Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Tuesday 29th, after lunch

---

What a couple of days it had been! Duncan was still incommunicato, and everyone in the Claremont staff, as well as a number of the students, seemed to be more than a little on-edge, especially with all of the dinosaur craziness from the day before. Suzanne was busy enough handling the day-to-day operations of the school, and talented as she was she wouldn't be of much use here anyways. Busy playing around with the trigger mechanism on a miniature crossbow that he'd been designing, he set his tools on the stool that Duncan usually sat at when he was running the Courses on his own. A bit worried about his co-worker and one-time mentor, he booted up the Course and nearly jumped out of his skin at the noise behind him.

Shaking his head a little and grabbing the mic as the sound of muzak broadcast over the Course's speakers, he gave his best Don LaFontaine impersonation. "In a world gone mad...". Stopping and dropping the affectation completely, he said, "Ethan Keller needed some kids to participate in their Crash Course training. So if Jake Rhodes, David Morton and Kemi Matamora would please get ready and come on down, I've got a couple of surprises ready for you. I'll be waiting; don't make me wait too long."

---

Summary: Team 3 with three people, time for your turn.
Tags: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
OOC: For continuity's sake, let's assume that Fraction ended up returning a day or two late from Thanksgiving vacation.

Featuring: Aurora
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Crash Course the day after dinosaurs? Was he kidding? With a slight groan Kemi ran upstairs to drop some books in her room. If given the choice between classes and Crash Course, she normally wouldn't have much of a preference, but today she would have been all for continuing the day as normal. Wishful thinking. Days at Claremont were rarely normal, and she'd come to accept that, but she still wasn't very eager to hit the Crash Course after everything that had gone on yesterday. But at least she'd gotten to eat.

Kemi touched her ring to her chest before dropping down the chute and bouncing onto the gel landing pad below. "Aurora here, sir." She said, realizing she was down first. Jake and David were who she was working with today. She hadn't hung out with either very much, and knew she hadn't run a Crash Course with them either. Despite this not being her first choice of activity today, Kemi was a little curious how they'd work together.

---

Summary: Kemi heads down to Crash Course
Tags: Fraction, Mach 10, Ethan Keller

Featuring: Fraction
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

"Ooooo... surprises!" Jake responded to the announcement with his enthusiasm in anticipation of an activity that went beyond the routine of everyday schoolwork. "Maybe we're getting an early visit from Santa! I better go get my wish list..."

The tiny teenager quickly returned to his room, not to get the list he joked about, but to change into his costume. Treating Ethan Keller's announcement to not keep him waiting as the first challenge, Jake was determined to make it down to the Crash Course faster than his usual effort in getting to a class.

Fraction dropped quietly on to the landing pad only to find that Kemi had managed to arrive before he did. The shrunken student walked over to join his teammate for this afternoon's exercise just as she was announcing her arrival. "So am I," he declared. "Bring on those surprises!"

---

Summary: Fraction arrives at the crash course.
Tags: Aurora, Ethan Keller, Mach 10

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Looking at his watch and back to the students a few times, Keller was about ready to make another call over the school's intercom system before Mach 10 showed up in costume, flying at a rapid pace to make up time. "Sorry!" he said as he came to a stop, "I kind of got caught in the bathroom... using it. Superspeed's only good for so much, if you get what I mean."

Wincing slightly and giving a quick nod, the Course finished making noise and Keller spoke up again, ready to start getting things on the road. "The Course session that we're going to be running with you today is a simulated attack on the Milennium Mall, where a small group of thieves armed with pistols, perhaps a rifle and some knives have decided to run amok, taking hostages and helping themselves to the contents of any cash register they can get their hot little hands on. Your goal, of course, is to get as many bystanders free from the place as possible and to take these crooks out! They're not dressed in any specific fashion, so one thing you need to worry about is them attempting to blend in with the other mallgoers, so keep vigilant. Now, before we get started, let's see a little teamwork, brainstorm a few ideas as to how you're going to go about doing this."

---

Summary: Keller gets the brainstorm going after Mach 10 shows up, late.
Tags: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10?
OOC: Sorry about the delay. Was waiting to see if he'd post. Will RP him until he returns or whatever.

