Avenger Assembled

"Yeah, but not at the enda freakin' November," Riley said with a snort. "I mean it's a harvest festival, right? If you're just takin' your crops in now in this climate, ya screwed. Nah, we do it at the enda October, sorta mash it up with the old Halloween. There are parties, games, and, uh, other stuff." The truth was, Riley had figured out just how much he liked girls during one of his last Thanksgivings back on his homeworld, but he definitely wasn't ready for _that_ conversation with Robin! "Wild turkey's easy to catch, too, so if the huntin' and harvestin' are good, everyone gets their fill. Everybody needs a party 'fore winter comes." The Smith-Finn residence in North Bay was by no means the largest house in the neighborhood, or even on the broad, tree-heavy and big-lawned block of mansions with which it shared space. In fact, it was probably one of the smaller houses Robin had seen once they'd turned off into North Bay. But the two-story grey stone house had the look of age and weight to it, and certainly looked much bigger on the inside than any place Robin had seen back in the Fens. "Mom said it usedtabe a gatehouse," Riley commented as he rode his bike up alongside the house, "back when all this was Wading family property. But the Wading heir spent all his money like this," he made a 'getting drunk' gesture, "and my mom and dad bought it when they turned the old mansion into condos." He looked at the house and made a soft, nervous sigh as he took off his helmet. "Looks different here."

Teleportation delivered Nicola into a room out of vampire lore - recent vampire lore, anyway. She found herself standing before a raised throne that glistened like black obsidian, its arms curled like the talons of a great beast and a human skull mounted at its top. Seated in the chair was a magnificently muscular vampire, built tall and broad to go with his grace, who looked in his mid-twenties, his skin alabaster pale and long black hair streaming down his back. She had a good look at that alabaster skin because he was naked from the waist up and his tight leather pants below were the sort of thing a man really could only wear for long if breathing was optional for him. Torches guttered on the stone walls all around them, casting the room into a flickering light that was eerie even for one who could peer into the darkness itself. She could feel the power crackling in the room, ancient and terrible, as the vampire king looked down upon her, a perfect figure of undead puissance, and declared, "What do you bring before me, Chosen of Heshem?"

While Miss Grue made her Thanksgiving preparations across town, making absolutely sure that she was dressed appropriately for the Terran holiday, the Cline family got their Thanksgiving day started. Television and Fruity Pebbles (and a big hot chocolate donut with chocolate icing) got Holly occupied for a while, along with the phone she was using to text Gwen Jackson about the start of her day. Richard kept himself busy in the time that Paige was continuing to sleep, going through the checklist she had left behind to make sure that the food was coming along nicely. He'd tried to talk Paige into letting him 'speed things up' this year, but as she pointed out jet lag wasn't going to make the holiday very fun for her - though he was still pretty sure "time salmonella" was something that Dr. Tomorrow had made up to ruin Christmas of '12 for them. "Hey, Holly-girl, text Miss Grue and confirm that she should get here at ten." That was still about two hours away. "I'm gonna get breakfast ready for your Mom." Breakfast in bed was going to be a quick affair, given how much of the kitchen was already in use, but Richard had the time to brew the coffee his wife liked and lay out the bearclaws from the gas station in Atlantic City she preferred. Laying it out on a plastic tray, he zipped upstairs to find Paige still in bed. "Morning, beautiful," he told her with a smile. "The food is fine, our lovely girl is busy watching Girls Meets World, your son sent us a picture of himself in his suit and tie, and here's breakfast. I'll make sure you've got time to eat it," he promised.

31 does hit. We'll use the below build with Concealment 4 for these two. Grapple vs 44: http://www.freedomplaybypost.com/topic/6795-aas-all-new-all-different-oddballs/?do=findComment&comment=197451 http://orokos.com/roll/346024 = 22! Wander has one of the two pinned.

