shojikitsune

Zephyr targets the negativity she felt. With a deep breath, the psychic began to radiate love, like that she felt for her parents. It's a warm, gentle sensation, designed to blunt all other forms of emotional manipulation. From the outside, the entire building and a radius equal to its height was suddenly blanketed in a softly glowing amber dome. There was no resistance to the dome, and it had no affect on the nonliving. Living things, however, found the warmth and compassion a parent feels for their child radiating through them.Nothing hampers people from passing in or out of the dome either, it's not a force field or barrier. An upset dog that was barking quieted and sat with its head tilted as if merely curious. A baby stopped crying. And a teenage couple on the side street who had arguing suddenly stopped and are staring at each other and blushing furiously. Oracle knew fear, loss, anger, and despair, and she knew how to counter them. She will push her powers to encompass a radius matching the height of the building, in case there are people nearby who were affected. The warm emotions she projected won't cause any harm to anyone who wasn't affected, but could save the lives of those who were, While she radiated love and peace, she searched the office for the source of the scratching noise that was coming over the PA. If there was indeed a record player or other device, than the record itself may well be a clue. Once she has whatever caused the disturbance disconnected from the PA, she used the PA system herself to compliment her wave of compassionate love. She keeps her voice calm, reasonable, quiet but firm. The last thing these people needed were more loud shocks to their system, but they were more likely to listen if they calmed down even a little. "This is Oracle. Your emotions have been toyed with. What you have been feeling is not genuine. Focus on my voice. Cast aside negative emotions like hate and fear, and think of a cherished memory. Draw strength from that image, whomever and whatever it may be, whether a person, a place, a thing, or an ideal. Things should return to normal very soon." She readied her phone to call one of the instructors at Clairemont, since this job may be too big to handle on her own. She sensed two rather resolute minds nearby. Heroes on patrol approaching heroically. It made her feel even happier knowing that she wasn't trying to fix this alone.

Zephyr pauses for a moment, looking at the hill figures. Something about them seems odd, though not particularly menacing. Then she realizes that it may well be a subconscious pop reference, since they might be, well, giants. "That's stretching it..." That aside, she will move down the path, noting that the flowers are Eileen, just like the rest of this place. If it was the *memory* of a dream though, Eileen should still be beside her analyzing it. If it was a subconscious area, then it gave her an interesting insight into Eileen's mind. Could someone have given Eileen a drug or something that put her under? Could Eileen somehow have received the powers while in a dream or trance? If so, the beginning and the end of the session might be good places to consider revisiting. She should still be able to see these memories, the slumber party and the following morning. If she can't call them up either, than this is going to be far riskier. She's going to reserve judgement and merely observe as she closes with the strange object at the far end of the road. Whatever else was going on, it was a clue. Since following the path seemed the logical choice, and she couldn't bypass it, she could, however, fast forward along it. Still, this is abnormal, perhaps she's sprung some sort of arcane trap now - something left behind in case the glare of the mystic light was overcome. She could only hope it wasn't the case, but she watches the path, hill men and the distant object the path seems to lead to in an effort to gauge real progress or to test the theory that she's gone too far. Still, it shouldn't be long before she reaches whatever that odd, distant object is, since it's clearly something important. "Eileen, Eileen, what a place you have here. Now, if a cartoon taxi pulls alongside me and says 'I'm the Cabbie, *I'LL* Drive," I'll know you can hear me. If not, then I am going to have to start asking the flowers..." And the journey continues, although with some trepidation given how deep this probe has gone. She will fly her mental image rapidly down the path, hoping to make up some time by not having to move at a walking pace. Maybe the flowers or something will react to her speaking, or even singing. "Some-where, over the rainbow, way up high....."

Alright, corrected the toughness glitch. I actually have left it as her getting all her Toughness from her Force Field right now. After all, she's very much a normal human without her drones. I may have misread somewhere that a certain percentage of the defenses can't come from powers? I may be confused again. Further reduced Strength and Intelligence to free up points. However, then Increased Device to Rank 7 to increase Force Field back to 7 ranks and increased Flight by 1 more rank. Completely negated the reduction from attributes, I think. More corrections likely are still to be made. If I keep hammering at it, I'll get it eventually. Thanks for your patience.

