Avenger Assembled

"Oooh dear!" called Mark as they rolled faster and faster, keeping his lunch down through sheer force of will. "I don't feel very good..." He took a deep breath, stilling himself, and said, "Hang on, Mike!" They were rolling very fast indeed now, whizzing past simulated 70s cars that beeped and honked frantically as they swerved out of the way. "I've got...an idea!" And with that, he leaned forward and steered the speeding ball right into the face of a concrete wall! Mark was successful in hitting the wall, sure enough, but unfortunately he'd failed to note the curve in the wall! With a sudden "Wa-hi-hi-hoi!" the boys went hurling up in the air, bounced off a flagpole, and went caroming down yet another street: this one an elevated highway leading to a bridge!

Adjudication: Wander, make a Strength check to determine how hard you chucked it (for purposes of countering by the people inside the ball.) I'd say a DC 25 Fort save to not be nauseated? Mark passes by a whisker, and it's not too hard for Phalanx, either.

I need Stealth checks from Wander and Geckoman.

The flames of Hell itself spread over Geckoman and Wander, casting them into a scene from the bowels of the Inferno. It was diabolically hot over the mouth of the volcano, the lake of lava below boiling with the fury of a disturbed mountain. A scant few feet away, facing away from them thanks to sheer good luck, stood a titanic figure in jet black armor trimmed in gold, his battlesuit glowing with raw fury as he shouted orders at the scuttling, terrified humanoids who did his bidding among the machines. "Fools! Your incompetence has led them straight to our fortress!" It took the teens a moment to realize that he wasn't speaking of them, yet. "Drone squadron, take to the sky and bring down the targets as soon as you see them. Proles, work quickly! I tire of the degradations of this world." And with that, he punctuated his words with a blast directly at one unfortunate slave hiding behind a control panel, casually incinerating the man like a bug on a griddle. "Let your suffering bring you closer to the Lord of the Terminus!" Wander and Geckoman both readily recognized Shadivan Steelgrave; the tempter, the destroyer, the most powerful of the Annihilists and chief servant to Omega himself; a leader of the great invasion that had struck both their worlds and so many others. Beside them, Mark was silent and eerily still inside the metal tube, a long hose over his nose and mouth as he floated in some clear suspension of fluid. He was still in costume, bearing the marks of whatever battery had dragged him to this place against his will.

That's a good Notice check! Sure, Dark Star, Phantom and Fleur (once relayed) can see Doc Otaku scuttling out of the anime hall, towards the LARPers!

Inside his head, Jack screamed and screamed again, horror writ on his very soul as the grim reality of what he and Taylor had wrought together came ripping out of her simulated abdomen to glare into his face with monstrous blood-shot eyes. "Is Taylor healthy?" he asked Archeville quickly. "Has there been any vampiric contamination of her bloodstream? Any sign that the fetus is altering her body beyond what you'd expect?"

Doc Archeville using his brain to make the ladies fall to pieces? Well, you know how single women get at weddings. Er, which is to say, I'd buy either one.

Gimmie a Notice check, Cy. ;)

Do I hear...wedding bells?

Okay, it'll take a turn for Ace to get up there, given that he's on foot.

"Derrick," said Lady Liberty, a look of what was by all accounts great relief on her face. "Thank God you're here." She moved to the dark hero's side while Captain Thunder and Johnny Rocket continued loading their precious cargo into its fragile crate. "The League's been compromised," she said quickly. "Mind control by the Grue. We need the quantum transmitter to overcome the Meta-Mind's brainwashing before they spread their influence to the rest of the city, then the world! Can you help us?" she asked imploringly.

"The forces of Entropy were repulsed," said Freedom Angel to Dead Head gently. "As was the demonic army that closed upon this city some months ago, and as were all the other threats that have beset this place. Creation holds places where the forces of righteousness stand in ruins and where darkness runs o'er the land; it is they who might cry out to Heaven for justice. Freedom City has had protectors since before the arrival of humans. Many of them have joined the ranks of the Heavenly Host." It would have been so easy, there, to confess the long absence of the Creator. The Maker of All Things has chosen to abandon Creation, so that His agents were forced to debate amongst each other before sending a representative to Earth. "As for my station here, the world of Prime is vast. I chose Freedom City to begin my mission because so much of the world revolves around this single axis. And because this is a populace unafraid of a champion in the sky, come to lead them away from the dangers of the world. Unfortunately," he admitted. "that has left some of them...jaded." He smiled at Fulcrum, looking almost paternal. "But many others have enough grace in their soul to recognize the righteousness of my mission, even as they answer it with the righteousness of their own hearts."

The ground groaned beneath the Patchwork Girl's feet, the animated corpse staggering briefly before she kept her feet. As for the Golem, there was a crack as the wood shattered beneath its feet, but with a scream of tortured metal it pulled itself free. As for Arcanix, the dark wizard hovered briefly before slamming cruelly into the ground beneath his feet with a loud bang. Murder was on his mind.

