Masks By JNAP [IC]

[JNAProductions]

The team is having a quiet day, gathering at a small, outdoor patio in a park in Halcyon. Blake is thumbing through his phone, looking for a news article he could've sworn he saw on Farmaðr, but is not having any luck. River has just arrived from work, and is ready to give Blake some crap for leaving her more than he should've to clean up when she started her shift-or would be, but see below. Adam has a screwdriver, using it to mess with one of his screws-it's been squeaking, and he's just about got it fixed. Quentin is scrolling through his emails, expecting something from Ascension Labs-he doesn't know what, but he's been told it'll matter. And Claire is leaning against a pillar, reading over a note she got from someone at school. It reads:

I think you're super cute! And I wish I had the guts to tell you for real... But keep it going!
-Secret Admirer

River shoots a look to Adam, clearly about the screwdriver, and he pockets it then conceals the screw. Following not far behind River-just far enough that someone who's not prepared wouldn't've noticed-is a man. A short man-maybe 5' tall, an unlit cigarette in his lips. He's a bit bulky-but looking at him closely, you can tell it's not fat. It's body armor underneath his civilian clothes. There's a faint bulge at his hip too-probably a gun.

What do you do?


OOC Thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641089-Masks-By-JNAP-OOC)

[Seandiggersby]

Claire is wearing a purple hoodie over a white t-shirt with black jeans and brown boots. Her bright orange cat is lying down on the ground near her feet. She blushes slightly upon reading the note before crumpling it up and shoving it in her pocket, she doesn't have time for "secret admirers". Besides what would everyone at St Anthony's think?

Because if this it would take her a little longer than the others to notice the man who was following river. Noticing what appears to be body armour and a gun beneath his clothes puts her slightly on edge but she decides the best thing to do would be to wait and see what he does before jumping to conclusions.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none

River is wearing her typical outfit, just a T-shirt and some pants she can run in, and a backpack full of stuff. It had some textbooks and binders, because she had to go to work right after school ended and didn’t have time to put it away, but her costume was also hidden in there.

She had been giving Blake a bit of trouble about work, but by now her friends know that she didn’t mean anything much by it. Complaining about work and school is just her default background noise. But then she suddenly goes silent for a few seconds as she notices that she’s being followed. Thinking to herself, Okay, it’s just one guy with a gun so if it comes down to a fight I’m sure we can win. But what if he’s here about superhero stuff, not all of the team knows who I am yet. So I have to react like River not like Dusk, and if I need to be a hero I’ll have to sneak away. She clears her throat, but as she speaks she’s looking for some bushes or something she could get behind to change into costume if she needs to. ”Hey guys, there’s someone following us.”

[JNAProductions]

The man is perhaps far enough back that he might not hear what River said. Or...

"Not subtle enough, huh?"

Or not.

"You've got a sharp eye, kid. But for now, it might be a good idea to scamper. I got words with the rest of your friends," he says. He flashes a smile, but you can see there's some undercurrents of tension there.

I think it might be a good choice for someone to Make A Move. Choose wisely.

[Zero Prime]

Quentin watched the group carefully, Claire, Adam, a friend of Claire's maybe, River? He shrugged, thing is the new kid was being followed by some shady looking character. The body armor and the concealed carry did it for him, snapping a few pics to analyze later, he scanned the street, looking for a vehicle, van or sedan, maybe a five-man team, who were they after? Adam? He knew that he'd escaped from a lab, where they ..., he clenched his fists tight, yeah, part of him hoped this was a SPEAR extraction team. Let them try to come after him again, not today, not on his watch.

OOC: First move of the session, going to attempt to Pierce the Mask on the shady character, rolling Mundane, -1, [roll0]. Let's see how this goes!

[JNAProductions]

His plan isn't bad, far as you can tell. But he's after something, or someone. With the few words you've had, you can't tell what exactly he's searching for, but you get that feeling from him.

[Volthawk]

Adam's outfit wasn't too notable, just a t-shirt and jeans, besides the fact that they just looked a little scruffy, a few little rips and cuts and abrased areas here and there on his clothes. They were clean, mind you - Sarah could tolerate many things, but him running around with dirty clothes wasn't one of them - but the damage wasn't enough for him to feel the need to toss the clothes yet, so he just kept wearing them until they got bad enough that he really did need to stop wearing them. The potentially damaged cybernetic was a minor concern - SPEAR had downloaded the specifications of most (but not all, which was mildly concerning) of his enhancements into a data store in his body, and had given him enough training to make proper use of the information, so he knew the system wasn't particularly important, but it still needed addressing. At least he could stop pretty quickly once it became evident that there was trouble.

