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GM The Painted Desert, Arizona March 3rd, 2024 10:00 AM The Painted Desert survival class has been going on for years at Claremont at this point. Rumors have started to spread by now. Most of the time, the chosen students get to spend some time in the Painted Desert, learning how to survive in a hostile environment, seeing some pretty sights. Then there are, of course, the survival classes that go awry. The ones that end up going into a strange mesa that takes them on time travel adventures as they go through the paths. Sure, it sounds outlandish, and after the first or even second trip, it could have been anything, but after the third trip? Well, there is obviously something out in the Painted Desert. The last few years have been calm, at least. Just a normal survival class, nothing happening. Nobody ending up in any mesas or other time periods. Whatever weirdness happens in the Painted Desert is obviously over by now, right? It should just be a regular survival class. Right? That's what the young would be heroes Baltazar Botez, Carmen Alvarez Arrache, Bernadette O’Connell and Vueriz would perhaps think, at least, as the van that has taken them from the airport stops in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere and opens. They have been told where they would go and what they would have to go through. The heat during the day, the massive drops in temperature during the night, having to navigate and survive without using their powers, at least to the extent that they can. A woman with black hair tied into a long braid sits by the house, with a massive backpack sitting next to her. She is wearing a wide brimmed dark grey cowboy hat and tan shorts and t-shirt. "Hey guys, I'm Alexandra Macedon. Welcome to the Painted Desert."

Sunday February 18, 2024 Late afternoon After over a day and a half of fun in the water and sun at the Harrow estate on Wakaya Island, Fiji (in addition to some more serious topics), it was unfortunately time for the Claremont Academy students to return back to Freedom City for the start of the next school week. After about an hour or so of chaos, everyone was eventually gathered back on the large deck at the back of the main house for Lawrence Harrow to teleport them all back to campus. As the group of teens stepped into the temporal portal Lawrence created once again, they initially felt a similar sensation to what they had the day before when transported to the South Pacific. But suddenly, rather than stepping out the other side of the portal back at the Main Quad at Claremont, the teens felt as if something tugged on them, causing each to stumble forward and as the world reformed around them and they were not at Claremont Academy. Lawrence Harrow, Parker Powers, Mizuki Iwasaki, Baltazar Botez, Consuelo Nunez, Ryan Jacobs, Vueriz, and Michael Adon all found themselves in a dead end alleyway between a pair of three story buildings. Out past the open end, they could see and hear a large crowd of people gathered, though none seemed to notice the sudden appearance of the teens. The weather was cool, but much warmer than the February cold they had expected. The teens were still in the clothes they had been wearing, and Vueriz had her skyboard, but all the rest of their bags and other things were nowhere to be seen. Wearing a pair of jeans and a red Arsenal hoody, Lawrence looked about the alleyway, a concerned expression on his face before he seemed to focus on something distant and out of view. "This is not right." He simply stated, a hint of concern evident in his refined British accent.

OOC for this. @Supercape @Thevshi

GM A Saturday evening in early January... It is dark and cold, but the streets in Southside are active anyway, with people moving around, doing their business, whatever it might be. Southside is not the nicest neighborhood in town, but it is not the worst either. Still, there is a good chance of trouble, and it has been one of the spots where Parker, Baz and Lawrence has snuck out to look for trouble and do some patrols. It has not been a regular thing, but they have done it a few times so far. It has mostly been stopping purse snatchers or would be robbers. Nothing big, nothing that they couldn't handle pretty easily. But today, as they're watching from the top of a building overlooking a street, waiting for anything to happen? They all have a feeling that it might be different.

