Avenger Assembled
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"To Young Freedom!" Mark agreed, raising his glass and downing it in a gulp. He blinked, processed that taste and sensation, and then began pouring peppermint schnapps. Glibly, he added, "The finest team, at the finest school for heroes, in the finest city in the world! May all our adventures end in a lesson learned, and all our friendships last forever," he added meaningfully. "And let's not forget the birthday girl! Erin White, the best friend a guy could have." he added a moment later. Temptation aside, Mark shot Trevor a look at that one, giving his friend a gentle nudge to shake him out of Erin-induced vapor lock. Much as Mark enjoyed playing team MC, and as good as he was at it, this was really Trevor's gig.
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Mark took his finders fee for finding the hot tub by getting in there first, changing out of his clothes and hitting the wet bar while everyone else was getting dressed. By the time other people were heading back to the compartment with the hot tub and wet bar, Mark was sitting up to his chest in bubbles at the deep end of the jacuzzi, the thick foam almost completely opaque. Sure enough, the jacuzzi was shaped exactly like a roaring lion's head, complete with smaller individual corners for more intimacy. He'd also gotten out the champagne in the classy tall flutes, as well as various bottles of flavored schnapps. "I didn't know what you guys liked," said Mark easily, "so I just got out everything that sounded good or classy. There's a remote, too, for the flatscreen," he said, pointing across the room. "But first, I say we make a toast! Maybe two!"
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Since no one can beat Mark...
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Give me a Gather Info post, those with Gather Info. A nat 20 for 38. Dohoho!
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Mark reappeared from the rear cabin he'd immediately got up to explore after takeoff, having acquired a Panama hat from nowhere in particular. "You can go outside if you want," he said, waving to the outside, "but that means you go to the back of the lion jacuzzi line!" he exclaimed, pointing backwards. "There's a big lion jacuzzi back there. I guess I should tell you guys." He grinned. "And also, a wet bar! This is a royal flight, so we're technically on Dakanan soil, and the Dakanan drinking age is 18...and you count, Alex. It's, uh, a little complicated." Looking very pleased with himself after a moment, he threw the door wide. "Just don't do anything we'll regret," he warned, "the king has ears and he's right through the door...which reminds me." He looked at the others and said, "Would you guys like to hear...a story?" As Mark was blocking the way to the jacuzzi and wet bar, it seemed pretty important. "There is a creature that lives beneath the mountain of Kilimanjaro. A monster thirty feet high, and iron gray skin, so he looks like some sort of gigantic hippo on two legs." He looked from one to the other, talking as if he needed a flashlight underneath his chin. Eventually, he stopped blocking the doors. "The kings of Wakanda have guarded the Beast for centuries, lest it escape and wreak havoc across the land! They say it's a weapon from an alien war, or an ancient god fallen to Earth. That's what they do with all those daka crystals, you know. The daka is what guards the Beast, keeping it too sluggish to escape. My dad saw it once, and he said it beat up Gigantosaur!"
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"Doors it is," agreed Avenger. "We'll go through there, find where they're being kept, and...Jack!" He walked over and grabbed his son by the arm, looking down at his hand. He stared at the missing digit for a long second, looked up at Jack Jr., and then released him. "We need to get a move-on," he said quickly. "There's no time to wait for anyone else. Whatever you're going to do, do it soon...son." He gave the boy a sharp look at that, weapon ready over his shoulder. "I've been here before," he warned Erin. "If Heshem has allies there too, we may face enemies as soon as we arrive. Or worse...puzzles."
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Whatever Walked There, Walked Alone [IC]
Avenger Assembled replied to trollthumper's topic in Southside
Six tons, huh? I'm sure that'll help us if some sort of 98-pound weakling ghost shows up. "Splitting up is one idea. Might make the logistics easier," said Fusion shortly, standing in the middle of the room as long suckered tentacles stretched further and further out from her waist to encircle dark corners, her head cocked as she felt the air currents move in the darkened old place. "But staying together will help if whatever's lingering around here does show up. The more eyes, and hands you've got, the better." -
"You shall fly!" exclaimed the King proudly, "aboard my personal jet. The rewards for royalty are many, but they are only truly sweet when shared with young heroes and heroines like yourselves. I cannot promise to be as fast as you, Phalanx, but I can promise all of you a comfortable night's sleep in world-class accommodations as my guests in the air, and then a night in the royal palace of the kings of Dakana. After that," he added with a serious look at Summers, "I shall of course put them to work! There is a volcano to be explored, and much wisdom to be gained from it, once you are in Africa. Are there any further questions?" When there were none, he bid the Claremont students return to their rooms to pack, for soon they would be in the air! Sure enough, early one morning a few days later all of Young Freedom (and Midnight!) were at a private part of Jordan International Airport, where the big white jet of the White Lion, bearing a roaring, rampant panthera leo across its flank as M'Balla's personal seal, stood ready to greet them! Mark led the way inside, where even the usually ebullient Edge was briefly stunned at the luxury items inside: between the flatscreen TV, entertainment systems, wet bar and even hot tub, it was abundantly clear this was going to be a plane ride fit for a king! M'Balla himself would be detained near the cockpit, the king added apologetically, but the students were free to roam the plane unsupervised. The plane's decor was a strange mix of high tech and African tribal designs, almost self-consciously so to a practiced eye. Mark had done some extra research on Dakanan culture before they left, and was full of stories about the symbolism of each mask as they all briefly strapped themselves down for takeoff, a brief confinement before they were released to do their thing!
