Avenger Assembled

"I don't really know," admitted Sharl, "you'd have to ask someone who works there." Gina had handled most of the finer details of his admission to Claremont, and the details of much terrestrial bureaucracy was generally lost on him. "I mean, I just go to school there, you know?" He smiled, shooting a look at Eliza, before looking back at her parents. "I do think Eliza would do really well there. She's smart, she gets along great with people, and she's really...special, you know?" He grinned at that and added, "And since I'm moving on next year, you know I'm not just cheating to try and go to school with my girlfriend. I actually kind of like that part. It's weird at first seeing someone sometimes and not all the time, but that can actually make things more special." The conversation moved on at that at first, before Sharl's mind wandered and he asked a question he hadn't intended to bring up. "So, ah, Julia..." Using first names made him feel weird, but if it was what she wanted, sure. "Eliza tells me you're a card-reader. What's...what's that like?"

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4043825/ 18 I am dissatisfied with that, especially since Harrier is soloing this particular joint http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4043827/ 29 with the HP, and Harrier is unhurt.

Move Action: Fly after Emettu Standard Action: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4043812/ w/ Paralyze = 17 I believe that just misses, so I'll spend an HP http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4043815/ 23 Much better. That's a DC 22 Fortitude save vs. Paralyze for the bad lady.

Electra and I are with my folks visiting my sister in Indiana for a couple of days; more generally we're faced with a long-distance move in the near future, so we'll be limiting ourselves in some directions.

Frost fought the urge to twiddle his thumbs, wishing for the fifth time that day for the comforting warmth of a cigarette. Damnable Americans and their puritanical hatred of tobacco. "We should consult with Farrow and see if falcon has whispered in his ear these days," he said, settling for sketching a laundry list of ideas on the yellow legal pad in front of him. "I know he has ongoing familiarity with situation. But you, and you, have taken us on journey into mystery," he said, leveling his ballpoint pen at Set questioningly. "It should be Isis and her divine cattle attempting to trample you to death, not snake demons. Is there war between Tamoanchan and Heliopolis? Were you sent below to be kept alive, with she as minder? If there is trouble with gods it is bad news..." He sliced a stroke across the pad, a hard line of ink, and said, "Or does Ra shine you below for some other reason?"

