Possession is 9/10 of the law

[raavashing]

Characters: Anyone helping Wan attempt to counter-possess Asti; Malicant
Date: Sat. 10/25
Location: Various TBD
Situation: Wan is attempting to possess Asti; others are acting as distractions/helping power boost
Warnings/Rating: Will post them in subject lines when/if needed

The log is going to be broken up between the following Event 'points' just to manage them easier:

Pre-Possession Power-Up (Mingle for those powering up Wan before his group heads to the Turtle's Head)
Pre-Distraction Meet-Up (Mingle for the distraction teams to finalize tactics or throw caution to the wind)
Possession Attempt (The actual possession attempt)
Distraction Group One (Headed up by Dante, this group is going to be dealing with the cultists directly)
Distraction Group Two (Network distraction group and/or different group of cultists)
End of the Day (for people to deal with the fallout of the event if they want to do so in this log)

ANYONE can tag in and take part in any of the threads except the Possession Attempt itself - that's closed to Wan, Valdis, Zuko, and Katara so the group is small and less easily noticed.

Comments

Pre-Possession Power Up

[raavashing]

[Wan invited those who had said they could try to give him more power to meet him at the palace, on the steps. There was a portal further inside the Palace that led to the Turtle's Head. They would be using that to get them there without giving Malicant time to draw his cultist forces to it.

Wan greeted them each in turn:]

Thank you for coming. Once everyone is here, we can try this.

[i_speak_softly]

[Donatello wants to kill something. Or at least blow something up. He's come equipped for both. Unfortunately, all he'll probably have a chance to do is meditate. It's frustrating, but it's better than nothing.]

[He eyeballs Wan's other recruits warily.]

[raavashing]

[Wan moved over to stand next to Donatello.]

Once we're done here, will you be joining Mikey?

Re: Pre-Possession Power Up

[oceanblue]

[Katara sits nearby on the stairs, absently brushing her fingers through her hair as she waits. She's not there to help with the power needed for the possession itself, but will be guarding Wan and Valdis as the attempt is made.

She's quiet, and has quite a lot on her mind as she prepares for what's to come.]

[lordhotman]

[Zuko sits with her, just as quiet. They aren't needed for this part so right now there is just waiting. Zuko will just watch when the others come to give Wan their power. He too has a lot on his mind.]

[12goingon113]

[Aang keeps himself mostly to the sidelines. Aang is more acutely aware of his deficiencies as an Avatar now more than he has been at any other point on the turtle.

He can't firebend, and he can't go into the Avatar State.
Because this he can't really help Wan the way he'd like to, the way he should be able to. And that hurts. And yet he's stopped here before heading out towards his distraction group to wish his friends the best of luck...and maybe just for a second not feel like he's running away again.]

Be careful, and...good luck.

[raavashing]

[Wan stood and stared at Aang for a moment, just nodding along. But then he couldn't help himself and he was pulling the younger man into a tight hug. He didn't want to say goodbye, but he felt like he should say or do something.]

[backwordscompatible]

[She was prepared. At least, this much, Zatanna had done before. Granted, on a significantly lesser scale...and with somebody whose power levels rivaled her own, meaning very little had actually been drawn from her person.]

[Still, she knew what to expect. But Wan didn't.]

Okay, before we do this? Just a slight disclaimer.

If I happen to pass out to the point where nobody or nothing can wake me...don't panic, I promise that's perfectly normal.

[Not a joke.]

[raavashing]

[Wan nodded.]

Okay. What should we do with you if that does happen? Where should someone take you, I mean.

[redlightgreenlight]

[When Valdis arrived, she hung near the back. She wasn't needed for the power up, she had no way to transfer her power and even if she did, it wasn't a power she would allow Wan to use. The Void was dangerous, especially since she no longer embraced it's power. Being in conflict with the power she would soon use to take the soul of her friend was discomforting at best, but it was the only way to get him into the turtle. If she lost control, hopefully the barrier between her soul and the void would be strong enough to protect Wan as well.]

[raavashing]

[As the others started to arrive, Wan shot Valdis a reassuring smile. Just to make sure she knew he knew she was there and was grateful for it.]

Pre-Distraction Meet-Up

[raavashing]

[The distraction groups would be trying to draw Malicant's attention in more than one place: via the Cultist and Via the Network. Anyone who had agreed to come was surely warned of the risks involved. This was the time to finalize tactics and choose to pull out if someone suddenly got cold feet. Where it was happening was up to Dante - The distractions were his game and he was going to play a good one.]

