Avenger Assembled

"Uh, hi, I'm Sharl," said the black-clad teenager made entirely of magnetism and pretty lights. In his black leather jacket and opaque mirrorshades, he vaguely resembled a refugee from a cyberpunk movie, particularly since he glowed ever-so-slightly as he approached the smoldering pyramid. "You must be Jack of all Blades and Jill O'Cure." He waved to the superheroes, feeling quite impressed. "I recognize you from TV. Here, Miss A, I'll take a look." And with that, and with some trepedation, he stuck his head right through the wall of the strange spacecraft: careful not to go in so far he risked losing connection to his projector or otherwise disrupting his projection.

"No no, not doing a thing," said Mark innocently from the floor. "We were just horsing around a little, and I guess Hope won. How's everybody doing?" "Just showing Mark a little hand-to-hand," said Hope with a wink, smoothly rising to her feet and offering Mark a hand up. This sort of aggressively physical sociability wasn't what the Young Freedom kids associated with the bantamweight resistance fighter from Erde, but then weird things did seem to happen around Mark. "Hey, everybody!" It really was good to see everybody there: Trevor and Erin looking content together, Jill Pique and Oh snap! The bathroom wall was wrong! the skinny little blonde he didn't know, and of course Eve Martel herself. It had been too long since a socialization moment hadn't turned into an occasion for random violence. "I guess we just got here first."

"This house really is amazing," agreed Hope. "I don't think I've ever seen it looking so clean. Or so new!" She walked around the house, an intent look on her face. "There's an artillery position back home we use for targeting Ubersoldaten flying it over the bay. I helped run it a few times last time I went home for a visit. I took down three, four fliers myself!" she added with a look of grim pleasure. She really had relaxed a lot since Mark had first met her, though the determination was still solid behind her eyes. "I wonder if the hundred year old Scotch is still in the pantry..." She made a beeline in that direction and Mark got in the way. "Hey, if Eve wants us to have her scotch, she'll let us have Scotch," he said, blocking the path. "We're guests here, and we need to be polite. She's just showing people in now. We can't just rush into the heart of the party..." "Am I going to have to get...physical with you, Mark?" she poked him in the chest. "Because if so, I'll..." Suddenly, she hooked one leg under Mark's and flipped him downward. Mark might have resisted, except the petite soldier wound up straddling his chest. She grinned down at him and said, "Zarana was right. I am going to like you." Just then the door opened, and Mark waved from the floor as his friends came into the house and Hope disengaged herself from pinning him to the floor. "Hey everybody! Good to see you made it!"

Mark and Hope were the first inside the door, Hope letting Mark put his arm around her shoulders in a very friendly way. "Eve!" Mark exclaimed cheerfully, reaching over and clapping Sage on the back in his usual hail-fellow-well-met sort of way. "Your house is awesome!" It was much bigger than his own, that was for sure. "This is Hope, I don't know if you've met her." "," Hope said to Eve in good French. "" She didn't seem interested in much talk, instead just hanging onto Mark and looking around the mansion. She cocked her head up, though, and shot a look behind her out the door. "Someone else is here..."

Fusion tightened her grip, squeezing with all four limbs simultaneously. Two arms began methodically pulling the mastermind's arms out of their sockets like pulling a child's toy apart, another around his midsection tightened so hard it began crushing his ribs, and the last wrapped firmly but gently around his neck, carefully not so tight it would actually impair his breathing. "Listen, bunky!" she hissed. "You better call your circus of freaks off right now, or you're going to be the chicken in my personal geek show!" She wasn't actually planning on snapping his neck, but she was pretty mad!

