Avenger Assembled

Woodsman responded by drawing a hand across his throat, then remembered that of course none of them knew that particular hand signal. "Hell no I'm not goin' through it!" he hissed, his voice reverting to the accent he'd had when Raina had first met him - the choppy syllables of an alien world. "They shove it through, you close it while it's in it." Riley had seen Ferals and he had seen the Alkahest and he knew that killing this thing was going to kill some of them, and maybe more people too, if they didn't use all they had. He didn't say much to the Sandersons, who watching the whole interplay with fascination.

When it was done, "Watchdog" was safely in Raven's custody - and Secret Service Agent Ashley George was on her way back to Washington DC on a government-chartered flight. She had business in town; Jaycee had been absorbing energy for close to a week without a drain, and it would give her a chance to recuperate. In the rare comfort of a jet with no civilian passengers, she leaned back in her seat and held an icepack to the side of her head, catching sight of her reflection in the plane's mirror. Well, she was going to look colorful in the morning. Still, it had gotten the job done. And she'd actually gotten to meet the new Raven - who wasn't very much like she'd expected at all. But then, Ravens were good at that.

"Ohhhh, it was terrible!" croaked Aquaria once she was down in the chamber below. She crouched at Redbird's feet the way she was particularly upset; back legs curled behind her for the spring, forelimbs folded before her. With her big eyes and perfect hearing, she was one of the few beings Redbird knew who could follow the displays from all over the city; even if the images were like ghosts to her sensitive eyes. "The police came and they took Jessie away and put her in Blackstone! I went looking for her and they told me she had been stealing things, but that made no sense because Jessie would not steal things! She does not even like to get things as gifts!" Aquaria struck the ground with her front limb for emphasis for that last one. "And so I went looking for help so she could be free! And I was right - it was not Jessie stealing those things at all, but another Erin - a red one! And then the red one fought with the blue one, who acted like she was good but wouldn't help!" She bellowed the last, throat sac bulging. "So I came here and I saw the Erin like you, and she was going to help, but then the..." She hesitated for a moment, not sure how to describe the Erin who was obviously a hybrid. "The hy-hybrid one came, and the Erin who is like you fought her when she hit me." Her head still hurt a little, come to think of it, but there was no use dwelling on that. "But I am okay and I do not think she can get me here." She looked up at Redbird and croaked "You have to help me! If we can get enough of the Erins to come here, we can find one that will come with me to Blackstone to show that Jessie does not need to be in prison! She thinks she likes prison but it is not good for her." She struck the ground with her back foot for emphasis this time. "They have a problem; I think something is chasing them. If we can help them with that, maybe they will help us with Jessie."

"Certainly," said Frankan with a warm smile. "I'll be happy to make sure you're accommodated on the way - I'll make sure one of my aides personally sees to the transfer." She gave Puigo time to make whatever goodbyes he needed to make, then the Praetorian joined the party following the Minister into her personal vessel. The ship, evidently called the Arrow of Justice, was different than the base where Puigo had been staying these last few weeks; its bulkheads and floors almost mirror-bright, its crew spit-and-polish military in a style Puigo certainly recognized well enough. The cargo hold was more than big enough to accommodate Audacity; in fact, his ship seemed to be the only thing the vessel was carrying. The only exception among Frankan's escort was a young humanoid who seemed to be cut from the standard Lor cloth; dark-skinned and bald, with a short goatee and a leather outfit that looked more suitable for planetary operations rather than spaceborn. He stuck close to the Minister's side, especially when she and the Praetorian socialized; a common enough thing, since the minister's vessel wasn't terribly large and there seemed to be only one meeting room. "Hey, uh," said the aide, during one of those early meals - (The young man had been introduced as "Smith, a civilian adjutant") to Puigo. "I gotta question. Sorry if this is dumb," he said, glancing at his boss before he spoke. "The old empire that you guys worked for. What was that like?"

APPROVED

Let me suggest that you replace the feat Fame with the feat Cult Hero [Youtubers] - this will give him a bonus with people who will appreciate his career and a negative with people who will _not_. More flavor! =D

Super-Senses 3 (infravision [enhancement: tracking 3 [full-speed]]) [4PP] with 15PP from Gadgets to enhance it as you like, Cape! Comrade Frost is looking for signs of who broke in here. Let me know if you want something more specific - and what die rolls you'd like.

