EternalPhoenix

Magna (Gabrielle Williams) Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 195/195 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +7 (24), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+5, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8 Skills: Acrobatics 13 (+20), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 7 (+10), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 7 (+10), Escape Artist 13 (+20), Gather Information 12 (+15), Investigate 7 (+10), Knowledge (civics) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 12 (+15), Knowledge (earth sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (life sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (popular culture) 12 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 2 (+5), Language 3 (+3), Medicine 1 (+8), Notice 8 (+15), Search 7 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+15), Sleight of Hand 13 (+20), Stealth 8 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Attack Specialization (Gymnastic Kick (Strike 1)), Attack Specialization 2 (Aura Dagger Array (Array 9)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Improved Initiative 2, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Escape Artist, Gather Info, Sleight of Hand), Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Aura Dagger Array (Array 9) (default power: stun) Anti-Magic Dagger (Nullify 6) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - magic, DC 16; Effortless) Dagger Fan (Strike 6) (Array; DC 21; Cone Area (60 ft. cone - General), Selective Attack) Multi-Dagger (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21; Autofire (interval 2, max +5)) Stun Dagger (Stun 6) (Default; DC 16; Range (ranged)) Olympic Level Athleticism (Container, Passive 2) Fast (Speed 1) (Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd) Gymnastic Kick (Strike 1) (DC 19; Mighty) Tough (Protection 1) (+1 Toughness) Vaulting (Leaping 1) (Jumping distance: x2) Wall Running (Super-Movement 1) (wall-crawling 1 (half speed); Limited (to one Move action)) World Class Gymnast (Super-Movement 2) (perfect balance, slow fall) Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15) Attacks: Anti-Magic Dagger (Nullify 6), +12 (DC Will 16), Dagger Fan (Strike 6) (DC 21), Gymnastic Kick (Strike 1), +14 (DC 19), Multi-Dagger (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Stun Dagger (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 18) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +15 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 52 + Skills 43 (172 ranks) + Feats 25 + Powers 31 + Combat 34 + Saves 10 + Drawbacks 0 = 195 Age (as of Jan 2019): 31 Height: 5’ 1” Weight: 105 Ethnicity: African American Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: GabrielleWilliams had a life plan. She was a gymnast. Her destination? Athens. Summer Olympics 2004. She’d wanted it since 1999, when she was too young to try out for Sydney. Gymnastics was her entire life, and everyone involved knew she was a unique and special talent. Oh, yes. She had a life plan. She’d win lots of gold in Athens, help the US win more gold in 2008, and then coast on lucrative sponsorship and coaching deals. Easy. And she was really goddamn great. If she’d gone to Athens, not only would she have displaced multiple gold medal winners in individual events, but the USA would have won team gold as well. 2008 wouldn’t have been much different. She’d already taken home multiple gold medals from the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim. The gymnastics world was legitimately buzzing about Gabby Williams. And then the genetic test derailed everything. In the Phoenixverse, those with superpowers have a…rocky history with organized athletics. Generally speaking, people with superpowers were banned by the start of the Silver Age. But there was no way to test for them like there was for things like drugs and steroids. So if any time an athlete was perhaps a little too good, rumors swirled. Generally, though, they were just naturally talented. Enhanced strength, quickness, stamina, or whatever else alone did and does not an elite athlete make. One has to have talent in all the other aspects to make it, and well, for the most part people with superpowers are still people outside of them. Almost all of them aren’t going to have what it takes to be an elite athlete even with their power. And then, This status quo changed in 1986, when genetic testing started to become available. Metahumans and mutants could now be detected without flawed human observation. As the years progressed, the technology and techniques became more refined. A metahuman’s specific powers (but not degree of power) could be detected and identified by the mid 90s. After years of pleading, after Summer 2000 minor metahumans were allowed into the Olympics. Testing was now capable of identifying how powerful a given metahuman was. Mutants, however, were far more variable. Their genetic structure could not be completely trusted as a predictor of their powers. They remained banned even if their powers could be identified. So there it was. Right there, in black and white. She was a mutant. She wasn’t in 2003. At least, she thought so. Naturally, USA Gymnastics investigated. They found, to Gabby’s horror, that her parents had been falsifying her results for years. The genetic samples tested had always belonged to her mother and not her, ever since the first one came back mutant positive. Gabby didn’t even know what she could do, and the tests couldn’t explain it either. She had to give back all of her awards and medals. Stripped. Shamed. It was a pretty big scandal. The irony of it, as the older Gabby reflects, is that her powers have nothing to do with her body at all. Well. Probably. Ironically, one of the girls on track for 2020 is a mutant (a psionic empath, as if it matters), but genetic testing has advanced further. 2016 was the first Summer Olympics mutants were allowed, but there weren’t any both willing and in position to try. The scandal broke Gabby’s relationship with her parents, and made her stop using that nickname. She’d be Gabrielle forever more, now. She had to find a new life lan. Well. Her sense of justice was outraged. And now that she wasn’t laser focused on the Olympics, she noticed some other things that further outraged it. But as a teenager, she couldn’t do anything. Except pay attention and take notes. It’s not like she was banned from all gymnastics gyms. She could still practice. She could still coach the younger girls. And she could pay very close attention to the sort of thing her ever hovering parents apparently prevented from happening to her. She took notes. She recorded conversations. She took photographs. All the way through college and her bachelor’s in journalism. Her blog (The Magna Report) went unnoticed, at first. There was a lot going on in Philadelphia, as in any larger American city. Gabrielle was content to let the evidence pile up. She was working with the WCAU news team as the new girl. She was building a career. Magna, on the other hand, was just getting started. The Magna Report featured a lot of stories. She was busy as a bee. She’d discovered what her powers were during college, experimented and gained full control over them. The masked Magna didn’t want to merely fight crime in the streets. She wanted to take down bigger fish whenever possible. So she took her blog to Youtube. The Magna Report exploded. Her reports on the Catholic archdiocese sex abuse scandal got additional people arrested in connection. Her series on the Black Mafia almost broke them, as Philly PD came down like the Wrath of God. She also did significant damage to the K&A Gang, exposed Philly’s Greek Mob, and blew the lid off corruption inside Philly PD. This is why Fletcher recruited her to his side during the Icons civil war. Without Caviezel or Terrifica he was short a damn fine investigator. Between Magna and Candy they could just about match either. This is the point where I’d say something about the Eternity War and her role in it. Except that was 2017. It was in 2016 that her long series of posts and videos on the abuse and corruption inside USA Gymnastics began to bear fruit. Rachael Denhollander, someone she’d interviewed years earlier, had her story picked up by the Indianapolis Star. Who, unbelievably, credited The Magna Report for some of the material. Her server started wheezing under the strain after that. It collapsed multiple times after the 60 minutes interview with Jeanette Antolin, Jessica Howard, and Jamie Dantzscher. Magna had arrived. Just in time for the Eternity War, and her Dusting at the end of it. Oh, well. Of course, the Dusting was ultimately undone, and just about every local investigative reporter had taken up a collection to keep The Magna Report’s bills paid during its owner’s absence. Magna participated in the final battle of the Endgame, as well., and did okay for a reporter. She was, however, a little miffed to miss the fallout of her work. Especially since it wasn’t finished yet. As 2019 dawns, The Magna Report has begun publishing posts and videos again. This superheroic investigative reporter is very far from finished. As of 2019, Magna is the only Five Year Vet in Philadelphia, hero or villain. This may seem surprising, for such a large city to be bereft of any major supers action, but it’s really not. Cities have down periods. Philly’s supers scene in the Iron Age was a warzone, and basically everyone from that era is dead, crippled, or serving a length prison sentence. There are signs of it beginning to perk up again. Magna being the first. A handful of promising rookies inspired by the superheroic investigative reporter. A handful of villains rising to oppose her and them. Hopefully it won’t go nearly as poorly as last time. Powers & Tactics: Magna is a world class gymnast and a mutant. An impossible one, in fact, even by mutant standards. Aura energy, as far as anyone knows, can only be used by the three Rings and one Staff of Aura. Except Magna can use it without any of those devices. Granted, she’s a hell of a lot more limited than they are, but as far as is known she is the only person on the planet (or indeed, ever in history) to be able to use Aura energy naturally. This may have something to do with one of her father’s ancestors, a servant for a certain Ring wielding British officer during the American Revolution. Or it may not. At any rate, she can summon and throw dagger shaped shards of Aura energy that fade scant seconds after leaving her hands. Some are basically knives she can throw at a single target or fan out in an arc. Others disrupt the nervous systems of living being, potentially causing unconsciousness. And still others can disrupt magic with one dagger. Magna herself doesn’t know very much about magic except to recognize a spellslinger when she sees one, and thus this last is kind of useful for her. As a final mutant powers note, her powers do affect her body. Channeling Aura energy (which she does at a miniscule level constantly simply by being alive and a bit higher one by generating daggers) undoes the aging process and minor wear and tear injuries before they become noticeable. So teenage Gabby, despite never using a dagger, did have an advantage over her fellow gymnasts. She could train and practice just a little harder and a little longer every day, and recovered just a little faster. However, as previously stated, if she didn’t have the athletic and acrobatic talent (and willingness to work hard) to maximize this unknown advantage, it wouldn’t have mattered. Her world class gymnastic abilities are all training and talent, though. Faster. Higher jumping. Tougher. A kick with her surprisingly powerful legs. Falling simply isn’t a problem as long as she has a surface to ease the fall with, and she can balance on narrow, inclined, or awkward surfaces without effort. Hell, she can wall run for a bit before gravity catches up. It all adds up to someone who is an almost peerless master of parkour. As a final training note, her melee skills come from some basic training in kickboxing and Tae Kwon Do. Her own prodigious natural talent did most of the work, however. Tactically, Magna is an Aura Dagger throwing, Move by Action’ing machine. Against mooks, Stun Dagger and Dagger Fan get the job done. For tougher foes, Multi-Dagger is the option of choice. If an enemy is toting any magic paraphernalia, Anti-Magic Dagger can disable their powers long enough for her to defeat them. Gymnastic Kick exists for when and if her powers are disabled. But she never stops moving. Improved Acrobatic Bluff is her bread and butter. Improved Taunt gets layered in for flavor. Accurate Attack helps her hit if necessary. Defense Attack helps her not get hit. And Power Attack can crank the damage up a notch. Keep in mind that between an auto 30 on Escape Artist, +15 Stealth bonus, and how tiny she is, she can fit into some astonishingly small hiding places. Also remember that her Acrobatics skills allow her to do ridiculous nonsense like jumping off second story buildings without suffering injury, dashing across basically anything that will hold her weight, no matter how thin, uneven, angled, or slippery, and she basically jump across a street (41 feet running jump, 20.5 standing jump, and 9.75 high jump). She can cover some turf, if what I’m saying. Her power stunts are basically Dagger Fan with a different Area Extra, such as Burst, Line or Shapeable. She can’t do Cloud, though. She doesn’t do them a lot, though, as Cone serves her quite well. Personality: Magna is, in a word, driven. She’s carried forward her attitude as an elite gymnast into the superheroic life. Maximum effort. No quitting. Little Miss No Days Off. Always hustling. Always working to be better than she was yesterday. She has absolute faith in her physicality. That her body and powers will do what she asks them to do. It doesn’t come across as arrogance or cockiness, but simply a total lack of doubt. She doesn’t have to look and think about doing something. She either can and she’s doing it or she can’t and she’s not. In a way, she’s kind of terrifying. She wasn’t born with hesitation or an off switch in her. But of course, that’s a trait some of the finest athletes in history have shared, so one can’t complain too loudly, yes? She is a superhero because she has a strong sense of right and wrong. Very strong. Her parents lied for years for their own benefit. Their own egos. To be the parents of the wunderkind. The amazing prodigy. And when that went away she started seeing a lot of things more clearly. People hurt others for their own pleasure. Other people lie and cover it up so they won’t look bad. Or out of disbelief. Or discomfort. Or so the name of their organization won’t be damaged. The emotional baggage and trauma left in the wake, well…that’s apparently less important. Magna, respectfully, disagrees. One’s job, the prestige of one’s organization, and even one’s personal comfort aren’t worth spit next to the physical and mental health of others. If someone is being harmed by someone else, do something about it. Magna certainly is.

Marian Soaring Eagle Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 225/225 STR: +1 (12), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +6 (22), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Climb 9 (+10), Concentration 8 (+15), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Handle Animal 2 (+5), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 14 (+20), Knowledge (earth sciences) 4 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 9 (+15), Language 5 (+5), Medicine 3 (+10), Notice 8 (+15), Ride 8 (+10), Search 9 (+15), Sense Motive 13 (+20), Sleight of Hand 3 (+5), Stealth 8 (+10), Survival 13 (+20), Swim 9 (+10) Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Attack Specialization 5 (Grapple), Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Dodge Focus, Endurance (+4), Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Knowledge (arcane lore), Search, Sense Motive, Survival), Track, Uncanny Dodge (Mental), Well-Informed Powers: Hunting Rifle (Device 3) (Hard to lose) Hunting Rifle Shot (Blast 5) (DC 20; Improved Range 2 (250 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 2500 feet)) Scope (Super-Senses 1) (extended: Normal Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft)) Judo Techniques (Array 2) (default power: - linked powers -) Chokehold (Strike 4) (Array; DC 19; Alternate Save (Fortitude); Requires Grapple) Joint Lock (Stun 4) (Array; DC 14; Requires Grapple) Standing Throw (Linked) Throwing (Strike 4) (Linked; DC 19; Limited (Trip Must Succeed)) Tripping (Trip 4) (Linked; Range (touch)) Striking (Strike 3) (Array; DC 19; Mighty) Last Scion of Three Bloodlines (Features 1) (Notes: Supernatural Beings lose all Powers (if they don't have a CON score, their Fort Immunity remains) and have their Physical Ability Scores reduced to Bystander ranks when in combat with Marian. This is functionally a PLX ability that can't be quantified with numbers, but it's important to list here. It also has no effect on humans, aliens, and other mortal beings. She also has no control over it whatsoever. She neither turns it on nor off. It just happens because of who she is.) Readied Rituals (Variable 4) (acquire: any one of (type) - powers, limited to: magical powers; no attack effects; Action 2 (free); Unreliable (5 Uses)) Spirit Talker (Comprehend 1) (spirits) Spiritual Senses (Super-Senses 6) (accurate: Mental, acute: Mental, awareness: Spirit/Soul Awareness (mental), radius: Mental, ranged: Mental) Attack Bonus: +11 (Ranged: +11, Melee: +14, Grapple: +26) Attacks: Chokehold (Strike 4), +14 (DC Fort 19), Hunting Rifle Shot (Blast 5), +11 (DC 20), Joint Lock (Stun 4), +14 (DC Fort/Staged 14), Striking (Strike 3), +14 (DC 19), Throwing (Strike 4), +14 (DC 19), Tripping (Trip 4), +14 (DC 14), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 16) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +6 Languages: Cheyenne, English Native, Hopi, Lakota, Spanish, Ute Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 41 (164 ranks) + Feats 31 + Powers 48 + Combat 44 + Saves 19 + Drawbacks 0 = 225 Age (as of Jan 2019): 33 Height: 5’ 4” Weight: 120 lbs Ethnicity: Native American (hybrid of Cheyenne, Hopi, Lakota, and Ute) Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Marian Soaring Eagle is a study in contradictions. Clearly she cares about her people. She’s proud of being a Native American, to the point where she changed her legal name to better represent who she is. But by the same token she is very much a creature of the 21st Century, with no real patience for “the old ways”. If she were someone else, this really wouldn’t matter. Unfortunately, she is the last scion of three old shamanic bloodlines. Old as in they were old before a single European had ever set foot on American soil. You see, North America has a prison. A supernatural prison, where all sorts of incredibly dangerous and nasty creatures are imprisoned forever. Well. Not forever. Until the seven shamanic bloodlines that imprisoned them run out. At the time, long before any European had set foot on American soil, this was unimaginable. Today, well…four of them are gone. And the last member of any of the rest is Marian. She does not like it, not one bit. Marian wasn’t raised in mysticism. She wasn’t even born on a reservation, for god’s sake. She was born in Santa Fe. She went to school, grew up, and knew nothing about the whole “Last Scion” thing. Being Native was both good and bad. Good because millennia of history, their own languages and stories, just fantastic. Loved it. The bad, well…racism, obviously. Cultural appropriation. Etc. You know. And this was her life. Until a cousin she’d never met died, and the ghosts of her three grandfathers (that she’d also never met) appeared to her and told her of her destiny. Oh. Oh, fuck that. Fuck one hundred percent of that. She wanted to be a search and rescue specialist not…not a Magical Native American! Jesus, what a cliché. She told her ghostly grandfathers where to go and how to get there. She’d have kids eventually and they could bother them about it. Less than a week later the first cultist tried to murder her, ranting and raving about how their masters would drown the world in blood or some bullshit. This was weird, but whatever. Crazies were everywhere, right? Of course, that loser was not the last one to give it a shot, and some of them had freaky powers. She couldn’t hold down a job, because these goddamn assholes would cut through anyone to get to her. God. Fucking. Damn. It. Fine. She hit the books. Listened to some old stories from folks on various reservations. And she went from irritated to completely terrified. Not like, screaming terror either. That slow, cold, paralyzing fear that simply grips you so hard you can’t think, let alone move. It seemed like every single horrible monster from the old stories was both real and crammed deep under the Rocky Mountains somewhere. And the only thing keeping them there was the beating of Marian’s heart. Fuck. Double fuck. Triple fuck. Quadruple flying mother fuck. Whether she believed it herself or not was totally irrelevant. What was relevant was that a whole host of murderous fanatics did. She didn’t want to be murdered, obviously, but if the stories were true…well, she’d better not get killed before she procreated, if you know what I mean. So. Super duper. Time to learn how to defend herself. Some judo. Some marksmanship. And yes, damn it all, some shamanic magic from her three grandfathers. That was 2007. Marian has a reputation now. Professional badass and spiritual heavyweight. Also, she donated some of her eggs for women who can’t have babies normally, and she knows they’ve been used. 21st Century tech for the win. So “last scion” is maybe a bit of misnomer. But she still doesn’t want to be murdered, and dumping such a tremendous responsibility on a child seems like a shitty thing to do. Because she knows they’re not just stories now. She’s been to the prison that she is the sole warden of. Even with a will as strong as hers, she had nightmares for a week. She is a search and rescue specialist for those lost in the desert or the mountains. She spends a lot of time in the wilderness, actually. It’s a lot easier not to get found that way. And there’s a lot of work to do with the spirits of the land and sky as well. They’re ill treated by modern Christianity, and the initial settlers were openly hostile. So sometimes they take revenge, and that’s bad news for anybody human in the area. Both of these are good work. They need doing. But Marian is always a little annoyed. Because she’s a walking cliché, and she doesn’t like it. Not one bit. She joined the Icons Civil War on Fletcher’s side, because like hell she needed the federal government after her too. She was there for the Eternity War, but Kuros outclassed her in power by several country miles and she is not an idiot. Very luckily, she wasn’t among the Dusted. Very unluckily, her biological children apparently were, as she was ducking fanatics about once every two weeks. Yes, even in the middle of nowhere. Really good tracking spells, apparently. How annoying. She played a key role in undoing the Dusting with her vast magical expertise. Knowing how to reform the Crystals of Power is as much a magical ritual as it is a scientific endeavor. Terrifica brough the science, and Marian brought the magic. As a result she was there during the Endgame, trying very hard not to get killed in the massive battle. Today, with the Shining Guardian retired and Sage way too busy, she’s the resident magical specialist in the Icons. Oh, yay. As a side note, she kept the one Crystal of Power not to shatter again. The Soul Crystal, containing the soul of Shadowspirit. Well, “kept”. It’s underneath the Rockies in the super prison, not in her back pocket. Marian has one consistent ally. Her poorly named boyfriend Super Biker, with his sentient alien motorcycle that gives him superhuman strength and resilience. And one persistent enemy. The…actually, it’s not clear what Croy is, aside from ungodly powerful and imprisoned underneath the Rockies for being outstandingly hostile to humanity. One would think it’d be kind of difficult to get messages out from a prison that doesn’t allow visitors on pain of joining the inmates or a gruesome horrible death. And yet, Croy must be managing somehow, as his cultists try to murder Marian every other Thursday (metaphorically speaking). While there’s plenty of other fanatics (washed and unwashed) after her life, it is Croy’s who seem to have the easiest time finding her. Which isn’t even a little disconcerting, why do you ask. Hearing a master’s name consistently from these nutjobs isn’t unnerving at all, why would you think that. And the horns all over his humanoid goat like body and the very sharp teeth in his mouth aren’t intimidating in the least. Don’t know why you brought it up. Powers & Tactics: Marian has several things going on. She’s an expert judoka, carries one technological device in her Hunting Rifle, and has a variety of magical powers. The Hunting Rifle has superior range to mundane rifles and a scope to let her see as far as it can shoot. Her judo techniques, however, are a bit more complicated. She can grapple, throw hard enough to injure, strangle, inflict pain with joint locks, and even (surprisingly to the uninformed) simply strike as non-grappling arts do. Her magical abilities are more complicated still. She can sense spirits of all kinds with her mind. Spirits of land, sea, and sky. Spirits of fire and storm. Spirits of things living, and of things that once were. There’s a lot to see out there, if one knows how to look. And she can talk to and understand them all. Sometimes this is very annoying, as they like to bother her while she’s getting laid or on the toilet in the morning. The other part of her magical powers is that she’s an extremely capable ritual magician, able to keep 5 finished rituals on hand for use at any given time. Her magical tradition is…well, she doesn’t use one. The best analogy she’s doing what Jeet Kun Do or modern MMA do to martial arts. She takes what works for her and bins the rest. Because by god if she has to be a Magical Native American she’s going to do it her way. With that said, her cobbled together tradition does have limitations. She doesn’t do anything actually offensive or damaging, and the power level of these readied rituals is relatively limited. The beefier rituals she can’t hold onto and must use immediately. There is also the Last Scion effect, which is elaborated on in her build. Tactically, Marian is a little tough to predict. She follows the driving philosophies of judo, “maximum efficiency, minimum effort”, “mutual welfare and benefit”, and “softness controls hardness”. So she’s not the type to beat the living shit out of the opposition unless there’s literally no other way. She uses her Readied Rituals for utility and battlefield control, letting her allies handle the rough stuff. Also, she’s primarily a rescue style hero anyway. She finds hikers lost in the mountains; she doesn’t beat up street criminals. Her Readied Rituals are often sensory effects, like Illusion, Concealment, or ESP. Though one is always a movement effect; most likely Teleport but not always. This, contrary to appearances, does not mean that she’s incapable defending herself. She carries her Hunting Rifle in plain view, and will toss an attacker to the ground hard with a judo throw. Or she can simply grab them and either choke them out or stretch their joints until they pass out from the pain. Actually physically Striking is a last resort, but always a option. She has Accurate, Defensive, and Power Attack for use at need. Improved Aim helps her hit with her Hunting Rifle. Improved Disarm can be remarkably effective against those reliant on weapons. And Ritualist can be used on its own or to turbocharge her next Readied Ritual. Understandably, she doesn’t power stunt. Personality: Most heroes choose the life, but some are shoved into it kicking and screaming. Marian isn’t quite one of these, but its close. She’s a good person, full of compassion for her fellow humans. She was going to help people by being a search and rescue wilderness specialist, after all. But it still wasn’t her idea. So, surprisingly, she brings a very…down to Earth…perspective to the Icons. She’s the deadpan-iest and snarkiest of the deadpan snarkers, which is a hell of a thing in a group that contains both Terrifica and Samaritan (no slouches in the snark department). In a world where heroes can be battling space aliens one day, demons another, and homicidal robots on a third she makes sure that her allies know that this shit is ridiculous. But not some kind of negative way, where she’s insulting it. She’s simply trying to maintain something resembling a civilian perspective. She’s basically the token normie, only snarking off as opposed to constantly freaking out. She doesn’t fight crime. She’s a rescue hero. The only times in her normal life when she has to fight is when another fanatic shows up to knife her or when a big land predator (like a bear or mountain lion) decides she looks tasty. She has judo for one and a gun for the other. Fights against teams of supervillains or whole alien armies is not in her wheelhouse. With that said, simply quitting the Icons has never occurred to her and honestly never could. Because, weirdly enough, they need her help. And she’s never been able to say no to someone truly in need. She was always going to be a hero, even without the Last Scion stuff. Would’ve lacked the super part, but all the same. She’s just in denial about it, that’s all.

