R. Bluefish
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Echo grinned behind her mask. "Now there's something we can agree on. Why would you want to be in the audience when you can be on the stage? Besides," she gestured to herself, "I'm not exactly decked out in urban camo here. 'If you want quiet, you must prepare for loud,' am I right?" Of course, things always seemed to end up being loud anyway, but maybe that was just an inevitable part of life. Death, taxes, the Great Pumpkin, and people shooting at you, those were the true constants of existence. "I guess we'll just have to make sure that they're so busy trying to kill us, they don't have time to threaten the hostages. Oh well. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's making people want to shoot me in the face. Now then -" she rubbed her knuckles in anticipation, "shall we begin?"
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Attacking Neptune with Blast 12. He's a big fella, so she's going to Power Attack for all she's worth. Attack roll: 1d20+5 9 Damage is +12, plus 5 points for the Power Attack, for a total of +17 (DC 32 Toughness save).
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Something in the other woman's tone immediately roused Starlight's attention. "Right," she said sharply into her communicator. "Coming in under a cloak. When you're ready to make your move, I'll back it." She didn't know much about magic, but she knew how to fight. Better to leave the strategic and supernatural side of things to the experts - she was here to crack heads and provide a speedy exit if need be. She was confident in her ability to do that. Supremely confident, in fact. She swooped down to a position that afforded her a clear look through one of the warehouse's windows, then focused her will. A moment's concentration later, she was inside, hovering invisibly among the rafters. Her eyes found where the apparent bad guy had standing. That's him? Pff, he doesn't look so tough. Nonetheless, she remained where she was, awaiting the signal from Lynn.
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Vox wouldn't mind getting in on a little mystery, danger, and adrenaline.
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Echo puffed herself up indignantly. "Law low? The very idea!" She waved expansively at her own blue-and-silver outfit. "Do I look like the type of hero who likes to lay low?" she asked, giving her long white false hair a flip for further emphasis. "I'm not exactly going to blend into the crowd here, so the only way to stay inconspicuous would be to run a hundred miles off thataway and hide in a ditch for the next however-many-hours. Or...I could stick around and ride the robot dinosaur. With the tantalizing possibility of more robot dinosaurs to come. I mean..." she looked around at the other heroes, "that's not even a decision. Not really." She paused for a moment to take a breath and reflect on what she'd just said. I bet that sounded like posturing.
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I'll put Vox in for this, assuming of course there's still room.
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Echo blinked. "Bank furniture? Seriously? Was there a supervillain with really oddly specific powers - hey!" Her sentence cut off when Foreshadow jumped off the roof. "Isn't it customary to have a countdown?" she shouted after him. "Cheater!" Some people just have no sense of fair play. She took a moment to roll her shoulders, stretch, and mentally bribe gravity into looking the other way for a few seconds before crouching, then launching herself skywards in a leap. The wind soared past her ears, whipping her hair wildly as the ground dropped away beneath her. The motion used to make her stomach lurch uncontrollably, but that was no longer the case - whether as a result of becoming accustomed to her powers, or gaining greater mastery over them, she couldn't say. She reached the apex of her leap and, for the briefest of instants, hung in the air seemingly motionless, before the earth's pull claimed her once more and she fell down towards the roof of the casino. She inverted herself in midair and landed on her palms in an entirely gratuitous display of acrobatics, performing a series of elaborate flips before skidding to a graceful halt, arms extended theatrically out to either side. "Ta-da. So, how do we want to do this? Loud or quiet? Do they have hostages down there?"
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"If this were any other city in the world," Echo said thoughtfully, squatting on her heels on the edge of the rooftop, "I would say this is something you don't see every day. But hell! This if FC! A day where gladiators don't take over the casino is a day wasted, dammit!" She looked at the gaudy neon sign thoughtfully. "I wonder if they misread the sign. Like, they were trying to take over Atlantis, but they got the Atlantis Casino instead. Or maybe they're a novelty act gone horribly wrong. Or maybe...no, I've got it! They're actual gladiators sent forward in time by a malfunctioning time machine, and they're trying to get back home, but it turns out that the time machine is coin-operated, so they're cursed to forever play the slot machines until they have enough coins to return to whence they came." She shook her head in a mournful fashion. "Tragic, really. The house always wins. They'll be there to the end of their days, pulling away at levers and getting blitzed off free drinks, never again to know the roar of the blood-lusting crowd or the feel of their blades sinking into the guts of their foe. Unless a waiter gets uppity, I guess." She sprang to her feet and cracked her knuckles loudly. "Whatever the case, all those asses aren't going to kick themselves. Ready to go be good guys?" she asked, with a glance at her black-clad companion.
