Avenger Assembled

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, there came the terrible sound of the eerie wail of the electric guitar. The lights in the room darkened, colored lights shining from the ceiling, and Radio Freedom's voice rang out in unison. "You cannot. Be allowed. To interfere." At least, almost all of Radio Freedom was doing that. Surrounded by a blackly shimmering ball of energy that looked like nothing more than Satan's own disco ball, suddenly Eddie Ozan didn't look quite so innocent anymore. "You thought you were pretty smart, huh?" He didn't sound so mellow, either. "Coming in and not telling them what's really going on. What you _really_ are." From the finger-snapping and background humming, whatever was coming from Breakdown's glitterball was forcing his former allies to be his backup singers. "I know about you! I know about us! I heard it from the sphere! This world isn't even real! We're just a dead hero's joke, a story Mark's dad made up so he wouldn't have to feel bad about himself!" That guitar chord sounded again as the panicked scientists made a break for it, but the doors didn't seem to be doing what they wanted. Visible musical notes were swarming around the heads of the Radio Freedom members, the noise blocking them from hearing what was going on. "Well, I'm not going to take that, man! I'm not going to let some pompous old windbag take over my life and tell me what I should be! I should be a hero! I should be with Zoe! But if I can't have that..." And suddenly his face twisted into a malevolent leer, worse than what the kids had seen even on the face of their own Breakdown. "I'm going to burn this world down and get another from Omega! Radio Freedom, attack!"

Electra and I are visiting the parents this week. We'll be around sporadically.

The kids from out of town didn't get a chance to get much of a look at Claremont, though from the distant sound of funky music rising up from the campus, the spaceplane parked casually on the lawn, and the peace rally in the nearby square, they had a feeling it was a very different school than the one they were used to. There was no time to look at it, though, because they were on their way to ASTRO Labs, the most spaced-out science laboratory in Freedom City. This version of ASTRO Labs was a renegade breakaway version of the parent company, one dedicated to "the kind of science that feeds the hungry and cures the sick, not makes the fat cats richer and the bombs bigger." To their surprise, evidently DJ Breakdown was a regular visitor here, even more so than the other kids. "Oh yes," he explained in his deep baritone voice, "When I realized I couldn't make it big in music the way I wanted, I decided to focus my career on science. That way, I can learn the celestial rhythms of the universe and the bass rhythms of time and space. One day, I'll help the whole world groove to the same note: the unified note of the multiverse itself!" This version of ASTRO Labs was located on the site of an Internet cafe on their own world, evidently something that hadn't made the transition to the funky world of the 1970s. Breakdown's ID card, and the familiar faces of the rest of Radio Freedom, got them inside the building: they flew through massive double-doors, dropped down a super-fast lift, and within seconds they were inside an underground complex. The decor down here was like something out of a 70s sci-fi film: all huge red-eyed computers and white jumpsuited workers looking important in their identical uniforms, but of course for the teens from out of town all eyes were on the all-too-familiar form of the cosmic reality bomb, sitting there in the center of the complex and looking very important. "Are you sure you cats know how to pull the plug on the Cosmic Bad Trip here?" asked Edge curiously, looking at the others. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Sharl had waited patiently outside the program during the reunion, not wanting to interfere with the little girl's conversation with her family. He knew from personal experience how precious those meetings were. When he was sure she was done, he nodded and said out loud, "That's my cue!" He stepped right into the computer at that, stopping to gather up a few things Miss A had suggested back when they were making plans on the flight over. Standing in the green patch outside, Sharl knocked on her door and said, "Hello, Eira! It's Sharl! May I come in?" When the little girl opened the door, she found him standing there looking as if he hadn't just gotten a beating on her behalf: in one hand was a big blue squishy teddy bear, in the other a box of Swedish chocolates. "These are for you, in your new room!"

Cleaned up and a little settled, Sharl stepped out of a monitor in the operating room. "Hey guys," he said quietly, not wanting to disturb Miss A at her work. "I checked out the system on the way in, and all the damage Rogue did was confined to non-essential areas. It looks like we're good to go ahead with everything. How's she doing?" he murmured, shooting a glance at the monitor where the simulated girl was sleeping. She didn't look as real as he did, but hopefully she'd look real enough for the benefit of her psyche and her parents. They'd come a long way already! He'd have just walked in there, but he didn't want to look beat up for the benefit for their patient.

That'll do, pig. FA backs him up with a DC 30 Skill Mastery.

