Gizmo

"Right here, Colt." Jack sauntered into the base's hub, and gave Elektron a nod. He indicated himself with a single thumb. "Jack of all Blades, swordsman and energy manipulator. Welcome to the team. Electric powers, right? Guess I need to come up with a new nickname for All-Star." The swashbuckler's manner was cordial and friendly, but compared to his typical, gregarious self he was being downright terse. Of late Jack had been worryingly withdrawn, monopolizing the combat simulator and interacting with his teammates just enough to remain polite. Perhaps most notably, he hadn't tossed so much as a sarcastic comment Marcus' way for days.

It'd be a shame to give up on it after all this time. I'd be up for continuing it one way or another.

Players Name: Gizmo Power Level: 10 (150/150PP) Trade-Offs: -5 Attack, +5 Damage Unspent PP: 0 NPC Tier: 2 Characters Name: Coinpurse Jack Alternate Identity: Denari Jones Height: 5’10†Weight: 160 lbs Hair: Brick Red Eyes: Hazel Description: Dressing inconspicously, Denari Jones is a well groomed man with generally nondescript features apart from curly, brick red hair. He wears light, three piece suits without a tie, leaving the collar of his burgundy dress shirt undone. As Coinpurse Jack he inverts this colour scheme, wearing a rich, red suit over a white silk dress shirt and white shoes. Denari wears an ever changing collection of golden rings and necklaces, and carries an ivory cane topped with a sizable ruby. His round, red-tinted sunglasses do little to conceal his true identity. History: The man who would become Coinpurse Jack was born to a wealthy London family. An aspiring art student, he wallowed in mediocrity thanks to a lack of talent and work ethic. Growing gambling debts further shamed him in the eyes of his father, a self-made industrialist, while his dilettante mother showed little interest in him one way or the other. He eventually had his name legally changed to Denari Jones, as much to distance himself from his family as to make himself moderately more interesting. Denari was rescued from obscurity when it was revealed to him that through his mother he was a descendent of the House of Coins, one of four ancient, feuding clans who combined magic and mutancy to amazing effect. After generations of dormancy, the Tournament of Suits had been reignited, and unfortunately Denari was the only candidate to be knighted Jack of Coins, the House’s champion. Presented with a playing card containing a powerful enchantment, Denari found his previously latent mutant abilities awakened and enhanced. Ignoring the subtle politics involved, the bargain as he understood it was simple: he was free to use his powers as he saw fit, provided he destroy the other three Jacks, securing the House of Coins’ dominance. Agreeing immediately, Denari caught the next flight overseas, intending to set up shop in Las Vegas, but was re-routed when word reached him that the Jack of Swords and of Cups had appeared in Freedom City. Inspired by Freedom’s metahuman population, he decided that a super-powered crime spree was the perfect way to make sure he was never ignored again. Personality & Motivation: Denari likes to present himself as a cultured aficionado of fine art, wine, fashion, architecture and whatever else happens to be the topic of discussion. This is aided by the confidence born of knowing that things will almost always play out in his favour. He enjoys showing off his unbelievable luck, but tries to leave the impression that his success is due to