Ari
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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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Everything posted by Ari
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As always, feel free to make any rolls that seem applicable.
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GM 'W-what? B-but we have to perform the ritual! Then I-then you'll see the powers we so foolishly tamper with! Don't take us awaaaaaaay....' For a demon, Tazel had a strange fear of high speeds, and was soon howling as Pitch roared away from the clearing and set off down the hill for the picturesque town hall. The going was easy, and the afternoon sun gave the river and town a pleasant, old-timey feel that went well with the rushing wind and rumbling motorcycle. At last the hellfiend recovered some of its composure. 'Fine. I'll read your slimy human scribbles and make them fit with your stunted human sense of order. The things I do, and am I ever thanked? Nooo it's always "Tazel do this! Tazel do that! Tazel burn this thing for me because my puny human body can't control this facile physical universe"...ingrates...should burn this town down...' Springsvale wasn't too big, and before the demon could really get going Pitch arrived at the low white building marked 'Springsvale Town Hall' above the door. On the door was a knocker, which summoned a sleepy-looking old man with a head of white hair that looked like a cloud had fallen on him, and a small sign: 'No Solicitors/Sorcerers' "Can I 'elp, miss...?" the old man asked dubiously, looking Pitch up and down remarkably like a disapproving grandfather. "Wow!" Karen's eyes sparkled "A summoning? Ooh! What if-what if, this was the prelude to an invasion of snakes? This could be a new supervillain on the rise!" scribbling gleefully on her notepad, she went on chattily "So, that thing being dead means it didn't work, right? But why? If it's a failure why leave it around for people to see and know you ****ed up? Pardon my French, but couldn't it also mean that it's just not done? Maybe something BIG needs that snake corpse to work! Like...like in conjunction with stars or an eclipse or something. Also," she looked up, blowing a few strands of dry hair out of her frowning face "if it failed...why're the runes still all glowy? If the spell was wrong, or just got messed up, why is all this still here?"
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GM The scattered bronze glimmers that announced the automatons moved slowly, deliberately. As they passed in and out of the dull reddish light they could be made out as crouching, their twisted flesh and metal bent low as they padded and clanked through the underbrush. Like Tona remembered, they were heavily armed, but along with their firearms, blades and shoulder-mounted spike launchers, they carried clubs and nets. Their slow pace wasn't without its dangers, however. One passed just a bit too far out of the tree cover, and the searching beacon of the flying barge swept right on top of it. The beam froze. For several heart-stopping seconds, the ship and its attendant Omegadrones paused. The girls could almost see the gears turning. Then, with a chuckling roar, the squared ship resumed its course, sweeping away from the General's troops and the camp. The howl of drone jetpacks began to fade into a distant whine once again. But still below them resounded the steady, muffled '*clank--clack--clank--clack-clack-clank*' of the force insinuating closer and closer to the village...
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GM "You get to go first, Miss Stand-in-the-Open" Suiting action to word, the red-suited Salamander took aim at Cho, currently standing in the middle of the lobby. With a low-pitched rumble, the thing's formerly blank nodes and channels flared to red life, a tongue of near-invisible flame bursting forth from the black block in his hands! Whatever it was, the thing had enough kick that the red-suited man had to dig his heel into the floor to keep steady. It streaked through the air like lightning, slamming into the young heroine like a white-hot battering ram. As it traveled, the floor under it melted and hissed, sending up gouts of vapor! "Hey, kid" the Salamander's silken voice rose over the starting chaos "If you're so concerned about our victims, how about you go help them instead of playing Johnny Rocket? Do you want them burning to death?"
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Okay, waited long enough. Beginning without Stronghold for the time being. Current lineup: Red Salamander #1: Unharmed-GM Thoughtspeed: Unharmed, 1HP Yellow Salamander: Unharmed-GM Black Salamander: Unharmed-GM BabyBrawler: Unharmed, 1HP Red Salamander #2: Unharmed-GM Cho Lee: Unharmed, 2HP R Salamander 1 shoots at Cho with a fire blast! 28. DC25 Toughness save, please. As well, a Move-Action(-5 to the roll) Bluff check to Distract Thoughtspeed: 22. DC22 Bluff/Sense Motive roll. Thoughtspeed is up.
