Gizmo

One of Ellie's eyes squinted slightly at Mara's graphic talk about cockroaches. "And on that note..." she coughed lightly, letting go of her date's hand as their server reappeared with their meals. After refilling their glasses of water and warning that the plates were hot, the waiter departed again for a busier section of the restaurant. The taller girl cut into her chicken without preamble, eyes lighting up as she tried the dish. "Oh wow," she praised as she finished her mouthful, "you should just pick where we eat from now on."

"Jill," Jack snapped brusquely, the syllable carrying the tone of an order despite its brevity. Even as the younger sibling came to a skidding half toward the back of the group her arms were stretched forward. "Way ahead of you, hermano," she assured him as a translucent blue barrier stronger than steel shimmered into existence around the captive security guard, cutting Xipe Totec and his cultists off from the plinth. With a curt nod of approval, her brother raised his arm to point his blazing rapier at the disturbingly clad leader of the group before them. "You heard the kid, Xipey," he drawled with misleading lethargy. "Shorty said knock you out."

Reaching into his greatcoat, Jack tossed Jeni a small rectangle of white card stock with a capital 'I' embossed into it and contact information on one side. "Here, you can start a Rolodex," the fencer suggest dryly. "Like Little Miss Formal Wear said, you need something give us a ring." Cocking his head slightly to one side, he offered the alien a broad, confident grin. "You crashed down in the West End, and we take care of our own. Long as you're in town, we got your back." "Lucky you," Jill drawled, rolling her eyes skyward but giving Jeni a more reassuring smile along with it.

"Ooh, Xipe Totec," Jack responded to Nick's explanation, shaking his head slowly as he mimicked the necromancer's pronunciation, "totally the worst Totec." The swashbuckler held his sizzling thermal blade to one side as he rubbed the stubble on his jawline with exaggerated thoughtfulness, his manner abruptly jovial again now that the immediate threat had passed. "I mean, on a scale of one to Totec..." He didn't get the chance to complete the thought as he fell into the instant sprint of a practiced athlete, chasing after the flying Equinox, Jill close behind him. "Right behind you, Bright Eyes!"

Ellie snapped the fingers of her free hand in exaggerated chagrin. "Shucks, wonder if I can still get a refund on that sky-writer," she teased, squeezing Mara's hand back. "Not too much. Cleaning up after small fly, stopping them before they can get established." Although punctuated by the occasional supervillain brawl or bout of general mayhem, the bulk of her work as Jill O'Cure was still spend patrolling the streets of the West End with her brother, on the lookout for muggers, drug dealers and other scum. "Katanarchists have been around here and there, which is kinda weird. Fun name, not so great with banter. Ninjas, y'know?"

Pulling a small, slim tablet from his jacket pocket, Midnight shook his head slightly. "Have to ask?" It took a moment to reconfigure the miniature computer's setting to connect to the subtly different wireless signals of Anti-Earth, then a moment more to slice through the firewalls between him and the security systems which blanketed the entire city under their wary gaze. Once he was in, it was a fairly simple matter to insert a line of pre-written code which would cause any cameras with recording to loop back to the same time the day before, while independent systems would simply cut out as though malfunctioning. It wasn't going to fool anyone long term, but it would get them where they needed to go and back unnoticed.

Example Gadgets! Blessed Silver Knuckles Corrosion 5 (Flaw: Limited [Drain Toughness Only vs. Targets with Vulnerability or Weakness to Silver], Power Feats: Affects Insustantial 2, Improved Critical, Incurable, Mighty) [15PP] EMP Grenade Drain Toughness 10 (Extras: Affects Objects, Area [General, Burst], Linked [Damage], Flaws: Limited [Objects], Limited [Electronics]) [10PP] Damage 10 (Extras: Area [General, Burst], Linked [Drain], Flaws: Limited [Objects], Limited [Electronics]) [5PP] Hijack Teleportation Signal Super-Senses 1 (Trace Teleport) [1PP] Teleport 3 (Extras: Accurate, Affects Others, Power Feats: Easy, Progression [600 lbs.]) [14PP] Original Night Gun Obscure 3 (Visual Senses, 25ft radius; Extras: Independent, Linked [stun], Flaws: Action [Full Action]) [3PP] Stun 4 (Extras: Area [General, Cloud, 10ft radius], Linked [Obscure], Ranged, Flaws: Action [Full Action]) [12PP] Tight-Beam Sonic Emitter Dazzle 15 (Auditory) [15PP] Universal Translator Super-Senses 4 (Normal Auditory [Analytical, Ultra-Hearing], Normal Olfactory [Acute, Analytical], Normal Visual [Analytical]) [5PP] Comprehend 5 (Code, Read, Speak and Understand Languages) [10PP]

