Raveled

Okay, how do you two want to handle this? There's another couple of threads in this, if you want to run those hooks down.

That hits just fine. Sharktopus' Toughness save, vs DC 22. (1d20+14=20) Bruise x3!

Welcome to your twenties! Wave goodbye to immortality, no-longer-teenager.

GM The blood trail lead to the bathtub-shower. There wasn't a body there, but the tub was half full of disturbingly pink water, and some kind of white scrum floating on the top of the water. A few harried minutes of searching proved fruitless and before long Marcus was out in the hallway again, with no good leads. As he was standing there, Hobo Larry pulled himself upright and shambled down the hall. His wandering gaze fell on Marcus, and he took to prodding him insistently. "Hey. Hey. Hey, man. You're a buddy of the guy that lives in there?" The transient diverted his poking finger at Leroy's apartment for a few jabs before returning it to Marcus. "Man, that guy has some wild parties. Do, do, do you know where his friend went?"

The OOC for this thread. Arcturus and Starlight rumble with some zombies!

September 3rd, 2011 Marcus Irons walked up the creaking stairs to 144 Greely Street, square in the city's creative heart. The apartment building was home to a lot of artists -- or at least, a lot of budding artists who couldn't afford to commute in from a better neighborhood. Of course that described a lot of the hero's fellow artists, and so he was used to visiting places that were more than a little bohemian. He stepped around a man in a long coat with a couple day's worth of beard sleeping across the stairs and approached apartment 226. He knocked several times but there was no answer; the big man put his hand on the door handle, frowning when it rattled loosely. Moving more carefully now he opened the door on Leroy Tucker's apartment. The small space inside was thoroughly trashed, with loose drawers and ripped canvases littering the floor. The mess was completely at odds with the demeanor of the meticulous painted Marcus knew, but what was really disturbing was the trail of blood leading into the bathroom.

GM "No one," Desmaris admitted. "I've been trying to keep it secret. I think my parents would overreact, and I know they wouldn't like the idea of my being a superhero. But you can come and talk to them! Tell them how well I did, how I kicked ass! C'mon, Mr. L, this is my chance to really do something with my life." While the teen hero was pleading with Wail, a couple of FCPD cruisers pulled into the parking lot. Two uniformed officers apiece climbed out and looked over the cowering thugs. The lead officer, a middle-aged man with a bit of a gut, walked carefully around the would-be criminals. "Mr. LaMarr, right?" He glanced at the monochrome thug, still frozen in time. "Is everything okay here?"

GM Megastar caught Myrmidon's arm as he was leaving the garden and propelled the soldier-turned-hero back to his perch. "Okay," he said, lowering his voice from the parade-ground shout he'd been using earlier. "I came off a little strong. I'm sorry. I know you're freaked out about the Gorgon -- I am to. It's big and scarey, and even though we face big, scarey things on a regular basis, this is a step beyond... anything. And it's not a threat we can punch in the face, and it doesn't have a lair we can track it to, and I'm pretty sure that they won't be putting the Gorgon in Blackstone anytime soon." He leaned against a wall and folded his arms. "It's hard. You want to be out there helping, but instead Summers kept you back here. It might seem like a crap assignment but trust me, the headmaster's not the kind of guy to waste resources." Megastar let the words hang in the air for a minutes before he spoke again. "So then. Tell me what your plans are."

Ironclad nodded curtly, her helmet reforming and snapping into place. With a quirk burst from her thrusters she rejoined the other heroes near the entrance to the power station. "This plant has two reactions," she informed them without preamble. "Whoever took over grabbed those reactors first. They haven't made any demands, so we can only assume they're actually here for the fissible materials." The young genius paused for a moment before adding, "Which actually can't be used in a nuclear bomb, but could do plenty of damage if it was wedded to a traditional explosive. In any case, we need to find out where this guy or gal is ASAP and shut them down. "To that end I think we should split up. I think I can make it so the machines and security cameras can't see me. Protectron, Caradoc, you two should be able to bust through to the other reactor. That should also draw most of the robots, making my infiltration easier. Once we find out where the baddie hunkered down, we can group up and hit 'em together."

