Heritage

Grim is on her feet after the grand finale, leaping up and down, pumping her fists in the air! "Yeah, yeah! Boom, baby, boom!" Suddenly noticing poor Jack's plight, she leaps to his side, holding him up by the shoulders; it reminds her of the time she struggled to hold up a drunken stranger in the ladies' room at Millennium. "Dude, what happened? Are you alright? Hey, can I get some water over here?!"

Okay, I'm thinking if you guys want to do one more post each, that'd be awesome, and then we might cut to Grim going to visit the good detective; sound cool, or do you want to do something else? Also I threw in a mention of meeting with Phantom, setting up possibly bringing her in later.

Grim shakes her head, eyes never leaving the spot where the card was incinerated. "Nah, it was just glamour, hence the pretty colors." With a deep sigh, she gives Jack a sympathetic look. "Okay, here are a few things we can do; obviously, no more fire for you, but you knew that already. In fact, don't even use the stove; I think we have a lot of stuff you can microwave, or just order out or something. I can go see this lady, ask her a few things, but I have a feeling we'll probably be bringing my old teammate Phantom in on this one; she's got her own stuff to deal with, so I'm not gonna bug her just yet." She shudders involuntarily. "That creepy voice sounds kinda...well, I dunno, but it's definitly kinda something. Grim takes both of Jack's hands in her own, and gives them both a good squeeze. "We're gonna help ya, buddy; you can count on that." She scrunches up her face a bit. "Also, we seriously need to get you laid, but that's a whole 'nother issue. I'll see you guys later, okay?" She gives Jack a quick peek on the cheek (involving a little hop to reach his face), and then pulls Colt down to her level by his collar, affecting a revoltingly saccarine tone. "And I'm gonna miss you, too, huggy wuggy pooka bear!" After a big smootch, she lets Colt go, gives him a nice slap on the ass, and turns to the swordman with a wink. "Sorry, just messin' with ya, dude. Later!"

She crumples her face up a bit and shrugs, then flips her shotglass (with a picture of a black cat wearing a witch's hat) up in the air, where it spins and glints in the firelight before she catches it once more. "Well, you're right, I'm not like a heavy-duty drinker, but I like my rum and Coke, as you saw back at poker night, and I like-a da wine coolers; think of this as me reaching out to the cowboy community, y'know, trying something new." Grim snaps her fingers and both shot glasses poof away into the night air. "But that is after we eat; I need at least a little food in my belly before I drink the hard stuff, or I'll just pass out on ya." The little campfire cook gets up and makes her way over to the cooking supplies, rumaging through the cooler and grabbing utensils; she shuts up again, other than humming 'Harvest Moon' a bit more, happily going about her domestic tasks.

Grim nods. "Yep, sure is, the old Drinkin' Gourd himself; if you follow the two stars of the bowl-" She traces an invisible line across the sky with her finger. "You get to Polaris, the North Star, the sailor's friend. And that's exactly all I remember about astronomy. Oh yeah, and Orion wears a snazzy belt." She raises her head and looks up at Colt. "Y'know, I'm more than happy to cook, but it's not like I'm making space food; actually, I guess you'd feel more at home if I did, come to think of it." She sits up, leans over and gives him a kiss. "Tonight we'll stick a few Hebrew National dogs on some cooking forks, then put 'em on buns with a little mustard, slick as you please." Then she holds up two shot glasses she pulled out of thin air. "And for after, I brought a bottle of Jack." ;)

Grim's glamoured placard was blown to atoms, and the petite heroine was literally knocked on her ass by the force of the Russian's punch. Rubbing her butt as she shakily rose to her feet, the shapeshifter could only gape as she pulled a full-on Keanu. "Whoa." Eyes still locked on the remians of the ring, she gingerly made her back to her seat, and sat down quietly next to Colt.

Okay, I think I can do this all in one round. 1. Move to the flesh golem's position. 2. Use Glamour to Enhance Charisma. 3. Feint (total check 35 courtesy of SM), and use Setup to give the benfit to Arrowhawk. Edit: Just to clarify, I'm setting Hawk up for next round, not this one, since what's done is done, baby.

At first, Grim is too stunned to speak; the sight of Ace's brutal murder hits her like a sledgehammer. But then, her mother's temper flares up like a supernova. "You bitch!" In a flash, she leaps towards Lil' Miss Patches, fully intending to rip her face off her skull, but then reason sets in. Hawk is already fighting her; help Hawk! The changeling feels the glamour boil through her body, powered by rage, and she screams, "You disgusting skanky piece of crap! I'm gonna kill you, stick your ass back together with duct tape, then kill you again!" She fires a spin kick right at her revolting head, shooting just to one side of it at the last second, hoping to give Hawk an opening.

