GranspearZX

Arcturus had only had to carry a few people before. It wasn't difficult, and in his bear form, he was certainly capable of carrying more than one person. Running and jumping, though, would certainly take some effort and concentration; as such, he didn't really have a lot to say. Up close, Elias could see the Beast Rune up close. It was a slightly discolored patch of gray in his furry back, but every now and again, it would glow red. By the time they'd reached Port Regal, Arcturus's speed was significantly reduced. He stopped, breathing heavily, more from the distance than the weight he was carrying. "...not doin' that again..."

Also acceptable! GM post forthcoming with all the appropriate information.

Plenty of time, so 20 it is. Also, feel free to make another Streetwise check, since some time has passed to give Mess a chance to think about who this might be (DC15 again).

GM Mabel seemed lost in thought for a moment. For a minute, it seemed as if she'd fallen asleep right in the middle of Harry talking. "Ah! Yes. That young man fighting with those hooligans. Seemed to be doin' just fine until the big one showed up. Shame." She shook her head, describing the entire thing as if it were as common as the sun rising and setting. "Turn the page, dear. Those nice officers already asked about the car... The metal-faced one was actually too big to even fit... mm." She seemed to be rambling, unable to focus on any one aspect of what she'd seen--whether that was deliberate or not, it was difficult to tell. "Keeping the streets safe, hm? That's so sweet... You should be careful. These are some... very bad men. Nice boys like you shouldn't be doing such dangerous things! That's what I told the red one. But he wouldn't listen either."

GM The workers' eyes widened as Mess spoke, oblivious to how annoyed Harry seemed to be. Once the story was over, though, they reluctantly headed back to work, leaving the pair to continue down the platform on their own. It didn't take long for them to reach the end of it, where an elderly woman was sitting on a bench. Her shopping cart was in the corner beside her, the top covered by an olive green blanket. She didn't seem to have noticed Hound or Mess immediately, humming a melancholy tune that echoed through the empty subway tunnel. All at once, she stopped, looking up at the pair. "Can I help you boys?"

GM "Well then, Supercape, it seems we find ourselves in a very difficult situation. Human laws are such a wonderful thing... It turns out that real estate laws state that when you buy a piece of land, you also own the airspace above it and below it. And as this dimensional anomaly was already here, well... I suppose you see where this is going." Azel's smile broadened and she clasped her hands behind her back. "It could be argued that closing the rift was your doing, and would constitute damage of private property. It begs the question of why you were even looking for anything here. Lots of unfortunate implications for a lot of involved parties... Now, I'm not an entirely unreasonable person. Litigation, as amusing as it is, seems like a rather... messy and impersonal affair. I suppose you'll simply have to owe me one for not suing you and the city for everything you have."

GM The workers looked over at Harry as he approached. As he explained why he was there, one of them pointed further down the subway tunnel. "Miss Mabel's usually down towards the last platform around this time. Nobody else down there but us, her, and sanitation. Serious crime, huh?" They looked genuinely curious, but neither seemed willing to press for an explanation. Instead, one of the pair politely led Harry and Freddy down into the subway and down into the virtually empty tunnel, lights flickering overhead and making it difficult to see the entire way down the platform.

GM The woman stood perfectly still, black hair tied in a neat little bun atop her head. While she did, in fact, look more or less human, there was an otherworldly quality to her that was difficult to place. Despite the scent of brimstone, ozone, and radiation still in the air, the woman seemed largely unaffected. "I see. So you trespassed onto my apartment complex and all the way down the proverbial rabbit hole... to defend yourself." She chuckled, more amused than annoyed by the situation. "Call me Azel. I own this building." Trigger frowned, working up enough courage to at least get closer, still behind Supercape. "You did that to Knives... what did you do to him?" "Excuse me? Oh... I gave him what he asked for. It was a legitimate business transaction, despite being interrupted by... hm. I don't think I got your name either."

Clark had a lot to which he needed to adapt, even before arriving on the island. That, in and of itself, wasn't really a bad thing, and he was rapidly feeling less self-conscious and more like himself. He was as prepared as he could possibly be given his meager resources, and he had allies on whom he could undoubtedly rely. It really was quite the comfort, being as far away from home as he was with no one knowing where he actually was or what he was doing. Crusader didn't mind the heat and humidity so much. It felt a little bit familiar; something one of the past Crusaders must have encountered. There was no escaping the excitement and anxiety of it all, though, even as the other team began to directly assault the compound. Stormbreaker and Voltage were doing their part, and now it was time for him and the King of Suits to do the same. "Here we go..." Crusader muttered under his breath, mostly hidden as he scanned ahead visually. Sneaking in seemed like it would take a little more technical expertise than Crusader had, making him doubly glad he wasn't doing this alone.

