Fox

Dragonfly showed mild interest in the outward signs of Miss Americana's body's damage, but she became more and more distracted and her face went more and more slack as the heroine talked, going from mild confusion to dawning realization to subdued amazement. That last bit didn't last for very long before her head tilted to the side, not really looking at anything as her mind turned that idea around. And turned. And turned. "You can't-" she started, tilting her head back the other way and unfolding her arms. "You could but why would you- how would you- irresponsible but the potential is just - a city - explains quite a - just raises more questions - who would - why - know why I'd - not sure how you wouldn't notice - slowdown - stuttering - write errors - spacial limitations - harder to spot if it's all you know - but still - and export outside the system is - even if somehow comparable with - the possibilities and applications are --!" She suddenly and audibly shut her mouth, holding in there with a hand while she took a deep breath in through her nose. And then another, before releasing her jaw. "Not...I'm sorry. I just...that's...brain got away from me." She took another breath. "Would...very much like to see it."

Hesitating, Mara crossed her arms, tapping a finger on her bicep. "Not...mmh." Tap tap tap. "Isn't...much ambiguity to my childhood. Have a fairly objective view of events. Don't...think I'd profit from seeing it again. Would be upsetting, and...enraging. Tempt me into causing a bad paradox. Past isn't...." She took a deep breath, pushing away some recent memories she still wasn't sure what to do with. "....isn't...really that simple." She tilted her head, furrowing her brow and glancing at Jessica. "But guessing this isn't about me. Something happened?"

Dragonfly raised an eyebrow. "...it is Claremont," she pointed out, raising a finger off her arm to emphasize the point by...well, pointing. "Doubt they're...unused to strange students. Not saying it would be easy. But not impossible. Missing school...." She shrugged. "Again. No context. Difficult to say what the effect would be. Maybe best to get an education." She tilted her head, her reply very matter-of-fact with neither pride nor humility anywhere in sight. "Relative scale. Not as good as you. Otherwise very good. Why?"

Mara retreated back into herself for a moment, visibly ducking down like she'd had a minor but sudden urge to retreat into her own torso. Still, she caught the reflex and made herself straighten out. "French-American," she corrected off-hand, and then bit her lip to ponder something. doing better about that - helped to have told someone - still - keep it under wraps? - at least avoid unless she pushes - sorry Jessica "Parents were....not heroes, no," she finally replied, clearly being at least a little evasive. "Not a singular event, either. Exactly. More...about responsibility. Giving something back. And penance, maybe."

Mara raised her eyebrows. "Good. Sorry, no. Grammar. Well." She tilted her head, a hint of a smile on her lips. "It's...nice. Impossible to quantify. Have tried," she added, wryly. "But is just...don't know. You're in a relationship. Probably know the feeling. Warm, tingly. ....some times more tingly than others." That last bit obviously derailed her thoughts for a moment, but she shook her head to get back on track. "Both...busy. But try to make time for each other. Worth it."

Frowning, Mara glanced over at her testing area and pulled a lock of hair back behind one ear. "Some progress," she replied, tilting her head as if she was playing the latest tests back in her mind. Which, knowing her, she probably was. "Still not usable, but narrowing down the problem. Other projects and interests interfering. Limited hours in a day. Not going to dilate time just to finish projects a month or two early. Unwise. And would mean an additional project. Been keeping busy?" She shook her head, and gestured vaguely with one hand as she corrected, "You, I mean."

Mara blinked, glancing blearily at the cell phone next to her head on the workbench. She sat back up, wincing at the crick in her neck from falling asleep while working, but picked up the phone and made a tired and noncommittal grunt. She glanced over at her main computer screen, which cycled through outside views until one of the cameras caught a glimpse of Ironclad in the air overhead. sudden visit - unusual - not that unusual for Jessica - problems? - mmh Rather than reply directly, she hung up the phone and told the warehouse system to open up a skylight, waving her armor-clad friend in from below.

Crossing her arms, Dragonfly tapped a finger against her bicep - or, on the reasonably thin-built girl, what passed for her bicep - and furrowed her brow a little. "Seems like a good school. Especially for...mmh. Unusual students. Have met a couple students from there - Jill, of course. Was helping Supercape give another a tour to another when the simulator tried to kill us. Had to open a barely-contained hole in space for that. Very unpleasant. But handled herself well, credit to her school. I guess." She shrugged a bit. "Not much...context. For high schools. But seems better than most. Probably...lenient on paperwork and documentation. Not that that's hard to fake."

Dragonfly tilted her head in the other direction, raising an eyebrow. "No large rush," she replied. "Did wipe main footage...just want to be confident there are no backups or restorations possible. Didn't have time to dig for those. Flagged footage for personal review just in case, hopefully will keep it unwatched until one of us can handle things. Claremont...." She frowned, and exhaled. "Some? Limited. Wasn't ever a student, surprisingly good security. Didn't want to poke around too much without reason. Why?"