Sharl dived after her, his projection thinning out to cut away wind resistance. He could actually fly and hover on his own, if very slowly, but keeping up with Miss A was dependent on her carrying him around with her. He'd gone on missions with Miss Americana before, mostly in the background, but never for real superhero stuff like this before! "I...oh, wow!" he exclaimed, watching as the hurtling meteor fell. It didn't look like any alien spacecraft he'd seen in any of his holos. "It's going to hit the city..." he said worriedly. A crash into Tronik would have been disastrous given the density of buildings there, but things were probably much less dangerous in underbuilt and underpopulated Freedom City.

"So this count as a date?" asked Mark, shooting a look over at his diminutive escort. He'd asked Zarana if she was interested in accompanying him to the Martel brunch, but his sometime-girlfriend had actually referred him to their mutual friend Agent H. "I mean, neither of us are really seeing anyone..." And it was true; despite occasionally pairing off, he and Zarana weren't exactly exclusive, or committed, on either of their parts. As for Hope herself, he didn't pay much attention to these things, but he hadn't heard of the Erde resistance fighter dating much through their time in high school together. "If you play your cards right," she teased. Hope was cute, Mark had to admit, especially when she smiled. She'd had extensive dental work done when she'd first come to Claremont, and her teeth were the sort that looked white and sharp. "I was talking to Zarana about boys who'd show me a good time and wouldn't expect anything afterwards, and she said you were good at that." Neither Hope nor Mark were planning to stay around Claremont when they graduated, they just had very different plans for where they were going. She yawned and stretched, not incidentally letting her hand land on Mark's leg. She was dressed warmly against the chill of Freedom City in February, but Mark could still make out the pistol she had holstered under her sweater. At the Martel house, Mark leaned over and spoke into the intercom to get buzzed in.

Precog PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 30 [14] (+10/+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+11 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +15 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +16 Saves: 5 pp TOU +5 (+5 Con) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+4 Ref, +3) WILL +10 (+10 Wis) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Acrobatics 11 (+15)* Concentration 1 (+11) Climb 1 (+6) Drive 1 (+5) Gather Info 13 (+15)* Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Knowledge: Tactics 10 (+10) Medicine 1 (+11) Languages 2 (English, German) (Base: Russian) Notice 15 (+25)* Sense Motive 15 (+25)* Stealth 1 (+5) Survival 1 (+11) Feats: 21 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee (3), Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2), Challenge 3 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Anticipate Action 2), Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus (7), Equipment, Fearless, Jack of all Trades, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Gather Info, Notice, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack, Well-Informed, Powers: 37 pp Enhanced Feats 9 (Evasion 2, Master Plan 2, Second Chance 2 [Notice, Sense Motive], Seize Initiative, Ultimate Skill 2 [Notice, Sense Motive]) [9 pp] Enhanced Wisdom 16 (to Wis 30/+10) [16 pp] Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Super-Senses 11 ([Acute Accurate Radius Ranged Mental] 'short-term precognition', Danger Sense [Mental], Precognition, Uncanny Dodge [Mental]) [11 pp] Equipment: 5 ep Grapple Gun (Speed 1 (10 MPH) and Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging) ) costs abilities 36 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 18/72 + feats 22 + powers 37 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: This is my build for a precognitive, someone with the power to see the future by means of psychic abilities. Precognition is a very powerful ability, and I’ve built this character with the idea of maximizing its potential. His abilities let him see into the future, fight and navigate blind-folded (using short-term precognition to see and fight), pick up on tiny details that’ll be important later, and always be prepared for anything. I went with the idea that he’s also used these abilities and strong physical training to become a skilled martial artist, which I think is a perfectly reasonable extrapolation from that kind of ability. Indeed, you can build in the fluff that he learned his martial arts discipline as a way of mastering the constant visions of the future in his head. I took some notes from angrydurf’s suggestions for a precognitive specialist that were quite useful, though I did actually give him the Precognition power. If a GM doesn’t want to give him visions, give him HP for the Complication, I sez! His Fearless, I should add, is because he knows he’ll get through this particular crisis, even if he doesn’t know the specifics. This guy would work well as a costumed adventurer/martial artist type. Why is he such a good detective? Because, just like Freedom City’s Foreshadow, he knows exactly what’s going to happen and when! Cheats around Bat-omniscience are fun tricks to work into a character. I’ve built him with the assumption that he’s an immortal ex-Soviet super-soldier, because shut up that’s why. Someone like this would have been an incredible asset to a military/spy agency, and may well still have considerable connections back to the world he left behind. If that’s the case, represent that with feats, or just bedevil him with a never-ending array of Complications from his old life. If you don’t like that idea, give him whatever background you want. An obvious change is to make him blind, a fairly iconic problem for this sort of character! You could actually do that with the sheet as written and just say his blindness is only a complication given his psychic abilities in other areas, but of course that’s up to you. Precognition is obviously a potentially game-breaking power. If you find it’s causing you problems, put the Uncontrollable Flaw on it so it only works when the GM wants it to work, that way you don’t cause any bad feelings or run the risk of getting shut out of fun threads. Use the points you gained to buy more things for him: he could use some Leaping or Speed to make him more mobile in combat, or maybe some more immunities. If his powers are a result of being tied into the timestream in one way or another, maybe Temporal Inertia to go with his Immunity to aging?