Let's call that

Having had bad dealings with plant controllers over the years, Comrade Frost gave a polite nod to the plant-thing; keeping a safe distance lest he suck the dryad dry just by proximity. Such questions that raised! Instead he approached the pit, mindful of the cold within. Reaching into his coat pocket, he produced something that appeared to all mortal eyes to be a clear gem shot through with crimson streaks; giving it the appearance of a bloodshot 'eye' as he held it up to his face and used it to peer down below.

I like everything but Kids: He has eight baby girls across the world. He supports and is protective of each and everyone of them. - is over the line for me, especially given his age. Maybe give him one and say that was when he decided it was time to do something more productive with his powers?

As yet another Erin vanished from the view of even her impressively huge eyes, Aquaria took a moment to reflect on the gods below and how through sacrifice in their name, she was walking the crooked path of virtue here on the Surface. But there was no time for deep spiritual reflection now, not when there was a deep crisis. Bounding over the gate, she bellowed the codeword she used to avoid Redbird's retaliation, running on all fours as she bolted straight for the front door. "Redbird!" she called over the motorcycle's greeting; "there is trouble! Jessie is in prison and she didn't do it - it was one of the bad Erins! The city is full of them!" She didn't quite crash through the front doors so much as they bounded open at her approach. Inside the manor, she ran for one of the passageways that she knew led down to the cave below. "They have some kind of problem," she said as she scampered along the passageway's wooden walls, the better to move quickly and not rip the carpet off its tacks, "and if we help them, maybe they will help us get Jessie out of jail!"

Okay, let's do the Citizen thing. The Watchdog/Pulse thing should wait until she's a Claremont student.

Me too!

Yes; they have found it, albeit heavily damaged - they've helped how they can but it needs to be taken to a full modern shipyard to repair parts that are simply not fixable at this point.

"...and then, I landed here and saw you!" Aquaria finished a few minutes later, having shared the story from the moment of her return home several days earlier to when she'd arrived at the Manor. "Jail is a terrible place! She thinks she is happy in there but she should not be in there because she has not done anything." What she would have done if Jessie had been guilty, Aquaria was not actually sure, but her faith in a material thing like Jessie had had more immediate rewards than her faith in immaterial things typically did so she was content to take all of this as a victory. The other Erin did not seem moved by Jessie's plight but that wasn't unusual for Erins, Aquaria was beginning to suspect. "If I take you to the police in the morning, that will prove that Jessie was innocent and-gah!" A fast-moving blur hit Aquaria from behind, smashing her into the brick gateway at the edge of the Midnight property. She knew from her work on the grounds that would trigger silent alarms; if Redbird was there and not with Midnight and Wander, she would certainly soon know they were there. But there was no time for such thoughts as she heard a strange double-cry and turned to see Grey Bat Erin holding off another Erin, this one wielding not a bat but a sword - one that gleamed with golden Atlantean orichalcum. The other Erin's eyes were black and gold and her skin a distinct shade of mottled green, though her hair had been dyed a bright shade of white. "Deep One! What the hell are you doing, there's a Deep One right there!" she was yelling, her voice wracked with unmistakeable fury. "Dammit, stop and listen! Aquaria is a friend! Don't you know who she is!?" Grey Bat called out, sounding as confused as Aquaria felt, but Sword spat a furious syllable at her before saying, "You're weak! Dammit, not here too! Good thing I know where I can find some _real_ help!" she said before turning and leaping away, running faster than even Grey Bat seemed able to follow. Grey Bat said a word about mating that Aquaria knew was a curse. For her part, Aquaria croaked, "...that was strange. That was not the Erin from here. Or the one with the blue bat, or the red bat. Are you all from the dimension of monsters?"

Okay, here's some things I'd like to have happen: Mark and Harrier are pretty good right now. Watchdog: Wacky antics where somebody (probably need another PC for this, and one willing to make their character sweat) thinks they've had a thing with a Claremont student! Comrade Frost: I want him to square off against a German angry about the Soviet occupation of their country. Sea Devil: is pretty good, but would do great in a thread with another Atlantean PC. Citizen: I'd like him to do something in Emerald City! Smarmy hipster Superman! Lady Horus: I want her to actually face off against the Hammer of Justice, played with the full terror of fighting an evil Batman. Dark Knights: Metal got me thinking about this!

