Avenger Assembled

Eira began cracking her knuckles with a noticeable crack-crack-crack sound, her blue eyes slightly unfocused as she seemed to peer right through the text. From the look on her face at the time, she had not appreciated being waved off the interface by Erin, but with the arrival of Dragonfly had become all business. "Pure machines are incapable of doing magic," she said - with some authority. "They lack the spiritual essence that makes it possible." She didn't seem particularly bothered by what she was saying; a fact was simply a fact. "Nonethless," she added to Dragonfly, "I of course reduced my visual acuity to 20/200 whenever I saccaded in the direction of the text." She hmmed and added, "I propose we manually tell the system to render the simulation on the monitor, perhaps using one of the pre-loaded programs already in the core memory. That way we will be able to see what lies inside without interfacing directly."

I am not so sure about that flaw on Quickness being applicable, but as you note, happily enough it doesn't matter here as you'd still have the PP for the stunt! I'll post in the IC...

The computer appears to be running a program consisting of those strange characters, treating it as the source code, the universal building blocks, for an active simulation of something.

"The boy's passage has electromagnetic effects," commented Eira softly, "perhaps he passed through the hard drive and triggered something in the machine." She didn't quite make eye contact with Charlie as he peered at Erin, his sobs coming to an end. He didn't look convinced entirely, though, until he actually smiled at Chitin. "Bug-man!" He gave Chitin a firm smack (for a kid, anyway) with an all-too-solid helmet. "Bugs like juice!" Eira glanced a few times at the kid, and seemed to relax herself once it was clear that Charlie was safe in hand. She crossed her arms as she studied the pictures held up by Chitin, eyes seeming to unfocus for a second or two. "I cannot read the language," Eira admitted. "But the image matches demons from the Christian Bible, foretold to arise during the apocalypse at the end of the world." She hmmphed and added with great authority, "People prefer to believe that demons are attractive - but they are primarily inhuman monsters." She eyed the computer displaying the symbols, then extended her hand to interface with it.

"Yes, ah," said Eira's father, seeming to take the opportunity to disengage from his daughter before they could shout at each other some more. "There was a break-in during the night and an item was stolen. But it's nothing that should ruin your vacation; we will call the local police at once." "That is stupid," hissed Eira. "Look at this," she added, pointing to the wall behind them. "That is a circle to the tolerance of millimeters. That was not done by some burglar with a hacksaw. This is a super-crime!" "Something, ah, sacred to our family was taken," said Magna, looking like she was holding back tears by sheer force of will. "An eighteenth century urn, and-" "The remains, the remains, the mortal remains," Eira practically spat. "Call it for what it was. Her!" she added, pointing to the pictures on the walls that surrounded them.

Fixed, @Heritage!

Gizmo: In no particular order: You don't recognize the language of the symbols, but the words seem to be written in the English alphabet, so you might be able to pronounce them. Diplomacy: You talk the sad little boy down, yay! Have an HP for being a hero. Life Sciences: The book is full of woodcuts of what look like grasshoppers, but not very good pictures - they look like they have scorpion tails, iron breastplates, human faces, and teeth. Hum. That doesn't seem right. Technology: This is definitely set up for high speed book scanning and editing - it looks like with this equipment you could turn these books into PDFs, mp3s, basically anything you could imagine to spread them on the Internet.

It was an uneasy night, both for the ongoing tension in the house and the jet-lag that many of the teens were experiencing. They were awoken the next morning not by smells of the piping-hot breakfast Magna had promised them but by the sounds of a loud three-way argument from the upstairs, three voices raised in a mix of angry Swedish and English. It didn't take the teens long to track down the source of the voices, even over the sound of the rainstorm outside that had returned with the new day in fierce light. The door to the room Eira had shown Lulu was wide-open; and a cold, damp breeze was coming in off the sound of voices raised in anger. "<-would never even have happened if you had gotten rid of it when I told you to!>" Eira was shaking her finger at her father, pale cheeks flush. For those who hadn't seen this room before, it was in better circumstances an old-fashioned sitting room with elaborate 18th century furniture including cushions and a big, heavy-looking wooden table. The walls of the room were covered in pictures of Eira's parents and a little girl just recognizable as Eira herself. There was a hole in the wall that probably wasn't supposed to be there, though, and a chill, wet wind blowing in from outside; luckily the angle was such that the room wasn't actually being flooded. Eira was standing on the far side of the bare table, silhouetted by the hole behind her. His face flushed, Bernhard said, "<Well, perhaps we could review the exterior security footage, except that my brilliant daughter chose to disable the cameras last night!>" Eira's parents were wearing now-slightly-damp silk pajamas, while as usual Eira hadn't bothered to change out of her outfit from the night before. "Stop this, the both of you!" declared Magna, looking nearly in tears as thunder rolled and lightning flashed outside. "We have to...we have to call someone..." She looked out the window, her hand over her mouth. "Oh, why would they take it?"