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

"Hmmm...," Jake muttered to himself as he took a moment to collect his thoughts. It's always more difficult when there are innocent bystanders around. Even though this was a training exercise, they'd need to treat them with the same amount of caution as if they were real people. Protecting the mall patrons took a higher priority than capturing the criminals or preventing from making off with whatever they could steal.

"Obviously, we're going to want to clear out as many of the shoppers as we can find," Jake said to his teammates, probably stating the obvious. "That will prevent them from becoming hostages later on if we're having problems finding the gunmen."

"Let's say that they have some brains despite what they're doing overall. They're probably going to want to hit the stores that have the high-value items since that's where the most money should be -- jewelry stores, electronics stores.... maybe a drug store for the pharmacy. We might want to try searching those places first," Jake wasn't as familiar with the Millenium Mall as some of the students. Other than an occasional visit for social activities, there wasn't much for him to purchase that was suited to his size. Therefore, he wasn't completely sure of the layouts of all the stores.

"I'm small enough to sneak around without the bad guys noticing me," the doll-sized student reminded them. "Unfortunately, that also makes it hard for the innocent people to notice me too. They might not follow or take me seriously if I need to get them out of there."

---

Summary: Fraction throws out a few ideas.
Tags: Aurora, Mach 10, Ethan Keller

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

While discussing ideas about how to actually do their task effectively, both Mach 10 and Aurora made mention of their powers, which were super-sonic flight and telekinesis/heightened senses, respectively. David/Mach 10's idea was a little more aggressive, moving in and taking out the crooks before they could hurt anyone else, while Kemi/Aurora's was far more defensive, the thought coming her to try and trap the criminals so they couldn't escape and disarming them while helping to ferry the innocent victims out of the way.

Watching the three with an appraising eye, Ethan opened up the doors on the Course and leaned up against the side wall. "You'd be surprised how many people listen to capes, tiny or not, Rhodes. Best piece of advice I can give you, since you're moving in a group of three, is try a triangle pattern, and since this is a multi-tiered environment, you're going to want to make sure that you look up occasionally. You'd be amazed at how many people don't bother to do that, and in this business, it can literally get you killed." Ushering the students inside, he closed the doors behind them and had a seat, thinking about the team vs. the situation. The other two didn't seem very responsive, but Rhodes was a veteran student, and should be able to lead them through it at a good clip.

Once they'd entered inside of the 'mall', the group was immediately flanked by Peter O'Rubino's (a Mexican/Irish eatery), an elaborate affair with stained glass windows on their right, and a series of throwaway stores (skateboard shop, an optometrist's, and a nails/manicure place) as they walked past the exit, and an eerie calm seemed to be centered on this portion of the mall. Ahead, the mall seemed to open up, a cellphone case kiosk tipped over on it's side near the winding tile staircase that led to the upper portion of the mall. In the distance, there was a gunfire report, amplified in Kemi's ears to a dull roar, and she could hear the whimpering noises of people up ahead and to the left, and relayed as much to the team. To Jake, of course, the whole places seemed truly massive, with even the wheels of the race-car strollers coming up to at least chest level on him.

---

Summary: The team gets thrust into the mall after a little pre-planning. Now it's action time.
Tags: Fraction, Aurora, Mach 10
OOC: Once again got caught waiting. Will ghostrun the two of them until I hear otherwise from the players. Sigh.

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course - Mall
When: Tuesday the 29th

---

Hostages were the priority. Kemi absolutely agreed with Jake on that, and she admittedly thankful to have this nature of assignment. No pointless violence, no mere training. It was a situation that Kemi could respond to; something where she could see the importance and the impact of what they were doing. Fictional though it may be, Kemi had no problem using her powers in a situation like this. At least not yet.

As the three moved through the simulated mall she kept alert, listening for any sign of the hostages or the thieves. With each step she took, telekinetic pulses delicately flooded over the area, feeling for dangers or victims that her eyes may not see first. The first indication of the hostages she received, however was auditory. Her head turned toward the sound. Quickly, she informed her teammates before heading toward the sounds quietly. Gradually Kemi increased the force of her pulses. She kept it gentle enough that it could be dismissed as a light breeze, but strong enough to give her a better idea of the layout than her eyes at the moment.

---

Summary: Kemi goes to investigate the hostage situation, using her own form of echo location.
Tags: CC Team
OOC: Sorry for the delay guys, but posted today as promised. ^^

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course - Mall
When: Tuesday the 29th

---

Fraction grinned and nodded in agreement at Ethan Keller's statement. Due to his miniature size, he had a special appreciation for the unique threats found in a world where nearly everything towered above him. When he was down on floor level, looking up frequently was a natural thing to do.