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GM Riff Her head drooping at the last, clinching words, the woman tossed aside the gun, jumping as it ht the floor with a clatter, turning to it and waiting fearfully for something to happen. When nothing did, and she had recovered her dull spirits, her head turned slightly to Riff. "A considerable number of you people are crazy, or act like it. Besides, have you seen the sorts of things that want to destroy us all? At least a bit of a boost would put you heroes' minds at rest." The nearby patrons were mostly relaxing now that the crazy gunwoman no longer merited the 'gun' prefix, a few calls of "Thanks for the save, Riff!" or "Thanks for that, Breakdown!" rang out from near the beverage fridges. "Want me to call the cops, Riff?" asked the cashier with a winning smile behind his thick beard. "Yes, please do," the middle-aged woman muttered dully, staring at the floor and fiddling with her bun "I may be useless next to our champions, but at least I'll be out of the way..."
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GM Amelyth After a brief study of the inauspiciously-dressed heroine, the young man's face twisted in wry amusement "Yeah, you don't 'sactly look like Daedalus. Ted, by the way" Glancing up and down the street at the people walking by (some of whom waved politely to Amelyth), he leaned a little closer and began softly and earnestly to explain. "We meet every week or so at this Italian place, Sagrada Pizza, this time it's tomorrow. See, I'd tell him off, call him out on the **** he's putting me and my family though, but it's like..." his face screwed up, like someone trying to remember a name at a party "like every mornin' something's pulled all the fight out of me. And I live in Southside, so every day I wake up and see supers flyin' over the river. It just...it hits somethin' deep inside me." Looking increasingly dubious as he enunciated each syllable in turn, Ted asked the teen girl "Could you, like, try and make that not happen? The fight-draining thing? Somehow? Please? I can probably take Marty if he tries anythin', though you're welcome to help out if it turns ugly."
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GM Rene de Saens Glancing sidelong at the old man, the younger woman began "Not all-" then shook her head vigorously and backpedaled "Sure, yeah. Just...came to me one night after Cap and Siren were on TV, they'd been helping out with that mudslide out in Washington. Suddenly I realized that supers...they just help us with our problems. They never have any of their own. It's like they come from somewhere else, somewhere better," resting her chin on her hands she gazed at the dazzling painting bleakly, "and what do we give them? Nothing compared to what we get in return." "Been working on this one for a while. I don't do digital tools, so it's taken about...a month, on and off. A few hours each day." She smiled glumly "Marsha, by the way. You want it mister? The painting, I mean."
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It's cool that Hyperborea Lass takes after Suprema, but our naming policy tends away from specific, clear copies of licensed character names. As a replacement, I'd suggest something that emphasizes her isolation from her own kind, like Exile, or maybe her being a newcomer, like Aspira. Another blond flyer with powers like Superior, and a similar name, would be looked at a little askance in Freedom, where superheroic history has never forgotten the second World War or Der Ubermensch. Or, counterwise, that could be the whole point. Also, you'll need to get this all into the site's format. You can find it in the Newbie Guide pretty easily. As a final note, if you haven't already, look up Gizmo's manifesto on overlap between characters. Seeing as the Thulean will be coexisting with TiffanyKorta's Triaskosia, who has a similar power set, differentiating can make all the difference.
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GM The dismal, dusty and cobwebbed dining room served as the best place for holding their strange meeting. Under the silent gaze of moldy portraits and fading landscapes, the trio discussed what they had seen, heard or felt that had shown them the true face of the world. What scant information they had would be vital in deciding what was to be done. Meanwhile, without.... The portal flared open, emitting a blue light that filled the plaza before City Hall, a light that was soon eclipsed by the tall and formidable figure of Adrian Eldrich as he walked ten paces briskly into thin air, and then gently descended. His cape swirled about his ankles as he marched grim-faced up the steps into the Federal Building, the doors swinging open with an impatient gesture from the Master Mage...
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It's in Off Panel, right '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> <- there.
