Mutants & Masterminds:[3e Time of Crisis] Issue 1: Till The World Ends

[Aphrodite Pandemos]

It all begins on a typical autumn weekday in Freedom City, as a chilly morning gives way to a sunny and mild afternoon. The constant movement of traffic, cacophony of noise, and plethora of smells and tastes bombard the senses just as city residents have long since grown accustomed to.

Most of Freedom’s citizens are busy at work, enjoying a late lunch, or studying their lessons at school. The city’s superheroes spend the day the usual way: protecting grateful innocent bystanders from an array of purse-snatches, burglaries, drug deals, gang violence, and assorted other street crimes. In short, it’s about as quiet as things ever get for costumed crime-fighters.

This is a short snippit to get your characters started in the issue. It's short for a reason, I'm not tagging you to any place (yet) so you could be anywhere in the city. I like creative openers. Give me something creative and I'll give you an HP

You don't have to be doing your hero thing, but you will soon enough

[Joani]

It was an unusual calm day. Joani-8 was on her daily patrol and aside from a stray kitten stuck in a tree and a near accident downtown which didn't really required her attention but she helped out anyway and picked up a school bus with a flat tire and simply carried it to all stops making sure the kids got to school in time.

Taking a short break she drifted a bit at skyline height and let her eyes wander over the busy city while she wondered why it was actually a good thing that everything was so quiet. She has only recently arrived on Earth and was still trying to understand how and why humans were like they were. Maybe her presence caused more bad than good - at least sometimes it seemed so to her. She decided to ask this question to the scientists at the lab once she was done with this patrol.

Her eyes caught a small fire at a chinese restaurant and she quickly closed in to prevent any further damage or casualties. - Yeah, it was just an unusual quiet day in Freedom City.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Paladin Yumi was active on a rooftop, with Parker hanging around. He was pondering one of superheroism's age old questions, but from a slightly novel perspective. "Why are the twenty-first century's criminals so fond of robbing banks, powered or otherwise?"

He leveled his automatically unfolding Techno-Bow, and started picking off a gang of masked and armed thugs leaving the bank with some sort of filled bag with currency. It didn't make much sense to him anyway, the bank concept and the paper money still around.

His 24th century had highly developed digital communication networks, and money was practically digital as well. The standardized credits were unified and simple transactions at will, money flowing and sorted with the press of a button. Even in this less developed time, electronic finance was strong enough that computer crime was much more calculated to gain money.

Some people are just stupid, I guess. He didn't give that self-answer out loud, because he was focused on taking down each of the gang one well-placed shot with a blunt-head bolt each time, before the police's response risked a violent standoff or other misfortune with this lot. Hope no one got hurt in there.

And of course, the problem would be something Thistle would puzzle over for a bit, and after her most recent excursion without him, he wanted her occupied and nearby for a while.

[z005]

Parker considered the question as she watched the bank robbers scatter away from Yumi's arrows and get knocked out as each one hit its mark anyways. "Banks have lots of locks. Maybe they like locks?" Yumi knew that she liked locks...the more complicated the better. "Or maybe they're just a bit stupid?"

She dangled her legs over the edge of the rooftop and offered, "We could go wake one of them up and ask, if you want. They usually just keep saying 'I want my lawyer!' or 'who the hell are you?', though. The police mostly just say the latter...though not so much anymore. Now it's 'how did you get in here again?'." She bit her lip, drumming her fingers on the low wall she was sitting on. "They don't usually really seem all that interested in an answer, though, which is really strange."

An idea came to her and she grinned in anticipation at Yumi. "We could rob a bank! Then we could figure out why other people like doing it so much, and the police would ask us questions and want the answers. And they'd know how we got inside the station. They have coffee and donuts and muffins and bagels and all sorts of things to go with them there, too. I've had most of them, but sometimes they get different donuts or someone brings in fruit or cookies. They had sodas for a while, but the machine broke down and they didn't want me to fix it. Oh, and there are two types of tea in the little basket that I still haven't tried!"

The innocently eager look on her face was positively painful in its complete lack of malice or greed; Yumi groaned inwardly, but at least she hadn't already jumped off the roof to put thoughts into action immediately. That was part of the reason he'd been keeping her close the past few days, after all: when she was with him, there was at least a pause before she jumped into whatever caught her attention. Like a cat with something shiny, he thought. Except the whole world is shiny to her.

[The Hospitaler]

Tamara flew over the city in the downtown area, the wings on the back section of her suit deployed and letting her hover in place as she looked about. Her radar system was active letting her see everything moving about. She adjusted her helmet, she had put it on pretty quick this morning and she needed to get it adjusted just right some days. She expected that with something she just made. It was the first off the line. She actually giggled, remembering the first couple prototypes and the glitches and bugs they had she had to work out.

She decides to head over towards where the central library wasat the City Center park. The large open space was perfect for taking a "ground break". She was going to have some lunch at this point, no real standard issue the city was having today was pinging a alert for her. After landing she pulls out her bag lunch from her bag she carried her emergency equipment in, a bright yellow bag marked with "RESCUE" in bold, international orange letters. She slides up the face plate and enjoys a decent-sized sandwich and sips from a straw her usual mixture of Red Bull and Mountain Dew.

Her nights tend to be long. The night is only going to be more interesting. She's considered taking a nocturnal pattern, sleeping in the day, but then she'd probably get woke up by the occasional US Coast Guard call. So she's decided it's better to sleep when she could.

But getting to just relax... that was reward enough for her nearly constant vigilance.

During her break she starts to take stock of her bag's contents. "Let's see, a first aid kit, a portable defibrulator, my medi-wand, a single-person life raft, some flare pens... yeah... wait... where is that... Ah and my flashlight."

She did leave home pretty quickly today, she was behind on her usual schedule. "So... if I can get this lunch done in three minutes I can get back to my patrol route and catch up to my usual patrol schedule."

She leaned back. Was every hero's schedule like this?

OOC Note

If anyone is near the park where the central FC library is (one of the few FC landmarks I can remember) I am very hard to not notice. (Since most of the suit is international orange and the bag she has is a bright yellow).

[z-Donar]

Donar was staring at a painting, trying to understand it. It was rather horrifying and he was becoming more and more unsettled by the image. He’d found it by scanning a list of the paintings in the museum about the Civil War. This one was called Premonition of the Civil War and it was freaking Donar out.

