Electra
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Just then, a flock of battered, oil-stained and somewhat singed cranes came wheeling crazily from the direction of the downed helicopters, the beat of their wings like a thousand pages turning all at once. They piled into one of the remaining Nazis, bowling him over and into his compatriot, who fell down as well. Both of them were quickly covered in a blanket of white wings as the birds ensured they wouldn't be getting up soon. From the door of the bus, Papercut sent Crimson Tiger a quick thumbs-up.
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Erin's face went blank for a moment when Mara spoke of Christmas loneliness, but she quickly bounced back to casually pleasant. "Everyone has different traditions for Christmas," she pointed out. "I'll be here for most of Christmas, did my gift-giving early so I can let the guys with families take off for the holiday. Then afterwards I'll take time off and relax." She smiled wryly. "Who knows, maybe all the bad guys will take off for the holiday and everything will be quiet for once."
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She shrugged, looking uncomfortable herself for a moment. "Yeah, I guess so. But I haven't seen you in awhile, and Christmas means I'll be pretty busy with work. I granted vacation leave to some of the security staff, so I'll be working double and triple shifts until New Year." She brushed a light kiss over his cheek, then pulled off her hat to let the auburn hair she was trying to grow long again crackle around her face with static electricity. "Has Christmas break started at your school yet?"
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December 15, North Bay The sun was just setting on another short Freedom City winter day when Erin pulled up in the driveway of the Hunter Mansion in her salt-streaked and dusty blue pickup truck. She swung out of the cab and tossed her knapsack over her shoulder, then shut the door and jogged the rest of the way up the drive. Most days she'd detour to the garage and code her own way into the house, but today she went straight up the front steps and tapped on the door. She hadn't seen much of Trevor and Travis lately, everyone had been busy with other things since Thanksgiving. Between work and patrol, Erin never had too much time for socializing anyway.
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Okay, Koshiro's going to use the "Walking attack" option on his autofire to try and get both of those guys. Since they're together on adjacent blocks, I think it's just a -2 penalty to the attack roll for that. And hey, they are minions, so taking 10 gives a 20 for both. DC 23 toughness saves
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The ringing phone caught Gina up to her elbows in red silk taffeta, half-buried in the voluminous skirt of one of Miss Americana's gowns. She snagged the phone and scooped it to her shoulder, rather surprised to hear Steve's voice on the other end. "Oh, tonight, huh?" Her eidetic memory displayed the evening's activities with crystal clarity: an important reception for ArcheTech's biggest investors and backers, followed by a $5000 per ticket charity ball where she'd promised to make an appearance. The Saturday before Christmas was a day that had been booked on Miss A's social calender for months. "Sure, that sounds good," she told him, dumping the gown onto a worktable. "Come on over whenever, I've got a pizza to put in the oven for dinner. And I've got your present."
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Erin took a deep breath, deliberately pushing away the surge of dread at the thought of facing the Terminus once again. "All right, this is a Terminus dimension, that's good to know. It gives us a start, anyway. We know that the Terminus attacked three months ago, give or take. By rights, this city should be either on the wrong side of the Doom Coil or crawling with Omegadrones. The fact that it's empty like this means that something went wrong for them in the process. That's good news. Maybe if we can figure out what it was, we'll have another tool to deal with them in the future. But that's for tomorrow, too. First priority is staying alive, so that means shelter. I'll go in first, Jill, you come behind me, then Quickstep, and Steve, you're in the back." She passed Jill a flashlight and flipped on her own headlamp, drawing her bat as she walked through the open door into the heavily damaged Brownstone. "No bodies visible in here, no signs of fighting," she observed aloud as she cased the first rooms. "Makes sense, the Interceptors wouldn't have stayed inside if the Terminus was attacking. We should try and get to the basement." She looked to Jill for directions.
