Raveled

Jessica turned to regard the young man, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. She flashed him a tight smile. "Good morning, Cole, I'm Jessica Parker. Today we're going to be looking at the propulsion systems on the Fjölnirskraft." She turned to the sub, striding over to a rope ladder that had been set up along one side and climbing it rapidly. From this vantage point it was obvious that the submersible would never submerge again -- there was a perfectly circular hole in the top, almost two meters across. The edges had been beveled down from when Ironclad had violently broken through, so now Jessica could scramble down into the bridge without fear of slicing her palms open.

Glowstar shot a glance at Crow when Wisp mentioned teleporting right out of her clothes. He rose and punched his roomie in the arm, winking at his friend, before moving to the door of the briefing room and leaning against the wall there. "I'm ready," he said. "And for the record, Changeling? I'll take you and John on any day of the week."

Not without Luck Control.

Mako 5's Fort save, vs DC 20. (1d20+10=26) Could've sworn I rolled this before, but it saves handily.

Brian finished the rest of his pizza while Morgan installed windows in the greenhouse's framework. When that was finished he motioned to his roomie and lead the other boy over to the refreshments table. The paper plate went into the garbage and he grabbed a Gatorade, chugging half of the bottle before talking. "Okay, so be honest with me here: Am I coming across like the crazy-possessive boyfriend before I'm even officially the boyfriend at all? I mean, Corbin told me I was being a bit hard on Zach for trying to help Gwen -- but he was messing with her right before she passed out!" He sighed and brushed his hair back. "I dunno, should I back off? Am I being a bit too much?"

The OOC for this thread.

August 19, 2011 The Lab, Freedom City 10:23 AM The Lab was quickly becoming a fixture in Freedom City, an example to all scientifically and technologically-oriented peoples as to how the future should progress. The research complex wasn't alone in the city, but in the after math of Viktor von Archeville's very public breakdown, they were getting more work than usual. One project in particular was near and dear to Jessica Parker's heart -- investigating ArcheTech's submarine research station, the Fjölnirskraft, was moored right next to the skyscraper-sized laboratory, and the young genius had spearheaded the effort to dissect and understand it. Of course, the woman didn't work alone. Cole Jefferson, a student at Claremont and an intern at the Lab, was assigned to help her this morning. At the moment she was waiting on the floating pier that had grown up between the beached sub and the land, tapping her foot impatiently.

The OOC for this thread. The thugs are using the builds for generic, well, thugs from the core book; two of them have Shotguns instead of pistols.

August 10th, 2011 Lincoln 12:11 AM Freedom City was a prosperous burg, a shining city of progress and opportunity. In recent history, the cleaning up of the Fens was often touted as an example of how things were getting better. But for the citizens living in Lincoln, time might have decided to stand still. This was very evident late one night (so late it's early in the morning, as the joke went) on a corner deep in the neighborhood. The building was a glass-walled box that had changed hands between various entrepreneurs; at the moment it was a Qwik-'n'-Buy. Something things always stayed the same, like the high school kid manning the counter at such a late hour -- and the four other teenagers with big guns, wearing ski masks. The two with shotguns (one pump, one sawed-off double-barrel) were keeping the cashier covered while he emptied the register; the pair with pistols (one revolver, one Walther PPK knock-off) were ransacking the shop, showing a distinct preference for TV dinners and alcohol.

That actually hits despite the penalty for shooting into melee. I'm going to rule, however, that since Wisp is actually grappling the shark, she's close enough to get hit as well. DC 20 Fort save vs. Stun for Wisp, and both her and Flora get a HP.

Except that Flora's Stun is single-target, not Area. Flora spends her turn learning that Steelshanks is Fort Immune.

Emphasis mine.

No, spending a HP will not let you ignore cover (and there's no cover here anyway, it's concealment). What you could do, since Flora does have gobs and gobs of HP, is stunt a Super-Sense that gets around the concealment. Something like Tactile +Ranged would work fine and could even come off the Elongation; Flora waves her vines through the smoke, and where she finds something, she smacks it!

The biggest thing that leaps out at me is, why is this guy at Claremont if he doesn't want to be? This isn't the Marvel universe were mutants/superheroes are hated and feared and he's gonna be lynched if he's not among his own kind (well, there's White Knight, but there's a reason that guy's a supervillain). This guy could stay at home, with his friends, if he doesn't want to be in FC.

