Avenger Assembled

"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!"

Fusion's fist shook as she glared at Otaku's face, the smugness draining out of him as fast as the blood running down his leg. She hadn't just broken his leg, she'd crushed it, breaking skin and bone and flesh and leaving his foot dangling limply. From the way his color was changing, he was probably going into shock. But beyond him, though, those movies were playing and those images were dancing, those filthy, disgusting perversions of everything she'd worked for, everything she'd tried to stand for, everything she..."I could rip you in half like a wishbone," spat Fusion, her eyes full of hate. "But you'd enjoy it too damn much." She slugged him, hard enough to smash his head into the monitor behind him, and the unconscious mad scientist dropped without a sound. She half-turned to the others, limbs still spread, crucified on a cross of adult manga and hentai websites. "Everything...just..." Don't let them see you cry. Don't let them see you cry. She swallowed the words, and the tears, and shot the unconscious Otaku a truly murderous look. "Let's get him the hell out of here."

Quo-Dis didn't seem inclined to dominate the conversation, and so instead she fell silent and let the others talk, occasionally squeezing Corbin's hand when he seemed to want her to. She didn't really understand why a mortal would talk so much, but he was cute and seemed to enjoy it, and what was one evening when there was so much else going on. She did eventually shift the subject to science and industry, seemingly curious about what Jessica's latest scientific projects were accomplishing. I should talk to Zarana about the dress, she thought, still a little crestfallen. I was sure the red one was best, but maybe she was right about the little black one. Why are the boys so eager with her, but not so eager with me?

Pirate PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 40 pp STR 24 (+7) DEX 14 (+2) CON 24 (+7) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+8 Melee) DEF: +8 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +10 Grapple: +15 Saves: 11 pp TOU +12 (+7 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +10 (+7 Con, +3) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 19 pp=76 r Acrobatics 8 (+10) Bluff 8 (+10) Climb 8 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+14) Languages 4 (Carib, Dutch, French, Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Pilot 8 (+10) Survival 4 (+6) Swim 4 (+11) Feats: 21 pp Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus: Melee (2) Challenge 2 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Startle) Dodge Focus (2) Fearless, Improved Initiative (2), Leadership, Luck (3), Move-By Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack (2) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 35 pp Device 5 (Cutlass) (easy to lose) [15 pp] Corrosion 5 (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Mighty, Precise) (Extra: Penetrating 4) {24} -AP: Teleport 6 (20 miles) (Extra: Portal) (PFs: Progression 6 [500 by 500 ft]) {24} Device 4 (Ring) (Hard to Lose) [16 pp] -Immunity 9 (Life Support) {9} -Impervious TOU 5 {5} -Protection 5 (PF: Subtle) {6} Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1 [1/week]) (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [3 pp] costs abilities 40 + combat 24 + saves 11 + skills 19/76 + feats 21 + powers 35 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: A pirate, for all your piratey needs. My backstory for this lady is as follows: around 1640, a young woman living in a Maroon community in the Caribbean basin saw a meteor fall from the sky. Tracking its impact, she found what looked like a shattered suit of armor, the Star Knight inside having burned up during his descent into Earth's atmosphere. (Far away in Greece, Taurus chuckled as he looked into Medea's scrying pool: now that their explorer had been so thoroughly and untraceably annihilated, surely the men from the Heavens would no longer trouble the great bull and his master Hades!) subject of our tale was friendly with the local blacksmith, and she took what she'd found to see if he could make anything useful for her. When he let her wield the cutlass, and try on the ring, she realized the awesome power of the items, and used them to make her people grow great. She could shrug off punches and bullets, cut through _anything_, even the sky itself, leaving open great gouges that her ship could sail right through. But eventually her reign as pirate queen came to an end when a powerful shaman of the Carib froze her in time, trapping her beneath the surface of Mt. Pelee until a recent eruption freed her. Now she's ready to fight for justice just as she did hundreds of years ago! Obviously a somewhat romanticized take on piracy! Piracy in the Caribbean is very much a story about the Americas, so I tried to work that in without losing sight of the time and place where it happened. I've already got a keen lady swashbuckler in the thread, so instead I decided to draw on fictional pirates like 7th Sea's Captain Reis (if you see Reis, run) to create a character who can fight way, way out of her weight class thanks to the cool artifacts she's got on hand. I'm bored with making magical characters, M&M ain't D&D or your local Harry Dresden novel, so instead I gave her an alien connection and a tie-in to the setting of Freedom City. If she's got a ship or a crew, that's something to buy with Equipment or Minions. You could always have her ship docked somewhere and make it a headquarters, since a wooden pirate ship is not going to be that great on today's seas. Tweak her a little bit and she'd make a dandy space pirate: I have given her Pilot deliberately for that. (I think Pilot works OK as a skill for navigating a boat) Change the feats and skills up a bit to make her a lady pirate from some other ocean: there were some remarkable Chinese pirates in past generations, and making one an immortal with a sword that'll cut through anything is certainly a remarkable way to play with that archetype. You can make her more Iron Age if you want, play up how crappy and miserable life as a Caribbean pirate actually was, but that's not very heroic! She's probably a lot more chaotic good than your average superheroine, which may cause her some issues. The fact that she's a woman out of time from the 17th century will cause even more issues.

