Thunder King

John felt he could tell her something. "I died. Well, they tried to kill me, but, it didn't stick. Doesn't matter who, really, I don't even remember. I woke up different. I remember how it felt, the anger, being left for dead. When I realized I was different, what I could do, I realized it made me hard to target. Meant I could hit Bedlam in ways that Bedlam couldn't hit back. So, that's what I'm doing."

John nodded. "But, you're not. Better to focus on that instead." He sipped his coffee. "Blowfish is slick and hard to take down. I saw him getting friendly with the cops. I watched the scene at the Bad Beat from above. They were on the take. I don't remember which officers, unfortunately. It's hard to nail anyone in this town." He knew that from experience. Bad people had their hands in every pocket.

"Coffee sounds good, actually, thank you. Who, well, that's complex, and not something I'm comfortable with sharing, but what...well, I'm human. Still human. You know how they have those superheroes over in Freedom City? Kind of like that. I need to eat, breathe, all that. I just have a few tricks up my sleeve." He said, relaxing a bit. "I have a history, and I don't have a history. Sorry, there is little trust in Bedlam."

""I was." He said, quite simply. "I was, that was me." He shrugged. "I don't know those people, but I imagine fire and smoke inhalation are an awful way to die. If even one person in that building was innocent, that fire wasn't justice. The Bad Beat is pretty damaged, and Blowfish is going to have to worry about rivals for quite a while. It's not justice, not even close, but it's better than what could have happened."

John landed softly behind her. "Amber's gone. Not dead, gone." He said, in the voice she knew. "Her boyfriend started the fire. He took off somewhere." He felt he owed it to her, to let her know. "Hopefully, she'll go where she can't be found." He stood in the darkness."I just thought you should know." He waited for a response. After all the damage done tonight, he wanted some sign that something went well, that somehow, there was a good ending out of all of it somewhere.

John changed his face into something quite different from his previous face and changed out of the suit, waiting for Jane to leave. He did not want Blowfish to know him, best he think McDonald was dead. He watched Jane from far above, the tattered coat caught up in the wind. He was glad that Blowfish might catch some more metaphorical heat over the literal heat, and that was fine with John. He needed to wrap things up a bit, but he had a feeling he might have to deal with Blowfish again. He just needed to wait for her to be alone.

John turned to the Bad Beat, and sighed. Blowfish paid, alright. He paid with everything he had. Deserved it, too. Deserved to be inside the building, even. So many people died in Bedlam, so many lost dreams and broken lives. He owed it, he thought, to Jane. If nobody else, he'd try to get straight with her. Give the woman some kind of closure. But out of Blowfish's earshot, that was important. He climbed a nearby building and watched the crowd below. He wanted to make sure things were okay.

John sighed, he was tired and a little sore. Running in and out of a burning building taxed even his heightened endurance. He pointedly ignored her flirtations. Whatever other nonsense he was dealing with tonight, he didn't need some vulnerable young woman on his conscience, too. a "Blowfish knows what you tried to do, and if he finds you, he'll probably kill you, or worse. But, right now, he probably thinks you're dead. They're in there, in the building. They're going to save whoever they can find, but the fire...well, it'll be weeks before they sort the bodies, before they figure out who got caught in it, who got trampled, who got burned. By the time Blowfish finds out you weren't in there, you can have vanished into the air."

John couldn't bring himself to say what he was thinking. He tried to hurt Johnny, mostly because he was trying to set him on fire. John figured the suit was in rough shape, too. The missing flame thrower told him he was probably going to run into 'The Burner' again. "I'm pretty sure Johnny made it out." John said. "I didn't hurt him, just disarmed him." That much was true, at least. "I meant what I said." he said. "Blowfish might think you're dead. Could get you on a bus anywhere you wanted to go. Get you clean out of town." He listened as the sirens approached. "A friend of Vanity's asked me to look into things, and I figure the best way I can hurt Blowfish is to take you away from him." He knew that Amber was guilty of a number of things. Attempted murder, conspiracy, they could probably get arson charges to stick. Realistically though, he wasn't interested in that. The law of Bedlam failed him, it failed Vanity, it would fail Amber. What was the point of sticking her in the corrupt Bedlam police system?

He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and gazed through the smoke and haze. The stupid fire exit, badly maintained, insufficient, made the Bad Beat a death trap. But, it might prove to be Amber's salvation. He ran through the smoke and to the back. The door was in splinters, singed on the sides, but none of that mattered. He leaped out the back window and landed in the alleyway, wanting to get clear of the building, and of Blowfish. With all the nasty business going on inside, Blowfish might not realize she was cleared of the area. Once John was sure they were a decent distance away, he set her down and let her catch her breath. She probably needed to see a doctor. He knew enough to treat basic wounds, but this, this could be bad.

