Avenger Assembled

"If you cannot return to aid me in this place, then..." Talos sounded like his Earth-Prime self for a moment, before his gaze fell on Daisy's wide-eyed look of fear. "I...I, no! I will not be like the monsters I fight! I shall aid you for goodness' sake, because you are innocents who need rescuing, not for gain or desire to see my enemies fall! If one or two of you have the technical prowess to assist me, we can have a portal built within the night!" Talos struck himself on the chest with a resounding gong. "Yes! For right and valor, we shall do it!" "We'll help!" agreed Mark, knowing he didn't need to ask his friends about that. "But how will it work?" he asked. "I mean, are you just going to send us straight there from here, or are we going to switch with ourselves?" he asked, echoing Trevor's earlier question with a glance Midnight's way. Hopefully Talos just talked like this because he was a ham in any universe, not because he was actually rusting in the brain somewhere. "You will be pulled between worlds, replacing your doubles as they replace you, passing each other in the aether. The Syndicate thinks they have blocked dimensional travel, but they are unaware of my ability to pass by their defenses! Quickly, is one of you mighty? I have a very large gear that must be placed!"

"I'm Fusion," said Joan amiably to Nick, shaking his hand with a perfectly normal, though very strong, human hand. "The studio felt you needed someone along who can handle themselves in a variety of possible situations, and I have a few friends in the field of journalism who steered me your way." Nick saw her wink through the huge white eyeblobs on her costume. "In plain English, they hired me as muscle. I can lift that van over there over my head and fight in the dark, so I'm your go-to girl for this sort of thing." "It's Ms, actually," said Fusion to Doctor Fried, moving along quickly now that they'd made introductions. "Frankly, I think you're right to be a little skeptical of this situation. Not that I doubt any of you," she added cordially, "but I think we're too eager to attribute to magic what can ultimately be explained by science. I've seen my share of freaky stuff," she added, waving her tentacles with a little laugh for emphasis. "but I believe that what we call magic is ultimately what we haven't yet explained through science." Fusion met Gossamer's gaze unflinchingly. "Oh, it's you. Yes, I'm familiar with your work, Doctor. Hello." There was a cold, short handshake, and then she was back to talking to the others.

The truck is destroyed by the impact, but doesn't inflict enough damage to get through Singularity's Impervious.

Suddenly, just as Singularity turned her head as she ran across the road, she saw two bright lights bearing down on her! The eighteen-wheeler plowed into Singularity with a schrooonk of its horn and a huge crash of metal and glass, the huge truck collapsing in on itself as surely as it had hit a concrete wall. The noise was tremendous, enough to catch the attention of the villains swiftly pursuing the fast-moving Singularity through the night. They had her trail!

