Geez3r

Samael closed his eyes and you could hear his bones shifting. His ears elongated, his skin paled, his hands grew claws and when he opened his eyes they were red and feral. He looked like a vampire. "Grue, remember?" replied Atlas. "I don't have much of a handle on the mental powers yet, but the shapeshifting works fine. I've started to come to terms with it, so I've been practicing."

"Guess it's a totally crap shoot then." replied Eli as he was wondering who the heck Mike was, but figured it wasn't the sort of thing to ask someone. "Might have something to do with all the electricity I make, not really sure how that all works out. I really should have Doc do an analysis at some point. He does that for people apparently. Oop, here ya go." says Eli as he hands over the arm full of tennis balls. "Nah. I was only here the one time, and they had me in the VR thing the whole time. They were just trying to figure out where I fell on the spectrum of things. But I'll give it a shot if that's what you're getting at."

Eli snerked a bit when the lightbulb went off Erin's head, but didn't press the matter, mostly because he was still trying to wrap his head around the physics involved. "Yeah we got something like that back at the HQ. It's pretty much like nectar on steroids. A shot of that mess a normal person up something fierce, if not just put them in a diabetic coma. If I don't do much other than study and play video games, I think I only eat like 20,000 calories. I never pay that much attention to be honest. But if I work out, go on patrol, and especially if I get in a fight, I empty the fridge. Like I'm just short of licking the ice off the sides of the freezer. I'd thought you'd be the same way, what with how many physical powers you got. Guess there's some sort of sciency explanation for it, but to be honest that junk's a bit out of my league."

"It is good to be back." replied Atlas. "Kid keeping's you up at all hours of the day?" he joked. He wanted to keep the mood light for just a couple more seconds. Once they got down to business, it was going to be pretty. But not being a comedian, he quickly ran out of material, so grimdark it was. "So, who or what do have to shake down, knock out or blow up? Or is it just a free or all slug fest?"

"Vell, I vould have to say zat it did have an impact. Maybe it vas because I vas so young, but much of ze propaganda is still in my head, you know? Ze idea vas zat if ve all vorked togezer ve vould all have zat ve needed. Vhen I came to America, I see zose zat have more zan I ever zough vas possible. ANd zere vere ozers zat had even less zan I did. I knew zat zere vas a better vay. I had to try and show people zat. I don't know if zat worked out ze vay I vanted it too, but it vas vorth a shot da?" replied Samael as he dug into his South Lemon pie ice cream in what had to be the biggest bowl they had in the back.

"Not what, who. Dr. Archeville. That obnoxiously smart and rich German scientist. He's only like the most influential dude on the planet. Can't believe you haven't heard of him." said Eli in disbelief. "Jeez. What're they teaching kids these days?" jokes Eli with mock outrage. "Yeah, booze don't affect me like it used to. Now mind, I never got drunk, I was always safe; mostly because I wouldn't trust the guys I was with. But getting my powers has pretty much just destroyed my diet. I have to watch what I eat, but in the opposite way. 'Can I put more sugar in this?' 'Is there a way to get a few thousand more carbs in this?' It's ridiculous."

A very weird build, but nothing wrong. :approved:

"Cool. Wonder how Grim knows her then? Think Grim had some legal trouble back in the day? Nah... I know the chick she's with though. Can't think of her name though. I know I know her though. I overheard her saying her name was Talya or something. I remember seeing that name like just last week. It's driving me nuts. But if you'll excuse me, those burgers aren't going to be eating themselves. Nice meeting you." says Eli as he trots off for a quick bite to eat.

Atlas didn't pick up the phone, though he was standing right next to it. He hadn't talked to the Midnighters since the Invasion, and truth be told, even before that. But for them to call them out of the blue like this, this must have been major. He had a chance to do real good again, he wasn't going to pass that up. Within a few minutes Atlas slinked through one of the secret entrances to Jack and Taylor's abode. He reached out and felt the minds of his friends up in the library. Quickly ascending the steps he entered the room just a moment behind Dead Head. "Hello everyone." he knew he shouldn't have felt this happy as it was likely a doomsday scenario that brought them together, but he did love the company.

For now I'm gonna let it ride. Also, Malice readies an action in case anyone opens the door.

Nope. It's not Tainted. and Breakdown was the one to get the HP. I also noticed I messed up the allocation of points. I'll fix that in a moment. EDIT: Allocation has been fixed. Cy, give us an IC, and then I'll follow up before turning it back over to the top of the order.

