It's a dangerous life

So, we'd just got everything ready for our rescue mission to the volcano, and were about to set off, and were just waiting for Jingle and Diffy. Diffy came down first, struggling to zip up his rucksack.
'Diffy, you will NOT need that many toblerones.'
'How jyou know? I mite dooo. Anyways it Chrismas. And they's yummy.'
'Well one, we're going to a VOLCANO, chocolate may not be the best choice, and two-'
I saw the look he was giving me 'Fine, bring the toblerones'
'Igonna. I not fink of it being hot tho. Can you freeze em if they goes all melty?'
'Uh, if we're not running for our lives at the time, then yeah.'
Jingle came down then, tucking a tree decoration into his pocket. 'Sorry, I've been practising this thing with Chestnuts, and I think I've got the hang of it.'
'Sounds good. Right, are we all ready to go?'

'NOOOOOOOO!'

A booming voice filled the base, and a huge wind picked up, almost knocking us over. Thunder and Lightning began to rage outside, and the door blew off it's hinges. A shadow appeared in the doorway, looming over us. As it moved closer, the light inside the base revealed it to actually be a fairly short man, maybe around 30, who scuttled nervously inside, looking round at all of us, and panting.

'Sorry....ran here....didn't want to miss you......not too late.....good......hi....'
'Um, hi? Sorry, who are you?'
'Oh yeah.....call me.....Clarence......got something to show you......need your help....don't go, please.'
'Right. Well, Hey Clarence, nice to meet you, but we're about to set off on something REALLY important, so maybe we can leave you in the capable hands of some of our new recruits (Sorry readers, I haven't introduced you yet. This will happen soon) who are looking after the base while we're away, and we can-'
'NO! I need you all to stay. You need to be here at Christmas.'
'Well, with any luck we will be, we've got a quick in-and-out route planned, this should just be a sort of smash-and-grab situation, so hopefully-'
'NO! It will take weeks, and if you aren't here at Christmas, well, it doesn't bear thinking about! But of course I can't STOP thinking about it, and I can already see the whole thing, and oh, please don't go!'
'um...but, we wanted to get them home for Christmas....'
'No! Too late! Please, believe me!'
Everything went.....wobbly, and bright, and we saw......things. Darkness, and storms, and a world consumed by grief. And the noise! Crying children. sobs and wailing filled the night. It was a world without hope, full of lost souls drowning in their own misery and woe.

The vision faded, and we found tears in our eyes. 'Please, stay, you have to be here.'
I nodded, sniffing. 'What do you need us to do?'
'Just be here, and offer help when it's needed. You have to fill a void left by someone you all know. One of his followers will come here, and you have to be waiting. I-'
Clarence clutched his head, groaning. 'Argh, if only I was fully trained at this, I could resist better...so many possible futures....so many pasts....you guys are really something aren't you?'
Jingle ran forward to help, pocketed ornaments ringing and tinkling as he went. Clarence frowned. 'Great, I bet that was Cas. I better get mine soon. Don't...' he swayed a little. 'Don't let me down....V...H....-'
He never made it to S. He collapsed, and has been comatose ever since. That was a week ago, and there's been nothing from him OR this mysterious 'follower' we're meant to help.

What do we do?

Preparations

Sorry about last time, the situastion got away from me a bit and some automatic protocols were activated, so the post ended rather suddenly.

You'll be glad to know we're all alive. There were quite a lot of electricity burns, scars, cuts etc, but Healthbar patched us all up.
You'll have gathered, I hope, that I worked out what the 'bugs' really were. They were just that. Computer bugs. Somehow, the Techorator's Technology warping abilities allowed him to bring them to life. Once I realized that, only one idea came to mind. I just hoped it would work.

I blasted a force bubble at the bug that was trying to eat me, sending it reeling backwards. I scrambled to my feet, wincing as I used my left arm. Holding onto the counter for support, I faced the front of the shop. 'Open the door.'

Doolittle left her Tiger to finish off the bug they'd been attacking, and looked at me like I was crazy. She may have been right. 'What?!'

'OPEN. The DOOR.'
She saw the look on my face. If we were getting out of this, we had to fight. And if we weren't getting out of this, we'd go down fighting. Dragging herself to the door, she reached up for the handle and pulled. It swung open. The bugsseemed confused, and swarmed forwards, creating a pile up, which slowly poured into the shop.

'Hey....bugs..got a little security system....I think you might.....be familiar with.....Firewall!!!!!'

I sent a wave of flames at them, as many fireballs as I could muster, each one finding a target. Clickety screams filled the air as the bugs turned black, fizzing away pixel by pixel. Within seconds the shop was clear, and the fire was streaming out of the door, destroying every bug it found. And it found them all.

As soon as I was sure, I let my concentration slip. 'I think I need to shut down now.'

And then I fainted.