GROUP A- Midnight hotel

[royalguard_style]

Dante was waiting by the hotel for everyone and everyone he told, which basically means anyone who's name was not Ryou. He hated being in charge, but he was good at actually carrying out plans, had an idea of what to do. Upon a character's arrival at the hotel, he'll be waiting by the door.

Possession Attempt - Closed to Wan, Valdis, Zuko, and Katara

[raavashing]

[Keeping the group small was a risk, but it was better than drawing Malicant's attention to them before they had a chance to pull this off. Wan, already in the Avatar State as a way to hold onto the power that others had lent him, led the way through the portal and to the Turtle's Head.

Once through, he spoke briefly, in a voice that echoed itself - one male and one female.]

We'll have to fly to cross the gap between the shell and the head. I will take Valdis there. Zuko, Katara, you should protect us at the shell's edge.

[redlightgreenlight]

[Valdis dipped her head to Wan/Raava in agreement, but turned to Zuko and Katara to address them.]

While using the void, time will slow for Wan and myself. Seconds for you will seem like minutes to us. My body will continue defend itself, but I myself will be absent. If I am dealt a deep wound during that time, I will be pulled back whether we are done or not. It is vital that you two protect our bodies with everything you have.

[she didn't like asking them to possibly sacrifice their lives, but defeating Malicant was why they were here, and so it needed to be done.]

Distraction Group One - Somewhere in the City

[raavashing]

[The timing for this was 'noon'. It was an easy time marker to follow even without a clock to look at. The Cultists in the city were still heavy and prevalent. Finding a group of them was easy enough to do. It was on those who chose to fight to get Malicant's attention through them.]

[royalguard_style]

Dante had been left in charge of the front, which basically means he recruited everyone who could hold a weapon properly, and gave them very specific instructions: Their goal was to goad the enemy, not defeat the enemy, and their lives came first. From there, he assumed that his teammates had the sense to change their approaches accordingly.

He made his first move with their goal in mind, choosing to shout at the cultists from atop a lamppost, rather then charging straight in. He kept his pistols in his hands, and both his sword and Lucifer on his back, and started by getting everyone's attention using the one method he knew would work.

"Hey there, you must be Malicant's cronies!" Last time someone said the enemy's name, nothing major happened, not that the consequences would have stopped him. At the very least, he just got these cultist's attention on him.

Distraction Group Two - Network and possibly cultists

[raavashing]

[At this point it was obvious that Malicant was listening in on the network and following what was being said. His attention was easily gotten through it. Testing how many consoles he could pay attention to at one time could be a good idea, but it would leave those at the computers open to easy attack if they were alone. If that's a risk they were willing to take, they needed to log on and start talking right at noon.]

malicant r u ready 4 trololo.wmv on loop for twelve hours

[wrathfulkhan]

Tony had given the flash drive to Gene, along with the instructions - namely, to run the script meant to cripple the console network for a few precious seconds and to teleport to every unused console in the city to launch it from. In short, Gene was to be a one-man DDoS attack. He wasn't sure how well it would work, but the aim was to crash the network, at least temporarily.

Right at the stroke of noon was when he began, plugging in the peripheral and loading the file. It was reasonably complex and self-replicating, with a timer to burn itself out, which made Gene wonder just how much experience Tony had had creating viruses back home.

> run

It didn't seem to do anything at first, and then, the console seemed to slow, just a bit. Gene grinned and teleported to the next console, repeating the process. And the next, and the next, and the next...

Soon enough the consoles were crashing, ground to a halt by trying to process all the junk data, which was bound to be giving Malicant a headache of sorts.

Oh, and then there was this little puerile-but-ingenious bit of code, rigged up in a BASIC emulator:

READY
10 PRINT "FUCK YOU MALICANT "
20 GOTO 10
RUN

An extra layer of infinitely-looping insult to injury, echoing from console to console to console. Marvelous.

End of the Day - Midnight Hotel

[raavashing]

[The attempt to possess Asti and force Malicant out was a technical failure. It was time for those that survived to tend their wounds and regroup as best they could. Figure out a new strategy and maybe share what had been learned.

The Midnight Hotel, under Anton's watch, was probably the safest place to pull back to.]

present but not actively threading unless specifically required

[gistful]

Anton was alerted by the arrival of Dante's group. Although he didn't know details, he overheard enough to guess that something was afoot--too late to do much about it himself save offer the safe place the Hotel already was.