APPROVED

Aaron Walsh, Antagonist NPC Abilities: 40 pp STR: 16 (+3) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 16 (+3) INT: 18 (+4) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 20 (+5) Combat: 30 pp ATK: +7 (+10 Ranged) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +10 Saves: 18 pp TOU +5 (+3 Con, +2 Shirt) FORT +8 (+3 Con, +5) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +12 (+2, +10) Skills: 26 pp=112 r Bluff 12 (+17) Diplomacy 12 (+17) Gather Information 13 (+18) Intimidate 12 (+17) Knowledge: Business 10 (+14) Knowledge: Civics 10 (+14) Languages 4 (Greek, Polish, Russian, Spanish) (Base: English) Perform [Political Bluster] 13 (+18) Notice 13 (+15) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Feats: 31 pp All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attack Focus: Ranged 3, Benefit 4 (Security Clearance, Status, Wealth 2) Connected, Contacts, Dodge Focus 4, Equipment 4 Evasion 2, Fascinate [bluster], Fearless, Improved Initiative, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Second Chance (Interaction Skil Resistance) Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Gather Information, Notice, Sense Motive) Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory), Well-Informed Powers: 5 pp Immunity 5 (Interaction Skills) (Flaw: Half-Effect) [3 pp] Immunity 2 (Mind Control) [2 pp] Equipment: Heavy Pistol (Blast 4) [8 pp] House (as Sanctum Sanctorum) [9 pp] Undercover Shirt (Protection 2 (PF: Subtle) [3 pp] 40+30+18+26+31+5=150 pp - “Heroes in Uniform” is one of the more memorable images of the Terminus Invasion: foot patrolman Aaron Walsh grappling with the Omegadrone that had just broken through the police barricade outside the Our Lady of Charity Elementary School, putting human courage and ingenuity against the unstoppable killing machine of Omega’s armies. What makes the image all the more memorable is that Walsh survived his battle with the Omegadrone. Despite a near-miss blast by the ‘drone’s power pike that left him permanently scarred, the young officer managed to wrest the weapon away from the armored fiend and decapitate it with a backswing. The photographer Li Quan won the Pulitizer for the picture, while Aaron Walsh became a hero to the FCPD. Walsh had always been a little odd; a stubborn autodidact who worked his way through night law school while walking a beat, a man of rock-solid integrity who’d spent the last years of the Moore administration in increasingly low-status, high-danger posts like the traffic patrol because of his disgust at the department’s corruption. But the damage sustained during the Terminus Invasion and his own injuries solidified his stubborn integrity, coupling it with a deep, abiding skepticism of the heroes everyone else admired. Why had they run away under Moore, leaving thousands of civilians and dozens of his brother officers to die before their so-convenient triumphant return? But opinions like that weren’t credible in Freedom City in 1993, so the hero cop kept his head down, instead collecting money and using it to pay for his law school career, then his hiring by the state prosecutor's office. Assistant State’s Attorney Aaron Walsh was a memorable figure in the courtroom, the hair on the left side of his head permanently white, the ear on that side scarred and damaged, his flinty courage and sense of justice propelling him to victory after victory. Ultimately, Aaron’s fame was enough to propel him into the halls of the US Congress, elected in 1998 as a Republican. Walsh was not a great Congressman; not good at playing politics, not good at dealing with lobbyists, he survived thanks to the support he enjoyed from the Southside where he’d grown up, as well as the universal support of Freedom City’s (and New Jersey’s) policeman’s unions. No one has been a better friend to law and order than Aaron Walsh, and if occasionally he compares police and firefighters favorably to “those with superpowers”, well, no one is going to get that upset about praising policemen and firefighters, especially after 9/11. He’s getting older now, into his mid-40s, and unlike many of his fellow Congressmen has shown no interest in seeking higher office. He might have spent his entire career as a Congressional gadfly and stubborn defender of “the little man, the forgotten champions of justice, the silent majority of hard-working men and women who only want to sleep safely in their beds at night”, attacking corruption and what he sees as ‘coddling’ until the recent emergence of the Terminus Babies. At the news that the heroes of Freedom City were allowing children with Terminus powers to fly around unguarded and untrained, the Congressman from the Southside went ballistic, all his old paranoia and superstition erupting in full bore, his feelings growing even sharper after the rumors that an actual _Omegadrone_ was acting as a superhero! The Terminus was coming back, and Freedom City’s heroes were spending their time enjoying their parades and applause while once again the hard-working men and women of the city are at risk! Someone had to do something. _He_ had to do something. Aaron Walsh is the worst kind of government-backed opponent for superheroes: an honest man, a fearless patriot, and a savvy politician who just happens to be stubborn, misguided, and wrong. He can’t be bribed (though offers to do so will make the papers through his friends at the Freedom City Herald) or intimidated (same same). He lives in a bungalow in the Southside that has one of the most expensive security apparatuses on a civilian structure in the city, but is otherwise completely honest. It’s tough to brand a man so popular as a hero-hater, especially since he famously weeps every year at the Centurion’s memorial service. If publicly taunted or called out, his rhetoric will get sharper: what are the Terminus brats hiding that their lackeys have to try and make him look bad? If actually attacked, he’ll resist to the best of his ability, and do everything in his considerable power to bring his attackers to justice. Legislation requiring genetic testing at birth for Terminus powers will be introduced in Congress some weeks later. If he's attacked again, it will get worse, oh yes. He doesn't want to 'tear superheroes down to his level' the way his old nemesis Franklin Moore did; he's not jealous of them in some easily-exploitable way. He thinks they need to be watched, for the good of all of us. There’s essentially no dirt on the man (indeed, given his famous reputation for stubborn integrity and powerful media ties in Freedom City, even faking some will be nearly impossible), and he has few weaknesses to exploit. He has no ambitions, no big dreams, except protecting his family and keeping the people of Freedom City safe. Nearly every cop on the beat loves the guy who got them their over-sized pensions, and who personally funds most of the local charities for the families of slain and wounded officers. He runs a mile every morning and lifts weights every night, and is still a crack shot with the Police Special .38 he's carried since the late 1980s. He's in fantastic shape, and could easily live another fifty years if he doesn't get capped or blasted first. He’ll be highly uncomfortable with the idea of private meetings with Terminus brats: after all, if they’ve brainwashed so many superheroes, how could one civilian be any better-protected? He’ll generally disregard anything they have to say on general principle. Aaron does, however, have one weakness that savvy, investigative heroes can find: He has one son with his wife Chloe (the sister of Herald publisher Lana Loeb, and the source of the Walsh family money), David, who’s sixteen as of this writing. Dave is a spoiled, though amiable young man who plays football at his local prep school, calls people brah when he’s been drinking, and has no ambitions greater than to maybe follow his father into the law and politics. Dave has carefully not told his father about the telekinetic abilities he began manifesting last year, particularly since the visible manifestation of such matches that of the Golden Guardian, the menacing henchman and stooge of Shadivan Steelgrave who nearly tore the Loeb family estate down in 1993. If Aaron finds out that his son is a Terminus brat, he will embrace the boy, burst into tears, and abandon his anti-Terminus crusade the next day. He’s a stubborn man, a difficult man, and a dangerous opponent, but he loves his family more than anything. Even his own pride. Yes, he still wears those 80s glasses in the picture. They were a gift from his wife, who thinks he looks adorable in them. The immunity to Mind Control comes from a CIA contact who supplied him with certain drugs as a way of making sure THEY didn't tap into his mind, and the Interaction skill half-immunity he earned: he's just that good.