Onto the big news. I think I've found the right volcano. The one the fates were using. The one where equinoxes go when they 'die'.

So we're getting everything ready.

I'm working on a few gadgets that I should be able to use without the techorator interfering, Healthbar's soaking up every speck of sunlight (and Moonlight) she can, Tingle's searching through the book of drawings Precog left us for any hints/advice, the Diffys are working on combined effort 'supercharged' illusions (FDiffy knows about them, he learnt some pretty cool stuff in those years that will never be), and Tildy's looking into getting some otherwoldly help, hopefully from some of the people trapped in that room. We're not sure how that works, because, well, we don't know how dead the people in that room are. She can astral project into people's dreams though, so we're hoping she make contact one way or the other. Lily wants to help out, and we're thrilled to have her, so she's practising all kinds of fancy molecular stuff on some boulders in our training cavern. By the time we go she'll be able to turn that volcano inside out if needed!

Which is good, because our other great shifter/warper of sorts, Blackmage, has gone missing. Well, he's called to say he's fine, but we don't know where he is. Apparently there was some emergency at a farm he knows, something to do with superpowers and horses. Makes very little sense to me, but it was important to him so he whizzed off as soon as he heard. He ran off halfway through the Doctor Who 50th special! Poor guy, he missed the best bit.

Best of luck dude, wherever you are. As for the rest of us, look out Fates. We're coming to your Volcano, and we're getting our friends back.

SOLAR will rise again.

Bugs

There are insects swarming the base. Literally covering it. We can't see out of the windows or open the door, they're swarming us so thickly. Big, dark, weird looking ones with wings, and loads of legs, and sort of blue sparks of light rippling over their bodies. But that's not even the weirdest thing. Doolittle can't understand them. She can understand the language of EVERY creature and culture on the planet, but she can't talk to these bugs, or understand them. She says she just gets this weird 'weeeeeb' tone in her ears when she tries, and some sort of static. She can't even hear them buzzing. Nobody else can, but it's driving me and Hana mad. What the hell is going on? Are these bugs only after me or something? All our electronics are going into meltdown, everything seems to be wrong with them at once, the base's defenses are glitching out of control, and we have no idea what to do. Rag's having to wear a containment suit, after seeing what happened with the wasp we're terrified what might happen if one of these touchs him. Tildy tried asking for some otherworldly help, but the ghosts who came to help made no impression on these things at all.

Oh God, the vents! I put the base on lockdown, but with all our tech going haywire, some of them have got in through the vents! and the shutters over the windows are trying to open!

Lightning isn't working! They like it! OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD What the hell do we- Ow! Arhh, it scratches! 

Maelstrom, don't!

Dammit! He tried to whirlpool them. One got sucked it, started, I dunno, fritzing, and there was an explosion. Maelstrom's out cold, and the bug's getting up, although it seems to be having a fit. Can't anything destroy these things!

Bwoah! I'm on the ground, holding one away from my face with Precog's Cricket Bat. It's wings, there's something on them. I mean, they're blurry because it's buzzing them, but it's like the movement is forming some sort of, what is that? A pixel picture?

Ow, another scratch. If I could just concentrate for a second.....my head....figure something out.....where's Tingle.....Ow....

The image....black and white?.............some sort of creature?.....a...bear.......why does this bug....ow....have a picture....arhhhg........of a.....miserable......bear?.....my head......scratches......bleeding......

THE BEAR! SAD PANDA! ONLY ME AND HANA CAN HEAR THEM! ELECTRONICS GOING HAYWIRE. REACT BADLY TO WATER. LIKE ELECTRICITY.

BUGS.

Oh god....they must be......but they can't be! How did he........he must have.

Techorator, I don't know.......how you did this......but I will end it......and I will find you....and when I do-

Contact with Technopath mind lost.
Tempest emergency program 159 in effect. Autoblog of last known data to main server.

Progress Report

We think we've found the Volcano the Fates had us in. Hopefully, SOLAR should be in that big room of 'specials' in those Aura crystal things.

Speaking of which, great news! You remember how we couldn't get in to them, or break it open, or anything? Well we didn't have Ragnarok with us back then! He used HIS power on it, his hand turned into the same sort of crystal, and the whole thing surrounding Omni just shattered! So she's back! Much as we'd have liked to have her stay here with us to help us find SOLAR and Precog, we understood when she said she had to go and look for any sign of survivors of Techpower since that whole.....business. Also, her power is seriously fritzy, she tried to have a vision to help us, but got mostly static. She caught a glimpse of something though, and managed to mutter 'Oh! The Eye....he's there....he will....lead..' and then she passed out. So she's on a strictly 'no visions' plan until she reaches Cleo in America.

So I got her a plane ticket and she's off, and very happy to be alive, if that is what she is. I mean, she's clearly not dead, but she DID die, but instead of BEING dead, she was in some sort of suspended animation in that volcano, so who the hell knows what's going on. She's back, and that's what matters, and we know how to get other people back.