Photovore "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." -Edgar Allan Poe Power Level: 10 (150 PP) Abilities: 2 + 6 + (-10) + 0 + 4 + 6 = 8 PP Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 16 (+3) Constitution – Intelligence 10 (+0) Wisdom 14 (+2) Charisma 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24 PP Attack: +6 (+10 Photovorous Gaze) Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Initiative: +3 Grapple: +7 Knockback: -5 Saving Throws: 0 + 4 + 5 = 9 PP Toughness: +10/+6/+4/- (+4 Protection, +6 Force Field) Fortitude: -- Reflex: +7 (+3 DEX, +4) Will: +7 (+2 WIS, +5) Skills: 60r = 15 PP Bluff 11 (+14, +18 w/Attractive) [sM] Diplomacy 11 (+14, +18 w/Attractive) [sM] Gather Information 2 (+5) Intimidate 7 (+10) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+4) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 15 (+15) [sM] Notice 3 (+5) [sM] Sense Motive 3 (+5) Feats: 10 PP Attractive Dodge Focus 4 Fearless Set-Up Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Knowledge [Pop Culture], Notice) Taunt Uncanny Dodge (visual) Powers: 2 + 4 + 6 + 30 + 36 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 87 PP Drain Constitution 2 (Flaw: Requires Grapple) [2PP] Enhanced Regeneration 8 (Recovery Bonus +5 [5], Resurrection 1/hour [3], Flaw: Source [sunlight]) [4PP] Force Field 6 [6PP] Immunity 30 (Fortitude Saves) [30PP] Photovore Array 16 (32 pp, PFs: Alternate Powers 6) [36PP] BE: Blast 10 (Extra: Range [Perception], PFs: Indirect, Variable Descriptor 1 [cold/darkness]) {32/32} AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Area [burst], PFs: Indirect, Variable Descriptor 1 [cold/darkness]) {32/32} AP: Dazzle 10 (visual, Extras: Alternate Save [Reflex/Will], Range [Perception], PFs: Indirect, Variable Descriptor 1 [cold/darkness]) {32/32} AP: Drain Toughness 10 (photovorous gaze, Extras: Affects Only Objects, Ranged, Vampiric, PFs: Accurate 2) {32/32} AP: Obscure 10 (visual, 1 mile) (Extra: Independent [+0], PFs: Slow Fade 2 [5 minutes]) {32/32} Regeneration 6 (Recovery Bonus +0 [5], Resurrection 1/week, Flaw: Source [blood]) [3PP] Protection 4 (Extra: Impervious, Flaw: Limited [blessed/silver/wood]) [4PP] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2PP] Drawbacks: -3 pp Vulnerable (darkness descriptor, uncommon, major [+100%]) [3PP] Abilities (8) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (15) + Feats (10) + Powers (87) - Disadvantages (3) = 150 PP ------------------------------------------------------ Design Notes: What if a light controller became a vampire? A pretty young teen trained by the local hero school, with experience working as the snarky sidekick to gruff badasses. Say her connection to Light, to that source of glowing energy that drove her powers, was warped and turned feral and predatory just like her life itself, becoming something that fed on light rather than producing it. If that happened, you just might get a photovore like our young friend here - a shadow controller with several distinct differences from the norm. She doesn't control shadows in the same way most comic characters with that kind of power do, she controls _darkness_ - with a look, she can drain the light and heat out of anything she wants, even pulling that power into her and using it to repair her injuries with just a little concentration. She can also blind people by pulling the light from their eyes (and keeping it gone, until they can 'push her out') or even pull a whole room into darkness; an effect she can maintain while fighting or otherwise in combat. Only the darkness that is her home can hurt her. Her immunity to sunlight, and indeed her empowerment by it, is going to be one hell of a surprise for your typical vampire hunter. Scatter her ashes in the sunlight and she'll grow back just fine without them! With blood and light, she can grow back to herself fast, like some cursed weed. Note that she can repair her injuries by use of the Drain Toughness part of her Photovore array, so she doesn't need to drink blood. Give her some more typical vampiric vulnerabilities like an allergy to holy symbols to get more points. I've built this as a transformed hero, but perhaps she was a villain who has had a change of heart after a vampiric attack (it's tough to be just a little evil when you have a thirst for blood), or maybe she was a vampire who found that light magic was beyond her given her condition, but there were other ways...

Caradoc wordlessly raised his sword and aimed it not at the officer, not at his minions, but at the barge - with an unholy shriek of energy, his sword erupted in blazing white cosmic fire, shattering one of the propellers and sending bronze fragments cascading down towards the street below. Having seen the magical nature of the dimension's inhabitants, Steve wasn't worried. In fact, he'd only just begun. Jets roaring behind him, he landed on the barge and raised his blade, his voice cold and methodical as the holographic weapon gleamed in the light, the frightened eyes of the guards on him for one long moment. "Assume your crash positions," he said before driving the pointed tip down with enough force to crack the barge's spine in two, sending fragments tumbling towards the street below as it fell from the sky, the battle having been loud enough and the fall dangerous enough to send civilians below running and hiding.

