Avenger Assembled

Neko returned the godling's smile with a look that was no less playfully predatory for all that her incisors were just barely larger than the human norm. She wasn't a great lioness of the veldt but she was no toothless kitten either. Of course, she thought, even kittens can have sharp teeth. "I looked up there," she said, pointing to the ceiling, "and she was in a room, talking into a camera." She patted her hovering little camera-bug and added, "It was very - big? Not one of the little - boxes." She demonstrated, holding her hands out in front of her in a square shape. "I can find her again," she added doubtfully, "but she could see this time." A quick check of the hotel's floor plan revealed it had several suites on its uppermost floor, a quick elevator (or otherwise) trip away for the godlings and the feline, who from her twitching tail was enjoying this chase very much. She kept up a running commentary for her camera as they went, yellow eyes shining with nascent excitement.

Bear-Claw was confronted by his own form emerging from the fiery visions all around him, twisted and screaming in agony as flames burned his flesh and scorched his eyes, as a deep feminine contralto screamed in his ear. YOU SEE!? YOUR HELL AWAITS YOU FOOL! Owain went for the bite, down hard, and hobbled away, out of immediate melee range of Bear-Claw where the big man wouldn't be able to spot him - and hit him, unless he shook off Neko's illusions. Which didn't seem likely. Those watching could see Neko behind Bear-Claw, teeth set in a snarl, her movements mimicking the illusory Bear-Claw as said Bear-Claw began screaming in mortal agony about how the cats tormented and violated his flesh at every turn in increasingly unwholesome ways with their terrible fiery whips.

"Ah, jeez," said Richard. He took a moment to case the room, though subjectively it was more like several minutes, before he dropped down to the wounded young man's side. Hell. This space is probably too narrow for Spica, and if I move him outside without checking him I could break something vital - especially if whoever did this to him is still there. "Hey boyo, it's your Uncle Dick," he said, kneeling down next to the wounded young man. "I'm going to get you out of here. Who did this to you?" As they talked, he tried to get the younger man out of his costume, the better to check him for actual injuries.

Neko shifted in her seat, tail twitching, and glanced down at chat. "They say you are...'holding out on me'? Ah, I know this! What did you do when you were a child?"

Bert cringed briefly. "Are - are you sure?" When Carmen was, he relaxed a little. "Hi, I'm Bert." He stuck out his hand for a shake, his grip firm, his skin mottled with silvery patches that were cold to the touch. He distinctly even smelled of tech, and medicine, up close. "Oh, uh- hi Holly!" he called out to Holly, his loud voice sounding like a combination of electronic and natural. He headed over there and joined the group, waving a hello with his metal-mottled hand, shifting nervously as he looked at the others, seeming to expect some kind of fearful reaction.

Neko gave Carmen a look, tail twitching behind her, but smiled carefully. She knew the girl wasn't so bad, and there was no reason to let their dual natures make them enemies. Even if she makes the hair go up on the back of my neck... Really, she was much more interested in Leon, who got a real smile from her as she got Owain to take her place behind. "Leon! Get your own money," she said playfully, coming up next to him with her hands folded in front of her. Owain sold Luke the lemonade with a ready smile, his hand touching the other boy's for just a moment as they swapped coins. "Hi, I'm Holly Cline, but you can call me Mastermind. And you're Leon." For her part, Holly was impressed, both by Leon's trick and - even more so - by Cat-Sith's. "OMG! That is so cool!" she told Simon, having filmed the whole thing on her phone. "You should go on Tiktok too, you would get epic hits. Shapeshifting is so awesome, that's the one thing nobody in my family can do." At that moment, a puffy cloud of pink butterflies formed nearby, took a humanoid shape - and promptly transformed itself into a slight, slim figure with pointed ears and bright pink hair cut short. "What ho! Holly, who are these fine specimens?" Holly quickly introduced Gwen, whose pronouns were they/them, a traveler and mystic from the realms of the fae. Gwen beamed at the phrase, then admitted, "My mother was, I am a Butterfly in the garden of such magic." Their eyes set on Luke and they declared, "Is that a dragon in manflesh? I have one of your kind in my service. How wonderful! Why did we not hang out with them before?" "Gwen's dad is a cop," Holly confided to Simon as Gwen sauntered over to eye Luke, "but they're okay. My dad once got into it with their dad over pot, though, sooo embarrassing. They've been a little extra since the last time they really went at it with their dad." At that moment, a big, muscular young man with a teenager's goatee visible under his hoodie bumped into Carmen. "Oh jeez, sorry!" He pulled up his hoodie, revealing a darkly complected face marred by what looked like a cybernetic enhancement across his left cheek, one mostly obscured by a big, heavy set of sunglasses. "I can't see well yet! Sorry!" He sounded mortified. "Hey Bert it's okay!" called Holly. "Come over here!"

