KnightDisciple

Gabriel stepped in, looking around at the current condition of the shop. "I suppose so. Besides, cleaning at times besides spring means it's easier, right?" He gave her a wink at his little "joke", clearly getting at least a bit more comfortable talking of mundane things. "And that makes me think it's providence I got here when I did, wouldn't you say? Even without knowing your store hours." He looks about again. "Out of curiosity, how busy does it get around here? I'm hoping I just hit off-peak hours; you seem to have a nice shop here."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the store door. When she looked, there stood Gabriel, with an awkward smile on his face. He gave her cleaning a curious look, then opened his mouth. Oddly enough, Robin heard him clearly, even through the door. "Not exactly "spring" cleaning...Is it alright if I come inside? I believe it's been the stated amount of time..."

Right then. Will Save: 6+10=16 No sir! Spending my HP to re-roll. Will Save: 10+10=20 I'd say "argh", but per the rules, I can add 10 to that (since 11 is the minimum mark for not adding anything. So that 20 becomes a 30. Whew.

Just a nitpick, Dok, in that CT's ring is the Ring of Courage/Determination, not Hope. Hope is Green with my Artifact Set. Anyways! Will Saves. I'm going to assume the -2 from Shaken applies. If it does not, add 2 to every roll down below. Roll 1: Will Save 1: 18+3=21 ...Well, damn. Took me 1 roll to hit 21, even with a -2 gimping my save. o.0

Okay. Before the door is busted open, Gabriel will shift his Sonic Array from his Area Communication to his...let's say his Ranged Drain Toughness (Objects Only), since he knows the guy has a battlesuit, and taking it out is top priority.

Cobalt Templar shook his head at Push's words. "Look buddy, I'm just saying that you need to-" And then, there was that horrible, terrible roar. That sound. It stuck to his eardrums like glue. It rattled in his head. It brought memories raging to the surface like an erupting volcano. He fell backwards, landing on his rear on the ground, the fires of his powers instantly dieing. ~NO! Don't give in to the fear, child! Don't give in to the fear...~ As suddenly as it had started speaking, it stopped. Corbin shook his head, remembering how things really went. But it didn't help. Even if his father hadn't truly rejected him, there had been fear in his eyes. Fear for his son, fear of this ring. The ring that was talking in his brain. His hands couldn't stop shaking. Suddenly, he noticed his head felt lighter. He reached up, and chunks of his helmet fell away like cheap plastic. He could feel and see the armor crumbling around his body. The mask was still there, but much of his costume was already gone. Only tatters of his breastplate remained, along with one armored boot; the rest of his body was clad in the simple cloth under-suit of the armor. Barely controlling the shaking in his body, Cobalt Templar scrambled up from where he'd fallen on the ground and ran for cover behind a crate. "No use now, no use, have to hide!" he whispered as he peaked over the edge of the crate. He was nearly in tears from the combination of old fears, new fears, and that horrible, sinking feeling of uselessness.

He's Shaken and powerless. He's double-moving behind cover, watching and hating himself for being, well, afraid and powerless. :(

Corbin doesn't exactly recognize the music. And when Estelle started "getting her groove on", he felt really awkward. Sure, he liked lots of music (though McRock's work wasn't totally to his taste tonight). But dancing to it? He was mostly good at the more formal, slow dances, and a bit of line dancing (consequence of growing up in the Midwest). He forced a smile on his face. "Fun. Yeah. Totally." He kept a bit of distance between himself and Estelle, starting and stopping some random set of dance moves, before finally settling on a rather lame set of moves that mostly involved shuffling a bit on his feet and swaying back and forth. It almost stood out just for its horrible blandness. Then again, Estelle probably drew all the attention to herself, so maybe it balanced out. 'These high-society parties are a mixed bag for sure.'

Gabriel glanced at Fleur. "I'll be fine, though if you have another one of those wonder-seeds I could choke down, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. The so-called "doctor" is likely in one of the main broadcast rooms. Not sure exactly where that would be in here, though." He gave a longer look to Fusion. 'She's not fine. She can't be. Not after how worried that friend of hers was over the phone.' "Let me try to rattle his cage. Lead the way further in, ladies. I'll be following." As Fleur and Fusion head further into the building, Gabriel will follow them on foot. He seems...not distracted, but focused. Soon, it is clear why, as his voice is heard throughout the building. He's not shouting, yet it's like it's ringing out from every corner. "Solo Takashi! Your time is coming! Judgment is upon you! Your iniquity will not stand unchallenged! We are here as agents of justice! Of righteousness! Your foul ideas, petty words, and twisted inventions shall not hinder us, and they shall not harm the innocent! Tremble, Takashi! For we shall become the wrath of the Lord this day!" His face is grim as he fall silent for the moment.