"...And speaking for us low-to-the-ground types, I'd appreciate it if you looked down every now and then too," he joked just before they entered the mall simulation.

Since it seemed that Aurora had some insight or maybe just a hunch as to where to find these guys, he followed her instructions. Jake avoided the center of the walkways where even he could be seen in contrast to the empty space. Instead, he crept alongside the walls and criss-crossed to take cover behind the kiosks, trash bins, and other furnishings that decorated the halls. The doll-sized daredevil walked under the benches (Keller's recommendation to occasionally look up revealed plenty of wads of gum clinging to the underside) and jumped up to sneak through the junglelike growth for someone of his stature found in the planters.

Although he would sometimes get ahead of them, Jake would wait for Aurora and Mach 10 to catch up, keeping an eye out for threats while they moved as they no doubt did the same while he was making his.

---

Summary: Fraction begins the search for the bad guys by working as part of a team.
Tags: Aurora, Mach 10

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The first noises from victims that Aurora could detect were coming from a pretzel stand, a little smoke that was coming from one of the pretzel ovens causing Kemi's enhanced nose to wrankle and threatened to overwhelm at least one of her senses. As her eyes started to water, she could see one man, middle-aged by the look of it, unconscious on the ground, and the cash register drawer had been pulled out of the rest of the machine completely. Another person, this one a teenage girl with multiple piercings in her face and several earrings in her left ear was cowering behind the table they used to stretch the pretzels and add flavorings on, and she said, "Please... just don't hurt me!".

As he emerged from the mass of foliage that stood a whopping three feet or more high, Jakes' little feet were carrying him at an impressive rate, faster than a normal human could hope to hit. There was a crashing noise from a nearby Foot Vault, and as Fraction rounded the corner, he could see a heavy-set man whose bald head was covered in tattoos, holding a man in a white and black striped shirt against the wall at gunpoint while a much skinnier man with wild brown hair was busily emptying the contents of the register into a garbage bag.

Up in the air, Mach 10 tried to get a better vantage point of the second tier of shops, but there was a loud bang noise from behind him, and the spread from a shotgun shell narrowly missed striking him, a few pellets lodging painfully into the meat on his calf but doing minimal damage. The firere was at least thirty feet away, standing in front of a Thoreaubooks with a scowl on his bearded and mustachioed face. Wearing a Winger t-shirt concealed beneath a leather biker jacket and a pair of ratty jeans, he cocked the shotgun again and shouldered it, getting ready to fire.

---

Summary: Aurora finds some victims, Fraction spies some baddies and Mach 10 comes under some serious fire.
Tags: The Terrific Trio

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The two thugs were too busy with their respective criminal activities to notice the stealthy shrunken student slip into the shoe store and disappear within the racks that had athletic wear hanging from them. Fraction camouflaged himself behind the stage-curtain-like walls of fabric as he judged the relative positions of the bad guys, attempting to determine the best angle to engage them and not get the store clerk or even himself accidentally injured in the process.

Guy with the gun first, Jake decided. The other guy emptying the cash register might also be armed, but it would take him a while to get to his weapon while he was bringing down the stocky bald guy with all the tattoos.

"No wonder service here is so slow," Fraction declared after emerging from the clothes rack and approaching the bad guy from the side of the arm he was using to hold up the gun after making a brief stop at one of the display racks. "I've been waiting a waiting a long time to see if they had this in my size," he said. The high-sided, thick-soled leather hiking shoe was nearly as tall as he was.

"Boot to the head!" he announced, mimicking the character in the comedy sketch as he hurled this steel-toed missile at the gunman.

---

Summary: Fraction uses the items in the Foot Vault store in his fight against crime.
Tags: Probably just the two thugs and the store clerk since it seems that we've split up.

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course - Mall
When: Tuesday the 29th

---

The acrid smell hit Kemi hard, and she tried to breathe mostly through her mouth instead. She found it helped somewhat and didn't let it prevent her from going to help the civilians. She moved quickly toward the unconscious man, keeping an ear out for any sort of trouble while her attention was away from her surroundings. "I'm not going to hurt you." Kemi assured the girl with a small smile as she knelt beside the man, checking him over for any substantial injuries. "I'm here to help you." Finding no life threatening injuries on the gentleman, Kemi telekinetically lifted him up as she stood. "Come with me." She coaxed gently, holding her hand out to the girl. "I'll get you to safety."

