Raveled

"How am I supposed to know how to support you," she demanded. "Before, you were terrified of these powers, and now you think that, that they're the bees knees!" She folded her arms tightly. "You come into my apartment, shouting your head, your suddenly-squidy head, off, and I'm supposed to think this is a good thing?" She looked off the side, staring out the window. "You've hidden this from me for so long. Why did you decide to tell me now?"

Brian's lips wandered all over Gwen, his breath coming rapidly and his heart beating faster and faster. There wasn't any question for him; he was living in the moment, and right now the moment was entirely about Gwen. Time passed unmarked, as the pair of teens explored each others' body. Hours later, Brian drifted back to consciousness. The first thing he realized was that he was in a small bed, and he soon realized that he wasn't alone. Indeed, Gwen's little body was snuggled up next to him, resting in the crook of his arm. He leaned in and kissed her ear, running one hand down her side and resting it on her belly. "Hey there," he whispered to her. "I think it's time to wake up."

Glowstar barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes. The mangled pronunciation, the huge gun -- why couldn't they ever stop a smart, slick bank robber, like the type in Ocean's 11? Okay, they might fail at stopping the actual heist, but it would be fun to be a part of! He raised the megaphone and clicked it back on. "We're a new team," he said, "but I don't think this needs to end in a fight. If you've got demands, let's hear them." Not that they'd bother trying to fulfill any of them, of course, this was all just a stalling tactic to get the hostages out. But the longer this whole thing went without a punch being thrown, the better chance they'd have of saving everyone.

"You certainly don't seem ashamed," Jessica pointed out. "You practically had a three piece band announcing your return to soul-obliterating hide--" She snapped her teeth shut with a click and took a deep breath, turning away for a moment as she got control of herself again. She turned back, speaking more slowly. "You hated this before," she said. "You were worried that this whole unnatural-powers thing was going to eat your soul, or something. But you seem pretty darn okay with it now. What's different, here?"

Starlight calmly strode towards the villain, unhindered by his attacks. "Righteousness isn't what you have," she told him. "Merely spite and hate. You shall not succeed this day. This day the Light shall strike you down!" The alabaster heroine thrust one hand out at Zealot and bright white energy barreled into him. "Lay down your weapons now, evildoer, and no more harm shall come to you."

As soon as her hand touched Hector's flesh, the former Grue felt a psychic force begin battering at her mental barriers. She wasn't some hapless bystander, though -- she was the wielder of the White Light, the Light of Pharos, and after a brief dizzy spell she fought the mental intrusion off. At the last moment she tried to get a feel for it; it was powerful, but uncontrolled and primitive. Like someone had just gathered up a bundle of negative emotions and forced them into this poor man's head. The heroine took the hammer from him with little effort, laying it down as far out of his reach as she could. She continued to pour healing energies into his body while making soothing noises, hoping to calm the man. "Hector. Listen to me. Who did this to you?"

Jessica tensed when Blake put his arm around her, but she didn't pull away. Halfway through his explanation though, she was shaking her head. "You're not making any sense," she said. "Before you hated being Kid Cthulhu, hated thinking what that power was doing to you, but you seem pretty happy now!" She stood up and started pacing. "And what do you mean when Doktor Archeville went weird? When that villain in the power armor grabbed control of ArcheTech? You can't put all the blame of that on Doktor Archeville! And if all this happened back then, why did it take you until now to tell me?" She stopped and faced Blake. "I... I don't know what to feel here, Blake."

Starlight's ranged attack check w/ All-Out Attack, vs Zealot's Def. DC 25 (1d20+12=26) Boo yah.

Ironclad has no reason to vote against an ArchTech satellite. The only real plan she has a problem with is taking it back to Earth.

Any chance you could describe that psychic force a bit more fully?

Starlight's Will save, vs DC 20. (1d20+8=24) Yatta tah! Starlight's Str check. (1d20=19) Oooo.

Well, she could try her meager Grapple check, I suppose. Starlight's Grapple check. (1d20+8=11) Yeah, she's not going to be grappling anything.

GM Down on the pier, things were also progressing towards a swift end. The folks with the sub-machine guns continued the fill the air with lead in an attempt to, not so much bring the flying heroes down, as to make sure they couldn't relax while they were floating in the air. The crab-suited warrior took a flying leap and swung a massive fist at Freedom Angel's haloed head, but the divine messenger twitched aside at the last minute, evading the blow. A couple of the dockworkers rushed over to help the figure in the bodysuit to his feet; he shrugged them off roughly and shook his head, trying to get his bearings again. Meanwhile, the "chimp-plus" bounced between several of the stacked boxes on the deck, ending his flight with his feet in the chest of one of the gunfighters. Bruiser, for his part, picked up one of the crates and tried to smash one of the faux-teamseters, but his target dodged the blow and the only result was a spray of wood splinters and packing peanuts.

Q, Cosmicstar isn't falling. He's just hanging in the air, all snagged up.

The flaming woman tried to avoid Cobalt Templar's spear, but to no avail. She felt the hit in gut, grunting in surprise and pain. When he pulled it out she spat a mix of blood and saliva in his face, laughing. "If you fight for someone else, then they don't deserve what they get! THAT'S an insane world view. That's why the world's on FIRE!" With the last word the orange and red flames leapt up over her entire body again, and before long they moved to engulf Cobalt Templar, somehow heating up the hero's insubstantial armor until it seared his skin! Glowstar was having a little bit better situation. He launched himself off the deck and back into the bridge in time to see the other woman bring the rifle around in a blow that ended cracking off the gorilla's chin. The ape reeled back and the hero didn't miss the opening. He blasted her with a single beam, but at this short range the effect was amplified. She caught the shot in her chest, bouncing off the window and falling to her knees. She clutched her belly even as she drew a heavy, nickel-plated pistol from her side... But after a quick glance at Glowstar and the angry Professor, she tossed it to the side and put her hands on her head. "Hell," she said. "It's just a job. Don't take it too personal."

