Raveled

No more mooks. Out of combat, into dramatic time.

The question washed over her like a warm breath, and on an impulse and stepped even closer to Blake, until the front of their bodies were pressed together. She rested her forehead against his and said, softly, "Blake Salazar, after something like that do you think I'm going to let you go? After just one night?" She canted her mouth in close against, kissing him softly again.

Jessica stopped, surprise on her face quickly turning to excitement. Her heart started jackhammering against her chest, and she moved her face towards Blake's, twisting just at the last moment so instead of their noses smashing together, their faces interlocked perfectly. She stood there for a moment, hands at her sides, lips pressed against Blake's heart beating so fast it was almost painful and every inch of her skin tingling. The moment seemed to stretch for eternity, and when they finally parted she just stood there for a moment, staring and breathing heavily. "Wow," she said finally. "So that's what kissing is supposed to feel like."

Jessica slipped an arm around Blake and let his arm go around her back. Her skin was covered in goosebumps, but overall it was quiet enjoyable. She blushed at Blake's compliment, ducking her head and grinning. "You're just saying that because you've got my arm around me," she said, "and you've saved my life tonight. So you look really cute right now."

Ironclad waited for the mooks to close, noting absently that one fell to a blast from Dragonfly. As the last two swung, she stepped back a pace and let them over-extend, then brought her fist around in a suit-assisted hammerblow. It connected solidly and the man dropped to the ground bonelessly. The last one stabbed at Ironclad desperately, and she tried to dodge to the side. Her booted foot slipped in the muc, though, and she went down hard, seeing spots dance before her eyes for a moment.

Mook down. Clad Attacking. 1d20+5=25 A crit on a mook. For the love of Murphy. He's down at least. Mook attacks. 1d20+2=22 AND EFFING CRITS! :evil: Confirm. 1d20+2=19 This does not make me happy. Clad's Toughness. 1d20+9=15 Oh, gawd. Worm -- Bruised x3, Unconscious -- GM Dragonfly -- Bruised x2 -- HP x1 Ironclad -- Bruised -- HP x0 Mooks -- All but 1, down -- GM

Ironclad reset her targeter and let loose with another blast of energy, but the fluctuating power levels caused it to veer off to the side. She swore, but at least Dragonfly dropped one before the remaining trio dropped their pistols and pulled a variety of long, pointy objects. Ironclad rerouted power to her gauntlets and waited for the attack.

Clad goes back to default Att + Master Plan. 1d20+6=10 And manages to miss a freaking Minion. Gorammit. Minion's Toughness... Cannot possibly beat Fly's attack. So it's down. Worm -- Bruised x3, Unconscious -- GM Dragonfly -- Bruised x2 -- HP x1 Ironclad -- Uninjured -- HP x0 Mooks -- All but 3, down -- GM

The blast of refracted dimensional energy plowed into the prone woman and rolled her over and over. When she came to a rest she was breathing shallowly, and not moving. Ironclad dropped swiftly, placing herself over the Worm's still form and tried to cover all four active vagrants with her gauntlets. "Stay back," she warned them, but they still charged her, firing recklessly. Not that their shots came close, but they'd have to be dealt with before the arm cannon could be recovered.

Worm's Toughness save. 1d20+3=18 Yeah, that's enough to make her unconscious. Clad tries to Intimidate! (And probably fails, since the minions are Fanatical) 1d20+2=19 Yup! Still a fail. Minions attack the Toughness shifted suit. 1d20+2=7, 1d20+2=10, 1d20+2=7, 1d20+2=6 And even with her horrid Def, they don't hit her. Muwahaha. Quick Fly, while she's out of it! Worm -- Bruised x3, Unconscious -- GM Dragonfly -- Bruised x2 -- HP x1 Ironclad -- Uninjured -- HP x0 Mooks -- All but 4, down -- GM

Jessica gave Blake a kind of blank look at the reference, but she followed his directions closely enough. She cut the curb a bit too close as she pulled into the lot, but most of the picnicking families were already gone and there were plenty of spots open. She parked and stepped out of the car, inhaling the scent of growing things and the distant ocean. She stepped away from the vehicle and the parking lot, turning her gaze until it was filled with green, living things. "This is nice," she said quietly, almost wondering. She spent so much time absorbed in technology and metal, sometimes she forgot how peaceful and pretty a bunch of plants could be.

"Mmm. I dunno. Movie was kind of a bust -- not your fault, but true. Maybe go to a park? Have a picnic? Or go to the Boardwalk?" She grinned at Blake. "Have you upset any killer clowns lately?" Jessica's truck was a massive SUV, done in black and chrome. She unlocked the doors with a wave of the key fob and slipped into the leather driver's chair. She touched something like a laser pointer to the steering column and it started at once, the engine rumbling quietly. She shifted into reverse and started backing out the space, keeping her foot on the brake pedal. "So just where is this park, anyway?"

Jessica walked out into the night, shivering slightly and slipping under Blake's arm. She felt her heart rate increasing, both from the caffeine and the physical proximity of a cute boy. "I've got a standing invite to a club, but I don't think we can get in there just yet." She started guiding him back to the movie theater. "My truck's here. We can go see if those parks look good in the evening, too."

Jessica stood and left the drink container there, confident that the barrista would clean it up. "Yep," she chirped, the caffeine making her feel a little more hyper than normal. "So what do you want to do with the rest of the night? I've got an hour or so before I need to be home." She stepped close to Blake, taking his arm with both hands and pressing her arm against his body.

