Gizmo

It's dead, Jim.

Jack blinked at the blindingly clad villain. "Uh, yeah, obviously that's what I thought." He shrugged, rain water running down his coat and face as a tongue of flame curled from the smoldering warehouse to his hand, solidifying into a rapier that sizzled in the downpour. "Pretty much still thinking that, dudester. Like so: 'ha ha, hee hee, ho ho'." Before he could move to attack, however, a black shape flew from the shadows to latch around Positron's neck. It took Jack a moment to recognize the vicious attacked as Ace Danger's brooding compatriot, Avenger. That explained the criminals' earlier terror; the dark hero had given Jack the heebie jeebies even before he'd Dark Star's evil counterpart had let slip that he was an actual, honest to goth vampire. Still, he kept good company, so the fencer supposed he deserved the benefit of the doubt. "Hey hey! Rippy McNoShirt! Hold that pose." Lunging forward, Jack slashed the restrained enforcer across the chest with his blade, hoping to end the fight quickly. Instead, Positron appeared to be entirely unfazed. The swashbuckler blinked once more as lightning flashed overhead. "Well, nertz."

Right, well, I guess Jack'll run over and, y'know, stab him a bit. Power Attack 5. (1d20+13=14) Um, no. Gonna reroll that. Power Attack 5. (1d20.minroll(11) +13=30) That'll probably do it. DC 34 at full Autofire.

Initiative. (1d20+9=27) Man, everybody's all speedy-quick.

Reflex Save. (1d20+15=34) Kaboom!

Powered muscle, fantastic, Jack rolled his eyes on the catwalk. One of the problems with a city with Freedom's concentration of metahumans was the relative ease with which a superhuman thug could be hired on. Fun and games with supply and demand, kiddies. The fencer was startled by the sheer horror practically rolling off of the returning criminal in waves. Man, you know you've made it big when you can commandeer an entire pronoun like that. The upside of Freedom's unique demographics, of course, was that one couldn't toss a rock without hitting an appropriately motivated vigilante. Still, Jack couldn't very well let his mysterious compatriot outside hog all the spotlight. Snagging a brick of Max wrapped in newsprint from one of the plentiful stacks in the office behind him, he fished his lighter out of his pocket and moved to the railing of the catwalk, kicking it a couple of times to get the attention of the remaining drug-runners below. "Heya, champs. See, I gotta figure you'd heard the West End was protected, and you probably felt pretty clever bringing Mr. Zap-Happy there along." Jack waved to the bulky, suited man veritably crackling with electrical energy with the hand holding his lighter. "How's it going? Super powers are fun, huh? What you gotta ask yourself is, though..." He paused to light the edge of the paper holding together the brick of drugs in his other hand, letting the flame catch before continuing, "...is one of yours being fireproof?" With that he tossed the flaming brick back into the office with the rest of the Max and fired his grapple at the skylight, zipping back out to the roof with a sloppy salute for the dumbfounded crooks below. As soon as he was back out in the rain, he was running, launching himself off of the warehouse and somersault through the air, shouting, "Fire in the hole!" for the benefit of whoever had been dealing with the thugs outside.

Trevor's head inclined slightly as the corner of his mouth turned up under his mask. Without a word, he slid the bike around the next corner, leaning them over so far he could have reached out and touched the street, and raced down the Wallace Expressway toward Highway 6 and the bypass which curved around Hanover. Along the way, the Night Cycle pulled around the sparse traffic like the other vehicles were standing still as Trevor deftly maneuvered, waiting until the last second to make razorwire turns. Leaves and litter whipped about behind them, caught in the speeding bike's wake.

Jack can use Skill Mastery for a 26 Stealth check, for the sake of argument, and a 20 Notice check.

Jack had already silently opened the skylight and dropped nimbly down to the catwalk below when he heard that cacophony outside. Taking the opportunity to step away from his entry point and into the shadows, he moved stealthily along the metal pathway to simultaneously get a better look at the inside of the warehouse and peer through the door the criminals had stepped through to investigate the disturbance. Something's about to go 'bump' in the night, he mused to himself.

In a burst of lightning, Avenger spotted dark blue shape bound over the space between the warehouses. Jack of all Blades' light landing on the roof was covered completely by rumbling thunder as he tugged the high collar of his greatcoat up against the chilling rain. The swashbuckler had been cleaning up after an increasing number of Max users in the West End over the past weeks, and a trail of appropriately persuaded dealers had eventually led him here. Despite the damp cold, Jack seethed as he moved carefully to the edge of the building to peer down at the lit window. This was his neighbourhood, his home and his territory. Someone had brought this filth here, and they were going to regret it. Rain-soaked coat dragging behind him as he crept nimbly across the roof, he looked for an inconspicuous entry point.

Jack to Jack Badasses!

Hunters Together.

The dark haired youth crossed his arms neutrally. "Just money," Trevor opined calmly. His nighttime excursions into Freedom's less affluent heighbourhoods had certainly given him a better appreciation of the advantages afforded to him due to his family's wealth, but he didn't consider it a defining trait. In truth, he'd always approached high society with the same somewhat detached analysis he brought to most social interactions, this very conversation being an excellent example.

"Just let it drop, Lynn," Jack grated irritably. The swordsman could not fathom what he had ever done to give his teammates the impression that he enjoyed talking out his interpersonal conflicts. While he found that time and space to cool off healed most wounds, the affectionate couple seemed determined to turn every possible moment into some demented cross between an after-school special and relationship counseling. I swear, if they try to 'open the lines of communication' one more time, I'm going to have to stab something so hard I end up punching it. And I shall call it... the stabpunch. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he turned to Vince's projection. "Just give us whatever you can dig up, yeah?"