Rough Rider PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 56 pp STR 24 (+7) DEX 18 (+4) CON 24 (+7) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 20 (+5) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+9 melee/+13 unarmed) DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed) Grapple: +16 Init: +7 Saves: 13 pp TOU +10 (+7 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +10 (+7 Con, +3) REF +8 (+4 Dex, +4) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 19pp=76 r Climb 4 (+11) Bluff 8 (+13) Diplomacy 8 (+13) Intimidate 8 (+13) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 4 (+7) Knowledge: History 4 (+7) Knowledge: Tactics 4 (+7) Languages 4 (German, Green, Latin, Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Perform (Oratory) 8 (+13) Ride 4 (+8) Survival 4 (+6) Feats: 26 pp All-Out Attack, Attack Focus: Melee Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Benefit 3 (Security Clearance, Status, Wealth) Connected, Contacts, Dodge Focus 2 Defensive Attack, Elusive Target, Improved Initiative, Inspire 4, Luck, Master Plan 2, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack, Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 4 pp Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Protection 3 [3 pp] costs abilities 56 + combat 32 + saves 13 + skills 19/76 + feats 26 + powers 4 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Back in 1919, the Rough Rider helped found the very first super-agency in the employ of the American government. (I'm not counting the various private contractors and individual agents employed during the late 19th century, mind you: those were more a result of the upswing in giant mechanical spiders after the Civil War left so many Confederate geniuses unemployed and crazy). Recognizing that the new breed of enemy (the first generation of early supervillains like Robur and the Phantom, the nascent rumblings of the worshippers of the Unspeakable One, newly empowered by the carnage of the World War, and even conventional crime bosses) was something special, the Rough Rider faked his own death and came to head the unnamed agency that became America's very first line of defense against the things that go bump in the night. He's been an effective leader all these years; sustaining himself by means of a secret formula he stole from the Lord of Strange Deaths, allying with superheroes and battling against eternal threats that have bedeviled the American people for generations. Adapting to the new age hasn't been easy, and he's made some big mistakes. But he's helped protect the nation he's spent so much time defending time and time again, and he's as active and vital as he ever was. The thing is, though, now that there are so many other super-agencies and superheroes out there, he's got a little more time on his hands, and he's thinking about getting back in the field. The Rough Rider should play well in a Freedom City game: AEGIS and other US government agencies don't focus on the sort of pulp-style or magical threats that the Rough Rider's agency does. An ideal story should see him leading his agents into battle against Cthulu one day, Fu Manchu the next, and then romancing a lovely operative from the other side at the same moment. Play him as a cordial Nick Fury running the BPRD, a man much more popular than the Patriot in his prime. (Treat his one eye as a Complication, since it didn't seem to slow him down that much in real life.) An obvious Silver Age-era teamup would have been with the Beast Genius upthread, naturally.

