14653/Unstoppable: On the Hunt

Unstoppable: On the Hunt
Date of Scene:	04 January 2023
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Koriand'r, Kit, and Blackout investigate the terraformers which have been plaguing the globe to learn more about their origins.
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Blackout, Kit Killovarras, Starfire
Tinyplot:	Unstoppable

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Shredder has posed:
The terraformers have become a nuisance. Some are more quickly dispensed with than others. Upstate New York has recently joined the ranks of the hundreds that have been despersed around the globe. Nobody has been able to respond to it yet, though, given that it's a good 80 miles from any population centers. The impact didn't affect any towns this time, which means the only thing that must be dealt with is the toxic atmosphere that is now surrounding it. Not to mention its own minor defenses.

Blackout has posed:
Stepping out of a darkforce portal, the mostly unknown anti-hero/part-time-villain known as Blackout emerges in a vantablack body suit that covers his entire body including his face and eyes. The toxicity is a threat and he doesn't want to inhale something potentially dangerous. Instead, he carries a small breathing apparatus on his back that's hosed into his darkforce armor. He eyes the scene through the darkforce covering and scans for the cause of the threat. He knows there's some machine present, he heard about it <on the news-or something>.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
For someone as young as he is, Kit seems to be in the know about a lot of things, especially when it comes to strange dangers. After all, it helps to have eyes and ears in weird places, so it's no surprise that an active transformer caught his attention. This time there aren't civilians to be hurt or who need to be healed, so he doesn't have to worry to much about others.

His face is covered by what can only be described as a customized NBC mask, possibly a redesign of the old M10M masks. Well at least he's come with some kind of preparation, since the last time he encountered one of these things he couldn't smell much of anything for a week after the fact.

Starfire has posed:
Starfire has been busy responding to these terraforming threats in population centers, but she caught enough of a break as more heroes joined the response to at least circle back to the Titan's Tower and check in with Robin. He distributed some technological devices that should help purify the air, after the terraformers themselves are dealt with.

Now she is on a mission from Tim via Batman to search for any clues as to the source of the terraformer bots. She is assured that the Justice League and others are hard at work protecting civilians. So now she is rocketing through the atmosphere, hair ablaze, approaching an out-of-the-way crash site, hopeful that she can focus on the device there since she'll have no need to protect the helpless in harm's way. She intends to use her eyebeams for extreme precision targeting to disable the device without a lot of collateral damage. By now she thinks she knows a lot of their weak points. She carries a bagful of the counter-tech on a sling over her body. From past encounters she knows her own energy aura and lack of need to breathe protects her skin and lungs from the toxic clouds.

Shredder has posed:
The red haze that tints the sky around makes it at least clear where the air becomes unbreathable. The change in the makeup has led to many deaths worldwide. Upon approach, the automatic defense is not dissimilar to the previous incarnations, automatic pulse attacks which would be mostly harmless to Koriand'r as long as she doesn't get within the 100 meter range of the device. It's become common knowledge by now that there is some sort of that is generated. SHIELD's team has learned that it is powered by an element called Utromium, which enables it to disable nearly any sort of superhuman ability, even up to the level of Lantern Power Rings. However, in the case of these, a simple ability to remain outside of their range is all is needed to deal with them.

Blackout has posed:
Having only recently learned that the device has a defense system, Blackout is cautious not to get too close. Even though he's keen on getting close so that he can 'loot' or obtain something from within. The Utromium would be his likely target. Research, SCIENCE!, stuff that he wants to learn or try and utilize and study.

Blackout begins to advance toward the object. Over the rough terrain, he moves slowly, cautiously. And then pauses when he is just outside of what he estimates as 100 yards. Because we're in America, we use freedom units to count. He also looks around and takes note of the other arrivals. That also gives him pause. He doesn't recognize the guy, but he knows who the girl is. And it's likely she'll be a problem in acquiring the Utromium.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
When he dips into the red haze, Kit quickly reaches up to his mask and taps the side of the muzzle where the filters would normally be, but instead of vents this mask has some sort stone disc in their place. He knows enough to stay outside of the range of the devices defenses, so when he's nearing the edge of it, he simply parks his bike and casually pulls out a small notebook and pencil, writing a few things into it as he waits.

There are others here after all, so he'll leave the disabling of the device to them. For now? He's content to wait and to write, enjoying the fresh air and familiar smells of his homeland from the unseen rift generated by that strange little stone disc.

