Project Tomorrow - A Reassembly Filler Arc

[Quellian-dyrae]

Using the first post for status tracking and other utility.

Quick Reference:

CharacterDPTFWPerInsInit:smallcool:Luck
Sarah 8 8 14 8 14 0 0 0 5 1/3
Ronin 10 10 12 11 11 11/17 11/15 16 5 2/3
Potence 10/6 10/6 12/16 10 12 0 0 (16) 16 4 1/4+0/1
Builder 9 9 13 13 9 10/15 10 12 4 0/3
Gethsemane 10 10 12 11 11 0 0 0 2 0/2


Current Status:

Map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Sxqrr_3qnNBa2cUcrTRXQh4xhX7JwqP-vVX33xhzfNE/edit#gid=354594640)

Floating HP: 5.

Sarah: Normal, Fatigued as of next turn.
Ronin: Exhausted.
The Builder: Fatigued.
Gethsemane: 1 Bruise, Exhausted, Dazed+Impaired (F27, 3/5), Ritual Charged.
Katie: 2 Bruises (1/10), Dazed+Impaired (F27), +4 Toughness/-4 Defense.

Supergirl: 5 Bruises (Incurable), Fatigued.
Colossus: 1 Bruise (Incurable), Fatigued.

Magneto: 4 Bruises, -1 Toughness, -1 (1 PP) Stamina, Fatigued. Recover used.
Periodic: INCAPACITATED!
Burster: 4 Bruises, Staggered, AoA -5.
Singular: INCAPACITATED!
Moses Forst: INCAPACITATED!

Wolverine 1: 2 Bruises (Starsoul!Incurable).
Wolverine 2: Normal.

After each episode, the PCs get to take some Downtime Actions to represent various things they're doing with Project Tomorrow and to otherwise prepare for Darkseid. All of these will boost the Readiness Meter. They also provide some general impact to the world, and certain bonuses or resources that can be tapped into during the final battle against Darkseid, to reflect how the different characters "weaponize" the positive ideals they have been spreading.

Downtime Actions are representing more than just the PC's own work. This is the strength of Project Tomorrow - it's a movement, and one that's starting with superheroes. A PC's Downtime Actions represent not just what they're doing, but an abstraction of what other heroes throughout the world are doing. So they can have fairly large-scale impacts.

When performing a Downtime Action, you roll a skill check against DC 20 (each Downtime Action lists skills that can be used; in addition, you can always use Expertise if you can define how you use one of your Expertise skills to achieve the goal). You may Routine these checks if you wish. If you fail, you make only limited progress, translating into a stacking +5 bonus on your next Downtime Action (the bonus resets once you succeed a Downtime Action). If you succeed, you increase the Readiness Meter by 0.5 per degree of success, make progress towards some setting-influencing goal, and gain a personal benefit for the final battle based on your degrees of success.

I'm scaling the Readiness Meter to a maximum of 300. The higher the Readiness Meter, the better your odds against Darkseid. I'm not going to give you specifics, but Readiness 150 is about what I'm considering the "target" - it should be an extremely difficult battle, but winnable. A Readiness of less than 150 is going to make victory very difficult to achieve, and a Readiness below 50 will probably be utterly unwinnable. On the flip side, if you can push far enough past Readiness 150, you might be able to make the battle somewhat easier.

Achieving certain objectives, making certain choices, and completing certain tasks in play can build towards Downtime Actions. At the end of the episode, the GM declares which Downtime Actions have a "boost" from the events in that episode. For example, if the group defeats a powerful villain, the Defeat Evil Downtime Action may get a boost. If the group talks down some enemies from a fight, the Spread Peace Downtime Action may get a boost. If the group completes a little side-task to help some scientist working on some world-changing technology, the Solve Problem Downtime Action may get a boost. And so on. Any checks made for boosted Downtime Actions get a +5 bonus. The boost only lasts for one set of Downtime Actions, after which boosts get reset and recalculated by the events of the next episode. Boosts should generally come from significant or difficult achievements, not merely from acting a certain way during the episode.

Defeat Evil: There will always be evil in the world. Thanks to you there's less of it. This action represents going out and bringing down the bad guys directly. Whether than means capturing supervillains, breaking up crime rings, exposing corrupt businesses and governments, whatever. This Downtime Action can use the Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Stealth, Technology, or Vehicles skills. Alternately, you may use your Power Level directly.

For each two degrees of success, you can choose some significant, reasonably localized threat - a fairly standard supervillain (not a big name), a criminal gang, a corrupt police force, etc - that your efforts have led to the downfall of. For each five degrees of success you can choose a larger-scale threat that operates on the level of a small nation or a who region of a large nation. For each ten degrees of success, you can choose a major threat that operates on a the scale of a large nation or a group of neighboring smaller nations. For each twenty degrees of success, you can choose a massive threat that operates on a global scale.

In addition, your victories give you additional drive with which to challenge Darkseid. When the final battle begins, you gain one bonus Hero Point per five degrees of success you have achieved with this downtime action, which may only be spent for offensive purposes (rerolling an attack, negating fatigue for an extra action or power stunt, etc). You may spend these Hero Points on behalf of your allies if you wish, as with the Luck Control (Grant Effect) power.

Protect Innocence: You protect those in need from harm, the ultimate calling of the hero. This action represents classic defensive hero work, saving people from whatever threatens them. This could mean villains and criminals, or it could mean disasters, hazards, and even the struggles of life. Lives are saved as a direct result of this Downtime Action. This Downtime Action can use the Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Perception, Stealth, Technology, Treatment, or Vehicles skills. Alternately, you may use your Power Level directly.

Your efforts save lives. The sum total of lives you are responsible for saving is equal to the "weight" (one life per pound) of a Mass rank equal two-thirds your total degrees of success minus 5. So with 15 total degrees you've saved 1,600 lives, for example.

In addition, the goodwill of those you have saved will protect you in the final battle against Darkseid. When the final battle begins, you gain one bonus Hero Point per five degrees of success you have achieved with this downtime action, which may only be spent for defensive purposes (rerolling a resistance check, negating fatigue for Recovery, performing an Instant Counter, etc).

Spread Peace: You work to spread peace through the world, reducing the amount of conflict and violence and making neighbors - or even allies - out of enemies. This Downtime Action can use the Deception, Insight, Intimidation, or Persuasion skills.

For each five degrees of success, your efforts, and those of other heroes, can cause one of the following effects: Talk down two nations preparing for conflict, secure a temporary armistice (and peace talks) between two warring nations, produce an armistice in a civil war, improve an armistice to lasting peace, end a non-military conflict between two countries (such as a trade war), or end systematic violence against a people within one nation. For each twenty successes, you can accomplish one of those goals on a regional scale. Certain large and powerful nations, or extremely bitter conflicts, may count as regions rather than individual nations for this purpose, at GM discretion.

In addition, the world being moved towards peace will hamper Darkseid's attacks against you. You get a +1 bonus on active defense against Darkseid in the final battle per twenty degrees of success. You may expend one of these bonuses, losing it for the rest of the battle, to convert one attack by Darkseid into a miss for all targets. You may do this even for attacks that do not normally allow attack rolls.

Spread Love: You work to spread love through the world, bringing people together and reducing hatred and bigotry in various forms. This Downtime Action can use the Insight, Investigation, Perception, or Persuasion skills.

For each five degrees of success, your efforts, and those of other heroes, eradicate one form of systemic hatred, oppression, or subjugation throughout a nation; while isolated instances may still exist, it is no longer present on the large scale. For ten degrees of success, you may do so through a region, a large nation, or a religion. For twenty degrees of success, you do so on a more-or-less global scale.

In addition, the world being moved towards love will shield you from Darkseid's attacks. You get a +1 bonus on resistance checks against Darkseid in the final battle per twenty degrees of success. You may expend one of these bonuses, losing it for the rest of the battle, to choose one condition; all allies who have that condition immediately remove it (if you choose fatigue, everyone loses one level of fatigue; if you choose Bruises, everyone removes half their current Bruises, rounded up).

Spread Hope: You work to spread hope through the world, building up confidence in others that things are getting better. This Downtime Action can use the Acrobatics, Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, or Persuasion skills.

As hope builds, more people get involved in Project Tomorrow. You can spend degrees of success to add people and groups to those who are officially involved with Project Tomorrow. Adding a specific superhero costs 1 degree, a neutral super 2 degrees, a supervillain or major corporation or organization 3 degrees, a superhero team, global corporation or organization, or typical nation 5 degrees, a large nation 10 degrees.

In addition, hope is the ultimate weapon against Darkseid. You get a +1 bonus on effect DCs against Darkseid in the final battle per twenty degrees of success. You may expend one of these bonuses, losing it for the rest of the battle, to force Darkseid to reroll all resistance checks he makes against a single attack (your own or another's), taking the lower of the two rolls. He may not use GM Fiat to Improve these rolls. You may declare this after he has rolled.

Spread Joy: You work to spread joy through the world, making people happier, reducing suffering, and improving quality of life. This Downtime Action can use the Investigation, Persuasion, Technology, or Treatment skills.

For each five degrees of success, choose one region (a single large country or a group of smaller countries). The overall quality of life in that region improves markedly, going from bad to poor to average to good to great. You may affect the same region multiple times. For each fifteen degrees of success, you may affect an entire continent in this way. For each thirty degrees of success, the overall quality of life in more-or-less every nation on Earth improves by one step.

In addition, the reduction of suffering means Darkseid cannot use it as a shield. You get a +1 bonus on attack rolls against Darkseid in the final battle per twenty degrees of success. You may expend one of these bonuses, losing it for the rest of the battle, to receive a +10 bonus on one attack roll, or bestow it upon an ally.

Solve Problems: You work to solve some specific problem afflicting the world; hunger, homelessness, some type of disease, some environmental issue, etc. You can use any skill that the GM deems appropriate to your work.

For each two degrees of success, you solve a city-scale problem (this might mean all significant local problems for a city, a global problem within a city, or a specific problem that impacts roughly a city worth of people). For each five degrees of success, you solve problem at the scale of a small nation or part of a large nation. For each fifteen degrees of success, you solve a problem on the scale of a large nation or a group of smaller nations. For each twenty degrees of success, you solve a continent-scale problem. For each thirty degrees of success, you solve a global-scale problem.

The more problems Project Tomorrow solves, the better it does going forward. While this Downtime Action won't provide bonuses against Darkseid directly, it makes it easier to get other ones. Each two degrees of success on this Downtime Action adds one degree to another Downtime Action of your choice for purposes of calculating final battle bonuses. Further, all characters receive a +1 bonus on future Downtime Actions (except for Solve Problems actions) per ten total successes accumulated in this downtime action among all characters.

General Bonus from Solve Problems Successes: +4

"]Solve Problems: 25 Successes.

Spread Joy: 3 Successes.

"]Defeat Evil: 21 Successes. 10 spent.
Hydra has been excised from North America.

Spread Hope: 12 Successes. 10 spent.
Genosha has joined Project Tomorrow.

"]Solve Problems: 9 Successes.
4 city-scale medical conditions eradicated.
1 small-nation-scale medical condition eradicated.

Spread Hope: 0+4 Successes.

"]Protect Innocent: 7 Successes (25 lives saved to date).

Spread Peace: 10 Successes.

Defeat Evil: 4 Successes. 2 Spent.
Criminal gang The Remainders (Gotham) defeated.

"]Spread Love: 21 Successes.

"]Solve Problems: 18 Successes.
2008 Financial Crisis prevented for USA.

Defeat Evil: 6 Successes.
All demonic bankers cleared from three major cities.
All demonic bankers cleared from U.S. eastern seaboard.

READINESS METER: 80

Boosts Earned This Episode:
Protect Innocence.
Spread Peace.

[Quellian-dyrae]

It was a couple hours afternoon on Saturday. The day was bright, the sky was clear, and the fair was well underway.

Metropolis was just one of several cities hosting the Project Tomorrow Fair. There were another dozen throughout the United States, and nearly that many scattered throughout the rest of the world, in countries that had welcomed superheroicsamaritan activities. At first glance, the fairgrounds might look like any other, with people milling about various rides, attractions, and gloriously unhealthy food stands.

But most fairs weren't being run by superheroes.

I mean, sure, not exclusively. It wasn't like they had Batman handing out cotton candy or anything (do not think Katie didn't try). There were scores of volunteers involved too. But Project Tomorrow was about more than superheroes just rolling up and fixing whatever problems they deemed. It was meant to be as much a movement as a plan. And this was the first big step towards getting people involved in and excited about it.

So along with the rides and attractions and food, there were signs displaying slogans and ideas and members of the Project. There were stands where volunteers could sign up. There was a little stadium where supers could display their powers before an audience, and if they were so inclined talk about how they might be able to use them to help with the Project. There was an auditorium where people could see prototypes of some of the devices that were in progress, or plans for things to be built, improved, or simply rolled out. There were heroes wandering about, greeting and chatting with people, maybe showing off their powers to those who asked, or taking some kids on flights over the fairground, or helping out people who needed it. Or just quietly providing security.

Music and chatter filled the air, punctuated occasionally with cries of excitement or delight. There was a vibrant energy to the fairgounds, although it wasn't entirely uncontested. If you listened closely and maybe had a bit of super-hearing, you could hear the angry chanting of the protesters gathered on the opposite side of the street from the fairgrounds. The mass of protesters was certainly dwarfed by the number of people attending and enjoying the fair, by probably something of the order of a couple thousand to a couple hundred...but to be fair, that was here in Metropolis, the home of the Misfits (not to mention Superman) and the birthplace of Project Tomorrow. Reports were that the gap was smaller in many other cities.

Project Tomorrow was making a strong start. But it still had a ways to go.

Ya'll can decide what you're doing in the fair. Some possibilities were alluded to above, and feel free to make up your own!

For those keeping score at home, since Katie's biggest job in Project Tomorrow is basically organization, she's been basically flying back and forth between fairs making sure everything is running smoothly, helping out, and just generally being Katie before flying off to the next. So she stops in periodically but she's at a different fair right now. However, she is keeping Shared Awareness up, so you may all consider yourselves to have telepathic links running.

[CandyLaser]

The Saturn Foundation had quite a presence at the fair. Power was provided by Saturn Six-series generators - though really, they weren't generators at all, so much as small portals that tapped into distant stars. Saturn nanotech fabricators spun cotton candy from what seemed like nothing at all. And of course, there was the Hall of Tomorrow, showcasing the world as it could be (if it wasn't destroyed by Darkseid, gobbled up by Galactus, or trashed beyond repair by good old humans first).

Sarah herself was busy behind the scenes. She was the opposite of a people person, after all. Unobtrusive camera drones flitted about, and Sarah was monitoring them all, occasionally whispering instructions to her trusty underlings Travis and Eckels. They were her hands, moving about the fair, ensuring that all went according to plan.