A shot rang out and Kemi instinctively brought up a shield over the three of them. After a moment of silence, Kemi turned to try and find where it'd come from. She saw Mach 10 turn in the air and assumed either he'd been shot at or he saw the shooter and who he was shooting at. Either way Kemi knew she wasn't the target, at least not yet, and trusted Mach 10 to take care of it while she turned her attention back to the frightened girl. She couldn't be any older than Kemi herself. "Everything will be okay. I'll protect you."

---

Summary: Kemi tries to comfort the frightened teenager and calm her enough to get her and the unconscious man to safety.
Tags: Fraction, Mach 10

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The tattooed gunman's attention turned from his captive to the seemingly empty space in front of him for a few seconds, just long enough for him to catch a size 11 hiking boot squarely in the nose. The impact of the throw was enough to send him flying over the counter behind him, the shotgun discharging noisily at the ceiling and sending a square light fixture swinging downwards, narrowly missing the referee-shirted man who'd been held at gunpoint. To his credit, the victim dove to the floor and assumed a prone position, just as the man behind the counter dropped the register drawer and reached for a .45 pistol. A bit more observant than his comrade, he actually managed to spot the foot-tall super, and even more surprisingly, managed to hit him squarely in the chest. The force blasted Jake off of his vantage point and sent him skidding about a half-dozen feet and into the remaining glass of the store's frontage but otherwise left him unhurt.

There wasn't enough time for the gunman firing at Mach 10 to squeeze off another shell, as a streak of superhero costume zoomed towards him and snatched the shotgun right out of his hands, breaking one of the man's wrists in the process and sending him to the floor with a howl of pain. Managing to stop himself only by colliding sharply with one of the support columns that held up a cross-beam in the mall and leaving some spidery cracks in it, David turned around and continued scanning the area, pumping the shotgun and emptying the shells as he flew around the area, noting what looked like another robber inside of an EZ Games video game store.

Making certain that there weren't any hostiles, Aurora started moving the pretzel shop employees towards the exit they'd come in through, but a small noise caught her attention. There was the rustle of fabric, then the tell-tale 'click' of a pistol's hammer as it went back. Now that she was out of the pretzel shop, the overwhelming smell of powdered coating was replaced with gun oil, dirty money and a little sweat, and the girl that was just about her age gave a sharp laugh as the gun's barrel rested about two inches away from Kemi's stomach. "Knew you'd help me," she said, a vituperative tone in her voice, "and now you're gonna walk me right out of here so I can split."

---

Summary: Fraction gets shot (but he's ok!), Mach 10 snags a shotgun and scouts out some more baddies, and Aurora gets double-crossed.
Tags: The Terrific Trio

Featuring: Ethan Keller, Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Fraction braced himself against the window, leaning against it while he unsteadily pushed himself back up into a standing position. He gasped after the initial shock dissipated and realized what had just happened. Following natural instinct, he immediately ran his tiny hands across his chest, expecting to find some kind of hole, a crater-like depression, or even some signs of blood. There was this lingering, dull stinging sensation, but little else in the way of real damage. Jake considered himself very fortunate under the circumstances, not yet realizing that this was only a simulation (and therefore non-lethal in nature) or that he might be physically durable to the point of possibly being bulletproof (because there's no practical way to have been previously tested for being bulletproof since failure would have resulted in extreme injuries).

The doll-sized student willed himself to move again, having no interest in making himself an easy stationary target. He scaled the wall of footwear, bounding each tiny shelf that was only wide enough to support an individual shoe and still be able to support his negligible weight. Jake surveyed the store, trying to locate the thugs. Once he found them, he intended to launch himself at them from the top shelf -- much like in the way those professional wrestlers that Darien liked to watch would jump from the top rope of the wrestling ring.