Slumberland Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 30 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 14 (+2) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+9 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +12 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 16 pp=64 pp Acrobatics 4 (+6) Bluff 9 (+10) Climb 5 (+10) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 6 (+6) Knowledge: Behavioral Sciences 6 (+6) Notice 13 (+15) Sense Motive 15 (+17) Survival 4 (+6) Swim 4 (+9) Feats: 14 pp Attack Focus: Melee 3 Attack Specialization: Unarmed 3, Dodge Focus 4, Evasion, Fearless, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 52 pp Enhanced Feats 2 (Affects Insubstantial 2 on Unarmed) [2 pp] 'dreamtouch' Protection 3 [3 pp] Slumber King Array [41+4=45 pp] Illusion 10 (all senses) (Extra: Selective) (Flaw: Phantasm) (PF: Progression (10 square feet) ) 'summoning dreams' AP: Mental Blast 10 (PF: Reversible) 'nightmares' AP: Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Action [standard/Move], Area [burst]) (PF: Subtle) 'dream-reading' AP: Stun 10 (Extra: Perception Range [+2]) (Extra: Sleep [+0]) (PF: Sedation) 'go to sleep' AP: Teleport 9 (anywhere on Earth) (Extras: Accurate, Affects Others) (PFs: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Progression (250 lbs), Turnabout) 'dream-walking' Immunity 1 (Sleep) [1 pp] Super-Movement 1 (Dimensional Movement [slumberland]) (Flaw: Limited (Nighttime Only) ) [1 pp] costs abilities 30 + combat 28 + saves 10 + skills 16/64 + feats 14 + powers 52 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Once upon a time, there was a boy named Nemo with the power to journey into other worlds while he slept. He had many fantastic adventures in Dreamland, meeting his enemy-turned-friend Flip, his ally the Imp, and of course the young lady he loved, the Princess, daughter of Queen Morpheus of Dreamland. In the modern era, Nemo might have become a superhero...but this was a long time before superheroes were ever dreamed of. So instead Nemo became something of a gentleman adventurer, exploring the fantastic and wonderful world of dreams, then coming home and telling his stories to a family friend with a job as a cartoonist. Some of those tales, suitably edited, made it into the newspapers. In the summer of 1914, the seventeen year old Nemo fell asleep one last time and took the Princess as his bride. His wealthy, neglectful parents barely noticed he was gone, leaving not even a body behind. Those were grim years for the couple; the coming World War changed the world of dreams forever, bringing forth nightmares that required his heroic efforts. King Morpheus died of that war, engaging the Nightmare Hun in hand-to-hand combat over the River of Sleep, and Nemo became Regent. Regent Nemo ruled long and wisely, even though the world of dreams was never quite the same as it had been in his youth. He fought alongside heroes like Randolph Carter and Adrian Eldritch in subsequent decades, his children growing to adulthood even as the world of dreams kept him a vital middle age. Finally, nearly a century after Nemo’s first arrival in Dreamland, his grandchild decided to follow where King Nemo had come from, and headed to the world of the wakeful. Yes, it’s a legacy character for Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo in Slumberlandverse. He can put people to sleep, hit them with waking dreams that fool the senses, hurt them with really bad nightmares, read their dreams, or just step through their minds and come out thousands of miles away. He’s a bit more of a man of action than the usual mentalist/mystic, having plenty of experience punching monsters back where he came from.

The bees were very happy with Gaian Knight's design, peering into it and poking it with their giant limbs, buzzing to each other pleasedly in voices that nearly made the air blur. "HOORAY! YOU BUILT UZ A COMB! IT IZ ZOOOO NIZE!" They flew up behind him, coming perilously close to slapping him on the back with legs as large as his whole body before Beatrizz hissed at them. While some of the less intelligent ones were wondering how they'd all fit, the smarter ones seemed quite pleased with what had been wrought. Speaking for the others, she said, "IT IZ A BEAUTIFUL HOUZE, GAIAN KNIGHT! YOU ARE THE BEZT! YEZ, PLEAZE MAKE IT BIGGER!"