Hi, Travis and Eckels! You guys basically haven't been around since the very first arc (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?434915-Reassembly-A-Marvel-DC-Mashup-(Mutants-amp-Masterminds-3E)).

[Starsign]

After everything which Rene has been through, today is an awfully calming day for the reptilian so far.

Not that it lets him relax, mind. Rene has worked at fairgrounds back when he was human and building and maintaining buildings there is backbreaking and very busy labor. There's a great difference between building an apartment and building a fairground ride. Even with a full team of builders, getting anything from a ferris wheel to a roller coaster up can be taxing, difficult and very punishing if even one beam or support has a loose screw. Back in the past, the human Rene would groan whenever he was tasked along with the company to help with constructing a fair?

However, as a reptilian, Rene couldn't ask for anything more!

By this point Rene's seriously tried being and acting like a superhero as a part of Project Tomorrow. He never liked actually fighting villains but he's had little hesitance in doing so now when there's civilians and innocent people in danger. By comparison, constructing a fair is a relaxing task for someone with super-building abilities. Technically they're more predatory abilities coming from the Totem yet Rene has found that they work for more mundane purposes; and that's just how he likes it. It's almost fitting, as the reptilian has been relatively calm since the events at the Peak, though the screams of tearing metal and the deathly sounds of the Peak and the skrull warship still linger hard in his mind.

The reptilian currently holds tightly onto the metal bars of a ferris wheel, using a thick wrench to tighten up several joints whose looseness had set off the ride's emergency brakes. His clawed feet and tail wraps around the bars way up high so that he doesn't risk slipping and falling. He attracted quite a scene from below as people watches the reptilian humanoid who had came in like a green blur up to the wheel. With his instinctual powers he finds the repairs taking all but a minute to fix in what would have taken a crew hours before he slithers back down to the ground again like a green blur. The greenish-yellow-scaled and hunched hero momentarily looks at the crowd with his super-suit, a thick, green-colored rubber spandex covering his body minus the head and limbs, tightly on him. He puts up a nervous, toothless smile. "Ride should be ready to go again," he tells the crowd before running off to the next part of his inevitably busy job.

A short time passes before the reptilian is at one of his other tasks at the fair: lost-and-found. His speed and slithery form lets him moves and weave between groups and streets to help find children who have been separated from their parents. This is a superheroic fair after all; Rene as a human would've been lost as hell if he came here. He minds the rush of people as he zips across the fair before finding a young, brown-haired girl sitting confusingly on a wooden bench. That should be her. "Excuse me?" Rene slithers gently towards the bench while trying to talk to her. "Are you Samantha? Your mom is worried. She's been looking for you since you two played over at that ring toss place." Rene got the details from her mother; now all he has to do is convince the young girl to come back to her parents. How hard could that be for a large reptilian creature?

[Zelphas]

"...Away from protesters; no need to add fuel to fire..."

A tall, stunningly beautiful woman strides through the crowds of the Project Tomorrow Fair, dressed in a purplish-blue 50s style cocktail dress that accentuates her scarlet skin and flowing waves of ebony hair. Curling, almost delicate horns emerge from either side of her forehead, shading from scarlet down to deep black as they curve around her ears and terminate at either side of her mouth. She mutters to herself constantly, her black-and-red eyes narrowed as she pensively clutches the long indigo staff in her right hand.

"...Showing off skills similar issues, technology no-go (how many channels on TV now?)..." she murmurs, skirting past a small group of schoolchildren and trying to ignore the stares coming from all around. Gethsemane had decided on putting on her demonic form in an attempt to be less conspicuous, reasoning that a more humanoid form would be better than her normal buglike, obviously alien shape. Fifty years away from humanity had made her forget that she had designed this form to be attractive to humans, and thus it garnered attention anyways.

Gethsemane sighs. "Should have taken that elective on Succubi... know how to be inconspicuous..."

[TheIronGolem]

Spider-Man's assailant pulls the trigger once more, and the gun spits one final burst. The webslinger ducks and weaves, superhuman reflexes working overtime to keep him out of the path of the chemical pellets cutting through the air. He dodges more of the shots than any human being has a right to expect, just as he's been doing all day.

But he's blind. Tired. Trapped in an enclosed space with little room to maneuver, and no cover at all. And his luck has finally run out. Bright yellow sunbursts erupt in a line across his slim frame as the pellets strike and shatter against it. Their chemical payload goes to work immediately, penetrating the symbiote's "skin". Spider-Man spins once with the impact, then collapses into a heap. The shooter lowers the gun, a satisfied smile spreading across her face. The crowd gathered around her cheers at her victory, some now finding the courage to hurl taunts at the fallen hero.

Suddenly, Spider-Man is back on his feet again. He turns his attention inward, listening to what the symbiote is telling him about the substance seeping into it. The wall-crawler turns toward the source of the attack, lifts a finger inquisitively and asks, "Lemon custard?"

The shooter, an eight-year-old girl, nods excitedly.

Spider-Man removes the blindfold from his face and points his fist at the shelves on the opposite side of the stage. A thin line of webbing snatches its target - a box roughly the size of a loaf of bread - and snaps back to bring it to his hand. Box in hand, Spider-Man leaps high into the air, twisting and somersaulting, then lands in front of the girl as casually as if he'd simply stepped off the stage like a normal person.

"Good choice!" he tells her, holding out the box. "That's my favorite. Trade you for the gun, Annie Oakley?"

He's not sure if she gets the reference, but she gladly makes the exchange. The box is emblazoned with a colorful logo bearing the phrase "NutriDots: Lemon Custard flavor!"

NutriDots...one of Stark Industries' contributions to Project Tomorrow. A cheap, nutritionally-dense food product that travels easily, can be made to taste like damn near anything, and has a shelf life that makes Twinkies look like a snow-cone in the Sahara. Or, as Spidey had put it, "Bertie Botts' Dippin Dots". He'd volunteered to be the subject of this silly carnival game ("Splat the Spider!") as a way of showcasing this advance in food technology. For a small fee, players receive a "gun" loaded with NutriDots of their selected flavor, and if they manage to nail a blindfolded Spider-Man with a shot, they receive a box for free. He puts on a good show, of course. But when the contestant is a little kid like that girl, Spider-Man plays to lose.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sorry for the delay guys. I'm gonna try to pay more attention and keep posts moving at least in the vicinity of weekly (or faster if we can manage that!)

Sarah

Everything was running smoothly at the fair. Unfortunately, that only seemed to be true of the fair, as a phone call came in from your PR director. "Miss Saturn, we have a bit of a situation here. I have the CEO of NetWork Robotics on the other line, and she has some...concerns about the safety and reliability of the generators. She's talking about replacing them with Stark generators. Can I patch you through?" While your PR director wasn't scientifically illiterate by any means - and was, in fact, very good at taking complex scientific principles and putting them in a format that a layperson could understand - Corinne Keys, though perhaps not a superhuman genius herself, was smart and savvy enough to be able to talk supertech, if not build it. Dumbing things down didn't work very well with her.

She was also a pretty important client. NetWork had half a dozen factories throughout the U.S. for developing high-end robotic platforms. They used quite a bit of energy, and losing their business would definitely have a detrimental impact on the Saturn Foundation's bottom line.

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Responsibility Complication.

Builder

Samantha turned to look at Rene as he spoke to her and...froze.

He only managed to get to "Are you Samantha?" before she screamed. Loud. Like, it-was-probably-a-good-thing-Jimmy-and-more-importantly-his-symbiote-was-halfway-across-the-fairgrounds loud.

The crowd nearby turned their attention to the scene. Some of them seemed to recognize the Builder. More of them didn't, but whatever anger or protective instincts they might have felt that could have driven them to intervene was at least temporarily held off by, you know, the sight of the giant lizard-man they'd be trying to intervene against.

Fortunately, the scream had caught the attention of one of the other heroes at the fair, who quickly swooped in to land between the young girl and builder. "What's going on he- oh. You."

Unfortunately, that particular hero happened to be Batwing. Who like most of the Bat-Family, wasn't exactly one of the Builder's biggest fans. Especially after that dust-up he had had with Killer Croc about a year and a half ago, shortly after he joined Batman's team. Let's just say that there's a reason he got his costume upgraded with some Richards tech.

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your A Monster In Civilization and Watched By The Night Complications.

Gethsemane

Yeah you'd been attracting your share of stares since arriving. Also a fair number of blanches when the people staring noticed your horns, but that was probably keeping some of them from buggi- err, pesteri- I mean, bothering you. But as you walked through the fairgrounds talking to yourself, you might have noticed that even more eyes were turning your way, and they were looking less impressed or attracted than confused, uncertain, or scared.

You heard one youth not-quite-quietly-enough asking his parents, "Is she casting some sort of spell or something?" And evidently you weren't the only one to overhear him, as the people nearby suddenly started looking distinctly agitated.

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Knock-Off Communicator Complication.

Spider-Man

"I got him I got him!" the girl cheered to the applause of the crowd, and traded the gun for her prize.

But before you could hand it off to the next contestant, your cell phone rang. The crowd at the booth wore bemused looked, and at least a few of them looked like they were actively fighting back laughter. It was just...you don't expect a hero's cell phone to ring, you know? Probably least of all one dressed all in a scary black-and-white spider web costume.

(I wouldn't want to presume, but just going by general experience, I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy's ringtone added to the amusement.)

Now, whether you let it go and checked the voicemail later, or picked it up, the resulting message would be the same. Because it was from Perry White, and like the one thing I know about Perry White is that when he's calling about a story, the person on the other line does not get a word in edgewise. "Jimmy! I need you to get down to the Project Tomorrow fair. Kim's still working on the Garden Failure story and Devin apparently ate too much of the wrong kind of junk food and isn't able to continue. Fortunately that won't be a problem for you, right! We need all the heroes we can get, and especially all of the Misfits! Use your connections if you have to, don't take no for an answer! And get some shots of the protesters too! We're presenting both sides of this story!"

...He could have at least acknowledged the fact that this was supposed to be your day off. I mean, sure, an apology from Perry White would absolutely have been too much to hope for, but at least some acknowledgement...

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Responsibility Complication.

Also I swear to God I was this close to having Frank Castle be the next person to take up the dotgun. :smallbiggrin:

Ronin

It's all you man.



For the record Thokk got a new job recently and told me he's going to be on hiatus for a time at least, so for now I'm operating on the assumption that Thunderstruck is at a different fair or something. Thokk if you want to jump back in feel free to do so at any time.

[Starsign]

Well that sure didn't work out.

The relatively-gentle reptilian froze and then shuddered in horror as the young Samantha screamed at him. Rene was not exactly easy-to-approach over his rather large reptilian form and having a child freak out upon seeing him wasn't a surprise. That however did not stop her scream, rattling his reptilian ear sockets, from scaring him. Screaming in a crowd during a fair run by superhero was a heck of a good way to get attention and nothing good could come for Rene as a result. He only prayed that a reasonable superhero would come to help sort this out as he stayed still on his clawed hands and feet. If nothing else, slithering around allowed his size to seem smaller than if he stood right up.

His slithering pose, however, ended up making Batwing look much, much taller than him.

Rene let out a very quiet, "Oh god," as he saw the contempt Batfamily member approach. Of all the heroes who could've investigated this mess of Rene's making, there are few worse than Batwing. Perhaps maybe next to Batman himself, Rene did not want to interact with any hero more than this guy and his super-tech uniform. Sure, Nightwing and Batgirl could knock Rene down a peg with one hand tied behind their back, but at least they'll make a joke and pretend to have a good time. It's a very different story for the member who has a blatant tech-suit of steel and electronics beneath the tight black cloth covering his main body. The wing-style cape doesn't help with the linen edges appearing sharp enough to cut skin if touched; and those eyes, even if covered by that visor, give off that illuminating, creepy blue glow that can scare anyone who sees him in the dark. Rene can't really blame Batwing for getting those upgrades after what happened with Killer Croc... If only Batwing didn't hold Rene to similar contempt.

Still on his clawed hands and feet, Rene takes several slight paces back as Batwing stares down at him. The reptilian's claws dig gently into the concrete stone ground as he tries to speak. "Oh, Batwing. I'm sorry." His scaly, coarse voice is shaken from the hero's appearance.

Stop.

A voice in Rene's head freeze his body momentarily as he stops a slow retreat. Several shaky breaths come out of his mouth before he explains what happened. "I was just trying to help this girl. Her mom's looking for her and I just thought I could find her since I'm fast. I just wanted to ask her to come back." That's about all Rene has to say; Batwing's likely not looking to hear a drawn-out explanation, not that Rene is any good at those in the first place. Talking is still better than trying to run away, or worse, trying to start a conflict... at least Rene hopes so.

[TheIronGolem]

"Back in a bit, folks", Spider-Man says to the crowd. "Got a cat up a tree."

To the chorus of cynical groans and eye-rolls he replies, "Yeah, okay, I wouldn't buy that either", before web-swinging away.

He does retrieve something from a nearby tree, though: his camera. It may have come in an embarrassing way, but Jimmy doesn't need Spider-Sense to anticipate that the fair would bring a surprise assignment from Perry. And that's why he'd come prepared. The camera had been webbed to the tree in a spot just a bit too high for most people to notice, pointed at the Splat the Spider booth, and set to automatically take a picture every few seconds and send them to Jimmy's phone. He's not thrilled about the idea of putting himself further in the limelight as Spider-Man, but he did volunteer for this. Besides, there are always other heroes who can relieve him of excess attention. Changing to civilian clothes in an out-of-the-way corner, Jimmy goes off to find some.

The Builder is the first he spots. It isn't hard, given that we're talking about a giant lizard clinging to a Ferris wheel. What is hard is getting a clean shot of a speedster in action, even with a high-speed camera. But with a bit of patience Jimmy is able to get a decently-framed shot of Rene fixing the ride. He hopes that'll help lift the Builder's spirits; he'd been getting a strong impression that the reptilian had been getting frustrated lately with his increasing reputation as a superhero when he'd rather be doing more constructive things.

Pictures of Sarah Saturn, of course, are mandatory. It's pretty much her show, after all. He just snaps a few pics of her being authoritative and businesslike, not bothering to try to get her to be "photo op-y" like he might for your average corporate type. There's not enough Photoshop in the world to let her pull that off.

Pictures of Ronin, looking impossibly cool as he does whatever he does. Pictures of Potence, who is almost offensively photogenic despite being busy doing a dozen people's worth of work.

Several technically-proficient shots of Gethsemane as well...but between her currently-chosen form and the way people in the frame stare at her, Jimmy doubts the Planet will want to run any of them, because they give the appearance of being intended for a rather...different sort of publication.

