Avenger Assembled

_Think clean thoughts,_ he told himself. "Well, uh, Miss Americana, I'd like to meet people. Maybe other superheroes first, people who won't freak out if something weird happens with my program. Maybe more science heroes like Cyberknife? Or you, I guess." If she knew about his program, she had to know about matters scientific. "And regular people too, like other teenagers, or just people on the street...and the zoo! I'd love to see the zoo," he added. "I mean, people and super-people are interesting, but I don't want to forget about all the animals!"

Sharl briefly thought about calling out to Gina, feeling momentarily funny at opening a door in her house, but he shook off the impulse. He'd practiced enough with local doors that he knew how they worked, and so with a smooth economy of motion he walked over to the door, fiddled briefly with the knob, and soon had it open, his magnetic fingers sticking slightly to the metal. "Miss Americana! Hello!" He smiled at her, gesturing inside. "My space is your space," he said automatically. "Well, er, it's not actually my space, but you know," he added with a little shrug. She really was very gorgeous, and he had to make himself look her in the eye and not anywhere else. "Uh, hi," he said, offering her his hand. "it's, uh, really nice to meet you."

People meet, they greet, all on the first of February.

February 1, 2011 Earth-Prime This is exactly where Young Freedom belongs. It's been raining for days now, what was once drizzles transforming into thick, heavy drops that come as part of a torrential downpour, turning what should have been a lovely flowering of spring into a cold, sopping wet bog. Exposed grass is wet and the earth beneath it muddy, and the city's levees have been shored up along the Wading River. All that wouldn't be so bad, except that's not just happening here. What was a joke for meteorologists last week has become all too serious today: it's raining everywhere. All through New Jersey, all through New York; across the East Coast and across America. The entire continental United States is under the biggest storm system anyone's ever seen, maybe ever heard of, and the rain is getting worse. The natural assumption, of course, is that culprit is the villainous Dr. Stratos, the wicked weather manipulator. The League is off dealing with that, leaving the city in the hands of its teen heroes. Edge stood by the levee, watching with worry as the river level slowly rose. He was doing all he could to keep the water level down, standing on the dam and draining away the water as it came in, a thousand improbable accidents sending the water cascading downriver and into the Atlantic, but he wasn't powerful enough to stop a storm this big: maybe no one was. Trusting that the rest of Young Freedom was busy, either helping with the sandbags or assisting the engineers reinforcing the seawall in other ways, Mark looked up to see the familiar shape of the Pegasus spaceplane dipping low through the storm, heading for nearby Freedom Hall. _Thank goodness!_ Edge thought. _The League is here!_ That was when a tremendous lightning bolt came ripping out of the storm, heralding a massive tornado that came roaring down after it, and before Edge could do anything, bolt and tornado both struck the plane, shattering it to a thousand pieces in a jagged-edged explosion that tore open a violent hole in the sky. As the engineers and volunteers around him started to panic, Edge threw up barriers in the sky, falling debris vanishing in circles of mist as the Pegasus came tumbling down, shouting to his teammates for help... --- February 1, 2011 Earth-No Designation (aka, 'Earth-Paragons') "Oh my freaking God!" As the League's plane broke into pieces and vanished, leaving behind a shimmering purple void that had to be provenance of paragon powers, Edge shouted in surprise as pieces of the falling plane began tumbling to earth all around him: he pushed his powers to the utmost to deflect them, sending showers of debris falling away from him, away from the hard-working engineers and volunteers below. It had been an awful few days as unprecedented weather disasters swept the nation, as rumors of terrible paragon powers unleashed began to terrify a frightened populace; he'd seen reports of lynchings in Texas and Arkansas, and televangelists speaking grimly of the End Times. It wasn't the end for Mark, but despite his best efforts, people around him were dying, even as the scream of the waterspout in the river filled his ears. It was all over in a few terrible seconds, and though he'd saved many people, he was surrounded by disaster! Whipping out his cellphone to call up the linked phones of his teammates, Mark yelled, "Listen, you guys! I need help in City Center right now!" Claremont's young paragons had been divided up through the city to help deal with the rising water, the better to promote their individual Q-ratings while each of them combatted the threatening disaster that was so baffling to both the Freedom League and the Vanguard alike, indeed, to all the scientists and supers working for the government. "The Pegasus just blew up!"