A sea of chroniton radiation surrounds Trevor, surrounds everyone, with only a thin impermeable layer around the catwalk protecting them from the great sea of time whirling around their heads. The overall effect is a bit like standing on a catwalk over a steel mill; you're not sure exactly what'll happen if you fall off, but you can be pretty sure that it won't be what you want! The room they're standing by is the heart of the matter, a swirling cauldron of energy that looks almost impossibly deep. This is the heart of the beast, and if they're going to stop the bad guys, they need to get inside. He can see movement against the overall pattern of energy around him, some approaching and others inside the stronghold, but with his sensors set up how they are he can't get any specifics: they're just indistinct shadows against the eye-crackling glare of time itself all around them.

Fusion is going to attempt to maintain her grapple. 32 Not good, on his turn, the bad guy may be able to escape if he manages to beat that roll. She's going to choose to inflict damage again: DC 25 Tou save. (I misread our grappling rules earlier, so she's doing DC 25 damage) Let me know if he passes the save, and I'll post accordingly.

"I've seen what I needed to see," answered Quo-Dis' mother, the raven-haired beauty rising to her feet with a regal look on her face. She and Quo-Dis studied each other for a moment, something undetectable to the others passing between them, before they exchanged brief bows. To the others, she said, "Thank for your hospitality. It has been very pleasant for me to observe your cultural practices." It was an obvious formality, but a polite one for all that. With that, she simply turned and walked out the door where she'd come from, vanishing a second later. "Well...that was exciting!" said Quo-Dis, trying to keep up a good face on what had been a difficult night. Taking Corbin's arm, she said, "Yes, let's go back to the school!" In a whisper, she said with a little smile, "And we can talk about what I won't do when we meet your mother..."