After that, Jimmy moves on to the rather less pleasant task of covering the protestors. Some high-angle shots to give a decent feel for the size of the crowd (though he can't help throwing in similar shots of the much larger fair-going crowd). Some close-ups of individuals: some calm, others screaming. Lots of signs, of course, most of which employ proper spelling, but...for Pete's sake people, there's an "e" in "heroes"!


QD: I didn't want to make assumptions about what other heroes are present, but Jimmy will be getting shots of any of them he can as well.

Everyone else: If you feel your character would be up for it, Jimmy is also taking statements.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane pauses as she notes the agitation of the crowd, settling her wings slightly so that they don't flare out and agitate the crowd more. Smiling important to calm crowd, but not full grin; vestigal fangs will give wrong impression. Same with holding palms out; while usually gesture of supplication or lack of harm, in spellcasting context becomes threatening.

Carefully keeping her hands at her sides, Gethsemane curves her ebony lips in a slight, reassuring smile at the crowd. Keeping her movements slow and steady, she raises her left arm, allowing any sharp-eyed viewers to note the indigo ring on her middle finger as she raises a hand to her throat. Curling her fingers inwards, one black-laquered, slightly pointed fingernail flicks out to snap against the small rectangular box affixed just below her chin.

"Pardon me," she says soothingly, hoping that the translator has begun to work once more. Note: Familiarize self with technology--or become friends with Ms. Saturn. "Slight translator issue. No harm meant."

Persuasion to soothe the crowd: [roll0] (add 5 if Attractive applies)

[CandyLaser]

"Put her through," Sarah said, as she recalled what she knew about Ms. Keys and her relationship with Tony Stark. Really? she thought. How many times has his armor gone rogue, been stolen, or just exploded? Let's just deal with her concerns and get back to something more important.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Reminder, my Marvel/DC Lore is low. If anyone has actually read about any canon NPC I introduce, do not hesitate to tell me some key elements of their personality. Otherwise I will go with my best guess/nearest understanding and I will probably get things wrong.

Builder

Batwing's mask stared impassively at you for a few moments, before sweeping over the crowd. "Everything's fine folks. He's with the Project," he said, with a distinct air of "nothing to see here" or perhaps more precisely "go away". It was a tone that the average person doesn't ignore, coming from somebody wearing one of those bat-themed costumes, and the crowd quickly moved on.

Batwing crouched down to the scared little girl, and said in a gentler voice than Rene had probably ever heard coming from a member of the Bat-Family, "Hey, you ever gone flying?" Samantha looked up in a bit of surprise and shook her head.

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna ask the big dumb lizard over there where your mom is, and then I'll fly you back over to her, okay? How's that sound?" You know...there were things you could do when you say something like that to take the insult out of it. You put a bit of laugh in your voice and some goofiness, to make it clear that you're just making dismissing the perceived threat to make the kid feel safer. Maybe throw in a bit of a smirk if you want it to come off as poking fun.

Batwing did not do those things.

Samantha wiped her eyes and nodded eagerly, a little smile even coming to her face. Not too many kids were gonna pass up getting flown somewhere by a superhero, is what I'm saying.

"Alright," Batwing said, giving her a little fist-bump, and then standing up and walking over to you.

"Oh stand up," he said, his voice dripping with disapproving contempt, as if he was talking to a misbehaving child. "Where's the girl's mom at?"

Spider-Man

There weren't any particular problems getting the pictures. And given the speed at which he worked, the Builder was probably done fixing the ride by this point if you wanted to go back around for a statement.

Gonna just leave you open to go about that since you guys were discussing it OOC, since who am I to get in the way of two players RPing. :smallamused:

Gethsemane

That's enough to shift them from Hostile to Unfriendly.

Evidently the words came out correctly this time, since several of the people looked relieved, though not necessarily relaxed. The crowd didn't quite disperse, and were still regarding you with suspicion. Evidently, they weren't sufficiently up to speed on extraterrestrial organizations to recognize the significance of a glowing purple ring, more's the pity (maybe if it had been green...)

And while it wouldn't quite be precise to say they were surrounding or blocking you...there were enough of them that they would present a bit of an obstacle to move through.

Finally, one woman asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Who...are you? Are you some kind of, of, demon or something?" Evidently the significance of bat wings and horns was more widely known. "You realize this is a superhero fair, right?" Several people had their phones out now, although they were distinctly in a "get stuff to post on social media" position rather than a "call for help" position.

Sarah

"Thank you ma'am," the director said, and a moment later, "Hello Miss Saturn, thank you for taking the time to talk," Corinne Keys said. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, she started in. "I just have a few concerns about the function of the new generators. Now, I understand the overall process, but how are they kept stable exactly, particularly long-term? How close are the portals to the stars they are gathering energy from, and what protections are in place from various solar phenomena? I'm concerned about the possibility of something like a solar flare damaging electronics, to say nothing for what would happen if a coronal eruption reached the portal. I know your team said there are safeguards in place, but I'd like a better sense of exactly what they are and how they work."

Ronin

I'mma take the the liberty of grabbing one idea you mentioned on Discord and rolling with it.

So, you were late. It was easy to tell you were late. You didn't even need to look at a clock to do it. No, you could tell not only that you were late, but also how late you were, just by the frequency of Kitty's text messages which were, themselves, telling you how late you were, if you wished to confirm it.

To be fair, though, it's not like you don't have a good reason for it. X-Force doesn't go out for no reason, after all. Taking out a group of Purifiers who kidnapped somebody is a good reason on its face. When that somebody is, according to X-Force's intel, a scientist who worked on the SPINners project - that is to say, a scientist who might have the ability to put together power-killing nanotech - yeah, it's fair to call that a priority.

Fortunately, it hadn't been hard to track them down, thanks in large part to Cable's technopathy. And once they had been tracked down, well, maybe one day your enemies would be smart enough to smash every mirror they owned before doing anything. But it was not this day. The battle itself hadn't been especially difficult, because you know, X-Force.

You were pretty much free to head on to the fair if you chose to, though, notwithstanding some snide remarks from your teammates (yeah they weren't exactly huge supporters of Project Tomorrow). The Purifiers were defeated, the scientist (while still tied to a chair and staring around in a bit of horror at all the blood and bodies - X-Force isn't exactly the very best at nonlethal combat) was safe, and-

"So, I'll be the one to say it. What are we going to do with this guy?" Psylocke asked. Her psionic sword was, it was worth noting, still in hand. It certainly wasn't the sort of question that would get asked in most superhero teams, but well...see above re: might have the ability to put together power-killing nanotech.

Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Wolverine Syndrome Complication.

[Starsign]

Rene feels like he's been utterly reprimanded. In fairness, he did cause a minor panic, including his internal one, when he approached Samantha and caused her to scream. It was a giant mistake to think that he could just slither up to her, even slowly. At the same time, there is something demeaning about Batwing's words even when not addressed to the reptilian. "Big, dumb lizard"? That's the kind of thing you say about Killer Croc... preferably when Croc isn't in hearing distance. Rene isn't the smarted creature and certainly not the most sane; but he... he shouldn't be associated as just being a brute with muscle, should he?

The train of thought roars through his mind briefly; is he a brute? He's tall and athletically muscled for his size but he's never really been considered himself being something resembling overly dumb muscle. He's never really been known for his strength or his muscles or his intelligence... or lack of it for that matter. He's more been known for being a monster. Guess it all comes back to what he is.

Stand.

As if the beast in him is answering a challenge, Rene curls up from his slithering state, stretching his plated back out and standing at his hunched height; the pose makes him slightly, though not dramatically, bigger than the armored Batwing. A small, slightly comfortable rainforest feel rushes through his nose and scales despite the fair being an urban place of stone-and-iron all around. The greenish-yellow reptilian sure does seem a little out-of-place at the fair compared to many other heroes as his thick tail fidgets slightly on the stone ground; his clawed feet sink into the stone as if he's expecting to receive a punch in the face.

"She's over by the restaurant, the one with the blue-and-white stripped tent top. It's right next to the ring toss booth," Rene answers Batwing; the reptilian's many small teeth constantly exposing themselves as he speaks since his reptilian head lacks lips. "She's wearing a blue shirt and white long skirt. Sam should recognize her." It's a relatively simple answer and should be nothing more than a simple flight. The reptilian has to admit flying must be exciting for the young girl; most heroes don't generally offer it and Batwing certainly isn't one to usually give those to others.

A look above and over Batwing's shoulder lets Rene see Samantha again, happily waiting for Batwing. Now the reptilian isn't really in any position to ask Batwing something but there's something he has to tell the hero. "Please be careful taking her back," he warns. Rene is very clearly worried about the possibility that Batwing may end up slipping his grip and causing Samantha to fall. Batwing though is a hero and one who's been around much longer than Rene. Surely he should be fine giving a kid a ride, right?

...Sometimes Rene wonders whether his paranoia comes from his relative insanity.

[SuperCracker]

Buzz

Buzz Buzz

Late. Again. He could imagine the looks he’d be receiving. Ronin was advertised for the event and he wasn’t there yet. It had been Kitty’s idea: Crusader X: Sword Saint Legacy had premiered on Adult Swim recently and was now exposed to an American audience. This meant that interest in Ronin the Misfit was at an all-time high; and who better to be the face of a mutant from a normal home trying to make a difference? Well, so says Kitty anyway.

She was going to reach through the phone soon and hit him, judging by the frequency of the texting.

Funny how Fred was more worried about that than he was about the dead Purifier bodies lying about the room. Ronin was no stranger to killing – you don’t carry a sword to knock people out unless you’re Kenshin. That was turned up to 11 whenever he was working with X-Force. As Psylocke and Cable stared down the scientist, Ronin (dressed In a gray and black variation on his new digs) wiped the blood from his sword with a bit of cloth.

“He’s dangerous,” Fred started with a low voice. Practically speaking, the best option would be to kill the man and dump his body somewhere in the planar void. He had knowledge of technology that could harm mutantkind on the most fundamental level. But Ronin isn’t always practical. He’s principled. “But he’s still innocent.”

Fred walked up to the man, still tied up.

"Mutants saved your life today.” Ronin knelt and cut the zip-ties. He stood and sheathed the blade. He hadn’t waited for approval from anyone (even if he wasn’t the team leader). Murdering this man wasn’t up for debate and he’d fight anyone in this room over it. “Wipe the research.”

And if you do something… well… you know we can find you.

“I have to go,” he whispered to Betsy as he walked past. He looked at the mirror on his wrist and vanished.

Kitty had left a mirror sitting out near the X-Men space. The mirror glinted and Fred blinked into existence. A quick button press on his phone and his red/black/white color scheme re-emerged. Quietly and somewhat sheepishly he walked to join the others.

"Alright boss, put on a smile. It's time to meet your fellow nerds!"

[CandyLaser]

Sarah sent out messages to the drones drifting around the fair while she listened to Ms. Keys' sensible, but ill-informed, concerns. Thanks, in part, to her long association with Katie and the rest of the Misfits, she didn't reflexively assume that her tech and her plans were foolproof or that Keys didn't deserve an explanation. It would be going a bit too far to say that Sarah was polite in her reply, though.

"To be frank, Ms. Keys, it's not feasible for me to explain the full gamut of safety measures in this medium. As to your first question, though, you misunderstand both the nature and the position of the portals. I've placed them in the hearts of the relevant stars, far from the turbulent stellar atmospheres. What's more, I've ensured that none of these stars will be leaving the main sequence for at least a billion years, which guarantees a steady supply of power for much longer than I expect the human race to survive. The portals themselves are stable wormholes, formed of virtual matter created by direct manipulation of the Higgs field in order to create two-way Krasnikov tubes. If they were disrupted - which is extremely unlikely - the wormhole would simply collapse. In short, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Will that be all?"

[Zelphas]

"Aware of fair's purpose," Gethsemane replies calmly, her hands still carefully placed at sides. "Is Green Lantern or other interstellar hero present at fair? They or member of Misfits can hopefully clear up concerns." She didn't like connecting herself to the Misfits, but it was better than turning this crowd into a mob against her for the moment.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Builder

Batwing's face mask just stared impassively at you for a few seconds after you told him to be careful. He didn't say anything and you couldn't see his face, but nonetheless the look still somehow projected a distinct air of "did he really just tell me that?" Then without another word, he turned and picked up Samantha, balancing her on his shoulder. "Alright kid, let's-"

Ronin

Psylocke gave you a wan look with just a bit of a smirk. "Don't go getting soft on me Ronin," she said, but it was more teasing than argumentative, and the blade did vanish from her hand.

"Oh right, your little fair thing is today, isn't it?" Cable said, with a merciless grin on his face. One that was mimicked by several other members of the X-Force. Fortunately, you had access to a mirror and fey teleportation magic, so you were gone before the roasting could begin.

You appeared within the little tent by the stadium where people were displaying their powers. Now, officially, this tent was for people to sign up to make a display, describe what they were going to do (so any necessary safety measures could be taken), maybe get some suggestions, and so on. But most of that was done at the booth in the entrance. The X-Men were mostly clustering further in. They were mostly providing advice and guidance to the people who were...less certain about making a public display of their powers. Which naturally included, but was far from limited to, mutants. There were plenty of reasons one might be struggling with one's superpowers, and while the public prejudice that mutants had to deal with was one of the most pervasive ones, it wasn't exclusive.

And no one, but no one, had more experience helping troubled people deal with overwhelming new superpowers than the X-Men.

That being said, Kitty was at the booth in the front, proudly sporting a Project Tomorrow t-shirt and cheerily helping people sign up for their turns in the stadium. As soon as you appeared, she strode towards you with the clear intent of dragging you over to help. After all, who better to attract more supers to showing off than the latest anime star? "You, sir, are la-"

Sarah

"I see, I see. Yes, that does make more sense," Keys replied professionally, although you'd swear there was almost a hint of disappointment in her voice. "That does alleviate most of my concerns. I do still have some questions I would like to get a better answer to on the subject of possible interactions between radiation and sensitive machi-"

Gethsemane

Possibly emboldened by the camera-phones pointing in her direction and your lack of aggression, the woman answered you reply with a frankly somewhat haughty, "And why would the Misfits invite a demon to-"

Everyone

...So as it turns out, Ronin wasn't late at all. He was right on time!