Someone wanted an OOC

They spoke with Wraith briefly on their way there, that worthy having gone upstairs to consult the building's sensor equipment. This was a familiar enough trip for Erin, who had had several uncomfortable visits with Jessie since the latter's release in the middle of summer, but never with feelings like this! She and Trevor entered the apartment and found it just as Wraith had described it. There were a few marks of something strange happening; the broken screen on the old CRT television, the perversely regular circle of dust on the floor, and even the golden orb sitting on the living room floor, but for the most part the place strongly resembled the apartment that Erin remembered - right down to Aquaria's visible footprints on the walls and ceiling. There was no sign of a struggle. Aquaria and Jessie's clothes were still there; more ominously, the hydration gel that Aquaria used when she had to take long trips away from the ocean was also still there in the bathroom, as was Jessie's half-finished painting of a peaceful bayou (obviously drawn from the magazine picture taped up next to it). But as Erin and Trevor began their investigation, they began to realize something else was amiss...

"Going either way, eh? Hahahah!" Frost applauded. "Very good, young fellow, you have saucy mouth on you." He took a small sip of the vodka, which in his hand was already developing internal ice crystals. "Destroyers of continents, destroyers of footballs, I am pleased to be in such exalted company." He grinned insolently at the three of them, trying to remember what HBO was. Oh yes! American television network with show about gangsters. "Talya and I go back to war days. Spring of 1942 around Leningrad, Eeenglish spy meets with Russian ice monster, beautiful friendship is formed. So tell me how you met my friend of so many years!" he said jovially to Erik and Min. "I know there was some little adventure together before Talya took excursion to dimension of gigantic Scythian women with Comrade Danger some years ago?" he asked, circling his vodka-less hand for emphasis.

"I don't know anything about spaceships," said Aquaria, backing away to let Ruby look the ship over. It looked like a pretty standard civilian shuttlecraft, albeit one with a few odd scorch marks along the flanks that looked like it had passed through some rough 'terrain' on the way. Ships like this were a hundred a credit once you got back to the wealthier parts of the Galaxy. At the pilot's seat, the autopilot was intoning in Lor "FUEL LEVELS DEPLETED. PLEASE REFUEL AT YOUR NEAREST FUELING STATION." Aquaria thought about telling Ruby that they'd never been off Earth before, but she didn't want to make them look any more helpless than they already were. If strange fish couldn't prove they were valuable to a school, they just might find themselves gobbled up. It was an old Deep One saying. "You can have it, though, as our gift," she said seriously, reaching over to pat Ruby on the shoulder with her three-fingered hand. "So what do you do?" she asked Ruby. "You and the Voidrunners? Are you superheroes?"

