Gizmo

Greater Love (Midnight II and Wander) March 7th - Continued from thread... Exchanging a silent nod with his grandfather, Midnight smoothly mounted the Night Cycle, already accelerating before his leg had come down all the way on the far side of the bike. Driving at pace with the already running Wander, they were soon exiting into open air from one of the Midnight Manor’s extensive tunnels. "I suggest starting with the highest population centers," Redbird chimed in, readouts from the same feeds her rider had been scouring earlier projecting from a holographic node between the handlebars, forming a floating rectangle of neon green. Wander hopped onto the bike behind him as they left the garage, the wind whipping her hair as they raced through the streets, heading from North Bay into Kingston at a tremendous speed. "How do you feel?" the bike’s rider asked, turning his head only slightly away from the road in front of them to address her. Midnight didn’t wish to press the issue, but her earlier moment of unexplained pain had him understandably concerned. For the moment he felt fine himself, but as reports of transmission of the mutagen through touch and a series of gas attacks streamed across the news sites, he suspected they were going to need a cure sooner rather than later. "Doing okay," she assured him, looping her arms around his waist to help balance the bike. "What about you?" He hadn’t been exposed to as much water as she had, but he also didn’t have her hyperactive natural defense system. "Any weird symptoms yet?" Midnight simply shook his head in the negative, turning his full attention back to the road. Hopefully any discomfort Erin was experiencing was only indicative of her body fighting off the mutagen’s effects. Even her reduced powers put her well above his own tolerance for illness and poisons and he had not idea if his midnight mist saturated biology would be a boon or a curse against the evidently unpredictable changes sweeping over the city’s populace. "Over there!" Wander called, extending her arm over his shoulder to point in the direction of the Hanover Zoo. "Look at all that smoke!" The noise of an explosion tore through the air, along with the distant sound of screaming people and agitated animals. Leaning down flush with the body of the motorcycle, Midnight accelerated wordlessly in the direction Wander had indicated, the vehicle’s engine whisper quiet against the roar of the passing wind. Within moments they were roaring past the zoo’s open gates through the tide of fleeing visitors. Despite their panic, the crowd gave the heroes a wide berth as they headed toward the source of the commotion, the spots of dark red and purple against their black silhouette doing little to soften their imposing appearance. The zoo itself was a disaster area, most of the civilians already long gone from paths and roads now occupied by confused and frightened animals. It looked as though some destructive force had torn through the area, destroying cages and walls, releasing the animals from their enclosures before moving on. Further on down the path, they could hear loud and hysterical laughter, just before another series of explosions. "Get the human first, then deal with the animals," Wander suggested. "The walkway runs in a big circle here. You keep going, I’ll go around and pincer him." She leapt off the motorcycle, again without waiting for it to stop, and ran down the path. Her body was starting to hurt again, muscles, joints, even her bones seemed to ache, but she ignored it. Just deal with the crisis at hand, then she’d figure out what was wrong with her. She was preoccupied enough that she didn’t even notice the dark shadow looming up in front of her until it was too late, and suddenly she was mere feet away from an entire gorilla troop, females, babies, and a very large, very angry-looking silverback! "I may be delayed a minute," she murmured into her communicator. "Take your time," Midnight responded as he pulled to a stop in front of the source of the strained laughter, a heavyset woman in a tattered zookeeper’s uniform and glasses with one of the lenses cracked and empty. A faint pinkish aura of hazy light surrounded both her and the twisted pieces of metal bars and cage doors that floated about her, having been ripped from their places. Dismounting, the young vigilante drew forth the pair of escrima sticks strapped just above his boots and strode toward the out of control telekinetic. "Sorry," he muttered mostly to himself. "Thank me later." "The animals deserve freedom!" the zookeeper screamed. "I try to give them a good life, but it’s not the same! And now is the dawning of the new age, where we will all ascend as gods and the animals will rule!" She threw the doors in his direction, but either her aim was poor or her heart wasn’t in it, because they didn’t even come near the dark vigilante. She threw the bars as well, which came a bit closer, but not much. The nearby wall suddenly began disassembling itself, revealing that behind it were a number of very agitated lions, just waiting for an opportunity to escape. With a short snort, Midnight dashed forward, a burst of unexpected speed after his slow, methodical movements moments earlier. Leaping into the air, he kicked off one of the levitating stone bricks, using them like a staircase to launch himself over the telekinetic’s head to land soundlessly behind her. As part of the same graceful movement, a single escrima stick whipped out, catching the woman about the temple and knocking her to the ground. The glowing aura disappeared and the assorted floating materials crashed down, beholden to gravity once more. Binding her hands just to be thorough, it seemed that they were ready to move onto the next emergency. Before Midnight had so much as stepped away from the zookeeper’s prone form, however, a whole new commotion was starting up nearby. He heard Wander’s wordless shout of alarm and pain, and then more sounds of crunching masonry and breaking glass. A moment later he saw her, not near him but high overhead. Wander was at least fifty feet tall, towering over the zoo like a new Centurion statue. She was barefoot and batless, but the morphic molecules of her costume at least kept her from embarrassment. In her hand, she clutched the silverback gorilla she’d been fighting a moment earlier. For a moment, Wander was so disoriented she thought she’d somehow been tossed high in the air and was falling back to earth. It took several seconds after the pain stopped to realize that while her head was indeed high in the air, her feet were on the ground, with the rest of her body in between. The enraged gorilla roared and bit her hand, but she didn’t even notice it. "What’s going on?" she asked, her nervous voice booming out in a loudspeaker rumble. Midnight took a half-step backward in muted surprise, looking up at his suddenly titanic girlfriend. "On my way," he called, exercising his talent for making himself heard clearly without actually raising the volume of his voice, then remounted the Night Cycle. "Redbird, tell my grandfather to hurry."

