Avenger Assembled

The figure in the suit flew up to him, the bulky bubble at the rear turning out to be a jetpack. Once there, it pressed a few buttons around the edge of its helmet, all ominous silence, and pulled away the big grey sphere to reveal a gorgeous humanoid female, her hair an iridescent blue, eyes shimmering green, her voice low and breathy as she said, "Oh, hello. You must be one of the local authorities. I'm Officer Hro Talak of the Lor Interplanetary Authority. Thank you for your assistance in apprehending those criminals."

Eventually the ship came to a halt overhead, its lights and siren still going, and hovered there for several moments. A shimmering column of light formed near the fallen baddies, quickly transforming itself into a humanoid figure in a heavy, bulky suit and big, opaque helmet. Muttering audibly to itself, the figure bent over the fallen criminals and scanned them with some kind of hand sensor. "It's Kara and Lara, all right," it called up to its ship. "Beam them up!" With that a flash of light pulled the alien criminals into the ship, just like the one that had put the visitor there. Waving the sensor around, its face invisible behind the helmet, the suited figure began scanning the nearby area.

Just wanted to reaffirm what I said in chat: Avengmouse! A perfectly normal mouse, if unusually driven and secretive, whose abilities make him a sneaky, terrifying combat monster with great mobility and keen senses. His wings are just part of his costume, of course, and the fangs are just to scare bad guys. He's just a mouse in a bat costume. Really.

Mod note: Libra, that's a DC 20 Reflex/DC 25 Tou save. Unlike most Area attacks, a successful Reflex save results in no damage, not 1/2. You has to have enough Create Object volume to cover the area he's dropping it on, and unless he has Selective, everyone in that area has to save. Note that you are hitting everyone in that area except yourself, since you don't have Selective. Additionally, Libra, I have another concern: We maintain some pretty rigorous standards here as far as writing style. You need to write in a way other people can understand, particularly the lurkers who hare attracted here by the quality of our craftsmanship. That means you write in the third person style. Thoughts go in italics, or underscores, or anything to separate them from your actions. The same goes for dialogue. The only way you have of communicating in this game is by means of what you can write, and if you're not writing in a comprehensible way, it's going to make things very challenging for you.

The two women dropped out of sight over the forest, but they were still too far away for Kid Cthulu to reach immediately. When he did get there, he found them fallen in the soft grass of a large clearing, looking battered from the fall but otherwise all right. Nearby was a silver craft about the size of a minivan, but spread flat like a giant saucer, windows visible at the front and back. No Earthly science had ever crafted that! A few moments later, in a ripple of light above him, a much larger craft came into view: this one glowing with red and white lights along either side, and blaring a loud, dissonant note of sound!

Kid Cthulu's blast struck true, scorching a line of fire along the fleeing super-criminal's side. But she stayed in the air and kept a grip on her friend, dipping low across the city skyline as she headed towards the state forest north of the city. The mall was clear, but the bad guys were getting away!

"Goodness and justice are the same in the darkness and the light both," said Freedom Angel with great seriousness. "The light can be as blinding as the darkness to the wrong set of eyes. Besides, I have excellent night vision." He fluffed his wings a little and added, "I speak to many faithful. Some are disappointed to learn they do not follow the Creator's teachings, particularly those who use the same symbols of His power that I do." The angel's armor was certainly decorated in a Christian style, reminiscent of medieval painting Arrowhawk had seen in Scotland. "It can be easier, sometimes, to deal with others. Like that man I spoke with, who simply needed some persuasion to turn away from the path of sin."

"I don't sleep," the angel explained. "The church is very quiet at night. Sometimes I bake, or prepare other food for the charity kitchen. Or read holy scriptures. There are so very many, you know." He looked around them at the night and said, "But solitude was unsatisfactory. I felt that I was needed elsewhere. And as for violence, I prefer to draw my sword to defend, not punish." There was no judgement in the words at all, perhaps odd for an angel, just a simple statement of fact. "There is pain enough in this world as it is."

"Screw you, space fascist!" Lara called, waving her fist defiantly. "You can warn me all you want, but I'll never surrender!" And with that she took off, going very fast, and heading into the bright blue sky overhead. Whatever was wrong with her, there was nothing wrong with her ability to fly, her unconscious friend thrown over her shoulders like the proverbial Continental soldier, skirt flapping defiantly in the breeze behind her.

Despite Kara's bold words, Kid Cthulu's blast caught her off-guard, sending her hurling to the floor and away as the blast of mystic heat bowled her over like a squamous firehose. At the sight of her friend's defeat, Lara's resolve stiffened, though, and the loss of one opponent meant another rose to take her place. "I'm not going back on restriction!" she exclaimed. "Not even if a monster says I should." She took off into the air, hovering several feet above the ground, and bent down to scoop up her fallen friend.

DC 21 Tou save, LS.

The shorter one screamed in horror. "Aaiee! He's some kind of monster! This is a terrible planet! Kara, you have the worst ideas ever!" For her part, Kara didn't seem as put-off by the scary display as her friend. "Pfft. Like I haven't seen a Bactrian before, honey." And with that, she pulled back her glowing fist and punched Kid Cthulu right in the green and scaly snoot.

One passes, one fails

OK, well, other people will want to look at this, but I'm going to give you your first APPROVAL

I like the fluff. Her grapple should be +6. You really like the massive arrays, huh? Hrm. Libra, since you're new to the game, I strongly advise you to cut back some on this giant array. It's very complicated even for an experienced player, and you're going to have some major issues with it. My suggestion is drop the linked power stuff and give her more skills and feats so she can actually do something besides be an ice cannon.

