Sophistemon

Toughness Save: 1d20+10 16. Absolutely not. Spending a Hero Point. Toughness Save (Hero Point): 1d20+10 28. Substantially better.

@Avenger Assembled, @Exaccus, @Heritage: Punchline gawped and leaped to one side immediately before Sea Devil's tridents made contact with the screen, and with something behind, beneath, and beyond the screen. If Sea Devil had a bucket list and 'Piercing the Veil Between Worlds' was written somewhere on it, she could now count herself lucky enough to cross it off. The barrier gave way before her onslaught and Aquaria felt herself fall forward, propelled by her own inhuman strength. It was a bizarrely fluid feeling, not entirely unpleasant, as she was enveloped by the rubbery substrate of the multiverse and conveyed into another plane of existence. She found herself thrown through mid-air and landing on her hands and knees in the middle of a dark, damp room. The grating beneath her was old, corroded, and the walls around her were draped in cables, vents, monochrome monitors and bits of other 'used future' machinery. There were footsteps to her right, and when she looked up she saw the clown staring down at her with bright, slightly luminescent yellow eyes. He held out a hand and spoke. "Well," he said. "That's one way to get yourself in movies." His grin widened, and when he threw back his head and laughed the sound of it echoed from the walls. He looked back down at Sea Devil and the smile faded. "But seriously," he pouted. "Now we're both trapped."

The clown cracked an eyelid to allow one softly glowing yellow orb to peer back at the assembled heroes. He sighed, and his mouth did something that wasn't exactly a smile anymore. Grumbling to himself, Punchline rolled over and took to his feet. "Stop!" he called. "Stop everything. Pause!" He walked towards Edge and Monsoon, his limbs moving with preternatural grace, and interposed himself between Mark and his father. "Coming through, grandpa," he chirped. He looked at Edge, eyes wide, and shook his head. "It's a game," he said. "Well, it's not really a game -- games have rules. It's more of a playground. Don't you get it? We're supposed to make our own fun, I think." He turned to the infant and blew a long, wet raspberry. "She's just trying to have a laugh, Edge." He looked back at the hero. "So am I, but..." He sighed, then shrugged. "Maybe I went too far? It's hard... it's hard to tell, sometimes." He chuckled, weakly. "Point is, this place isn't real. It's like a fun-house, and for you this place is like that spinning room that nobody likes. If there's something about what's going on that turns you off, play with it, like Scales and I did back in the swamp." He grinned. "Try and have some fun, buddy. Or maybe..." he chortled. "Maybe get some closure, while you can?" He turned, then took a step away. "Kids have short attention spans, you know."

I'd imagine that seizing the cell phone as evidence would be within reason for your average, everyday beat-cop. For an Agent of AEGIS, I'm sure that such a thing could be rationalized six ways from Sunday. And, yes; please make another post detailing Adept's reaction to what he's found.

@Blarghy: That's fine. Here's what you turn up during the course of your Search.

@Avenger Assembled, @Exaccus, @Heritage: The projectionist didn't even have to be told what to do anymore. After seeing what had just happened, he was totally invested with figuring everything out with the rest of them. He dutifully repeated their previous actions, eager to see things progress. When the clown reappeared on screen, his hangdog features had been replaced with a wide, white grin and eyes sparkling with ferocious excitement. He was right up to the camera; almost too close, giving some of their fear, and he held a new sign made from what looked like a torn piece of off-white fabric. SEEN YOU ON TV!, it said. Beneath that, the letters were smaller, cramped, and more numerous. SCREEN GOT SOFT! it read. KEEP IT SOFT? PULL ME THRU? DOC TRY UHF! CHANNEL 51? @Blarghy: The bathroom was empty, and a mess. The medicine cabinet had been opened and it contents roughly gone through, so that bottles and squeezable tubes littered the sink and floor. The bedroom was just as messy, with clothes strewn about over the unmade bed, and a half-packed suitcase was laying discarded and overturned in the corner. There was a television mount installed on one wall, but the machine itself had been pulled loose and thrown down. The screen was cracked, and the power cable coiled around it like a thin black tail. On a side-table, Agent Warne saw that a picture frame had been given a place of reverence. The frame had the word DAD embossed on top, and the photograph it contained showed a man smiling warmly as he stood beside the enormous, musclebound actor that had played Rhekgar the Red in the 80s.

"Just one thing," Ethan said. "I'd like to encourage a revitalization initiative for the town of Wallders. At the very least, we should finance a restoration of the homes damaged during the engagement with Mantis. That's the sort of thing people talk about, that they remember, and it would be a positive source of publicity for AEGIS. Once it's repaired, I'd be happy to pilot the AMP back and help with the rebuilding." In all likelihood, Upgrade would be too large to do anything more than assist with the heavy lifting, but to the people of Wallders, it might just be the thought that counted most.