Adam reacts to the potential threat with his typical directness, walking straight towards the guy with obviously clenched fists. "Well if you have something to say, say it before I make you regret trying to mess up a nice day like this." There was some strategy in his bluntness, though - a guy getting up in your face tended to get your attention, particularly if this guy really did know who they were like he seemed to and knew what Adam was capable of, and that way the others could do their things and get ready without the guy interfering.


Trying to provoke him into focusing his attention on Adam over the others, so they can do whatever they need to with some more freedom. With You've got a head you don't need, he can use Danger. [roll0]

[JNAProductions]

The man steps back slightly, Adam towering over him. He holds his hands up, and says "I'm not here to hurt anyone-I actually need your help. My name is Dento."

Good flipping question. None of you know that name off-hand, but someone you know might know him? Maybe?

Something the more perceptive of you might notice is that his eyes stay dead-set on Adam. His hands don't twitch. He's calm-opening up space, not because he's scared, but because if Adam gets nasty, guns work better at a distance. But at the same time... He's still real close to Adam. He could be the fastest gun in the west, and he'd still be hard-pressed to draw before Adam could deck him with his hands up like that.

"I need your help," he continues.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none

River takes a few steps back as Adam confronts the man. She smirks as Adam makes the threat. Yeah, show that guy you aren’t scared of him. But she feigns a nervous look. “Why were you following me then?”

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Engrossed in his phone and his search to find that article that he knew he’d seen, Blake doesn’t even notice the short man until the others start talking with him. Looking up, he blinks rapidly as his brain shifts gears and he scrambles to his feet, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

"Um, look, I don’t think this guy was following you so much as just heading the same way at the same time, right?" he addresses River, conscious of her...circumstances.

"Why don’t you, um, go and see if there’s...anyone selling ice cream?" he asks lamely – clandestine wordplay is not his forte. "We’ll get all this straightened out while you’re doing that?"

If something unnatural is to go down, she’ll be much better off if she has a chance to show up in the right outfit, right?

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
”Ice cream…?” River gives Blake a look, like seriously? But he was trying to help her get away, which she did appreciate. So she shrugs and replies, ”Alright, I sure thing. As she walks away she smiles. At least bringing people ice cream is sort of a change of pace from work, I guess.

As she walks away, she’s already planning on how she’s going to get out of earshot, and wondering how long she has to wait before rejoining the conversation as Dusk. Hopefully one of them thinks to call me if they start talking about superhero stuff.

[JNAProductions]

Dento waits a moment for River to be a decent distance away, and then says "Like I said-I need your help. AEGIS is doing jack to help me out, and neither is Paragon. I've exhausted goddamn everyone in my contacts list, but no one's lifting a finger. So, that leaves you guys-the youngest superhero team in Halcyon City. I'm a bounty hunter-I work in a sort of grey area of the law. Doing what the more reputable sort can't."

He seems to realize that might've come off poorly, and adds on "I'm not a bad man. At least, I try not to be. The law is good, but it's not all-encompassing. Things slip through the cracks-and that's where Elain and I come into play. Or it was, before Elain vanished. I've got a lead-but I don't know if I can track it myself. She was always the more capable of us two-I had the level head, the research and detective skills, all that, but in a fight? It was her, and I was just the backup."

"Will you help me?" he asks plainly.

[Seandiggersby]

Claire looks to the others, she feels bad for him if he is telling the truth and wants to help him.

"I think helping him would be the right thing to do" she says while crossing her arms, still leaning against the pillar. Then she notices that Mr Mittens begin to walk off so she picks him up, its bad to let him go of too far on his own incase he uses his powers, both cause he could cause some serious harm and it would be easy to connect the dots and figure out that Claire was Peekaboo.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
As soon as River is far enough away that the others can’t see her, she pulls out her phone and starts googling Dento to see if his story checks out. At the same time, she keeps listening in on the conversation. Dento might think I’m out of earshot, but that’s because he doesn’t know about the super-hearing.

[JNAProductions]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
As soon as River is far enough away that the others can’t see her, she pulls out her phone and starts googling Dento to see if his story checks out. At the same time, she keeps listening in on the conversation. Dento might think I’m out of earshot, but that’s because he doesn’t know about the super-hearing.

