Gizmo

Initiative. (1d20+9=23) So that'll be right after Wander.

"You always downplay your work," Ellie chided Mara, evidently glad for an excuse to redirect the conversation. "Even her 'side projects' are totally groundbreaking stuff," she informed her family proudly. "The only reason they take a while is that she spends so much time consulting and fixing other people's mistakes." Gina paused her reproachful tirade to give the couple a contemplative look. Finishing a mouthful, Erik made a sound of interested approval. "Oh, right, you work at that new big science lab deal downtown, right? What's it called?" "The Lab," Ellie supplied. Her brother raised an eyebrow, trying to decide if she was kidding. "Bit on the nose, isn't it?"

Trevor was on guard the moment Erin stopped in mid-sentence, but it wasn't until Mark's outburst that his suspicions were confirmed. Noting dimly that the mental defenses he and Eve had been exploring were apparently more effective than he'd hoped, the young man pulled back one sleeve of his jacket to reveal a bracer of matte black and gleaming circuitry. "Mark, please," he requested calmly as he twisted a dial on the device as far as it would go. A bright sphere of crackling energy expanded from his arm in a flash, sweeping over them and silencing the mocking voice in their heads. The gauntlet continued to hum as he checked on the others. "Will keep her guessing." He suspected not knowing what was going on would be as much a slap in the face for the psychic as any of the day's indignities. He stepped over to Singularity last, kneeling to speak softly to her. "She can't hurt you now. Won't let her."

"It's true, I'm very friendly!" Jack called through the glass as Gabriel reassured the projectionist, grinning winningly. The smile abruptly slipped from his face as a slick feeling of nausea settled in his stomach and the edges of his vision shifted colours as though under a black light. Recovering woozily from the sudden spike, the energy manipulator recognized the sensation as his synesthesiatic metahuman senses' way of relaying the very antithesis of his stock and trade. Entropic energy death surged toward the front of the theater, and he spun on his perch to see Wander and Caradoc approaching someone seated there. "No! Stay back, she's poison!" he shouted impulsively, swinging after them from the rafters.

Gadgets! Obscure 3 (ESP + Mental Senses, 25ft radius, Extras: Selective) (Mental 'White Noise' Generator) [9PP] Emotion Control 6 (Extras: Area, Flaws: Limited [Calm], Sense Dependent [Auditory]) (Chill, You've Got Batman On Your Side) [6PP]

Notice check. (1d20+10=11) Yuck! He'll blow an HP to reroll, since his senses might actually be useful here. Notice check, HP reroll. (1d20+10=26)

"Young lady, you are pretty damn skinny," Gina insisted flatly, retrieving the tongs and scooping a third and forth tamale onto Mara's plate, then seeing to it that Ellie's plate was similarly well stocked. "You bunch, training and working and studying all day then running around the city at night, you don't eat, you don't sleep and you think you can get up the next day and do it all again." When her daughter began to protest, Gina brandished the utensil sternly. "And you should know better. Think I'm sending you off to learn medicine if you can't even take care of yourself?" "She can keep this up for a while without any actual input from us," Erik told Mara with a casual lack of concern. "So, you mentioned personal projects? You're like a freaky, techno genius type, right?"

"Pfft, it's not called 'imposing' when it's family, it's 'togetherness'," Erik scoffed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You're welcome at the brownstone, too, obviously. Lynn basically squeals with delight any time you even come up in conversation, so." The fencer paused for a moment before admitting, "Granted, she's in a pretty constant state of delight-squeal, but still." "It's not like I don't show up at your place all the time anyway," Ellie noted with a wry smile that slipped a few notches as she suddenly looked surreptitiously over at her mother. "Er..." Gina rolled her eyes. "Yes, because I was never eighteen," she drawled dryly. "I remember, in my first year of college--" "Dios, Mamá, there is no way any of us want to hear the rest of that story," Erik interrupted with a pronounced wince. "Fine, fine," his mother sighed with exasperation. "Regardless, help yourself to the tamales, Mara. Honestly, I thought these two were sticks."

