Log:Sinkhole in Westville
From C2Wiki
| Sinkhole in Westville | |
|---|---|
| Emitter | Clank |
| Players | Freedom Lass, Katarina, Pazuzu, Rakshasi, Shade, Strobe, Protostar, Clank |
| NPCs | |
| Place | Westville |
| Time (IC) | 4PM April 29, 2013 |
| Time (OOC) | 7-9 PM April 29, 2008 |
(Logging note: I have mostly removed the OOC stuff, but I've left in a few pages that are necessary to make sense of things. Or, in one case, that are funny.)
+- Westville Subdivision ----------------------------------------------------+
Normally, there's little to distinguish this cul-de-sac from a score of others in this area, a piece of rapid 1950s and 1960s suburban development. Similar ranch-style houses arranged around the circular court, driveways extending like dandelion seeds. If you bother to look, you'll see that this has the unimaginative name of Dogwood Circle.
Now, however, the place does tend to stand out a little, if only because of the gaping maw formed by a sinkhole that's growing visibly, almost dead center on the cul-de-sac!
Fortunately, the mid-afternoon hour means that many people are gone at work or school...but it's the start of rush hour, meaning that emergency vehicles may be slow in arriving, especially since most of the people who might have noticed the sinkhole weren't around....
+-Players------------------------------------------------------------------+
Freedom Lass Katarina Pazuzu Protostar Rakshasi Shade Strobe Clank
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
It's an otherwise quiet early Spring afternoon in Westville when, without warning, the ground opens up in a suburban neighborhood! It takes a while for official notice to even happen, as the neighborhood is relatively empty this time of day, with what residents remain largely glued to their computers and televisions. Response and notice is therefore uneven and somewhat idiosyncratic. But people have started to notice, and panic (and vulture-like interest) is spreading.
At the moment, the machine-man known as Clank has arrived and is busily hauling parked cars away from the spreading hole, looking about nervously as if trying to see the cause. He's seen far too many things just pop up out of the ground lately....
Strobe is flitting through the air somewhat 'haphazardly', leaving a zig-zagging, spiralling, and loop-de-looping trail of light behind herself as she leads another flying metahuman through a series of maneuvers -- it's as if they're playing a game of aerial tag in the sky over Port Liberty. She finishes her latest maneuver, a full circular loop... and then comes to a stop in the air, looking down. "Hey, Proto...!", she says, pointing down. "Check that out!" Then, suddenly, she zips down towards the cul-de-sac, stopping to hover about a fifty yards in the air, with one hand extended towards the ground. A golden glow appears around one of the vehicles closest to the hole that Clank hasn't gotten to moving yet, and the vehicle starts floating up and away from danger.
Freedom Lass drives rapidly along the road, her bike speeding easily around traffic in an effort to get to the hole as soon as possible. She parks well away from it, killing the bike's engine and hopping off as she glances around. She then looks up and spies the metas flying around, and waves over towards them as she approaches the hole, "Did you see what happened?"
Clank waves to the newcomers with a free hand. "Hiyas! Good ta see some help here, thought I wuz gonna hafta evac everyone m'self!"
Both new arrivals noticed a sort of "donut" forming around the neighborhood, as people rushed to see the disaster but didn't want to get TOO close.
Well, Protostar was moving with Strobe, getting a bit better at maneuvering...when he's thinking about it and is focused and all that jazz. However, as she zips away, he turns to follow and the sinkhole has his attention riveted. "What could cause such a disturbance?" he asks softly to himself, but still aloud, and of course, he's not really got it in his head that stopping his descent would be a good idea....
The door of 1242 Dogwood Circle opens up, and an unshaven man in the uniform of a telecommuter (bathrobe, pajama bottoms, bunny slippers) peers out into the afternoon daylight. "Hey, what's up with the costume party? G'wan...oh Holy Mother of God!" he notices the hole. "My CAR! Where's my car?!"
Strobe calls down, after setting the car she's lifted out of the way down a block away. "What's yours look like, sir?", she asks, floating down close enough to be heard as she points her hands, one at each of two different cars. A 'beam' of light extends from each of her hands, striking each vehicle and making it glow with a golden light -- and then she starts floating back up, the two cars floating with her.
