Avenger Assembled

Okay, durf, we're getting close: Is his Involuntary Transformation common, uncommon, or very common? Can he resist the transformation with a Will save, or is it automatic?

Jack's face was completely uninjured, with hardly a mark left from the blast he'd taken at point-blank range. "I'm all right," he lied smoothly as he looked down at her, "they must not have put a full charge in those things." He smiled down at her, enjoying the post-fight emotional rush and the pretty girl by his side. "How about you, did you get along all right? You did a good job dealing with those guys, surprised or not."

"It was," said Jack, giving her a little half-smile. "Was that your first big fight like that? Watching one, I mean," he added, not wanting to pry where it wasn't his business. Well, maybe it was his business, but he hazarded that it was improper to ask after your date's secret identity. "It looked like you did all the right things. I was glad you were there."

Outside in the alleyway, Jack seemed to relax a little. "Well...that was something." They'd stepped out into a rear alley behind the museum, the loading dock for exhibits and artifacts. There was privacy here, at least with everyone having either rushed out the other exits (for civilians) or rushing in the front door (the arriving emergency personnel). He looked down at Stesha, a half-smile tugging at his face. "Most of my dates don't go like that. Let's get out of here," he suggested.

Despite Stesha's skepticism, the guards ran right past them to subdue the feebly-struggling "Omegadrones" as the frightened crowd recuperated. Amid shocked voices and loud alarms, not to mention the guards yelling at the drones as they ripped off their helmets to find shady-looking men with a day's growth of beards underneath, no one seemed to notice the two hiding heroes at all. Jack leaned close to Stesha, finger over his mouth, and pointed towards a fire exit near the back of the building, miming that they needed to walk very slowly and very carefully that way.

I'm going to spend an HP for Ultimate Stealth, giving Jack a ridiculous 42 on his Stealth check for disappearing behind the statue with Stesha in tow.

Fleur's tangling vines went flying past the fast-moving thug in the drone suit, her vines wrapping themselves firmly around a statue of Andrea Atom. Jack could see the security guards running up behind him in the thug's armor, and knew that he had to end this fight fast if he didn't want the whole fricking world to know who he was and what he was doing! (Much less Stesha, who obviously had a secret identity of some kind.) Knowing that it was now-or-never, Jack slammed his fist into the last drone's head, finally powering him into the ground with a sudden, definitive thud. With that he turned and took Stesha's hand, an urgent look on his face as he ducked down with her. "Ssh! Don't move!"

The thug Stesha had hit with the pollen groaned again and began coughing loudly as pollen infiltrated the putatively protected confines of his suit, but didn't actually pass out. Over on the other end of things, Jack had opted to end the fight quickly. What better way was there for him to get the fight done and get the heck out of there before anyone noticed the two of them fighting? He drew back his fist and slammed it directly into his antagonist's face, hitting his jaw so hard that the tough metal bent beneath his knuckles. The overmatched man in the drone suit staggered back, this time managing a shot from the pike that smacked into the ceiling. Plaster and bits of hanging tile fell down, the torso-sized hole overhead exposing the wiring inside the ceiling.

OK, Akmenos, you're looking good. Just readjust your numbers (combat, etc) so they add up and I think you'll be good to go. Doc?

Okay, that's an HP for Stesha since her complication has just come up in a big way. And one for Jack, since I let the thug he stunned come back up.

Fleur de Joie's entangling vine wrapped itself solidly around the thug in the drone's armor, the man giving an "Awp!" as vines suddenly bound the man solidly against the wall, binding the now-immobile thug so tightly against the solidly-fixed wall and strut behind him that he didn't even fall over! Over on the other end of things, Jack was fighting mad...but mindful of the real situation too. Oh, jeez, I can't just fall back and leave her here! But she's obviously got meta-powers... In the end, gallantry won out over self-preservation. "Oh, pretty boy wants to fight, huh?" sneered the other thug. "Guess I need to melt your face all the way off!" "I'M GOING TO RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND FEED IT TO YOU, YOU-" The look of murderous fury in Jack's eyes wasn't actually enough to rattle the thug, but it was enough to surprise him as Jack threw a punch against his head that made flesh rattle against armor. The thug staggered back, his head ringing from the sheer force of Jack's devastating punch. When he brought his pike around to bear again, Jack easily evaded his counter-thrust.

