Gizmo
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Casually dropping her chosen field into the conversation had been a bit of a calculated ploy on Ellie's part and she was pleased to find Mara's mother suitably appreciative as opposed to unimpressed by a calling somewhat more traditional than 'cat burglar'. The conversation about hopping from rooftop to rooftop with other intentions could most certainly wait for another day. "More than just 'pretty'," she corrected glibly, "like its boss. As for living together, you'd think so from how many nights I'm at her apartment, but no." There was not denying that that had been phrased a little more provocatively than was strictly necessary, but then so had the question and given the choice between erring on the side of humour or intimidation Ellie's preference was clear. She hadn't missed Josephine's look of appraisal and she got the impression how she answered the older woman's probing inquiries mattered more in the analysis than the answers themselves. "I live with my mother. She's a retired police officer."
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Ellie really hadn't been expecting to be the center of attention and questioning but she could understand where Josephine was coming from. Even besides a parent's normal desire to know more about whomever their child brought home to the proverbial dinner, it was a relatively sane, normal thing to focus on for the time being. Understanding that didn't make falling on that sword any less daunting, however. "You're much too young to be a grandmother anyway," she managed to reply smoothly, stepping a little closer to the mother and daughter pair now that there was less need to give them space. The line was much truer for Josephine than when she used it on her own mother. "Not to get too far ahead of things. My name is Ellie. Well, Eliza, but Ellie is fine. I'm studying pre-med and Mara and I have been together for almost three years now." The last part was said with a bit more of an unstated challenge than she'd really intended and she covered it with a light clearing of her throat. "What else did you want to know?"
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The warm, relieved smile that had spread across Ellie's face froze for a moment at the question and its precise phrasing and she straightened abruptly as she regained her composure. She found herself wishing her own clothes were a little less bloodstained themselves as she nervously wrapped a lock of hair around one finger. "W-well...! Remember the part where I dug three bullets out of you and you more of less have to like me?" she asked, one corner of her mouth pulling upward at the absurdity of it all as a deep well of self-assured confidence began to win out over momentary doubt.
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Recognizing the look on Mara's downcast face, Ellie was scrambling to her feet while the words were still hanging in the air. Rushing over she wrapped one arm around her girlfriend's shoulders and placed on hand gently on her cheek. "Okay, stay with us, niña. So far so good, yeah?" she murmured softly before turning back around to Josephine. "Okay, so, yes, that is admittedly a lot to take in. But let's focus on the positive for a minute, right? Your daughter has grown up to be an amazing woman who bent time and space over her knee and made it squeal to save your life. That's pretty spectacular!" Doing her best to maintain a shaky smile of encouragement she whispered to Mara, "This would be a good time to give her a hug, maybe?"
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"Well, I had a good teacher," Ellie explained, clearing her throat lightly and looking over to Mara. With the engineer seemingly at a loss, she decided forge ahead for the time being. She took a seat across from the healed woman, crossing her legs beneath her. "Try not to move around too much, still. You've got a fair bit of brand new tissue there, it's going to be tender for a while. I'm, uh, sure there's a more intact shirt we can set you up with once you're cleaned up some," she continued, producing and handing Josephine another towelette. The resemblance to Mara was throwing her more than a little; given the age difference it would have been easier to see her as an older sister rather than a mother. Ellie had no idea what Mara herself had to be thinking. "You're in Freedom City, on the East Coast," she supplied before wincing and looking away, one hand behind her head. "Totally unrelated question, if someone were to hypothetically have some pretty alarming news for you, would you prefer it all in one go or bit by bit? It's for a survey."
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Erik tilted his head slightly to one side and sniffed the air lightly as though expecting to catch a wiff of something, only looking faintly surprised by Eve's display after he did so. "Huh. Figured you'd at least be putting out a little radiation or glamour or something," he remarked absently before a broad grin spread across his face and he tossed his foil back over toward the pile of equipment. "That is fantastic!" As the fencer raised his empty hand casually toward the ceiling the fluorescent lights crackled and pulsed brighter before an arc of electricity surged down to twine about his outstretched fingers. "Can't even tell you how distracting other people's energy blades usually are," he remarked as the sparking power followed the direction of his hand in a tight spiral until it had solidified into a glowing rapier complete with ribbons of electricity forming an ornate handguard. "I feel kinda bad though; I really should have been teaching you techniques for a weightless weapon this whole time. We've got a lot to catch up on now." His smile was matched by the one Eden wore as she peeked over the edge of her crib on her tiptoes, making a happy sound at the colourful display.