Starfire has posed:
Kory is well aware of the dangerous no-powers field, seeing as it shut off her powers mid-flight for a short duration as it fell past her when she got too close to the very first such device. Not to mention all her work since then to help against the others. She has no trouble shooting from miles away if needed however, especially when using her eyebeams. In this case when she arrives she stays about a thousand feet back and up, and begins her campaign of blasting eyebeam lasers with her solar energy at the device's defenses. While her starbolts rely on her admittedly rather good aim, they are still less accurate than her eyebeams, which unerringly zap exactly what she's looking at. Her starbolts also do more concussive damage than she wants to try. With her eyebeams she can blast something as small as a lock off a door. Whenever she has determined she's won she'll drop down and hail the other two superpowered individuals she can see, one of whom is already a friend!

Shredder has posed:
the beams from Kory make short work of the defenses. The first blast triggers the response as the armor withstands it, but that only serves for it to swivel its defensive weapons in her direction, exposing them for the second strike. By the third they are disabled, a spark of electricity spewing from it. A red light starts flashing on the side of it as soon as it's disabled, though.

Blackout has posed:
There's a bit of confusion when Koriand'r attacks the device. But then Blackout realizes that the device is dangerous. But blasting it outright. That's questionable. Then again, that's what everyone with powers do. Blast things. However, seeing that her energy is able to penetrate the 'no power' field, that means that he should be able to do the same. But does that mean he can open a portal within the field.

He's interrupted by Koriand'r greeting and he gives a brief and shallow wave.

Still with thoughts of the power situation, Blackout considers the portal option. He gives it a shot. He tries to open a portal a few yards away from the device. Still within his line of sight.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
Kit's motorcycle roars back to life when the red light starts flashing. With the modifications to the bikes engines he's made recently, it should have no trouble clearing the hundred yard gap, so his method of testing whether the field is gone or not? Sheer recklessness.

He does have a method of telling whether or not the field is gone, mind you. If he stops being able to breathe suddenly, he'd likely turn back around and dart back out of the field, but if not? He'll get himself right up next to the Terraformer, all of his senses forced into overdrive as he tries to 'feel around' inside the device with those telekinetic paws of his.

Aah to be young and stupid.

Starfire has posed:
Koriand'r sees a portal of blackness open right next to the device, and her mind races with tactical possibility. It is rather obvious that the humanoid shadow created the portal. Seeing the device beeping a red light, she curses her impulsiveness. She urgently instructs Blackout, whom she has never met before, "Quick! Please send half the device away from itself if you can!" She watches Kit zoom into the possible no-power field range and her eyes widen in fear for her friend riding into a possible explosion. With her emotions pumping her power into crazy levels, she tries something crazy. With all her might she tries to project a shield of her energy to cover the stationary device to stop any explosion or shrapnel from harming Kit, but from just outside the field range. She's never projected outward more than a couple meters before. She doesn't know if it will work or help. She pushes herself to her limit. And IF it works she'll basically be useless powers-wise after.

Shredder has posed:
Blackout's portal opens as it normally would, right next to the flashing light of the device in the center of the large impact crater. The power field is uninterrupted, however. As Koriand'r projects her shield, it is clear that it can reach into the no power zone, right toward Kit as he jets into the area that powers are muted. They are still muted. The light flashes faster on the device.

Click.

Blackout has posed:
Blackout is limited in such options and he shares that. He looks up/over to Koriand'r and shakes his head, "I can only open portals. I can't grab or move things with it. Now, if either of you can blast the half you want into the portal, go for it." His portal is around 8' in diameter, and he can make it a bit bigger when he concentrates.

But then there's a click and Blackout knows what's best for the moment. He ducks and covers. Diving behind an elevated area of terrain and pulling a wall of darkforce around him, like a bubble to protect himself. He's been in explosions before - thanks to Fiona. He never liked them then, and doesn't like them now.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
The second the rift inside his mask deactivates, Kit would have turned back around and zipped himself back outside the dampening field, back to where he was parked before and simply reactivate the rift.

Once again, the engine dies down and once again, notebook and pencil come out and once again, he starts writing something down.

