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Gizmo

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Freedom City Guidebook

Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide

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  1. Gizmo
    Redbird did her best to mimic what she'd seen of human displays of comfort on Earth's various media, miming patting Tona's head with her insubstantial projected hand and giving her a smile which was a little on the toothy side to be entirely reassuring. "Indeed! I am an autonomic machine intelligence currently pair-bonded to the shadow-walker Midnight!" She gave the archer an appraising look, tilting her head to one side. "You are familiar with the people of the Silver Tree? I have not been well-informed in the comings and goings of that place in the time since by previous partner Red Falcon fell in a glorious last stand against an entire army of wretched Omegadrones!" She raised a fist in salute and didn't quite unclench it when she turned her attention to Stratos. "You I do recognize, villain, but in light of our common foe this day I will refrain from jettisoning you into the void, provided you pose no threat to my charges." Straightening her chauffeur's jacket, the hologram sniffed. "And I am not of the Overriders, thank you. I know something of speed." With that, the Nightdragon's faster-than-light engines powered up once again and began rocketing the craft back toward Earth.
  2. Gizmo
    "No matter how far," Trevor promised quietly, returning the embrace and squeezing his eyes shut until nothing remained in his universe but the young woman pressed against him. "Let Redbird cheat a little for us," he admitted when he finally let himself regain awareness of the ship surrounding them. "Still some work left when we get back, but if we hadn't already been working on it... Helped save yourself." Something about that struck the young engineer as exceptionally appropriate, drawing forth a faint shadow of a smile on his weary face. "Was scared at first, too, but knew you'd stay alive until I could find you."
  3. Gizmo
    Ellie sniffed through her smile, rocking her head against Mara's as she replied, "Yeah, you did. You found me." Tilting her head she kissed her girlfriend back with a clumsy intensity reserved for a first drink of water after a drought. "I love you so much,"she breathed as the Lor ship surreptitiously uncoupled from the rear of the Nightdragon and sped off toward its larger sibling, for all it went completely unnoticed by the occupants of the saucer. "I should say it more often. All the time. I love you, Mara." Another kiss was broken only to add with a tired laugh, "I could also really use a shower."
  4. Gizmo
    "To be fair," Midnight noted as he extricated one hand then the other from the harness of controls bracketing his arms up to the elbows, "also fired a lot of shots." Rising from the control chair he waited just long enough for Steve and Hallowmen's mousy friend to abscond before unfastening his mask to let it hang about his neck, setting his beaten fedora down on the corner of the seat's back. Though he hadn't been through nearly the ordeal Erin had been, he was obviously the worse for wear, cheekbones a little more pronounced than usual behind a few days of dark stubble. "Should have been here sooner," he murmured as he stepped closer, hesitant in his movements, part of him not sure he could trust his senses and another not sure he deserved for them to be right. "Should have figured it out sooner. Should... I'm so sorry, Erin."
  5. Gizmo
    Redbird's projection waved Dorothy back to the others as Steve was quickly distracted, ushering the younger group into a central room outfitted as a sort of galley, a long table down its length and several boxes of hastily stacked supplies along one of the longer walls. "I am not precisely sure what the culturally acceptable age is among humans to witness certain thing but I have learned to 'play it safe', aha!" the machine intelligence chuckled a little awkwardly, adjusting the collar of her uniform and doing her best to keep track of where everyone was on the ship without invading any privacy. Turning to Tona, she considered. "I do not believe any of the crew are currently attending that training hall," she admitted, bending slightly again in a pose suggestive of an older sister, "but we were forced to depart before everyone who wanted to come could be gathered. Haste was key and there was much chaos in the city!" Spotting the young woman's box, Redbird snapped her fingers. "Ah, the archer! I understand your robotic doppelganger was particularly devastating in combat!" The statuesque woman evidently meant it as a compliment and it was hard for Tona to doubt she had some connection to the Furions. "Fleur de Joie was very helpful and battlesmith Dragonfly mentioned her battlemate's extended family would be sore over missing out on the battle. I believe some sort of young vulpine contacted the lifeweaver as well? We were quite focused on prevent your duplicate from immolating itself!" she told Baxter cheerily as she straightened. After a beat she assured him, "Ultimately it did, of course. Fwoosh!"