OOC for this. @Thevshi, @Supercape, @MoonSimply, @Kaede Kimura

Mid-late January, 2024 The End of January brings the beginning of February. As the first month ends, so to do many resolutions fall by the wayside. But change has not stopped occurring just because a new year has begun! In fact, often the last shackles of the prior year's poor decisions can only be thrown off during the first month of the new one! Our new group of heroes, having encountered a group of delinquents, are now in a position to restore some level of normalcy to the lives of 5 troubled young girls. ------------------------------------- Ashley did not like losing. She didn’t lose often, of course, and whenever she did it put her in a foul mood. She had excuses, of course. Ashley didn’t lose, she reasoned to herself. It was the other three; they couldn’t keep up their end of the engagement. She was fighting off two of them at once and winning, the other three had a numbers advantage and they couldn’t keep up with them. They were pathetic. What was even the point of all of them having powers if they were so useless! Power should go to the strongest! That was why she had the powers she did, after all. Those who weren’t deserving, shouldn’t have power. ------------------------------------- Felix didn’t care about losing, but he was annoyed. He wasn’t the strongest, after all, but he liked his niche; he liked the new powers he had. And he had barely gotten to use them at all before that British kid had made him so slow he couldn't even move. Which was whatever. Paradox had acted all high and mighty about it ‘that’s inevitable, you aren’t on his level; your borrowed speed can't compete with his natural abilities'. Paradox didn’t know anything about anything, no matter what he acted like. What really grinded his gears was the Bug Boy. The one who had actually knocked him out. That bug didn't really understand anything about how cool FX was. GBB? GBB was garbage compared to FX! He thought he was cool, but Felix was actually the cool one! He just didn’t get how cool Felix was. He was gonna show him how wrong he was about that. ------------------------------------- Ashley had always been entranced by the Starstone ever since she first saw it. It had as many facets in it as there were stars in the sky- something she realized was meaningful-, and when you looked through one of the facets you could see a constellation. Each facet had a different one stored in it. It was also a clear source of tremendous energy, something the girl given the codename Eclipse was always desperate for. It had given her a tremendous amount with the Draco constellation, but it clearly had more; there were 88 constellations in the sky, but there were only 7 Starlights right now. So there had to be more juice in the gem than it was giving. It sat on the stage of what had once been a bustling theater just off Michigan Street; a prismatic gem that shifted through the hues of every color imaginable- and some beyond that-, about the size of a man's chest. Ashley didn’t know where it came from- the other girls did, but they seemed uninterested in telling her-, but she didn’t care anyway. She floated over to it and placed her hands on it, concentrating and breathing in its energies. “...Now come on, give me what you’re hiding...” “Ashley!? What the heck are you doing!?” someone called behind her, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. She had something bigger going on, after all. All this stuff; the color coding, the ‘Starblights’. They were small time. She was Eclipse, and she was big time. ------------------------------------- Lawrence had been right about one thing; Michael had thought Mizuki was insanely cool for getting the abandoned boat house out of the Headmistress and the faculty. He hadn’t gotten all overbearing about it, but he was clearly appreciative of Mizuki being willing to share something she had obtained with her own hard work with her friends. What was maybe less exciting was the realization that both of the groups had been harassed by color-coded schoolgirls- and one guy-, though appropriate congratulations had also been given to Baz, Mizuki, and Lawrence that they had handled their group so easily while the one at the Aquarium had been a bit more troublesome. It had also been noted that Parker, Consuelo, and Carmen had been excellent, though. Parker had even managed to open a line of communication to one of them thanks to his gentle nature. That was what the group was doing now, after school two days later, waiting for Parker to call the girl who had given him her number to continue their communications. When everyone had arrived and was prepared- including whatever preparations they had made for this-, the number was dialed, and after three rings, it was picked up. “Alright, listen. I’m gonna talk for a second and then you can ask questions, but we need to be quick about it.” The voice definitely belonged to the orange wearing Orion from the Aquarium. “About 2 years ago, a weasel named Enoch approached me, Kitty, Ashley One, Zoe, and Jenny. He said he was being hunted by magical things from another dimension and turned us into the Starbrights. We got super powers that he gave us from a gem called the Umbra Star.” she clearly sucks in breath through her teeth. “It sucked. A bunch of terrible stuff happened to us because of it, and Enoch wasn’t exactly great at being a mentor. We were constantly fighting monsters sent by this evil queen named Solus, they were threatening and hurting our friends and family. Then, about a year ago, one of her monsters killed Enoch. And we didn’t even have him anymore. So we gave up. Stopped bothering to fight the monsters, didn’t really go to school. We only had each other. But sometimes the monsters still found us.” She talks fast but it’s not hard to understand her, and her frustration is clear even in just her words; she’s not a delinquent lashing out because it’s fun, she’s a girl their age who is hurt and wounded. “Ashley II and Felix weren’t part of our group. They ended up caught up when one of those monsters attacked us. But the Umbra Star that gives us our powers gave them powers too. They already had powers, so it just made them even stronger. We all could see they were a problem, even beyond us, but we couldn’t really do anything about it; we don’t decide who gets the powers and who doesn’t, only Enoch could figure that out and he never told us. So we had to stick with them. But it’s not gonna fly anymore. They’re way too violent, and they’re clearly working for some other purpose.” she was quiet again, for a second. “...If you take them out, get them arrested, beat them down and take them away to Juvie or some prison or something, maybe the connection will break. And we can be free of them. The others won’t ask this because they’re concerned about each other; no one wants to get blasted by Ashley or watch someone else get blasted. But I’ll do it, because we need the help. We don’t want to fight you. The others don’t know I’m talking to you, but if I show up with you, they won’t side with Ashley and Felix. If you help us, we’ll call it even and split, no hard feelings.” she paused. She was tense, extremely. And it honestly could have been seen as quite suspicious that a girl that had just been trying to punch everyone was now asking for help. "...Okay, sorry. I can answer any questions now." She finally said.