"Ha, well, handsome I'll take," Jack laughed, bowing slightly from the waist and giving a flourish with one hand in the alternate Jessica's direction as she boarded the craft. To Arrowhawk, he offered a snort. "As if you needed my permission to be an ornery coot, old man." Running one hand through his real hair quickly, he smirked. "Besides, didn't see it coming, did you, Eagle Eye? Master of disguise, is what." His sister for her part coughed lightly into her hand at Ironclad's noticeable reaction. "Right, yeah. Hi!" she attempted with a small, chagrined smile and an apologetic look. "Turns out we've met, huh? Sorry, it wasn't anything personal not cluing you in earlier, honest." "If we're all going to such creative lengths to preserve a modicum on anonymity as 'John' here," the elder sibling spoke up, "Jack and Jill ought to serve well enough regardless, yeah?"

Sorry for the delay, I've been doing y best to figure out how to actually implement Redbird's possession of the Night Cycle in practice; it's been largely academic until now! Still, that's not until her turn, really, so in the meantime: Midnight II Free Action: Arrange Gadgets: Snare 10 [20PP] (weighted bolas)Move Action: Auto-DC 30 Startle vs. Orange Goon (whichever mentioned the Night Cycle) Standard Action: Ranged Attack. (1d20+10=26) That should be either DC 20 or 22 Reflex, depending on whether or not Sneak Attack applies after the Startle. Let me know how that goes!