Psychic Gorilla "The mind has many layers, but the properly-trained esper can peel them back and see what lies within." "Like a banana?" "...that is racist, sir." Power Level: 10 (150 PP) Attributes: 6 + 2 + 6 + 2 + 6 + 2 = 24 PP Strength: 30/24/16 (+10/+7/+3) Dexterity: 12 (+1) Constitution: 20/16 (+5/+3) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 10 = 22 PP Attack: +5/+7 Unarmed [+8 Melee/+10 Unarmed w/exoskeleton] [+6] Defense: +9 (+3 Dodge, +2 Shield, +2 flat-footed) [+5] Initiative: +1 Grapple: +14 Move Object, +18 regular, +25 w/exoskeleton Knockback: -10/-5/-3/-1 Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 PP Toughness: +11 (+3 Con, +2 Growth, +2 Defensive Roll, +4 Force Field [+10 Imp w/exoskeleton]) Fortitude: +8 (+3 Con, +5) Reflex: +6 (+1 DEX, +5) Will: +8 (+3 WIS, +5) Skills: 44r = 11 PP Climb 3 (+5) Concentration 7 (+10) Disguise 0 (+1/+41) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 4 (+5) Intimidate 3 (+4/+5) Notice 7 (+10) Search 9 (+10) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Stealth 0 (-2) Survival 2 (+5) Feats: 8 PP Attack Specialization (Unarmed) Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 3 Second Chance (Concentration checks) Startle Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 3 + 2 + 4 + 13 + 27 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 13 = 69 PP Additional Limbs 2 (Power Feats: Innate) [3PP] Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand animals (Flaw: Limited 2 [simians]) [2PP] Force Field 4 (psychic force field, Extra: Linked (Force Field) [+0], Flaw: [Dodge Bonus]) {2} + Shield 2 (Extra: Linked (Force Field) [+0]) {2} {2+2=4PP] Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]; Power Feat: Innate) [13 PP] Strength +8, Constitution +4, Attack -1, Defence -1, Grapple +4, Intimidate +2, Stealth -4, +5' speed, +5' reach, +5 Strength for carrying capacity only [heavy load: 1200 lbs] Psionic Array 11 (22 PP, PFs: Alternate Powers 5) [27PP] BE: Morph 10 (any form, Flaw: Saving Throw [Will], PFs: Covers Scent, Precise) {22/22} AP: Enhanced Feats 3 (Attack Focus [Melee] 3) {3} + Enhanced STR 6 (to 30/+10) {6} + Impervious TOU 10 {10} + Super-Strength 1 (PF: Takedown Attack) {3} {3+6+10+3=22/22} AP: Blast 7 (Extra: Range [Perception], PF: Variable Descriptor 1 [pyrokinesis/telekinesis]) {22/22} AP: Mind Control 10 (Extra: Instant Command, Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Mental Link, Subtle) {22/22} AP: Move Object 7 (Eff. STR 35, Heavy Load: 1.5 tons, Extra: Range [Perception], PF: Precise) {22/22} AP: ESP 4 (Clairvoyance; Auditory + Visual Senses, 1 mile, DC 24 Notice; Extras: Action [Free], Duration [sustained]; PFs: Rapid [5 Minutes to search 1 mile diameter area], Subtle; Complication: Medium [living creatures]) {22/22} Leaping 1 (x2, running long jump 26 feet, standing long jump 13 feet, high jump 6 feet) [1PP] Super-Movement 1 (Swinging) [2 PP] Super-Senses 2 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision) [2PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH, 100 ft/round) [1 PP] Telepathy 6 (12 pp, PF: Alternate Power 1) [13PP] BE: Communication 6 (telepathy; Mental, 20 miles; Extras: Linked [Comprehend, Mind Reading]; PFs: Rapid [x10], Subtle) {8} + Comprehend 1 (Speak Any Language; Extras: Linked [Communication, Mind Reading]) {2} + Mind Reading 1 (Extras: Action 2 [Free], Linked [Communication, Comprehend], Effortless, Mental; Flaws: Duration [instant/Lasting], Limited [surface Thoughts]) {2} {8+2+2=12/12} AP: Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Mental, Penetrating, Flaw: Duration [instant/Lasting]; PF: Subtle) {11/12} Abilities (24) + Combat (22) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (11) + Feats (8) + Powers (69) - Disadvantages (0) = 150 PP ----------------------- Design Notes: Is she a psychic ape, surgically altered and raised in a laboratory by human scientists before she went to the outside world to learn more? A mutant from Gorilla Island, cast out by her suspicious kinfolk into a world of hairless freaks where her powers let her fit in? Or was she human once, a psychic who by design (perhaps while suffering from a terminal disease, or a fatal accident) or mischance (a failed psychic experiment, or an enemy’s wrath) was cast into the body of a damn dirty ape? Or is she an immigrant from Earth-Ape, perhaps a psychic hero in her own dimension who has opted to resettle in our own? Whatever her origin, this is my attempt at constructing a psychic gorilla in the vein of Gorilla Grodd. (For those wondering why the Flash fights a psychic gorilla, besides SILVER AGE, Grodd fills a definite niche in the Rogues’ Gallery: he has Perception-range abilities to bedevil the high-Defense speedster, and the sheer physical power to take high-Mach punches.) It’s an interesting archetype, and a good way to get a giant ape in your campaign. I figure she creates a telekinetic exoskeleton for herself when she enters melee combat; giving you a mountain gorilla who isn't just strong enough to toss humans around but who can shrug off bad guy bullets and at least exchange punches with powerhouses. She's a utility psychic rather than a super-star, without the sheer mental power or finesse of some of her more human colleagues, but she's also a giant gorilla! Note that with Growth 4 she is bigger than a regular gorilla, closer to Grodd or the Ultra-Humanite in their traditional depictions. Change up the psychic powers however you like; I tried to give her a pretty generic, useful array. The Morph lets her get around the streets without betraying her true nature to people watching, while the TK, pyrokinetic blasts, Mind Control are a surprise for people expecting a gorilla to be all hands-on. With her ESP and TK, she makes a fine supplemental psychic. Her skills are pretty bare-bones; drop some of abilities she gets from her animal body if you want to play those up; she could use a boost to her INT and CHA in the bargain. She could use more mental senses, too. She can do OK in the wild but she's not a specialist there, this is probably not a gorilla who grew up in the jungle. She could be stronger, she could be a better psychic, but I think this character is a decent blend of both animalistic powerhouse and mentalist. Most people don’t expect a gorilla to read their mind, anymore than they expect a psychic to be a giant gorilla!

