Avenger Assembled

I might get some Oddballs out of it, yas, though only in the broad strokes: I don't want to be using this space for Marvel/DC fanfic! I don't think a collapse of either company was terribly likely; DC was in more trouble than Marvel but they had the corporate backing to go with it. But Marvel could have gone belly-up; perhaps if they'd botched the switch to the direct distribution market, or if they hadn't picked up the Star Wars rights by good luck, or Claremont and Byrne... (Probably the best single POD is to make Jim Shooter some sort of terrible ogre, perhaps driven mad by his experiences as a teenage comics writer/artist, who chases Byrne and Claremont out of comics, spits in George Lucas' eye, and clings to the newsstands of his youth with gusto) The subsequent comics are going to be pretty terrible; DC is likely to conclude that Marvel's problem was too much innovation. No Crisis, no British invasion; Bronze Age uberalles...

Freaking sweet. APPROVED

APPROVED

APPROVED (Though note that her Will save is _extremely_ low, even for a PL 7 character; it'll be a good idea for you to raise that with PP or change things around at this stage)

Unless prompted otherwise, Mark is going to post-haste take us over to the headquarters of the Peoples' Heroes in Moscow. (or wherever TT wants to put it)

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" Citizen did his best to keep moving in the fight, flying back and forth between the Dark Young and throwing punches, but it didn't seem to have any effect. And no wonder, it had taken everything all of them had to handle one of them without any problems, how tough was it going to be to fight all of them at once? He was putting all his weight into this, but a phantom of electricity and shadows wasn't going to do much against all this dimensional power. Thinking about it, he called out, "Collins is the one who broke the dimensional barriers! Somebody help Ghost Girl and Papercut!"

Chen rubbed his eyes, sorting out what to say to these people from so far in the past. "It's true that's how time travel works in the here and now with your existing technology," he explained to Wander, "but that's all a relic of the past now. In the modern era, in the 26th century, it's just a matter of erecting the proper quantum stabilizers. Which are way out of your reach for another two centuries," he explained to them, "so saying that won't change anything. What I'm going to do is take you to Freedom Legion headquarters in the mid-2520s, where you can meet our team and the others we've recruited from this era, so we can find out who's trying to destabilize the 20th and 21st centuries. Normally we'd never do this," he added, "but there's a traitor in the Legion, and until we get the past safely locked down again, the last five hundred years are in some very serious peril. Will you help us?" "Y-" Edge interrupted what was obviously about to be an enthusiastic shout of agreement and shot a look at his teammates. Mark had learned some things since high school. "We're all very sympathetic to what's happened to you. And we're all heroes, so we want to guard the future as much as we do the present. I'm sure we can find a way to help you." The look in his eyes was like a child standing outside a candy store, pointing eagerly to the treasures within and awaiting a word of assent before diving inside.

Getting to New Freedom wasn't easy, of course, even for people like Gateway and Lady Laser. A fast chartered flight got them as far as Madasgascar, the famous security at Antananarivo willing to open up and look the other way for people with powers willing to flash a lot of money around. The women both needed to change their look to blend in at their destination, an easy enough task for two technology-based heroes with access to their gear on a fast charter. Sharl wasn't around for most of the flight proper, he spent his time closeted away in his laptop doing his weekend's homework, one of the conditions imposed on him when it came to long trips away from the city with his mentor like this. One advantage of his particular powerset was that it was easy for him to change his appearance in the 'meat world', Cyberman wouldn't have to look anything like Citizen, and he could change that without much work on his part. As their private flight from Madagascar to McMurdo finally approached its destination, the expensive charter with only two passengers (and one program, and gear), Sharl stepped out of the computer to look in on the others: in a bland grey jumpsuit with grey goggles, his body slightly translucent, he looked like just the sort of cybernetic program that a mercenary like Lady Laser would whip up to assist her in her work. Everything was going well, so far.