Ethan chuckled. "Thank you, Ms. Becker; I appreciate it. But that's just the thing; Upgrade isn't just a weapon; it's... well, it's a symbol of our ability to protect people, to win their hearts and minds. Upgrade can't fail. He can't afford to. So he needs to be constantly top of the line, retooled, reworked, perfected." He rubbed his hands together. "I have some ideas related to that, some calibrations to the internal systems, some additional combat variety -- definitely some more sensors, which would have come in handy in that factory, and a different way of rerouting the power flow. Lots and lots of stuff. If I could get a meeting with someone, I could bring them around." Realizing he'd waxed long about the machine, he coughed. "Anyway. Yeah, I'm definitely down for following up on Mantis and his maker. The dude was already more machine than man -- a total Darth Vader knock-off, or an evil flying RoboCop. Like in RoboCop III, which was the bad one. What I mean is, he's more metal than meat, so repairing him again, or making modifications to his systems so that he's more likely to beat us next time... that's a given. It's going to happen. It's probably already happening. We need to move forward on the XO-9 and we need Adept out of this hospital bed. ASAP."

Ethan turned to Warne. "That's one the more extreme reactions to getting arrested that I've heard." He paused, considering. "Not the worst, but it's up there." With that, he looked pointedly at Becker. "Evening, Deputy-Director. Glad to see you. So, this Mannis guy... there can't be too many people out there with the technology to rebuild him after being that badly damaged. I mean, if he'd spent that long in a coma wouldn't he also be suffering neurological damage? So it wouldn't just be a matter of repairing the body, but the brain too, right? Guys like that -- or girls, or whatever -- can't be very common." He shrugged. "I figure, we find out who fixed him, we find out where he is and who he's working for." Then, after some more thought. "I haven't heard anything back from the Engineering Department. I know I only sent my report a few days ago, but I haven't heard anything. I mean, if that engagement had gone any worse..." He cast a glance to Warne. "Well, it would have gone badly."

Ethan exhaled a single-note laugh, then nodded. "Well, what's the expression? 'No plan survives contact with the enemy,' right?" He reached out, hesitated, and then gave Warne a soft pat on the shoulder. "Nobody was expecting what happened. And you survived. Everybody survived; that's the important thing." He grinned. "I mean, we both know that Death'd spit you right back out, but at least living saved you airfare." He removed his hand and considered something. "Mantis really had it out for you, man. When the van took off with you in it, he turned his back on me to chase you. That's 'Tactical Blunders 101,' buddy. What was his deal?"

The pilot nodded. "She's going to be famous one day," he claimed. "We don't know how, yet, though. Some days it's art, others dancing, acting, singing... but it'll be something. She makes Meryl and I really proud. Speaking of which, when you're out of here, you're coming over for dinner. The wife insists. She won't let you die without trying her meatloaf, and I'm not brave enough to tell her that you won't show." Ethan feigned a moue. "So I guess you'll have to make an appearance sooner than later."

I hope that my introduction is okay. Please let me know if anything needs editing.

There was a moment, a pause, where the giant metal man was silent. The sensory cluster that served Upgrade for a head swiveled around and took in the descending helicopter before pivoting back to address the sheriff. "Friend," he said. "I've never been more serious about anything in my life." He took a few thunderous steps towards the crowd and then knelt down on one knee so that he didn't tower over them quite so much anymore. "Folks," he began. "I know this isn't what you were hoping for when I touched down earlier today. I want you to know, I didn't just come to Wallders to defeat a super-villain; I came here to help, and the helping doesn't stop when the fighting does. You have my word, I'm going to work with AEGIS to make things right. I'm going to keep fighting for Wallders, and I'm going to win." He raised an enormous hand and pointed across town, at the bar. "Now, who's thirsty?" ~~~Later, at Agent James Warne's hospital room in Bluefield.~~~ Ethan knocked gently on the doorframe before he entered the room. In one hand he held a folded piece of white construction paper, and in the other he gripped a pale blue teddy-bear with an angry cloudburst stenciled into the white fuzz on its stomach. The pilot approached Warne's bed with a grin writ large across his features, and he passed the toy over first. "It's Grumpy Bear," he explained, and Warne could see that the toy did in fact have arched, annoyed-looking eyebrows. Then, Ethan handed him the paper. "And this is from my daughter." When James opened the homemade card, he could see the words GET WELL SOON printed in large, multicolored letters. Underneath the plea for health Lilly had drawn a simplistic rendering of Ethan's description of Adept in action -- a man in a black trenchcoat, floating a good three feet from the ground, with a big, toothy smile on his face. Ethan pointed to the smile. "Kids and their imaginations, huh? Chalk it up to artistic license. How're you feeling, partner?"

And who doesn't want to be on the boss' good side?

