New Vindicators Academy of Europe #30: Allegory of Prudence (M&M 2E - IC)

[Michuru]

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WRECK ROOM (Martin; NPCs: Anne, Martin, Newton, Tatjana)
"I do not even know your last name. 'Curie' was an affectation taken on by a constructed entity known as 'Jeanette', or per'aps 'Entier' but zere is no reason to zink zat is yours."

"My name is Martin Morel. My mozer was also named Jeanette. She was a wonderful woman who took me in when I had nowhere else to turn. She taught me 'ow to better use my powers, but zen enrolled me 'ere. Ze institute where we lived was not ze... optimal environment for a young man. It was nozing but ozer scientists--some of which were afraid of me, because of what I could do. Ozers tried to use me. Mozer... she saw zat ze best zing for me was to be around ozers like myself. When she found out about zis school, she asked me 'ow I would feel about enrolling 'ere. I was nervous at first. Plus, I did not wish to leave 'er. She assured me she would be fine--zat she 'ad 'er research...

"If 'er labs in my world are in ze same location 'ere, I will gladly lead you to zem, Martin Curie." Martin Morel offered out his hand in friendship.

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WAR ROOM (Dennis, Jack, Otso, Tamati, Violet; NPCs: Backlash, the Drifter, Ellen, Fiore, Hubris, Kas, Kiln, Pict, Puck)
"What she did is out me as a bloody f*^&ing murderer. Do you think anyone is going to care that it's not me? That she's from some other dimension? No, all they heard is 'Violet Lear is a psychopath. bloody. murderer'."

"She did more than that," Puck said. The fey transformed. Gone was the guise of a young woman in her early teens, clad in a schoolgirl outfit. Gone were the blonde locks and crystal blue eyes. What remained was an androgynous entity, maybe four feet tall at best. A long, unkempt mane of silver hair framed an alabaster face with eyes darker than a starless night. The creature before them had exaggerated proportions: short, stubby arms were capped with long, sinewy fingers impossibly gnarled at each joint; long legs ended in feet that would have been swimming in baby shoes.

The creature ceased to levitate. Puck stood in front of Violet and walked with the grace of a gazelle towards her. "I don't have many friends, but I do count Augustus Lear as one. There aren't many mortals I would say this about... but I respect that man and would trust him with my existence. Any man or woman who ever served beside or under him no doubt feels that way or stronger, I dare say. This wasn't meant as an attack against you: it was an attempt to impugn his character.

"The people of MI-18 know that she's a usurper. They know she's only where she is because of a fluke--a stupid rule that's preventing the best person to succeed your father from doing his job. Your father retired very early, Violet. I suspect there's been talk of trying to bring him back aboard to lead them in Arnett's absence. In a desperate grab at consolidating her power, she tried to tarnish his reputation: 'Augustus Lear? The man who raised the woman who murdered the French Minister of the Interior?' Maybe that will work with her superiors, but she very likely just cost herself the loyalty of her subordinates."

Puck looked back to the monitor and grinned. "Ladies and gentlemen, what we just watched was a woman commit suicide."

[EnigmaticOne]

Imago
HP: 6

Dennis blinked. "Your dad was the former head of MI-18?" Then his grin grew to match Puck's. "You're right. Self-inflicted mortal wound. And I bet you'll be there to see her breakdown, Violet."

[Flynnarrel]

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WRECK ROOM (Martin; NPCs: Anne, Martin, Newton, Tatjana)
"I do not even know your last name. 'Curie' was an affectation taken on by a constructed entity known as 'Jeanette', or per'aps 'Entier' but zere is no reason to zink zat is yours."

"My name is Martin Morel. My mozer was also named Jeanette. She was a wonderful woman who took me in when I had nowhere else to turn. She taught me 'ow to better use my powers, but zen enrolled me 'ere. Ze institute where we lived was not ze... optimal environment for a young man. It was nozing but ozer scientists--some of which were afraid of me, because of what I could do. Ozers tried to use me. Mozer... she saw zat ze best zing for me was to be around ozers like myself. When she found out about zis school, she asked me 'ow I would feel about enrolling 'ere. I was nervous at first. Plus, I did not wish to leave 'er. She assured me she would be fine--zat she 'ad 'er research...

"If 'er labs in my world are in ze same location 'ere, I will gladly lead you to zem, Martin Curie." Martin Morel offered out his hand in friendship.

Fluxx gladly shook, but only after securing his cells against forced modification - a trick first used by his sister. Still, he was cautiously optimistic. "Pleasure to meet you Misseur Morel. Let us see where zis new partnership leads."

A distant part of him wondered if he'd be regretting this soon - he knew he'd never been good at judging people and he knew his own skill at deception, though, admittedly those had been integrated from the fragmented memories of his parents who had been consummate liars throughout their time with a terrorist organization.