"Aheheheh....well, I did have bee venom in my cell, actually," said Bowles, looking a little sheepish as if he'd been caught like a naughty boy. "Nearly a gallon. I have learned to synthesize the key components via a certain proprietary process wherein I...well, it's very complicated!" He put his hands on his hips, recovering his bobbled confidence. "At any rate, I will admit that finding the quantity I had produced did tell against me, but they found no evidence of any so-called emergency teleporter! As if I would waste bee venom on murder, or a teleporter on a kidnapping!" He eyed Gabriel and said, "I believe you. I believe that you speak in the interests of justice, and that you desire to free me from this appalling place. But I also believe that the agents of the dark man are everywhere! Who is to say where he has gone and what he has done? His spies are everywhere, just like the ants which I believe might be his agents! How am I to know I can be safe in your courts when he is still free? Do you know what ants do to a man covered in honey?" Freedom Angel stared at the madman for a moment before saying simply, "He's speaking the truth. Barry Bowles is innocent of the murder of Emma Twill." He didn't explain how he knew; an angel's certainty of the moral sanctity of a human soul was not admissable in any mortal court. He rubbed his eyes, a pained look on his beautiful face. "Christ give me strength...so we have a murderer who has killed a superhero, dumped her mortal remains in a cell at Providence, and framed the Bee-Keeper. In the name of God, Barry Bowles, let these people go!" "I mean them no harm," reassured the Bee-Keeper, impressed at the double team of angel and angelic speaker. "But how can I trust that _I_ will be safe in a system that has already chained me inside a cage of lies and hurled that cage into a sea of confusion and doubt?"

Despite their usual volubility, the two Edges were unusually quiet at the start of their flight over to Claremont. Finally, the Edge from Earth-Prime broke the silence. "So, that outfit's pretty groovy here, huh?" He had certainly never considered an open-faced pirate shirt and silver tiara for himself, though he could see why his counterpart was able to pull it off. You just have to believe in yourself and you can do anything. "It's far out, yeah," said his counterpart with a grin. "I made it myself a couple of months ago. It just felt groovy, you know?" He put his thumbs in his big gold-lame belt. "I've got it pretty good here. My mom's an artist, real avant-garde psychedelic stuff, and...well, my dad's gone, but everyone still remembers him." He sobered at that, and the other Mark remembered what had happened to this Rick Lucas: he'd died in the Terminus Invasion instead of the Centurion. "Rick Lucas...dad was a pretty groovy guy in any universe. I'm sure he'd be proud to see the man you are today." What could he do, tell the truth? This world's Rick Lucas had died a hero, and his son didn't need to hear what lay behind that story of courageous sacrifice. "And hey, he's proof that not all old people are squares, right?" "Yeah, that's true!" agreed the funkier Edge. "Don't get me wrong; the Freedom League, the Atom Family, they're cool and all. I don't want to get eaten by a purple people eater from Mars anymore than the next guy! It's just that the people, the people down here on the street, they deserve to have people who care about them first." He looked down at the streets where confident young men and women walked together shoulder to shoulder, their minds full of hoped-for dreams of a better tomorrow. "Sometimes it feels like we just, I dunno, woke up one day and realized there was this whole world we'd never noticed. The world of people who need help first, and funny costumes second." Though that was a bit of a stretch coming from a guy in an open yellow shirt and tiara, Mark thought about his own planned work for UNISON. "I know what you mean, man. Maybe we're not so different after all." He clapped his counterpart on the back and said, "So, uh, Wonder and Nightlife are-" "Oh yeah! They're the funkiest duo on the team. I love 'em. You should see Nightlife bust a move on the dance floor. He got that from his grandpa. DJ Breakdown's okay, though he's a little wobbly for me sometimes, and of course Sage is a real tough gal. I like that about her." He added in a whisper, "Oh, and Cobalt Ranger's all right too. He tries a little hard sometimes, but he's just trying to stay hip. Nothing wrong with that."

Citizen wasn't hurt, though he was tired, his shoulder aching with muscle fatigue that was all-too-real to him even if all the normal people around him would just dismiss it as an artifact of his programming. He was real, damn it. And so was this, if it got out of hand. "We beat the bad guys. We did what we came here to do. I don't know about you two," he said, his blue chest symbol gleaming in the light from the overhead fluorescent bulbs, "but I'm going to leave these vultures for the cops, and go get back to helping Miss Americana save that little girl." And with that he stepped back into the hospital's computer systems, vanishing from human sight and popping right back to the program that he'd left. He took the opportunity, once there, to wash his hands in his room's sink.

