The Xavier Institute: Barbara Gordon's X-Men

[Sojobo]

The Xavier Institute
The Cave

Barbara sipped her genmaicha and continued making her observations. She was deep beneath the Institute, in what she was now affectionately calling "the Cave" - though her first cave was miles away, underneath another mansion on the Palisades of Gotham. A portion of her miles-a-minute brain mused that just a year ago, she was barely balancing her check-book, and now, she owned (at least in name) at least 3 dozen mansions around the world. Just a year ago, she was barely managing to wake up past noon and eat a sensible diet; now, she was responsible for the welfare of some of the most dangerous people she ever had met. And she knew some VERY dangerous people.

This Cave was less dark and dank and more brightly lit and amenable; less stalactites and dark shadows and more servers and digital displays. There were no bat screeches or ominous echoes - she had Florence and the Machine playing in the background.

Arrayed around her were holo-displays, live feeds from above in the Institute. She shooed away the creepy feeling of voyeurism, and rightly so - at least the people she was monitoring on screen had been explicitly told they'd be monitored. It still creeped Barbara out, even now, when she'd be going through a portion of the Wayne Mansion and find another before-then-unfound bug.

She emptied her mug, poured herself another, and sat back to observe and jot down her notes. On screen, her X-Men were at play.

I'm not sick anymore! Or at least I can look at a screen and not get nauseous. Go ahead and just introduce yourselves, doing whatever it is you'd be doing up in the Institute, which at this point is very much in disarray, just beginning to get itself organized, and only has you - plus a few NPCs - as students. You can be training, eating, hanging out, socializing, standing ominously on top of of gargoyled rooftops being moody - you know how it is.

[herodofcows]

Before Lilith had run away, mornings would usually include a sparse breakfast, sullenly-followed training routines, and all manner of physical and mental exercises meant to strengthen the resolve of the prospective assassin.

Mornings here? Lilith woke up to some motherf***ing CHOCOLATE CEREAL.

She lounges in the living room in her newly-acquired sweat pants and a button-up formal shirt, reveling in what a sweet deal this place is. Her feet are up on the couch as she watches TV upside-down, shoveling handful upon handful of Cocoa Puffs into her mouth from the box all the while. Every now and then, she guffaws and sprays crumbs everywhere as the strangely-hatted cartoon human and his yellow dog continue their crazy antics against the blue monarch with frost powers.

"Holy s***, this is F***ING hilarious!" she sniggers, just loud enough to potentially draw in some of the other students.

Cereal and cartoons aren't a traditional part of Lilith's life, but she's heard enough about the world outside to know that most people did things like this. Not that she's trying to get people to come talk to her, of course. Nah, that'd be some frail s*** for losers that needed to suck up and make friends.

Lilith doesn't need s***. She's just giving it a whirl is all.

Plus, holy F***, CHOCOLATE CEREAL! Lilith may be a little bored, a little disjointed, a little spoiling for a fight, but she will NEVER tire of the existence of chocolate cereal.

[Jyssika]

Alfred was going through his wardrobe in his new room,
it was in the bowels of the institute where he could have some
privacy.

He didn't like not living in the Wayne Mansion but that part of
his life was over for now, or atleast he had to have a break from
it, he had other things to deal with.

He pulls out a fresh suit from his wardrobe, one he hadn't worn
since he was a young man, and held it up against him. His new
youth was strange to him still, he no longer woke up with aches
running down his sides and back or numbness in his extremities.

In a few minuites he was dressed; the suit was old from an age
where faint tartan patterns and elbow pads were in fashion,
it was shades of dark blue and grey and he matched it with a
pair of black shoes.

He quickly combed his black hair; that was the strangest part...
having a full head of hair, and flattened his moustache to a
presentable degree.

With that he stepped out and took a flight of stairs to ground floor;
he needed to attend to the grounds as they were in disarray.

[TekHed]

While Alfred and Barbara brooded in the many sub-basements, and Lilith lounged in the living room, Horus made his roost in the attic. Furnishing and decorations were spartan. A simple slab for sleeping tucked into one corner under a sloping section of the ceiling. A small wardrobe for his few pieces of furniture, and a small shrine with pictures of both of his parents, an ankh, and a small brazier for burning incense.

Upon rising he spent a few moments rolling his joints, ensuring all were in their right place and bringing blood to his musculature. Having loosened up, he made his way to the spiral staircase leading to the grand cupola situated in the center of the mansion. Upon making it to the top he stepped outside and kept onto the balcony, perching like a bird of prey as he surveyed the sprawling grounds of the property, and far beyond as his keen eyes took in all of Westchester County.

While the humans among his comrades preferred to stimulate their morning metabolisms with acrid-smelling drugs, to the half-Thanagarian only one morning ablution would suffice to wash the weariness from his bones...

Stepping down from the balcony onto a special platform he's installed, Horus sent a bit of his will into his bones. Pouring from within, the liquid Nth metal fanned out, forming hundreds of feather-like blades, spreading open into a majestic and awe-inspiring 30' wingspan of burnished gold. There was no need to flap, as the wing's massive surface area pushed off the local gravitons, levitating him smoothly and silently into the sky. After a few hundred feet the threat of a sonic shockwave no longer presented a problem, and he opened up to his full speed, soaring into the stratosphere until the school was but a speck upon the harlequin patchwork of the East Coast.

Here in the skies, he was free from the fetters of his past, and his destiny. Here in the skies he could simple be. Far down below, amidst the strife and conflict of mortals, Death stalked his shadow. For now, the air was clear and cloudless, but looming on the horizon storm clouds were gathering. For now he cold be at peace. For now.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John had awakened as the sun rose. There had been a time in his life where he could have easily slept in until noon, but that was long past. His body had been conditioned not to waste daylight. He had grabbed a quick breakfast of toast and orange juice before heading outside. Now he was in the yard behind the building, training.

It had been a while since John had trained. Oh, he still practiced every day, but not with anything near the discipline he had required on the island. Since coming back, his goal had been maintenance of his skill, rather than improvement of it. But now he had a new talent to master. He had come to the school to learn about his powers, and that was what he intended to do.

What he had learned so far: arrows composed of fire required a much larger supply of new targets.

The quiet was comforting in a way. He had been off the island for a couple years now, but in some ways it was still what he was used to. He had adapted to it, and those adaptations were not things the body or brain easily let go of. Alone. Outside. His bow in hand. A target sighted. That felt right, that felt natural.

Thwhuush! came the sound of flame whipping through the air as he released the bowstring, slightly louder, definitely deeper, and with more of a waver than an arrow of wood. Kshoohoo! as the fiery arrow struck the center of the target with a scattering of embers, quick different than the quiet thunk he was used to. And then, a few seconds later, the sharp Bang! that had no place whatsoever in archery, as the already scorched and burning target was blasted to smithereens.

John was forced to reconsider. There was nothing natural about that.

[Jyssika]

Damn students making a mess of the grounds;
tidy home tidy mind!

After some time Alfred makes his way over to John; pieces of burning
target lay strewn across the lawn on which the archery targets were
set.

He waits in the wings until the young man notices his presence
before saying;
Perhaps Master Storm would like some more durable targets?
Or does he intend to clean up this spectatular mess when he is done?

[Quellian-dyrae]

John turned smoothly to face Alfred, the flames all around him fading as he did so, so that by the time he was looking at the butler (for we all know a butler of Alfred's level never gets the tag of "former" applied to his profession) he was again in his normal, fully human state. He kinda stared at the man for a few seconds. It wasn't an aggressive or challenging stare, but a mostly blank one with a hint of annoyance emphasized by a small frown. It was a stare that communicated the idea, "I am fully aware that the protocols of interpersonal social interaction dictate that I should respect and answer your concerns, but I am finding myself unable to come up with any reason that I should actually consider them important enough to do so."

(It was a most eloquent stare).

Then he looked around and realized, hmm, yeah, his target practice hadn't exactly been friendly to his surroundings.

"Yeah, I'll clean it up," he said with simple neutrality, neither apology nor complaint in his voice. Picking up the pieces of shattered and smoldering targets was easy enough, but how he expected to clean up the various scorch marks on the ground was certainly difficult to determine. "Although some more durable targets would be great," he added. His lips did something that might, maybe, if observed at superhuman speed by a generous watcher, vaguely resemble the hint of a smile.

[Jyssika]

Oh no no Master Storm; I will deal with the mess when you are done.
Try not to do any permenant damage to the estate if possible whilst
I endever to find you some more durable targets.

He leaves his leaf broom leant up against a convenient wall or
bush and heads inside with the remains of his tools.

He was impressed with the young man; he had expected rather
more petulance from him ... perhaps petulance wasn't the right
word... perhaps attitude, yes... he had expected more attitude.

Returning to the sub-levels with his tools and returning them to their
rightful places he proceeds to the newly setup storage rooms...
No one had yet done a full stock check and piles of equipment
filled large rooms unorganized and unboxed from its shipment
packaging.

Removing a box cutter he opened a large perhaps-training-target
sized box in hope that it might actually be training targets of some kind.

It wasn't ofcourse... It was approximately 15 miles of toilet paper;
white, half quilted with indentations of flowers on it... This might
take a while...