"Tronik isn't like any city on Earth," replied Sharl to Corbin's earlier question, trying to put into quick words a tremendous cultural difference. "I've never been off Earth, but I've been told even most Lor cities aren't built like home anymore." Tronik had after all been disconnected from the Lor Republic it had once been a member of for nearly 2000 years, a divergence that might have been dizzying to contemplate if not for everything else that had changed them in the intervening years. Briefly distracted by the sight of his translucent hand, Sharl forced himself to concentrate on the situation at hand. There was no time for anything but that, not with fifty million lives at stake. He went around to the others and made sure their suits were fit, the polyfabric fitting to their skin right over their clothes neatly. "Fifty million people living in an area not much larger than metropolitan Freedom City; sectors, er, you'd probably call them arcologies, about a mile high each. So it's not so sparse and small as your cities on Earth. The sky's green, the sun never goes down because we're orbitally locked, but you usually can't see either of them anyway. It usually doesn't rain and it never snows. The weather's like it is in May or June here, forever." He thought again about the people, and said, "We're used to living in each other's world the way people don't here, so people aren't as loud and pushy as they are in Freedom City. Uh, no offense," he added. "You'll stand out, all of you. Tell them you're fresh off the boat from the plankton fleet, that's where people who don't fit in would have gone. Where _I_ would have gone, if I hadn't come here..." He went around to everyone, making sure they were in position and ready to hook up. When everyone had taken their seats and donned their suits, the electronic teenager approached Sage. "If you want to stay out and monitor the others, there's nothing wrong with that," he offered. "If the League does check in with us, having someone to answer is going to make getting help easier."

"The Russian commando guys?" asked Mark, bending down on his own to study the body of the unfortunate ex-soldier. "Well that's odd." He hmmed, thinking about what he knew about the Russian government. "We could pop him over to the consulate and see if anyone there recognizes him...but that might not go over well." He winced at the image. "Yeah, better not. We could take him back to the manor and see if you can do anything to ID him, I suppose...or I could pop us over to one of the UNISON offices in Russia and we could get hooked up right there!" He thought about that one, then admitted, "I guess it makes more sense to take him back to the Manor for more study, and then pop over to Russia based on what we find?" When Cannonade relayed the results of his phone call, Mark's eyebrows furrowed together for a moment before he stood up again. "He's dressed weird for a time traveler...maybe he's real old? All right. Let's take him where he can get a full autopsy, and then I can get us to people in Russia who can offer us some further information." He nodded at that. "I know some people who were around back then."

Dark Young #2 is the one who bruised Koshiro earlier, so Sharl's going to target that one. He Bluffs it as a Move Action, getting 20 with his Skill Mastery. 26 Nice. That'll be a DC 28 Tou save for Big Ugly.

Track 1: Let's Marvel goes bankrupt in the late 1970s, as they very nearly did in real life. DC, flush with cash after the Superman movie and stepping into the market now left vacant by Marvel's failure, picks up the license to Marvel's superheroic characters and Earth-M joins the DC multiverse sometime in the early 1980s. (With a fight between Thor and the Bronze Age Superman on the cover of the issue where they're introduced? Sure, why not) Track 2: (less likely) Some bad decisions are made and the Superman movie tanks utterly; attempts to fix it make matters worse, and the after-effects of the DC Implosion is enough to make Warner pull the plug on publishing comics. The suits at Warner decide that funny books and their spinoffs aren't profitable in the long term anymore, and they wind up selling the DC multiverse to Marvel in the early 80s for lots of $$$ and all the cocaine they can snort. (They can snort a lot of cocaine). Track 3: (least likely) They both go under! Pacific Comics stands astride the superhero world like a colossus! Bwahaha! Thoughts?