Swiftly, he turned away from the painting. It wasn’t something he wanted Teletha to see. His heart pounded a little harder at the thought of his incredibly beautiful classmate. He wanted to plow her furrow, of course – her fine silver-blonde hair was made for a man to run his hands through. He’d promised to make her his queen, if she would consent to him. It sounded like a line, and while Donar wasn’t sure he’d actually make an Æsir queen, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t at least make her a royal mistress. With that hair, no one could say she wasn’t blessed by the gods anyway. It’d be good to have a mistress on Earth, in addition to a wife on Asgard.

A flash of her hair drew his eye and with a wide, open grin Donar rose on his tiptoes to wave. “Teletha!” His voice carried across the room easily; it was a voice born for bellowing. It was also oddly accented; Old Norse gave him a northern European sound to his voice without marking him for one specific land. A darker shadow next to her reminded Donar that they wouldn’t be alone – Honesto was there, too. Donar was a little less comfortable around the darker man. He wasn’t entirely sure that there wasn’t something gravely wrong with people with such dark skin. They seemed wrong with odd features. Nevertheless, he smiled for Honesto as well and his wave was no less enthusiastic.

“I am glad both of you could come! I have found a good book that has made me very excited about our task!” Donar was infamous for his high and low emotion swings; right now he appeared to be flying very high, his blue eyes twinkling with good cheer. This was the Donar that people liked – laughing and ready to have fun. It was unusual to see him this excited about homework, however.

As he’d been talking, Donar had been drawing a book out of his satchel, holding it gingerly in his big hands. He’d destroyed several things on accident, something he hated doing. When he meant to break something he’d tear into gleefully. Accidently was just carelessness, something he hated in others. “I know we must do our presentation on machines and tools of the great American Civil War, but I would like to research the tools that were used against the vampires!” As Honesto and Teletha threw each other confused looks, he continued, “I am impressed by President Abraham Lincoln. He was such a great man, he should have been a king instead of a president.” Donar didn’t think much of the electoral system the United States favored and it showed in his speech. “I request to do the studying and presentation of the vampire-hunting tools he used.”

Here’s the book he has:

[Tesstarossa]

If this had been an anime things would have gone two ways, either there would ave been an ellipsis and a sweatdrop the size of fish tank above Teletha's head, or she'd have gone superdeformed and face faulted. As it was real life, she raised a hand to her forehead and sighed. Donar was a good young man she'd been forced to concede, even if one of the very first things he'd said to her was to proposition to her to make her his queen. There was an earnestness about him that she liked, though at times his other personality quirks left her exasperated and agitated.

"That is a book of Fiction Donar. Our sixteenth president did not hunt vampires, he was an accomplished lawyer and politician, and a great man, but a hunter of mythological beings that survive by gaining sustenance from the blood of their prey wasn't among the things he did."

She looked to Heavy for some support on this front, and looked towards the painting he'd stood before.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Yumi wasn't sure how to explain things to her, although he recognized given the rate of which she was getting into trouble and the effort in which he was trying to smooth things over while protecting her privacy - there were some things about Parker he wasn't prepared to share to others, since he was still trying to figure this century out.

Also, given the circumstances, he considered innocent Parker his ward or charge, and had developed a degree of protectiveness as such. Regardless, he noticed down at the bank scene that the robbers were down for certain, and sirens could be heard in the distance.

Time to make a teachable moment for Thistle, even if it wasn't likely to take. At least no one can say I haven't been trying.

"Parker," Yumi began as he rose and gestured for her to come with him, "You remember what I told you about money? Banks have lots of money, so crooks try to take the money from them."

Parker looked confused as she sprung up and followed him. "But if you knew the answer, why did you ask?" Yumi shook his head. "Well, there are better ways for them to get money."

"Better how?" She inquired.

Yumi decided, and winced behind his samurai costume mask as he pulled up a particularly difficult incident. "You remember that Jared's store, where the clerk got mad when you took that diamond?"

"I wanted to see why it was so shiny!" Parker protested in an uncomprehending voice. "And the clerk wanted it back, so I gave it back when I was done." Yumi really winced now.

"It wasn't yours to take. A lot of things belong to other people or places, and you need to ask their permission before doing so. That's what the robbers were doing, taking the bank's money, and since they didn't ask..."

It was painfully simplistic, but baby steps.

[z005]

Parker frowned. "Was the bank doing anything with it? And I thought you said that banks had other peoples money, so shouldn't you take the money from the bank and give it back to the other people? Are the robbers trying to do that? Maybe they had an account in the bank?" She still didn't get why the Jared's clerk had gotten so upset. He hand't been doing anything with most of the things in the store, so why couldn't she? "And why didn't they just ask, then?"

She sighed as she trailed after him like a duckling. "Besides, money is boring. It's just paper and ink and that little strip of metal. It's not even hard to make. Why don't the robbers just make their own?" She heard the sirens and caught the weak flashes of light that grew stronger as the police cars wove their way through the city to the bank. "If we made money and gave it to them, would they not rob banks anymore? I could make them as much as they took in just a few minutes." She tried to be helpful. She really really did.

Her face lit up and she pounced forward, wrapping her arms around Yumi's waist. "Then we could go swimming!" She loved the ocean: everything changed all the time and new creatures and compounds wandered into the bays or up the rivers often enough that the quietest times in Yumi's life since winding up in Freedom City where when Parker decided it was time to see what was different in the water again. That was, when she didn't come and beg him to go with her beforehand.

[Heavy]

To be perfectly honest, Honesto was about as uninterested in the school project that he, Teletha, and Donar had been saddled with as was possible. Doing a presentation on pretty much any other aspect of the American Civil War would've been at least moderately interesting, but doing one on the tools people were using at the time? Really? Nesto was just glad they had a smart student like Teletha on the team, 'cause Lord knows he and Donar would need all the extra help they could get.

So when he saw the book that Donar was holding out to he and Teletha, Nesto had to grin.

"I totally second Donar's request", he said, mischief written all over his face as Teletha looked to him (vainly) for support. "In fact, I call dibs on making the silver-coated axe head replicas right now!"

"That is a work of fiction, Honesto", Teletha repeated, pointing at the book in Donar's hands while trying to decide whether to be amused or exasperated at her fellow students' shenanigans. "We can't do our presentation on works of fiction!"

