Scene 1: Busy Night in the Big City

Evening approaches, the sun sets over Nova Gail City. As street lights spark to life, the people of Nova Gail crawl through the urban landscape. Some headed home for the night. A long day of work behind them, they look forward to a quiet evening at home with family or recreation as is their want. Others are just beginning their day, the night shift setting out to enter the grind that keeps the world moving in this modern age.

The city is bustling with noises. Cars honking their horns, people talking on their phones or shouting insults for both real and imagined slights. All in all most would call it peaceful despite the cacophonous din of it all. It won't stay peaceful for long, though most may barely take notices.

Nova Gail City is home to the highest concentration of powered individuals in the hemisphere. With 50% of the world possessing some sort of extraordinary gift, it is common place to see a woman float rather than walk down the street, or a rat faced messenger scamper up a telephone pole and tightrope walk over a crowded intersection rather than push his way through the crowd.

The Garment District. A man with bulging muscles and a single bulls horn sells newspapers and other periodicals from inside a newsstand on the corner. He shouts at a passing speedster who's wake disrupts the front covers of his magazines. The speedster smirks to himself, taking a wry, slightly perverse, pleasure in the chaos he is causing. He gets so frustrated by the tediousness of dealing with customers at the computer outlet store he works at that these little rebellious acts have become what he lives for. Besides he's not really hurting anyone, just a little inconvenience is all he's causing, his revenge against the world that can't keep up with him. He considered trying the hero thing, or even the less glamorous life of police work, but he couldn't cut it. The studying at the academy was more than he could handle, and despite his remarkable speed, others were faster and braver than him. So he lived the normal quiet life of a 9-5 geek squad. "Computers were more his speed." he liked to say to his coworkers in the break room.

His speed wasn't the only advantage he had. His brain worked faster than most people too. It made sense to him, if you move fast you have to think fast, but retaining information he wasn't interested in was his issue, why he had failed the academy exam when though he finished it in record time. His perception was sped up to. That was what allowed him to side step the tear in space before he ran right through it. No telling what it would have done to him if he had toughed it. Often enough teleportation attempts that intersected anything other than air would fizzle out. Sometimes they didn't though. Those times got messy. Nobody like cleaning up from a teleportatoin accident. That was one reason why teleporters were supposed to use the legally mandated landing pads found every few blocks in the city. Or if you couldn't reliably get to one, you just weren't allowed to use your powers.

So that meant this teleportal that the speedster had just avoided was likely a villain. It might be an origin, some kid just coming of age who wasn't in full control of his power yet, but those were rare with all the monitoring people did these days. Villains though, they were relatively common, especially in Nova Gail City. The speedster considered stopping for a moment to see if it was anyone famous that would draw out one of the Top 10. Maybe he could get an autograph, or if he were really luck it could be Gun Bunny or UFO Girl that showed up, he might get a chance to ask one of them out on a date. All this flashed through his mind in a nanosecond, then he noticed the armored car across the street. It was transferring money back to the central vault it seemed. That meant the villains were heavy hitters, ready to deal with an armored truck. Figuring this could get dangerous, the speedster opts to move on. He does give a warning shout though, "Incoming teleporter folks, take cover!" so he feels like he's done his part.

Seconds later, the other people on the street figure out what the speedster was talking about. They see the blue and white light that is ripping a hole in the fabric of space-time. They see the three large, armored men that step through it and realize they need to make themselves scarce. It takes a few seconds more for the security guards loading large bags of money into the truck to notice the developing issue. The loud 'THUNK' on the side of the truck clues them in though. They look out and see super villain team "The Fanatics" staring down.

Fastball


Blitzer


and

Slapshot


The two guards in back scramble to get inside the truck and slam the door. The driver initiates the lock down procedures just as the team of villains begin their attack. Fastball takes of on his Hovering Homeplate and launches his signature baseball bludgeons at one of the guards. It knocks the unfortunate man out cold. "Beaner!" the roughen shouts excitedly as he whizzes around the truck. Blitzer moves preternaturally fast to position himself in front of the truck. The driver has just manages to get the truck in gear and slam on the accelerator, but the hulking machine lowers a shoulder and halts the escape in its tracks. Slapshot skates forward on his zero-point energy skates and brandishes his hockey stick against the rear door. The weapon makes contact with the metal and lets out a wretched hiss as it starts to burn and cut through the metal hinges.

