Raveled

Trap Door's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20-4=-3) He is done. Smash's Daze goes away and he tries to break free. Smash's grapple check. (1d20+26=27) Need a counter to that, Bree.

Trap Door easily shifted to the side, avoiding the questing vines, but Smash wasn't so lucky; the leafy tendrils grabbed him and hoisted his huge, metal-covered form into the air, smashing him against the roof and the floor in quick succession. As that was happening, Trap Door danced towards Flora, the green staff spinning in his hands; he suddenly thrusted with it and it cracked solidly off her head. Seeing that enraged Glowstar and he rushed forward, screaming, his hands glowing a deep and baleful red. His launched a roundhouse blow that took Trap Door by surprise, lifting the man off his feet and throwing him against the armored truck. The super-thief fell to one knee, slowly pushing himself up. By the light of the staff and Glowstar's glow, his face was noticeably more pallid and drawn. "Dammit," he rasped. "I guess I'm getting too old for this!"

Trap Door's going to take a swipe at Flora. She's grappling, so she loses her Dodge bonus to Def. Trap Door's attack check, vs Flora's flat-footed Def. DC 24 (1d20+11=27) That certainly hits. DC 24 Toughness save. Glowstar takes exception to someone hitting his girl! He swoops in and swipes at Trap Door with a Entropic Strike. Glowstar's melee attack check w/ Charge, vs Trap Door's Def. DC 25 + DC 20 Fort (1d20+14=32) Yowch! That's a hit! Trap Door's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+6=15) Owch. Bruised + Dazed. Trap Door's Fortitude save, vs DC 20. (1d20+6=9) Loses 10 ranks of Toughness because that's how many ranks there are; is down to -4 Toughness. Initiative 45 Get-Away -- GONE -- GM 20 Grab -- GONE -- GM 18 Flora -- Uninjured -- HPx4 11 Trap Door -- -4 Toughness, Bruisex1 + Daze (Glowstar) -- GM 10 Smash -- Bound, Dazed (Flora) -- GM 7 Glowstar -- Uninjured -- HPx5 Flora's up.

Glowstar's Ini. (1d20+6=20) Woot! Ini for 3 Infantry squads. (1d20+2=6, 1d20+2=9, 1d20+2=8) Ini for 2 Tanks. (1d20=11, 1d20=17)

Smash's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+13=20) Yowch. Dazed from that. Smash's opposed Grapple, vs DC 31. (1d20+26=28) Grapple'd + Pinned.

Brian touched his ring and threads of metallic silver sprung out, covering his body from the neck down. In a moment he was covered in shining silver, with a red-lined cape hanging from his neck. As he glanced back at Gwen, his jaw dropped. For a long moment he simply stared as her clothes were shed, her soft skin replaced by hard, knotty bark. His breathing and pulse sped-up, not all from the anticipation of the battle ahead, and he had to remind himself that their date was temporarily on hold. It was a hard thought to keep in his head, especially with the vine wrapping around her body like that. He resolutely closed his eyes and thought of baseball statistics. After a minute, Glowstar faced forward and strode across the road. He bypassed the police blockade and lead Flora down a side alley. A red bubble popped up around each of them and they rose slowly in the air, the heroes scanning each floor for the truck. They found it one floor down from the top, surrounded by a group of people in dark-colored costumes. Glowstar landed them inside the structure. "Give it up, villains," he shouted, standing tall and proud. "The heroes are here. Your crimes are going to be punished!" The group around the truck turned to face the heroes. One of them, a blonde man in a dark blue outfit, scowled. "Bloody children," he muttered. "Not a pox on the League, but still very capable of messing up our night. Get-Away! You and Grab get back to the Loft and wait for the signal." A petite Asian woman in a gray jumpsuit, nodded sharply. "Got it, Trap Door. Come on, Grab." She reached out to touch the other woman of the group, a tall, leggy brunette with a mass of hair and a green one-piece, on the shoulder. Grab opened her mouth to say something, evidently though better of it, and then the pair of women were gone in a blur. Trap Door grabbed a short cylinder from his belt and shook it sharply, a glowing green staff expanding to length with a snap. "C'mon, Smash. Let's entertain our guests until the girls come back." The last member of the team, a hulking man with steel-gray skin covered in tattoos and dressed only in red cargo pants and leather work boots, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles ominously.

Initiative 45 Get-Away -- GONE -- GM 20 Grab -- GONE -- GM 18 Flora -- Uninjured -- HPx4 11 Trap Door -- Uninjured -- GM 10 Smash -- Uninjured -- GM 7 Glowstar -- Uninjured -- HPx5 First round: Get-Away shares Speed with Grab and they bolt. Bam, outta town! Flora's up.

Glowstar's Ini. (1d20+6=7) Inis for Get-Away, Grab, Smash, and Trap Door respectively. (1d20+40=45, 1d20+3=20, 1d20+2=10, 1d20+7=11) Goodness.

