Thevshi

Cape, As I mentioned (I believe) in chat, I am good with the idea that current-Robert gets taken to the future. Are you talking like he is taken now (in SW2)? Or at some future point? (only concern I have with option 1, is that we have elsewhere established Robert being around (Carnival), so the pursuit into the future would have to happen soon (not that getting there and getting him back is hard…time travel, after all). (If we want, we could even stage it between SW2 and Carnival, say Robert getting snatched off the yacht when he and Megan are cruising around in the Greek islands before Carnival). I do agree it adds a more solid reason for Robert being directly involved in the next part (as his connection/addiction to the Stopwatch was more a reason for him to NOT be involved). It also increases a reason for the need to enlist the assistance of John Smith. It certainly would pull at Velocity and make her want to travel forward in time (and could be used as possible leverage against her).

Well, things sort of stalled when Velocity was up. But I am still up for finishing this and all good with dropping out of combat, as (having disarmed the troublemakers) there is not a lot for her to do at the moment.

Dee was flipping through some of the other layers of blueprints as Jasmine asked about the transporter system in the Haven. "The receptor pad is in the British consulate in Freedom City." The young woman replied, recalling what Headcase had told her about the system during her visit to the Haven a few years ago. When Jasmine spoke about Blackpool being involved in a Ministry program to create Powers, Dee's eyes narrowed, given her own experiences with one of the Ministry's programs. "I would not be so certain the U.S. government isn't trying to create its own Powers. Having an abundance of Powers and having ones beholden to you, or at least ones you can reasonably control, are rather different things." She stated. "But I agree that those sorts of programs are generally the result of a Cold War mentality." She then added with a frown before considering the blueprints again and listening to Young Britannia's comments. "Well, while I agree that if some outside force has taken control of the Haven, it was likely accomplished through the Thames airlock, I am far less sure about any need to move people or equipment through the docks here in London." Dee responded. "If some organization is behind this, I would imagine many have the ability to launch the operation from somewhere else without needlessly tipping their hand here. If this is the work of some group of Powers, they could well have their own means of getting down there without the need for any equipment or the like." "But it could well be that the Haven is empty and the members of Vanguard activated the defenses on when they departed to…wherever they disappeared to." The young woman paused a moment, then added, "but I am not adverse in trying to run down this shadowy vigilante if you want to, if nothing else, it will give me a bit of time to think about how Crab might have modified the planned defense systems and what I might be able to do about getting around those when we try to go in there."

Well, I really don't mind how Osprey gets pulled into things, though want to be sure that would not mess up what has been set up with the relationship map (though we likely do not have to be constricted by that).

Okay Cape, have thought some more about the various points you raised, here are my thoughts: 1) Totally agree that the trip to the future should be in another thread (SW3). Perhaps sent currently (ie Oct/Nov). 2) I believe Robert (current timeline one) should likely be in that thread. I don’t really have an opinion re: John Smith, though having him involved seems logical. I agree with your idea for the motivation for the future trip (ie to deal with the operations of the future-Robert’s group). I was thinking that perhaps SW3 could open with a attempt to get at the proto-type and/or the Stopwatch by his group (could use some cameos by other League members in helping deal with the incursion or something). 3) I am fine with Collapse being a bit more prominent role in SW3, even if he does not directly appear. 4) I am good with how you describe things for future-Robert (or at least that particular one). 5) I already mentioned I see no need for Steed to be further involved after SW2. As for who could also go forward in time I am fine with either (or both) current Robert and John Smith.

