Ari

Hm. Good point. Make that a minute and a half Moving All-Out to get up the flights and to the scene of the incident. EDIT: 'DOWN' the flights, our Foe is not the kind to fly through windows.

There isn't one yet, but when there is it will only take a few minutes Moving All-Out to get to the floor where things are going down.

Subito looked remarkably uncomfortable when Elias walked right up to him, leaning subtly backwards as the two shook hands. He was surprised at how strong and smooth the telepath's grip was 'Whoa, nice hand-damnitdamnitdamnit NO. Absolutely nobody but you is this upset about that my Herald. Let it go. No.' "Alright! Glad we've got that out of the way. And don't worry, it'll take a lot more'n that to make me want to really punch you." he followed where the taller boy's glance had gone " Though I think you'll need to wait a bit before you can go and call a cool girl 'Flower' like that dude. They might be a bit quicker to the punch than I am!" he said with a short laugh "Anyway, I'll bet Mr. Summers will be glad to hear you're good at masks, a whole lot of students at the Academy could use your expertise." he said with a totally straight face "Though springing the 'you truck in secrets' thing might need a little work." he turned to Victoria with a slight bow "Wisp, would y'please do the honors for our new comrade?" he asked politely "I'll come with if you want."

GM Nisien raised an eyebrow at the word 'Blodeu', but besides a faint and slightly pitying smile he made no answer besides a grave "Good luck to you as well" and a nod before following Parsley. Cigfa gave him a slightly cold hug, awkward and a little perfunctory. The rooms given to the agents were at least nearby to each other. They were 50 meters from floor to ceiling, roughly circular and of a gray-green stone in construction, and possessed of unreasonably massive windows looking out upon the dull grey lake. A small room with a table and chairs, lit with ensconced smokeless torches on the walls, was connected to each of them by a small passage. A meal of beautifully-cooked fish was set for them, its savor and the smell of the sweet wine drifting through the air of the apartments. Nisien wandered around the rooms, growing visibly more unsettled as he found no signs of any spells placed to catch their words, or which could let someone spy upon them, mainly because that meant they were too well hidden for him to ever find. He glanced over at the junior agent, remarking casually "So, our host is clearly concerned for our comforts. Blodeuwedd, what do you think we should wear for the meal? We don't want to look scruffy, after all." he added, making the hand signs for "We must make our plans now, before it is too late..." The feast was sumptuous. It was held in a vast hall with a myriad of colorful sheets and tapestries hanging from the ceiling over the excessively ornamented tables piled with delicacies unheard of on Earth, walking armor serving the discretely-chatting Fey lords and ladies in attendance. The Queen sat on a raised dais with the agents and her closest advisers, a thin curtain presenting a veneer or privacy between them and the rest of the party. Subito had been placed next to her throne, still chained, though changed into clothes a lot like his El Heraldo costume, though bearing the Queen's livery of purple and green, with a much narrower cap. "What do you think of our hospitality?" she asked with a kindly smile "The Afanc will arrive shortly, it wishes to thank the court for its kind treatment."

The cold, measured words didn't faze El Heraldo in the least. "Well then, we have something in common already!" he laughed, cocking his feathered hat at a jaunty angle and smiling up at the eerily human-like being. 'Okay, whether or not he's human, he'll trip like anyone else! Not wholly accurate, but it will serve for now.' "Your steel limbs are speedy indeed!" he added, jumping backwards as he took a deep breath, exhaling sharply "But let us see if they make you fast enoUGGGGGH!" he bellowed, a sudden gale of wind bursting out of his lungs and turning the previously still air of the street into a miniature gale! Rocketing up into the air with a flash of red, white and blue, whipping his Banner into position, tensing himself for the sign of the man's next attack. 'I can't let him get to one of the the civilians...'

Free Action Retort. Standard Action Using Super-Breath to try and knock our fine friend down: 15. Eh. DC15 Strength or Dexterity roll, whichever is lower. Move Action Swoop up 50ft. into the air. Reaction Interpose the next attack made by the NPC against any civilians in range(if permissible. Closest if not).

