Avenger Assembled

Targette dropped to one knee as the pool cue shattered into kindling at the first blow, her eyes rolling back in her head as blood ran down her face.She looked up at Divine as consciousness left her body and smiled, mouthing a Honduran obscenity that spoke unspeakable things about Moira's mother. Back in ancient days, you could get hit by lightning for talking like that. But as Targette slipped into unconsciousness, Divine felt a sudden blast of agony right between her eyes! Meanwhile, Sidetrack screamed in rage and frustration as Grim's claws sunk into her flesh, the sneaky hero having managed to catch her off-guard while she was looking away. If she was hurt now, she was absolutely infuriated at the sight of Divine knocking her lover to the ground. "You #$))! SUCK ON THIS!" She suddenly leaped high in the air again, turning a wild pirouette, and landed a glowing fist right at Divine's feet. There was an enormous flash of light that briefly blinded the lovely godling before suddenly her vision cleared and she found herself over a hundred feet in the air over her bar! She needed to get someone to fix the roof, she noted, as she began to fall towards it.

Erin could feel the wind on her face as she broke Blackbird's ribs, the roof beneath her coming into view faster and faster. The real Blackbird might have gotten spooked himself and pulled off, or tried and break out of Erin's grapple, but the simulated armored adventurer wasn't so clever: he was going to break her grip, whatever it took!

Since it's a simulation, we'll just say "Blackbird" isn't smart enough to come up with a new strategy (i.e; breaking her grapple check now.) Erin and Blackbird will hit the ground at the end of the next round.

Blackbird groaned again, his breath rattling in his chest, but stayed in the air. Wander had felt his body armor bend underneath her fantastic grip, but she hadn't felt flesh actually give way. If she wanted to hurt him this way, she'd have to keep squeezing! But the situation was changing rapidly. Blackbird had failed to break free from Wander's iron grip, and now had turned to hurtle them both straight down! "You'd better let go of me!" he yelled, soon finding that frightening Wander was a fool's errand at best.

Edited!

Blackbird groaned as his teeth broke, obviously hurt though he stayed in the air and stayed in flight. Though the new passenger meant his jetpack was taking them up in the air more slowly, they were still rising, at least a hundred feet up above the rooftop beneath their feet, and even further above the simulated ground so very far below. The fall below looked long indeed!

Grim is Bruised. Bad Grim Bad Grim, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you? (I'll post the result of your attack after that, Moira.)

Have an HP. Make a DC 20 Will Save vs Visual Dazzle. (Seven actually is pulling her punches on this one.)

"Argh!" Seven's image staggered, but looked up unhurt as she met Psyche's eyes. "You think your powers of the mind can bring me down?"She fired a beam of black light at Psyche's face, the quick young hero just dodging the dangerous blast that zoomed past her head with a curl of energy that seemed to burn the air behind it. But it was a feint, as a moment later, a blast of pure black energy came warping around to hit her right in the face!

Magni is deliberately pulling his punch enough to not hurt. Or is he? Dun dun dunnn!

Magni raised his hammers high, lightning bolts crackling between Surtur and Ymir in an arc over his head. "IF THOU WOULDST CROSS THIS BRIDGE, YOU MUST MOVE ME!" he called. "CHOOSE YOUR WAY AND DO BATTLE FOR THINE CAUSE! LET THE FIRST AMONGST US WHO FALLS OWE THE OTHER A COKE!" He fired a bolt of lightning at Mike, the blast hard enough to shock him but not enough to actually hurt. "REMEMBER, MICHAEL," he called, stamping on the bridge and making the ancient wood creak beneath them. "A WARRIOR'S GREATEST WEAPONS ARE HIS MIND! AND HIS MIGHTY THEWS!"

I would say it would be a good idea.

In the interests of fairness and because Doc Arch is actually smarter than Odysseus, I'll let Dark Star post before we do anything else. :twisted:

"I'm on the account," said Merry readily. She showed her ID, announcing her name as Meredith Blake, and happily signed off on the paperwork for the flower purchase and arrangement. She signed the check from M Industries, paying the bill in toto down to the penny, and then began digging in her shiny black purse for the tip. "Jack told me to give you fifty percent," she said with a smile as she handed over a substantial wad of bills, "but I'm throwing in my own ten bucks there. You've really made this night special for me." She smiled again, the sort of look that Stesha usually enjoyed seeing from clients who didn't seem like they were completely insane.