Gabriel just shook his head with a smile. "Call it instinct, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Maybe the ladies who won your auction want you to appear at a public event or something? If one of us should be worried, I daresay it should be me." He cast a sidelong glance towards the group of young women. One or two of the ladies gave him looks that made him feel a touch uncomfortable. He shook it off though, waving a bit more at the crowd. "Still. All for a good cause. What is it the English say? "Stiff upper lip" or some nonsense like that? I suppose we'll both need a bit of that soon enough..." He laughed at her suggestion of stories. "Yes, I daresay we'll need to catch each other up on the happenings of this little shindig soon enough."

The bidding continued to climb, as the crowd quieted, anticipation over the final bid rising. "That's 4100!" With that statement, the young single woman dropped out. It was down to the soccer moms and the married couple. The two groups eyed each other as the auction master took a breath and a quick sip of water. "Alright! On with the bidding! We have 4100, do I see 4200? 42, do I see 43?" The representative of the group of women raised her hand. "43! Do I see 44?" The husband raised his hand. "4400! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the price our last hero was auctioned for! Do I see 4500?" Again, Soccer Mom raises her hand. Gabriel just shakes his head with a chuckle. 'Odd bidding groups, but hey, glad to see we're getting so much money here. I just hope she doesn't ask anything embarrassing of me for my favor to her!' "4500 dollars, ladies and gentlemen! We've just hit the highest bid of anyone at the auction! Does anyone want to-4600 dollars, ladies and gentlemen!" The husband and wife hadn't quite glared at the soccer moms, but the message was clear. They were still in the fight. Of course, the group of women immediately upped the bid. From there, things moved quickly for about a minute. "4700! 4800! 4900! Do I-" The husband raised his hand into the air again. The crowd was awestruck. "Five thousand dollars, ladies and gentlemen! 5000, do I see 5100?" With a smirk, the bid was raised again. "That's 5100! Do I see 52? 52?" The husband and wife whispered for a moment...before shaking their heads. No one was challenging the bid! "5200! Going once! Going twice! SOLD, to the lovely group of ladies in the audience, for five thousand, two hundred dollars!" Gabriel walked onto the stage, clapping his hands and encouraging the audience to cheer. He walked over to Miss Americana and took a slight bow, before gesturing towards her as if she'd just won a pageant. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up once last time for MISS AMERICANA!" He kept clapping, and whispered over the noise. "Congratulations, you beat my bid rather soundly. Per my earlier statement, I owe you a favor. Do be gentle when you collect, my dear." He gave Miss A a wink, then went on to helping work the crowd. Mainly to give the stage crew time to finish moving things, and the group of middle-aged women to go over to the officials' table and get the necessary paperwork taken care of.

Somehow, that bit of humor seemed to add just the right spark to set a fire. The bid nearly doubled in the space of a minute, climbing to 3100 as the crowd roared louder. Gabriel was perched on the edge of his seat, watching with great interest. 'I have a feeling I've been beaten, and it's all over but the singing.' The rich-looking 20-something young man had dropped out, and the young woman and married couple looked slightly stressed. They didn't seem ready to give up, though. Oddly enough, the group of soccer moms seemed more at east than anyone. "3700! Do I hear 38? 38, do I hear 39!" The crowd rumbled as Miss Americana rapidly approached the price Gabriel had fetched. She was really going to do it!

FYI, on top of being at that little thing known as "my job" tomorrow, I'll be going to a party afterward. Back later in the evening, but likely not until 10pmCST or after.

Hm. DC 21... Save: 13+5=18 Per his drawback, CT is now powerless, until he makes his save, or the effect stops/goes away.

Gabriel frowned as he glanced at Fusion. "What's your part in this little operation? Need to make sure we don't "cross wires" or anything." If and when she started down the hall, he followed. "That said, I might be able to get him to a point where he's not a threat, even without hitting him in the face with concentrated sound. I can play havoc with something that's living flesh and blood." He seemed almost offended at all the robots he was having to fight. He gave another worried glance to Fusion. "Are you sure you're alright over there, Fusion?"