Screams went up as entire masses of people bore down on the fairground from all directions. Across the street, the protesters' chanting stuttered to silence as two groups in ratty street clothes and with a rather high collective tattoo-to-skin ratio came bearing down the street from opposite directions, moving in staggered formations as they approached at different speeds and in different ways - flying, jumping, running, teleporting, swinging, slithering, sliding, whatever. At first they seemed to be going for the protesters, but when they saw each other they started letting fly at one another instead, with a variety of energy blasts and invisible ripples of ranged powers from some while others raced ahead to leap into melee. On the far side of the fair, a unit of people in military-style camouflage gear were charging the fairgrounds at vehicle-level speed, but maintaining a tight and disciplined formation for all that, firing as they ran. From the east and west, two forces came swooping down on the fair from the air, one of them composed of people wearing what at a glance appeared to be Iron Man-style powered armor, while the others were surrounded in brightly-colored forcefields and projecting blasts of colorful light from their hands - no, more precisely, from the glowing rings on their hands. And all throughout the fair, several people in the crowds pulled out an eclectic assortment of oddball weapons and gadgets, brandishing them as people in the crowd began to panic and flee.

Someone had fielded a flipping small army to target the fairgrounds. It was a ludicrously overkill assault for taking out a peaceful festival...or just barely sufficient to present a meaningful threat to a fair being run by superheroes.

~Guys guys the San Francisco fair is under attack who's free?~ Katie sent over Shared Awareness.

...That may have had to be priority two.

...Actually, maybe call that three. Because as dangerous as a small army of mid-level supers was, they were not the only people attacking the Metropolis fairground.

Near the stadium, a fit, bald man with a longsword in hand and an intense focus in his eyes suddenly appeared amidst the crowd...actually, it almost seemed like he leaped out of one of the civilian's heads.

Through her office window, Sarah could see a woman in a sleek dark stealth suit suddenly appear from thin air. Extending from her hand was was seemed like a narrow oval that was somehow twisting the light passing through it upon itself...a portal in the shape of a blade.

Not far from Rene, there was a loud roar that sent people nearby scattering in panic, clearing the way to see...well, what looked like a humanoid tyrannosaurus (complete with an oversized head and comically small arms) striding unhurriedly his way.

Swinging through the fairground, Spider-Man would catch sight of a man in...well, frankly, if his costume and Batman's had had a lovechild, it would have probably looked a lot like the getup this guy was wearing, although maybe without quite so many pockets. Now, that sort of fashion statement wasn't really objectionable at a superhero-run fair. Stones and glass houses and all. But the knives he was holding as he looked down among the confused crowd certainly were...

"-oh, I guess we're starting." the woman who had been speaking to Gethsemane said as her form blurred and shifted, changing before the eyes (and the phones) of the crowd around them from that of a normal human woman to that of a skrull.

And from the sky above, in clear view from pretty much anywhere in the fairground, a blonde woman in a suit of midnight blue spandex with an insignia on the chest that looked...not entirely unlike a Kryptonian House emblem, and a long, bright gold cape, came floating down with an almost regal bearing...as brilliant red-gold light of solar fire began to blaze in her eyes.

This mutant warrior combines potent telepathic powers with master-class swordsmanship, a powerset honestly not unlike what you might get from a cross between Ronin and Professor X. Able to use his telepathic powers to predict his foes' moves and disorient or distract them from his blade, or use aggressive melee attacks to keep their focus while he slips in with psionic attacks, he is a master at striking his foes' minds and bodies alike. A champion of Genosha with a fierce personal loyalty to Magneto, he has served as a warrior, spy, and assassin alike. He sees the X-Men and their ilk as traitors to the mutant race, and believes that mutants and humans are in a war which cannot be abated or prevented, but only won or lost.

PL 12.

Two-point Will shift.

All stats at PL. In addition, given the intensity of this foe's focus, you get the sense that it is possible for him to not only psychically reinforce his body (bringing his Fortitude up to PL), but also perfectly defend himself from any Will-based attack.

A former special forces operative who acquired her powers after exposure to extradimensional dark matter. Granted the metahuman power of Astral Stalking, she is able to conceal herself from the senses and teleport from place to place, a powerset that actually isn't all that far off of what you might get from a fusion of Sarah Saturn and Sue Storm. And by the way, the two things look exactly the same, making it difficult for foes to be able to tell if she's really gone, or simply turned invisible. She's worked for numerous shadowy government agencies, from the CIA and the NSA to SHIELD and AEGIS to the U.S. military, and even done a stint or two with the Suicide Squad. She is a fanatical patriot who will do anything in her power to benefit the United States - which by her standards mean, to move the country ever further on the path to total control of the planet. While her patriotic loyalty is unquestionable, in pursuit of her goals she is functionally morally bankrupt.

PL 12.

Two-point Defense shift.

All stats at PL.

This inhuman underwent a major transformation after terrigenesis, appearing as a cross between a human and a tyrannosaurus rex. In addition to substantial physical prowess, he was gifted with the inhuman power to generate a sonic roar that at maximum strength is rumored to be nearly an eighth as powerful as Black Bolt's inside voice! But while he might lack the raw power of the King of the Inhumans, he makes up for it with control. Not only can he, you know, speak without destroying things, but he can modulate the sonic frequencies of his power through his voice to achieve a variety of effects. He is something of a rebellious figure among the inhumans, and seeks to build his prestige and one day eventually rule himself.

PL 12.

Two-point Toughness shift.

All stats at PL.

An ageless (though not fully immortal) assassin who throughout his long, long life has been trained by some of the most feared organizations to stalk the night, including both the Hand and the League of Assassins. While he possesses no flashy superpowers aside from his agelessness, his immunity to age has given him centuries to perfect his techniques and refine his tools, all while remaining in perfect physical shape. Clad all in black, he is stealthy, agile killer armed with deadly weapons inspired by the creatures of the night. Venomous knives, poison-spiked whips, blood-draining syringes, web grenades, and so on. His motivations and goals are eternally shrouded in mystery.

PL 12.

4-point Attack and Defense shifts.

All stats at PL.

This Super-Skrull has acquired powers of Density Manipulation and Emotion Control, which dovetail nicely with her natural shapeshifting ability - between them, she could emulate a lot of the capabilities of, for example, both Gethsemane and the Martian Manhunter. Extremely versatile, she can change her appearance and proportions, augment her strength and durability, phase and fly, and induce all manner of emotional maladies in her enemies. She rejected the surrender of the rest of the Skrull and Kryptonian alliance after the Ten Second Invasion, believing it to be a weakness that would offer Darkseid the advantage. Only unquestioning faith in their gods and their cause can keep Darkseid's influence at bay, and that he was able to compel the invasion only proved that they should be doubling down on their dedication to the plan, not trying a new tack!

PL 12.

No tradeoffs.

All stats at PL.

This kryptonian mage was a student of the Talisman herself. Though not quite as physically powerful as say a typical kryptonian warrior (due to having to burn off stored solar energy to power her spells), she uses the magic of Bindings to influence her own kryptonian link to the energies of the sun, as well as the mystical connections between the sun and ideals of heat, light, life, glory, power, and so on. She is a mighty battle-mage equally at home scouring her foes with solar fire and supporting her allies with potent healing and power-boosting spells. So yeah, you may as well consider her every bit as terrifying as a hypothetical fusion between Potence and Superman would be. When the Talisman summoned the power of the Phoenix Force into the kryptonians at the Peak, it caused something of a feedback loop (because the phoenix has a mystical connection to the sun, but got connected to her, who has a connection to the sun and to mystical connections with the sun which is connected back to her and...yeah). All that solar power flying around maaaayyyy have drove her a little insane. It's just barely possible that she thinks she is either the embodiment of the Phoenix Force, an avatar of Flamebird, a Champion who symbolically consumed a Phoenix Hecatomb, the Phoenix Totem, or all of the above, possibly depending on the time of day.

PL 12.

No tradeoffs inherently, but when putting her power behind her Kryptonian Super-Strength, she would have a four-point Toughness shift.

All stats at PL.

So, here's what's up. This battle is kinda a mirror match. Like, the enemies aren't copies of you, but they're each inspired in large part by one of you (and another Marvel or DC canon character).

You are, of course, welcome to fight whoever you wish. However, if you play true to comic book form and do not target any matchups other than your own, or any PC whose matchup is still fighting, you will gain an additional Hero Point at the end of the battle. Further, if you do not target anyone but yourself and your matchup until yours is down, you will get a bonus Hero Point as soon as it goes down. Although be warned, Sunbound acts at random, and will not respect the sanctity of duels.

If a particular player does wish to solo its opponent, please respect their decision and do not try to help them unless they change their mind.

There's several heroes at the fair and they need something to fight too! The background battle is being resolved with unit combat rules. Most of this is just for explanation and can be ignored for people who don't care. I'll bold the stuff that might actually be important to you guys.

Basic Rules

Each unit has a unit combat bonus, and each round makes an attack against another unit by rolling using their bonus against a DC of 10 + the target unit's bonus. On a success, the target unit has its bonus reduced by one per degree of success. On a failure they cause no effect. A unit whose bonus is depleted entirely is no longer able to contribute to unit combat.

Some units may cause collateral damage. When they attack they make a second roll at a lower bonus, and if the first roll succeeds (if they actively want to cause collateral damage, or at least don't mind it) or fails (if they are trying to avoid causing collateral damage), then the second roll applies against a random Civilian Force. Heroic and Allied Forces may choose to take the degrees of collateral damage on themselves (they take the actual degrees inflicted, lowering their unit bonus appropriately, not the rolled attack itself).

Ya'll may choose to take degrees of effect from unit attacks on yourselves if you wish to, either for combatant or civilian forces. When doing so, roll a check using your highest defensive stat against DC 15 + 5 per degree taken, against a Damage effect. You may do this once per round and all degrees stack to one Damage result (i.e. you can't take three DC 20 effects, it'd have to be one DC 30), so I don't advise taking more than two or three degrees per round. Anyone who absorbs a total of three degrees of unit attacks over the course of the battle will gain an additional Hero Point for their self-sacrificing heroism. Anyone who absorbs a total of ten degrees will earn a second.

While you guys have your own foes to fight, you may contribute to unit combat if you wish (as may your enemies, if say they get annoyed with you ignoring them, or knock you out). Doing so is a standard action, and you roll your unit attacks using your PL minus 3 (so, +8 for you guys). If you have Takedown 2, you get +2 on your Unit Combat check. Alternately, you can get +2 per application of Area you have on an attack, but if it's not Selective, then each application of Area also means your attack causes collateral damage at +4, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails.

By default, unit damage represents members being hurt, knocked out, paralyzed, chased off, nullified, or otherwise simply rendered unable to contribute. Some forces, however, may have members killed from attacks. Heroic Forces are not subject to random casualty in the battle. Allied Forces may or may not be, depending on the Force. Civilian Forces are always subject to casualty by unit attacks and collateral damage (so be careful with non-selective area attacks!) Hostile Forces are subject to casualty from each other and from any force noted as potentially causing casualty; in such cases, one member is killed per degree of success on the attack.

Heroic Forces

Big Name Heroes: There's a few heavy-hitters at the fair. They aren't especially organized among themselves, but given their raw power they collectively roll for unit combat at +16.

X-Men: There's some mid-to-upper-level X-Men at the fair, and they work as a unit. Together, they collectively enter unit combat at +14.

General Heroes: There's also a pretty fair number of street-to-city-level heroes at the fair. They're not strictly organized but know how to work together, and collectively enter unit combat at +12.

Allied Forces

Volunteer Supers: While many of the supers who signed up to do volunteer work for Project Tomorrow don't want to use their power for combat, some are willing to enter the fray if necessary, and they'll all wield powers in their own defense if attacked. These guys tend to be more minor talents though, and are extremely unorganized and inexperienced. Nonetheless, taken as a whole, they can contribute to unit combat at +8. Their limited experience with their powers and utter lack of combat training means their attacks are capable of causing casualty. And while they try to avoid it as best they can, they will cause collateral damage at +2 on a failed attack. They are also potentially subject to casualty by enemy attack, with each degree of effect they take resulting in 1d3-1 deaths.

Local Law Enforcement: There is a local law enforcement presence on hand, mainly just keeping an eye on things. The Metropolis Police Department has seen some stuff, though, and they know their game. While they lack powers, their teamwork and tactics still allow them to enter unit combat at +6. Guns are lethal weapons and the police don't take the safety off if they aren't willing to kill - their attacks are capable of causing casualty. While guns are dangerous weapons to fire amidst panicking crowds, the police are well-trained, and cause collateral damage at -6 on a failed attack. They are also potentially subject to casualty by enemy attack, with each degree of effect they take resulting in 1d3 deaths.

SPINners: If the battle isn't over after seven combat rounds, a SPINner team will arrive to assist. These guys are individually nearly as powerful as some of the big-name heroes, and they come in numbers and are hyper-organized, allowing them to enter unit combat at +18. But you guys don't need their help, right?

Civilian Forces

Local Media: There's a significant media presence covering the fair. While journalists won't enter combat directly, they're hard-boiled and intrepid, allowing them to defend at +2. Their unit value is not degraded by enemy attack, but each effective point lost means the death of a journalist, reporter, or other member of the media.

Protesters: The protesters are sufficiently riled up and panicked that they may lash out randomly. Sheer weight of numbers allows them to enter unit combat at +2. Their unit value is not degraded by enemy attack, but each effective point lost means 1d4 protesters are killed and 1d12 more injured.

Civilians: The civilian fairgoers won't enter combat directly, and as mere civilians, they have a +0 bonus in unit combat. Their unit value is not degraded by enemy attack, but each effective point lost means 1d4 civilians are killed and 1d12 more injured.

Hostile Forces

X-Bones Mutant Gang: A large but rather scattered nation-wide gang of mutants, consisting heavily of young mutants whose parents were killed, imprisoned, or otherwise became unable or unwilling to raise them due to various conflicts between and among the X-Men, Hellfire Club, Brotherhood, Sentinels, Purifiers, etc. They're mostly mid-level, with a couple beefier ones scattered about. The forces arrayed here aren't the whole of the gang, but probably include members from several nearby chapters. They enter unit combat at +12, and cause collateral damage at +6 on a successful attack. They have a fierce vendetta against the...

Terrorgenesis Inhuman Gang: A nation-wide gang of Inhumans, many of them outcasts due to destructive, poorly-controlled, or use-impaired abilities. They're about equal in numbers to the X-Bones, with a somewhat more variable range of power. They balance out to +12 in unit combat, and cause collateral damage at +6 on a successful attack.

Battlesuit Mercenaries: Mercs in what looks like knock-off Stark tech, although anyone who's technologically savvy can tell pretty easily that the suits are way less advanced, and mainly just designed to look like Stark tech on the outside. Still, powered armor is powered armor, and these trained mercenaries fight in an organized unit. They enter unit combat at +10, and cause collateral damage at +4 on a successful attack.

