Raveled

Design Journal 19.1. Had an interesting conversation with Push today. Talked a bit about his origin and powers, and allowed me to examine warhammer. Have previously observed him using ranged blasts, force fields, and enhanced striking force. Claims to be a kinetic manipulator; siphons off kinetic energy from the area, stores it internally, and releases it. Also got a chance to examine hammer; apparently constructed by a super-villain, 'Notorious Professor Wyrd.' Very insistent about name. Hypothesized that hammer is second battery, perhaps power focus. Will have chance to test/study, as Push agreed to come into Lab for examination! Possible tests: full body scan, powers inactive and active; materials test on hammer; powers test, both with and without hammer; accuracy and precision test; anything else? Consult with Lab group about tests. Addendum: search for 'Notorious Professor Wyrd' and variants in usual databases. FBI, AEGIS, Interpol, UNISON.

Jessica watched Cobalt Templar swoop in, her attention focused on his imposing... presence. She shook herself, coming back to present time as people started dropping out of the sky all around her. "Hey, the gang's all here!" She glanced around quickly and added, "Well. Except for Nick. Oh, well, we can start unloading stuff!" She opened the rear hatch of her truck, revealing a veritable wall of picnic gear; two grills, several bags of charcoal, two coolers, and various inflatable toys and chairs. She grabbed a folded blanket and linked her arm with Dragonfly's armored one, pulling her and Jill towards the water. "C'mon, boys, we're waiting!"

Ironclad nodded cordially at the Amazonian superhuman who joined them. She recognized the woman as Mona Teymourian, an up-and-coming artist who, apparently, exhibited awesome powers. Some folks said she was trying to take over Centurion's legacy, but that seemed harsh to someone who seemed so open and friendly. "Hello, there! Yeah, I go by Ironclad." The armored heroine adjusted her height until she was floating somewhere between Fulcrum and Eve's level. "So! Power armor, cosmic energy, and lots of other things. This is going to be a fun tournament." I'm gonna get so much data! Squee!

Glowstar had followed Crow and Wisp's flash-stepping path across the city, tracking them from high above. He noted idly that the after-effects of Wisp's teleports looked almost like his own energy beams; could there be some connection there? He pushed the thought away as they neared the Waterfront. He spied the burly man on the top of the warehouse and came to a halt hovering off the edge. "So they get to fire guns," he said, pointing at his fellow Claremonters, "and I'm here as the bullet-stop, right?"

Glowstar's going to take a Full Round action to stand around gaping through this whole thing because, really, is there any other response?

The OOC for this thread. Not that it will be needed, of course.

Sunday, May 29, 2011 10:45 AM Lake MacKenzie was a popular spot in Freedom City, and Jessica Parker had been worried that it would be crowded over Memorial Day weekend. Luckily though, she seemed to have avoided the worst of the crowds, or else everyone had left the city for more exotic vacation spots. In any case the parking lot was pretty empty when Jessica pulled her Explorer into an empty spot, and from where she sat she could only see a few other parties, widely spaced and giving each other plenty of room. Considering the type of people she'd invited here, that was probably a good thing. The young inventor hopped out and glanced at her boyfriend Blake Salazar, riding in the passenger seat. "C'mon, Blake. We've got to get all the stuff down to the beach. Unless you want to see me carry everything by my frail self." She struck a pose, holding the back of her hand to her forehead and leaning against the car. It contrasted with her red crocs, denim shorts, and yellow halfshirt. She stood there for a moment, showing off the outfit, before breaking down into giggles and heading towards the rear of the vehicle.

Jessica was surprised at Blake's enthusiasm for the idea, but once she started giving it serious thought she realized it wasn't too bad. "Mm, I don't know. I never really considered a vacation. I mean, I had school all the time, and then heroing and the Lab and... and... wow." She sat back and stared into space for a long minute. "Maybe Europe? There's some beautiful old buildings out there, and a lot of museums to visit. Or we could rent a car and just drive from city to city, seeing what there is to see." The more she thought of the idea, the more it appealed to her. "Yeah, we could have a lot of fun. And I think there's fewer metahumans and whatnot in Europe, so maybe we can just have a nice, relaxing vacation."

