[color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Return to Base[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [@Sadu] [quote][color=f7941d]"Lunara is SDN's problem, not mine. I'm only here as part of the agreement that SDN keeps a leash on her, and I cover the day shift when she's useless."[/color][/quote] James heard the comms on return, chuckling. Was she the same person? Probably. Like how him and Lightning Girl were siblings? Technically, no.... "I won't question it. Just, I don't want to come in tomorrow to a broken window. Or a stuck Phoenix that loves the moonlight getting crispy in sunshine when it hits the office. I am sure it'll be fine." James poetically put, physically seeing heroes return, back to office, in time for his little Toolbox Talk. ---------- [@Auragreedia] [quote]After the meeting ends and every hero leaves for break, James finds Raúl, the resident IT guy, tapping him on the shoulder. [color=lightsalmon]"Got your Dispatch account ready, gonna be a bit lacking compared to Riley's, but I'll get it all in order tomorrow. Oh, and, found another dispatch terminal for you to use. Sacred stuff, keep it clean, use it carefully. I'll take you to it right now."[/color][/quote] "Thanks. Let's get to it. I apparently might have another guy joining later. Assistant Dispatcher." James replied, following along, and letting Raul do his stuff. It was a few minutes of fucking around, but within time, the Mexican-American started to get his ancient machine up and running (via a ritual and a handy new login), and that was enough. That and a pork bun from Madcap. Who James hadn't yet gotten around to telling off. The words would leave him when Madcap was already out of view, but right now, he wasn't even quite sure how he led the talk with him to calm the fuck down with old women at retirement homes. How did anyone? [hr] [color=orange][center][h1][i][b] Monday 17:20 Break Room Claremont SDN [/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Team Social[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [color=yellow][center][h2][i][b]Lightning Girl[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] As Lightning Girl carried on chatting to the team, a new figure emerged, a kid that barely looked 18. Fuck. SDN were hiring young. Or this guy was more shapeshifting than Princess was. [quote][colour=61DE2A]“Ah. Hello. I assume you must be the heroes? Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you all.”[/colour] [@Aku the Samurai][/quote] Lightning Girl made sure to be that friendly face, of course, in costume, the spandex and cordura wearing, cliche setting forward for everyone who either was too shy, quiet, disgruntled, or into their pork belly bun to reply. "Hello Tyler! Welcome to Claremont's A-Team. You're a dispatcher, right? You're.....yeah, blue shirt. Okay. James said he might need some help, he's out there at the end of the office, he might be able to lend you a hand? We'll appreciate the oversight, and he'll appreciate the help. But yeah. We're a friendly bunch....won't cause you too many problems." She replied with a classic, English-accented Transatlantic charm, giving an indication om where to go- but seeing Myla mutter, Lightning Girl's usually polite and nice demeanour crackled as she chuckled in hearing it. Agreeing. But not quite there. [quote] [color=crimson]”When did we start having fucking kids working here? The hell’s this?”[/color] [/quote] "Tends to be when they look baby faced they have something about them. Super smarts? Or would he eat every one of us ass first? I'm not sure which. But, he's here to help. And right now we're gonna need it. If what happened in Pasadena happens to us, we are, screwed!" Lightning Girl almost evangelised with a tail off at the end with a chuckle to keep it light, knowing how much it must have pissed off Payback, as she shrugged. "And I like my ass not eaten." A comment you could take so, so many ways, and if James would have been the room, hand would have hit face as she could not help innuendo, even if she meant it fully well. Oh well. There was time to be awkward later, Sophie reasoned, so she smiled through the pain and no doubt, how absolutely insanely awful that was, and absolutely not what she meant! "Not like literally!" She butted in, hand up, the damage, already, all but done, and the conversation all but moved on. She had zero idea of his powers, but, it would be rather funny if anyone did, or even had a vague idea about Tyler. Eclipse's comments from earlier rang in her head as she turned back to him. [@Auragreedia] [quote] [color=gray]"Don't think of me as a hero yet. And I--thank you."[/color] He clears his throat awkwardly, the hero comment catching him off guard. Frankly, everything about Lightning Girl caught him off guard. When was the last time someone paid to attention to him outside of drug stuff? It's been a while. [color=gray]"About earlier, I mean. You didn't have to say that."[/color] Another page turns, more corporate bullshit. He doesn't want to admit he read from page one to now instead of following the table of contents. His finger twitches as he swipes to another page; he really, really wants to start over. [color=gray]"Do people actually read this? It's like a corporate suicide note."