Issue 1: Pressure

[Veral]

Springboard said, "As soon as we're over the site, I'll jump out to help those on the ground, while you land, Tempest. How much longer do you think it'll take?" He began to pace back and forth in the cargo area, the wait, short as it was, was driving him batty. 

[Exile_Jeane]

Spoiler

HP: 90/120 EP: 120/120

Rolling to Hit

roll 2d6+10
Roll: [1, 1] Result: 12
lol, crit fail.

 

That stung. Expecting a burn or in and out hole, the flechette storm of needles stung, digging into her side with every move and every breath. It threw off the battle dance tempo of her recovery and return swing. The strike went badly wide, putting paid to a hapless desktop lamp that went flying against the window with a distinct thud before crashing to the floor.

 

They both paused for a heartbeat, contemplating what the object might have done in a past life to deserve that. Breath hitching a little from the pain, Rosette retook her stance, tilting her head in silent invitation to see if he cared to try that again.

[SalmonMax]

"Ugh," moaned Kitsune as she stared out the window. She glanced at the pilot's compartment, then back out the window. "UGH!"

 

"Can I get like...a personal hang glider? Is that a thing? Or a jetpack?! It really SUCKS not having flight or...or teleportation or ANYTHING that'll move me around! Half the time the fight's over before I even GET THERE!"

 

On sudden impulse she looked around the compartment she and Spingboard were in. "Springy, do you see a parachute? Or TWO parachutes?"

[Nina]

HYPER and the Legionnaire locked eyes as her shield popped, the legionnaire grinned as he brought back his other hand to stab her. 

 

Hyper shook here head from side to side which at her speed was unseen by the bad guy, "Dude, not going to happen." 

 

The rifle, still in her hand ratcheted forward and through the hole in his shield and into his face. All that kinetic energy transferred to his nose which took on a much more flattened shape. The mans head hadn't moved even a thousandth of a millimeter when with piston action the refile flashed back and forward again.

 

The butt connected with the sternum and this caused several loud cracking sounds and sent the man flying backward into the wall, where he left a visible impression.

 

"OHH... that is going to smart."

 

 

[Shameless]

Tempest sighed, "We're almost there."  indeed he'd just crossed the border into the southern suburbs, and was slowing down before descending.   

Upstairs, the Legionaire moved to fire again, and while they both heard the whine of the capacitors in the rifle, nothing came out.  "Lousy piece of junk.."  He swore, before brandishing it like a club, swiping at Rosette, but the attempt was almost comical, as he tripped and fell face first on the floor, and lay there unmoving.  

Downstairs, Hyper was the only one still conscious, as the legionaire slid down the wall, unconscious.   Nearby she heard the elevator arriving at the bottom floor and had only seconds to react before the doors open.

Back outside, Tempest landed the shuttle, and opened the door.  "Alright, let's take them down."   

[Exile_Jeane]

Rosette nudged her opponent with the toe of her boot, about to confirm if her opponent was really down and move on when she caught sight of the landing shuttle out of the corner of one golden eye. Oh, thank God. Back up. "Good fight. Be good," she commented down at the armored mook.

 

She grunted in pain and spun on one heel, scythe rending reality in a burst of crystaline rose petals as she vanished.

 

The reincarnating redhead reappeared next to the descending ramp of the shuttle in a matching burst of light. Blood dripping down her side, a quick salute of welcome snapped off at the shadowed interior of the craft with her free hand. She smiled, shifting her stance to readiness at the sound of another door opening. More of Sovereign's mooks? 

[Veral]

Springboard rushed out of the shuttle as soon as the ramp hit the ground. He nodded to Rosette as he came out. His head was up and scanning around, looking for targets and civilians. "Rosette, what's the situation in the building?" he said, before being distracted by the door opening. "Stay Alert. Any civvies left in that building?"

[Shameless]

Tempest saw the blood, and looked to Kitsune and Springboard.  "Kitsune, go stealth, but don't count on it absolutely.  Steel Sovereign has shown himself capable of seeing heroes who are invisible before.  Springboard, his Legionaires have shielding, and light armor, and their weapons tend to fire either armor penetrating slugs, shredder flechettes, and shield penetrating energy bolts.   They all suck to get hit by, even if they don't always hurt you.  Be Careful and back up Hyper.   I'm going to tend to Rosette's wound, and we'll join you coming down from the roof."

He looked to Rosette.  "Alright, what hit you, so I know which part of the kit to start with?"  Tempest would never be a doctor, but he did have some experience helping patch up fellow wounded Heroes.   Those with actual healing powers were fairly rare, and they didn't have anyone on the team with those gifts.

Inside, Hyper was only just able to dodge the storm of rounds and energy bolts that came from the elevator's now opened doors.  With incredible discipline and precision, a half dozen Legionaires, all with their shields up and rifles at the ready came out, and immediately took aim at her.

