Avenger Assembled

Her eyes invisible behind her helmet, the Patriot began reading the documents. While the Raven or another super-genius peer of Terrifica's would have carried on a conversation with her while reading them, the Patriot approached this more like someone reading a loan application or a legal document. When she was finished, she said "This is fine. It looks like you've captured Red Death, her doofus minions, and everyone at the party that night." Terrifica had heard about the incident, of course; even before she'd been contacted. The Patriot had squared off against the Red Death and some hired goons and taken them all out - and people had died, too. She handed the files back, then asked "How is this different than the League's Wreck Room?" she asked, referring to the holographic training system used by the Freedom League.

Martha frowned, gave Rev a look, and then said, "Ohhh, I get it." She smiled thinly, assuming a sympathetic manner. "Honey, my ex-boyfriend was the same way. You don't have to pretend with me." She moved her hand away from her gun and said, "Listen, he was really tweaking when they took him out of here. If you drive up into Stone Ridge, maybe the night crew up at HQ will sign him out to you if he's not violent anymore. I'll buzz you through, just between us girls." She hesitated a moment, then said, "Listen. Let me give you something that'll help the both of you out." She stepped away for a moment, then came back with a small pamphlet that asked the question WHEN IS THE PARTY OVER? "Read that together, it'll help. And don't go sneaking around up there," she added in an almost sisterly fashion, "you're lucky I didn't draw down on you."

Say what you will for the Iron Talon guys, they were efficient. Rev could hear "What the hell?", see the door open, and then one of the guards stepped out to look at her. The woman looked to be in her late thirties, greying brown hair cut short; stocky and tough-looking, with a broken nose and scar across her forehead. She looked closer, saw the eyes, and realized this was her 'friend' who'd told her where to find the bathroom. "You lost, honey?" MARTHA (by the nametag stitched on her uniform) said, her voice considerably frostier than it had been before. Her left hand hovered low, near the .45 strapped to her waist.

Well they might fail that... Notice: 8 Okay, they ready an action to shoot you! https://orokos.com/roll/981088 = 22 Okay, so there's that roll if it goes off.

Okay, here's you an OOC for this thread, @Supercape

The unisex washroom was clean and tidy, albeit cramped. say what you will for the Iron Talon people, but they kept a tight ship. Everything looked very clean, in fact; the trash cans were empty, the soap newly-filled, as if the cleaning crew had just now come through. That didn't necessarily mean every clue was gone, however. Peering out into the short hallway where she'd been guided to the bathroom, Rev could make out the door to the small office where the two front guards worked, their voices semi-audible from the bathroom door, as well as the way back outside. Headquarters were probably the Iron Talon 'police station' near the heart of Stone Ridge; but of course she wouldn't be able to drive there without the security guards knowing about it. Unless...

A loud buzzer rang, admitting Rev into the waiting area. The faces of the guards behind the glass were obscured until a panel slid open, just wide enough for her to make out a peering narrow face and two bright blue eyes. The voice was old and gritty, as if the androgynous speaker had smoked a long time. Rev could hear the tap-tapping of keys behind the translucent partition. "They already took him back to headquarters. Sorry, honey, you missed your tip." For an Iron Talon guard at this hour, this was practically the height of civility. "You wanna dry off before you go back out there?" they asked, gesturing to the nearby facilities.

The Stone Ridge gatehouse was built to look like a stone farmhouse from another era - well, if you didn't know anything about architecture, anyway. There was a red and white bar across the private road, two armed guards in a drive-up window on one side. Even in a city like Bedlam, that much armed security wasn't really necessary, but it certainly sent a message. Pulling into the building's small parking lot, Rev couldn't see any sign of Pete outside; though given what was brewing into a real storm outside, maybe he'd taken shelter inside the building. Through the glass doors of the "HELP DESK", Rev could make out two more bored-looking guards, their attention on their computers, sitting at desks behind heavily-reinforced glass.

"Hey grrl," said Pete tiredly, rolling the rrrs in the old nickname. "Sorry if I woke you up." He exhaled, and then said, "Hey, there's some - there's some trouble at work, grrl, and I didn't know who else to call. I know what you're thinking and I swear, honey, I swear, I am not drinking again." Another pause and the definite sound of rain behind him. "I, uh, I handed in my resignation, which meant I can't use the company bus pass and I was technically trespassing at headquarters, which meant - listen, I'm at the Stone Ridge gatehouse now but they said they might come looking for me anyway. Can you come pick me up? I swear I'll pay for gas, I won't owe a thing - not a new thing, anyway."

