Thunder King

Mali smiled. "Heroism isn't about how big you are, or how strong you are. It's about courage, honor, and a desire to make a difference. You saved a life, you know? You saved a life. That's what matters in the end. Besides, I'm betting you do fine as her herald. I'm sure your family and friends are all proud of you." She tried to encourage the boy, and frankly, she admired him. She'd put herself into all of this on purpose from the very beginning. She had always been strong, fast and tough. She'd always been stronger than her peers, and always had the focus and the desire to make the world a better place. "That's awesome, Subito. I mean, courage isn't what you do when things are easy, you know? Courage is what you do when your back is against the wall. It's what you do when you could die, but do it anyway. That's what being a hero matters. If I learned nothing else from my great grandfather, it's that."

Mali lowered her head and pushed back the tears. She had no words, nothing so noble as what Indira had said. She'd seen so much death lately. First that poor soldier, and then others. Then who she thought at the time was Summers. And now, Sharl. She didn't want to be there anymore. She didn't want to be in the Sanctum, in a lonely cold place in the world. She wanted to be home, in her room. She wanted to curl up like a little ball and leave the world. She needed to in the worst way. But she didn't. She couldn't dishonor Sharl's sacrifice by retreating into her shell. She couldn't walk away and let the world deal with it's own problems. She had to stand firm, no matter how hard it hurt. So she bit back her tears, and looked up. "Guys, we have to go back. We have to go home and help clean up Claremont. We have to let people know what happened." Her words were shaky, and it was clear she was trying hard not to cry, but she managed to get them out. She didn't want them to think her heartless, but they simply did not have time to stand and mourn. The day may have been saved, but there was still so much work to do.

Voltage looked down at the robot momentarily, making sure it wouldn't explode in the meanwhile. Once he was sure it was safe, he walked into the room and looked at the containment chambers. There was no control panel that he could see, and he knew that the faster these people were out of the pods, the better. So, with that said, he got to work, using whatever he had on hand to work with. He'd never had to work with technology quite this advanced before, and had to push his mind a little harder and faster than normal to ensure that he didn't accidentally kill them. After a few tense moments, though, he disabled the containment units

Rolling Disable Device. Burning an HP with Beginner's Luck to get 5 ranks in it...for a total of 33

Mali giggled, she couldn't stifle that one. "No, but wouldn't that be awesome? I mean, big ol' tiger, popping up like Mufasa in the Lion King. Maybe he'd be voiced by James Earl Jones, too..." She shook her head. "Sorry, that's actually a pretty reasonable question considering where we are. I mean, we have magic and mutants and T-Babies, survivors from alternate Earths, a tiger spirit isn't far fetched in the face of all that, is it?" She said with a nod. "So what about you, what do you do? What brought you to Claremont?"

"Actually, yes, I go by Crimson Tiger." She said. "Costume is black and red, I had it before I even joined Claremont." She realized that he was now trying to meditate, so she closed her eyes and tried to do so herself. Not that she minded, she could always meditate in her room later. If they intended to keep talking though, she considered inviting him to go to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat so they could leave the zen garden in peace and not disrupt other people's meditation.

Mali smiled. "I went to school with a lot of rich kids. A lot of rich white kids. They weren't very receptive to a muscular Asian girl most of the time. The fact that I could beat up the football team meant I didn't get any dates. Here though? Here I'm not a freak. I have friends, and people like me, some people even like that I'm so strong. It makes me feel so much better knowing that people like me. I also love the variety of courses. I mean, I'm no A student, but I enjoy learning more than just what my old school was willing to teach me."

Mali grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Don't care what they're up to, really. If they're doing bad stuff, we stop them. That's all I need to know." She looked at the other two girls and nodded. "Need to be careful though. Even I don't relish fighting huge crowds." She walked to the edge of the roof and began climbing down, ready to start stalking towards the crowd, to figure out exactly what these people were really up to.

Mali growled. Fine, the guy wants to heal his wounds? Not a problem, she thought. Just have to hit him harder. Mali threw a false punch, trying to get the man to react to it, but, unfortunately, he didn't. So, instead of that, she dropped as low as she could. Her muscles coiled up as she dropped, pushing against the ground to get as much force built up into them as she could. Then she hopped into the air, pushing off the ground with as much force as she could. Her right fist slammed into his jaw with an audible crack. She wondered, briefly, if she broke it. She hoped Blodeuwedd could take advantage of the opportunity and keep him on his toes.

22? Hmm...I'll reroll 25? Better That's a DC24 TOU save if it hits

Acrobatic bluff with skill mastery; 25 If that succeeds or not, I'll decide my next course of action

Mali returned the hug and smiled gently. "Better, I calmed down, focused, and got myself straightened out. It was a crazy, long day. I understand why you left, it's okay. Everyone handles stress differently and you needed time away. It happens." She said. It was the truth, after all that had happened, she'd evened out and gotten her head straight. She still didn't like that it all had to go down, but things were better than they'd been, and that was a good thing. At least the stress of everything had started to die down.

Mali stalked the rooftops, grateful to be back on the streets. Alternate universe Nazis, cosmic A.I. friends dying...none of that had been any fun. She was glad to be dealing with simpler things. Thugs and drug dealers, gang bangers and mobsters. Far easier to fight, simpler. She loved being on Young Freedom, but she felt so out of her depth. There was a part of her she did not like to embrace; the part that enjoyed fighting. So despite the fact that trouble was likely brewing, she anticipated the coming conflict. She wasn't fond of the weather, though. Rain on a February evening she could do without.