Zephyr comically face palms. "This is worse than Inception. Am I in an Utena anime here? I suspect I've just bored all the way through to your subconscious." Since flying isn't working like it should, she begins to walk briskly along the path towards the distant object, looking for clues. As she walked, she puzzled over the last question she had asked. this was the answer, of that there was no doubt. Where are you when you get your powers? If that was the case, then this may be a sort of trance state, or even a fragment of a dream. What if Eileen had been asleep when the tattoos were given to her? Zephyr knew a dozen ways to make someone's mind think it needed sleep, and that was without factoring in magic. With an alien sky overhead, there is no time reference, no way to link this memory to the outside world. If so, there may still be a way. She's had contact with people who were sleeping, even actively dreaming. Can this odd diffused sense of self match that sensation? In any case, she will need to find the conscious Eileen to ask further questions. Trance, the deep subconscious or sleeping memory means no one to ask the questions of, and no further use of the mind probe until then. At least not verbally. Zephyr tries to superimpose the image of the tattoo she saw earlier over the scene she is in, seeing if nonverbal telepathic contact can be established. She conjures images that they should share common memories of, like street signs, Eileen's overly long-titled textbook, Daffy Duck and the image of the tattoo. If she doesn't get any sort of response soon, as she heads for the stone, she'll consider breaking the telepathic link and checking on Eileen in the physical world.

"And these are soooo cute!" Zephyr added in her text along with an image link of the shoes she was admiring. Sure, she could afford them, but just barely. Maybe she should have gotten Eileen or some of the other girls from class to come along with her. The young girl was simply having a good time as she did mostly window-shopping - especially with the cost of the shoes still weighing down on her. But as she strode towards the mall's food court, her predictions of Cajun chicken, rice and a soda were rapidly clouding over with a sense of foreboding that rivaled the gloom caused by PE class. And then it happened. She stopped just short of the food court as the skylight directly behind her shattered, and thugs dressed like extras from "Stargate" began to land and converge on the mall's jewelery store. Much waving of weapons and noise later, and she got a crude count of six thugs with heavy weapons and armor. BUT the way they had entered had her curious, and she expanded her mind to scan the area around the Mall as well. In scanning for villains, she picked up on one rather irate person who was more offended by the actions of the armored men even than she was. A formidable presence was already heading towards the jewelry store from the far side of the Mall, and while Oracle couldn't follow the language of the person's thoughts, she could recognize righteous anger. Whomever was coming, it was a possible ally. Taking a deep breath, the girl gave up on her lunch, sacrificing her place in line to teleport close to that oncoming storm of righteous fury. In a flash of yellow and black light, she appears in front of none other than the mighty Sekmet! It says something about the young girl that she isn't fazed in the least. "Sekmet. Right where I expected to find you. I am called Oracle." She turned and looked towards the jeweler's door, where the thug with the bizarre spear-gun had just taken his position. Oracle was surrounded by a faint but ever-growing saffron-hued ward, but wisely stepped to the side since she didn't want to be seen as part of the problem. "I foresee that your directness will let me teleport behind them. Just a suggestion of course."

Click, click, click.... Polished dress shoes tapped out a soft rhythm on concrete. Zephyr strode away from the calmness of the lake shore, her book sliding into her backpack. Summertime, and her home's AC was on the fritz. She had predicted that the fuse on the ancient device would go out, and her parents had reacted with their usual level of apprehension - considering her uncanny accuracy other times. But in this case, it hadn't been a premonition. Although her home was lovely, it had an ancient wiring system and still used conventional screw-in fuses. That lovely archaic technology, left to them by her great-grandmother, along with the house itself and the ring she wore... was the reason she was at the lake rather than her stifling upstairs room at the old house. The wiring had never been intended for central air. At least it was a fuse and not the wiring itself. Click, click, click... The sound was barely audible against the city's noise. Finally, the sun had set, and the still air was cooling as she began walking towards the park exit. The hustle and hum of city life echoed on another level with the young psychic, a background of softly dissonant thoughts merging like a buzzing of a beehive, a white noise that she was used to. Although she was as aware of the minds around her as she was the physical presence, sometimes the former gave her more insight than the latter, Click, cli... She stopped mid step, lavender eyes widening in shock. Her long raven hair and summer dress swirled in a breeze that no one else was affected by, and a visible shudder of revulsion ran through the young girl's form. Like ripples from a pond, a twisted wave of toxic emotions passed her by. She senses the effect it has on people around her, and uses that, crudely triangulating from the minds around her that are affected and their distance from her - a distance the powerful psychic measured in *miles*. Steeling her will, she vanishes in a column of crackling yellow and black light. She teleported towards the center of the disturbance, leaving a series of saffron flashes in her wake, recalculating her math with each jump. But what will she find?

