xp_logs | Krypteia - Designated Target

Machado's speech towards the end of the day draws a large audience - and a few who aren't there to listen to her talk.

"It's lovely to see that so many of you have decided to spend so much of your afternoon with us." Machado's voice, despite the fact that she was neither wearing nor carrying any sort of microphone, carried seemingly effortlessly through the crowd. Only someone looked very carefully would have seen the young woman below and to the right of the small stage, the air shivering visibly around her clasped hands as she used her mutant ability to amplify the older woman's voice.

"This is a first for us," Machado went on, perfectly at ease in front of the sizeable audience, her smile almost serene. "We've hosted similar exhibitions in Brazil, but we've never before had the opportunity to interact with an international audience. I need to thank-" And she went on to say a few words about the various sponsors and other groups who'd made the exhibition possible, clearly wanting to observe the customary courtesies before launching into the body of her talk.

It was times like these Callisto wished she'd managed to finish high school. She was no fool, but she knew there were dimensions to the exhibits she'd seen that she was missing. In spite of herself she'd arrived at the centre a little early - apprently early enough to catch this woman's speech. Although not, apparently, an interesting bit... she thought wryly as she cast her gaze about for Angelo or the girls.

"...Matt and John Reilly, without whose sterling work and experience the larger display pieces in the exhibition would have been considerably more makeshift, all the staff at Different Design, who put in a..."

There was Angelo, at least, his dark head of hair and pale, colourless skin visible in the crowd near the back. Callisto began to work her way towards him, sticking to the outskirts of the crowd.

For all that Machado was still working through the preamble to her speech, most of the crowd seemed attentive, even if many were watching her with the sort of polite toleration one mustered for comments like that.

"...and if I've forgotten anyone," she concluded with a charming smile, "it's my lapse, of course, not any lack of gratitude for their assistance. This is something of a momentous occasion for us, after all. It's the first time we've been able to take what we do to a broader audience. It's always somewhat overwhelming to see months of planning reach fruition."

Angelo was listening intently, even to this work-up to the really interesting part. She'd named people who'd done good work, after all, it might well be worth remembering those names.

"It's a privilege to be here," Machado went on, sounding nothing but sincere, "in this great city, sharing our life and our work with you. I know that our ecovillages may seem a world away from this mighty metropolis, but at the heart of things, they're very similar. We embrace the different skills and gifts each of us brings to our community, and find strength and beauty in our differences. We cherish the community, but also understand that we live in a wider world. Live locally, think globally."

It was a buzz-phrase that even Callisto had heard before, but it was clear from Machado's wry smile that the cliché wasn't lost on her. It was as she moved forwards a little to see the speaker better that she caught movement out of the corner of her eye that, somehow, didn't seem with the crowd.

Off to the side, among the trees, was a figure, dressed in camouflage, and making its way stealthily closer to the podium. This couldn't be good.

Callisto moved smoothly through the crowd, picking up her pace, at Angelo's side in moments. Catching his attention with a hand on his elbow. "There's someone in the woods," she hissed quietly. After a pause where she cocked her head a little, listening, she added, "maybe a few someones."

Angelo stiffened fleetingly at both the unexpected touch and her words, then glanced casually towards the woods. When he saw the figure for himself, he matched Callisto's tone to say, "We need to get nearer the front."

Callisto nodded. "Do you know where the girls are?"

"Haven't seen them for about half an hour", he said with a frown. "They went to get a better view, though - that way."

"Maybe you should head closer to them and the front, and I'll go round the outside." Without another word, Callisto was gone from Angelo's side and weaving smoothly back towards the outskirts of the crowd.

No one in the crowd seemed to be aware that there was anything wrong. They were all listening to Machado, who had launched into a brief explanation of how Alvorecer Novo had been founded, which seemed to involve herself, several college friends, and a large number of caipirinhas. She had most of her listeners smiling, and some of them laughing outright.

Angelo would probably have been joining them, if he hadn't gone into full-on team mode. Trying not to cause a fuss or get anyone's attention just yet, he was slipping through the crowd towards the place he'd last seen the girls.

"... and so, we were very well-intentioned," Machado said with a warm smile, "but not very realistic. It took some time to figure out what sort of structure would best serve us in our pursuit of these so-noble ideas. I like to think our idealism underwent a certain degree of tempering, along the way. If nothing else, we had to learn how to couch our goals in practical language, to be able to explain to those who did not share them why they should support them. Our first contacts with government, in particular, went very poorly."

Laughter rippled through the crowd, and Machado smiled, turning away from the podium and extending a hand to a grinning young man in a suit, gesturing for him to come forward.

The change in position was the only thing that saved her. White light exploded out of the woods in a blinding flash, missing Machado by inches.

It didn't miss a number of the bystanders in its path. There was a moment of utter, shocked silence, and then the screaming started. There were people on the ground, their skin scorched and blistered. Others were still on their feet, but injured and clearly in shock.

The flash came again, and only the quick reaction of the young man in the suit as he dove at the sprawled Machado, pulling her up and away, off the stage, saved her this time. The crowd began to panic, fleeing into the woods in all directions save that from which the attack had come.

Callisto abandoned her previously graceful maneuvering and shoved her way unceremoniously to the edge of the crowd that now moved against her, elbowing and shouldering her slim form out of the way of the mass of moving, panicking people and in the direction from which the blast had come - the area she'd spotted the figure, which had slipped out of sight just before the attack. She tried to block out the roar of people behind her and focus all her senses on the area in front, eyes narrowed, stance shifted to the balls of her feet.

Where the hell did you go?

There was a roaring noise, from another, slightly different direction, and another - if very different blast of energy came hurtling in Machado's direction. It disintegrated a good chunk of the stage, if thankfully no human beings. There were more than a few people who caught the edge of it, however, and staggered away, bleeding from the ears.

And from there, it only got worse.