Z (real name unknown) Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 225/225 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +7, Ref: +10/+14, Will: +10/+12 Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Bluff 10 (+15), Climb 3 (+5), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Disable Device 5 (+10), Drive 7 (+10), Gather Information 10 (+15), Intimidate 10 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 10 (+15), Knowledge (tactics) 10 (+15), Language 1 (+1), Notice 10 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Sleight of Hand 2 (+5), Stealth 12 (+15), Swim 3 (+5) Feats: All-Out Attack, Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Distract, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Startle, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll 2, Distract (Intimidate), Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Improved Critical (Bar Smack (Strike 3)), Improved Initiative 2, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 5, Master Plan, Master Plan 2 (tactics), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Skill Mastery 2 (Bluff, Diplo, Gather Info, Intim, KN (tactics, Notice, Sen Mot, Stealth), Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Teamwork 3, Ultimate Effort (Toughness & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: The Instinct (Container, Passive 10) (Innate, Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Enhanced Attack & Defense (Enhanced Trait 26) (Traits: Attack Bonus +6 (+15), Defense Bonus +4 (+14), Reflex +4 (+14), Will +2 (+12)) Enhanced Feats (Enhanced Trait 4) (Traits: Defensive Roll 2 +1 (+2), Evasion 2 +1 (+2), Improved Initiative 2 +1 (+2), Feats: Seize Initiative) Instinctual Danger Sense (Super-Senses 13) (counters concealment: Mental, counters illusion: Mental, counters obscure: Mental, danger sense: Mental, extended: Mental 3 (-1 per 2 mi), radius: Mental, ranged: Mental, uncanny dodge: Mental) Lucky As Hell (Luck Control 1) (force a re-roll, Feats: Luck 5; Uncontrolled) Z's Education Bar (Device 1) (Easy to lose) Bar Smack (Strike 3) (DC 20, Feats: Improved Critical (Bar Smack (Strike 3)); Mighty) Z's Special Phone (Device 2) (Hard to lose) Communication 6 (sense type: radio; Subtle 2 (unnoticable), Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Technological)) Attack Bonus: +9/+15 (Ranged: +9/+15, Melee: +9/+15, Grapple: +11/+17) Attacks: Bar Smack (Strike 3), +15 (DC 20), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 17) Defense: +10/+14 (Flat-footed: +7), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +7/+11 Languages: English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 44 + Skills 30 (120 ranks) + Feats 32 + Powers 64 + Combat 38 + Saves 17 + Drawbacks 0 = 225 Age (as of Jan 2019): 33 Height: 6’ 1” Weight: 225 lbs Ethnicity: African American Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Z is an enigmatic figure. He is the first Five Year Vet to come out of Baltimore. Ever. There is no record of any other superhero getting past the five year barrier. It’s not because it’s an exceptionally dangerous city for heroes. It’s that the problems there are deeply intractable. Stuck in the twin shadows of Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Only half a million people inside the city limits. The gang violence is without end. Over 300 murders per year, highest per capita in the United States. It’s a city that’ll break your heart. There’s no one criminal or supervillain responsible for the state of the city. There’s no one organization to take down and save the day. The city’s problems are systemic. Poverty. Neglect. Corruption in both city government and law enforcement. And these have bred a criminal subculture and a general hostility to the police department. Yet it is not a city without hope. It has some of finest medical facilities in the world. A football team that’s routinely in the playoffs. And a hero devoted to saving it from itself. They say cities get the heroes they deserve. If that’s true, then it’s a hell of a reflection on Baltimore that they have Z. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the darkest of the Icons. Before his recruitment to the Icons, he was considered nothing more than an urban legend. A boogieman that would get you if you were bad enough. BCPD’s files knew better. He is technically wanted in countless violent assaults. No murders, however. BCPD considers him just another gang leader, albeit one with an interesting moral code. Killing is bad, but maiming and crippling are a-okay. For once, law enforcement basically has it right. Z is in fact a gang leader. He does, in fact, commit acts of extreme violence on people committed to being his enemies. Without killing them, amazingly. The rest, though, the police have no way of knowing to begin with. He doesn’t tell people, generally. It’s Z after a certain fictional masked hero from Spanish Mexico. And, nowadays, after a certain anime protagonist turned violent revolutionary. Because yes, Z is plotting a violent revolution, but not of the type you’re probably thinking of, Dear Reader. His plan is to conquer that criminal subculture. He would prefer to do it by winning hearts, but some folk are hardheaded. Don’t know how to listen when people talk sense. That’s aight, tho. A broken knee, busted collarbone, or shattered spine takes them out of the game just as effectively. And makes other folk more likely to discard their hardheadedness. Surprisingly, this is working. Slowly but steadily, Z is taking over Baltimore’s criminal underworld. It seems impossible, but then a lot about Z seems impossible. Like how he’s still alive. The story Z tells about his early days is that a friend of his was killed in a shootout. Collateral damage. As always, nobody saw nothin’. Quick and easy superhero origin story. Except this is Baltimore, the city that’ll break your heart. The usual methods don’t work. Not in B-more. Or rather they do, but then it twists on the hero involved. Like congratulations, you locked up that robber. Except his baby momma was counting on that money to pay off her loanshark. His two cousins hate you, and tell everyone they know that you’re a piece of shit who nobody should cooperate with. And now her cousin has to commit robberies to help her out. You see, Baltimore is one of the biggest small towns in the world. Ain’t but six degrees o difference between one resident and another. Trying to knock down any one of its problems is like trying to kill the Greek hydra without any fire, or volunteering to be Sisyphus. Z knows this well. He spent years trying in the traditional heroic way. Did some good here and there, but he was basically a hamster on a wheel. No progress made. More and more enemies who wanted to kill him. And a list of allies that shrank faster (via death or abandonment) than it grew. He came within a hair’s breadth of not just picking up a gun, but trying to kill his way out of the problem. Because he had the gun in his hand and the intent to use it before one of his allies made him see sense. Z needed to change tactics. So he did. Instead of trying to be a traditional superhero, he went in a different direction. Gang leader, and organized crime boss. Take out everybody else, become the new kingpin of Baltimore’s underworld. In essence, transforming himself into the hardest of the hard motherfuckers. By the time he became a Five Year Vet, the word was out. Z wasn’t someone to be fucked with. Regular superheroes just beat bad guys up. Z was, as previously stated, leaving people crippled and maimed. Like he’d gone full psychopath or something. Except…one, he wasn’t killing anyone. Two, he was clearly building his own crew. And three. The why he did not hide. Every single one broke one of Z’s new rules. They’re several of them, but they basically boil down to don’t do any kind of significant physical, financial, or material harm to people. Break Z’s rules, and he breaks you. Period. No exceptions. No mercy. No pity. But on the flip side, anybody who needs help so they don’t have to break his rules can get in touch. He’ll either help them out or he knows someone who will. Yeah, Baltimore will break your heart. But it can also lift you up again. Z was initially limited in what he could do, but one grateful person led to another. And another. And another. Contacts. Allies. People willing to step up and fight for a better city but ho didn’t want to be actual superheroes. Jessica Alton, mother to Tigress of the Exiles. Moriel of the Earthbound Host. Bai Ling, Tibetan pacifist martial artist. To name a few. Z does not fight alone. This is how he is slowly saving the city. A list o contacts and allies a mile long, and a willingness to brutalize as many as it takes for the rest to get the message. Because of this, he only has one persistent enemy that is an individual, as many larger criminal organizations like the Bloods, Crips, and Black Guerrilla Family have branches in or near the city. This enemy is Frank Lloyd, a corrupt bail bondsman who both has his own local crew and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. For obvious reasons, Z and Lloyd have never come face to face in the street. They’ve exchanged words, but always with Lloyd at a safe distance, with people between them (like on opposite sides of a full church on Sunday), or in a public area like a shopping mall or midday downtown street. He’s a crafty motherfucker, clearly. At any rate, Z never intended to be anything more than Baltimore’s darkest protector. Until the Shining Guardian recruited him to replace the, uh, “staying out of it you idiots” Terrifica as a strategist and resident knower of stuff. Which, with his contacts and allies, isn’t as much of a stretch as it initially appears. To his credit, he didn’t appear out of his depth during the Eternity War. It was his clever scheme that delayed Kuros collecting the last of the Power Crystals by a full day by basically hiding it deep in Baltimore. The unfortunate part is that this only encouraged Kuros to summon his armies to the city, thus triggering the titular Eternity War between the Shining Guardian’s Icons faction and Z’s gang versus Kuros and his armies. Z was unfortunately among the Dusted, which left his city in even greater chaos. Still. His return during the Endgame was an unexpected rallying moment, and he’d brought his entire gang with him. Thanks for the portal, Blackrose. He acquitted himself quite well during that final battle. He may not be quite the strategist that Terrifica is (which is no insult to a man without enhanced intelligence), but his perspective and ideas are dramatically different. Between that, and being the only Icon with his own personal army at his beck and call, it could be said that Z made his name that day. Which is why it’s kind of strange that nobody’s seen him in person since. He’s made plenty of phone calls and sent plenty of text messages. Jessica Alton, Moriel, and Bai Ling say that he’s fine and they’re just acting as intermediaries at his request. Z himself has confirmed this by phone. But uh…if that’s true, then where is he, what is he doing, and why are the Icons not responding for requests for information about him? Nobody, not even his closest associates, knows where he lives, his real name, or even what he looks like under all that Ravens merch. Even as he has hit the height of his fame, Z remains an enigmatic, mysterious figure. He’d have it no other way. Apparently. Powers & Tactics: Z, as far as anyone knows, has no superhuman powers. He’s just got really, really good instincts. Apparently. Though…street level heroes speak of having an “instinct” for the work. Just…knowing what you need to do when you need to do it. All the best heroes have tended and do tend to display such a thing to some degree. And the poor ones rarely ever. So it’s not impossible that this is the truth. That his instincts for hero work really are just that keen. At any rate, something’s going on. Because nobody’s that accurate or that dodgy without professional training, and by his form Z clearly has little to none. Luck also appears to generally be on his side. And few people have a, well, instinct for dangerous situations like he does. When something’s wrong he just…knows. Not specifically what it is, but all the same. He carries a pair of technological devices, though calling the metal longshoremen’s bar he calls his Education Bar technological is a stretch. It’s a glorified club, but it works. His phone, on the other hand is rather special. For one, it’s not a phone. It’s a radio communication device that can connect to the cellular network. Or any other tech based network. And unless one can detect radio waves, it’s undetectable. Even if one can, it still requires pretty good perception to detect. Tactically, Z is both street level mook destroyer and consummate team player. His only method of direct attack is a swift Bar Smack, but those who only watch out for that are doing him a grave disservice. Improved Demoralize, Distract, Feint, and Startle. Set Up. Teamwork 3. And Master Plan 2, which on average will grant a +3 bonus to skill rolls and attack checks for three rounds, followed by +2 and +1 for one round each. Beginner’s Luck and Jack of All Trades let him try his hand at anything and do reasonably well. Z is the type of hero who works best with a team and does everything he can to make them better at what they do. Connected, Contacts, and Well-Informed keep him in the know and supplied with teammates to support. And for when he has to fight himself, All Out and Power Attack are on deck. For reasons that should be obvious, he can’t power stunt at all. Personality: Z is the other angry black man on the Icons. Folks tend to think of Spike first in that category, because he’s more prominent and often much louder. Z is low key. Quiet. Subtle. Because while he may be angry, his anger management skills are excellent. They need to be, because what he’s angry about isn’t something one man with a glorified club can change. His city is slighted. Mistreated. Ignored. Neighborhoods either rot unseen or get gentrified, pushing out the original residents. He’s not being fair. People are trying. They’re always trying. It’s just Baltimore. The city that’ll break your heart. But also the city that’ll lift you up again. His city knows the meaning of loyalty, for better and for worse. It’d be a stretch to call Z a good man. Good men don’t leave people weeping in the street with shattered knees. But he’s honorable, fair, and he keeps his word. He’d pass the “get the little girl’s kitty out of a tree” test easily. He can be kind, generous, and helpful to his allies. He can also be cold, cruel, and vicious to his enemies. You come to his city, you obey his rules. Or you suffer the consequences. That’s how it is. End of story. Well. One last thing. He doesn’t enjoy hurting people. His anger does, but he doesn’t. It’s regrettable, but necessary. Don’t like it? Then why are you in Baltimore?

Candy (Candice Mikkelsen) Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 210/210 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +7 (24) Tough: +3/+8, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 13 (+20), Concentration 12 (+15), Diplomacy 13 (+20), Gather Information 13 (+20), Intimidate 3 (+10), Investigate 7 (+10), Knowledge (business) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 12 (+15), Knowledge (life sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Language 4 (+4), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Perform (oratory) 8 (+15), Search 7 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Attack Specialization 2 (Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8)), Challenge - Improved Distract, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Distract (Bluff), Dodge Focus 5, Eidetic Memory, Elusive Target, Evasion, Fascinate (Bluff), Fascinate (Diplomacy), Grappling Finesse, Improved Critical 2 (Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8)), Improved Critical 2 (Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4)), Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Diplomacy, KN (civics)), Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Hard Candy Armor (Force Field 5) (+5 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks]) Sugar Control (Array 12) (default power: strike) Drain Glucose (Fatigue (Array; DC 18; Range (ranged)) Hard Candy Constructs (Create Object (Array; Max Size: 8x 5' cubes, DC 18; Impervious) Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [2 extra ranks], Penetrating [2 extra ranks]; Accurate (+2), Extended Reach (5 ft.), Mighty, Subtle (subtle), Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing)) Sugar-kinesis (Move Object 12) (Array; Strength: 60, Carry: 17 tons / 34 tons / 51.2 tons / 102.4 tons; Range (perception); Limited Material (Sugars)) Sugarstorm (Strike (Array; DC 23; Cloud Area (40 ft. diameter, lingers - General)) Sugar Road (Flight 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd; Platform) Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15) Attacks: Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8), +12 (DC Fort 18), Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4), +14 (DC 21), Sugarstorm (Strike (DC 23), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -8 Initiative: +7 Languages: Arabic, English Native, German, Hmong, Spanish Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 37 (148 ranks) + Feats 37 + Powers 46 + Combat 30 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 210 Age (as of Jan 2019): 35 Height: 5’ 7” Weight: 135 Ethnicity: 1/2 Caucasian (German/Swedish ancestry), ½ Costa Rican (Hispanic) Hair: Dark Brown (dyed, normally Black) Eyes: Hazel Background: Candice Mikkelsen is a defense attorney in Milwaukee. She’s quite popular among the courthouse dwellers for being extremely attractive, very nice, and a bastion of integrity. Candy is by a lot the most prominent superhero in Milwaukee. She’s quite popular among the citizenry for being extremely attractive, very nice, and a bastion of integrity. If you suggested that the two brown haired and hazel eyed women with almost identical builds were the same person, you would be laughed out of town. Candy captures criminals and gets them sent to jail. She’s obviously on the side of the law. Candice puts in incredible effort to prevent criminals from going to prison. She’s obviously one of those bleeding heart types, more concerned with the rights of scum than protecting innocent people. The citizens of Milwaukee are uh, wrong. As you already know, Dear Reader, the superhero Candy and defense attorney Candice Mikkelsen are the same person. That, however, is not the only secret she’s carrying. Her sugar powers are not the result of magic, focused telekinesis, or some weird mutation. She’s a Phoenix Mutate. Their collective reputation was already rather poor due to some incidents of death and destruction when their powers inevitably emerged. However, the debut of the Academy’s Alpha Team in 2007, their subsequent battles with Josef Pietrovich’s group (among others), and the emergence of Beta Team later that year pushed things to a breaking point. These were teenagers with the powers of gods. They fought each other with the wild abandon of the former and apparent disregard for life and property of the latter. The debut of Gamma Team in 2011 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Carlos Javier, the Academy’s headmaster, had too much influence for the federal government to do anything, and Josef Pietrovich was a fugitive already. Some states passed registration laws, but they mostly didn’t work. So all that’s left is several dump trucks full of prejudice from the normies. A Phoenix Mutate gets attacked because of said prejudice, has to retaliate with very strong powers they don’t necessarily have full control of yet or face serious injury/death, and there’s another incident for the nightly news about how dangerous those Phoenix Mutates are. It is, uh, not a stable situation. Especially after the entire Javier Academy and Josef Pietrovich’s group finally joined forces to combat said escalating prejudice and moved to what is functionally an island fortress in the Caribbean. So…obviously Candice doesn’t want to have anything to do with…any of that. Understandably so. Unlike many but not all Phoenix Mutates, she was able to hide the emergence of her powers. The shift in her metabolism was easily explained by her being 13 at the time. She was significantly overweight as a kid, but the excess weight melted away fairly rapidly after her powers emerged. Her sudden increase in fondness for candy and sweet treats was just a new personality quirk. Of course, the actual reason was that her blood sugar requirements had spiked (to the degree that anyone else would have been in a hyperglycemic coma) to support her rapidly developing powers. And always having some hard candy on hand was also a way to practice her control over them. So, she hid her powers all throughout school, university (Northwestern), and law school (University of Chicago, because why move again?). She passed the bar exam in Wisconsin, and voila. The newest member of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, serving under who is still the District Attorney, John T. Chisholm. Up until her college days, she had no intention of being anything other than a very good lawyer. But the curriculum at Northwestern opened the door, and a certain encounter shoved her through it. Jackson Park has a statue of Starman II in it. Lovely little exhibit about him, too. This isn’t strange. Chicago was and is the home city of the Starfamily. Grant has another one. Burnam and Marquette have statues of the first Starman. Lincoln Park has one of the entire original Starfamily. Candice’s encounter, however, was in Jackson. Specifically, with a teenage girl who was also visiting the statue that day. Jennifer Thompkins, not that the two swapped names. She was visiting her father. The conversation wasn’t particularly long, and it’s unlikely Jennifer even remembers it. For Candice, however, it was one of the defining conversations of her life. The masked vigilante who appeared for a year or two in Chicago has never been positively identified. Candice stopped because law school is grueling even for smart people, and she simply didn’t have the time. After moving back to Milwaukee, though? Candy made her debut. It was a rather simple idea, really. As a prosecutor, she had the inside info on the bad guys, and so when she took them down she what to do make it easier to win the trial. The ethics of these were a little, uh, dubious, but she was Doing The Right Thing, so whatever. It wasn’t like the office rookie got to do anything important anyway. So she wasn’t even affecting her own cases. This distance became hard to maintain as her years of experience accumulated, until a certain event made it impossible. Namely, the Shining Guardian, Shadowspirit, and Queenie busting up a deep rooted Neo-Nazi terrorist cell inside the US Army. While that trio never set foot in Wisconsin, the investigative aftershocks exposed a small group at Fort McCoy, compromising the local JAG office until it too could be exonerated of any wrongdoing. That small group was going to shoot their way out of the Fort and try to execute their horrific plans for Milwaukee…except the base commander was a smart man unrestrained by pride. He’d called in a local superhero, namely Candy, to provide support if needed. To make a short story shorter it was, uh, needed. With the local JAG office enduring an internal Army investigation, the State of Wisconsin got first crack at prosecuting the group. And since they planned to commit their additional crimes in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County DA’s office got to take lead. The case basically finished off Candice’s belief that the justice system was honorable and fair. She knew it wasn’t, really, after 4 years of putting people in prison. But knowledge and belief aren’t the same. She had tried very hard to be totally ethical and above board, despite being a superhero who may well have gotten her defendants arrested in the first place. There were others who didn’t try quite so hard. Additionally, these guys (the Neo-Nazi terrorist remnants) had gotten a dozen chances only to get more or less slapped on the wrist each time. They were young men with promising futures, after all. Meanwhile Candice had pled out a number of young people (who didn’t do half of what these guys did) she now didn’t like to think about who got slapped with prison sentences measured in years. Three guesses as to the skin tones and/or economic statuses of the former and the latter. She stayed until the verdicts. Guilty on all counts, of course. She was a very good prosecutor, after all. Then she left the DA’s office and immediately joined the public defender’s office. Of course, the following year was when Fletcher (accidentally) made a murderous AI. She wasn’t the most impressive (Spike was noticeably more powerful and Terrifica went full supergenius) during the actual battle, but she was the one who got the word out that the Icons needed help this time. The Icons extended her an offer not because of her combat skills (though they played a part) but because she was a people person and her city genuinely liked her without caveat. This was not a thing that Spike or Terrifica could claim. Gotta have positive role models in the group, too, you know? She sided with Fletcher during the Icons civil war. As an officer of the court, she knows obeying the law is Extremely Important. She was a part of the Eternity War, though no match for Kuros. And she was among the Dusted, so she didn’t appear again until after that was undone and it was time for the final battle. She acquitted herself quite well there, finally cementing her “Sugarstorm” into her regular arsenal. Now, she’s tied for most popular Icon with Queenie, and actually outshines her among het men, lesbians, and other female oriented persons. Seriously, she’s extremely attractive. Candy doesn’t have any regular allies in Milawaukee. It’s a small city by American standards. Less than a million people. Their last big names died in ’92 (Kuros’s revenge invasion) and ’01 (tried to help stop Armageddon, did not go well). She’s the first to stick with it after those two. Hero game is brutal, after all. However. She has her eye on two new folks who surprisingly took up her banner after she was Dusted. A private detective with superhuman strength, and the latest heroic member of an unending family feud. The former’s name she doesn’t know (yet), but the latter is Anti-Venin. Her most persistent enemies include the primary crime boss in the city Lardaceous (big, fat, and physically dense enough to be functionally immobile; with superhuman strength and durability), and batshit crazy The Nutritionist (fruit and vegetable theme mundane weapons, plus her equally crazy gang the Sugarfree Alliance). The arch nemesis of Anti-Venin and other side of that unending family feud, The Toxic Tyrant, has also begun to make waves. Powers & Tactics: Candy is a Phoenix Mutate. Like all of them, she only has the one simple sounding power, but it’s the sheer breadth and versatility of it that makes her dangerous. To maintain her cover as not-a-Phoenix-Mutate-please-don’t-hate-me, she is habitually sandbagging her power to the point where it now takes effort to access her real strength. Her simple sounding power is control over sugar. But it’s not just table sugar, or sucrose. It’s everything that can chemically be called sugar. Fructose (fruit sugar). Glucose (blood sugar). Lactose (milk sugar). If it’s a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, an oligosaccharide, or even a polysaccharide, she can do whatever the hell she wants to it. Move it like she has telekinesis (she doesn’t, but close enough), tear it out of whatever it’s in (be it food, drink, or living flesh), alter its chemical structure to that of a different sugar, or craft sugar and/or candy substances with a tensile strength superior to that of concrete. Basically she can turn a bag of sugar into what is effectively bulletproof glass in as many pieces and shapes as she likes. Only the “bag of sugar” can be a counter full of baked goods. Or a soda fountain. Or a bar full of malted beer. Or even a person. As previously stated, she is a hell of a lot more powerful than she’s allowing herself to be. The “bulletproof glass” example is just what she does with her power. It is not all it is capable of. Since she’s a lawyer and not a chemist, she has no idea her power also applies to deoxy sugars. Such as deoxyribose (which is part of DNA), fucose (present on the surface of mammal, insect, and planet cells) or fuculose (an important part of avian flu viruses) and rhamnose (which appears in many types of plants as well as being a part of the tuberculosis bacterium). With that said, she leans very hard on constructs made of hard candy. Her default mode is still manifesting hot pink hard candy armor and melle weapons (staves, swords, spears, axes, hammers, etc), and simply beating the opposition up. She is an expert melee fighter, so that’s usually good enough. The primary style she’s trained in is Kunst des Fechtens (German swordsmanship, technically, but it includes other weapons). However she has cross training in Escrima and kickboxing. Post Endgame has see her upgrade this default significantly, however. Fighting an army adjusted her perspective. The armor is now hard enough that she can ignore any man portable mundane firearm. The weapons hit harder, faster, and penetrate armor more readily. The other candy constructs she creates have the same durability as her armor, and she’s retrained her “base power” (in her mind) of sugar-kinesis to its original strength. She’s welcomed her ability to drain glucose out of a person to tire them and her “Sugarstorm” (a cloud of tiny razor sharp hard candy flakes that can shred enemies) to her regular combat rotation. Additionally, the speed of her “Sugar Road” (a hard candy platform she destroys and recreates as she moves through the air; ground supports are required however) has increased five fold. She can now effectively fly faster than most cars. Tactically, well, as stated she still mostly relies on her Hard Candy Weapons. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. She has both Improved Feint to help hit Improved Taunt to potentially do more damage, and Takedown Attack 2 to just mow through low level enemies. With that said, Hard Candy Constructs are excellent cover to protect civilians with, and Sugar-kinesis can bury the battlefield if there’s enough sugar around. Drain Glucose can be surprisingly effective on single targets. And the Sugarstorm proved its worth against the armies of Kuros. Sugar Road and Move By Action keep her quite mobile. She has both Accurate and Power Attack. Improved Distract and Improved Trick have their uses, as does Stunning Attack. She only has one regular power stunt left. Hard Candy Blast (Blast 12). She’ll have to develop some more, as two out of the prior three are now in the regular rotation. How bothersome. Do not forget that she is a Phoenix Mutate, and thus has Untapped Poetienal for free. So when she uses Extra Effort, she gets three ranks of additional effect instead of two. This can be used with Extraordinary Effort, as well. When she does this, it is a documented effect known as Plus Overdrive. Personality: Candy is, fittingly enough, a sweetheart. She’s just like, really nice. Kind. Generous. Compassionate. Empathetic. Etc. A very likeable people person. Cheerful, optimistic, and confident. Kind of the ideal hero, really. And that’s the point. Candice, obviously, isn’t some perfect ideal person. But when she forms the hard candy mask on her face she puts on the performance. Because the civilians need it. They need their hero to keep smiling even when things get tough. Or panic will start to set in, and they’ll start making increasingly poor decisions out of fear. So, she has to show them she’s on top of the situation and everything is fine. Even when she has absolutely no idea what she’s supposed to do. Even when she’s terrified. It’s part of a hero’s job. Their responsibility. This is the point where either the negative elements of her personality or the downsides of the positive get airplay. But…there aren’t any, really? She doesn’t always make the greatest decisions, but who does? Her sense of legal ethics is shaky, but that’s true of all lawyers who are also superheroes. She was 17 when Starman II died. Almost a legal adult, but still a kid in many ways. It was a tragedy, sure, but it had almost nothing to do with her, you know? But that little talk with Jennifer. The ethos of Starman, whichever one it was. Power inherently came with responsibility. She stood there, in front of the statue of a man who’d given everything he had to protect people, next to the daughter who missed him terribly, and felt ashamed. She may not have had quite as much power (in her opinion) as a Star, but she still had more than most. She could do a lot of good with a law degree, but this did not inherently require her to abandon her powers. She could do better. Do more. So she does. ‘Nuff said.