For her part, Wonder briefly turned pale at Wander's words, putting a hand on her mouth and shooting a look at Nightlife. Scared though she looked at that process, she didn't look like she disbelieved Wander either. "I know that old robot soul-crusher's been after me," she said, loud enough for the others to hear. "Remember when those crazy Omegadrones tried to crash prom and said they were looking for Wonder?" Radio Freedom all nodded at that, the Omegadrones having tried to break up Claremont High's junior prom had been the story of the year even for those who hadn't all been around for it. "And I bet they're looking for DJ Breakdown's probe!" "That's right, honeychild," said DJ Breakdown. He evidently wasn't the leader here anymore than he was on Earth-Prime: from the way he looked to Nightlife for permission to speak, but when he did speak he had the bass tones of Barry White filtered through the fact that he was a white teenager. "This funky space probe fell right out of the sky just a coupla nights ago," he explained after getting a nod from Nightlife, "We've been watching it over at Claremont and making sure the MAN doesn't get his hands on it to use for his BOMBS. But if it's from that mack daddy Omega, we'll help. You cats know how to take it out?" "We do," said Edge, who was rolling with this world and these people as if he'd been born to it. Which, he supposed grimly, made a lot of sense. You just have to know how to speak their language."Our, uh, Midnight is an expert engineer, just like I'm sure yours is," he said diplomatically, "he can take apart the bomb and make sure it can't threaten your world." He and his counterpart were giving each other looks of strong recognition, but neither of them seemed likely to be pulling a Mark/Marcie anytime soon. "After that we'll be on our way, and you can get back to clearing the streets of the scum who prey on the young and innocent, whether they're crazy kooks in funny masks or old white men crushing the souls of young people trying to give them a better world!" "Woo!" The other Edge looked pleased as punch. "How about that!" he crowed. "I've got soul even in the Dimension of No Soul, or wherever these Herberts are from. No offense intended," he added with a wink to Wander and Sage, "to you fine-lookin' ladies. Scoop 'em up, Cobalt Ranger!" Despite Edge's enthusiasm, the Ranger waited for a nod from Nightlife, who added, "Keep us together, Cowboy!" And with Edge's inspiration and Nightlife's brain for strategy, soon they were all scooped up and flying towards Claremont, each Claremont kid riding a funky disco platform of shimmering blue energy alongside their more funkified counterpart.

"Well if I had known you were expecting, I would have postponed seizing the prison!" he exclaimed as if that made sense. "In fact, I could...no, I imagine they won't let me do this again in a few months." He hmmed, putting his hand on his chin with a little squishing sound. "Anyway...my story. I have tried to tell the guards, and the psychologists, and anyone else who would listen, but none of them have cared! It's just that nutty Bee-Keeper, he can't admit what he did because murder isn't part of his dominant psychological makeup, so he has to hold his dark and gritty crimes in his heart where he can't remember them." He looked frankly outraged at the thought. "Some of them have even suggested my phantom psychosis came from abuse at the hands of my sainted mother! Shocking!" He dropped his hands, creating a little spray of honey, and said, "But...yes, yes, I shall tell you my tale of woe. On the night of February 13, 2011, I awoke from a sound sleep to the sound of whimpering. There was...there was a man in my cell, carrying a woman I vaguely recognized: Emma Twill, the superheroine known as Honey Queen. I could not see the man's face, he wore a black armor with a design I did not recognize. It wasn't one of mine, or Malice's...rather, this was the armor produced by a truly mad heart. I screamed for help, but he silenced me with a finger to his lips: he told me the woman was dying of a massive overdose of bee venom that he had injected into her with his own two hands, and offered her to me as a trophy. I knew the signs well enough; I have made a study of bee venom intimately. She had certainly taken a fatal dose. I refused, I had nothing to aid her with, but he told me she would be grateful if she lived, that she could testify on my behalf and perhaps free me. So I took her, her body swollen and her eyes rolling in agony, and used a bladed instrument I had manufactured out of my toothbrush to perform an emergency tracheotomy. But it was too late. We had dickered too long; the dark man was gone and she was dying." For a moment, just a moment, the 'persona' of the Bee-Keeper seemed to fade. "And she looked at me. She just...just looked, and then the light just went out of her eyes as I tried to stop the bleeding. I screamed again, and again, and the guards came and they beat me, and threw me in solitary, and afterwards they said there was no evidence." He squared his shoulders, his confidence seeming to return, as he said, "So they...they banished me to this place, with no respect for justice, hardly holding an investigation simply because they believed a man is untrustworthy simply because he has violated the law of man frequently! No one would listen; so I had to make them listen."

