Avenger Assembled
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Dang, let me know if you guys need another PC/heroic NPC for this thread!
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The cargo containers had enough space for the heroes, their supplies, and a prayer, albeit without any means of securing themselves in. As he stepped inside and found a place in the corner, securing himself to a handle inside the cold grey steel walls, he had a brief but vivid flashback of people being loaded into cargo containers and being taken to...by the time he was listening again, VINCE was talking. "Okay, everybody, hang on tight! We're on our way to Curator central!" The doors closed, shutting out the sunlight from outside, and casting them into the actinide white overhead glow that the Curator seemed to prefer for his ships. It wasn't blinding bright, but the glow was sharp enough that everyone's features stood out in vivid detail. With no windows, there was no way to look outside to check their progress. With a faint vibration, and brief sense of momentum, VINCE announced over the intercom again, "Next stop, bad guy town! We'll be there in about ten hours Earth time."
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Voltage's examination of the recovered robot parts reveals that the robots are, or were, being controlled from some sort of central transmitter. He's able to use his powers to get a general idea of where the spot is, some place far off in Wharton State Forest. Gaian Knight, when he casts his 'gaze' that way, is able to find a surprisingly large underground concavity. He _should_ have noticed something this big before, but it's as if it became visible for the first time...or maybe wasn't there at all until not long ago!
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The temperature in the elevator had gotten decidedly frosty, quite literally, when Comrade Frost had recognized John, his red eyes narrowing inside his parka's raised hood as he studied the teenager. Oh, it's him. Frost was one of the few living (well, sort of) beings who had known Wilhelm Kantor as a personal enemy, and had been someone to consult on at Myrmidon's discovery. "He has quite a tale to tell, Gaian Knight," said Frost, walking around with a trace of worry showing on his pale face. This _was_ bad, but he didn't want to admit that to the younger heroes. He shot a glance at Tiamat suspiciously, prompted by GK's warning, before adding, "I had thought Voltage would make our technical expert for the moment, if he does not mind being deputized as a Reservist given the crisis." He hmmed, putting his gloved hands behind his back, and went on, "I have contacted my colleagues in Moscow and they have no knowledge of these events. Whatever happened with these...machine, was restricted to Freedom City and its environs. Even the Devil in Jersey City was unaffected."
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the climactic struggle of the Day of Wrath saga
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Just to verify, Quinn, ESP 10 is enough to search from the Earth to the Moon. Did you want that, or did you want the 1 mile version?
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As Ghost Girl and Citizen flew through the Sanctum, they could see the beginnings of a grim transformation. The 'tentacles' extruded by the Curator ship above were more like growing tree trunks, or moss down here, spreading right through the walls and floor as if insinuating themselves into every inch of the complex. The main hall, still full of the momentous of the Centurion's career, was overgrown by eerie silver-black tree trunks of computronium and cast in shadowed red emergency lights. "The Curator's nerves," said Citizen shortly, knowing this wasn't Kimber's area of expertise. "He's growing them into the Sanctum, making it part of him. When he's done, he'll have everything in the Sanctum's databanks, and enough scanned of the Sanctum itself to rebuild it on any world. I can't access the network. There's no sign of the Centuritrons." He was going to make a suggestion to Kimber, that once they verified the status of Tronik, she could start shorting out the Curator's nerve centers and interfere with the assimilation process, but then the door opened to the heavily secured room where they'd left Tronik on their last visit. There was a single tendril in there, the glossy coating over the silver-black computronium gleaming in the light overhead. Gleaming as it hung there, a single impaling spike driven through the heart of Tronik's hard drive. And then Sharl didn't speak at all, his eyes widening for just a moment before he leapt inside his home. - Outside, the head-ship looked like a blasphemous mountain, tentacles as thick around as the Wonderbus digging and slicing away at the ice coating around the Sanctum, more and more driving directly into the naked metal of the structure itself. Whether through stretched resources or simple arrogance, the Curator didn't seem to have any aerial defenses. It made their journey safer, but it also meant there were no convenient landing bays or gunports to target. The closest thing to a weak spot, based on the Wonderbus' sensors, were the red glowing 'eyes' that served as the subspace transmitters for the ship. According to the onboard computer, flying in through a weak energy screen would get them inside the ship, and in a relatively unsecured area at that. The exotic radiation emitted by the transmitters would have fried the technology of an advanced race, but a low-tech approach was easily in the cards. "Warning. Imminent impact detected," the bus added, and the screen cut away to display one of those wriggling computronium tentacles, an eerie, obscene shape in the half-light of an Arctic day, snapping out of the Sanctum's roof and coming directly for the invisible Wonderbus.
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"Ahahah!" laughed Quickstep at the carnage she saw before her, looking obscenely pleased at the wicked deeds done on the streets of the Fens by her and the Bee-Keeper. "Go forth, my brother, and teach them FEAR! This city will be cleansed by fire in the name of Wrath! And I will be His darkest disciple! Hahahahahah!" Her laughter was cold and dark, like something from winter itself. Leaving behind the burning tenement, she disappeared into another wormhole, leaving behind only the quick glimpse of cold metallic walls and darkness before she disappeared entirely, leaving the battered heroes still standing to deal with the carnage left behind by the Bee-Keeper and the armored villain-turned-hero-turned-supervillain himself!