Spike (Spike Douglas) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 210/210 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +2/+14, Fort: +8, Ref: +10, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+10), Bluff 5 (+10), Gather Information 10 (+15), Intimidate 15 (+20), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 7 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 12 (+15), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 2 (+5), Language 4 (+4), Notice 10 (+15), Search 2 (+5), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Stealth 8 (+10), Survival 5 (+10) Feats: Attack Focus (melee) 4, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Startle, Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Spike Barrage (Strike 12)), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Gather Info, Intimidate, KN (streetwise), Sleight of Hand), Startle, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Skin Spikes (Force Field 12) (+12 Toughness; Duration (continuous), Impervious) Spike Extension (Elongation 6) (Elongation: 250 ft., range incr 60 ft., +6 Escape & Grapple; Projection; Limited 2 (No Escape or Grapple, Cannot apply strength, no fine motor skills)) Spiked Attacks (Array 12) (default power: strike) Spike Barrage (Strike 12) (Default; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Spike Barrage (Strike 12)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only]) Spike Burst (Strike 12) (Array; DC 27; Burst Area (60 ft. radius - General)) Spike Cone (Strike 12) (Array; DC 27; Cone Area (120 ft. cone - General)) Spike Line (Strike 12) (Array; DC 27; Line Area (5x300 ft. line - General)) Spiked Jump (Leaping 6) (Jumping distance: x100) Spikes (Super-Movement 2) (slow fall, wall-crawling 1 (half speed)) Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12, Grapple: +14/+20) Attacks: Spike Barrage (Strike 12), +12 (DC 27), Spike Burst (Strike 12) (DC 27), Spike Cone (Strike 12) (DC 27), Spike Line (Strike 12) (DC 27), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17) Defense: +10 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -13 Initiative: +6 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Korean, Russian, Spanish Totals: Abilities 38 + Skills 26 (102 ranks) + Feats 13 + Powers 76 + Combat 36 + Saves 21 + Drawbacks 0 = 210 Age (as of Jan 2019): 37 Height: 6’ 1” Weight: 180 Ethnicity: African American Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Spike Douglas ought to be a supervillain. He’s got the powers, the bad attitude, and the worse reputation. But he’s not, and why is pretty simple. It will, however, take some background first. A long time ago. Pre slave trade. Pre written records. There was a man in Africa who pissed off a god and had his entire bloodline cursed. In time, the name and pantheon of said god were completely forgotten. The curse, however, remains. That forgotten god is a vindictive son of a bitch, who does not care that the original offender is long dead, and any memory of him is long gone. He does not care that the world has changed, that the slave trade tore said bloodline out of Africa and deposited it in North America. His pride is injured, and he will see every descendant of the offender suffer until the end of the human race. It gives him great pleasure. So, like every male member of the bloodline (females are always miscarried, because the god is a dick) Spike was not quite born. The curse activated and tore him out of his mother, causing her immediate death. And wherever his father was, he also died on the spot as the curse betrayed him. The curse, by the way, kills anyone who loves Spike the next time they touch him, or on the spot if they already are once they shift into loving him. It does not differentiate between types of love. Romantic, platonic, familial, or any other kind. They get the spikes and die. You can imagine what this would do to a child, especially when they don’t know why it’s happening. The god appeared to Spike in his teen years, exposing the whole situation to the homeless runaway. The god expected either the usual despair and self-isolation or murderous rage and supervillainy. Spike took a surprising third option. Outraged defiance. Well, that’s one reason to become a superhero. 20 years down the road, and the god is pissed. Yeah, Spike has no friends or loved ones. Yeah, he’s got an enemies list a mile long. Yeah, he’s kind of miserable. But he’s also Los Angeles’s acknowledged main protector. The big dog in Hell A. Nobody likes him, but the sheer number of times he’s thrown himself between Angelenos and certain doom cannot be denied. This is how he became an Icon in the first place. He rolled up on the genocidal AI that Fletcher had (accidently) made, cussed it out, and started punching holes in drones with his spikes. This respite for the Icons was sorely needed so they could regroup and eventually destroy the AI. They kept him on afterward. Every super group needs an attack dog, so to speak. Surprising no one, he told both the Shining Guardian and Fletcher to fuck off, staying out of the Icons civil war. He did, however, show up somehow for the Eternity War, and actually held off Kuros for several minutes before being flattened when The Savior became annoyed. He was not among the Dusted specifically because the god and his curse did not allow it. So he was around but not especially useful until the final battle of the Endgame, where Terrifica’s tactical direction gave him a wide berth. Kuros’s forces got to see what being on the other side of the horror movie was like, and they did not like it one bit. This, naturally, has enhanced his fearsome reputation. The god has not stopped yammering at him angrily. Well, fuck him. Fuck the Sheriff’s Department and big chunks of the LAPD too. And fuck the rich Hollywood suits, too. You see, Spike is still homeless. Intentionally so. Los Angeles has a fairly large homeless population, and mostly nobody cares when one disappears. The same can be said about LA’s sex workers. Or any other occupation the desperately poor fall into. Because Spike isn’t just LA’s protector; he’s the champion of the poor and downtrodden. The lost and forsaken. He’s fought supervillains (such as liquid metal man Mercury, earthquake specialist Tectonica, and the fire and cold controlling duo of Fahrenheit & Celsius), mini kaiju rising out of the sea, and a dozen flavors of vampires and demons. He doesn’t actually have any regular heroic allies. However, Starguy (now an Icon) has backed him up before, as have local heroes Sargette (former US Army), Telebolt (electric teleporter), and Valley Girl (invulnerably skinned). Two police officers in Angel Rodriguez (with her superhumanly strong and durable wings) and Celeste Martinez (with her advanced cybernetic arm) have also lent assistance, on occasion. He purposefully avoids and thus has no relationship of any kind with Exile House LA and the Second Gen. Powers & Tactics: Spike is the victim of a divine curse. An infinite number of indestructible cylindrical spikes of all possible widths linger in parallel dimension, the portal to which is just under his skin. He uses this in several ways. His primary method of defense is merging them with his skin to create a bumpy skinned appearance. It sounds comical, but he’s ignored rocket fire. The spikes themselves are, as previously stated, indestructible. They’re not a perfect barrier, however. They do transmit the force of attacks made against them, just greatly reduced. So Spike can be damaged with his skin spikes out. It just takes heavy force to do it. Blunt spikes, when extruded rapidly through the feet, make him capable of “leaping” great distances though basic physics. It’s uh, a lot easier to overcome 180 lbs of inertia and defy gravity to launch him into the air than to move the earth from its orbit. A helluva lot of tiny spikes on his hands and feet make clinging to walls and ceilings a breeze. He doesn’t have to worry about falls, either, as long as he can grab a handhold somewhere. He can maintain extended blunt spikes for as long as he wants, effectively extending his reach approximately 250 feet. But of course, arguably the main event is how he attacks enemies. It’s basically horror movie villain stuff. He can spike anything with a big radius, wide cone, or long line. And there’s also his trademark Spike Barrage, in which he wildly oscillates the spikes in and out as he punches, doing potentially horrific damage. Tactically, Spike is 100% pure ass kicker. It’s not that he can’t do rescues. It’s that he’s best at kicking the everloving shit out of Acceptable Targets. He’s a pure damage guy, without any exotic alternatives. Basically, he hears about a problem, he go finds it, and either he intimidates it away or it gets the fuck spiked out of it. This is his reputation, and he uses it well. He does attempt to avoid collateral and property damage with his area attacks. The basic plan is Improved Startle+Spike Barrage=fight over or close enough. And generally this works, actually. Anybody he’d do lethal damage to is also the type to be intimidated by him and his reputation and either run like hell or cut the shit. It’s not like he’s unwilling to cut effect ranks to avoid doing lethal damage, it’s just that he rarely has to. He also has Improved Demoralize and Power Attack, for when those prove to be needed. He never power stunts. Personality: Spike is an angry, abrasive asshole. He’s honestly a very intimidating man. With that said, it’s not the maximum volume shouting kind of angry. It’s the slow burning rage of a man who knows he was destined to be fucked over the instant the sperm penetrated the egg and the new cell started duplicating. It ain’t just the curse, either. He’s a homeless black man in Los Angeles. City authority (including law enforcement) has a…mixed…reputation when it comes to not mistreating the economically disadvantaged and ethnic minorities. And that’s when they just don’t…abandon them to the nonexistent mercies of the criminal and supernatural underworlds. He’s seen some deeply fucked up shit. He’s been at the center of some deeply fucked up shit. So hell yes, he’s angry. He can’t get close to anyone or they will die, and Hell A chews up and spits out the vulnerable on a daily basis. He’s got a lot to be angry about. With that said, rage and spite alone do not a hero make. Like, maybe for a year. Perhaps two. But almost twenty? Nah. There’s a fundamentally decent human being under there. Nobody who’s thrown themselves between defenseless people and horrible danger as often and as many times as Spike has can be anything less. He’s never gone completely off on anyone who hadn’t earned it through assholery or stupidity. He’s not normally abrasive to nuns, priests, and other ministers. He often wears a battered faux gold cross that belonged to his mother, and is occasionally seen just sitting in churches praying. There is a very lonely and miserable man underneath all that rage and aggression. Not that he’ll ever show that to anyone, of course. Because the most first and most important thing he has to protect people from is himself. Dammit.

Medic (Dr. Daniel Ivanoff) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +4 (18), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +4 (18), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +4/+12, Fort: +12, Ref: +12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 11 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Climb 1 (+5), Computers 5 (+10), Concentration 10 (+15), Craft (electronic) 5 (+10), Craft (mechanical) 5 (+10), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 5 (+10), Gather Information 12 (+15), Investigate 5 (+10), Knowledge (behavioral science) 5 (+10), Knowledge (life sciences) 15 (+20), Knowledge (physical sciences) 5 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 10 (+15), Knowledge (tactics) 5 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 5 (+10), Language 4 (+4), Medicine 15 (+20), Notice 10 (+15), Search 5 (+10), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Sleight of Hand 1 (+5), Stealth 6 (+10), Swim 1 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Attack Specialization (Kinetic Club (Device 1)), Defensive Attack, Elusive Target, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Mass Muscle Spasm (Paralyze 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Neural Agony (Stun 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Olfactory Sensitivity Increase (Nauseate 12)), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improvised Tools, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Gather Info, KN (life sciences), Medicine), Takedown Attack, Ultimate Effort 2 (Medicine checks, Toughness checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Dimensional Alien Hybrid Physiology (Container, Passive 3) Inhuman Resilience (Protection (+8 Toughness) Perfect Immune System (Immunity 3) (aging, disease, poison) Seemingly Bottomless Stamina (Immunity (enviromental conditions (all), sleep, suffocation (all); Limited - Half Effect) Kinetic Club (Device 1) (Easy to lose) Kinetic Club Strike (Strike 4) (DC 23; Mighty) Life Control (Array 25) (default power: healing) Life Force Infusion (Healing 12) (Default; DC 22; Restoration, Total; Persistent, Regrowth) Mass Muscle Spasm (Paralyze 12) (Array; DC 22, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Mass Muscle Spasm (Paralyze 12)); Alternate Save (Fortitude), Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Secondary Effect) Neural Agony (Stun 12) (Array; DC 22, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Neural Agony (Stun 12)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Secondary Effect) Olfactory Sensitivity Increase (Nauseate 12) (Array; DC 22, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Olfactory Sensitivity Increase (Nauseate 12)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Secondary Effect) Life Process Awareness (Super-Senses 2) (analytical: Life Process Awareness, awareness: Life Process (Visual)) Sky Walking (Flight 1) (Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd) Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12, Grapple: +16) Attacks: Kinetic Club Strike (Strike 4), +14 (DC 23), Mass Muscle Spasm (Paralyze 12), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 22), Neural Agony (Stun 12), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 22), Olfactory Sensitivity Increase (Nauseate 12), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 22), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 19) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -6 Initiative: +8 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Italian, Russian, Spanish Totals: Abilities 50 + Skills 45 (180 ranks) + Feats 22 + Powers 75 + Combat 40 + Saves 23 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): 54 (chronological), mid 30s (biological) Height: 6’ 3” Weight: 225 Ethnicity: ½ African American, ½ Extradimensional (appears Caucasian) Hair: Dark Brown Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Medic is a…controversial…figure. He was the first recruit to the Icons after the founding of the group. The main problem with him is that he’s a political firebrand in much the same way that Gunsmith was back in the 60s and 70s. He doesn’t run for office, or run any organizations. But he’s got opinions and by God, you’re going to hear them. The root of all this is twofold. He’s a New Yorker born and bred. He grew up poor and Black in the1970s Bronx. He was educated at NYU in the 80s. Worked at over a dozen hospitals in the city since. He has seen the seemingly infinite variations on how people can be shitty to each other, and he’s had more than enough. The other is that he’s had the ideal physician mentality since he was a kid. He knows, bone deep, he was put on this planet to help people and make their lives better. As long as it can be managed without hurting anyone else. It should go without saying that not everyone is like that. So Dr. Daniel Ivanoff (physician, surgeon, superhero, community activist, the list goes on) is in the news a lot. He appears on talk shows, be they TV, radio, or podcast format. He doesn’t ever stop calling people out who could be doing more. He doesn’t ever stop advocating for progressive ideas like how the NYPD doesn’t have to be called in to solve literally every problem and also they should be a hell of lot more accountable to the people of the city they’re supposedly working for. Basically he’s a professional pain in the ass to anyone who puts pride, profits, or whatever else over people and their lives. This would make him a profound political liability, except again like Gunsmith, he’s one hell of a superhero, probably the best surgeon on the planet, and obviously coming from a place of sincere, committed altruism. So he’s merely controversial instead. The name Ivanoff is actually somewhat important to Phoenixverse history. It is the given surname of a certain extradimensional alien woman who popped up just in time for World War II. Her English was shaky, so her first name is a corruption o what she said her name was, and her last name is a corruption of the thing she kept initially repeating. Sh-sha wanted off. Off of where was never clear, and after her confusion cleared up she refused to clarify. Still, she was a useful ally to Project Blue Liberty on the European front. She saved the lives of everyone who wasn’t Big Blue (Oliver Snow) on multiple occasions with her healing powers. Ollie was a bit too tough to need her help more than a few times. After the war, the Project was dissolved and she disappeared for twenty years. She only showed up again because it’s kind hard to give birth around people without being taken to the hospital. And a kid needs a home to grow up in. Reengage legal identity, whatever. Where she was for those two decades and exactly who the father was are things she refuses to disclose. She was a good mother for 18 years. And nothing else. They lived quietly but happily in a fifth floor walkup in the Bronx. Where the money for rent, bills and food came from is something else she refuses to disclose. When Daniel went off to college at NYU in ‘83, she said her goodbyes to him and walked out of that apartment and his life. She’d reappear to take him out to lunch out of nowhere, or just visit for a day or two, but basically she was gone for over twenty years and he didn’t know where she was. When she finally reappeared for good, it was working a group of supervillains in 2007. The opposition group to the Academy’s teams. The situation there has only grown more nuanced in the past decade plus, but still, Mom. Really? Even to her own son, Sasha Ivanoff is inscrutable and ever mysterious. Daniel has already been a superhero for several years on that awful September day in 2001, but it is inarguably where he made his name. Medic went into the Towers again. And again. And again. He helped clear obstacles, caught jumpers, and healed critical injuries all day. New York’s other heroes at the time, having only human stamina, flagged. He did not, or at least didn’t show it. There is a legendary photograph of him being physically restrained by half a dozen cops and emergency workers from making one more run after the first tower collapsed. Funnily enough, this didn’t work and he had to smash his way out of a window to avoid being caught in the second tower’s collapse. He did it carrying two people. There were more than two in that room. It haunts him to this day. He didn’t find out Starman II had died and why until the following day. And he didn’t leave the area for several more days, as he was deeply involved in the search for survivors or at least remains for their families. There are a few hundred people who only survived that day because he was there, and could easily get to the top floors that emergency workers and the rest of New York’s heroes could not. This is why New York loves him, and he’s merely controversial across the nation. There wasn’t any specific event that caused Medic to be recruited to the Icons. He was kind of famous, and good at heroing, so they nabbed him in2002. He wasn’t at Lei Zi’s invasion in Seattle because he was performing major surgery and naturally missed everyone’s calls. He has, however, been present for everything else and as expected took the Shining Guardian’s side in the Icons civil war. And it was a sad day in New York when he was among the Dusted. He returned after the Dusting was undone, and participated in the final battle of the Endgame. Specifically by healing every injured hero he came across and whooping the asses of Kuros’s forces with his powers and trademark club when there weren’t any. He was enough of a pain in the ass that Kuros himself came to deal with him. Before they could do more than scuffle briefly, however, the Star-siblings showed up and started whooping Kuros’s ass. His allies list is uh, not short. NYC’s hero business is booming. He can call on the folks at NPC Investigations, the spectacular Samaritan (himself a new Icon), and the martial artist and lawyer David Hero’s group (featuring the flying blaster JETTE, the powerhouse Kosma, other martial artist Tai Kwon, mystical shrinker Bee Girl, phasing Ghost Hornet, and acrobatic Night Wast). His most persistent enemies include the dangerously destructive Entropa (an old enemy of his mother’s species) and Cueball (a Mob enforcer who’s gotten very tired of Medic patching up his victims) This may not seem like a lot for New York, but Medic has teamed up with Samaritan against his enemies in, from, or created by the infamous Agency many times, and he’s provided back up to David Hero in the past as well. Though with the formation of his group, the latter likely needs it less these days. Powers & Tactics: Most of Medic’s powers come from the fact that his mother is an extradimensional alien from a place called the Sternal Core. Information on it is basically nonexistent. Sasha says this doesn’t matter, as there’s no one left there anyway. She refuses to disclose any further information. His Kinetic Club was a gift from Sasha as well. She’s equally tight lipped about where she got it from. It hits significantly harder and is more durable than a mundane club, but does not appear to do anything else. As a alien/human hybrid, he’s a lot more resistant to damage, immune to disease, poison, and kind of aging (just a second), and highly resistant to most environmental conditions with a weakened need for both sustenance, sleep, and air, The immunity to aging does not function in the normal, expected way. Basically every time he uses his powers he knocks a bit off his biological age. So if he stopped using his powers all together he’d age normally and die of it at some point. Individually, the age decreases aren’t much. He’s only wiping away a week to a month at a time. But considering how often he uses his powers, especially his healing touch, well…he is effectively ageless and slowly getting younger. Because it’s such a slow process, he’s not entirely aware of it. As for those powers, he generates and controls life force energy. His most common use of this by far (to the degree that it was thought for a long time it was the only application) is a healing touch. Now this isn’t as useful as you might think for a surgeon. It can’t cure cancer, autoimmune diseases, or genetic disorders. It can’t unclog a person’s arteries or remove foreign bodies like bullets or metal shards. And while he can heal neurological damage, this does not mean therapy isn’t necessary to regain what was lost. He can’t resurrect the dead, either. He can heal any type of physical damage to the body, regenerate lost limbs and organs (keyword lost, if patient never had one he can’t give them one), save people from even the most terrible diseases and lethal poisons, and stabilize the dying. All with one touch. A touch that he can easily use on himself if necessary. The other three powers he uses most often are almost the opposite. He can cause temporary paralysis by causing every muscle in the target’s body to spasm simultaneous. He can flip the switch on a target’s neurology, causing extreme pain that can easily result in unconsciousness. And he can crank up the sensitivity of a target’s sense of smell so that all odors are overpowering, causing them to become ill and even vomit. There are a couple of other powers. He can see the life force energy inside of a person, basically allowing diagnose their aliments as if he was looking at the combined results of the world’s finest MRI and X-Ray machines. Only better. And, for reasons that are still unknown, he can slowly fly. His mother can’t do that, and she has no idea where it came from. So maybe it’s a mutant hand me down from his father? Tactically, normally Medic doesn’t use his offensive powers on people. They’re kind of hideous things to do to someone, so he’d rather just smash their faces in with his Kinetic Club. That, he can fix pretty quick. But if an enemy does manage to really piss him off, they will learn to regret it very quickly, as he’ll go powers free on their asses.He’s got enough Bluff to Feint if he needs to, but primarly he’s a straightforward butt kicker. That is, assuming they don’t want to talk it out. Because he doesn’t actually want to hurt people, you know? He has Accurate, All Out, and Power Attack. Also Move by Action, Interpose, and surprisingly Ultimate Toughness. As for Power Stunts, well…he can, technically, do damage with his powers. It just seems like the exact opposite of what he should be doing. Still, Cellular Disruption (Strike 12, Alt Save Fort) is there if for some extraordinarily dark and desperate reason he should need it. And even worse, he thinks he could turn someone’s body into a mass of nothing but overgrown cancers. This would be a Continuous Transform effect, but sweet Jesus why? Personality: Daniel Ivanoff knew why he was put on this planet before he entered kindergarden. To help people. To make their lives better. So he’s a very kind and compassionate man, with plenty of humility. You see, he doesn’t put on his Medic onesie to bash criminal skulls in. People resort to crime for reasons, dammit. It’s a symptom of a greater disease. And he is a doctor, after all. If the city, state, and/or nation could just fix a few systemic problems and/or injustices, he’d have to hit less people in the face. And that would make him happy beyond words. He’s a neighborhood guy, sort of. NYC may be a big city, but the criminal community isn’t a tenth of a percent of the population. Over a 24 year heroic career he’s met a whole lot of them several times. He doesn’t want to put people in prison; he wants to rehabilitate them if at all possible. And it’s possible more often than regular people think. So if you’d just take a look at this study these very fine folks over at the university have done regarding- You can see why some people can’t stand him. He’s one of the most altruistic people on Earth, and that’s really good. But he never. Turns it. Off. All day, every day. If he’s not in surgery or on rounds he’s on the street doing hero stuff or helping organize soup kitchens, bake sales, charity softball games, protests against the latest killer cop, or any one of a dozen other things. If he’s not doing that it’s another interview to get his take on things and of course he’s going to call out the mayor, the city council and maybe even the governor and legislature. Even the President and Congress do not always escape unscathed, especially in the last few years. People genuinely wonder when he sleeps or takes time for himself. He’s a cheerful man, full of ideas, respectful of boundaries, and eager to help. He is exceedingly generous with both his money and his time. He truly is among the best of us. He’s just also so goddamn exhausting to be around for very long, because he never stops encouraging/cajoling/demanding everyone else do their best for others, too.

