Thunder King

Bedlam City, January 11th, 2024. 8 PM. Getting a Thursday off was not unusual for a bartender. They liked their best people to work at Club Maxx on the busy nights. Ellie did not know that one of her coworkers put her picture up on social media. It wasn't on purpose, of course. However, Ellie had very good reasons to avoid having her picture put out in public. Ellie noticed she was being followed around 7 o'clock, about an hour prior. A pair of men in plain gray suits seemed to be showing up wherever she went. They ended up at the diner she ate her late dinner at, and the also seemed to show up at the convenience store she bought her bottle of whiskey at. Now, they were across the street, standing at a bus station, not moving or talking.

John was not feeling this nonsense. So, he braced himself slightly and charged forward through the cab of the truck, towards the gorilla man. He grabbed him and more or less scooped him off of the seat. He reached forward and opened the door as he shoved himself, and the gorilla, clean out the cab and out into the open air. He landed with a rough thud on pavement, and stared up into the sky. He groaned in pain. It didn't hurt too badly, but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

Can he use the grapple to force the gorilla out of the truck?

John's gonna go for a grapple. He doesn't want the gorilla to try to get control of the vehicle again. He needs this thing out of the truck 21 Please ignore that it says toughness, didn't mean to do that. It's a grapple.

26 Very lucky.

Can I assume he can stop the truck, or....

Huh, John is an ex cop without drive ranks. Maybe I should fix that sometime; 9 Gonna go ahead and burn a hero point. It's a 15 regardless, but just in case degree of success matters; 8 Haha, no, the 15.

John managed, with a great deal of effort, to force the wheel out of the gorilla's hands. Then, he pushed the gorilla's foot away from the gas pedal, and slowly, but firmly, pressed down on the brake pedal. He thought he could survive the crash if needed, but he didn't want anyone else, including the gorilla trucker, to get hurt if he could stop it.

24 Not half bad, really.

John had worn the coat for a few years, now. He had seen the worst depravities that Bedlam had to offer. He had never seen anything like this. It looked like a person had been turned into a gorilla or something, and was now stuck trying to steer a truck. John reached towards the steering wheel, and tried to jerk it out of the gorilla's control, trying desperately to turn the truck aside.

He has +10 in Life Science, as part of his police training. 23

The Tattered Man cursed under his breath and charged toward the truck from the opposite direction. He jumped clear onto the side of the truck, and after a moment of wobbliness, managed to stabilize himself on the passenger side. He managed to pop the door open and slide inside to see what state the driver was in, if there was one.

https://orokos.com/roll/998425 He landed. Do I need to roll to get into the truck?

John is going to try to see if he can jump onto and into the truck to see if he can see if there's a driver inside and if he can get control over the truck. Acrobatics check?

Tagging

Crimson Tiger introduced herself to the students in the room. Then said; "Try to avoid using your powers, if you can. I know some of you can't, and that's fine. If you have enhanced strength, try to avoid these heavy bags. Use the other ones over there, those are better suited to that." "Let me show you a quick demonstration." she said. She stepped up to the heavy bag, and looked to the students. "Martial arts is all about applying momentum. Let me show you." She threw a quick punch at the heavy bag. It hit with a decent amount of force, with a slight thud. "This punch was just with force from my arm. Just from my shoulder, to my fist." Then, she delivered another, much harder punch. The students heard a much louder THUD from that punch. "This one started here, at my hips. I rotated my entire torso into that punch." She mimed the punch slowly, drawing attention to her body, from her hips, up through her torso, then to her arm. "It's about channeling momentum. I rotate my hips slightly into the punch. Getting good at it takes months to years of practice. Getting good enough to throw a decent punch doesn't take a whole lot of practice." Then, she shuffled backward slightly. "Now, years of practice looks more like this." Suddenly, her right foot flew up and slammed into the side of the heavy bag with the loudest THUD yet, sending the bag rocking on it's chain. "Or." Then, she stepped forward, and delivered a powerful knee strike to the heavy bag, then hopped to her other foot and threw another knee strike. Her foot touched the floor for just a second, before she slammed her knee into the bag again, and again, and again. "This is just an extra; I practice muay thai, which is a martial art that doesn't just use the hands and feet, but also the knees and elbows. By shortening the distance the force from my torso has to travel, I reduce the amount of force lost to momentum, and maximize the amount of force delivered to the target." She delivered a quick, powerful looking elbow to the heavy bag. "Now, each of you partner up and step up to one of the heavy bags, and practice some basic punches. Remember, try to rotate from your hips. If you need to start slower to get used to using your whole torso, do that. Start slow, move slow, and build up speed."

