Gizmo

Jack shifted slightly as he leaned against the wall. "Huh, I heard the Jukebox Kid had a bad breakup with that speedster chica, but I didn't realize it was that heavy." Breakdown had stuck him as a bit of a flake the few times they'd interacted, but came off as a reasonably good kid. On the other hand, Wander wasn't exactly given to hyperbole, so the falling out must have been pretty serious. "Worst part about switching schools," Jill opined. "Feels like picking up a book halfway in. On the wall screen, Vince's outfit leapt back to his ostentatious suit as he adjusted his simulated tie. "I am pretty fabu, it's true. Now, let's see jungle!" With a wave of his hands, a number of panels opened in the walls, ceiling and floor, various metal columns and cables extending. As they did, holo projectors built into the Wreck Room disguised them as tree trucks and vines, as humid vapour and the sounds of wildlife quickly permeated the scene.

"Pretty slick for a stars and stripes type there, beautiful," Jack observed with a lopsided grin veritably radiating roguish charm Nearby, Jill ran a gloved hand over her masked face. "Yeesh. Well, good news, Steve," she drawled to the extradimensional cyborg, "your inside-out routine just became the second must disturbing thing I've seen today." Ignoring her, the swordsman turned his attention somewhat regretfully back to Harrier. "Well, if you just need a place to lay low for a bit, you can head on back with us." His sister raised an eyebrow and murmured under her breath, "Is that really such a good idea?" "Hell, taking in strays is practically our mission statement," Jack assured her quietly. "Besides, I'd rather have him somewhere I can keep an eye on him for now, y'know?"

"Well, thanks for the pie," Trevor replied with a small smile, turning off the truck's engine and unbuckling his own seatbelt. "... and for listening to my embarrassing adventure in poor decision making. I guess I've never really talked about it out loud before. Helps, actually." In the quiet of the garage, the lights in the pickup's cab separating them from the darkness outside, he reached out one hand, palm upward and open.

Jack of all Blades Gonna put all four points into Constitution, raising it to 16 (+3). Obviously, that puts his Fortitude at +7 and His Toughness at +9. Midnight II I'll buy two more ranks of Luck for him and bank the other two points for later. Archeville notes that his treatments are working perfectly...

"Sure, you say that now, but just wait until Mark gets us sent to the universe where everyone has to get their high school GPA tattooed on their forehead," Trevor cautioned, splaying his fingers out dramatically and steering with his thumbs. "So I should probably let you get to that," he allowed, clearing his throat quietly as he slowed the truck down to cross the bridge and was soon pulling up to the campus. His own schoolwork was long since completed, and he couldn't say it topped his list of desirable activities for the evening, but it was worth remembering that Claremont actually was a high school most of the time.

Following Harrier out into the alleyway, Jack paused from flexing his hand experimentally to watch the patriotic paragon addressing the crowd on the other side of the building. "Damn, but that is a whole lotta woman," he observed appreciatively. His sister was right behind him, adjusting his bandanna mask irritably as she stepped out of the sweltering heat of the bar into the cool air. "This is why I can't keep a positive female role model around, you know." "Hey, do I interfere with your social life?" the swordsman asked with mock hurt. "Yes," Jill responded immediately, placing one hand on her hip. "Frequently." Jack shrugged, allowing the point. "True." He turned to the somber man next to him. "So, how that you're back in the black, hows about a little exposition? What's your real deal, Neil?"

"Can I get a 'what what?'" Jack grinned, sidestepping a clumsy punch and bopping its owner over the head with the hilt of his blade. "No. No you may not," Jill replied flatly, shifting her stance as he reinforced one section of the barrier against a group of clones who'd decided to hurl Gaian Knight's projectiles back at him the old fashioned way. Her brother clucked his tongue in annoyance, the banter not impairing the rate at which he was thinning the crowd in the least. "Can I bargain you down to a congratulatory fist bump?"