his own talent. Without his powers, however, Denari is an unremarkable man, and he knows it. As such he is obsessed with status and most everything he does is a thinly veiled cry for attention. His crimes are all planned with an eye toward spectacle; he’s more concerned with how high profile his targets are than their value. Even so, he blows though money as quickly as he can win or steal it, and can never say no to an easy jackpot. Powers & Tactics: Although they are subtle, Denari’s powers are extremely potent, and he relies on them heavily. Besides granting himself good fortune, he can hamper the efforts of others with bad luck and cause catastrophic ‘accidents’. He is also able to focus on being in the right place at the right time, miraculously avoiding attacks. Denari’s weakness is that he may only use one of these talents at a time. Forcing him on the defensive prevents him from effectively attacking, for example. Largely because of this, he prefers to avoid combat when possible, using his fantastic luck to elude capture. Perhaps his only legitimate skill is his ability to make contacts. Denari travels in diverse circles and goes to such lengths to make an impression on everyone he meets that he always seems to ‘know a guy who knows a guy’ and tends to hear about things as soon as they happen. Complications: Enemies (The Jacks of the rival suits.) Fragile Ego (Denari is easily goaded into rash action.) Greed (Denari just loves making money.) One More Card (Denari can never just quit while he’s ahead.) Say My Name (Denari needs people to know who he is, and what he’s done) Abilities: 12pp Str: 10 (+0) Dex: 12 (+1) Con: 14 (+2) Int: 14 (+2) Wis: 10 (+0) Cha: 12 (+1) Combat: 20pp Attack: +3 (+5 ‘Accidents’) Grapple: +3 Defense: +10/+4 Knockback: -2/-1 Initiative: +1 Saves: 13pp Toughness: +5 (+2 Con, +3 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +5 (+2 Con, +3) Reflex: +6 (+1 Dex, +5) Will: +5 (+0 Wis, +5) Skills: 56r = 14pp Bluff 15 (+16) Dipomacy 12 (+13) Disable Device 9 (+11) Drive 5 (+5) Gather Information 15 (+16) Feats: 14pp Attack Specialization (‘Accidents’) Benefit (Wealth 1) Connected Contacts Defensive Roll 3 Dodge Focus 3 Improvised Tools Jack-of-all-Trades Move-By Action Ranged Pin Powers: 77pp Probability Control 10 [Extras: Fortune, Ranged, Power Feats: Alternate Power 3] - 63pp AP: â€Jinx†Probability Control 10 [Extras: Jinx, Perception Range, Flaws: Limited to Jinx] AP: â€Accidents†Damage 15 [Extras: Targeted Burst Area (75' radius), Ranged, Selective Attack, Power Feat: Subtle, Drawback: Full Power] AP: â€Lucky Dodge" and "Misfire" Immunity 2 [critical hits], Protection 5 [Extras: Impervious 10, Reflective 2], Enhanced Feats 4 [Evasion 2, Improved Defense 2], Disintegration 6 [Flaw: Limited to Objects, Tiring, Power Feat: Subtle] Luck Control 2 [Negate Hero Point, Force Reroll, Extras: Burst Area] - 8pp Enhanced Feats - 6pp Beginner’s Luck Luck 5 DC Block: Unarmed -- DC 15/Toughness -- Bruised/Injured ‘Accidents’ -- DC 30/Toughness -- Bruised/Injured 'Misfire' -- DC 22/Fortitude + Toughness -- Reduced Toughness + Damage Costs: Abilities 12 + Combat 20 + Saves 13 + Skills 14 + Feats 14 + Powers 77 = Total Cost 150 Note: Like all of the Jacks, Denari’s powers are the result of a mystically enhanced genetic mutation. This enhancement specifically allows him to use his powers offensively. Magic nullification prevents him from using Luck Control as well as the “Jinx†and “Accidents†APs. Effects that nullify mutant powers shut his powers off entirely.

