Avenger Assembled

"If I'm still here, I will," said Sharl, not sure he'd still be around in a month. The thought of leaving Freedom City made him...uneasy, even though he wanted to go home and talk to his parents. What could he tell them that could possibly make them accept a reality like this; not just the reality of what Tronik was, what they all were, but a city where animals could be fed and tended simply because they were endangered. And cute! "Are there many baby animals here?" That question led them to the petting zoo, which like many other exhibits was mostly indoors against the inclement weather. Sharl felt a little silly looking at animals so admired by small children, like any teenage boy, but the bizarre novelty of sheep and goats and other soft, furry-looking animals was enough to pull him out of his teen shyness.

The lions weren't doing much; instead laying around beneath their warm heat lamps, looking cozy on the rocks the zoo had laid out for them. Sharl studied the animals for a moment, surprised to see them looking so lazy, and said loudly, "Hey, lions!" Miss A shot him a look at that, though, and belatedly remembering the etiquette rules he'd read before they came out, he blushed red. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said apologetically, looking deeply embarrassed at his lapse. "I forgot that they're just on display, they're not there to entertain us." He looked back at the animals and said, "They really are very impressive. I'm not surprised more cities can't afford to feed animals this big!"

"I'd, uh, like to see the lions," said Sharl, fingering the projector in his jacket pocket a little nervously. He was well-used to crowds, those being an important park of his Tronik childhood, but that didn't mean that being out here wasn't a slightly nerve-wracking experience. Miss A was nice...very nice, in fact, but he missed Gina. He hadn't really been that surprised when she'd backed out on going out with him. "They're the king of the beasts, right?" He walked along with her, keeping his hands in his pockets so he didn't bump into anyone and betray the enterprise as they went. The lions were indoors that day, so they headed into the cat house, where even Sharl could smell the acrid tang of animal urine. His nose wrinkled at the smell, but since he wasn't really there, the unfamiliar odor didn't overwhelm him. "Aren't the animals sad to be in these enclosures?" he asked her. "I'd think they'd want to run free, even if they're well taken care of."

"I do," said Caradoc. "And I will. Without you, nothing about today would have been possible." And with that, and an inclination of his armored head, the former Omegadrone took off into the sky, roaring into the blue overhead like the armored avenger of justice he now appeared to be. Far enough off the ground, from below he looked like any other shining symbol of hope over Freedom City. He looked like a hero, like a champion of the innocent, someone whose soul was as gleaming and bright as the armor he wore. And for a little while, flying so far overhead, Murdock let himself believe it.

Part of what made Mark such a good leader, or so he hoped, was his willingness to take advice from others. What the other, prettier Wander said made a lot of sense, so he didn't argue. "Do what the lady says," he told his own team, shooting a look at everyone with the hopes they'd all listen. "We're all in this together." _I've teamed up with my alternate self before...yeah, I'd better not think about that right now. The important thing is, it worked out for the best._ He shot a look at his double as he formed up alongside him, the Edges and the Wanders leading the parade since they were both leaders. "So," he said socially, "I see you guys wear all Claremont uniforms. Is Mister Summers stricter where you live?" "Uh, this is the same outfit we all wear," said Mark, giving his other self a look. "I mean, don't get me wrong, your costume is great, and I'd love to wear something like that, but we're all on the same team. We're not like the League." Though fashion had been on Mark's mind too, he had to wonder why his double had gone there first. _Is he...my gay side?! No, no, that's silly. OR IS IT? Yes._ "You seem experienced," he said. "So this isn't your first...thing like...like this!?" His double seemed blase to the spectacular stellar landscape all around them, but he certainly had no such feelings. "Is it always like this?" He listened, wide-eyed, as his double gave him a short rundown of the team's adventures in other dimensions. _He's got to be lying...right?_

I think we can handwave it. I've kept you waiting here long enough!

"I don't trust anyone but you," Caradoc replied, his voice frank rather than complaining. "No one else has opened up to me as you have, or has trusted me as much. But no one else has had a reason to before," he said with the greatest confidence she'd yet heard from him. "No one before today." He walked to beneath an open window with Miss Americana, looking...well. It was good to feel that way, too. "I will keep in touch, and tell you what I am doing. Thank you."

"It's a new look for me," said the Omegadrone in a tone that said he knew just how mild that wax putting it. He let himself imagine crowds cheering as he flew overhead, applause and adoration for once in his life instead of screams of horror and death. "One that will take some getting used to. May I fly home like this?" he asked her. "I will use the concealment circuits in my pi, er, sword to conceal myself when I arrive. Caradoc's secret identity is as important as Harrier's. Perhaps more so," he admitted. "Since there are two of them to keep."