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"Didn't know I was looking for dinosaurs," Echo protested to Meow Mix's back. "Nobody told me to look for dinosaurs. If I went around making a fuss about every giant robotic theropod I saw on a day-to-day basis, I'd never get anything done." Her response was joking, as per usual, but the cat guy's words made her bite her lip behind her mask. She really hadn't noticed the dude-and-dino-duo, and when the trouble had started, she had just stood there like a inanimate lump while the other heroes did all the heroing. Really making a good showing of yourself there, Escher. Maybe know you can trip over your own feet and knock yourself out. You know, really wow the crowd. With a sigh, she shook her head and walked over to where the rider had fallen. Maybe Axe Cop here would have something on him that might shed some light on what in all hell was going on. Squatting down beside him in the dust, she paused to wrap time around herself, then her hands and arms were nothing but the barest flicker of motion as she searched through his pockets, patted down his jacket, and admired his awesome gun. Whatever my flaws, nobody rolls unconscious dudes. Then she was standing, rifling through what she had found and tossing the less interesting stuff over her shoulder. "No ID?" she muttered. "Who the hell doesn't carry ID in this day and age? You'd think he'd at least have permit for the dinosaur." She glanced around at the others grimly. "We've stumbled across a secret underground cabal of unlicensed dinosaur riders, people." Turning her attention back to the contents of his pockets, she noticed something. "Lot of old-fashioned-style money here. And a lot of watches. Either he's been robbing a few graves, or he's determined to never again not know what time it is. Or not have a quarter for the payphone." She held a coin up to the light and squinted at it. "Why are none of these stamped later than 1855? This stuff must be worth a solid fortune. Maybe that's how he pays for the maintenance bills on the dinosaur." She was holding watch to her ear and shaking it when she noticed something else on the rider's hip. "Hello, what's this?" She plucked it up and eyed it cautiously - it was a black saucer-shaped object with two buttons on it. "Here's hoping this isn't a detonator," she said cheerfully, and pressed one. The device emitted a burst of whistling static, and she released the button with a start. "Huh. Some sort of communicator, maybe?"
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Echo will try searching the downed rider. I'll use her Quickness to take 20 on the check (again), making it a 22.
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Echo The Circus is In Town Freedom's Finest #3: Corrupt to No Good So Great a Cause Starlight A Whole New World Two Duplicators and Grim Too!
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The rushing of the wind made Starlight roll down her sleeves out of sheer habit, despite the fact that she didn't get cold anymore. A feeling of unease was growing unbidden in her stomach, and remained there despite her attempts to reassure herself. She had a very bad feeling about this. Of course, her outlook on life in general wasn't exactly the rosiest - she had a bad feeling about nearly everything - but this did nothing to assuage her fears. Should be in there with them, she thought, not for the first time. Oh, having her play lookout made perfect tactical sense - or at least the thought it did - but it felt somehow cowardly on her part. If something bad went down in there, would she be able to get in there and figure out what was going on in time to make a difference? She brushed her hair away from her face, annoyed with herself. Yeah, I'm sure the two powerful heroines with years of experience really need your help to manage a simple warehouse job. They plainly knew what they were doing - the worst thing she could do right now was get so distracted with second-guessing the plan that she f---ed up her own end of it. Just stay focused and keep your eyes peeled, genius. If they need you, they'll let you know it.
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"Do not like this," Echo muttered, sweeping her handheld flashlight around her in an attempt to chase back the shadows. "Do not like this one little bit. Nothing good ever happens in a cave. In fact, the vast majority of all bad things happen in - or originate in - caves." Her tone was light, and she kept it so to hide her growing unease. Whatever it was that Grack was sniffing out, it was likely to be trouble in a major way. It all seemed so simple. Just nip out real quick to expose a crook politician, be back in time for elevenses. Fairly straightforward, you'd think. She thought she heard a noise behind them and she spun around, shining the light suspiciously at the stone and flickering shadows. "If we end up at the Balrog scene, you be Gandalf."
