Avenger Assembled

"They warned me about you," Rogue sneered, her body almost imperceptibly beginning to warp and shift as she transformed back into her natural state, an angular, off-kilter humanoid with greenish skin in a red and grey costume none of the kids recognized. "But maybe they should have warned YOU about ME!" she said, suddenly leaping forward and landing a double-fisted smash against what passed for Indira's midsection, hitting Wraith hard enough to rebound the metal teenager off the polished ceiling before she hit the floor again. "Stupid aliens, you have no idea who you're dealing with! I'm-" "...you're not her," said Citizen, his face suddenly twisting into fury. "She knows nothing about your cartoons, which means you're not her at all! You're not her, you lured us here!" And with that, the defender of Tronik suddenly swooped up and out of the building, rocketing back a moment later in a blur of speed that was almost impossible to see, a blur of black costume and glowing blue chest symbol as he smashed the fake Rogue across the jaw, sending her hurling backwards against a support pillar hard enough to shake the room as tougher-than-impervium metal vibrated. "Where is she?" he demanded. "Where's Rogue?" "By the time you know," the shapeshifter sneered in reply, "We will have annihilated your world, Citizen." By way of response, Citizen stepped forward and punched her in the face,this time smashing her against the wall with a final boom. The shapeshifter dropped to the floor, bleeding from the mouth and only half-conscious, eyes rolling back in her head. For his part, Citizen looked appalled at his victory. "She lured us here, she lured us here!" He turned to the others, hastily readjusting his shades. "See if you can get anything out of her. I've got to help these people." The small broadcast crew was shaken, with some minor injuries; as Sharl tended to his wounded people using a medical kit from the wall, and as they deal with the rousing shifter, the others heard the story: 'Rogue' had simply flown right through the wall, tossed people around like they were toys, and hijacked the emergency broadcast system. No one had ever seen an alien like her before...or, from their shocked whispers and stares, like Wraith and Ghost Girl. "These are...these are my friends," Citizen was telling the civilians, "We've come to save our city from the invading aliens."

Chloe eyed the ribbon uncertainly, reaching up to pat it as if checking for booby traps. When she didn't see anything amiss, she gave Weaver a big, too-perfect smile that made her father visibly blanch. "Gee, thanks, mister! That's an awfully good trick!" She beamed up at Weaver, just a little too plastic for a girl in her situation. "I don't get a lot of visitors," she said with a sad look like an unhappy Shirley Temple as she looked up at her father, "so I sure am glad to see you!" "How can I help?" replied Rayford to the heroes, tearing his gaze away from Chloe by sheer force of will. "I've...I've been away, and most of my case files are with other agents..." He looked scared, running his fingers through his stubble, and couldn't quite meet their eyes.

Airon: Her reactions are: FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE (Anyone who can beat 20 on a Sense Motive check will notice the same)

Fix his unenhanced Strength score and his save totals. Match his array structure up to look (bold and italics-wise) like the one on Ecal's demon build.

'Rogue' is here as a distraction, but she's in a tougher fight than she realized. Lacking the real Rogue's grudge against Sharl, she'll fly over and take a poke at Wraith. Have an HP for being honest, Fox! 30 Welp! DC 30 Tou save for that. Go ahead and roll that, Fox, and I'll post IC.

This room is one of those frustrating spatial anomalies Grandpa warned Trevor about; the walls are always moving subtly and there's a feel of space and time being slightly distorted: it takes slightly longer to move from one side to the other than it should, the dome seems to shift slightly based on what it's displaying (further away for violent scenes, closer for more passive ones), and the like. Time travel! Getting close to the various time-windows does change their display; when Midnight does so, he finds himself looking at...himself! The Temporal Observatory has the range to watch the Midnights, he sees various scenes from his own heroic life like fighting the Grue, riding his motorcycle with Wander, and the like. There's nothing with his mask off, no secret ID revealed, but there's no doubt he's evidently a person of interest to people of the future. The various time machines are all on lockdown and look reasonably secure, though it's tough to tell with future technology! As far as Trevor can judge, the biggest weakpoints are probably the airlock that leads out to the half-terraformed surface of Venus (it doesn't look particularly secured, probably because the conditions outside are still so rugged) and the teleport pad they arrived on.

