Avenger Assembled

March 10 "No sir," said Mark respectfully, sitting in his empty dorm room. Now that Mike was spending so much time over with the Albrights, it had been an easy enough matter to move his stuff back into their own room. He was doing a video conference with Daedalus now, talking to the Greek hero in his office in Athens. "He didn't say anything after that. He just took my mother and...left." He was sitting on his bed, unconsciously hugging the pillow on his lap, as he looked into the camera. "I was hoping you might have some...some idea where he might have gone." Most Claremont students thought that the current Daedalus was the son of the 1960s inventor Daniel Daedalus. But Mark Lucas was not most Claremont kids. "No, Mark, I'm afraid I don't." Daedalus looked fatigued, perhaps as a result of that mind parasite that had been such a problem while the Young Freedom kids had been away on Anti-Earth. "I stood by Richard Lucas during two different Terminus invasions. We were both there the day your namesake died in battle against the lord of the Terminus. I know your mother less well, but I know all she did in those terrible days too. If they have fled...then they're not the people I once knew But your father was a man who kept his own council, always, even when he was the most open of men in other times. As long as I've known him, I can't give you answers for his actions." With a heavy heart, Mark finished the phone call and sat alone in his room. Surrounded by superheroic memorabilia, he suddenly felt alone. What did all these monuments mean, all these pictures and stories, when they hadn't been able to keep his family together? Or with him at all? It was...it was really sad. Unable to cry, unable to give up but unable to find a solution, Mark sat alone in his room, staring at the wall. All the power the school had found in him, and he couldn't even cheer himself up.

"Yes, let's go. We've traveled many miles, and touched many minds today. A little rest is in order...or other things, anyway. I have needs that are not the same as your women." She kissed him again, and the pair vanished in a flare of cosmic energy. Just as they went, Corbin noticed a flying animal deep up against the blue sky of Quo-Dis' homeworld. It seemed flying birds were universal across worlds...or were they? Luckily, he had his girl there to make sure he didn't dwell on the biological dilemma too long.

Sharl landed on the roof just behind Protectron, looking unsettled by the combat in the air, his battle with Electrolux, and by the dire situation they were facing. "If it's a merger of Grue cells and a sentient virus, it's not really alive at all, is it?" asked Sharl over the intercoms. His question didn't sound rhetorical: this was a grey area for the electronic teenager. "When the Freedom League saved samples of Legion, they did it for further study, not for the sake of saving the thing, and those Grue cells didn't even come from a whole person. And real people have been hurt by this thing. Dragonfly almost died. That mom and baby almost died. With those wrecked cars we saw..." Sharl swallowed, a perfectly natural gesture, though a bit odd on the sentient hologram. "What if you sent me over there, while you're working on the calcium oxide weapon? Streamline my program and send me to one of those holographic projectors we saw when we were there with Victory? That way I can find out if it's just a dakavore, er, termite colony, or if there is a real mind behind it. And I can find where the brain is exactly, so you know right where to deliver whatever you decide to build?"

Gunner PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Blast) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +8 Init: +7 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 48 r=12 pp Bluff 12 (+15) Diplomacy 2 (+5) Knowledge: History 10 (+10) Languages 2 (Chinese, Japanese) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 16 pp All-Out Attack Dodge Focus 6 Challenge 2 (Improved Feint, Improved Taunt) Improved Initiative Luck Power Attack Precise Shot Set-Up Taunt Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 62 pp Blast 10 (Extra: Autofire) (PFs: Accurate 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [metal]) [34 pp] Immunity 10 (metal) [10 pp] Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Super-Senses 4 (metal awareness [mental], Acute Radius Ranged) [4 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 62 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: This is my build for Gunner, the Golden Age kid sidekick hero brutally murdered by the Crimson Katana alongside his brother the Human Tank, the two young men becoming the last members of the Golden Age European superteam the Allies of Freedom to die. I've never been able to figure out why the Allies of Freedom came to such a spectacularly sticky end; surely they could have made Kantor and Nacht-Krieger imposing figures of menace without dumping _everyone_ in the refrigerator! (My favorite 'meta'-explanation for it is that the Allies of Freedom title, always the least-selling title of Freedom Comics' Golden Age-era line, was abruptly switched over to the new fad of horror comics in the postwar period and the writers decided to be particularly brutal in killing off their characters for the switch) Anyway. Gunner has the power of absorbing metal into his body, holding it there, and firing it back at his enemies. Rather than the clunky Absorption construction that this power had in the book, I've given him a straight-up immunity to metal effects: stab him or shoot him a thousand times with blade or bullet, and he'll be just fine. In fact, he can fire those metal bits back at you in a dizzying array of bombardment. He can also find metal even when he can't see it, absorb decent physical punishment thanks to his metal-infused body, and taunt, trick, and set-up like any good Golden Age sidekick ought to be. He's got some Leaping for mobility on the Golden Age battlefields that the Allies haunted so well. This build works just fine for a Gunner plucked from his death at the age of 19 in early 1946 to the modern era, I think with a few modifications it could work for a Gunner who chose to go into retirement under an assumed name after his brother's death. It's also not a bad choice for his successor: as young as he was, it's at least possible he fathered a child before his death, perhaps giving Japan a complicated legacy of a dead American hero and his illegitimate Japanese super-children, just in time for the 1960s! This would represent a later version of that legacy, but one I think no less compelling.