"I am not wise to the ways of women," admitted Owain, who come to think of it Leon had never seen so much as look at a girl. "But I can tell the look in Neko's eye when no one else casts their gaze her way. If you have no intentions, she has them for you." He sighed. "Perhaps I have said too much. It can be difficult to swim in the waters of three worlds at once."

"Aren't you Simon?" asked the rainbow-haired girl, a smile on her face as her hovering phone circled back around to her pink-nailed hand. "Hi, I'm Holly Cline, but people here call me Mastermind. I didn't know you knew Neko and Owain. I love your hair!" "Holly has been most generous in her support for our business," said Owain significantly, pointing to the large thermos the girl wore at her hip. "How do you fare, Simon? Is all well with your foster parents?" For her part, Neko was counting the money, her sharp nails clacking against the change, occasionally swiping somebody's credit card through a reader attached to her phone.

"Hm," said the Patriot, once she'd checked that the werewolf was down and out. Once that was done, she carefully bound the man, tying his wrists together first with zip-ties, then powerful-looking handcuffs that glittered with barely-suppressed internal energies. "Would have liked to interrogate him, but better he's down than we're hurt." She took a cylinder of metal off her belt, held it to her lips, and said "Flower Girl! Flower Girl, come in! Damn it..." She looked around the level they'd entered, its walls a gunmetal grey rather different from the institutional interiors of wood and plaster they'd left upstairs, and said in a cool, professional voice that belied the tension she was actually feeling: "Going to keep trying to raise Daisy on the comms. Scout around down here and see if there are any more of these bastards, but don't engage - come back here."

Having secured his room already, Owain was safely in position next to a booth constructed of scrap wood and plasterboard. "Lemonade!" he called. "Get thy lemonade at the cost of a mere fifty cents! We also offer various confections such as candy, chips, and various treats from distant lands!" Behind the counter, a smiling Neko was counting the money and handing out the treats; mostly from a service Raina had found for them at only a small finder's fee. Though most of her fellow students didn't talk much about money, she'd found it was easy enough to turn a profit in the superhero business. "Hey!" said a rainbow-haired girl who seemed to sparkle as she approached Neko. "It's Catgirl Reacts! OMG, my little brother loves your show! Can I get a selfie?" Beaming, Neko gave the girl just that, posing as the hovering phone floated up in front of them. Holly Cline was one of the 'popular' girls, a psychic from a famous hero family, and her support could only make things better for them.

That hits well! And he is knocked out, go ahead and post

The wolfman growled and swiped at the retreating catgirl, only to have his blow intercepted by the solid presence of the Patriot herself. Ashley caught the blow against her armored sleeve, turning so the claws skidded along the tough cloth, and spat directly in the werewolf's face. Then she came up with her left-hand gun and shot the wolfman in the face, twice, producing an agonized howl of pain that made the creature stagger back against the wall. Bringing both her guns up, the Patriot took aim. "Stand down! Final warning!" she barked.

Yes, I'm afraid so! Okay, with two bruises on him, guy goes for Patriot again: https://orokos.com/roll/954269 11! Okay, this time she's going to Intimidate him. 25 He resists - but fails - https://orokos.com/roll/954271 Time to see what we can do here. +5PA with pistols https://orokos.com/roll/954272 21! And rolled an 18, so that's an improved crit. 10+5 (PA)+5(Crit)+2 Sneak Attack 22+15=a Tou save of 37! https://orokos.com/roll/954273 actually a very good roll, so he is bruised x3 and staggered - but he might not be able to keep this up for much longer

The wolfman bled with an animalistic cry, the hot smell of animal-human blood filling La Puma's nostrils in the aftermath of her palpable swipe. Despite having cut him deeply enough to bleed on the metal floor beneath their feet, he seemed more focused on her mentor, though - or maybe it was just that the Patriot unhesitatingly put herself between the wolfman's huge claws and her protege. The claws swung high over her head as she dropped to one knee, dual-wielding her pistols as she fired a volley of brightly glowing red and blue laser blasts directly into the creature's midsection. The wolf was wounded now, bleeding and burned, but clearly still in the fight.

In private, Owain put his hand on Leon's shoulder, then seemed to reconsider it, then did it again, then said: "I will say it plainly, friend. Neko lacks father or brother in this place and time, and our hosts the Espadases are - not inclined to play the role that a head of household must. So I must ask - what are your intentions towards her?" He spoke - well, not with hostility, but with what seemed to be a deep, brotherly concern there in the relative privacy of a mostly abandoned pool house.