Starlight Liz Moya

Khania glared down at Blake. "How dare you speak to me like that! I am a princess, and in time I will be queen! I should hold you down and cut out yo--" Consul stepped in, literally stepping between Khania and the teens. "I apologize. This is Princess Khania, of... well, you wouldn't be able to find the star anyway, so it doesn't really matter I suppose. Still, if you could just grovel a little bit, we could all be on our way." He smiled ingratiatingly at the supine teens. "No," Jessica said flatly, turning her face away from the pair of aliens and closing her eyes. Khania shoved Consul aside and glared at Jessica. "Fine," she spat. "If there's to be no groveling, I'll just take some tribute!" She jumped onto the young woman's back and grabbed at her bracelet; Jessica reacted by rolling over in the sand, and after a quick tussle the two separated. "You have no idea the sort of enemy you just made," Khania said, her hair in disarray. "Funny," Jessica hissed. "I was about to say the same thing."

Jessica smiled at Blake and eased herself off the hammock. "Sure is," she said, "and just bound to get better." She scooted back inside and grabbed an oversized beach towel that had been folded and left on the edge of the kitchen counter. The pair of them took off down the beach, and once they staked out a spot on the sand for their towel they very nearly lived in the water. Swimming out past the markers, splashing each other like children, and even smooching in the shallows. It wasn't until the sun was touching the western horizon that they stumbled onto the sand again, Jessica collapsing on the beach towel. She laid there for a long moment, simply relaxing, then rolled over and looked up at the darkening sky. "Okay," she admitted. "This? This has been one very nice day." Almost as if it was summoned by her words, there was a resounding boom and a chunk of the top level of the hotel-casino, clearly visible from the beach, exploded outwards. Two figures zoomed out of the dust and landed not far from the teens. One was a woman in a long evening dress, thin and very pretty. The only thing stopping her from being a supermodel was her orange skin, green hair, and the petulant expression on her face. "I can't believe how arrogant those humans are," she said. "Expecting me to pay my bills? I'm a princess!" The second figure was dressed in something approaching Roman or Greek attire, a long green robe folded over his body several times. He had the same orange complexion as the woman, but his head was shaved bald. "Princess Khania," he said in a soothing tone, "I tried to warn you. These primitives do not know of your regal majesty! They are backward fools." Khania sniffed derisively and turned to regard Jessica and Blake. She looked down her nose at them, even levitating an inch or two in the air to better do so. "You're right about their primitive behavior, Consul. They should be groveling at my feet!" She stalked -- well, floated -- over and addressed the teens directly. "You two! I require refreshments. Bring them!"

Glowstar nimbly dodged the thrashing tentacles, mildly put out that his strike hadn't had more of an effect on the massive chimeran monster. In fact none of the attacks that the Claremont heroes were launching seemed to do much of anything against the beast! It was obviously time to pull out the big guns, and the biggest gun they had on hand was Glowstar himself. The teen flew around Sharktopus in a lazy circle, bombarding it with red-and-black blasts as he went. He aimed them towards the creature's weak points as best he could; gills, eyes, the inside of its gaping maw. Irritatingly though, it didn't seem to do much more than enrage the beast further, and it snapped its tentacles at the flying, darting hero. Glowstar avoided the attack with a lazy flip, huffing out a breath at the thing. "That's not fair," he shouted. "You're supposed to be belly up around this time!"

Initiative Order 25 -- Sharktopus -- Bruisex2 -- GM 22 -- Wisp -- Uninjured -- HPx2 15 -- Flora -- Uninjured -- HPx5 14 -- Crow -- Uninjured -- HPx1 12 -- Glowstar -- Uninjured -- HPx3 Taking the Makos out of the Ini order. They're not getting up again. Standard Action: Sharktopus swipes at the guy who should have taken it out of the fight, ChatBot!! Wiff. There is some justice in the world! Wisp is up.

