Dr Archeville

Except for the part where even it doesn't like Captain K. Largely because his rampages seem to serve absolutely no greater purpose, and K comes across as (heck, pretty much just admitted to being) a simple adrenaline junkie/hedonist.

Unless they're blind, brainwashed, or as completely psychopathic as Knievel, they would've noticed the video of him blowing up cars and putting a woman in the hospital, and would not cheer for him afterwards. So, yes, an edit is needed. You can either remove the line, or edit it to have them pause a bit before some resume cheering while others begin questioning exactly what they got into.

Free action to shriek like a French maid. Free Action to switch on Concealment (all auditory, radio and visual; PF: Close Range; Flaw: Blending) & Force Field/Immunities (total Toughness +12, Impervious 4; Knockback -8). Move Action to move so he's within 15 feet of the closest crook.

"Oh, how terrible! Won't someone save us?!" he shrieked in as high and girly (and French) a voice as he could manage. He then immediately faded from view, and slowly flew around the screens and towards the closest Power Corps member he could reach.

Archeville returned Elena's hug, "Ach, of course, of course, you are qvite de busy bee. Do take care, liepshin; ve'll talk more about dose, er, business matters later." He soon turned back to the other guests who had surrounded him, "now, vhere was I? Ah, yes: I had been t'rown out de vindow. Well, fortunately for me mein assailant did not know dat I had arranged for...."

I kinda did... but since Doc has, in my year of playing him here, only been in three combats (not including the verbal sparring match he's currently in with Captain K after Knievel crashed his second HIT lecture), this is good, too Doc's Mind is set to Enhanced Cha, so his Notice is +10. Notice check = 26! And his Initiative is... a respectable 18. Which ties with Scarab. I believe the protocol for ties is to have the char with the higher Initiative modifier go first. Which would be Scarab.

So all his cheerleaders are as insane as Harley Quinn, and as brainwashed by Captain K as Harley is by the Joker? Because that's about the only way they'd all be cheering for him without even a moment's hesitation. (And, heck, even Harley balked at a few things Joker did.) That, or if he hired them from the Hench Wench Bench (or wherever it is Villains get their attractive female minions). Though even then, at least some should pause for a bit before resuming cheering.

Un-archived at player request.

Archeville smirked at the Captain, "I see you haff decided to start me off mit something easy. Very vell: how do I know so much? Vell, a great deal of studying vas und stil is involved. I read through about fifteen technical journals a veek, something I enjoy doing, und something I am able to do because I haff an exceptional memory und because I can read very, very fast mit no loss of comprehension. I also maintain a correspondence mit scholars und scientists all over de vorld, und ve freely discuss our researches." Archeville kept pacing as he talked, "but you are right, dat alone is not enough. I am, und I say dis mitout bragging, von of de smartest men on Earth, matched or exceeded by less dan a handful of people. Mein intelligence is so far above vhat is considered 'maximum human potential' dat I broke de last few IQ tests I attempted. But I am not a Mutant, not a Metahuman -- I haff gotten tested, both by others und by myself, und I carry no signs of active Metahuman genes. So vhat is it? How can I be a non-Metahuman yet still have an ability dat is above und beyond vhat is considered 'maximum human potential'? Vell... you said you liked sports, ja? Vell, perhaps I can put it into dose terms." Archeville reached -- slowly -- into his lab coat pocket and drew out his Electromagnetic Screwdriver (E.S.). He manipulated the controls a bit, and a 5 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot hologram of Ancient Greek athletes appeared, running along a track. "Since ancient Greece, athletes had tried to run a mile in under four minutes. For thousands of years, it vas an impossible task. Experts claimed it vas physiologically impossible for a human to run a mile that quickly, und steadfastly proclaimed dat it could never be done." The image changes, now showing black and white film footage, "On May 6th of 1954, Sir Roger Bannister of Britain, captain of de Oxford und Cambridge athletic team, proved milions of people wrong by running a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. De impossible became possible. In 1955, a total of 37 runners across de vorld broke de four-minute mile. In 1956, over 300 athletes did de same. Currently, de record holder for fastest mile run is Hicham El Guerrouj, a Moroccan who ran de mile in 3 minutes 43.13 seconds. 'Maximum human potential' had changed." The image changed again, from Guerrouj to images of men and women in lab coats, scholars and scientists working on assorted projects. "Presently, dere are probably a few dozen people on Earth whose intelligence reaches 'maximum human potential'. I, und a few others, such as Daedalus und Doc Otaku und Doktor Atom und Overshadow, are each better dan all of dem by a vide margin. In essence, ve represent vhat humanity may eventually achieve, at least in terms of intelligence." Archeville clicked his E.S., and the holograms were gone. "Und now, Kapitan, my qvestion for you, to be answered in equal detail." The holograms were back, this time showing a series of three images. The first was of a police car being crushed as Captain Knievel landed on it. The second was of a taxi cab that exploded when hit by a blast from Knievel's cannon. The angle of the first two sets of images indicated that they were taken from nearby traffic cameras. The third was of the passenger from the taxi, a woman, in a hospital bed; her face was slightly burned, but her condition was stable, though she was hooked to a breathing tube. A close up shot of her medical charts shows her name Sarah Flaherty, and that she has suffered severe damage to her lungs due to inhalation of toxic smoke. A time/date stamp on the bottom of the images all indicated that they were from yesterday. More people were leaving. "Vhat is going through your mind right now, as you see dese images of your handivork, und of de consequences your actions had on Ms. Flaherty in particular?"

