Sophistemon

Ethan felt a thrilling pulse roar through his body when the AMP finally performed as advertised. Seeing that the laser had functioned as intended, he pressed the advantage and continued his assault. He turned the volume down on his external communications to prevent the people below from hearing Upgrade speak as he aimed the cannon and prepared to fire. "I'm sorry," he said, and pulled the trigger. The cannon fired, and the beam of heat lanced the air like a boil. "Did I interrupt?" The sensory cluster swiveled from side to side. "Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to tell me about it once I've taken you in."

Attack Roll (Blast, Penetrating): 1d20+9 24. Not quite as good, but hopefully it's still serviceable.

Sam shrugged, then grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "If you're allowed to cheat, Gretchen," he taunted. "Then so am I. And you might be able to read minds, but I know every card-trick there is, and I've invented a few of my own." He looked, then, to Lynn, and the smile relaxes to something more natural. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun," he agrees. "Just... no Monopoly, right? Monopoly tears families apart. I've seen it happen!" He waved his wand over a bottle of beer, chilling it with a frosty spell, and popped the cap. "If I had a wife, I'd ask you guys to not tell her that I'm having another. As it is: bottoms up!"

Seeing that things have taken a turn for the worst -- why did he think something good might happen? -- Upgrade activates his jets and soars towards the fire-breathing villain with one arm cocked back. When he gets within range he unleashes a powerful, albeit somewhat wild, punch at the center of the Horned Dragon's chest.

Let's try to take a swing at the Horned Dragon. Attack Roll (Melee): 1d20+9 15. If you can just... if you can just say that he dodges it, that would be great.

Please, please, please. Attack Roll (Blast, Penetrating): 1d20+9 28.

Upgrade evaded the flames, dodging around them as they seared the water from the air with a painful hiss. "I'm no click of yours, buddy. I'm taking you down, then I'm taking you in." Despite Upgrade's bravado, Ethan was worried. Mantis had already defeated Warne -- whom Stone knew to be even more dangerous in combat than himself -- and the AMP had been notoriously unreliable during its last few actual combat engagements. The battle against the Horned Dragon had been a farce, and this fight wasn't going much better. He thought about stalling for time, waiting for back-up to arrive, but then felt guilty for it. He'd put other pilots at risk? No, never. "What's your deal, Mantis? Why the hate for Warne?" Upgrade cocked a shoulder and panel slid open to allow a rather ominous-looking laser cannon to unfold from its housing. "He's a little grumpy, but you can get along with him once he's had his coffee and a dozen cigarettes." The cannon fired, and a searing burst of red light split the air between two metal men.

Seeing that Adept and Bonfire have things well in hand, Ethan turns his attention to his own malfunctioning machinery. He points one of the AMP's arms up, away from any buildings, and fires a harmless, low-frequency laser. Or, rather, he pulls the trigger and attempts to fire a laser -- the blast fails to appear as intended. The pilot swears, not even bothering to key to Adept's earpiece, and promises a terrible revenge on the people who'd build his vehicle. He reaches up and activates his comm-unit so that he can complain about it to Warne. "When I called this thing a flying coffin," he moaned, "I was joking about it! Can you imagine how bad this would have gone if the Horned Dragon was an actual threat? When I get back base, I'm having a long, hard conversation with my engineers. This kind of performance is not acceptable."

Upgrade's going to try to get something, anything, to work. With that in mind, let's fire a laser-blast at the Horned Dragon. Attack Roll (Blast, Penetrating): 1d20+9 10. This is unbelievable. At least I can work the failure into the post.

THIS SPACE RESERVED

Ethan spoke quickly, rattling orders off through the headset to his four subordinates. "You three: I want a full, town-wide evacuation. Get them out of here. I want everyone in their cars and heading to the next town over. You, I want to stay here. Keep Warne stable. Can you do that? I'm going to keep Mantis busy. Don't let me down." He activated his jets and ascended without another word to the four, expecting his words to be followed. They were AEGIS; they were trustworthy. "Becker, I'm going to keep him preoccupied until the back-up arrives. I have Warne remaining here, as an anchor. I don't think that he'll go after the civilians if it means leaving Warne to get away. Pray God I'm right." There was a pause. "If the worst happens, Becker, I need you to make sure my family's taken care of. Can you do that for me?" Without waiting for an answer, he activated the external communicator. "You want Adept, Mantis? You'll have to go through me!" He increased his speed and raced towards the cyborg abomination. Just as he was seconds away from making bodily impact, he kicked the breaks and raised up one of the AMP's enormous hands. From the wrist was launched a net of thick steel cables weighted down at the tips with blobs of lead.

Man, thank you for those Hero Points. I'm going to need them. So, here's the plan. Ethan's going to order three of the four agents to begin a town-wide evacuation. Everyone out of the pool, because it's probably going to be on fire before long. The last agent has to stay and maintain Adept's health. I've got a sneaking suspicion that once Upgrade engages Mantis, the cyborg's going to be more interested in getting back down to Warne than he will in chasing after the fleeing townsfolk. We can't have Adept leave, or he'll chase after him and I can't risk a lucky shot. Hopefully, by dividing his attention three ways and using Warne as a means of encouraging him to say here, in town, Upgrade can keep him busy long enough for Becker's back-up to arrive and chase him off. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. All that. We'll open this off with a Snare. I don't want him damaging any more property. At the very least, he can't destroy the bar -- I still owe these folks a first round. Attack Roll (Snare: DC21): 1d20+9 25. Now that's more like it! As a side-note, I've finished writing up my 'Upgrade Overhaul' character sheet. Do you remember where we're supposed to post that stuff for review? Does it just go in the Character Bank?