"That's because you're good people, cariño," Ellie noted, laying one hand palm upward in the middle of the table with a reassuring smile. "Just, y'know, don't go overboard with the grand gestures, okay? You don't have anything to prove." She had a feeling that Mara was partially taking her cues from Eve's recent habit of lavishing huge sums of money on her friends at the drop of a hat, but the inventor's coffers were not nearly so limitless. "The little things add up to mean more anyway."

My point was more that, as it stands, the costs aren't being covered equally. Jack is very close to capping out, and while I don't intend to retire him, PP is now a finite resource for him.

Mara's mention of dirty engineering conjured some pretty specific images of engine grease and overalls, but Ellie managed to push them to the back of her mind. "Well, the hospital's always looking for volunteers," she admitted, "but that can be dirty in more of a 'stranger's bodily fluids' kinda way, so I'm not sure you'd- ah. Heh." With a small, lopsided smile, the medic lifted her palms upward. "I think I see your point." Working at the hospital probably seemed a lot more glamourous before one actually tried it, and day to day procedure at the Lab likely followed the same pattern. "Anyway, I'm not going to stop you from picking up the cheque now and then, but you don't have to worry."

In his newly white uniform, Midnight folded his arms, frowning behind his mask. Having many of the senior students out of the way was fortunate enough, but frankly it was their personal counterparts he was more concerned about. Perhaps that was simply egotism, but they were easily the trickiest part of operating in an alternate dimension. Some small part of him, however, was glad to hear there was a chance he might run into the Blank before all was said and done. Quashing that feeling, he ran a thumb along the jawline of his masked face, considering. "Cavern... Interesting."

Ellie coughed lightly into the back of her hand as their server arrived, taking their orders and retrieving their menus with a pleasant manner but minimum of smalltalk, obviously sensing that he was somehow intruding. The dark haired girl had to consciously straighten after reflexively ducking her head slightly between her shoulders. "Well... yeah," she finally replied, the self-consciousness sitting poorly with her naturally assertive personality. "Look, I mean, competency, extreme competency, obviously, is... attractive."

Wail gave a vague impression of approval at Fleur's sentiment of community, but he responded directly to her question. "Calls himself Khuiten, after the mountain. Was a wrestler in Mongolia in the seventies, working as a leg-breaker on the side." The larger hero grimaced as they ventured further inside. The old villain had always been surprisingly fleet given his bulk, but they had to be catching up to him by that point. "Nasty piece of work, got a taste for fighting and killing capes, joined up with some other mercs. Threw down with them more than a few times. The break-and-enter didn't use to be his MO."

Why don't we come up with a full write-up for the HQ and vehicle stats, then figure out how the EP cost will be split up between the characters?

"Y'know, muñequita," Ellie drawled wryly, her tone teasing, "I can tell you're choosing your words carefully when you 'mmh'." As much as she found Mara's blunt way of speaking an attractive quality, the taller girl had to admit that the inventor's occasional, guileless attempts to spare her feelings were endearing too, in a completely irrational way. "If I'd just be in the way, that's okay," she assured her date, "but of course I want to help. Engineering is important to you, it's an important part of you. Seeing you work is exciting." The medic's cheeks coloured slightly as she played that back in her head. "I, ah, I mean... no, y'know what? I'm going to stick with 'exciting'," she decided resolutely, jutting her lower lip out in exaggerated defiance.

Leaning forward a bit as she listened, Ellie folded her arms atop the table. "Well, if you ever need an extra pair of hands," she offered, lifting her fingers briefly from her elbows for emphasis. The prospective medical student wasn't used to being the lesser intelligence in the room, but she typically only grasped the basic concepts of Mara's work, enough to appreciate the goals but not enough to contribute. She had to admit, the unfamiliar dynamic put her a bit off balance, but then again a lot of things about her girlfriend did that, so it wasn't all that bad a feeling.

