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Avenger Assembled

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  1. http://orokos.com/roll/243852= Init is 24
  2. "Yes, of course. Let's talk strategy, shall we?" - Oost-Indisch Huis Amsterdam For better or worse, Nina had already 'burned' her Monsoon identity in the Netherlands - there was no going back, and hiding who she was would distract from the overall point - to draw out Dutch nationalists. So it was that just an hour or so after her battle with the neo-Nazis, she was taking to the skies over Oost-Indisch Huis, the old headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. "You see what this is?" she demanded of no one in particular, glad that AEGIS was going to be dealing with Dutch law enforcement so that she wouldn't have that particular hassle to deal with while she lured out the neo-Nazis lurking in this city. "<This place is a desecration>!" she announced in loud Arabic, "<a desecration of five hundred years of history! Muslim gold, Muslim workers, Muslim power built this place! This should be a shrine to _our_ history, not the history of the fat, bewigged, sausage-eating Dutchmen who lived here! This country was built on OUR blood, NOT theirs!>"
  3. Great, now I look like I'm taking her orders, thought Citizen as he took off into the air, his jetboots roaring as he went. "It's an undifferentiated mass as far as I can see. Blast it, is it buried under the impact site?" That would make their job tougher, but not impossible - even if the central processor had defenses, it would be far easier to blast through even solid computronium than it would be to blast through an active swarm of semi-Drexlerian nanites. And I should know, I've done it before. Casting his eyes around the fringes of the spreading mass, trying to judge its speed, his enhanced gaze let him make out a series of flashes that (on closer inspection, at high speed) turned out to be another cybernetic champion engaged in combat against the swarm. "I've got another hero taking hits down there!" he called, radios crackling to life beneath him as he spoke to the heroes below directly on their commlinks. "He's gonna get eaten if he keeps it up!" And with that, he rocketed over to join Hronos, landing next to the steely temporal sentinel. "Hey, Hronos! You're not gonna stop nanite constructs like that!"
  4. Caradoc grimly studied the approaching Star Knights, his mind on doomforges and organic consciousnesses controlled by cybernetic infiltration. "Yes. Let us go out to meet them." He tensed at the sight of Dragonfly already out there, and at the thought of his employer in jeopardy (and without his noticing!) he had no more words as his blade flashed to life and he strode directly for the nearest airlock alongside his companions. The Star Knights were a group of human-shaped armored figures cast in crimson, azure, gold, sable, and salmon. There were variations - crimson had an extra set of arms jutting from his lower rib cage, azure's mask bore three eyeholes arranged on its forehead, and sable loped along on big, long arms like a gorilla, but for the most part all of them could have passed for normal superheroes above the streets of Freedom City. Crimson, evidently the leader, spoke in a strange young man's voice that was (by radio senses) _not_ coming from his suit, nor did the words entirely match up with the movements of his body as he produced a small verdrigris box from the chestplate of his suit. "Communications blackout was to protect you. We have come to deputize you. All of you. Trade your science for ours and know our protection."
  5. "I suggest we are low priority target," opined Frost, who had been still and silent as the grave as the messages arrived from Pluto orbit. "We all heard reports of Lor-Van destruction. Invaders paid hardly any mind to defenders of planet - target for them was planet itself." He hmmed. "We need to make ourselves target at expense of planet below." With a little gesture in the air, he stood up. "Let us find oncoming vessels and move Lighthouse between them and planet. This is a well-armored if not well-armed station. Let them come to us and fight it out. Sensors," he suddenly declared to one of the civilian workers on the station, "what can you see? Where do enemies lie in depths of cold space?" I have no idea what I am doing, Frost allowed himself to think with all the League's telepaths gone, but at least I will be seen to do something.
  6. Cannonade, Cobalt Templar, Wander, and Midnight - The spiders are methodically dismantling _everything_ on the campus - they're taking apart buildings, light fixtures, overturned golf carts, and even personal items people dropped in their mad flight. The pieces are being brought back into the obelisk where smaller spiders are working to rearrange them for some unknowable purpose. Cobalt Templar - There's no particular order to how the spiders are moving; their goal seems to be to cover as much territory as possible, as quickly as possible. From the air, obelisk and spiders both look old, their finishes more like aged pewter than what must have once been a mirror-bright finish. They do look a little like some figures from Atlantean art you've seen. Wander - Like so. This is a tactical matter for you because it's one of the few natural hazards your family is still living with - you've got to know how to plan for emergencies, just in case.
