Avenger Assembled

The group of young heroes and their Lor allies stepped onto the transmitter pads and vanished, their atoms quantum-tunneling five hundred miles through solid computronium and re-emerging in the central control room of the Curator - the mighty cybernetic intelligence whose vast power and arcane manipulations of their world had brought them to this place. They found themselves standing in a vast, cathedral-sized hall lined with dark and silent monitors cut in a triangular shape, the too-bright silver light overhead a source of stark illumination inside the central hub of the Curator's lair. The air was stale and smelled musty, a relic of however many eons it had been sealed inside since the Curator's original construction. At the 'altar' of the room sat a massive chair, almost like a throne, covered in the same silver-black pyramids that were the Curator's symbol, tentacles of computronium rising from it to infiltrate the wall behind. Sitting in that chair, its head bowed ever-so-slightly, was a still, silent Curator drone, its three eyes dim and dark. And standing next to it was Dr. Sebastian Stratos, lightning crackling around his fingers. "Hey, kids!" he called with a wave. "Got your hive going, eh, Barry?" He chuckled. "I wondered if I'd see you again. You didn't happen to bring any food with you, did you? Because I am _starving_!" He waved his lightning-covered hands around for emphasis. "I found this zoo a couple of levels down, but most of the animals tasted terrible, and one kept trying to shapeshift into my mother or something. It was awful!"

"My name is Grace Mercer," said the driver with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances. "I do things Mr. Grant needs done around here, most of the time, anyway. Anyway, listen, I've done some stuff in my time, but this crazy hero Terminus space stuff isn't really my scene. I'm more, you know, bodyguarding, acquisitions, the usual corporate stuff, none of this out of this world routine." She adjusted her tie, straightened her back, and added, "So if you're done with me, I'll just be taking my stuff and heading somewhere a little greener till you guys get this taken care of?" She bent down and retrieved her lost chauffer's cap as she spoke.

What followed was something of a wild confusion: first the tubes drained dry, then the occupants awakened, heroes and villain stepping out into an alien place despite the familiar faces who were there to greet them. None of the recognizable criminals, Orion and the others, put up much of a fight, and for the moment submitted (albeit with some cold stares) as they were put under restraints, still wet from the fluid that had sustained them for how many weeks. It was Duncan Summers, his eyes strong despite his frail body, who took charge of the other 'survivors', staying on his feet by the expedient of an iron-handed grip on John's shoulder. "Tell us what's going on," he said to the heroes, his body like a drawn string. "How can we help?"

"So the car did...something bad?" asked Sharl, feeling a little lost as he stood there in the warped reflection of Earth-Prime, though doing his best to adapt. I went from one reality to another before I was even a superhero, I should be able to handle this no problem... "Should I try and get in there and see what's going on?" he asked Eliza. "Or...is it something the driver is doing?" he went on, trying to think out what seemed to be the logical consequences of this place. "If no one is making the car break the law, then it must be the human being inside it." He knelt down and peered through the windscreen of the car, remembering the weird anthropomorphic movie he'd seen about sentient automobiles roaming some sort of grim post-apocalyptic landscape he'd seen over Christmas. "Weird. Does the policeman on the other side need our help?"

The tentacles the Curator had extruded through the Sanctum gradually flaked away into crumbly ruin as Young Freedom went about the grim duty of disposing of the bio-weapons they'd been carrying and finding a safe harbor for the city that their friend had died, in part, to protect, leaving behind corridors swiss-cheesed with holes in the walls or blocked by fallen debris. As far as Koshiro, the most experienced of them all in going through abandoned buildings could tell, the Sanctum itself was still structurally intact, but they could hear the wind howling down some corridors much louder than they had on their last visit - some parts of the structure were open to the elements and would most likely need repair. But most of the famous structure had endured this attack just like any other indignity, and had survived. They found the Wonder Bus outside in the snow, the tough craft having fallen out the eye of the fallen headship before Glow could catch it. It was intact, as far as they could tell, and powered on at their approach, ready to take them home. Casting the bioweapons deep into the depths of the Zero Zone was easy enough; the instructions for the projector being so simple that even the least technically savvy of them could do it. Connecting the two Troniks, both saved from disaster, was beyond their resources, and probably a potential disaster anyway. But it was easy enough to find the power connector Sharl had marked and to leave it connected to the internal power supplies of the Sanctum, sharing the same room as its dimensional counterpart. Even if the young hero who'd hoped to unify the two Troniks was gone now, there was no denying that the mission had succeeded - Erde's Tronik had come home.

That'll do! Okay, Quinn, go ahead.

