Gizmo

"And here I thought I could make anything look pleasant," Jill teased with a shaky smile. "I'm alright, muñequita, just took it out of me." She felt a little worse than that made it sound, but she didn't want to worry Mara or look weak in front of an audience. "Um..." one of the wait staff began uncertainly, half raising her hand as though asking a question in a classroom. "I, ah, called the police when the fighting started, so... I guess they should be here soon?" The plump brunette indicated the cellphone in her other hand, still looking a little stunned by the abrupt devastation that had swept through the restaurant, but maintaining her composure noticeably better than many of the others in the room. Jill nodded gratefully. "Good job. Is anybody injured? I need everyone to exit the building and move across the street until we can make sure everything's going to hold together, okay?" Even winded, the young medic had a commanding presence in a crisis situation, her voice calm and steady.

Wail's got some Area [Cone] attacks, but naturally they're not Selective. If he's near the mouth of the alleyway, does he have any kind of clear shot without hitting the good guys? If not, what about an Area [Line]?

Taking the focused shockwave right in the face, Heka slid about the frictionless interior of the sphere, becoming tangled in his dark robes. Realizing that the last of his would-be meat shields had been downed, the villain raised his hands in a dramatic gesture before partially fading from sight as he took on an ethereal quality, visible only as a hazy red outline. "H-hey!" Jill protested as her prisoner slid through her force field as though it were nothing more than air. "You've not heard the last of this, you insignificant specks!" the ghostly form promised, taking a brief moment to shake its translucent fist in the girls' direction before speeding away through the air, out the front of the restaurant and into the distance. Somewhat nonplussed, the medic pulled an annoyed expression as she set the unconscious Fawkes down and let the round barriers dissipate. "Well, I for one am already ruing the day," she sighed, wincing a little as she placed a hand over her stomach. Although she'd healed the real damage, the effort of using her powers on herself had left her bone weary and sore. With the threat apparently ended, the restaurant staff and patrons began to hesitantly reemerge from behind tables and counters, many of them brandishing camera phones as Angel had insisted.

Whelp, the whole idea behind the Fearsome Five is that at least one of them remains at large to free the others, so Heka is going to go Insubstantial and run awaaaaay!

The laminated placard next to the shattered case proclaimed its former contents to be 'The Soul Ruby' but was frustratingly vague as to its history, with most of the brief write-up concerning the gem's interesting geological anomalies. A small footnote at the bottom explained that it had been donated to the museum by the Meadows Foundation. It was that last part that piqued Wail's interest. "Hunh. Khuitan there used to run with a Brit named Liz Meadows. Ninja type, went by Soulblade. Don't figure that's a coincidence."

Heka Toughness Save vs. DC 25. (1d20+12=18) Ooh, Stunned.

Fawkes' knives scraped ineffectively against the interior of his prison, while Heka's enraged blasts of scarlet light caused Jill to wince as she maintained the bubbles with force of will. "You dare?!" the undead sorcerer roared as deadly light shot from his scepter. "Do you worms realize who it is you trifle with?! I am Heka! I am the rightful ruler of this pathetic mud ball!" "Yeeeah, I used up all my patience on the crazy guy who kept punching me in the stomach," Jill informed him, raising her faintly glowing hands ominously. Fawkes seemed to catch on to her intent first, dropping his alliterative affectation to protest, "Oh, boll--" before the spheres of mystically reinforced bioelectricity shook violently, like giant snow globes. The man in the long coat crashed haphazardly back and forth, his mask falling loose to reveal an aging Irishman with thinning hair. When Jill brought the traps back to rest, he lay in an quietly groaning heap at the bottom. Heka, on the other hand, had managed to compensate with his levitation spell, and only seemed more incensed.

Wail - Initiative. (1d20+2=20)

Haha, sent back in time for a Wild West adventure? Shenanigans! Naturally the Espadas kids aren't about to be the only ones left out.