[/color] [/quote] "Eh. It will help you sleep at night then. Basically just don't do anything highlighted in bold is what James told me. The rest is....filler." She added, patting the paper, leaving a little static on it. She looked at him, and smiled, him being noticed something she absolutely meant. The others might have been rough around the edges. But she could see past that visor, past that look on his face. There was someone in there with a lot of hurt. Maybe with Payback it would take time. Or with anyone else in the team that was still finding their feet, like Asteroid, or Princess. So why? "I said it because the corporate stuff sucks sometimes. Worth calling it out when you get a chance. We're not in a work camp, they follow their own rules as much as we do. James knows it too. Just won't say it. And much as I like working alone, sounds like a lot of people could do with help. Being a hero means realising the nerds should do paperwork while you get stuff done." Sophie replied, Eclipse maybe noticing that slight change in tone, as she leaned back against the cabinet and worktop, sighing. "Nobody's perfect, Eclipse. But helping others helps us find our own way forward. Doing good means you're....doing something that isn't destructive. Usually. I think." Sophie said, a little reluctance in her words right at the end, as if she was on the cusp of saying something more. That was before the Canadian of the team reacted and broke that conversation perhaps at a good juncture, friendly as they came. Her rubber gloved hand shook his to avoid shocking the hell out of him, a smile returning back. [@BigPapaBelial] "Someone is envious of the Maple himself. Pleasure is mine, Hat Trick. Bring out my best look, and I'm sure we'll make it work, anytime." Lightning Girl replied, her enthusiasm, as ever, constant, returning after a brief blip. It was a postcard grin. The kind you put on buses. She may not have eeked traditional charisma, but the stereotype, at least on the outside, permeated. Even if inside, holy shit, this was a LOT, a FUCKING LOT, of people. It was a small team before. How the fuck had it grown this big? Was she still okay working with people? What if she electrocuted another one of them? Sophie's mind rattled. But Lightning Girl did not let her carbon mask go. Breaking that thought, Madcap threw a bacon bun. She caught it, giving a thumbs up and a finger gun back, smiling back at him and chomping it. "Thanks, Madcap! Appreciate the food!" She gave a nod to Madcap, letting him absorb the energy of the room, though man, she hoped he'd be flinging less old ladies over the road. Why hadn't James done anything? He had power to suspend him, or do something, right? There was an unease about it. She respected his courage. But something was up. She wasn't complaining.....as Hat Trick pulled his cameraphone and she moved immediately into frame. Lightning Girl smiled with a big teethy grin, fingers out, smiling in the selfie. She always came out well in photos, she was that kind of girl-next-door pretty, her rosy, slightly burnt cheeks contrasting against her pale white/grey hair that looked less old lady, more like she'd run fluorescent dye into her curls. She was never one too far from a camera, or at least, a good marketing opportunity. Her own socials had picked up nicely since landing in America, it turns out, people went absolutely wild for a hero with a white costume and an absolutely unattainable fitness regime. With a lot of electricity came a metabolism that cranked itself up and up. Hitting the gym these days meant she could probably embarrass half the people here now, which was handy given she felt made of glass relative to Madcap or Hat Trick. Asteroid broke that chain of thought. [quote] Jet looks over at Lightning Girl and nods. [color=mediumpurple]"Ever hear the phrase 'falling with style?' [/color] He's filling up his dinner to the line. [/quote] "Yeah, tends to be how gravity works. But, that is cool though. Gonna have to figure out how on earth our stuff combines!" She replied with an almost gleeful, British enthusiasm, as if it really was her first time. Cynical as she may have been beneath the surface, she accepted her lot today. She had to just deal with whoever she was working with. And work something out. With bun in hand, she continued demolishing it in a method not befitting her grace, before ripping a glove back off and shoving it into a plug socket with a reliable bzt of her cape fluttering, and leaning up against the wall with a cup of tea in one hand, and a 110V socket in her hand in the other. This was jack shit compared to the power line. But, it was like steadily filling up her battery, and if it didn't feel *nice*. And looking on at the diverse team, from the eldrich, regal to the shadowy, dark, to the inbetween. This was Claremont A-Team. And damn, if they weren't hitting the afternoon. She looked to the nearest people to her, and made a quiet note. "I would not recommend coming