Goodwill picked up the walkie-talkie, and hurriedly pressed the TALK button.

"Yeah," he said, gruffly, trying to sound like he supposed the other man might have sounded. "What?"


[OOC: I'm going to assume this requires a Charming roll.

Goodwill rolled 12 using 2d6+1 ((5,6)).

Now I *HOPE* that required a Charming roll.  :)  ]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Wed 26 Feb 2020.

Shauna looked at Tetsubo. "Tell 'im-- nevermind, I'll tell 'im." He reached for the walkie-talkie. Shauna handed it to him. "Jake, go around front to Blackjack. Tell 'im that there's a teenaged girl dressed up like a hero and a little dog in the house, but that the hostage is still totally secure. Silver Streak seems to have brought one or more little friends with him. Ask Blackjack what he wants done about it, or to get back to me if he wants me to do something about it. For now, I'm staying put in the kid's room with Shauna and the kid-- and a puppy."

Scraps was genuinely happy when the little boy welcomed him, and his enthusiasm burst out of him in an explosion of tail wagging, tongue lolling, and jumping around the lad in the most playful way.

The bad-smelling folk weren’t immediately chasing Scraps from the room, so as he bounding around and played with the kid, he was also looking for the best way of getting the kid and himself out of the room.
        - rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,4.  Insightful.

He could sense that the woman wasn’t all bad, and that she might even aid the child’s escape ... if it didn’t put her in danger.


Also, ST, how big is the child?   Does Scraps think he could carry the child, and still move fast, and jump?

This was honestly taking a little bit longer than expected. “Streak” knew that Cosmos needed to be stealthy, but did Goodwill head down to stealth around as well? Hopefully, someone was on their way out with the kid. Still no commotion inside, at least. But, if they had gotten caught and hadn’t been able to put up a fight... No, they were fine and if it seemed like they weren’t, “he” could do...something. That plan would come together when “he” came to that branch.

Still, “Streak” wasn’t sure how long “he” could keep this up. The distraction part was probably fine for now, but Breakneck didn’t seem a poor fighter. At some point “he” would slip up or not be fast enough. And then he’d get a good hit in. “He” might be able to trade a few blows after that, but “he” wasn’t sure for how long.

Ah well. At least he had the easy job. “He.”

"A teenage girl?" 'Jake' asked, sounding confused. "You sure she's not a babysitter or something?"

Darn it, Cosmic Girl was seen. Now things could get hairy. There was a limited amount that stealth could continue to accomplish at this point, too.

No, he needed to confront this 'Blackjack' and hopefully take him out of the picture. The problem was that Lynx was still fighting Breakneck on the front lawn. For speedsters, they seemed awfully slow to go anywhere.

Oh, well.

Tucking the walkie-talkie into his belt, Goodwill moved out around the corner of the house until he could see Blackjack, and be seen by him.

"Let's do this," he said, and charged.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:23, Thu 27 Feb 2020.

Well, that was the final straw. If the goons revealed what happened here, they'd all be in the mire. So, loath as she was to deviate from the plan, she had no option but to take out these fellows. She launched another pair of cosmic blasts, each aimed directly at the chests of the miscreants. She did not put all the power into it, as she had with the guns. She was not about to kill anybody! But they would be plenty hurt, all right. There was an awful lot of concussive force behind her cosmic blasts!


14:12, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((2,6)).

Woohoo! Go me! Do we just do damage, or do you need me to choose Forceful effects? If so:

- It's Clobberin' Time!
Hit hard for +1 stun
Not much collateral damage, no bystanders in danger

This message was deleted by the player at 21:05, Fri 28 Feb 2020.

Scraps didn't really see a way out of the room except the door. The window was closed, and possibly locked...

(Sorry, but sometimes a room is just a room...)

---

(11:33, Today: Breakneck rolled 3 using 2d6-2 with rolls of 2,3.)

More attacking, more dodging, more missing. Breakneck's rage continued to keep him from landing a hit.

Breakneck stopped. "Okay, this isn't working. Got to get control... Get control..."

(11:33, Today: Breakneck rolled 12 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,6.)

Uh-oh.

(Breakneck loses his attack penalty that he had due to his rageahol, and his attacks are likely to be more effective next round.)

