Ari

Marceau was deep in thought when Voltage gave off the electric flare, wondering if there was already something dangerous inside he would need to take down before he could focus on the(hopefully) more fragile mastermind of this plot. He was half-way through rehearsing in his head a way to disable a low-level superhuman with a barrage of disorienting attacks when the blue flash out of the corner of his eyes was shot off. Stopping only for a second he wheeled around to face whoever it was, a razor card already pinned between his left thumb and forefinger. Seeing the grey-clothed man before him he said in a low, hesitant voice that still reverberated through the air "...Hello, I'm the King of Suits. Who might you be, and why are you here?" he kept half an eye on his goal and the other whole and half on the new arrival. No telling what he might be capable of.

DC35 TOU check: 34. Obliterated.

Marceau Suvou, AKA the King of Suits in his red and black cape and cowl, crouched on the roof of another warehouse a little more than a block away, peering through his trusty binoculars at the sight of a clearly wealthy young man going into a warehouse in the late afternoon along with a trio of burly types who had 'THUG' written all over them. Their bulky cargo also sparked deep suspicions in his heart, and he was glad that the fingerprints from the hardware store robbery had led him here so quickly. The stolen bolts, screws and transformers would have raised suspicions in any case, but they had been so similar to another recent rash of thefts that he had gone four nights devoted solely to tracking the movements of the thieves up to the present, rarely needing to raise his voice above his normal register to get the information he wanted. The problem had been finding people who knew what was going on. With an easy bound he cleared the space between the roof he was on, and began to race over the warehouses to the mysterious meeting place, hoping there wasn't some kind of ghastly and dangerous experiment going he would need to stop...

GM Martin gave a short nod and went for the door, saying as he went "I'm thinking this is just to let people know we exist and will be performing, I dare say we could give all the shows we wanted without doing this. Anyway, I hope we don't end up in any more trouble here than we need" he added glumly, setting off for the general directions people gave when he asked about the 'theater. "Oh, it's down to the south" "What? Nah, that thing's to the north, follow that road..." "You're being lied to, it's back the way you came" At any rate, after substantially more confusion than was really wanted by either of the two, they wound up a half-hour later in front of a low stucco building with small green bird painted on the wall. What kind it was was utterly impossible to tell due to the large number of dents on and around it from thrown rocks. At Martin's insistent call a beanpole of a man clambered out from under the roof of his home, a scraggly beginning of a beard and mustache lining his jaw and mouth. With a dour glance at the two, he said bluntly to Martin "I bet you want people to know you? Just tell me yer name and what yer pet does, I'll yell about it for today and tomorrow along with the other news I get and, and at the time you tell me people will wander to the 'theater to see you. Deal?" he said the last word with a spit at the ground near the bird. "Done deal Philothestes" Martin answered smoothly "Do you get anything material in return for this?" at that Philo's eyes lit up, and he looked at Martin with undisguised greed. "A few coins would be good," he said eagerly "for taking care of my mother", his voice gave serious doubt if he had a mother at all.

Tagging this.

An embarrassed silence engulfed several seconds as Subito weighed his friend's question. After turning it over in his head for rather longer than was necessary, he admitted "Well..my family knows, and odds are they've told our relatives, who will probably have told their friends, they seem to at least have some idea of it" leaning against a nearby snow-laden tree he continued "Some of my friends from my old school know somehow, and they're always easy to talk to about trying to become a superhero" He listened to Serge's explanation of the difficult position he was in vis a vis a friend of his from outside Claremont. The brief direction to look at some twigs confused him greatly, though he put it down to simple unease with the change of scenery. "I think you should try to keep in touch with him more Serge" he said earnestly "Though," he confessed "it's kinda obvious I'd say that" he glanced around at the frozen forest about them before consulting the map, which he peered at closely "Nah, there don't seem to be many caves for a couple miles at least. looks like the first of them is somewhere around the waterfall a little upstream from here, in that direction" he pointed northwards into the dense forest off the path "Should we check it out? I think we should"

GM With a slight crackle, Alan Archer's now-familiar voice rolled from the hidden loudspeakers. "Great work kids! I've rarely seen those programs go down so fast before a freshman. Besides Ms. White, anyway. Marcus, Subito, head on back to the lounge and rest up; Kris and Serge, head on to the medical bay on the other side of the 'Room and get those bruises and burns taken care of. Just step into one of the little cubicles you'll see and give the mechanical arm in front of you uninhibited access to the trouble spots, then say 'begin scan'. It will do the rest" With an audible sip of some liquid, he concluded "Again, nice work! I'd like to see a little more cohesion though, it's a bad idea to fight those guys uncoordinated in a real fight. That said, go on! The next fight will be...a lot tougher, it'll be you against one of the weirder mad scientists from the 1960's, a Professor Expiostinot, a roboticist from Minnesota, good luck!" With a brief whine, the loudspeaker cut out.