Spy Abilities: 44 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 20 (+5) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+9 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +14 Saves: 10 pp TOU +7 (+5 Con, +2 Defensive Roll) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+4 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Acrobatics 1 (+5) Bluff 10 (+15, Skill Mastery) Diplomacy 10 (+15, Skill Mastery) Disable Device 9 (+10, Skill Mastery) Drive 1 (+5) Gather Information 10 (+15, Skill Mastery) Intimidate 5 (+10) Language 3 (Arabic, Russian, Spanish; Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Pilot 1 (+5) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 6 (+10) Feats: 26 pp Attack Focus: Melee 1 Attack Specialization: Unarmed 3 Beginner’s Luck Benefit (Security Clearance [AEGIS]) Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 5 Equipment 7 Evasion Jack of all Trades Luck Power Attack Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Gather Info) Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Well-Informed Powers: 18 pp Gadgets 2 (Hard to Lose, 10 pp) (Extras: Action [Free]) [18 pp] Sample Builds Equipment: 35 ep AEGIS flying car (34 ep) Size: Huge, Strength 30, Speed 5 (Flight), Defense: 9, Toughness: 10, Features: Remote Control, Navigation System, Powers: Flight 5 (250 mph speed), Blast 6 (Extra: Autofire), AP: Blast 6 (Extra: Area [burst]) Masterwork Cell Phone [1 ep] costs abilities 44 + combat 32 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 26 + powers 18 = 150 pts ----------- Design Notes: Having done several "agents-with-powers" builds, here's a straightforward badass normal superspy, using strong training and the latest in super-gadgets to hold his own among superheroes. He's more in the vein of a James Bond-style agent than anything else, a charismatic, fast-talking superspy who's more inclined to try sweet reason (or sweet ) to persuade the beautiful mad scientist to disarm the giant laser cannon ready to blow up the Moon rather than disarming the device himself, but he's perfectly capable of doing so if called on it in a pinch. He's particularly good at hand-to-hand combat, but he can pull out devices to let him fight at range if he absolutely has to. I figure he uses a lot of Concealment when sneaking into supervillain lairs as well as his so-so Stealth score, probably wearing a special AEGIS stealth suit or whatever else gadgets they've equipped him for this particular mission. I've made him an AEGIS agent, the SHIELD expy of the Freedom City universe, but you can connect him to whatever superagency in-setting that you want. He's got a Nick Fury-style flying car to get around in, because why on Earth wouldn't you ride in one of those if you could? His high Gather Info, Skill Mastery, and Well-Informed means that he's been briefed on most of the threats he's likely to encounter in any given mission, and indeed if the PCs are comfortable with it he may know more about them than they realize is available in the public record. (That auto-25 means he knows most things that aren't buried under an impenetrable layer of secrecy, and some things that are!) His Security Clearance should ideally be a Complication and a Benefit; he can get aid from the government and access to important secrets, but on the other hand his divided loyalty means he may be forced to follow orders, or keep secrets from his teammates, at a very inopportune moment. (Of course, what he should _not_ do is inform on his teammates like the Patriot did back in the 1940s; that's a good way to not be a superhero at all anymore!) The mistrust left over from the Patriots' activities is another good source of Complications, especially among older heroes. Being a government agent hero is a bit problematic in a setting where there are some restrictions on that, but if you specify that he's not acting in a law enforcement capacity (one good way to do that is to give him a mask and secret ID, perhaps as Agent X, or maybe the Invisible Agent if you want a successor to the 1940s-era government agent hero was _not_ a potential traitor to the government!), you should satisfy the loose legal requirements of a comic book setting. Buying him more skills is certainly a good investment, as is potentially buying up his Gadget pool. As it is he can change allocations fast, but he can't pull out anything especially powerful. Another wise investment might be more Equipment, or upgrades to the car. As it is he can fake repairing it with Beginner's Luck and his Gadgets, but in the event of serious damage he's going to be in some trouble. Good thing he has enough points to whip out a wing suit if he has to make an emergency exit in flight!

