Avenger Assembled

...so I was unsuccessful in closing the furnace door or using Takedown Attack?

With Hellbound gone, Jack continued flirting with Stephanie, leaning close and whispering soft little nothings. He'd gotten her pretty deeply in the palm of his hand back at the tavern, and now that he was evidently her savior she still seemed quite interested in what he had to offer. He kept an eye on Moira, too, as was good sense, thinking carefully about all that had happened there. It was a very good thing no one had brought up anything embarrassing.

But then Avenger wouldn't have heard the conversation. Why don't we just say Scarab opened the window, so we can get back to the action of the thread? :D

Jack insinuated his arm around Stephanie, giving her a warm smile. "I'm content to let our friend here make those kinds of decisions. But I think you'll find I can show you a good time wherever we go." He ran his hand across her cheek, gazing deeply into her eyes, all romance and charm in the space of a few moments.

Jack knew he couldn't go back to Melinda with a failure, not immediately, anyway. But who said a night on the town in civilian clothes with two lovely ladies and an interesting gentleman counted as a failure? "There's nothing wrong with style," Jack said, ostensibly to Hellbound but with his eyes all on Stephanie. "Why don't we all go celebrate your victory together?" he suggested. "My treat." He made a mental note to hit the streets later that night to get some money the old-fashioned way: by beating criminals to a bloody pulp and taking their wallets.

"I can give you better than that," Jack replied with a ready smile. He walked up to the big fighter and clapped him manfully on the shoulder, unexpectedly strong for a guy who looked better-suited for lifting pretty little champagne glasses than pumping iron. "My name is Jack Faretti. I represent an investor who's very interested in your future as a fighter." He pointed up at the stage behind him, where some very pretty people watched their interplay with visible interest. Jack was focused enough on his desire to make a good impression on both the queen of the city and her potential business partner that it wasn't until just then, when he was looking back from the stands to the others, that he saw the new arrivals.

"Moira. Stephanie." Automatically seductive, Jack took Stephanie's hand and kissed it romantically, all dark, seductive flattery for the pretty little blonde. "It's a pleasure to see you again. I'm so glad to see you up and around again." Thinking quickly, conscious of Melinda's eyes burning into the back of his head, Jack spoke. "Why don't we all get out of here?" he suggests warmly. "We can give this champion the reward he deserves, and we can all get better-acquainted." With the sudden arrival of so many gorgeous women, it seemed to Jack to be an attractive offer.

OK, I've edited my post according, Doc.

"Go talk to him." The words in Jack's ears are like a sudden, delicate whip across his shoulders.

"I..." He turned and found Melinda's blue, blue eyes just a few inches from his. It was a moment before he remembered how to speak again. "You want...you want to sponsor him?" There was no other reason Melinda would want Jack and the champion to speak; only for matters as mundane as business. If she wanted the man for pleasure, well, she'd speak to him herself.

"Clever boy."Jack caught an angry glare from behind Melinda's shoulder, and wondered which one of the rivals he'd naturally acquired as part of her circle had talked her into this. "We'll talk again, once you've shown him how...profitable it can be, working for us. After all, that's one thing you already know well." She put a delicate hand on his shoulder and squeezed, the touch a predator's kiss to get him up and out of his seat. His undead heart pounding in his chest, Jack rose to his feet and headed into the crowd after the retreating champion.

"Fighter!" he called, looking a bit like Oscar Wilde. "A word, if you please."

Avenger is certainly inside the house. The door outside must be open, at least, or otherwise conversing with each other can't be easiy.

"Petty insults. Not the old Scarab." Avenger appeared in the entry hallway by stepping out of a darkened living room that seemed empty just a few moments ago, his black-clad, muscular body just an outline in the darkness from behind him. His implacable eyes studied the two other superheroes coldly, icy blue behind his black mask. While he was not entirely sure what's going on with the strange subtext between the other two men, they both seemed legitimate. What the heck; why not take a chance? "Murder's in here." He steps back in without seeming to wait for a response from the others, though of course he's actually paying them a great deal of attention.

Sure, from holding back. Avenger is PL 9 at best on the offense, thanks to his secret identity.

Okay, so I did the deed, lost my last HP, and am unfatigued? Good good. :)

Really? OK, well, I'll just take the fatigue from surging and spend the HP to gain Takedown Attack, then.

So this is at the Circuit Maximus or not? (One idea: SuperSlams is the farm team for CM)

Jack sat in his seat below Melinda's, applauding delicately, part of a small gaggle of undead watching this performance. In a suit better suited to Edgar Allen Poe than a modern-day night on the town, he looked like a high-class Goth or vampire, the way most of them did. This wasn't the first time since he'd begun working with Melinda that she'd invited him out somewhere as part of her circle, but it was the first time she'd invited him out to something like this. It was hard not to be aroused by the spectacle, at least a little, but the inhuman nature of the two combatants kept it from being as enticing as it might be otherwise.