Ethan watched as Mantis spiraled helplessly, as a blazing fireball, into the woodlands beyond the borders of the town. He took a breath and, putting on his most accurate Bill Murray impression, addressed his fellow AEGIS agents. "We came," he said. "We saw, we kicked its ass!" When he turned back to Wallders, however, he saw the plume of deep black smoke pouring into the sky from the burning building. Sighing, he steered the AMP towards the burning house. As he flew, he continued speaking. "The bogey, Mantis, crashed in the woods. Flyboys, why not search him out? He was on fire when he landed; you might be able to track the heat signature." When he reached the flaming home, he stopped and hovered above it. Upgrade pointed both hands, palms out, at the roof. Twin nozzles emerged and began to spew streams of flame-retardant foam down onto the fire, dousing it slowly over time. When the roof was clear, he swung around the home and got the walls, being careful to kill ever little flicker of flame that he could see. He felt bad for the owners; they'd never asked for this, and they hadn't deserved for it to happen. But they, like Ethan himself, and like Adept, would have to be content with merely surviving the day.

Fair enough. Anything worth doing is worth doing until it's done. And the town will appreciate not going up in flames, I'm sure.

Okay, that's awesome. I think that I'm going to use that HP to help the town with the fire. Fire Control, the power, says that it can be used to counter fires with a damage bonus less than the power rank. Would a rank 11 Fire Control power be enough to put it out?

"No," Ethan groaned. "No, no! Man, I had him!" He gunned the engines and flew forward, towards his adversary. "Where do you think you're going?" Upgrade shouted, booming mechanical voice echoing off of the buildings that lined the empty streets of Wallders. The incredible flight-speed of the AMP allowed him to intercept with Mantis easily, and he unleashed another devastating hail of gunfire from his arm-mounted machine gun. Without pausing to slow down or even look back, he pressed forward and positioned the AMP between the van and its cyborg pursuer.

Okay, Upgrade's got this. Using a Move-by Action, Upgrade is going to catch up to Mantis, shoot another Autofire Blast, and then continue moving to put himself between Mantis and the van. Attack Roll (Blast, Autofire): 1d20+9 24.

The claw struck the AMP, making contact with an impossible impact that shook Ethan in his seat. The cruel edge of Mantis' namesake weapon slide across the AMP's chest with an ear-rending screech of metal-on-metal, sounding for all the world like a dying truckasaurus. When all was said and done, however, the damage was mostly cosmetic -- a thin, rough scratch nearly half an inch deep marred the surface of Upgrade's metal skin, but in the grand scheme of things? It was a paper-cut. "Like I said," he boomed. "It'll take a better man than you." He reversed, putting some distance between them, and unfolded a wicked-looking machine gun from the AMP's left arm. Ethan pulled the trigger and held it down, filling the air with a bee-sized swarm of lead.

Toughness Save & Resist Trip: 2#1d20+11 12 28. Oh, ouch! A natural 1 on the Toughness Save; thankfully, Upgrade was able to resist the Trip. I'm going to use that Hero Point to re-roll the Toughness, because otherwise I think Ethan would down for good. Toughness Save: 1d20+11 20. If I'm not mistaken, the Hero Point adds 10 to any roll below 11, so that bumps up to a 30. After tanking that hit like a B-A, Upgrade's going to press his advantage, this time by using the machine gun. Attack Roll (Blast, Autofire): 1d20+9 13. And he misses, of course, but I'll settle for being alive.

Ethan maneuvered the AMP to keep within range of the increasingly-damaged Mantis. "Better than you have tried, better than you have failed," Upgrade stated. His mechanical voice should have sounded completely devoid of emotion, but the former arms-dealer could swear that he hurt a hard edge of anger leaking through the speakers. "A word of advice, bug-boy: stay down." The cannon fired for a third time, humming vibrato as it spewed red agony at the psychotic cyborg below. Ethan was a soldier, a pilot, an agent of AEGIS. He had a mission, and he's see it through to the end.

Notice Check: 1d20+7 9. Nope, didn't quite figure it out. But that's okay! Once more with the laser. Attack Roll (Blast, Penetrating): 1d20+9 17. Ouch, let's spend a Hero Point and try that again. Attack Roll (Blast, Penetrating): 1d20+9 23. There, substantially better.

Everyone but Blarghy, please give me a either a Notice Check or a Technology Check, whichever you prefer.

@Avenger Assembled, @Exaccus, @Heritage: On screen, Punchline's eyes widened into wide, bright yellow pools as Sea Devil dove towards him, her powerful legs propelling her through the air with great speed. In the split second before she made impact, the camera panned hard to the right, following after the heroes of the film as they made their way to adventure. When Aquaria hit, she didn't feel as though she was striking the wall behind the screen. Rather, the surface was soft and malleable, like rubber that was perceptibly hardening even as she bounced off and landed harmlessly on her bottom in the aisle. The screen above her rippled, jelly-like, before finally settling back as it should be, as imposingly adamant as ever it was before. @Blarghy: His announcement unheeded, Adept strode into the apartment and took in his surroundings before making his way around the privacy wall, to the living room. Gabby Brown was a movie-buff, that much was sure. The walls were papered over with old posters from movies made predominantly in the 1970s and 80s, with very few from other decades. She seemed to have a preference for fantasies flicks, action films, and horror movies. Hanged in a place of honor above the large, flat-screen television were posters from the three original films now being remade by the targeted studios. Below them, the television hissed static at max volume; this was the source of the sound he'd been hearing.