Raveled

So next month, Ironclad is getting (among other things) Wealth II. She intends to funnel some of that extra money into the Lab, putting another 5 EP into it. Where, fellow Lab mates, shall we spend it?

Jessica pursed her lips at the Monkey King's cryptic 'advice.' It seemed that magical beings -- a supercategory she put most gods into -- could not give a straight answer. Either that or they found it far too fun to cloak everything in allusion and metaphor. In either case, it quickly grated on her nerves. The young hero's sullen thoughts were interrupted by the sudden gong. She started and gulped down the glass of OJ at her elbow. Breakfast devoured, she stood and brushed crumbs off her silk shirt. Once she was clean, she touched the slim, silver bracelet on one arm and was covered in a white flash of energy. A second later it dissipated, revealing her armor. She ran through the extended start-up sequence, figuring that she might as well be as prepared as possible.

Glowstar had seen some weird stuff in his brief time at Claremont, but a magic ghost with a telepathic voice put him off his stride for a moment. Only a moment, though. "So are you sure that you want to leave your body in an ally instead of having two strapping young men stand over it and wow, that sounded a lot less creepy in my head." He finished the sentence in the same tone as he began it, and topped the whole thing off with a bright, sunny smile in Equinox's general, incorporeal direction.

The te4en hero threw Supercape a hopeless look. He couldn't understand why the senior hero was letting him take the lead on this, but he kept pushing on. Glowstar led the thumping, leaping aliens to the lake, trying to shoot the difference between the Southside and Bayview neighborhoods, still focused on keeping the collateral damage to a minimum. Before long they were standing on the beach, looking at the boaters and being watched in turn. "This is Lake MacKenzie. One of the biggest lakes inn the city, so it's a very popular place to go for a day, you know?" He paused, and coughed into his fist. "So what do you guys do for recreation?"

So is this on again?

Design Journal 14.1. I'm running into a problem with my armor. A materials problem, really; I can't make the armor much thicker without losing flexibility, and I need it to be flexible or I'll be a roving turret on the battlefield. I'm looking at some exotic bases and alloys, but material analysis comes back negative on each one -- no matter what I try, not one of them can give me the qualities I'm seeking. Which is causing me to look at some radical options. Science fiction often uses force fields of justify how otherwise importable structures could remain upright. I think I can adapt the idea to my armor. The field will stabilize and reinforce the existing shell. It might compromise the suit's ability to spread the energy of a blow, but I can think of a few ways to handle that.

Jessica blushed at the kiss, patting Blake's head. She offered Jill a smile behind Blake's back, shrugging her shoulders in a silent 'what are you going to do?' She turned to her fellow Lab founder, nodding at the older woman. "Glad you could make it, Dr. de Havilard. I'm fine with music, but if this lot here doesn't like it, you may find the stereo walking off on its own." She flashed some teeth to show that it was a joke, but the truth wasn't far off from that. The young woman leaned forward and draped her lanky arms over Blake's shoulders, giving him a peck on his cheek. "I still need some lotion on my back," she whispered to him. "Unless you want Cobalt to do it?"

Jessica was startled that the young heroes had given up their identities so quickly to someone they had just met. Sure, Cannonade had fought beside her before, but she'd never laid eyes on Wisp before. She was torn between wanting to respect their decision, and wanting to remind them that there could very well be villains around. Even if no one in the breakfast hall actively wished them ill, there was no telling what sort of tales they would tell. She turned down the young man's offer of training with a tight smile. She preferred to let her suit handle the combat part; maybe that was foolish of her, but that's how she was. The young inventor raised an eyebrow at the remark. "I slept like a baby," she remarked. "They even provided me with clothes," she added, gesturing to her black and red outfit.

Glowstar narrowed his eyes as the aliens continued their destructive journey through the city. "The Lake's pretty," he said. "And very uninhabited. Which means that I won't have to worry so much about you guys destroying someone's home or work. Speaking of which, you need to have more care with where you land. I protect this city, and you're endangering it. So be a little more careful, or there will be consequences."

Jessica bit down half a hash brown, chewing quickly and swallowing even as she reached across the table to offer Wisp her hand. "Hey. The name's Jessica Parker, but since we're all here to do the super-thing, I guess you should call me Ironclad? I'm not really sure how all that goes." She flashed a smile, then sat back down and turned to Cannonade. "Good to see you here, Cannonade. Not really surprised, though. How's life treating you? AEGIS sending anymore work your way?"