Just as the Blank saw Singularity vanish through the window in a shower of glass, he heard a discreet laugh behind him. "Well well well, and yet you're still better at that than Tentacles back there," said Hex, cocking his thumb behind him. "Let's move!" he said, firing his grapple gun out the window as he ran. "We've got to catch her before she gives the game away to half this city!"

9

Also, 152 pp, waaah?

Wouldn't a mundane sword made of pure silver be really crummy and not able to cut anything?

"No." he said tersely. "I was not." When the gigantic woman made no further issue of his past, Murdock relaxed momentarily, his head swiveling as he studied the others. It was a little unsettling to be around so many powerful people, but that was only because they were strangers. He'd been around plenty who outweighed him among the Furions, and when speaking to the Freedom League. "I do not wish to impose."

I need Search checks, gentlemen!

"Your problem, Blankie, is that you have no sense of class," replied Hex before he burst into a fit of maniacal giggles. "If having a sense of style and decorum makes me sound like an imbecile, well, I guess I'll have to sound like an imbecile. Blank knew Hex well enough to know that he wasn't actually as maniacal as he acted...but he still wasn't the sharpest tool in the box. "All right, boys, here's what we'll do." He stroked his goatee, looking at the others. "We'll split faster than Heavenqueen's...you know. Yellowface, you take the north side, Blankster, you take the south side, and I'll hit the center of campus. We'll find our little murder machine faster than you can say murder most foul! Now, a little costume change..." He snapped his fingers and a wash of white hit his allies, changing their clothes back to what they wore at home: aka, a MAN's costume. "Just don't let the pansies who run this place catch sight of you."

"Hrm. This is a magic totem?" said Fusion, sounding a little skeptical. Despite her reluctance, she wasn't too proud to take the help, and slipped it into her costume between her shoulder blades. "It'll take me a half-hour or so to get out there, and another few hours to search the area. After all this time, with the predators around, there may not be that much to find of the pilot," she admitted. Joan was a very good reporter, and had picked up on the contradiction in Robin's words. Woof, one of those "Did he give you any specifics?"