And here's the die roll for the third question! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4828439/ Yay Dice

Zephyr marveled at the view, and makes a joke to the diffuse but still present Eileen, even feigning a Brooklyn/Flatbrush accent, in an eerie but near spot-on Bugs Bunny voice. "Ya know, I knew we should've taken dat left turn at Al-Be-Quer-Kay." Her mispronunciation is deliberate, as she takes advantage of the sense link to try drawing herself to where Eileen's persona is the strongest. Once she's gotten a better fix on things, she'll have a closer look around, like at the symbols on the stone. Then, unless there's something relevant there, she'll see if she can shortcut towards the item in the distance that the road seems to lead to by flying in a straight line through the memories and over the back and forth meander of the road. Once she is satisfied that they've broken through the worst of the blue light, then she will admire how all the memories seem to fit. "Now, I get the feeling we're not completely done here, so I wonder: How did you get here from the slumber party?"

And the mental probe roll is roll is: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4824587/ Tadaaaa! I will add the Signature block soon.

And now things were starting to come together. This was where things became more interesting, as she linked the common threads in the memories."Fortunately, we don't need the Ark of the Covenant just yet." She takes a long at the related memories, stepping through them to ensure they are still in order. Apparently, something had pulled Eileen from the slumber party into an altogether different place - but not necessarily time. One advantage of a globe is it can be day in one place and night in another. At least it hadn't been a repressed memory from when Eileen was, say, five or something. "We can take a closer look at this as well." Objects seen from other angles, like the rocks, trees and road are filled out, brought into a 3-d resolution like the slumber party. Objects Eileen never saw the whole of remain weirdly flat. This sharpens the image of the standing stone, wall, path and the time of day roughly as Zephyr takes a deep breath. "Anyway, let's see what else we can find out." Zephyr takes particular note of the trail or path, as there may be signs as to where it goes or comes from, a valuable clue that can be sharpened up. this should also give a better indication of how Eileen got to and back from this place. "The question posed to the Oracle is (and this time both girls can hear the dramatic opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra): Where are you when you get your powers?" The question seems so tiny....

Zephyr raises an eyebrow, her expression remaining relatively neutral. "Are you seeing what I am seeing? Ahem...that question was brought to you by the Ministry of Redundancy Ministry." She deadpans. She flies the gestalt through the scene, looking back at Eileen at the moment her powers were received and examining the blue sky, the rock, the wall and the tree. This is very likely not what either of them had expected. "Eileen, I don't think we're in Kansas any more." She looks around for the cluster of other blue windows in Eileen's memory, many of which should now be far less blue if they happened after this, and have the same rock, wall and tree in place. Where in the sequence of memory windows are we? Are we even IN the sequence, or did Eileen get her powers long before that night? She doesn't consider the inverse, that Eileen gets her powers in the Future, since she can't see past the memory of Now, ever changing as it is. She could see a vast conical spiral of Future, data still entering Eileen's mind, to unstable for her current powers to examine. No, this bit had already happened. They had the When, but When was this When? "I'm glad you've kept your mind organized. No ear-worm songs, no randomness, nothing out of order. I may allow myself some jealousy - for all the power of my mind, it's like traipsing around in a haunted house set from a Scooby Doo episode in there." (the theme from the '60's cartoon plays in the background, a common memory the two girls likely share.) After trying to put this memory in order with the others, and seeing if there's anything unusual about the items in the memory, perhaps she can use that break in the blue light to press further with the next question.