It was about all Dee could do to keep from cursing out loud as Cruxberry spoke about how valuable Crab had been. She had to reminder herself once again why she had agreed to this at all. When they moved on to room which held Haven's blueprints, Dee was quickly scanning them, memorizing the details that where there. While Crab's modifications could make things significantly different, it was good to have at least a baseline idea of what they were looking at. She scoffed slightly at Cruxberry's comment about Duke having a difficult time at getting into the Haven. "He would not have to walk through solid steel if he has take control of the Haven's systems." She stated. "He could just walk in through your own car park." The young woman gestured towards one of the blueprints before adding. "But I am not sold on the idea he is using the Haven either, just stating that it is a possibility." Dee was a bit surprised when Young Britannia asked Cruxberry and Smith to step outside for a moment and spoke with Jasmine and her more privately. Dee listened, but continued scanning through the blueprints, memorizing the details. "Not quite the same deal." She commented when the costumed heroine mentioned her reason for working with the Ministry. "Crab was the only member of Vanguard I had any significant contact with, and I really won't be missing him." She glanced up briefly from the blueprints and added, "I only met Lucy once, but she seemed pretty cool." She then turned back to the blueprints, flipping through them quickly. "As I told you earlier, I really have no interest in being in charge of anything. Though, if you ever suggest something particularly stupid, I will be sure to express my opinion on the matter.â€

Yes, YB certainly seems like the most obvious choice for the public face of the team. As for a “team leader,†I sort of have to disagree SC, I think there is nothing wrong with a team leader. It might stifle some team conflicts, but can often lead to others. Back on some free form rp boards I was involved with (Ari will likely again mention how old this makes me sound ), I had two characters that were leaders on two different superteams, one a teen/X-Force style team, the other an adult/Justice League style team, both of which tended to have more than 8 members at any given time. I can safely say there was still plenty of internal conflict of each team.

Tsunami gets a 28 on her Reflex save, looking over the Dazzle rules, I believe that means she avoids the effect.

Dee could not help but let out a little laugh as Smith mentioned this Duke was also the one who designed the Haven. "That bloody well figures." She commented. "Well, if Duke has gotten free, then we have at least one idea where he might go." Assuming he is able to get around whatever surprises Crab added. The young woman then glanced over as the woman who Cruxberry apparently had some admiration for, though there appeared to be little in the way of reciprocation. Dee could not help but smirk slightly at the woman's comments, though her logic was a bit flawed in at least one respect. "John Crab was not really one to care what others thought of his plans, or to let them interfere with them." Dee commented when Jasmine had finished, the tone of her voice indicating a clear dislike for Crab. "But in any event, they could hardly have stopped him from making modifications to the Haven if it was being done without their knowledge now could they?" She then added, raising a questioning eyebrow. Turning back to Smith, she gave a small gesture away from the cluster of people. "Well, I might as well start looking over those blueprints. While it is hardly surprising Crab would make modifications, I can at least get a baseline idea of things to go along with my memory of my visit there."

Dee could not help but smirk as Blackpool and Cruxberry discussed this James Duke, someone else whom had hurt by the Ministry's desire to create powers. But she pushed aside the angry and defiant thoughts that were associated with that issue, they would not be particularly constructive at the present. Instead, she turned towards the nearby Smith. "Well, while this lot considers the invisible intruder, I should probably get started on looking for a way to deal with the Haven issue. What does the Ministry have in terms of blueprints or schematics for the Haven or its defense systems?"

That is certainly a lot to think about Cape, I will give it all some thought. Though I can say one thing for certain now, I do not see a need for Steed to be involved any further. All the rest are certainly elements to consider.

Righting herself once again after escaping the shockwave of the latest torpedo, Giang quickly considered her options. She had already inflicted some damage on the mini-sub, so could potentially finish it soon if she focused on it, but Thaelia had made her way up onto the ship a little bit ago, leaving her up there to face however many mercenaries were there, as well as Natas himself. The Asian teen recalled how dangerous the man had been and that it had taken her and Kate working together to deal with him before. She just hoped it was not too late for Thaelia. Swimming up towards the surface of the water near the aft/starboard side of the ship, Giang focused on the water around her as she reached the surface. The water lifted up into the air, creating a water spout a couple of feet thick, on which she was easily balanced. The Asian teen rouse up until she was level with the side of the ship, quickly spotting Thaelia, Natas and several other mercenaries nearby. Leaping off the water spout, she landed nimbly onto the deck between Natas and the mercenary that had been so lucky against Thaelia's shockwaves.

Round Eleven 20 Tsunami (bruised, fatigued, 1 HP) 20 Glamazon (unharmed) 18 Merc 5 17 Natas 16 Merc 14 13 Merc 12 13 Merc 15 10 Merc 3 10 Merc 10 9 Merc 2 (mini-sub injured 2) 5 Merc 13 As indicated in my IC post, Giang is using her power to move water to get herself up onto the ship. So she uses that and moves, meaning Glamazon is up!

GM As Thaelia manages to knockout a few more of the mercenaries, the leader continues to stand his ground. One of the mercenaries in front of her, who twice now had managed to resist a shockwave, raised his weapon at the Atlantean teen again and fired. The beam of energy struck Thaelia solidly, but she was able to resist the impact, ignoring the slight sing of heat as the energy dissipated. The mercenary leader quickly reloads his speargun and sends another blunt tipped spear with electricity arcing along the tip at the Atlantean. This time, the spear struck her dead on, and Thaelia felt electricity jolt through her body. But the Atlantean was not one to succumb so easily, and she shook off the effects, remaining on her feet and otherwise none the worse for wear. Behind her another weapon went off, a beam of energy lancing past her and sailing off through the sky. Glancing over her shoulder, Thaelia saw another mercenary further up along the starboard side of the ship. Under the waves, the last mini-sub still active in the water launched yet another torpedo at Giang's swift moving form. The Asian teen was once again able to slip through the water ahead of the concussive wave of the explosion, avoiding any ill effects. Up on the aft deck of the ship, the mercenary operating the crane continued to lift one of the submersibles higher into the air, rising it high enough to be able to swing it over to the be set down onto the deck.

Sounds good HG (once again, sorry for the delay on this). Merc 10 takes a short at Thaelia from behind, but still misses with a 9. Under the waves, the last active mini-sub launches another torpedo at Tsunami. Once again she makes her Reflex save and avoids any damage.

So, Velocity will take Boris to the research station and quickly look for something to tie him up with.

"Sptesnaz?" Velocity stated as she glanced down at the paralyzed Boris. The statement was rhetorical, she had certainly heard of them before, just never had an opportunity to encounter any. She then turned back to Hronos as he offered her the crystal fragment he had been carrying, asking her to hold onto it and secure Boris while he investigated the other robot. The speedster hesitated a few moments (long moments to her) as she considered the crystal and was a bit worried about touching it. But then she took it, slipped it into one of the pouches on her belt and gave a small nod. "No problem, I'll get him back inside and bound up." She stated.

Freddy's impressive display certainly caught the attention of several of the fighters near him. Most tried to focus back on their own warm up, but when Freddy spoke up to one about Benito, the other fighter gave a slightly surprised look before glancing around. Seeing that no one else seemed to be paying attention or have heard the question, he focused back on the short pugilist. "Benny? He was pretty good." The fighter responded in a low voice. "But he decided he did not like the stakes here and tried to back out." He paused a moment before adding, "there is a rumor they plan to make an example out of him."

Velocity gave a wide smile to Geckoman as he came forward to greet her and was introduced by Jack. "Nice to meet you Geckoman." She replied, taking his offered hand. "Yeah, I've generally enjoyed my time with the League, though I only got more active again back at the start of the year. As for Daedalus, he's pretty cool. Sometimes he can get a bit carried away on the science stuff and be hard to follow, but we have had some interesting conversations about macro economics while on monitor duty on the Lighthouse." The speedster then turned her attention to Jill as Jack introduced his sister, giving the other girl a wave and a smile. "No problem Jill, anything to give Jack a hand, it's good to meet you finally. My stint with the Interceptors was way too short as I decided to focus on some out-of-costume things. Not one of my better ideas." She then turned to give Willow the same friendly smile as the others as Jack saved her introduction for last. "It is wonderful to meet you as well Willow." With the introductions complete, she turned back to Geckoman's comments about the Zoom users they were trying to deal with. "Yeah, Zoom can be pretty bad for some of those that use it. I had hardly started as Velocity back as a teenager before I first encountered some Zoom users, and have dealt with that drug a number of times since." "In the past, I usually would try to subdue them and get medical assistance on the scene as quickly as possible. But it sounds as if this latest variant might be a bit different than the norm?"

