Avenger Assembled

Edge/Monsoon Paternity - and Maternity Late July, 2017 Two of the most powerful people on the face of the Earth had dozed off on the couch watching reruns - but the beeping of Mark's phone alarm woke them. Having luckily put his phone in his lefthand pocket, Mark was able to reach down and turn it off without disturbing where Nina had fallen asleep with her head on his lap. She was awake anyway - but this way she didn't have to move. It was the sort of thing she appreciated in the third trimester. "Well, this is it," he commented, his voice quavering a little, "it's midnight." If they'd done the math right, and if Miss Americana's scanners had been right, Nina was today exactly nine months pregnant. "Soon Amir Lucas will enter the world," agreed Nina, resting her hand on her stomach. "Perhaps today will be a national holiday in the future," she teased. "Life is not so easy as it is in those calendars, I am feeling no labor pains and I think today will be just another day. Oh, he's awake, feel him..." She took Mark's hand and laid it on her belly, pulling up the stained Freedom City Heroes T-shirt that she would never let anyone else see her in but that was one of the few items of clothing she owned that still fit. For a while neither of them said anything, before Nina said, "He's strong. He takes after his father." Nina had been a trifle worried about carrying Mark's child, but his great power did not seem to have expressed itself in a super-powered infant. "I hope so. I mean, it'd be great if he took after you, but I think I make a better man." He rubbed her stomach lightly. "And I want him to be a good man. God, I can still hardly believe it," he admitted. "Another couple of days, and he'll be out of all those ultrasounds and up in the extra bedroom." His mother was there now, having moved in after the Fourth of July to help the couple out. Their friends had been there for them, both his and Nina's, but at the end of the day they were the first in their circle of contemporaries to have a child. (Chris had come over several times to help, but the truth was that Geckoman just didn't move in the same circles as they did anymore.) They'd be the ones offering advice in the future if their colleagues ever had a baby, a thought that Mark still found faintly intimidating. He'd always thought Trevor would make a better father than he would, or Mike for that matter. "For as long as we live here," Nina agreed. With great effort, she gradually sat up, leaning back against the couch and Mark to support herself. "Much depends on when he has his powers." Nina herself had manifested her hydrokinesis from an early age - but Mark's abilities hadn't fully emerged until his late teens. "And you'll be a fine father, Mark," she said, picking up on the inner insecurities he hadn't quite voiced. "You'll teach our son to be brave and loyal, and how to stay true to his principles even when it's difficult. Don't sell yourself short," she added. "That's a rare quality, even among superheroes." "Well yeah, I mean, I don't think I'll be a jerk..." Mark shifted on the couch cushions, trying to put uncomfortable feelings into words, something that he knew perfectly well wasn't his strong suit. "I just worry about everything else. Raising him right, making sure I'm there for him. Not leaving him..." Nina squeezed Mark's hand at that, knowing the hurt brought out by the close proximity to his mother over the last few weeks. "Your father lost himself to power because he had no control over it - it was a tide that swept him away even as he resculpted the world." Mark and Nina had visited that Earth, truncated as it was, more than once. Nina had not found a duplicate of herself there precisely, but she had noted that the al-Darsah daughters of that universe all managed the strange art of wearing full veils and belly dancer outfits simultaneously. She did not think very highly of Mark's father, but she knew not to bring that subject up. "You are an artist, changing things without being changed yourself. I know you'll always be there for me. And for Amir." Amir Richard Lucas, to be precise, as had been the subject of some argumentation. "I love you," said Mark, kissing her softly on the top of the head. They'd both let their hair grow out over the last few months, largely because they weren't traveling as much as they usually had - he'd cultivated his blond locks into a short ponytail while Nina's own thick black hair now reached close to her waist. "And you'll be a good mom - you'll have things to teach him nobody else could. Maybe this baby was an accident, but we'll make sure he has the best life we can give him." Nina's own mom had visited them a few times, but the coolness between the two women hadn't really warmed up even with the prospect of a grandchild on the way. Nina hadn't said much about that - and hadn't been interested in discussing it either. Putting those thoughts aside, he smiled, rising to his feet. "You know, we don't have to go to the wedding. Eve and Becky said they'd understand." "No, I told you it's fine," said Nina, in no particular hurry to get up herself, especially since she was limited to the locomotion provided by her swollen ankles. Her powers were being kept mostly in reserve, the manipulations of her internal fluids that came with her hydrokinesis being dangerous for a gestating infant. Her sisters had had to do the same thing while they were pregnant, as she'd remembered, a lucky recollection that had probably saved them a great deal of trouble. "It's not that I mind learning to knit with your mother...but I want to go out and have one last night with you. And after all we went through to get that black dress, I want to be able to wear it before the two of us get back to our usual shape. Unstable molecules are a mother's best friend." "And I know something else that is," said Mark, reaching down to take her hand and lift her, and him, through time and space and a swirl of multicolored dots in red, green, and blue before depositing her gently onto their bed in the upstairs. The king-sized bed had been excessively large when they'd first acquired it, admittedly, but it was comfortable enough, especially with the mattress set that had been among their wedding presents seven months earlier. With a happy sigh, Nina sank down into the bed, watching Mark as he took off his polo shirt before sliding into bed to join her. It hadn't been that long ago that slipping into bed together at midnight would have meant something altogether different - but not with Martha just a few doors down, and not when she was quite so pregnant. "Good night, Mother Lucas," Mark teased her. "Good night, Father Lucas," Nina teased him in return as she rolled over on her side to face him. "And Boy Lucas," she added, laying her hand on her stomach again. Amir did not always have the same sleep cycle as his parents, something that would hopefully correct itself in the womb. Mark laid his hand on Nina's and smiled. "He's dreaming about the future," he said. "So am I," said Nina with a white smile in their darkened bedroom. "I...I will be right back," she added after just a brief hesitation. She carefully rolled over and made her way out of bed, her bare feet quiet on the thick, carpeted floor of their bedroom as she headed for the master bathroom. There were some places she wasn't about to have Mark teleport her.

