Avenger Assembled

"All right," said Dr. Marquez, "now that we've all had a chance to talk, I'd like us to do a team-building exercise." He gave everyone a firm, convincing smile. "I'm going to divide you up into three teams. Samuel, Erin, you'll be Team A; Darian, Hope, and Samantha, you'll be Team B, whereas Rex and Prometheus will be Team C. We're going to play a round of multi-player Tug-of-War." He showed them one played the game, with very strong ropes all tied together around a central point. "Uh, excuse me, sir," said Rex, cocking his head and sniffing. "But aren't those guys really really strong? Not that I don't like being with my man Prommie and all," he added, gently tapping Prometheus with a noise that was distinctly metallic, "but I know Sam there can lift me and the whole darn dorm over his head and not worry about it, and I hear Erin's pretty strong too." "That's right, Rex," Dr. Marquez agreed. "This will be a game about putting our mutual skills and abilities together to come up with something useful. You all have one day to come up with a strategy for beating the other teams."

Gentlemen! DC 20 on the check to know the real names of the Crimson Katana and Baron Samedi. Also, I need a Notice check from Dr. Archeville.

"Ah...my dear Phaeton, I fear relations with other worlds are not as they should be," Odysseus admitted. "While many from offworld do make their homes on Earth, some of our dealings with other worlds have not been friendly. We have the Grue here too," he added, "and the blasted Farsiders." He shot a glance up at the sky at that. "Your double, I am sure, is a great hero of the spaceways. And we are peace, but it is a new peace. America might greet you kindly, but if you veered into the domains of Prince Ranaga or Lord DuLac...well, they have their reasons for paranoia. But I cannot say I share them. It is a new world now, a united world. I see no reason for us to continue our old petty squabbles now that all are one." To Archeville, he added, "Oh yes, we have kept all the old forms of government here. And speaking of which, here comes my queen!" Having spent plenty of time in Freedom City and watched their share of the news, both Archeville and Dark Star recognized the elegant lady in the draped chiton approaching them with a dazzling white smile. Medea of Colchis was a lovely woman in any reality. The couple shared a warm embrace, and Odysseus gladly introduced Queen Medea, keeping a protective am around her shoulder as he introduced the sorceress to the new arrivals. "I was just about to tell Dr. Archeville here how it was your magic that brought us safely to my home." "Yes, well..." Was Medea blushing? Her voice had an odd undertone that was difficult to pin down, a strange, calm way of speaking that seemed a little out of character for Earth-Prime's version of this woman. "You know that I do all that I can for you, my husband." She bowed low to the new arrivals and said, "Welcome to Greece. I hope your stay will be pleasant and fruitful." With his enhanced senses, Dark Star could easily feel the energy throbbing inside the tower where they stood; there was a significant source of energy in this huge skyscraper-cum-palace.

Jack almost joined the conversation at the sight of his old friend Dark Star, but the new face entering reminded him of why he couldn't. Avenger doesn't socialize. Avenger doesn't hang out with other heroes. Avenger is a weirdo who no one is supposed to like, because that means no one's going to develop an interest in his no-doubt creepy loser secret identity. But Jack himself wanted to socialize, which meant waiting until the crowd down below was just a little bit larger. Hey, is that Daedalus? No, that's some other Greekish guy. Hmm, I wonder if I could sneak into Freedom Hall like this... He drifted down and around, circling through the party as an invisible phantom. And then...Holy cow, is that an angel! Jack drifted in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

Also because Doctor Archeville and Dark Star are, as of thread time, elsewhere. All right, Grim, do you have your timeline down? And Scarab? Seems rude to start without the lady who actually owns the joint.

A flash of light transported the two superheroes from Earth-Prime to an entirely new place. They found themselves standing atop a high columnar tower reminiscent of the Pyramid Plaza cast in the style of the Ionic Greeks, though the city below was clearly not Freedom City. The assembled heroes were standing on a lovely plaza on the roof of the massive building, a boisterous place with marble fountains and pools, where handsome people in togas passed by to and fro, smiling cheerfully and giving a Greco-Roman style salute to Odysseus as he landed with his newfound companions. "All hail Prince Odysseus!" one man who bore a suspicious resemblance to Sebastian Stratos called "Gentlemen," said Odysseus boisterously, "welcome to Athens! The city of the past is the capital of the future, or so I like to think." He smiled and threw his arm around Archeville's shoulder, pointing out to the city surface beneath. "Will you fly with me to see the glories of the city below? Or would you prefer to get there under your own power?" As he spoke, he turned to Dark Star. "As for you, Master Phaeton, if you go exploring I suggest you limit yourself to Europe. My fellow princes may not be quite so hospitable as I am to a new face."

Jack thought about dropping his disguise when Dark Star appeared in the hall, but he knew that he'd draw far too much attention to himself if he started disappearing and reappearing when there were only a couple of heroes here. He'd have to bide his time and wait until a crowd appeared. Still, it was nice to see Dark Star getting some play. Man needs to socialize more, he thought complacently. Can't spend all day talking to stars and passing Grue. You know, I wonder what a Grue tastes like... He drifted down low to listen as the two men talked.

This is the OOC thread for the Knights of Freedom (Avenger, Grimalkin, Knight, Scarab; with possible surprise guest appearances from Dark Star and Dr. Archeville) and Phantom to deal with the menace posed by the forces of Lord Arachnos. Who's that, you ask? Well. I'll let you guys describe how you get down there, and Scarab can give her usual "reveal your secrets or your brain is mine" speech to the new fish.

