Shenanigans 3 (Part 3) by Morpheus

Wednesday evening, Dec 19th, 2007

Bardue needs to learn to lighten up a bit, I know he wants to ensure the kids stay alive out in the real world, but the briefings being more exhausting than arena fights or combat finals needs to stop. Ack, poor Sapphire has to deal with Melissa and Monkeywrench that much, she needs a sanity break. Amy with Sapphire on the way to their cottage. Wait! This is bad, what if the ambush happens soon?

Someone hiding their face in a hoodie is following them and Amy wants to find out why on her own, nooo! The Hoodie person runs into the nearest tunnel and Amy along with Sapphire gives chase, at least she isn't alone. Sapphire trips and falls flat on her face, I want to bet that Gravmax is behind this and they are luring Amy into the ambush right now. Amy is acting strangely, Drama Queen is behind it, and Sapphire has figured out Gravmax is involved. Please let the warning security was given prevent a tragedy.

Sapphire gets back up to follow Amy again only to feel suddenly too heavy again, these cowards better all be expelled if not worse for conspiracy to commit murder. Gravmax hits her with short bursts, he is trying to be subtle and make it look like it is her own fault she falls. Crap! She was stalled long enough for Amy to disappear from view.

Bethany Farrow aka Drama Queen, I should have known she was the one in the hoodie, can project that kind of feeling on someone, her power is more dangerous than I first thought. You are mentally disturbed, Bethany, and I hope you get locked up in ARC as you are a threat to others.

Sapphire heads back and quickly finds Melissa and Darqueheart, who quickly explains the situation to them and that it isn't the Cadet Corps. Darqueheart only needs to hear Gravmax's codename to know Exquisite and her people are messing with them again. Melissa is right, if you take time to get the others then Amy might die. Please let Exquisite and everyone in her group who is involved get caught red-handed.

Amy knows something is wrong, but can only focus on finding answers to these questions, Bethany's power needs to be restrained somehow when not being used in classes/arena matches/combat finals. Oh, thank you, Amy is able to stop herself, it is like Devisor fugue, the obsession isn't normal.

Mode shifter devise with the risk of triggering burnout, a good idea, but does the staff at Doyle know she made that? Mage now, but it broke Drama Queen's power over her. Just like another situation by Exquisite and her crew using the tunnels to attack Amy and her friends. Oof, low on ammo, needle gun, and last couple of the coil gun ammo.

An intersection of tunnels where the ground dips quite heavily flooded with a couple feet of water, such cowards to do this. Drama is confident that Amy is right behind her and will be there soon, no sign of Iron or Starbright, good. Drama, talking about the plan even if you think no one but you and your allies will hear has ruined more criminals and villains than anything else.

“Then we make sure she gets too much water,” Kraken agreed impatiently. “It looks like she got lost in the tunnels, had a burnout, and then drowned. Simple. I know the plan.”

It would be simple, except Iron and Starbright have told security about this plan and they will know what to look for.

Amy is shocked, these 3 really want to kill her over something so petty. Amy thinks about opening fire but realizes the odds aren't in her favor and as she goes to leave Drama spots her, darn it!

Sapphire leads back to the spot where she last saw Amy, now it is up to Darqueheart's tracking spell to find Amy and fast.

Darqueheart rolled her eyes since she’d explained this before. “It isn’t a tracking spell. It’s more like…radar. I can use the shadows to map out the tunnels nearby…”

Oh, that is a very useful spell when a large location and you need to know your way around. They don't know where Amy is, but they might have found Gravmax. Ooo, with the mood Sapphire is in Gravmax had better lead them to Amy personally or deal with her venom.

They find the creep and he uses his power on them, Sapphire is forced down to her knees. Darqueheart is pressed flat on the ground too, this is bad. Melissa isn't in sight, her powers are too much of a wildcard and she is too much of one to predict easily. Kick to the groin from behind and stun gun to the neck, Melissa is pissed. Gravmax is dealt with and Darqueheart's shadow map finds a small group of people, yay, friends coming to the rescue.