OOC for the other thread. We're going to split up after a bit but we'll keep this as the first thread; there will be a split when the team splits up, then reconverge in here. For now, feel free to give a little blurb about anything you would have done in between, or anything you would have brought to this little meet-up. If it needs a roll, we'll figure it out

December 1, 2023 Claremont Academy As if gym class wasn't bad enough... They'd been divided up as partners for basic unarmed combat when the flash of light came, a snap and boom of white that was all-too-familiar to La Puma Negra. The scene was familiar to none of them, however. They were no longer standing on the washable firm mats of the Claremont gym floor, instead they were standing inside a strange place. It was a room full of trophies; statues of a caped figure holding up a gigantic globe, surrounded by smaller statues of men and women in togas, artifacts from countless worlds and timelines. The walls on either side were of some exotic metal, as was the floor; with doors visible that seemed to lead off to a much larger tunnel complex. This was the lair of the late legendary Centurion, long a museum --- or was it? The whole place had a strange air about it as if long-neglected air had just been recently been disturbed, the air thick with dust and the distinct scent of blood. And then a man appeared; blonde and blue-eyed, he was wearing the Centurion's costume but clearly wasn't him. La Puma Negra recognized the adult form of Quirk (and perhaps a few others did too) - his daughter was no longer with him. "Welcome, combatants!" he called in a booming, artificially amplified voice. "You have reached the Centurion's stronghold! But be warned, if you seek to claim his true power, the guardians may not be what you expect! You must defeat them and reclaim the Centurion's rocket if you wish to be victorious. Let the combat begin!" And then, he vanished.

Mid January, 2024 THE TERRORS OF HIGH SCHOOL! HOMEWORK! TESTS! COLLEGE PREP! RIVAL SCHOOLS! All of these things weigh heavily on the mind of the adolescent, even more on the mind of the adolescent Super Hero, who must juggle these with the duties of Superheroing! But what, dear reader, happens when the actions of the maturing Superhero overlap with the actions of the maturing high school student!? That is the focus of our story today! It was supposed to be, arguably, a fairly easy assignment for Biology. Several students in class had grouped up to go to one of a few preselected locations and examine the unique biology of the area; by comparing their findings, the class could see how even somewhat small differences in location- places within the same city- could change the biodiversity of the area. It was practical knowledge that could provide real world examples; perfect experience. Due to Mizuki's talents, she had been given the chance to take Lawrence and Baz out to look at the ecosystem that thrives around the Centery Narrows; where fresh and salt water mix to create an almost wholly unique ecosystem called an estuary. This also brings them quite close to the closed Ocean Heights Amusement Park, which is supposed to be closed for several more months; opening on Memorial Day in May. It's supposed to be guarded by Stronghold Security during the off-season, all the rides shut down and waiting for tourists and locales in the spring and summer. Which is why it was especially weird that, as they were out exploring the Estuary in a motor boat, they could see the lights on several of the lights start up, the Ferris Wheel start moving, and then, after a little bit, someone fall from the edge of the park and land in the frigid water, arms whipping against the current threatening to drag him out to sea.

