Avenger Assembled

November 17, 2013 Port Regal Providence Asylum Dotted with cheerful statuary of frolicking cherubs, its rose-and-sandstone facade visible from miles away, the warmly lit and well-tended Providence Asylum looks like nothing more than a giant strawberry wedding cake - it's an excellent place for Freedom City's mentally ill to recuperate from the challenges of their disease - what kind of person puts an insane asylum in some Gothic hellhole, anyway? Between Claremont training, patrolling, and the occasional help with a mass breakout, the heroes Wraith, Crimson Tiger, Blodeuwedd, and the second Foreshadow were all familiar indeed with the building and its contents - which made a summons to the rooftop for a meeting with the ever-mysterious Raven all the more intriguing! The night was dark, and cold, but dry for Freedom City in the fall, with a crisp bite in the air to mark the cool weather to come. Though security at the Asylum was famously tight, making breakouts almost impossible, sure enough (just as promised in the message conveyed to them by the Dark Detective's agents) it seemed particularly light tonight - there were gaps in the spotlight coverage and the cunningly concealed electric fence was actually deactivated, thus making it possible for a canny foursome to make their way not just to the building but to the very angel-dotted rooftop at its summit!

Al-Qaum is jacked up on Terminus energies! They don't make him up - he's not _from_ the Terminus, but he is riddled with the stuff like he's been snorting it. Those weird shadows around him are entropic in nature, not umbric.

Caradoc, the shining armored knight of a technological realm far away from this one, did not like what he saw. "Truly, ye realm of metal sorcery is a potential risk." Though he was, by a wide margin, the least trained of any of them there, he was the one with the most personal experience in dealing with high technology - particularly with the technology of the Curator. "Have those who 'escaped' been evaluated for technological infiltration?" he inquired in a voice that didn't sound very medieval at all. "Controlling implants, or replacement by dread, er, homunculi." He frowned behind his faceless armor, trying to stay in-character. "Thy Baron would have been checked for this before he had a chance to use the Curator's technology, yes?" For his part the weather didn't seem to bother him at all, his massive sword planted in the ground like a flagpole as the winds blew past him.

Since she is focusing on them specifically, Erin can see that some of the shadows are slightly different colors from the others - the ones closest to al-Qaum are a decidedly _reddish_ black, a strange sort of inky color that reminds her of something very familiar. They look as if someone took shadows and emptied them out and filled them with something else! Most of the rest are darker ones, a true black, and they're staying at the extreme fringes of the 'bubble' of circling shadows around al-Qaum - it was one of those who whispered in her ear. There's plenty of time for other folks to make their Notice/Sense Motive/Investigate/Knowledge (cosmology) checks at this point, or maybe whip out a Super-Sense or two...

Al-Qaum folded his arms and sneered; for all that it was hard to read a face amid such inky blackness. His 'shadows' seemed to be moving of their own free will as he spoke, some scowling at the heroes, others melting and emerging from the inky blackness above and behind the heroes like a shadow of bats. One shadow in particular leaned close to Wander's ear and whispered something in her ear too quietly for anyone else to hear. before vanishing into the crowd of circling shadows, moving black against a lighter black overhead in the great rocky cavern of night. "Mortal champions or not," al-Qaum was saying, "I need no t answer to the likes of you!" Al-Darsah took this opportunity to sneer in return. "Is this the rage of the god of night? What a petty squall! Perhaps I should doze until you are finished with your LIES," and suddenly his eyes were bugging out as his voice snapped in an instant from an old man's to the mighty champion of Socotra. "For you know full well you saw me kill no god, al-Qaum. Feh, would I not be wearing his crown even now if I had slain him?" The assembled souls in the meeting hall went quiet at this, but the gods were watching with laser-intensity. "It was _you_ who came to my kingdom with hostile intentions, not I. Your fate will be on your own head."

It took great good luck, and maybe not a little prayer, to rescue the prisoners from their decision to end their lives rather than be taken by the Terminus - luckily Johnny Rocket was in town, and able to deliver Lady Liberty in time to help cure the effects of the mass poisoning inside the safe room. Gabriel's distress call had saved the day, and he could be congratulated for that - even if it wasn't coming from the hollow-eyed poisoning victims who the arriving EMTs immediately booked straight for the League's clinic - cured by the Light of Liberty or not. Gabriel, the League member on the scene, was kept busy answering questions as the poisoning victims were taken away. What exactly had the visitors from der Schattenwelt said? What connection did Hades have to all of this? By the time he was done, and the AEGIS agents had extended their thanks for helping save their boss, the sky overhead was beginning to darken with true night. Carson found Steve sitting alone outside, a silent, albeit still-battered, sentinel in the empty complex square where they'd unexpectedly fought for the welfare of those who had done so much evil in the name of the Terminus. "All lived?" he asked, his voice rusty with hours of disuse at Carson's approach.

