Avenger Assembled

Avenger nodded at Jack of all Blades' comment. "Appreciate the reminder. Had forgotten about Victory's pyrotechnics earlier in the year." Ominously, he winked at the master swordsman before turning back to the others, just in time for the Crusader to begin his spiel. The Crusader first pointed out to Miss Americana and the other inventors what equipment he had aboard the Sleigh in the rear storage compartment: it turned out to be a decent portable laboratory and workshop, assuming you were able to adapt your scientific knowledge to candy technology, and your human-sized hands to parts built for a man three feet high. "I've made plans for this scenario a hundred times," said the Crusader, toying with one of the candy canes he wore at his belt as he spoke. "I never thought I'd actually have to put them into practice. I'll take the Sleigh around the rear, maybe with one or two of your stealthiest, and we go around the back and rescue the League, the Old Man, the Missus, and the rest of the elves. In the meantime, the most powerful of you make a big show and draw out Desparia and her minions for a final showdown. If you win before we're out, we'll meet up then. If not..." He used the candy cane to sketch out a hasty map of the Workshop on the snow in front of them. "We take her by surprise, and with numbers on our side. She thinks we're rodents. Well...some rodents fly!" the Crusader squeaked in a triumphant hiss. "The old Donner and Blitzen," agreed Avenger, as usual finding it was best to just play into the madness in these situations. He was a little surprised when the pint-sized Crusader actually nodded at his words. "Am the stealthiest here," he said without the faintest trace of bragging in his voice. "Suggest that fliers, at minimum, best at coming in the front way.

"Hmm. Power nullifier, magic minions? Would explain who Eldrich was looking for." Avenger wasn't terribly thrilled at the news that he'd been picked up because his wife was busy, but it explained exactly he was here. Not that Phantom had turned it down; he was sure the Master Mage knew their movements well enough. "As for witch, hmm. Imagine technicians can build heat machines. But difficult to use here." He took the bucket and eyed it suspiciously, then with a sudden movement took a candy corn, popped it in his mouth, and swallowed it whole. He was the least likely one here to be poisoned...and sure enough, he soon enough felt the cold drain away, as the unnatural vitality of the dead filled his body. Hooray! I...wait.

It took Dragonfly a minute to realize exactly what she was looking at, and then a minute more to realize what she could do about it. She was looking at a guidance and stabilization system for a high-end jet flier and VTOL hoverer, the sort of thing she'd expect to see on a sophisticated craft designed for urban combat and rapid maneuvering. It was just that said system was constructed with gumdrops where the screws should be, peanut brittle for the interior framework, pumping candy canes for the pistons, and what smelled like egg nog as lubricant. It was easy enough to find the leak in the licorice piping and tie it off, and the Crusader showed her how to hook up the auxilary tank. "You like it?" he asked, a note of pride in his voice. "I built it myelf out of stuff we had laying around the workshop. That's real craftsmanship right there," he said with a nod. Turning to the others, he answered their questions as best he could. "“It all happened just a few days ago, but it seems like forever. The workshop boys were getting things ready for the big Christmas run when she showed up. Came right out of a swirling blizzard, she did, with those wolves and her super-toy soldiers. We tried to protect the Workshop, of course, but she’s a sorceress and her power...” The Crusader shook his head. "She took out Big Red in the first volley, and after that the heart just went out of the others. Santa and the Missus, they covered our retreat as long as we could, but between one thing and another...I was the only one that made it. I hated to run, I've never run in my life, but a last stand alone? A good way for the lights to go out...but not good enough. I've been planning a counter-offensive, but with the Crusader-Sleigh down, I was stuck on foot." He hmmed. "I did manage to synthesize an antidote to her power suppressant, if any of you are having problems." He pulled the bucket from just inside the cabin and handed it out: inside the toy plastic bucket was candy corn, and lots of it! To the others, he added, "Ice ladies twice as tall as me aren't my type, sonny-jim. This Queen, Desparia, she captured Santa, and Mrs. Claus. _He_ told us to run, to save ourselves, after she got Big Red. The whole Christmas League, down for the count! We went out into the storm, and all you could hear was her laughter on the wind, mocking us. We need to free Santa, the Missus, and the rest of the League...but I need your help.”

