Avenger Assembled

Lena's turn.

http://orokos.com/roll/481929 = 19 He just makes it! http://orokos.com/roll/481930 = 21 Okay, he is grappled.

"Yes, we've been seeing a doctor in Geneva who specializes in metahuman pregnancies - I didn't want to commit to anyone here in Freedom City on short notice." Unconsciously, with their secret out, she rested her hand on her stomach. "I've been a little lightheaded a few times, but so far those al-Darsah genes are winning the day." She grinned fiercely at that. "And thank you, Joe, we probably will need a nursery here." She took the hat, nodded in satisfaction at Trevor's craftsmanship, and handed it to Mark, who immediately put his hand over his mouth, tears visible in his eyes. Without another thought, Mark hugged Trevor, then turned to Corbin. "As long as you think you guys can plan one before Valentine's Day! We've set a date and everything this time." He wiped his eyes. "I still can't believe it! I'm so happy..." He turned the hat around and around in his hands. "Iyar is very pleased, yes," said Nina, smiling up at Trevor. "All this changes is timing. I told her she'd better hurry up with her organizing - I don't want to look like a beached whale when we return home." "You look beautiful. And you will look beautiful," said Mark, kissing Nina's cheek. "We told my mom already. She's very happy for us, all she asked is that we don't raise the baby as a superhero - unless he or she wants to be." "And of course I said we have no intention of forcing the baby to be a-" At Alex and Mike's arrival, she briefly fell silent, turning to Mark. She knew what he wanted to say even before he said it. "Hey guys! Guess what!" Mark grinned. "We're having a baby!"

Mark showed Quantum Shift his picture - it was primarily a sketch of the young man he'd met when he'd first entered, looking back out of the page and smiling, but surrounded by a faint cloud of half-sketched faces and shapes that matched some of what he'd already seen from the shapeshifter. It was a bit like seeing the real man through the layers of possibility around him. "Show me how you want people to see you," he suggested, pencil hovering over the sketchbook as he studied the shapeshifter.

"Fools!" hissed the Scion of Set, squirming his way out of Stronghold's grip with alacrity. He was both strong and flexible, with something of the inhuman musculature one might expect from a humanoid snake. "Your femalesss will be concubinesss and maidssservantsss in the Scion's realm!" What Horus wanted to say was "Oh yeah? Well if I stick this thing up your ass and twist it, who's the freakin' concubine then!" Instead she let the helmet do the talking, sneering "Thou crawl lower than the serpent whose name you have stolen - no mean feat, varlet. You _will_ choke on that poisoned tongue!" she added, raising her burning-gold ankh high.

Aquaria tried not to think about Atlantis. About how their empire had conquered so much of the world - building their cities, carving their highways, erecting temples to their gods, crushing or driving out any of the 'barbarians' who dared stand in the way of their armies. About hiding in terror from the Atlantean soldiers who had come to find her tribe, calling people driven to starvation and death 'raiders' because they stole, they fought, they killed the enemies who had taken the world that was rightfully theirs. She knew not all Atlanteans were monsters - she had little good to say about people like Nereid or Glamazon, but they weren't the merciless killers she'd always been taught they were. But the empire? Their father, the king whose lineage had won an alliance with the Surfacers because pink skin was more familiar than green and white? She tried not to think about Atlantis. She didn't like how it made her feel. She'd almost turned off the radio in her room when news came of the opening of the embassy - but she was trying to hear more Surface words and learn more Surface culture, and that meant listening even to the words about her peoples' enemies. Instead she crouched in her small pond, half-submerged in the water her heater kept warm, and mouthed along with the voice of the speaker. It was easier to hear about Atlanteans when she didn't have to see them. Reaching into her pool, she took a handful of water and dumped it over her head, remembering a line from a Surfacer holy text she'd once heard. "...Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over..."

That's a miss! Judex is up.

"That's pretty dark for someone who can be anything he wants," commented Mark dryly. "Maybe you can't fix everything in your life, or everything for everyone, but you've still got a lot of power." He thought of his friends like Wander, and all they'd suffered through, and pressed on anyway. "Life isn't fun and games, but that's just part of growing up. The question becomes, what are you going to let yourself be?" He shook his head. "I don't mean shapeshifting. Your life is what it is, you are who you are. Are you a character in someone else's story? Or are you going to go out and live it?"

