Holding Out For A Hero: An Original Superhero Quest

--[x]General

--[x] Metalworking

--[x] Clothing

--[x] Motorcycle Related

--[x] Mansion Upkeep/Repair/Maintenance

-[x] Finances

-[x] Defenses

I'm making this post so I could keep things organized, and can check things off as they are complete. Of course, not all of this can be done in a single post, so we're gonna chip away at this behemoth of a list.

That said, since we're formalizing a lot of things in order to conceal our identity, I'm going to have to ask someone to roll Will to avoid a quirk, Paranoia (Secret Identity).

If you get the quirk, you get a bonus on actions that are specifically to avoid outing yourself. But you'll also have to roll Will to take actions that may but your identity at risk but you may want/need to do anyway.

Just fourty minutes ago, you placed three sets of clothes in one of the many dressers left behind in the mansion. You're making plans on how to make sure that you aren't connected to your alter ego and part of that is to try to separate them as much as possible. The first step is to get some clothes that you, as Sonya, don't wear. It's only for if you need to go somewhere as without your armor The Vigil, but it's good to be prepared.

That's not all you're doing, of course. You're going to experiment with summoning and placing illusions on your equipment. You're going to set up some tools and spare parts in the detatch3ed garage so you can work on your motorcycle here. Eventually, you plan on buying an entirely new workshop here. Someplace where you can repair your damaged armor or build new weapons. The only issue is where to set it up. Most of the mansion is made of wood, and metalworking deals with a lot of fire and heat. The basement is mostly concrete, but there isn't much in the way of ventilation. You'd need to do some costly renovations for a workshop down there to be viable.

But that's for a more long term plan, when you aren't paying off your current workshop, your mortgage, and a million other things.

For now, though, you're planning on spending a couple of hours tomorrow to make your mansion more livable. You've long since cleaned out a lot of the rooms, gotten rid of all but the most stubborn pests, set up solar panels for power and (mostly) gotten running water. But now, you're getting the most important part set up. At least according to Jasmine.

You're getting internet set up.

It isn't just for browsing the internet, at least that's what Jasmine assures you. It's also for doing research and purchasing things online that neither of us want traced back to us. And apparently, even if either of you do get on Cyber Crime's radar, they'd trace the computer back to Brazil instead of here.

You hope she's right.

Though that is for tomorrow. For tonight, though, you're on patrol. You're on your Mercury Custom, riding through Hartford, wearing a helmet plus a visor to cover your face, ready to summon your armor at a moment's notice. It's late at night, but the streets are still moderately filled with other drivers. As you ride on, passing other motorists you start to wonder, just how recognizable your Custom is. Sure, most people may not even be able to recognize one of these, but if they know bikes, or have seen a picture of The Vigil riding it and recognize you, they might call the cops on you.

You make a mental note to try to work on your illusion magic. Right now, you can only disguise an area around the size of your head. But you'd feel a lot better if you could disguise your bike as well when moving around the city.

"You hear they're retiring Texas Ted?" Jasmine asks over your earpiece.

"Huh?" You jolt up. You're riding somewhere the border of Arts District South and Riverpark, just below the river. Artisanal coffee houses and Vietnamese cuisine quickly give way to run down houses and hourly-rates motels just by crossing a highway. You're pretty sure that even the sewage from the river smells a little worse when you come here.

"What?" You ask. "Sorry, I zoned out a bit.

"I said that the guys in charge of the fair aren't gonna rebuild Texas Ted." Jasmine repeats as you speed down the street.

"Shit.... I really liked him. The fair isn't gonna be the same without him. Seeing him get get destroyed and then reading about it in the news... it's kinda surreal" You say.

"I mean, he always looked a little creepy, but it's gonna feel weird without him there" Jasmine says. "I heard that there's gonna be a petition to rebuild... wait..."

"Something going on?" You ask. You haven't seen anything all night, and so far, the police have beaten you to the calls that Jasmine's heard.

"Call just came in" Jasmine said. "There's-"

[] A large scale gunfight, both sides with automatic weapons at ZeroedIn Logistics Riverpark, close to a residential area.
[] A windowless van was seen driving around Battery Park. The driver and passenger were both wearing hockey masks.
[] A wanna-be Vigilante hastling the owner of a motel about alleged drug dealing by one of the guests in Southlake. Non-powered apparently, but he's brandishing a cattle-prod and has threatened people with it.
[] A panicked phone call from East Battery Park. Not much information, as the caller was speaking Spanish and the dispatcher didn't, but in broken English, he begged for the police before the call went dead.

Looks like we have a winner. I'll post an update ASAP

You speed through RIverpark and head south towards Battery Park. You have a feeling that the cops would be all over that. But someone in danger who couldn't speak English too well? Depending on what was going on, there may not be any help coming.

It isn't hard to know when you hit Battery Park. The old and crumbling houses, the strip malls with parking lots that haven't been paved in decades, and fast food places and small family owned restaurants dot the sides of the road. All concealed in darkness since there are few streetlights, and even fewer are working. You see large tenement buildings in the distance as you ride further east.

East Battery Park isn't a separate neighborhood from the rest of Battery park, but this slice of it feels like a different city. You've been in this general area before. In fact, it's a few minutes north of where you chased Lussiac onto the highway. The rows of houses thin out as you go further in, until there is little evidence of human presence aside from the road you're on. You occasionally pass lonely, crumbling, houses surrounded by trees and grass, and at one point you see a rusted-out car being swallowed by trees, you almost wonder if anyone lives here at all.

"There aren't any traffic cams around there, so I'm pretty much blind." Jasmine says. "Hell, I don't think there any traffic lights at all."

"You're right about that." You say. There are four way stops at every intersection. Though since there is no one here, no police, and possible no residents, you wonder if there is even a point to them.

But the lack of anything here makes the two lights in the distance stand out even more. They're headlights, moving quickly away from you. Or towards something else. You speed up, trying to close the distance between you and the source of the light, which is now two blocks away. As you get closer, you see more lights, these more like flashlights spread from the original source, and scatter. You get closer and closer, you hear shouting over the sound of your engine. As you get close, you see a white windowless van, its headlights still on, and at least four men, all carrying longarms with flashlights attached. There's a fifth man, sprinting towards a treeline about 300 feet away. One person is chasing the fifth man on foot and another takes aim with his shotgun.

*Bang*

The fifth man falls down. He tries to get up, but the goon chasing him grabs his legs, pulls him back, and gives him a swift kick to the gut.

As you speed towards the scene in front of you, you see the van parked at a dead end. There's a corrugated iron fence to the left some distance away with a large hole in it. In front and to the right is a large open field between you and the treeline.

That's when you see the apparent leader, illuminated by the headlights of the still running van. He's a tall, well built man. Like the rest of his group, he's wearing a hockey mask. But unlike the blank white ones sported by the other men, you see a pair of black lightning bolts painted on his as he turns towards you.

You're pretty sure that is Mr. 13. You looked him up a while back when you were getting a feel for what Villains were around the city.

Well, stealth doesn't look like it's going to be an option here.

[] Go on the offensive
- Write in how you're going on the offensive.
[] Try to convince these men to let the man they're chasing go.
- [] The man they shot at doesn't look like he was hit. If you keep their attention on you long enough, maybe he can sneak away.
[] Write in