HELLO SUNSHINE

[maskormods]

WHO: EVERYONE
WHERE: STARK TOWER/THE PORTER BUILDING
WHEN: Duration of the event
WHAT: ARRIVAL TO CAPE AND COWL 2020
WARNINGS: Violence and language likely
OOC NOTES: This is a starter log to help kick off the event. Feel free to use or post your own!

Stark Tower, home of the Porter located in Midtown on 9th Avenue and 52nd, hasn’t exactly gone to rot in the years since Metas stopped arriving. Rather, it has simply been absorbed into the sprawling complex of newer, more technologically advanced government buildings as Metahumans were put into their ‘proper’ place. Once a pinnacle of the City, the tower is now dwarfed by the massive government complexes besides it, now standing more as a tribute to a bygone era, a historical curiosity still cleaned but otherwise left alone except for the newest of recruits looking to see that which they’d only heard about. The once awe-inspiring, multi-story tall labs which contain the Porter are quiet, eerie. Empty. The building is connected to, but sits on the very side edge, of the mass of now primarily administrative buildings. The prisons and training post have moved to more strategic grounds. Only office workers and their normal security detail keep the old Tower and her Porter company, and both are happy to simply go about their endless days, ignoring one another.


CHARACTERS ARRIVING JANUARY 14TH

This arrangement breeds complacency. The first day, the workers simply believe it’s a computer glitch, some rat in the wires telling them the Porter is drawing power again. So the first wave of new Metas have a pretty easy go.

You arrive alone, or in a pair, or in a gaggle of others. The giant has the echo of once being impressive, but years of only weekly cleanings and a lack of human contact have left it feeling hollow. There’s no clear sign of what is happening for a moment. The first few of you may even be able to just quietly leave, walk right out onto the confusing City streets without anyone but a uniformed office clerk noticing.

After that, people start to notice. A handful of security shows up to investigate after the first hour to ask who you are, how you got in here, what the hell prank you’re trying to pull. Then an arrival is witnessed, and all hell starts to break out.

Now new Metas arrive to blaring alarms and guns at their faces, demanding you get on the floor with hands in the air. Maybe you fight free, maybe you’re taken away in power suppressing handcuffs to be ‘processed.’ Those with a quick wit or zeal for order may be able to talk their way into simply being brought the paperwork to sign on to join the government. Others will be transported to the reprogramming centers. But time works for both sides, and resistance members undercover in the office space have gotten the news too, ready to help smuggle the Metas that they can quietly out a side door with instructions on a safe house to run to.

It’s a very confusing day.


CHARACTERS ARRIVING AFTER THE 14TH

To the shock and awe of all, the Porter doesn’t stop. An unprecedented number of Metas are coming through, more at once than even the heyday of meta arrivals and freedom. And with that comes fear. The Tower is now fully secure, a small army of specially trained humans and government owned Metas prowling the halls, waiting for the next batch to arrive.

And arrive they do, again sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. Many are quickly taken into custody, to be transported to the proper processing facility. Occasionally, undercover agents for the resistance are clever enough to smuggle new arrivals out. Rarely, a desperate group of Meta rebels will attack the outside of the building, granting enough time for new arrivals to simply run, sometimes still in handcuffs. How ever they leave the Tower, it’s clear this is a dangerous world these new arrivals have come into.

Comments

[swordsense]

[Honestly, it isn't much of a fight. These goons are expecting someone that is intimidated by them being in a government building, and someone that's not feeling quite as betrayed as Adora. She'd trusted the government, and then this all happened and now she's feeling hurt, a little scared, and a whole lot of angry.

So, it's not more than a few minutes before she's cleaned their clocks, and then heading to the closet. She taps on the wall before pushing the door open, announcing her presence so as not to risk giving Lucina a heart attack.]

You're not hurt are you?

[She-Ra has a bruise visible on one shoulder, but nothing too bad, and it's already starting to heal. Beyond that, nothing too serious.]

[fauxmarth]

[once She-Ra's in, Lucina turns around so those shackles can get taken off.]

No, I'm fine-- [she braces for the snap of the chain.]

[swordsense]

[The snap happens quickly enough, the metal popping free easily.

There's another shimmer as the Sword of Protection changes shape again.]

Turn around. Let me get the cuffs off. I need to get at them from another angle.

[She, as it turns out, has created a key that's just the right size. IF a little bit big everywhere that's not going into the lock.]

Any idea what the hell is going on?

[fauxmarth]

[turning, she rubs at her freed wrists, her expression taut with frustration.]

I truly wish I knew. I didn't remember accessing a porter, and yet suddenly I was in one -- one surrounded by such soldiers! They don't dress as any I've ever seen on our shared world. Not OTO, either...

