Electra

With Jubatus up and feeling better, Fleur rose from the ground and brushed herself off fruitlessly. Between blood, sap and rubble, this uniform was going to be entirely beyond saving by the end of the day. "I don't have any experience with super-speed myself," she admitted to Jubatus, "but after we've taken care of all this, I'm sure I can put you in touch with some people who might know more." She made a quick lap of the scene of the battle, healing up a few civilians who were injured, using vines to prop up a few dangerous-looking damaged buildings. Dr. Metropolis would have his hands full for awhile, she imagined. "I need to get the Beekeeper bot over to HAX before he realizes he's been tricked," Fleur told the other heroes. "If you need anything, you can reach me on my comm unit, or over the League frequency. Good luck, all of you!" With that, she touched the flowers in her hair and was gone with a little puff of dust.

"Understood." Moving with only slightly undignified haste, Gina headed for the elevator. "I'll leave Emerson with you, he's good for holding doors and moving things around. Keep me updated." The elevator doors shut behind her, sending her down into the undocumented basement levels below HAX. Gina breathed a sigh of relief, happier than she could say to have a chance to look at the robots without the distraction of other people around. She suspected Mara understood that, which was embarrassing, but also increased efficiency quite a bit. As she rode, she drew thin gloves over her hands and pulled her hair back with a mesh cap she had in her bag. It was strange to have to observe normal cleanliness protocols again, but she was, for today, only human. At least there were several disabled robots down there, including two of heroes she didn't know. She'd start with those.

I posted her healing him in the IC, but you have to make the roll yourself. It's 1d20+13+Jube's Con bonus. DC 10 to heal one status condition, another condition heals for every 5 you beat the DC by.

"It's all right," Fleur assured Silver Spider, helping her to sit up. "He's been contained and isn't going to do any more damage. It wasn't the Beekeeper," she told Velocity, her voice grim. "There are robotic duplicates of heroes all over the city. We don't know how long they've been here, or what happened to the heroes they replaced. But they all broke character at once and started murdering people, causing disastrous property damage, who knows what else." She shook her head. "As soon as we're done here, I'm going to take the Beekeeper robot to HAX so they can try to analyze it and see where it might have come from." Leaving Silver Spider in Velocity's care, Fleur rose and made her way over to the next casualty. This one she knew by reputation at least; there weren't exactly a lot of giant cat heroes operating in Freedom City. "Jubatus?" she murmured, in case he could hear her. "I'm Fleur de Joie, I'm going to help you, Just lay still." She repeated the same routine as with Silver Spider, though the teeth and fur did make things a bit trickier. "You all are going to need to try and get this area contained and safe," she told the heroes. "There's very little in the way of backup to spread around today, the whole city is a mess. Do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

It's only been a couple of minutes, so you're probably right. Do you want to get a post in, or should I have Fleur come over and fix you up as soon as Azuth posts a wake-up?

"Uh-oh, you're right about that," Fleur agreed as she hastened over to the fallen hero. "Poor girl looks like she was hit by a truck. I can't do anything about the costume damage, but we'll make sure she's alive to find a tailor." Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a handful of leaves she'd saved over from treating Jack of all Blades and began pasting them like green bandages onto Silver Spider's many wounds. "I didn't realize you were back in town," she remarked to Velocity as she worked. "Have you joined up with a new superteam then?" The speedster certainly seemed acquainted with the... well, Fleur wasn't sure what powers Silver Spider had, but she definitely had a few broken gadgets to her name at the moment. Crushing a leaf in her palms till it released a strong minty smell, she pushed it between Silver Spider's lips. "All right now," she encouraged cheerfully, "up and at 'em!"

It wasn't until the elevator doors opened again that Gina realized how long she'd been sitting in the kneewell and composing herself after the conversation with Gabriel. He was long gone, though, and she had work to do. Standing up, she brushed herself off as best she could, though with her bruised face she looked a bit like a raccoon crawling out of a garbage bin. "It- it would be helpful if we could get some information on the situations in which the robots self-destruct. Gabriel didn't know, since the Harrier bot never went up. We should try and talk to anyone who saw it happen." A quick command to Emerson had the robot rolling to the door to watch for any arriving plant controllers. "If Fleur de Joie is bringing in a live one, it's probably going to be in her dimensional pocket. She accesses it through live plants. We need to get a live plant into a containment unit, then point whatever you've got at it that might shut it down before it can start to burn."