  7. Edge: Notice: 15 History: 16 Technology Mark can't get over 10 Tactics Nina doesn't do so well on her rolls. She's a people person, not a robot person!
  8. Let's see some checks from relevant skills - Notice, Technology, Tactics, all seem reasonable.
  9. With a flash of mystic light, the heroes vanished from Freedom City and reappeared in Seattle. Edge had never been one to think about how his powers violated the standard laws of physics (not uncommon for a superhero) or for that matter the standard laws of magic (a rather more unusual phenomenon!); but he was always grateful for them. Especially now, as they left behind the peace and quiet of Christmas for a scene out of a warzone. South Seattle College was in a marginal neighborhood; the bridge between a prosperous suburban development and a busy riverside dockyard. The latter was nearly empty on a holiday; the college itself even more so. And thank the gods of Seattle for that, because the college campus was overrun! That towering obelisk, bigger than any building on the campus, was still disgorging its cargo - spiderbots that slowly, methodically shambled along at about the speed of a fast walk, robots that were tearing the college apart piece by piece! The heroes arrived on 16th Avenue, between the college and a nearby development, their arrival quickly catching the attention of a camera crew that had fled - along with whoever had been on South Seattle's campus, as the slow-moving robots went into action. As Cobalt Templar took to the air, he could see the robots fanning out in all directions, some towards the parklands and residences to the north and south, others east across the freight yard towards the river. A quick report from a grim-faced campus police officer told them they were already too late to save everybody. "We told everybody to get out, but Dave, one of the transients who lives on campus, he went right up to those damn spiders before we could stop him." The officer looked sick, his face pale in the glow of streetlights. "Those things tore him apart, Jesus, not even on accident, they made a point of taking him to pieces. What are you gonna do?" "We're gonna build a wall," said Edge, and quickly he and Monsoon went into action. At Nina's command, water erupted from the line of manholes and out from storm sewers along the street, water that rapidly hardened to the consistency and color of iron under Edge's ministrations. "We'll move down and catch the whole thing," said Edge quickly, riding along with Monsoon as she flew them in a slow circle around the campus, the area's low water table helping them erect a natural barrier. From behind the barrier, the heroes could hear the sound of the robot-spiders at work - metal grinding and stone breaking, hisses of electricity and fire, and accompanying all else an ominous, raspy sound that sounded like a mechanical attempt at speaking an alien language. "By the whore gods of Atlantis!" Aquaria suddenly swore, her long fingers wrapping around her mouth in surprise. "That's...that's Lemurian! How do they..." She swallowed hard, throat bulging visibly, and translated for the heroes still there. "Your resistance will fail. All will be digested...no, that's not right. All will commune."
  10. Good to know! With everyone's Bluff/Sense Motive score, this smells fishy.
  11. "This is computronium," said Citizen, Sharl Tulink recognizing this substance as he would the skyways of Tronik. "It's a type of exotic matter that's been manipulated on the quantum level to be the ultimate computational matrix." The fact that it was completely beyond the reach of Terran science to replicate, and barely theoretical even for the Lor (except where it could be observed) didn't bear any mention just then. "They must be using nanite transformation to do it, which means there has to be a central processor around here somewhere!" He twitched his fingers, a gesture that would have been snapping them in his normal hands. Muttering a curse, he waved his wrist and said, "We have to get over the central mass and find what's directing this. Nanites are just simple machines, if you take out the brain, they're powerless. Don't let it touch you," he urged the humans in the group (who evidently had no problem with mobility) as he flew up to try and look for the central processor of the nanite swarm. "It'll take you apart and reconfigure you on the molecular level." He wasn't safe either, but this was no time to whine.
  12. Well, Jack doesn't know from Star Knights - but those are reasonable suspicions for him to have, especially given what he already knows. Do the Star Knights really have the resources for this given what has evidently happened to them? It does seem a little suspicious that they would appear in the middle of a communications blackout, doesn't it?