Terrifica (Samantha Carson) Power Level: 11; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +5 (14/20), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +15 (24/40), WIS: +9 (16/28), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+9, Fort: +9, Ref: +12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 1 (+16), Craft (electronic) 1 (+16), Craft (mechanical) 1 (+16), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Disable Device 1 (+16), Investigate 1 (+16), Knowledge (earth sciences) 1 (+16), Knowledge (life sciences) 1 (+16), Knowledge (physical sciences) 1 (+16), Knowledge (streetwise) 1 (+16), Knowledge (technology) 1 (+16), Language 5 (+5), Medicine 1 (+10), Notice 6 (+15), Sense Motive 6 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15), Survival 1 (+10) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Attack Specialization (Unarmed Attack), Beginner's Luck, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 3, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 4, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Terrifi-Cannon (Blast 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Terrifi-Staff Shock (Stun 7)), Improvised Tools, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 2, Master Plan, Online Research, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery 3 (Acro, Bluff, Comp, Craf (elec & mech), Dis Dev, Inves, Med, Notice, SM, Stea, Surv), Speed of Thought, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Nano-Fiber Battlesuit (Device (Hard to lose, Only you can use) Fiber Armor (Protection 5) (+5 Toughness) Integral Radio (Communication 6) (sense type: radio; Omni-Directional Area; Subtle (subtle)) Datalink 6 (Alternate; sense type: radio; Omni-Directional Area; Subtle (subtle)) Life Support System (Immunity 9) (life support) Optical Assist Lenses (Super-Senses 6) (analytical (type): Visual, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, ultravision) Strength Enhancement (Enhanced Strength 6) (+6 STR) Superhuman Brain (Container, Passive 7) Enhanced Intelligence 16 (+16 INT) Enhanced Trait 2 (Feats: Eidetic Memory, Speed of Thought) Enhanced Wisdom 12 (+12 WIS) Quickness 10 (Perform routine tasks at 2500x speed; One Type (Mental)) Terrifi-Staff (Device 6) (Easy to lose; Subtle (subtle)) Terrifi-Combat (Array 13) (default power: blast) Freonic Ray (Snare (Array; DC 18; Secondary Effect; Accurate 2 (+4)) Sonic Flash Burst (Dazzle (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - visual & auditory, DC 18; Accurate 2 (+4)) Terrifi-Cannon (Blast 12) (Default; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Terrifi-Cannon (Blast 12))) Terrifi-Staff Shock (Stun 7) (Array; DC 17, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Terrifi-Staff Shock (Stun 7)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2), Extended Reach (5 ft.)) Terrifi-Staff Smack (Strike 4) (Array; DC 24; Extended Reach (5 ft.), Mighty) Utility Belt (Gadgets 2) (Action 2 (free)) Equipment: Terrifi-cycle, Terrifi-Labs Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +13, Grapple: +18) Attacks: Freonic Ray (Snare 8), +14 (DC Ref/Staged 18), Sonic Flash Burst (Dazzle 8), +14 (DC Fort/Ref 18), Terrifi-Cannon (Blast 12), +10 (DC 27), Terrifi-Staff Shock (Stun 7), +15 (DC Fort/Staged 17), Terrifi-Staff Smack (Strike 4), +13 (DC 24), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 20) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +3 Languages: Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Portuguese, Spanish Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 33 + Powers 106 + Combat 38 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ***************************************************************************************** Terrifi-cycle Power Level: 11; Equipment Points Spent: 10 STR: +2 (15) Toughness: +8 Features: Remote Control Powers: Speed 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: +0 Totals: Abilities 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 1 + Powers 5 + Combat 0 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 10 ***************************************************************************************** Terrifi-Labs Power Level: 11; Equipment Points Spent: 10 Toughness: +10 Features: Communications, Computer, Fire Prevention System, Garage, Gym, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System 1, Workshop Size: Diminutive Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 11 + Powers 0 - Combat 2 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 10 Age (as of Jan 2019): 38 (appears mid 20s) Height: 5’ 4” (5’ 6” in Fiber Armor Battlesuit) Weight: 115 lbs Ethnicity: ½ Han Chinese, ½ English Caucasian Hair: Brown Eyes: Dark Brown Background: A man named Lucas Carson went to China to spread the Good News of Jesus. He fell in love and married a local, Meili Song. They had a daughter, Qiaolian, who they cared for very much. However, the local Chinese officials slowly got wind of Lucas’s actions, and began to pursue him. Soon, it was too dangerous to bring a small child along all the time. So Lucas and his lady love began to leave Qiaolian at a local Buddhist temple that did double duty as an orphanage of sorts. One day, not long after Qiaolian’s eight birthday, they left her there again…and never came back. Qiaolian missed them terribly, but she had friends, and the monks were nice. Plus a aged Kung Fu master had set up shop and was teaching some of the children, including Qiaolian. And then her powers kicked in, increasing her IQ exponentially. She had more than enough to do. Four years later, a white man came to the temple. He worked for Cassandra Carson, Lucas’s aunt. He was looking for Lucas, but instead found Qiaolian, who calmly explained who she was and why he should care. In exquisite and exacting detail. It wasn’t a full week before Qiaolian was headed to America (Boston, specifically), home of the fairly large Carson family. Cassandra was not impressed by the “dirty little chinagirl” and immediately changed her name to Samantha. Sam blurred through schools, far too intelligent for the material in middle and high school. She became one of Boston College’s youngest students in their entire history at 16. There, her rapid pace slowed, not due to the increased difficulties of the material, but due to studying virtually everything under the sun. A teenaged Terrifica had a short career as a local crime fighter, but at the time it didn’t interest her any more than anything else and she quickly dropped it. It was during this time she met Stan Gresham, the man who would become her husband. She was 18, he was 23. Love happened. Eventually. Stan graduated and started his psychology practice, and Sam fast-tracked herself through MIT. They got married. Their son, Lucas was born. Named after Stan’s mentor, not Sam’s dad. Sam graduated MIT and took them up on their professorship offer. Meili, their daughter, was born. Sam felt…unfulfilled. A genius like her should be more than just…this. She was a deeply conflicted young woman. Every life path she could possibly take seemed either insufficient for her gifts or bothered her on moral or ethical grounds. She was capable of outthinking entire universities. If she went into a scientific field she would steal the futures of virtually everyone in it. She didn’t feel she had the right to do that. She could start curing cancers. Revolutionize inorganic chemistry. Develop innovative new physics applications. Reengineer any one of million types of equipment. She could be a billionaire by 30. At the low, low price of everyone who currently had or dreamed of a career in that particular field. Hell, she could go into politics. Fix the broken parts of the world. But that too, carries a price she was unwilling to make anyone else pay. She started getting angry. It wasn’t fair. What was the point of being gifted like this if she couldn’t goddamn use it? She was, in her estimation (which is quite incorrect), on the verge of ditching ethics and morality to just fix things, already. And then Starman II died. Sam knew he was mortal, you know? She came to the United States in ’93, after the first Starman had died. She’d been five years old when he retired. So Starman II was the only one she’d ever known. She knew he was mortal. She knew he could die. This did not make the fact that he was dead seem any less impossible. He needed to be replaced. She had never once considered becoming a superhero as the answer to her lack of fulfillment. She’d tried it once as a teenager and didn’t really like it. However, she had been, well, quite frankly half assing it. No commitment. This was going to be different. The first goal was to purge organized crime from Boston. Thus Terrifica debuted properly in early 2002…and had to take maternity leave before the year was over. Don’t you just hate it when multiple life plans end up conflicting with each other? Lucas was born August 30, 2003. Named after Stan’s mentor, not Sam’s dad. Terrifica went back to work in October. Not a full year later she was out on maternity leave again. Meili, after Sam’s mother, was born on Feb 13, 2005. The plan was for two children and also Sam was annoyed, so she and Stan began using birth control. Terrifica returned to Boston full time at the start of April. And was functionally a force of nature. She made and continues to make life very difficult for the Patriarca crime family, Irish Mob, Triads, and various street gangs. Due to her origins, she is one of the very few professional superheroes to make strong inroads into Boston’s Chinatown. Boston-New England, really, is a noticeably more crime free place in the Phoenixverse thanks to her 9 solo years between 2005 and 2014. What happened in 2014? Fletcher (accidently) made a murderous AI that tried to exterminate humanity with an asteroid. It took control of a foundry and minted a whole legion of robotic drones to go against the inevitable heroic response. If it had just been the Icons who responded, things may have gone quite poorly. Instead, Terrifica, Spike, and Candy showed up too. Three extra sets of hands (and Terrifica’s giant addition to the braintrust) made smacking down all the drones and saving the world from the asteroid easier. It was Terrifica, however, who blacked out local wifi and put a railgun shot through the last drone as it tried to escape with the AI inside. The three of them were recruited to the Icons in the aftermath. Terrifica did not participate in the Icons civil war, as she thought it was painfully stupid. She simply stopped being Terrifica for a while, until the governor as Massachusetts himself requested she get back on the job. Thus she wasn’t actually around to participate in the Eternity War. She was not among the Dusted, but her entire family was. It was shattering, to be honest, and a very ruthless Terrifica was the one who provided the method of reacquiring the Crystals of Power Kuros had used in the first place and then shattered to provide finality to the matter. Thus she was there during the Endgame and acquitted herself quite well in the final battle, acting as tactician and basically directing the course of the fight with Kuros’s forces. The long awaited return of the Starfamily brought a smile to her face. Now, with Fletcher gone, she is the more or less undisputed brains of the Icons. Her son Lucas has started sidekicking for her as Excello. The gynoid double of herself she made to patrol the city when she was away or busy became self aware, taking the first name Xiaolian and heroic codename Exquisita. She has arguably the strongest Rogues’ Gallery in the group. The impossibly mysterious Maven, who somehow without any detectable powers can change bodies like most people change shirts. They are the most dangerous person in New England. The Mechanic, an old tech villain with dementia who is nevertheless the second most dangerous of Terrifica’s enemies, because of his Kill Terrifica, or KT, series of robots and large battlesuit. None of them work properly anymore and they have lots of weaknesses, but other heroes (who know nothing of them) are in for a stiff fight. Her former boss at MIT, who went mad trying to perfect cryogenic sleep to save his wife and became the supervillain Winterian. And the Gray Man, who uses his superhuman charisma to dominate Boston’s criminal underworld, talk his way out of the justice system and almost into Terrifica’s pants every time they meet and he gets to speak. Powers & Tactics: Terrifica has a lot going on. A potent mutant power, two technological devices, and a utility belt full of goodies. On top of all that she’s a master martial artist, specializing in several Changquan styles (Changquan being the classic acrobatic and kick heavy style of Chinese martial arts) with additional training in Wing Chun (which focuses on hand strikes and defense instead). Her mutant power, well…even if she had no powers, Terrifica would have been a once a century genius. With them, her intellectual might is such that if it were physical strength instead she’d be able to crack titanium with a punch and lift multiple tons. If it were ranged accuracy she’d outclass every special forces soldier on the planet without effort, and being among the best in the world. She is incredibly intelligent. An intellect more powerful than any computer on the planet. This is not all. Her awareness and perceptiveness is also significantly boosted. Her memory is functionally perfect. And her mind can move at up to 2500 times normal human speed. This is still slower than modern computers, which are at least 10 million times human speed in terms of performing basic operations. However, unlike computers, her brain (like all human brains) can perform a multitude of operations simultaneously (known as parallel processing), giving her specifically a massive advantage over even the beefiest supercomputers. And unlike all human brains, she can multithread (or think about multiple subjects at the same time) with ease. The first device we will discuss is her Fiber Armor Battlesuit. Unlike most devices that bear the title of Battlesuit, hers is not made of metal, but cloth. Cloth armor is probably the oldest style of armor in the world, starting with leather and linen. Wood was also used in places, but that’s irrelevant to this. The point here is that the Fiber Armor part is basically upgraded Kevlar in functionality. Lightweight, flexible fabric that’s equally resistant protection against fists, blades, fire, electricity, and anything else the world can cook up. Mundane armor that reaches this level of protection always has a hard element, be it metal or ceramics. This is again, lightweight, flexible fabric only. A radio is integrated into the cowl, as are special lenses that extend her visual ranges. It also includes a full life support system and minor strength enhancement based on hydraulic exoskeletons The second device is her Terrifi-Staff. It’s a collapsible metal quarterstaff, with several additional features. The Freonic Ray is a heat displacement effect, trapping targets in ice. Sonic Flash Burst can temporarily blind and deafen the target. There’s a built in high powered stun gun, and she can of course just hit people with it. That last is stronger than expected due to some special metals in the outer shell. The most remarkable feature, however, is the Terrifi-Cannon. It is a magnetic railgun that hits as hard as cruise missiles and yet fits into an ordinary collapsible quarterstaff. Her Utility Belt does not initially seem special. This is deceptive. Through the use of some minor spatial distortion technology, there is a hell of a lot in those small pouches. Terrifica is known as being prepared for literally anything, and her Utility Belt is why. She has spent a lot of time crafting multiple modular device systems to be prepared for virtually anything. There is nothing inside of it she can actually attack with (that is what the Terrifi-Staff and her hands are for), but everything else is on the table. Movement effects like flight or teleportation. Immunity to various types of effects. Tools of incredible quality that enhance crafting. Manuals of incredibly dense technical information. Literally just about anything. She also has a motorcycle she can use via remote control (the Terrifi-cycle) and a small apartment away from her civilian home that functions as her headquarters (Terrifi-Labs). Tactically, the first thing to understand about Terrifica is that she’s a brain, not a fist. She manipulates the situation so that fighting becomes foolish and unnecessary first. She’s probably the only working superhero who regularly calls 911 to report crimes in progress. A woman has to prioritize, after all. A couple of gang members breaking into a closed store is not nearly as important as stopping a murderer from claiming another victim. Then again she may well be the only one who thinks about other crimes happening where she isn’t and can’t get to. And her Utility Belt throws a very unpredictable wrinkle into everything. Immunities. Super Senses. Concealment. Extras (like Area [Burst] or Autofire) for her Terrifi-Staff’s attacks. So. Speaking broadly, she prefers Freonic Ray and Terrifi-Staff Shock as less violent methods of putting enemies down. Sonic Flash Burst can be a good set up move. She does not use the Terrifi-Cannon on living targets unless she can’t harm them any other way. She has Acrobatic Bluff, enough Bluff to Feint effectively, and Taunt. Oh, so much Taunt. She has Power Attack to do more damage, too. Things to keep in mind: Master Plan. She never leaves home without one, and the average result gives her and her allies +3 on all skill checks and attack rolls for three rounds. Followed by a +2 and a 1 for one round each. Online Research and Well Informed mean she knows at least the basics of whatever she’s up against this time, allowing her to select the appropriate item from her Utility Belt. And to top it all off, she has Inventor. See, with Beginner’s Luck followed by a boost from her Utility Belt, her Inventions will have an average of 29 PP to work with. That is not a typo. 29 PP. Of course, that is only under desperate circumstances. It’s more likely she’ll just pull out the regular gear and leave Beginner’s Luck alone for an average of 20 PP. Taking 20 on the design phase thanks her to Mental Quickness and then breaking out the advanced tools to get a 26PP result is also possible. Personality: The first thing to understand about Terrifica’s personality is that her parents dropped off the face of the earth when she was eight years old. She did not have her powers yet. She was just a powerless and ignorant child. Then she got a power. The best possible power for someone who felt that way. She started running away from those two feelings, and hasn’t stopped since. Yes, being superhumanly intelligent has bred a certain degree of arrogance, however the former still applies. Which is the first reason she can’t permit herself to ever be wrong. There’s any number of excuses that can salve her psyche, however. If she was ever truly wrong, then she was ignorant. If she’s ignorant, then she’s powerless too. And suddenly she’s a terrified eight year old again. Understandably, she doesn’t go there. Second thing, from the age of twelve to eighteen she was raised by her great aunt Cassandra Carson. Blue blooded aristocratic hell witch. That woman believes she’s superior to everyone because of her pure bloodline and stellar (if only human) intellect, and she hated the fact that her son diluted the precious blood. Even if young Samantha Carson tried mightily to ignore the lessons of that cold loveless house, many of them stuck. They appealed to someone who was objectively superior (in one way) and felt unwanted, unloved, and alone. She is slowly shedding those mannerisms, but negative emotions can bring it all right back. Like fear. Or anger. She knows how to treat people properly, but one’s past is never that easily conquered. Of course, that isn’t all there is to it. See Fourth, below. Third, one of the main lessons of that cold and loveless house is that intelligence is the most important quality in a human being. It was the only thing of hers Cassandra never insulted. Thusly, Terrifica considers her intelligence her only valuable asset. She is very proud of it specifically because she doesn’t believe anything else about her is particularly special. Her aunt Cassandra made very sure of that. Cassandra literally changed her name without her consent or indeed any input from her at all. She still, in some ways, sees herself as the “dirty little chinagirl” her aunt always referred to her as. Not worthless, necessarily, but certainly not someone of value. Fixing things, solving problems, making things right after they go wrong, figuring out an explanation for the inexplicable. All of these things give her that boost to her self esteem. Hence why she works so hard to prove herself, and is always thinking about everything from every conceivable angle. It’s also why someone calling her some variation of stupid causes such a negative reaction. It’s an attack on the core of her self-worth. Furthermore, it’s another reason why she must be right. Of course, she isn’t consciously aware of this inner self image. Fourth, contradicting her efforts is the fact that she also considers her superhuman intellect extremely dangerous. Walking around with a dirty nuke level dangerous. There are all sorts of terrible ramifications and consequences of using her extreme intellect on the world. There are all sorts of wonderful ones, too, but those aren’t the ones she loses sleep over. She considers managing her intelligence so that it doesn’t hurt anyone, even indirectly, the single most important responsibility she has. She is terrified to a level she fundamentally can’t grasp about failing in that responsibility. To the point that, aside from the lessons of her aunt Cassandra, that is the main reason she’s so harsh as Terrifica. The harshness comes from her knowing that people who aren’t harsh like she is. The kind ones, mannerly. They make people fond of them, and prone to listening to them. Doing what they say. There aren’t words for how terrifying a prospect that is to her. She can’t possibly account for all the variables in how her positive influence might go wrong. Being harsh is just so much easier on interpersonal relations, not to mention it’s more natural to her (again, because of aunt Cassandra). Professor Samantha Carson is a much nicer person, but Professor Samantha Carson will never be in a position to effect change in the world. Intentionally so. If Terrifica gets something wrong, people will get hurt, and she will have failed in her responsibility. This is absolutely unacceptable, so she (once again) must be right at all times. Fifth, to not fail or ever be wrong she has developed a very controlling personality, in addition to being harsh and caustic. Because she must be right and in order to do that she requires all the information she can get. And that comes from being the person in charge of a given situation. It’s not that she minds taking orders, it’s that she is deeply concerned about the fallibility of those giving the orders. A fallibility she will not permit herself to share. Even when things go wrong, and objectively it isn’t her fault in the slightest…she still considers it to be her fault. Her failure. She can, of course, be perfectly reasonable about this, but it doesn’t mean the feeling goes away. That she could have done better. Done more. Sixth, she doesn’t really understand people all that well. Knowing psychology is one thing, practicing it in person is another. To be fair…she’s not like regular people. Her extreme intelligence and high mental speed are unique among superhumans. There is only a tiny amount of people on earth who know what it is like to even have one of those two abilities. Let alone both. So in a very real sense, she has no idea what it’s like to be a regular person. She doesn’t know what they think or what they feel. She can only theorize. And god, does it show. Of course, it always bothers her, because of all that above. Finally, with all that said… Terrifica is also a woman with a deep well of compassion, a strong sense of ethics, and an endless supply of kindness. Once you get to know her, anyway. She doesn’t make it easy, as she will only show even the slightest emotional vulnerability to someone who has very much earned her trust and respect. Which is a task in and of itself, considering all her other issues. Her goal, her true goal, is not to dominate and control. Not to keep the people where they were and let her do all the thinking. NO. A thousand times NO. Her goal is to bring the common person up to her level. To apply enough education and training that the entire human race improves dramatically from its present state. Then, and only then, can she walk beside them as equals. This is her dream. One of the two things she wants most in the world. The other being to finally find out what happened to her father. It’s not out of love at this point, though she does still cling to his memory. It’s because being unable to solve his disappearance has become a failure. And as has been said, this cannot be allowed to stand. To summarize, her reputation is that of an arrogant and smug bitch, constantly snarking and being snide. The truth is…a bit different, as laid out in detail above. She’s prickly in many ways, applies her own impossibly high standards for herself to other adults when she really shouldn’t, and comes off as incredibly arrogant if one doesn’t know how competent she actually is. It ain’t bragging if you can back it up, and holy shit does she ever. She’s deeply insecure, has an obsessive streak a mile wide, and is terrified of becoming a monster even by accident. And yet. She’d pass the “get the little girl’s kitty out of a tree” test effortlessly. In fact, she’d get something out of her Utility Belt to help the little girl do it herself, while gently encouraging her and empowering her. Her entire goal in the superhero business is to make the need for her to do it totally unnecessary. She’s a woman of contradictions, that Terrifica. Also quite cathartic to watch verbally tear idiots apart.

Queenie (Maybelle McQueen) Power Level: 14; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +1 (12), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +2/+14, Fort: +8, Ref: +8/+14, Will: +14 Skills: Concentration 12 (+15), Craft (chemical) 17 (+20), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Gather Information 5 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 17 (+20), Language 4 (+4), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 3 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 6, Interpose, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Craft (chemical), Diplomacy, Knowledge (physical science), Sense Motive), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Ring of Aura (Device 34) (Hard to lose, Restricted use (Those of exceptionally noble and heroic spirit)) Aura Aim Assist (Enhanced Trait 6) (Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 6) Aura Comms (Communication 9) (sense type: radio; Omni-Directional Area; Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Tech)) Aura Database (Variable 2) (acquire: any one of (type) - skills; Action 2 (free); Limited (to Knowledge skills)) Aura Defense Field (Linked) Enhanced Trait 6 (Linked; Traits: Reflex +6 (+14)) Force Field 12 (Linked; +12 Toughness; Impervious) Shield 6 (Linked; +6 dodge bonus) Aura Flashlight (Features 1) (Notes: Capable of emitting a directed cone or beam of light at will, as if you carried a powerful flashlight at all times.) Aura Flight (Flight 14) (Speed: 250000 mph, 2200000 ft./rnd) Aura Force (Array 14) (default power: blast) Aura Blast (Blast 14) (Default; DC 29) Aura Bondburst (Snare 9) (Array; DC 19; Burst Area (45 ft. radius - General)) Aura Bonds (Snare 14) (Array; DC 24) Aura Burst (Blast 9) (Array; DC 24; Burst Area (45 ft. radius - General)) Aura Constructs (Create Object 14) (Array; Max Size: 14x 5' cubes, DC 24) Aura Kinesis (Move Object 14) (Array; Strength: 70, Carry: 68.1 tons / 136.2 tons / 204.8 tons / 409.6 tons) Aura Magic Canceller (Nullify 14) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - magic, DC 24) Aura Support Extension (Immunity 9) (Array; life support; Affects Others (Only), Burst Area (45 ft. radius - General)) Aura Life Support (Immunity 9) (life support) Aura Sensors (Super-Senses 14) (accurate: Radio, direction sense, distance sense, extended: Radio 1 (-1 per 100 ft), extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), extended (type): Auditory 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, radio, ultra-hearing, ultravision) Aura Translation (Comprehend 2) (languages - understand all, languages - you're understood) Aura VI (Features 1) Space Travel (Super-Movement 3) (extra ranks 3) Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +14, Melee: +8, Grapple: +9) Attacks: Aura Blast (Blast 14), +14 (DC 29), Aura Bondburst (Snare 9) (DC Ref/Staged 19), Aura Bonds (Snare 14), +14 (DC Ref/Staged 24), Aura Burst (Blast 9) (DC 24), Aura Magic Canceller (Nullify 14), +14 (DC Will 24), Unarmed Attack, +8 (DC 16) Defense: +14 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -13 Initiative: +2 Languages: English Native, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 23 (92 ranks) + Feats 8 + Powers 137 + Combat 32 + Saves 23 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): 41 (appears early 30s) Height: 5’ 6” Weight: 125 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Dirty Blonde Eyes: Blue Background: Maybelle McQueen never intended to be a hero. Her passion was and is cooking. Specifically, making the fruits of world class culinary skills affordable to the masses. She was a culinary student, and a gifted one at that. Then, one day, a silver ring appeared on her dresser as if it had always been there. Thinking it was a gift from her fiancé, Steven (make your jokes now), she picked it up. The virtual intelligence inside started to explain what it and the ring were. Another woman might have panicked at the sudden voice in her head, but Maybelle listened, curious. She listened as it explain about it’s master, the future’s heroine Aura. About how the ring’s power depended on her heroic spirit. And about how there were two other rings somewhere in the world. Again, another woman might have jumped (or adamantly refused) the call to heroism. Maybelle’s answer was a dull “Meh.” Totally uninterested in anything but her dream, she put the ring in her dresser drawer and promptly forgot about it. Unbeknownst to her (even in modern times), the Ring of Aura is part of something much bigger. Deep in the future, a heroine named Aura created three rings and a staff and sent them back in time. Between the four items and her amulet, the world shattering power the maniac known as Auric once had remains sealed away. Auric himself was once a man. Somehow (his repeated time travel has fuzzed out the details) he became magic incarnate and utterly insane. Aura, with her amulet and its do anything Anti-Magic energy, was the only one in the universe able to stand against him. But with every battle, his power grew until Aura’s amulet hit its limit defeating him again. The battle was…catastrophic. Entire star sectors lay in ruins, testament to Auric’s power and Aura’s failing ability to stop him. There was one chance. Just one. While he recovered, his power was dispersed. If it could be collected and sealed away, he would pose much less threat. Taking some of the unique material from her amulet, Aura made the rings and staff. Together with her amulet, she sealed the power he had not yet regathered away. Even hobbled, Auric would be a potent threat. He had called upon allies before, and there were lunatics who thrived on destruction other than he. Not to mention the ones who might think they could claim his power. She had to get them away. Other dimensions were too dangerous. With a heavy heart, she prepared to cast them back in time. She did take precautions, in the form of the Virtual Intelligence. It would attempt to keep the items away from the selfish and greedy and push them towards the noble and heroic. They would have a portion of her power as well, just in case Auric or someone else went chasing after them. The Rings and Staff have appeared far less throughout history than one would think. Prior to Maybelle, the best known one was a certain British general during the American Revolutionary War. He was, fortunately for the Americans, continually stalemated by the original Lady Liberty. And that is not the ring Maybelle has. That one is still in the general’s family, unused since his death. Steven and Maybelle set a wedding date. Shortly after their graduation. He was training to be a pastry chef at the same school, and that was how they had met. Graduation loomed. Then Auric appeared. He sought to destroy Aura’s legacy and free his power. He knew the ring was in that certain city. He knew the kind of person it would find to wield it. So he started blasting things. Somebody had to stop him. People were going to die. Maybelle balked. She wanted to be a chef, not a hero. The cops were helpless before him. She could help everyone. Just put on the ring and go. But her dream! Maybe if she gave him the ring, he’d leave. It wouldn’t be right. Back and forth, she wrestled against her own nature, the nature the ring had sought out in the first place. Eventually, ring in hand (but not on finger), Maybelle confronted Auric. He could feel the ring on her, and the kind of person she was. Noble. Compassionate. Heroic. It turned his stomach. She had to die, RIGHT NOW. Wait. Who was that who shoved her aside? Why is she screaming that one word? …did she just put on the ring? It wasn’t anger Maybelle was feeling. It was guilt. She had been selfish for once in her life, and now the city was damaged. People were hurt. And Steven…oh God, Steven. If she’d just taken up the responsibility when it had come to her, none of this would’ve happened. It was all her fault, but she refused to let it go one step further. Auric was going down. Except for the small part where she barely knew what she was doing and he very much did. After getting smacked silly, she flew away (God in Heaven, she was flying), knowing Auric would follow her out of the city. After getting to an abandoned area, she turned and fought. He nearly killed her before the thought of her classmates and everyone else at his nonexistent mercy fueled a power surge that broke through his defenses. Critically injured, Auric teleported away. Maybelle collapsed into a heap. It should go without saying, but Maybelle finished culinary school. Graduated at the top of her class. Worked at a few dives to earn money, then opened her own restaurant. The Southern Queen. With her flight speed, even in the early days, she could cover a lot of turf. So she pretty quickly because the American South’s first call when anybody needed backup. This is how she became an Icon. She backed up the Shining Guardian and Shadowspirit as they busted up a deep rooted Neo-Nazi terror cell inside the US Army. They appreciated her powers and skillful use of them, and brought her into the group. This was after the invasion of Seattle, but before Fletcher (accidently) created a genocidal AI. She sided with SG during the civil war in the Icons, and as a consequence had her beloved restaurants (she had acquired a second by then) seized by the federal government. She was among the Dusted at the end of the Eternity War, and so was dead for a year until her resurrection with the rest of the Dusted. She participated in the big battle against Kuros the Annihilator during the Endgame. In the wake of that event, her restaurants have been returned to her. And now she finds herself regarded at the current leader of the Icons by the government and general public. Despite the fact that they haven’t decided if they’re even going to have a leader in the first place. Though the Shining Guardian more or less indicated Maybelle was his successor in the group. Oh, bother. Her local (as in the American South) allies are the now ex-police officer Burning Hammer (a mutant pyrokinetic), the physician Reverie (a teleporter who doesn’t know her powers origin) and the now college student and speedster Mach 3 (she isn’t nearly that fast, however, struggling to get to Mach 2). Her most persistent enemies include Auric, naturally, and the seemingly infinitely duplicating thief Multiplicity (a woman). Powers & Tactics: Maybelle McQueen has no superhuman powers. She thinks. She’s aging funny, or maybe she just has good genes. Can’t tell yet. The important part is that nobody knows this. The Ring of Aura (a technological device) is not something she normally talks about to anyone. Because what kind of idiot openly discusses the source of their powers if it can be taken away as easily as a ring can? The Ring can technically do anything the wearer can imagine. It’s incredibly advanced technology from a distant future, ater all. Maybelle, however, does not have an unlimited imagination. As such, the Ring does a lot for her but not literally anything. Let’s run down the list. Increased ranged accuracy. Radio communications with any kind of tech. A database full of knowledge. A defense field that both makes her a hell of a lot tougher (as in she can ignore rockets with it active) and significantly more difficult to hit. Hypersonic flight. Immunity to most environmental concerns, like breathing. A massive sensor suite including wide spectrum vision, heaing, and even radar. A language translation suite. A Virtual Intelligence (or VI) to keep her informed of the Ring’s capabilities and find a new wielder if necessary. She can even switch into an FTL flight mode and zip across the universe. She uh, doesn’t do that a lot. And, of course, she has a large variety of other actions to choose from. She uses mainly constructs made of pure force, but after nearly twenty years, she knows what Aura actually is. Anti-magic. So she can counter magic with her attacks (which is normally impossible if you’re not also using magic) or nullify it outright with one of said attacks. The full attacks consist of damage and capturing bonds in both single target and area varieties. She can also create force constructs, move hundreds of tons without physically touching them, and even extend her immunities across an area to protect others. As a final note, to get a bit mechanics-y, the VI can decide to deploy Extra or even Extraordinary Effort across the board (sustaining the extra output throughout the battle) if the situation is dire enough and Maybelle is responding appropriately. Understandably, this is a rare event and as such doesn’t actually cost her any Fatigue or Hero Points precisely because she was no control over it. The Endgame was such an occasion. Kuros had to call down fire from his armada to get her off of him. If this is happening, however, she cannot use Extra Effort with the Ring’s abilities, for obvious reasons. Power Stunting is still possible, though. Tactically, Queenie prefers to use Aura Bondburst, Bonds, Constructs, or Kinesis to restrain her foes instead of smacking them down. This does not mean that she won’t. She overpowered Kuros with several Aura Blasts during the Endgame, after all, and laid waste to his forces with Aura Burst after he drove her off and the Stars were taking their turn. She dropped whole ass starships on her path of destruction. Her preference for restraining her foes comes from an adamant refusal to do lethal damage. It’s both her preference and a prohibition from the Ring. Virtually uniquely among all heroes, tweeners, and villains she cannot inflict lethal damage on living beings without release from the VI, no matter how many damage ranks she uses. This is more Complication than Drawback (as certain unalive beings can appear alive at first), so it is not reflected in her build. It also wouldn’t apply if she picked up a gun or something. Not that she would, but you get the idea. As technically the Ring of Aura can do anything the wielder imagines, just about anything is a possible power stunt. However, she is a chef, and so cooking themed powers like fire control or adapted culinary tool attacks are much more likely to be stunted instead of say, psychic attacks or controlling the weather. Personality: Maybelle is a gregarious type. She’s talkative, smiles easily and often, and is generally very pleasant to be around. She’s also one of the most paragon-y people on earth. She’ll defend others like the proverbial Mama Bear. She’ll stand and fight when all seems lost. She’ll never give up as long as there’s breath in her. Her integrity is unquestionable. Her courage undeniable. Her compassion unmistakable. Even her chef’s work is to make other people happy with impressively excellent food at an affordable price. She’s also a hardcore foodie. Sort of. She doesn’t have much patience with the fancy stuff. Sure, it’s delicious sometimes, but the pretentiousness of it all drives her nuts. It’s food. You eat it. Swear to Jeebus. Still, she’s the most prominent “people person” of the Icons now since Terrifica, Medic, and Spike are…polarizing figures, at best. It’s an awkward position, to be sure. People just kind of assume she’s the leader, like the Shining Guardian was. And…she doesn’t know about that. She’s always willing to help, but leadership? She’s just a chef from South Carolina. Terrifica’s the one with all the brains. Medic’s the one with the drive to make a better planet. On a fundamental level she doesn’t understand what people see when they look at her. She’s just doing what she thinks is good and right, in her view. No reward or accolades are necessary. She’s content to return to her kitchen when the action is over. But that’s changed now. So many people are looking to little ol’ her as their great hope. All she ever wanted to do was put smiles on people’s faces. And now she’s the most prominent active superhero in the United States, if not all of North America. It makes her uncomfortable, honestly.