Alright, before I make any major changes, I bought the +3 Base in Toughness, thinking (yup, that was my first mistake, haha) that it was purchased like every other save Also, possible I confused it with Fortitude when calculating things. This led to the additional math errors. My apologies for this. If I shift 4 more PP into the device and bring my Force field back up to +7, I am still getting all my Toughness from the Force field, which was the problem I thought I had to somehow fix. If I am mistaken, and cannot buy Toughness with PP and I cannot receive the Toughness just from the Force Field, then my only solution is to raise my Con, correct? Or am I missing something here? Also, may once again be mixing up Toughness and Fortitude. in my brain. Corrected the attack line and defense/flatfooted errors, but am now completely confused on Toughness saves, Force fields and Stuff. The Skill Cap issue was another error on my part. I had several Skills that with a combination of ranks, bonuses and feats were 14+ and I thought the TOTAL skill cap for was PL+5. I didn't know it could go a little over. It also helped me save a few points, though what I saved was lost in the other glaring errors. I swear, my next character is going to be something box-stock, just to make thing easier on all of us.

Zephyr moves closer to the virtual Eileen and chuckled slightly. "Oh, this is just the beginning. One important difference between an illusion and this - this is real. These are your memories of that night, laid out in chronological order. Of course, we're looking at the surface, and there is far more to see. The fact that a window opened up, even if it is washed out with light, is important. It means there's a memory there. It's not just empty space. Now, we start playing 20 questions. I'll ask the question, you answer it even if you can't. Think hard on it and ride the power to the truth, and the relevant window will be filled in rather than blank. It may even be a new window." She concentrates, and there's a distinct shift as they are surrounded by the blue light, clearly immersed in the time between the two fixed memories. With a shimmer, the two psychic projections merge into a single green feminine shape, and Eileen is moved to first-person perspective, although it's clear that Zephyr is linked to every sense she has. "The question posed to the Oracle is: When did you get the tattoos?"

OK, here's the Power roll for Oracle's telepathic probe. Sorry for the long wait. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4822386/ This is basically trying to filter down some of the blue light, and lets her ask ONE question. I've formatted it in the post, but have no idea if the roll gets past the threshold set by Cerulean's mental blocks. The alternative is to describe taking 20 on the check, which can push this to a 30, or spending a Hero Point which might get better results. Not sure if you want me to describe the resulting action or if Eileen should.

Alright, addressing each issue as we go along. Corrected the application of the Attractive feat. Corrected typos in Skills list, added Bluff to maximize the use of the Attractive Feat. Reduced several skills that were more than PL +5 after Feats. accounted for some of the points i was over. Corrected attributes math error. Reduced her Intelligence to 24 to account for 2 of the points I am over. Added Shield Power to Device. Reduced Force Field Power significantly. Device powers grouped together better. No points change on Device. Device rank noted. Bought 3 points of Fortitude to solve all the Fort save coming from force field power. reduced Force field + Fort now at cap, I think. (3+4=7) Corrected math errors at bottom of sheet. After all additions, corrections and reductions i show a 105 point character now. But as we know, me and maths...

OK, several changes. I bought the Drones as a Hard to Remove, Restricted 2 Device. I'm going to guess that Lexi has given the drones some sort of sensor that references her voice print, DNA and a dozen biometric readouts, meaning that there's only one person she knows of that can make the drones give superpowers. She's still not sure what to do with mimics and shape-shifters, depending on how good they are... That cost 26, giving 30 in the Device. I increased Flight to 4 and added Accurate to the Attack Array. That brought the Device up to speed. I then went over her Feats and changed a few (which didn't change any costs) then added 2 Feats. Attractive and Improvised Tools. Both fit the concept and are useful. Lastly, I shuffled some Skill ranks around, to make sure she had a lot more useful skills, even if they aren't all at cap. At least, I don't believe any of them exceed PL cap. But it's math, and that's usually a bad thing when I am trying stuff. Sorry about that.

