Electra
-
Posts
11,284 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Electra
-
"Everyone will probably want to get a weekend off sometimes," Erin allowed, "but it's a service job, not an office gig. Nobody can expect to have two days off back to back every week, or never work weekends. Anyway, if you're paying by the hour, people generally want more hours. Um, I guess that's something else to ask about," she said, trying to be delicate about it. "Salaries and benefits, things like that. I mean, I know you're just getting started with the company and all that," she added hastily. "And like I said, I haven't got a lot of years of experience or anything."
-
Erin cocked her head, doing a little mental arithmetic. It helped that she'd been juggling potential work hours recently for herself, made things easier. "Sixteen would probably be enough," she suggested, "otherwise not everybody's going to get full-time hours in a week. And four shifts of four in rotation means no one shift is stuck doing overnights for too long at a time. I can do twelves pretty easily, I don't need much sleep, but an eight hour shift is probably going to keep a regular guard more alert." She was shamelessly cribbing a lot of this from the setup at ArcheTech, another 24/7 concern, but she figured she might as well get some use out of her short stint there. "And yeah, no strangers on a team that small."
-
"Security here probably won't call for specially constructed uniforms," Erin decided. "There might be a big fight once in awhile, but mostly it's probably going to be like you said, keeping an eye on things and being a deterrent. Something like a uniform shirt, dark pants, boots, and utility belt for a weapon and phone or whatever. Do you have a logo made up yet? Put that on the shirt and that's probably official enough for people to get the message. How many security people are you thinking about hiring?"
-
"Yeah, probably," Erin nodded. "When I had access to Young Freedom's teleporter I used it sometimes, even though I can get around locally on my own pretty well. Sometimes you just have to get someplace right away, and you can't beat a teleporter for that. And depending on how you power it, maybe you could get green credits or something for keeping some cars off the street at rush hour," she suggested, mostly joking. "My place is out in the North End, so it's not really that far away, but like you said, there's rain and snow to think about. Uh, that reminds me," she said suddenly, "is there going to be a uniform or like a dress code you want me to wear?"
-
Erin shrugged, cracking a half-smile for the first time since coming into the interview. "Plus it's just fun to trick out a bike to do stuff," she pointed out. "Even if you don't need to use most of it very often, knowing that you could if you wanted to is cool. And, you know, bike's good for dates and stuff, riding together." She decided not to say too much about that, not knowing exactly how private Mara wanted to be with her social life. She didn't seem to be much like Jill, who had a joke for every occasion. Opposites sometimes attracted, she guessed. "Anyway, maybe after the company's up and running you guys can get in touch and talk shop."
-
Erin leaned back against a clear space on a work table, careful not to bump anything scientific-looking. "My boyfriend Trevor, you talked to him at the brunch thing too, he knows a lot about bikes. He's got one he built from the ground up. I can do the maintenance on something like that, do basic grease-monkey stuff on most cars, but he's the one who knows what he's talking about. You could probably talk to him if you want to toss ideas around. A good bike is really versatile in a lot of, you know, extracurricular situations, if it's made right."
-
"November first is fine," Erin said immediately, even as she juggled numbers in her head. November 1 meant rent would come due before the first paycheck, but she had enough money without touching Alex's stock or her own emergency stash if she was really careful and didn't do any driving. And at least she only needed to eat every other day, when pressed. She wasn't about to ask for an advance or a loan now, not when she'd just gotten hired for a position that involved a whole lot of responsibility and sound management. And when the job actually started and she got her first paycheck, she could actually take Trevor out to dinner for once, to celebrate. "So did you ever build that bike you were talking about at Eve's party?" she asked, suddenly curious.
-
Erin nodded, not too surprised now that she'd finally managed to connect the dots. It wouldn't have been totally weird to have one non-hero guest at Eve's party, but everything made much more sense this way. "It seems like in most crisis situations, the danger is either focused on places like this, or sort of ignores them entirely. We can work up plans and stuff for various scenarios where things might go wrong, in case we both have to go out for something. I'm guessing you already do a lot of work with automated systems anyway," she hazarded, glancing in the direction of the robots. "When do you want me to start?"
-
Erin thought about that for a moment, not quite sure of what to say. Head of security sounded a lot better, it probably paid a bit more and she would rather give orders than take them from a stranger, but what if an emergency came up and she was needed in costume? Could she reveal her secret identity without giving Jill away to her... wait. As Erin studied Mara, she suddenly remembered a morning, seemingly a lifetime ago now, before any of the momentous and tumultuous events of the summer. Eve's brunch at her brother's place, Erin had bought a new skirt for the occasion, and Jill had brought her new girlfriend... Mara. Oh. With the brief acquaintance and her assumption that Ms. Hallomen would be quite a bit older, she'd never thought to make the connection. Comprehension and brief embarrassment raced across Erin's face before she regained control of her expression. "Ah," she began, "I just remembered now where I've met you before, at my friend Eve's breakfast party. I should have remembered sooner. In that case, I guess you understand that I have to divide my time during certain kinds of emergencies. I'm good at teamwork and delegating, so if I had to go somewhere in costume, the company wouldn't be undefended or anything like that, but if you would rather have someone else running security, I totally understand that."