  13. "Aye, my blade would surprise yon hosts," agreed Steve. The holographic disguise that made shrieking black entropic energy resemble glowing mystical power would not work when transferred to Jack of all Blades - and the presence of Terminus energy during this attack could only increase the danger they were in. "Inside!" he called to the Farsiders, his voice cold and mechanical in their suits' receivers. "Beta positions!" Caradoc was an unimaginative, albeit careful, fighter - but Harrier, unlike his peers, had fought many battles in space and had taken a role working directly alongside the Farsiders in their military logistics. Inside, the atmosphere dome was a comfort - albeit a thin one, the crysteel overhead bulletproof and shielded against the sun's harsh rays, but all too vulnerable to the kind of firepower an interstellar enemy could bring to bear. They took up positions in the command post, a station built by the gadgeteers in the group that offered full access to the base's comm and computer systems, as well as some upgrades of their own. Sure enough, radio traffic from Earth and Farside City itself had been cut off by whatever effect had entered the system. "I'm still not detecting any penetration by the Planet-Killer or the other Communion signatures out in the inner Oort cloud," said Nyxon, the Farsider technician manning the control systems when they came in. "It's more like..." Suddenly, their radios crackled to life again. "Greetings, citizens of Farside City! The Star Knights are here to assist you!" Zooming in on the signal as it approached, the heroes could see no less than half-a-dozen armored Star Knights on their way towards their base, just emerging from the small space-time vortex that Star Knights occasionally used for long-distance interstellar travel. His armored body silhouetted against the big wall-screens that showed the oncoming Star Knights, Caradoc's feelings were hard to read.
  14. "We're going to Puerto Rico, where the Arecibo Radio Telescope is broadcasting the ionic..." He trailed off and shook his head, briefly wondering how science geeks kept all this straight in their heads. "Look, there's this big radio thing, and the psychics are using it to reach out into space and fight the Communion. I don't know how all this stuff works - but we're going there right now. Everybody hold hands!" Once everyone was in a circle, with him in the middle, Fast-Forward nodded and said, "All right! Time to FAST-FORWARD!" And with that, they were off; Freedom City replaced with a static ocean that flew by beneath their rapidly-churning feet, the sky dark and gorgeous overhead with a million blurred stars. It certainly didn't look like they were being invaded, anyway - but it was a beautiful night.
  15. "Communion lies, your cybernetic hands will never touch the glory of the Meta-Mind! Do you think we are fools, that you can come a planet's rotation later and be unsuspected by the mental might of the Meta-Mind?!?" The Grue went on like that, heedless of the Praetorian attempts at communication. EM radiation was spiking on the other side of the wormhole and something, though they couldn't quite make out what, was happening to the system's sun. But soon the wormhole shrunk down to its microscopic size, forming the nexus that would help move the entire planet out of the system - assuming they could get their work done before the Communion arrived! There was only one place to go now - the relay where Lelak had awakened, and the last key in the lock that would open up this region of space and completely displace the planet. Up top, Solar Sentinel continued his countdown - the small Communion fleet was still on its way, pitiless and elegant as sharks.
  16. Mark took Nina's hand and they disappeared downstairs together, their clothes giving way to their costumes, and Nina's sword appearing on her back, by the time the others had arrived downstairs. "-about this," said Edge apologetically as he stepped away, giving Nina a chance to flex her muscles in the costume he'd made for her. But he'd practiced enough with the Monsoon suit that there were no serious worries, and she was able to flex and snap-draw her scimitar without bunching up. "Do you wanna call your mom?" "...no." Monsoon sheathed her blade, the two of them standing by the big Midnight computer as the others made it downstairs. "She believes I'm having a happy, normal holiday with friends. She deserves a little peace." "Mine too," admitted Mark. "Don't worry. Crazy stuff happens on most holidays when you're a superhero; we'll be fine. We'll go to Seattle, stop the bad guys, save the other Erin, and then make it back here before dawn." He shot her a quick grin, trying to get her thoughts off her mother.. "Monsoon's first time fighting alongside the Liberty League - you'll kick some ass." "I've been known to destroy a few..." Nina fell silent for a moment. "Wait, the _other_ Erin? But isn't she already coming with us?" Aquaria wound up being the last one downstairs. Having excused herself to the ladies' room, she came back in an orange spandex Project Freedom costume that matched Jessie's, though it was cut to accommodate her rather unusual amphibious anatomy. "All right!" she declared. "I'm ready!"
  17. "What's your top speed?" When he got an answer to that, Fast-Forward managed a real smile. "...we're, uh, we're gonna run." he said gently, in much the same voice he might have used to tell Will he was a little young to go out all night with a pretty girl even if she was really pretty. "I didn't actually need you to shrink," he commented to Grimalkin as he took a bit of Queenie's rations. "But you looked good doing it!" Once everyone had done what they needed, he said, "OK, lock hands, we're on the move - we've got one more person to visit, and then we're back in Puerto Rico." - "Kyle Finley," declared Fast-Forward, "the Scarab needs you to save the Earth from robot psychics from space." The little group had appeared before the erstwhile Silver Magus while he was doing some last-minute New Year's shopping, in the parking lot where no one happened to be looking at the time. "Let's roll!"
