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Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:13 am
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1
Condition: Normal


Image

Their cheers, chants and taunts reverberated through the hall, their stomping caused the dust to fall in a gentle cascade from supports above the dimly lit locker room. The bulb swayed on it's cord, Tomas paced the perimeter of the room, his fingers tracing the white washed cinderblock. The UWC was now operating out of a firehouse on 39th, the organization had grown since Creed had tried to end his career. This new location was able to host a crowd of four hundred, maybe five if the inspector wasn't paying close attention. The promoters had snatched it up after the Incident, real estate along the 39th St corridor dropped due to the massive damage caused by the clash between the city's enhanced defenders, and the invading ... whatever they were.

Tomas touched the wall, almost reverently, the Soldier had rallied the NYPD, formed a perimeter along 39th St until the National Guard arrived. Not that they faired much better. He'd been training for his debut then, exhausted from his morning work out and sparring sessions, at the 9th St station, waiting for a bus that'd take him back across to East Harlem, and home. He'd panicked, feared for his parents, tried to get home, he remembered the fear, the confusion, the utter hopelessness he had felt while he struggled to find his family. They had survived, but everyone was scared, gods and monsters walked among them, humanity was no longer alone.

He remembered struggling for something, normalcy, something to connect him to his family, his community, his city. He heard the chants through the locker room door. A smile flickered across his face as he pulled the mask down, cinched it tight against the back of his head, laced it with practiced hands. Routine, almost ritual.

He'd debuted a month after the Incident, Jaguar, to connect to the community he insisted Fireheart bill him as coming from East Harlem, El Barrio, the home town champion. His first match, he'd performed a 680 flip, with a float over into a front face lock submission. They went crazy, chants of 212, 212, the Barrio's area code echoed through the hall. He'd found something that could help them forget, help *him* forget, the horrors, the apprehension, of the Incident.

"TJ, you're on in five."

For a second he heard Fireheart's raspy voice, turned, but the man was just a junior promoter, one of UWC's officials. Fireheart was dead, killed in a clinic run by an organization that enhanced talent for sale to the highest bidder. Cartels, warlords, despots.

He shook his head, cleared his thoughts. Be Fearless. That's what his grandfather had taught him, and he knew that he needed the crowd. He needed that pop, that surge of adrenaline, the cheers, the chants, the taunt. Be slammed a hand, hard, against his chest, right over where his grandfather's words were tattooed on his flesh.

Creed was out there, the man who had gone off script to end his career. He was a rudos, a brawler, the crowd loved to boo him, to taunt him, but they had a strange relationship with the man who had taken Tomas' championship, for as much as they despised his tactics, they loved his violent disregard for his opponents, and the rules of the ring. Creed was scheduled for a match against the Machine, Aleksi Markov, and Tomas, the Jaguar, was to run in and interfere. He'd prevent Creed from power bombing Markov through the announce table, and then a stare down with his rival, setting Markov up for the upset victory, and a feud between the current champion, Creed, and the man whose career he ended two years ago, Jaguar.

He walked through the doors, and as the roar of the crowd washed over him, the promoter who was five steps ahead, turned, having thought he heard the low growl of a predator behind him.
OOC: As requested, Perception Check [UWC Arena]: 1D20+8 = [11]+8 = 19
as Jaguar exits the locker room area and enters the arena proper.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 2:11 pm
by StarGuard
The 39th had been originally built before the turn of the century. Th turn of the precious century actually. Tammany Hall had ruled the city then. It was a Gilded Age and the Civil War draft had caused riots throughout New York. It was a time which saw prosperity for the city's upper classes amid the further growth of a poor immigrant working class, and an increasing consolidation, both economic and municipal, of what would become the five boroughs in 1898. A time of chaos and corruption. The more things change ...

Tezcatlipoca

The word slides through the shadows of your mind as you enter the main hall. You see Creed and the Machine going through their paces. The moves might be choreographed but the athleticism was unmistakable. You are wrapped up in the match, ready for your entrance, you can see Victor is losing control ... again. The crowd is in a frenzy as the violence escalates. So much so that when the lights flicker no one seems to notices. You certainly do not.