Gina's expression softened with maternal instinct as Mara stumbled through her brief description, obviously aware that nervousness was making things more difficult for the young woman. "Do you have any family in Freedom, then?" she asked more gently. "Her mother passed away," Ellie filled in quickly to spare Mara the trouble. "Her father... isn't in the picture." Some of the new softness melted from Gina's expression. "Men. Typical." "Oh, yeah, this is a fun direction of conversation..." Erik muttered quietly under his breath as he scooped a tamale onto his plate. Silencing him with a curt look, Gina turned back to Mara. "Well, you're welcome here any time, dear. No use being cooped up on your own all the time."

"That's sweet of you to say, but I'm not going to interrogate you," Gina promised with a small smile and a reassuring wave of her hand as Erik retrieve glasses for everyone and set about filling them. "...of course, I was a police officer for a very long time, so if I ever had to--" "Mamá!" Ellie interrupted sharply, her voice strained. "You are killing me here!" "Don't take it personally, Mara," Erik suggested as he placed a glass of water in front of the blonde girl. "If she didn't already like you, she really would be interrogating you. Or subtly working her shooting range record into the conversation." Distributing coffee and juice to the other women, he took his seat. "How about you just tell us a little about yourself?"

"You're doing fine," Ellie promised with a smile of her own, returning the squeeze as moved into the next room. The kitchen took up most of the first storey's left side, a long room with a door to the back yard at its far end. The outer wall was covered by cabinets and drawers along with the usual large appliances, though Mara was able to see that the upper shelves were mostly bare. The rest of the space was taken up by a rectangular table, draped with a simple, off-white cloth and set with plates and utensils. While Gina took a place at one end of the table, Erik squeezed past the girls to reach the countertop and uncovering a large plate of tamales, unwrapping and discarding the corn husk wrappings. "Well, it's about the only thing she has told me," Gina noted, giving her daughter a pointed look. "I realize that it's all secret identities and confidentiality and double lives with you kids, but honestly." "Well, there's that," Erik quipped as he brought the serving plate over to the table. "She also probably didn't want to go over her dates in too much detail with her mother, amirite?" Taking one of the two seats along the long side of the table, Ellie glared daggers at her brother. "I will destroy you." "So you keep saying," he replied airily. "What can I get everybody to drink?"

"Ha! Well, we figured you had to be at least mostly crazy anyway," Erik responded with a broader grin, straightening from his reclined posture. "Just look at who you decided to dat- ow!" The young man rubbed his arm where his mother had smacked it as she rolled past. "Ignore him, dear. We certainly do," Gina advised their guest as she led the way into the kitchen. "Ellie tells me you speak five languages fluently. I'd say you're entitled to whatever sentence structure you like." Her firm tone made it clear that she wouldn't hear any more fretting over the matter. Ellie's cheeks darkened slightly as she walked with Mara. "It, y'know, it just came up, is all," she explained, a little embarrassed.

It took Trevor a moment to realize specifically what Singularity was staring at, then he quickly drew his sunglasses from his jacket and covered his discoloured eyes, quietly apologizing and cursing his lack of thought. He'd gotten so used to not having to hide them around his Erin that much of the initial self-consciousness they'd inspired had faded. He finished placing them on his face just in time to see her produce Bronwyn, much to his surprise. Knowing how much the bear meant to Erin, he paused silently for a moment before sitting down next to her so that their shoulders were touching and loosely taking her hand in his own.