Freedom Lass glances over at Protostar, "Don't go down in there! We don't know what's caused this yet." She moves over towards the telecommuter, "I think you need to get your family and get out of the house for the time being. We don't know how far this is going to expand. Just to be prudent, until emergency services can arrive." She gives the man a reassuring smile, then moves over towards Clank, "When did this start?"
Clank says, "Um, I hope it wuzn't th' Hummer H4. That fell in before I got here." He points into the sinkhole, where Strobe and Protostar can indeed see such a vehicle.
The man wails, "It wasn't even six months old!" Obligingly, the man's mailbox falls over.
Rakshasi, for the moment, is... doing nothing. It's not her fault, you know, she just got on scene, and it's - on first glance - well beyond her immediate ability to help, and the aid of a demon-looking woman is often unwanted. A side effect of the quake last year, perhaps; she had heard mention of natural caverns deep below the city, and it's far from impossible that something could have been undermined enough to have finally collapsed. Perching on a rooftop a bit outside the immediate area of the sinkhole proper, in all her blue glory. Arms, for the moment, in the shape of blue-feathered wings, folded as she tries to get a better look. It seems like other metahumans are present already, as well.
A flash of light overhead, and Pazuzu arrives at blistering speed through the air, stopping with staff in hand perhaps half a mile above. Close enough to see what's going on in basic terms, and some of the more colorful people below. From there, she drops right down toward the center of the sinkhole for a better view at first. "Is this even the proper geography for this?"
Huh? Protostar hears someone talking to him, interrupting his scientific thoughts, and as he lets those words trickle into his brain he realizes. "Oh Lord!" as he gets a bit closer. "Um... er... Strobe! Suggestion?!" he asks just before his brain cllicks and he shakes his head, "Nevermind!" he adds as he points a hand downward and mutters aloud, "Let's see if I can adjust the gravimetric waves to help here..." and while maintaining his altitude... with minimal gravitic energy, he pulses a 40 foot radius from the center of the hole (or close to one edge if need be) with a reversal of gravity (up to 40 STR worth)
Clank is looking down into the pit, weighing the possibility of fishing the Hummer out, when Pazuzu arrives. "Ah, yeah," he replies to her rhetorical question. "Dey built dis over some reclaimed wetlands 'r sumpin. Just begging fer Karst Topology. Topography. Whuteva."
A young man in a jogging suit shows up, horrified, and turns to Freedom Lass. "Ma'am! That's my house over there," he points to 1228, which is kinda close to the pit now, but on the other side from where he stands. "Could you help me get in and recover my computer backups, in case this thing keeps spreading?"
Strobe flies off a couple of blocks away, the two cars she's 'snared' going with her. These, she sets down in front yards where they're easily visible from the street, then zips back over. "We need to clear everyone out of this area!", she says, trying her best to project her voice. "Everyone, get your families and start moving away! If you need help, let us know and we'll do what we can!", she adds...
Things start to drift upward, including the poor H4. The surface of the court even bows upwards a little. Then, as the soil underneath loosens up under the street, whatever's been making the sinkhole suddenly has an easier time of it! The ground buckles away at increasing speed both east and west of the existing hole!
Freedom Lass smiles, "Oh, certainly. But we'll need to work fast. There's no one in there, is there?" She blinks, then moves towards the house, "Actually, stay here. What room is it in?" She glances at Clank at the mention of wetlands, "They /build/ on that? That seems remarkably unsafe." And gee, you can see why right now!
Pazuzu gives a sharp look around from there....then when the ground begins to fall she zips suddenly westward, scooping up a couple of alarmed bystanders who happened to be too close in the way of it. "This is no place to be gawking. Away from here!" The ride is brief and frightening as they're as quickly set down quite some distance away, then the seeming demon comes streaking right back.
Mr. Telecommuter has now forgotten his SUV, and is running in the general direction of "the hell away".
Katarina just happened to be inside one of the houses near the danger zone, having borrowed a couch to sleep on the other night. And since its soon evening, its time to go. She did hear something outside earlier, but wasn't to worried. Certainly not enough to make the teenager hurry, and she took her time to get dressed, when the lights went out. "Huh... crud.." she mutters and shrugs her leather coat on, her backpack slung over a shoulder. Oh well, time to get a move on. Kat opens up the front door, still feeling just slightly hungover. The door has time to close behind her before she notices the tremors. "....what... the... hell..."
At the window of one of the houses in line with the spreading crack (is Protostar still reducing gravity?) a dog is barking....