Harrier: Standard Action: Blast the barge http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4040023/ = 13 Natural 1, inauspicious Spending an HP to reroll that http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4040024/ = 22 =32 w the HP Better. That's a DC 27 Tou save for the Barge Move Action: Harrier flies onto the barge and lands amid the group. SURGE (spending an HP to cancel fatigue) Standard Action: All-Out Power Attacking the Barge with his Strike power http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4040025/ = 23 OK, that exceeds its defense by 7 = 3 from Autofire So 12+5+3 = DC 35 Tou save for the barge

The remark made Mark cough as they teleported out, but luckily it didn't spoil their stealth as he changed them back into their regular clothes. Mark took the lead as they made their way through the crowd, checking on friends to make sure they were all right, telling them the story of how he and Erin had taken shelter in the coat closet when all the fighting started. It was a thin story, even for a super-identity, but luckily this was the kind of thing Mark had grown up selling. The party guests were still recovering from shock, albeit an attenuated one, and though Erin distinctly caught a view of several sketches of Wander and Edge being worked on, no one seemed to be openly putting the two heroes together with the two of them. When he was sure everyone was no more than scared, Mark made their way out of the building and through the police cordon, then finally out to his car. Once there, he sat behind the wheel, shaking his head, his voice rising. "I can't believe it, Erin, I really thought that my mom had gone crazy, but she was right! She was totally right about that guy! Which means that...that..." He looked at her, and suddenly seemed to deflate, his voice dropping. "Which doesn't really make anything better at all, does it?"