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For her own part, it wasn't as though Gina didn't have a lot to do. A second terminally-ill child was just acclimating to his new robotic body at ArcheTech, and half-a-dozen research teams needed oversight and grant approvals as the end of the year approached, not to mention her own personal projects in her home lab. At The Lab, the D-Gray AI was fully scrubbed and needed some hand-holding as he built his strange new second life.The accountants for her own businesses and ArcheTech were calling every day with new questions and minor issues before tax season even geared up. And that was before she even thought of the dozens of holiday obligations, parties and fundraisers that demanded time and attention from the beautiful and charismatic Miss Americana. She kept very busy! Despite all that, though, it was hard not to notice that she was spending more nights alone than she had since... well, since last year at this time, just before she and Steve had hooked up in the first place. It sucked being alone at the holidays, even if that just meant that there was nobody else in the house when you returned to your own body after hours away. Up until recently, it had seemed like Steve was insinuating himself into her life at a pace that was nearly uncomfortable, but now she hardly saw him. The extra food she'd started ordering by rote was beginning to pile up uneaten, the shoveled front walk went unused. She caught herself spending extra time at her bathroom mirror, the only mirror in the house, studying herself for an updated catalog of flaws and ugly places that might be enough to drive a lover away. That was stupid, she reminded herself, Steve's standards were obviously not that high. Far more likely that he was growing tired of her difficult personality. It had been almost a whole year, after all. That was a long time for anyone to hang in there on a painful and thankless task. Even an ex-Omegadrone could do better.
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Wow, Koshiro goes on 24
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"Nazis, we've got Nazis incoming!" Koshiro shouted into his comm before realizing it was as dead as everything else in the bus. Running to the door, he could clearly see the helicopters outlined against the dark sky. Cursing under his breath, he rummaged in his pockets, pulling out cranes by the handful. At least the rain had stopped, or he'd not only be a sitting duck, he'd be a dead duck, sitting in the inoperative bus without a thing to throw at the Nazis but angry words. A command from him had the cloud of cranes taking to the sky, brief flares of white in the darkness. They spiraled upwards like the cone of a tornado, spreading wide at first to avoid the downdrafts of the choppers. Once they'd achieved the necessary height, though, they spiraled in, purposely letting themselves be sucked into the blades and rotors where they cheerfully jammed themselves into every crack and crevice and moving part they could find. It was an inventory-heavy trick, but Koshiro could fold more cranes a lot faster than he could fold himself back to life if those Nazis landed safely. Leaning out of the door, he looked towards the facility, hoping the cavalry would arrive before he had to improvise any more tricks.
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Who ordered the Nazi deathacopters? Anyway, Koshiro's going to spend an HP to stunt off his origami magic array. Now he's got quite a good Disable Device check, so if he could just get close enough to those copters, he could wreck them up pretty good. Luckily, it has stopped raining, so he has some friends who can do the work for him. Stunting Nullify Flight 8 (Extras: Area [Cone, Targeted], Autofire, Flaw: Action [Full]) [24/24PP] And it's a 20, but hopefully that will be enough to do something. The Nullify check, on the other hand, is a very respectable 27.
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"Mister, we see people like you once a month, unless things are busy," Wander told him. She'd flinched when his blow struck her shoulder, but focused past the pain and shook it off, just as he had shaken off her blow. Now they squared off warily, her with her bat, him with his fists. "Punks with a weird story and a few goons who think they're ready for Freedom City. We call you guys training fodder." Abruptly, she dropped to the ground as though her strings had been cut, rolling between her opponent's legs and coming up behind him for a wicked-line drive swing to the center of his back. The bat made a very satisfying hollow sound as it connected, but avoided breaking any ribs or vertebrae. It was quite well-designed, after all.
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"Yes," Erin agreed as she put batteries into a large handheld lantern and flipped it on. "It wasn't worth it to track them down earlier when they were spooked and hostile, not when we had other priorities. But once we get a base established, there's strength in numbers. And even if they are hostile, we want to be able to keep an eye on them. We can try for radio contact again tonight, but save a foot search for tomorrow." She gave the lantern to Dorothy, then began dropping batterings into a strap-mounted headlamp she'd found in a utility truck up the block. "Meantime, before it gets dark, I want a look inside the Brownstone. Jill, you know the layout in there much better than the rest of us. Do you think you can get us in there so we can see if there's enough intact for us to use? Having even the shell of a hero HQ would be a big advantage."