"Initially zough, and zis is more pragmatism zan anyzing else, I mean no offense or implication, I just know ze prickliness of my comrades, if we bring in a map of France could you mark ze locations wiz any information on accessing ze individual labs you can remember?"

[Arkrite]

Alex "Current" Murphy
HP: 0 CND: Normal

“Things are just as tense out here, huh?” Kirstie asked, shaking her head at the scene. “So, like our headmaster said so inspiringly, I might be charging off to die… I don’t suppose you’d want to go with me? Fiore’s leading a backup team. Abe and Otso and Ellen and… actually, Bea wasn’t in there. She’s sort of turning into a heavy hitter—more so’n me—so I imagine Otso’s going to bring her aboard."

Lex cocked an eyebrow. He couldn't help but note how she'd basically backed him into a corner.

Hey, I'm going to go die, you want to come keep me safe or leave me to die?

Of course that was kind of the problem before she asked anyways, even if she hadn't said anything. There wasn't really much choice, he wasn't going to leave Kirstie to face that on her own.

“Wanna get suited up and come with? We’re only going in if this go pear-shaped for either group, but if they do… there’s this thing I’ve been thinking about. See, my powers… they take an attack and redirect them, but they also sort of supe them up, right? Way I figure, I might be able to take a blast of lightning from you and curve it right at someone else. I’m kind of curious if we could pull it off, you know?”

Lex decided to ignore the comment about gearing up. He didn't feel like talking about that. Coming was one thing, but he wasn't going to wear the school uniform.


"Wait, didn't we already try that with Mira once? I'd swear we even set up code words so you'd know who was hurling something at you," Lex said rubbing his head. Maybe it was just the depression, but it seemed like that had been years ago.

"But we might want to do some practice before we do that outside, I mean... Yeah, it's really powerful, but if you miss the bounce don't you get fried?" He asked.

"Little bit of practice and we'd probably be able to avoid me zapping you," He winces, remembering the time he blasted Kirstie when she was being kidnapped, "Again..."

[Shock]

Violet Lear
HP: 4

Violet shook her head. "You still don't get it. I don't care what happens to her. Nothing can make up for what she did. Regardless of how, I don't want to ever see her again."

[Michuru]

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WRECK ROOM (Martin; NPCs: Anne, Martin, Newton, Tatjana)
"If we bring in a map of France could you mark ze locations wiz any information on accessing ze individual labs you can remember?"

"Oui."

Newton asked Anne to retrieve such a map. Opening the doors revealed Adam and Annalise where they'd been left--not far from Mister Benson. The sight of them trying to look around the man evoked a sigh from the headmaster. "Misseur Morel," he said warily, "there are some students who have no doubt heard what you have done for Armand. They find their abilities to be more of a curse than a gift. Annalise is permanently transformed into an anthropomorphic frog, while Adam's eyes are forever compounded. They are hoping you can help them."

"Yes and no," Martin Morel explained sadly. "Neo-Sapien powers are... well, zey are like any muscle. Tatjana's powers do not trigger every time she makes a sound. Why is zat? Because she knows fine control. It is for ze same reason any human may... pick up a piece of paper without crumbling it or tearing it.

"Some people possess control over ze muscle, oui, but zey still lack control over ze power. In zese instances, zere is a psychological block that prevents zem from having control. Someone abused as a child might permanently manifest a defensive power." That was certainly true from what Martin had seen. He lacked first-hand familiarity with the brief period when Kirstie lost control over her abilities, but he had heard about it from Tatjana: it was a defense mechanism, brought on by her fear of intimacy with Lex.

"I do notz know which factors are at play for zese two," Martin Morel continued. "Whichever it is, it is not wizin my abilities to give zem control over zeir powers. ey would need to learn to control ze muscle or conquer whatever psychological block is impeding zem. 'Owever, while I cannot 'elp zem gain control over zeir powers, it is wizin mine to take zeir powers away... if zey so choose."

"No," Tatjana said adamantly.

Newton shook his head. "It's their decision."

I wrote out a long debate between Tatjana and Newton, only to realize I wasn't really allowing Martin a voice in this. I want to take this one slow, as I feel like there are a lot of opinions that could be had here.

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: HALLWAY (Lex; NPCs: Adam, Annalise, Benson, Kirstie)
"This time it will be different," Kirstie said, flashing her boyfriend her most-winning smile. "I mean, that whole time you were away, did you think Bea was the only one to take a few levels in badass?" She looked around and then began to mope. "We need to go outside. I have to show you something, but I can't do it down here and they have the Wreck Room."

She didn't wait for his reply. Instead, she grabbed him by the hand and led him to the elevator. The two climbed on and made their way back to the main level. From there, it was a short walk to the front doors and out onto the main quad.