"I'm... not really sure there's a correct response to that," Erik admitted in a voice that was mildly amused if a little weary. The young man sauntered after his petite friend with his hands in the pockets of his wool-lined jacket, a knapsack slung over one shoulder. He suspected Lynn had insisted he come along more to get him out of the brownstone apartment building and out of costume at the same time than for his supposed fashion insight, but he had to admit to himself that she had a point, and he appreciated the effort. He spent more time as Jack of all Blades than as Erik Espadas lately, and it wouldn't hurt to balance those two sides of himself a little better. Besides, it was pretty tough to stay annoyed in the face of Lynn's seemingly boundless energy and good cheer. The sound of blaring horns and shouting drew their attention away from the window display to the nearby street. "Huh, looks like a job for et cetera, et cetera," he drawled, slinging the bag from his shoulder and nodding toward the alleyway next to the shop.

The door opened almost immediately to reveal a relieved Ellie, who gave Mara a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before pulling the shorter girl inside, conveniently solving both of their fidgeting problems by slipping her hand around her girlfriend's. "Hey! Come on in. Did you have any trouble finding the place? I know all the houses out here pretty much look the same and-" "Give her some breathing room," her brother suggested, leaning against the banister of the stairs with his arms crossed. It was easy for Mara to recognize the swordsman she already knew as Jack of all Blades, although his short cropped hair was now the same dusty brown as Ellie's roots when she forgot to touch them up, and his demeanor was considerably more relaxed than that of his animated, swashbuckling persona. "Erik," he introduced himself simply, giving the new arrival a small wave and smile. "And I'm Gina," the older woman added, wheeling herself further into the foyer. There was no mistaking the familial resemblance between the mother and her children. While Gina Espadas' features were a little less angular than theirs, her manner and expression was familiar, as was the fit musculature. "Well, let me get a look at you," she insisted warmly, giving Mara a look of comically exaggerated assessment. "Hmm, you're right, dear, she is a cutie." "Mamá!" Ellie groaned.

Ellie Espadas paced nervously back and forth in the foyer of her family's modest home, tugging absently at the bottom of her vintage vest as she made a conscious effort not to look at the clock hanging nearby. Failing miserably, she noted with some irritation that the hands hadn't moved perceptibly from the position they'd been at when she'd checked moments earlier. "You're going to dig a rut in the linoleum, hermaita," her brother noted dryly as he stepped downstairs. Erik Espadas had donned one of his nicer dress shirts at his sibling's insistence, though he'd left the collar unbuttoned. Perhaps more telling, however, was that he'd taken time to shave without being asked. Stopping in her tracks, Ellie turned to give him a baleful look before sighing. "I just want this to go well, okay?" she told him with an emphatic gesture that gave way to running her fingers through her hair. "It's important." "Worried we'll embarrass you, dear?" Gina Espadas asked her daughter, raising an eyebrow as she wheeled herself out of the first floor bedroom, tilting her head slightly to one side with a faint, amused smile. "Yes, exactly!" the youngest member of the family answered immediately, throwing her hands up in the air.

Midnight adjusted quickly to the sudden change in location, if only because he'd been prepared to suggest more or less the same strategy Edge had put into motion. His companions' body heat made them clear to his metahuman eyes, and he could see Wander struggling with Singularity even before the traumatized girl began to cry out. Acting swiftly, he pressed a concealed button on his belt buckle which immediately lit up with powerful diodes, bathing the small space in soft, white light. With his other hand, the young man unfastened the side of his black mask, letting the fabric fall down to hang about his neck. "Erin," he called to Singularity, coming as close as he ever did to raising his voice, "It's alright. We're trying to help you but you need to calm down. Please." Trevor's voice was calm and level, though there was some distinct strain in the corners of his onyx and ruby eyes.

Jill O'Cure Free Action: Maintain Created Objects Standard Action: Grab the ultrasound devices in a 'bubble'. Move Action: Hop onto Ironclad!

"Lemme think... nope!" Jill smirked as she stepped around the brutal, slashing claws, keeping her concern from her face. No brother or girlfriend to run interference for you this time, she reminded herself. She also had to keep in mind that a solid hit might break her concentration enough to drop the other Contenders. Feinting a kick to keep Bear-Knuckle occupied, she continued, "You could at least give me something to work with here. 'Grr, argh' isn't much in the way of banter."

