Avenger Assembled

Harrier's eyes widened: these were not the questions of an angry woman with no knowledge! "No. Physician Friendly uses Nightmare Nurses, robots of his own design, rather than Omegadrones, for his personal security. He feels Omegadrones do not provide the proper atmosphere for his research." He studied the girl before him, seeing a look in her eyes he'd imagined a thousand times. "I was assigned to heavy combat duties. Extirpating resistance, fighting in the games. The Physician does not engage in either." A wise man would have shut up there, but Harrier was more honest than wise. "I was primarily part of the household of Shadivan Steelgrave and the Madrigal Martinet."

"Yes." Murdock replied without hesitation, studying the girl before him with suspicious eyes. He knew the students here were trained to deal with an Omegadrone, but there was something different about this one. Something a little unsettling. He considered telling her that he'd never visited Prime before his liberation, that whatever she'd lost to the Terminus he hadn't been responsible for. But could he really say things like that, and sleep at night? "My organic brain was not damaged during my liberation. I recall everything that has happened to me."

"Let's melt that ice with the power of heroism!" shouted Mark, waving the flag. "Of friendship, and justice, and liberty! Let's heat things up with the burning power of America!" Even he wasn't usually quite so melodramatic, but something about the setting appealed to his inner muse. He made a gesture, and they were all encapsulated in a cloud of whirling black bubbles that sent them where they needed to go. For those used to Edge's more bizarre powers, everything was normal, but those he hadn't teleported before were struck by the distinct though irrational feeling that they hadn't moved at all, that rather the world around them was changing to put them where they needed to go!

"You cannot hesitate, Prometheus," the half-armored drone was warning the other student as they both practiced with their pikes. "If you are fighting a drone, you will be very lucky if they have simply come to kill you. If you are unlucky, they will take you back, and destroy you again." His voice was quiet and flat, not quite devoid of intonation, but still somehow artificial. He sounded as if he was already inside digitized armor, in fact. "But what if they are free too?" asked Prometheus, his voice innocent and a little worried at the prospect. "If you are free, and I am free, then many more of us could also be liberated. Wouldn't it be murder if I kill a free drone?" "Would a free drone be attacking you?" "...if he thought I had come to take him back, yes!" Prometheus wasn't a smart boy, but that didn't mean he was incapable of thinking. He was in some ways, anyway, a reverse of Mark. "Surely we cannot fear each other so much." "Fear can be healthy," replied Harrier after a moment's pause, honestly not wanting to hurt the other drone's feelings. "Fear can keep you alive. I'm not telling you to attack first," he said thoughtfully, "but if an Omegadrone does attack you, he has taken his life in his hands. Believe me. You're doing them a favor." They worked out for a while more, practicing some fairly lethal-looking manuevers with their power pikes, before class called Prometheus away. He went to change out of his armor, shaking Harrier's hand before departing, Harrier's own armor retreating back inside his body as he watched the boy go. He turned, then, and saw Wander. "If this space is yours, I am finished with it." He put his hand on the post and vaulted out of the ring, landing feet-first with a loud THUD as if he'd fallen thirty feet.

Late November 2010 After an exhaustive background check, Harrier had been granted permission to meet with someone who he'd first heard of some weeks after his arrival on Earth-Prime. Prometheus was like him, an Omegadrone, but free from the power of Omega! But of course Prometheus himself had been terrified at the thought of meeting another drone, and truthfully Harrier had needed to work up his nerve to even ask. But his background had been checked and his mind probed by psychics, and so on the edge of the Claremont campus he'd been introduced to the boy who was Prometheus. It had been heartening and disheartening all at once. Prometheus looked tired and sick outside of his armor, the way all the lesser drones did, and his mind wasn't terribly sharp. Murdock wasn't at all sure what future the boy had...but at least it was the future of a free man, making his own choices and living his own life, and never again forced to kill and die at Omega's whim. Prometheus was a lucky boy; his mind was free of any memories of the Terminus, those circuits destroyed by the powerful gravitic blast that had blasted him free of the control of Omega in the first place. Truthfully, Harrier was a little envious of him. After their meeting, the two drones headed to the gym to work out, something Harrier hadn't had the opportunity to do in months, Prometheus stopping to change into his now-camouflageable armor along the way. Prometheus, like Harrier, was a firm believer in wanting to know how to kill Omegadrones, and Harrier's more recent liberation and his programming as a heavy tactical unit meant that he knew better that most sacred of arts. They stood together in the boxing ring, one in his armor and with Harrier's covering his arms and legs so he could wield his own pike. "Remember. Under the chin. Destroy the brain. Even the heavy units are underarmored there." He said, gesturing with a hard upwards gesture. Prometheus watched avidly, as he always did when taught. Neither drone noticed the heroine watching them from the door.

