You are (Not) the Heroes IC

The eastern industrial district's main landmark is an old radio tower surrounded by a large open plaza. Most of the surrounding are is uninhabited warehouse space, and aside from a few parked delivery trucks the roads seem to be clear. If anything, it's almost the perfect location for a superpower showdown. This is the situation that meets the heroes as they arrive on scene, even as they continue to discuss - or debate, for that matter.

(Perception Prompt.)

Sunset wasn’t exaggerating about her coveralls. She really did wet her coveralls. Halfway to the east indies, she wished she hadn't.

Note to self. Contact Clockwork and ask not to make the new costume out of anything that chafes the filly parts when it gets wet.

A lifetime of playing both hero and villain in Rio Caballo taught Sunset how to change her costume quickly using her telekinesis without taking her mind off her driving; a necessity for eluding the county sheriff and his deputies. It takes less than a minute to shed the coveralls and put her vest back on. After the change, she tears a strip of duct tape off the roll she keeps behind the seat, pins the three lightning shields to it, and sticks it onto the vest.

Doesn't cover up the Cutie Mark, but at least now I can shoot straight.

As the tower comes into view, Sunset slows the vehicle to a crawl and scans the area around the tower for any sign of Zapp, her hoof flipping on Ol’ Trigger’s infrared scanner out of habit. Not that she needed to; the Power Pony isn't known for her subtlety, and she's the only other pony around. She continues searching as she parks the truck and gets out to approach the tower with the rest of the group, her guns holstered to make it clear that she isn't a threat.

Rolls:

As the truck slows, Daff plants his hooves on the top of the front of the truck and begins looking around. Roussea opens one eye, then goes back to sleep.

"Anypony see anything?"

Roll:

Dove Colt, who rode his thunderbird to the scene, gives the place a once-over from the skies.

(Perception: 13+19 = 32)

Gaia lifts her head languidly as she rises from her place beside Daff, stretching out her wings carefully.

"I see a tower. And empty streets." She jokes, but after a moment to take in her surroundings, she starts scanning the area in earnest.

Dice:

To say that Crimson was somewhat frustrated by Sunset's telling off would have been something of an understatement... Part of it was a knee jerk reaction to being told that he was wrong and he was being overcome with a desire to prove that he was in the right but what caused him to hold back was the simple fact that she was right; He had approached the situation in one of the worst manners possible and in doing so he had almost caused a rift between himself and his teammates. Maybe he already had?

Remaining silent as they arrived at their destination, Crimson followed the examples of everyone else in having a look around to see if he could spy Zapp herself... or anything else that would no doubt require their attention.

Dice Rolls:

The Wolfpack, just now catching up to the rest of the group and start watching their soroundings.

perception Zell: 1d20+10 27
Perception Inu: 1d20+7 17

Madame Mask hovers onto the scene...

(Perception Check: 8 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 12)

As the group scans the area, they quickly realize that something feels off - there's no sound. No cars, no birds, not even the rumble of traffic in the distance. It's as though the air itself was holding its breath from the anticipation.

What finally tips Dove Colt off is the rich scent of ozone in the air. He and Daff have a fraction of a second to look away as, almost without warning, a blinding flash of white descends onto the radio tower, striking it and flooding the area with an eye-wateringly bright burst of light, followed by an earthshattering clap of thunder that reverbrates through the heroes' bones, shaking them to the core and even knocking them back from sheer force of the impact.

"FACE ME, INSECT!"

Zapp has arrived.

(Roll a retroactive reflex check to not be blinded and deafened. Daff, and Dove get +5 bonus, Zell, Gaia, Sunset and Chef get +2. You need 30+ to get off scot free, and at least 25 to not be painfully blinded and deafened.)

It was hard to tell what had caused Crimson's neck coat to stand on end; Maybe it was years of experience as a superhero giving him instincts above that of normal ponies to warn him of danger or maybe it was just an understanding of the kind of tactics that Zapp would use to try and draw out Locust, but the moment that Crimson saw movement out of the corner of his eye his hoof was on one of his little gum balls before he hoofed it towards the ground somewhat in front of the truck that contained most of their group, causing the ball to explode in a cloud of powder thick enough to act as a makeshift shield against the flash of blinding light.

Due to having left the truck and being outside, Crimson didn't get the same amount of cover that some of his peers did, the light of Zapp's lightning flash managing to make some thankfully limited contact with his eyes before the boom of thunder hit his ears. All things considered he didn't get off nearly as badly as he would have if he hadn't provided himself some form of shelter but as his ears folded against his head as his hooves went up to cover/rub his eyes he couldn't exactly drown out the pain.

Actions and Dice Rolls.:

Dove Colt is a pegasus. Too young and too small to fly, for sure, but in his blood is the ancient heritage of a warrior culture... and every warning light turned on when the sharp scent of ozone fills the air.

He flattens himself against the thunderbird, but the shockwave of lightning and thunder lifts him bodily of the bird and tumbling through the air...

Until an explosion of doves stops his blind plummet enough for him to fall safely, rubbing at his eyes hastily. "GUYS? WHERE ARE YOU? CAN SOMEPONY STOP THAT RINGING?"

Reflex: 12 + 11 + 5 = 28

Setting aside the ringing ears and blinking lights in her eyes for the moment, Gaia bares her teeth and transforms into a massive grizzly bear, lumbering over to Dove Colt and pulling him close with a fuzzy paw. She snarls and, even though her vision is spotty from the bright light, she turns to glare at the source of said light. ~Calm down, child. You're just blinded from Zapp's ridiculous entrance.~

Dice:

Madame Mask, having gone against the Power Ponies herself before, braced for Zapp's possible entrance when she couldn't see her. This turned out to be a smart move. With Zapp's heroic cry, Madame Mask mumbles "Hmm, seems she already figured things out."