Players Name: AvengerAssembled Characters Name: Fast-Forward Power Level: 10 (150/150PP) Trade-Offs: -0 Attack / +0 Damage, -2 Defense / +2 Toughness Unspent PP: 0 Progress to Orichalcum Status: 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, Age: 50s (born 1964) 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. When wearing the Helm of Hermeticism, his voice takes on a particular echo and he grows a spectacular blue and yellow cape. 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 wearing the Helm of Hermeticism and center around manipulation of the Sun, Moon, and four classical elements. He's not terribly skilled in their use, but using his super-speed to make rapid calculations he can cast blunt-force spells that blast his enemies with focused sunlight, pin them to the Earth or fling them from it, fly in the air and control the winds, summon clouds of water vapor and mighty rainstorms, or just fire jets of flame from his palms. 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 glamourous, 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 Fugit. As the world darkened into the grim days of the 1980s, their brand of crime no longer fit: just before Richard's 18th birthday, they were busted and sent to jail. Richard went to juvie, his mother got a twenty-year sentence by a tough new judge. 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 publically pantsing the mayor, making sure the police would hunt him for his blood for the rest of the Moore administration. It was about this time he reunited with his old girlfriend Paige Psion, who was equally disconnected from the old generation, and together Fast-Forward and Hologram carried out a unique reign of terror in Freedom City, a wave of crime that mocked society without tearing it down, that robbed without hurting, that called back to the crime waves of yesteryear. Life was good. Until the Terminus Invasion. The horrors of the invasion, and the heroic sacrifice of the Centurion, convinced Paige and Richard it was time to change course. With a full pardon in hand from the US government, they went on the road, traveling in an RV and exploring the country, living the life of hard-traveling adventurers. After a few years, realizing they weren't getting any younger, they decided to have a kid: young William Cline followed not long after that. They traveled for a few more years before settling in southern California so William could start kindergarten. They ran a private security company in LA for a few years 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, but things were mostly fine as William's younger sister was born. 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 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 artifact out of his basement, a mystic helm reputed to be of great power, and put it on... History of the Helm: The Helm of Hermeticism was crafted by John Dee in 1605, not long after the death of Dee's wife and children from the plague. The helm vaguely resembles a simplified Greco-Roman style helmet, cast in bronze with iron inlays. Dee's glyph over the forehead, cast in electrum, is the fanciest adornment on the otherwise humble metal helmet. The Helm contains all the Hermetic knowledge available to John Dee in 1605, reaching out to the ancient Greco-Egyptian texts he gathered not long before his death. Dee's legacy was taken to America by his disciple John Winthrop to preserve it against the coming civil war in England. The Helm has passed from American mystic to American mystic since then, but despite its age has never found a niche for itself - the vast, disorganized library inside the helmet needs a formidable mind to keep up with it, one beyond even that of most magical scholars. The last heroic mage to wear the helmet was Dr. Hermes, an occult homefront adventurer during World War II; his son Bob took the helmet from his father's study in the mid-1980s after the latter's death and went on a crime spree before being stopped (or rather, robbed) by Fast-Forward and Hologram. Complications: Family Man: Richard has a family to protect, for good or ill. Oh ho, it's magic, you know: While the Helm of Hermeticism carries the gestalt knowledge of centuries of Hermetic magic, Richard does not actually know anything about magic. Fame: A celebrity Discovery Channel host, Richard's face is known, and he has to behave himself in public most of the time Infamous: Ex-supervillains, even ones who were actually pretty harmless back in the day, have a way of attracting unwanted attention. Don't Let It Be Forgot: Freedom City has largely forgotten the 80s and early 90s, something Richard is determined to make sure they never forget. 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. Fast As You Can: Richard is not above getting competitive with other speedsters, one reason he put the Helm on in the first place. Boom-De-Yada: The Helm of Hermeticism 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: 0 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 10 = 26 PP Strength 10 (+0) Dexterity 14 (+2) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 14 (+2) Wisdom 14 (+2) Charisma 20 (+5) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16 PP Attack: +4 (+7 Melee, +10 Magic) Defense: +8 (+4 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), Initiative: +2/+22 Grapple: +7/+14 w/Move Object Knockback: -11/-6/-3/-1 Saving Throws: 5 + 5 + 5 = 15 PP Toughness: +12/+6/+2 (+2 Con, +4 Defensive Roll, +6 Force Field) Fortitude: +7 (+2 CON, +5) Reflex: +7 (+2 DEX, +5) Will: +7 (+2 WIS, +5) Skills: 44r = 11 PP Bluff 8 (+13, +17 w/Attractive)* Diplomacy 5 (+10, +14 w/Attractive) Disable Device 8 (+10)* Escape Artist 8 (+10)* Language 1 (English [base], German) Notice 3 (+5) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 8 (+10)* Feats: 14 PP Attack Focus: Melee (3) Attractive Challenge (Fast Taunt) Dodge Focus (4) Eidetic Memory Jack of all Trades Skill Mastery (Bluff, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Stealth) Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 32 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 21 + 1 + 2 = 68 PP Device 8 (Helm of Hermeticism, Flaw: Hard to Lose, 40DP) [32 PP] Enhanced Feats 2 (Fearless, Ritualist) [2PP] Enhanced Skills 16 (Intimidate 8 [to +13], Knowledge [Arcane Lore] 8 [to +10]) [4PP] Force Field 6 [6PP] Hermeticism 15 (30 points; Flaw: Action [Full]; PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Power 5; Drawback: Distracting to change configuration {-2PP}) [21 PP] BE: Impervious Toughness 10 (Shield of Luna, Extra: Reflective 2 [all ranged]) {30/30} AP: Blast 10 (Wrath of Helios, Extra: Area [Cylinder]) {30/30} AP: Flight 3 (Sylph's Mastery, 50 MPH, 500 FPM) {6} + Move Object 10 (Effective STR 50, Heavy Load 12 tons) (PFs: Indirect 3, Subtle) {24} {24+6=30/30} AP: Move Object 10 (Rejection of Gaia; Str 50, Hvy Load 12 tons; Extras: Area [50-ft. Burst, General], Damaging; Flaws: Limited [Only To Pull Objects Straight Down To Earth Or Hold Them Off The Ground]) {30/30} AP: Obscure 10 (Aquan Disguise, visual) (Extra: Selective) {30/30} AP: Damage 10 (Salamander's Breath, Extra: Area [Cone], Secondary Effect) {30/30} Super-Senses 7 (acute analytical radius ranged detect magic 3 [mental]) [7PP] 2+4+6+21+7 = 40/40 Enhanced Feats 10 (Defensive Roll 2, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 5, Move-By Action) [10PP] Immunity 1 (Aging) [1PP] Quickness 1 [x2] [1PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH, 100 fpm) [1PP] Speedster Array 9 (18 points; PFs: Alternate Power 3) [21PP] BE: Enhanced Quickness 9 (to Quickness 10 [x2,500]) {9} + Enhanced Speed 9 (to Speed 10 [10,000 MPH / 100,000 feet per Move action]) {9} {9+9=18/18} AP: Speed 9 ( [5,000 MPH / 50,000 feet per Move action) (Extra: Affects Others) {18/18} AP: Feature 17 (mitigates Action Flaw for Magic 15 and Distracting Drawback) {17/18} AP: Strike 7 (goonsweeper; Extras: Area [shapeable, Targeted], Selective Attack; Flaw: Action [Full]; PFs: Mighty, Progression [Area] 3 [70 5-ft. cubes]) {18/18} Super-Senses 1 (Communications Link 2 [Hologram, Thoughtspeed] {mental}) [2PP] Abilities (26) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (11) + Feats (14) + Powers (68) - Disadvantages (0) = 150 PP