We can time-skip, sure.

Glowstar glanced between Push and Equinox, sensing the tension between them but not wanting to get caught up in it. In fact, with Blueshift's clear connection to Push, he was sort of feeling like the odd man out. The teen hero pushed those feelings away. He had a job to do, he could worry about stuff like that later. He rose into the air and followed Equinox, staying a length or two behind the self-professed witch. "So, we track down the guy who made these things and then blast him? How? Are you just planning on following these things from the air?"

Ironclad wasn't used to conversing telepathically -- psychics in general seemed a very closed lot, and the young woman had never actually encountered one before -- but she didn't let that put her off for long. "Yes, it's a very lovely place. Geometrically precise, even. Seem to have overdone the gilding though, in my opinion." Just then, the gong sounded, drawing every head (which wasn't the same thing as every body) to the dias. She listened closely to Guan Yu's announcement, noting the three rules carefully. As the aides started moving through the crowd, she leaned in closer to Eve to whisper to the other girl. "Interesting. A free-for-all tournament without any deaths. Wonder how they intend to enforce the second one, though?"

Online Research + Skill Master (Computers) means that Ironclad knows all DC 25 info or less on... pretty much everyone!

Ironclad was used to having more of the sky to herself. Tian's airspace was crowded with figures; humanoids with massive wingspans, uniformed soldiers riding winged lions, a curling dragon or five, and a single burning wheel that had no visible means of support but hurt the young woman's eyes when she looked at it. Instead, she directed her attention downwards, scanning the huge crowd for a familiar face or two. She thought that she spotted a familiar Greek helmet, but it turned away and was lost. Scanning the crowd again, she spotted a white-haired woman that seemed... vaguely familiar. Lacking anything better to do, Ironclad floated down and nodded to the white-haired woman. "Hello, there. I'm Ironclad, out of Freedom City. You're Eve Martel, aren't you?"

Ironclad had no idea what was happening. She was suddenly underwater, steel-strong arms wrapped around her and pulling her deeper. He view was filled with a scaly fish-faced creature, looking like the Thing From the Black Lagoon had a child with an angler fish. The arms tightened around her midsection suddenly, driving the air out of her lungs in a whuff, but whatever was grappling her obviously didn't plan on its prey having an internal air supply. Inside the suit, Jessica sucked down another break and tried to figure out how to get out of this situation.

Deep One Grapple vs Ironclad (1d20+16=22) Ironclad's Grapple vs. Deep One (1d20+4=11) So she's bound. Okay.

Jessica leaned into Blake's hug, staring at the still-deserted stage as he spoke. She closed her eyes, and when he kissed her she swallowed past a sudden lump in her throat. "So is it the magic that let's yo see a third option?" She gave him a peck on the lips and a tiny shove, encouraging him to go back to the other side of the table. When she opened her eyes they were bright with tears and she wiped them with her napkin. "You know, I talked to Tom Walker about all of this, over at L.A.I.R. He said that I needed a vacation. Well, actually what he said is that we need a vacation. Like, together."

Glowstar raised an eyebrow at Push's comment, but he smiled easily at the other heroes. "It's Glowstar," he said. The teen reached out and poked the force field from within, sending little bolts of energy across its surface. "Can't shake hands through the bubble, sorry." He fell silent as Equinox drifted over and gave her assessment. "Magitek, huh? So is that the reason we're not blasting these guys? 'Cause I'm just about convinced this isn't a Halloween parade."

