Thevshi

@Supercape @RocketLord @Huckleberry @The Sailor @Kaede Kimura @Thunder King @Poncho OOC for this thread when it is time to make rolls! For once again being caught up in Lawrence's complications, everyone gets a HP! Timeout 4 HP Spaceman 4 HP Gamma Buzz 2 HP Rot 4 HP Torpedo Lass II 3 HP Golden Star 2 HP Blue Bolt 4 HP Sever 3 HP

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Bernadette O'Connell, Neko Musume, Owain Celliwig, Rosalinda Sommaripa, Jonah Janse, Carmen Alvarez Arrache and Iris and Daniel Evans found themselves along the waterfront of the Boardwalk, just near the Paradise casino. Around them were several people, all of whom acted very surprised at the sudden appearance of the teens, some screaming in panic and running, while others just began moving away quickly. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. The sun was just coming into view off to the east, but the weather was far warmer than it should have been for an early morning in February for Freedom City. "What ta bloody hell." Bernadette stated as she reoriented herself to the unexpected location the group found themselves in. Glancing around, she scowled. "Where are the others?" The Irish redhead was wearing a pair of torn black jeans and a grey hoodie, in anticipation of ending up back up in the winter weather back in Freedom City. But her scowl was quickly replaced by a look of surprise as she looked out at the skyline of downtown Freedom City. It was clearly Freedom City, only the skyline was very different than the teens were used to. Several prominent more modern buildings were not there. And glancing down the east, the massive Sentry Statute was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, bugger us." Bernadette muttered as she looked out at the very different city skyline.

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers, Mizuki Iwasaki, Baltazar Botez, Consuelo Nunez, Ryan Jacobs, Vueriz, and Michael Adon all found themselves in a dead end alleyway between a pair of three story buildings. Out past the open end, they could see and hear a large crowd of people gathered, though none seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the teens. The weather was cool, but much warmer than the February cold they had expected. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, and Vueriz had her skyboard, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. Wearing a pair of jeans and a red Arsenal hoody, Lawrence looked about the alleyway, a concerned expression on his face before he seemed to focus on something distant and out of view. "This is not right." He simply stated, a hint of concern evident in his refined British accent.

@Fox Very useful Okay, Eclipse clearly knows the about Kinan Khan/Star Khan and the Stellar Khanate. And of course that Kinan Khan was grievously injured by the Communion during the Incursion (and defeated by Rock, Paradigm and Galvanic toward the end of the Incursion), but managed to survive and was freed from Lor custody. You have heard a rumor that he recently died, but nothing that confirmed that rumor. You know he had several children, but many were killed during the Incursion. You recall hearing of a youngest son, Kinarr Khan, who survived the Incursion.

GM Ignoring the armored figure for the moment, the two teens turned their attention to trying to find any other civilians inside the burning building. La Puma leapt through a smashed out storefront window of one of the shops on the ground floor. The roof of the shop radiated heat from the fire above as she quickly identified the scent of two store employees who were currently lying behind the counter but appeared to be unhurt. Up at the top floor, Golden Star flew up to a window and glancing inside, saw an elderly man inside his living room, appearing a bit shaken up but with no visible injuries. Meanwhile, out in the street The armored figure regarded Predator and the changed blasters, his black eyes narrowing slightly, but he otherwise kept his hands down at his sides. The mother and daughter had moved a short distance away, still somewhat shaken up. "You are no Terran, nor do you appear to be a Star Knight." The figure stated. "I am Kinarr Khan, the new Star Khan and ruler of the Stellar Khanate."

GM Laar gave Equinox a small smile at her good-spirited jab. "I would very much like to see that future Captain." The elder Lor replied. Rock was the first to spot the approaching delegation from Justicar Gor'an approaching the plaza. Two hover vehicles were slowly making their way down one of the main streets from the west. Prominent in one of them, was the Justicar himself, wearing his armor. As per the agreed terms for the meeting, he appeared to have the agreed number of guards with him as the Thuaruian delegation. "An initially promising sign." Stated Laar as he turned to regard the approaching group, as did the Thuaruian delegation. Moving away from where he had been inspecting the various urban hidey-holes, Rock stepped into the main street and happened to glance at the hills to north of the town and spotted a glint of metal among them. But his attention was quickly pulled away from that at the sound of something up in the air. Looking up, Rock spotted a humanoid figure descending rapidly from the sky. Back in the main plaza, Eclipse spotted the flying figure as well, a bit before the Thuaruian delegates and Laar. "What is this?" Asked the Lor. A moment later, the figure landed in the main street, about halfway between where Justicar Gor'an's vehicles were and the main plaza. Although the figure’s landing kicked up considerable dust, the figure was still plainly visible and one that everyone present instantly recognized. The figure stood nearly six and a half feet tall, and was dressed in teal armor with a black under suit visible at the joints. On the shoulder pauldrons was a black circle with a yellow eight-pointed starburst, a similar, much larger white starburst was on the chest plate. The figure wearing the armor had grey-blue skin, high cheekbones and a flowing mane of white hair and tapered ears. "Star Khan!" Ambassador Laar stated, his voice filled equally with both shock and anger. Standing closer than the rest, Rock was able to see that while the figure bore some resemblance to the Khanate dictator he had helped defeat toward the end of the Incursion, he was much too young.