close to me when I've got my hand in a socket. It's.....a long process to explain, but the more charge I have, the more potent I am out there. That's why I sometimes hang off pylons or transformers in the morning. It makes me very, very hyper. But if I don't, I'm not as helpful as I could be. Also, SDN allow me to have free electricity! How good is that!" She remarked, forcing a smile, yet almost laughing it off awkwardly, like she was becoming David Brent herself. [hr] [color=orange][center][h1][i][b] Monday 17:31 Office Claremont SDN [/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]New Dispatch Terminal[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [color=skyblue][center][h2][i][b]James Speight[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=794ZbwO1vuI]Andrew Arcadi- Lana Works In The Mailroom[/url] [/b] Brushing off the dust on the desk, the machine chirped into life. James was appreciative of the strange Mexican-American's approach, given he seemed to be a techpriest more than an IT guy. But he was a good dude. Didn't have to be a hero on the frontlines to do good. That much James had learned from working behind the scenes. "Thanks Raul. I'll take it from here, looks like everything is ported, it's talking to everything I need. Have a good evening dude, I'll let you know if any other shit crashes over Slack." The IT guy had got him up and running, and on an official system of his own. No more shared credentials. He didn't have the master view that Riley did, but enough to manage the evening. Calls, pass through, alerts, cameras, all of it working about as good as it could. To say that it was crap was an understatement, but, like anyone who knew SDN, you just made it work. Claremont dead centre, mountains to the north, fringes of the other cities and the very edge of the Inland Empire to the east, Pomona to the west, all in fewer pixels than his smart watch. He adjusted his glasses, as he fiddled with the seat, for the fifth time today, getting it just right, before pulling in. Tyler had a seat next to him, and his own interface, a slightly less powerful dispatch screen, and an opportunity to join on CCTV and on minor tasks that James sent to his to resolve. The display was up and running, as he munched down the pork belly, astonished that Madcap thought this was a good day. He had so many words for Madcap. So many. If he was a depressed bastard, he would be no good to him right now, and given the state of how badly today was going, not even James had the energy to be angry now. He just had to get on with the task. Cynical as he was, he at least understood how the Yanks worked, even if Kat wouldn't agree at all. Too much information would flatten them in a moment where there was a crisis going on, especially, especially, the Phoenix Programme. Bunch of criminals were the best that Claremont had against the terrors out there were all he had. But, dammit if it wasn't actually working a bit. Another packet in hand, he tapped his fingers along his desk, looking outside as the darkening sky continued to turn more hazy orange and black, the glow of strip lighting in the office giving a low, warm hue to everything. He looked across the desk, the introduction brief between Tyler and James from earlier, given there was plenty to cover and not much time to do it in. His headphones sat around his head, but both earcups were back, the transmit manually turned off. He wasn't making that mistake again. "Welcome to the sandbox, Tyler, hopefully you're logged in. Okay, so, given Riley was previously Head Dispatcher, it makes sense we work together to keep this afloat, cos fuck, we have a lot of ground to cover. Keep an eye on the CCTV, and keep track of where they end up, condition, that kind of thing. Guide the teams in, and give them a picture. I can't see it all. So you're my eyes on anything else I can't pick up and can deal with the minor dispatches between the serious stuff, that sound good?" James asked Tyler, as he clattered away on his own keyboard, making conversation as they worked, James already fixing some paperwork, writing up some notes, performance, shift runs, timestamps. "Anyway, if we're here for the long term, I gotta ask. You look like you fell out of the womb. Super smarts? Or you got some Ben Button shit going on?" James asked, sighing mid sentence as he allocated away. Talking away as he worked. That was a Speight thing. "Actually, no, I shouldn't ask, that's rude of me. Before you ask, no, I don't have powers, and technically, no, I'm not an SDN employee. I'm a consultant by trade. Means I don't work here permanent, which is why I don't have your shirt. And it means, I work by the hour." James added, clattering away, looking over. "Look, not sure why I'm telling you this, but you seem fresh faced. What that means is, it's in my interest this team does well so I stay in work, and while I'm technically meant to make sure SDN works by its own rules, I don't play by theirs. My metrics aren't on your board, but they go up to Kat and a few senior managers in SDN. Means I'm here to make sure they get through however long they need