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Bah, how tough can the sea god really be? Initiative Check: 1d20+6 8
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Echo's initiative: 1d20+14 16
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Starlight's breath choked in her throat when she saw the colossal figure. Christ, that guy could crack the ship in half by prodding it with his foot! Her mind began racing, trying to think of a way to take out the giant if she had to. Big guy means big corneas, right? Hit him right in the eyes with a light flash, try to blind him...then keep out of his reach and piss him off enough to try to lead him away from the Mictlan... Queenie's floating message appeared in front of her, and she blinked. Of course talking to him was Plan A. It was possible he was friendly. Maybe they got lucky and this enormous fellow was the answer to all their prayers. Maybe monkeys will fly out of my ass and upgrade my utility belt for me. She flew up beside the other woman, keeping pace with both of them, but saying nothing. She wasn't exactly the most personable of people even when it came to normal humans; sweet-talking a sea giant was a task best left to someone else. If it came to a fight, though, she wouldn't hesitate, even if it meant getting dropkicked over the horizon.
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Echo was glad of fact that her mask hid her expression upon hearing the name "Meow Mix." He really does like giving nicknames, doesn't he? I think I got off easy with Escher Girl. "I didn't see any real signs of civilization out there," she said to the green-clad hero, who she was pretty sure she recognized as Geckoman. "No towers, no houses...not so much as a moisture vaporator. I didn't really look outside of this canyon, though, so who knows. Could be something out there. As to supplies..." she blurred once more, and when her image stilled she held in her hand a dusty, grease-soaked hamburger wrapper. She dropped it on the ground, where it spilled open and a few rotting chunks of bread and meat rolled out. "Bon appetit to whoever's hungry, 'cause there's plenty more where that came from." She wiped her hand absentmindedly on her thigh. "Not much except garbage here, wherever 'here' is. I suppose we might have better luck in those cars - some of them might have bottled water in them. Or gasoline, delicious, refreshing gasoline." She looked up at the sky. "Or we could eat some buzzards. They've been giving me funny looks since we got here. We're headed for a Hitchcock situation - pretty soon it's going to be us or them."
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Something was pressing hard against the side of Echo's face. After a moment's silent analysis, she determined it to be the ground, from which she deduced that she was lying on her side. This was, most likely, a result of her trying to dodge the coil of lightning as it lashed out towards her. She opened her eyes. A scorpion looked sullenly at her from it's bed of red-scorched sand and loose pebbles. She closed her eyes. This doesn't look like the parking lot. The asphalt in FC was kept in better repair than this. She somersaulted to her feet with the grace of a gymnast. The sun beat down on her, making her shield her eyes against the harsh glare. "Where...the hell..." she craned her head back to stare up at the buzzards that were circling hopefully overhead, "are we?" She turned her gaze to the towering formations of sandstone that surrounded them. "Tatooine?" Jack's voice shook her from her reverie, and with a glance she realized that he was right - Caradoc was gone. "Okay, okay, nobody panic. He's a six-foot demonic-looking metal guy, he doesn't exactly blend into the surroundings. He probably just got dumped a little farther away than us." She spoke with a confidence she didn't feel. "Hang tight - I'll find him." With that, her figure seemed to stretch and distort into a blur that raced over the entire landscape, her afterimage lingering behind her for several seconds, patterning the red sands with blue-and-silver streaks as she searched for any sign of the armored hero. Over a minute passed by the estimation of the others, when suddenly the blur sped back to them and stilled, resolving back into the form of Echo. "I couldn't find him anywhere," she panted. "Just a lot of junk - it looks like a scrapyard threw up all over this place. Most I found was a trail leading off," she pointed, "that way. I'm no tracker, but it looks walked on to me."
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Echo will use her Quickness to search everything within a half-mile radius for any sign of Caradoc - should take her 72 seconds, assuming my math is right. I'll take 20 on the check, for a total of 22.
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"A cave? Huh. Guess we should establish a marching order - hey!" Echo looked at Jack incredulously. "Backup? We're superheroes. We are the backup." She tilted her head suspiciously. "I'm not going to run off to safety and leave you behind to sort everything out yourself, if that's what you're asking. And I don't see how this is your mess any more than it is mine. Hell, it's more mine! I actually started going after Bench of my own volition, which makes it my mess!" She paused. "Okay, the weird superpowered alien clone is entirely your mess," she conceded, "but I knew from the moment I first put on the mask that things might get a little hairy now and then. I'm not going to cut and run just because we're going into..." she gestured vaguely at the mouth of the cave, "...Moria." She stopped to catch her breath, feeling that she had made her point. Then something else occurred to her. "Unless you meant that I should just go alert someone and come straight back because I can run really fast. I'm okay with doing that." There was a silence. "Uh, anyway, inward?"
