GranspearZX

And Clark is going to attempt to threaten the guard into giving up the information! Intimidate roll: (1d20+6=13) Gonna spend an HP for this one: Intimidate roll: (1d20+6=26) +10 for 36. Yay!

"You won't, huh?" Crusader leaned down and grabbed the soldier by the collar with both hands, hauling himto his feet and unceremoniously slamming him back against the wall. There was something significantly different in his voice and a faint glow in his eyes; he was still Clark, but there was something unusual about his personality. There was a distinct, Old West accent in his voice as well. "I dunno what this 'golden age' bit is. Don't really care. But I always get what I'm after, see..." Crusader's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened. "If I gotta break a couple bones to get there, oh well. I got nothin' to lose."

Noted; thanks for the correction. I wasn't sure because I haven' gone to look for your character sheet. Signature links have changed, so you may want to fix that... So that puts El Heraldo next!

"Practice makes perfect," he quipped in return, nodding in thanks for the compliment. Separating the guard from his weapon, Crusader hauled the an up off his feet and carried him alongside the King of Suits. scanning the passages for an empty, well concealed room they could use for interrogation. He was well aware of how time-sensitive it all was, and preventing two guards from joining the outdoor fray wasn't really going to make much difference. "This place seems too big not to have some unused space somewhere..."

GM "...whoa." That was the only reaction from Trigger as Supercape teleported the pair of them to the surface. The sudden sunlight surprised him just as much, and he squinted for a minute as his glasses adjusted, the lenses turning from clear to darkened shades in a matter of moments. "Knives is... complicated. I dunno where he is; you saw Azel teleport him away somewhere. I can tell you where his apartment is, but other than that..." As Trigger was writing down the address on a scrap of paper, Smokey came around the corner, a pair of fresh cigars in his mouth. He spotted Supercape and scowled openly, looking next over at Trigger. "...do I even want to know?" Trigger shrugged. "Probably not."

Arcturus 3 posts ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> 3 posts 3 posts Crusader ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> [] 2 posts (Crusader & King of Suits) 5 posts GM/NPC 8 posts (Crusader) ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> 1 post (Arcturus) ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> 10 posts (Crusader) Total: Arcturus: 10 Crusader: 25

All at once, time seemed to slow down for Crusader. It wasn't necessarily a metahuman or psychic thing, but when his adrenaline spiked and it was time to act, he just somehow knew. The gap between these soldiers and those he was hearing down the hall was small, and time wasn't on his side. The element of surprise, however, was, and he reacted, hurling his shield across the hallway. It struck the wall first, forcing the pair to turn its direction. It ricocheted right off, slamming the rear guard squarely in the helmet. It bounced from one guard to the other, catching the poor unaware guard right in the bridge of his nose and knocking him off his feet. As if planned all along, the shield came spinning right back at Crusader for him to catch it. Wasting no time, he quickly ran forward to grab one of the guards by the ankles, hauling him back into the opposing hall where he and Marceau had been hiding; the last thing he wanted was for the guards to discover an unconscious body. He motioned for the King of Suits to help with the other, searching the guard's pockets for anything of use.

GM "Not much more than you." It was difficult to gauge by Trigger's facial expression whether or not he was shaken by everything that had just gone on. He didn't seem too broken up about divulging any information to Supercape. "All I know is that Knives made some kind of deal with her. I guess that was part of it." He shrugged nonchalantly. "..can we get out of here now? This place is still creepy, monsters or not."

Ooh. Takedown Attack 2 is going to come in handy. IC post forthcoming! Along with an attack roll: Shield Throw (Blast 6-- Burst AoE, Mighty 5): (1d20+10=15)

Ooh. Fun times. Do these soldiers count as minions or no?