"It sounds like Medea's work. She's been acting as a transport system for the League for the last few months, and if she has abandoned Sebastian, that's trouble. He was the heart and soul of the League that formed after we did, and now..." Thunder shook his head. "Sebastian Stratos has been trying to kill me, humiliate my family, and destroy all those I love for thirty years, but whatever happened to him on the Curator's world left him changed. Maybe he can get the help he's needed since before my son was born, but he's a broken man. Not like what he used to be...it was only a matter of time before the others turned on him." He looked around at the damage to the bank and said, "I'm glad it wasn't worse - and I'm glad you heroes were here to save the day. If he's not the one running the League anymore, there's no telling what they'll do." Peering around, it certainly looked as though magic had been at work - Starchaser's electromagnetically-tuned senses weren't telling him much of anything. "If you are interested in being part of his interrogation, I can take you there myself; or we can continue the investigation here."

"Is he first or last pebble of avalanche?" asked Frost, continuing with the train of thought he'd begun earlier. More so than the young people with their American heritage, or the dragon with her medieval past, he had an intimate acquaintance with the fall of governments and the rise of new ones, and knew enough about the politics of those below to have his suspicions. "Does he move and the people move with him, or is he spokesman for the masses? In my experience, movement is never just one man and his followers. If he truly speaks for people of Igneous heritage, those not part of old aristocracy, this could potentially be difficult. Madame Shield, you know locals best of all of us. What is likelihood that we will be asked to help them with...problem?" he asked as diplomatically as possible.

APPROVED

The sky itself seemed to strain and warp back on itself as Edge looked up, the warp and weft of the melting reality that was Riverside suddenly strengthened by - look, up in the sky? An eagle? A jet? No, a superhero! "Think I don't know about...living in my own world!?! Unf..." Mark wiped a bloody nose and went back to the complicated mental work of keeping reality from imploding around them like cotton candy in a rainstorm. "Don't know if I can hold it for long!" said Edge as he concentrated to the utmost, spectral outlines of iconic superheroic images rising to hold up the falling bricks like a reverse of Samson in the temple. "Better take them down, fast and hard!" He felt a blood vessel burst behind his eye, but pushed along anyway, heedless of the sharp ache. "Show you how to control the world!" A lesser man would have stopped to think about what he was doing and been lost, but Mark knew deep in his bones that with his friends at his side and justice in the offing, all he had to do was believe!

Edge spends an HP and maintains his Inspire.

There are some things here I wouldn't do mechanically, but everything seems legit - so! APPROVED