The corner of Wail's mouth turned up, a subtle expression on a visage given to impassivity and extreme displays, with little moderation. "Name's Keith LaMarr. Time was, I'd be better known as Wail, part of 1-800-Justice." The small smile settled back into a thin line as he continued into the museum, his eyebrows lowering darkly. "Nothing but a solo act, these days." He wasn't surprised not to be recognized. He hadn't been truly active for years, and Freedom's hero community had grown so much since his glory days that it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. Then again, there seemed to be more than enough creeps to go around, too.

Oh ho, I like the idea of an 'energy awareness' booster. That's plot device in a can, right there. The Regeneration feels a lot more bacta tank-y, which works, and the fire extinguishers seem appropriate, in particular.

"Covered," Midnight assured Wander when she suggested Edge use his reality warping abilities to alter his costume. Instead, the lean young man pressed a button hidden on his belt buckle, causing his outfit to shift from pitch black to blemishless white in a ripple of morphic molecules. The particular jacket he'd selected for the mission had just enough of a formal cut to it to fit believably on the utilitarian end of his ostentatious double's wardrobe, a high, buttoned collar giving it the air of an officer's dress uniform. "Sooner the better," he noted, straightening his cuffs.

Opposed Grapple Check. (1d20+30=34) Which of the five robots is that? Also, feel free to get Spellbounds turn up as well, but keep in mind she'll be fatigued since Gecks has no HP to spend for her.

"You're a real Renaissance gal, alright," Ellie agreed with a smile that pulled a little to one side as she dropped her eyes back down to her closed menu and idly wrapped the longer lock of dyed black hair around her index finger, waiting for their server to arrive. Shuffling her feet absently somehow resulted in her ankle brushing against Mara's under the table. "So," she began nonchalantly, "how've things been at work lately? Any neat projects in the works?"

Jack's eyes ratcheted down to slits behind his royal blue mask at Equinox's shout. The swashbuckler tended to hold back just a little when fighting as part of a group, making sure not to get in anyone's way, but if their fur-wearing foes presented a legitimate threat they demanded a more decisive response. Springing forward with his weapon blazing with a fresh burst of flame as he snapped in forward, the fencer moved too quickly to follow, greatcoat flaring behind him as he wove his way through the melee with pinpoint focus. When he finally paused there was a beat of stillness before all three Jaguar Warriors toppled to the floor with strangled grunts, trailing wisps of smoke and the scent of burning hair. While the elder sibling went of the offensive, his sister focused on defense. Spreading her arms wide, Jill sent a cascade of crackling, translucent blue energy upward where it solidified into a shimmering barrier between the airborne cultists and the assembled heroes. "It'll let your spells through," she called to the casters before tossing an infuriating smirk at the Eagle Warriors, "but it'll stop you lot cold."

Jill O'Cure Hero Point: Jack spends one to avoid his sister getting fatigued. Standard Action: Create Object. There's now a Selective barrier between our heroes and the Eagle Warriors, with +11 Impervious Toughness. Move Action: Move Action Taunt. (1d20+13=23) vs. Eagle Warrior 3.

Jack of all Blades Standard Action: Attack Jaguar Warrior 1 - Energy Sword, Power Attack 5. (1d20+15=21) That's a DC 22 Fort Save vs. Drain Toughness (JW 1 and 3 being Fort Drained already!) and a DC 30 Toughness Save. If that takes him out, then: Takedown Attack 2: Attack Jaguar Warrior 3 - Energy Sword, Power Attack 5. (1d20+15=20) Same deal: DC 22 Fort for the Toughness Drain, then DC 30 Toughness. Again, on the assumption that knock him out: Takedown Attack 2: Attack Jaguar Warrior 2 - Energy Sword, Power Attack 5. (1d20+15=34) Yow, that's actually a crit for Jack, which means DC 27 Fort and DC 35 Toughness Move Action: Auto-DC 36 Feint vs. Eagle Warrior 1 with Skill Mastery and Fast Talk. Set-Up: Transfer the benefit of that Feint to Equinox.

Nonchalantly allowing the scientist to circle him, Erik avoided the inevitable attack with a touch more acrobatics than he'd been using up until that point, coming up smoothly on Archeville's other side. "Heh, well, Zip reminds me a lot of myself, which... not entirely a good thing." Almost as suddenly as he's moved to the left, he was back on the right, demonstrating an effortless mobility. "Then again, way smarter than I took him for at first. Dunno if that's just maturity or if higher education took a little while to kick in or what, but he's got a real future to look forward to."