Voltage Voltage had been simply mingling in the party when one of the smartest people on the planet arrived. He knew, secondhand, that things had happened with Archeville. He had devoured the information years before, and now, the man was here. The super-genius cyberkinetic did nothing but stand by and observe. He could have attempted to hack into the security systems at the Hall to observe things, but he didn't. For one, they were competent enough to sort things on their own. For two, he wasn't sure if even his prodigious skills would allow him to circumvent their security. It would be a terrible time for the League to think they were under a cyber attack. Instead, he simply continued to mingle while he stood in the room. He, like many of the other heroes, was on edge. He didn't anticipate an attack, but Archeville's arrival could certainly create tension.

Crimson Tiger chuckled. Cockroach boy. She had seen weirder, and with worse form. "Agility is great." She said. "Very useful. I'm going to help you learn how to fight." She smiled. "Let's wait for a couple of the other kids to show up before we get into the heavy stuff." She glanced over at the extra strength speed and heavy bags she had dragged out of storage. They could withstand much more force than she herself could put out. Specially designed for students that could hit with superhuman force. She would assess them, one by one, asking them to throw a simple punch. She would make sure their hands were properly wrapped, too.

Mali smiled to Cassie "Hello, Cassie. It's great to meet you. I always like meeting new people. It's a lot of fun." She smiled to the girl. Cute kid, she thought. She accepted the hug from Chris with grace, and a little awkwardness. "Edge would. If he's the kind of guy I've heard he is." Then, turning to him, she remarked. "Zeke here looks like he has a punchable face. Though that'd probably screw with the whole redemption thing she's trying. Hope he learns." Mali turned to Golden Star. "Actually, yeah, I've done quite a bit of teaching before. I have a full time student, he's a cousin of mine. I don't mind teaching the occasional lesson. In fact..." She pulled a card from her pocket. "This is an email address that connects to Crimson Tiger. Talk to someone at the school, get permission for me to show up and work with you, and I'll teach you and some of your friends a few moves. Or just give them my card. Somebody there will remember me, and contact me about showing up a few times." "Now, if you don't mind me, I've got an Atlantean princess to go greet. Love meeting you." She waved, and walked toward Thaelia. "Thae! Long time no see!" She said with a laugh. "Still allergic to subtlety, huh?" She walked up and greeted her old friend with a grin.

Crimson Tiger Mali politely excused herself, and walked over towards Geckoman. She wanted to politely introduce herself to one of the old guard of Claremont, and one of the original members of Young Freedom. Not to mention one of the Interceptors, which, as a street level hero, were her favorite hero team. She walked over and gave a smile. "Hi, um, I'm Mali. I go by Crimson Tiger, um, out there. Sorry, sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I was on Young Freedom, too. After you. Actually, um, after me, the name stopped being used. I'm so sorry, I'm being awkward, and weird. That's not me, not normally."

Voltage Near where Angelic was standing, a small cloud of silver electrical current appeared in thin air. A second later, the electricity coalesced into a rough humanoid shape, before solidifying into a lean, nearly gaunt man with short gray hair. He actually looked somewhat healthier than he had recently. He smiled and nodded rather awkwardly, smiling to Eira, who was one of the people he knew well enough to greet. "Hello. I don't often come out for these sorts of things. How are you doing?"

Crimson Tiger For a moment, Mali stared off into space. "That was nine years ago. Nine damn years ago. I graduated from high school 10 years ago." She chuckled. "Wow, yeah. Um, I'm good. I own my own business, now. I'm into sports medicine, helping people recover from injuries. Heroes, especially. If you know anyone who needs PT from a hero injury, I can give you my card. I've got some solid backers." Mali turned and looked out, before mumbling to herself. "Holy crap, that's Geckoman...never actually met him, before."

Mali spotted someone familiar, and wandered over. It wasn't like Mali was unused to meeting new people, but, she still felt more comfortable with people she knew. So, when she saw Lynn, she had to head over and say hello to her old boss and landlady. "Hi! Been a while. How are you?" She said with a broad smile. She hoped Lynn would remember her. She didn't live there or work for Lynn for long, but her memories were positive.

Mali stepped into the room. She had elected to go without her costume. Either people would recognize her, or they wouldn't. Any that would would be people she knew, anyone who wouldn't would be people she simply hadn't met. So, there she was, in a biker jacket, a black t-shirt and black leather, heeled boots. She had a somewhat wild pixie cut that had been tousled by her helmet. A quick look at a mirror told her that it hardly hurt, so she didn't bother to correct it. She had considered bringing Somchai, her student, along. She waffled on it for a bit. She was considering bringing him to Claremont, or recommending his attendance. While his mother was alive, and still taking care of him, she felt a motherly attachment to him. Either way, he was no less talented than she had been at his age. She smiled, looking around for people she either knew, or wouldn't mind talking to.

Valid points, thanks! I'll deal with them.