SWAT 3 Aid Action, for +2 Att on Battlesuit. DC 10 (1d20+6=16) That succeeds. Battlesuit flies up and smacks FA. Battlesuit's melee attack check, vs FA's Def. DC 25 (1d20+12=17) Nope. Soldier 1 & 4 are going together, since they're doing the same thing: Aid Actions for the Martial Artist! Def x2. Soldier 1 & 4 Aid Action, for Martial Artist. DC 10 (1d20+5=7, 1d20+5=13) So +2 Att. SWAT is still helping Battlesuit. Def. SWAT 4 Aid Action, for Battlesuit. DC 10 (1d20+6=26) That's a heck of a help. Screech bounces over to SWAT 2. Take 10 on Attack hits, DC 25 Toughness. SWAT's Toughness save, vs DC 25. (1d20+6=17) Nope. Martial Artist... Is being helped to his feet. Daze is gone, though. Bruiser's going to take out the last SWAT guy. Taking 10 on Attack... Misses! Wow, okay, so one's still around. Pier 30 Screech -- Uninjured -- GM 23 Martial Artist -- Staggered, +4 Def (Soldier 1&4) -- GM 22 SWAT 1 -- OUT -- Minion 21 SWAT 2 -- OUT -- Minion 20 Bruiser -- Uninjured -- GM 20 Soldier 3 -- OUT -- Minion 12 Freedom Angel -- Uninjured -- HPx1 12 Soldier 2 -- OUT -- Minion 11 Protectron -- Uninjured -- HPx1 11 SWAT 3 -- Uninjured -- Minion 9 Battlesuit -- +2 Def (SWAT 2&4) +2 Att (SWAT 3) -- GM 7 Solider 1 -- Uninjured -- Minion 5 SWAT 4 -- Uninjured -- Minion 4 Soldier 4 -- Uninjured -- Minion Gunner takes a shot at the Prof. Gunner's melee attack check, vs Prof's Def. DC 25 + Autofire (1d20+10=23) That's 7 pts over, so +3 Damage makes it DC 28 Toughness. Prof's Toughness save, vs DC 28. (1d20+10=27) Bruise. Juuuuust barely. Pyro's going to make CT BURN!! It's Perception Range, so CT needs to make a DC 25 save. Squirt's going to try swinging past and smacking her. Squirt's melee attack check, vs Pyro's Def. DC 23 (1d20+13=14) Ouch. No. Glowstar is going to fly up until he has angle on the Gunner and hit her with a Focuses Blast. Glowstar's ranged attack check w/ full All-Out attack, vs Gunner's Def. DC 26 (1d20+17=25) That hits! Gunner's Toughness save, vs DC 26. (1d20+8=11) Down for the count. Ship 24 Cobalt Templar -- Uninjured -- HPx2 22 Gunner -- Unconscious -- GM 21 Prof -- Bruise -- GM 19 Pyro -- Bruisex2 -- GM 16 Squirt -- Uninjured -- GM 9 Glowstar -- Bruise, -5 Def -- HPx4

Pyro's Toughness save, vs DC 26. (1d20+6=8) Yowch! Gonna Fiat that; she gets Bruise x2, and CT gets a HP back.

Starlight hesitated. Whatever had happened to Hector, it was obvious that he would kill himself if he wasn't stopped. She knew that most Grue wouldn't care about that, but she wasn't willing to play the part of the monster that far. She absorbed the hard light keeping the man hemmed in, the energy concentrating itself in her hands. She rushed in, putting one hand on the back of Hector's head and using the other to retrain his hammer hand. "Shh, Hector, quiet. It's okay, it's alright. Just calm down." She let the soothing power of the mystic White Light flow into the man, stopping his bleeding and causing his wounds to knit themselves together, while Starlight kept up a steady stream of soothing noises. "Please, Hector. Tell me what happened."

Dropping the CO for Healing. Rushing in and using Starlight's Healing 7 +Total to stop him hurting himself.

Understood.

"I don't blame you," Starlight rasped, feeling a pang in her heart. "You should hate anyone who looks like this. Regardless, I cannot let you injure yourself or your apartment anymore." She put out her hand and the very light around Hector grew hard and cold, like infinity clear glass or crystal. The heroine applied more of her power, trying to trap the maniacal old man in a cage of solid light. "Speak to me, Hector! Who did this to you?"

Starlight's Ini. (1d20+7=18) Starlight's going to open up by grabbing Old Man Furrows in a CO'ed bubble. DC 20 Reflex to avoid. Cape, does she still have her Morph power? That is, can she stunt off it and the like?

Sense Motive, she can hit that with SM. Behavioral Science, she cannot get that high without training. RAW

Ironclad made sure she got the first filled bottle and drifted off from the others, lifting it to eye level to watch the little machines test the boundaries of the bottle. "Aggressive little things, that's for sure. It might be a really bad idea to take these back to any Earth-side facility," she pointed out. "I know we discussed that before, but these things are... beyond the pale. If they get out, well, I don't know if we'd have any time to implement countermeasures." She moved to scratch her chin and remembered her helmet at the last moment. "I hate to say it, but we might be safer leaving this stuff on the Lighthouse or someplace similar, and testing it there."

Ah. I missed that because it was before AA's. Alright, bad guys go... tomorrow, probably.