Fox

"Haven't learned. Haven't invented. You've stolen. Barely improved on something you couldn't understand!" Another blast, this time with her other hand as the first gestured towards Cannonade. "He's right. Saw the records. Charts. Notes. She's perfect, maybe. You? Pale imitation. She probably hates you." She tilted her head up and to the side. "I would."

Ranged Attack Roll vs. Scientist (Blast) (1d20 + 7=22) Horray! The dice don't completely hate her.

Dragonfly took a deep breath - as deep as she dared with so much fire around, anyway. cathartic - okay - gang down - which just leaves.... She turned back around to eye the last villain standing. "You'll look at nothing. Don't deserve it. Not even oily bodily fluids." She brought a hand up, taking a few steps in his direction and letting fly another shockwave. "You were never a good scientist. Now everyone can see what you are: a burning effigy of idiots and villainy."

Attack Roll vs. Scientist (Blast) (1d20 + 7=26) So close to a crit! So close.

Dragonfly's mind, through the anger, whirled as the fire blew towards her. The math told her that her force field wasn't designed to take a distributed attack like that, but when she tried to dodge...well, she didn't quite make it. Pushed back, burned, and nearly blinded as her shield lit up trying to compensate for the heat she could barely keep track of what was happening for several seconds. The first thing she saw as she got a hold of her senses again was the gangster making a run for the elevator. "No. Not that easy." Raising an arm, her force field twitching and flickering unsteadily, she fired a shockwave at his fleeing back.

Ranged Attack Roll vs. Gangster (Blast) (1d20 + 7=19) DC22 toughness if it hits. Was going to surge to boost the odds of taking the guy down, but with a guy on fire dangerously close to collapsing the floor...well. At the end of the day she is a hero, after all. I'll save the surging for desperate measures.

Reflex Save vs. Area Attack, DC19 (1d20 + 6=7) Well, crap. Toughness Save vs. Area Blast, DC24 (1d20 + 6=13) Crap. Reroll! Goodbye, my new HP. I hardly knew ye. Reroll: Toughness Save vs. Area Attack, DC24 (1d20 + 6=8) With the reroll rules, this is 12 + 6 = 18, which is...still ouch. But less ouch. Stunned + Bruised, if I'm not mistaken. EDIT: Woop. I'm braindead tonight. Forgetting important things! Dragonfly's force field is ablative. The previous save took her down to 4 Toughness, so this latest save becomes 16. Still just Stunned and Bruised, though. For the record, her toughness is now 2.

"Pinnacle? Pinnacle?" control - difficult to keep cool - unpleasant parallels - took advantage of - sold - tempting to bring the building down on the lot of them Bullets were flying but she barely noticed; one made a sharp sound as it glanced off a gauntlet, while another hit her force field, zig-zagging in a mad blurry dash across its surface before spinning harmlessly away over one shoulder. She lifted a hand and fired a shockwave at one of the remaining gangsters, missing by a mile without having the proper state of mind to aim. stupid - focus! - if you have to be angry channel it "Barely even a scientist. Not worthy of the title. Don't deserve it."

Toughness Save vs. Gunfire, DC13 (1d20 + 6=15) Oorah. Attack Roll vs. Gangster (Blast) (1d20 + 7=11) Less oorah.

Initiative Roll (1d20 + 6=9) There's the luck I know and love! And by love I mean ' ' Oh, and shield + force field go.

Dragonfly turned away from the computers, looking through the now-open doorway at the surprised gathering inside. The gangsters were barely a distraction (scum - dealers - will get what they deserve in time); her attention was almost fully on the scientist, her face a shifting mask of disgust and rage...mostly rage. She didn't think it needed to be said, given Slick's reaction, but she said it anyway in a tone that could have been used to peel wallpaper: "No killing. But nobody leaves this room." As her gauntlets lit up and her force field twisted into being, two of the room's monitors blew out.

Averting her eyes for the shameless changing (why??), Dragonfly hurried out of the elevator and into the lab. medical lab - notes? answers.... Leaving the voices to the other two, Dragonfly folded her arms, staring at the computers with lights dancing behind her eyes. Screens jumped to life, information flying past at unreal speeds.

Datalink, go! Taking 10 on a computer check, so that's a 25 at 100x speed. Looking for notes - medical records, chemical formulas, how much of the stuff has been made...anything useful she can come up with in a round's time at that speed.

so much for subtle Bringing up an arm, Dragonfly impassively brought an arm up, giving the remaining guard a chest full of scrambled reality. "Not actually going to take his clothes. ....right?"

Attack Roll vs. Door Guard (Blast) (1d20 + 7=26) Invisible Castle and my tired, frustrated brain conspired against me to call her Drag instead of the full Dragonfly. DC22 toughness vs. damage.

Dragonfly kept her arms close to her body, eyeing the dancers and wishing she still had her jacket. "Well. At least we'll fit in. And, no. Don't carry spare clothes with me. Probably should. Not disguises. Replacement jackets, maybe?" She tilted her head, imagining the general size and shape of the building from the outside and comparing it to what she could see on the inside. not a structural engineer - unlikely to be bigger on the inside - closet - maintenance - DJ booth - void - void - piping? - there Waving at the others to follow, she started to pick her way around the edge of the dance floor towards a door to what looked like a back room.