The man in blue armor shifted his stance, and the placement of his hand, so as to not accidentally make Dragonfly uncomfortable. "Please don't shift about too much. I should have you in prime condition shortly. If anyone else has wounds, I can keep this going for a bit longer, so line up while you have the chance." 'I'm amazed it worked, but I won't complain.' He turned his attention to Push, quirking one eyebrow. "I'd stay back for a while. You're lucky more of us weren't knocked out by that little stunt of yours, or this may have ended very, very badly. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call you a "menace", but you certainly need to do some reading on basic tactics and strategy." His voice held no malice, however. Just calm advice. The ethereal blue fire continued to pour out from the ring over Dragonfly.

Gabriel smiled a bit at Dead Head's easy-going nature. "Sorry if I snapped a bit. Bad memories from October. Anyways...let me clear the way a bit of civilians. Just shout out where to go!" With that, Gabriel sped up a bit, until he was about 30 feet in front of Dead Head; more than close enough to hear him when he called out. Gabriel stuck to regular shouting, since he was concentrating a lot of his power on staying in the air. "Clear the way, folks! Hero business afoot! Clear the way!" A man in all white and a zombie in a dead sprint were unlikely to be stealthy anyways, so he wasn't worried about ruining that with his yells.

Cobalt Templar frowned more deeply. "I'm not exactly a medic either. I can still-" ~Heal the girl.~ whispered a voice in his mind. That it was speaking in ancient Hebrew was a secondary concern. CT stopped talking and looked around. "What the-" ~Heal the girl. You hold the fires of creation itself on your hand. You have it within you. HEAL THE GIRL.~ In that moment, he understood that, somehow, his ring was...talking...to him. He shook his head, but knelt down and held his right hand out over Dragonfly's unconscious body. "Actually, let me try something." He closed his eyes, and slowly, almost gently, soft blue flames rolled off the ring and over Dragonfly's body. Strangely, instead of harming her, Ironclad might sense that the energy is working to do just the opposite...

Right, so spending the HP I earned for being awesome and ending the fight. Stunting Healing 7 (14pp) on my Holy Fire Control Array. Full round action, Healing on Dragonfly. She gets a +7 bonus on recovery check to get up from being unconscious. Edit: Change that to Extra Effort, with Fatigue applied to me, and the HP being used to wipe it away. That way, the Stunt lasts until I'm done with it.

The crowd cheered as the bidding ramped up even further! Miss Americana was playing her natural talents to the hilt, and even Gabriel was impressed. Clearly, she'd come into this auction better-prepared than he. After all, the bids were already at 1500! The scholarly woman had dropped out, and the bland middle-aged man seemed almost reluctant to bid. But the soccer moms, married couple, and young lady were all still going strong. Now they were up to 1700! 'I think the lass is going to beat me! Ah well, I doubt my favor to her will be too bad.'

Gabriel glanced with worry towards Muse. He wanted to help her...but the child was still in horrible danger. His heart heavy, he levitated a bit off the ground and flew himself away from the pack of demons. Then, he took careful aim, and fired directly at the demon that was still sewing, hoping to disrupt that part of the ritual. Perhaps then he could rush in and extract the child.

Move action, using Flight 1 to get away from the crowd of demons, but still keeping a clear line on the remaining ritualist demons. Using Blast against the one still sewing. Attack: 17+10=27 DC 26 Toughness Save

Corbin chuckles. "Well, I've got "mystique" now. That's something I'll have to keep in mind..." He grows a bit more serious as Erin explains the ins and outs of the Doom Room's scheduling. "Yeah, makes sense. Hm. Maybe, once I've got a bit more training under my belt, I'll look into banding together with a few more fellow students. Make a new team. Can't hurt to have another group of heroes on the street, eh?"

Cobalt Templar wears a light frown on his face as he floats to the ground, closer to the others. "I stopped his ritual, if that's what you mean. The fire's gone out and all that. Should have thought of what I did earlier, really. Maybe we could have avoided some unfortunate circumstances." He gave Push a pointed look before walking over to Ironclad and the still-unconscious Dragonfly. He spoke a bit softer, with concern leaking into his voice. "She's not too badly hurt, is she?"

"We're going to move quickly, and hopefully catch him off-guard enough to take him down hard and fast. We can't let him hurt anyone else." He begins walking down the hall, coat flowing after him, before he stops for a moment, turning to face Powerhouse again. "And the name's Gabriel. Let's go." With that, he took off at a determined pace, refraining from flight only in deference to Powerhouse likely lacking such an ability.