Avenger Assembled

A somewhat-battered Drummer shook Archeville's hand, rising to his feet and adjusting his uniform as he brought himself back to composure. "Dr. Archeville, on behalf of my staff, and the people you just saved, thank you. A lot of innocent lives might have been lost without your efforts, and I personally am in your debt for what you did for my people and our institution." He gave Archeville a hard smile. "And that's why I'm going to trust that a man of your vaunted intelligence doesn't need to hear about why we don't turn off power dampeners."

Hope a 20 hits! Hitting as many as possible, stunting for Takedown Attack as necessary.

Freedom Angel continued his holy work, cutting his way through the demons with a look of righteous fury on his face. There were no words now, just the glowing light of Heaven and the flaming sword of truth as he tore apart abominations of sin and depravity with the sheer holy power of righteousness and truth. He would not fall: innocents would not suffer today!

"My dad has...I mean, had a teleporter," Mark offered, pointing upstairs. "In the Trophy Room, he's got all kinds of stuff he inherited from the old League, including a teleporter that goes right to the Sanctum. You guys should definitely wear something warm, though, since it dumps you out right by the front door, which is way up north of Greenland somewhere, I think. I don't think he ever actually took a GPS, he said that took the fun out of it..." He shook his head. "And yes, this is all authorized, Mike," he added with a little smile. "I mean, they let my dad go up there unescorted all the time, right, so what's wrong with bringing a whole team of heroes? We've even got backup in case the teleporter goes out," he added with a nod to Mike and James. "I'll go in costume, but you guys don't have to. It just...it just seems right, you know?"

"Try the apartment where I lived before the last one," Jack suggested, "you remember, the one Melinda burned down." He'd shared that particular story about his rise to power, though maybe not the fine details of getting staked in the back and hurled off the Pyramid Plaza. "And, uh, that apartment complex in the Theatre District, and that place in the West End..." He wasn't terribly thrilled about sharing the vampire strongholds in town, even with his teammates, but fortunately the places where Melinda had lived and worked weren't his favorites nowadays. "And the usual places, like Freedom Hall, I guess."

Give me a Search check. No particular DC: your result will determine the value of the information you find.

OK. We've moved past "presenting your case" to flat-out "squabbling with the people trying to help you play better on the site", so I think it's worth changing the tone of the discussion a bit. The Darker and Edgier behavior needs to come to an end. The jerkass behavior towards other characters needs to come to an end. Those plans that Geez3r and quote have outlined to actually turn the Interceptors into a team of superheroes? Those need to be put through. Is this going to happen?

August 1, 2010 Avenger and Mad Dog fight drug dealers.

Perched atop a warehouse roof, underneath a darkling sky lit by the fires of city light, Avenger watched as the huge dockside crane lifted the massive shipping container from the Eastern European freighter riding low in the water by the dock. He'd gotten a tip about the smuggling operation in the neighborhood, and had moved in to break up the operation before they could put their illegal cargo on the streets of the city. Peering intently from his invisible perch, he watched as the hard-faced longshoremen, members of a corrupt union local bought off by the Russian Mafiya, worked to quietly unload the great container. The boss was there, smoking a cigarette and pacing, guarded by men in ill-fitting suits negligently concealing Uzis beneath their greatcoats. Frowning as he caught an odd noise, he leaned closer, trying to hear words being spoken several hundred yards away. They were prying open the container now, the boss maybe wanting to check the quality of the gear. To his shock, inside he saw not plastic baggies or huge crates, but row after row of packed animal carriers, each one carrying a large, sluggish looking dog of various breeds, the animals all looking drugged at best. Probably for the shipping, Jack thought clinically, When you're transporting live cargo secretly, you don't want it moving around or making a lot of noise...but where's the heroin?

"I suggest we have Phantom scry the area first," Avenger said, trying to get himself back on track with the discussion. "The last thing we need is to discover there's some kind of vampire space navy or something." It was easier to talk about that other world that way, as if it was some crazy science-fiction or magical dimension rather than a place so very close. "The other advantage of grabbing and switching out my alternate is that we can interrogate him, then drop me in his place."

