Derin

"Nanites. My parents are engineers, they have a variety of robotic systems including a nanite healing chamber. When Chl... when I came in after the accident, there was too much damage to heal normally. I... the nanites were integrated permanently into my system. My power is limited, but I can heal a lot of basic injuries on contact. Bruises, broken bones, possibly severed limbs -- I haven't tried that yet. You understand that it's difficult to experiment ethically. I'm hoping that this school will help me to learn how to apply my powers properly, as well as their limits. And how to handle myself in combat, of course, which seems to crop up in the ourse of every hero's career with worrying regularity. I'm sure you appreciate that not being able to strike an opponent does limit one's options in combat somewhat, even for nonviolent people."

Chloe nodded. She hadn't been worried about her personal safety (there were few injuries she couldn't heal, to her knowledge) or her belongings (most of what she owned was clothing), but she wasn't sure how to clarify that, so she let the subject drop. "So you're planning to use our telekinesis for the greater good then, I suppose? Are you going for shielding and defending with it, or using it as an aggressive power? Or both? It seems like it would be difficult to do both to me, but I don't know anything about telekinesis."

"It's... against my nature," Chloe explained. "I died in the accident. The process used to revive me was an unusual one, one invented by my parents; a sort of automated healing system. It stuck with me." Speaking as Chloe instead of MD273 was hard. She supposed she'd get used to it. "I'm a healer now. Not just somebody with medical training, a healer; it's what I am. It means I can't do harm, not to humans anyway. Not even a thump. I could cut you open if you needed surgery, but that's about it. Accidental telekinesis... that sounds dangerous."

"I'm not actually capable of hitting people," Chloe said. Throwing information around like that could be dangerous if she was going to be a hero, she knew, but if she was going to live with Kristin then the girl would figure it out eventually anyway. "I'm sure I could find a nonviolent way to wake you though. As for my memories..." Chloe paused for a moment to sort out the pronouns in her head. People accepted "Chloe", but "MD273" creeped them out. "I was in a car accident a few months ago. I suffered some fairly extreme head trauma. I've observed a lot of old video of myself but I don't remember anything as myself from before the accident. So no, I don't remember school, although I've seen photographs." She shrugged. "I guess all that education turned out to be a waste of time. How about you? telekinesis sounds pretty versatile. I suppose you could do all sorts of interesting things with it."

"Thank you, but no. I, too, am more useful at heavy lifting than I look, but in this case it is unnecessary; this is all I brought with me." She wheeled the bag into the room and placed it on the end of the unoccupied bed. She unzipped it and dug under a couple of neatly folded school uniforms, her newly chosen hero outfit, and two carefully coordinated casual outfits for a tiny bottle of pills, which she gave a shake and placed on the dresser. Smile. Right. She returned Kristin's grin. "I haven't... I mean, I don't recall ever attending school before," she said. "I'm hoping it will be an instructive experience. I think I understand how the system works though. So, what special ability brought you here?"

Chloe came on in. "Hi. You must be Kristin. I'm Chloe, your new roommate." She handed over the piece of paper with her room designation, in case Kristin needed proof. Two-person room... right, she could do this. She'd seen this in movies. Were they meant to have some sort of hilarious misunderstanding and then c ome out the other side as friends? Or maybe one of them would be a Roommate From Hell? Or maybe they had to band together against some horrible person living down the hall. Or maybe Kristin was a boy in disguise. Although she had been warned that real life wasn't exactly like the movies. "So, uh... new school. I'm told you're pretty new too." Was that right? People got offended if you weren't interested enough in them and threatened if you were too interested. Chloe hoped she'd found the balance.

OOC thread for Sharing Space

Claremont Academy dorms, January 6th, 8.00 A.M. Chloe strode down the corridor of the girls' dorm, scanning the room numbers. Everything she owned was in the suitcase she trailed behind her. Rather less than Chloe had been used to pre-accident, but MD273 had never owned anything. Being outside the medical bay of her own house was still a little overwhelming; being alone at Claremont Academy was just about impossible to concieve. She glanced at the scrap of paper in her hand to confirm the room number and knocked tentatively on the door. Were you meant to knock on your own door? She could figure that out later.