"Who says it's fiction?", Nesto countered, his expression making it difficult to tell if he was being serious or still just having fun. "I'm pretty sure they had silver and axe heads back in the Civil War era. I know they had an Abraham Lincoln. And they coulda had vampires back then, too!"

"This book definitely says that there were vampires in America at that time, and that your President Lincoln did battle with them", Donar offered helpfully.

Honesto smiled encouragingly at Donar's words and nodded with an impressed expression at the "history" book in his hands. "See?", he asked Teletha, turning his gorgeous grin her way again. "Everybody knows Lincoln was awesome. He woulda totally hunted vampires!"

Still looking fixedly at the beautiful silver-blond teenager and without losing his grin, Honesto added under his breath, "If, y'know, they existed..."

Honesto turned his smiling face back to Donar and gave him another encouraging look before returning his gaze to Teletha and waggling his eyebrows mischievously.

"Dibs on the axe head replicas", he insisted.

OOC: As an aside, "Heavy" is Honesto's superhero name, and is not something that most people know him by. It was a childhood nickname of his (back in California), but not now. If your PC knows all about the Next-Gen, and knows that they're students at Claremont (and which students they are), then your PC would likely also know that "Heavy" is Honesto Lacro, but they still would not refer to him as such in a public setting unless they were trying to give away his secret identity. (I realize that neither Donar nor Teletha has actually used the name "Heavy" out loud in spoken conversation yet, but I noticed that they were both thinking of him this way, so thought I had better clarify this issue.)

Honesto's name does lend itself to other nicknames, however, and lots of people shorten his name to "Nesto" and "Ness". Others - usually those trying to be obnoxious or insulting - may call him "Toe" (i.e. "Ho-nes-TOE"), while flirtatious girls (and guys) sometimes call him "Honey". If you come up with any others, feel free to use them.

[z-Donar]

“I will allow you to do that.” As usual, Donar meant well and choose the wrong words. It sounded as though he had any right to give that permission to Nesto, yet all he meant was that the other teen could have the project – even though he thought it was cool and secretly desired it. Still smiling, he deftly and with all the subtly of a bull elephant stepped sideways, blocking the shorter Teletha’s view of the painting he was fleeing.

“And I know that vampires are really and very dangerous. Bolt has explained it to me.” At the mention of Captain Thunder’s mischievous son, Teletha pressed her hand to her face once more. “He told me that there are two kinds, the ones with red eyes and the ones with gold, and that they sparkle in the sun. They like to prey on young women, to seduce them into having half-vampire babies and eternal soullessness.” Donar glanced down at his book, frowning. “But he was wrong.”

“Oh is he?” Nesto asked before he could stop himself. This was fun.

“Yes, because the villainous vampires in this book weren’t like that at all.” Donar shook his head. “He was mistaken. I must correct him.” His brows drew together as he suddenly added, “I know you both know much more of this world than I do. Please tell me that the argr John Wilkes Booth’s soul was given unto the Wolf to be consumed until the End of Times?”

Donar was bloody weird sometimes.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Well, a tenth of a step forward... maybe? Yumi ended up going for the simple decision- with Parker all curled around him- that anything that kept her appropriately distracted from what most would call 'mischief' was a step forward.

"All right, all right." he conceded to the excitable companion of his. "We'll go back to the Freedom Hall and then get ready to hit the beach." Though he felt obligated to help cover Freedom City for the League since they were putting up room and board for him and Parker, but his self-imposed guardianship of Parker outweighed the other one right now.

"Hold on tight!" Parker giggled, still keeping a firm grip on Paladin Yumi while he pointed his arm to another rooftop. With a neuro-muscular command, the grapple line fired from his wrist and they swung off to the top of another building higher up, repeating the process to Parker's thrilled enjoyment.

[Heavy]

OOC Note

Much of this post is taken from Donar's post, above. To keep things clear, I've highlighted direct quotes from that post in red, while leaving all original text in default black.

“I will alow you to do that.” As usual, Donar meant well and chose the wrong words. It sounded as though he had any right to give that permission to Nesto, yet all he meant was that the other teen could have the project – even though he thought it was cool and secretly desired it.

“Oh, well thanks, Donner”, Nesto declared, in (only semi-mock) gratitude for Donar’s ‘generosity’. He pronounced Donar’s name with a flat American accent, and the result sounded like he was talking about one of Santa’s reindeer – not that it was intentional, or that Donar was likely to make the connection.

“That means a lot. Really.” As usual, it was hard to tell just how sarcastic Honesto was being, but at least his smile looked genuine.

“Do not mention it”, Donar replied in an unintentionally off-handed and brusque manner, eager to share the rest of his hard-won knowledge.

“What part of fict-”, Teletha started to say, in a futile bid to waylay the conversation before it got completely out of hand, but Donar, in his excitement, cut her off.

“And I know that vampires are really and very dangerous. Bolt has explained it to me.” At the mention of Captain Thunder’s mischievous son, Teletha pressed her hand to her face once more. “He told me that there are two kinds, the ones with red eyes and the ones with gold, and that they sparkle in the sun. They like to prey on young women, to seduce them into having half-vampire babies and eternal soullessness.” Donar glanced down at his book, frowning. “But he was wrong.”

“Oh is he?” Nesto asked. He couldn’t help it – it was just too much fun and Donar was making it way too easy. Stuff like this didn’t just drop into a guy’s lap every day, and when it did there were universal laws in place requiring him to take advantage of it! Honesto knew this in his soul.

“Yes”, Donar continued, “because the villainous vampires in this book weren’t like that at all.” Donar shook his head. “He was mistaken. I must correct him.” His brows drew together as he suddenly added, “I know you both know much more of this world than I do. Please tell me that the argr John Wilkes Booth’s soul was given unto the Wolf to be consumed until the End of Times?”

“You got me”, Nesto answered, throwing up his hands in surrender. “That kind of stuff isn’t handled in ‘this world’, bud, so expert or not, I really couldn’t tell ya.” Honesto seemed about to let that matter drop when he suddenly seemed to think of something and added, “Why? How do they handle that kinda stuff where you come from?”

[The Hospitaler]

After finishing her lunch, Tamara calls an audible of her schedule.

"Okay... I think today... I'm going to do more on-foot patrol. The Museum seems like a good start."

Then again, she was justifying deviating on a slow day. She felt quite guilty about it - what if she would be called in suddenly? She would be pulling her ghost-white hair out if it wasn't for the fact that at least three different police officers during the week wanted her to relax for a change.