Now, we have preparations to make, we don't want to go in until we're sure we're ready.

Stay safe.

The Haunting of (s)Hell House

On the 15th of september, Greenpeace supporters marched through london in a huge parade, led by Aurora, a giant puppet polar bear, to protest shell drilling in the arctic. A few of us went along to join in. It was lucky we did.

The parade was about half way to Shell House cheering and singing and waving flags, when Aurora started acting up. One foot dragged, one veered sideways, and her short, crowd-rousing roars became an unending terrifying bellow. One of the operators leapt out of the hatch at the side, and ran, screaming, away down the street. Two more tumbled out of the rear door, fighting wildly. Panic started to spread through the parade, and Aurora began to sway alarmingly.

Me, Freezeframe, Ragnarok, Tildy, FDiffy, Diffy and Healthbar sprang into action at once, as a strange, slightly woozy feeling fell over our minds like a blanket. I sent some fireworks into the air to distract the crowd, helped by the Diffys, who set off for the edge of the pavement together to try and calm down and contain the crowd.
'Freezeframe! Do you think you can handle Aurora?! I need to go after whoever's causing this!'
'Uh, I can try!'
'You've done normal puppets!'
'She's the size of a bus and takes 15 people to operate!'
'Just try will you?!'
'My head feels odd..'
'Mine too, it must be the Psychic. Fight it!'
She closed her eyes, holding one hand out towards Aurora, and holding the other out like a conductor, or a puppeteer. She took a deep breath, and the hand reaching towards Aurora flinched. The huge bear froze, and Freezeframe opened her eyes. They were giving off a faint glow. Frowning with concentration, she began to move her conducting hand and, very slowly, Aurora began to move again. I clicked my fingers at the speakers-on-a-bike as I ran past, and the music got louder, drawing a bit of attention. Some people turned, glassy-eyed, to look, and began to shake their heads, looking confused.
'Urgh, where's Broadcast when we need him? He could have this crowd happy and dancing within seconds!'
I sensed Hana sending off a quick text as I made a brief knotting motion with my hands. A small light on each of my shoes lit up, and I felt the hum as the compact technology I'd crammed into the heels started up. 'I was wondering when I'd get a chance to try these out.'
'Tildy!' I called out as she ran past, grabbing a toddler that was about to wander out into the unclear side of the road. 'You picking anything up? This has to be a psychic, affecting everyone's minds like this.'
Pulling the boy to safety, she paused, holding a finger in front of her face. She closed her eyes, and turned slowly, until she was facing Aurora, and brought her finger down, pointing ahead, to Aurora's right. 'That way. Brown hair, stubble, black shirt with some sort of badge on, maybe security. He's giving off a pretty big buzz, but I think this many people is hard for him.'
'Ah, Clairvoyance. I will NEVER get tired of you just finding people like that, saves so much time. Thanks cuz.'
I started running, keeping an eye out. I spotted him lurking by a car, brow furrowed with effort. Ducking out of the way of a frenzied pedestrian, I failed to notice one of Aurora's puppeteers on my left, who tackled me. I staggered, by managed to spin with the force, sending him reeling away from me. 'I will NOT fight them. He wants to turn this into a riot, and I'm not going to help him.'
Around Aurora, the crowd was too thick, and I had to slow down. I kept watching the black shirted man, but he turned and saw me, and a look of panic flashed across his face. He fled, shouldering people out of the way, heading for the clearer roads ahead.
'Ok new shoes, let's see if I was wasting my time.'
Since my powers took a hit during the 'reset', the Forcefield Express has been a bit....unreliable, so I have been looking into other ways to use my powers to get around quickly.
I sent a wave of ice ahead of me, curving gently to rise up above the crowd. I leapt on, just as short, wide ski-like blades slid from my shoes. Summoning an air current to whoosh me along, I flailed as I tried to find my balance on the winding ice road. 'Come on, you can do this, you've watched Frozone do it....Whoaoaoah...Oh god I've made this thing like Rainbow road, I can't aim like this.....OK, whoah, there we go. Wheeee!'
The ice road was already melting, snowing down on the people (and Polar Bear) below. This helped distract some of the less manic people, but things weren't calming down.

I looked below and ahead, spotting the Psychic as he shoved a man aside in order to run down a side street. I slid round the corner after him, mentally connecting to my phone as it started to ring.
'Jump?!'
'I brought Broadcast, Hana said it was an emergency. Where'd you want us?'
'YES! Thank you, you guys rock! Broadcast needs to do some serious crowd control, try and drown out whatever that guy's putting in their heads. Maybe something jolly, get the parade back on track? Can you just keep people safe, make sure anyone in danger of falling in the river or stumbling into the traffic, well, doesn't?'
'We're on it.'
'Thanks!'
I hung up and skated round another corner after the Psychic. He was fleeing back to base. Back to his employers. Back to the people who had payed him to ruin the parade, because they were scared.

