Avenger Assembled

Sea Devil stared goggle-eyed at the approaching Atlanteans, turned and looked back at her ululating tribe, then looked at the teen heroes and their adult escort, and then back at the approaching Atlanteans, her grip tightening on her trident. She didn't answer the boy asking about Atlanteans and Deep Ones, not wanting to get into the details of a war that stretched back before the beginning of recorded history, or for that matter her own part in it. "I - have an idea!" she said in a rumbling voice. "Some of you can fly. You should go say hello to the Atlanteans. Atlanteans are the friends of surface people," she added. "The rest of us can stay here and learn more about each other's cultures!" She called in a quick bellow to the tribe - "The Atlanteans are here again! But our strong friends will not let them hurt you!" This caused quite a to-and-fro of bellowing along the Deep Ones, which the others only incidentally understood. "<But I want to hurt them!>" called Bunzi from where she stood admiring Michael, a cry that was by no means unanimous but was taken up by more than one throat among the welcoming party. "<Will there be guts?>" whimpered the youngling Boal was carrying. "<I want some guts!>" Sea Devil struck her trident against the metal of the rig and said, "<No one is having any guts! We will spill no blood of theirs if they spill no blood of ours! That is my law! Do any of you want to challenge me?>" she demanded. No one did, though a few did scamper away down the sides of the rig, down to where the rest of the tribe waited. After the bellowing back and forth, a bit like being in the middle of a large room full of giant frogs and elephant seals, Aquaria added hopefully in English: "Everything will be fine! We are all heroes here, and learning from each other." She gave a big thumbs-up to Mrs. Harcourt, who looked around among the teens for a moment before she said, "Who wants to go with the diplomatic party, and who wants to stay here?"

Is Esquire close enough for Neko to target with her Obscure?

Okay, just checking - am I up?

He's a real talker, thought Ashley critically. She didn't really care for big talkers. She remembered her first real boyfriend and how charismatic he had seemed, before he'd started talking about how she needed to put her career on pause so they could make some beautiful Asian babies together. (Tyler had been white himself.) It had been her first hint that if a boy was interested in her, it was maybe a sign she should feel him about about things first. Well that's probably not going to happen here, she thought before making a note to make up the thought to Carmen later. "Better to keep it to codenames," she agreed, unhesitatingly backing Carmen's play the same she'd backed hers. "You never know who might be listening, or watching. Glad you like her. I think pretty highly of La Puma Negra myself," she said with a smile, before saying "Well then - our public awaits." Traveling with the Patriot was something Carmen was used to by now, though not usually with so many people. Once everyone had their costumes or lack thereof on, with a little touch-up help from the Patriot's team, it was time to meet the new mayor, the general managers of both teams, and a little boy named Destin who had won a contest so he could shake hands with the Patriot. The Patriot played along with all of them, even arm-wrestling with the very excited Destin, who from his homemade costume was obviously a huge fan. La Puma Negra and Golden Star got introductions, Michael obviously being introduced as La Puma's +1, and there were many of the usual questions for both of them, many of them about their romantic life. Ashley watched the teens, keeping her face as cool and professional as she had in a Secret Service uniform, ready to jump in conversationally rather than physically before anyone said anything awkward. It wouldn't be much longer before the kids would be in their seats and she'd be ready to throw out that first pitch. She lied to the face of the journalist who asked her who was rooting for, telling them with a smile that the Patriot doesn't take sides. (This was a lie, of course she was rooting for the Nat.)

https://orokos.com/roll/1008249 18 on Stealth You know what, normally an HP spent on initiative is a waste, but I'll do it anyway! https://orokos.com/roll/1008251 = 28 w the HP