I'll say it fails, thanks to being bound already, and is trapped. Go ahead and post

"Look, that stuff isn't really my department..." The driver winced before adding, "But you guys got it all wrong. Listen, I don't even think the Terminus was ever really here!" She paused for emphasis, and added, "All I know is, the boss got this call from deep space or something, said it was a Stellar Khanate thing trying to see if they could make more T-babies on Earth for some kind of crazy harvester thing, seeing as how our genes all got pretty blasted back in '93. The boss wouldn't work for Omega, but make some people with powers, sure, why not? So they sent some supplies to here and some of the people who work with the boss, trying to see if they could make more T-babies. Who knew that would make you hero people go all crazy?" She shrugged. "Anyway, if you're looking for the boss's corpse or something, the lab guys dragged that off about the time you guys took off after your crazy friend."

"Luckily, I'm already on that-" said Edge over the comm signal a moment before the giant red gorilla-thing landed a devastating punch against the crystal barrier that trapped it, making Darren's hard-built diamond structure crack and bow outward like ice hit with a sledgehammer. Having recognized diamonds, Mark gasped in momentary surprise - either that kid's powers weren't as impressive as they looked, or they were in more trouble than he'd thought. "Okay, well, let's back Crow's play here and get this thing taken down! You guys know your role, you can handle this. We're going to beat this thing, save the day, and..." He blinked, staring at the monster again, and shook his head. "You know, _none_ of the other robots did this. Any ideas, people?"

