Brick clapped him on the ear which made him shake the stars out of his eyes, but it wasn’t enough to break his hold. PB had blood coming out of his ears but looked at Brick and smiled. “Nice move. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a knockout.”Punching Bag pulled his right fist way back as he kept the chokehold and slammed it into Brick’s gut with tremendous force. A few second later and his busted ear drums felt good as new.

12:43, Today: Punching Bag rolled 22 using 1d20+5.  South paw critical attack with power attack using hero point for Reroll .
12:42, Today: Punching Bag rolled 11 using 1d20+5.  South Paw critical hit attack with power attack.
12:41, Today: Punching Bag rolled 17 using 1d20+10.  DC 26 Toughness check.

Failed toughness check by 9.
Spent hero point to reroll south paw attack which counts as a critical since Brick is defenseless. He has a Damage resistance check of 35 with Penetrating 5.
PB’s Regeneration 10 would take away a -1 toughness penalty and/or a status effect

A dark green wave of force leaps from EM's outstretched hand toward the elusive Bolt as she adds, "That's about enough out of you."

Standard: Attack Bolt with Gravikinesis (Move Object 10) and suspend him in midair (hopefully if he can't run he can't phase)
14:57, Today: Emerald Star rolled 32 using 1d20+15.  Hero Point for Reroll to Grab.
14:50, Today: Emerald Star rolled 23 using 1d20+15.  Grab Bolt with Gravikinesis (Move Object).

Move: If her attack hits she'll withdraw from the room with Bolt in tow and return to Punching Bag.  If her attack missed she'll remain in the lab

Free: Maintain Protection & Flight

Hero Points down to 2

Shit, where did the time go?

Brick offered a grin at blow.   "Gonna... have to do better than that." he said.  "I ain't goin' down that easy."    He said, his words strained through Punching bag's grip on his neck.  "You ring types.  Always think you're hot stuff....  This ain't over..."

Only it was over, because The Brick's eyes rolled back in his head and the brown behemoth went limp in Punching Bag's grip..

• +13 Punching Bag- SouthPaw Strike
• -1 to Toughness
• -1 Hero Point for re-roll
• Critical SouthPawStrike(22) - rolled 1d20(17)+5 = 22 VS Brick's Parry(defenselesss) = SUCCESS!
  
  • Brick [Dazed, -1] (+05) - Choke-hold on choke-hold
  • Bruised x2 (-2 to Toughness), Staggered (Dazed, Hindered) & Bound (Defenseless, Immobile & Impaired)
  • Improved Hold provides -5 Penalty to Escape Hold, Defenseless provides critical hits on hit, Immobile: he can't move, Fighting Impaired provides -2 penalty to attack
  • Parry vs Critical SouthPawStrike(22) - FAILED (Cannot parry (defenseless)) --> goes to Soak
    Punching Bag does Damage Rank(15) + 15 for DC20.
  • Hah.  Brick doesn't stand  chance of soaking that all.   But I dice-roll to figure just how bad it is...  And he ended up doing a lot better than I expected.   Yeah, when it really isn't needed for the scene :)
  • Brick rolled 31 vs DC35 - FAILED by 1 degree...  Apparently, he is making you work for it.  But he failed, and this is the third degree, so he is now INCAPACITATED
• +05 Brick [Multiple, -2] - Choke-hold vs choke-hold
• Action unavailable due to being incapacitated.

Side note:
I'm feeling very muzzle-headed tonight.  How do you get to DC35 (Pen 5)?  I've got Strength-based Damage 5 for D30 (Pen 5).  Are you using the Critical "Increased Effect" to assign the extra +5 to Damage resistance?   It's not going to change a damned thing 'cause the scene is written.  But I couldn't get there, and that kinda frustrated me.

Also Note:
While true, that Regeneration:10 does provide for recovering from a damage condition (including the Bruised condition -1 Toughness), it has to come full circle.    If there were others involved in the combat, then anyone delivering damage to Punching bag before Brick in this particular combat sequence, would have had  the benefit of that condition.   It would be removed just before Brick acts again.   I suppose, in that way, further levels of regeneration allow for multiple regen firings during a single round of combat.

