Raveled

Blue Jay munched on her snack, but when Jubatus came closer she stuffed the rest of it in a pouch to have both her hands free. She chewed quickly as he talked and swallowed. "C'est Blue Jay," told him, accent bleeding into her words like it did when she was tired. "This is... not how I'm used to things going." She gestured vaguely at the burning building and the cluster of emergency vehicles. "Where I am from, everyone would be on the move already." They exchanged more chit-chat and then the big cat was off again, but before she could get back to her food a man in a darkly-colored outfit came to greet her. "Courageous is the only way I can be," she told him, shaking his hand with a little trepidation. "I'm not sure where the Fens are, but I'll be sure to keep my eyes open." She had a few moments to herself so she scarfed down the last of the nutrient bar and looked over the scene. The rest of the heroes were gravitating together, focusing around an individual in a suit of heavy armor, so Blue Jay ambled in that direction. She still wasn't sure how she felt about someone who looked like that, but if the big cat could be a hero around here than surely this man could be, as well.

Liz checked her movement at the other girl's comment. She wasn't Starlight, not at the moment, so it made sense to look for the appointed security before trying to handle a situation herself. It just wasn't how she was used to handling things. Still, she gave a quick nod and stepped away, glancing around for anyone in a museum uniform. She spotted a pair of men in grey slacks and white shirts bearing heavy flashlights and zeroing in on the area, so she raised her hand to get their attention. "Excuse me, but there is a man over here who --" "Yes, miss, we noticed." The guards marched past her, only to plant themselves before Baxter's companion! "We're going to have to ask you to leave, sir. This is a museum, not a gymnasium." The brightly dressed man turned and smiled at the guards. "It could be a gymnasium. You have plenty of room. Put down some pads, put up some balance bars... you'd get a lot more interested visitors, you know!" The guard who was doing all the talking -- his coworker was apparently fine with crossing his arms and looking mean -- sniffed sharply and grabbed the man's arm. "Okay, let's get going." There was a blur, the sound of bone snapping, and suddenly both men fell down with bloody noses. The smiling man shook blood off the fingers of one hand and turned back to Baxter. "Well, now that those annoying bores are dealt with, where were we?"

"Hectic," Jessica said, laughing. Her eyes went far away for a moment and a button lit up on the elevator's control bank without her moving a finger. "My suit has a pretty good sensor suite," she continued as the elevator lurched into movement, "but even so there's things I miss. That's why it's a good idea not to go it alone," she added. "You get overwhelmed and either you get hurt, or even worse the people you were intending to protect get hurt." The elevator car continued its ascent, dinging every time it passed a new floor; it seemed they were going rather high indeed.

Starlight stood, and smiled and bowed to Officer Moshe. "Thank you for your time and your help. I am sure this will be a great aid in helping us apprehend this vigilante, wherever he may hide." She led Lucy out of the house and around the block, until they couldn't been seen from Moshe's front porch. Finally, she dropped whatever mask she'd been wearing through the interview. "In point of fact," she said, "I do carry a portable telephone. However, I do not know which number to call to make contact with the rest of the group."

And the villains run away, away. Take a HP for that, and it's time to fleeeeeee!

Sidestep struggled to her feet, pulling herself out of the hole Ironclad had punched her into. Her eyes tracked aimlessly for a moment, then focused on the unconscious Ms. Scarlet. She let out an anguished cry and disappeared in a flash, reappearing by Ms. Scarlet's side just long enough to grab the other woman, and then the pair disappeared. Ironclad stayed on guard for a moment, but it seemed that the villains had retreated for the time being. She moved into the single large room and reached out with her mind, connecting to the computer she could sense behind the steel walls. The mainframe was protected behind multiple firewalls, but the young genius' mind went to it at superhuman speed. She could see the structure of the file system beyond it, see it pulse with data, and hear the connections with outside networks, presumably belonging to whatever organization Ms. Scarlet and Sidestep worked for. Abruptly, the mood changed in an instant when the lights changed from bright, clinical white to blood-red. Ironclad snapped out of her machine-fugue and held up her hands. "I didn't do that," she said, raising her voices as kalxons began to sound. "This isn't my fault!" The big monitor on the far wall lit up again, displaying a few choice words in a heavy, blocky font. "SELF-DESTRUCT ACTIVATED" with a timer counting down from two minutes.

As soon as Erasmus ducked inside, Starlight held out her hands in front of herself. She was planning to put up another wall of energy in front of her, but the tanks fired first. Hundreds of bullets punished her fleshy form and drove her back. She ended up in the wreckage of Finnegan's casino/bar. The wind was knocked out of her, and she wasn't prepared for Erasmus's mental assault. She felt his mental energy pressing against the walls of her mind -- but the former Grue drone had plenty of experience in psychic intrusion. If you think your little mind can break mine, she thought back at him, you have got another thing coming.

The mention of a gym got Tona's attention. "A gym, est-ce que? I've heard about those. So I imagine you folks have some pretty rocking equipment around here, right?" Tona was used to practicing on the move or with other warriors, instead of straining against machines. That was what she did when training stopped, after all. She glanced between Subito and Mali quickly. "I suppose we should go to the library first. After I see the gym, I don't think I'll want to leave!"

As the final collapse came Blue Jay leapt to her feet, but before she could take any action then entire building was coming down in front of her. She stayed back, hoping that there wasn't any left inside, when a sudden blur nearby resolved itself into an armored figure, and a huge man-like cat! The archer shied away from the new arrivals; in her experience, armored men and monsters rarely boded anything good, and her first instinct was to attack and drive them off. But the crowd wasn't reacting to them, and in truth she was very tired from having hauled out so many people from the burning building. She took her bow back in hand and moved a few feet away. Now that the adrenaline rush was fading and leaving shaking muscles in its wake, and right now all she wanted to do was fall into bed. After a moment she dug into her belt and came out with a foil-wrapped energy bar. It was mostly grain and dried fruit compressed into a bar, and as she tore into it the bar was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.