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Valcili, my apologies for this taking such an unreasonable long time, but we need to wait for horngeek(at least for two more days) to post Stronghold's Initiative. Otherwise we have no idea when she goes, which could change the entire sequence of events. In this case, I'll have to ask a Ref to remove the post. Could you please copy it for use once BabyBrawler's turn comes?
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El Heraldo No posts. King of Suits 1 IC post. 4 IC posts. Opsrey 1 IC post. 1 IC post. Mind-Set 3 IC posts. Wave-Eye 1 IC post. 1 IC post. GM Please distribute posts in the following order: Mind-Set, Osprey, El Heraldo, Wave-Eye. 1 GM post. 2 GM posts. 1 GM post. 2 GM posts. 1 GM post. 1 GM post. 1 GM post. 1 GM post. 5 GM posts. 1 GM post.
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Wave-Eye bowed, his cuirass creaking "I would deem it an honor to be shown the wonders of Atlantis. I have come once before, but on...business. And it has been an age and an age since any of my kind were allowed free steering within your walls." The reason for that was because of the once-many Sea Kings, who had used tritons as soldiers in their endless war for control of the world ocean. Atlantis' fall had been seen as a golden opportunity, something that quickly turned out to be anything but that thanks to the Atlanteans' still-potent magic and surviving machinery. But nobody needed to be reminded of that, and the Daughter of Earthquakes least of all. Besides, Nochehualt reminded himself dourly, he hadn't even been part of that futile war. He couldn't very well climb to a moral high ground on the corpses of other's victims. That worked best with his own. Leaving the matter of Temperance's possible romance aside, Wave-Eye gestured to the skyline "The hands and minds of your people are never idle, it seems. Might we see the newest parts of the city first?"
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GM Sneaking into the mess hall, Cavalier's audio pick-up was steadily assaulted by waves of hilarity, from the booms of Zanvir to the electronic cackling of Core-A to the sniggers of one of the heftier Edgers. They were clustered around a thick rectangular table that looked like it was supposed to be white, but given the way it was being treated, the multi-colored food piled on it and all the laughing bangs and kicks, looked like it was headed for an early grave. "HahahAAAAA! Oh star****, Ultra, that's AMAZING! What then, how'd you get out of the restraints once the governor was asleep?" "Child's play! You see, my felonious friends, the Ultra-Might allows me to reshape matter at will! So, with but a great burst of that power, I turned it and the rest of the prison...into shrrons!" Finding a good hiding spot was easy enough. Zanvir occupied the seat where the captain would normally go, at the center of the table with a stout control panel-studded datacolumn behind the chair in case of emergencies. There was just enough space for a comparatively slim Star Knight to position himself behind it, hear everything, and remain hidden even if the cloak dropped. "Bwa-ha...haaaaaa. By the #$(@-spiders, Zanny! It's 'nough to make me think this'll work!" "Indeed!" Leaning his chair back to rest his crossed legs on the table, the Star Thief took a hearty drink of something purple and intoxicating "Once we're on Earth, it will be, like my latest escapades, the simplest of matters to simply track down the target, in this case my good friend Captain Silvia the Stormbreaker-" a chorus of whistles and howls broke out, requiring some to grab a bottle and smash it over someone else's head to restore order "Stop whimpering G'udge, you've taken worse and grinned. Anyway! Once I find her, I will do some harmless mischief with the power inside our new acquisition, perform some daring theft, an impossible feat or two to rub it in, maybe meet a nice human, and sail back to the edgeworlds!" Springing onto the table, Zanvir thundered "Gentlebeings...success, to CRIME!" Cheers and greedy drinking noises rang out in answer, the talk quickly falling back onto ribald adventures. Most of which involved oddly large amounts of collateral damage to other people's stuff.
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GM Sirens had started to wail in the distance only a few minutes after the crash, and it took only a (relatively) short time for Freedom's Finest to make their appearance. Soon after their arrival, the area was taped off and waiting for the tow truck to arrive. Loading the driver into an ambulance, with two grim-faced officers riding inside, was soon done; while the corpse in the back seat took a little doing to get out, it at least gave incontrovertible proof of the manner of death by way of a softball-sized hole though the neck. The gun, gun case and three wallets stashed in the glove compartment packed with varying false IDs were taken in as evidence. The detectives asked Velocity for her statement, requesting the bullets she'd caught. The officers were polite but firm about their wanting the crime scene clear of non-police. "It's not that we don't want your help, Velocity," Det. Mandel explained, pushing his hat a little further over his red hair to keep off the chill "but we've got our rules, and one of them is not letting civilians around crime scenes. We'd never have caught this guy without you, miss, and thanks for that, but we gotta do our part of the job now." Nodding and smiling politely, the officer marched over to the car to get rubbings of the tires and check for the car's serial number.