Lady Lunar Toughness Save vs. DC 31. (1d20+11=23) That's another bruise and a daze. 15 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 1HP 11 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured 5 - Lady Lunar - Bruised x3, Dazed

Lady Lunar, for her part had evidently regained enough of the composure she'd lost with the abrupt appearance of the two young women to have marshaled her defenses in earnest. While the spatial sawblades passed effortlessly though Jill's barrier with the medic's blessing, the Farsider flicked her wrist imperiously at each rapid impact of Dragonfly's attack, her force field flashing brightly as she reinforced it against the shockwaves. A sneer was the only response she seemed to think was merited. "Well, nertz," Jill muttered under her breath. Mara hadn't been holding back with that volley, she knew, and the momentum of the battle seemed ready to swing in their opponents favour. Steeling her will to strengthen the barrier of bioelectricity she'd raised, the metamagi realized that their psionic foe had been doing the same thing, shifting her mental focus and the toughness of her shield along with it. Time to set up the sucker punch, then, she decided. "Huah!" With a guttural shout, the young woman punched the air in front of her. Simultaneously, a column of crackling blue energy budded from her protective wall and rocketed toward Lady Lunar. The villainess was able to bring her telekenesis to bear almost effortlessly to knock the telegraphed attack aside, but in doing so she had let her attention leave her other side.

Midnight: Initiative. (1d20+5=23) Redbird: Initiative. (1d20+3=19)

Toughness Save vs. DC 28. (1d20+9=28) ...well. Jill O'Cure Move Action: Auto-DC 24 Feint vs. Lady Lunar Set-Up: Transfer Feint to Dragonfly Standard Action: Drop Created Object on Lady Lunar. Lady Lunar Will Save vs. DC 24. (1d20+12=19) Reflex Save vs. DC 22. (1d20+5=23) Since it's Create Object, that means it misses altogether. Standard Action: Attack Jill's barrier. Barrier Toughness Save vs. DC 26. (1d20+12=25) Damaged x1 15 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 2HP 11 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured 5 - Crater Apes (x12) - Unconscious 5 - Lady Lunar - Bruised x2, Feinted vs. Dragonfly

"Hnn," Midnight grunted noncommittally at the thought of combining his suggested security measures with the mystical defense systems Cimitiere had described. Though he had made some minor study of the weakness inherent in the more common supernatural threats - vampires, ghouls, werebeast and the like - and he was certainly familiar with the potential potency of practitioners as both allies and opponents, the vigilante had dealt very little with magic himself. "Potential benefits. Said 'frequency'," he noted, addressing the necromancer directly. "Analogy or quantifiable measurement?"

"Do I have cameras and speakers throughout the building? Yes!" Vince confirmed with a beaming smile and a pair of thumbs up. Placing one hand to the side of his mouth conspiratorially, he added, "Have they been hooked up properly so I can actually use them? Well..." The AI shrugged with ill concealed amusement. "Aheh, yeah, well," Erik coughed, rubbing the back of his neck with a chagrined wince. "If Liz maybe wanted to take a look at those, too, that would probably be good," the swordsman admitted to Chris. Ellie snorted as she led the way back out of the basement. "You don't mean your peerless technical skills somehow fell short of the task, do you?" she scoffed with mock incredulity. "Surely not!" "Yeah, yeah, yuk it up, hermanita..." her brother grumbled. Reflexively putting an arm around Willow's slender shoulders, minding her pregnant form, he followed back up the stairs.

Kimber made a show of looking over her own shoulder at Kristin's accusation of mischief, pointing to herself with an expression of bemused innocence at the suggestion that the Australian could have been referring to her. The poltergeist's expression quickly turned more pensive at Eve's more reserved answer to her own query. "Well, um, I mean..." she began hesitantly, unsure how to best word her interjection, "I'm glad you're here, at least. 'Cause otherwise I would have been a lot more scared when we went to that other school, the bad one, and there wouldn't be anyone helping us train now and maybe they wouldn't have even had anyone to send to pick all of us up from all over the place and those jerks Indira told me about might have hurt her in Mumbai and those other guys in Detroit might have kidnapped Koshiro and--" Kimber's voice picked up speed as she spoke, clearly distressed by the prospects she was listing and not needing to take a breath even as the sentence ran on and on.