"Good afternoon, Ms. Albright," said Mr. Summers, his face a mask of calm, reserved politeness. "Why don't you have a seat," he invited, pointing to the usual chair on the other side of his desk, "and share with me your perspective on what happened this weekend at the junior prom. I'm sure you're aware I've already spoken to your classmates, but don't feel obligated to screen out any redundancies."

OK, his attempt to counter Stesha's power fails. Have an HP for the Fiat anyway, Stesha. So instead he shoots Dark Star with his Transform power! This is a ranged attack that will transform Dark Star into a Bee-Person! Except that Freedom Angel is interposing, so I have to roll for him. And he fails! Hmmmm... He gets an HP for his heroic actions, but that won't save him

Dark Star's devastating blast sent the bee entangled with Stesha hurtling away into the side of the building, breaking bricks and making the tractor-trailer sized bee collapse unconscious to the plowed-up earth below. The bee who'd been flying next to the wounded one gave a horrified cry of "BBBORRIZZZ, NOOO! YOU MONZZZTERZZZZ!" Shaking a foreleg at Dark Star, the giant bee still flying closed in on 'Stesha' with renewed intensity. But tragedy was still to come for the giant bees, as the one guarding the Bee-Keeper hurled its massive body between its master and Dark Star's firepower. With a single great SHRIEK, the massive bee went hurling over the Bee-Keeper's head, landing in the damaged Freedom Hall with another huge crash. At the sight of his wounded minion, the Bee-Keeper gave a horrible cry. "Noooo!" The fallen bee, its forelegs and head sticking out of the wall it had smashed open, added to the drama, buzzing weakly "ZZZOOO COLD....ZZOOO COLD...." Evidently the bees had their master's knack for the dramatic. "You butchers!" cried the Bee-Keeper. "I'll show you! I'll show you all!" He danced a frantic dance, his armor blasting a palpable scent in the air, but the bees around him were unmoved by his scent-based pleas. "Ohhhh! This is just what my stupid therapist said would happen...I mean, I'll STING YOU ALL SO BAD, YOU'LL WISH I DIDN'T STING YOU SO BAD! I'LL GIVE YOU A STING YOU WON"T SOON FORGET!!!" And with that, he opened fire on Dark Star again, firing another devastating wave of energized bees at Dark Star. But this time, the angel of Freedom was there to take the hit for Dark Star! But Freedom Angel threw his shield up just a little too late, and the bees hit him, sinking deep into his angelic flesh! As they sunk into his flesh, Freedom Angel felt some strange things happening, and the angel gave an unearthly yell as his white feathered wings suddenly warped and shifted, flattening out into terrible veiny insect wings, his armor and shield shifting to colors in black and yellow!

"So are we actually saying he's the baby!?" Jack suddenly expostulated, waving the poker around in his anger before shoving it aside into the nightstand. "Because that..." He knew better than to dispute his wife's mystic prowess, but that didn't magically make it any easier to believe. "What did you do, hop in a DeLorean and come back to the past?" he asked half-sarcastically, falling back on the only time travel stories he knew, aware that his own ignorance was rapidly dangling out for all to see.

Spending my last HP to shake the stun, waiting till they're on me to use the Dazzle effect, a DC 20 Reflex/Reflex save with a Cone Area. covers his eyes, hoping he gets an HP for covering the retreat of those civilians...

Fusion screamed as the sharks tore at her flesh, more of her blood spilling into the water. Aaah! Her heart pounding, images of being eaten alive rising up from the animal part of her brain, Fusion pulled herself together even as the animals all around her sought to tear her apart. I HATE SHARKS! She wanted to run, but she knew the monsters were closing up behind her, and distracting them was still all that was keeping them from the beach and the civilians there. She swam backwards till the sharks were all in front of her, then concentrated, waiting until all the shark-monsters in the water were closing in on her, then she vomited up a huge gout of black, inky fluid, filling the water with a blinding cloud of fluid.

Failed the first save badly, so I'm spending an HP: 20 Injuredx2 and stunned. Craapp. Spending my last HP to shake the stun, I guess. Holding my action till all the shark people are within the range of my Dazzle, then giving them the ink!

