Avenger Assembled

"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."

"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."

"...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."

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."

"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..."

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?"

"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.

"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.

"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!"

"Being a government-sponsored superhero is different than working for the Freedom League," said Mark with a little shrug. "There's a lot more bureaucracy, a lot more constraints on what you can and can't do, and UNISON's no different. I think they were glad to hear I wanted to work for their humanitarian wing. Apparently most of their super-applicants want to be part of UNIQUE, the UNISON team, going in and doing all the high-profile super-missions. Those are cool and all, and I'll be on the reserve list for them too, but I liked the idea of working alone. You go in with a regular support team, maybe a half-dozen people, and when you're done a whole set of villages has had things cleaned up and made better. I guess I liked that idea, you know, just...building a better world for real, without having to be reactive like a regular superhero."

Look OK, I think. APPROVED

"I can't promise that," agreed Mark, catching her implication very quickly. "But I can promise that you're my friend, and I want to help if you need it. Whatever happens," he added seriously. "You've been there for me when things were at their worst, right? That's what friends are for, even to the end." He hesitated a moment, not sure how far to press this, then added, "Hey, did I tell you I got a letter back from UNISON? They say they want to talk to me after I graduate, now that I'm 18. They sent me some more information about hiring and deployment so I can get the paperwork started now."

Mark nodded at that, as always not sure what to say when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation. What could he say, when things really were that bad and there wasn't much he could do to make them better? "That was such an awful place." He rubbed his eyes, and added, "I'm really glad they sent the other Daisy up to New York for her therapy. It's probably best she wasn't in town, and won't be again in the near future." He sighed softly, glancing around Erin's half of the room for a moment. "I do know the doorway wasn't closed, Talos just took apart that teleporter afterwards." He gave Erin a serious look as he said, "If you ever go back to help...I'll help too, however I can."

Looks like a fun character. Math appears to be off on Feats, and their formatting needs cleaned up.

"I'm glad you like them," said Mark, smiling faintly. "I tried to get shoes exactly like you had them before. I just..." He looked away for a moment, then looked at her. "It seems stupid now after all the awful things that happened lately, but...I'm sorry about what happened on Anti-Earth. I thought I was doing the right thing, but you had a right to be angry. I know I don't always do the right thing, or the smart thing, but..." He reached up and tugged at the back of his head. "I'm sorry. You can trust me to do the right thing next time."

"She's in therapy," Mark confessed suddenly. "She, uh, decided it was best after what happened over Halloween. I sort of helped push her that way. It's not on campus, of course, she goes to a guy Dr. Marquez recommended for her." He coughed. "She's working, though, she's up and drawing in her studio most nights, and she insists on making breakfast every morning. Did I tell you about the body in our backyard?" That got him a look and he added, "Well, uh, apparently a zombie had gotten into our backyard about twenty minutes before we teleported in. So she chopped him to death with an ax and buried the pieces in our yard. I...I think that's why she was a little messed up when we talked to her, and why she finally agreed to talk to people." He blinked, then said, "Sorry, that was a little too much information."

"We did it together. Which mostly consisted of me going and getting the thread, but hey." He shrugged a little. "I wanted to make something for you without actually, you know, making it. That seemed like cheating." He saw the kitty licking himself and waved, getting a distinct lack of response from the cat. "Hey, Oliver. Yeah, I've been meaning to pick up more crafting stuff while I have the chance. It's a good feeling to do things like that for people. My mom says that if you go the week after Thanksgiving, they've got a good sale at June Taylor, so you can buy more stuff, if you want." He knew clothes were a problem for Erin, just like she didn't like that being pointed out.

Shooting another glance around to make sure he wasn't going to be spotted, Mark stepped in and said, "Hey, Erin, I, uh, got you something." He handed her a big box marked June Taylor, the nice chain of women's clothing stores his mom had steered him too. "Well, a couple of things. I realized I owed you new shoes, too, along with the pajamas." The shoes, white women's sneakers, were in a box underneath the box of clothes, which turned out to be a pair of dark purple pajamas with a big E stitched over the chest. "Did I get the sizes right? I had to guess some, and sort of peek at your shoes when we were in the Doom Room last." He shrugged a little. "There's a receipt and a card in the box if you want to buy more stuff."

Kill A Man, Jairo!

November 2010 It was early November when all the members of Young Freedom, well, all the ones on campus regularly, were summoned to the headmaster's office. Though some arrived fearlessly and others with trepediation, all of them were met with Duncan Summers and a man who was a familiar face for all of them but especially familiar to those who had helped save his life. King M'Balla, the White Lion, had recovered entirely from his trip to the Lost World, and looked a charismatic, chiseled figure in a neatly-pressed suit. His voice was low and dignified as he greeted all the teens by name, his handshake firm without being bone-crushing. He had a very faint accent, but his English was otherwise perfect. "It is a pleasure to see all of you again, and some of you for the first time." He smiled, nodding to Midnight among others. "I am an old hand with super-teams. I know how quickly you come and go. I have come to America for two reasons. One to thank you again for coming to my defense earlier, and the second to invite you to Dakana as my guests." "Mmm." Summers folded his hands, looking up at the students as they found their seats. "The White Lion and I have arranged for the members of Young Freedom to spend the week before Thanksgiving in Dakana as guests of the King. This will be a working vacation," he added with a firm look at everyone, "one in which I will expect all of you to return with a report on your observations of the kingdom, but...it will be a vacation nonetheless, as you will be excused from all but ongoing assignments for that week. Are there any questions?" Mark raised his hand and M'Balla's eyebrows furrowed briefly before he said, "Yes, Mr. Lucas?" "Are we going to see Lion, the great and powerful spirit of the people, who empowers the line of kings as his champion? Or travel to Ayesha the Immortal's realm and battle the great enemy of the Lion clan, the immortal Egyptian princess who ever seeks a worthy man as match for her great and deathless realm as co-ruler?" "....no," said the king gently, wincing ever so slightly. "I prefer to fight my own battles, rather than send the sons of my old friends and their friends to fight my enemies for me. We will climb the slopes of Kilimanjaro, dig for daka crystals with our own hands, and see the world outside of Freedom for a little while. I can promise you all adventure, but danger will, inshallah, pass us all by this time."

