Log:Best of the Best 2006, Scene 4

Best of the Best 2006 2006/04/06 	 Barricade Black Mamba Dancing Coyote Dark Horse David Ciaratara Eel Eleven Exodus Fox Fire Fuzzt Haze Kibin Lady Luck Lorelei Midnight Photon Rebound Shoro Wasp 4

Coliseum

As you enter the Coliseum, the sheer vastness is the first thing to catch your attention. Thereare seats lining every side of the arena, making an oval shape. Lights shine down on the arena below. There are four twenty foot screens to show the audience images of the competitions below.

The Coliseum is set up for the Intelligence Competition today. There are 4 areas for the teams. Each area consists of a central table where there is a triangular open box in the center. Equi-distant from the table are three stations. Each station is for a specific task that teams must do. Characters: Haze                     Alex                      Dancing Coyote            Midnight                  Wasp                      Asylum

Objects: Brain Drain Rules

Obvious Exits: Exit 

GM NOTE: Characters start chatting on the their team channels.

 Eel says, "You might be better off without me on this one, DC. :)"

 Dancing Coyote says, "Well, it's hard to imagine anyone on the team less familiar than I am with local history, science, geography, or electronics. But I might be useful for the third task."

 Midnight chuckles. 'lex, this one sounds right up your alley, huh?

 Haze says, "Dang.. This isn't what I'm good at.. Maybe you guys should have me as cheer leader again."

Midnight seems to be looking for someone.

 Lady Luck says, "Um - I was never so good at stuff in school...."

 Midnight says, "Guess Stephie didn't show after all, huh?"

Haze looks at Midnight. "What's up, Midnight?"

 Eel says, "Just make an educated guess, then."

 Haze says, "I dunno. Maybe she has to hang out with her dad.. Daddy's little girl. Hrmph."

 Dancing Coyote says, "Anyone here a demolitions expert?"

 Dark Horse says, "I'm familiar with them."

 Rebound says, "I dunno... but it's not like we've a strict attendance policy."

Spirit: This man...assuming that's what it is...stands about five and a half feet tall. His body glows constantly, giving off light...in fact he appears to be made of pure light, or some other kind of energy. No facial features can really be made out. There's no clothing on the figure...but then again, there's nothing that seems offensive that's visible, either.

He almost looks angelic...the glowing body, the slightly disembodied voice...but there are no wings.

Lady Luck: Standing only 5'1" tall, this young woman is seldom without a smile on her cherubic face, and her the twinkle in eyes is echoed in the the dancing light motes which always surround her, shifting colours with her mood. She wears her chestnut hair swept back behind her ears, but she is always pushing it back again as it falls forward.

She's wearing a bodysuit which is deep purple on her arms and legs as if wearing long gloves and boots, but the torso is silvered and reflects the lights dancing about her. The right "glove" extends onto the chest where it makes a half-star motif with the silver. She has no mask.

Lorelei: Lorelei's a gorgeous blonde woman, perhaps in her late teens, though the assurance with which she carries herself bespeaks someone older. No part of her shapely 5'6" body is not alluring, but more striking still that almost her every movement seems an enticing pose such as photographers might spend hours coaxing out of a model. Wild shoulder-length hair frames her face, with its high cheekbones, pouty lips and dark sparkling eyes.

She's dressed in a skintight shimmering green bodysuit partially cut away: her left arm and shoulder are bare but for her glove, and her right leg but for her boot. Around her waist a light blue sash is tied.

Eel: You see a masked man in a gray-black costume. He's athletic, standing roughly six and a half feet tall, with a muscular build. His clothing is form-fitting, with a texture similar to that of a wetsuit, and with seams where the boots and gloves end. A yellow stripe starts at the forehead of the costume and runs over the top of the head and down the spine of the suit. The same color is used for the 'E' on his chest. His mask doesn't cover the his mouth and chin -- you can see that he's cleanshaven and darkskinned. A pair of goggles complete his costume.

Haze: Haze stands about 5'6" tall with her jet black hair tucked neatly in a bun with chopsticks in the back. She has a slender and athletic build, common of most heroines. Haze's outfit consists of a black domino mask, matching black boots. Her suit, deep purple with black trimming, covers her body.Haze completes her look with nice black gloves.

Midnight: At first glance, Midnight resembles a three-dimensional shadow... black, featureless, fading a little at the edges. Closer inspection reveals more distinct features, including fully articulated fingers and toes... more like a human covered in light-absorbing paint, with wispy tendrils of darkness drifting from the surface.

However, he doesn't seem to invite close inspection. He carries himself with an air of barely restrained violence, as if looking for an excuse to pound something into the dirt.

 Dancing Coyote says, "I suppose that makes you our candidate for the second leg, and I'm probably the best bet for the third. Amy, Eel - which of you wants the first slot?"

Rebound: Rebound stands a little over six feet tall in a form fitting uniform that leaves his lanky form on display. The costume is rather pedestrian, seeming to prefer function over form. It's blue in color, alternating with dark blue for the arms and on the thighs of the suit. The mask covers his scalp completely, but leaves the lower half of his face uncovered. He wears a pair of large goggles over his eyes. He's also got a belt on with a couple of pockets and pouches on it.