Bluff check! 28 with Skill Mastery! What's Rook hiding?

Sorry for the delay, JP: you can go ahead and get the reactor out. It weighs 680 tons.

TT: Fusion is currently Concealed against Visual senses. Are the Performers able to see her?

Harrier didn't raise the subject again after that, evidently not wanting to pry. And it was true, he didn't: Harrier understood the value of privacy only too well. What Miss Americana had said made perfect sense, and it wasn't his place to probe any further. Eventually Miss Americana got the last adjustments made and Harrier was completely invisible beneath the shining silver armor of Caradoc, even when the dragon-mouthed jetpack at his back fired. When all was done, Caradoc studied himself in the mirror, his expression as ever invisible beneath his mask. "This is...This is excellent work," he said, an authority in his voice Miss Americana hadn't heard before. "Thank you. It...it will give me much to consider."

Skill Mastery of 20.

"Okay, well, I guess we all have different terms for the multiverse," said Edge diplomatically. This isn't good, he thought, a little worriedly. If this is their first experience with the multiverse, this is going to be really, really weird for them. "The important thing is, we all have the same goals. A very evil man from our world named Overshadow has seized control of part of the understructure of reality, and so we..." "Wait a minute!" The other Edge interjected. "Are you saying you're real?" he demanded. "That you're from another universe full of sentient life, just like we are?" "Well, yes," said Edge a little diffidently. "As my friends have been telling you, there's a whole infinite multiverse out there. Some universes are further away than others, some are organized along similar lines. If this is your first time encountering us, it sounds like your area must be far down on an axis that's similar enough to have a Claremont Academy. From the sound of things, a bad guy from your world and a bad guy from ours have teamed up, and are doing their best to take over. We're going to stop them," he said with perfect assurance. "And if you think you can handle it, we'd love your help." "That..." Mark shot a look at Wander and murmured, "...is crazy. But I don't think we have any other choice but to trust them. We can't afford a fight, not when things are on edge back home the way they are. Imagerians they may be, but they certainly seem real here, and we can use all the allies we can get if we're going up against two versions of the Tiger and paragon henchmen to match."

The sight of the crystal palace beyond the group blocking the path was enough to distract even the relatively-jaded kids of Young Freedom, but after a moment to take in the sight Mark forced himself to focus on the group blocking their way. That had to be where they were going: the question was, were these duplicates friends or foes? They seemed friendly enough. "Hello, Wander," he said, raising his hand in friendly greeting like he was meeting aliens. "I'm Edge, and this is my team, Young Freedom." He introduced them all, going through Wander, Midnight, Sage, and Cobalt Templar in that order. "We're from Claremont Academy, and we're here to stop the bad guys from destroying the universe. Well, two universes, I guess...where do you hail from?" he asked them, curious if they were from a world the team was familiar with. Edge paid attention to his double as he talked, impressed at the authority and confidence he seemed to project. But he focused on Wander as well, shooting a glance at first his girlfriend, then her odd mirror image across the way. 'No, not quite a mirror image...' His version of Erin was a little shorter than the one over there, and seemed more...feminine, in ways it wasn't best to think about in the middle of a crisis. _She's watching us, not them. I wonder if they're even together._ Not liking that thought, he reached down and supportively squeezed his own Wander's hand.

"It'll be a breeze," said Edge, looking at his team reassuringly. "Whoever they are, they're no match for Young Freedom. If it was Overshadow and his goons, I'm sure they'd have opened fire when we were helpless and...hmm." Come to think of it, Mark decided, that made an excellent reason to open the hatch up! "Let's be friendly unless they're not," he warned the others, "and make sure we keep our eyes open. The center of time and space can't be too far away, and I'm sure it looks really obvious!" With that, he pressed a few buttons and the hatch snapped open! As leader of Young Freedom, the masked Edge was naturally the first to stick his head out of the hatch and take in the others. Being Mark, he hesitated only a moment when they turned out to be very familiar faces indeed. "Hello there!" he called with a wave. "Are you here from the superhero academy to stop Overshadow?" Edge shot a look at Wander as the intruder spoke in a voice eerily familiar to his ears! Things got even stranger as the young man in the machine got out, revealing his cape and cowl. "Wander," Mark muttered to his leader and girlfriend, "he's wearing my costume! The one I keep in my notebook!" Erin hadn't been really impressed by the sketch, but she would at least recognize it, he hoped. "And he sounds just like me! He must be...my imagined self!?!" It was a little hard to believe, but what wasn't hard about all this?