"Mike, I think you'd better help Alex get dressed," said Mark, peeking out the window. "We're going to get there soon!" Luckily they all had just enough time to dry off and get dressed before the plane entered Dakanan airspace, the king taking that moment to walk back into the passenger compartment to brief the kids on what they could expect. Despite Mark's eager questions, it was still clear that the rest of the evening was going to be luxurious, maybe a little decadent, but there were going to be no lion-monsters. "It will be simple enough," the White Lion promised the teens, the king in full costume but for his hood and mask. "You will be greeted in your war-names, er, codenames in superhero terms, and then introduced to the ruling council of Dakana before the reception at the palace. There will be many dignitaries there, but the environment will be relaxed," he promised. "You are going there so that you can impress them with the quality of America's young heroes; they have invited you so that Dakana may impress you with her beauty." Down below, the gentle, massive slope of Kilimanjaro was clearly visible out the windows as they headed for the capital.

Power Attacking. Taking 10. That's 25 to hit with a DC 30 TOU save assuming he gets his Sneak Attack bonus. (Perhaps by catching them unawares.) Assuming all goes as written, that's an HP for Ultimate Intimidate.

For his part, Avenger showed no hesitation when it came to killing the monsters that had taken his wife away from him. If he was slower than Erin, it was perhaps only because he drew out the fights with the ghosts long enough to see them suffer and hear them shriek before dispatching them. When there was one left, he slammed it into the wall, holding it by the throat with a red fury in his eyes. "Listen to me. I want you to send a message to the power that dispatched you. God you may be; Modrossus you may be. But if you take my wife and son from me, I will hunt you to the ends of the Earth and beyond the fabric of reality and I will rend your flesh from your bones and taste your blood in my mouth for I am Jack Faretti, wife of Taylor Chun, scion of the line of Dracula, and you are nothing but a flickering ghost hiding from a world that's passed you by" He released the ghost. "Now. CRAWL HOME."

When she was through chatting with the representative from the Distinguished Competition about how amusing it was that the Hughes family policed their heir about as well as any other rich family bothered to do, acutely conscious of the fact that Lana Loeb would of course get one of her reporters on the story that a reporter from the Ledger had so unthinking dropped in her lap, Joan walked out onto the grass for the fireworks show and sighed softly. She didn't like parties like this, and it was starting to seem like they didn't like her very much either. And why not? They're a school of fish, she decided with a wry little smile. They're not going to like an octopus in their number. But I can't change what I am, just like it looks like they can't change what they are. But we'll see. It's a long night.

"She's fine," said Mark, and in an instant it was if nothing had ever happened. "Do you ever work with Dr. Henry Farrow?" he asked, naming a famous, if slightly venerable Egyptologist who'd been active in the field many years. "He's an old friend of my family's and I've been to his house a lot. He's mostly over in Egypt, but I think he's done a lot of work in the Holy Land. He actually thinks he's found the site where the Horus first battled Set at the First Cataract of the Nile: if he can get real archeological evidence, he's going to completely reshape our understanding of the mythocultural role that the ancient Egyptian pantheon played in the physical culture of classical Egyptian civilization." He stole a crab rangoon, and quite blatantly too. "I've talked to him about that stuff a couple of times, but I'm more of a modern history guy. Still, a lot of our current superheroes trace their roots back to ancient Egypt, like the Scarab or Beacon."

If anyone wasn't going to get lost in the Void, it was Jack Faretti, mate to the guardian of the Void and all it contained. He smoothly stepped out of the darkness without so much as mussing his hair, holding little Jack Jr. securely in his arms. Wrapped up in a blanket Avenger had secured by ripping off the tablecloth as they went, the little baby was sound asleep. "I think we'd all better go our separate ways," he suggested, his voice a low whisper, "Particularly you, Viktor. How much do I owe you for tonight, Erin?" he asked, reaching neatly into his back pocket.

"You kids have a good time too," said Jack with a wink. Deciding that he didn't want to be one of those bosses, he added, "If anyone calls for us, just take a message. The people who should know where we are already know where we are. If the ghosts start giving you trouble, Erin can show you where the kitchen salt is. They're not harmful, really, they just want attention from the living. The ones covered in blood are just drama queens anyway..." He looked at his watch and shot a look at Taylor. "I think we'd better get out if we want to make the meeting. Bye, Jack Jr!" he said with a wave to his still avidly-drinking baby boy. "See you soon."