PARAGONS-MIDNIGHT

PARAGONS-SAGE

PARAGONS-EDGE

PARAGONS-COBALT TEMPLAR

PARAGONS-WANDER

"What?" Sharl stared after Gina, but when she looked back he waved her off. "Oh, uh, okay. I'll be waiting down here for her, I guess." As Gina left, he contemplated going upstairs and sticking his head in the door after her. He was a younger brother: he'd stuck his head in plenty places where he wasn't supposed to put them over the years. But Gina was his friend, his savior, and he'd seen the look in her eyes that said this was important to her. _If this is what she wants to do, I should respect that,_ he told himself doubtfully. He looked up after the stairs, up where his friend had gone, and not for the first time thought: _Something's wrong with Gina._

"That'll be good," said Sharl, considering that. "I'll tell them I'm a young adventurer from a wild system, ready to take on the world!" He smiled thinly. "And hey, that's sort of true, right? Just not quite what they might think it means." He debated suggesting that maybe Miss A should be introduced as his mother, but somehow that just sounded weird. After all, Sharl thought, he already _had_ a mother, one who was probably worried about him. He had good reason to be gone, but that didn't mean he didn't worry about her.

Death Abilities: 18 pp STR: 10 (+0) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 16 (+3) INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 16 (+3) CHA: 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +6 Init: +3 Saves: 12 pp TOU: +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) FORT: +7 (+3 Con, +4) REF: +7 (+3 Ref, +4) WILL: +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Feats: 12 pp Attack Focus: Melee (4) Dodge Focus (4) Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Diplomacy 4 (+4) Intimidate 8 (+8) Medicine 7 (+10) Notice 12 (+15) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Stealth 12 (+15) Powers: 70 pp Death Array 23+4=27 pp Concealment 10 (PFs: Close Range, Precise, Selective) (all senses) AP: Drain Constitution 10 (Extra: Affects Corporeal) (PFs: Extended Reach, Precise, Reversible) AP: Emotion Control 10 (PFs: Insidious, Mind Blank, Subtle) AP: Healing 10 (Extra: Resurrection) (Flaw: Others Only) (PFs: Progression 3 [1 minute]) AP: Strike 10 (Extra: Affects Corporeal) (PFs: Extended Reach, Precise, Reversible) Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 12 (aging, life support, sleep, starvation and thirst) [12 pp] Insubstantial 4 (Extra: Duration [Default] (+0) ) (incorporeal) [20 pp] Protection 7 [7 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] - Design Notes: Yes, it’s Death! Thanatos, the Grim Reaper, embodiment of entropy and loss, as a PL 10 starting character. I’ve obviously had to leave off some of the bells and whistles that Death has demonstrated over the millennia, but this isn’t a bad representation as the End of All Things as a starting PC. Perhaps this is a version of Death who has recently been disempowered by some great cosmic upheaval, and has so found himself operating on the same level as anyone else. He’s a formidable fellow with many options in combat, letting him strike down his enemies, find those in need of his mercy, and generally do the sort of thing that you’d expect Death to be able to do. Note that he’s a very mortal Death, though one denied many of the usual human weaknesses and frailties thanks to his awesome powers. In strange aeons, can even Death die? Yes; my assumption is that Death works as it does in the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony, where the title is passed from mortal to mortal. He can take a life with a touch, but restore it just as easily: perhaps helping inculcate new life from what’s been lost? He’s impervious to almost all mundane harm, what with being Death and all, but people with superpowers can stave him off, at least for a little while. He’s also a fairly terrifying individual, again what with being Thanatos, but he can also make people content, letting them grieve and move on without lapsing into despair at the loss of their loved one. With judicious use of his Strike and Power Attack, he can cut through almost any barrier you’d care to name. (Why no Affects Insubstantial? Well, because ghosts have obviously transcended his power, naturally!) Obviously Death is something of a novel choice for a PL 10 superheroic concept. Perhaps this is a fragment of Death cast loose on the world, or maybe it’s a necromatic deity rendered all-too-human. Or maybe it’s just a mutant with funky powers! I wrote this up to counteract the tendency that superhero comics, particularly Freedom City, have of presenting the avatar of Death as somehow a bad guy. (Fantasy comics can be even worse.) Death gods are actually traditionally fairly cordial, if somber fellows; after all, they meet everyone eventually in their line of work, and there’s no point in making enemies. Everyone’s equal in their eyes, and justice must be handed out surely to those who deserve it. When your time is up, your time is up.

