Electra
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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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Everything posted by Electra
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Sparkler's going to get hold of the wounded assistant-type person and hoist her up, then fly with the aid of her broom towards the at least presumptive safety of the AEON Building's lobby. She's flying at half speed, but that's still a steady 50mph/500fpm, and will take her into the lobby.
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Sparkler goes on 18
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"Ooh, I have another question." Raina raised her hand. "When you say "seize control of the Soviet missiles," what exactly does that mean? I mean, are there gonna be like a pile of missiles with big radioactive signs on them that we're supposed to put under our arms and haul away? How big is a nuclear missile?" She looked to Merlin, the monkey just shrugged. "Or are they gonna be like in silos and stuff, and if we seize control, we actually have to take and hold some kind of Soviet military base for however long it takes to get missiles out of their tubes without irradiating ourselves, ideally." She looked around the room. "Okay, maybe I have a few questions. If we get the missiles, what are we supposed to do with them then, give them to you?"
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Jessie had found her way into the station's cantina almost on instinct, following the smell of food that carried even over the disreputable smells of the rest of the station. Despite Aquaria's best efforts, the claustrophobia of space travel pressed down hard on her, and the station wasn't much of an improvement. The windows let her see the stars, but there was no friendly air-filled atmosphere that promised an escape if one should prove necessary. All that was outside these narrow corridors and cramped rooms was death, and the walls seemed to bow under the pressure. But food was good. Having food helped for some reason she couldn't quite pin down, not even eating it, but just having it. Eating it was not bad either, though it was better when Aquaria was not nearby eating giant bugs. The problem with the cantina was that they wanted money for their food, and Jessie did not have any. Even if she'd left Earth with her wallet, they probably wouldn't have accepted her debit card. The bartender had seemed to feel a little sorry for her, and had sent her to a strange-looking man in a little booth down the corridor, who'd bought her watch, her earrings and her shoes in exchange for a handful of colorful chips in irregular shapes. He offered to have a look at the anklet as well, but she told him it wasn't hers to sell, and also she couldn't get it off. It had occurred to her to hope that what he'd given her was actually money, but since the bartender accepted it without question, it was good enough. She had to do some jockeying to find a table in a safe corner, but once she bodily lifted up and moved a fairly large alien-type who was just loitering and not even eating, she was allowed to sit where she wanted. With her stocking feet drawn up beneath her to keep them off the sticky floor, Jessie spent an unknowable amount of time sitting and eating soup and crackers, watching the crowd and trying not to think about space, or how far she was from home, or what was going to happen when they got there. She'd done her best to be confident when she was talking to Captain Ruby and her crew, and she was, mostly, but Jessie hated the idea of making more trouble for Erin. Erin was not going to be happy with Jessie for breaking her parole, or for getting lost, and definitely not for promising people money and favors in Erin's name just to get home. She was pretty sure that when Roulette and the others went to Erin for payment, she would pay them, but what if it was more than Jessie was worth? What if there was not going to be any money left after that? What if she and Aquaria couldn't stay in their apartment anymore? What if they couldn't anyway, because they had to go back to jail? What if nobody was actually going to take them back to Earth, and this was all a trick? What if the Spectrum Knights were still hunting them and were going to try and kill them? What if something bad happened to the wall that was behind her right now, and space started rushing in and suffocating all of them and nobody could do anything? Jessie huddled over her soup bowl and took another bite, watching the room like a predator in a trap.
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"Go on inside, they're just a bunch of assholes," Raina told Fred encouragingly, giving the other girl a nudge towards the front door that was getting closer all the time. Her own heart was pounding in her chest, but she'd be damned if she was going to give in to the intimidation of a crowd of thugs. "You hear that, morons?" she added, raising her voice to a shout. "I was born in 1999 in Angel Mounds, Indiana! I'm no T-Baby, and you're all ignorant hicks!" She flicked her lighter, and suddenly tongues of flame danced at the tips of her fingers, none more than six inches long, but highly visible nonetheless. The flames whirled together into a ball the size of her head, cradled just above her hand as she glared at the crowd and kept walking.
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Paige coughed lightly with a glance in Val's direction, but was all business again a second later. "We're definitely on board," she told Klara. "It may or may not be the Death Worms we were looking for, but it sounds like a hell of a story. And if we can help out the people in this area, so much the better. We just need an hour or so to gather our film crew and get the gear together. Oh, and if you know of any drivers who aren't at all superstitious, that might be helpful," she added. "Do you think we have enough clip mics?" she asked Richard. "I think we have at least three in the sound kit."
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Sparkler will try and shoot Wildcard! She shoots and misses! HP Reroll! She still misses! Merlin will continue to assist Vince in activating and using the HQ's defenses. Raina's move action will take her to the roof across the street, where she and the girls can hover out of reach, but not fall far in case Wildcard still has something up his sleeve that can disrupt powers.