"Excellent," said Mark with an approving nod as Trevor and Erin made out. "Yes, yes, I think the two of you have won Truth or Dare!" Still a little wobbly, but for the most part completely sober thanks to the knock on the head, Mark headed over to gather up his clothes. "I suppose we'd better all sober up before we land in Dakana. This is supposed to be one of the fastest jets in the world!" Dramatically, Mark began the process of pulling his costume on. "I'm not as drunk as I thought I was," he said thoughtfully.

Duplicator PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 20 pp STR 26 [10] (+8/+0) DEX 24 [14] (+7/+2) CON 26 [12] (+8/+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+12 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +14/+20 Saves : 7 pp TOU +8 (+8 Con) FORT +8 (+8 Con) REF +8 (+7 Dex, +1) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 11 (+15) Climb 2 (+10) Drive 3 (+10) Intimidate 1 (+5) Knowledge: Civics 5 (+5) Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Language 1 (Russian) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Pilot 2 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 1 (+3) Feats: 16 pp Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Specialization: Unarmed 3, Dodge Focus 6, Evasion Luck Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 69 pp Concealment 10 (all senses) (Flaw: Miss Chance Only) [10 pp] Duplication Array 8 (16 pp, PFs: Alternate Powers 4) [20 pp] BE: Add Area [burst] and Selective to Unarmed AP: Add Autofire, Secondary Effect to Unarmed AP: Communication 3 (1000 ft) (auditory) and ESP 3 (1000 ft) (all senses) (PF: Rapid) AP: Quickness 10 (x10000) and Speed 4 (100 MPH) (PFs: Wall Run, Water Run) AP: Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: ~6 tons) Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp] Enhanced CON 12 [12 pp] Enhanced STR 16 [16 pp] Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] costs abilities 20 + combat 24 + saves 7 + skills 14/56 + feats 16 + powers 69 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: This is my revamping of my earlier Duplicator build, following up on angrydurf’s concept of a Duplicator without Duplication. Summon (which Duplication is a version of) is a very difficult (though not impossible) power to manage in play, and it has the additional downside of making you spend a lot of points and not be able to do a lot of the things that comic book duplicators can do. This lady, however, doesn’t have that problem. Her powers deserve a full explanation. I figure that she makes duplicates fast, is mentally linked with all of them, and can make ridiculous numbers at the same time. The duplicates all look alike; her concealment doesn’t mean she’s invisible, it just means you can’t tell which is her and which is the ‘duplicatee when you’re attacking her. This lets her send out an ‘army’ to sweep a whole area, easily clearing a room in a standard action; she can also focus that army on one target and do a tremendous amount of damage with a volley of unarmed strikes. She can send out dupes as scouts or as communicators, acting as the ‘nerve center’ of a whole superhero army. Not a bad person to put near your team mastermind in a fight, honestly. She can also project herself very fast in a series of duplications, use that ‘team’ to research and accomplish tasks quickly, and can ‘gang up’ on a single object or person to lift them or it greatly. (That’s actually the origin of the book Duplicator, pulling a car off a trapped person, and I think it’s pretty cool) I kept the Soviet stylings of the original build because I like the concept of the collectivist duplicator: it’s fun! If you like the ‘joke’ of Comrade Collective but don’t want to play an immortal Soviet, switch things up a little: maybe this is a Chinese super-soldier assigned to work with American heroes as a publicity gesture, or perhaps a Cuban doing the same thing. You can get a lot of mileage out of a patriotic ideologue slowly learning that maybe his country is wrong about America and its heroes; that maybe they’re wrong about a lot of things. You can discard that entirely if you want; I do like the origin story of the book Duplicator: a lonely, socially isolated person living in a very rural area, one with so few friends that she decided to make a few of her own to talk to. Duplication is a fun power, and it gives you lots of room for interesting powerstunts. One possible change is to add some kind of Perception Range Move Object to represent your dupes bringing something over to you, as it stands ‘you’ have to join them in muscling things around. OTOH, at least it keeps you from getting all lazy.