Ironclad's going full Accurate Attack, makes her Att +10/Dam +4 1d20+10=11 With the plus 3 from Master Plan that I forgot to factor in. Oh well, like I'm gonna let a roll of 1 stand. HP! Reroll that one! 1d20+13=24 Exactly what is needed for the HP to count, and more than enough to hit the bit-- er, hit the Worm. Worm's Toughness 1d20+4=13 Bruise and stunned. Do something with that, Fly! Mooks attack. 1d20+2=9, 1d20+2=10, 1d20+2=3, 1d20+2=8 Wiff horribly. Worm is stunned until Clad's turn. Worm -- Bruised x2, Stunned -- GM Dragonfly -- Bruised x2 -- HP x1 Ironclad -- Uninjured -- HP x1 Mooks -- All but 4, down -- GM

Circling over the gun fight, Ironclad quickly dialed down the intensity of her attacks and activated some back-up subroutines. Her targeting reticule over the Conqueror Worm jiggled a little as the computer tried to extrapolate her next move, then gave the heroine a point to aim at slightly ahead of the quickly-moving villainess. Ironclad took aim and released another blast of energy. This one caught the Worm on the leading shoulder and slammed her into the group, where she lay for a moment, trying to get her breath back. The mooks converged on their boss, trying to lay down suppressive fire on Dragonfly, but none of their shots came close to landing.

Jessica removed the plastic top to her cup and inhaled the caffeine scent and the warm steam. "Engineering stuff, mostly," she said. "I'm certified on CATIA and SolidWerks and AutoCAD. Been doing a lot of solo projects -- prof says 'Here's the problem, give me a solution in three weeks' kind of deal. And then there's the computer stuff. This semester, we have to program our own O/S and make it work with third-party products, like different video games and DirectX." She winked slyly at Blake. "I already did a bit of that with the suit, so I'm kinda ahead of the curve on that." She smiled like she'd just made a clever joke, instead of casually admitting to making her own operating system before she could drink.

Jessica felt herself blushing again and sipped at her drink to hide it. "So, um. Is that what you're studying right now? At Claremont? Art?" She wasn't quite sure how she'd feel about having an artist as a boyfriend. She usually didn't have much respect for anything that wasn't based on math, but Blake was a funny, decent guy. Could be worse, she thought to herself. He could be working at Taco Bell and playing in a band.

Minus Luna Worm and the Suit. Clad's attack. 1d20+5=16 Miss. Would need to roll a 16 to hit her, actually. I guess Accurate Attack next round! 4 mooks using Aid Another against Dragonfly. 2 try to lower her Def, 2 try to raise Worm's attack. 1d20+2=10, 1d20+2=6, 1d20+2=6, 1d20+2=20 Huh. Okay, so the Worm gets +2 on her next Att. Which, by the way, is a big-ass revolver. 1d20+14=27 Geez. I'm not sure there's any way for her to miss. DC 19 Toughness Worm -- Bruised -- GM Dragonfly -- Bruised -- HP x1 Ironclad -- Uninjured -- HP x1 Mooks -- All but 4, down -- GM

Luna Moth sneered at the two heroines. "Stupid little girls, getting involved in grown-up business. You should be glad I need something better to wear." She picked at the shreds of her straitjacket. "I can't be seen like this when the Raven learns I'm back on the prowl!" She crooked a finger at the man in the suit and his eyes turned to track her as she rose into the air. She described a wide circle around Ironclad, disappearing down one pipe; the speedster zipped across the floor and up the wall, keeping pace with her. Ironclad debated following the villainess, but decided that the Worm was a bigger threat. The suited heroine sighted in, waited for her target lock to go green, and shot another bolt of energy which just gouged a crater in the floor. The remaining derelicts pulled out pistols and started firing widely at Dragonfly, and as the heroine dodged their haphazard shots the Conqueror Worm pulled out a massive, nickle-played revolver and made a single shot that sparked against the heroine's force field.

Um, since I already did 1 NPC before this month, it's probably just 1 PP. Unless you want to give me 2, I'm all for that. In any case, give 'em all to Robin.

Jessica smiled at his euphemism. "Not quite a year. It's just... Well, it's kind of complicated. Suffice it to say I wanted to do good with my intellect and this is how I do it. Once I graduate I'll probably go into the family business, but I expect I'll still be doing this. So, when you say you're drawing Centurion, do you mean the Sentry statue, or are you finding old pictures of the man himself?" She sipped at her drink, grinning. "And when are you going to sketch me?"

Jessica paid for the drinks and followed Blake over to one of the high tables. "I like doing science. You know, fooling around in the lab, building whatever, maybe coding a bit. And I like playing video games. I love Bioware's stuff, and Take2." She giggled. "I guess it's kind of out of character, that a, well, someone like me would enjoy riding around a city and ramming into cop cars in a video game, but it's just mindless fun, ya know?" She sipped at her drink, feeling the piping hot liquid spread down her gullet, the heat moving through her limbs. "So how about you? You said you draw pictures?"

Jessica stuck her tongue out, but she was smiling when she did so. She stepped into the bookstore and had to admit that the warmer air felt good on her bare arms. Taking Blake's hand, she made a beeline for the cafe. She ordered a latte from the barrista, in the largest size they had, and dug a credit card out of her wallet while Blake was looking over the menu. She tapped her Visa on the plastic counter top. "I'm getting this one," she said. "You got the movies and the food. I'm getting the caffine."