Fox

Gaian Knight cracked a knuckle, looking around and feeling out the nearby ground. That's not so bad. There's some good solid earth, and some bedrock down there...plenty of asphalt. I hate working with asphalt. He turned to the large man next to him, grinning under the cloth that covered his lower face. "Well. Up to you...Breschau, was it? D'you want to be underground, or do you want to be behind a nice wall?"

Dragonfly leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, watching. was a good idea - fixated? - depowered - good - hard not to punch him in the face "Lucky you both survived," she chimed in. "Got the girl out just in time. You...he saved you." She nodded towards Cannonade. "Would have been tempted to leave you in a burning building, myself." She narrowed her eyes behind the visor. still am

Just noticed Dragonfly's PP had been added in. Edits time! She has 4pp, all of which is being spent to get another rank of Device. In that device, with its new 5pp to spend: - The spacial array gets upgraded a rank (2pp). Her Blast goes up a rank, as does her Dimensional Pocket. - Her Shield goes up two ranks (2pp). This changes her trade-off to +2 Defense/-2 Toughness. - Her shield is now linked to Enhanced Feat (Evasion) (1pp), having been fine-tuned to disperse and mitigate things like area attacks after some...unfortunate object lessons in the weaknesses of her flawed force field design. DC block, trade-off, combat block and the rest changed to reflect these new toys. Also, her Secret: Identity complication seems to have gone missing from her sheet again, so I've put that back in. [b][u]Characters Name:[/u][/b] Dragonfly [b][u]Power Level:[/u][/b] 8 (117/117) [b][u]Trade-Offs:[/u][/b] +2 Defense / -2 Toughness [b][u]Unspent PP:[/u][/b] 0 [b][u]Gold Status:[/u][/b] 12/30 [b][u]Alternate Identity:[/u][/b] Mara Hallomen [b][u]Age:[/u][/b] 18 (born December 1991) [b][u]Gender:[/u][/b] female [b][u]Height:[/u][/b] 5'4" [b][u]Weight:[/u][/b] "I can build death rays, you know." [b][u]Eyes:[/u][/b] dark blue [b][u]Hair:[/u][/b] dirty blonde [b][u]In Brief:[/u][/b] Bitter young genius out to apply her mind on [i]her[/i] terms, and no one else’s. [b][u]Description:[/u][/b] On the short side, slim and modestly proportioned but not exactly muscular, Mara tends to take just enough care of herself to maintain her shape and stay alive, but not much else. She nearly always looks a little strung-out, hair disheveled and eyes tired, like she doesn’t sleep well (which she doesn’t) or spends long stretches distracted by some project or idea to the neglect of all else (which she does). Her clothing is simple, practical, and subdued in color (shades of gray and black being popular, dark reds, blues, and purples being runners-up). Very often what she’s wearing hasn’t been washed recently. Makeup is practically a foreign concept. When out fighting crime her outfit is a little more clean and constant: slim black pants, a short grey jacket with a stylized black dragonfly on the back, and her devices - currently a pair of large, heavy-looking high-tech gauntlets, a high-tech flexible chestpiece and belt, and a large headset which covers both ears and has an opaque blue visor over her upper face. She prefers boots with a little bit of heel to them – they’re not very practical, but she’s self-conscious about her height (especially when confronting criminals or working with your standard 6’ bombshell heroine). [b][u]History:[/u][/b] In certain parts of the underworld you don’t buy or sell weapons without knowing the name Hallomen. Word is that for the right price he can get you anything: designer drugs like Max or Zoom, the very latest in illegal technology, and even, once in a rare while – if you can afford it – gadgets from caught supervillains that got ‘lost’ on their way to the incinerators or science labs. From the back alleys to high-class black market auctions, he supplies whole armies if the price is right and by luck, bribes, and exceptional planning he never seems to get caught; those who’ve dealt with him jokingly call him the “Hollow Man†(through rarely to his face) in honor of how the police raid into his storehouses and labs to find empty – ‘hollow’ – rooms. What customers only very rarely know is where most of the new and custom items came from. Hallomen is a cold and ruthless man but a man none the less, and around the turn of the 20th century had a short