Tezcatlipoca

Then ... Darkness.

There is a scream of pain from the ring and the crowd is yelling, booing. The dark the heat the violent emotions of the crowd it is inevitable. The pushing and shoving a scramble for the exits that no one can see until one door opens across the hall and a mad scramble. Toward the back, off stage, a promoter is letting loose with a stream of curses about his cellphone suddenly going dead.

Then silence.

Tezcatlipoca



Jaquar is awarded an LP. His Perception DC was 20 as opposed to everyone else's (15)

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2017 1:59 pm
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1; Luck Points: 1 of 1
Condition: Normal


During his flight from Scylla, he'd spent some time in Mexico City, training with El Hijo del Santo. The son of the Saint, el Santo was a world renowned wrestler, a legend in the business. Tomas had learned from his son Jorge Guzman, that his father, in an effort to perfect his craft had sought out the tutelage of a mystic city in the far east and had defeated the guardians of heaven's gate before returning to his native Mexico.

Tomas had taken the story as an exceptional example of kayfabe, or the act of remaining 'in character' even when out of the ring. However as Jorge taught Tomas some of the esoteric techniques he had learned from his father, he learned that their was something almost spiritual in his perfection of the craft. And as Tomas heard the name of the Aztec God of war and the night sky echo through his thoughts he shivered, and not only because the god's totem was the jaguar, like the mask he wore, but he knew the Aztec gods demanded blood.

At first the darkness seemed part of the show, a moment of confusion before the reveal. However, today of all days, the anniversary of the skies above the city splitting open and spewing forth otherworldly armies, the crowd was apprehensive, on edge. The shows often involved bringing down the highlights, and having talent make an entrance through the crowd, as such luminescent tape ran along entrance and exit lanes. The marks began to move towards the exits, however TJ noted that some fans remained, their phones held up, trying to illuminate the darkness, like solitary fireflies in the chaos.

He wasn't sure of the situation, but if this evening's event was being cancelled there was no point in spoiling his return, the big return. He turned returning towards the locker room area, where the UWC producer was releasing a string of expletives into his phone. "Assuming this is off script then, and not some sort if swerve for the marks?"

The fact that a blood god's name had came unbidden to his mind made him think that it wasn't a script, though he desperately wished it was.
OOC: Posting from my phone, so I'll edit accordingly when I get home in Monday or Tuesday. Considering that Jaguar has ranged & radius Danger Sense is anyone in his immediate vicinity in danger? Without access in my computer, it's difficult for me to link a roll, so feel free to roll for me!

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 5:45 am
by StarGuard
Tony, the event manager, lets loss with a stream of curses, looking like he's about to throw the cellphone against one of the old stone walls of the firehouse. The grizzly old el chapo turns to his future star. "Nah kid. This damn power outage though ...
It's not just the lights. I can't get a call out to the power company either. It looks like we are going to have to cancel ... "
Later the only thing you remember will be the sound of electricity and a metallic pop before ...

Image

Fire rolls up the stairs. Your vision blurs and takes the form of a living demon rising from the locker rooms downstairs. The demon rushes toward you and El Chapo, the heat searing hot before it fades back down the stair well to the lower levels of the firehouse. The heat does nothing to stop the chill shivering through your spine as the thought of Tezcatlipoca pulls you toward the flames ... it is then you hear the scream of another wrestler and then nothing.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:00 pm
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1; Luck Points: 1 of 1
Condition: Normal


TJ shuddered even as Tony darted to an alcove that lead to the talent's supply room. He followed closely, "I think cell phones is the least of our concern, eh?" All he'd wanted to do was have his match with Creed, prove to himself that he had what it took to stand up to the man who had tried to end his career, and now this. Some people in this crowd had been there when Creed blindsided him, hell, it seemed like an age ago, his father, his grandfather, both gone from his life now.

