A Bad Day at the Beach (Open RP)

Her focus back on the slowly-knitting wound, Ibuprofen yelled at whoever it was Vox was talking to.

"It's not making headway because it's too busy dying, you *****!"

Vox looks at the whale, beached and unable to move then back up at Sam.

"You got some sort of seeing problem? Until that girl over there gets enough water around the thing it can't move and your stupid attacks are affecting my gi... my friend there." He points at Ibuprofen.

"Leave it alone, you're just doing more harm than good."

Rolling her eyes, Sam shrugged. "Well, the alternative is to telekinetically move it, but... nah, you don't want that. Good luck."

"Actually, you're right, we don't want to move the whale, it might get injured in the process. A better idea is already in progress." He points to the groove that Claire cut into the sand and the water filling up into it and around the whale.

"It can swim out under its own steam after Ibu heals its wounds and then we'll have somebody talk to it and try to understand why it attacked."

He looks around at the heroes scattered on the beach.

"Honestly, why you all decided to try to murder it is beyond me, there's enough power here to have easily contained it and moved it back out to sea, I'm sure Longbow will be wanting a word with each and every one of you."

Richie looked behind him, only to find Psysan on top of the whale. Then facepalmed. Soon after, he raised the megaphone in his hands to his mouth.

"I TAKE IT YOU'RE ALRIGHT, THEN."

The whale had started to thrash, his damaged brain striking out and going wide with psychic pulses until Psysan deflected the wave of fear and terror rolling over it. The bleeding from its wounds had stopped, and the water flowing over its underbelly was helping to soothe it.

Krill Killer's mind though... what telepathic thought was projected was garbled, snatches of words transmitted slowly, repeating over and over. Stop. Help. Hurts. Murdered. Revenge. Stop. Help. Hurts. Murdered. Revenge.

Scared.

Sad.

Even shame.

Stepping aside to let Ibuprofen work, M221 shook its head.

"This is no mere whale, it is an intelligent meta-powered entity. Identifying itself as Killer Krill, it demonstrated immense psychic power. Do not be fooled by its helpless appearance, and do not allow sympathy for its suffering impair your judgement. It is a criminal."

Punching one fist into the other, not to be threatning, but merely to keep its hands busy M221 tried to find a way to ensure justice was served without escalating events into hero on hero violence.

Unfortunately, its forte was hitting things until they stopped hitting back. Calling the PPD was always a good first step, but now the Copper Compatriot was out of its league.

M221 detected an incoming call. Raising one hand to the side of its head, M221 relayed information with the PPD.

"Yes. Large whale, intelligent with psychic powers. Currently it is seriously wounded and beached. There is dissention on how best to treat the whale currently. No sir. No sir. Yes sir. That would be appreciated sir."

"PPD has informed me that they are dispatching the Giant Monster Containment Unit. It will arrive in 15-20 minutes. Perhaps we should not return it to water quite yet?"

Floating gently off the ground and trying to avoid the whale's thrashing, Ibuprofen concentrated more. A delicate purple light joined the green glow from her hands.

"Peace," she murmured. "You're safe, now, I will help you. Let me take your pain away. Clear your mind... "

A tear rolled down her cheek as she felt some of the mental anguish of the desperate whale.

"We need to get him home," she said, "We need to give him... sanctuary."

(edit)

With a sob, she turned to glance at the robot. "He has to go back in the water or he'll die! Can.. can we get somebody here with a forcefield, contain him in the water?"

Hearing the urgent request for a forcefield, Tiger White pushed past Kip and his girlfriend and hurried towards Ibuprofen.

"I've got it, miss. If we can move him carefully into the water, I'll raise my personal shield around us, seal him in with me. I can keep up the healing too whilst I'm at it, but I'm only rated as a field medic, not a full empath."

Glaring at M221, she snapped. "Will that suit you, Robocop?"

Vox watches Tiger White move towards the whale.

"Can you get some of the water already around Krill Killer in the forcefield with you? Can your forcefield hold water?"

Hearing a splash, Vox looks over at Cathryn and grins.

"Nice one."

"If it can't, we've got yalls covered." Vox and the group heard from behind the man, the Khelari and Cerosian joining the assembled heroes. It had taken some convincing on Acid's part, Kauruk very hesitant to let his friend, a publicly- but not very well-known villain, walk right into a situation that could be his undoing. The scaleless reptilian hadn't taken no for an answer though, his own feelings on the matter of the whale very strong indeed.

"Four-legs here can work a good few gigawatts." Acid indicated the Summoner with a gesture of a clawed thumb out of crossed arms. Then he nodded up at the whale and those on him, "Just say where ya need it and you've got it. Oh, and...yalls might wanna call off that GMC team from the PPD, otherwise they probably won't be too happy when they get here and find nothing but a big empty spot..."

Exhausted by her efforts, and satisfied that at least the major wounds were knitted up and the whale was not in imminent danger from its injuries, Ibuprofen floated back down onto the sand, where she knelt to rest and catch her breath.

