Avenger Assembled

"Why, are we going to get wet?" asked Jack with a teasing smile. In a more physical reply to her words, he smoothly pulled his shirt up and over his head, revealing the pale, smoothly muscular torso beneath. "Because if that's the plan, I think you and I can do something fun."

All the issues I had with Hellion were solved in the Refcave. APPROVED

"I guess my secret's out," said Jack reflectively. "I can't imagine all those people are going to keep it to themselves that Avenger, or that Jack Faretti, is a vampire. Even if most people don't believe them, those with reason to know will know." He was thoughtful for a minute. "I told Elena that heroes are supposed to inspire people. Maybe it's time I lived my words. Avenger's not going to inspire anyone, much less my own people, if no one can see his face. And as for a team...we'll start our own damn team. Where we're honest with each other, and don't hide in the dark. Shine a little light, even at midnight."

"Okay," agreed Jack, stripping out of his jacket and handing it to Taylor with a half-smile on his face. He was in a black t-shirt underneath, considerably better for snuggling. When his arm went around her again after his jacket disappeared, he said, "I'm sorry about that. My own issues were talking." He smiled down at her as best he could. "Let's just...just forget about them for a while."

"You're telling me." Jack looked down at her, his face open, and said, "You know, if they all had to find out at once, I guess that was a good way for them to find it out. Ace was the only one who asked any of the awkward questions." Tentatively, he reached out and put his arm around her shoulders. "They were a little busy focused on themselves. But right now, I just want to be focused on you." His mouth quirked, just a little. "What do you think we should do?"

Jack sighed softly, releasing her hand as he looked up at the open sky above. "Thanks, Taylor." He couldn't quite look at her. "I'm sorry about earlier, that...that didn't really work the way I'd planned it. I don't think anything did." The sand crunched beneath his boots as he walked, his cape blowing behind him in the breeze. "It's not fair. This isn't supposed to happen with people. With heroes, I mean. We're supposed to be able to work that out."

"Yes," said Jack readily, turning to look at her. "For you, and for everything else." He looked down at her, his face almost in hers. "If I hadn't become Avenger, I'd still be...nothing. Just wasting my life, doing whatever someone else told me to do. It's being around heroes, and helping people, that's let me have any moral center at all. And like you said, I wouldn't have met you, which would have sucked. "

"Nothing's wrong with our relationship now," said Jack reassuringly. Sensing danger, he sat up. "I had a hallucination of an idyll. Perfect 50s nonsense. You and me on one block, my folks one block over, your folks on the other side, like we'd lived there all our lives and knowing each other. I was an accountant, you were going to be a stay-at-home...it would never actually work in anything like real life."

"I killed that life with my bare hands," Jack replied evenly, a moment before blinking and adding, "Um, that was creepier than what actually happened. It just sort of...went to pieces. And it was my fault." It always is. "Even in a fantasy, I can't keep a relationship like that going."

He leaned against her, reaching down to take her hand. "Avenger and Phantom can't do this, so I certainly hope you're Taylor, not Phantom." He leaned close and kissed her, softly on the cheek. "And they certainly can't do that. Not without being really cold, anyway. They're not people, Taylor, they're just masks we put on so we can do the superhero thing. The power is what's inside you."

"I don't underestimate you," said Jack reassuringly. "I've seen you fight. You've blasted your way through gods and monsters without batting an eye. I certainly wouldn't want to get blasted by you." He shrugged a little. "You don't want to seperate your identities like that. Trust me. It gives you a conflict." He grinned wryly. "Phantom is as tough as Taylor."

"It...what?" Jack looked up at her, surprised. "It...well, in the hallucination," he said uncomfortably. "You and I started out married. With a child coming. It was...it was very real, there. We lived like that for over a month."

Aw, what the heck. Perhaps I judged you too harshly. =) Just as long as you don't bring in any more multi-feat/caps-shuffling APs for the character in the future. Those are really annoying to have to deal with, particularly for the Refs. With that in mind, APPROVED

At any rate, let's do the easy stuff right now. Your feats need alphabetizing and capitalizing.

"Killing is neither approved of nor frowned on among vampires," said Jack quietly, as if he was talking about different people. "It's just something you do. Melinda's policy was total freedom, so long as you didn't bring the superheroes down on your heads. Actually announcing that you won't kill, though, that's something different. I had a...reputation for a while."

I'm not really a huge fan of Abilities arrayed with feats arrayed with powers. It seems like a big ol' pain to calculate, especially in play, and open to unwitting abuse. is there another way to write the character?

It was an unguarded moment...but not that unguarded. "I would have, you know." He squeezed her hand. "To have a human life and child, to have my parents alive and happy with all I've done, to have a normal, real life like a real person, and then have it taken away...oh yes. I'd kill for that." He shook his head, then, leaning against her hand. "But it wouldn't have accomplished anything. It wouldn't have changed anything. It never does."

The human screaming came first, and then the gunfire. Before that came a sudden, violent vibration from the ground, and as the teens looked out the window they saw a massive purple head rise out of the giant warehouse opposite them and keep rising. The multi-story behemoth that was Gigantosaur was free and would not be denied! Laughing off the bullets fired by the garrison below, the great beast took a step out of the crumbling warehouse, the sound of explosions all around it, and threw back its massive head to give a roar out of history! REEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! And with that, it began heading for the enclosure that the kids remembered held the baby Gigantosaurs, and also heading right for them!

Edge put his arm around Psyche momentarily, releasing the quick hug after a moment. "It is a little creepy," he admitted, "but think of all the history down here! We could be walking into someone's tomb, or find relics from heroes and villains long past." Mark looked absolutely thrilled to be where they were. "Onward!"

Edge fatigues himself (for now) to power-stunt Stun 11 (Burst Area, Selective) on the oncoming mob. DC 21 Reflex, DC 21 Fort.

Edge hmmed for a moment, studying the situation. Surely something would come along and get this problem out of the way! And sure enough, just as he'd hoped, something did! Through great good luck, the waterslide shifted momentarily, dumping thousands of gallons of water on the oncoming, mind-controlled crowd, knocking down and out for the count.

Learning About Avenger

7 on Reflex, 25 on Fort

Jack made a small noise; one that might have been a laugh. "Claudia likes her men pretty, young, and not terribly bright. I was perfect for her. She said so, and said we'd make a great pair." He shook his head. "But when I had autonomy again, and could take care of myself, I wasn't so attractive. And after we broke up, I was with other people, developed a reputation as a sissy...and then I assassinated Melinda and took control. I know she didn't go with me when all that happened."

"That's my guess," sad Jack almost clinically, his arms going around her. "I've...I've been in situations like that before, though not so real." He put his head against hers and closed his eyes. When he spoke, it was in a decidedly unclinical tone. "I'd hoped I'd never have to feel that again. Never have to look down and see so much blood on my hands..."