Avenger Assembled

Jack's grip on Taylor's hand was very tight for a moment, but his hands were steadier now that he'd had a chance to steady himself. He could feel Ace's holy ward tugging at his own awareness like an unpleasant heat pressed against his skin, but entering without hostile intent had gotten him inside the door. "Mmmy god...my peoppple..." He stared out at the wall of demons outside, taking a moment to shake his head. "Nno, no, they'll be alll rightt. Demons showwed no interrest in mee until I staarted killing themmm." He'd ordered the vampires of Freedom City into deep cover, calling on the same ancient strongholds that they'd taken shelter in during the Terminus Invasion. I never thought I would see this myself. God help us all. "Can't go inside," he finally said. "Too much demon blood. Can't...can't be around wounded and helplesscivilians. Will make stand here outside."

"I Love Rock and Roll," said Jack with an amused smile after a moment's reflection. "I think we're about ready for a song that we can all sing along to." He leaned over and pecked Taylor on the lips. "You'll do fine, honey." He waved at Dr. Archeville, eying his present with a curious look. "Ah, I see our audience is getting here just in time!"

Dang it, you've activated Schrodinger's Ward! combusts

The world was vibrating. Consuming demon blood had left Jack able to heal his injuries, but his eyes were locked in a crimson glow, his face pulled sharp and tight like a predator's. He kept his hand on Taylor's, mindful of the angle of her hands. His own hands were cracked and broken, the flesh partially burned on one. "Carrreeeful," he warned, his voice shaking like an espresso addict on a three-day bender, "sheee'lll wakkke upp bblasstting...cmmoonn baby you cannnn do thiss..."

Mark sat up, a glow visible behind his broken goggles that matched the gleam from the recently-opened portal to Hell for a second or two before he shook his head. "Oh...oh God," he said out loud, slowly and painfully pulling himself to his feet. He was bleeding and battered, but he wouldn't stay down. "Is everyone all right?" he called. "Did we...god, James..." He sounded a little out of it; and in fact he was.

The emotions came pouring out of Mark at Alex's touch, an overpowering wave of friendship. People said there was no depth to Mark, but that was just because there was no bottom to the wave of sheer good fellowship and heart that came tumbling out of the depths of his soul. There was not even a flicker of doubt in his mind that they'd save James, that they'd save the day, that all the horrors around them would be made right. They were heroes. This was Freedom City. That was what they'd do. And there were memories of his interactions with James, the good times and happy memories they'd shared down in south Florida, his simple, perfect joy at the wild adventure they'd had together because his friend had wanted to make him feel better. Even when he'd finally put the pieces together and figured out that James was a demon, shortly before James' kidnapping, there was nothing but the trust and hope that they'd get their friend back safe and sound. There was no irony in Mark's soul, no hint of artifice or false saccharine: James and Mark were friends, and that was enough.

Jack now has Takedown Attack (2) and is operating with full Concealment against all senses. (He can't use his Speed while Concealed.) He's only doing +16 (31 Toughness) when he connects with his improvised club.

Jack was past taunting, past teasing. He simply killed in great numbers, tearing his way through the demonic crowd with the cold, lethal fury of a born monster. He'd faded from view entirely now, rendering him dependent on the broken parking meter he'd picked up to act as a club. There was screaming, and death, and blood poured on the ground and it was so very, very good. He wanted to dip his head and lap it up, tasting the delicious super-charged essence of demon, but instead concentrated on sheer force and stealth. The demons on his corner died without even knowing what killed them, their bleeding, broken bodies forming a gradually growing wall all around him. He was leaving footprints.