USAngel PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 24/14 (+7/+2) DEX 24/14 (+7/+2) CON 24/14 (+7/+2) INT 14 (+2) WIS 20 (+5) CHA 20 (+5) Combat: 16 pp ATK: +4 (+8 Melee) DEF: +8 (+2 flat-footed) Grapple: +15 Init: +7 Saves: 5 pp TOU +12 (+7 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +10 (+7 Con, +3) REF +7 (+7 Dex) WILL +7 (+5 Wis, +2) Skills: 60 r=15 pp Acrobatics 3 (+10) Bluff 5 (+10) Diplomacy 10 (+15) Intimidate 10 (+15) Knowledge (Civics) 8 (+10) Knowledge (History) 8 (+10) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 4 (+6) Languages 2 (Indonesian, Swahili) (Base: English) Notice 5 (+10) Sense Motive 5 (+10) Feats: 16 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 4 Benefit (Hero of the People) Dodge Focus 4 Jack of all Trades Leadership Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 62 pp Comprehend 3 (speak and understand all languages simultaneously) [6 pp] Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Flight 3 (50 MPH) (Drawback: Restrainable) [5 pp] Immunity 7 (aging, disease, poison, sleep, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [7 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [3 pp] Strike 5 (PF: Mighty) 'patriot’s weapon' [6 pp] costs abilities 36 + combat 16 + saves 5 + skills 15/60 + feats 16 + powers 62 = 150 pts ----------- Design Notes: Inspired by a recent blog quote (and the above picture), here's the President of the United States were he an avatar for a patriotic angel. The idea of an angel taking sides in a political dispute may seem crazy, but I could see it happening in a Golden Age comic in one of those bits of madness that works its way into regular continuity through inertia: an angel who comes down from Heaven to fight for the most righteous of all nations, America, against the wicked forces of the Axis! Yes, it's some pretty strong cheese, but that's how they flavored it back in the day. It's not a whole lot weirder than Uncle Sam, just with a slightly Judeo-Christian angle. But Golden Age comics had the Wrath of God as a character, so why not something like this? The idea I've had here is that the angel is an avatar passed down from person to person over the years, representing the changing face of America. He could use Inspire, but with his Leadership he can function decently well as commander of a team or leader of some largr group. He's basically a Zauriel/Captain America blend with enhanced physical abilities, angel wings and a glowing patriotic weapon he can summon from the ether, as well as an ability to recover from death and otherwise survive great mortal harm: he's got a lot of high skills and abilities to reflect his years of activity as a hero as well as his strong connection to the American national spirit. Contrary to what some people might consider a negative national stereotype of Americans, he can speak every language, with the idea that he has a mystical connection to every American to do just that. I cannot stress enough that (despite having already built the current POTUS as a Kryptonian) you should avoid playing the President of the United States as a PC. If you're considered about the unfortunate implications of an all-American angel, run with them: maybe other divine characters are baffled by an angel embracing a nationalistic entity, treating this as something of a weird hobby that's gotten way out of hand, or maybe the whole thing is just overblown: maybe this angelic character came to the US as a way of fighting infernalist Nazis and has (much to his/her embarrassment) become associated with American nationalism in the meantime.