Options unfurled in Harrier's mind even as a powerful blow rocked him back, flesh giving way inside his armor. Can't fight him blinded, not like this. Can't see if the light is getting through or if he has senses of his own. Move. Make his mobility a curse. He stepped backwards and his jets roared to life, rocketing him into the darkness. Slow down. Don't take the injuries you want him to take. He thought fast, and pumped his pike, activating the internal sensors within. The ceiling! Blast out as I blasted in; make sure the heroes of the city are aware of the fight. Bring rock down on both of us if I must, the better to make sure it ends. As he heard Vanquisher taking off behind him, Harrier turned and fired a devastating blast into the roof of Freedom City's sewers, blasting a sinkhole in the vacant lot above and sending a cascade of bricks and mortar and pipe down below. I will help repair this, he promised himself as he ducked from the sound of falling debris.

Free Action: Harrier does have one functioning sense. He uses his Detect Weakness on the tunnel walls all around them. (This is a radio sense, so it isn't covered by his blindness). He's looking for a weak spot that's not inside any buildings or under a busy street. 29. Move Action: He flies 250 ft backwards (I figure limiting him to half a standard move makes sense inside a tunnel, while blinbd) Standard Action: Harrier blasts the section he saw, sending a cascade of rubble falling down between himself and Vanquisher. (This will probably open up a small sinkhole in the landscape overhead, giving you a reason to get Victory into the thread: this is City Center, it's a busy area, and someone'll notice a cosmic blast bursting through the ground) His Detect Weakness is not Accurate, so he's got that 50% miss chance...and he does. OK, he'll surge and try again. Heh, I'll wish I'd saved that nat 20! OK, unless you want him to actually roll, he does shoot the ceiling, and causes a collapse that blocks him off from Vanquisher. He'll be fatigued next around. Let me know, and I'll post IC.

Transmuter PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 20 (+5) CON 20 (+5) INT 16 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 20 pp ATK: +4 (+6 melee, +10 Corrosion/Transmutation) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +9 Grapple: +6 Saves: 7 pp TOU: +8 (+5 Con, +3) FORT: +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF: +7 (+5 Ref, +2) WILL: +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 12 pp=48 r Acrobatics 4 (+9) Bluff 8 (+9) Craft: Mechanical 6 (+9) Craft: Structural 6 (+9) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 6 (+9) Knowledge: Technology 6 (+9) Notice 6 (+8) Search 6 (+9) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Feats: 18 pp Attack Focus: Melee 2 Beginner’s Luck Benefit: Status Challenge: (Fast Taunt) Defensive Attack Dodge Focus 6 Improved Initiative Luck Power Attack Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 61 pp Alchemy Array [53+2=55 pp] Transmutation 10 (Extra: Duration [Continuous]) (Flaw: Range [Touch]) (1000 lbs) [inanimate to inanimate] (PFs: Accurate 2, Innate) {53} AP: Corrosion 10 (Extra: Autofire) (PFs: Accurate 2, Improved Crit 2, Reversible, Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 [any technological]) {48} AP: Create Object 10 (Extras: Duration [Continuous], Moveable, Selective) (PFs: Innate, Progression 2 [25 ft cubes-250 ft objects]) {53} Protection 3 [3 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 20 + saves 7 + skills 12/48 + feats 18+ powers 61 = 150 pts Design Notes: This build is for a transmuter, a character who transform one kind of matter into another kind by a touch. This is a very powerful ability, especially since I’ve bought her ability all the way up to Continuous and added the Innate feat. This means that when she touches something, it _stays_ transformed, especially since the Innate feat means that it can’t be easily undone: when she turns glass into water, how do you undo it? It’s actually water! With her Create Object effect, she can make any kind of object you care to name, and again they last and are perfectly ‘real’ objects. They go away when she wants them, and she can shift them and shape them however she pleases. I figure her Corrosion is her blowing things up by touching them, or maybe by summoning a wrench to hit them on the head! These are powerful abilities, but then notice she has spent a lot of points on them! The fact that she can’t change living flesh directly without a power stunt is a weakness she has, as is the fact that she has no ranged attacks other than trying to whack people with the things she makes. Bedevil her with a flying character with a high Reflex save if you think she’s too powerful. A lot of the possible abuses of Transmutation (and the Transform at its base) are helped out by the fact that she has to be standing there touching whatever it is she’s changing. But you know what, powerful characters deserve to be able to do cool and powerful things. I’ve built her with the assumption that she’s parlayed her career into a useful occupation as a community mechanic or ‘shaper’ of things for people in the town or neighborhood where she lives, but you can adjust her status to be military rank or whatever else you care to name. Add some Super-Senses (maybe Analytical Touch, or Microscopic Vision) to get a more sophisticated idea of the things she’s making, as it is, she’s a good mechanic and builder who does most of her bigger stuff by instinct. Up her skills if you want to make her more of a gadgeteer with a trick rather than the other way around. I guess you could really recast this character and make her a living suit of armor if you want, but that would take some pretty steep revisions!