Brian Harris had -- barely, in one case -- passed his classes at Claremont, leaving him with a free summer and plenty of time to fill. It probably would've been a smarter idea for him to sign up for some summer classes, but for the moment at least he wanted to focus on heroing. To that end, he'd decided to spend it wandering around the city and getting to know it better. Getting around was less of a bother when you could fly at highway speeds, but he still needed to learn where everything was. He was tracing the elevated train route when he'd noticed a pint-sized robot lifting an entire Coke machine and walk off with it. He'd followed for a distance, watching it meet up with more or their kind until there was a veritable parade of them going down one of the city's main arteries. Glowstar was reluctant to intervene, but when the other hero zipped in front of the crowd he felt obligated to go help her. So he set down on the street next to her, force field active and crackling, hands on his hips. "I think it's the Million Bot March," he said, "or maybe they're just going to an awesome swap meet."

The metahuman supplied cyclone tore through the bank, blowing papers off desks and creating a second blizzard as frost crawled across the walls and floors. As the temperature plummeted some answers finally became clear to Fulcrum; four snowmen marked the spot where she'd been pummeled by Hombre, and another was halfway between there and the biker's prone form. Once the heroine emptied her lungs, everything was quiet. Then the heroine heard the amplified click of a megaphone and the voice of the police officer who'd briefed her outside. "Fulcrum? How's it coming in there?"

Imitative for Ironclad (1d20+3=4) Oh, ffffffff-- Initiative for Deep One (1d20+7=25) Oh yeah. Sure. Why not, Castle? Initiative for MYSTERY!! (1d20+2=13) Myyyyyystery!

Ironclad stepped aside and Warlock applied a gentle pressure to the cavern wall, but when there was no change he pushed harder and harder. Suddenly, the wall gave away with a sharp crack, the rock shattering into a million tiny shards. Just beyond was a smaller room, a long corridor bored out of the bedrock. Most of the floor seemed to be underwater, but there was a, for lack of a better term, elevated walkway that lead the length of the corridor, to a wide stone platform. Condensation dripped from the ceiling and beaded down the walls, and the salt water smell of the ocean was thick in the room. Ironclad motioned for Warlock to stay back and floated through the resulting hole, weapons fully powered, sensors scanning the whole area. The tension stretched, but after a minute or nothing happening she relaxed. The armored heroine spun in the air and shrugged at Blake, still standing by the hole. "I don't think there's anythi--" A large, muscular form erupted out of the water and wrapped two scaly arms around the heroine. It pulled her back underwater with a roar, and the pair went under the water, struggling against each other.

Actually, Acro-Bat II is the Acrobatic Nullifying Hero from the previous page. Some of those links are broken. I assume they could hear the damper's voice/warning, but none of them have any Cosmic or Terminus Awareness.

The door opened to reveal the basement of Parkhurst. There wasn't any animated rock pile and waves of elemental motes; instead there was a tall, pale, statuesque woman with ash-gray hair and soft, green eyes. Behind her were three children, a mix of pale and dark features. Ignatio paused, then rushed past Crow and threw his arms around her. She was almost a head and a half taller than the man, but she kneeled down so they could kiss each others. The children charged up the stairs and hugged Ignatio and the woman, the whole group becoming a close knot of humanity. The hero could barely hear the former fae panting hard, sounding like he was trying to hold back tears. "Ossulus. Children. I thought I would never see you again."

"But..." Jessica fell silent again, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she was able to speak again. "I know a soldier is just supposed to follow orders, but is this really the legacy that I want to be a part of? Do I want to keep spreading the name and fortune of a killer." She squeezed Blake's hand hard enough to turn her knuckles white. "I just don't know what to do. Usually my options are so clear, but right now there doesn't seem like a simple answer."

"So if you're a big kinetic battery... Than maybe this is the same thing?" Jessica squeezed her sinuses, working through the consequences. "I mean, the hammer just enhances what you can already do, right? Maybe Wyrd figured out how you siphon off kinetic energy and applied it to the hammer, so when you use it you have more energy to draw on. And probably created the whole thing out of some super-reinforced material so you don't break it apart the first time you swing it into a wall." She stood up and rested her thumb on the 'blade' of the hammer, careful to keep away from the edge. "Do you have to sharpen it? And do you mind if I took a sample of the material back to the Lab, for analysis? Or you could bring the whole thing in, actually; I'd be interested in attaching some numbers to your energy-siphoning."