The heroes get the call. They are the closest to the scene. It seems many of the Top 10 are in other parts of the city dealing with other issues. This is a great time to shine.

Campaign Aspects: Nova Gail City of Heroes
Scene Aspects: Dusk in the City, Evening Rush Hour, Eyes all Around

Vitrius is doing a charity dinner in costume nearby when he gets the alarm. Though he's not yet in the top 10, his events still draw a bit of a crowd. Making his excuses, he steps outside and takes off. On the way he gathers his materials, broken bottles and other glass detritus, forming his wings that have become his signature. However, other glass he moves to other caches, ready to come at an unexpected angle if necessary.

Vitrius arrives first on the scene, taking a vantage point from the top of the four story building across the street from the bank. He looks down to see the three criminals still working to get into the truck. The engine is giving off a strained whine as the driver does all he can to bowl over Blitzer, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Across the way, Echo arrives. She deposits a small bag on the roof of the four story office building and takes an athletic leap down to street level walking up behind Slapshot. The buzz of the camera drones comes to Vitrius's attention just as she delivers her quipy line. That will go over well with the audience.

Slapshot stops cutting into the truck and slowly turns around. "What's this now, eh? Sending out the second stringers? Hurts ma feelings that we don't even get to tussle with a starter. Shouldn't a wee lass like you be at home puttin' dinner on the table or somthin'? Not out here gettin' it ta trouble." His Canadian accent is heavy, he might be playing it up a little, but with that he swings his laser hockey stick at Echo who can feel the heat of the blade as it veers for her head.

Fastball positions himself over the truck and is winding up to bean Echo the moment Slapshot gives him an opening.

Fastball looks up as Vitrius launches his attack. He swings around trying to use his hoverboard as a shield while extending his armored "mitt" hand out to catch the incoming projectile.

Vitrius's shards strike their target true enough. One lodges itself in the base of the hover board, another shatters against the output of its engines. The third is caught by the cybernetic mitt.

Feeling his stick being wrenched away, Slapshot tightens his grip and pulls back.

Echo spins away from Slapshot, ripping his hockey stick out of his hands. The leverage the young hero used seems like enough to knock him off balance and he slides around on his energy skates. He has to flail about to keep his balance.

A cry of shock and disgust comes from the gathered crowd as they take in the aftermath of the exchange. The blade of the hockey stick has cut deep into Echo's shoulder causing what looks like a grievous wound, but it has also cut open and burned away part of her costume, revealing quite a bit more skin than the young heroine might want exposed. Several cellphones appear and start flashing as the onlookers try to grab a shot that Echo knows will spread quickly over the internet in a few moments. It will take a ghoulish appetite to get their jollies off these photos, but those people exist.

The camera drones that were following her all retreat to a safe distance behind her. The quick thinking camera operators back at the studios trying to keep the FCC off their backs. Echo realizes she is going to catch and earful for this later.

That sounds good to me, my provoke is +3, so slightly better outcome with that.

Blitzer turns his helmeted head toward El Toro Caliente. His deep but somewhat tinny voice roars over the sounds of the armored car engine. "Oh go sit on your own pointy hat, worthless pretty boy! I'm working here!"

Now that the heroes are on the scene and have engaged the villains, the crowd really starts clamoring. A lot of them are focused on the fact Echo is baring a lot more skin than they believe appropriate, or the fact she has a laser powered hockey stick buried in her shoulder. The second largest group cheers the arrival of El Toro Caliente, the most subscribed hero in the city, but they also seem to mostly be on the front end of the armored truck, so perhaps they haven't seen Echo yet. A few have turned their eyes on Vitrius and cry out for him to do more than throw something at the bad guys.

Fastball seems preoccupied removing the glass from his hover board to do much else. He spins about haphazardly as he tries to extract the glass without doing more damage.

Slapshot, disarmed of his primary weapon decides to try and fix that issue. He lunges forward trying to grab the stick back.

Blitzer turns back to staring down the driver of the truck, but a panel on his shoulder opens up and small grenade lobs toward El Toro.

Slapshot follows Echo as she rolls away, looking somewhat desperate to get his stick back.

As Vitrius descends, Echo is wrapped in a flowing, shimmering layer of fine particles. The glass forms a barrier, covering her nudity and her wound. The glass flows with her as she tumbles and follows as she kicks out at Slapshot. Her boot connects hard, slamming his jaw shut. The heroes can also hear the telltale sound of bone snapping with the impact. The villain hears it.