The sun was setting. Night was coming.

"There's this thing Mister Noble has been teaching me about our powers... I have to be sparing with it. If I do this, I'm defenseless for a few seconds..." Kirstie grabbed her right wrist as she aimed her knuckles towards the ground. "No one's watching, right?"

There was a flash of blue around her--her force field--and suddenly the energy seemed to converge onto her fist. "Ugh!" Kirstie let out a grunt as she forced the totality of her aura out of her fist, resulting in a beam of energy that struck the grass, leaving a fist-sized crater where it struck.

"Mister Noble says I should be able to fire that from any part of my body, but it helps if I channel it from my fist. I have better aim that way. Also, I'm working on how to not telegraph that it's coming. I don't know if you saw, but... the energy visibly moves to my fist whenever I do it. If someone figures it out, they could know when to counterattack me. Like I said, I have to drop my barrier to do that, but..." She tucked her hair back behind her ears. "What do you think?"

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WAR ROOM (Dennis, Jack, Otso, Tamati, Violet; NPCs: Backlash, the Drifter, Ellen, Fiore, Hubris, Kas, Kiln, Pict, Puck)
Violet shook her head. "You still don't get it. I don't care what happens to her. Nothing can make up for what she did. Regardless of how, I don't want to ever see her again."

"I'm sorry to say it, kiddo," Puck said, "but I don't think you have that sort of luxury here. We're dealing with a version of you from another timeline--one who has clearly been through some things... She does not hesitate to kill. She can teleport. You stabbed her, and she got better. I think it's abundantly clear that in her world, she ate a Golden Apple. We're dealing with an immortal teleporter. We can't kill her. We likely can't restrain her. There are some options on how to handle her, but... she's clearly a dangerous opponent and we need every advantage we can get against her. Yes, you're two different people who couldn't be more different, but you may well be the best chance our side has at figuring out what makes her tick.

"I know it's going to be tough, but you're Augustus Lear's daughter. You're made of far tougher. And if you don't--if no one stops her--then this sort of madness will just continue to spread."

Edited to reflect that Violet was talking about Black Ice and not Applebottom. My bad!

[EnigmaticOne]

Imago
HP: 6

"Let's not forget Applebottom. Because she's going to continue the madness as well." Dennis responded. "What we're lacking is someone being able to say: 'I know how to make that happen.' Because unpleasant as it is, she is the Director. Even Applebottom destroying her credibility inside the agency doesn't matter if her superiors don't know it, aren't going to drop her in the trash..."

Dennis realized what he was saying. "In other words, we need HMG to be done with Francine Applebottom, and done yesterday. If there's a way to make her look absolutely incompetent during this hunt, since she brought this into the public and staked MI-18's name on it, that might do the trick. I guess the question is... how are we going to do that?"

HMG - the old acronym for His/Her Majesty's Government.

[Flynnarrel]

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WRECK ROOM (Martin; NPCs: Anne, Martin, Newton, Tatjana)
"I do notz know which factors are at play for zese two," Martin Morel continued. "Whichever it is, it is not wizin my abilities to give zem control over zeir powers. ey would need to learn to control ze muscle or conquer whatever psychological block is impeding zem. 'Owever, while I cannot 'elp zem gain control over zeir powers, it is wizin mine to take zeir powers away... if zey so choose."

"No," Tatjana said adamantly.

Newton shook his head. "It's their decision."

Fluxx blows out a breath. "Zis is similar to an 'abortion' debate all over again and one we don't possess ze time for, currently. Much ze same way no one should 'ave somezing done to zeir body wizout zeir approval..." he specifically doesn't look at older Martin, "... zey should be able to choose what 'appens to zeir body when given ze opportunity."

"But it is clear zis is an issue you are impassioned about Tatjana. Please take zese two into a side room and make your case why zey should not give up zeir abilities. And, for ze record," he looks from Tatjana to the two students and back, making sure he had their attention, "I agree zey should not give up zeir abilities. I know it seems like nozing but a burden now but 'oo knows what zey might become in ze future. 'Oo knows 'ow much good can be done in ze areas of aquatic rescue or wiz ze unique perspective of insect vision. I do not zink zey should strip zat part of what makes zem 'zem' as an individual. But I will speak out for zeir right to make zat choice for zemselves. So, please, Tatjana and maybe even Newton, take zem aside for... twenty minutes. Talk wiz zem and share your views, listen to zeirs, it likely contains pain and isolation and loneliness for zem. And after zat time, let ze choice be zeirs. Martin and I will work on ze part and descriptions of ze labs in zat time. Agreed?"