"Don't feel down, fleshy meat-chum o' mine! I have the unfair advantage of being made entirely of SCIENCE!" Vince exclaimed, the last word appearing in a rainbow arc between his spread hands, the boxing gloves melting away. As the chipper AI made a spectacle of himself, Jack and Jill arrived at the entrance to the Wreck Room, the elder sibling hanging back near the door while his sister stepped closer to Erin and Mona. "I've been meaning to ask, Vince, why don't you ever use the holo projectors in here instead of appearing on flat screens?" Vince smoothed his hair back and straightened his suit with a scoff. "Holograms, pfft. They're just tawdry. It's an AI thing, just trust me on this. It'd be like running around in brightly coloured... hmm." He trailed off, eying his audience. Jack chuckled, leaning against the door frame. "Yeah, you're nothing if not a paragon of good taste." The projection's outfit abruptly shifted to a black leather corset and bright green parachute pants, a lit sparkler in either upraised hand. "I'm sure I don't know what you're implying."

"Heh. Worst upholders of the law ever," Trevor grinned, drifting them around a curve in the road at a breakneck pace before accelerating once more down the straightaway. Pavement disappeared beneath the blur of tires, and he consciously took a longer route back to the campus so as not to have the ride over with too quickly. "Anything, ah, else you wanted to do tonight?" he asked, his tone disconcertingly calm for someone maneuvering a vehicle as such speeds.

Pressing down on the intercom, Jack swung his feet from the control bank and leaned forward so that his teammates below could more easily see his face. "I recommend a grueling regimen or tortuous physical conditioning, Bill," he deadpanned, folding his hands on the console in front of him and giving Eli a level look. "...ooor I could work with him. Some of the tricks I use to make different swords might help him get a better handle on the zappage."

"It's not really set up for jumps," Trevor admitted as he strapped himself into the driver's seat. He'd managed to make some significant improvements to the pickup's factory standard engine, but he hadn't rebuilt it from scratch as he had the Night Cycle. It's automatic transmission was another limiting factor, but he felt uncharacteristically inclined to show off anyway. Pulling out of the parking lot and back onto the empty freeway, he placed both hands firmly on the steering wheel. "Fast, though... fast we can do." At his command, the truck smoothly accelerated, the speedometer's needle lurching from its rest.

"Gee, being cognisant of property damage," Jill drawled with a pointed look at her brother. "What a novel concept." "Funny lady," Jack retorted flatly before returning his attention to mob of identical thugs. "Right then. Let's just mop this lot up and track down the real one. Door!" On cue, a gap opened in the faintly glowing barrier large enough for the swordsman to fit through. One of the clone attempted to squeeze inside first, and received a boot to the head for his efforts. The force field closing behind him, Jack of all Blades went to work, fiery rapier flashing back and forth as he weaved through the crowd, duplicates winking out of existence in his wake.

His own coffee long finished, Trevor gave Erin a small smile and shrug. "Well, twist my arm." Sliding out of the booth, he offered her his hand as they made their way out of the diner and into the parking lot. It took the young man a moment to realize the vague ache in his cheeks was from smiling more in one evening than sprang to recent memory. The though only made him grin more broadly, white teeth shining in the dark of the night as he pulled Erin a little closer against the autumn chill.

"Woof," Jill exclaimed, her force field winking out of being. Taking a steadying breath, she moved to stand next to her brother and address Harrier with a amiable smirk. "He meant teaming up with you, dummy." The swordsman extended a hand to the strange man. "Anybody who gets between a lady and some creep like that is my kind of people," he asserted. "Don't get me wrong, you're still ten kinds of freaky, but for now let's get you out the back door."

As the Omegadrone's armor plates retracted horribly into his body, the masked siblings recoiled reflexively, exclaiming in unison, "Dios!" Jill, by this point breathing heavily from the exertion, gave her brother a significant, flat look. "Don't start with me," he warned, pointing a finger at her before turning back to Harrier. "Man, we're not dropping a freaking building on you, get up." When Miss Americana reappeared and questioned the unarmored drone, the swashbuckler finally lowered his sword. "Seriously? Are we doing the misunderstanding fight slash team-up thing? 'Cause I hate that." As the star spangled heroine set about working on the roof, Jill watched intently. "Uh, are we good? Can I stop holding this up?"

Trevor blinked, looking from the pie to Erin then back to the pastry. After a beat, he broke out into laughter, a rich baritone that rang with surprising volume through the diner. Leaning over he kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You really are amazing, you know that?" Picking up the fork, he scooped up a small piece of the pie. It was sweeter than he generally preferred, but context made it absolutely delicious. "Thank you."