Acrobatic Arachnid PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 22 pp STR 26 [16] (+8/+3) DEX 24 [14] (+7/+2) CON 24 [14] (+7/+2) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+12 Snare/Unarmed) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +11 Grapple: +16 Saves: 4 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+7 Dex) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 9 (+10) Craft: Artistic 4 (+5) Craft: Mechanical 4 (+5) Investigate 4 (+5) Knowledge: Technology 4 (+5) Medicine 3 (+4) Languages 2 (German, Latin) (Base: English) Notice 3 (+5) Search 4 (+5) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 8 (+15) Feats: 15 pp Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Dodge Focus 5, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (tactile) Powers: 63 pp Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Immunity 1 (own powers) [1 pp] Leaping 2 (x5) [2 pp] Snare 8 (PFs: Accurate 2) [18 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Movement 4 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) [8 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Danger Sense (mental), Tremorsense) [3 pp] costs abilities 22 + combat 32 + saves 4 + skills 14/56 + feats 15 + powers 63 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: OK, so this may well be a familiar character. But that’s OK. This character has many of the powers and attributes associated with comic-book arachnids. He can jump hella high, climb walls as easy as you or I climb up a flight of stairs, and he can fire restraining blasts that hold his targets in place from some part of his anatomy or other. He taunts, he cartwheels, he’s fast enough to catch a car in city traffic. Stunt off his Snare if you want him to lift really heavy loads. I came to this guy through the movies, so I’ve built him with all his powers organically rather than from inventions: I never really bought that the teenager who just happens to get a radioactive spider’s bite just happened to also be a technical genius enough to whip up a superhero-level device and take to the streets as a crime fighter. He’s a pretty good photographer and mechanic, though at fairly low untrained levels. Why build this character? Well, consider that he doesn’t have to be a spider-totem of dubious biological legality. What if he’s a gravity-controller, using gravitic powers to climb walls and entrap his enemies, with a limited ‘tactile tk’ giving him the strength he needs to break stuff with his bare hands? Or what if he’s a glue controller like my supervillain legacy upthread, firing sticky clots of glue from his limbs while climbing the walls with what he secrets from his fingers? What if he’s a Friction Controller? (Lets you get some use out of that very little used power) What if he’s an infernalist, having mortgaged his very soul for supernatural power only to bitterly repent? In short, you can take this instantly recognizable archetype and put your own spin on it. You can be your own version of a beloved comic book character. Between Tremorsense and Danger Sense, he’s very hard to sneak up on: most characters don’t have Concealment vs. mental senses, and no characters are concealed vs. Tactile. Not saying it can’t be done, but it’ll take a smart character, and maybe a specific immunity (perhaps a result of knowing this character especially well, or having once been a very close ally) to get close. He needs a good supporting cast and a good relationship to get into: my suggestion is you change it up a little, and have him be in a committed relationship with the big jerk who used to harass him in high school, but now can appreciate him as a friend and lover as adults. Or whatever, I hear this guy’s love life is an object of contention.

Can we learn anything from a Notice check? If we can't do anything but stare, moving on might be best.

TT: So where is the van? What are we looking at outside? What's going on?

Earth-Paragons With some hesitation, even the most fearless of the kids struck by the sheer risks of what they were attempting, the Young Freedom kids took up positions on the semi-circular pad Daedalus guided them to at the rear of his laboratory. The machine was half-built, with nitrogen-cooled circuits visible inside the plastic chassis and energy humming from what turned out to be a generator that took up most of the floors below. "Even with this," Daedalus warned them, "we'll probably blow up half the transformers in the city. Better that, though, than the consequences of the Imageria destroying our world. Good luck." Edge reached down and took Wander's hand as Daedalus worked his controls, and in a flare of light and cold, suddenly the five teenagers dissolved into another dimension! Somewhere that isn't Between one breath and the next, Mark was elsewhere. Squeezing his girlfriend's hand, he looked around wildly, trying desperately to figure out what was going on just as the other teens were. What was near them made sense: they were standing on a long, straight road that looked exactly like a side-street in Freedom City, right down to double yellow lines in the center and macadam beneath their feet. Twenty feet or so on either side, though, and suddenly everything went insane: their 'path' was like a bridge through the void, the stars and colors that glittered around them looking impossibly alien and bizarre, flashing to life and disappearing in seconds even as they watched. Far overhead and below , he could make out thin shapes that were clearly other paths, a great latticework stretching into infinity. In one direction, the paths seemed to split into a billion directions at once in a fractal apocalypse. In the other direction, though, anchored solidly in the void was a massive triple pyramid of crystal, a shining beacon in the stellar darkness all around them. Easily as large as the Freedom Tower, its distance difficult to judge, the three-lobed building's walls were translucent, but movement was visible inside; indeed, the interior of the structure seemed alive with motion! As Erin released his hand, Mark was just about to speak when suddenly the path began to shake! As they watched, a huge grey machine bore its way out of the ground behind them, appearing from nowhere in a gout of purple light! The great drill-machine bore a hole in the ground and landed across the path behind them, bulking with sinister intent. "Holy cow!" Mark exclaimed. "More visitors?!"

