R. Bluefish
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"I fly too," Starlight said. "Pretty damn fast. But I don't have that...GPS sense or whatever you would call it. Could actually come in handy if we have trouble finding our way back to land for whatever reason, either on the ship or using our powers." Depending on how they worked, losing communications might mean losing the ship's navigational systems, which would, as far as she knew, leave them hopelessly lost. Fortunately, assuming Queenie's powers worked as advertised, that wouldn't be a problem. While it should be easy to evacuate the people on board, she preferred not to leave this ship here, dead in the water, easy pickings for whoever might take a fancy to it. And if the engines were so damned important that the company actually recruited a team's worth of capes to protect it, that could conceivably be very bad. Of course, if they couldn't safely reactivate the engines, then the ship wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, navigation or no navigation. Depending on how dangerous these engines really were, scuttling her might actually be a viable option. Of course, the company probably wouldn't be too thrilled, but she was having a hard time caring about their profit margins at the moment.
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A wave of car thefts was noteworthy, but not particularly unusual. Trash vanishing out if dumpsters was unusual, but could possibly be attributed to some sort of extremely passionate garbageman who got tired of all the red tape and decided to take matters into his own hands. The dumpsters themselves actually disappearing was a story. One that bore investigating. Ellie Stein sat on a bench across from Al's Liquor Store, pretending to be absorbed in her smartphone. Dressed in plain, unremarkable clothes, with her backpack resting beside to her (and her costume wadded up inside), she was the very image of a bored student out late, waiting for a ride. Or at least she hoped so. As far as she could tell from studying the pattern of thefts, this store would be the next to be cruelly de-dumpstered. As she waited, she wondered if Beth had ever staked out a strip mall for hours on end, ever vigilant for someone trying to pop up and swipe their garbage. Hero's work. Ours is indeed a heavy burden. Oh well. It wasn't as if she had anything better to do with her Saturday night. Still, if something didn't happen soon, she might have to go inside and buy a six-pack to keep her spirits up. Of course, that would be drinking on duty, she reflected soberly. Sometimes it was no fun being a superhero.
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Echo looked at the forest with a touch of nervousness - she was a city mouse, and was never fully at her ease unless everything around her was bathed in reassuringly yellow shades of artificial light. Oh well, facing one's fears is the mark of a true hero, she thought as she jumped down and followed after the Jacks. "If you see a gingerbread house, let me know, 'cause I'm starving," she said. "Also, if you have any breadcrumbs, use 'em now." If nothing else, curiosity kept her going - what in the various Earths were Bench's flunkies (or possibly Bench himself!) doing in the middle of the forest? Birdwatching? Although, come to think of it, the forest was actually a fairly good place to conduct illicit business, she mused. Trees were, by all accounts, pretty damn hard to bug. But that was the kind of precaution one would only take if they were concerned that someone was actively investigating them. Or if they were just seriously paranoid. The first one was possible, she supposed, but the second one seemed more likely. Or, for all she knew, they were out to check on their secret milkshake-powered superbase from which they were going to take over all of the world's daytime television. There was always a certain point when speculation stopped being worthwhile and you just had to go find out for yourself.
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Echo looked from one to the other for a moment before raising a polite finger. "Uh, boys," she interjected, "I hate to interrupt, but my keen detective's intuition tells me that that car over there was at Bench's office. Now, if you just came all the way here for an argument and a nice little dip in the river, then by all means proceed, but I'm in the mood to see what the hell his people are doing on the bank of the Wading River at this time of day." Dumping bodies? she wondered semi-hopefully. It wasn't that she wanted there to be bodies, but it would certainly make things simpler. She was unsure exactly how many bodies a politician could legally dispose of in this state, but she was pretty sure it was less than one. "You want we should all have check it out? I'm sure it'll be the highlight of their day. Or I suppose I could just freeze time - oh, by the way, I can freeze time - and go have a little look-see myself if you want to keep bickering. I won't stop you."
