Avenger Assembled

"I thank you for your kind words," said Frost, sounding more sincere than he generally did - at least from what Murk had heard. "Rarely am I asked to join oath-bound societies with no ambitions greater than self-protection. With all these wonders you have known in these seventy years, you must have gained much knowledge from those you have met - and shaped your manifesto accordingly. You speak well of it - so, tell me why I should sign. What is this justice that immortals will have, even the worst among them? I have known some Things that deserve no life. You understand."

"Hm." Murk caught the faint chuckle in Frost's voice as he mulled that particular question, even as he thanked him for the cigar. "Is quite a question. I have lived twice my mortal years already - and more to come, or so I am told. But you know, they say time passes slowly for children because a week to them is substantial portion of life already lived. So I suppose seven decades must have been but merest eyeblink to you, eh? A mayfly time, for mayfly people." Looking around the club, he finally said, "Is pleasant place - and public believes it merely charming front for inner circle, eh? Like Freemasons with more colorful story." He hmmed again. "I am man of simple tastes. This is, hmm, gilding lily for me."

Devil Ray hastily took to the sky again, his engines roaring - from the slight fumbling as he stutter-stepped backwards, he was afraid of Singularity, having trouble working his armor, or some combination of both. He fired another round from his speargun at the green force-dome - and this time the razor-tipped, electrical-crackling edge blasted straight through the dome and dug into the underside with barbed hooks. When he yanked the gun backwards, the whole dome shattered, green fragments vanishing like ice, even as Aquaria bellowed in frustration. "You think I haven't heard about you?" he taunted Jessie, seeming not to quite notice SFX or the growing crowd at all at all - which was both a blessing and a curse under the circumstances. "The mad-dog killer and the aquatic predator, isn't that cute? But I'm the king shark here, honey!" With her dome broken, Aquaria ignited her tridents again - but this time held them opposite each other, concentrating as energy crackled from point to point, building in the space between the two triple blades of energized plasma. "Taste the fires of the Sea of Stars, Surface-Man!" she bellowed a moment before firing a blast of what could only be described as eldritch lightning from her joined tridents! The blast struck Devil Ray and made him howl inhumanely, energy crackling madly from, through, and throughout his armor, his flight cutting out abruptly as jets of flame died and he plummeted to the ground, still on his feet but with smoke rising from his armor.

New Round: Devil Ray: Retreats from Singularity and blasts the force field - I'll say it breaks without rolling and give Sea Devil an HP. Sea Devil: Sea Devil spends the HP to repair the damage that power stunting off her armor did. She's going to try blasting Devil Ray. Standard: 22 Tou vs 23 http://orokos.com/roll/583811 = 10! Failed by 13. Okay, he's bruised and staggered. That's going to drop him out of the sky and back to ground level. Singularity is up again as soon as I post IC.

Murk had heard much of Comrade Frost in the decades since their first meeting - and this time was no exception. First came that same distinct drop in temperature, as if the heater in the club had gone on the fritz, then the sound of a Russian-accented voice whose vocal stylings sounded a bit like an actor heavily emphasizing a "stage presence" - then a cold, gloved hand briefly gripped his shoulder. "Ah! I wondered if I would find you here, my friend." Frost took a seat by Murk's side as he looked around the room, the ready smile on his face wasted on the blind Neanderthal but by now force of habit in these situations. "Happy New Year!" he said warmly as he struck a match.

Can we get a more detailed description of where we are and what's going on, HGM - or at least a short idea of who's where and what's happening?

Toughness vs. 28 http://orokos.com/roll/583549 = 20 Bruised and dazed! SFX is up.

I'll take 20 on the Notice. I'll say he uses his Gadgets to give him Enhanced versions of whatever skills you'd like to use for the Tracking - if that's not just Notice too!

