Avenger Assembled

TK 13 and then Transform 9!

"Just one more thing needs doing." Edge concentrated on the decapitated Centurion statue, the head rising in the air and landing on the neck. With a slow grinding sound, the two pieces cemented themselves back together a little awkwardly, prompting a wince from Mark. "Well, that's not that great...but Dr. Metropolis can patch it up all the way." He scratched his head. "I think we're ready."

For his part, Mark excused himself upstairs, returning just a few minutes later in his familiar costume with a comfy-looking fur parka over it. "I've got plenty of winter gear! It'll be a breeze, guys! Let's go!" He gathered everyone up and took them upstairs, unlocking a heavy steel door and letting them all into his father's Trophy Room. It was a strange place. There was something bizarrely mundane about being among so many monuments to famous past events in a suburban rumpus room: there was a convincing copy of Horus the Avenger's Ankh, there was the Cosmic Rod the Centurion had pulled from the hand of Omega when the Terminus invaded in 1965, there was Mark's dad's college football jersey, what looked like pictures of baby Mark winning a reading contest, there was Hades' Helm of Invisibility, and Lady Liberty's white costume from the 1970s. "Okay, guys!" said Mark, digging in the closet. "I've got the teleporter in here somewhere..."

The bee dropped 'Fleur' in the Bee-Keeper's arms, bringing a terrible laugh from the villainous madman. "Bwahaha!" He shook his fist at Dark Star as he swept her up in his arms. "I have your woman now, alien! Soon this world will belong to the Bee-Keeper! Bwaha-what, what are you doing!?! Nooooo!" For even as he clutched the fake Fleur to his breast, twenty gigantic bees overwhelmed his defenses, punching him and smacking him around, battering the Bee-Keeper like a hornet intruding on a hive. "Ohhh nooooo!"

One of the bees flies up to the Bee-Keeper, giving him "Stesha". He grapples her. The others attack him! Mind Controlled as they are, they're not smart enough for Combined Attack. Half use their stingers and can't hurt him; half try to hit him unarmed. With his low Defense thanks to his recent All-Out Attack, virtually all hit. Rather than roll for a mass attack that would end the fight right here, I'll say he's bruised, stunned, and staggered. He's hurt pretty bad, but he's not out of the fight. Have an HP for the Fiat, Stesha! Doc A is up.

APPROVED

Any reason why he has such a high base attack?

Moving into action, Mad Dog was just about to reach the scene when suddenly everything seemed to explode. A black-clad figure moving with near-impossible speed fell among the thugs, fists and feet flying, and within the space of mere seconds the gangsters and their cronies were all down for the count, groaning in pain as they lay in puddle of their own blood, bodies battered and beaten by Avenger's onslaught. With the thugs down, Avenger stood proudly on the field of battle, thinking now about what to do with all these dogs. A moment later, though, the scene changed: in a flare of light just behind Avenger, a humanoid figure appeared: clad in a shiny silver space suit with a heavy bubble helmet, it looked like nothing from this world. The Astronaut blurted in a mechanical voice "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS! WHO HAS TAKEN MY PAWNS!?" With that, it fired a devastating beam of sizzling plasma at Avenger, scorching black leather and dead flesh as the vigilante rolled and took shelter behind a crate. What the hell was going on?

Avenger sets his Vampire Array to Visual Concealment+Speed. He uses Wall-Crawling to get down the wall and across the street, falling in among the thugs. He Power Attacks and takes 10, hitting all the thugs for a DC of 30. None of them can make that save, so they're all down. The alien teleports in and sizes up the situation. Mad Dog and Avenger both get an HP for his catching them by surprise. He shoots the now-visible Avenger.. DC 29 Tou save. 16, yikes! With HP...Ouch! Avenger is injured.

Avenger goes on 29 the 10 thugs go on 19 The Monster goes on 22 Avenger: 29 Monster: 22 Mad Dog: 19 Thugs: 19 I'll get an IC post up shortly.