Players Name: Gizmo Power Level: 12 (200PP) Trade-Offs: -5 Defence, +5 Toughness Unspent PP: 0 NPC Tier: 2 Characters Name: Jaci o’ Cups Alternate Identity: Rose Copas Height: 5’5†- 16’3†(full Growth) Weight: 105 - 4080 lbs. (full Growth) Hair: Blonde Eyes: Light Blue Description: A petite young woman, Rose Copas keeps her golden blonde hair in a spiky pixie cut, highlighting her baby blue eyes and dimpled smile. She typically wears skinny jeans and fitted tank tops, tending toward dark, rich reds and blacks. As Jaci o’ Cups, her costume consists of a crimson, sleeveless leotard with a heart-shaped cutout in the chest, topped with black denium shorts and a matching iron chain belt and choker. She also wears a set of brass knuckles on each hand, though, given her enhanced strength, they are more for show than anything else. Rose enshews masks altogether. Also, sometimes she’s a little over sixteen feet tall. History: As a child Rose Copas’ parents instilled in her a belief that winning meant everything. From learning to walk before the neighbours’ children to getting into the best pre-school, everything was a competition. As soon as she was old enough, Rose was entered into a never-ending series of pageants, where she learned that people fell into two categories: judges to be manipulated and opponents to be crushed. By the time she was a teenager, Rose had graduated to national beauty pageants, but had grown to resent her parents’ overbearing ways and tired of the relatively mundane popularity contests. Dropping out of the Miss Freedom City competition, which she was heavily favoured to win, Rose adopted a rebellious new attitude and wardrobe, taking up a series of increasingly dangerous extreme sports. Taking greater and greater risks, Rose grew careless. Rounding a treacherous corner in a motorcycle race, she wiped out, he bike crashing into the sides of the course and exploding in a massive fireball. Astonishingly, Rose emerged from the conflagration unscathed, her feelings of invincibility apparently justified. After the accident, Rose was approached by a distant relative and member of the ancient aristocracy known as the House of Cups. Rose’s miraculous survival marked her as a particularly strong member of the bloodline and a prime candidate to be the next Jack of Cups in the Tournament of Houses. All the newly named Jaci o’ Cups knew was that she’d found her way into the highest stakes contest of her career, and her mystically enhanced powers opened up a whole new level of thrill seeking opportunities. Personality & Motivation: As far as Rose is concerned, victory is the most important thing in the world, whether it’s beating an opponent or just the odds. Even then, competition only keeps her attention so long as it keeps her adrenaline pumping, which is no meagre feat, given her resistance to injury. Flighty and easily bored, Rose acts on every impulse with little regard to prior commitments, laws or consequences. Rose tends to project a demure innocence while interacting with men and a dry arrogance around women, a hold over from her pageant days. Her fascination with Jack of all Blades stems in large part from her failure to fool him in that manner, as well as the challenge he’s presented her in their encounters. Regardless of those feelings, however, she fully intends to win the Tournament of Suits, which means defeating all of the other Jacks. Powers & Tactics: In addition to minor super strength and impressive durability, Rose can absorb the energy from otherwise damaging attacks and use it to grow to a maximum height of just over sixteen feet. This increases her physical capabilites several times over. In combat, Rose tends to provoke an attack by taunting or simply ignoring a threat, confident in her ability to withstand the resulting assualt. Once at her maximum height, she wades into the thickest available fighting, picking up and crushing or tossing opponents. She also makes a habit of clapping her hands together with enough force to create a deafening shockwave. Complications: Competitive (Winning is even more important to Rose than her own safety.) Crush (Rose’s interest in Jack of all Blades isn’t entirely professional.) Enemies (The Jacks of the rival suits.) Fickle (Rose may change goals or alliegences on a whim.) Thrillseeker (Rose is an adrenaline junkie to the point of purposefully putting herself in unnecessary danger.) Abilities: 18pp Str: 10/18/34 full Growth (+0/+4/+12) Dex: 14 (+2) Con: 12/20 full Growth (+1/+5) Int: 10 (+0) Wis: 12 (+1) Cha: 20 (+5) Combat: 38pp Attack: +12 (+10 full Growth) Grapple: +16 (+32 full Growth) Defence: +6/+3 (+4/+2 full Growth) Knockback: -5 (-15 full Growth) Initiative: +2 Saves: 21pp Toughness: +13 (+1 Con, +12 Absorption)/+17 full Growth Fortitude: +10 (+1 Con, +9)/+14 full Growth Reflex: +5 (+2 Dex, +3) Will: +10 (+1 Wis, +9) Skills: 56r = 14pp Bluff 2 (+7, +15 with Attractive) Climb 9 (+15) Diplomacy 2 (+7, +15 with Attractive) Drive 13 (+15) Intimidate 11 (+16/+20 full Growth) Notice 6 (+7) Sense Motive 4 (+5) Swim 9 (+15) Feats:12pp Attractive 2 Chokehold Equipment 2 Fearless Improved Grab Improved Grapple Improved Pin Power Attack Skill Mastery 1 (Bluff, Climb, Drive, Swim) Startle Powers: 97pp Absorption 12 [boost Growth, Extras: Both Types, Energy Storage, Power Feats: Slow Fade 2 (Energy Storage, Boost effect), Drawback: Maximum Boost to Growth 8] - 73pp Enhanced Strength 8 - 8pp Regeneration 8 [bruised 3/no action, Injured 5/standard action] - 8pp Super-Strength 3 [Power Feats: Shockwave, Thunderclap] - 8pp DC Block: Unarmed -- DC 19/Toughness -- Bruised Unarmed (full Growth) -- DC 27/Toughness -- Bruised/Injured Costs: Abilities 18 + Combat 38 + Saves 21 + Skills 14 + Feats 12 + Powers 97 = Total Cost 200 Note: Like all of the Jacks, Rose's powers are the result of a mystically enhanced genetic mutation. This enhancement specifically allows her to channel absorbed damage into her Growth effect. Magic nullification prevents this, preventing her from Boosting her Growth or storing energy points (her Absorption continues to reduce Toughness DCs normally). Effects that nullify mutant powers shut her powers off entirely.