"I understand," Sharl promised. "I know it's important to have secret IDs, and I won't try and hurt yours. Or even admit that it exists at all." He smiled. "It'll be our secret, just like Tronik. That is secret, right?" he asked her, sounding worried. "I mean you said it was, but I saw a documentary on cybercrime and villains with computer control powers. I'd hate to think of someone like that loose in my city. And from what you said, if they knew it was there, they'd be able to find it..." He swallowed. "We have enough problems as it is."

"Oh..." Sharl looked uncomfortable for a moment, but then shook it off. This was a weird request, he was almost sure, even if he didn't know half the reason people did things here. "Okay, if she's fine with me doing that." He gave her a serious look and said, "You know how much I owe you, Gina. I'll do anything you want." He nodded, as if coming to an internal decision. "I've seen Miss Americana on TV," he offered. "Everyone says how wonderful she is. I'm sure she's a really good friend." He smiled at Gina. "You're a really good friend too. And if your helping me needs to be a secret, that's the way it'll be."

"Okay, sure," said Sharl, sitting up as he looked for the invisible source of the voice. Sometimes Gina appeared to him in her full body; other times just as her face. Today, though, it seemed as though she was just going to talk to him. "What do you want to talk about?" He was sensitive enough to pick up on an edge in his friend's voice, and he was worried. Gina was his hero, the woman who'd saved him from madness and death, but he'd picked up on the fact that things in her house weren't like the houses of the people he saw on TV or on the Internet. Had something happened to her friend? Was the trip off? Nervously, he got up and walked to the rear door of his rooms, using a mental shorthand he and Gina had agreed on to make his transition easier. "Okay, I'm ready."

Mythos Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 18 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 10 (+0) CON 14 (+2) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +4 (+10 Ranged) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +4/+20 Saves: 17 pp TOU +7 (+2 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +8 (+2 Con, +6) REF +5 (+0 Dex, +5) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 84 r=21 pp Craft: Writing 12 (+14) Investigate 8 (+10) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 12 (+14) Knowledge: History 12 (+14) Languages 4 (Arabic, German, Latin, Swahili) (Base: English) Intimidate 12 (+15) Notice 12 (+14) Sense Motive 12 (+14) Feats: 18 pp Attack Focus: Ranged (6) Dodge Focus (5) Fearless Move-By Action Power Attack Ritualist Startle Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 52 pp Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 2 (Aging, Madness) [2 pp] Lovecraftian Array [30+6=36 pp] Blast 10 (Extra: Autofire) ‘gaze of Hastur’ AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Alt. Save [Will]) ‘Star-vampire’s flame’ AP: Confuse 10 (Extra: Area [burst]) ‘Azathoth’s blessing’ AP: Drain Wisdom 10 (Extra: Range [Perception]) ‘Nyarlathotep’s words’ AP: Mind Control 10 (Extra: Conscious) ‘Shaggai’s insects’ AP: Telekinesis 10 (12 tons) (Extra: Damaging) ‘tentacles of Cthulu’ AP: Teleport 9 (anywhere on Earth) (Extra: Accurate, PFs: Easy, Progression Turnabout) ‘Power of the Great Race’ Protection 5 (Extra: Impervious) [10 pp] Super-Senses 1 (Mythos Awareness) [mental] [1 pp] costs abilities 18 + combat 24 + saves 17 + skills 21/84 + feats 18 + powers 52 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Woof. Hey, is it any worse than an infernalist when you stop to think about it? (Well, maybe: a demon presumably wants the world to survive, he just wants to rule it, or his dark monsters to rule it) But comic books are full of people using evil powers for good ends, just look at our own Kid Cthulhu! So the idea here is that this is an investigator of the Cthulhu Mythos, a skilled wizard who uses the power of the Elder Gods against them to defend our dimension against their terrible designs. The picture is of H.P. Lovecraft, naturally, and the build is actually made with the assumption that this is indeed the historical H.P. Lovecraft, having extended his life through sorcery to defend our world against the scum of the universe! (And yeah, H.P. Lovecraft espouses some racist, classist stuff in his time; the guy was a neurotic shut-in with Mom issues. He did get better at the end of his life, and actually repented the racism he’d used as a tool for so long.) I want to use this space to talk about Confuse, a major part of this character’s build that I haven’t seen used in a lot of builds around here. As anyone who’s read Order of the Stick can tell you, Area Confuse is a great weapon to use in goon-sweeping situations, particularly when you’re in a generally nice setting that doesn’t worry too much about the consequences of bad guys suddenly turning on each other with all their force. You want to stop the bad guy’s goons? Put a Confuse in the middle of them; some may shoot at you, but most of them will be going crazy with fleeing, babbling, attacking each other, or doing any number of useless, irrational things. No wonder this character has such a high Intimidate score: he’s one scary dude! Why the low Toughness and Impervious? The idea is that he’s a mortal man who is largely immune to the concerns of normal people, shrugging off punches and most bullets, but massive firepower and the rage of the creatures he fights will easily crush him: just like your average Investigator! In Freedom City, the Lovecraftian mythos is exemplified by the Unspeakable One, a monstrously powerful entity who threatens all realities, everywhere. Omega wants to end everything; the worst thing about the Unspeakable One is that it wants reality to live in its name. Fighting the Unspeakable One is an old story for Freedom City’s heroes, and if this guy has been around that long, he’s been their champion for ages...if perhaps one they’re a little uneasy about. Madness is just this close...