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Sometime later, after the fighting in the city began to die down, Comrade Frost arrived at the front door of the battered Freedom Hall with Voltage in tow. With traffic still heavy in the streets, they'd flown in, Voltage via electrical speed and the relatively pokey Frost by means of an icy cloud that had drifted after Voltage in the air at a comparatively slow pace. "Come, I know things look bad, but I have seen invasions by things from beyond before and eventually we always win in any case," said the parka-clad cold controller with a particular bite in his voice as they headed inside. This was bad, actually, one of the worst disasters he'd seen while working in the United States, but he wasn't going to let the young hero dwell on inconsequentials such as that. They headed through the still-damaged front hallway, and were just about to hit the elevator when Myrmidon arrived. Frost found himself tensing briefly at the sight of the other hero, and fought off the bizarre urge before waving him over when he saw what he had. "Ah, good! You have a robot! And I have a genius. Come," he said, waving both younger men into the elevator. "Let us find Gaian Knight." It was very cold in the elevator, the air misting slightly around Frost as they headed up to the control room.
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Consolidated "Happy Birthday" Megathread
Avenger Assembled replied to cosmicarus's topic in Archives
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Okay: I need a DC 25 Notice check from Gaian Knight for things underground! DC 25 Knowledge: Technology check for Voltage. When did Voltage arrive? We will see.
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Geckoman: This is not technology Chris is immediately familiar with, though it does look extraterrestrial. His Notice, Search, and Investigate are more useful: this was clearly a highly advanced robot, one that had processors inside to mimic virtually every human bodily function: in this case, even Jill's superpowers! The fire was an internal self-destruct mechanism, a plasma charge like those used to destroy advanced spaceships from the inside like the Lor or Grue do. Thanks to his knowledge of hero history, being a student of the Raven, Geckoman knows that there's only one being from space that relies on robotic infiltrators: just as he did in his first contact with humanity in the 1960s, the has replaced people with robots - but why like this? While his intentions towards humanity are not benevolent, murder in the streets isn't his usual style either.
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Inside the building they found a grim scene of carnage, the hot-burning fire having burned the contents of Summers' office nearly to ashes. Whatever secrets and treasures had once been held in this place were now so much black and red ash, the fire having left most things not even recognizable. The only exception were the bones, if that's what you could call them: an eerie pile of metal that was clearly in the general shape of a human skeleton. It had fallen about where they'd last seen Summers' body, though of course it was hard to judge that given all the carnage and transformation that had happened in this place in the last few minutes. It wasn't hard to guess what an outsider would make of this place, or their story if they'd told it: Young Freedom had murdered Summers and burned down his office to cover their tracks! But there was that metal skull as a counterargument, staring up with empty grey eye sockets.
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Comrade Frost radioed in from Eldritch's house in response to the central announcement from League headquarters, the League Reserve's magical consultant sounding a little winded from the battle that had taken place near the home of the city's most powerful wizard. "Yes, that fits with our observations. Whoever is behind this, there is no magic in him, only cold mechanical heart. Have you tried contacting mechanical expert familiar with robots? I know Daedalus is dealing with crisis in Far East; but there must be someone the League can call, Dragonfly girl or Miss Americana." He hmmed. "I would have said try and reach Mentor if it were only Star Knight, but this speaks to greater crisis. I will be watchful here. Keep an eye out for Talos and his minions. This is the sort of trick that old creature might try."
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"No, it..." Steve put his hand on the ship's flank for a moment, considering. "This is a short-range craft. Interplanetary, not interstellar. But we know the Curator _has_ such ships, otherwise how could he have attacked your Earth, or taken us from our homes?" Speaking out in public wasn't his strength, but this was an emergency. His mind fell back to what he knew of the Curator, and more what he remembered of dark intelligences with cosmic power and their machine slaves. "A short-range ship has a base. A central base, with more ships, and possibly access to the Curator's processors. This ship cannot return us to Earth, but it can take us to where we can fight the Curator. If his defenses have been weakened, this may be our only chance. We are far from home and we know our enemy has placed spies on our world, among those we love. Fighting him, stopping his plan, that must be our priority." He'd expected Dorothy to look fearful at the words, but her brave nod and snap to attention made his heart twist. "VINCE, can you guide this ship to its home base?" "Yeah, I can," said VINCE seriously. "Looks like...half a day at this thing's average speed. You guys'll be riding blind, but I can get you in the door."
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Looks like plasma, but from what?
