Heroes of Memorial City Season 1 [Masks]

[Kymme]

“Honestly, I expected better.”

Justinian Wilhelm, sorcerer extraordinaire and human sacrifice dabbler (https://i.imgur.com/6ViQcs4.jpg), continued his monologue as he descended. The arcane sigils that glittered just beneath his all-black oxfords produced a slight updraft, which set his midnight blue coat billowing dramatically around him. He’d always appreciated the presentation that came with villainy, even if there wasn’t always an audience to enjoy it.

Here though, in the Dome at the Center of America, right in the middle of Memorial City, there was audience enough for any villain. With his back to his captive audience, held in their seats by ten-thousand serpents of coal and brimstone, Justinian felt like Malefactor or Calamity or Grehm - a villain par excellence, one whose every step sets the world trembling.

Compared to his magnificence, however, these heroes were somewhat lacking.

“Seriously, are you lot the best this city could muster? I’m almost offended! I’d figured the Paragons would make an appearance, but it seems the rumors about them chasing after Atomic Skull’s trail were true after all. Wait a moment - that was your doing, wasn’t it! I remember now!” The sorcerer chuckled hollowly to himself and then spoke up, to be heard over the frightened whimpers of the crowd. “You’re the ones who took down the city’s power grid and gave him the opportunity to escape their clutches, aren’t you? I suppose it all lines up then, doesn’t it? You lot go from letting supervillains escape the real heroes to depriving me of real heroes to fight against. Zeroes through till the end.”

An incredulous and dreadful smile crept across the sorcerer’s lips as five figures began to rise. Pulling themselves free of the twisted metal, torn cloth, and splintered wood that had once been a massive concert stage, five heroes rose to stand side by side before the sorcerer.

And he was almost impressed.

With a snap of his fingers Justinian Wilhelm brought forth his muscle. Landing below and beside him, between the heroes and the audience crowd, was a three-eyed lion-faced demon the size of a bus (https://i.imgur.com/DL4hEcJ.jpg). Its eight muscular arms each held wicked weapons of Hindu design, and swirling all about the creature was a magical aura of violence and fear.

It screamed a challenge at the heroes and Justinian’s grin grew wider. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwL9mttSVY4)

What do you do?

Welcome, one and all, to Heroes of Memorial City! It’s time for some high octane superheroics action, brought to you by our five heroes!

Kamui Zezui aka Providence, played by roko10
Tsu Yang Zhou aka Phoenix Flame, played by Zero Prime
Sarah Helmsworth aka Strikescale, played by Awful
Luana Lacuna aka Comet, played by Thanqol
Eric Federiks aka Scout, played by richmond

Now, this scenario starts with the team in a bad way: you’ve engaged Justinian to interrupt his villainous ritual and save the concert goers (possibly abandoning your expensive seats to do so) but have so far been rebuffed by his magical power and his imposing guardian beast. Never fear, though, because now it’s time to enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team! Let’s go over that move now, shall we?

1 Team at the start of every ‘session.’
+2 Team for triggering the move.
+1 Team if the leader has Influence over every teammate. We’ll assume everyone respects Phoenix Flame as a leader and is following his lead. For now.
+1 Team if everyone has the same purpose in the fight. You’re all here to defeat Justinian, so this one is a gimme.

That brings you all up to 5 Team. Use it well!

Now, for our first round of posts I’d love to hear everybody describe their character’s appearance and the way that they’re standing - imagine this is a big splash page or wide shot to show off the whole team in their costumes and signature poses. Then, if Phoenix Flame wants to, he can start suggesting a plan of attack and we’ll go forward from there. If not, however, I’m good with some trigger-happy antics as well. You are a superhero team of hormonal teenagers, after all.

[Thanqol]

Luana sat raptly in her seat, hands folded under her chin. It wasn't until a good few seconds until after the lion had roared that she snapped out of it. She'd been so caught up in the show - she couldn't help it! She had never, never ever fought a supervillian anywhere near this cool. She didn't know they got this cool! And that music - she could dance to that. This was way better than the german singing.

Luana had to admit, she'd been a bit skeptical when Kamui had taken them to the opera. Now she got it. Not only were they getting the greatest show in the world but they were also going to thwart a supervillain. She'd planned this, hadn't she? Wow.

It took a long moment for her to realize that he'd been talking directly to her. That he knew who they were. She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a fangirlish giggle. This was like something out of a dream! She bit her lip, tried to focus - she had to say something. She had to - had to do something to be even, like, half as cool as he was.

She stood in the spotlight, facing up to the lion without fear as she racked her brain for the words.

Her dress was black and orange and sharp, like a fire at midnight. Her hair had been tamed for the occasion at the cost of many brave combs. Her eyes glittered oceanic green and her hand strummed against her hip, off-beat to the music - a constant, flowing pattern that ran through her mind and out through her fingers - scarred and bruised, but with nails painted red. She pulled the yellow ribbon from her neck, flowing, to get it out of the way as the change began to take her.

Crackling golden lines of energy ran across her skin. Cubes like the broken polygons of reality crackled into being, starting from the tip of the ribbon and slowly passing down it. When they were done it was replaced with a severe long blade of raw energy, lightning yellow, and still the line of transition kept moving. It crossed her wrists, leaving reinforced nanomesh gloves and soft and flowing fabric. Armor plates like the shields of alien warlords fastened into place around her shoulders. Impossible circuitry lit up all about her - some mighty science standing in peer to mystic power.

She could have made that change as quick as blinking but... just for once, she wanted to enjoy the moment.

Luana stepped from the stage as Comet stepped onto it. She raised her hand to deliver her rebuke to his monologue. The moment was perfect. The air was ready for it.

[Rejecting his influence: 5]

"Can I get your autograph?" said her dumb mouth.

Crap!

Crap!

Go directly to violence!!

Before anyone could think too hard about what she'd just said she was gone, running at full pelt towards the enormous lion monster.

She could think of a better one liner while she was fighting it.

Failing to reject his influence shifts my Superior down and Mundane up. Also marking Potential and a Condition - I believe Insecure is the most appropriate. Let me know if I've assumed too much in any direction, I'm not used to your MC'ing style yet :smallsmile:

Labels:
Danger: +3
Freak: +1
Savior: -2
Superior: +1
Mundane: 0

Conditions marked: Insecure
Potential: 1/5

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: None.

When Claire, eager to bring her sister to see the ginger-haired pop folk guitarist sing at the Dome, had approached Zhou about attempting to lift Sarah's spirit, to provide her with some semblance of normalcy in her life, he had agreed. He'd even approached the others to, in a rare show of solidarity, attend the concert. However, Sarah concerned about appearing in public, and with Scout's concern for keeping his civilian and heroic identities separate would not consider going incognito, so the Zeroes had attended in their work attire as it were and while there were some supporters and those who sought out photos and selfies with the crew, there were a number of vocal detractors, at least until the red-haired musician began the first chords of his opening set.

As Wilhelm spoke, Zhou couldn't help but agree with him, and given the fact the concert was being broadcast live it was likely that an AEGIS Unit was en route, and that meant another uncomfortable encounter with Lt. Mylnarz. Zhou's concern was palpable, they needed to be cautious, there was the crowd to consider, and Claire, Sarah's sister. As Luana approached the summoned creature, he nodded towards Providence and Strikescale. Whispering in a voice lowered for their ears, "You've got this Comet, cut lose, engage the outsider, we've got you." He spoke because he noticed the impact of Wilhelm's words on her, and even as he did he knew he was being overly cautious, but irregardless he was committed. "Strikescale, Providence, back her up make sure the combat is contained." He nodded towards Scout, indicating the crowd, "Let's move."

He took a step, knee's bent, body held low, his breathing was controlled, calm, and as he exhaled, lowered his chi, centered himself, he slipped through the rubble, and the restrained crowd, circling away from the confrontation between the leonine demon and the Zeroes heavy hitters. One foot ahead of the other, stepping with a lightness of spirit and breath he moved quickly, silently, circling around Wilhelm as the villain watched the other's begin their assault on his guardian.


OOC:First off, if he's actually Exerting Influence, I will accept what he's saying, we *are* dangerous, our decisions *did* get people hurt, and Zhou's determined not to let that happen this time, so he's going to carry on. 1st, he's going to Comfort & Support Comet by showing faith in her abilities when she, herself, is feeling Insecure. Rolling Mundane of -1, with a +1 due to Influence, net 0. [roll0]. I am then using Chi manipulation to make myself seem less of a threat, and circle around Wilhelm, hoping Scout follows suit.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: None!

Kamui wasn't having a good day.

It all started innocuously enough; she had to watch at least one theater production and write a paper on it for Drama (which she honestly didn't know why she picked it), and Dr. Singh was kind enough to supply her to two (VIP!) tickets for a weird folk pop musical featuring a popular artist that's apparently getting rave reviews, and even offered to go with her. Sadly enough, he had "sudden appointments" to go to, and with Zhou, Sarah, and Scout (-I swear, I'm going to learn his name one day-) planning an outing of their own, she ended up inviting Luana to go along with her. Not in the date sense. As friends. Not lovers. Just friends. Nothing more.

Then another issue popped up; namely, that the rest of the Team (she refuses to call them Zeroes) also went to the same musical. Or opera, as Luana insisted on calling it. Needless to say, this made things quite a bit awkward for the two of them, especially when it turned out the play was complete and utter nonesense. Last time I'll trust any critic, I guess...

The fact that out of the sudden a two-bit sorcerer popped out and summoned an army of snakes was honestly kind of relief, had he not followed it up by lambasting her and the team. Kamui nearly tugged at her dress in frustration; had those words came out of the mouths of anyone else, she'd be forced to give them right, no matter how she'd present himself. She did screw up. However, the "stubborn genius" part of her refuses to swallow what remained of her pride; if they didn't capture the Beast, there would be more death and destruction than the Atomic Skull would ever do.

The rant being given by a smarmy man whose greatest accomplishment was getting beaten by Alexis Moore didn't help matters, either.

As Phoenix Flame gave the team orders, Kamui piped in via the comms. "Hey, Phoenix! I think Scout's better off trying to teleport into punching range of Smuggy McMagicPants and deck him in his face. Don't worry about the serpents-"

As she says so, she put on the BT Driver and inserted the Phantasm Drive in it. [PHANTASM ON]

"-I'll deal with them."

"HENSHIN!" Kamui shouted as she pulled the lever on the BT Driver, causing armor to form around her.

["FADE INTO THE MISTS! PHANTASM!"], the BT Driver announced, as armor formed around her, (https://i.imgur.com/Lw6nRJb.png) darker and more stealthy than Phoenix, at least relatively. She then pulled the Driver's lever twice-

["GREAT PHANTASM BURST!"]

-and blinding, irritating pitch black smoke billowed from the Driver, expanding at a alarmingly rate until it consumes a good chunk of the stadium. At least, that's how it appears to Wilhelm and any of his allies from deep under. For Providence's teammates and any civilians, the fog is almost completely transparent and even somewhat soothing, giving them a huge advantage over their captors if they would escape. If.

"You're all safe now, go!"


Spending a Gadget to use Superior.
[roll0]
(Forgot to add +1 to the roll, making it a 9. A team would be greatly appreciated right now.)

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: None

Strikescale rose from the debris, shaking rubble off her back like a dog. Her mighty claws scored deep grooves in the stage as they dug in for grip.

This had been a nice day out. Sure, she hadn't fit in the seat, so she'd had to sit in the aisle. Sure, she'd had to bear the muttering and stares of gawkers seeing not just her but a whole bunch of (wanna-be, at least) heroes. All of that had settled down when the show had actually started, and she'd happily got lost in the music for a while.

Until this jackass had come along.

And now Claire was in danger. A nervous feeling churned in Sarah's- no, she had to be Strikescale right now - guts, mixing with anger. He'd interrrupted the show, threatened these people, and was now lecturing them over a past close-enough-to-success? She whipped her tail in irritation, and fought down the urge to look behind her when she accidentally cratered the stage with the heavy bone clubs on the end.

She inclined her heavy horned head towards Phoenix as he spoke.

"Alrrright," she rumbled in reply, a deep growl that shuddered your sternum and distorted her words with inhuman vocal cords, and began to bound forward, teeth bared and horns lowered to ram.

Strikescale wasn't the fastest, and she'd had barely any combat experience. She'd never been in so much as a playground fight before this whole dragon business. But she was big and she was strong. Like a forgotten friend, in battle she could feel draconic instincts beginning to awaken, unfurl into a terrible beast.

Unfortunately, the lion-demon-thing (what even was that, really?) was bigger, just as strong, and a lot more experienced in violence. They crashed together, a storm of gouging claws and flashing teeth before a pair of burly arms grabbed her horns as she snapped her jaws, leaving her biting nothing but air. The monster's blades scraped along her chest, failing to penetrate, before she was shoved away, scrabbling back to her feet. She backed up, circling, making herself an obstacle blocking the monster's way to the civilians.

[richmond]

Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23439397&postcount=18)
Conditions: None
Potential: 0 / 5


It had been a bad idea from start. Going to a concert in costume, drawing much more attention than he was comfortable with and everything. If they weren't doing it for Sarah, he wouldn't have gone, but the girl really needed some normalcy. He could relate, sure. But as he was laying there under the rubble, his whole body hurting like hell, he was more certain than ever that it had been a bad idea.

He rose to his feet with the others, pushing through the pain mostly because of the magician's monologue. It had struck a chord and, oh, how he'd like to make him swallow that smugness. He didn't have much time to fantasize about it though, because the team was already acting and the leader gave him a very clear course of action: rescuing the hostages. He started moving behind Phoenix before his body complained a bit more and he decided to try something he had been practicing exactly for a moment like this. Pushing his consciousness out, he took control of his Astral ally and the pain immediately phased out. One of the advantages of having two bodies, although walking was much harder when your vision came from a different set of eyes. He didn't stop moving, though, his steps ungraceful and clumsy as he followed Phoenix towards the spectators.

At that moment, Providence suggested a different course of action, and Eric only heard it because the Astral self was right next to Phoenix, his enhanced hearing capturing the idea. He was about to answer when the smoke started spreading through the stage covering everyone, and a smirk came across his face. Not that anyone could see it through the mask.

"Oh, I can take him anytime now if he can't see me," he shouted over, preferring not to use the comms. "I'll TP past the monster and knock him out. He doesn't stand a chance if I get close." The villain had seen them as amateurs, so the best way to deal with this was letting him believe so. Shouting his plans out loud would be an obvious mistake caused by inexperience, so he hoped the magician would believe he would actually try to teleport nearby and be cautious of his surrounding instead of paying attention to the rescue attempt.

He hoped the team would also understand his plan, knowing he would not engage a villain head-on like the others could do. Instead, he started switching places with his other self, a series of short-range teleportations taking him closer to the innocents. Appearing between the crowd and the fire snakes, he starts gesturing for the civilians to move towards the back, as he whispered through the comms: "Phoenix, can you open a path in the back?"

He was already in control of his Astral self again, keeping an eye on his real self still trying to make people move while he leaped towards the back wall, looking for a place Phoenix could create an exit. He was nervous to be this close to danger, but he hoped his leather costume would be a better protection against the magical heat than the fancy clothes the hostages had.

Actions
Scout is trying to provoke Wilhelm into becoming more defensive and not paying as much attention to the hostages.
Provoking Someone: [roll0]

EDIT: I forgot I had a +1 forward from Refusing his Influence. It should be a 9, then. Maybe someone can help with a Team?

[Kymme]

The great lion-headed demon met Comet’s charge, striking forward to parry her sword with one of its wicked blades. The creature’s strength was a match for Luana’s fabricated armor, but with a simple shift of its bulk she was sent skidding away. Her sword’s blade bit the floor and Comet came to a sudden stop, glaring at the demon with surprise and delight.

Before Comet could redouble her efforts, however, eight-hundred and eighty-eight pounds of bright red and gleaming horns ripped through the air beside her as Strikescale joined the fray. The dragon and demon met each other in ferocious melee, upending bits of flooring and showering the nearby heroes with bits of rubble. Both titans quickly discovered that their attacks were fruitless, with Strikescale unable to land a solid hit and the demon’s many solid hits glancing off her hide. Breaking off, Strikescale circled around her opponent, distracting the monster’s attention as Providence began to unleash her powerful named attack.

As smoke filled the interior of the Dome Justinian Wilhelm’s smile became a ferocious sneer. He hadn’t so much as spoken a word when that strange girl with the sword asked for his autograph, and now with all this smoke he couldn’t see a damn thing! He coughed, spilling his attention between his magic and his senses. Behind him some of the serpents began to fade away, their bindings released.

Under cover of smoke, Scout and Phoenix Flame made their way up through the crowd, breaking bindings and helping people to their feet while the villain was otherwise distracted. As Scout’s voice rang out Wilhelm chortled to himself before calling back a challenge. “You stupid boy! Why would you call out your plans like that? Really? In any case - “ His voice was warped and distorted as he spoke the words of some eldritch incantation. Through the translucent smoke the heroes (Zeroes) saw a network of strange broken runes begin to wind their way around Justinian - words of power and defense.

With his attention fully divided, Scout and Phoenix flame watched every serpent-binding in the stands dissipate one by one. The faces of the audience - young faces that only an hour ago had been asking for autographs and old faces that had borne seething judgement and distaste - all turned towards the heroes with one single unspoken request: save us.

As power gathered around Justinian the sorcerer’s laugh rose in intensity. He muttered another reversed incantation and great spiraling runes began to sizzle in the air before him. He was gathering energy for some destructive spell, no doubt an indiscriminate attack to strike the heroes through the smoke.

Scout and Phoenix Flame shared a look. They could work together on saving the civilians and let Justinian get off his attack, or they could divide their attention to fight on both fronts.

Scout and Phoenix Flame, what do you do?

---------------------------

On the ruined stage Strikescale felt her draconic instincts overcoming her reservations and she lunged for the demon. Their flurry of attacks was rapid and fierce, sending cracks running through the flooring and shifting the shape of the rubble around them. This time, however, the demon tried a different strategy. It struck at Strikescale with an empty palm, driving directly into the scales of her chest. The force of the attack meant nothing to Strikescale - compared to that truck this was like a butterfly kiss - but force wasn’t the demon’s intent. The flickering aura that had sheathed the monster flashed with rusty red light, running down the demon’s arm and into Strikescale. Immediately the dragon-girl felt fear coil itself around her heart and she faltered.

Strikescale, mark Afraid.

Which was the exact opening the demon needed. With another one of its open hands it seized Strikescale’s tail and heaved, pulling her off the ground and spinning her through the air. Acting quickly, the demon shifted its stance and swung Strikescale up towards the ceiling before bringing her down like an improvised club upon Providence.

Swatting aside a piece of rubble, Comet watched as Strikescale went up and then came down. Time seemed to slow under her battle-hardened gaze, and a great torrent of thoughts rushed through her head. Strikescale would be unharmed by this attack - her hide was too thick and her body to bulky for a simple throw to do anything besides dizzy her. Providence, on the other hand… her armor might hold up, but even the best-case scenario ends with a severe concussion.

Comet, what do you do?

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: None.

Zhou watched as Wilhelm began to draw arcane energies to himself, however, the movements were not unfamiliar to the young man. They were reminiscent, in many ways, of the ancient forms or patterns studied by the Masters of the Vale. Drawing energy from the universe, centering it within one's chakra, inhale, exhale, breath in, breath out, power and control. It took incredible focus, and required prodigious concentration, something the man before them had in spades, considering the utter chaos of combat that surrounded him.

The combat?! The battle had shattered the concrete foundations of the arena, exposing the earthen floor ... dragon lines! Called ley lines by the new-age mystics that hawked crystals and incense in the downtown core, but they were not far wrong, they acted as conduits, of energy both spiritual and mystical, energy that it was whispered the ancient masters could tap into, could utilize.

"Scout!" The young martial artist yelled over the chaos, "The mystic is preparing some spiritual assault! Get them out of here!" He nodded towards the crowd of freed hostages that swarmed around them, desperate to leave the vicinity of the combat raging between Strikescale and the otherworldly leonine warrior.

He moved with speed and grace that defied the the crowd's comprehension, vaulting from the ruined stands, to a catwalk that contained lightning equipment in various stages of disarray. From there he leapt, landing on the bare earth and sinking deep into Horse stance, knees bent, thigh's parallel to the ground, a powerful stance, immobile, impassive. "Shall we begin Master Wilhelm?" He asked, cordially, and with a manner of respect, "Your magic against my spirit," and even as he spoke, he drove his hands forward from his shoulders, his hands rapidly moving through a series of movements, until their final position the bottom of his right fist facing his opponent, his left, palm open covering his knuckles.

As he exhaled, he drove his foot deep into the earth, drawing upon the power of the dragon lines, preparing to channel his own chi into the earth itself, grounding out the mage's arcane assault.


[b]OOC:{/b] I am attempting to use the presence of ley lines that run beneath the Dome to essentially ground out the mystic energy that Wilhelm is gathering to power whatever spell he's preparing. Rolling Freak, +1, to Unleash my Powers, [roll0]. Let's hope for something good folks!

Ohhh! Tapping into a Ley Line and blow my roll, this could be fun! I think this counts as exerting my powers, and so I'll mark a Doom Track and wait to see how this explodes in my face!

[Thanqol]

As Wilhelm spoke, Zhou couldn't help but agree with him, and given the fact the concert was being broadcast live it was likely that an AEGIS Unit was en route, and that meant another uncomfortable encounter with Lt. Mylnarz. Zhou's concern was palpable, they needed to be cautious, there was the crowd to consider, and Claire, Sarah's sister. As Luana approached the summoned creature, he nodded towards Providence and Strikescale. Whispering in a voice lowered for their ears, "You've got this Comet, cut lose, engage the outsider, we've got you." He spoke because he noticed the impact of Wilhelm's words on her, and even as he did he knew he was being overly cautious, but irregardless he was committed. "Strikescale, Providence, back her up make sure the combat is contained." He nodded towards Scout, indicating the crowd, "Let's move."

Cut loose?

That was not what Comet was expecting to hear at that moment. Did - did Zhou know what cutting loose really meant? There were still people around. She could bring down this whole stadium down.

Comet was honestly kind of tuned out of the fight at first. As soon as the blows started falling her thoughts started wandering, chewing over Zhou's words. Was he saying that she could go all out and they'd devote themselves to shielding people from the collateral damage? Was... that could be a thing? He was actually humble enough to spend a fight this cool on picking up after her stray explosives?

She frowned absent-mindedly as she pirouetted away from a bronze sword and opened an oversized vein with her counterthrust. The alternative was that he wasn't being humble, he was just being lazy and thought it would be easier to clean up after her than actually contribute to the fight. Yes, that was much more likely.

But the idea of using a team in that way stuck in her mind. That she might... not have to become perfect if they could cover for her weaknesses. That she might be able to double down on what she was already good at and leave the consequences to them. Could that be the edge she needed?

[Marking Potential. 3/5]


The great lion-headed demon met Comet’s charge, striking forward to parry her sword with one of its wicked blades. The creature’s strength was a match for Luana’s fabricated armor, but with a simple shift of its bulk she was sent skidding away. Her sword’s blade bit the floor and Comet came to a sudden stop, glaring at the demon with surprise and delight.

...

Which was the exact opening the demon needed. With another one of its open hands it seized Strikescale’s tail and heaved, pulling her off the ground and spinning her through the air. Acting quickly, the demon shifted its stance and swung Strikescale up towards the ceiling before bringing her down like an improvised club upon Providence.

Swatting aside a piece of rubble, Comet watched as Strikescale went up and then came down. Time seemed to slow under her battle-hardened gaze, and a great torrent of thoughts rushed through her head. Strikescale would be unharmed by this attack - her hide was too thick and her body to bulky for a simple throw to do anything besides dizzy her. Providence, on the other hand… her armor might hold up, but even the best-case scenario ends with a severe concussion.

Comet, what do you do?

Comet was lost in her own thoughts. Her reflexes were crackling one after another, perfectly judging distances, speeds, momentum and danger - and honestly, she was fighting entirely on autopilot. As cool as the introduction had been this was not a battle that required her full attention. She'd give the others a few minutes to get the civilians out of the blast radius and then she'd burn this stage to the ground.

The lion grabbed Scalestrike, swinging her around and Comet started to smile. This was the opening. There was no way he'd hit her with that and she'd get in under his arms and put a sword through his body before anyone could blink. All that was left to do was to think of an actually good one-liner.

She tensed to dive - but something in her chest wrenched at her. She started, stumbling, as something overruled a combat instinct that ran right to the heart of her being. She took a step in the wrong direction. Her mind raced to catch up with what she was doing. Why - where am I going?

It wasn't until her head came around and she made eye contact did she fully realize it.

Oh, thought Comet. I'm going to save Providence.

She dove. She shoved Providence out of the way. She'd given up all the initiative and stood, flat-footed, as Scalestrike's armoured bulk started to come down towards her.

Comet had stared death in the face plenty of times. She'd gone over her mistakes in that final second of adrenaline plenty of times.

The was the first time she couldn't think of anything she'd do differently.

[Defend: 9. I am exposed to danger unless someone saves me via Teamspends.

I'm using There when it matters to hold 1 over Providence instead of choosing one from the list.]

[richmond]

Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23439397&postcount=18)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5 (I marked Potential for acting to prove Wilhelm was wrong, but I'm not sure that was enough.)


"Holy freaking sh*t, did Phoenix just left me to handle all these people?" Scout thought as he saw the leader of their team leaping into the fray. The hostages immediately turned to him with pleading eyes, and he tried to sound calm as he starts ushering commands, somewhat succeeding.