For his part, Avenger was more than content to let the others handle this refugee from a child's sugary fever dream. "I am the spirit of Christmas vengeance!" barked the tiny vigilante before them. "I am...the Christmas Crusader! Guardian of the back alleys and side streets of Christmas Town." He threw back his cape, making an imposing silhouette against the white sky behind him...well, probably. If you were an elf. "If you were sent by Eldrich, you must be the allies that he promised us. Well, you're late, the others..." A wolf howled, distantly, and the Crusader shot a look that way. Looking chastened by the noise, when it died down he added, "I know how he feels. Listen. You're going to attract attention stomping around there." He pointed back to the sleigh and said, "It's bigger on the inside than the outside. If some of you can help me fix the gumdrop stabilizers, I can fill you in. About her.: the Snow Queen!"

"Hey!" Jack was startled enough by the impact and sudden groping that he forgot to speak as Avenger for a moment. "What-Fly like an eagle, walk like an ox!" he muttered, getting out of the way of the bulletproof woman. Privately, he was beginning to worry about what she was seeing, or rather, what she wasn't seeing. Only one good explanation for that... Luckily, or maybe unluckily, their new friend interrupted him before he could speak, or speculate further. The small figure burst to his feet, a red and white striped cape unfurling behind him. On closer inspection, the small, power-packed figure was wearing a bright red and green mask to go with his fur-lined coat, narrow belt, and red pointy shoes that curled up at the end. In a voice like Avenger himself, or maybe like the Raven, after inhaling a quart of helium, the figure squeaked, "There are seven working defenses from this position. Three of them disarm with minimal contact. Three of them stun. The other stings. Who sent you!?" There was a candy cane visible in his hand.

"Not the family expert on magic," Avenger admitted in response to Jack of all Blades' question. "If this is magic. Borders between science and magic thin." When Victory scanned him, he gave the cyborg the stink-eye. "Can bend over and take pants off if you would prefer closer look.." Frowning, he faced the wind, wincing at the unaccustomed bite of the cold. "Have been in situations where I felt environment before. Not like this," he said, simply covering for the fact that walking corpses didn't generally feel the cold. To Avenger's relief, they crested a hill at this juncture, ending their speculation on his identity as they came across a bizarre sight. There was a...thing crashed into the snow bank in front of them, something that it took a few moments to recognize as a sleigh, like something out of a Victorian postcard or a Christmas story. Those sleighs usually didn't have bubble tops, though, nor did were they covered in gleaming chrome. The front hatch of the sleigh was open, and a figure clad in green and red was visible working on the parts inside. On closer inspection, said figure was about three feet tall.

+1 HP for Miss A

+1 HP for Fox, too.

Everyone else can see them when pointed out.

+1 HP for Avenger Miss Americana Victory

Miss Americana rose a few feet into the air...and suddenly crashed down again with a thump! While the All-American angel was still perfectly functional, something seemed to be inhibiting her flight systems from operating. Sure enough, similar problems were afflicting the other fliers like Victory and Avenger, rendering them solidly tied to the Earth. "Not the only strange thing," Avenger growled as everyone took in their surroundings. "It _feels_ cold. And I don't. Ever." He hmmed, thinking about their options. "Will be unable to survive on mountainside for long. Recommend we head for bottom of pass." Jack Faretti was a city boy, but he'd watched enough nature documentaries to know that. "Local civilization likely where habitable."

As the king shouted orders to his generals to plan for an invasion of the Great Trench, he told the assembled heroes all he knew about the vampires down below: their worship of the Dark Father Dagon and the Dark Mother Hydra, how they'd raided Atlantean settlements for generations, and how their ancient history was at least as old as the sunken island itself. "True sunlight may well burn them, but powerful sorcery would be needed to bring such a light to the depths of the Trench. The purity of orichalcum is required to strike at the core of the beasts, but sheer power may rip all but the strongest apart." He promised to make sure they all were equipped with at least some of the precious metal, and that they'd be fighting alongside Atlantis' best. They had some time to make plans when the generals returned with their staff, the King excusing himself with the simple words. "I'm going to see my daughter." Fusion knew most of them coming in, at least by sight, but of course now wasn't the time for pleasantries. The trip to the Trench, as displayed for them on a map made of an Atlantean parchment that kept its shape even miles below the surface, would take perhaps half a day aboard a fast submarine, and from there down deep into the Trench where the volcanoes blossomed, to the old Temple of Dagon. Fusion offered some advice about the trip, remembering her own voyages in the area some years earlier. The water all around them was cold, the lights in the room the only source of light they could see, providing edges of darkness to their vision. With the immediate crisis over, even as they planned, it was easy to tell just how far down they were.