[Nina]

There was no way to stop the elevator doors from opening so HYPER didn't even try Instead she readied herself for what might come out.

 

The doors opened and a hail of fire poured out, HYPER weaved in and out as the men poured out behind their fire. Six of them and all took aim at the speedster, but she had other plans.

 

HYPER accelerated and zipped straight at them only to veer off and head right at the wall which became a track. At the speeds she was capable of any surface became her running surface and up, down all around she raced the soldiers of Steel Sovereign tried to get a bead but she was too fast and every shoo missed, then suddenly there she was.

 

Hyper slammed to a stopped the rifle held cross ways before her striking two of the thugs whose shields flared as they were moved back a couple of feet.

 

"Well S#@T! That didn't go as planned."

[Exile_Jeane]

"Some sort of flechette round, Tempest, far cry from Sovereign's usual energy shot," Rosette volunteered, settling down on one of the flight benches. In a lesser situation, if there weren't so few Guardians on planet, she'd have shrugged off the medical care and been off to Hyper's side without a second thought for her own well-being. Just a flesh wound. She'd had worst, inflicted worse on herself to 'heal' more crippling injuries over a long weekend. The nature of the trade, really.

 

The conflict danced in her golden eyes to a chaotic tempo, fingers of one hand drumming impatiently.

[Shameless]

"He's been getting better and better tech.   I still don't know where his funding comes from."   Tempest quickly set about tending the wound, disinfecting it and then removing several flechettes.  He set them aside for later, and applied a gel they had a limited quantity of.  It was cool to the touch, and instantly relieved her pain,  and speeding up the healing of the damaged tissue.  (heal 10hp)


"There, that'll keep you up and in the fight, let's go join the others."
 

[Veral]

Springboard jumped into action, leaping towards the gathered henchpeople and Steel Sovereign. Once he landed he launched a powerful elbow strike at the closest henchperson, his blow connecting with the henchperson's chin. The blow snapped the target's head back with authority, also knocking them into the air for a small bit, with them landing prone, the armor on their chin visibly dented in. 

 

 

Spoiler

Attacking one of the henches without a force field. 

 

September 5, 2022

Dozer Request: [2d6+13] Roll: [4, 2] Result: 19

 

Superstrength and Brutal - damage 39 - armor 10 = 29 points of damage. 

 

[Shameless]

While Springboard took the direct approach, Kitsune took advantage of the distraction to disappear.    Likewise Hyper was given the chance to right herself, Even as the remaining 3 unscathed  legionaires trained their weapons on Springboard.   The two she'd hit, shot at her, but missed.   "Goddamn she's hard to hit."

"Switch to G-mode! that'll stop both of them." One of them said.  Their shields didn't come back online was a signal.

Two shots hit Springboard both were kinetic rounds.   (30 damage each) 

Both Tempest and Rosette emerged from the ship to see Springboard taking the shots, and Tempest sent a bolt of electricity into the two of them, Frying their shields and bringing them down.   

(Top of the round  post your actions.)

[Exile_Jeane]

There were entirely too many well-armed and well-armored mooks in this fight for Rosette's liking. And her own strikes couldn't put them down in one hit. She did have one trick that could put them out of the fight. The Blind Eternities were calm enough to risk it in her, relatively expert, opinion.

 

"Don't lose your head!" the Reincarnating Redhead called as she closed the gap to the closest unharmed mook, feet pounding the pavement as her scythe shifted color from solid red light to a wavering pink-purple glow that simultaneously demanded attention and eroded from memory, the Is-Not leaking into the Is in the heartbeats before impact. Being struck by that concentrated light would send the man hurling into an empty plaza beneath a technicolor sky.

 

Spoiler

Using Portal on a Mook to send him into the Blind Eternities. 2d6+Soul+Ranks in Portal...

Exile_Jeane Request: [2d6+14] Roll: [4, 1] Result: 19

And If I read this correctly, he needs to make a DC 12 Body or Soul roll with a penalty of -4. 

Wheee! 

 

[Veral]

Springboard chuckled, mostly to himself, as the kinetic energy of the shots were dissipated across the muscles on his frame. The kinetic energy that got absorbed was amplified by the strange powers in his body. Focusing his mind for a second, Springboard forced the mixed energy into his muscles, stimulating their growth and power. When he opened his eyes after focusing the energy, there was a granite hardness to his gaze. His attention was shifted from his first target to the next one in line. He lined up the target and launched a knee to the stomach of that henchperson. 

 

Spoiler

Dumping the points into Superstrength. +4 ranks. 

 

Dice Maiden

BOT
 — Today at 11:34 PM
Dozer Request: [2d6+13] Roll: [5, 2] Result: 20

 

Damage 70(Superstrength) + 9(Unarmed attack and brutal) = 79 - 20 from armor = 59

 

 

The knee connected and the henchman dropped to their knees, then keeled over unconscious. 

