Joshie

MASKS- A New Generation

Issue 1: Enter the Dragoonslayers...

The opening image of the first page shows the imposing image of Dragoon, surrounded by flames as the very familiar battle that has forged the six four of you together is being re-enacted.

Welcome to training.

Or as all of you have come to know it: Hell.

You all are locked inside the Situational and Tactical Combat Training Room. The Guardians call it SATCOM. You all call it... oh wait, already said that. Right. Moving along.

Network, you are standing out on the now devastated main avenue outside the laboratory. In front of you stands Dragoon. Behind you stands the team your mentor forced you to lead, since the actual field leader chose to sit out this exercise.

And somewhere, beyond the simulated heavens, one of the Guardians are watching and monitoring the four of you closely, controlling the sim as if this was a video game.

But this is no game. The hard light holograms are state of the art. You get hit, it hurts. You touch fire, it burns. Ice is cold. Etc. The dangers of the real world can easily be replicated here. The only difference is the auto shutdown if anyone sustains a major injury, so yeah, no hand slicing this time.

The objective of the simulation is simple: Take down Dragoon, and save people who needs saving. However, you all were warned to watch out for surprises.

Currently, Dragoon is standing in front of you all. If this was real life (or set at a higher difficulty), she would be attacking. Instead, she is set to 'react'. This means you all have time to plan.

Network, time for a team huddle. What are your orders? How do you plan to take her down?

And what are the rest of you doing? And up to this point (yourself included, Network) what was, in your opinion, the coolest thing you did that is sure to impress the Guardians?

=======

Meanwhile, on the observation deck, You, Alexis and you, Andrea, are watching the exercise unfold on the sidelines. What are you two doing at the moment? Describe the observation deck.

Alexis, your mother hasn't heard about you backing out, but she will. Are you prepared to face her? How will you?

Andrea, this must be rough, looking over this battle again. How are you taking it so far? And have you been keeping 'you know what' under control? How?

OOC

Any OOC question you may have, you can direct to the OOC thread. I purposely left the surroundings detail-less so that we can feel in the blanks as the die is rolled and questions are answered.

MASKS- A New Generation

Alright close to starting. Question though (for everyone):

What does the Guardians headquarters look like? Where is it? And what do you all think of their Danger Room training simulator?

MASKS- A New Generation

Also, what have you done to me!? I've never even seen this show. The scenes are just too funny. ^^

@Liliya

+1.

How have this show escaped my radar!?

MASKS- A New Generation

@Joshie
And now I'm scared

@Tengri

You know not what fear is...

@Joshie

I have a question. Will we start as an already established team or from the very first meeting altogether?

@Tengri

As far as Lodestar is concerned, you all are a team. XD

And spoil alert: as far as Lodestar is concerned, Polaris is the leader.

And yes, Alex's protests were ignored. :p

MASKS- A New Generation

@Liliya

That's the beauty of it... we actually ARE playing the game right now. These events, the npc's that populate these events, the thoughts and feeling of these characters you all are creating will come back during actual play. I've been taking notes all this time (though the notes are a bit spotty since some of my note taking has been during work hours. :p)

If this was an actual in person game, we would be doing just as you said: Bouncing things off each other. Someone has an idea, someone else may have input, questions are asked, dice rolled to determine what happens, and story gets written because of it.

MASKS- A New Generation

@Raijinslayer@Liliya

Hmm... more weapons in my arsenal then.

This is why I love this game (and PBtA games in particular). The lore and story that gets developed is astonishing. And haven't even gotten to the dice rolling yet (which is coming soon, I promise).

MASKS- A New Generation

<Snipped quote by Joshie>

"I'll go ahead and claim that, even if there was an information leak, it had to be from someone on our side. If Lodestar or any other hero decided to go public and announce the death of Dragoon, then the city must know. However, both me and Nucleus would sort through the internet and personally block any disclosed information and delay official resources as long as no one makes their move."

@Tengri

Hmmm... so other than the picture, all other traces of Dragoon's death may have been confiscated or blocked by Nucleus and Network? Interesting. *Strokes chin*

MASKS- A New Generation

IMO, even if the Guardians and the HCPD tried to cover up Dragoon's death, I think the truth would have gotten out. IIRC, Liliya mentioned a bit about a newspaper having caught a picture of Alex over the defeated Dragoon, so there's definitely the media that knows.

Also, kind of tinkering with the idea of having saved a sentient AI designed by the company Dragoon attacked as opposed to a regular person. I think my thought process was something like "Oh there has to be a good reason why Dragoon is trying to rob the place" and then to robots and then to yeah. Thoughts?

@Grey

I forgot about that picture. You're right.

As for the 'Sentient AI', that is indeed workable. @Liliya mentioned that there are certain secrets that a certain someone is after. Perhaps Dragoon was sent to 'kidnap' that AI to unlock those secrets?

MASKS- A New Generation

@JoshieI mean...other than one of our peeps almost dying and another furthering a generational curse? I can only think of two people who really lost anything. I don't even know. I suppose we'll have to deal with the backlash from the people we didn't save. Like a few other young supers, who actually were our friends. That we knew, and had worked with before.

"I mean, I'm not one to talk about the negative stuff so casually. Sure, we saved so many people, and...that was my aunt we killed. Had to kill. Whatever. We killed her. And we lost friends in the battle. I'll be sure to add them to my memory archives the next time I can go to my sanctuary. Fourteen in all. We're not big damn heroes. We're the little guys. We didn't deserve to be there. We didn't earn our praise. We were sloppy. We were...and we had connections.

"'You can't save everyone.' That's what people say, like it means anything. Of course we can't. But we lost the heroes and survived out of dumb luck. There was no victory. We were just the last people standing after the real heroes did the hard work. Fourteen heroes, civvies still missing, probably vaporized. No. You can save the people who also save people. Then you're a hero.

So yeah, we paid a high cost. But not nearly as high as fifteen heroes - because my aunt-by-marriage is still a hero, even though we had to kill her - and countless civilians. Don't ask me about what we lost. Don't call us heroes. We all probably still have the dreams. I know I still watch my back, and jump when I hear unexpected noises."

@Ermine

You know those moments when you thought you did something, but didn't and now you realize you didn't after you finally turned off your job brain and shifted into casual mode? -_-

I had a question I thought I asked and now looking through the thread again, realized I never did.

So question (to everyone here):

Was Dragoon's death covered up? Being dragged along the street, with your head crushed is a grusome way to go, and everyone was so focused on getting Alex medical attention, so who was behind the cover up? Does the city 'know' that Dragoon is dead? Do they know HOW she died?

MASKS- A New Generation

I'm in the process of doing an opening post for IC and that should be up shortly. In the mean time:

@Hyper Harlequin Outsider: We didn’t trust each other at first, but that changed. How? Why?

@Grey Janus: We saved the life of someone important, either to the city, or to us. Who was it? Why are they important?

@Ermine Doomed: We paid a high cost for victory. What was it?

These were discussed, but I don't think we had an official answer to them (either that, or I missed them while enjoying the fun little rp you all were having here).

I've updated the answers I did catch and received.

@Liliya, a PM is about to come your way.