The Icons Overview It was 2001, honestly. One specific terrible day in September. You see, by 2001 the great spurt of heroes following the first Starman’s example (or the examples of those who followed his) had all but dried up. His debut in 1961 is considered to be the start of the Silver Age of superheroics in North America. His retirement in ’86 ended it, but that’s where that second category comes in. There were still more heroes to honor his legacy. This was the all too brief Bronze Age. Because the first Starman and Starwoman died in ’93, the latter flying the former away from Earth at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The fusion reaction that powers all Starfolks was failing catastrophically and god only knows what a miniature supernova might have done to the planet. And with the two of them went the last of the old guard. The ones who’d been there since the first days of the post WWII revival era. Hell, the second generation was thin on the ground. Criminals weren’t running around with snub nosed pistols and tommy guns anymore. The best had assault rifles, explosives, something resembling military training, and none of the honor of the old families and syndicates. This was the fortunately quite brief Iron Age, and even heroes did some hideous things to not get, well, brutally murdered. Because the ones who stood on principle…kinda did. There were exceptions, of course. The bulletproof could act with more impunity and there are always heroes who find ways to simply never be hit. The specific turning point has never been identified. Vincent Mortelini was active certainly, but BLACK had not yet been formed so he was only one man. FBI’s Psi-Division certainly put in heroic amounts of effort in the period. As did the second Starman, widely known as the son of the first. Which turned out to be kind of the problem. Starman II, especially after his father’s death., worked himself to the bone to feel worthy of his pseudonym. So he was easily the most prominent superhero in North America (and top tier globally) when the monster Armageddon smashed his way up from where it had been buried (at the bottom of the goddamn Gulf of Mexico) after Starman I killed it (the only thing he ever killed with his powers) in an incredible effort that probably shortened his life. The monster went Star-hunting and simply crushed anyone who tried to stop it. Even a young Tex Austin and a scrambling unprepared Shining Guardian found themselves outclassed. Fletcher was retired and out of shape at the time. Caviezel was and is only a man. It is not known what Scarlett was up to that day. It found Starman II’s wife (Starqueen), son (who had only recently become Starboy II), and not yet empowered daughter. Astonishingly, the two managed to hold him briefly, so the daughter could escape. Starman II wasn’t at home in Chicago. He was actually helping with a scientific project in Antarctica. He was still trying to prove himself, even that day. He probably felt he didn’t have any choice. There was nobody strong enough who was around enough. Reportedly it took until his wife and children were actually under attack to figure out where he was and contact the tiny facility. Starman II scorched the air on his way back. Literally. Friction’s weird at high speeds, especially if one won’t catch fire. He was recorded in Chicago airspace, likely crashing fist first into Armageddon and saving his family, at 845 AM. 60 seconds later the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Starman II and Armageddon brawled across Chicago until he got the monster out of town. But the hero was losing. At 1028 AM, when the North Tower fell, he was clearly at the end of his tether. Just about any other hero ever would have fallen down and stayed there. But he had to have known his father wouldn’t have. So he refused to. According to eyewitnesses, it was the single most heroic thing they’d ever seen. He wasn’t strong enough. There was no one to help him. And somehow, he made both of those facts irrelevant. He killed the monster (the only thing he ever killed with his powers, either) and then immediately collapsed. He died in his wife’s arms, with his son looking on, less than five minutes later. The great hero everyone, whether they wanted to admit it or not, depended on…was gone. America’s heroes had never felt more incompetent or useless. Morale was bad. The press was worse. And then the Shining Guardian and Fletcher stepped (officially) out of retirement to organize The Icons. It’s not and never was a superteam. The Feds were and are a little touchy about an interstate organization of technically illegal vigilantes. They’re not complaining about the help in crisis situations, but it would make them look hypocritical. So the Icons maintain the polite fiction that they are only a social club. They get together to talk shop and be friendly with each other, not fight crime. They weren’t there to help Starman II when he died. The disorganization of America’s heroes not only cost him his life, but a bunch of lives in New York City. Even a younger Tex outstripped any mundane crane’s lifting power, but he was laid up with broken bones. Tidal could have made a spectacular difference against Armageddon, but he worked out of Miami and didn't have any movement powers he could use at the time. To use two examples. Never again. So they got organized. The Shining Guardian, Fletcher, Tidal, Caviezel, Shadowspirit, and Tex Austin. It hasn’t exactly been the smoothest of rides. An alien invasion of Seattle headed by Tidal’s wife Lei Zi, Duchess of Lightning. That time Fletcher made (by accident) an evil AI android bent on the destruction of all life. Congress trying to regulate and control superheroes to finally solve that hypocrisy problem, which anyone passingly familiar with the…highly independent nature…of most professional superheroes could have told them would never work. And indeed, it only caused a civil war in the Icons. And then, of course, there was the Infinity War, where they finally failed and half the universe died for it. Iin fairness, the only two heroes to ever successfully stop Kuros when he was the Conqueror were Nick Phoenix and Starman I, with the latter needing significant help and likely shortening his lifespan like his battle with Armageddon did. And finally, the Endgame, where they corrected their mistake at the low, low price of literally all of their founding members either dead or inactive for an unknown amount of time. If not permanently. So, as 2019 dawns, it’s a brand new era for the Icons. The post Endgame recruitment drive has borne fruit in the form of four veteran heroes added to the ranks in the forms of legacy hero #1 Starguy, the spectacular Samaritan, legacy hero #2 The Human Rocket IV, and Tidal’s recommendation Dust. So it’s not all bad news. Tidal could always come back from whatever he’s doing in space. Tex will heal eventually. Hopefully. Caviezel may find it as difficult to retire as many heroes do. Sage’s schedule could calm down. (Creator’s Note: This one’s the most unlikely by a bunch, hahaha) Scarlett could reappear like she has before. And even if they never return, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Of all the founders, only Fletcher had successfully adapted to a wireless world. The rest were stuck somewhere in the past. Tidal lives like he’s in medieval China. The Shining Guardian never quite made it out of the 40s. Shadowspirit, the 50s to 60s. Caviezel, the 80s. At least Tex had made it to the 90s.in 2001, this wasn’t the hugest problem. A decade and a half later though, and they were all noticeably behind the times. So some new blood can’t hurt. A final note. Being a superhero in the same way that the Icons are supeheroes (traditionally) is, in the Phoenixverse, an inherently political act. Or at least, being devoted to the safety and well being of everyone regardless of race, creed, gender, orientation, or whatever is going to be seen that way by the general public. The general public consists, naturally, of members o the entire political spectrum. And so no matter what the Icons or Icon-aspiring heroes do, they’re going to piss someone off in the process. America’s political divisions in the second half of the second decade of the 21st Century aren’t getting any better. Political pundits sound off as much about heroes as they do about business in Washington. Naturally, they’re never talking about how good a job the heroes are doing and how we’re lucky to have them. More like question their competence and sanity. World’s getting darker. America’s no exception. Fortunately, there’s some Icons to light the way to a better tomorrow. Unfortunately, they have no way to know if that’s enough. There’s a sense of being out of step with the common person. It’s only natural. The common person runs away from gunfire and explosions. Even emergency services might hesitate before rushing in. Heroes, as a general rule, never do, and that’s enough for some people to think they’re insane before the whole “saving everyone regardless of who or what they are” issue even comes up. Ah, well. Best to focus on the things heroes can actually do something about. Like catching criminals, rescuing people from burning buildings, and getting kittens out of trees for little girls. A final, final note. I believe superhero stories are fundamentally hopeful. Or they ought to be. It’s just that the world they’re in can and does fail to live up to that. And we as storytellers shouldn’t flinch from showing the reality of it. That there’s cruelty, brutality, and petty little wickedness in the world. The world is dark, but heroes bring the light. They bring hope with them wherever they go. They don’t and I’d argue shouldn’t be perfect, ideal people. They should struggle and hurt and sometimes fail. But the thing that all writers of superhero stories should never lose sight of is that they are ultimately the lightbringers. Where there are no heroes, evil, villainy, and wickedness thrive. The weak suffer and the helpless are exploited. But when just one shows up, all that changes. I hope the Icons show this theme well. Active List Inactive Reserves Hall of Honor Queenie (Maybelle McQueen) Terrifica (Samantha Carson) Medic (Dr. Daniel Ivanoff) Spike (Spike Douglas) Candy (Candace Mikkelsen) Z (real name unknown) Marian Soaring Eagle Magna (Gabrielle Williams) Orca Starguy (Gordon Wright) Samaritan (Vonnie Murray) The Human Rocket IV (Reginald "Reggie" Morton) Dust (Mariana Rodriguez) Tidal (Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder) (in space) Tex Austin (injured) Caviezel (Ronald Caviezel) (attempting retirement) Sage (Sagacious Winifred Burke) (busy as fuck) Scarlett (real name unknown) (missing) Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) (primarily active in Britain) Nick Phoenix (???) The Shining Guardian (Henry Kim) Fletcher (Morris Archer) Shadowspirit (real name unknown) Starman I (John Thompkins) & Starwoman I (Judy Thompkins) Gunsmith I (Connor Morris) Megagirl (Megan Price) Arriba (Jose Vega) Nega I (Hal Scott) Alsea Countess Starman II (Jesse Thompkins) Stargirl II (Jacqueline “Jackie” Thompkins)

Effigy and Invisigirl A whispered “Aerus Servinius” sent a slightly forceful splash of water over Luke. “Nobody wants to ride on your shoulders, you goon.” Her tone was warm, however, taking the sting out of the words. “You gotta be smoother if you want to touch a girl.” She was just floating in the water, really. “You boys want to start a water fight I’ll school you good. Otherwise it’s whatever.” She was in a good mood, honestly. She liked this place. Naomi was off in space somewhere. She was humming a song idly. Something from the radio. She did smile back at Leon and move a little closer to within auditory range of her quiet voice.. “Hi, Leon.” Was all she said, though. She could have taken his hero moment from him, but unlike him she noticed Neko’s fall was intentioinal. So no, WIlona wasn’t looking. But Naomi was. And then she turned her eyes to the idly drifting Wilona. Her expression was more unreadable than usual. “Is that fun, Leon? Neko?” Her voice was quieter, too. So only those two would actually hear.

Terrifica will pull a Darkvision Visor out of her utilty belt and put it on, and spend the other eight points on a Shapeable Area Extra for her Stun effect. For her standard action, she'll use it on just about any foes she can reach that way, and be quite surprised when the effect scatters without harming any of them. The only thing it does is strip away any veneer of them being normal animals. Like, literally. Their fur is a distinctly wrong color, and they have glowing tattoos/veins in places. Jarl used his Create Object to throw a wall between the angry Scourge Bear and Miracle Girl, while complimenting her on her courage. The wall of ice stretches halfway around the entire field of combat, effectively cutting the monsters off from the civilians in that area. Notably, this is the area on the opposite side from our trio. Which directs the 7 remaining Nuisance Wolves towards them, naturally. Their eyes glow oddly, as if the darkness doesn't matter. 3 bracket Miracle Girl, but can't get through her Impervious so it's up to Heri whether or not they hit her as rolling is pointless. 2 each, however, go for Nevermore and Terrifica. This prompts some swearing from Jarl, who didn't intend this. Dice rolls go! 4#1d20+4: 4 # 12 [1d20=8] 9 [1d20=5] 18 [1d20=14] 23 [1d20=19] First two for Nevermore, second two for Terrifica. Obvious misses are obvious, except that last one. Back to the dice. 1d20+10: 27 [1d20=17] I'd call that a success, yeah. Zero is up next, and she will use her big machine gun and Autofire's Multiple Targets option to annihilate the four attacking Nevermore and Terrifica. Minions means she can take 10, and it's an impossible save for them. The Hazard Wolf Alphas will break in the opposite direction, blurring past Million Lucky (who is the one on that side) and showing excellent agility in attempting to climb over the ice wall. They don't manage it this round, however, as Gadget Queen declines to let them by using one of her devices to jack up the height of the wall with perfectly smooth hard light. This leaves the Scourge Bear to smash it's way out from behind the ice wall between it and Miracle Girl, bringing up Round 2.

Kaede Kobayashi Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +2 (14) Tough: +3/+6, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +9 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 3 (+5), Diplomacy 3 (+5), Gather Information 3 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (tactics) 3 (+5), Language 5 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 3, Dodge Focus 3, Equipment 1, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Flash Arrow (Dazzle 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Gas Arrow (Fatigue 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Multi-Target Shooting (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Normal Arrow (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Arrow (Snare 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Shock Arrow (Stun 6)), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Acrobatic, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Bow And Arrows (Device 5) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Trick Arrows (Array 9) (default power: blast) Cable Arrow (Linked) Speed 6 (Linked; Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd) Super-Movement 4 (Linked; slow fall, swinging, wall-crawling 2 (full speed)) Flash Arrow (Dazzle 6) (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Flash Arrow (Dazzle 6)); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Gas Arrow (Fatigue 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Gas Arrow (Fatigue 6)); Range (ranged); Action (full); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Multi-Target Shooting (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Multi-Target Shooting (Blast 6)); Line Area (5x150 ft. line - Targeted); Action (full); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Normal Arrow (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Normal Arrow (Blast 6)); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Restraint Foam Arrow (Snare 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Restraint Foam Arrow (Snare 6)); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Shock Arrow (Stun 6) (Array; DC 16, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Shock Arrow (Stun 6)); Range (ranged); Action (full); Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Smoke Bomb Arrow (Obscure 6) (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 250 ft.; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet)) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 9) Psionic Camouflage (Concealment 6) (all aural senses, all visual senses; Passive) Psionic Quickness (Quickness 3) (Perform routine tasks at 10x speed) Psionic Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks]) Quickness Arrow Feats (Features 6) (Notes: If Action flaw on Trick Arrow array setting, removes it. If not, adds Autofire where applicable (so not Cable Arrow or Smoke Bomb Arrow).) Telekinesis (Move Object 3) (Strength: 15, Carry: 66 / 133 / 200 / 400; Range (perception); Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Telekinetic Arrow Feats (Features 6) (Notes: Adds Homing 2 (2 attempts), Ricochet 2 (2 bounces), and Subtle 2 to Trick Arrows Array where applicable (so not Cable Arrow or Smoke Bomb Arrow).) Telekinetic Lensing (Super-Senses 3) (distance sense, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft)) Equipment: Knife Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +9, Grapple: +11) Attacks: Flash Arrow (Dazzle 6), +12 (DC Fort/Ref 16), Gas Arrow (Fatigue 6), +12 (DC Fort 16), Knife, +9 (DC 18), Multi-Target Shooting (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Normal Arrow (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Restraint Foam Arrow (Snare 6), +12 (DC Ref/Staged 16), Shock Arrow (Stun 6), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 16), Unarmed Attack, +9 (DC 17) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -6 Initiative: +3 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Japanese Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 30 + Skills 17 (68 ranks) + Feats 17 + Powers 62 + Combat 36 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 Age (as of Jan 2019): 20 Height: 5’ 5” Weight: 120 lbs Ethnicity: Japanese Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: When Kaede Kobayashi was 7 years old, she killed a man with his own gun. It was an accident, naturally. He was a bank robber. She and her mother happened to be in the bank at the time. A security guard managed to surprise the man, and his gun skittered across the ground to Kaede. She thought she could just point it at him and he’d give up and run away. Kid thoughts, you know? But, of course, what rational person thinks a kid is going to shoot them? And indeed, she had no intention of doing so. She wasn’t, of course, trained in proper gun safety. So when the robber overcame the guard and rushed her for the weapon, she accidently pulled the trigger. In a Western country, she’d have been applauded. Heroic little Kaede, saving everyone. Might have even been a movie about it. Or maybe just a tv special. But this was Japan where the gun laws are super strict, social harmony is god, and psychiatric treatment is for the weak. Also kids can be extremely cruel and dealing with that is a minefield of potential social disharmony that few teachers dare to walk through. So it is safe to say that poor little traumatized Kaede rapidly became socially isolated and viciously bullied. To be fair, it wasn’t like literally nobody tried to help. There was a teacher or two. A couple of students, one of whom we’ll get back to. But when most people (children and adults) think you’re a monster because you killed a man (Accidently? Don’t be silly, of course she meant to go the whispers) your childhood will not be fun. Especially when “most people” includes your own mother, who was literally there. Naturally, she turned to video games to escape. There was VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident, and Kaede became one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. She was frightened, but her friend (that student I said we’d get back to) was able to console her and convince her to join the fourth. Where she ran into the investigating Hayate Ishikawa, Arielle Cadieux, and even Ichika Ishikawa. They became friendly with each other, though the trio didn’t mention the investigation. As the investigation reached a climax, it was revealed that Kaede’s friend (who had stood behind her even in the days when nobody else did) was the younger brother of one of the Sweetheart Slashers. He cared far more about what was between her legs than what was between her ears, and if he couldn’t have it, well…his knife could do the penetrating just as easily. His brother said it was just as fun, anyway. The fourth tournament would have ended with a violent stabbing death as well, except Hayate exploded into Kaede’s apartment and whooped her now psionic ex-friend’s ass with his bare hands. Kaede didn’t actually completely need the help, as her powers had begun emerging from repeated exposure to Hayate, Arielle, and Ichika. Apparently online interactions count, when a certain tech widget hadn’t been removed from the revamped VR helmets. Outside, Arielle and Ichika engaged in a pitched battle with the tattered (and psionically powered) remains of the Sweetheart Slashers. Hayate dragged him outside as the rest of Psi-Division arrived and the battle became a rout. Especially as the police began to respond to the sounds of violence. To make a long story short, Kaede joined Psi-Division after this. New friends without any of the old baggage. Plus help for developing and then using her superpowers. And the Sweetheart Slashers more or less ceased to xist, because prison. Powers & Tactics: Kaede is a mutant psionic. Her powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification. This means that her normal human abilities are being augmented by her willpower. Her specific powers manifest in both subconscious and conscious telekinetic abilities, along with enhanced reflexes and an interesting telepathic power. The subconscious TKmanifests i enhanced physical resilience. Enough that most mundane man portable firearms cannot harm her. The conscious telekinesis is, well, telekinesis. It’s not really any stronger than her muscles, but allows her to make her Trick Arrows extra tricky. Sh can redirect them if she misses up to twice, effectively making a second shot. She can bounce her arrows off two different corners, allowing her to attack opponents she can see but not reach. And her telekinesis completely shields them from normal detection while attacking. Additionally, it can function like fancy binoculars, letting her see further and know the distance to whatever she’s looking at. Her enhanced reflexes and quickness are relatively minor on their own, but with her arrows allow them to be launched faster than would otherwise be possible. Her telepathic power is quite unusual. She can make herself completely invisible and silent, but not when actively attacking. Telepathic suggests that it shouldn’t work on robots or machines, but strangely enough it does. So telepathic is really only a best guess. She carries a Bow and several types of Trick Arrows, as she’s does not have enhanced melee and does have a firearm phobia. She’s got Cable Arrows for swinging around/climbing walls, Flash Arrows for blinding targets, Gas Arrows for putting them to sleep, Normal Arrows for simply injuring them, Restraint Foam Arrows to bind them, Shock Arrows to stun them, and Smoke Bomb Arrows to block vision in an area. Multi-Target Shooting is firing a Normal Arrow at every target in an area. Other people can technically use them as is, but they lose the Improved Ranged and Progression feats. Cable Arrow drops to Speed 2 in other hands, and Multi-Target Shooting ceases to exist. Tactically, Kaede is Psi-Division’s sniper and reconnaissance specialist. The latter is generally more important than the former. Generally speaking, she can shadow anyone for hours with Psionic Camouflage and Telekinetic Lensing. Unlike the other snipers of the Revolution, she has more than just damage at her long ranged disposal, and it’s what she prefers to use against living targets. She prefers to be a support sniper rather than an assassin. Thus far, she has not had to be the latter, or which she is extremely grateful. She has Improved Aim to help hit when Stealth is going well, and Acrobatic Bluff for when it isn’t. She also has All Out and Power Attack for maximum sniping goodness. Move by Action keeps things mixed up, and Ultimate Aim is for when she absolutely, positively, needs to make the shot. She does have power stunts available, but they’re different arrow types. Like an Explosive Arrow (Blast 6, Area Burst) or Poison Arrow (Paralyze 6, Alt Save Fort, Range [ranged]). Mostly she doesn’t need them. Personality: Kaede excels at keeping a cool head in all situations. This was not always the case. For years she was a mess. Badly traumatized, and prone to breaking down even if someone pointed a finger gun at her. Children can be exceedingly cruel to each other, especially when they smell weakness. Kaede should have been a sad and cautionary tale about Japanese society. Instead, Psi-Division intervened. And at last, at very long last, she began to escape the weight of darkness. Ironically, the sniper of the team sees what they are more clearly than any of the rest do. They are not heroes. It may be for a good cause, but they are criminals. Thieves, kidnappers, and assaulters. Hayate, Arielle, and even Ichika are murderers. They are, in no way, shape, or form the good guys. On the flip side, she has close and intimate knowledge of what it means to be weak and vulnerable. To be helpless in the face of her assailants. And honestly? Jacob Cross’s approach isn’t bad. Cops can and do suck. Real superheroes don’t always fill all the gaps. She’s living proof of this. So there’s nothing wrong with helping out where they can. And when the law isn’t enough? When the bad guys get out of it through money, influence, or whatever? Well. Something still has to be done about them, right? Right? …right?