GM The Australian hero bounded over the concrete wall and quickly disappeared, leaving the duplicating soldier and the Victorian detective to handle the rest of the situation. Without his keen nose the going was slower, but through a combination of Myrmidon's many eyes and Lord Steam's steampunk spectrometer, they made their way back to the trail they had followed and proceeded through the plant. Before long one of Myrmidon's scouts signaled for a halt and the heroes stopped to examine the situation. The area they were looking at seemed to be the administrative hub of the entire complex; in addition to a low tangle of concrete buildings, there were several detached railcar-style offices, set on cinder blocks. A number of shabbily-dressed criminals prowled around, armed with pistols or make-shift rifles. As they watched, a quartet of the criminal hobos ducked into one of the railcars and emerged with several civilians, their hands bound in duck-tape, and frog-marched them into the main building.

Jessica shook her head. "I wouldn't want you to do anything else," she said. "I'm just... being irrational, I guess. Was hoping for a quiet vacation and then that, and... anyway." She smiled across at Blake and squeezed his hand. The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully. Jessica caught some sleep and deigned to sample some of the tea available, but after a sip or two she set it pointedly aside and went back to staring out the window. In time they arrived at Calais and transferred to a taxi, to take them into Paris. They dropped off their bags at the La Reserve Paris and started exploring the city. The Eiffel Tower was just across across the river, so they visited that; Jessica found the height unimpressive, and spent more time examining the welds and rivets than the cityscape. There was something that caught her eye near the base of the tower, though. It looked like a political rally going down the Champ de Mars, crowds of people with bunting in the streets, listening to a man on a platform. They were too high up to hear much of the speech, but words like 'sécurité,' 'règle par la crainte,' and 'esprit de la France' did waft up on occasion. The young woman leaned against the railing and stared down, more interested in the sight of so many bodies swirling down there than anything else.

GM Steelshanks continued to lurch through the fog almost at random, swinging her massive steel hands but not hitting anything. Targeter's weapon clacked suddenly as it ran out of bullets and the bolt locked open. She grumbled beneath her breath, reaching into her vest. She pulled out what looked to Catalyst like a cigarette case; opening it, she took out an oblong object, snapped in it half, and flung both halves in opposite directions. The small objects clattered off the ground, then suddenly exploded in gouts of flame and smoke!

Steelshanks keeps wandering. Move Action: Move 30 ft away from the van. 130 ft. Trageter starts lobbing grenades at Flora. Free Action: Stunt Blast 7 (Extra: Area/General [burst] ) off Device pistols. Everyone grab an HP. Standard Action: Throw grenades at Flora. DC 17 Reflex save first off, if you make that no damage (because of Evasion) and if you don't it's a DC 22 Toughness save. 24 Flora --- Uninjured -- HP x5 20 Catalyst -- Injured x1+ Staggered -- HP x1 10 Steelshanks -- Bruise x4 + Staggered -- GM 9 Targeter -- Bruise x1 -- GM

Jessica shrugged. "You're the one who had all the, ah, 'action' yesterday," she said, rebuke coloring her tone. "Though I'm going to need some caffeine if we're hitting the art museums today." She reached across and snagged his cup, smiling triumphantly before she took a swallow -- and promptly gagged on it. "Oh, man. That... that is very British coffee, I guess." She put the cup back on the table and slid it over to Blake. "When we get on the other side, cappuccino is a priority." She fell silent, staring out the window at the tunnel wall a few meters away. After a long minute she spoke up again, still staring out the window. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't... didn't really mean what I said. I was just hoping that this vacation would be super-powers free, you know? I shouldn't be getting mad at you," she admitted, "I was just hoping we could be a little more anonymous on this trip."

First, check out AA's Healer Oddball. Second, look at UNISON rather than AEGIS. They're world-wide, after all. Lastly, if she is part of an international organization, consider making her non-American. Maybe she's of French, Japanese, or Russian citizenship? It could provide extra drama if she's focusing on news from 'the homeland' or has to go back to deal with some family drama.

I have a couple of trips I want to make. I want to recreate the route taken in On the Road (or just drive across in the country in general; I want to walk/hike the length of Hadrian's Wall; and I want to drive the Pan-American Highway. At least the North American portion.

Jessica gave Blake a half-serious, half-joking punch on the arm. "C'mon, we're gonna miss our train!" She called down to the front desk, and within minutes there was someone in the room, helping them load their luggage on a carousel. Out on the street there was already a taxi waiting (not a black checkered taxi, but a van with much more leg room) and before long they were speeding towards the coast and the city of Folkestone. The streets were clear and they made good time, but Jessica still fretted until they were through customs and sitting on the Eurostar train. The young woman finally relaxed, sitting in her padded chair, Blake seated across from her, a plastic folding table between them. She leaned her head back against the rest and closed her eyes for a long moment, then opened her eyes and smiled at her boyfriend. "I'm sorry for that, honey," she said. "I thought we'd have more time this morning. Guess we just slept in too late, hm? And then I started stressing out over getting to the train on time and..." She reached over and grabbed his hand, holding it in the middle of the table. "Forgive me?"