---

Summary: Fraction is shocked at having been shot, not to mention walking away from it, but continues to go after the thugs in the Foot Vault.
Tags: Aurora and Mach 10, but more likely just the gang in the Foot Vault

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The hostage-taker behind the counter popped up briefly, able to hear Jake's tiny, quick footfalls on the wooden shelving as the boy horsed some Nike and Reebok pairs onto the ground, but Fraction was too small and too fast a target for him to draw a bead on, two shots going wild and missing Jake by a mile. He ducked back down behind the counter, but it was of little benefit to him. Arms spread wide, Jake hurtled through the air and landed squarely on the man's back, his massively powered legs slamming the man into the ground. Gripping the man's ankle, he pivoted when his little feet touched ground and tossed the man into a rack of socks and other shoe-related accessories, the .45 flying from the man's hand as shelving clattered down on his now-unconscious form, Jake standing victoriously. The other man in the shoe store was still out for the count, a massive steel-toed headache awaiting him when he regained consciousness.

Swerving and reversing his course, Mach 10 passed by the EZ Games store again and could see a large African-American man cleaning out the register, a red-shirted employee curled up in a ball on the floor with her breath coming a bit raggedly as a thin trail of blood was staining her shirt. Pouring on the speed, David rammed the man, hard enough that he drove him into, and then through, the drywall at the back of the store, emerging inside of what appeared to be a back stock room and crashing into a folding table that was holding discounted back stock on Todd MacFarlane action figures. Shaking off the drywall and plaster, David looked down at the robber and realized that he wasn't going anywhere; considering the way that one of the man's legs was bent, he probably wouldn't be walking without a lot of physical therapy.

With a gun pointed at her abdomen, Kemi had little to do besides escort the robber woman to the door, feeling a bit of a fool. Once the woman was clear of the doors to the mall, she fired a shot back at Kemi that the TK barely managed to deflect. With a hand motion lending her a little control, her eyes narrowed and she flung the armed woman up into the air a good ten feet, sending her down onto the concrete outside painfully before she lifted the woman with ease over to the police that were waiting some distance away, the gun laid out on her chest with some delicate telekinetic manipulation.

An eerie quiet had fallen over the mall, save from some distant groans and a loud series of popping noises that came from the largest store in the section of the mall, a Dillards near the staircase that led up to the second floor, and a loud female shriek sounded, piercing the stillness and alerting the heroes that not all was right still.

---

Summary: A robber gets knocked out by Fraction, Mach 10 puts another in traction, and Aurora gets her just desserts.
Tags: Crash Course Team

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

"Dude, are you okay over there?" Fraction called out to the Foot Vault Employee when things had quieted down in the store. Even though he managed to take out the two thugs on his own, it would not have counted as a success if he had been unable to rescue the victim in this scenario.

If this was an actual armed robbery, the guy would probably be freaking out over his lack of control of the situation and have no idea what he should be doing. Jake had to give that back to him before this guy did something stupid like run out in the middle of the mall and meet the next group of criminals that still might be out there. "I'm going to need your help. Get me a bunch of shoestrings -- the longer, the better," he instructed the clerk.

The twelve-inch-tall teenager grabbed the collar of the gunman that he had just thrown into the shelves. Despite the criminal being more than five times his size, Jake easily dragged the man across the floor to one of the heavy wooden benches where the customers would sit while trying on footwear. He did the same thing with the thug that he had clobbered with the hiking boot, arriving just about the same time as the understandably nervous clerk was getting there with a handful of shoestrings still packaged in their plastic bubble on cardboard backing. Jake took one of the packages from the man's shaking hand and tore it open, indicating that the clerk should probably do the same.

When the first pair of nylon cords were free, Jake roughly grabbed the wrist of the nearest thug and quickly wrapped several loops of the braided shoestring around it. In what may have resembled a game of tug-of-war, the shrunken student pulled the arm across the man's body with what looked like a heavy rope when compared to his doll-sized hands. Standing on the small of the man's back, Jake bound the thug's arms together tightly. With the next cord, he secured the thug's feet. Finally, for good measure, he tied the criminal to the bench with the next set of shoestrings being dangled down to him by the clerk. Adding a few additional cords for safety, that should have been enough to hold them until the cops arrived in case they happened to wake up from dreamland before then.
"I learned how to do this from a girl who had some unique tastes," Jake quipped as he was finishing securing the second criminal to the bench. "It's not quite as fun with these guys," he added before wondering why he was bothering trying to joke with or impress this simulated victim.

