The Mick

The Mick

You are fighting The Mick.

You charge into the room, ready for a fight, and run right into some sort of invisible force field. On the other side is your old "friend" Michael Ace, wearing an impressively tailored mechanical exosuit.

"I should have known," you mutter. "You always were too much trouble."

Ace shrugs, and says "I could say the same thing. That's why this is going to end. Here. Now."

"Hey, that's my line!" you object. "And 'The Mick'? What's that about, anyway? 'Ace' isn't an Irish name."

"Oh, I'm not Irish. Way back they used to call me 'The Michael' but eventually it just got shortened to Mick. You know how these things go."

"But what about all those stolen goods? You're a billionaire! You could just buy what you need."

"Shows what you know. Buying things leaves a trail, and sometimes it's better to remain in the shadows. And some things, like the nostronomium powering this suit, simply can't be bought for any price."

You pound on the force field. "Are you going to let me through or not?"

"Patience, <player>, patience. As soon as I'm ready."

The Mick eyes your aura, and quaffs some potions to compensate.

Optional:

• The Mick looks you up and down, gauging your experience, and then ratchets up a few dials on his exosuit.
• Not liking what he senses about your accuracy, the Mick pushes a button on the suit. A soothing computer voice speaks: "Targeting unit activated." Great.
• Not liking what he senses about your agility, the Mick pushes a button on the suit. A soothing computer voice speaks: "Evasive subroutine activated." Wonderful.
• The Mick eyes your defenses, and decides to attach a suitable shield to his exosuit.
• The Mick eyes your weapon, and selects one from his weapon rack to suit.

The Mick flips three switches on this exosuit. His weaponry begins to glow shades of <three colors>.

Optional:

• Apparently feeling cocky, the Mick picks up a coin from his desk, flips it once, and drops it into a pocket.
• Apparently feeling cocky, the Mick takes a moment to clear a couple of things from his desk, whistling while he works. Man, what a jerk.
• Apparently feeling cocky, the Mick takes a moment to clear a couple of things from his desk, whistling while he works. As a final show of confidence, he slips an oversize vest atop his exosuit, hooks his thumbs into the arm holes, and waggles his eyebrows at you. Man, this guy thinks he's something special, doesn't he?

Done with his preparations, The Mick slaps a panel on the wall, and the force field separating the two of you dissipates.
Your opponent attacks ...

Hit messages:

• Ace's weapon cuts into your body and your confidence with the same strike. damage+ (psychic) damage
• Ace's weapon hums with nostronomium power, which might look a little funny if it wasn't so busy breaking bones. damage+ (sonic) damage
• Ace uses his weapon to sweep a pile of expensive electronics off his desk, leaving you buried in the sparking ruins. damage+ (electric) damage
• Ace pauses to let you admire how the artisanal acid runs off his weapon before stabbing you with it. damage+ (acid) damage

He hits you for X damage.

Critical hit message:

Your opponent has a critical hit! He hits you for X damage.

Miss messages:

• Ace's weapon tries to batter your confidence, but you can take it on the chin. Unlike Michael Ace, some people have confidence to spare.
• Ace's weapon hums with nostronomium power, but you learned enough in those freaking caves to hold it back for now.
• Ace uses his weapon to sweep a pile of expensive electronics off his desk, but you duck beneath the sparking fragments.
• Ace pauses to let you admire how the artisanal acid runs off his weapon, giving you time to dodge his eventual strike.

Fumble messages:

Your foe fumbles! He takes X damage.

Victory! You beat up your foe and win the combat!

You gain Scaling experience.

You got an item: blue chip (See Notes)
You got an item: the Mick's sketchy candy (See Notes)
You got an item: the Mick's Thunderbolt (See Notes)
You got an item: the Mick's gorilla vest (See Notes)

Michael Ace goes down to one knee, his exosuit sparking, servos and struts pushed past the point of functioning. With a brutal swipe you rip the glowing core right out of the exosuit's chest-panel, and Ace and the machinery collapse in a heap, all of the fight taken out of them. You know he's not going anywhere. All that's left is to make sure the final room is clear, and you can drag him in to Twilight PD.

You got an item: trimensional cortex

Known resistances/weaknesses

50% resistant to fire damage.
50% resistant to ice damage.
50% resistant to electric damage.
50% resistant to acid damage.
50% resistant to sonic damage.
50% resistant to psychic damage.

Locations

• NCI Live building
  

Notes

• Encountered in room 2 of the NCI Live building.
• If you encounter The Mick with a temporary sidekick, the sidekick is removed with the following message, preceding the regular text:

As soon as you walk into the room a bunch of goons jump out and drag your temporary sidekick out a back door. You should have known you'd have to handle this fight on your own.

• Mick's attacks are a combination of physical, and the three elements you have the least resistance to. If you have equal resistances, the choice done in some still unknown order:

• green - acid
• pink - psychic
• grey - sonic
• blue - ice
• red - fire
• yellow - electric

• The drops are hinted in advance by the "Apparently feeling cocky" message. If none will show up no special items will drop. The first one will drop only the Chip.
  The second one will drop the Chip, the Candy and sometimes (see below) the Bolt. The third one will drop all the previous and the Vest.
• The drops depend on how much Foe Toughness you have at the beginning of the fight. Each effect under "Active Effects" in your Character page counts as 5 Foe Toughness.
  Below are the requirements for each drop:
  • From 31 to 150 FT - 1st message -
  • From 151 to 250 FT - 2nd message - +
  • From 251 to 450 FT - 2nd message - + +
  • From 451 FT onward - 3rd message - + + +

References

• Based on Iron Man.