Jack of all Blades A 'Chance' Meeting [Jack/Blink] Invasion! - West End Interceptors! New Recruits Fisticuffs Fundraiser! Jack's News Thread

"Outrageous! What miracle is this?" "As the Atom, I can shrink to the size of a subatomic particle and ride electrons along the phone wires." *beat* "Do it again!" Like Jack would miss out on a little theatrical sparring!

A commotion in the crowd drew the camera's attention as Atlas entered the Dome. Spectators around the velvet ropes moved outward in a circle, revealing Jack of all Blades locked in a passionate kiss with a gorgeous young woman he held in a low dip. They held the pose long enough for anyone watching to become flustered, and when they finally came up for air the swashbuckler twirled the lady lightly away by the hand, offering her a grin and wink before back flipping over the guard rail to land on the red carpet. Jack gave the hostess a sloppy salute as his greatcoat settled around his ankles. "I do so love to mingle." "Jack of all Blades!" Lisa exclaimed. "It's not often we see you at such a public event." The scintillating swordsman shrugged. "Sometimes a cause is just too good to ignore." His smile became roguish smirk and his eyes twinkled behind his bandanna mask. "Besides, I've been called something of a showman." Reaching into his coat he withdrew a quintet of playing cards, fanning them out with a flourish. "Pick a card, any card," he drawled wryly. Plucking one of the proffered cards, Lisa displayed it for the camera, revealing a Jack of Spades with a phone number written floridly across it in golden ink. Rotating his wrist, Jack showed the audience that the other four cards were identical, then flicked them into the crowd, ensuring that one made it to the young woman who was still recovering from their kiss. Turning the movement into a full body spin, coat flaring out below him, Jack turned on his heel and began to make his way inside. "It's not much of a trick if they're all the same," Lisa called after him. Turning back around, Jack grinned even more broadly. "Oh, I don't know. I've found the results can be quite magical indeed." Bowing deeply, he swaggered into the Liberty Dome. As he departed, Lisa surreptitiously tucked the playing card away for safe keeping.

Alright, PL 11 edits time! First I'd like to adjust Jack's trade-offs to +4 Attack, -4 Damage. Since he only put 4 EP toward the Interceptors' base, he'll spend the final point on: ... which, obviously, brings his total Toughness to +6. Next, I'll spend 2 PP to raise his Strength to 14, putting the bonus at +2, which incidentally raises his Climb to +11. The next 1 PP will add Mighty to his Strike power; with his newly increased Strength, his 'Energy Sword' DC goes to 22. 1 PP goes to adding a sixth rank of Dodge Focus (for +16 Defense, natch) and another 1 PP gives him Skill Mastery for Acrobatics, Bluff, Sense Motive and Stealth. Now, that's 5PP, which is what his sheet lists as unspent, but it also says that he's currently using 159/165 PP, which would mean 6 unspent points. So... if he does have that extra point, I'd like to buy a single rank of Luck, which the justification that it fuels his Inspire feats. Finally, at some point during the server change, all of the apostrophes on Jack's sheet got turned into " ’ ". I know it's a pain, but could somebody go in and fix those? Done by Sandman XI

I'm not really sure what's going on with Jack; the sheet says he's spent 159 out of 165 PP, but he only has 5 unspent PP, plus he's still at PL 10. What madness is this?! Madness?! THIS. IS. CORRECTION!