"If you're free, hurry to the back and leave the area immediately," he says, switching place with the Astral self who was next to the exit. "This way! The snakes are gone, so just move orderly," he says, switching back to the previous spot. "If you see someone who can't move on your way out and you're in position to help, do so. If not, call me and I'll be there in seconds. We've got time, just stay calm," he says in a cool voice, although he wasn't so sure after seeing how the battle was going.

He then immediately starts releasing as many people as he can, hoping some of the hostages are feeling courageous enough to help. He pushes his Astral self closer to his friends, but he cannot place it too far because he needs his eyes here, rescuing people. That was the mission Phoenix gave him and he WILL do it. But he was looking for options in case the energy was really released.

Actions
Scout would like to Assess the Situation.
Assessing the Situation: [roll0]

EDIT: Good RNGods, these rolls are nice today. I'd like to ask:

What here can I use to protect the civilians?
How can we best end this quickly?

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Afraid

As the demon struck her chest, it felt like her guts dropped out, replaced with a sticky cold fear.

This was insane. She was a teenage girl, body notwithstanding, and that was a monster. Why would she ever be able to win-

A hand wrapped around her tail, the bone clubs traitorously providing a firm grip, and a dizzying flash of motion showed her in the air. She futilely flailed her limbs as she was swung up towards the ceiling and then down-

[Kymme]

"Shall we begin Master Wilhelm?" He asked, cordially, and with a manner of respect, "Your magic against my spirit," and even as he spoke, he drove his hands forward from his shoulders, his hands rapidly moving through a series of movements, until their final position the bottom of his right fist facing his opponent, his left, palm open covering his knuckles.

As he exhaled, he drove his foot deep into the earth, drawing upon the power of the dragon lines, preparing to channel his own chi into the earth itself, grounding out the mage's arcane assault.

A gap opened up in the inky black Phantasm smoke, enough for the hero and villain to lock eyes. Justinian whistled appreciatively. “Finally, a showman takes the stage! Phoenix, wasn’t it? Don’t disappoint me now, boy!”

All at once the runes sizzling about his hands coalesced into a churning javelin, thin and short and stake-like. Wilhelm shouted and hurled the glittering weapon towards Phoenix, projecting it like a beam of energy.

The spear met Phoenix’s stance and stopped, spinning like a drill against the wall of the young man’s spirit. Only, it… didn’t dissipate. Phoenix struggled with all of his might, drawing up energy from the earth with enough effort to break a blood vessel in his eye, but the javelin refused to vanish - refused to be overwhelmed by the stabilizing power of earth.

Then Phoenix Flame saw Justinian slowly and deliberately curl all the fingers of one hand into a fist, and the spear exploded.

Phoenix Flame, take a Powerful Blow.


The was the first time she couldn't think of anything she'd do differently.

The force of Comet’s dash carried her and Providence clear from the demon’s attack. The sheer magnitude of Strikescale’s impact caused them to stumble for a moment, but they quickly regained their footing and turned to face the demon together.

Strikescale, dazed and winded on her back, saw the demon turn away from her. The monster roared a challenge at Comet and Providence, and as it screamed its third eye began to blaze with piercing light. It’s roar rose in pitch to a shriek and charged them, weapons raised to launch eight simultaneous strikes.

Providence and Comet, what do you do?


He then immediately starts releasing as many people as he can, hoping some of the hostages are feeling courageous enough to help. He pushes his Astral self closer to his friends, but he cannot place it too far because he needs his eyes here, rescuing people. That was the mission Phoenix gave him and he WILL do it. But he was looking for options in case the energy was really released.

As Scout began to usher the civilians to safety he was surprised to see their willingness to follow his instructions. So long as he costumed and confident, at least outwardly, these people were more than eager to obey his every word.

The primary entrance to this section of the stands actually lie at the bottom of the seating section, perilously close to where the crazy superpowered battles where happening. Even with the smoke keeping Wilhelm’s attention off them, it was still to close for comfort. Glancing around, Scout noticed that at the top of the bleachers, where they met the back wall of the Dome, there were four emergency exits. Those would no-doubt lead to long staircases and a quick egress from the building - perfect!

As the crowd changed direction Scout allowed his thoughts to drift back to the battle. His team were doing their best, but none of them were professionals. One look at the devastation already wrought across the stage and arena floor made that clear. AEGIS was on its way, and would no-doubt be here soon. Maybe if the team could just disengage Justinian and flee with the civilians they could leave him to AEGIS, that way none of them would get hurt -

His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Phoenix being swallowed by a massive explosion of fire.

Take +1 forward to act on the answers to your questions. Also, Scout, what do you do?

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: None

Providence found herself being so caught up in helping both Phoenix Flame and Scout freeing the civilians, that she didn't notice Strikescale being used as a club to smack her until it was too late. Fortunately enough, Comet tackled her out of the way. Ohwowshessogreat-

"Heh, nice safe," Providence said to Comet, grateful that the helmet doesn't show her goofy smile behind it. "So, what do you say to-"

Before she could finish, however, she was interrupted by the roaring of the beast that was poised to strike them both- yet the only thing Kamui could feel is her smile twisting into a small, devious smirk.

Oh, it's on.

Without another word, Kamui pulls out the Phoenix Drive and replaces the Phantasm Drive with it -[PHOENIX ON], and pulls on the BT Driver's lever once more, transforming into Phoenix States.

"FLARE UP AND BE REBORN! PHOENIX!"

"I'll distract it, you go do what you do best!" Providence said to Comet before dashing up to the monster and shooting fire at it, blinding it, before jumping up and side-kicking it in its third eye, in the hopes that she throws off the monster's guard enough that Comet can capitalize on it.

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Insecure.

Shaoqing, the Resplendent Phoenix, had once placed a heavy iron chain in the embers of a fire, leaving it there, ominously, as she continued her philosophic discourse on the weakness of the human body, the frailness of the flesh. The embers died, however the chain had grown to near white-hot, as she instructed Zhou to pull the searing chain from the brazier, and to rapidly slide his hands down it's length to absorb the heat, cool the chain, and in so doing burn the flesh from his palms. The burns had healed, but the lesson stayed with him, while flesh was weak, the spirit was stronger.

The whoosh of the flame enveloped him, his vision was cloudy from channeling the earthen energies from the dragon lines that criss crossed Memorial City, he could feel the almost familiar pain of his chi, coursing through his veins, carrying his sister's poison to his heart. He recoiled from the fire, landing in a balanced cat stance, rapidly he struck the remains of his silken jacket from his chest, his mask was charred, his hair smoldered. And the dragon and phoenix tattooed on his chest seemed to writhe in anticipation of the looming confrontation.

FOCUS! He silently chided himself, it is merely pain, and your opponent yet stands. His vision narrowed, he concentrated solely on the arrogant man who stood before him, he struggled, wavered as pain wracked his body. He had engaged too quickly, had not assessed his opponent's strengths, weaknesses. Foolish.

However, he had been successful, the release of energy had been directed at him rather than the innocents that Scout now led from the immediate vicinity. Their safety purchased by his own recklessness. "Again Master Mage," he drew a hand across his mouth, his lips cracked and raw from the heat. "I've not yet learned the measure of my opponent."

Resolve flowed through him as he sunk into a soft, rooted stance, prepared to move in any direction, but one that aligned his spine and his crown chakras allowing him to draw in the ambient energy that coursed through the Dome, use it, focus it, channel it.


OOC: With a 9 o my Power Blow check, I will chose the option of struggling through the pain, marking Angry & Insecure.

[Thanqol]

The force of Comet’s dash carried her and Providence clear from the demon’s attack. The sheer magnitude of Strikescale’s impact caused them to stumble for a moment, but they quickly regained their footing and turned to face the demon together.

Strikescale, dazed and winded on her back, saw the demon turn away from her. The monster roared a challenge at Comet and Providence, and as it screamed its third eye began to blaze with piercing light. It’s roar rose in pitch to a shriek and charged them, weapons raised to launch eight simultaneous strikes.

Providence and Comet, what do you do?

It took Comet a second to process that she hadn't been hit. There had been a shockwave from the stage and the demon hadn't adjusted for it, like, at all. She glided out of the way with absurd ease and almost laughed. She kept forgetting that this world was so... safe. So slow.

So fragile.

Golden lightning crackled around her fingertips.


"Heh, nice safe," Providence said to Comet, grateful that the helmet doesn't show her goofy smile behind it. "So, what do you say to-"

Kamui didn't finish but she didn't need to. This - this they had practiced.


"FLARE UP AND BE REBORN! PHOENIX!"

"I'll distract it, you go do what you do best!" Providence said to Comet before dashing up to the monster and shooting fire at it, blinding it, before jumping up and side-kicking it in its third eye, in the hopes that she throws off the monster's guard enough that Comet can capitalize on it.

She snapped the sword up into the air. Two waves of light ran along it - one revealing its form as a yellow ribbon, and one replacing it with a different weapon all together. "Ascending to the stage, fighting a war for the sake of music -" she said.

She snapped her fingers. The weapon doubled, splitting perfectly in half. "Seeking the strength to save the world!"

She drew out her hands, fingers dancing in the air like she was playing an invisible piano. The weapons doubled again. "Symphony of battle, ready!"

One last cocky, confident grin. One more split. Eight weapons stood before her.

They were all missile launchers.

"FINAL ATTACK!" yelled Comet, totally into the moment. "BURNING HARMONY, GO!"

They all fired at once. Each missile went into a different hand.

[Directly Engage: 10
- Resist my opponent's blows
- Impress the opposition
- Create an opportunity for my allies - particularly thinking of distracting Justinian through the abrupt missiling of his minion.

Third choice made at the cost of causing significant collateral damage.]

[Kymme]

"I'll distract it, you go do what you do best!" Providence said to Comet before dashing up to the monster and shooting fire at it, blinding it, before jumping up and side-kicking it in its third eye, in the hopes that she throws off the monster's guard enough that Comet can capitalize on it.

And distract it she did! Providence’s flames and fists glanced off the creature’s hide harmlessly but her kick sent it reeling. In midair, however, at the apex of her jump, Providence had no way to dodge the creature’s counterattack. It lunged with an empty hand and caught her by the leg, squeezing tight enough to strain her armor. With a ferocious roar it twisted its hips and hurled the young heroine into a pile of rubble, sending up another shower of debris.

Providence, you were unable to avoid the demon’s blows. Mark a Condition.

Satisfied with its brutality the demon turned slowly and cockily to its final opponent.


"FINAL ATTACK!" yelled Comet, totally into the moment. "BURNING HARMONY, GO!"

They all fired at once. Each missile went into a different hand.

Through the bright glow of the missiles in flight, Comet thought she saw fear in the demon’s three eyes. Then her attack landed and the demon was entirely obscured by the smoke and flame and shrapnel. The explosions harmonized together into a devastating conflagration that shook the whole structure of the Dome. The heroes all felt the ground shudder as some piece of the building’s foundation gave way. What was left of the stage began to buckle and tilt as the floor beneath it crumbled.

Justinian, aloft as he was, didn’t feel the shifting floor. What he did feel, however, was the blowback of the explosion. Peeling his eyes away from where Phoenix Flame still stood - singed but standing - the sorcerer looked at Comet with something close to awe. “You… you can just do that, can’t you? Heh. Perhaps I underestimated you lot.” His face darkened and his smile grew thin. “But you’ve underestimated my servant.” His voice rose in intensity. “PUT THEM DOWN ONCE AND FOR ALL, BAKASURA, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!”

An affirmative roar boomed louder than the sounds of the crumbling floor. The smoke of the eightfold explosion parted, revealing the lion-headed demon, his aura tempered by rage and unrelenting violence into a ferocious rust-red flame. Seven of his hands were gone, burnt away by Comet’s attack but one remained.

Letting loose another roar the demon lifted its final hand and focused its aura. A ball of red light appeared in its palm and quickly grew into an immense sphere of violent energy. With quiet hate boiling in its eyes Bakasura, the lion-headed demon, brought its arm down to slam the sphere into the ground and turn whatever meager foundations held up the Dome’s floor into dust.

Strikescale, you’re standing right next to him as he does this. What do you do?


Resolve flowed through him as he sunk into a soft, rooted stance, prepared to move in any direction, but one that aligned his spine and his crown chakras allowing him to draw in the ambient energy that coursed through the Dome, use it, focus it, channel it.

Justinian was impressed. This kid had managed to take one of his go-to offensive spells directly to the chest and made it out with little more than a burnt jacket. “Your spirit’s no joke, kid, but it’s foolish to expect it to carry you past the limits of your skill.” Three more burning javelins materialized in the air before the sorcerer - packing little in the way of explosive power but easy strong enough to burn a hole through whatever they hit. “Think you can make lightning strike twice?”

With a wave of his hand Justinian sent the javelins lancing towards Phoenix Flame.

Phoenix Flame, what do you do?

[richmond]

Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23439397&postcount=18)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

Scout sighs in relief as soon as he notices the emergency exits. He moves the Astral self in that direction, switching places when he's next to the doorways. "This way! Take the exits and leave calmly, we have this under control," he lied as he sees Strikescale being used as a flail. "You are already safe, just keep moving."

He tries not to pay much attention to the battle and focus on the hostages, but it's hard not to look at his companions. The moment he sees Phoenix being hit by an explosion he panics a bit, but the young hero emerges from the flames mostly unscathed. They need to end this fast.

He takes control of his second self when the last civilian goes through the emergency exit, moving the monster through the walls to take a look outside. Given the time they had been fighting, he was expecting a sign of response from the authorities, so it didn't surprise him to see an AEGIS carrier in the distance, just as another massive explosion comes from within the Dome, the whole structure shaking. He immediately activates his comm.

"Guys, we have an AEGIS team inbound, try not to destroy anything else," he says, hoping the blast came from his own team. "Phoenix, hostages are safe. I think you should call a retreat," he says, pretty aware some of the others might disagree. He returns to his body, taking a look at his teammates. "We don't have a safe way to take him in, and we should try not overstepping AEGIS jurisdiction again. We're still under watch..."

He could only hope everyone would be reasonable.

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Insecure.

Zhou watched the arc and trajectory of the fiery spears, his body moving even before the Magister's hand began tracing the intricate pattern that allowed Wilhelm to propel the flaming shafts of fire at the young emissary. He leapt forward, throwing his body at the oncoming spears, however, at the last instant he tucked his legs, and spun his torso, able to feel the heat of the weapons as they passed within a hairs breadth of his body. He landed, tucked, and ended behind the conjurer, "Parlor tricks Wilhelm, a true practitioner trains mind, body and spirit, masters each, one before the other."

As he spoke, he delivered a series of finger tip blows to pressure points along his back, culminating in a particularly vicious strike to the nerve cluster located at the base of the skull. Even as he made contact, he rolled, back, taking a defensive position a low crouch, his weight centered over his rear leg, his lead leg floating an inch above the floor, ready to shift and move in anticipation of his opponent's action.


OOC: Zhou is going to Directly Engage, and hopefully the dice like me this time. Rolling Danger, +3, and let's see whats what! [roll0].

Or not! At least it's another Potential!

[Kymme]

"Parlor tricks Wilhelm, a true practitioner trains mind, body and spirit, masters each, one before the other."

As he spoke, he delivered a series of finger tip blows to pressure points along his back, culminating in a particularly vicious strike to the nerve cluster located at the base of the skull. Even as he made contact, he rolled, back, taking a defensive position a low crouch, his weight centered over his rear leg, his lead leg floating an inch above the floor, ready to shift and move in anticipation of his opponent's action.

Justinian didn’t even have the opportunity to recoil before Phoenix launched his onslaught. With every strike the sorcerer made a choked sigh and with the final hit he stumbled forward numbly. Phoenix saw the sorcerer stumble, his upper body sagging, his knees quivering and then…

“No.” The runes of protection blazed forth brightly around Wilhelm’s body as he straightened. He brought up his left hand and curtly snapped his fingers, and the three javelins whipped back around. They clipped Phoenix Flame, striking his right shoulder and both of his legs mid-thigh. The pain was momentarily blinding and the young hero fell to his knees as Justinian turned and fixed him with a hateful glare. “You’re not getting the better of me that easily. I’m through being lectured by heroes on the nature of magic and chi or whatever you’re calling it these days! I’ve earned my power, loathe as people like you and that Moore bitch are to acknowledge it!” He leaned forward, sneering through gritted teeth. “I’m better than you, and none of your pomp and circumstance will ever change that.”

In the heat (ha!) of the moment, Phoenix Flame, you believe him. Mark Hopeless.


He tries not to pay much attention to the battle and focus on the hostages, but it's hard not to look at his companions. The moment he sees Phoenix being hit by an explosion he panics a bit, but the young hero emerges from the flames mostly unscathed. They need to end this fast.

The last civilians to filter out were an elderly black couple, grey-haired and grey-eyed. One of the two men noticed Scout’s body language when he glanced back at the battle below. He placed a hand on the young hero’s shoulder to get his attention and spoke softly to him. “Thank you, young man. It’s people like you who bless this city -” he inclines his head to the exit, perhaps referring to the other civilians who had been glaring at the heroes during the play “- not them. You do us proud now, y’hear?” His husband, eyes turned towards the battle, pulled on his sleeve and the two vanished through the exit before Scout could offer any response.

Scout, shift your Savior up and your Freak down.


He could only hope everyone would be reasonable.

Turning back to the battle at hand, Scout saw Phoenix struck by Justinian’s attack. He heard the villain's hateful rant. Then, as the sorcerer raised his left hand into the air, pulling the javelins back to hover over Phoenix Flame’s head like the Sword of Damocles, Scout watched him begin to close his upraised fingers into a fist.

Scout, what do you do?

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

Eric is touched by the old man's words, but his brain simply whites out. This was really unexpected and, in the chaos of the moment, he just stood there with a red face under the mask. He saw the two men leaving, but wasn't able to articulate anything, before a big blow was heard from the center of the Dome again. He turns around, able to fully focus on the battle now that the hostages are safe, and can't really understand what's happening. "Why is Phoenix taking the offensive when I cleared explained why we have to leave?" he thought, as he takes control of the Astral self and rushes towards the battle to take a closer look.

And almost immediately Phoenix is hit by the sorcerer's attack. He rants about with hatred, and momentarily Eric feels the same. "This is exactly why I told you to leave, so why hasn't you listened? Do you really think I'm that less heroic to ignore me mid-battle?" he thinks to himself, angry about the sudden feeling of betrayal. He watches as Wilhelm moves the spears, ready to make them pierce Phoenix again, the heat visible in the air and he knows he has to act.

He leaps in his Astral form, knees bent and a slight rotation on his body, a side-kick to the villain's head - just powerful enough to make him lose control of the weapons. He switches at the last moment, his own body maintaining the impetus as he hits his leather boots to the face of the magician, and quickly switches back to his former place. He had learned using the Astral body to start the moves was far more effective since he was out of danger until the right moment and, for the small price of being blind and deaf when he hit, he could keep his Astral self on the origin point to have a place to quickly go back. He wouldn't feel the pain on his foot until he returned conscience to himself.

"F*ck! I told you we have to leave," he says through the comms. "He's escalating and I do not want to get hurt, I'm not invulnerable like you! AEGIS is gonna be here in 3 minutes or less, it's time to retreat. Phoenix, we need an out NOW!" He wants to wait to see the others' reactions, but if they want to keep this going, he isn't sure he'll follow.

Actions
Scout shifted labels according to Kymmes' post.

I don't think Phoenix is considered a "loved one" to use the I'll Save You! move.
If he is(unlikely), then this roll is a 12+, an automatic hit and I'll mark the Angry condition.
If no, then I'll try to Defend Someone: [roll0]

EDIT: Sorry, my Savior is +1, so it should be 2d6+1, but it is a success either way.
I pick the option to Take Influence over someone you protect: Phoenix Down.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Afraid

Dust and debris had rose in a vast cloud as the demon had smashed the dragon into the ground. She was still for a moment, dazed, before she scrabbled to her feet, shaking her head to regain her wits. Inside her scaled chest, her heart beat like molten metal. She could still feel the sickening panic the demon had placed in her, and she took a involuntary step back, then two away from the beast as her companions assailed it.

Smoke and fire bloomed like deadly flowers as missiles impacted the lion-monster, blasting away almost all of his hands. It wasn't enough. The demon began an ultimate attack, and for a long second Strikescale was frozen. What was she supposed to do? She wasn't a hero, really. Where the civilians safe? Was Claire? Scout had said something like that? She wasn't sure.


...He's escalating and I do not want to get hurt, I'm not invulnerable like you! Scout's voice came over the tiny electronic device on one of her tympaniums.

He's not. She was. If she didn't do anything... she forced her limbs into movement.

"Backkk..."

The demon brought down the glowing sphere, bellowing. She tensed her muscles, sprang forward under where the attack was descended in a single heavy bound. She saw the demon's eyes, narrow with fury, widen just slightly in surprise.

"...Offf!"

A bestial roar was torn out of her as she swung her body, her tail lashing out to crash into the magic sphere, her body blocking the blast from her comrades.


Unleash my powers of being really, really tough with a 7.

[Kymme]

He wants to wait to see the others' reactions, but if they want to keep this going, he isn't sure he'll follow.

Scout’s attack totally blindsided the sorcerer, striking him firmly and throwing off his aim. The three javelins struck in the ground in a triangle around Phoenix Flame, burning deep holes into the ground before fizzling out.

Justinian swiped back with a glowing hand but Scout was gone, having already swapped places with his Astral self. He let out something midway between a groan and a shout and leapt into the air, runes appearing beneath his feet and holding him aloft. “That was a cheap shot, kid. I won’t let either of you get another! Three minutes, you say?” His right hand moved in a fashion that was more mad spasm than deliberate gesture and a series of small reddish disks appeared in the air around him, their rims humming with heat. “In that case, all I’ve got to do is dispose of you children and make my escape!”

He let loose another volley of magical projectiles and the battle resumed!

Phoenix Flame and Scout, what do you do?


A bestial roar was torn out of her as she swung her body, her tail lashing out to crash into the magic sphere, her body blocking the blast from her comrades.

Strikescale’s tail intercepted the demon’s attack and for a few agonizing moments it was a contest of strength. The demon frothed from its jaws as it pushed down with all the weight it could muster, and the dragon’s claws cracked the ground as she pushed up with all of her might. The sphere, originating from the demon’s aura, could not permeate Strikescale’s skin and so the two were evenly matched.

Strikescale, mark Angry.

Then the fury in Strikescale’s heart burned away her dread, and she won. The sphere shattered in a burst of soundless energy and her tail continued upwards, swatting the demon’s hand away.

The shockwave struck afterwards, knocking Strikescale onto her belly and sending the demon staggering away. The demon regained its footing and looked with disbelief at its last hand, now broken by Strikescale’s tail. It’s three eyes drew up from its hand to gaze across the battlefield, at the three heroes who opposed it. No defiant roar could reach its lips.

Providence, Comet, and Strikescale, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

The shockwave struck afterwards, knocking Strikescale onto her belly and sending the demon staggering away. The demon regained its footing and looked with disbelief at its last hand, now broken by Strikescale’s tail. It’s three eyes drew up from its hand to gaze across the battlefield, at the three heroes who opposed it. No defiant roar could reach its lips.

Providence, Comet, and Strikescale, what do you do?

Comet just smirked up at him. He wasn't a threat to them any more and they all knew it. "You guys clean up here," she said daintily, turning on her heel. "I'm going to get an autograph."

*

"Scout's right," said Comet, stepping up alongside Phoenix. She gave him an unreadable look, then just moved on, locking eyes on Justinian. "You guys need to get out of here. I can take him by myself if you're not in the way."

She walked out into the open. Tossed her hair back. The initial nerves had faded and now she just felt effortless. Her blood was up, her instincts were singing, and everything was familiar. This was what she knew.

"Hey, I hear we've got three minutes," called Comet out to Justinian. "It took me about that to take down your boy over there. I reckon I can do you in half the time, what do you think? Unless you've got some actual skills you've been hiding all this time."

[Provoking the Wizard: [roll0]

Specifically I want him to go all out against me to the point of dropping any shields/any spare power for backup tricks. Given that I impressed him a moment ago I think he's susceptible to my words.]

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

Scout's words hurt, he wanted to cut and run, wanted to wait for AEGIS, for the Paragons to wrap up, to resolve the situation. Is that what they were? Was Duggan right? Were there actions harming more than helping, even as Comet moved to engage, her very words compounded the situation with insult and disrespect. Is that what he was to do, to ask his friends to run?

"No," he paused, pushing his feelings down, drawing on his training, his chi, he moved counter clockwise, forcing Wilhelm to watch three opponents from three different angles, "NO!" Another pause, another step, "I know you're scared Scout, but you saved an entire stadium from this guy, YOU did that, despite the fact that people like ASEGIS, like the Paragons, like this guy here, think that we're nothing. We're not. We're a team."

He paused, glared at Comet, "We're Zeroes, and we stand together. We're not cutting and running, we aren't leaving one of our own behind. We're better than that, we're better than them. We have to be."


OOC: I'm Provoking Scout to stay and fight, as a team. Rolling Superior, -1, however as I have Influence over him I gain a +1, bringing me to net 0. [roll0] If he chooses to stay & fight he would add one to the Team Pool.

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

Scout easily dodges the next volley of attacks from Wilhelm, his Astral self - much faster and more agile - always in position for a quick switch. He stands ready to dodge again, but is instead surprised by Comet suddenly approaching the villain. Taking control of the Astral Self he joins his companions, although they can't really see his monstrous self next to Comet. He hears her offering to stay in their place, and tempting as it might sound, that's not really what he was suggesting. He was about to say something when Phoenix gave his own answer in a kinda corny, but very leader-y way.