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The situation was getting downright Serbian, and as he worked on the leg Marceau was already starting to wonder if maybe he wouldn't be better off there than in America. 'I could start up the East House again, maybe bring back Alek and Dusana...no supervillains...' But that would mean abandoning people here, some of whom had even started to depend on his work. 'Like this poor bâtard' "Your boss has a strange mind, my friend, if shooting his assassins is a good idea to it." he smiled encouragingly at Carl, gently extricating his cape from the man's hands once again. The weight on his shoulder felt like it was being driven into his own wound "It's foolish. Relax, it will help your leg. I won't let you die if it's even an inch within my power." Which as a stance was all well and good, but as the King of Suits regarded the nearby rooftops, it began to hit home just how unlikely that was to be in the cards. King Cole could field assassins(of admittedly sharply varying skill levels) who knew him by sight and could watch him wherever he went. He could just discard the costume and slip home, he couldn't risk bringing the King's wrath down on some poor doctor by going for help in costume, and getting around with Carl (leaving him was unthinkable) would be difficult in the extreme with both of them injured. That left one option: the people of the Fens. They were often lazy, bitter, crude, suspicious, unfriendly and uncaring about anyone's problems but their own...but he'd seen the other side of them just a few years ago, when that German Doktor had gone mad and flooded the city with monsters, and he'd organized the looters and thugs into a defence force against the red-skinned horrors. But...no. Marceau shook his head. He couldn't just drag them into his problem. Then his eyes fell on Carl, and he saw the other way on this path. The young Frenchman grinned with relief. Lifting the man up onto his shoulder once again, and setting off at a steady, rapid pace to the south, he said crisply "Carl, where did you get this job of yours? I think we should pay that place a little visit..."
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GM "Good. We agree. We cannot let him escape." Withdrawing her hand, Red Moon began to levitate towards the roof, a faint shimmer playing over her terrasuit. As she rose she went on, calling down to Miss Grue over the crackle and moan of her speakers "We must track Gamma's mind, it will be angry and in turmoil, even in such a vast city none will think like him." She paused, suddenly thoughtful "Perhaps we should try to change him? He lashes out thanks to evil memories and is embittered every time he lashes out. Perhaps we should stop the cycle. My powers could let him-" "NO! Wait, stop! Don't do that!" Emerging from a pile of rubble, Prof. Cavesson stumbled under the lunar vampire, waving his arms frantically while tears streamed down his face "Please! You have to listen to me! That won't help at all!" Her face was invisible, but from the tilt of her head it was clear that Red Moon was confused "How? As he is, he knows only pair, fear, rejection..." "And if you change his mind, it will only get worse! Ward's not right in the head, no, but he is right on one thing: he's not human! He works differently, he thinks differently, if we could persuade him to drop this useless agenda of his, he could really help humanity thanks to those dissimilarities!" Retrieving his glasses from the floor, miraculously unscathed, and wiping them off hurriedly, Cavesson went on frantically "If you change his thinking, his memories and who he is...that would be it, he'd lose himself and just be a radioactive freak! Please, take me with you! I-I can talk to him!" "He left with your prototype declaring he would 'show them all'. I doubt he will listen to a single word we say." "That doesn't mean you shouldn't try!" "There is little profit even if we do." Cavesson turned his streaked and desperate face to Miss Grue "Please, talk to him, it could really work. He doesn't have to feel like he does, he just doesn't know any other way." The words got a harsh snarl from Red Moon, who set off out of the A.S.T.R.O. Labs building and soared off after the Atom-Smasher.