Whatever was happening, the proprietor quietly made sure he had first-aid supplies enough for any potential aftermath. When they others fell back to the Hotel, he was already prepared with supplies and whatever other amenities the participants might need. Most of his supplies had come from the hospital, but a handful were magical in nature, including a yellow rock which dissolved in water to heal bruises and leaves which, when chewed, dulled pain.


[ooc: Anton is at the Hotel and can be assumed to be providing first-aid supplies, food, drinks, sheets, beds, whatever. Details about the Hotel can be found here, including check-ins if characters decide to stay somewhere safe for as long as their lantern allows. If anyone needs Anton specifically let me know, but otherwise I'm not intending to thread.]

Back from the Turtle's Head

[raavashing]

[Wan and Zuko and Katara and Valdis dragged their asses in several hours later than most everyone else for the simple fact that they had to travel from the edge of the shell, back into the city, and navigate the streets to a safe entrance into the hotel. It had been a long an exhausting day. They had not been successful in their goal and come back worse for wear.

But both Wan and Valdis had shared a strange vision. Making sense of it would be easier if they could talk to some of the others about it. Raine came to mind first since she seemed both open about what information she knew had been gathered and blunt in sharing it. After getting a bit of a breather, Wan checked around to see if she was there.]


[[ooc: Though Wan is ICly specifically looking for Raine, this is to share the details of the vision Wan and Valdis got. He will share it with anyone on the off-chance they'll understand it better. It's a tag-in free-for-all, no order or waiting on anyone else needed. Let's share some info.]]

[wrathfulkhan]

This had gone wrong in more ways than Gene could count.

Not the distraction - mostly, that had gone off without a hitch, save for a couple of groups of roving cultists. No, Malicant had pulled off something worse, a move played out of spite for the one who had devised the console crash, and done...something...to Tony, in an attempt to put him out of commission in future.

He has no idea what's wrong with Tony, but when Dante and Akito had told him that Tony had acted strange for a few seconds before dropping like a stone, Gene had immediately sprung into action, scooping up Tony's armored form and teleporting to the Midnight Hotel for medical assistance.

Raine's the first person he sees. "Raine!" he says, and, a bit belatedly. dismisses the helmet from his armor. A few short months ago he would have moved heaven and earth to keep his secret identity a secret; now he doesn't even care if the whole turtle knows who he really is. "Something happened to Tony, he just...fell. I don't think he was hurt by the cultists."

Won't do anyone much good if Tony's still locked away in the armor. Gene uses the crimson ring to learn how to retract Tony's faceplate, and does so.

Tony does not look good. His nose has bled so much that Gene is surprised he hasn't half-drowned in it, and there's evidence of some blood trickling out of his ears.

And Gene is terrified. But Raine's the best person for the job; she'd helped him out when he'd overexerted himself and suffered a seizure. She could fix this too, right? She had to!

Medical Assistance by Enjolras and Raine!

[solo_patria]

Studying the areas that Dante's suggested has given Enjolras something of an idea of where to begin, and he's setting to work on a sort of mobile first aid station, far away enough that any injured should be kept safe enough from additional attack, but not so far away between any point that it creates an unreasonable distance. Now, he wishes he knew more, magically, of the ways to heal, but, if luck is on his side, maybe...

And then, he's spotting Raine, and hurrying towards her, arms still full of the last of the supplies he'd been setting up in the area.

"Oh good." He's breathing a sigh of relief before it occurs to him that she might not be here for this purpose. "That is...I hope you've come to heal, at least." he's adding, smiling. "I can heal minor things, and stitch, set breaks, wrench joints back into place, that sort of thing, but other than putting pressure on major wounds, I could not...it would be good to have someone who knows what they are doing, if you would be willing." He hopes like Hell, too.

[ruinsprofessor]

With the combatants spread out into groups, Raine's more than conscious of the fact that she'll be most useful in the background, providing healing and a place to fall back. It's not so different from their old standard tactics, really, save that she's a bit farther removed. When she'd offered, she'd been pointed in Enjolras' direction, and so she'd already been coming to find him when he spotted her.

"Of course," she says, with a short nod. "That's why I'm here. It looks like you already have the basics set up." She glances over the supplies in his arms, notes what he has for future reference. He's prepared. Good. "Do you have a plan?"