Sharl and Miss A go places

A few days later, after the first of February on a calendar Sharl could barely follow, it was time for his trip out of GIna's house. He'd spent that morning eating the breakfast Gina had left him for him and preparing himself, putting on clean versions of the clothes he'd been wearing when he arrived and memorizing the sorts of things people talked about on the outside. "Just think of everything I'll be able to take home!" Nothing physical, since this place wouldn't be real in Tronik, but he'd have so many memories and stories to take back to his family. _And I do want to go back there,_ he reminded himself. _But it's not an adventure till you have a really good story to tell...even if I don't know exactly what I'll tell them yet._ He sat before the computer monitor Gina had made for him, tapping buttons on the push screen he'd figured out how to program. "I am Sharl Tulink," he told the computer, imagining it was the face of someone on the outside. "I am pleased to meet you!" _I can't believe I'm going to meet more aliens! Wow!_

Though Edge was momentarily worried when he heard Fleur's reasonable words, the mean talk coming from the stone man more than banished any fears he might have had about beating up on an innocent man. What were the odds of that happening, anyway? "Sorry, Monolith, but I guess you shouldn't have taken the heroes of Freedom for GRANITE!" He poked the stone man in the chest fearlessly, then took a step back. "You get out early, huh? Well, we'll make sure you get back in! What happened with you and Rook, anyway? Did he make fun of how you're bald and ugly?"