Players Name: AvengerAssembled Characters Name: Fast-Forward Power Level: 12/14 (229/232PP) Trade-Offs: +5 Defense/-5 Toughness and None Attack/Damage as a Speedster, +5 Defense/-5 Toughness and -4 Attack/+4 Damage as Mystic Unspent PP: 3 In Brief: Iron Age villain turned Modern Age hero, speedster punk turned family man and veteran hero Alternate Identities: Tempus Fugitive Identity: Richard Anthony Cline Birthplace: Freedom City, New Jersey, USA Occupation: TV Star Affiliations: Shenanigans Family: Paige Psion-Cline, William Cline, Holly Cline Age: 50 (born 1963) Apparent Age: 30s Gender: Male Ethnicity: White American Height: 6 feet Weight: 160 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: Black Description: Richard Cline is a tall, slim man with a runner's build. His hair is slicked up in that peculiarly 80s style and he wears leather jackets and jeans when he can, just like his hero Bruce Springsteen. His costume is a black and white bodysuit in traditional style - he doesn't wear a mask, and never has. He does wear a jacket over his spandex bodysuit, particularly when he needs to carry things. These days he carries a small, leather-bound Victorian book in his pocket. Powers and Abilities: Fast-Forward's speed powers are based in temporal manipulation rather than in super-speed as such - he accelerates his local frame of reference and appears to run fast, punch as fast and hard as an assault rifle, and a great many other super-speed tricks. He leaves behind a faint glowing red trail as he runs, a phenomenon caused by hyper-accelerated air molecules crashing back into their neighbors. His powers have begun to fade slightly as he ages, but he remains one of the fastest beings alive. His magical abilities come from carrying around the Tome of Theurgy, a sort of pocket guide to the magic of the stars that lets him call on the magic of the Behenian fixed stars to aid him in battle. Not being a subtle man, he uses his powers for spectacular evocations - hurling glowing fireballs, summoning tremendous storms, and otherwise making sure that he is the life of the party that he has always believed himself to be. Personality and Motivation: Richard's kind of a jerk, something of an occupational hazard for your typical speedster. But he's also a veteran who's been around the block many times, and that's significantly tempered the arrogant jerk who was pretty hard to be around back in the 1980s. He wants to make Freedom City safe for his family, and help make sure the kids tehse days don't make the mistakes he made when he was a kid. He loves his wife and kids more than anything in the world, though he has a considerably more complicated relationship with his still-living parents. He's still inclined to question authority in a Green Arrow sort of way, and doesn't always get along great with cops and other government officials, though he is always perfectly correct when there are cameras around. He's very handsome, though also very married. History: Some legacies in Freedom City aren't forged in the light of day. Richard Cline was born in August of 1964 to Anne Cline, aka Calendar Girl, speedster and smash-and-grab thief and briefly the sidekick of Doc Holiday. Abandoned by her partner when she got pregnant, Anne did the only thing she could, she raised her son at her side as first her ward, then her partner in crime. Richard developed his speed powers early, a legacy of all the times his mother had used her powers while he was in utero, and eagerly trained as his mother's sidekick. His childhood was great in some ways: the Crime League of the 1960s and 1970s were like a weird little family for him. He met gods and monsters, scientists and mystics, and sometimes crashed at their place for a few weeks until his mom could escape. She was Clock Queen, beautiful and glamorous, and he loved her with the devotion of a son for a doting parent. But his childhood was poor in some ways as well; he spent less than a year inside a classroom from age six to age eighteen, and only learned to read and write well from being able to practice at super-speed when he was very bored. Even when he put on a shiny four-colored costume to match his mother's, Richard didn't really know anything about the world except how to rob it. Eventually time ran out for Clock Queen and her sidekick Tempus Fugitive. As the world darkened into the grim days of the 1980s, their brand of crime no longer fit. A few months before his 18th birthday, Richard joined his mother for one last big score in Freedom City, a jewel heist that would give him a nest egg to start on his own career as an independent villain - and maybe work something out with Paige Psion, the daughter of Parker Psion and somebody he was more than sweet on. But it all went wrong: the cops showed up with temporal nullifiers and stopped them both dead in their tracks, dragging mother and son both off to jail. As the police closed in, Anne Cline saw her son's life in peril from a rogue Freedom City cop (there were a lot of those in those days) and shattered the man's legs, escalating this arrest to one that might have seen both mother and son go away for many years. Abandoned by the Crime League (which was already coming to an end itself), the Clines were left without allies. Anne stepped up for perhaps the first time in her life, spinning a grim story to the cops about how she’d abused and brainwashed Richard, that he’d only obeyed her out of fear of her wrath. Richard was sentenced as a juvenile despite the multiple felonies he was charged with and was released on his 21st birthday in 1985; Anne herself got a twenty year sentence. When Richard got out, the Moore era was just beginning, and the young man was disgusted by what he saw. Criminals had turned into psychopaths, cops had become bullies and tyrants, and the heroes had been chased away or turned killer. It was time to turn to _crime_: Fast-Forward, the laughing speedster-rogue, debuted by publicly pantsing the mayor, making sure the police would hunt him for his blood for the rest of the Moore administration. Maybe that life had been forgotten in a Freedom City had turned its back on its superheroes; had turned its back on the joy and laughter of the previous generation. Well, that was all right: he'd bring that world back. He'd _make_ the stupid sheep of Freedom City understand what they'd lost and he'd get damn rich in the process. And he'd do it without bending his head to any of the other supercriminals on the loose in his city in the process. Richard assembled a new costume together out of the raddest fashion gear he could: tight black spandex, aviator glasses, and bought enough mousse to give himself the big hair of the guys he'd seen on TV when he was locked up. Richard had always been a walking temporal anomaly, but in the 1980s he really was a man out of time: a costumed criminal who didn't kill, who avoided violence when he could, who focused on wacky theme crime with matching henchmen, who preferred to thumb his nose at vigilantes and the law rather than punch them in the face. He was equally likely to fight RIOT as FORCE Ops, and indeed he and Archer had something of a grudging understanding given their mutual history and how much the world had changed around both men. When cops opened fire on him, he'd laugh and rip the guns out of their hands or just slap them silly; when RIOT hurled fireballs at him he'd leave them paused and naked on the street. A dozen times, he nearly died, but he was just too fast for the world around him. (It helped that the super-speedsters of the past who'd once bedeviled him had all retired or died at this point, making him basically invulnerable to the local cops and supers alike if he had room to run) And luckily, he wasn't alone. Paige had finally broken out from under her father's tyrannical thumb, and the two of them hooked up again not long after his release. Paige Psion was a good influence on him; she got him to try bigger stuff than just