Guy Fawkes II Standard Action: Power Attack 2 the bubble. Impervious 12! No dice. Heka Standard Action: Power Attack 2 the bubble. That's actually exactly enough to overcome the Impervious, so... Force Bubble Toughness Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+12=25) Injured x1! Jill O'Cure Move Action: Auto-DC 25 Taunt Heka. Standard Action: Using the 'dropping objects' application of Create Object in conjunction with the Movable extra to justify shaking them like snow globes. Guy Fawkes Reflex Save vs. DC 22. (1d20+8=18) Toughness Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+7=8) Ooh, ow. Heka Sense Motive vs. DC 25. (1d20+15=18) Reflex Save vs. DC 22. (1d20+4=23) ARGH. Blackfire Will Save vs. DC 19. (1d20+7=18) 26 - Guy Fawkes II - Unconscious, Trapped (+12 Toughness, Impervious) 25 - Angel - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 19 - Heka - Uninjured, Shaken, Trapped (+11 Toughness, Impervious) 17 - Diehard - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 16 - Blackfire - Uninjured, Dimensional Pocket'd! (+1) 10 - Jill O'Cure - Fatigued 9 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 1HP

With a resigned grunt, Midnight motioned for everyone else to stay where they were while he dealt with the officer outside. He had the best chance of passing for his Anti-Earth double of any of the group; he tried not to think that that was simply because he and the Blank weren't so different. --Eve, can you get me his name, anything else relevant?-- he asked telepathically as he waited until everyone else was backed away out of sight before opening the door and striding directly into the officer's path, arms folded and head tilted with a hint of disdain that was conveyed despite his featureless mask. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked in a bored drawl.

"Jiminy Cricket..." Wail muttered with the inflection of an oath, placing one broad hand on the back of his neck as he rolled his shoulders and adjusted his sunglasses. "No idea, never seen it before." With a exhalation that carried mild frustration, he turned from the entangled Khuiten to regard Fleur de Joie. "Sorry, little momma. Been outta the game for a long, long time. Looks like I missed a thing or two in between."

--Keep a mind's eye on them, too,-- Midnight communicated wordlessly to Sage as she went to follow the Gravois. --Nothing invasive, just want to know if anyone is thinking of doing something... regrettable.-- When it came down to it, he didn't know Caryatid, he didn't know her family and he didn't even know Mind-Master enough for his vouching to carry much weight. The stakes were high enough that the young vigilante was disinclined to take any chances. Turning to Wander, he mused, "Rather avoid opening another portal; may not have a choice."

Blackfire tried in vain to escape the folding space around him, screaming, "No no no! Not again!" As he winked away entirely, the androids voice diminished along with him. "Son of a...!" The unconscious Diehard offered far less protestation. Heka's attacks continued to prove ineffective as he backed away from the fight slightly, hovering closer to the gaping hole in the front of the restaurant as he loosed a halfhearted bolt of deadly light at Dragonfly. "Well. That was a irksomely brief change of fortunes," the undead sorcerer admitted as the Fearsome Five's heavy hitters returned to the void. Fawkes response was cut off as Jill responded to a swipe of his twin knives by bringing her force fields to bear once more, spheres of shimmering blue energy surrounding both the masked man and his mystical ally with a faint electrical crackle. "I don't know, I think I like where the momentum of this is going," the medic smirked, still breathing heavily but easily maintaining the energy constructs and trapping the pair within them.

Guy Fawkes II Standard Action: Attack Jill O'Cure. (1d20+14=23) Jill O'Cure Toughness Save vs. DC 21. (1d20+7=24) Heka Standard Action: Attack Dragonfly. (1d20+10=14) Jill O'Cure Move Action: Auto-DC 25 Taunt vs. Guy Fawkes II w/ Skill Mastery Standard Action: Trap Guy Fawkes II and Heka in force fields using Create Object. Guy Fawkes Bluff Check vs. DC 25. (1d20+13=30) Reflex Save vs. DC 22. (1d20+8=19) Heka Reflex Save vs. DC 22. (1d20+6=11) Blackfire Will Save vs. DC 19. (1d20+6=17) 26 - Guy Fawkes II - Uninjured, Trapped (+12 Toughness, Impervious) 25 - Angel - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 19 - Heka - Uninjured, Trapped (+12 Toughness, Impervious) 17 - Diehard - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 16 - Blackfire - Uninjured, Dimensional Pocket'd! (+1) 10 - Jill O'Cure - Fatigued 9 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 1HP

