SHIFT (Michael)

Shift crouched by a tree overlooking the exit ramp, tapping the fingers of his right hand against the trunk. The convoy should be here any minute, and Michael could feel his heart beating faster and faster as adrenalin began pouring through his system. He checked his sheet in an attempt to calm down.

Codename Shift Real Name Jason Mach Species Human Archetype Speedster Origin Metahuman Wealth $ 146 Level 3 [60%] +3 CP Health 180 / 180 Recovery Rate 2 per second Strength 10 Intelligence 8 Agility 27 Acuity 15 Fortitude 15 Willpower 10 Stamina 35 / 35 Focus 35 / 35 Recovery Rate 0.15 per second Recovery Rate 0.1 per second Powers Talents Complications Superspeed rank 2 - Teenager Regeneration rank 2 - Secret Identity

Then he heard the roar of massed motorbikes, and waved the window away, watching as a mix of black SUVs and bikes streamed past, they were travelling pretty slowly, even without Shift's enhanced perceptions.

He waited till the last of them roared around the bend, before speaking quietly into his mic. "Rear blockade is go." He said blurring into the roadway carrying a sign and one end of a spike strip. Two quick trips back to the tree, and a full road closed barricade was set up, with a diversion sign pointing up the I-94.

He heard Division confirm the forward blockade, his words dragging out until they were nearly unintelligible, then the sound of the motorcade, lower and deeper since he'd begun speeding, became almost quiet as the vehicles' engines stalled and chugged.

Go time. He thought racing around the corner. He saw the glint of the flashbangs falling from the sky and quickly crouched with his eyes squeezed shut, his hands held tight to either side of his red graphene facemask to protect his hearing. He chided himself for rushing in, he'd known first contact called for Artisan dropping the bang, he'd thought he'd waited long enough, but now figured he should have waited for the explosions before getting close.

It seemed to take forever before he felt a thump in his chest as the grenades detonated nearby. Some of the light made its way past his eyelids, throwing green and red blurs across his vision, and his ears rang uncomfortably, but by the time he stood up, his vision and hearing were already back to normal.

He looked out over the chaos of vehicles, bikes dropped on the sides, their riders moving slowly towards the crews spilling from the SUVs. He heard some of the gang members shouting to each other but couldn't tell what they were saying through the speed-distortion.

His hands went behind his back as he began running once more, whipping back out with a tazer baton in each hand. He caught up to the rear-most rider, his bike still in mid-fall as he stumbled clear. Shift scooped his arm under the guy's trailing leg, using his momentum to lift him airborne before slamming the left-hand baton across the rider's chest.

New Skill Discovered! Baton has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +8 xp to Baton - Beginner Level 1 [08%].

Before the guy could land, his ribs broken, Shift was already on to the next rider, touching the prongs of the right baton into the back of his knee and tapping the button for a quick spark.

New Skill Discovered! Tazer has been added to known skills.

Successful Skill Use +12 xp to Tazer - Beginner Level 1 [12%].

He saw two gang members ahead of him begin to spin, their eyes squeezed shut but their pistols raised. Worried they were about to begin shooting blindly, he threw his right baton at the one on the left, watching for a millisecond as it seemed to float towards the rider's helmet. He'd tried to lowball the throw, too much momentum and it would have hit like a bullet.

Successful Skill Use +14 xp to Throwing - Beginner Level 6 [47%].

Too many notifications! He mentally waved them away, turning his attention to the guy on the right, he quickly rolled under his waving gun, squinting at the noise of two shots ringing out directly above his head. Rising up inside the reckless shooter's guard, he pressed his remaining baton up under his helmet, and winced in sympathy as the guy began to spasm from the shock applied to his throat. Shift opened and closed his mouth under the mask, his ears popping uncomfortably as his ear drums re-knit.

Turning back to the rider on the left, he saw him falling, his faceplate cracked around the embedded baton. Oops, maybe too hard on that one. Now wasn't the time to worry though, so he sprinted forward, spinning past the falling biker, ripping the baton out of the broken glass sending shards cascading through the air, before sliding across an SUVs hood into the midst of a small group leaning against the far side, trying to stay under cover while they regained their senses.

The next few seconds were a chaotic swirl of Shift tumbling between swinging bats, fists and knives, touching a baton here, sweeping a leg there. One of the guys was particularly fast, shooting a pistol twice into Shift's ribs at point blank range, luckily his under-armour held preventing anything worse than a couple of deep bruises, but it still freaked him out a little, and the baton backhanded across the guy's face probably broke his cheek and jaw, if it didn't land him in a coma. He breathed in relief as he felt the bruises begin to fade.

From up ahead he could hear gunfire and grenades, and stopped to blink at the sight of an SUV arcing gracfully through the air towards one the berms.