Okay, for better or worse, this is likely to be the last new sheet Fleur gets, so I'd better make it count! Parking the statisticals here while I cogitate upon the fluffimication. Abilities: 0 + 0 + 14 + 4 + 4 + 10 = 36 pp STR: 10 (+0) DEX: 10 (+0) CON: 24 (+7) INT: 14 (+2) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 20 (+5) Combat: 16 + 16 = 32 pp ATK: +8 (+10 Flower Power) DEF: +10 (+2 Dodge Focus, +4 Flat-Footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +8, +28 w/Move Object Knockback: -10/-3 Saving Throws: 3 + 10 + 8 = 21 pp Toughness: +20/+7 (+7 Con, +13 Protection) Fortitude: +10 (+7 Con, +3) Reflex: +10 (+0 Dex, +10) Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8) Skills: 112R=28 pp Bluff 15 (+20) (Skill Mastery) Concentration 8 (+10) Diplomacy 15 (+20) (Skill Mastery) Gather Information 16 (+21, Skill Mastery) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 8 (+10) (Skill Mastery) Medicine 8 (+10) (Skill Mastery) Notice 13 (+15) (Skill Mastery) Profession (Florist) 3 (+5) (Skill Mastery) Sense Motive 13 (+15) (Skill Mastery) Stealth 5 (+5) Survival 8 (+10) Feats: 29PP Accurate Attack Benefit (Freedom League Member) Connected Dodge Focus 2 Equipment 10 Improved Initiative 2 Inspire 5 Interpose Luck 2 Skill Mastery 2 (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Knowledge (Life Sciences), Medicine, Notice, Profession (Florist), Sense Motive) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Well-Informed Masterwork Commlink: [1ep] Masterwork Flashlight: [1ep] Masterwork PDA: [1ep] Powers: 2 + 66 + 3 + 2 + 14 + 2 + 6 = 95 pp Feature 2 (Distinguish Seeds By Touch Instantly, Instantly Make Flowerpots) [2PP] Flower Power Array 24 (48 pp, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 15) [66PP] BE: Snare 20 (entangling vines, PFs: Indirect 3, Obscures Senses 3 [Visual + Audio], Reversible, Subtle) {48/48} AP: Create Object 15 (plant shapes, Extras: Duration [Continous/Lasting], PFs: Precise, Selective, Subtle) {48/48} AP: Dimensional Pocket 5 (inside Flora, Extras: Duration 3 [Continuous/Lasting], Range [Ranged], Feats: Indirect 3, Progression [Cargo] 10 [1,000 tons], Subtle) {44/48} AP: Disintegration 13 (plantbane, Extras: Range [Perception], Flaws: Limited 2 [Plants], Feats: Incurable, Precise, Reversible, Split Attack, Subtle) {44/48} AP: ESP 8 (Flora's gaze, Visual + Audio Senses, 2,000 miles ["Same Continent"], Extras: Duration [sustained], No Conduit, Simultaneous, Flaws: Action [standard], Feats: Dimensional 3 [Any Dimension], Subtle) {44/48} AP: Healing 13 (medicinal plants, Extras: Action [standard], Total, Flaws: Distracting, Feats: Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) {42/48} AP: Healing 13 (plantsboon, Extras: Area [Targeted, Burst, 65ft radius], Range 2 [Perception], Total, Flaws: Distracting, Limited 2 [Plants], Feats: Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) {42/48} AP: Move Object 20 (mobile vines, Effective STR 100, Heavy Load: 12288 tons) (PFs: Indirect 3, Subtle) {44/48} AP: Nullify 10 (photosynthetic mastery, All "Air" Powers, Extras: Area [General, Burst], Effortless, Selective, Flaws: Range [Touch], Feats: Progression [Area] 3 [500ft radius], Subtle) {44/48} AP: Snare 15 (nature's grasp, Extras: Area [General, Shapeable], Selective, Flaw: Distracting) AP: Stun 20) (stunflower, Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: (Indirect 3, Sedation, Subtle, Variable Descriptor 1 [any plant]) {47/48} AP: Super-Movement 3 (plant dooors, Dimensional Movement 3 [Any Dimension], Extras: Duration 2 [Continuous], Portal 2, Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Progression [Portal Size] 5 [250ft x 250ft], Turnabout, Subtle) {28/48} AP: Teleport 9 (plant doors v.2, 900ft per Move Action, 20,000 miles per Full Action ["Anywhere On Earth"], Extras: Accurate, Affects Others, Flaws: Medium [Plants], Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Progression [Cargo] 12 [500 tons], Turnabout, Subtle) {44/48} AP: Teleport 9 (plant doors v.3, 900ft per Move Action, 20,000 miles per Full Action ["Anywhere On Earth"], Extras: Accurate, Linked [super-Movement], Flaws: Medium [Plants], Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Progression [Cargo] 14 [2,500 tons], Progression [save DC] 5 [DC24]) [40PP] + Super-Movement 2 (Dimensional Movement 1 [To/From Earth-Fleur], Extras[/i}], Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [4PP] {40+4/44/48PP] AP: Transform 10 (plant mastery, 1,000 lbs., Extras: Duration [Continuous/Lasting], Feats: Innate, Subtle) {42/48} Immunity 3 (ambrosial, Aging, Disease, Poison) [3PP] Immunity 2 (plant physiology, Critical Hits) [2PP] Immunity 1 (photosynthesis, Suffocation [CO2], Extra: Affects Others) [2PP] Protection 13 (lignin skin, PF: Subtle) [14PP] Regeneration 2 [ambrosial, Resurrection 2, 48 hours] [2PP] Regeneration 10 (botanical rejuvenation, Recovery +2 [+9], Recovery Rate: Bruised 3 [No Action], Staggered 1 [20 minutes], Injured 2 [5 minutes], Disabled 2 [1 hour], Flaws: Source [sunlight], Feats: Regrowth) [6PP] 36 + 32 + 21 + 28 + 29 + 95 = 241/250 pp ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC1- Toughness (Staged) Damage Dissolve Plants Perception DC23 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Toughness Perception DC28 Toughness (Staged) Damage Entangling Vines Ranged DC30 Reflex (Staged) Entangled/Bound Grow Plants Ranged DC20 Fortitude Transform Magic Flower Ranged DC20 Reflex Dimensional Pocket O2 Burst Ranged/Area DC20 Reflex 1/2 Effect Ranged/Area Contested vs Power Rank or Will Nullify Step Through Plants Touch DC24 Reflex Teleport Stun Flower Ranged DC30 Fortitude (Staged) Dazed/Stunned/Unconscious Vines (Thrown Object) Ranged DC35 Toughness (Staged) Damage