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Echo Freedom's Finest #3: Corrupt To No Good So Great a Cause Starlight A Whole New World Family Food Two Duplicators and Grim Too! Vox
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Starlight cleared her throat and sat forward in her chair, elbows on the table. "I think our first priority needs to be figuring out exactly what's wrong with Festus and the engineers - and, more importantly, where it came from. If it's contagious, we need to know. Even if it isn't, we need to know how they got it. Seems pretty obvious to me it has something to do with the engines, but does shutting them down mean we're safe? And why did Reidiker seal himself in there? Was he trying to prevent this, or was he involved?" An idea occurred to her. "Are there working security cameras in there? If we can get the feed from when everything happened, it might give us some clue of what we're dealing with." She rose and paced from one end of the room to the other. "And we also need to make sure that the sick people get the care they need. I know we have medical personnel on board, but it couldn't hurt to get some help in that regard. But, again, if it's contagious, we don't want to risk exposing anyone else." She threw herself into her chair again. "I have no goddamned idea why we can't contact the outside world, but that would only be a problem if we didn't have superpowers. I can't get sick, from anything, which lessens the risk of me transmitting it to somebody else. And I can teleport pretty much anywhere I want. I can go wherever we need - a hospital, the CDC, whatever. Talk to the real experts. And if it turns out there isn't a risk of infection, then Edge and I can med-evac these people to a proper facility."
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Celery? Waste of perfectly good taste buds, Starlight thought to herself as she pocketed the card with a nod of thanks. The omission of alcohol was not lost on her, and she found herself oddly appreciating it. Booze didn't affect her any more than anything else did, but it was the thought that counted. Besides, once you couldn't get drunk, you realized just how plain nasty the stuff actually tasted. "Creme soda sounds good," she said. After her unexpected burst of honesty, she found herself eager to move on to lighter topics, which in this situation meant just about anything. She slipped her hand into her pocket and felt the card. A job? She tried to think what kind of position she would be actually qualified for, and ran out of ideas around "improvised floodlight."
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A wisecrack sprung to Echo's lips, but she bit it back, sensing that this was a touchy subject, and making jokes about it might not be the most diplomatic move right now. She was quiet for a moment as she ran across the side of a building at super-speed, easily keeping pace with the swinging Jack, then she said, "Well, at least he doesn't seem dangerous. I mean, he isn't razing orphanages or anything, right? He's actually trying to help, in his own...unique way." And he hadn't smeared her like a grease stain across the floor when they ran into each other, which was always the first step towards true friendship. She was no longer quite sure exactly how powerful he was, but she was quite sure she didn't want to find out the hard way. "At any rate, having a crazy clone of yourself is certainly something I can relate to," she said mysteriously. And so far, yours is way less psycho than mine. "So, uh, you got a plan about what to do with him after we sort this out? Just let him do his thing, or is there a way to fix him, or..."
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Several long seconds passed in silence as Starlight stared fixedly at a small tear on the sleeve of her jacket. At last she opened her mouth to speak, but found that no sound came out. She took a gulp of her drink to wash away the lump in her throat before at last finding her voice. "Um. Yeah. You...uh...I think maybe you're right there." Her words sounded weak even to herself. "I mean...I suppose I never really thought about it like that." Vaguely-entertained notions of slipping an anonymous note under Becky's door vanished. That was the coward's way out, and she was tired of taking it. Proud of herself. That was a concept she hadn't seriously considered in a very long time. Even now she wasn't sure she quite accepted it. Nevertheless, t was true that, no matter which way you sliced it, she was a superhero. Most people weren't - which was probably for the best, come to think of it. But she had done a few good things. Not great things. But good things. Things she supposed she was...if not necessarily proud, at least glad she had done. She wasn't ashamed of having done them, which was for her a step in the right direction. She was quiet for another moment, then laughed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Anybody ever tell you you're great people?"
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Engines. Right. Starlight nodded shortly and dashed over to what she sure hoped were the main controls, careful not to let her uncertainty show. She had trouble setting a DVR, much less shutting down experimental ship engines that seemed to be killing everyone on board. Running her eyes over the console, she reassured herself slightly with the fact that it didn't look particularly high-tech. How hard could it be to just flip the "off" switch? Of course, older tech probably meant fewer security protocols that would prevent some idiot from accidentally blowing up the boat by pushing the wrong button, but this was a time to focus on the positive side of things. Buttons, switches, dials, levers...would to kill them to have a goddamned manual? She gritted her teeth. Unless her unusual physiology would protect her, there was a 50/50 chance she would start puking blood everywhere in the next thirty seconds. Screw it! Eenie, meenie, miney...she yanked a large, promising-looking red lever. Moe. She jumped back from the console, one hand curled into a glowing fist, ready to blast it into slag if something went wrong. Instead, the noise and hum of the engines waned, then died. She let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Okay. So that takes care of that.