[Quellian-dyrae]

John turned to the next target as Alfred left, but he didn't flame back on. He frowned some, slightly bothered. Before the island, John had felt nothing for letting other people handle things for him. It was simply the natural order of things; he wanted something, someone got it done, he enjoyed it, someone dealt with the aftermath when he was finished.

That didn't feel natural anymore. John prided himself now on self-reliance. He didn't want to inconvenience someone else with his messes. So rather than returning to his training, John started moving about the yard, collecting the scattered pieces of charred wood and disposing of them properly. Then he went hunting a lawnmower. Mowing the lawn wouldn't erase the damage he had caused to it, but would make it comparatively less obvious and accomplish something positive for the appearance of the institute as a whole.

[Jyssika]

After quiet some time carefully opening boxes; storing
and labelling the contents of each as he goes Alfred
eventually stumbles uppon some seriously heavy duty
weapons targets.

It takes some struggling but eventualy Alfred manages to get
them onto a trolley and pushes them into a service elevator to
the ground floor.

When Alfred finally gets back out the archery lawn was a huge
improvement; he had half expected him to pick up the brood
and atleast sweep the chunks up but finding that he had gone
into his tool locker and found a lawn mower Alfred didn't know
to be impressed or annoyed.

Master Storm, if you would care to assist me with these?
They are quiet heavy...

His face is deadpan.

I do hope you didn't make a mess finding that lawnmower.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John had just finished up the mowing when Alfred arrived. It wasn't really the most even job - John Storm hadn't mowed a lawn in his life - but it wasn't bad. He nodded and walked over at the no-longer-elderly man's request, looking over the heavy-duty target with approval. "This should be great," he said as he hefted his side to help move it into position.

"Well, I hope not too," he answered, his own voice rather deadpan. He'd had to shift a few things around to get to the mower, but he didn't think he had left a mess behind. Still, he supposed he hadn't really been thinking about it, which he clearly should have. It was that lack of thought that had led to this whole matter in the first place, and at the end of the day, that lack of thought which was what he had come here to resolve. Oh, sure, learning how to use his powers more effectively was a good and necessary thing, but really, that wasn't why he was here.

He was here because his powers were dangerous, were harmful. The freshly-mowed lawn still had patches of burned grass scattered liberally about as a result of just trying to fall back into his old routine. If he was going to both use his powers and avoid causing unnecessary harm, he had to be careful, to pay attention to what he was doing. Especially when the flames were on, but it was a habit he'd have to fall into even when his powers were inactive.

Well then, lesson learned. Not bad, for not even having started classes yet.

"Thank you, Alfred," he said once they had set the target down. And though he said nothing to indicate that the thanks was more for the insight than the training aid, the sincerity at least was plain in his voice.

[Jyssika]

Alfred inclined his head slightly at the thank you
but doesn't say anything after collecting up the
lawnmower, trolly and broom.

Try not to break this one.

And Alfred wanders off to do more stock checking.

[herodofcows]

The clatter draws Lilith's attention away from the TV, as she sees a middle-aged guy toting some heavy practice dummies outside. Curious, she shuffles her way to her feet and follows along, barefoot and cereal box still in hand.

With her enhanced hearing, she catches most of the conversation between the old guy and tall-blond-and-brooding. Mowing the lawn? Breaking stuff? Huh. And her nose is picking up a LOT of burnt wood.

"We havin' a barbecue or somethin'?" she calls out, slouching over as Alfred starts to head off. She shoves a handful of Cocoa Puffs into her mouth and she sizes up the two of them. The old guy's got some guns beneath the tweed, she notices, and the blond guy's got SOMEthing wafting off him. Creosote, maybe, or charcoal? She takes in the scorch marks along the grass.

"'sgoin on?" she grunts around the food.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John gave the hint of a smirk, nodded, turned to the target...and turned right back when Lilith spoke. "Nope. Just training," he answered. "And trying not to burn the place down in the process," he added in a murmur, not really to her, although it wouldn't be hard for her to pick out the words with her keen sense of hearing.

[Jyssika]

Alfred looks momentarily perplexed; he knew the girl's name
but was she Miss al Ghul or Miss Ghul... This was a difficult one.

He decides to emphasize it, that way even if its incorrect it can
be portraide as intentional.

Miss al Ghul, do you require something?

His expression feints impatience; as though she is keeping
him from prior engagements and has way more important
things to be doing than answering questions he knows
she probably already overheard the answers to.

[herodofcows]

Lilith's eyebrows shoot right up at John's muttered statement. She subconsciously shifts to a defensive stance, ready to go quadrupedal and bolt if the s*** jumps off.

Alfred's voice snaps her out of it.

"Nah, Jeeves, I'm good," she rumbles, straightening up a bit, "Just here to watch the show."

She traipses back a few paces and sets herself down on the grass.

"Show me somethin', blondie!" she smirks, showing all the confidence and detached amusement that she totally has, really.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John blinked at her once, he hadn't really been intending to put on a show. After a couple moments, though, he decided that simply continuing with his training would achieve his goal and wouldn't be in opposition to hers, so with a shrug he turned back to the target. He jumped into the air (to avoid causing two more patches of burned grass where he was standing), once more taking the form of living fire as he did so, an equally-fiery longbow materializing in his hands.

Hovering about ten feet off the ground, he took a shot for the target. Had his morning training gone as originally planned, he had been intending to practice firing while airborne and at speed. But that wasn't practical yet; what he needed to practice for now was control. Keeping his flight steady, and his flame on, while still tamping down on the power of his shots as much as he could. He drew back his bowstring, a blazing arrow of fiery energy appearing nocked and ready. He concentrated on it, trying to diminish its intensity, but it only seemed to burn brighter.

So he took a long breath and tried to relax. The flame's intensity diminished noticeably, but he began to feel heavier as the flames around him started flickering lower. He released the arrow, which struck the target dead-center in a shower of sparks, leaving a scorch mark behind.

He drew another arrow, relaxing himself further, but the arrow and the flames around him extinguished and dropped him back to the ground. He landed solidly, frowned, and took back to the air to repeat the attempt. He'd repeat the process several times, occasionally loosing moderately bright arrows at the target, occasionally dropping to the ground as his flames extinguished, and every so often getting off an arrow that was little more than a trail of dimly glowing sparks.

It wasn't, unfortunately, all that much of a show, the inherent pyrotechnics perhaps aside. But it was the sort of training he would need to undergo, to repeat over and over and over, until the mental process of reducing the intensity of the shots was second nature. And even that would only be the first step. Then he'd have to try and do it while keeping his own flame and flight up, to do it while moving or firing at speed, to figure out how to judge the necessary intensity in a live combat situation and maintain it under the effects of stress and adrenaline and while concentrating on an entirely foreign mode of three-dimensional movement at supersonic speeds while attacking equally fast-moving opponents and defending himself from incoming attacks...

...

Yeah, he had a lot of training ahead of him.

[herodofcows]

Lilith actually stops eating her cereal as John does his thing. Fire control . . . NICE. An incredulous "Daaaamn," escapes her as he takes off.

However, her wonderment starts to diminish somewhat as she sees what he's trying to do. Really, with the fake bow and arrow? What, blasting away wasn't good enough for blondie, so he had to go and be Robin Hood?

"Hey, c'mon now!" she calls out, lounging in the grass, "What's with the bow and arrow crap? Just WASTE some s***, man! Jeeves is with me, right Jeeves?"

At this last bit, she leers over at Alfred, popping some stray crumbs into her mouth.

[Jyssika]

Alfred had moved to the edge of the green and leaned against a tree
to watch; Johnny was clearly attempting to reign in his powers and
that was a subject that, although the student body didnt know, was
of a personal interest to him.

You will remember to whom you speak Miss al Ghul.
My name is Alfred Moneypenny, I am the grounds keeper
you may refer to me as Alfred or Mr Moneypenny.

He sounded the part of a disapointed and scolding teacher perfectly.
His words carried weight; there was no threat of violence in his voice,
old aged wisdom or pompous stature.

He did not wait for a reply; he did, infact, have a lot of stock checking to do.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The commentary apparently wasn't ignored, based on the fact that the next arrow John fired after it was noticeably brighter than the others and left a clearer scorch mark on the target. Still not full strength, clearly enough; a sign of a bit of pique, perhaps, but not anger. He knew it, too, and since acting like he hadn't heard or could just ignore it clearly wasn't on the table, he answered as he fired his next shot.

His voice was different with his flame on, somewhat louder and significantly deeper, with a wavering quality not unlike the crackling roar of a bonfire. "The form of the bow helps me focus. I spent five years learning how to shoot one. The process is locked in my mind. The size of an arrow, the shape of it, how it flies, that's all intuitive. Sure, I could spray fire from my hands. But it wouldn't be as focused, as intense. I'd have to put out more energy to get the same job done. It's wasteful. Messy. The bow is clean, precise. It's always in the right shape. It always goes exactly where I expect it to go. Frees me up to worry about other things, like actually controlling how much energy I'm using. Besides, the arrow's a tighter package, more condensed. Makes sure all the energy goes where it needs to go, rather than wasting a bunch of it. Much more efficient."