Dark Avenger Abilities: 30 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 20 (+5) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 34 pp ATK: +9 (+13 Shadow Pistols) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +9 Grapple: +11 Saves: 10 pp TOU +7 (+4 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +7 (+4 Con, +3) REF +7 (+5 Dex, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 48 r=12 pp Gather Info 8 (+10) Intimidate 13 (+15) Knowledge: Current Events 5 (+5) Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5) Languages 1 (Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 6 (+8) Stealth 10 (+15) Feats: 15 pp Attack Specialization: Shadow Pistols 2, Dodge Focus 5, Elusive Target, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Startle, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 49 pp Blast 7 (Extra: Autofire) ‘shadow pistols’ [21 pp] Concealment 10 (all senses) (Flaw: Blending) ‘shadow embrace’ [10 pp] Protection 3 [3 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] Teleport 4 (400 ft/1 mile) (Extra: Accurate) ‘shadow step’ [12 pp] costs abilities 30 + combat 34 + saves 10 + skills 12/48 + feats 15 + powers 49 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: This is my build for the Dark Avenger, an archetype from the Archetype Archives I’ve always thought was pretty cool. The character is a modern-day version of the Shadow and similar costumed crimefighters, using shadows and psychological warfare against his opponents to great effect. The biggest problem with the sheet as written on this site is that he’s dependent on pistols: so for this version I’ve made the ‘pistols’ into a regular blast effect that he can summon or dismiss as a free action. Blazing rounds of pure shadow at their opponents, these are potent weapons that do almost as much damage as a machine gun. I also dropped his dependency on Sneak Attack: like almost all my builds, he hits his caps just fine in regular combat, but does so much _more_ damage when he can hit from ambush. And between his high Stealth, Concealment, and Darkvision, there’s really no reason why he can’t always be striking from ambush. I figure on an average night he’ll use a combination of Gather Info and Streetwise to find where a given street gang is meeting, walk there through the shadows and open fire, basically totally immune to attacks launched against him by common thugs while at the same time striking them down at will. After that, destroy their weapons and call the cops to come pick them up. You could give him some ESP to look through the shadows to save a few steps, but the character’s more fun if he has to do a little of his own legwork. Consider buying some more detective skills if you want to emphasize that part of the character, maybe by adding some more drawbacks or flaws that make him dependent on the use of shadows for his powers. As it is, not having shadows available is a complication for him rather than an actual disability: with the HP he gets for fighting outside his element, he should be able to hold his own even then. This build would work fine for a Golden Age character who got them via learning meditation in TIbet, an ex-supervillain with connections to Freedom City’s Schattenwelt, or something else entirely, or perhaps a descendant of any one of those who has inherited some version of his ancestor’s powers. He may have superpowers, and powerful ones at that, but they won’t solve crimes by themselves: he has to actually get out and do the legwork to accomplish things. He still may not get along with the Costumed Adventurers and other Badass Normals on the team, who will probably not think highly of his combination of abilities and powers! But hey, those aren’t real guns he’s carrying, and as he’d be happy to demonstrate, they certainly don’t do lethal damage. Unless he wants them to, that is.

The bees were full of congratulations for Victory, offering him "BROFIZTZ!" that would have seriously threatened the structural integrity of a lesser man. They kept humming his praises on the way back, roaring like jet engines as they shouted back and forth their admiration for him. "HEY MAN THAT WAZ TOTALLY GREAT! YOU ZHOULD RIP THINGZ OUT OF THINGZ MORE MAN AND REALLY ZHOW THEM ALL!" They laughed as one and said, "ZERIOZOUZLY THOUGH, THAT WAZ GREAT. ARE WE ZAFE FROM THAT THING NOW?" They made a good pace in the air, and soon the green landscape was visible below.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire came spurting down from above; aimed not at the heroes, but at the time-golems pounding on the door. Though unarmed, the beings of temporal matter proved more sturdy than their tormenters seemed to realized. The bullets, fired by an al-Khayan thug, mostly ricocheted off brass and steel, while the clockwork golems in question returned fire by shooting gears out their outstretched hands. Richochets spanged and whined off the metal as the two sides engaged in what looked like a thoroughly pointless battle. Notably, when shards from either side struck the time palace, the walls seemed to fade into transparency, giving quick flashes of an interior filled with gears and corridors that led towards an opaque cube in the middle. "I've got it!" Edge made a gesture, and suddenly the team disappeared in sparkles of black energy, reappearing a second later inside the palace itself! They were standing directly before a solid-looking door of white metal, standing on a catwalk inside a whirling array of gears and ticking clocks! It was a bit like being inside the safe zone of a meat grinder crossed with an old-timey time machine's business end: falling off looked like a bad idea. "You...oh god!" Mark expostulated. "How did you do that? Why did you do that? We were-" "I saved us a lot of trouble!" Edge shot back. "We skipped all those goons, and we got right here to the important part." "But, you just...agh! You should communicate these things! At least tell Wander; how are we supposed to make decisions if you make them all unilaterally? What if we fell off in that?" "Oh, don't be such a worrier," said Edge grandly. "Now, let's get the door open!"