Starfire has posed:
Koriand'roriand'r's screams this time in rage and frustration as time runs out, strengthening the shield as much as she can to try to cover it around the device or at least to prevent any blowback their way. Kit is back out safe, maybe she wasted her energy, but she doesn't regret it for a second. She pushes and pushes on her shields to try to contain the potential blast, emptying her batteries as the terraformer blows up and then slumping unconscious to the ground.

Shredder has posed:
The explosion sends scrap flying in all directions, plunking against Starfire's shield harmlessly as they make their way in Kit's direction, and against the dirt and shield of blackout, leaving the area silent again. To say that the device is completely obliterated wouldn't be fair, but it is most definitely out of service. A portion of it remains at the blast site, along with several chunks now scattered around the crater where it landed.

Blackout has posed:
Once the noise and tremors stop, he pulls the darkforce back into him. He then stands and looks around and then focuses on the origin point and what may or may not be left of the device. He will then start walking toward where the 'barrier' was. And cautiously enter it, careful not to go to fast in case it remains. He doesn't want to reveal his body to the toxins and be exposed to the world.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
The sound of a familiar voice crying out gets Kit's attention and he makes his way over to Koriand'r fairly easily. There's no hurry in his mind where the now exploded device is concerned, so a friend in need is going to be priority one.

When he reaches her, a vial of smelling salts is pulled from inside his hoodie, cracked open and waved under he nose in an attempt to bring her around to consciousness. It might not do much for her po0wer levels, but one thing at a time.

Starfire has posed:
Koriand'r seems to come partially to from the smelling salts momentarily, but then she wanes back into lalaland. Repeated uses sees the same repetition. Her energy is just so low it's keeping her out to conserve until she get get restored by the sun (or other energy infusions). Unfortunately in the toxic cloud she's now in some danger by it, and the sun's rays are not refreshing her at their normal rate.

Shredder has posed:
The area quiets as the last of the specks of metal finish plunking into the dirt, smoke cascading from the broken terraformer. Large pieces are laying around, though there seems to be nothing of it that says it had any proper propulsion system. It was a kinetic strike of some sort. Which means it was dumb fired from something.

Blackout has posed:
"What the ever loving fuck is going on with these things?" Mutters Blackout to himself, but also audible enough for others to hear. He still approaches with caution now that the dust has settled and it appears that he was unharmed. However, he removes his mask, letting the darkforce flow from his face, back off his head and into his shoulders exposing half his neck, black hair, green eyes and striking jawline. Or something.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
When the smelling salts don't work as expected, Kit just gives a little sigh and murmurs, "Well, this is going to suck just a bit.." as he sets his claw-tips to Koriand'r's shoulders. It only takes a moment for the telltale violet energy to start crackling from his wrists to his claws, the energy flowing onto her like some kind of luminous paint before it steadily starts to seep into her body.

This isn't the normal use of his mending spell, but given that it's worked in the past to a similar effect, it's worth a try.

Starfire has posed:
After a lot of energy transference from Kit, Kory's eyes flutter as she wakes up, until they regain focus and she looks up at Kit sheepishly, seeing him touching her shoulders and still feeling very weak and also the flow of power coming in at a trickle. His method of energy transfer must not be perfect, and also Kory usually has a LOT of energy. Like, a fuckton.
"Um...Oops? I guess I overdid it there... Ugh my head feels dizzy... many thanks for getting me back up, friend Kit. X'Hal, I need a sunsoak. I don't think I could fly right now, let alone power a Starbolt."
She wearily opens her bag and takes out a small cylinder on a tripod with a green and red button and an exhaust port. She plops it on the ground right next to her and presses the green button. Robin assured her it should start countering the toxic cloud.

Blackout has posed:
Still having the non darkforce mask on his face, he still breathes through the tube to his back where there's a small tank. He too hopes for the smog to go away and waits for it to disperse. Blackout then gives pause in his walking forward as he turns to the engagements between Kory and Kit. They're a good 20 yards away. So he's not invading their personal space. Instead, he's just observing that she's on her feet and doing stuff with things with green buttons. Blackout then looks back to the remains of the mechanism - looking for a larger chunk that may have survived the explosion. Something that still has circuitry or a power source.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
Once Kory is conscious, the yeen would keep the flow of energy going right up until a quiet 'pop' issues from somewhere near his ribs. There's a slight wince from him as he withdraws his paws and muses, "Gotta try and keep your limits in mind in dangerous situations.." with a quiet chuckle.