Jack of all Blades was in the Underground's combat simulator when a repeating tone announced Colt's return with the base's newest resident. Fiery rapier in hand, the swordsman ignored it, continuing with his grueling exercise. Minutes ticked by as he vaulted over suddenly extending pistons and dodged barrages of darts. Eventually Vince's gregarious visage appeared on a panel on one of the room's walls. "Hey, Jack-a-rino! New guy just showed up, and he's an artificial brother! And you though I was just fulfilling a quota!" The simulated talk-show host, sitting comfortably on the edge on his desk, gave an imaginary audience a jaunty salute as a musical flourish punctuated the punchline. Jack, however, showed no sign of having heard him, letting his sword of flame dissipate in favour of one made from the energy of the electro-net which had suddenly appeared in his path. Undaunted, Vince continued. "I just mention it because the gang's all turning out to say hello, and you don't want to get a reputation as 'that guy', eh?" The AI waggled his eyebrows wryly. "I mean, ever since the whole 'Stupid Demon Tricks' segment, you've been logging a lot of hours in here, pal-o-mine, and-" He was cut off as Jack let out a bellow and brought his weapon down through the mechanisms behind a particularly persistent spinning saw blade, sending sparks flying everywhere, and leaving a blackened pile of partially melted slag behind. Vince eyed the destroyed device apprehensively. "But hey, I can see you're busy, so I'll just..." Pointing a thumb over his shoulder, he swung his legs over the desk as though placing it between himself and the unusually intense swashbuckler. "Don't worry about it, Vince." Jack's scintillating blade disappeared with a flick of his wrist. "I'm finished here anyway." Pausing briefly to shut down the simulator's systems, the swordsman exited to the hallway and made his way toward the vehicle bay.

Jack let out a hacking cough, his eyes springing open. Momentarily disoriented, he managed to choke out, "Ellie!" As his bloodshot eyes focused, the swordsman realized that he was grabbing the front of Razorwing's costume with white knuckles, using the younger man to steady his broken frame. "Kris? Jeez, I had the weirdest..." His muddled brain slowly processed their surroundings, and he winced. "Well, balls." Ignoring his body's protests, Jack struggled to rise to a better vantage point, clawing up the side of the MAVERIC until he could see the battle. Even in his befuddled state, the swashbuckler could see that his teammates were hard pressed to deal with their demonic foes. It was equally clear that he wasn't going to be much help in his current state either. His left arm was a mangled mess and the rest of his body was in too much general agony to differentiate between the damaged areas. Within the inferno of pain, however, burned an even hotter core of anger and determination. Through sheer willpower, Jack forced himself into a standing position and turned to face the massive creature that had so easily flung him aside. "Hey! Gruesome!" His voice rang out even in the chaos of battle, reaching allies and foes alike. "My grandmother hits harder than that! I'm thinking maybe I should just let her deal with you; I could go take a nap, do a little gardening maybe." Jack's entire body began to quiver from strain, and blood welled up in the corner of his mouth before trickling down the side of his face, but his voice showed no sign of breaking. His shaking arm shot out, pointing at the largest demon, calling it out. "Interceptors! Show these pathetic cretins the door, huh?" The swordsman held the pose for a moment longer, then slid painfully down the side of the vehicle to sit heavily on the ground. "And you thought I was gonna tell them to 'go to hell'," he mumbled to no one in particular.

Alright, I'm still not sure that this should be necessary, but for the sake of argument: Fortitude (1d20+5=20) Now that Jack's back up, he's spending the HP he got from getting knocked out to use Inspire. That's +5 on all attack rolls, saving throws, and checks for all the Interceptors this round.