---

"Wearing green and pink? With a cape? Yeah, I'm sure... So get over to Blackjack. We had the kid so that only Silver Streak would show up, no police, no powered heroes... but I'm not sure how to count a girl who didn't seem to have any powers, let alone the dog. I wanna hear what Blackjack thinks. So go ask 'im."



(You're the one charging-- you roll first. Roll Forceful.)

---

The two henchmen (before they could radio a report in) are knocked against the wall behind them, and seem completely unconscious.

Now what?

Goodwill rolled 8 using 2d6+3 ((1,4)).

(He hits hard +1 Stun)



Goodwill didn't say anything more. He had nothing clever to say to someone who'd help kidnap a child. He just charged in with a punch.

(Blackjack takes two stress.

14:01, Today: Blackjack rolled 15 using 2d6+3 ((6,6)).
--You hit hard (+1 Stun)
--You avoid most of their retaliation (-1 Stun))

The black-wrapped mummy gets hit hard.

But he also takes it-- he didn't move an inch. Goodwill realizes that the guy's bandages had a mind of their own, and dug down into the lawn, anchoring the enemy, keeping him from going flying as a result of the punch.

Then he dishes it back out.

WHAM

(Goodwill takes 2 new stress.)

Had even Spite ever hit him that hard?

Goodwill goes flying backwards, and takes out a couple of large trees on the edge of the yard. One of them starts falling toward a henchman...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:41, Sun 01 Mar 2020.

Cosmos flipped her head, as if to say So there! then considered for a flash of a second. She had only one option now. She went upstairs as fast as she could, unsure whether her fight had been heard or not. Whatever happened, she needed to find that boy, at all costs! And if she ran into the big fella, well... He might be big, but the universe was bigger. She'd see how he liked a little cosmic radiation up his tailpipe!

With only the doorway out of this place, and the boy to big to pickup and carry out, Scraps became aware of the fact that this would be a matter of timing and delicate manipulation.

And playing!

He began bounding about, woofing and barking, playing with the child.
This served several purposes.    It would likely calm the child, and relax him some.  It would also allow Scraps to get a good look at this room, by bouncing.  And, he could watch for ‘the most opportune moment’ to make a move.
Finally, it might further convey the appearance to the smelly-bad guys that he was, indeed, simply a pet puppy ... causing the to pay him less attention.


- rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,5.  Insightful ... to better read the scene.
- rolled 7 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,5.  Charm ... to put everyone at ease.

Cosmic Girl rushes upstairs. It's a big house, but there's one door that's open a bit-- and barking is coming from it...! (It sounds like happy barking, not danger barking, but the point is: barking!)

---

Scraps started barking, delighting the toddler.

At one point, the big man acted like he thought he heard something downstairs, but then he shook his head. "Nah, it's probably the fight in the front yard..."

Scraps' nose told him that no, that was some sort of cosmic energy, but he just kept up his noisy play.

Then, though, there was a WHAM from outside that shook the house a little.

"What th'... Huh, that could only be Blackjack. One one hand, I wonder what he's up to... Maybe he got tired of not helping. On the other hand, I guess that explains why Jake hasn't asked his question yet... best not to stand anywhere near Blackjack when he starts slammin' things around..."

So far, Scraps was breaking even-- he was helping by distracting from whatever Flying Girl was doing in the house, and no one was stopping him being noisy, but he also wasn't thinking of a plan to rescue the little boy. Maybe Flying Girl would come soon...?

          oh, untrue

Scraps had been ‘scoping’ the scene, watching for an opportunity.
When the house rattled with whatever was going on outside, hopefully the two villains moved over to the window for a look ... casually ignoring the playful puppy and the kid.

Scraps had also caught the scent of ‘cosmic energy’ from outside the room.
It sneaky like honey and wildflower ... and he’d been with the scent just recently.
And he sensed that it amounted to ‘backup’ if he needed it.

IF the villains had gone to the window ... had turned their backs on Scraps and the kid, even momentarily ... Scraps made a playfully pull at the kids clothing, then bounced to the door, playfully barking ‘chase me, chase me’.
         rolled 11 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,6.  Charm, to get the kid to follow me out of the room.