Ichika Ishikawa Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+9, Fort: +6, Ref: +9, Will: +9 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 8 (+10), Knowledge (history) 8 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 8 (+10), Language 4 (+4), Notice 12 (+15), Search 3 (+5), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Dodge Focus 4, Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Sword Strike (Strike 4)), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobaics, Bluff, Notice, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Touch) Powers: Kinetic Sword (Device 2) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Sword Strike (Strike 4) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Sword Strike (Strike 4)); Mighty) Psionic "Magic" (Array 14) (default power: move object) Telekinesis (Move Object 9) (Default; Strength: 45, Carry: 4.3k / 4.3 tons / 6.4 tons / 12.8 tons, DC 24; Damaging; Precise) Telekinetic Burst (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21; Burst Area (20-150 ft. radius - General), Selective Attack; Progression, Decrease Area 2 (-2 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5)) Telekinetic Snare (Snare 9) (Array; DC 19; Transparent) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 3) Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2) (DC 19; Mighty) Psionic Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks]) Telekinetic Senses (Super-Senses 3) (danger sense: Touch, distance sense, ranged: Touch) Telekinetic Armor (Force Field 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious) Telekinetic Flight (Flight 3) (Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +12, Grapple: +14) Attacks: Amplified Sword Strike (Strike 4), +12 (DC 21), Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2), +12 (DC 19), Telekinesis (Move Object 9), +9 (DC 24), Telekinetic Burst (Blast 6) (DC 21), Telekinetic Snare (Snare 9), +9 (DC Ref/Staged 19), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17) Defense: +9 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -9 Initiative: +3 Languages: English, French, Greek, Japanese Native, Latin Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 25 (100 ranks) + Feats 15 + Powers 65 + Combat 28 + Saves 15 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 Age (as of Jan 2019): 21 Height: 5’ 6” Weight: 140 lbs Ethnicity: Japanese Hair: Blonde (dyed, naturally Black) Eyes: Green (contacts, naturally Dark Brown) Background: Ichika Ishikawa is Hayate Ishikawa’s cousin. However, they were raised together in the same house, so they’re effectively siblings. It’s a strong bond, but Hayate has no idea how strong. 4 Swords Network, the game everyone in the Nihonto Incident was trapped in, was a online video game. This meant that people could watch if they wanted to. Now, the various avatars looking nothing like the actual people behind them meant that all the survivors have a degree of anonymity, even from each other (assuming they didn’t tell each other their real names like many close knit guilds like the Rose Knights did). This did not and does not mean that people who knew them could not recognize their voices or certain mannerisms. Thus Ichika figured out the real identity of a certain swordsman in black fairly early on, and followed his exploits with great interest. She already loved her brother, but watching his evolution from isolated, traumatized loner to basically a superhero with the most badass girlfriend of all time (in her opinion, mind) turned him into her personal hero. She still has not told him this. She has not told anyone this. For Ichika, you see, had always been enraptured by tales of heroes from the past. Whether they were mythological or historical was irrelevant to her. Since she was born in and had never (at the time) left Japan, her favorites were Japanese. Fujiwara no Hidesato and Taira no Sadamori. Nomi no Sukune (who was likely a metahuman with improved strength). Yamato Takeru. Her favorites, however, were the Shitenno, or“Four Guardian Kings”, the servants of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (more often known by his nickname of Raiko). Kintaro (Sakata Kintoki, the actual person behind that legend, was likely a metahuman with superhuman strength as well), Urabe no Suetake (who, based on how he is recorded under three different names, was possibly either multiple people or able to duplicate himself), Usui Sadamitsu (who may well have been a woman or merely transmasculine), and the oni slaying Watanabe no Tsuna (it is strongly suspected he was an undercover member of the Devil Hunter Society). So when her brother returned to the real world, she was only too happy to help him in his physical recovery. And when he needed help saving his badass girlfriend from whoever was holding her prisoner, well…it was a chance to quest like Raiko and Shitenno. Like hell she was going to do nothing. She shoehorned her way into the investigation, and it was good that she did as Jacob Cross didn’t understand online gamers and Hayate wasn’t much of a people person at the time. This was good, as it was Ichika who gathered the gamer allies they needed to storm Asgard. They may have been following Hayate as the legendary swordsman in black, but it was Ichika who did all the legwork in finding and contacting the guildmasters. So, you know. One Arielle Cadieux rescued. A job well done. Apparently her brother killed Ari’s fiancée in the aftermath. Whatever, he seriously deserved it. But now the two of them were joining up with that Cross guy and they had superpowers and oh my god it was like a Shitenno forming in front of her very eyes. So naturally she wanted in. The problem was that they all thought she didn’t have any superpowers. This was wrong, obviously, because she did. What she told them was that they were new, she needed help controlling them, and she wanted to help them. Ichika Ishikawa was lying through her teeth. Not about the wanting to help. But the rest? Oh, yeah. She first noticed other people weren’t telekinetic when she was five years old. Before that, she thought it just wasn’t polite to use them when one’s arms still worked. Or something like that. She was a toddler making up a reason Mommy and Daddy weren’t pulling things across the room and flying everywhere. The car accident a year later made sure nobody living knew about her powers in addition to giving her an older brother and a new set of parents. At least, that’s the optimistic version she tells herself so she won’t feel sad anymore. There isn’t exactly a manual on how to become a superhero. It didn’t seem right to just…put on a mask and go look for crime happening. Wasn’t that what the police were for? She didn’t want to get in the way or step on anyone’s toes. So, Ichika contented herself with stories, games, and imagining until after Hayate’s return from the virtual world. She, Arielle, Valentina Alvarez, and Miriam Mizrahi quickly became firm friends. All was well. But the legacy of the Nihonto Incident was not yet finished. The Sweetheart Slasher Guild had yet to be fully reckoned with. There was three choices for the trapped players. Go insane, die, or continue on. As Ichika knew, Hayate, Arielle, Valetina, and Miriam had managed to continue on. However, as she also knew from watching Hayate and then the Rose Knights, some of those who went insane went murderously insane. The player killer guilds, damn them. And some of these were unable to recover after being freed. Most of these were relatively easily handled by law enforcement and normal superheroes. In the real world it is much more difficult to kill people and continually get away with it. Some, however, retained some intelligence and cunning. More like they were addicted to the act of murder than were suffering from an inability to recognize reality. These were the Sweetheart Slashers. Yet even they could not entirely escape the dogged pursuit of law enforcement and superheroes, and by the time Jacob Cross, Ichika, and company re-enter their story they were down to their last, most dangerous members. All of whom held a grudge against not only one Hayate Ishikawa, but also one Arielle Cadieux for helping break their power in the virtual. There was another VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident. Kaede Kobayashi was one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. Psi-Division investigated, brought the last of the Sweetheart Slashers to justice during the fourth tournament, and ended up with Kaede as a new recruit in the process. Done and done. Powers & Tactics:Ichika is a metahuman psionic. Her powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification. This means that her normal human abilities are being augmented by her willpower. Her specific powers manifest in both subconscious and conscious telekinetic abilities. The subconscious manifests in enhanced damage to her unarmed strikes and any weapon she might wield, as well as enhanced physical resilience. Enough that most mundane man portable firearms cannot harm her. The conscious manifests in several ways. Regular telekinesis, naturally, with a maximum lifting capacity in the double digit tons and enough attack power to easily smash stone with it. She can throw damage in an area and even manifest constructs to bind targets with. She can also fly at about the speed of an automobile in a city and augment her resilience to artillery ignoring levels. Lastly, she’s basically impossible to sneak up on, as she’s continually generating a telekinetic field of miniscule power that she can feel disturbances in as if it was her skin. She also has a Kinetic Sword from Valentina Alvarez, as she’s been a skilled Kendo practicioner since she was 12 years old. It hits harder than a normal sword due to her subconscious telekinetic abilities and is far less likely to break from use. Tactically, Ichika has a few options. Regular attacks in both melee and ranged form. Area damage to clean up mooks. Grappling with Telekinesis or binding with Telekinetic Snare. She can fly out of range of ground based melee fighters. Telekinesis is probably her favorite, however. She has Improved Acrobatic Bluff and Feint to help her hit, and Move By Action and Power Attack to mix things up. Along with Takedown Attack to knock down groups in a second way. She has one power stunt. Telekinetic Constructs (Create Object 6, Moveable). Personality: Ichika believes in heroes. Valiant warriors wandering the land, conquering monsters and evildoers to protect the innocent. She sees Psi-Division as doings of mighty deeds, like a modern day Shitenno (placing Jacob Cross in the role of Raiko). Though there’s more than four of them. So obviously it’s not a perfect comparison. However, if there’s evil afoot, they’re on the job. They investigate, and if getting the villain of the piece arrested is good enough, then they do that. If not, well…they’ll draw their swords to protect the defenseless. She was a bit squeamish about how deeply unpleasant killing a person is, but she’s gotten used to it. Can’t be a proper hero without killing the evildoers the law can’t touch, right? The thing she doesn’t quite understand is that Raiko was a Minamoto. An aristocrat operating under the orders and authority of the legal government of the period. Which, naturally, meant that the Shitenno (as his servants) were operating under a similar level of authorization. Psi-Division is uh, not operating under the orders or authority of anyone but themselves. And occasionally the Grand Wizard Methion. It’d genuinely break her heart to realize she’s working for the bad guys. Because that would mean that Hayate isn’t a hero like she thought. Neither is Arielle. And certainly not herself. Honestly she is operating on heroic morality, it’s just a heroic morality that’s a few to several centuries out of date.

Miriam Mizrahi Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+9, Fort: +6, Ref: +6/+9, Will: +9 Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Intimidate 12 (+15), Knowledge (art) 3 (+5), Knowledge (behavioral science) 8 (+10), Knowledge (civics) 3 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Notice 7 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 4, Improved Critical (Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 1)), Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Short Sword Strike (Strike 3)), Power Attack, Set-Up, Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive), Teamwork, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Kinetic Shield (Device 3) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Psionic Resilience (Force Field 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks]) Psionic Deflection (Enhanced Trait 6) (Traits: Dodge Focus 4 +3 (+4), Reflex +3 (+9)) Kinetic Short Sword (Device 2) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Short Sword Strike (Strike 3) (DC 20, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Short Sword Strike (Strike 3)); Penetrating [2 ranks only]; Accurate 2 (+4), Mighty) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 3) Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 1) (DC 18, Feats: Improved Critical (Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 1)); Mighty) Psionic Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious) Telepathic Translation (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all) Psionic Manifestations (Array 20) (default power: summon) Nightmare Constructs (Create Object 9) (Array; Max Size: 9x 5' cubes, DC 19; Impervious, Movable (Radius: 45 ft., Strength: 45, Force: 6.4 tons); Precise, Subtle (subtle)) Nightmarish Imagery (Illusion 9) (Array; affects: all sense types, DC 19; Duration (sustained); Phantasms; Progression, Area 4 (100 ft. radius)) Summon Nightmare Dragon (Summon 9) (Default; Fanatical, Heroic; Mental Link, Sacrifice) Summon Lesser Nightmares (Summon 6) (Array; Fanatical, Horde, Type (Broad); Mental Link, Progression, # Minions 2 (5 minions), Sacrifice) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +9, Grapple: +11) Attacks: Amplified Short Sword Strike (Strike 3), +13 (DC 20), Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 1), +9 (DC 18), Unarmed Attack, +9 (DC 17) Defense: +9 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -9 Initiative: +3 Languages: Hebrew Native Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 24 (96 ranks) + Feats 7 + Powers 77 + Combat 28 + Saves 12 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 *************************************************************************************** Nightmare Dragon Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 135/135 STR: +12 (35), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +9 (28), INT: +0 (-), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +0 (-) Tough: +12, Fort: +9, Ref: +6, Will: +3 Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Concentration 7 (+10), Notice 9 (+12), Sense Motive 9 (+12), Stealth 14 (+9), Survival 2 (+5) Feats: All-Out Attack, Improved Grapple, Improved Pin, Power Attack Powers: Dragon Scales (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [6 extra ranks]) Dragon's Wings (Flight 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Dragons Are Big (Growth 9) (+18 STR, +9 CON, +2 size categories; Permanent; Innate) Fear Aura (Emotion Control 9) (DC 19; Action 3 (reaction), Perception Area (General), Selective Attack; Duration 2 (instant), Limited to Emotion (Fear), Range 2 (touch), Sense-Dependent (Visual)) Nightmarish Might (Super-Strength 3) (+15 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 51.2 tons; +3 STR to some checks) Nightmarish Senses (Super-Senses 2) (darkvision) Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +6, Melee: +6, Grapple: +28/+31) Attacks: Fear Aura (Emotion Control 9) (DC Staged/Will 19), Unarmed Attack, +6 (DC 27) Defense: +6 (Flat-footed: +3), Size: Huge, Knockback: -18 Initiative: +3 Languages: Native Language Totals: Abilities 8 + Skills 12 (48 ranks) + Feats 4 + Powers 76 + Combat 32 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 = 135 **************************************************************************************** Nightmare Creature Template Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 45/90 STR: +5 (20), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +5 (20), INT: +0 (-), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +0 (-) Tough: +5, Fort: +5, Ref: +3, Will: +3 Skills: Notice 2 (+5), Sense Motive 2 (+5) Powers: Fear Aura (Emotion Control 6) (DC 16; Action 3 (reaction), Perception Area (General), Selective Attack; Duration 2 (instant), Limited to Emotion (Fear), Range 2 (touch), Sense-Dependent (Visual)) Attack Bonus: +5 (Ranged: +5, Melee: +5, Grapple: +10) Attacks: Fear Aura (Emotion Control 6) (DC Staged/Will 16), Unarmed Attack, +5 (DC 20) Defense: +5 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +3 Languages: Native Language Totals: Abilities 12 + Skills 1 (4 ranks) + Feats 0 + Powers 12 + Combat 20 + Saves 0 + Drawbacks 0 = 45 Age (as of Jan 2019): 19 Height: 5’ 2” Weight: 100 lbs Ethnicity: Israeli Hair: Dark Brown Eyes: Dark Brown Background: The rabbi always said you shouldn’t lie for selfish reasons. Miriam Mizrahi, being 12 years old, didn’t think lying to a Japanese corporation about her age really counted. She wanted to play Cyberdimension Tsurugi-chan!: 4 Swords Network, and wasn’t about to let being short some months in her age get in the way. She’d been saving money since her last birthday to buy the VR helmet. And the game had the audacity to suggest she should wait for her next one? Nope, not happening. The Miri of today acknowledges this as one hell of a mistake, but she really couldn’t have known better at the time. Just shy of ten thousand other people, older and more educated, made it too. Her story was a lot like theirs, too. She made her avatar, picked a class (Yajiri), and started playing. But she was getting hungry for lunch after a while, so she tried to log out. And couldn’t. She couldn’t take the helmet off, either. And then she and just shy of ten thousand other people found out why. Of course she cried. This did not solve the problem, but it did get the emotion out. Which, as it turned out, was kind of important. Because just about everyone in the game was older than her, and a whole lot of them flipped out. Shock. Horror. Disbelief. Terror. Despair. Etcetera. We’ve been over this. So a few days later, when the first organized group decided to challenge the first dungeon, she tagged along to see what she could do to help. The answer to that was “not much”. She was distinctly mediocre at being a Yajiri, and almost nobody had learned any of the combat tactics they’d later master on pain of literal death. So things went badly, and then Hayate and Arielle stepped in, and things went better. The Miri of today recognizes that she was still a bit in the disbelief stage then. The people who died didn’t register to her as having really done so at that time. At any rate, Yajiri (even mediocre ones) were quickly recognized to be an absolute necessity for traversing dungeon and battling bosses. Miri found herself in high demand. So why Arielle and the nascent Rose Knights? Well, even back then she had a bit of a nose for people and their personalities. It’s not perfect now and it certainly wasn’t then, but she could tell that Arielle didn’t have the negative qualities a leader didn’t need. She had the right feel, for lack of a better word. Kids aren’t stupid, you know? They just don’t know stuff. The Miri of today has plenty of fancy words for Arielle’s personality, but they’re not necessary here. And to put it bluntly, most of those early guilds fell apart and the rest experienced significant reorganization at some point. She doesn’t know the details and she doesn’t want to. Arielle, to her credit, recognized early that Miri wasn’t primary frontline material. In fact, she was much better as a welcoming face to return to. A kind of mascot that helped keep spirits up with her own personality. Officially dubbed the Rose Knights’ morale officer, she served very well in that role and likely prevented more than a few Rose Knights from going off the deep end and kept several more sharp when they would have dulled and died. This, however, was not enough to make a little girl feel useful. All she was doing was talking, while everyone else seemed to be doing something useful. She knows better, now, but back then she felt useless. Especially when a team of Knights came back smaller than it left. So she resolved to get better at fighting. She just needed more practice, that’s all. Gain a few quick levels in a cleared area. If she proved she could fight just as well as the others, she could go with them again. Dungeon raids were terrifying, but they beat the waiting around in the guild hall. This was not actually a mistake. It being a mistake would have required her knowing that the Darkness Ghosts player killer guild had drifted back into the forested zone she had chosen, and nobody knew that until after she’d already left. For the Ghosts, it was the perfect situation. One player, alone. A Yajiri, even, who were all but helpless against melee fighters they couldn’t get away from. They could take their time with this one. Miri should have died. She would have died. Except for Hayate, the swordsman in black, at what was probably the pinnacle of his brooding badass loner status. His level was so much higher than any of theirs that they couldn’t significantly harm him. The opposite was not true. He gave them a choice. Repeatedly. Run. Or die. Player killer guilds were not known for caring whether or not they survived, as long as they got to kill. The Darkness Ghosts were no exception. Against most opponents, this would have been terrifying. Of course, they could measurably damage most opponents. So Hayate killed them all. And from the blank disinterested look in his eyes, this was far from the first time he’d had to do so. Miri was actually more frightened of him than the Ghosts, right up until he offered her an escort back to town. There was kindness in his eyes then, and a great sadness too. He pulled his patented disappearing act close to town, without giving his name. Leaving Miri to return to the guild hall alone and (she thought) get yelled at for being careless. Instead, she was welcomed back with great relief, which only grew when she told her story. In fact, the solution to her feeling useless was a lot simpler than she thought it was. All she had to do was ask to join some of the lesser raids, and Arielle would have been perfectly happy to let her go. Sometimes, the Miri of today says, people can overcomplicate and overthink things that are easily resolved by basic communication. And she was no exception. So, from that point on, Miri did her part. Arielle kept her morale officer out of the most dangerous dungeon raids, but her arrows kept more than a few Rose Knights alive after tough battles. And she was mostly satisfied with that. The rst of her satisfaction came from seeing just how worried her guildmates were about her. Even the mightiest of warriors needs a welcoming face to come home to, and being one was also an important job. Of course, all good things must come to an end. There were one hundred dungeons in the game, and probably half again that many boss and guardian monsters. They had finally cleared the 75th, with great struggle and sacrifice. When they went for the 76th, they found it empty. There were trash mobs and mooks, to be sure. They regenerated. But the bosses and guardians did not. And they were gone on the 77th, 78th, 79th, hey hold on a minute how far does this…80th, 90th, 95th, 99th, and holy shit. The 100th was also cleared. The game was beaten. Celebrations broke out spontaneously throughout the game as the announcement echoed through it. At long last, they logged out and returned to the physical world. Miri was not present for the rescue of Arielle from her malevolent fiancée. She was undergoing physical therapy and remedial education like Hayate was during that investigation, but due to her being on an entirely different continent and Hayate not having her contact information she was completely unaware of the events until the freed Arielle briefed her personally. During this phone call, Arielle mentioned joining Psi-Division and her new powers. Mossad was extremely interested in learning how Miri’s new powers worked, so she took the opportunity to get the heck out of Israel and rejoin her old comrades in the real world. She was happy to see all three of them. Hayate, Arielle, and Valentina. A good foursome, commanded by Jacob Cross, quickly became a fivesome with Hayate’s cousin Ichika joining up. But the legacy of the Nihonto Incident was not yet finished. The Sweetheart Slasher Guild had yet to be fully reckoned with. There was three choices for the trapped players. Go insane, die, or continue on. Miri had always been pretty stable emotionally and mentally, so she continued on. However, some of those who went insane went murderously insane. Like the Darkness Ghosts who almost killed her. And some of these were unable to recover after being freed. Most of these were relatively easily handled by law enforcement and normal superheroes. In the real world it is much more difficult to kill people and continually get away with it. Some, however, retained some intelligence and cunning. More like they were addicted to the act of murder than were suffering from an inability to recognize reality. These were the Sweetheart Slashers. Yet even they could not entirely escape the dogged pursuit of law enforcement and superheroes, and by the time Jacob Cross, Miriam, and company re-enter their story they were down to their last, most dangerous members. All of whom held a grudge against not only one Hayate Ishikawa, but also one Arielle Cadieux for helping break their power in the virtual. There was another VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident. Kaede Kobayashi was one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. Psi-Division investigated, brought the last of the Sweetheart Slashers to justice during the fourth tournament, and ended up with Kaede as a new recruit in the process. Done and done. Powers & Tactics: Miriam is a mutant psionic. Her powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification and Psionic Manifestation. The former means that her normal human abilities are being augmented by her willpower. This can be found in metahuman psionics, as well, but as her powers were activated by an outside source and not her own genetics she is classified as a mutant. These powers primarily manifest in subconscious telekinetic abilities. The subconscious manifests in enhanced damage to her unarmed strikes and any weapon she might wield, as well as enhanced physical resilience. Enough that minor damage like a regular unpowered punch has no effect. The other third of her Psionic Amplification is the telepathic ability to read, speak, and understand any language. It is a little strange that this still works both when she’s quite alone and with extremely dead or outright extraterrestrial languages, however. That limited bit of telepathy seems to be tapping in the collective unconscious. This would make her Psionic Manifestations make much more sense, if true. Because every single one of those powers is straight out of the realm of nightmares. This may perhaps be light hyperbole, but it is certainly not metaphor. No metahuman psionic has ever displayed the unnerving abilities she possesses in this regard. She can make telekinetic constructs of both impossible geometry and form that both shifts while observed and can move double digit tons of weight. Said constructs are capable of withstanding artillery fire with no visible damage. And then there’s the telepathic illusions of things best discussed in the bright light of day and not dwelt on at night lest they intrude on one’s sleep. Most alarmingly, she can actually summon such beings into the world and out of her own mind. Or the collective unconscious, as the theory goes. Such beings are easily dispatched in combat by professional superhumans due to their inability to absorb any degree of damage. Resisting said damage is another (somewhat variable) matter, but in the end they are only a real combat threat against mundane opposition. However they do project a field of absolute terror that one must steel one’s mind against or be found cowering in terror. The counter point to their relative weakness is that Miri can and usually does summon them in groups of five. And then there’s the Nightmare Dragon. It is more powerful in every respect, fully capable of standing against professional superhumans in combat and with a terror field significantly increased in potency. It out masses all mundane animals by a considerable margin, and is even larger than many smaller buildings. It is capable rending steel with its disturbing hands. In Psi-Division, its resilience is only matched by Valentina in her armor. It can fly at 747 speeds and carry weight up to the triple digit tons. It is, in all respects, truly a creature of nightmares. Speaking of Valetina, she has graciously crafted a shield and short sword for Miri that work in concert with her subconscious telekinesis. The sword strikes fairly hard and enhances her accuracy with it. The shield bolsters her durability, physical resilience, and damage avoidance by quite a bit. Tactically, when solo Miriam herself prefers to talk things out instead of fighting. Nightmarish Imagery isn’t, strictly speaking, limited to obviously scary illusions. As such, her illusions can bolster her formidable people skills. Failinig that, the 5 Lesser Nightmares can get get most opposition headed for the hills or beaten down. Failing even that, Nightmare Constructs can block passage, trap foes, and control the battlefield. And if even this isn’t good enough, she’ll summon the Dragon. She prefers to remains out of direct combat, and will Sacrifice her summons to take damage for her. This seems more evil than it is, as her summons are not real and do not have minds of their own. Or minds at all. What changes in team combat is that the talking phase has passed. She does not use Nightmarish Imagery, as it would distract her teammated. Instead she layers in Feinting and Demoralizing with Set Up and Aid Actions where possible. This continues this even if Nightmarish Constructs prove inadequate and the Lesser Nightmares are defeated. The Nightmare Dragon is her escape plan, so if it is defeated and she’s the last standing member of Psi-Division she’ll surrender rather than get her ass kicked. Unless, naturally, the enemy looks ragged enough from all that combat that she could conceivable defeat them by herself. She’s never killed anyone in the real world, and she’s not about to start now. She can technically power stunt, summoning Lesser Dream Creatures or a bigger dream animal, but they’re not very useful for anything other than calming people down. Maybe putting them in a dreamy daze? Meh, kind of lame. Personality: Miri is a psychologist. That’s like a morale officer, but professionally trained. Rather than having a instinctive and sometimes faulty understanding of how people work, she has a well educated and rarely faulty one. Psychology is only as perfect as the person using it, and unfortunately (or not) Miri is not perfect. What she is, however, is that rare master manipulator who isn’t in urgent need of psychiatric treatment. In the field, her own distinctive personality largely doesn’t exist, as she shifts from moment to moment based on need. People respond differently to different stimuli. Some need a nurturing mother. Others need a cute and caring little sister. Some prefer to be seduced by a sultry sexpot. And still others respond best to an apparently psychopathic woman with a sword. Her approach depends upon the person and the mission’s goals. But honestly…people don’t change from when they were young. They just get better at dealing with life’s various trials and tribulations. She knows she left a piece of herself behind in the virtual. Everyone who was there did, after all. They all have nightmares. They’re all coping with it in perhaps an unhealthy way with Psi-Division. It is…difficult, to simply go home and be normal. If you weren’t there, you wouldn’t understand. Though, she does admit, there are war veterans who can get close enough. She wanted to get away from Mossad, originally, but she could mostly handle them now. She stays because these re her friends, and the work has value. A trained psychologist knows all about the very human motivations that can render the law inadequate. Someone still has to stand up for the victims and those left in the wreckage in that case. Though, if she was being honest…she still can’t stand to see people hurting, and those who hurt them going unpunished for it. If the law won’t do it, then Psi-Division will.