"LANZE, HUH? IZ THAT BECAUZ OF YOUR-OH!" The drone scrubbed at his face with legs longer than Victory's body. "I AM ZORRY, I KNOW I ZHOULD NOT TALK TO HUMANIODZ ABOUT THAT. YEAH, THINGZ ARE PRETTY GOOD! ME AND DA BOYZ ARE HAVING IT PRETTY GOOD! WE ARE GETTING PRETTY CRUNK ON THE HONEY WE ARE ZTORING UP, AT LEAZT WHEN THE QUEEN IZ NOT LOOKING. AHAHAHA!" He laughed, and it made the air vibrate. "ZHE ZAYZ THAT IF ALL GOEZ WELL, MAYBE IN ZUMMER WE MAKE THE LITTLE BEEZ!"

Fusion stepped forward and punched Otaku in the armor, instantly pulverizing the magitek and sending broken fragments flying everywhere. "This is it, Solo." she spat, murder in her white-covered eyes. "You think the US government is going to let you get away with this? They'll lock you up with the other perverts and creeps in Blackstone and I'll be there, laughing!" Disarmed and actually in his skivvies thanks to the total destruction of both his sets of armor, Otaku laughed. "Ahahaha! You think any jail can hold me? I'm the smartest man in the world, Fusion! And I'll make sure to tell everyone how you and your friends had to get me naked to beat me! Maybe next time I bring some robots for all of you, especially your sexy green friend." He winked suggestively. Fusion responded with a curse and lashed out with her limbs, tentacles erupting explosively from her sides as wet, slippery muscle wrapped around Otaku's arms and legs. "You perverted little!-" She had him good, her grip like iron as she held the formerly armored genius up against a bank of computer monitors. Otaku, though, just managed to tap a button on the wall behind him, and suddenly all those screens were filled with images of Fusion: some were broadcasts of the hentai she so despised, others were worse, far, far worse: 'fan' sites from Japan and elsewhere, disgusting perversity Photoshopped and manipulated, drawn by hand and drawn by computer. Fusion writhing with passion, Fusion as a tentacled goddess of sex, a thousand different images of the heroine warped to pornography. "You're very popular, my saucy little minx," he gloated. "When I get out again, maybe this time I'll sell my Fusion design to some very wealthy gentlemen I know in..." Suddenly, Otaku _screamed_, his eyes going wide from fear and pain, as the sound of a wet, muffled CRACK echoed through the room. It took only a moment to realize what had happened: Fusion had just crushed his left shin underfoot, his leg visibly bent in a forward position beneath her iron grip. Her teeth set with fury, Fusion pulled him close and drew back her fist, her other limbs tightening around him as Otaku's arms and legs began to bend...

Adamant turned and gave Wander what was obviously a _glare_. This close, she could see two red eyes through the darkness of his helmet. There was no sign of life beyond that, and certainly no sign of anyone inside the armor. For a bare second, she thought the giant armor would surely attack her before it drove its fist into the ground again, making the whole volcano shake. This time, though, Wander could feel another impact through her bootheels: not one caused by the giant armor, but rather, by something _inside_ the volcano, striking _up_ at the surface beneath her feet. Sure enough, suddenly a grey fist the size of Wander's torso burst from the ground before Adamant, and something very large, bigger as a full-sized bus standing on its feet, began crawling out of its rocky tomb inside the mountain. Watching, Mark got on his commlink to the others while Psyche pushed against her first target, finding a mind there but one shielded by impenetrable walls against her mental investigations. _Something_ was inside Adamant, but it was going to be very, very difficult to actually get in there and reach it. Not impossible, though. Mark said a few short words: "Adamant is here. The Beast is escaping. Get the crystals and get here now."