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"Hi Talya!" Raina said cheerfully, leading the way into the dojo with the ease of familiarity. She was already dressed to work out, and quickly kicked her shoes and dropped her purse into one of the provided cubbies. She was a little disappointed that Talya had decided to wear a baggy shirt today, with all the stories she'd been telling Cathy about her hot teachers, but it wasn't that bad. Once everyone was inside, she made introductions. "These are my friends, they wanted to see what I've been doing instead of going to gym class. This is my roommate Cathy," she began, giving Cathy a nudge forward with her shoulder. "She's got cold powers and is the reason my nose has been stuffed up since like Thanksgiving. And this is Sarah, she's new," Raina went on, waving a hand in Sarah's direction. "She's a magic-type too, maybe she could use some self-defense more than running laps. Over there is Huang, he's magical too, and he lives in a haunted house. And this," she added, with the air of somebody who was saving the best for last, "is my boyfriend Anibal. I told you about him."
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Raina had watched Sarah's transformation with professional interest, despite the heebie-jeebies creeping up her spine from the brimstone "smell" of the girl's magic. She'd skinned hastily into her own stupid-looking blue and gold jumpsuit in the locker room, then helped Merlin with the matching tiny shirt he was required to wear when they were working. He complained a little about it, mostly for form. "Hey," she encouraged him, "you look like a Star Trek doctor if he were a monkey. Chin up, at least they aren't making you wear a little fez." Merlin made a rude noise. "You eat your monkey biscuits with that mouth?" she'd asked mildly as they left the room to join the others. The simulation looked like a snoozer at first, which Raina appreciated because it seemed less likely that Riley was going to shoot anybody. It was interesting to see the Oval Office and President Kennedy, who even Raina could recognize at a glance, but it did leave her sort of wishing she'd paid more attention in history class. She didn't know too much about this chapter of history except that the Soviet Union and the United States almost nuked each other to oblivion a couple times before the Berlin Wall got knocked down and somehow it collapsed the Soviet government. That didn't seem to be pertinent. "If sending American troops to Cuba would cause a war, wouldn't it be even worse if American superheroes went down on behalf of the government?" she asked. "Don't the Soviets have metahumans on their side too?"
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"I know how to pronounce it," Raina told Huang as she followed him into the elevator, "I just think that trying to get out your entire four-syllable code name is eventually going to get somebody killed during an actual emergency situation. And calling you Ouro would just make us sound like confused dogs." She turned to Sarah. "And wearing your uniform is a good idea if you don't want to mess up your clothes. They've got a bunch of the school uniforms down in the locker room for anybody to wear, I'm going to grab one and change into it before we start." Raina was wearing a very pretty scoop-neck sweater today, in a blue that accented her eyes, and there was no way on earth she was about to put it at risk. "Things can get messy in the simulator." She very deliberately avoided looking at Riley.
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"Oh, this isn't so many," Raina assured Sarah breezily, since the instructor looked like she was still fiddling with her notes. "Training teams are usually like four to six people. They only put us in bigger groups if they really want to make a mess." She gave Sarah a more up-close assessing look. "I'm Raina, by the way. That's Robin, Cathy, Riley, and Huang." She pointed to each of her classmates in turn, then gave a deeply put-upon sigh. "Or, if we're training, I'm Sparkler, and that's Nighthawk, Frostbyte, Woodsman, and Ouroborus, or R-Bus for short because nobody can pronounce that." She looked deeply pained at even having to speak their codenames aloud. "What do you do?"
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"I think so," Raina murmured back before they got too close to the others. "Word in the caf is that she's mega rich and maybe-probably evil. Of course, that's Madison's read on it, so she's probably got a hundred-thousand in her trust fund and wears black eyeliner," she added dismissively. Still, her eyes were sharp and guarded as she scanned the new arrival. Raina was just starting to find her feet around here, the last thing she needed was more new girls upsetting the apple cart. Her attention was diverted very effectively when she noticed Riley and Huang already there and waiting as well. Raina suppressed a groan. "You didn't tell me Riley was coming," she muttered to Robin, before mustering a polite smile for everyone. "Hey there, people." On her shoulder, Merlin chirruped in quick alarm, then conveyed privately to Raina that at least now if Riley got out of control in the simulator, Merlin could shut it down. Raina had to agree this was a plus.