From out of the darkness swung a black and white tentacled figure, making a smooth landing beside the craft services table. "Hey, everyone!" said Fusion, waving her arms cordially as she scooped up a donut and ate it underneath her mask. Eating through molecular fiber was a little weird, but she was well-used to that by now. "I hope I'm not late," she said, giving a friendly nod to the distinguished competition across the street with their fancy TV vans. "I know you needed an extra arm or two for this little expedition, and I'm ready!" She waved her arms, and laughed. Joan didn't believe in the supernatural, and was not particularly stressed by being out late at night.

Eventually Eddie collected the packet from Ms. Tessmacher that he'd come to get, a thick file folder bulging with information about something called the "Fairbanks School for Super Students." She gave him a friendly wave and smile as she focused on the other two kids, and Eddie departed with the files under his arm. "All right, Mr. Hughes, I think you're done and you are first on the list. Why don't you go in to speak to Mr. Summers? Ms. Etain, I actually have a meeting for you with Ms Vervain, she's one of our TAs. She'll go over some of our policies regarding powers like yours."

"A little bird told me that our little, ah, bird, aheheheh, was taken to the local butcher shop," said Hex as he guided the others slowly down the corridor, the lights clicking off behind them as they went. "We can't leave Singularity here, gentlemen, we've invested too much ourselves, and the school's invested too much, to waste her. For all that I'd love to see her...brighten up the place!" He grinned evilly, rubbing his hands with glee. "I'm sure they've got her strapped down and doped up, the way we would without a psychic handy."

"When others from your world have visited this place, they have promised to help one day against the Syndicate. But never do they come." The robot began to pace, his joints squealing as he went. "So many friends and allies gone; so many champions of right defeated. And those who wear the face of my greatest enemies leave me to fight alone, forever. But still, you are...very young. I have a duty to help you."

"Books? Books? Here, let me show you..." Red Bolt handed Gabriel a copy of the King James Bible, one heavily marked and annotated in prison-issue ink. On closer inspection, Gabriel discovered that the word shepard had been underlined in red everywhere it appeared. "You see? In this, as in all the great works of old, his coming is foretold. I met him many years ago through friends of friends, studying the ancient wisdom of the East through yoga. It was he who showed me the corruption of the world, and how only a purge on the scale of Noah's Ark could bring forth peace and justice in the world again. Oh yes, even now his Ark waits for us! Soon he will send his Horsemen for me." Fusion gave the man a skeptical look. "You've been in here a long time, Nelson. Why'd the Shepard abandon you if he's so righteous?" "The armies of the Beast defeated the Shepard once, forcing him to push back the day of his return from the sky! But soon, soon he will come, once he sends his Horsemen to..." Suddenly, there was a loud EXPLOSION from the prison courtyard, and suddenly Red Bolt gave a truly evil smile. "HE COMES! THE HORSEMAN COMES!"

What the heck, I'll nominate Fusion for this one.

"But we can't just go home ourselves," said Mark, giving Daisy a worried look before he spoke fearlessly to the great corroded bronze robot, Talos' skin a lovely green. "This is Daisy, and we're going to save her." Save her from me. Save her from the man I am here. Our world is different than yours, and we're taking her back. Our other big worry is what our doubles are up to in the other reality." "You are right to be worried. I know your faces," Talos added. "All of you. That you spoke to each other without bickering, that you planned to help those you found...I knew you could not be them. Especially you," it said, pointing a bronze figure first at Erin, then at Trevor. "I have the technology to return you to your own world, as well as send your ally with you. It will be the work of some hours. But..." It fixed a clanking eye on all of them. "What will you do there? Will you send help?"

Edge put his hand on Cannonade's arm, thinking how he'd feel about the situation were their places reversed. "Go fight with him," he encouraged the patriotic hero. "I'll handle things down here. Show the Ratzis how American heroes fight." To the German tanks scattered around the robot's feet like toys, Mark gave a truly evil laugh as he prepared for another wave of destruction. "Hey, you Nazi so-and-sos!" he called triumphantly. "I've got a present here from Uncle Sam for you. I think you'll like it: it's a real DOOZY! Ha-ha!"

