Avenger Assembled

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Larry. The security guard had lowered the gun, though he kept the alarm clutched firmly in hand. The sight of a vampire, an honest-to-God vampire, had left him more trusting of the dark, menacing-but-apparently human vigilante before him. "You don't want him here? I'll take him out. Shouldn't have him on your turf anyway. Deal?" "'Sdeal, man." Larry nodded. "You just get him out of here." He ran his fingers over his jaw as Avenger gathered up Robert, who'd been barely awake through this whole process, rough skin scraping against his unshaven jawline. "You didn't tell me your name!" he called up as Avenger bounded onto a pile of boxes, heading up towards the open roof. "They call me...Avenger!" said Jack with a laugh, feeling his first real joy as he leapt up and onto the roof. He'd talked a man out of killing a monster, a blood-soaked fiend. Maybe there was hope for humanity's respect for itself after all.

"You think jail can hold a vampire?" asked Avenger reasonably. "All he needs is a little blood transfusion and he'll be up and around before you know it." Jack really, really hoped that this little conversation would never be associated with his real name and get back to his vampiric colleagues. "Vampire, huh? BS. Ain't no such thing as a vampire." But the man's gun was beginning to waver in his hand, his manner getting a little more hesitant. He took a few steps toward Robert, looking over the breathless-yet-live body, the broken fangs and pale skin that belonged to nothing living. "Jeeeez...shouldn't you stake him?" "Maybe so," admitted Avenger. "But I ain't no killer. And neither are you, Larry." By now he'd had time to read the man's nametag. "Everybody deserves to live. Everybody."

After some serious consideration, Jack decided the best way to handle this guy without killing him was to get him as far outside of town as possible. A smooth entry through a shattered window provided him with a musty, half-abandoned warehouse. Leaving the half-conscious Robert on the cold, dirty concrete floor, Avenger hunted through the warehouse before finding what he was after. It was a long, difficult task that gave him plenty of time to think about his life. Had he been a successful hero? Had saving this girl been worth the risk to his secret identity? He was focused on the job; so focused that he failed to pay attention to one vital factor. "I don't know who you are, pal, but you ain't welcome in my warehouse!" He turned around to see a security guard aiming a pistol at him, the man frightened but in control of his fear. "I've got the silent alarm in my other hand, too, so don't try anything funny!" "It's all right," grated Avenger, turning around with his heart in his throat. How stupid could he have been? "I'm just trying to get that guy out of here," he added with a nod to the battered, bloody Robert. "He's a monster, and the jails can't hold him. I'm sending him out of town to Bedlam." "If he's a crook, why ain't you callin' the cops?"

Robert was shaken by the costumed adventurer's knowledge of him, but he tried to laugh through his fear. "You don't scare me, you little popinjay!" He bared his fangs again. "I'm an immortal stalker of the night and-" The subsequent fight was a brutal, back-alley affair, complicated by the presence of Robert's confused mortal lover. When it was over, a disabled, half-conscious Robert was groaning on the ground; his fangs broken and face bruised, while Avenger stood over him, his knuckles split and bleeding through his heavy motorcycle gloves. This is why I can't have nice things! Jack could never have talked another vampire out of hunting and killing humans, and getting vampire society involved would only have been an issue if Robert here had been attracting attention. "You're a monster!" breathed a horrified Kristen. "You're a monster!" "Listen...no, listen to me." Jack peered at the girl, making eye contact as he exerted himself, reaching out with a vampiric knack he'd never been very good at. It always required some extra effort, and left him with a headache afterwards. "Vampires aren't real. Listen, vampires aren't real." She repeated that, and he spoke again. "You want a normal life. You don't need a man, any kind of man, to be happy. Listen to me; you deserve to grow up into a woman and have the life you want. Not the life someone else wants you to have." Long minutes later, a battered, bruised Avenger was alone in the alley with the semi-conscious Robert. He had no idea if what he'd done had really shaped the girl's mind the right way, but maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to avoid falling into the eternal twilight that her lover would have pressed her into without her ever knowing a real, normal human life. Everyone deserves a normal life. "Can't just leave you here for the sun; you're the wrong kind of vampire for that." Avenger kicked him again. It didn't help, but he felt a little better.

"Why?" spat Robert in reply, fangs out and eyes glowing red. "Because I give women more than you can, you miserable fleshbag? You're nothing but a pathetic little man in a funny costume!" Despite the young vampire punk's words, he was unprepared for Avenger's speed and power when the other man kicked him soundly in the head. Avenger followed up by grabbing Robert by the collar, slamming him up against the wall hard enough to crack the brick. "Because you teach little girls that there's nothing to be afraid of in the dark! That the bad boyfriend their parents hate will give them everything they want, if only they give him everything HE wants!" Avenger's fury is burning, honest, and true. "All you want to do is suck them dry and leave them to die, just like all the other women you've taken!" Kristen, who had been about to loudly expostulate that she was no little girl, was interrupted by Robert's sudden laughter. "So you ARE jealous!" he tried, bleeding as he was through a split lip and battered face. "I let them float high on the wings of a butterfly made of blood and lust, and if they fall eventually, there are always others! There's a whole world of pleasure out there if you're willing to look for it. Don't get a lot of women dressing like that, do you?" "Listen. To. Me." Avenger's grip on the vampire's throat would have suffocated a normal man. "I know your real lair is in Liberty Park; I know you live there with four other leeches. If you don't get out of my city now, I will follow you back there and kill you, your sire, and your entire line, do you hear me? I am the Avenger of Evil, and I will NOT tolerate little monsters like you in my city. Do you hear me? Of course, Jack knew that because he'd been there. The party had been fine until they'd brought out the refreshments.