@RocketLord @KnightDisciple @Shofet @Heritage

Sea Devil leaps into the center of the fray and drops the following effect on all these nerds. BE: Damage 12 (The Golden Sign; Extra: Area [General, Burst], PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2, Indirect 2) {28/28} She'll try and be high enough that it doesn't affect people on the ground but eh, this version of Aquaria is not as good at heroing.

Okay, it's a DC 15 Diplomacy check to talk the little guy down. It's only a DC 15 Acrobatics check to catch him but he might get wriggly! @Electra You know that while this office is technically a programmer's office, it's really more the office of the programming interns, shared between four guys with dark goatees and glasses. They're doing a charitable project, scanning various books in the public domain and getting them out on the Internet. It's a DC 20 Notice check (which Angelic and Wander can pass without a roll) to spot that

Mia smiled back at Ryder and said with great feeling and a slight lisp - "I am a superhero. You are a bugman!" It didn't sound like an insult, not with that big smile. She was a smart kid, staying back as the adults (well, the adult and the teens talked) and drinking in the scene with big curious eyes when she wasn't occasionally patting the ball next to her. Yellow's chirping reply pointed Ryder in the same direction as Erin's sensors. Charlie wasn't too far, hiding on one of several possible offices just down the hall. Eira glanced back at the lab they were leaving behind with blue eyes marked by bright blue vessels, but didn't retreat as they headed down to look for the frightened child. Fortunately HAX was not designed to be a particularly confusing place, unfortunately it was the sort of place where offices were built both securely and privately - assuming you weren't a five-year-old who could run through walls. They finally found the boy sitting on a pile of books on a desk in the middle of a programmer's office, the screen flashing quickly with characters none of them recognized, Charlie's eyes red with tears and his hands over his mouth as the door creaked open. When he saw them coming, he dropped down behind the desk and called "I sorry! I didn't mean to hurt anyone!"

With Eira and Pan's return, Bernhard and Magna exchanged a look - then gave the other students their apologies. "It is getting late for us old-timers," said Bernhard with a faint smile. "Please clean any messes when they are made," he said, "and do not be too loud." With that, they left the kids to figure out how they were going to spend any remaining hours of the evening - and where exactly they were all going to bunk down.

Eira's mother gave Mia a smile that (of people Mia associated with Claremont) actually belonged more on Judy Cahill's face than her daughter's - the sort of slightly-pained beauty queen smile that could be hiding almost anything. "Thank you. I am very glad that Eira has friends her own age at Claremont." She reached out and touched Mia's arm lightly, then said, "She is a very smart girl, and I am very proud of her. I am sure your mother must be proud of you," she said as the two of them walked down the hall towards the billiards room, "Eira said you are the first superhero in your family. That must be a very great responsibility." The drinks were cold and the company only a little awkward. It helped that Bernhard was an excellent pool player, even with the faint buzz of alcohol in the room, Bernhard and Magda talked with the kids about their lives and Claremont without probing too deeply into their personal lives, occasionally slipping questions about how Eira was doing into the evening. It was close to midnight by the time Eira and Pan returned from outside, the former looking pleased with herself as she wiped smeared glow-in-the-dark lipstick off her face as she walked past the billiards room door. "Well good night, everyone!" she declared cheerfully, standing in the doorframe with a distinct smirk on her face. "I am going to go plug in." Her parents wished her goodnight without quite making eye contact, and started to bid good night to the kids too.