"We are programmed to manufacture honey to power our enginez! The Bee-Keeper made the first batch of honey in his cell by fermenting it in the tank of the waste disposal device! It iz very special honey indeed. We are also programmed not to listen to your tricky wayz!" exclaimed the bee. "And that is not even a word! What you should have zaid was: 0110100001101111011101110010000001101000011010010110011101101000! Ahahahah!" The bee bobbed in the air, looking very pleased with itself as it rattled off the rapid fire string of binary. Before the bee could get into any further debates, luckily robot and hero finally reached their destination, having looped down and around several levels to get there. They were at the maximum security visiting lounge built into the side of the mountain itself, where prisoners in the Bee-Keeper's usual level met their lawyers, families, and the like. Today it wasn't just the inmates who were prisoners, though: a small collection of guards, lawyers, and one heavily-tattooed man in power-nullifying cuffs were in one corner of the big room, all of them eying the three robotic bees who had them surrounded in a low circle. There was, at least, not much honey here, though Freedom Angel was hero enough to open the door for the others and save them putting their hands on the honey-coated pushbar outside. Standing on his own in the middle of the room, two robot bees at either side like guarding lions, stood the figure of the Bee-Keeper, hands on his hips and covered from head to toe in honey, wearing only his prison slacks. He seemed to light up at their arrival. "Hah, you see!" He pointed at the door, then looked back at his prisoners. "I told you they would come! Fleur de Joie and her companions have striven through the obstacles in their way to fight for justice, just as true superheroes should!" It, oddly enough, did not sound like he was being sarcastic or buttering them up: he meant every world. "Welcome to my prison, heroes." He put his hand on his chest. "They may have chained my body, but as you can see, my SOUL has been free the whole time. And I...sweet honeybee of Galilee!" he exclaimed, giving Fleur a shocked look as he caught sight of her stomach. "You're pregnant! Why are you here? You should be in a palace with your husband, ready to birth a flower for the next generation!"

Midnight PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 42 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+9 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Grapple: +14 Init: +4 Saves: 9 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+4 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 80 r=20 pp Acrobatics 1 (+5) Climb 5 (+10) Craft (Chemical) 7 (+10) Drive 1 (+5) Intimidate 13 (+15) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 7 (+10) Knowledge (Streetwise) 7 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 7 (+10) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Stealth 11 (+15) Feats: 18 pp Attack Focus: Melee (1) Attack Specialization: Unarmed (3) Dodge Focus (5) Equipment (5) Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 29 pp Device 2 (Hard to Lose) ‘Midnight Costume’ [8 pp] -Immunity 4 (own powers, poison, suffocation) [4] -Protection 3 [3] -Super-Senses 3 (Darkvision, Radio) [3] Device 7 (Easy to Lose) ‘Gas Gun’ [21 pp] -Obscure 5 (visual) (Extra: Independent (+0)) [10] and Stun 5 (Extras: Area [burst], Duration [sustained] (+2)) [25] Equipment: 25 ep Grapple Gun (Super-Movement 1 (Swinging) ) [2 ep] Night Cruiser (As Sports Car with Smokescreen Feature) [8 ep] Night Manor (As Stately Manor w/out Computer, Dock, or Hanger) [15 ep] costs abilities 42 + combat 32 + saves 9 + skills 20/80 + feats 18 + powers 29 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here’s Midnight, the Batman/Shadow/Sandman/Green Hornet mashup who was the Liberty League’s costumed adventurer. This is him _really_ early in his career, just a few days after Travis Hunter decided to take up the cause of fighting crime after breaking up the gang of Martian-themed robbers holding up a society benefit on Halloween night 1938. He’s got his gear, he’s got his mansion: he’s ready to take to the streets and fight for justice! One of the things I like about Midnight is that he didn’t have a particularly traumatic childhood or anything like that: he went out to fight crime because of all those criminals doing bad things, not to purge some terrible inner demons from his psyche. (And why not?) Midnight I was the first costumed adventurer in-setting, predating even the Daring Duo of Bowman and Arrow. Most of the in-setting costumed adventurers were more influenced by Raven, the Silver-Bronze Age Batman expy, but I like to think many of the Golden Age mystery men wore fedoras and full face masks in honor of Midnight. He’s smart and a good mechanic, but not an inventor: if he needs to whip a new gadget out in play, he’ll have to stunt something off his gas gun, or just spend an HP to acquire the relevant equipment feat. If you want him to get more stuff in play, buy it with PP and explain that it’s the result of busy tinkering in his basement laboratory. His gas gun doesn’t look like it meets caps, but it’s more about goon-sweeping and taking foes off-guard. A lot of low-level minions will fail that save entirely, and even high-level characters may be in trouble. Even if they aren’t knocked out by the gas, getting punched in the face by the guy in the mask appearing out of that smoke (which is big enough that they can’t just shoot into the smoke and hit him) has a quality all its own. His World War II-era self probably picked up more languages and skills, and certainly higher Intimidate and Stealth. This build works fine for a pre-WWII Midnight in a Golden Age game, I think, or one of the many Midnight ripoffs that no doubt appeared in the pages of other comic book companies in this period. After all, Midnight was a proven formula. As popular as he was, he might even have had actual in-universe imitators, either back in the 1940s or even today. Just as Green Arrow had an Arrowcave, so too could your character have a Sunset Manor with only a little handwaving. In fact, the idea of playing someone who specifically models himself on Midnight would be interesting: there’s nothing wrong with calling on an ancient legacy, though of course in play you should probably avoid doing that without talking to the local custodian first. In-character annoyance is one thing; out of character annoyance is another thing and one that must be avoided! Gizmo has populated the niche of the local Midnight heir so thoroughly as to be insurmountable.