[TekHed]

An angelic figure, wings of golden burnished blades dropped out of the sky quite suddenly, it's slingshot like descent halted only a foot above the ground after which he alighted softly on the grass. In an instant the many bladed wings folded up and retracted, vanishing into the tall man's back as if they'd never been. His countenance was fearsome, his skin a pallid grey while his eyes gleamed of the same golden metal as his wings.

"Training? Is that not the function of the Danger Room?" he queried in an even, if slightly alien sounding voice. Whatever he was, he wasn't quite human, at least not anymore.

[herodofcows]

This sudden barrage of correction has Lilith's deprecating expression freeze momentarily on her face. She'd get corrected a lot at home, too. Her mom, her teachers, her granddad, and her aunt all interacted with her predominantly in the form of criticism. When Lilith was younger, this had motivated her to try harder to live up to their standards, but with time she began to suspect that those standards were beyond her reach. Half-panicked striving had eventually given way to surly disobedience or snide rebuttal.

So, f*** it. She knows how this game works. She says something, they correct her, and she escalates. From there it's just a question of who breaks first.

"Alright, Alf, I'll keep that in mind," she snarls, standing up and preparing to stalk off in a huff, "But while we're at it, why don't you get that stick out of your-"

The arrival of the metal angel arrests her train of thought a bit.

"-Jeeeeeeesus F***! What the f*** kinda freakshow is this?" she exclaims, backing up. Unwillingly, her claws unsheath and her voice takes on a low growling quality.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Danger room?" John asked. He...might have only skimmed the orientation pamphlet...

[Jyssika]

Alfred turn's at the young girls outburst.
It would seem Master Storm is not the only
one to have hot outbursts. I am sure given time
we can house train you.

Alfred greets Horus with a slight bow of the head.
Horus, ... Danger Room...

He makes a small awkward puzzled face as though
chosing his words carefully before smiling having
found the question he was looking for.
You have been inside?

[TekHed]

"The training and scenario simulation center?" was the reply, again in that mildly monotone voice, with a hint of question at the very end. "Sub-basement 4. Did you not receive your orientation packet?"

The half-Thanagarian turned to the snarling girl and somewhere in his hindbrain hummed an urge for violence.

"I would put away your claws Kitty. Save that aggression for training. I know I am..."

[herodofcows]

Lilith notices her claws are unsheathed and blushes slightly, even as her catlike pupils dilate and a growl escapes her. She is absolutely seething right now. She didn't leave her f***ing mother and grandfather and aunt to take MORE s*** from a**holes she didn't even know. And it's not like she'd asked for this, had she? Nah, a**holes didn't know how to take some f***ing kidding and had to get all aggro to compensate for some s*** or whatever.

That ain't Lilith. Not at all.

"Hey, birdie? Alf?" she rumbles lowly, teeth bared slightly more than is necessary, "Let's find that f***in' Danger Room. THEN I'll show you where I put my motherf***ing claws, you got me?"

She hacks up something nasty and yellow and spits it on the ground before traipsing back towards the house.

"C'mon!" she calls over her shoulder, "motherf***ers need to put their damn money where their mouth is!"

She briefly swoops down and grabs the mostly-finished box of cereal that she'd left on the ground.

"And where the F*** is everyone else? God DAMN, people, rise and f***ing shine!" she yells abruptly in a fit of pique.

[TekHed]

"What is her malfunction?" Horus asked perplexedly of Alfred.

[Jyssika]

Alfred looked a little suprised; not realizing the Danger Room had
actually been constructed... seems Mistress Barbara had priorities
when it came to organizing the estate.

He ignores the tantrum of Lilith, only achknowledging it after
Horus's question, to which he simply grimaces and shakes his head
slowly.

To them; he was just the grounds keeper.

[HopeHubris]

"Tropelet"
Zachary says before disappearing from room
"Did someone call?"
He says yawning and reappearing with the group

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sounds interesting," John said idly as Horus explained the Danger Room.

He spared a solid half a glance for the confrontation, before taking another shot at the target. That arrow was definitely on the bright side, owed to the higher tension, but it was the only sign of reaction he gave. Yeah, John was plenty happy to leave that matter to resolve itself.

[herodofcows]

As she heads towards the house, Lilith gets a sudden whiff of a new smell and turns around to see Zachary's sudden presence.

"Oh f*** me, does anybody walk around here???"

Snarling, she clomps into the house and begins searching for this Danger Room. Down in the basement, somewhere? At least, that's what the metal angel guy had said.

Angel guys and fire hotties and friggin' stick-up-his-a** butlers . . . Welcome to the X-Men, Lilith. Hope nobody else survives the experience.

[Sojobo]

The Xavier Institute


The little communications bud in Alfred's ear buzzes.

"Hey Alfred... I hear the guys are interested in finding the Danger Room." There's a hint of amusement in Barbara's voice. "Go ahead and let them find it. ....just keep them clear from Cerebro..."

The archer, the wild-child, the angel, the magician, and the butler leave the West Lawn where John had been practicing, entering the Mansion. Its clear the place had been recently removed from being moth-balled - there is a fine layer of dust accumulated on all the burnished wood surfaces, and only the foyer and main wing - the one with all of your living quarters and a finely appointed though relatively small kitchen and dining room - are actually occupied. The halls to the other wings are locked, and the nosy are firmly but quickly shooed away by Alfred.

The place itself is what you would expect from a Westchester old-money mansion - some of you enjoy the rich, warm, ornate feel of the place, with its high ceilings and burnished glow. Others of you feel like you are in some stuffy hotel, one without room service.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3233/3126269008_d18c703ea6.jpg
Alfred leads you to what appears to be a sunny alcove, a nice little place to sit and look out the window or read. The panel beside the seat, of course, is a hologram - as you approach, the illusory wooden wall disappears, revealing a dull steel wall half a foot thick. It recesses into the wall and slides away, and Alfred ushers you into the industrial looking elevator behind.

The elevator's touch screen lights up: a green mask icon appears. It is Oracle, the household AI. In a voice not quite unlike Barbara's, Oracle asks: "Down the rabbit hole?"

Quick interlude post, fitting only for fast reaction posts and to give a chance for Ricky to show up en-route. Continuing later tonight.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John follows silently into the elevator. When the AI speaks, he looks at it curiously for a moment, before glancing at the others and giving a brief shrug.

[herodofcows]

Lilith stares at the sudden onset of Star Trek technology (not that she'd call it that, since she hasn't seen Star Trek) and then turns to look at everyone.

"Are we about to fight some f***ing rabbits?" she asks incredulously, "Is this gonna be one of those bulls*** restraint exercises? Is it gonna turn out that the only way to win this s*** is NOT to punch the rabbits?"

Lilith's mother and grandfather had been big fans of long series of exercises designed to promote restraint. Balancing on poles, slapping water, tedious forms repeated past common sense . . . all ostensibly to teach Lilith patience and moderation.

Lilith always responded the same way.

"Cuz, fair warning, I will punch the f*** out of a rabbit. I don't even care."

[TekHed]

"Rabbits?" Archangel queried. "More like robots, I should think."

[Jyssika]

Alfred does as he is bid; as is his place.

Yes, automatons... there are no live opponants in
the Danger Room.

He looks breifly eitherway up and down the corridor asthough
expecting another to show up, as they all seem to be waiting
quite patiently in the elevator.

Has anyone seen Master Mancha this morning?

[TekHed]

"That is...unless we spar against each other..." Archangel added ominously.

"Keen-eyed though we Thanagarians may be, I have not set eyes upon our new resident technopath."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Haven't seen him either."

[Jyssika]

Alfred smiles at Archangel; in a not overly patronising way.

I think Mistress Barbara would be happy if you stuck to
simply destroying targets and small sections of the
estate before you practice on each other...

He checks his watch, its an old number, probably
belonged to Alfred's father... and his father's father.

Well, ...

He didn't quite know what to do; sending them down alone
was clearly not a good idea, going off to find Ricky himself
and leaving them waiting also seemed against everything
he stood for and asking Barbara to drag a young man out
of bed was also probably not a very wise career decision.
He knew the machinations of his employer well enough
however to trust she would have everything sorted out
in due course.

How are you all finding the institute?

He hadn't made small talk with any students since
arriving, he had fervently avoided it and the students in
general... not because he was bad at it... but because he
no longer felt he wanted people to get to know him.

Eitherway; he was still good at it and slipped easility, if
rather carefully, back into attempting to keep his waiting
attendees from becoming overly impatient.

[herodofcows]

Lilith shrugs sassily. Few can match Lilith's ability to shrug with sass.

"Not bad. Food's good, place is chill, not TOO many weird smells. Butler's a bit of a d***wad, though," she concludes, flashing Alfred a mocking smirk. She leans against the elevator wall, trying to project an aura of comfort and nonchalance.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Small talk was anything but John's strong suit, but after a few seconds of intense consideration he managed to come up with a solid, "Can't complain."

[TekHed]

"Impressive technology...for Earth standards."

The altered half-breed might be even more stuffy than Alfred in his own way. Some things just come with the territory of being a former genocidal mass-murderer.