Okay, @Supercape, the idea is that she's approaching Slate while he's investigating at the Ironworks, somewhere out of view of other people but open to the sky - Wadjet is secreted somewhere nearby, ready to snipe if there's trouble.

Anna had been two years old when her father had stopped working at Gravewood - and so it wasn't something she remembered as a child. But the thing about time travel was that you could remember all sorts of things you couldn't actually remember; so it was she remembered the sight of her father, big-armed and singing about the old country, as he walked through Gravewood's front gates in the company of his fellow ironworkers. They hadn't let girls work at the plant back then, she knew, not that anyone of her mother's generation (or her own) would have been the least bit interested. Somebody who did work there would have to be pretty tough; like the men of her father's generation who had lived and died working in the foundries. Maybe it was thoughts of her dad that drove her out to the plant, bringing her sidekick along with her. She hovered there, invisible to probing eyes, and carried on a conversation. Thou needst allies among the local watch, Anna Cline, one voice informed her, Nepthys ever-reminding Anna of what she had already figured out for herself - or rather had let herself be talked into on those long nights when she had an old woman's insomnia and only the helmet to talk to. Thy war against the Hammer may be of merit but you cannot fight it alone, even with Wadjet's venom. Wadjet, for her part, was down below, practically invisible unless Lady Horus sped herself up enough to look at the whole open-air foundry below in an instant. Wadjet's words came by radio. Cops are still here. Are you sure about this? No, I ain't, but we gotta try, she thought. If we're actually gonna do a damn bit a'good for this miserable burg, we gotta have some friends who ain't just skells and wrongdoers like us. What she said, in Lady Horus's voice, was - "Aye, I have my doubts. If this fails, we fall back - but if it succeeds, we win a famous victory. Stay hidden until you have my signal." And so it was that one of Bedlam's most notorious criminals, the "god" who had frequently battled some of Bedlam's most corrupt cops, dropped out of the sky like a stone and appeared behind Detective Slate at a moment when he was alone, a finger raised to her lips for silence. "The girl." It was not easy to whisper as a goddess.

Aquaria was still nervous - but Grey Bat's words - or rather, her tone, were familiar enough that she lowered her tridents. "They are away," she croaked. "in another place. I do not know where they have gone," she admitted. Circling around, she listened to the tiny sounds coming from the other Erin - the one made of dead things like her armor, as she moved around - too tiny for a Surfacer to hear, and barely audible to her. "I know it was not a surprise; they have the other one with them, with the great power, who has the spawn. There are other Erins here," she croaked. "There was a red one who was causing trouble, and a blue one who was chasing her, and neither of them helped me. Can you help me? My friend is in trouble."

Aquaria said an oath about their dietary habits in a language that fortunately neither of them spoke and leaped after them herself - then took to the air when it was clear that (just like the Erin they were duplicates of) they were faster than her. But even this way, they eluded her, with perhaps an apologetic look from the blue one. In older times, when she'd first come to the Surface, she'd have pushed her armor to the utmost in hot pursuit - but against these faster foes, she would be a clever hunter. She had recorded them with her armor's sensors, their words, their movements, things about their bodies - things that those wiser than her could use to track them down in whatever place was their lair. She considered heading back to the Castle to speak to Bluebird, but decided that Erin and Trevor's lair was closer. Perhaps they had returned from their business in other realms; and even if not, the talking female motorcycle that Trevor rode sometimes would surely be able to help. Sea Devil flew off into the night, her armor glowing, trying to remember all the things her armor could do when it wasn't whispering lies to her. When she touched down in front of the Manor, she was surprised to see she wasn't alone; there was another Erin - or was it? The colors were right and the body looked the same, but Aquaria's eyes and her hearing told her different things. The other Erin raised her hands as Aquaria approached, a look of recognition and what she knew well was grief on that strangely-familiar face. "It's all right, Aquaria. I'm not going to hurt you." "...you're not Erin! Or Jessie!" said Aquaria, the look on the other Erin's face mixed with the empty place she occupied strange enough that she ignited her tridents. "What is wrong with you?" "I'm sorry, Aquaria, I know this is frightening for you," the not-Erin went on, her voice tight. Her bat was a lighter grey, one that Aquaria recognized as a metal that had come from the Sea of Stars in the war there. "But this is an emergency - and I can't get past Redbird's security systems right now. Are your Midnight and Wander home?" "Why should I tell you anything?" she asked, sounding more afraid than angry even to her own ears. "You're...you're like Redbird or Bluebird, but you are different. You are not alive!"