  6. Gizmo
    "Thanks for all your help," Ellie nodded to the three Lor crewmembers as the younger escapees made their way across to the Nightdragon. "Next time we see you, you better have gotten those promotions for all this." Once it was her turn, however, she wasted no time clamoring across the mismatched hatches and the seal holding them together and onto the saucer. Looking around briefly, she hadn't even planted both feet on the far side before she was sprinting over to tackle Dragonfly, throwing her arms around the armored heroine's neck and planting a kiss on a smooth metal faceplate before Mara had a chance to respond. Ignoring any discomfort from the overheated battlesuit, the medic let out a sound that was equal parts laugh and sob, tears welling in the corners of her eyes even as her face struggled to contain the broad smile pulling at her lips. "You're a hot mess, hermosa," she managed to choke out as she tightened her embrace. "Dios, I can't tell you how worried I was about you. I didn't-- We didn't know--" Her ability to form complete words temporarily spent she squeezed her girlfriend again with a touch of desperate relief.
  7. Gizmo
    Tona and Baxter were ushered onto the Nightdragon right behind Dorothy, joining the youngest member of their ragtag group to one side of the saucer's rear portion. As they gathered a beam of light shone down from a node in the ceiling, coalescing into a convincing three dimensional projection of a statuesque red haired woman in a tailored black chauffeur's uniform, her powerful build putting a few inches over even lean Bee-Keeper. Pushing up the brim of her cap with one hand, she bent down slightly to beam enthusiastically down at the trio. "By Scavros' spear, you humans do make up for your shortened lifespans with the courage of your younglings! I am Redbird and I am most pleased to ferry such hale warriors to their home!" she complimented, pumping a fist for emphasis before straightening and gesturing further into the ship. "Come! I have prepared a veritable feast of non-perishable rations in anticipation! Follow!"
  8. Gizmo
    Midnight didn't have much attention to spare sorting though the returned technopath's words. Beyond making a mental note that she evidently had a heroic identity he was unfamiliar with the salient point was that Erin and the others were safe at least for the moment. With Dragonfly aggressively removing the most immediate threat from play, he turned his targeting reticule on the remaining pair of Grue ships. Redbird understood his intent intuitively, turning on a proverbial dime to fly right at the first of the enemy craft with a lunging animal, laserfire raining forth in front of them. The unprepared fleshship was torn to seared pieces, letting the Nightdragon fly right through the debris without slowing. Looping around again, the repurposed saucer came at the lone remaining Grue ship from behind, tearing into what Midnight had deduced to be the alien design's propulsion systems and weapon arrays. Within seconds all that was left was a hunk of red floating listlessly in the void, trails of black smoke blending into the silent vacuum. With that resolved, Redbird brought the vessel over to the smaller of the Lor craft.
  9. Gizmo
    Midnight II Move Action: Auto-30 Startle vs. Grue Ship #2. Standard Action: Attack Grue Ship #2 with Nightdragon's lasers; Power Attack 5. (1d20+9=28) Hero Point: Stunt Improved Critical, making that DC 40. Extra Effort: Surge. Standard Action: Attack Grue Ship #3 with Nightdragon's lasers; Power Attack 5. (1d20+9=23) That's DC 35. Redbird Standard Action: Evasive Maneuvers with Auto-22 Pilot check. Move Action: Rendezvous with Quantum Singularity.
  10. Gizmo
    The various pieces of the robotic armor went limp at Chris' violent override, some clattering with great cacophonies to the pavement while others simply stopped their futile twitching. The head abruptly stopped staining against Fulcrum's grip, shifting in the process and sending Craven's remains rolling over in the cockpit to rest of the unfortunate green-suited acrobat's lap. Landing next to one of the disabled limbs and setting Willow down without removing his hand from her waist, Jack retracted the line on his grapple and called up to the airborne half of the team, "Good work! You alright up there? We still need to get on the horn to HAX."
  11. Gizmo
    Dragonfly was answered by beams of vivid blue, red and blinding white leaping across the void to gouge deep into the entrapped Grue ship with devastating accuracy, the shaped flesh of their hulls bubbling as it became violently superheated. Midnight had taken up the weapon console's station, his seat rotating around to face a full ring of read-outs, each of his forearms framed by control systems for the cannons studding the Nightdragon. "Redbird. Hail them." "Channel is open," the autonomic machine intelligence announced, simultaneously sending the saucer into a series of hairpin maneuvers that would make targeting it nigh impossible. "Grue," Midnight's flat, emotionless voice intoned, translated for the benefit of the alien attackers, "Situation is beyond you. Disinclined to waste breath explaining. Leave."