Stay in your lane. Shift thought, heading for a group of riders beginning to sprint for the other bank.

DIVISION (John)

Division watched through a pair of binoculars as the ambush was launched, the surprised and disoriented gangers trying to find cover amidst the stopped vehicles. He sighed as he realised the radio pulse had managed to short-out their mics, but there was nothing to do about it right now. Communication was key in this sort of situation, and he'd have to talk to Artisan about coming up with a shielded set of communicators for the future. It was strange to already be thinking long term, planning equipment, who to use where, and who needed what training. John guessed it was just in his blood.

He both watched and was his beta crew, dug in at the junction where the ramp split to travel north and south, they were the cork in the bottle, and Division had known that that was where the fighting would be fiercest. The first impulse when caught unaware was to push forward, to sweep the unexpected out of the way. It's why he had put himself at the front. He had the most experience in this kind of skirmish, and his clones were replicable, expendable in a way none of the rest of the team were. Except maybe Artisan's drones, and even they had a cost in time and resources that exceeded Division's other selves.

Charlie had already taken a round to the head, cracking his facemask and leaving him disoriented. It was strange when only one of him suffered effects like this, his control of the clone sluggish and distant, like a limb that had fallen asleep.

Bravo and Delta spun as Division spotted a couple of gangers attempting to flank beta squad's position. Two shotgun blasts rang out, and the gangers fell gasping for breath as their diaphragms spasmed after being hit centre mass by bean bag rounds.

Delta pitched a smoke grenade out to the side, providing cover for Echo as he moved forward in a crouch, grabbed each of the fallen gang members by their collars and dragged them back behind cover. There was a lot of wild shooting going on out there and he didn't want them catching friendly fire.

Charlie was starting to regain focus, so he took over zip-tying the gasping prisoners while Echo returned to the firing line.

Division watched from a distance as something roared inside the melee, and an SUV was pitched against the left bank where Revenant was waiting to intervene. A blast of air swept the SUV away before it impacted Revenant's position, a probably unnecessary save by North Wind, but it left the knight clear to charge straight in at the massive bare-chested guy who must be Ku. He was dancing around, roaring and beating at his tattooed chest like some sort of overly dramatic wrestler. Bravo put two bean bag rounds into the side of his head, it probably wouldn't hurt him but it might distract him from Revenant's charge.

SHADE (Carlos)

Shade shifted around the edges of the fight, dancing in and out of the chaos, at home in the night.

His tendrils each held a small blade of black stone, slicing hamstrings and tendons, dropping screaming bangers and weapons from nerveless fingers as he passed, each slash fuelling the power of the obsidian knife held in his left hand, each a small sacrifice of blood to Itztli that made him stronger. And honestly, a little tipsy, drunk on the influx of power.

He brought up his character sheet, checking belatedly to see how much he had absorbed.

Codename Shade Real Name Diego Martinez Species Human Archetype Controller Origin Imbued Object (Celestial) Wealth $ 2,349 Level 2 [30%] +2 CP Health 170 / 170 (120) Recovery Rate 0.15 per minute (0.1) Strength 15 (10) Intelligence 15 (10) Agility 15 (10) Acuity 15 (10) Fortitude 15 (10) Willpower 30 (25) Power Drain [23 / 25] Stamina 22 / 40 (30) Focus 26 / 70 (60) Recovery Rate 0.15 per second (0.1) Recovery Rate 0.3 per second (0.25) Powers Talents Complications Umbra-Kinesis rank 2 - Removable Power Source Terra-Kinesis rank 1 (Limited) - Secret Identity Energy Drain rank 1 (Limited) - - Power Drain rank 2 (Limited) - -

Waving it away, he let the stone blades turn to dust, and decided to be more careful in the future, he'd almost drained more than he could handle at this level, and he wasn't sure what would happen if he went over.

He watched as the remaining gang members began to panic, some of them dropping their weapons and running back the way they'd come, some firing wildly into the air, or at the barricades in front of them, others fell to the floor, their hands behind their heads like the police were here to arrest them.

Then he saw Ku stepping from an SUV; and the Black Dragon, leader of Los Demonios, slid out behind him, her black hair tied back into a braid that almost reached her knees.

Snapping his tendrils out into the shadows, Shade grabbed a couple of scared Los Demonios and hoisted them upside down, they'd been trying to sneak their way past him amidst the shadows of the trees, but the night was clear as day to Shade, and he hardly shifted his focus from the supersvillains, stood amidst their decimated forces, as he whipped the gangers off into the trees.

Despite all his snooping around the Latino gang, Carlos had been unable to discover Black Dragon's power. He'd been a little surprised that the Los Demonios quest had been ranked easier than the other, from everything he'd heard, she was supposed to be quite powerful. He guessed he had a front-row seat to find out.