Mark and Erin make up.

Early November, 2010 Though Mark was fairly sure none of his friends had 'sold him out' as such, he found himself asked a lot of pointed questions after his return from Anti-Earth with the other Young Freedom kids. When had he learned to heal people's injuries? Why had he used that ability there, and not elsewhere? Evidently his answers weren't good enough. He'd talked about a hero's duty to protect life, even the life of the guilty, but that hadn't seemed to satisfy Dr. Marquez in debriefings that he slowly, slowly started to realize were just extensions of his ongoing therapy. Had it been arrogant to save a version of himself when so many other people needed saving, people who deserved it a lot more than that other, evil Mark had? Had it really been just an extension of his own self-crisis that he'd sought out the good in any version of himself just so he could believe the values he'd been raised with were true after all? He hadn't thought so at first, but the unceremonious shutdown he'd gotten from his friends, especially Erin, when he brought the subject up made him wonder. He'd learned only too intimately recently that he could be a flawed, fallible person, and the idea that he'd made a mistake on Anti-Earth still rankled. Saving life was the right choice, he still believed that, but maybe he'd put himself in a position where even the right choice was the wrong one. It was a complicated moral dilemma, just the sort of thing he hated to have to try and wrap his mind around. Even as the visit to Anti-Earth joined his father's disappearance on the list of annoying things he had to talk to Dr. Marquez about, even after reassuring the Doctor that everything was fine, Mark decided where his priorities had to lie. Wherever his own motivations were, whatever problems he had, he had to get back together with his friends post-haste. Having friends was what was really important. And since Erin was one of his oldest friends at Claremont, that meant getting back together with her first. Thinking about what she'd lost and what he could do for her, Mark talked to his mom about good places to shop in town, made a few off-campus visits, and then finally with a couple of boxes under one arm headed for Erin and Alex's room one Friday night. Alex would probably be out with Mike, which meant Erin would probably be there alone.

Swarm Abilities: 20 pp STR 12 (+1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+10 Corrosion/Healing) DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +8 Saves: 10 pp TOU +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Ref, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Computers 8 (+9) Disable Device 8 (+9) Knowledge [Pop Culture] 8 (+9) Knowledge [streetwise] 8 (+9) Knowledge [Technology] 8 (+9) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 9 pp All-Out Attack, Attack Specialization: Corrosion, Dodge Focus 2, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 64 pp Nanite Array [31+2=33 pp] Corrosion 10 (PF: Reversible) {31} AP: Healing 10 (Extra: Total) (PF: Accurate) {31} AP: Strike 10 (Extras: Area [shapeable], Selective) (PF: Reversible) {31} Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Insubstantial 2 (nanite swarm) [10 pp] Protection 7 [7 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Microscopic Vision 2 [cell-sized], Radius Sight) [3 pp] costs abilities 20 + combat 32 + saves 10 + skills 14/56 + feats 9 + powers 64 = 150 pts ------ Design Notes: This is my take on a nanite-controlling (or controlled?) character. Note that characters with Insubstantial 2 do not need Affects Corporeal on their powers (despite one typo in UP to the contrary), especially when they're not Strength-based. His body is made up of uncountable trillions of tiny robots, thus giving him an array of remarkable abilities. He can send out his little robots to take apart solid objects singly, or spit out huge swarms to chew through whole areas. Luckily, he can also put them back together! With his Insubstantial 2, he's very dangerous versus even vaguely mundane opponents. I gave him some of the other abilities a nanite swarm should have: i.e.; with Radius Sight he can see in 360 degrees, since the robots are looking everywhere, and down to cell-sized because that's how big they are! The assumption here is that he's still basically human at the core of everything. Adjust immunities (immunity to crits? Fort?) to taste, though you may have to buy some of those things with earned PP. Maybe as his transformation progresses, if you want something good to fluff it with. He's got a big array and a broad descriptor, you can easily power-stunt things like Anatomic Separation or ESP to represent sending robots in as spies, or outright Datalink/Mind Control with a Fort save if he's sending them inside people to do terrible things. Damage with a Fort save would also be pretty nasty. An obvious thing to buy would be Regeneration if the robots can repair him without the necessity of conscious effort on his part. Adjust skills as necessary: my default assumption is that he doesn't get out much and spends a lot of time on computer. A poorly socialized kid raised with powers he doesn't understand? He could be a scientist, though not a great one: adjust his INT as necessary if you want to make him a brainiac with a computer for a brain. He could also be a total stranger to science who was a victim of a terrible accident, or the victim of a mad scientist's evil scheme! Either way, he's a powerful character, and a natural for Complications about losing touch with his humanity. Look at you, hacker! Who are you to lay hands on a perfect machine? Etc.

I assume I get the HP back, since it was no good to begin with? Wasn't this monster PL 10 earlier, rather than PL 15?

"Nah, we don't need to drive. Listen, Corbin, we keep the school's nature to ourselves when we're not on campus," said Mark seriously, "but when you're on campus, you don't need to worry. This isn't one of those weird mutant-only schools or one of those freaky government places. Around here, superpowers-" And with that there was a flash of black light, and suddenly both young men were standing in an alley that smelled distinctly of Chinese food, "-are your friend. Here, let's go."