Faux Lanterns: Several dudes are flying around surrounded in colorful forcefields and shooting brightly colored blasts of energy from rings on their fingers. Fortunately, the lack of energy constructs and the big honking power packs on their back (which also seem to be providing their flight) make it pretty clear that they're not actual Lantern Corps, they just got some technology that looks like it at a glance. Still, their weaponry is powerful enough to allow them to enter unit combat at +10, and their universal access to area blasts means they cause collateral damage at +8 on a successful attack.

Semi-Super Soldiers: What do you get when you trawl through the dishonorable discharges list, pick some names essentially at random, and put them in a lab with a bunch of chemicals and radioactive materials that may or may not have once been in the same room with Captain America for a few minutes? Well, mostly, you get John and Jane Does turning up in secluded alleys, but every so often you get a goon with near-superhuman physical aptitude, full military training, and breathtaking psychological issues. But put enough of them together and they can enter unit combat at +8, causing collateral damage at +4 on a successful attack.

Assorted Rogues: Just a bunch of D-list supervillains, angry-at-the-world metas, and combat-capable supers desperate for a buck to round out the carnage. They're mid-level at best and poorly organized, but between them threatening enough to enter unit combat at +8, causing collateral damage at +4 on a successful attack.

I'm rolling your initiatives individually against your matchup. If you beat your matchup you may take combat actions immediately in your next post (even against someone else). If you don't you may still feel free to post a reaction, approach, etc, but enemies will get a chance to act before you can resolve a combat action.

Ronin vs. Lastthought: [roll0] vs. [roll1].
Sarah vs. Vanish: [roll2] vs. [roll3].
Spidey vs. Felltrade: [roll4] vs. [roll5].
The Builder vs. Roarin': [roll6] vs. [roll7].
Gethsemane vs. Heavy Heart: [roll8] vs. [roll9].

Ronin and Spidey can resolve combat actions immediately. Everyone else may still post reactions/approaches/etc.

Shared Awareness is ON.

[Zelphas]

As the fair erupts into chaos and the particularly insistent crowd heckler reveals herself to be a villain, Gethsemane... sighs, flexing her fingers slightly. "Shouldn't have changed forms," she comments to the Skrull before her in a light, almost lecturing tone. "If not needed to unleash powers, could have tried to spin this as 'heroic crowdgoer takes down demoness trying to take advantage of chaos'. Kept your cover, advanced more plans later. Sloppy. Short-sighted."

Gethsemane knows nothing about anything but magic and demons, really, so not much to do until my initiative's up; just thought I'd throw in a quick post anyways.

[CandyLaser]

"Forgive me, Ms. Keys. It appears supervillains are attacking. I'll send you some literature," Sarah said, calmly.

Then she hung up.

With a sigh, her business suit flickered away, while her other professional getup took its place. In the blink of an eye, she stepped through one of her own portals, heading out to meet the woman challenging her. "All right, let's make this quick. Do you want to tell me what you actually want, or or should we just start trying to kill each other?"

Rolling well-informed: [roll0].

[Starsign]

The feeling of relief lasted for just a moment. Rene kept his clawed feet in the stone ground as he watched Batwing begin to take little Samantha home. Disaster was avoided and all Rene had to do now was get back to his construction job. He turned around and prepared to walk away.

Then the screams came.

Oh no, oh no oh no!

Armored figures swept in from above.

No, no, why today?!

And then a large humanoid t-rex comes stomping his way.

Oh goddamnit, NO!

Of all the days to deal with a massive superpowered riot, this was not the day for it. Rene's clawed hands slam into his head, holding the large plates on his top as if he was suffering from some sort of headache. His thick reptilian tail slams into the stone ground once as if in frustration. This was awful. He's never been used to a fight breaking out at the most inopportune times, though a superhero is expected to deal with it on a daily basis!

A part of the reptilian deeply hoped that there was another hero available to handle the t-rex; with so many civilians in danger, Rene had to focus on saving them. As he pays attention to Katie's shared awareness, of which he had mostly ignored to focus on construction, he sees that backup simply will not be coming. The others have their own villain to deal with, leaving Rene front-and-center to stop a humanoid t-rex. At least... at least this one doesn't have actual arms, right? Rene doesn't need to worry about getting grabbed; he just has to avoid getting bitten by that... oversized... head.

Suddenly Killer Croc's massive, overgrown stalagmite-like teeth doesn't seem so bad.

Rene yanks his head over to Batwing, who had been interrupted by the screams of the crowd, and shouts, "HURRY! Get her outta here!" His coarse, reptilian tone sounds like it creaks on a blackboard as he warned the other hero; it didn't occur to Rene that shouting makes his voice sound worse than it already is. Batwing better take the hint regardless; at least he can fly!

One heavy breath later and Rene faces his most pressing issue: the t-rex itself. The Totem-holding reptilian slithers slowly up to the villain as he hisses, "What the hell are you doing?!" The reptilian's voice has as much anger as it does panic and desperation. Panic is found notably in Rene's eyes as his irises twitches and jitters around in their slits; The flying mechs and Lantern-like enemies fire down from above; villainous rioters appearing throughout the shared awareness. He can't ignore them. Can't ignore them, can't ignore them, can't ignore them!

[TheIronGolem]

Honestly, Jimmy thinks bitterly as his Spider-Sense turns on the air-raid sirens in his head, the real surprise is that it took this long.

Spider-Man lets go of his web-line, dropping down to land airily just behind Felltrade.

"'Scuse me, Harpo Darks", he says. "I think your agent gave you the wrong address."

Without waiting for a response, Spider-Man takes a quick double-step to Felltrade's other side, bouncing heel-to-heel like a boxer as he taunts the man.

"See, this is the Project Tomorrow fair."

A showy, completely-unnecessary leap takes Spider-Man over his foe, landing him behind the assassin, whom he taps on the shoulder. Whether he can actually beat this guy he doesn't know. But he's utterly confident he can annoy the guy, perhaps even enough to take an ill-advised swing that he could take advantage of.

"The Splinter Cell cosplay convention is over at 8th and Main."

Agile Feint vs. Felltrade: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

A vague sense of mental tension came through the Shared Awareness link. Evidently whoever was attacking the San Francisco fair had enough of a heavy-hitter with them to tag Katie with a Bruise through her recently-upgraded wards. Good on them. ~Sorry guys, have to drop the link for combat casting. Be safe!~ she sent, the feeling of connectedness fading from everyone's minds.

"I'll keep that in mind next time," the skrull said, in a sort of bemusedly good-natured yet subtly sarcastic voice, like an adult thanking a child for their advice. About...well, maybe two-thirds of the crowd that had gathered around Gethsemane were backing away with varying amounts of speed from "cautious withdrawal" to "full fledged panic". The rest...maybe backed up a few paces, but they seemed to be more interested in pointing and typing into their phones. Spoiler alert, "Skrull vs. Demon" was totally about to start trending.

The skrull rushed Gethsemane, her footfalls carving potholes into the ground as she altered the density of her musculature, coming at the demoness with a powerful right hook, her eyes shining with sky blue light. Although even if it hit, it wasn't like Gethsemane had anything to fear! She was a powerful demon, and an Indigo Lantern to boot! It would take far more than mere heightened strength to be a threat to her! Why, it was hardly worth bothering to defend against some mere skrull!

--

"I'm sorry wha-" and that call was over.

The teleporter shot Sarah a stern look as she appeared and asked what she wanted. "If you people could stop trying to cripple our country's strength, that would be great," she answered. "But since I don't expect it, sure, let's do the killing thing." The next instant, she was standing before Sarah, slashing at her with her portal blade. With all her experience with portals, Sarah would have no question that a weapon like that could slice through pretty much anything - a portal was effectively a hole in space, no matter could exist where it did, no matter how tough.

--

Batwing didn't hesitate. The Bat Family in general and he in particular may not have been Rene's greatest fans. Frankly, they weren't entirely convinced he was sane. But in this case, their thoughts followed the exact same path. Batwing took to the air, flying Samantha out of there. Kids' safety came first, no question, every time.

But as Rene approached the anthropomorphic tyrannosaur and hissed his demand...well, the answer he got might have come as a bit of a surprise. Because rather than roaring out some threat or challenge and lunging immediately to bite his head off, or anything like that, he spoke in a clear voice and with well-enunciated words and no evident hostility, although he was balanced on the balls of his feet, and there was a certain wary readiness to his stance. And...it was odd. The outside world seemed to almost...slow down as he spoke. It didn't fade out, quite, his voice didn't steal your attention or anything like that. But it allowed him to say much more in much less time, and gave you additional time to consider his words and reply. "Why, I am hoping to speak to you, of course! Granted, this is not the precise venue I might have otherwise chosen, but we all play the hands we are dealt, do we not? My name is Burkhard Hunter, although I have gone by the appellation of Roarin' in some circles. It was not my first choice, I admit, but what can I say, the name has grown on me. You are welcome to refer to me with either."

"Now, do not mistake me, I will not pretend that my goals are not aligned with those of these...fellows. And I am entirely aware that you stand with the organizers of this little event. So of course, we could act like the beasts that so many of them already see us as, but I would like to make you an alternative offer. I would deem my value to my side of this conflict as roughly equivalent to your value to your own. I will not play to either of our egos by speculating on who might be the stronger in a physical contest, but I think it would be fair to say that if it were to come to blows between us, neither of us could with any real certainty say that at the end of it we would be the one still standing to provide some greater contribution to our team's goals."

"As such, my suggestion is that we forego the matter entirely. Let's you and I retire to this lovely little cafe that I had the distinct pleasure of visiting last time I was in town, and we can settle our differences through civilized conversation, as gentlemen should." He swept his gaze over the field as the fighting and fleeing continued expanding, and though it was somewhat hard to tell with his inhuman features, he almost looked bemused as he did so. "I could present many good and rational reasons and persuasive incentives for doing so. But if I may be frank, I should honestly say that the mere irony would be sufficient."

--

The assassin didn't react at all.

Okay, honestly, that's not entirely fair. I mean, he did react. It was just...he didn't react to Spider-Man's efforts to distract him. At all. He didn't flinch. He didn't retort. He didn't display annoyance. He didn't even do that thing where the bad guy tries to show off how cool and unflappable they are by responding to antics with a cold stare.

No, he just whipped a dagger out and started stabbing. And not, like, fancy superhero knife-fighting style stabbing. Oh, don't get me wrong, he was ludicrously fast and well-coordinated. He absolutely could have done some awesome fancy knife-twirling stuntwork and still gotten in a perfectly respectable stabbing. But there was no effort wasted, no unnecessary movement. He just got in close and started stabbing with quick, short, rapid strikes.

Honestly, it would have been a deadly attack even if the knife hadn't been poisoned.

--

Fred's storm of swords filled the area, cutting down a couple D-list goons with knock-off costumes as afterthoughts or accidents. His primary target brought up his sword to parry, and the ring of steel on steel-

No, scratch that. Starsoul knew the ring of steel on steel. This was not the ring of steel on steel.

This was the ring of steel on iron.

The ring of steel on iron rang out over the area, but when the storm ended, a few drops of blood fell to the ground from a cut on the bald-headed mutant's cheek.

"I've been looking forward to this, traitor," he spat out, coming at Fred with what seemed to be a fairly straightforward thrust-high-and-slash routine with his sword. However, since Fred had scanned his powers previously, he would know that even no overt feeling of mental intrusion didn't necessarily mean this foe's telepathy wasn't at work. Channeling his power through his blade, his attacks could sever the target's conscious mind from its unconscious, decoupling conscious desire from reflex and muscle memory.

----

Up above the fair, Sunbound looked down on the battlefield with a quirky smile. She found her attention drawn to all the silly little humans who responded to an all-out super-powered brawl not by trying to flee, nor by trying to help, but by pointing their cameras and recording the whole thing. That was an interesting response.

Granted, drawing the attention of an insane kryptonian was not generally a good thing.

Particular when she miiiiight have forgotten to turn her heat vision off. It happens to the best of us.

Throughout the fair, well, yeah, there was definitely some panic. But it was controlled panic. Heroes of all stripes were running, flying, leaping, and teleporting to fend off the many and varied attackers, keep them back from civilians. In the front, the mutant and inhuman gangs brawled with each other, their fight spreading out to catch the protesters within. Bullets filled the air from super soldiers and trained police officers alike, and blasts of colored light rained from the sky. It was chaos, but it was chaos that was being attended to by the heroes of Project Tomorrow.

Heavy Heart:
Free: Swap to Dense Muscles.
Move: Into Close range of Gethsemane.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Foolhardy Overconfidence enhanced by Dense Muscles at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Will DC 22 vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Transformed [All defensive traits to 0] Affliction Linked to Weaken Toughness and Will. Hit

Vanish:
Move: Teleport into Close range of Sarah.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Portal Blade at [roll1]. On a hit, Parry DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage. Hit. No Multiattack.

Roarin':
Standard: Defend.
Free: Activate Let's Talk. Communication between he and Rene is Subtle and occurs at 100X normal speed.
Move: Attempt a Persuasion check (-5 for doing so as a move action) at [roll2]. This has no mechanical effect since Rene's a PC, although if you wish to use it to inform your reaction you are welcome to do so.

Felltrade:
Free: Swap to Supreme Insight.
Move: Into Close range of Spider-Man.
Standard: Attack Spider-Man with Serpent's Fangs and Flurry of Blows at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23+Multiattack vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18+Multiattack vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless. The Affliction carries a Secondary Effect. Hit with +2 Multiattack. DC becomes 25 and 20.

Lastthought:
Free: Swap to Mindwall.
Move: Into Close range on Ronin.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Psychic Disconnect enhanced by Magnekinetically-forged Iron Sword at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Will DC [roll5] vs. Nullify descriptor powers. The Nullify is Simultaneous and Continuous, but it can be recovered from like an Affliction if you fail by one or two degrees, or at end of scene if you fail by three degrees. However, while you know about this effect from your prior power scan, it's Subtle and Insidious requiring appropriate power detection to detect, so Ronin will not be aware of the results of the Nullify in-character. Hit

Additionally, Lastthought is wielding an iron weapon. If you fail to resist the physical portion of any of his attacks (the Damage in this case), you suffer an additional degree of failure. Starsoul may Interpose against the physical portion for Ronin if desired (consider this Starsoul's choice, not Ronin's), but this is risky; it can be damaged as a normal weapon (1 degree Bruised, 2 degrees loses some functionality, 3 degrees destroyed; it doesn't suffer the increased degree of failure) if it does so despite its normal indestructibility, rolling Toughness at +11. If Ronin attempts to Disarm or Smash Lastthought's sword, Lastthought automatically performs the same action against Starsoul, resolving simultaneously. Starsoul remains indestructible against direct attack though, and won't suffer incidental damage from normal attacks and parries - this weakness is tied to the fey spirit of the Champion, making it a matter not just of iron, but also of sacrifice. Ronin, take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Some Old Wives Tales Are True Complication.

