Avenger Assembled

Primitive. Weak. But so too have many places been. Eira walked into the middle of the room and raised her hands dramatically. "You may have this one for free, Doctor. After this, I have a price." She paced into the room until she found a promising-looking automaton, then claimed it as her own She smiled and powered her hands into the automaton before her, fingers disappearing into its metallic guts. As she made eye-contact with Frankenstein, music seemed to swell in her mind. "Now. Shall we begin?"

"If they go in the water, Singularity and I will have surprises for them," Sea Devil predicted confidently. "We are very good in the water. And we are very good at getting big things to chase us." She rapped the butt end of her trident against the ground for emphasis, then added, "Do they live in the mountains all the time?" She looked around, doing a distinctly odd movement with her head and shoulders that suggested she wasn't actually swiveling her neck while doing so. "We do not know your land!" she added firmly. "We came here from a land called America! There was nothing about giants in the mountains in the book SIngularity told me to read, but there are many things not in your books!"

Suddenly the robot's head spun 240 degrees and glared at Ryder, its eyes glowing red, opening its mouth to give a distinct and eldritch hiss! Smirking, the holo-Eira added as she unfolded a simulation of her magnetic wings, "Hah!, yes, magnetics are the best. I can...scale down the engines I had designed for the Wing," she admitted, "to be more suitable for hovering." She demonstrated how they could be made to fit into the 'hubcaps' on the Segway, allowing it to hover a few inches off the ground and even travel over water. "Sooo," she added with a wink at Ryder, "you have been studying gravitics, yes?"

Her name is Dethroner now? Bold choice. The truth was Ashley hadn't really followed much of the adventures of Young Freedom, having been a little busy with her own stuff senior year and then being far away from Freedom City when whatever weird crap had gone down at next year's graduation had happened. Geez, thank God I sat through Cosmology 202 again last year, or I'd have no idea what O'Cure was talking about at all. Ashley had been more focused on the important things back then, like bringing her father's killer to justice. O'Cure's not on the Liberty League, though, she's on the Interceptors. Crap is this a cosmic baby crisis going on? What the hell is wrong with this city. "Okay. I've actually done something like before. I think we can make it work." She shifted where she was sitting, realized her back was definitely itching and there was no scratching it without taking off the damn armored costume, so she spread her hands. "I won't feel great about it afterwards and neither will you, but hell, it's a baby, right? Just your normal...cosmic baby." She shook her head and added "You should know that because my powers are technically psychic, there's sometimes a low-level telepathic effect when I copy someone. That's why I don't do it very much," she admitted dryly. "Nothing...invasive, just occasional stray thoughts. So I won't know your secret ID but I might know if you want Chinese later. You might get something similar on your end. We may start speaking Furion if we pick up something from the baby," she added to Erin, "but don't worry, it'll only be temporary. So..." she hazarded. "is it just the one baby, or...?"

As Danica spoke, the holographic project of Eira gestured like a conductor mastering a symphony, altering the three-dimensional Segway at Danica's command. By the time she was done it still looked very much like a Segway, with a few differences. "The polymer plastic composition will reduce the weight by one-half while ensuring structural stability. Too low and you run the risk of wind damage," she added. "A more powerful engine will give you more power over rough terrain, as will all-terrain wheels..." She hesitated, then said, "Indoor hovering, Ryder, what do you think, magnetic or gravitic?"

With a nod, Steve rose to his feet and left the room, making his way to the front door where the felinoid superhero awaited. He was in his uniform, the proud colors of HAX that were the most honorable colors he could wear beyond the costume Gina had made for him, and so was a little surprised when Copycat looked up at him and said "It's you." Having long since learned to distinguish wariness from hostility, Steve gave the usual response to the former, looking down at those big masked eyes. "...yes. Thank you for coming. They are waiting for you on the second floor." It was easy enough to fall back into old habits in the costume, hands at her sides, head turning slightly, back and forth, the better to expand her peripheral vision. The costume definitely did not fit as well as it had when she was eighteen, more a product of how much more she was benching these days than anything else - though of course nobody had the body at almost thirty that they had at almost twenty. Putting those thoughts aside, she followed the Omegadrone to the security office. Copycat had a soft, measured voice; a professional's tone. "I got your message. I'd have been here sooner but there's a pileup on Pacific Street. You said there's a kid who needs help?"

