Gizmo

Not so much with the Drive; Jack had (appropriately enough) Jack-of-all-Trades and Dex 20, so he can Drive at +5, which is enough to get around but not do anything fancy with any reliability. It seems silly for Colt not to ride his own vehicle, especially when it's a Device and everything, but with all the other things on his shopping list it'll be a while before Jack can put any points into Drive himself. He could probably make due in the meantime; +5 is no +10 with Skill Mastery, but it's serviceable.

Erik gave Dead Head a terse nod and left the haunted house, hands in his pockets and fuming. He was still angry, and it slowly dawned on him that he wasn't even sure why. Marcus had been out of line, but he hadn't done any legitimate damage and, admittedly, a real life zombie was enough to throw most people off their game. It wasn't like Erik and Dead Head were best friends or anything, either; he'd only ever run into the ghoul once before. There hadn't even been any real loss to his secret identity. It wasn't like Dead Head could look 'Jack' up in the phone book, nor did the young man expect the zombie was likely to act upon knowing what he looked like out of costume at all. As far as Marcus knew, he was just some random guy who kept strange company... and was a bit of an overreacting jerk. Joy, they had something in common. He walked through the carnival, stepping around the crowd using his energy sense, not really watching where he was going, and for a moment he determined that he must be upset because he hadn't been prepared to deal with super human stuff tonight. It was supposed to be time to decompress, to get back in touch with being Erik. With a flash of insight, however, he realized that wasn't it at all. He was annoyed because, had he been in costume, he could have gone in sword blazing and started a brawl himself. His body was tense like that of an athlete who had deviated from their workout schedule. He wanted to run, to jump, to fight. He wanted to be Jack of all Blades, not a nameless carnival-goer. Still mulling over the implications of his revelation, Erik let the flow of the crowd take him towards the fire-eating performance.

Erm, Jack's a little... transportation impaired as well.

Just a quick thing; with Grappling Finesse, Jack's Grapple should now be +16. Sandman will refrain from "I grapple the troll" references.

Erik pointed a finger at Dead Head. "He's a zombie." He brought the hand back to jab a thumb at his own chest. "I'm his friend." Finally he completed the motion by indicating Marcus. And you're a blockhead!" Erik threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "Here's a fun tip: superpowers plus randomly hitting people generally equals a bad time! Now how's about everybody stepping outside so we don't ruin some poor kid's haunted house going experience, huh?"

Ye-ah, rent control! Sorry, WM, I can't open your link. It's... forbidden! This the sort of thing we're talking about? (Alternatively, http://www.southholland.org/TownCenter/images/Brownstone_Rendering1A.jpg)

Erik grimaced as Dead Head reattached his head. "Man, that's just not right..." He turned to Marcus, if only to avoid looking at the ghoul. "Hey, glow-for-brains, watch it! Not everybody can put themselves back together, you knock their freaking head off! Can a guy get a day off in this town, or what?" To be honest, Erik wasn't all that upset with the jock; no real harm had been done. His real problem was that his attempt at grounding himself had turned into mediating a disagreement between a zombie and an obvious powerhouse, all while out of costume. He resisted the urge to smash his head against a wall.

Personally, I like the idea of the brownstone, just because it gives the team a chance to hang out like regular human beings on occasion. It seems like you'd get detached from reality pretty quickly, actually living in an underground base hidden beneath an abandoned building. I like the idea of the pseudo-Outsiders vibe, though.

Well, theoretically, Doc A met Jack during the 'Days of High Adventure' storyline, though that's fallen a bit by the wayside. Either way, this sounds like a plan! The HQ we were discussing is pretty much a brownstone house on top of secret, underground facilities. Oh, and the core rulebook has a private jet that's conveniently exactly 17ep, but that's without any kind of added features. If the mission statement is to focus on Freedom City itself, does a jet really make sense?

Ha, if we're getting our X on, the infiltration missions are going to call for all-black versions of our costumes with red-eyed masks. I think some sort of mass transportation is in order, certainly.

"Shotgun Raguel" would be a great name for a band. I dunno, 'Archangels' seems like something the Doc might name them, but it's a little sanctimonious for most of the actual members. Personally I still prefer 'The Interceptors'. That said, there's nothing stopping Doc from thinking of them as his seven archangels... In which case *cough*Zerachiel*cough* Maybe they could serve as code names for infiltration missions?

It didn't take long for Jack to find Leon's clearing once he started following the sounds of training. He found the monk delivering powerful blow after blow against a tree. The swashbuckler simply watched the martial artist for a moment, impressed by his tenacity. Jack considered himself more of a finesse fighter, but Leon's ability to rain punishment on a foe, regardless of personal discomfort, gave him pause. Eventually, the swordsman cleared his throat loudly and stepped further into the clearing. "Uh, hey, Leon!" Jack lifted the foil resting on his shoulder up a few inches, drawing attention to it. "You still up for some sparring? I don't want to mess up your, like, monk mojo or whatever you've got going on with the arboreal abuse."

Seven actually seems like a good number anyway; let's the team split up into groups when need be, and provides some wiggle room if someone's temporarily unavailable. The infiltration possibilities are pretty awesome, too; Colt, RW and Jack all have enough Stealth to at least hide in the bushes as back-up, and I'm betting All-Star provides one heck of a distraction.