Dimensionally-Displaced Armored Paragon PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 34/24/14 (+12/+7/+2) DEX 10 (+0) CON 34/24/14 (+12/+7/+2) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 20 pp ATK: +6 (+7 melee) [+8 melee in suit] DEF: +7 (+2 flat-footed) [+8 in suit] Init: +0 Grapple: +14/+16/up to +26 in suit Saves: 10 pp TOU +12 (+7 Con, +5 from Enhanced Con in suit) FORT +12 (+7 Con, +5 from Enhanced Con in suit) REF +5 (+0 Dex, +5) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 36 r=9 pp Craft (electronic) 8 (+10) Craft (mechanical) 8 (+10) Knowledge (History) 3 (+5) Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+10) Notice 3 (+5) [11 (+13) in suit] Search 0 [8 (+10) in suit] Sense Motive 3 (+5) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 8 pp Attack Focus: Melee Dodge Focus 3 Leadership Inventor Power Attack Takedown Attack Powers: 77 pp Device 11 (Power Armor) (Hard to Lose) (PF: Restricted [voiceprint]) [45 pp] Enhanced Feats 2 (Attack Focus [melee], Dodge Focus) [2dp] Enhanced Skills 16 (Notice 8, Search 8) [4dp] Enhanced CON 10 [10dp] Enhanced STR 10 [10dp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9dp] Impervious TOU 5 [5dp] Power Reserve 5 (10 pp; Flight [to Flight 6 [500 MPH] and Super-Strength [to Super-Strength 6 (Heavy Load: 48 tons) [10dp] Super-Senses 7 (Accurate Extended 3 (x1000) Radio Sense, Uncanny Dodge [radio]) [7dp] Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) [Dynamic] [2+1+2=5 pp] DAP: Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 800 lbs) Immunity 2 (aging, temporal effects) [2 pp] Impervious TOU 5 [5 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 9/36 + feats 8 + powers 77 = 150 pts -------------- Design Notes: All right, as something of a personal challenge, here's Superboy-Prime, the raging Silver Age paragon turned cosmic supervillain of the mid-2000s DC universe, as a PL 10 superhero. I've based him on both Doc's Armored Paragon build and TT's more recent Living Continuity Error. The idea is that this was a young paragon, perhaps a street-level hero or Hero High student, who survived the extinction of his home universe and made it safely to ours. My idea is that he built the armor to escape whatever place he landed in after the fall of his home timeline, perhaps some island of flotsam in the timestream or a planet in the Terminus, depending on what backstory you want to give him and what kind of 'retconned paragon' he actually is. (Someone from a bad history is going to have different motivations, and different enemies, than someone whose home universe was destroyed by the Terminus) I've managed to just about mash together paragon powers, tech abilities, and being immune to changes in the timestream to make a plausible survivor of the Big Boom, as it were. He doesn't have an ability to sense anomalies in the universe, but that's a viable thing for you to accumulate with PP if he takes an interest in looking for the remains of the old embedded in the new; maybe he makes a point to protect people and places that are duplicates of what existed in his own universe, perhaps a family that doesn't remember him or a home planet that only remembers sending one native son to Earth. There's a lot of potential tragedy in a character like this, but he doesn't have to necessarily be played for pathos: if his world was sufficiently dystopian before its fall, perhaps he won't miss it as much as someone who saw his family uncreated before his eyes. He's a solid PL 7, with or without his powers (assuming he still has the suit) and can function reasonably viably in both contexts. He's a much better fighter and flier inside the suit, thanks to it both augmenting his strength as well as providing him with targeting aid to make him superior in hand-to-hand combat: though he's primarily a melee fighter, his base attack is high enough that you could reasonably stunt some sort of Blast off his various abilities. An obvious antagonist are the forces that destroyed his home world, or from the other end of things maybe it's the other survivors of that universe who are the threat; whether villains trying to rebuild a fallen dystopia, or misguided heroes trying to resurrect what was even if it means destroying everything about the new.

Manipulative Psychic Abilities: 36 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 (+5) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+11 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +15 (+4 flat-footed) Grapple: +16 Init: +3 Saves: 11 pp TOU +5 (+5 Con) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4) WILL +10/+7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Bluff 8 (+10, Skill Mastery), Concentration 8 (+10), Diplomacy 8 (+10, Skill Mastery), Gather Info 8 (+10, Skill Mastery), Intimidate 8 (+10, Skill Mastery), Knowledge (Business) 4 (+5), Notice 4 (+6) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 20 pp Attack Focus: Melee (3) Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2) Benefit (Wealth) (1), Contacts, Dodge Focus (7), Evasion, Power Attack, Second Chance (Concentration checks to maintain powers), Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Intimidate) Takedown Attack Well-Informed Powers: 37 pp Mental Array [32+1=33 pp] Mind Control 10 (Extras: Conscious, Instant Command, Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Mental Link, Subtle) AP: Mental Blast 10 (Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Incurable, Reversible) Mind Shield 3 [3 pp] Super-Senses 1 (Uncanny Dodge [mental]) [1 pp] costs abilities 36 + combat 32 + saves 11 + skills 14/56 + feats 20 + powers 37 = 150 pts ----------------------- Design Notes: All right, here's my build for a manipulative, socially savvy psychic akin to DC Comics' Max Lord. I have the vague backstory idea that he used to be just another junior executive working the business side of things for the Freedom League, one of those alpha male executive guys who are fanatical about physical fitness but empty inside, until a supervillain attack on the League's business office unlocked the inner potential he'd been hiding all his life, transforming him into a hero in his own right: he's much less versatile than typical psychics, but his mind control abilities are very powerful: with a look, he can spend an action and earn the happy obedience of almost anyone without a good Will Save, or concentrate and subject them to terrible pain. He can also punch them in the face with some efficacy, so he's not totally helpless if put up against undead or robots. (I was a big Max Lord fan before his Face Heel Turn and all the stories that came with it; not for the writing as such but because I really like the schtick of 'former supporting NPC finds he has powers and has to compete with the big boys now', one of the reasons I like the old White Wolf powers RPG so much is that there's a specific mechanic for your supporting cast to suddenly get superpowers of their own!) He's something of a jack-of-all-trades, but reasonably competent at everything: he makes a fine face man for a team just starting out, maybe the guy who does the business planning for a new superteam, making the connections that the more streetwise members can't make on their own. In our game he should probably find _some_ way to actually be a superhero in his own right, whether it's adopting a code name, costume, secret identity, or some combination of the three. He's got solid saves, enough that he can do okay in most situations he's likely to encounter, and pretty good physical abilities compared to your average psychic. A good way to develop him is to up his mental abilities, maybe adding more super-senses or APs from his mental powers, or perhaps boosting his social skills as an alternative if you want to play up his aspects as a social manipulator. There can be a lot of fun with the "Bruce Wayne with superpowers" niche, one that I'm not sure comics has explored as fully as they could have. Combat's fun and all, but being able to talk your enemies down, perhaps with an offer to come onto your payroll at double their current salary (and maybe some health benefits) is even better!

