Avenger Assembled

The man with the shotgun, the one who'd called Anna out, made a derisive noise. "Lady, you think some old cartoon can hurt me? I'm-" Anna Cline crossed the three body lengths between them and punched him in the solar plexus, her fist flying in a blur that looked like it should have broken her arm from the sheer force of impact. When the man staggered and gagged, she kicked the gun out of his hands and spun him around so his torso was between her and the restaurant's over-the-counter security camera. Then she hit him again. And again. And again - stamping down on the instep of his foot with bone-crunching force, smashing the heel of her hand against the front of his face, then following it all up by grabbing up the fallen shotgun and driving it butt-first into his groin. It had all taken less time than it took a dropped cheese curd to fall from table height to ground. "I think _I_ can hurt you," she hissed, moved to particular anger by the mention of the man who'd abused her sidekick and tried to kill her, stepping back as he fell to the ground. The man holding Sofia squeezed with the arm around her neck, hard enough that she heard joints pop and things start to hurt even worse. "I'll do it!" he was spitting at Alice. "I'll break her neck, I swear to God I will! Jesus!" By now most of the crowd was on its way out the door, Bedlam parents being smart enough to grab their kids and crowd out the fire exit, with only a few locals actually there to cheer on the fighters or take pictures with their phones. It was Bedlam, after all. The third thug, on the other side with his partner and Sofia between him and the other two women, waved his gun around, sweat standing out on his sallow features as his eyes widened. "Aaah, it wasn't supposed to be like this! I don't know which one to-" The gun went off - and Alice felt something hit her in the side! Looking down she saw a trickle of blood, but an oddly small one for a gunshot wound. Was that a...pellet gun?

Okay, Sofia will be up as soon as I post IC.

Nah, go ahead and get 'er done!

"Take thy leave for just a moment, Lady Azul," said Lady Horus, knowing full well that her ward would be listening by the door anyway but needing at least the appearance of privacy. Esperanza did as she was told, still shaken from the ambush, her bag over her shoulder as she stepped into the nearby room that had once been one of the steel mill's offices. Face-to-face with Nicola, Anna Cline pointed one finger at Nicola. Up close, the transformed nature of the woman within was obvious. Though Nicola could only see half of Anna's Cline's face and much of her body was covered by brightly-colored linen, what she could make out looked as if two or three decades had been lifted from her shoulders. As she spoke she moved around the room, hands clenching at her sides. "Thy wounds have healed - wounds gained in my favor, and in the favor of mine protege. Because you have shed blood for me and for her, we speak as friends. I owe you a boon for what you have done. But...I have known others of your race. Many were fiends - I called one a friend. I have..." thought about it tried not to think about it told jokes about it wondered what it would be like She thought about it fast and decided that, even through the Helm, there was no point in double-speak -"never lain with a woman before last night. When we lay together, was I ensorceled?"

Anna Cline: Anna punches the one who said the Hammer of Justice's name. http://orokos.com/roll/546059 = 24 Her Autofire exceeds the DC to hit him by 9 (4) DC 23 12 Okay, he failed by 11 so he's staggered and dazed. She can't move now or she'd be leaving Espy in a room with guns - so I'll give her an HP! She'll surge to hit Thug 2 again http://orokos.com/roll/546067 = 30! Okay. 4 + 5 + 4 + 15 = DC 28 http://orokos.com/roll/546069 = he's down! I'll spend that HP to clear the fatigue next round. Thug 1: Puts a squeeze on Sofia! That's a DC 20 Toughness save for Sofia (take an HP since I put you in the Grapple out of combat) Thug 2: is down! Thug 3: doesn't know who to shoot! It came up Tails, so he'll try for Gremlin. 24 Okay! That's a DC 20 Toughness save for Gremlin

Okay, we're going for the Disarm! http://orokos.com/roll/546053 = 7 Okay, you got it!