Brian's mouth twitched into a smile as he chewed on the noodles. Swallowing, he shook his head. "I know," he said. "And I don't think the Freedom League or any other big team like the Interceptors are going to overlook something like that. But thanks for the vote of confidence." He speared another noodle and raised it halfway to his lips before a scream cut through the air. In an instant he was on his feet, moving to the edge of the food court area and glancing around. There was a definite surging of the crowd from further down the mall, but he couldn't see anything. Taking a risk, he jumped as high as he could, using his powers to levitate himself in the air for a moment. Maybe it was the sudden red glow or just the face that he was a taller target, but something burst in the air in front of him, like a firework. He fell to his ass, blinking rapidly to get rid of the flash-blindness. "Uh, Etain? We've, uh, got a situation here!"

Brian kissed Gwen back, his lips curling into a smile. "Okay," he said. "Sure thing. But don't we just walk for a bit so that--" Brian's train of thought was derailed when sirens rising in the distance approached them rapidly, flashing lights drawing their eyes down the road. The young man stood on his tip-toes and craned his head to see down the road. He could just pick out a heavy, square-built truck speeding down the road, juking back and forth on the road; it trailed a tail of police cars half a block long. Brian grabbed Gwen and the pair jumped back as the lead truck, a heavy, metal-reinforced type normally used for moving large amounts of money, mounted the curb to make a steep turn. They rushed forward in time to see it make another turn into a parking tower; the police cruisers pulled up in front of the only entrance and the cops jumped out, forming a cordon and pushing the inevitable crowd back. Brian glanced down at Gwen. "I think the greenhouse will have to wait," he said, heading to a convenient alley.

Brian squeezed Gwen's hand back. "Yeah, well. Just wanted to make this a full-disclosure kind of relationship. I don't want some stupid sitcom set-up where some little secret comes between us." Despite that, his hand betrayed him; his grip on her fingers was almost desperate. "Anyway. This is really good food, huhn?" A few hours later and the pair were walking out a movie theater, Brian's arm around Gwen's shoulder. The title Brothers in the East blinked out from the marquee above them, illuminating the lowering darkness. "I'm not saying it was a bad movie," Brian protested. "I'm just saying, Tank and Gunner were not super-spies! The guys out-fought panzers in Europe, they weren't like James Bond in You Only Live Twice." He poked Gwen in the ribs. "You just liked it because George Clooney was the Brit in charge of the whole deal."

GM Steelshanks struggled against the foam bindings but even with her incredible strength it was a losing battle. After a moment she sighed heavily and lay still. "Mr. Olivas ordered it," she said. "He saved my life, so don't expect me to say more than that!" She stared daggers at the heroines -- at least until her eyes slid off Catalyst and focused on the doorway. "Sis! What -- get out of here!" The heroines turned to see Targetter step into the room, her advanced firearm held by the strap and at arm's length. "It's alright, Steph." Her tone was tired and defeated, and as she moved towards Steelshanks she tossed the weapon at Catalyst's feet. "I think we're about done. These two should at least know what they're up against." She knelt next to Steelshanks, brushing the metal woman's thin hair back. "My name's Marie," she said, eyes still on Steelshanks, "and this is my sister, Stephanie. She was born epileptic, and my mom could barely even afford medicine. It wasn't so bad at first; she'd have a fit every couple of months, and as long as we kept an eye on her she never hurt herself. "But when she hit puberty things got... a lot worse. She was having attacks every week, sometimes everyday. My mom couldn't take it, started drinking really heavy. My dad... I don't remember my dad." Targetter -- Marie -- closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before continuing. "I thought Steph was going to kill herself. So I asked around and Mr. Olivas said he could help. He took Steph out of the hospital and to this big old house in Port Royal. When she came back she was... yeah, like this." She raised her eyes to the heroes. "I can show you where it all happened. We'll even go with the cops. Just... leave Mr. Olivas out of it. Please. He really has helped us!"

"Ah. Well." Brian squirmed uncomfortably in the hard plastic seat. "My parents are kind of supervillain. Well, they were supervillains. Then they kind of retired, but one night AEGIS busted in and arrested them. Or tried to, anyway: I kind of helped my mom to escape. Not that I meant to -- well, yeah, I meant to, but I didn't know she was a supervillain back then! Or an ex-supervillain or something." He sighed and started winding a particularly long noodle around his fork. "Anyway. Summers took a big risk on letting me into Claremont, let alone paying my way, and I do not intend to let him down."

Brian kept staring at his food. "But if my powers come from the Terminus... Gwen, nothing good has ever come from there. I mean, it's all entropy and destruction and death and..." he sighed heavily and rested his head in one hand, poking at his food. All of a sudden food was the farthest thing from his mind. "Can I even be a hero with powers like that?" He shook his head. "Anyway. I don't know for sure. Summers said he'll set up an appointment for me with a doctor who can check me out. I just wanted to let you know. In case you have a sudden surge of sanity and want to run for the hills or something." It was hard to see with his face canted down, but that last statement had been followed by a tentative half-smile.