@Fox @Gizmo Thanks! And sorry, should have asked for this at the same time, could I also get Kn: Galactic Lore rolls GM post incoming.

Timeout Lawerence was quiet as he let what he had sink in to the others. Michael was one of the first to react, getting up and moving over to crouch down by Lawrence and offer him his hand and a promise to be there for him. The blond teen shook the offered hand with a smile. "Thank you Michael, again I am hoping it never comes to that. But a large part of the reason I joined the group you started putting together after the New Year was the warning Quirk gave me about us needing to be ready." He then looked over to Vueriz as she came over to offer her support as well. "Thank you Vueriz." And then Consuelo spoke up, sounding very skeptical about what Lawrence had just reveled, which to him seemed rather shortsighted considering it was just over two months ago she had been present for Quirk's most recent visit and warning. "Even if I wanted to stick my head in the sand regarding Collapse, that still does not change the fact that I have already had two cosmic beings either pop in to visit or outright try to kidnap me. And I have little reason to doubt that the latter is going to try again." Parker came over and gave Lawrence a hug, which the teen reciprocated. "Thanks Parker, but it has not been all doom and gloom. The bright spots have far outweighed the dark, especially with friends."

@RocketLord That is a good roll (falling right between what Space got in a thread and Dok got in another ) So, obviously Space Ranger knows about Kinan Khan/Star Khan and the Stellar Khanate. He knows that Kinan Khan was grievously injured by the Communion during the Incursion, but managed to survive and was freed from Lor custody. You have heard a rumor that he recently died, but nothing that confirmed that rumor. You know he had several children, but many were killed during the Incursion. You recall hearing of a youngest son, Kinarr Khan, who surivived the Incursion.

Timeout Lawrence had been watching the tracking software Parker had been able to obtain from his parents as he and the others kept Orion talking. He noted the address identified by the system before focusing on Orion’s response to his question and the other follow up questions from the others. Her answers were not the most reassuring, leaving the question of who or what Paradox was still very much unanswered. But before he could ask anything more, Orion seemed panicked, mentioning something in the sky and the line went dead. Just as they all got emergency alerts about metahuman activity in the very area where Orion had been. Opening up Google maps, Lawrence quickly pulled up the area, looking at the satellite image to familiarize himself with a spot a couple blocks away. Looking up at the others, he simply asked. "Do we want to got there? I can get us all there right now." He stated as he began focusing on activating his powers and a new trick he had been practicing with Parker.

@Spacefurry Sadly using untrained the best result you can get is a 15. So, Predator recognizes the armor as that of Star Khan (and knows that Star Khan has long been the tyrannical ruler of the Stellar Khanate, but was greviously injured by the Communion during the Incursion), however, the indivdual wearing the armor looks far to young to be the Star Khan. Okay, missed Jack-of-all-Trades there So, Predator recognizes the figure as wearing the armor of Kinan Khan, the Star Khan, the long time tyrannical ruler of the Stellar Khanate who has fought Deadalus and the Star Knights for decades. Kinan Khan was grievously injured by the Communion during the Incursion, but somehow clung to live after being freed from Lor custody. The figure wearing the armor seems to resemble Kinan Khan, but is far too young. @MoonSimply @Poncho Everyone can post reactions (obviously, only Predator knows the above)

Yeah, Lawrence can certainly power stunt a teleport portal, it is far shorter than he did for Fiji so would not be an issue. Teleport 6 (Extra: Accurate; Portal) 30 PP (which he has more than enough PP to do).