Valentina Alvarez Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14) Tough: +3/+12, Fort: +9, Ref: +6, Will: +9 Skills: Acrobatics 3 (+5), Bluff 3 (+5), Concentration 8 (+10), Craft (electronic) 2 (+5), Diplomacy 3 (+5), Gather Information 8 (+10), Investigate 12 (+15), Knowledge (earth sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (life sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 7 (+10), Language 5 (+5), Notice 8 (+10), Search 12 (+15), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 3 (+5) Feats: Attack Focus (melee) 2, Dodge Focus, Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Hammer Strike (Strike 4)), Improved Critical 2 (Telekinetic Blast (Blast 6)), Improvised Tools, Inventor, Quick Change Powers: Kinetic Armor (Device 3) (Hard to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Psionic Resilience (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness, Feats: Quick Change; Impervious; Subtle (subtle)) Kinetic Blaster (Device 3) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Telekinetic Blast (Blast 6) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Telekinetic Blast (Blast 6)); Accurate (+2)) Kinetic Hammer (Device 2) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Hammer Strike (Strike 4) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Hammer Strike (Strike 4)); Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Mighty) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 9) Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2) (DC 19; Mighty) Psionic Gadgeteering (Enhanced Trait (Traits: Craft (mechanical) +12 (+15), Knowledge (technology) +12 (+15), Feats: Improvised Tools, Inventor) Psionic Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious) Telekinesis (Move Object 9) (Strength: 45, Carry: 4.3k / 4.3 tons / 6.4 tons / 12.8 tons; Range (perception); Precise) Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +12, Grapple: +14) Attacks: Amplified Hammer Strike (Strike 4), +12 (DC 21), Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2), +12 (DC 19), Telekinetic Blast (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17) Defense: +6 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -10 Initiative: +2 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Japanese, Spanish Native Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 24 (96 ranks) + Feats 3 + Powers 78 + Combat 30 + Saves 17 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 Age (as of Jan 2019): 23 Height: 5’ 6” Weight: 130 lbs Ethnicity: Argentinean Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Background: Valentina Alvarez was always interested in engineering and technology. From a young age she enjoyed taking things apart, seeing how they worked, and at least trying to put them back together again. So, naturally, she was interested in video games. And, equally naturally, when one was coming out that had the latest cutting edge technology integrated into it, she was incredibly interested. She’d followed the dev cycle of 4 Swords Network from the beginning. Surfing social media and websites in Japanese, English, and her native Spanish just to get the tiniest tidbits of information about it. So when the limited official release date came, she was all over that like cheese on a burger. Which, of course, led to her being one of the 10,000 trapped in it. Talk about not good. Shock. Horror. Disbelief. Terror. Despair. We’ve been over this in Hayate and Arielle’s entries. The choices were insanity, suicide, or endurance. Obviously, Valentina chose endurance. She was among the first to dig into the game’s crafting system. She was a poor fighter, as she had chosen a class (Nagamaki, one of four available) that was ill-suited to her abilities. But what she could do was craft better weapons and equipment for those who had chosen both endurance and a class they were well suited for. And while nobody from the outside could free them, this did not mean that they could not help. A few particularly clever superheroes started expanding on the somewhat…limited early release designs available for crafting. These custom designs allowed even Valentina to stand on the battlefield from time to time, which was good as several designs had level requirements to craft. When Arielle Cadieux formed the Rose Knights in the wake of the first dungeon being conquered, Valentina was among the first to join. Mainly because the beautiful French fencer was exactly that. Beautiful. Not her face and body specifically, though those were nice enough. It was her fighting style that garnered the crafter’s attention. Valentina had never seen fencing before, and had certainly never seen it being adapted to use with a tsurugi. She became the Rose Knights’ crafter, and then master crafter (in charge of her own small team of crafters). She made sure the Rose Knights had the best weapons and gear possible. Because it broke her heart, too, when they came back from a dungeon raid short anyone. Still, she had to venture out into the field for materials sometimes, too, which is how she met Hayate. Only Valentina had the crafting skill and overall level to harvest the rarest of materials. So when a rumor blew in of truly rare and special materials, she just had to go have a look. She went alone because 1) It was just a rumor, 2) that mountainous zone’s guardian had been defeated weeks before, and 3) it was far from known player killer guilds operations. It was supposed to be a quick scouting mission. If there was any truth to the rumor, she’d head back and ask Arielle to organize a raiding party. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done things this way, but it was for damn sure the last. Because the zone’s guardian had done something no guardian had yet done. The winged silver dragon had respawned. She was totally dead. It had taken several dozen players of her approximate level to kill this thing the first time, and they were all better at actually fighting than she was. The damn thing could fly faster than she could run, so escape was all but impossible. She had just enough time to apologize to both the Rose Knights and her parents for her mistake before Hayate showed up. Saying that Hayate whipped the dragon’s ass and saved the day would be grossly inaccurate. Highly overleveled as he was, not even he could defeat such a guardian on his own. Mainly because it had ranged attacks and could fly, and he had neither of those things. Fortunately, he wasn’t on his own. Valentina was there. Using the mountains themselves as both cover, they struck at the great dragon until it lost the ability to fly and crashed to earth. Then Hayate cut it apart and saved the day. He escorted Valentina to an area close to town, then pulled his patented disappearing act. She didn’t get his name, either. Arielle was a little annoyed with her, but more grateful that her friend had returned safely from uch danger. And the incident only intensified the interest that the Rose Knights’ Captain had in the swordsman in black. Valentina was only too happy to upgrade his weapons and gear when Arielle finally recruited him. Of course, all good things must come to an end. There were one hundred dungeons in the game, and probably half again that many boss and guardian monsters. They had finally cleared the 75th, with great struggle and sacrifice. When they went for the 76th, they found it empty. There were trash mobs and mooks, to be sure. They regenerated. But the bosses and guardians did not. And they were gone on the 77th, 78th, 79th, hey hold on a minute how far does this…80th, 90th, 95th, 99th, and holy shit. The 100th was also cleared. The game was beaten. Celebrations broke out spontaneously throughout the game as the announcement echoed through it. At long last, they logged out and returned to the physical world. She was not present for the rescue of Arielle from her malevolent fiancée. She was undergoing physical therapy and remedial education like Hayate was during that investigation, but due to her being on an entirely different continent and Hayate not having her contact information she was completely unaware of the events until the freed Arielle briefed her personally. During this phone call, Arielle mentioned joining Psi-Division and her new powers. By sheer coincidence, Valentina also had some new powers and leapt at the chance to reunite with her Captain and friend in the real world. She was arguably more beautiful than her avatar ever was. Miriam Mizrahi, their old morale officer, joined at this time as well, and Valentina was happy to see her in the real as well. So cute! And Hayate’s buxom cousin Ichika wasn’t far behind. Valentina wasn’t mad about this at all. But the legacy of the Nihonto Incident was not yet finished. The Sweetheart Slasher Guild had yet to be full reckoned with. There was three choices for the trapped players. Go insane, die, or continue on. Obviously, Valentina continued on. However, some of those who went insane went murderously insane. And some of these were unable to recover after being freed. Most of these were relatively easily handled by law enforcement and normal superheroes. In the real world it is much more difficult to kill people and continually get away with it. Some, however, retained some intelligence and cunning. More like they were addicted to the act of murder than were suffering from an inability to recognize reality. These were the Sweetheart Slashers. Yet even they could not entirely escape the dogged pursuit of law enforcement and superheroes, and by the time Jacob Cross, Valentina, and company re-enter their story they were down to their last, most dangerous members. All of whom held a grudge against not only one Hayate Ishikawa, but also one Arielle Cadieux for helping break their power in the virtual. There was another VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident. Kaede Kobayashi was one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. Psi-Division investigated, brought the last of the Sweetheart Slashers to justice during the fourth tournament, and ended up with Kaede as a new recruit in the process. Done and done. Powers & Tactics: Valentina is a mutant psionic. Her powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification. This means that her normal human abilities are being augmented by her willpower. Most of her particular power set can be found in metahuman psionics, as well, but as her powers were activated by an outside source and not her own genetics she is classified as a mutant. Her specific powers primarily manifest in both subconscious and conscious telekinetic abilities. The subconscious manifests in enhanced damage to her unarmed strikes and any weapon she might wield, as well as enhanced physical resilience. Enough that minor damage like a regular unpowered punch has no effect. The conscious manifests in regular telekinesis, naturally, with a maximum lifting capacity in the double digit tons. She cannot directly inflict damage with it, though she can use it for tasks requiring fine dexterity and precision. Her final power, however, is the one that metahuman psionics are incapable of manifesting. She has an intuitive and instinctual understanding of how to build, maintain, repair, and use all sorts of purely mechanical devices with or without tools other than her telekinesis. As such, she has built three devices that amplify her telekinetic abilities for combat. Her Kinetic Hammer is, well, a big hammer built to withstand the stress of repeatedly hitting things as hard as it channeling her melee damage boost allows. Her Kinetic Armor does something similar for her boosted resilience, making her seem more like a tank than a human being and preventing even artillery fire from harming her. It doesn’t look like it does this, however, and she can put it on remarkably quickly. Her final device is her Kinetic Blaster, which channels her telekinesis into a damaging blast of force, solving the problem of not being able to do damage with it. Naturally, she is the only one who can make these devices function. Anyone without her specific powers can’t do it at all. Tactically, Valentina is still kind of crap at combat, relying on her Devices far more than actual skill. This is fine, as frontline combat is not and never has been her job. Her Kinetic Blaster is her favorite. The Kinetic Hammer can see use in melee. Seriously, she doesn’t have any special feats or movement powers. She’s got a blaster, a hammer, and whatever she’s made with Inventor this time. It would likely never occur to her to use Telekinesis as a combat ability. That’s not what it’s for, in her mind. So naturally, she will never power stunt. Personality: Valentina is…fun. She’s a flirtatious, energetic, cheerful personality. And that’s all most people who interact with her will ever see. She didn’t serve on the front lines like Hayate and Arielle. She doesn’t have those memories and occasional nightmares of terrifying fights to the death. What she has instead are ghosts. People she painstakingly built gear for, who didn’t return. Friends who received her best work, and died anyway. What does one do with that? That pain? That guilt? Therapy is lovely, and it’s helped a lot. But someone who wasn’t there could never understand. The pieces of herself she left behind in the virtual. Because everyone who was there did leave something of themselves behind. And so, Valentina keeps her energy level up. She keeps flirting with everyone she finds attractive, whatever their gender, so she has a warm body to hang onto at night. Because she did come back with mind and body intact. So many didn’t. And when she’s tired and alone, they come to visit. Not literally, of course. They’re only memories, after all. They’re memories of people she failed. And that is why she joined Psi-Division. Why she leapt at the chance to work with Arielle again. Because her intellect, skills, and powers can still be of use to the frontliners. Even if the fight is different now. It’ll be different this time. It is different, this time. It does not, however, make the ghosts go away.

Arielle Cadieux Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 195/195 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+7, Fort: +6, Ref: +9/+12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 3 (+5), Craft (electronic) 3 (+5), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 7 (+10), Knowledge (art) 8 (+10), Knowledge (business) 8 (+10), Knowledge (civics) 8 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (technology) 3 (+5), Language 5 (+5), Notice 7 (+10), Perform (keyboards) 2 (+5), Perform (singing) 2 (+5), Perform (stringed instruments) 2 (+5), Search 8 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Specialization (Kinetic Rapier (Device 4)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Elusive Target, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Rapier Strike (Strike 4)), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trick, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Kinetic Rapier (Device 4) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Amplified Rapier Strike (Strike 4) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Amplified Rapier Strike (Strike 4)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [2 extra ranks], Penetrating [2 extra ranks]; Mighty, Precise) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 9) Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2) (DC 19; Mighty) Psionic Quickness (Quickness 6) (Perform routine tasks at 100x speed) Psionic Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 18) (Traits: Attack Bonus +3 (+12), Defense Bonus +3 (+12), Reflex +3 (+12), Feats: Improved Initiative 3) Psionic Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks]) Psionic Speed (Speed 6) (Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd) Wall and Water Running (Super-Movement 3) (wall-crawling 2 (full speed), water walking; Limited (to while moving)) Attack Bonus: +9/+12 (Ranged: +9/+12, Melee: +9/+12, Grapple: +11/+14) Attacks: Amplified Rapier Strike (Strike 4), +14 (DC 21), Amplified Unarmed Strike (Strike 2), +12 (DC 19), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17) Defense: +9/+12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -6 Initiative: +15 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French Native, Japanese, Spanish Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 31 (124 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 59 + Combat 36 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 195 Age (as of Jan 2019): 22 Height: 5’ 7” Weight: 125 lbs Ethnicity: French Hair: Sandy Blonde Eyes: Hazel Background: 15 year old Arielle Cadieux was many things, but ordinary wasn’t one of them. Wealthy heiress. Amateur fencing champion. Student at one of the most prestigious private Catholic schools in France. A rising star, sure to be a fantastic addition to her family’s history and legacy. But she was still a person. She had friends. One was going to try out this new game, would Arielle like to join? Please say yes, her friend’s original partner got sick and couldn’t make it. Arielle had never played a proper video game before. Little time wasting phone games, yes. But nothing more serious. Well…like any teenager, she was curious about the new experience and it seemed harmless enough to kill a free afternoon. Right? She even had a good time, goofing around with her friend and simply exploring the initial town and open areas nearby. But time has moved on, and she ought to head home for dinner. Except there was a problem. Neither of them could log out. This wouldn’t normally have been a huge problem, as they could simply take the VR helmets off. Weird software glitch, but whatever, right? New games were always kind of buggy, or so her friend said. Except they couldn’t do that, either. Their avatars made the motions, certainly, but it wasn’t working. Their bodies weren’t moving. And then came the announcement of why. Can you imagine the panic? The disbelief and terror? Surely someone would save them from this nightmare? Or maybe it was all just a joke? Admittedly one in very poor taste, but still. Right? Except, no. The only way out was to beat the game. That neither girl really knew how to play. Arielle especially. Oh, and if you died in the game you would die for real. They were trapped. No one was coming to save them. It was, apparently, up to everyone in the game to save themselves. And so the struggle to do so went on for two whole years. Humans can get used to anything. Can being the operative word in that sentence. Can doesn’t necessarily mean they do. Arielle’s friend panicked, and then just…shut down. Catatonic. There was a monster. Then several of them. Arielle did not know what she was doing, and any margin for error had evaporated. Was this how she died? No. This was her first encounter with the elusive swordsman in black. She didn’t know his name, then. Wielding dual tachi, he cut through the monsters like he’d been doing this his entire life, and disappeared before she could thank him. Or say anything to him, actually. Arielle was left to haul her friend back to town on her own. Superb. Thanks for the help, random rude guy. A few days later the players had gotten slightly more organized and were about to take on the first dungeon. The trash mobs and random monsters weren’t really a problem. Everyone on this raid had gotten in some practice (including Arielle, who was learning how to put her fencing expertise to use with a tsurugi instead of an epee or foil) and they had plenty of healing items to work with. So the mundane enemies were no problem at all. It was the dungeon boss that screwed up everything. It was, charitably put, a learning experience. The first few to try fighting it were rather unceremoniously killed. Panic started setting in as the fragile authority of early leaders fractured and more players fell. It would have likely been a very ugly massacre if not for the return of the swordsman in black. Hayate showed everyone how it was done. But Arielle wasn’t going to just stand around and let him doing everything. She wanted to go home as fast as possible. So it was the swordsman in black and the beautiful French fencer teamed up for the very first time. And for the very first time, the true nature of the gameplay (being reliant on teamwork and rapid swapping between two or more players) became apparent. As stated, it was indeed a learning experience. They conquered the boss, making it look easier than it actually was (with Arielle learning on the fly). Hayate disappeared again afterward, curse him. She didn’t even know his name. Arielle used the fame from this to found the Rose Knights guild. And as the weeks turned into months and the months turned into a full year, she found herself more and more in a higher position of respect and authority among the players. The Rose Knights were never the biggest guild, but they were just about the most effective on raids. As much as Arielle would like to claim this was all her leadership, she knows she can’t. It was actually the guildmates she selected, such as the master crafter Valentina Alvarez and morale officer Miriam Mizrahi. It was probably way too much pressure to be putting on a teenage girl, even if she’d been training half her life for this kind of leadership position. But someone had to do it and so she stepped up to the task. And as a selector of the finest guildmates, she wanted the finest players possible in her guild. She wanted the swordman in black. Hayate was not an easy person to find, especially because she still didn’t know his damn name. But she had influence now. All she had to do was ask around. It took some doing, but she both found him and bullied him into joining the Rose Knights. She’s not exactly…proud…of how she behaved then. The psychological strain on her, Miriam says, was immense. Her friend had quietly committed suicide not a full month in. Just…jumped off a cliff and took enough falling damage that her avatar ran out of health and died. Now dozens of people were depending on her. Every day there was a new story about someone cracking up and losing it. Or about the player killer guilds. God, the player killer guilds. The Sweetheart Slashers. The Joker’s Wild. The Darkness Ghosts. So she was kind of a bitch. But actually spending time around each other afterward, well…you know how it goes. Sad pretty boy with wounded heart. Lonely and scared girl. Love, love, love. What could be better? Both of them managed to see past their coping behaviors, and well…it’s like trying to explain magic. Support. Respect. A start to healing. And a genuinely badass team. Seriously. Arielle and Hayate were considered by virtually all players to be the duo with the highest levels and greatest skill in combat. Like many players at the time, they started to see the game as a home. They took time off of the front lines of conquering the game’s dungeons and bosses to just hang out in their own space. Hell, in a stunning display of how little teenagers think about the long term, they got married and bought a house together. In the game. That they were fighting to get out of. Ah, well. Love makes people do crazy things, and their commitment to each other was and is no less valid because of how it started. And I suppose when one is facing death almost every day, the long term becomes irrelevant. Of course, all good things must come to an end. There were one hundred dungeons in the game, and probably half again that many boss and guardian monsters. They had finally cleared the 75th, with great struggle and sacrifice. When they went for the 76th, they found it empty. There were trash mobs and mooks, to be sure. They regenerated. But the bosses and guardians did not. And they were gone on the 77th, 78th, 79th, hey hold on a minute how far does this…80th, 90th, 95th, 99th, and holy shit. The 100th was also cleared. The game was beaten. Celebrations broke out spontaneously throughout the game as the announcement echoed through it. At long last, they logged out and returned to the physical world. Except Arielle didn’t. She merely exchanged one nightmarish virtual world for another. Background. She had a fiancée. Technically. She only met him when her father had office parties. They exchanged emails sometimes, but he had work and she had school and fencing. She was pretty sure she wanted to and could get out of before being trapped in virtual reality for two years and meeting the love of her life. It’s not like he was a bad guy, but eh she wasn’t interested. On the flip side, it turned out that he was very, very interested in her. To a creepy, obsessive, literally create an entirely different virtual reality video game to imprison her inside until he successfully brainwashed her into being his love slave degree. Well. There went any chance of her ever having any interest in him, to say the least. Fortunately, he was also a severe misogynist. Never believed she’d outwit him, figure out the code to that stupid birdcage (if anything she was a flower, not a bird), and escape. On the other side o the door was…a research facility? In virtual reality? Why? Bah. Who cared? She was leaving. She ducked researchers and scientists, some of them with the weirdest avatars (Tentacles? Seriously dude?) and figured out she was one of 100 Mr. Fiancee had kept. The bastard. And of course the actual exit to whatever was outside was locked. And of course her attempt to open it set off every alarm in the place. Frustrated, she punched the door as hard as she could…and knocked it off the hinges. A thing about the VR helmets (and the core programming required for any game or simulation made for them) that no one had yet noticed was that they permitted the use of one’s psionic powers while active. And so an Amplified Unarmed Strike had done what with any other computer system was impossible. Arielle went out the door…and reunited with Hayate, who was literally storming Heaven (well, Asgard, but whatever) with a host of allies including Ichika. Uh. What? Explanations were required. Hayate had teamed up with his cousin/sister Ichika and Jacob Cross to investigate exactly why Arielle and the other 99 hadn’t woken up. Their investigation had led them to Mr. Fiancee and his team. And while Cross worked with someone named Digital Shadow to expose all of his sins, Hayate used his status as one of the heroes of the Nihonto Incident to rally a decent portion of the playerbase of the vaguely Norse theme game Mr. Fiancee and his team had come up with as a cover and financing for their activities. He rallied them specificiallly to storm Asgard, home of the gods, and rescue the maiden fair from the clutches of wicked Loki (who had, naturally usurped the throne). A cover story, but a good one. The maiden fair? Arielle, of course. Low quality photos of her in that stupid birdcage had been circulating on the servers for some time. So…you know…all of that happened. And Arielle finally got to get back to the real world. Where physical therapy and intensive schooling to make up for two missed years awaited. Such joy. You have no idea. However, following this, Jacob Cross invited both of them into Psi-Division. Having been privy to his entire investigation, Hayate accepted. Arielle did too, after she was fully briefed. This led, rather quickly, to a partial Rose Knight reunion, as Valentina Alvarez and Miriam Mizrahi joined after Arielle got in touch with them. And as it turned out, sharing both DNA and living space with an uncontrolled psionic can trigger powers. Ichika contacted her cousin/brother for help and ended up a part of the team. But the legacy of the Nihonto Incident was not yet finished. The Sweetheart Slasher Guild had yet to be full reckoned with. There was three choices for the trapped players. Go insane, die, or continue on. Arielle’s friend chose death, and obviously she continued on. However, as for those who went insane, some of them went murderously insane. And some of these were unable to recover after being freed. Most of these were relatively easily handled by law enforcement and normal superheroes. In the real world it is much more difficult to kill people and continually get away with it. Some, however, retained some intelligence and cunning. More like they were addicted to the act of murder than were suffering from an inability to recognize reality. These were the Sweetheart Slashers. Yet even they could not entirely escape the dogged pursuit of law enforcement and superheroes, and by the time Jacob Cross, Arielle, and company re-enter their story they were down to their last, most dangerous members. All of whom held a grudge against not only one Hayate Ishikawa, but also one Arielle Cadieux for helping break their power in the virtual. There was another VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident. Kaede Kobayashi was one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. Psi-Division investigated, brought the last of the Sweetheart Slashers to justice during the fourth tournament, and ended up with Kaede as a new recruit in the process. Done and done. Powers & Tactics: Arielle is a mutant psionic. Her powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification. This means that her normal human abilities are being augmented by her willpower. Her particular power set can be found in metahuman psionics, as well, but as her powers were activated by an outside source and not her own genetics she is classified as a mutant. Her specific powers mainly make her faster, accelerating her physical movement. She can casually outrun virtually any automobile, run up walls and across water without falling or sinking, and her accuracy and dodging ability are significantly improved. However, that is not all that she can do. She also has a small measure of subconscious telekinetic ability, enhancing both the damage of any unarmed strikes and any melee weapon she might wield. Such as her Kinetic Rapier, which was specifically designed to withstand such use by Valentina Alvarez. With it, she is free to strike as rapidly as she chooses, without fear of breaking the weapon or scarring the delicate skin of her hand. The latter is unlikely, however, due to her final power of Psionic Resilience. It boosts her durability and renders her more or less invulnerable to mundane firearms. Still, the Rapier both hits harder and penetrates armor better anyway. Tactically, she’s just a swordswoman, really. Albeit one who can dash in and out of range with Move By Action. She can also Acrobatic Bluff, Feint, Trick, and Taunt all at the Improved level, with Redirect and Takedown Attack 2 making things interesting against multiple opponents. And both Defensive and Power Attack are on the table should they be needed. She doesn’t normally power stunt. If she did, it would most likely be swapping Autofire on Amplified Rapier Strike for Targeted Area Burst. This would be a 30 ft burst. Personality: Arielle supposes she isn’t much different than the player killer guilds that brought their grisly work to the real. She can’t quite stop being the Captain of the Rose Knights. No, she’s not desperately scrapping with powerful monsters to escape virtual reality. But the skills and habits developed in the virtual have carried over to the real. Heroism in medieval/fantasy tradition. People are in danger? Or have already been harmed? Find the source of the problem. Negotiate it away if you can, as violence is a last resort. But if you must resort to violence, kill ‘em stone fuckin’ dead. Those were the rules of the game, and real life isn’t so different when you get down to it. She knows she left part of herself behind in the virtual. Everyone trapped there for those two years did, really. She was…softer, then. She misses it, sometimes. The innocence. That version of herself who’d never seen what happens when people simply break. Who’d never put mad dogs down for the safety of everyone else. Who’d never heard the last desperate pleas of someone about to die. The Rose Knights lost people over those two years. Some died nobly. Some died stupidly. Some were her friends. Some were practically strangers. Some died believing in their Captain. Some died cursing her name. What they went through…it has to mean something. It has to. So she’s still their Captain. Anything less would be a betrayal of their memory. She loves Hayate with every fiber of her being. The others are the sisters she never had. She will protect them. She will protect everyone. Take the responsibility onto herself, and hold on no matter how heavy the weight of it proves to be. That’s the Captain’s job. That’s who she is. Even if she doesn’t bear the literal title anymore.