"Agreed!" he says over the comms using his real body, knowing Wilhelm and his teammates were too far away to hear him unless he shouted, which he didn't want to do to reveal his position. "No one left behind. We compromise: keep Wilhelm contained until AEGIS is here, and then leave it to them. Deal?" he says, fully aware it's not the best outcome but it's apparently all he'll get today. He would have to talk to them later about that. "This means no more damage than absolutely necessary, Comet. To the Stadium, at least," he adds at the last second, a smirk forming on his face.

Hoping his allies would be able to keep the magician distracted in melee, Scout focus his attention on the villain's actions to anticipate what he'll do next. He pays special attention to his hands, as it seems he needs some sort of magic gestures to call on his powers.

Actions
Scout will do as Phoenix provoked. One Team for the pool.

He will then try to pierce Wilhelm's mask.
Pierce the Mask: [roll0]

EDIT: Oh, these rolls are on point! Here are my questions:
* What do you intend to do?
* How can I get you to recognize we are real heroes?
* How can I get you to turn yourself to us?

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Afraid, Angry

Strikescale was left looking at the crippled demon as Comet headed towards the evil magician. The dragon resumed circling the creature slowly, looking for an opening.

Anger and fear boiled in her insides until it felt like they could combust, until at the slightest opening she might pounce forwards, attempting to batter down the wounded demon and finish it off.


Assessing the situation:[roll0]
On 7-9:
• how could we best end this quickly?
On a 10+, also have:
• what here can I use to prevent Wilhelm's escape?

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Afraid

The blow hurt, even with the armor on. Providence was left seeing stars for a good while, all whilst seething in anger, completely tuned out from the battle around her.

Then she hears the glorious sound of a salvo of rocket-launchers, before finally being able to see straight again and seeing that the demon has lost basically all its limbs. That almost overshadowed the sting of her being unceremoniously swatted out of the air. Almost.

Before she could rejoin the others with a witty rejoinder however, she saw Comet walking towards Justinian, taunting him into giving all that he got. On one hand, Providence couldn't help but admire Comet's sheer audacity, as usual. On the other, however, she very much doesn't want her to be burnt into a fine crisp- or worse, and Justinian is very unlikely to go soft on her now.

"You idiot," Providence whispered under her breath as she pulls out yet another Drive -[BALHANNOTH ON]- and transforms.

[CANTRIP FEEDING FRENZY! BALHANNOTH!]

Providence holds one of her hands close to the lever, with the other outstretched towards the sorcerer. Like Phoenix Flame, she's trying to negate the spells cast by the sorcerer; unlike in his case, however, the magical energy would go straight to her, after which she'll have to discharge it in one way or another.

She'll worry about that later, however. For now, it's a question of whether Balhannoth actually works.


Marking a Condition and spending a Gadget to use Superior.
[roll0]

[Kymme]

"Hey, I hear we've got three minutes," called Comet out to Justinian. "It took me about that to take down your boy over there. I reckon I can do you in half the time, what do you think? Unless you've got some actual skills you've been hiding all this time."

Justinian whistled in mock appreciation. “You’re certainly bold, aren’t you? My skills have been working well so far, but if you’d like…” His eyes darkened and raised his right hand. “...I suppose we could move on to the finale.” His ring, middle, and forefinger gathered together in a point and descended in unison to touch his thumb. As the digits spread apart a small red gemstone appeared between them, grasped lightly by all four digits.


Hoping his allies would be able to keep the magician distracted in melee, Scout focus his attention on the villain's actions to anticipate what he'll do next. He pays special attention to his hands, as it seems he needs some sort of magic gestures to call on his powers.

Justinian is proud, incredibly so. His intention in attacking this concert was to terrorize people and cause enough of a scene to get the attention of some ‘real heroes,’ like Alexis Moore and the rest of the Council of Heroes in Halcyon. He wasn’t counting on you guys being here. His intentions haven’t really changed - he still wants to terrorize the people, fight some heroes, and make his getaway. As far as getaways are concerned, he has to have had some kind of contingency. How else did he expect to get away from the Paragons?

He’ll accept the Zeroes as heroes if they show him a good time and really give him a run for his money. So far the team has failed to directly engage him, so he hasn’t had much of any reason to take them seriously.

Justinian probably considers the idea of turning himself in to you all laughable at best. However, if the team takes him down a peg and has him at their mercy, he’ll probably submit.

Anger and fear boiled in her insides until it felt like they could combust, until at the slightest opening she might pounce forwards, attempting to batter down the wounded demon and finish it off.

Meanwhile, Strikescale found her opening and struck, driving her horns into the demon’s chest. The beast’s mighty breast heaved once and then it perished. As rust-red dust scattered around her, Strikescale caught sight of a gemstone, hovering in space where the demon’s third eye would have been, appear for a moment and then vanish. As she turned, she saw where it had gone.

Justinian lowered his arm and placed the stone on the center of his forehead, were his grey defensive runes materialized and locked it in place. “This, children, is the Tigereye of Durga. Shall I demonstrate its use to you?”

Without response Justinian placed a finger against the Tigereye and opened it. The eye shuddered as its lids receded and began to glow brightly, as it had when it was set into the demon’s forehead. Then, hovering in the air about the sorcerer’s shoulders, appeared six arms of translucent red stone. Each hand began to gesture separately and the Zeroes could feel hostile and powerful magics beginning to swirl inside the Dome, drawn to the sorcerer and the artifact adorning his brow.

Before this, your best bet was taking down Justinian and hoping that his monster vanished with him. Now, though? You aren’t totally certain. That artifact definitely seems to be the source of his newfound strength - taking it away would bring Justinian back down to his previous level.
Here, demonstrating his incredible power, Justinian decided to indulge himself a little. He began to laugh, loudly and with villainous glee, as the power swirling around him condensed into the Tigereye and -


She'll worry about that later, however. For now, it's a question of whether Balhannoth actually works.

- disappeared? Turning frantically the sorcerer looked for the source of this interference and found it in Providence.

“Huh. Didn’t see you there, kid.” Turning his back to the rest of the Zeroes, the sorcerer regarded the powersuited heroine with curiosity. It was short lived.

“Well, when life gives you lemons -” He snapped his fingers. “- why not make them combustible?”

Providence could feel the magic in her Drive, overwhelming and terrible, shift slightly. Looking down at where the cartridge met her belt, she saw it begin to pulse with violent light. Slow at first, but then faster. It was about to explode.

Everyone, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

Time seemed to stop.

Not out of fear. Not because her life was flashing before her eyes. Not because Kamui was doing that thing where she ran both hands through her hair at the same time - she knew all those moments, this wasn't that at all.

This was something different. All of her instincts turned up to a billion. Reflexes overflowed into her brain and she could see what she had only ever felt. It was a galaxy of lines and connections and variables and - and - and stars. It was sheer understanding. Of herself. Of everyone around her. So much data was pulsing through her mind and this was the first time she had ever become aware of it. Everything really, really was...

She turned to look Kamui in the eyes.

"Just according to keikaku," she said.

[Spending the There When It Matters hold to arrive, ready to help]

She took the Drive from Kamui's belt with her right arm.

Her left arm was conjuring a long, sleek magnetic rail rifle.

She slotted the glowing Drive into the breech of the gun. Aimed it directly at Justinian. The crosshair smoothly hovered over his forehead.

She adjusted. Aimed it directly at the gemstone.

"Balhannoth," she grinned. "Lemon feeding frenzy."

She fired the exploding cartridge, the projectile shattering into a cascading, overwhelming detonation of magical energy as it flew.

[Directly Engage: 13
- Resisting my opponent's blows
- Taking something from him
- Causing collateral damage to impress him even harder]

[Kymme]

The Drive cartridge, radiating mystical energy, broke apart as it soared through the air. Faster than a bullet, propelled not only by the electromagnetic force of Comet's rifle but also by the blastwave of magical energy, the largest piece struck Wilhelm in the center of his forehead. If not for the protection runes surrounding him he would have been killed instantly. Instead, a thin crack ran across the perfect surface of the Tigereye, as the last breath of magical energy was released, and the explosion send him and his artifact flying backwards into the stands. He flipped end over end in the air, unconscious, not unlike a fragile animal handled with too much force by a child that didn't know its own strength.

Whatever final piece of foundation still supported the Dome's floor was overwhelmed. The entire center of the structure began to fall in on itself, taking large sections of the stands sliding in with it. The heroes felt the ground under their feet begin to give way, and they heard the structure of the Dome itself begin to creak and buckle as its support structure turned to dust. If they didn't escape from the stadium's imminent collapse they would be trapped beneath the rubble.

And all the while the sorcerer Justinian's unconscious body lay draped across a row of seats, quiet and still.

Providence, your Balhannoth Drive has been destroyed.

Everyone (except maybe Comet, I dunno), what do you do?

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

Zhou moved quickly to the fallen mage's side, he shot a disapproving glare at Comet as the Dome began to shift, it's foundations near destroyed by the young hero's indiscriminate display of firepower. Thankfully Scout had evacuated those innocents who would surely have been crushed beneath the falling debris. "We need to move." He shouldered the mage like a limp bag of grain over his left shoulder, using the remnants of his silk jacket to secure his arm and neck so it wouldn't flop around and throw him off balance, or injure his unconscious burden. "NOW!"

He looked up at Sarah, and could almost feel the fear and the anger roiling off of her as she stared at the demon's prone body. "That won't help Sarah, it's Master is unconscious, it will dissipate back to whence it was summoned, we need to move." He managed a weak smile through cracked, blistered lips, "You've done great," he shifted, "better than me for sure. I just need to ask one more thing," he was interrupted as he dodged a falling piece of the Dome itself, "I need you to shelter us as we clear the building, you're the only one strong enough to do it!"


OOC: Zhou's Angry so he takes a -2 on any Comfort or Support he tries to offer, however, he does have Influence over Sarah, so that's a +1, bringing my net bonus to -1. Here goes! [roll0]. Let's see if we can't hand out potential and/or clear some conditions!

Ha! Nope! Unless someone else want's to join my plea with Sarah and spend a team, otherwise I'm marking my 3rd Potential.

[Kymme]

As Phoenix Flame spoke his teammate turned to him and they exchanged a look. After what they'd just been through, amid a collapsing stadium, rough seas of emotion swirled in the pair's eyes. Strikescale looked through Phoenix Flame's singed mask and saw anger, insecurity, hoplessness, and...

No, that was impossible. The mere thought of it was enough to deepen the redness of the dragon's crimson scales. He wasn't - he couldn't - be looking at her like that.

Phoenix, in your attempt to Comfort and Support your teammate you let on a little more than you intended.

Strikescale, you feel weird. Mark a condition.

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Scout thinks to himself as he sees the sequence of events unfolding in front of him. He had a very clear vision of the villain's intentions after a few seconds, but he didn't have enough time to act on those as Providence and Comet act and apparently destroy the whole building in the blink of an eye.

Dumbfounded, he stays paralyzed by the sheer craziness of his team, before Phoenix finally gives them orders, the same he had been suggesting for the past minutes. Swallowing his own anger, he turns around in his astral body, immediately leaping through the walls to clear the building. He knew his teammates were capable of getting out on their own, but they weren't his main concern at the moment. With quick strides, his astral self moves outside, looking for any hostages that might still be too close to the Dome while his real body was still trapped inside.

As soon as he sees the crowd, he switches places. "Attention!", he yells to the people, his consciousness back on his real self. "The building is collapsing, you have to move away right now or debris might hit you. NOW!" he urges them, trying to sound commanding and confident, although he was neither of those things. Inside, he was still angry about the whole fiasco inside and how AEGIS would certainly blame them for the destruction of the theatre.

As soon as people starts moving away, he takes control of his astral body again and return inside, knowing he couldn't be hurt by the imminent collapse but still in position to support his teammates, as wrong and careless as they were.

[Thanqol]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

Zhou moved quickly to the fallen mage's side, he shot a disapproving glare at Comet as the Dome began to shift, it's foundations near destroyed by the young hero's indiscriminate display of firepower. Thankfully Scout had evacuated those innocents who would surely have been crushed beneath the falling debris. "We need to move." He shouldered the mage like a limp bag of grain over his left shoulder, using the remnants of his silk jacket to secure his arm and neck so it wouldn't flop around and throw him off balance, or injure his unconscious burden. "NOW!"


As soon as people starts moving away, he takes control of his astral body again and return inside, knowing he couldn't be hurt by the imminent collapse but still in position to support his teammates, as wrong and careless as they were.

"Thank you, Comet," said Comet to herself as she watched her team's frowns burrow down. "What a good shot, Comet," she went on, "you saved all our lives, Comet," she said, casually vaporizing an unwise piece of falling masonry.

Despite her mocking tone she couldn't keep the feral grin off her face. She crackled with energy, pumped up and exhilarated, and was clearly having the time of her life. "You guys need to chill out for a second. You just got to witness the future #1 hero give you the show of your lives. It's a special moment," she rested her hands behind her head and let out a shuddering breath.

The adrenaline was still pounding. She had more to give.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Angry, Afraid, Insecure

Rubble bounced like rain off the back of the dragon as she stood motionless, staring at Phoenix Flame. The glow that leaked through her scales pulsed unsteadily.

What...?

No, it was impossible. It was stupid of her even to think about.

She wasn't a person any more, after all. She was a dragon, a monster, and slowly ever more so. The notion of that was laughable. A chunk of masonry shattered itself on her skull, and the dust billowed around her head.

For a human, that would have been fatal, wouldn't it?

He was still waiting for her to do something. Embarrassed, angry, afraid, the dragon shook herself and went into motion.
"...Rrright," she rumbled. "Get moving. I'll guarrrdd."

She wasn't tall enough for them to shelter directly underneath her, so she simply followed behind, batting any pieces out the air with her feet to crash metres away, trying to focus on the job at hand.

For a moment, however, her attention slipped, and she glanced back down at Zhou.

[Kymme]

Working in tandem, with tail-slams and mag-rifle shots, the Zeroes escaped the collapsing center of the Dome. Rushing through the wide enterance hallway, they ducked and dived for cover even has square ceiling panels began to shake and drop. After the ceiling panels came light fixtures and larger pieces of rebar and concrete and piping, all cascading down as the building’s fall tore it apart.

Ahead of them loomed the wide open glass doors of the Dome, now shattered and blown open by the building’s collapse. Behind them some great piece of the stadium had fallen, and now a cloud of black dust nipped at their heels. The team broke into a sprint as they entered the grand foyer, and just as Strikescale turned to glance at Zhou a massive piece of rebar and concrete fell through the ceiling and lanced down towards him. Acting on instinct the dragoness whirled her tail around and batted the piece of rubble away from her teammates… ... and directly through the blown-open doors.

Outside, Scout watched the door frame with piercing intent. With all of his attention focused on his other self and keeping his team safe he only barely registered the brisk wind behind him that signaled the AEGIS dropship landing, along with the slight rumbling that signaled a disembarking suit of AEGIS powered armor along with a squad of soldiers.

Then the rubble soared through the open door towards the crowd of civilians. Scout’s eyes snapped to follow the rubble’s trajectory and he sent his astral self into a sprint to try and get in its way - he had to, he was the only one who could -

Motors whirred to life as a mechanical arm terminating in a heavily reinforced hand extended into the path of the flying rubble. The palm of its hand could eclipse a dinner plate.

A mixture of concrete and rebar met reinforced ballistic steel and became naught but dust and metal chips. As the hand closed into a fist Scout saw the body it was attached to - ten feet of dusty red steel (https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/603/974/large/mike-jensen-eat3d1-final-render.jpg?1443930570), emblazoned with AEGIS’ logo and the curling rams horns that signified its model type: Aries. Despite its featureless gray face, Scout couldn’t help but feel the powered armor and its pilot were looking down on him.

Pulled back to his immediate senses, Scout could see the powered armor to his left, between the Dome’s entrance and the crowd outside. The civilians he rescued stood among them, pressing against an improvised police barricade. To his right Scout saw the AEGIS dropship, all slick and black and red, behind a line of similarly-colored soldiers in light ballistic armor. Their rifles were pointed directly at the Dome’s opening and their squad-leader stood at attention. It was with exasperation that Scout noticed the squad-leader’s identity. Of course it was Lieutenant Albin. It couldn’t be anybody else. Damnit!

The stern-faced AEGIS Lieutenant lifted an arm and spoke to his men. “Steady. On-site cameras cut out as we were landing, so we’ve got no idea what the situation inside is. Be ready to fire on my mark.” He tore his eyes away from the main doors and glanced at Scout. “Hey, kid! You’ve got ESP, right? What’s going on insi - “

Albin was cut off by a massive rending screech as the whole Dome dropped from its foundations. Scout saw his team, Phoenix Flame (carrying Justinian) and Comet and Providence and Strikescale, charge out the doors just as everything was swallowed by a plume of black dust. All was dark for a moment.

Then the dust cleared. The Zeroes stood before a great mound of rubble that had once been the pride and joy of Memorial City’s downtown district, between awed civilians and furious AEGIS personnel.

What do you do?

[Thanqol]

Then the dust cleared. The Zeroes stood before a great mound of rubble that had once been the pride and joy of Memorial City’s downtown district, between awed civilians and furious AEGIS personnel.

What do you do?

Comet gives a big grin, a thumbs up and wink to all the cameras, and says in her proudest voice "We did it!"

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Angry, Afraid, Insecure

The dragon stood for a moment, mighty chest heaving as she took in the appearance of AEGIS. Wasn't that that captain who'd...? Yeah, it was. Damn.

Comet spoke cheerfully, and the sheer contrast of the grinding rubble and Comet's chipper mood forced a surprised huff out of the exhuman.

Sarah's head twisted on her neck to look over her back at the collapsed Dome, then back at the assorted police and citizens. Her glowing eyes swept over them, looking for her sister in the crowd.

Was that her? It looked like it. Mollified just for the second, she gently nudged Zhou forward with the back of one front foot.

"We gggot the bad gguy," she rumbled, almost in a questioning tone, trying to forestall any accusations.

... She sure hoped they would not try to bill them for this.

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

Zhou glared at Comet as her irreverent comment showed her seeming indifference to the damage and destruction caused by the powerful salvo which ended up bring down the Dome. He eyed Lieutenant Pierce careful, as he moved forward, handing off the still limp body of Wilhelm to the waiting AEGIS agents.

"This sorcerer, Justinian Wilhelm, summoned some sort of other dimensional creature in the middle of the Dome, so we," he looked at his team mates, "engaged. Scout there," he looked at his friend, "saved the people inside the Dome, led them out through the smoke that Wilhelm summoned," he sighed, "the thing is, they look to me to lead them, and I went all out on Wilhelm, trying to bring him down quickly, Comet followed suit, the structure was already weakened by the sorcerer's earlier conjurations, and her final salvo collapsed the Dome."

He stepped forward towards the Lieutenant his hands extended as if he expected to be cuffed, "I made the mistake Lieutenant, Strikescale tried to prevent the Dome from collapsing, Providence and Scout ensured we were able to get out. This whole damn thing is my fault."

He took another step forward.

"I'm the one you want," he paused, looked over his shoulder at his friends, "not them. They tried everything they could, I let them down."


OOC: Trying to Pierce the Lieutenant's Mask, rolling Mundane +0, however, I am Angry, so it is at a -2. [roll0]. Let's see how this goes.

[Thanqol]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

Zhou glared at Comet as her irreverent comment showed her seeming indifference to the damage and destruction caused by the powerful salvo which ended up bring down the Dome. He eyed Lieutenant Pierce careful, as he moved forward, handing off the still limp body of Wilhelm to the waiting AEGIS agents.

"This sorcerer, Justinian Wilhelm, summoned some sort of other dimensional creature in the middle of the Dome, so we," he looked at his team mates, "engaged. Scout there," he looked at his friend, "saved the people inside the Dome, led them out through the smoke that Wilhelm summoned," he sighed, "the thing is, they look to me to lead them, and I went all out on Wilhelm, trying to bring him down quickly, Comet followed suit, the structure was already weakened by the sorcerer's earlier conjurations, and her final salvo collapsed the Dome."

He stepped forward towards the Lieutenant his hands extended as if he expected to be cuffed, "I made the mistake Lieutenant, Strikescale tried to prevent the Dome from collapsing, Providence and Scout ensured we were able to get out. This whole damn thing is my fault."

He took another step forward.

"I'm the one you want," he paused, looked over his shoulder at his friends, "not them. They tried everything they could, I let them down."

Comet straight decks Zhou. Grabs him by the neck and yanks him back to slam him hard into the ground, straight out of nowhere, hard enough to crack the concrete.

"Hey, guy?" she said to Pierce, cracking her knuckles. "I think we all know who the only loose cannon here is. Phoenix here is trying to take one for the team - he's noble like that - but I'm not going to let him. I took the dome down. I took out the bad guy. No one got hurt. You got a problem with my results you can bring 'em at me."

She grinned widely, hands crackling. "You know. If you think you're hard enough."

[Comet is Supporting (Defending?) Zhou... in her way. [roll0] ]

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

Scout was once again unable to believe in his companions' actions. Did they really think this was the best way to handle the situation? Did they ACTUALLY believe that's how things happened? Scout takes control of his alter self, leaving his real body to do the talking while he starts moving to not really be a part of what comes next.

"Are you serious?" his real body asks, a question aimed at his teammates. "Weren't you paying attention to anything else? No, that's not what happened," he says calmly, facing the AEGIS personnel. Or at least he hoped so, since his consciousness was currently a couple hundred meters away, looking for a safe place to teleport. "The one responsible for demolishing the Dome is the villain. We focused on rescuing civilians first, then containing the magician. I suspect Wilhelm had rigged the foundations, since none of us came even closer to the underground to cause severe damage. He clearly had a safeguard in case the "real heroes" - his words - showed up, and I imagine that was a good one. Paragon would be able to prevent the collapse if they didn't focus on capturing Wilhelm, so he would be able to flee. We, however, couldn't," he finalizes. "When Comet knocked him down, whatever he had prepared to destroy the building must have activated and that's what we have now. We couldn't have foreseen it, we couldn't prevent it, but it's definitely not our fault. And I mean NONE of us. Honestly, neither Phoenix nor Comet is powerful enough to take down a building this big in a few minutes," he adds, letting a bit of his anger stain his words.

Having finally found an empty department to hide for a bit, he prepares his astral self for the shift. "What we are responsible for is guaranteeing the safety of the innocents involved and subduing a dangerous villain," he tells the officers of AEGIS before adding: "And now that it's all clear, I'm gonna tell you that I use a mask for a reason, and that's not for being on the spotlight. I'll be around, just not physically," he says, before switching places with his other self. His real body appears laying on a stranger's bed, one that clearly hadn't been home for a while, while his astral self continues to watch and listen to the talk between his team and the authorities.

He had been careful to shift only with his own costume and body, so if they had bugged him somehow, it would have been left behind. Now, completely sure he wouldn't be followed and there was little chance of his identity being blown, he talks through the comms. "I'm still there, guys. Just don't want any more problems than I need, but I can hop back anytime."

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

As Comet surged forward Zhou moved with an outward calmness that belied the emotional turmoil that raged within his breast. He side stepped he lunge, his hand shooting out across the back of Comet's hand, grasping the meat of the palm, even as he spun to his left, placing himself on her right side, his left hand grasped the inside crook of her elbow, his grip like steel. He then rotated wrist against elbow, forcing the young woman to her knees. He maintained the pressure, enough to control her movements as he leaned forward, almost intimately, to whisper in her ear.

"No." There was sadness in his eyes, pain, and turmoil. "We are taught, in Shamballa Vale, that the 1st law of combat is a measured response. I failed you by not sharing this concept earlier. When Wilhelm attacked our response was measured, appropriate, limit the exposure of innocents to the harm he intended, confront, contain. However, in your need to be a hero, you overwhelmed him with an attack that caused untold damage to the surrounding environment, the repayment in materials, in labor, likely to exceed tens of thousands of man hours." He sighed, looking for reason, for understanding in her eyes, "THAT," he continued, "was not a measured response." He released her arm, taking a step back, keeping his eyes on Comet expecting another assault.

"I will not allow it to happen again Comet," his stance shifted, a defensive one, rooted, powerful, "I will not let you engage these peacekeepers simply because you are unable to face the consequences of your own actions. It was my failure, because I could have stopped you, stopped him," with that he pointed to the incapacitated sorcerer, "but chose to restrain myself, to hold back, to conserve my chi." Real pain flickered across his face, "Not again, not while lives are at stake, no matter the cost."


OOC: A couple things; this feels like a Provoke, as such I will roll Superior, -1, but I have Influence over Comet, so I gain a +1, giving me a net Zero. I want her to stand down, let AEGIS do their thing, up to and including arresting Zhou if that's what the Lieutenant wants. An 11 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23478646&postcount=191)! If Comet decides to stand down we gain a Team, if she does not she marks Guilty.

Now secondly, there were no consequences to defending Zhou, her action seems much more like Comfort, invoking the Bull's Heart Friendship, more than a Defend action. So I'll wait on Kymme's interpretation on the results of that move.

[Kymme]

... She sure hoped they would not try to bill them for this.