"I'm good, I'm good," said Mark, who had turned red for a moment but now did seem to be calming down. "I just...I don't like it when people do that," he said, flexing his hands back and forth as he glared down at the wriggling Curtis. "Jerk." Anger wasn't something Mark found easy to express, so he did his best to swallow it. The sight of the bad guy at his feet, mad but unable to do anything about it, helped a lot. He smiled a little at Erin, and said, "Thanks, though. And for...making sure I did the right thing there." Eldritch emerged a few moments later with a snake-skinned woman bound in glowing gold mystic bonds, who hissed and spat at Curtis angrily as they got close. "There has been a falling-out," he commented to Mark and Erin dryly. When STAR Squad arrived to find two superheroes holding a bad guy wizard for them, they took the situation for what it was - uniformed and body-armored officers carried Curtis off towards the police wagons that had pulled up outside, confiscating his fallen serpent-cane and loading his 'bride' off in the other one. Mark asked around among the people who'd left the green room and came back with news about exactly who the snake-woman was. "June Marsh, one of the new secretaries," he told Erin. "_Not_ that girl he was hitting on real hard, either. They're trying to figure out if she was just a cultist or an actual Serpent Person." He looked at the crowd of comics professionals and realized that a significant portion of them had their tablets, pads, and other drawing tools out. "I think we'd better get out of here," he said significantly, knowing that Mark Lucas and Erin White might be missed soon.

While Mark made the call to summon help for them against the mad sorcerer, the crowd was beginning to panic as they came out of the spell. "What was that thing?" one demanded. "What was he going to make us do?" With a look at Erin to turn her head, Eldritch (who had finished his chanting when Curtis was knocked unconscious) raised his hand and spoke to the crowd, a blue-white glow shining like a beacon from his palm. Having seen this movie already, Mark turned his head and focused on his conversation with STAR Squad - they knew how to deal with evil mystics well enough, and the news that one had attacked a crowd with a snake monster was going to get a rapid response indeed. Meanwhile, Eldritch informed the crowd "Alan Curtis was an evil magician who tried to summon a snake monster to attack you all. He was defeated by Edge, Wander, and Adrian Eldritch. He will be taken away and you need not fear anymore." With that, he turned back to Erin and winked. "I had better go speak to the people in the green room," he said, floating by overhead as he went to do just that. The crowd blinked a few times, and, just as Edge came up behind Wander to report the cops were on their way (having left Curtis bound and gagged with steel and burlap, respectively) began to cheer. "They saved us! Woo-hoo!"

"How did you die? Was it Geb?" Frost took a seat in his usual chair, the one with the built-in heater, and pulled back his parka to study Set and Sekhmet with red eyes. "You have given him some cause for it over years, you must admit. A shame when fathers and sons quarrel, but if you must die, how better than at command of the great gods, eh?" He put a hand inside his parka, frowned momentarily, then removed it, again all smiles. "Heliopolis had been quiet lately, at least in channels which I monitor." Which I will evidently have to expand, he thought with a trace of irritation. "You are not what you once were, in more ways than just your actions. If we are to assist you in your transformation," he offered, "it is vital information for us."

OK: Curtis uses the Blast in his ring to summon a monster to bite Erin. Normally it would hit since she's flat-footed, but Edge spends an HP on her behalf to restore her dodge bonus. (We've let people do that before) On Edge's turn, he stunts Blast 20 (spending an HP to cancel fatigue), CDGs Curtis (who can't make such a roll, especially not with Edge anti-LCing him) and takes the guy out

Curtis responded with the sort of lewd comment about Erin riding him that might have gotten his head pulped back in Erin's days of heavy psych treatment, then added, "Typhona, attend me! Show these interlopers who their master is!" At his words, a man-sized humanoid with bizarrely mammalian secondary sexual characteristics seemed to wriggle out of the air and bite at Erin, fangs coming perilously close to her flesh before flinching away at the last minute. "Oh no you don't, you freak!" yelled Edge, the lights overhead visibly flickering for a long and perilous moment as he ran up there and got right next to Curtis. "No more weird monsters, no more warped heroes, and no more Alan Curtis!" And with that, a bolt of lightning cracked down from the ceiling and struck the wizard between Erin's arms, knocking him finally unconscious with a powerful jolt of electricity. "And stay down!" Edge yelled with great satisfaction as the serpent-woman faded from existence, the crowd gasping as Curtis' spell seemed to break.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4036277/ -grappled!

