Greywind

I don't know about 6E, but prior editions also had water giving electrical attacks an area effect.

Not really. Think of it more as a drain that hits everything on a Kryptonian at once.

Opening Jessica Randall slipped off her work shoes and slipped on more comfortable cross-trainers. She pulled her carry-all out of the small closet and set about collecting her things. Her lunch containers, tightly closed, fit easily in one over-sized pocket. She was in the process of shutting down her computer when Beth Gilbert stepped up. "Jessica, are you going to be in tomorrow?" Jessica smiled and shook her head. "No. With Mr. Sco... Jason and Marlene out of the office, Jason gave me tomorrow off. I was only in today to finish up a report for him. I took half of yesterday off, so I figured I'd come in today and get that out of the way. My brother and his family are due in around ten. Tonight, we're going to have a late Chinese dinner and let them decompress for a while and then tomorrow we're going to take my niece to meet the Mouse." Beth slide Jessica's copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows within her reach. "Thanks," Jessica said. "Jake has an interview with HR Monday morning about the Security opening." "Needs a job, does he?" Jessica sighed. "Yeah. Honorable discharge from the Army. Maybe he can get a job here and finally settle with Sally and Samantha. He's been overseas a lot and they really haven't had time to be a family. When he was in Germany, Sally got to tag along, but when he came stateside and then got redeployed to a war zone, well, Sally wasn't allowed to go. I offered to let her and Sam stay with me, but her family is in South Carolina and that's where she was happy to be." Beth nodded. "Hard that way sometimes. Is your boyfriend going along tomorrow?" Jessica wrinkled her nose up. She pulled four passes out of a pocket on her carry-all. "Me, Jake, Sally and Sammie. Tony kept saying he was management. Turns out that he was managing me, Pam Clark over in accounting, Bridget Townley from the secretarial pool, and some stripper named 'Charity'. The idiot didn't think the three of us here would find out about each other. Me and Bridget used to do lunch together before she was transferred to the R&D building." Beth laughed. "How did you girls find out anyways?" "I was helping Trese run some errands to the North Building. I was down below the counter in the security kiosk over there and he came up and tried putting the moves on her." "Ouch." "Yeah," Jessica smiled, "but one less thing to worry about." She slipped her carry-all over her shoulder. "I'm out of here, Beth. See you Monday." She started walking away. "Book!" Beth said, picking it up. Jessica turned around, red with embarrassment. "Book," she agreed, laughing. "Enjoy your weekend," Beth called out to the girl's retreating back. "I plan to. Good night!" she called back. In the elevator, Jessica opened the book up to read a few pages as she descended. When the car opened on the ground floor, she walked through the lobby, calling out "good night" to the security guard on duty. She stuffed the book into her bag and fished out her keys and her cell phone. Jessica scrolled through the numbers, selected one and put the phone to her ear. * * * * * The hooded figure watched the target walk across the parking area. The figure stood where there was a clear line of fire to the target's car door. The shot would be long, but it was safer than being on the premises when the call went out. The bow was brought up. The arrow was nocked and slowly drawn back. The target opened her car door. The arrow flew. * * * * * Jessica opened her car door. "That's great, Sally. I'll have dinner ready when you guys get here. I've got a surprise for Sammie for tomorrow, then you'll have the rest of the weekend to decompress and Jake can be ready for Monday. Okay, Sally. I'll see you all tonight. Bye-bye." She pulled her bag up to put her phone away. The door window shattered and Jessica couldn't catch her breath. She looked dumbfounded at the arrow sticking out of the side of her carry-all. Jessica's legs, no longer capable of holding her up, went out from under her and she fell across the seat. * * * * * Trese jumped over the side of Warren's pickup and opened the tailgate. Her eyes flashed purple and the bags of groceries floated out on a long purple tray. "Are you okay with those, Trese?" Jason asked as he exited the cab. "I might need help with the door when I get there, the redhead said. Warren said, "I'll get the door," and moved. He was standing on the porch with the door open waiting for Trese. "On the table or the counter, Trese. Wherever they'll fit." Trese floated the paper bags through and in. Inside the house, Leah, Ash, Kate and Dani started going through the bags, sorting things out and putting the groceries away, while Mary sat in Warren's recliner rocking Aaron. Marlene sat on a stool by the counter. Warren slipped his arms around Kate from behind, held her close and kissed the side of her neck. "What do we have that gets left out?" she asked. "Burgers on the grill." Leah pulled out a bottle of bourbon. "Hey," Warren said, "leave that out. Jason is making bourbon burgers. So what did we miss?" "Not much. Ash won't hold Aaron," Kate said. That started off a round of teasing Ash from Dani and Leah. Jason came in and stood with his arm around Marlene. "Ash?" Warren probed. The blonde gave him a stern look. "Apple." Warren nodded in understanding. "Oh, hey!" Dani squealed, "Somebody loves me! A quart of Chunky Monkey!" Jason reached over and plucked it out of her hands. Dani pouted, watching the carton leave her hands. "You're right, Dani. You're loved, but I didn't buy it