All right, tell me what you want your characters doing about this event, and I'll go ahead and describe it.

Hyperactive's punch actually knocked the Director down. It was the first real punch either of them had landed - and the Director didn't seem to like it one bit. Putting his hand to his face, he stared murderously at them both - before suddenly vanishing again. This time he did not reappear, and for a moment or two the two heroes were alone on the sidewalk. At least until suddenly came the sound of noise and exclamation from nearby houses, people pouring into the street with looks of wide-eyed shock on their faces. From what the heroes could gather, it seemed as though whatever psychic effect the Director had put on the citizens of Marfa had abruptly ended.

Not one to let someone stay in a cage any longer than necessary, Sea Devil once again ignited her armor's tridents. Mindful of impaling the Surfacer within, she climbed up on the walls and shoved the blades in high, higher than a human could have stood, as she cut away an opening for the heroes to enter or their target to rescue. Saber's insults didn't seem to register on her, and indeed they truly didn't. What did it matter what a Surfacer from another realm thought of Dagon and Hydra? He would be enlightened when the stars were right, or his heirs would be. She'd heard far worse from the tongues of Atlanteans in this very world. When the wall section was cut away, she caught it by quickly slapping it with one hand, the metal coverings on her hands transmitting her own sticky grip through mechanisms she didn't quite understand.

All right, Electroman resists that Taunt with a +18 check (he is still inspired) so he passes this round. The Psychic has Toughness +11 with +3 from Inspire. DC 21 Tou http://orokos.com/roll/535590 = 17 Just not her day! Okay, she takes a Bruise.