Sunbound:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Local Media with Sun Vision. Unit Combat attack with +2 for Takedown 2 (DC 12): [roll6]. Two degrees

All PCs are on turn.

Big Name Heroes:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 20) at [roll7]. Two degrees

X-Men:
Attack Assorted Rogues (DC 17) at [roll8]. Four degrees

General Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 20) at [roll9]. No effect

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 18) at [roll10]. No effect
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll11]. Two degrees

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 18) at [roll12]. No effect
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll13]. No effect

Protesters:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 22) at [roll14]. No effect

X-Bones:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 22) at [roll15]. Two degrees
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll16]. Critical. Four degrees

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Bones (DC 22) at [roll17]. No effect
[S]On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll18].

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack General Heroes (DC 22) at [roll19]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll20]. No effect

Faux Lanterns:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 26) at [roll21]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll22]. Two degrees

Semi-Super Soldiers:
Attack Volunteer Supers (DC 18) at [roll23]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Local Media (DC 12) at [roll24]. No effect

Assorted Rogues:
Attack X-Men (DC 24) at [roll25]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll26]. One degree

[SuperCracker]

Fred opened his mouth to voice an excuse when sh*t hit the fan in an epic way. Turns out, Fred wasn’t late at all. He was right on time. His eyebrows furrowed as he swept the crowd and took in the mass chaos. How to make people with powers look bad? Make it look like people with powers couldn’t help but brawl. Whoever orchestrated this had already gotten what they wanted – the pictures that would run Page 1 on the Bugle and the Planet. By engaging in the fight, Ronin was sure he was going to add fuel to that fire.

But no matter. The fight was on, time to end it quickly.

Ronin and the X-Men jumped into action. Fred squared off with a head-teleporting swordsman. True Sight revealed the warrior to be a mutant with psychic abilities. A sword psychic… something like Betsy.

“Dibs on the swordfighter,” Fred said to Kitty. He stepped forward towards the other mutant. With some distance between them, Ronin summoned his might. There was a pressure in the air as a great force of magic pushed at the limits of reality. The spiritual stuff of hope and honor and heroism surged through Ronin before warping reality with a blinding flash of light and a booming detonation. As the dust cleared, Fred stood in the same position, covered in blazing light and putting his otaku glory on full display. Super Saiya-jin 2. (https://youtu.be/Ms-c0H61Vgg)

With a flash of starmetal he drew his blade and cut through the air. The space in his fighting area filled with the light of thousands of phantom slashes. Every foe he could see was struck all at once. Fred slowly returned Starsoul to its sheath while he pushed his shades up onto the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

"Come get some, baldy!" Starsoul was always dependable for a good hype man.

[Starsign]

This is what they call a whiplash.

Rene had been all ready to hear a devastating roar, a mighty cry, and then fangs crunching down on his neck. Instead, he heard the deep, shockingly eloquent and pulse-pounding voice that comes from Roarin'. Now it's definitely one thing for looks to contrast greatly from personality; Rene's compassion and... lack of sanity offset his reptilian appearance. However it's still very shocking when the stomping t-rex actually offered to talk, rationally even. Rene couldn't recall a villain who came out and offered to talk things over... even if during a massive riot. There's something about the villain's voice that was explicitly honest as the sound went through Rene's ear holes. His thick tail calmed down and lay on the stone ground and his clawed hands and feet lightly let go of its pointless and anxious grip on the ground. In many ways, Roarin' was rather convincing in his honesty. It felt easy to trust the t-rex's words, though not himself and his actions; and it left Rene momentarily thinking.

"Oh." The small peep reeks gently out of his reptilian snout, hiding his sharp small teeth as he eases his pose. "You came out here... to talk to me?" The reptilian humanoid, more snake-like than the t-rex, slithers up on his two clawed feet as he thinks over the offer. "That's very... uh, generous of you." Rene really shouldn't be describing a villain as "generous" when they barge in and help cause a mass riot. He's almost glad Katie's shared awareness spell has been turned off.

His head slowly turns to look away as he continues, a bit nervous to keep talking to Roarin' directly after his offer. "I mean no villain has ever- OH ****!" The ear-piercing, hoarse and scaly screech comes out of Rene's now-maddened face as he looks to his right. Some of the protesters watching him since Batwing touched down are now caught in the crossfire. Mutants throw their crazy abilities at another superpowered gang as their attacks cause havoc around them. Fire, ice, fists, sonic attacks, bones, blood, blades, teeth ravage with the protesters caught in it!

Everything else around Rene disappears from his sight as his clawed hands and feet drive into the stone earth and charges over to the protesters he'd otherwise never dare approach. The reckless attacks and projectiles slow to a crawl as he dashes around like a low, green blur, moving protesters who are caught in the open and using his own body to block attacks thrown out. Let it never be said that a mutant's powers are ever weak as Rene suffers from a searing flame, a barrage of ice shards, powerhouse punches, and even a thin blade made of bone which is stabbed through the reptilian's neck when he pushed a young teenager out of the way; the stab just barely missed his windpipe... But it hurts, god it hurts...

Grow stronger from it.

His sharp teeth chatter with his shocked limbs. He uses his clawed hands to support himself as he backs up, finding the nearby area wrecked by the riot; he had just built several of those hours ago! However, like any good builder, one sees creation from destruction. The ruined attractions were built from steel, wood, cloth and all else that keeps small infrastructure sturdy. Where some see it as rubble, Rene sees it as materials. The pain from his body subsides as he gets to work. The protesters who had been moved aside now find a thick, albeit misshapen barrier of steel and wood surrounding them; cloth disguises the material holding the barrier together; they have the injured reptilian to thank as he looked back at them. "Okay, okay, you'll be safe here," he speaks in a hurry, and with some pain, almost as if he's trying to convince himself of the same thing. And before one protester tries swinging at him for being a monster, Rene dashes off to leave the protesters with their protective barrier... however long that will hold.

The whole experience didn't last long from Roarin's perspective. He saw Rene freak out, run away, and then return looking like a bunch of mutants had ganged up on him; his clawed hand covers the stab mark where blood is very clearly leaking from. "Ugh... I-I'm sorry but I can't leave." His rejection to Burkhard might, perhaps, be more understandable now than several moments ago. "There's too much... Too much. I have to help them." It feels like a strain to speak with how his neck is even as his regeneration starts closing the wound; how do powerhouses enjoy throwing themselves in front of attacks?! "But if you wanna go to that cafe... I can stop by when I'm done." Rene suspects this somehow isn't the counteroffer Roarin' wants to hear.

Rene absorbs the 4 degrees from attacks made on the Protesters. He also uses Builder Instinct (aka his Create power) to make a barrier to protect the Protesters from being attacks deliberately or via collateral damage. Maximum range is 2000 cft and I... think has a DC 21 Toughness?

[CandyLaser]

It took some quick thinking, even by Sarah's standards, to reconfigure her shields to intercept and interfere with Vanish's portal blade. Happily, she'd used her own technology to do similar things in the past, and that experience proved invaluable now in ensuring that she escaped unharmed. Her defenses put Vanish's blade out of phase. "Best be careful with that. You might hurt someone." Sarah used the momentary reprieve this bought her to protect the people below. A network of portals appeared, diverting incoming attacks into safe vectors.

Sarah took flight, putting some distance between her and Vanish as she opened fire with her portal blaster. There was no reason to think that Vanish was particularly vulnerable to any of the environmental conditions Sarah could summon. So she went with one of her standbys - a crackling bolt of Jovian lightning, which arced out from Sarah's portal gun toward her target.

Let's try to fire back using Sarah's portal blaster. Polymath will be set to Favored Enemy, All-out Attack, and Improved Crit 3. Attack roll, using a full all-out attack and putting the FE bonus into attack: [roll0]. If that hits it's a DC 29 Toughness save.

[Zelphas]

First rule of any predator who plans to live a long time: never underestimate another predator.

Gethsemane crushes down the sudden feelings of suicidal superiority almost as soon as they arise, using the power of Compassion to let the feelings run their course before fading away. The physical blow of the Skrull crashes into the side of her mouth, shattering her jaw and warping one entire side of her skull. Gethsemane is thrown, spinning, towards the crowd.

As she skids to a stop just inches away from a frightened onlooker, Gethsemane's hands shoot out, clapping over a home-made bomb that someone had lobbed into the air. The explosive ignites with a muted boom, and a curl of smoke escapes from her clenched fingers. She opens her hands; bits of ragged metal rain from her hands as she shakes them out.

Gethsemane paces back over to the Skrull, reaching up with one hand to her horribly mangled jaw. With a gruesome snap, she crunches her jaw back into place, the bones of jaw and skull fusing back together with a prolonged effort of will. "Emotion control," she notes lightly, feeling the contours of her bruised face for any missing spurs of bone. "Useful trick. Natural mutation, or learned spell?"

As Gethsemane speaks, a thin, delicate tail topped with a wicked spiked barb curls lightly out from the back of her dress, strikes several times at the Skrull, and disappears back under the dress once more.

Move Action: Staggered.

Standard Action: Recover from Staggered.

Extra Effort: Attack Heavy Heart with Sting of Greed. [roll0] On a hit, Fortitude DC 20 vs. Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed, Will DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness and Will. If Heavy Heart doesn't notice the attack, maybe she's Vulnerable?

Status: 1 Bruise (heals), Fatigued next turn.

[SuperCracker]

Lastthought parried Fred’s first attack. As the soul sword struck the villain’s weapon, Fred felt a bone-chilling cold pass across him. Cold iron. This fight just got much more deadly. Ronin instinctually knew that if he were to use Starsoul against this weapon, Starsoul could be truly damaged. Starsoul was his soul sword. It too shared some of his weaknesses.

Many of the goon enemies in the area decided that fighting civilians would probably be unwise when there’s a glowing mutant samurai slinging area of effect death every few seconds. They dogpiled on him, causing Ronin to duck, juke, and parry.

Fred almost didn’t see the psychic swordsman coming through the chaos. The villain came at Ronin with a standard, but very well-executed leading maneuver. Ronin’s right hand went down to Starsoul’s sheath. He grabbed it and quickly raised it up out of his belt. The cold iron blade bit into the sheath, inches from Fred’s neck. Fred kept the sheath out in his right hand. It would have to do.

“Boss, what are you doing?”

Ronin stepped forward and struck almost faster than the eye could see. While Lastthought was able to avoid damage, the mere attack itself had thrown him off-balance. Fred followed up with a powerful strike, swinging his glowing blade down at Lastthought. The force of the strike sundered the concrete for several yards ahead of the two.

Fake-regenerate the Bruise I took last turn.

[TheIronGolem]

The world slows to molasses as the Spider-Sense takes over. But even so, it takes all of Spider-Man's concentration to avoid Felltrade's onslaught of efficient knifework. The webslinger takes step after step backwards, the assassin's relentless advance forcing him to give up ground as he protests.

"Whoa! Hey! No, I need that! It's where I keep all my best blood!"

Another nagging buzz from the symbiote sends Jimmy's eyes flickering off to one side for one all-too-short moment between knife thrusts. A bumper car, burning with blue-white fire from whatever explosion sent it sailing through the air...and about to land on two people. One of them he doesn't recognize - some young lady looking obliviously through one hell of a nice camera pointed in exactly the wrong direction. The other he does - a wiry geezer who looks like someone gathered up all the beef jerky they could find and used it to prop up a trenchcoat. Jimmy's actually a little star-struck here, because even Lois has been rumored to admit to looking up to this guy.

Spider-Man crouches down low, just barely fast enough to keep Felltrade's knife from going straight through his right eye. The crouch puts him in a position to launch himself high up and backwards in a slow-turn backflip. Upside down, at the peak of his arc, the webslinger fires two web-lines down at the flaming car before it can hit the two journalists, and yanks it back up towards himself like an airborne yo-yo player. He lets himself fall, passing the car on its way up, hits the ground feet-first. The car is still snared by the web-line in his hand, which he now snaps back, pulling the car down again - not straight down, but rather into an arc that smooths out into a path parallel to the ground...and straight towards Felltrade.

Spider-Man gives the two journalists a quick look. To make sure they're okay, of course. And if one of them who happens to be one of the heroes of the journalism world gives him a compliment or a hearty thank-you, he won't complain.

Instead, Ben Urich just grunts and says, "Little showy there, kid."


Web Pull attack vs. Felltrade. Power Attack for +5, spending a HP on the attack roll. Result: [roll0], DC 26 on hit

EDIT: No, wait, that's a 24. Forgot the Power Attack penalty.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Roarin' looked briefly disappointed, and spent a moment in thought, before answering, "Ah, but that would cost an asset for my side without taking an equivalent exchange from yours. Untenable, I'm afraid."

"I understand the logic behind your decision. However, I would request that you offer me an opportunity to present an argument that you shall, I think, find persuasive. Your decision, of course, is quite rationally based on the notion that if you and I fight, while the results of our battle may be unknowable, you will remain able to protect others in the interim. My offer was based on mistaken assumptions, that only the end results of our conflict would be a matter of merit, rather than considering what you could accomplish during it. Thereby, any lives you might save during our fight would be sacrificed if you chose to leave."

"My argument, therefore,"

Oh, no...

"is that you may have made a similar miscalculation,"

You knew what was coming...

"for the question is not how many lives you can save,"

He was going to-!!

"but rather if you can save more than I can end!"

Some villains killed because it was necessary to accomplish their goals. Some villains killed because they enjoyed it. Some villains killed because they simply weren't cautious enough to avoid collateral damage.

And some villains killed because they did not see lives as having any intrinsic value other than as tools to use and resources to expend to get what they wanted.

And Roarin'? Roarin' was that last type.

The Inhuman let loose, a tyrannosaur roar that could be heard over the entire battlefield. No scream, no gun, no explosive blast, could overwhelm the sheer volume of Roarin's namesake. It was loud enough that over on the roof fighting Felltrade, a solid football field or so distant, Spider-Man's symbiote suit shivered.

Rene was subject to the full force of the sonic blast. But that was a matter of only limited concern. For the sound wave exploded outward just far enough to hit the recently-repaired ferris wheel, and send it toppling over.

And standing beneath it, nearly a score of civilians screamed in terror.

--

The bolt of lightning struck Vanish squarely, but she seemed to fade into translucency the moment it did. She didn't manage to fully mitigate the blast, but she clearly only took a bare fraction of its power.

But Sarah's aggressive blast had left her open, and that was a bad state to be in against a super-powered assassin.
"You're telling me to be careful?" Vanish retorted, as she attempted to teleport something out of Sarah's body that was way more useful inside her body.