"It is a great responsibility," Sharl agreed thoughtfully, "but...I want to do it. I'm sort of like an ambassador, right? Even if no one knows it, or is ever going to know it. I've really been happy with my time with Gina, and with you, but going out on my own will let me see things for myself. If we're going to get out there, and see things...well, one of us has to take the first step. And I did that already." He grinned slightly. "Even if I didn't know what it was at the time. I can't unlearn, or unsee, what I've seen."

Edge was left in a tough position. He'd picked up on the way Rook was lying about something, or at least omitting pertinent data. But he'd been trained from early childhood in the superhero code, which was very explicit about investigating someone else's secret ID. "We need to follow him," he murmured quietly to the others, letting Fleur talk to the policeman. "I'm not very fast, but if you can jump, Dr. Titan, and if you can fly in the Pitchoo, Geckoman, you can get started and we can follow you all in. I don't know why, but I've got a feeling Rook is at the center of everything here."

Genius Bruiser PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 64 pp STR 30 (+10) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 (+10) INT 20 (+5) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +6 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +19 Saves: 9 pp TOU +14 (+10 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 84r=21 pp Bluff 8 (+11/+15) Craft: Electronic 10 (+15) Craft: Mechanical 10 (+15) Diplomacy 8 (+11/+15) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 10 (+15) Knowledge: Technology 10 (+15) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 10 pp Attractive, Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Inventor, Master Plan, Move-By Action, Startle, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 25 pp Impervious TOU 10 [10 pp] Leaping 4 (x25) [4 pp] Protection 4 [4 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Strength 3 (Heavy Load: 6 tons) (PF: Groundstrike) [7 pp] Drawback: -3 pp Normal ID (free action) [-3 pp] costs abilities 64 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 21/84 + feats 10 +powers 25 -drawbacks 3= 150 pts --- Design Notes: She’s a gorgeous, brilliant inventor with a tremendous force of personality and incredible super-strength: what’s not to love? This lady has beauty, power, and brains in abundance, and makes a good addition to any superteam on those grounds. She’s not as strong as a dedicated powerhouse, as brilliant as a dedicated gadgeteer, or quite as beautiful as a dedicated facewoman, but who cares? There is something to be said for being a solid jack-of-all-trades, especially when you are good enough at everything you do. She can probably beat up the regular gadgeteers and take their cool toys, and there’s something pretty awesome to be said for that. She can’t quite take the beating a regular powerhouse can, but with her high Fort save, very good TOU, and decent Impervious, she can certainly take a good beating and dish one out in the bargain. She’s very much a genius bruiser, an archetype where a very strong hero will also be very smart in the bargain. She’s got the basic feats that melee fighters need: Takedown Attack for goon sweeping, Power Attack and Startle for setting up the big baddies for monster-sized hits, and the like. Some versions of this character will have more specialized skills, but I went with a construction that lets her be a brilliant scientist and inventor along with a tough, scary badass. Perhaps she got her powers via experiments in radiation, or even being exposed to the aftereffects of a nuclear blast? (If that’s the case, an immunity to environmental radiation might not be a bad idea.) More focused versions will have higher INT at the expense of lower physical stats, and the like. She’s a flat-out genius at INT 20 (though not as insanely high as some), and could still fill this niche even with somewhat more modest INT and a higher STR to match. She’s got Normal ID, meaning she can drop down to her mousy scientist form if she really wants to. You could also drop the relatively high Charisma and make this a big, burly character who just happens to be smart in the bargain, but I liked the idea of playing someone who at least theoretically has a claim to fitting most of the major ‘roles’ on a team. You don’t want to stretch yourself too thin and try and be everybody, but there’s nothing wrong with being able to do multiple things. That way your character can fit into multiple teams on the site, depending on what niche they’re looking to fill. And if you yourself feel bad about interfering with another player’s schtick (which you really shouldn’t) you can trust that you’ll be fine because you’ll always have some role to play in whatever setting you’re dropped into. And what happens when you reach out and try to be a really strong specialist in one particular area? Well, that’ll be something to examine in later builds.