I can't believe this thing still fits me. Copycat's costume was not too different from the Raven's; a short, dark cape slicked down to avoid being a target for grabbing, an armored black bodysuit, gauntlets curled like claws, and the mask. The white Chesire-cat mask had looked elegant and sophisticated when Ashley was sixteen and now; studying herself in her motorcycle rearview mirror, she made a small unpleasant noise. She hadn't worn it, save for that one very interesting interlude in Louisiana a couple of summers ago, since high school. But duty called and she headed for the front door of HAX, blinking when she realized she needed to buzz in. It had only been, what, some twenty minutes since she'd gotten the call about a power consult? "Copycat to see Wander, Jill O'Cure, and party?"

"Hm," said Frost. He considered that a moment, then extended his hand to Ghost. "Demonstrate the latter, if you please." His grip was deathly cold; not dangerously so, but the effect was as if Ghost had stuck his hand out and grabbed a tractor left outside in a Siberian winter.

Aquaria hopped back into her Sea Devil armor, the metal closing smoothly around her. Then she extended her trident towards Ghost. "Take the blade by the hand," she told him. "But do not bleed on it." Doing so, the grip cool and damp and somehow smelling of fish, let Ghost hear the song of the universe, a deep and resonant throb that echoed infrasonically in his chest, with whispers of what lay below if only he paid attention - "Do not listen to what they tell you," she added firmly, "it will do terrible things to you. Give it your power and the song will hear you. Then we will go there."

Sea Devil had kept her armor on, and her distance from the soldiers, at least until the New Zealand officers started explaining to them what was happening. Concealed in green and black armor that had obviously been recently painted with the New Zealand Ensign, she crouched and moved with a posture that didn't seem quite human, and her voice was a booming mechanical buzz that sounded artificial. "We will help you with your big monster problem," she spoke in a firm croak, "things that come from the mountains above should not be." She wondered if it would be weird to ask if the giants were food, then decided it probably would be weird, people usually did not like it when she asked about that, so she kept her substantial tongue in her head. Instead she leaned on her trident and crouched slightly, bending great knees in front of her, and said "Have you heard their song? Or do they not speak to you?"

A faint fuzz of activating holo-emitters, and then - "Ryder!" Smirking a little too brightly, the projection of Eira had appeared next to him on the opposite side from her robot body, hands folded behind her back, her blonde hair pulled in a neat ponytail behind her head. She'd changed outfits too, and was wearing a casual Karkaos shirt and jeans that would probably not have been appropriate lab gear if she had actually been wearing them. "Here I am." Turning back to Danica, she smiled and said in a carefully enunciated voice, "I am sorry you did not like the Wing. Let us start again." She walked out into the holo-emitters and made a little circling gesture with her hand, producing a fairly good holographic representation of Danica's lost Segway. She spared not a look for her inactive, goggles-wearing gynoid form. "What would you like?"

There are too many APs here. This character is great, but your power concept needs to be narrowed.

Voltage can detect no problems with the partition...

"..." Eira looked at Danica, then at Ryder, then stared at the swooping hologram as the cheerful pop-rock played in the background. She hesitated just an instant, then made a gesture in the air that cut off both music and hologram just as Magenta was about to make a final leap onto the swooping flying wing. "...v-very well." She pulled her goggles down over her eyes and said, "Voltage, will you activate the holo-programmers so that they may program? I need to - directly interface." As she spoke, her dataspikes snaked out from under her sleeves and buried themselves in the ports in the computer panel in front of her. With that her head hung, her body going rigid as she projected her consciousness into the room's computers.