Sharl had been in the middle of showing Corbin how to stretch the suit out to fit when Sage returned; just as he'd promised the others, the immersion suits did fit all shapes even close to humanoid. As usual, Miss Americana had thought of everything. He was so used to Claremont, with its carefully tolerant students, and Miss Americana with her unconditional support, that it took him a few moments to realize what Eve had actually said. He looked away for a moment, lacking the confidence to directly confront her at first blush, instead heading to the keyboard to do some quick programming. "Eve, Rogue's a real citizen of Tronik," he finally said after a moment, trying to pretend Eve had misunderstood him. "She's not a telepresencing hacker, she's a program like me; deleting her from the system here would kill her. And don't think of Tronik as not the real world. Going in there isn't like going into the Doom Room or one of your video games. It's very real."

Edge gave Cannonade a look and said firmly, "Assuming you're on the up and up, we'll be happy to help you." Even the disclaimer was somewhat doubtful; he'd seen the look in the man's eye and trusted that no one with a time machine that cool and a story that dramatic could be a bad guy. "Why don't you answer Cannonade's questions, and then we can get ready to go?" Edge added, wandering over to the time machine to stare with first fascination, then terrible sympathy, as the smoke cleared and he got a look at the grim cargo of the time machine. Suddenly it didn't seem like such a grand adventure. Maybe Cannonade had been right to be suspicious. "I was scouting here, today," said Chen, looking at the others and calming a bit as his shock faded. "The second Liberty League is..." He trailed off for a moment, obviously looking for the right words. "Very important to the history of the 21st century, and several others for that matter. The threat we're facing uptime is targeting other legacies like yours. Other dynasties," he amended. "The Legion has some downtime help already, but we need more if we're going to find the traitor in our ranks and keep Earth, and Earth's history, safe."

The already-pale traveler turned white, and for a moment it looked like he was going to pass out. "I...oh, holy frell," swore the time traveler, a look of horror on his face as he looked up at the skyline of Freedom City, the tallest skyscrapers clearly visible behind the heroes as they stood on the beach. "This isn't right! This isn't right at all!" He looked like a man who'd stepped into a waking nightmare, his hands pressed over his mouth in shock. Stepping up close, Mark studied the man for just a moment, picking out the burnt remnants of his nametag. "Hello, Mr. Chen," said Mark reassuringly, trying to remember stories he'd heard about time travelers. "If you're lost in this era, the Freedom League can help provide you with some technical assistance. It's been a while since any time travelers have come through, but we can-" "No, no!" said Chen, shaking his head furiously. "You don't understand. This was supposed to be a routine scouting mission! Someone sabotaged my sphere and damn near killed me. They did, in one quantum. And you're the..." He looked at all of them, his eyes widening as if noticing and recognizing the heroes for the first time. "You _are_ the second Liberty League. That means you have a problem too." He looked at all of them. "Not only is your future under threat, but your past is in danger too. Can you help?"