Fixing Avenger's array this month. This is the proper way it should look. Terrifying Vampiric Array of the Undead 11pp+ 6 APs=17 pp BE: Concealment 10 (all senses except tactile) (PF: Close Range) (Flaws: Blending) (11 pp) AP: Insubstantial 2 (gaseous; Extra: Linked Flight 1 [10 mph] PF: Subtle [11 pp] AP: Drain Constitution 2 Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Requires Grapple LINKED Emotion Control 13 Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Limited to love, Range 2 [touch], Requires Grapple) (PF: Subtle) [11 pp] AP: Drain Constitution 2 (Extras: Insidious, Flaws: Requires Grapple) LINKED Mind Reading 13 PF: Subtle (Flaws: Limited [Probe], Range 2 [Touch], Requires Grapple) LINKED Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition, Flaws: Medium [blood]) [10 PP] AP: Drain Constitution 11 (blood drain, Flaws Requires Grapple) [PFs] Precise, Slow Fadex4 (1 hour), [11 pp] AP: Mind Control 13 (Feats: Mental Link, Subtle), Extras: Conscious, Duration [sustained], Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Sense-Dependent [Visual]), Unreliable [5 uses a day] [8 pp] AP: Strike 2 (claws and teeth, PFs Affects Insubstantial (2), Improved Crit, Incurable, Mighty) LINKED Enhanced Feats Fearsome Presence 4 [11 pp] Drawback: Power Loss: Insubstantial and Flight (during daylight hours) (uncommon, minor) (-1) Five points to spend: I'd like to buy Evasion (to a total of Evasion (2)) (1 pp) Takedown Attack (to a total of Takedown Attack (2) (1 pp) Super-Movement: Wall-Crawling 1 (2 pp+2pp-1pp drawback=3pp) AP: Leaping 2 (x5) AP: Speed 2 (25 MPH) Power Loss on Super-Movement Array (during daylight hours) (uncommon, minor) (-1) Edge. Oh boy, ten points! Buying Edge's Fortune Control up to 8 (6 points) His Blast power goes up to 11 with the PFs Progressionx2 [25 foot cubes, 275 square feet] on area His Probability Control goes up to 11 with the PFs Dimensionalx2 [any mystic] added on (how will that happen? Mwahaha!) I'd like to buy the Super-Senses power Danger-Sense [auditory]. [1 point] Immunity (Sense Motive) [2 points] Nobody knows why Mark does what he does. (Seriously) Two ranks rank of Throwing Mastery as an Enhanced Feat, something Mark will mostly use for Aid actions [2 point] I'd like to change his Uncanny Dodge to auditory. I'd like to change his combat score as follows. Dropping it from +9 base to +5 (18 points to 10) and buying Attack Focus Ranged (7) for a total of Ranged Attack Focus 8. This will put him at Attack +5 (Ranged +13) I'd like to drop his blasters (as they suck, and that's sad), letting him sacrifice one rank in Equipment. I'd like to buy a Teleport beacon for 1 EP, putting the remaining 2 EP towards Young Freedom headquarters proper. Sandman was savin the best for last! Yeah... that's the ticket... best for last...

Mark has his Probability Control up, so he can't roll below a seven. Not that it helps him, failing both saves really very badly, but it might help Mike. EDIT: Mark spends an HP to reroll the first save, passing with a 19. He then extra-efforts a roll for the second one, becoming fatigued. 18 boo-yah!

Aiding Erin's dodge against the nearest demon, giving her +5 to her defense in addition to the +5 from Mark's Inspire.

Mark fired a pew-pew blast from his lasers at the demon nearest Erin, the better to give her an edge when it came to combat. "You all know what to do!" he called. "Do what you have to, for Freedom City! For YOUNG FREEDOM! FOR JAMES!" Mark was a young man who believed, and the sheer power of his belief came through to all the other kids as he opened fire.

7 I fail. But I spend an HP on Psyche's behalf if she fails her roll, so with her Inspire bonus she can shake off the effect. (whatever it is.) Don't forget, everybody, that you effectively get an automatic 12 on the roll; 7 from Edge's Probability Control, 5 from his Inspire. (Which Cy already said can be up this round.) Not that any of us have a +12 base Will save.

Edge power-stunts (becoming fatigued along with bruised and staggered) a Selective Area Dimensional Movement Attack: to Hellll! Let's call that a Reflex DC of 20 for the demons. That's the only action he can take this turn.

Edge's head hurt; heck, his whole body hurt. Barely able to see out the lenses of his shattered glasses, Edge concentrated desperately, calling on a deep inner reserve of good fortune he believed was his with the utmost of effort. "We'll get out of this," he muttered to himself, "we'll get out of this..." As Edge concentrated, the air around them began to crackle, reality itself bending palpably all around them. "Getoutgetoutgetoutgetoutgetout..."