Star Knight PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 22 pp STR 30 [14] (+10/+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 30 [14] (+10/+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 18 (+4) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +20 Saves: 7 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+4 Wis, +3) Skills: 48 r=12 pp Concentration 12 (+16) Diplomacy 10 (+10) Knowledge: Civics 10 (+10) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 4 (+4) Notice 6 (+10) Sense Motive 6 (+10) Feats: 11 pp Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2, Benefit (Star Knight), Dodge Focus 4, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (radio) Powers: 80 pp Alternate Form 16 (Star Knight Armor) (Duration: Sustained) [80 pp] -Comprehend 3 (speak, read, and understand any one language at a time) [6 pp] -Enhanced CON 16 [16 pp] -Enhanced Feats 3 (Extended Reach, Improved Crit, Interpose) [3 pp] -Enhanced STR 16 and Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) [20 pp] -Flight 6 (500 MPH) [12+1=13 pp] AP: Teleport 18 (anywhere in the Galaxy) (Flaws: Long-Range Only, Unreliable [5 uses a day]) (PFs: Progression 3 (1000 lbs) -Immunity 11 (life support, sleep, starvation and thirst) [11 pp] -Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp] -Space Flight 1 (1c) [1 pp] -Super-Senses 2 (Communication Link [Mentor] [mental], Radio) [2 pp] Power Drawback: [Action [Full] on Alternate Form (-4 pp)] Drawbacks: -1 pp Vulnerable (Electricity) (uncommon, minor) (-1 pp) costs abilities 22 + combat 24 + saves 7 + skills 12/48 + feats 11 + powers 76 - drawback 1= 150 pts ----- Design Notes: Here’s a build for a Star Knight, Freedom City’s Green Lantern Corps by way of ROM: Spaceknight. The local Star Knight on Earth is Maria Montoya, who is basically Renee Montoya in the Green Lantern Corps: my assumption is that this is her backup, a new Star Knight assigned to Earth given the tremendous number of crazy things that happen here. (The previous Star Knight assigned to Earth back in the Silver Age was an alien; basically Abin Sur in pursuit of Sinestro up until the beginning of the Bronze Age). Most people don’t know that Star Knight’s part of an alien corps of spacecops: they think the current Star Knight is the daughter of the original, who they thought was a human inventor back in the day. This one may be more open about who his real bosses are, or he may be posing as the other Star Knight’s brother! (How Maria Montoya feels about that little deception is up to you) I’m not a huge fan of the Star Knight concept: I don’t think power armor works that well as a a power ring substitute, but I’ve tried to change things up a little here and make things a little more viable. (They also have the problem that the book Star Knight is built terribly, just terribly. My assumption here is that he keeps his armor in a dimensional pocket and pulls it out when necessary (IOW, it’s much too easily accessible to be available for the device discount) with the armor snapping back there when he doesn’t need it to prevent abuse. It takes a full-round action for him to charge the armor up, letting him get a cool power-up sequence and also making sure he has to stay watchful even when he’s not using his powers. As written he’s something of a low-rent paragon, flying around and hitting things with his energy sword, or just punching them in the face depending on descriptors. I figure he uses the Flight to get around in atmosphere, the Space Travel inside solar systems, and the Teleport for big interstellar jumps. His armor feeds him and keeps him awake, but it doesn’t, say, remove his aging: this makes him a good space cop without making him likely to turn into a raging despot. I figure Mentor (unstatted) handles communication between Star Knights, while your average Star Knight is working in areas where they’re instantly recognizable but without much support from their allies, so they don’t need to spend a lot of time communicating with others. That said, buying Communication is a great idea as you get more PP, as is more Super-Senses: what he has now is useful, but the concept could easily justify so much more. I didn’t give him any goofy Power Loss vs. colors or a need to recharge his armor; the first doesn’t make a lot of sense for armor and the second is really left best to a complication nine stories out of ten. There are a lot of potential story arcs you can use for space cops. Star Knights genuinely are a force for good in-setting, but individuals could certainly be corrupted easily enough. Dealing with fellow Star Knights who’ve gone Darker and Edgier, or simply decided to rule by fear and intimidation, is an easy enough story niche to fit into. A war of colors? If so, avoid having the White Power destroy all those evil black guys, because that’s just, that’s just awful, honestly. Or maybe take a page from JLU’s Green Lantern and have this guy have been trained away from Earth for many years, and only now is he coming back to find a world that’s changed quite a bit in his absence. Make up a good Star Knight oath for him if you want; perhaps one he’s tuned to his own special needs. As written this is a new Star Knight from Earth, but you could easily tweak his feats and skills a bit, or maybe his powers, to make him an alien recently assigned to this remarkable planet and its remarkable people.