Breakneck seemed to have calmed down a little bit. That wasn’t good. If “he” could freely speak, maybe this could’ve at least meant the two could have a quick break to trade banter or something, but without access to “his” vocal chords, there was little “Streak” could do. Still, a calm and focused Breakneck would be bad news. “He” somewhat doubted that he could be so frustrated again without some new element though. But, if “he” didn’t try anything, “he’d” be stuck with a harder fight. Then “he’d” have to actually fight for real and that would be the end for “him.” “He” could either try to frustrate the man, wait until “he” got hit, or drop the facade and blast him with lightning. Option three was out. There was still no word on the kid, so there wasn’t any reason to drop cover. And options one and two were roughly the same, just with two not really helping “him.” Admittedly, option one could backfire if the plan became too obvious... Well, Breakneck calling “him” out on not giving it “his” all was probably an easier consequence to handle than a broken arm.

Option one it was. With no voice, heckling was out, but “he” could still taunt with his hands. A few birds flipped here, a couple waves there, and some faster footwork on “his” part and Breakneck would either get ticked off again or realize part of what “he” was trying to do. Was it worth it though?

White Lynx rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,6.  Charming. To blind Breakneck with anger once more.

It would have to be.

And what was that Wham all about?

Holy cow, that hurt! This guy was strong! Fortunately, Goodwill had yet to meet the foe he couldn't beat, and he wasn't about to concede this one. It was just going to require some added effort, was all.

And what the heck was that noise? It almost sounded like a tree falling.

Oh. Oh, no.

And of course it was falling towards one of the stupid henchmen. So instead of letting it fall, someone was going to have to save the guy. This was a bad situation. If he pushed the henchman out of the way (which was easy enough), he'd be hit by a falling tree. If he caught the tree, he'd be open to attack.

That seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Time to catch a tree!


(Using brute strength to rescue someone, rolling Forceful.)
Goodwill rolled 11 using 2d6+3 ((6,2)).

(No, I mean not successfully coming up with one at that exact moment)



(Erm, no, because the little boy's window is on the wrong side of the house... The would've done so otherwise, it's true, but if they had, I would've mentioned it (as I did with the henchmen in the living room), honest)

---

Breakneck wanted to hit, to punch, to... to hit... but pure brute force wasn't really his strongest suit. He tried to think of some way to hurt Silver Streak with just agility...

(09:06, Today: Breakneck rolled 6 using 2d6-1 with rolls of 3,4.  insightful.)

But then Silver Streak flipped Breakneck off. Nope, thinking was too hard, and taking too long. Breakneck's brain was, perhaps, not quite as sped-up as the rest of him. Back to brute force, then.

(09:06, Today: Breakneck rolled 12 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,6.)

Pow! Got 'im!

(White Lynx gets punched, and takes 2 stress.)

---

TIM-BERrrrrr!

WHUMP.

Goodwill caught it, all right.

(Goodwill takes 1 new stress.)

But at least the henchman was alive... The guy scrambled more than a dozen feet on his hands and knees, and then jumped up and started running east... probably wouldn't stop running real soon...

Well, that was heavy. Goodwill could throw a car the length of a city block, but this was an old-growth maple, and huge. It weighed more like what a bus might... if fully loaded with cement.

Fortunately, he wasn't throwing it nearly as far as a city block. Also fortunately, its crown was huge, and would make the thing damned hard to dodge. But, honestly, it would be damned hard to control the throw, even for a practised baseball pitcher like Goodwill.

Still fortunately, he was also quite the slugger.

He swung, literally playing to his strength.



Goodwill rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((6,5)).
-He hit hard
-There isn't much collateral damage

WHOMP

A couple of windows on the front of the house broke.

The hit was too much for Blackjack's bandages-- they didn't break, but they weren't enough to keep him anchored. Large clods of earth and rock and a couple of old tree roots come up from where he was standing, and he rolls a couple of dozen feet.

(Blackjack takes 2 new stress.)

Blackjack gets up. "Nice try," he says. "Can't die." He pauses. "...Wasn't meant to rhyme."

He takes a step toward Goodwill... and then stops. "You were one of the things that weren't supposed to show up..." he says to Goodwill...

He turns, then, and heads for the front door of the house, which his rolling actually put him pretty close to...

It'll be very hard for Goodwill to reach him before he's through the front door (unless, of course, Goodwill just crashes into the house to get to Blackjack, but that would start causing structural damage).