Shell House loomed as I raced after him, big and smooth and faceless. Snow was falling all around us now, and it clung to the Psychic, wrapping him like a snowman, his head free, wriggling desperately to get free. The fuzzy feeling in my head faded a little as I came to a stop on a column of ice across the road from Shell House.
'H-h-h-how...' the Psychic shivered.
'Yeah, you're not the first Psychic we've met, and you won't be the last. We've got pretty good at resisting it. Actually, I think someone gave us a mind block from stuff like this...Evan....no...hmm...'
I was jolted from my thoughts by Tildy, who was flying towards me surrounded by a faint shimmer of green light. She smiled 'The parade's on it's way, Broadcast's made everyone hurry up.
'Good, they should be here. This is why they're marching.'
People were wandering out Shell House, looking scared and awed at the wintery landscape.
Jump called again. 'I have an AMAZING idea. Can you get everyone out of the building?'
'Can do.'
I flicked a finger at the building and the Fire Alarm went off, causing everyone else to flood out.
The parade rounded the corner, led by Freezeframe, who was riding on Aurora's back, guiding her expertly ahead of the mass cheering people.

'Hey! You there!'
I looked down to see one of the suited men nervously peering up at me, shaking a finger. 'Leave now, you hear me? You have no right to be here. I demand that you go.'
'Right? Trust me dude, you do NOT want to throw stones about who does or doesn't have a right to be places. You know what I'm talking about right? Big white place, full of Polar Bears, isn't yours? Ring any bells? We're in a public street, so shut up.'
I felt Hana send another text as the parade arrived. Two canadian women had joined Freezeframe, and were shouting about their ancient homeland, that is was NOT for sale, and that Shell could NEVER convince them to leave. A look passed over Tildy's face, and she beamed.

There was a sudden 'Shcloop' sound, and gasps from the crowd.

Shell House was full of oil. Black Liquid pressed up against the windows, filling several floors. Laughing, I turned to see Jump, trudging towards my pillar, peeling of a very grubby boiler suit. She looked up at me. 'What? They wanted oil, now they have it.'
Clouds were sending sheets of rain down on the building, a thick layer of falling water surrounding it.
'Hey Shell!' I cayelled. 'You want to drill for ice? Allow me to suggest an alternative location.'
I sent a blast of freezing wind, and the water solidified, encasing Shell House in a block of ice about a foot thick.
'Have fun guys! And stay the hell out of the Arctic.'
The Psychic was starting to get free, but Healthbar surrounded his head in her black fog, removiing the fuzzy feeling from our heads completely, while the suits from Shell were looking angry. 'What?! How did you....How DARE you! You think you can stop us? We will drill wherever the hell we like!'
'Oh really?'
Everyone turned to look at Tildy, who was floating in the air, her green light spreading out behind her as misty forms started to take shape.
'Thousands of people came here today to ask you to stop, but if you still won't listen, I have a few more supporters that might...persuade you.'
The figures behind her had come into focus. There was a large number of people wearing thick, robe like clothes, similar to the women with Freezeframe, several Polar Bears, a couple of Arctic Foxes, and a family of Arctic Rabbits.
'These are the ancestors of the people whose land you want to buy. They have been watching over it for centuries, protecting it, keeping it and their descendants safe. That includes protecting them from you. And these are the native creatures who have died because of your actions. They'd all like a word with you.'
The wave of ghosts swept forwards, washing over the suited people, filling them with terror as consequences, visions and warnings flooded through their minds.
Tildy tilted her head, and looked thrilled. 'Oh, and a latecomer! Do join us!'
A ghostly old woman shuffled past Tildy, waving her walking stick angrily. She reached the Psychic, and started whacking him on the head with it. 'Walter! THIS is what you're doing?! How could you?! Does your father know about this? I bet he doesn't, he'd never allow it! The Shame! I have NEVER been so disappointed in you!'
All he could do was gasp and tremble as she continued to rant and smack.

This lasted for several minutes, the parade cheering the whole time, until evryone from shell was cowering in terror, and the Psychic was weeping and snivelling. The parade organisers rounded up with a few short talks, the women from highest Canada sang a lovely song, and the parade broke up, with everyone cheerily heading off in their own little groups.

It was a good day.

Ghost in the Machine

Sorry there's been a long break in posting, I haven't been able to!
I can't use my Technopathy. Well, not on computers anyway. I can still build machines and things, and understand technology instantly, but I can't do anything online. He's watching.

I can only do this because Micah is keeping him busy for a while. He's keeping him distracted with a 'digital avatar', which is fighting with him. I'm going to get him to teach me how he did that, particularly without it getting taken over straight away, it would be very useful.