tryst with a villainess and frequent buyer. He was completely uninterested in the child she bore (what use did he have for a wailing, disgusting baby?) until several years later, when he got word that the child was displaying superhuman traits – signs of high intelligence (for a child of that age) and her mother’s ability to control computers by thought alone. Now and only now was the girl useful to him and when the mother died (something he calmly claims he had nothing to do with, of course) she fell into his care. Little Mara Hallomen indeed was predicted to be brilliant when she grew older but that simply wouldn’t be enough (or soon enough) for the Hollow Man – no, anything good can be made better. He invested considerable resources into her ‘education’, and so it was that young Mara grew up all but alone in a barely-staffed lab, under a constant regimen of ‘vitamins’ and ‘medicine’, supplied with a never-ending stream of knowledge and information, her only human contact a rare visit from her father, a scant few researchers or guards, and the occasional empath or psychic paid to enhance her mind in ways science could not. Even this was cold comfort, however: anyone who set foot in the building was under strict orders not to talk to Mara unless absolutely necessary so she could concentrate on her real purpose: designing new and improved tools of crime. From death rays to personal teleporters to battlesuits, she made them all. Old-school and cutting-edge, energy to gravity to good old bullets, she designed a veritable panoply and Hallomen made money hand over fist. Kept docile, driven, and borderline insane as an intended side-effect of her constant ‘health treatments’, the only thing her father could never have predicted was the net effect it was taking on her mind: redundant and parallel in some places, warped and enhanced in others, bit by bit her brain was growing resistant to outside influence. The older she got the more treatment she underwent and the more treatment she underwent the more resistant she became; the more resistant she became the more disquieting her life seemed. Finally, near her 18th birthday, she was resting in what passed for her private room when a lone dragonfly wandered its way through the barred window and caught her eye. To anyone else it wouldn’t even have been a remarkable specimen of a dragonfly, but to her the darting little bug was the most beautiful thing in the world: free. Then and there she made up her mind to be as free as the dragonfly was: to escape and feel the wind under her metaphorical wings. Less than a month later, the guards came to wake her and found the room empty, the majority of her research and designs completely destroyed, and a very large sum vanished from her father’s own personal bank account. She’s managed to stay a step ahead of her father and his goons ever since, figuring Freedom City and its relatively high hero count to be the perfect place to hide out…and test some new designs on her own terms. [b][u]Personality & Motivation:[/u][/b] Mara’s more than a little bitter about not having had much of a childhood, and not amazingly socially skilled (which she typically deals with using snark and mistrust). When presented with a puzzle or new idea to build she’s energized and almost manic as her brain kicks into gear to solve the task at hand. She’s very intelligent and highly rational, but a combination of chronic bad sleep and frequent headaches (both side-effects of assorted substances that are even now still washing out of her system) can make her snide and irate. Given her life so far, she has a fairly intense dislike of criminals. She’s softer at heart than she’d ever admit, having an especially strong drive to aid children, but by and large she’s more driven by the victimizers than their victims. It’s occurred to her that she could accomplish many of her goals by villainy (at the very least as the sort of villain who hunts other villains as often as they break the law), but believes heroism’s just more rational – being strictly on the hero side of things provides more advantages than disadvantages...not to mention helps her sleep a little easier, particularly if she gets her own creations off the streets. [b][u]Powers & Tactics:[/u][/b] Mara dabbles in many areas of technology but most of her combat tech is based on spacial distortions, something she developed under her father’s thumb