Avenger Assembled

Edge agreed, and waited for Supercape to disappear. All right, Mark, biggest jaunt ever. You'd better do your best here.When Supercape was gone off to that other planet so far away, Edge studied the map carefully and took a deep breath. Time to hit deep space... He pushed himself, reaching out with his mind towards the dot on the map, and suddenly everything seemed to go topsy-turvy. On Supercape's end of things, it looked as though the local atmosphere and earth was rearranging itself into Edge as he popped up alongside him on the frozen Arctic world: as if Mark was somehow reaching out with his mind across the vastness of space and imposing himself on the world where he was heading!

"Is that...?" he recognized the voice, if nothing else. He gave 'Cyberknife' a shocked look, dividing his attention between Gina's shocking 'costume' and what had happened to his fellow program. That was frankly disturbing even to look at, but he certainly couldn't quarrel with results. It wasn't as if he'd been able to do anything, anyway. "I'm fine." Wordlessly, Citizen went in for the knockout punch. It took a couple of good, hard hits, Rogue spitting and hissing at him like an outraged cat the whole while, but eventually he had her knocked out. He looked down at his hands, rubbing the spot on his knuckle where she'd actually bit him. "She's from Tronik," he murmured at that bizarre figure he was almost sure was Gina. "I don't know her, but we recognized each other. She got out first, and she found...these people."

Okay, that was my only concern. Approved

Eventually, the sharp-eyed heroes found signs of where the gorilla had come from: prints left behind by a normal-sized gorilla led from the earth churned up by his struggles towards a still-open manhole cover. Underneath, the sewers of Freedom City beckoned: the recent heavy rains had washed things mostly clean, but without some better way to track a gorilla's movements, finding where he'd come from underneath the surface was going to be much more difficult. The sound of approaching sirens meant that the police were on their way: Jade Dragon and Wail had both done a great service for the community that day, but the inevitable consequences of that meant at least a little talk with the cops. Luckily the police were respectful and effusively grateful, there wasn't much they could have done to stop a 40-foot gorilla anyway. And since Wail had gotten rid of him, there was nothing they really needed to do except investigate. Over Jade Dragon's shoulder, Wail spotted Dr. Metropolis rising out of the pavement to begin repairing the damage the giant ape had wrought before his abrupt banishment into the Atlantic Ocean. Just another day in Freedom...

Summers raised an eyebrow; though it was hard to tell what had prompted the gesture. "Mr. Marston. Despite your efforts to argue otherwise, you are not a child. Your life-saving record proves that much. I will not insult your intelligence by lecturing you on the value of an education, proper hygiene, or anything else you may expect to hear about in high school. Let me instead ask you in return: are you worth the thousands of hours of physical, emotional, and intellectual labor that will end in your graduation from this institution?" He gave Darwin that look again. "I believe you are, and I encourage you to believe that about yourself." The room fell dead silent, Summers not in any hurry to give Darwin cues for the conversation.

At the news the superpowered teenagers who'd so mercilessly destroyed an entire armored column with air support weren't going to be staying, Travis paused for a moment and looked up at the shrine to the fallen mystery men along one wall. A long, silent pause stretched in the empty bunker, before Midnight looked back at the heroes. "Do the damage you can. Our evacuation to the interior will have begun when they came for me. They will need time to finish..." A bare pause, and then "Have heard Ubermensch may be coming personally to collect the bomb. Will have to move fast." He pulled his mask back down, and the scarred, past-his-prime veteran was lost before the dark-faced mystery man. "Midnight. Familiar with Grue technology?" When Trevor didn't disagree, Travis went on, "Appropriated a stealth system from flying saucer. Will take the Cruiser with passengers. Need assistance in deployment." On closer inspection, the Grue technology was probably how this heavily-armed car had been able to pass unnoticed under the Nazi thumb for so long. While Trevor and his grandfather's shadow worked to prepare the Night Cruiser for what might be its last deployment, Edge walked over and stared at that monument to so many fallen heroes. For once he had nothing to say, so instead he tentatively offered to help with the modifications to the Cruiser. He didn't know a damn thing about technology, but he was able to intuitively have just the right tools on hand, even before the Midnights could look his way.

Sovem, Just something to stress. "I'm 18 but act like a 14 year old" is something that could go...badly. How do you see that as being played?

Okay, he is stunned and knocked back 189 miles.