(Reflex Check: Natural 20)

Sunset instinctively squeezes her eyes shut and flattens her ears only a split-second too late to shut out Zapp’s assault on her senses. Crimson’s quick thinking makes up for it, negating any lasting damage.

As she waits out the noise, the thought occurrs to her that maybe the group should make sunglasses and earplugs standard equipment whenever they plan to be within earshot of Zapp in the future.

Rolls:

If somepony were to take a look through the photo album under Daff's parent's bed, they would find many pictures of their son at various stages of his life. His very first wobbly steps, the Hearth's Warming pageant where he took his starring role as Chancelor Puddinghead's chimney, the proud day he graduated.

In the pages of photos, a pattern would quickly emerge. Daff is not photogenic. In every photo he's ever been in, even as a foal, the photographer has always caught him blinking. It'd been an endless frustration for his mother's scrapbooking endeavors. Today, that quirk finally does something good for him.

Blink.

BOOM!

Even unaffected, he can feel the thrumming energy slam into his whole body. There is the smell of sparks and smoke. A pained squeak and cough.

"Rousseau!"

Daff manages to catch the squirrel as he wobbles and falls off his perch, eyes closed, arms extended and waving around. The squirrel blinks owlishly. Jumping off the truck, still cradling the squirrel worriedly, he canters to Dove Colt and Gaia.

"Are you alright?" he asks the small pegasus before turning to look up at the maelstrom of force and noise that is Zapp.

"I think we better all get ready."

Rolls:

Zell barely managed to notice that something was of, his Instincts told him to close his eyes and cover his ears, just before zapps blinding and deafening entrance.
Inu on the other paw, somehow noticed it coming shortl before her packmate, and already covered her head, but even she notices the display.
After the power pony finished her entrance Inu begins to bark at her: ~You feather brain, did you even think before doing this? you blinded not-actual-prey and our pony-puppy, I´ve seen Ursa Majors who were quiter destroying whole forests.~ this is followed by many very imaginative combinations of parts of a ponies body, bodyfunctions and swear words.

Zellbriq on the other hand is a bit more calm and Rational and projects:WhY dId YoU dO tHiS? WhAt NeEd Do YoU hAvE tO hUrT oUr PaCk? YoU nEaRlY bLiNdEd ThAt PoOr CoLt AnD dOn´T gEt Me StArTeD oN oUr PoOr MaScOt.

If she noticed the group at all, Zapp makes no attempt to address them, instead, she flies up to a hover a hundred odd feet above street level, her talisman humming with magical power. Lightning crackles around her, hugging her form like an electrifying aura of pale blue plasma. She seems to be waiting for something, as arcs of electricity split off from her, dissipating into the atmosphere.

"No response... perhaps he was wrong... Perhaps more power would lure it out...?" Impatiently, she lifts up her necklace, and immediately black clouds converge on the location, causing a strong wind to pick up through the streets with an eerie howl. Ominous flashes come from within the clouds, but nothing else happens yet.

Even as he rubbed his eyes in order to try and get the brightly mulity colored lights to stop while his ears remained folded against his head, Crimson couldn't help but blame himself for not seeing this coming. He had known that Zapp was going to be here and that she was going to be trying to lure out Locust via using a great deal of her magic here; If nothing else, earplugs would have been a fantastic idea and he was kicking himself for not getting some.

Still through, he was able to shout out loudly enough for the rest of the party (Well... the parts of it that weren't deafened at the moment) to hear him say "She's trying to lure Locust out appealing to its greed! It's just a matter of seeing if its desire for such a large amount of weather magic will overpower its caution! Be ready for anything!"

"I'M OKAY. THAT'S A LOT OF LIGHTNING, THOUGH." Dove Colt says, his ears still ringing. Nonetheless, he tries to clear his head by shaking it and steps out from behind Gaia's paw, though still sticking close to her and Daff. "IS, UH, IS SOMETHING SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN NOW?"

Makeshift storm and the ringing in his ears be damned, Crimson turned his attention up towards where Zapp had currently positioned herself. Taking as deep a lungful as he could, he tried to shout out loud enough for her to hear "HEY ZAPP! CAN YOU COME DOWN FOR A MOMENT?!"

A rumble of thunder passes overhead and lightning flashes, and the wind picks up even more, causing some of the dust and trash on the ground to be blown about. Zapp pauses in her work, her amulet mid-glow, and glances down at the ground. She furrows her brow and the glow fades, though the storm clouds remain. She floats back down to speaking range, though she remains considerably above ground-level. Her expression is unmistakably the classic I've-got-better-things-to-do-so-make-it-quick face, her front legs are crossed, and she says nothing, just looking at the group with an irritated expression.

Sunset exhales a deep breath to calm her nerves, then meets the Power Pony’s gaze.

”We’re the group that fought off the other tempest at the bank yesterday,” she says. ”It made noise about wantin’ to suck you dry and use your power to prey on the rest of Equestria. If you plan on callin’ another one out, our plan is to make sure it doesn't get the chance.”

"Do you even know what you're trying to challenge?" Gaia grumbles, her hackles still raised. "Your foe is hardly the usual villain that roams the city's streets."

"I have my suspicions, shifter," Zapp says, sparing Gaia a quick glance, "the matter of insects who prey upon sky magic is not unknown to one who hath traveled the breadth of the world in search of challenge. This may be a foe that I hath faced before."

"So long as thy group interferes not with my hunt, I will tolerate thy presence and thy assistance," Zapp says, finally. "As was the agreement between us. Now, if thou hast nothing new to add, there is justice to be done."