Jill's question had Wander pursing her lips into a tight frown before she replied in an equally soft voice, "If that's what's going on, we can't do much about it from here. Mara and Trevor are both smart, observant people, they've got to know something is wrong. They'll be fighting back, and they'll have plenty of help, I'm sure. What we can do is to take advantage of the distraction to maybe get ourselves free. Maybe we'll even be able to screw with him from this side, divide his attention even more." She let out a breath that was not quite a sigh. "Either way, it's better to try not to think about what we can't change right now."

Gina slumped down in the kneewell the moment the doors shut behind Gabriel, feeling as though she could suddenly breathe again. She distantly realized that she'd probably hurt his feelings, but there were only so many problems she could deal with at once. He was gone, and that meant there was some small chance she could function like a not-completely-insane human being for awhile. Her voice was stronger as she answered the comm once more. "I'm sure Dragonfly has a moduated EMP device somewhere around here, or can whip one up. It will hopefully be enough to shut down the robot without slagging it. There's a lot of frightened people out there who could use your help." She paused a moment. "Wouldn't hurt to show the flag a little as well, remind people that they like heroes. A poor or slow spin on this could toss us back to 1985 all over again."

Another loud hesitation, broken only by Emerson's impatient tapping on the elevator button. "Cyberknife," she finally said, in a voice so soft the comm hardly picked it up. "Miss Americana is the robot. Call me Cyberknife. I can't... you've gotta go away, Gabe. I can't work until you go. You're too damn pretty." There was a trace of the sardonic humor there that he associated with Miss A, but she obviously meant it, as she made no move to come out from the hiding spot she'd found. "You go take care of the city, and I'll do the science."

There was a long few moments of silence on the line, till it seemed as though she might have withdrawn completely from the conversation. Finally she spoke again, the doubling-over of voice and link sounding a bit odd to Gabriel's enhanced ears. "It's not you. It's not today. It's everyone, all the time. I didn't send out Miss A instead of going myself for no reason. But she's gone, and I have to examine the robots. It's the only way to help find him and bring him back." From the other side of the room, Emerson rolled over to the gurney Gabe was wielding and took hold of it, attempting to push it towards the elevator. It didn't budge, six hundred pounds being rather outside of the little droid's weight class. That didn't stop him from trying, treads groaning with the effort.

