

[druidquest]

Lynne fussed with the hem of her shirt, eyes falling downward. "It just seemed like a waste of effort to sneak around if they're watching us, is all," she mumbled.

 

[obscured_light]

"You're both right," Akiko said, clapping a hand on Lynne and Henry's shoulders. "So right, besties. So new plan. Let's do all the plans at once. Personally, I feel like sticky note hunting."

Before anyone could protest, Akiko phased through the wall, her head and a hand re-emerging with her hand held out to them.

"Anybody wanna come with? Or am I hunting solo?"