OK. Gravity Control 12 has a heavy load of 50 tons ~ 100,000lbs ~ 500, 200lbs people. While not every member of the rabble is running for the hills, Dark Star's got enough to lift up the stragglers and then some. So basically, the rest of the battle is going to be wire-fu. So going down the line: Kung Fu Killer Reflex save vs DS Gravity DC 22 (1d20+13=22) + Evasion, still grounded. Orion isn't in the power's radius. Savage Man Beast Reflex save vs DS Gravity DC 22 (1d20+10=14) Floating White Knight, is flying so it doesn't matter one way or the other. Rant, doesn't have Evasion so it doesn't matter one way or the other. Floating. And we're going to get reinforcements. Well you aren't, I am. 29 - Arrowhawk - Unharmed - HP x3 27 - Kung Fu Killer - Unharmed 26 - Breakdown - Bruised x1 - HP x6 25 - Sarah Prescott - Unharmed - HP x2 24 - Orion - Unharmed 21 - Slipstream - Unharmed - HP x1 20 - Savage-Man Beast - Unharmed, Rage 1, Floating 14 - Dead Head - Unharmed - HP x2 10 - Mongrel Angel - Unharmed - HP x7, Will be fatigued at start of turn unless they spend a HP, AoA 5 9 - Mignight II - Unharmed - HP x1 8 - White Knight - Unharmed, AoA 5 5 - Rant - Unharmed, Floating 6 - Dark Star - Unharmed - HP x5 3 UM - Unharmed UM's turn. Hey Dark Star, you look like you have a good power set. Yoink. Fiat to Surge. Breakdown looks like he's got a good set too, and I'll grab a few skills and feats while I'm at it. Yoink. He'll take a free action to allocate those points from his new Variable Power. Now unfortunately that took a really long time to figure out, so you'll have to wait until after breakfast for an IC post.

"Ah zis reminds me of ze first zing I learn in America; zere is alvays a catch." answered Samael. He didn't give a straight answer right away, or even talk after that. He just looked at here for a few moments. He had already made up his mind, he just wanted her to sweat it out a little. "OK. I vill help you out. Fire avay. Zough do you zink your professor vill allow a change in ze topic?" Samael also signaled the waitress over to their table. If they were going to have more of an interview, they needed more ice cream.

Oh yeah? Fulcrum's really nice. I don't know here all that well yet to be honest. She's real new to the team as well, but isn't around as much as everyone else is. She does her own thing on the side, which may or may not include Archeville." replied Eli as followed Erin up to the training site. He was rather curious how it worked. "I didn't mean those stories literally." explained Eli. "I meant that the Interceptors were laid back, and you didn't feel pressure with them. We don't need a city in danger for us to be together, we can just hang out. Guess the analogy works better with a different demographic." He helped Erin gather up all the tennis balls as he was talking.

"Don't sell yourself short. By being a generalist, you don't have real weakness to exploit. I may be obnoxiously fast, but a broken nose sucks as much for me as it does for the next guy." A compliment was always good, and Eli believed that the mental image of him sporting a broken nose was just icing on the cake. "Zoe! Yeah, that was her name!" Eli considered for a moment trying to remember the details of the run he had done. "Well the time trial they had me do is like standard fare for speedsters. They set it all up in the VR somehow, and basically see how far you can go in 1 minute. I think I was just shy of like 20 laps around the Earth. I'm better at longer distances, but Zoe can sprint like nobody's business." Erin could tell Eli wasn't trying to brag, but was having a hard time of it.

"Neither did I! Small world huh? So good to meet you more officially like. I'll tell ya the story over dinner, I promise. So how long have you known Grim for? I'm kind of the newbie around here." explained Eli as he gave a sweeping gesture to the vast number of heroes around the back yard. "Speaking of..." Eli stepped a little bit closer and discretely motioned to Elena and Talya and whispered "Are they who I think they are?"

"Oh I don't know. That Archer guy, yeesh." joked Eli as he suppressed a shudder. "But on the other hand, that Z girl, completely forget her name, put down a faster time than me, and I wanna see if I can beat it. Suppose either way I got the fastest man alive title, but know that I know it's possible to do better, I want to see if I can ya know? Roger Bannister was the first to run the 4 minute mile, and everyone thought it was impossible, but once he did it, people have been able to repeat it. But I suppose you know a bit about friendly competition too seeing as where we are."

