Realistic or Modern The Project - Hero System

[Sherwood]

First, Aj's rifle cracks and bucks against your shoulder from the recoil, and the deadly bullet flies out and slams into the second gunman. He spins around and falls from sight, blood spraying from his wound.


Next, we have Eerie firing into the first of Pierre's escorts with a killing bolt. Compared to the generalized damage of the explosive bolt, the hunting bolt pierces his skin with ease. He cries out in pain, but is still standing.


From his perch on the crane, Steve aims his rifle at Pierre. "This guy seems to need a lot of killing to bring him down. Luckily I brought lots of ammo." The bullet slams into the wounded man, this time, it does draw some blood, showing that he has actually been hurt.


The two cronies from the ship both turn and run for the gangplank, not wanting to get killed by the rain of death that is picking them off one at a time.


The first one of Pierre's escorts looks up and around, his eyes glowing a blazing red. Definitely not something that a normal human can do. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't spot any of the well hidden attackers.


The second one of the escorts leaps into the air, a glowing field of force forming around him. He spins about, and from his outstretched hands a beam of energy shoots out, aimed at Ray Fox. EDIT: His beam hits you with a burning flash, and you need to apply 32 points of Stun against your Armor's 8 ED and your 4 natural, and you take a total of 20 Stun from your total of 30.


Pierre is Stunned, and is struggling to get to his feet.


[dice]15597[/dice]

 

[Sherwood]

Post Segment 12, everyone gets a Recovery for whatever damage was taken (namely Fox). He gets to Recover 6 of the 20 Stun that was just taken, leaving you in the hole for 14 points.


The next Phase that people act on is 3.


Aj is up once again.

 

[DJAtomika]

"MG position neutralised."


AJ watched as his twin shots plugged his targets, just like on the range. Down below, Eerie and Ray were engaged in combat with the clearly metahuman terrorists left, along with Pierre.


With Steve across the way from him, he radioed over to the manticore.


"Steve, focus fire on Pierre. I'll take care of his crony that's got the red eyes."


Saying this, he lined up for another shot, to the torso this time, and fired.

 

[Sherwood]

You can almost hear the smile in Steve's voice. "You got it! Pretty boy is going down!"


Roll your to-hit, please.

 

[Bone2pick]

"Lots of mutants down here, at least three!" Eerie barked into the radio. The Project's Intel never suggested Pierre was rolling with this level of protection. Surprises of this scale can get people killed. She slammed another solid bolt into her bow and turned it towards the mutant who had tagged Ray.


"Choke on it, punk." She whispered.


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[DJAtomika]

Please hit the thing


[dice]15604[/dice]


I think I hit the thing

 

[Sherwood]

Aj's shot slams into the chest of the man with the glowing eyes. He lets out a wheeze, then falls over, bleeding out.


Eerie's target is more maneuverable than you had expected, and he is just able to evade the shot.


Fox is up.

 

[Silanon]

Ouch... Fox trembled a bit when hit by the blast, then shook the hit off as good as he could. Seemed like they were here to play.


"I'm not down that easily", he mumbled through his bared teeth, aiming his weapon at the one mutant that had attacked him. "Hope you are as good at taking hits as at dishing them out."


With a roaring sound, he pulled the trigger, sending hell into his direction.


[dice]15611[/dice]


OOC: Damn... seems like Ray should have spent more time training with his gun

 

[Sherwood]

The flying mutant sees that Pierre is getting hammered bad and is visibly torn between continuing to attack and going to his rescue. He chooses the latter, swooping down to scoop up the wounded man.


Steve, however, has other thoughts about that. He targets the flyer with his sniper rifle and fires, causing him to drop Dortmund as he goes sprawling across the dock.


Phase 4


The two men from the ship that broke and ran continue to flee, moving at top speed up the ramp and onto the waiting ship. There is sounds from the vessel that there are other people onboard that are starting to respond to the sound of gunfire, but it will be some time before they can enter the fight.


Phase 5


No one acts


Phase 6


Back to Aj. There are people lying wounded and dying all across the dock. The initial grenade blast from Eerie managed to disable many of the normal humans, but they are still alive and some of them are starting to stir. Pierre and his two escorts are all down, either knocked out or dead; you aren't sure from your position. You'll have to get up to them to check to see if they are still alive.


What do you do now?

 

[Silanon]

His walk a bit shaky after the hit he had taken, but the weapon ready to fire, Ray Fox slowly made his way in direction of the wounded leader, Pierre. Being on guard, he tried to get an insight in which kind of condition he and his comrades were - always ready to shoot at whomever might try to attack him.