Judy considered that one, frowning, even as Ashley shot her a look. After a long, noticeable pause, she said, "...If Ah tell Micah, Ah'll tell him after summer. It's too important to be given away offhand." She brightened into a smile, looking at both Pan and Danica. "And besides, we don't need to bring him along to the zoo, or anywhere else for that matter. Danica and Ah don't need a boy around to have a good time - ah, no offense or nothing, Pan." "Hm," said Ashley by way of response, a faint smirk on her face for just a moment. "And outside of Freedom," she added, "you're much less likely to have some psycho break in to release all the animals or turn the guests into crocodiles, so that's nice."

Kebechet Abilities: 2 + 2 + 2 + 10 + 0 + 2 = 18PP Strength: 12 (+1) Dexterity: 12 (+1) Constitution: 12 (+1) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 10 (+0) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Initiative: +9 Attack: +4/+6 Elastic Body/+10 Mystic Power Grapple: +5, +17 max, +8 default Defense: +8/+6 (+4 Base, +2 Dodge Focus, +2 Shield), +2 flat-footed Knockback: -6/-1 Saving Throws: 4 + 4 + 6 = 14PP Toughness: +12/+8/+1 (+1 Con, +7 Protection, +4 Protection) Fortitude: +5 (+1 Con, +4) Reflex: +5 (+1 Dex, +4) Will: +7 (+1 Wis, +6) Skills: 52R = 13PP Concentration 1 (+1) Diplomacy 5 (+6/+10 w/Attractive) Disable Device 5 (+10, SM) Languages 3 (English [base], Ancient Egyptian, Italian) Medicine 5 (+5) Notice 10 (+10, SM) Search 5 (+10, SM) Sense Motive 10 (+10, SM) Stealth 9 (+10) Feats: 8PP Attack Specialization (Elastic Body) Attractive Dodge Focus 2 Evasion Improved Initiative 2 Skill Mastery (Investigate, Notice, Search, Sense Motive) Powers: 45 + 19 + 5 + 3 + 7 + 2 = 81PP Container 9 (Kebechet's Power) [45PP] Enhanced Feats 2 (Environmental Adaptation [Underwater], Ritualist) [2PP] Enhanced Skills 12 (Knowledge [Arcane Lore] 8, Knowledge [Theology and Philosophy] 8 [4PP] Immunity 2 (Environmental Heat, Own Powers) [2PP] Mystic Power Array 10 (20 pp, PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Powers 3) [26PP] BE: Blast 10 (hydrological) {20/20} AP: Healing 10 {20/20} AP: Morph 8 (any humanoid, +32 Disguse Bonus, PFs: Covers Scent, Precise) {20/20} AP: Paralyze 10 (Extra: Alternate Save [Fortitude]) {20/20} Protection 4 [4DP] Shield 2 [2DP] Super-Senses 5 (Darkvision, Detect Magic 3 [visual]) [5PP] 2 + 4 + 2 + 26 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 5 = 45 Elastic Body Array 6 (12 points; PFs: Dynamic, Dynamic Alternate Power 3) [19PP] DBE: Elongation 1-12 (5-25,000 feet [4.7 miles] max; can elongate 600 feet per move action) {1-12, 0-11 left} DAP: Speed 1-8 (10MPH/2500MPH) {1-8, 4-12 left} DAP: Leaping 1-12 (x2 - x10,000,000, 8 rounds) {1-12, 0-11 left} DAP: Damage 1-7 (malleable striking surfaces; PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty, Subtle, Takedown Attack, Variable Descriptor [bludgeoning, piercing, and/or slashing]) {1-12, 0-11 left} Default Setting: Elongation 3 (25 feet max) {3} + Speed 1 (10MPH/100FPM) {2} + Damage 7 (PFs: Mighty) {8} {3+1+8 = 12/12} Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3PP] Insubstantial 1 (water) [5PP] Protection 7 (resilient watery form) [7PP] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/day) [2PP] Totals: Abilities (18) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (13) + Feats (8) + Powers (81) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points ---------- Emotionally Scarring Backstory: There came a time when Anna Cline died. She was very old, these things happen. But her lover Nightingale used blood magic to make a child of her blood and Anna's, to have as a keepsake. But as time passed the girl's powers grew and though she was very fast, she was not simply a speedster - she could pour and mold herself into new shapes, and at times preferred to be not a she altogether. Finally in consultation with Set, Nightingale recognized that the child carried the power of another Egyptian goddess within their veins - that of Kebechet, the goddess of the healing waters, of embalming fluid, the nourisher of the dead! Kebechet trained alongside her mother and alongside her other mother's ward - Wadjet, now the grim guardian of New Bedlam, and has recently traveled to Duat to unlock the full might of their mystic power. Now Wadjet, the grim guardian, and Kebechet, the laughing rogue, guard the city together - just a couple of snakes trying to make their own way in the world. Look they're a stretchy hero who turns into a magic watersnake - what's not to like! I think this works fine for a magic water controller (though swap out the APs a bit for that) who is water themselves, or someone tied to a similar liquid element. Swap out the base powers for someone who may be tied to fire or earth; turn the power into a device (maybe a helm or an ankh) for even more power. Note that an actual god is going to need a slightly different backstory, this is merely an homage to the deity rather than the daughter of Anubis actually slithering the Earth...