me to, but how you do it, I don't care, so long as you get the work done and don't take the piss. Especially when this is the best we have." James broke, taking a moment, realising Tyler might not have understood this. Either because he was fresh faced, as young as he was, or at least, might not have realised the scale of the problem yet. "And while some of the team are pretty good, a few of them are ex-Phoenixes. Eclipse is a real scary fucker. Drug dealer. While Payback fucking hates everyone. And seems most likely to jump if she doesn't get something out of this soon. Princess seems to have some forms I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. And then there's Madcap. Oh god. Among others. You'll figure them out, mix of heroes and non-heroes that makes it all work.." James narrated, clattering keys still, sending a few more pins, minor jobs, to the team to kick things off. "So yeah, fun bunch. But, I'll get you through tonight. Get up to speed." James added, adjusting his comms, talking to the whole team. One last pep talk, comms clicked on. "Okay, A-Team. Let's get this shift done, and go home safe and dry, we're on till 7pm. We're gonna make sure Claremont's a tough nut to crack given what's happened in LA today, and show face. You've all done good so far. Let's get this over the line and reset tomorrow." James reassured the team, knowing that some of them certainly would hate him, but right now, he was all that stood between them and a sea of shit within SDN itself. If the Phoenix Programme collapsed, many of them were back in prison, out of their parole, and hunted by the very heroes they'd worked with. So James reasoned as well as anyone could, they'd just want this over and done with. Actual life, with pay, responsibilities, a guaranteed job when you had powers versus a cell where you were contained in a Supermax was as good as any reason would be to get after it. He didn't remind the team of that. Maybe he was too optimistic. But he had a plate full of bread and shit, and he was being forced to make sandwiches. He wanted to sleep, fucking bad. But the fifth cup of tea today was keeping him going, as was the Red Bull he'd now added to his caffeine mountain. Fuck, he could feel palpitations, but at this point, he was gonna get himself and the team through this. His team had to or else tomorrow would be a bigger mess. Tyler was maybe more awake than he was. The first couple went easy. Small jobs for the team in the sunset. As darkness descended completely, the team were out and about, sometimes together, sometimes separate. James had grouped up the team, going for a different approach than the early afternoon stint of individuals on response, trying to cover the area he had to now manage given a few other shifts were off in Montclair and Pomona. That meant they could break off when on patrol, getting smaller tasks, like providing some support to police, post-break in check ups, among many many other small tasks not worthy of note. The team were at least familiar with what was going on, and in the night, there lay many terrors beyond the street lights and signs. Even if it was mostly some drunk hobo that probably needed a hand to a a homeless shelter. Lightning Girl hadn't needed to do that even in spite of him not being a subscriber, but, reasoned that it was as good of a use of her time as any between the jobs that involved keeping the peace on a student night out, among the many, many other jobs that the team were on in the night economy of the college city. But carrying Princess over the low-level night sky of the suburb, they at least had the chance to enjoy the view of it all between a few minor jobs. He grouped them like this: [b]Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1) Madcap and Lunara (Team 2) Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3) [/b] So far, so good. This might actually be quiet. Okay, apart from the one or two dispatches that always went a bit pear shaped. But nothing too bad. Subscribers were happy. The fort was held. The night was safe. For at least the first couple of hours. The two orange alerts arose on his screen of Claremont. James sighed, realising he'd need to make some picks. Compared to the occasional split of the teams to go out and finish some dispatches, as the darkness approached and the clock neared 6:30. But then both switched from amber to red. "Shit. We got incoming." James said to nobody in particular (though he was vaguely pointed at Tyler). It wasn't good. This wasn't like earlier. The dispatches were significantly more difficult, but then again, the bigger jobs that came up in the night came, with bigger alerts. He'd need to send all he had on these jobs. Especially when he listened in on the dispatch call, looking at Tyler, pointing to his own headset and turning in his chair and broadcasting. ---- "Team 1, Vanderstenk Labs have a possible breach in their Archaeological Labs off campus. Something about some Mayan lump of rock coming back to life, it looks sentient and it's ripping up the floor. Security's got it contained for now, but someone's gonna need to calm it down