petty, hilarious snatch-and-grabs like robbing an entire CODE fundraiser of their valuables, she also got him off cocaine and the other drugs he'd started taking, making clear that if he did want their relationship to resume, he needed to make her his focus, not his cocaine habit. Taking the name Hologram in honor of her illusion powers, Richard and Paige became a daring criminal duo like people in Freedom City hadn’t seen in years, gleefully bilking the rich and stupid while making sure they spent enough to stay popular in the community. It was a good life, one which Richard, deep down, sometimes still misses. The end of the Moore Act promised good things for the future for the young couple; who knew what fun they could have now that the heroes were back? All that came to an end when the Terminus Invasion happened. Fast-Forward and Hologram stood together against the world-conquering threat of Omega, battling Omegadrones and Annihilists alike, watching as friends and enemies and thousands of others died before Omega was finally defeated. Was it the horrors of T-Day that prompted Fast-Forward’s moral switch? The impact on him of the death of the Centurion? Or was it simply the realization that his old life just wasn’t working anymore in the new Freedom City now that the people had learned to appreciate their heroes again? Either way, he and Hologram decided it was time to get out of town: taking advantage of a Freedom Leage offer that gave a full pardon to all supers who’d helped out in the invasion as long as they stopped committing crimes, Richard and Paige skipped town and headed out of Freedom City. With a full pardon in hand from the US government, they lived in Freedom City and helped out for a few years, finding steady work and (after a few years, and a lot of trying) becoming parents of William Cline. Richard hated it, and almost went back on the coke he'd quit some years earlier, but he was determined to build a steady life for himself and his family. But it's tough to keep a secret from a psychic, especially your wife, and Paige was ready to travel too. When William was eight, they packed up and started moving, traveling in an RV and exploring the country, living the life of hard-traveling adventurers. They did a little of this and a little of that, and worked as part-time heroes, but weren't very happy: they got a big surprise when it turned out that Richard's regenerative and temporal abilities meant that his vasectomy hadn't taken and Paige became pregnant again - Holly Cline was born in Freedom City just in time for his creepy father-in-law to start sniffing around again. Richard despised Parker and frankly wouldn't have minded ratting the old man out, or maybe making sure he stopped being a threat to the family, but thought it was better to get out of Freedom fast. So they went back on the road, this time until they reached the Pacific, where the Psion family had never had much reach. Their window into a renewed celebrity came just a few years ago, when they were called in as consultants for a show the Discovery Channel was airing about the history of super-crime. The pair were funny and charismatic, and had stories to tell most people had never heard, and after several guest appearances they were spun off as the cohosts of Supercrime! Supercrime! (don't forget the !) is a wide-ranging show that takes a broad look at the history of supercrime in the United States, and Richard is very happy there, working alongside his wife and (sometimes) his son! But recently things have been changing, and not necessarily to Richard's advantage. Richard's daughter's psychic powers erupted recently, leaving the eight year old girl with mighty psychic powers and the family with a problem. Moving out to Freedom City (and commuting home with Richard's powers) helped with that, giving her access to the Nicholson School and eventually Claremont. (It also meant getting a heroic education for William, who by now was getting a little old to be taught by his parents) But one problem that couldn't be solved were Richard's powers: the super-speed that had powered him for most of his life had begun to fade by the time he reached his late forties, a slow decline that the super-doctors on the West Coast probably would last for the rest of his life. His speed dropped from close to light speed to hypersonic within the space of a few months, and the thought of being forever stuck in second gear made him feel unhappy. Faced with the choice of letting his powers fade gracefully or trying to infuse himself with more chronitons (a risky, dangerous task), Richard took a third option. He dug an old book out of his collection, one he'd picked up in a moment of panic in 1993 to help save the world, and for the first time opened it up and began to read... History of the Tome: The Tome of Theurgy is a handwritten volume by Violet Pennyworth, Master Mage of Earth before her tragic death in 1893. The book describes Pennyworth's experiments with directly tapping the magical essence of the Behenian stars, using Hermetic ritual and incantation to summon the mystic energies of those fifteen stars to Earth for great power. Pennyworth ultimately abandoned her work, leaving the book itself only halfway finished at her death - though her interest in starry magic did ultimately lead her to her last and fatal confrontation with cultists of the Unspeakable One. The book itself is a small, pocket-sized edition of what was once a diary, bound in pristine black leather. The pages inside are covered in handwritten notes and observations that would take a scholar hours to read and digest. The Tome disappeared from Violet's library not long after her death and has only occasionally been seen since - starry magic is a particularly laborious process given the need to perform all the relevant astronomical calculations moment-to-moment, and the incomplete nature of the book means that secrets may lie inside for the unwary. The Tome was last seen by the general super-public in the late 1970s, when the supervillain Clock Queen and her sidekick Tempus Fugitive robbed the estate sale of the Usher family, appropriating many valuable texts from that twisted criminal line. Mechanically, the tome is difficult to use in combat - its densely packed script is challenging to read, the calculations it requires must be done with incredible precision, and the Earth moves so rapidly that after the initial few castings of the summoning spells contained within, the book must be set aside so the spells inside can be recast over a period of hours. To use the book reliably in combat, a mystic would need both fantastic speed and a mastery over time itself. A silver chain keeps it fastened to Richard's jacket when he takes it out, something he can snap on instantly thanks to his superspeed. Complications: Under Pressure: Richard has a family to protect, for good or ill - including a mother and father who are among the most notorious thieves of the Silver Age, and one of its nuttiest costumed villains, respectively. (Clock Queen and Doc Holiday have not spoken since the breakup of the Silver Age Crime League). Pour Some Sugar On Me: Richard is happily married as only a man with a beautiful wife who just happens to be a psychic can be. However, he’s always had a soft heart for the ladies and may be vulnerable to some persuasion by them in a crisis. The Magic Number: While the Tome of Theurgy carries the gestalt knowledge of centuries of astral magic, Richard does not actually know anything about magic. Back in Black: Like many who lived in Freedom City in the Iron Age, Richard hates ninjas. Stupid Katanarchists. Walk This Way: A celebrity Discovery Channel host, Richard's face is known, and he has to behave himself in public most of the time Karma Chameleon: Richard is a convicted felon. Though his record is putatively clean today (thanks to many of his offenses being committed while he was a juvenile and others wiped away by either the statute of limitations or his pardon after the Terminus Invasion), he’s acutely aware that well-connected enemies could potentially cause a lot of problems for him. White Lines (Don't Do It): Former cokehead Fast-Forward is now a Narcanon member, and may find that responsibility taking him to some very interesting places indeed. Don't You Forget About Me: Freedom City has largely forgotten the 80s and early 90s, with the heroes and villains of those days dismissed as murderers or psychotic killers respectively - this is something Richard is determined to make sure they never forget. Walk Like An Egyptian: Fast-Forward once spent a week in Set’s lair. It was actually fine, Set kept his word to Clock Queen and was a good, if stern, provider: but in the aftermath, Richard has never really liked snakes. He thinks they’re spying on him. And maybe they are. Like a Virgin: Richard can be kind of a jerk sometimes. He’s working on that, though, and is much more pleasant to be around than he was in the 1980s. Take On Me: Though he’s aware he’s slower than most of the younger speedsters out there, Richard isn’t above competition with potential rivals like Downtime, Johnny Rocket, or even PC speedsters. I Can’t Go For That: Like many middle-aged people, Richard is most comfortable in the pop culture of his youth. Though he plays it up for laughs, he honestly doesn’t understand the charm of most modern-day music, style, and entertainment, and sometimes technology from after 1995 or so leaves him baffled. He’s a quick study, but it takes a lot to get him to make that studying in the first place. Hungry Like The Wolf: Fast-Forward has never quite gotten over the Iron Age. Not that he’s eager to go back to the days of lethal heroes and monstrous villains, much less a corrupt system and sheep-like townspeople, but he’s never lost the feeling that there’s another Moore Act out there just waiting to be passed. This has left him with a distrust for authority figures and government types that can occasionally seem a little odd in the modern era. You Shook Me All Night Long: Richard really hates corrupt cops and prison guards, and makes them particular targets of his hero work: nothing is more satisfying than putting away one of the cops (or their spiritual descendants) who used to harass him when he was a kid or in juvie. I Can't Change Time: Given the nature of Richard's powers, GMs should feel free to have interesting things happen when he uses extra effort with his Speedster array - surprise time travel, the arrival of dinosaurs, etc. As it goes! With Or Without You: Fast-Forward is on a first-name basis with many of the old lags from the Silver and Bronze Age Crime Leagues, some of whom helped raise him from birth. While he won’t go easy on them if they’re actually doing something bad, he takes something of a live and let live approach (in the finest tradition of the live-action Batman series) to those old-timers. No Way Out: Between one thing and another, most people don't leave the Crime League. Fast-Forward is one of the few people who has and lived to tell the tale. So far, anyway. Enola Gay: The Tome of Theurgy is a blunt instrument at the best of times, and Fast-Forward's not a terribly subtle guy. Sometimes he has to lay off the magic so he doesn't set the town on fire. Abilities: 2 + 6 + 6 + 0 + 4 + 6 = 24PP STR 12 (+1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0 WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP ATK: +6 (+8 Theurgy/+10 Speedster Array) DEF: +17/+15/+11 (+6 Base, +5 Dodge Focus, +4 Enhanced Dodge, +2 Shield; +3 flat-footed) Init: +3/+27 with Speedster Powers Grapple: +7 Knockback: -3/-2/-1 Saves: 5 + 16 + 8 = 29PP TOU +7/+5/+3 (+3 Con, +2 Defensive Roll, +2 Protection) FORT +8 (+3 Con, +5) REF +19 (+3 Dex, +16) WILL +10 (+2 Wis, +8) Skills: 124R = 31PP Acrobatics 9 (+12) Bluff 11 (+14) Skill Mastery Climb 8 (+9) Disable Device 15 (+15) Skill Mastery Escape Artist 9 (+12) Gather Information 8 (+11) Knowledge (History) 15 (+15) Knowledge [Popular Culture] 2 (+2) Languages 1 (Hebrew; English base) Notice 8 (+10) Search 8 (+8) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Skill Mastery Sleight of Hand 10 (+13) Stealth 12 (+15) Skill Mastery Feats: 11PP Challenge (Fast Taunt) Dodge Focus 5 Evasion Move-By Action Skill Mastery (Bluff, Disable Device, Sense Motive, Stealth) Taunt Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Enhanced Feats Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 4 Evasion [to 2] Fast Overrun Improved Initiative 6 Improved Overrun Instant Up Powers: 32 + 15 + 1 + 7 + 1 + 6 + 1 + 1 + 42 + 3 + 1 = 110PP Device 8 (40PP, Tome of Theurgy, Flaw: Hard to Lose) [32PP] Enhanced Skills 20 (Knowledge [Arcane Lore] 10 (+10), Knowledge [Theology and Philosophy] 10 (+10)) [5DP] Force Field 2 (mystic shields) [2DP] Shield 2 (mystic shields) [2DP] Super-Senses 7 (Detect Magic 3 [mental], Enhancements: Acute, Analytical, Radius, Ranged) [7DP] Theurgy Array 24 (48 PP, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 5, Flaw: Action [Full], Drawback: Action 6 [20 minutes to change allocation]) [24DP] BE: Paralyze 12 (cursed light of Algol; Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude, +0], Area [General, Cone], Secondary Effect) {48/48} AP: Dazzle 12 (visual) (blinding light of Asteroth; Extras: Area [General, Burst], Secondary Effect) {48/48} AP: Damage 16 (stormy light of Arcturus; Extra: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], PFs: Indirect 2, Stunning Attack, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) {36/48} AP: Blast 16 (burning light of Sirius; Extra: Area [Targeted, Cylinder]) {48/48} AP: Snare 12 (nourishing light of Spica; Extras: Area [General, Burst], Regenerating) {48/48} AP: Teleport 12 (1200 ft/20 million miles) (hasty light of the Pleiades; Extras: Affects Others, Area [burst]) {48/48} Enhanced Feats 15 (Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 4, Evasion [to 2], Fast Overrun, Improved Initiative 6, Improved Overrun, Instant Up) [15PP] Feature 1 (temporal inertia) [1PP] Healing 1 (temporal acceleration, Extra: Affects Others, PF: Persistent) [7PP] Immunity 1 (aging) [1PP] Immunity 10 (psionic effects; Flaw: Limited [Half-Effect]; PF: Selective) [6PP] Quickness 1 (x2) [1PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH/100 feet per move action) [1PP] Speedster Array 19 (38PP, PFs: Alternate Power 4) [42PP] BE: Enhanced Speed 9 [to Speed 10 (10,000 MPH/100,000 feet per move action)] (Extra: Affects Others 10) + Enhanced Quickness 9 [To Quickness 10 (x5000)] (Extra: Affects Others 10) {19+19=38/38} AP: Damage 10 (goon-sweeper, Extras: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], Penetrating [6], Selective, PFs: Accurate 2) {38/38} AP: Damage 10 (velocity punch, Extras: Autofire, Penetrating [6], Secondary Effect, PFs: Accurate 2) {38/38} AP: Feature 30 (Buys off Action Flaw and Drawback on Magic) + Enhanced Speed 4 (to Speed 5 (250 MPH/2500 feet per move action])+ Enhanced Quickness 4 (to Quickness 5 (x50)] {30+4+4=38} {38/38} AP: Paralyze 10 (time-stop, Extras: Alternate Save [Reflex, +0], Autofire, PFs: Accurate 2, Improved Crit 2) {34/38} Super-Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling 2, Water-Walking, Flaw: Limited [Only While Running]) [3PP] Super-Senses 1 (Communications Link [mental] (Hologram)) [1PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 16 Tou Damage [Physical] Goonsweeper Area [Shapeable] DC 20 Ref [DC 25/20 Tou] Damage [Physical] Velocity Punch Touch DC 25 Tou Damage [Physical] Time-Stop Touch DC 20 Ref Slowed/Paralyzed Cursed Light Area [Cone] DC 22 Ref [DC 22/16 Fort] Slowed/Paralyzed Blinding Light Ranged [Burst] DC 22 Ref/DC 22 Ref [DC 22 Fort] Blinded Stormy Light Area [Shapeable] DC 31 Tou Damage [Physical/Energy] Burning Light Ranged [Cylinder] DC 31 Tou Damage [Energy] Nourishing Light Ranged [Burst] DC 22 Ref/DC 22 Ref Entangled/Bound Totals: Abilities 24 + Combat 24 + Saves 29 + Skills 31 + Feats 11 + Powers 110 = 229/232PP