"I...what?" It took Avenger a few moments to process what he'd learned. Marriage to Phantom had taught him that magic was a very strange thing. A few minutes ago, I'd have said there was nothing magical that could surprise me anymore. He'd also have dismissed this as a hallucination brought on by too much artificial blood, but he knew just enough about magic to know that the more ridiculously unlikely a threat was, the more plausible it was. You've been to realms of imagination before, he reminded himself. This can't be that strange... " I'm in. Maybe secure present for son as reward." And with that, he stepped into the mystic gate of light provided by the master of magic. Cold washed over the heroes as they stepped through the gateway, shimmering patterns of sparkly white filling their vision, before they stepped out into the world the mystic had opened up to them. A chill wind swirled around the group, walls of snow and mist rising everywhere as they stepped out onto a field of snow and frost. When the snow cleared, the heroes found themselves standing outside on snow-covered ground in a mountain pass of some sort. Eldrich’s phantasmal form hovered above, a look of strain on his face. Hmm. Avenger thought. I know Espadas, and that must be the sister. Dragonfly is that teenage gadget girl from Greenbank; and shiny there is that government cyborg Victory. And the lady is...very attractive! Miss Americana, I think, that patriotic superwoman. Quite a team Eldrich has put together. Before Avenger, or any of the others could speak, the Master Mage spoke for them all. “I have expended my energies,” Eldrich said. “I must return to my physical body at once, in hopes of navigating the netherworlds. The forces that have upset the natural order are close at hand. It is now up to you, my friends. You must put things right once more!” With those words, Eldrich’s astral form faded and was gone. A cold wind swirled through the pass, whipping up the snow, and thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance. They were somewhere very far from Freedom City indeed!

From the white light stepped a figure Avenger immediately recognized: from the billowing black cape of flight to the glowing blue eyes, from the mystic symbol he wore as a brooch to the sheer aura of arcane power that seemed to crackle from him, Avenger immediately recognized the Master Mage of Earth. (He was fairly sure Phantom could take this guy without a problem...but Taylor was visiting her family tonight, and he'd taken the freedom of a sleeping baby to go get in some much-needed solo work). Glowing with arcane power, the Master Mage looked down at Avenger and said "Greetings, Avenger. A grave crisis has arisen which threatens the spirit of the world itself. Sinister forces threaten to devour the very spiritual essence of the coming days." Avenger slugged Tommahan in the back of the head, knocking the ex-hitman cold. "Listening." - Across the city, Eldritch gazed levelly at Dragonfly. "I am Eldritch, the Master Mage. You need not fear your secrets in my hands; I am but a shadow sent to summon heroes in a time of great need. A new and terrible magical power threatens a master craftsman, a being whose commitment to building instruments of joy and wonder is legendary across all Creation. This crisis threatens to steal the magic of the coming days and cast shadows of darkness and cold upon the soul of the Material Plane. Will you assist in the salvation of the world?" - "The children of the world look up to you as a shining beacon of hope, Victory," said the mystic who comfortably kept pace with Victory in the sky: impossibly, he was not 'there' on any of Victory's internal sensors, but he was clearly visible to the cyborg hero's eyes and ears. "As they do for very few even in this much beloved city. The world needs you to defend the hearts of those children today, and to ensure that those hearts and minds are filled with joy and wonder, not tainted with the cold darkness of the Adversary and her attempts to gather all the light of the coming season for herself. Will you battle for justice in the realm beyond this one?" - Floating just inside Gina's window, Eldritch added to his earlier speech, "While Cyberknife's services would be welcome on this plane, there is another who could be of far more use in the chilly realm to which you and your allies must travel. This is a great and weighty task, and so too the danger may be great and weighty." He looked steadily at Gina and said, If you can summon that other, I can ensure that her powers will not fail her even through the mystic portal to the realm so threatened by the cold and sinister magics of the Adversary." - Across the city, a similar conversation was taking place with the Espadas siblings, the shadowy form of the mystic drifting where shoppers were still passing right through his billowing cloak. "I am given to understand that the you, Erik and Eliza Espadas, have personal knowledge of champions of justice who can join together with other champions of justice to save the spirit of the coming days for all mankind. If that is true, they must come with me through the mystic portal, so that justice may prevail for all mankind."