"He claims he was in the Othello Range," sneered Harper, "the very place where our spies have detected anomalous thermal readings, like the ones a terrorist camp might have." She spat on the runway. "I would simply bomb the land flat, but the _Americans_ have complained whenever we have exercised our lawful and sacred rights of self-defense in the past." She hmmed, eying the two women. "I had thought to do so anyway, but now that you are here, perhaps we can reach other arrangements. Come, if you are done with that scum, we can go below and I can show you what our nation truly represents. This has been a poor showing," she conceded grandly, "but these are poor days indeed for our besieged nation."

Looks pretty good. What sense type are her super-senses?

I can't comment too much on the backstory, I'm not one of our more magic-focused guys. There are some issues with the math. That's okay, this is a complicated system to learn. 1. Odd ability scores are a waste of points. (It's an unfortunate, though easy to fix, artifact of the system). You should round his base strength down to 14, or up to 16. 2. Where are you getting this +10 melee attack? I don't see that anywhere on his sheet. M&M is a game where you do need to build to caps, at least for starters. 3. I don't understand the notation for his Reflex save. Does he have no points there? Three? Five? 4. He should have Notice, Search, and/or Sense Motive; Investigate is effectively useless without them. (They let you find the clues, Investigate lets you figure out what they mean). 5. Rage isn't a terribly useful feat with our rules; they make it impossible to meet caps! I'd swap it out for Power Attack (a very useful feat) and just describe going into a rage while using All-Out and Power Attack together. And those combat feats won't be as useful to you as, say, Skill Mastery, or Uncanny Dodge. There's a lot to work on here. It looks like you want Protection, not just buying Impervious onto his base TOU. You haven't explained what the Drain actually drains. It looks like you want Comprehend 2 (speak and understand all language simultaneously) if you want divine-style comprehension. Notation needs fixing in general. Maybe some immunities? You need to explain more here. For reference, here are some demon-style builds for your use: Ecal's Demon AA's Demon

Just hits! Tou vs 26: 26 Awr. Wraith is up

It is decidedly odd that Rogue would have any idea what Jem and the Holograms are; from all Kimber has seen, she's an alien (Sharl doesn't get most pop culture references Kimber is familiar with) who has particular contempt for human culture and all it represents (Sharl has some issues there from time to time, but he's not a monster like Rogue is. Does it suggest anything? Maybe!

Steve was the mirror image of his room-mate when it came to women, something that had been a private joke during their months sharing the same space. Normally he would simply have dismissed John's suggestion with a grim remark, or a simple shrug, but today..."...she has asked that I not speak of it to others," replied Steve after a long hesitation. Nervously, he walked quickly to the door of the new apartment, his feet thudding on the floor beneath, and then knocking resoundingly on the door. "We are the welcome wagon!" he called through the door to the occupants within, his back straight as a board. A few moments later, after the sound of movement from inside, the door swung open to reveal what looked for all the world like a very short, very wide man with a heavy silver beard and thick glasses. He peered up at the two men uncertainly, and finally spoke in a deep voice. "Hello! I am Professor Young. Welcome to my home." He took the basket Steve handed him wordlessly, then looked back up at them. "Come in, come in!" The Professor's apartment, visible behind him, was designed for short people, with legless chairs and couches, low-slung kitchen supplies, and handholds on the walls. "Make yourselves at home."

"We are meeting political refugees from a non-human nation-state in the South Pacific. They promoted political change in their native land." Steve closed the basket with finality and put it under his arm with incongruous smoothness. "I believe the colloquial term for their homeland is 'Gorilla Island.' They use holographic disguises to move about among humans without detection." Steve was familiar with non-human sentient species, more familiar than he'd have liked to be. "They will appreciate meeting a man of your personality." And with that, he led the way out of the apartment, his footsteps thudding solidly on the floor beneath their feet. "You have been with a woman," he commented as they walked through the halls, the sounds and smells of the special circumstances housing as always happily alien. "I can tell."

February 2012 Steve and John hadn't seen much of each other over the last several months, for all that they were still sharing the same space. Steve was working long shifts at HAX, the high-tech lab where he'd been hired as a security guard, and when he wasn't busy with work he was away walking the city streets for long hours, sometimes moving back into costume to fight various monsters. Archimedes, the cat he'd taken in after the Deep One invasion, had bonded well enough with both men, but she was a solitary creature like most of her breed. Steve himself had seemed more confident and sure of himself the last few days, but still was content to sit home alone most of the time on those rare occasions when he was actually home. One day, when John returned from work, he found Steve standing in the kitchen and packing a brown wicker basket with food: glass bottles full of the brown fizzy drink favored among many in this new century, the bread wrapped around meat that was so popular as well, and even a few jars of herbs and spices. "Hello, John," said Steve at his roomate's arrival, as ever his voice that flat, dry tone like the voice of a statue discussing human affairs. "The apartment at the end of the hall has become occupied with people. I am welcoming them. It is a custom."