"I'll have a look", he announced through the mic of his headset, "just be so kind to gun down whatever moves too fast for your taste. And if someone is so nice to guard my back, I'll take a look whether everything with those missiles is alright - as soon as I know how Pierre is doing. Oh, and by the way - thanks for helping me out there, guys - with my shooting skills, I'd been dead twice before taken anyone out down here. Remind me to spend at least a few more hours at the gunrange, will you?"

 

[Sherwood]

Steve clicks his radio in acknowledgement. "Got your back, buddy. Maintaining position and overwatch."


When Ray and Aj gets to the side of the terrorist leader, you can see that the man is in bad shape, but surprisingly, he is healing up the damage done before your very eyes. His two escorts are both dead, and the other six that were caught in the initial blast of Eerie's bolt are all alive, but injured with shrapnel cuts and burns.


What do the two of you do about this?


Checking in the back of the van, there are the sixteen cases that your training and research tells you contain a dismantled Stinger anti-aircraft missile. If you open up one of the cases, you can see the sleek lines of the hardware. It is indeed the American built missile that you are looking for.


What does Eerie do?

 

[Bone2pick]

"Ray you might want to jump behind the wheel of the van? The missiles are ready and waiting."





Eerie dashes over to the downed humans and starts zip tying their hands behind their back. She makes sure to keep an eye on the mutants while she goes about her business.

 

[DJAtomika]

"Nice shot man."


AJ watched through his scope as the flier dropped from the sky, his human cargo tumbling back down to the ground in a sprawl of limbs. As the two presumed corpses landed on the pavement, he grabbed his rifle and stood from his perch on the crane.


"Yo Steve, I'm gonna go help out Ray. Keep us covered."


Saying this he left his perch, sliding down the ladders to the ground as he made a beeline straight for where the fox was. When he approached he saw Pierre healing up rapidly, which he relayed back to the team and mission control.


"Control, Stingers are secure and intact. Pierre Dortmund is down."


As he reached Ray's side, he stamped down on Pierre's chest and filled his face with his rifle. He squeezed the trigger three times, depositing three high calibre bullets into his cranium.


"Confirmed KIA. Securing the rest of the docks now."

 

[Sherwood]

As Aj pulls the trigger, Pierre's body spasms as the bullets slam into his head. It doesn't take an expert to see that this time, the man is quite dead.


A crisp voice replies on the headset, "Copy that. Be aware that a cleanup and recovery team in enroute to you. Hold your position."


Three long minutes go by, and off in the distance, you can hear the wail of sirens coming your direction. A minute later, four military Humvee's pull up onto the pier and soldiers in camo uniforms pour out, along with two men in grey suits. The men in suits casually walk up and glance at the bodies with a dismissive look, paying the most attention to the body of Pierre Dortmund. One of the men says, "Get this to Quantico for DNA confirmation that this is actually Dortmund." He reaches into his coat and pulls out a massive pistol, and puts two more rounds into the head of the body. With that, they turn to head to the van with the missiles in it. They look in and nod to one another, then one uses a radio. "We have the package in custody. Lets get the delivery people out of here."


With that, your team is ordered to assemble and get into one of the Humvee's to be driven off and out of the area. As you pull out on your way to the transport you took into Boston, Steve is practically bouncing off the roof of the car. "That was fucking awesome! Yeah! Aj, you were seriously hard core for taking out the Frenchman, and Ray, you took that hit like a boss! And did you see how that suit plugged the body with two more rounds? I seriously thought he was going to give us a rash of shit for taking Dortmund out like you did, but blam blam! Right in the noggin!" He goes on in an excited rant, feeling the after effects of the adrenaline.


As you pull away, police, fire trucks and paramedics are racing past you, responding to the reports of multiple gunshots and explosions. There are even several news vans pulling up outside the cordoned off area, all demanding information on what is going on. Looking forward, you can see that it is your chief instructor, Alex Murphy at the wheel. He glances back over his shoulder with a grin. "Good job back there, everyone! I was watching the action as it happened, and I can tell you that your takedown of those assholes back there was as professional as it gets. You were able to take on the sudden appearance of two extra metahumans with ease, and you got all the missiles without a scratch on them!" He gives you a thumbs up. "It is too bad that Delta Force is going to get the credit for this. But I will do what I can to make it up to you. Steaks and beer are on me when we get back to the Project HQ."