"It could also mean that she's just got good manners, which she does possess." Subito challenged with a grin. "Tell you what, El: when you fall in love with somebody, I promise I won't bring it up. It'll be totally hilarious anyway. I bet it'll be-Ooh! A whole bunch more under this stump!" he neatly pulled off his flannel shirt and tossed it open onto the ground, the chilled late autumn air that whispered through the Wharton forest completely lost on his empowered skin. Cutting out the edible parts of the mushrooms was quick work individually for the stocky Puerto Rican, but a whole bunch of them was a different story. And he suffered several sharp nicks from the blade until they were done. He folded up the knife and tucked it back onto his belt, scooping up his flannel shirt filled with the surplus he had found, licking away the blood with a wince as he followed the bald teen back to the camp, thinking over what Elias told him. "That's not much of a secret, nah." he agreed when the telepath mentioned the mystic(or so he assumed) redhead and the heavily-pierced huntress's behavior together. 'Though...with my hearing and his powers not many secrets that people talk or think about last for long. Keep telling yourself that, my Herald.' "Do they not have subways, or trains other mass-transit where you're from El?" Subito asked with an air of disbelief, leaping up to beside the bald boy and surveying his face curiously. As they got closer to the camp he swung his head around abruptly, listening with care. He glanced further into the forest where he could hear the voices of the two girls "Looks like they're hunting thataway. I'll keep an ear out, just in case." he shrugged as they breached the grass around the campsite "Pretty sure there's not much around here they couldn't deal with easily though." He waved to Blodeuwedd "Hey Cerys! El and me got a whole lot of really great mushrooms! You like mushrooms?" he asked hopefully, all smiles.

GM With a sharp whine the compacted mass of air, bound together by the main will and power of the dragon, slammed into the input panel, bursting and shattering the metal into a shower of steel fragments, levers, and bits of plastic buttons that showered the face of the inhumanly towering woman, who stared at the damage that had been done underneath the ergonomically-correct controls. It was extensive, the wires shredded and connectors smashed. "...Okay then. I suppose that means..." Kaiser turned to face Stormbreaker with a crown of extra arms sprouting from her head "I'll have to try something more sensible than shooting you with the giant cannon." the arms suddenly joined hands in a knot of flesh and bone, and with a rumble from below a stone arm and hand with seven fingers erupted out of the ground, its two thumbs curling around the space swashbuckler's waist while the earth sprayed up into the air!

Round five. Kaiser: Unharmed-GM Angcrist: Bruise(x3), Dazed, Staggered-GM Voltage: Bruise(x1), 3HP Stormbreaker: Unharmed, 0HP Kaiser will go and try to hit Stormbreaker with a stone hand shooting out of the ground. 28. Hits. DC22 Reflex save to escape the Snare. Angcrist is Staggered and Dazed, so skipping his turn. Voltage is up.

Subito had already had a suspicion they might be watched. He had heard a lot about the deceptive and secretive Fey, and doubted that they would treat them any different. He fiddled with the bracelet around his neck for a while, thinking over what Cerys had said before suddenly nodding vigorously, returning her smile with a warm grin of his own as he replied "You bet I remember that!" he adopted a parody of his heroic stance, looking into the distance somewhere over Blodeuwedd's left shoulder with his chest thrust out, hands on his hips as he proclaimed ""You guys go on ahead! I'll hold off the exploding zeppelin we're in!"" he dropped the act and doubled over as burst out laughing, nearly falling into the throne behind him, but managing to catch himself on one of the arm rests at the last moment, wiping a few tears from his eyes. "Okay, okay, sorry, now's really not the time" he said looking sheepishly up at Cerys "I'll keep cool. Good luck Blodeu!" he said with another smile. He blushed and added quickly to the two agents "To you as well. Thank you so much for coming to help. See you guys later!" He watched them until they were out of sight, muttering as he sat down with a dour look at the chains nearby "I just gotta be patient..."

To Jay's ears it's clearly being electronically synthesized, though to a casual listener it's much harder to discern that. It so far seems most likely that she's using a remarkably faithful text-to-speech program.

Subito hesitated, looking back at the marching horde of robots for a second "Okay I-I guess you're right..." he sat back down looking both nervous and wincing at the darkened blood of the bruise Kristin had gotten. "Ow. Thought that guy did a number on me, had no idea..." he mumbled more than a little guiltily. He rubbed the back of his head "Sorry about that. I can go overboard sometimes, won't do that again if I can help it." he looked back up "So..what did you two do?"

GM Soon enough, the EMTs showed up with the stretcher, helpful but somewhat skeptical of the pair's story about what had happened. Despite some initial awkward questions, they gladly loaded the battered man into the ambulance, the gunwoman's own injuries turning out to be not nearly so serious as the once-massive test subject's concussion, but they still muttered about "careless" attacks and "thoughtless" fighting. Just before the doors of the ambulance closed, the man's eyes opened, and he looked blearily at the two bizarrely-dressed vigilantes. Smiling ever so slightly when he tilted his head and saw where he was, he said "Thank you. I...saw an address...before I was taken." he took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. One of the EMTs leaned down over him with an an anesthetics mask "Sir, please lie still, you've been badly hurt. We-", only to be gently pushed aside as the man gasped out "No! I...it was...a house on Chicago street...Hanover...." he fell back, unresisting as the mask was gently placed over his face, and the doors of the ambulance closed. With a wail of sirens, it sped out into the night streets, headed for Freedom medical Center. --END.