Dark Horse: This man stands just about five and a half feet tall, but his posture seems to indicate that his stature is a bit larger than his mere size. His costume is a deep green, with a matching top and pants. The shirt fits a little loosely, as do the pants, which are also covered in several pockets, like BDU pants. The costume itself seems to be made of a thick material...perhaps it's made out of some kind of kevlar-like material. His boots and gloves are a solid black...matching the insignia on his chest, which is a black horse rampant, covering from about his collarbone to where you think his navel might be. Attached to his belt is a metal stick, about 6 inches long. It seems to be attached to a coil of small cable which is also attached to his belt. His face is covered is a green mask which has two eye holes, but no other openings...but it does leave his hair uncovered, which is a dark brown. He does appear to have a half-headset attached to the mask, though...there is a single earphone, with a wired microphone which swings down along the right side of his face, and then in front of his mouth.

Dancing Coyote: Although DC can adopt any form he wishes, he is by default a handsome Native American man in his early 20s. He stands 5'10", lanky, with pale reddish skin, dark brown eyes, and long black hair braided down to his waist. He radiates an almost palpable presence: likable, easy to talk to, easy to follow. From time to time he strokes the sleek fur of a large dog that isnt quite there.

He wears a red robe made of some durable, well-weathered fabric, stitched through with arcane symbols in many colors. The robe is belted at the waist by a yellow sash, and open in the front to reveal animal tattoos on his chest (bear, coyote, wolf, snake, and raven), so realistic they seem to move as you watch. A large pouch hangs from the sash. The robe hangs down to just under his knees, and a pair of leather sandals wrap around his calves. The outfit seems entirely impractical for wintertime, and he definitely seems to feel the cold.

Wasp: What is it that about Wasp that first draws attention? Is it her size, or more accurately the lack of it? Wasp is barely a foot and a half tall. Perhaps it's the quietly buzzing multi-hued dragonfly wings upon her back. Then there's her eyes, faceted like an insect and gleaming iridescently with all the colors of the rainbow. She is slender, with long light reddish-brown hair falling well below her shoulders. Her movements are graceful and fluid yet somehow indicative of a notable strength for such a diminative figure. She looks young, no more than eighteen or nineteen years of age.

Wasp is dressed in a almost skin-tight costume covering all except her head. The torso and upper limbs of her costume are white, while the arms, legs and vee fronted collar are a sky blue. There's a glowing blue dragonfly silhouette on her chest and back. Being her size makes carrying items tricky. Wasp has pockets sew into her costume on both thighs, no larger than a normal pocket but looking bulky on her. Pinned to the costume above her heart is a silver brooch shaped in the form of a small wasp.

Lorelei says, "Good to see you this week, Spirit...."

 Eel says, "I think Amy'd be better at it."

<NB> Midnight says, "Yeah. Just thought she'd come. No biggie. Anyway, who're we puttin' where for this one, Reb?"

<BSS> Lady Luck says, "Huh, at what?"

Spirit lands in the colliseum, nodding to Lorelei. "Glad I could make it this time."

<BSS> Dancing Coyote says, "All right... Amy, Dark Horse, and myself, then."

<NB> Rebound says, "I'll take the first..."

Lorelei says, "Well, we did all right last week, but I'm afriad I got us off to a shaky start."

<NB> Rebound says, "Midnight on the second, and Haze on the third. How's that sound?"

<NB> Midnight says, "Sure, why not?"

Spirit smiles, "From what I heard, you did just fine. Looks like it'll be Wasp, you, and I. Any preference which leg you want to deal with?"

<NB> Rebound says, "I'm open to suggestions."

<NB> Haze says, "But I don't have any special senses!"

Spirit looks to Wasp, "How about you? Any preference?"

Lorelei says, "Well, definitely not disarming the bomb!"

<NB> Rebound says, "Sure you do, Haze! You can stick your head into solid objects. Which is much better than I can manage."

Spirit chuckles. "Alright."

<NB> Haze says, "What? I'm not going to stick my head into anyone's butts or anything!"

Wasp grins. "I was really hoping to sit this one out. I only have to look at something mechanical or electronic for it to break down or blow up, Spirit."

Dancing Coyote informs the judges of the BSS roster. Lady Luck (Quiz), Dark Horse (Bomb), Dancing Coyote (Villain).

Eel cheers from the benches.

<BSS> Lady Luck says, "Um - I have to know stuff?"

This is the third event, but it seems like there isn't as much people interested in this event as the previous two. The crowd seems a little bit smaller. One might figure that people aren't interested in brain smarts stuff. Not an exciting competition. There's still a large group though. More of the brainy type probably to see if they know more than the heroes! Looks like Starguard will be missing this event, effectively putting them out of the competition.

Spirit says, "We need a third, Wasp. Either you or Black Mamba...but since he isn't here, that kind of makes it moot."

<NB> Rebound says, "Like I said. Unless there's a better idea, this is the plan."

The announcer announces, "Teams, Do you have any questions for the Judges? remember, you can' use your PDAs for help or any outside tools etc."