TIDED UP BY HGM Edge/Monsoon: Please change Edge's age to 22. Spoiler Power Level: 10 (150/150pp) http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2010_The_Last_Airbender/tn640/010LAR_Summer_Bishil_001.jpg Trade-Offs: +2 Def/-2 Tou, +4 Atk/-4 Dmg (Noahic), +0 Atk/-0 Dmg (Scimitar) Unspent PP: 0 In Brief: Youngest daughter of one of the most notorious tyrants in the World of Freedom, Nina al-Darsah (aka Monsoon) is going her own way. Alternate Identity: Monsoon Identity: Secret [Registered] Birthplace: Socotra Occupation: Political Activist, Princess Affiliations: Socotra, Mark Lucas, the Liberty League Family: The al-Darsah dynasty of Socotra Description: Age: 22 Gender: Female Ethnicity: Socotran Height: 5'3" Weight: 140 lbs Eyes: Black Hair: Black Nina al-Darsah's Socotran ancestry is visible at first glance - her dark brown skin and glossy black hair mark her as a scion of a time and place where Arab, Indian, and African united as one. She generally keeps her hair, which streams down well past her shoulders, in a bun tied up on the back of her head. She's shorter and stockier than the average Freedom City superheroine, her athleticism a product of vigorous self-defense training; and like Mark has the kind of build that's well on this side of chiseled rather than actually cut. She has a forceful personality and winning smile, one that turns to a snarl or sneer when she's angry. She prefers to wear upscale, fashionable clothes (a habit she's trying to instill into Mark) and dark sunglasses when she's out among the mundanes, but in private wears baggy blue and white trousers and blouses that match the traditional Socotran national colors. She wears a headscarf at mosque, which is not that often - she will admit that she is an exceedingly poor Muslim. Her scimitar looks like a cavalry sabre laid with gold along the blade. As Monsoon, she wears a navy blue and light grey costume consisting of a pair of pants and a long sleeved tunic, with a golden-crowned hood and mask attached with pieces clipped together. Power Description: Nina's powers are a mutation inherited from her father - she's a hydrokinetic who can manipulate water drawn from any source. History: The youngest of twelve and raised primarily by servants after her mother's disappearance, Nina al-Darsah was spoiled as only the daughter of a king can be. She learned early on to poke people around her to see how they'd react, sometimes with her dawning powers but sometimes with her words, but soon found it was dull, tedious stuff. Servants feared her, as well they should, but that was no more satisfying than squashing an insect - and her siblings were far too old, with the exception of her brother Farida, who was just young enough to be vulnerable to a little sister's taunts and manipulations, which in retrospect, she admits, may be why brother Farida left when he turned 18 to lend his tidal manipulation powers to the forces of Japan's revanchist Imperial Resistance Army. He always was soft. But then Farida was gone, and what was she supposed to do with herself? She supposed one day she'd strike out on her own to seek her fortune as her siblings had, or maybe marry someone very wealthy and very handsome, and in preparation for the former she began studying the so-called heroes who had so often bedeviled her father, figuring they would one day be her enemies too. Deciding that the best way to learn about her future enemies was to go among them; she successfully begged her father for permission to study in America (and learn about its "superheroesa", all the while planning to sample some of that decadent Western culture. As fate would have it, she got a chance to do both when Mark Lucas, aka Edge, was assigned as her bodyguard during her first trans-Atlantic plane flight. Mark was a dalliance at first - he was good to her, and very handsome, and everything she was looking for in her first real lover. When she realized just how powerful he was, that was a source of a deeper attraction - what could she accomplish if a man like that was hers? But Mark proved hard to tempt, at least with offers of fame and power, and so she kept pushing, looking for the same weak spots she'd found in so many people over the years. But there was nothing - he wasn't frightened of her father or of her, he didn't seem to want anything from her except companionship that she rather enjoyed providing, and he had no ambitions to wealth and power. But he wasn't a coward, either; calling her out when she stepped beyond the boundaries of Freedom City etiquette, but defending her right to believe and say what she wanted at the same time. His friends, when she got to know them, were the same way - and it was baffling to her! Beings who were clearly her equal, at least in some ways, who saw their power as a duty to serve others while expecting nothing in return. It was baffling! It was like entering a realm of madness, or a realm of people speaking a language she didn't quite understand. She fought alongside Mark a few times, but her interest wasn't in superheroing. Of course, the more she thought about it, she wasn't sure _what_ she was interested in - her history major had made her a better writer and more comfortable in a library, it was true, but those weren't really skills she could see herself using back in Socotra, and she had no desire to live the tedious life of a scholar. But her life as an aimless aristocrat idly toying with the other aristocrats and her father's hangers-on now seemed duller than she wanted