Avenger Assembled

Avenger felt a momentary relief at the sight of Ace kissing Scarab, along with no little surprise. Nice to see Elena's getting some action. And it does mean Ace isn't harassing me anymore...Unless it's just to get more information on me. But that's crazy, Jack, there are limits to paranoia. _Or are there?_ He repaid Ace's ignorance with his own, carefully not paying attention to the Danger in the room. All in all, it was a welcome relief when Taylor arrived. "Phantom. Nice to see you." It was hard for Jack to project much friendliness through the mask, so he didn't try. He knew Taylor would know it was there. "Arrowhawk. Good to see you up and around." Arrowhawk didn't get the friendliness at all, but he didn't think the Scottish archer would object to that.

Avenger was there. Wasn't he always? Even for the super-sensitive Dark Star and Scarab, it was sometimes very hard to tell. "Nice cave," he commented to Scarab, taking his usual seat near the head of the table. "Like what you've done with the place. Watch the rear shaft, though. Security's not great there." He looked up at Dark Star. "Dark Star. Appreciate the invitation. Glad to have a chance to talk." About something other than Divine's disappearance, anyway. That was an ugly subject he didn't like dwelling on.

The prison team freed Columbia, Grimalkin coming up with a remarkable story to explain to the troubled powerhouse why she'd impersonated her daughter earlier and how they all needed to work together to overthrow the master of the world. The teams met up again in the corridor above the prison, the block that had once held the imprisoned children, to discuss their strategy, no small feat now that Phantom had returned from depositing the children and Magpie on the other world. Avenger had pressed for some private interrogation time with the unconscious guards in the closet, and returned in a jauntier mood than when he'd left. "Got an access code to the level above. Should give us full access to Arachnos himself."

Blowing an HP for a +5 Inspire bonus for all my buddies, as usual. Mark's Probability Control Array is currently set to Fortune, giving all his allies within fifty feet a minimum of 7 on their rolls.

"C'mon, team!" Edge yelled as loud as he could, trying to both draw the attention of the cultists and cheer on his teammates to greatness. He used his zip line to get to the top of the fence, trying to get a better view of the situation. "Let's show them what Young Freedom can do! This is Freedom's park! And that means free minds, free souls, and free bodies! Let's overthrow these tyrannical cultists! Wander and Geckoman, hit 'em again! Phalanx, give 'em the Liberator Special! THIS IS FREEDOM CITY!"

...aw. Which is to say, I'm up for it!

Mark reached out and put his arm around Argent, hugging her tightly in that moment of sharp grief. He was closer to Erin in some ways than he was to his current wife, but he loved Argent now more than he loved anyone else. "The same as the others?" he asked his daughter. Clara nodded unhappily, looking at first her father and then her mother. "I am picking up the same distortions you are, Argent," she added to the ex-supervillain, "but I'm not sure what they mean. We'd need better machinery to track it down," she admitted, mostly to her mother. "And that's largely tied up now. It..." She scrubbed a hand over her eyes. "God."