A grinning man in a natty three piece suit suddenly winked into being on one of the room's walls. "Well, hello there, little lady!" the gregarious artificial intelligence greeted Erin, adding with a wink to Mona, "And not-so-little lady, too, of course! I'm Vince, and it is just a pleasure to meet a civic-minded young person like yourself!" He had the over the top charm of a talk show host backed by genuine enthusiasm. "Well, the nickle tour wouldn't be complete without a little of the ol' bob and weave, punch and toss, eh?" Boxing gloves appeared from nowhere on the projected avatar's hands and he dropped into an exaggerated fighting stance. "What'd you have in mind, girls?"

Trevor shook his head. "Didn't get a chance, honestly. She might figure it out someday, but... wouldn't matter anyway." Taking a smaller sip of his coffee, the lean teenager let his shoulders slump forward a bit, unconsciously leaning slightly into Erin. "Have to be able to clean up my own messes." The topic seemed to have drained a considerable amount of energy from him, but he ultimately felt better having related it out loud. Trevor was used to being the listener; it was nice to be on the other side for once.

"So, what, you're Casper the Friendly Drone?" Jack asked Harrier, his defensive stance placing him between the armoured extradimensional creature and his sister. "I don't buy it. Leopards and spots." "I dunno, Jack, we - hnn - haven't actually seen him do anything but help," Jill pointed out, sweat beading on her forehead as she kept the building from falling apart on their heads. "Didn't you say you knew a zombie hero?" Jack paused but didn't take his eyes from Harrier. "Well, yeah, but-" "Or how about that good vampire?" "Well, 'good' might be kind of oversta-" "Altas got mind controlled by the Grue, but you always - whhf - told me he was 'good people'." Jack finally gave the coltish girl a sidelong glance. "Jill, we gotta do this now?"

"No," Trevor replied with a heavy sigh. "She made it sound like she was saving that for blackmail, but I suspect she didn't want people to know she'd partnered with one of 'my kind'. A lot of people assumed we were already romantically involved, so." He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, wincing. "Seems like the sort of thing I'd have picked up on; just naive, I suppose."

Setting his mug down, Trevor cleared his throat softly. "Long story short, when we were fifteen, I made an... ill advised confession. Very soul-bearing, very melodramatic. Like I said, embarrassing," he continued with a rueful smile that didn't quite extend to the rest of his face. "Including showing her my powers. Turns out," he said with an awkward cough, "she had some issues with metas. The phrase 'subhuman freak' may have come up." The dark haired youth's tone was getting more and more off-handed, slipping into his deadpan style of humour rather than the matter-of-fact way in which he usually related events.

"Right, yes, let's all just stand totally still in the burning building, then," Jack grumbled under his breath before adjusting his grip on his fiery blade and closing his eyes. Reaching out with his will, he made a mighty diagonal slash, and the blaze abruptly dissipated as though smothered by a stiff wind. Seemingly wearied from the effort, the swashbuckler moved subtly closer to the Omegadrone, training keeping fear and anger down in place of wary analysis. "Jill, roof. Miss, if I might be so bold, hows about letting the guy with the stabbing oriented powerset deal with Mr. Chatty Drone while you get everyone clear?" The red, white and blue clad supermodel seemed to have paragon-esque abilities; hopefully enhanced strength was among them. While Jill, suddenly pale, nodded silently and created a shimmering blue barrier holding the damaged building together, her brother turned his attention mored directly to the metal monster. "Little less cocky without an army of buddies, huh?"

Jack of all Blades Standard Action: Counter Fire. (1d20+6=15) Move Action: DC 33 Feint w/ Skill Mastery vs. Harrier... just in case. Jill O'Cure Full Round Action: Support the weight of the second floor with Create Object, with effective Strength 10 x 5 x 2 = 100.

"If it was a news story he wasn't in, he didn't see it," Jill predicted, bobbing and weaving through the violent duplicates to reach the pair at the center of the riot. Bringing her arms in tightly, she pushed them out again abruptly, and ring of energy surrounded the heroes, a shimmering blue barrier that seemed to stimy the clones while allowing Gaian Knight's projectiles to pass unhampered. "Yeah, yeah," her brother grumbled before turning back to the hooded man. "Whatever. You wanna let us in on the one man mosh pit here?"

Jack - Initiative. (1d20+9=12) Jill - Initiative. (1d20+4=5) ...wut.