Dragonfly shifted her weight a little, frowning and reflexively ducking her head at the complement. "Knowledge is power. Secrets are important. Best kept. Not exactly without...phrase. Skeletons in my closet? Never made sense to me. Phrase, I mean. Not sure why skeletons would be in closets...." She trailed off for a moment, her thoughts apparently derailed by the reasons and implications behind bleached fossils in coats. or homosexual fossils - amusing thought She blinked, realizing she'd derailed, and shook her head to clear it. "Regardless. Don't owe me any---....mmh." Tilting her head as the day's events caught up with her, Dragonfly slowly corrected, "....maybe. If you want to be even...armor-projecting hero that attacked the Lab and got hit with glue defenses said....things....that may be on Lab security. If caught on footage or audio, would like it deleted. As soon as possible. Will be taking a look myself, but wasn't directly involved with Lab security recording systems, and...very good with computers but suspect you're better."

She frowned again, pulling a bit of hair back behind the visor's earpieces. "Probably the first time I've 'saved the world'. Largest threat, certainly. Good feeling, but...stressful. Would prefer not to spend all my time in hazard suits. Need to finish my armor, get wings working...." She shook her head, and shrugged. "Priorities. Long list of projects and tasks. Not always time for rest." Dragonfly pulled herself off that train of thought before her already tired mind got overwhelmed by things left undone. "Lapse, no. Fell after personal combat with Daedalus. Term...'double KO'? Assumption was that you...mmh. Beat each other senseless to give me an opening." She shrugged, gesturing vaguely with one hand. "Got to you - not you, body - got to the body first, kept people trying to be helpful away. Left as soon as I could, stored body, said I was getting you help at the Lab."

Dragonfly was immediately and transparently cagey. "...sort of," she offered, grimacing at herself and the question. Also at the crick in her neck from napping on her couch, comfortable as it was - she'd made sure to invest well in what little furniture she owned. "Went from Lonely Point to the Lab...then home. Stops along the way to help people...put out a fire, catch a criminal starfish-controlled police had let out of the police car. Had to check home systems, make sure nobody broke in, nothing missing. Called girlfriend, napped...some? Couldn't really sleep and watch the robot body at the same time. Knew you'd call sooner or later."

The eyebrow, if such a thing was possible, went up a little higher. disturbing - AI - remote link? - personal technological genetic mutation involuntary mutation voluntary mutation - magic unlikely - radio medium - range? - extensive - impressive encryption "Have...respect for good engineering," she replied, putting her hands in her jacket pockets. "Also strongly suspect you could find me if you truly wanted to. Would prefer not to have combat-built androids breaking through my ceiling. Cleaning robots have been too low priority to build yet."

Dragonfly raised an eyebrow, but shook her head and the ghost of a tired smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Have an engine a few inches across that warps the fabric of space. Probably shouldn't...begrudge others' 'proprietary tricks'," she wryly replied. "Still. Glad I contained my curiosity. Phrase...mmh. 'I would sooner destroy a stained glass window as an artist like yourself.' Good movie." The engineer stretched both hands out over the table; in stark contrast to how objects normally unfolded back into normal space the process was much slower and more...delicate, somehow. The android didn't so much twist back into reality as reality around the table twisted instead, the overall impression like nothing so much as pulling back a cover to reveal the unconscious-looking Miss Americana already prone where she needed to be. "....not that the process isn't safe anyway," Dragonfly observed a little defensively in response to an unasked question that was probably just in her own head, her gauntlets powering back down to idling. "But thought you'd appreciate the care. Not that delicate, but folding up spatial dimensions makes people nervous. For some reason."

"No. Thank you." Dragonfly tilted her head, lights just barely flickering behind her eyes before she caught herself and left the robot's electronics alone. "Had some coffee on my way out. Still haven't slept much...plan to do that later. Need to limit my caffeine. Assuming you are or work for Miss Americana?" She paused, blinking, and added, "Well. Americana that isn't in my storage, anyway. Mind behind the...not sure. Mildly regret not checking. Metal, plastic, carbon, maybe."

Dragonfly raised an eyebrow, looking around as she made her way into the lab. "Impressive," she noted aloud. She wasn't entirely sure if Miss Americana's controller was present, of course, but she had to assume there was some sort of monitoring device setup. Her own workspace certainly had one. "Almost envious." She couldn't quite pin down the 'almost' there, and frowned. clean - well-equipped - likely superior to my warehouse in many ways - but isn't - mmh - bias? - not 'home' - too clean - organized - close to busier parts of the city She shook her head, still looking around. "Almost," she repeated. "Not quite. Non-technical reasons."