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It was hard to tell in the rain and the dark, but it seemed as though Corbin's old teammate was almost annoyed about her opponent fleeing the fight. She landed next to Corbin with a soft splash on the wet street, studying the results of his mighty blow. "Well, that was impressively lethal," she commented. "I don't remember you having quite such a mighty swing. Have you been getting more training lately?" Kneeling, she pinched up a sample of the wet ash, rubbing it between her fingers. "Definitely not human, whatever it was. Not a mechanical, either. Interesting."
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"As an individual charged with securing your well-being, I would advise against that," Erin told Mara with a straight face. "I'm not sure what's in that, but I don't think it's chocolate and it may well be poisonous." She looked around, taking note of the large number of abandoned mugs. "Though at least there's plenty to go around." With her own mug appropriated, she poured a cup of hot cider from the carafe next to Steve's. "We were just saying there's a good turnout tonight. What time is the band scheduled to play?"
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Erin swept through the buildings she'd assigned her own team with the ease of long practice that had come to the fore with almost disconcerting speed. It wasn't like she'd slacked off on her survival training in the past four years, but it was still strange how the old instincts clicked right back into place. More than once, she found herself spinning at some small noise, expecting a zombie but finding only Dorothy moving some item or the wind knocking against the doors. That in itself was strange, really. Back in her world, as soon as the humans were gone, the rest of the world had rapidly moved in. Where were the mice and rats, the feral cats, the white-tailed deer that should be in an abandoned city? As they went, something else began to niggle at the edges of her awareness, something that wasn't sitting quite right. It didn't seem like winter here. Well, it did seem like winter, in that it was cold and gray outside, threatening snow, but that was the only indication that it was December at all. The stores certainly didn't make sense at all. "Hey guys, check something for me would you?" she radioed the other team. "What I'm seeing in terms of rot and spoilage here makes me think that the people have been gone and the power's been off for maybe three months. Everything perishable has gone off, even some of the hardier vegetables, but not your potatoes, onions, squashes, you know? That would mean whatever happened here was sometime in September or so. But I haven't seen a single back to school sign or fall setup. There are spring and summer clothes out for sale, and the milk and eggs have expiration dates in May. It's like time was slowed down or stopped or something. I don't know, but it's weird." Having a mystery to solve bothered Erin, but not enough to distract her from the mission. Within ninety minutes, she and her young charge had assembled a decent pile of food and supplies, including a small kerosene heater that someone had obviously been keeping illegally in their apartment. "Here," Erin told Dorothy, tossing her a box of granola bars. "You get started on these, we'll find more food as we need it. Gotta keep your strength up."
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Koshiro frowned as he watched the scene unfold from the somewhat dubious safety of the bus. It made tactical sense for someone to stay with their mobile HQ, and it made sense that it be the squishiest member of the team, but it still felt uncomfortably like chickening out. He used Sharl's visual and audio pickups to follow the action, blinking and frowning at the rows of crates. "Hey Citizen," he suggested into Sharl's earpiece. "Ask her what her deal is with staying behind if her Tronik is sent on. Are there prisoners that need to be freed, or are she and her people joining the resistance, or is this some kind of big revenge thing? It's not like this world is their home or something that they probably feel a lot of emotional attachment to, right? There's gotta be an angle. Not like they aren't owed some revenge, but if she's anything like what we know, they may not differentiate between organic human bodies."
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Erin took a long breath and looked around the block, not looking for landmarks, but taking it in as though it were a simulation or a strange city. Mixed use (very mixed) residential, with blocks of low-slung apartment buildings butted up against bodegas and small local stores that likely held quarters for the owners overtop. It looked as though there had been a super-battle in the vicinity of the brownstone, with some of the surrounding buildings badly damaged, but nothing was entirely destroyed. "All right," she decided, "this is the place we found, so we'll start work from here. The first thing we have to do is gather supplies and establish a secure base. We're going to go up and down this block and check every building for what we can use. That's food, weapons, warm clothes, matches, fuel, batteries, light and heat of any kind, first aid, and bedding. Whatever you find, bring it out and put it in front of the Brownstone. We'll go in teams of two. Quickstep and I will take the south side of the block, Jill, you and Harrier take the north side. Keep in close radio contact, and watch for survivors or anything hostile. We don't know where we are, or what did this, or if they're still here, but we do know that it's December in some Freedom City and it's going to be dark in a few hours, and it's going to get cold."