Kristen leaned on her boyfriend with a naughty look in her eye, the happy expression of a teenager knowing she was doing something wicked with her One True Love shining on her face as they headed into the alleyway. Greenbank was a lousy neighborhood; she knew that well enough. But she trusted Robert completely, and knew full well that he'd take good care of her. Tonight was the night that her vampire lover would bring her across the threshold into an eternal twilight of blood-soaked sensual joy. That would show her parents, who'd never known true joy and happiness, who'd tried to drag her down into mundanity and boredom by sending her to college instead of letting her embrace her destiny as a true daughter of the night. "Oh, my Gawd, I can't believe we're going to your sanctum! Did you hang up the black roses like I said? And the upside-down Jesus?" Robert was something of a gourmad, preferring to savor the emotions of his prey as he drained the life out of them. He'd been working on this girl for a while, having infiltrated her high school by the expedient of brainwashing a clerk at the Education Department to let him work his will among the students. He wondered how Kristen's emotions would taste as he drank her blood until it was empty; joy turning to fear, then despair? Or would the joy and love she felt for him now remain like a burning fire until the last of its embers slipped away with her life? Either way, he was more than eager to find out. "Everything's ready, baby. This is going to be the biggest night of your life." He was very pleased with his conquest, focused on her lovely neck and beautiful body. Perhaps too focused. As the couple came to a stop at the mouth of a blind alley, Avenger came swooping down from the sky like a bat out of hell. A massive punch smashed a surprised Robert in the face, hurling him back into the dark confines of the alley and off his feet. As Kristen started screaming, Avenger braced himself, ready to take the charge as a snarling, fanged Robert came hurling out of the alleyway at him! Despite his efforts to control the situation, the sheer power of the crazed vampire's attack took him off-guard, throwing him back into the wall behind him with a terrific crash. Avenger is on his feet again in an instant, facing his opponent in a wrestler's crouch. "You'll have to do better than that," he spits, voice burning with rage. Would Robert recognize Jack, who he'd only met once or twice, through the mask and the persona of Avenger? It was better to bring this to an end fast. "You make me sick, leech!"

"This is Jack," said Stephanie with the big, friendly smile that says she's a tiny bit buzzed, "he's in investment in the city." She leans forward over her drink, her blonde hair carelessly disordered in that artful way that takes thirty minutes in the mirror. "Jack Faretti," replies Jack, shaking Moira's hand with a warm smile. Tall and well-built, Jack does look a little bit like the sort of young professional that tries to make himself look a little younger still. "Stephanie here was just telling me all about what brings her to this lovely place." Jack is certainly being very friendly to Stephanie, in the way most men are to a slightly inebriated young woman.

Lousy thugs and their great die rolling luck! (That was a use of Fearsome Presence, natch.)

Avenger doesn't so much as break stride as he heads through the crowd, tossing the people in his way aside like ninepins. Torn briefly between joining the super-battle brewing on the steps and saving the woman menaced by the angry protesters, he takes the innocent human first. Charging through the crowd, he confronts the protesters by taking a running start, leaping over their heads, and landing neatly between them and their putative victim. Spreading his short cape wide and standing in an imposing battle stance, Avenger booms "First one to run gets to keep their teeth!" His words and manner are indeed truly terrifying, and one of the thugs actually turns and and runs in terror! Another takes a step back, his face pale, but the other three press on, enraged at the sight of the super who has been plowing his way through the crowd of their allies.

There are no regulars among the small group of pretty people in the corner, though a few in their number have been schmoozing it up with some of the regulars. Dressed in fashionable, sometimes retro clothes, they look like rich college kids or young professionals out on the town looking for a good time. This is the first time Jack's been out with his friends in the community for a while, and there is something remarkably satisfying about unwinding with his peers. There aren't any muggers to shake down tonight or drug dealers to beat to a pulp; just good friends and maybe a good time. "C'mon, Jack, I bet you can pick her up," said Stan, leaning close and whispering in Jack's ear as he nodded towards the red-headed hottie who'd gotten such an enthusiastic greeting from the bartender. "Oh, that's real classy, Stan," said Jack, laughing as he turned back to the man behind him. They'd been turned at about the same time, but Stan had never quite gotten over the awesome rush of his powers. "There's nothing girls like more than men they've just seen take bets on asking them out. They're really into that sort of thing." The truth is, the redhead was a little too beautiful. Not that he wasn't imagining the way she'd taste; he did that with most pretty women. But he'd learned his lesson about the impossibly beautiful with Claudia, and he wasn't going to put himself out there again. After all, this was supposed to be his evening off. Still, the thought had him in the mood. He rose to his feet, gently setting his drink aside, and began flirting pleasantly with a lithe little blonde sitting alone at the bar, a cute little thing who seemed very interested in what he was offering. It was a good start to the evening.