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Alrighty. HG, did you want to get an IC post up? 27 - Guy Fawkes - Staggered 27 - Errant - Uninjured, 1HP 23 - Heka - Uninjured, Demoralized 18 - Set - Bruised x1, 2HP 17 - Temperance - Bruised x1, 3HP 14 - Sekhmet - Bruised x1, Dazed 11 - Diehard - Uninjured, -2 Defense 11 - Khania - Bruised x1, Slowed 10 - Blackfire - Unconscious, Entangled 4 - Glamazon - Bruised x1, 1HP
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The first few balls of spiked ice elicited a pained grunt from Blackfire but as the onslaught continued the unmistakable sound of metal denting and twisting out of shape creaked across the battlefield. "No way--!" the android sputtered around clenched teeth as one of his knees buckled and brought his toppling downward, as arm twisting at the shoulder at an angle that would have had an organic opponent crying out in agony. As it was, Blackfire fit the pavement face first with a resounding clang, managing to look up in Temperance's direction and mutter a resigned, "Unbelievable..." before the glow in his exposed optic powered down and the villain went still. "N-nononoNONAURGH!" Diehard went berserk as Blackfire fell, clutching his head in both hands for a moment before launching into motion and sprinting in a zigzag pattern for Temperance. With the strength of madness the martial artist tackled the elementalist full on, catching her in the midsection and driving her backward.
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"Convulsions will do that for you, hun," Ellie agreed, gingerly shifting her weight as quickly as she dared to center herself over the time-traveler's torso again while still kneeling atop her legs. Taking a quiet, steadying breath through her nose, the medic concentrated on the rhythmic inflation and deflation of the force field as she reached over to pick up the forceps. She'd never kept a construct moving in such a fraught situation without using a hand to help visualize it and doing so without being able to actually see what she was doing was completely alien. There simply wasn't any other option or time for doubt. Using the fine edge of the cleverly designed instrument to rip the hole in the fitted long sleeve top a little wider, she carefully took stock of the damage. Out of the hail of lead that had been meant for Mara's mother the final bullet would have been a death sentence all on its own if not for their immediate intervention. Nicking the lung and lodging in the muscle of the organ, the flattened slug tore a little more into its target with every movement, her own laboured breathing shredding internally. And then it was out, plucked from where it had landed with the delicate finesse of concert pianist. Tossing the instrument and bullet aside with a focused disregard, she tore the remains of the shirt open from the base upward with a sharp pull and placed both palms down on bare abdomen. "Huah!" Shouting, she poured her metamagi energies like a breaking dam, willing tissue to mend and muscle to knit, cracked bone to fuse and blood to replenish. When she was finished Josephine was whole and well, if looking much in a need of rest.