Taking them rapidly away from the approaching wail of sirens, Trevor tilted his head slightly to one side in a wry gesture. "I try." Still riding the excitement of the chase, the lanky teen instinctively poured on the speed, turning up and down streets on a whim. Although he was markedly less expressive than the bulk of his peers, Trevor felt things no less keenly, and right then going fast felt good. "So..." he asked over the whipping winds, "ready to head back, or...?"

Without a word, Midnight withdrew and handful of plastic cable ties from a compartment on his belt and proceeded to deftly restrain the occupants of the car, locking their thumbs and wrists to various points in the ruined vehicle. Erin couldn't help but notice that the thin strips were thematically matte black. With that taken care of, Trevor remounted the Night Cycle in a single fluid motion and pulled around to face back the way they'd come, waiting for the statuesque girl to get on behind him. It would probably be best if they were gone before the police arrived.

"Manview the sensor stations!" Myshel called to Gossamer and Physicus, pointing out the readouts spooling off reams of information about the combat zone they'd suddenly been dumped into. The Tempesitan continued to explain the situation as she sent the Flarerider into a barrel roll and out the path of the first wave of fighters. "The asteroid is Krak-En's basehome; that is where Iana Th'emme will be heldkept." Jack was about to comment that Atlas' proposal was insane when a thought occurred to him. "Myshel, do you have pressure suits?" The blue skinned pilot furrowed her brow, antennae curling in confusion. "Yes, Jackblade, by the hatchlock, but -" "Perfect!" the swashbuckler interrupted her as he turned to the shapeshifting Russian. "Lassie, you and me, two man boarding party. Ooh, one thing first, though." Snapping his fingers, Jack jogged forward a few paces to the pilot's chair and unceremoniously stooped to kiss her squarely on the mouth. The startled alien managed to keep her wide eyes on the panoramic veiwscreen in front of her, but a jolt of electricity surged between her antennae, traveling down her cheekbones, through their locked lips and down to the fencer's right hand, where an scintillating energy blade took shape. Stepping back with a boyish grin, Jack bowed with a flourish, his hair sticking up slightly from the electric shock. "Just keep these jokers busy, beautiful, and we'll rescue your princess." With a final wink, he was sprinting off toward the airlocks, in the direction Arrowhawk had just left from. Myshel renewed her focus on the task at hand, flush with a deep purple. "Earthhumans have excellent pre-battle ritecustoms," she opined to Gossamer.

Swinging the Night Cycle to a stop in beside the driver's window, Midnight cracked his gloved knuckles idly. "Debatable," he retorted coolly, his voice chillingly devoid of emotion as the glowing red eyes set in his featureless black mask narrowed. Light consuming mist gathered slowly but surely at his feet, seeping from around his ankles into the air like ink spreading through water. Tendrils of the pitch black gas seemed to reach out toward the car, but the cloud continued to hug the ground for the time being.

The sudden braking knocked the the Night Cycle from the roof, but Midnight threw his weight to one side as the bike toppled through the air and brought it down facing in the opposite direction, tires already spinning. The moment it made contact with the street, the motorcycle was racing off after the robber's car once more, easily keeping pace beside it while Erin balanced precariously on its roof. A sudden light caught the daredevil driver's attention, and he turned to see another car coming straight at them down the one way street. Acting quickly, he spun the back of the Night Cycle about to crash into the side of criminals' vehicle, forcing it momentarily to one side of the street, then quickly slid onto the opposite sidewalk as the oncoming car hurtled between them, horn blaring. Narrowly steering around a group of potted plants sitting outside a florist, he maneuvered back onto the street to keep pace with their quarry once more.

1d20+2=3 ...*facedesk*

Jack brushed Colt's hand off his shoulder and pointed a finger at the cowboy's chest. "Both of you know you don't use my family to take pot shots. Not even - " Turning away with a ill contained snarl, the swashbuckler waved the issue away irritably. "Let's just get going. I want this taken care of yesterday." Greatcoat flapping around his ankles, the fencer stalked back over the MAVERIC and got inside, pointedly ignoring Grim.

With the robots successfully dealt with, Midnight gave Phalanx a curt nod, then slipped silently into the room from which Havok's minions had been looting. Besides keeping him out of sight from the the injured in the hallway, it gave the young vigilante an opportunity to look around for some clue as to the villain's goal.

A harsh snort sounded through Midnight's voice filter. "If they make it that far." Pulling back from the fleeing criminals vehicle, he drifted the bike to the other side of the road, where a junker sat on four cinder blocks. Accelerating once more, the lanky teen wrenched the Night Cycle's front wheel into the air and used the derelict sedan as a ramp to send them soaring into the air once more. This time, however, he'd timed it precisely so that the motorcycle landed squarely atop the robber's car, turning ever so slightly in midair and hitting the brakes to keep from shooting off the front. Planting a boot down of the roof as startled shouts came from below them, the black clad hero extended one hand with a flourish, giving Erin an 'after you' gesture.

I dunno, can you just Fiat a success like that, or just a reroll, like spending an HP?

As the restrained wine creature still Jack rolled his eyes impatiently. "You kids figure something out with the hostages, I'll go make friends." Without waiting for a reply, the swashbuckler sauntered briskly straight into the middle of the clearing, waving his fiery blade to get the attention of the various arboreal revelers. "Hey hey! Quite the shindig. Got your bonfire, your hula... things, even a veggie platter. Swank!" Jack continued to move about, forcing the plants and their master to turn about to keep their eyes on him. "Makes sense, though. I mean, you're The Green Man, amirite? Big name, big trunk, big party. Sure, it's a stupid name, and some people might think the giant tree bod was you compensating for something and, okay, this is a bit of a twig-and-berry-fest, but haters gonna hate, huh?"