 

[Silanon]

And suddenly, all was over. Three precise shots into the head of Pierre Dortmund had been the finishing blow of what had to be called a complete success. Missiles secured, the leader killed, and the latter despite Pierre being the toughest man to get down he had ever seen. The fox made a mental note to check the autopsy report later on, the picture of the self- healing body still in his mind. But for now, the taste of victory was to sweet to waste a thought to look ahead.


Instead, Ray watched the emergency lights flying past them, ready to clean up the mess he and his comrades had left. Nobody would ever know, he realized. Noone except for every single one he cared about. Listening to Steves narration of the fight, he couldn't help but smile. Told that way, their fight seemed even more epic than it really had been. Though the eyplosion caused by Eerie had been as spectacular as the sniper described.


The fox stayed quiet for the most part, leaving the talking to the others. The announcement of Murphy couldn't stay unanswered, though.


"You'll regret this, Alex, just to make that clear. There's a lot of steak to be put into a hungry fox, and I'm the smallest of us. You might want to reconsider your reward system if we get sent out more often after this one, or ask for a pay raise due to unexpected expenses."


He looked to the city lights outside, a grin on his flews.


"And be sure, if the steak is well-flavored and we get one like that after every mission, I'd take a fight like this one every single day. Feels great to finally have done something useful."

 

[Bone2pick]

Eerie watched the Egyptian-flagged ship melt into the darkness of the horizon. She didn't join in the excited celebrations of her teammates. Everything felt wrong. There were more people onboard that ship; folks willing to buy missiles from a known terrorists. And why was her team ordered to stay put when their objectives were inside a working vehicle? Why did they wait—for minutes—near a ship filled with hostiles and a thirty cal gun?


That was the wrong call, thought Eerie. The hairs on the back of her neck bristled. Restless in the humvee, her memory flashed back to today's briefing.


"Reconsider." She mouthed Colonel Sharp's word again.

 

[DJAtomika]

"Naw man we should be thankin' Eerie for makin' 'em all dizzy with her explosive bolt. If'n weren't for her we'd all be in deeper crap!"


He chuckled, just as excited and high as Steve was, his little stub tail wagging against the chair as he squeezed into the truck with the rest of his companions.


And at the mention of steak, his ears perked.


"Steak? Did someone say steak? I love steak! When are we having it? Where? Can we have it now?"

 

[Sherwood]

Alex laughs. "Aj, you got to give me some time to get you back to base and actually cook the darn things. When you count in the time you will be wrapped up in mission debriefing, expect to be dining on my barbecue masterpieces tomorrow night."

 

[Silanon]

"They wouldn't stop us from getting dinner, would they? I mean, we got a war dog and all... and there is not that much to tell anyway. I mean, the Colonel didn't seem to care that much about how we do our job, as long as its done."


Remembering the colonel, Ray's euphory gets damped enough for him to realize Eeries quietness.


"Everything fine, buddy? They didn't hit you or something, right?"

 

[Bone2pick]

"Everything fine, buddy? They didn't hit you or something, right?"


Guilt welled up inside her. Eerie had let her troubled thoughts spoil her team's mood. She shook her head at Ray and bit her lip playfully.


"No, I'm just bummed we didn't get to blow the mutants off the harbor with one of the stingers."


She made sure to put on a smile for the boys. They were right to be in good spirits, everyone performed well. Still, something about tonight unsettled her. Eerie was ready to put Boston behind her.

 

[Silanon]

Ray laughed.


"You know, Im the last person to say that I would not have liked to fire off one or two of those things, just out of curiosity. We'll borrow them from the military when we have something even bigger to demolish."


Turning to Murphy, he grinned.


"You will show me one of those missiles the next few days, right? Doesn't need to be at the barbecue, but I only got to glance at some primitive technical drawings. And you know me, I'd prefer to take a much more detailed look myself."

 

[Sherwood]

Alex makes the turn into the rear of the transport plane and chimes to a stop. "I'll make a point in letting you handle a Stinger in the training room. In the meantime, relax and enjoy your fight back home. It will give you a chance to write up your after action reports."


Offer the course of the next few hours, with your reports written, you let the quiet drone of the engines lull you into a good rest. By the time that you are on final approach, you can hear that there are reports all over the radio about a raid in Boston conducted by members of a special ops team. Details on the raid are sketchy, but it is confirmed that wanted terrorist leader Pierre Dortmund has been killed, along with two other mutants that were known to associate with Dortmund.