As I said... muzzle-headed tonight.

This message was last edited by the player at 04:47, Thu 26 Nov 2020.

EMERALD STAR

"Woohoo!" the Bolt looked over at Emerald Star, a cocky lopsided grin on his face.  He had a long face, angular and bony, like someone had haphazardly put together a marionette.   "Pretty girl with a pretty green glow.  hat, are you going to--Urk!"

Emerald Star lifted him up into the air, and Bolt spun on a strange axis, as if he were in the midst of a carnival ride on a strange axial tilt.  "Woah, that's awesome!"  he shouted.  "Do you bottle this shit?  'Cause I'd buy like ten of--Ack!"

A couple of the ceiling-sentries fired off shots and one of them sizzled right in Bolt's chest, causing him to drop the bag o' stuff he'd been carrying in one hand, spasming as it it did.

There was a momentary flash of intense anger, then the Bolt was a blue blur again, and dropped out of Emerald Star's hold.

He raced to the far end of the lab, then stopped, becoming more distinctly visible again.  "Hit me, lady!" he called in a sing-song voice.  "C'mon.  If you hit me, I'll  carry your books after school!"

But then he was gone again, only to show up near one of the windows.  He flicked the latch on the window and popped it open.  "Can you hit me now?  C'mon, I havent been hit on all week!"

• +19 Emerald Star
  
  • Maintaining Protection & Flight
  • Aimed Attack +5 circumstance - Gravikinesis
  • -1 Hero Point for re-roll
  • Gravikinesis (MO:10) to grab Bolt: rolled 32 - SUCCESS
  • Not a damaging effect, so no resistance, but MO is treated as a Grab, so, Bolt is now currently Bound (Defenseless, Immobile & Impaired)
• +13 Ceiling-Sentries [Minions] x2SUCCESSES x2
  
  • Ceiling-Sentry-1  did 1 Degree Damage
  • Ceiling-Sentry-2 did No Damage
  • Other three Sentries are aiming to shoot next turn (+5 Circumstance)
• +41 Bolt
  
  • Well, obviously, he attempts to escape from the hold...
  • Attempts to turns insubstantial again - SUCCESS (side-effect not triggered)
  • Bolt is only Dazed now

This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Thu 26 Nov 2020.

Punching Bag was glad that he was able to get this guy knocked out. Now he could see if Star needed back up. He walked toward the other room dragging Brick by the leg. “Hey Star! I’m done with mine. You need help taking care of yours?”As he rounded the corner, he glanced at Bolt by the window. The brawler decided to size him up while he waited for Star’s response.

OOC: Standard action Take Aim on Bolt
Yes the critical hot was used to increase the Effect of the hit.

"He's a slippery one," EM acknowledged as she tried to follow the speedster's movements....then lashes out again to grab Bolt.

Spend 1 point on Accurate Attack advantage.  She's down to 2 available points.

Grab Bolt with Gravikinesis, Accurate Attack (-5 to effect, +5 attack bonus)

19:25, Today: Emerald Star rolled 17 using 1d20+15.  Grab Bolt with Gravikinesis (Move Object), Accurate Attack (-5 for +5).
- miss I'm sure, not going to spend the Hero Point for a reroll this time :)

Star  reached out again and Bolt's eyes went wide, then a great smile split his face.   "Nuh-uh-uh." he said. "You're gonna have to do better than--Yow!"

A green laser-beam blasted into Bolt's shoulder, searing the suit and the flesh.  Even before the acrid smoke of burnt flesh reached them, he was just... gone.   The glass window behind him was wavered and vibrated as if it had been hit by something big.

Bolt escaped, but you've got Brick.  And by now, he's probably conscious--albeit groggy.