Initial googling reveals very little-a lot of dentist related stuff, like toothpaste and dental gear. River tries adding some other terms, like "bounty hunter" and manages to start narrowing it down. When she adds "Elain" to the search filter, she strikes gold-kinda.

A news article, from about six years ago. It includes statements from AEGIS denying any connections to the bounty hunter duo, but luckily, the article includes some other links. After moving past the ads, River gets some more information on the pair.

Dento-born in Australia. Moved to England when he was twelve, on his own. Worked as a small-time contractor for AEGIS, lying about his age to get crap done. Owned his first firearm at eight years old. When he turned eighteen, he tried to join AEGIS officially, but was turned down due to his prior lying history. Ended up forming a partnership with...
Elain-birth whereabouts unknown. Found at Navy Pier in Chicago, wearing nothing but a cowboy hat and a bandoleer, thirty-three years ago. Was quickly snatched up by AEGIS to avoid any panic and to figure out what the heck was going on, as she was found in a concrete crater. Released not too long thereafter, when it was determined she wasn't a menace. Almost fell in with the mob, but was found by Dento, who helped her use her skills for good.

There's a few more snippets, but it seems that those two have done a good job burying their information.

[Zero Prime]

Quentin shrugged, "I dunno," looking from the mercenary to Claire and back. "Maybe there's a reason that AEGIS and the Paragons weren't able to help?" He paused, trying to figure out what their best play was, he wasn't that hard to track down, given his association with Ascension Labs, his father, he was sure AEGIS had a whole file box on him, but this guy seemed pretty confident on walking up to the rest of the crew, and outing their identities to anyone watching.

"Listen, I'm not real keen on helping a guy that, admittedly, works the grey. I've seen where that goes," he sighed, "and we're not exactly on, so you being here puts us all into the same crosshairs of whoever took your girl. So thanks for that." He shook his head, "We're done." And with that Quentin started to walk away.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
River rolls her eyes as she hears Quentin talking and then listens to his footsteps as he walks away. He’s got a point about Dento exposing us, but are we really going to refuse? I’ll catch up with Quentin and find out.

She opens up her backpack and ducks somewhere out of anyones sight. A few moments later, she’s dressed in her all-black costume with the helmet hiding most of her face. River listens for Quentin’s footsteps and starts moving to catch up with him, so as soon as he’s far enough that Dento can’t see him, she can start talking to him.

[Volthawk]

Adam doesn't walk away with Quentin, instead thinking for a moment and nodding. His tendency was always towards doing something as it was, and the fact that Claire was supporting it and Quentin was opposing it just made him want to go for it more. "Hold on, Dento. I'm interested. Tell me more. What you've said already isn't enough to go on or decide what to do."

[JNAProductions]

"This might not be the best place to talk it over-but it's a place I knew I could find you undisturbed. Here," he says, and holds out a business card. "My number's on there. Text me, call me, whatever you need to do, whatever info you need that I can provide. Think it over. I understand this might be-no, this is almost certain to be-dangerous, but... I truly need your help."

If someone takes the business card, he gives a small smile. "Be in touch, okay?" he says before he heads out.

[Seandiggersby]

Claire awkwardly takes the card and puts it in her pocket. "Don't worry, I'll make sure at least someone does something to help" she says to him softly before he leaves.

She turns to Adam with a slight smile. "Thanks for saying you'll hear Dento out. I'll go see if I can convince Quentin to reconsider and at least give this guy a shot" she says before walking away aswell to try catch up with Quentin.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
River, in costume as Dusk, steps out of an alleyway and starts walking so she’s next to Quentin. “Hey Quentin. I’ve been following the bounty Hunter guy and his story sorta checks out. He actually used to contract for AEGIS, but they deny being connected with him.” She smiles, and since her helmet only covers the top part of her face Quentin can see it.”So do you actually not want to get involved? Or was that a play to get a meeting where no one was in their normal person identities? Cause if it’s the second it worked. I can still sorta hear them and I think Dento offered to meet somewhere else.”

[Zero Prime]

Quention's head snapped around as Dusk stepped out of a nearby alley, for a brief instant, debris and detrius littering the sidewalk lifted into the air, as he prepared to defend himself. Quickly realizing who it was, the debris quickly dropped back to the ground, he looked, somewhat ashamed, "Sorry, on edge after talking with that merc," listening to his teammate he shrugged. "I'll be honest, I'm not keen on it. If he asked AEGIS and the Paragons for help, and got turned down, there's a reason, right?"