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Earth Victoriana: The Brit Machine (IC) (GM)
Avenger Assembled replied to Supercape's topic in The Realms Beyond
Edge, Cabbsy, and the Beatles "Gentlemen, you are without a doubt the finest quadrangle of musicians it has ever been my pleasure to witness!" said Edge thoughtfully as they zoomed through the streets, heading back to their starting point. "Have you considered recordings? Perhaps on the phonograph or the wax cylinder, or whatever means of recording sound they have here in the Queen's realm? You could market it under a label, a memorable title to let everyone know who you are..." He hmmed. "Do you have a name for your group? If not, might I suggest...the Rolling Stones, as you gather indeed no moss?" -
Avenger pinched the bridge of his nose, reaching over to take the axe one-handed. "We need to access the home dimension of Heshem, the Void, that empowered Taylor and Jack Jr." He reached down and picked up the fallen shard of the Eye of Heshem, naturally holding it like a dagger. "We will go there, rescue Taylor and the baby, and then we will-" What, murder Heshem? Stab her to death so her divine blood dripped out on the ground? Somehow that sounded impractical, for all that it would be remarkably satisfying. "If the three of you can't find her," he said, indicating his son, Dead Head, and Dead Head's invisible friend, "We will contact Adrian Eldritch." And beat him with our fists till he helps us!
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Avenger put his fingers on the sides of his nose, holding back a bloodthirsty rage against the Heavens a second after holding back sheer terror. "Took her. Took them both. Taylor realized Heshem had been misusing her and misusing her authority, so she summoned an avatar of Heshem, quit, and broke the Eye. And so Heshem took them both away." He was talking to both Wander and JJ, but only Ouroborous knew the for-certain sound of his father planning to kill someone. "Listen to me. Ouroborous, I want you to find your mother and yourself. Wander..." He debated whether or not to send the girl home, but then remembered the willingness she'd shown to kill when the situation called for it. "Get the ax from over the mantelpiece. I believe this counts as part of your duties for the evening. We're going to get Taylor back, and Jack Jr. back. Everything will be fine."
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Avenger avoided fleeing the presence of the incarnate divine and its terrible anathema to his undead flesh by sheer force of will. She cannot drag me to Hell, she cannot drag me to Hell! This was Taylor's show, really, and her conversation to have, but Jack still stood ready to back her up. In case the freaking god decides to start an argument. I'd be on fire already if there weren't so many wards around here. With any luck, they'd stay up even as his wife had the conversation she needed to have with her boss. How do you tell a god off, anyway? He had a feeling he was about to find out!
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"I will, she'll be glad to hear about it. She really likes you and my other friends, I think, so she'll be happy you're happy. Talk to you later!" agreed Mark. Thinking nothing of Erin's question, he headed off and back to his room. His conversation with his friend hadn't gone perfectly, but what really mattered was that they were still friends. They'd hit some rough patches, just like everyone did, but at the end of the day everything had turned out all right. That was enough. That would have to be enough, and even if it wasn't...well, at least she'd look nice now. And that was always a good thing!
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"They really do try and rehabilitate them," said Mark seriously. "The ones they _can_ fix, anyway. Super-recidivism is a serious problem, so they really try and reach out to make sure people don't leave prison angrier than when they went in. There's job training, and placement, and they make sure people have access to power suppression meds once they're out of jail even if it's not part of their parole. The ones they can't fix, well...they usually don't leave Blackstone. The deepest cells are far underground, and covered in security. It's still not like the movies, it's nice and all down there...but they know there are some criminals who aren't going to get better. The ones who are slated for death penalty cases get transferred out of state, since New Jersey doesn't do that."
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"I do!" said Mark. "Though not as much as Trevor, probably, since he actually fought those bad guys there when the Grue showed up." Mark had heard the story of the quantum arrow; who hadn't? "I just had a couple of tours, and...OK, OK, maybe I do know a lot." He laughed a little. "My dad took me there when I was little, and I thought it was cool. I didn't really get the whole prison is bad thing, I guess. My grandpa didn't actually visit Blackstone a lot, since it didn't open till the early 60s, but my dad spent a lot of time there."
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"I dunno, you hear things about penguins," said Mark doubtfully. He coughed at Erin's look and said, "Well, uh, maybe it's just me who hears things about penguins." He grinned, and laughed. "That they're AWESOME, that is. Yeah, Antarctica would be really sweet. And it's bound to be safer than our trip to the Arctic! I'm sure wherever we go, we'll have good times. But I guess I'd better get back to work, they won't let us go anywhere if I don't get all my calc homework done." Mark still wasn't sure why that was on his list, especially when he was shifting over to poli sci and the humanities for his concentration, but there was a lot about school he didn't get. Erin was one of those things sometimes, but not today.