Yawning darkness, frightened people, metahumans making a mess. Thus, Shade arrives to check it out, warping from shadow to shadow, the "lee" side -- as she would term it -- of a house no doubt soon to be threatened by whatever force is undermining the structure.
Lambent silver eyes watch from the darkness, and the cloaked figure says, intrigued, "Hunh." (Is that even a word?)
She doesn't immediately lend a helping hand. As abruptly as she appeared, she is gone. Of course, she has her own reasons; she simply does not tell anyone her plan (investigating) or new whereabouts (beneath the sinkhole itself).
You paged Katarina with 'The jogger talking to Freedom Lass is a particularly ballsy looter, looking for help getting into someone else's house.'
When he notices everything going crazy, and the dirt being affected more easily, Protostar stops his gravitic effects, "Blast!" he calls out. Yes, he says that, and not any other trendy curse-words. "What now?!" he calls out, trying to think. No, an EMB here might suck. How about... no, just a lot of light won't help. For the moment, he curls his hand to his jaw, rubbing like the college professor he really is, lost in thought.... just hovering there about fifteen feet above 'ground level' as he tries to think of what to do. "I could try to melt whatever's causing this!!" he calls out at the top of his lungs.
One of the houses starts to slide. Not quickly, but noticeable. The dog inside barks louder. Clank notices. "Nertz!" he yelps, and runs over, lengthening his arms and wrapping them around the entire house! "Could someone, like, drive me inta th' ground like a tent peg so's I c'n keep this house from goin' in?"
"Doing anything else down there might make things worse, again!", Strobe replies... then she extends a hand towards where the hole's growth threatens to overtake the retreat of some people. Another beam of light extends from her hand and hits the ground near the feet of the endangered people -- it spreads out over the ground... and holds would-be victims up, instead of letting them fall. "Run!", she calls to them, in a strained voice. "I ... can't hold you up too long this way!"
Well, Rakshasi thinks to herself. If Shade and Pazuzu are here, it's not as if the demon girl is any real worse to the average bystander. "Hrn," she grunts a moment pensively, losing the wings. Changing some... longer legs, ready to leap in, and while it isn't immediately obvious, a far superior nose. If there's no bloodhounds present, she may as well fake it a bit, yeah? She... regrets this some as she vaults through the air, to land carefully at the edge of the widening crater. "Hey. Hey! ... augh." Sinkholes also mean broken sewer lines, for instance. Augh.
You paged Shade with 'It won't take you long to find a broken water line. You can decide if it's fresh water or "waste" water, for effect. :) Probably fresh, though, more pressure.'
Huh? Oh.. drive... into ground. Protostar turns his head towards Clank and only just now notices Captain Steampunk. "What the heck is -that-?" he asks. "You want me to -what-?!?!" he calls out. "Okay..." and then with an index finger pointing at Clank, he goes for a far more localized gravity effect, adding about 2 tons of pressure to Clank's weight to help push the guy down into the ground. "Though I dunno what this is going to do to help."
Clank says, "Ergh! Thanks! Just call me a tent stake."
Pazuzu makes another pass, and raises a brow at Clank's action with the house. Much less the request he gives. "If you think that it will help." She shoots straight up into the air, then slams right down again onto Clank, right as Protostar's pressure begins to apply. The hard slam in itself is unlikely to seriously injure Clank, but the two togther might drive him a bit too deep, if anything.
Clank says, "Oof! Okay, dat's enough!"
Katarina watches the scene of the collapsing street with keen interest, but she still takes time to slip out a lighter and fire up her cigarette. The tremors does make the house behind her give out a bit of a creek, and she starts to walk briskly off the porch and towards the street, looking rather doubtful at the whole thing. But something draws her attention, and she watches Freedom Lass for a moment, and then glances to the man she just spoke with. She quirks a brow, and blows out a smoky steam as she send over a telepathic message to the heroinem without identifying herself. <<Its not his house, you know. Really>>
Clank is now chest-deep in suburban sod.
Freedom Lass pauses, then moves quickly over towards the house that Clank is anchoring instead. She then looks back and forth, and tries the door to see if it's locked... just so she can get in and rescue the dog.
The house Clank is securing has stopped sliding, but a few double-pane windows pop out as the building suffers stresses it wasn't designed for. Oh, and the house alarm NOW decides to go off, adding to the dog's howls.