Mr. Hawke laughed that deep-throated, cheerfully boisterous laugh of his and gave Christopher Kenzie a look. "Good to see you're thinking on your feet, Mr. Kenzie. We'll talk later. Nice hat. Ms. Gibbons." He tipped his own imaginary chapeau to Geckoman and Student Body both before moving on to chat with the recently-arrived financier David Sloane, the two men moving away from the group of teenagers to engage in a quiet, calm bit of adult chatter. By the time Chris made it back to his unspeakably gorgeous "date," he realized that Daisy and Clarence were deep in the middle of the most teenage of conversations: an argument. "If you're so mad about me hanging out with Kenzie, why don't you do something about it, Clarence?" murmured Daisy Gibbons with the ice and fire of a teenage prom queen. "Just a man enjoying the party," Jack replied to Ace, actually doing the "shoot with an imaginary finger-gun" thing that so many annoying people have done over the years. "I'm afraid I don't socialize with other superheroes...like at all," he told Ace almost apologetically. "But my name is on your list." He actually felt kind of bad lying to Ace Danger, though not nearly bad enough to not actually do it. He introduced Grimalkin to Ace as well. "This is Grimalkin, one of the protectors of the Fens. She's a fine lady as well. Both of these ladies...really fine." He waved his glass around, the perfect image of the slightly inebriated partygoer. "Lady here does like to call me Discreet. Hope it's true!"

Erin landed a hit, but the body armor her simulated antagonist was wearing turned her kick enough that he got by with only a headache. A blow that should have decapitated him instead only bruised his head, leaving him battered but unbowed. "I'll make you pay for that! No one messes with Blackbird and lives!" He raised his gauntlets and fired something out of them at her, a rapidly expanding net that shot past her head and wrapped itself around a nearby beam. Cursing at his miss, the man spread his cape and began rising into the air, jets from his jetpack rising him into the air.

Erin, have an HP.

By the time Thunderstanding looked Jack's way again, he'd moved to her other side with speed, quiet, and dexterity. With a smile, he offered her his arm, a gentleman escorting a lady around the floor. Hey, if she's interested, she's interested. "Come with me, and I'll introduce you to all sorts of interesting people." Whether or not she took his arm or not, Jack began walking Thunderstanding along the floor, heading first for the host of the party himself. I don't actually know this guy. But what the heck, let's see what I can get away with. "Thunderstanding? I'd like you to meet the host of this fabulous party, Mr. Ace Danger," said a smiling man who Ace had never seen before in his life. "Ace, this is Thunderstanding. She's a lady who knows how to drink." Jack waved his mint julep for emphasis, the liquid inside looking nearly drained.

As she crouched in the alley and the simulated corpse beneath her feet faded away, Erin realized that she wasn't alone in the alleyway. There was a man above her, crouching low and stealthily on the rooftop far above her, watching her closely. The two of them froze for a moment, locking distant eyes, before Erin saw her new antagonist reach for something heavy and metallic-looking at his belt.

Blackbird does less well: 26

"Good, young Michael. Very good. Now we can begin our final trial. The trial...by combat!" Magni raised his mighty fists and shouted: "Computer! Give us the battlefield of Stamford Bridge!" At his words, the two young heroes were suddenly surrounded by a grim barbaric battlefield, a place where men in leather and metal armor roared defiance and hacked at each other with spears and swords. Mike stood before a rapidly rushing river, one that looked too deep and fast for a normal man to swim across, battle raging on both sides of him. For his part, Magni was standing on the only visible bridge in the middle of the battlefield, two glowing hammers in both hands, his back straight and true. "THOU WOULDST CROSS THIS BRIDGE!?" he shouted. "FIRST THOU MUST KNOCK ASIDE THE CHAMPION OF THE NORTH!" Behind Mike, his "supporters" began cheering his name, calling for him to go forth and do battle in the name of freedom and right.

Make a Notice check. Your DC is 24.

"Good." Seven snapped to her feet suddenly, her eyes glowing, the walls of the simulated room around them shifting into reds and blacks, the sky overhead turning into clouds rushing by as if from hurricane-force winds, for all that the room itself remained eerily quiet. "Because this is a test of combat!" She raised her hand and spoke an arcane syllable, mystic fire suddenly pulsating in her palm. "Defend yourself, child!"

Roll for initiative! Seven will later tell herself that she's going easy on the kid: 5

Merry blinked, taken aback, but briefly recovered. "Oh! I know!" She pointed to a huge crimson divan in the middle of the room, a massive, overstuffed piece of furniture that looked like a lady's fainting couch from a previous generation. "Put them here. But spread them around, so we can still use the couch. That's where we'll put the cake. It's more festive that way!" She folded her hands in front of her, grinning cheerfully. "It'll be beautiful!"