An OOC thread for This Thread The Study group is out doing some school work when they are rather unfortunately drawn into some heroics, starring Torpedo Lass II Timeout Gamma Buzz We start with a security guard thrown from a great height, threatening to be washed out to sea!

Sub-basement of Claremont Academy Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey October 2023, 9:45 AM Lawrence Harrow looked about the large room on one of the sub-basements beneath the grounds of Claremont Academy. The room was rather Spartan, with smooth white and grey walls, a floor that had a hexagon pattern and a high, almost cavernous ceiling. Along one of the walls, a couple dozen feet above the floor, was a dark set of plexiglass windows. "So, this is the Doom Room." The blond teen stated with his refined British accent as he looked back over his shoulder towards his roommate and gave a small grin. "Ready to show off what you can do Baz?" The faculty had arranged time in the school’s training room for several of the new students in order to start gathering baseline information on their powers for the year. As such, Lawerence was wearing the standard blue and yellow Claremont uniform, the morphic molecule costume tightly fitting his lean athletic build. The teen began slowly scanning the apparently empty room before his bright blue eyes fixed on the windows to the control room for a few moments. He then turned back to Baz. "Parker said he was in our testing group right? Wonder who the others will be."

Kord Dormitories, Second Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Monday, September 4, 2023 The start of the new school year was just a week away, and the activity on Claremont Academy had increased in anticipation. Today, students (and some parents) had descended on the school’s dormitories, getting students moved in ahead of the start of classes. The weather in Freedom City was still quit warm, pushing towards the 90’s, with the humidity making it seem even warmer. Lawrence Harrow exited the stairwell on the second floor of the dorms, a backpack over one shoulder and a large suitcase in tow. The blond sixteen year old’s parents had seen him off at home in North Bay and he had driven himself to campus. He was looking to get some of his things to his room and catch up with Baz so they could start meeting more of the classmates.

Lincoln, Freedom City, New Jersey Tuesday July 25, 2023 2:23 PM Lawrence Harrow pulled his parents' BWM iX electric SUV into the parking lot of the Cline Building, which was known to some as Freedom League Special Circumstances Housing. As someone who had grown up connected to the superhero community in Freedom City (let alone the son of a member of the Freedom League), Lawrence had visited the FLSCH quite a few times over the years, participating in fundraisers, community improvement projects and social mixers. Today the sixteen year old was here to meet Baltazar (Baz) Botez, who would be his roommate at Claremont Academy when the school year began in a couple months. The school had put the two in touch after it had decided to put them together in a room for the coming year and the pair had exchanged some emails and text messages. This would be the first time Lawrence would be meeting Baz in person. Stepping out of the SUV, the blond sixteen year old had a small box of pastries from a bakery in North Bay his mother liked in one hand. While is was only in the low 80's today, the humidity made it feel much warmer and Lawrence was dressed in a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a blue T-shirt. Making his way into the building, Lawrence headed towards the elevators that would take him to the floor where Baz had his apartment.