As the second wave of frosty dark elves skittered down Giant Krampus' back and legs, gathering about their master's feet in preparation for another wild charge, Wail was ready for them. Planting one foot in front of the other, the earsplitting educator took a deep breath and unleashed a wide arc of rattling, sonic force that broke across the Svartálfar like a tidal wave, blowing apart their frigid forms into powder snow that caked about the oblivious behemoth's ankles. Raising the hand gripping Asad, Giant Krampus prepared to slam the captured hero into the nearest building with bone shattering force. "Not so fast, sucker!" Wail shouted, throwing both arms back as he took another breath and let loose a wrecking ball of reverberating power, a column of vibration that visibly distorted the air as he poured everything he had into the attack. Nearby window displays cracked and shattered as the deep, bass bellow smashed into the creature's face. The blow spun Giant Krampus about and after a staggering, awkward step trying to steady itself, it collapsed with a terrible boom in a tangled mess of gangly limbs and matted fur and twisting horns. The talons around Asad loosed limply while the fiery construct Pyre had generated continued to flicker, the dull sound of the flames abruptly the loudest thing in the stunned silence that followed.

Wail Standard Action: Sonic Scream. He's aiming the Cone Area downward enough to catch the Svartálfar and Giant Krampus' feet, but not Asad. Giant Krampus Reflex Save vs. DC 23. (1d20=1) Toughness Save vs. DC 28. (1d20+21=42) Fort Save vs. DC 19. (1d20+18=22) Svartálfar Reflex Save vs. DC 23. (1d20+5=8, 1d20+5=21, 1d20+5=12, 1d20+5=21, 1d20+5=24, 1d20+5=12, 1d20+5=22, 1d20+5=9, 1d20+5=9, 1d20+5=6, 1d20+5=9, 1d20+5=18, 1d20+5=17, 1d20+5=20, 1d20+5=23, 1d20+5=10, 1d20+5=14, 1d20+5=8, 1d20+5=15, 1d20+5=11, 1d20+5=14, 1d20+5=12, 1d20+5=13, 1d20+5=10, 1d20+5=13, 1d20+5=12, 1d20+5=14, 1d20+5=13, 1d20+5=22, 1d20+5=11) The 28 that failed automatically fail the Toughness Save and are out. The remaining two... Toughness Save vs. DC 21. (1d20+3=17, 1d20+3=11) Wail Extra Effort: Surge for Standard Action. Standard Action: Sonic Wail; All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5. (1d20+8=25) Again, Giant Krampus is a big enough target to hit him without hitting Asad. Giant Krampus Toughness Save vs. DC 38. (1d20+21=26) That would Stagger him again, which means it rounds up to Unconscious! And that marks the end of the fight, as it were. Asad is going to take some falling damage as Giant Krampus goes down, but I'll rule his Impervious takes care of that.

The whirlpool-like disc of flames seemed to effectively close the Basket of Ancient Winters, at least temporarily as the wicker edges of its rim charred black but didn't catch alight. Giant Krampus roared in rage, twisting back and forth in a futile effort to either get away from the fire or put it out. Soon, however, the great beast's attention was captured by the shouting of Asad. Though it didn't seem to fully understand the businessman's words, the jeering tone was clear and with another great shout of bestial fury, the monster swept and arm down with surprising speed and gripped Asad bodily in long, bony fingers each as thick as a telephone pole. Arms pinned to his sides, the hero was lifted up and into the air.

Alright. Since that failed by more than 5, Asad is Bound and therefore Helpless 19 - Asad - Staggered, Helpless, 2HP, Extra Effort 16 - Pyre - Bruised x1, 1HP, Extra Effort 9 - Giant Krampus - Bruised x2, Staggered, Demoralized 4 - Wail - Uninjured, 3HP 3 - Svartálfar (x10) - Panicked 3 - Svartálfar (x30) - Uninjured