I moved some things around and adjusted your Blast power so that you'll actually be able to use it effectively, Thomas - you'll probably have to edit this sheet once it's up, but this is probably ready for the Character Bank.

"It was the Deliverer who rescued us from the world of the mammals before the Cataclysm! When we have the proof we need of mammalian subversion, we will declare Holy War against your planet, as we have against the other worlds in the past. No more will heretics with their talk of mammalian 'civilization' and 'saurianity' keep us from our purpose as the divinely appointed masters of this and all other worlds!" As fanatics often are, the priest was unwilling to go further, even under threats of a most vicious punishment from humans and dinosaur alike. His former subordinate, now with a submissive's downcast head, offered what help he could but evidently his own fanatical master had seen some sign of goodness, or perhaps cowardice, and told him little. With the younger warriors in the family standing by, the heroes and their local allies conferred. "The military fangs are loyal to me," said the Commander in a hushed reptilian whisper to the others. "I can handle the cleric and my daughter's failed suitor and deliver them into their claws. But if the Orthodox have built some fell work of science to threaten your world or mine, it has to be dealt with soon. I would like nothing better than to rend their flesh from their bones myself!" She hissed angrily. "But we can have no civil war. And an attack by mammalian aliens will not be seen as war between the priests and the officers." "Render-Unto-Deliverer has served one purpose," said Runs-With-Fangs-Bared with a pleased hissing rattle in her voice. "His egg-raid here means that I can raid his temple and none will look amiss on it! We can guard your planet, and I can take my revenge!"