Strikescale could make out her sister’s long hair and the outline of her simple dress through the crowd. As her eyes tracked from face to face they came to rest on her sister’s own, and the two of them exchanged a powerful glance. Relief stood out on Claire’s bright face, in the relaxed lines around her eyes and nose, but there was something else too. A rush of strange feelings flew through the dragon hero when she finally realized. It was pride. In a sea of turbulent faces Claire was beaming as bright as the sun. A simple exchanged look carried her pride to Sarah, and the dragoness felt herself begin to smile.

Strikescale, your sister is trying to shift your Labels. +1 Savior and -1 Freak. What do you do?


"I'm the one you want," he paused, looked over his shoulder at his friends, "not them. They tried everything they could, I let them down."

The Lieutenant’s hard gaze doesn’t waver as Zhou hands off the villain and explains the events of the attack. Zhou couldn’t read any judgement in the man’s eyes, just focused attention as he absorbed each and every word. As presented himself like a surrendering prisoner, however, Zhou felt the AEGIS officer’s gaze turn into a piercing glare.

The Lieutenant wants him (or at least whoever seems the most guilty) to agree to come in for an AEGIS debrief and submit themselves to the agency’s jurisdiction. Now, he can’t exactly force the issue, since a government peacekeeping force fighting against superheroes out in the open is definitely bad PR (not to mention it’s likely to attract the attention of more powerful, influential superheroes).
Now, simultaneously, the Lieutenant is Piercing Zhou’s mask and gaining some insights. They are as follows:
- How can I get you to convince your team to submit to an AEGIS debrief?
- What do you want me to do?
- How can I get you to work with AEGIS more closely in the future, to avert debacles like this?
He reached forward and opened his mouth to speak...


Comet straight decks Zhou…

She grinned widely, hands crackling. "You know. If you think you're hard enough."


As Comet surged forward Zhou moved with an outward calmness that belied the emotional turmoil that raged within his breast...

Real pain flickered across his face, "Not again, not while lives are at stake, no matter the cost."

But then two of the Zeroes started grappling with each other! For the first time today the officer’s stiff upper lip wavered a bit, and he watched Phoenix Flame lecture Comet with a sort of awed confusion.

While squabbling among heroes isn’t particularly uncommon, it’s always a bit of a publicity treat when it does happen. The Zeroes could see the camera flashes as press on the scene made sure to document the disagreement for all of Memorial City to see. The rest of the crowd watched in silence.

Lieutenant Albin felt a migraine coming on. He put one hand to his temple and snapped his fingers with his other to try and recapture Phoenix Flame and Comet’s attention. “Listen, kids, I get that you’ve just come out the other end of a scary situation, and that your nerves are fried and the adrenaline is starting to wear off, but this is idiotic. Just come along with us and we’ll get this all sorted out at headquarters. We’ll get accountability settled and then - “


"What we are responsible for is guaranteeing the safety of the innocents involved and subduing a dangerous villain," he tells the officers of AEGIS...

The Lieutenant blinked behind his visor as Scout spoke. He considered the young man’s words carefully and… nodded? “That makes sense. I’m not familiar with this Justinian guy in particular, aside from the reports, but prepping the structure to come down is textbook megalomaniac.” He sighed loudly and waved for his men to be at ease. “You kids aren’t in trouble or anything, but this is still an issue to settle at headquarters. We can - ”

And of course, for the umpteenth time that day, the Lieutenant was cut off by the heroes as Scout up and vanishes. Albin exhaled gruffly and turned back to the rest of the Zeroes. “Can one of you just… get that one back here? And come along quietly, please.”

What do you do?

[Thanqol]

As Comet surged forward Zhou moved with an outward calmness that belied the emotional turmoil that raged within his breast. He side stepped he lunge, his hand shooting out across the back of Comet's hand, grasping the meat of the palm, even as he spun to his left, placing himself on her right side, his left hand grasped the inside crook of her elbow, his grip like steel. He then rotated wrist against elbow, forcing the young woman to her knees.

Pathetic, he said as he drove his hand through her overextended elbow joint.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyelids fluttered. The familiar tastes of failure, vulnerability, death crashed through her like a dust storm. Everything that had seemed bright and vibrant a second before was cold, gritty and violent. He was going to snap her arm like a twig again. She'd never lasted more than six minutes after that. His blood would be up and he wouldn't want to drag it out so he'd be fighting to finish because he had things to do this afternoon and she was just the meat in the way.

She could make it nasty for him. If she conjured properly placed explosives she could sever the arm altogether which would give her a four second window to act freely. She could use that to land some point blank shots to the torso. The fight was already lost so the only thing that mattered now was hurting him so badly that whoever was in charge wouldn't call him ready.

As soon as he broke her elbow she'd move.

He was saying something. She was vaguely aware. His mouth was so close against her ear it felt sexual. That was a mistake. When she cut her arm off the unnecessary proximity would perhaps even let her land a headshot - that wouldn't be enough but it would be embarrassing. He was tensed for the strike. She was overextended. Too slow to dodge, too fragile to resist. The only thing she had that would put a mark on him was ferocity. Come on, follow up, the one thing that you're not is creative. Break my elbow so we can get on with this.


He released her arm, taking a step back, keeping his eyes on Comet expecting another assault.

...


"I will not allow it to happen again Comet," his stance shifted, a defensive one, rooted, powerful, "I will not let you engage these peacekeepers simply because you are unable to face the consequences of your own actions. It was my failure, because I could have stopped you, stopped him," with that he pointed to the incapacitated sorcerer, "but chose to restrain myself, to hold back, to conserve my chi." Real pain flickered across his face, "Not again, not while lives are at stake, no matter the cost."

"Oh, yeah, good morning to you too idiot," said Comet. "I guess that's what it takes to get you to finally wake up? This isn't a game, Phoenix." She got to her feet. "Dude wanted to kill a stadium full of people and you were sleepwalking through the fight. Seriously? You want to talk about a measured response maybe don't leave it to me to handle both the evil wizard and the giant demon by myself."

She pretended to cough so she could cover her face for a few seconds while she gasped for air.

Her arm felt wrong. It shouldn't be there. She'd lost it fair and square and even now her mind was trying to adapt to a reality without it.



"Honestly, neither Phoenix nor Comet is powerful enough to take down a building this big in a few minutes," he adds, letting a bit of his anger stain his words.

Comet spares an unreadable look at Scout.

[richmond]

And of course, for the umpteenth time that day, the Lieutenant was cut off by the heroes as Scout up and vanishes. Albin exhaled gruffly and turned back to the rest of the Zeroes. “Can one of you just… get that one back here? And come along quietly, please.”

What do you do?

Scout tries to ignore his teammate's infighting. For the third time today, he starts reconsidering his place in the group. They seem to be too wild, too unpredictable... And he wasn't sure that was the best environment for him to be with. Not when he wants to protect his identity.

He shifts once again when the lieutenant asks for his return, but briefly. "I told you I'm here, just not in the same way as you. You simply can't notice me," he explains, his astral body occupying the bed until he shifts back. "Too much attention, so it's better this way. And going with you or not is the leader's decision, not mine." He finalised by trading places with his other self, once again vanishing from AEGIS sight.

His monstrous body was there again, watching and listening until his team decided what to do next, invisible and unnoticeable to anyone present (at least as far as Scout knew).

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless, Insecure.

He shook his head as Comet spoke, sleepwalking, it irked, but she wasn't far wrong. No. Maybe it was time, just not now, not hear, not with the Lieutenant and AEGIS looming large. "No," he spoke calmly, closed his eyes a moment, and made a movement with his hands, centering his chi, finding his peace of that moment between breaths. In. Out. Breath. "Now's not the time Comet, if you want the truth, you need to be patient." He paused, looked to Strikescale who seemed to be scanning the crowd, to Providence, and back to Comet's cold, inscrutable face. "Get them out of here, I'll handle AEGIS." Another pause, as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Please ..."

He turned towards the Lieutenant, ignoring the flashes from the crowds phones, cameras, and whatever other recording devices they had available to them. He was resigned, resolute, "Lieutenant, a catastrophe has occurred here, and we need to discover it's roots. The Zeroes aren't responsible for the Sorcerer's attack on the citizens of Memorial City, however, whether by action, or inaction, we have some responsibility for the results. I welcome to opportunity to speak with you over what transpired here today. If, after listening to my recount of today's events you still wish to speak to the Zeroes, I will ensure you have the opportunity to do so."

He approached the Lieutenant closer now, and spoke in a hushed whisper, his voice pitched for the Lieutenant alone, not the gathered crowd, not the press, "You want my co-operation, let them go, let them shake off this defeat, gather their thoughts, THEN, talk to them. And until that point, you've got me."


OOC: This isn't a move, I don't have Influence over the Lieutenant, I just want him to let the situation drop, I've publicly announced my willingness to submit to an AEGIS debrief, and indicated, again in public, that if they agree, I'll try to get the rest of the Zeroes to come in on their own terms.

Now, in response to the Lt's questions;

How can I get you to convince your team to submit to an AEGIS debrief?
YOU probably can't. They don't trust you.
What do you want me to do?
Take me in for a debriefing, and let my team go.
How can I get you to work with AEGIS more closely in the future, to avert debacles like this?
Show us respect, offer us training.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Afraid.

Providence could only watch in stunned silence as Wilhelm overheated Balhannoth and Comet deciding to shoot it at him, not even noticing that it caused her to forcibly detransform. At first, she was absolutely livid; she spent a lot of her time lining up the components just right, and that two-bit hack of a sorceror just destroyed it! Did he really have no standards?! Sure, Comet using it as an impromptu projectile was cool and all, but still. That stung.

Once she's cooled down a bit, however, her mind wanders to what went wrong with it and her options in solving it, mostly zoning out what's said around her. Sure, it worked in eating away at the magic wards Wilhelm set up, but the fact that it's still vulnerable to magic meant that it's risky to use it in direct combat. Maybe she can get another mage to enhance it, or bug Phoenix Flame about how to magically ground her equipment, whatever that means? In addition, Balhannoth wasn't looking too good after absorbing that much magic, either; there clearly was storage issues, though she has to think about how to fix it. Oh! How about-

Kamui was suddenly pulled out of her brainstorming trance once Phoenix Flame addresses Comet, and fully realizes the situation she's in.

"Yeah, I'm so not dealing with the cannon fodder today," Kamui groaned, before turning towards Comet and Strikescale, somewhat perking up. "Hey, how about we follow what he said and get out of here? I mean, unless you want to talk with the glorified bureaucrats over there, but why would you do that?"

[Thanqol]

He shook his head as Comet spoke, sleepwalking, it irked, but she wasn't far wrong. No. Maybe it was time, just not now, not hear, not with the Lieutenant and AEGIS looming large. "No," he spoke calmly, closed his eyes a moment, and made a movement with his hands, centering his chi, finding his peace of that moment between breaths. In. Out. Breath. "Now's not the time Comet, if you want the truth, you need to be patient." He paused, looked to Strikescale who seemed to be scanning the crowd, to Providence, and back to Comet's cold, inscrutable face. "Get them out of here, I'll handle AEGIS." Another pause, as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Please ..."

She had just started to get her sh*t together when he put his hand on her shoulder again and it was all she could do to not - not ki - not -

She couldn't even bring herself to just brush him off. There was no half measure way to do that. So she just stared, utterly tense, like a snake and if keeping herself still then was hard then doing it when he turned his back on her was impossible. Lightning began to crackle around both hands and every synapse started to fire -


Kamui was suddenly pulled out of her brainstorming trance once Phoenix Flame addresses Comet, and fully realizes the situation she's in.

"Yeah, I'm so not dealing with the cannon fodder today," Kamui groaned, before turning towards Comet and Strikescale, somewhat perking up. "Hey, how about we follow what he said and get out of here? I mean, unless you want to talk with the glorified bureaucrats over there, but why would you do that?"

- an entirely different part of her mind cut through the battle fog and she followed the only other set of instincts she had like they were a lighthouse in a storm.

"O-oh - yeah!" said Comet, "Good point. I just blew up an eight armed lion and it's an awesome afternoon, so it'd take a real headcase to want to celebrate down at a frickin' police station. Where do you want to go?"

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Angry, Afraid, Insecure

Sarah felt her own lips curling back as she saw her sister's smile, revealing countless bristling fangs. Light filtered between them as if she had a furnace in her gullet. Unnoticed by her, a few of the civilian crowd - and the AEGIS troopers - shrank back a step at the sight. Her sister wasn't just safe: she was proud, and that pierced like an arrow through the churning anger-fear-insecurity inside Strikescale's chest.

Claire's opinion means the world to Sarah: she accepts the changes to her labels.

And yet in that brief moment of distraction, there was a flash of movement and suddenly Phoenix had Comet pinned and released. Strikescale could only look on in confusion.

Her head swung between the two for a moment. Why? They were on the same team, right?

She hesitated at the offer to leave. She wanted to, certainly - now the excitement was over she was increasing conscious of the cameras photographing her monstrous body, the crowd doubtless tweeting and posting about this on social media.
"I'ddd like to leave. But..." the dragon rumbled. She turned her glowing gaze on Phoenix. "Are you surrre? Doing it alone."

[Kymme]

"Too much attention, so it's better this way. And going with you or not is the leader's decision, not mine." He finalised by trading places with his other self, once again vanishing from AEGIS sight.

The Lieutenant arched an eyebrow behind his visor, but he was content enough to simply shrug and let Scout play the furtive savior. Capes will be Capes, after all.

As Scout ‘vanished’ he turned his attention back to the squabbling teenagers in front of him.


"You want my co-operation, let them go, let them shake off this defeat, gather their thoughts, THEN, talk to them. And until that point, you've got me."

He grunted in affirmation to Phoenix Flame’s idea, carefully appraising the young man. “I suppose that’s fair. Your team seems a bit rattled and a bit of time to collect themselves would do them good. Can’t be too hasty with Capes, after all.” He turned back to his men and the medical personnel weaving through the crowd and gestured wordlessly. At once one of the AEGIS paramedics, a short woman with shorter black hair, stepped past the police barricade and up to the Lieutenant’s side. They exchanged words with monotone voices, too quiet for Phoenix to hear despite his proximity, for a moment before turning to address the hero.

The Lieutenant spoke first. “Seems that your teammate’s claims were on the money.” He nodded for the paramedic to take over as he addressed the Zeroes as a whole. "Hey, heroes: you're free to disperse. Your leader has taken the initiative to come to headquarters and deliver a report. AEGIS'll be handling the situation moving forward. I'd thank you for your assistance, but compared to those reporters - " he inclined his head in the direction of several different news vans parked behind the AEGIS barricade. " - my voice is a drop in the ocean."

Scout, Providence, Comet: what do you do?

The AEGIS paramedic's nametag was happy to provide her surname: Naser. She spoke to Phoenix Flame quietly as the Lieutenant addressed the rest of his team. “A few first-degree burns from some of the villain’s spells, but no major injuries.” The paramedic’s eyes flicked down to her tablet and then back up to Phoenix Flame. “You, on the other hand, seem to have faced the brunt of this Justinian's pyromancies.” Her eyes lingered on Zhou’s burned chest and the painful lines where the sorcerer’s fire spears had clipped the sides of his legs. “Coming in for a debrief is noble of you, but you need medical attention before anything else.”

Phoenix Flame, this AEGIS paramedic is raising your Mundane and lowering your Superior.


"I'ddd like to leave. But..." the dragon rumbled. She turned her glowing gaze on Phoenix. "Are you surrre? Doing it alone."

Lieutenant Albin glances at Strikescale, before turning back to Zhou. “Your call, kid.”


OOC: It seems that this scene is winding down. If y'all want to make a statement to the cameras there's a move for that:

When you make a statement to the cameras, roll + Superior. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose two.
• you convince the viewing audience to see your team according to a Label of your choice
• your statement will bring you an opportunity from a viewer
• your statement frames you, in particular, as a successful and noteworthy hero of the city; mark potential
• you don’t anger or upset anyone important or powerful with your statement
On a miss, your statement goes awry, and listeners interpret your words in the worst possible way.

[Thanqol]

The Lieutenant spoke first. “Seems that your teammate’s claims were on the money.” He nodded for the paramedic to take over as he addressed the Zeroes as a whole. "Hey, heroes: you're free to disperse. Your leader has taken the initiative to come to headquarters and deliver a report. AEGIS'll be handling the situation moving forward. I'd thank you for your assistance, but compared to those reporters - " he inclined his head in the direction of several different news vans parked behind the AEGIS barricade. " - my voice is a drop in the ocean."

Scout, Providence, Comet: what do you do?

Suddenly there were lights. Suddenly there were eyes. She was standing on quicksand right as the hurricane hit.

"What's to say?" said Comet. "I only had to fire two shots - one for the giant lion demon and one for the wizard. And to be honest it was pretty much the easiest fight I've ever had," she put on a smile. "If there are any villains out there who are actually worth my time, come find me, yeah? Open invite. Dial me up. Just -" there was a crash of collapsing masonry behind her, "let me choose the venue next time, eheheheh,"

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 1 / 5

Scout's mood changes a bit as he says the careful approach Phoenix takes. Suggesting he could go alone, leaving the more volatile members away from AEGIS did sound like a good plan, one Scout approved. It was even better that the lieutenant seemed to have agreed, despite Strikescale's doubt.

"Don't worry, Sarah," he says over the comm. "He won't be alone. I'll be there as well, they simply won't be able to notice," he smirks to himself, thinking how that would be a good way to actually get some intel and also keep a watch over his team leader. Of course, at that moment Comet decided to do something that made him grunt loudly.


"What's to say?" said Comet. "I only had to fire two shots - one for the giant lion demon and one for the wizard. And to be honest it was pretty much the easiest fight I've ever had," she put on a smile. "If there are any villains out there who are actually worth my time, come find me, yeah? Open invite. Dial me up. Just -" there was a crash of collapsing masonry behind her, "let me choose the venue next time, eheheheh,"

She hadn't even finished saying that when his astral form leaped to her side and he quickly switched places. Appearing right next to Comet, he speaks in the most secure tone possible, years of practice as a spokesperson for the House of the Pure.

"By which she means we'll all be around to defend the citizens of Memorial City," he says to the cameras with a noble stance. "Our team has proved more than once that we can stand our ground against great adversaries, and every time the innocents were safe. This is what we're here for: To be a shield, a wall that any villain has to overcome if they want to threaten the people of our city. Anytime, anywhere," he finalizes, passing an arm around Comet's shoulder to try and show some unity after the altercations the girl had already had with Phoenix.

Maybe, just maybe, the press wouldn't believe we're all a bunch of lunatics looking for a fight. He hated that he had to be here, speaking up like this, but the thought of villains actually coming for them because of Comet's challenge was a bit too much. Specially if the media decided that was exactly what they wanted.

Actions
Well guess I'll have to make a statement to the cameras.
Roll (+ Superior): [roll0]

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Hopeless, Insecure.

He shook his head slowly as he watched Sarah, thinking to himself that he'd be fine, hoping that she'd feel his assurance, his confidence. He then poignantly looked from Sarah to her sister in the crowd and then back again, nodded and stepped into the AEGIS transport. As he did so he glimpsed Comet & Scout speaking to the assembled news crew, he shrugged, hoping against hope that Scout would take the lead on any statements to circumvent's Comet's arrogant pride.

He sat along a bench as the paramedic, Namer, inspected his wounds, the burns, and the contusions earned from their confrontation with the magi, Wilhelm. However, as she spoke of his injuries, a wan smile crept across Zhou's face. "Thank you Doctor, but no." He gently pushed her probing hands away, "Pain is just a memory, a reminder of the journey to one's pinnacle." He folded his hands before him, interlacing his fingers, closed his eyes, concentrated a moment, inhaled, paused, exhaled.

"I am the last student of the Revered Master, Shaoqing, the Resplendent Phoenix. I was trained in the peaks of the Shamballa Vale," his eyes opened, a glow of health returning to him even as he spoke, "your consideration is appreciated Ms. Naser, however, these injuries are, though painful, not life threatening. Concentration, meditation, a realignment of one's chi, one's internal energy." He smiled, looked at her, "And they are gone."


OOC: Going to roll to reject Naser's Influence, [roll0]. Let's see how this goes. Nice! By meditating during the trip to AEGIS, Zhou has re-centered himself, I will choose to Clear Angry, and Shift my Danger down & my Savior up.

[Kymme]

"If there are any villains out there who are actually worth my time, come find me, yeah? Open invite. Dial me up. Just -" there was a crash of collapsing masonry behind her, "let me choose the venue next time, eheheheh,"


"By which she means we'll all be around to defend the citizens of Memorial City," he says to the cameras with a noble stance. "Our team has proved more than once that we can stand our ground against great adversaries, and every time the innocents were safe. This is what we're here for: To be a shield, a wall that any villain has to overcome if they want to threaten the people of our city. Anytime, anywhere," he finalizes, passing an arm around Comet's shoulder to try and show some unity after the altercations the girl had already had with Phoenix.

Wide eyes and camera shutters faced Comet and Scout, and silence engulfed them. That was, until another piece of masonry crumbled behind them and sent the press and crowd into a mob of murmurs and questions. Scout instinctively backed away from the police line just as his comms began to buzz in his ear. His phone, safe in his room back home, was getting a call. The ringing ended abruptly, but as his thoughts began to wonder he was interrupted by the chime of the voicemail. The realization came crashing down onto him and Scout couldn't help but groan. His parents had planned a brief appearance today at some city politican's campaign rally - an appearance they expected him to attend. He'd managed to extricate himself from their plans with a bit of careful negotiation, but apparently they'd decided to ignore that and call him regardless.

Had Justinian not attacked The Dome, their call might have interrupted some dramatic musical number. Now, however...

Scout could always just ignore his parent's request, but that will definitely lead to some anger in the future. What does he do?


"your consideration is appreciated Ms. Naser, however, these injuries are, though painful, not life threatening. Concentration, meditation, a realignment of one's chi, one's internal energy." He smiled, looked at her, "And they are gone."

The paramedic's eyebrows rose as Phoenix rebuffed her concerns, but she was content to shrug and turn to her medical charts when the young hero's wounds began to heal.

Strikescale, Zhou's only response to your request was a look to you and to your sister. Are you convinced he doesn't need your help? And what was with that weird look earlier? It's still on your mind. The dropship's engines are beginning to warm up but the wide bay doors haven't yet closed. What do you do?

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Afraid

"I don't know," Kamui shrugged. "Maybe we can all grab something to-"

Before Kamui could complete her sentence, however, her attention is swerved towards the reporters in front of her. With a small sigh, she starts coughing, clearly preparing for a speech-

Only for Comet to cut in. Admittedly, hers wassn't that terrible of a statement (and her bravado is, as always, admirable), but it's probably the wrong thing to say when you're hot off blowing up an entire concert stadium and causing millions of property damage. Before Kamui can try and salvage it, however, Scout pipes in with something that's even worse. It was, honestly, kind of hackneyed in the first place, and the collapsing stadium just made it worse.

Time for her to step in.

"You know, Scout does have a point. We don't pull out our big guns before we made sure every civilian is safe. Just look at them over there. Sure, we may not be the most subtle of teams, or-" she gestures at the ruins of the Dome "-the most careful, but at the end of the day, we're a team heroes. We don't pull out our big guns before we make sure everyone other than us and the villain is safe. If this was just about fame and glory, we would've given up when the Sentinel called us Zeroes, but that's not what we did. We're going to protect the city-" she shot a very pointed glare at the Sentinel reporter -no matter if you like it or not.

Afterwards, she turns back to Comet. "So, as I was saying, wanna grab a burger or two after all this is said and done?"


Make a statement to the cameras: [roll0]

[Thanqol]

he finalizes, passing an arm around Comet's shoulder to try and show some unity after the altercations the girl had already had with Phoenix.

Man, he really sounded like a politician, didn't he?

Comet didn't react to Scout putting his arm around her shoulder. It was a whole different thing to when Phoenix had done it - Scout just wasn't a threat to her. In fact, she thought he sounded keener for this part than any part of anything that had happened so far today. Was this all just a stepping stone to him? A means to some sort of political end?

Because if that's all it was he was selling himself short. If he put his mind to it he could be an actual hero instead of just another phoney. It grated on her to see him be so obviously artificial.

[Declaring Scout my Rival. Scout, take Influence over Comet.
Piercing The Mask with Listener: [roll0]
Listener Question: How could I get Scout to engage in serious training with Comet?
How could I get Influence over Scout?

Listener allows you to ask me any question you like in response, not just one from the list.]


Time for her to step in.

oh ghawd how was she so good with words


Afterwards, she turns back to Comet. "So, as I was saying, wanna grab a burger or two after all this is said and done?"

"Hell yeah!" said Comet. "Just gotta ditch the paparazzi first - smoke bomb, go!"

Billowing white smoke burst out in all directions. Comet grabbed Providence's hand and pulled her through the confusion, trying to keep an unbalanced giggle under control as she angled them around corners and through crowds to somewhere they could take off their masks.

And for as much as she'd enjoyed the fight and everything, there was literally nothing in the world that Comet looked forwards to more than magically transforming into a normal girl.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Afraid, Insecure

Zhou seemed to be encouraging her to go, and so she took a step back to show she wasn't going to board.

She hesitated, looked at the others, then back, emotions warring within her chest. She thought of the look he gave her,and the meaning it seemed to hold - the impossible stupid imagining of a mutant, and nearly shied away from speaking at all.

"Z-" she started before she cut off. She paused again a moment, then tried again.
"Phoenix. Jussst... Good work. We saved all those people. No one else gggot hurt. It wasn't a defeat. And... "

She trailed off, feeling awkward. God, talking was difficult when you didn't have human-like lips or jaws anymore. When was the last time you heard a different lizard say anything?