"Oh, well, thank you, friend Dol-Druth," said Hro Talak, applauding lightly at the show in the Zultasian fashion. "But I'm just a friendly journalist. People like you and Councilor Ditra, you're the real story on such a momentous occasion as this. A pleasant day to you, Councilor," he said with sibilant warmth. "How fares the Hive on this fine day?" he inquired. "I suppose this must seem like so much mammalian frippery to one used to being governed by more civilized standards. But I'm sure our friend Knight Stewart could tell us some tales of what he's seen in his travels as well." The Zultasian's eyes were frank and appraising as they looked Ditra over with a reporter's cool gaze - and something else behind it that was nearly serpentine. The Core Worlds were divided, badly, between Th'emme and Frankan - it was immediately clear that Frankan wasn't sweeping the military colonies as she should but it was also clear she had more support in the interior than she should have. Maybe not a majority but a whole mass of sentients in some of the most settled parts of the galaxy were voting for security at every opportunity. "Oh, it's you," said the Flaxian, rising awkwardly to his feet as Barrier approached. "Okay, well, thanks for talking to me, female!" he said with a little wave Bliss's way. "Do you know the secret?" he asked Barrier, loudly enough that Bliss and everyone near them at the bar could hear. "About the Progenitors and their children?" His amphibious voice was wobbling with drink, but his rheumy eyes were fixed directly on Barrier. "There may be some among your people. His Seed was cast upon the Galaxy long before the Delaztri fell - long before any of us were." The worlds by the Unity were another mixed bag - the planets that actually did business with the Grue, especially those near the Individuality, were solid for Th'emme and her message of mutual security - but those a jump or two away from actual Grue? They voted for protection against the Grue in great and frightening numbers. Where was this hostility coming from, when an actual war was so far away?

Alice: 25 Anna Cline: 24 Thug 1: 20 Thug 2: 20 Thug 3: 15 Sofia: 11 Okay, Fox, you're up!

When the dust cleared, Air Force One had taken some heavy damage - an engine was on fire (thanks to Firebreather) and a good-sized hole was missing from the plane's flank. But the plane itself had survived - and the villains attacking it had all been driven off or taken into custody. Primal and Mind-Knight were both down, the former in Argonaut's custody and the latter in Miracle Girl's, while Firebreather and Electroman had made their escape with the latter carrying the former. "This isn't over!" the fire-breathing leader of the Chapter Zero group shouted. "We _will_ bring down the President! No gods! No masters!" And with that they were off, speeding away faster than the fliers in the group of heroes could catch them, and probably faster than the jets that had scrambled by now for pursuit. And then it was done - the gunfire and explosions had stopped, the villains had made their escape, and the heroes (and their prisoners) had a chance to catch their breath on the runway in the shadow of Air Force One. Their work wasn't done, though, the plane itself was looking battered (though unbroken) and the base MPs who'd been fighting alongside them had taken the explosions, batterings, and fireballs that came with war against metahuman opponents.

"Willow should be with her children," said Steve quietly. "and Wander has seen enough of these places." He stood like a statue as he considered the words of the others, then said frankly, "There are no magical experts I would trust here. If there is an incident with Lemurian or Atlantean magics, we will find a solution." Retracing the steps of the initial, low-rez reconaissance soon enough brought them to the broken-open doors of the ancient vault that held the cyber-crypt, the orichalchum frames emblazoned with barbaric imagery that Steve was able to identify as artwork from Mandragora's long-dead homeworld. The crypt itself was long and cylindrical, lying canted on its side, and a deep jet black marked with still-iridescent red that didn't quite match the stonework all around that was primarily built out of local rocks. There were bodies here too, or rather their remains - humanoids in Mandragora's colors, along with what might have been Atlantean and Lemurian bones. "The organic residue left behind is too great for nanites to have been used here," Steve added softly. "Those bodies froze intact upon death and have been here ever since." The crypt lay, half-off the altar that must have been its intended resting place, like a half-built monument to a future that had never come, surrounded by the bodies of those that had died around it millennia earlier. It wasn't broadcasting any direct signals, but to find out what lay within, whether well-concealed corpse or cybernetic memory, their probe would have to get even closer. As the probe approached the crypt, the stale air of the long-gone tomb seemed to hum with suppressed power.

Initiative time!

They're gonna kill Esperanza and make it look like a goddamned robbery was Anna Cline's first thought. Her second thought was Oh, they're just a bunch of stupid little gunsels! Robbing ME! She put her hands behind her head but didn't drop her wallet, waiting while the loudmouthed Mexican girl got their attention. Probably Mexican, anyway. I dunno. Of Honduran stock, Esperanza had pointed out the difference between Hondurans and Mexicans to Anna on more than one occasion. The Latin Aces are the Mexican boys that dance when the Honduran boys say 'dance' - so what are they doing pulling a job like this? She thought all this while one of them, the mustachioed leader, got in the face of the brassy girl. "Shut your fat mouth, puta!" sneered the man as he got up close and personal with Sofia. "You fucking out-of-towners think you can come to our city? Spend your money on burgers and fried cheese? This ain't Madison, honey, nobody's gonna hold your hand, chica!" Up close it was clear he was high, and maybe the others were too - tweaking on something that had their gazes wide and staring, eyes bloodshot and breathing fast, and gave them a distinct and alarming twitch as they waved their weapons around in ways that put them in as much danger as each other. "I think I just found our driver, boys!" he said, going in to grab Sofia around the neck and hold her at a more intimate gunpoint. Up front, the other two guys were clearing out the registers - and the wallets of the terrified staff. One of them, wielding a shotgun, caught sight of Anna Cline and said "Hey!" Turning, he pointed the gun at Anna and said in Spanish, "<Hey look, it's her! The one the Hammer of Justice wanted a piece of, man!>" For her part, Anna didn't know Spanish herself - but she knew what Hammer of Justice sounded like. It was what Esperanza said when she was in the middle of a nightmare, or taking the showers that she took at least twice a day, or- "All right, boys," she said, raising her fists. "How do you say it? Arriba! Arribba! Andale!"