--

Heavy Heart didn't notice the sting until it was too late. Although, uh, to be fair, she didn't seem to particularly notice it afterwards either. "Supertech, actually. Cybernetic brain chip," she answered convivially.

Yeah she's totally lying.

"Now, unless I miss my guess, yours comes from that little trinket," she said with a glance at the Indigo Ring. "Indigo Tribe. I suppose that explains what a demon is doing pretending to be a superhero."

This time she didn't lash out with a punch, she just reached out to set a hand on your arm, a friendly gesture, as her eyes glowed with pink light. "Give it to me, won't you?"

--

Lastthought managed to parry the strike, but the force of the blow still rattled him, and knocked him back on his heels. He had to quick-step back a pace or two to recover his balance.

But nonetheless he lunged back in, coming in with a high thrust followed by a hard slash for the beck - or was it a rapid flurry of hewing strikes? One of the attacks had to be a psychic illusion, but which...?

Thing was, it wasn't all a feint - if the illusory attack hit, it might not cause physical damage, but it would bring a piercing psychic pain into Ronin's mind.

--

With shocking agility, Felltrade leaped up and threw himself into a corkscrewing spin as the car was thrown at him. He glided through the shattered windows with iron nerve, and came out without so much as a tear in his costume. And somehow, in the midst of that spinning leap-dodge, he managed to hurl a flurry of darts at Spider-Man's neck, wrists, and inner thighs with pinpoint accuracy. If they hit, the impact would depressurize the vampiric syringes, causing them to begin draining the hero's blood, before he pulled them back on the thin strands of spider-silk they were attached to, yanking them brutally free in hopes of leaving the hero to bleed out.

He landed on his feet in the exact same spot he had been before, to the millimeter. If someone hadn't watched him move, they might have thought the car had just passed through him.

--

Meanwhile, up in the air, Sunbound was giggling and shooting heat vision at pretty much anyone who was using a superpower and not wearing a costume. No doubt there was some deep strategic reason for this.

Roarin':
Move: Attempt to Demoralize Rene at [roll0]. Beat that with Insight or Will or you're Impaired one round. If you fail by four degrees you're Disabled instead.
Standard: Sonic Roar. 60' cone area. Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage, Strength DC 22/16 or get knocked back, and Fortitude DC 22/16 vs. Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled. The Affliction also carries a Secondary Effect if you fail the Dodge save for half. This also counts as a Unit Combat attack on the Civilian Force at [roll1]. One Degree

Vanish:
Move: Nah.
Free: Swap to Astral Surprise. This power enhances all of Vanish's attacks against any opponent who is taking an active defense penalty!
Standard: Baleful Teleport on Sarah. Perception-range attack. Fortitude DC 27 vs. Damage. In addition, due to Astral Surprise, if you fail to beat DC 22, you also suffer an Impaired/Disabled Affliction.

Heavy Heart:
Move: Meh.
Free: Swap to Dense Body.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Unconditional Love at [roll2]. On a hit, Will DC 22 vs. Cumulative, Secondary Effect Impaired/Compelled/Controlled.
Heavy Heart recognizes the Indigo Ring and is targeting it specifically. Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for the Complication. Miss due to the Defense bonus from Recover.

Lastthought:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Dual Distraction at [roll3], critting on 18+. This attack targets Will rather than Parry.
On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Secondary Effect Iron Damage, Will DC 22 vs. Weaken Will. ...Ironically, that would have hit if he hadn't targeted Will.
End of turn: Recovers a point of Parry.

Felltrade:
Free: Swap to Supreme Acrobatics, Spider-Silk Whipcords, Vampiric Syringes, and Flurry of Blows.
Move: Not an inch.
Standard: Attack Spider-Man with Vampiric Syringes enhanced by Flurry of Blows at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23+Multiattack vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Weaken Stamina. Wow. Um, sorry man. Crit. Full Multiattack. Toughness becomes DC 33, Fortitude DC 28.

Sunbound:
Move: Nah she's just floatin'.
Standard: Attack the Volunteer Supers as a Unit Combat attack at [roll5]. No effect! Go little supery dudes! These guys have what it takes to be heroes!

All PCs are on turn

Big Name Heroes:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 18) at [roll6]. One degree

X-Men:
Attack X-Bones (DC 22) at [roll7]. No effect

General Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 20) at [roll8]. No effect

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Assorted Rogues (DC 13) at [roll9]. No effect
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll10]. ...Okay I may have spoken two soon. Two degrees.

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Assorted Rogues (DC 13) at [roll11]. One degree
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll12]. Doesn't happen

Protesters:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 20) at [roll13]. LOL

X-Bones:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 20) at [roll14]. Two degrees
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll15]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees from this. Wall absorbs one degree

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Bones (DC 22) at [roll16]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll17]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees from this. Wall absorbs three degrees

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack General Heroes (DC 21) at [roll18]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll19]. Fortunately doesn't happen

Faux Lanterns:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 25) at [roll20]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Local Media (DC 12) at [roll21]. Doesn't happen

Semi-Super Soldiers:
Attack Volunteer Supers (DC 17) at [roll22]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Local Media (DC 12) at [roll23]. Doesn't happen

Assorted Rogues:
Attack Local Police (DC 16) at [roll24]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll25]. Doesn't happen

[Starsign]

Rene's ears were ringing, painfully, horribly. He thought anything that the talking t-rex could do couldn't have been worse than tearing off one of the reptilian's limbs; and yet Rene had not realized the ways in which villains could creatively tear people apart.

He barely had time to react as he saw Roarin' rear up for a massive blast. The villain's threat was already demoralizing enough; he didn't need to actually act on it! Rene got only a few steps forward and a hoarse, "WAIT!" before the sonic shout came. It's apocalyptic cry erased all sense of sight and sound as the reptilian was utterly engulfed by it. His bones ached and quake as his ribs shattered from the blast. His clawed feet failed to hang on as he's launched from the stone ground. With a loss of senses, Rene flew helplessly into the air and toward the ferris wheel he had just finished fixing. The only measure of good luck to come out of it was that his body hit the already-collapsing ferris wheel with enough force to send it away from its original impact and into an empty area of tents and stone earth; the civilians were thankfully spared from an untimely death.

It did nothing, however, to quell the utter pain Rene feels as he hits the ground with a heap of metal on top of him. "Agh... Augh!" He groans in pain as he finds his reptilian head and snout partly-squished between the ground and a huge steel beam. Blood drops from his mouth and through his small fangs as internal bleeding takes a toll on his cold-blooded body. God, he just wants to get out but it's too painful to move. He wants to climb out of this but he's in so much pain. Even as he regenerates from his wounds, the pain and aching remains. He has to get out; he has to get back on his feet; but the pain is too much.

The pain, however, is nothing for a beast.

The reptilian's whimpering begins to cease as a desperate feeling washes over him. A part of his human mind recedes as his blood-covered teeth crush together. A constant voice speaks in his head, repeating, Break. Break. Break! as he hisses under his steel prison. His bestial mind begins rejecting the pain as his scaly arms push and bash at the steel of the ferris wheel. With great effort, Rene savagely tears apart his metal grave as he emerges from the wreckage. His blood leaks out of his hissing mouth as he looks out from where he was blasted from. He saw a familiar... detesting figure. And that bastard is coming right for him!

With a loud hiss, Rene climbs down from the wreckage in an instant and dashes out after Roarin'. The green-scaled reptilian is engulfed in his intolerance for what Roarin' did.

He'll kill them all.

The voice in Rene's head gives its judgement, cruel and raging as the reptilian dashes in with his speed and tries sinking his clawed hand into Roarin's stomach.

Stop him!

Ho boy, so Rene took a beating last round. Given his wall is still up, he'll keep his array where it is. Actually, with Quellian's blessing, I'll be switching to Survival Instinct while keeping the wall up. For now, due to being Dazed, Rene will charge at Roarin' in order to attack him, taking the -2 penalty in addition to the -2 for being Impaired: [roll0] DC 25 Toughness on hit.

Rene also regenerates a bruise at the end of a turn.

[CandyLaser]

This wasn't the first time Sarah had seen some of her innards teleported out of her body. The line between super science and mad science was thin, and there had been accidents in the past.

Didn't make it any more enjoyable, though.

Sarah's first attack on Vanish had made an impact. She was happy to repeat the process, but she wanted to make things stick this time. It was time to improvise. Sarah opened up portals, keyed to Vanish's unique teleportation signature, unleashing further blasts of energy that homed in inexorably, lighting up the skies with a display of lightning and fury - and it continued even as Sarah vanished into a portal, heading a couple miles away in an effort to get a reprieve from Vanish's assault while her bolts did their work.

Let's go for a power stunt: Blast 11, with the Perception Range and Secondary Effect extras and the Distracting flaw, as well as Affects Insubstantial 2. That'll trigger a DC 26 Toughness save this round and next round, and hopefully Vanish won't be able to follow a teleport in a random direction.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane answers the Skrull's 'friendly' gesture with a thin smile just as sincere, taking a prudent step backwards. One large wing unfurls from her back, the thin-looking membrane meeting a blast of colorful energy ricocheting out of the massive melee around her and absorbing it with no apparent damage. "Still sloppy. So, you know what this ring is." She flexes her fingers, and her nails shoot out into six-inch-long claws, already burning with crimson fire as her ring, staff, and forehead sigil turn the same color.

A moment later, she is in front of the Skrull, her claws tearing towards her opponent's stomach with savage ferocity. "You are woefully unprepared to face a demon," she continues, her calm voice at odds with her ferocious movements.

Move Action: Nah.

Free Action: Switch to Claws of Rage.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Heavy Heart, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.

Extra Effort + Hero Point: Claws of Rage again on Heavy Heart, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll1] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.

Status: Fatigued, -5 to Active Defenses (this turn).

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

Roarin' was a big ol' T-rex of an Inhuman, but that didn't make him slow. He deftly sidestepped Rene's charging strike, with a little sigh.

"So that is how it must be, then? And here I had hoped you were rational," he said with a disappointed voice. "Very well. If you shall not listen to reason, then listen to this," he said with an air of offended dignity, as he faced Rene squarely.

"You are not a man who has been turned into a beast!"

"You are a beast who has deluded itself into thinking it used to be man!"

"You are not a heroic figure, never were, and never could be!"

"You are a Quixotic figure, charging at windmills in vain hopes that your victories could ever matter!"

"Some of them see you for what you are, and act accordingly!"

"Insane!"

"Dangerous!"

"A monster!"

"And they, you should thank. For they at least acknowledge the truth!"

"As for the so-called heroes who profess to be your so-called friends, they show you kindness of of neither love nor loyalty, but merely pity!"

"A mongrel and a fool, at best a slab of inhuman meat to stand between themselves and their enemies!"

"You mean nothing to them!"

"You mean nothing to anybody!"

"You!"

"Are!"

"ALONE!"

--

Vanish phased out as the blasts of energy crashed down upon her, avoiding immediate harm, but the assault did not seem like it was letting up any time soon.

Sarah popped out a reasonable distance from the battle. Good news was, Vanish didn't immediately appear and resume her attack. So Sarah's plan for a little breather worked.

...Bad news was, that meant Vanish didn't currently have anybody to occupy her attention.

--

Heavy Heart moved with surprising speed considering her augmented density, but even she couldn't completely escape Gethsemane's furious assault. However, her dense flesh proved resilient even in the face of demonic power; Gethsemane left some scratches on her, but her blood ran in trickles, not streams, although the fires of Gethsemane's rage still clung to her, and continued to burn.

"Unprepared?" she retorted bemusedly, a wry smirk on her face, not betraying any sign of pain. "I am a Super-Skrull!"

She reached out with a hand, and the crimson fires of Gethsemane's rage burned even hotter, as the emotion-manipulator sought to turn the very anger she channeled back against her!

"I'll adapt!"

--

Ronin unleashed his most powerful attack, the Spirit Sword Strike, the blow that had struck down Gladiator himself!

But you know, there's something you have to remember about mutants. They had been persecuted for decades. Had faced all manner of threats seeking to wipe them from the planet, from bigots with guns all the way up to cosmic forces. It could easily have been argued that they had more enemies, and more hateful ones, than any other group of supers on the planet and very possibly off of it as well. And yet, despite all that hostility, all that energy devoted to wiping them out, two things remained constant:

The first of those was simply: they were still here!

Lastthought's iron blade came up, and he parried Ronin's energy-charged sword. Oh, it wasn't a casual block. The sheer force of the strike nearly wrenched the blade from his hands and knocked him back a step. But he took it, and faced Ronin down across their joined blades with a look of uncompromising determination. He pushed back against Ronin's sword, trying to drive his own into the fey warrior, his will pounding on Ronin's as if a paragon were squeezing down upon his skull.

But there was just a hint of desperation in his eyes, because the power of the Spirit Sword continued to build, towards its inevitable detonation.

Because that second constant?

Time and time again, the most deadly enemies that mutantkind ever faced, were always other mutants.

--

Felltrade looked down at Spider-Man as he lay, unconscious from blood loss, on the roof.

The assassin sniffed, and went off in search of more prey.

--

Sunbound cast her gaze to where the two super-powered gangs were brawling...except there seemed to be some interference going on. Some other group of mutants was attacking the first group of mutants while they were trying to fight the Inhumans! That wouldn't do! How were they supposed to see who was better if outsiders interfered?

"Let's keep it fair now," she said softly, certainly not anywhere near loud enough for anyone in that brawl to hear, and unleashed a consuming blast of solar fire upon the X-Men.

The flames didn't so much as singe the X-Bones or Terrorgenesis fighters. After all, we wanted a fair fight, didn't we?

Roarin':
Move: Attempt to Demoralize Rene at [roll0], opposed by Will or Insight.
Standard: Attack Rene with Filibuster at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage, Will DC 22+Multiattack vs. Weaken Toughness. Miss.

Vanish:
Move: Teleport to some other location in the fairgrounds.
Standard: Make a Unit Combat attack on Civilians, with a +2 bonus for Takedown 2, at [roll2]. Five degrees

Heavy Heart:
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Overwhelming Fury at [roll3]. On a hit, Will DC 22 vs. Contagious, Progressive Vulnerable/Compelled/Controlled. Vulnerable can be ignored in any round you All Out or Power Attack for maximum; Compelled and Controlled force you to attack the nearest potential target without regard for allegiance. Hit due to AoA
Move+Free: If Gethsemane ends up Compelled or Controlled, swap to Reduce Density and fly into a crowd of civilians.