He sighed, "He's a mercenary, what if he's on the payroll of whoever made the Double 'O' robot we fought a few weeks back? What if his missing partner is some con, and he wants to get us into a trap?" He pondered the situation, "Or some villain we've pissed off has his partner, and is leveraging her release if he turns us in? There's too many unknowns, and we've run off half cocked before."

He inhaled, held it for a second, and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Sorry," he turned to Dusk, smiled awkwardly, "just kind of working it out, what do you think?"

[Volthawk]

Adam smiles and nods when Claire thanks him, but doesn't follow her to talk to Quentin. They had it handled, and he didn't want to deal with Quentin being all needlessly cautious as usual at the moment. Instead, he looks over at Blake. "So what do you think? I figure it's worth a look." He shrugs. "Not like there's much else going on at the moment, right?"

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
As soon as River notices the rocks starting to lift up, she gets tense and ready to dodge in case they start flying. But when he drops the rocks and realized it’s her, Dusk laughs and doesn’t say anything about it.

River shrugs, as Quentin lists off ways this could go wrong. ”Any of those could be right, the guy seems suspicious and so does the situation. But even if it is a trap, we’re superheroes! We can deal with whatever the trap is and then go after the villain who set it. Like, there’s clearly something going on, and I’d rather be involved in it than not. Especially since he’s already shown that he can find you and the others. She pauses, then looks at Quentin concerned. Plus, you’re the most powerful one out of all of us, I don’t think you need to be this cautious. Unless… She quickly realizes something, then continues a bit downcast. ”Is this because of what happened with the giant robot? Is that why you’re being so careful now?”

[Seandiggersby]

Claire caught up with Quentin and Dusk, arriving at the alleyway with Mr Mittens held in her arms. She puts him down on the ground before speaking and crosses her arms. "Are you sure you don't want to help this guy Quinn?" she asks. "Cause I'm going to help him out and I could really use your help, you too Dusk"

[Zero Prime]

Quentin looked at Claire, there was frustration in his eyes, "You just don't get it do you?! If he's a criminal, if we're doing something wrong, breaking the law, that's just an 'Ooops,' for you guys. But for me?" There was a sudden weight to everything in the area, as Quentin started to get upset, gravity itself increasing. There was a cold, anger to his voice. "I have to worry about what it looks like! The press is going to label me as a villain, showing his true colors, his father's son. AEGIS is going to question my mom, interrogate her, when did your son begin to change? And do you know what that will do to her? What my dad did to us?!?"

He took a deep breath, held it, exhaled. As he did so the weight disappeared, the world seemed to breath again, "I just want you to be cautious, give it some time, figure it out before talking to him. Ok?"

OOC: Quentin will Provoke Claire, I want her to convince the other's to wait before the meeting, to do some research and consider the consequences. Rolling Superior, +1, [roll0]. Ohh! Success, so if Claire does what Quentin wants (Is Cautious, does research before the meeting), she can add a Team to the Pool; if she doesn't she can mark Insecure.

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Blake flashes a grin at Adam in return.

"Totally!" he agrees with enthusiasm. "I mean, I’m not surprised that the big guys aren’t interested in spending their time on a missing persons case," he adds wryly. "And, well, I’m not exactly good at that sort of thing, but sure, as a team we can help out, I’ll bet!"

Some of his companions are way better suited to that sort of thing than he was, but he’s just happy enough to be doing something to help out, and if things get dicey...

Well then. That’ll Arsenal’s time to shine.

[Seandiggersby]

Danger: 0
Freak: - 1
Savior: 2
Superior: 2
Mundane: 2

Conditions: insecure

Choosing to mark insecure and not do what he wants.


Claire takes a step back away from Quentin and Mr Mittens moves to stand in between the two of them. "I understand that you want to be careful and not rush into things but what happens if taking our time ends up with someone getting hurt? We have a responsibility to help people, especially when no one else will" she responds, trying to be understanding of his situation but at the same time annoyed at how he can just walk away from helping somebody

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
A River tilts her head and listens to them. Then she steps between them. “Quentin has a point though. Peek and I have secret identities, so if things go wrong no one knows who we are and the people we know don’t have to deal with the consequences. But Quentin doesn’t have that.” Her tone is sympathetic, as she thinks about the people she knows that she wants to keep safe from hero life. But then she takes a deep breath and starts to sound more determined and intense. “Claire has a point too though, there’s someone in trouble and we can’t afford to wait. I don’t know much about who Elaine is or what sort of danger she is, but I’m willing to risk the unknown to save someone.”