Sea Devil watched, her trident held firmly in her left hand, and relaxed as the students abandoned their fears and actually approached the Deep Ones as equals. She'd been worried about the one, Golden Star, but the strength in his grip and his powerful, manly eye contact seemed to work. In fact, Bunzi, a young female who had not yet mated, was watching the boy with what was clearly interest in her huge green and black eyes. Good, good! Aquaria thought, though of course she'd have to make sure the young one was cautioned out of mating with Surfacers - a degenerate practice that led to degenerate offspring. From the shouts of the little alien to the psychic and physical might demonstrated by the mentalists and by Spaceman, everything was going well. Things would be easier if they would really shake them up and bruise a few, but things were still going well. She relaxed a little, so did their teacher, and it seemed as if everything was finally going well. Grunting and squatting, then hooting and hollering, the Deep Ones all seemed happy with what they'd seeen. "Good! Now we shall sing you the songs of our people - and there will be gifts! Who wants to hear the song of the stars!" At her words several of the smaller Deep Ones, including Boal's spawn, wriggled and hopped their way towards her, grunting and croaking with great enthusiasm. Spaceman and Timeout noticed something happening - a silvery vessel had appeared in the water at the horizon and was making its way fast towards the rig. Timeout recognized the design from what he'd seen traveling with his mother; that was an Atlantean submersible. But that was okay; Atlantis wasn't a hostile power as far as he knew.

Neko paused only a moment before joining the others through Lawrence's portal. She had briefly thought to stay and provide a distraction for the escape of the younger students, but it didn't seem necessary at this time. She did leave one surprise behind for any who might be following, however. The last one through the portal, she snapped her fingers as she went, leaving behind an invisible forces of cat-demons to growl and hiss and torment any who might approach too close to where they had gone. They want to find us? Good. Let them look.

Copper Knight and Neko It wasn't necessarily time to retreat; but it was time to make sure they'd be able to if they did. Turning from the temporarily-distracted drones, Owain scrabbled over to a nearby manhole cover. He'd learned how to open these with his teeth from practice with his mentors at the Espadas house and they were no different here in 1993. He dug in hard and pulled, heedless of the taste, and wrenched open a passageway into Freedom City's ample sewers. For her part, Neko layered her illusions atop illusions, filling the air above them with Omegadrones that flew on wildly contradictory courses, the better to confuse any who might escape the blindness she'd thrown up for all of them, taking a few cautious steps towards the sewer opening herself. "Come on!" she called as loudly as she could, trying to make sure any civilians around knew about the escape route too.

Neko stared intently through the eyes of her cats, peering as closely as she could so she could actually see what the screens looked like, particularly those of the drone operator. She couldn't project her illusions through them but seeing her targets, knowing what they called themselves, would make things easier. They looked with machines? Very well; she'd have to make sure that when she told them things, she told them what the machines said too. "We are being hunted," she told the younger students wen she was back in her own body, her tail twitching behind her and her voice a low while. Her heart was beating in her chest like a jackhammer but her hands were still and her voice gradually assumed a more human tone. She quickly described what she'd seen, adding - "Hotshot and his 'Hounds' are coming to find us. We need to help Kazra first, because that man is going to kill her." She considered briefly, then said "Timeout. Can you push yourself and take the others with you?"

Neko couldn't translate Morse code into English fast enough to understand it but she knew it when she heard it, and her eyes narrowed as she focused on the younger teens - after all having heard all of Bernadette's songs many times before. There were innocent explanations for why they were communicating with each other secretly; but she didn't like the smell of the whole thing. Owain was already up and trying to dance with the handsome boy from that school he had been making eyes at all night, and she didn't want to ruin his good time - but something... Her nose wrinkling, she picked Merry out of the girls. Moving over there at speed, she whispered urgently and with some conviction, "Your hair, it-I can help," she said, holding up her purse in a sisterly gesture with the taller and broader girl as her head tilted toward the ladies room. Small and slender and perfectly human-looking, she hardly looked like a threat to anyone without the eyes to see what she really was. And if they could do that - well, they'd have said something already.

Okay - Owain is going to open up another escape route for the nearby civilians - into the city's ample sewer system! Ain't comic book architecture grand? Let me know if he can't actually open the grate with his teeth - he is a very large dire wolf even if he doesn't have any hands. His STR is 22 (+6) in wolf form, so he's probably strong enough if he does get teeth on there! Neko will use her action for total defense; she doesn't need to spend one to maintain the all-senses obscure surrounding them.

Okay, just lemme know when I'm up!

Yes, I had thought she was backstage too - I had made a point that she was letting the bad guys come to her. It sounded like she'd been moved up to the rafters at some point and I just ran with it, I didn't want to make RL go back and edit.

Owain is going to hold his action till it's Neko's turn, then the two of them will go together.

Reflex save vs. 25: 18