Starflier

Whatever, the damage aura. You know, that toggle you turn on when you play dark armor. The one that covers you in black, blackness.

More HP and higher caps will add survivability. Fury will make Cloak of Darkness more effective. Should be an excellent choice.

((Well, I guess it's about that time isn't it.))


Dee looked out over the crowd seated, and standing, before the stage. A stage? She felt sick to her stomach. She had wanted to do this publicly, but now, here, it was almost too much. Dee made out the faces of a few people she recognized. Her parents were in the front row, holding hands and looking as nervous as they had during her first school play.

Her best friend Kaylee was further back in the crowd, not really sure why she was here. Dee really hoped they would still be friends after today. Ten years since they'd met, losing her friendship might be the hardest thing to bear.

Mr. Weller, one of Gold Corp.'s PR people, finished on the stage making sure everything was working and ready. Satisfied that everything was good he turned and walked off the stage towards where Dee stood alone. As he reached her side he rested a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. He didn't really know what was going on, or who she was, but he knew it was all about her.

Weller turned back to the stage and signalled the go-ahead to Max who stood on the other side of the stage with several assistants. Max nodded, offering a small smile to Dee before he stepped onto the stage and moved behind the podium and impressively large bouquet of microphones.

* * * * *

The feed was instantly brought up to the largest screen in the tower, as the tech made sure it was the best quality he could make it. They'd only just gotten word of the conference happening in Paragon. Surely with a little more warning they would have crashed the party, but for now he, and his master, could only watch.

* * * * *

“...Girl Crush.”

Max finished talking and turned toward the right side of the stage. Dee hadn't even realized it was her turn until Weller tapped her on the shoulder. Fighting the growing urge to throw up, she stepped out into the lights.

A few cameras flashed as she walked to the podium, although they really started in earnest when she stood behind the microphones. Max took a step back and to the right, he'd done these things before as a CEO. To her dismay, Dee found herself barely able to see over the podium, and saw Waller about to run out with a step for her. She saved herself the mortification of that experience, and simply rose up into the air, even as Max waved the man off.

Cameras continued to flash, and she used the time to gather her thoughts. Or try to. She'd never been so nervous in her life. She looked down at her parents, her mother's reassuring smile, her father's patented look of disinterest that had thrown off so many people. Her eyes found Kaylee a few rows back, sandwiched between a few reporters, and for a second their eyes met. In that moment Dee could tell that she knew. Maybe she'd known from the beginning, maybe sometime since, but it was a relief to find out.

“Hi.”

Not the best opening line to a speech ever, but it was the best she could muster. The crowd quieted, all except for the occasional click and flash of a camera. All eyes were on her.

“My name is Girl Crush, and for the past two years I've had the privilege of being a superhero in this great city. Some of you might know me, some might know of me, and some may have no idea who I am, but I suppose that's all about to change.” She paused for a moment, mentally going over what she wanted to say. When she was ready she continued.

“The time has come for a normal life. A life without the mask, without the battles, without the danger. For as much as I've done with the mask and powers, I believe I can do more without. Today I announce my retirement from crime fighting, for good.” She took a deep breath, as flashbulbs went off furiously. She glanced back at Max for a moment, his eyes reassuring. “I am not just retiring the costume, but as of now, the identity of Girl Crush is no more.”

Only the slightest hesitation gripped her as her hand rose, pausing momentarily, before proceeding to grasp the mask and pull it from her head. Straightening her hair, she looked out over the crowd feeling very exposed, naked even. “From this time forward, I am only Delilah Grey, mutant, and citizen of Paragon City.”

For a second, and a second only, there was not a single sound from the people assembled in the massive conference room. Then, all hell broke loose as reporters jumped to their feet shouting questions. The flash of cameras was nearly blinding. She smiled and simply floated in place looking down at her parents, who smiled back, her mother with tears in her eyes.

* * * * *

“Did you see that!?” The voice came over the comm unit, breaking her concentration on the events unfolding in Paragon City.

“Yes Ernesto, I did.”

“And? What do you think?”