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"Let me save you the trouble of coming down!" With a careless flick of her hand, the auburn-haired powerhouse had shed her cloak and was in action, bouncing off the truck's thick wheel as though it were a trampoline and taking to the sky. With her bat held slightly awkwardly out to one side, she executed a dizzying midair roll, then smashed feet-first into the junction of armor between Steel Sentinel's right shoulder and chest. "Wannabe-robot villains and drizzling showboats, is this what Hades is sending out these days?" she snarked contemptuously. "You'd do better as the go-to raincloud for an agrarian compound, and maybe the tractor as well."
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Wander missed by 9, so she's bruised and dazed. She'll shake the daze with HP on her action. On her action, her Regeneration should take care of the Bruise as well, leaving her unharmed. Since Jason is already in melee range, she'll use her move action for a fast acrobatic bluff, skill mastery gives a DC 27 to avoid flatfooted. Standard Action for a regular attack with bat. And it's a critical hit, a 32. DC 32 toughness save with the crit, plus any potential bonus from her autofire.
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"You don't miss the office Christmas party, not if you can help it." Erin White, HAX's head of security, was looking more festive than usual today, having added a jaunty red and green elf hat and silver tinsel necklace to her drab blue uniform. "Free food and alcohol, plus the entertainment value." She herself was avoiding the eggnog and spiced rum punch, since it would set a bad example for the security chief to be breaking the law. There was still plenty of food and drink on offer, including hot cocoa, a personal favorite of hers. She accepted the cup that was passed to her, stirring it with the candy cane for a moment before taking a sip. The gag reflex was instantaneous, making her spit the cocoa back into the cup in an undignified way. "Ugh, Steve, what the hell is this?" she demanded. "There's no sugar! And is that..." She smacked her lips together. "Is that cayenne pepper?" Glowering at her subordinate for his treachery, she sucked on the candy cane to try and banish the taste.
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Erin's cheeks flushed a little under the long assessment, even as her eyes warmed. "Parties are boring anyway. Try not to hit the eject button or anything, kay?" She stifled her own chuckle with another kiss, and after that there wasn't need for a lot of talking. As it turned out, zero gravity was not so bad after all, especially for a couple of graceful and highly motivated people. And green facepaint was meant to be shared. It was about time, Erin thought later on, hazily, that the universe doled out treats for Halloween instead of yet another trick. Maybe this boded well for the holiday season to come.
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Let's go for the most classic attack first. Move action is acrobatic bluff, skill mastered DC 27. Standard action is charging full power attack via leaping. That's +2 and -5 to attack, and -2 to defense. Roll is a 19. Ugh, not very good, but it might work if he's flat-footed. Let me know if it misses and I'll spend HP.
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Erin stared about herself uncertainly upon landing, suddenly feeling as disoriented as a sleeper waking in an unfamiliar room. She'd come this way a thousand times, leaping down onto her own street at the end of a long day or night, but suddenly her street wasn't there anymore! Leaving the group, she leapt back into the air to check her reference points, a task made difficult by the fog, but it all seemed to be right. Apparently this world was even more different than it seemed, and they weren't going to be able to make any assumptions. She landed with a quiet thud of heels on pavement, looking at the others through eyes tight with strain. "I don't know where we are," she admitted. "We should be on the north end, near my apartment, but I don't recognize these landmarks It's like the city's been rearranged."
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Mindful of the rain and the hazardous situation, Koshiro stayed in the front of the van, monitoring Sharl's conversation over comlink and video. "Who's this Glace?" he asked through his own comlink, his brow furrowing with concern. "Is that an Erde codename for someone we know on Prime?" Sharl didn't know a lot of women, at least not that Koshiro knew of, but the ones he did know tended to be real good with computers. He wondered if they were going to meet the Erde version of Miss Americana or something. Whoever it was, they didn't seem to quibble at slaughtering humans, but in his heart Koshiro found it difficult to place blame. For the people of Tronik, this was the last defense in a genocidal war. If the Nazis won, there wouldn't be a Tronik left at all. Killing enemy soldiers was something that happened in a war.