Powder Miner

There really isn't even that much of an imbalance at this point.

"Friedhold, I do have a couple of things to note! First of all, before the plan, and quickly: Symmetra, does your equipment have the tolerances for that? Secondly, send Sombra with Ana and Symmetra, not me! I should stay here and lend my tactical ability towards occupying the presumably Trespasser forces, and linking to the power grid I would only be able to provide aid with potential cyber security issues anyway -- Sombra can do that herself, AND can just use hardware like I cannot. Low and I would be much better utilized as part of the direct offense with the rest of the team."

Andre hadn't really phrased his story in a way that would be immediately relatable to someone not from his world, but it also wasn't impossible to understand. Navin put his hand to his chin for a moment as he considered the man's words. "If I'm to understand correctly... you were born a slave, and became the slayer of an evil deity? And took a trophy from it, at that, hmm? That most certainly is a remarkable story, and it would seem you do have exactly the qualification to fight these world-destroying monsters then, so long as that skill is directed at them rather than allies."

Navin smiles just a little cheekily at Andre's response -- but it's a subtle thing to be sure. "I suppose it's that world-saving and god-killing part that is the more relevant part for our current task, hmm? How did you undergo your journey from mining to worldsaving, if you don't mind me asking?"

Navin sighs and nods twice. "...alright, thank you. It isn't good that you baited him into this, but you aren't just walking up and swinging at people then, as far as I know. Just... please refrain from such things in the future, if it is possible. He was very badly hurt when I came across him -- he was unable to respond until he was healed by Laver. Perhaps... hold back a little more in such situations? You do not seem to me actively malicious, at the least." Navin looks up, and suddenly extends a hand to Andre. "And thusly I think it would be rude not to introduce myself to you. My name is Navin Gopinath Mhasalkar, and I am a defender by occupation."

Navin nods, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath before speaking. "...alright, look. You nearly killed him. I don't know why or how the fight started, but any sort of team like this cannot have us killing each other or getting close to it. I don't know that I can stop you from fighting the others, but this is simply unacceptable. I don't say this to be rude, you must understand. If we are here to fight beings threatening each and every universe of our world, nearly killing each other instead isn't simply bad, it's-- well, it's horrific, honestly. So I beseech you, please, to hold yourself back in your brawling. If these kinds of fights continue to happen, I will make an attempt to mediate, but though I have trained in aikido my powers don't otherwise suit this well, and it would be dangerous for everyone involved. We are supposed to be defenders, not to be engaging in these sorts of lethal battles among ourselves."

Navin eventually headed out to the dig area himself, catching Mar's words as he did. The Indian man hadn't come out to help dig (although he supposed that he could perhaps help afterwards), but for another reason: to approach the fight ebtween Masaru and this other man from a different angle, since Masaru had told him he was not planning to attack. Navin looked around for a so,ewhat toasted, shirtless man and given that that was a fairly unique description, it didn't take very long for Navin to find the wrestler, and he approached him, following Mar's warning about the traps as he did. "Ah... hello? Are you the one who got into the fight with the other man, ah, Masaru I believe his name was, a little while ago?"

Isobel gasp and then turned to Symmetra, sudden determination in her eyes along with the horror. "Oh my God... we've got to go and help!" LOTUS turns his facial expression into a ">:|" (like his normal neutral :| but more intense) and barks out a "If we're going to go, let's go! They sound too busy to provide us with any real intel, so we just need to go now before the situation deteriorates too far!"

I think that was just a joke on kj's part, though I'm not the GM and don't know if your character would be allowed to be armed or not.

Here's a character; I'm a geography nerd.

Navin bows to Masaru, a little bit more deeply than his normal slight namaste bow. "Thank you very much. That is all that I wanted to avoid. If things are as you say, though, someone should probably go talk to him. Has anyone met or spoke to this other man before?"

"Ah, my name is Navin Gopinath Mhasalkar. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Liliya." Navin performed a hurried namaste at Liliya, putting his hands together palm to palm and bowing slightly at her before quickly turning towards Masaru, his frown returning. "Ah, my apologies, but please hold on a moment. Look, I'm no stranger to fighting between members of a team --it's frustratingly common over various misunderstandings where I come from-- if we are talking about nearly lethal levels of force, we need to find a way to mediate things. I've seen teams more than tear themselves apart if fighting reaches this level and is met with equal force... people have died." Navin elected not to mention that revival was a fairly frequent thing too where he came from, "...and if our mission is as important as I've been told, I'd rather not see this happen, especially before we even leave this castle or this desert. I do not want to ask you to simply let this go, but... I don't wish there to be a cycle of duels here."

