Fox

Tarrant glanced at the stacks of paper on his desk, and grinned. Oh dear. Taking the red pen to students who can't tell the difference between quartz and salt will have to wait. How awful - truly, the life of a hero is a hard one. "Fleur de Joie!" he repiled, not trying very hard not to keep the smile out of his voice. "A pleasure to hear from you. That hill's still holding, you know. I'd be happy to help - I wasn't taking care of anything that can't wait. I can be dressed up and out the door in a couple minutes for a cause that good." Even as he spoke, he was pulling out the large, heavy bag from its shelf, where it usually sat next to a half-dozen other large, heavy bags - samples, geology tools, climbing gear. This one, of course, was a little different - and made a heavy thunking sound as the armor inside hit the floor. "Did you have anywhere in mind?"

Tarrant was in his office, legs kicked up on a chair, when his phone rang. Without putting the students' papers down, he reached out and grabbed his cell phone from his coat, flicking it open. "Hello. This is--" This is not my normal phone. "--ah. One moment." With careful haste he walked - nearly scurried - over and shut his door, flipping a sign over to indicate that office hours were canceled. Apparently grading homework would have to wait. "Gaian Knight here. Who's calling?"

Dragonfly has Fearless.

"If you touch me," she commented, flatly, "I will shove that hammer so far up your anatomy that you'll have to cough it out." Her visor twitched and lit up again, a barely-audible whine coming from her gauntlets as they spun back up. Slowly - and very, very carefully - Dragonfly sat up, putting a hand to the side of her head and wincing. accelerate work on full battlesuit - maybe - technical problems aesthetic concerns - full helmet would be lovely She gently fingered the crack in her visor, getting some twitching static on her HUD for a moment, and sighed. light damage - lucky - won't impair function The young woman cricked her neck, pulling her legs in under her and giving Push a cold glare - obvious even obscured by her headgear. "You," she said, pointing, "are a menace."

Recovery Check, Unconscious; DC10 (Cobalt Templar's Healing 7) (1d20 + 0 + 7=21) She's alive. SHE'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Initiative Roll (1d20 + 0=9) Go forth, with the speed of...uh...a rock.

"Ma'am - no, ma'am, listen I'm-- yes, ma'am. No. It isn't- look. Ma'am. Ma'am. I can't just...no, you're not--ma'am. I cannot collapse your neighbor's store just because you don't like their holiday decorations. I wouldn't even - no. Ma'am. I won't wall it off, either. Presumably someone works there, and I can't- No. Listen. ...please listen. I can't- I'm glad you got your purse back, yes. I was very happy to help. Thank you. I just can't-" A massive roar tore through the air, powerful enough to cause its own little breeze...and break out more than a few windows. Oh, thank god. "Well! That sounds very...hero...call-like to me." Gaian Knight hopped up off the ground, his trusty riding-rock pulling itself back together under him before he landed, and already floating him up and away. "Good luck with your neighbors, and, in the future, please don't believe someone when they say they're conducting a random purse inspection. ...even if they have a 'Purse Inspector' badge." He was off before she had time to reply, flying as fast as he could toward the docks. Is there a patron saint of 'saved by the monster'? Because if so, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Standard action: Dimensional Pocket, go! Move Action: Max range teleport - as far from that building as she can get in 100ft. Extra effort (on her) to surge a move action, running as far from the building as she can get.

Finally satisfied that no one was being left behind - only one attempt - Dragonfly's gauntlets flared, every seam and bit of glass lighting up neon blue as lines traced across the entire mass of civilians. It was far too late to let go now - as the lines moved across the group they started folding inward, collapsing into two vanishing points at the young woman's hands. It was a pretty neat spectacle, really, though unappreciated: from the group's perspective, the world around them was the one doing the folding, pulling together and opening up in a way human eyes really weren't meant to see. In just a few seconds she was standing alone, and a second more she wasn't even in the building - she'd reappeared on the street, space folding up and spitting her out clear of the collapsing structure. Her gauntlets were complaining really, really loudly about that many live targets in 'storage' at once, but she tried to ignore it, swearing as she noticed that the area was conspicuously clear of enemies in power suits. Shaking her head and trying to focus, she started running to get as far from the soon-to-be-disaster-zone as possible.