She jumps backwards as she says that, grabbing into a building and starting to climb. ”I’m better at stakeouts than doing research, so I’ll try to catch up with Dento and watch him from the roofs. Hopefully I’ll find some information about what’s happening, or if he’s planning a trap I’ll see that. Either of you want to come with?”

[Seandiggersby]

Claire looks aways from Quentin and nods to Dusk, she's right it would be a good idea to catch up with dento and spy on him plus it'll give her a chance to clear her head. "Ye I'll come with you. I should probably get changed first" she says as she checks that no one is looking in the alleyway and can see her besides dusk and Quentin before putting on her mask and phasing out of her clothes which she holds until she can hide them on a rooftop, leaving her in just her super suit that she wears underneath her clothes. She then start climbing up the buildings fire escape with Mr Mittens following her.

[Zero Prime]

Quentin nodded to his teammates, "If that's what you want to do, I'd rather figure out who he is, before taking his story at face value." He turned to drift upwards, heading towards Halcyon City's downtown core, "Ping my phone if you run into trouble. I've still got your back."

[JNAProductions]

Quentin makes his departure, heading for the Paragon HQ. He shoots a text message on the way, letting them know he has a few questions that he'd appreciate them answering.

Claire and River, using their own personal abilities, set off after Dento. Finding him isn't too hard-he's not gone far. Right now, he's just sitting on a fire hydrant, staring at a lighter in his hand. Those with enhanced hearing can listen in. "She wouldn't want you smoking. Goddammit."

Adam and Blake, knowing their skills aren't in high demand at the moment, head to an arcade-the Quarter Coliseum. Its owner, Ashley Maguire, is known for deviating significantly from her father's pious nature-to the point where she hacks and hardmods every arcade machine she gets to crank up the difficulty.


Quentin
He arrives at a mid-point in the tower, and is greeted by Dr. Meiron-Park. "Afternoon, Quentin. Did you get my email?" she asks. "Your dampener has been having some fluctuations-I think it just needs some tuning, that's all."

Quentin nods, and heads with her to the dampening chamber-the safest spot in the city to take off his personal controller. As he walks with her, he mentions that he's looking for information on Dento. "Dento, you say?" the doctor asks. "I haven't worked with him in a while. Never liked his smoking habit-but at least he was polite enough to not do it indoors. Always had that Elain lady with him-she was... Odd. Sweet, but strange. Why do you ask?"


Claire and River
Dento manages to resist the urge to smoke. He pops the lighter back in his pocket, and the cigarette back into his mouth, unlit. He spends the next half an hour wandering, seemingly aimlessly, on his phone. The occasional peeks you manage of his screen show texts, emails, and a whole lot of research. He's trawling through information, looking for Elain. Until, after you're almost ready to conclude there's not much to gain, he gets a call.

"Dento," he answers simply, putting an earbud in one ear. "Yeah. Yeah. You sure?" he replies, the other side impossible to hear even with your enhanced senses. "Alright. I'll be there in an hour-maybe less. Text me the address."

One of you scrambles like hell to find a perch you can see the address from, and arrive just in time. You get it, and put it into your phone. It's a Halcyon City Penitentiary-but it's only about twenty minutes away, at a good jog, let alone if Dento has a car.


Adam and Blake
The Quarter Coliseum is as it always is. Surprisingly packed, given how arcades have fallen out of favor, full of people trying to prove themselves against old school, extra hard games.

You wave to Ashley, who's behind the counter, and she waves back. She doesn't know you personally, but she's friendly. And then you wait in line for a few minutes, before getting to play Starcade Adventures!

And promptly getting your tuckuses handed to you. You're a tad rusty-Blake failing out at level two, and Adam making it almost to four before the boss wrecks him. You grimace at each other-you ain't gonna take this. You head over to the counter, where Ashley says "What's up?"

You let her know you want to work together-coop Starcade. You know she can do it. She laughs a little, but sees the determination in your eyes. "Alright, let me get the soldering iron. Give me five minutes."

Five minutes later, it's time for take two.