to live, and almost as bad - purposeless. But as it happens, fate has a way of finding purpose for those who seek it out - even if it's not what they might have wanted. After an assasination attempt on her father turned out to be the work of her own estranged mother, Nina intervened along with Mark to protect her mother from her father's wrath. The subsequent break with the family has left her an isolated exile in America - and driven her into a costume. But Monsoon won't last forever. One day a new Typhoon will sit on the throne of Socotra. Personality & Motivation: Nina is self-confident and not shy about expressing that, but she's also not stupid, especially now that so many things she took for granted have crumbled beneath her feet. She hides her insecurities, an alien sensation indeed, with arrogance that she doesn't really feel anymore, alternating with genuinely heroic resolve. She wants to be a better person, to have inner strength that doesn't come from the desiccation of others; but she also likes the person she was pretty well. It's a tough fight. Nina doesn't _really_ want to be a hero - she wants to go back to a home that's not really her home anymore. But in the meantime, she can't just sit around and do nothing. She has power and the will to use it; and there are battles that need to be fought here in Freedom City. A princess never turns her back on what she needs to do. Powers & Tactics: Nina has focused her powers on precision, lacking some of the overwhelming power of her fellows. Her attacks look like distortions in the air, swirling mini-vortexes that seem to reach inside the skin of her targets. She can stun people, knock them down, or even toss them around. She flies by manipulating the blood inside her own body; an eerie effect that (when she wishes) lets her eyes turn blood-red while she maneuvers. If need be, she will use her own blood to power her abilities, but not only is that dangerous, it looks very unpleasant. In general she's a talker, calling out her enemies for their obvious weaknesses and many problems, trusting in her agility and her powers to carry her through any counter-attack. When in Mark's company (or alongside another hero), she's a formidable member of any team. Complications (mostly for Mark): True Power, The Divine Right To Rule, Is Something You're Born With. Nina's getting better about this, but she still has a lot of issues understanding why people are so jazzed about freedom and democracy. Why should the masses be in charge of their own destiny, anyway? Together, You And I Will Be The Strongest Couple In The Entire World! We Will Dominate The Earth! Nina loves Mark, for all that they see the world very differently, but still thinks she can get him to lose what she sees as naivete. It's Terrible When You Can't Trust The People Who Are Closest To You. People have a way of not trusting the mad despot's daughter, for some reason - and she has her own issues with trusting them. Well, That Sounds Pretty Shallow And Stupid. Let's Try It! Nina's not exactly a hedonist - but she'll try anything once. Do The Tides Command This Ship? Nina's powers require at least _some_ water in whatever she's attacking. No, YOU Miscalculated! Having been the baby of the family her whole life, and now the partner of a very powerful superhero, Nina al-Darsah is eager to prove she’s just as tough as anyone else - even when she most certainly isn't. Abilities: 4 + 14 + 8 + 0 + 4 + 6 = 36PP STR 14 (+2) DEX 24 (+7) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP ATK: +6 (+10 Melee/+14 Hydrokinesis) DEF: +12 (+6 Dodge Bonus, +6 Base, +3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +12 Knockback: -4/-2 Saves: 1 + 2 + 7 = 10PP TOU +8/+4 (+4 Defensive Roll, +4 Con) FORT +5 (+4 Con, +1) REF +9 (+7 Dex, +2) WILL +9 (+2 Wis, +7) Skills: 68r = 17PP Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 12 (+15) Concentration 1 (+3) Diplomacy 12 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+4) Knowledge (History) 4 (+4) Languages 3 (Arabic, English, Persian, Base: Soquitri) Notice 3 (+5) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 3 (+10) Feats: 28PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee (4) Benefit (Fame [Princess]) Challenge 4 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Feint, Fast Startle, Fast Taunt) Defensive Roll (2) Dodge Focus (6) Evasion Improved Trip Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Second Chance (Will Saves Vs. Mind Control) Set-Up Startle Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 10 + 7 + 17 = 34PP Container 2 (Typhoon's Heritage, Duration [Permanent]) [10PP] Enhanced Feat 1 (Environmental Adaptation [Underwater]) [1PP] Immunity 3 (drowning, environmental cold, high pressure) [3PP] Movement Array 1 (2PP, PFs: Alternate Power 1, Subtle) [4PP] BE: Swimming 2 (5 MPH/50 ft per round) {2/2} AP: Flight 1 (10 MPH/100 ft per round) {2/2} Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) {2/2} Device 2 (Ferida's Scimitar, 10PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PF: Indestructible) [7PP] Strike 8 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) [10DP] Noahic Array 6 (12 PP, PFs: Accurate 4, Alternate Powers 1) [17PP] BE: Move Object 6 (hydrokinesis, Effective STR 30 [Heavy Load: 1500 lbs], Extra: Damaging, Flaw: Duration [Concentration]) {12/12} AP: Move Object 6 (hydrokinesis, Effective STR 30 [Heavy Load: 1500 lbs]) {12/12} costs abilities 36 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 28 + powers 34 = 150 pts