Gaian tilted back upright, standing on his rock and looking down at the rather sad state of the villain trio. Reaching a hand back into his hood, he scratched his head and coughed. "So, uh. I don't suppose you three are feeling like surrender now, are you? 'cos things don't really seem to be going your way."

Other than a tiny exclaimation of victory as she found the heavy-duty wrist strap she'd been looking for, Dragonfly didn't reply as such - but little lights danced behind her visor (which she'd recovered and put back on while the others were upstairs), and from somewhere on the ground floor near the main screen a printer could be heard churning out the web page, a schedule of events, and a small map of that area of the city. She did snort a little as she attached the completed watch to its straps. "Eye lasers. Would not help you print. 'Laser printer' is misleading - laser never touches paper. Highly unlikely for the human eye to maintain focus and precision necessary to charge negative image in a rotating drum. Would practically have to replace the whole head - brain modification...mm. Outside my fields. Poor laser vision, anyway. Wouldn't punch through metal. Where's the fun?"

At the mention of mingling and speeches, Dragonfly went from nodding at Archeville and Americana's words to wrapping her arms back around her body, the finger tapping like it was trying to break through into her lung. right - a few words - try not to look stupid - prepare? - too little data - watch others pick up ideas - oh god that's a lot of people - shut it out - standard advice picture them naked? She tilted her head and looked outside, but found that it didn't really help. Some of them she just never, ever wanted to imagine naked, and the others.... The HUD in her visor twitched and went fuzzy for a moment as her connection to it wavered. Shaking her head, she got control back and decided to stop that train of thought where it was. don't need extra distractions

Move action: Teleport in through one of the second-story windows. Move action (in lieu of Standard): Run up a bit so civilians have to move as little as possible to get to her. Future plans: Dragonfly's trying to get them all together and touchable (....) to hand-wave treating them as a single large person or object for Dimensional Pocket. And then plans to get the hell out of dodge. They're all (hopefully) willing, unresisting targets, so it should probably be okay...but let me know if it isn't, and I'll adjust her strategy. Probably stunt something ugly and have Dragonfly grump later about how she can't jury rig a good tracker for the escapee(s).

Dragonfly's gaze darted back and forth between the power-suited idiots and the building full of people, but she made a frustrated noise as she was compelled to err on the side of the latter. 'get clear' - PEOPLE in that building - enough blood on my hands what is wrong with you Reality folded in around her, and she reappeared in the air on the second floor, where she'd seen most of the people gather up. Landing lightly on her feet, she ran forward to get as close to the center of the floor as possible, already charing her gauntlets and trying to be heard over the panic-inducing sound of crumbling building. "Can get you out of here, if you'll PLEASE remain calm and gather together! Pack in tight and grab one of my hands!" A chunk of brick fell out of the wall behind her, and she twitched, adding a terse, "Quickly, please."

The gorilla still has +8 defense, even while staggered & stunned? That's terrifying.

The little icon in Ironclad's systems that usually indicated Dragonfly's connection animated, sticking its tongue out. You wish. So do I. Suspect I'm not the smartest...but thank you. It's a nice thought. Will just have to put up with the crowd...and try not to vomit. Dragonfly - impressed with Archeville's entrance but apparently not awfully moved by his flowing hair and sumptuous voice - snorted. "Would have to be crazy to try. But...generous offer. Thank you. Good to have someone with your skills watching, if no one else has objections."

Shaking her head, Dragonfly pulled her mind away from the computer and its speakers. jumpy - technologically ill-equipped - strange The screen behind her rapidly flicked through Wolfguy scenes, finally settling on one where the titular creature was front and center - she'd already attached wires and fiddly-bits to the bare face of the watch, so all she had to do was wait for the computer to finish compressing and uploading the clip. She spent that time trying to figure out where the watch band she'd picked out had disappeared to in her pile of workbench junk and leftover watch parts. "Could attach it to him," she commented aloud, largely to herself. "Not difficult. Impractical. Internal device would be better off in the skull, with leads and a retinal projector in one eye. Mmm...need to review eye structure again. Interesting engineering challenge...shame. Don't think I own a proper skull drill anyway."