No, we really don't.

YOU! I don't know if we can let ya back. You did say all those horrible, terrible things when you left... Of course you're welcome back! What'd you have in mind?

I was a 12-part miniseries, but about the only reliable way you can get it now is in TPB format. In fact, there are a few different TPB forms of it available.

Looks like. Alright, that's a wrap. Though the ending was left open in such a way that anyone in this thread can have exchanged contact info with the others, if so inclined.

The STAR Squad carts both Smash and Grab away. The senior officer on board, Lt. Michael Barr, thanked Arrowstar, Shinken, and any others who stayed around personally. "Thanks, folks. Capt. Maddicks wouldn't say it, but we're glad for any help in cases like this. Can I, er, get your names and numbers, in case we need to contact you?" Shortly after talking to Lt. Barr, the media presses in, eager to interview the new (or in Nighthawk, Red Star, and Shinken's cases, not-so-new) heroes. Before going their separate ways, the heroes who are so inclined either exchange contact info there, or arrange to meet at some later date to exchange contact info. ~fin~

Archeville stayed by Elena's side, but stood, and smiled and shook hands with any who came by. "Guten abend... good evening... hello, hello... lovely party, yes... must get the name of the caterer... oh, yes, quite busy; and you?"

Give us some time, man, we're only human! Well, I'm not so sure about Sandman, I think he's a 'net-based life form. And Shaen is, obviously, a floating disembodied brain.

Carbamazepine: used primarily to treat seizures. It is also used to for trigeminal neuralgia and to prevent migraines. A common off-label use is to treat bipolar disorder. Clonazepam: an anti-anxiety agent and sedative. It is a benzodiazepine, the same class as Valium. Fluoxetine: better known as Prozac, an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication. Lithium Carbonate: used to treat mood disorders such as mania and bipolar disorder. All info courtesy of Polite Dissent. Though with Doc's half-Immunity to drugs/poisons -- not to mention the pseudonatural nature of his ailments -- those don't actually do much good. On the upside, they don't give him "cotton-brain," either.