[Jyssika]

Alfred's face sours.
Perhaps we can assist in toilet training aswell
as house training, to help cut down on those
weird smells.

He could see though her emotional issues pretty easily;
poor girl probably wouldn't know how to deal with a caring
enviroment if it was offered to her on a silver plate.

Ironic, since it was.

Barabara had asked him to treat her with kid gloves,
he would have stomped it out if it was his call... but
perhaps he no longer saw the best course of action as
he once did jaded as he now was.

[HopeHubris]

Zachary follows the group, still half asleep
"Danger room... definitely sounds like someplace you should have in a school"

[TekHed]

Archangel couldn't help but a grim smile came upon his grey face.

"You don't really believe that cover story do you?"

Those unnerving golden eyes scanned the others.

"We are here to learn aye, but not Academics. What we are is an independent army-in-training."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Now, that caught John's attention. Oh, sure, he didn't doubt that the curriculum here was going to be markedly different than it had been at, say, high school. But there was a pretty big leap between "learning to better use and control your powers" and "independent army". "How's that, now?"

[HopeHubris]

"Eeffoc"
He mutters and sips his eldritch brew
"Well sure, but that just makes it a super-school"
Zachary replies, not noticing the the whole 'army' thing

[TekHed]

"Why do you think we have been gathered together?" the imposing Angel of Death replied.

"Many of this world's top protectors have vanished. The power vacuum must be filled. Conflict is inevitable. We must be prepared."

[HopeHubris]

Zachary shrugs
"Didn't really think about it"

[herodofcows]

Despite herself, Lilith ignores Alfred and smiles at Archangel. An army? THAT she could see. A weird altruistic mansion tucked away to provide for wayward freaks seemed too good to be true. An army had an agenda, a cause. You give and you take. THAT'S a world that makes sense to her.

"See, that works," she says, vocalizing some of her thinking aloud (and maybe a smidge of her grandfather's philosophy), "gotta have a group powerful enough to stop anyone abusing their power, an' there're guys powerful enough that you just gotta put 'em down permanent like. War, like that? Sounds like Gordon's got her head on straight."

[Jyssika]

Alfred smiles; knowingly.

Indeed, and if you are indeed to fill that power gap
you all have quite a way to go before you are ready.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John nodded slowly. It sounded like the intended goal was positive overall. And really, the idea of replacing the lost heroes was kind of exciting. He'd have to wait and see to what use this private army would actually be put to, but he wasn't opposed to hearing things out.

[herodofcows]

Lilith leans back, satisfied. Awesome, she could earn her keep and publicly rub s*** in mom and grandpa's face. She could only imagine the look on the mighty Ra's al Ghul's face when he finds out that his granddaughter is a superhero . . .

http://i59.tinypic.com/6nz5us.png

Hehehehe . . . he'll piss his Lazarus Pit.

[Sojobo]

The Elevator

"Down the rabbit hole we go, then," Oracle says, before the terminal goes into screen saver mode. The elevator begins moving, and you have your little elevator chit-chat about the nature of the Institute and your real role here.

And the elevator keeps moving - or at least, as far as you can tell it is. Most of you know enough about physics to understand you wouldn't be able to really feel a difference between an elevator moving at constant velocity or an elevator stopped.

Quite a long time passes. Almost an embarrassing amount of time. There is no floor level indicator - for all you know, you are hundreds of levels down below the mansion.

This is honestly the longest you have ever been stuck in an elevator... you begin questioning why you are even there.

And that is when the elevator car lurches unexpectedly, accompanied with the horrifying screech of metal abrading metal. The car lurches down at sickening speed, your stomach rising into your throats, before halting - hopefully emergency brakes. Before you can even respond, the car shakes and rocks from some sort of explosion nearby; the elevator light flickers out and moments later red emergency lights cast all of your faces in ghastly relief.

And then the car shakes violently one more time before the elevator, unmistakably, begins plummeting down the shaft.

What do you do?

Everyone give me a Fortitude 15 resistance check. Failure: you are essentially temporarily Stunned and can't do anything yet as the sudden acceleration confuses your proprioception. Success: you can actually attempt to do something about your predicament.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John reacted on instinct, a fiery bow appearing in his hands. He loosed a shot, condensing as much fiery energy as he could into the arrow and letting fly for the top of the elevator car. The extreme heat from the arrow would not merely melt, but vaporize the roof - just in time for John to turn his flame on. He couldn't really do much of anything for the others, aside from giving them the possible out of tearing the roof off the elevator car, but at least the car would carry them quickly past him, so he wouldn't burn them alive.

Standard Action: Molten Shot on the elevator roof. I'm pretty sure that since objects don't have a Dodge score, they automatically suffer the worst possible result against a Dodge resisted attack; Destroyed in this case. Even if not, it'll be a DC 25 Dodge check vs. Damage Object (it's a Shapeable Area attack, so no attack roll).

Move Action: Activate Flame On. Although I can't actually move anywhere with my flight speed in the same round due to the Activation Flaw, the flight itself does activate, so John will start hovering, letting the elevator car just fall right past him.

John doesn't have an Energy Aura or anything like that, so his going flame can't actually cause meaningful harm in itself...barring a Complication of course, but hopefully he'll be out of there too fast in any case.

[TekHed]

Accustomed as he was to diving descents, the sudden change in downward momentum did little to faze the augmented half-Thanagarian. While he had a suspicion that this was all part of a training simulation (manufactured crisis+forced dependence= tried and true team-building), he nonetheless decided it would be prudent to arrest their motion. With a simple mental reflex, he extended the graviton-manipulating capacity of the Nth Metal housed within his body to latch on to the careening carriage and bring it to a halt.

Move Object 10, Attack roll if necessary: [roll0]

[Sojobo]

John's fiery arrow blows a hole in the roof of the elevator, just about at the same time Horus extends his gravity control to arrest the fall of the elevator, which lurches to a halt.

Looking up through the melting slag of the roof, you can see that the elevator shaft above you is collapsing in a fiery conflagration - complete with tons of falling rebar and debris. Falling your way, of course.

John and Horus have acted.

What do the rest of you do?

[herodofcows]

Lilith allows a naughty word to escape her as the elevator begins to fall. Several others follow as the angel-boy and fiery Robin Hood do their thing.

". . . woah, nice save b-" she begins, and then looks up, "-MOTHERF***ER!"

She braces herself for the impact and then realizes that some of the people in the elevator probably can't survive this. Her glance goes over to Zachary, who's been knocked for a loop . . .

. . . and, she's not entirely sure WHY she's suddenly jumped over and is shielding him with her body, but there you go.

"Flyboy! Protect Jeeves and Firecrotch!" she roars, assuming (perhaps erroneously) that he can do anything about it.

Wait . . . she thinks to herself as the falling debris comes too close to avoid, What the f*** am I DOING???

Basically, I'm gonna say that Lilith uses Interpose for any damage that might hit Cypher. She's not immortal, but she DOES have Great Endurance, Diehard, and a serviceable healing factor, so I'm guessing she's got better odds of walking away from this than he does.

[Jyssika]

Alfred doesn't take the lurching well;
he seem to be having some sort of
panic attack attempting to not freak out.

[Sojobo]

The first wave of falling debris begins peppering you from above. Even through the cascade of collapsing elevator shaft, you can see the explosions way above you are continuing and will probably continue to shower death from above on you.

The cascade of debris is Area Damage 5. Everyone make a DC17 Dodge Resistance Check (would be 15, but this includes a +2 DC penalty b/c you are all in a confined space).

Zypher, Lillith is covering you, so you get a +5 Circumstance Bonus to your check.
Lillith, you are covering Zypher, so you get a -2 Circumstance Penalty to your check (Technically Interpose doesn't let you do this, but who cares, its cool! Its not -5 b/c you invested an action to do it, so I'm giving you a net mathematical advantage. Also, who cares if you get hit, you'll just heal anyway).

Unlike Area Damage, if you succeed on the check, take no Damage. Otherwise, take Damage 5 (Toughness DC20).

Afterward, everyone can act (Zypher is still Dazed, check OOC). There is no real turn order, so do whatever and I'll resolve as I check in.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Even in the tight quarters of the elevator shaft, John's flight was simply too fast; he saw not a single wave of debris, but a series of pieces of stone and metal coming at him one at a time; he maneuvered quickly to avoid them.

Then he took off, flying straight up the elevator shaft. His heart was pounding. He was immune to the heat of the explosions, but his fiery form, though it did make him more resilient to harm, wouldn't render him likewise invulnerable to the concussion. And who knew what was actually waiting up there, triggering the blasts? It could be anything. Flying up before he was sure the others could or would follow was hardly wise.

For the first time since he had arrived at the school, John wore a bright, fierce smile.

Move Action: Flying up the elevator shaft. John's got a Flight speed of 10 with Flame On, so unless we've gone more than four miles down, he should be easily able to reach the top.

Going to reserve my standard action until I see what's up there.

[Jyssika]

Alfred manages to fall out of the way of most of
the debris; entirely by coincidence, however he
is still thrown by the entire incident and still looks
like hes trying to stop his head exploding by holding
onto it with his hands.