Gamma Buzz (a.k.a the Cockroach Kid) Power Level: 8 (192/201 PP) Unspent Power Points: 9 Trade-Offs: None In Brief: Radioactive Cockroach Catchphrase: " Alternate Identity: Baltazar “Baz” Botez Birthplace: Mexico City Residence: Freedom City / Claremont Base of Operations: Freedom City / Claremont Occupation: Student Affiliations: Claremont Family: Bianca “Biz” Botez (Sister) Description: Age: 16 Apparent Age: 16 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Cockroach Height: 5’9” Weight: 75Kgs Eyes: Red Hair: None Gamma Buzz looks like a human shaped insect, covered in a green exoskeleton, with three fingers on each hand, and two antennae growing out of his forehead. He normally wears a t shirt, and jeans. History: Baltazar Botez grew up in the slums of Caracas, spending his time playing in a rubbish dump with his sister. His favourite activity was playing with the glowing green cockroaches that scuttled around suspicious rusty canisters. Illegally dumped experimental nuclear waste has strange effects. Whilst his sister mutated her eyes (and is able to see in infrared and ultraviolet), Baltazar mutated his eyes and everything else, turning into a half-man, half-cockroach radioactive mutant. Fearing prejudice, he and his sister illegally crossed into the USA so that Baltazar could join Claremont, whilst his sister scraped out a living cleaning the sewers and subways of Freedom City (Infrared vision is good for something…) Personality & Motivation Baltazar is a rumbunctious rapscallion who likes to play rather than study. He is keen to prove daredevil bravery. His hobby is electronics and DJ, and aims to set up his own pirate radio station in the future. Underneath the extravert personality, Baltazar is wounded; he is an insect, with no genitalia and (in his mind) a monster with no chance of getting a girl. He is awkward around females, and gets very angry with bullies. Baltazar is still working out his future. Part of him wants to be a hero, if nothing else to impress the girls and gain acceptance. He has a passion for the underdog and wants to help his sister. A rebellious streak in him makes him fancy himself as a “Punk Hero” – hence the pirate radio station. Powers & Tactics: Gamma Buzz has insect like strength, agility and senses. His armour plated skin affords some protection and allows him to crawl along walls and ceilings. He is immune to radiation, and at the same time can emit radiation in various forms. He is too inexperienced and impulsive to be tactically savvy, but he would generally prefer to crawl along a ceiling and dramatically surprise people. He generally fights with his fists, whilst glowing green (Aura Nauseate Power). Whilst his sensitive eyes can see throughout the EM Spectrum, this also makes him vulnerable to dazzles. He has a penchant for signing “GBB” (Gamma Buzz, Baby) with an elegant twist of his laser vision. Power Descriptions: Gamma Buzz’s radioactive powers look like green light. This includes his laser vision (which is also coloured green). His “Mutate” power looks like a sickly yellow green, whilst his “Dazzle” power looks more like a bright white-green. Complications: Half Insect: Gamma Buzz is half insect. He looks ugly and stands out easily, making disguise almost impossible. In addition, certain pesticides and chemicals will affect him if they target insects. Big Impact: He is no more vulnerable to impact damage / effects than the next cape, but impact can easily dislocate his limbs. He can pop them back into place, but that takes time and hurts like hell. Vulnerable Antenna: Even an average guy (or girl) can easily tear of his Antenna. They regrow back eventually, but without them he will loose his tremor sense and detect radiation tactile sense. Green Greeny: Tactically unsound and fresh to the fight, Gamma Buzz hasn’t quite realised that the colour green reflects green light. Some of his powers (particularly the laser vision) will be markedly less useful, or ineffective, against green coloured objects (or people). Signature Move: Gamma Buzz will normally celebrate a victory (or percieved success) by carving his signature (GBB or Gamma Buzz, Baby) into surfaces with his laser vision, Apart from the trouble this vandalism might cause, it can delay him. Struggling Sister:: Has very limited wealth (mainly from his struggling sister, who is also