Siren Abilities: 30 pp STR 18 (+4) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Underwater Sonics) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +10/+16 with Move Object Saves: 13 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +7 (+3 Con, +4) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Bluff 11 (+15/+19) Diplomacy 5 (+9/+13) Knowledge: Pop Culture 5 (+5) Languages 2 (Atlantean, German) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Perform (singing) 7 (+11) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Feats: 17 pp All-Out Attack Attractive Challenge (Improved Feint) Dodge Focus 6 Inspire 4 Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 56 pp Enhanced Feat 1 (Environmental Adaptation [underwater]) [1 pp] Flight 5 (250 MPH) [10+1=11 pp] AP: Swimming 10 (2500 MPH) Immunity 4 (drowning, environmental cold, high pressure, own powers) [4 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Super-Senses 12 (Accurate Analytical Ultrasonic Hearing Penetrates Concealment, Low-Light Vision) [12 pp] Underwater Sonics Array [22+2=24 pp] Blast 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Area [Cone]) AP: Move Object 10 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) (PFs: Accurate 2) Drawbacks: Vulnerable (fire) (common, moderate) [-3 pp] costs abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 13 + skills 11/44 + feats 17 + powers 56 -drawbacks 3= 150 pts ------ Design Notes: This build is for Siren, the Golden Age heroine and Queen Mother of Atlantis. For those of who haven’t read the Golden Age book, she’s basically an Atlantean Black Canary expy; a torch singer from the surface who was nearly drowned when the passenger liner where she worked was sunk by a German U-Boat. Luckily the prince of Atlantis saw her drowning, fell in love (which is a little creepy, but that’s Golden Age romance for you) and took her to his realm to be imbued with his power: that gave her the power to sing loud enough to shatter glass, and sent her back to the surface to fight as a hero. I’ve kept those elements and made her fast, beautiful, and powerful: she’s something of a glass cannon given her lack of Impervious, but with her ability to move her tradeoffs around and her ability to goonsweep, she’s a threat to anyone on a Golden Age battlefield. She's got some issues with fire, like you do when you've got magic underwater powers, and is pretty strong thanks to the infusion of Atlantean magic into her system, making her much tougher than your average surfacer. She’s the Liberty League member (that I’ll stat, anyway) with Inspire, and thus a great facewoman and spokesman for the group. I figure she gets coshed on the head, tied up, and gagged, she can use the HP from the Power Loss Complication (not a drawback) to Inspire her teammates who are coming to rescue her. She’s got the incredible hearing I like to give sonic controllers: she can hear through walls, fight while blind in the depths of the ocean using her sonic powers, and she can do that with either regular sonics or ULTRASONICS! (Golden Age writers and readers weren’t that technologically sophisticated, but screaming so loudly you can use it as a weapon is something I think they probably could have put across with some dynamic poses and elaborate special effects). I think this build would work just fine if you want to play her in her prime, or maybe another granddaughter (Nereid already having graduated Claremont) who has inherited abilities like her grandma’s and come to the surface to see what’s up with all the stories she’d heard. Siren gets something of short shrift in the books, seeing as how she got her powers from her boyfriend, but I don’t see why that has to be an issue for you: I prefer to think of it as she’s the surfacer bearing the ancient power and glory of Atlantis on her shoulders, carrying forth that complicated legacy while fighting the greatest enemies of freedom that the world has ever known. And plus, Atlantis is cool! Think of all the exciting underwater adventures you’ll be able to have and the June Taylor-esque costumes you’ll be able to wear, either as a Golden Age character or a modern inheritor of the legacy. Of course, if you’re playing said modern inheritor now, you’ll probably have to deal with the Siren on the Freedom League who’s the current modern carrier of the title, but who’s to say you can’t share the legacy of valor and nobility represented in tales of the Siren?