-
The thought briefly crossed Erin's mind that she could give Hallomen a quick tap in the temple with her bat to answer the question in the quickest and least personally annoying way possible, but she doubted that was what her potential new boss had meant. Besides, she wanted to have one job that she didn't get by knocking her employer unconscious. "I don't have a lot of experience that shows on my resume," she said after an uncomfortable moment of thought. "If you wanted to pay more money, you could probably hire someone who has run security for a company before. I'm pretty young and I'm a woman, so I'll have to work harder to earn respect in the field of security than if you hired a burly guy. And I don't actually know very much about science or any technology more advanced than a car engine."
-
Erin closed her eyes for a moment, visualizing the layout in her head. Just like an Advanced Tactics problem, she reminded herself. That had been one of the classes she'd actually done pretty well in. Opening her eyes, she looked back at Mara. "Maestro's a jobber, he's not much of a threat unless he's left alone too long. I send out a call over whatever comm I have available for everyone to put on ear protection. Plug up my own ears, and deal with Hiroshima Shadow first. That pretty much depends on the equipment I have to work with, since he's not solid and a physical hit isn't going to stop him. You need specialized energy weapons or mental or psychological attacks. Evacuate the floor he's on, lock down all the equipment so he can't get at whatever he's come for. If nothing else was available, I would probably call in backup. Hiroshima Shadow's a potentially lethal threat and he's crazy, so there's not a lot of time to do things that don't work. Once Shadow is taken care of, go and mop up the Maestro with a quick stunning blow to the skull and send him back to jail."
-
Erin had time for a quick moment of self-annoyance when she remembered she should've introduced herself as Keeley, the name she'd applied under, but it was replaced by the technical problem almost immediately. "Depends on what kind of systems you've got here," she said thoughtfully. "Stratos rarely works alone, so if he's coming in shooting lighting and starting trouble, I think he's probably being a distraction for someone else. I'd want to lock down the building and isolate this section, so that he can't get anywhere else easily, and anyone trying to infiltrate will have a harder time. If you have blockers to protect your sensitive electronics from overloading, that would be good to get up and running too. And then I would engage personally until he breaks off or is incapacitated."
-
"Oh, ah, yes," Erin said quickly. "I'm Erin White, I talked to you in email, about the security position?" She shifted to hold the manila folder in both hands. "I've got my resume and references here, if you'd like the hard copies. I know there isn't much there, but I've had a lot of training, and I'm very good." She struggled not to betray any particular discomfort about that last bit; even without most of her powers she still had the training and the experience. It should certainly be enough to do security work well, so it wasn't even a lie. "And I can start whenever you need me to."
-
Erin was a little surprised that Mara Hallomen didn't seem much older than she was herself, but she rallied quickly. With the friends she had, a lot of things that might have seemed very strange were almost routine anymore. "I hope I didn't disturb you," she said, stepping further into the room. "I can wait if you're busy. My friend Jill said that your company is coming along very fast. Are you really using robots to do all the building?" That last question just popped out, but it was such a strange and interesting idea, Erin couldn't resist.
-
Erin hesitated for a moment, not sure whether she was supposed to follow the strange-looking camera spider. It didn't look back to ensure she was following, though, and indeed seemed to have no further interest in her. Playing a hunch, she headed for the stairs instead, keeping a close eye out as she headed up. She wondered idly if this were some kind of test, or if things were just a little weird here because the building wasn't finished yet. Either way, it was smart policy to keep both eyes open, especially if she wanted to figure out more about what was going on. She trusted Jill, who'd given her the line on the job, but there was nothing to be found online about Mara Hallomen or her new company. It probably wasn't a front for supervillainy. Erin really hoped it wasn't. She'd already had to give up one excellent job because of supervillainy, two would probably look really questionable on her already scant resume.
-
Precisely ten minutes early for her appointment, Erin White approached the unprepossessing-looking building, pausing for a few moments to size it up from outside. She was once again wearing her only business-suit type outfit, clean and carefully ironed, even if it was a discount brand and not exactly tailored to fit her muscled frame. She had a manila folder with her references and resume tucked into the crook of her arm, though copies of everything had been sent on ahead. Well, she thought, looking at the building, you wanted different, and this is definitely different than ArcheTech. Taking a deep breath and schooling her features to conceal any nervousness, Erin carefully negotiated her way around the construction detritus until she found the covered walkway that led to the front entrance. She pressed the buzzer and waited, glancing around as she did to try and spot the security details of the building itself.
