Thunder King

'I understand, and yes, I agree. If you time their arrival to after our own, that can help a great deal. Good idea. I think, therefore, that we should leave within about an hour or so. That should give everyone time to prepare. Hopefully, we'll at least surprise him a bit. He may know the attack is coming, but not when. That will be the difference." This ragtag group were actually uniquely suited to what he had planned. King of Suits and Crusader were adept at stealth and were solid hand to hand combatants, while Stormbreaker and his own powers were well suited to disrupting foes, not to mention being all around tougher than average.

Gonna start out with Stealth; 22 with Skill Mastery

"Voltage." He said with a smile. "Yeah, waiting around for the police to show up is occasionally an annoyance, but it's part of the job." "I doubt there will be a problem with witnesses. This fight obviously involved metas." It was obvious that Voltage wasn't used to lengthy conversations in-costume, especially not when dealing with something directly. He was always bad at small talk.

Initiative is 24 Notice is 12 Gonna use skill mastery on a 21 for Sense Motive

...I want Voltage in on the radio signals thing. It's right up his alley, he can pass the check to detect them in his sleep. I don't know what i want to do with that, but I want him in on that. As for Solar Sentinel, he's come back to town after a short visit to Arlington. I am going to put him out there helping keep things under control.

Voltage landed and it was immediately apparent that the blast had been rough on him. "I'm alright. Might wake up sore tomorrow morning though." He chuckled and winced a bit. Costume took the brunt of the blow. You did well yourself. Never seen anyone move that fast before." He glanced at the other two. "They're going to need special containment, an squad car won't work for them, Mindfire would just knock the guys out and Bonebreaker would shatter their bonds." He winced again when he glanced at the wall. "I probably should have calculated that blast better, my math didn't account for the sudden surge of power I put into it." He mumbled to himself. "I'm glad you came along when you did. If I'd have fought them alone they'd have just knocked me out and continued with whatever it was they were doing."

Voltage watched Bonebreaker, waiting for the man to move. When he seemed completely out, Voltage decided now was the time to take out his partner in crime. Lightning cracked in the air as current flowed through his body, into his hands. Little jolts danced on his arms and legs as he raised his hands in front of him. He felt a surge of power in him as the current coalesced in his hands. For a moment, a split second, it was a ball of lightning. The blast shot through the air, super-heating the atmosphere around it, anyone within a few hundred yards might have been convinced they heard thunder. It slammed into Mindfire, causing the psychic to take off like she was shot out of a cannon. She slammed into the wall of a nearby building and scooted to a stop in the middle of the room. She was out of the fight, but alive. Voltage felt a twinge of pain in his back and arms at that moment, like it had the past few months. Any time he pushed himself with his powers caused a flash of pain, he'd need to investigate that soon.

First, gonna use Extra Effort to improve this next blast; that's taking it from 26 to 28. Then, I'm damage shifting by one, taking it from 28 to 29 Natural 20? That's a crit... No, wait, make that 29 a 34

Mali nodded. People weren't very subtle most of the time, though she couldn't imagine living with his power. Especially knowing how judgmental and cruel people could be. It was enough to force someone into isolation even without uncontrollable empathy. She liked to think she had a good sense of empathy, but it didn't always work in her favor, and it wasn't like that. "It's amazing, you know. That you can live with it like that, that you've chosen to be a hero in spite of all that. Give yourself at least a little bit of credit, you're a decent person who could have been a bad person easily."

so much for saving That sucks, but, gonna burn an HP for... 23 That turns a daze into a mere bruise...thank goodness

"So, I'm fighting a new war now. A war on my own terms." He stared up at the sky, gazing resolutely up at the stars that he once called home. "This isn't a war for territory, revenge, or anything like that. There are people out there who need help, who can't defend themselves. This is a war to protect those people. No more taking lives, no more dying on someone else's orders. I fight for freedom, and justice, and love. I fight so little boys and girls can live in peace." He'd been standing there, in costume, talking to the stone. All of the guards and other people assumed that this hero was talking to a comrade in arms, and left him alone. "There may never be a time where I won't close my eyes and see the dead. I may never be at peace. This isn't about that. I have the power to help make the world a better place, and that's exactly what I plan to do." He vanished in a blur of blue light, straight into the air. He made his way towards Freedom City, having steeled his resolve. The psychologist was right, this had been good for him.