He slapped the tattoo over his chest, his grandfather's words. "Remember reading about Rhode Island nightclub, almost fifteen years ago, nightclub fire, yeah? How many killed, injured, trampled? They shut us down, I don't get a shot at Creed." He turned looked to the fire as he heard a scream from the locker room area, "The fans, they cheer us, they boos us. Love and hate, yeah? But they are familia, just like the guys we work with?"

He grabbed a towel and a water bottle from a nearby table, post-match clean up and started to soak the cloth. "You clear outta here Tony, make sure the fans get out too, eh?" With that, he held the sopping cloth to his mouth and nose as he plunged forward into the smoke, and the heat, trying desperately to exercise the thoughts of blood, and flame, and sacrifice from his mind.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:47 am
by StarGuard
As Jaguar jumps down the stairwell into the smoke and flames below his costume is singed and smolders as he comes through the other side onto the landing below. The power out only the flames providing light in the firehouses lower basement. Looking up you see a gasline purposely cut and ignited, the flames creating a barrier from anything above . . . or so they thought.

Through the support columns and boxes of material stored over decades Jaguar see three figures in the dim light. One hunched over a glowing blue device the size and shape of a baseball in his hands stuffing it into a hole in the concrete floor. The other two turning about with heavy weapons in their hands, neither seem to catch your silhouette backlit by the fire.

Image


OOC: Roll Initiative please.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:57 pm
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1; Luck Points: 1 of 1
Condition: Normal


His heart hammered in his chest, the smoke, the flames, and the armed men, all these images felt familiar. His mind raced down familiar pathways, until he found himself in South America again, Scylla's facility. He had learned of the nature of his benefactor's conditions, the fact that he would be expected to be an enforcer for some South American cartel, and so he'd escaped, oddly enough with Fireheart's aid. He'd been cornered, small units off private military scouring the facility for the escaped patient, Fireheart spoke with them, trying to cover TJ's escape, or at least he tried. They cut him down, and TJ snapped, ignoring the guns he rushed the cartel soldiers, exponential stronger and faster than he'd ever been, even at his peak.

He held Fireheart in his arms as his former promoter passed to the other side, listened to his dying words. Be Fearless. His grandfather's saying, he hadn't known that he held his grandfather's brother in his arms, not at the time. When he returned to New York, discovered the truth, he'd had his last words tattooed over his heart. Be fearless.

That's what he had to be now, whatever weirdness, whatever oddity these soldiers were here to collect, they were willing to put a hall full of innocents at risk to procure it. Not today of all days, when the people of New York remembered the horrors of five years ago, wounds still fresh and raw. He lowered his body, cutting down on his silhouette. Body crouched, muscles coiled beneath him, with all the grace and fluidity of a great hunting cat, his namesake. As he prepared both mind and body, an almost feral smile danced across his face, visible through the mask of the Jaguar.
OOC: And here we go! Initiative Check vs 3 Armed Soldiers: 1D20+10 = [10]+10 = 20. How middle of the road. Ugggh!

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:21 am
by StarGuard
Congratulations, middle of the road beats almost all your future companions today :)
Make a Stealth check for Jaguar approach vs DC 15 and add +1 to hit for every level of success for one turn
The alien looking soldiers seem unaware of your presence as you approach, confident in the barrier of flame they created to keep prying eyes at bay.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 2:13 pm
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1; Luck Points: 1 of 1
Condition: Normal


TJ crept forward, waiting until the first soldier had his back turned, and then he sprung like a coiled cat, he landed on the shoulders of the armored soldier, legs wrapped around his neck, he threw his torso backwards catapulting the figures body over his hips, driving his neck into the pavement with a modified frankensteiner. He then floated over, and popped up beside the other soldier, driving a series of elbow strikes and forearm smashes into the small of his back before wrapping his arms around his targets neck with a particularly brutal sleeper, swinging his body between himself and the third soldier.

"Don't know who you f**kers are, but we're done here, yea?"
OOC: Initial Stealth check; Untrained Stealth Check: 1D20+6 = [13]+6=19. 1 Degree of success, for a +1 circumstance bonus. I will keep my Strength & Power array set to Speed 2, move close to target #1, and make a Power Attack 2; *if* successful I will Extra Effort for a 2nd standard action and make a similar attack at Power Attack 2 vs his other armed buddy, leaving the sole soldier the one who is grabbing the glowing object.