"I am a sinner." Jack crossed himself and stepped back from the temple's holy symbol, the gold and red scarab shining down on him with the reflected light of morning. Heru-Ra had lived and died for the sins of man thousands of years before, only to be reborn again and again in a new body to carry on the fight for justice. Was it any wonder His worship had become the dominant religion on the planet? Still, today, for the first time, Jack felt a strange sensation looking up at that jeweled bug. I need to get this off my chest. Walking out of the sanctuary with his fellow worshippers, Jack turned to Derrick and asked a question that had been on his mind. "Hey, can you take my confession?" Derrick was a good man, one of Jack's best friends, and unlike the temple's accountant had actually taken enough holy orders to take a confession. "Of course, Jack," said Derrick warmly, gladly leading the way towards the nearby booth. Derrick really was a very decent man. Jack had always envied him all that virtue. Derrick slid the screen shut and pronounced the holy words, Jack feeling a strange, guilty twist as his friend recited the benediction he'd heard since childhood. That's...that's not right. Eventually Derrick did finally ask Jack what was going on, and Jack began to talk. "For the last several weeks, something strange has been happening to me." He looked down at his hands in the darkness of the booth, rubbing them together. "I've been having...visions." "Visions, Jack?" asked Derrick carefully. "What kind of visions?" "My hands." Jack looked down at them again. "My hands, covered in blood." "Why do you think this has been happening, Jack?" "I don't know, I...I mean, I know we're all excited about the Avatar visiting this month, but I think this is something separate." "What does Taylor think about all this?" "I can't tell her," Jack confessed, pain in his voice. "God, Derrick, you know all the fighting we did early on. What if she finds out what I'm really like? She's seen some pretty ugly parts of me as it is." "What do you mean, Jack?" The more Jack thought about Derrick's last question as the days went on, the more his doubt grew. He was a good man, contented with his family and with fine prospects at his job. He loved his wife dearly. What _was_ wrong with him? Why was he so worried about Taylor knowing what he was really like? -- "You worry too much," Taylor told him reassuringly as they walked together through the park, pushing one of her charges in a wheelchair. Taylor had started volunteering at the local home for the elderly recently, and when Jack wasn't at work he liked to go visit with her with the old folks. The old man in the chair drooled pleasantly, staring at nothing. "Really, Jack. You're going to do fine." "I'm glad you think so," said Jack, his hand on her shoulder as they headed through the park together. It was a warm fall day, the leaves just beginning to turn colors. As they walked on, he caught sight of a small gaggle of oddly dressed people standing together in the woods, blinking as they disappeared when next he looked. The shadows were deep over there..."Huh. Yeah, uh, I do hope so. I was surprised when the Bishop picked me out to be in the welcoming party." "You'll do fine," she reassured him again, patting his hand, then reaching down to wipe at Ace's mouth. "Who better to welcome the Avatar than her favored childe?" Jack blinked at her turn of phrase. "Well, I guess we all are," he said with a little laugh. "I mean, we all come from the same place. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust." He looked down at his hands and forced a smile still on his face. My hands are covered in blood!

Jack disappeared from the vision of the two ladies without really trying, vanishing down the corridor and down the hall as he headed for Taylor's apartment. Surely nothing could go wrong with the two of them running the show while he was gone...right? He used his car to head for Taylor's apartment rather than his powers, not wanting to use more energy than he had to. Cmon, what could possibly go wrong?

Soon Hellion had the Japanese scientist eating out of his hand, even as their minds naturally opened up to Psyche's mental influences. It didn't take her long to pick out the instructions for how to operate the teleporter, this particular scientist had fairly weak mental defenses. With what she had here, she'd be able to get them all home. Whoop-Ant was another story; the teen hero on her world had comically weak shields around his mind. But here, someone had taken the time out to armor this boy's psyche with gusto! He took a step towards James, giving the big smile of his "master" a second late.

The posting trouble Quark and Gossamer have been having kind of put a crimp in us here. Hmm. (But yeah, the teleporter is the work of Lawrence Smalls. The alien signal that interfered with it, taking the kids? That's Erde-Grue.)

The struggling guard came along with them as they headed down into the bunker together, cursing in German before a look from the terrifying Wander silenced him. Despite his veiled threats and attempted intimidation, the contents of the bunker turned out to be considerably less threatening than he'd described...at least at first glance. There was a single massive object there, a huge piece of bizarre engineering that swirled and shaped its way through the deep underground chasm in a naggingly familiar pattern none of the kids could quite put their finger on. It didn't look much like any science they were familiar with, that was for sure, and was covered in swastikas. At the center of the great and terrible machine was the glowing dimensional modulator they'd come to collect.

Blowing an HP to have flashlights for all!

"I brought flashlights for everybody," said Edge cheerfully, digging them out of his pockets and handing them to all his friends. "Always be prepared, that's my motto. Lead the way, team," he said, trusting that the people who knew more about going down into holes would lead the way. "Let's see what's lurking around here..."

I don't quite understand; what's going on with the old lady and Avenger?

Does anyone have anything else they want done in this thread? (That can't be done elsewhere.)