The stockier boy shrugged his broad shoulders, pulling a wry face "Pretty sure my wits won't do us any good here. I'll do my best though, keep my eyes open and stuff. I bet I won't have to worry about overeatin', if her majesty has anythin' to say about it." he added with a dark look at the door the Queen had vanished through. Subito looked slightly mystified at the mention of the Unseelie, venturing "Wait, they don't really have a..I dunno, a more evil faction? That is..." he shrugged and added in bland udnerstatement "...I have no idea just how big a deal that is. But if your family managed to do that, I've got a heck of a lot of respect for you guys. I'm sure I'd never be able t' do that." he said with a cheerful smile. He glanced around at the glittering palace wavering in the watery light "So...anything you want me to do specifically, or just leave to you guys?" he asked, nodding to the other two agents of the Order.

GM "...And of course we cgetdown!" Even before the cargo container fell to the deck with a smashing groan, the captain dove to the side of the ship, grabbing Crow along with him, managing to draw a Glock pistol even as he fell onto his back. He aimed it up through the rainy sky at where the crane was, squinting one eye down the iron sights as he looked for who had sabotaged the unloading. Seeing no-one he got to his feet and offered his hand to the supposed buyer with a grim look I'm sorry, mister, but we might need to take this deal inside. A man could catch his death out here. I'll have the la-" he suddenly saw that the sailors and dockmen were running as if for their lives off the boat, hurtling down the ramps, racing for the parking lot as fast as their booted feet could carry them. He looked after the departing men with a look of faint and quiet rage, then turned his cold eyes up at the crane and took out a radio, saying into it in curt Welsh <"If you or your friend move from there, Ned, you're both dead."> Putting it back into his long coat he said to Crow jovially "Alright then, sir! If you will just follow me belowdecks so I can set up a ward, we can be quite well protected from brats that drop containers on ships."

GM The field was deactivated, the green sheen from the bizarre world the city block had become went with it, and many of the animals that had previously been human looked with varying degrees of hope at each other. Many of them tensed, crouched or fluffed their feathers or raised their hackles if they had them, ready for the sensation of being stretched and changed once again. The horses around Rabbit managed to look surprisingly eager, except for the young woman who had welcomed the transformation, who looked almost disappointed. So it was quite a shock to all of them when nothing happened. <"Well darn."> commented a Newfoundland glumly. "A good try, but you would have been upset if I made things that easy" announced a voice that rang out over a hidden loudspeaker system. A voice familiar to Jubatus' ears. "It will take considerable more effort if you want to get rid of this gift I and my comrade the Transmogrifier have worked so very hard to give you. You see, humans, I have been changed like you have now, but unlike you panicky animals I accepted and embraced this new life. None of you can truly even begin to understand the plight of our brothers and sisters in the rest of the animal kingdom unless you have walked a mile in their weighted, bound hooves trudging through the muck; cringed in their fur as your life is about to be snuffed out so some monster can wear your flayed hide; been imprisoned so that cowards can torture you to test new drugs and perform experiments that leave you a mass of pain! I, Acinonyx, defy you three who have set themselves against true understanding between animals and humans, to find me and my formula to reverse the metamorphosis!" the voice had risen to a near frenzy before dropping into an eerie calm "It will give those who currently fear their new forms time to adjust, and to open their eyes to the evil that surrounds them that goes unspoken and unpunished. I would suggest you start with that cage-ah! It seems my brother Jubatus is already showing more compassion and intellect than the humans are. A shocking surprise, I am sure. Good luck humans, we shall meet again." The voice cut out, and the block was suddenly very quiet. By now the air was filled with all the smells of fear, the dull undercurrents of various species whose scents urged at Jay to go hunting, competing smells of females and males of his biological kind who seemed to be conspiring to be as distracting as possible, and the stench of petroleum fuels and exhaust. It made the idea of a miniature gas-mask for his nose a very tantalizing concept. The humans inside were all plucking uncertainly at their clothes, the looks on their faces somehow..off. The Fleetest-Footed Feline Alive was well-used to the ways people contorted the muscles and skin of their faces to make expressions they never knew they were making. These people just looked blank, not even the normal kind of blank either, with its pensive unease and dull glint to the eyes. One of the humans, a Laotian-looking woman with incredibly thick black hair and lean features, wearing a dark gray suit, looked at Jubatus and ventured "Oorargh?"

"As far as we can discern, yes. Somewhat like Mr. Motley, in fact, as both men seem to have devised some chemical way of granting people superhuman abilities." the card-themed vigilante explained gravely. He listened attentively to Crusader's explanation of his shield's heritage, looking quite surprised at the notion of it 'choosing' someone to wield it. "Well, it seems it chose quite excellently!" he laughed, his teeth flashing in the light. "Yes, that is a good way to put it, like a record skipping..." he stood up suddenly, looking into the distance and listening to the sound of approaching sirens "Ah! That would be the ambulance." he donned his cowl again, shaking Clark's hand warmly "My thanks for your aid, Crusader. We'll see what our friend here knows, eh?"