Lastthought:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Strike Body, Strike Mind at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27/22 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness, Will DC 22 vs. Cumulative Vulnerable/Stunned/Controlled Affliction. If you fail to resist the Toughness checks degrees of failure increase by one. Crit. :smalleek:
DC becomes 32/27 and 27

Felltrade:
Move: Elsewhere.
Standard: Make a Unit Combat attack on Civilians, with a +1 bonus for Takedown, at [roll5]. Two degrees

Sunbound:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Make a Unit Combat attack on the X-Men, with a +2 bonus for an Area attack, at [roll6]. One degree

All PCs are on turn.

Big Name Heroes:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 17) at [roll7]. One degree

X-Men:
Attack X-Bones (DC 21) at [roll8]. No effect

General Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 20) at [roll9]. Two degrees

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Assorted Rogues (DC 12) at [roll10]. One degree
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll11]. Doesn't happen

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Assorted Rogues (DC 12) at [roll12]. One degree
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll13]. Doesn't happen

Protesters:
...Actually they're pretty much stuck behind Builder's wall.

X-Bones:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 18) at [roll14]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll15]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees from this, though will let through the first degree this round. One degree passes the wall

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Bones (DC 22) at [roll16]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll17]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees from this, though will let through the first degree this round. No effect

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack General Heroes (DC 21) at [roll18]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll19]. Doesn't happen

Faux Lanterns:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 25) at [roll20]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll21]. Doesn't happen

Semi-Super Soldiers:
Attack Local Law Enforcement (DC 16) at [roll22]. Three degrees
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll23]. One degree

Assorted Rogues:
Attack Volunteer Supers (DC 17) at [roll24]. No effect. Evidently the volunteer supers include several with great defensive powers.
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll25]. Doesn't happen

[Starsign]

The words stung Rene's body and bore into his soul.

He's been told this before. He's been accused of being a beast; he's been called a monster; he's been called insane; he's been called irredeemable once. He's heard it time and time and time again! The words never stop hurting. They're words of rejection and resentment that stay with him. It's one thing when it comes from a normal civilian; Rene deals with that all the time.

This time, it's a villain telling it.

Roarin's words are overwhelming under his powerful voice. The dominant speech feels worse than most physical wounds. For him to call Rene insane... dangerous... inhuman meat, a beast who thinks he's a man. It's too similar. Too similar to that hateful (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19847023&postcount=427) THING (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19847763&postcount=435). Rene can't stand it. He's not a monster; he's not a monster; he's a beast but he's not a monster! He's insane but he's not dangerous! He may be a fool but he's not inhuman meat! And that dinosaur is still talking. He's still talking, on and on and on and on and-

SHUT HIM UP!

The voice in Rene's head yells with an unsightly fury. The eyes in Rene's slits suddenly twitch wildly as something creeps up in his mind; his lizard tail flails in jagged, wild patterns. It's a lingering, familiar yet oppressive feeling; not like the Totem but something instinctual. It creeps around and into Rene's thoughts with the same phrase as above, repeating again and again as if to demand him to do what they say.

And then, he snaps.

His mouth opens as he hisses at Roarin'. The pain of the reptilian's past wounds disappear as he becomes centered on this hateful excuse of a dinosaur. Rene's eyes almost seem to lose life as the beast within him takes over his human mind. "Shut up," he curses, hissing maddeningly at the villain. Suddenly the reptilian dives at the dinosaur, sending both of them on a rampant dash across the fairground as Rene's coarse voice seems like it's about to crack. "Shut up! Stop talking and fight!" With his reptilian instincts taking over and his mind utterly rejecting insults and verbal attacks, Rene dashes around the area, swiping and striking Roarin' with his claws in a flurry of hit-and-run tactics.

...Though perhaps due to his hit-and-run strategy, the reptilian has several quick and unaware meetings with Felltrade. The reptilian, too crazy and obsessed with Roarin' to notices, takes several slashes to his back and side as the knife-wielding villain becomes distracted by the reptilian's manic movements that come and go as a green blur. By this point, Rene's mind is too far gone to notice slashes and cuts over his body when he can regenerate from it; the only bit of sanity he has right now is his one letting him identify reality with fantasy... for now.

Alrighty, Rene used his last HP to Heroic Feat Fearless. Now he will continue attacking Roarin'. [roll0] DC 25 Toughness on a hit. Gotta figure out his tradeoffs.

[Zelphas]

In response to the Super-Skrull's attack, Gethsemane lifts her left hand, allowing the flames to shoot up and away from her in a massive arc of raging energy. The arc disrupts a group of flying Inhumans that had been bearing down on hapless citizens, allowing the citizens to scurry quickly into cover.

Gethsemane studies the Skrull in front of her for a moment, thinking. Adaptational... may be in best interests to end fight quickly, then. Risky; chance of overexerting, but best outcome. Her outstretched hand comes down on a massive swipe, the empowered rage turning back on the one who boosted it in another heavy slash. "Re-learn how Indigo Tribe works," she says conversationally, her markings, ring, and staff beginning to glow an ugly blue-yellow. "Emotions are felt through lens of Compassion; they are not in control."

The Demoness lifts her right hand. In the center of her palm, dark, swirling energies form a ball of oblivion fire, striated with bands of sickening yellow. "You will adapt? Demons have been since time began, child. Have adapted to every change since then." With a flick of her wrist, she jets the ball of fear at her foe. "See."

Move Action: Nah.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Heavy Heart, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage with Secondary Effect.

Free Action: Switch to Unholy Terror.

Extra Effort: Unholy Terror on Heavy Heart, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll1] On a hit, Toughness DC 30 vs. Damage, Will DC 25 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (Limited: only to run away from Gethemsane; Limit 2: Entranced characters can act normally if they spend their Move Action running away from Gethsemane.

Status: Fatigued (Exhausted next turn), -5 to Active Defenses (this turn).

[CandyLaser]

Sarah's retreat from the battlefield was strictly temporary - it was a chance for her to catch a breath while her assault did its work. She certainly wasn't going to stay away. What she WAS going to do was armor up - and then fly back to punch Vanish in her stupid phasing, teleporting face. Sarah's Titanomachy exo-suit formed around her, its pieces teleported in by Minerva back at her lab. As she interfaced with its systems, the suit lit up, its systems coming online. Then Sarah took flight, warping gravity around her as she zoomed back toward the fight. As soon as she got within sight of Vanish, she locked on - and, straining the suit's systems, unleashed a blast from its intrinsic field subtractor.

First: standard action to don her suit. Second: move action to come back to the fight. She teleported 2 miles out, and her fly speed is 4 miles/round, so she should be able to get back. Then extra effort to surge and take an extra action, using it to fire off the intrinsic field subtractor. Polymath will be set to FE, All-out Attack, and Improved Critical 3. Here's the attack roll, going all-out for 5 and power attacking for 2 (plus putting the +2 from FE into attack): If that hits, it's a DC 24 Fortitude save vs. Weaken Toughness, followed by a DC 29 Toughness save. There's also the secondary effect of her last attack, which is another DC 26 Toughness save.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 4

The Builder lashed out at Roarin' in a frenzy, coming in far too aggressively for the big Inhuman to avoid him this time. Even so, Rene's claws scraped harmlessly off the tyrannosaur's scaly hide.

"Hmph. You don't even make a good beast," Roarin' commented disdainfully, before lunging forward and chomping down with his enormous maw right on Rene's head. And he roared as he struck, seeking to crush the lizard-man with his jaws and his voice alike!

--

"Intrinsic Field Subtractor". Well, let's see what that does...

...Oh. Oh, it appears to utterly obliterate most targets.

Well, yes. Yes that would be an accurate description. "Utterly obliterated" definitely describes how Vanish is feeling at the moment. She did, at least, manage to phase out enough to save, well, most of the matter making up her body. You know, the important stuff, anyway. But while there is a difference between being completely utterly obliterated and only partially utterly obliterated, in the midst of combat it was largely a semantic one. The astral assassin let out a screech before collapsing, passed out from shock and pain.

Up in the sky, Sunbound frowned and swooped down, getting between Sarah and the assassin. She gave the super-scientist a firm, challenging glare. Maybe she thought Sarah was going to try to finish Vanish off while she was down? Look, who knows what Sunbound's thinking. Point is, she scooped Vanish up and flew off with her at Kryptonian speed. It was probably too much to hope that she was gone for good, but who knows?

--

Gethsemane hit Heavy Heart solidly with the blast of fear, and it didn't exactly help matters that she was still on fire. Even with her own empathic abilities to mute the terror, Heavy Heart's...heart (hearts? I'm actually not up to speed on Skrull biology) began pounding, as insidious whispers began filling her head. The demon had countered every move she had made, and had remained in complete control the entire time. How could she expect to beat her? And this was a demon.

She'd kill her if she won.

Heavy Heart reduced her density near to nothing, and took off, flying at speed under the compulsion of Gethsemane's power.

--

Felltrade kinda raised a brow as Rene got in his way a bit during his chaotic attack run, but just shrugged and went back to attacking whoever he could get his hands on.

Lastthought:
Turn delayed.

Roarin':
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack The Builder with Roaring Bite at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 22 vs. Grab, and Fortitude DC 22 vs. Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled. Hit

Sunbound:
Move: Over to Vanish.
Standard: Pick her up.
Move-by Action: Somewhere else.

Heavy Heart:
Move: Dazed.
Free: Swap to Reduce Density.
Standard: Fly at Speed Rank 12 away from Gethsemane.

Felltrade:
Move: Sure?
Standard: Unit Combat attack on civilians at [roll1]. Three degrees

All PCs are on turn

Big Name Heroes:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 16) at [roll2]. Crit! Four degrees!

X-Men:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 18) at [roll3]. Two degrees

General Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 18) at [roll4]. Three degrees

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 16) at [roll5]. Three degrees to finish them off! Rock on volunteers!
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll6].

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Faux Lanterns (DC 16) at [roll7]. No effect
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll8]. Too well trained

Protesters:
Walled off.

X-Bones:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 17) at [roll9]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll10]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees past the first from this and below. Doesn't happen

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Bones (DC 20) at [roll11]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll12]. Doesn't happen

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack General Heroes (DC 20) at [roll13]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll19]. Doesn't happen, which is nice

Faux Lanterns:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 20) at [roll14]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Local Media (DC 12) at [roll15]. Doesn't happen

Semi-Super Soldiers:
Attack X-Men (DC 20) at [roll16]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll17]. ...And the good guys were having such a good round.
Crit. Four degrees.

[Starsign]

*CRUNCH*

The massive jaws of the t-rex come down on Rene like a meteor. The smaller reptilian, hissing ferociously at the dinosaur-man, throws his arms forward in a crazed panic. Rene's clawed hands smashes down on the sharp teeth, feeling bone and muscle tear through as he gets his own hands impaled to protect his head. The smaller reptilian screams at the pain as his own voice is drowned out by Roarin's sonic roar. Rene loses sight and sound again as he the blast forces his clawed feet off the ground and his clawed hands out of Roarin's teeth.

Everything looks like a white light. Rene can barely see anything. Where is he going? Where is Roarin'? God, where is eve-

*SLICE*

*STAB*

*SLASH*

A sudden, prepared flurry stabs and strikes tear into the reptilian's body as he blindingly runs into Felltrade's carefully-planned path; the reptilian's senses promptly return upon such horrid pain. The knife skewed and sliced through Rene's chest scales, leaking and sprouting his blood across the stone floor. Rene, almost delirious over the sudden pain, screams again in pain as, out of instinct, he slithers away from the knife-toting villain.

What are you doing?!

The voice in Rene's head screams as he exits a narrow passage and appears in front of Roarin'. The smaller reptilian's body quivers and shakes; the knife wounds lie present on his chest and stomach as green scales and red liquid covers the ground; his tail drags across the stone ground as he clawed feet moves him forward... hesitantly. Rene is a mess, badly wounded, mentally worn-out and in a dire need of a bestial rage.

"Urk," he squeaks between his many sharp teeth. His breaths become an ugly mix of actual breathing and strained hisses. "Ssssssssssssss-". Blood drips lightly out of his open-mouth as his reptilian slits twitch erratically. C'mon, he thinks to himself. C'mon, c'mon c'mon, I-I can't drop here. I gotta do something! I gotta-

SCREAM!

An ear-piercing shout briefly pierces the area as Rene's bestial instincts take over. His brain, partly-shutting down, ignores pain and fatigue as his body lunges over at Roarin' again. Determined to fight like a beast instead of a hero, Rene tries slashing rapidly at the t-rex's body!

This took a bit longer than expected today. Rene will, again, do his standard attacks on Roarin'. He will also Extra Effort to get in another strike! Power Attacking +3/-3.

[roll0] DC 28 Toughness on hit.
[roll1] DC 28 Toughness on hit.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah watched the Kryptonian fly away, and for the moment she did not pursue. Instead, she planted herself in front of the crowd on civilians, letting the Titanomachy armor soak up the hits and protect the innocent while she caught her breath.

Soaking damage and using Recover to, well, recover and reduce the Exhausted back to Fatigued.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 5

Felltrade kinda gave the Builder a flat glare as he, again, went blindly running into the path of his knives. "Again? Really?" he mumbled under his breath. But the Builder's furious response caught Roarin' solidly, scraping four shallow gashes into the Inhuman's scaly hide.

Meanwhile, across the fairgrounds, Lastthought managed to force Fred's sword back enough for his own blade to dig into the fey-souled mutant's shoulder, bringing with it an acrid smoke as the iron weapon bit into Fred's flesh. But before he could press the advantage any further, the residual energy of the Spirit Sword detonated, blasting him back and leaving him reeling, with several ribs cracked. Fred didn't hesitate, a slash of his sword propelling telekinetic force straight into the combat telepath, dropping him in a spray of blood.

"Enough," Roarin' said calmly, quietly...even soothingly, his voice lowering to a gentle whisper. "This conflict is pointless. You cannot beat me, certainly not while protecting these pitiful people. Just...stop. Relax. It will all be over soon..."

...And then Sunbound flew back to the fray, saw that there was basically one of the big-leaguers still engaged with his target, and decided to help out, firing two beams of burning, golden power from her eyes straight at Rene.

Which would have been plenty bad enough, even without the frankly rather annoyed at this point Felltrade pulling out some sort of pliable barbed cord thing and sending it lashing at Rene's throat.

"...Excuse me, have the fairgrounds been emptied? Is there nobody else for the two of you to fight that you have to interrupt my battle? Rude..."

Heavy Heart:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Move further away.
End of Turn: Will to recover from Entranced (DC 25): [roll0]. Recovers

Roarin':
Move: Nah.
Standard: Hypnotic Whisper on The Builder at [roll1]. On a hit, Will DC 27/22 vs. