Avenger Assembled

"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.

I think this is a great idea! APPROVED

Delay or not, I'm still looking forward to this.

BType, Do you have (or have access to) the Agents of Freedom book? It goes into much more detail about the Freedom City Police Department. STAR (Special Tactics and Response?) Squad is the FC police unit charged with handling super-crime. They get extra money, extra training, extra equipment, and just enough super-science gadgets to keep themselves competitive with super-criminals. (Even if they can't fight a PL 10 monster, they can at least delay or distract one long enough to save the civvies and let the heroes come in.)

"You should stop doing that." The burglar looked up in shock as a flying, winged figure in ancient armor and clothing came swooping out of the sky to land near him. "Oh my God!" "Only one of his agents," said Freedom Angel patiently, his sword and shield both absent from his hands as he tried to speak to the criminal with the crowbar. It was very late in Lantern Hill, or maybe very early, somewhere around six or seven in the morning. With his nighttime chores done and no one else in the church that early, Heyzel had taken to patrolling. "What were you doing?" He listened, unhappily to the man's elaborate story about being locked out of his own house, which was why he'd hit the streets in black clothes and a crowbar, to try and get back in. "You know that lying and stealing is wrong, my brother" He looked the man in the eye, fearlessly ignoring any possible weapons as he put a hand on his shoulder. "You've hurt nothing today but yourself. Go home. Sin no more." They locked eyes for a long moment before the man's eyes widened and he threw away his crowbar. "Thank you!" he said, something like joy on his painted face. "Thank you!" And with that he turned, and ran the other way. With a deep sigh, the Angel of Freedom watched as the burglar disappeared into the darkness. This was going to be a long night.

Kara goes on 13; Lara goes on 1 OK, get your init up, LS.

"You see," said the one in the foreground, "Mr. Cthulu, we are just time travelers from your own future, tourists visiting the modern era of excitement and wonder." She coughed. "But we got separated from our group. So if you could just show me where the nearest time machine is, we'd be happy to be on our way." A crowd was beginning to gather in the mall, drawn by all the excitement and the strange look.

The women frowned, anger and disgust at interruptions in general and at Kid Cthulu's rugose appearance in particular written large on their lovely faces. Of course, they might have been lovelier yet if they hadn't turned to crime. "What are you supposed to be?" the taller of the two spat, her honeyed skin beginning to shimmer ever so slightly. "He's one of their supers!" the shorter one whispered, taking a step in front of her friend to say, "It's okay, sir, we're just a little lost," she said ingratiatingly, waving around her bangle-covered fingers. "I'm sorry about the store, we got confused. If you can just tell us where the nearest time machine is, we'll be on our way."

The mall cop gave Blake the hairy eyeball, and looked like he was about to send the teen on his way when a red light began flashing on the wall behind him. Glancing around quickly, he said, "That's the security alarm. I'll call this in to the station. Good work, kid," he said, rising to his feet and reaching for his belt. A few moments later, there came a terrible sound of shattering glass from the mall outside! Running out, Blake could see that the two hoodlums inside Hot Topic hadn't bothered with the door; they'd simply punched their way out and were leisurely strolling towards the mall's exit.

At the police station, a middle-aged mall cop was sitting behind the front desk reading a magazine. With his mustache and stocky build, he looked a lot like your average mall cop, if in a bit better shape than the average stereotype. "Can I help you?" he asked, looking up and giving Blake a curious, if somewhat jaded look.

"I've been working here three years," she said brightly. "But I really don't think we have what you need here yet. Maybe if you go to that other store I told you about, which sells the gold buttons, they'll be able to help you out? You can always bring them back here." From over on the other side of the room, one of the two women looked their way. "This kid isn't bothering you, is he?" she asked. The smile on the petite blonde's face wasn't friendly, either for Blake or for the young clerk. "No, no, I think he was just leaving," said the young lady behind the counter, giving Blake a wide, frightened smile.

With his keen awareness of the mall, KC knows that she's describing the mall police station.

"I know just the place," she said carefully, shooting a glance at the couple as they moved down the aisle away from them. "You need to go to the store on the upper level of the mall, the one right next to the Champions franchise and above the Gamestop. You know the one I mean? That'll have exactly what you need."

The clerk smiled at Blake, her eyes very big and smile very wide. "Hello," she said cheerfully, "what can I get for you today?" She was certainly much perkier than any Hot Topic clerk Blake had ever met! Outside of the young couple he'd noticed, two women in their twenties standing at the edge of the store looking over the T-shirts for a local Goth band, Blake was entirely alone in the place but for the clerk.

Avenger: Growing Up Vampire One of These Things We Rise Together White Wedding (and GMing) Darkness Rising Crossroads And Blackjack Web of Lies Edge: Beach Party Shadow over Freedom Jungle (and GMing) Title of Show Battle of the Sexes (and GMing) Freedom Angel: Beyond the Door Childhood Dream (and GMing) Well With My Soul Holy Meeting GMing Con Games

Edge is definitely in for it. Er, up for it. ;)

"Well yeah," said Mark with a laugh. "I wasn't saying you should come flying down like Captain Thunder fighting Talos. Just nice and graceful, like you fly. Maybe you can bring a satellite or two down with you, before you put it back." It might have been mean teasing from anyone else, but it seemed like Mark actually thought that sort of thing would be awesome.

"Ooh, ancient Egyptian," said Edge curiously. "What does it say?" he asked Ace, trusting that Mr. Danger knew all about that kind of stuff. "Is it about a mummy? Because if so, I know a guy who has a mummy-killing ax in his room. Actually, it's just a regular ax, but it's magic!"

"I've heard you say that before," said Jack with a nod, a solid, familiar presence next to Taylor. "He is a little strange," he added in agreement. "But he's the best we have right now." He gave her a level look. "Should we find someone better, though?" he asked. "There are others in the city, even if we'd have to lie to them."

11

"Chernobog, attend me! Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, send your children to my aid!" called Avenger unexpectedly. "Take the eyes and ears of my enemy so he might feed the Great Beast of Night!" Who said vampires didn't know anything about sorcery? At Avenger's words, twisted black shapes erupted from the walls and ceiling, each entangling themselves around the malevolent Dark Star, sinking into his head, his midsection, every part of his body.