"Thanks a lot sir. That means more than you know." said Eli rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as his face turned a bright shade of fuchsia. Eli let Ace circulate around the yard after that. If he stayed too close to the guy for long he's just geek out entirely and Jack wouldn't let him live it down. It was only after the color started receeding from his face did Eli note the green haired girl. He looked at her all cock eyed; he was trying to remember where he had known her from. Not wanting to spend the whole night trying to piece it together, and not nearly bashful enough to make a total fool of himself, Eli walked over to introduce himself. "Uh yeah hi." said Eli with a little wave. "So yeah. I'm Eli and I think I know you from -- " Eli stops suddenly as he gets a whiff of a perfume in the air. "Wait! You're that flower chick!" he exclaims snapping his fingers with the sudden realization. "Who's the lucky guy?" he asked with a thumb at Derrick, before extending his hand to the both of them.

The answers were also pretty typical: trip was terrible, and there was no family here, or there for that matter. "Vell, how many ozers have you interviews so far, and how many more do you intend to do? I am not sure if my travel vas typical." cautioned Samael. "How do you like ze class so far? Or razer how vas it? I am not sure how far you are into ze program."

"Yeah they are." agreed Eli. "It took some time but I think I figured out just how much it meant to me, and to you." Eli hestitated for a moment before he continued. "I'm not sure if you know this, but on my team, we got Grimlakin right? Pixie ninja chick. Anyways, the Interceptors aren't her first team. She was on the Knights of Freedom before that team sort of imploded. Now I don't know any details beyond that, Grim's been mum on it. But any time she mentions it, I can see her eyes darken and her voice gets a little colder. It just ain't like her. Something happened with that team, and I'm not sure they count all their old members as friends anymore. A team is supposed to be like your family, and I didn't want you to think anything other than that with Young Freedom. I don't want to see anyone else go through that, especially if they don't have to. It was wrong of me to put stupid, uninformed thoughts like that in your head. If I could, I'd erase the conversation from existence. But the best I can do is give you flowers and say I'm sorry. So, I'm sorry."

That would be true except on these guys, they are traded off for Defense. That attack is a miss, albeit a narrow one.

"We're gonna go with something else; I hope I'm done lodging my foot down my throat." said Eli trying to crack a joke. "Look. I'm an idiot. I realize that now. I should have known earlier, but as we just discussed, I was an idiot. After out last discussion, I took a second look at Young Freedom. I completely had it all wrong. You guys are tight. You've got each others backs through thick and thin. I just didn't see it. I guess it was because I couldn't see me and my friends doing that back in high school. Look, you've got something good going here, and its everything a good person like you deserves. For ever even insinuating otherwise, I am truly and deeply sorry."

The group of staff exchange looks at one another for a moment as the incredibly weird heroic duo bursts onto the scene. But then all their forms immediately change into monstrous appearances. The guards assume the form of something akin to rock golems. Their massive frames barely fit within the hallways, and their blocky arms look as if they could tear through cars. Two of the scientists grow into incredibly lanky forms. Their arms and legs become covered in barbs and other nasty bits. The last technician doesn't get a specific form. They merely swell until they look like an overgrown amoeba.

Grue Initiative (1d20+6=7) GM Fiat to let them allocate their Shape shifting immediately (it won't be much of a fight otherwise). 2 use the Bruiser Template, 2 use the Lasher and 1 the ooze. 28 - Blitz - Unharmed - HP x2 24 - Avenger - Unharmed - HP x7 19 - Aiko - Unharmed - HP x1 16 - Scarab - Unharmed - HP x2 15 - Valkerie - Unharmed - HP x5 9 - Rift - Unharmed - HP x4 7 - Grue Bruiser (2) - Unharmed 7 - Grue Lasher (2) - Unharmed 7 - Grue Ooze (1) - Unharmed 4 - Ironclad - Unharmed - HP x2

Samael suddenly snorted and cracked up laughing, looking away from Vivian as he tried to keep a straight face, his face turning red from the effort. The look on Vivian's face was a perfect match for the expression his cat Sprinkles had when he gave her treats, or as he referred to it: crack. Taking a few calming breaths Samael was able to regain his composure. He looked her in the eye, and then she felt a voice in her head "--I am.--" Samael took another spoonful of ice cream before asking "Vhat ozer questions do you have?"