Totem PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 10 pp STR 24 [10] (+7/+0) DEX 24 [10] (+7/+0) CON 24 [10] (+7/+0) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+13 Melee) DEF: +13 (+4 flatfooted) Init: +15 Grapple: +20/+23 Saves: 9 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +8 (+7 Con, +1) REF +10 (+7 Dex, +3) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 10 pp=40 r Acrobatics 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Climb 3 (+10) Craft (Chemical) 3 (+5) Craft (Cooking) 8 (+10) Language 1 (French; Base: English) Notice 8 (+10, Skill Mastery) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Survival 8 (+10, Skill Mastery) Swim 3 (+10, Skill Mastery) Feats: 19 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 5 Dodge Focus 5 Improved Initiative 2 Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Notice, Survival, Swim) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 70 pp Additional Limb 1 (tongue) [1 pp] Confuse 7 (Extra: Poison, Flaw: Touch Range) [7 pp] Elongation 2 (10 feet) (Flaw: Limited [Tongue]) [1 pp] Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced DEX 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Immunity 2 (Own Powers, Suffocation [Drowning]) [2 pp] Super-Movement 4 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) [8+1 pp=9 pp] AP: Leaping 8 (x2500) Super-Senses 3 (Low-Light Vision, Tremorsense) [3 pp] Swimming 5 (50 MPH) [5 pp] costs abilities 10 + combat 32 + saves 9 + skills 10/40 + feats 19 + powers 70 = 150 pts ----------------- Design Notes: What can I say, I always was a Toad fan! This lady has the powers of several different kinds of frogs and toads, all souped-up together into one incredibly powerful totem character. She can jump ridiculously far, cling to walls and wriggle her way up them, and she's a really good hand-to-hand fighter with a great grip! (It helps that she's coated in that sticky slime, naturally; you can use that as an explanation for any successful grapples she makes!) Her Confuse bears some description: I figure it's a toxin her body makes naturally that sticks to her skin, so she can use it in hand-to-hand or even by whacking people with her giant tongue. Confuse is best used as a way of distracting goons: one possibility is to jump into the middle of a crowd with Leaping, Confuse a couple of baddies, and then leap out again with Move-By Action. Then while they're busy fighting each other, sweep in and hit the rest, or just move on if you're trying to get past them. What exactly happens to them because they're tripping out on your toxic secretions is up to you; the consequences will probably vary depending on what era game you're in. Punching people in the face works really well too. Don't forget to use your tongue in grapples, the better to grapple them with, my dear! Magic? Mutant? Some combination of both? Totem-style characters have all kinds of backstories and origins. Bitten by a radioactive frog? Well, maybe that one's a _little_ less likely. She looks like she'd be fun to play; she's really fast, really agile, and has some decent skills to go with her superpowers. She can handle herself in the swamp or the urban jungle, no prob! Go with a costume that matches the animal theme, so maybe a cute frog outfit, or just go nuts and wear whatever looks pretty! Add a drawback requiring immersion (you are an amphibian and do need water!) for more points.

The Omegadrone fixed its dead, sparkless eyes on Fulcrum, looking up, then down, as he took in her gigantic frame. She is extremely large, he thought. I wonder if that is an advantage. Out loud, he said, "Hello," extending his hand in the exact same way he'd shaken Jack's hand earlier, speaking in a slow, deliberate monotone words that sounded practiced. "I am Murdock. I prefer to be called Harrier when I am a su-per-hero."

Jack Faretti knew one thing more than anything else. Superhero or not, his family came first. If that meant he wasn't a very good superhero, well, maybe it was time to do some thinking about his career. "Wander!" he barked. "He's gone crazy and into the magic! Get the things he summoned; they flew out the window! I'll get the baby, smash the library if you have to, but stall Archeville!" And with that, he was gone, disappearing right round Wander!