[Sojobo]

Quite a distance up, say at least 250 feet, Firebow can see that the shaft has basically collapsed and toppled over, wedged into the opening and blocking off the way. Its the mass of crumpled shaft that is sprinkling debris down on you. You can't tell what caused the collapse.

You do notice, from the flickering light coming off your own flaming body, that the inner shaft floor levels painted on the walls only indicates that the elevator car is at level SB5. Why the hell were you in the elevator for so long if you are only at around sub-basement 5?

...other than a deadbeat GM...
You still have enough movement to go elsewhere if you want.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John frowned at the dead end. He could probably melt his way through, but it'd risk triggering a worse collapse. He flew back down towards the elevator. "Whole shaft is obstructed up there! I'm going to try and get us into one of the sub-basements!" he called down towards the others.

Moving back down to, eh, let's say sub-basement 4. If it's just the elevator car that has a door and there's an opening into the sub-basement already, he'll just fly into it to get out of the shaft. Otherwise, Standard action for another Molten Shot to melt down the door, Move-by Action to fly in thereafter.

[herodofcows]

Lilith begins darting and rolling through the elevator, clutching Zachary's form as she evades the debris.

"S***! F***! S***f***! Motherf***ing s***f***!" she growls to herself with every piece of debris avoided.

After the initial shower, she looks up and sees Firebow rocketing up towards the source of the explosions (which, f*** d*** it, are STILL GOING ON).

She turns to Horus.

"Okay, wings, you need to get us up there. Can you do that? Jeeves is having a panic attack and motherf***ing Sage Duban here went and cold-cocked himself!"

[TekHed]

"I can't!" Horus howled above the deafening din.

"It's taking my whole concentration just to keep us from plummeting further. Alfred! Pull yourself together man! See if you can pry the door open, so can get the hell out of here!"

Move Action makes Move Object Concentration (which takes a Standard Action to maintain).

[herodofcows]

Lilith gives Alfred all of half a second to pull himself together before deciding to take matters into her own hands.

"I'll get the door! Just keep us floating!"

She lunges over to the elevator doors and starts straining at them. She's not superhumanly strong, but she's in good physical shape. Hopefully that'll be enough . . .

Strength check to pry open the elevator doors: [roll0]

[HopeHubris]

Recovering a little, but still dazed, Zachary checks his head for bumps or bleeding before looking around.
"Owww"
He groans
"That hurt... Did you need help with that door?"

"Nepo eht rood"
He backsays, trying to focus his magic through the disorientation and head-pain
"This may take a moment"


For to throw off the Daze [roll0]
I am dazed now right? Not another stun mixup? :smalltongue:

Move action to swap magic to Move Object (limited doors)

[Sojobo]

Firebow's second flaming arrow begins melting a hole into the SB4 door; and reveals that the subbasement, whatever it used to be, is completely caved in with rocks. .... what ... ? Despite the head-scratching insanity of what you see, there is no quick exit that way.

Lilith, her muscles straining, barely manages to pry apart the elevator doors wide enough to let everyone through. All of you hustle quickly through into SB5, Firebow streaking down and through the elevator and Horus trailing just long enough to keep the elevator up. Thankfully, you've all managed to escape that death trap as a veritable avalanche of debris crashes into the elevator, taking it down and blowing out the shaft as it continues to cave in.

As you pick yourselves up from your close call, you start taking in what Sub-basement 5 is all about...

http://i.imgur.com/AWhV0FY.jpg

A klaxon is going off, a long, annoying, keening sound. Red emergency lights make the organic looking, pulsing walls look even more alien, and you can see strange bits of machinery embedded into the walls. Glowing pustule-like growths pockmark the walls, filled with some sort of translucent fluid (and thankfully nothing else). And to go along with the sensory overload, suddenly you hear Barbara's panicked voice over intercoms.

".... Institute compromised!- <garble> -stuck in a Danger Ro-<garble>-ulation, its real! Get to the control UGH<garble>", and then she is cut off, after (it sounds like) being struck, hard. The klaxon stops, and regular illumination returns, as if some sort of emergency had suddenly been rectified (though the alien looking walls continue to pulsate red).

And, of course, when you look behind you, there is no caved in elevator shaft, or even a wall. You are smack dab in the center of an alien looking cavern about the size of a tennis court, with a series of "halls" leading away in multiple directions.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John turned his flame off, drawing out his physical bow. He had no idea what they would encounter in here, and he didn't want to reveal their position. He was...reasonably sure he picked up, roughly, what Barbara had been trying to say, but it didn't quite make sense to him. Danger room simulation? What's real? Get to the control for what?

The others had been talking about a Danger Room. Hopefully they had a better idea of what was going on.

"So," he said, with the sort of calm of someone who has more important things to do than freak out. "What's the plan?"

[Jyssika]

Alfred stands finally without assistance;
having been dragged out of the elevator
by lilith, he presumed.

His regeneration had finally kicked in and
he was feeling alot better.

Thank you,
He turns to John, holding his finger to his ear he quite obveously attempts to
communicate with someone over a comm bead, but shakes his head informing
the group he isnt able to.

I figured Barbara had rerouted the Elevator straight
into a Danger Room simulation and this was all just
a test for you. I fear now that whether that is true or
not no longer matters at best this could perhaps be
just an added complication to test all of us including
myself and at worst, the Institute is under attack.

[herodofcows]

Lilith grunts, reverting back to surly now that most of the chaos has ended. Faking an emergency sounds like the kind of d*** move that someone like Barbara or her grandfather WOULD pull, just to watch everyone freak the f*** out while they took notes.

"Either way, we gotta hit the control room, right?" she asks, grumbling a bit at this, "so which way?"

As she says this, she begins sniffing around. Maybe she can catch any scents that don't belong?

Perception, using Acute/Accurate smell.

[roll0]

Awesome crit is awesome!

[HopeHubris]

"Looks like you got it"
Zachary says, able to think and focus his powers clearly again. He looks around at the odd cave system and backintones a quick spell
"Gnihtyna taht lliw pleh em ton eid"
before walking over to Lilith
"Smell anything useful? Oh, and thanks for the save, that debris probably would have killed me"


Variable to something that would help with defence, possibly just as many ranks of regen as it can buy (maybe a rank or two of immortality/some sort of immunity)

[TekHed]

"My thoughts exactly" Horus nodded at Alfred.

"It is highly probable that we are in a simulation...certainly this infestation of organic matter seems out of place; something the sensors would have alerted Barbara to long before it advanced this far. Still, whether real or a test...we must do our utmost."

When Johnny asks about a plan, he replied, "We stick together. If it's an enemy, we don't let them pick us off piecemeal. If it's an illusion, all the more reason not to lose sight of one another. Be wary."

The Archangel kept his wings of Death retracted and in check...for now.

[Jyssika]

Alfred; eyes Horus, waiting for the penny to drop.

It doesn't matter if this is a simulation or not.
The Danger Room is by its very nature, dangerous,
and was designed to cater to all levels of powers...
If the system has gone haywire we could be on Master
Wayne levels of difficulty, and despite what some of
you might think, you are not there yet.

Either way the the group had probably debated
the situation to death; he nods at Horus' wise
words.

Anyone care to choose a path?

[TekHed]

"You're the only one of us who's actually been down here. Not that it might make any difference now. Make your best guess; one's as good as another right now, but let's make haste."

[Sojobo]

Lilith:

Nice roll! You smell... the elevator. You smell other things as well, that the walls smell like a mix of concrete, coppery blood, and something saccharine sweet, and that there are other, human-like smells down every "hall" a fair distance away. But... underneath it all, you smell the elevator. its so faint, you can't even tell if its really there... But still, you smell elevator.

Did I mention you smell elevator?

[herodofcows]

Lilith's nose scrunches up as she takes in the scents. This was . . . hmmmm . . .

"Alright, I'm getting human-smell, concrete, blood, and something real f***ing sweet everywhere, but . . ." she takes a brief sniff, just to be sure, and then scowls, ". . . yeah, pretty sure we're getting djinn'd here. I'm still smelling the elevator underneath all've this."

She sighs and rubs her eyes, feeling irritation creep up.

"So, any passage, I guess!" she calls out in an obnoxious simulacrum of cheer, "Guess it doesn't matter! It's all f***ing fake anyway!"

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she goes quadrupedal and takes off running down one of the passageways.

"Send your حيوان مخيف at me, Gordon! I'LL RIP 'EM APART!!!"

[Quellian-dyrae]

John glanced to the others, shrugged, and took off after Lilith. He flamed on again as he did; stealth was a moot point with her shouting like that, he couldn't keep up with her without flying anyway, and being easier to see would help keep the rest of the group from losing track of them.

[Jyssika]

Alfred shook his head for a moment; then set off at a comfortable jog behind
them, doing his best to keep up but not pushing himself knowing no matter
what he did he would most likely not be able to match their speed.

[roll0] Expertise (Running a Household)

[TekHed]

Horus extended his wings; not fully, but only a few feet from his body. He levitated off the ground and floated after the others, taking up the rear guard.