Slapshot is reeling about, off balance again, and holding his face. Blood flows freely from his mouth and nose. They are probably broken. He looks like a feather could knock him over right now, but he recovers some and squares up. His throws his fists so his gloves hit the street and then come up into a classic hockey fighting pose. Some in the crowd starts to chant Echo's name, other's call out Slapshot for being thrashed by a girl (seeming to forget that Echo is nearing the Top 10 in rank and a renown fighter herself). A few cheers for Vitrius can be heard. It seems his gallant gesture isn't going unnoticed.

Blitzer's explosive creates a sizable divot in the street. The chucks of asphalt go flying in up and out in every direction. The crowd nearest shouts their displeasure, but seems unharmed. Blitzer shifts his grip on the truck and the heroes hear the metal crunch in his armored hands. "You wouldn't stand a chance if I really wanted to hurt you prissy pants! I'd stomp your ass without breaking a sweat"

He pauses for a second, clearly working through some intense thoughts. The crowd jeers him. "Big talk from a guy wearing power armor cause he can't cut it. Show us what your made of Blitzen!" Calling him the name of one of Santa's reindeer seems to do it. Blitzer shouts in rage.

But yes, that was my plan initially. He would charge right at me, into the electrical transformer. I'm actually standing four feet to the left of where I appear to be standing, so if he charges right at me at full speed, he'll just pass harmlessly through my projected image. It's a mental attack, but I'm thinking in this situation the damage should be physical, at least to his suit.

Of course once he rams into the transformer and it explodes in a giant shower of fire and sparks, I'll be posing in front of the action. And the crowd roars, "¡Olé!"

Blitzer crashes into the transformer to the cheer of the crowd. The suit of armor jerks uncontrollably and sparks. The street lights overhead short out and then blow up, showering sparks onto the street. Eventually the big guy ceases moving and the heroes can hear a voice screaming from inside to be let out.

"Y-yur no lady." Slapshot slurs groggily. As Echo moves in he tries to side step.

---

El Toro examines the exo-suit for a moment then notices a panel that he can open. Inside that panel is bar marked "manual release" in white letters. It seems like all you have to do is pull up and twist.

Slapshot doesn't make his move fast enough and hits the pavement a little hard, but his helmet seems to absorb most of the blow, He moans quietly then stops. He looks to be out cold.

The armored car, now free of Blitzer's grip shifts gears and coughs out a cloud of black exhaust. In a smaller vehicle it might have peeled out, but the heavy truck simply gets up to speed a bit faster that it normally does. It hits the intersection and makes a hard right turn. The truck leans a bit as it goes around the corner, coming up off two wheels just a bit, but corrects and speeds away.

Fastball, upon seeing his two companions are down hesitates for a moment then flies off after the truck.

As the hatch on Blitzer's armor opens it reveals a balding man who seems to be in his late 60's wearing a light gray leotard with several dark metallic disks placed in strategic positions about his body. A quick glance inside the mecha give El Toro the impression that they are intended to control the movements of the robotic outfit. Pulling himself out of the frame in a less than graceful fashion, the aged man tumbles to the ground a bit and stands up. At which point three civilians step forward brandishing their powers, one man's fist bursts into flames, a young woman's arms transform into spindly appendages like spider legs and she weaves a strand of sticky looking purple filaments into a net, the last man looks very nervous but he puts his fingers to his temples and the air begins to hum with a weak telekinetic force. "You cuff'em El Toro, we'll make sure he doesn't make a break for it." the flame fisted gentleman says.

"Oh go blow it out yer ass." Blitzer replies, though whether he is responding toward El Toro or the civilian is unclear at the moment.

---

Fastball chases after the armored car. He glances behind himself as he sees the two heroes coming after him. "Give it up "heroes" you can't stop me! I will claim that prize! Its all mine you hear!" he spins his hoverboard attempting to shake you both

Echo cuts through an alley and leaps at Fastball as he tries to zoom past, but the villain evades her for the moment. Vitrius on the other hand is on target. The large glass construct connects. Fastball's bell is rung and he has a few scrapes, but he maintains his pursuit of the armored car. If Echo doesn't think fast she is going to be left behind.