Of course a visit to a intellectually stimulating museum would serve two purposes. One: to ensure to the public that their public treasure is safe and Two: It would be a pleasant diversion.

Tammy stepped in and almost immediately three different tour groups from 3 seperate countries started taking pictures. She straightens out and looks presentable, brushing off some crumbs from her sandwich as she moves foreward. Noticing a few individuals hovering (figuratively) around a painting and acting animated gets her attention. She knew a spot where she could stand away from the typical crowds and observe.

Hmm... doesn't seem suspicious... but they look new to town. I know, I'll do my PR stuff and make a good impression to the tourists! she thinks as she walks over to Donar, Teletha, and Heavy.

"Hello everyone and welcome to Freedom City! I'm The Hospitaler, resident SAR/Paramedic and hero about town. Also more than willing to answer any questions visitors to our fair city might have!"

Her smile was genuine, but for a split moment, there was a sudden awkward pause as the orange-suited girl-scout presented herself to the three.

[z-Donar]

“For causing the death of my younger brother, Baldar, Loptr was bound to a tock by the entrails of one of his sons, and venom from a viper is dripped into his eyes.” Donar’s voice had gone very hard, and his eyes were blue and cold. The death of his little brother had affected them all gravely; though they’d had different mothers, Donar had loved Baldar. Everyone had loved him. Everyone but Loptr, who had been jealous, or just evil. It was hard to tell. He’d never explained himself.

Flashback

The day was warm and the weather was sunny. Donar, though young, was more than able to keep the clouds away. Not that they’d been gathering with too much force, but everyone had praised him for the good weather and Donar was happy to take the credit.

The archers were firing away, their arrows humming in the air as the slim golden-haired boy danced through the rain of wooden shafts. Baldar couldn’t be hurt by them; nothing on earth would hurt him at his mother’s request. Jord had never made such a request for Donar, but Frige, Woden’s second wife, had received a blessing for Baldar. Everything living loved the gold-haired teen. There were times that Donar thought he should be jealous of the way people fawned over Baldar, but he loved his half-brother too much to mind.

Everyone was laughing, watching the arrows bend and twist in flight to avoid Baldar. The laughter went on for another moment after the first arrow pierced Baldar’s chest and he fell. It was shocking, so shocking that for a moment it didn’t sink in with anyone. Then Frige screamed and Donar was moving, rushing forward, to scoop an arm under his brother. He touched the arrow wound, tears in his eyes, sure that he should do something but not sure how to help. He was already dead – Baldar was already still and silent with no breath in him. Then Woden grabbed him and shoved him away from Baldar, and Frige was collapsing next to her son’s body, pulling the arrow out. Her healing powers were legendary but they couldn’t bring the dead to life.

Above them, clouds gathered, the weather reacting to Donar’s grief. As the clouds opened and dumped rain on the gathering, the young Æsir prince began to weep.

”Hello everyone and welcome to Freedom City! I'm The Hospitaler, resident SAR/Paramedic and hero about town. Also more than willing to answer any questions visitors to our fair city might have!”

Her smile was genuine, but for a split moment, there was a sudden awkward pause as the orange-suited girl-scout presented herself to the three.

Donar stared at the interloper. She’d caught him on an emotional downswing and his expression was dark as he looked at her. Most of her words were unfamiliar to him: essayare pahra medic and her name was odd. “I am not new to the city. I have been here three months.” That much he’d understood. He frowned harder, an impressive feat considering that he’d been mired in the traumatic memory of his brother’s death. “Is my seeming that of a tourist?”

[The Hospitaler]

Tammy blinked... I just... walked into a conversation didn't I?

"Umm... I..."

She scratched her head. Confused as to what to say or do to defuse the situation. "I'm..."

"I didn't mean anything by that. I'm... sorry."

She lowered her head apologetically. "I... If I was intruding, Sir, I apologize. I'm... oh boy..."

[Aphrodite Pandemos]

Suprema

In your descent to Earth you notice something. Fire trucks on the way to the fire. Not uncommon. Though you see something else too. Police cars, a LOT of police cars. They aren't going towards the burning building either. They seem to be responding to a call.

Thistle and Yumi

That call comes into Thistle's range of senses, "Robbery in progress at Paradise Casino." <static> "It's the Thieves' Guild." <static> "They have hostages." <static> "No one is hurt that we know of." <static> "The STAR squad is busy elsewhere. No word from the Freedom League." <static> "I'M NOT GOING TO WASTE MY MEN'S LIVES ON..." <static>

Donar, Heavy, The Hospitaler and TK

Your awkward first meeting is cut short by a conveniently placed television that gets Donar distracted enough to follow it's siren sound. BREAKING NEWS flashes on the screen. It's a news cast, from a helicopter. "We're looking at what looks like to be a very large heist in progress at Paradise Hotel Casino and Lounge" The camera from the sky shows the cops arriving and cordoning off the area. "We're told that The Thieves' Guild, a group of high tech villains are perpetrating the act. Though usually harmless, they've taken hostages. The Freedom League took off earlier this morning to deal with Captain Kraken in low orbit. And the police say that the STAR squad back up suits have been immobilized. We'll keep you posted as we get the information" BREAKING NEWS logo flashes again and a daytime soap replaces it.

Rush

Your Liberty Park photo/commercial shoot for a new fall line of men's wear is going swimmingly. You seem to have attracted a small crowd of onlookers and fans. Despite take 47 going pretty good, the director and photographers can't seem to agree on things. So there's a small break. You go to your chair and get approached by the small crowd. After a short bit, your attention is directed to a television with a BREAKING NEWS logo on it. You too see the same broadcast.

[z005]

Parker listened in on the excited conversations and curiously asked Yumi, "So, could we go by the...Paradise Casino...before swimming? The Thieve's Guild is robbing them, and it sounds like they're doing a better job of it than the bank robbers." She listened for a heartbeat longer, then nodded. "Yeah, definitely a better job, and there are only regular police around, so they're getting away with it right now."

She knew Yumi was interested in these things, and it seemed quite exciting to her, and he had agreed to go swimming with her quickly today. This way they could both have fun during the afternoon. She knew Yumi might get distracted - he did that sometimes - but she'd just go swimming while he was sleeping, then.