Tarva sat bolt upright in her chair at Eve's words, black irises wide in her bone-white eyes. "Wait, what!?" The others on the team, especially the new people, had seen Tarva like a great black cat: lounging negligently about the place with Kimber when she wasn't engaged in her mysterious duties, occasionally sharpening her talons against Eliza in a 'friendly' magical debate. But the look of bolt-from-the-blue terror she gave Eve, then Kimber, then Bluebird, was entirely new. She spread her arms as she stared in shock at Bluebird, a look of almost betrayal on her face - an odd thing, given that she and the projected Furion machine intelligence were on frosty terms at the best of times. For her part, Bluebird returned the shadow-witch's gaze imperturbably, folding her arms and locking her gaze with Tarva for a long, uncomfortable moment - that wound up being broken by Bluebird's internal alarms. With patience, she had accepted the suggestion of the other DuTemps dwellers that her 'alarms' be represented by her blue-tinted projection flashing an alternating shade of blue and red while a siren noise played. Dismissing the noise, Bluebird cocked her head before saying sternly, "There are lawbreakers robbing the First Municipal Bank across the thoroughfare. They identify as ...the Power Corps!"

PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 4 + 14 + 8 + 0 + 4 + 6 = 36PP STR 14 (+2) DEX 24 (+7) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP ATK: +6 (+10 Melee/+14 Hydrokinesis) DEF: +12 (+6 Dodge Bonus, +6 Base, +3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +12 Knockback: -4/-2 Saves: 1 + 2 + 7 = 10PP TOU +8/+4 (+4 Defensive Roll, +4 Con0 FORT +5 (+4 Con, +1) REF +9 (+7 Dex, +2) WILL +9 (+2 Wis, +7) Skills: 68r = 17PP Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 12 (+15) Diplomacy 12 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge (Current Events) 4 (+4) Knowledge (History) 4 (+4) Languages 3 (Arabic, English, Persian, Base: Soquitri) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 4 (+11) Feats: 27PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee (4) Benefit (Fame [Princess]) Challenge 4 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Feint, Fast Startle, Fast Taunt) Defensive Roll (2) Dodge Focus (6) Evasion Improved Trip Power Attack Precise Shot Second Chance (Will Saves Vs. Mind Control) Set-Up Startle Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 10 + 7 + 19 = 35PP Container 2 (Typhoon's Heritage) [10PP] Enhanced Feat 1 (Environmental Adaptation [Underwater]) [1PP] Immunity 3 (drowning, environmental cold, high pressure) [3PP] Movement Array 1 (2PP, PFs: Alternate Power 1, Move-By Action) [4PP] BE: Swimming 2 (5 MPH/50 ft per round) {2/2} AP: Flight 1 (10 MPH/100 ft per round) {2/2} Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) {2/2} Device 2 (Daphan's Scimitar, 10PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PF: Indestructible) [7PP] Strike 8 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) [10DP] Hydrokinesis 6 (12PP, PFs: Accurate 4, Alternate Powers 2, Precise) [19PP] BE: Blast 6 {12/12} AP: Move Object 6 (Effective STR 30, Heavy Load 1250 lbs) {12/12} AP: Trip 6 (Extra: Knockback) {12/12} costs abilities 36 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 13/52 + feats 27 + powers 36 = 150 pts

Give me initiative for one last engagement!

Steve would remember the charge, the glorious battle with the mighty primordial creatures later. He would feel pity for the beasts, resurrected from a dead world and transformed into cybernetic killing machines, and rage at the overlord who had wrought such terrible changes. But in the streets of dread Nihilor, such feelings in battle were a lethal distraction. Instead, even as the stampede of rampaging beasts tore through the desert flats, he pulled at Erik's arm and shouted over the sound of animals roars and grunts of pain, "My pike. He has my pike!" As armor flowed over his skin in the transformation to Caradoc, the horror of an Omegadrone's transformation turned beautiful by the holographic markers given him by Gina Evans, Steve knew his own pride was nothing before getting that weapon out of the hands of the man who had been so interested in an Omegadrone's secrets. Secrets that would doom this world if they became known. Suddenly one of the rampaging dinosaurs crashed into the side of the spaceship, driving Erik and Steve off the rampart as the whole structure shook, alarms blaring as the doors began to close from some onboard safety feature. There was nowhere to go but into battle now!