" Jussst. You did gggood as the leader. I think ssso, at least. "

The Bay doors began to shut around the same time as a smoke bomb exploded. As it cleared, her two female teammates had disappeared into the crowd.

Sarah huffed a sigh.

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Hopeless.

It appeared as though Sarah wished to join them in the carrier, he watched her as the loading bay doors closed. However he knew that her sister was in the crowd and Zhou, more than anyone realized the importance of family, having lost his own to flood, fire and betrayal. He shook his head, and held here luminescent eyes, shook his head slowly, and mouthed the words, 'Stay with your sister, I'll be back. Soon.' Sarah, more than the other's centered him, he watched as Comet and Providence disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Scout facing the media, alone. He shrugged, tucked his legs underneath him and closed his eyes, concentrating on his breath, his center, his chi.

He could feel the corruption roiling through him, a grim reminder of Song's deadly Nine Serpent Technique. He pushed through those memories, no matter how painful, and sought the wisdom of the ancient master's, hoping that they would respond, reveal the nature of Justinian's attack, what he sought to gain, the purpose of the Gem that Comet had so casually destroyed.


OOC: Opening up to Sarah, or at least promising to when I get back from the AEGIS de-brief. Spending a Team on Strikescale's Comfort & Support, bumping it up to a 10+, allowing HER to clear a condition if she wants to. And finally, marking Doom to activate Dark Visions! Hit me with it Kymme!

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 2 / 5

Scout was barely able to not curse out loud after hearing her mother's voicemail, but the fact the other two facing the media decided to suddenly disappear in a puff had forced him to stay cool. As soon as the smoke faded enough, he turns to the cameras again. "Well, we all have things to do now, as you can see," he says, gesturing towards the AEGIS squad close-by simultaneously pushing his mind onto the astral body and climbing the outside of a nearby building to its roof. "Stay strong, Memorial City!" he finalizes with a wave, and immediately trade places with his other body.

He was atop the building, where people wouldn't be looking for him but he could still see his remaining teammates. He knew he had to follow Phoenix so he wouldn't be alone, but also to get some more information. He would have to physically be on the ship if he wanted to stay in range to operate his astral body, which means looking for a place inside where he could shift and still be undetected. His only option right now was waiting for them to board and then finding a desert room inside.

In the back of his mind, though, the threat of his parents' reaction was still present, but he would have to wait and face the storm later. He had crafted a good story with his parents about a date, so being on a cinema was enough of a reason for him not to check his phone, right? But right now, his mind was on being the best hero he could and that meant having his teammates' back. As ironic as it sounded, being a hero was the best option he had to ever having a normal-ish life in the future.

Scout is using The Mask move, affirming his heroic identity over his secret.
This allows him to switch his Mundane with his Superior.



How could I get Scout to engage in serious training with Comet?
Scout is actually really hoping to learn a little more about heroic actions and fighting, and Sam has been teaching him a bit. Although Comet isn't really his first choice (that would be Phoenix Down since he is the most "normal" fighter), she could convince him to let her aid with that if he feels she's actually trying to help and not simply humiliate him or grow her own ego.

How could I get Influence over Scout?
Show him that Comet isn't really all about the fighting and that she actually wants to be a hero in the sense of helping the city instead of only defeating villains. Or, you know, actually help him to be a better fighter as she wants. He would likely respect her more if she was her "coach".

His own question: What side would Comet be on if the team figures out Scout's real identity and everyone turns on him?

[Thanqol]

His own question: What side would Comet be on if the team figures out Scout's real identity and everyone turns on him?

That's a question with a lot of baggage and context that doesn't really fit in Comet's head.

At the most basic level she doesn't get it - the whole thing with the Church of the Pure. The entire concept seems so utterly absurd to her that it obviously has never sunk in that people take it seriously. If you push that a little further you'd come to the realization that Comet has absolutely no concern for her public image and reputation so the idea that you might be condemning her directly with the mask off honestly wouldn't really register. As far as she's concerned, so what? Whatever it is that drives her, fame has absolutely no part of it. Eric Frederiks isn't Comet's enemy and you're not sure anything he could do would make him into her enemy.

More than anyone else Comet judges people by the actions they've taken. If you say one thing all day and then go out and do the opposite then she'll ignore all the words to focus on the deeds. So long as Scout's actions are the actions of a hero and a friend she'll defend him to the hilt.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry



"Hell yeah!" said Comet. "Just gotta ditch the paparazzi first - smoke bomb, go!"

It looks like everything's going as she has planned- wait, what.


Billowing white smoke burst out in all directions. Comet grabbed Providence's hand and pulled her through the confusion, trying to keep an unbalanced giggle under control as she angled them around corners and through crowds to somewhere they could take off their masks.

Well, that was unexpected. Not that Kamui could complain, of course; this is probably the least embarrasing way to get away from the crowd, and it's also the most stylish one, to boot! Kamui honestly couldn't stop grinning the entire way she's dragged along by Luana, away from the prying eyes of the crowd.

Once they got to a place where they could safely take off their masks, Kamui pulls out one of her capsules containing casual wear; backup clothing is always nice to have, especially when you can basically store them in hammerspace, and considering she was filmed wearing her dress the entire time, it's absolutely crucial right now.

The transformation itself is surprisingly subdued, especially for Kamui's standards; just a barely audible pop and a flash of light, and Kamui's in a fairly innocuous set of clothing -jeans,shirt, sneaker, jacket, the works. After all that, however, she realizes something:

She has no idea where she's going.

Sure, she suggested grabbing a burger, maybe go to that one place that Gavin insists is great a few days ago, but she doesn't even know if she can trust Gavin on his tastes, easily impressed as he is. Maybe a fancier place? Probably not- Luana probably would hate it, and she herself admittedly doesn't enjoy them very much, either. Perhaps ask her where she wants to eat? But... she probably expects Kamui to take the lead...

All whilst thinking this, however, Kamui tries to maintain a cool facade, as she nonchalantly digs through her jacket pockets before pulling out a another small device; this time, it's a black cube, albeit one with rounded edges. Screw it, I'll figure it out on the way.

Kamui tosses the cube to the ground, and the cube transforms into a motorcycle as grows in size, eventually becoming a full-size black cruiser with golden decals. (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kamenrider/images/9/91/RideVendor.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110506005954) As she mounts the bike, she pats its back, clearly motioning for Luana to sit there. "Hey, are we going here or not?"


I'm assuming that Kamui's probably going to settle for going to the burger place. Whether it lives up to the hype, it's up to you.

[Kymme]

Onboard the AEGIS dropship:

Through his meditative haze Phoenix Flame felt the presences of the soldiers, their commander, and the weighty crash of the powered armor as the ship prepared for takeoff. Before he slipped fully into communion with the ancient masters he felt another presence - smaller, stranger, and wholly otherworldly. It reminded him of Scout.

When his eyes next opened, Zhou sat in quiet meditation atop a rocky precipice, so high and still as to be an island in a sea of swirling clouds. The clouds were not the fluffy white shapes he knew, but rather were like feathers, radiating with kaleidoscopic explosions of light in all the hues of the mortal world. The feathery clouds beneath him gathered up and and streamed higher, forming the paired wings of a great fiery Fenghuang. The beast, representing in its splendor the totality of the Resplendent Phoenix style and all of its practitioners. In its peaceful blue eyes Zhou found the truth.

He saw serpents of fire, the work of Justinian’s magic, coiling through the foundations of the Dome. The concrete cracked and rebar melted under their pressure, but the bodies of the serpents held the structure up. A dead man's switch, perhaps? Or perhaps the sorcerer planned on dropping the Dome regardless of his success or failure.

Brief flashes showed in the divine bird’s eyes, so rapid that Zhou could scarcely grasp them.


A hero with a shining sword striking an eye from a demon’s brow.
A museum in a rainy city torn open by bolts of white-hot fire.
Blue flames snuffed out by green light as two figures battle high above a city of lights.
A man in a midnight blue coat - Justinian - crawling out of the rain.

The dropship’s landing shook Zhou from his reverie. He watched as the crew and soldiers around him stood from their benches and began to stream out of the vehicle’s rear hatch. Lieutenant Albin moved to his side and wordlessly gestured for the young hero to follow.

Meanwhile, Scout felt the dropship’s landing dully, through the AEGIS-branded crates that boxed him in from all sides. Most of the equipment stayed on the dropship at all times, so the young hero had little to cause to worry as he wormed his way over crates and under braces to one of the small cargo bay doors. With his Astral Self he could see the facility outside: a set of three squat silo-shaped buildings with helipads atop them. Scout could see the other dropship undergoing repairs atop its tower.

Soldiers were making their way across the helipad and down through a set of double doors, and Zhou and the Lieutenant walked with them. If Scout expected to keep up he’d have to think of something quickly!

Scout, what do you do? It’ll probably be an Unleash Your Powers roll to overcome the obstacle of the AEGIS base to keep up with Zhou.

[Thanqol]

Kamui tosses the cube to the ground, and the cube transforms into a motorcycle as grows in size, eventually becoming a full-size black cruiser with golden decals. (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kamenrider/images/9/91/RideVendor.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110506005954) As she mounts the bike, she pats its back, clearly motioning for Luana to sit there. "Hey, are we going here or not?"


I'm assuming that Kamui's probably going to settle for going to the burger place. Whether it lives up to the hype, it's up to you.


Luana had a theory: Awesomeness is a binary. You're either totally, completely, 100% Awesome or you're not awesome at all. No one else she'd met had even the slightest bit of cool to them but with Kamui literally everything she did was cool. Seriously, a donorcycle?

You can't be serious. Do you know what they call them down at the ER? Donorcycles. Because they're just a way for organ donors to get around before they get served up for the harvest? Thirty five times more dangerous than cars!

She blinked away the... opinion. It felt like hers. It was a rehearsed statement in her own voice... maybe older though? But she'd never had that thought, never said those words, never known that statistic. Just some crappy little fragment from 1.0, she guessed. Whoever she had been, she was definitely on the lame side of the awesomeness binary.

And she'd even been lame enough to leave her with a fragment of that paranoia. She got on the motorbike, obviously, but even though she could easily calculate every angle she needed to be aware of to survive a crash at any point - she still had to war with the urge to close her eyes and cling on for dear life with each corner. She didn't always win that fight either. It was with distinctly shaky legs that she dismounted at the end.

Just... play it cool. It's just the adrenaline.


Food was still a new concept. She'd initially tried to approach it from the perspective of organizing balanced and nutritious high-energy meals to fuel her training sessions but that was one area where her self discipline had totally crumbled and never recovered. She liked everything. Good food, bad food, junk food, but especially the contented glow after a good meal. It was one of the few physical sensations she'd never experienced in the - before, and it was one of the few moments all of her hyper-tuned instincts just settled down for a few minutes.

"Hey, so, I just wanted you to know I saw what you did there," she said. "I don't think anyone else did though. Not only did you figure out where and when the wizard was going to attack but you also took the time to build something to perfectly counter his big doomsday spell. I figured it out right at the end - it was all according to your plan. And I know I talked some junk about the win all being on me, but I was just the trigger puller," she smiled. There was absolutely no false modesty or hidden jealousy here - Luana was legitimately happy with this insight. "Honestly, the coolest thing I did that entire fight was figuring out your plan without you having to tell me. That's why I pulled aggro from the cameras. Not to make it like it wasn't your win but to try and keep it secret just how crazy far in advance you were thinking. Sorry if it seemed like I was downplaying you - but I guess you probably figured that out too, huh?"

[Triumphant celebrations moves:
- Comet is telling Kamui that she couldn't have done it without her. Take influence over Luana (but since you already have it, you get to make a free Label shift instead]
- As Kamui is already Comet's love, she takes Influence over you and marks potential. Again, already having Influence, I get a label shift - she wants to shift your Superior up and Danger down]

[Kymme]

At the best burger joint in Memorial City:

It hadn’t taken much effort to evade the press - even the most intrepid reporter couldn’t match Comet and Providence’s speed. It had taken even less effort to find this place. It was a bit of a hole-in-the-wall diner, but apparently it had a better rep than the Zeroes!

In their civilian clothes the dynamic duo slipped in with little more than a upraised eyebrow from the regulars. Providence’s stylish bike leaned against a post outside, secured with a specialized lock of her own design.

A waitress came by and placed down the pair’s drinks, careful to not intrude upon their conversation.

What do you guys order?

At the wreckage of the Dome:

With the AEGIS dropship having disappeared over the skyline the job of law enforcement fell to the usual suspects. Strikescale watched as another squadvan arrived, leading a convoy of city repair workers. The common workforce of Memorial City was mobilizing all around her.

This was about the point in where the live coverage shifted from sweeping ground-level shots of the wreckage to aerial drone-views. Reporters turned to face their audiences directly, with the towering pile of metal and concrete as a flat backdrop for their hot takes on the incident. A couple reporters and their crews called out towards Strikescale, but it was clear that the ‘interview-able’ heroes had all departed.

An officer, a heavyset woman whose thumbs seemed permanently hooked through her belt loops, moseyed over to the dragon heroine’s side. “Er… Strikescale, right? We’re moving the barricade and handing things over to the cleanup crews, if you want to… y’know… clear out.” She grimaced at the news crews and the now dispersing crowd. “We could give ya a ride to wherever if you need it, since it seems like your teammates ain’t offerin’.”

Strikescale, what do you do?

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure

"Yeaah," She rumbled. "Pleeease. I would appreciate it. Jussst pick up my sister as well."
She briefly stood up on her back legs like a bear, supporting her weight on her tail and looming far over the various people. She made eye contact with her sister and made a gesture with her head, indicating her to come here.
"Mmmmy sister. Cllaairre."

It's not like Strikescale had a secret identity; all it'd take was a google search to find the connection between the draconic sort-of hero and Claire Helmsworth, especially since she didn't exactly have a secret lair.
Apparently crime in the neighbourhood had gone down since her transformation, though. God knows what she'd do if she lost her hoard.

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: None
Potential: 2 / 5

Scout could see Zhou walking with the AEGIS personnel with his astral eyes, but he had seriously underrated the size of the facilities. He wouldn't be able to stay in the ship and still control his other self if they went very far. Worse, if the ship moved after he started following, he wouldn't notice until it was too late and he would be unable to find his teammate again.

Cursing under his breath, he starts dashing with his monstrous body, the long legs were far more agile than they seemed and carried him at great speed. He phases through the walls of the silo the group seemed to be moving towards, frantically looking for a deserted place he could keep his real body safe and still maneuver his astral self. His best bet would likely be a deposit or closet, but he kept looking up in case some overhanging passage showed itself as a better hideout.

Scout is trying to find a place inside with his astral self, a place he can shift his real body into and still be hidden. He then will keep using his astral self to observe Phoenix inside the AEGIS complex.

For that, I think Assess the Situation is the best move, but I'll roll Unleash your Powers since you requested (and likely fail haha).
Assess the Situation: [roll0]
(The questions I want are, in order: What here can I use to remain hidden while using my powers to follow Phoenix? and What here is the biggest threat?

Unleash your Powers: 2 (rolled here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23501710&postcount=246))

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry

Riding with Luana at the back of the cruiser proved to be somewhat of an... unique experience, not least due to Luana seemingly clinging for dear life as Kamui drifted through every corner. For the most part, she gets the message and tries to not drive as recklessly as she normally does (although to be fair, she'd never expected Luana of all people to be afraid of motorcycle rides), even though she's pretty sure that she's the one that would get injured or maimed if she crashed. She never thought much of it, though; aside from the fact that her motorcycle (huh, hasn't she named it yet? She really has to make one up at some point) is Technohaze-compatible, she's a darn good cyclist even without it.

Kamui wound up dismounting from her motorcycle with almost effortless grace, and had to help Luana do so as well. An odd look crossed her face for a second, before simply shrugging it off and locking her motorcycle. Sure, technology has been advancing rapidly, but as it turns out, a teenager barely old enough to ride a motorycle having a beyond state-of-the-art compactible one raises far more questions than she really wants to deal with.



In all honestly, Kamui was never the type to eat much; back when she still worked with Signus, she tended to skip lunch and eat relatively bland-but-nourishing food supplement gels because she couldn't be bothered with cooking, and the less said about her orphanage's cooking, the better. Even now, Dr. Singh still has to remind her sometimes that she couldn't just live off instant ramen and energy drinks and that she should vary her food intake.

So the sheer size of the Grand Slam Burger (two beef patties with salad and tomato squished awkwardly between it, with a sunny-side up egg and several slices of cheese on top of that), presented by Memorial's Best Burger Joint kind of came as... overwhelming to her. Kamui spent a good while just looking at it, thinking about how she'd actually try and fit that monstrosity in her mout, before Luana pipes up again and praises her and oh god why does she feel her face turning red.

Alright, Kamui, calm down, calm down. Just play it cool. She's just a friend... right?

"Heh, yeah. You know what they said about magic and science; they almost never go together very well." Kamui responded, trying to be as nonchalant as possible despite her being flustered. "It just made sense for me to devise a counter in case some mage got uppity and decided to become a supervillain. And honestly? I never really got to thank you for preventing Sarah from crushing me. I mean, say what you want about what I totally planned, it would've all been for nothing if I was knocked out cold there. So yeah. Thanks for that." It's with these last sentences that Kamui let her facade drop for a bit and lets her sheer admiration just shine through.


Kamui accepts the Danger/Superior shift, and shifts Luana's Savior up, Superior down.

[Thanqol]

A waitress came by and placed down the pair’s drinks, careful to not intrude upon their conversation.

What do you guys order?

Luana reflexively picks the mushroom burger without really thinking about it. For a moment afterwards she dwells on the thought - vegetarianism seems to be one of those many habits she isn't clear on why she has, so she chalks it up to another 1.0 inheritance.

She's not sure how she feels about those instincts. They make her feel... fake. It's just a reminder of the fact that everything in her brain belonged to someone else at some point.


So the sheer size of the Grand Slam Burger (two beef patties with salad and tomato squished awkwardly between it, with a sunny-side up egg and several slices of cheese on top of that), presented by Memorial's Best Burger Joint kind of came as... overwhelming to her. Kamui spent a good while just looking at it, thinking about how she'd actually try and fit that monstrosity in her mout, before Luana pipes up again and praises her and oh god why does she feel her face turning red.

Alright, Kamui, calm down, calm down. Just play it cool. She's just a friend... right?

"Heh, yeah. You know what they said about magic and science; they almost never go together very well." Kamui responded, trying to be as nonchalant as possible despite her being flustered. "It just made sense for me to devise a counter in case some mage got uppity and decided to become a supervillain. And honestly? I never really got to thank you for preventing Sarah from crushing me. I mean, say what you want about what I totally planned, it would've all been for nothing if I was knocked out cold there. So yeah. Thanks for that." It's with these last sentences that Kamui let her facade drop for a bit and lets her sheer admiration just shine through.


Kamui accepts the Danger/Superior shift, and shifts Luana's Savior up, Superior down.


"You know, I actually kind of envy Sarah?" said Luana. "I mean, like, she can sort of keep up with us just because of what she is. Imagine if she trained as well in, hehe, like, dragon martial arts? She'd be unstoppable. I just kind of cap out at 'lady with gun'."

She quietly surveyed the structural integrity of the Grand Slam. Were you meant to come at it with a knife and fork, shaving bits off the side like one of those rotating kebab skewers?

"And hey, any time," she said with an easy smile as she looked into shining eyes. "I'll always be there when it matters."

For a moment - the first moment in days - she let her guard down. Her mind stopped re-running combat angles and optimization approaches and she just listened, present in the moment, and let the conversation take it's own course. "So, what do you normally do to relax after a fight like that?"

[Pierce The Mask with Listener: 4
Even on a miss I can ask any question, not just one from the list, and you can ask me one in return.
My question: What would your perfect day be like?]

[Kymme]

Inside the MCPD Van:

The trip from downtown Memorial City into the Mississippi-side suburbs was quiet, cramped, and a bit embarrassing. Strikescale sat on the grooved metal floor and looked up at twin rows of police officers. Scrunched between two dark-uniformed deputies, Claire Helmsworth looked even more fragile than usual. A few of the officers made small talk, but Claire and Sarah sat just far enough apart that communicating in anything other than expressions was awkward.

What the trip wasn’t however, was long. The senior officer, sitting in the front passenger’s seat, sighed loudly and craned her neck to call into the main cab. “Hey, Strikescale,” the name seemed awkward coming from her, “y’all have some uh… paparazzi camping out.” The van came to a slow stop as it pulled up in front of the Helmsworth’s driveway.

The senior officer’s door squeaked open and her footsteps rang softly around the van’s right side. She opened the rear doors and behind her Strikescale could see that the street to both sides of her house was packed with dumpy cars and news vans.

Sarah stepped out first into a hectic world of flashing cameras and calling voices. Claire crept out of the van and straightened up beside her sister, eyes flashing warily across the small crowd on the sidewalk around their house. “Sarah,” she suggested, hiding her discomfort behind demureness, “let’s just head inside. I’ll cook you something, you can curl up in the living room and we’ll watch Netflix. That sound good?”

She took a few tentative steps towards the house but jolted at a series of louder calls from the assembled press. They were directed towards Strikescale, a tumbling torrent of questions.

“Hey Scaly! Do you have any words on your battle with the supervillain today?!”

“Hero! Anything on the apparent ‘sexual tension’ between Comet and Phoenix Flame?!”

“You’ve got an earhole to the ground, right?! Where are the Paragons?!”

“Is it true that you fought against some sort of summoned demon?!”

Claire turned back to her sister and stepped closer, leaning close to be heard over the shouting. “They’re just tabloids, Sarah. You’re better than that. You did good today. Just come inside and they’ll go away after a while.”

Strikescale, what do you do? Claire is trying to Shift your Freak down and your Savior up. You could come inside and accept what she says, but doing so will definitely involve you marking the Angry. Alternatively, you could Reject her Influence and say something to the assembled paparazzi, which can only ever have good repercussions! /s

Inside AEGIS Headquarters:

At once Scout’s Astral form dove into the jaws of the beast. Beyond the silo’s open doors lay labyrinthine hallways cutting deep into the earth. Keeping his eyes on Phoenix Flame, Scout tore through the complex for a place to hide. Ducking through closed doors only found him rows of occupied barracks, mess halls, an office where a stern lieutenant was speaking with seven identical buzz-cut women*, and then finally an empty conference room! Yes!

Just as the dropship’s engines began to purr once more Scout found his safe haven. He swapped places with his Astral Form and let his nerves leave him in a massive sigh. Brushing dust from the dropship’s cargo bay from his costume, Scout surveyed the room. A low tiled ceiling seemed to match the grey tiled floor, spartan and somewhat hospital-like. The table was long and thin, adorned with simple and somewhat uncomfortable-looking chairs.

Scout was just about to send his Astral Form back out for reconnaissance when the door opened.

Pleiades is one of those controversial AEGIS agents. Back ten years ago or so, during the Halcyon Crisis, AEGIS revealed their new task squads of Capes-turned-Agents. Pleiades is a one-woman task squad, able to exist as seven identical clones that act and process the world separately, connected to a kind of collective consciousness. She’s roped in renegade Capes many times in the past, and those of her missions that can be publicly disclosed have received massive coverage.

As he walked through the AEGIS facility, escorted by soldiers and the stern Lieutenant Albin, Phoenix Flame took a moment to pontificate on his vision. In his mind’s eye he conjured the image of the museum, looking for more details as it was destroyed in slow-motion in front of him. Halcyon City only had so many museums, right? Couldn’t be too hard to find what he was looking for.

The museum Justinian tore apart to gain the Tigereye of Durga was none other than the Halcyon City Southern Asian Arts Museum. It’s a sibling museum to Memorial City’s own Central Asian Arts Museum, of which the enigmatic Mr. Han is a secret curator.

The Lieutenant cleared his throat. “We’re here, Phoenix Flame. Please step inside.” The other AEGIS soldiers had already been dismissed, and the two of them stood in an empty hallway, before the door to ‘Conference Room Foxtrot.’ He opened the door and they stepped inside.

Scout was standing there.

Scout, mark Insecure. Turns out this high stakes espionage is a bit more difficult than it looks.

The Lieutenant reached down to his belt - not to a sidearm, but to his comms.

Phoenix Flame and Scout, what do you do?

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Hopeless.

Zhou did not seem surprised to see Scout there, having felt ripples of his presence through the Astral Plane. He looked to the Lieutenant and shook his head. "You had asked us to get him to come back," he nodded his head towards Scout, "we did. He's a teleporter, you shouldn't be surprised that he's here." He furrowed his brow in contemplation, "Though you should likely have your Headquarter's more carefully protected, your lack of Astral wards is significantly lacking. How do you keep people like Justianin from just side stepping out of custody?"


OOC: By question the Organisation's defense, I am taking the Lieutenant's professionalism to task, thereby Provoking him, hoping to put him off balance during the upcoming debrief. Rolling Superior, -1, no other modifiers. [roll0].

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: Insecure
Potential: 2 / 5

Scout was freaking out a bit when finding a safe place proved to be a bit harder than he anticipated. The whole complex seemed to be a bit too crowded and well-guarded for his plan to work, and seeing Pleiades inside had only made it worse. So when he finally found the empty conference room, he immediately teleported inside and reoriented himself, ready to send his astral body ahead to meet with Phoenix again. He didn't have time, though, as the door suddenly opened and he was face to face with his teammate and the AEGIS's lieutenant.

