Avenger Assembled

"Hey, little fellow," said Dimitri to the dog, his eyebrows creasing together for a moment. He missed dogs, sometimes. It was obvious that he was more interested in the dog than the men pointing guns in their direction. Rather than frighten what was obviously a combat-prepared animal, he said, "Yeah, good luck with your counter-revolution, buddy, but we just looking for Ace Danger. We take him off your hands, no troubles." He waved his hand, looking distinctly fatigued beneath his icy armor. Hey, at least language glamour still works. I don't really have an interest in learning steam-age Arabic or wahtever they're actually saying. Eying the guns, he went on, "I know it's warzone but you should point that thing at your enemy not at likes of us. And mind your trigger discipline." The last was not bark, not in combat, but a sharp retort.

"Hmm?" Dimitri had been eying the battlefield with a professional demeanor, he looked back at Talya and said, "Is pretty standard stuff. Early modern magical revolution simultaneous with scientific one, allowing for magical power revolution to merge with steam power revolution." He scowled, uncharacteristically sober. "Not uncommon thing - not a good thing, either. Despite fantasias of American science feection writers, usually just means that now bosses have brass golems to whip the workers back into line. To change heart of industry is easy. To change heart of man, that is work of ages." He put his hand briefly on his chest, listening for the drums, then said, "OK, tired of listening to those suka blyad drums. Between three of us, I can be shot, so stay behind me," he said, trusting Talya to mask herself in her own way as they headed for the drum beats.

They wound up speaking to a representative from the Terran system's defense organization - the Freedom League. Once the identity of the missing Terrans had been confirmed, the agent posted there replied smartly, "Roger, Voidrunner, we have your message loud and clear. Can you transmit a visual signal?" Aquaria looked up for the 'camera' pointed her way, waving with both big three fingered hands, and pointed to Jessie to show she was there too. When the signal was transmitted, the Freedom League agent said, "I've been asked to direct you to drop to .01 lightspeed and direct you to the Lighthouse, that's the LaGrange Point station orbiting Terra. Do you copy?" - Down in Freedom City, Erin's phone buzzed. It was a message from Freedom Hall's emergency line. TRANSMISSION RECEIVED FROM SHIP ENTERING SYSTEM. CAN YOU VERIFY INNSMOUTH/WHITE? The picture that had come with the message, though grainy and blocky by Lor standards, was clear enough for Erin's standards.

Can Frost tell them anything about the magic, durf?

After making a few calls (upon realizing the relative distance to Providence and the need to stop the unholy invasion as quickly as possible) Glamazon wound up hitching a ride with a young woman named Quickstep - a smartly-dressed Claremont alum in a green bodysuit who was working her way through college by using her powers as a mass transit service. (She was a subcontractor for the Atlantean Embassy.) Quickstep deposited Glamazon at the Amtrak station near the park, where crowds seemed to be fleeing the park in large numbers - no surprise, given the booming chant she could half-hear from that direction. "Be right back," said Quickstep, looking down at her beeper. "Getting you a special consultant." By one of those lucky strokes of fate that happens to superheroes - or maybe because Terrifica, with her vast intellect, had headed not for the park but for a natural staging area for arriving superheroes from outside the city, no sooner had Quickstep disappeared than Glamazon was joined by Terrifica, just riding up on her bike after a hard twenty minute ride from MIT's campus, the cowled superheroine cutting a distinctive figure amid the crowd of fleeing civilians. - Back in Freedom City, Aquaria hadn't hesitated a moment before opening the closet where she kept her armor. She'd had to fight hard for that armor, submitting sworn statements from the Voidrunner crew and the Star Knight that she'd used it for peaceful purposes, making her case before their probation officer, and (she guessed) benefiting from some intervention by Jessie's sister. But she had kept the armor, and now, "No one else knows my people like I do. If I don't go, They'll probably just send some Atlantean thugs who'll try and kill everyone in that tribe. I can keep that from happening, and I...haven't seen another Deep One in so long..." she croaked as she stepped back to let the armor wrap around her, its seams glowing green as she disappeared inside it. "And if they're invading the Surface because of another vile Surfacer cultist, I can show them that they don't have to live that way. You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'll be okay." In the armor, she hopped out of the closet to crouch next to Jessie, looking up at her with her big eyes visible behind the open faceplate of the armor, a question on her face. Despite her confident words, Jessie could see how nervous Aquaria was from her posture. After all, if she really was confident her own people wouldn't hurt her - she wouldn't be in the armor. Just then, the cell phone rang, Jessie standing the closest to it. Jessie heard, "Hello - this is Quickstep. Is this the number for Sea Devil and Singularity? Under, uh, the Public Service Act of 1942, and the terms of your probation, I've been hired by the Liberty League to transport you both to Providence, Rhode Island to deal with a regional emergency."