Actually, War, you get to add 10! That would effectively make it a 19, for a total of 31. Nice.

What am I saving against? Razorwing's Medicine check should automatically remove Jack's unconscious condition, though he's still disabled, right?

Nah, works for me. Nice work with the blueprints.

Jack smirked as he balanced the retrieved foils over his shoulder and headed out of the training room, holding the door open for the Russian. "Heh, guess that's the trouble with teams, huh? Mo' metas, mo' problems. We should probably put together some kind of team 'people who want to do unpleasant things to us' list." The swashbuckler had become so used to basing his actions around the protection of those close to him, from rigorously protecting his secret identity to keeping people at a distance in his civilian life, that he found himself having difficulty adjusting to the idea of having friends who were at least as capable of taking care of themselves as he was. Having actual backup, he mused, would be pretty not-terrible. His jaded expression softened into a genuine smile. "Still, shared trouble is lessened, yeah? Seriously, you're going to be getting calls at one in the morning, all, "Blink, some guy just made fun of my hair, come teleport him into a lake or something' and 'Blink, I can't figure out where the six goes on this sudoku'. Gangsters, though?" Jack made a cocky gesture, waking the issue away. "I am built for fighting gangster. The organized guys are way better than the 'bangers, 'cause they'll actually banter with you. The punks are just all swearing and making disparaging remarks about your mother. It's like, 'Guys, give me something to work with, here'." A look of mixed horror and amusement crossed his face. "Oh, man. Can you even imagine what kind of people All-Star has ticked off? We'll be getting primordial cosmic beings showing up, asking who broke the window of their ancient temple with this baseball."

Exposition dump! I'm working on getting the other Jacks up as NPCs; Jaci o' Cups and Coinpurse Jack are almost finished, but it's insane trying to find the free time lately.

Jack make a weary grunt as he retrieved his shirt from the floor and slipped it over his head. "Ugh, yeah, there's four 'Jacks', one for each suit. Apparently when I got my powers I was automatically enrolled in some kind of ridiculous playing card themed fight club. Unfortumately, there wasn't exactly as orientation, so about all I know is that there's three other metas running around periodically trying to bash in either each others heads or mine." Gathering up the discarded foils in one hand, he ticked off fingers on the other. "There's Jaci o' Cups, who is exceptionally attractive but a couple bungee cords short of an X-Games, if you know what I mean. She absorbs any damage and gets bigger and stronger. Coinpurse Jack is, pardon my language, a tremendous asshat. He's got probability control, which is appropriately obnoxious. Jakken Staff is just straight up coocoo bananas. He's all 'thy' and 'thou' and 'forsooth' and so on. He's a magic user, I guess." He scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "It's sort of hard to tell; all of our powers are kinda magic-flavoured, as far as tell." The swordsman sighed. "It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that they're all at least as powerful as me and they're totally determined to win this 'tournament' thing they keep mentioning. I just tried more or less ignoring them at first, so they started putting people in danger to draw me out. It didn't really occur to me until just now, but they'd totally come after you guys if they thought they could use you as bait or something." He gave Nadia a grin. "Benefits of the redeemed criminal angle: no preexisting rogues gallery, huh?"

No objections here.