for you," he said. He handed the ice cream to Leah. Leah blushed and dropped her head, her face, and a smile, hidden by the fall of her hair. "Jason, I don't know what to say. I'm surprised you remembered." Kate, seeing Leah's discomfiture said, "Hey, Sparky, hold that pose and I'll grab the spoons. Just like in the apartment." Leah laughed and wiped at her eye. "You were always good to share with, Katie," Leah said. Jason turned his attention to Marlene. "Are you okay? You seem quiet." Marlene gave him a wan smile. "I'm okay," she said after taking a sip of Merlot. Jason was about to ask her something further when a cell phone chirped. He sighed and hung his head for a moment. "Yours or mine?" he asked Marlene. She quirked a smile at him and indicated her phone lying on the counter beside her. "Figures," Jason muttered. He gave a quick glance around and saw his phone laying on the mantel. He retrieved it and after looking at the screen brought it to his ear. "Yes, Beth?" He listened for a long moment before stepping out on the porch. Marlene watched him go. Through the chatter and laughing of the people, the shuffling of bags, cans, and boxes of foodstuff, Marlene watched a storm brewing through the screen door. Leah held the opened carton of ice cream with a spoon sticking out of it in front of Marlene. "Want some?" Marlene shook her head once and nodded towards the door. Leah turned and saw Jason's back. She knew from the way he held himself that something was wrong. Kate called to Leah, only to notice her best friend staring out the screen door. One by one the room grew to silence as the others noticed. When Jason lowered his phone, Marlene stood up and walked to the door. "Jason?" She opened the door and went out. "Honey, what's wrong?" The others gravitated towards the door as if pulled in Marlene's wake to hear what was said. Marlene laid her hand on Jason's shoulder and felt the tension in his muscles. Finally he said, "There's been an incident at the office. I have to go back." "What happened, Jason? Talk to me. Please." Jason lifted his head and squared his shoulders before turning to face her. Just for a second she was able to see past the mask he had set in place over his face. For that moment, she saw power dancing in his eyes begging for release. She knew Jason wanted to lash out at something. No, she watched him tamp down his anger. He didn't want to last out at something. He wanted to lash out at someone. Their friends joined them outside, leaving Mary and Aaron alone in the house. "That was Beth. Jessica. Jessica had..." Marlene saw the power building back in his eyes. "Jessica has been shot." "What? How?" "An arrow. Someone shot her with an arrow." Marlene slipped her arms around Jason and buried her face in his chest. His arms slowly came up to encircle her. She could feel him shaking. She could only assume it was impotent rage needing an outlet. "Jason?" her voice was quiet. "What's going on?" "I told you," he answered her her quietly. Now Marlene was angry. Jessica was a friend from when Marlene had been Jason's father's secretary. She pulled away and crossed her arms. "Jason, you haven't told me anything! You've stepped up security. I can't go out to lunch with Leah without tripping over more bodyguards than the president has around him. I've put up with it this long, but if you're avoiding telling me because of some misguided macho bullshit of protecting me by not telling me anything, I will tell you that the only effect that it's having is that it's pissing me off. Now, either you trust me and it's 'partners' or you don't. In which case we're wasting our time." Jason's mouth moved as if he were going to say something before he finally uttered, "You're right. I'm sorry." Jason stared into Marlene's eyes, seeing his own rage reflected back. "I need to make some calls and I'll tell you everything." Marlene nodded, turned and made her way back into the house. Ash smirked and raised an eyebrow at Dani. Dani glared at Jason while she fished a few bills out of her pocket and slapped them into Ash's outstretched hand. "You would bet on anything," Warren said quietly to Ash. "It wasn't a bet. If Dani just wants to give me money, that's okay with me," she said with a grin. Trese said quietly to Dani, "I told you it was a bad bet." "It's not that it came out," Dani pouted. "He could have held out longer." "Not if it will cost him Marlene." * * * * * Trese and Dani were sitting on the glider when Jennie came up on the porch. She eyed Dani's glass and asked, "What's that you're drinking?" "Bourbon." "Can I have some?" Trese gave Jennie a "are you serious?" look, while Dani simply arched an eyebrow. "Your mom is in the house with your nephew. Why don't you ask her?" Jennie gave her a perturbed pout. "I thought you were cool!" Dani set her glass in a holder. 'Jennie, I am cool. I also have zero interest in pissing off your parents or your brother by overstepping my bounds by enabling you to overstep yours. When you are legal, I will be more than willing to take you out and buy you your first. Until then never ask me anything like that again." Jennie tossed herself into one of the waiting chairs and sulked. "What's wrong with Jason?" she finally asked. Trese looked down at her hands laying in her lap. "He got some bad news earlier. A woman that works for him was attacked." "Oh," Jennie said. "What do you think they're talking about?" she asked with a nod towards Jason and Ash. Dani gave a tight lipped smile. "Ash is probably telling Jason that..." * * * * * "...it's not your fault, Jason. You aren't the one that had her shot." Ash set her bottle beside herself on top of the picnic table. Jason loaded more burgers on the grill. "Whether or