John understood her rage, he did. If he had remembered who put the bullets in the back of his head he probably would have taken weeks to find and kill that person. The intervening time caused him to focus more on what he could do. He ran over to her and picked her up. "Blowfish is ruined." He said. "The club is ruined. Everything he has burned up in this place, and he did it to himself. You want justice? Live. Blowfish is gonna get his, and you don't have to do anything else."

Charisma roll; 12 Well he's convincing...barely

John stepped out. "The club is toast." He said, walking towards her. "Blowfish got out, but the Bad Beat is going to take heavy losses, it'll probably never reopen. You don't have to die in here. You can disappear. Bus ticket, anywhere you want to go, just have to get out." He looked down. He could tell, there were a few bodies, a few people so far gone there was nothing that could do to help him. There were more people, though, who were injured, and scared. He could hear the sirens in the distance, some of these people would be okay.

9 John has no idea...maybe I should burn an HP to boost it. 23 Better He's not lifting anything unless he spots someone who's clearly alive and in need of aid, so; 22 on that just in case

"Ain't up to me who lives or dies." John said, turning towards the building. "But I can give people a fighting chance." He knew there were people that he couldn't save, but he was going to try. Amber was desperate, angry, didn't have a way out. John knew how it felt to feel alone in the world. Maybe Amber was going to die, hell, maybe she deserved to for what she tried to do. That was above his pay grade. Right now, there was a sad, angry and scared girl inside a burning building, and that was all that mattered. He headed inside.

John merely shrugged at Blowfish. "Didn't start it. Smelled the smoke and dealt with the source." Not that Blowfish's wrath held much sway on him. He wouldn't even match his own description in an hour or so. He began trying to wave people out of the building. He didn't really want to stick around, he was a little worried Blowfish might try something. Yet, he couldn't afford to let these people all just die. He assumed some of them, many of them, had dirty hands, but few hands were clean in Bedlam. He couldn't tell the sinners from the saints, and he couldn't let them burn. He did, however, take a private sort of joy in knowing that the Bad Beat might not survive the fire.

John ran for the fire escape and kicked it open. He winced as it seemed to crumble rather than open. The fire escape was not in good shape. It was rusted metal, creaking and basically without function. John knew if he tried to climb down it he would fall in a crumbling, rusted mess. So he skipped it, jumping straight down to street level, the two men still under his arms. He ran down the alleyway and dropped the men off somewhere safe before running to the front of the club. He would break open the door and try to get everyone out. He imagined chaos, and possible deaths, but this was the situation he was handed. He had to try and do his best.

John wasn't planning to let everyone inside die.

Strength roll to burst open the fire door; 23 Whew, that's good.

John growled. "I ain't got time for this!" He roared, turning away from the Burner. He turned towards the door into an open run. He scooped up the sound and lighting engineers and slowed down only long enough to kick a door off it's hinges. The 'Burner' couldn't burn anything, fighting him would just waste precious time. Time he didn't have. He burst into the open club. He'd head for the door and shatter it if he had to. These people had to get out.

With the flamethrower out of the situation, John's going to bolt out to the club and try to get people to safety. He's prepared to go full Kool-Aid man if he has to and just blast through any doors that might be in his way. So if I need to roll any strength checks or attack rolls, let me know.

Going to post IC or should I just counter? Also, fort save; 12

John growled, this was getting annoying. He stepped forward and ripped the flamethrower from out of the Burner's hands and threw it clear out a window. "I understand anger." He said. "Believe me." John looked around. This was not good. The club was starting to ignite. He needed to get people out of the club, and unless this kid wanted to keep fighting, he had better things to do than duke it out with an angry punk with a grudge.

I'm going to attempt a disarm, because this flame thrower is way too dangerous and John needs to at least get rid of it. I'm not sure how this works, but I know it's an attack roll and John rolls +2 for Improved disarm, so; 18 a good start? Ignore that the link says 20, I added the Improved Disarm bonus wrong

John bolted forward like a shot and swung a bit wild. He overstepped by a bit, still not used to his new speed and strength. He figured he could end it quickly if he could get a clean shot, but that was his error. To his consternation, the 'Burner' took that opportunity to back up. He didn't imagine being lit on fire was going to feel all that good, but he figured he was about to experience it.