Zephyr nodded, and led Eileen into the scene briefly, the reconstruction still had some fuzzy spots. Probably due to things Eileen hadn't seen. All in all it was a really sharp image. "Ok, you have an exceptional memory. That makes any time missing even more peculiar. Now, let's jump ahead, see how the scene changes." She concentrates on the wall clock, knowing that it's presence gives the scene an anchor in time and space. "We are going to bracket the scenes. First, let's bring up your memory of waking up-here." The scene has Eileen looking at herself in the mirror, making a face and dealing with bed-hair. She doesn't seem to have noticed the cerulean tattoos just yet. Eileen and Zephyr both can tell that the discovery is just heartbeats away. The reason this scene was brought up is clear. In the reflection, the reversed bedside clock is visible, reading 8:03 AM. "Now, let's see what happens in between." The positioning of the scene shifts like liquid. The image flattens to a 2D representation, leaving them standing in a much more 'normal' resolution mental projection of the Claremont front lawn. Around the pair, images open up, snapshots of high resolution, spaced about 20 minutes to a half hour apart. The two memories of time bookend the circle of 3' by 5' images, each set off from the background scene with that familiar crackling yellow/black border that marks Zephyr's power, each one rendered in highest possible detail. Within each block is a clock, wristwatch, cell phone or other time piece used as a reference if possible, and is an educated guess if not. The camera pans around to reveal...

Sounds like i am making a math error, actually. I will revise the character.

OK, so, my Telepathy's Perception ranged and I'm using my Mental Awareness to perceive Eileen's mind, so no to hit is needed, iirc. As for HDR photography, if you're not familiar with it, it stand for High Dynamic Range - some times with Imaging tagged onto the end. I've got an example here. On the left is the 'standard' image, and at far right, the HDR image. Basically, enhances contrast and brightens the image up considerably, but can look somewhat Salvatore Dali level surreal as well. For an in-game way of explaining this, she's stripping away the mental filtering over each image, and that in turn reveals more of the data that was always there.

"Those are interesting analogies, true. I exaggerated the side effects, Telepathy itself usually has none." She tilted her head, "You are thinking about a flashlight. Illumination of the penumbra. And even linking your powers thematically to it." She sighed, and then straightened up, "OK, I'd give you some mumbo-jumbo about 'look into my eyes' but that's just window dressing." And then her eyes flashed a brilliant yellow color, and Eileen could hear her, inside her head, mostly being silly. "ECHO! ( with actual sound effects - 'echo, echo, echo'...) Ahem... Now, I want to see what you *do* remember, starting with the last thing you are absolutely certain of from that evening." Meanwhile, as if in a vision, as the scene come into focus, everything stands out in the shimmering yellow light the image of Zephyr begins to produce. Everything begins to take on the surreal clarity of an HDR photograph that a yellow Zephyr and (naturally) blue Eileen can walk around and examine in minute detail.

Zephyr ponders, "Well, it's possible but it's got risks. Like those medicine commercials. You know the ones that show happy healthy people having fun while rapidly saying" and her voice shifts, eerily flat, noninflected, and unnaturally fast , "This drug has side effects, most common side effects are bloating, nausea, bad breath and death." Returning to her normal pitch and tone, she continues, "I usually reserve mind probes for those who 'won't' talk. I've never tried to recover memories from people who can't." Zephyr can be seen contemplating it, "Since we don't know what will happen, let's at least wait till classes are over. I still have..." Somehow, ominous music plays in the background, and a dark raincloud appears over the young telepath's head (probably an audio/visual illusion)... "P.E. I'll meet you in front of the school if I survive." "Don't worry, I can still make it to class." She can be heard buttering something about 'true evil' and 'locker room', and zzzzzt.... she's gone, in a yellow and black swirl. It should only be about 40 minutes, give or take, before the younger heroine is available again. Time advances, and Zephyr takes a seat on the bench outside the front door. She's a little early - happens when you teleport. "Wonder if she'll show? It's kinda risky, after all - stirring around in someone's brain always is."

This choice to not use a device is all based on the assumption that i am reading the Device power right. I don't want to waste points in containers by having to go one rank over, or reduce her powers to make them fit. The math for the Device seems to have been based on a PL 10 Character, because you can divide Rank 10 Powers neatly. 20 points of Blast=Hard to Lose Device 15. PL 7 leaves odd points that either has to be dropped to make it fit, or you have to overbuy Device and you have PP inside left over that you can't use on the Power, because that makes it much closer to PL 8. It basically gave me a headache. I rationalized it by saying the 'drones' are relatively small, cheap, and disposable. Maybe even recyclable. And with her wealth, they are a trivia expense for the power they grant.