  12. Gizmo
    Midnight II Standard Action: Attack with Nightdragon's lasers. (1d20+14=24) That's DC 30. Move Action: Auto-30 Intimidate vs. Grue. Redbird Standard Action: Evasive Maneuvers with Auto 22 Pilot check. That 22 replaces the normal 10 for a round, making the Nightdragon's Defense 32 with the shields.
  13. Gizmo
    Midnight II Masquerade January 15th, 2013 Even if the city hadn’t been whipping itself into a frenzied panic it would have been simplicity itself for Midnight to enter the apartment building undetected, slipping through the security camera’s blind spots and stepping purposefully from shadow to shadow. The methodical vigilante was hardly in a frame of mind for patience but he was even less in the mood to be delayed explaining himself. Besides, he already had a key. Focusing on the minute precision of his movements only took the slightest edge off of the roiling ball of emotions clenching the pit of his stomach as he stepped inside and closed the door silently. Something, some organization or force had abducted Erin and replaced her with a robotic duplicate, one that had managed to go unnoticed for the better part of two months or more, if his belated deductions were correct. He had been personally manipulated to some unknown end and the face of the woman he loved had been used to spread hysteria and discredit Freedom City’s heroes. White hot rage burned through his every vein, threatening to burn him from the inside out. Another time, years ago. A dark haired youth, barely a teenager, toppled gracelessly from his perch on a balance beam as a carved wooden cane unexpectedly slipped between his ankles. Trevor Hunter struggled to arrange a physique seemingly composed mainly of elbow beneath himself and glowered at his grandfather, cheeks colouring slightly. "That wasn’t fair." Midnight moved through the apartment like a confined tempest, opening cupboards and moving objects brusquely aside to sift through them. Somewhere there had to be some clue to what this was all about, something to point him toward the person responsible. The media had wasted no time in dubbing the inexplicably violent heroes 'the Wrathful,' no doubt playing right into the mastermind’s hands but they had not begun to see the sort of vengeance whomever had taken Erin had brought down upon themselves. The elder Hunter raised one angular eyebrow and tapped his cane against the floor. "Fair?" Travis repeated dryly, using his free hand to stroke his goatee. "What is the first rule?" Finally rising to his feet, the teen frowned in confusion. "Fear is a tool, not a master," he recited from rote, rubbing a stiffness in his shoulders and trying to loosen the taxed muscle back to working order. "I’m not scared," he objected frankly, "I’m... annoyed. Angry." The overripe and decaying remains of an array of fruits and vegetables littered the kitchen counter and refrigerator’s crisper, bought and forgotten about. Erin loved fresh produce, he knew, having lived for so long on whatever canned food and non-perishables she’d been able to scrounge up on her homeworld. She would have never let food go to waste in such a manner or tolerated the accompanying scent in her small and otherwise tidy apartment. It was a glaring red flag, one he should have spotted weeks earlier, one he would have noticed if he’d been to her apartment. Instead he’d taken Erin’s uncharacteristic outburst in December to be a symptom of the holiday malaise she suffered through each year. He’s decided to give her space, as though the problem would simply take care of itself if ignored long enough. It took a quiet snap to make him realize he’s broken the browned celery in his fist. The original Midnight raised a finger to cut off his protege and underscore his point. "Anger is fear in masquerade. Invariably." Making a low sound in the back of his throat, he gestured for Trevor to take a seat on the balance beam. "Fear can be useful in small doses. Heightens senses, speeds reflexes. A natural response." Travis nodded to himself thoughtfully as he paced. "Too much fear clouds judgement, tints perception, makes you sloppy. Gets you killed," he emphasized, stopping to tap the head of his cane against his protege’s sternum. "Anger is sugar-coated fear, hiding the taste so you don’t realize you’re drowning. So. What is your fear?" Midnight tossed the vegetable back into the refrigerator in disgust. Face twisting into a scowl behind his featureless mask, he slammed the door hard enough to rock the weighty appliance back on its tiny rubber feet. He was getting nowhere, wasting time when it might already be too late. He didn’t want to be rummaging through a place violated by some robotic thing, he wanted to be fighting something, to have his hands around a guilty throat-- "Mrowr?" Trevor opened his mouth to object again but closed it slowly instead, concentration creasing his young face. There was a pause while he thought and Travis waited patiently. "...failure," the youth finally admitted glumly, both to his mentor and to himself. The older man nodded sagely. "Anger would tell you to give up or lash out, making your fear come true. See through the masquerade." His cane thumped against the balance beam twice. "Now. Again." The small sound pulled Midnight’s thoughts out of their spiral and turned his attention downward as an furry orange form raced out of the bedroom to crash against his ankle. Charlie, Erin’s kitten, rightened himself and climbed his white paws up the black pant leg, mewing plaintively, intermittently butting his head against Trevor’s shin. Without hesitation, the young man bent down and gently scooped the feline up in both arms. Charlie rubbed his face against the jawline of the featureless mask, continuing to make sounds conveying his distress. "...I know," Trevor told him quietly, barely loud enough even for that cat’s ears to pick up. "Me too. Let’s go find her."