[Tesstarossa]

She'd listened, at first in growing agitation to the idiocy coming from Donar and Honesto, on the verge of a major facepalm moment, moving into resignation of having to be the one do do the work, then The Hospitaler had shown up."Guys really...." Then the announcement over the TV caught their attention. She looked to The Hospitaler and nodded. "Looks like you're going to be on duty ma'am"

[Shosuro Toshi]

Yumi cast a surprised glance in that Parker was interested, but then, cat, and the whole world is shiny. She seemed willing to put swimming on temporary hold, so that was good. The Thieves' Guild was a bunch of loons, but still, the Paladin had learned not to take the crazy for pushovers. Arcus was a painful example of that, no matter how megalomaniac he'd become.

"Sure, changing course, then." They weren't too far from the Paradise Casino by his estimation. It was a simple matter to retract the grapple, flip in mid-air and fire it to a new location to proceed directly to the casino.

[The Hospitaler]

Crap... those guys? Not good. She thinks.

"Yeah looks like I got business, indeed."

She walks off from the group, but not before saying; "I'd stay away from that area. If there is one thing I know those thieves like, it's collateral."

She walks quickly through the museum and once outside flies off to the Casino.

[Joani]

Suprema quickly picked up the emergency calls from the police radio and headed towards the Casino as fast as she could.

As soon as she arrived at the site she landed next to one of the police officers. The statuesque Blonde smiled at the young man and confidently crossed her arms across her chest before she inquired politely, "You require help, officer? What is the situation?". The officer didn't know how to respond at first and even in Freedom City it wasn't this common to be addressed by a 6 foot tall beauty in a black unitard with silver streaks which did only accentuate her already feminine features. She was indeed from another world.

The beautiful alien looked across the police barricade and waited patiently for a sitrep.

[z-Donar]

Donar exchanged a glance with Nesto, the two young men immediately deciding that watching a heist in progress was way more interesting than hanging around the museum looking at tools from a bygone era, vampires or no. “Actually, I should go, too.” At Teletha’s shocked expression, Donar added, “I should go and help! I have a debt to the city that I must repay. It is my burden!”

“Don-” He was already hustling for the doors, leaving Teletha talking to nothing. She called his name more loudly, but the young godling didn’t “hear” her. Yes, of course he heard her calling for him to come back, but he figured that he could get away with pretending he hadn’t.

The sunlight greeted him like a warm friend as he emerged from the building. Donar grinned at the Lady Sunne, even as the wind picked up around him. Donar waited until he was far enough away from other people that he wouldn’t blow them down. That had been a hard-learned lesson for him; to be mindful of others in his wake. By the time he reached the sidewalk, there was enough room, and the wind shot under him in an incredible burst. The microburst should have thrown him about randomly, but Donar had been riding his storms since he could walk and his control was instinctive. He soared into the air, his clothing flapping wildly around him but never quite to the point where they were destroyed.

The ground fell away, and Donar oriented himself before heading for the Casino. The strange woman in orange was well ahead of him, and got there before he did. He tried not to get it bother him that she was obviously faster. As Dr. Watcher had said, it was okay for someone to be better than he was at something.

The young blond landed with a thump; the cops at the barricade did a double-take as the recognized him. The closest was a black woman and Donar gave her a smile. He reminded himself not to stare too much or to make any comment about color before saying, “I heard about the trouble here. I can help. Tell me what to do!”

Donar flies at 60 mph. I didn’t want to dick around with writing another post later, so I just had Tammy show up first. She’s talking to someone where Donar can’t see her. He hasn’t seen Suprema; you can tell because he isn’t leering.

The female cop eyed him. She recognized him kinda; he was very different than the image of the bearded and long-haired man who had sent tornados spinning throughout Freedom City. He looked like a normal teen: monotone dark blue polo shirt, nice jeans and white sneakers. Aside from his long hair, he looked like a kid who was dressed by his grandfather. In truth, Dr. Watcher had picked the clothes for Donar, and no one had yet told him that he looked unfashionable – at least not in a way that he’d understood.

[Heavy]

Honesto Lacro (aka Heavy)

Hero Points: 1/1

Condition: Fine

"You should go after him", Honesto said to Teletha, as the two of them watched their fellow classmate storm (pun intended) out of the building. He was trying very hard to look like he meant it in a "responsible" way, too, even though in truth he just wasn't as willing as Donar to leave Teletha in the lurch like that. What Nesto wanted to do was get out there and race Donar to the casino!

When Teletha turned a surprised expression his way Nesto said, "No, I mean it, you can keep up with him!" He was, of course, referring to Teletha's telekinetic powers. Using those, she should have no trouble keeping up with the runaway Norse god who'd just left them behind, though that would also mean leaving Honesto behind. Almost as if he were reading her mind (irony!), Nesto added hastily, "Don't worry about me; I'll catch a cab or something and meet you two there!"

"You're not seriously suggesting", asked Teletha, one perfect eyebrow arching dubiously, "that I engage in a flight of pursuit after Donar to the casino that that superhero lady just told us to stay away from, are you?"

"Sure am", Nesto replied, matter-of-factly. "Donner's probably half-way there already, and who knows what kinda trouble he'll start once he reaches that casino. We need to keep an eye on 'im, Teletha!"

"Well...", Teletha hesitatingly murmured, "you do have a point..."

"Great!", enthused Nesto, "glad you agree!" And with that, he started towards the same door that Donar had used only moments before, talking rapidly at Teletha as he went. "Listen, I'd better get going right away then, so that I can get that cab, ok? You two're sure to get there before me, so I gotta hurry, right? You better hurry, too though, okay TK? Heh. That rhymed. Well, anyway, seeya there!"

And with that Honesto was out the door and out of sight, likely leaving Teletha irritated, frustrated, fuming, or maybe even all three.

OOC: Honesto will move as quickly as possible to somewhere "out of the way" and transform his clothes into his superhero getup as "Heavy", and will then make all possible speed to the casino, along with the other heroes. Given that he's only slightly faster than Donar at his best speed, and that he has to travel by running and leaping across rooftops, he'd probably be one of the last to arrive, so Moira you can feel free to write his entrance into your next post wherever you feel is dramatically appropriate (or another player can, for that matter).