If you want a PC for it, I voulenteer Blue Jay to talk about the wonders of doing violence unto fools.

I'll throw in Ironclad for the Nazis vs Romans plot. She needs some interdimensional stuff happening to her.

If you're going to drop him in from orbit, better give him a way to handle a rank 20 Damage effect. :P

Blue Jay :arrow: Yes, she's a brand-new character. I forgot to finalize her age and give her a birthdate. :arrow: Renaming a Complication to reflect it better. Bullseye by Supercape

Glowstar :arrow: Buying Challenge (Combat Diplomacy). Powerfully Illuminated by Supercape

Starlight :arrow: 3 PP into Feats, buying Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, and Power Attack. Faintly illuminated by Supercape

Liz stood, still holding onto the water bottle. "AutoTune is a crime against good taste," she agreed. "In any case, I cannot promise what you would think of my music. It is a very... eclectic sound." Blending Earth and alien styles would do that, after all. "I am surprised your agent did not send any crew to help you," she commented. "I would think that this, being your 'big break,' would be important to him as well. And that he would pull out all the stops with making sure it goes smoothly."

If Ironclad was around those tanks would be scrap metal by now. And she'd be halfway through building a mechanical steam spider. Starlight's Toughness save, vs DC 22. (1d20+9=11) Yikes. Because of her Vulnerability, that Mental Blast acts as Rank 10. Starlight's Will save, vs DC 20. (1d20+10=21) Not that it matters, but.

The former spirit of France? Who's the spirit of France now? :P

Oh damn, three? Okay, change of plans. Free Action: Spend HP to remove Fatigue. Move Action: Float down until standing on the tank in front of Erasmus. Standard Action: Intimidate check to Demoralize. Hopefully scare him off from attacking at all! Starlight's Intimidate check. (1d20+4=18) Requesting copious bonuses for shoving a glowing hand in his face. :P

Starlight floated over until she was hovering above the central tank, the one containing Erasmus Steel. She lowered herself until she was straddling the hatch, and staring down at the mechanic with a featureless white face. It split and revealed a lipless mouth, through which she delivered her threat. "Our methods are as far beyond you as the sun beyond a candle," she informed him. The heroine gathered power in one hand and brought it around to point directly at Erasmus. "I'm sure you've been burned by a candle before. If you don't want to be burned by the sun, call off your machines."

Put this off long enough. Starlight can't flip the tanks and she can't rip the guns off, so she'll try to blow them both up at once. Free Action: Switch to Blast AP in her Mystic Light Array. Standard Action: Called Shot against the gatling cannon on the first tank. All-Out Attack +2. Starlight's ranged attack check, vs tank's cannon. DC 25 Tou (1d20+11=16) Free Action: Surging. Free Action: Spend HP to negate the penalty from Surge, taking her from Exhausted to Fatigue'd (again). Standard Action: Called shot against the gatling cannon on the second tank. All-Out Attack +2. Starlight's ranged attack check, vs tank's cannon. DC 25 Tou (1d20+11=30)

I could throw Blue Jay into this. As a badass normal, getting training from every corner is part of her shtick. She could show up with Crimson Tiger, even! Mechanically I'd like for her to grab some ranks of Attack Focus (Melee). I haven't considered her fighting style much, but I imagine it's focused more around getting away from an opponent and back to range where she can pick up her sniping habits once more. So let's say Krav Maga by way of savate? Lots of quick, fierce strikes using the hands and feet, with the goal of breaking off a fight as quickly as possible and getting some space between her and her target.

In order to make her a bit more of a thread to Wail's PL 14 shifted-ness. Scarlet's best score out of Will, Sense Motive, and Intimidate is the last, so let's use that. Scarlet's Intimidate, vs DC 21. (1d20+11=15) That is a Shaken result. +13 makes a result of 15, which... puts her on the ground. Looks like the suit needs to go back to the drawing board.

GM Baxter's new friend put his head to the side and gave the youth an odd look. "If you don't want to do it," he asked, "then why are you? Trust me, no matter what other people say, only you can make yourself do something." He moved suddenly, jumping up on top of the plaque and balancing there. "Why, look at me. I didn't like my family, so I ran away when I was... well, not much older than you! And after that, I never listened to anyone who I didn't want to again." He jumped off and over Baxter, landing heavily behind the young man. He turned and bowed with the air of a performer. "So then, why are you really here?"

Liz raised an eyebrow. "Dynamite? I can't believe that. Why would people wishing to study the past start by blowing it to pieces? It seems that they would be the ones who wo--" Her observation was cut off when the large man in the hoodie pushed between the two girls, almost bowling Liz over. He didn't speak to them, and instead stared at the diorama. His face was slack and distant, like he was listening to a voice that only he could here. Liz, meanwhile, had barely caught herself on the edge of the table and was setting her feet, glaring at the man. She raised a hand to get his attention when he suddenly reached into the display and picked up the figure of a golden idol being paraded through town, a gilded man-figure with a falcon's head. "Idiots," he said to no one. "Sitting around a fire and thinking that meant that the darkness didn't exist." He crushed the model in his fist and dropped it, moving on to the next display. Liz narrowed her eyes at the man. "Someone needs to teach that man a lesson in manners," she said quietly.