“I think it will do just fine. It is unfortunate she distanced herself so completely from the identity. It would have been amusing to destroy that, her, but it will do. I've made the arrangements.”

The laughter over the comm unit was hollow, mechanical. “Just how is the latest project coming along?”

Belladonna looked over to another monitor, to a young woman pacing through her empty home. A smile reached her cold lips as the girl punched a hole through a nearby wall in a fit of rage. “Oh, she's coming along nicely.”

Agreed with the above. Thing is, Combat Jumping will hold a pile of great enhancements. Kismet Accuracy, LotG +Rech (which also functions as a Def IO), Winters Gift Slow Res, Zephyr -KB, Unbounded +Stealth, Karma -KB, and because the return on slotting for defence is less than for Weave it makes an excellent place to slot this kind of stuff.

So yeah, slot Weave for defence. At base it`s about double the bonus of Combat Jumping.

((Putting this here because we don`t use the other thread much any more.))

“Something to drink?”

Dee followed Max's gesture over to the bureau at the side of the room, topped with just about anything you could want to drink. Probably still cold, she thought. She shook her head and sat in the chair across from him.

He watched her settle into the chair, and did his best to gauge the situation. She was in street clothes, which unnerved him. Of all the heroes he'd met, few wore the costume as completely as Dee did. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

Dee shifted uneasily in her seat from the scrutiny, folding her hands on her lap. “Well, it's about school.”

“Any problems I can help with?”

“No, nothing like that.” She paused for a moment, wishing she'd grabbed one of those bottles of water on the way in. “You know that I got accepted for classes starting in the fall.” It was more statement than question, but Max nodded and she carried on.

“Well, I decided to take some summer courses, and they start pretty soon.” It was Max's turn to shift in his seat, because he could see it coming, but he kept quiet. “So, I'm not going to be able to help the team anymore.”

“I see,” Max leaned back in his chair, taking a moment to think it over. “You have to do what you think is right kid. Whatever you decide, we're all behind you.”

Dee's eyes rose to meet his for just a moment, “That's not all Max. I wanted to tell you first after everything you've done for me. For us all.” She swallowed hard, working up the courage to tell him the next part, to say it out loud.

“I'm retiring.”

The silence that descended on the room was thick, defying either of them to break it. She met his eyes again, and he took the measure of her conviction from them. She was serious. “For how long?”

“For good. Girl Crush will be gone for good.” She let it sink in for a moment, for him and for her. This was the first time she'd spoke it out loud. “Cambridge isn't known for its crime rate, and I think I've done my part fighting crime. I'm seventeen and I've save the world twice! It's time for a normal life.”

For a moment he said nothing, but eventually he leaned forward in his chair. “Alright Dee.”

“Alright?”

“Yes, you've made your choice and obviously thought it through.” Max rested his massive arms on the desktop before him. “We're going to miss you kid, but like I said, we're all behind you.”

She smiled sweetly, relieved that the worst of it was done. “I'm sorry I didn't give you more warning, but this is something I have to do. I can do so much more with what I have than just fight crime.”

“Your parents?”

Her face scrunched up into a frown, “I'm going to tell them today. First that I'm a superhero, then that I'm retiring. Should be fun.”

“I'll bet.”

“Tomorrow I'd like to tell everyone else.”

Max nodded, “I'll call in the team for tomorrow afternoon.”

Shaking her head she continued, “Not just the team. Everyone. I was hoping you could organize a press conference. I want to tell the city, the world. I think it would be for the best to be open about everything.”

“I'll take care of it.”

Dee rose to her feet, which were a little unsteady for her liking. “Thanks Max. I'll see you tomorrow.”

She turned and left, stepping into the hall feeling a great weight lifted from her. There was a bounce to her step as she headed for the elevator. A fresh new start. Things were looking up.

Back in his office Max sat staring at the door, watching one of his own leaving his life. It was deathly quiet for a few minutes, and at about the same time she was getting onto her scooter in the parking garage he picked up the phone and made a call.

“Set up a conference for tomorrow at noon. I want everyone there. Everyone.”