"When I was in space, something happened to me, changed me. I have this, power now. Like fire that never leaves me and doesn't burn me. Fire I can command and control. I can lift an automobile as easily as I could a cardboard box. I can fly so fast that I can circle the whole Earth in seconds. I can repair broken bones. When I was in space, it made me the greatest soldier they had." "Imagine my surprise when I got back to Earth. I'm not special, not even unique. All sorts of people can do some of the stuff I can do, or other, equally strange and wonderful things. Some of those people do bad things. They rob banks, they hurt people. Others do good things. They protect, they save. They fight people who hurt others, and defend those who can't defend themselves."

"So I signed up and became a fireman. I don't take lives anymore, I save 'em. I've saved people, and cats, and dogs. I've saved livelihoods, too. My psychologist suggested that career path. When I go to bed, I see bodies sometimes, and have nightmares of people I've watched die, or killed myself. The job doesn't always help with the nightmares. But it helps me feel like I'm paying a debt. It helps me feel a little bit better inside. I don't know if I deserve to feel all that much better, but I didn't kill people for the wrong reasons. I fought for what I believed was a just cause. Protect my country, protect the innocent."

Arlington National Cemetery, January 15th Henry sighed and gazed at the stone before him. A friend of his, who had died alongside him decades before, during the Great War. He admired the light blanket of snow on the graves, and felt that his friend would have been proud to be buried there. "Hey, it's me, Henry..." He said in his slight drawl. His baritone voice betrayed a hint of sadness, and nervousness. "I should have been here, a long time ago. I should have come visit you when they buried you. I should have come visit you when I got back from space..." "Life happened, and I just never got around to it. I've got no excuse or it, but I'm here now." "I got this psychologist fellow, nice guy. He's a doctor, helped me deal with the 'transition' back to Earth. Now, back when I was still living on Earth, I couldn't see a point to that sort of stuff, but I can now, done me a lot of good. He said that this would help, seein' where you got buried. God there are a lot of soldiers here." He gazed down at the ground, having come closer to crying than he had in many, many years. "I can't, I just. So many dead soldiers, dead men and women. This is why I quit fighting. This is why, when I got back to Earth, I stopped."

Mali smiled and nodded to Jasmine. "Hi. Kristin's been getting better, I was wondering where she got it from." She adjusted the gym bag on her shoulder and looked around. "This place is really cool. Lots of stuff to try out, especially the wall climbing. That looks really fun." Of course she'd let Kristin tag along, these sort of things were fun, but far more fun when you had a friend along. That, and it helped Mali feel less self conscious, as she was bound to feel surrounded by other people. Having someone to talk to made things a lot easier overall.

Voltage glared down at Bonebreaker. Though he wasn't as dangerous, he could do some major damage on his own. Voltage had been working on a new trick, manipulating nerve endings to cause the target to act erratically. As it required far more delicate uses of electricity, he didn't have to do much aiming to use it. Instead, the energy flowed into his target. Unfortunately, Bonebreaker seemed to be able to easily shake it off.

Voltage is going to confuse Bonebreaker. That's a DC 21 Will save. It's perception range, so no attack roll.

24 initiative

Mali took a moment to reflect on what she had done as the wonderbus arrived. Her shoulders slumped a bit as the stress hit again. That had been a bit rough, but they'd pulled it off. People had been helped, a world had been saved. With luck, things would be different now for Erde. She hoped that their actions would eventually lead to that world being freed from the tyranny of the Nazi regime. "That was something." She said with a smile. "We did some good, saved some people. And we got our hands on an incredibly dangerous biological weapon that I seriously hope gets destroyed soon."

22

Current flowed through Voltage's arms before gathering near his hands. He aimed at Mindfire and, focusing his thoughts, fired a blast of electricity at her. Unfortunately, his aim was off, and the blast missed Mindfire completely, slightly blackening the ground beside her. He really needed to work on his aim. At this rate, he'd scorch the concrete all over and then collapse in mental pain. That wouldn't do at all. He was glad to have help taking down the brute, the speedster could focus on the big guy while he blasted Mindfire. The sooner she went down, the better. All moot if he kept missing, though.