Left without much to say, Frost settled for keeping an eye on the conversation, trying all the while to get an eye for the big fellow. He had no recollection of meeting Dreadnought, which suggested all sorts of interesting things about where the giant might have wound up in ages past. Wonder how many places he sleeps even now. Time travel gives me such a headache. "So, you see situation. Murk thought you might be helpful in uncovering meestery." He shrugged broadly, his phone away, and said seriously, "If you do not know Sin, be mindful of him." He stroked his chin and said "He played the part of a Fu Manchu once because it meant something; now it means young men do not take him seriously. But he is...serious."

As the Alkahest bit down on Fred's face amid a gush of blood and cries of terror from the onlookers, Riley was far away from his adopted home. He rose to his feet and fired a shot, a single bolt that zipped towards the cannibal-beast's face and detonated there. He had to be realistic - there wasn't much he was going to do against the Alkahest, especially not a Feral one that would probably only be angered by pain, but even the great beast had eyes, and a nose, and senses. He also knew about the strange chemical hardening of the Alkahest's flesh, something that had to be true for this one too. So instead of his usual cocktail, the azidoazide azides in the bolt blasted it in the face with razor-sharp shards of burning hot metal, metal that sizzled as it slashed open the creature's face and nose inflicting superficial wounds that had to hurt like Hell. Yeah, that's right! You're fighting woodsmen now! It was the highest compliment he could think to give his team. "Nighthawk! Solution! The portal! Drive it to the portal!" He turned as he ran pell-mell towards Raina and her parents, followed by his own mother, and then tried, "Sparkler! The portal! We need it!"

Woodsman: Standard Action: shoots the Alkahest (+5 Power Attack) http://orokos.com/roll/614387 That hits! He used his Dazzle effect, so that's a DC 21 Reflex save http://orokos.com/roll/614388 = which it fails! The Alkahest is blinded and can't smell anything. Move Action: Retreat towards where the portal was. Okay! @alderwitch, Nighthawk is up in the vs. Alkahest portion once Giz makes a reaction post for the Solution.

"That's how you see it, huh?" Anna stirred her glass with her straw, then said, "Givin' a damn about your community doesn't mean you're a superhero. Back in the day, we stuck together and took care of our own - didn't make us any do-gooder puttin on airs." She was slow to go after the burger, but was certainly cleaning up the fries. "Didn't you say you had a friend who once tried to freeze the Earth from the Moon?" interjected Esperanza skeptically, who didn't show Anna's hesitation about digging into the burger. "Didn't happen though, did it?" said Anna, spreading her arms as if that explained everything. Now that Caroline thought about it, she remembered hearing about the time Madame Zero had built a Moon base with plans to freeze the Earth solid before being defeated by the Freedom League. "You can't worry so much about how things used to be, honey!" "You're the one who told me not to romanticize how things used to be, old woman!" "Ah, I guess I did, didn't I?" said Anna with a wave and a smile. "Kids these days, am I right?" "

Comrade Frost blinked a few times, briefly taken aback at the perfect command of English exhibited by the long-inactive relic. Well, that was something that would need a later explanation - and perhaps he would have questions for Mr. Murk. A well-chosen name! But for now he kept his peace, instead simply smiling and declaring, "Ah, an easy proposition - how delightful. I will take time to contact our transportation," he said, laying his Russian accent on thick as a test, "while you two, get to know each other, as one ought to!" He made a great show of taking out his cellphone, substantially larger than the usual model available to people in 2018, and tapping on the buttons. "Big fellow like you explains why big helicopter was provided!"