Great, thought Fusion as she made her tentacled way along the ceiling. Why does every no-name cult hang around with a bunch of prissy carnies in fancy uniforms? She'd been enjoying the show until the madness started, but she wasn't too big to look down on people who were doing evil. She was profoundly relieved to see she wasn't the only hero on the scene, though she did worry about that old man and that young woman below who were resisting the effects of whatever had whammied the audience. Let the adults handle this one, she thought worriedly. Or at least the adult supers. You're better off getting out the back door.

Fusion goes on 21

Nightland Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 46 pp STR 24 (+7) DEX 16 (+3) CON 24 (+7) INT 14 (+2) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+8 Diskos) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +13 Saves: 7 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4) WILL +6 (+3 Wis, +3) Skills: 72r=18 pp Acrobatics 8 (+11) Climb 4 (+11) Craft: Mechanical 8 (+10) Intimidate 12 (+13) Knowledge: Technology 8 (+10) Language 1 (English) (Base: Future English) Notice 4 (+7) Sense Motive 4 (+7) Stealth 8 (+11) Survival 8 (+11) Swim 1 (+8) Feats: 20 pp Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Specialization: Diskos Challenge (Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus 5, Evasion, Fearless, Hide In Plain Sight, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Luck, Power Attack, Second Chance [survival checks], Startle, Takedown Attack, Track [visual], Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 31 pp Communication 9 (anywhere on Earth) [mental] (Extra: Area) (PF: Subtle [encrypted]) [19 pp] Device 2 (Diskos) (easy to lose) (PFs: Restricted 2 [Nightland Hero]) [8 pp] -Strike 5 (PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2, Extended Reach, Improved Crit, Mighty) Immunity 1 (suffocation [low pressure]) [1 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] costs abilities 46 + combat 28 + saves 7 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 31 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: In a distant age at the end of history, the Sun has gone out and the Earth is lit only by the fires of vulcanism and the last remnants of Man’s technology. Human beings survive in a few isolated redoubts here and there, maintaining ancient technology they barely understand to hold back the Things in the Dark. The Earth is dying. But there are still brave people, willing to risk everything for those they love: there are still heroes. This is a build for a hero inspired by William Hope Hodgson’s 1912 The Night Land, constructed with the innate powers and technological trappings of the protagonist of the novel. The book is an interesting read: Hodgson uses very little place names or proper names, perhaps suggesting a shift in human language, and much of the overall work is written in a 17th century style as part of a framing device involving consciousnesses projected into the future. With its impersonal universe, creatures of mixed human and alien parentage, ancient beings from the darkness, and use of Deep Time, the book was a very strong influence on a young H.P. Lovecraft. The general assumption I made here is that this is the (unnamed) protagonist of the novel (or someone like him), who has learned to venture successfully into the darkness of the world, regaining some of Man’s lost technology and knowledge for his own use. His signature weapon is the diskos, “a razor-sharp spinning disk on a retractable handle. When activated the disk glows and shoots out sparks.” He can see in the dark, letting him do all he can to take back the eternal night. His high CON and Immunity to suffocation reflect the way humans have adapted to the thin atmosphere and harsh conditions of the distant future; his mental Communication is a power shared by all human beings in the new world. He’s a skilled, competent adventurer, able to handle himself in single combat against the Ab-humans of the darkness or their great, monstrous parents, as well as to understand some of the lost technology of the world left behind him. So how did this hero from the distant future make his way to our world? Maybe a time machine in the ruins activated unexpectedly, or maybe he was caught accidentally by a temporal probe from our own era. Or maybe his people have actually repaired a time machine, and are looking to escape back to an age in the unimaginably distant past. One thing to think about is time: Hodgson wrote with the best scientific knowledge available a century ago, but we know that the Earth will survive for a few billion rather than a few million years. Unless some ancient piece of super-science (in our own era) is what caused the Sun to go dark in the first place! Perhaps it was superheroes who ensured the survival of man, or perhaps it was they who doomed humanity from the beginning. Another thing to think about is the Lovecraftian influence in the world, particularly the notion of unfathomable monsters waiting outside circles of protection to fall upon and destroy the last remnants of humanity. Maybe the apocalyptic event that snuffed out the Sun and destroyed the old world of humanity was the awakening of the Great Old Ones...and maybe that awakening is due to happen sooner than we realize.