Jack of all Blades (14) BeeFFs (1) Science of Stabpunching 201 (2) The Unearthly Girl (2) Double-Edged Blade (1) The Rites of Spring (8) Midnight II (23) Another Sunrise (2) The River's Just a River (8) We'll All Go Down Together (13) Wail (15) Irresistible Force (14) Shadow Dance (1) NPCs Jill O'Cure (44/2=22) Certain Flaws (1/2) Place Your Bets, Ladies! (5/2) Girls, Interrupted (38/2) GM (1/2) Double-Edged Blade (1/2) Contributions Visual Guide: Arcturus, Citizen, Mercury I'd like to use the NPC/GM post to bump Jack and Wail both up to 25 posts, and send the contribution PP Jack's way as well.

Blackfire Reflex Save vs. DC 19. (1d20+5=15)

While Heka continued to lob deadly bolts from afar, Fawkes and Blackfire focused their malicious attentions on Jill O'Cure, evidently deciding simultaneously that they didn't want to risk getting in Diehard's way as he attacked Dragonfly with an almost rabid furry. The two villains found their attacks going wide, however, as the acrobatic medic forced through her fatigue to bound past them, using the automaton's metal skull as a springboard to tackle the enraged martial artist. Objectively, she knew she was no match for the regenerating soldier, and terror sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach, but the young woman wasn't about to let the madman lay a hand on her girlfriend. "Get away from her!" Jill shouted as she wrapped an arm around his neck from behind and planted her virulently glowing hand on his face. The effect was immediate, as Diehard's superhuman regenerative powers suddenly turned against him, accelerating to dangerous levels and beyond as the metamagi heroine poured the sickly green energy into him. With a series of disturbing shudders, he stumbled forward a few steps, then collapsed to his knees, bile running down one corner of his mouth before he finally fell face down on the restaurant floor. Panting heavily, Jill regarded the remaining villains. "Alright then. Who else need 'calming down'?"

Guy Fawkes II Move Action: Auto-DC 18 Feint against Jill O'Cure w/ Skill Mastery Standard Action: Attack Jill O'Cure. (1d20+14=16) Miss. Heka Standard Action: Aid Attack vs. Dragonfly. (1d20+6=25) Go figure. Diehard Standard Action: All-Out Attak 5, Power Attack 5 vs. Dragonfly. (1d20+14=21) Miss, barely. Blackfire Standard Action: Attack Jill O'Cure. (1d20+10=19) Miss. Jill O'Cure Fatigued! Standard Action: Autoimmunity Touch vs. Diehard. (1d20+13=31) Going to add a crit effect to that because of Dragonfly's nat-20 on the Aid Attack, so: Diehard Fortitude Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+8=10) That'll drop him to -4 Fort. Fortitude Save vs. DC 32. (1d20-4=4) So... yeah. Unconscious! Jill O'Cure Move Action: Auto-DC 25 Feint vs. Blackfire Set-Up: Pass the Feint to Dragonfly. Blackfire Sense Motive vs. DC 25. (1d20+10=14) 26 - Guy Fawkes II - Uninjured 25 - Angel - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 19 - Heka - Uninjured 17 - Diehard - Unconscious 16 - Blackfire - Uninjured, Feinted 10 - Jill O'Cure - Fatigued 9 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 1HP

"Argh! Shut up, you little freak!" Blackfire shouted holding his head for a moment before taking a swing at Dragonfly, with Heka providing a series of minor blasts to herd her into the robot's range. Thankfully, her mental ramblings distracted him sufficiently to ruin the attack, but with the inventor occupied, Fawkes decided to take a shot at the heroine without the high tech defenses. He managed to tag Jill, but her lightly reinforced jacket took the brunt of the slicing blow. Grimacing from the effort, Jill applied a faintly glowing hand to her stomach, repairing enough of the damage she'd sustained early in the fight to bring her back to fighting form, though still winded. To her horror, however, another point unfolded abruptly into a still screaming Diehard, who clawed at his face. Unlike Blackfire, his fingernails left bloody trails which immediately repaired themselves. "Oh, great," the android groaned. "Do you know how long it's going to take to calm him down after he kills you?"

