Avenger Assembled

Bee-Keeper's Initiative: 12 So we're at Bee-Keeper: 12 Fleur: 5

"I...hey!" In a rare moment of perspicacity, the Bee-Keeper was deeply suspicious of Stesha's quick exit. Not wanting to risk scuffing his brand-new suit by flying into a blind alley, though, he landed to chase after her on foot. "You'd better not beee running out the back door! I can fly faster than you can run, which means I'll give you zzuch a ztinging!"

The Bee-Keeper scratched his chin, bees swarming all around him. "Monarda, eh? I have been wanting to attract more bumblebeez, and I could uze..." He shook his head, then said, "Yez! Fetch me the bee balm at once, woman! And zome orchidz! Ze mozt valuable flowerz in the shop! I will uze them to further build my invinzible army of the sky! The lordz and ladiez of the hive!"

"I. Am. The. Bee-Keeper," replied the Bee-Keeper distinctly, wondering if perhaps he hadn't said it loud enough. Well, the girl was obviously in awe of his terrifying persona. He adjusted his synthesizer a little, deciding he must have had it tuned too high. "I have come to liberate the flowerz in your zhop on behalf of my alliez in the Apian Army." He demonstrated what he meant by firing a small discharge of bees, releasing a few dozen into the air that happily swarmed around his suit as he spoke. "Now, I have a lizt of demandz. I want sunflowers, woman! And none of that big-flower hybrid foolishnezz; only the small kind will do! And alzo, California poppiez! And make it znappy!"

"911 emergency," came the operator's voice. "How may I assist you?" The Bee-Keeper crashed through the window in a huge shower of glass, rising up in mid-air and raising his fist to the ceiling. When he spoke, the synthesizers transformed his voice into a mechanical buzz akin to an exceedingly large, talking bee. "Zzzurrender, puny mortalzzz! The Zinizter Bee-Keeper haz come to liberate zis shop on behalf of ze Apian Army, and...hey, where did everybody go?" He looked around for a moment before he spotted Stesha. "You there! Drop the phone, or suffer ze zting of the Bee-Keeper!" Even saying it was a religious experience.

Barry crouched on the skyscraper rooftop, peering down at the quiet little flower shop at street level across the road. With the slow, loving care of a man donning holy garb, he carefully donned his shining gold-and-black armor, cinching up the joints and placing the helmet down across his head. As the suit whirred to life, the world around him came into focus. He could see as clearly as if he were wearing binoculars, easily peering down through the reflective glass below to make out the clerk working inside. He could feel the power of his armor around him, the mechanized strength that gave him the power of ten men (or of one mighty bee!), the gentle humming of the jets that let him fly through the air with the greatest of ease. And humming all around him, filling the interior lining of his suit, their song filling his ears, were his glorious sisters, the tens of thousands of bees that made their home inside his armor and that answered his call thanks to his fanatical training, breeding, and sheer scientific genius. It was the Bee-Keeper who stood up on the rooftop, and the Bee-Keeper who laughed as he took to the air, his speech synthesizer turning his voice buzzing and menacing as he dove straight across the street, right for the window of Stesha's flowershop.

Bee-Keeper's Stealth is 14 Stesha is aware that there is a man in a loudly buzzing bee-battlesuit flying directly towards her shop window.

This is the OOC thread for the July 7th encounter between the Bee-Keeper and Fleur. Fleur, make a Notice check. Post it here.

Oh yez, Viktor, I can hear you. I hope you vill pardon ze unorzodox nature of zis message, but I imagine you are pressed for time. I haff only reached you through certain dimenstional-zychic waves zat are unfortunately difficult to explain. It is fortunate I haff been expecting you. Plez make your way to my men, so that I may know vere you are and speak to you in...vell, in person, I suppoze.

When the time for their rendezvous with the airship came, Mark had led his three friends out to the grassy lot behind the dormitories where they'd be meeting with Geckoman and his airship. Mark was excited, both for the concert and his chance to ride in an airship for the first time, and the smile on his face radiated warmly to his friends. "This is going to be great," he predicted with perfect confidence. "We'll cruise out there in style, party with the college kids, and be back here in plenty of time."

Ace's left hook hit Marionette square in the jaw, snapping the pretty blonde's head back and making her eyes roll back in her head. She staggered limply and murmured distinctly, "That didn't feel very good," before collapsing like a poleaxed steer onto Rachel's carpeted floor. With two unconscious women at his feet, his hand bloody from one's face, it might have gone badly for Ace if he'd been standing in anyone else's office when the pounding at the door finally resolved into a key in the lock, and a startled Sharon Rogers in the door. "Ohmigod! Ms. Danger! I'll call 911!"