His systems out of whack, Ethan struggled to maneuver the AMP towards their common enemy. He raised the machine's right arm and arced the wrist up to reveal the missile tube hidden beneath, but when he gave the order to fire, the projectile failed to emerge. Swearing on a frequency that only Adept could hear, Upgrade instead kicked the jets and flew up, towards the Horned Dragon, to close the distance between them. "My systems are on the fritz," he shouted, an air of frustrated annoyance creeping into his voice. "Why couldn't I be born with powers? Then they might actually work sometimes!"

Attack Roll: 1d20+9 10. *Pained, strangled laughter.*

Upgrade raised a beefy metal arm just before the bullets started flying, and Ethan gasped when he saw how little humanity remained of his opponent. "No," he murmured. "To Hell with that." The raised limb helped deflect the bullets, which bounced and ricocheted from the battlesuit's metal skin. When the gunfire stopped, he angled the controls and kicked the thrusters. The AMP rocketed forward, bypassing the cyborg on its way to the prone body of Agent Warne. Both arms went out, pneumatic fingers gripping the wreckage and tossing it aside to reveal the man beneath. He manipulated the controls gingerly, gently maneuvering his metal hands to cradle his unconscious body. He kicked the thrusters again and, shielding Warne beneath his bulk, Upgrade flew straight up, through the holes made in the ceiling by the previous explosions. Once airborne, he angled them back towards Wallders and the agents waiting there. His comm-unit buzzed as he barked commands. "All units, I need an immediate med-evac for Agent Warne. There was something in the factory." He switched comms and began shouting at Deputy-Director Becker's frequency. It didn't matter if she was awake and receiving; he'd leave a message. "Director Becker, I'm putting a pause on the mission to drop Warne off with the others -- he's hurt. There's a monster in that factory. He's a cyborg, but I think that we're looking at an almost total conversion. Big, metal arm with a bunch of unfolding weapons." He landed, and handed Warne over the the crowding agents. He knelt the AMP down and initiated the armor's self-repair functions. "I'm heading back after a quick breather," he said. "The AMP took some hits. He hurt it. That shouldn't be possible. Do me a favor and organize my mechanics. When I get back to base, heads are gonna roll."

Okay, this is handled as a Move-by Action. One movement action to get to Adept, one standard action to retrieve him from the rubble, and another movement action to fly us both back to the four agents remaining in Wallders. Upgrade is going to roll a Healing Check. According to Ultimate Power, Bruised and Injured conditions heal automatically -- which makes me wonder why I invested in the Total extra when the power is limited to myself, but whatever. Next turn, with Upgrade at full strength, I'm going to fly back and take the bastard by surprise.

Oh, right, the accrued damage. I'm sorry about that. Still, the natural-20's a success, right?

Toughness Save: 1d20+11 19. No. To hell with that. I'm spending the Hero Point. Toughness Save: 1d20+11 31. That's better. Upgrade's going to tank the machine gun and on his next turn he's going to fly over to Adept, tear that rubble off him, and jet up through the ceiling.

"No, no, no! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Ethan slammed a closed fist against the control panel, and it seemed to have done the trick because the AMP finally sputtered back to life, systems flaring up and diagnostic readouts declaring that the damage had been... minimal, at worst. Ethan put it out of his head -- it was a distraction that he couldn't afford. "Warne!" he shouted, too worried about his partner to care if he deafened him through the earpiece. "Warne, respond!" Nothing. His partner was badly injured, maybe even... No, he couldn't consider it. Eyes on the prize, Stone; focus on the mission. The mission was to access the munitions factory -- done -- and determine/defeat the threat inside. Incomplete, and looking less likely by the moment with Warne out of commission. Ethan flipped switches, pulled a lever, and turned the AMP towards this Mantis maniac. "Get bent," he barked, and raised one of the AMP's enormous arms. A tube opened up beneath the wrist and launched a concussive mini-missile towards the cyborg. If it hit him, great. If not, Ethan had a plan. For now, it would do as a distraction. He kicked the thrusters and flew, at a low altitude, away from Adept. If Mantis retaliated with something explosive, Ethan didn't want his partner to be caught in the blast.

Attack Roll: 1d20+9 15. Yeah, we're going to beat a hasty retreat here in a minute. This is ridiculous.

How many actions would you say it would take to clear the rubble, grab Warne, and fly us both up through the hole that the grenade made in the ceiling?

Klaxons sounded, blaring barbarously in his ears as Ethan struggled with the controls, wrestling with the machine itself in an attempt to get it to move. He failed, and the impact of the grenade sent the entire system into a momentary shutdown. "Invulnerable my butt!" he barked into Warne's headpiece. "That was a grenade. Nothing even really special about it and it knocked my systems out. I'm going to strangle those engineers; did they make this thing out of freaking tissue-paper?" The AMP reboot quickly, with merciful speed, but in a battle like these even a few scant seconds could be disastrous. "Are you all right? Who is this guy?"

Reflex Save: 1d20+6 9. Toughness Save: 1d20+11 18. Three rolls so far, not a one of them even average.

Initiative Save: 1d20+2 10. Oh boy.

"Okay... that's creepy," admitted Ethan. He readied his weapons systems and then engaged his external communications. "Sir, stay right where you are -- do not move." Upgrade took a step closer, letting the AMP's impressive, imposing size do its work. "You're trespassing. This building has been condemned; it's off-limits to civilians. What are you doing here? How do you know who we are?" Ethan clicked the radio and spoke in Adept's ear. "Look at his hands, his arms. He's modified. Be on alert."