Let's call that a DC 20 Streetwise/Gather Info check for the heroes.

The guard had a short, dapper beard and a serious expression as he looked at Cannonade. "McGinnis is the one who needs evac," he said carefully, "he's the poor fellow in the wheelchair with the busted spine. We're getting the others out all right through the fort proper, but Army doesn't have the facilities for dealing with something like this." He led Cannonade towards where the others were arriving, NSA headquarters being free enough from outside cameras (and with access to their own transportation) that it made a good place for a rendezvous. Placed next to each other outside NSA headquarters, McGinnis and Miss Americana did indeed look alike - perhaps too alike. Both Argonaut and Miracle Girl could 'hear' something coming from the man and the woman, a faint quantity of almost identical radio static. It was especially powerful coming from the former, but both were, or recently had been, sources of significant radio waves. "We'll get these two to the choppers," the guard offered the heroes, as he approached with an Army medevac team - the choppers having landed right on the NSA's very lawn for the civilian pullout. "You concentrate on the heroing, eh?" "Please. I'm not gonna spend a day in jail. I've gotta a whole league of friends these days." Freebooter's voice was getting 'louder' as Cyberknife followed Miss A's body towards the NSA, and it sounded less playful. "You know, the funny thing is, they tried to offer me _money_ for this. Can you believe that? Like the Freebooter needs to be paid."

Okay, trying to get this over and done with. Tou vs 35 http://orokos.com/roll/345476 = 20 Hah-hah, wow! Well, I want him conscious but the fight is almost over - so we'll say that staggered and dazed him. The god is taking some serious hits here. Jill is up.

Iyar's accounts of the defenses down below sounded familiar to Midnight's trained tactical mind - as indeed they must have been to Monsoon as well. The guards down below, guarding an unknown number of prisoners, were equipped with genetic suppressor dart guns that would take away a biological metahuman's powers on contact, along with what Atlantean artifacts from Typhoon's personal collection whose description earned a hard nod from Monsoon. "The Chains of Malador - when strung on the walls, they let magic in, but no magic out." Her pretty face assumed a hard expression. "He built a trap down there for Mark and I." Iyar knew nothing of Farida's private quarters, having never been taken up to see the commandant, but she knew its general location. At her description, Nina gave a slow, small nod, and turned to Midnight. "One has died already. And Farida is family. You understand."

Riley looked down at the body, his eyes wide - but it was Woodsman who spoke aloud. Woodsman had seen this kind of thing before. Too many times before. From the doorway, so he wouldn't spook her into reaching for a weapon, he spoke aloud, trying to sound like a superhero from Earth-Prime rather than a Woodsman from his native dimension. "Hey. Woodsman. I'm a superhero. Sorry we couldn't get that guy. Gonna catch him and make him pay." He'd have already caught him if not for those morons outside, he thought irritably. But he'd tore him up pretty good with that arrow, and gotten a good look at that tattoo and the mysterious words on it. "Can you say what happened?"

"The barriers around our dimension are strong," said Seven, "but not that strong. There are ways around them - and possibly ways to undermine them," she admitted. "Fifty years ago there weren't the kind of magical practitioners on Earth-Prime that we have today; the original Freedom League nearly lost when fighting Hades alone. From what you've told me...that version of the Freedom League must have gotten very unlucky." They all fell silent at that thought, the realization that the god-soaked world they'd seen on their dimensional trip could have been Earth-Prime if history had gone just a little differently. "But the important thing is that you saved our people - and you showed someone on that Earth that heroism doesn't have to be a memory. You did the right thing."