-
Wander goes on 26, but certainly not this round and possibly not next either.
-
In retrospect, Erin wasn't entirely sure what strange impulse motivated her to step in front of Donar's hammer. Maybe she was afraid that Cannonade couldn't survive the hit, maybe it was simple force of habit that overcame fear and had her moving before she could think at all. Either way, when the electrified hammer began its swing, she covered the handful of steps in a heartbeat, pushing Cannonade aside and turning just in time for the blow to fall. It hurt it a way she had almost forgotten anything could hurt, and before she could so much as make a sound she was flying, bat falling out of limp fingers as she arced over the bay and far away. She landed with a crash, and a force hard enough to knock the wind out of her again as wood splintered and people screamed. She caught the strong smell of sugary bubble gum and felt something sticky on her hair and skin. After a moment's dizzy disorientation, she opened her eyes to see she'd crashed into the amusement park, straight into a cotton candy kiosk. People were yelling in confused dismay and excitement all around her, but one helpful bystander pulled her to her feet and asked if she was all right. "Yeah," Wander muttered, trying to wipe some of the mess away, then giving up. "Gotta go, sorry about the booth..." She waved a hand vaguely, then took off in a limping run that was still several times faster than any human athlete.
-
Hahahaha... nope. First roll is a total of 20, going to use an HP to be slightly less unconscious. Hey, cool! Nat 20 means only bruised, dazed, and knocked way the hell back. Knockback damage, v DC 33: 1d20+10=25 Missed by eight again, so another bruise, and still dazed. And five miles away in Port Regal.
-
Koshiro is going to power stunt an Affects Insubstantial onto his crane blast, because magic, yo. (Blast 8: Affects Insubstantial 2, Indirect 3, Precise) 1d20+12=23
-
"'Sall right, Sage, it was just Citizen screwing around," Koshiro called to his diminutive teammate, even as he whipped a piece of paper out of his pockets. In moments he was surfing through the sky on a paper airplane the size of a cafeteria tray, following Citizen down the hallways of Freedom Hall with substantially more grace. He was brought up short, though, when he realized exactly who they were facing off against. He'd heard of Hiroshima Shadow, of course, but hadn't really ever expected to meet the villain in person. Koshiro stood still for a moment and watched the villain, even as his collection of paper birds began to fly one by one out of his knapsack. "Guess this is sort of appropriate," he muttered. Grabbing the nearest crane out of the air, he took a pen from a pocket and scribbled a few characters across its wings. Suddenly the whole flock seemed to glow faintly golden as they raced through the air towards the nuclear-powered villain.
-
"Do you have any idea what we've spent our summer doing?" Wander asked, suddenly sounding weary despite her nerves. She took a step forward, bringing herself front and center of the group. "It's been nothing but wall to wall gods and monsters. Omega, for Christ's sake. If the world were really about to end, it'd be kind of nice to get a little rest and downtime in with our families." She held up her bat as though getting ready for a line drive. "But since it's not the end, and people live here, we can't let you mess up the place. Go home, Donar. We don't want to fight you today."
-
Koshiro blinked and looked around, startled by the sudden voice in his head. He grimaced at his new colleagues, not quite sure which of the girls was digging into his head, but walked over to the building where his mom and family were standing. "They're gonna make sure you get a cab home," he told Kameyo, shoving his hands into his pockets. "They'll pay for it, the school's like loaded. You shouldn't try and take the bus this late, buncha delinquents on it." A half-smile twisted his lips, just for a second. "Anyway, I gotta go. I'll come back up and visit soon as they let me. Take care, okay?" Miserably uncomfortable, desperate to avoid the tears he could see his mom about to shed, Koshiro turned and loped back to Corbin. "When's that cab coming?" he demanded, squaring his shoulders and raising his chin as he faced off with the big guy. "They gotta get home, and I'm ready to blow this joint."
-
Miss A goes on 22.
-
Koshiro landed his paper plane, which unfolded and collapsed the moment he touched the ground. Flying had been a rush, but now that the fight was over, he didn't know exactly what he was supposed to do with himself. He kind of hoped people hadn't bought the thing about him joining up with the Champions, but since nobody was handcuffing him, he guessed he was probably okay. He stuck his hands and his pockets and slouched as he watched the criminals getting led away, shooting occasional uncertain glances towards his mom when he thought no one was looking.