GM Martin's enormous false smile had dissipated entirely by the time he had shut the door to their room in the inn. Slumping against a wall, it was easy to tell that he was having deep regrets about coming there. Listening to Jay he nodded quietly "Yeah..I'll talk to Hermes and see what we need to do to use their stadium" he said before departing to do just that. Hermes was busy sorting the food to get rid of anything already spoiling, and thus was placidly clear and uncomplicated in his instructions: "Hmm? Oh, the amphitheater. All you need to do is talk a man named Philothestes in a house with a green bird on the wall next to his door, near the 'theater to the south. He's the town crier and the general source of news around here for most of us. Just tell him who you are, what you'll do and when, and he'll tell everyone who gives an ear to what he says about it. Then just be at the 'theater at the time you say, perform your act, and if people like you you might get to perform again" smiling humorlessly and speaking in a deep, dry voice, Hermes didn't really inspire much warmth or fond feelings in others. Not hanging about in the hope the innkeeper would soften his attitude, Martin thanked him and retreated to his and Jay's room, repeating the information he had just acquired. With a resigned shrug the young scientist said at the end "...So, what do you want do with the rest of the day? It's still early, about noon I think. I vote we just go talk to this Philothestes guy and get ready for our act"

About the Mage thing.... One possible way of differentiating yours if you choose to make one here is to make them book-learned. Most of the mages in the Freedom City seem to work with natural talent honed by experience, and making yours the result of exotic education would make for a very different kind of magic.

As he had no idea what Kristin might be up to(not paying much attention to the phone call), Subito was startled when he heard the sound of his schoolmate's shoes slapping the dock and the soft *crack* as she launched herself up and onto the boat. Realizing that they were all in it now, he dragged the entire mass he had collected for the deception and tossed it further back into the waters of the dock. Calling up to the crew he said "That's all, thanks!" and slid next to Diego, whispering earnestly in Spanish <"Please, let me and my friend handle this, you don't need to endanger your life. I'm going to follow them underwater"> with that, he swam back to the dock, collected his backpack and wandered off into the maze of vessels. Once he had been lost to the sight of those who had seen him, he tossed his backpack and shoes into the recesses of a disused equipment shed and dove back underwater, calling on the Blue Dame's aid once more Lady I- he began. only to be cut off by the quiet Granted Once more glowing with power, he slid under the yacht of Diamond, and gripped the sides with all his strength. He wished deeply that he had thought this through better.

Subito slid down to earth, feeling more than a little embarrassed at his ineffectual attempts to contribute to the battle. He dispelled the costume with more than a little irritation and put a companionable hand on Net Fly's shoulder "See Surge? You took down both of those things with hardly any trouble at all" he looked over at Arcturus "An' that was amazing senior! I've never seen anyone jump like that since that time I saw footage of Hepcat!" He didn't say much other than that, hanging around with the rest until the small lounge was opened again, and thoughtfully considered what had happened on the field with regards to his efforts against the holograms. If this was any sign of what was to come, he would need to dramatically increase his training regimen to include hand-to-hand combat. Clearly he would need a lot more than just hitting things to be of help to anyone.

Odds are low, yeah. So going to throw another Razor Card at one of them as a Standard and move northwards to meet Rene and/or Marcel. Attack roll: 13.

His mind racing over his options, Marceau realized abruptly that he was committing a gigantic tactical blunder: he was limiting the arena to the Arc, when the metropolis stretched for miles around him. Flinging a razor card from his belt at one of the statues almost at random, he leaped off the triumphal arch and fired his trusty(and industrial-strength) grapple line at the ornamented lip of the Arc, dropping lightly to the ground with a rustle of displaced air as his cape swept away a small cloud of dust. Pausing to give a brief yell of defiance at the demon-possessed statues(and to wonder if there was a world where such words would never be strung together), he bolted north, where at the very least he might be able to meet Marcel or Rene(or some of Haberdier). He hoped he wouldn't meet Frederick on the way, the man would probably need a bit of time to absorb the full magnitude of what had almost happened. As the wind howled past him the King of Suits realized that as the case was still not wholly solved, and he almost stopped in his tracks, slapping his forehead at his forgetfulness. He still needed some kind of proof that Gallu had done this, as otherwise he would look like a looney babbling nonsense. Gritting his teeth, he resumed his speed and focused on closing the distance between himself and someone who could potentially keep the stone terrors at bay until he managed to goad a confession out of Gallu...

