Gizmo

Jack looked between Blink, Colt and the monitors incredulously. It took him several moments to form words. "The hell you say!" He gestured emphatically with his hands, conveying an agitation which was eating through his previously relaxed demeanor. "Look, I'm not wild about Annie Oakley packing heat in the first place, but at least he's got special-magic-rubber-future-bullets. There is no way on God's green earth that anyone's bringing assault rifles into my neighbourhood!" He looked around the room as the others reacted to his outburst. "I don't. Like. Guns," he explained flatly.

Jack stepped away from the monitors to better face the rest of the people in the room. "Y'know, that's not actually what Freud meant by 'super-ego', Sparky." He shook his head. "'Marshals' is kinda the same problem; in this dimension it'd pretty much read as 'Cowboy Colt and his Amazing Buckaroos'. I mean, I'm not suggesting we go by 'The Wild Cards' or something." The swordsman paused. "Although... kidding, kidding!" he raised his hand defensively. "Did you already have something in mind, Doc?"

Hinted nothing, it's explicitly stated. Good catch. With that in mind, I think we'd want to stick it on the 18th at least, since a few of the 'flashbacks' at the beginning would conflict with having spent the previous evening at the carnival.

Jack glanced at the woman who had just entered the clearing. "I think you just got dissed by the walking forest fire," he noted absently. Turning back to the elemental, he continued, "Now where were you when I was trying to come up with a codename? 'Energy Sword Human'; the merchandising rights sell themselves. That said, I guess I'll be sticking with Jack of all Blades for now." The hero lowered his sword, but kept it ignited and looked between the two more exotic characters present warily. "Alright, so, Dead Head and Tempest. Great. That's... great. So we know who we're talking to. 'Who' is important. How about moving on to 'what'?"

Jack let out a long breath. This would be a big change. Understatement of the year... If he could pull down the equivalent of a full time job and spend more time out on the streets, he could stop worrying about Ellie's tuition and do a lot more good, to say nothing of the underground base's resources and having actual teammates. Now that was going to take some getting used to. "Okay, Doc, sign me up. Team needs somebody who knows his way around the West End." The swordsman smirked and quirked an eyebrow. "Can't let Sparky grab all the glory anyway, huh?"

A number of things clicked into place for Jack when Archeville appeared next to Vince. The evident resources, the level of technology, the surprising membership choices all suddenly made a lot more sense. Guess I made a good impression during that whole medieval tournament thing, he supposed. He stepped sideways to stand slightly behind and to the side of Blink while facing the monitor. "Huh. Hey, Doc, good to see you looking a little less D&D and a little more R&D. 'From Russia With Love' and 'Winchester '73' here have a point. Not to sound mercenary, but Vince did mention something about... easing certain financial burdens." If joining up with this team could pay for his sister's education, Jack's decision was pretty much made for him.

Aw, nuts. Teach me not to check the OOC first. Sorry, Doc. Say the word and it's gone.

That. Is. Fantastic.

In Soviet Russia, equipment cleans you! We could probably use the rooms in The Underground to store stuff like costumes and gear; no point having that stuff up in the brownstone for someone to stumble across. Kinda like having a separate room for each alter-ego.

All-Star's remarks seemed to catch Jack off-guard, and he paused for a brief moment. "Never really been a... 'stuff' kinda guy," he replied finally. He looked around around again, and continued more brightly, "But I see what you mean. It's all pretty swank." He crossed his arms and turned back to the monitors. "Seeing as it's not my birthday, however, I'm still searching for 'who' and 'why' to go with all this 'what'."

Yeah, I realized I was misunderstanding the ability when I went over the Super-Sense options again, Doc. The good news is, as of his last edit, Jack does have acute energy awareness. Actually, with 22 points in Charisma, he's got acute everything! Ba dum chh!

Jack leaned next to the one of the monitors in the center of the room when All-Star mentioned the training simulator. He spoke quietly out of the corner of his mouth to the representation of Vince on the screen. "How, ah, durable is that thing? Sparky over there isn't exactly Mr. Self Restraint with the whole 'tall buildings in a single bound' routine." The swordsman looked up to see the super-strong hero admiring the MAVERIC. "You... know you can fly under your own power, right?" He pointed over his shoulder to the staircase. "Like, really fast. Or is this a 'driving for the sake of driving' sort of thing?"