Ironclad had spent most of the night examining the small palace and talking up the various other superhumanly-powerful beings that were there. The bedroom which had been provided for her was bigger than her house back home, and she had a black, dreamless sleep. When she awoke, she luxuriated in its wide space and softness, unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. After a bit she forced herself to get up and go through her usual morning routine. Coming out of the shower she was whistling, but her good mood petered out when she realized that she had literally nothing besides her armor to wear. Gotta speak to Mara about that dimensional suitcase idea. Undeterred, she walked over to the gilded wardrobe and opened it up, revealing a black and red outfit that looked for all the world like silk pajamas. Jessica pulled it off and tried it on, somehow not surprised that it fit perfectly. So attired, she padded down the hallways, following her nose to a communal eating area. She grabbed a plate and piled it high with various kinda of potatoes and meats, then found a seat at one of the long tables, across from Cannonade and a petite girl with red eyes and long, white hair. She offered them a sunny "Good morning!" before plowing into her breakfast.

Jessica glanced at Jill and Dragonfly, wishing that Blake had enough presence of mind to copy them. She applied the tan lotion herself though, as well as she could, watching Corbin and Tom build the glass kitchen and get to work. Watching the kineticist work was a joy, even if Push seemed more self-conscious than usual. She was actually feeling a little silly herself, as she and Blake were the only ones not wearing masks or costumes of some kind. She leaned back on her towel, propping herself up to watch her boyfriend chase the ambulatory linen down. "I don't know," she said suddenly, evidently in reply to Dragonfly's comment. "If they were robots, there'd be crushing treads and laser eyes. Worst this, uh, poltergeist is going to do is rust out the bottom of the pot." The young woman laid back entirely, crossing her legs and closing her eyes, evidently enjoying the hot sun. "Not, you know, set fire to stuff."

Let's hope his luck holds up! Diplomacy check vs Aliens (1d20+10=17)

Using X-Ray vision on the building.

Glowstar hung apart from the trio of other heroes as they went through their drama. He wasn't sure which side to take. On the one hand, Equinox was being rather short with Blueshift, and lighting off a fireball in the middle of the city wasn't the most adult course of action. On the other hand, one should prepare for something like that and not go into a nervous breakdown when it happened. Besides, Push was giving her plenty of support. He was glad when they all started moving again. Equinox lead them to the office building and he idly noted that it was near the middle of the city. He waited for the witch to give them a heads up on what the robots were doing, but she was just staring at the building. He did the same, focusing his vision past the walls and roof, seeing through all that as he followed the robots in and down.

April 15. Big day. Still feel tired from it, actually, but here it all is. 'Bout a week ago, I ran into someone Mom knew back in the day. He thought I'd want in on a weapon auction to be held out in Wharton. It made me mad, of course, and I thought about dropping him in a dumpster or at the police station, but then I figured, I'm a hero! I can use this guy and stop some badness! So this guy gave me a time and a place, and at the time I flew out to the place. Now the guy who found me a sleazeball, but the guys who were waiting there were in suits. They had some kind of accent -- Russian, maybe. Definitely Eastern European. In any case, the whole thing turned out messy when this other guy with a Russian accent started shooting the bad guys. I blasted one, then Wisp and another lady with really long, blonde hair showed up and got stuck in. Between us we cleaned up the smugglers pretty easily, but they turned out to be the appetizer. A woman burst out of one the planes (did I mention there were planes? Well, they came in planes) and blasted me. That hurt, and knocked me up to a pretty good height, too. I was out of the ring for the rest of the fight, but it was probably for the best since I was feeling pretty loopy by then. The gun man introduced himself as Falconer, and the lady with the long hair said her name was Gossamer. I stayed until the cops showed up and took my statement. Then I headed back to Claremont to crash. April 18. Vicky caught me between classes. Apparently the Falconer wants to run a hands-on training session, teach up super-kids how to handle guns. Don't know how useful it'll be for me, but why turn down free training?