Armored Costumed Detective PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 28 pp STR 30 [14] (+10/+2) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA: 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+10 Melee/+12 Boomerangs) DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +12/+24 Saves: 14 pp TOU +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +7 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +10 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Bluff 5 (+7) Craft: Electronic 4 (+6) Intimidate 15 (+17) Investigate 8 (+10) Knowledge: Streetwise 8 (+10) Knowledge: Technology 4 (+6) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 12 (+14) Feats: 18 pp All-Out Attack Attack Focus: Melee (2) Dodge Focus (2) Equipment (4) Improved Initiative Inventor Hide In Plain Sight Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 44 pp Device 11 (Battlesuit) (Hard to Lose) [44 pp] -Blast 8 (Extra: Autofire) (PFs: Accurate 2) 'boomerangs' {18+1=19} AP: Enhanced STR 16 and Super-Strength 4 (12 tons) -Concealment 4 (all visual) (Flaw: Passive) (PF: Close Range) {5} -Flight 1 (10 MPH) (PF: Subtle) {3} -Leaping 1 (x2) {1} -Protection 7 (Extra: Impervious) {14 pp} -Super-Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling 2) {4} -Super-Senses 8 [Analytical Darkvision, Commlink, Radar] {8} Equipment: {20 ep} -Stately Manor {18 ep] -Walking Stick {Strike 1 (PF: Mighty) {2 ep} Drawbacks: Normal ID (Full Round to don suit) [-4] costs abilities 28 + combat 32 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 44 - drawbacks 4 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: So back in the day, this grim and gritty vigilante patrolled the streets of your city or neighborhood, righting wrongs and striking the fear of God into criminals. Then one day he went away, and he didn't come back, and the city changed. But now someone's back on the streets in that old costume, using the same gadgets and powers to fight back against the forces of darkness: the costumed detective, now in armor! Is this the detective himself, now too aged to carry on the fight without mechanical assistance, or is it a successor, perhaps his son or daughter, or a plucky teenager who stumbled across the suit and the chance of a lifetime? Either way, justice has a new face. That's the same as an old face! But it's a really badass-looking face. I've tried to split the difference in this build about whether or not this is the old detective himself or his successor: the person inside the suit is smart and capable, but no genius on bar with a real gadgeteer or successful inventor. They can fix the suit and made additions to it, but they're not going to be whipping out any super-deluxe inventions to save the day. They're better than a normal human being in almost every respect, and certainly no bystander, but they're not up to a tremendous quality of adventuring outside the suit: at PL 5 or so, they're not helpless but they're definitely not a superhero. They've got a nice mansion to call home, but do they actually live there or are they just squatting in the old man's estate? It's up to you! An easy way to tweak this archetype would be to make it a better combatant; I've built him without tradeoffs as I often do, but you could easily justify giving him a much higher Attack Bonus and just letting the suit boost his damage up to peak human levels. You could also dial the suit back a bit and buy up more feats and skills, or drop the man inside the suit down even further to reflect being old or some punk high school kid; this is something of a middle of the road build of that sort of concept. You could drop the suit concept entirely and say it's closer to a power ring, I suppose, but then you lose striking fear into the hearts of criminals all over again.

"I understand if you're too busy," said Sharl, his glow eventually settling down to his regular almost-human appearance. "I mean, you're helping me, and being a science hero, and all that stuff...you've got a lot happening." He studied Gina from the monitors, not quite sure if he believed his friend or not. _Maybe she doesn't think I'm that important...or maybe she just doesn't want to go outside._ It didn't seem like Gina ever did. "I'm sure your friend is really cool. And hey, the more people I meet, the better!" Not wanting to raise an unpleasant issue with Gina any further, Sharl decided to try other things. He couldn't resist the urge to try his trick again, and as they talked he concentrated, focused on his hand, and stuck it right through the wall. "Awesome!"

"That'd be great," said Sharl, studying Gina. He was disappointed she couldn't, or wouldn't, come with him, but the idea of meeting new people and seeing new places was really very nice. "And I understand that someone has to come out with me. I mean, I'm a stranger here, and...well, stranger than most," he admitted with a glance at his projector. "I can't wait to see Freedom Hall, and the Super Museum, and all the beautiful parks...so I'll be able to tell everyone back home about them," he added quickly. "And none of it would be possible without you."