but didn’t work the kinks out of until she’d escaped. Her devices, her gauntlets especially, are built to warp and fold space to provide a number of effects. Her Datalink power she finds useful, but more for utility than combat; her mind's resistance to outside influence is something she tries to keep well-hidden as her ace in the hole against manipulation. When given half a chance she plans her battles quickly and efficiently, well aware that she relies on her devices and that those devices have limits. Against an obviously inferior foe she might be careless, but against anything or anyone challenging she is methodical and deliberate, striking when she’ll have the upper hand and analyzing the situation for any advantage. [b][u]Complications:[/u][/b] [b]Enemy:[/b] The Hollow Man. When she left she dealt a huge (if sadly not completely crippling) blow to her father’s business, not to mention the very large sum of money she took with her. He wants her back, preferably in good condition, though the longer he has to pretend that the key to his most popular items has vanished the more and more flexible he gets as long as she’s alive and her head’s in one piece. [b]Legacy:[/b] Against her best efforts, some of her creations are still being made here and there, and there are still quite a number of older designs floating around through the underworld. Anyone savvy enough, or connected enough, can link this (often quite lethal or empowering) technology to her. [b]Hatred:[/b] People taking advantage of children, anyone using the things she thought up, and to a lesser extent organized crime or high-end weapons dealers. [b]Secret:[/b] Identity. [b][u]Stats:[/u][/b] 0+4+0+12+2+2 = 20pp Str: 10 (+0) Dex: 14 (+2) Con: 10 (+0) Int: 22 (+6) Wis: 12 (+1) Cha: 12 (+1) [b][u]Combat:[/u][/b] 10+8 = 18pp Initiative: +6 Attack: +5, +7 Gauntlets Grapple: +5 Defense: +4 Base, +10 with Shield, +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0 Base, -3 with Force Field [b][u]Saves:[/u][/b] 4+4+6 = 14pp Toughness: +0 Base, +6 with Force Field (+0 Con, +6 Force Field) Fortitude: +4 (+0 Con, +4) Reflex: +6 (+2 Dex, +4) Will: +7 (+1 Wis, +6) [b][u]Skills:[/u][/b] 64r = 16pp Computers 9 (+15) Concentration 4 (+5) Craft (electronic) 9 (+15) Craft (mechanical) 9 (+15) Knowledge (physical sciences) 9 (+15) Knowledge (technology) 9 (+15) Language (Japanese) Language (Russian) Notice 4 (+5) Perform (stringed instruments) 9 (+10) [b][u]Feats:[/u][/b] 12pp Ambidexterity Benefit (wealth) Eidetic Memory Equipment 3 (15ep) Fearless Inventor Luck Master Plan Online Research Speed of Thought [quote name="Equipment"]Multitool [1ep] Masterwork Double Bass [1ep] Masterwork Violin [1ep] Warehouse HQ [12ep] [device][i]An outwardly-unremarkable warehouse tucked away in Greenbank, no local gangs or criminals seem to want to talk about it. Funny, that....[/i] Size/Medium Toughness/10 Concealed Computer Defense System Fire Prevention System Garage Laboratory Living Space Power System Security System Workshop[/device][/quote] [b][u]Powers:[/u][/b] 2+26+6+3 = 37pp [b]Datalink 2 ([/b]mental, 100ft[b])[/b] [2pp] [b]Device 6 ([/b]Gauntlets, 30pp, [i]Feats[/i]: Accurate, Restricted [Datalink][b])[/b] [26pp] [i]A pair of heavy, high-tech gauntlets capable of warping and folding space. They require the wearer to have Datalink to be used properly.[/i] [device][b]Spacial Array 8 ([/b]16pp array, [i]Feats:[/i] Alternate Power 1[b])[/b] [17pp] (spacial) [list] [b]Damage 8 ([/b][i]Extras:[/i] Range [Ranged][b])[/b] [16/16] [b]Dimensional Pocket 7 ([/b]25,000lbs, [i]Feats:[/i] Progression 1[b])[/b], [b]Enhanced Feat ([/b]Quick Change[b])[/b] [15+1 = 16/16][/list] [b]Protection 6 ([/b][i]Extras:[/i] Force Field, [i]Flaws:[/i] Ablative, [i]Feats[/i]: Selective[b])[/b] [4pp] (spacial) [b]Shield 6[/b] + [b]Enhanced Feat ([/b]Evasion[b])[/b] [6+1 = 7pp] (spacial) [b]Teleport 1 ([/b]100ft[b])[/b] [2pp] (spacial)[/device] [b]Immunity 10 ([/b]Mental Effects, [i]Flaws[/i]: Limited [Half], [i]Feats[/i]: Innate[b])[/b] [6pp] [b]Quickness 6 ([/b]x100, [i]Flaws[/i]: One Type [Mental][b])[/b] [3pp] [b][u]DC Block:[/u][/b] [code]Unarmed 15 DC/Toughness damage Blast 23 DC/Toughness damage Pocket 17 DC/Reflex trapped 17 DC/Will, -1 per save failed to escape (Dimensional Movement grants automatic escape) Costs: Abilities (20) + Combat (18) + Saves (14) + Skills (16) + Feats (12) + Powers (37) - Drawbacks (0) = 117pp Doktor'd