Avenger: 47 posts=3 pp+1 Vignette PP=4 pp Darkness Rising: 8 Same Thing: 3 Fallout: A/P: 4 Island: 8 Blackjack: 14 Poison Sky: 5 Riverside Invasion: 4 Southside Invasion: 1 Edge: 63 posts=4 pp+1 Vignette PP=5 pp Some Girls: 14 posts Reunited and It Feels So Good: 2 posts Where the Boys: 14 Getting the Goods: 1 post Best Friend's Girl: 7 Star-Crossed: 1 Summer Nights: 6 Devil: 10 Invasion: Gate: 4 Dust: 3 Birthday: 1 GMing: 18/2=9 posts (1 pp) What, Again?: 2 Caged Bird: 3 Con Games: 8 Checkmate: 2 Beautiful City: 3 I'd like my GM XP to go towards Avenger.

Jack hasn't picked up Speed yet, so in daylight he's just at 30 feet as well.

Avenger Bluffs as a move action (DC 21 w/Skill Mastery.) Hopefully this will leave a great many of them flat-footed. He then begins killing his way through the demons, full-on power-attacking with Takedown Attack for a DC 32 Toughness save.

The worst part, in retrospect, was how very easy it was to start the killing. With one demon's dead body at his feet, Jack laughed, blood staining his lips as he faced the oncoming horde. Their blows, their claws, were nothing, tearing at his clothes and dead flesh without doing any serious damage. If they turned to using their infernal weapons against him, he'd be in trouble...so he'd have to kill them all first. Kill the leader. Kill the greatest of them. Teach them FEAR. "I'm going to enjoy eating your hearts tonight." Jack leaped for the largest demon within his reach, clawing his way up its body to rip at its throat, the great fiend falling as if pole-axed as Jack tore open a great font of ichor, the momentum propelling him forward to fall between a great dragon-shaped beast and a lone devil with a black iron pitchfork. Hissing, Jack grabbed the fork and smashed it into the face of the dragon beast, leaping aside as a jet of unholy flame incinerated the luckless trident-bearer he'd disarmed. Coming back down, he kicked the trident hard, driving it into the face and skull of the dragon, sending it crashing to the earth. He fell amongst a pack of succubi then, ripping and tearing even as they did, leaving four down and broken as if ripped apart by wild animals, finally falling on one luckless imp, picking him up, and biting him in half where the crowd of oncoming demons could see. "Who's next?" he hissed malevolently, feeling a distant tug at the edge of his consciousness. It wasn't right to kill like this, was it? But these were demons...

When Psyche got close to Edge, she distinctly heard him murmuring, "...and staff, they comfort me." He looked up at Psyche and smiled at her, though, focusing on the crowd of demons before them with a brave expression on his face. Mark's mind was full of stories of the past; his grandfather, his father, the Centurion and all the other heroes of Freedom City. But this wasn't a story, now. This was his life, their lives, and the salvation of Freedom City. Conveyed through Psyche, his thoughts came through to the others. Let's do this one for James.

"Wait, what?" Edge was taken off-guard by the demon's words, falling back on hazy childhood memories. The City of Brass? What's he talking about? That was... The other demon smashed Mark in the face, brutally knocking him down and breaking his goggles with a sickening crunch. Mark dropped, hard, nearly clocking his head on a tombstone as he fell to the shattered ground beneath his feet.

I spend an HP to make the one that hit me reroll. :eye2:

Yes, let's kill things!

When Fleur de Joie stepped out of the ficus in the main conference room, she was quickly greeted by an awe-struck Patrick Irons. "Oh, wow!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "You're really here!" He gave her a huge smile, extending his hand to shake hers firmly. "That was so cool!" He was obviously very, very impressed with Fleur. "I love your costume," he said, "it looks really great. Did you...well, did you have a hard time getting here?" he asked with a little laugh. "I guess you don't have to worry about traffic!" - Over in the fan-art room, Derrick and Taylor found a whole assortment of works of art of various shapes and sizes. Here were hand-drawn pictures of Captain Thunder catching a falling airplane, there was a sculpture of Lady Liberty redirecting a radioactive blast from Gamma that had been about to incinerate the Atom kids. One enterprising soul had combined photomosiac software with comic book covers, producing classic images-from-images like the first picture of Centurion assembled entirely out of comic book covers, or the Liberty League made out of war bonds. It made for a very striking effeect.

Edge slapped his hand down, touching the two already extended. "We can do this," he told the others. "Not because we're kids, not because we're superheroes. But because it has to be done."