I think getting punched by a giant monster is a good time!

I'll go ahead and wrap it - post is coming!

Monster 2: spends a move action going around Fred's cover Goes for a punch! http://orokos.com/roll/545214 = 28! Oh crap, almost a crit! Anyway, DC 24 Toughness save there. Monster 3: is dazed!

"It's time to fight for Freedom!" called Jayaman. Raising his hands, he shouted his magic word to the sky and transformed into his heroic form - Garuda was a massive eagle-man with a foot of height and a hundred pounds of muscle on Jay, with a great flaming sword in his hand. "Ho!" He spread his great wings and took to the sky, buffeting the heroes on the ground for a moment before he reached 'cruising' altitude. Qualia was just behind him, rising into the sky on a pillar of psionic power before she swooped towards the giant monster crawling up the great triple towers of the Pyramid Plaza. Through a combination of carefully placed holograms and some optical illusions, they soon seemed to be 'up in the air', hundreds of feet above the ground as they engaged the Archvil thing with flaming sword and mental powers. For his part, Citizen knew how this one went - he sat back in his seat and watched the new students expectantly, wondering what they were going to do. He didn't know some of them, but he did know Salvo and a few others - were they going to figure this one out?

As his father spoke, Terry closed his eyes, both the marked and unmarked one, and concentrated deeply, his little face lined with great effort. Dimitri mused that perhaps the boy was right to think so - how difficult this must be for Erik, a mortal man in a room with so many immortals, some offering him the taste of ambrosia, others assuring him it had a bitter taste now that they had taken the liberty of drinking deeply. Still, its taste lingers long. How long would he enjoy living past his family, past his neighbors, his city? Dimitri seriously considered offering his opinion once the room had quieted, but then suddenly Terry's expression broadened into a smile - and a faint but distinct scent rose from him."The child's bowels have moved!" declared Dimitri. Thank the gods! Child, you are a marvel.

Okay, I gave it all weekend - I'll be wrapping the combat in this thread with a post tomorrow.

Lady Horus said something that Anna was reliably informed was a particularly foul Egyptian curse, something she believed because she'd heard both Set and Nepthys say it at one time or another. She was already calculating how this was going to make it into the local newspapers and what she was going to do if her family caught wind of it, but for now she had to move fast. When she saw Esperanza had her bugout bag she stepped forward, letting the girl grab onto her back in a move that would have knocked Anna Cline down but was no trouble at all for the sun goddess. "Take my hand," she said, extending it to Nicola. "We shall FLY," They flew out through the window that Lady Horus had knocked open when she'd battered Stabbo away, and soon the trio were flying across Bedlam City as fast as a racecar!

"What about your family?" Esperanza asked quietly, her voice unusually subdued. Tall and darkly complected, the girl couldn't really pass for a biological relative of Anna Cline, whose pale blonde hair was more and more artifice every year. "Ah, it'll be fine. My boy got me on this online banking stuff, I can get at my money without going home" She'd gotten most of her money from her son, too, a cash payment he'd saved from a half-a-decade of Supercrime! that had been more honest dollars than she'd ever seen. "And as long as I go visit them at Christmas, they won't suspect a thing." She'd never actually bought the house on Carter Bay that she'd lived in for nearly a decade, preferring to just pay the increasingly exorbitant rent. Her fingers scraped the bottom of their cheese curd basket and she pulled herself to her feet. "All right, I'm gonna put in another order. You eat your ice cream, diploma girl." Shooting her protege a quick grin, Anna wound up in line behind the two women who'd just arrived at the restaurant. Anna herself fit right into the restaurant, looking like the middle-aged marathoner of Irish and Polish stock that she was. She overheard the commentary from the two girls in front of her but opted not to break into it, knowing the last thing they'd want to hear from is some old lady feeling sentimental. Wonder if they're second-story girls, she thought, thinking about good spots in this neighborhood. Bank didn't look too secure down the street, she thought, hands in her pockets and a smile on her face as she thought back a few decades... And then there were guys rushing in the door with automatic weapons. Automatically Anna looked across the restaurant at Esperanza, who was sliding down behind her seat in a well-honed reflex. Anna wanted to run her way, but she knew a sudden flash of metapowers could trigger gunfire. She heard children crying, and thought of the little boys across the restaurant from where she'd been sitting, the small baby with the couple across from them, of all the smiling family pictures around this place... "All right, cabrons!" called the leader of the trio of gunmen, leveling what was of all things an honest-to-God Uzi at the room. "I want to see purses, and wallets, and phones! And if I see a f*cking camera flash, I'm spraying this place down!" The other two were busy shoveling their way past the quickly dispersing line, the better to get at the cash register. "This is Latin Ace territory now!"