Phantom and Reagent found the park a scene of chaos. The Deep Ones were hopping around the park in a mad frenzy, another half-dozen emerging from the water every minute or so to join the booming chorus of voices. They were marking the park, and the city as their own, inking eldritch patterns onto the pavement, tearing up the grass with their tridents, the police barricade by now largely abandoned. Phantom understood what the Deep Ones were singing - "<The Day of Liberation Has Come! The Chosen One Will Summon Dagon! The Stars Are Right - And The World Is His!>" For her part, Reagent noticed something else - she didn't just see full-grown Deep Ones below, giant frog-fish men that they were, but also young ones - infants clinging to their parents' backs, younglings at play amid the elder signs, and more besides - this was no mere invasion, this was a full-fledged occupation. The human occupants of the city seemed to be in a panic, running around and screaming at each other in the streets and throughout the park, the melee too wild and frenetic for them to make out without getting closer.

Lee wasn't quite off the hook. "I'll meet with you first thing tomorrow to discuss your academics. The time will be in your campus email. Right now, go circulate with Ms. Clouston and Mr. Smith. Let them show you campus." With that he was dismissed, right out to where Riley and Cathy were waiting for him. Outside, Riley snapped his hatchet back onto his belt with a practiced manuever. "Ya done? Let's showyaround." He rolled off the wall he'd been leaning against, wiry frame agile as a cat's, and began sauntering along next to Lee. "Where you wanna go? You gotta nice tail," he said after a moment, having sorted out in his head what someone with an appendage like that that they didn't bother to try and hide. "You turn into a giant squirrel or somethin'?"

Riley had been in more fights than most of Robin's friends - and he'd been trained how to fight, too. "Not gettin' blown up. I've been on Prime f'r months. The Atoms have'tve left the Goodman Building in that freakin' time. Those...people opened that goddamned door when I was there." The thought of normal human beings using Ferals as weapons made him sick. People had tried that in Raymond - people whose subsequent deaths had served as a lesson to the rest of community about the consequences of betraying mankind. From the smashed remnants of the dimensional gateway controller, there had been no way of finding the lost coordinates for Earth J-Disaster-1. "They did that on purpose. Must've." And they're there. They're there on a world that would have no way of knowing outside normals were their enemy. It would not be hard, for all their defenses, for outsiders to infiltrate the Raymond plant and wreak all sorts of carnage there. "You're a real tough one, baby," he said, gingerly laying his hand on hers. "Anyone else, me, Waverider, that girl wit' the ring - we'd be dead now if she'd hit us."

The Plague of Water Into Blood has come to Port Regal! http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/8881-tov-thicker-than-water/ The Plague of Frogs has come to Providence! http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/8882-tov-being-green/

"Are you asking about part-time superhero work?" asked Jasmine, giving the boy a level look that seemed to go right down to his core. "Many of our students volunteer in that capacity - others don't. Having superpowers doesn't mean you have to go into superheroing," she said, her tone deadly serious. "This is a high school, not a military academy. We're here to give you a well-rounded education that will prepare you for whatever career, or further education, you follow once you graduate."

Saturday April 23, 2016 9AM "This is Franklin Martinez at Waterplace Park in Providence, Rhode Island..." From behind the newscaster came the deafening chorus of voices raised in song - a bellowing, eerie song that could come from no human throats. He moved aside, letting the camera see the thousands of green and white-bodied creatures occupying the park, squatting in the river and the streets, hopping and singing their songs even as more came out of the water behind him. Deep Ones! Some were naked and weaponless, looking like the giant frog-fish humanoids they were, others wore black armor that looked like wrought iron and carried long, lethal-looking tridents. "Beginning early this morning, the Deep Ones began emerging from the Woonasquatucket River and occupying the heart of the city! So far the police and military have established a perimeter to keep back the invaders, but with their numbers increasing - " Suddenly, the Deep One nearest the newscaster (some thirty feet away, and behind barricades) leaped over and licked him, slapping him across the cheek with an arm-length green, bumpy tongue. The man shouted in surprise and staggered, nearly falling down, but kept his feet. He looked up at the camera, obviously rattled, and began to speak. "I, uh..." He wavered for a moment, then suddenly began stripping off his shirt. "Te veo a Jesús ! ¡Te veo!" he declared, his eyes wide and staring, a moment before the camera cut off entirely, returning to the news broadcast about the Deep One invasion of Providence, Rhode Island. At Aquaria and Jessie's apartment, Aquaria rose from her bacon-wrapped kippers and croaked, her voice warbling with the hiss that spoke of holding back a shout, "Jesssie, we need to go. We need to go there right now."