So, there was this guy. A complete maniac, had a similar sort of technopathy to me, except he sort of brought tech to life, and warped it. When I interact with a machine, I sort of go into it, or mentally interact at machine level. What he did was bring the machine to our level, bring things out of the machine instead of going in, sort of. I still don't quite understand it, but you get the idea.

Anyway, there he was, calling himself 'The Techorator' (I know, I laughed too. Apparently he's going to 'redesign the planet!' Haha.) and his hands are sparking, and little machine-y cables and bits of circuitboard are growing on his arms, while he laughs maniacally and monologs about his master plan, with a big clock ticking away behind him, when Doom shoots him. Just like that. In the head. He makes a gurgly-scream sound, and topples off the gantry, getting tangled in some cables as he falls, and ending up landing in the lava pit he'd been using as a generator (How he was smart enough to set that up, but dumb enough to put a gantry over open lava, I don't know.) He exploded, his stuff exploded, me and Maelstrom protect and whirl everyone out of there, and we thought that was that.

Nope.

He's done a Hana. He uploaded himself. He's alive, and living on the internet. All tech around us is going nuts. He can take over almost anything, like a tech ghost. A toaster tried to kill Doolittle earlier.

I'll post again when I can, but what he'll do next, I have no clue.

Good luck everyone.

Eco Warriors.

If we don't act now, the arctic will be Ice free during the summer months by 2015. If this happens, we're basically screwed. Stupid evil oil companies, who don't give a damn, are destroying the arctic by drilling for oil. Greenpeace are trying to stop them, and so are we.

You can read about the Greenpeace work, and join the cause, here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/arctic

And you can read about OUR work here:

A vast, beautiful snowy landscape, with the piercing arctic winds sweeping across the snowdunes, flakes of snow drifting through the air. A small fleet of snowmobiles surge forward in an arrowhead formation, carrying members of VHS across tundra, our approach cloaked by a whirling cloud of snow. Rising above the dunes, a dark, sinister, metallic blot on the otherwise tranquil scene, a huge, ugly drilling rig tears into the ice, searching for oil that we shouldn't really use. Stuck to the side is a large pod bearing the Greenpeace logo. This pod contained some members of Greenpeace, who had attached themselves to the rig to prevent it from drilling, but the drill had started up again, and its crew were attempting to remove the pod.

One of the drill workers, who was leaning over a railing to push at the pod, looked up, his eyes peering out from many layers of fur coat. 'What's that over there?'
His friend followed his gaze. 'Some sort of..I dunno, localized snowstorm. What?!'
The first one squinted. 'There's shapes in it. What are those?'
A patch of snow gathered itself up, becoming a ramp, which hardened to ice. We shot out of the snowstorm, rushing up the ramp and soaring through the air. We leapt from our snowmobiles, a thick snowbank forming on a walkway to cushion our landing.
'Step away from the pod.' I said.
'Nice entrance, but no can do. These people are in our way.'
'Yeah, well, now so are we.'
'Look, that pod needs to shift-'
'Yes, but not for the reason you think'
'Oh really? What are you gonna do?'
'That depends. Would you like the Greenpeace way, or the non Greenpeace?'
'Spare me the 'save the whales' pitch.'
'Uuurgh, that's all anyone thinks of when they think about Greenpeace. So you refuse to leave peacefully?'
'Yeah, 'fraid I do.'
'Very well, non Greenpeace it is.'
I shot lightning from my hands, throwing him backwards and blasting a hole in his coat. His friend saw, and ran at me, but I sidestepped, freezing the snow beneath me, sending him sliding past, tumbling over the rail. I called out to the others 'Get the pod and the Greenpeacers to safety!'
I turned to the nearby door. 'I've got an appointment with the leader of this little operation.'

I could feel the rig's radio crackling into life. 'Not just yet.' I thought, and shut it down as I reached the door to the control room. Doom ran by behind me, shooting sleeper darts at rig workers. Centaur (in angel form) and Jump were taking the slumped people to safety.