Dragonfly was quiet, for a moment, watching the one criminal take off into the air and get perused....by Push. She watched where they'd vanished, the little invisible point of sky where they must be, and saw...nothing. The silence was finally broken when she, herself, broke out into a long string of curses. A couple different languages of curses, no less, containing enough cumulative foul words to make a boat full of sailors blush. Eventually, though, her attention turned back toward the remaining criminals; reality drew in around her again and she was suddenly right behind Powerhouse's playmate, the blade run right through his chest and poking out the front. She held it there for a moment before disappearing again, space folding up and dropping her back out some fifteen feet to Powerhouse's side. "No," she finally commented, in a tone that, bottled, could stop global warming in its tracks. "I didn't. Dragonfly. I am, I mean."

Melee Attack Roll vs. Powersuit near Powerhouse (spacial blade) (1d20 + 8=22) Penetrating 8; DC23 toughness if it hits.

Dragonfly was not exactly thrilled at being belittled by a woman in a - in her power suit. She was far, far less thrilled still to see Push show up. reassess priorities - recover suits - avoid Push - maximum effect for minimum force The urge to shoot Push first was awfully tempting - probably safer that way - but maybe he'd be useful. Hopefully he'd be useful. ...he'd better be useful. Her scowl deepened. Silently, fearlessly closing the distance to the much larger, power-suited woman, Dragonfly looked her straight in the face, made a fist, and went to punch the woman in the stomach...and stopped short, a blade of neon-blue-tinted, twisted reality forming about an inch from her hand and shooting straight up through the woman, piercing through to the other side without visibly harming anything in between. The edges where it intersected her were fragmented, though, and she cursed, space twisting around her as she vanished into a distortion and popped back out on the other side of the fight, some 70 feet from the nearest enemy. made those suits too well - readjust - need a new strategy

Melee Attack Roll vs. Female Powersuit (spacial blade) (1d20 + 8=12) ....no. Dragonfly is not going to get shown up in the first round. Spending one of her two HP to reroll. Melee Attack REROLL vs. Female Powersuit (spacial blade) (1d20 + 8=20) That's better. DC23 Toughness save (darn still-pending edits), and it's Penetrating 8 so any impervious they have isn't gonna mean much. IC post pending on attack results.

It's like deja vu all over again! Master Plan Roll (1d20 + 6=9) Dragonfly...lacks the data to make reasonable plans, this time around, no matter how much time she has to study, I guess.

Dragonfly furrowed her brow, tapping a finger against her leg as she studied the building and its guards. Her visor flickered a bit, measuring the building and surrounding area for her - a dozen lines with tiny equations and numbers drawn into her brain through her eyes and used to build a mental model of the town house. Annoyingly, of course, the depth of the building was only an estimate and three of the four sides were blank; so little data to work with, too many assumptions.... "Thoughts? Strategies?" The young woman tilted her head, sizing the thugs up. "Front guards unlikely to be a large problem...too little known about the inside of the building."

Bookkeeping! 'cos...why not. End of round 3 standings (I believe): 20 -- High Cultist -- 3 bruises, stunned 16 -- Ironclad -- uninjured, fatigued, 2 HP 13 -- Dragonfly -- unconscious, 0HP 13 -- Push -- unconscious/1 more round, 4 HP 9 -- Cobalt Templar -- uninjured, 0 HP 9 -- Dead Head -- uninjured, fatigued, 2 HP 9 -- Mutt -- uninjured, 0 HP (minion, uses DH's HPs) Next round will be round 4. Master Plan starts to decay this round; it's now +2 to attack and skill rolls.

I...don't recommend Ablative, myself, having used it on my gadgeteer's force field for a while. It has a bad habit of failing you at the worst possible times, and it's extra stuff to try to keep track of in the thread (though, as extra stuff goes, it's not so bad). That said, it is thematically appropriate for many things, including what you describe. I may be wrong (anyone, please correct me if I am) but 'a free moment' here would be a round - if you wanted to 'heal' your wall of force you'd have to bring it down, wait until your next turn, and then bring it back up. Those are free actions, but you go a round without your toughness, which can suck. It saves you points, but it costs you.