As far as his outfit, it's pretty basic. Boots, loose dark pants, a pullover hoodie, with the hood pulled up, and a relatively simple mask over the top half of his face. Between the hood and the mask, it's actually not that easy to make out his features. Yes, I know, lots of black, with a hood and a mask may not sound like the most "heroic" outfit, but it's no less creepy or suspicious than the hood and mask that his Next-Gen teammate Seven wears, so whatevs. *shrugs*

[Rush]

Ryan sat in his chair at his make up station. His mood was melancholic, being back in the park where only last week the memorial for his father took place. The statue was nice, but somehow, Ryan thought that was a poor trade for his ultimate sacrifice.

He was watching TV on his tablet while the photographer and the designer argued about location and lighting and anything else that seemed convenient. Apparently they didn't get along and while they wasted the day, the models were left to lounge around trying to relieve boredom.

Ryan was still watching his tablet when the news about the casino robbery came on. He sighed, hoping that someone else would show up and deal with this but luck was not smiling on him this day. With a sidelong glance at the other models, Ryan slipped in to one of the changing tents with his bag. Despite his reluctance to rejoin the super heroic world again, he always kept his morphic molecule costume on him and in the privacy of the change tent it only took him seconds to change.

Rush sped out of the tent, careful not to go so fast that he caused damage or negative effects with his passing. 500 mph was only half his maximum speed but it was more than enough to get him to the scene of the crime within minutes. His father, Slipspeed, had figured out a way of channeling his speed energy in such a way that he could move at unbelievable speeds without any negative effects on the environment but that was a trick that Rush had yet to learn.

He sped up to the authorities on the scene, stopping on a dime in front them. "My name is Rush and I'm here to help. How can I be of service?"

[Tesstarossa]

"Why me God?" She muttered as she grabbed up her notes and took flight, nowhere near her full speed, not below the skyline, and made her way to th Casino, setting down beside Donar and the officer.

"You, really need to slow down and think about things before haring off like that Donar." Teletha spoke with a perfectly neutral tone. "It would be very bad if something were to happen to you, or Honesto, wherever he went, as this project requires effort and documented work by all three of us to be eligible for grading, and I refuse to get bad marks because you decide to go play hero at a casino on your own."

She looked at him with her "no nonsense, no backtalk" look, and then she turned to the officer, "Has there been any change in the situation since the news crews began broadcasting?"

[The Hospitaler]

When Tammy arrived, she knew the protocol.

Stay out of the way, come when called, don't interfere with those on scene unless asked to assist. Particularly in a situation like this. After all, she was not a front-line hero. She could take a punch, no doubt, but she just can't dish it out. She had some ideas for later defensive measures, but... that would take alot of time to impliment.

She took a wait-and-see approach with those arriving. But seeing those from the museum arrive... made her feel even more awkward. Surely she had some sort of dossier che could refer to from City Hall or something in regards to currently active heroes, right?

She sighs, a bit frustrated.

[Aphrodite Pandemos]

All of you are directed to Captain Maddicks. He's talking into a radio and doesn't seem happy. "What do you MEAN, they won't work? Did you happen to hear that we're already shorthanded? It's going to take some kind of crew to get in there," Captain Maddicks turns around to see you lot. He grimaces, "Looks like the calvary is here, Tony."

He puts his hands on his hips and looks at you lot sternly, "Fine time for you to show up. People are in danger because some goon squad wants money." He sighs, "Alright, listen, we've tried to get in there ourselves but apparently every entrance is walled up by a thick sheet of ice. On top of that we've tried listening in on what's going on in there and all we get is wind and rain. We suspect it to be the Weather Mistress broad playing around with her powers to keep us out. As for hostages, yeah, hostages! There are about a couple hundred workers in there. We don't know about patrons."

He grunts again, "If the whole Theives' Guild is in there as reported, you'll have to deal with them all. There's six of them. The Huckster, The Bola, The Firebug, The Mad Maple, Looking Glass and Weather Mistress" He takes a quick head count of you, "There's eight of you. Easy enough." He looks to the building and then back at you, and crosses his arms witha sour look, "Technically I'm supposed to not let you in there. This is official police business. But I happen to know some of you are good people." He looks to Rush, "I know times is tough, but don't let that vigilante route." Speaking to the whole crew again, "We don't want any more Silencer type punks to deal with publicly." His voice grow contentious as he nods toward the building, "Now go on, do our fucking job."

Maddicks

[Joani]

Suprema nodded confidently and smiled at Maddicks reassuringly, "Don't worry Officer Maddicks, we will take it from here."

The tall blonde put a hand on Captain Maddicks shoulder as she spoke and slowly resumed her former stance crossing her arms under her voluptous bosom looking at her fellow heroes. "Anyone of you familiar with hostage situations? We need someone who can scout the building unseen if possible. Has anyone ever dealt with the Thieves Guild before?"

She was fairly new in FC and her little experience with humans and crime extended mostly to damage control and such. The scientists who found her were still trying to learn from the technology she brought with her and from the knowledge she was "programmed" with. She spend more time explaining and educating than she liked - this was actually a welcomed change. A chance to do some good beyond mere knowledge.

"Your people call me Suprema.", she added quietly as some sorts of introduction looking expectingly at her new comrades with a friendly smile on her beautiful face.

[z005]

Parker hopped off of Yumi's side and bounced on the balls of her feet while the police officer explained the situation. She glanced around, then slipped behind Yumi in an odd show shyness. She'd been told to be careful around strangers, though, especially when they could see her. She fidgeted and glanced around him, finishing her initial memorization of everyone gathered there. It was quite exciting, the new people and all the lights and the going ons. Much more than the bank robbery, but that was probably because people seemed to like casinos more.

"I could go look around," she told her keeper quietly. "They won't see me and ice won't stop me." Usually he didn't seem to like it when she did that, so she didn't tell him most of the time, but they'd come here together and running off by herself when they'd already planned to spend the afternoon together seemed rude. "Or we could try making them money and see if they leave?" she asked with genuine curiosity. It seemed logical, but then maybe they weren't after money since they took over a casino instead of a bank. Details, she was learning, were very important.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Yumi observed the group - Donar was hard to mistake, Yumi had been around in Freedom City when the Aesir prince had made his appearance, though most he did not recognize, except for Rush and Heavy. Parker's question did make him wonder though... yeah, she could do it.

He didn't expect the Guild to have the ability to spot her, and perhaps the others would not be too suspicious of her demonstrating 'powers.' "Sure, Thistle. It'll be really helpful." Yumi promised her with a soothing tone, since she couldn't see his smile behind the mask. "Just come back soon, okay?"