As Lucy spoke a variation of Benito's name, the thug's friendly expression faded as the look on his face and stance became much more guarded. "Diaz?" He repeated, as if to confirm the name she had stated. "I don't know who you heard that from, but he ain't no up and comer." Moving out among the other fighters who were warming up, Freddy had a chance to look them over some as he warmed up himself. Similar to the night before, there was a mix of more traditional boxers (like himself) and mixed-martial arts fighters. On average, the quality and skill of the fighters here was better than that of the fighters from last night. While Freddy was pretty confident on his chances with anyone of the fighters here, there were certainly a few that could give him a bit of a run for his money.

Tiff, I need a post for Lucy to move us forward.

Dee smirked slightly at Young Britannia's comment about expecting them to know if someone had entered the Haven. "Well, considering no one seems to know what happened to the members of Vanguard, I would say it is not a stretch to suspect that someone could have gained access to their secret headquarters without anyone being the wiser." As the group reached the scene of the of the security incident that was called in, the young woman held back, allowing Young Britannia to take the lead in figuring out what was going on. For the moment, she saw this as just a distraction from what she was really here for, helping to look for the missing members of Vanguard so she could get access to Headcase’s notes.

Velocity saw the slow moving bullets (at least to her) approaching before she even heard that sound of the gunshots. It was a simple matter of moving out of the bullets path, but before she could do any more, she saw Hronos incapacitate the man who was shooting at her, which the speedster recognized as the mechanic Captain Lvov had introduced earlier. Seeing as Hronos seemed to have that situation in hand for the moment, Velocity turned her attention back on the robot she had been fighting. The speedster once again became a blur of motion as she rushed over to the indention in the snow and launched another series of punches in a wide area around the indention, the rapid sound of the mini-sonic booms her punches created again echoing across the barren landscape. For a fourth time, she felt several punches connect solidly with the invisible robot, which again was knocked into a drift of snow. It was still difficult to tell just how damaged it was, but she took the chance that she had stopped it for the moment and speed back over to near where Hronos was located. "Yes, that group in the future I told you about sent a robot back to try to get ahold of the pieces of the device. It came into the ice cave Captain Lvov and Dr. Schobak were leading us to, after stunning them and Robert and fighting me a bit. It has some sort of cloaking field." She began. "I just dropped Robert off in the research facility so he would be out of the cold and was just on my way back for Lvov and Schobak when I saw its footprints in the snow and decided to try to stop it. Hopefully it is down for the moment, you might want to locate the piece it has and recover that." "What is the story with him?" She then asked, indicating the paralyzed Boris.

Velocity is going to launch another attack on the ATU using the stunted power, so again, DC 20 reflex save to reduce the damage DC 20/25 toughness save depending on result.

Velocity was speeding back towards the cave when she spotted the footprints for the invisible robot forming in the snow, heading towards the research station. Deciding she had a few seconds to spare before she needed to get the unconscious Russians and then Steed back to the warmth of the station, the speedster turned and ran over to the area the last footprints were in. Once again she became a blur of motion, launching punches into every possible space around the footprints (going out some forty feet in each direction), the rapid mini-sonic booms of her punches sounding almost like a chain of firecrackers. As happened a couple of times in the ice cave, she felt one of her punches connect solidly with the robot. This time, she also saw a large section of snow get flattened about ten feet past the direction her fist had been going when she connected, a clear sign that this time she had managed to knock the robot over. "Ah, there you are!" She stated, skidding to a halt in the snow so she could keep on the robot in the hopes of finishing it and recovering the piece of crystal it had.