Avenger, Dragonfly, Jack of all Blades, Miss Americana, and Victory save Christmas.

December 23, 2010 It's a cold and dreary day in late December, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere where most people live. It's no better in Freedom City, where a heavy snowfall last night has transformed into dirty ice and slush by the unaesthetic mechanics of life in a major urban area. It's a good day to be inside with a strong cup of hot cocoa or eggnog, letting ceremonial libations shake away the incipient holiday blues. Luckily this is generally a quiet time for superheroes: most supercriminals are people too, and even the ones without Christmas cheer have been socked away at home thanks to the lousy weather. You need a good reason to be out tonight, whether it's carrying out the duties of a government agent's patrol, hunting for last-minute Christmas presents, or else dealing with problems that have nothing to do with the season. - "Growing tired of these lies," said Avenger, leering malevolently down at the snitch he'd cornered in the Fens back alley. There were new heroes active in the Fens, he knew, but these were _his_ streets, and he was possessive enough, and secretive enough, that he preferred to keep his own council even when dealing with notorious criminals. "Christmas will be difficult in prison. Worse in prison hospital." He grabbed the frightened man by the collar and jacked him up against the wall with one hand, a murderous look in his eyes. "Where's the shipment?" "Oh God, don't hurt me, please!" Mondale Tommahan whimpered, still wearing the shattered sunglasses that Avenger had broken on his face and then neatly put back there after dragging him away for interrogation. He'd heard all about the notorious vigilante, about his brutality and uncompromising violence, and watching him tear through his friends in the Irish mob in their favorite bar that evening had certainly put the fear of Avenger into him. "Look, the X-Ray stuff was just a joke, man? What kind of scuzzball would take naked pictures of Lady Liberty-" "A SCUZZBALL LIKE YOU!" Damn, Jack loved the look in their eye when he _yelled_. "Already know you inside. Time to show you!" He went for the machete on the wall, the one that usually had them wetting themselves before his hands were on the blade, but his nighttime exertions were suddenly interrupted as a brilliant white light shone on the wall in a pattern of brilliant hexagons!

"OOH, WHAT DO YOU THINK HE'Z GOING TO DO?" came a speculative question from behind Gaian Knight, the sheer bulk of the bees making a mockery of their efforts to whisper discreetly to one another. "I BET HE'Z GOING TO MAKE A HOUZE ZO BIG, WE COULD MAKE A DOZEN DOZEN BABIEZ!" "YEAH!" The bees really seemed to like that idea, especially the boys who'd stuck their heads out to look. "ONE DAY THIZ WHOLE WORLD WILL BE COVERED IN OUR HIVEZ! IT'LL BE GREAT!" "BUT WAIT, WHAT WILL WE EAT?" "NO, ITZ COOL, WE'LL HAVE PARKZ AND ZTUFF FOR OUR FLOWERZ AND OTHER ZTUFF WE EAT. AND OTHER ANIMALZ TOO, ZO WE CAN LOOK AT THEM. I HAVE THIZ ALL PLANNED OUT..."

"It is acceptable," said the Omegadrone, amending that quickly to, "It is very good." It wasn't said with the artifice that Miss A associated with that sort of conversational gambit from other men. Harrier was not a socially tactful person at the best of times, and how you gave compliments wasn't a skill he'd yet mastered. Taking the weapon in hand, his hands armoring up as he did so, he tested the now-concealed pike carefully. "Yes, the balance has not changed. Remarkable. I have seen technology like this before but never for...this purpose." He pumped his hand up and down on the handle, and the concealment on the 'blade' followed the retracting pike until it snapped down into an easily portable version he could install on his belt. "Yes, thank you, Miss Americana," he intoned. "This is...this is a very special day."