For the others he introduced himself and Parker. "Paladin Yumi, and Thistle. She'll willing to scout things out for us-" Yumi cut off- seeing Maddick's scowl grow- "Good grief, Captain. Just trust her, would you?!"

[Rush]

"Thank you sir," Rush said to Maddicks. "I appreciate the thought, and don't worry about me." He turned and regarded the others, some he recognized, some he didn't, and nodded his head to Suprema.

"I'm Rush," He said returning the introductions, feeling a bit foolish introducing himself as his name was boldly displayed in gold lettering down the right leg of his blue-and-black costume.

He turned and regarded Thistle for a moment. "If you can get in and out without been seen or caught then I'm all for you playing scout," He ignored her comment about making the bad guys money for the moment. "Just remember, hostage situations can be tricky and emotions will be running high. Don't try anything rash, it could get someone hurt or killed. Just locate where the bad guys and hostages are then come back out. Also, if we have any fliers here, I'd like to have someone scout the roof of the hotel. It's likely that the Guild has contained themselves to the casino but these are super villains, you never know what they'll do or what their exit strategy will be. That should also bee a good entry point for someone who can fly fast when we do actually go after these guys." He stopped for a moment and realized he was ordering complete strangers around.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be bossy but we are going to need a plan of action," he sheepishly. "We should also be aware of what each other can do. I move fast and hit things hard."

[Tesstarossa]

Teletha nodded. "I can fly, I'll handle the roof."

She looked at Donar. "Do NOT do anything reckless. We still have an assignment to complete."

With that she rose into the air, silently with no real fanfare. It was a good thing she'd not worn a dress today, else she'd have never volunteered for this. She knew she was trying to stay out of trouble, but she'd be forced to act if the Guild was really planning on a rooftop escape.

[z-Donar]

Donar considered exerting his kingship but he remembered that his father had once said that leadership was earned, not taken. His mouth opened, then he flipped his long wheat-gold hair out of his blue eyes as he squinted up at the ice wall. “I am a Hrid-Hlaupa. A Storm-Rider,” he clarified as he realized he’d lapsed into the Old Norse name. “I can fly,” he added impatiently when he saw that they still didn’t understand. “I will go to the roof and aid Teletha, and see if they can leave another way.”

“Whoa, what else can you do? Or is Storm-Riding it?” Rush asked before the young man could fly away.

“I have Vedr Vald, the ability to control other weather. And I hit like an ox. Perhaps like a small one.” The last was confessed reluctantly. “I am to the roof now.” With that, he stepped away and called the winds. They bound themselves into a microburst at his command and bore him into the air.

[Joani]

“I can see through solid objects and could identify where the villains are located. Are we splitting up in two teams? The Hostages should be our prime objective.”, Suprema suggested nodding at Rush. She briefly considered following the blonde boy and the girl who just arrived and were so eager to rush in but decided against it. Two should be enough to check out the roof of the building.

While her speech was without accent it sounded much as if she was stating facts, like reading a news report – probably that’s how she learned how to speak english by watching TV News or documentary shows.

She waited for Rush to make a call and watched the perimeter for any signs of trouble. “Captain Maddicks – have you taken the necessary measures to transport a large number of hostages? We may need ambulances and psychological care. Hostages could have nervous breakdowns because of the situation they are put in.”

The statuesque blonde looked at Capt. Maddicks and smiled friendly at him and while it appeared as if she was completely relaxed and detached Suprema was ready to jump into action any second.

[Rush]

"Weather manipulation? Perfect! Okay here's what I need you...." Rush's voice trailed off as the young (and ruggedly sexy he noticed) Norseman flew off. "...to do. Fabulous. Okay moving on."

He turned back to Suprema and gave her a curt nod. "X-Ray vision? Fantastic! Go for it. I want to know if people are in any immediate danger or if we have a little breathing room to plan. I'm not sure if splitting into 2 teams is needed just yet, those two on the roof should be enough and you are right. Hostages are priority number 1. I'd rather let the bad guys get away if it means no innocents are hurt or killed," He was speaking rapidly and with some authority again. "Thistle, I'd still like you to take a look around as well. We don't know what the Guild actually wants. It may just be money but they could have a different agenda altogether and I want to know what it is."

"I'm going to quickly scout around the building to check the other entrances or see if they have an escape vehicle. Everyone, be ready to act." With that Rush sped off around the the corner of the building only to return a minute or so later form the other side.

I figure it would normally take someone about 30 minutes to do a perimeter check of the building. With my quickness it will only take me 1 minute. If I need to make any perception roll let me know

[z005]

Thistle was already gone by the time Rush gave his second batch of orders to her, having quite literally disappeared behind Yumi. She drifted into the building, slipping through the space between molecules that made up "solid" matter. She set out the most efficient search pattern she could devise as she learned the layout of the casino, looking for the members of the Thieves Guild and adding hostages to her mental map of the building. She let a part of herself attach to the internal electronic systems of the casino, learning what she could from the security system and feeling out the parts of the casino that had especially high electronic surveillance. There were a lot of locked places in the casino, but it had seemed like Yumi and the others were more interested in the people inside, so Parker simply filed the interesting stuff away for later and kept on her search.

[Heavy]

Honesto Lacro (aka Heavy)

Hero Points: 1/1

Condition: Fine

As was pretty typical of most 'adult' superheroes on the FC scene, Rush had already assumed that A. he was in charge, and B. anyone present who couldn't legally drink alcohol wasn't really a 'superhero' as much as they were a 'sidekick' - someone to be ordered around and relegated to odd-job status. Or just to be ignored. Which, of course, meant that he, Suprema, the Paladin guy and his partner (Thistle?) had already Teamed Up for this month's Special Double-thick, Wrap-Around Cover Edition, while the teens on the scene were barely being acknowledged.

Heavy just mentally shrugged and let it go. Donar and Teletha, he had to admit, really were just 'kids off the street', so far as Rush or the rest of them would know. And Heavy had to remind himself that Rush was pretty much the newest hero in town - that he could think of, anyway - so it was probable that he just didn't recognize Heavy as an established member of the Next-Gen. (Though he was surprised to see that Rush and the two auxiliary members of the Freedom League didn't seem to know each other - weren't they on the same freakin' team?) Also, while Heavy had been active as a hero in FC for as long or longer than any of the others present, he was still a teen and he didn't have as much experience overall as they did. So yeah... he shrugged, and let it go.