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"Not a thing," said Mark, "I just hope it's not over the holiday. I don't want to miss any of those this year." He hmmed, then added, "I know seniors get extra trips and responsibilities, so maybe this is part of that. The school has a lot of contacts all over the world, and even off it. I heard four years ago, the seniors got to go to the Moon!" He grinned. "That'd be pretty awesome. We'll probably find out sometime in the next couple of days if our names are on the list: with all the Young Freedom stuff we've been doing lately, we've got to be on someone's agenda."
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"Yeah, Marcie really went in for that girly stuff. Her whole room was pink and sparkly." Mark coughed a little, remembering just how pink and sparkly it had been, and then said, "I'm lucky I don't run around in a football uniform or something, I guess. I'd hate to be one of those overcompensating guys." He laughed, then said, "Hey, maybe you can donate what's left of the outfit to the school, or one of their charities. I bet there are girls like Marcie in this dimension who like bargains." He shrugged. "Can't hurt. Alex had me make some clothes for Goodwill, but I was never as creative as Marcie."
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"...what!?" Avenger blinked, taking all that in. He knew what it meant to have a patron and protector turn sour, but somehow he'd never thought to have it be an issue here. "Heshem's been jerking your chain this whole year? How long has this been going on?" Not since she'd started with her mission, surely, they'd fought far too many interdimensional monsters together for that. "Criminy..." He ran his hand through his hair, then looked up. "Well, we're in one of the most protected magical spots in the city, aren't we? Why don't we summon some part of her right here and right now and have it out? We've got all those shields we used when we were messing around in the vampire dimension."
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Mark hmmed at that, getting a feeling Erin was thinking of people besides Mike and Alex. "Well, it's not for everyone. I would never have even thought about doing it myself if all the bad stuff hadn't happened this year. You know how I got raised, with all the lessons about being a hero and doing hero work here in Freedom City. UNISON's not regular hero work, but it is hero work all the same." He gave Erin a little smile, glad his friend didn't seem mad at him, before adding, "I think you're a hero, Erin, whether you stay here or do whatever. And that's whether or not you wear a mask and have a code name."
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"Baby, if this is about earlier, I didn't really mean those things I said," he told her reassuringly. Well, not all of them. "I know you love me and Jack Jr. more than you love your job and...hey, what's going on with the Eye?" he asked her, studying the floating magical jewel with some trepidation. "Look, if something weird is going on with work, I can get your friends from that big conference on the phone and maybe they can help out? You know some of them have some well-equipped libraries, like what's her face with the green skin, I'm sure they've got something that can help..."
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Avenger was a friendly vampire, it was true, but he still had certain expectations about where and when his mate would be available to him. No, strike that, Jack was as patient as any husband about his wife's busy, demanding career, but over the last few months it had become increasingly obvious that it was taking her further and further away from him, both mentally and physically. It was an ugly feeling, especially when you were already inclined to be paranoid, and where the society of alternatively a squalling infant, a vampire coterie, or viciously beaten thugs wasn't actually inclined to make you feel any better. So he had exchanged words with Taylor: how could she leave him with the baby so often, or worse, leave when he had to leave as well, leaving their son with a sitter half the time? The misplaced Jack Jr. who was an adult had his own life to lead, and couldn't be on call to his parents whims. It had been an ugly conversation. For once, he'd been the one throwing the chairs. But despite all that, the sound of violence and magical eruptions in the library was enough to get his attention. He was angry, not stupid or neglectful, and was in the doorway almost immediately as he heard his wife's arrival cascade into eruptions of light and noise. "Taylor!?" he called, peering at her amid a brief nimbus of magic. "What's going on?"
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"They pay for the training, and there's a stipend while you're working. It's not as attractive to most people as regular hero work, and it's certainly a lot less prestigious, so they have to attract people by paying them regular salaries. As for background checks, I dunno. They test to make sure you don't have a criminal record or anything, and that you've never been locked up. But I know they have hired a couple of ex-supervillains, so even that's not a big enough bar. You just have to show them you want it. If...if you want me to send you some of the paperwork, I can send it your way," he suggested politely.
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"Nothing lately," said Fusion, shaking her head. "I still have the enhanced senses, the sensitivity to vibration, but I haven't had any of the ocular expansion I had during my earlier transformation." She stretched her arm out for a blood sample, then admitted, "I have, er, had some rubbery bones lately, but they said I should expect that periodically. It's mostly fake calcium holding them together these days, and that latticework Dr. Atom designed, so it's not that difficult to bend and flex them. It's disconcerting, but I remind myself of the alternative. I know what it's like not to have bones at all." She shivered a little at the memory, goosebumps on her skin.
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"It depends on how she is. I mean, I'm sure she'll be better by then, but I don't want to make any big commitments without planning first. That'd be silly." He smiled faintly. "But yeah, if it all works out, I'll spend the summer in training, then start somewhere in the wintertime. Probably in Africa, they said, since they're making a big push in the region. It'll be some place I've never been before, doing the things I want to do, so that's nice. It'll be quite a change from high school!"