  18. "A shame," said Frost cooly. "But such is the way of things when all else has ended." After some more work, he came up with a beaker full of what looked to be Bloodline's familiar serum - albeit with a faintly off color and scent. "Was best I could do with limited circumstances," he commented, including a metal case with a small collection of big hypodermic needles, large enough for a horse. In fact, there was a small picture of a horse, and a brand name, on the needle's metal canister! "Suggest you visit market in Waterfront if you are looking for discreet supplier of blood - they provide animal material for Feretti's vampires in city." He studied the big time traveler for a moment, then seemed to shrug. "Contact me if you are looking for further information or assistance. Your crusade need not be alone."
  19. Checks http://orokos.com/roll/241719 Computers, Galactic Lore, Technology, Notice, Search Results 1d20+8: 17 [1d20=9] 1d20+8: 17 [1d20=9] 1d20+8: 25 [1d20=17] 1d20+10: 23 [1d20=13] 1d20+11: 30 [1d20=19]
  20. When the chef opened her eyes, a superhero, a Discovery Channel star, and a pixie were looking at her. Fast-Forward had run them right up to the roof as they'd arrived, his companions not slowing him down in the least as he'd first zipped around the restaurant, then up the wall, to find the last member of their party. "Maybelle McQueen," said Richard in the voice of a man tired of giving this speech, "the Scarab needs your help to save the world from robot psychics from space. Do you need a minute to pack?" he asked. "We need to get to Puerto Rico in about ten minutes and so we can't screw around."
  21. Fast-Forward took an instant to assess the situation and relaxed fractionally. It certainly made things easier that Lynn Epstein was out to her family. "The Scarab needs you to save the world from robot psychics from space. I'm here to take you to Puerto Rico." It might have sounded absurd, almost comical, but the veteran speedster clearly came in earnest. Maybe I have time to run over and see Holly - no, there's a mission, I need to stick to it. "Do you need a minute to pack?" "Time control," he added to Net Fly with a tense smile. "I speed up local time so I move faster, and I speed up our perception of time so it doesn't take all day. We'll talk more about it when we're done."
  22. Electrokinetic Tyrannosaurus Rex PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 14 + 0 + 12 + 10 + 4 + 2 = 34 pp STR 40 [24] (+15/+7) DEX 10 (+0) CON 30 [22] (+10/+6) INT 20 (+5) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24 pp ATK: +6 (+7 melee) (+4 w/Growth, +5 melee, +12 Blast) DEF: +7 (+3 flat-footed) (+5 w/Growth, [+2 flat-footed)) Init: +0 Grapple: +28 Knockback: -15 Saves: 2 + 5 + 5 = 12 pp TOU +15/+11 (+10 Con, +5 Protection) (+6 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +12/+8 (+10 Con, +2) (+6 Con, +2) REF +5 (+0 Dex, +5) WILL +8 (+3 Wis, +5) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Craft (Electronic) 10 (+15, SM) Craft (Mechanical) 10 (+15, SM) Disable Device 5 (+10, SM) Intimidate 5 (+6/+10) Knowledge (Technology) 5 (+10, SM) Languages 2 Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 9 pp Attack Focus: Melee Dodge Focus Endurance Inventor Skill Mastery (Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Disable Device, Knowledge [Technology]) Startle Takedown Attack Ultimate Save (TOU) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 21 + 25 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 57 pp Electrical Control Array 10 (20 PP, PFs: Alternate Power 1) [21PP] BE: Magnetic Control 6 (Str 30, Hvy Load 1500 lbs; Extra: Damaging, PFs: Precise, Subtle) {20/20} AP: Blast 8 (PFs: Accurate 4) {20/20} Growth 8 (Extra: Duration [Permanent] (+0), PF: Innate)(Huge size) [25PP] (-2 ATK/DEF, +8 Grapple, -8 Stealth, +4 Intimidate, 16 ft tall, 4K-32K lbs, 15 ft space, 10 ft reach, x2 carrying capacity) Protection 5 [5PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH/110 fpmove) [1PP] Super-Senses 2 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision) [2PP] Super-Senses 3 (radio, Enhancement: Accurate) [3PP] costs abilities 34 + combat 24 + saves 12 + skills 14/56 + feats 9 + powers 57 = 150 pts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Design Notes: With acknowledgements to Exaccus, who got me thinking about dinosaurs! OK, so the problem with dinosaurs building a civilization is that they didn't have hands. There were a lot of bipedal dinosaurs, but most of them were like flightless birds rather than primates - their useless forelimbs started to atrophy almost as soon as they were standing erect. (That's why some of the biggest forelimbs are actually on some of the older theropods!) Even the ones with forelimbs had hands that worked more like a bird's wing than hands - not terribly useful. So how to get around this? Imagine