:v: Jill O'Cure Free Action: Maintain Created Objects Move Action: Auto-DC 25 Taunt w/ Skill Mastery (Remember Bear-Knuckle gets +1 since he already fell for it once.) Standard Action: Unarmed Attack. (1d20+8=10) Ouch. Ah well.

Jack threw his head back with a resounding laugh at Wander's dry rejoinder, even if the sound did echo eerily in the abandoned theater. "Haha, alright, well played. Who says you're a humourless recluse?" Inwardly, the swordsman was more impressed with the teenager's astute reading of the specter's strategy of fear. In many ways, it wasn't too dissimilar to the overly verbose manner he adopted to keep opponents distracted in a fight. Walking down the aisles between rows of seats, he looked down with a grimace, lifting his boot with some difficulty. "Euych, sticky." Following Nick's gaze to the projection room, he hopped nimbly up to balance on the back of a folding seat to gain a little height, smoothly drawing his grapple launcher in his free hand and firing it into the ceiling. The press of a button retracted the cable and brought the fencer up to the window in one smooth motion. "Knock knock," he murmured, rapping on the glass with the knuckles of the fist holding the hilt of his sword.

Jill O'Cure Just a couple of typos that need fixing, while I'm thinking of it. AP Autoimmunity Touch 12 (Drain Fortitude 11, Power Feats: Accurate 2, Incurable, Reversible, Slow Fade, Extra: Linked [Damage]) + (Damage 11, Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Linked [Drain], Secondary Effect) [53PP] needs to be AP Autoimmunity Touch 12 (Drain Fortitude 12, Power Feats: Accurate 2, Incurable, Reversible, Slow Fade, Extra: Linked [Damage]) + (Damage 12, Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Linked [Drain], Secondary Effect) [53PP] and ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage Disease Touch Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Fortitude Touch DC27 Fortitude (Staged) Damage needs to be ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage Autoimmunity Touch Touch DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Drain Fortitude Touch DC27 Fortitude (Staged) Damage Doktor'd

The sheer force of the glow given off by the probability controllers forced Midnight and the Blank to pause their fight despite their respectively mutated vision. Upon seeing the outcome, it was the latter who spoke first, his voice strained with indignation. "Now you kill him?" He had only a moment to shake with barely contained rage before a black gloved fist slammed into his masked jaw with an audible crack as Midnight took advantage of his distraction. Falling to the dirt floor and skidding a few paces away, his fedora tumbling away, the sullied villain rose to his feet with a device in his hand similar to the one he'd used to detonate his throwing discs earlier in the battle. "We have a saying here, regarding the apropos response to this level of idiocy," he noted stiffly. "Rocks fall, everyone dies." As he pressed the button in his hand, a cascade of deafening explosions racked across the ceiling of the cavern, letting loose massive chunks of rock from above. The Blank dodged one such boulder as he sprinted over to where Inquisitor was dueling her double and grabbed the telepath's wrist. The taller villain pressed his belt buckle and the pair vanished in spirals of red light. Simultaneously, Midnight broke into a run toward the lowest point of the bowl shaped space and the impervium box sitting there. Leaping out of the path of a piece of the ceiling, he landed atop another as it fell and pushed off to propel himself to the top of the prison. Within moments he had the hatch there open. "Time to go," he noted calmly over the roar of crashing stone.

Wail planted his feet in a wide stance as soon as they emerged in the forest, steadying himself and looking about with reflexive speed. Seeing that he was in no immediate danger, he placed one hand wryly on his chest. "Thank goodness for super-dense heart muscles. Give an old man some warning; I'm used to teleportation being more- well. Different, anyway." LaMarr's face fell slightly behind his sunglasses as he halted that train of thought and took a more in depth look at his surroundings. "Quite the place."

Jill's Defense is actually 27, so that misses!