M221 made no moves to stop the heroes from pursuing their agendas. Quite frankly, the amount of energy this endeavor was taking was close approaching a point where M221's stores of power would be best served by fighting Tsoo and Freakshow. Still, if Killer Krill escaped because these heroes were not thinking clearly, it would be M221's fault for leaving them there unsupervised.

"I lack the power to stop you, nor will I raise my fists against fellow warriors of Justice and Good. But I will let the record stand that I believe this is a bad idea. I will notify the PPD of the altered location."

To Tiger White, M221 spoke clearly, though again without tone. "Robocop was a Cyborg, constrained by the laws of a corrupt corporation. It is an inadequate moniker considering my humanless construction and dedication to Justice, especially since you mean it as an insult to my inhumanity, which I am quite proud of. I do not call you ill-tempered emotional flesh bag, so please refrain from such comparisons in the future."

Stepping back, M221 sent messages to the PPD while scanning its records for names on all the heroes present.

Tiger White's voice protrayed the strain she was under as she held the huge mass of whale and water within her field.

"Whatever... Robbie. I.. don't know.. your name... so it's just... something.. to call you... alright? Now.. How about you.. shut UP eh? I'm a bit too.. busy... to chat right.. now..."

Vox's voice echoed out over the beach, sounding like a chorus of irritated, very loud Mancunians.

"It was a bad idea to start attacking Krill Killer instead of pursuing a non-violent path to stopping it. Whatever its beef was with us could have been sorted out through communication, now we have to explain to it why our supposed 'heroes' attacked it with lethal force.

We're supposed to be the good guys here."

M221 gave an apologetic nod to Tiger White, filing the incident under protocol violations. It was an inappropriate time to be discussing matters of pride. The massive robot did not say anything else to the woman.

"You are being foolish." M221 said to Vox. "Its intent was harmful to civillains from its first appearance."

M221 played back a recording,

Amy looked around and ponder for a moment..

"If someone can support it in a forcefield, I'm sure myself and someone else with Super Strength could carry the poor thing back out to sea while it's kept contained, might be able to carry it on my own but I think the weight would cause me to be pushed into the sand, holding him up isn't a problem but the ground being soft is..."

Ibuprofen looked up with a sigh. "Krill Killer. Not Killer Krill. Krill Killer, as in, he's a whale and he eats krill. And if humans hadn't hunted whales, killed them in their homes, would he have been here in the first place looking for revenge? By fighting back in this way, all you do is complete the vicious circle, and on it goes."

Wearily, she stood up.

"What we need to do now is prove that we are not all like the men who hunt whales. We need to prove that we really are heroes, send him safely on his way and do something about the real villains of the situation- the hunters."

Vox's voice booms out again.

"A threat is not an attack. Instead of trying to keep the creature from harming people you engaged in a lethal battle, critically wounding Krill Killer in the process and endangering the lives of the people already in the water. Your actions are not those of a responsible hero.

There are people with forcefields here who could have trapped the whale, people who can cloud a creature's mind, instead, you 'heroes' went after Krill Killer with weapons and murder in your mind. Instead of trying to understand why this creature threatened this beach, you attacked it, instead of being defenders, you were the aggressors.

It makes me sick that you have been allowed to function as a hero of this city when you obviously care so little about preserving life."

Vox floats into the forcefield with Tiger White.

"I could vibrate the air enough to help lift this forcefield a little and if that girl can help, carry Krill Killer out into the water." He points at Amy as he says this.

"I think those two girls have filled it with enough water to keep it alive and bouyant whilst we all move it."

A low pitched hum emanates from Vox as he concentrates on lifting the forcefield.

The result of M221's scan of Vox Doom reveals that he is an internationally famous singer in the band Sidereal Din. Public persona of a thrill seeking party boy. He spends a lot of time in the Shadow Shard.

During a recent interview it was revealed that was found in a box with 'Vox Doom' written on it next to a motorway in England and that the first account of him using his powers ended up with two boys at the children's home he lived in being hospitalised, Vox claimed he was being bullied.

The limits of his powers aren't known but he can manipulate his voice to do seemingly anything he wants it to. He has previously cracked open great holes in the earth to rescue trapped miners from a cave in.

He can speak any human language. He is often accompanied by Ibuprofen.

(M221's scan for Ibuprofen reveals that she is a conventionally trained nurse, a known pacifist, member of Greenpeace, the WWF and a number of other similar charities, and often in the entourage of the band Sidereal Din, acting as their tour doctor. She's also, obviously, a dedicated empathic healer.)

"Once he's back in the water and not in imminent danger, then we can discuss things. A lot of things here could've been handled better."

She took a deep breath and looked around the beach, scanning to make sure there were no casualties waiting for attention, then flew up above the bubble. Reaching in through the top, a bright blue light emanated from her hands as she passed on some of her remaining energy to Vox and Tiger White.