The monster roars as it attacks the crystal barrier! It inflicts a Tou save of 30 - the barrier takes 10, thus fails by 10. it's still holding, but it'll crack next round and let the monster go unless it's reinforced...or unless the monster goes down! Edge Inspires again. Tsunami is up as soon as I post IC

The problem with accessing the Curator's command center from the ship was easy enough to see as the featureless black surface of the command center's 'north pole' came into view. "The problem is," said Shepard, the officer's mechanized voice sounding a little humorous, "is that the Curator doesn't have a humanoid need for a visual interface. We're lucky there's a command hall at all, really, it must be a leftover of the original builders when they needed to do maintenance...anyway, the Curator's command center is right below us, about five hundred miles through compacted neutrons and computronium. There's an oxygen atmosphere, though, which tells me the Preservers must have been oxygen breathers..." "Normally we wouldn't transmit through that in a million years," commented Samran as she worked at what was evidently a sensor station. "But the internal energy sources are in standby mode, so there's much less risk of interference. All we need to do is go down with an emergency transmitter system, and we can make a one-time transmit out even if the systems start coming back online..." She walked to a small group of white square built into the floor of the little ship, then slid open a panel on the wall, taking out several small black spheres, one of which she attached to her shoulder like a sticky ball. "So, who wants to go with me?" she asked the heroes conversationally, a half-smile on her face. "If you people are special as I've heard, we could use all the help we can get."

Frost uses his Vampiric Strike and Power Attacks for +2, spending an HP to make sure he hits. The battered Quickstep rolls poorly and is destroyed. Combat is over.

For his part, Comrade Frost avoided the theatrics of his more showy compatriots. It wasn't that he disapproved, far from it. This was a time to rally together with bold words and brave deeds against the monster that had set war amongst their city and killed so many. But he left that sort of talk, and that sort of work, to younger men and women who still had fire in the belly. That was something he'd lacked for a long time. So instead of the taunts and the threats, he simply disappeared in a puff of chilling white mist, floated amongst the darkened suspended animation tubes, and reappeared just behind Quickstep. "Your youthful appearance may fool the others, but you cannot melt a heart so cold!" He put one ungloved hand on her back, and that was all it took. With his touch, the young robot, already battered from Myrmidon's attack and flinching from Tiamat's oncoming attack, suddenly stiffened and froze, eyes widening and flesh turning blue. Frost continued his attack as a crackling sound filled the air and flakes of frozen synthskin flicked off the robot, revealing the steely flesh within, before suddenly it fell from his grasp and landed on the floor with a sound like cracking glass, shards of frozen metal sliding across the floor as the fractured, frozen robot lay perfectly still. "Hm," Frost added, pulling his glove back on as he stepped away from the others. "Better get to work."

Just wanted to chime in that I think Freely_Seek's idea is an excellent one. I've been a bit disenchanted by event threads dragging on forever in the past, so I'm going to be bringing an end to this one in about a weekish either way.

Citizen: War of the Worlds End of the World Backstage Pass Edge: Counterfeit Medications Argonauts Even Angels Fall Disco Inferno Harrier: Love The One You're With Test Site I Test Site II These Chains On Me Test Site III Comrade Frost: Scratch Team GMing: Pale Moonlight Time and Chance Ace In The Hole Arms and The Man Just go ahead and count any stray GM posts in my IC threads towards the character in question, to save time. Put my Ref point and spare GM points to Harrier first.

"Hey, no promises, but if you stick me somewhere, I'll see what I can do with it." "...all right," said Samran after a moment's thought, and a quick glance at both her subordinates. "Our last proximity check put the Grue fleet at least six hours out of this system. We can be in the control center, and gone, by then. It's not about cowardice," she added to Jill as her helmet came back on. "There's an entire Grue battlegroup heading for the Curator's construct, fast enough they must have started coming over as soon as the signal from the ringworld died. Our ship can't fight an entire fleet. But I'd rather try and fail here than say we never tried at all. We can load you onboard and take you to the command center at the pole directly. Let's go." The interior of the Quantum Singularity turned out to be smooth and polished, all white panels and screens with grey and red displays that seemed to glow in the comparatively dim light of the small starship - they had all been inside the overly-bright command center for quite a long time. "If you've been in our ships before, the Singularity may need some getting used to," said Samran as the crew took up standing positions in the small command center, white panels flashing red text before them. "We're a high-speed courier vessel most of the time. We don't have the kind of luxuries that a typical starship does, but we can make our own fun." Outside, the ship cut itself loose from the hull of the command center and began a trip that took only seconds, whipping by an perilous few meters from the perfectly smooth, glossy surface of the Curator's command center, the moon-shaped construct somehow all the more alien for that. Peering overhead, the heroes could easily make out the curving blue-white ribbon of the ringworld itself, and the vast, starry landscape beyond it, just before the ship settled back down atop the bare smooth hull. "All right, time to start cutting again."