Hmm. Your top and bottom drawbacks really feel more like Complications than Drawbacks...make a case otherwise, if you like!

APPROVED

Mark and Nina fell silent, the latter having come out of the living room to greet their newly-arrived guests. For a moment they both looked downright stricken - before Nina actually burst out laughing, perhaps a little too forcefully for what hadn't actually been a joke. "...all right, Mark, I don't think you'll get a better moment than that." She took his arm and looked at the others. She'd broken the news to her friends at the mosque and UNISON - he'd broken the news to his mother. It only seemed fair. Mark took a breath, let it out, and spoke aloud, loud enough for everyone to hear. He put weeks of arguing back and forth, research, and frankly a little prayer into one short sentence. "Well, uh, we were going to wait until Mike and Alex got here...but we're moving the wedding up to February - because we're having a baby." He put his arm around Nina, a smile spontaneously erupting on his face. Nina smiled too, perhaps a trifle later, as they waited for everybody's reaction.

Zip. Lady Horus took this opportunity to simply appear behind the Scion (though she had been inside the building and fighting his minions the last anyone had seen her) and smash it on the back of its scaly head with her glowing ankh, a perhaps unheroic move that nonethless had the effect of making the beast-wizard howl in fury and pain. "Thou odiferous ill-nurtured scut!" she taunted him, zipping out of range of a swiping paw with alacrity. "Thou artless unwashed codpiece! Do you think you can best Horus _and_ her fair allies? You can hardly best your bedroom mirror!" Anger was in Horus's voice, especially when another magic blast sizzled by her head and tore into the abandoned building behind her, but also a sheer, laughing joy at battle. This was a warrior goddess born!

Lady Horus: Move Action: close within melee range of the Scion Standard Action: Attack! http://orokos.com/roll/480799 = 10 Well that's not good, I'll HP it http://orokos.com/roll/480800 = 24 Much better! Tou vs DC 29 http://orokos.com/roll/480801 = 27 He takes a bruise. On the Scion's turn, he seeks to blast Lady Horus. http://orokos.com/roll/480802 and misses! Stronghold is up.

Neat! Is Cannonade up now?

And Citizen for EC

I'll sign Sea Devil up for the FC thread and Lady Horus for the BC thread.

Okay, Bluefish, now you're up.

http://orokos.com/roll/480041 = 29 on Tou http://orokos.com/roll/480042 = 29 on Grapple

Have an HP, Rav. Lena's action will come at the bottom of the initiative. Judex is up now, though.