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Disable Device check: 1d20+1 11
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The corners of Starlight's mouth tightened. "Yeah. I suppose I have to." The thought of facing Becky again made a deep ache form in the pit of her stomach. "Looking forward to that conversation." Hey, I know I haven't seen you in years, but I thought I should just drop by and let you know that Arthur might have superpowers. Okay, sayonara. She imagined it would end with her receiving a well-deserved punch in the face. Didn't have much of a choice, though. Now that she was actually stopping to think about it for five f---ing seconds, the possibility of Arthur having powers was very real. And more than that, what if his powers were dangerous? Hers certainly were. She had been able to control them well enough to not accidentally destroy any buildings, but he was just a kid. Kids could barely ride bicycles without being dangers to society, not to mention themselves.
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Echo blinked, suddenly alone in the office. With a sigh, she glanced from the melted scar in the back door to the shattered windowpane. Yeah, they're probably going to notice that. Oh well. Subtlety was overrated anyway. Breaking stuff was more fun. At any rate, the good news was that Grack seemed to have some idea of what to do next. Her best plan had been to sit on her heels for a until next Monday, and try to follow Bench when he left the office to do whatever-it-was. And she hated waiting. So, when given the choice of sitting around for a week, or following after Jack of all Blade and the Meta-Grue (with a few screws loosened), it was a no-brainer. She hopped nimbly through the broken window to the sidewalk outside, then paused to bend time around herself. The reality warper stretched, cracked her neck, and took off, running with superhuman speed straight up the side of the building after the Jacks. Keeping up shouldn't be much of a problem, at least.
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Having come down to the engine room to investigate her hunch further, Starlight gritted her teeth in frustration at the setback. Whether or not her idea about the engines causing the captain's sickness was correct, Reidiker at least certainly seemed to want to keep them from shutting them down, which was to her a very good reason to shut them down as soon as possible. What the hell is he playing at? What does he stand to gain from this? She would try to figure that out later. She had no idea how to help the captain, so she needed to focus on killing those engines. And getting a hold of Reidiker and asking the bespectacled little bastard a few pointed questions. And to do that, they needed to get through those blast doors. With another flash of light, she was back at the Captain's Table. "Got a problem down below," she said shortly. "Remember when Reidiker got that message on his phone, and he suddenly had someplace to be? He's in the engine room, and he's sealed himself in down there. Don't know why, but after what just happened to Festus, it can't be good. And if that blast door is really designed to withstand a superhuman attack, even we'll have a hell of a time blasting through it. And I can't teleport inside without knowing exactly where I'm going. Anyone have any ideas?"
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"Politics utterly fascinate me," Echo lied, "which was how, once I turned over a few rocks, I found out that Bench's voting numbers don't quite add up. Once I knew that, I figured it was my civic duty to come on down here and make his life as interesting as possible." With a glance at Jack and Grue-Jack (Grack?), she decided that Bench's life was about to get very interesting indeed. "Unfortunately," she continued, whumping in mid-sentence over to the desk where she had stashed the day planner, "Benchie Boy seems to run a pretty tight ship. I was kinda hoping to find a written confession on his desk, or at least a secret torture chamber behind the bookshelf, but he's a canny one all right. This," she pulled out the day planner, "is the most suspicious thing I've found so far. And I've been over every inch of this place." Whumph. She appeared once more on the ceiling above Jack. If she was Escher Girl now, she was determined to own it. She dropped the book down into his hand. "Catch. So, see anything...curious? Hint, look at his Mondays."