Echo misses Fastball on the first pass or so the villain thinks, but what he doesn't see is that tackling him from that direction would have caused he and Echo to plow into a group of onlookers. So Vitrius created a pane of glass so that Echo can flip around and use it to attack from the proper angle. Deftly flipping about Echo springs back at Fastball grabbing the hoverboard and using her momentum to spin them around. After being hit by Vitrius a moment ago, Fastball is to disoriented to keep his footing and he goes tumbling to the street.

Fastball takes a moment to get to his feet after the tumble. Then he rears back and launches a baseball at Echo. "That's MINE!"

It takes El Toro a moment but he catches up to the others, though using his illusion powers to be invisible, no one has realized it yet.

Fastball hears the sirens and stares down Vitrius for a moment before he ducks his head to hide his eyes from the hero, striking the classic pitcher pose...

But then he puts his hands high, up over his head. He looks defeated. The crowd cheers approval of the heroes victory. Three blocks away you see the armored truck has stopped and the driver is looking back at you. He waves then gets back in making to leave.

"Fine, I surrender..." Fastball says. "...but you're just gonna let the prize get away? That doesn't seem very smart. Oh, and uh...who's got Slapshot and Blitzer?"

Vitrius extends his senses, using his ability to manipulate glass to feel/hear the vibrations back where the fight started. There is quite a bit of commotion with so many people and vehicles around. Concentrating, he starts to pick up that some part of the situation has changed. It seems Blitzer has been antagonizing the crowd...and Slapshot has disappeared.

Vitrius extends his senses, using his ability to manipulate glass to feel/hear the vibrations back where the fight started. There is quite a bit of commotion with so many people and vehicles around. Concentrating, he starts to pick up that some part of the situation has changed. It seems Blitzer has been antagonizing the crowd...and Slapshot has disappeared.

The driver sees Vitrius walking toward them and quickly gets back in the truck and starts driving away, avoiding the hero to the best of his ability apparently.

---

Back on the block with the bank, the crowd is starting to disperse but they still have Blitzer...the man inside the suit...restrained by their various powers.

A man with a three foot neck approaches the heroes. "Yeah, so like, what happened was this lady appeared, well...it was lady shaped anyway. She was all armored up like a black knight robot thing. But her head...her head was like a dome filled with energy and a brain. No skull or eyballs or nothing. Just a brain. Anyway, that Blitzer guys armor lit up again and she just popped out of the mecha and touched the hockey dude. It looked like she killed him and sort of ate him? You know? Like...her armor was made out of nanites...part of my powers are detecting wireless signals. Its not super useful beyond knowing when I am in range of the wifi, but I sensed there was a lot of activity like a hundred remote control drones swarmed him, then he was gone. She walked back to the mecha climbed inside and it disolved too. She was able to break it down I guess. Blitzer there was pitchin' a fit swearing at her as she left, she told him she couldn't help him right before she and mecha disappeared."

---

Fastball waits patiently to be carted off to jail.

As Vitrius reaches out with his powers, he can't seem to grab anything where he feels like the truck windows should be. There is no "glass" used in the construction of this vehicle.

Vitrius takes to the sky in pursuit of the truck. City traffic keeps he truck from reaching top speeds, so for now it stays in range. But quickly he realizes it is heading for one of two destinations. "The Tunnel" which is an underground roadway that connects several different areas if the city more directly so citizens can stay in their cars, or "The Wheel" the freeway that people use to get from the extreme ends of the city limits. If they go into the Tunnel, it will be very cramped for Vitrius and the smog can build up pretty quickly despite the ventilation system. The Loop would be easier, nice open air vantage points, but they can get some real speed, and the open air would make Vitrius an easy target to see.

---

"I ain't saying nothing! You'se ain't never gonn'a crack this egg!" Blitzer pulls against his restraints and tries to get in Echo's face. His breath reeks of stale beer and flecks of spittle fly toward the young woman but fall short of striking her,

A teenage boy, about 16 or 17 approaches Echo. "Hi! his voice cracks a little, he clears his throat and continues affecting a slightly lower pitch this time. "Could I get a selfie with you? You are one of the coolest up an coming heroes. I upvote you in every poll."

Location 1: The Bank

---

Location 2: On the Road

---

Location 3: One block from the bank

Location 1: The Bank
Echo: The teen holds up his phone and reverses the camera so you see yourself reversed in the image. He raises his free hand and gives a thumbs up with a big cheesy smile. He clicks one picture quickly. "Dang, out of focus. Just one more?" he asks, but doesn't seem to be waiting for a response. As you prepare another smile you notice his free hand is moving closer to you. His fingers are relaxed a bit, but still in a thumbs up mostly. At the last second you realize he is about to grab your ruined top and try to snap a picture. How do you react? Keep in mind the police are very close.