"IT'Z A GREAT HOUZE, MAN. HE REALLY BUILT TO LAZT." The gigantic bee loomed over the two of them, casting a great compound eye Victory's way. "DO YOU BUILD THINGZ TOO? BEECAUSE I ZAW A ZHOW IN THE OTHER WORLD WHERE THERE WAZ THIZ POOL FULL OF CHAMPAGNE AND HUMANOIDS ZWAM AROUND IN IT, AND THEY SAID IT WAS A 'VERY CLAZZY CRIB.' I'D LIKE TO GET ZOME CLAZZ AROUND HERE." He buzzed, and it was as if Victory had stuck his head up his own vents. "I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT CHAMPAGNE IZ, BUT I BET WE CAN MAKE IT OUT OF HONEY IF WE TRY. PEOPLE ARE CRAZY FOR HONEY." The giant bee seemed perfectly content to hover there and talk in a slow, lazy way about his plans for a champagne tub. "WE'D HAVE TO MAKE IT BIG ENOUGH FOR BEEZ, OF COURZE..."

Quo-Dis ate with relish herself, chewing and swallowing with the table manners of an eight year old. When she was getting looks from her fellows, she coughed a little and wiped her face with a napkin. "I'm sorry," she said a little abashedly. "I try to emulate the rest of you, but it's not always easy." She turned to Corbin and smiled winningly at him, her teeth sparkingly as she grinned. "I enjoy eating, especially rich food like this. What do you like to eat, Corbin?"

Constitution has nothing to do with Defense. If you want to raise your Defense, you buy it up directly.

Nullifier PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 20 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 10 (+0) CON 10 (+0) INT 18 (+4) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+8 Nullify Array) DEF: +14 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +6 Saves: 20 pp TOU +6 (+0 Con, +6 Protection) FORT +8 (+0 Con, +8) REF +8 (+0 Ref, +8) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Bluff 8 (+10) Diplomacy 8 (+10) Knowledge: Life Sciences 8 (+12) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 8 (+12) Medicine 8 (+10) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 11 pp Dodge Focus 6, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 57 pp Nullifier Array Nullify 12 (all powers) (Extra: Effortless, PF: Accurate) [49+1=50 pp] AP: Stun 12 (Extras: Autofire [10], Ranged, PF: Accurate, Reversible, Sedation) Protection 6 [6 pp] costs abilities 20 + combat 28 + saves 20 + skills 14/56 + feats 13 + powers 57 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here's a character built around the 3/pp per rank version of Nullify, the one that lets her potentially shut down all powers if she rolls well enough. There are lots of power nullifiers in comics, but the problem is that it's not a power you want to hang a character on in a game like this. You want your PL 10 PC to be able to do _something_ to affect that PL 2 thug, never mind that PL 10 martial artist, and that's not going to happen if all you can do is zap powered guys. For that matter, if the powered guy has a gun, he can still ruin your day. So my mental conception for this lady is that she has the power to affect brain function: she can zap the parts of your brain that control your powers, or she can just zap you and knock you out by hitting that part of her brain. As written she can zap anybody. If there's someone who you don't think her descriptors are compatible with (magical, technological, whatever they are), just give her an HP for the Complications. The Effortless on her Nullify means she can zap people again and again without needing to use extra effort: this is an extremely useful extra, especially if Nullify is one of your primary abilities. You could easily switch the Stun out for something else: I could see this character with a Ranged Drain, representing another kind of attack on the brain and nervous system, or maybe if she's some kind of energy vampire in general. (Either magical or otherwise; ain't comics science grand?) The general idea I have is that she's a scientist with an expertise in the science of superpowers, and got her powers either through deliberate experiment or laboratory accident. You can tweak that however you want, perhaps making her more of a streetwise adventurer or similar champion. It's easy to condemn people for making characters written around their powers, but I think there's nothing wrong with that assuming you do actually come up with a backstory for Lady Nullifier or Dr. Fire Blast, or whatever. If you think a power is cool, by all means, start there and build your character around it. Just make sure you do actually have a character there at the end of the day.