Feral Canadian PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 26/18 (+8/+4) DEX 20 (+5) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+12 unarmed) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +15 Saves: 8 pp TOU +8 (+4 Con, +2 Density, +2 Protection) FORT +10 (+4 Con, +2, +4) REF +7 (+5 Dex, +2) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 52 r=13 pp Climb 2 (+10) Intimidate 14 (+15) Languages 2 (French, Japanese) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 10 (+15) Survival 8 (+10) Feats: 23 pp Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Specialization: Unarmed 3 Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 6, Elusive Target, Endurance, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 50 pp Density 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PFs: Buoyant, Innate) [14 pp] Enhanced Fortitude Save 4 [4 pp] Immunity 2 (disease, poison) [2 pp] Penetrating Unarmed Damage 4 [4 pp] Protection 2 [2 pp] Regeneration 18 (Bruised 3 [no action], Injured 6 [no action], Staggered 4 [1 round], Disabled 4 (5 minutes), Resurrection 1 [1 week]) (PF: Regrowth) [19 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 4 (Acute Accurate Tracking Olfactory) [4 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 13/52 + feats 23 + powers 50 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here’s a build for a typical citizen of the Dominion of Canada. I built him without the typical Strike you see in builds of this nature, given that our game really doesn’t reward lethal damage, and it’s something of a stretch to assume that every bad guy you fight is going to have legions of robots and undead at his command. So instead he _can_ choose to do Penetrating Damage with his unarmed strikes (i.e., pop claws) but he can also punch people and do a significant amount of damage. It’s up to you whether or not his dense body is a result of implantation of a metal endoskeleton by evil government forces looking to seize control of North Atlantic fisheries by stabbing Norwegians brutally with sharp blades, or whether or not it’s just a result of his burly Canadian musculature and overall powerful physique. He’s a really good fighter, easily capable of holding his own in combat against much more powerful superhumans thanks to his good saves and powerful Regeneration. Don’t be afraid to mix it up in combat if you are playing this guy. He doesn’t heal up as fast as, say, my Kid Hero or Martial Artist build, but he easily shrugs off minor injuries and recovers very rapidly even from the worst damage he can take. His claws mean he at least has a shot of hurting everybody, though remember that just because you _can_ force a TOU save doesn’t mean you’re actually going to hurt them. He’s a great hunter and tracker, just like all Canadians, easily capable of tracking a target through deep snow or a thick forest and laying them low in fierce combat. He’s got the Speed because it’s not fun to be a melee guy stuck at moving 30 feet per turn. One possible change to work into this character is certainly Duplication, given common properties he’s exhibited over the years. Another is to remember that your gruff, anti-social PC with the hygiene problems is a very quick route to no one liking you or wanting to talk to you here. So don’t do that. Your PCs need to be able to play well with others. But I’m confident that, in the hands of a good player, this character can function as part of a larger group and not turn himself into a ridiculous laughingstock. Seriously, it can be done! This archetype is often better with kids than you’d expect: perhaps in his secret ID he’s a tough but fair gym teacher, or an unusually aggro teacher of art?

The heroes with good Notice checks (i.e, all of you, apparantly) will note that there are men in the battlements of the Time Castle: sinister-looking men with sinister intentions. The kids from Paragons will recognize al-Khayan thugs with AK-47s and keffiyahs, while the Prime kids recognize SHADOW goons in their identical black and grey uniforms, also carrying AK-47s.

