Veiled Malice

Frack, a +12 damage effect?! Dang, alright, I have to burn an HP on that one, or I'll be Staggered before the fight even begins. And the result is... a 13, but that gets bumped to a 23 with the HP because I rolled a 5, which goes up to a 15. (Which is ass, BTW. Stupid dice. ) So, instead of being bruised and stunned, I'm just bruised. I'll post at my init.

If both drones are shooting at me, one hits, but the other misses. And my toughness save vs a DC 22 is... Ouch. A bruise and I'm stunned. Should I make my post now instead of waiting for turn order, since I can't act this round?

Ren pulled himself up along the wall he stood next to, trying to get an angle on the person who now threatened them. From Rant's outburst, Ren reasoned the person was named Bloodseeker, and with that kind of moniker, it seemed negotiation would be right out. In his current form, Ren wouldn't be much use to anyone but as a melee weapon, so he began looking about for something he could absorb.

Yeah, seriously. Daisuke made an attack, but I think he missed. Unless, of course, she's somehow flat-footed, which I doubt.

"NO!" Daisuke cried out as the wasps seemed to coalesce around the boy who'd been getting picked on. He rushed over, tearing off his jacket as he did, and began waving it around, trying to swat as many bees out of the air as he could. His inhuman nature had been fully revealed now; there was no hiding the fact that his bare skin reflected sunlight. "Go! Get away!" he yelled, as much to the other boys as to the insects. Then he noticed the grotesque mound of vermin, from which the rest of the bugs seemed to be originating. With no other option, Daisuke threw himself at it, trying in vain to smash as many of the things as possible.

Ren nodded, almost to himself, as he listened to Lynn's story. It was more or less what he'd expected. Being unfamiliar with the pain one went through actually experiencing such abuses didn't mean he wasn't familiar with the symptoms of someone who had. For a few moments, he debated the wisdom of holding her close to comfort the distraught girl. She'd just unlimbered some heavy baggage, and he wasn't sure if having yet another guy invading her personal space would be what she needed right now. Before Ren knew it, though, he had his arm around her, offering the support and comfort he knew she needed. As strong as she was - and she was so very strong - at moments like this, when she chose to let her guard down, she needed someone to lean on. The fact that Lynn still felt that he was someone in which she could confide made Ren feel a bit better about the situation. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I should have been more sensitive to..." He sighed and took his arm off of her shoulders. "I'm sorry." "But you have to know, there are villains... and then there are villains." Ren turned to face Lynn with the most serious she'd ever seen in his eyes. "You know I'd never, ever do something like that, right? I might have been a bad guy, but never that bad."

No problem, Thev. Although I had wondered if you forgot about me. Congrats, law grad!

Actually, I already made an action a while back that never got resolved. You know, trying to grab the spiderbot?

"Are you done?" Ren grumbled, unmoved by Lynn's display. "Because this isn't helping." Ren sighed and nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah I can. And for the record, I knew you had issues with guys - it's why I didn't bring it up before now. But when you all of sudden said the thing about the couch, that little demon in the back of my head started jabbing me right in the wrong place," he said, smiling faintly and pointing to the side of his head. "Every guy's got one, you see, but my demon is metal, flies around and lifts buildings, so he's a bit harder to ignore." "It's just that I got worried that I was in a relationship that wasn't going to move forward." Ren shrugged helplessly, and sat down on the bed. "We've gotten a lot closer, but there's some things that I still feel like you're keeping from me; and I don't just mean the physical things. That's something I can live with that as long as we're going ahead, not backwards. You've got a right to your own life outside of what we share when we're together." Ren patted the bed next to him, the same way how Lynn had done when she wanted him to sit down. "You're just lucky that you've got the boyfriend you do. Because unlike everyone else," he waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "it's not like I'm getting any older."

Worst. Crossover idea. Ever. (I wanna see it! )

Wow, Thor's scale mail looks really good. Same with the shadows on his helmet.

That's a 12 for Mashin-kun. A very average roll.