You crush it. You don't set a new high score, and you almost die a few times, but a few clutch saves from your partner let you beat the whole damn game. A small crowd assembles by the time you're done, and there's some hollering and cheering when you see the end credits.

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
River hangs precariously off the edge of a rooftop, hanging on with one hand to get the best vantage point and jumping up when she sees Dento looking in her direction. After describing what she sees to Claire, she discusses their next step. "So he's clearly working with someone, though we don't know who or where. I say we follow him, so we can see where he goes and find out who he's meeting at the prison. We'll stay near him now though though, I think he's gonna head somewhere else first." She gets ready to move in case Dento does, but stays watching for now.

[JNAProductions]

Dento keeps walking, muttering under his breath. "Goddamnit. It had to be Grop. It had to be Grop." His muttering grows quieter, stopping altogether by the time he reaches the Shady Cicada, a run-down dive bar. He walks in, nodding to the bouncer, a thickly-built woman with a pair of batons at her belt.

Inside, you can see him ordering a drink, which quickly gets filled in a dirty mug.

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Blake whoops and hollers as they beat the game, smacking his larger teammate in the arm several times in his enthusiasm.

"That was awesome, fam!" he exclaims, his eyes dancing. "You were amazing, your reflexes are so much better than mine!" He’s clearly leaving the lion’s share of the victory at Adam’s feet.

"What...happened...sucks and all, believe me, I know," he goes on, lowering his voice a touch. "But you’re who you wanna be, right? You can do such great things," he told his teammate with frank admiration, wanting to help ease a bit of the somewhat constant stress of being the meld of man and machine that had been forced upon him.

Comfort or Support Adam: [roll0]

[Volthawk]

Adam grins as the final credits of the game roll, drinking it in rather than celebrating as loudly as his teammate. "Yeah, I'm good, but you did good too. Had to beat it co-op for a reason."

Blake bringing up the past catches Adam off-guard a little. "Oh, uh..." He shrugs. "Well, yeah. That's how I see it. People like us, we're different, sure, we've had **** happen to us, but we can do something about what happens next, what we do with what we've got. Future's ours to choose, right?"

[Zero Prime]

He arrives at a mid-point in the tower, and is greeted by Dr. Meiron-Park. "Afternoon, Quentin. Did you get my email?" she asks. "Your dampener has been having some fluctuations-I think it just needs some tuning, that's all."

Quentin nods, and heads with her to the dampening chamber-the safest spot in the city to take off his personal controller. As he walks with her, he mentions that he's looking for information on Dento. "Dento, you say?" the doctor asks. "I haven't worked with him in a while. Never liked his smoking habit-but at least he was polite enough to not do it indoors. Always had that Elain lady with him-she was... Odd. Sweet, but strange. Why do you ask?"

Quentin hit the inter-comm so he could talk to Dr. Park, "He just asked for help, apparently his partner's been missing a few days. He looked sketch, armed and armored, so I wasn't sure what to make of him." Then Quentin shrugged, "Told us he'd gone to AEGIS and the Paragons, but both groups declined to help him. So he tracked down my friends and I, asked for help, but he smells like trouble."

[JNAProductions]

"If he came to us, he didn't talk to me. But then again, that shouldn't be a surprise-that's not my area of expertise," the doctor replies as she tinkers with the dampening device. "So how's school going, Quentin? Have you made any not-so-super powered friends?" she asks.

[JNAProductions]

Quentin
Quentin chats with the doctor for a bit while she fixes his dampener. Once that's done, he heads for the administrative area, where they might've heard Dento's request.

He talks to a few people, and learns that while Dento called several times and visited once, his requests were rejected automatically as he's not in the system, and he wasn't even allowed entry when he visited.

Before you get yourself a chance to really dig, though, your phone blows up with messages at the same time an alarm comes through the intercom. "Code Yellow, Code Yellow! Super-Powered Attack!" Your phone shows the address-Halcyon City Penitentiary. ​


Claire and River
Dento stays in the bar for a while, nursing his drink and not really actually consuming it. When there's about a half hour to go, he stands up and heads for the penitentiary. You continue to stalk him, and as you all approach the Penitentiary, you see smoke curling up. Dento swears, and picks up the pace, sprinting towards the building. You could easily overtake him, if you so choose-he's clearly not got super powers for running.