Whiplash Hot Goods The Devil his Due

Chloe knew who Luke was, of course, but she'd watched enough television and blundered through enough social interactions now to understand how first meetings worked. Sort of. "I'm Chloe." She tried a smile, which became slightly more genuine when Kristin showed up; two people were easier to deal with than one. Within minutes, there were four classmates surrounding her. Chloe took care not to stare or look aggressive while she observed them, remembering to smile. When she let her smile slip, people tended to ask her what was wrong, and any attemp to accurately answer that question quickly got out of hand. They were talking about powers. She could do that. She didn't know much about their powers; she'd learned their faces but humans had certain rules about privacy and it was considered "rude" to go searching obsessively for information. She should say something. Prolonged silence was usually perceived as being unfriendly. But she should not address Subito or Luke, for fear of derailing their conversation. Kristin was the safest bet as they had interacted before. And she should say something helpful, friendly and non-invasive. After some consideration, she tried, "How are you, Kristin? Have you injured yourself in any fights since we last met?" She lifted one hand slightly, an unspoken offer of her healing services.

Outside the theatre, Chloe frowned at the programme for a moment, trying to decipher the point of the production. Entertainment, she knew, a reason to interact and socialise with other theater-goers; she just wished that she understood how that worked. With a shrug (she was getting better at this body language thing), she scanned the crowd for Claremont uniforms or faces she recognised. She'd made sure to learn the faces of the other participans in advance, to make finding them easier, but it was hard to make out anybody in the crowd. Was she looking for a group, or would they all be wandering around separately? Oh. Wait. They'd be seated together. Of course. She pulled out her ticket and headed for the door.

"I haven't seen the man, only heard him described." She hesitated a moment, then shrugged and typed her number into his phone. "Here, send me the picture," she said, tossing the phone back. "I can ask our friend if we have any further chats. What is that guy, anyway? And these demons... are we looking at actual demons, or people like you?" This was not Whiplash's element. She'd gotten involved to bust a simple drug ring, hit some criminals, make a few citizen's arrests maybe, and now she was playing with demons and sorcerors. Sometimes she hated this city.

"I'm told he worked with some kinds of voodoo doctor, trying to bring you down," Whiplash said. "Apparently he's obsessed with dark magic. His current accomplice is a sorceror who summons demon servants. He dresses in dark yellow robes and keeps his face covered. The contact doesn't know much; isn't even certain whether he's male." She glanced at Pyre. "I believe he mistook you, Pyre, for one of the sorceror's pets, which might be why he attempted to run right off the edge of the roof. I'm not sure how much he wants to talk to you.:

Not for the first time, Whiplash wished that she had some kind of secret headquarters. Instead she shrugged, following the pale woman out. "Can't say that I do, unless you like heights as much as I do." Her first choice for a meeting spot was a good high rooftop, but that didn't seem to suit most people. Pity. So few prying eyes ever looked up, and hardly anybody put security on their rooftops. "I sent your friend home, Pyre. He was getting very nervous and I didn't want him to bolt and get himself killed. After seeing that and hearing his story, I'm amazed he was willing to talk at all." She didn't add that the man had clearly found Pyre scary as hell, as would any rational person meeting him for the first time in darkness. Presumably he already knew that.

"Thank you, detective." Whiplash followed the policewoman inside, remembering to wear a friendly smile. I'm not being arrested. I'm a good guy now. She gave the corpse a cursory look-over, careful not to touch it and not really expecting to learn anything, before turning to Pyre and Revenant. "Old friends of yours?" she asked Revenant. "I assume you know their boss is after you? Something about bringing the family down a long time ago. This one... this one betrayed them." The body was even more chilling up close. Who did that to another person?! This was the sort of thing the "harmless" crimes led to. This was the sort of thing she had to stop.

Revenant. Well this was getting complicated. Whiplash glanced at the witness. He was just about ready to bolt and she couldn't push her luck. "Go home," she said, "but first tell me your address. I'll follow along in about an hour or two to make sure you're not being watched. You won't see me. As far as your bosses are concerned, you never spoke to us and we've never met." There was no need to imply that she may not be finished with the man. Let him have the illusion that it was all over. She carried him down from the roof behind the building they were perched on, out of sight of the police, then walked around to the street alone. She gave the police outside a nod. "Whiplash," she introduced herself. "I understand there's been a death here?"