Edge spends an HP for Ultimate TOU and is just fine.

"We have been intimate both physically and spiritually. You are my mate," she informed him. "This is a very serious matter among my people, particularly since you are not like us." Quo-Dis was usually very blunt, but this was something of a compromise. "But our actions were approved, and so everything we did still happened." She smiled at him and said, "It is a very long time back to your home, Corbin, even with your great speed in the air. Shall I take us back there? It will take only a few moments."

"Listen, you little punks," said Edge with more venom than was usually in his voice as he confronted the fake villains. Real villains. Whatever they were. Mark hated bad guys with complex plots! Not only were they doing bad things, they were confusing him too, and that annoyed him considerably. "You're just some small-time hoods with superpowers who think running away to Ashbury makes you smart. Well, you know what? I think it just makes you chicken. All you've done is show that you're too cowardly and too stupid to make a dishonest living in Freedom City. Well now the real heroes are here, and we're going to show you how we do things in Freedom City!" He walked fearlessly up to the goons and yelled, "We're going to beat you and take you to a real jail! That's how!"

Edge spends an HP to Inspire, giving a +5 bonus to all the characters that'll take effect at the top of the next round.

Sharl hesitated at Miss Americana's words, but despite his strong natural urge to head straight for Lonely Point and study the situation in much more detail, he opted to obey his teacher. Remembering the powerful defenses there, not to mention the mighty Victory, he was a little concerned at the thought of being attacked all alone. Gina had put on a rather brutal demonstration of the coherency of his body using a surprisingly realistic simulation some time earlier, and he didn't want to take the chance of running into a magnetic field, or of his intelligence somehow being used against his friends by the alien mind inside Lonely Point. "Acknowledged, Miss A. Faster if I don't fly, anyway," he muttered, and soon he joined Protectron on the return flight to the Lab. Still glowing that peculiar shade of blue, Sharl was just behind the robot as they headed for the roof.

Caryatid said, "Yes, I helped shore up part of the reinforcements after the last escape attempt. It was actually pretty interesting, see, because she'd been digging down instead of up, and using the bones of..." Mind-Master shot her a look and she said, "Uh, but you don't wan't to hear about that. Anyway, I can find the place for you. I can bring it down, too, if you can make sure I'm not taken by surprise while I'm doing it." She looked nervous again before she said, "Are you sure you know what you're going to do with her? I mean, she's, well, I'm sure she's a good person and all, but she's..." "It'll be all right," said Edge, giving the girl a frank, reassuring look. "We're superheroes. Every bad thing the Syndicate does? We do a good thing. Every innocent hurt, every crime unpunished, every sin rewarded? We're the opposite of all that. No, we're its better. The multiverse isn't a very fair place, but we can make it fair. For you, your family, and everyone else we can reach. I promise that we'll do everything in our power to make things right. And our power is vast. C'mon," he suggested, "let's get moving. We can't let Midnight take to the surface without us close at hand behind him."

It was immediately obvious to Victory that there was something different about the teenager: on closer inspection, he wasn't really there at all! Glowing faintly with misplaced radiation, he looked like a living being of pure electricity and magnetism. "I'm Sharl," said Sharl distinctly, wanting to do his part to be Miss A's discreet assistant as he'd promised her. He'd do just about anything for Miss A, except hurt Gina, of course. His grip on Victory's free hand was firm and tingled ever so slightly. "I'm Miss Americana's assistant. I want you to know," he said seriously, "that of all the heroes I've helped Miss A work with, I think you're the bravest. I'm honored to have a chance to work with you." He held back a little as Miss A went to work on Victory, floating up in the air for a better view.

