Avenger Assembled

"YOU! I KNEW I WOULD FIND YOU HERE!" Suddenly, a yellow and black figure came crashing through the trees overhead and pointed right at Stesha. "You're Fleur de Joie's friend! She's the one who put me away!" The Bee-Keeper looked to be in fine form today, his armor polished bright and a black cloud of bees buzzing all around him. "If I kidnap you, she'll have to come find you! Scream if you want," he said rudely, "it'll just attract more attention!"

OK, so some of you guys would rather keep the fight going on-camera? That's cool. In that case, a Ref will bring in an NPC or two to replace the folks interested in moving on; that way they don't have to keep posting in the thread and their characters don't look like chumps bailing on their friends in the middle of a fight. More anon.

Electra and I will be at a family wedding this weekend. Our access will be dubious at best.

Approved!

Jack repressed a laugh, not at Taylor, but at himself. Of course she'd ask him that. "Because I like you," he confessed to her, an unexpected admission of honesty for himself after so many lies. "You know what it's like to be someone like us. It doesn't stop when you take off the mask or go home for the night. Elena is the same, but she's also Alexander Rhodes and about forty other people who don't relate very well to people on the ground like you and me." He smiled thinly. "And you have a nice family. That's not something I get to see a lot of, and it was a nice way to get to know you." He took a few, cautious steps towards the window, mindful of what he'd see there. "Why do people care about me?" he asked her. "I know that sounds like self-indulgent twaddle, but the question's been on my mind more and more this last month." His voice was tight. "I break legs more often than a Mob enforcer, I act and dress like a dime store psychopath, and I talk like a refugee from a bad movie." He laughed, once. "You know how much practice it was to talk like Avenger?" He shook his head. "I just...I just don't understand why I have so many friends."

Jack took that as a good excuse to flick on the lights, walking back and forth as he hit all the big switches and cast the observation deck into light. Anyone looking from below would see nothing other than...well, people who could get away. "Sure thing," he said, dreading the question despite himself. He already knew Taylor had magically acute senses. "If I can ask one of you, too."

"I can't guarantee any conventional dates," said Jack with a crooked smile. "But I can give you tonight." Her pulse was racing. It was a good thing Jack had eaten before he called. "It's not another dimension, I suppose, but we all have our own talents. Even if my only talent is...being me." The express elevator didn't take long to reach the observation deck, and within the space of a few minutes they were up at the roof of the world. Jack walked out slowly, staying away from the windows as he glanced up at the darkened historical monuments all around. "How's your night vision?"

pops in Hey guys. I've gotten a couple of requests about tying this thread up thanks to its length. We'll have NPC heroes arrive and let them fight the bad guys off-camera. Sound good? :)

"I know the feeling," said Jack quietly, laying his hand on hers. His fingers were cool from the air conditioning, which ran even this late in the day at the beginning of August. "This is pretty normal. You and me going up to see the roof of the world." He smiled a little at her. "It's been a long time since I've been on a real date with anyone." He thought of Stesha, briefly, and pushed those memories aside. "Since you've already introduced me to your parents, I thought that was fair enough."

August 5, 2009: Surely Science can help find the missing Claremont kids in Team Science!

"A professional colleague of mine recently died," said Jack, staring at the wood-paneled doors before him. "Not my superhero work; my regular job. No one you'd be familiar with." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I've been trying to replace her, but it's not an easy task...taking an organization over, trying to reshape it for the better. Sometimes I think being Avenger just gets in the way of my personal life. You know I haven't even gotten the mask on in two weeks?" He shook his head. "Do you ever feel like it's more trouble than it's worth?"

"It's for the security of our students," said Ms. Dugan, her face and voice that of a calm professional. "My own daughter is a student here, Dr. de Haviland, so I'm sure you understand that I and the other administrators want to make sure that our students can be protected. This is Freedom City and we have many metahuman students. The risk of superhuman terrorism here is very high, and we don't want to take any chances."

"Dr. Atom's family is currently visiting the Microverse," said Ms. Harcourt tightly. "Mr. Cale is one of my honor students, I've made sure to call him in on this situation as well. Estelle de Havilland recently joined our faculty, I'm going to see if she's available when you and I are finished. As for the dimensional teleporter, it's currently located on the roof of our cafeteria. And so am I, for that matter," she admitted with the faintest of chuckles.

"Thank you," said Jack sincerely. "I don't get a lot of chances to dress up." He remembered the top of the skyscraper and felt a strange twist in his chest, right where Melinda had stabbed him before. So why did you invite her here? Oh yes, because of this. He stayed away from the big bay window, hanging close by the elevator. "Well, if you've already seen the observation deck, I'll just have to make it up for you with my scintillating conversation." He grinned, his eyes falling to the necklace at her throat. And what a throat! Easy on, Jack. "It's been a tough month," he admitted. "I've missed human contact. How have you been?"