The device gets a glance when she pulls it out and clicks it on, studying it for a moment before he stands up again, "Regain yourself before you try to stand.. Call my name if you need anything else, but for now I'm going to go check and see what's left of that machine.." he says before he starts off towards where the terraformer had been. The chances of finding any of the chemical components it would have to use to perform it's task would be slim to none, but perhaps something remains of the circuitry.

Starfire has posed:
Kory smiles and nods at the yeen in thanks and then looks over to the interesting person who can make portals. She speaks up with a note of tiredness in her voice, but also her typical cheeriness "Hello friend! I am sorry for giving you instructions without a proper chain of command. It seemed like an emergency and that was all I could think of to possibly do at the time. I do not blame you that your portals do not work that way, it was a wild hope. My name is Koriand'r, or Starfire in English." A pause for his response and then "I am here hoping to track down the source of these devices. If you see anything interesting in the rubble please let me know? The Titans Tower computer should be able to analyze it."

Shredder has posed:
The analysis on the larger chunk reveals some very unrecognized technology. More advanced than most is found on Earth, and it's a force that's never been to Earth. Probably because they don't breathe the same type of air, which would make sense with the terraformers. However, the force is hardly unknown in the galaxy. It's Utrom technology. The Utroms have been known to have one of the broadest empires in the galaxy. They are a force that has even warded off the Lantern Corps, making them formidible to say the least.

The air cleaner starts doing its work, pumping the atmosphere back through and re-vitalizing the air to be more human friendly. The reddish haze is still present for a good distance, but now, near the air cleaner, it starts to become more breathable again.

Blackout has posed:
Blackout turns back toward Kory as she speaks, greets him in a friendly manner. He gives a wave, "No apologizes necessary. I'm seeing we're here for the same reason. I'd really like to figure out where they're from, what powers them, and how to stop them. Here's a pretty big chunk over here. Maybe we can get this back to your computer?" He walks to the chunk and will use darkforce to grab it at range. Lifting it up like a green lantern would use the green energy, he uses black energy to create a set of long distance gripping tongs.

Kit Killovarras has posed:
"Sounds like we're all here for roughly the same reason." Kit says to the two as he casually scours the area, a few pieces of debris seemingly levitating over to him of their own accord so they can be studied. Again that notebook comes out and a few things get jotted down, a few sketches get made and then? He claims one of the pieces of debris that seems to have some of the circuitry still partially intact.. Or identifiable at least.

The yeen might not have direct access to any fancy database that could identify this, but he's certainly made a lot of friends in high places in the past.

Starfire has posed:
Kory stays on the ground taking it easy while the others sift through the rubble. As the cloud clears up and the sun's rays starts to get through normally she feels her tank slowly filling back up. It'll be a week till she's back to full. She's a powerhouse and she just spent it all in a desperation move to activate her ability to a completely new limit (shielding roughly 50 times further out than ever before).
In response to Blackout she beams at his quick forgiveness, and she enthuses "Your abilities are very interesting! I cannot make my Starbolts grab onto anything like that... at least, I don't think I can? But I didn't think I could push a shield out so far before either... But as far as I know, I cannot. And I certainly cannot open portals! Though my best friend Raven can!"
She blushes a little as she hurriedly says "Of course your powers are fascinating too Kit! Thank you again for the assist! I will try to be more careful in the future... if we are all teaming up to stop this threat?" She smiles hopefully.

Shredder has posed:
The discoveries that will be found as time goes along are quite a few. First, the trajectory of the device and the angle of impact help determine that the terraformers are dropped from low orbit. Their carrying devices are small, not making any impact on most devices to track space faring objects. They are using some kind of coded communication that is short enough in its range that it's unlikely to be originating off planet.

There is a residue of Utromium, which, ironically, has been found on Earth. It was used in a few scientific experiments a number of years ago on cancer research, but was abandoned after a truck wrecked in New York City, depleting the stores. Rumors have moved about of some kind of monsters that were created, but that's probably just made up.
Most importantly, there doesn't seem to be a specific place in the Atlantic Ocean that the signal can be traced to, and nothing shows up on any scans. However, the same can be said for a number of large shipping vessels that disappeared in the Atlantic in the last year. Not only this, but there were large scale thefts happening at that time of raw materials. Metals, plastics, electronics. LexCorp was even robbed in a rather vast quantity. None of those resources have ever been recovered.

Who is responsible exactly? Well, that's the question at this point, and their next move remains unknown.