a potential vulnerability for Baltazar). Radiation Pressure: Even without actively using his radiation powers, Gamma Buzz is radioactive enough to be easily spotted and tracked by a geiger counter or those with suitable senses. He also has to periodicallly use his powers (he will feel a pressure build up) after a few hours or he will lose control of them (for instance, unwittingly releasing an extra effort radiation burst at a bad time) inadvertantly releasing his radiation in an attempt to let of steam / release the pressure. Like a brick. Despite his strength, Baz has never learned to swim and will thrash about in water. Whilst he can, technically, swim (due to his incredible strength rather than skill), he will be slow, ineffective, noisy, etc as suits the plot. To make matters worse, he has, against all wisdom, the urge to belly flop into any body of water because it makes a great splash. Easily read. When tense, anxious, or angry, his antennae will stiffen and then start trembling. Those who know him well (or the very astute) can read this, potentially making bluffs or tilts easier. Abilities: 16 + 18 + 12 + 2 + 0 + 4 = 52 Strength: 26 (+8) Dexterity: 28 (+9) Constitution: 22 (+6) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 10 (+0) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 16 + 16 = 32 Initiative: +13 (+9 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Attack: +8 Defence: +8, +4 Flat Footed Grapple: +18 Knockback: -4 (-3 for Critical hits) Saving Throws: 4 + 3 + 4 = 11 Fort +10 (+6 Con, +4) Reflex +12 (+9 Dex, +3) Evaspion 2 Will +4 (+0 Wis, +4) Tough +8 (+6 Con, +2 Protection), +6 vs Critical Hits Skills: 60 Ranks = 15 PP Acrobatics 10 (+19) Bluff 4 (+4) Computers 4 (+5) Craft (Electronics) 4 (+5) Escape Artist 12 (+21) Knowledge (Popular Cultures) 4 (+5) Language 2 (English, Portuguese, Spanish [Native]) Notice 4 (+4) Perform (DJ) 4 (+6) Sense Motive 4 (+4) Stealth 8 (+17) Feats: 6 PP Acrobatic Bluff Evasion 2 Favored Environment (Sewers) Improved Initiative 1 Prone Fighting Powers: 2 + 13 + 3 + 1 + 38 + 1 + 2 + 4 +9 + 4 + 1 = 78pp Features 2 (Autoamputation [can, as a move action, harmlessly auto amputate limbs, digits, or armour plates; amputations are dead once seperated and can not be reattatched], Iron Stomach [can eat anything]) [2 PP] Immunity 13 (All Radiation Effects, Hot and Cold Environments, Disease) [13PP] Leaping 3 (x10 Distance. Running 180’, Standing 90’. High 45’) [3 PP] Protection 2 (Drawbacks: Weak spot) [1 PP] “Armour plates” Radiation Array (32 PP Array, Feats: Alt power 6) [38 PP] (Radiation Descriptor) BP: Blast 8 (Extras: Penetrating, Feats: Improved Range 3 (800’ Increments), Progression: Maximum range 3 (x10), Precise, Incurable) [32 PP] “Laser Vision” AP: Damage 8 (Extras: Area [Cone], Alternate Save [Fortitude], Feats: Reduced Area 6 [20-80' Cone], Incurable, Insidious) [32/32 PP] "Nuclear Breath" AP: Dazzle 8 (10-200’ Radius, Visual plus Radio Senses, Extras: Burst Area, Feats: Decrease Area 6, Increase Area 2, Flaws: Range) [32 PP] AP: Environmental Control 5 (100’ Radius, Extreme Heat, Extreme Light, Heavy Radiation, Extras: Independent [+0], Feats: Selective [Mix and match effects], Slow Fade 6, one day, Flaws: Range [touch]) 32 PP “Irradiate Ground” AP: Nauseate 5 (Extras: Sustained Aura [+3], Contagious, Feats: Selective Aura) [31 PP] “Radioactive Glow” AP: Nauseate 5 (1-50’ Cloud, Extras: Range, Contagious, Cloud Area, Feats: Decrease Area 5, Increase Area 1) [31 PP] “Fallout Bomb” AP: Transform 8 (Mutation to Mutation, 250lbs, Extras: Continuous- countered by medical treatment, Flaws: Random [No control over what power points are turned into]) 32 PP “Mutation Beam” Regeneration 0 (Feats: Regrowth) [1 PP] Speed 2 (25 mph) [2 PP] Super Movement 2 (Wall Crawling 2, Full Speed) [4 PP] Super Senses 9 (Infravision, Ultravision, Tremor Sense, Low Light Vision, Scent, Tactile Detect Radiation, Feats: Uncanny Dodge [tactile]) [9 PP] Super Strength 2 (+10 STR, total STR 36) [4 PP] Immunity 2 (All suffocation, Flaws: Limited to holding breath for extended periods [sustitute rounds for minutes]) "Cockroach lungs" [1 PP] Drawbacks: -2 Vulnerability (EM base dazzles including light; Frequency: uncommon; Intensity: Moderate [x150%]) [-2PP] Totals Attributes 52 + Combat 32 + Saves 11 + Skills 15 + Feats 6 + Powers 78 - Drawbacks 2 = 192/201