"You guys should do whatever's necessary," said Jack reassuringly. "I'm just here to help out." He waved his hands, looking unmarked for the beating he'd given out a little while earlier. "If you're concerned about your apartment, Stesha, I can point you guys to several safe spots in the city. Or, hey, you could always contact Ace," he admitted. "I know his place is very well-protected."

"HA HA HA!" Avenger's laughter was downright malevolent, for all that he sounded approving of Geckoman's spine. "Monsters on the loose tonight, boy. I'll be keeping an eye on you." And with that he was gone, lurking again in the deeper darkness somewhere behind Geckoman. "Watch out for the boys who dress as animals."

o_O Gonna make for an interesting post-fight discussion. ;)

"It's a good name," said Jack, bending down to kiss his wife on the lips. Their courtship had been a whirlwind one, but happily accepted by both her family and his. He'd been a bit worried that the strong ethnic ties of his family and hers would be an obstacle, but once they'd shown their love to his parents and hers, no one had been willing to stand in the way of their feelings. "For a great lady. Ms. Faretti." He kissed her again, because it felt nice, stroking her face and pulling her close. "I just love the sound of that." "It's no Dr. Faretti," said Taylor pleasantly, leaning back and folding her hands across her stomach, "but it'll do for a while." Taylor still had big plans to finish her education and get that doctorate she'd been working on when they met, but right then she was content to be a stay-at-home-wife while her husband worked downtown at the temple. After all, they'd have a baby on the way soon if all their efforts counted for anything. "Honey, can you fix me up the last of the steak?" she asked him, giving him a lazy smile. "I'm ravenous for meat." "Sure thing," said Jack agreeably, leaning down to peck her cheek before getting up to wander into the kitchen. They'd spent most of their savings on this little house way off at the edge of the suburbs in Pyramid City, but it had been well worth the investment. Humming contentedly, Jack turned on the television as he opened up the refrigerator...and almost jumped out of his skin! Taylor came running at his shout, Jack looking at her with wide eyes as he slammed the door shut. "What the hell happened to our food?" he asked her, his face pale. Taylor frowned and looked at him, pulling the door open wide. "Jack, honey, that's not funny." Sure enough, their refrigerator was full of a massive quantity of food; fresh produce and cut meat, baked goods and pies, bottles of milk and juice and soda. There was more food in there than anyone could reasonably want. Jack shook his head, remembering the rows of medical blood bags he'd seen in there. He knew those well enough; he'd seen them at the temple. "I..." Jack closed his eyes. "I guess I was remembering the movie from last night." He looked in the refrigerator and shook his head. "I'm sorry, baby, I must have been wool-gathering." He leaned close and pecked her on the cheek. She gave him a patient smile and kissed him back, giving him a worried look. "You should take a rest, honey. I'll cook the food." She kicked off her socks and was barefoot, the better to get around on the tiled floor. "You're working too hard as it is. They need you to be at your best." Jack turned and headed back into the living room at that, settling down on the couch and closing his eyes. Surely that wouldn't happen again.

27

Exposure? Avenger? Pshaw! With a single leap and bound, he deftly slipped through to join the pretty lady on the platform. "Don't turn around." It was better if they knew he was coming; the better to strike fear into their miserable ranks. If they were looking for him, in his experience, odds were pretty good that they wouldn't be able to find him. Fear is the mindkiller. "Who are you?"

Avenger blows an HP to be injured.

Avenger sneakily crept after the lovely lady scientist, passing just a few inches behind her with every step he took. He enjoyed the view as much as he enjoyed himself, thinking pleasant thoughts about the mystery he was uncovering. Keeping his eyes open wide, he kept a close eye out on the fancy corridors as he went, enjoying the secretive thrill of stealth and the joy of not casting a single reflection in any of these shiny surfaces. He was a king, baby.

The flames swept over Jack's flesh, the unholy hellfire burning his clothes but leaving his skin unharmed. He deliberately turned his back on the Brute, shooting a taunting gesture back his way as he fell among the mobsters like a wolf amongst so many sheep. He was a magnet and they were so much fragile steel, their fragile bodies falling beneath his flashing fists and feet.