Okay, guy is bruised! Wolf Guy goes for the Patriot. https://orokos.com/roll/954081 = 13 And misses! The Patriot Bluffs him - 25! His Sense Motive - is pretty good! (26) She's still gonna shoot at him tho! https://orokos.com/roll/954084 20 Just barely hits. Tou vs 25 https://orokos.com/roll/954085= 22 He takes another bruise, and you are back up as soon as I post IC

That hits! OK, DC is 23... https://orokos.com/roll/953722 = 24! Gotta use those attack feats. You can spend an HP to add another rank of Improved Crit and raise the DC enough to make him bruised. Okay, go ahead and post IC.

Neko laughed. "You know rice!" She had never heard there was so many ways to make rice with meat - though by now she had tried many. She quickly typed the rice + Patriot emoji into chat, then opined, "You should be a cook." She thought of working in the fields, the mud squishing between her toes, tail twitching behind her as she picked mushrooms behind the house. She had never seen anyone eat so much, or so many things, as she had in the United States. "You should try soba-gome. It is what I ate when I was - a girl, it is rice but - buckwheat." She made a little gesture with her hands, then said "What were you - when you were boy?"

Okay: Patriot II: 7 Wolf Guy: 14 That's not quite enough to break his Bluff - you can tell he was pretending something about you, but you can't tell what. You're up combat-wise!

"Ah, Set and Sekhmet!" said Neko, looking considerably more animated than when they had last seen her. The mystery was giving her something to talk about besides all the strange things around her, something real, and her excitement showed on her face. Red was still buzzing around her with the light that meant she was still broadcasting, but Neko was only just remembering to stay 'on' for her show. "We have a great...enigma." She paused and seemed to stare away from all of them, ears pointed at something invisible, eyes gazing off into the middle distance. And when it was done, she smiled like a cat sensing the presence of a tasty fish, and pointed straight up at the ceiling. "The woman, she is here. In one of the rooms." She hesitated, then admitted, "I could not see the number." The crowd of people around them was impressive, but for the moment they were just another couple of cosplayers in the convention center. Convention staff had taken the lead in going around and reassuring everyone that things were okay and that nobody had been hurt by the "cyber-vandal", but who could say how long that would last? Her tail twitched behind her as she looked around, pert nose sniffing the air. "Do you know Faster Pussycat?"

"...short!?" said Ashley in that loud tone that meant she wasn't actually angry. She had never had a great relationship with guidance counselors when she was in high school. She sighed and swirled her beer. "I don't give a #)#) about what racist and sexist #)$)ers say. It's the people who say 'look at her, she only got there because of who she is.', they're the ones that get under my damn skin." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Keeps me strong on maintaining a secret identity, anyway." Her lips curled sharply and she looked at Wail. "All right. I'd be a real $((# if I showed up in Little Saigon on April 30 and didn't do something for Pride too. Just...strange to be there in costume. But if they can be there for me, I can be there for them." She hesitated, then said, "It is a job, and sometimes it's a pain in the ass. But it's just a job I can't quit, if I don't want it handed off to somebody who'll #($( it up. That's the deal I made myself. Even if there's a price to be paid."

A little while later, the party had shifted around a little. Owain had (very carefully) stepped out of the pool and donned an oversized Hawaiian shirt over his board shorts, while Neko had taken out her shamisen again and was playing something in Japanese while a small group of identical-seeming bobtailed cats formed around her to watch her show appreciatively. There were plenty of snacks to eat yet, and the pool still beckoned. "Leon! A word, if I might," said Owain, approaching the other boy and keeping his voice low. "Somewhere...a bit more private?"

okay, it's initiative and Bluff/Sense Motive time!

"Woof!" said the wolf, "Hey, I don't want to start any trouble here!" Hands were up and he was stepping back, but the wolf-man was at least a head taller than either of the ladies who were facing him down. "You started trouble when you broke into a secret government facility you-" Ashley had been about to make reference to the fur on the guy's body but decided that wasn't cool in front of her mentee. "son of a bitch!" "Don't be so rude, lady!" said the wolf, a growl beginning to enter his voice. "Just for the record, my friends and I didn't even come here for your little bunker! Come on, catgirl," he said to Carmen, shifting to his left leg, "now's your chance!"

"Nobody's stopping me from wearing the uniform," said Ashley with a shrug. "I think some of those people are too hard on cops but yeah, more cops should take off their uniform when they're off the clock. It's the same with superheroes needing a civilian identity. If you start to think you're different than the people you're protecting, you start to think you're better than them." She hesitated, then said, "No, it's..." She took a moment to drink from her beer, knowing it was a tell, not really caring. "I don't want to be the damn queer Patriot, Keith!" She threw up her hand, having gathered the strength to say the words, then said, "All my life, I have done everything I can to make sure nobody thought I was in the room because of who I was. I almost stayed out of DC because it meant disclosing I have the meta-gene. So if I'm out there actually in that parade, it feels like I'm being less than I should be."