[Michuru]

NVAE, SUBLEVEL: WRECK ROOM (Martin; NPCs: Anne, Martin, Newton, Tatjana)
Martin Morel rolled his eyes. "And after 'er, should zey listen to every ozer opinion? Ze only zing zat matters is: it is zeir bodies." He made his way towards the door and stood beside Mister Benson. "You are boz burdened by your abilities. Eizer it is because you 'ave not yet learned to control zem or because a psychological block prevents you from controlling zem. I cannot 'elp you wiz eizer, but I can genetically modify you so zat you are no longer a Neo-Sapien. Is zis what you want?"

Adam didn't hesistate. "Yes," he said while a nervous Annalise considered it.

Martin reached out and touched the boy. His eyes reseeded back into his skull, leaving only normal-looking eyes.

"Your kidneys were not ze best, but I 'ave fixed zem. Perhaps you should drink more water and less soda."

"Please," Annalise said after seeing Adam's transformation. The boy's hands were over his face, feeling normal eyes instead of the large, compound eyes he had been cursed with. "Please, make me normal, too."

"Of course," the self-styled god said, his voice dripping with pity. He showed her the same favor and her skin began to change. Gone was the green, rubbery appearance she was marked by. Her broad face changed. A wide mouth was replaced by full lips. Still, she was bald.

"What colour 'air would you like?"

"R-red," she stammered, looking down at her hands. She started to cry. "I have fingernails!" She showed her hands to Adam and Mister Benson in turn. "I have fingernails!"

Martin looked disgusted. "People wiz redhair are... well, zey are more prone to cancer. 'Ow about black?" He reached out again and touched her. Long, raven locks spilled out of her scalp and onto her shoulders.

Tatjana stormed past her boyfriend's doppelganger angrily and planted herself in front of him. "You didn't even give them time to think about it!"

"Zis is somezing zey 'ave no doubt been zinking about for some time, and we agree zat time is not somezing we 'ave in abundance, oui?" He looked to the other Martin and gestured for him to follow. "Shall we?"

Newton walked forward and paused long enough to exchange glances with Mister Benson. The two watched their students impassively for a moment, and then Newton approached them. "I am very happy for you both," he said, "but I believe we should go see Doctor Bacon. I'd just like to make sure we have a few things looked at..." He led them off to the infirmary, leaving Martin to watch his other self.

[Flynnarrel]

Fluxx cringed as Martin Morel displayed all the characteristics that they had just talked about. He gave his girlfriend a commiserating, helpless look.

He steps close to his red-headed girlfriend. "Maybe you should go to Doctor Bacon as well to verify zere were no lasting effects from your own transformations..." Fluxx suggests, not entirely trusting Martin.

[Michuru]

Again, my bad. That got lost in the shuffle. Let's go ahead and presume that was rectified inside of all that.

We'll fix it in post.

[Flynnarrel]

Edited previous post to reflect that Martin turned Tat back.

Fluxx turns back to Martin, "Let's get to ze placements and disposition of Jeannette's labs."

As Martin outlines the labs Fluxx will try to figure out likely places that Reynard's gang might be holding the politician's daughter.

[Will add an Investigation roll if needed, just let me know.]

[Arkrite]

Alex "Current" Murphy
HP: 0 CND: Normal

"Nice work. I knew you could do it," Lex says, crouching down to examine the damage done to the ground with a big smile on his face, "Experimented with your powers and now you got a bad ass clutch punch."

"So we need to cover your weak points, right? Using it means you lose your armor, so maybe armor up your suit?" He run his hands through his hair, "Think you can make your field shimmer like that when you're not doing the attack?"

"It flickers, they think you're open and boom, they take themselves out," Lex grins, "And if they don't dodge you might just flatten them. They have to second guess their attacks and they can't afford to ignore you. Turn your weak point into a strength."

"After that you just need a reliable attack so people can't just ignore you, and so you don't always have to go for broke" He says, "How you feel about escrima?"

"A couple of extendable batons and you have a quick easy way of hurting people," Lex says.

He seems a little more animated now as he turns his mind onto something he can help with. And it was fun to focus on somebody else for a change.

[Shock]

Violet Lear
HP: 4

Violet stiffened at Robyn's lecture. "I don't know a thing about her and I'd rather keep it that way." The temperature in the room returned to normal. "And you're one to go on about stopping madness."

"As far Applebottom, I'd like to ring my Dad. Can you give me a moment?" She pulled out her phone and rung up her father's number. She expected he possibly already knew more than she did and was thinking up a plan to clear her name, if nothing else.

[Tattooedman]

Greystone:
[Jack Rexroth]
HP: 1
LP: 2

Jack kept quiet as Violet told everyone she wanted nothing to do with her other-dimensional self. He understood that line of thought thanks to his own experiences in that kind of thing, but the problem was that Applebottom was making herself more of a horse's bottom by trying to capitalize on the situation. Puck was right in that someone needed to do something about it; Jack just wasn't sure if it should be any of them.