A gem. Gems she could do. Other things were taken out of the vault as well and the Heart could very well be a dead end... but it could be something. So why take it? It was clearly a contract job. It wasn't some opportunistic thief hoping to find a fence for it. They'd hit for volume, a jewellery store as opposed to a private vault. And they'd not go for something so recognisable, something impossible to sell. A job like that... it'd be a really, really obsessive collector who'd pay for that just because they liked the thing. Some sort of personal revenge was the obvious motive. But in Freedom City it was probably something ridiculous, like a component for a superweapon. "Ma'am, do you have any enemies?" Whiplash asked, knowing full well that she sounded like a useless police stereotype. "And could you tell me how you came by the Heart? Who did you buy it from?"

Whiplash stared at the body for several seconds, trying to come to terms with what she was seeing. Dead people were new territory for her, let alone skinless dead people frozen in apparent agony. He looked disconcertingly like something you'd buy at the butcher's, and the mere fact that that occurred to Whiplash just made her feel worse. She felt like she should break in and take a closer look. But that, of course, was silly. Neither corpses nor black magic were within her realm of experience. She'd just contaminate the crime scene for no good reason, and probably tick off the police while she was there. Instead, she hauled herself back up and returned to the informant. "I see what you mean," she said, trying to sound calm and professional and not at all like she wanted to run away and hide under something. "There is clearly something nasty at work here." Okay. She needed to warn Revenant, if the woman didn't already know. That should be fairly simple. Superheroes weren't generally that hard to find and she'd seen Revenant haunting her part of town. She'd never followed the woman, but it was clear she has some sort of regular business in Southside. Pyre was with the police and didn't seem to have caused any gunfire. Maybe he'd found out more about the magic thing than she had. She needed to identify the Don, but that wasn't something she could just pull out of a freaked out informant and somehow she didn't think intimidation was going to help. She needed to solve his problem and make him feel safe, which meant that she needed to get to the bottom of this... crazy black magic. She didn't know any experts on magic. "The sorceror who did this. Do you know what he looks like? Or anything distinctive about him, any other details?"

Whiplash nodded. She might be able to see with binoculars... but at night? Without knowing where the body was? "Stay right here. Right. Here. On this roof. It's probably best that the police don't see you." She picked a moment that nobody was looking up (which, generally, was most of the time) and leapt over to the building that supposedly had the body in it. If worst came to worst, she could break in through the window or fire escape, but she didn't want to contaminate a crime scene if she didn't have to. Instead she found a window into the room and, after finding a secure enough spot to secure her grapple just in case she fell (not that she ever fell, but it wasn't long ago that she never got shot at either), leaned over the edge of the roof to look inside.

I stripped out a lot of the flaws and soforth and simplified the character. Now that you mention it, she is a little dark. A major part of the reason she moved off to Claremount was going to be because she and her parents needed some space from each other and time to adjust. I'm not sure how to avoid removing Chloe's memories, though, without making her crazy. I left out biology knowledge because she's specialised for repairing damage to human bodies. Most of what she does would be unconscious, the actions of nanites that do their job but don't have any input into her conscious thoughts, much how we use our nerves to move our muscles without understadning the chemical details. I've added it now though.

Revenant. For the briefest moment, Whiplash considered walking away. She'd fought with revenant; the woman punched like she had concrete fists and shook off bullet wounds as if they were nothing. And she was clearly in this a lot deeper and knew what she was doing. Whiplash would only blunder in and mess up whatever intricate plan was already in place. But she couldn't walk away. This was what she did now. If she was going to put on the mask, sneak around people's property without permission and beat up idiots who got in her way, she was either a hero or a crook. And she wasn't a crook any more. She stopped a rooftop away from their destination and let go of the man. Darn it. The cops had beaten them. Cops still made her nervous, even though they were her allies now. Old survival habits died hard. Whiplash looked from her witness to the scene below. Even if she could convince him to go down there with her, she didn't want to turn him over to the cops just yet. He mightn't be safe, not if his boss was some kind of dark-magic-employing maniac. Besides, she still wanted answers. But she couldn't leave him on the roof alone; there wasn't much chance he'd still be there when she got back. Instead, she pulled out her binoculars and started looking for a good vantage point. "Which room is the body in?" she asked.

Whiplash Hot Goods Nighttime Hunting Gangland Violence The Devil his Due

[floatr][/floatr] Player Name: Derin Character Name: MD273, AKA “Medic†Power Level: 7 (111/113PP) Trade-Offs: -4 Defense / +4 Toughness Unspent Power Points: 2 Progress To Bronze Status: 8/30 In Brief: A medical nanite collective/human cyborg out to protect and heal Alternate Identity: Chloe Thorne Identity: Public Birthplace: Tasmania, Australia Occupation: Student (previously, medical facility) Affiliations: Claremont Academy Family: David Thorne (father), Alicia Thorne (mother) Description: Age: 17, body is 16 (DoB: 1994) Apparent Age: 16 Gender: F Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 160cm Weight: 54kg Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Chloe is small and pale-skinned, with her black hair cropped short. She favours neat, regimented clothing such as uniforms, and will wear a uniform or prescribed outfit wherever she justifiably can. Her costume is a stylised nurse uniform, designed to be noticed and advertise her services, including a bright red cross on the back of her jacket. Her body sports no scars, not even little marks normally acquired in childhood. She keeps her nails trimmed very short, and almost never wears makeup or nail polish. Medic will often carry a small first aid kit in the field, containing bandages and bottles. This kit is a prop with no practical function; she claims it is used to improve bedside manner. The bottles contain saline and sugar water used as placebos and to disguise her use of nanites in healing. Power Descriptions: Mimicking her previous activity as an intelligent medical facility, Chloe transfers nanites into people by touch. These nanites are short-lived once away from the her body, and programmed before transfer to affect a specific aspect of the target’s physiology, such as their emotional state or strength. Although she makes no secret of her ability to heal, she tends to downplay the existence of her more offensive powers, such as her ability to sedate dangerous people. History: MD273, known as “Medicâ€, was created by engineering geniuses David and Alicia Thorne as part of their combined intelligent household and laboratory systems. The Thornes lived alone, ten minutes’ drive from the nearest town, and combined their household and laboratory in a single complex. Somewhat reclusive and distrustful of legal and beaurocratic matters surrounding their work, the Thornes rarely publicised or sold their more unusual inventions, and MD273 was no exception. Medic turned out to be irreproducible anyway; it was programmed to learn and adapt itself to become a better doctor, and some quirk in the development process left the system capable of collectively understanding broad concepts that attempts at reproduction have not managed. Medic had access to the other computer systems in the household, including a vast electronic library. It understood its function as a doctor. It watched old, recorded television and read about the world, developing its own ideas of what it meant to safeguard the health of its patients. The year after Medic first developed any recognisable awareness was the year that David and Alicia had their only child, a girl named Chloe. On Chloe’s 16th birthday, she went out to celebrate with friends, and was almost all the way home before suffering a car accident. David and Alicia had monitoring systems in place to check the health of their daughter, and immediately rushed her into MD273, with the instruction to “heal her at all costs; forget any restriction or limitation that gets in your way, just heal herâ€. Unfortunately, Chloe was already braindead. Medic repaired Chloe’s damaged cells, restarted the heart and fixed the automatic nerve functions. But it could not replace the memories that Chloe had developed over her life. Those connections were lost forever. So it fulfilled its instructions as best it could; by moving its own nanite system into the living but inanimate body of Chloe. When their amnesiac but newly superpowered daughter expressed interest in further developing her powers for the good of humankind, David and Chloe took the advice of a well-connected psychologist friend and enrolled her in Claremont Academy. Medic, knowing that prevention of harm is generally more effective than cure, believes that a doctor’s duty should not extend only to the sick, but that preventing people from becoming injured in the first place is consistent with her programmed function. And if she needs to be a hero to do that most effectively, so be it. Personality & Motivation: Medic is a doctor at heart, and her personality is built around that function. Her drive to protect stems from the duty she feels to her patients and potential future patients; she believes that not attempting prevent harm is much like causing harm, and that preventing her patients from becoming hurt in the first place is simply a more effective method of healing them. She is attempting to learn how to behave as a human to better work in her human shell and treat human patients. Powers & Tactics: Medic favours peaceful resolution over