Dead-abled? I will post here sometime later today.

Normally I would have Taylor on the line in a second, but we're using this thread as an excuse to bring in Lt. Colby, Grim's Sidekick-to-be. However, I imagine Phantom will be involved at some point in the near future :D

Grim took a step backward, her eyes wide with fear; her hand quickly found Colt's, and gripped it tightly. "Yeah, okay, you may have a point there, Jack; that **** is messed up, alright." She looked worriedly between Colt and Jack. "Who do we know who's good at this kinda stuff? Phantom's more extradimensional, and Scarab's more of psychic/telepath kinda gal, but I have no idea what the hell this is. Wait-" The changeling snapped her fingers and a business card appeared in her fingertips. Det. Morena Colby Supernatural Crimes Unit FCPD She twisted the card around, nervously flipping it from finger to finger. "She's a cop I met in the bookstore, helped me out with some magic stuff. She said if I ever saw anything weird, y'know, like stuff that would give me nightmares?" She indicated the blade of blue fire with a jerk of her head. "To give her a call. I have her number on my cell, but I've never used it before."

Can we get a repost of the Initiative order? I think one or two more people squeezed in, but I could be wrong.

Grim listens intently to both sides of the discussion, then stands and takes a step away from the sofa, hands spread. "Okay, I've officially seperated from the Colt module for the rest of this conversation; and by the way, 'Colgrim' seems to be the most commonly used term in the fanfic community." She takes a deep breath and let's it out slowly. "Luck had absolutely nothing to do with our winning that day, because luck was not on our side; we won because we fought our asses off, and yes, folks died. Folks made sacrifices, and would again in a heartbeat if the same thing happened again tomorrow. Next time it could be my turn, or Colt's, and next time we might not come back; maybe next time there is no reset button, and dead is dead." She takes a few random steps up and down the hallway, frowning as she stares at her feet. "I dunno, I can't speak for everybody, but for me, it's never been about 'winning'; I screw up all the time. People die on my watch everyday, which sucks beyond all comprehension, but I can't be everywhere at once, and if I tried to be I'd go freakin' nuts, because all I'd be able to think about is who I failed. But that's why we have teams, to coordinate effort and spread our good works a little farther, so the weight of the world is not on our shoulders alone." The shapeshifter shakes her head in annoyance. "Okay, you've heard enough uplifting, supportive BS from the wise pixie and her hunky cowboy friend; I get that, and I'm gonna try and shut up now, even though that's not playin' to my strengths. You said you came back 'wrong'; wrong how exactly? As in sick, or broken or what?"

It may yet come to that, Giz ;)

Once again, Jack's verbal barbs struck home, and Grim was sorely tempted to let him have it, but for once she kept her trap shut and let Colt do the talking, and thankfully it looked like he was getting through. She stepped over to the swordsman and lay a hand on his arm. "Look, you're right; me and Colt have kinda had our heads up our butts with this new relationship, and it distracted us. We've been bad teammates and bad friends." The changeling summoned a sofa right there in the hallway and took a seat, motioning for the others to join her. "We've got the makings of a great team; hell, we are a great team, but only if we work at it and talk to each other, especially when things start to suck." She gave Jack a warm, almost loving smile. "Dude, you are one of the most dedicated crimefighters I have ever met; you care so much about the West End it hurts. You worry about doing the right thing, and you care about the folks out there, which is something a lot of so-called heroes (especially a certain flying garbage truck we will not name) seem to forget." Grim took his hand in a firm grip. "Me and Colt, we can't do this alone; we need someone to slap us silly from time to time, and slapping folks silly is what you do best, bro." She frowned, seemingly deep in thought. "Well, that and really pissing me off; you're a frickin' genius when it comes to that." She shook her head apologetically and continued. "But enough of that; what's goin' on, big guy? What can we do to help?"