White Lynx could do it, but she'd leave herself open to attack from Breakneck (and Blackjack, for that matter).

Yeup, thats why I said "IF the villains had gone to the window ...


As the Villains hadn't moved, and could still see Scraps and the Boy, Scraps simply continued cavorting about the place, entertaining the kids ... and watching for 'the moment' when he could get the kid out of the room (preferably past the Cosmic Honey Girl, who could hold off any pursuit).
This message was last edited by the player at 01:16, Mon 02 Mar 2020.

This message was deleted by the player at 01:09, Mon 02 Mar 2020.

Oof! Well that was a hit. If “he” could just take a minute or so, that’d be great right now. At least it seemed like Mr. Almost Just Broke My Neck was back into his anger. Not that it helped “him” much after that last hit. Whatever. Now “he” had to figure out if “he” should fight or not. This whole deal had been going rather well until just now. On the other hand, Breakneck had managed to cool himself off once before, and after that hit, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to do so again.

“He” couldn’t drop cover yet. No kid, no word from the others, no commotion that made it obvious that cover was already blown, and “he” was decently confident “he” could take maybe one or two more hits like that before he’d have to drop it just to save himself. “Himself.” But was fighting with just “his” body going to be eno-

WHOMP

Oh what the heck! That was one big tree. Looked like Bandage Man was heading back inside the building... What happened? Was that Goodwill?

Well that was just perfect. Was cover already gone? Did “he” need to keep being “Streak?” Honestly, “he” probably shouldn’t. At least not while Breakneck was looking at “him.” Maybe “he” should go after the Mysterious Wrapped-Up Man? If Goodwill was getting involved, he could probably just cover “his” exit. Then “he” could probably spark that mummy full of electricity. They didn’t seem too keen on talking to each other. At least the two outside. Alright, so that was that. Only real places where it could go wrong were the whole getting away from Breakneck thing and then getting around that huge tree. Seriously, that thing was such a big tripping hazard! At the very least, Goodwill could cover “him” from Breakneck, so it was hopefully just the tree.

White Lynx rolled 5 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,1.  Agility. For the sake of Running Away to Blackjack. Poorly.

Okay, so maybe “he” could’ve paid more attention to Breakneck and less on the tree.

The barking left Cosmic Girl in no doubt as to where the action was! She headed there as fast as she could - which was pretty goshdarned fast - and burst into the room, unleashing a spray of cosmic energy at the huge Tetsubo even as she did so!

20:58, Today: Cosmic Girl rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((6,2)).

Clobberin' Time!
- Hits Hard for +1 Stun
- Avoids collateral damage to bystanders. Don't want to shoot any hostages, do we...

Blackjack grabbed White Lynx by the throat.

"Huh. New hostage," he said to Breakneck. "Unless you want him back, to finish your fight. Can break an arm or two first if you want."

---

(Tetsubo takes 3 stress.)

Cosmic Girl zaps Tetsubo.

"Wowwww!" sayd the little boy.

It hurts Tetsubo, but he grins. "Now I see why Silver Streak brought you along, missy! Hot damn! Shawna, take the kid."

The last command is unneeded, as the henchwoman is already in the process of grabbing the toddler. She picks him up and holds him close, backing into the corner of the room.

"Now this party can really get started!" Tetsubo crows... He sort of flexes his muscles like he's at a bodybuilding competition, and his body begins to sort of glow with a black aura (how can something even glow blackly at all?)...

Is he starting to get... bigger...?

Breakneck, a fast mover but not a fast thinker, was ambivalent. "Uh, hm, I dunno..."

(12:53, Today: Breakneck rolled 3 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,1.  trying to think. Fail.)

It does NOT occur to Breakneck that maybe now might be a good time to check on the toddler hostage...

"Um... how about this... You stay right there and keep a good grip on Silver Streak's neck... I'll beat on the big guy. I wanna see just how tough he is when he can't fight back because his friend'll get killed."

"Fine by me," says Blackjack, his grip tightening slightly (wow, and that was pretty tight already).

"Hey you, Good Guy," Breakneck says to Goodwill. "Get over here to the middle of the lawn, and no funny business. Then I'll find a tree branch or something to swing so I don't break my hand on you..."