Mark followed Erin and Trevor to the room they were changing in, belatedly remembering to stop outside the door. "You guys!" he whispered loudly, "something really weird is up with Corbin. I don't know what's going on, but it's strange!" The lanky teenager let his nervousness show once they were away from Corbin's eyes, not wanting to stress the situation out. "I hope he and Quo-Dis aren't getting married, they aren't old enough for that, and I don't think Corbin has even sowed his wild oats yet! You've got to sow your wild oats before you get married!" He said the last as an article of faith. "Is that what we've been doing?" Nina had followed Mark, slipping an arm around his waist. "I don't even know Corbin; and he seemed strange to me. Do you think he's gone mad with power?" she called through the closed door to Erin and Trevor. "That happens a lot with wielders of mystic artifacts in my experience! At least he hasn't turned into anything gruesome." "Hey, no funny stuff!" said Mark, raising a finger to her lips. They started arguing at that point about whether or not dropping hints was the same as actually referring to someone's secret identity, leaving Erin and Trevor to have their conversation in peace.

There is the smell of bitter almonds in the air. Two empty bottles of Diet Coke and red plastic cups stacked up in the trash. They all look unwell. They seem at peace with their fate.

"We attacked you while under mind control," said the shadow paragon coldly. "For that, you have our apologies. We never came here to cause violence to you or the other heroes of Freedom City. As for us, what we came here to do is done. So we're leaving." As the shadows began to clear overhead, casting the glow of a clear blue Freedom City sky, she added, "Having the Terminus in your city will only bring you death. He knows, even if you don't," she said with a nod Harrier's way as the shadowy coverings over everything cleared, freeing the trapped AEGIS agents as well. "It is their fate." And with that, the umbral visitors were gone as if they had never been, leaving Gabriel alone with a badly injured Harrier. As the light cleared, heedless of his injuries, Harrier turned to Gabriel and practically grabbed him by the front of his costume. "The safe room!" Gabriel could fly much faster than Harrier, especially an injured one, and so he arrived at the bunker beneath the main building of the apartment complex just in time to find himself in a scene like the last stages of Masada. The technicians, who stripped of their costumes and gear looked like any other two dozen pale, frightened, ill-looking people, were gathered together in a circle with a red-headed woman in the middle, one he recognized from his briefing as Carol, one of their leaders. Carol looked at him, beginning to look decidedly ill, and said weakly, "Have you come to end us before they take us?" In the corner, another one of the residents, a dark-skinned man in his late fifties, was vomiting in a corner, and a few were laying on their sides in the quieter places of the room.