Ohh, he is so going down the wrong road here... And yes, I know I am making Ren a bit demanding here. But I have to write him as his emotional state would dictate, and right now, he's unhappy.

"On the couch?" Ren blinked at Lynn's stated intentions, then... "On the couch?!" he shouted indignantly. "No, Lynn, I don't think I will," he said, visibly agitated. In the back of his mind, a little voice told Ren that he was quickly heading down a road he should be treading upon carefully, but everything he'd come to dislike about their relationship came bubbling to the surface all at once. "Two and half months, Lynn. Two and half months! I admit, I don't know how fast relationships normally go in America, but we're moving at a snail's pace here!" Ren paced around the room like a caged beast, gesticulating wildly as he spoke. "We haven't even slept together and you think we need to slow down?! If we were moving any slower, we'd be back where we first started!" He finally stopped and stabbed an angry finger at Lynn. "You're going to be sleeping on my couch? What is this? Middle school? Are we having a sleep over? Do I need to bring my freaking pajamas?!" After his blow up, Ren's voice took on a more conciliatory tone. "Okay, I might have been going a bit overboard with the moving in thing, but I'm a guy. That comes with certain urges; certain needs. I might be inorganic, but you wouldn't know it if you were in my body. My sex drive could currently power a medium-sized city, Lynn! And it's not going to go away, no matter how close you are!" "I'm just... I'm tired of the rollercoster," Ren said wanly, massaging the bridge of his nose. "I feel like I'm the only one moving this relationship forward, and you're constantly putting on the brakes."

Feel free to continue probing - nothing seems to be happening right now. But it's so much cooler in the Death Box! Did I say Death Box? I meant happy box, where all your dreams will come true! ;)

Unless they're Hulkbugs, I don't think so. :)

Something like, "An inorganic lifeform, Nanowire has been looking for a cure to his condition for some time. More recently, his relationship with Grimalkin has him questioning his life choices, and is on the verge of transformation from villain to hero." Yeah, something like that. :)

Hey, where's Nanowire? The first villain on the list doesn't get a writeup? :)

The cannonade finally tapered off after a several long seconds, leaving Nanowire hiding behind barely more than enough concrete to cover his enlarged body. From the damage the 20 mm rifles had been doing, he deduced his opponents were loading Krak rounds; ammunition specifically designed to shake armor plating to pieces. Even Chobham reactive armor couldn't stand up to that kind of firepower for long. "Attention, intruder!" bellowed one of the powered suits' wearers. His voice had been amplified by some sort of on-board megaphone, making it echo around the parking lot-like structure."You are completely surrounded! Come out and we'll kill you!" Nanowire resisted the urge to blink inside his armor at the odd turn of phrase. "Don't you mean, 'Come out or we'll kill you?" He hazarded a glance at his attackers as he spoke. Their armor seemed to be based off of the ones he'd seen plans for use at the Bruckner Ridge Superhuman Penetentiary, only slightly larger, with a bulbous headpiece and proper grasping manipulators, each of which held a 20mm autocannon loaded with the aforementioned Krak rounds. The over sized shoulder pauldrons no doubt contained some sort of weapon pods as well. Overall, very nasty looking machines indeed. An ugly laugh came from the lead suit, which had been painted with dark crimson lines, no doubt meant to look like blood. "No, I meant exactly what I said. You were dead the moment you stepped into this facility, pal. Why not make it easier on yourself and give up?" Nanowire slunk back into his hiding place and weighed his options. Upon further examination, the place he had managed to get himself trapped in wasn't a parking garage, but some sort of urban environment simulator, set up with much higher ceilings, mock buildings and burned out vehicles for obstacles. A lot of cover, if he could get to it. The "getting to it" would be the problem. "You know, I've never been much for making things easy on myself." Nanowire prepared to move. This was going to take some precise timing. "Have it your way," the leader said with a note of finality. His mech raised it's hand, then dropped it. And the guns began to thunder once more...

Eh, she could be hovering and hit an updraft. ...That didn't affect her skirt. But as for the picture itself, it's awesome. You're really getting good with faces and body positioning. Even the fingers (something that always tripped me up) look great.