(10:09:56) Quinn: Well, considering the Five Man Band is Glowstar, Crow, Wisp, Changeling, and Myrmidon... (10:10:09) Raveled: Magneto makes him into a suicide bomber. Well, makes them, but you understand. (10:10:30) Quinn: Glowstar = Superman, Crow = Batman, Wisp = Wondy, Changeling = Martian Manhunter, Myrmidon = ...Green Lantern? (10:10:44) Quinn: Actually, that kind of fits. Myrm does make weapons out of nowhere. (10:10:51) Semi-Autogyro: I'm okay with that if Myr hooks up with a hot alien chick. (10:11:10) Raveled: Sure. She'll be underage, though. (10:11:26) Semi-Autogyro: Please, Myr is 3

March 30. Morgan invited me to a sparring match at one of his dad's old haunts, on the Boardwalk. I like to think I'm a pretty good fighter (Momma didn't raise no coward!) but Morgan took me apart in pretty short order. After that we worked out for a bit on the machines, talked about parents and life and all that -- then we had a pretty rude visitor. Turns out that win fae I rescued and took on a date, has a boyfriend. A troll boyfriend. A very well-spoken who nevertheless tried to bury me in a bank of lockers. I hit back at him, using some kind of weird energy-shovel. I'm not sure where it came from, and I can't seem to make it happen again. It's really kinda scaring me, actually. I don't know where my powers come from, so when they do something I didn't know I could do, it makes me wonder if I can actually control them or not.

"I don't really know Europe all that well," Jessica said slowly. "I've never traveled much outside of Freedom City, actually." She bit her lip and squirmed in her seat, overtaken by a sudden, perverse idea. "Maybe we can go over there without a plan? Just rent a car and drive." She squeezed his hands across the table. "We could spend a couple of weeks, going where we want. Doing what we want, just for a little while." She smiled at him. "I'd be a great birthday present, hon."

I'm gonna rule that dust is pretty useless underwater. Take an HP for that. Grapple check vs Deep One (1d20+21=22) >.< Rerolling that. Grapple check vs Deep One, HP reroll (1d20+21=33) Much better. Opposed Grapple check vs Ironclad (1d20+16=30) So, Ironclad Escaped the grapple easily enough. Now to initiate one of her own. Melee attack roll vs Def 22 (1d20+10=22) Just misses. Damn. Should've used Trade-offs... Deep One fires back and tries to hit. Deep One melee attack vs Def 19 (1d20+8=23) Hits easily. Start a Grapple. Grapple check vs Ironclad (1d20+16=17) HA! Finally starts going right. Opposed Grapple check vs Deep One (1d20+21=33) Stays out of that one easily. Ugh. Now to make all that into an IC post.

Jessica watched Dragonfly's suit transform with an expression of frank regard. "Very nice," she complemented. "Never mastered the small changes, myself." She piked a spot on the beach well above the tide-line and unfurled the towel with a snap. She settled the edges and squared the corners, finishing just as Cobalt and everyone else got down to them. She walked up to the sled and lifted a picnic basket from the heap. Opening it up, she revealed a number of tubes of SPF 30 sunscreen, along with a couple of Frisbees and deflated beach balls.=. She glanced around, noting Push, Nick, and deHavilard had brought there own food and coolers, and pointed at one of the grills that had been brought down. "Cobalt, Push, could you get that one set up? I don't know how long the chili needs to cook." For her own part, she tugged Blake over to the beach towel and forced him to sit. The young girl squirted some of the lotion onto her hands before handing it off to her boyfriend, covering her own pale arms before they had a chance to burn.

Let's get our Fight Club on.

Glowstar floated to the spot that Falconer indicated and even touched down on the rooftop, dropping his force field and enduring the soldier-for-hire's instructions on how to stand -- how to stand, for goodness' sake! -- with good grace. When Snow came barreling out of the sky, though, the energy barrier sprang back into life, as the teen hero ducked down in a defensive reaction. In a moment his entire body was suffused with a red glow, dark motes floating from his eyes and hands as he prepared to unleash an attack... Against a pet. After a few moments the teen got his breathing and heart rate under control again, he eyed the bird warily. The energy cloaking his hands and body disappeared, but he kept the force field up. "Right. Avoid snipers. Useful tip."

"Cobalt's got a ring," Jessica said, leading the other two women onwards, "that can lift a car. And Blake's not a lightweight anymore. Either of them could probably lift the whole truck and bring it down to the beach." She paused and glanced over her shoulder at the knot of men gathered around the vehicle. "Besides, this is the exchange. They lift and tote heavy things, and they get to look at us in swimwear. Well," she added, giving the other heroines the once-over, "that's how it normally goes in the movies, anyway."

Glowstar's Sense Motive vs DC 24 (1d20+1=20) Ah-hahaha. That was so close to being awesome.