"Okay," said Frost, taking out a checkbook from Hell knew where. "Here you go, I think this is standard rate, plus completion bonus, plus little tip for Talya's young friend." He winked, then carefully handed Raina a check for a thousand American dollars for 'fire-fighting'. "See it will not violate your secret identity," he added with a smile, pointing at a conspiciously blank spot for her name. "Frost thinks of everything." He hesitated a moment, then reached into his wallet, fumbling around for a business card he handed her. "If you ever want something more exciting than babysitting, call that number. Is real paying work, not just League stuff."

"Yeah," said Frost seriously as he sat down an open box full of gold bars stamped with swastikas and pentagrams in a creepy checkerboard pattern, "is me. Well that or Tiamat," he admitted, "but cannot tell her about this now, she will be wrathful of missed opportunity." He put his hands on his lap and looked at Raina. "Do not worry, is not first time I have had to do this. Sometimes in infernal realms, sometimes I just disintegrate, sometimes I just send to maw of Lady Hel in Nifleheim, is all fine." He seemed to sober a little, and had the air of a stage performer who had moved backstage. "So, that was less than an hour, but I think definitely meets early completion requirements...just a moment, trying to remember standard South African rates..."

"Oh he might be dead," said Frost, "but has resurrected every time I've killed him so far. That's Fritz for you, like damned cockroaches they are." He spat again, and climbed to his feet. "If I don't see him next year, I double what I pay you. Hey, speaking of paying, let us see what is in mausoleum! Hardest part was finding damn place, let me tell you..." He led the way inside, the ceiling low enough that he had to duck slightly on the way in. It wasn't exactly the tomb of an Egyptian Pharoah, but Heinrich Adams had obviously been buried with the loot he planned to use to escape the jurisdiction and start a very prosperous life somewhere away from Freedom City. "I will just be taking this," said Frost, picking up a fairly substantial black-bound grimoire that stunk of truly sulfurous magic. He stuck in his jacket and suddenly that particular smell was gone, gone, gone, at least as far as Raina could tell. "Are you interested in items?" he asked Raina as he pulled the lid off a wooden crate. "Oh hah, better not give you this, young lady like you wouldn't know what to do with...what was he even going to do with this much cocaine, anyway?"

"Hah!!" By the time Raina and Merlin landed to check out the scene, Frost had recovered from the attacks on him but Heinrich certainly hadn't. "Take that, you goddamned Fritz!" he declared, standing in the midst of the ashes with a triumphant look on his face. "Sparkler!" he called, spreading his arms. "I could embrace you but I will not." He gave the ashes a good kick and said, "Delightful! That will keep him dead a long time. Maybe I hire you again next time, eh?" He knelt down, brushed a few ashes out of the grass, and spat something bloody on the ground. "I hope you like fire because when I finally end you," he told the grass, "you will feel much of it and it will be very hot!"

Eira pulled up her goggles and gave Ryder and Danica a look. "You fought another heavy metal rage demon without me? Ridiculous! How do you keep drawing them to you?Perhaps you two attracted it as its opposites..." She pulled down her goggles and grumped loudly, right over the music, "I will show that thing heavy metal rage if I ever get a chance..." As her friends seemed more excited than shaken up by their battle, she moved on. "Come, here is what I have!" She made a little gesture in the air and the music shifted, this time to a hard rock triumphal beat. "Presenting - the Wing!" There was a shimmer of light from one of the room's holographic projectors, and a shape appeared. It resembled a flying wing roughly the size of Danica's original Segway, but the resemblance largely ended there. It looked lean and fast, its prow resembling the face of a screaming eagle, hovering a few inches off the ground. "Behold," said Eira throatily, her voice full of excitement as a holographic Danica appeared and stepped onboard. "It can travel as slowly as your Segway if you are comfortable that way," she told Danica, "or it can accelerate to speeds of 800 kilometers per hour!" The simulated Danica had donned a flight helmet, hooked her feet into stirrups on the flying machine, and was currently zooming through a simulated sky at breakneck speeds, whooping with tiny mechanical glee. "It has an onboard navigation system to handle the velocity," she assured Danica, hand on the other girl's shoulder, "and a heads up display in the flight helmet so you can see where you are going before you get there. There is a compartment for snacks, and also for personal effects, though I know you can just keep those things in your shell. The stirrups are designed for a girl of your toughness, so you do not have to fear falling out or injuring your ankles. You do not even have to steer, you just tell it where to go and the onboard system takes you there!" "The hardest part was ensuring the magnetic drive created no EMP effects," she added for Ryder's benefit, "I had a personal interest in that! But everything worked...perfectly!" She grinned and fell silent, looking to Danica for what she obviously expected to be an excited reaction. The little simulated Danica was currently going "woo-hoo!" as her flying craft made loop-the-loops through the skyscrapers of New York City.