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Blackfire Toughness Save vs. DC 33. (1d20+10=12) Sekhmet Dazed! Diehard No Action: Recover Bruise. Standard Action: Charge Temperance; Power Attack 2. (1d20+12=31) That's a DC 25 Toughness Save for Eliza. Khania Dazed! 27 - Guy Fawkes - Staggered, Demoralized 27 - Errant - Uninjured, 1HP 23 - Heka - Uninjured, Demoralized 18 - Set - Bruised x1, 2HP 17 - Temperance - Uninjured, 3HP, Pending Toughness Save 14 - Sekhmet - Bruised x1, Dazed 11 - Diehard - Uninjured, -2 Defense 11 - Khania - Bruised x1, Slowed 10 - Blackfire - Unconscious, Entangled 4 - Glamazon - Bruised x1, 1HP
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Ellie did spare a look upward over her shoulder at that, noting the expanding tear in the sheer fabric of empty space with a slightly annoyed pursing of her lips before resuming her focus. She was perfectly confident that Mara would have the traitorous affront to physics and linear logic taken care of shortly and in the meantime she had work to do. "<Alright, that's two,>" she announced, dropping the second slug into the tray with a metallic clatter, her voice calm and steady as her hands. "<Doing great, Josie. Alright, that was weirdly informal and some people really hate having their name shortened and I really am trying to make a good first impression here so-->" Cutting her off, the injured woman gave a violent start and let out a strangled, wet cough. Her entire body convulsed in panic, hands reaching upward and forcing Ellie to pin her to the floor using her knees in a hold that had more to do with her hand-to-hand training than her medical education. "<Collapsing a lung might be going a little far to change the subject, honestly,>" the younger woman noted in a strained voice, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead as she divided her focus even further, continuing to pour soothing energies into the fresh wounds while forming a delicately small force field, balloon-like, within the damaged organ. Teeth gritted behind lips pressed into a thin line, she slowly and oh so carefully inflated the force field, unable to see what she was doing and relying solely on her knowledge of anatomy with no room for error. "Mara," she called, a note of strain adding a quiver to her carefully enunciation, "I need to take the last bullet out before I can close the wound but my hands are all tied up, okay? Whatever you're doing to that portal, hurry."
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Midnight Initiative. (1d20+5=17)
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Midnight is making an auto 35 Intimidate check with Skill Mastery, size penalties be damned. If that's not enough, let me know and I'll roll for it with Second Chance.
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Midnight made a grunt of displeasure at the abrupt but extremely showy entrance of the giant. --Hope you've been studying your law books,-- he sent to Renarde as he pulled a grapple from his belt. --Could use council, if they can spare you down there.-- Turning to Wander and Cannonade he explained himself, "Will buy time. Need to find Al-Darsah." Firing the line upward at the messenger's head, he anchored on a golden hoop earring the size of soccer net and quickly followed into the air, landing on a massive shoulder. Replacing the grapple in its compartment, the black clad detective strode toward the giant's ear, letting a trail of stygian midnight mist trail from the cuffs of his pant legs and jacket sleeves, lending him a larger, easily spotted presence not until the partially immaterial Al-Shahada. "You. Allat sends indelicate fools as messengers?" he intoned flatly, his words carrying through the winds of their altitude like a heated knife without needing to raise his voice. He made a broad gesture down to the people dotting the shoreline. "Politically tense situation. Arrive without warning, bellowing accusations?" Midnight folded his arms across his chest and glared into eyes larger many times over than his whole body. "No jurisdiction. Worse, warning murderer before investigation is complete." Indicating himself with a thumb pointing to his chest, he continued, "Midnight, of the Liberty League. Bring me someone in charge."
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Erik's movements took on a completely different quality as the name left Eve's lips, going from gracefully extravagant to sharp and precise, an angry staccato of humourless parries and pressing attacks. "Well. That's what I get for saying no double-talk," he admitted coolly, mouth compressed into a thin line. "Not something you're really supposed to know about but I assume a telepath knows when to not spread something around, yeah?" Stepping forward he twisted with his foil as Eve took a beat to recover her stance, wrenching her own weapon out of her hand to clatter nearby. Still in a ready stance, the instructor raised an eyebrow in questioning expectation.
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Ellie was crouched next to the wounded woman the moment she hit the floor, one hand radiating a diffuse light like sunbeams through a leafy canopy while the other gently turned the time-traveler onto her back. "<I need you to focus on my voice and try to keep still, okay? You're going to be just fine,>" she assumed her patient soothingly in a lightly accented French, her brow creasing in concentration as she placed the glowing hand over the rapidly spreading spots of dark red across the woman's abdomen. While the healing energies gradually flowed downward, retracing the path of the warm blood, Ellie had a finely crafted instrument of sterile steel in her other hand, dexterously pulling a still hot slug of lead from the first of the wounds. "<Well, we know where Mara got her good looks, huh? Trust me, that's going to seem really funny and charming a little later.>" Without taking her eyes off her work, she called, "Need somewhere to put these as I take them out, corazon. So far so good."