Protostar acks! Too much! He shakes his head, mildly overwhelmed at having to make so many split second choices without taking the time to analyze things or figure them out. I mean, even in a tense game of chess you have a bit of time to think about your move.... that's it! Chess! He looks down at the ground again to try to figure out if there's anything he can pick out that might be.... strategic. He's thinking that maybe someone might be doing this....
Beneath the ground, Shade simply... arrives. She sinks, but it is more like hiking downward through that ground. She has no ability to look through objects; her discovery of the cause of the sinkhole is a rather sudden and immersive experience. Literally. Immersed. One moment she is surrounded by earth, and the next, water. Neither environment particularly endangers her. It's just cold. Wet. Dark. All of which she can survive.
Now the dark-controller tilts her chin up, and teleports once more, to the nadir of the sinkhole, soaking wet, and gives an incongruously cheerful wave. She's sure someone will notice.
"I suppose that will do." Pazuzu shakes her head and gets right back to her previous path. Her main talents of blasting things being momentarily of limited use, she at least manages to lever up a car whose driver seems to reluctant to get out, so she can carry it out of the way.
Strobe makes the glowing patch of 'fake ground' move with the family... then lets the light fade away. "Maybe I can get this guys hummer out of the hole...", she says to herself, floating over the center of it and snaring the beat-up vehicle with a yellow glow -- which illuminates Shade. Eyes widening, Strobe says, "Whoa! You okay?", and points a hand at the soaked metahuman woman, to make her, also, glow and float up out of the sinkhole. "How and when'd you end up in there?", she asks of Shade.
"I'm strong, you know, strong? Flex flex, lift a car? Well, I can be," Rakshasi rambles even as she yells, hands to her mouth. This is... not her area of expertise, but she is happy to help. And somehow manages to stand steady at the edge of the sinkhole; the inhumanly clawed feet she has at the moment help, for one, as does the balance a tail provides. Another leap there, to the bottom of the sinkhole, as she tries to... well, sniff around, see if anyone's actually buried. Unlikely, but you never know, yeah? "What the hell are you doing in here anyway?", she wonders to Shade.
Freedom Lass leaps in through the now-dislocated window, glancing back and forth as she whistles a bit, "Here boy, where are you..." She then finds the source of the barking, an ornery little pug dog that growls menacingly at the meta... which would be a lot scarier if it wasn't a puppy small enough to fit into her pocket. She crouches down, gesturing, "Come on boy... come here..." The building suddenly shakes, and she shouts, "Okay, enough goofing, COME HERE!"
Apparently, the dog responds well to authoritay, as it nearly jumps into Freedom Lass's hands. Picking up the dog, she nimbly stays on her feet despite the increased shaking of the house, leaping out of the house, "Got the dog out, didn't hear anyone else inside!" And you'd think with that commotion, someone would be audible...
Shaking his head, Protostar isn't really paying attention to details, but he looks off to the east for a moment, before nodding to himself and looking downward. So he drops like a stone, aiming for the center... the dead center. Of course, he's still working on his landings.... oy!
A window down the street, out of immediate danger, opens. A woman leans out, takes in the scene, and screams. Once the initial shock has passed, she seems absurdly pelased with herself as she yells, "I TOLD the pestr control guys we had giant mutant gophers! But would they believe me? NOOOOOOOO. Well, look who's got egg all over their face NOW!"
Pazuzu drops the car....well, it's more a rough setting down, no danger to the driver but bad for the suspension. Around to scoop up another person not clearing away quickly enough for her tastes, though he's left more frightened than relieved as her flight path carries her shooting right over the sinkhole and seeing those below. "What is down there?"
As soon as the glowing force touches Shade, she instinctively throws up her own -- of sorts -- and is covered with a thin layer of shadow so dark it puts a starless night sky to shame. It seethes and subtly ripples, alive, in a way. The vigilante also tenses, as though ready to deal with an attack.
"Mind dimming the lights?" she inquires, the words having the veneer of politeness, but spoken harshly. Maybe shadow-controllers don't like the limelight. And then there's the near-crash. "Fucking amateurs." She shakes her head.
"I was taking a bath," she belatedly says to Rakshasi, which is probably clue enough as to what's going on, but she adds, "Underground. Here." She points downward.