Gossamer Bug Hunt The Crash "When They Hear Oom Pah Pah!" Grimalkin And Blackjack Back to School Fisticuffs Fundraiser! Friday Outing In Soviet Russia, Powers Control You! Interceptors: Intervention Interceptors: Liquid Therapy Life's Bazaar Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful The Good, The Bad, and The Extra dimensional Upstairs at Monty's - October Weird Creature of the Night White Wedding

"Hey!" :evil: Furious at her teammate's avoidance of the issue, Grim conjured up a raquetball and whipped it at the back of Jack's head; maybe he was good enough to dodge it, maybe he wasn't, but right then she really didn't care. "We're talking about this, whether you want to or not! Do you think we're stupid? This is about the Invasion, isn't it, about what happened to you? Maybe you're not aware of it, but you've been a colossal douche since that went down, and it's starting to piss us off!"

Stunned by the sheer mechanical carnage on display, Grim could barely squeak out a reply. "Crapping my pants, to be honest." Clearing her throat, she took one tentative step into the darkened room, her elven eyes making it almost as bright as day, allowing the full extent of the destruction to be seen. "Dude, what the hell, man? Are you ****ing nuts? You could have been killed!" This was much worse than she ever expected; Grim threw a worried glance back at Colt as she took another small step inside.

Grim smiled mawkishly as she held her hands over her heart. "Aww, you'd take a deathblow for me? That's so sweet!" She joined him in the elevator, but then her mood quickly shifted back to edgy; gnawing on a fingernail, she shook her head with worry. "Okay, we need like an exit strategy if things go south; maybe we can...I dunno, ask VINCE to gas him? Can he do that? Or am I just talkin' crazy here?" As the pair exited the elevator, several recessed indicator lights were flashing red along the corridor; suddenly very concerned, Grim ran over to one of the wall monitors. "VINCE, what's going on?" The screen lit up, revealing the lovable user interface nervously poking his head out of a combat trench, a Tommy helmet perched on his coiffure. "I wouldn't go in the simulator if I were you, pumpkin; Zorro overrode the safety protocols." Her jaw dropped in amazement. "He what? Oh my God!" Running to the Wreck Room entrance, she pounded furiously on the door. "Jack, can you hear me? JACK!"

Grim and Colt go have a talk with Jack, their troubled teammate.

Pacing her small bedroom in a pair of sweatpants and an Ed Grimley T-shirt, Grim knew she wasn't ready to do this, but it still had to be done. With a resigned sigh, she stomped on the floor three times, then collapsed into a puddle that poured through a small hole into the room directly below, where Colt was waiting for her. Reforming next to his bed, the shapeshifter fell back on it with her arms thrown wide. "God, this is gonna suck; even best case scenario, where he doesn't behead us both with a sword made of cheese? It's still gonna suck."

Grim unzips the tent and crawls out once again in her jeans and parka, kneeling with Colt by the fire. Happily taking the offered plate, she pops the gooey chocolaty treat into her mouth and makes yummy sounds that border on the obscene. "Mmm-mmm! Oh man, that is so good!" She wags a finger at his kosher concerns. "Don't worry about it, dude; I did all the shopping on this trip, so you're gonna see some brand names you've never heard of before. Like for breakfast, I got Streit's Griddle Mix to go with the eggs and kosher turkey bacon. And if you don't like any of the grub, I will personally take you out to the resturaunt of your choosing and buy you whatever you want to eat, no matter how treif it is." With an offhand gesture, she creates a thick wool blanket to wrap herself in, and lies down next to the cowboy, her head in his lap. "Wow, you're right about the stars tonight; I'm so glad we did this! Living in the city, you forget how wild it gets right in your own backyard. Hey, you hungry? I can whip up some dinner, if you want."

I'm a narc I'm a narc I'm a narc... The beautiful polymorph smiles shyly and waves. "Hello! It is strange to be fighting someone before introduction, but that was very much fun! I am Lenya Sokolov; it is very nice to meet you all." She looks from face to face as she shoulders up her backpack. "So where is lunch? I am always hungry after snowfight."

Lynn shrugs and has another sip of tasty goodness. "Hey, that's cool with me; for what it's worth, I'll do my best to stay upwind of Jack." The petite brunette raises her glass as well. "To us, the lovely ladies of Freedom City; long may it wave!" She frowns at her own bizarre toast, but then drinks anyway. Casually wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she addresses the group. "So, quick question. Uh, how do I do this in public..." She scrunches up her face in thought. "Uh, as far as 'work' goes, are any of you guys...a 'team player' now? I'm not sure what everyone's situation is like, y'know, work-wise. I, for one, am enjoying my new team..firm..whatever." :?

Up to you how much time has passed. Also, let me know if you have an issue with Colt's implied behaviour; he just strikes me as the 'quietly slip out of bed and make breakfast' kinda guy. Edits can obviously be made.