The inside of the caverns was almost shockingly bright by infravision: it was very hot in there, much, much warmer than the chilly day outside. Within seconds of Fleur's shout, Victory heard, then felt, an enormous, deep basso vibration as if an aircraft was headed right for him! Seconds later, he picked out an infrared signature, a big one, closing fast right on his position! Fleur didn't seem bothered by the oncoming projectile, which turned out to be...a giant bee! Beearthur was a drone, and thus not very clever, but he was one of the more clever and articulate "boyzzz" Stesha had met in the hive. "HELLLLOOOOO! HOW NIZE TO ZEE YOU AGAIN FLEUR DE JOIE!" He gave Victory a sidelong look with an eye large enough to fit the cyborg's entire body in if he crouched down. "WHO IZ YOUR METAL FRIEND?"

"I don't understand anything about your politics or history," Quo-Dis immediately confessed. "Why did women allow men to oppress them for so long? And why would men want to oppress women at all? That's half the human species, and what kind of society did that give people? Nothing but mothers and infants dying in childbirth while you all lived in your own..." She paused and cleared her throat, cheeks blushing prettily as she said, "Ah, er, I meant no offense. As I said, my people are very different than yours. I am not good at understanding the differences sometimes."

Harrier had no idea who that was, and had the curiosity to ask for more information. He nodded at the description of the man's life, listening with his usual imperturbable expression, then fell silent when Miss Americana was finished. "People will be angry if this deception fails." he said quietly. "I have walked among them as a monster, and this way I will walk among them as a monster who hides his face. Is this a mistake?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Is it moral to hide your true nature from even your closest allies?"

The subsequent storm of bees would have been daunting for any other women; as it was, the arrival of dozens of gigantic, noisy bees in the throes of a joyous celebration was certainly a sight to remember! The bees buzzed and danced for each other, grabbing forelimbs and spinning around and around, incidentally knocking over trees like kindling in their celebrations. They were making loud, booming noises like aircraft engines backfiring, and it took a moment to realize that this was the language of gigantic bees. It took a while to sort out one giant bee from others, but they all seemed to be working together to help the queen make her way towards their new home, with lots of feeler-rubs and leg-grabs along the way. Beatrizz finally found Fleur in the crowd, reaching down to pull her up for a hug. "FLEUR DE JOIE! I AM ZO HAPPY! YOU HAVE ZAVED UZZZZ!" she cried, sounding very emotional.

"Quite," said the king, shooting Supercape a fierce look. "The shadow-death has threatened my people since before the Sinking. It is a transformation of the flesh and soul, one that turns good men, women, animals, and even plants into the living dead. All that live may die before the power of the Great Mother." He muttered a surfacer curse. "I had never thought to equate them with the vampires of the surface, but now that I think on it...yes, perhaps they spring from the same foul venom, but changed by Mother Ocean." He stroked his beard. "Only immersion in a pure chamber of gold will transform the cursed into what they once were. And that, only if it is applied within a few hours or days. Those who have been with the Dark Mother and Father long enough cannot be saved." "Are they just another variety of Deep One, then?" asked Fusion, returning with her arms folded around her. "Or do they carry a special curse beyond Serpent blood?" Her tentacle ached, but no more than any similar hurt would have. Surely it was nothing: her physiology was barely human these days, and certainly not Atlantean. She was fine, she was sure: this was hardly the first time she'd been exposed to a toxin like this. _Stupid way to get bitten. I've fought hundreds of undersea creatures like that, and one of them managed to get lucky..._ "They are doubly-cursed. I have seen legions of the Deep Ones bare fangs beyond fangs, and feast on the flesh of even their living worshippers." He hissed at the memory. "But they have not been seen since my mother gave up her post years ago. Their destruction, or what was thought to be their end, was what brought her retirement." He drove his fist into one hand. "We must go below! To the very depths of the Great Rift, where once they dwelt, with the armies of my people at our back! If they have returned, together we shall destroy them!"

For future reference, you'll really want to expand what you write on. This is acceptable, but it's at the bare minimum. APPROVED

APPROVED