  14. Gizmo
    Midnight Initiative. (1d20+5=21) Redbird Initiative. (1d20+3=16) Jill O'Cure Initiative. (1d20+4=13)
  15. Gizmo
    I'll say that passes, Ecal! Do what you wanna do.
  16. Gizmo
    The instant Wander's codename was mentioned days worth of fatigue and layers of emotional trauma visibly fell off of Midnight as the black clad hero rose to his full height, his movements once again decisive and sure. "Redbird, bring cannons online," he intoned as the Grue ships undulated through space toward them, a three-dimensional map of the airless battlefield forming in his mind. "Nothing gets through. Nothing." If he couldn't be next to Erin immediately he could at least protect her and her mission from one threat at a time. Still, they had to get someone with technical skills into the Curator's control center. "Teleportation?" "Not without rerouting power from other systems," Redbird admitted, minor regret tempering a voice practically singing with the expectation of glorious battle. "The battlesmith and attendant seem well able in their trade! Suggestions?"
  17. Gizmo
    Probably just as well, with the corpse rattling around inside. Geckoman is up!
  18. Gizmo
    "...not entirely sure," Trevor admitted, leaving his coffee conspicuously untouched as he rubbed the back of his neck and jawline uncomfortably, brow furrowing. He'd gone over the conversation over and over and still couldn't figure out what he'd done to set Erin off, how he'd misjudged something so badly. "Must have... Hhn. Don't know." Leaning back against the booth's cushions he let out a long breath. "And no. If she needs space, need to respect that. Thank you, though." The last time he'd well and truly bungled things with Erin, in the wake of the zombie invasion, time had been the only appropriate response. Even so, at least then he'd known what he'd done wrong. The young man pinched the bridge of his nose is muted distress, careful not to push his sunglasses too far up for risk of revealing his discoloured eyes. "Should I send... flowers?"
  19. Gizmo
    On the view screen a shimmering blue palm the size of a card table gently pushed Dorthy out of the way to make room for a more recognizable face, looking more than a little worse for wear with dusty brown roots grown out and ample smudges of dirt and grime but still lit up with the first genuine hope in a long while. "Fly?! ¡Ah, precioso ángel blindados!" The medic didn't make any attempt to stem the tears rolling down her cheeks although she quickly wiped away the first of them with the crimson fabric hanging about her neck. "Dios, I was so worried about you. It's so good to see you." Taking an uneven steadying breath, she managed to continue, "Wander, Harrier and the others are trying to keep this whole thing from falling apart and sending all those planets in the middle smashing into each other. Apparently the Curator left the shop unattended; we've been playing this by ear for a while now. ...lo juro, you better be real, cariño."
  20. Gizmo
    Unfortunately, it has Defense 20, so that will take an HP. Robot Head Opposed Grapple Check vs. 62. (1d20+11=17) It's bound and helpless! Would you like to Damage it as well? 25 - Jack of all Blades - Uninjured, 4HP 21 - Fulcrum - Uninjured, 1HP 18 - Geckoman - Bruised, Injured, Fatigued, 2 HP 15 - Robot Torso - Destroyed 13 - Willow - Uninjured, 2HP 12 - Robot Arm 1 - Destroyed 12 - Robot Arm 2 - Disabled 11 - Robot Leg 1 - Destroyed 11 - Robot Leg 2 - Destroyed 2 - Robot Head - Disabled, Bound
  21. Gizmo
    Midnight found he had not been fully prepared for the sheer scope of the ringworld and all is component parts, feeling a brief moment of vertigo as his mind raced to adjust to the scale of the object before the saucer. Simply locating Erin on such an expanse if she wasn't with Harrier when they found him was a boggling prospect even before considering the sorts of forces likely arraying against them. The fact that they weren't immediately beset by attack drones or warships suggested they still had a chance, however. "Redbird, hail the Lor ship." "Lor craft, we are the independent Earth vessel Nightdragon!" the autonomic intelligence announced heartily, translating into a number of languages as she broadcast a tight beam signal to the white pod. "The Curator has abducted several of our warriors; we have come to retrieve them and repay the insult with righteous fury! What say you?!"