There didn't seem to be any radio communication going on between the police officers at all, a rather ominous thing given Gina's knowledge of police procedure. In fact, as she scanned the radio signals in the area, she couldn't detect any of the usual Freedom City traffic. In front of her, the man in the black Lexus finally got out and stormed over to the police barricade blocking the front end of the street. With his slightly long, slicked-down black hair and immaculate dark suit, he looked like a high-powered attorney or other executive, probably someone who'd been passing through middle-class alternative Riverside just like her. She saw him exchange a few short, obviously angry words with one of the police officers, an square-jawed blonde man with an impressive physique even underneath his uniform - a physique that was,now that she was paying attention, matched by all the other cops. Without changing expression, the police officer pulled out his baton and suddenly struck the man in the stomach, then in the back before slamming him head-first into the side of the police car. Without changing expression, he pulled out his cuffs and began securing the man's hands behind his back.

"Yeah, well, her Riley's not..." Riley thought of a lot of ways to describe himself, then settled for, "He's not me! He's gointa college classes on the weekends and he wears nice clothes all the time." He shook his head, still concentrating on the road, and said with confidence, "She's gonna see that yer a self-reliant badass who knows how to take care of people! She's gonna like you just fine." He was almost entirely sure of that. His own mother would certainly have appreciated Robin, who'd have had a place of honor in Raymond even if her growing superpowers meant she'd be confined to the facility and its immediate environs for likely the rest of her life. The thought that taking Robin back to his homeworld probably would be impossible swelled up, acid-hot, in his gut, but as usual he did his best to push aside those feelings. "And she said I should getta real cutie so I got that part 'lready."

"See! Young fellow has Frost's number already." When they all had cups filled, Dimitri raised his. "A toast. To new romance!" The wink he gave the threesome before him was downright friendly - it was an almost physical effort not to turn it into the leer he'd have given anyone else under a similar circumstance. He drank the vodka with the casual ease he'd have once drunk water, the later annoyance of having to get it out of himself well worth the expedience of socializing with Talya and her adopted family. "Yes, ah, do not know if you follow news, Erik, but Warrior Woman, old colleague of mine and Talya's is in town with wife and children. There was bad blood. But Talya was friend enough to be weengman."

"Another one!" laughed Bie Yie in triumph, blue energy gathering around the blade of his sword with an unholy light. Cavalier had seen plenty of Star Knight armors in his time, and as he watched it was clear that whatever was powering Bie Yie's suit (borrowed gear though it was) was clearly not the extradimensional energies powered to him by Mentor. "You'll never defeat us, monster! My apprentice is already gone to spread the gospel of liberty across the cosmos!" He did his best to put his bold words into action by suddenly blasting Cavalier across the floor of the hangar, sending him smashing into the far wall so hard he left a crater in the far wall. And with that, he took off, flying low and fast over the surface of the planet's ocean, so low he left a trail behind him in the water that was pitifully easy to follow. If he hadn't just cold-bloodedly murdered a Star Knight, following him would have been far too obvious.

Thanksgiving 2015 Freedom City Things were changing in the Cline household. Will was dating a nice girl out in California, a very pretty UCLA cheerleader and aspiring athletic trainer named Stormy Allen. The Clines had met the Allens, a lovely couple who worked in the back office of the Los Angeles Clippers, a few weeks earlier and it had been a very pleasant conversation. Stormy came from a big family, with three older brothers and two younger sisters, and so she'd invited Will to her traditional family Thanksgiving. He'd said yes - a big moment for Will and his relationship with this girl! This meant it was the first Thanksgiving for the Clines without the company of their oldest son. It was hard - but one thing about having a lot of hero friends was that they never had to be entirely without company. Richard was up first, as usual, especially thanks to all the work Paige had been doing the night before. His morning run took him around eastern New Jersey and almost to Baltimore before he came jogging back with coffee and doughnuts, about the time he saw the light coming on in Holly's room from outside. Holly had been getting up earlier too lately - just like her dad.

Bruised and dazed! Okay, Miss A is up for real now.