Well then Dok has heard of Kinarr Khan, the youngest son of Kinan Khan. Most of his older siblings were killed in the Communion's initial push into the Stellar Khanate (when the Communion captured Kinan Khan). Kinarr, although still considered in his late teens, led Khanate forces as part of the Coalition in the fight against the Communion. There has been a rumor that Kinan died, but Dok has not heard any confirmation of this.

@RocketLord @trollthumper Okay, TT, Cav is sort of surpised (but we are not in combat, not yet ) but you can still get a reaction post in. But first, can everyone make a Kn: Galactic Lore check (the Star Khan armor is obviously recognizable) Kath'lana only gets a 15

Sri Kath'lana As Cavalier explained his use of a unique name, Kath'lana remained quiet. It was rather unusual for a Star Knight to have a unique title like that, but as far as the F'terrix Star Knight was concerned, if any currently active Star Knight had earned that distinction, it was Sri Steward. Instead, she began to answer Space Ranger's other question about what they would do if there were some sort of living organisms on the asteroid. "That is when things become more complicated as we…." The felineoid Star Knight suddenly stopped, looking up away from the asteroid as she snarled, her hands coming down to her sides as green energy formed claws on her metal gauntlets. Space Ranger caught a glimpse of what Kath’lana had spotted a moment later, as he saw a humanoid figure flying through space and come down to land on the asteroid a short distance ahead of the three, kicking up dust and a bit of debris as it landed. Focused as he was on the asteroid's surface, Cavalier had not seen the approaching figure until it had already landed. The figure stood back upright, standing nearly six and a half feet tall, and was instantly recognizable. He had grey-blue skin, high cheekbones and a flowing mane of white hair over tapered ears and was dressed in teal armor with a black under suit visible at the joints. Each shoulder pauldron had a black circle with a yellow eight-pointed starburst, a similar, much larger white starburst was on the front of the chest plate. Star Khan. Kath'lana had shifted into a defensive stance, her energy claws back as she seemed to be preparing to pounce, but then she paused as she almost hissed, "your not Kinan Khan."

@Dr Archeville Dok can make a Kn: Galactic Lore (you can include the +4 for Eidetic Memory as well). @Supercape I don't think Starshot has a skill that would help him? (let me know if I am wrong). But he has certainly heard of Star Khan and the Stellar Khanate.

GM Doktor Archeville transmitted his message up towards the upper atmosphere, a few moments after he had, he received a response in return. "I am Kinarr Khan, the new Star Khan and ruler of the Stellar Khanate." "I understand the Sarcota are posing a hazard to the Lor facilities in this area, I am here to assist in herding the creatures back into deep space." The Xeno’s sensors detected the figure had landed on one of the solar collection arrays, not far from where the Sarcota were currently active.

Okay, @Spacefurry You can have Predator make an untrained Kn: Galactic Lore. @Poncho Golden Star can make a Kn: Pop Culture roll (the DC will be high) @MoonSimply Puma does not really have any skills that will help here

GM Once Golden Star and La Puma Negra had completed changing and made their way outside, it was immediately obvious where the source of the explosion was, as a thick plum of black smoke rose into the air. Quickly heading in that direction, the two teenage heroes turned the corner several blocks ahead just as Predator was approaching the scene from the opposite direction. Between them was a five-story building, with shops on the lower floor and apartments above. Portions of the second and third floor were ablaze, flames flickering out the blasted-out windows, sending the thick smoke up into the air. La Puma Negra was the first to spot a figure flying toward the building from her left, glancing up in to the evening sky to see a figure flying towards the building. Golden Start spotted the figure a few moments later, as it steaked in a smashed through a window on the upper floor. A moment later, the figure reemerged, flying back out and down to the street below to set down a woman and her ten-year-old daughter. Standing back upright after setting the two down, the figure stood nearly six and a half feet tall, dressed in teal armor with a black under suit visible at the joints. On the shoulder pauldrons was a black circle with a yellow eight-pointed starburst, a similar, much larger white starburst was on the chest plate. The figure wearing the armor had grey-blue skin, high cheekbones and a flowing mane of white hair and tapered ears.

@Avenger Assembled @Tiffany Korta @TheAbsurdist Okay, time for Initiative. TA, let me know if you still want to spend that HP above, as Neko called out the opponents and they showed up.