Wasp nods. "There was a message from Black Mamba of the comm channel earlier. He apologises as he can't make it today."

The judges accept DC's roster.

Spirit nods. "Fair enough. But that still leaves it up in the air...you going to compete, Wasp?"

<BSS> Dancing Coyote says, "Not necessarily... but you do seem to have a knack for accurate guesswork."

Wasp says, "I'll go wherever you think best. All I can do is give it my best try."

Dark Horse walks around quietly, looking out at the crowd.

Spirit nods. "Alright.

<BSS> Lady Luck asks hopefully, "Is it multiple choice?"

Some people wave at Dark Horse.

Spirit says, "How about this, then...Lorelei, you do the quiz? I can do the bomb thing, and Wasp, you find hte villain."

Rebound takes his team's roster to the judges. Rebound (Quiz), Midnight (Bomb), Haze (Villain)

Lorelei says, "I don't know if I'm better first or last. I don't really have any special senses as such but maybe I'm not too bad a judge of people - well, depends on the quiz, I suppose."

Wasp nods.

Dark Horse waves to the crowd, muttering to himself, "I really don't like being this recognized. Bleh."

The Judges accept Rebound's roster for team New Blood.

Spirit nods, "We'll give it a go." He takes heads over to the judges to give them the roster.

Lorelei thinks. o O (I wish I really ad been studying every time I said I was now....)

The judges take Spirit's roster and accepts it.

Spirit floats back over to his team, and sets down on the ground.

The announcer asks one final time, "Are there any questions?"

Haze is glad she isn't doing the quiz. She doesn't do so well in quizzes at school anyways.

"If there are you questions, please go to your stations!", states the Announcer. the Audience cheers the teams one final time.

Lorelei has a horrible sense she's going to look like an idiot publicly.

Lady Luck skips of to her station, hoping it's mutiple choice. That's always easy.

Rebound sighs and looks to his teammates. "Good luck everyone." Then he smiles. "Here's our chance to move up in the standings."

Midnight chuckles. "Yeah, right." He heads to his station.

Haze nods timidly at Rebound. She glances at Midnight and then heads over to her station.

Dancing Coyote heads to his station.

Lorelei gives the crowd a wave as she goes over. Maybe their support will calm her nerves.

Wasp grins at Spirit and Lorelei. "Good luck." and heads over to her position.

Dark Horse saunters over to his station, stretching a little bit.

The crowd absolutely loves Lorelei. There are signs that say, "Beauty and Brains! Lorelei!"

Spirit nods to Lorelei and Wasp, "Good luck to you both."

Lorelei says, "And to you!"

Lady Luck thinks. o O (How come there isn't a luck competition? Now that would be good!)

The judges watch the contestants carefully. Once everyone is in position they give the signal for the competition to commence!

Rebound settles in at his position. o O ( Please don't let me foul this up! )

<SJ> Spirit says, "Lord...I hope the bombs aren't real. This would be an ideal setup if someone were to attack."

<SJ> Lorelei says, "You don't think that's likely, do you?!"

<SJ> Spirit says, "We'll see. Not sure yet."

<SJ> Wasp says, "Remember it's always the red wire."

Lorelei looks still more worried as she awaits the quiz.

<SJ> Spirit says, "Did I tell you that I'm color blind?"

<SJ> Lorelei says, "I thought it was always the blue wire?"

The Quiz competition: There is a small black box before each of you stationed at the quiz area. A camera shows what you are doing on the big screens for the audience to see. There are three questions you need to answer. The first question is true or false question in Science.

For BSS (Lady Luck) : Glass Steel is a type of carbonized Iron?

For NB (Rebound): Stonghold uses a technique calld Cold Sleep to keep meta villains in a frozen state.

For SoJ (Lorelei): The hardest material known to man is diamond.

<SJ> Lorelei says, "If I ever make a bomb, I'll used striped wwires to confuse people."

<SJ> Wasp says, "Red, blue, who cares. Cut at Random and trust to luck."

Midnight wonders if the judges are monitoring their comm channels, and chuckles.

Lorelei thinks it sounds like a trick question, and goes for No.

Dancing Coyote is bewildered that he actually knows the answer to two of these questions... though not the one for his team.

Lady Luck goes for "Uh-huh!"

Rebound closes his eyes for a moment, thinking. Then he fills in his answer. 'No.'

Both the women answer correctly! There's some clicking noise from the black box as it starts to unlock. But then there's another question that pops up! Looks like Rebound answered correctly as well! His box makes some clicking noise before another question pops up!

Dancing Coyote applauds.

Lady Luck thinks. o O (Yay, true or false! That's better than multiple choice.)

The bomb set up looks very scary and real for those who have seen the real thing. There are wires, timers, electronics, mechanics, everywhere. There is a tool kit next to the bomb set up. The heroes are free to use whatever they like in the tool kit to help them. Cut wires, use weights, etc. There might be more than one way to disarm the bomb.

Dark Horse rubs his chin, looking over the bomb, trying to analyze it as best he can.

Spirit does similarly, looking for the power source first, scanning with his EM vision.