[Sojobo]

Its a Magical Place
Alfred

You know the Danger Room is equipped with advanced hard-light holography in addition to actual dangers and obstacles, is about the size of an underground football field (though with its movable surfaces and coupled with the right "program" of visual distraction, it can seem near infinite as it leads its occupants around in circles), and that Barbara had been thinking about adding actual combat robots to reinforce certain protocols. From the test runs you've seen (perhaps a few months ago), you've never seen anything THIS realistic however; the holography in the past had looked, at best, like a VR video-game. You are pretty sure smells were never part of the virtual reality suite.

Your group begins heading tentatively down one large path; no new scents hit Lillith's nostrils for some distance, though your less olfactory gifted companions smell mostly generic wet organic smells.

The passage is not particularly wide; perhaps 20 feet in diameter, irregular footing because of the rather rounded, artery like shape. Pustules continue to pockmark the walls every few feet, some on the sides, some on the ceiling, others directly on the floor. A few have weird, dark, eel-like silhouettes swimming inside, backlit from the bioluminescence, but the membrane and fluid are too opaque for you to make out details...

About perhaps 5 minutes of walking, nearly half of you sense something up ahead, past the bend. Even the most ham-handed attempt at creeping up to scout ahead will reveal a pack of industrial-looking combat robots, 8 in total, with a variety of body-shapes, just waiting. Alfred will recognize them as the combat robot prototypes Barbara commissioned quite a while ago.

You guys rolled ridiculously well on Perception checks, so no ambush for me. :-( Possible ambush for you if you want.

3 robots look generally humanoid, with no perceptible weapons.
2 are quite large, over 15 feet, and look like the AMP suits (without pilots) from the Avatar movie.
1 looks essentially like a limb- and head-less sumo-wrestler sized pressure-cooker, mounted on tractor treads.
1 is a walking gun emplacement: a minigun mounted on 4 insectile legs.
The last looks humanoid, but of a much more sophisticated build quality than the other 3 humanoid robots. STARK is embossed on its chest, above a glowing arc reactor.

[Jyssika]

Alfred uses his super reptilian/butler senses
to attempt to piece together where the
robots came from and how they arrived
where they are.

[roll0] Perception test using Postcognition/Analytical/Rapid/Tracking vision to see where the robots came from.

Combat Robots...
Alfred mutters to the himself and the group;
he looks thoughtful, as though he has more to say.

[herodofcows]

Lilith skids to a halt and waits for the rest of the group to catch up. Not that she's scared or anything like that, but these guys look pretty f***ing serious.

At Alfred's pronouncement, she snorts.

"Nooo, the robots with guns are combat robots? Craaaazyyyy," she drawls, and then resumes business, "So, eight of them, five of us. I can take the gun and the fat boy. Anyone else callin' dibs?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

John turned his flame off as they neared the robots. "Do any of you have experience in staging an ambush? We can strike first, catch them off guard, and then others can rush them while they're disoriented."

...

"Assuming terms like 'off-guard' and 'disoriented' apply to robots."

[HopeHubris]

"Are any of you mind readers? 'cause there is probably at least one nearby"
Zachary says, an odd but vaguely familiar sensation in his mind.
So, who are you? Are you one of my fellow superhero-army-to-be? Some sort of evil danger room hologram villain? Can holograms read minds?
He thinks at whatever is potentially trying to read his mind

"Well, I assume there is, got a sort of 'being mind-read' vibe, don't suppose robots can read minds? No ambush experience either, I guess I could turn invisible or something, but that doesn't help if they read minds"
Zachary continues, aloud this time. Though he'd really rather not give up his 'not dying' spell, leave the combat to the ones with more combat oriented powers.

[herodofcows]

"Alright, you want an ambush? Don't overthink it. Pick out one or two targets you cannot defeat head-on, throw everything at them, and the rest is simple," Lilith replies, slipping unconsciously into her mother's tone of voice.

She takes a good hard look at the STARK robot. Something about it gave her the creeps . . .

Assessment on the Starkbot, with a focus on determining its Parry defense. My Insight vs. its Deception.

[roll0]

D'oh!

[Sojobo]

Alfred

Not exactly sure what you are asking about, but from past Danger Room runs you know that there are all sorts of ways to insert obstacles or dangers into the scenario - through disguised trap doors in the floor, walls, or ceiling, all disguised by holograms. You don't know exactly where these robots were inserted into the scenario - if thats what this is - but you know the holograms disguising the environment would make it next to impossible to keep track of insertion points.

Lillith

The STARK robot seems quite clunky... you don't really know much about robotics, but it can't possibly be faster than you: you believe its Parry is lower than yours.

[TekHed]

"Less talking, more hitting!"

While his comrades stood there gaping, the Archangel saw an opportunity not to be wasted. His wings already deployed, he poured all of his energy into speed, surging forward to barrel directly into the machine-gun bot, blades first.


Surprise Round:
Attack Array to Wing Slash
Move Action: Charge machine gun bot: -2 to attack
Slam Attack: +1 to Damage Effect
All-out Attack: -2 to defenses +2 to attack
Power Attack: -2 to attack +2 to damage
Favored Environment (Airborne): +2 to defense

Total: -2 to attack and +3 to damage effect

[roll0] vs machine-gun bit's halved defense
Resistance: Toughness vs DC 28

Toughness [roll1] vs DC 21 (half damage). Failure: 2 degrees. Dazed Until the end of the next round, -1 penalty on further saves against damage.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John gave a soft sigh. They weren't exactly the most patient bunch, were they?

Not having time to get into an advantageous position beforehand, he simply advanced, keeping to what cover he could while getting into a position where he could start shooting.

Surprise Round Action: Move into the area with the robots while attempting to remain hidden. Stealth: [roll0].

EDIT: :smallcool:

[HopeHubris]

"So... Just going to ignore the mind reading thing, or planning? I mean, sure, rushing straight at them works, but I think I'll hang back and not get killed by Stark murderbots"
Zachary says, letting his 'allies' rush ahead while he tries to think of how to help without risking his neck.
They'll be fine, right? Seem to know what they're doing, more combat experience than I have.


Action: Defend, just in case
Magic still on not dying

[herodofcows]

"Heh! Good on ya, wings!" Lilith growls. A part of her would like to charge in claws-first as well, but . . . well, mom and grandpa might both be utter ********s, but they DID know how to fight, so . . .

Sighing slightly, Lilith tries to reposition herself so as not to catch the attention of the robots. Attacking from the shadows could get boring, but it WAS effective . . .

Sorry for the mess-up. Rolling Stealth (with Hide in Plain Sight advantage, as needed) to be ready to catch los robotos off-guard:

[roll0]

Edit: Aww jeah.

[Jyssika]

Alfred sighs reaching for a sidearm that wasn't there.
Optimistically he raises his fists; but doesnt act yet.
This is going to hurt.

[Sojobo]

Digital Love

No longer content to just observe, Horus streaks into the midst of the combat robots, a sleek metallic angel of death. He is moving with such speed and inertia that his body slam knocks the quadripedal gun robot flat on its side, and with a slash of his wings severs the barrel of the weapon and three of its legs. The crippled, disarmed machine writhes like a dismembered beetle before the ammunition clip on its side overheats and explodes. Horus, a little disoriented from the impact of his cavalier charge, shields himself from most of the shrapnel with his wings but takes a scratch to his knee.

Your attack beats the Defense by 3 degrees, making it a Critical (+5 damage) in addition to inflicting an Affliction. However, the gun robot failed by, lets say, a lot, and is just straight up destroyed.

Also, I'm giving you a hero point for your first M&M attack ever, and referencing Hawkgirl.

With the rest of the robots now orienting towards the techno-angel in their midst, its almost child's play for Lillith and Firebow to creep into advantageous, hidden flanking positions behind organic curves in the tunnel.

For Firebow's and Lillith's next attack from Stealth, you get a +2 Cirumstance Bonus on your Attack Checks (for your Stealth roll crits)

Unlike the other robots, which are beginning to turn to deal with Horus, the STARK emblazoned robot swivels its head and seems to focus on Zypher and Alfred, who are hanging in the back.
.....
.....
.....
And... now something weird is happening. Even as the robots begin reacting, their forms seem to shiver and warp, as if you are looking at images of them on an artifact-plagued and faulty computer screen.

The three humanoid robots pixel-ate and refocus, appearing as three black robed and hooded warriors, armed with, of all things, six foot wooden staves. Lillith, you immediately recognize them as League of Assassin acolytes.

The two large lumbering robots also change form, though not into larger acolytes: they turn into two huge gorillas, one black, the other white, both frothing at the mouth with angry red eyes.

The smoking ruin of the gun robot does nothing, but the large barrel-on-tank-treads undergoes a fairly startling transformation:

http://i56.tinypic.com/2edw4t4.png

Firebow, you recognize him as Eric Lensherr, aka Sinestro, a metahuman supremacist the Fantastic Four briefly tangled with.