"It's not always all roses, but... yeah. It comes in handy." Marcus started walking, his pace a bit slower than usual. Despite being in bear form before, his legs ached from the travel across the city. It wasn't something he normally did after all, least of all with a passenger in tow. His entire lower body felt heavy, and he wouldn't have minded sitting down for a while. On top of that, he was still hungry, which only made the Beast Rune that much more agitated. He slowed to a near halt when they finally got to Stephens Street, glancing around for a few seconds before looking back at Elias. "So what's this guy look like?"

Good lord. I didn't even have this thread tagged. x_x Stealth check: (1d20+9=25) Notice check: (1d20+5=19)

GM The officers and the crime scene techs seemed largely unsure what to make of Mess and his dog; a brief phone call to Stearns and they backed off, though not without a deliberate air of skepticism among them. Hound's senses picked up far more than any of them could have--the scent of grease and oil seemed out of place for an alley too narrow to hold a vehicle. There were also faint amount of metal shavings trailing from the back of the alley. There weren't nearly enough to track, but there were definite footprints left by the Riveter. The investigators might have discovered them eventually, but their scent and spacing made them rather obvious for the Hound. The trail weaved through buildings but was generally heading south towards the southern end of the West End--not the best neighborhood, with lots of construction going on near Highway 6.

Indeed it is. FORT check: (1d20+7=13) Failed. -7 TOU. Ow. TOU check: (1d20+6=8) Subtracting the previous drain amount, meaning it fails by... a lot. Gargoyle disintegrates into a mass of pixels.

GM "Well... that's disappointing." Azel made a face, but she didn't seem inclined to get into a physical confrontation over it. Rather, she waved a hand dismissively about the entire thing, as if it was no longer worth her time or attention. "Oh well. I've had my fun with it anyway. Plenty more where that came from, after all. I suppose I'll just have to settle for other toys elsewhere." She smiled, blowing a kiss in Supercape's general direction. "I'm sure we'll meet again. Looking forward to it." As she faded from sight, the air physically distorting as she slowly vanished, Trigger snorted and put away his bow. "...I never liked that lady."

Arcturus picked up speed as they stumbled into the clearing. It wasn't exactly an intentional thing but now that they had been detected, there really was no getting around it. With a feral snarl, the huge bear leaped forward, a violet runic symbol appearing against the back of both his clawed hands. The sound of a faint but punctuated clap of thunder preceded him as he took a vicious swing at the first gargoyle, knocking it right out of the air and down onto the ground.

Apologies for the hold-up. Been having a bit of a rough week and I'm still getting used to the new shiny whats-its around the board. But I have my notes back and I've got peoples' character sheets properly bookmarked, so here we go! Arcturus's Initiative: Initiative: (1d20+5=15) And the gargoyles: Initiative: (1d20+2=19) So our breakdown ends up as such: 19 :: Gargoyles 15 :: Arcturus [2 HP; Unharmed] 12 :: Warp [1 HP, Unharmed] 12 :: Errant [1 HP, Unharmed] 9 :: Glow [2 HP, Unharmed] 6 :: Heraldo [5 HP, Unharmed] And the gargoyles open up with a volley of fireballs intended for the colorful paragon: Blast 6 (Fling Flame): (1d20+6=23, 1d20+6=19, 1d20+6=20) So that's 3 TOU checks vs DC 21. Arcturus leaps into action in a very literal way, aiming at the nearest gargoyle: Claws (Strike 1, lightning): (1d20+12=20) ...which leaves the first gargoyle staggered and stunned. IC post forthcoming, after which it'll be Warp's turn!

Sounds like a plan! Sorry it's taken me a bit to get back to this... and everything. Learning to navigate the new digs and all.

Crusader smiled and nodded in agreement. Though he'd never done anything quite this dangerous, he had a sneaking suspicion that his grandfather had. It was that influence that made him not be all that alarmed by the explosions outside or the very real possibility of being shot. He wasn't exactly thrilled at how exposed their position was, and getting in seemed to have gone a little too well. His inner cynic was waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop. "Agreed on both counts," he replied, nodding with a faint smile of his own. The tension and nervousness of the situation made him reluctant to find too much enjoyment in it--a testament to his own inexperience when compared to the familiarity of the past Crusaders' histories and experiences. Despite it all, Crusader took charge as best he could, honing in on the sounds of footsteps in the distance.