Midnight looks the bomb over carefully for things that might cause it to go off when fiddled with. Avoiding those things, he tries to find the actual explosive part of the gadget, first with remote mass perception and then by sticking his head into the bomb itself. Finally he attempts to disconnect the explosive part, hoping this works.

Dark Horse starts to pull out some wire cutters, having picked out a wire.

Midnight pulls his head out of the assembly, shrugs, solidifies, and selects a wirecutter and a long probe from the toolkit.

Spirit just stares at it for a long moment, his eyes glowing brightly. Or rather...where eyes would normally be. He picks out some cutters as well.

While the quiz questions are being answered and the bombs are being inspected, the villain hunt station is also busy with activity. It's a larger station. In each station, there is a black box with 10 buttons on it. Next to the box is a area with 10 volunteer actors. They are all dressed the same. Some are men and some are female. 2 of these actors have been designated as 'villain'. The heroe's task here is to see which of the two of 10 are the 'villain actors!' press the button according to the numbered tags on the actors.

Dancing Coyote seems a bit confused by the task, but willing enough. He starts out by looking for physical clues, carefully inspecting their clothing inside and out and sniffing near each of them. (Nray vision, discrim/tracking scent) Then he stops and indicates he has a question.

The judges will hear DC's question.

Dancing Coyote says, "Is it permitted to read their minds?"

The judges say that DC can ask the group to divide up into those who will allow and those who will not and read those who will allow it.

Haze is a bit confused as well. She hazes and starts running through people looking to see if there are anything that's being hidden by the people to seperate them as villains! (using concealment skill 12-)

Dancing Coyote nods and turns to face his ten. "Please... you will simplify this task considerably if you allow me to verify your innocence. I assure you, I will not attempt to discern any private details, and anything I may accidentally discover will remain secret." (persuasion?)

Wasp chuckles. She looks at each actor in turn, seeking any identifying features. . o O(A sign pinned on their backs saying VILLAIN would be handy) She checks using her expanded vision as well just in case. <Ultraviolet> If that doesn't give any clues she whispers quietly to each one, "Is the actor standing to your left designated as a villain?" to see what their replys are.

Haze finds a hidden fake gun on one of the actors. That must be one of the designated villains! Haze happily goes searching again, making sure she finds the two 'villains' before pressing the right numbers.

Wasp grins and presses one button. Then she starts looking over the actors again for a second suspect.

Dancing Coyote continues to look expectantly at the ten actors.

The actors all seem to be willing participants for DCs' experiment.

Lady Luck looks excitedly at the next question.

Back at the quiz, we move along to the second question. This is about history! You just need to know the right year. It's a multiple choice question. All the choices are a) 2015 b) 2017 c) 2019 d) 2023

BSS: When was the first permanent space station put into orbit?

NB: When was the Casablanca Incident?

SoJ: What year was the first contact with aliens made?

Lady Luck thinks. o O (Darn, I was was hoping it would be art history....)

Lady Luck goes for c. Yay, multiple choice.

These questions even have much of the audience stumped! The judges and announcer cautions the audience to not give away the answer.

Rebound blinks after he reads the questions. He smiles and then fills in his answer: 'D'.

Lorelei thinks. o O (Wait, wasn't it an anniversary of it last year?)

Lorelei goes for a.

The Heroes proove to be brainiacs as they all answer correctly! The black boxes start to whirl and click inside but then stop for the third question...

Moving on to the bombs..

Spirit starts to cut wires...seemingly at random.

Lorelei thinks. o O (I can't believe that idiot is doing as well as me. And she's had harder questions too...)

Dark Horse reaches in, and cuts the one wire that he thinks will get him closer to disarming the bomb. He starts to analyze the rest as he does, to see if it'll require more.

Midnight reaches into the device with the wirecutters and the probe, using the probe to hold the weight off the trigger and the wirecutters to snip what he thinks is the right wire. >*EFFECT*< Mostly secsystems, I guess, though lockpicking and sleight of hand might conceivably be relevant.

Midnight rolls 3 x 3D6: 4 8 18 <---This 18 proves to be New Blood's undoing (GM's note)

As Midnight is doing his thing, he accidently trips the weight mechanism! The bomb explodes! But its harmless. Its some red dye that explodes around causing him delay. The audience is tense at first but laughs off the mistake.

Midnight swears loudly and creatively, then disappears in a puff of poor sportsmanship.

Haze turns her head as the explosions occurs. "Midnight!" oh.. she thought it was a real bomb at first.

Exodus Earthwaves in..

Shoro pops in..literally.

Rebound looks up and over at the sound of the exploding bomb-prop. Then he shakes his head... o O ( Can't let myself get distracted. )

Exodus finds a free seat in the Team's area and watches the competition, not exactly sure what is going on.

Midnight has left.

Shoro pops in at the BSS seating area and watches his team..

<BSS> Shoro says, "Team, do we have enough people on the team?"

While the bomb explodes for Midnight, Dark Horse and Spirit make the first steps to disarming the bomb.

<NB> Haze says, "Oh No! Midnight left! We need someone to finish that task for us so we can get the puzzle!"