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"Right-" Queenie was gone. Starlight blinked against the sudden rush of air caused by her flight. "...behind you," she finished belatedly. She's fast. Eager to find out what the object on the radar was, she supposed - a sentiment she shared. Too big to be a ship? Starlight was no mariner, but even she could tell you that ships were pretty damned big. So whatever was out there was even bigger, and headed their way. Joy. It never went smooth. How come it never went smooth? She sighed and headed out onto the ship's deck, going at a much slower pace than Queenie. So, sea monster. Gotta be. The only question is how many tentacles. The prospect of duking it out with a giant maneating oyster did hold a certain appeal, she supposed. If nothing else, it would make for a hell of a story someday, assuming she lived to tell it. There was nothing to be gained by putting it off, that was for sure. They needed to intercept it before it reached the Mictlan and the innocent people aboard. She squinted off in the direction the radar had indicated, rolling her shoulders, then crouched, readying herself. Then, with a flash that lit up half the ship, she took off, flying after Queenie at a speed that devoured the distance between them, leaving a glowing contrail of light behind her.
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Whumph. Echo was beside them. "Jack! Wasn't expecting to run into you here! You here about the missing dumpsters too?" Without waiting for him to reply, she spun and stared at the lights contemplatively. "It's something to do with time all right, I can tell you that. I can kind of sense these things too." Apparently. "Fortunately for me though, I don't get it as papercuts all over my tongue, which sounds deeply unpleasant." She stroked her chin. "If I had to guess, and I do, I'd say we're looking at a time portal. But not a stable one. Feels..." she searched for the right word, "not stable. We should probably brace ourselves in case a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger comes blasting out of there." She seemed to remember something and spun back to them. "Don't suppose you all know anything that could enlighten me a bit? 'Someone's stealing stuff' is about all I've managed to put together, and alliteration drives me insane."
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The wind whistled softly in Starlight's ears, stirring her hair around her face. She hovered in the air far above the warehouse, casually allowing the ambient light in the area to pass straight through her body, rendering her completely invisible to the naked eye. "Not quite yet. So far I'm only getting the urge to rob gas stations," she said into her communicator. "If It moves up to banks, I'll be sure to give you a heads-up. Do me a favor and stop me if that happens, 'cause I'd look terrible in a ski mask." She squinted down at the ground, her eyes piercing the darkness with ease. "I can see you all right from up here, but I'll lose you when you go inside. If things go FUBAR in there, just say the word and I'll 'port you both out, okay?" She wasn't used to playing overwatch, but then again, she really wasn't used to being subtle at all.
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When the strange lightning-like energy first appeared, Ellie watched, transfixed. Either there was one hell of an unscheduled light show going in this parking lot, or there was a lot more to the string of thefts than she had first thought. She had been expecting maybe a pickup truck full of drunken frat boys who thought it would be really funny to steal a dumpster, not a...whatever the hell this was. Something in the back of her mind was desperately trying to attract her attention. She shook herself from her reverie and focused, and suddenly she felt a strange sensation that was entirely new to her - it was almost like when she used her own time-manipulating powers, but coming from without instead of within. More than that, there was something about it that felt dangerously erratic, as if it was somehow unstable. An unstable temporal singularity that shot lightning? Her Saturday night just might turn out to be well spent after all. This was, however, not something for Ellie Stein to deal with. With a whumph, she was gone from the bench, instead standing on a nearby rooftop, hopefully away from prying eyes. Bending time around herself for the sake of expedience, she swiftly doffed her civilian clothes and donned her Echo ensemble. She wadded her jeans and T-shirt into her backpack, which she slung over her shoulders before pulling her mask over her face, gathering her legs under her, and leaping. Her gravity-defying jump carried her from the rooftop to the lot where she started, the entire change having taken less than a second. Now that her identity was properly safeguarded, all she had to do was carefully weigh the pros and cons of jumping headfirst into what was probably an unstable time portal. Pro: Best way to die ever. Con: Involves dying.
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ROLLED FOR INITIATIVE BY HGM Echo Added Improved Initiative [1PP]