"Feh, enough of this!" spat Heka as Diehard swung and missed at Wisp. "This plan has failed, and I, for one, do not wish to spend yet another evening washing my robes clean of our peerless leader's vomit!" He began making gestures in the air, muttering ancient arcane words of mystic power. "I shall meet you all again," he promised the teens as glowing sigils of pyramid power surrounded the Fearsome Five and they began to fade away. "But next time, it will be under our terms..." A few moments later, and they all were gone, even the unconscious Angel. With the bad guys gone, a cheer went up from the now-rescued hostages. "Hooray! We're saved!"

She is bound and helpless, thank god

Edge was normally a fearless young man, counting on luck and pluck to get him everywhere, but he'd learned in recent years to be a little more thoughtful in these situations. "Sure, I can do that. Just give me a minute." He hmmed and waggled his fingers like a bad stage magician, only his perfect earnestness keeping it from being funny. As he gestured, the air around him warped and woofed, growing solid and substantial even as Supercape looked on, until at last Edge was standing there inside an old-timey spacesuit, complete with bubble helmet, cut to match the colors of his costume. "Okay, this should protect me. Do you have the exact coordinates, maybe a picture?"

Wail is up

Suddenly, just what Jade Dragon had feared would happen happened: the great gorilla gave a terrible roar and tore his way entirely out of the earthen bonds in which she had been entrapping him. "I WILL CRUSH YOU SECOND, LITTLE BIG MAN!" the giant ape promised Wail while pointing a mammoth finger his way, "BUT FIRST I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THE TINY SPECK THAT DARED IMPRISON THE AWESOME POWER OF GORILLON! ROAAAAR!" And with that, huge drops of saliva trailing from his gaping jaws, massive fangs bared, the gorilla that walked like a mountain leapt for the nimble archer, fists like boulders nearly tearing her limb from limb as she just dodged his powerful blows.

Erde's Midnight was silent, his face implacable as he rested in the shadows behind him, seeming to merge with them for a moment before he made a decision. He rose to his feet, neatly sliding his twin .45s into the holsters at his waist. He reached up and peeled away his mask, revealing the scarred, battered face of Travis Hunter beneath. He was in his prime in the 1950s; sixty years younger than the nonagerian Trevor knew, but somehow in his eyes the weather-beaten man before them looked even older. "Control has been a luxury I haven't always had. Midnight." He studied the others, giving Mark in particular a suspicious look, before focusing back on the young man who bore his legacy. "Few weeks ago. Something fell from the sky. One of my men saw it; saw a Wehrmacht patrol take it. It's on Von Braun Island. Where they launch their V-3s to spy on us, and burn whatever pockets of resistance remain." He shook his head, and seemed to force himself to speak in a fashion easier for the others to understand. "Thought it might be the Unity back for Round 2 with the Ubersoldaten till I heard from Jimmy's boy. I can get you onto the island. If Midnight and his friends tell me the world needs saving...we'll save the world. Whatever it takes. How long can you stay?"

Heyzel took both armor and taser, dismissing his sword and natural armor both to fasten them on. There was nothing to do about his wings, which wouldn't support him in the air underground, so he folded them behind him gracefully. Luckily, he knew from his previous visits that the power nullification inside would not actually impede the internal workings of his angelic body. While he had no objection to mortality as such, aging to death as soon as he stepped into the building would surely make things more complicated for everyone. "The Bee-Keeper is a master planner," said the angel, "for certain values of those words. He can be unpredictable when in his madness." "If he has evidence of his innocence, enough to convince a judge," Wallace said, "he goes back to Providence. We have enough issues with overcrowding that we're not going to keep a crazy battlesuit wearer here if the worst he's ever done is inject people with a venom that turns them into bees. Are you sure you're over that?" she asked Heyzel, just a little suspiciously. "Completely," said the angel. "I have been cleansed of all earthly contaminants in the healing waters of the divine streams of Heaven." He smiled faintly, then added, "Though I fear I will never look at honey quite the same way again.

"You want casual insults, Mr. Puppy Chow? Have I got some casual insults for you!" She fell back, laying down a steady stream of bullets that spanged off Fenris' armor, vibrating the man inside without actually hurting him. "Your hospital is a den of drug addicts and prostitutes! I liked your armor better when it was on my dog last night, you stuffed shirt fat-nosed twerp! I'm going to take all you've got and shove it where the sun does not shine, then launder it to get the stink out of and sell it on the street! Ahahaha!" She jumped around as she fired, even as patients and staff ran in terror from the crazy gun lady.