His mind froze and he looked around a little panicked, a knot on his throat where words were supposed to come out from, but luckily Zhou had a quick response. He nodded a bit too quickly, adding his own voice to Phoenix' . "Y-yeah! It was really easy breaking in," he says stuttering a bit, before his heart stopped beating so damn hard. "I'm called Scout for a reason, you know? I had to come in before to check if you weren't bringing Zh-- Phoenix to some sort of trap." He curses mentally for almost using his teammate's real name instead of his hero persona, blaming his nerves for the rookie mistake.

"Anyway, we're all here now, so what we're here for?" he says, trying to sound more confident than he really was. Behind his mask, he mouthed a 'thank you' to his companion, fully knowing he wouldn't be able to notice it.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry

"Depends, really." Kamui answered. "Usually, I go straight to the workshop in order to work out the kinks in my tech, maybe even develop something new if I need a counter as soon as possible or just if I come up with a really good idea. Speaking of, you're really underselling yourself. Even discounting the blueprints you have at your disposal right now, which are pretty high-grade themselves, you could eventually gain a massive toolkit that you can basically summon on demand. Sure, Sarah starts off at a higher baseline, but she's pretty much limited to 'wreck villain face' with or without any weird dragon martial arts. Heck, she can't even hold things without the robot arm I made her." She smiles again. "Still, thanks. It's nice knowing that someone has my back out there, and I'll have yours also." Though, I doubt you would say the same if you know what I did...

Kamui then looks back down at her grossly oversized burger with an entirely different sense of dread, fully regretting her ill-advised choice at this point. Pulling out the Swiss knife she had ever since her orphanage days, she starts chopping it up in several more manageable chunks before biting into one. "So, how's your burger?" she says in-between bites.


Kamui's perfect day is basically her managing to stop and arrest Faber and maybe also Richter (if he's actually compliant with Faber's schemes), and somehow magicking a perfect vaccine/cure for every strain of Technohaze, as well as having gone public with this without people being upset at her involvement in it.

As for her own questions;

What do you want me to do?
How would you react if I show you that I'm not that awesome/great of a person, especially knowing what I was responsible for?
How could I get your character(Luana) to still like me if you know?

[Kymme]

Inside the AEGIS Headquarters - Conference Room:

Nostrils flaring, the Lieutenant moved his hand away from his communicator. He reached behind him and pulled to door closed with a loud click. "Won't... be able to notice. Right." He sat down in the nearest chair and placed his chin on his fist. "AEGIS has countermeasures, I assure you. Perhaps not of the…” he glanced at Scout “...’Astral’ variety, but countermeasures nonetheless. There’s no risk of Justinian breaking out anytime soon.”

Leaning back, Albin gestured for Scout and Phoenix Flame to sit down. He watched them closely and continued once they’d taken their seats. “Personally, you Zeroes get on my nerves. I’ve made my distaste known in that interview after your first big ‘outing’. You’re children with superpowers, undisciplined and naive. Or, at least, that’s what I thought before today.” Albin focused his gaze on Phoenix Flame. “Your willingness to take responsibility for the collateral damage, and the way you handled your friend Comet’s outburst, has shown that you’re taking this superhero business seriously - or at least trying to. I respect that.”

Phoenix Flame, take Influence over Lieutenant Albin Mlynarz. He ‘respects’ you.

“My feelings notwithstanding, I’m acting on orders from the regional AEGIS director. Repeated incidents have led her to doubt the effectiveness of the Paragons. They’ve been acting on their own, fighting super-villains and protecting this city, for far too long. The debacle with Echidna a few years ago was yet another example of them taking the law into their own hands. Enough is enough. They’re starting to slip - the fact that an old geezer like Atomic Skull can so easily evade their best efforts to capture him is proof of that.” As he spoke an unmistakable venom began to build in his voice, but he stifled it before continuing.

“You two, along with Comet, Providence, and Strikescale, are the only other unified team in this city. You’re powerful - as evidenced by your battle with The Beast and your battle today - and AEGIS has need of that. We’d like to sponsor you, discreetly. Offer you what we can, and work closely with you in the future to avoid potential collateral damage and loss of life.”

“What do you say?”

[Thanqol]

Providence
Conditions: Angry

"Depends, really." Kamui answered. "Usually, I go straight to the workshop in order to work out the kinks in my tech, maybe even develop something new if I need a counter as soon as possible or just if I come up with a really good idea. Speaking of, you're really underselling yourself. Even discounting the blueprints you have at your disposal right now, which are pretty high-grade themselves, you could eventually gain a massive toolkit that you can basically summon on demand. Sure, Sarah starts off at a higher baseline, but she's pretty much limited to 'wreck villain face' with or without any weird dragon martial arts. Heck, she can't even hold things without the robot arm I made her." She smiles again. "Still, thanks. It's nice knowing that someone has my back out there, and I'll have yours also." Though, I doubt you would say the same if you know what I did...

Kamui then looks back down at her grossly oversized burger with an entirely different sense of dread, fully regretting her ill-advised choice at this point. Pulling out the Swiss knife she had ever since her orphanage days, she starts chopping it up in several more manageable chunks before biting into one. "So, how's your burger?" she says in-between bites.


Kamui's perfect day is basically her managing to stop and arrest Faber and maybe also Richter (if he's actually compliant with Faber's schemes), and somehow magicking a perfect vaccine/cure for every strain of Technohaze, as well as having gone public with this without people being upset at her involvement in it.

As for her own questions;

What do you want me to do?
How would you react if I show you that I'm not that awesome/great of a person, especially knowing what I was responsible for?
How could I get your character(Luana) to still like me if you know?



The conversation goes on for a long while. Kamui is trying to suss out Comet's reactions to some very heavy stuff without, you know, admitting to that stuff which results in a lot of carefully floating ideas, couching phrases in hypotheticals, and being ready to backtrack whenever the conversation lurches in an unstable direction. It's uncomfortably easy to manage, though. Luana trusts Kamui and it's easy to take advantage of that to steer the conversation away from the most dangerous things.

What do you want me to do?

Luana wants Kamui to remember her fondly when she's gone.

She doesn't plan to leave, or want to. There is, however, an edge of despair that soaks through any discussion about the future. When she Luana says she'd like to see Korea the vibe is less 'next year when I have the money' and more 'in the next life'. There's a deep sense of fatalism that revolves around the monster and all her visions of the future just cut short the next time she has to fight it.

So she just wants to make these days count, and will be up for literally anything you propose no matter how fast or slow it is. Her preference is to move fast - you get the sense that she's thinking about just up and kissing you right now - but you also get the sense that she's delaying because she's trying to think of some grand romantic gesture that'd make it even better.

How would you react if I show you that I'm not that awesome/great of a person, especially knowing what I was responsible for?

Incredibly super badly.

Fairly or not, Luana has decided that Kamui is her rock - her hope for the future, her best friend, the first person in her life who's ever been really nice to her. She's able to face everything based entirely on that conviction. On the other hand, she has been deeply, profoundly, and personally hurt in the course of an evil science experiment. Finding out that Kamui did something like that would basically be taking all her least pleasant memories and mixing them together with her bastion of emotional stability. There are deep fissure lines in Luana's mind and if you drop that truth on her now she will spiral into a full emotional breakdown.

How could I get Luana to still like me if you know?

This is the interesting part. Through the course of the conversation you kind of get the sense that she wouldn't blame you, even then. You don't even get the sense that she's even especially angry at the people who made her in the first place - anger just doesn't really seem to be a motivating force for her. Instead you get a surprising amount of evasive and insecure answers on a variety of topics that seem really simple. What do you like? What are your phobias? Like, not only does she not know, but she's actively avoiding asking herself questions like that.

She'd never say it, but you get the sense that she doesn't think of herself as a person. That's the issue you're really dealing with here. She could forgive you but you're not sure if she'd be capable of getting her sh*t together for long enough to do that. Figure out a way to get her to be more open and honest with herself, to give her a sense that she's more than a disposable combat clone, and she could work through it.

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Hopeless.

"Lieutenant," as he spoke Zhou sighed, what the man was offering was knowledge, training, something he, his team, sorely needed. "You have to understand that the Zeroes are just that, we've started at zero, we're not the Paragon's." He paused, "We have strength, power, I can see that, but we're not a team, not really. So I can't speak *for* them, I can't accept your offer." He stopped again, considered, "I can, however, promise to bring your offer *to* them, try to bring convince them that there is wisdom in learning from those more equipped for the situations we'll find ourselves in if we're to support the Paragons."

He continued slowly, "While I would agree to your agency providing us with training and support, the others, Comet, would see it as someone trying to control her, Providence would likely be concerned that government oversight would involve agents seizing her inventions, her technology. Those are going to be the one's whose support you're going to need if you want this arrangement to work."

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, A n g e r y

At the sight of the papparazi, the dragoness had stopped dead. Her glowing gaze cast itself over the assembled reporters, all of them desperate for whatever they could force into a tabloid story. Their cameras flashed, their microphones waved, their eyes wide like she was an exhibit at the zoo.

This was Sarah and Claire's home, and having the consequences of Sarah's actions dragged here was an ugly reminder. Claire was clearly uncomfortable with it, and that was worst of all - Sarah's own monstrous condition had lead to all the troubles they'd had so far, and Claire didn't deserve to suffer for it. The reptilian equivalent of lips peeled back to reveal a mawfull of deadly fangs, light gleaming between them like the bars of an old-time furnace.

“...Let’s just head inside. I’ll cook you something, you can curl up in the living room and we’ll watch Netflix. That sound good?”

"They..." rumbled Sarah, motioning with her head towards the papparazi before she hesistated and looked back towards her sister. Sarah had never been one to speak up before, and she'd certainyl never spoken to the press before. Her teammates had seemed to make a real pigs ear of it before, as well.

The dragon was torn for a moment before her own insecurity got the better of her, and she subsided with a huff.
"Fffine."

Nursing irritation at both the journalists and herself for not saying anything, she followed her sister up to the door and waited, glowering, until she was let in.

Their house - or rather, their flat - was on the upper level of the squat building. The front door led to a tiny corridor with a door to the lower-level neighbours and a narrow staircase up to their apartment. As the door shut behind her, she made her way up the stairs, careful not to add another scrape from her horns to the walls. Claire's keys rattled as she opened the door to their apartment.

Their flat wasn't huge - just one of those three-room apartments so common in cities the world over. Still, the main room was large enough to fit Sarah so long as she was careful with her tail with Claire having enough room to use the kitchenette.

Off the centre of the room was a shoebox. With the utmost care, Sarah nudged off the lid. Light glittered off the metal within - it was her hoard. It wasn't large, and much of it wasn't very valuable - cheap jewellery, mostly, with a sword from Grandma's old things (this particular piece probably uncursed, at least) leaning up against the wall next to it. A moment passed as she checked it - somehow, she remembered everything in her hoard perfectly - and a tension she hadn't realised her had uncoiled in her chest at it all being there, like a breath exhaled.

The dragon made a soft rumble of satisfaction before curling up in the middle of the room, resting her head on her tail. She was quiet for a moment.

"...Hate thisss." she grumbled, ambiguous on what 'this' was.

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: Insecure
Potential: 2 / 5

Scout hears the lieutenant's proposal with surprise. That, he wasn't expecting. A sponsorship from AEGIS, as discreet as it could be, would likely be something the young heroes could use. That it came from the same man who had so easily trashed them on their first real mission together was a proof that there might be hope for Eric and the others, and that it was serious. He wasn't as shocked to hear Zhou's rebuttal, though. The others might not be so willing to participate, Sarah aside. She could benefit from the arrangement if they played their cards right. There was a lot in stake.

He lets Phoenix end his answer before he speaks. "Well, I have to fully agree with Phoenix here. I mean, I'm totally in, whatever little you can offer," he says with a pause, "but some of us will need some... guarantees." he says with an emphasis on us, more for Phoenix' benefit than the AEGIS officer. "Besides what Phoenix has already said, I'd like to remain my incognition, for example. So I think the best way to handle this would be, like the leader explained, to bring it to the team to see if they have any requests or conditions and make everything crystal clear before we can accept. But I'll say right now that, if we can work these little details out, I'll do my utmost best to bring us all in."

[Kymme]

Inside the AEGIS Headquarters - Conference Room:


He continued slowly, "While I would agree to your agency providing us with training and support, the others, Comet, would see it as someone trying to control her, Providence would likely be concerned that government oversight would involve agents seizing her inventions, her technology. Those are going to be the one's whose support you're going to need if you want this arrangement to work."


He lets Phoenix end his answer before he speaks. "Well, I have to fully agree with Phoenix here. I mean, I'm totally in, whatever little you can offer," he says with a pause, "but some of us will need some... guarantees." he says with an emphasis on us, more for Phoenix' benefit than the AEGIS officer. "Besides what Phoenix has already said, I'd like to remain my incognition, for example. So I think the best way to handle this would be, like the leader explained, to bring it to the team to see if they have any requests or conditions and make everything crystal clear before we can accept. But I'll say right now that, if we can work these little details out, I'll do my utmost best to bring us all in."

The Lieutenant weighed the two’s words carefully, offering the spare affirmative nod or grunt of recognition. When they’d both had their say he allowed himself a slight smile and spoke. “The rest of your team might be reluctant, but I’m glad we’ve got two yes-s so far. Make sure that your friends know that, at present, AEGIS is offering its support rather than its oversight. We’ll respect your team’s privacy,” his eyes flicked to Scout for a moment, “and autonomy so long as you cooperate with us when we need it.”

“Speaking of which -” A thin grey folder appeared in Albin’s hand, seemingly from nowhere. He placed it on the table and turned it so that Phoenix Flame and Scout could read the embossed white letters on its face: ATOMIK SKULL.

“- AEGIS has received a lead that we haven’t yet shared with The Paragons concerning Atomik Skull’s location and movements. Consider this a token of our goodwill. We’d like for you two, and your team, to follow this lead and bring us back something concrete. None of your teammates need to know where you got this information until you’re ready to bring something back to us. Once we’ve gotten to that stage we can work on the ‘coordinating with AEGIS’ part of this arrangement.”

Albin pushed the folder across the table to the two heroes. “You’re both free to go. And one more thing, gentlemen -” his eyes darkened for a moment as his gaze traced between the two of them, as though trying to drink them in. “We’re not interested in the hollow posturing of heroes like the Paragons. AEGIS wants results.”

He’s trying to shift both of your Superiors up and both of your Saviors down. What do you do? Also, do you open the folder yet or do y’all pocket it for later?

At the Helmsworth Flat:


"...Hate thisss." she grumbled, ambiguous on what 'this' was.

From the small kitchenette Claire turned and looked at her sister. After a few moments her shoulders drooped and she turned back to continue preparing a humble dinner. It was only when the sauces in the pan acted up and splashed onto her dress and she silently cursed not changing as soon as she got back that the days events truly began to catch up with her. Sarah heard her sister’s shuddering sigh.

Strikescale, your sister is marking Guilty.

After a few minutes the pan came off of the burner and its bounty of Hamburger Helper was divided one part to four parts onto two plates. She put a plate down for her sister and settled onto their modest sofa, dish in her lap and remote in her hand. With a few quick button presses an episode of some early aughts sitcom was playing and things were normal.

Then someone knocked on the door.

Groaning, Claire placed her food beside her on the futon and walked to the door. At this point she could avoid Sarah’s tail unconsciously, and stepped over it without a second thought. Putting on her meanest face, she opened the door to the sisters’ apartment and gave her angriest-sounding “Look, guy, I’m trying to eat dinner with my sister he- “ And her voice trailed off.

Sarah’s eyes darted away from the television and sought out her sister where she stood in the doorway. Claire stood before a massive figure, easily seven feet tall. A man in a sharp charcoal suit towered in the stairwell outside, silhouetted against the setting sun.

Sarah could make out the ghosts of scars across his face and the hand that he raised to remove his sunglasses, but the man’s impressive size paled in comparison to his eyes. They were just like hers. Yellow sclera, red irises, gleaming throughout with an internal fire. His voice was a low and powerful rumble, like a distant bonfire.

“Miss Claire Helmsworth, I’ve come to see your sister.”

Strikescale, what do you do?

At the best burger joint in Halcyon City:

With a bit of clever thinking and an abject refusal to submit to adversity Kamui vanquished her meal. Luana had finished her food a dozen or two minutes ago, and the waitress had come by to give them their check and been waved off several times. Just as she was coming around for another pass when the bell above the door chimed. Someone was coming in.

A angry young woman, perhaps in his early twenties, strode into the diner with three buddies at her heels. Though her companions wore baggy clothing their leader prefered a stained white tank-top and skinny jeans. She walked straight up to the main register and, in a swift and practiced motion, leveled a strange looking pistol at the waitress’ face. The weapon looked far more like a retrofuture raygun than a dangerous firearm, but the violent energy that buzzed around its business end left nothing to the imagination.

“Listen lady, I’ve got places to be so if you could just give us what you’ve got I’d really appreciate it.” She addresses her lackeys out of the corner of her eye. “Lock the place down, girls.”

She handed a bag across the register podium to the waitress, keeping the gun trained on her, as her companions set out through the diner with more mundane firearms. They went from booth to booth systematically, politely requesting wallets and phones. The patrons were petrified.

Kamui, Luana, what do you do?

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry

Kamui couldn't help but roll her eyes a little when seeing the all-female robbers holding up the burger joint. So much for a bit of peace and quiet, I guess. Still, however, she treats this situation as seriously as possible; she's still a hero after all, and despite her being sure that either herself or Comet could effortlessly defuse the situation, doing so in a way that doesn't blow their secret identities is something entirely different altogether. Which, unfortunately, makes the BT Driver not an option.

...come to think about it, a silent mode would be very useful.

Kamui shakes her head; thinking about tinkering can be done later; for now, there's a hostage situation she and Luana need to deal with. "Don't do anything just yet," she whispers to the other girl as she scans the restaurant. "There are civilians here, and I'm pretty sure transforming right now isn't the best of ideas."


[roll0]
EDIT: Geez, the dice really do love Kamui, huh?
Anyways, the two question Kamui will be asking is how can we best end this quickly and who here is the most vulnerable to me?

[Thanqol]

A angry young woman, perhaps in his early twenties, strode into the diner with three buddies at her heels. Though her companions wore baggy clothing their leader prefered a stained white tank-top and skinny jeans. She walked straight up to the main register and, in a swift and practiced motion, leveled a strange looking pistol at the waitress’ face. The weapon looked far more like a retrofuture raygun than a dangerous firearm, but the violent energy that buzzed around its business end left nothing to the imagination.

“Listen lady, I’ve got places to be so if you could just give us what you’ve got I’d really appreciate it.” She addresses her lackeys out of the corner of her eye. “Lock the place down, girls.”

She handed a bag across the register podium to the waitress, keeping the gun trained on her, as her companions set out through the diner with more mundane firearms. They went from booth to booth systematically, politely requesting wallets and phones. The patrons were petrified.

Kamui, Luana, what do you do?

It was so stupidly easy that it didn't even register to Luana as a fight at first. That was the only thing that kept her sitting down. The ray gun wasn't pointed at her and the two mundane firearms couldn't hurt her. She just needed to take out that weapon and the situation would be done - and doing that would be so trivial with surprise on her side that there wasn't even any risk here. She felt totally safe. The equation was solved.

But after her mind had run the numbers other thoughts started to soak in.


Kamui shakes her head; thinking about tinkering can be done later; for now, there's a hostage situation she and Luana need to deal with. "Don't do anything just yet," she whispers to the other girl as she scans the restaurant. "There are civilians here, and I'm pretty sure transforming right now isn't the best of ideas."

Civilians. Hostages. Backdrop. Secret identity. The angles meant that she was safe but when she had to consider the problem in terms of keeping everyone safe at the same time things started to get more complicated. And it didn't really help that some alien part of her was saying "It's not worth it! Just give them the money!".

Honestly, this problem was way harder. It'd be much easier to solve if those guns were pointed at her. Then at least she'd know where she stood.

Actually...

She smiled. "Yeah, I gotcha," she said with a wink.

Then she turned to the nearest thug. With wide eyes and surprisingly decent acting she said, "look, whatever you want for ransom, my dad will pay it, just don't hurt me!"

[Provoke someone: I want these gals to take me hostage and forget about robbing everyone else [roll0] ]

[Zero Prime]

Phoenix Flame (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23435731&postcount=4)
Conditions: Hopeless.

Zhou studied the dossier in front of him, he didn't however open it. "The thing is Lieutenant," a pause, something about the arrangement didn't sit well with him, the Paragons *were* Memorial City's heroes. Sure some of them had certain expectations and the Zeroes weren't living up to those, but they still deserved their respect, especially considering their experience, how long had they been in the game. "I don't feel right cutting the Paragons out of the picture, obviously we're willing to help AEGIS take down the Skull, and I'm sure this information will help," he tapped the dossier as he spoke. "The media isn't far wrong, the Zeroes *are* inexperienced, look at the Dome, we're going to make mistakes, AEGIS training will help, but so does experience, and the Paragons have experience that you, or your agency doesn't have." He sighed, "You and your teams are trained, government agents, but the Paragons are what *we* aspire to, they've dealt with the same things we're dealing with, maintaining a civilian identity, how to deal with villains who threaten to expose that, things AEGIS doesn't deal with because of your government backing."

He stood up, taking the dossier, "Let me and my team review the information, but *please* let me go to the Paragons, offer to help them track down the Skull, because here's the thing Lieutenant. We need their guidance as much as we need yours if we're ever going to be able to fill the void they leave in the City when they do decide to retire."


OOC: Rolling to Reject the Lieutenant's Influence, AEGIS backing *is* the smart play, but I'm still a superhero dammit and the Paragon's respect would go along way towards proving that! [roll0]. Let's see how this goes. Cool, the Lieutenant is going to lose Influence over me, and I'll gain +1 forward against him. And I am going to shift my Danger down & my Savior up.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

Her own little sliver of guilt slid a needle between Sarah's scales, but her own fuming resentment - at the paparazzi, and that mage guy, at everything - meant it didn't penetrate very far. She opened her jaws to speak, but couldn't find the words, and eventually shut them again, simply waiting to be fed. She could feel the hunger within her growing - not the rumbling hunger she remembered of a human stomach, but a gaping emptiness, like a furnace out of fuel and growing cold.

She made an appreciative grunt when the plate was put down next to her, and waited for her sister to sit down before she began eating. Like always, food tasted very different than when she had a human tongue. The flavour of meat seemed magnified, and everything else diminished. Another inexplicable enigma of her condition. Sarah paid little attention to the knock on the door, a long forked tongue idly scooping up large quantities of pasta and ground hamburger mix as canned laugh tracks drifted out of the television.

Claire's words trailed off, and curiosity led Sarah to flick her eyes lazily towards the door, only to start and scrabble to her feet. She came up besides her sister, having to angle her heavy head up to look the man in his glowing yellow-red eyes.

Dragon eyes.

Within her, a tiny bloom of excitement and hope blossomed. She'd take being seven feet tall to be human(oid) again, if need be.

She stared at him for a moment, trying to work out his motives and coming up blank. Her was clearly no stranger to violence, his skin a tracework of scars.
Finally she spoke.
"Who arrrre you?"

[richmond]

Scout (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1705hRyo3rbZRhsQlJL5SUR5S4rTIR6gnImL_y6FKESU/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions: Angry, Guilty, Insecure
Potential: 3 / 5

Scout tried to ignore the burning sensation on his chest when Zhou was answering the lieutenant. He tried really hard ignoring the anger boiling inside at the subtle threats and demands, focusing on his teammate's words that he actually agreed to. Up to the pleading part.

"I'm sorry, but no," he says, knuckles white from the force he'd been closing his fist, "I don't think we have to ask anything right now, Phoenix." He says, turning to glare at the AEGIS officer, even though he couldn't see Eric's eyes behind the mask. "This has been the biggest load of crap I've heard in a long, long time. And, trust me, I live with crap like this. Can't believe I didn't notice it earlier," he says in calm, yet clearly toxic voice.

"First you offer your 'support' without attachments, then you subtly threaten not to respect our team's independence if we don't obey, and now you demand results? RESULTS!" he says, almost shouting the last words. "Results like the fact the Paragons were the ones to capture Atomic Skull when you failed, just like many other villains before? Like the fact they were the ones keeping the villain locked when you couldn't? Or like the fact they are the ones still on his trail, even when you intentionally hide them important information and ask others to do YOUR job?" he spits out, malice clear in every word. "If this is how you treat the group of heroes who's been on this for years helping you out, how do you think we'll expect you to treat us?"

"So no, Phoenix. We don't need to ask him to contact the Paragons," he stands up next to his teammate. "We're heroes, not politicians. We do the right thing. And if AEGIS is honestly trying to fix things, develop real cooperation and actually help," he says, turning to the lieutenant, "you better start doing the same."

Scout exhales, more anger forming inside, this time aimed at himself. He knew he shouldn't have spoken like that, let his emotions mix with the proposal and all. He still wanted the AEGIS support, he knew how important it was for his future. But the behaviour, those words... This kind of subtle manipulation was something he'd grown up to in the House of the Pure. He'd seen how it all starts with support and ends with total obedience, and he wants nothing but distance from this kind of arrangement.

[Kymme]

Inside the best burger joint in Memorial City:

Kamui carefully picked apart the variables in this situation and found her solutions. She knew that the quickest way to end a situation like this was to de-escalate and follow the criminals’ commands, as humiliating as that sounded. And who were these women anyways? That weapon looked strange - and somehow oddly familiar. The woman holding it was brandishing it as though it were a common sidearm, but Kamui’s trained eye picked out the weapon’s various traits. Some kind of powerful battery focused through an aperture into a laser; nothing she hadn’t seen before. Though the memories stirred by the weapon still left her perplexed.