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"With my family." Where he should be. "And no, they don't know about me. You know. What I can do. What I am doing." For a brief, absurd moment, Starlight wondered what Becky would think of it all. For years when they were girls, they had dreamed of nothing but becoming heroes. Now she was one. At least, she fit the profile. She had powers and ran around using a stupid goddamned comic-book name and terrorized people the law said it was okay to terrorize. Becky had always been the nice sister. She had always had a kind word for everyone, while Sam had never been able to resist the opportunity to make a sarcastic remark. Becky had been the one who would stop and help if she saw someone who she thought needed it. Sam had maintained a pretty strict "not my problem" policy. So why was she the one with the powers? Why her, the selfish junkie, and not Becky, the kindhearted straight-A medical student who would make a better hero than Sam could ever hope to be? All she could think was that someone upstairs had made a serious mistake. God grabbed the wrong file.
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Starlight exploded out of her seat and slammed her mask back on all in one motion. There was a flash of light that momentarily turned the room a brilliant white, and then she was beside the captain without bothering to cross the space that separated them. "Captain!" She swept her gaze across the assembled guests, then jabbed a finger at DeMonaco. "You! Get the doctor! Now!" She looked back at the others. "Does anyone here know any medicine?" She cursed herself for not knowing first aid. She wasn't sure how much good first aid would do for a man who was vomiting blood, it was better than doing nothing. This was one problem she couldn't solve with lasers. Already her mind was racing to find possible causes of the Captain's sudden sickness. He had been fine just moments before. Something in the food? If it was poison, everyone at the table except her was in serious trouble. They were going to need to talk to the cooks...or was she being paranoid? Maybe he was just sick to begin with...no. People didn't go from talking cheerfully to throwing up half their internal organs within the space of a second. Not normally. So poison? Could be. But what if it wasn't? What had happened right before he... She rounded on the rest of the room. "Shut down the engines!" she barked to one in particular. "Shut them down!" Overcautious, probably, but when it came to experimental tech combined with sudden blood-vomiting, there was no such thing as overcautious.
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Echo looked at the doppelganger thoughtfully. "Actually," she said, "as far as I can tell, he's here for the same reason I am." With a few taps on her phone, she brought up a picture of Bench and held it up for Jack to see. "Stewart Bench. Running for city council. We've been after him for a while. I mean, look at that. That tie with that jacket? The upside-down fashion police want him. Bad." She paused, then added as if as an afterthought, "There's also some stuff about voter fraud." She sprang down nimbly from the wall to the floor. "I'm Echo, and before you ask, yes, that is totally my real name. I was just here poking around in a perfectly legal fashion when this guy slashed through the door and started demonstrating his language skills all over the place."
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Echo looked back and forth from Jack to...other Jack and got a feeling like she had walked in at the end of a play and had some serious catching up to do. Well, at least the real Jack isn't dead or something. It was important to be able to look on the bright side of things. "You guys go to the same tailor or something?" she asked drily. "Because I just love your outfits. Did they have a sale at the mall on The Modern Swashbuckler's Ensemble? You decide to dress alike?" She peered at the strange, floating Meta-Grue (and she was pretty sure that was who it was - albeit a few crossed wires upstairs, perhaps). "Although..." Whumph. She stood on the wall beside Jack - the presumably real Jack. "Your ears aren't quite right. They should be pointier, like this guy's. And your face just stays the same all the time. Boring." Whumph. She was back on the ceiling with the Grue-Jack. "He's got the right idea. Shifting features, pointy ears, not afraid to go upside down when he needs to...the very image of a hero." Whumph. "Seriously, though," she whispered in Jack's rounded ear, "what the hell is going on here? He thinks he's you. Kinda."
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Echo Freedom's Finest #3: Corrupt to No Good Starlight A Whole New World Family Food Vox
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Starlight fidgeted slightly with the edge of her new mask as she approached the captain's cabin, still unused to the feel of it against her skin. It was made of a hard, inflexible material, but molded to fit the lower half of her face so it could be as comfortable as possible. When she'd been offered the opportunity to act as security aboard the Mictlan, the first thing she had decided was that if she was going to be on board a cruise ship full of civilians with cameras, her disguise was going to have to be a little thicker. Her new outfit hadn't cost as much as she'd feared - the lightly reinforced black bodysuit, mask, and pale grey jacket had been pricey, but affordable, especially since food was technically a luxury item for her. Getting rid of the ponytail had been a bit of a shame, but her hair had been getting too long to be practical, and her new short haircut worked better with the mask anyway. She did feel a new-found sense of security and confidence now that she knew her face was concealed - if she was going to start moving more into the public eye, relying on anonymity and obscurity to protect her identity wasn't going to work. She entered the cabin, nodded silently but politely to the room, and took her seat. Ever since getting her new outfit, she had been feeling considerably less verbal for some reason. She hesitated briefly when her eye landed on the food laid out before her. A meal like that wasn't easy to pass up, but it removing her mask in front of people she didn't know, even other heroes, didn't seem like a good habit to get into. After a moment's thought, she shrugged inwardly and reached around the back of her head, undid the sturdy clasp that held it in place, and, pulling it off, set it aside. It wasn't as if anyone here would recognize her, and they all seemed trustworthy enough. Of course, most people did at first, but being invited to dine at the captain's table only to show up and not eat anything would probably be seen as an insult, and she didn't feel like getting keelhauled.