Hayate Ishikawa Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 210/210 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +15 (16/40) Tough: +3/+6, Fort: +6, Ref: +9/+15, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 15 (+20), Bluff 7 (+22), Computers 12 (+15), Craft (electronic) 2 (+5), Craft (mechanical) 2 (+5), Diplomacy 7 (+22), Gather Information 5 (+20), Intimidate 5 (+20), Investigate 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (technology) 2 (+5), Language 5 (+5), Notice 10 (+15), Search 12 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Stealth 10 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 6, Attractive 2 (+8), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 3, Dodge Focus 6, Evasion 2, Improved Critical 2 (Dual Sword Strikes (Strike 6)), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative 3, Interpose, Lionheart, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Computers, Sense Motive, Stealth), Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Dual Swords (Device 6) (Easy to lose, Only you can use) Dual Sword Strikes (Strike 6) (DC 24, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Dual Sword Strikes (Strike 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [3 extra ranks], Penetrating; Extended Reach 2 (10 ft.), Knockback 3, Mighty, Precise) Psionic Amplification (Container, Passive 12) Psionic Charisma (Enhanced Charisma 24) (+24 CHA, Feats: Attractive 2 (+8); Limited (Same rules as Attractive Feat)) Psionic Quickness (Quickness 12) (Perform routine tasks at 10000x speed) Psionic Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 31) (Traits: Attack Bonus +3 (+9), Defense Bonus +3 (+15), Attack Focus (melee) 6 +3 (+6), Dodge Focus 6 +3 (+6), Reflex +6 (+15), Evasion 2 +1 (+2), Feats: Defensive Roll 3, Improved Initiative 3) Psionic Speed (Speed 3) (Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd) Attack Bonus: +6/+9 (Ranged: +6/+9, Melee: +9/+15, Grapple: +12/+18) Attacks: Dual Sword Strikes (Strike 6), +15 (DC 24), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 18) Defense: +12/+15 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -3 Initiative: +17 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Japanese Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 44 + Skills 27 (108 ranks) + Feats 21 + Powers 80 + Combat 24 + Saves 14 + Drawbacks 0 = 210 Age (as of Jan 2019): 22 Height: 5’ 8” Weight: 165 lbs Ethnicity: Japanese Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Imagine being a mostly ordinary 15 year old kid. You go to school. You hang out at home with your cousin on days off, though she’s more like your sister really. You have ordinary worries and ordinary cares. Ordinary hopes and ordinary dreams. But you know…you’re really excited about the new MMORPG starting soon, especially since you helped beta test it. Luck of the draw and you got to see some of the finished product, along with a lot of unfinished ideas. So you put on the incredible new tech of the VR helmet, turn it on, and log in. You have a good time in the game, show some of the rookies how the game systems work, and maybe make some new friends to play with later. Who knows? It’s a start. But there’s a problem. You can’t log out. You can’t even take the helmet off. Your avatar is moving fine, but you aren’t. Something is wrong. And then you learn why. You’re trapped. It’s a world of superheroes, right? Surely someone will save all of you? Except, no. The only way out is to beat the game. And if your character is defeated…if you ever run out of health…you die for real. Now, you can’t be sure if that’s true, but the ones who do run out of health don’t respawn. They’re just…gone. And still nobody saves you. It’s apparently up to the several thousand of you in the game to save yourselves. And this goes on and on. For two whole years. Humans can get used to anything. Yeah, there was a lot of disbelief initially. Yeah, there were suicides in the early days as people lost friends they’d known for years or otherwise couldn’t handle it. But humans can get used to anything. That’s our strength as a species. Adaptability. For better and for worse. There was no other choice. A person either went insane, died, or continued on. Merciless, ain’t it? Such is life. Hayate, naturally, was one of the ones who continued on. He was a protector from the shadows, more or less, never forming a party after the first one kind of…all died except for him. He used his advanced knowledge of the game from being a beta tester to advance his level to the highest of anyone in the game. He did not do either of these things out of any kind of nobility or heroic spirit. He was a good kid, but mostly he was scared and traumatized kid. Afraid of dying. Afraid of getting close to anyone lest they die and hurt him again. And afraid of being the kind of person who would just let people die because he was afraid. Paradoxical, but emotions often are. And a scared and traumatized kid he would have stayed, if not for Arielle Cadieux. The (at the time) imperious Captain of the Rose Knights guild simply wanted one of the strongest players in the game on her team. She’d risen very high from the clueless rookie he’d saved and then briefly teamed up with in the first week. Hayate could have been doing a lot more to help everyone get out faster, and she didn’t have time for his gloomy bullshit. Different people cope in different ways. You know how it is. It’s a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Each of them seeing past the coping behaviors to the wounded heart underneath. Support. Respect. A start to healing. And a genuinely badass team. Seriously. They were considered by virtually all players to be the duo with the highest levels and greatest skill in combat. Like many players at the time, they started to see the game as a home. They took time off of the front lines of conquering the game’s dungeons and bosses to just hang out in their own space. Hell, in a stunning display of how little teenagers think about the long term, they got married and bought a house together. In the game. That they were fighting to get out of. Ah, well. Love makes people do crazy things, and their commitment to each other was and is no less valid because of how it started. And I suppose when one is facing death almost every day, the long term becomes irrelevant. Of course, all good things must come to an end. There were one hundred dungeons in the game, and probably half again that many boss and guardian monsters. They had finally cleared the 75th, with great struggle and sacrifice. When they went for the 76th, they found it empty. There were trash mobs and mooks, to be sure. They regenerated. But the bosses and guardians did not. And they were gone on the 77th, 78th, 79th, hey hold on a minute how far does this…80th, 90th, 95th, 99th, and holy shit. The 100th was also cleared. The game was beaten. Celebrations broke out spontaneously throughout the game as the announcement echoed through it. At long last, they logged out and returned to the physical world. Hayate was a middle class kid. His parents didn’t have the money to keep him in a hospital and well taken care of for two years. So he woke up in a public hospital ward, his body wasted and weak. The one thought in his head was to go find Arielle. He’d forgotten she was French, and thus halfway around the world from him. It took months of grinding physical therapy to get his body back again, only to find out that Arielle and 99 other hadn’t woken up. Wait, what? Hayate’s attempts to investigate the reasons behind this led him to encounter Jacob Cross, who was doing the same thing. Nothing like a good old fashioned team up. The third spoke on that wheel was Hayate’s cousin Ichika, because there’s places guys can’t go that girls can and she wanted to help her cousin/brother resolve his lingering issues. Ain’t familial love grand? To make a long story much shorter, Arielle had a fiancé. Rich guy. Overly possessive asshole. Wanted to develop mind control/warping tech from the VR helmets, despite that not being how they worked at all. Financed the development of an entire new VR game just to see if it was possible. And also kind of kidnapped 100 (including Arielle) of the Nihonto Incident playerbase to experiment on. A lovely fellow all around, he wanted to change Arielle from the independent young woman she was into his personal submissive slave. And yes, it’s as creepy, sexual, and creepily sexual as you’re thinking. Fortunately, the trio’s investigation (Jacob in the real, Hayate and Ichika in the new game) exposed him as the extremely criminal person he was. Arielle discovered her powers and escaped her digital confinement in the process. And everyone involved got incredibly arrested and jailed. Except for Mr. Fiancee, who literally flew all the way to Japan to attempt to murder Hayate for stealing his girl. Fortunately for Hayate, his powers were there to save his ass and leave Mr. Fiancee as the dead one. Granted, that was the first time Hayate had ever used them. And that was yet more blood on his hands. So, not ideal. But the evil was defeated. The girl was saved. Could’ve gone worse. Following this, Jacob Cross invited both of them into Psi-Division. Having been privy to his entire investigation, Hayate accepted. Arielle did too, after she was fully briefed. This led, rather quickly, to a partial Rose Knight reunion, as Valentina Alvarez and Miriam Mizrahi (valuable support players in those two virtual years) joined after Arielle got in touch with them. And as it turned out, sharing both DNA and living space with an uncontrolled psionic can trigger powers. Ichika contacted her cousin/brother for help and ended up a part of the team. But the legacy of the Nihonto Incident was not yet finished. The Sweetheart Slasher Guild had yet to be full reckoned with. Remember when I said there was three choices for the trapped players? Go insane, die, or continue on? Some of those who went insane went murderously insane. And some of these were unable to recover after being freed. Most of these were relatively easily handled by law enforcement and normal superheroes. In the real world it is much more difficult to kill people and continually get away with it. Some, however, retained some intelligence and cunning. More like they were addicted to the act of murder than were suffering from an inability to recognize reality. These were the Sweetheart Slashers. Yeet even they could not entirely escape the dogged persuit of law enforcement and superheroes, and by the time Jacob Cross, Hayate, and company re enter their story they were down to their last, most dangerous members. All of whom held a grudge against one Hayate Ishikawa for helping break their power in the virtual. There was another VR game to come out in the wake of the Nihonto Incident. Kaede Kobayashi was one of its best players. But there was a problem. Every time they held a PvP tournament, one of the players who lost was violently murdered with a knife. The game company said it was coincidental, but after the third tournament nobody was buying it. Psi-Division investigated, brought the last of the Sweetheart Slashers to justice during the fourth tournament, and ended up with Kaede as a new recruit in the process. Done and done. Powers & Tactics: Hayate is a mutant psionic. His powers are best understood as Psionic Amplification. This means that his normal human abilities are being augmented by his willpower. His particularly power set can be found in metahuman psionics, as well, but as his powers were activated by an outside source and not his own genetics he is classified as a mutant. His specific powers mainly make him faster, accelerating his physical movement. However, this does not really manifest as pure land speed. He can keep up with automobiles moving at city speeds, but he’s approximately a thousand times quicker than he is fast. This quickness, or Psionic Reflexes, augments his attack accuracy, dodging abilities, and even damage avoidance. The remaining element of his Psionic Amplification is his Psionic Charisma. It is a very…unusual power. Several factors, most of them poorly understood at a scientific level, govern social interaction. Charisma and “it factor”, for lack of more precise terms. It’s not merely physical attractiveness. Confidence when speaking and body language (posture, movement, etc) are also important. Beyond that it gets more and more ephemeral. Her Psionic Charisma augments all of these factors. It is apparently a telepathic effect, somehow, as it only seems to work on people who would be romantically or sexually attracted to him. For these people, his personal charisma and “it factor” are off the charts. Even the most outlandish lies sound plausible when he speaks them, and even bitter foes have gone from actively homicidal to being one of his newest friends in the course of a single brief conversation. Even more strangely, it doesn’t seem to work on Arielle (despite her known romantic and sexual attraction to him) and it does work on Ichika (who has neither of those things). More research is needed. It should go without saying that Hayate is unaware that this power even exists. He carries a matched set of two blacksteel swords. With his Psionic Reflexes, they can carve stone like butter and even potentially damage steel. He attacks with a blizzard of strikes that someone without his powers could not hope to match. In anyone else’s hands, they’d be a normal (if quite durable) set of swords (Strike 3, Mighty, Improved Crit). Tactically, Hayate is a swordsman. He slashes with his swords. He has both Improved Acrobatic Bluff and Improved Feint to hit easier. Obviously, the latter of those is more effect when his target is Attracted to him. He’s got Power Attackt to do more damage and Takedown Attack 2 to mow through mooks. He has Move By Action to stay out of range of foes strong enough to crush him or skilled enough to consistently hit him. He does prefer to use Stealth to get a good first hit in. He’s even got Interpost to protect all of his female teammates. What a gentleman. He’s capable of power stunting, but to date has not. Personality: Hayate is a good man. Mostly. There’s a part of him that’s harder and more unyielding than the steel of his swords. He left something of himself behind in the virtual. Everyone trapped there for those two years did, really. Killing Arielle’s fiancée was an accident. He moved like he was still in the virtual and it worked. He should have been horrified. He knows he should have been horrified. But he wasn’t. Mr. Fiancee was a bastard of the highest order, and it had been self defense. Not premeditated murder. There was an argument to be made that it was justice. An argument that Jacob Cross made at the time. And over time and many cases later, Hayate has come to agree. Most firmly agree. The real world isn’t that much different than the virtual. You take too much damage, you die. No second chances. There are plenty of people vulnerable to those who would harm them. Treat them like their lives meant nothing. Like their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams meant nothing. No. Unacceptable. He has the power to do something about it. He can put his body and his swords between evil and the vulnerable. He loves Arielle with every fiber of his being. Ichika is his little sister in all the ways that matter. The rest are his good friends. He will protect them. He will protect everyone in the world. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to make sure the vulnerable and helpless are safeguarded. Nothing.

Psi-Divison Overview It all started with Jacob Cross. He’d been part of the Strength Revolution for a little while, but cooperating with the STG or MAG didn’t suit him. This was prior to the STG’s expansion, as well, so they were uh, busy as bees. So, in 2012, he put together his own version of the FBI’s Psi-Division. Or tried to. His standards are…high, ethically speaking. It’s understandably difficult to find people whose motivations are in line with his own on the wrong side of the law. So he ran through prospective members rather rapidly. It was quite a pain in the ass, honestly. And, of course, investigation without the backing of a government agency was inherently risky. Basically anyone he took a liking to got killed or injured enough to quit, and anyone he didn’t like he got arrested and jailed because they were scum. This excludes the few hitmen from who were still trying to goddamn kill him because their employers were incapable of letting a grudge go. Then came the Nihonto Incident. Ten thousand players trapped in a virtual reality game by a malevolent AI until unexpectedly freed by an unknown force. Dr. Kenta Saito may not have been the villain of the piece, but he was not innocent. He had his own private theories about being able to awaken psionic powers in people. Everybody had them inherently, he thought. It was just the simple matter of activating them. That is what the VR helmets he designed were meant to do. And that AI, Makaze Violet, did absolutely nothing to stop them from working in that manner. Dr. Saito, unfortunately, did not live to see that he was wrong and right at the same time. His method of finding potentials needed some work, but his awakening method? Completely correct. It only took a few weeks for a significant percentage of the several thousand survivors of the Incident to realize they now had superhuman powers. Among them was Hayate Ishikawa. Jacob Cross came across him while investigating the Incident. And that was where it started. The rescue of Arielle Cadieux. The recruitment of Hayate and Arielle’s old in game friends Valentina Alvarez and Miriam Mizrahi. Hayate’s cousin Ichika discovering her aiding in Arielle’s rescue trigged her own powers. And the affair with the last of the Sweetheart Slasher Guild, player killers from the game turned killers in the real world, that brought Kaede Kobayashi to the team. It has been a wild ride. Little do they know that is it not over yet. Deep in a secret laboratory somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. In the beating heart of one of the most high powered computer systems ever built, a young man named Juno, a young woman named Celia, and the broken remains of three Sword Goddesses await the arrival of their sister and the swordsman in black. Tactics Psi-Division functions as a more or less purely investigative unit, contrary to what the Drone Horde, Special Tactics Group, and Military Action Group do. Each member of the team has their own specialty in addition to their abilities in combat. Cross is the one with the contacts who tracks down the cases and calls everyone together. Hayate is the computer programmer and crime scene investigator. Arielle brings knowledge of high society, the business world, and the law. Valentina is the both tech specialist and forensic scientist. Miriam is the psychologist and profiler. Ichika is the supernatural specialist and historian. And Kaede is the reconnaissance specialist. Dealing with them is challenging, as their investigations adhere to the letter of the law as much as possible. To the degree that only Jacob Cross is the one who is the one known to be a lawbreaker. When they do commit crimes, they’re most likely to be classified as obstruction of justice. However, if you’ve seen lots of police procedurals, you have a general idea how they operate. Kidnapping. False imprisonment. Impersonating law enforcement. Assault. Breaking and entering. Evidence tampering. You know, the stuff cops in police procedurals mostly get away with because of their badges. Throw in a side of espionage, theft, computer hacking, and (when the law becomes inadequate) assassination, and you have how Psi-Division operates. For transportation and general equipment purposes, they take advantage of the unlimited resources of the Revolution as a whole. So they usually have at least three land vehicles and a private plane, in addition to temporary headquarters with whatever general gear is appropriate.

Nah. It's just avoided being grappled.

Your grapple attempt is a hit. Let's give that grapple check a roll. The Scourge Bear is, uh, pretty large and very strong. Good luck? 1d20+26=44 Unfortunate. No grappling done. Next up, @RocketLord!

Effigy and Invisigirl Wilona stripped, flinging both hoodie and yoga pants poolside from mid air. “Cannonball!” She crashed down hard from almost two yards in the air, making a big splash. A proper cannonball, it was. She surfaced and flung her hair out of the way. “Man, I needed that.” She started drifting lazily, floating. Her bikini wasn’t skimpy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still a modern bikini. So anyone interested in girls could see that she was an attractive young woman with a chest that was noticeably large in comparison with her normal dressed from neck to soles state. Said hypothetical person would also notice the large collection of minor to moderate burn scars spreading out from her right hand. That right hand would have the most, followed by the arm it was attached to, then fanning out in deceasing numbers across the right side of her torso and right leg. There were virtually none on her left side, for reasons that should be obvious. Naomi walked across Leon’s paper ladder, a big metal basin floating next to her head. It was full of wood. A big bag floated next to it. “Thanks, Leon.” She stepped off the ladder onto apparently nothing at all, and walked that way to poolside. Once there, she set herself and everything else down. “Wil? Fire please.” “You got it.” Libertas had obviously not been deactivated, as Wilona surged out of the water (in all her bikini clad and burn scarred glory) and lit the wood on fire with the point of a finger and a little flaming beam. She cannonballed back into the water and resumed floating. Anyone paying attention would notice her right hand glowing slightly as she controlled the flames. The wood would not burn up too quickly. “Naomi’s gonna set up the grill! Cook for yourself! We’re not your momma!” Naomi rapidly set up a makeshift grill, as if she’d done it a thousand times before. The big bag turned out to be full of mostly hamburgers, hot dogs, bread, and assorted condiments. Mostly. There were also just enough cups for everyone, and a rack that more or less fit over the burning wood. There were no actual drinks, unfortunately. She hadn’t forgotten, there just wasn’t any rom in the bag. Water from the poolhouse sink would have to do. With everything carefully set up, she took off her own hoodie and yoga pants, and sat at the edge of the pool. She dipped her feet in. “Cold.” If anything, Naomi looked smaller in just her one piece swimsuit. More vulnerable. But in contrast to Wilona, she had no visible scars.

Initiative Order (start of combat) Million Lucky Terrifica Miracle Girl Nevermore Jarl Nuisance Wolves (8) Zero Hazard Wolf Alphas (2) Gadget Queen Scourge Bear Super cool, okay. Million Lucky will blow one of the Nuisance Wolves away with a barrage of bullets from her revolvers. Terrifica will Delay for now. This brings up @Heritage. Do you need the scene described further, or are you good to go?

What to know something funny? Terrifica also has gotten a 19. Either of you remember the tiebreaker? Also I've decided how we're going to do this. Go for the monsters or protect the civilians, we'll be in initiative the whole way. But we're gonna do it differently than normal. We're gonna run the whole encounter OOC here first, before any IC posting. The one turn, one post method is a momentum killer, especially when you're me and have ADHD and thus variable interest in and ability to take my turn. Million Lucky: 26 Zero: 10 Gadget Queen: 5 Jarl: 17 Scourge Bear: 3 Hazard Wolf Alphas (2): 10 Nuisance Wolves (8): 13

Jedda "Fast Lane" Briggs Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 135/135 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +5, Ref: +10, Will: +6 Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 2 (+5), Craft (electronic) 3 (+5), Craft (mechanical) 8 (+10), Diplomacy 2 (+5), Drive 7 (+10), Gather Information 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (tactics) 3 (+5), Knowledge (technology) 3 (+5), Language 8 (+8), Notice 8 (+10), Pilot 12 (+15), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 2 (+5), Survival 3 (+5) Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 2, Attack Specialization (Heavy Pistol), Attack Specialization (Masterwork Knife), Benefit 2 (World Class Pilot (Evasive Maneuvers may be performed as free action)), Challenge - One Hand On The Wheel (Pilot), Dodge Focus 5, Equipment 14, Improved Critical 2 (Burst Fire (Blast 4)), Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Precise Shot, Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs. Ballistic & Piercing,), Skill Mastery (Craft (mech), Pilot, Notice, Sense Motive), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Customized Submachine Gun (Device 3) (Easy to lose) Burst Fire (Blast 4) (DC 19, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Burst Fire (Blast 4)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2)) MAG Transport Captain's Armor (Device 3) (Hard to lose) Integral Radio (Communication 6) (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle)) Kevlar Weave (Protection 2) (+2 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs. Ballistic & Piercing,)) Parachute (Super-Movement 1) (slow fall) Tactical Goggles (Super-Senses 2) (infravision, ultravision) Equipment: Backup Arsenal (Heavy Pistol, Masterwork Knife, Smoke Grenade), Toolkit (Basic), VTOL Personnel Transport Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +6, Grapple: +8) Attacks: Burst Fire (Blast 4), +10 (DC 19), Heavy Pistol, +10 (DC 19), Masterwork Knife, +9 (DC 18), Smoke Grenade, +8 (DC 15), Unarmed Attack, +6 (DC 17) Defense: +10 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +7 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 19 (76 ranks) + Feats 31 + Powers 21 + Combat 22 + Saves 14 + Drawbacks 0 = 135 **************************************************************************************** VTOL Personnel Transport Power Level: 9; Equipment Points Spent: 59 STR: +15 (40) Toughness: +11 Features: Navigation System 2 Powers: High Powered Jet Engines (Flight (Speed: 2500 mph, 22000 ft./rnd) Light Scattering Systems (Concealment 4) (all visual senses) Radarproof Airframe and Paintjob (Concealment 1) (other sense: Radio; Permanent) Reactive Armor Plating (Impervious Toughness 7) Weaponry (Array 10) (default power: blast) Light Machine Guns (Blast 6) (Default; DC 21; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate 2 (+4)) Rockets (Blast 9) (Array; DC 24; Burst Area (45-225 ft. radius - General); Unreliable (5 Uses); Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5)) Attacks: Light Machine Guns (Blast 6), +12 (DC 21), Rockets (Blast 9) (DC 24) Defense: -4, Size: Gargantuan Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 2 + Powers 54 + Combat 3 + Saves 0 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 59 Age (as of Jan 2019): 35 Height: 5’ 2” Weight: 115 lbs Ethnicity: Aboriginal Australian Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Jedda "Fast Lane" Briggs is a graduate of the University of New South Wales. Specifically, the School of Aviation in Sydney where she earned a Bachelor’s of Aviation. She got a job as a commercial pilot right out of school, and held onto it just long enough to earn enough money for her own plane. When she had that, she quit and went solo. Fast Lane Transport, for all your minor cargo delivery and travel needs. She was reliable, she didn’t ask questions, she didn’t open packages, and she accepted cash. This meant she had several regular clients, both on the legal and illegal side of things. So she was well paid, and living the good life. She did have her fair share of run ins with the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force, but proving actual wrongdoing was virtually impossible due to her methods. Such as using a GPS recorder on every flight, that not asking questions thing, fully cooperating with law enforcement, and resolutely insisting on smugglers of all varieties keeping her exposure to a fuckin’ minimum. The Strength Revolution was one of her clients. So when the AFP had had just about enough of her shit and acted to get her either firmly under their thumb as an informant or in fuckin’ prison already because nobody is this ignorant, the MAG (in the form of Katrea) swooped in with a job offer. She’s been there every since, becoming Transport’s Captain after the last managed to get exploded in their plane. Powers & Tactics: Like all of the MAG, Fast Lane has no superhuman powers. She has a primary weapon in her Customized Submachine Gun, her MAG Transport Captain's Armor, a Backup Arsenal, and her VTOL Personnel Transport plane. The Submachine Gun is just a slightly upgraded version of a mundane Submachine Gun. The Backup Arsenal consists of Smoke Grenades, a Masterwork Knife, and a Heavy Pistol. She also carries a Toolkit to make quick repairs to her plane when necessary. Her MAG Transport Captain's Armor has several features. A radio for staying in touch with Commander Katrea, Captain Isra, and her troops. A parachute for surviving jumping out of her plane should she need to. The expected body armor, with it being more effective against bullets, knives, shrapnel, and arrows. And goggles that extend her vision into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums. Her VTOL Personnel Transport is equipped with several things. High Powered Jet Engines that give it a top speed exceeding Mach 3. Weaponry in a set of Light Machine Guns and 5 Rockets. Reactive Armor Plating that can shrug off most man portable weaponry. A Radarproof Airframe and Paintjob. And Light Scattering Systems that, when activated, make the plane completely invisible. Tactically, Fast Lane will most likely be encountered in her VTOL Personnel Transport. If the heroes can’t keep up with rank 8 flight speed, she is gone. If they can’t detect her in spite of her Light Scattering Systems, she is gone. If they can’t outfly her (Pilot vs Acrobatics checks, most likely) she is gone. Engaging her in a aerial dogfight means dealing with her weapons. And given the slightest inch to escape, she is once again, gone. Keep her Benefit and Challenge Feat in mind. She can use a Pilot check to set her plane’s Defense Score (25 w/ Skill Mastery- 4 Size = 21, equal to a +11 Defense Bonus) for the round and in the same round attack with one of its weapons for no penalty, while still having a move action to, well, move with. And all of that does not include her having 5-10 MAG soldiers inside the plane, who may open the bay doors and start using their own weapons against the heroes. Because that’s her job and all of Transport’s job. Getting the other divisions where they need to go, and getting them the hell out when needed. Their job is not to kick ass. On foot, she’s running away. And her preferred method of escape is her plane. Liberal uses of Smoke Grenades, Burst Fire, and Move By Action. She’s two PL down on foot, and she’s aware of the disparity in combat ability. So yes, she’s in full retreat to her plane. Unless, of course, it’s been already disabled or destroyed. In which case she gets really fucking angry and does her level best to kill the person responsible. Naturally, she can’t power stunt. Personality: Fast Lane is a jovial woman. Stereotypically Aussie is most respects. However, piloting (commercial, private, and criminal) is a male dominated field. And she’s in a minority group that has been heavily discriminated against. And and she’s relatively small as a person. So while she may be jovial, happy go lucky, devil may care, or whatever adjective you prefer to use, if one decides press her buttons they get a uh…vigorous…demonstration what she will and will not tolerate. She shuts down any bullshit before it has a ghost of a chance to escalate. Mostly this only needs words, but sometimes it’s required bullets. She’s tough as fuckin’ nails, is what I’m saying. Even if she doesn’t look or initially act like it.

Raul "Bonus" Torres Power Level: 7; Power Points Spent: 105/105 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +2 (14), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +2 (14) Tough: +2/+5, Fort: +5, Ref: +9, Will: +7 Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+5), Bluff 3 (+5), Craft (chemical) 2 (+5), Diplomacy 8 (+10), Gather Information 8 (+10), Knowledge (behavioral science) 2 (+5), Knowledge (business) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 2 (+5), Knowledge (life sciences) 12 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (technology) 2 (+5), Language 7 (+7), Medicine 12 (+15), Notice 7 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 4 (+5) Feats: Attack Focus (ranged) 2, Attack Specialization (Masterwork Baton), Challenge - Fast Task Revive, Challenge - Fast Task Stabilize, Dodge Focus 4, Equipment 7, Improvised Tools, Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Medicine, Notice, Sense Motive), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Equipment: Arsenal (Masterwork Baton, Masterwork Heavy Pistol, Stun Gun, Taser), Current Headquarters 13, Medkit (Basic), Undercover Vest Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +7, Grapple: +9) Attacks: Masterwork Baton, +10 (DC 19), Masterwork Heavy Pistol, +10 (DC 19), Stun Gun, +7 (DC Fort 17), Taser, +9 (DC Fort 15), Unarmed Attack, +7 (DC 17) Defense: +9 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +1 Languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Spanish Native Totals: Abilities 26 + Skills 21 (84 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 0 + Combat 24 + Saves 15 + Drawbacks 0 = 105 Age (as of Jan 2019): 45 Height: 5’ 7” Weight: 150 lbs Ethnicity: Mexican Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Background: Raul "Bonus" Torres is not a soldier. He is not a police officer. He never worked for any criminal organizations. He was a surgeon in the Mexican Navy. A commissioned officer, to be sure, as all Naval medical personnel are, but he never thought of it that way. He attended Mexico’s Naval Medical School in Mexico City, graduated, and was commissioned. He served honorably and well, and moved up the ranks. His official rank when everything went wrong was Capitán de corbeta, approximately equivalent to Lieutenant Commander in the US. The problem was that he was freelancing during his leave time and any off hours. As a surgeon who only served Mexican Naval personnel, his calendar wasn’t exactly full. And he wasn’t really all that interested in actual Naval stuff. Mustering out would have likely solved all of his problems, but he liked being an officer. Being saluted and called “senor”. Lovely stuff. The problem with his freelancing was that he didn’t ask any questions. Or report any injuries. He was happy just to accept payment for services rendered, preferably in cash. Mexico has a long history with drug cartels. They fight the law. They fight each other. They fight superheroes. And injured people need medical attention. Having a fully trained doctor to rely on is a rare and precious thing. More valuable than diamonds or gold. One that doesn’t ask any unnecessary questions is priceless. But you know how it is. All good things must come to an end. The Federal Police had both informants and intel, and brought his comfortable life to a sudden end. He was court martialed and dishonorably discharged. He hadn’t actually committed any serious crimes, but the ethical violations were significant. So. No medical license. No job. A reputation thoroughly ruined so he couldn’t get an honest job. And so the MAG picked him up. They let him be a surgeon again. His superior management skills served him well when the division’s Captain was killed in 2018. His Lieutenant, Mahmoud "Combo" Isra became the new Captain and surprisingly chose him to replace Isra as Lieutenant. Powers & Tactics: Like all of the MAG, Torres has no superhuman powers. He doesn’t even have any special devices. What he does have is an Undercover Vest and a small Arsenal. He has a Masterwork Baton, a Stun Gun, a Taser, and a Masterwork Heavy Pistol. He carries a Medkit and is responsible for whatever makeshift facility he and his people are operating out of this time. Tactically he’s a doctor, not a soldier. He may be the last of his people out the door, but he’s running the fuck away. They’re largely noncombatants anyway, with a few professionals acting as security. Obviously, he’ll fight to defend his people and patients, but the goal to get the hell away. He has no real preference among his weapons, and for obvious reasons cannot power stunt. Personality: Torres, again, is a doctor, not a soldier. The fact that he’s a skilled combatant now is just icing on the cake. A bonus, if you will. He swore two oaths when he graduated Naval Medical School. One was to Mexico and her Navy, but he could not keep it properly. It unfortunately conflicted with his first oath. The Oath of Maimondes. Money is not important. Reputation is not important. Who his patients are is not important. He is a doctor, and a damned fine one. It is his moral obligation to help as many people as he possibly can. This is, in many ways, the problem with him. A complete and utter refusal to discriminate against any potential patient and a strong willingness to seek out patients when he has none have brought him here. As a criminal and an outcast among the medical community. He regrets nothing, because he has done nothing wrong.