[Nina]

Before her opponents could recover Hyper once again took off zig zagging around the room then straight at the thugs, weaving in and out faster than the eye could follow leaving four of the six holding air where their weapons had been!

 

Hyper flashed to the window and the weapons hit the glass at hyperspeed turning the pane to sand and the offending weapons flew down to the ground below at close to 500 km/h, where even their tough build failed, turning them into scattered and broken components.

[SalmonMax]

Only one of the monsters was still armed by the time Hyper had her way with them, and that one grunted something unintelligible...but by context was probably obscene. It lifted its weapon to sight down the barrel, when suddenly a scythelike beam of light raked across it, sizzling through armor and flesh alike and drawing a blackened line of sizzling alien meat where it had touched.

 

Kitsune, tails swishing madly behind her and clad in her black suit and fox mask, had appeared at last, hands outstretched with the last of the beam's light fading from between them.

 

"Ho ho!" she crowed, the mask's painted mouth curving into a mocking grin. "You're tougher than you look! Even so, you may as well surrender now! The battle is joined by the blazing...the AMAZING...the incredible...the INEDIBLE...KITSUNE!"

 

And she did a pose and everything. Little fireworks exploded over her head.

 

 

Spoiler

Okay, rolled 18 to hit, did 55 laser damage. Laser (which is Indirect), originates from a Projection of Kitsune, while the real one remains invisible a little ways off.

 

[Shameless]

Hyper managed to disarm 4 of the standing legionaires, before rosette literally sent one to another dimension.  Tempest chuckled softly.  "Banished him to the shadow realm I see."
 

Springboard was in the midst of them, absorbing kinetic power and using it to down a second of them.   Kitsune managed to hit the last armed legionaire with a powerful laser blast.  It wasn't a fatal wound, but the shock of the blast knocked the legionaire unconscious. 
 

Tempest sent out a blast again,  into two who'd just been disarmed, Their armor hissed and popped, and then promptly shudown, trapping them inside their armor.
 

The first two, who'd been switching modes, also saw their armor lock up, due to electrical interference, and failure of the G-type equipment to activate.
 

This left only a single unarmed  Legionairre  facing 5 guardians.   Wisely he knelt down, deactivated his armor, and put his hands behind his head.

[Shameless]

Tempest was in the process of giving the order to escort the prisoner to the waiting authorities, and the high tech armor he was wearing seemed to crumble to dust and blow away on the wind, leaving the legionaire clad only in a black body suit.   "So he is still here."    

"Everyone be on Guard, Steel Sovereign is still here, Springboard, see him to the police, I'm sure they'll have questions for him."

As his teammate moved to do so, there was no incident, It was only when he began returning that half a dozen mortar shells rose into the sky from the roof, and landed in the plaza.  The explosions didn't actually hurt anyone , but they raised a cloud of dust and smoke that Tempest immediately shifted his powers to blow out over the bay.   As he did so, he heard the roar of thrusters, and Steel Sovereign landed there in the plaza.   "You kept me waiting Tempest.  That's not like you.    He seemed to take in the other guardians present, and held up his hands.   "I see you brought friends as well.   I guess I should feel honored, but really, you brought the flower girl, the bouncing brick, one of the lightbenders,  and what did you just pick a random speedster?   Fine.  I have minions too.   Up above, on the roof, five more Legionaires were positioned with weapons aimed down at the heroes.   This was odd because his minions always operated in groups of either 1, 6, or multiples of 6.  

An energy field caught the light just right, and he held his hands out in almost a welcome gesture.  "Well, Let's get started."

 

Spoiler

This is a Boss fight.   Steel Sovereign is much more powerful than his legionaires.  there are at least 5 shielded legionaires on the roof who will be engaging as well.   take your actions and lets have some fun.

 

[Exile_Jeane]

"Ever the grandstander, Huh, SS?" Rosette mused with a chuckle, shifting backwards a few choice steps to be within arm's reach of Hyper. She glanced sideways at the other woman, meeting her gaze and flicking her gaze up to the watching snipers. The reincarnating redhead waited a heartbeat or three until she got a confirming nod back before extending her arm to brush the speedster's shoulder with a single finger.

 

Her scythe flashed, and both women exploded into crystal flower petals, a matching burst depositing them onto the roof immediately behind the snipers, the flankers flanked.

 

"Hello, Boys," she laughed, gold eyes twinkling with laughter to mirror her grin as she waited for Hyper to recover from the brief brush with infinity to do her thing faster than the eye could track.

 

Spoiler

Teleport for Two, Baby!

 

[Nina]

When Steel Sovereign's Soldiers spun at Rosette's greeting from behind them, they instantly leveled their rifles at the two Heroes' that had somehow gotten on the roof and behind them.