Amy fires her needle gun at Drama and throws a smoke bomb so she can run back the way she came. Dam it! Exquisite hit Amy with her pain blast with a lucky shot through the smoke screen. Drama has one of her arms and legs limp, Amy hit her at least. Amy didn't go into burnout and Exquisite plans to hit her until she goes into burnout, then Kraken will toss her into the water, this bunch of psychos needs to be locked up.

Another pain blast and Amy doesn't burnout again.

Suddenly, the dark corners of the tunnel darkened further and began to spread out like spilled ink. Amy saw this and immediately realized what was happening.

Her friends are there and Darqueheart is ready to hurt the fools who tried to murder her friend. Black tendrils restain the 3 fools while an invisible Melissa helps Amy up so they can all flee.

*eyes bug out* Bomblet with napalm spray, Kraken is going to be feeling that for a while. Kraken is the heavy-hitter and his water and ice attacks are brutal if they hit, good thing he missed Melissa. Exquisite still thinks they can make this look like an accident, she is more arrogant than I thought possible. Exquisite goes on the offense only for Sapphire to burst out of a patch of darkness and slam her into a wall, followed by a blast of her venom spray.

Security shows up, and they got lost in the tunnels, it happens even to Exemplars with eidetic memories. Everheart is here, tells everyone to stand down, and Exquisite blasts a security guard, Kraken follows her lead and sends a wave of water that knocks down all security guards except for Everheart. They know who you are, attacking them is just ensuring you go to jail for this with more charges.

Everheart with a devisor energy rifle, one shot each knocks out Kraken and Exquisite, devisor stun blast, now that is worth its weight in gold. And Drama raises her hands as high as she can in surrender, at last, she wises up a little.

Crystal Hall, Thursday late morning, Dec 20th, 2007

Chris is upset and feels guilty he wasn't there to help his friends. If they hadn't gone immediately to find Amy the 3 fools would haven't gotten away with murder. So glad security showed up when they did, that Iron and Starbright told them about the murder plot. Melissa and Monkeywrench, never say "You can say that again." around those two.

Alyss chuckled and gestured over her shoulder. “Jinx is sitting over there somewhere.”

Chris snorted at that. “I didn’t realize I’d joined a comedy troupe.”

Amy chuckled in response. “We’re called Shenanigans…so you should expect some.”

That is an understatement with this team.

A situation report after what happened, good idea, Alyss.

“There are a lot of things we can improve,” Amy admitted. “Both in preparation for future matches…and in case of real trouble.”

“The kind that keeps finding us all,” Sapphire mused. “The Imp called us a bunch of trouble magnets, and last night just seems to prove that.”

Yeah, you have inherited the reins from Team Kimba as the former worst trouble magnets. Do both, Amy, improve your weapons and keep more ammo on you, no such thing as being too prepared for a fight. Glue gun, good idea, Monkeywrench.

Alyss, why would you give him that idea, now he is going to wear a Donkey Kong outfit for next Halloween. Steel-toed boots and better weapons for Melisssa, ones that are easy to carry and use with her teleportation. Eep, Melissa with zappy gloves. Throwing spikes, I wonder what Melissa could get from her friends to put on them. Tutoring from Nacht, you will have to put up with her sense of humor, Darqueheart, hope you can handle it.

Radios aka comms, all the good teams use them. Yes, ask around the labs, there are a lot of people who work on comms and I'm sure at least one of them can help out. Maybe even Bugs since she made Team Kimba's spots.

“Now then,” Amy said, trying to get back on subject. “What else can we do to prepare for Team Tactics…and for whatever else Exquisite’s people try next?”

Oh, I wouldn't worry about those three, after what they pulled and what Iron and Starbright told security I don't they will be around much longer.

Chris, just ask Imp for more tutoring and explain why.

“I don’t want to be left behind again,” he muttered with a shake of his head.

Your friends will never leave you behind and will help you if you just ask. Aww, Chris hoping he could go on another date with Collen and she says tonight, these two are so adorable together. Kiss on Chris's cheek, Collen is getting more confident and bolder.

Thursday afternoon, Dec 20th, 2007

Denouement meeting, but Exquisite and Kraken are still being held by security and won't be released any time soon, good. Drama let go after an overnight stay, rats.