"I dunno...", Strobe replies to Pazuzu as she also floats the beat-up hummer out of the hole... then she sees Rakshasi jump in. "Hey, look out!" Then Protostar dive-bombs himself into it. "HEY! WATCH OUT!", she says, eyes widening. "Oh, man...!" Then, lifting Shade out of the hole, quickly setting the woman down on solid ground so that she can release the 'glowy stuff', she adds, "Sorry! I can't lift you out without the glow!"
Freedom Lass blinks as she holds the dog, "What the..." She shakes her head, "Glad I can't fly." She then moves away from the hole, glancing around to see if the dog has an owner nearby. A real owner, that is, and not someone faking it.
<OOC> Freedom Lass has to AFK for dindin. She'll be evacuating houses in the danger zone. And possibly punching out the punk that wanted the computers from that house that weren't his. ;)
You paged Katarina with 'A spike of 'my DOG!' seems to be coming from down the street, psi-wise.'
Thud! "Oh god, I hate landing.." mutters Protostar as he lies there on his back. Then he lifts a hand upwards and that hand starts to glow... brightly, very very brightly now. Strobe's seen this. It's his sunlight effect. Not only is it bright, but it raises the temperature down there by several degrees. Sunlight is warm, right? "Any tunnels down here?" he asks as he sits up with his other hand going to his forehead. Okay, so -now- he's glowing rather brightly, sure!
"Eh? I don't smell anything down here, tho-," Rakshasi starts, just in time for... Shade to be pulled out of the way. Which, really, is only a mild surprise; the sudden 'arrival' of Protostar in the sinkhole is a bit moreso, at that. "WHAT THE CHRI-!?" Yelping in shock, and clinging to the edge of the sinkhole with clawed limbs.
Katarina wanders on out from the area of where her house was, and saunters on over towards Freedom Lass and pup. The teenager exhales another cloud of smoke, and waves her hand at the heroine, with a blank expression on her face. "Hiya. I can take that if you like, I know the owner, like," she offers, and inhales another mouthful.
Clank is still holding back the house. "Dat dint sound good," he mutters after Protostar lands.
"You want me to get you out, too?", Strobe calls down at Rakshasi. "He's gonna make it hot down there, I think!", she adds...as she telekinetically removes another car from the edge of the sinkhole, before it can topple down and in.
Pazuzu shoots right past the growing mess there and sets her frightened cargo down on the far side of things, before sweeping right around back toward it and down toward Rakshasi to grab for her. "I have this one, I think."
Clank shouts, an edge of "steam whistle" sound to his voice, "Kin anybuddy find a broken water line 'r sumpin? Dey redid dis area in PVC so I can't see any pipes, jest th' electrical wirin'...which is about to go pretty soon, mind ya. Seal the pipe, 'r even get da main shut off, and tings should slow down!"
"I can handle it mys-," Rakshasi starts. Sure, it takes a second to grow a pair of wings, say, but it isn't that long a delay. And she still gets cut off mid-sentence and mid-transformation as Pazuzu... snatches her up. Fortunately, she doesn't weigh all that much, horns or not.
"What the hell is with all the frickin' sunshine?" Shade grumbles. Hi, yeah, shadow-controller; sunlight may not be her favorite energy.
Backing up from the edge of the yawning hole, she calls, "Yeah, I found the pipe. Can't do much about it on my own." She tries to direct folks to the specific area, giving some dimensions: how far down, how bad it is, et cetera.
"There's a lot of water down here.... what? Pipe? I can melt it shut if I can find it.." says Protostar as he stands up in the muddy muck, the crap seeping off his force field (thank god). "Here, lemme at it!" he calls out as he moves towards the pipe that whomever -she- is, has found.
Strobe nods, and looks down into the hole at Protostar, shaking her head a bit. "I'll go tell the water company to shut off the main?", she suggests, directing that at Clank, then zips off a short ways... then zips back. "Uhm... where's the water company around here?!", she asks.
Clank calls back up to Strobe, "I left my iPhone in my udda torso, sorry! See if ya kin see any emergency people tryin' ta get here, ask 'em!"
"That makes for a good idea." Pazuzu nods at Clank's assessment. "I will see what I can do." She....throws Rakshasi high into the air, rather than setting her out more gently. "Fly free." She knows, at least, that the shapeshifter can spring some wings at some point in her arc. This frees her to fly down again. "Will getting rid of the water that has already flooded help, or hurt?"