"Do you like what you see?" Jack felt Melinda's hand on his shoulder and felt...well, it was hard to say. What did a rat feel in the company of a snake? Or a housecat in a pack of panthers? She'd only taken him to her bed once, an encounter which had been as terrifying as it had been thrilling. That was, naturally, the way someone like Melinda preferred it.

"He's very talented," said Jack, the perfect picture of the jaded aristocrat of the night. "If you're asking what I think about the fighters themselves, well...I prefer something softer. More feminine."

"Of course you do, darling," she said with a warm smile. "Of course you do." She kissed his neck, then leaned back to do the same for the young lady behind her who was suddenly looking petulant. It was a relief to be out of that regard; Jack was profoundly glad he hadn't come from her stock.

Okay, I think we're about wrapped up with this one.

The doctors do indeed have a counteragent for the powerful sedatives used on the bar patrons, and by the time Moira leaves her friends' side early the next morning, they're already beginning to recover. Dosed through poisoned liquor, cigarettes, and even something in the air, it's easy to tell how everyone got exposed. That does leave open some awkward questions, though, like how exactly those who escaped the drugging weren't affected by the powerful toxin. Moira does get one last glimpse of Jack, standing in a hospital elevator, just before dawn when she steps out of Stephanie's room; the doors closing just before she can reach him. And when the elevator hits the ground, just as dawn rises in the eastern sky, he's gone.

OK:

Intimidate: Standard Action

Move/close the furnace: Move Action

Surge to Attack: (spend HP to cancel fatigue; extra effort to gain takedown attack) Given the darkness, I would say this qualifies as an unarmed sneak attack.

"Criminals, you have sinned against the laws of man and God..." When Avenger appeared, it wasn't by the door. He showed himself crouched atop the furnace, the reddish glow from below lighting his hockey-mask covered face like a fiend from the bowels of Hell itself. When he spoke, his voice was that of a growling agent of infernal retribution. "Vengeance is mine!" With that he leapt from the furnace, kicking the door shut with a deft sidestep, before throwing himself into the crowd like the wrath of Satan, fists flying and punching at the blinded men, tearing through the mortal crowd with speed and ferocity.

Arcane and Streetwise were to see if he recognizes anything down in the murder room. Stealth was probably unnecessary, given that the other two are busy, but I thought it was worth a shot.

Jeez, it's like Halloween at the Eclipse tonight, Avenger thinks irritably as the Scarab heads downstairs to deal with the new guy. With this sudden crowd showing up for what was supposed to be a solo investigation, Avenger thinks seriously about dropping the case. But on the other hand, running away from a fight has never been Jack's style. If he is going to do this superhero thing, Avenger needs to be able to work with other superheroes. And if the Scarab is the nosy psychic that Jack is beginning to suspect he is, having another mind around will give Avenger time to suss out the man's bona fides before anything dangerous is uncovered.

Avenger gets downstairs by dint of flying down, drifting down to the living room through the chimney like the ghost of Santa Claus. Once there he casually reforms himself, looking around at the shocking scene of carnage all around. In the midst of horror, it's hard to remember his clever plan about surprising the others.

Heh. Here's an idea: Avenger wanders downstairs to the ritual murder scene while the other two are talking, and they look in the door to see a guy dressed in black and wearing a hockey mask standing over a ritual murder scene holding a bloody knife. "OK, fellas, I know what you're thinking..."

The police took a full statement from Moira, as is their wont, and then Officer Johnson (who seemed to have developed a bit of a crush on her) offered to give her a ride to the hospital to check on her friends. "We've seen cases like this before," he confided to her on the way there. "They go in, drug a whole bar or a homeless shelter, then take them away for God knows what. They turn up later, sometimes, usually having been guinea pigs for a new designer drug or implant." He shook his head, a depressed look on his face, but then brightens a little. "But they should be able to treat the drugs, I mean, that's never been a problem before. Without you and your, er, friend, though, we probably wouldn't have saved any of them."

Hmm. I was going to quibble about Scarab being able to know how Avenger was dressed, given how dark the house is, but then again Avenger wasn't actually trying to be sneaky in there until he realized he was being watched. So she probably saw him in the streetlight coming through the window or something. :)

"We had a man come into the station," replied the officer, giving Moira a cautious look. They seem to believe her story (really, who wouldn't believe someone so obviously trustworthy?) but there are still many, many mysteries surrounding it. "He said there'd been an attack at this bar and to come right away with squad cars and paramedics. Funny thing is, this guy managed to disappear right out of a station full of cops before we could get a statement from him. We were wondering if you might know anything about that."