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Miss A gave the turkey in the oven an uncertain look, fairly sure that it was not finished roasting yet, much less had time to rest or be prepared for serving and carving. But as the situation played out with the Espadas children and their uncomfortable revelations, the idea of vacating the kitchen became more and more palatable. "You know what we should do while we're waiting? Let's eat some of the desserts first!" She picked up the truffle tower again and handed it to Steve. "You just put this in the dining room, why don't you? And here, Yolanda, you take this." She gave Yolanda one of the large pumpkin pies, then pressed the other one on Buffy. "Mara, I'll bet there's some whip cream in the fridge there, you want to bring that, and Ellie, you can get hold of the dessert forks? We'll just all clear out to the dining room and let things in here finish cooking." Even dressed down for the holiday, the paragon was her usual hyper-efficient self, except she was speaking with a hint of a drawl and a speech pattern that wasn't quite her usual. A firm nudge for Steve, and gentler nudges here and there began to turn the tide of humanity from the kitchen towards the dining room. Before she left, Miss A paused by Talya and Min. "You want us to take the littles?" she asked quietly.
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Paige hurried out the door, putting herself between her young guest and her highly volatile father-in-law. "Grandpa Halliday, what a surprise!" she said with considerable false cheer, a bright smile looking strained on her face. "I suppose Thanksgiving really is a time for family, and look at this one, all gathered together. Why don't we pull you up a seat at the table and I'll get you a nice plate of turkey and stuffing, and some pumpkin pie?" Behind her back, she motioned for Daphne to get back, out of the immediate range of danger. ~Call Providence~ she sent to Holly on a tight mental band. ~Do it from your bedroom. Tell them Doc Holiday has escaped and is at our address.~
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Raina blushed, which drew a raised eyebrow from her mother, which increased the blushing to squirming. "It was just a little party," she protested, "and it was terrible. It doesn't even count as breaking the rules if you didn't have any fun. They fermented their own wine, Mom!" The expression on Raina's face made it clear exactly how horrifying a trial this had been. It was enough to draw a soft laugh from Rochelle. "You poor thing," she told Raina, patting her on the head, "your palate is going to be ruined at this rate. But I do belive you're right. It's like calories, if you didn't enjoy them, they shouldn't have to count against you. But what a shame to have no fun on Halloween." "Well, it was a little fun," Raina admitted. "I got to dress up, and Talya gave me the amaaaaaazing heels to wear with my outfit. There's this boy, you'll like him, he's completely hot and he comes from this great family and he has an accent, and I got to spend some time with him, once he actually started noticing me, and we went flying. So even if the party was a dud, it wasn't a total loss." Rochelle's antennae had clearly gone up at the first mention of a boy. "So there's a boy at this school?" she inquired, still playful but with a serious edge underneath. "Does this boy have a name? Does he have superpowers? You haven't been getting up to anything, have you?" Raina's face was now more blush than skin, the curse of the fair-complected. "Moooom" she protested in a whine. "His name is Anibal Hererra Miramontes. Of Hererra International and Miramontes Distilleries, if you really have to know. And he can control air, like wind currents and stuff, and he's really nice, and sweet most of the time, and he wants to be a hero." That last bit was almost defiant. "And we aren't getting up to anything. We're just dating." That drew a furrowed brow from Rochelle. "Just remember not to 'date' too heavily before your Initiation. You know the rules. And you have your whole lifetime ahead of you for boys and fun and magic, you shouldn't be rushing into all these things with nobody to guide you!" Raina just looked uncomfortable at that, like she wasn't sure what to say, or knew what she wanted to say but not whether she ought to say it.
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Gina crouched lower inside her woefully-underarmored sedan and peered over the dashboard, part of her mind already occupied with plans for much more combat-suitable transportation for the future. Up until now, it had never seemed necessary, but she severely regretted the lack. "Go cause a distraction," she told Emerson, who obediently exited the car and began trundling down the street on its sturdy tracked wheels, blasting John Phillips Sousa from its speakers at full volume. "Well, it'll do," she muttered, then scrunched her eyes shut, searching with her mind for the source of the radio disturbance. One of the SWAT trucks, she discerned, empty now but still running, just waiting for instructions. She could provide that. Reaching her mental senses across the intervening distance, no radio signal required when she was so close, she hooked into the network of electronics that made up the brain of the vehicle and began making helpful suggestions. Within moments, the radio signal blanket was dissipating, and the truck was careening towards the fighting!
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Gina is going to use Machine Animation to bring to life the SWAT truck that is currently broadcasting the radio dampening field. If she can, she will shut down the field. She will also take the truck and drive it into the nearest group of bad clones that she can aim at without risking civilian casualties.