"Tactical simulations, education about heroes and villains. The history of superheroes. Anything that teaches me how to be better at what I do, you know? It's like...we try to make the world a simple place. We try to make it easy, black and white, good and evil. It's not always that easy. When I was beating up muggers, drug dealers and gang bangers, it was easy. I knew who the bad guys and good guys were. Now I think I'm smarter about things like that. I've learned to take in a situation, figure out what to do, and then do it. Rather than, you know, charge in and hit things real hard until they fall down. What about you? How do you like it here?"

"My great grandfather went by the name Black Tiger. I think there's another Black Tiger in Thailand around my age or older, but I'm not sure if we're related. Parents aren't really happy about it, but they're not trying to stop me. When they found out I was fighting crime, they insisted I go to Claremont. I guess they figured I was too headstrong to stop just because they asked me to. So they wanted to make sure I was properly trained. It's a strange combination, pride and fear, you know?"

Mali hopped into the driver's seat of the Wonderbus and shifted it into reverse. She practically kicked the accelerator through the floor as she backed out of the ship and into the open air. She turned the bus around and took off like a shot, moving the vehicle as far out as she could, so Glow could let go of it now that they were safe. She was amazed at the sheer power her friend possessed, holding up the entire ship so that they could escape. She wasn't about to let that opportunity go to waste. Once they were inside the bus, and she figured Glow could get out safely, she wondered what Sharl and Kimber were up to. They'd gone to stop the Curator, but, had they been successful? What exactly was going on in there?

The people in tubes, the crazed teenage girl. All of this was strange, and horrifying. He had no idea how long this had been going on, how long the facility had been there, or how many people were in the facility. Voltage did not like variables that he did not know. It made creating a strategy on minimal information, and that was always risky. So, when the girl started shouting about Omega, he fired off a blast of electrical current, designed to take her down peacefully. Unfortunately, he underestimated how much power he should use, and it seemingly did nothing to her. That wasn't good.

Basic blast, shooting Quickstep for a 25 on the attack roll That's a DC26 TOU save

Streetwise? a nine Current Events? Seventeen

...30? I'll take it

Mali blushed slightly, unused to being complimented on, well, anything, then she chuckled. Link and James Bond, what? She knew Cerys fairly well, and admired the other girl's strength. Magic or not, Cerys had skill, just like a lot of her friends. "Well, um, training, lots of training. I mean, nothing worth doing is easy to do. That's what my dad taught me. See...my great grandfather was this really big, important super hero in Thailand. It was during a very difficult time in the country too, and he helped oppose the worst parts of a corrupt government. When I found about that part of my history, I just...decided to follow in his footsteps. I'd already been training, I just turned it up, I guess."

Perhaps it was because it was just the two of them, but Mali decided to let the other girl see exactly why swimming around boys was a bad idea. She rolled up her left sleeve, pulling it up to the shoulder. Her arm was like that of a bodybuilder, rippling and defined. "That's why, only all over." She said, indicating her abdomen. "Lots of training means I've got a lot of muscle, and most boys don't like that. Where I used to go to school I'd get teased and made fun of for it. SO I just don't bother with it anymore. It's virtually impossible to find a swim suit with sleeves, and even that would cling too much for my taste. Better that I keep myself out of the water around them."

“I'll tell you who I work for! Please, stop...†“WHO?!†Black Tiger roared. “C-Chakprii Anantasu...†He mumbled. “He's my distributor, he has the connections with the farms...please don't kill me.†Black Tiger slammed his hand in to the back of the man's head as he moved the knife from his throat, causing the man to collapse unconscious. “W-what if your hand slipped?†Crimson Tiger asked. Black Tiger grinned and sawed the knife against his arm. “Edge is dulled. Grabbed that one on purpose.†He said. “I'm a hunter, but not a killer.†She exhaled, relieved. It was playing dirty, but it got results. Either way, nobody would die, even if they had a few broken bones and major headaches. They mounted their motorcycles outside, and rode home. Crimson Tiger dismounted, changed out of her costume, and put the motorcycle away. She climbed back up the wall, popped the window back open, and went to sleep. She wondered, as she drifted off, who Chakprii Anantasu was, and how dangerous the man was. Little did she know exactly how dangerous he really was.... Continued in >Twin Tigers III: An Empire Falls

The knife that Black Tiger had grabbed was now millimeters away from the throat of the man. “The Black Tiger, the relentless hunter, has come for you.†He said in an ominous, booming voice. “D-don't kill me...†He said, shaking. “Judgment has come, parasite.†Black Tiger growled. “I, I'll talk, w-what do you want to know?†He began to cry, shaking. “What bargain can save a stag from the tiger that hunts him? What offering can spare the rabbit?†The blade barely touched the man's throat. Crimson Tiger was motionless, soundless. She was inwardly shocked, and momentarily worried that her cousin wasn't the man of honor he appeared to be. She knew not to betray that worry, though, because she couldn't give any other impression than as a focused, deadly hunter.

He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. “Shouting. Five gunmen, plus the target.†He said, nodding towards her. “Two near the door, two in the back corners. Fifth adjacent to target." How he got all of that information from simply listening, she didn't understand, he'd have to teach her those tricks. He reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a cylindrical object. “Flashbang, cover your ears.†he said. Her hands went to her ears. He turned and kicked the door in. She watched as he tossed the grenade inside, and then turned away and closed her eyes. Even through her ears, the noise was loud, and even through closed eyes, the light was bright. They ran into the room, each one grabbing one of the doormen and punching them in the head before turning and slamming them together. The disorientation would not last long, they must act quickly. They ran across the room, Crimson Tiger grabbing a lamp off of a table as they did so. She hurled it across the room, slamming into the face of the gunman standing next to a very scared, unarmed man in a suit. They each landed beside one of the thugs and delivered a short burst of punches and kicks before turning around and facing the real target.