Friday April 22, 2016 It's an ordinary Friday afternoon - if you count news of a terrorist attack on Ocean Heights Amusement Park as ordinary. No one on the police scanner is entirely sure what's going on - there are reports of multiple officers down, some sort of massacre, "blood, blood everywhere," but whatever it is, it's very bad! If Nina was honest with herself, the main reason she was at mosque today was because she was in costume. The little Kingston storefront mosque wasn't the sort of place she'd go to worship even if she was feeling so inclined - too humble and unadorned, with the sort of simplicity that bespoke the sort of temporal poverty she still wasn't accustomed to. But speaking to the handful of young women at the mosque, most of them black Americans, well, that was a satisfying experience for the princess of Socotra. "From Nusayba to Queen Arwa, women have led, women have ruled, women of the Faith have fought from the very beginning. Never let anyone tell you you cannot be what you are because you are a Muslim." She looked around and struck one hand against another, her voice rising. "And never let anyone tell you that you can only ever be a Muslim - our faith is a finger on the hand that we raise to fight against injustice." When her police beeper went off, she reluctantly made her excuses, leaving behind her card before she headed outside to don her shoes and gather up her sword. Looking back as the glass door closed behind her, she waved to the excited young women inside, many of whom were taking pictures on their phones, before she began leaping from rooftop to rooftop, propelling herself towards the Amusement Park that was evidently the scene of some serious crisis.

"Not really a good judge," said the short, wiry boy, his heavy plaid shirt hanging loosely across his slim torso. "Let's get yata Summers." He and Cathy waited outside, the former idly tossing what looked like a camp hatchet from hand to hand, while Lee headed in for a private conversation with Jasmine Summers herself. Lee's conversation with the headmistress was short and to the point - Jasmine Summers might have been close to fifty but she was tall and athletic, her grip firm as she shook the young man's hand and invited him to take a seat in one of the stuffed chairs across from her wide desk. "Welcome to Claremont, Lee. I know you had the introductory talk when you were recruited for the school - and you've had the folder with housing and other information to study on your way here. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Okay," said Edge without a trace of hesitation as the temperature in the air. "Kenzie, we're going to get you back to base," he told her as he set aside what had otherwise been a delicious crawfish platter to put his hand on her shoulder for transport. "And after that, I'll come back here and find whoever did that. We got unlucky before but don't worry - that doesn't happen to me much," - "You have a very interesting system at the United Nations," said Nina with the politeness that showed teeth, her hands resting on the counter in front of her as Rivera spoke to the other agent about the mysterious man given access to some of UNISON's most important dictionaries. She thought this sounded really very foolish, but she wasn't about to say so out loud, especially when any number of people might be listening to someone who after all was just a paid contractor. In Socotra, things would all have been handled quite differently - quite differently indeed.