Reflex Save vs. Firebomb, DC22 (1d20 + 6=22) Hah! Cuts that DC19 toughness save down to: Toughness Save vs. Firebomb (DC17) (1d20 + 6=13) Dang. But could be worse. 1 Bruise. Force field takes a hit: down to Toughness 4 (effectively Toughness 3, with that bruise).

Dragonfly stood still at the back of the crowd for a moment, everything moving in slow motion as her brain kicked into high gear. thanks for the warning - too many targets - thin the crowd? - had to field test eventually Her force field twisted into being around her and several little lights lit up as her shield went live and ready; she backed up a foot and braced herself, both gauntlets emitting a dull whine as they charged up and started to glow between the cracks and seams in the plating. In her mind's eye she zoomed out from her own body, viewing the room in abstract. Every person in it was a point of data, every dimension was labeled, lines and numbers sketched out over the scene and fed to the weapons on her hands. At long last the world sped back up to speed and she raised her hands...to point them up into the air over the crowd and unleash a streak of shifting pale blue energy. The streak twitched and jerked through the air, spinning into a small mass over their collective heads; for a moment it hung there like a malevolent living thing before it spun out into a spiral of countless lance-like spacial distortions, each curving down to strike a different member of the group. She lowered her hands, gauntlets fading and actually steaming a bit in the humid air. large power drain - overheating risk - can't do often - it worked! - it worked it worked - beautiful

Force field and shield go, since I don't think she already had them up. Stunt time, I think. Spending an HP to get an AP in her spacial array: Damage 7 (Extras: Area [burst, Targeted], Range [Ranged], Flaws: Action [Full]) [14/14pp] (spacial) That's an area attack placed to cover as many people as she can without hitting 'clad. It's 70 feet wide and 35 feet tall, so it should only rain hurt on the intended targets (which is most of the room). The description is just fluff - it originates from her and cover would prevent the targeting system from...well, targeting, so it's not really indirect. Just more fun to describe. Targetted Area Attack Roll vs. ....everybody (1d20 + 7 + 3=23) DC22 toughness saves for anyone that hits! EDIT: for posterity I guess I should note that the attack roll has that last +3 because of Master Plan. I keep forgetting to add modifiers like that into the attack roll's description.

"Might be a while. Other sources...hm." Dragonfly glanced up at what was left of the warehouse and sighed, tracing a finger through the air as she silently mouthed some figures. "Possible but unlikely. Heat, water." She winced at a crashing sound. "Structural collapse." Without looking down, she expertly pulled back a plate on one of her gauntlets, removing what was left of the shattered glass tube and gently putting it away in a pouch. "Should have gathered better data while I could. Sorry. Was....distracted. May have to wait." She flexed her hand, the plate snapping back into place as she added, "But won't forget. Suspect we all have equal stake in this now."

Dragonfly hissed a little, shaking her hand now that Slick was back into normal space. minor burns? - fingers intact - good sign - new engine's containment held - better than I'd hoped for "Sorry. Was expedient. Harmless, no after-effects; been told it's unpleasant." She glanced at Slick, tilting her head. "Haven't tried it, myself." Apparently deciding that explained everything, she made her way to the edge of the roof. "Should get help before she adapts to where she's been put. Where is...ah. Coming?" Carefully - wincing - she lowered herself down onto the fire escape. From there it was a simple matter to get back down to the street, and then to pick her way through onlookers towards the emergency personnel. Hesitating only slightly she pulled an EMT aside, brought the unconscious girl and her drip back without fanfare (well, as much without fanfare as folding someone out of thin air can be) and gave a brief, tired, borderline-clinical explanation of what had been done to her, as well as a promise to come by with a more detailed recreation of the notes and files she'd seen when she'd had the time to do the recreating.