The control room door fell to the floor and I walked over it, getting my phone out of my pocket. The head of the rig was frantically jabbing buttons on the dead radio. 'Come on, come on!'
'Here, let me get that for you.'
I clicked my fingers, and the little light on the radio flickered into life. 'There you go, you're now live to every major radio station in the world. why don't you tell them where you are?'
'I-What?!'
'Tell the nice people where you are.'
'I-The Arctic, but-'
'And why are you here?'
'Uh, I'm just following orders.'
'And those orders are?'
'To-to drill oil-but-'
'And, remind me, this oil drilling, is it GOOD for the Arctic?'
'Well, we need the oil to-'
'Ahem. We don't NEED it, Russia alone spills 7 horizons of oil a year! Why don't you focus on stopping that from happening, and solve two big Environment problems at once? Speaking of which, I'll ASK YOU AGAIN. Is this drilling GOOD for the Arctic?'
'Well, we've done research that suggests-'
'IS. IT?'
'.....No! Ok? It's bad for the Arctic. Happy now?'
'No. Listeners, we have arrived at the interactive portion of today's show. If you are against Arctic abuse, and if you aren't already signed up, go to the Greenpeace website now, and sign the petition. Do you love the Arctic? Do you love Polar Bears? Are you fed up of smug, big-headed businesses steamrollering over us little people and doing whatever the hell they like, at the cost of our planet? What's more important? Money, or an Eco-system that supports us? Destroy the Arctic, and Earth will never recover. Show your support! Sign the petition, and help us save the world!'
I loaded the page on my phone, zooming in so that the list of supporters filled the screen. It was scrolling like mad, the number shooting upwards. I held it out so the rig captain could see. 'The people have spoken. Shut everything down.'
'I-I can't. My bosses, they'll-'
'Oh right, them. Well, I made sure they could hear, so let's see what they think.'
Hana had the number ready, and put me through to the board room.
'Hello? Yes, it's me. Yep, from the radio, glad you were listening. So, as you may have heard, your bloke here-' I broke off to turn to him. 'What IS your name, by the way?'
'Sam..'
'Thanks' I turned my attention back to the phone. '-Sam, Sam is a little nervous about shutting everything down without your say-so, so can he......Ah. Well would you mind if I shut it down? I have the support of several million people....oh. Well can you suggest how you're going to STOP me? Uh-huh....well yes, that MIGHT work, and it's true that I'm not there to stop you...of course, this phone line gets me close enough to access your security system-....no, it works like that, I can do that. No, I know YOU didn't know your building had a lockdown protocol, but in fairness, it didn't until last week.....yep, that surprise security check, that us. The 'upgrade' we installed? You're stuck in it. Don't worry, the radio still works, I want you to hear the next bit.'
I hung up, and turned to Sam. 'Ready to go? Trust me, you don't want to stick around.'
'What are you going to do?'
'Let's just say....we're making it as Greenpeace-y as we can, but they aren't involved, they haven't approved it, and they are in no way responsible. Make sure you tell everyone that.'
I dropped a small box, then grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. We passed Rag, running for a railing opposite, overlooking the centre of the rig, including the drill itself. 'How long 'til you're in position?'
'Gimme 10 seconds.'
'You sure about this?'
He stopped by the railing, climbing over. He held on, leaning back over the drill. 'Yep, should be fine.'
'Ok. Need more snow for landing?'
'If I time it right. I won't need it. I'm hoping to be halway down, exactly central.'
'Perfect. See you in a minute.'
'Let's hope so.'
I dragged Sam on, towards a railing at the edge with some low crates piled up by it.
'Two interesting things you should know Sam. 1, Our Snowmobiles crashed perfectly at the base of your Rig, and 2-' We leapt onto the crates, then over the railing. I turned to see Rag let go, falling backwards, towards the drill.
'-I made them HIGHLY explosive.'
I clicked my fingers again, just as Centaur swooped down and grabbed us, gliding us down, away from the rig.
KABOOM!
Fire erupted from the base, consuming the rig in moments. A second explosion tore the top into pieces. 'I MAY also have left a bomb in your office.'
'But-but the fire! The wreckage! And you have a go at me about damaging the Arct-'
Sam gasped as the explosion, having completely consumed the rig, began to swell inwards, becoming an implosion. It shrank, condensing as Rag's ability absorbed it. Ragnarok, glowing, became clear, visible inside the rapidly shrinking ball of smoke and fire.
'I'm glad the oil wells are so far down,' I said as we landed 'if they'd caught fire, well, THAT would have been awkward....'
The explosion was gone, and Rag, still glowing a blinding, firey orange, plummeted into a large, steaming hot pool in the ice created by the blast. I rushed over and helped him out. 'You ok?'
He burped fire, and coughed out some smoke. 'Think so. Really getting the hang of this Chaos Touch, aren't I?'
'You certainly are! Well done!'
I knelt down and held out a hand over the pool, refreezing it. There was no sign the rig had ever been there. I turned to Sam. 'See? We know what we're doing.'
'Small problem' Rag said, looking around. 'How do we get everyone home?'
Ah. Well, I'm sure we'll think of something.

Various Hero Situations

So as I said, we've been tackling problems all over the country in smaller groups. This being the case, you can expect quite a few posts from the others, as there are plenty of missions I don't go on.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Future Diffy is staying for now, we can't work out how to send him back, and besides, his future no longer exists. We've heard nothing from Moira, he hoped she'd open another portal door thing, but apparently not.