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"For shame, Smooth!" barked Wave-Eye, the black orbs jutting from his criss-crossed skull somehow focusing on the fearful singer "Thinking to save your hide by endangering your fellows? Back in my day, you would have been thrown to the sea-goblins! Be thou a man!" It was sometimes hard to remember the gulf between superbeings and normal humans, especially if, like the triton, you only had limited exposure to comparatively weak surfacers. Glancing worriedly at the Daughter of Earthquakes as she began trying to splinter the floor, the ancient soldier weighed the band's options. 'No sense in granting that lordless wretch any more time than necessary, but still...we must have eyes' "Smooth! Thy first task," the triton gestured to the floor "is to tell us the quickest way to the engines. If it cramps or burns, so be it. These ceilings and walls won't stop Blood, but we can!"
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Alden regarded the ground for a while, mulling that over. It certainly explained how the stuff was getting around, Mitchell wasn't exactly lacking in the contact department, and a new power-drug would mean a real edge for anyone able to control it, which explained the demand. But where was it coming from? And more importantly, did these Harvesters have something to do with that? "Right." Osprey looked up, eyes gleaming in stale streetlamp light "We'll see to 'em. Foreshadow," he nodded to the other crimefighter "the 'Brit' is inside the building, upstairs, tied up behind a couch. I'm thinking he's better off there than in plain view, or tagging along with us. Our new chums can make sure he doesn't escape. Or they can make a very big mistake, wouldn't dream of imposin'." Suddenly, Osprey's eyes bulged, his muscles stretched along with suddenly-taut skin, and his bones began to twist even as feathers sprouted, his mouth elongated into a heavy beak and wings burst from his back. The man-eagle shook himself a little, testing his powerful new limbs with an experimental flick that sent a crushing backwash of air. Nodding, he told the prescient prosecutor "Lead. I'll follow from the air" and suiting action to the word he launched himself into the sky, wheeling in a wide circle as he prepared to follow Foreshadow's lead.
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Will has the higher bonus, so he goes before Yellow Salamander.
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GM The scene of hazy havoc that me the heroes' eyes was nothing compared to what some of them had already seen; although the wailing din of the fire alarm, the deluge of the sprinklers, and smouldering patches of fire flaring up gave it an edge. The caved-in ceiling was a mess, rafters and roofing littered across the center of the room, much of it still smoking and flickering, heat waves wafting from it. With a businesslike nonchalance, the two red-suited firebugs were moving for the imposing slab of metal that marked the vault door. Or at least the door leading to the vault itself. From the hole melted into the wall nearby it was clear that no door, no matter how badass, would stand for long against them, but Freedom-based banks had quickly learned the value of delaying super-criminals for as long as possible. At the registers, half-hidden by the low wall, the man in the yellow-suit was busily engaged cracking open the cash drawers, while in the middle of the room slouched the black-suited figure, still silently pumping smoke into the air from their opened helmet. The last had sat down on a ruined piece of furniture, its cracked and burning frame something it either had no fear of or didn't care if it had. Not a soul besides the fire-themed foursome could be seen, either the bank employees and patrons had already fled, or they were far better at hiding than most. Each of them stopped for just a moment as Thoughtspeed's accusing voice rang in their minds, and each of them turned to the door just in time to see the three heroines arrive, the black-suit starting just a little at Cho's landing. The only one to reply was the red-suit with the blocky black weapons, his voice dry and silky as before as he half-turned. "This is none of your concern. If you left now, everyone would benefit." Spinning on his heel with enough speed that even Will saw a blur, he drew a much larger gun from its holster, two embers burning in the black depths of the visor "But you won't. Salamanders, burn!" he shouted as the other three slid gracefully into ready stances, fire igniting, form wavering and smoke billowing as battle was joined!
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The layout of the bank is spacious and open, with few places to hide besides the tills on the wall opposite the doors. A scattered collection of sofas and chairs in the middle of the room have been smashed and burned to pieces. The Black Salamander is standing there, while the Red Salamanders are moving to the vault door on the east(left-hand side), and the Yellow Salamander loots the registers. Y has half-cover, the rest are out in the open. They don't take kindly to threats or being interrupted in the middle of work, so their initiatives: Red Salamanders: 19,24 Black Salamander: 23. Yellow Salamander: 23. Y Salamander has the higher bonus, so he goes earlier.