Some general thoughts, in no particular order - A negative Save is something you just don't want on a PL 10 character. I get the conceptual reasons for it, but you should probably make it low (PL-5 or so) rather than actually that low. Noticeable is not a suitable Drawback for a character like this - her suit is Noticeable because it's a battlesuit! Absorption isn't a good power - you shouldn't use it. She's way over-caps - with +11 ATK and +17 Damage in her suit, she's PL 14 offensively! Note that area effects are capped at PL anyway. By our House Rules, a third of your base Attack and Defense need to be actually paid for - so for example a character with +12 Attack with their main power needs to have at least 4 Attack bought and paid for. (So Starfire has +4 ATK and +12 with her Starbolts, or what have you). What I would recommend for the concept you have for this character is something like this: Use this sheet - http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/start/sample-characters/sample-character-4-battlesuit-r18/ Drop the Impervious from the suit (reducing the Device by 2 ranks) and spend those 8PP on magic-related things to represent her smothered powers. Tweak the complications a bit, and you're there!

All right, El Huracan is up - after him, Miracle Girl.

"May I take your image?" asked Sancta ingenously, holding up the same camera-thing that Petra was using to take Gaian Knight's image. "Anyway," she said as she snapped, "we use tachyon-neutrino cameras to monitor solar systems of interest. The energy cost is great, but it can be well worth it for the right sort of place." She beamed at Gabriel, seeming a harmless creature of innocence herself, the very flower of radiant purity. "I don't know of a Khanate," she added. "Many of our worlds once called themselves Grue and Lor, but that was ages ago. Is your native reality in the past?" she inquired. "How fascinating." Evidently seeing that his charges weren't going to betray any secrets at the moment, An-Guis shrugged his scaly shoulders and headed over for Tiamat to look her right in the gigantic eye. "So what's your story?" he hissed suspiciously. "You and the giant apians. You don't have anything like the technology to break the square-cube law like that."

Okay, that'll do the trick! Tou vs 27: http://orokos.com/roll/535135 He is bruised!

Got Orokos troubles? No problem. Str vs 21: http://orokos.com/roll/535129 = 3 Rolled a 1, haha! Well, go ahead and work out the mechanics there as you like.

The disappearing costume thing is because he is attempting to telefrag you - if he succeeds in getting a grip, he could probably do you an extremely serious injury. The teleporting, I dunno, that would probably take a scientician! Sending himself through an alternate dimension, breaking himself down and moving quickly, who can really say? Question - if Hyperactive is Power Attacking for 2, shouldn't his attack roll be +8 instead of +11?

Woodsman: 27 Notice 26 on Survival (for tracking) Technology: 26 Search: 14

Primal roared a feral shout that suggested he lived up to his name and reached for Hyperactive - but he wasn't the real threat! At that moment, Hyperactive heard a word in his mind and it was PAIN! And he did feel pain, his teeth biting down his tongue and his ears ringing so loud for a moment he thought he'd gone deaf, a burst of agony that stayed behind like (of all things) an ice cream headache, a sharp, burning pain deep inside his head. Locking eyes with the sneering psychic down below told him exactly where the thought had come from. Mind Knight's costume befit her name, a tightly fitting frame encasing her head like the foundations of a helmet, her Chapter Zero jumpsuit looking particularly armored as it clung to her thin frame. Her eyes were dark and her curly hair wild, and she was obviously having the time of her life. Her counterpart underneath the plane wasn't doing so well. "Ugh, stay still, ya Miss Americana knockoff!" Electro fired a blast upwards at Miracle Girl, missing by a mile. He said a particularly foul curse, heedless of the way Army bullets were richocheting off the glowing sphere surrounding his body like bottled lightning. All flares of actinide yellow and white, he'd have been impressive to look at it if he was any good at hitting any targets. "Can't stand flying girls! Think they're so much better than everybody else!" "Dammit Electro, stick to the plan! And knock off that bullshit!" spat Mind Knight. "Get the plane open so we can get the old man!"

Bruised and dazed! Okay, as soon as I post IC, Chrome will be up.

Doing what?

He's not gonna shoot him...yet!

For me the advantage of an existing city is that it comes with a history, a streetmap, and a culture we can easily graft superheroes onto. As for why people are in Switzerland, don't forget that UNISON is based out of Geneva, so there's existing precedent for that being a base for international heroes. (A UNISON hero team would also be able to travel pretty freely, as would a EU-centered one based out of Brussels) However - that's just my two cents. I agree with what RedGuy says about the need for making the investment to make things work - I think if we're willing to do the work to make a fictional European city (and if we can get some actual Europeans weighing in) then that's a perfectly good way to go.