Summer 2023 Bedlam City, WI Stone Ridge is one of the newest parts of Bedlam; and certainly one of its wealthiest. When the city descended into squalor and crime, the wealthiest fled here, bringing old money and new problems with them. Stone Ridge is not technically part of Bedlam; not even an incorporated community. That means that Bedlam PD doesn't patrol here, just a few underfunded county sheriff's deputies. The law around here is set by Iron Talon, an armed private security company that used to hire its contractors fresh off the planes returning from Iraq and Afghanistan - and now tends to go recruiting in veterans' hospitals and shelters and find men and women who don't quite fit into civilian life anymore for whatever reason. There's not very much street crime in Stone Ridge - the Iron Talon crew is infamous for brutality beyond even what the Bedlam PD dishes out, and anyone from outside the (almost all white) neighborhood is liable to get into a lot of trouble even if they're just there to look at a new house or deliver a package. They tend to go in guns blazing when they see a superhero; which has kept many of Bedlam's erstwhile costumed defenders out. Not because they're in danger - but because everyone else is when they're there. Pete Moss has been working for Iron Talon for a couple of years now; even since he got clean. He's a veteran who didn't come back quite right from Afghanistan, even if the most dangerous thing he did was fix cars in an Army motor pool in Kabul - war will do that to people sometimes. He doesn't do any head-breaking; he just works on their private impound lot. He and Rev were an item back when he drank but he's closed off since, taking the firm position that he needed to leave behind everything from his old life if he was going to get better. The shop has been closed for hours when Rev's phone rings with Pete's cell number, but she's still working on a car - funny how that works out.

APPROVED

"Hmmm," said Santa Claus, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "We do have many Japanese things lately, not to mention things for nice kitties! I think something can be arranged..." He clapped Leon on the arm manfully, his grip the strong, work-roughened grip of a master craftsman. "Well-said, my boy." Then he called to La Puma, "Lo encontrarás en casa esta noche. Lo sabrás cuando lo veas!" Eira stuck her tongue out at Leon, taking Percy's hand in hers as she said to Luke, "Percy's operation is a - subsidiary of the main industrial operation here, yes? We-he's working on setting aside some traditional practices that have held back real scientific development." She was practically beaming. "After all, who's to say that magic can't be improved by progress?" "Yes, well," said Percy, as he smiled at Luke. "Between the Spider Queen, Krampus, and the Snowman, operating in the North Pole can be tricky. Science or not - we can always use a visit from Santa Claws!" - Over the next little while, after everyone got a tour of Santa's workshop, some remarkable things happened: Nightscale was presented with a magical contract - though it was the first he'd ever seen on red construction paper printed in green ink. He'd be paid a fair bit of silver every year if he was willing to come protect Percy's workshop (and the rest of the North Pole) on important holidays like December 25 and January 6. Angelic looked uncommonly pleased with herself for a while, though she and Percy stayed apart while she was touring with the others, her cape flying behind her in a breeze that never seemed quite cold enough for the Arctic even at this time of year. La Puma's gift turned out to be the mug - which at first seemed to be a small gift indeed until she noticed it refilling itself every time it was empty, with all the thick, warm, hot chocolate she could drink! The cat winked at her every time it did so, and putting her ear close let her hear the soft sound of contented purring. "He'll have things to say when you need them," offered Santa Claus, "if you keep him close." Santa explained that he'd been working with the heroic community for many years, ever since the days of the Centurion, and suggested the heroes ask people like Miss Americana or Dragonfly if they wanted more stories of heroes saving Christmas. Leon was presented with a brand-new streaming rig for Neko, a 'studio-in-a-box' that she'd be able to take just about anywhere. "This is my design," offered Eira proudly. "Much of the new electronics section comes from my work." At Santa's indulgent smile, it was clear what one of her presents had been. Eventually the heroes and their magic escorts made their way back to the gateway from which they'd come; a bit of magic topology that didn't seem to surprise any of the North Pole regulars. It was a perfect day; the ice and snow beneath their feet cold yet somehow welcoming, the sky overhead a welcoming shade of fierce blue.

you don't need True Resurrection as per our house rules. Looks okay at first glance