--

• +19 Emerald Star
  
  • Maintaining Protection & Flight
  • -1 Hero Point for Accurate Advantage (==2)
  • Gravikinesis (MO:10) to grab Bolt: rolled 17 - FAILED
• +13 Ceiling-Sentries [Minions] x3SUCCESSES x1
  
  • 2 Shots FAILED
  • Third shot - SUCCESS - 1 degree damage.  Since Bolt is already Dazed, he's now Staggered (Dazed, Hindered)
• +41 Bolt
  
  • He's outta there!

This message was last updated by the player at 04:26, Mon 07 Dec 2020.

Punching Bag looked down at Brick. “I would say we might get some information out of him, but I suspect he was under some sort of mind control based on how his eyes turned purple during our fight. Let’s find out what the fast one got ahold of shall we?”He makes his way into the lab dragging Brick behind him.

EM sighed and glanced to Punching Bag before shaking her head.  She looked for the bag that Bolt had dropped earlier; wondering if the speedster had left it in his haste.

If it remains she'll use her gravikinesis to retrieve it; if not she'll make a note to review the camera logs and request an inventory to try to determine what Bolt was more interested in than the prototype he was supposedly her to steal.

Perhaps his partner would know...if they could get him to talk.



"Hold on," Star cautions, "you could be right but....our eyes flash too occasionally...when our starfish are active.  It's possible the source of their powers is similar to ours.  Let me ask Proxima if he knows."

Communicating to the her colony, Jenni asks { "Proxima, this man's eyes flashed purple.  Is there a colony in him.  Do you know them?" }
This message was last edited by the player at 04:45, Mon 07 Dec 2020.

The bag was an old dollar-store cast-off.   Inside ere a half-dozen hard-drives, taken from the computers in the lab.  It looked like the only thing that Bolt made off with was whatever was on the thumb-drive he'd been holding right before the conflict.

He was an arrogant one, so cocky and sure of himself.  If they should meet again, she could probably leverage that.   He also didn't seem to care much whether Brick made it out...
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Mon 07 Dec 2020.

Punching Bag shrugged and gave Brick a quick chop to the base of his neck to knock him back out. “Well shall we take our acquisitions back to base for investigation and interrogation?”The fighter dragged Brick to the elevator and waited for his teammate to join him.

With a last look at the window Bolt had disappeared through, EM nodded and joined Punching Bag at the elevator.

"Hopefully the contents of these drives will give us an idea what this pair's real objective was.  It certainly wasn't the prototype."

OOC: Heading back to HQ

OOC: heading back to HQ

DO you plan to contact the police and/or Doctor Ford about the break-in... or anybody else, for that matter?

And, if so, when?

OOC: authorities should be aware and on their way unless Ford didn't call them for some reason.  Actually if security doesn't meet us on our way out that would be alarming...

Will definitely speak to them as we exit
This message was last edited by the player at 00:14, Sun 13 Dec 2020.

OOC: We contact our handler who is supposed to handle the PR and after effects of our jobs. He should know what to do.

Ha.  I'd forgotten that Ford was unceremoniously flung into the elevator and all of 30 seconds have passed since then...

Ford and front-desk security are both awaiting in the lobby and Doctor Ford looks particularly agitated.  Even more so than when he was dealing with Punching Bag earlier--though this is more stress than annoyance, apparently.

I'm particularly interested in whether you take the bag of hard-drives or turn them over to Ford or the police.

Punching Bag drags the unconscious Brick over to the police. “Hey boys! You got a pair of handcuffs and a police car strong enough to hold this guy? He’s really strong. I can babysit the guy until we put him in his cell.”He looks over at Ford. “He had a partner that phased right through your security. Your security system was no match for his speed. Also looks like he was after something besides the prototype.”

OOC: No, EM will want to investigate the contents of the drives to try to determine what Bolt's true target was.

These would likely be treated as evidence by law enforcement; does our status qualify to allow us to hold them for analysis too?  Back at HQ specifically?

If not EM will exit the building with the contents; preferably by open window from upper floor or roof access and avoid Ford and security

Doctor Ford seemed particularly stymied.   The prototype was the only thing of real value in the lab at this time...