Finally, the STARK robots body blurs, pix-elates, shifts, and transforms into a darkly dressed figure, one you are all familiar with.

http://cdn.superbwallpapers.com/wallpapers/comics/batman-16095-400x250.jpg


EDITS: Initiative Order and Status Below:

Current Status:
Firebow: Hiding (+2 Circumstance Bonus on next attack)
Lillith: Hiding (+2 Circumstance Bonus on next attack
Batman: Unharmed
Horus: Dazed, -1 Toughness (I abbreviate it -1T, -3T, etc)
Gorillas x2 (A, B): Unharmed
Zypher: Actively Defending
League of Assassin Acolytes x3 (A, B, C): Unharmed
Alfred: Unharmed
Sinestro: Unharmed

[TekHed]

A bit doozy from the impact, the Archangel shook his head trying to clear the shell-shock, and saw the satisfying wreckage underneath him. Satisfied that one threat had been neutralized, Horus turned his attention to the remaining foes. Seeing them shimmer and change, he decided the next most dangerous (to him at any rate) was the Sinestro-Bot. Reacting out of instinct, his bladed wings snapped out, carving into the menacing mech.


I'll spend that hero point right away to recover from the dazed condition.

Move away (out of Close Range)
Free: Switch Array
Standard: Wing Slash; Same as before, All-Out Attack+Power Attack, switching Favored Environment to Attack Bonus.

-2 Active Defenses, +2 to Attack, +2 Damage

Attack: [roll0] for DC 27 toughness check. I assume as constructs they are immune to Fort but if not, DC 22 vs Daze/Stunned Affliction

[herodofcows]

Lilith doesn't know much about holograms or VR, but she knows illusion when she sees it. Bringing up s*** from your opponent's past to torment them as you fight? Pffft, that's BASIC manipulation. Lilith ain't no punk. She sees what's happening . . .

Of course, that's not to say that she won't react anyway.

"RRRAH!!" she roars, pouncing on one of the acolytes from behind. Her claws rake at its back as she straightens herself into a ready position.

"<Al-Nahereb is in the HOUSE!>" she growls at her foes. She does not realize that she's slipped into Arabic as she speaks to them. Nor does her mind quite process the fact that she's told nobody of her past with the League of Assassins. A problem for later, that . . .

Rolls are here! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18832534&postcount=100)

[Quellian-dyrae]

So, John thought with mental calm, even as his hands started to sweat some and his heart began beating faster, actual individuals who had been cloaked by an illusion, still the robots but now cloaked by an illusion, or simply constructs of this...Danger Room?

He leaned towards the latter, mainly because the broken one hadn't changed, and this seemed like a rather strangely eclectic group all told and oh, yeah, Batman is dead! At the end of the day, though, it was probably fairly irrelevant for practical purposes.

Or is it? Sinestro wielded strange powers. It might not be impossible for him (or some other metahuman) to have usurped control of Batman's mind and forced him to disappear. Was his death actually confirmed? John wasn't sure; he only paid cursory attention to the news. If that was the real Bat, it meant he had to take care to avoid lethal harm.

That said, while Batman was one of the most dangerous individuals on the planet, John's understanding was that that fact was largely due to tactics, surprise, and planning. As either a victim of mind control or a programmed construct, those advantages would be lessened.

Primary strategic objective, then, would be rapid neutralization of other threats on the field. John drew back his bowstring and allowed flame to pour out from his hand, an inferno condensed into a slender shaft of molten energy that he loosed straight for one of the gorillas. It would shoot through that target, bounce off the far wall, and angle back to strike at the second. With luck, the bulky creatures wouldn't be able to avoid the lethal shot; that much energy in that small a space could pierce through just about anything.

Move Action: I'm good.

Standard Action: Molten Shot, shapeable area attack at both gorillas. Dodge DC 20 for half, then Dodge (not Toughness) DC 25/20 vs. Damage.

[Sojobo]

Digital Love
Round 1: Fire, Claws, and Smoke

Your robots-turned-menagerie-of-baddies-and-also-a-lost-legend very rapidly turn to deal with your sneak attack, but not quickly enough. Firebow's bouncing fire arrow burns a hole right through the black gorilla, which lets out a grunt and falls to all fours. It is clearly badly injured. The albino gorilla, however, notices the fate of its compatriot and manages to tumble akimbo mostly out of the way. Mostly. The singe marks on its white fur indicates it didn't escape unscathed.

Your enemies are no longer surprised. Technically, they are immune to surprise but since you guys double crit on stealth AND did so well on your perception checks before, I rewarded you with that Surprise round where they were Surprised.

In any case, the Black Gorilla failed its Dodge check (I applied your +2 Circumstance Bonus as a penalty), taking full Damage, and then failed the Damage Dodge Resistance check by 3 Degrees: its Staggered and takes -1D (remembered in 3e that Damage "bruises" are -1 to DAMAGE resistance checks, not just Toughness checks).

The Albino Gorilla also fails its Dodge check, taking full Damage, but rolls better and fails its Damage Dodge Resistance check by only 1 Degree: it takes -1D.

Lillith begins ripping into a League Acolyte, who does his best to keep up with the wild child's furious flurry of claws, but ends up with a scratched up staff and a bloody and ragged back. The Acolyte gurgles something that sounds Arabic but is completely gibberish, and the other Acolytes whirl their staves in a combat form Lillith is very familiar with.

You just hit Acolyte A, succeeding on the Attack Check with 1 degree of success. The Acolyte fails his Damage Resistance Check by 2 degrees, and is Dazed and takes -1D.

The Batman-figure deploys something from his utility belt, throwing several pellets to the ground. Instantly, massive clouds of dark, acrid smoke begin billowing and obscuring the pulsing red alien cavern, and try as you might you quickly lose sight of him in the chaos and smoke.

And that, of course, is when Alfred and Zypher, in the rear, hear a whirring sound - a familiar sound to Alfred. It is a thrown batarang cutting through the air, which embeds itself into the wall by the pair.

A light on the black weapon blinks twice.

Boom.

Batman drops a Smoke Bomb, affecting Normal Vision and Normal Smell: all enemies have Partial Concealment (-2 to Attack Checks to hit them) unless you have an appropriate Sense or other Effect to deal with the Smoke. You all may or may not have Partial Concealment, but don't count on it.

He then Stealths; you all lose sight of him.

He then takes another Attack Action, throwing an Explosive Batarang at Alfred and Zypher. Alfred and Zypher both get a Hero Point for the extra action, but must save against an Area Damage 8 effect (Dodge 18 check for half damage).

Current Status

Horus: Dazed, -1D -UP NOW-
Gorilla A: -1D, Partial Concealment
Gorilla B: Staggered, -1D, Partial Concealment
Zypher: Actively Defending; +1 HP; Area Damage 8 Check Pending
Acolyte A: Dazed, -1D, Partial Concealment
Acolyte B: Unharmed, Partial Concealment
Acolyte C: Unharmed, Partial Concealment
Alfred: +1HP; Area Damage 8 Check Pending
Sinestro: Unharmed, Partial Concealment
--Round 2--
Firebow: Unharmed
Lillith: Unharmed
Batman: Stealthed

[Sojobo]

Horus

Even through the smoke, Horus finds the distinctive yellow glow surrounding Sinestro and rips towards him with his wing blades. Sinestro floats a few inches from the ground, almost languidly, so he is an easy target, but he simply clenches his fist, the yellow power ring on his finger glowing: your slashes flash harmlessly against a yellow spherical forcefield. Sinestro's concentration, however, is firmly placed on hedging Horus out.

Horus' attack check succeeds by 2 degrees, and you Daze him.
Sinestro makes his Toughness check, however, and is unharmed.

Primate Power
Both the black and albino gorillas, seemingly unencumbered by the smoke, beat their chests and roar before charging directly for Horus, who is at the spearhead of your attack. They are ham handed fighters, simply running up before double hammer fisting you, but they are incredibly strong: the albino gorilla manages to land a solid blow, knocking you off balance.

The black gorilla rolls a 16, which misses Horus.
The albino gorilla rolls a 23 vs. your lowered Parry of 18. That is barely 2 degrees of success; he knocks you Prone. His fists do Damage 12; roll a Toughness Check vs. DC27.

Current Status

Zypher: Actively Defending -UP NOW-
Acolyte A: Dazed, -1D, Partial Concealment
Acolyte B: Unharmed, Partial Concealment
Acolyte C: Unharmed, Partial Concealment
Alfred: Area Damage 8 Check Pending
Sinestro: Dazed, Partial Concealment
--Round 2--
Firebow: Unharmed
Lillith: Unharmed
Batman: Stealthed
Horus: Prone, -1D; Damage 12 Check Pending
Gorilla A: -1D, Partial Concealment
Gorilla B: Staggered, -1D, Partial Concealment

[HopeHubris]

"Hey, Alfred, you dealt with the actual Batman, right? And know the school's systems? You can totally take this robot-danger-hologram-imposter-thing*. I mean, it's bound to be weaker than the real Bat, couldn't even hit me. Oh, wait, didn't the real Bat not even have any powers? This weird robot guy might actually be better"
Zachary rambles nervously, having barely managed to avoid the explosive batarang
"Uh... Elbasid lla eht stobor"
He backutters hoping the magics would affect the bat-bot, even if he couldn't find him

How did he disappear like that? Is it just the smoke? Or is the holo-stuff cloaking him as well?