 

But, before they could fire, HYPER went into action and trigger fingers pulled at empty air!

 

"Sorry boys, but these are not the toys you should be playing with," she said now standing by the edge of the building holding the rifles in her own arms. With a wink she tossed them over the edge, "After you Rosette!"

[Veral]

Springboard rushes forward, and leaps into the air, heading right for Steel Sovereign. As he closes the distance, his gaze doesn't waver from his foe. He shouts, at about 10 feet away from SS, "Hey, Steelie. Here's a little gift from me to you." He launches a kick that could stun an elephant at SS. The sound that follows the connection is quite loud. 

 

Spoiler

Rush Attack(Unarmed) - 

Dice MaidenBOT — Today at 8:21 PM

Dozer Request: [2d6+13] Roll: [5, 3] Result: 21        

Damage: 80 points. 

 

He lands right in front of Steel Sovereign, his guard up. 

[Shameless]

As Hyper and Rosette moved to handle the sniper and artillery squad, it was teamwork was spontaneous, Hyper once again managed to disarm the armed soldiers, and in other troopers, this might have caused panic, but the final trooper who hadn't been armed began to glow yellow, and moved forward.  the gauntlets on his wrists began to shift, and soon they extended, looking like batons, yet coated in yellow energy.    Behind him, the other five began to glow as well, clearly about to manifest the same weapons.   "It must really suck to be a speedster with only one trick."  came the female Legionaire's voice.  For their part, both Rosette and Hyper got a tingling sensation in the back of their neck regarding the golden energy clad Legionaire.

Below, The massive blow from Springboard actually knocked him back, bringing down his shield, and leaving a light dent in the armor.   Almost instantly, a bolt of lightning arced out and hit Steel with a resounding crash of thunder, and they could hear him chuckle.  "So predictable.   That isn't a weakness of mine anymore, Tempest."  The shield was back in place, and if anything, seemed stronger.  "What now boy?  Lightning's always been your big attack."  He sent two blasts of energy back at Tempest, his own shield flaring and going down, the remaining energy enough to penetrate his armor and draw a grunt from him as the first hit, but he was able to dodge the second.   "I can throw even more powerful blasts back at you now."

He looked at Springboard, and his right hand reconfigured, becoming a large nozzle like device.   What spewed forth was an almost blue-white flame, hot enough to melt stone and metal almost instantly.

Spoiler

I rolled your defense he hits you with it for 65 damage.   It is essentially a plasma torch.

Kitsune meanwhile was focused on remaining undetected, seeking out the perfect opportunity to help put Steel Sovereign out of commission.   

NExt Round starts.
 

[Exile_Jeane]

"Good thing for her that she has swiss army knife friends then, huh? Bye," Rosette taunted good-naturedly, dancing backwards from the legionary, having caught sight of Steel Sovereign's act of stellar retaliation against their two male team-mates. They had better places to be than fighting disarmed mooks that screamed 'distraction' to the reincarnating redhead's instincts.

 

A brush of her hand against Hyper's shoulder and a swung scythe later, the five mooks faced naught but a pile of crystalized flower petals.

 

Down below, the two heroines appeared flanking the armored mastermind. Rosette stepped away from her friend, weapon spinning in both hands as she took up a point placing Sovereign in the center of a square of heroes quite willing and hopefully able to kick his ass four ways from Sunday.

 

Spoiler

Teleport, Yo.

 

[SalmonMax]

Kitsune wasn't sure how secure she was as she surveyed the combat from her perch on a nearby roof. Her image was down there, mixing it up, but her eyes were on Steel Sovereign. She could sense wavelengths of light with her mind that the eye was unable to perceive; deep into infrared and up along the shades of ultraviolet. Sovereign's armor was...a piece of work. Incredibly advanced, but she could see the buildup of heat along channels in it as he exchanged blows, or discharged weaponry. There was no threat of overheating; it very efficiently dispersed that heat. That dispersal was what made it visible to her though.

 

Those were, she thought, the systems that distributed power through his armor. The arteries that kept the gears spinning. She couldn't spot the power source itself...but a generator without connections was useless. Sever the links, and eventually the suit would be dead weight.

 

She focused her concentration narrowly; creating a laser beam wasn't easy. Light wanted to go all over the place. To make just one kind of light, all going the exact same direction...yeah, not easy.

 

The atmosphere lit up though as a straight line of ionizing air molecules erupted in the path of a single, intense beam connecting her illusory self and Steel Sovereign's armor. He was in the middle of rolling with Springboard's kick though, so the beam didn't linger on the right spot as long as Kitsune would have liked. Still, she DID manage to thread that narrow needle, getting a glancing blow past the radiator fins that protected those thermal channels!

 

 

Spoiler

Got a 14 to hit, judged by Shameless to be a glancing blow, so it does half of 55 damage to the called shot location Kitsone's tech roll discovered.