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Thread Recruitment: Roll My Windows Down and Cruiiise
R. Bluefish replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Archives
I'll put Starlight forward for this. She isn't particularly high-profile publicly, but as you suggested, maybe Richard and Paige set it up for her, since they know she could use the money. -
FLARED BY HGM Spending 11PP on Starlight to bring her up to level caps. Also shifting around a fair number of points and updating the fluff. Removed "Impoverished" Complication, since it no longer appliesIncreased Wisdom to 16 (6PP)Increased Charisma to 12 (4PP)Increased base Fortitude from 2 to 4 (2PP)Added 12 skill ranks (4 to Bluff, 2 to Intimidate, 6 to Knowledge [streetwise]) (3PP)Increased Attack Focus (ranged) to Rank 5 (2PP)Increased Dodge Focus to Rank 5 (2PP)Added Environmental Control 3 (bright light; Flaw: Range [Touch]) (3PP)Reduced Flight to Rank 1 (-8PP)Applied Flaw (Limited to 50% effectiveness) to Immunity 10 (light effects) (-5PP)Removed Precise from Light Control (-1PP)Increased Light Control to Rank 12.5 (1PP)Retitled Light Control as PhotokinesisChanged "BP: Environmental Control 12" to "BP: Enhanced Environmental Control 11 + Feature 3 (Buys off Range flaw on Environmental Control)"Added Precise power feat to BlastAdded Progression power feat to Area BlastChanged AP: "Dazzle 12 (sunburst; visual; Extras: Burst area; Flaws: Touch range)" to "Dazzle 10 (sunburst; visual; Extras: Area [Burst, General]; Flaws: Touch range)"Added AP: Enhanced Flight 12 (1PP)Added a second rank of Progression to TeleportUpgraded Super-Senses 1 (ultravision) to Super-Senses 2 (darkvision) (1PP)All in all, a net total of 11PP spent, with 0 remaining.
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"No. I'm not. Not exactly." The lump in Starlight's throat had returned. From what she remembered telling Richard of herself, she imagined he could probably put the rest together himself. Which would mean you don't have to say any more, said the nasty voice. And you'd like that, wouldn't you? It didn't happen if you don't talk about it, is that the idea? She sighed heavily. "I don't have him any more. Haven't for...a while now." She rested her elbows on the table and pinched the bridge of her nose. She could feel a headache coming on. "Wasn't a very good mom. He's with...someone else now." For some reason, she still couldn't muster the energy to talk about Becky. Fatigue seemed to be seeping into every muscle in her body, filling her bones with lead. Her eyes were worn and very, very tired.
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Starlight immediately cursed herself for her own transparency. Stupid, stupid. "Uh, no. I mean, maybe. That is...just wondering. Curious. You know. Don't know much about how that all works, so..." She trailed off feebly. She felt as if she was digging herself into a hole, and every word out of her mouth was another shovelful of dirt. Out of nowhere, she felt a peculiar pang of guilt. Still lying, huh? said a nasty voice in the back of her head. I guess some things never change. Coming to their house, meeting their kids, eating their food, and lying through her teeth. All hail the noble heroine, savior of us all. Heroine. Ha. The homophone drew an involuntary bitter chuckle from her. F--k it. She leaned back in her seat and gazed up at the sky. Stars will be coming out soon. "I was wondering about my son." With those words, it felt like something that had been blocking her windpipe had suddenly been dislodged. "I'm worried that he might have my powers."