Carytid gave a start and stepped behind Mind-Master at Wander's approach, shooting her mentor a fearful look! For his part, the immortal psychic gave Talos a serious look before eying Wander as well. "It's all right, Carytid. Her mind is nothing like that others'" Cautiously, the young teen stepped out and explained: many of the senior students were away this weekend on a special field trip to Antarctica, where a LIGHT colony had been found by stealth observation and was in the middle of being destroyed. That left only students who didn't generally go with the rest of the class for high-level combat missions: students like the Blank who preferred to concentrate on his own network in Empire City (she gave a shudder at his name too), or students like Hex who were slated for a career path in the city itself. Singularity was kept in an artificially-dug cavern beneath the Academy, dug out by the infamous Earthen Lord himself.

Sharl was briefly concerned by the loud noise, but Miss A looked unruffled so he dismissed his worries. Hmm, let me think...ah, I get it! Somebody must have broken the sound barrier in-atmosphere while using one of their jets. He must be the bravest man on Earth!Sharl let Miss A make the introductions as they landed at the base, playing the part of her discreet young assistant to perfection. He'd done it on various technical projects before. Truthfully, as interesting as the primitive technology was here, he was more fascinated by the sky overhead. It's just so...blue! He'd seen blue skies before in pictures of alien worlds preserved on Tronik, or back home when the weather was especially foul, but the alien skies overhead were remarkable for both their azure color, so unlike the familiar verdigris of home, and their sheer immense _size_. Not many people had an interest in looking at the sky where Sharl was from; you needed to work in the plankton fleet or live near the top of your district, and where Sharl himself lived the sky was always cut by districts rising and antigravs flying overhead. And Miss A flies in that whenever she wants...and her friend flies in it really fast! He was so distracted by that he just managed to pull himself out as he and Miss A were walked into the hangar where Victory was waiting for them.

"Hey! Hey!" It took Dragonfly's mighty brain only an instant to realize that the voice she was hearing was coming over the communicator from the cells, the one carefully screened to make sure no telepathic or memetic commands were being issued by someone with voice powers. "Oh, thank God! It's gone! Can anyone hear me?" On the little visual feed built into the monitor, she could see Blue Wall's face as she peered around frantically. "Hey, listen! You've got to stop that damned thing in Lonely Point. It's trying to get off Earth and take over the Grue! I don't know what it did, but somehow it got its hooks in the whole damn city! If it doesn't get what it wants, Lord knows what it'll do to the rest of us! If it gets all the telepaths it has together and hooks their brains up, it could grab the whole damn planet!"

"I guess the logical thing to do is go at night?" suggested Edge, a little doubtfully. "But going that long might put us in danger too." It was only after years of experience that Mark was able to plan this well, and he was very proud. "If Midnight goes in during the day, though...well, no one would expect someone to be sneaking around then!" he exclaimed. "This isn't a world where the bad guys hide and prowl around. They'll just walk in and bang on the door. It might be different since the Blank is a Claremont student, but if he's got a life outside the school...it'll probably work." He confirmed with Carytid that she'd be able to help: Carytid herself had not officially left the school at all, and Mind-Master's formidable psychic abilities were currently put towards making sure that Mr. Beaumont believed that Carytid was on a special assignment for him in the Fens. She'd already picked up his booze.