Ghost Girl Ghost Girl Gather Information DC 15 Ghost Girl is either a member or frequent ally of the current iteration of the teenage hero team known as Young Freedom. She appears to be a young metahuman with the ability to turn invisible and pass through solid objects, hence her codename. DC 20 She has also demonstrated limited cryokinetic abilities as well as a vocally cheerful disposition. Knowledge (Arcane Lore) - Available after a successful Gather Information check or personally seeing Ghost Girl in action. DC 15 While it's possibly a coincidence, Ghost Girl's abilities match up with those of an actual wandering spirit, specifically a poltergeist. If she truly is undead, her coherent personality and apparent mobility would be unusual, though not unheard of. DC 20 Ghost Girl's bouts of icy powers may be a clue to the cause of her death, as spirits often take on qualities indicative of their final, traumatic moments. Freezing to death, for example, would be a reasonable guess. DC 30 Assuming the above conjecture proves correct, she would almost certainly have an aversion of high levels of heat or even fire. Kimber Storm Gather Information - Current Claremont students as of the 2011-2012 school year may subtract 10 from the DCs of these checks. DC 20 Kimber Storm is a recent transfer to Claremont Academy from Thunder Bay, Ontario. DC 25 A chipper and gregarious youth, she has quickly endeared herself to the faculty and her fellow students, though some admittedly find her constant cheer 'a little off-putting'. DC 30 It is surprisingly difficult to find records concerning Kimber, becoming essentially impossible the further back one searches. Her schooling costs are apparently being covered by a branch of the Canadian Government. This may suggest a connection to Daniel Storm, a frequent member of the national superhero team True North.

The shockwave rippled across Lady Lunar's telekinetic barrier, causing the visible field to ripple violently and physically forcing the villainous back the span of a pace from where she hung in the air. "P-peasant cretin!" she sputtered, visibly outraged as her fine, snowy eyebrows lifted toward her high brow. "You will hold your tongue before Lady Lunar! We are the true heir of the Royal Family! The true Monarch of the Moon!" "So it's the royal we, then," Jill thought aloud as she rolled back to her feet after barely avoiding the last attack and spread her hands, bringing a translucent blue force field of her own into place between the heroes and their ranting foe. "Not that that rules out the crazy thing."

Jill O'Cure Move Action: Auto-DC 24 Taunt vs. Lady Lunar Standard Action: Raise Create Object barrier around herself and Dragonfly (it's Selective). Lady Lunar Will Save vs. DC 24. (1d20+12=19) She passes her turn thanks to the the daze, and Dragonfly is up. 15 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 2HP 11 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured 5 - Crater Apes (x12) - Unconscious 5 - Lady Lunar - Bruised x2, Demoralized

While the Nightwatchman sprang into action ahead of the others, Midnight hung back for a moment, almost casually drawing the matte black, carbon fiber escrima sticks from their sheathes alongside his shins. He seemed as still as a statue until all attention inevitably turned to the rousing words of his caped friend, even for an instant. Anyone looking back would simply find the fedora wearing vigilante gone. The mystery did not stand long, however, as a great crack signaled his abrupt reappearance next to one of the possessed corpses on the ground, bringing his twin implements down in a punishing strike designed to test the durability of their opponents. Given the state they'd found the first 'host' in, there seemed little reason to hold back but Midnight was a methodical fighter and he needed a measure of what he was about to take down.

Midnight II Move Action: Approach Colour Host, Hide in Plain Sight, Auto-DC 30 Stealth w/ Skill Mastery (35 with Inspire). Standard Action: Escrima Stick Attack, Inspire +5, Power Attack 5. (1d20+14=31) That's a DC 30 Toughness Save with Sneak Attack (DC 28 otherwise).