From what Traci knew, Exquisite and Kraken were both in some serious trouble, but not nearly as serious as they should have been. Security didn’t have any proof about the attempted murder, and the story that everyone else in Denouement was sticking with, was that they were just trying to prank a fellow student. The only real evidence security had, were Traci and Iron’s words…which apparently weren’t enough.

Darn it! I wish their luck would run out already.

However, Exquisite and Kraken had both attacked the security officers, and the school was taking that pretty seriously. From what she’d heard, there was talk of serious detention as well as possible expulsion.

Please let those two get expelled, with those two gone the rest will fall apart easily.

“I can’t believe Exquisite is blaming me for that,” Drama said with an angry sneer. “She told security that the reason that she and Kraken attacked them…was that because I made her.”

“She’s throwing you under the bus to save herself,” Iron pointed out grimly. “Not a surprise. We’ve all seen the way she operates. She’d turn on any of us the moment it helped her.”

Why would you work with someone like that, especially after she does throw you under the bus to save herself? Good lies between Traci and Iron, I hope Exquisite buys them when she gets back or she might try to kill them for betrayal. Drama is the first one to say she is out, she didn't like being thrown under the bus and faces possible expulsion. Traci agrees and says none of them can trust Exquisite, Iron agrees, and Gravmax is out as well. Denouement is over.

The Village, Thursday evening, Dec 20th, 2007

Imp at a table at the Flying Blue Squirrel pub, there for a meal while going over her lesson plans for the winter term. Carson shows up and comes over to the table to sit down and chat with Imp.

“I was contacted by an old acquaintance whom I haven’t spoken to in years,” Carson explained. “And he was calling to confirm that you actually work at the school.”

A call from Doctor Miracle, it figures Carson knows him.

Ah, it is about the recovery job Imp did to get back Doctor Miracle's power item that was stolen years ago and to say he is grateful to Imp for doing so. His magic scepter, Carson is glad he has it back but wants to know how Imp ended up owing a favor to Doctor Miracle of all people.

“That,” the Imp responded with a deep scowl, “is a story that requires a bit more privacy, and something a lot stronger to drink than this.” She gestured to the glass of beer on the table.

Oof, this tale is an emotional one for Imp.

Carson asks for two glasses from her reserved bottle, just how potent is the stuff in her reserved bottle? Devisor grade scotch, good lord, that will get even an Exemplar 6 drunk with enough of it. Privacy field generator devise, Carson has some of the best toys. 15 years ago in New York, a thing going on with a hero. Oh, this is the incident with 'Barney'. Crap, Imp is still that enraged after all these years, that history teacher better not cross her path anytime soon.

What he did to her, the fact he didn't go to jail for attempted murder enrages me. T Rex aka Roland Williams, the current history teacher at Whateley who still has a temper. Thus the favor, I thought Imp would leave it at that. But she reveals she was pregnant at the time to Carson. She is enraged, and believes that Imp blames him for losing her child, Imp reveals her child survived.

Oh god, the tale of how she gave birth to Chris, but the dangers of her life, her enemies, how she gave him up for adoption. Imp, I'm pretty sure a mangler was involved. Imp knows about Chris being her son and why his powers are so similar to her own. No intention of telling him, Imp, please, he wants to know his birth parents or any of his biological family if they are out there. Please, tell him.

This was a great story, a lot of things were revealed, a lot of great things happened, and I can only hope it is the beginning of the eventual downfall of Exquisite. Shenanigans being trouble magnets is an understatement, before coming to Whateley Melissa alone got into almost as much trouble as Team Kimba did together in one semester.

Denouement, I'm so glad this plan backfired and resulted in everyone except maybe Kraken abandoning Exquisite. But now I'm afraid with limited allies and being watched for further trouble by security due to this incident she will get desperate and do something that could get a lot of people killed. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm so glad Iron and Traci knew there were lines you don't cross and went to security, I only hope it means security will keep a closer eye on Exquisite from now on. And that Kraken might abandon her mad plans if only because he doesn't get to hurt enough people.

Chris and Collen are so cute together, I can't wait to see more of them dating in the future. Seeing her become more confident and outgoing is wonderful. Stryff is a great roommate and friend to Collen, I hope she encourages her to keep dating Chris.

