Heritage

Damn, this guy is hot! Be strong, Gretch. Think about his crappy music and stupid goatee. With great effort, the barista forced herself to stop devouring him with her eyes and focused her disdain into a white-hot ingot of loathing. "Not really." She shrugged and shook her head. "You guys suck. You rely upon your intoxicating stage presence to hide that fact that you have no idea what you're doing, which judging by the sea of groupies around you has obviously worked so far." She held out her hand and smirked. "Give me your guitar. I want to show you how it's done."

Gretchen was already out the back door and airborne when the pirate lass came staggering into the store; Lynn had dealt with a number of odd folks in her 80+ years of heroics, but to her knowledge, this was a first! The combination of a flintlock pistol and the effects of more than a tot of rum (she assumed) were noted, and while the lady didn't appear to be hostile, the bookselling heroine still opted for caution, though her demeanor of course remained warm and friendly. This was, after all, still retail. "Hello, and welcome to Silberman's Books! Were you looking to meet someone here? We had a patron just leave who had a certain...aquatic air about him."

I'd say B at this point, too, at least at this point, though a new S/B to tide us over isn't a bad idea.

Welcome back, KD!

Last week of the term = crunch time, with two papers due and a final. Will be spotty this week, followed by three weeks of goofing off and mucho posting before the summer term!

I'll put Casey down for this.

Okay, just wanted to clarify the timing here. Gretchen was going to be following Mr Smith and/or his trail from whence he came, so I assume she would be leaving the shop to do do. Roughly how long after his departure does Flintlock appear in all her boozy beauty? I personally have no problem splitting the thread in twain if you're okay with it; besides, between her Flight and Quick Change, Gretch can reappear fairly quickly at the store if need be.

This Kirkpatrick lady was hard to read; Gretchen guessed she had an inkling as to what was stollen, and the thought scared her. Clearly Hinocorp did more than build snazzy yachts for gorgeous rich people; maybe they can government contracts, too? It wasn't uncommon. When they got a look at the perp, she leaned in to get a better look at the monitor. "Definitely a speedster, or maybe a time manipulator, though that 'sonic scarf' routine suggests the former." She considered Kirkpatrick for a few seconds. "I get that your nervous about the company patents, but you need to trust us a little bit. Do you have even a rough idea of what she took? It could really help us narrow down what kind of criminal were trying to find."

As was often the case when her friend described something, about half of it went over Casey's head; it wasn't that she wasn't smart enough to grasp Saku's words, but more the sheer volume of content that could be a bit overwhelming. But 'flying' and 'help' she always understood, so she dropped her pack and floated over to the pod, eager to see what surprises were tucked inside. "Your side of the room is just how you left it; I did dust from time to time, but otherwise it's untouched." Then she shook her head in wonder as a few more details from her friend's trip began to register. "So Jupiter, huh? Wow, that's intense! My dad can actually survive in hard vacuum; maybe I'll figure it out someday, and I can join you next time."

Gretchen just stared at the penny on the ground for several seconds, and felt a shudder of fear pass through her body; they were well and truly stuck. All they could do was wait for rescue from the other side, which made her squeeze her eyes shut and ball up her fists in frustration. She hated depending on other people; nine out of ten times they just disappoint you, and leave you alone to fend for yourself. But Lynn was different, right? She'd saved her life before, she'd save it again. Gretch reached down and gently tugged the thick red rubber band around her wrist, the one Lynn gave her back in Japan. Slowly sliding down to the floor, she hugged herself and continued tugging at the band, rocking her body slightly. "She'll find us. I know she'll find us."

When Sam mentioned 'not signing up for this', Lynn wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "I know. But you have to understand that once you sign up for this gig, the whole 'hero' thing, you never know where you'll end up. If it isn't magic, it's...time travel or alien invasions, or maybe an alternate Earth or two. You're going to be pushed out of your comfort zone all the time, and it's not always to cool places like this." She waved around and sighed. "I have fought zombies, drug dealers, aliens and skinheads. I have traveled back in time and escaped from a POW camp on Mars. I've had kids and grand-kids and watched the man I love die." She laughed ruefully and shrugged. "Alright, I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, but just...if you think you're uncomfortable, then imagine how Gretchen feels right now; lost in another dimension without superpowers, hoping her friends will come save her. When in doubt, focus on the people who need our help, and let that be your guide." Suddenly the changeling frowned as she hurried to catch up with Nikki. Once they were inside the ancient building, Grim conjured up a thick warm blanket on the floor and sat down cross-legged, motioning for Sam to join her. "Sorry about the speech earlier; sometimes I get stuck in 'mom mode'."

Suddenly it struck Casey that despite all her enthusiasm, Daisy was in fact a lost girl who was far from home and trying very hard to be brave. She reached over and took her hand, their fingers threading together, and gave her a hopeful squeeze as she smiled warmly. "We're going to get you home, Daisy; we've got lots of really smart people here, just like in your Freedom. We'll figure it out and get you home in no time." Then she paused. "Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Personally I know eating sometimes makes me feel a bit better."