Under the desk, Gina realized she'd put herself into a bit of a difficult spot vis a vis replying to Gabe over the commlink. With his ears, it was likely he'd be able to hear her talking in person as easily as over the link. She put her fingers on the commlink and tried to project mentally into it, but was rewarded with another blinding flash of pain behind her eyes for her efforts. Hopefully the lingering results of psychic overload would fade quickly, but for now she was stuck with the decidedly subpar physicality she'd been born with. Picking up the link the normal way, she fiddled with the gain till it was loud as could be, then whispered into it. "Tell her to bring it here, there's a pair of live potted trees just outside the front door and she'll be let in. We'll figure out how to disable the robot." Over the link, it sounded like she'd started whispering oddly loudly, but the words were clear enough. "Someone will be down in a moment to collect the Harrier bot."

Wander rubbed the back of her neck and stared around at the giant bay. "It could be a trap," she mused, "get us in here, activate the robots and cut us off from behind, but we've been basically already trapped this whole time. If he wanted us up here, he'd have brought us here in the first place." She walked up to one of the robots, stared at its lifeless face. "We still don't know why that ship crashed the way it did, and Vince said all communications were dead. Could something have happened to the Curator? Something that hurt or distracted him enough that he stopped automating his drones and drone ships?" Keeping her bat at the ready, she turned to follow Blue Jay down the hall. "If that's true, we might have just a little time before he comes back. We'd better put it to work." She didn't look entirely happy about the stealthy but somewhat fragile Blue Jay taking the lead, but didn't say anything against it either. "Harrier, you stay to the back and watch for trouble. Quickstep, you stay right here by me and don't go anywhere, okay?" She gave the teenager a stern look. "And if I say run, you run like hell, teleport back to the ship if you have to." Still frowning, Erin hefted her knapsack and moved out after the archer.

Fleur's eyes widened at Velocity's recounting of the damage from the fight. "Yes, that seems like the priority for the moment. Beekeeper will, ah, keep, I guess, for the moment. The real Beekeeper III has a trusting heart, I had wondered if whoever did this would put that quality in the robot as well. Now where is the scene?" It was a moment's thought to teleport herself to the scene of the fight, which was nearly overwhelming in the scope of damage done in one small area. will b dlayed, she quickly texted Gabriel. healing 2 do. ask d fly re fireproofing thx. Already growing seeds between her fingers, she looked around to try and assess who needed help the most.

While his trio of teammates busied themselves killing massive numbers of drones, Koshiro had been focusing hard, looking for the weak point in the Curator's armor. The computer systems here were alien, but all computers had a few things in common. Inputs for data and power, vents for air and heat, screens to observe. He stood still himself, but hundreds of little cranes took to the air, prodding at every likely spot and looking for vulnerabilities. He was pretty sure he'd found something good when the Curator's voice rang out with its stunning message. I will give you the dimensional coordinates of your elder male sibling. Koshiro didn't so much as twitch a muscle, but suddenly every crane fell from the sky as though they'd been shot as the young artist's mind went completely blank. The Curator collected information, all information, from everywhere. Surely he'd been to other worlds where Takeshi had disappeared, Koshiro knew for a fact there were more than one. He really might know what had happened, and where Takeshi had gone. Even if he were dead, and the thought of that squeezed Koshiro's chest like a fist, even if he were dead, at least they would know... He pulled himself together, some of the cranes struggling feebly in response. "I don't believe you!" he shouted at the Curator, clenching his hands into fists. "You're a liar and a murderer! You don't know where he is!"

"The front door, right..." Gina looked towards the front door a dozen yards away, then bolted for the nearest hiding place. This turned out to be the broad reception desk that took up a good chunk of the lobby real estate, empty now with the employees of HAX safe in their secured areas. In the kneewell of the central receptionist position, with the chair pulled in front of her, Gina felt considerably more ready to answer Gabriel. "My robot will let you in here too, actually. You can drop the robot off at the elevator and the science team can take it from there. Do we know if there are any more robots available for study?" At her silent order, Emerson trundled to the door, ready to open it for Gabriel and his trolley.