Reffited by HGM This should be the new mechanics for Aquaria's sheet. Singularity's sheet stays the same. Remove the picture. Abilities: 14 + 4 + 14 + 0 + 4 + 4 = 40 pp STR 30/24 (+10/+7) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30/24 (+10/+7) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16 pp Init: +2 ATK: +4 (+7 Melee) DEF: +7 (+3 Dodge Focus, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Grapple: +14/+15/+18/+20/+23 Knockback: -6/-3 Saves: 0 + 5 + 5 = 10 pp TOU +13/+7 (+7 Con, +3 Enhanced Con, +3 Protection) FORT +10/+7 (+7 Con, +3 Enhanced Con) REF +7 (+2 Dex, +5) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 44 r = 11 pp Climb 3 (+10) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 8 (+8) Languages 3 (Atlantean, English, Galstandard, Lemurian [Base]) Pilot 1 (+4) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 8 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Swim 3 (+10) Feats: 38 pp Attack Focus: Melee 3 Dodge Focus 3 Environmental Adaptation (Underwater) Fearless Sidekick 31 [Singularity] Powers: 1 + 2 + 45 + 8 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 63 pp Additional Limb 1 (tongue) [1PP] Comprehend 2 (speak to and comprehend animals; Flaw: Limited to sea creatures) [2PP] Device 11 (55 PP, Aquaria's Armor, PF: Restricted 1 [Deep Ones]) [45PP] Enhanced Feats 3 (Interpose, Move-By Action, Ultimate Save [Toughness]) Enhanced CON 6 (to CON 30/+10) [6DP] Enhanced STR 6 (to STR 30/+10) [6DP] Flight Array 3 (6PP, PFs: Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 1) [9DP] DBE: Flight 0-3 (0-50 MPH/500 FPM) {6} DAP: Super-Strength 0-3 (Effective STR 24/39-39/54, Heavy Load 1500 lbs-3 tons-24 tons) {6} Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9DP] Protection 3 [3DP] Strike 3 (energy trident, PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2, Extended Reach [5 feet], Improved Crit 2, Mighty, Takedown Attack 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [any energy]) [13DP] Super-Senses 6 (Radio [Enhancements: Accurate [+2], Analytical, Extended (100 ft Notice)], Uncanny Dodge [Radio]) [6DP] 3 + 6 + 6 + 9 + 9 + 3 + 13 + 6 = 55DP Deep One Power 3 (6 points; PFs: Alternate Power 2) [8PP] BE: Swimming 6 (100 mph / 1,000 feet per Move action) {6/6) AP: Leaping 2 (x5, Running Long Jump 85 ft, Standing Long Jump 45 ft, Vertical Jump 21 feet) {2} + Speed 2 (25 mph / 250 feet per Move action) {2} + Wall-Crawling 1 (half-speed) {2} {2+2+2=6/6} AP: Super-Strength 3 (Effective STR 39, Heavy Load 3 tons) {6/6} Feature 2 (Deep One, Iron Stomach) [2PP] Immunity 3 (breathe normally underwater, cold, high pressure) [3PP] Super-Senses 2 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision) [2PP] Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed w/no Powers Touch DC 22 Toughness Damage [Physical] Unarmed w/suit Touch DC 25 Toughness Damage [Physical] Strike Touch DC 28 Toughness Damage [Energy] Totals: Abilities (40) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (11) + Feats (38) + Powers (63) - Drawbacks (0) = 180/191 Power Points

Hours of Bloody Work Later McNider Hospital A very fatigued-looking Tesla Atom looked around the table at Naomi and Gretchen, looking fine (albeit worn) for a woman whose doppleganger they had worked together to bisect with a wormhole's event horizon. "It was all very...targeted. The coordinates for Woodsman's home dimension were fed into the wormhole's control mechanism - then the portal's power systems were sabotaged so it was left on. We're still picking through the damage now, but they must have had minutes to take whatever they wanted from the lab - even while their creatures did those horrible things." From the looks on the faces of first the Atoms, then the other heroes that had followed, Naomi wasn't alone in having her personal threshold of horror exceeded. "Now neither of you tested for radiation exposure; and Waverider, your superior is here to take you home. You can both leave. Before you do, do you have any questions?"

December 2015 Voidrunner When the big barracuda-like ship didn't follow them, Aquaria croaked in noisy relief before settling down into her seat. As she did so, she realized just how much her relief was mixed by fear. Despite impossible odds and impossible distances, things had come through for Sea Devil and Singularity, for Aquaria and Jessie. It wouldn't be long now before they were back in the Solar System - a concept she only hazily understood but that she knew meant they were close to Earth, and close to a return to the home she and Jessie had been trying to get back to for weeks. Close to trouble. She was acutely aware, twitching in her seat, of all that had happened - of how her pride had sent them to the stars, of how her anger had gotten that Surfacer killed, and of how all the stars of space had seemed to be against them on their journey. She knew, too, that her life in Freedom City was not her own - she was a symbol of the fear and loathing that Surfacers had for her kind, and a criminal to boot. With all that she'd done, what would happen when she returned? Blackstone again? Perhaps Atlantean custody? Or maybe just exile - a banishment to the waters off Freedom's coast where she was an outcast among all who lived beneath the waves. Turning to her still night-catatonic friend, Aquaria took a long breath and released it as a deep, almost subsonic, bellow. Jessie would be home in the world of her birth, surrounded by her people, away from the world that Aquaria had thrust her into. That was what mattered. Through the blood of sacrifice, I gain power, she thought, closing her big goggle eyes. Through the blood of sacrifice, we are free. Up front, the dinky little Terran comet belt station had just hailed the Voidrunner.