As they were wrapping up and the police were taking the still-unconscious Brick into custody, the front-desk security guard noted an alarm on his monitor, then looked up at them all.  "Uh, guys..." he said, "I don't think it's over yet.   The Sentinel system just sent active again on twelve."

He twigged the camera system and it showed a moving view--via one of the ceiling-sentinels--of the laboratory.

A woman with a white harlequin mask, a red bobbed-wig and a long black leather coat was lifting the prototype off of the counter as if it weighed nothing.

And the ceiling-sentries weren't firing.

At about that time, Emerald Star received a text message from Lachesis.   "Alice is a frustrating.  Talks in endless circles.  Can't backtrack her.  Tech here causes distortions.   She's smart and flippant.  Kinda reminds me of you.  "

“Damn she’s good.” Punching Bag moves like a blur back into the building. He busts through the elevator door like the Koolaid man and leapt through the ceiling of the elevator to the floor in question. Then he zipped to the room with the prototype.

OOC: Superspeed, then Weaken Object, then Leaping, then Superspeed

OOC: are the authorities here able to hold Brick?  If not EM probably needs to stay here and make sure he doesn't wake up and hurt anyone

Emerald

• Let's say that as part of your SOPs when dealing with a meta, you call in an Aegis rep as well.   Police can take custody, but containment and incarceration is their problem.  You're much more concerned with the acquisition and shut-down...

Punching Bag (& Emerald Star, if you like)
Leaping through the shredded and torn steel ceiling of the elevator, Punching Bag made it to twelve in near record time.

This time, the floor was totally dark.   Alice had apparently either disabled the lights or something else--or someone else--had trashed the local junction-box.

The ceiling-sentries were still gliding along their pre-ordained paths, though, visible through the glass of the Hoffman Industries frontage.  They hadn't lost power.  Each one had a red light indicating it's online status, and they glided silently back and forth, apparently completely oblivious to teh woman in a long black coat, carrying the large, industrial-printer-sized piece of machinery--the prototype.

With the noise of Punching Bag's entrance, she stood just on the other side of the glass, backlit by a strange blue light, one hand on her hip, the other holding the prototype up as if it were a near weightless plate of food to be delivered.

"Oh."  she said in mock surprise.  "I wasn't expecting company.  Oh, you are a beefy one, aren't you?"

Alice's voice was low and throaty, husky with excitement and longing and... well, she certainly seemed to be enjoying herself.  The pathology of breaking the law, perhaps?

"Mmm."  She let herself relax a little.   Punching Bag had the very distinct feeling that Alice was mentally undressing him.  Not that he'd never dealt with that before, but this was so overt...   "All that rock-hard muscle, just desperate for a little rel--Hey!  wait a minute.  I know you!   You're that guy!  Heavy-Hitter?  right?"

She didn't actually stop to let him respond.  "Oh my god, Wait til I tell Blaze about this!  She'll fucking shit herself.  You were her idol!  That heel-turn on Captain Commando was a shit deal, though.  She stopped following Stormfront for a while after that.  pouted for, like, weeks!"

While she blathered on, the light behind her intensified.

--
Punching Bag

• Stormfront never had a Captain Commando on it's roster--at least not that Punching Bag was aware of, and certainly not while Punching bag was active in Stormfront.
• The codename "Blaze" has been mentioned before.   (goes back to 2.1: Aegis HQ message #16)  Way back when, Director Maddox had provided a briefing to folks, and one of the casefiles that wasn't picked up had to do with reports of long-since retired heroes and villains reappearing active on the Southern Shore.    In particular one of them (Blaze) was witnessed fighting in the streets.   She iss a world War II vet and AEGIS has a dossier on her which indicates that she's spent the last two decades in a wheelchair.   She's in a retirement home in Elysian Woods.
• As a side-note detail...  I'm gonna say that Heavy-Hitter" was a codename that Paul (that's you) had considered at one point.  Never used it, though).

This message was last edited by the player at 07:22, Tue 22 Dec 2020.