PL: 10 (150) Character Name: Teslad Power Level: PL 7 [PL 10 w/Terminus Powers] Trade-Offs: +2 ATK/-2 DMG [+3 TOU/-3 DEF w/Terminus Powers] Alternate Identity: Jackson Evans Identity: Secret Birthplace: Extra-dimensional Occupation: Teen scientist Affiliations: Interceptors, Archetech Family: Steve Murdock, Gina Evans, Sharl Tulink [uncle], Eira Katastroff [cousin] Description: The youngest member of the Interceptors of the 2030s is smart. He's adopted the stylings of a scientist from the movies of a century earlier - wearing a lab coat, goggles, and other gear that make him look like someone cosplaying Doc Brown. As far as most people know, that's what he is - a super-genius with a high-tech taser as his primary weapon, with a few cybernetic modifications that aren't uncommon for children born into wealthy, scientific-minded families in the early 21st century. He's certainly not a T-Baby - perhaps the most powerful born in the early 21st century, not a scion of the Terminus itself, his body infused with enough energy to make him a walking entropic power battery, the cybernetic modifications placed there by his 'mother' Miss Americana to make sure he survived largely invisible to the eye, hiding the power to infuse his flesh with enough entropic energy to fly, to ignite things just by looking at them, and to repel all but the most powerful blows. What a thing to say! Age: Late teens Gender: Male Ethnicity: Ambiguous Height: 6'0" Weight: 130 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Abilities: 0 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 22PP STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 24/14 (+7/+2) INT 26/16 (+8/+3) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 6 + 8 = 14PP Init: +12 ATK: +3 (+9 Taser) DEF: +7 (+3 Dodge, +4 Base, +2 Flat-Footed) Grapple: +3 Knockback: -6/-3 Saves: 0 + 6 + 5 = 11PP TOU +13/+7/+2 (+2 Con, +5 Enhanced Con, +6 Force Field) FORT +7/+2 (+2 Con, +5 Enhanced Con) REF +8 (+2 Dex, +6) WILL +8 (+3 Wis, +5) Skills: 60R=15PP Computers 7 (+15, SM) Concentration 7 (+10) Craft (Electronic) 7 (+15) Craft (Mechanical) 7 (+15) Knowledge (Technology) 7 (+15, SM) Notice 12 (+15, SM) Perform 1 (Theremin) (+3) Sense Motive 12 (+15, SM) Feats: 14PP Beginner's Luck Dodge Focus 3 Eidetic Memory Evasion Inventor Jack of all Trades Precise Shot Skill Mastery (Computers, Knowledge (Technology), Notice, Sense Motive) Speed of Thought Quick Draw 1 [ready] Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 45 + 1 + 12 + 10 + 10 + 1 + 1 = 80PP Container 9 (Terminus Mutant, Duration [Sustained]) [45PP] Damage 10 (Extra: Range [Perception, +2]) [30PP] Flight 3 (50 MPH/500FPM) [6PP] Force Field 6 [6PP] Super-Senses 3 (Terminus Awareness [visual, Enhancements: Analytical, Radius]) [3PP] Datalink 1 (10 ft) [1PP] Device 3 (15PP, Taser, Flaw: Easy to Lose) [12PP] Taser Array 5 (10PP, PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 1, Variable Descriptor 1 [any electromagnetic]) [15/15DP] BE: Blast 5 {10/10} AP: Damage 5 (Extra: Penetrating 5 [as DMG 10]) {10/10} Enhanced Constitution 10 (to CON 24/+7) [10PP] Enhanced Intelligence 10 (to INT 26/+8) [10PP] Quickness 2 (x5, Flaw: Limited [Mental Tasks Only]) [1PP] Super-Senses 1 (Radio) [1PP] costs abilities 22 + combat 14 + saves 11 + skills 15/60 + feats 14 + powers 80 = 150 pts

APPROVED

Lady Horus: Attacks the SSS, all of whom are close enough to be hit by her Takedown Attack. Darn close hallways! DC 29 Tou save. http://orokos.com/roll/479308 They all fail! The Scion of Set blasts Justicar into unconsciousness. I edited my intro post - so Stronghold is up now.

With word that Erin and Trevor were on their way but detained by some last-minute hero business, Mark and Nina did their best to be good hosts despite the latter's fatigue. Mark stayed busy in the kitchen, keeping the food warm and pouring drinks, while Nina kept up her end of the conversation from the couch. "It's fine," she reassured Joe and Corbin when they entered the living room, "I've just been exerting myself today." Mark and Nina's house, as usual, gave the appearance of well-organized chaos - Nina's books on Arab history and global politics mixed with Mark's comic books and art books on the shelf, Mark's paintings matched with art Nina had bought through the Socotran exile community, all creating the appearance of a mismatched pair that nonetheless flowed together well. It suited the two of them well enough. "That blonde Amazon of yours, the one from the Christmas party, is she coming?" asked Nina with a smile at Corbin. She knew perfectly well who Quo-Dis was, after all, the tall woman having towered nearly a foot over the petite Middle Eastern woman at the party.

Woodsman worked his crossbow's lever and fired from the hip - and seemingly missed! The bolt buried itself in the ground just ahead of the charging dogs, its shaft hissing and sparking. Woodsman didn't look bothered, though, in fact he was nearly expressionless as he tucked and rolled behind a particularly large tree. 3...2...1- The blast came with a sudden, shocking flash of light and noise, a small fireball erupting outward and battering aside the last three dogs of the small pack, giving them just enough to yelp in surprise and pain. When Woodsman peeked out from behind cover, half the dogs were down, their fur singed and smouldering, some twitching and some not moving at all. Woodsman had been hunted through the Forest Primeval by too-smart wolves that spoke to each other in yips and howls as they chased men into traps and lures. Woodsman didn't like animals at all. Good. They bleed. He put up his bow, knowing there wouldn't be time for a second shot (plus he'd only had the one bomb), and pulled out his hatchet.

Good luck, Darksider! You just have to ask, and we're there for you.