---

Location 2: On the Road

It takes a bit of effort, but the cars near the turn for The Tunnel all veer in that direction. The armored car slows for a second, but then swerves toward the on-ramp for the freeway (The Wheel). The speed through a red-light, narrowly avoiding an accident and ascend the on-ramp at about 20mph faster than the posted speed limit.

---

Location 3: One block from the bank
"Maybe you should do a little more homework, he-ro! I used to be a pro. One of the best even! His tone is a bit sardonic. As he replies, the real police can be seen turning onto your street. They should be

As Vitrius moves in with his gigantic glass spear, the armored car speeds onward, weaving around the traffic on the freeway. The setting sun lights his weapon so that it looks like a blazing comet bearing down on the trucks engine. Making his final approach the sila-kinetisist is surprised when the passenger door opens and the second guardsman climbs out onto the roof. Where his hands touch the vehicle, it smolders and grows red-hot. As the figure gets to the roof, they burst into flame, revealing that it is in fact not a man, but a woman, a criminal named Napalm who generates a burning plasma and can hurl it like a fire hose.

Her feet melt the armor of the vehicle granting her a foot hold. The remnants of her disguise fall away, alerting the drivers nearby to the danger they face. They all hastily pull over and avoid getting in the way. Now the only issue is the traffic the truck is going to approach from behind. Those people might not see the fireworks and could still be in danger.

Turning to face Vitrius, Napalm raisers her arms and unleashes her counterattack. A torrent of burning plasma erupts in Vitrius's direction. The driver inside the vehicle somehow seems to anticipate the hero's plan and takes evasive maneuvers, which cause Napalm's fire to wave back and forth creating a wall of heat that is nearly unbearable.

Location 1: The Bank

Echo's super agility allows her to keep her dignity before he can make any more mischief for her and plants a kiss on his cheek. This takes the young man completely off guard and his cheeks flush deeply. He snaps the pic with a look of shock, forgetting his plans. The crowd seems to approve, breaking out in mild cheers, gasps, clapping and wolf whistles.

Moments later the patrol car arrives and they pack Blitzer into the back. The officers are polite and professional, though they keep their heads down when the drone cameras whiz by. They take Echo's statement and offer her a NGPD windbreaker she can zip up over her costume.

Things are wrapping up when the reporters start edging in looking for a statement, mostly about the missing crook and happened to him. You receive a message that all three of the heroes who responded to this indecent have been invited to appear on this evenings episode of HERO REPORT, the daily show that recounts the days exploits of heroes and updates the standings. It will only be a 3 minute spot for you guys since you aren't in the Top 10, but it is sort of a big deal to be invited on the show at all. Either they need to fill some time because other heroes said no, or you are trending enough to warrant the exposure.

---

Location 2: On the Road

Deciding not to pursue the conflict Vitrius lands on the freeway as the armored car speeds away. The police sirens approach from behind, and most speed past the hero. One toward the back of the pack slows to a stop and asks to take a statement for the report of the whole incident, indicating they would like to meet at the bottom of the next off-ramp so traffic can resume, which it has started to do.

You receive a message that all three of the heroes who responded to this indecent have been invited to appear on this evenings episode of HERO REPORT, the daily show that recounts the days exploits of heroes and updates the standings. It will only be a 3 minute spot for you guys since you aren't in the Top 10, but it is sort of a big deal to be invited on the show at all. Either they need to fill some time because other heroes said no, or you are trending enough to warrant the exposure.

---

Location 3: One Block from the Bank

The police arrive in short order to cart Fastball off to jail. "Oye! Tell Pinky not to get too attached to my board. I'll be coming for it sooner than ya' might think!" He hocks a loogie toward you but it falls well short as the cops push down on his head and shove him into the back of the cruiser. As that is being done, the press moves in looking for a statement about the missing crook.

You then receive a message that all three of the heroes who responded to this indecent have been invited to appear on this evenings episode of HERO REPORT, the daily show that recounts the days exploits of heroes and updates the standings. It will only be a 3 minute spot for you guys since you aren't in the Top 10, but it is sort of a big deal to be invited on the show at all. Either they need to fill some time because other heroes said no, or you are trending enough to warrant the exposure.

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