Avenger Assembled

There's more to come, but only a little. Jack has not actually ditched her permanently. And as always, if I'm moving you along too fast over stuff you'd like to handle, just let me know!

Jack ran, maybe faster than a man should, and disappeared into the night to summon help. Long minutes stretched by with Moira alone with her unconscious friends, before the police and paramedics arrived in a friendly, comforting swarm of lights and sirens. The paramedics, shocked at what they've found, gathered up the unconscious people as gently and quickly as they can, shouting to each other about signs of Kepamine and Trioxil poisoning in the unfortunates. The police, naturally, had many questions for Moira, both about her missing friends and the battered, bloody hi-tech mercenaries scattered on the ground like so many broken dolls.

Eliding a little. Let me know if you'd like to actually go back and play these parts out. ;)

While Avenger might have been able to guess Scarab's gender from the voice, I'm just going to run with the idea that he made a false assumption given that Scarab's not in the stereotypical girl superhero costume. (And that, despite his Batman-like imposture, Avenger is not a particularly great detective. )

The Scarab... The name stirred vague memories of watching Freedom Friends reruns as a kid, but truthfully Jack had always enjoyed Raven or FORCE OPS much more than those hokey old shows from his parents generation. I need to watch more television. He was careful to keep his thoughts quiet, mentally "whispering" for all that he had no idea if that would actually do anything. Telekinetics were probably going to have some telepathic abilities, if he'd learned anything from TV; or at the very least some unfortunate psychic surprise. Is this my guy? In lieu of answers, Avenger kept a careful eye on the guy, trying to judge his nature as best he could.

At the same time, he kept as close an eye as his position allowed on the footlocker the Scarab seemed so interested in, creeping as close as he could get away with to get a better look. He wondered what he'd missed. Maybe he can help. I don't actually know anything about forensics here...

Did Avenger ever turn on any lights in the house while he's been searching?

Nope. No reason to. :)

Jack took the hand gratefully, his flesh cool against hers, but gave her a sharp look as she suggested calling in his friends. "My friends wouldn't help you," he said, something like pain in his voice. "They...jeez, I don't even think Stan called the police." He ran his hands through his thick hair, not quite able to look at her. "I am going to beat him when I see him again, that mammerjammer," he added with some heat. "I'm going to go find the police myself and get them back here, if you want to stay with your friends."

Unfortunately for Targette, the runaway-turned-supervillian was so distracted by her blast aimed at Jack that she failed to take into account Moira's iron grip on her head. She gave a sharp, guttural sound of surprise as Moira grabbed her around the head, arms flailing wildly as she was pulled right off her feet. She screwed up her face in concentration as Moira wrapped her arms around her, but was in far too much pain from Moira's adamantine grip to summon up her psionic powers!

At the sight of her lover in peril, Sidetrack gives a terrible scream and leaps into the air, ignoring Jack as she throws a glowing fist directly at Moira's face. To Sidetrack's horror, though, she swings wildly in her rage, so wildly that she clobbers Targette right in the face! "Nooo!" she screams as Targette's head snaps back, bleeding freely from the face now. "You are DEAD, do you hear me? You are both DEAD!" And with that, she grabs Targette and vanishes in a sudden flash of light, a minute before Jack dives for her, missing in a thoroughly ungraceful tackle as he just manages to avoid a faceplant. As suddenly as it began, the fight is over.

Oh, wait, I see what happened. I dropped the g, I didn't repeat the in. He said, "Goin' in through the ducts", not "Go in through the ducts." Your call on what she does, but Avenger's certainly going to come up with a better cover story if she gets confused and goes through the ducts.

Ah...Annlynn wasn't supposed to see Avenger do that little stunt. :shock: He turned out the lights where they were, too, the better to keep her from noticing. If she thinks he has a superpower, she might just think he's a teleporter. Or just very very sneaky; Raven probably does that trick all the time in the comics.

Sidetrack swings and misses at Jack's face, that terrible glowing fist passing within inches of his face. She swears an incredibly inventive swear in reply, growling at him with as much ferocity as he showed her.

Over at the other end of things, Targette grins wickedly, a smile on her face as she laughs silently at the poor battered Moira. She's just raising her pistol when Sidetrack calls, "Corazon! Over here!" Targette shrugs a little, pistol still in hand, and focuses on Jack. Her eyes flare yellow in the same terrible light that she just used on Moira, but now it's Jack whose eyes glow in reply! He staggers, but stays upright, though he's in pain too.