not it's my fault has no bearing on whether or not I share responsibility for the fact that it happened. I screwed up." "How did you screw up?" Ash was frustrated. "Because if Artie is behind this, like I believe him to be, I screwed up by not making sure he was dead." Ash snagged her bottle up, shattering it. "Dammit," she said under her breath. "Dammit, Jason. You weren't in any condition of making sure of anything. You made the best choice you could have and that was to try to save Leah. Saving someone is a hell of a lot better in the long run than destroying someone. You know that we can't save everyone." Ash set to collecting the shards of glass. "Why are you so insistent that killing him is for the best?" "At least if he's dead he isn't arranging for someone else to be killed." He cast a glance by the barn where Leah and Marlene were sitting on hay bales and talking. "Or raped." "Is that what this is about? Revenge for taking Leah away from you?" She dropped the bits into a nearby bin. Jason sighed. For a moment his control broke and Ash saw power flare in his eyes. "It's more than that. It goes a lot further back. He hurt someone before. And because of that and what I did to him then, he hurt Leah." "So the circle of vengeance continues to turn? You're sounding a lot like Charley and being on the south end of the gray when you should be at the north of it." "Philosophy debate? Morality debate?" "It shouldn't be a debate, Jason. Right and wrong. It's that simple." Ash crossed her arms. "And sometimes, Ash," Jason said quietly, "sometimes it is choosing the lesser of two evils. Sometimes there is no right path. Just a less damning one." Ash shook her head. "I can't believe that. There has to be a better way." Jason gave her a bit of a smile and reached out and caressed the side of her face. "You are the better way, Ash. You. Kris. Dani. All of you are the better way." She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned her face into his touch. Then her eyes popped open and she knocked his hand away from her face. "What's that make you, then?" "A realist." * * * * * Jennie fished a soda bottle out of the cooler. "Why is he like that? He's not responsible for everything." Dani laughed. "If we knew that, we might have a chance of actually breaking his habit. He is what he is, Jennie. There are times that it makes him difficult to deal with, but if you ever need him, he'll be there for you." Jennie sat across the top of the stairs with her back to the railing support. "What do you think those two are talking about then?" Trese and Dani looked over their shoulders at Leah and Marlene. "That's hard to say," Dani said. "Marlene has been going out of her way to make sure Leah knows that their friendship isn't dependent on Jason." Trese took a drink and recapped her bottle. "There's probably things about Jason that Marlene doesn't know about." * * * * * Leah stretched her legs out in the sun, having once again opted for shorts. "You know he's probably not going to sleep very well tonight. Assuming he manages to sleep at all," she said. "I know," Marlene replied sadly. "He just feels so..." 'Responsible?" Leah offered. Marlene nodded. "Yes." She toyed with a amethyst star hanging from a thong about her neck. Leah watched her out of the corner of her eye. Her temper spiked seeing the star and she forced her anger back under control. "I don't know why you're wearing that." "She asked me to hold on to it for her," Marlene said. "Until I feel I can trust her." Leah sniffed. "So she just gave it to you, since you'll never be able to trust her." Marlene smiled. "I think you're wrong. I think that she's changed and she's trying to show everyone that might matter that she has." "Like who?" Marlene cocked her head to the side. "Like you, for one. You're the one that had the greatest animosity with her." Leah flipped her sunglasses down into place and reclined. "Snakes like her can't change their spots. The Witch would have to do something really amazing to make me think she's serious about it." Marlene laughed. "You're mixing your metaphors there, girl." Leah waved it away. "Anyways," she said. "Jason told you everything?" "He says he did. I will never understand how not telling someone that they're in danger is protecting them. I already know that Artie has me in his sights, but I refuse to give up on my life. Especially since so much is finally coming together." Leah turned her head away. "I'm sorry, Leah. I really wish you weren't hurting." "I'll get over," she said. Leah added, "Eventually," so quietly that Marlene didn't hear it. She put a smile on her face and turned back to Marlene. "What did you think of those drawings?" "Me laying in a ring of flames and falling into darkness? I like the painting he's working on better." "What's that of?" Marlene rested a foot on the bale she was sitting on and leaned back against another. Her arms went up to rest on it. "Me in a bay window." "I'd have to see it, but it sounds like he's remembering the cabin. I don't recall any bay windows in the mansions. Has he ever said anything about rebuilding?" "No," Marlene answered. Their conversation drifted into less emotional paths. * * * * * Jennie went in to fetch things for the picnic table, leaving Trese and Dani alone for a short time. Trese stared at the soda bottle nested between her thighs. "When they go, Dani, I'm going with them." Dani turned and smiled at Trese. "I know. I've known since you made up your mind. Do you think, maybe, that we'll have enough time?" "For what?" "I was thinking the hayloft," Dani said with a look she reserved for Trese. Trese blushed and gave a small smile. "Maybe."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynsdmd0jkj8