"Anya is a friend of mine; she's the other vampire active in our business. As for...what they're doing, it's practiced as a way of maintaining humanity," said Jack, looking deeply uncomfortable as the mating progressed. At least his doppleganger and the undead Moira Morley had moved out of the 'camera''s view. "Or as a means of reinforcing nest dominance, as they seem to be. God, look at something else," he suddenly interjected, looking away as excited hisses and growls came from just off-screen. "Find the other Taylor!" A moment's work, and Phantom's spell had found her doppleganger in the other dimension. The other Taylor Chun was inside a room Phantom recognized immediately from her experience with other sorcerers on Prime: it was the private sanctum of Adrian Eldritch, though there was no sign of that worthy in the other dimension. The room looked battered and decayed, as if a tornado had passed through years earlier and it had never been cleaned. Rather, Taylor Chun was hard at work pacing the lines of a mystic ritual drawn on the floor, the ritual markings made in a dried brown substance that was obviously some species of blood. Taylor and James, the two experts in dimensional magic in the room, both recognized the spell the other Taylor was trying to cast: it was a dimensional portal! But whatever she was trying evidently didn't work. She muttered a foul curse in an infernal language and sat down in the middle of the circle, looking annoyed. Her eyes red, she chewed absent-mindedly on the back of her hand with thick fangs. "Dammit, Eldritch," she muttered out loud. "Knew I should have saved some of you..."

Actually, Joan thought, "he argued in favor of contacting you first. I was the one who persuaded him that the ethics of the trade required us to treat everyone the same, even if he knew you from old times. As for the security tapes from the museum, you could just as easily argue that she stopped because someone was there to catch her." She blinked, then tapped the side of her head and said out loud, "And I'd be careful who you call sloppy, sister. You're not my first esper."

Character Name: Avenger Theme Song: People Are Strange, The Doors. Combat: Wilhelm Scream, Distant Drums Romance: Bad Romance, Lady Gaga Tragedy: God's Away on Business, Tom Waits Story Arc Specific: World of Darkness The Earth Died Screaming, Tom Waits Character Name: Edge Theme Song: Mr. Lucky, John Lee Hooker Combat: The World is Just Awesome, the Discovery Channel Romance: Let's Get Physical, Olivia Newton-John Tragedy: I Will Go Sailing No More, Randy Newman Story Arc Specific: House of Lucas Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads Character Name Freedom Angel Theme Song: Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe Combat: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Martin Luther Romance: Love Makes the World Go Round, Powerpuff Girls Tragedy: Hellfire, Hunchback of Notre Dame Story Arc Specific: Imma Bee Imma Bee, Black-Eyed Peas Character Name Fusion Theme Song: I crush everything, Jonathan Coulton Combat: I crush everything, Jonathan Coulton (Not a typo) Romance: I Made it, Kevin Rudolf Tragedy: Under the Sea, Little Mermaid Story Arc Specific: All the News That's Fit to Print Trouble, Pink

OK, I think it's fixed now. APPROVED

Ozoe: make the edits Shaen's suggested, and I'll get you back on track to approval.

"Oh, but this is great!" exclaimed Jack warmly. "Now we know we don't need to worry about the baby at all! I mean he's right here, so obviously we do things right and he turns out okay. That leaves a load off my mind, I can tell you that." He looked around at the others, especially at Taylor. "Right? I mean, time travel does work that way, doesn't it? Because otherwise this is an even more obnoxious night than I thought."

"Yes," agreed Summers. "I have already spoken to your mother by telephone. We had much to say to each other." Leaving _that_ particular sword to dangle over her head, he said, "Ms. Albright, I find it most useful in these situations to give you an opportunity to make use of your talents as well as contemplate the relative merits of your actions. My colleague Dr. Javier Charleton works at the Foucault Facility for Criminal Psychics in eastern Pennsylvania. Recently the Freedom City natives Parker Psion and his grandchildren were incarcerated there in expectation of trial. I want you to go there and join Dr. Charleton, commuting back to school via your teleporter, for the next two weeks as an intern, working alongside him in understanding the minds of the most dangerous criminal psychics in America. When inside the facility's nullifying field, you will rely on your intelligence and wits rather than your superpowers to better serve the cause of justice. Your job is not to suffer, Ms. Albright, or bitterly rue your assignment: it is to think. I doubt you will find it harsh. I hope you will find it illuminating."