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Raina was visibly fascinated by the doorway into the Void, stretching out both her hands toward it as though warming them over a fire. "It tingles on my skin," she noted with a pleased little shiver. "Why didn't you show us this part of the house first?" she asked Huang. "Now I'm going to have to come back later." Raina's attention was drawn away to the other portal, the much safer-looking portal that nonetheless dripped with infernal energies. "Well, it would be the fastest way back," she was forced to agree. "But it's not as fun." She turned to Fred. "Hey Fred, you wouldn't mind taking the portal back while Anibal and I fly home, would you?" she asked with an ingratiating grin. "Wouldn't want to put your stomach through any more tonight than it already has been, right? I'll look in on you later, bring you some crackers. Kay, bye!" Grabbing Anibal's hand, she raced for her broom and the nearest set of terrace doors. "Hop on!" she encouraged, settling herself sidesaddle with decorous haste. "I don't think we wanna meet the parents."
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Raina paled at the sudden pounding on the apartment door, but her voice was a cheerful whisper as she talked to the kids. "Great, now he'll walk right into our trap!" she told them with great false confidence. Raina was a master of false confidence. She shoved the window wider, every bit as wide as it would go. "You stay low, Merlin, don't let him see you. You gonna get it done?" Merlin, very distracted already, gave her a quick thumbs up and burrowed deeper into the innards of the machine he was repairing, till even Raina could barely see him. Grabbing hold of her broom, she mounted it and skidded it across the floor to the kids. "Time for us to skedaddle." She scooped Mia into one arm and helped Eden climb on the broom, the bubble of flight magic helping to hold them all steady. "Think of Christmas, think of snow, think of sleigh bells, off we go like reindeer in the sky!" she sang softly as they began moving, first sliding through the window, then arcing up into the evening sky.
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Merlin will use his Skill Mastery to make the Craft Electronic check and replace the components, that is a DC 28. His move action will be to hide himself so that Downtime is unlikely to take notice of him while he's finishing his work. Raina is going to open the big window and get the children out with the help of her broom. She will spend an HP for an extra move action if necessary to open the window, pick up the children, and fly out the window, angling up to take them out of reach and sight of the window.
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"Ted, huh?" Raina sipped her drink and gave her new companion a frank examination, then a lazy smile. "I'm Trina. It's my first time here, but so far it's not too bad." Sneaking into frat parties with older girls last year had taught Raina the value of using fake names with the guys one flirted with, but also of using one close enough that if you got caught at it, you could blame them for mishearing you in the first place. "You look like you can dance. Wanna warm this place up a little bit?" The other girls looked like they were doing fine, she could probably leave them on their own for a few minutes.
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Jessie stayed where she was for a few moments after Ruby left, not sure if it was safe to stand down, not sure if she ought to follow Aquaria or let her have alone time. When Jessie fled to her room, it was because she needed to not be around people for everybody's safety, but Aquaria wasn't quite the same as her. Aquaria tended to feel better when she was with people. But if the danger wasn't over, then Jessie should stay here, ready to fight! But at this point she didn't even know what danger would look like, so standing here was pointless and strange. In the end, she crept off in the direction Aquaria had gone, following the faint trace of slime left by the amphibian girl until she reached the guest quarters. She was surprised to find Bliss already there, but hearing the end of the odd-looking person's speech reassured her that there was no present threat here. She gave Bliss a tentative smile, then turned her attention to her friend. It was important to be very focused, so she didn't notice how small the room was, how there were no windows and only one door. "Are you okay? Do you need some more water?"
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Raina winced as she took in the scene on the viewscreen, looking indecisively between the corner where she'd hidden the children and the beatdown taking place outside. That other girl was in real obvious trouble, but if Raina started shooting fireballs, she'd not only drain her own magic, but she'd let them know there was somebody up here and ruin the element of surprise. "Get those defenses working, now!" she told Merlin tersely, who nodded and raced over to VINCE's nearest access panel. "All right kiddos, quick change of plan. Your folks will be here soon, but I'm gonna see if I can take care of one of these bad guys before they even get here. Sit tight." She took a deep breath and refocused her magic, so that all three of them shimmered back into view. Quickly she pulled out her compact, disguised herself as an incredibly burly man wearing a face mask, then shoved the window open. Flicking her lighter, she gathered her ball of flame, grew it into a large, crackling ball, and sent it hurtling towards the closer of the attackers. She managed to resist a whoop of delight when it hit its mark, but only just barely. The guy looked hurt, but he didn't go down. "Come on, Merlin," she murmured.
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Raina goes on 13
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All right, time for Raina to join this fight, and may God have mercy on our souls. She's dropping the concealment on herself and the kids, opening the window, and shooting out a fireball at Wildcard. She rolls a 29. That's a DC 25 toughness check. Merlin will be using Skill Mastery and Computers to work on getting VINCE working again. That's a 28 Computers check. Edit: Raina will also use her Moon Array disguise power to make herself look more intimidating before she opens the window, because it makes her feel brave.