"My brain?! What did you do!" He swings again at Sidetrack, missing by a country mile.

Okay, now that we know what Slamdance is doing, one way or another, I'm just waiting to know if I can recognize Scarab before I post.

Well, look at it this way. Missing in combat with Targette may mean you can't smack her around, but it also means she can't boost her Mental Blast. So it could be worse.

Woo-hoo, nat-20ed on my Stealth. Can't probe what you don't know is there. :D

Now that is a knife. Avenger takes a little while to look the blade over, comparing it to the sort of ritual objects with which he's familiar.

With his knowledge of criminology mostly gleaned from CSI and other forensics shows, Avenger opts to pick up the bloody knife and slip it into the gallon-sized Ziploc bag he keeps inside his bulky costume. (When you're built like Stuart Townsend rather than Dolph Lundgren, you have to use a little padding to make yourself look like the sort of huge, muscular avenger of evil that smashes his way through the criminal element.) That way he can compare it to the murder scene downstairs and then either put it back or bring it to the police, depending on what seems like the best course of action.

The sudden sick feeling of being watched is like a pit in his stomach, a dreadful blow that is only compounded when the nearby window begins to slide open. Avenger deals with that problem like any good costumed adventurer does with an unwanted interloper...he disappears. He takes shelter behind the furniture, watching as the new arrival enters. "Who's this supposed to be?"

Question: do I get to make a Notice check to realize I'm being observed? Because if so, I did OK!

And I would say stunned works the standard way.

Ouch! Well, Moira is stunned and bruised. It might or might not be a good idea to spend one of those HP to shake off the stunned effect; your call.

The Scarab stopped short of the Dickson house, flying instead into the tree in their front yard.

Ouch! Poor Scarab! ;)

"Geez, what'd he do, take a bat to his face?" Lieutenant John Barnes peered over the still pictures of Thomas Eagleton Ewing, the serial mugger who'd turned up outside the 9th Precinct in the Fens beaten into unconsciousness. Barnes was a veteran officer, but the wounds were severe. Most vigilantes didn't coddle criminals, but it looked like whoever had taken this one down had broken more than his share of bones on the way to bringing Ewing down.

"Nope," said his partner, Sarah Pendleton, shaking her head as she pointed out the shape and pattern of injuries. "Bare hands. Left a pretty good impression on Eagleton's jaw; looks like he wears motorcycle gloves or something athletic." She sighed and lit a cigarette, profoundly glad for the precinct's lax enforcement of the department's anti-smoking policy. "We got a picture this time. Sounds like our cape goes by Avenger."

"Hits like a brick and just as crazy, huh?" He looked over the picture snapped by the station's surveillance camera, nodding a little at the gleaming eyes caught in the black and white image. "I've heard of this guy. He turned up in the South Side, Greenbank, and here...he's getting around. Maybe the capes around these parts aren't as territorial as we thought they were. You'd better watch your step, Avenger," he said with a wry look, putting the pictures down. "Stick to fighting skells."

OK, make a Will Save at DC 20.

Targette's eyes widen at the sight of Moira's rage, but a moment later she practically bares her teeth as her eyes flare yellow in a sudden, malignant glow! As she does so, Moira can feel that same glow inside her head, a flash of pure electric pain ripping through her very soul!

Nearby, Sidetrack spits, "You take her, chica!" before leaping nimbly off the bar, landing nimbly on an empty table. "Come out come out wherever you are," she taunts the still-hiding Jack, "before I come out there and beat you!" By way of encouragement, she throws her fist into the wall, the glowing glove on her hand punching right through the wood, leaving behind a deep crater.

By way of response, Jack appears behind her and grabs for her throat, growling menacingly. He misses by inches, but she's distracted enough to turn from smashing up the place to fight him. Heroic, yes. Smart...not so much, Jack thinks as she smiles triumphantly.

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you were waiting for me. No, your attack roll missed.

These are Sidetrack and Targette, two young supervillians who've tangled with various superheroes over the years. Recently, they got into a big fight with Nightrival over a crack house they helped destroy. They are associated with the occasional kidnapping-for-hire, so seeing them here isn't too surprising. Sidetrack's the teleporter and blaster; Targette specializes in blowing fools' fool heads off. They are a mysterious pair; that's all you get! (Some people say they're lovers, but that's a common rumor about supervillianesses who work in pairs, so who knows?)