GM "Homeless lady over by... oh! You mean Mabel. Nah, that's not her real name... nobody knows what her real name is, but that's what she answers to. I dunno that she's actually homeless either, but she wanders a lot during the day. Sweet old lady with a shopping cart full of God-knows-what. This late at night? She's probably at the station now. Probably offerin' to read people's fortunes or whatever she does..." Harry's contact didn't seem too unwilling to part with the information; it seemed benign enough, even with the reasoning behind it. Nobody wanted some dangerous thug--or group of thugs, as it turned out--wandering around assaulting people virtually out in the open, for whatever reason. It was late enough that the last train had already left Liberty Station, meaning there likely wouldn't be anyone down there save Mabel and Freedom Transit Authority workers.

Initiative time! +1 HP to Heraldo for the costume complication.

GM Heraldo could hear a sinister sort of giggling from further up ahead--almost about the same time, Arcturus could smell something burning. Before he could say anything, though, they'd rushed forward into a group of three red-skinned gargoyle creatures hovering around a tree and chucking fireballs into a figure trying to hide in the leaves; they seemed to be toying with him until Heraldo burst through the trees, his costume making him instantly noticeable. All three of them turned in his direction and immediately started to converge on the group. hurling fireballs at Heraldo.

GM "This body... is too weak..." Further irradiated and cut off from the now closed dimensional rift, Taraxus sank to one knee. He was losing his grip on whatever energies were keeping him together, barely holding onto his form. "You will bow before me, human. And your end will NOT be merciful..." "Alright. That's enough of that." There was a brief, bright blue flash of light between Supercape and Taraxus. All at once, there was a young woman in a rather stunning blue dress standing there, facing Taraxus. She gestured and he scowled at her, saying nothing as he disappeared in a flash of blue sparks, teleported to parts unknown. She then turned to Supercape, smiling in a manner that could only be characterized as sinister. "And what, exactly, are you doing on my property TO my property?"

Africa has a lot of potential for such a short section. The involvement of SHADOW and the now-defunct South African supers program was the first thing that jumped out at me. There's also Dakana and its interaction with the rest of the world... and Russoboo pointed out the Atlantis/Wakanda parallel in Marvel; that could also be an angle to be worked here. Just a few things off the top of my head. While I hadn't given it a lot of thought before, it's definitely worth exploring.

GM Clark was on his phone as he walked away, staring at the business card Freddy had given him. It seemed that he was actually considering it. In the meantime, the detective and two officers arrived as Freddy reached the lobby. "Ah, you're still here. Everything worked out, I hope..." The detective adjusted his tie as the two officers headed to the lobby and then behind the counter, headed up to the OR. "Found another eyewitness... homeless woman, but she says she saw our victim get pulled into that alley by three guys. Couldn't really make out much else of what she say saying though... I think she might've been on something. She's probably down by the Liberty Subway station. As far as Mr. Noble goes, I'm gonna have a couple of uniforms stick around for a day or two... just a hunch."

Those are all pretty cool-sounding stories! I wouldn't mind seeing/participating in an Africa story, with either Arc or Crusader. Both of them are pretty earthbound and not really "cosmic" level heroes. I've been doing both the generic GMing thing as well as attempting more character-centric stories. Getting player feedback is certainly a good way to make both better! I'd definitely be interested in a Sub-Terra thread, especially since Crusader's already encountered lizardfolk in the subway once! I'd also like to do something with the Circus Maximus; I've been considering an angle of a plot to run with that, but I haven't come up with anything concrete yet.

Having Sense Motive certainly couldn't hurt! And sure, it's fine by me.

Yep. Go for it!

Marcus wasn't going to say anything, but in bear form he could all but smell her fear. It was as familiar to is bear-senses as magic was to his normal ones--not anything overt, but in bear form he could see the changes in her body language and hear the tone of her voice change. If she'd seen Richard, Marcus was fairly certain she'd faint. "We can probably relocate to the library," he said, holding four pizza boxes in one hand and two bags with two-liter bottles in the other. "Tables in there are bigger and it's closer than the dining hall." Marcus motioned to a door just past front desk. As he stepped towards it, it opened on its own. "I was lucky I didn't end up in jail," he continued. "Headmaster Summers gave me something to do with this... ah... 'gift'. There's still some kinks to work out, but nothing I can't deal with."