Origami Thief PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 30 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 18 (+4) CON 16 (+3) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+12 origami/melee) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +10 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +7 (+4 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 13 pp=52 r Bluff 8 (+9) Craft: Artistic 4 (+7) Disable Device 10 (+13) Knowledge: Streetwise 4 (+7) Language 2 (Chinese, Japanese) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 8 (+12) Feats: 22 pp All-Out Attack, Attack Focus: Melee 6, Attack Specialization 3 (Origami Array), Dodge Focus 4, Elusive Target, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Second Chance (Disable Device checks) Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 47 pp Animate Objects 4 (Extra: Horde) (Flaw: Paper Products Only) (PFs: Progression 3 [x10 objects]) 'origami minions' Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6 pp] 'flying cranes' Origami Mastery Array [16+4=20 pp] Blast 8 'paper darts' AP: Move Object 8 (Extra: Range [Perception]) (Flaw: Paper Products Only) 'origami by sight' AP: Strike 6 (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Mighty, Precise) (Extra: Penetrating 6) 'paper sword' AP: Snare 8 'paper snake' Protection 5 [5 pp] 'paper armor' costs abilities 30 + combat 28 + saves 10 + skills 13/52 + feats 22 + powers 47 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: From an idea by Electra! It's not easy to be a master thief, especially if you're not as interested in being on top (and thus attracting attention) as your good buddy Magpie. So what you do is specialize. In this lady's case, she's a specialist in stealing and moving paper products. From treaties to trade secrets to copies of the Declaration of Independence, she's the lady you call. And with good reason. She's not just a master thief; she's a deadly melee combatant and not incidentally a superpowered paper controller in her own right! Yes, by mastering the ancient art of origami, as well as learning its true spiritual essence, she's learned to sculpt and mold paper however she will: summoning it from beneath her clothes to make a flexible suit of armor, sculpting it in her hands into blades or clubs that could break down a wooden door, and even flying on paper airplanes! She can also summon paper to hand, and shape it without the use of something so tawdry as a finger. She's not the world's greatest thief, no, but with aggressive use of HP and Second Chance, you may not notice she's rolling less than the big dogs out there in the stealing world. She doesn't need to break into banks when the money can just come out to her. She's got a cool power and a cool look, what's not to like? The biggest challenge with a character like this is how you justify her lifestyle. Theft is not very heroic! One easy out is to say she's recently reformed: perhaps as a way of tapping the local Costumed Adventurer, or maybe just because she's looking to lay low on the good side of the law for a while. Or maybe she's not supposed to be working in this town at all, and she's just back visiting family when she gets sucked into doing good deeds. Play with the theme all you want, but I like the idea of a character flying in through an open window in a giant paper airplane, stealing the secret documents that hold the bad guys' plans, then flying out again with a smile on her face and a sword made from paper in her hand. Don't laugh, man, papercuts hurt! Stunt off her various powers if you want her to do something really big with animated paper. It's pretty broad, and if you limit yourself to just origami shapes, well, you won't have any limits at all! And hey, who else gets a chance to fold the Constitution into a paper crane and fly off with it? Darn few!

When the work was finally done, Harrier studied Gina's preliminary design from the examination table before rising. "I thank you. This will be a very fine thing." She actually got a faint smile out of the usually impassive former drone at the thought of what they were doing. "To walk among people as one of them, without fearing their reaction to my face, to use that power for the betterment of all..." He studied Miss Americana and said, "It is a gift I have never believed I am worthy of."

"Ach, you-" Edge staggered before the onslaught of cold, and suddenly none of this was funny anymore. They were fighting the ghosts of dead men on an alien world on behalf of an empire that he held no loyalty to, and somehow it did nothing but make him angry. "Listen to me," he said with sudden fierceness. "You're nothing but an old-timey supervillain with stupid old technology and stupid old-fashioned powers, and we're some of the baddest people in Freedom City! You want your father back? Here! Here's your father back!" And with that, a remarkable thing happened: a black curl of shimmering dots formed over Mark's hands, and with a gesture he hurled them at Rasputin. The dots seemed to soak into the cyborg's metallic parts, blood and flesh flowing over steel and brass, the freezonium in his chest gradually being squeezed out by the replacement of steel and wire with flesh and bone. "If you want to be heartless, by God I'll shove a heart down your throat!"