Haze looks worried and says something in her com.

Meanwhile the villain hunt continues!

<NB> Midnight snarls "Whaddayamean, finish? The damned thing blew up!" You hear the sounds of something being blasted in the background.

<NB> Rebound says, "Watch the comm chatter. I don't want to get anyone the impression that we're cheating."

<NB> Haze says, "Yeah, but We need three puzzle pieces to complete the thing. Grr. Midnight you jerk! Rebound, Can Exodus take Midnight's place?"

Dancing Coyote approaches each actor in turn, asking if they are the villain, and monitoring their surface thoughts as he does so. In some cases he repeats the question.

Haze seems a bit distracted by her teammates mishap. She tries again to haze around to look for clues for villains.

Wasp has a better idea of what she is looking for now she's spotted one of the villains, so it's back to a thorough visual inspection of the remaining nine possibles, using UV and normal sight and from all directions including down at near ground level and flying overhead.

<NB> Rebound says, "Somebody needs to learn to finish what he starts..."

<NB> Exodus says, "Agreement echos..."Yes..the darkling cannot quit in the middle of his task.""

<NB> Haze says, "We are going to get disqualified! Rebound, can you ask the judges to get Exodus as replacement?"

<NB> Midnight says, "What the hell? How am I supposed to disarm a (bleep)in bomb that's already (bleep)in blown up?"

Midnight ports back into the coliseum looking aggravated.

Haze continues with her efforts to look for the villain.

Dancing Coyote walks over to his box and presses two buttons.

When Midnight returns, he sees that the device didn't really 'blow up'. Just some stuff squirted out making an 'explosion type effect.'

Shoro see's some progress by DC, "Go man!"

Haze eeps and quickly hurries to press the two buttons as well after finding something hidden in someone's shoe.

Exodus nods in appreciation of Haze, she's not the most smooth of all heroines, but she does the job.

After the buttons are pressed, the black box opens up! Inside the box, DC and Haze find a small piece of the alien puzzle.

Midnight looks bewildered and indicates he has a question.

The judges will accept a question.

Midnight says, "Blew the bomb thing. Now what?"

The judges tell Midnight that the configuration changes and he has to start over.

Shoro chuckles to himself, "Serves you right Shadow-boy" he says quietly.

Midnight nods. "Yeah, OK, whatever." He starts fussing around again with the new bomb, repeating his previous operations with poorly concealed ill grace. Whiny brat!

Dancing Coyote prepares to bring his piece of the puzzle to the center.

Exodus says outloud.."Steady on Midnight, you shall succeed."

Back to the quizzes! No blowing things up here! The last and final question deals with geography. Specifically, it's Colonial Bay geography. This is not true or false or multiple choice. Open ended question..

BSS: Where is the Science Museum located? (Name the street)

NB: Where is Elvis Diner located? (Name the Street)

SoJ: Where is the Revolutionary War Cemetery located? (Name the Street)

Lady Luck thinks. o O (There's a Science Museum?)

The audience looks like they are going to explode. It seems like a lot of them know where these places are, but they keep quiet.

Shoro see's Lady Lucks face and wishes he had a map..

Rebound sighs and tries to recall. He tries his answer. 'Courtland Way'

Lady Luck writes down Stardancer North.

Lorelei writes down Baker Street. She has it narrowed down to two possible choices and decides that Baker Street is the right one.

Haze goes to get the puzzle piece. "Hurry up guys!"

Poor Rebound. His answer gets the incorrect Buzz as the audience groans. The two women are successful though and they both answer correctly. The box opens up revealing an alien puzzle piece!

A new question pops up for Rebound..

Lady Luck oohs! And looks about to see if any of her teammates have a piece yet.

Moving on to the bomb area...

Midnight scans the new bomb assembly, looking again for traps and explosive wires.

Lorelei gets the piece and does the same, with without the oohing.

Dark Horse picks out similar tools that Midnight tried using unsuccessfully. He looks for the likely final wire to cut while he prepares to try to hold the weight steady.

Midnight seems to calm down somewhat once he actually settles down to concentrate on the bomb.

Spirit's hand flares as a thin beam of light goes into the machine, intent on holding the weight stationary. His 'eyes' light up again as he scans.

Haze frowns as she realizes she's almost done before the boys. What happened? She's supposed to be the dumb one!

Spirit stands there while he takes a hold of the weight firmly with his telekinesis. The box pops open on the side...apparently it's disarmed.

Inside the box, Spirit finds a puzzle piece!

Bilbo has arrived.

Bilbo A small brown-furred monkey with large dark eyes is wearing a child-size Star Guard uniform. His long black-tipped tail peeks out of a small hole in the back of his pants. His furry long-toed feet are bare. He is carrying an impressively large super-soaker squirt gun that is festooned with blinking lights and wires and a small child-size backpack on his back.

Exodus Stone skin and eyes that seem to be molten rock are the first striking features of this person. He is lean and small minute cracks along his skin show the same molten lava to be barely contained beneath his skin.