"I'll take you to our base down on the river," Lilith told Erin, "That'll start you where you need to go. As for defenses, you should expect robotic infantry armed with anti-personnel rifles and light artillery, together with refit tanks and a few of their heavier models. They've got some surprises there; we know that; they're waiting to get us on the run before they send in the harvesters. If you get in there quickly and quietly enough, you should have to face only a few dozen small robots and a handful of the larger models. The older models can be controlled by a chemical substance, one that gives the user a limited form of telepathy. Our supplies of that are strictly rationed, as you can imagine; we have only a few chemists who can make it." think it's time we let our new friends see the world." Lilith took the four teenagers up and out of the bunker, the rusting old iron steps beneath their feet creaking ominously as they walked up out of their deep confinement into light, noise, and war. The city around them was a strange combination of desolation and frantic activity, people in tattered uniforms and civilian garb moving quickly back and forth between buildings in various combinations of poor repair. American flags, usually bullet-shot ones, were hanging from many buildings, and others showed where swastikas had been blasted or chipped away. The distant sounds of concussions and gunfire were clear in everyone's ears. This was a city at war, and the war wasn't far away. "We took the city back only a few years ago," Lilith told the kids as they went, sticking to the shadows of large, unfamiliar buildings as they cut their way through the streets. "We haven't had time to make a lot of repairs. I'm sorry if the streets are unfamiliar. When the Nazis came the first time, they burned the city to the ground as a lesson to the world and built it again in their own image. We've reshaped it." The Claremont kids could see a wild melange of vehicles on the streets; Mercedes trucks, civilian cars of unfamiliar vintage, all of them with American markings and all of them battered and just hanging together. There were limos acting as troop transports; trucks carrying heavily-guarded shipments of foods. The people around them were thin and battered, but their eyes were bright as they went about their daily activity. Their lives were hard, but they weren't despairing of them. "If we can't stop the robots," said Lilith quietly, "all we've built here may fall. And the Nazis will have the East Coast again."

Jack was on the phone when Taylor arrived, an unaccustomed display for the grim vigilante of the night. "I don't care what it costs! Get it done! That is not acceptable behavior now." He hung up and sighed, leaning against the wall opposite. It took him a moment to realize Taylor was there, and by the time he turned he had a half-smile on his face. "Heh. So that's what that's like." Jack was in a brand-new black suit and tie that still clung perfectly to his body, not yet having broken in the brand-new outfit. He smiled at Taylor, concealing from his face the horrors of the last two weeks. How long has it been since I've had a real conversation with a live human being? "I'm glad you could make it, Taylor. I was hoping you would, even after last time." He walked over to her, giving her a quick up and down. "I like it. Have you been in the Plaza much before?" he asked her. "I know your family's from the area, but you never know with lifelong Freedomians. Sometimes they never learn to look up and see the wonders." He smiled.

Your power-stunt is fine, quote. Everyone, gimme a Notice check and a Survival check: Agent H's Notice: 29 Agent H's Survival: 22

Edited the last post a bit. You guys may want to do a thing with it. :D

Blowing another HP for a full-round Inspire attempt, giving Mr. Ace Danger a +4. Will spend another HP to help out his roll if needed.

Edge winced as Breakdown freaked out. He could certainly understand his friend's problem with bugs in his ear, but they did need a little bit more stealth with what they were doing. "You really need to get something over your ears, man," Edge murmured to his colleague. "Like a hood or something." He carefully bent down behind Ace Danger, peering at his work as he did so. "I'm sure you can do it, Mr. Danger," he murmured to him. "Remember when you opened the Atlantean Crypt in Ace Danger and the Atlantean Crypt With time ticking away before all the world's water was transformed into blood? This can't be harder than that."

"It's done, Knight." Discarding his worries about forensic evidence now that he'd had a chance to see Wesley's ability to clean up organic evidence in action, Jack clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Go home. Hug your girlfriend. Tell her how much you love her." Envy crept into Jack's voice, real and honest. "Enjoy humanity," he told Wesley in his own voice. "Tell her that the people of the Imperator will be free."

"No costumes," Jack promised her. "Just...just people, here." He chuckled faintly. "I'll meet you in the elevator lobby on the 87th floor, where the regular passenger elevators meet up with the express line to the top floor. Hour and a half enough time to dress and get over here? I'm already working near the building myself."

Avenger was silent as the others talked, looking around the darkened version of Liberty Park with his eyes wide. For all the grim, gritty inhumanity Jack projected as Avenger, it was hard not to be awed in this place and in this company. How did I get here? He stared up at the massive tower. How did putting on a mask in the Fens take me to this other world? "Suggest I stay with the magically inclined. Likely they will need some sharper protection." His hands tightened into fists, leather gloves creaking. "In the meantime, he is a supervillain. Has likely dealt with teleporters, fliers, and all else. Suggest we take him by surprise." He stared at the building intently. "They never lock the front door. Who would dare break in?"

August 1, 2009: Jack and Taylor have a date. But what will it mean for The New Man?

This is Jack and Taylor's date.