"Look, I can't lead you out of the mall right now. You're probably a lot safer in here," Jake advised. "Go in the back room where you guys keep all of those shoes and lock yourself in until the cops show up." Noticing that he was eyeing one of the guns, Jake took action and got to it before he could -- one of the benefits to being low to the ground and quick as a rabbit. "Not a good idea," he said. "If the cops find you with this, they might think you're one of these gunmen and shoot you by mistake." Just to be sure that it wasn't taken by the clerk or retrieved by one of the gunmen if they broke free, Fraction braced each of the weapons against his miniature body and used his highly concentrated strength to bend the firing mechanism and barrel into an unusable shape.

Jake waited until the clerk complied with his instructions before he went back out into the mall to regroup with his classmates and continue to the rescue operation. The popping noises were disturbing and Jake hoped that they were not indicative of the gunmen using their weapons against the shoppers somewhere on the second floor. Jake knew that he could get up there a lot quicker if Mach 10 would give him a lift and fly them up there or if Kemi would lift him up there via her telekinesis. Otherwise, he'd bound up all of those stairs (or run up their handrails) in an effort to get up there and put an end to the madness.

---

Summary: Fraction makes sure the bad guys are secured before going after the next ones.
Tags: Crash Course Team

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

To have done exactly as she was asked and still be betrayed. There were few things that angered Kemi and even fewer that provoked a reaction, retaliation. But this girl had pushed just the right combination of buttons. Tricked and betrayed, Kemi didn't check her fury after being fired upon. She didn't even try. And after she delivered the culprit to the police, Kemi couldn't even say she regretted it. It was likely to bother Kemi later, but not now. No, she was still furious. Angry as she was however, Kemi realized that she wasn't just upset at the other girl. She was upset with herself for letting it happen in the first place, and if she would have taken the time to think about it, she would have realized it could easily happen again. For the moment, Kemi let her anger burn, not even making an attempt to calm down. Her anger didn't dissuade her from getting the hostage taken care of. Better to save one and let all the culprits go free than to capture them all and lose the hostages. It wasn't as comforting a thought as Kemi would have normally found it.

Just as the telekinetic re-entered the building she heard the popping noises, but Kemi was forced to cover her ears as the shriek sounded throughout the mall. When the horribly painful sound ceased and the ringing in Kemi's ears dimmed slightly, she broke into a run following it. If any of the hostages had been harmed, the thieves would be lucky to get off as easily as their friend had.

---

Summary: Kemi remains furious but follows the shriek back into the mall.
Tags: Fraction, Mach 10

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Mall, Crash Course style
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The terrified cashier in the Foot Vault complied easily enough, though as Jake was getting ready to leave he saw the man pick up a handful of bills that had fallen onto the floor from the thief's sack, and the man said, "Fuck this place. This is my last day here." before he headed into the back storage room and pulled the interior lock on the door closed, the sound indicating to Jake that the man would be safe, if disgruntled, for the moment. Mach 10, being the closest, was the first on the scene inside of the Dillards, but he overshot where the scream had come from by quite a bit and needed to turn, swooping in a mad dash and kicking up a large amount of women's lingerie as he adjusted course and headed back to the locus of the commotion.

Two robbers, looking very much agitated, had a number of store employees rounded up behind a perfume counter and were holding shotguns on them. Some of the interior sliding doors on the display cases had been pulled out, apparently by the robbers considering the number of missing perfume bottles, and as Fraction intruded on the scene he watched as a blur ripped one of the shotguns out of the hands of the robbers and sent the man flying a few feet, then crash-landed into the shoe section as Aurora crested the steps and headed inside of the store as well. All but invisible from his vantage point, Jake watched as the man pumped several rounds of shot towards where Mach 10 had landed and he could hear a slight howl as at least one of the spreads hit home. The screams of the frightened store clerks sounded like gunshots of their own in Kemi's ears, and she could smell something strange, coppery but not as rich as real human blood, before her eyes were drawn to the rapidly spreading stain beneath the perfume counter and the sight of a downed hostage's legs twitching.

---

Summary: Mach 10 goes down after an over-eager disarm, and Fraction and Aurora hit the scene when they're needed most.
Tags: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10 (not holding my breath on the last one)

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course version of Dillard's Fragrance Counter
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Not wanting to get shot again after seeing what just happened to Mach 10, Jake ruled out a direct assault. If they weren't distracted with their hostages, they might get lucky enough to notice him since they could easily see through the glass display cases that they were standing behind.