Move Action: Sneak Thief Taunts Fenris. DC 25 Bluff/Sense Motive to beat. Standard Action: She Power Attacks him with her pistols, this time for non-lethal. 28.. Blast 4+5+2=11=DC 26 Tou save from Fenris.

"No!" said Mark, shaking his head. "That's definitely not something I can do." He dusted off his cape, the last particles of sand falling to the ground. "I've been into space a couple of times with my, uh, dad, but not since I was really little. That was just to starships, so I don't know if I can hit them again. I can try going to the Moon, I guess, I know there is a League stronghold there that has an atmosphere and living conditions 24/7."

Freedom Angel said nothing as Victory spoke to his departed grandfather, having seen moments like this all too often. When he was finished, the angel said, "A sage once said, 'I would rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not.' If you loved Nathan Factor, then be at peace, my friend." He put his hand gently on Victory's shoulder, not seeming to mind the great heat that came from the cyborg's body. "I know your record, Victory. Have no doubt that he is proud of the man you are today, wherever his soul rests."

"Mr. Marston." Summers looked reflective for a moment. "I'm not going to 'sell' you on anything. If you think you lack the initiative to be a superhero, no one at this school will force you to be otherwise. You will have a chance to complete your education and have your command of your abilities refined here, and after that, you can go wherever you wish." He eyed Darwin, and seemed to gaze into his very soul. "Contrary to what you may have been told, there is nothing immoral about spending your life with a surfboard on a beach. I have known many people who might have been better off had they chosen that path. Let me put it to you this way. Amateur surfers can spend their days riding small waves at the edge of the beach, enjoying themselves and impressing the people watching them who don't know any better, but when they see the big waves coming, there's nothing they can do. All they can do is watch as their betters ride the biggest, tallest, fastest waves in the world. Is that the man you want to be? Do you want to spend your life in the shallows, Darwin?"

GM Fiat time: Gorillon escapes. Gizmo and Godiva, add an HP to your current roster from the Fiat. He's gonna All-Out Attack Jade Dragon.This will drop his Defense to 13 (meaning you have to hit or get above 13 to hit him), but add +5 to his Attack. 18 That's a miss. BUT! Because he missed because of his size penalty, it becomes an area attack. (his fists are so huge he still has a chance to hit her) Give me a DC 22 Reflex save, Godiva.

Too infuriated to continue with their banter, Citizen and Rogue fell into a scrum, clawing and biting at each other like angry children. Swooping in the air, they flew through a 'wall' in their respective worldview and actually flew out of the system entirely for a moment: the hospital's TV broadcasts suddenly showing a cursing, scrapping couple in black leather before they came tumbling back into the system. When they pulled apart, they floated warily to study each other again, their costumes torn, both of them bleeding from superficial cuts, but neither seriously hurt. "It's not too late, Citizen," said Rogue, her sunglasses cracked as she peered at Sharl. "Drop all this organic crap. Leave the people to their fragile little lives. These people I'm with? They don't even know two things about the real me. About the real cause." She waved her hand somewhere in the direction of her erstwhile teammates. "So you're fixing Tronik. That's great. What if I told you that I had a way to make sure we never had to worry about our city again?" "...I'd think you were full of freaking crap!" replied Sharl, speaking from the heart under the circumstances. "I'd think you were trying to distract me while your friends out there hurt my friends. And not even for any good reason! I mean, you're robbing a hospital and endangering a sick little kid, and lots of other kids too! We don't even need money for crying out loud. If your plan is so great, why didn't you tell me that _before_ we started fighting?" "Because I was hoping I could beat your ass," replied Rogue frankly, "But now that I know I can't, I want to try and cut you in on something. When I was lost on the Internet, somebody found me. Someone very powerful, and very important in this world. He's leading an army that will one day make a network out of this whole world. No more fake lives, no more world that got stolen from us before we were born. His name is Talos..."

Citizen Standard Action Bluff. 29 Sense Motive: 29 :| SURGE Standard Action Power Attack with Strike 21 :| HP: 20 Rogue: Standard Action: Power Attack: 14 Well, you know, at least she's not beating _him_ up either. Sharl could use an HP. I'll fiat that hits. He needs to make a Tou save vs 23. 16 With an HP: 25 And he's fine too.