Adam And Blake
You spend a little more time at the Coliseum, playing some easier games and having a fun time. Pretty soon, though, you've hit your limit-you could go overbudget, but you already beat Starcade, so you're happy to head out.

Outside, you pass by one of those stores that has all the TVs out front in the window, and see a breaking news report. "Halcyon City Penitentiary is experiencing some kind of powered attack-details are still hazy, but we have a helicopter on the scene."

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Grabbing Adam’s arm, Blake rather unnecessarily points at the TV screens in his excitement.
"Whoah man, check that out! I gotta tell the others," he realises, releasing Adam’s arm and hauling out his phone. Thumbs flying, he sends a message to their group chat to get to the peneten— the penaten— the jail, and fast, it was under attack!

"C’mon, we gotta go change," the younger boy urges, glancing around furtively to try to find a place that he and Adam both could armour up. And once in heroic identities, they could hoof it at high speed over there to put a stop to a breakout by some nefarious criminals!

[Volthawk]

Adam grins as he sees the announcement on the TV. Well, they had just run out of things to do, so the timing there was perfect. "Yeah. Let's go."

[Quagmire]

DANGER 0
FREAK 0
SAVIOR 0
SUPERIOR 0
MUNDANE +3
Conditions: none
River turns to Claire. “So this guy has a meeting at the prison, and at around the time it’s supposed to happen something happens. You get where I’m going with this, there’s probably a connection.” Inwardly River is relieved, watching a guy wander around and drink at a bar for an hour was boring, stakeouts always were. Meanwhile whatever’s happening with the smoke is exciting, a chance for some thrilling heroics. “So what do we do now? We could keep following him, see what he does when he gets there. Or we could stop him before he gets there and ask what exactly he’s planning. Or just ignore him and rush to the prison to see what’s going on.” She waits for Claire’s reply, but she’s all antsy and ready to start running. Either to catch up with Dento, or to keep following him towards the penitentiary.

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Heading down the alleyway halfway down the block with Adam, Blake ducks into the back alcove of one of the businesses in the building after taking a quick look for any security cameras. Shielded well enough from view from the street, he nods to the older boy – time for them to suit up!

Intertwining his arms before himself, he grips each forearm with the opposite hand, pressing his wrists together – and bringing the implanted triggers into alignment with one another. A flare of azure energy rises up over him, carrying him off the ground as the energy armour of the Arsenal forms about him.

Now standing close to eight feet tall, with long, solid legs and a pair of massive, huge-fisted arms sprouting from the broad shoulders, one can make out the general shape of Blake within that construct, well enough to determine that the second, smaller pair of arms that emerge from mid-ribcage contain his actual arms.

"Let’s get moving!" he booms, reaching out one of the massive arms towards his teammate. Time to engage in a highly conspicuous trip across town – that is, of course, the most fun kind.

[Captain Jak]

Arsenal (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ys0lqMCRf1L2d5nn0WbjGhZuVuo3luS7r8J_6d3zMoY/edit?usp=sharing)
Conditions:
Potential: 0/5
Doom Track: 0/5
Danger: +2
Freak: +1
Savior: +1
Superior: -1
Mundane: 0

Bolstered Mark your doom track to use an Adult Move one time.


Once Adam had made his own transformation into Steel Hammer, Arsenal got the show on the road. Pounding out of the alleyway on long strides, he merged right into traffic and thundered down the street at forty miles an hour, taking care not to stomp on any cars. A small part of him hoped that the sight of him running along, his teammate scooped up to sit in the crook of one of his huge arms like a package, wouldn’t cause anyone to have an accident, but mostly he was just having far too good a time to worry about it much.

Traffic began to bunch up ahead of them at a red light, but rather than slow his pace Arsenal grinned, deep inside his energy shell.

"Hang on!" he instructed, and over the next two steps azure energies had coalesced at his back into the form of a jumpjet pack. Launching himself upward only a few feet behind the bumper of the car slowing ahead of them with a powerful leap, the jets kicked in and hurled them higher and further, clearing the overpass with its own traffic to come crashing down on the far side in the clear lane.

With a whoop of enthusiasm, Arsenal continued his charge to bring them to face the Forces of Villainy...or at least, jailbreak.

[Seandiggersby]

Claire pauses and thinks for a moment on what the best course of action would be. ”I say we keep following him to see if he does anything suspicious. If not then we can trust him” she replies, she really hopes this guy doesn’t end up being evil now that she advocated so strongly for helping him out.