Fusion: 10 pp to spend +2 Def [4 pp] (Her new total should read '+12 Def (+3 flat-footed) +2 Will Save [2 pp] (Her new total is +9) Super-Senses 2 (Detect Weakness [Visual]) [2 pp] (it's only 2 pp for Fusion because her visual senses are already Acute and Ranged) +1 Luck [1 pp] +1 Improved Initiative [1 pp] (for a total of Init +5) Allons-y, Sneerg!

Iron Man Abilities: 18 pp STR: 34 [14] (+12/+2) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 16 (+3) INT: 12 (+1) WIS: 12 (+1) CHA: 10 (+0) Combat: 26 pp ATK: +8 DEF: +5 (+2 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +26 Saves: 13 pp TOU: +15 (+3 Con, +5 Density, +7 Protection) FORT: +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF: +6 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL: +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 32r=8 pp Concentration 8 (+9) Intimidate 12 (+12), Knowledge (physical sciences) 4 (+5), Notice 4 (+5), Sense Motive 4 (+5) Feats: 8 pp All-Out Attack, Improved Initiative, Interpose, Luck 2, Power Attack, Startle Takedown Attack Powers: 80 pp Alternate Form 16 (Iron Body) Density 10 [30 pp] -+20 STR, Impervious TOU 5, Immovable 3, Super-Strength 3, x10 Mass (2000 lbs) Enhanced Feats 2 [second Chance (TOU Saves vs. Unarmed), Ultimate Save (Toughness)] [2 pp] Immunity 30 (Fortitude) [30 pp] Impervious TOU 5 [5 pp] Protection 7 [7 pp] Super-Strength 3 (90 tons) [6 pp] Drawbacks: -3 pp Vulnerable (Magnetic Effects) (uncommon, major) Totals: Abilities 18 + Skills 8 + Feats 8 + Powers 80 + Combat 26 + Saves 13 -Drawbacks 3= 150 --- Design Notes: Here's a somewhat reworked version of the Solid Hero archetype from the Archetype Archives. I didn't have to do much to make this a viable PC for our site: just drop his Impervious down to 10 ranks, up his Toughness all the way to PL caps, and generally try and make this guy fill the niche of "Tough sonofagun" among the ranks of powerhouses. He may not be the strongest, and he may not hit the hardest, but his solid iron body makes him nearly impervious to almost anything. He's immune to poisons, diseases, and other frailties of organic life when his powers are active. And why not? Again, he's solid iron! Even the usual bane of steel men, magnetism, here represented as a vulnerability, is going to have to work to hurt a man who can pass a damage save from a rank 19 attack with an HP. (It can still do it, though; don't forget he's also vulnerable to things like magnetic grapples and TK) Unlike almost all of my builds, he doesn't have Uncanny Dodge. He's really not going to lose much if you catch him flat-footed, given his low Defense. If his powers are up, he can probably take whatever you hit him with, and if they aren't, you're probably going to hit him if you're anywhere near his PL anyway. Why does he have such a high ranged attack bonus? Well, he's got no speed and he weighs as much as a car, so he's not very fast: he's really strong, though, so he's great at scooping up your melee guy (or a car!) and throwing something really, really far! He can also pick up a bus as a bat, stop a plane in its tracks, and generally do quite well for himself. Be careful of his weight; weighing a ton is quite a complication, particularly since he's got no Buoyant. If he falls off a bridge into the ocean, he can survive with his powers, but he'll have to walk along the ocean bottom to get out. Be careful of boats! My default assumption is that his Iron Body is sustained in duration, if only because that way he doesn't break everything all the time. Make use of Interpose to make your friends happy you're there! If you want to get technical, you can change up what kind of metal he is. Iron is close to actually being ten times as dense as human flesh, but not quite: make him the man of gold, or the man of silver! You can change up the sheet to reflect the properties of different metals or solid substances. Perhaps a hero made of stone has Permeate, or perhaps a hero made of diamond has some Penetrating Unarmed damage to reflect fingernails as sharp as knives. Just don't let people try and sell parts of your gold body! Up the Super-Strength (perhaps at the price of some of that massive Fort immunity) to be more the 'strong guy' instead of the invulnerable guy. Powerhouse is a good niche.