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Fleur sees Star Knight struggle briefly then burst into pale green flames! She can see as the faceplate melts away that there was never any person underneath the mask before the armored figure burns away to fragments
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The gathered heroes watched the pale green fire burn away at the giant flower holding the maddened Star Knight for what felt like forever before suddenly the fire sizzled out into nothingness, leaving a charred, but still standing, flower looming over them. At the same time, Fleur felt a strange sensation of lessened weight from inside the flower, and when at last she opened it with all the heroes in the room at the ready, a shower of metal and dust fell out of the opening. The scorched metal parts were only vaguely recognizable as pieces of the super-tough Star Knight armor. It looked as though something had come along inside Fleur's flower, or perhaps had been there all along, and incinerated something tough enough to fly through the corona of a star!
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It turned out that there was such a thing as a universal computer port, or close enough one that it made no difference. After a moment's pause, the various triangular monitors in the control center lit up with a familiar face: VINCE, sitting in what looked like a simplified cockpit, wearing aviator goggles and a scarf over his Archetech jumpsuit. "Well, this is new...hey kids!" he waved. He wasn't the cheerful fellow who hung around with Jill's Interceptors, but time by himself in his drive, or maybe the new surroundings, had taken some of the naked despair they'd seen on his face the first time they'd met. "I guess this is your ride home?" He pressed a few buttons on the 'console' before him, the lights outside flickering back and forth as he did so. "Ah...well, sorry, kids, but this isn't that kind of rocketship. I can fly you back to this thing's home base, maybe tool around on this, hey, ringworld? Neat! Anyway.." He shrugged. "If I'm reading this right, the top speed won't get you to another star for about fifty years, and the computer in here is so dumb it doesn't even know what star that is. Some alien hypertech, amirite?" He pulled the goggles back down and began to fiddle around with his cockpit again. "Can you tell what severed its link to the Curator?" asked Steve, thinking about mindless machines and their cosmic masters. "Maybe, something about an emergency protocol..." VINCE shrugged. "As near as I can tell, the big AI upstairs just stopped sending, so this thing came crashing down.Like I said, the hard drive's about as dumb as a box of rocks."
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As far as Crow can tell, Mr. Archer's voice is legit. He's worried, but controlling himself for the kids. Crow also knows that this _is_ a procedure on the Claremont campus in the event of an extreme emergency, albeit there are supposed to be adult heroes around helping out. Of course, from what he's hearing from outside the campus, there's a reason why no help is coming... Darren's job is a little tougher because his usual social media networks aren't working. While he does get some graphic stories of students he recognizes from Claremont; Blue Jay firing a bombardment of arrows into a crowded group nearby, then being battled by her fellow students, he does get some information from a few people on campus who are posting online when they're not supposed to: they're down in the emergency shelters! It sucks! And some of them are scared,since there are rumors going around of evil shapeshifters from the Terminus on campus.
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ooc Counterfeit Medications (OOC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Archives
We are officially out of initiative. -
DC 15 Reflex save vs. a Rank 5 DMG plasma Burst effect, and we are out of initiative, kids.
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Jill's throat crumbled like tissue paper wrapped around a soda can beneath Willow's grasp, the robot's eyes flaring a searing red again before falling into eerie mechanical stillness. A bare second later, suddenly the 'remains' erupted in a silent wash of pale green fire, a searing bright light that scorched the eyes and skin of those around, burning hot enough to ignite the roof beneath their feet! Those still paying attention could see a robotic skeleton emerging from the ashes, albeit one melting itself like so much candlewax amid the searing white-green fire that had erupted from what had once been, no, what had maybe never been Jill O'Cure.
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ooc Counterfeit Medications (OOC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in Archives
DC 25 Tou save for the punch, then another one for the falling rocks (which still weigh about STR 100 to lift, Corbin). Have an HP! DC 20 Reflex save vs hand-flamey death (i.e., flash burns) for the group near the Erin-candle. 23 Mark is fine. Go ahead and post IC, guys. -
ic Counterfeit Medications (IC)
Avenger Assembled replied to Avenger Assembled's topic in City Center
"Fine, but we're not done. I'm Power Fist, by the way." The Labyrinth thug helped Cobalt Templar hold up the ceiling, sighing and rolling his eyes whenever people thanked him. "Goddamit, what is _up_ with you genetic norms, anyway?" he asked Cobalt Templar frankly. "I was trying to put you and your friend down a minute ago, and now I do one thing they think is heroic and they think I'm great." When the last of the civilians was out, Power Fist shook himself off and said, "Well, that was fun. Anyway, I've got a message for you to give your friend the crazy screaming girl." And with that, he punched Cobalt Templar in the stomach, knocking him off his feet as giant chunks of masonry came raining down all around them. "Later!" As the pieces fell, the man flew out through the hole he'd made in the roof earlier, just before the entire roof came tumbling down right on Cobalt Templar! - Across the way, a long moment passed as the battered woman struggled against her bonds before falling deadly still. A second later, she suddenly exploded in a burst of pale greenish fire, an eruption of heat that flash-fried false flesh away in an instant, revealing a metal frame beneath that was visibly running and melting like wax in the fire as a wash of scorching heat flash over the small patch of ground near where Erin lay, or had laid: the grass around the scorching cauldron of boiling and running metal had already burst into cheery red flames!