Another man entered the hall where Masaru lay beaten, the Indian man in his somewhat bizarre, armored white outfit. When he saw Masaru's condition, he frowned and courched down to better look at the prone man, thiugh he made an effort to refrain from crowding the injured quarter-dragon. After looking at Masaru for a few moments, he looked up to Liliya and Laver, before standing back up straight. "What happened here...?"

"I'm not a Tactical Friendship Tablet, so I'm gonna tell you you're being more than a little presumptuous with that there statement. Help against presumably horrible eldritch beings is of course always appreciated, but this will not abruptly turn me stupid."

Isobel brings her hand to her forehead with an audible little slap. "Oh man, I forgot! Uh, yeah, I've got it. Here." Isobel walks up to the pink-haired hacker and hands her the pile of her stuff she'd been hauling. LOTUS speaks up as the handoff takes place. "Keep an eye on her, folks. Don't want to get stabbed --or in this case hacked-- in the back due to a lack of vigilance."

There was an irritated electronic sigh from the robot. "Come on, let's go people. Sachi, take the shield. It's more useful in your hands than in anyone else's. Isobel, just grab the damn shotguns. If noone else wants them then we can at least get something out of them later." Isobel began to speak up... "But--" ...but was promptly cut off by her own personal AI. "I'm not asking you to use them, Isobel. But we can grab them and we can sell them or trade them for something you'll use, since noone else seems to want to take that opportunity." Isobel frowns, shrugs, and grabs the shotguns.

Isobel looks over the loot and scratches her head through her bandanna. "Um... hum... besides the jacket, then, I don't really know what would be useful, and I guess I already have Mar's device so I'm decently equipped. Uh... I guess I'll pass? You guys take what you want. ...LOTUS, do you have any objections to this?" "As much as it kills me to say this, no, I don't think we really would get a worthwhile return from taking anything ourselves. Look folks, if noone wants anything, I'm going to go and make suggestions. I don't know the function of that staff you're carrying, so I can't comment, but from what I'm gleaning from the data here, I think we should divvy up the data in this lab as such: Shield should go to Sachi, she's by my estimation the most capable of taking a hit even unarmoured, and though I'm not one hundred percent sure how it works, especially in my present state, it looks like the shield's more effective with tougher people. The Raptora Armor would go to someone fast and strong, which by my metric might match Hikari. If it doesn't fit your magical performer shtick, just trade it away when we get back to the castle or something. The World's Most Edgy Shotguns would I think fit best with Kagari but they... definitely fit a certain niche so those might just be taken to trade anyway. If you don't want what I've suggested and noone else does, just carry it for now. You'll probably be able to get something out of it if someone wants it."

Navin listens and watches, before nodding once. "Alright, I don't have the personal experience to help you with the internal power issues -- my power came to be as a more or less steady source I could draw from. I should be able to help you with how you use that power, however, especially in the more pyrotechnic aspects. My power is invariably lethal in form, as explosions are deadly, but one thing I've figured out is that smart usage can turn a lethal power into one used for nonlethal purposes as well -- you simply have to direct the flow of that overwhelming power. Subtle buildup of power certainly has its uses, but if you have trouble with containing powers or simply don't have the time to do so before being forced to enter battle, I would recommend a couple of things. First of all, when you have the opportunity to fight enemies for whom nonlethality isn't a concern, then work with an amount of power you believe you can handle, but don't force yourself to go off of baseline either. When you are facing a being that you can and must kill, then you have to allow yourself to test your power at realistic levels. Secondly, though, this is not always an option. Perhaps there are allies nearby, or perhaps you are facing the majority of your adversaries -- the kind you are not out to kill. Then, placement and specific usage become very important. Suppose you can't avoid using a fair amount of your power -- then you need to find the distances and areas of effect that your powers operate within, and then maneuvering these to graze your targets, for example, or specifically striking areas known to be resilient, go a very long way towards relatively safe practice of normally invariably lethal powers."

Navin listens patiently as she talks, crossing his hands under his chin. "Ah, well, you do not have to worry about me. It sounds like we really are not from the same world, and I wouldn't ever try to kill someone who is perfectly innocent. The Phoenix Force... yes, hmm, a possessive force that corruptive and powerful would be a problem, and a real one. But it does not sound to me like your situation is a hopeless one at all. This Rachel you were talking about -- she's proof that you aren't inevitably doomed, and perhaps your lower baseline power would mean that you're less likely to go crazy, and less likely to accidentally break someone. In regards to being unable to channel it well... well, that would be something that would perhaps be improved by experience, as many dangerous powers are. That experience might be hard to get normally... but you shouldn't have to simply bottle it up anymore. What better chance is there to learn to control your powers then to have omnicidal targets?"