Sea Devil responded with a guttural booming cry that Singularity knew was a gutter oath about how Devil Ray mated with dolphins knowingly and of his own free will - and the battle was on! Circling around the acid-green dome of energy that protected the heroes, Devil Ray snarled. "You won't stop me with this!" Reaching behind him, he pulled out a long, deadly-looking speargun stowed at the back of his armor - then fired it directly into their shield! The dome visibly _cracked_ as the razor-sharp, jet-propelled spear buried itself in the energy dome, having been aimed directly at Aquaria, and then the armored sea pirate began reloading. "Going to turn your skin into boots!" he promised in a deep, booming bass, "then I'm gonna go down to Atlantis and find every one of those little bastards I missed and do the same to them!" Her body vibrating with suppressed tension, Sea Devil's fingers worked frantically on her armor's controls, as usual ignoring the voice it tried to pipe into her ear to use its powers for great and terrible carnage. But oh when Devil Ray talked that way she was tempted, especially when she knew that underneath all that armor (even though he'd upgraded it at some point with blades and teeth, looking more like a flying shark-robot than an armored human) he was just a puny Surface man whose bones she could crack with her bare hands if she had to. Her fingers worked faster as the glow from her armor became more erratic, their protection obviously getting thinner.

Initiative: Sea Devil: 23 Devil Ray: 25 Devil Ray: 25 Sea Devil: 23 Singularity: 19 SFX: 12 Devil Ray: attacks Sea Devil's power-stunted Force Construct He does DC 27 Tou - which means the rank 10 construct is now injured (i.e., it's taking hits) Sea Devil: can't act, because she's maintaining the Force Construct Singularity is up as soon as I post IC.

Sea Devil frowned (quite an expression on her great mouthed face) but leaped out of the truck at Singularity and SFX's warning. "I did not hear anything alive," she said, eying the inside of the truck with covetousness burning in her breast. There was so much stolen there, and it would all go back to Surfacers who obviously had no idea of its true worth. She doubted that the Freedom League would bother seeking to return Deep One treasures to actual Deep Ones. "Ah, but look at this. I think they have a warrior's shield in there-" Sea Devil put speed together with danger - and thought of sharks, and birds, and things that came on fast. "No! The treasures!" Her armor slamming shut over her face, she automatically threw the truck door shut to protect their contents - and pressing buttons frantically on the wrists of her armor, she generated a glowing green field that suddenly swept over SIngularity and SFX, a bubble of acidly-green energy that caught truck, Surfacers, and Deep One behind walls of impenetrable cosmic energy. Aquaria's armor didn't seem to like that trick, and soon began flashing an alarming shade of even brighter green Just before an armored figure, dressed all in black, crashed down to join them with speed enough to nearly break the pavement! Devil Ray was recognizable enough, face and body hidden behind his armor. "I thought I'd catch a bunch of sorcerers, but this is even better! You and your mates are coming with me, Deep One," croaked Devil Ray, whose mechanical voice sounded...slightly distorted from how it usually sounded on the news. "I'll cut the truth out of your guts if I have to!"

It's a simple enough camera that seems to be transmitting to a nearby, more powerful transmitter - so the logical connection is that the signals are being sent from there and broadcast to another location. A closer inspection will reveal that they're broadcast to something a few miles away - no, a mile away, no, a few thousand feet away...

Keith stared at the two of them, then said, "I will - but you know what the truth is worth. You can pay me back later," he said with false cheer as he struck a cigarette. "Yer friends, those kids you go to school with? They're standin' on the doorway of one of those big changes I was talkin' about. You don't stop 'em, the laws are gonna come down." As he spoke, scenes played out against the walls of their Claremont friends fighting some barely-defined, hideous monsters - and Freedom City itself seeming to change, with angry, faceless mobs shouting at each other amid broken streets. "And the souls of the innocent'll rise, and the souls of the guilty'll sink. I'll tell you where - if you don't mind th' price."

A little belatedly, Citizen remembered to speak aloud for Sensus's benefit. "I'm flying in from Emerald City with a new psychic. I promised her I'd take her to meet a veteran mentant in Freedom City - if you're available." His tone made this sound like a casual get-together, but Citizen had been trained in the same school of super-response as Will. "I'll go ahead and put you on speaker." As he spoke, a text came up on Hologram's phone from the person she was speaking to. RUNAWAY. HAD POWER ACCIDENT - NO CASUALTIES. WAS FRIGHTENED - SETTLING HER DOWN FOR NOW. FLYING ABOVE HER RANGE. Meanwhile, now Sensus could hear Hologram's side of the conversation too - a sound that seemed to come from somewhere in Citizen's midsection.