Protostar errs, don't seal it? "What do you mean -donn't- do it?" he asks, hands going to his hips as he lets the light dim down, as well as the heat. There's still a bit of a glow as he can't see in the dark, but he then notices Pazuzu... and that piddly excuse for clothing, blinking and swallowing as he zones out for a moment, really becoming mildly oblivious to anything anyone might say to him until she's out of sight.
"Hey, HEY-," Rakshasi yelps as she's suddenly... airborne. And quickly. She'll have to have a long talk to Pazuzu about that later, yes, not least of which because it -does- take a certain degree of concentration to change form, and for several seconds she's left spinning dizzily with assorted pointy ends flailing in several directions. At least she does finally manage to transform her arms into wings, even if it takes a few seconds more to stall her descend. Aaaugh. This is what she gets for trying to help out.
The house Clank is holding onto (and Clank himself) starts to sink straight down. Not precipitously, but it's clear that it's already not going to be livable...the only real question is how much will be recoverable from the place. Fortunately, Freedom Lass had done a sweep on her way out from the dog rescue, so the place is definitely empty. He says, "Ummmmm...."
Strobe says, "Right!" and zips up into the sky and looks about... then zips down a few blocks away to where a firetruck's quickly approaching. She scoops it up with her telekinesis, making the whole truck glow as she flies with it towards what used to be a cul-de-sac. "We need the water main shut off! It's making a big sinkhole!", she calls out at the men on the firetruck. "Y'all know how to do that, right? I'm gonna set you guys down outside the hole. We've got pretty much all the civilians and most of the immediate property threat taken care of, but there's a busted pipe making it all happen!"
Not all of the firemen seem to appreciate the sudden ride, and at least one of them is shouting something angrily at Strobe. Another one, a bit calmer, points out, "The water main shutoff for the subdivision is back about where you picked us up."
"...Heh," Shade says, looking upward to follow Pazuzu and Rakshasi's respective paths. Then, despite her protest that she can't do much about the pipe, she disappears again, to at least try. If people can shift houses and cars and whatnot, perhaps she can wrest and redirect the flow of water with shaped shadows. It's an imperfect jury-rigging at best, but perhaps it will slow the sinking progress.
Pazuzu gives Protostar a questioning look. But it seems her patience is short: after a few moments of no meaningful response, she drops down to the water main where it's bubbling and.....strikes the head of her staff right down into it. No blast, no sealing: rather a roiling, violet-edged portal is struck open right from there, and above, some blocks down where a yard slopes for a drainage ditch, a matching ring opens, the muddy water rushing right out from there. "Direct the water out from there."
The glowing metahuman woman and the firetruck do a U-turn in the air. "Show me where!", she calls to that man. "I'll put you down next to it and take the others to the site?", she suggests to him, following whatever directions he gives her about the location of the water main.
Head turning and moving to follow Pazuzu's movements, Protostar just kinda stares. Damn him and his brain's shut-off switch when around buxom, scantily clad female types. "Um..." he remarks. Yeah, that was cool... then he sees the portal open and that gets his brain back into gear. "How did? What did? Was that a tessaract?" he asks as he literally drifts up towards the violet energy, almost as if planning to stick his head into it and see what happens.
At least one fireman seems to be getting motion sick from all this floating about, but once set down in the right place, enough of them recover quickly and go to work on the shut-off valve.
Special "saved because it was funny" exchange
(Context: Pazuzu made a portal to carry the water away after Shade went underground to inspect the pipe some more.)
You paged Shade with 'Some kind of rippling power is round the end now. But no heat to speak of.'
From afar, Shade touches the power!
You paged Pazuzu with 'Shade is touching your lower-end portal. Anything unpleasant happen?'
You paged Pazuzu with 'And WOW did that come out sounding a lot dirtier than intended.'
"That was for the other night, wasn't it," Rakshasi grumbles as she coasts back, carefully, towards the scene. No comment on the portals, but it does explain a few things she's seen with Pazuzu, as well. "From what *I* could tell anyway, there's nobody trapped down there... if you can... stop...whatever, it should be enough." Even if it's somewhat silly to see her flapping beside Pazuzu to maintain altitude, while the stoic one mostly just... effortlessly floats.