Yeah, I'd be willing to put in for that. Sort of like a way more awesome H.E.R.B.I.E.

Man, I kinda hope Vince is an AI and not just a cover for the Doc, 'cause he is way too much fun. Also: whoever said Charisma was a dump stat clearly didn't know what they were talking about.

Jack caught up with his cowboy comrade just before they reached the end of the staircase. "Colt," he said quietly through a toothy smile, "stop helping." The swordsman took in the presentation of the underground base with poorly concealed awe. The equipment on display was so far beyond what he was used to it felt unreal. He grinned broadly as he walked in a wide circle around the command and control room. "Vince, you are my new favourite super team forming CGI talk show host ever."

I'd say Nullify; if we don't have to worry about super-strength or laser vision, Toughness is less of an issue. Are we talking about defenses that are hidden on the outside of the brownstone, or internal security for The Underground?

"I am pretty terrific," Jack replied reflexively. The petite woman's smile threatened to physically rock him back on his feet. Yow. That's, uh... yeah. This was certainly a change of pace. Part of Jack couldn't help waiting for the other shoe to drop. After quickly clearing his throat, he managed, "Now if only I could convince Wikipedia; 'not notable' my well-defined buttocks."

Jack took a moment to decide whether Blink was pulling his leg or not. She didn't really strike him as the joke-a-minute type. "Uh, yeah," he replied. "Soft and corrupt. Totally don't crack my top ten secret police list." The swordsman had wondered what he was doing on the same list of recruits as someone like Velocity or even All-Star, but a background in Russian special forces certainly widened the spectrum. Talk about covering all your bases... More than ever he wondered what their mystery host had in mind.

That's really quite clever!

Jack regarded Blink's shakily forced smile with a raised eyebrow. "You're kind of a scary lady, you know that? You've got a sorta ex-KGB thing going on." He gave her an easy grin as they walked. "Don't get me wrong, it's a totally hot ex-KGB thing; you make it work for you. As for trust," he added with a shrug, "I'm not wearing this mask because it accentuates my fantastic bone structure - although it does - but this all seems pretty elaborate for a trap, don't you think?"

So I guess it turns out a bunch of Jack's feats are totally useless with PL caps. So: Dropping Improved Block 2 Improved Disarm 2 Improved Sunder Weapon Bind Weapon Break = 7pp 4pp - Raise Charisma to 22 (+6) (This improves his Bluff to +21 and Diplomacy to +12, obviously.) 2pp - Add Inspire 2 1pp - Improve "Super-Senses 1 [energy awareness]" to "Super-Senses 2 [acute energy awareness]" = 7pp Sandman finds your lack of faith disturbing

Jack's coat flapped wildly as All-Star sped past. "...oh yeah, we're gonna be best pals, me and him," he muttered as he collected himself and continued downward. He pulled a face when Kristian inquired about Colt's weapons. Joy, gun talk. The swordsman glanced up the way he'd come, calling out, "You coming, ladies? We haven't blown up yet or anything, so, y'know, that's good."

Jack let out a light laugh. "This guy again. Dude talks almost as much as I do," he observed. He walked about the room, taking a closer look at the revealed equipment. "Pretty swank, 'Vince', old boy. Alright, I'll bite." He shrugged to the others as Colt made his way down the stairs. "Cowpoke's got a point. Down the rabbit hole, eh?" Vaulting easily over the couch, he followed the withdrawn young man underground.

Man, words cannot convey how pumped I am to see 'Vince' reappear. In my head, he is played by Fred Willard.

"Now that is a good question." Jack looked around. "I get the feeling we're maybe not all on the same page here. I didn't get a whole lot more that time and place, frankly." He turned to face the couch where Grim was lounging. "How about it, Magical Girl Sailor Jersey? Seems like you've got the inside scoop. Dish."