"...eh?" Arcturus straightened up a little. Still in bear form, he looked around. "I don't get out this way much, so we're gonna have to ask for directions." His form changed almost instantly, magic keeping his clothes intact. Marcus still seemed a little fatigued from the trip but he was rapidly improving as he picked a direction. He headed for the first person he saw--it was better that he not be in bear form, as most people focused on the teeth and the claws rather than his words. Including himself. "Excuse me... can you tell us where Stephens Street is?"

Crusader gave a single nod, moving ahead of Marceau and slightly increasing his pace. It was always a stressful thing when both stealth and time were important factors, but if nothing else, Clark could adapt to a situation as needed. He definitely wasn't so naive that he'd think that Dr. Green would be dumb enough to send out ALL his heavy hitters against Voltage and Stormbreaker. To that end, even as they moved, Crusader was still mentally and physically on his guard, adrenaline keeping him on alert. "Sounds like they're all headed for the party up front," he mused, gripping the leather strap holding his shield against his arm. "Gotta be a couple stragglers somewhere."

Crusader wasn't at all disheartened by the fact that he couldn't do anything. His back was turned to the King of Suits as he worked to get them inside, standing guard while he waited. His strength--aside from being adept at punching things--was more tactical than martial. Besides that, this was hardly a one person job, stealth or no stealth. He was almost certain his grandfather had done something like this during World War II, but concentrating on what would have been far too distracting. The sound of Voltage's jolts and supporting laser fire snapped him out of his train of though, returning the crimson-clad hero back to the matter at hand. One the door was opened, he moved in right behind the King of Suits. His first thought was to scan the inner corridor for cameras, hoping to stay out of sight of whatever soldiers were approaching from the outside.

GM "...oh." The officer just blinked a few times. There was a clear look of familiarity on his face before he looked at his partner. Behind them, the CSI technicians were finally wrapping things up. "The Riveter... Jesus. Look, I'll pass it along to Detective Stearns, but... that's the best I can do." Both officers were clearly uncomfortable at the thought of trying to arrest him; either they were less experienced or knew exactly what they were in for.

GM "A particle accelerator you say? You're not just a cape and a smile, I see. How adorable." Azel was having way more fun with the situation that she really had any right to, and behind Supercape, Trigger was getting a little bit agitated by her arrogance. She shrugged nonchalantly, entirely unfazed by the threat of being arrested. "As I said before, this little dimensional disturbance was already here when I purchased the building. Do you think anyone would bother with a place like the Fens without good reason? Besides... I never interacted with the rift personally. I merely 'sold' the energy to someone else. As for what I want with you... I suppose having a little fun at your expense wouldn't be beneath me, but I'm more interested in the little birdie that sang to lead you here... It seems he's gone into hiding after turning down a rather polite invite from an associate of mine."

GM 11:24 p.m. Back at the crime scene, very little had changed. The alley was still cordoned off by police tape, a few officers accompanying an investigation team still taking pictures and documenting evidence around the alley. Still, from where Hound began his search, there was plenty that simply wasn't showing up--trace amounts of grease and metal shavings were all over the ground in a pattern leading towards the back of the alley, largely unnoticed by the mundane senses of the crime scene investigators. "Young man, this is a crime scene. You can't walk your dog over here," one of the officers quipped, clearly not one of the uniformed men that had been here the first time Freddy had arrived. Still, as Freddy mused over the metal-faced man, he recalled that the Mazziari mob family had an enforcer who'd been in some sort of industrial accident, and had various metal bits grafted onto his body--Francis "Frank the Riveter" Agostino. Whatever the Mazziari family was involved in, Frank had gone from a big dumb bruiser to a giant dumb bruiser with, among other things, a metal lower jaw.