Power Thief PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 24 pp STR 24 [14] (+7/+2) DEX 24 [14] (+7/+2) CON 24 [14] (+7/+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+13 Melee) DEF: +13 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +20 Init: +7 Saves: 4 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+7 Dex) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 11 (+15) Diplomacy 4 (+8) Concentration 13 (+15) Stealth 8 (+15) Feats: 19 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 7 Dodge Focus 7 Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 67 pp Container 7 (Power Thief Suite) [35 pp] Fatigue 7 LINKED Mimic 7 (all powers) (Flaw: Saving Throw [Reflex]) Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] costs abilities 24 + combat 24 + saves 4 + skills 11/44 + feats 19 + powers 67 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Transfer is a sucky power, both too complicated and it doesn't actually give you the ability to do what most power thieves can do in comics: grab people, knock them out, suck out their powers, and keep that power working until they're subdued/the encounter ends. So that's why I've built this lady, putting together Mimic and Fatigue to give you something that should let you grab people, 'drain' them, and copy and keep their powers at the same time. Fatigue isn't as severe an impairment as Stun, but it's more long-lasting, and multiple hits or surging will let you knock someone pretty thoroughly out. As for that Mimic, she can get up to 35 pp worth of powers and she can keep them as long as she can keep making Concentration checks when stunned or otherwise incapable of taking free actions. She meets her caps in combat without use of her Power Theft ability, just so you're not stuck in a crisis. No Drain means she doesn't have to worry about her stolen powers fading. She's got the Save Required flaw for her Mimic, representing people pulling away in time to avoid being copied. With her manifold abilities to render someone flat-footed, she should be able to Power Attack most of the time. Even if she can't drain enough to zap someone (i.e, they make their save vs. Fatigue), she still has a chance of pulling out enough of their powers to use in combat against them. Side-Effect is another good one, representing that the consequences of too much energy are frying her own brain! I'm not a big fan of Tainted (you get the drawbacks of the people you copy) or Split Personality (sometimes their personalities can be sucked into your mind too) as Flaws for Mimic: I think the first is a better power drawback, and the second a complication. Given her high combat abilities, she can fight Badass Normals just fine, punching them in the head and even using her powers to knock them out at the same time. She's pretty awesome! Her biggest weakness is that she doesn't do a whole lot besides trick people, sneak past people, and suck their powers out to use against them. There's nothing wrong with that if it's your concept (she's quite good at all those things!), but you might be interested in trying something else. Another possible Drawback is something where she has to get direct skin-to-skin contact on her targets to let her Power Theft work, thus giving people with full body suits or power armor an advantage against her in combat.

February 25 Sharl enjoyed getting out of Gina's house, and he was pretty sure (though he didn't understand why) Gina also liked him out of there. Maybe that was why she'd suggested he go with Miss A on her trip out to Lonely Point to meet and work on a friend of hers. They were together in the sky as they approached the distant peninsula, the mobile emitter in Miss A's uniform letting Sharl keep up with his friend's great speed in the air. "Wow, so he actually has a chemical jet engine inside his body?" She'd been describing Victory, the hero who worked for the national (and what a concept that was!) government, and Sharl himself could hardly believe it. "That's...that's amazing! Isn't he worried about it blowing up?" For Sharl, who'd grown up with antigravs and plasma engines, the thought of a chemically-powered engine embedded inside a living human being was bizarrely fascinating, and very interesting.

Sentient Plant PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 58 pp STR 30 (+10) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 (+10) INT 14 (+2) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +6 Init: +2 Grapple: +24 Saves: 6 pp TOU +14 (+10 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 48 r=12 pp Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge: Life Sciences 8 (+10) Languages 2 (Kaw, Spanish) (Base: English) Medicine 7 (+10) Notice 7 (+10) Search 3 (+5) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Feats: 11 pp Attack Focus: Melee (4) Challenge (Fast Startle) Move-By Action Startle Power Attack Quick Change Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 43 pp Immunity 7 (aging, disease, poison, sleep, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [7 pp] Leaping 3 (x10) [3+1=4 pp] AP: Speed 3 (50 MPH) Protection 4 [4 pp] Regeneration 19 (Bruised 3 [no action], Injured 6 [no action], Staggered 5 [standard action], Disabled 4 (5 minutes), Resurrection 1 [1 week]) (PF: Regrowth) [20 pp] Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) [8 pp] Drawback: -4 pp Vulnerability (Fire) (Common, Major) [4 pp] costs abilities 58 + combat 24 + saves 6 + skills 12/48 + feats 11 + powers 43- drawback 4 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here's my take on the Sentient Plant archetype. Rather than build a Poison Ivy or Swamp Thing takeoff, I was inspired by Sunflower, a memorable (if cannon fodder) character who made an appearance in a recent Marvel storyline as one of the superheroes of Kansas. Sunflower (who has you can see from the picture is basically Bob the Angry Sunflower hepped up on gamma radiation) is something unusual for Sentient Plant archetypes in that he's a straight-up brawler who could go toe-to-toe with a clone of Hyperion before graphically demonstrating his vulnerability to fire thanks to his opponents' heat vision. Still, plant-based characters have a way of coming back from all sorts of damage in combat. Obviously a Marvel Universe character should not appear in our game, but perhaps this character _is_ originally a Kansas superhero who has relocated to Freedom City after an encounter with a Centurion clone? He's pretty freaking tough: he doesn't have the impervious that most powerhouses do, but with his Regeneration it's going to be really tough to put him down in combat. No Persistent on the Regeneration: if you run into someone doing Incurable Damage, just suck it up or power-stunt a healing effect as necessary. Save points by giving him a Flaw or Drawback where his Regeneration doesn't work without access to sunlight: I'd treat the first as requiring unobstructed natural sunlight during the day, the second as requiring being outside. I went ahead and gave him full immunity to various biological concerns that plants generally don't have: if you want him to have those sorts of issues, go ahead and spend those points elsewhere. Having the Complication "But Does Get Plant Diseases" and "But Does Hate Weedkiller" and "Needs Co2" is what I went with here, but those are good reasons to drop or alter those immunities too. He's not a big fan of fire! I went with the idea that he is basically a Bruce Banner expy, perhaps the victim of a weedkiller bomb gone horribly awry. He's not a good candidate for team brain, really, but he's a lot smarter than your average powerhouse, and he can definitely use that to find a niche as a superhero. He's better at taking hits than dishing them out, and might be a good candidate for Impervious Toughness if you've got the points. It's your call whether he's stuck looking that way or not; it would certainly explain why he's so crabby! But OTOH, there is something to be said for being able to enjoy a fulfilling social life. It'd be an easy joke to make a character like this a loud vegan, but OTOH, you'd think he'd want to _discourage_ people from eating plant matter...