Ok, here's a group upload of a bunch of recent missions:

Doolittle here, I'm going to fill you in on that 'Psycho Cowboy' incident in Ely that was on the news a few weeks back.
So we heard about the disturbance, and as me, Jump, and Jingle were free, Jump teleported us over. We found the guy almost immediately, marching up the street, laughing like a maniac. Don't ask me what his ability is, I still have no idea, but I would guess Telekinesis. All I know is he had a Lasso, which he had EXCELLENT control over, and twin pistols that never seemed to run out of bullets. He was firing wildly in every direction, two people were dead already, and at the rate he was shooting, there would be more casualties soon if we didn't stop him.
'I'll cordon off the area!' Jingle yelled, running off to block the sidestreets with trees and tinsel. I started chirping and twittering to the sky as Jump ran towards the cowboy, taunting him. He began shooting again, and she set off on a series of quick jumps, flashing in and out of sight as she dodged round him in a circle. The last few people were fleeing the scene, and the cowboy was running out of people to terrify with his Lasso. He used it to grab Jump, binding her arms to her sides, holding her in place. She just grinned. 'Sucker!' She vanished, taking the Lasso with her. It had been attached to his belt, and he let out a yell of panic, looking round for where she'd gone. Jump reappeared, still caught in the rope, then teleported again, leaving it behind. It was his turn to laugh, turns out he just summon his Lasso! It flew back to him, and he whipped it out towards me! I flinched, but the rope was deflected by a long strand of green tinsel. 'Nope!' called Jingle, whirling it round his head. 'Have at thee! Haha!'
It was some sort of crazy Indiana Jones fight. They whirled and whipped their weapons, Tinsel and Rope dancing wildly through the air. The Cowboy raised a gun, aiming at Jingle, but a pigeon swooped down, stealing it from his hand.
'Yes!' I punched the air as he screamed with rage. He tried the other gun, and the same thing happened. I heard flapping behind me, hundreds of wings flapping in harmony, and raised my arms. 'Get out of the way!'
Jingle's eyes widened, and he leapt behind a car for safety. Jump grabbed the shoulder of a last civilian cowering on the pavement and vanished with her.
'ATTACK!' I swept my arms forwards, and the huge flock of birds surged forwards, covering the cowboy. He screamed, and the Lasso, which had been weaving through the airabove him, fell to the ground. 'Phew! Thanks guys.' I dismissed the birds, and Jump took us and the cowboy to the special holding facility we've been setting up.

That's it really, hope you enjoyed reading!


Hiya! Future Diffy here, I'm going to tell you about a little foiled bomb plot that happened the other day. Tingle had agreed to help the police with a suspect they'd brought in for questioning, and me and Diffy (You know. little Diffy, Present Diffy) tagged along, because it sounded exciting, and Tempest says all official mission groups should consist of at least three, for safety. We watched through that one-way glass stuff while Tingle sat down opposite the wild looking man, who was handcuffed to the table between them.
'Hey, I know you. You're part of that freak group wots decided to stick your noses in and mess stuff up, aint ya?'
'We prefer to think of it as helping the world, but yes, I am, as you say, a part of that group.'
'Well I aint telling you nuffing, ya hear? Ya can't prove nuffing, and I ain't talking.'
'Oh but you are, and I am sure you'll give something away in time. Shall we start with the basics? Are you part of the group behind the bomb threat?'
'I said I ain't-'
'Simple yes or no please, or I will have to inform them you are not cooperating.'
The suited man next to the suspect whispered in his ear, and he shrugged.
'Fine. No.'
'Do you know the location of the bomb?'
'No.'
'Do you have any sort of remote trigger for the bomb?'
'No.'
'IS there a remote trigger for the bomb?'
'No.'
'Is your leader still in the area?'
'No.'
Tingle got up. 'Thank you. Your lies have been most helpful.'
'My wha-?'
'Be quiet. Wait here.'
Tingle left the room, meeting us and the DCI at the window. 'He's telling the truth about not having a trigger himself, and the leader's fled the scene, but everything else is a lie.'
'So, go and get the answers.'
'Sorry Inspector, I can only tell whether or not he's lying, not force the truth.'
'But Tempest told me of that incident where, didn't you make a man transform or something?'
'That is different, he was a shape shifter, my truth ability burned away his false image. This man has no powers.'
I coughed, and they turned to look at me. 'Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I know someone who might be able to help.'
Diffy strode past me, head held high. 'Step aside, it Diffy's turn!'
I turned to the DCI 'You have no objections?'
'People are going to die if we don't get those answers. If that strange creature thinks creature thinks he can help...'
Diffy turned to him, standing in the doorway, which Tingle was holding open for him. 'I not strange. I awesome!'
The suspect gawped. 'The hell is that thing?!'
Diffy climbed onto Tingle's empty chair, then onto the table. 'Shush! You Shushy your face. You only say answers now. The nice poleesy peeples with the hats and the shiny badges need you to say info stuff, and I is going to spooky you til you does.'
Rainbow mist began to pour from his eyes and paws, and he advanced towards the suspect.
I turned to the DCI. 'You may want to look away.'
The suited man tried to stop Diffy, but a small cloud of the mist flew at him, hitting him in the face, and he screamed, falling off his chair.
Four minutes later Diffy strutted back out. The DCI was already radioing several units, telling them where to go. Then he knelt down and personally thanked Diffy, who immediately went very shy, and then asked for a badge. He's pinned it to his hat. He's thrilled.