Player Name: Shojikitsune Character Name: Apex Power Level: 7 (105 PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30 In Brief: Poor little rich girl who wants to play with the other heroes. Frustrated because she is trying to reverse-engineer 31st century technology “as that TV character put it, ‘using stone knives and bearskins’. It’s a wonder I haven’t pulled out my hair!” Residence: If you have to ask, you can’t make it past the gate… Base of Operations: Various. Catchphrase: “MUST I *remind* you of my superiority?” Alternate Identity Alexandria Lorne Identity: Public Birthplace: unknown Occupation: Brat, engineer. genius, dilettante, multibillionaire. Affiliations: LorneTek, The Financial District, banking and robotics industries, fashion industry Family: Parents – everyone has them. Alexandria’s are stuck in a stasis field from the 31st century. Such an unfortunate accident. She hopes to free them soon. Description: Age: 21 (D.O.B.: 1998) Gender: Female Ethnicity: Caucasian. Height: 5’8” Weight: 120 lbs. (Dawson! Are you giving confidential information to the media again?!) REDACTED Eyes: Green Hair: Red Alexandria Lorne is a strikingly attractive young Human redhead who takes pride in her long, almost waist-length hair. She has medium green eyes, a light smattering of freckles, and a heart-shaped, very attractive face. She dresses in avant-garde cutting edge designs from only custom labels. Power Descriptions: Lexi is a engineering genius, who has designed a series of labor, construction and rescue suits. She is possibly the best mind in LorneTek, and has dedicated herself to understanding, reverse-engineering, and eventually disseminating the knowledge that makes the high-tech temporal device they have recovered work. The sooner she solves this problem, the sooner her parents and their co-workers can be freed. Although she has designed some impressive robotic suits, most are far to clumsy for superhero work. Instead, she has developed other systems from the detailed research notes on the strange device. Key to her public heroic efforts are the LT series drone system. The LT series drones consist of 2 or more disk-shaped devices, generally fielded in pairs to overcome their limited individual functionality. An LT Drone will generate a force field and interpose itself between its owner and a designated threat. Alternatively, it can use the force field projector to fire a bolt of stunning force. This is why they are often fielded in pairs. Stepping onto a drone's force field platform allows the rider to fly, much like riding a surfboard. These LT drones form the basis for her powers. To detail those powers, Lexi can 'ride' the force field effect, allowing her to fly - although very slowly. They provide a fair amount of defense, although she's aware that they'll overload against seriously heavy attack. Offensively, they can fire cylindrical bolts of force a fair distance, generate a massive kinetic potential to anywhere on her body to deliver a stunning melee attack, or attach themselves to a target and apply a 'zero-point' force field that resists the actions of the person inside it, slowing or immobilizing a target. Tactically, Lexi uses her flight and kinetic blasts to engage enemies. She can deploy the snare drones early, trying to reduce any incoming attacks. If she must get close or go past a target, or if the force bolts and snare don't stop the threat, she will use her stun punches and kicks. She is not a trained fighter, and knows she must stay at range to be most effective. Lexi is likely to have dozens of these small, ring-like drones on her at any given time, and can activate them with manual or voice commands. Although powerful, they are not 'smart' and do not engage in complex plans on their own. This is a deliberate move on Lexi's part. She is fully aware she could create an AI to run the drones and reduce her workload managing them, but is rightfully concerned that making robots as smart as herself might not be the greatest idea. Unknown to many people, Lexi's set of drones are ever-evolving prototypes. Even as her marketing team sell her earlier designs, she keeps developing new applications for the tech. She is even shown on camera using some of these abilities. LorneTek force field drones may eventually make guns obsolete, enable flying cars and other futuristic tech, and bring law enforcement up to parity or even the odds when dealing with super-powered criminals. LorneTek drones are fast becoming popular with the media, as they can be piloted remotely, carry high-quality cameras and the ability to connect to audio equipment, and are much cheaper than a news van for nearly the same capability. (Spoiler - unbeknownst to anyone except Alexandria, the drones all have a system link to LorneTek, giving her vast quantities of data to search, and the ability to shut down the drone remotely. This is *naturally* to prevent criminal