The leader of these women, the one with the strange weapon, is definitely the most vulnerable to you. As far as ending things quickly, however, it’s best to keep your head down and let these women get what they want -

And then Luana stood up. The three flunkies glanced at the young woman then back at their boss with silent questioning gazes. Their leader took her eyes off of the head waitress and lowered her gun, giving the helpless woman the opportunity to duck behind the register podium.

“Well well well, who on earth do we have here?” The leader of the little group swaggered up to Luana, keeping a close grip on her weapon. “Some rich guy’s daughter just happens to be here when we show up? Heh. I appreciate the bravado kid, but that kinda heroism is best reserved for the heroes, y’know? Besides, your pops’ probably some bigwig at Signus or one of the other Fortune 500 companies choking up this town. I don’t need money from trash like those guys.”

She tilted her head back to her flunkies. “Just beat her to a pulp or something, girls. I’ll get the register.” Her gaze fixes back on the center of the room, but not before shooting another intimidating sweep at the cowering civilians. As she walked back to plunder the restaurant’s cash her gang stepped in to fill the gap, fixing Luana and Kamui with hungry gazes that screamed “pay up.”

What do you do?

At the Helmsworth Flat:

A sharp-toothed grin split the strange man’s face. “My name, miss Sarah Helmsworth, is Phaeris the Powerful. He stepped in, past Claire and Sarah, and appraised their living space with a discerning burning eye before continuing. “My younger brother, Throshalgon the Red, works for the Council of Heroes.” His eyes lingered a bit on Sarah’s half-eaten meal in the middle of the floor. The corners of his lips twitched downwards.

“When I’d heard rumors of a draconic heroine in Memorial City I was pleasantly surprised. I’d figured that, with the passing of your grandmother, the Helmsworth lineage had died out.” His eyes shined with pleasant light. “But the fact that her line lives on in you, Sarah, is a miracle in my mind.”

Sarah, this man is reading you like a book. He’s asking you three questions from the Pierce the Mask list:

What do you want me to do? (this is to say: What are you hoping that I will do?)
How could I get you to have a conversation with me outside of your sister’s earshot?
How could I get you to stop partaking in all this faux-human nonsense?

Also he’s saying some weird stuff about your grandmother. What do you do?

Inside the AEGIS Headquarters - Conference Room:

The Lieutenant bears the force of Scout’s rage quietly. He’d turned to respond to Phoenix Flame, but waited until his teammate had finished before saying anything.

“AEGIS’ offer to your team doesn’t come from a place of malice. The Paragons have made it clear that they are entirely adverse to working with us, to the detriment of their work as heroes and our work as law enforcement. They’re too much of an edifice in this city for us to publicly vy against, but they’ve taken the law into their own hands time and time again. The fact of the matter is that they’re slipping. They already have Echidna on their team, not to mention Curse and Vesuvius. Despite what appearances might suggest, the Paragons aren’t as clean as you might suspect. I understand that you might be inclined to trust them, owing to their long service to this city, but consider carefully whether or not they deserve your trust.”

He reached across the table to Atomik Skull’s folder and placed his hand over it. “If you refuse this offer you’re still free to go, but you aren’t taking this casefile with you.”

Scout and Phoenix, you’ve both said your piece and now I think a Provoke action is in order (or maybe a Pierce the Mask move). I think it would make the most sense for Phoenix Flame to roll, maybe with an expenditure of Team from Scout if that’s necessary. Remember, Phoenix, that you have a +1 to your next action targetting the Lieutenant in addition to the +1 from having Influence over him.

[Thanqol]

Inside the best burger joint in Memorial City:

And then Luana stood up. The three flunkies glanced at the young woman then back at their boss with silent questioning gazes. Their leader took her eyes off of the head waitress and lowered her gun, giving the helpless woman the opportunity to duck behind the register podium.

“Well well well, who on earth do we have here?” The leader of the little group swaggered up to Luana, keeping a close grip on her weapon. “Some rich guy’s daughter just happens to be here when we show up? Heh. I appreciate the bravado kid, but that kinda heroism is best reserved for the heroes, y’know? Besides, your pops’ probably some bigwig at Signus or one of the other Fortune 500 companies choking up this town. I don’t need money from trash like those guys.”

She tilted her head back to her flunkies. “Just beat her to a pulp or something, girls. I’ll get the register.” Her gaze fixes back on the center of the room, but not before shooting another intimidating sweep at the cowering civilians. As she walked back to plunder the restaurant’s cash her gang stepped in to fill the gap, fixing Luana and Kamui with hungry gazes that screamed “pay up.”

What do you do?

Trust is a funny thing.

Without her battle plate, Luana honestly wasn't much more durable than a normal girl. She wasn't even really that good with pain. Pain sucked. She could override it with sheer adrenaline and willpower but that didn't mean that she wasn't afraid of it. It would have been neat if years of combat experience had made her capable of standing up to pain like it was nothing but honestly it had done the opposite - it just taught her just how much pain could hurt.

So opting into a beating took a lot of trust. Especially when the option to level the entire city block was constantly bouncing to the front of her mind. But Kamui had a plan, Kamui had the knowledge, and Kamui would have the tools if she didn't get them snatched from her by angry thugs.

And Luana trusted Kamui.

So she did her best to just shield her head, take her punches and trust that Kamui would figure it out.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: ANGRY x300

Much as she loathed it, Kamui's forced to admit that her acting along with the criminal's demands is the best way to resolve things -at least, if she and Luana also get the chance to transform afterwards and trail them. Sure, it's nowhere near as impressive-looking as them busting them on the spot, but it's also less dangerous and doesn't involve them blowing their identities. Plus, Luana's already got their attention, so they can pull this plan off right now

Before she could set this plan into motion, however, the raygun-wielding woman disinterestedly orders her flunkies to beat Luana up, which they do, almost with glee. And for just a moment, Kamui didn't think of her plan, how disadvantaged she is now that she isn't encased inside armor that could withstand several tank shells, and the fact that Luana could've easily wiped the floor with them if she wanted to-

Instead, she felt her mostly-subsided anger flare up, as she does something that she'd most likely going to regret afterwards: she stood up, walked up to the woman, and decked her in the face, all while screaming "DON'T YOU DARE EVEN TOUCH HER, YOU B&^$*!"


Acting selfishly, shifting Danger up, Superior down.
[roll0]

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

The dragon-man - Phaeris the Powerful, apparently - stepped in without waiting for an invitation.
"Hey," Sarah growled, but her heart wasn't in it, too surprised at the nature of their visitor. She gave a sideways glance to her sister, looking for reassurance, before she took a few steps forwards. Her tail started to swing in agitation before she forcefully suppressed it. The gaze of Phaeris swept across their humble living space, and by the looks of it didn't like what he saw all that much.

"Youuu knew my gggrandmother? Buttt... she wasssn't a drrragon."

Sarah shifted to the side, once again blocking any easy path to her sister, though she was inclined to believe the man(?) intended not to fight, at least. His eyes seemed to shine, and the light cut right through the dragoness, peeling her mind bare. Sarah shifted uneasily.

"I think I woulddd have noticeddd if ssshe was seven foot and eyesss glowedd."



What do you want me to do? (this is to say: What are you hoping that I will do?)
Sarah is hoping that you'll other to help or share a way she can become more humanoid, as Phaeris is at the moment, or at least share information on the necklace and her curse. She's pretty desperate; nothing tried so far has worked out of their limited resources, and they weren't able to find out anything about the necklace.

How could I get you to have a conversation with me outside of your sister’s earshot?
Phaeris would have to demand on it as a condition on Sarah receiving useful information. Claire has been there and sacrificed throughout Sarah's evolution - it would require quite a lot for Sarah to leave her out it, and there'd be a strong likelihood Sarah would tell her afterwards anyway unless it put her in danger.

How could I get you to stop partaking in all this faux-human nonsense?
As long as Sarah is anchored to her humanity by the presence of others, such as her sister and to a lesser extend Zhou, she'd continue to attempt a human life. Isolated from her support structures, she would be much easier to convince to accept her new draconic nature rather than as a afflicted human if alternative ways of living were then presented.

[Kymme]

Instead, she felt her mostly-subsided anger flare up, as she does something that she'd most likely going to regret afterwards: she stood up, walked up to the woman, and decked her in the face, all while screaming "DON'T YOU DARE EVEN TOUCH HER, YOU B&^$*!"

Kamui’s fist slapped against the robber’s face and her whole head swung to the side with the impact. At first all the young heroine felt was the satisfying sound of flesh sliding across flesh as her punch connected, but then there came a pain in her knuckles and wrist - she’d never punched someone that hard without her suit, and now her hand was beginning to sting - not good.

Then the robber turned back to Kamui, blood trickling from the side of her lip and a bruise beginning to form on her cheek. She looked disappointed and utterly unfazed - not good.

“You’re done, kid.” She leveled her raygun at Kamui’s chest and pulled the trigger. From Kamui’s perspective time seemed to slow and she watched carefully as electricity began to crackle between the thylakoid-like structures inside the weapon’s transparent cowling. The bolt of electricity seemed to crawl through the air towards her, so slow Kamui felt she could reach out and bat it away. Then the electricity struck her and Kamui entered a sea of dull red pain. Over the haze Kamui could hear the crackling begin to fade, and that’s when it hit her. The glass casing, the inlaid handle, the deliberate throwback to a time when superscience weapons were indistinguishable from dumb movie props - it was Andrew Richter’s handiwork. This robber got her weapon from him.

Kamui, Take a Powerful Blow, both from the pain of the lightning and from the pain of revelation.


"I think I woulddd have noticeddd if ssshe was seven foot and eyesss glowedd."

“Of course you would have.” Phaeris’ eyes rolled. “Everyone would have. Your grandmother chose to live out the remainder of her life with her husband and children as a human. She cut herself off from the rest of her kind to live out what time she had left, so stories are a bit scarce.”

He sat down on the sister’s couch, picking up Claire’s plate of food and placing it aside. He continued. “The prevailing theory amongst her former peers was that she’d used the old magic to divide herself - placing her mind into a human body and transferring the whole of her draconic power and form into some sort of artifact - a piece of jewelry or something.” He arched a thick eyebrow and cupped his chin with one hand. “Ring any bells?”

Strikescale, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

Kamui’s fist slapped against the robber’s face and her whole head swung to the side with the impact. At first all the young heroine felt was the satisfying sound of flesh sliding across flesh as her punch connected, but then there came a pain in her knuckles and wrist - she’d never punched someone that hard without her suit, and now her hand was beginning to sting - not good.

Then the robber turned back to Kamui, blood trickling from the side of her lip and a bruise beginning to form on her cheek. She looked disappointed and utterly unfazed - not good.

“You’re done, kid.” She leveled her raygun at Kamui’s chest and pulled the trigger. From Kamui’s perspective time seemed to slow and she watched carefully as electricity began to crackle between the thylakoid-like structures inside the weapon’s transparent cowling. The bolt of electricity seemed to crawl through the air towards her, so slow Kamui felt she could reach out and bat it away. Then the electricity struck her and Kamui entered a sea of dull red pain. Over the haze Kamui could hear the crackling begin to fade, and that’s when it hit her. The glass casing, the inlaid handle, the deliberate throwback to a time when superscience weapons were indistinguishable from dumb movie props - it was Andrew Richter’s handiwork. This robber got her weapon from him.

Kamui, Take a Powerful Blow, both from the pain of the lightning and from the pain of revelation.

Luana felt like an idiot at first. She didn't get the plan. A direct frontal attack - there was a plan, right? This was step one to some sort of masterstroke which would take all these girls down at once. Kamui was just being more decisive than she expected, maybe she had a device that would reflect the shot when it -

When it...

But -

that couldn't

She missed a breath. By the time she found it the first robber had her head through a wall. Black and white spots flickered against her eyes and she barely even felt the shock run up her arm as she shattered someone's fingers. A gun went off. She thought she was holding it, she didn't look. She didn't care. She vaguely felt an elbow break, someone else's she was pretty sure. Didn't matter. Only two - three goddamn it - things mattered here.

She was holding the raygun. She'd taken it off the robber chick and had it pressed to her forehead. Her finger was on the trigger. She was gonna do it.

But she hesitated. She wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to give the universe a chance to talk her out of it... or because she wanted to see the fear in her target's eyes for a little longer.

[Directly engage: 10
Causing collateral damage to the environment
- Taking something from them
- Frighten the opposition
- Avoid their blows]

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

Sounds familiar? Yeah, it did.

"Oh, hey, Claire, look!" Sarah said, holding up a thin necklace. It glittered, fine gold scales all linked together. "This is pretty."
Claire looked up from the box she was sorting and smiled. "Yeah, it is. You haven't kept any mementos, right? You should keep it."
Sarah smiled back and put it on. The clasp was stiff, and she had to struggle to open it and to close it again. It sat against her neck, and gave no indication of what it would unleash.
"Yeah," said Sarah. "I think it suits me."

Sarah felt an overbearing tension inside at the possibilities Phaeron had off-handedly mentioned next to the fact her grandma has once not even been human. And more than that...

She was angry. Grandma had left this necklace in a box, without even the slightest warning what it was? What it could do? All this trouble could have been avoided by a note.

A way to be human again. Sarah had to know more. She took another step forward, spoke boldly. Phaeron had done nothing but demonstrate his power since he got here - she'd have to do the same, or maybe she was just off-balance and angry.

"Thisss old magiiccc. That made her humannn. Whattt isss it? You'rrre meant to be powerffull. You should kkknow, rrright?"


Attempting to Provoke Phaeron into telling her more. [roll0]

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Guilty, Angry, Insecure.

The shot knocked Kamui back onto a wall, and she slumped against it as a result. Fortunately for her, most of the shot was diffused through her clothing, stopping it from being fatal- though it didn't stop it from hurting like hell.

A thousand thoughts raced in Kamui's mind, as the pain slowly subsided. No, it can't be. Richter- he disappeared from the face off the earth. He was against experimenting on humans, he's too moral for this, he couldn't have gone along with Faber- oh god is Luana okay why did I do that why-

I'm such an idiot.

She could feel tears welling up her eyes, blurring her already-hazy vision even further, with her unable to see Luana currently fighting off the thugs- or her own surroundings, for that matter.


Struggling past the pain, and giving the enemy an opportunity.

[Kymme]

Inside the best burger joint in Memorial City:


But she hesitated. She wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to give the universe a chance to talk her out of it... or because she wanted to see the fear in her target's eyes for a little longer.

Fear filled the once-haughty criminal’s eyes. She’d just seen her posse broken and battered and thrown aside before this strange girl’s rampage. There was a gun pressed to her temple. She knew it didn’t kill - if it had she’d be dead already.

Luana’s heart beat in her chest like a frantic drum, every beat demanding blood for blood. She was waiting for a reason not to shoot...


She could feel tears welling up her eyes, blurring her already-hazy vision even further, with her unable to see Luana currently fighting off the thugs- or her own surroundings, for that matter.

...and she saw it. One of the thugs slouched beside Kamui, one arm holding her in a choke. Her other hand held a thin knife to Kamui’s neck, and she looked at Luana with hard eyes.

The other patrons watched, aghast, totally petrified with fear.

It was a standoff.

Comet, what do you do?

At the Helmsworth Flat:


[B]"Thisss old magiiccc. That made her humannn. Whattt isss it? You'rrre meant to be powerffull. You should kkknow, rrright?"

Phaeris looked Sarah up and down as she stepped forward. “You’re mistaken, young one. I’m powerful certainly - It’s the title that I’ve earned. But I am not versed in the old ways. I’ve learned arts that allow me to take this form, but I know not of the rituals that sealed your grandmother’s power. And besides, if I did I wouldn’t share them with you -”

“Then why are you even here?!” Claire cut Phaeris off and thrusted a finger in his face, anger cutting through the conflict inside her. “If you can’t help my sister then you have no right to come in here and start spouting all this crap! Do you have any idea how much she’s gone through? The last thing she needs is some cryptic judgemental stranger coming into her life!”

Phaeris, outwardly bored, waited for Claire’s anger to run its course. He looked her in the eye for a moment before dismissing her and turning back to Sarah. He didn’t seem at all moved by her words, but Sarah could see that internally he was seething.

He’s stumbling. Take +1 forward against him.

“As I was saying: Sarah, I’m here because a young dragon like yourself should not be held captive. You are in desperate need of aid that this woman” - he acknowledges Claire with a wave of his hand - “cannot provide. I can’t make you human, but I can see an end to your hardships in a different way.”

Sarah, what do you do?

Outside of AEGIS Headquarters:

Past the perimeter fence the street is old and cracked, surrounded by empty lots and dilapidated warehouses. Phoenix Flame and Scout stepped through the main gates and onto a sidewalk more gravel than pavement. It had taken a great deal of doing, but the Lieutenant had conceded to their wishes. They had the Atomik Skull folder in their possession with no AEGIS-imposed limitations as to who they could share it with. Now the sun was beginning its evening descent, and the two walked in silence for a while.

Phoenix, Scout, describe how you’re feeling after this run-in with AEGIS. If y’all would like to mark any Conditions relevant to your moods feel free to do so. Also, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

Fear filled the once-haughty criminal’s eyes. She’d just seen her posse broken and battered and thrown aside before this strange girl’s rampage. There was a gun pressed to her temple. She knew it didn’t kill - if it had she’d be dead already.

Luana’s heart beat in her chest like a frantic drum, every beat demanding blood for blood. She was waiting for a reason not to shoot...

At first her hands were shaking there was so much adrenaline. Quickly that seemed to cool and her grip became more professional, practiced, steady. Her aim shifted a few times, like she was feeling it out - testing the weight of the weapon, noting the way her enemy's expression changed based on where she aimed it. She changed her stance. She shifted her weight so she was leaning back slightly, one fist on her hip, gun tilted slightly, an irritated smirk on her face. She held the position for a few seconds, making small adjustments, like she was striking a pose from a movie. The gun became perfectly still and for the first time her finger actually touched the trigger - but just as quickly she removed it, an expression of distaste washing across her.

For a moment the gun dipped a little as she bit her lip and her hands started to shake again, and then it became ominously steady once more as a distantly thoughtful expression crossed her face.


...and she saw it. One of the thugs slouched beside Kamui, one arm holding her in a choke. Her other hand held a thin knife to Kamui’s neck, and she looked at Luana with hard eyes.

The other patrons watched, aghast, totally petrified with fear.

It was a standoff.

Comet, what do you do?

"Hey," she said, suddenly eerily calm. "You should go home. Yeah? I bet it's nice. Well, you might not think so, but take it from me, it's nice. You've got your own bathroom, maybe some books, it's not filled with nanoglyostic fluids. Nice." She lifted the gun up in the air, aimed at the ceiling. "Go home. I'm not gonna stop you. We've all got better ways to spend the afternoon than this."

[Kymme]

At the best burger joint in Memorial City:

Wide-eyed, the thug holding Kamui hostage meets Luana’s gaze. When her ominous speech ends the thug exchanges a look with her leader. She tosses her knife away and lets go of Kamui, slowly getting to her feet. Leaving their two unconscious comrades, the leader and subordinate backed away from Luana and out the restaurant’s door, breaking into a sprint once they reached the sidewalk.

The diner is silent, save for the pained moans of the two criminals Luana had injured in her rage.

Luana could feel the gazes of the assembled patrons on her. She recognized their fear, and how it had totally changed targets from the criminals to herself. So much for ‘laying low.’

Luana, the crowd is shifting your Danger up and your Mundane down.

Kamui, what do you do?

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

"Holdinggg me captivvve? Thiissss womannn...?" Strikescale's rumbled like an underfoot volcano. "Do not talkkk about my ssssister like that, or you cannn get out!" Her voice raised as she spoke, until it was almost a bellow, rattling the windows. She huffed angrily, wisps of smoke leaking out the corners of her mouth. Her claws dug grooved in the flooring as she flexed her toes, irritated and pent up. She wanted to rear up and roar, to slam her tail into the ground, to threat-display until the intruder sitting on her sofa was mewling and whimpering or to destroy him because she was dragon-

...No, she wasn't. She forced herself to calm down a bit. Phaeron didn't seem inclined to help her directly, but who knows what she might learn from him, right? Or other dragons.

"Iiii... wwwould appreciate help," she ground out eventually, forcing out a more conciliatory tone. "I dddon't know... anyttthingg about this. Even jjjust being like you arrre now wwwould be... Wwwhat are you offerrring?" Hastily she added on. "I'm not abbbadonning Clairrre, if that's what you'lll wwwant."

[Thanqol]

At the best burger joint in Memorial City:

Wide-eyed, the thug holding Kamui hostage meets Luana’s gaze. When her ominous speech ends the thug exchanges a look with her leader. She tosses her knife away and lets go of Kamui, slowly getting to her feet. Leaving their two unconscious comrades, the leader and subordinate backed away from Luana and out the restaurant’s door, breaking into a sprint once they reached the sidewalk.

The diner is silent, save for the pained moans of the two criminals Luana had injured in her rage.

Luana could feel the gazes of the assembled patrons on her. She recognized their fear, and how it had totally changed targets from the criminals to herself. So much for ‘laying low.’

Luana, the crowd is shifting your Danger up and your Mundane down.

Luana didn't even give a relieved breath.

She snapped her fingers in the face of one shocked old lady. "Oi," she said. "Call an ambulance."

She picked up the knife from the ground. She frowned at it, then tucked it into a pocket. After a moment she did the same with the ray gun.

She walked over to the cashier. "Hey, sorry for the mess," she said, still almost eerily calm. "That's my bad. Call me up if you need a statement for insurance or something," she wrote a number on a napkin and handed it across. "I don't have a badge number yet."

She looked out across at the shocked crowd. Her foot tapped thoughtfully for a moment. "Hey," she said. The crack in her voice let out the hint that she hadn't shut off her emotions - she was just barely keeping them in check. "Sorry about that everyone. I tried to be clever and I screwed it up. I got people hurt. It's not good enough. I'm not good enough. I need more training than I have. I'm going in to AEGIS. Next time I'll do better."

[Rejecting their Influence: 11
- Marking potential by acting to prove them wrong
- Shifting Saviour up and Superior down]

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Guilty, Hopeless

Kamui gasps for air as the thug lets go of her throat. Slowly, she stands up and scans her surroundings again- or at least, the havoc wreaked on the joint. Good god, you idiot. You could've actually kept your cool and devised a plan that doesn't involve half of this place wrecked, but no. You just had to punch that woman head-on. The woman who has one of Richter's weapons, too. Speaking off, if you never worked on Technohaze to begin with, Richter wouldn't have gone rogue and sold weapons to street criminals. Guess that's another mark on your laundry list of crimes, then!

As Luana tries to assuage the crowd, Kamui hovered several feet away from her, too ashamed to even match the crowd's gaze. Is there literally nothing you can't screw up?

[Thanqol]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Guilty, Hopeless

Kamui gasps for air as the thug lets go of her throat. Slowly, she stands up and scans her surroundings again- or at least, the havoc wreaked on the joint. Good god, you idiot. You could've actually kept your cool and devised a plan that doesn't involve half of this place wrecked, but no. You just had to punch that woman head-on. The woman who has one of Richter's weapons, too. Speaking off, if you never worked on Technohaze to begin with, Richter wouldn't have gone rogue and sold weapons to street criminals. Guess that's another mark on your laundry list of crimes, then!

As Luana tries to assuage the crowd, Kamui hovered several feet away from her, too ashamed to even match the crowd's gaze. Is there literally nothing you can't screw up?

"Hey!" Luana span around, put her hands on Kamui's shoulders and pushed her back down. "Sit! You just got shot!" she bit her lip. "You aren't going anywhere until a doctor takes a look at you, okay?"

She paused for a moment. She took in the expression, the lack of eye contact. She took a deep breath and spoke in a lower voice, below the hearing of the onlookers. "Hey," she said, "I honestly didn't think you had it in you, egghead. I thought that by this point I'd be picking my teeth up off the floor, or that I'd be locked in the trunk of a car, or something," a murmur of a smile. "I mean, I expected to win, but I expected it to hurt. A lot. So thank you for saving me from that."

She poked Kamui hard in the shoulder. "The only thing you did wrong was not spend six months at the gym beforehand. You aren't knocking out anyone with those noodle arms. But if you'd landed that punch right then you'd be the hero here today, yeah?"

[Comfort/support: [roll0]]

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless.

"Heh. Yeah, I guess you have a point there," Kamui answered. "I've really been slacking off on physical training as of late." Despite what she wanted to, though, there was still quite a bit of uncertainity laced in her voice. Sure, she might've had knocked out the woman cold with her punch if she was better muscled, but she still betrayed Luana's trust in a big way. Not to mention that the shock of knowing Richter is out there still was enough of a punch in the gut as-it.

Having said that, Kamui glanced at the shocked crowd again, still not fully able to look them straight-on. "I think we should go now," she whispered to Luana.

[Kymme]

"Iiii... wwwould appreciate help," she ground out eventually, forcing out a more conciliatory tone. "I dddon't know... anyttthingg about this. Even jjjust being like you arrre now wwwould be... Wwwhat are you offerrring?" Hastily she added on. "I'm not abbbadonning Clairrre, if that's what you'lll wwwant."

Phaeris didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest by Sarah’s display of might - rather, as her claws flexed and smoke billowed, the strange man’s grin seemed to grow larger and larger. He looked… impressed, and eager, rolling his shoulders and tightening his fists as though he wanted nothing more than to test the young dragon’s might.