"Jill O'Cure, welcome," said the angel, relieved to see the young woman who was both hero and healer. Under the circumstances, both of the lockdown and Fleur de Joie's pregnancy, she was a welcome addition to the team. "We can use all the assistance we can in this crisis." He hmmed, listening to the doctor's account. "Bowles' genius and his madness are both very great. Underestimating him would be a mistake for any of us. From what I know of his record, I imagine that so far he has released no other prisoners. Have any escaped?" he asked the doctor. "Not as far as we know," said Wallace. "I'm not going to say none have, Lord knows we've been taken by surprise before, but from what our readouts up here tell us, all the cells are in lockdown. The only thing that'll get the prisoners out is a new code entered from the central computer or the emergency systems going off; a fire, a mass power usage, something where lives would be at stake. That'll activate the emergency teleporter which will drop them all in the League's backup facility in St. Helena. You're right about Bowles and the other inmates, though; he hasn't even tried getting them out. He's not very popular with the other prisoners, and it seems like the feeling was mutual." "If the security protocols I read last were right," the angel said to Fleur and the others, checking with Wallace to make sure they were, "We will be able to go below via the main stairway in the central core. As that has physical rather than electronic blocks, it's all that operates when the facility is in this state. How many guards are there below?" "About two dozen people are unaccounted for," replied Wallace. "Bowles has said he has some of them hostage...or, rather, that they are 'ransomed against the proof of his innocence', but not all of them are showing up on his feed. They'll just have tasers and body armor, but it'll at least be something. We have enough spare equipment to equip all of you that way," she added, "but nothing heavier goes into the prison while it's in lockdown and the inmates are conscious."

The staircase down was lined with a gleaming red metal that the team recognized from months earlier on Earth-Prime: it looked like the Midnight of Erde had at some point lined his headquarters with the exterior plating of a Grue battleship. Even the sliding metal door at the bottom of the stairs looked alien, only reluctantly sliding open at their approach. Inside, the Night Bunker beckoned. Like a scene from Trevor's childhood gone wrong, what had once been a crimefighter's stronghold had become the scene of a freedom fighter's last stand. The darkness inside faded as the lights came on, the acrid aftertaste of some variant of midnight mist still in the air. The Midnight Cruiser, parked where it could face the door, was a massive black roadster that looked like a battleship on wheels, bristling with weapons deployed from a dozen hidden ports. The room in general was covered in wall charts and pictures of what had to be Erde's Freedom City; a bombed-out, devastated place populated by forced laborers and a German garrison that looked mockingly confident as it rode roughshod over the beloved home of the young heroes. There was something personally insulting, Edge reflected, about that swastika flag flying over what was clearly the Claremont Academy, renamed the "Claremont Academy for Aryan Boys" from the sign out front. Maybe it was silly to see that, amid so many other horrors, but it was easier to focus on that rather than the mass graves out by Lonely Point, the Germans standing gloatingly in front of terrified, beaten Americans, and the trains of 'undesirables' being loaded under the watchful eye of the SS. Dominating one whole wall was a row of pictures, some of whom Mark recognized: the civilian identities of the members of the Liberty League, various other independent mystery men of the 1940s, and one he vaguely recognized as Hamilton Jordon, Freedom City's native Congressional Medal of Honor winner from World War II. Underneath each faded black and white picture was a date, all of them between 1945 and 1953. It wasn't hard to guess what _that_ meant, especially not with the neatly stacked artifacts there: Johnny Rocket's costume, Bowman and Arrows' quivers, Freedom Eagle's flight harness, all of them lovingly polished but all showing signs of terrible violence done them. Around the edge of the door where they stood, Trevor and Erin's sharp eyes made out a ring of material that was probably some local explosive; they could see signs of it elsewhere, as if the entire place was rigged. Sitting in the center of the mausoleum that was all that remained of Freedom City's heroes was the instantly recognizable figure of the first Midnight: Travis's face invisible of course behind a black mask, twin .45s by the flickering cathode ray screen in front of him. Glowing eyes glared at them as Travis' voice growled through the room, the acoustics seeming to make his voice come from everywhere. "Few days ago. Man I saw last as a baby came to me as an old man. Said everything, everywhere, was in peril. Said you'd come and explain. And you happen to show up the day my key operative cracks and exposes me. WHY ARE YOU HERE?"