TOU Save: (1d20+14-4=17) Bruised x5 and stunned again. With Taraxus in the shape he's in, would you mind if combat were to end here?

And now... a Sense Motive roll (DC20). Though right off the bat, just by virtue of Mess's background, I'd say that he can just tell by looking at Clark that he's not just some teacher; he's been in a fight or three. :)

Clark paused for several moments. He didn't look directly at Freddy, but he was certainly listening, even while his own thoughts were rolling around in his head. He rubbed a thumb against the bandage across his cheek as he thought about what he should do... or rather, what Crusader should do. "Did my sister-in-law hire you guys?" The taller man's expression was eerily blank, but just the lack of eye contact gave away the building rage he was trying to contain--after all, his brother was upstairs fighting for his life. Even without knowing how complicated their relationship had been for the past 30+ years, it was a difficult thing to hold back. "Ben has... had a gambling problem, so they haven't got a lot of money. And I'm just a teacher at FDR High, so..." Clark paused for a second. Had Ben's gambling problem come back to haunt him again? Maybe he'd relapsed. Clark really didn't want to believe that. His fists clenched tightly just at the thought of doubting his brother while he was in that condition. But it did make him wonder about his brother's connections... His demeanor slowly began to soften, and he sighed heavily. "...Sorry. It's been a long night. Thanks for the help. And I hope you find the guy. Let me know if I can help..." He offered a slight smile, but there was little else but turning the city upside down to find Ben's attacker on his mind.

"Well, if I focus... there's a lot I can turn into besides a bear. This is just what happens when I don't think about it." He really did half-expect her to run off screaming. He really didn't know what it looked like when he transformed, but he was very much aware that there was an imperceptible aura of a predator that radiated from him every time he did it. It didn't affect metahumans and mutants as much but normal people tended to have an instant fight-or-flight response. "Apparently I've always been able to, but an incident about three years ago jump started it. Someone pushed me, I got mad, and then... well..." He shrugged. "He healed up okay though, so it was fine. I can more or less control it at this point." There was certainly more to the story than that, but somehow telling Kat that AEGIS agents had come for his father--whose Beast Rune form was far scarier than a bear--seemed like a very bad idea. Luckily, explanation was at least temporarily postponed by the front door opening. In as much time as it took for Marcus to turn into his bear form, he returned to his human form. Not even his clothes seemed to have been affected by the change, and the pizza delivery guy didn't seem to have noticed a thing.

See what happens when you think too much? Whatever. Arcturus growled as he took off running after Heraldo and Errant, the red in his eyes glowing eerily in the artificial moonlight as the Beast Rune gloated. Still, he couldn't deny that Errant had a point, and they didn't really have the luxury of time to figure everything out. Just the fact that his transformed state was working meant that magic was more or less unimpeded by this weird-looking place, and that would have to be good enough.

All at once, Clark remembered his manners. It was pretty clear that he was on edge--and with good reason--but in that moment he forced himself to clear his mind, for Charlotte's sake if no one else's. He shook the significantly shorter man's hand, more or less unfazed by his height. "Clark... and he's not my friend; he's my brother." Clark thought for a moment about how mutually exclusive those two things had been between himself and Ben. It only lasted a split second; Charlotte interrupted his thoughts by explaining what exactly happened in the exam room before he'd arrived. "Freddy was kind enough to lend a hand with his... abilities." "Oh..." Clark looked from his sister-in-law to Freddy, then back to Charlotte. "So is he okay?" "We don't know... but he's at least got a better chance now." Clark grunted and nodded, glancing at Freddy in an acknowledging way. "I'm gonna make some phone calls. You go be with Ben..." "...don't do anything dumb, Clark." Clark had the good graces to look confused. There was a definite bit of exhaustion in his eyes, but there was something else that Charlotte instantly recognized. "I remember what happened the last time something like this happened. YOU showed up at my doorstep a day later with a broken arm, among other things." "Yeah, well..." He didn't say much else; Charlotte glared at him, shook her head, and then rushed off to the upper floors, leaving Clark and Freddy to their own devices. "Bloody Mess, huh? That's an... unusual name."