The two heroes passed through the (thankfully) insubstantial wall, emerging on the other side in a large hanger full of various kinds of patched-together military equipment. Neither man was a military expert of any particular renown, but Doctor Archeville's intelligence was enough to recognize the weapons, tanks, and planes of several European nations. The soldiers down below, on closer inspection, were wearing uniforms assembled from the armies of those various nations too. Before they could decide on their next plan, Doctor Archeville suddenly heard a voice in his head, clear as a bell. Ah, Viktor! I vas vondering ven you and your friend would arrive. Plez, land and introduce yourself to my soldiers. Zey vill be happy to guide you to me. Do not worry about the privacy auf your mind, this is a mere...message, ya? Was that...his own voice?

Phantom's search found no evidence that Trask himself had been able to step between worlds. It appeared that whatever had sent him here had been something performed on him rather than something he'd done himself. She was actually familiar with the spell that must have been used to carry out the transportation, a covert variation on the St. Germain Gambit that made it easy to move large amounts of mass without leaving behind a large interdimensional footprint. Someone who knew what they were doing was behind this. She couldn't read anyone else in the area from this dimension, but the use of this particular spell was a bad sign. if they could move _this_ much, they could move an army.

Ace is successful on his Bluff.

Avenger disappeared into the shadows between one wail of the siren and the next, leaving his two colleagues to deal with the authorities. It was nothing personal, but shadowy vigilantes like he was pretending to be had no business dealing with the police. Too many friends in the authorities meant someone would take an interest in his welfare, and that meant someone might go digging too closely. Nothing personal, guys.

Thanks for the correction, durf! Edited accordingly. You're right that there is no attack roll for mental blast. She did make that Notice check.

"Sweet," said Mark, who hadn't doubted Chris for a moment. "We'll be down there. Peace out, Chris." Luckily, he'd been dressed up enough for the concert even before he'd won the tickets. He took a minute to print off the tickets from WNTT's website using the password they'd given him, pleased at how well Claremont's sometimes-balky Internet connection worked for him. After that, there was nothing to do but head downstairs and give his friends the good news. "All right, Kenzie's in and he's bringing his ride! You guys got anyone else in mind, or should we stick this last one up on the big board if anyone wants it?"

A miss! That's a DC 23 Will Save for her Mental Blast. (Ace is largely immune to the mechanical effects of Marionette's Taunts...but she's still a trash talker.)

Marionette had risen to her feet as Ace caught his niece and disappeared, and so she jerked her head back as his blow just missed connecting with her jaw. "Oh, hitting a girl, Ace?" she asked, teasing with a nasty edge to her voice now that her mood had shifted again. "What would your poor sainted mother think?" She took a step back, scanning the room for Ace. "I know you're still here, you coward," she said, her teeth exposed in a feral snarl. "Come out right now or your little niecey-poo here has an aneurysm hard enough to paint the ceiling." Suddenly, she turned and looked the invisible Ace right in the eye. "It'll be like this."

Dark Star has trouble making out the specifics as he approaches the mountain, but he can tell that parts of the mountain he's looking at are false. Doctor Archeville has a better angle, and so is able to see as a truckload full of soldiers wearing those tentacle-splays coming driving out straight through the side of the mountain itself. They leave no holes, passing straight through the rock, suggesting that it or they are insubstantial: and from the damage they're doing in the nearby fight, that seems unlikely at best.

"Hey, you can fly," said Mark with a grin Alex's way, "that's pretty cool right there. It's no big deal; it's not the first time something like that's happened around me. I'm just glad I was lucky enough to be here to catch you." He shot a look Erin's way, but it seemed as though she'd made a safe, if ungraceful, landing on the ground below. "Looks like you guys all came through in one piece."

"Hey Chris, it's Mark Mason," said Mark cheerfully, trusting that his reputation would precede him. He did tend to cut a fairly memorable figure around campus, after all, and he'd been there for a while. "Listen, I scored these great free tickets to the Madman Finale show at FCU tonight. So far it's me, Mike Harris, Erin White, and Alex Albright, but we need a couple others. We could really use a wheel, er, sky-man on this one, man, plus we need some of that Gecko action. Anyone you want to bring along, we can slip in under the door. S'at seven, so we want to get there early to get good seats."

Marionette switches her array from Mind Control to Mental Blast, then drops a DC 23 Will save on Rachel. She is now unconscious, beginning to fall out the window, and in serious need of heroic daring-do. :D

Marionette's lovely lips curled in sudden, sharp distaste. "I'm tired of talk, Danger." Suddenly, in the window, Rachel swayed visibly, her eyes opening wide as she looked around for the first time. "Ace? What-" Before Rachel could quite become conscious of where she was, Marionette's eyes suddenly flashed a brilliant white, a trick Ace couldn't ever recall the woman he'd fought in the Golden Age ever showing. Rachel's eyes flashed white too, and blood suddenly poured freely from her nose as her head jerked up and her body convulsed. Silently, she began to topple backwards.

I need a Notice check from, hmm, both you guys.