Well. Being air-dropped into the middle of a bunch of hobos and villains is a call for initiative if I ever heard one. Initiative Roll (1d20 + 6=19) Also, Master Plan goes into effect immediately, for the first round of combat. +3 to attack and skill rolls, use it well! They didn't really have much time to discuss, but with metal quickness and the datalink they established I guess I'll just handwave that she's feeding helpful, unspecified data to Ironclad.

:words: Alright, assuming that if Slick's assuming Dragonfly's doing something useful, I don't need to roll an attack (because (s)he's not dodging) or be challenged by reflex (because (s)he's...not dodging). If I'm wrong and Slick would try to get the hell away from the , let me know and I'll revise the post. The breakdown: Depending on how you measure things in this situation, this is either two standard actions and a move, a standard and two moves, or three moves. In any case, that's a normal round and then an extra effort surge (inflicted on the device itself, this time, just for dramatic purposes) to get the third action. Dimensional Pocket x2, then Teleport (checked with troll to get the location of the nearby roof). She'll probably wait until she's on the ground to release the girl, unless the girl releases herself before then. If you want to RP being pulled back to normal space before then, or willing yourself back with a roll (DC14, now that her gauntlets are 'fatigued'), feel free. It's basically like what just happened in reverse - lots of spacial mumbo-jumbo and then popping or folding back into the dimensions we all know and love. Otherwise, she'll be un-pocketing Slick on her next post.

Dragonfly nodded, and would have taken a deep breath if the air wasn't full of smoke. Lights dancing behind her eyes, she mentally disabled assorted safeties on her gauntlets (getting more than a few warning messages in return, which thankfully only she could 'hear'). There was a noise, like a whirring electronic whine, slowly building into a tooth-vibrating hum as every crack and non-metal surface on her gauntlets started lighting up in pale, bright blue; the air around her hands just looked...wrong, like the light passing nearby was getting distorted and twisted around before coming out the other side. She reached out and laid a hand on Slick's shoulder, resting the other on the end of the bed. "Don't touch my bike." On either side of her, from where each hand rested, little lines like folds in paper scattered across the surface of Slick's body and and the girl - bed, drip, and all. In no more than a couple seconds both were completely covered, and the world...twisted. From an outside point of view, the world itself started folding in towards her hands, crumpling and distorting until it vanished into nothing. To an inside point of view, there were simply a few seconds of tingling followed by the universe...churning, like standing inside a room that's being twisted inside-out in ways the brain isn't sure how to process. The sensation was fortunately brief, leaving Slick and the girl-laden bed sitting (floating?) in largely empty (if human-friendly) space with the bike, jacket, and assorted odds and ends. Standing alone in the smoke-filled room, Dragonfly coughed again and made her way to the window, searching for the warehouse roof she'd spotted before. Holding her hands out to her sides, she winced. this will hurt - best option - repairs will be fun Space folded in around her.... ....and folded again on the roof of the warehouse nearby, depositing her and a puff of smoke in the clean, fire-less city air. She had about two seconds to wonder at her plan working before both (no longer glowing) gauntlets twitched and spat sparks and acrid smoke. expected that - calculated risk - will have to repair later - let's see here A little glass tube on the left one exploded in a tiny burst of blue energy as she charged up to pull her 'captives' back into normal space.

Dragonfly One Pill Makes You Larger... (13) Unlikely Allies: Pt 2 (16) Aftermath: Movie Night (8) Pwned (10) News Posts (3) 13+16+8+10+3 = 50 Wiki! Vignette Gaian Knight Lead Us Not Into Temptation (8) 8 = 8

Come with me if you want to live.

risky to move her - unknown status - adaption undependable? - ideally move her whole, without disturbing - ...! Dragonfly coughed, rushing over to the window and searching for something, anything within - there - structurally sound - better than here Turning back around to face Slick, one hand still over her mouth, she held the other out like a handshake as her force field wavered and finally untangled into nonexistence. "Trust me?"

At this rate, probably. Huh. Hadn't thought of that. Maybe! A battlesuit is indeed in her future, but not from this stuff. It's old (to her), and bulky. At best it's a battlesuit prototype. But it at least establishes that she's made them before!

You may want to use them to even out your caps. I don't believe you can mix&match tradeoffs like that...generally you can trade attack for damage (or vice versa), and you can trade defense for toughness (and vice versa), but I'm not sure you can trade attack for defense or toughness for damage or whatever.

"Flight's complicated," she messaged back. "Bugs to work out. Secondary priority - other ways to get around. Prefer not to be carried - makes a bigger target. Ties up your resources, keeps you from--" Attention drawn by the chanting, Dragonfly watched the Worm put on the device and started softly swearing in Russian, getting a little more vulgar as the weapon was triggered. At some point she apparently ran out of foul words, because she went back to the messaging: "SMPA2...--nevermind. Not important. Arm piece from power armor. Good news: Stable design. Unlikely to tear holes in reality. Much less effective without the full set. Bad news: Still somewhat effective in the right hands. On its own...hmm." Dragonfly thought for a moment and gave a quick and (relatively) simple run down of what the thing could probably do, though she notably left out any details that'd help in the least if someone actually tried to build the thing.

Hm. Tried to give it something nice-ish and unusual, without breaking Worm's caps or making the fight truly terrible. Feel free to confirm or veto: Device ? (Weaponized Armor: Arm Mount, ??pp Device) Need a little heavy lifting? An extra kick for that next job? Hero got you down? Try our new line of weaponized power armor! Custom-designed with the very latest science, guaranteed to satisfy. Not all functions available if individual pieces are worn alone. Estimated functions of a single arm mount: Damage 5 (Extras: Penetrating, Range [Ranged], Feats: Alternate Power 1) (spacial) AP: Paralyze 4 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Range [Ranged]) (spacial) The former's much like Dragonfly's own blast, if a little more crude (but still dangerous). The second screws with your local reality to slow you down or freeze you entirely. Frozen targets are mildly distorted-looking and glow softly.

Dragonfly blinked, lowering his arm as the scientist went out and collapsed. ...or that - so much for wearing him down - true science wins? She nodded, paying better attention to the surrounding smoke and fire. "R-right!" Putting a hand over her mouth - and taking a moment to consider herself lucky that her gauntlets were both (mostly) lined on the inside and (decently) heat-resistant - she took off after Slick, hoping Cannonade had a plan. This whole situation seemed to have gone bad pretty quickly.... exactly what happens when you abuse science like that - what kind of idiot drinks untest forumlas - lucky if the building doesn't collapse on our heads

finally - progress - not fast enough but progress - serum makes them durable? Dragonfly sent another blast his way, trying to keep an eye on the condition of the room as she did. "Luck can't last forever. Have to just wear him down!"

Ranged Attack Roll vs. Scientist (Blast) (1d20 + 7=13) ....not the greatest roll in the world. Sorta doubt that hits, even with the stun, but I'll give it a shot. So to speak. DC22 in the unlikely event it does hit.

"Haven't learned. Haven't invented. You've stolen. Barely improved on something you couldn't understand!" Another blast, this time with her other hand as the first gestured towards Cannonade. "He's right. Saw the records. Charts. Notes. She's perfect, maybe. You? Pale imitation. She probably hates you." She tilted her head up and to the side. "I would."

Ranged Attack Roll vs. Scientist (Blast) (1d20 + 7=22) Horray! The dice don't completely hate her.

Dragonfly took a deep breath - as deep as she dared with so much fire around, anyway. cathartic - okay - gang down - which just leaves.... She turned back around to eye the last villain standing. "You'll look at nothing. Don't deserve it. Not even oily bodily fluids." She brought a hand up, taking a few steps in his direction and letting fly another shockwave. "You were never a good scientist. Now everyone can see what you are: a burning effigy of idiots and villainy."

Attack Roll vs. Scientist (Blast) (1d20 + 7=26) So close to a crit! So close.