"I don't actually know that many mentants on Terra," admitted Sharl ruefully. "Their mental powers don't work on me." He was as vulnerable to telekinesis as any other amalgam of steel and plastic, but there was no reason to dwell on that for Sensus's benefit. "I know there's Hologram, and Blue Fox, and Psyche in Freedom City - and others across the United States and elsewhere. Just a moment..." Citizen concentrated for a moment, dipping low enough to pick up cell coverage. It was the work of a couple of minutes to find the emergency contact number used by volunteer metahumans, then dial the specific extension that would connect him to Hologram. From Sensus's perspective, at first he seemed to be screwing up his face and staring at nothing. Hologram? Hello. This is Citizen.

Hmm. EN, what's the target number to hit a flat-footed Zealot?

Let me know what die rolls you're looking for here.

Lady Horus flipped through the books like she was trying to turn them into literal flipbooks, tossing them back on the shelves with deceptive ease. "Set your mind at ease, fair one, about the doings of wizards and mages. They may boast of their arcane puissance," she told Doctor Thorne reassuringly, "but under suitable persuasion, they are exposed as the weak, crawling creatures they truly are." When she was done with the books, a thoroughly disgusted look crossed her face. "Lo, the moral turpitude of this place shocks even one such as I. What a tale these texts tell! This place was a den of slavers and killers, man-stealers who kidnapped freedmen and sold them to their former masters for no reason other than vice. And consider what they must have done," she commented, zipping over to the railroad tracks. "Look, the tracks of the iron horse - with all the marks of age on them! Someone built these tracks when the town above had perhaps fifty score men, just to strike fear into the hearts of others." At the tracks, she stuck her thumb out curiously, like a hitchhiker from a 1930s cartoon. "If there be a ghost train here, I call the first blow."

Woodsman is ready for whatever die rolls you need for murdering these guys, I mean shooting them non-lethally.

Complications: Agent: Ashley is technically a sworn law enforcement officer, but doesn't act as such while wearing her costume except for her duties to protect Jaycee Cahill. This is a complicated situation. Break: Ashley's complicated relationship with the Raven remains both a sore point and a point of pride. Copycat: Ashley isn't hiding her superpowers but she is keeping them to herself; she'll use them as a second resort rather than a first unless she needs to save a life. Duty: Ashley George is responsible for the life and well-being of the First Daughter, Jaycee Cahill. This is her highest priority - whatever she or Jaycee thinks about this. Enemy: Baron Samedi's drug empire indirectly killed Ashley's father. Given the chance, she'll go for him - minus her duty to Jaycee. Guns: Though Ashley's electrolaser pistols are not actually firearms, they strongly resemble them (this is a way of distracting attention from the level of high technology she carries) - this may be something other heroes have trouble with. Lies: Ashley lied about how she'd developed her powers when she joined the Secret Service. Nobody Knows The Troubles I've Seen: Watchdog's personality is of necessity not very nice - she has to play the part of the gritty, unlikable vigilante as a way of making sure no one pays too much attention to her. Out of Town: At her core, Ashley is in many ways still a product of her conservative upbringing - even though she did learn to relax during her time at Claremont. Patriot: Ashley George loves the United States of America and all it stands for. Secret: Ashley George is a 26 year old Secret Service agent, not a teenager from an alternate universe! Split Personality: Ashley's powers occasionally result in her copying certain mental traits of those whose powers she steals - this annoyance is one of the reasons she doesn't do it very often. We Get The Job Done: Ashley is the biracial daughter of a first-generation immigrant. Who's That Girl: Ashley wears her helmet because while there aren't that many people who would recognize the workaholic wallflower that was Ashley George from her time at Claremont - or for that matter connect her with the heroine Copycat, there are a few.

"Another hour and a half or so. This body's top speed is actually substantially faster than this, but you might not like it if I accelerated to maximum speed and held it for a cross-continental trip." He smiled, the look in his eyes suggesting long experience. "We can land somewhere if you want and get food. I've learned that if I follow the small roads away from the interstates and touch down quickly, I can sometimes get through a whole meal before people start calling the media." Sharl didn't actually need to eat while in the android body, but it was a nice way of reassuring people that Citizen wasn't going to hurt them. As bizarre as Terra still looked to his Lor-born eyes, there was an exotic beauty in the countryside when you got this far out. "Hologram has helped many new, ah, psychics with their powers," said Citizen. "She's a very admirable person. I can put in a call to her now, if you want."