"No, I think I've seen everything," said Sharl with a little shrug. "Everything I want to see today, anyway." He studied Miss A as they headed outside again, the pair of them almost alone in the cold winter evening. "I'd like to make more visits to the outside if I can, whether with you or someone from the Lab...or even alone," he said daringly. "Not that I don't like going out with you," he added hastily and with perfect sincerity, "it's just...I don't know if I'll ever be able to come back. I want to make sure I have a chance to see everything."

Suddenly, the shadows behind the sinister ringmaster erupted with noise and movement. Before he could react, long suckered arms came whipping out of nowhere as a tall, muscular form in slick black seemed to peel herself out of the shadows. Wrapping one limb around each arm and leg, Fusion lifted the ringmaster right up into the air and began to pull, his bones beginning to pop in her inescapable grip. "Show's over! This is where the mighty FUSION comes into play!"

OK, I'll say Fusion surges and inflicts Damage. DC 30 Tou save, since she's Power Attacking.

"My God!" said Edge excitedly. "Your world sounds amazing! It's like every comic book cliche, everything I've ever wanted to happen, has happened! You've got superheroes, cool costumes, and you're not going to be stuck working for AEGIS like we are when we graduate...well, probably," he said, "Erin and me have different ideas, but we'll all be on the government payroll if we want to go legit. What about our parents? Are Mom and Dad...okay?" Edge gave his counterpart a serious look, imaginings of a bright and shining world dancing in his head. In a world like he was describing, a happy utopia with a standing Pyramid Plaza, full of magic and mystery, his family had to be great. Mark gave his counterpart a look, feeling a sudden, painful ache before he said with great firmness, "Mom and Dad were both...okay, last time I talked to them," he said, the Young Freedom kids the only one to pick up on the slight edge in his voice. "We've come through some rough times lately, but things are okay. We're stronger than we used to be." Mark Lucas was not a terribly bright guy, but he knew what that tone meant. "Just because we've had superheroes in our world doesn't mean it's all that great." He didn't like talking about where he came from like that, but he could hardly argue with the facts. He got a strange look from the other Mark at that, and wondered how much of his veiled tone the other guy had actually understood. The heroes passed along a bright and shining path that seemed to grow wider and wider as they went, approaching the translucent clockwork palace that loomed larger and larger as they approached. It didn't take them long to realize, though, that they weren't alone. Beating on the gates of the palace was a strange assembly of mechanical men, their humanoid shapes constructed entirely out of gears, watches, sundials, and other timepieces: golems made of chronology itself! Behind the Wanders, the Edges moved forward, one staring with particular fascination. "Holy...all right, we can take these guys," he told his girlfriend and her weird counterpart reassuringly. "They look tough, but they're not even looking our way. It'll be just like those crackheads in the Fens last year, when we... "Do we need to take them?" Edge asked the others. "They're not going after us...yet. Maybe we need to bypass the whole thing."

Animate Trees Abilities: -2 pp STR 28 [22] [16] (+9/+6/+3) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 [14] (+5/+2) INT 0 - WIS 10 (+0) CHA 0 - Combat: 12 pp ATK: +3 (+2 Growth) DEF: +3 (+2 Growth) Init: +3 Grapple: +16 Saves: 4 pp TOU +10 FORT +9 (+5 Con, +4) REF +3 (+3 Dex) WILL +0 Skills: 24 r=6 pp Notice 12 (+15) Survival 7 (+10) Stealth 5 (+8/+7) Feats: 3 pp All-Out Attack Interpose Power Attack Powers: 22 pp Enhanced STR 6 [6 pp] Growth 4 (Extra: Duration [Permanent] (+0) (PF: Innate) [13 pp] Immovable 1 [1 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] costs abilities -2 + combat 12 + saves 4 + skills 6/24 + feats 3 + powers 22 = 45 pts Design Notes: For all your druidy needs.

The future...of another dimension! Oooweeoo! APPROVED