This is Gaia's Spirit, the spirit of Earth. His lean body is not unappealing in its inhuman way, and its presence is undeniable. He is dressed only in a loin cloth that is black, with red trim, a belt made of precious gems, and sandals red leather, tied off just below the knee.

He is Gaia Exodus, he is the protector of life.

Shoro Shoro stands before you, his black armor seems to absorb the light around him. He stands at 6'2", fully garbed in a next generation suit of light armor. The armor itself seems to be made from some kind of next-generation ceramic or polymer, and seems almost too light to provide any real protection. Yet with a calm confidence, he stands here, and while you cannot see anything of the man beneath, you sense an unusual grace. A grace that promises both Power and Speed. His mask is made from the same material as his armor, and all you can see is his eyes, they are green, angry and dangerous.

Dark Horse reaches in, holding the weight in place with the probe, and looks around for anything else...only to find that the bomb has been disarmed. And the box on his pops open as well, revealing the puzzle piece.

The audience cheers as Spirit and Dark Horse disarm the 'bomb'. Meanwhile we are still have one person hunting villains.. Wasp! Haze and Dancing Coyote has their puzzle piece and needs to know how to put it in the puzzle box..

Wasp has tried visual inspection but it seems she now needs a new idea. Watching each actor closely she asks them in turn if they are the 'villain' while using her paramedic expertise to try and spot the signs of a falsehood. Wasp the mini lie-detector!

Wasp sighs with relief and darts over to press the second of her buttons to identify the last of her 'villains'.

After Wasp figures out the villains and presses the buttons, the black box opens up, revealing an alien puzzle piece!

Dancing Coyote stares at the puzzle box puzzled, then tilts his head to one side as if listening to something, then places the puzzle piece in the box. . o O (I do hope having one's mind enlightened by the spirits is not considered cheating...)

Wasp grabs the puzzle piece and flies over to her teams table with it.

Lady Luck races Lorelei to get her piece to where it needs to go....

Haze somehow figures it out quickly. She doesn't know what it is, but this puzzle thing isn't too hard after all! She slides her puzzle piece in place triumphantly and turns around. "Come on! What's taking you two so long?

The puzzle is coming together for some of the teams now. Back at the quiz station, only Rebound remains. He has a new question. Where is Coffee Bucks North?"

The audience cheers those who have puzzle pieces, "Go wasp!" It looks like the ladies are smarter than the men in this contest.

Bilbo slinks up to the front row of the audience section, a tub of popcorn as big as he is clutched in his paws. He settles down to watch the action.

Lorelei frowns as she tries to sort out the puzzle.

Rebound plugs in his answer quickly as he can, then waits for something to happen.

Lady Luck goes for more a trial and error approach.

Lorelei's face relaxes suddenly as inspiration hits her, and she slides the piece in.

Lady Luck takes a bit longer, poking it here and there, but eventually gets it home.

As Rebound types in "Via De Vance", the audience cheers! The answer is finally correct. The black box opens up and a piece of the puzzle is revealed!

Now we focus back on the those who were and are still working on the bomb!

Midnight seemed to calm down somewhat when he identified the trigger-wires, then become aggravated again at Ivy's cajoling. Seething a bit, he repeats the same process as last time with slightly more focus, holding the trigger mechanism aside with the probe while cutting the wires.

Lorelei grins, and gives the crowd another wave. She's so glad she beat Lady Luck, if only by seconds - losing a battle of wits to her would be embarrassing!

Rebound takes the puzzle piece and rushes to meet with his teammates.

Spirit spins the piece around, trying to figure out how it goes in. He tilts his head, but seems stumped at the moment.

Dark Horse turns the piece around, and then slide it into place easily. "Piece of cake. I should have bet on this."

The announcer announces, "If Dark Horse does this.. he will help the Black Sheep Samaritans to Victory.. and .. he does! The Samaritans have won the competition. We are going to see who'll be second.." The audience cheers!

Once the puzzle pieces are placed together properly, it makes a clicking noise and then a hologram of a beautiful alien image appears from the puzzle. The audience oohs and ahs.

Lady Luck yays! And jumps up and down. And hugs her teammates. And anyone else nearby.

Dancing Coyote grins.

We move on to Wasp who has the puzzle piece.. What will she do with it?

Midnight successfully defuses the bomb, which spits out a puzzle piece accordingly.

Haze seems anxious. "Alright.. Let's get this working now.."

Bilbo jumps up and down, cheering, and peppering the nearby crowd with handfuls of popcorn.

Lorelei thinks. o O (Wow - she's as bouncy as Jinghua when excited.)

Some big man turns around and frowns at Bilbo. "Hey watch it there with the popcorn, monkey."

Bilbo eeps and settles back down.

Wasp has a 'what the heck do I do with this' expression on g=her face. She looks to see if there's any obvious way for her piece to fit with what is alreadfy there. If not she'll hope the others in her team and smarter and more technically skilled than she is.

Midnight glares at Haze as he heads towards the center table. He growls "Hey, who put you in charge, Haze?", loud enough to be heard by everyone. Public relations does not seem to be one of his skills.

Dark Horse chuckles, "She didn't blow her self up, kid."