Tirtouga Abilities: 4 + 0 + 4 + 4 + 0 + 6 = 18PP STR: 24/14 (+7/+2) DEX: 10 (+0) CON: 24/14 (+7/+2) INT: 14 (+2) WIS: 10 (+0) CHA: 16 (+6) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP ATK: +4 (+7 Melee/+10 Turtle Power ) DEF: +10 (+3 Dodge, +3 Shield, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Grapple: +15 Init: +0 Knockback: -10/-1 Saves: 0 + 5 + 7 = 12PP TOU: +10/+7/+2 (+2 Con, +5 Enhanced Con, +3 Protection, +5/+10 Impervious) FORT: +7/+2 (+2 Con, +5 Enhanced Con) REF: +5 (+0 Dex, +5) WILL: +7 (+0 Wis, +7) Skills: 52 r = 13PP Bluff 7 (+10, SM) Computers 5 (+7) Craft (Electronic) 3 (+5) Craft (Mechanical) 3 (+5) Diplomacy 2 (+5, SM) Gather Info 7 (+10, SM) Intimidate 7 (+10, SM) Knowledge (Technology) 3 (+5) Perform (Theremin) 3 (+5) Notice 5 (+5) Sense Motive 5 (+5) Feats: 12PP Attack Focus (Melee) 3 Challenge (Fast Taunt) Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus 3 Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Info, Intimidate) Takedown Attack Taunt Well-Informed Powers: 1 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 2 + 34 = 79PP Datalink 1 (10 feet, radio) [1PP] Enhanced CON 10 (to CON 24/+7) [10PP] Enhanced STR 10 (to STR 24/+7) [10PP] Immunity 5 (all environmental conditions) [5PP] Impervious TOU 5 [5PP] Leaping 1 (x2; running long jump 26 feet, standing long jump 13 feet, high jump 6 feet) [1PP] Protection 3 [3PP] Shield 3 [3PP] Speed 1 (10 MPH / 100 feet per Move action) [1PP] Super-Senses 4 (infravision, radio, ultra-hearing, ultravision) [4PP] Super-Strength 1 (Effective STR 29, Heavy Load 1500 lbs) [2PP] Turtle Power Array 16.5 (33 PP, PF: Alternate Powers 1) [34PP] BE: Damage 6 (PFs: Mighty, Variable Descriptor 1 [bludgeoning/piercing/slashing]) + Impervious Toughness 5 (Extra: Reflective 2 [all] 10){8+25=33/33} AP: Create Object 10 (Extras: Duration [Continous], Impervious, Flaw: Range [Touch], PFs: Selective, Subtle) {32/33} 18 + 16 + 12 + 13 + 12 + 79 = 150/150 ------------- Emotionally Scarring Backstory: Chelone and Angelic thought they were finished with their mutual enemy after their battle in West Texas in the spring of 2020 - only to find to their mutual disgust that it wasn't that easy! Only a few years after that battle a new cyberwarrior emerged in the American Southwest, an armored champion with the power to cloak herself in mystic turtle armor and a cybernetically-enhanced body! It was unsettling indeed to find that this stroppy teenager was a cyborg fusion of the two, carrying both Danica's magical turtle powers and Eira's synthetic nature! After they worked together to contain the abomination, the two no-longer-teens consulted with each other and their longtime allies before doing what any reasonable person would do - dispatching her to Claremont! Tirtouga is a pretty fun tech-knight style character - very formidable against minions (she is not just essentially immune to minions she is actively dangerous to them, given that Reflective extra on her armor that lets her bounce attacks back and break the hands of people who punch her) and certainly no slouch when fighting superpowered opponents. She's not _quite_ as tough as she thinks she is - move her Shield over to Protection if you want her to be a really good party tank. She doesn't have Interpose yet, not used to fighting on a team! I think she'd be fun to play; and this build (with some tweaks) would work great for a "Cyborg + X" concept - or just a blasting cyborg! She's not a good gadgeteer yet - move that Charisma around (and shuffle some skills) if you want her to be your team's primary science person. As it is she's a decent face with good Charisma, though her attitude (low Diplomacy) is going to get her in trouble one of these days.