Brian's eyes went wide at Etain's apparent 'bindings.' He grabbed her arms and brought them back down to the table, glancing around. Headmaster Summers usually didn't thank students for flaunting their powers in public. "Well, that's something different," he said. "Is there a story there you want to tell? I mean," he added hurriedly, "I'd heard you had family in town, but you obviously don't live with them so..."

Brian coughed out a laugh and sipped at his drink. "Yeah, Morgan does a lot of magic. But his stuff isn't exactly what you'd call subtle. His is kind of like a claymore; your stuff is almost like a blanket or... or something else subtle." The teen waved his hand in the air aimlessly, abandoning any attempt at a metaphor. "In any case, you seem to really have a handle on it. I mean, you don't really seem to work at controlling it like some of the other students at Claremont." Unspoken was the question of just why she was at Claremont if not to learn to control her powers.

Brian ordered a noddle dish with some kind of creamy sauce. There were little cubes of pink that were apparently supposed to be ham, but after finding one nearly-impervious to his plastic knife, he started picking them out and setting them aside. "I don't know," he admitted. "Pretty much all I do know if that you like old clothes and have some pretty impressive illusion powers." He gulped down a few noodles and added, "It's not psychic, right? But it still needs something to have a mind to work on it?"

2:54 PM October 8th, 2011 ArcheTech Corporate Headquarters Hanover, Freedom City Brian Harris landed a few hundred feet away from ArcheTech's headquarters, eying the large, pyramid-like structure uneasily as he approached it on foot. After the fight against the cosmically empowered Megastar, the young hero had talked to Headmaster Summers about the revelation that his powers might be from the Terminus. He'd heard of T-babies of course, who hadn't these days, but he had never considered that he might be one of them! But counting back from his birthdate, the math fit; his mother had been pregnant at the right period. And there was the unmistakable coloration of his powers, which never really struck him as light-and-happiness. Brian wasn't eager to confront his possible origin, but he knew it was better to find out now and learn the dangers than let any complications sneak up on him without warning. While he had suggested talking to Doktor Archeville about it, the Headmaster had steered him instead to another scientist, Miss Americana. Apparently she worked at ArcheTech too, so from Brian's perspective it was all as one. He'd made an appointment and now here he was. The interior of the lobby was expansive and a little humbling. He walked up to the front desk, moving a little faster than was strictly necessary. "Excuse me," he said to the man behind the desk. "My name is Brian Harris. I have an appointment with Miss Americana?"

Cosmicstar's Will Save, vs DC 31. (1d20+10=29) And Bruise x4.

"I think I'll get the set," Brian said, taking the hair clips back. "I'll just get a regular bag. I can pick up a nice box and wrap it up myself, before Gwen gets back." He paid for the jewelery and the pair of students walked back into the mall. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. So now he had the present, all he had to worry about... was whether or not she'd like it. Oh well, that was weeks in the future. He turned to the girl by his side and offered his hand. "Thanks for the help, Etain. Listen, do you want to grab something from the food court? I mean, we're supposed to be on a team together and we've never really talked outside of school."

Brian pressed his lips together. "Yeah, I... we kinda have something to talk about." He looked down at his food and cut into his tapa, popping a bit into his mouth and chewing a plug of meat and bread for a minute. He swallowed and leaned forward. "You heard about the fight during the whole Gorgon thing? Where Megastar kind of wigged out?" The fight the Irregulars had survived had been overshadowed by the destruction another Herald had done to the West End, but it was important around Claremont. "He... he kind of said that my powers were from... the Terminus." He took a deep breath and let it out all at once, speaking fast. "I mean, it makes sense. My mother would've been pregnant at the right time, and there's the red colors and weird black fog that I do, and the fact that it's only good for blowing stuff up." He trailed off and looked down at his plate again. "It means I'm a T-baby, Gwen."

Cosmicstar's Toughness save, vs DC 29. (1d20+15=30) That is a thing.

Ironclad's Ini. (1d20+5=9)

"I don't think it would be a good idea to return the nanites to the Gorgon," Jessica said. "Worst case scenario, they get reprogrammed quick and get sent back to us. Best case, we're just giving her resources back and letting her hit another planet all the quicker." Of course, if she was being honest with herself, the young woman couldn't wait to examine some of the nanites at her leisure. "Well, there's a few ways to create a lot of energy very fast. If we can get the UN to relax the laws regarding nuclear detonations in space, we could --" victory's offer took her by surprise. "But... doesn't your reactor power all your systems? If you overclock it enough, wouldn't you die?"

Ironclad took off and soared above the city and the battle, swooping in a huge circle as she built up speed. Arrowing in on the elephant demon she opened up the throttle, aiming to hit the creature square in the chest. Except that the monster turned over at just the wrong moment and she ended up plowing through several tons of delicately carved and gilded wooden partitions, ivory and gold statues, and porcelain columns. The heroine crawled out of the hole, shaking her head sharply. "Okay. Feel free to bill me that one."