Looking out across the playground from his hiding place next to his new doggy friend, Daisuke sighed wistfully at the sight of the two friends hanging out. He wished he could do the same thing. Of course, that brought up memories of the old group and what happened to them. A snort from beside him drew Daisuke's attention, and he looked down at the dog, who had moved over to see what the metal boy was doing. "Hey... Buttercup?" he said, reading the odd name off of the tag around the dog's neck. Buttercup? That's a weird name for a pit bull... "Bet you wish you could play out there, huh?" Buttercup growled softly and began pacing about the yard. "Or maybe that's not such a good idea," Daisuke concluded. The sudden change in voices made him look back at the boys, who had just pushed another boy to the ground while one of them laughed. And all of a sudden, it wasn't just the dog that was growling. Daisuke hated, hated, bullies. Now that he was metal, he didn't have to put up with them anymore, and as long as he was around, no one else would, either. "Sorry, Buttercup, but I've got a job to do." Daisuke vaulted the fence wall, which creaked ominously under his weight, but held up. He hurtled across the playground, rolled over the teeter-totter, and made a beeline for the bullies, not even noticing that several hundred insects were doing the exact same thing. "HEY!" he roared at the two. "Get away from him!"

Daisuke laid his head down on the ground to get some rest. Not that he needed it, or even needed to sleep, but he found it helped him out if he could think about the next day while in this position. It's how he used to do it all the time back in Japan, camping out under the night sky. Here, just as there, not many stars were visible in the sky due to all the lights from the ground, but it helped him all the same. Over the past few days, he had come to the conclusion that Nanowire had to be undercover for some purpose. Why else would he not be out there defeating criminals like the other heroes of the city? It made perfect sense, of course. His onii-chan looked like any other human without his armor, but when it came time to bust the bad guys... BAM! Instant mecha, just add machinery. The only problem with that theory was as long as Nanowire remained undercover, Daisuke wouldn't be able to get in touch with him. And even the Freedom League would probably deny they knew him. All to protect Nanowire and those he loved! "

"I wouldn't have extended the invitation if I thought you would," Raven replied, leaving it to Velocity to figure out if that was a compliment or a well-concealed insult. "See to it he gets home without incident. I have work to attend to, but I expect to see you at the next meeting. Daedalus will be in touch soon." So saying, Raven turned on her heel and walked back to the assembly site, which was still bustling with activity as new replacements were brought in, placed under arrest, and their kidnapped counterparts shipped back into their old lives. Robert stepped up near Velocity and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "So... this is awkward..." He seemed to be at a loss for anything else to say, and opted to stare at his own feet rather than look directly at her.

Dang, and to think we started with something like eight people... I'm down with continuing.

From the journal of Renichi Sonoda - November 6th, 2007 [recording begins] As I sit here, contemplating exactly how my glorious life of crime has gone so spectacularly wrong, I am again reminded of how human I remain within; if not physically, at least in supreme arrogance. In a classic case of leaping before I looked, I took up a challenge from some no-name supervillain going by the very generic moniker of "Heavy". (I feel I should explain that he had no previous reputation, thus, "no-name", according to the meta community at large, not that he is in fact without a name.) I lost. Badly. [heavy sigh] I had not previously considered the power level some of the denizens of Freedom City could possess before this point, I admit. A "rookie" mistake, as the English language has it. But even if I had taken more precautions, I still might not have prevailed. None of my blows seemed to affect Heavy in the slightest, frustrating me all the more as I made one last attempt to take him out. Which failed spectacularly as my opponent used my own momentum to smash me into the ground. To add insult to injury, I now owe Heavy a favor, which I foolishly suggested could be taken out in trade on an upcoming job the man intends to pull. With my luck, I have just agreed to play a hand in mass murder, ensuring the entire population of metahuman heroes in this city will come down on my head. One of these days, I will have to make sure to keep my mouth shut. [faint speech] Um, sir? You're starting to scare the other diners... ...That day can not come soon enough. [recording ends] (Events can be found here: http://www.endlessflight.net/freedom/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=118