"Look at you, Rogue," said Citizen, holding back his desire to throttle the leather-clad woman only by sheer force of will. "Your program's losing cohesion." And indeed, now that he pointed it out, there was something distinctly artificial-looking about the mad-eyed paragon, her clothes and accoutrements looking almost painted-on to her pale-skinned face and tightly muscular body. He took a few steps toward her, deliberately drawing attention to himself and letting the stealthy Wraith move around behind him. "It's not too late. We can take you back to Freedom City and they can treat you there. You can be so much more than just a pawn of-" "Please," Rogue sneered, dropping the civilian she'd been tormenting to glare at Citizen. "You're nothing but a lackey of these stupid humans," she went on, "betraying your people so you can feel like a big hero. You're the one who wants to keep these weaklings in chains!" she added, waving a hand towards the battered civilians all around. "We're going to _liberate_ them." ---- Corbin didn't need Eve's psychic powers to know weapons were being trained on him right now. "YOU WILL PROCEED UNDER ESCORT TO MILITIA HEADQUARTERS WHERE YOU WILL BE INTERROGATED AND CONFINED, OR YOU WILL BE FIRED ON. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING." Inside Corbin's head, though, he heard a voice that sounded nothing like the booming, mechanized voice coming from the flying armored car, a voice that was speaking in of all things Latin. "" It was an old man's voice, thin and reedy, but no less powerful for all that. ""

Sage and Papercut: Both of you failed the Notice check, so you don't see the supervillain lurking around. You'll have to land and search on the ground to find him or anything else of interest in the building. (You do pass the Stealth check, so he doesn't see you coming! For now) What you do see is evidently a problem with one of the antigrav conveyor belts: the line nearest the big skylight chuffs its way to a halt and the workers busy themselves moving the boxes by hand, You've got an avenue to sneak your way in from there, but one thing you do notice is inside one of the boxes: evidently these are some kind of dry waste disposal units, there's various empty storage containers, some debris that's hard to identify, and what is clearly recognizable as a humanoid corpse! Citizen, Ghost Girl, and Wraith: No one makes the check to note that it's distinctly odd for 'Rogue', an alien who's been on Earth only about five years, and who sneers at human culture, to have any idea who Jem and the Holograms are. (Neither Sharl nor Indira have any idea who that is, and Kimber thinks hey, at least Rogue has classy taste in cartoons.) You can reroll that check if you want, though, Giz. Indira and Sharl notice that Rogue looks decidedly odd; slightly malformed and warped, and her leather jacket seems to be attached to her skin. Without a lot of experience dealing with shapeshifters, Sharl concludes that something is wrong with her program. Citizen: 26 Ghost Girl: 15 Wraith: 12 'Rogue': 7 Citizen is going to try and set Rogue up for a hit from Wraith as a standard action: Bluff. (-1 HP to acquire the Set-Up feat) 34 Rogue's sheet can't possibly beat that, so she is flat-footed vs. Wraith's next attack. Ghost Girl is up.

Steve was silent, and expressionless, for a long moment at Gina's words. For all that he'd been and done, opening up about this, about his very soul, was as risky as anything he'd done on Prime. "I am a monster out there," he finally replied. "I can wear Caradoc's mask, or even this one, but nothing can change what I am, or the consequences of my nature. I am shunned, or feared, or pitied, or embraced by those whose hearts exceed their wisdom." He looked away. "I met a...dimensional refugee during a crisis some weeks ago. A hero who had seen her world fall to the Terminus. The look in her eyes when she recognized my nature was..." He couldn't finish. "But you know me, and what I am, and could take me despite all that." He looked away for a moment, as if seeing himself in another place. "What I feel here, in this place, is precious. A single candle may vanish in the darkness, but it was warm and bright all the same. I...I would keep that candle burning."