Good to see the thread up and running, Divine. I'll post here later today. In the meantime, you may or may not want to put up the notice that it's a closed thread. 8-)

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Jack continues his patrol of the Fens over the next couple of nights, all but disappearing from vampire society for the next couple of days. He's careful in his patrols, keeping to shadows and preventing individual crimes, blocking rapes and muggings while he does his best to observe the movements and habits of his prey: criminals. He lets himself be seen a few times by the locals, and is observed a few times when he gets a little sloppy.

Oh, my bad, Sandman! I'll edit the post accordingly; Avenger wouldn't try to go after a guy floating in the air. Gas form? Who has a gas form? :flash: Currently, Avenger has disappeared thanks to a successful Stealth check. When he has activated his mist form, he looks like a wee little bank of fog.

OK: Move action: to hide (a botch, oh noes!) Standard action: take 10 to punch out a minion (hurrah!) [A thought, Sandman; if you want, you can just say Avenger's 'scare 'em straight' moment reminded Quark; "Oh yeah, that's a bad guy!) ]

It's hard not to think like a vampire now, surrounded by this mob of idiots. Cattle. Lousy, stinking cattle. But Jack dismisses that thought as unworthy, concentrating on the moment at hand. He drops off the car roof in an effort to disappear, only to find himself suddenly confronted by a hulking man armed with a baseball bat. "You wanna help cops? Worry about yourself first!" The club goes flying towards Jack's head, a massive, dangerous blow that could have caved in his skull if it hadn't gone awry into the lamppost. Boiling mad now, Jack responds with a solid, bone-cracking punch that breaks teeth like a Frank Miller punch, plowing the man off his feet with a single devastating blow. Infuriated at nearly getting sideswiped by a man who he could have easily avoided if he'd been willing to show off his undead abilities, Avenger gives a truly malevolent growl before disappearing into the crowd between one eyeblink and the next.

Ah, doesn't Diplomacy only work like that on NPCS/minions? It's up to Quark's player, not Quark's Will save, to decide if he finds Ludd's speech incisive enough to change his perspective.

Oh, great! It's like Market Day out here. At least she's a looker. From his perch on the second floor of the nearby corporate parking garage, Avenger ponders his next move. Going out to help the police now seems like the wisest course of action. OK, he'll lose some of the glory that comes with being the solo hero on the scene...but on the other hand, making friends with cops _and_ another superhero seems like a really great idea. Jack knows that Hieronymous King is no one to be trifled with, and the "gritty street avenger" has no real interest in corporate crime. Instead, a small patch of fog above an overhanging lightpole resolves itself into the black-clad champion of justice. Avenger leaps down onto a civilian car (abandoned by its owner, a Majestic junior executive, when the mob closed in) and gives a shout that crosses the night like a tiger's roar. "Anyone who wants a cop in my city has to go through ME!" It's all great drama for Jack, though perhaps less so for the onlookers.

A few ideas: Quark: "Doo-doo-doo, I'm drivin' around in my car! Oh no, a crazy mob has just smashed my window and is yelling something about fighting the power. I'll show them!" Quark: "Hey, this isn't Canal Street! Stupid cabbie...oh no, a crazy mob is attacking those cops! I'll show them!" Quark: "Fight the power! Wait, I'm a superhero, not a crazy guy in a mob! I'll show them!" Quark: "A riot in the Wading Way? Cops in peril? I'll show them!" For the record, Avenger is in the area because he was monitoring his police band and somewhat misinterpreted what he overheard. There turned out to be more cops, and more rioters than he'd thought. :D

Happy birthday!

Hokay, Avenger is in position to go save some cops...as soon as they're in a little more peril. ;)

I did not sign up for a mob. The thought echoes in Avenger's mind over and over again as he peers at the crowd from his rooftop perch, his black-clad body getting harder and harder to make out as night falls all around him. Maybe I should buy a better police scanner. He thinks about leaving before he sees the cops getting pelted by the mob, and then laughs ever-so-quietly. Perfect. Getting the thin blue line on Avenger's side is a perfect plan, just perfect. He slips down off the roof and makes his way via back alleys to as close as he can get to the police cordon around Majestic. Taking shelter behind a dumpster, he disappears into mist and shadow, waiting for the situation to get worse before he takes more direct action.

The Fens, the poorest, most crime-ridden area of Freedom City, has a new superhero: the tough, take-no-prisoners vigilante Avenger. The mysterious black-clad hero has dished out several brutal beatings to the worst of the worst who prey on the weakest and most disadvantaged people in society.

Aw! Well, they'll have a chance to run into each other later. :|

From the description of the feat "Hide in Plain Sight": "You can make Stealth checks even while being observed and even if you do not have cover or concealment. Characters normally must have cover or concealment to hide and cannot make Stealth checks while being observed." Characters with Hide in Plain Sight are specifically exempted from the Vanishing challenge, because they can hide automatically (with a successful roll) anyway.