before it breaks loose. Find a way to lull it back inside, and power it down." He watched the feed, sighing as he saw the gigantic crystal sticking out of it. From possibly the worst area anyone could imagine, because if a lump of basalt rock could twerk while it threw chairs at a wall, it meant James could describe what he was seeing correctly. "Dickheads. You shoved a massive crystal up it's arse? Really?" James said, uttering words, realising he was still on comms. "Not directed at you, Team. The said crystal up its arse might have something to do with it though." He commentated, switching to another feed as another alert came in. He was cynical, but no less sarcastic. ------ Another alert. Fuck. This was getting hairy. Three of the worst ones hit at the worst time, and he had to keep reserve. Just if something else happened. On jobs like these, James knew sending heroes alone was a stupid call. "Team 3, I've got a handful of augmented gangsters trying to steal a train full of tanks of concentrated Phenylacetic Acid, by the railyards. Might be ex-Red Ring. This might be tough. Keep your wits about you. Standby, pin sent." James started, watching on at the state of it, the CCTV feed coming in from what Tyler was working on. "One of them looks like they've got a flamethrower. And a fair amount of body armour. And has bunny ears. Damn, she looks like someone threw Big Chungus in a vat of tar." They were wearing a hell of a lot of armour, and James noted that was Pyress. Flamer who had a napalm tank to help. Not a particularly powerful supe, but, with some Red Ring augments, any fire was now her desire. God, he'd heard that on a record somewhere and it was stuck in his head. Fuckers. Like Flambae but shittier. "Clear to use lethal force, or smack the hell out of them. But you're gonna need to get creative with that heavy. She goes up next to that acid, I'll smell the acid burn through metal from the office." -- Then one more alert went up. He'd have nobody left if he went all in on this, but he reasoned at this point, given just how much the situation had escalated, he had to give it everything he had. He turned to the cameras, watching on. This wasn't yet red on his warning system. But it would be if he didn't do something. Fuck's sake. "Team 2, I have reports of a student fight club within the evac'd dorms at Claremont College. It's....yeah, bunch of college age kids fighting. Lots, like, 20 of 'em." James sighed, watching the CCTV. There was a Wilhelm scream as one got yeeted out of a second floor window into a dumpster followed by lots of cheers, as James watched the footage on, with all the ensuing chaos of some kid get thrown out of another glass window that Brick Frog had smashed up earlier. Into concrete. "And they're shitfaced." While Brick Frog was not there, it seemed chaos was a ladder, and a bunch of skinheads had decided to occupy that void. It would be a sleepless night until they were sorted out. James wasn't an expert in this situation, that was literally the job of Lunara and Madcap. But he could offer moral support, and he continued. "Pin sent. Your pick if you make a point with one of them, scare the shit out of them, talk them out of it, or knock them all out. Get this dispersed, and use reasonable force....even if they might deserve it." [hr] [color=orange][center][h1][i][b] Monday 18:40 Shipton Railyard, North Pomona [/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [b] Eclipse, Payback and Asteroid (Team 3) [/b] Team 3 turning up would find that the train was almost ready to go, in the midst of the large trainyard's darkness between carriages and motors depending on their approach- yet their target was lit up from afar by a pyro's fire and floodlighting. If they didn't stop it, all hell would let loose, as Pyress unleashed a massive gulp of fire, two of the ex goons leaping on the crew cab, and honking the horn, trying to get it started. She was defending them, but they were armed too with plasma pistols, and wouldn't hesitate to fire. So this was a lethal situation. They might have bene matched in numbers, but Pyress, she had a lot of fire and a lot of taunting to give them. If that train left, there was no telling where it might end up. The black market was one thing given that Phenylacetic Acid was used for making meth, and probably what they wanted to do. Pyress, in her gas mask, was a chef. But if it left and wasn't stopped, that thing was gonna go straight into the LA Harbour and make one hell of a fireball for Torrance to clean up. If they could stop it now, that would help, but a leak of acid here would be not exactly an ideal situation either. That would be up to how fast they acted, and if they stopped it at all. James looked on at the CCTV, sighing. "Shit. Don't let that train leave, but whatever you do, don't let that acid leak out...." Pyress didn't hear James, but she did see Eclipse. With his new crew he wasn't supplying. Out to stop her new found drug work. After all, the market abhorred a vacuum. And there were crackheads to be supplying. "Back away, Shadowbitch! And your two friends trying to cosplay goths! Acid's ours, or else! We're running the drug game now!" She muffled a roar, recognising Payback and Asteroid too, or at least, she thought she did through the oppressive holes of her gas mask. [hr] [color=orange][center][h1][i][b] Monday 18:40 Claremont College Dorms, Claremont [/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [b]Lunara and Madcap (Team 2) [/b] Team 2 turning up to the dorms, would realise that the scene was a lot lighter than they anticipated. But two heroes fighting this fight club? Well, it was like something from a movie. A TRUE, test. For the students. For the heroes, this was Monday night. "Hey you, supes, you think you can take on Kevin the Destroyer?" One of them called out. "I bet you can't do shit. Kevin's beaten up six guys in a row!" Madcap and Lunara would discover that Kevin was some dweeby yet super strong looking 6"5 guy who was shaven bald with square glasses, with a slight shadow beard, being hyped up by some 5"9 student who had the same haircut. Which was weird. Was this some Tate Drew inspired group? Was he on something the Red Ring cooked up? It was hard to say. He was unusually strong. And nerdy. Watching on over Tyler's shoulder at the camera feed, James wondered how they would sort this. "I'm taking odds that Madcap's gonna beat the living shit out of him. And they'll all run after. Come on. Put your powers to something useful. Don't get beaten up by Tate Drew's nerdy doppelganger. Or apologising to old ladies is gonna be the last of your issues in the break room." He almost hyped the hypeman behind the screen talking to himself, hoping that at least some redemption would come or else he was gonna be a lot more vincible than invincible. "Or, Lunara is gonna do some really cool shit. Bets, Tyler? Actually, I'll let you watch this one. I'll handle the train and Xylotam." [hr] [color=orange][center][h1][i][b] Monday 18:40 Vanderstenk Labs, Claremont [/b][/i][/h1][/center][/color] [b]Lightning Girl, Princess and Hat Trick (Team 1) [/b] "Crystal up it's arse? Sorry, what?" Lightning Girl reacted, carrying Princess, knowing Hat Trick could maybe skate his way over. The labs were huge, a sprawling complex built next to the College to benefit from all the creative capital and PhDs that were there. Landing gracefully, Lightning Girl ran ahead, cape billowing in the breeze, running immediately to security already on scene. Lightning against rock wasn't great, but fuck it, they had the freakiest eldrich horror to combat the scariest thing the Mayan pantheon could throw when combined with some life-making crystals. And a Canadian who was currently SDN's Goose Expert. That counted for something, the white-haired hero thought to herself. Righting herself at least when she approached the security guards, rifles in hand. Princess put down. She was light at least! "Shit, we have a situation! Big Mayan rock thing has gone crazy!" Security Guard A yelled, pointing inwards, not sure if he signed up for the right gig given it was all going on. "Yeah, we know! How?" Lightning Girl felt she wanted some answer. "Crystal!" Security Guard B, her voice trembling, yelled. "Also noted! Not helpful! Hold cordon, we're going in!" Lightning Girl replied, getting nothing more, hearing the massive shatter of glass, and a other-worldly roar. That sounded like a rock with a crystal up it's arse. However the fuck that had happened? The glass test chamber opened to an observation room, and the glass pane was shattered to pieces, and the polymer floor was getting torn up. She led the way, as glass got thrown by the rocky being's embrace, the team firmly inside the chamber with Xylotam, as the name said on the vault they'd just gone through and inside of. It looked like a laboratory alright, though the glass had been broken and Xylotam wanted to escape and be free. And return to Cancun. Urgently. It couldn't of course, say this in a language anyone bar maybe Princess understood. This was some SCP level shit, and yet, Lightning Girl wondered why on earth they had this fucking thing here. And why on earth they'd decided to put a crystal up it's derriere this late at night? Why? It made sense seeing Xylotam's bronze visage what they meant, but again, why? Was that the real test of this chamber? Until she realised.... Ahhh, beers were left inside. Of course. The cans crushed with four left and a couple of incapacitated scientists. Drunk passed out? No. Xylotam had thrown them across the room with his gigantic rocky maw. It looked vaguely anthropomorphised, chunky legs, skinny arms, wide torso, headless somehow bar a teeny stump. Dodging the stool thrown by the rock being, she stunned it, projecting electricity with a fierce, ozone like howl, lighting up the relative darkness of the room and holding the Mayan lump of rock in place. "Argh! Okay, we need to probably find a way to uhh.....remove the crystal? Stop the rock? Calm it down? Princess, Hat Trick, any ideas? I'll hold, but it isn't easy....fuck!" Lightning Girl strained as she beamed nearly an electric car's worth of electricity into the sentient rock, stunning and holding it in stasis, but not permanent.