"But I looked, all the same." Steve walked to the back window nearer himself, studying the outside carefully, before he turned back to Gina. This was all completely out of his expertise, and he found himself groping for the solutions he'd seen on television and in the movies. I really must speak with my friends about women. "I have kept my promise. No one knows, and no one will ever know from me. But...that is no great sacrifice. I would rather have my happiness private." He flexed his hands a little awkwardly before suggesting, "Shall we watch more movies?" he asked seriously. "I know the Christmas season has past, but there are still several channels that broadcast many different programs. I can prepare popcorn..."

"G... Gina," said Steve with a rising confidence in his voice, taking a few cautious steps in Gina's direction. When he saw her pull away, he stopped and instead handed her the bear as a peace offering. "There is chocolate inside the heart," he added, "I was told it was a good gift for a woman." He kept his distance after that, studying her from an arm and a half's length away. "I am glad to see you, Gina," he said levelly. "You are as beautiful as I remember," and though the words had Steve's usual lack of affect, she could see in his eyes that he meant them. He wondered, not for the first time, what trauma had made her so fearful of others. "I saw an animal's tracks on the lawn," he said suddenly, "...a robot dog?" he enquired imaginatively. "I have seen robotic pets at HAX, but none that would leave tracks like that."

Tou vs 25: 18 I'll take a bruised and dazed there for Alphan 2. Ecal's post described the takedown super-effectively. Alphan 3 disappears. Victory is up.

"Driver's ed is a core component of our curriculum. Particularly students in your line of work," added Summers with a faint smile. He talked with Mali and her father for another few minutes to set up a visit for Crimson Tiger to the Claremont Academy, but eventually donned a shapeless felt hat and made his way to the door. Before he left, he gave one last piece of advice to Crimson Tiger. "You are the bearer of a proud and noble legacy, and so far you've done your name proud. Don't let yourself be shamed by the mistakes you've made. They've put you on the right path tonight." And with that, he was gone, walking out to the luxury car parked out from and leaving Mali and her father to settle her future.

Summers appeared to come to a decision. "Ms. Benjawan, I am here to make you an offer. The Black Tiger legacy is in the hands of a brave young woman who I can see has risked her life time and time again in the defense of others. I am sure your great-grandfather would be honored to see what you've done for the family name. But you've risked more than your life; you've risked the lives of those around you, your family honor, and the legacy of Freedom City's superheroes. I am the headmaster of a private school here in Freedom City, one that caters to the needs of our young people while teaching them how to manage their gifts; be they superpowers, great intelligence, or a lifetime of training, on behalf of others. Your father has given his permission," he added with a nod her way, "but the decision is _yours_ to make. Can you take this responsibility?"

Sensing weakness, Summers pushed. "There are laws in this country regulating what underage heroes may do in the company of adults. If you had fallen in the field, your allies would have faced potential legal consequences. Not to mention the disaster of learning that a child has fallen on their watch." He gave her a steady, almost piercing gaze and asked, as if looking for a particular answer, "Is that sort of carelessness the legacy of the Black Tiger?" There was no anger in his voice or on his face, Summers seemed to be searching for something from her in particular. Mali's father didn't speak either; instead he was watching her with as much evaluation as Summers.

At that, Crimson Tiger's father moved to open the door to the opposite room, allowing another man to enter. Mali had never met Duncan Summers, but the old man's erect spine and clear eyes instantly attracted attention. "Mali, this is Mr. Duncan Summers...a friend of the family. I had planned to make your introductions when I arrived in this city, and now I see that need more urgently than ever. In a voice like gravel, Summers said, "Your father preferred to speak to you privately before we had a chance to confer, Ms. Benjawan. My apologies for the abrupt nature of our meeting." He gave her a steely-eyed gaze. "I have been aware of your activities for some time. Why have you been concealing your age from other heroes?"

"I never thought I would be intimate again," said Murdock truthfully, remembering loves lost and long ago. "I thought such things were not part of my new life." He studied the intercom before saying, "Once I saw that I had not hurt you, or repulsed you, I did not regret what we had done. We gave each other joy, and there is nothing to regret in that. If I am to be a man, or anything like a man, I cannot be a prisoner of the past. But I would like us to have more than what we have had. I would like to...to see your face again, and hold your hand, and do what men and women do when they...when they are more than themselves. If you can look beyond what I have been, I would like to be yours." He reached up and put his hand on the intercom, trying to reach right through it to the woman beyond. "May I see you, Gina?"