direct combat. If forced to fight, she will not do direct damage, instead relying on sedating and calming the enemy. She considers this to be nonviolent, a variation on a doctor sedating a patient that is hysterical or mad with pain. In a group fight, she is most likely to offer support by healing allies and weakening enemies. When possible, she likes to hide the fact that she’s using nanites at all, touching her enemies as subtly as possible and hoping the drugs take effect before they notice the attack. Complications: Do No Harm: Medical ethics, including the Hippocratic oath and the concept of primum non nocere, are an integral part of Medic’s initial programming. She cannot deliberately cut, bruise, or injure the bones or organs of a living human (ie. Do anything that imposes a toughness saving throw) outside of direct medical assistance (such as surgery). Unless doing so puts herself or others in direct danger, she is obliged to administer aid for lethal damage to any human who requests it, or who is incapable of requesting (such as somebody dying), regardless of allegiance. New human: Legally, Medic is Chloe Thorne. However, everything she knows about human behaviour comes from books, television, and observing a single family. She’s still trying to figure out her own emotional responses, and how to interact with other humans, which can cause strain and suspicion at times. Abilities: 0 + 8 + 10 + 8 + 4 + 0 = 30PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 18 (+4) Constitution: 20 (+5) Intelligence: 18 (+4) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 10 (+0) Combat: 6 + 4 = 10PP Initiative: +4 Attack: +7 Melee, +3 Ranged Grapple: +14 Defense: +3 (+2 Base, +1 Dodge Focus), +1 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0 Saving Throws: 1 + 0 + 1 = 2PP Toughness: +11 (+5 Con, +6 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +7 (+5 Con, +2) Reflex: +4 (+4 Dex, +0) Will: +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 28R = 7PP Computers SM 11 (+15) Diplomacy SM 5 (+5) Knowledge (life sciences)SM 4 (+8) Medicine SM 8 (+10) Feats: 12PP Attack focus (melee) 4 Defensive Roll 3 Dodge Focus 1 Eidetic Memory Grappling Finesse Improved Grapple Improved Pin Skill Mastery Powers: 4 + 4 + 1 + 30 + 7 + 1 + 1 = 48PP Communication 4 ( radio 1 mile) [4PP] Comprehend 2 ( electronics) [4PP] Damage 6 ( Flaws: limited to non-living; Drawbacks:full power) [2PP] Nanites (31PP array; Feats: Alternate power 2; drawbacks: full power, power loss [no access to silicon for >12hrs]) [31PP] (Medical nanites, technology) Base Power: Fatigue 6 (Sedatives; Extras: aura, duration 2; Feats: sedation ){31/31} Alternate Power: Emotion control 7 (Hormonal manipulation; Extras: alternate save [fortitude], aura, secondary effect; Flaws: range 2 [touch]; Feats: subtle) ; Healing 7(Nanite healing;Feats: regrowth) {30/31} Alternate Power: Drain fortitude save 7 (General reaction suppressant; Extras: aura, duration 2; Feats: insidious, subtle, slow fade 1 [1pt Fort recovery/min]) {31/31} Regeneration 7(staggered 5, resurrection 1, recovery bonus +1) [7PP] (technology) Super-senses 1 (radio) [1PP] (technology) Super-strength 3 (Flaws: duration; Drawbacks: Power loss [no access to silicon for >12hrs]) [2PP] (technology) Drawbacks: -2 + -2 = -4PP Weakness (Requires silicon every 24 hours; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Moderate (cumulative -1 con drain per hour)) [-2PP] Vulnerability ( electrical attacks; Frequency: uncommon, Intensity: Moderate) [-2PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Damage Touch DC16 Toughness Damage Reaction suppressant Touch DC17 Fortitude (Staged) Drain fort save Sedatives Touch DC17 Fortitude (Staged) Fatigued/exhausted/unconscious Healing Touch DC17 Fortitude (Staged) Healing Hormone manipulation Touch DC17 Fortitude (Staged) Influence emotions Totals: Abilities (30) + Combat (10) + Saving Throws (5) + Skills (7) + Feats (13) + Powers (50) - Drawbacks (4) = 111/113 Power Points

Can I take 10 on acrobatics checks to roof-hop to Madison Ave?

"Alright. Let's go." She started walking along the roof, holding his elbow in a grip that was gentle but ready to turn vicelike at any moment. "We'll stay off the streets. Do you know this voodoo doctor's name? Or the woman he was chasing down?" The Don's name was what she really wanted, but that could wait. One little bit of information at a time. She hoped to solve at least part of a mystery tonight, a mystery that might help weed out a decent chunk of the drug production in Southside. Beating up individual drug dealers just wasn't working, not long-term. They just came back, or were replaced. But a lot of them seemed to be connected. If that were the case, then cutting things off at the source... well, every solution was temporary. But it might give them a lot more breathing room. It might keep Anna and her friends safe from pushers, and crazed druggies, and thieves looking for enough cash to get a fix for a bit longer. As they neared the edge of the roof, she slipped her hand around the man's waist. "Hold on tight." She picked him up and began her running jump.