Let us know when you're ready to go again, @BlazingCoconut =)

It was a bit like one of those goat-wolf-cheese problems - who could be left alone with who? Who should actually go on the reconnaissance mission? Eventually it was decided that the best thing to do would be to send the three toughest members of the group - which like or not meant that it was Kimber Storm, Dragonfly, and Miss Americana who soon found themselves flying up the slopes of Mount Tyree, scanning for the remains of a long-ago battle. Between the interference caused by distance and the familiar EMP frission of Sharl's friend, Miss Americana and Dragonfly had troubles; but the technopath-powered robot and the battlesuit-wearing inventor could still detect some interesting things. Much of the near face of the mountain showed signs of ancient rockfall underneath the weathering, iced-over craters that a lesser scientist might have mistaken even at this distance for the aftereffects of vulcanism. About halfway up the side of the mountain, Miss A's sensors detected what Tarva's magic had from farther away - one of the ancient rockfalls had collapsed entirely in recent months and through the debris and the howling storm, Miss Americana and Dragonfly could detect organic tissue and Terminus metal only a meter or so from the surface. If this wasn't Mandragora, it was one hell of a coincidence. Kimber could detect things too - things at once more straightforward and more obscure. There'd been a battle here in the ancient past between powerful mystic forces and something else, something fell and terrible, and there'd been much death on all sides. The magic on this landscape was almost entirely dead, frozen shut by the cold and death all around them, but like the hardy lichen still clinging to some of the rocks hereabouts, it wasn't all dead yet - too much supernatural 'heat' might revive it, or at least melt the ice that surrounded it. A lot of things had killed Mandragora here; many of them had died in the doing of it - and some of them, if she looked hard enough, were still here. There was no Mandragora, though, nor any sign of a great spirit's dissolution. But then again, a great deal of time had passed... But what now? - Back at the base, Harrier had briefly abandoned his position guarding the scientists to watch the various monitors now on display in what had recently been the main science lab. He had multiple cameras going at once - one from Miss Americana and Dragonfly's telemetry, another at the scientists and pilot crew in their shelter, others aimed at the ice and snow outside. In his Caradoc armor, he was at one side of the room - the other was the smoking, shadow-wrapped Tarva the Black, her face blank and eyes dark as she watched the display - and perhaps use her own magic to look more closely. The two of them had wound up with Jill O'Cure between them, possibly deliberately. Neither of them seemed to be saying much.

Gold: Attack vs Midnight (have an HP, Giz) http://orokos.com/roll/579784 a miss! Go ahead and post, @Gizmo

At that moment, the red time-traveler raised its pike and shot the green time traveler in the chest with a flash of crimson energy. Green went down, hard, its costume sparking and smoking, and suddenly vanished in a flicker of light like a bad special effect. Distracted from his scrap with Midnight, Gold took a step back and seemed to have briefly lost track of who he was fighting. "Traitor!" he declared - earning a response from Red in a tone that was familiar to Midnight but not quite possible to place thanks to the helmet over his head. "Inaccurate." he said, even as Gold swung his pike at Midnight's head, a near-miss that from the way it made the air around his mask sizzle had just missed taking it off entirely. - Mark disappeared for just a moment, shooting a glance back at Nina, and headed for the waiting room door. Patting his sleeping mother on the shoulder, he put his ear to the door, then came back to the room with a look of confidence. "I think Midnight's got this," he said warmly as he came back to join Erin and Nina. For all that Erin and Nina didn't actually know each other that well, the presence of the other woman seemed to focus Nina's efforts - or perhaps it was simply the further progression of her labor. Nina settled into a wordless labor, giving herself over to the process amid grunts and moans that she'd have never shown to anyone else under other circumstances. And if the air occasionally rippled around them, and if she occasionally caught Nina cursing between clenched teeth, well, Erin had seen people pushed to the ultimate extremity before. With encouraging sounds coming from the doctor and from Mark, everything seemed to be progressing naturally.