Maybe I can get them to waste some of their ammo, he thought. Each one would be one less shot that could hurt one of the hostages. Just as he was about to get up and sacrifice himself for their target practice, Jake came up with a better idea. "Sorry, friend. Better you than me," he said quietly to the figure standing passively next to him.

From a distance, the fully-dressed mannequin looked realistic enough to be mistaken for another human being. Fraction carried it around the department in which he had found it, making enough noise to attract the attention of the bandits to either get them to start firing in his direction or draw one of them from hiding to herd this 'shopper' that they had missed back with the other hostages. The strange coincidence of the teamwork of this doll-sized man using what could be described as a man-sized doll amused him.

As soon as he heard the dry clicks of an empty weapon or as soon as the mannequin was destroyed to the point that his ruse was revealed, Jake would make his move to take down the gunman.

---

Summary: Fraction enlists some help to distract the bad guys.
Tags: Aurora, Mach 10

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course version of Dillard's Fragrance Counter
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

The sound of peals of gunfire was like a symphony of explosions in Kemi's ears, and as she threw up a force field to protect herself she could spot Jake moving forwards with what appeared to be a large mannequin held in his tiny hands. While Mach 10 was shaking off the debris from his landing and trying to get his bearings once again, there was a fusillade of shots aimed at the mannequin, whom the criminals had assumed was simply another super coming in and trying to get them. The first criminal, who'd been knocked down by Mach 10's disarm, had drawn a pistol and put several small holes in the mannequin's form, but it was the other crook who did most of the damage. Shell after shell's worth of buckshot ripped through it, quickly exposing alabaster skin and an unflinching expression on it's false face, but by the time the shotgun-wielding man had realized what was happening, it was too late. Letting the mannequin go, Jake charged forwards and gripped the man by his ankle, seizing not only the leverage in the battle, but also on the man's body.

As the firing stopped, Aurora saw her chance and a simple telekinetic 'pull' was all that it took for her to rip the pistol right out of the other man's grip; another 'twist' wrenched the barrel almost ninety degrees and made the weapon virtually useless, save for as a badly shaped bludgeon. Reaching down and into his boot, the man pulled out a knife and charged forwards, desperate to charge past the girl and hopefully cut her in the process of things so he could make an escape for himself.

---

Summary: The mannequin ploy works, and after nearly being deafened, Aurora disarms another crook as Fraction takes it to the last one.
Tags: Aurora, Fraction

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course version of Dillard's Fragrance Counter
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Something was off. It could be the smell from all the colognes and perfumes that was messing with Kemi's scent of smell, but when it'd first hit her, she had though it was blood. Her assumption was reinforced by seeing the hostage, or at least part of him or her. Still furious however, she didn't go to check of him/her right away. Instead she focused her anger into something slightly productive: disarming the robbers. It wasn't much, but it was something. Fraction seemed to have a good handle on things, and Kemi had to admit that he was far more resourceful than herself, even when she wasn't angry.

With her ears ringing once again but some of her anger released, Kemi turned to inspect the hostage. Before she could even take a step toward the counter one of the criminals charged her. Desperate was he? Kemi shook her head in disbelief and a bit of mockery. Letting out the rest of her fury, Kemi twisted the man's wrist. Whether she broke it or not depended on how quickly he released the knife. With the weapon out of the way, Kemi flung the man toward the wall, not particularly caring what he hit on the way. Holding him there with a substantial amount of telekinetic pressure, Kemi moved to check the status of the hostage as she'd originally intended.

---

Summary: Kemi subdues the criminal and goes to check on the hostage.
Tags: Fraction, Mach 10

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10
Where: Crash Course version of Dillard's Fragrance Counter
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

Fraction jerked the gunman's leg out from under him, causing him to fall to the floor while knocking over several shelves of merchandise in the process. The shrunken student wanted to make sure that this guy was out of the fight for good and since this thug may have been the one who shot at Mach 10 or hurt or killed the hostages, he wasn't going to be too gentle about it as he jumped on top of him and continued to pummel him until he was thrown off or the guy collapsed.

"You want a shot at this guy?", he offered to Mach 10. Although Jake probably had things well in hand, it was more of an attempt to get his classmate talking to determine how badly injured he may been.