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Gunwoman is now Indifferent.
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GM Rene Startled by Rene's appearance, the young woman turned around sharply, observing with a frown Rene for a moment before answering "Well, what would I do there? What would anyone who's not super do there?" Returning to the glossy painting, she stared at it glumly "It's colorful, bright and full of promise. That's pretty far from anything we mortals have ever achieved. Even the ones who make like they're not super, they do things none of the rest of us ever could. Or they're freakishly smart and make the rest of us look like dumb apes." "Wherever people like me are going, it isn't there. At best, we become like them; worst, we're just speedbumps on the way to their utopia." Miss Grue The taller mugger swiveled his head around "Huh? Who's theaaaaauuuuugh!" recoiling at the sight of the Gruen-free Guardian, he immediately took to his heels, racing down the alleyway and vaulting the chain-link fence in a single bound, soon vanishing around the corner as he raced pell-mell, driven by blind terror. His comrade was, contrarywise, frozen. He stared in mounting horror at the alien in front of him, which gave the woman clutched in his arms the chance to knock away the knife, wriggle free and kick him in the shins, sending him toppling to the ground with a howl of pain. Grabbing up her purse from the dirty pavement she jogged off, pausing to give Miss Grue a hasty peck on the cheek and muttered "Thankssorrygottago" before she, too, vanished. For a few seconds, the alley was quiet besides the light whimpers of the remaining man. "Mrrrrrrrrrrgh." Abby looked up blearily, a stab of dull anger going through her brain as she slowly pieced together the superheroine standing in front of her "We really are useless, aren't we? Can't do a thing without you people getting involved..." glancing up, her eyes having fallen a little, she added bleakly "Thanks. I won't try that again." Amelyth At first the words didn't register 'We're useless it's pointless they're just gonna die I can't-' "Wait, what?" his head jerked up, and two bright blue eyes stared into Amelyth's. "I...well, it's just...you wouldn't get it!" he burst out angrily, hunching his legs up onto the bench, circling his knees with his arms and glowering at the young psionicist "What kinda problems do YOU have? You got a family to feed, know you're on the choppin' block at work? Maybe your brother is in the Mob and is getting all "Hey man, if you're not in, you're out", and you know he's gonna go for your kids first? What the Hell does somebody like YOU know about it?! You people think that everything's fine if you're fine! Just cause we're weak, you don't give a damn about us unless we make you feel bad!" The coherent despair of a few seconds ago was replaced with an inferno of incoherent hostility, the man's cold eyes burning with helpless rage and on the verge of tears. He glared sheer hate at Amelyth for a second, then suddenly he shrank back, hiding his face against his knees again "I'm sorry" he whispered bleakly "I just...I don't know what to do. I can't...I can't do anything and it's still all my fault..." Stronghold The businessman crashed into the cushion of energy with a surprised "Ack!" bouncing a few times as he recovered from the very unexpected landing. Looking up blearily, he adjusted his glasses and peered at the flying ringbearer. "Good morning. No, it's not that bad, but the more there are of me, the more there are to waste time rescuing. This is a call to arms, I'd like to inspire others to follow my example and free you from our burden. Non-metas aren't exactly worth much in this world, you see. For the most part we just clutter up the world, eat up resources you could be using..." he stood up, straightening his immaculate suit unconsciously and smiling warmly at the young heroine with his round, well-fed face and half-hidden twinkling dark eyes "Really, it's no bother. Just let me jump, miss. I don't have any ties." Riff At first sight of the soundwave sentinel, the worn-looking woman whipped the gun around to point at him. "We all deserve powers!" she began hotly, eyes flashing "Why should they just go to the lucky or slimy government-?" At first the pistol stayed leveled at Riff, then the trembling arms let it drop until the deadly muzzle pointed at the floor. The woman's eyes lost their fire, and she looked away "I wasn't going to hurt anyone. I just wanted to...people shouldn't have to live at the mercy of supers. Why shouldn't I be stronger, faster? What's the difference between you and me, sonny?" she demanded bitterly, flicking a strand of gray hair out of her face "Why shouldn't we be on the same level?"