Father Christmas went from hero to hero, congratulating them all and thanking them for his rescue. "It's always close to Christmas around here!" he told La Puma Negra warmly. As if from nowhere, he produced a cup of steaming hot chocolate and offered it to her, the rich-smelling drink in a mug emblazoned with a cat with a perky Christmas hat. Switching smoothly from English to Spanish, he asked "Creo que sé lo que quieres. ¿Quieres un amiguito?" He smiled. "Think about it!" And then Santa Claus gave Leon a sad look, his round rosy face wrinkling like a roasting apple in the oven. "It's been a hard life for you, hasn't it, Paper! I'm sorry the world's been so difficult for you." He looked at the boy and then reached out, putting his hand on Leon's hand that wasn't a hand at all. "I know it won't make up for all the difficult years, but if you like, I can give you a hand." Over on the other side of the room, Percy turned to Nightscale, holding onto Eira's hand and said, "Magnificent young dragon, would you be interested in a job after you graduate? It'll only be part-time - but we'll pay you in gold!" He laughed like the tinkling of a silver bell made of chocolate. Eira stared at Percy for a moment, a smile creeping across her lips, then called to Leon sardonically, "Are we?"

Like a lot of super-geniuses, Mara had lots to talk about. Hey she is pretty smart; thought Ashley suspiciously. But not every mega-intellect is a superhero, she reminded herself, even if it did tend to attract the super-brains like flies to honey. "It, uh, it's a long story, but they had a replacement picked out and he tried to kill the Vice-President because he doesn't like taking orders from Asian women." She smiled tightly at that. "There was an opening, somebody needed to fill it. And yeah, we'll figure something out." She looked around the inside of the boat, obviously thinking of her wife-to-be and a baby crammed into that space. "She keeps talking about parking a starcruiser down here, but I think I prefer my feet on the ground." She hesitated - then made herself say what she was feeling. "Thank you. This is - this is really great," she said, making a gesture with her hands that encompassed the whole room. "I'm really glad you're here."

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Okay, good. This is something I planned for, this is something I can handle. "Despite what those stupid movies say, the government doesn't take a lot of interest in the personal lives of metahumans." Most of the time. "It's not a good idea to piss off a bunch of walking nukes if you can help it, right?" She hesitated, "The Freedom League knows about me, that was part of joining. Fleur actually recognized me from Claremont if you can believe that..." She looked away and snorted, thinking about the plain and simple fact that the Interceptors have been on a government watch list ever since their leader had brainwashed them and used them for an attempted seizure of global power. "Obviously there have been some concerns, but whatever interest the government has in you, it's definitely not in your kids. Good, happy super-kids who don't think Uncle Sam is looking over their shoulder means everybody's better off." She considered what to say to Mara, then said, "I've heard worse. 'The Patriot's a ball-busting bitch,'" she ticked off on one hand, "'the Patriot's a fascist pig', 'the Patriot's turning our kids gay...'" She smiled thinly. "The rest is stuff that's been screamed at me since before puberty, so you know, whatever." She hesitated, then admitted, "That's, ah, why we're going to try and start a family after the wedding. Because I realized if I spend the rest of my life like this," she said, tapping the helmet, "the only way I'll ever get anything normal is if I reach out and take it." She breathed out, then said, "But listen to me; I sound like the Raven. Little kids send me pictures they drew of me, girls say they want to be me when they grow up, and I volunteered for this. What am I doing bitching about it."

yay!

Ashley smirked a little. "I'll have you know I already met the government doctor who'd be extracting my eggs and he was a perfectly nice man...and yes it was weird!" she added, with a faint blush in her bronze cheeks, remembering the conversation where she'd met the Lor military physician who handled 'frontier medicine' out here in the Sol System. Technically they hadn't directly brought up fertility issues between two women, but Fa'Rua had been ready to talk about it on the way back. "Landing a big family is nice. She's a lucky kid; even if she doesn't always tell you that." She remembered being that age - and being around people that age not too long ago. - Cold Jersey weather or not, Ashley felt good on the walk home. Ellie and Mara were proof that it was possible to make a relationship work long-term when you were a superhero; something that nobody, not even her friends in the Freedom League, had been able to do - and they were more evidence to the case that superheroes actually could be good parents despite how weird their lives were. She listened to Ellie and Mara talk with one ear open and hands in her hoodie pockets, letting herself think about the future. Now all I need is a yes...and maybe things are actually going to start to get better. Back at her house, she hesitated just a fraction before she said, "Okay, uh...this has been a really great evening," she said, reaching out to squeeze Mara and Ellie's arms, "and I'm so glad you took me up on this. I really want to do this again, and...if everything goes good, you'll both have an invitation to my wedding. But there is one more thing I wanted to talk about. Here, I've just got it inside..." Inside, she headed for the duffel bag she'd left along one side of her couch and started fiddling around with it. "Now, before I do this, I..." She stopped, flipped on the overhead light, a yellow LED bulb, and went on, "Ellie, I know you're a civil libertarian with your hero work, and that's fine," it wasn't that fine but plenty of her friends had different lifestyles than she did and she didn't judge too much, "because you and your team have made that work. So we may have some differences here, but..." She hesitated, hands in the bag, and said, "Lately I've realized that this super-woman of mystery bullshit might be fine for my job, but it's no way to live. Not with friends, not with family. So, without further ado," she reached into the bag and pulled out a blue and white helmet, then a matching dark blue bomber jacket with a white star over the chest, adorned with a series of metal pins. "You know I said I work for the government, right? Well - I am the Patriot."