APPROVED

Dr. Gorilla PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 38 pp STR 30 [22] (+10/+6) DEX 12 (+1) CON 24 [20] (+7/+5) INT 24 (+7) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+5 w/Growth, +10 Melee) DEF: +6 (+5 w/Growth, +10) Init: +1 Grapple: +25 Saves: 12 pp TOU +10 (+7 Con, +1 Protection, +2 Defensive Roll) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+1 Dex, +6) WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6) Skills: 88 r=22 pp Climb 9 (+15, Skill Mastery) Craft (electronic) 8 (+15, Skill Mastery) Craft (mechanical) 8 (+15, Skill Mastery) Disguise 0 (+1/+26) Knowledge (technology) 8 (+15, Skill Mastery) Handle Animal 10 (+10) Intimidate 14 (+14/+15) Medicine 4 (+5) Notice 9 (+10) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Stealth 8 (+9/+5) Survival 1 (+2) Feats: 21 pp Attack Focus: Melee 5 Challenge (Accelerated Climb) Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 5 Eidetic Memory Inventor Master Plan Move-By Action Skill Mastery (Climb, Craft [Electronic], Craft [Mechanical], Knowledge [Technology]) Startle Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 33 pp Additional Limbs 2 (PF: Innate) ‘prehensile feet’ [3 pp] Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand simians) [2 pp] Device 1 (Holo-Watch) (Easy to Lose) [3 pp] Morph 5 (Dr. Gorilla) [5] Enhanced Feat 1 (Animal Empathy) [1 pp] Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0], PF: Innate) [13 pp] Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Protection 1 [1 pp] Super-Movement 1 (Swinging) [2 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 5 (Accurate Acute Tracking Scent, Low-Light Vision) [5 pp] costs abilities 38 + combat 24 + saves 12 + skills 22/88 + feats 21 + powers 33 = 150 pts ------- Design Notes: Okay, so Ecal did a build very similar to this one a while back, but it's a gorilla scientist! What's not to like? (I almost wound up playing this character some months ago.) My general take on this character is that Dr. Gorilla was once a scientist active in the field of zoology, active in investigating the neurological differences between humans and great apes. His work was designed to save lives, but Dr. Simian objected to any experimentation on the 'true masters of the world' and sabotaged Dr. Gorilla's work, permanently trapping a man in a gorilla's body. A lesser man might have broken under the strain, but Dr. Gorilla escaped Simian's lair and returned to his work, now determined to make sure that no one else suffers as he did at the hands of supervillains. Getting his own body would be nice too! He can't turn back into a human, but he does have a big bulky holowatch that he can use to make himself look like a person again. It doesn't solve the large and small anatomical differences between humans and gorillas, but at least he can walk down the street without attracting too much attention in his 'civilian' garb. (One thing to remember; gorillas really don't eat meat, so he won't be pulling a Grodd and ripping his enemies apart to eat them. Not that a superhero would do that anyway, obviously!) Why the immunity to aging? Well, gorillas live much shorter lives than humans do, so a man in a gorilla body would no doubt take steps to make sure he had a lifespan at least as long as a human being. That's also so you can change this up and make him a classy gentleman adventurer from the Golden Age who got turned into an ape and has been rolling with this major life change ever since. He's a genius, he's a decent fighter, and he's got all the abilities you'd expect a gorilla to have under the circumstances: gorillas would be pretty formidable if they actually had an interest in getting into fights with human beings. My personal favorite comic book gorilla is Gorilla-Man from the pages of Agents of Atlas, but Ultra-Humanite and Monsieur Mallah both have their own unique charms. If you do want to let him turn back and forth from human to gorilla (probably making him magic-based rather than science-based), give him that good old normal ID drawback and give me a sheet for a low-level scientist or game hunter to go with it. If you don't want him to have ever been a man, make this a gorilla uplifted, perhaps a scion of Dr. Simian's turned to heroic deeds, or a native of Gorilla Island who has gone out to seek his fortune in the wide world with his command of advanced science!

"My god..." said Edge, looking unruffled by the cold in the snug warmness of his homemade environmental suit. "This is amazing!" His voice was muffled by the built-in speakers, but he sounded none the worse for where. "I can't believe I'm actually on another world!" he exclaimed to Supercape. "I mean, I've been on alternate Earths lots of times, but never on an alien planet like this. I mean, wow..." He put his hands on his hips. "So have you visited this planet a lot? I mean it's not exactly a garden spot, but you still knew where it was!"

"My work is here," replied the angel, "but my family is there still. An ambassador cannot simply go home when he misses his mother's cooking, or the sound of his people's children playing by a creek. I am on a holy mission to spread the Word of justice and peace to humanity by dint of action and example, Victory. I cannot simply leave that behind for the sake of homesickness." He smiled thinly. "Even if i wanted to." He hadn't been directly asked the obvious question he sensed might be on Victory's mind, so he opted not to give an answer that might have been disappointing.

"Now you get a campus tour from one of our senior students," said Summers, resuming his seat. "I'm sure you will find Quo-Dis a more...entertaining companion than myself." At Darwin's question about his powers, or lack thereof, Summers simply raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Marston," he said seriously. "At this school, we respect the confidentiality of secret identities. Information like that is better offered than asked for...Suffice it to say, however, if you show up a second time in my office wearing your swim trunks, you will discover whether or not I can indeed set students on fire simply by looking at them. Don't be afraid to speak to your RA, your teachers, or myself if you have any further questions." Outside, sure enough a statuesque blonde was there waiting for Darwin, clad in the blue and yellow colors of Claremont. She looked muscular and athletic, and her trim jogging outfit showed that off to perfection. "Hello, Darwin Marston!" she said with a tremendous handshake and a faint accent he couldn't place. "I am Quo-Dis. Welcome to Claremont."