misuse.) History: Born to the wealthy Lorne family, Alexandria grew up in a world without want of material goods. It lacked a warm family setting though, as both her parents were stupidly rich and active in global affairs. A brilliant student, ‘Lexi’ as she came to be called, went through tutors like crazy – not because she abused them, or made them quit, but because she rapidly exceeded their own knowledge and skills. No subject was too difficult for her, no intellectual activity was a challenge. She also had to play dutiful daughter at events her parents planned. She learned decorum and manners, and in the process how to read people and get what she wanted without being a total brat. She received her High School Diploma and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering on the same day, and with clever use of the local University’s course challenge system, received a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering the following year. She actually was invited to LorneTek to assist her parents, which she was thrilled about doing. They were researching a strange spherical device dredged from the ocean. It turned out to be a time capsule, built with (they believe) 31st century technology. The team at LorneTek attempted to reverse-engineer the device, but in an odd backfire, Alexandria’s parents and several researchers were caught in the resulting stasis bubble. The controls to undo the effect are INSIDE the bubble, as is the power source. This almost decapitated the company. Almost immediately, infighting at the Board level nearly brought the whole company to a halt – but Alexandria had her parent’s proxies and her own shares in the company and quickly rallied her family's supporters. Now there are staff analyzing every scrap of data on the LorneTek Anomaly, including outside researchers, in an effort to save the people sealed inside. Meanwhile, the preliminary research has led to very strong showings for LorneTek in the fields of electronics, computers, robotics and engineering of a more conventional manner. Labor suits that allow one man to replace ten, construction models with built in tools, even fire and rescue models with attachments for hoses and acoustical scanners that help find victims in smoke. Camera drones with all the capabilities of a TV news van, small enough to launch from your hand. Cell Phones that compete with the best that anyone else is making, and revolutionary new high-speed computers that are very cost-effective to make. And Alexandria is the driving force behind all of this, having consolidated her position as one of the East Coast’s wealthiest entrepreneurs at the age of 19. “LorneTek! It’s more than just a company! It is a DREAM. To soar in the heavens, leap the greatest obstacles, outrun a locomotive. To be more than merely super.” Personality & Motivation: Alexandria “Lexi” Lorne is a genius, and she knows it. She is strong-willed, intelligent, and some might say single-minded. She is also usually bored out of her skull. She fights in the boardrooms and in the halls of power, but these battles are old hat to her. Her super heroics using the Apex model LT drones are part daredevil, part showmanship, part advertising. She channels funds into charities and start-ups, gives generously to Freedom City, and seeks ways to improve the economy. She does this so that LorneTek can keep producing its excellent products and researching the anomaly her parents are trapped in. At least they are outside time’s ravages, and are in perfect suspended animation. Still, she wants to free them, sooner rather than later. She wants them to see how she’s done. Maybe they’ll actually be proud of her, show a little appreciation. To keep the funds coming for such an endeavor, LorneTek must continue to grow, expand, and develop. Powers & Tactics: Lexi is a 10th level intellect, easily among the top 5% of intellects on the planet. Although no Dr. Archeville, she prides herself on having accomplished as much as she has in so little time. Although aware that a large battle suit is imposing, Lexi has gone a very different route. Her Apex drones are usually deployed in groups of 3-6. One will serve as a flight platform by directing its force field generator downward, creating a platform she can stand on. She can move in three dimensions and steer by leaning/shifting positions much like a surfboard. Other drones will operate defensively, and any impacts deflected will cause the hexagonal defensive barrier to become visible, glowing a soft lavender color. The rest will operate as a rapidly reconfiguring group of weapons, each firing a cylindrical bolt of force. She doesn't have to point them, nor are they attached to her, giving her weapons better coverage than her senses currently provide (upgrades imminent!). Alternatively, the disks will ram a target with their force fields up, causing a concussive stunning effect. The last group of deployable