The capture of Dr. Stratos, fallen on low circumstances or not, certainly brought out the big guns. It wasn't just the local cops who arrived to take him away; it was STAR Squad, the heavily-armed and armored anti-super squad and elite of the FCPD. They seemed as baffled by Stratos' condition as anyone else, slapping the power-restraining cuffs on the dissolute former arch-villain and taking him outside. Even the presence of Stratos' long-time archnemesis, Captain Thunder, chairman of the Freedom League, didn't seem to stir Stratos. His cape flying in the breeze behind him, the white-haired Thunder was a stern figure of justice as he eyed his rival suspiciously. "I don't know what you're planning, Sebastian, but-" "Aw, shut up, Ray," said Stratos with a flash of the old fire in one last instant before he was loaded into the armored police wagon. As the STAR Squad cops sped away, after exchanging information with the heroes, Thunder made a landing to shake everyone hand. "Charmed, I'm sure. I hear you all did fine work today." The legendary hero looked the trio over. "As far as I know, the three of you have been part of this from the beginning. Do you have any idea what happened?"

Unhurt though he was through all this, the now-grappled Dr. Stratos seemed to practically deflate in Starchaser's arms. "Fine, fine, take me to Providence. Again." He sighed as he looked around the busted-up bank, looking more morose than guilty at the carnage he'd very nearly wrought, and at the bank itself still standing only thanks to good luck and the continued application of superheroic power. "Things are gonna change after this, you know. In my day, the Crime League was about the joust with your opposite number, maybe a little bid for world domination, but now, feh! People just don't understand evil anymore," he complained as a round of applause for the assembled heroes came from the crowd. "Oh, wow! Cobalt Templar! Glow!" The excited crowd surged forward once the villain was down, with the new face pinning Stratos getting extra-special attention. As bank manager and customer alike tried to shake Corbin and Kristen's hands, the ladies were particularly interested in the big strong tough guy. "Ooh, are you new?" asked a young woman in a black, Gothy outfit that was a little skimpy for New Jersey in October. "What's your name?" She was trying to get her friend to take a picture, with Stratos' continued rant about the low quality of contemporary supervillainy being blotted out by all the noise.

Old-line Marxist that he was, Frost liked the sound of this Laccolinth fellow. The power of the noble families among the Igneous had never set particularly well with him, for all that the Siberians and Kolans he was personally familiar with were less interested in such things. From each according to his ability, to each according to their need, eh? The words were as true as the first day he'd read them. And he had seen enough societies stagnate over his many decades of life that the news that someone was interested in technological expansion seemed a reasonable course. But he was far too much the veteran to comment on a friendly ally's politics, especially in a fraught diplomatic situation with his own team likely taking another view. And one can never know these situations. With my luck, I would speak and he would turn out to be some masked madman fighting some petty paternal grudge. "We shall do all we can to prevent such a thing," he said seriously, as he spoke letting his body stretch and shift into a roiling man-sized cloud of white haze able to keep up with all the rapid movement. "Civil war is curse to any nation, much less one of friends."

Gabriel's shout seemed to tear the wings off the Erote like a butterfly, magic melding into shimmering gossamer that sent both her and her partner tumbling backwards - into a shimmering purple gateway in the shadow itself. Fixing a pleadingly venomous gaze on Gabriel, the female of the species fired a single shot his way as she vanished. "Your realm is next!" before she and her companion had both disappeared. Sure enough, with the removal of the two 'angels', the fight seemed to completely go out of the remaining shadow heroes. They backed away from Harrier, wide-eyed, the Omegadrone keeping his feet only through sheer force of will as the darkness alongside him faded - revealing the once-captured, now-freed AEGIS agents. "That was...unexpected," said the shadow paragon, looking at her friends first, and then the heroes. "Are you well?" "I am fine," replied Harrier, who was distinctly bleeding down his armor and onto the ground at his feet.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4281574/ = 27

That hits! And with that Grapple check, and our modified Grapple house rules, Stratos is bound and helpless - he cannot possibly escape unless he uses a power that does not require freedom of movement. Go ahead and post, IS.

Yes! And because of Stratos' current distracted state, I will go ahead and have him auto-fail that - so he is flat-footed! Go ahead and post, Scuffles, and then Starchaser is up.