With a distant sound that distinctly echoed like the opening bars of It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Paper brought the giant guitar down on the Spider Queen's head - with fantastic results. "Noo! Noo!" she cried in a chorus, "not the beats of that infernal music! Aieee!" And then suddenly, the Spider Queen fell apart! What had appeared to be an exoskeleton and skin turned out to be an outer casing holding in a truly vast horde of black spiders that spilled out and onto the ground everywhere in a vast, scuttling wave of arachnid life, fleeing the heroes up the walls and towards the opening in the ceiling like a tide going upstairs. Eira wasn't upset to see them go; and neither was anyone else. Well, except for one. Santa Claus had escaped his bonds and stood, holding a single black spider in his work-roughened hand, a sad look on his bearded face. "Oh Spider Queen," he said, making an unhappy noise at the back of his throat, "you just couldn't let anyone else be jolly when you were so miserable yourself." He set the spider down, letting it scuttle away to join its peers. "And now, my friends!" he said, waving his arms at Leon and his crew. "Look at you! The hero children who saved Christmas." For her part, Angelic approached Percy, the man-sized elf who'd been captured alongside Santa Claus. "You look well, yes?" she asked tentatively. "You see I told you she couldn't stop me, whatever spell she used." "Ah, Angelic," said the elf playfully. "So serious now!" He stroked her pale cheek and smiled. "I knew you'd come for us. For me." Eira sucked cold air through her teeth and shot a glance at the teens. "Well. It has been a day."

All right, she fails that save and goes down! Let me get an IC GM post in.

Angelic whipped another rock at the Spider Queen's head, not surprised somehow when she missed again. Why not, since everything else was going wrong today. At least the distraction seemed to be helping the hostages escape. Both Percy and Jultomten were wiggling their way free from their bonds now that the spider's web had been so damaged, Jultomten with a look of uncharacteristic seriousness behind his jolly white beard, Percy with a look on his face like - well, there was no reason to dwell on that! Maybe he hadn't pushed the button after all. "If anyone is going to do something," she called once the two hostages were finally free and running away from the spider, slip-sliding on the ice and snowy ground as they went, "better to do it now!"

Angelic throws another rock at the spider queen. https://orokos.com/roll/979028 another miss! Paper is up as soon as I post for that and for his attack vs the web.

He's gonna try and Bluff the duplicates into getting out of the area - and then he's gonna do this Teleport 12 (1200 ft/20 million miles) (hasty light of the Pleiades; Extras: Affects Others, Area [burst]) {48/48} He is going to teleport back to Melissa's parents house - taking her with! The duplicator guy might come too, depending on if they get fooled.

Despite all the tough talk, Fast-Forward had to admit he was running out of ideas. That was the problem with super-speed, you had all the time in the world to think up battle strategies but you could run through most of them faster than the speed of sound. He could just run away, he supposed, but that would just leave poor crazy Melissa stuck here to deal with who-knows-what. Maybe she was paralyzed in time but there was no reason they couldn't just put her over their shoulder and do - God knew what. Not the thinking part of the group here! Then an idea came to him; maybe there were ways to run away without leaving the world behind. "Hey dumb-dumbs!" he called as he ran through the group of duplicates, dodging their blasts by the skin of his teeth. "I'm about to drop the mystic power of the star Sirius on your heads!" He flipped through the pages of the Tome of Theurgy as he went, chanting under his breath with a sound like the unzipping of the sky itself. As he ran, light lit up under his feet, tracing the mystic patterns of the Behenian stars. "Now I'm no science jockey, but I think that's gonna really fry your cannolis! So you'd better get out of here while you still can!" He ran all the way to Melissa, frozen in place like a statue, and touched her. "As for me, I'm gone." And then they were.