Wasp gets lucky and slips the puzzle oiece into place.

Haze steps away from Midnight as if she feared he was going to hit her. "Hey, I'm just trying to get you motivated.."

Midnight makes a rude gesture in Dark Horse's general direction.

Dark Horse chuckles, "Tough response from someone who would be dead if that were a real bomb."

Jace whispers to himself in the crowd, "What the hell are you doing Midnight, stop fighting and go on..."

Wasp successfully puts the puzzle piece in! The announcer announces, "The spirit of Justice is just one puzzle piece away from getting second place!"

As Rebound plays around with the puzzle piece trying to fit it in, Midnight and Spirit have their chances to put their puzzle pieces in..

Lorelei cheers Spirit on. While making sure not to use any moves to identify her with the high school cheerleaders, mind.

Midnight joins his partner at the center table with the puzzle piece, growling just-barely audible petulant mutterings about stupid simulated bombs and stuff...

Midnight pounds the table in frustration.

Spirit scratches his head, still unsure.

Jace shakes his head and watches on with an almost painful look on his face

Midnight and Rebound continue their attempts at making sense of the puzzle-box, Rebound with significantly more charm and public poise than his partner... (spoofing alex 'cuz he's AFK, rolling both)

Spirit manages to get his piece into place, finally. He shakes his head, chuckling. "I always seem to have a hard time with that part."

Rebound smiles broadly and slips his piece into place. Midnight continues to glare at the puzzle-box, frustrated.

Lorelei grins. "Got there in the end!" She joins her teammates and gives another wave to the crowd.

It hardly matters at this point, since New Blood is the last team to finish, but Midnight seems bound and determined to keep trying. Unfortunately, he seems to be trying the same thing over and over again. Stubborn, but apparently not too smart.

Finally, Midnight manages to get the final piece in, with a completely unnecessary whack to the side of the puzzlebox.

Lorelei thinks. o O (Damn, Caleb, don't look like a sore loser - you did quite respectably in the end....)

Dark Horse chuckles quietly, watching Midnight.

Midnight, looking very much like a sore loser, stands away from his teamates in a petulant huff.

Haze sighs and seems dissapointed. "Aww. There's no way to catch up now.."

Spirit nods to Lorelei, "Nice job!" He looks to Wasp, "You did a nice job too...both of you were a lot quicker than myself."

The announcer announces, "Spirit of Justice takes second place! New Blood comes in third!"

Dancing Coyote grins to Amy. "See? You don't give yourself nearly enough credit."

The audience cheers the heroes efforts! "So the smartest team of Colonial Bay is... the Black Sheep Samaritans!"

Wasp smiles. "I was lucky. WE did okay. That's what counts."

Spirit chuckles, "You don't give yourself enough credit, Wasp."

Lady Luck says, "I didn't kow it was mostly going to be multiple choice! I'm good at that."

Rebound gives Haze a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Sorry Haze. We can at least finish strong in next week's competition... Midnight! Come one over..."

Lorelei is a bit worried by that comment. Maybe she should have played for New Blood, but Spirit asked first.... Still, it might have been a boost for the new team. She didn't think she'd be much of a boon, truth to tell. Maybe she doesn't give herself enough credit. :)

Wasp laughs. "At the office they have already learned not to let me near a computer."

Spirit chuckles. "Good thing this didn't deal with computers, then."

Midnight sulks for another few seconds and then joins Rebound, who seems to be better at cajoling him than any of his other teammates. He still appears to be muttering not-quite-audible imprecations under his breath, though.

Lorelei says, "You did fine, Wasp."

Dark Horse watches Midnight, still amused. He looks back to his teammates, and asks, "What's next week's event, anyway?"

Haze doesn't like to lose. She's not happy either but she stands there grumpily with the boys.

The announcers announce, "Please get ready for the awards ceremony!" Someone asks the BSS team members which charity they would like to donate to this week.

Lorelei sees Haze's face. . o O (I'm in such deep shit now if they ever find out I'm Lorelei....)

Lady Luck bounces over for the awards. She even got to remain conscious this week!

Lady Luck expresses no opinion, herself, on the matter of a charity. They pretty well all sound deserving to her.

Third place medals are given to the New Blood team. Second Place medals awarded to Spirit of Justice and the first place prize goes to the Black Sheep Samaritans!

Spirit chuckles, "Too bad Black Mamba wasn't here...we'd have won for sure. The man's a genius."

Exodus woohoos

The announcer announces that the charity this time will go to Gambler's Anonymous.

Next week's final event.. Save the Maiden, will test the heroe's battle skills.

Lorelei says, "Is he? Except for last week I haven't really seen much of him."

Spirit nods, "A lot smarter than I am, I think. Does genetic work as a hobby."

Wasp says, "I though he was just strong and tough, Spirit."

Haze nods to Rebound. "But I'm not a fighter really. I don't have any battle talents.. You'll have to get someone else next week."

Shoro stands up and pops over to his team mates..

Shoro smiles as he sees Lady Luck.."Nice job. Again!" he chuckles.

Spirit shakes his head, "The first Black Mamba fit that description. This one...the one on our team is both well educated and very bright."