Meta-Grue II Abilities: 30 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 [16] (+10/+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee/+12 Blast) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +20/+24 Saves: 8 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 32 r=8 pp Bluff 11 (+15) Concentration 5 (+8) Disguise 1 (+5/+10/+25/+30) Languages 1 (Grue) (Base: English) Notice 7 (+10) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Feats: 13 pp Attack Focus: Melee 4 Dodge Focus 4 Power Attack Quick Change 2 Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 67 pp Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Grue Array [21+4=25 pp] Blast 8 (PFs: Accurate 3, Improved Crit, Precise) 'Tess' AP: Concealment 10 (all senses) (Flaw: Phantasm) and Mind Reading 10 (PF: Subtle) 'Chase' AP: Impervious TOU 10 and Super-Strength 4 (PF: Groundstrike) 'Combo' AP: Insubstantial 4 (Extra: Progressive [+0]) (PF: Subtle) 'Maximus' AP: Morph 5 (relative mass) (Extra: Continous) (PF: Precise) 'Victoria' Immunity 10 (Aging, Life Support) [10 pp] Morph 1 (humanoids) [2 pp] costs abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 8/32 + feats 13 + powers 67 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: So the Meta-Grue, tired of his solitary life after a lifetime as part of the collective of the Unity, decided to bud off a daughter (he’s powerful enough shapeshifter to control his chromosones as they leave his body) and raise her as his own child. Really, he wasn’t that surprised when she turned out to be good; yes, of course she spurned him for Earth’s heroes, and yes of course she left his side to join the teen heroes at Claremont. That sort of thing happens to the Meta-Grue all the time. It’s part of the reason why he’s so testy. (Well, that and his desire to crush the freedom of Earth’s heroes and use their destruction as a tool to conquer the Meta-Mind and make himself sole god-king of the Grue Unity!) OK, so this is my attempt to build a Meta-Grue, the setting’s answer to the Super-Skrull, as a PL 10 PC: it ain’t easy! The Meta-Grue has all the powers of a PL 10 superteam (in this case the Atom Family, aka What If the Power Pack were the Fantastic Four?), and fitting all that in 150 PP is not an easy purchase at all. Especially since an Array of Alternate Forms, the traditional way to build characters like this, suffers from being the devil’s work! (i.e., very confusing and hard to police in play.) So instead she’s a jack of all trades and master of none, but at least she can do a lot of things. She can fly, make herself hard and tough, fly through solid objects (though not at the same time), and shoot people with blasts of radiation. She can also change her shape because, you know, Grue! She can be your backup paragon, energy controller, mentalist, and sneak all in one. Note that the Progressive extra on her Insubstantial lets her assume the forms of Insubstantial 1, 2, 3, and 4 (which normally you can't do without APs), the downside being that she can only pop one a round. (i.e., to go Insub 4 she has to slowly 'dissolve' over three rounds) Don't forget that she can do all those things while Morphed, an excellent way to maintain her secret even in her super-ID; she can also use her powers to be _really_ good at Morphing, at the cost of losing some versatility. Being a free Grue PC is a challenge. Everyone is suspicious of you: are you just a spy for the Unity? Certainly the Unity wants you dead, dead dead. Being a free Grue PC who is the offspring of a famous _supervillain_ is an even bigger challenge: so many Complication PP for you! Who doesn’t want to beat you up? She doesn’t share her dad’s desire to crush all who stand before her, but like a lot of free Grue she may have a desire to promote the freedom of others even when it’s not necessarily a good idea. As she would not be a slave, so she will not allow any others to be masters! This may be a challenging task given all the people who’ll be standing against her, but what better challenge for a free young warrior: the Gruen champion of Earth!

Once inside, Sharl explained to Gina what had happened. "It was pretty neat," he admitted. "Just sort of concentrating on myself and clipping, like I did in the basement earlier. And so much cleaner!" He shook his head, looking down at himself. "I can't believe that you have animal droppings just laying around on your streets with no one trying to recycle them. You have such a wealthy world here." He looked up at Gina and said, "Did it all go OK? It was really fun, and I'm really glad I got to do it. I'd love to go more places, if, uh, you think that would be okay. I won't be any trouble."

Sharl walked around the block, taking in the sights and sounds of an alien world. The sky was an impossibly pale blue overhead, its clear, unblocked expanse almost shockingly bright. He'd seen pictures of open sky, of course, and even seen it a few times himself on rare trips to the highest levels of a district, but seeing it unshackled was a gorgeous sight to behold. _And to think they all live like this, all the time!_ A few passing people stared at him as he knelt down and ran his hands through the crunchy snow, but he didn't care, there was so much to see here! Of course, some things weren't worth seeing."Eww! Animal feces!" got a definite reaction from people walking by, and Sharl irritably wiped his hand on his pants as he realized the mistake he'd made. _It's not like on TV!_ Of course, wiping the dog poop on his pants just got them dirty too. "Aw, man! Stupid dog..." Looking down the street, he picked out the owner of the animal whose waste he'd accidentally grabbed, the four-legged animal looking fat and sassy. "I can't go back like this!" He'd just get dog poop on Gina's floor, and she'd be mad at him again. He thought for a moment, hmming. "Maybe if I fade out again, I can make the stuff fall off! He took the projector out of his pocket, gently setting it on the floor. "Here goes nothing.." He closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching down inside himself for how he'd felt when he'd first appeared and been clipping through everything. A brief moment of vertigo later, like holding his breath, and..."Yes!" Looking down at himself, he was sparkling clean! "Awesome!" He picked up the projector, put in his pocket, and resumed his walk happily. "Hey, Gina!" he announced to the machine as he got close to her house. "You have an awesome neighborhood! I can't believe how many people have so much space!"