Victory's blast dealt with the bugs, blasting away at the swarm of needle bugs and sending it into retreat, but it gave the heroes a new problem: a burning forest fire, accelerated by the oxygen in the alien atmosphere, that soon became a lethal threat. They ran, or flew, as fast as they could to evade the blaze, sheer survival stealing the need for conversation as the alien jungle blurred by in their mad dash to escape the flames! Finally, when their flight was done, they stood on the other side of a fast-flowing river, where they could take stock of their injuries (some of them worse than others) and watch the fire burn across the river. Night was beginning to fall, Mintaka's day evidently proving shorter than Earth's. Pensive, Harrier stared towards the mountains and the signal that offered them a chance off this planet. Assuming they weren't all attacked by the mysterious hunters, of which he was quite sure the bugs were not. "Do any of you require rest, or your injuries tended?" he inquired. "And can you function in darkness in these conditions?"

Since I don't want us to lose momentum here, I'll just skip ahead through the combat so we can get back to the story. Have an HP for the accident complication, JP.

A quick inquiry revealed that while most of Rayford's files had gone to other agents, a small sheaf of files (including the "Baby I" adoption that represented Madame Zero's child) had gone missing! By now very alarmed, Mr. Blackwell turned to Rayford's computer, only to have another mystery unfold as only a weird warping of color passed over the computer monitor. "My God...the entire drive's been wiped! There were years of files on here!" said Blackwell, looking deeply alarmed at the sight of the dead computer, his hand over his mouth. "If not for our paper backups...which Rayford may have taken home with him, if he thought we were working with the electronic files." Blackwell's dark face had paled noticeably; he was obviously deeply chagrined at what had happened. "I will certainly look into this..."

"I've actually just got that taken care of now," said Sharl, piping up from his computer screen now that his impromptu lesson in the bizarre geopolitics of New Freedom was over. He'd mostly been using Miss Americana's software for that, but it was still nice to be trusted. "Gateway and Lady Laser, and Lady Laser's assistant Cyberman, ready to spend the weekend seeing the sights of New Freedom." He nodded, and said without a blink, "I am Lady Laser's loyal electronic assistant, looking on her behalf to see if New Freedom has the technical apparatus to support our work." He was perfectly smooth and natural with the lie as he emailed the fake information packets on their 'roles' to everyone. "The false background data should take a couple of hours to disseminate, but after that, I think we'll be ready."

Edge couldn't do much about that, busy as he was with holding the space ghost in place. He balanced the ghost vacumn on his knee, careful not to strain his arms as the machine maintained its suction against the color out of space."Oh, man, that's not good!" he called out. "Can he be saved? Should I try porting us back to the Manor?" He wasn't at all sure he could carry all of them simultaneously while also restraining his spectral quarry, but as ever Mark was willing to give it a shot. After all, a man's life was at stake, or might be!

On closer inspection, Wander found that the two pods had fused together in a bizarre, almost alien configuration that looked for all the world as if two metal soap bubbles had drifted together and become permanently connected. She couldn't hear anything inside the pods, or see through even at the smooth connection between them. Instead, all she could see was a distorted reflection of herself, the beach, the others, the remains of the kaiju, in the warped surface of the pod. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a hole irised open inside and a man stumbled out of the double-wreck, thick grey smoke coming with him and hiding the interior of the pod he'd just left to Cannonade and Edge. Midnight and Wander could both see inside, though, and caught a glimpse of a crazy-quilt scene of carnage: a twisted melange of computer screens and shining, jewel-like control surfaces was ruined by being twisted back on itself, but worst of all was the clearly visible body, or what was left of one, in the middle of the warped remnants of the pods' control rooms: it looked for all the world as if they'd appeared inside each other like a video game clipping error brought to horrible life. As for Midnight's sensors, they seemed to go crazy as they passed over the warped pods, which were indeed made of the same substance: the wash of exotic particles coming off them reminded him of the files he'd seen of his grandfather's examination of Dr. Tomorrow's time machine, but the particles here were far more active: for a gearhead like Trevor, it was the difference between a Model T and a sports car. The pilot, a youngish-looking Asian man, was coughing and sputtering, a green and grey jumpsuit on his body singed, his hands covered in blood. "Oh god, oh god, the singularity failed!" he was shouting, obviously still traumatized by the wreck. Wide-eyed, he looked at the heroes on the beach, not recognizing them. "My duplicate was caught in the interface. Is anyone else hurt?"