Lady Lunar Toughness Save vs. DC 26. (1d20+12=21) 15 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 3HP, Fatigue Pending 11 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured 5 - Crater Apes (x12) - Unconscious 5 - Lady Lunar - Bruised x2, Dazed

"Well, technically, I am a curse!" Kimber pointed out, folding her legs beneath her as she floated. "Well. I'm a haunting, which is like a curse, I think. Maybe. I hope I'm not using the terms wrong, that's something I should really know! I think a curse is like... when something is just damp, but a haunting is like someone actually spitting on it!" The specter nodded definitively. "So I'm like spit!" There was a pause before she frowned deeply. "Oh, yuck, I don't like that analogy at all." The ghost grinned a bit in spite of herself when Kristin mentioned her friends' reaction to her new powers. "Aw, but scaring people is great!" she exclaimed before shooting a sidelong glance at Eve. Straightening her levitating legs so that she could clasp her hands behind her back in a look of exaggerated innocence, she quickly corrected, "I mean awful. Terrible! You definitely shouldn't sneak up invisibly behind people and make a loud noise or make a scary face in their mirror or anything. Who would even do that, eh? Nobody I know, that's for sure!"

"The lightning thing!" Kimber echoed, grinning broadly and floating another foot into the air, exuberant despite the grave situation. "Just point me right direction... uh, boss!" the electrified ghost added quickly with a quick glance towards the assembled news people who were no doubt listening in. "Cee Tee's usually pretty hard to miss, I bet I'll find in no time flat!" With directions provided, Gal Vanic was off like a bolt of lightning, one extended arm leading the way with the over tucked in beside her, elaborate blue hair blown back in the wind.

Jack waved away the objections to his piratical demands airily. "Ladies love parrots. True story." "Somebody's just stalling taking his mask off," his sister drawled with equal lack of concern as she undid her own bandana mask and pocketed the crimson fabric in the pocket of her jacket. Underneath, she was a sienna toned young woman with attractively angular features and dark blue eyes bordering on black that gleamed with intelligence and wry wit. Without her mask, her costume could reasonably pass for somewhat eccentric street clothes, but the cuff of a sleeve sticking out of the shoulder slung bag she carried suggested she planned to change once they were underway. With a grumbling sigh, the elder sibling followed suit. "Sure, not like I'm trying to maintain a secret identity or anything," he muttered half-heartedly under his breath as pocketed his mask. The familial resemblance was obvious, with the same defined cheekbones and tapering chin. More surprising, however, was when the swordsman reached up with his opposite hand to pull back his wavy black locks to reveal it as a wig covering closely shorn, dusty brown hair. "Alright, everybody gets one free crack about the wig," he told the others resignedly.

The Night Cycle's front wheel turned slightly to point directly in Corbin's direction, clearly an affectation on Redbird's part since the headlight and handlebars were no more her 'face' than any other part of the vehicle. "Flight capabilities are child's play," the machine intelligence assured him matter-of-factly, the barest hint of a scoff in her level voice at the suggestion something so rudimentary would be beyond her capabilities. "I have learned that the majority of your world's criminal element remain on the ground, however." Midnight made a low noise that might have been a snort from behind his featureless black mask. "More extreme measures implementable," he agreed when Cobalt Templar questioned whether distracting sonics would be enough against any malevolent ring-wielders. "Question the wisdom of putting them in your own base, however." While the adept tactician was well skilled at determining the most efficient and devastating response to any number of metahuman powersets, he generally viewed leaving the means to disabling any of his allies lying around to be a risky gambit.

"I'm beginning to think the 'why' is something along the lines of 'the universe is complete and utter blue moon monkey balls'," Jill theorized, simultaneously pulling her elbows into her sides and clenching her fists. As she did, a ring of crackling blue bioelectric construct rippled forth like a boulder being dropped in a still pond, following in the wake of her partner's spatial attack. The final standing crater apes were knocked off of their feet and tossed unconscious to the ground, but the diffused battering force washed over Lady Lunar's protective shield with no effect. The regal villainess scoffed, lifting one hand imperiously and widening her eyes with psionic concentration. "You would match your pitiful powers against Ours? Fool!" The force field bubble bulged as a column of force rocketed out, smashing into the rocky surface as Jill leapt out of the way, leaving one more crater in the satellite.