I think new posters have to have admin approval for their first 10 posts with this software. Like the old had the captcha on the first 10.

Geniuses don't do tricks. They teach their minions to do tricks.

I see it more as a matter of "how often do those maneuvers come into play?" In all the years I've been playing ('82) I've never seen anyone try throwing sand or sticking their fingers in someone else's eyes. So for me, the innate defense is offset by the rarity of the maneuvers themselves.

Or just liberally apply common/cinematic sense based on concept/build negating specific attack maneuvers.

And all I did was point out, from source, an instance that can justify Banner having a high, within human range, STR score. Silly me...

Sure, but it's pretty obvious that's not the version of the Hulk Cassandra is building, so why go off on that tangent? I'm saying that any post that goes "you should have done this" or "why this way" is automatically off on a tangent, because, quite simply, she chose not to do so.

Worked on the Borg.

Sure, but it's pretty obvious that's not the version of the Hulk Cassandra is building, so why go off on that tangent? Why go off on any tangent? It's Cassandra's thread. It's how SHE chose to build Banner.

Actually, it sounds a lot more as a special effect. Thinking of Buffy/Giles/Willow fighting Adam.

Right. Or we could do Banner when he was the Hulk and couldn't change at all and had Banner's brain and most of the Hulk's strength.

Depends on what you expect from Banner. He's been shown to have superhuman strength without turning green.

Not really.

If the Captain trusts few, then his cabin.

Did you catch any fish with them?

Actually, he said it himself of himself.

Our team MidGuard fought them 10 years ago next month and it was a brutal fight. At one point in the battle every member of our team was either Stunned or unconscious, but we managed to turn it around a few Phases later and most of them are still in prison. Durak was too tough to just KO since our own brick was absent, so we ended up mentally paralyzing him instead after we'd taken down Mentalla. Scorpia OTOH was pretty much a joke. One of characters in my group went one-on-one with Scorpia. "Daaaaaaannnnnnng. I heard you were good," before he landed the blow that took her out.

No idea. I have found the one DC . Still looking for the one for Marvel.

Pantera? Scorpia?

I use the articles from the old AC zine still, and flesh out as needed.

He's also a pacifist.

Yeah, but Superman is supposed to be a shining example of Good.