Navin listens to her speak and listens to her various questions before answering them all at once. "My name is Navin Gopinath Mhasalkar, and it is a pleasure to meet you. In terms of super names, I am sometimes called the Flame of Maharashtra, but that's more or less just a media appellation that stuck, and I don't usually use it. As for group affiliation, I am a participating member of the International Union of Heroes. Unless these Avengers are an American group I haven't met a member of before, I think that we are probably from separate dimensions, since our enemies are, I'm told, interdimensional in the first place. My powers, well," Navin shrugs. "They aren't exactly the sort of ability I can casually show off in an enclosed space, but I've got the ability to generate explosions from my fists." Navin waves his bare hand lightly. "...I wouldn't worry too much about why you were chosen, by the way. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have something to contribute; I've found that that isn't generally how these things work out."

Navin stopped as he listened to Laver, and nodded -- alright, he spoke of something that sounded volatile, but though he'd understood Laver's rhetorical question incorrectly, his understanding that Laver was essentially some sort of therapist was correct, even if he couldn't have guessed the specifics of Laver literally fighting monsters made of peoples' emotional problems. Navin had been about to open his mouth to comment positively on Laver again when Samantha's wave of power spread through the building. Navin's abilities were less magical in origin than created by the influence of superpowers, and thusly he didn't necessarily have a powerful or precise sense of magic or of power. But Navin had been a superhero for ten years, and dealing with powered entities since the age of 13 meant that he had developed a sort of instinct around them. That instinct, a natural reaction to the sort of tension in the air that power of various different origins often tended to create, told Navin that something was suddenly very different, and when Masaru spoke and suggested that the three of them go to investigate, Navin's priorities changed and he nodded his assent. "...right. That sounds distinctly possible to me." And so Navin followed Masaru, but more slowly (he was still physically exhausted from that fight with the giant insectoid-humanoid after all), and the Indian superhero, with his distinctly superhero outfit, entered the room with Samantha Grey in it a few seconds after Masaru and Aurora entered the room. "Evidently, we've appeared here as some sort of force to defeat beings that cross dimensions and destroy them. It also seems that the rest of the force is away from this castle for one reason or another."

"...if you're lucky, the string will untangle. So I suppose that would make you a sort of therapist, then." Navin smiles warmly at Laver. "That's good to hear. The sort of person to help their allies with their problems is usually very much appreciated indeed." The sound of an explosion, though certainly fainter than it had been for Mar, reaches Navin's ears and his expression morphs into a frown. "That... does not sound good. I'm going to go take a look, I think. You can come along, if you like, though I think I'd advise you to be careful, since I am the one wearing armor here." Navin heads off in the direction of the explosion (in other words, towards the servants' quarters), walking purposefully but not quite running.

"We're on the 13th floor, not the 12th, Wyvis. It's my opinion that we should just group up and strike at once. Our team took care of the guards in the barracks, and it's pretty clear that whatever entity is toying with this tower has completely ruined security everywhere else in the process. There's no more need for stealth at this point -- all other objectives are achieved, after all. So instead of splitting up, I say we just meet up outside floor 30 and make a singular attack force, then power our way into the lab and deal with what we have to deal with. Keep an eye on Sombra while we do, by the way. I don't think we have a whole lot of reason to trust her."

Navin pauses and blinks when the sand, ribbons, and light pop, but does respond normally enough. "Aha, well, explosive punches aren't necessarily the most versatile power in the world. I'm not familiar with what these Heartstrings and Fight Knots are; would you mind explaining to me?"

Navin looks down at his outfit and back up at Masaru. "Ah... well, where I come from there's a certain kind of... profession I guess you could say that is a mix of investigative work and combat work in regards to groups of people or individuals that go beyond the mundane in some way, such as having superpowers or genius intellect, or the like. We are called superheroes, or simply heroes. We tend to be very public figures, so we often wear these unique and easily recognizable outfits, and what I'm wearing is one example of that." Navin put his hand to his chin in contemplation. "I truly, genuinely don't mean to brag, but I do have experience with fighting -- and my particular superpower does allow me to create explosions from my fists, so I believe I could be of use in close combat."