The Golem and Patchwork Girl are both strong enough that they don't need to make a save; Dark Star's Gravity Control is below their heavy load. Arcanix is weak enough that he cannot possibly pass Dark Star's save. What the heck, he's been the Butt Monkey of the fight so far, no reason why these trends can't continue. Dr. Archeville is up; we'll give him a little bit before we start a new round.

There are no plants inside the building, unfortunately, Stesha. Dark Star, you can see Captain Thunder, Lady Liberty, and Johnny Rocket just in the process of loading a large, complicated piece of machinery into a big wooden crate.

"Oh, thank God!" exclaimed the scientist, his nametag reading "Dr. Frank", as Freedom Angel came in for a neat landing on the ground below. "Yes," said Heyzel calmly, gently setting the man down on his feet. "Can you tell us what happened?" "It was terrible!" exclaimed the man, looking around at the other heroes, focusing on the familiar faces in the crowd. "It was Captain Thunder, Lady Liberty, and Johnny Rocket, or people who looked just like them and knew everything they did!" You couldn't rule anything out, not in Freedom City. "They came in, asked some questions about the new quantum transmitter, and then Captain Thunder threw me out the window! They're stealing the transmitter right now!" Just as Doctor Frank finished speaking, the authorities arrived; four squad cars and an armored van bearing the logo of STAR Squad, the elite FCPD unit charged with dealing with superhuman crime. The famous Bulldog Maddicks, the squad commander, was the first out of the armored van, quickly shouting orders to his men. Maddicks didn't like superheroes, most of the time, but fortunately this group was particularly well-loved in Freedom City. "What's the situation?" he asked brusquely.

As Dark Star and Phantom looked, and Fleur de Joie leaped, Doc Otaku scuttled away into the art section of the con, now merrily filled up with con-goers happily proclaiming how awesome it had been to see Fleur de Joie in action. It soon became apparent that looking for Doc Otaku inside the Con was going to be a challenge; not only did his height mean the crowd easily swallowed him, but there were actually a couple of people there in Doc Otaku costumes! Normally super-villain costumes were fairly controversial, but Doc Otaku wasn't exactly threatening.

High above the volcano, Phalanx could make out nearly everything below. The circling squadron of a half-dozen metallic humanoids were unmistakably Omegadrones, their movements definite and the glint in their cold metal eyes obvious. Over the mouth of the volcano crouched some terrible machine of unknown origin, a gleaming obelisk of black metal with a shimmering, malevolent energy crackling at its upward tip. Around the edge of the volcano crouched small, frantic humanoid figures that moved with a definite purpose around metal panels that glistened with unholy energy. And at the edge of a walkway overlooking the mouth of the volcano, perilously close to the lake of fire beneath, was a figure in grey and silver metal, giving booming orders to the others, and a single, solitary suspension tube with a lone figure inside. Mike was so distracted by what he saw that he failed to see the great gun below until he heard the scream of energy and saw the blinding flash of light. For the Young Freedomites below, it was as if a beam of light had reached up from below and pinned Mike like steel through a butterfly.

Durf, that's a DC 29 Tou save and a Nullify check (all powers) vs 31. Have an HP for advancing the plot! (Go ahead and make the Tou save before the Nullify; I'm not trying to incinerate Phalanx here.) :D

Avenger: "Jack Faretti of Earth: RISE." And then Yellow. Edge: Luckily, Edge is _right there_ when the Blue ring arrives. Freedom Angel: "Sorry, I already have a symbol."

Arcanix is bruised and injured. (He actually rolled much worse than that, but I fiated against myself. ) He makes the Concentration check to keep his Flight and Force Field up. Dark Star is up.

"No, dammit!" Jack shouted, facing down Arcanix with shock and fury on his face as his friends suffered and bled for the whim of mad vampire dictators. "Fight me! Fight ME!" And with that he leapt, growling furiously as he popped massive fangs, sinking his teeth into his fellow vampire's neck to rip and tear, sending a spatter of black blood into the air as he landed nearby. Hissing, the vampire kept his place in the air, a look of rage on his face.

Sure, quote, you can abort your action. Ain't no bad guy here! Arcanix passes the Tou save He takes a hit from the Drain, though, and is down to 12 Tou. Ouch! Avenger is up.

Did we lose you, Doc?

Thanks to Dark Star's quick teleporting, the heroes were soon in the air over the headquarters of ASTRO—The Advanced Scientific and Technological Research Organization—in the North End of Freedom City. When they arrived, they quickly saw a gaping hole smashed in the side of the building, right through solid brick and cinderblock. Suddenly, a figure came hurtling out of the hole in the wall, but he wasn't flying, he was falling! With a yell of terror, the older man in the white lab coat plunged toward the ground, several floors below. With a shout, Freedom Angel folded up his wings and dived, just managing to catch the man by the ankle, quickly pulling him up into his arms. As the man's scream came to an end, the heroes heard the distant sound of police sirens, growing closer. "