14? Gonna have to keep it.

Voltage nodded towards the assembled heroes. This was the time. He was barely an adult, and was about to inform, plan, and direct an assault on superheroes, with every other hero being likely older than him. As nice as introductions were, he knew know better way to do it than cut to the chase. "I know where he is." He said, letting that information sink into the assembled heroes' minds. "He's been very, very careful with his equipment purchases. Using all sorts of false identities and accounts to make sure he left no paper trail. Either by accident or on purpose, though, I found something that links to him definitively. So I traced it, and the delivery. He apparently moved into the base of a would-be world conqueror, long after said conqueror perished. Apparently he moved into the facility and slowly but surely had it rebuilt and restructured to suit his needs. He's been building it for months while he moved about, poking and prodding at us." He hit a button on something small in his hand, and suddenly a holographic projection appeared from a small device that had sat on the ground. It showed a relatively small island, with a large mountain in the center. "The mountain is hollowed out. An extinct volcano. I think he's using geothermal power to make sure he stays off off the radar. No unusual energy signatures present, nothing unusual to detect. Before you might offer your ship, Stormbreaker, I'm afraid we can't use it. He's bound to be able to detect it well in advance. While this won't be a very stealthy mission, he may see the ship and vacate his facility before we have time to get there." "As for what he's doing, well. He has acquired some unusual energy couplings, designed to take a great deal of power, and unusual forms of energy. He's also bought components for a device King of Suits and I prevented him from using. It was supposed to give a young man super powers, but that didn't work out very well." It was obvious that the incident in question was clearly something he had bad memories about. "Dr. Green is a man who genuinely believes that metahumans are godlike, and that all of humanity is destined to have powers. He also believes himself to be some sort of prophet, a harbinger of a golden age of metahumans. This would make him a crackpot, but he doesn't care how many people he has to kill or hurt to make that future happen. He's already maimed one young man, and has done who knows what damage to the genetics of others." "So, with that said. I think it would be best if we divided our forces in two. Two of us take one route in, two take another. He has a lot of thugs and hired guns, but also probably people he has deluded into believing in his vision. The latter are especially dangerous, as I'm sure we are now all well aware of." "The satellite pictures I was able to get don't penetrate the facility proper, and all of the important parts are indoors, so the layout is alien to me. However, this is why I feel we should separate ourselves into two teams. One team should try to make for Green's testing and data facilities, to destroy his work and download any important data he may have. Some of his discoveries may be useful, and knowing what sort of things he's developed would be critical to helping defeat him again should he evade us or escape capture. I've developed a program that will download and delete his entire database and send it to a secure database that I have set up. It's literally plug and play and can hack into the entire network from anywhere that connects to it. If he's smart, and he is, all of his most sensitive research data is on a private server that only he can access." "Therefore, I propose we attack the facility in two groups of two. One group will enter the facility with subtlety, locating the servers and plugging in the device. The other will distract his forces so that said group can get to work. Then, we can all gather together and attack him head on. I'm going to be part of the 'distraction' team, because frankly I'm not very subtle with my powers. Even if something happens to go wrong with the device, I can teleport wherever the server is located and run the script manually. King of Suits, I think you should do the sneaking parts. I know you are skilled at stealth. If things go without a hitch, you should have minimal resistance. The bulk of his forces will attack myself and Stormbreaker. I know what you can do, Crusader, and I think you'd be well suited working with King of Suits." "Now, sorry for spending so long talking." He smiled awkwardly, if politely. "If you have any objections, concerns, ideas, suggestions or need to take time to gather supplies or what have you, now would be the time."

"What if Blod and I took the guard out. Then, Blue Jay, you break the glass while Kit creates an illusion of heroes dropping in from the ceiling. That way, Blod and I are on the ground where we can do the most damage, while you two are on the roof, where you can do the most damage. With any luck, they'll be freaking out too much to even realize we're among them until it's too late."

WHEW