"Hey, you gotta 'nother newbie, huh?" The voice came from the quad's largest tree as they passed by - a moment later, its owner appeared, dropping out from where he'd been hanging one-handed to the largest branch. Short and wiry, Riley looked up at Lee before shaking his hand with a hard, rough-handed grip that belied the fact that the boy couldn't be much older than Lee himself. "Riley Smith. Nice to meetcha." He ran his hand over his smoothly-shaven scalp, then said, "Cathy's real good at diplomacy 'n stuff."

Eira made a face. "Everyone wants to talk about who I am dating," She wandered over to one of the windows and looked out, her eyes glinting in the glow of the city far below. "My mother and father wanted to wait until I am sixteen before I have puberty installed, but Miss Americana said that is not psychologically healthy - so they had an argument." She rattled off the English word "psychologically" with perfect pronunciation - medical terms being something she never stumbled over. "I don't know when I want to do any of those things," she admitted. "I want to look like a grownup. so that no one thinks I am a child, but..." Unconsciously, she made a fist. "it is strange to think about changing my brain and being different. Bodies are...strange when you think about them. You and Sharl, you have shown me I do not need flesh to be a person."

I went ahead and put her in London.

As the heroines entered the cult compound, a white-faced Tarva gestured and a cloud of swift-running, red-eyed shadow-hounds erupted from the folds of her low-cut dress. Seeming to understand the intentions of the cultists with terrible certainty, she blasted right through the doors of the chapel, screaming at the top of her lungs. "YOU FOOLS! THEY AWAIT YOU EVEN BEYOND THE GRAVE!" Her hounds made straight for the punch bowl, knocking it aside and tearing apart the glass with loud crunching sounds, the poisoned liquid spilling out onto the chapel floor with a hiss. "WE ARE YOUR DELIVERERS FROM DAMNATION!" - Outside, with the quick distraction of the guards, it proved easy enough for Blue Fox and Wraith to overcome them - they'd all seemed to be distracted by sudden squawks of alarm from their radios! But of course they'd seen Tarva go for the sanctuary - everyone had. - A bullet bounced off the back of Tarva's head - she didn't turn around as she advanced on the Disciple, hounds pattering along after her. She raised her voice and actually managed to shout louder than the Disciple's amplifier, her voice like seven black legions howling at once. "YOU THINK YOU CAN TURN TO DARK GODS FOR YOUR SALVATION? I'LL SHOW YOU DARK GODS!"

I love this concept! I'll slip an APPROVED in here - but double-check the Toughness on her minions.

I could not be more sold on this character. Approved. Though I think Additional Limb is 1PP - did you want the Innate PF on that?

Riley wiped the scowl from his features by sheer force of will - instead projecting a smile at Robin that she'd have seen right through if she wasn't on all this medication. "S'okay, honey, s'okay. Sanderson 'n' Fred are on their way here with your stuff. And you gotta another day with yer sunburned boyfriend here," he added with a wink. He had indeed gotten a 'sunburn' on his face and hands, the sort of radiation exposure that wasn't uncommon to people caught in the middle of superhero battles. Least it wasn't the hard stuff - can't go back home if I'm gonna get skin cancer. "Everybody else already went home. Bet Naomi's sayin' some things." He smiled, but in his mind was back there still, and his smile fell away. "I am so sorry this happened," he said, not for the first time while Robin was conscious.

A murmur, maybe of disappointment, maybe of something else, went through the Lor troops at Cavalier's and Eclipse' speeches - followed shortly by the escape of the Voidrunner. "Keep-no," said Frankan, shaking her head as she spoke into her communicator. "Let them go. Terran system observers wouldn't...understand the situation. Come back to the station and pick us up." Her pale cheeks had flushed pink for a moment as she stared out the window - but by the time she turned back to the crew in the bar, her voice was quiet and purring; the Grand Nauarchus was back in control. "Captain Eclipse, I will see to it that your contract is honored to the letter. Knight Stewart, I will take your advice under consideration, as per the Republic's signed protocols in our dealings with the Star Knights Corps. And as for you," she added, turning to Rock, "I hope you'll change your mind. A being of your nobility deserves a place of honor among the defenders of the Republic." When that didn't seem likely to happen, she made a small sigh before gesturing to her troops. "It's time to go." As the troops prepared for their departure, the Grand Nauarchus seemed to feel that her words hadn't been enough yet. "And just for the record, history may choose to damn me for what we're doing to protect the Republic. But what we're doing will make sure that it's Lor historians doing the damning. And that, Captain Eclipse, is all the justification I need - all the justification that any Lor needs after the fall of our home."