The audience is really cheering for Lorelei and her excellent performance. Many men ask for autographs and pictures.

Lady Luck says, "This is fun! Hm, I wonder who the maiden is."

Rebound says, "Don't sell yourself short, Haze... you did great this week!"

Exodus flies over to Haze.."Twas not to be this day..it is of no problem."

Haze pouts to Exodus. "We should have at least placed second... "

Lorelei obliges and signs autographs cheerfully. It's still fun for her - this sort of attention is new.

Dark Horse chuckles. "Probably a dummy. Or maybe they'll use 'Blows-Himself-Up Lad' as the maiden."

Exodus smiles, flames crackling from breaks in his skin, 'What should be and what is is often different Haze, do not fear, we shall succeed next week. Our Battle skills are without match."

Rebound nods. "I know, I know. I didn't pull my weight... and Midnight...! I'm going to need to talk to him." He pauses and glances over at Dark Horse's barb against his teammate.

Exodus places a warm hand on Rebound's shoulder, "The Darkling has a foul temper, perhaps this was not the competition for him.."

Shoro says with a grin in his voice, "Will you be here for next weeks event?"

Lady Luck says, "Uh-huh!"

Rebound says, "Oh well guys, I've got to go..."

Lorelei says, "I should be..."

Rebound waves adn bounces out of the stadium.

Spirit looks over to Wasp, "I think we'll be in good shape for next week."

Exodus nods, "Be well Rebound. I shall see thee anon."

Shoro smiles, "Good, I'm sure we'll need you. I hope I can make it for the start of the event next week."

Lorelei smiles. "I don't know if rescuing maidens is exactly my thing."

Exodus hears the man in black's words and thinks the same himself. "Verily, I hope the same."

Dark Horse picks up his things. "Time to get back to the day job." He chuckles, and heads toward the locker room.

Lady Luck says, "What do you do, anyway?"

Dark Horse looks sidelong at Lady Luck, "Can you keep a secret?"

Shoro listens in..

Lady Luck says, "Uh-huh, I know all sorts of secrets I don't tell except I guess sometimes that's because I forget them but I really don't tell, I mean, ask any of my friends who have secret ids, except maybe you don't know who they are."

Exodus leans in and gives Haze a hug. "Milady, shall I take you somewhere for a..what is the vernacular?..a Pick me up?"

Dark Horse chuckles, and nods. "Well...so can I." He gets an amused look, and continues off toward the locker room.

Wasp nods. "Yes, I believe you are correct, Spirit. We old timers have a bit of experience when it comes to that side of the hero business."

Lady Luck says, "Oh - ok...."

Lorelei says, "Hm. Maybe you'll want someone other than me next week then..."

Spirit looks to Lorelei, "Mmm...hard to say. It'd be necessary to see what the setup is. Just because it might seem that your powers might not help...we won't know for sure until we see the obstacles...or defenders, or what have you."

Spirit says, "If there are live defenders...I bet you'd be awesome, Lorelei. If it's robots...maybe not."

Lorelei says, "I just meant, I don't have your experience. But yes, I don't like mechanical defences - I barely made it through last week. I'm impressed I managed at all."

Spirit chuckles, "Everyone has a lack of experience at some point."

Lorelei says, "Well, obviosuly."

Spirit chuckles, "So...don't assume you wouldn't be a good choice, due to a lack of experience."

Wasp nods.

Lorelei says, "Of course, we may not have a choice - we didn't last week, or I'm sure I wouldn't have been in it."

Spirit nods, "True...it might be moot. We'll see.

Shoro shakes his head.."That guy.."

Lady Luck says, "huh, what guy?"

Shoro shrugs.."Just very sarcastic.."

Shoro points at Dark horse's retreating back.

Lady Luck says, "I guess - I haven't seen him much before. I kind of forgot he was on the team!"

Exodus notices Haze's quiet demeanor and takes it as a no. He turns, and says, "Signal me if I am needed!" he takes a running start before an earthwave begins to run him along the ground at an amazing 21".

Shoro blinks.."you mean the Spirit of Justice team?"

Lady Luck says, "The Black Sheep Samaritans!"

Shoro blinks.."I didn't even know he was a part of the team..I guess I wasn't paying attention..sheesh." he seems embarassed.."Sorry about that."

Spirit waves to Lorelei and Wasp, "Well, I'm going to go wander a bit. I'll be at the base a bit later, and then probalby at home, if you need to reach me."

Lorelei says, "Ok - see you!"

Spirit flies upward, taking off into the sky, leaving a trail of light behind him as he flies upward....up....up...until he disappears into the atmosphere.

Shoro says, "Be well Lady Luck..call if you need me...for whatever."

Lorelei says, "I should probably get going myself - see you next week, if not before...."


 * POP* and with a blue glow he is gone.

Shoro has left.

Lady Luck says, "Ok -oh."

Wasp nods to Lorelei. "Take care. See you next week then."

Lorelei waves and departs, signing a couple of autographs in passing.

Lady Luck takes herself off too, now her team has gone.

Next Week: Save the Maiden!