[swordsense]

Same here. I came out and someone pulled a gun on me, so I beat her up and then ran.

[And she'd begun noticing things too, strange things.]

They looked like government uniforms. Like America's turned on us.

[fauxmarth]

[she shakes her head, looking out toward the hall beyond the door.]

I don't understand it, either. None of this makes sense. But...we're not going to get any answers by hiding. We need better positioning.

[swordsense]

We need to get out of this building. I think that's the best start. Once we're clear, we can go...I don't know...find a library?

[That's a start, at least!

Adora's having trouble keeping her temper under control though.]

I feel like this is a nightmare, but I keep pinching myself and I can't wake up.

[fauxmarth]

[Lucina puts a hand on her forearm to ground her -- no pinching necessary.]

You're right. First step is getting clear of the immediate threat, otherwise we risk wearing ourselves out and being overrun.

Can you fly?

[swordsense]

Fly? No. Jump five stories straight up? Yes.

[What are you planning, Lu?]

Got an idea?

[fauxmarth]

Only an old lesson learned. [she peeks out and looks up and down the hallway before stepping out entirely. how convenient of some of those goons to already bust through the window; there's their easy out.]

We need to get some high ground to survey the situation and keep our trail from being so easily tracked. [she climbs outside, staying at a hover as she does so.]

I can convey you further if we find something higher than those five stories, no issue. Let's get out of here!

[swordsense]

Absolutely.

[She-Ra shifts her weapon back to it's Shield shape and rushes out, heading right for the window. And past some of the downed, groaning guards. Once she reaches the broken window, she pauses and looks around...mostly up.]

Okay. I'll meet you across the street.

[And, out she goes, leaping clear with a running jump and crashing down on the neighboring building, cracking concrete as she lands.]

[fauxmarth]

[it's a simple enough request, isn't it? just fly up to the roof. easy. Lucina's in the process of getting close enough to land when some movement catches her peripheral.]

What are-- [she bristles.] LOOK OUT!

[behold: drones]

[swordsense]

[She-Ra spins and blinks up at the incoming drones with a look of confusion. Twirling her transforming weapon, she shifts it into a crossbow. Because she's been watching a lot of television.]

Are they armed, you think?! Or are they just spies?

[fauxmarth]

I don't want to take any chances. Let's get rid of them!

[she's already veered and drawn he sword -- Falchion no more, but Aurora -- swinging swiftly to slice one of the incoming machines in two.

the answer of whether or not they're armed comes quickly thereafter, as the remainder begin to fire volleys of little laser pellets not at all inspired by that gif what are you talking about.]

[swordsense]

[Oh heck.

Well, two can play at that game! Skipping to the side, narrowly avoiding an Amazon Basics Laser Beam, Adora shoots one down with a glowing beam of rainbow light shaped vaguely like an arrow.]

...Why do they have lasers?!

[fauxmarth]

[because this world is mad, She-Ra. Lucina need not explain that much, nor does she think to, because she's still caught up in battle mode -- she's not as prone to banter during combat.

lacking conversation may not make the act of shooting and slicing these odd little drones up very dynamic, it does mean it can get done quickly enough, and when the last of the little nuisances fizzes and sparks and drops to the ground in pieces and no sign of more can be seen, Lucina sighs.

giving one last look around before landing on the roof, she sheathes her sword, hugging her arms to herself. by gods, it's cold out here...!]

I don't understand at all...why is this city so absolutely hostile at every turn? Where even are we?

[swordsense]

[Adora lowers her bow and turns it back into a shield before finally relaxing, just a bit.]

I don't know, either. It...kind of looks like New York? But that doesn't make sense. Just like I don't get why we'd have gone through the porter. I was asleep, nowhere near the government porters...

[fauxmarth]

[shaking her head:] Nor was I. I was at Helix. So-- [her eyes wince.] This is some new spell? Or technology? The Fates agreed to leave the world well enough alone, but warned of mishaps...

This seems more than a mishap to me...

[swordsense]

This is like the whole world went topsy-turvy, yeah. Like some evil...mirror universe.

[Where are all the mustaches though?]

Not everyone can be bad though, right? I mean, if I'm not, and you're not...

[fauxmarth]

No, you're right. We can't be the only exceptions.

[which means it's more a matter of trying to find others stuck in this situation. no easy task, considering how armed their dissenters are -- and it seems just existing here is cause for them to dissent!

hugging her arms tightly to herself to brace against the cold, she ruminates on things a bit more before:] We need to search for others. They might be in danger, as we were.

[swordsense]

Absolutely.

[She-Ra looks down at the street, so far below. This isn't exactly entirely new ground for her, but she's realizing that she's grown soft this last year.]

Let's...get to it, then. We need to move fast before more of those stupid robots show up.