Brian was startled out of his angry reverie by Corbin's pizza delivery. He took the food and punched on the pizza, careful not to burn himself on the hot food. "Thanks. I'm just so damn mad at Zach right now. She was doing fine until he got her all... overexcited." He took a seat next to the skeletal framework of the greenhouse, munching on the food. "Thanks for the pie, though." The food was reminding Brian just how hungry he was, and he scarfed it down faster than was strictly necessary. He was sitting in the sun, enjoying the break (and waiting for Zach to leave the food table so he could grab a drink) when Morgan reappeared. He relaxed when his roomie confirmed that Gwen was doing fine. The young man closed his eyes and tiled his head back against the plastic supports; suddenly, everything was right with the world again.

Glowstar took the communicator and tried it on, adjusting it a few times and tapping the prominently labeled "TEST" button. There was a power pack that, after a little finagling, he managed to affix to one of his arms by a velcro strap. "Not an ideal situation," he muttered, mostly to himself, "but it should work." He stood and tested the range of motion -- thrust his arms out in front of himself, stood poised dramatically, did a few jumping jacks, threw a haymaker punch with either arm. Nothing outside the realm of possibility for a fight, really, and through it all the headset remained in place. "Works, anyway," he said, returning to his seat.

Excerpt from AEGIS interview attached to investigation of SAUCER LORD; CURARE. Subject HARRIS, BRIAN W. Dr. HARLEN QUINN and Maj JONAS STONE in attendance. STONE: State your name for the record. HARRIS: [Expletive deleted] you. You know my name. S: Jut say it for the recorder. H: Brian Harris. Brain William Harris. S: Mr. Harris. What can you tell me about Lawrence Patterson? H: I don't know anyone by that name. S: Of course you do, he's your father. H: My father's name is William Harris! That's who I'm named after, my dad! S: Your father's name is Lawrence Patterson! He was a supervillain who went by Saucer Lord! H: You're an ass. QUINN: Please, gentlemen. Brian, how long have you lived in Little Rock? H: All my life. Q: What do your parents do for a living? H: My dad teaches math at the university. My mom teaches pottery and self-defense at the Y. Q: But they go to a lot of conventions, right? H: Dad does. Mom goes to art shows and sells her stuff. Q: And were do you go to school, Brian? H: Little Rock Central. Q: What's your favorite subject in school? H: [Pause] I don't have one. Q: Oh, c'mon. Everyone has a favorite subject. [Pause.] Nothing? You didn't like anything about school? H: Sports, I guess. I'm pretty good at sports. Q: Were you on any tams? H: Baseball, and football. Q: You don't seem like the football type. Usually those are huge guys. H: I was a wide receiver. Had to be able to run fast and catch the ball. Q: Brian, can you explain what you did to Agent Brooks when we arrested your family? H: That's the one I, um... Q: Blasted, I think the term is. H: I don't really know how I did. I wanted to punch him, but he was too far away. So I just kinda... pushed. Q: A lot of heroes with powers like that talk about having to gather energy in before they do anything. Was that what it was like with you? H: No. It was more like... Like I was tensing a muscle and wasn't aware of it before. I had to work to relax it, but once I did... Boom. Q: Do you think you could do some other things? H: What other things? Q: Things like flying, putting up a force field, make bright lights. H: I don't know. I haven't really tried. Haven't had time. Q: Of course. Tell me, Brian, what were your plans after high school? H: I figured I'd get a sports scholarship, maybe go pro. Q: Those are some pretty big ambitions. H: Not really. I'm not too good at school, so sports is really my only option. S: Where's your mother? H: You don't know? S: She took down seven police officers and stole three cars. We lost her sometime after that. H: My... my mother doesn't know how to do stuff like that. S: No. She'd just another suburban housewife who can defeat two highly-trained federal agents in hand-to-hand combat. Q: Have you every met any of your parents' family? H: They're only children. Like me. Q: Never met any childhood friends? Old colleagues? Distant relatives? Anything like that? H: No. S: That didn't strike you as odd? H: No! They were just my parents! Q: Brian, where is your mother now? H: I... I have no idea.