She can't beat that! She's demoralized! Go ahead and post for her

24 20 It is untripped, but it is trapped! Go magic Quinn!

31 Aw, boo, she no sells it. tiamat is up

All right, so that's Blast 10 + 5 =15 DC 30 Tou 17 I'll make that a 27, and she is bruised! Have an HP, Semi. Voltage is up

OOC: Citizen power-stunts Mental Transform 18 (memories, 3/rank) (Extras: Alternate Save [Reflex], Duration [Continous], Flaw: Action [Full], Side-Effect 2 [Disintegrate]) {18} off his Paragon Array, along with Flight 1 to stay in the air. He makes an unarmed attack vs the Curator. 18 He misses, and spends another HP to succeed automatically. The Curator makes a Reflex save vs. 28. 19 Sharl transforms the Curator, eliminating his desire to attack Tronik. Citizen makes a Fortitude save vs. DC 28 20 Citizen's Impervious drops to 6, his Tou stays at 12 Tou vs. 33 13 Sharl is dead, and the Curator's gone. "Fight's over, son."

The dome shattered beneath Ghost Girl's attack, the giant 'structure' of energy falling apart like so much shattered glass over battered Tronik. Though Sharl's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the falling debris, the pieces sizzled away and vanished before they could hit anything, sending up a whoop of celebration from below Sharl could hear through his connection to the electronic devices around the city. He shot Gal Vanic a smile, her words ringing in his ears, and appreciated them for what they were - the words of a friend. And then the whoops were turning to screams, and Sharl screamed too, in rage and frustration, as the Curator appeared before them again, big as life and with his injuries healed. He knew down below the whole city was watching them, his family and everyone he loved, watching them try and save them from this unstoppable cosmic threat. Above them the dome began forming all over again as if all their efforts had been for naught, tentacles erupting towards as they reached for Tronik all at once in a single wave of annihilation. "You still-fail to understand-the nature of my-threat. I am-" And as the Curator told them of his invincible regenerative program and of how he would make Tronik his own, then claim the Erde-Tronik, and how Sharl's people would never be safe from him, Citizen stopped listening and started _looking_. Looking at the fat lines of alien code in the system with him, the thinking, plotting, incredibly powerful cosmic entity that at his core was really just a computer program. Sharl raised his hands and looked down at them, no, not _at_ them, but at the lines of code that were Sharl Tulink, the sophisticated program that he was. And he saw the way out, and so he interrupted the Curator. "No, no, we're not going to do that. Gal Vanic fried your circuits and overwhelmed what you built here, and I beat you down. It's time for you to go." And the program before him sent back lines of code that became words. "I am-a god in-this place. Who are-you to-stop me?" Cyberknife's hand pulling him from the crucible. The battle against the Conquering Mind. Seeing Gina's face for the first time. "A citizen of Tronik." From Kimber's perspective, Citizen flew directly into the Curator's midsection, passing _into_ his body, and suddenly the air itself began to vibrate as reality in front of her warped and woofed almost impossibly fast, the Curator reaching for his chest like a man having a heart attack - Patrolling with Koshiro. Talking about space with Wraith. Reaching across dimensions to save another Tronik. Understanding Kimber. Eliza's lips on his Code flashed before Sharl's eyes impossibly fast, pulling at his own matrix, reaching inside him and transforming him even as he reached out and transformed it. He fell deep into the heart of the Curator's systems and core programming, abandoning his body to navigate into what was no longer the physical. He pulled things from himself and plastered them against the Curator's matrix like a sculptor building from his own soul. Never again. Never again come for Tronik. This experiment is a failure. These people don't belong to you. KEEP THEM SAFE The last thought, buried deep in the Curator's core programming, altered the very heart of the system. And took Sharl's with it. The Curator, his dome, the tentacles, suddenly everything vanished into nothingness, and Sharl fell backwards into Kimber's arms. He looked up at her, his eyes wide, and said with a smile, "Hey, Kimber, where do you think a program goes when it

Myrmidon: 36 Voltage: 30 Tiamat: 12 Comrade Frost: 10 Quickstep: 8 Gaian Knight: 6

That's cool, you guys are out of initiative. Giz: That reduces the dome (with its Tou + Impervious) to all of +5 with no Impervious! Go ahead and post IC, you guys.