Erik sighed, and took Dead Head's hand. "Sure, man, I'm here for a while. I'll meet you around the exit of the 'house." So much for protecting the old secret identity, he groused in his head. To be fair, Dead Head really wasn't in a position to spread what Erik looked like sans mask around, and at least the swashbuckler could fall back of the natural assumption that his real name actually was Jack. No real harm done. A Dead Head went back to work, Erik clapped the confused jock on the shoulder and walked through the remainder of the haunted house with him. "Short version: Dead Head back there is a zombie, but he subscribes the Casper School of the Undead." After a pause he clarified, "He's friendly. Dude's gotta make a living, I guess; working at the carnival's pretty slick." He crossed his arms and glanced at the broad shouldered man beside him. "Dunno how much damage you coulda actually done to him, but you maybe wanna be careful with the 'powers first, questions later' thing, huh?"

Jack leapt upon the carjackers, targeting the one with a running buzz saw in his hand first. As a slash from the swashbucklers flaming sword reduced the power tool to useless slag, Jack continued with his forward momentum, tossing the shocked thug backward and into one of his peers. Springing off on a car hood, the hero flipped through the air, launching himself feet first into a third criminal with a satisfying thump. A trio of the carjackers hit the garage floor before the rest even had time to react. The remaining thugs, brandishing pipe wrenches and hack saws, charged with a yell.

Notice Check (1d20+10=12) , so Jack remains completely oblivious to Leon and Zealot. I figure we'll just put down these carjackers quickly so that we can move on to the real action.

Erik walked a bit behind Marcus and Cyndi, giving the couple a modicum of privacy. He'd never been one to startle easily, and the paltry decorations of the carnival attraction served as more of a curiosity that anything. He realized with some concern how detached he felt from the experience. After fighting for his life against super powered foes, a haunted house seemed like such a non event. As they ventured further in, however, Erik felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, a feeling of unease resting in the pit of his stomach. Ever since his powers had been awakened, he'd had a vague sense for the energy around him, from hidden power lines to the electrical fields running through all living things. Even now he could subtly sense the pair walking in front of him even without looking. Concentrating on the uncomfortable feeling, he realized that there was another presence somewhere in the building, one that felt almost like a person, but was somehow... off. The thought of a creepy, not-quite-right porcelain doll sprang to the young man's mind. After a moment it slowly dawned on him that it was a sensation he recognized. Dead Head...? came the surprised thought. Before he could consider further, the leather jacketed ghoul made his presence known in no uncertain terms. A smirk flicked across Erik's lips. He had to hand it to the zombie; finding honest work couldn't be easy with his particular condition. Suddenly a sharp tingle ran through Erik's body as the musclebound jock shouted, his body's energy level flaring up in Erik's sixth sense. Fortunately he was already between the superpowered bruiser and the playacting zombie, and he raised his hands to forestall both of them. "Whoa, zap-happy, reign it in, huh?" He turned to regard the ghoul. "Honestly, 'Head, you're only perpetuating negative stereotypes here."

Man, good mix! We were talking about this in chat last night; we've got an easygoing sharpshooter, an overconfident powerhouse, a furious ex-sidekick, a smart-mouthed swashbuckler, a thrill-seeking thief and now a peppy speedster. Couldn't have come together better if we'd planned it!

"Once upon a time there were six little heroes who went to Freedom City, and they fought very hazardous villains. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. And my name... is Jennifer." *ring ring* "Hello?" "It's Jennifer, Interceptors. Time to go to work."

Sheesh, Doc, did you get your PhD in cheery optimism or what? After all, the bad guys might get us long before that happens!

That's a lot of heroes! Jack of all Blades, Colt, Blink and Razorwing, along with All-Star, are forming a new super team, the Interceptors (next big thing, tell your friends), so depending on when this takes place, it might make sense to have them in a thread together.

Jack's 18 is a pretty decent Charisma score; it's all set to inspire four teammates, and it'd only be 2pp more to include a sixth member. I can see him buying up Inspire; he's a talker and an idealist, after all, chock full of never-say-die-ness. I could probably get that going by December or January, once he's hit PL11 and met his caps.

War, if that's the way you want to go with All-Star, by all means, but he's not obligated to take on leadership duties just because he's the powerhouse. Leadership might make sense, since he's already got a rank of Luck, but he'd need 8 more points of Charisma before Inspire would even be worth his while, and that's another 5 points to max out anyway. Those 13 points are probably better spent elsewhere. I mean, the guy who can lift over 350 tons probably shouldn't be spending his turns on support actions. Of course, if your plan is for him to mature and come into his own as a leader, then never mind. Regardless, Interpose would be awesome to have around for us fragile types.x

Jack's already got Set Up, along with Distract, Fascinate and Taunt, not to mention a +19 Bluff. His Charisma gives a +4 bonus, so I could see him taking Inspire eventually. Besides chipping in to pay for the Underground, the next few pp he earns are going to reaching caps when he hits PL 11. He's solely a melee fighter, so he's probably more likely to benefit from Teamwork, but he could take that too, for flexibility's sake. Also: NYASHT... NYASH-T... that's nyashty!

The Interceptors, comin' at ya from out of the Underground! Works for me.