Glowstar's gonna hit the thing with his new, mean and trim Multi-blast. Full Round Action: Blast! Glowstar's ranged attack check, vs Sharktopus' Def. DC 26 + Autofire (1d20+12=31) Oo! Spend a HP to grab him Improved Crit. Gotta impress Flora on the first date! In total that's a DC 36 Toughness check. Tzeentch! Why have you forsaken me?

Jessica blushed but smiled broadly, keeping her eyes on Blake. "I know. I can be amazing when I put my mind to it, huhn?" She walked up and put her arms around his neck, kissing him for a long minutes. Pulling back she was still smiling and gave his chest a thump. "Go on," she insisted, swiveling around him. "Get changed and we'll hit the beach." She backed away from him, spinning at the door to make her sarong flare out. Out on their deck, she hopped into the hammock and almost spilled out of it. Idiot, she admonished herself. Unstable system in a state of rare equilibrium, and you just added a bunch of energy in one direction. You're supposed to be a smarty, remember? When the bed stopped rocking back and forth so violently, she leaned back in it and looked out over the beach. White sand stretched for miles, interrupted here and there by security fences and populated by beach-goers in various levels of physical fitness. She raised one hand to shield her eyes and a ray of sun glinted off the titanium bracelet for just a moment. She hadn't been able to convince herself to take that off and leave it with the rest of her clothes. She just hoped that she wouldn't need it.

Brian winced and opened his hand, looking at the vines rather than Gwen. "It was about a year ago. Just before Christmas, in fact. My parents and myself sat down for dinner, and all of the sudden the front door just exploded. Big boom, woosh, no more door and lots of scarey looking guys in tactical gear and guns. A couple of them grabbed my dad, pulled him out of his chair and wrestled him to the ground. Well, my dad's kind of a scrawny guy so that wasn't too hard. One made a grab for my mom and... She just." Brian closed his eyes tight. "We were having spaghetti. Mom grabbed the serving spoon for the sauce and hit this SWAT cop in the throat. He went down, choking. The other one came behind her and she jammed the handle of the spoon into his side, where the bulletproof vest doesn't cover. It... sort of stuck there." He was breathing more heavily now, the emotions rising high in him. "One of the cops had a shotgun and he winged my mom in the shoulder. There was so much blood and... It all happened so fast. I was frozen in my chair. But I when my mom went down I... I was literally seeing red, Gwen. Like everything was on fire, all I could see was red. I think I went through the table, just ripped it apart. I hit the guy with the shotgun in the chest and he flew back, just flew back like in the movies. He hit a guy in power armor, and they both went through the front window of our house. I turned on the guys that were holding my dad down and kicked one so hard he flew up and hit the ceiling. Then I think they hit me with a stun gun or a tranq, because I went down and I don't really remember anything until I came to in the interrogation cell." Brian's eyes were screwed shut and he bowed his head in towards his chest, breathing so hard he was nearly panting. It was the first time he'd ever told the story like that, and he wasn't prepared for the emotional impact. "It was the first time I ever used my powers," he said quietly. "If Summers hadn't found me, hadn't brought me here, I'd be in prison right now."

An HQ for my villain Phantasmagore. One part Doc Manhatten's crystal Mars palace from Watchmen, one part Marvin the Martian's base. Europa Crystal Palace (PL14 HQ) [15EP] Size: Huge [3EP] Toughness: +15 [2EP] Features: [10 EP] [*:3nwt4gmd]Communications [*:3nwt4gmd]Concealed [*:3nwt4gmd]Defense System (Blast 14) [*:3nwt4gmd]Infirmary [*:3nwt4gmd]Isolated [*:3nwt4gmd]Laboratory [*:3nwt4gmd]Library [*:3nwt4gmd]Living Space [*:3nwt4gmd]Power [*:3nwt4gmd]Workshop Concealment 10 (All Senses, Feat: Close) [20PP]

Okay! Since Bree is back and posting, this thread can move forward. Aaaand... Crow's up next. :facepalm:

"You'll see," Jessica promised, tucking into the meal. Several hours later the pair were at their destination, a quiet resort with its own stretch of private beach. The young couple didn't have to deal with avoiding the gambling, though; they had a white-walled cabana house some ways away from the hotel-casino. It had its own small kitchen, sitting area, and patio with a hammock, just perfect for two people together. Despite that Jessica disappeared into the bedroom for many minutes once they arrived, eventually emerging in a red bikini top and sarong, her hair unbound and falling to her shoulders. "Ta-da," she said, spinning around so that Blake could get the full view. "Was the wait worth it?"