Gretchen was happy her boss couldn't see the color drain from her face; it would've damaged her badass street cred. -This guy is all kinds of not right. There's a kind of...magical slime trail he's got that seems to lead back towards the ocean.- -Y'know what, follow it; you still wearing that rubber band I gave you back in Sapporo?- Gretch reached down and ran her hand across her left sleeve; the big fat band was still there, beneath the leather, touching her skin. -Always.- -Good. Let's see where this guy came from.- Lynn smiled as she accepted the card, then pulled a ballpoint pen out of her apron and clicked it. "I'll be happy to let you know, Mister...?" The pen hovered over the card as she looked at the ghoul expectantly.

The Shrike had gently but firmly refused all help in cleaning herself up; she wanted to be somewhere safe and familiar before she washed away all this death and allowed herself to feel anything. On the other hand, she grimly worked for hours alongside the Atoms, the other young Heroes and the surviving building staff to make sense of the horrible aftermath of the day's events. In response to Tesla's statement, she blankly stared off into space for a fehisw seconds before finally speaking in a hollow voice. "So this...was just a distraction to someone. They opened a hole into hell and sacrificed countless lives just to steal something." She could barely find the words. "How...how does someone like that come into the world? How does someone raise a child that grows up to be capable of that?" A shudder passed through her body as the emotions she'd been trying to repress all day made a run for the exits, and she suddenly stood up. "I have to go." And with that, she stumbled for nearest exit, hoping she could find her way back to the bookstore, and a kind face.

The Shrike was not a true detective per se, but she was sharp and had a good eye for details; something on the carpet caught her attention, and she floated down until she was parallel with the floor, hovering just an inch above the pile. "This almost looks like it was made by a tire tread." She gently pinched the material between her gloved fingers, then sniffed them, hoping to catch a whiff of rubber or anything else odd. "Too small to be a car. Maybe some sort of small bike? Though I guess in this town, a wheeled robot is actually a possibility..." She floated up to join the others, and keep an eye on the twitchy Kirkpatrick.

Casey snorted. "What, are you kidding? We've had alien invasions every day! And twice on Thursdays." The blonde heroine sighed. "Well, it's good to have you back; I really missed you!" She looked around. "Do you have any bags? And did make any cool inventions while you were gone?"

Sorry that reply took so damn long, dude! Hope that works out with your plans.

"I think they may be onto us. I also have a bad feeling I know what their shtick is, and you're not going to like it." She shook her head. "Pale skin, sunglasses, mesmerizing performance, Black Fang, 'Pierce Me Through'?" She gave Sam a meaningful look. "'Alec. Card.'" She sighed in irritation; the girl still wasn't picking up on it. "Alucard, from Castlevania?" Nope, still nothing. "Dracula spelled backwards? They're vampires." Then she turned back to look at the band working its way through the crowd. "And we didn't like their s###y music." After a few seconds, she leaned over to murmur to Sam, her eyes not leaving Black Fang. "We play this straight, march right up to them. We're a pair of bitchy hot girls who didn't like their music. They might be intrigued, see us as a challenge. We don't have to fake finding them attractive, because we have eyes. Bottom line, if they're focused on us, they're not targeting two girls who don't have superpowers to defend themselves." She turned to give Sam a quick look. "Sound like a plan?"

Casey listened carefully to Nitro's story; it bore the ring of truth, though perhaps he was just a really good liar. Still, she was inclined to believe him, and even though she couldn't imagine her own brother getting in such a situation, she understood the impulse to help family, no matter what the cost. "So what if my friends and I offered to help with your situation? Two strong people and Terrifica, who's just insanely smart; if we all pool our resources, maybe we can come up with a plan to get your brother off the hook without anyone having to go to jail. Well, maybe the Russian mobster, but none of you guys. Would you be willing to try that?"

Gretchen rolled her eyes in irritation as she sighted along her arm. "You heard the lady. Sit down, son." The blast caught him square in the face, a perfect head shot that dropped him like a sack of potatoes and probably singed off his eyebrows. She then floated towards the last remaining thug, slowly shaking her head. "Traditionally, this is when you surrender, as well as crap your pants." She grasped her left wrist again and drew a bead on him, her ring flaring an angry red. "You don't have to do the second, but I strongly advise you consider the first."

It occurs to me i should probably add two APs: the heatvision as described and a 10/10 ice breath cone! I think i avoided APs off of her strength due to 'logic', thinking they'd have to be seperate powers. But all her powers come from her mysterious 'bioenergy field', so she's basically just expressing that energy differently.

Hmm, so is a lower damage, higher accuracy ranged attack more effective than a 10/10 one?

She could have a bit of a learning curve, and eventually buys off the flaw.

So I've wanted to give Miracle Girl a decent ranged attack for some time now, and drawing upon one of her primary inspirations (aka Supergirl), I'm giving a lot of thought to heatvision, your basic Ranged Damage effect. I'd like it to have some decent damage, either 8 or 10 ranks, but that's not cheap, and she doesn't really have a good way to AP that. I'm looking at the Distracting flaw as a possible way to save points; Superman and Supergirl usually seem to stop everything and concentrate intensely when they use it, so it feels right. My question is, just how dangerous is this in combat? Anyone ever take Distracting and lived to regret it? MG is a flying brick, so she's pretty darn tough.