Exceeds his defense by 8, so +4 to damage Tou vs 29 13 oh he's dead, you set him on fire and he explodes to ash.

Okay, give me a DC 20 Fort save to shake the Auditory Dazzle. You're up, @Electra!

The fireball worked all-too-well, striking Heinrich on his billowing cape with a brilliant flash of red. Raina couldn't hear him curse but she could certainly imagine it as he began frantically slapping at his flaming outfit. The effort must have distracted him because he tilted and fell out of the sky entirely, disappearing from sight behind one of the nearby mausoleums. Nearby, Sparkler couldn't immediately spot the form of Comrade Frost, but the hovering cloud of icy white mist with two red eyes in the center of it certainly gave her an obvious clue. If said cloud was saying anything, she couldn't make it out. A moment later Heinrich revealed where he'd landed in spectacular fashion. He didn't look so good, wooden fragments from a tree he'd hit actually protruding from his skin, but his power seemed unfaded as he hurled a bolt of lightning from his fingertips at the icy cloud that was Frost. It was a hit, a palpable hit, and the cloud seemed to disperse slightly, but it was hard to tell if Frost was actually impaired. Raina could just make out Heinrich's lips moving but whatever terrible ancient oaths he was chanting; she couldn't hear them.

"Hello Ryder, Danica," came an accented voice from the laboratory's second story just as a familiar song began to play from the building's speakers. Eira took the occasion of her friends' arrival and the song's bridge to leap straight down in front of them, making a perfect three-point landing before rising to her feet. As she talked she bobbed her shoulders along with the music. "Welcome to my laboratory!" In lab coat and glasses, with her Swedish accent, she looked the part of the European mad scientist very well. "I took the liberty of generating a design for you, Danica," she said as she walked them inside the two-story room. "If you like it, it is only a matter of synching it to the 3-D printers in the room - you could be giving it a test flight today!" Ryder could make out a substantial amount of technical equipment in the grid-lined room, much of it seemingly devoted to holographic projection "How was your commute? Should I have sent a car? I know how it is with American public transportation..."

Definitely, though she'll have to close if she wants to hit him adequately. Okay, that hits him! It exceeds his defense by 10, so that's +5 to the damage Tou vs 30 https://orokos.com/roll/883082 = okay, he fails by 10, so he's injured, staggered, and dazed Concentration checks for Flight: 12, he fails, so he falls! Concentration checks for Force Field: 18 Okay! Heinrich is dazed (have an HP for him acting); he'll throw a lightning bolt at Comrade Frost! https://orokos.com/roll/883090 and hit! Tou vs DC 29: HPing this one, https://orokos.com/roll/883092 = 32 Could have used that nat-20! Comrade Frost is blind this round!

Actually, you made a good point re:her taking cover behind a big opaque object, so that's a plausible reason she wouldn't be affected by a big Visual + Auditory Dazzle. So she can't hear anything (because that's funny!) but she can still see. You're up!