"Madre de Dios, Anna, she's a vampire!" came Esperanza's exclamation from the hallway. The teenager really had come prepared for a hasty evacuation. Lady Horus stared at Nicola, eyes glowing yellow with solar energy, as she processed this with superspeed. She thought of the night before, and of how she'd taken a woman to bed for the first time in her life. Anna remembered Lenore, sweet and sad, trying to impress the Raven with how she wasn't a monster despite preferring the company of criminals and supervillains. All of Lenore's pretty hopes for redemption had gotten her killed when the Raven had picked a human woman over the monster. "I have eyes to see," Lady Horus replied to Esperanza. Anna didn't like talking to the girl through the godly disguise, but right now there was no other way. "If you can feed without killing, take what sustenance you can from these worthless wretches," she said, gesturing to the criminals below. Studying Nicola, and stepping back to let her actually take what she needed, she added, "I can look upon you without fear. Thou are not the first nor the last of thy kind I have seen." If she does kill those guys, I am gonna look like such an _ass_ in front of Espy.

What followed felt like two hard punches to Nicola's back - until she realized she could smell half-digested blood in the air and that the pain exploding from her lower back was far greater than punches should have given. Stabbo was behind her, blood on his knives and a smile on his face. "Now that we're done with the opening act, I think it's time for the main event! Come on, baby, let's put a smile on that face-" He was coming at her with the knives again when suddenly a god appeared next to him out of thin air. "Ho, thou vile fiend! Taste the solar fury of Horus the Avenger!" Before Stabbo had time to respond, the divinely-crowned paragon smashed him in the side with the crossed handles of her dual ankhs, the sheer force of the blow knocking the man across the room and out the window like he'd been hit by a bomb. It had occurred to Anna, of course, that she could have driven the pointed end of the ankh through one side of the man's head and out the other - but she wasn't a killer, at least not without more provocation than this. Spinning her ankhs away, the goddess stood before Nicola, gleaming with divine power, the Sun seeming to radiate from her half-covered face, white-blonde hair cascading down her back in glossy ringlets. Ah, geez, he got her right over the kidneys! Leaning out from the kitchen, Esperanza yelled something that Anna knew was a particularly foul Spanish curse, then ran like Hell for her bedroom and her bugout bag. Good good, just as Anna had taught her, and made her practice. She'd be bringing the first aid kit too, which was exactly what they needed. "Thou art wounded! How shall your wounds be healed?" declared Horus as she moved to tend Nicola's injuries. Normally she'd have already packed Nicola up and flown her to one of Bedlam's hospitals, preferably the ones whose staff was on the ball, but she'd seen how fast Nicky had moved in the fight. She wasn't going to take a superhuman to one of those places without knowing more of the score.

Okay, she is injured and dazed. I'll give Lady Horus an HP for the Complication of watching Nicky get stabbed! To shorten the fight, I'll say that Stabbo has gotten a touch sloppy and dropped his Concealment. The DC to hit a flat-footed Stabbo is 13 http://orokos.com/roll/544170 = 17! Okay, he has to make a DC 29 Tou save. http://orokos.com/roll/544172 = 11. Okay, he is unconscious (and knocked away) - and the fight is over.

All right, they are constructs and that does hit. Reflex save vs. 18 10 Down by 8, a palpable hit!

New round: Since neither Lady Horus's nor Stabbo's actions went off last round, I'll put them back in the same initiative order. Lady Horus: 35 Stabbo the Clown: 34 Nightingale: 28 LH will continue to hold her action, expanding herself out to attacking anyone who attacks either Nicola or Esperanza. Stabbo is going to attack Nightingale! We'll call this a use of his Damage 6 (Extra: Autofire) {12/12} Attack vs. DC 14 (since he still has full Concealment) http://orokos.com/roll/544152 = 20 Okay! That's 6 + 3 = Toughness DC 24. Woof! Okay, give me that Tou save, Nick.