As you are stepping off the transport, you are met by many of the Project security staff that applaud your good work. Steve gives his fellow teammates a toothy grin.


You are told that the colonel is going to be going over your job performance tomorrow morning.

 

[Silanon]

It was strange to hear the reports. Ray din't know how many of this kind he had heard in his short life, probably thousands of them. In different languages, from different places around the world. But all of them had had something in common - they had been from far away, from Paris, Tokio, or the Philippines. This time, the fox had been there himself. He had seen the things the newspeople only speculated about, and had felt the pain of an attack, where the policemen hadn't seen more than a lifeless body on the ground.


"Raid in Boston", proclaimed another radio station, "Pierre Dortmund shot dead by task force." A good summary of what had happened, and much shorter than the report he himself had just finished. In small, accurate bookletters, the fox had written down the events of the past hours. Short, but still hopefully detailed enough to not leave too many questions open. The work of someone who did his best, while wasting the least amount of time. Just the way he always had handled tasks like this - there were better things to do than writing down the past.


When they finally landed, the welcome was rather warm. People applauded although they probably didn't know much more about the mission than anyone else in the world. He gave them a smile, but left the big stage for the others. He was just the technician, after all, and hadn't even gotten a kill.


"Appears like we managed the real thing quite alright", he commented when Steve turned around, then turning to the others. "Anything planned for now? Turns out the Colonel won't need to know anything specific until tomorrow, as it seems. Or he's hoping your reports are precise enough to cover all the things I left out. If not, don't forget me in my room when the barbecue starts. AJ won't get my steak for free."

 

[Sherwood]

With your return to your old stomping grounds, Steve finally settles down from his adrenaline high and goes in search of something to eat. "Later, y'all. I need some serious protein and a nap. I'm wasted."


Dr. DeLong is there, and she gives you all a warm hug, taking extra time with Ray. "I heard that you were hurt, and I was so worried! I'm glad that you pulled through ok. Is there anything you need? No? Ok. If you change your mind, let the doctor on duty know and you can get a painkiller." With that, she plants a kiss on the top of your head and ruffles your ears. "You're so darn cute. Good work out there."


After securing your gear from the mission, Ray heads to the computer room to do some research on the newly deceased Pierre Dortmund. The more you learn about the man, you are coming to the conclusion that your team has done the world a service in eliminating him. He is (was) a suspect in multiple attacks against soft civilian targets, both in Europe and the Mid-East, and has a body count attributed to him in the hundreds. He is known to associate with several meta-humans, and it was suspected that he was a Brick type villain, with super strength and resistance to damage, all of which has now been confirmed. Already there are leaked pictures of the bloody corpse on the internet, showing proof that the terrorist is dead.


The exact details of the mission are still being kept vague, citing national security for the media restrictions, but it is being said that a secret "Special Ops" team has made the strike, and were successful in eliminating an internationally wanted criminal that was planning more attacks against civilian aircraft using the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Fifteen of the deadly weapons were recovered along with the death of the three meta-humans.


With the official briefing planned for the morning with the Army, what do the rest of you do in the meantime?

 

[Bone2pick]

The grip tape was tacky in her furry hands. Eerie lifted the bat out in front of her and then gave it a few measured swings. It felt good to stretch her muscles. She spun the bat head near her face and tapped her claws against its aluminum barrel. The click of the metal was pleasant as always. Without turning she pulled one hand hand away from the bat and flipped the room's light switch off behind her.


The windowless gymnasium went pitch black. She slapped the roof of her mouth with her tongue and saw her surroundings as only she could. The walls, the exercise equipment, the nets, the benches—Eerie viewed them all through sound. Every echo of every noise painted a picture of her environment. She pushed the net aside and stepped into the batting zone.


Eerie, without the benefit of light, smashed the first softball launched by the pitching machine. The batting practice area was installed after years of pleading from her. She didn't ask for much, so the staff finally broke down and brought in the equipment. The next pitch fired and was pounded as cleanly as the first.


She wasn't concerned about Colonel Sharp's pending review of the mission; Eerie would always be her toughest critic. Every error she made would be acknowledged, condemned as intolerable, and purged out of her mind and body. Once again a softball was sent soaring back in the direction it came from.


Flaws were unacceptable. Mistakes could get her teammates hurt, or worse, dead. And she was constructed and trained to be better than human. She was built to perform to perfection. The aluminum bat swished through the air, missing the final pitch. Eerie stood in silence. She let the aluminum bat drop and crash against the gym floor.


There can be no mistakes.