So while Rush was doing his thing, Heavy quietly busied himself with the other practical aspects of an operation like this that also needed tending to.

"Hey Maddicks", the sixteen-hundred pound mutant teenager said affably, as he approached the grizzled police Captain, "How's it goin'?"

"Heavy", Maddicks countered, saying the name like it pained him, "Didn't I just tell you kids to fuck off?"

"Yeah", Nesto fired right back, "and to go do your job too, if I remember right. Which'd mean this's, like, PTO for you, or something. So, what's your point?"

Maddick's mouth twisted into something halfway between and grimace and a grin, and he grunted, "Alright, fine. I guess I do gotta minute or two I could spare. Whaddya want, kid?"

"Well, I know I'm no police officer or anything", Heavy allowed, "but I know enough to know that if this really is a hostage situation, then somewhere around here there's some blueprints for the casino already laid out for your SWAT guys to look at. Probably with doughnut crumbs and coffee stains on it already, too. Right?"

"Yeah, that's funny, kid", Maddicks commented wryly. "Hey, Tony", he added, turning to his partner standing nearby, "Whaddya think? He's a real comedian, ain't he?"

"He's hilarious, boss", Tony offered in a dry and noncommittal voice. Heavy didn't think he meant it, though.

"It's over here", Maddicks said after a chuckle at Heavy's expense, referring to the asked-for blueprints. It did, in fact, have doughnut crumbs and coffee stains on it, already.

Nesto took a quick moment to look it over, mostly just looking for where the Men's room was in relation to the outside of the building. Having found it, he took a moment to size up the lines of the blueprint with the reality of the huge casino standing before him, making everything line up in his mind, and then he turned back to Maddicks (who'd been standing over his shoulder, scowling down at him the whole time).

"Hey", Heavy said, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Hey, yourself!", Maddicks grumped right back. The corners of his mouth were smile-tug free.

"Thanks!", Heavy exclaimed at the grumpy cop, smiling big and friendly now, "for letting me check this map out. It's a big help!"

"Uh, sure", Maddicks replied, a little thrown off balance by Heavy's suddenly and unabashedly friendly manner. "Now, d'you need anything else, or would you like to, I don't know, go and fucking save those people in there, now?!"

"Ab-so-LOOT-ly, chief-"

"Captain!"

"-CAPtain Maddicks! Right. Absolutely. Right away, in fact! One more, really quick thing before I do, though."

Maddicks let out a sigh and rubbed at his temple and, with a belabored expression, asked, "What is it now, Heavy?"

Heavy grinned again. "Nothin' much. I just need to borrow somethin' from you..."

---

"Hey! Zippy!", Heavy called out, getting Rush's attention just as he came (zipping) back from his scouting foray around the building's exterior. When the speedster looked his way, Heavy tossed him something small and plastic-looking. "Take this", he said, "it's one of those cool in-ear radio thingies that, like, the SWAT guys n'the Secret Service use in the movies."

Rush caught it easily and looked back at the younger, hooded hero questioningly. "Got 'em from Maddicks", Heavy said in response as he handed out the headsets to any of the others still around to receive them (and who wanted them). "Figured we could use 'em. The captain said to set them to channel six. He didn't say so, but I think that means that's the channel he'll be monitoring."

Once the teenager was done handing out the radios and confirming that he could hear people on them, he looked back to Rush. "I'm gonna head in now", he said, his tone oddly light and conversational, "Gonna come up inside of the Men's room and disguise myself as some random gambler, or one of the staff. Or somethin'. I'll figure out once I'm in there."

Heavy made to leave, but Rush stopped him. "Hey, wait! I didn't even catch your name!"

"Oh, right", Nesto remarked, the half-smile back on his face. "I'm Heavy. I'm with the Next-Gen. Shapeshifter. Stealthy-brick. That kinda thing." He smiled at Rush again before turning back towards the casino and walking away. As he walked, Heavy raised one arm in a wave and hollered back at the speedster without looking, "See ya on the other side, man!"

OOC Stuff

Heavy will now approach the exterior wall nearest to the Men's room (or, if there's more than one Men's room, then the one closest to the outside walls), and will then Burrow his way under the building and up into the restroom. He'll also use Morph to take on the appearance of some random hostage as well.

Commlinks: Anyone who wants one, feel free to grab one. And Rush, you may want to hold on to the rest so that you can hand 'em out to those who already ran off later on. You guys can thank me later.

Persuasion Roll to Convince Maddicks to Give Us Stuff: 16 + 5 = 21 vs. Standard DC of 15 (plus -5 modifier, as per our intrepid GM). Success by 1 Degree. Hooray.

[Malachite] 6:24 pm: It's the problem with OW no matter when. You either need an incredibly active community of at least a dozen writers in one game, or you need a storyteller.

[Jeremy] 6:26 pm: and the latter brings you back to just running a guided game

Centimane *rolls* 1d20: 16: 16

EDIT: I forgot to mention or offer, but Heavy will leave a tunnel via Burrow for the others to use, if they please. Otherwise, he'll just be lying in wait and under disguise, for when the others are ready to launch their offensive.

[Joani]

Suprema took the offered headset and nodded at the young man. “Thank you.”

She looked at Rush for a moment and then to the Casino again. “I will look for the hostages and the safest way to get them out of there.”, with that she slowly rose up and flew towards the building scanning it with her X-Ray Vision for suitable spots for access and rescue.

Circling around the building she came to a stop at the entrance where the huge Ice Wall blocked any possible way in but Suprema felt confident that she could punch her way in if she wanted... but that would be far from subtle.

OOC

What do I spy with my X-Ray-Eyes?

For reference my Perception roll:

[Joani] 4:18 pm: rolling Perception in ToC

Joani *rolls* 1d20: 16+5: 21

[Joani] 4:18 pm: nice

[Jeremy] 4:19 pm: indeed

[Shosuro Toshi]

Yumi took his with a definite "Thanks, Heavy." to the Next-Gen member. He set on his headset with some difficultly to the mask, but he suddenly cursed the fact that this had not happened before Thistle left. Next time, remind her that they need to have her comms or some other form of contact set.

After a pausing moment, he decided that there were enough people hanging outside. "I'll follow up Heavy, get a third pair of eyes inside - and radio back. Keep an eye on Thistle when she returns."

Paladin Yumi went into the hole and went through the emerging tunnel behind Heavy at a fairly quick speed - thanks to the Paladin Serum's enhancements.