"Shinnosuke Koyama has been assigned a semester's worth of sensitivity training, as well as special therapy with Mindforce to better protect his mind against emotional manipulation. Mike Harris will be spending the next few weeks in the school library thinking very hard about how a hero conducts himself. And Daisy Gibbons will be spending the fall session with her parents in Allen, South Dakota, wearing the power nullifers she is legally required to wear when within one hundred yards of her biological family. That leaves me the question of what to do with you, Ms. Albright." Summers turned and looked at her. "You are a Terminus-empowered telepath who altered the memories of dozens of innocent bystanders to prevent another student from embarrassment; you are a young heroine mentalist who risked personal disaster to protect a family member from abject humiliation and personal exposure. As I mentioned, you've given me a difficult case." He gave her a look, and not for the first time, she was aware of being tested. "What punishment would you prescribe in your case?"

"Welp, you ladies have fun," said Fusion, shaking her head at the antics of her younger friends. Thinking a moment, she said, "I have a Yashimata comm-link at home. If you ever need me, my radio frequency is 4.53 on the red band," she added, speaking for the benefit of the battlesuit-wearing girl, who'd probably be able to understand the technical jargon. "Nice working with you all." And with that she vanished, a barely visible blur against the wall behind her as she changed colors to match the scenery, then swung away on the streetlights, then over the buildings.

The view showed what looked like a luxurious suite of rooms: the honeymoon suite at the Plaza, maybe, or something similarly lush and expensive at one of the many finer hotels in Freedom City. But a closer look revealed things subtly wrong: the mirrors were missing, with still visible marks on the walls where they'd once hung, as were several other items of furniture. The carpet was just this side of threadbare and the huge rumpled bed's sheets were thin, as if from frequent use and lack of replacement. The room looked as if it had been a long, long time since anyone had replaced anything there. There was noise just 'off-camera', and suddenly two figures stepped into view. Both were instantly recognizable to the people watching: one was Jack Faretti, dressed in a skin-tight black leather outfit, his shirt open to expose the chiseled abs beneath, his hair mussed artfully; the other was Moira Morley glad in a white, diaphonous gown that left little to the imagination. Both were energetically kissing; and both had fangs. When they pulled apart, the other Jack said, "You know you're my favorite, baby. Taylor's busy with her ritual and Anya's busy with the pigs, so you've got me all to yourself tonight. C'mon, let's crack open the stock..." The stock turned out to be a champagne bottle full of blood, something Jack and Moira took big swigs off before resuming their makeouts, which on closer inspection was something more like watching sharks mate. "Oh, my God," the real Jack breathed, trying not to look.

What, you're judging him because he used to drink? That mental voice was no less skeptical, for all that Joan was still trying to cover for what she was learning. I see five thousand years of life hasn't made you any more tolerant of other people's mistakes. For the record, he's been on your side through this whole process. She jutted her chin out defiantly. Wearing a costume and having fancy powers doesn't make you any less of a human being, Scarab, or one that's any less prone to making mistakes. Or make you any less subject to the same laws as the rest of us. If your relationship's so innocent, be open about it! And stop her from actually committing crimes!

Joan flinched, but like a good reporter didn't drop her pen. She fired back with defiance, more out of shock than anything else. Yeah, I heard all about path you've been inspiring each other down. Joan's mental voice was profoundly skeptical, very much how a reporter's should be. (Or so she liked to think, anyway.) She tried to get her pulse to settle. Certainly took me by surprise. Usually it's the men who think a nice butt makes you redeemable. As for Bombshell's record, if fighting Nazis made you a good guy, there'd be a statue of Joseph Stalin up here!

"Gah!" Jack took a step back, holding a hand in front of his face as if the cross was a searchlight being aimed directly into his eyes. "So you prove your bona fides by waving a glowing cross at me?! That's...that's..." He blinked. "That's exactly what I would do. Son of a..." He shot a look at Taylor, then amended it to, "Son of a witch! You really are him." He stared at JJ, then suddenly grabbed him in his arms and hugged him to his chest. "My BOY! What in Perdition's name are you doing here?"

Why does like every deity I know talk like they're from Shakespeare? Fusion thought. Hachiman did the same thing, and he was from Japan! Oh well, maybe it's how divine talk gets translated into English. Out loud, she gave Valkyrie an elaborate wink. "Let's just say I'm...out of this world." When the EMTs arrived, she divested herself from the group long enough to make sure the injured bystanders were being treated, then swung back to rejoin everyone with a "Well, that wasn't nearly so bad as I thought it was going to be. You said you knew what this thing is?" she asked Divine.

OK, LS, post your action and roll Initiative.