a line of Tyrannosaurus Rex that evolved a Hunter's organ and a Sach's organ like those possessed by electric eels! The latter allows them to hunt for prey using electrolocation, making sure they can't be blinded even in dense jungle, heavy fog, or other forms of bad weather. The former allows them to generate tremendous electrical charges! And from there, using comic book science, it's a natural step to magnetokinesis - and then the invention of technological civilization. So this is a genius T-Rex who can hurl bolts of lightning - or manipulate objects using electromagnetic current. His little arms and lack of hands are a good Complication for whenever his powers might be nullified. He's still a gigantic T-Rex even if that happens, so watch out! With no Impervious, a hunter's bullets are a threat - but given his vast bulk it's going to take a lot of bullets to bring him down barring a lucky shot. He could use some Tracking if you can find the points for it; while he can handle himself in the jungle OK, my general assumption is that this guy is more of a scientist and perhaps a bit of a city lizard. Why is there an electrokinetic T-Rex? Genetic tampering? Alien planet? Surprise result of time travel? It's up to you to decide!
  23. "The Scarab needs you to save the world from robot psychics from space." It sounded like the opening to one of Fast-Forward's shows - at least if the older man hadn't looked so serious. "I know you're just a kid, but if a Scarab vouches for you, you're all right in my book. You got your costume with you?" He helped Net Fly change at super-speed, turning his back to give the kid privacy (figuring teenagers couldn't be that different.) "All right, listen - I picked up Triakosia already, we need to get, uh, Grimalkin, Queenie, and maybe this Silver Magus guy, and then we need to get to Puerto Rico ASAP. Take my hand," he offered, "I'll get us where we need to go in time." And then they were speed - blinding, phenomenal speed as far above Net Fly's flight as he was above the slowest snail, zipping through the streets of a city on pause, then onto the equally frozen streets of the nearby suburbs, until they reached a small house in the suburbs. Still holding the wreath over his other arm, Fast-Forward let go of Net Fly, the world snapping back to something like normal speed. He knocked, again, rat-a-tat-tat. "Hey!" he called, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Epsteins!"
  24. "...yes, you will triumph over your enemies and save your families," said Steve, belatedly echoing Geckoman and Jack of all Blades' words as he realized the impact his own speech would have on the morale of the Farsiders. He did his best to sound reassuring as he spoke, wincing as his words seemed inadequate to the task. At least the others are here now with me. It wasn't that he doubted the competence of the men and women that they'd been training over the last few weeks. With the end of their formal isolation some forty Earth-Prime years earlier, the Farsiders had developed a strong tradition of civil defense, with both men and women trained in light arms and melee alike. The Farsider military might have little experience in war, but it certainly had the training and equipment for it - at least by the standards of Earth-Prime. But this is all too familiar. After all, he had seen the domes of the Farsiders cracked and broken and watched them writhe as they were dragged out for the forges, their flesh combusting in the Lunar heat even as it was- But that will not happen here. He looked at the heroes with him, first his friends and then the robotic shadow of his lover, and nodded. "All will be well," he spoke aloud. "You are a brave people, with the finest defenders in existence at your side." That, at least, was perfectly true. <"Planetary space suits all of you,"> he said on his private channel to the other heroes, "<you should be here more often.>" Responding to Geckoman, he added, "There are a great many creatures in this universe hostile to your form of life. But many of them are not even aware of Earth-Prime's existence," he said, obviously doing his best to be reassuring. "Nor will they be for some time." "Mamsers!" said one of the Farsiders, a short, stocky fellow for his people, which meant he was nearly as wide as Erik and only a few inches taller than Caradoc in full armor, approached, his gold and green suit gleaming when he passed through patches of light on his way to join the heroes. The shortened version of his name, to Terran ears, sounded something like 'Peteo'. "We've lost contact with the City," he said, his voice conveying what a threat that was to your average citizen of the far side of the Moon. "Can you reach your people?" Sure enough, they could not - not even Miss Americana's equipment could reach the Lighthouse.
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