The arena match. Imp had fun designing that and I can't believe I didn't realize the main villain's theme until it was pointed out to me. Such a great bit. And seeing the whole team working together, all their training, their gear, and powers show how much they have all improved and synch together so well.

I can't wait for the next Shenanigans story and for any individual stories any of the group may have. They are a fun read even when dealing with murderous plots against them.

The perils of running through an arena exercise - you burn off a good number of your holdouts.

Props to Saphire for following after Amy. There's a reason for the buddy system. Particularly with Denoument on the lose. Though there is an upside of running through an arena exercise - you've got the rest of your holdouts on you which you might not otherwise have.

Drama Queen gloating in her head. Yes, she may have a greater degree of finesse than she normally presents, but she does seem to have the bad habit of reading her own press releases.

Good plan Sapphire - call in whatever reinforcements you can get quickly. A call to security (or the imp) might be in order, but Shenanigans doesn't know what Denouement has planned.

Amy pulling her mode switcher and getting mage. She smells the trap, so she isn't going in blind. Might not be the mode she wanted, but it might just be the mode she needed. Speaking of luck enchantments - it seems like Denouement's plan is trying to go down the drain. Starbright and Iron missing (possibly at security). I wonder if Fubar gave Amy the tap she needed to get out of the drama zone. Amy certainly seems to have learned that discretion is the better part of valor, and doesn't tip her hand. Unfortunately, she gets spotted - but she's caught looking rather than blindsided.

Darqueheart, Saphire and Melissa - If nothing else, the adventure in the arena primed their thinking on ways to work together. Makes me wonder if Iron tipped off security earlier, leading to the Imp scheduling the arena practice when she did. Good job taking Gravmax down, but Sapphire did have a point about not being able to question him. At least Darqueheart has a lead on where the real action is going down.

And the cavalry arrived just in time. Definitely not the ambush Denouement was looking forward to, and the fight is now 2ish vs 4ish. Naplam on Kraken. Overkill (and potentially lethal) for most of the student body, but not as lethal for a water manifestor with pain resistance. Plus, Kraken and Exquisite have basically stated that the gloves were off. They just didn't realize that that went both ways. Perhaps a bit of a moral event horizon for Shenanigans to keep an eye out for, but they generally aren't as blood thirsty as Denoument.

Drama pointing out that they need to cut their losses. I think Kraken and Exquisite are basically past the event horizon, even if they haven't committed the act. Darqueheart calling for a retreat - good on her part. And the rest of Shenanigans listened.

Enter security (almost late). Definitely starting to feel like a luck mangler (Roulette? Report to power testing) made everything go sideways. Blindly attacking security is bad. Blatantly attacking security is just asking to be expelled. And Everheart puts them down. At least Drama showed a bit of sense.

Shenanigans at breakfast. I'm surprised they didn't spend time in security giving a statement (though that was probably just glossed over). Post-battle review. Good call Alyss. I'm certain everyone in a martial arts class will get more of the same. Plus anyone getting tutoring from the Imp. Hell, I could see Bardue calling them all in for the same thing as well - with the emphasis that you aren't supposed to go off on other students like that.

Zappy gloves for Melissa - I thought she already had some. At least the brainstorm on holdouts is a good thing. And not a bad idea to prepare for what's next.

Colleen and Chris - D'awww.

(Most of) Denouement having a review of their own - and questioning leadership. Starbright and Iron in security during the fight certainly tilted the scales. Might not have totally torpedoed the ambush, but it didn't do Denouement any favors. Drama deciding to cut her losses and the rest following. Sounds like Exquisite and Kraken are on their own, though the former members might be glancing over their shoulders for a while. Seems like the glue fell out of the bindings in Exquisiste's book.

Doctor Miracle calling Carson to confirm Imp's employment. Definitely a good time to pull out the privacy shield. Not the timing the Imp would have chosen to tell her boss that story, but she needed to do so sooner or later. And definitely a story that called for a drink. I understand why the Imp isn't planning to tell Aegis what their relationship is, but the risk of not doing so is that it will come out at an inopportune time. I've had a microscene idea chasing around where the Imp suggests that Aegis to apologize for his treatment towards them at the start of the school year, right before passing over a letter of introduction. Almost certainly not going to happen, but my muse seems to be stuck on haywire at times.