GM Unfortunately for the young paragon-in-training, his punch whiffed several inches in front of the robot, and swung him directly into its counterattack. The silent pillar of steel lashed out with a punishing blow into the boy's right flank, causing a spurt of blood to fly from between his suddenly clenched teeth. With a gasp of pain the boy was sent headlong into the water, where he sank quickly out of sight. The robot remained hovering above where he had sunk, watching with great care lest the youth attempt to resurface.

Taking this opportunity, Heraldo raced at the robot, putting all his might into a punch that if it hit would doubtless to a great deal of damage to the comparatively weak metal of the robot's hide. However, the initial passion evaporated into confusion when his fist bounced off the target with a simple *clong*. Standing in midair in front of the odd pair he said awkwardly "Er...darn" he looked sheepishly down at the other two. "Hope they hit harder than that..."

GM The robot made a desultory attempt to evade the flying rune-master, but it wasn't enough. With a groan of protest from its holographic metal limbs the thing strained with all of its might to escape the powerful hold keeping it immobile. Its jets flared desperately, and it shook itself vigorously trying to dislodge its unlikely embrace, but every effort simply caused its assailant to grip more tightly to its smooth armor. At last it soon had reduced its recharging energy levels to the point where it could only hover in place and glare at Arcturus with a narrowed bronze eye.

DC27 TOU check for Steeljacket 2:[url-http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3346527/]25 Victory is yours!

It happens immediately.

DC24 TOU check for Steeljacket 2: 31. Sorry.

Okay, clear winner is Arcturus, Steeljacket 2 is now(I assume) Pinned. -4 to DEF and has lost Dodge Bonus(didn't have any), so now it has +1 DEF. So Heraldo will Power Attack +3 to DMG(making it DC27)18, hits. DC27 TOU check: 29, I'm so surprised. Round three. Steeljacket: Pinned Glow: Bruised I Net Fly: Unharmed Arcturus: Unharmed Heraldo: Unharmed. You're up Glow.

Arcturus hits the Steeljacket. Opposed Grapple check time. 13.

Fired by the fact that the supers were getting to safety(And I helped! he thought excitedly), not to mention the fact that one of their metal harassers had just been smashed outright, El Heraldo figured he could do a lot worse than try his luck at attacking one of the monstrosities himself. Pulling back an arm, he shot like an arrow from a bow at the one he had noticed as bearing a minute marker of '1' in dark green. His zeal put force behind his blow, and the wind rushed through the feather in his cap as he rocketed towards his adversary with arm crooked to deliver what he hoped would prove to be a mortal strike.

Don't want to be a spoilsport, but Steeljacket 2 is flying ouside of melee range. It can be reached with his Leaping however.

GM As the robot went flying towards Fulcrum, it clearly hadn't been expecting a counter-blow. This was evident by the way its limbs exploded from its body just as its head was snapped clean off from the inertia of the punch, their black steel lashing and clawing at the air and concrete as it dug an impromptu burrow for itself in the ground that was slowly filled with the green cooling fluid inside its chassis, stilling after an agonizing period. It powered down, the dark glow in its eyes fading, before the explosion tossed its remains into the air in a cloud of disintegrating metal. Its cousin seemed to take affront to this dispatching, and opening its cannon to an extent greater than looked to be actually possible, it concentrated the resulting inferno of semi-coherent energy into a bolt at least a third of a meter across at Fulcrum, which carved a charred gouge into the concrete of the docks as it dissipated into the matter around itself. From the way it jolted several feet away, its eyes combining to peer at Fulcrum in an unmistakably baffled manner at her, this was obviously not the intended effect. The supers, now beached and with two of the cannons overheated, decided to cut their losses and make a run for it, the accountants, college and university students, grocery clerks and taxi drivers nearly falling out of the leaning boat to get the agents(still in a state of terror), from the exposed and motionless target they otherwise would be on. One of them, a lean Korean woman who Subito recognized as a friend of his sister's from his old school, took the time to turn back and yell to the two fliers "Good luck to you guys! And thank you Fulcrum! They'd have got us if it wasn't for you!"

Now for the rest.... Dark Metal 2 makes with the Power Attacking(+5DMG, -5Attack) against Fulcrum: 15, miss. Skipping the Metas because they're getting the hell out of Dodge with the Agents in tow. HP for Fulcrum for the speedy rescue. Heraldo makes a Power Attack(+3 to DMG, -3 Attack) against Dark Metal 1: 6, miss. Dark Metal 1 Attacks EH with a punch-move: 16, hits. DC28 TOU check: 15, he's out. EDIT: As has been pointed out to me(thank you Scuffles), that isn't correct in the slightest. Staggered and Dazed. End of ROUND THREE. Beginning ROUND FOUR, Order: Fulcrum:unharmed Dark Metal 2: unharmed Heraldo: Satggered+Dazed Dark Metal 1: unharmed