For his part, Edge was a little more comfortable with this world than the others. Maybe it was because his own experiences of grief and dislocation here had been much more personal, and he'd have no reason to be horrified by the weird dislocations of the place and the strange character of the people there. Or was it just that he could understand the logic of the place as instinctively as if he'd been born there? "Officer, we're not Counter-Freedom," he reassured the frightened policeman. "We're the heroes we look like, but we've had to change costumes to fit in at a costume party. The Crime League's on the prowl, see, and..." while Edge's fantastic story spun on and on, Midnight's sensors found definite traces of Terminus radiation in the direction of Bayview: in fact, unless he was greatly mistaken, it had to be somewhere near Claremont. "I don't know," said the cop, still looking suspicious. "Those Counterverse types are nothing but trouble. Why last year, Rednow, she..." "Pfft!" A passing man in a magnificent Afro and open-topped shirt addressed the cop. "You cops are wasting your time with that jive cosmic stuff. What are you gonna do about the supervillains on the street that are keeping the people down? Or maybe the REAL villains, like the corrupt corporate fat cats who push their poison on kids in the ghetto?" "Yeah!" The crowd was not friendly to the police officer, but before a riot could break out there came from the sky the funky sound of disco high. "GREETINGS, citizens!" The crowd looked up, and someone shouted: "It's Radio Freedom! They care about the man on the street! They'll deal with these funky crackers!" Up in the sky, riding five shimmering platforms that looked straight out of an expensive disco, the energy patterns glittering like a blue-dyed disco ball, came the five members of Radio Freedom: each of them were easy to recognize, perhaps too easy. Midnight still had his fedora and half-mask, but his costume was cut like something out of Saturday Night Fever, all black velvet with an open chest and huge collar; while beside him Wonder was almost recognizable in a clingy red jumpsuit with gold accessories, while beside her grooved Sage in a white outfit with a surprisingly large chest opening and a red cape behind her. As for Corbin in the center, the local Cobalt 'Templar' looked more like the Cobalt Ranger with his cowboy outfit and domino mask straight out of the Village People. Next to them was Edge, looking magnificent as always in an open yellow shirt and silver tiara for some reason, hands on his hips and looking imposing. Next to him was...yes, that was in fact Breakdown of all people, Eddie looking quite remarkable in disco white. "Hey Midnight, these clowns don't look like the Counterverse Creeps!" called the other Edge, hands on his hips. "Egde'd never wear a cape anyway! Do you think they might be here about that funky space probe?" "Maybe!" said the funky Midnight, doing backflips as he jumped from the platform to the sound of what was clearly Breakdown playing a groovy disco beat behind him. "Any of you cats have...soul?"

For his own part, Freedom Angel kept a close eye out as they went. He couldn't read the bee the way he could a being with a soul, and that made him naturally inclined to be suspicious of it and its motives. Though the bees who'd served the Bee-Keeper before had turned out to be friendly, those had been living insects with souls. A robot was a considerably trickier task. Sure enough, his feelings about the bee were reinforced when the robot said, "Yez, quite similar to those inferior organic beez. But we are programmed for loyalty to the Bee-Keeper, not disloyaltee!" As they headed down through a dark, honey-covered prison full of shouting inmates, the bee's pride was one of the brighter things around.

The blast singed across the gunbunny's midsection, scoring a seared area along her tightly-stretched outfit. "Ow! You puppy-headed freak! I'm going to-" Citizen intervened at this juncture, stepping into a punch that all but knocked him off his feet: Sharl felt something pull in his shoulder from the sheer force of the blow, his programmed body feeling an all-too-real ache, but his solid magnetically enhanced punch struck the gun-wielding lunatic across the jaw, knocking her off her feet and sending her slamming into the nearby wall. With a groan, she fainted, her eyes rolling back in her head as she passed out. Citizen pointed at Katkvinna and said, "There are three superheroes here. We can fly. We're bulletproof..." Well, I'm bulletproof, but why let that on? "And we're very, very angry that you've come to this place full of nice people and laid your hands on them." He gave her an appalled look. "What kind of person steals from a hospital? Why do you want things that aren't yours? Surrender now!"

Citizen Attacks Sneak Thief. He hits 24 She fine. He's going to surge (and become fatigued) and take a poke at her again. 34: he hits She's unconscious, woo-hoo!

Sneak Thief is bruised!