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Ellie hadn't been able to sit still, worried that she'd need to leap into action without warning and instead paced back and forth between the warehouse's workbenches, fidgeting with her hands. "They don't quite make a greeting card for this scenario, no," she agreed, walking back over to Mara's side and leaning to rest her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "The whole last second rescue thing has to earn you a lot of leeway, though. And hey, this is the future, basically! Wow her with our fabulous cultural advancements." The dark haired girl made jazz hands to emphasize her suggestion.
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"Go ahead and wash up, hun," Ellie insisted, making a small shooing motion with her hand, "I've got you covered here." The medic might not have understood the principles of advanced physics that governed the workings of the device she was helping to construct but she was deft of hand and had developed a sense of Mara's design aesthetics to the point where determining which tab went into which slot was fairly straightforward for her. Attaching the last arm, she retrieved a individually wrapped wet wipe from her canvas messenger bag to take the oil from her fingers. It wasn't just for the sake of impressions; once things started moving she suspected she'd be glad for clean hand ready to practice her own craft.
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"Fine, but you have to promise to talk me up a bit, okay?" Ellie replied with feigned reluctance, covering her momentary discomfort with humour even as she willed her hands to steady themselves. They did so on command, veterans of suture stitches and removing everything from bullets to shards of glass from wounds. "I want her to like me, after all." Following Mara over to the machinery she provided another set of hands where she could, following instruction with implicit trust and confidence. "Actually, on that note... This is going to seem frivolous, but are you going to have time to change, corazon? I just mean, you haven't seen her in a long, long time. Actual pants might be nice."
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"I have my moments," Ellie agreed with a small smile, glad to see that Mara wasn't too harried to spare a moment on flattery and affection. There were times when the inventive prodigy got on a real tear that not slowing her down was about the best on could honestly hope for. "Either that or bullet wounds have become far too common a factor in out lives." It had been intended as a glib, off-hand remark but as Ellie looked at the computer generated wire frame of a woman and the approaching projectiles, the hand on Mara's back clenched enough to scrunch together the fabric of the overalls beneath her palm. "I'll stop it this time," she promised in a soft voice, seeing a very different scene before her until she blinked her eyes back into focus. "T-this time with tu mama, I mean. Because time-travel and all. We'll make sure she's okay."
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"Not much of a joke," Ellie opined with a grimace, stepping around the workbench and placing her hands on Mara's hips from behind when the blonde young woman began pacing in agitation. "You can just let the universe know that if it doesn't smarten up I'll kick its teeth in for you," she promised, leaning over far enough to kiss Mara's ear lightly. Admittedly, she wasn't entirely clear on the mechanics involved in that or in time travel. "She's going to show up here? Wouldn't she still be where she was being attacked? Not to mention the bulle-- oh!" Straightening in realization she slid around to face Mara again, keeping one hand on the small of her girlfriend's back. "You're worried she might already be hit, right? Or the bullets will come through, too, and you'll need a force field."
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"Urgh, like I could forget," Ellie replied, dragging a hand over her face as though attempting to wipe the dour expression from it. "Poor Zip was never the same after that. I mean, he was older and more mature but mostly he was so damn sad..." Shoulders sagging a bit at the thought, the young pre-med student turned her attention back to the more pressing matter. "Is that what you meant about saving tu mama? Last time you mentioned her you, um. You said she'd passed away a long time ago." She wasn't entirely sure where Mara was going with all of it, but the subject of her family was always a difficult one.
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Let's call it Monday, September 9th, some time in the late afternoon, early evening.
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There was silence on the other end of the phone call for a moment, save the faint background noise of a bus stopping nearby. "...so it's gonna be one of those dates, huh?" Ellie noted finally as she boarded the bus and took a seat close to the rear doors. "Sounds like this might be more of a face-to-face conversation, hermosa. I'll be there soon, okay?" True to her word, it wasn't long before there was a rapping on the side door of Mara's warehouse. Dropping her bag nearby the curving stairs up to the second floor, Ellie walked over to look at what Mara was working on. "Maybe you should start at the beginning, Marbar."
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Alright, superspeed and supernatural shenanigans! Interceptors, feel free to establish yourselves either on the same rooftop or nearby checking in on communicators. Thev, I'm assuming Jack has some way of reaching Velocity but if we need to specify how exactly, go for it. Temperance will get folded in a little later, so we'll keep you in the loop, troll.