Guy Fawkes II Move Action: Auto-DC 20 Acrobatic Bluff against Jill O'Cure w/ Skill Mastery Standard Action: Attack Jill O'Cure. (1d20+12=23) Jill O'Cure Toughness Save vs. DC 21. (1d20+7=21) Ha HA! Heka Standard Action: Aid Attack. (1d20+6=10) Blackfire Standard Action: Attack Dragonfly. (1d20+12=15) Jill O'Cure Extra Effort: Surge Full Action: Use Healing to remove her staggered condition. Diehard Will Save vs. DC 20. (1d20+9=22) Nuts. 26 - Guy Fawkes II - Uninjured 25 - Angel - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 19 - Heka - Uninjured 17 - Diehard - Uninjured 16 - Blackfire - Uninjured 10 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured, Extra Effort 9 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 1HP

Keith LaMarr strode through the streets of Lincoln, keeping his super-dense footsteps light with the thoughtless ease of decades of practice. He still remembered the days when he would leave foot-shaped indentations nearly everywhere he went. Wearing sunglasses despite the fading sunlight, the teacher was lost in his thoughts. Javeed had always insisted that a good walk could solve most of life's problems, and in their years together had gotten Keith in the habit as well. Even now, alone again, he had to admit that the simple gesture seemed to help. So distracted, he almost failed to notice the shabbily clad busker crossing the sidewalk in front of him. Coming up short midstep, LaMarr noted the discarded sign and evidently false glasses across the street with a slight frown. When the supposed police officer slid a clearly non-regulation blade from his belt, the expression on the older man's face set grimly. Removing his jacket and sweater revealed the black and gold costume he'd worn beneath them - another habit he'd never really broken.

"Kids today, too good for a little collateral damage," Wail snorted with a touch of humour, though he agreed with the florakinetic's assessment. In their younger days, his brawls with Khuiten had wracked up massive damage to their surroundings. Older and wiser, he had no intention of slipping back into bad habits. Entering the next room, they found the injured wrestler reaching through a smashed case and removing a multifaceted stone the size of one of his meaty fists and a ruby red hue. Seeing the heroes enter, Khuiten pulled the gem toward himself and took a step back, snapping angrily, "No! You will not stop me now!" "Heard that tune before," Wail replied grimly, charging forward and delivering a brutal haymaker. At the last moment, his old foe instinctively raised his prize before him, placing it in the path of the aging hero's fist. The stone shattered the moment Wail connected, releasing a burst of light that momentarily blinded everyone in the room. The next thing Wail and Fleur knew, Khuiten was lying unconscious on the ground and there was no sign of even slivers of the massive ruby.

"Bah!" Heka snarled, giving up on the massive hand spell for the time being and resuming his haphazard blasting. "In my age--" "I must ask you assume a aphonic attitude!" Fawkes cut in with a stained tone, barely dodging the combined assault from the two girls while Dragonfly's shields continued to thwart his knives. All the combatants paused for a moment a point in the air abruptly unfolded into the form of Blackfire, now with a considerable amount of Angel's lunch spread across one side of his face and shirt. "What the bloody hell was that?" the sandy haired man grated, raising a hand to his face and tearing in a sickening movement. Hair and flesh and cloth tore away as one, revealing a gleaming metal framework beneath as the android tossed the befouled shedding aside, the remains of his cream coloured shirt and tanned visage hanging loosely as he refocused his attention on the heroines.

Guy Fawkes II Move Action: Auto-DC 18 Taunt against Dragonfly w/Skill Mastery Standard Action: Attack Dragonfly. (1d20+14=26) DC 21 again. Heka Standard Action: Attack Dragonfly. (1d20+6=15) Haha, he's really not very good at this. Jill O'Cure Standard Action: Autoimmunity Touch vs. Guy Fawkes II. (1d20+12=20) Grr... Diehard Will Save vs. DC 20. (1d20+8=13) Blackfire Will Save vs. DC 19. (1d20+10=30) Free! 26 - Guy Fawkes II - Uninjured 25 - Angel - Unconscious, Dimensional Pocket'd! 19 - Heka - Uninjured 17 - Diehard - Uninjured, Dimensional Pocket'd! (+2) 16 - Blackfire - Uninjured 10 - Jill O'Cure - Staggered 9 - Dragonfly - Uninjured* - 1HP