"If it's not the vril, then I will not need to worry," said Quo-Dis with a little smile. "But we must be serious if we are to be sure. This is a very grave matter." And with that she took his hand and together they were...elsewhere. Or maybe this time it was more like there was someone, or a great many someones, there with them, a presence in and around his mind that Corbin couldn't quite make out. Quo-Dis was talking to them, he was sure, but he couldn't 'hear' the words of that assembly of ancient, mighty intelligences that were scrutinizing him with eyes he couldn't see and senses he didn't share, deep down to his very core. Finally, though, he felt them pull away. Not with approval, perhaps, but not with scorn, either. For her part, Quo-Dis looked profoundly relieved. "Thank vril it wasn't me," she said, looking very happy. She took Corbin by the face and kissed him. "We are well."

Mind-Master's telepathy, relayed through Sage's mind "to reassure you as to my good intentions," and Carytid's description gave the kids a good idea of what they were in for. The Gravois family were privileged servants like what the Lucas family once had been: they had a home of their own in Ashton guarded by the Syndicate flag flying in the yard and the presence of various super-thugs living in the neighborhood. "We don't have any kind of house security," she said, "I mean, just an alarm system my parents put in to keep out kidnappers." The Resistance, it seemed, occasionally kidnapped civilians who worked for the League for information. "The real problem is the Syndicate system in the neighborhood. That's a really good neighborhood," she said, sketching out a version of suburbia with an APC on every corner, "and it's that good because the Syndicate watches us all the time. We can get there with the sewer, but I don't know what we'll do after that."

Fusion didn't actually leave the room, but she did clear a spot at the table for Fulcrum. "No," she assured the other woman, "this is your table, and your friends. We all have a place here, especially those of us...who actually work here," she added with a whispery little chuckle. She let the much-taller woman take a seat, and pulled up a chair of her own along with a plate of dip and chips. Food's good, and it's cheap. She was more comfortable as an observer, anyway, at least for now. These kids deserve better than what they've got, she thought a little irritably. Don't we all?

Protectron was faster than Sharl in the air, so he let the robot catch the falling bad guy. Electrolux was still weakly struggling, but with a little encouragement from Protectron, it was easy enough to subdue the electrically-empowered (usual) hero. "Okay, uh..." Sharl thought for a moment, then said, "We can't keep him here, you know, uh, over the bay, and I don't think we should just let him go. As long as the bad guys are controlling superheroes, we shouldn't give them anyone back. Why don't you fly him back to the Lab, and I'll try and scout around the naval base? I mean, there's not a whole lot they can do to me, right?"

And Doc, we'll speed things up and say no.

That'll work just fine, Fox.

Edge Seizes Initiative. I believe he currently has 4 HP, TT?