drones attach to their targets and deploy a faint lavender field that is not hexagonal, but adheres to the target like glue. Unlike most force fields, which absorb incoming energy, these absorb outgoing energy, attempting to maintain a zero-point ratio and leaving most targets immobile. She can change drone modes manually, via radio control, or via voice command. Naturally, it has to be *her* voice and many of the commands are obscure or advanced engineering terms. The drones also include a biometric scanner, using Lexi's data as a baseline. A close female relative, such as her mother, would likely also be able to make the drones work. This also means that a calibration session is required every day, updating both the drone's software and their operating restrictions. Someone with access to Lexi's bedroom or laboratory could alter the data, but Lexi has a very convoluted password, a 'kill phrase' and thumbprint scanner just in case. In a worst case scenario, she can reset each drone manually with these. Some will point out that Lexi is a bit of a glory hound, and that she seems to keep the best tech of the company for herself. Oddly, this isn't completely true. She has modified her personal drones with her own ideas, basing them off the stock drones she has already marketed. Stock LT drones lack the offensive capabilities, but can be used as shields or as a way to levitate large objects. Propulsion is possible as well. Complications: Day Job: businesswoman, dilettante, rich heiress, robotics engineer, multimillionaire. Fame: Often seen on patrol, also whenever LorneTek is closing a deal. Helps that she's quite photogenic. Showoff: As long as it’s good PR! Might also be read as 'grandstanding' by more subtle heroes... Abilities: -2 + 4 + 0 + 12 + 2 + 6 = 22PP Strength 8 (-1) Dexterity 14 (+2) Constitution 10 (+0) Intelligence 22 (+5) Wisdom 12 (+1) Charisma 16 (+3) Combat: 10 + 8 = 18PP Attack: +5 Base, +7 Drone Swarm Defense: +7 (+4 Base, +3 Device Shield Power) +2 Flat-Footed Initiative: +2 Grapple: +4 Saving Throws: 4 + 3 + 3 = 10PP Toughness: +7 (+0 Con, +7 Force Field) Fortitude: +4 (+0 Con, +4) Reflex: +5 (+2 Dex, +3) Will: +4 (+1 Wis, +3) Skills: 68r = 17PP Bluff 4 (+7, +11 with Attractive feat) Computers 7 (+12) Craft (Electronics) 6 (+11) Diplomacy 5 (+8) (+12 with Attractive Feat) Disable Device 5 (+10) Intimidate 7 (+10) Knowledge (Business) 6 (+11) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 5 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 5 (+10) Notice 6 (+7) Sense Motive 6 (+7) Gather Information 6 (+9) Feats: 8PP Attractive Inventor Master Plan 1 Improvised Tools Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Benefit 3 (Wealth 3) Powers: 30PP Device 7 (Drone Swarm; 35PP Container; Flaws: Hard-to-Lose, Feats: Restricted 2 [Lexi]) [30PP] (technology, force, drone) Restricted to Lexi via a combination of biometric sensors and voice recognition; gotta bypass or foll several sensors for anyone else to use. Base: Blast 7 (Drone Kinetic Bolt; Feats: Accurate, Alternate Power 2) [17PP] AP: Snare 7 (Drone Snare; Feats: Accurate) [15PP] AP: Stun 7 (Drone Ram; Feats: Accurate) [15PP] Force Field 7 (Drone Primary Force Field) [7PP] Flight 4 (Drone Carry) [8PP] Shield 3 (Drone Secondary Force Field) [3PP] Abilities (22) + Combat (18) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (17) + Feats (8) + Powers (30) - Disadvantages (0) = 105 PP

Ok, I reduced her exotic saves a little, so I could add a Snare and Stun feature. Basically, Stun is her Melee option if I read it right, where she basically does a force field enhanced punch but it's not as focused as her Blast. The Snare is having a force field drone temporarily attach itself to a target and generate an inverted force field that resists movement by the target. It wears off over time as the drone loses power. So i have somehow gone from being a Battlesuit archetype to an energy Projector. There's a real superpower.

Having gotten rid of the more cumbersome powered armor concept, the character now has three basic powers. Her descriptor is that she has several small 'drones' that give her a force field, allow her to fly, and fire bolts of force. Most of the utility powers are gone, so no life support or other wacky stuff... yet. At INT 26, she is now smarter than the average bear. She has added skills, both to build and destroy technology; and some i thought might be relevant. Her Craft/Robotics was replaced with Craft/Mechanical since it isn't a thing. The snare no longer fit in the build, so i dropped it. It may be added in the future as an alternate effect of her Blast powers. Blast, Flight and Force field were all set as separate powers without a Device or Array in place, because for Lexi, these little force field drones are super-cheap, easy to build and for all intents and purposes, disposable. The 'Force' descriptor deals more with kinetic energy than the Jedi power.