Those watching the exit portal Pazuzu created may notice a hand suddenly reach out of it, feeling about questingly.
You paged Shade with 'That's you.'
"I think this will hold the water from flooding in there further until it can be turned off. Apart from this, I could have shattered the pipe further, but that would not have stopped the flow so easily, I expect." Pazuzu shakes her head. "This may do until they can turn it off."
Katarina finishes handling the matter of the puppy, as she wanders along down the street, away from the problem area. "Another case closed..." the teenager mumbles and smokes down the last of her cigarette. Now to get out of the area before it all goes down in the moist.
<OOC> Katarina excuses herself. Its so late its early and I just fell asleep a little bit. Good luck!
Katarina has disconnected.
The flow of water out of Pazuzu's portal slows and finally stops as the firemen close the shutoff valve for the neighborhood. A moment later, those with good enough hearing can hear someone cursing loudly at the fact his shower just cut off. Well, there's certainly worse ways his shower could have been interrupted, all things considered....
"Yes, but -how- are you doing that? Gravitic shear? Some sort of Electromagnetic distortion?" asks Protostar, almost as if figuring out how those portals work is almost more important to him than saving lives. Damned scientific mind. Then he blinks behind his mask and adds, "Want me to melt it shut? I can do that and make sure nothing gets out!" he exclaims, now in show-off mode as he lifts his hands to let ionized plasma start coalescing about them... quite warm near him now.
Clank is still sinking, slowly.
Strobe flies over, carrying the whatever of the firemen (and the truck if they want it taken) with her back to the sinkhole site. "We got the water main shut off!", she calls out as she gets closer. Firemen that came with her, truck too, are set down safely far enough out of the way from the hole. Then she flits over to where Clank's at. "Uhm... hey... are you sinking?", she asks.
"I am not a scientist. I tear the world open and it makes a path where I desire." Pazuzu holds that open as the water's flow comes to a stop. "If you can seal it now, do so....but I hope that will not make steam explode. It sounds like they have closed it on their end, still."
Clank wiggles around experimentally. "I think m'feet're touchin' bedrock now, at least."
Clank sinks another few inches.
He says, "Or not."
It's a curious thing, watching one's hand disappear. Shade yanks that gloved hand back, and is reassured that there's no damage. She shakes her head, then makes her upward trek back to the huge depression, standing within it, as there's little enough for her to do with that pipe. Even if she /is/ a jack of all trades.
Strobe wonders, "Is the house okay for you to let go of it?", directing the wonderment at Clank. "If it's safe enough, I can try and yank you up and out?"
Rakshasi descends, finally, standing on... reasonably stable ground. Keeping the wings for now, just in case Pazuzu gets funny ideas again. "I think the fire department's finally cut the water main," she muses, carefully peeking down the sinkhole. "... Anyone still need help down there?"
Protostar nods, "Got it!" he states, moving in towards the pipe. "It's gonna get really really hot in here..." he remarks as he starts to focus the flow of ionized plasma from his hands towards the pipe and the dirt and mud around it. "Anyone who doesn't want a bad sunburn might wanna vacate.." he remarks, looking like a one man solar flare.
"Hey, wait!", calls Strobe. "Don't do that! They already shut off the main! You'll just make things worse!"
"Then we should go and see if the robot needs taken out of the ground. Otherwise he may be mistaken for some sort of lawn novelty by those responding." With the water and mud having been able to flow away, Pazuzu cuts the portal away and shoots up into the air again.
You paged Freedom Lass with 'You notice someone with a video camera down the block, hiding behind a shrub in the yard. You don't know how long he's been filming. And then, if he doesn't stop, Proto's flare goes off.'
Clank retracts his arms, now that the house seems to be going more "down" than "forward", and slowly extricates himself from the dirt. Fortunately, this neighborhood has sewage lines, so he didn't end up buried in a septic tank.
Shade tenses up, and starts to prepare to 'jump' away, but there is a great deal working against her. "Shit," she says, succinctly, and turns to get away from Protostar, concentrating on keeping her footing and moving quickly.
<OOC> Strobe says, "Strobe just... goes to ferry in more emergency services peoples, as needed..."
<OOC> Strobe says, "feel free to emit this as needed, Clank. am out. toodles, y'all."
Strobe has disconnected.
Freedom Lass has been helping out with the rescue efforts, since she lacks the flashy powers of the others. However, something catches her eye, and she quickly disappears from view in the crowd...