Stesha breathed a sigh of relief as the mad robot traipsed willingly into her flower portal. As the petals closed around and swallowed the Beekeeper, she activated her commlink to Velocity once more. "The Beekeeper doppelganger is neutralized, at least for now. I want to get him to one of the engineering geniuses as soon as possible, before he makes an escape attempt or self-destructs in there. Did you say that you had casualties on your team?" As she spoke, she sent a quick text to her fellow Aux Team members. Got live Beekeeper Bot in my pocket. Where do I take it?

Disable Device is a 27

Guess Koshiro isn't as quick off the mark when there are other heroes around He goes on 9. He will be making with the paper cranes, looking for any input slots or vents on the machines to try and get in there and mess some stuff up. Disable Device check, I suppose?

Yes, I think Waffle got a 23, so even without Attractive, Fleur would beat him. He rolled that before posting Beekeeper being swayed by Fleur's persuasions. Now she's just trying to get him to actually relent to being pocketed. And Thev is right, they are talking on a League channel. I wouldn't mind if the others were tuned in as well for whatever reason, but I think they may be too far away at this point to intervene except by radio communication?

"Absolutely," Fleur agreed. She twined a vine up the nearest tree, then opened a flower on it the size of a phone booth. "Quickly," she encouraged, gesturing to the flower. "You remember how it works, yes? Just step up to it and it will close over you. You'll be in a very green place for just a few minutes while I move across the city. I'll let you out the minute we're away from the League patrol, and we'll make up a plan to efficiently deal with the criminals who've been let loose on the streets for much too long." She looked to the sky again, seeming nervous that the League would come down on them at any moment!

From behind her tree, Fleur sized up the aggressively alert stance of the Beekeeper doppelganger. She murmured into her commlink, hoping Velocity would hear, "He's watching for an ambush, I'm not sure I could get him in one swipe. I'm going to try something. Be ready in case it doesn't work." Pushing the escaped tendrils of her green hair behind her ears, Fleur stepped boldly out in front of the trees, putting herself in the path of the Beekeeper. "They don't understand!" she called, her voice carrying to him across the park. "They haven't learned about the majesty and power of bees, or the clarity of purpose that comes from defending your home to the death! But I do." She took a few more steps towards him, struggling not to tense in anticipation of an attack. "I live with the bees, and I watch them every day, and I understand the lesson we need to learn from them. They don't bother with capturing intruders, or rehabilitating creatures who attack them. They don't hang back and watch while evil exists among them! They'll kill and die to protect their home, and anything that attacks them is condemning itself to death. That's what you're trying to do, isn't it, Beekeeper? You just want us all to be safe, whatever it takes." She smiled at him and continued walking forward. "You're right, you know. I've been a hero for so long now, and nothing changes in this city. The villains always come back, they're never stopped for good. We need to change that! I want to help you." She put a hand to her earpiece as though getting a message, then looked to the sky. "The League is coming for you," she told him with great concern. "They'll be here any moment. Let me help you. I can take you to the other side of the city without being seen, and we can get to work."

Move Action: Come out from behind the trees Standard Action: Attempt to Bluff the Beekeeper into believing she is on his side Contested Bluff DC is a 31 (Counting Attractive pursuant to a discussion in chat whether the robots would still respond to human traits like physical attraction. Since the robots were designed to mimic their doppelgangers as closely as possible while still doing their destructive thing, it seems likely, and other robots have been vulnerable to social attacks like demoralize.) Fleur is currently at 3HP after Scratch Team and Arms and the Man. If her bluff should fail, she will spend an HP to surge and attack with snare.

"All right, you'll be met-" Gina stopped talking with a sigh when the line to Gabriel went dead. She'd had to do some fast double-tasking, getting the Emerson at her private lab alerted to open the door when the flying hero arrived much faster than expected, but Emerson confirmed delivery, so that was one serious problem out of sight for the moment. She ordered Emerson to begin a diagnosis on the robot with an eye towards finding anything salvageable, but she didn't hold out a lot of hope. The EMP had been very thorough. "Definitely the lobby," she told Dragonfly, switching her attention back to that problem. Working with any hero was going to be difficult, even talking to the ebullient Edge was a daunting proposition. "Gabriel has a copter en route from Blackstone with the Harrier robot, it should be landing in about five minutes." As the doors open, she stepped in the lobby, which was blessedly empty and quiet. Emerson rolled out obediently behind her, whirring softly as he committed the layout of the new building to memory.