The angel of freedom appeared beside the Devil's aviary within just a few feet of Dark Star in an eruption of holy light, casting his gaze around briefly as he sought to sort out the situation. When he had, he hesitated only a moment before the shield of faith appeared strapped to his arm, the sunlight gleaming brightly off the ancient symbols of his faith. "Strike quickly," he told Dark Star, "and I will guard you from any more of his attacks. Together, we can defeat the madman!"

"AIEEEE!" The bee that had actually stung Dr. Archeville gave a satisfying shriek as the powerful blast of electricity rocketed through its insectile body, sending the gargantuan yellow and black bug crashing into the lawn behind it with an enormous thump. The other two bees, though, were unhurt despite the powerful shock they'd taken, and now with all their hairs sticking akimbo they glared at Archeville. "YOU ZZZZTUNG BBBBARRY!"

The bees all fail their Reflex saves. Two are unhurt, one is unconscious, because he bee a minion Freedom Angel teleports in and gets ready to Interpose for Dark Star, who is now up.

"You said a mouthful, sister!" Fusion hung from a street light by a muscular suckered arm, dangling low to look over the fallen bystanders, some of whom were still covered in ink. She could sympathize: she knew how foul the stuff tasted. "Anyone call the EMTs yet? That was one mother of a roar that thing put out, and some of these people got it a lot worse than any of us did." She swung around and dropped down in the middle of the group. "I'm Fusion," she added, giant arms whipping around her body as they retracted down to the length of just a few feet.

OK, Doc is up

Flowers exploded everywhere, pollen and scent erupting in the car-sized faces of the gigantic bees! The vast majority of them were hit dead-on by the eruption of pollen, and soon they were shaking their heads and droning even louder, their massive bodies waving back and forth in the air as they hovered in place or made slow, lazy circles in the air. Frantically, the Bee-Keeper danced, waving his armored torso around in the air as his armor sprayed chemicals to speak directly to the bees around him. One landed obediently, giving him a worried look. It was surprisingly easy to see expression on the faces of the gigantic honeybees. But some of the bees had _not_ been affected by Fleur's flower power, and soon they were moving into action, following the commands of their leader. Three of them surrounded Dr. Archeville, one in particular giving him the stink-eye from giant, multi-faceted lenses. Unexpectedly, the gigantic insect spoke! "INTRUD-ERZZZZ WILL BE ZZZZZTUNG!" And with that, it swung its huge stinger around and jabbed it into Dr. Archeville! The scientist was nimble enough to avoid being impaled, but not so nimble as to avoid the sting of venom! At the same time, two more of the bees surrounded the fake Fleur de Joie, bypassing the suddenly mobile forest that was guarding the carefully hidden genuine variety. "THE QUEEN THE QUEEN! MAZZZTER WILL GIVE YOU HIZZZ ROYAL JELLY!" And with that, one of them reached down with a giant foreleg and neatly, delicately, scooped Ace-as-Fleur close to its gigantic, loudly thrumming and pollen-coated breast.

That gets all but six of them. They'll follow your command after your next turn. The six bees: Three of them are going to attack Doctor Archeville, as he's the only intruder they can see, and who they can hurt, who isn't Fleur. Two of them Aid (an action they can't miss on), and the third stingsDoctor Archeville: DC 22+5 from Autofire is a DC 27 Fort Save to avoid Drain Dexterity 12. One is going to stay adjacent to the Bee-Keeper. The other two are going to gang up on 'Fleur de Joie' (aka, Ace) and try and grapple her, as they've been instructed by the Bee-Keeper to do so. One's going to aid the other: 27 That hits. That's a DC 55 Grapple check, which Ace can't beat. IC post coming.

"I'm fine," said Mark, cocking his head and studying Zoe uncertainly. "Psyche healed me up, so everything's better." He patted Zephyr on the arm, a little awkwardly. After a moment, Zoe realized that Mark had no idea she'd actually tried to hit him. He rubbed his jaw, hmming. "Could it have been the Grue coming back? Solaar returning to burn the world?! The ancient Egyptian gods of the sun here to burn us!" With Mark, as ever, it was hard to tell when he was joking.