Edge goes on 8 - http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4036208/ D'oh! I will be treating this fellow as a PL 13 version of with ATK +10/DMG +16 and DEF +10/TOU +16. 9 http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4036229/ Hah-hah... Okay, let's call this - Wander: 19 Alan Curtis: 9 Edge: 8

Bad snake juju!

Knowing that Curtis had some sort of mind control effect built into his walking stick, they waited just outside the door as they heard his act begin - odds were good they had a moment or two, at least, and bursting in too soon would risk giving Adrian Eldritch two more big problems to fight along with whatever dire magic the cultist-comic book writer was trying to work out there. When they heard the first shouting outside, Erin and Mark exchanged a look and Mark stepped back just enough to let Wander kick in the door. Normally two superheroes bursting onto the stage would have gotten the attention of everyone in the auditorium, but they were rather occupied with the rippling dimensional portal in the air - some of them still hypnotically staring straight ahead like so many frozen mice in a snake pen, others screaming and running for the exits, a few particularly credulous souls seeming to watch the entire display with fascination as they watched what was surely the show of a lifetime. The crowd on stage was frozen in place; some of the 'assistants' in robes shaking off the effects of the spell that had been holding them, the blonde ingenue Curtis had been flirting with earlier trying to pull herself free from the ropes that tied her to the altar, a few still locked in place but not actually moving now that their 'master' was busy with other things. Eldritch was in the air, chanting in a language neither Mark nor Erin could understanding, glowing sigils of mystic energy pouring from his fingers and wrapping themselves around a warping distortion in the air that looked as if someone had tried to push in a portion of the universe but hadn't gone far enough, stretching rather than tearing it. Eldritch added as he cast his spell, "You'll not have this day, dark serpent lady!" There came a deep, guttural hiss from inside the ripple, but nothing actually crossed the barrier. It was as if they had come in halfway through the movie, but that was one thing Mark was happy enough to miss. Especially when he caught sight of Alan Curtis, the dark wizard biting his lip nervously as he began to make a break for it, edging slowly towards the doorway where Erin and Mark were waiting for him. "You!" Curtis shouted, seeming to recover at the sight of the young heroes. "You may have foiled me now, but you'll never-" "Not on my watch, you gross hippie!" yelled Mark as he reached out and grabbed the hand of the nearest bystander, calling over the chanting. "Everybody hold hands!" Most of them did, at that, and vanished in a flash of light as Mark snapped his fingers. It wasn't enough to get all the people on stage, not with some of them still zonked out by serpentine hypnosis, or whatever it was, but soon there was only a a small handful of bystanders and the cornered cultist on stage with Edge and Wander.

Mark followed Erin away from the table, nattering about the club soda and how he was sure they'd get the dress fixed, no problem, until they were out of sight. He glanced at the program and nodded, "Looks like Curtis is up next," he said, and sure enough the emcee was already "introducing a man that needs no instruction." Mark bit his lip and glanced in the direction of the stage for a long moment before turning back to Erin as they stepped into the corridor. He and Wander had been in this situation often enough that she didn't need to speak, even as distracted as he was - with a snap of his fingers, he was in costume and so was she, and without the flashy accouterments that some of his counterparts liked to add to their costumes. "I can't get us anywhere specific without looking, but I can probably pop us right back onto the stage," he said to Erin.

Init for Harrier: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4035983/ =25 His modifier is 1 higher than Gabriel, so he goes first (not that it really matters, since we're doing two combats, I guess?)