Sea Devil knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to retract the face of her armor long enough for the Atlanteans to see her and bellow "Here I am! Come and fight me!" But she knew that was unwise - betraying her presence there might bring more Atlanteans down on their heads and plunging herself into battle would certainly frighten Jessie. And if she thought of herself, fighting with Atlanteans...yes, it was wisest to hang back. Sea Devil and Singularity hung back as they approached the embassy gates, letting Warrior Woman and Volcanic handle this particular crisis. Sea Devil found herself glancing again and again at the giant shark out in the water, wondering what secrets it retained. What were the Atlanteans doing - and why were they doing it? "Did they take them?" she finally croaked aloud.

Electroman: attempts to taunt Miracle Girl as a move action: 22 You can go ahead and roll to beat that if you want, you'll have to roll super-high, though! attempts to blast Miracle Girl: http://orokos.com/roll/534827 = 14 Unfortunately, Taunting doesn't do a blessed thing to her Defense, so that misses! (Normally her lack of Uncanny Dodge would render her flat-footed at this point...but I think it's a stretch to say she's not prepared for combat here!) Psychic: Will go ahead and drop a Mental Blast on Hyperactive. DC 25 Will save there, Kolo.

Woodsman closed his eyes and opened them again, his finger not so much as tensing on the trigger - about the only muscle that didn't go briefly rigid at Grim's intrusion as he fought the urge to spin around and put a bolt right into that darkened doorway. No, not intrusion - appearance. Matt's not your enemy. He was reasonably confident Matt hadn't actually been tailing him, he'd have picked up on the other boy before now. "I don't need to shoot you," said Woodsman, not terribly convincingly trying to cover for the fact that he'd been taken by surprise by Grim's arrival. "Grim here'll take care of you for me." He stepped back to one corner of the room, his back against something secure, his hands still gently cradling his bow. "Know ya been dealin'. We know people died'a'it. Whatcha gotta say about that?"

If Woodsman shoots him in the leg, are we gonna go into initiative?

"Just gotta tell us," Riley offered. "Can't be there if we dunno." He smiled thinly as he looked at Robin, admitting, "Wouldn't hurt me t'do that either, I guess." He patted Fred uncertainly on the arm, not wanting to risk spooking her or pushing past his own barriers when he was already tense. "Don't feel bad 'cause you have it bad," he told her seriously. "We all got troubles. We all gotta be there for each other." He shifted awkwardly, then said, "I gotta go. You prolly don't need lotta boys in here right now. Or anybody else." Riley would happily sneak into, or near, Robin's room for who-knew-what at any ungodly hour, but he was always very punctual about not openly being in her room even close to curfew hours.

Why not just use the actual Basel? I personally like the idea of using a real city - it's more fun to have a real place to play with. My personal thoughts - IMO a good super-city needs a multinational character, a decent-sized population, and a skyline. Which gives us Paris, Frankfurt, and a few other cities in Western and Central Europe. OTOH, Switzerland (Basel, Geneva, etc) gives us a neutral setting where all sorts of characters can pop up.

"Fools! I've been fighting you wretched metahumans for sixty years!" This did not seem to match the looks of the comparatively young man fighting them, but he certainly seemed to believe it. He disappeared and came up behind Hyperactive, reaching out with his left hand this time. Once again he didn't quite make contact - but the missing scrap of fabric on the back of Hyperactive's costume suggested what might happen if the mind-controlling teleporter ever got his actual hands on flesh. This time he didn't disappear by teleporting, instead making an acrobatic leap off the group and landing between the two heroes again. "The Freedom League couldn't stop me, Vanguard couldn't stop me, my own wretched flesh and blood couldn't stop me! What could you possibly do against me?"

http://orokos.com/roll/534565 = The Director will go for Hyperactive and miss. You're up, K!