Unarmed Attack (+8, +1 circumstance, -2 Power Attack) vs Gunman 1; if successful repeat vs Gunman 2: 1D20+7 =[20]+7=27 1D20+7=[18]+7=25. Wow. DC 30 Toughness for Gunman # 1 (DC 23, +2 Power Attack, +5 Crit), and Gunman # 2 will need to pass a DC 25 Toughness check (DC 23, +1 Power Attack) & a DC 20 Strength or Dodge Check (DC 18, +2 Power Attack) vs Restrained, Bound (Fast Grab). At the beginning of next round TJ will be fatigued unless I spend a HP to counter, which will be dependent on the third soldiers action.

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 11:46 pm
by StarGuard
Six years of intensive martial arts and most my naval time boxing on ship and frankensteiner ... I have no clue even after Googling it ;)
Looking like creatures from a bad sci-fi movie you leap into action the first flipping into a a three foot wide vertical steam pipe. Slumped but not unconscious. You hear ceramic armor pop and crack as you drive your fist and elbows into the second one, the slime on his armor making it hard for you to get a grip as he sides loose beside his clutch mate. Who turns his blaster from creating a hole in the concrete toward you with mixed results.

The blast hits one of the large steam pipes directly above you. The steam hissing down at first until it burst, flooding the basement with a hot fog. Even the fire behind you starts to die as the basement goes dark.
Badoon A: Dazed, -1 Toughness
Badoon B: Dazed, -1 Toughness (not restrained)

Dodge DC20 for half-effect Toughness DC20)

Re: Jaguar, Five Years Later ...

Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 11:51 am
by Zero Prime
Jaguar, Tomas Javier Almeida
Hero Points: 1 of 1; Luck Points: 0 of 1
Condition: Fatigued.


TJ was able to bring an arm up, quickly, preventing the scalding steam from entering his eyes, he quickly moved in the direction of the third soldier, thing, so as not to inhale the super heated vapor. The heat, the steam, the fire, it was wearing him out, worse than his bout with Crusher Kreel back in the day, and these guys weren't sporting chairs and ladders, they had weaponry straight out of some bad sci-fi movie. Or ... no that was years ago, he'd read about it, watched about, while out of country, but they couldn't be back ... could they?

He was breathing heavy, through his mouth, he needed to end this, now. And then the lights went out, 'Fuck!' He calmed himself, remembered what he'd learned as he recovered from the Scylla procedure, his training with El Hijo del Santa, his discovery of his roots, the Mayan shaman, his spirit journey. Smoke, and flame, and darkness, they held no fear for him.

He slipped, low, came around behind the only soldier he hadn't engaged, keeping his opponents body between him and the other two, blocking their line of fire, he dropped a vicious kick into the back of his knee, followed by an elbow to the small of the back, even as he grabbed his wrist, then hammered his free arm into the upper arm against the elbow joint driving him to the ground.
OOC: Dodge Check vs DC 20; Toughness Check vs DC 20 (DC 10 if Dodge check succeeds): 1D20+8 = [18]+8=26, 1D20+8=[12]+8=20. Looks like I am good. Not spending a HP to Counter Fatigue from my Surge last round, so I will gain the Condition Fatigued. I *will* however Powerstunt Accurate Hearing from my Danger Sense power, allowing me to fight effectively in the now darkened hallway. I will then Attack with my Aggressive Strike affliction, Power Attack 2. Power Attack 2; DC 22 Fort vs Dazed, Vulnerable; Stunned, Defenseless: 1D20+6=[7]+6=13. Which looks like Failure, I will then spend a Luck point for a re-roll. Le sigh! Aaaand the absolute minimum on the Luck re-roll; Luck Re-roll; Power Attack 2; DC 22 Fort vs Dazed, Vulnerable; Stunned, Defenseless: 1D20+6=[11]+6=17. We'll let it ride, see how it does.