The angel turned, white wings flaring behind him, their perfect sheen almost glowing in the glare of streetlights. "No man's heart can be free of sin," said Freedom Angel patiently. "But that man has seen justice delivered today, and heard the words of peace. I don't believe he'll commit that crime again." A faint smile tugged at his lips. "Besides, my friend, evidently there are those watchful enough to catch even the smallest sparrows." He made a gesture in Arrowhawk's direction.

Avenger: 1 rank of base attack (to a total of +5 (+14 melee) [2 pp] Protection 2 (for a total of 14) [2 pp] Edge: 1 more rank of Fortune Control, to a total of 9 (6 pp) Raise Blast to 12 ranks [48 pp] and add 3 more ranks of Progression for a total of 5. This will give Edge 12 500 foot cubes to hit, for a total of 6000 square feet. Raise Probability Control to 12 ranks. Evasion (1 pp) Freedom Angel: Buy off the flaw on his Immunity to Bluff (1 pp) 1 rank of Luck (1 pp) AP: Healing 4 (PFs: Persistent, Stabilize) off his Flaming Sword (1 pp) AVENGER DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN EDGE DONE BY ECALSNEERG FREEDOM ANGEL DONE BY ECALSNEERG

"He ran away when he saw we'd busted through his robot goons," said Rick, lip curling at the memory. "Cowardly as he was twisted, right up to the end. His place was...God, I've tried not to think about it in the years since." He made half-formed gestures with his big hands. "Picture a skyscraper, big as the Pyramid Plaza, but going down as deep into the planet as it goes up. And on every level, there are...things happening." He shot a look at her, as if wondering how much to tell a teenage girl, but went on. "Like Auschwitz. Or worse, because there's more science behind it, and more time, and the people there have been tortured so long they don't think anyone's coming to save them. With robots running the machines, and the...the procedures, robots with human faces painted on and no souls inside. Tough bastards too. I was damn glad we had the Centurion along, because they could fight your average super on almost even terms, and there were thousands of them." His mouth worked in a hard little smile. "Him running away meant no one was controlling the machines, at least. We smashed the machines, saved who we could, and the Centurion and Freedom Bird tore the building out of the ground and threw it into space. One of the finest things I ever saw."

"Oh, Jesus," said Rick, looking appalled, but not surprised, at Erin's words. "Steelgrave is a corrupter. Gets in your head, plays games with you. I can't believe he's still active after all these years, but I guess the Annihilists don't age." He sighed. "You were right not to listen to him. Anyway, he doesn't really work on that kind of cosmic scale. Sounds more like Friendly's department than anything else." At that name, he muttered a soft curse. "You know, when I was with the Centurion, we saw some pretty nasty things. I saw him mind-controlled, drunk, turned into a woman, grieving his world, ready to die for this one, but..." He shook his head. "Only once did I see him mad enough to kill. That was in '65, when we broke Freedom Bird out of his butcher shop, and saw the man for ourselves."

"I heard about that. You kids really know your stuff," he said honestly. "And you're braver than I was at your age. When I was a teenager, all I could do was run away with as much style as I could muster." He thought for a minute, his face lining with concentration, and said, "Do you know why it was you?" He studied her at that. "I went into Nihilor in '65, and I was there in '93 the last time they came. Steelgrave...even if you were whipping him a lot more than he expected, he wouldn't have been fighting you in particular without a reason. Did he say anything to you? Offer you anything?"

"He's fine," said Rick, who moved slowly as he sat down. He was in very good shape for a man his age, but he was still past sixty, having lived a physically active, demanding life before then. And tonight, for whatever reason, he was looking his age. "There wasn't time for any surgical alterations, thank God, and he's already forgotten most of what happened between being taken and being rescued. Sometimes I think they could drop The Bomb on that boy and he'd walk away without a scratch." He looked about ready to break into another one of those expansive stories that Erin associated with the family, before he paused and said, "I understand you fought with Steelgrave." He caught her look and added, "Mark didn't tell me a thing, but when I heard you people had fought the Terminus, I used the pull I had to get a look at the reports you kids filed."

When the door opened, she was greeted with a thoroughly unexpected sight. Rick Lucas was looking unaccountably somber in a black cardigan, his white hair combed flat in a style strongly reminiscent of Mr. Summers. A little apologetically, he said, "Ah, hello, Ms. White." He was an open-handed kind of guy, but he was from a different generation and she was much his junior. "I know I'm in your hall after-hours," he said with a half-smile. "but I just dropped my son off upstairs. I was hoping we could talk about what happened the other day."

An OOC thread for Erin's conversation with some special people.

It was several days after the team's return from the Lost World and the battle with the forces of the Terminus, and not long after Erin's consultation with Phantom, the dimensional guardian. It was one of those few nights when she had custody of the room and Alex was out, in this case on a date with her unhandsy boyfriend. She hadn't seen much of Mark in the last couple of days; after his return from the custody of Shadivan Steelgrave, even his ultra-tolerant parents had kept him at home for a couple of days. Erin was just settling down with her math homework, Oliver entangling himself on her lap, when she heard a knock at the door.

"Da." Ivan's broad Slavic face turned dour indeed. "I heff assisted the Red Army in the liberation of certain facilities built in the occupied portions of the Rodina by the Thule Society. Their destruction will be a pleasure, especially in the company of such worthy allies." He'd heard of both these agents, after all, and it never hurt to remind them all of what side they were on.