The 1 Jack rolled on his attack misses the drone. Since I'm running the encounter, I'll say his 1 means he takes an energy blast right to the face that his vampiric toughness means he completely shrugs off. Ah well. Stesha, you're up.

The 'drone' Stesha accosted replied by calling her something extremely unladylike (by his South Side accent he was no Omegadrone!) and leveling his power pike at her! As the glowing tip in her face grew brighter and brighter, suddenly Jack threw himself forward to tackle the drone...just in time to take a full-on energy blast right in the face! He staggered back, clutching at his face; his vision momentarily clouded by not actually injured. As the crowd screamed and started to run, the other drone yelled "Forget the plan! Blast these $)#$s!"

Jack: 17 "Omegadrone" 1: 9 Stesha: 5 "Omegadrone" 2: 2

"Well, I think I'd..." Jack was just reaching up to put his arm around her shoulders in a subtle, careful sort of way when he saw the movement to her left. The two "Omegadrones" outside the Terminus Invasion exhibit had shifted just a tiny bit, just enough that it looked like more than the wind. Stesha had gotten a better view, and she could make out the faint rise and fall of one's chest even from this far away. Whoever was standing there had stood still for quite a while, but their mood seemed to be failing. "Stesha," said Jack calmly, "I think we need to step aside and call security." That was their job, right?

"Saw you on the news." As a man committed to the character, Jack spoke like Avenger while in costume. "And just had very strange call from Grim about Andrea Atom monster in the Fens. Suggest we meet at your place immediately to discuss situation. Do you need help?" Jack slipped out of character then, maybe because he was watching one of the live feeds from the Plaza that usually showed up on the Internet or various TV news clips about the holiday. There were hurt people around, and plenty of them, but fortunately quick action had stopped both the rampaging powerhouse and the tiny terror before they'd done anything too horrible. Elena's knowledge, and the wisdom passed down the line of the Scarab, was enough to help treat the injured people. No one had died, or so it appeared, though a few people were in a bad way. Scarab found herself confronted with one groaning elderly man half-pinned down by debris, a horrified East Asian boy in a Boy Scout uniform working to dig him out, while on the other side a South Asian-looking boy in a sailor suit called out for his father.

Jack is worse at noticing: 14 But the thugs in the armor are worse yet!: 10 Stesha and Jack notice that the Omegadrone statues visible outside the special exhibit dedicated to the Terminus Invasion down the hall seem to be...breathing.

Locked down this thread for another one.

The room fell silent at that grim bit of business before finally Agent H spoke up. She looked deeply unhappy about finding common ground with any of these people, but the tiny resistance fighter wasn't about to back down from the truth either. "I'm Hope Rogers. My world isn't dead. I could go back to it anytime I want," she added with a sniff. "At least once I turn eighteen and can make my own choices." She bit her lip, looking very much like a young girl for once. "My parents are dead. My whole family is dead. The Nazis murdered them...and did other things, while I was just a couple of feet away and unable to do anything about it. I joined the Resistance to fight back. The Resistance sent me here. That's why I'm at Claremont, so that when I go back I can use my powers to kill every Nazi soldier on the face of Erde. And the hardest part I have is that no one else understands that but me."

Late on the night after Knight took Grimalkin to the Pyramid Plaza, he got a call there from Avenger. "Time for action, Wesley. Meet me at the Atlas Stockyards when convenient tonight." Avenger hoped Wesley wouldn't take too long in his efforts to get out there; spending all day nearby the barely functioning stockyards brought back too many foul memories of his childhood trips to Bedlam. The old blood in the air was rotten, enough to turn his undead stomach. "Time to help Grimalkin."

This is the OOC thread for Wesley and Avenger to do something...horrible.

Hi, Boshek! Welcome to the site.

Haven't forgotten this one. You guys have surprised me, I'm thinking about what to do next. :D

Gimmie a Notice check, you.

"It could be, it could be." The pair of them walked along to the Heros of Magic exhibit, displaying everything from Lady Celtic and Britannia, two of the most famous magical superheroes of Europe, to more recent magically-enhanced champions like Siren and Lady Liberty. Jack read the little plaque attached to the Lady Liberty exhibit with interest, nodding a little as he read the display. "Hmm, it sounds like some people don't believe Lady Liberty's powers are magic. I guess some patriots think that anything that has to do with America can't be magical. At least she's a strong woman doing her thing, right?"