So, Tempest wants me to update you on adventures we've been having. Uh, let's see.......there was this guy at the bank, I shot his gun hand and his ankle so he couldn't get away, and there was that guy dressed like Bullseye...pfft, he thinks HE has good aim...aaaand there was that car chase I shot the tyres of....urgh I don't have time for this, I have crimes to stop!What is the point in being given shiny new plasma lasers if I just sit here NOT blasting stuff? Later guys.

Tactical rotation

Hey, sorry we've been a bit quiet, everyone's been trying to settle back into everyday life and be, well, normal for a bit. Turns out the reset restored our places at Uni, so we've been pretty busy there.

I thought I'd update you on how VHS works now, as we've gone through a bit of a change. With most of us at University, spread out up and down the country, and busy trying to have normal lives, we've decided to start rotating the VHS roster a bit, sort of like the Avengers. As there are so many of us now, and we each have our own powers that are best suited to certain different situations, we've decide that when each mission or crisis comes up, whoever is best suited to deal with it will be the only ones to go. Tingle is great at a crime scene, but wouldn't be able to do much at house fire. Playwrite is brilliant at hostage situations, but can't help much when giant robots try to eat liverpool (Don't ask, that was a looooong day). So for now, whenever something needs our attention, just a suitable group will go. This also means we can handle several emergencies at once, which is really handy, because we're the main group people know about, at least in Britain. Going public was definitely the right decision, but there's such a thing as too much attention, you know?

So yeah, that's where things stand. I've nearly identified the volcano that contains the hall of lost souls, just a few more locations to rule out. Still no sign of Precog, but we'll find him. We need to find him.

A reset world.

Just a short one for now I'm afraid, but I want to keep you up to date.

We're calling the whole 'circle of power that restored the world to it's previously un-buggered condition' thing the 'reset', because, well, that's basically what it was. The world is 97% how it was because HG took over, so only minor damage remains.

It has had some side effects though. The reset was really draining for all of us involved. I tried to take the brunt of the attack, but it means some of my abilities have been weakened. I can't fly us around by forcefield anymore. I can levitate myself a few inches off the ground with a forcefield, and make fairly long force ribbons that everyone can walk on, but proper flight is beyond me, for now anyway.

I don't know if it's because of the reset, or if Future me just stole it or what, but my black hole power seems to be gone too. My phasing also seems to be almost completely drained, if I really concentrate I can still just about manage it, but more than an arm and I feel really ill.

Healthbar's concentrated sunbeam has lost some strength, and her healing has slowed. I don't think she'll be able to resurrect anyone for a while. Everyone else is basically ok, just a little worn out.

That's about it for now, I'll update again soon.

Oh! Forgot to say, we've had a couple of ideas about the volcano of lost souls. Hopefully something will come up, because we have a plan. It's our duty. We owe them.

We're getting SOLAR back.

Silent Night (Again)

Hey, hope everyone had a good christmas and new year. Given the condition the world was in last year, I hope it was at least better than that one.

Anyway, we've had to adjust to our new 'status' as 'celebrities'. There was the inevitable kidnap attempt of family, with three thugs attempting to take Doolittle's family hostage. We'd been doing an interveiw at the same time, so we brought a camera along and televised the resulting battle. Within three minutes, one was a gibbering wreck, one was suffering burns and being mauled by a tiger, and one was, well, Blackmage sort of....accidentally turn him into a frog. He's still getting to grips with his power, but it was freaking cool. 'I trust this message is understood?'

Yeah, no trouble since then. :)

We recently had a spot of bother with a basic flaw of human nature. As a race, we have a tendency to panic when stuff we can't handle happens. HG, and our mass fixing of the world's  'injuries' fall into this category, so naturally, people started rioting.I suggested Broadcast and Jingle try a combined attack, as they both have abilities that can stir emotions, and, well, tis the season......

On the roof of the base, Broadcast and Jingle looked out at the city. Flurries of snow began to float gently down, and music filled the air. They clasped hands and began to sing.

'Silent night, do not fight,

 All be calm, all be bright,

 Round the world people have gone wild,

Calm your tempers, be tender and mild'

Rest and be at peace, 

Let this madness cease.'

The city ground to a halt as a calming blanket of snow covered it, and the beautiful, soothing melody rang out, sending everyone drifting off into the land of nod. I beamed it out across the radiowaves, and chaos up and down the counrty faded into quiet, restorative sleep.

Merry Christmas everyone.