Notice Check (to find the back room) (1d20 + 5=25)

The young woman eyed the smudge and frowned, dismounting. good call - unfortunate - was a good jacket - dispose of it later - study first? - buy replacement for spare I'll use Reaching out to touch her motorcycle's seat, the bike (jacket and all) crumpled and folded until disappearing completely into her hand. Dragonfly simply nodded. "Always have good traffic. Almost always, anyway. Not so good at subtle, but worth a shot. Element of surprise, at least...not as good at disguise as Sli--" She cut off, watching the dripping...ooze...with mild distaste. burn jacket - touch only with tongs - then burn tongs "...yes. Not good at that. Unable. Would be nice to have some foreknowledge of layout, defenses, threats...then take them by surprise. Off-guard, easier to weaken before a real fight breaks out. Would really prefer time for study, but...doubt I'll get that." She shrugged. "Better to be fast, do it today, before more get hurt or killed."

Dragonfly hesitated, glancing from Slick's...slickness, down to her bike, and back up again. she - it - haste is good - cheaper to replace jacket - why.... Sighing, she pulled off her jacket, draped it over the back side of the motorcycle's seat, and swung her leg over to take her place as far to the front as she could. "Get on. And...try to keep your fluids to yourself." Starting the engine, she tried to keep her expression as neutral as possible. my poor bike...

I loves you, Dimensional Pocket. Let us never argue again.

fireman's carry? - not if my life depended on it - only if my life depended on it "...no, thank you. Brought my own transportation." Dragonfly held out a hand, gaps in her gauntlet's plating lighting up in a neon blue. A little chunk of twisting matter pulled out of her palm, rapidly growing and unfolding in a strange, eye-tingling origami pattern...but with reality in the place of paper. Fortunately the effect only lasted a couple seconds, leaving a large grey motorcycle where there used to be empty alley. "Never leave home without it," she quipped, dryly.

The lights died, and Dragonfly reached under her visor for a moment to rub the bridge of her nose. Picking her way back over to the hole, she nodded. "Yes. Bodybuilder, and an idiot. He got into contact with unknown person advertising 'glory'. Back room of a building near the docks...have map for general area, then we look for a sign on the sidewalk. Probably the symbol Slick found." She quietly shook her head, heading back into the alley to join the other two. best to delete illegal records - would have made our job harder - didn't even close the map - that exciting? - don't like this - bad memories unfortunate parallels "Ready when you are. Walking or transportation?"

Dragonfly opened her mouth to reply to Nick just as the voice drifted down the stairs. Shaking her head, she held a finger to her lips and backed up, getting out of view of the upper steps and putting a little distance between herself and the others. Quietly adjusting her gauntlets, she waited for someone to show their face. fast and efficient - minimum force maximum effect - hopefully won't know what hit them - hopefully pocket containment holds

Yeah, I vote skip. The characters have a basic feel for each other, and the conversation's already floundering a bit. Some new scenery and goals would probably kickstart the thread.

Mara grimaced. "S..sorry." bad assumptions? - glamorous thought - assumed - need to do that less - should look into pub - would get arrested - put on to-do list Glad for the distraction, the young woman brightened and dug out a couple more parts, holding them up and eyeing them. "Improvements. Warp engine's functional but hard on parts. Slowly bringing wear and tear down...finding that older pieces are sometimes better. Vacuum tubes surprisingly useful for processing and containment once altered - easier to buy old versions and alter than manufacture from scratch. Floor space limited, and proper glass-forging machinery is large. 'Don't make them like they used to,' fitting. Scrap metal, always useful...heavy plating to reduce warping. Easy to keep hands protected from fields, but metal, not so much; thin plating or layered twists after two, three weeks of use. Solids are best, high density. Eventually hope to calibrate the warp engines well enough to not worry about it anymore. For now, I have to do with what I have. The theory involved is fascinating, but I have to tread lightly." She was picking up speed, now, idly sketching what were probably parts of equations in the air with a part, as if she was using chalk on a chalkboard. "I have to be very careful to not punch holes in the fabric of space - unless I want to - or weaken the underlying gridwork - not really gridwork, you know, but the idea's a decent abstraction; that just invites bad things to visit. Security system is good, but not that good. Need to upgrade that, soon, too - lots to do, a big list. I'll get around to it all eventually. Don't sleep much, that helps. Hinders, too. Helps. Had a great inspiration the other day for boosting the power source on my warp engines - very proud of that. Little entropy drivers. Efficient, but don't scale up well. Expensive to build, could maybe power a building at best before the bubble - not a bubble, really, abstractions, bubbles are spheres and this is at least two extra dimensions - gets too big and pops. Collapses. Not violent, but destabilization kills the power. Working on that, too. Some ideas, nothing surviving testing...." She tapped the little tube against her chin, other arm crossed, thinking. "Need better parts for some ideas. Strong AI would simplify the process greatly, but loyal strong AI would take forever to write, even at my speed. Have a framework, but not the processing power...not free, anyway. Would help to have a working example, but very few people share their methods. Small joke. It's true, though, if understandable. They're complex things, easily abused. By fools, but still abused. A good machine - even an AI - deserves respect; attention. You can't just--" She cut off, glancing back up as she, once again, realized where she was. The look on her face was somewhere between aghast and bashful. "....I...that is. S-sorry. Get carried away." sleep - or coffee - sleep and coffee.... "S...so. Meat?"