Eira snapped her fingers. "Danica could do that," she said, with rather more sincerity than the last time she had suggested Danica was capable of something. "She is very persuasive. I can engineer something tonight. We could do it at the communes," she suggested. "That way we can kill two birds with one stone. And after that," she added firmly, "we tell her we know her secret. We should not - use her because I was able to get an advantage over her. I think it is likely she is aware of her own nature. There are not so many synthetic intelligences that she came to this place by accident." She was silent for a moment, then added, about the time they pulled up to the hotel."I will make a holographic copy of the crocodile. She has considerable interest in the crocodile," she added, "it features more than any other robotic creature in her recordings."

"You did what-" There was a distinct whump sound from the magnet behind them - and suddenly the two teens went flying across the room like they'd been shot from a cannon! The solidly-built HAX walls didn't break when they hit but there was definitely a hard, breath-stealing whump at the moment of impact across the room, a vibration hard enough to knock plastic boxes off the shelves and send their contents spilling out onto the floor. (All in all, it was a very good thing Ryder had been wearing his armor; where he had indeed taken the impact along his left arm.) Behind Ryder, Eira was slower to recover, pulling herself into a sitting position, then cocking her head back and forth as if resetting internal components. Her hair was a wild mess, at least until she exhaled upwards to blow it out of her eyes and ran her fingers through it, casually sculpting her original do back into place. Slowly, methodically, she pulled herself back to her feet, looking a little battered but not much the worse for wear. "My internal fluids are magnetohydrodynamic," she offered as she dabbed at her face with a rag from her pocket. "I hate magnets." She spat into the rag and looked at a dark blue fluid within, looking more annoyed than alarmed.

Eira said something in fact several somethings in Swedish Ryder didn't quite follow but that didn't sound very happy. One thing he could tell is that he was being pulled back with some force, hard enough that he'd been pulled off his feet - but the pressure didn't seem to be doing anymore than annoying Eira, nor did being stuck up against the wall upside down. "I made that child cry." Her voice was shaking, no, staticky - like a radio operating through interference. "...I have little experience with small children." She was doing something down there, clicking her teeth?, that Ryder couldn't quite make out, and after a long hesitation said in that same staticky voice - "This may injure you - but it will get us free from this jävla magnet that should not have been stored near its power supply anyway. Would you rather wait for the adult, or would you rather get free on our own so we can save that child?" The security chief had not actually mentioned coming to their rescue - teenagers should have been able to get out of that, anyway. The security system seemed to be flickering again, probably from the interference Charlie was causing running through the walls - but Erin was reasonably sure he was in one of several offices on the opposite side of the hallway from where the teens were.

Eira looked at Pan and made a noise like an bubbling teakettle. "Pfft!" She looked at him, looked away, then looked back, smiling with a shy look on her face. "You like me!" She said it the way she might describe the discovery of some hard-to-believe-but-thoroughly-welcomed scientific secret. Her body was very warm, much warmer than the fifteen-degree (in the local measurement) evening chill. "Good. Stay here with me for a while," she said, "and I will distract you." Inside the house, shortly after her teleport to the second story, Mia encountered Eira's mother. "Oh, ah, hello, Mia," she said distractedly, shooting a glance over the girl's shoulder at the room whose door Lulu had recently vacated. "Are you...having a good time?" Eira's father proved to be an equally good host downstairs. He was in the billiards room, pouring himself a glass of wine, when Micah and the others started drifting in. "Ah, hello," he said, a little distracted himself, "may I pour you a glass, or would you prefer soft drinks?" he asked with a nod towards the refrigerator. "You're in a civilized country now."