Mark studied Erin, looking from her to Trevor, a truly evil look in his eye, before his innate good nature won out. There was no reason to embarrass Trevor when it wasn't his turn to be dared, after all. That was for the person getting dared! "All right...for the next five minutes, after everything you say, add 'in bed.' Just like eating a fortune cookie!" He added brightly. "Or is that too dirty?" he asked, suddenly unsure, looking at Erin for her reaction. "I did that once when I was playing truth or dare over Christmas, but that might be dirty."

"No, I'm good!" Mark sprang up, towel wrapped neatly around his waist, everything luckily having fallen into place. Even his hair was looking slicked-back and neat, no small feat with his crew cut. "A little bump on the noggin never actually hurt anyone," he said with a breezy wave, looking unruffled by his recent flashing of the entire team. "I fall off things all the time and nothing bad happens. Heck, I think it sobered me up!" It normally didn't work that way, but this was Mark. "If you guys wanna keep going, I'm totally good. Hey Erin, truth or dare?" asked Mark, ducking behind a table to pull a spare pair of boxer shorts on. "You're up, or at least I think you are."

19

32 with the HP, so he's Bruised

Jack stared at Trevor for a long moment, then broke into a grin and clapped him on the shoulder. "Good man! I like your style, kid. You're welcome here any time." Looking much more relaxed, and far less scary, he walked past Erin, ducking his head to kiss the baby. "Nice one," he added sotto voce with a wink at Erin before getting his coat. "We'll be back around 3 or 4 in the morning. Do either of you like Indian food?" he asked, not something he usually did before leaving. "Because we can probably pick something up after, you know, the meeting," he said to Taylor.

"And if you're confronted with a monster, Mr. Hunter?" said the sharply staring father. "If a fiend from the very pits of Hell came bubbling forth at this moment to lay waste to the populace, would you have the fortitude to do whatever it took to protect the innocent? That very thing has happened in this house, young man, and if I'm going to trust you with the very life of my son, I want to know that you have what it takes. If an unholy monster attacked at this very moment, how would you respond?" Jack had learned from his encounter with Erin, and wasn't going to have yet another teenage hero beat him up in his own house. Hopefully.

Fear in combat was something new to Harrier. It wasn't something he'd ever felt as an assimilated drone, not even as horrible things happened all around him, but life as a free man meant life inside his own head. Which meant that now, blinded and faced with a superior opponent, even if one he'd already injured badly, he felt fear. Fear of his own destruction, the far-worse fear of reassimilation...No. No, I won't give in. Never. He'd heard the flier take off, no doubt planning to strafe him as he flailed helplessly in darkness, a strategy Harrier himself knew only too well. Cities burning as poison gas choked their inhabitants, picking off lone defenders one-by-one from the air... I cannot outfly him. Especially not blind. DIG.Gritting his teeth inside his armor, his mouth bare against cold metal, Harrier raised his staff and drove it straight down: he might have gone nowhere fast if he hadn't been close to a manhole, the metal giving way before the concrete beneath his feet did. Harrier plunged into a deeper darkness, a deep, dark hole whose dimensions he couldn't see or hear. Come find me!

"Aw, I'm sorry," said Mark, instantly apologetic as he looked at Trevor. "I didn't meant o be too friendly. I just, you know, thought that was how people talked to each other when they were buddies. Aw." He rubbed the back of his head and said, "Anyway, I'd probably keep my costume the way it is, because it's fully awesome, and use a standard 3/4 inch stale for their actual construction, I mean, those big toys are nice, but it's a lot more fun to have the little figures that you can stick in your pocket or your bag or inside your costum...er, inside your pocket, and go to town!" He coughed, scratching his chin, and said, "I'd use Mike's new costume, of course, because oit's FULLY AWESOME! And eeveryone else's ois pretty OK. Maybe juse some kind of inernal fog unit for the Midnight, but that would probably have to go in an attached alley playset or something since it's hard to minaturize those safely." He was wobbling back and forth, as were his words, but his train of thought stayed intact. "Accessoires for eeveryone, like Erin's bat and Mike's new glame cape! And to go with it, a YIKES!" Suddenly, Mark catapulted backwards and fell off the back of the tub and onto the carpeted floor below, his Speedo flying away as his concentration was disrupted and the fabric gave way.