But then she calmed down, and after a disappointed huff he was forced to respond. “Originally, I planned to offer you an invitation. I’ve purchased property here in this city, at a discreet location on the riverfront, where I might teach you to make the most of your newfound power. Assuming a human form, even one as flimsy as mine, takes time.” His eyes flicked from Sarah back her sister and back. “I could teach you, take you under my roof and my wing, and help you. I could help both of you, if you insist on dragging your sister into this.”

With Phaeris’ offer for help there is also a judgement. He’s trying to shift your Mundane up and your Freak down, treating your defense of Claire as a sign of weakness. Strikescale, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless.

"Heh. Yeah, I guess you have a point there," Kamui answered. "I've really been slacking off on physical training as of late." Despite what she wanted to, though, there was still quite a bit of uncertainity laced in her voice. Sure, she might've had knocked out the woman cold with her punch if she was better muscled, but she still betrayed Luana's trust in a big way. Not to mention that the shock of knowing Richter is out there still was enough of a punch in the gut as-it.

Having said that, Kamui glanced at the shocked crowd again, still not fully able to look them straight-on. "I think we should go now," she whispered to Luana.

"Sure. We'll go. To the hospital," said Luana with spooky intensity. "You got shot point blank by who-knows-what and you are going to see a doctor. Your choices are Memorial General or AEGIS."

There are limitations in Luana's ability to keep a lid on her emotions and be chill and supportive in a bad situation, and this is exactly that line. You get the feeling she's going to take you to the hospital even if she has to put you in the hospital to do it.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless.

"Memorial General is fine," Kamui responded, somewhat sheepishly. Sure, she *thought* that the shot mostly was diffused over her coat, but she'd be more than willing to go along with Luana's demands. After all, it could be much more dangerous than she thought it was... not to mention that she'd rather not make Luana worry even more.

[Thanqol]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless.

"Memorial General is fine," Kamui responded, somewhat sheepishly. Sure, she *thought* that the shot mostly was diffused over her coat, but she'd be more than willing to go along with Luana's demands. After all, it could be much more dangerous than she thought it was... not to mention that she'd rather not make Luana worry even more.

Luana is relentlessly tense for the next few hours.

Occasionally she asks questions - and shockingly medically insightful ones. Asking about if there's the taste of blood in your mouth, prolonged sinus pain, momentary losses of consciousness. At first it seems a bit like she's done a bunch of hypochondriac Wikipedia research into weird illnesses, but by the time she's got you to Memorial General it seems like she's done a bunch of weirdly advanced actual medical training (and is also a hypochondriac). You're pretty sure the ray gun wasn't an incubation channel for Bolivian Etherworms but it's honestly surprising that Luana even knows any of those words. She's never even hinted at having knowledge like this before but by the time she hands you off to the doctors you're wondering if you're getting a downgrade in service.

*


And then, finally, she's alone.

She gets out of the hospital as soon as Kamui is out of sight. The place unsettles her for reasons she can't express. She stands out the front under the palm trees. She watched the traffic drift about the car park like sloths hunting. Her feet trace nervous patterns through nervous piles of cigarette butts. She imagines the kind of person who smokes that close to a hospital and her lip twitches. She thought about -

No! No thinking! Thinking is what got you into this mess!

"Nnnngh," she rubbed her knuckles against her forehead. "Why do I keep trying to be such a...?"

The sentence trailed off. Such a what? An egghead? A panicky, neurotic ball of stress and insecurity? Well knock it off, Lulu! Kamui's got that bit down.

She bit her lip with disapproval at the thought. She ran her hands across her face and took a deep breath. She took in the scars. The places where there should be scars but mysteriously weren't. Down her arms, around her shoulders... She hadn't got even one new one since she came down to this paradise. Was he still up there, practicing against copies of her, getting stronger every day?

She hadn't cared about the crowd, not really. Her priorities were simple. Her priority was to savesurvivedestroy. She rapped her knuckles against her head again. Allying with powerful individuals so they could buy her time with their deaths solve the problem that she couldn't learn to surpass her. And to do this she needed to be a good friend coldly manipulate their emotions be their rival to drive them to unlock their true potential. Simple. No thinking involved.

She looked across at the cold Aegis tower against the skyline. Its smooth, dark architecture advertised power, safety, secrets. Maybe it was like everything else in this world - fronting as tough while resting on unsteady foundations. Maybe it was for real.

Maybe they'd have a plan.

She walked towards it.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

Sarah looked between Phaeris and her sister for a long moment.

This was what she'd wanted; someone offering help with her condition. She hadn't expected it to be a dragon, or apparently her grandmother to be one, either. But it made sense a bit, from the absolute nothing truly useful Sarah knew about magic and dragons.

The thoughts spiralled: If her grandmother could do it, maybe Sarah could do it as well. Nothing else had come to anything.

She had to say yes.

Phaeris clearly had his own plans. The young dragon wasn't ashamed that she cared about her sister, whether they were both human or dragon or not, but Phaeris obviously didn't approve. Sarah would have to be careful... but if anything happened to Claire because of him, she'd feed him his own heart.

She was briefly shocked at the sheer violence of the thought, her claws scraping uneasily against the flooring. He might be offering to take her under his roof, but she wasn't gallivanting off and leaving her sister here.

"... Finnne. I'll accept yourrrr help, dependdding. You sssay you'll help Clairrre. Howww?"

[Kymme]

Inside the AEGIS Headquarters:

“So… run that by me again.”

If one had to describe Pleiades, AEGIS-agent and powerful metahuman, the first word that comes to mind is ‘severe.’ Even now, the woman’s furrowed brow, steely-grey eyes, and close-cropped hair make her look more like a stern hawk than a public face of a powerful organization.

Upon arriving at AEGIS Headquarters Comet had been shepherded up into an office with a wide view over Memorial City. Across the rooftops of countless old brownstones and low offices, the young heroine could see the high rises of downtown, and through them the famous Gateway Arch. Pleiades clearing her throat brought Comet’s idle thoughts back to her immediate surrounds.

“Before I can let you see the Director, it’s my job to ascertain your purpose for being here. So if you would, take it from the top.” The metahuman leans back in her swivel chair, hands steepled on her desk.

Comet, what do you do?

At the Helmsworth Flat:

Phaeris smiles with a mixture of pride and satisfaction. “I can imagine that maintaining these… accommodations can be stressful on you, miss Claire Helmsworth. You’re expected to meet the needs of your sister in addition to your own personal desires. I’d give you both a place to stay, more spacious than this, and watch over Sarah when you are otherwise busy.” Keeping his attention on Claire, he adds: “I imagine you’ve had to shelve most of your goals in the name of looking after your sister. Now that she’s accepted my help, there is no need for you to carry on in such a fashion. I am more than capable of providing for the two of you.”

His eyes flick down to where Sarah’s claws have scored the floor. “Now, if that answers your question, I’ll take my leave. We can discuss moving your things at a later date.”

Phaeris turns towards the door, but his gaze is locked on Sarah.

Strikescale, what do you do? You’ve failed to Pierce his Mask earlier in the scene, but if you’d like to try again (or try to Provoke, if you have any additional demands) you are welcome to do so!

At Memorial General:

Kamui isn’t sitting in an examination room for long. The doctors and nurses seem confused, given that you’d just been blasted with lightning less than an hour ago, but as far as they can determine there are no lingering side effects. Maybe it’s the virus… the thought doesn’t linger in your mind for long, however, as the hospital informs you that someone is waiting to pick you up.

After getting dressed and heading to the lobby you are met with a frantic cry of “Kamui!” and accosted by the disheveled Dr. Singh. “My goodness! When I got the call I was so worried, but…” he puts a hand to his chest and leans forward slightly, catching his breath. “I’m glad to see that you’re in one piece.” He scratches at his beard, eyes drinking in Kamui’s mood and expression. “Is everything alright?”

Kamui, what do you do?

[Thanqol]

Inside the AEGIS Headquarters:

“So… run that by me again.”

If one had to describe Pleiades, AEGIS-agent and powerful metahuman, the first word that comes to mind is ‘severe.’ Even now, the woman’s furrowed brow, steely-grey eyes, and close-cropped hair make her look more like a stern hawk than a public face of a powerful organization.

Upon arriving at AEGIS Headquarters Comet had been shepherded up into an office with a wide view over Memorial City. Across the rooftops of countless old brownstones and low offices, the young heroine could see the high rises of downtown, and through them the famous Gateway Arch. Pleiades clearing her throat brought Comet’s idle thoughts back to her immediate surrounds.

“Before I can let you see the Director, it’s my job to ascertain your purpose for being here. So if you would, take it from the top.” The metahuman leans back in her swivel chair, hands steepled on her desk.

Comet, what do you do?

AEGIS knew their way around branding. Everywhere she looked spoke of discipline, order, professionalism. Everything from the shape of their skyscraper to the expression on the face of the representative lady said that they were in control. That they wanted it bad enough to build their identity around it.

But Comet needed to know if she was dealing with people who justified that branding - or if this was just the pointy end of a particularly clever marketing firm.

"As far as I know, I'm unstoppable," said Comet. "Ever since I busted my way out of the Hive Works nothing in this world's been able to put a mark on me. Everything I've fought recently has been so far below my level I'm losing my edge."

She rolled her neck in the slow, deliberate motion of an athlete limbering up.

"I gotta know if you people are serious enough to test me. I want to find out there's anything you can teach me that I don't already know. So: Show me what you got."

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

"Laterrr." she agreed cautiously. "I needdd to talk to Clairrre."
Sarah let him go, remaining tense until the door had shut behind him, before she finally turned her head to face her sister.
"It isss... ok with youu? If you dddon't want to..."
She trailed off, feeling a tad guilty she'd agreed without waiting to discuss it with Claire.

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry, Hopeless

The stay at the hospital was less long than what Kamui expected, though it certainly didn't help her mood much that Luana was worried sick about her and hawking over her well-being. That and the reveal that Richter was still out there and selling weapons to crooks and villains. Normally, Luana fretting over how the raygun could be an incubator for Bolivian Etherworms would just sound silly in Kamui's ears, but now it just gets her thinking about if Richter actually still maintained contact with Faber (Erasmus is definitely the kind of person to know how to actually incubate such critters) and if so, if he's actively helping him working against a Technohaze cure.

As Dr. Singh comes to her, she tries to put her "confidence" mask up again, though it doesn't take a master manipulator to see the gloomy aura she's repressing. "Relax, I'm fine. There was a robbery in the burger joint we were in, they threatened to beat up Luana, I got angry and punched head honcho in the face, and got lightning to the chest as a reward. But there's no side-effects from that." Kamui starts doing stretches in order to reassure Dr. Singh. "See? I'm even -ow- doing streches -ouch- and it doesn't even hurt -augh- a bit! I'm totally fine!"

[Kymme]

Inside AEGIS Headquarters:

“Discipline.” Pleiades stands up from her desk and steps around it, walking around Comet and in the direction of downtown. Following her eyes, Comet can see that she’s looking at a hole in the skyline - the place where the Dome’s smooth roof once rose. Pleiades’ expression is unreadable, and her voice is even and measured. “You took total credit for the events today, perhaps out of some wish to protect your comrades, but in all likelihood stemming instead from your own inclination for glory. You leveled a building, unnecessarily, and relied entirely on your teammates to shepherd the innocents outside and keep the city safe. Sloppy.”

She turns on her heel and faces Comet, deep creases along her brow. “Justinian Wilhelm is still hospitalized from injuries fighting you. Overkill doesn’t begin to describe it. You may be strong, young lady, but that strength has made you utterly complacent. Simply because you possess unstoppable strength doesn’t mean you have nothing to learn. Frankly, it doesn’t seem like you had an edge to lose. Blunt force, high collateral damage, boisterous attitude - all of these things are indicative of someone who operates purely on instinct. With AEGIS, you stand a chance of receiving actual training. Your fighting style now is like a heap of raw iron: undeniably powerful, but also crude and unwieldy. We could work with you, and refine your style into a sword that could strike down any foe, the world over.”

Noticing Comet’s readied posture and anticipatory stance, her expression softens somewhat, and she looks Comet in the eye expectantly. “Shall we head to the situation room?”

Comet, AEGIS put you through a bevy of tests in their Situation Room, tasking you to accomplish various objectives in a simulated holographic landscape. You rescued holographic hostages, you snuck past holographic guard-posts, the works. Tell us how it went. If you..

...breezed through the tests and easily demonstrated yourself as capable and disciplined, take Influence over Pleiades and carry +1 ongoing when you act to spite AEGIS.
...found yourself totally unprepared for the care and subtlety required by these tests, AEGIS shifts your Superior Down and your Danger up. Gain 2 hold, which you can spend when you employ some of AEGIS’ advice to Wield Your Powers rather than Unleash them.

Also, perform the normal End-of-Session move.

At the Helmsworth Flat:

Phaeris makes a swift exit, leaving the sisters alone in their flat.

Claire’s eyes moved nervously from the door back to Sarah, and she sighed. “Food’s cold, I’ll heat it back up,” she said, not answering her question.

When the food was warm and the two of them sat down to finish their meal, Claire spoke again. “He’s right, I think. You’re getting bigger every day and I don’t think we can afford to get a bigger doorway.” She smiles slightly, but her eyes are downcast. “Whatever you need, I’ll do my best to make sure you get. If you need Phaeris’ help, it doesn’t matter.” She breathes in sharply. “I’m… I’m with you to the end, Sarah. You’re everything to me.”

Strikescale, how do you spend the rest of the night? If you…

...spend it hanging out with Claire and talking about the future, she can clear Guilty. You’ll also have to make a promise to her - a promise she’ll always hold you to. Tell us what it is.
...have Claire call Zhou and spend the night venting to him about all this crazy dragons stuff, he totally gets where you’re coming from. You can clear Angry and also ask him a Pierce the Mask question, though he’ll get to ask you one in return as well.


Also, perform the End-of-Session move.

At Memorial General Hospital:

Dr. Singh, having caught his breath as Kamui regaled him with the evening’s events, cracked a relieved grin. Which quickly dropped into a concerned frown as his young charge tried to convince him that she was fine. “We, um… We can talk more in the car, okay?”

The drive to Dr. Singh’s house went by quickly. As she stared out the window at the passing cityscape, Kamui could see the reflection of the good doctor’s face as he glanced at her. He didn’t say anything, though. It was late by the time they arrived home and Dr. Singh followed Kamui inside. When both stood in the entry landing, taking off their shoes and hanging up their coats, the good doctor said “Kamui, I know you’ve had an eventful day and I’m sure you’d like nothing more than to head to your room and sleep till next week, but…” he took a moment to find the words. “...I’m here if you need to get something off your mind.”

He turns and heads to the kitchen.

Kamui, how do you spend the night? If you…

...dedicate yourself to heading back to your workshop, you can activate your Always Prepared move to regain your gadgets, plus a third gadget to represent your drive to figure out what the heck Richter is doing. Tell us about your workshop, and about how Kamui uses it for her particular brand of superscience. Also clear Hopeless, since working with technology takes your mind off of things.
...hang out with Dr. Singh and vent to him, you may hold 3. This hold can be spent 1-for-1 to clear Conditions or to take +1 forward on a roll when you employ one of the doctor’s philosophical lessons.

Also, perform the End-of-Session move.

Meanwhile, shrouded in darkness…

Void Shado, your insatiable curiosity has gotten you in hot water. You figure your parents will be super freaked out when the realize you’ve didn’t come home tonight, but that’s the least of your worries. Right now you’re in the middle of some super-villain’s death trap. They have you all tied up, not to mention under some kind of shackle, physical or otherwise, that messes with your teleportation. Tell us who they are and why they hate your guts.

[Thanqol]

Comet had come to love trash talk.

Part of her still felt a little bit guilty when she engaged in it herself - like, there was some socially awkward part of her deep in 1.0's memories that made her want to be polite and reasonable. She'd long since grown to suppress it. Trash talk was by far the most level playing field she'd ever been able to engage the monster on and it was a victory in that arena that had earned her freedom. Keeping a smart mouth wasn't just a good idea, it had saved her life.

So hearing someone else drop a set of disses like 'unrefined' just made her focused. She could see that tilt coming and determined to dodge it. She just smiled, gave a lazy salute, went in and dominated all of their tests.

*

There was no fat to be cut from Comet's combat style. There were no missed opportunities, no slips, no sloppiness. Her natural abilities were honestly not particularly remarkable - her conjured arsenal was (mostly) not far away from what AEGIS had on the shelf. It was straight up not the case that she had lucked into an extremely powerful ability and was blindly applying it. Instead she was applying a mediocre set of natural talents with the precision and focus of a grandmaster.

Putting her in situations which she couldn't solve with her powers ironically made her vastly more deadly and effective. She was great at sneaking. She was fantastic at precision takedowns in crowded environments. Put her in situations where she was outnumbered and outmatched and she triaged perfectly. She could easily resist baits to her pride; on the contrary, she seemed to have so little of her own that she could resort to breathtakingly dirty tricks when the opportunity arose.

In a frankly bizarre reversal of expectations, the place where Comet struggled most was the direct application of her matter conjuring powers. She didn't like doing it and avoided it whenever possible. Most metahumans who are born with an ability practice it their entire lives and develop a certain baseline proficiency with it but Comet seems to have the stumbling grasp on her abilities normally shown by people who acquire the talent later in life. She comfort zones heavily into the limited category of weapons she has the mental blueprints for and when pushed beyond that her efforts are slow and lackluster. She had zero grasp over conjuring basic civilian objects like teacups that would seem to be the first thing that anyone getting powers like this would experiment with. But AEGIS, having designed these tests to draw attention to Comet's supposed lack of discipline, didn't really get too many opportunities to get too deep into that topic.

The conclusion come to by the observation team is that everyone so far had drawn completely the opposite impression of Comet. Instead of an overconfident jerk with more power than sense they were talking to a dedicated survivalist who specialized in being put in situations where she was totally outmatched.

*

By the end, Comet was also making it clear that these tests were boring her and she wanted them to step it up as many notches as they had. She was still willing to give them another chance to, as she kept saying 'show me what you got' - but it was clear that what she needed wasn't more combat experience.

If they wanted to recruit her they'd need to think of a different angle.

[Taking Influence and the +1 Ongoing
End of Session: Comet is growing into her image of herself, moving Danger up and Freak down]

[Anarion]

Meanwhile, shrouded in darkness…

Void Shado, your insatiable curiosity has gotten you in hot water. You figure your parents will be super freaked out when the realize you’ve didn’t come home tonight, but that’s the least of your worries. Right now you’re in the middle of some super-villain’s death trap. They have you all tied up, not to mention under some kind of shackle, physical or otherwise, that messes with your teleportation. Tell us who they are and why they hate your guts.

Ah, the Baron von Deathadder. Yeah, he's a jerk. But like, his mansion is huge and I figured he had a ton of cool stuff and seriously, based on how much dust was in that west wing room I teleported into, there was zero chance anybody had even used it. So what if I took a $1000 premium tablet out of a drawer for myself, again, drawer was totally dusty, nobody was even using the room or the tablet in it! So, again, it was an extremely unfair and reaction when I tried to leave and found out the mansion grounds had anti-etherium projectors set up and then one of those alarms started blaring and 10 guards in full riot gear showed up. Like, has the Baron von Deathadder never heard of proportionate response?!

[roko10]

Providence
Conditions: Angry

As soon as Dr. Singh left for the kitchen, Kamui bolted towards the shed on the doctors' backyard- she has more pressing matters at hand, namely figuring out what the hell Richter-and also Faber- is doing.

When she opens the shed, she's greeted with the familiar and comforting sight of her workshop- Dr. Singh was kind enough to let her set up camp there. Compared to the state-of-the-art laboratories she had access to when still under Signus' employ, the tools in it were downright rudimentary and primitive; with the exception of her laptop, most of the tools she has now are either off-the-shelf tools or have been constructed from scrap she salvaged from the junkyard. The furniture isn't much better, being bought from the local AEKI store and assembled somewhat hastily. Still, however, this doesn't annoy Kamui as much as it should for three reasons:

This is just a stopgap until one of her research grant requests gets accepted and she gets proper equipment,
She wasn't completely unfamiliar working like this, as back in the orphanage she had to do with even less,
Unlike back in Signus, there aren't two coworkers breathing down her neck and fighting with her constantly, so she actually feels like she's more productive this way.


Opening her laptop, Kamui first opens the Balhannoth Drive blueprints and starts working on its flaws for a bit; for a mageslayer Drive, it's too vulnerable to magic to be all too useful - easily solved by adding antimagic wards to it, though, she just needs to find a reliable magician-, not to mention the glaring storage issues. Maybe an weapon to help it drain and store magic would help? she realizes, and soon she finds herself creating various mockups for such devices before eventually stopping and focusing at the matter on hand- Richter being free.

Richter working with Faber honestly terrifies Kamui; sure, he might not be capable of grand-scale bioterrorism as Faber does, and he's not even half as good a mechanic as Kamui is (although, after getting shot with one of his stupid-retraux rayguns, Kamui may have to begrudgingly admit that he's getting better), but he's absolutely unparalleled in anything software-related, be it programming, hacking, A.I or what have you. With him free, anyone who manages to employ him not only has access to a master in cyberwarfare, but also a solid tech base for A.I and robotics.

Countering that with the tools at Kamui's disposal proves to be difficult, however, and after a hour or so of pointless brainstorming she's at wits' end. Frustrated, she sighs and leans back on her chair. "If only I wasn't shot with lightning from Richter's raygun," she bemoaned, "then maybe I might-"

"Wait a minute"

Of course. Why didn't she think of that? Not only could a Drive capable of manipulating electromagnetism interfere with any attempts at hacking Richter may do- at least, on a more local scale, but it also can disable any robots with his A.I mounted on it. Not to mention that electromagnetism itself is a very versatile powerset- god, why didn't she think of that earlier?! And to handle this Drive, the BT Driver should also be made even more resistant to such interferences and the armor should probably be designed this way to improve...

Only after Kamui was done with her blueprints for her new Drive -still unnamed, she probably has to leaf through one of Dr. Singh's weird RPG books to find one- did she notice the time. 3 AM?! How is it already 3 AM?!?

Yawning, she streches out and heads back to the house proper to get to her bed and get at least some sleep in. As she walks up the stairs, however, she's suddenly reminded of something else other than new gadgets or Richter or if Luana's okay or not-

...I left my motorcycle at the burger joint. And my Drama paper is due the day after tomorrow.

Kamui groans upon realizing this. Oh well, I'll figure this out later, she thinks before crashing on her bed and falling into a deep sleep.


Shift Savior down and Mundane up; her botched attempt at stopping the robbers back at the burger joint makes her feel less like a hero and more like a teen who has no idea what she's doing- which, in all fairness, she is.

[Awful]

Strikescale (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23436382&postcount=5) aka Sarah Helmsworth
Conditions: Insecure, Angry

In the end, it had always been Claire and Sarah.

Dad hadn't stuck around. Sarah guessed two kids were too many, and he'd walked out the door without a word one day. She didn't remember him at all. If Claire did, she never spoke of him.

Mum had been busy. A single mother with two children? Sarah wasn't sure what she did - she'd had a home office, and would spend long hours inside. Sarah remembered her looking tired, all the time. Sometimes she went out for whatever job it was she did.

Car crash. Hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, and the future of the Helmsworth siblings was dashed across the road as well. Just another statistic, another pointless accident, and a move up to Memorial City to live with Grandma, now, as soon as Mum was in the grave. New school, new friends - well, a few at least - but the same old Claire.

And then Grandma died and it was just the two of them. Natural causes. Old age, really. She was only human, after all.

Only human. Ha. She'd been something else, once, something vast and draconic, and she'd given it up for - what? A man, a mysterious grandfather to Sarah, never mentioned or described?

Ever since she'd found that necklace, things had gotten so weird and complicated. But Claire was still here, even now Sarah was a monster and not human at all. it was a comforting thought, and Sarah let it wrap around her as they settled in to watch rubbishy TV.

"Hey, Sarah," Claire said softly. From where she was curled, the dragon rolled her head slightly. "Promise me something."
Strikescale let out a questioning rumble. Here, at least, she didn't feel compelled to always struggle with words - to force human sounds out of an inhuman throat and reptilian jaws.
"Promise me that- you'll choose the path that makes you happy. Whether that's being a hero or not. Or..." she waved a hand. "Staying like this or not. I'm with you. Either way."

Sarah was silent and still for a moment, eyes glowing softly in the half-light of the TV. Could she promise that? Truly? She wasn't sure herself of what she was, or what she was becoming, or what it'd cost. Phaeris clearly had his own game.

"Iii promise," the dragon who was a girl said, and Claire smiled.
"Good!" she said with deliberate cheer. "Now come on, it's late. Night, sis."
If Sarah still had eyebrows, she would have raised one. Claire very rarely called her 'sis' - indeed, it was only the moments after she'd gotten something off her mind.
"Nnnight," Sarah rumbled back.

The TV was switched off, and Claire disappeared off to her bedroom. The dark wasn't much darker tothe glowing sight of the dragon.

Nonetheless, she closed her eyes.


Strikescale is conflicted in her image of herself, feeling insecure and angry. Her image of herself as an ordinary girl under a curse has been shaken - her family bloodline is draconic, and she's unsure she ever might have a way back to normal. But she's learning more of the strength of her draconic nature - powerful and dangerous...
Danger is up by one; mundane down by the same.

Strikescale, how do you spend the rest of the night? If you…
...spend it hanging out with Claire and talking about the future, she can clear Guilty. You’ll also have to make a promise to her - a promise she’ll always hold you to. Tell us what it is.