*Language super powers at work, right there

Move action: Change spell to Area 2 Afflict 10 [Dazed+Hindered, Stunned+Immobile, Paralyzed+Incapacitated] (Limited: Robots, Instant Recovery),
Standard: That thing, don't need to see to try to AoE errything

[herodofcows]

Even amidst the smoke, Lilith sees the gorillas charge Horus . . . who's still busy shaking off his head-on attack . . .

"<WATCH OUT!> she finds herself roaring (again, unknowingly in Arabic) as she sprints over. She pounces, wrenching him out of the way and taking the albino's hammer-blow on herself.

Toughness: [roll0] vs. 27

Lilith is Bruised 1 and Dazed

"GUH!" she grunts as the gorilla-bot's fist collides with her. She turns and points a punch-drunk finger at the bots cosplaying as League acolytes, "F***in' . . . don't go anywhere! We got some s*** to sort out!"

[TekHed]

The massive fist was just about to land, and Horus braced himself for another Dazing blow. Then from out of nowhere, cat-girl was there bum-rushing him out of the way and taking the full brunt of the hit. Realizing his approach had been haphazard, and they needed to organize, he gathered his wits about him.

"We need to do this right! Teamwork people! Concentrate your attacks on the white ape! We take them down one at a time!"


Round 2 actions:

A Call for the Teamwork Maneuver. Horus will delay to the same initiative as Firebow and Marauder, in case they feel like helping.

No longer Dazed since Lilith took the hit. Apparently being Prone means I was in fact knocked onto the ground, so I can't claim flight bonuses. Still the penalty for being prone is only to close attacks. I'll switch my array to Wing Flechettes, wait in case the call to Teamwork is heeded, use a move action to fly backwards and up (I think this is allowed, since there is an option to move while prone and my flight is continuous), and hit the white ape with a ranged attack. If moving first in this manner let's me be considered airborne then add 2 to this attack roll:

All-Out+Power Attack: [roll0] DC 27 Damage. Let's hope the teamwork happens! <---add +2 to roll for being airborne since not prone after all.

[Sojobo]

Hocus Pocus... What?

Since Marauder interposed, she takes the attack hit - the original attack roll is still enough to knock her Prone, in addition to the failed Toughness check.

Horus is completely unaffected from last round; he is NOT Prone.

Zypher

Zypher begins incanting his mnemonic spell, and the familiar eldritch feeling courses through his body. Wait... is this what it feels like to cast his spells? Its not quite the same... and as soon as a part of his subconscious begins recalling the correct sensations, its there, as if on a delay.

Odd.

His spell finished, the magical energies are released and course out towards the maybe-camouflaged-robots. Sinestro seems unharmed, as does the black gorilla and the acolyte that Marauder partially dismembered, but the albino gorilla and one of the acolytes slow in mid-movement, like they are moving through molasses, before freezing in place. The last acolyte, however, starts vibrating erratically, electrical discharge arcing around it, and the assassin explodes - showering Marauder in humanoid robot parts.

On a meta-level, teeeechnically, your spell should have failed outright. But I'm fudging my own plans, because I believe in failing forward, and this also makes up for lost time for when I was sick. Besides that, Zypher critted a secret Will save, after all of you failing a bunch of them (finally!).

The albino gorilla and Acolyte A are both Stunned and Immobile. Acolyte C is Incapacitated and out of the fight. If there was any effect on Batman, you have no clue, since you still can't locate him.

HH, PM incoming.

Dance of Assassins
The injured League of Assassins acolyte completely ignores the plight of his comrades. He shouts something that sounds Arabic, but is once again gibberish to both Lillith and Zypher, before twirling his staff above his head to bring it down, hard, on Marauder's head.

Since Marauder is Prone, the Acolyte gets a +5 circumstance bonus to his attack check. The total I rolled was a 29, which is 3 degrees of success: not only does it Daze you, but makes the attack a Critical. Make a Toughness check against Damage 13 (DC28).
Current Status

Alfred: Unharmed - UP NOW
Sinestro: Dazed, Partial Concealment
--Round 2--
Firebow: Unharmed
Lillith: Dazed, Prone; Damage 13 Check Pending
Batman: Stealthed
Horus: -1D
Gorilla Albinus: Stunned, Immobile, -1D, Partial Concealment
Gorilla Blackus: Staggered, -1D, Partial Concealment
Zypher: Unharmed
Acolyte A: Dazed, -1D, Partial Concealment
Acolyte B: Stunned, Immobile, Partial Concealment
Acolyte C: Incapacitated

[herodofcows]

WHACK

"F***!!!!"

Lilith's vision explodes into technicolor blurs for a second. She manages to lift a quivering middle finger up towards the "Assassin".

"<Learn to speak f***ing Arabic, you racist f***>!"

Lilith is Bruised 2 and Dazed for 1 Round

[Jyssika]

Alfred lowers his fists; steps forward and calls to the
Batthing that vanished.

Show yourself Master Wayne!
His voice is calm and authorative.

It is very rude to attack an old friend
and then scuttle away into the shadows
like a petty criminal!


Facinate Attempt on Bat Bot.
Roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18841923&postcount=134)

Seriously... Natural 1.

[HopeHubris]

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, and by Kansas I mean the Danger Room or wherever we're meant to be. You know how I mentioned the mind reading? I think it might be a little more than that, like, full out mind-control."
Zachary says starting to panic, his mind racing about what could be happening outside this 'fight'
"None of this is real, something is making us think we're fighting for our lives, but we're still in the elevator"


How do manual will saves work? Can I make one as a reaction ([roll0], in case), or do/can I use an action when it gets back around to my turn?

[TekHed]

"Wait, what?" Horus intones, even as he moves as one with Firebow to finish off the gorillas.

[HopeHubris]

"I snapped out of it for a second, we're in the elevator and someone is messing with our heads."
Zachary says, trying to make sense of what he saw himself

[Sojobo]

Black...
There is no verbal response in the smoke and chaos after Alfred calls out to the Batman-figure. There doesn't seem to be a response at all... and then there is a *whirr* and Alfred manages to move out of the way as another batarang embeds itself into the ground where he was just standing.

It should be obvious what the result of Alfred's Fascinate attempt is. Alfred wasn't actually attacked, I just fluffed a nonverbal response.

...and Yellow
Sinestro clenches his fist, and his yellow power ring, and his eyes, glow even brighter. The shimmering translucent forcefield around his body also begins to coruscate, to an almost blinding yellow hue. Anyone around him can almost feel the energy he is focusing tingling your skin.

Sinestro is Dazed, so he uses his Standard Action to do... something. Obviously, he is powering up for something.

Round 1 is over; Round 2 begins.

After Zypher explains what he saw, you can all use a Move Action to make a Will Save; success is important, but failure won't result in anything other than wasted action.

Current Status

--Round 2--
Firebow: Unharmed - UP NOW -
Lillith: Dazed, Prone; -1D - UP NOW -
Batman: Stealthed
Horus: -1D
Gorilla Albinus: Stunned, Immobile, -1D, Partial Concealment
Gorilla Blackus: Staggered, -1D, Partial Concealment
Zypher: Unharmed
Acolyte A: Dazed, -1D, Partial Concealment
Acolyte B: Stunned, Immobile, Partial Concealment
Alfred: Unharmed
Sinestro: Dazed, Partial Concealment

[herodofcows]

Grunting, Lilith flips to her feet. D***, that whack to her head had been harder than she'd thought. She can feel her healing factor repairing some fractures in her skull.

"Yeah, I told you: we're getting djinn'd! I can smell the f***ing elevator still! So DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, Safer f***ing Duban!" she yells at Zypher.

Grunting and turning around, she watches Horus' flechettes go flying towards the gorilla. In a haze, she rakes at the f***ing thing with her claws, trying to dig in after the sharp things.

Typical attack, here. Using a free action (and the Instant Up advantage) to stand up.

Attack: [roll0], DC 25 plus Multiattack bonuses.

[Quellian-dyrae]

John frowned, peering around at the area for a moment, but really, there was only so much it mattered. He wasn't going to simply ignore the threat his senses were telling him existed. After all, if it was possible to make them believe they were fighting a hostile force in some weird quasi-living underground chamber thing when they were actually in an elevator, it was equally possible to make them think they were in an elevator while they were actually fighting a hostile force in some weird quasi-living underground chamber thing.

Given two conflicting possibilities for reality, John chose to react to the one which would kill him if he stood around uselessly. He raised his bow and launched a trio of arrows straight for the gorillas and the charging-up Sinestro, timing his shot to coincide with Horus's strike.

Move Action: Will Save! [roll0].

Standard Action: Arrow Volley at the gorillas and, eh, Sinestro while I'm at it, since he's charging up, Multiattacking for 3. John's Precise Attack Advantage allows him to ignore the Concealment penalty.
Sinestro (Normal Attack): [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.
Black Gorilla (Normal Attack): [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.
White Gorilla (Team Attack): [roll3]. On a hit, Horus's attack gets +2 Damage. Hit by three degrees or more, +5 Damage.

EDIT: Well that was a heck of a lot of squat and didley, is what that was. Here's hoping the gorillas have weak Dodge scores, I guess.