Bought 24 of the packs. I got the costume in 5 packs (3 pieces in the first pack), as well as the MM aura ATO which I could use. Didn`t get the pet, although I wasn`t really looking for it. Oodles of merits and other stuff I probably won`t claim. I`ll have to look at the inspirations though, since I use inspirations as fast as I get them.

With the remaining points from the $50 bucks I spent, I bought almost every costume bundle off the market since I had almost none of them. And got 4 of the 6 tier 9 costume rewards with the tokens I got.

I think if I ever get into the high level end-game stuff, the super pack rewards might be of more use, but since I just run around pushing buttons and watching the pretty colours, most of that stuff is lost on me.

Lousy Smarch weather.

I skipped the AoE on my Energy/Energy, except for the cone and Nova. For ST damage the set does pretty well. I generally solo'd +2/x2 with bosses, with the only real challenges coming when +2 council shapeshifted into a +3 warwolf boss, and the Honoree (Oh ****, oh ****, oh ****, he can fly!). Hover blasting is definitely a strategy I would suggest, mostly for teaming. Especially since ranged defence is trivially easy to soft-cap (I managed it by 39 or 40). Also, since pc melee range is about a foot further than npc melee range, you can smash heads in from above with little risk of return fire.

If you knock it back, kill it. If you`re going easy on the aoe that shouldn`t be a problem because the st damage will put a hole through a single enemy in a hurry.

Ninjitsu Tankers!

Smokeflash and I'm gone! Enjoy the aggro suckers!!

Muahahahaha!

Stuck mine into Tornado. Chances are I'll be doing that with all the RIP aura enhancements if I ever find some.

I like to jump from character to character as my severe, one-weekend per year altitis kicks into full gear and get one level on about 8 different characters while accomplishing none of my preset goals. I see no reason that this year will be any different.

So basically what you're saying, is that in order to satisfy the Transformer-babies we need more explosions?

DONE!

Nice work, especially on Bluskrene. Unfortunately that still won't be enough to make me like Vanguard when they're kicking my teeth in.

I actually have a character, characters actually I suppose, called Hell's Belles. Just waiting for female thugs.

Personally, all of my FM characters are tankers, currently working on an Inv/FM (level 21). The thought of giving up a massive PbAoE makes me cringe.

That said, I understand the FM is very good on brutes with fury affecting the DoT. If you solo a lot, FA might be a consideration for either brute or tanker if you're wanting to dish out piles of damage. Then again, I dislike WP so I'm a little biased towards the non-WP sets.

Will WP/Fire compete with a scrapper for damage? Doubtful, but the extra AoE damage is nice to have, and you'll enjoy much more survivability with less IO investment.

In the end, it'll be a solid combo on any of the AT's.

Points to consider: Necro provides a Self-Heal for you (Life Drain), all of your pets provide -Tohit, and all pets get a self-heal.

I went /Poison for concept reasons, but if I made another I would take something providing defence to help keep the pets alive better since they have their own heals.

Hee hee, spent 50 bucks today to get 4600 points and 3 reward tokens. Log back in to find 4 tokens and 5150 points. I got my regular token and monthly points within ten minutes of actually buying stuff. Now... to spend some points!

I've wanted Ill/Dark since I started in I3, but now that I've got an Ill/Time that I like, I'm going with Dark/Dark for a character concept I've had floating around for awhile.

To shreds you say?

I'm torn between controller and dominator for the dark/dark character I'm planning to roll. I'll have to see the secondaries before I decide, but I'll just wait until the set launches.

Edit: Scratch that. A quick trip to paragonwiki and I'll be going controller. Affinity looks sexy, especially since it has no tier 8, so I can actually pick up an epic right at 35!

Nice! Thanks.

Very cool.

Just got around to watching this, and discovered the reason I should never look forward to a career as a gunfighter.

Rick's putting the third bullet into the big guy...

Me: "Lookout, he's (the skinny guy) going for his gun!"

Excellent episode though. I liked that they sort of breezed past the mopey crap with Dale and Carol. A little drama's okay, but too much and I'll just watch something else.