"This is a grave situation," agreed Eldritch, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration as he looked past the curtain to the scene beyond it. "I know As-as-ra of old and her rage is both vast and terrible. And even beyond that, the serpentine gods have been agitated since Set's return." He frowned. "Even an aspect of As-as-ra could summon tens of thousands of poisonous vipers to fill this entire room, especially if Curtis does have a magical hold over these people. You need not fear waiting for some dire act; I will interrupt his summoning once it begins and I can chart his particular incantations." He hmmed. "But what you will need to do is be ready for his escape. An interrupted summoning will still require my presence here to prevent an incursion from the Minoan Plane of Shadow, rather than let the..." He trailed off, looked at Erin and Mark, and said, very carefully, "I won't be able to catch him myself, so the two of you will have to do that." "We'll be ready," promised Mark without hesitation. "Even if he runs, he won't get far." He looked at Erin, then back at Eldritch. "Then we can just take him to jail, right? Magical summoning's a crime if it's for dangerous purposes," he told Erin, "it's been illegal since the 40s when they didn't have any other way of busting Nazi sorcerers. It's the same as if he was planning on letting a caged giant snake loose in here...which I guess might happen if we're not careful."

As the man spoke, Frost knelt down on the dirty floor, sketching a crude map of the region in colored ice on the floor. When the scientist was finished, Frost frowned, a dark look on his white-blue face .When he spoke, there was none of his usual near-playfulness - this was a soldier faced with a powerful enemy. "This is bad," he said. "We are dealing with intelligence great enough to swallow region of millions while same time plotting infestation of billions more. It must be destroyed here, at its root, before other worlds can be infected. While I am capable of generating sufficient cold to sterilize even so large a region, the human cost would be...unacceptable." He looked up at the others, a question on his face, before turning to the bound scientist. "Your heroes. The empowered defenders of this world. You said Champions joined Great Mother. What of others?"

When he was on, as he was the moment they were back inside, Mark was such a dazzlingly perfect all-American boy that it was hard to believe he'd been holding back such anger back in the car. He finished making Erin's introductions to the crew of writers, artists, and staffers that he'd obviously known since he was a little boy, laughed at jokes that were about as old as the Andi Comics company, and chowed down on buffet food that had been out long enough to wither ever so slightly in the warm headlamps. He smoothly shielded Erin from any inquiries into her personal life or much about her knowledge of comics - the former seemed to be of special interest to the people curious about whether or not she worked with Mark through UNISON. It wasn't hard to guess that they thought she might be another super-agent, Mark's secret ID being rather thin for somebody who was otherwise so determined to keep with superhero conventions. When the show started, Victor Goldwater, the owner of the company, came out to give a short speech about how well things were going and how much money he'd hoped they raise for their cause - a fund that would help raise money for students to go to art school. There was no mention of his long-time artist and writer's recent mental breakdown, which was probably for the best but still made Mark shift a little uneasily in his seat. The first act to go on was an elderly man who Mark murmured to Erin was one of the company's night janitors, who gave a passable baritone rendition of Danny Boy. Behind him, covered almost too negligently by a cloth, Mark and Erin could make out the draped forms of the barbaric altars Curtis had planned to use in his act. At the ten minute mark, just as the singer was finishing his encore, a middle-aged man in a distinguished, old-fashioned suit quietly came in and sat next to Mark and Erin - it was easy enough to recognize the Master Mage of Earth if you had met him face-to-face, but not if you were a civilian looking at him in the dark. "Hello," he said warmly, "I hope I haven't missed anything. Tell me what you saw." The civilians at the table kept up their conversation as if Eldritch wasn't there at all.

"C'mon, team," Edge exulted. "We can take these guys!" He looked up at the T-Rex and suddenly said, "Hey, wait a minute! You're some kind of _fake dinosaur!_ That is the worst!" He clapped his hands together. "Here I thought you were some kind of cool animated skeleton, but you're just some shapeshifting jerk, you big faker! Okay, guys, new plan - hit him where it hurts, organic being style! I bet he's got something soft and squishy tucked away under there after all!" Mark made good his words by joining in the fight, snapping his finger as somehow the T-Rex stumbled backwards and smashed its head into a support pillar, leaving it knocked silly for a moment as it forced itself back to its feet. He wasn't sure what everyone else on the team was doing, but he was sure it had to be vital. "Yeah, I bet you've got a brain in there somewhere, and soon we'll punch you right in it!" he added to the shapeshifted brute.