THE WHEELS OF STEEL ARE TURNING

[capemods]

WHO: These lucky contestants
WHERE: Various boroughs of the City, and the demon dimension.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 21st, 11:54 am and onward.
WARNINGS: This post may contain graphic depictions of violence, psychological horror, and adult themes; it will definitely contain adult language. Viewer discretion advised.
SUMMARY: Vulcanus tries to blow up a collection of buses around the City in order to incite anti-imPort rioting; Lachesis mixes things up again. see here for details.
FORMAT: Go crazy, kids.

---

Each bus will have a labeled thread in the comments. To recap:

Bus W will explode. Lachesis will teleport these ImPorts to a location near the bus just after it explodes. Those who are assigned to this bus, you must be the heroes that the City demands. The damage will carve a hole in the street, and civilians are at risk for debris/fires/etc.

Bus X will yank imPorts inside of it and induce a week-long power switch. From 8/21 at 12 PM to the following Tuesday, 8/28 at 12 PM, characters will have their powers switched with another ImPort passenger. All characters on this bus have their new powers assigned.
Correction: this bus is located in Brooklyn.

Bus Y will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then transport its imPorts to the demon dimension until midnight. Envision Dante's Inferno as the setting, but with the twist that ANYTHING CHARACTERS IMAGINE WILL MANIFEST IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE.

Bus Z will yank imPorts inside of it for one minute, and then with a LOUD SCREECHING NOISE, it will infect imPort minds with radio signals, songs, dialogue, AND IMPORTANT PLOT-RELATED INFORMATION THAT VULCANUS DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW for the rest of that day. There is no way to turn this off for the entire day. ImPorts will be returned to their prior locations at the end of one minute. All characters on this bus have their unique mental broadcasts assigned.

Comments

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin doesn't take the hand. He stretches out his arm and uses another tech attack from the omni-tool, this time a cryo blast that instantly freezes a Reaver into a fragile ice sculpture.]

Bus appears to have been brought here with us. Can use it for shelter. If still intact. Follow me!

[Now he takes the hand, and starts running toward the bus they got teleported to.]

[shiniest]

[Already breathing fast, like a panic attack almost, Kaylee follows, weapon still at the ready.]

It'll be intact. Intact enough, anyway.

[heal_or_execute]

[At least it's not too far away. Mordin only has to fire off two more incineration blasts on the way over, torching the closest pursuers. When he reaches the bus, he stands by the door and waves for Kaylee to board ahead of him. Her terror isn't lost on him.]

Inside! Quickly!

[shiniest]

[Running as fast as she can, Kaylee gets inside. Once he's in, too, she starts staring at the door intently.]

Anything in here would make for good barricades?

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin shoves the door closed seconds before Reavers start banging on it. Immediately the bus is a Romero film, Reavers crawling all over, smashing their arms through windows to reach inside, screaming and thrashing.]

Remove seat cushions! Attach to windows, might slow them down. Should be adhesive in first-aid kit.

[And he's already opening said kit.]

[shiniest]

[Immediately, Kaylee gets to it, tearing the seats apart frantically.]

Found it?

[heal_or_execute]

Yes.

[Mordin starts sticking seat-shreds over the windows using a hasty mix of sticky gauze, plaster and his omni-tool. It's a pathetic defense. The Reavers tear through the cushions as fast as he can put them up, and he fires off a Neural Shock from his omni-tool to get some of them to back off, energy ripping through their nervous systems. It's still better than nothing.]

Need a way to finish this. Can't hold this position long.

[shiniest]

[Kaylee screams upon seeing all of that, ducking away for a moment.

Once she's got her wits about her, she moves to the front of the bus.]

Could maybe rig somethin' if I knew what t'rig.

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin thinks fast and checks the front of the bus.]

Vehicle still full of fuel. Detonating it would eliminate attackers. Also us. Need to escape before explosion, without drawing- [Another savaged, mangled, filthy hand smashes through the nearest window, and he flinches away from it.] -without drawing them away!

[shiniest]

[Kaylee frowns, thinking.]

Could rig up a remote sorta thing, but that would still mean we'd have t'get away safely enough.

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin looks around.]

Emergency hatch, on roof. Block enemy's view of us from windows with what's available, conceal escape. Then-

[His face falls.]

No, no good. Can't detonate bus with us standing on it. Jumping off while surrounded suicide. Need another way.

[shiniest]

[Kaylee frowns.]

I wish there was a way t'just -- tunnel through or somethin'. Gorramit.

[heal_or_execute]

Agreed. Wait. Idea.

[Mordin stoops down and puts his omni-tool to the floor of the bus, scanning, ignoring the clawed hands reaching for him through the windows. When he stands up, he has to yell- the Reavers are building to a cacophony out there, beginning to rock the bus side-to-side.]

Geological scan reveals area porous! Small cavern directly beneath us! [Because of course the hell dimension has lots of spooky caves everywhere.] Can make us a hole, while you rig detonation!

[shiniest]

It won't take but a coupla minutes to get it set up, or anyway it shouldn't.

[So much relief.]

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin gets right to work. His omni-tool is more geared toward medicine than mechanics, but it does have a cutting tool strong enough to pierce the floor of the bus. Sweeping his arm in a circle, he makes draws a circle of melted metal large enough for a person to drop through. He then levers the floor up, placing it over some windows as added protection.]

[The Professor kneels over the hole and repeats the process on the undercarriage between him and the ground. What comes next is the hard part. A full-strength cryo-blast flash-freezes the unnatural rock the bus is resting on into brittle ice. Mordin then has to wait impatiently for the tool to recharge, ducking grasping Reaver arms as he does. When it's ready, an incineration blast melts the ice away- and with it, the ground.]

[For a moment, it looks like he's done nothing but melt a small shallow, but then the rock crumbles downward into the black cavern beneath them. They have an opening, and although that cave doesn't look pleasant, it's better than the Reaver buffet this bus will be in a few seconds. Mordin stands up.]

Exit prepared! Detonation ready?

[shiniest]

[Kaylee's been scrambling to construct it, but by this point she's confident enough in her ability to know that no matter how improbable it seems, it'll work. And she's panicking slightly less (fixing things always helps with that.)]

It is. Any time?

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin nods. They're not a second too soon- the bus is going to tip at any moment. The Reavers are bending the metal of the windowframes in their frenzy to get inside. He fires a final Neural Shock to delay them.]

Into the hole! Then trigger explosion!

[With that, he drops down into the cave. This is it.]

[shiniest]

[Kaylee's panic is building again, but she nods, jumping after him and scrambling to set the explosion off.]

[heal_or_execute]

[Mordin covers his ears and opens his mouth to keep the blast wave from damaging his eardrums in the enclosed space. For a moment, the cold, dark cave is filled with warmth and light and echoing, booming noise. With his eyes closed, Mordin feels the explosion more than he sees it.]

[Once the echoes fade, he opens his eyes, lowers his hands and looks up. Nothing is visible through the hole in the ground except smoking, twisted scraps of metal and charred Reaver bodies. Although fighting can be heard from the other Imports battling their demons, the homicidal screaming of Kaylee's nightmare has ended. Mordin smiles even as ash drifts down on him.]

Appears to be clear. Didn't have time to introduce myself earlier. Too busy. Professor Mordin Solus.

[shiniest]

[She takes a moment to catch her breath, then tries to smile.]

Kaylee Frye. Thanks f'helping me.