Mid-morning traffic wasn't great, but transporting the robot body meant dimensional storage, storage meant gauntlets, gauntlets meant costume, and costume meant other drivers (not to mention the local police) were a little more willing to turn a blind eye toward speed limits as long as she wasn't being unsafe. That and the nearby state route cut down the driving time by more than a little and before long Dragonfly was pulling up in front of the address she'd been given. She slowed her motorcycle to a halt, visor taking a quick scan of the nearby buildings out of habit as she glanced around. "Low-profile, maybe. Probably secure. Not very secluded...." She frowned, but shook her head. more important for spatial experiments - isolation - Hanover's likely convenient

Mara glanced at the nearest monitor, which pulled up a map of the city. She could have done that in her head, of course, but mornings were a foul and evil time, coffee or not. She yawned again, taking a final swig of her coffee before setting down the mug and heading back upstairs for her gauntlets and the robot. City contains three state routes and an interstate. Won't take too long by motorcycle.

Some damage, Mara confirmed, but functioning. Impressive construction. Imagine some...camouflage...took fine-tuning. Still. Safe for transport to anywhere reasonable. She rubbed her eyes, making her way downstairs to start her coffee maker. Resisted more personal investigation. Did shield it from remote tampering, however. Just in case. Also privacy concerns.

Mara blinked blearily at her cell phone. She'd been expecting this text - or call, or e-mail, or somewhat more invasive intrusion into her warehouse systems - and had set up an alert to make sure she got to it in good time, but that didn't mean she was any happier to be woken out of her unrestful nap at- what time is it - morning? - later than that - nngh - mornings - message - right - cryptic - probably a good idea - even over a secure line She really couldn't be bothered to reach out for the little phone; instead, lights danced behind her eyes as she blearily glanced from her couch in the lofted living area of her warehouse to the slightly shorter couch nearby. Should be careful where you leave things, came the wry reply back over the unopened phone. If she didn't know what the android was she could almost have mistaken it for asleep, laid down as it was. She'd somehow resisted the temptation to try poking around at what was clearly an extraordinarily nice piece of work, but had taken the liberty of throwing together a gently-glowing, bare-bones widget that sat on the table nearby, scrambling near any incoming signals that weren't the phone or warehouse systems. Figured important possessions were best hidden but not out of sight. Can take it anywhere you choose.

That's just the +Duration extra on Damage (or whatever other instant effect you're thinking of using). Instant effects that have their duration pushed up above Instant hit applicable target(s) every round on the attacker's init. Damage 7 (Extras: Area [General Burst], Duration 2 [sustained], Flaws: Limited [people in contact with the ground]) (the floor is lava!) [21pp] This power would hit everyone in the area who's touching the ground with a Damage 7 effect, on your turn, until you turned it off or couldn't maintain it anymore. Keep in mind that it's kinda cheesy, and even UP recommends that there be 'some reasonable means by which it can be countered', the example being just dousing or smothering flames, if the damage effect is starting a fire. I can't speak for the refs, but if I were you I'd be pretty careful about how I built it and what its scope was.

Dragonfly spends her whole action getting to (relative) safety, a free-action notice check for the most likely candidate for a control room, and running in that direction.

Dragonfly swore, darting a hand out for a piece of railing before she could fall headlong into the freezing - and shortly thereafter, radioactive - coolant. She held her free hand out toward the tank, a twisted circle of space forming at her fingertips to ward off the worst of the latter; she was pretty sure her recent invention would protect her from the background radiation but villain-enhanced liquid coolant was probably something else entirely. Scattering coolant and radiation made the shield streak and shimmer, but it held, and Dragonfly quickly hauled herself up onto the walkway. unpleasant - bad situation - controls controls controls - there Leaving Supercape to deal with the irradiated madman, she took off as fast as her legs would carry her for what seemed to be the control room. just have to keep him busy - good luck - likely going to need it....

"Generally don't install broad signal-based functions. Vulnerable to intrusion, exploitation, misuse. Edit directly whenever possible. Simple, clean. More interesting." She'd made good time; with the streets largely clear of other traffic she could indulge in a little speeding; she was no stunt driver, but before too long she was pulling into the Lab's garage levels, and folding her motorcycle away into storage before it had come to a full stop. "Only wanted to apologize, make sure you knew that you are trusted, at least in part. Largely a function of your obscured origin, now. And general safety. Likely wouldn't let me on some floors without founder status."

"Should still have global, emergency clearance," Dragonfly replied as she weaved between the stopped cars still blocking up the streets. should be glad streets seem clear of emergencies - would have to stop and help - delay getting out of this suit "Miss Americana won't need complicated medical aid, but cannot predict time to recovery given her unique...biology. For prisoners, however, will...delay revocation while you help them to get free. And...." She frowned, but felt compelled to make a rare apology. "....am...sorry about continued security restrictions. Not entirely up to me, and without knowing where you came from relatively unrestricted access would be a large risk."