"Aurora?!?" Jake called out, forcing himself to use her costumed name since this is what she would use to protect her identity had this been an actual situation. "What's it like over there? Can you tell if there are any more of them?"

---

Summary: Fraction attempts to determine what they are faced with now that the situation at Dillard's seems to be back under control.
Tags: Aurora, Mach 10
OOC: There are two copies of the same reply from the Headmaster separated by Aurora's post. I'm not sure if this was an accident or intentional, but I'm guessing that the situation was not yet under control.

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10, Ethan Keller
Where: Crash Course version of Dillard's Fragrance Counter
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

David managed a wave when Fraction checked on him; the bullet hadn't caused any real damage to him because of the nature of his powers, but he was going to have a massive bruise from where it had hit for the next few days. In reality, he simply hadn't been able to steer himself quickly enough during his flight, and at the last second, his ability to fly had kicked out entirely. The man Aurora was disarming didn't relinquish his grip right away, but as she spun his wrist around and it began to crack, he shrieked and dropped the gun, just seconds before he was hurled to the side, knocking over two large (and heavy) racks worth of purses and charm jewelry before he struck the wall off to the side of Aurora, her powers keeping him pinned in place.

As she knelt down and found a faint pulse on the side of the hostage's neck, Fraction busied himself by putting the man right through a display table of fancy chocolates and other seasonal items and then slamming him into another one containing a number of perfume gift boxes, causing an incredibly floral stench to start seeping out into the Course and burning Kemi's nostrils more than a little. As the man lay on the ground twitching, not even needed an extra beating from the diminuitive dynamo, the students could hear Keller's voice over intercom, saying "Course, finished." All around them, the scene froze and the robotic bad guys and victims took on a rigid appearance as the door opened and their instructor leaned against the wall outside of it. Nodding a little as the three composed themselves and came out of the room, he said "I have to say, I'm pretty impressed that the three of you managed as quickly as you did. Would've thought it should have taken a few more people to go off so smooth. You managed to use pretty good teamwork when you were together, watched each other's backs, and splitting up was a risk, but it paid off. Individually, you also did pretty good. Kemi, you got a little lucky with that pretzel girl, but you handled it well and kept your cool when you had to. Jake, you did good counseling that guy in the shoe store, and David, good looking out for everyone, just got to work on that control a little."

Giving the probably exhausted students a slight smile, Keller said, "Now, how do y'all think you did? Any questions about what happened, what you could've done better, yadda yadda? If not, we'll all just blow right now and get the Hell out of Dodge."

---

Summary: The trio finishes their Course and gets some positive feedback from Keller, who seems a little anxious to get going.
Tags: Aurora, Fraction

Featuring: Aurora, Fraction, Mach 10, Ethan Keller
Where: Crash Course
When: Tuesday the 29th, after lunch

---

"Well....," Jake started to respond, even though he hadn't completely organized his thoughts. "All in all, I think we did pretty well. Maybe there was a little bit of luck involved, especially when we split up there. I guess there's no way to know whether or not that made a difference as to how many of the hostages would have been hurt or killed if we all stuck together. I don't recall seeing any of them being harmed while we were around, right?" he asked, looking to the other students for confirmation of that fact since they weren't always together.

"As for my personal performance," he paused for effect, as if he were about to launch into a light-hearted, self-congratulating recollection of a larger-than-life effort. "Okay, there were a few things I could have done better. There were two gunmen in that store. I probably could have used the fact that neither of them saw me to take one of them down first quietly. Instead, I decided to get cute and go out in the open to confront the first one, allowing the other one a chance to shoot me.... You know, I got to give him credit. That was a pretty good shot. I'm kind of a small target and he got me right in the center of my chest!"

Realizing that Kemi and David hadn't been there to witness this, Jake explained the scene a little bit for their benefit. "You should have seen it! It knocked me halfway across the store! It's not so bad now, but I think I'm probably going to be feeling it again tomorrow morning."

"Please tell me you that you were recording that," Jake asked Ethan Keller. "I'd like to see that again myself. I'm thinking that it looked like that old black and white film of that heavy guy who tries to catch the cannonball that's shot at him."

"Anyway, all three of us made it out okay and we kept the casualty count low. That should probably count for something,' Jake summarized his opinion of their performance.

---

Summary: Jake evaluates his performance.
Tags: Aurora, Ethan Keller