Multi-Girl As Owain transformed and Neko called out her challenge dark shapes descended down from above, or appeared from among the trees. Six, human sized humanoid creatures with taloned feet, large black wings sprouting from their backs and heads that resembled those of crows flew into view, talking up positions around the Claremont students, landing on branches above the ground. About half of them carried naganita, while the other half wielded katana. Bernadette and her duplicate moved up near Neko, taking up a position on the opposite side of where Owain was, and stood back-to-back as the looked at their opponents. Neko recognized them a Tengu, the legendary creatures from Shinto belief.

Timeout Lawrence could not help but have a faint smile at Muziki and Baz’s quick response of standing with him, in addition to looks of support from Parker and Michael. He glanced at the twins as they also spoke up, giving them a small grin. "I am not asking anyone to do anything right now. My mom, the rest of the Freedom League, Grimalkin, the Praetorians, if I asked, I would expect they would all join me in facing Collapse. But I am not about to risk anyone's life, not without knowing more than I currently do. Stepping out into the multiverse to confront Collapse is something for the future. But I felt it was important everyone here know about him to understand the more immediate threats I bring with me. And yes, this does have to do with Quirk's warning to me." Lawrence gave Mizuki a small smile at that last part. He paused briefly, and then continued. "So, my parents, this timeline's Megan Howell and Robert Harrow. As I understand it, they are somewhat unique, in that their initial meetings do not appear to have been a result of any outside influence. They first met in the summer of 2008, after my mother had graduated high school but before she started at Yale, at a nightclub in Ibiza. Their second meeting was a couple years later, when my mother went to study at Cambridge for a year while my father was finishing his advanced degree there. They began dating, and both have said that they likely would have ended up marrying, had my mother not been keeping her identity as Velocity a secret. That ultimately caused my father to end the relationship and my mother returned to the United States to finish her degree at Yale, while after the unexpected death of my grandfather my father assumed his title and place in the House of Lords." "It was less than a year later, eleven years ago just this last week in fact, that my father came into possession of the Stopwatch. His efforts to learn more about it led him to seek assistance from Baron Magnus Katasrtof in Sweden, arriving just before my mother did a few days later as part of a business trip. The Stopwatch had begun effecting my father, making him obsessed with my mother. Collapse's father sent agents to this timeline to kidnap my mother and take her to the Null Time, where he told her about Collapse and the need to get the Stopwatch from my father. When my mom returned to this timeline, she was able, with the help of the Swedish superhero Fenris, to get the Stopwatch from my father." "With both of my parents still having feelings for one another, after some time to ensure my father was indeed freed from the Stopwatch's influence, they renewed their relationship, with the clear understanding they could never risk having any children. However, just months later, during their first visit here after purchasing this property in fact, agents from the Null Time kidnapped my father. My mother went after him, with the assistance of the time wielding Mechanodyname known as Hronos, traveling to the Null Time. There, they found that Collapse’s father had used DNA from both my mother and father, to begin artificially creating me." "After stopping an aspect of Collapse that managed to pierce the Null Time's defenses to try to stop my birth, my mother and father spent the first six years of my life raising me there. Due to the nature of its place outside the timelines, while I aged, my parents did not. There were those that wanted to keep me in the Null Time until I was old enough and strong enough to go face Collapse, but my parents, and most especially my mother, disagreed, wanting me to have a chance to be among peers and having something close to a normal life. They ultimately won out, so they brought me to this timeline, returning the day after they had left." "Because I was 'conceived' and born in the Null Time, I am not native to this timeline, nor to any other timeline. As such, I am not connected to Collapse and do not make him stronger. Indeed, there are many that believe I am the counter to Collapse, and according to Quirk, this includes a number of cosmic entities. As I have told some of you before, one of those entities tried to kidnap me when I was ten, resulting in my unintended first trip to CoVic Station and space. Following that failed attempt, the Praetorians encountered the entity again at an abandoned Lor research station near a quantum dark zone singularity in Lor Space. By the time the Praetorians got back from being sent into the past, the entity was gone, and so was the singularity, removed from the very time-space continuum." "In both my encounters with Quirk, he has said this entity is using the singularity as a power source for his next attempt to capture me. Back in December, Quirk suggested the entity had almost completed its traps and that I, and anyone around me, needed to be ready." Lawrence finished, looking around at everyone on the beach. "Being a superhero is not always easy and brings plenty of risk. But no one here deserves to get caught up in the mess I have to deal with, and I want to apologize ahead of time should that happen again."