"It is..." he began, "mostly under control. As far as I know, thus far de vorse it... ve... I haff done is draw up plans for assorted super-veapons, vons no von should ever, ever have, as vell as appending mein files on assorted metahumans mit notes on how to... to take dem out. I delete any such notes or schematics vhen I find dem, but even so, dey are all still present up here," he says, tapping his left temple, "if not also copied to some hidden drive. I do find, however, dat by indulging it for brief moments -- such as by using its manic energy in de construction of certain devices, or by really turning up de 'Mad Scientist' act -- it becomes quieter for a time aftervards." "Unfortunately, most psychiatrists vould be of no help. Mein knowledge extends to de bahavioral sciences, und as such I know de techniques dey vould try to use in diagnosing und treating me, und know how to skew dem in order to evade any real help. Vhich is vhat, on a subconscious level, I vould do, preventing any therapist from even getting a solid diagnosis on vhat mein problems are in de first place. Und even if dat veren't de case, de fact I think so much... more, und so much faster dan others vould be an impediment to diagnosis. Dey vould haff trouble keeping up, und if I tried to slow meinself down for dem, I vould get very, very frustrated after a vhile, de same vay somevon vaiting in a slow line at de grocery store vould get frustrated." He pauses to get some water, "Vhich is not to say that I haff completely forsaken de psychiatric fields as an avenue of remedy. I am self-medicating, a mixture of carbamazepine, clonazepam, fluoxetine, und lithium carbonate -- all anti-anxiety agents, most used in de treatment of bipolar disorder. I am trying to tackle dis from several angles... und some additional 'monitoring' vould be very, very appreciated."

Yes. Yes, it is. Which is the reason I spoke out. As I said in the Ref thread, it's not that they're harming/implying they'll do far worse harm to the bad guy in order to scare him (into answering questions? scaring him straight?) that's an issue. Those actions, in and of themselves, aren't so bad as to warrant questioning. And, yes, Scarab telling Avenger to not really seriously injure him is also a good thing. Those things are at the level of what most incarnations of Wolverine or the Bat-Family would routinely do. Three things, IMO, do take them out of "mostly acceptable naughtiness" and into "whoah, wait a sec" territory: 1) Scarab has Mind Reading, and is already probing the guy's mind, so there's no need to lean on him for answers/explanations. 2) Avenger's "someone in a vaguely superior position of authority is telling me it's okay to do this, so I'm doing it" mental note, which does not speak well of any ethical or moral center he may hold. 3) Scarab has implicitly threatened to kill him, indicated that his life is worth no more to them than the life of the shopkeeper he was harassing. Yes, I know the character doesn't really mean it, but it is the image she's projecting, and if word gets out that this is how Scarab does things, more than a few people are going to be questioning her ethics and morals, even if she never does actually cross that line. Heroes will be watching her for if/when she does, and Villains will soon learn her death-threats are idle bravado.

"AHHHHH!!!!!" he screeched through the pillow. "What else do you want from me?"

Actively torturing someone = not actually crossing the line?

With his Mental Quickness 6, I figure he can hold several conversations at once with little-to-no difficulty.

"Oh, I vas qvite happy to be of help, Frau Guerrero. You and your sidekick caught me at a good time; a veek later und you vould haff missed me, as I vas in Munich for a... conference." His mouth says "conference," but his mind says "Oktoberfest." "I do hope you caught de von responsible for dat horrible event." Archeville took the envelop and looked through it, a large Cheshire Cat grin spreading across his face as he did so. "I presume dat dere are security measures, both in terms of surveillance equipment und logs for vhen people come in und out? You cannot be too careful, you know." Elena was a tad surprised at Archeville's ability to hold two mental conversations and one verbal one, all simultaneously, with no apparently difficulty. Most folks have trouble holding one verbal & one mental conversation simultaneously.

Knowledge (Current Events) check to see what already Doc knows of Captain K: 20

"You say you are not here to make trouble, yet you are pointing your forearm-mounted 'Adrenaline Cannon' at a guard, who has not drawn his weapon," Archeville said with his hands clasped behind his back. "Dat's not very reassuring, Kapitan. In fact, if mein knowledge of United States law is correct, dat alone is a charge of Non-Aggravated Assault, since you are implicitly threatening harm to another. Dat's usually a misdemeanor, except you vere threatening a law enforcement officer, so what you haff done is 'upgraded' to a felony." Several dozen people by now had gotten up and ran out. "Dat aside," he continued, pacing slowly across the small raised dais, "I do admit a curiosity as to vhat you vant to know, und vhat you vould be villing to pay for mein knowledge. So... ja, let us make dis a true exchange of information: for every qvestion of yours dat I answer, you answer von of mein, und ve both go into an equal amount of detail in our answers. Is dis an agreeable term?"