Jessica smiled at the card 'trick.' It was simple trick but it warmed her heart. "Queen of Hearts? Does that mean I should be shouting, 'off with his head'?" She leaned close and gave Blake a peck on his lips. "Or are you just saying that I have your heart?" She gave him a longer kiss. After a little finagling she managed to raise the arm rest between them and crawled a bit closer, curling her legs up on the seat. She managed to stay like that for a few minutes, before an attendant came along and explained, patiently, that her legs needed to remain down or else the seatbelt wouldn't have an affect. Jessica complied, but she was still as close to her boyfriend as she could get. "I really think you'll love the beach," she said. "It'll be a great cap to our vacation."

Ironclad is going to Take 20 on a Knowledge/Technology check (she can do that as a free action) to try and recall the power plant's layout. Result of 35. Can she pin-point where the reactor is, and specifically any cooling/ventilation systems that feed into it?

GM Glowstar and the hybrids jumped and swung down to street-level, joining Freedom Angel and Cobalt Templar in busting through the doors of the warehouse. Beyond that they found... Nothing. Row upon row of empty stacks and unlit offices, with nary a box or cargo pallet in sight. The hybrids were stunned, Bruiser and Screech racing down to the dockside doors while Squirt went high and checked the rafters. "There's nothing here," Bruiser exclaimed. "I don't get it. We just escaped a few hours ago!" For his part, the Professor crouched low and swept one massive finger along the floor, repeating the process along several of the metal shelving units that stood in the middle of the space. "No dust either," he said. "No trash, and the doors opened easily. There's nothing here -- but I'll bet there was something here not too long ago!" From his vantage point Protectron scanned the warehouse, and when that was a bust he extended his range, scanning outwards in a carefully programmed pattern. He noticed several forklifts parked near the loading area for a cargo freighter; while the machines were empty, their engines were still radiating heat. On a whim he zoomed in on one of the workers overseeing the loading process, and soon a suspicious bulge at his belt resolved itself into a large pistol! What was an ordinary dockworker -- several of them, in fact -- doing with such a weapon?

GM Desmaris looked down at his feet. "It's just... something I figured out one day. I was bored and couldn't get to sleep, so I ended up looking at the air conditioner I had in my bedroom window. I kind of saw how to make the gun, and after that I just couldn't not make it, you know?" He looked up at the hero. "My mom and dad got mad at me for taking the A/C apart, but I don't care. I'm almost done with a force field generator, and a flight suit based off Freedom Eagle's look. I'm going to call myself Fly High Kid. But, um, my parents aren't so cool about it." He perked up suddenly and grabbed LaMarr's arm. "Mr. L! You can come home, talk to them! Tell them how cool I did in a fight!"

GM The youth winced at his surname, but he wasn't about to correct his teacher. "It's okay," he said, gesturing to the now-monochrome crook. "He's okay, I just kind of... dropped him outside of time. See, we're all existing in four dimensions normally, right? Not just length-width-depth, but those three and time, right? So I just kind of, moved him ninety degrees. To all the other dimensions. So now length is depth, width is length, time is depth, and... well, depth should be time, but then shouldn't he be getting taller and taller? Right now they just stand there, staring." Desmaris stalked up to the affected criminal and glared at him. "Same thing happened to the cat." While the high schooler inspected his handiwork, Wail heard police sirens in the distance. Apparently the gunfire and his subsequent sub-sonic shout hadn't gone unnoticed by the neighbors.