  22. Gizmo
    Jill raised a pointing finger at Wander and opened her mouth to object but paused more a moment as her expression turned into a frustrated grimace of gritted teeth and her hands curled into claws momentarily. "Nnnh... Dammit, you just had to go and make sense, didn't you?" the medic groused, rubbing her face with one hand, suddenly unbearably weary. If she were being brutally honest with herself, she probably wouldn't have made it as far as she had without Erin's expertise and instruction but that didn't make the idea of letting others head into danger without her any more palatable, especially since she'd convinced the Lor officers to help with this Hail Mary pass in the first place. "I hate this like fire, but fine," she allowed with a scowl, passing the powerhouse the hard drive gingerly. "I'll keep an eye on things here but if any of you die over there I will hunt you down and kill you, comprende?"
  23. Gizmo
    There were a few common ways of exceeding the universal speed limit of light for space travel. Some vessels would slip between parallel dimensions where the relative distance between the start and end points was lessened, effect a bubble around themselves where physical laws were ever so slightly altered or use what amounted to a very refined albeit limited manner of teleportation. The Furion philosophy toward the issue was simply to push very, very hard. "You will want to be seated for this," Redbird's voice came from the ship's control, a cushioned crash seat rising from the floor where Midnight was standing with his arms crossed. Letting out a long breath through his nose, the blackclad vigilante sat down and fastened the webbing over his chest. He took a moment to open up his thoughts to the telepathic link he shared with Eve Martel, unhindered by distance unlike his comlink, and gave her a brief explanation of where he was going. If the worst came to pass someone else would need to know where to find their target. The moment everyone was secure the autonomic machine intelligence spoke up again, some of her bombastic manner subdued in favour of an officious tone. "Kurtzberg Drive engaging in three, two, one, IGNITION!" As she counted down a rumbled toward the rear of the ship grew louder until it erupted in something like a sustain leonine roar. In the city below a flash of light could be spotted in the sky above, instantly extending into a comet trail. Inside the ship, Midnight squared his shoulder against the back of his seat as everything outside the viewport blurred into incoherence. It was just as well, with his attention and thoughts far from the vacuum over Earth. Know you've survived this. You can survive anything. Just hold on a little longer.
  24. Gizmo
    The combination of exceptional skill and the heavy weight of proper motivation saw the saucer brought back online and upgraded in several key areas in record time. The patched hull was sturdy in its own right but Dragonfly's spatial warp shield technology was quickly integrated as well. The sensory suite had been one of the most outdated elements of the alternate Martian design, leaving Gina to replace nearly the entire system while she worked on rebuilding the interconnected weapons systems. By the time Redbird merged into the saucer it was already operational once again. The machine intelligence's presence was immediately obvious, however as the round plate shaped silhouette of the vessel slimmed down to a more arrow like profile, the exterior dimming to a glossy black finish accented with dark crimson wings emblazoned down the edges. The rear of the ship folded in upon itself before reconfiguring into a broad arc of blazing red light speckled with black dots of exotic energies as the faster-than-light drive came online. Inside the ship, controls subtly shifted to make themselves more fit for human hands while stark computer interfaces lit up one at a time. All that remained was to remove the ship from its subterranean dock. "Dragonfly," Midnight requested, taking up a position in the cockpit with a stance that clearly conveyed his desire to be underway.
  25. Gizmo
    Stunting off of the Midnight Manor HQ, with PP added from Mara and Gina's Inventor scores along with Redbird's Enhance Vehicle power for a total of 110PP. Night Saucer [Dragonknife Class] Size: Colossal [4PP] Toughness: +20 [7PP] Defense: +10 Shield Features: 13PP Communications 2 [Radio, Subspace] Computer Garage Infirmary Living Space Navigation System Power System Security System 3 [DC 30] Workshop 2 [Masterwork] Powers: 32 + 9 + 10 + 18 + 17 = 86PP Damage 15 (Extras: Ranged; Power Feats: Accurate 2) [32PP] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9PP] Shield 10 [10PP] Space Travel 18 [18PP] Super-Senses 17 (Detect Weaknesses [Visual], Extended 11 [Visual, 20 million miles], Radio [Accurate, Analytical]) [17PP] Note: Redbird already has: Super-Senses 14 (Terminus Awareness [Visual], Detect Terminus 2 [Visual], Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Infravision, Ultravision, Extras: Analytical 2 [All Visual], Radius 2 [All Visual], Tracking 3 [Detect Terminus]) [14PP]
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