Eira was shifting back and forth in her seat as Danica talked, a look of unusual unease on her pale face. "I would not have revealed her," she finally said, sounding uncomfortable. "It is not anyone's business if she lives as an organic." She said that last, looking at the other two, with some force. "But there is the mystery of the animals." She looked out the window, then said, "I think we should make the meeting, and we should tell her that we know." She began cracking the knuckles on her hands as she talked, clunk-clunk-clunk. "No more secrets."

Outside, the aftermath of the storm meant that it was objectively rather chilly - and everything was still wet. Once they were past the hedges, though, Eira didn't seem to mind, insinuating her arm around Pan's as they walked through what turned out to be an actual hedge maze, her body warm where she leaned against him. "...I would say we cut our way through," she said, switching to Swedish as they went, "but they would just make the gardener fix it anyway." She smirked at Pan, then stepped back to pose next to a flowering bush of uncertain provenance, her pale blue eyes wide in the dark. They weren't in total darkness out here even with the sun setting, the sky was still purple and only a few stars out. And there were security lights too, enough that no one would actually faceplant into the leafy walls around them. "Do you like the sights?" She spread her arms wide. Just as she had told him months earlier, she was indeed wonderfully made. "You can find all sorts of things in the hedge if you look closely enough."

Eira gave the hologram a mistrustful look, then seemed to decide that Ryder's engagement with Erin was the better part of valor. "We almost have him." And indeed, they almost did. Charles reappeared, half-obscured by the shelves on the rear wall. "I sorry," he said worriedly, small hands with still visible pink fingernails under his mouth. "I wanna be good. I like choc'olate." He stepped forward, his body partially phasing through the equipment nearby. And then the lights flickered on and off in the shelving he was passing, and Eira's eyes went wide with alarm. "Argh!" she called in surprise as lights lit up around a big metal disc mounted to the far wall, pulling her off her feet before she could react, across the room, and pinning her to the wall upside-down like a stuck fly, equipment crashing from her sudden fall. "Jag hatar magneter!" she declared loudly, pinioned with her head against the ground and her legs in the air. Upside-down, her labcoat flopped down over her torso and her hair went wild, suddenly limp as it dangled below her. With all the loud noise and sudden movement, Charlie's eyes popped big and he declared on the verge of tears, "Oh I'm in bad trouble now!" before turning and running away through the far wall!

The blast blew Doc Otaku back against the wall - and with a sudden sound of rivets clanking, the armor fell away from a thoroughly confused Solo Takashi, who coughed and spluttered as the water soaked and bruised him like a firehose - despite the fact that this was a hologram of the real man. "That's not-that's not fair!" he cried when he managed to stagger to his feet, pointing a holographic accusing finger at Mette. "You cheated! You made my armor fall apart!" "Maybe that was just your shoddy design," said the announcer, reappearing with a smile on her face. The crowd was cheering now, money changing hands and Mette's name being chanted, Miurne seemingly fully ignored by the cyborgs and humans in the audience despite her superpowered transformation. "What do you think, citizens of Rurland, are we finished with the Main Event today?" The crowd cheered that they were, and Takashi put his hand to his forehead. "Wait, this...this happened before..." "I think our champion's attention has turned elsewhere," said the announcer, "so I'll handle this one myself." And then she turned to Takashi, her face changing, fading from a tall, angular woman of African descent to a slim, pretty Asian girl in a sailor suit, her eyes wide and teeth pulled back in a smile. "You remember me now, don't you, Otaku-san?" "No!" Takashi was panicking now, running for the edge of the ampitheater, but with a gesture the announcer pulled him back to the center of the room. "Not again!" "Yes. Again." And then she pulled him apart. There was no other word for it; with a final shout, the holographic projection came apart as if he'd been turned suddenly into an exploded, high-resolution anatomical drawing; his eyes still wide - and then he vanished, twitching. With a smirk, the announcer resumed her original appearance, turning back to the heroes with her hands folded behind her back.