It was a little while after the various melees of the day that the Knights came together, all of them united behind the common mystery of the familiar-yet-strange superpowered individuals they'd battled. Everyone came to the Scarab's Tomb in their own fashion, guided by the experienced of previous visits or under the watchful eye of the Scarab herself. But they were a team, and together they were confronting a very large mystery indeed. The sun was bright as Avenger made his way down to one of the entrances that he knew Elena preferred, thoroughly glad to find himself in the protective cover of darkness. It was impolite to let his friend know how easy, or hard it would be to trespass on her domain; so he simply preferred to let her see him enter. Most of the time.

1. Avenger 2. I would like to see Raven have a confrontation with Avenger, who by her standards is something of a creepy thug who pushes the limits of being a hero. 3. Given the high Stealth of the two characters, I would have a hard time seeing anyone else finding out about it! 4. A goodly number

Heh. I was hoping this would be a question about what happens when you use the Mimic power on a character with the Mimic power, because then my head would have exploded. We'll debate the use of Variable Powers, but you might want to look at WoF's Exemplar for a better idea of the kind of power it sounds like you want. It's a lot less expensive, but still fairly meaty.

"Well, now, that's true," said Coach Jones cheerfully, making big gestures with his large hands, "but today, we're going to do something really different! I've been telling Alan that we can work with you kids up here if we invest in the right kind of equipment! So I talked to a...friend of mine," he winked, "and got us one of the testing machines they use in Freedom Hall for the day! If you kids do a good job with the thing, I'll be able to talk Alan into putting super-equipment right up here in our gym!" He waved his hand to the back door for emphasis, where the equipment lockers were. "So come with me, and we'll teach Daedalus' fancy new toy how to take it on the chin!" When he punched himself in the mouth, there was a definite clong! "This way!"

I'm assuming that Ace Danger did not arrange for literally airtight security for this one. So Jack is probably good. :D

The Claremont students attending Ace Danger's party had the luxury of two very special escorts tonight. One was Leeroy Hawke, the charismatic ethics teacher with the dark past as the former supervillian Turbo-Boost. Mr. Hawke was a man of enormous height and charisma, a muscular fellow whose bulk belies the speed and dexterity he still showed off when occasionally persuaded to take to the football field. In the immaculate grey suit he preferred, the supercriminal-turned-teacher could still go from charming, voluble intellectual to scary-eyed teacher you don't mess with at the drop of a hat. He was nothing, though, compared to their other escort. :bat: "I am sure that you will all conduct yourself by the standards befitting students of the Claremont Academy for the Gifted,": said Duncan Summers as the kids boarded the school SUV that was taking them to the party. "Make no mistake. Mr. Hawke and I will be watching you. " He seemed to give each and every student The Look at those words, ones they knew only too well. "I already know you. This is your chance to show the world what you're made of." With that, he deftly boarded the big SUV, leaving the kids all in the huge backseat in an odd version of the usual high school trip to prom for the short trip out to the party. Meanwhile, high in the rafters of Ace Danger's place, Jack watched and waited in the form of so much smoke and fog. His natural stealth made it almost impossible for anyone to detect his presence...even when he got a little careless and drifted beneath the light. He didn't look like a man, anyway, just like a bit of fog that had gotten in at the wrong place.

Erin and Mike heard a loud bang from nearby, noise enough to know that someone was coming. Just in time, too! "Hey team!" a sudden voice boomed from the corridor, the muscular form of Coach "Iron Jaw" Jones stepping through the swinging doors of the gym with a big smile on his face. Coach Jones' beard was something of a legend in the school's community, the bushy white Santa Claus-style growth thick enough to hide whatever it was that was below his teeth. Rumor had it that he'd once taken a punch by a mind-controlled Megastar there, not to mention gotten stuck to a magnetic student some years earlier. Other rumors said he could chew through steel bars if sufficiently annoyed, which he'd done the last time his team had lost the intramural competition against Mr. Archer's team. "Glad you could make it! I know I'm a little early, but surprises help you stay on your toes in this game!"

All right, gentlemen, this time I can actually run the plot successfully whichever way you go. But you must go! :D

All right, I think we're about ready to do some thread combining here. If you have anything to say before we create the Thread of All Threads, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I will say Magpie flew in after Wesley spoke.

I rather like the image of Malice meeting Captain Knievel in prison, if only so Captain Knievel can say, "Well well well, if it isn't Mr. Sane! Looks like we all wind up in the same place in the end, buddy."

Ouch! Have an HP for the setback, Wander.

Odysseus has spent an HP on his Ultimate Bluff and so has a Sense Motive DC higher than you fine gentleman can make.

"Oh, have I offended your hospitality?" replied an apologetic Odysseus. "You will forgive me, my friends," he said as the power around his armor slowly faded, "I sought only to take all of us to my home world. There I might show you the unity I wish to help you build on this world; and the wonders we might create together from that. Surely that is no great crime, is it?"

The deed is done! The thread is finished.

Though Jack enjoyed watching the news reports about the mysterious superheroes who had taken out the two thugs who'd hidden inside the Omegadrone armor, the better to rob the museum after closing time, he wound up with mixed feelings about the date. He'd gone out with a lovely woman who practically reeked of life, and he'd taken advantage of her lovely neck the first opportunity he'd gotten. What did that say about him, really? Avenger was on the streets with gusto the next few nights, knocking heads together and taking names, doing his part to make Freedom City a little better. Maybe, Jack thought, that said something better about him. He bought a pot of African violets a couple of days after that. He didn't go back to Stesha's shop.

Don't forget to fix your combat stats. (i.e; adding up the benefits from your recent new feats that boost your attack and defense)