Marceau raised his eyebrows and whistled quietly as he followed René down the quieted passages of the castle, down the red stone stairs and through draughtless red-carpeted corridors as they searched for a way down into the lower regions of the castle. <"It could be like in our world, where we have the ambitious leader and his not entirely willing servants who go along so that they might be part of something great."> he suggested, a vague sound of quiet song nagging at the edge of hearing as they traveled down an especially broad staircase that had worryingly few handrails. He looked at the ancient painter with a slightly skeptical look <"Could Parsinkle strike into our world? That seems unlikely given that such as the lady Equinox and other mighty heroes dwell on Earth."> he asked dubiously.

Alright, round one: Crow: Unharmed, 2HP Arnold: unharmed-GM Dis-Possessed #3: Unharmed-GM Dis-Possessed #1: Unharmed-GM Changeling: Unharmed, 1HP Dis-Possessed #2: Unharmed-GM Crow is up.

Would have taken a 1 to miss. DC25 Toughness save for the Toughness 4 panel: 14. It is broken.

Hearing Glow's insistent attempt to find any path to getting concrete proof of El Sierpe's misdeeds, El Heraldo calmly weathered the inevitable storm of self-loathing that ensued for several endless seconds, alighting on a nearby roof and sitting on its edge and leaning perilously far forward, watching and listening to what the captain would say as his costume made him stand out like a multicolored flag on the house, glowing with a golden light around himself that made hiding impossible anyway. He had assumed Kristin would be as eager as he was to get away from the vile man, and he inwardly cursed his lack of fortitude, and especially the fact that he had already begun to despair. Tossing the Banner carelessly behind him, he settled in to hear what hope there still was.

GM There was an awkward silence before the voice spoke again, this time with a strong undercurrent of chagrin. with more strength she went on she asked, the sound coming from nearer to Tona's head.

Nodding slowly at the echoing voice of Mr. Archer, Subito dispelled the power of El Heraldo and walked out the door. He started when he glanced around the Doom Room with sudden confusion on his face "Wait, how did we all not feel or hear each others' test?" he asked aloud, sounding utterly baffled. He shook his head "I guess we'll find out soon enough. Mebbe the coach could show us how it looks without all the simulated stuff..." he pondered as he went to get a shower, the grime and dust that had gotten on him during the brief struggle with Strongarm turning out to be much more real than he had thought. The walk across the Doom Room to the showers, and from the showers to the lobby, gave he plenty of time to think over what Strongarm had told him. 'I wonder, was there something true to what that guy said? I mean, it's not like powers like mine aren't too hard to copy, and- Subito, who did you get your powers from? Uh...you? Correct, and how many have I granted such power to, besides yourself? None. Look, I get what you mean, but still! If such power were easy to grant, many more would have it. But few do. So...even if it seems a dime a dozen, it's still a great thing to have? Yes. Okay, I'll remember that. Thanks Dame! I'm sorry 'bout bein' so down for so little reason. Wonder what the other guys got to do? I bet it was awesome!' Sauntering into the lobby with his hands in his pockets and his hat comfortably settled over his close-cut hair, he waved cheerfully to Kristin and Marcus, calling out "Hey guys. How'd it go for you two? I had to talk this guy called Strongarm into not being a villain, it took some doin'." he dropped with a thud onto the couch next to Marcus, crossing one leg over the other and glancing over at the monitor on the wall nearby, leaping to his feet in horror and exclaiming, pointing at the screen "Serge! He-Mr. Archer, what's going on? Is Net Fly in trouble?" he asked in terror, the army of robots marching into the hanger looking unnervingly real and non-simulated. He looked at the Australian telekinetic desperately "Hey, Kristin, d'you know what's happening there?"

"I heal swiftly enough. Do not worry about my hide, Christian" the triton said with a wry grin "And..thank you for your charity. That is not what I am used to." he admitted. Popping the bag of ice into his mouth he offered his spined claw to Gabriel, stooping slightly to make the gesture less awkward for the mismatched pair. With a short bow he regarded the smaller human for a while, at last saying "I am glad to have met you. If we meet again, I will do what I can to return your favor. Fare free, Gabriel." he said with another inclination of his massive head, turning and dashing off into the night, back for the soothing water, where he could get a meal to think over the day's events with. In a bound he cleared the roof of a nearby store, leaving a small dent, and with resounding steps vanished back through the largely deserted Southside streets, past startled Freedonians and animals on his way to the river. With a sigh of relief he dove into the water, a flash of light signalling his transformation as he sank into his silent sleep.

Of course. How ****************-headed of me to forget.