Multi-Girl Bernadette looked over at Rosalind with a grin. "I'm shoor no one is blamin' you fer what happened with that." She stated. "I think you should take another shot at directin' again." At Michael’s response about not having enough time to talk with his fellow students, the redhead gave a small laugh. "You know, maybe if you didn' try ta take on twenty different things at once you might have a bit more time ta just hang out." She said with a bit of a grin. At the sound of Neko following over, the Irish teen looked in her direction, smirking slightly as her roommate just brushed it off and continued talking to Iris. When the younger girl mentioned her and her brother having seen some stuff, Bernadette replied, "well, Claremont sometimes has a tendency ta throw some wild stuff yer way, so, be ready fer it." Meanwhile, in the pool, the four duplicates had swum down to the far end of the pool, but seeing all the commotion starting back up between Daniel and Owain, started slowly swimming back toward that end.

Timeout Lawrence had looked down at Mizuki with a small smile as she talked about several of the sights she had been able to see since gaining her powers. While the blond teen could certainly talk about some of the things he had seen on his trips to the stars, as Parker said, it was not a competition. But more importantly, Mizuki's fascination with the oceans and everything associated with them was something that, to Lawrence's understanding, predated her gaining her powers and was in large part inspired and encouraged by her father. The very last thing Lawrence would ever want to do would be to somehow belittle or dismiss that. Instead, he looked over to Michael as the other teen asked about the great pressures underwater. "Hydrostatic pressure." The blond teen responded. "For every ten meters, or thirty-three feet, of depth, the pressure on you increases by one atmosphere." When Michael added his thanks for arranging this getaway, Lawrence gave him a small nod. "Well, again, what’s the point of having access to a place like this if you don’t invite others to enjoy it?" He replied as he felt a slight feeling of guilt at what he wanted to talk about. "But, while I hate to be one to possibly dampen everyone’s mood, there are some things I have wanted to talk about for awhile, things many of you have gotten hints of since the start of the year but I have been either vague or evasive about." "Much of that has been due to any true explanation would have required sharing things I was not a liberty to discuss. My mom cleared some of those barriers back at the League's holiday party, and I have had some discussions with her and my father since." The blond teen continued as he looked to Vueriz, Ryan and the twins and continued, "for those of you who have joined us since the start of the new year, I am sure you have heard the rumors, but in case you had not, my mother is Velocity from the Freedom League." "I suppose the easiest place to start is the beginning. If you were to look across the multiverse at the many timelines, you would find many examples of those timelines versions of my parents meeting and falling in love. At first glance, it might seem to be some cosmic love story, until you took a closer look and saw the exterior forces involved." "In one such timeline, that version of my mother had the same powers as here and also operated as Velocity. The timeline's version of my father had possession of particular and powerful artifact, a seemingly antique watch that is known as the Stopwatch, which gave him the ability to control time. With it, he also operated as a superhero, working along with that version of my mother, the two eventually marrying and having a son, who had powers very much like my own. As that son grew, his powers increased, until they eventually drove him mad. At which point he nearly destroyed his timeline, killing his mother and nearly every other living thing within the timeline in the process. He then went out into the multiverse, now known as Collapse." "His father, and a handful of others, managed to escape the destruction, also fleeing into the multiverse. With access to advanced technology, they managed to establish a Null Time, a place that exists outside of the timestream. From there they began trying to find a way to stop Collapse. In the process, they learned that in other timelines, other versions of my parents also had a son, one that was tied to Collapse, making him stronger, until eventually, Collapse would destroy the timeline, merging it into his own shattered native timeline. In each and every case, the Stopwatch was involved in bringing those versions of my parents together. It seemed to exist for one sole purpose, to bring a timelines version of my parents together, so they could have a son that was tied to Collapse. So, Collapse's father, and other temporal refugees that joined his original group, set out to try to prevent the birth of more versions of Collapse, and to find a way to finally stop him." "Which, brings us to my parents in this timeline."

Timeout Lawrence had been listening to the conversation closely, a clam expression on his face. It was difficult to judge just how forthright this Orion was being as they only had her voice to go by, but her story about how the group gained their powers was not something to dismiss out of hand. However, it was not what she said that interested him, it was what she did not say. When Orion finished answering the questions from Consuelo, Parker and Mizuki, the blond teen spoke up. "Even if removing Ashley and Felix far enough away from this Umbra Star was enough, there is one thing you have failed to mention, which might make that impossible to even achieve." He stated, his British accent unmistakable. "Who is this Paradox that pulled all of you away from each of our prior encounters, and was able to reverse all the damage done in those? How do we know that even if we defeat Ashley and Felix, Paradox will not just step in and save them once again?"