And then she ahems very softly at a man hiding behind some bushes, aiming a video camera at the rescue efforts, "Excuse me, can I help you with something?" She looks at the man, waiting for a bit of an explanation.
And after giving some folks time to get away from him... well a few seconds at least, Protostar does indeed do as he said he would... his fwash of plasma kinda overriding his sense of hearing just as Strobe voices her objection. "Huh? Did someone say something?" he asks as he begins fusing the mud and PVC and rock into almost superheated magma and letting it slide down to cover up the pipe. It's the work of a minute or two and then he steps back, "There, done..." he states with pride... staring at the molten mess.
Between Freedom Lass's interruption and the sudden flare of light, the videotaper trips over himself and sprawls into the shrubbery. "GAH!"
Pazuzu hovers out over Clank from there, and seems satisfied there. "Good, you could get out. I think things for now are at least improved."
Shade is glad to scramble free of the huge pit to avoid getting roasted, and once on steadier ground, the bedraggled vigilante straightens and looks around. She approaches the Rakshasi, and says, blandly, "So I guess you're free most nights."
Rakshasi, at the moment? Long gone, herself. Not far, but out of the line of sight; she wasn't immediately helpful on her own, after all, even if she's at least satisfied with what she -didn't- find down there. No trapped victims, no monsters... excellent enough. It's not a far enough escape to avoid Shade, though, and she hmfs a bit. "I happened to be in the area. I mean, it's -sort- of hard to miss this level of chaos..."
Freedom Lass shakes her head at the videotaper, "And what, exactly, ARE you planning to do with that?" She does extend a hand, to help the videotaper back to his feet... keeping a careful eye on the man.
The young man takes the offered hand, breathes a sigh of relief as he realizes his camera is undamaged. "I've been streaming this all live to HeroWatchTower.com! Woohoo!" he pumps a fist, then realizes maybe his exuberance is a bit misplaced at the moment.
Protostar places his hands on his hips, having finished his totally unnecessary bit of helping out. "I did it.." he mutters to himself. "I did something useful and helpful and heroic..." He's barely talking out loud here... but his chest puffs out with pride and he points a hand skyward as he just rockets up into the air... letting out a yelp that sounds a lot like he is moving faster than he planned to. Just a few hundred feet up he breaks the sound barrier and is well... out of sight.
<OOC> Protostar hasta run anyhow folks:) Thanks
GAME: Protostar goes IC.
Freedom Lass arches a brow under her cowl, "Well, I'd suggest next time your neighborhood gets swallowed by a sinkhole, that you try to help first, if you can." She smiles faintly, "Now go on back to a safe area, okay?" She waves a bit, then runs off towards her bike as she sees things are well in hand.
The young man starts to look like he's going to ask for an autograph or something, then thinks better of it and runs off to his bicycle. Not HIS home....
"This seems it will hold for the time being. So I will be gone as well." Pazuzu suddenly rockets upward and away.
Clank finally clears out of the dirt and picks up a garden hose to clean himself off. Nothing comes out. "D'oh!" he smacks himself on the forehead with a resounding CLANNNNG!
Freedom Lass looks over at Clank, riding her bike over, "Did you need a lift somewhere?" She glances curiously at the metal man, tilting her head, "I was just going back to Port Liberty."
Clank shakes his head, then gestures to the train wheels on his shins. "Nah, I'm my own ride. I'm gonna find a river ta drive through 'r sumpin first anyway."
Pazuzu goes home.
Pazuzu has left.
"You mean it called to you," Shade drawls. "Man. I need a shower." Really. And probably a new costume.
Rakshasi quirks an eyebrow. "Something like that. ... And no comment," she states. Cameraman? Ngh. She's quite gone at that, leaping forward and changing to a pigeon of all things, flapping off into the air. Aaah, rats of the sky, attracting no attention whatsoever!
Freedom Lass nods, "Alright then. And good work... wish I could have thanked the others, but..." She shakes her head, "We aren't ones for sticking around longer than necessary." She smiles wryly, then kicks in the bike's engine and /zooms/ off with surprising speed, easily weaving around traffic as she vanishes into the horizon.
GAME: Freedom Lass goes IC.
Freedom Lass has left.
Clank finally gets one of the firemen to hose him off, then departs as well....
---end log---