Nadia's admission of a history of crime didn't overly surprise Jack. It wasn't that the Russian's earnest demeanor suggested a desire for redemption to him; she was unapologetic enough about her past transgressions. Rather, she gave the impression of someone determined to balance scales and earn respect amongst her new peerage. Nor did the confirmation do much to alter his perception of her; Jack had never had the same vehement distaste for thieves that he did for legitimately violent criminals. He supposed it was simply a matter of the placement of his personal moral event horizon. As she hefted the swordsman to his feet, however, a different statement caused him to raise an eyebrow. " 'Good for dresses,' huh? Blinkie, you did not strike me as the junior prom type. Guess that's just another part of the whole 'thrill of the chase' thing." He made a mental note to suggest some sort of semi-formal party to Lynn, who had easily settled into a sort of den mother role on the team. 'Cause I look good in a suit, Jack smirked internally. I mean, I look good in anything, but still. Once he was off of the ground, Jack quickly steadied himself. Nadia's pin had aggravated the injuries he'd received in his one-sided beating at the hands of Captain Knievel, but it wasn't enough to slow him down perceptibly. He turned his attentions to the teleporter's question. "Ha, well, it's not like I've got a set schedule or anything, but I'm sort of a magnet for femme fatale-types. Y'know, one minute they're all sexy wiles and the next it's all poison-tipped hairpins and defenestration and puns about me not being so 'sharp'." He rubbed the back of his neck ruefully and gave Nadia a broad grin. "It's honestly given me what probably constitutes an unhealthy comfort zone with regards to the fairer sex. Still, better that than wrinkly old mad scientists or something. Remind me to tell you about Jaci o' Cups sometime." The grin fell into a frown as Jack considered the point. "Actually, I should probably tell the whole team about all of the other 'Jacks'; it's only a matter of time before one of them pulls something to draw me out into a fight."

Stupid laser whip... Blink's grapple is absolutely beastly. +30? Fuhgeddaboudit.

I can't remember; have I made a 'HiPS don't lie' joke already?

Timeline preserved! Is it just me or is Jack totally missing to point of 'moral high ground'?

Although his expression remained impassive, Jack seethed at All-Star's rebuke. His palm itched for a sword and he had to stop himself from reflexively pulling in the energy around him to form a blade. Courage? The meathead wanted to talk courage? How about hitting the streets every night despite broken bones and crisscrossing scars, all on the off chance you could make your neighbourhood a tiny bit safer? How about facing down villains you knew you couldn't beat, just to buy others time to escape? As far as Jack was concerned, the invulnerable showboat had never had to show real courage in his life. It was an insult the swashbuckler wasn't likely to forget any time soon. The only thing that stayed his hand was a stubborn refusal to sink to what he perceived Marcus' level. He'd tried to walk away, to postpone a confrontation, while the larger man had been petulant and demanding. In Jack's mind he had firmly held the moral high ground, and he wasn't about to give it up now. The best way to stick it to All-Star, he decided, was to be the bigger man. Conflict resolution through petty revenge, he mused darkly. Outwardly, Jack offered the others a tight-lipped smile. "Hey, I'm letting it go. It was an accident, right? It's not Sparky's fault if he's still learning to control all those powers. I'm sure he's doing his best." He gave Marcus a slight nod. "And, hey, he's not totally wrong; we'll probably find ourselves in plenty of situations were what we really need is a blunt tool. And this is the guy for the job, amirite?" He held out a hand to the bigger man. "We cool?" His tone subtly toed the line between sincerity and exaggeration.

Jack made a dismissive sound. "Mad? Please. I hadn't been knocked around by an attractive and dangerously competent woman all week; I was beginning to worry." He placed his hand behind his head, but made no move to actually get up from the floor. "And it wasn't really clever, it was bull." Jack sighed and gave Nadia a serious look. "Blinkie, you're an insanely capable fighter, but I'm guessing Spetsnaz didn't include fencing in basic training, because that would be stupid. There are way easier ways to put the hurt on somebody. Which is kinda my point." The swashbuckler looked back up at the ceiling, his expression reflective. "Even with my training and my powers, it takes a lot of effort and concentration to fight somebody with a sword. Anything I do with one of these," he said, gesturing the the foil lying beside him, "I absolutely mean to do. Guns..." He shook his head. "Anybody can pick one up and be deadly. All it takes is one moment of anger, one stupid decision. It's too easy. Hurting someone else should always be hard." There was a pause before Jack continued in a lighter tone. "That said, you and Colt have the training, the control to wield that kind of power responsibly. I can't say I like it very much, but I trust you guys." Rubbing his chin with exaggerated contemplation, the swordsman grinned broadly. "So, three questions. Alright, number one: what is your favourite colour? Um, number two: what do you actually do for fun, and number three: would you give me a hand up?" Jack winced. "Seriously, I bruised a rib in a fight a little over a month ago and never really gave it a chance to heal. Stupid laser whip."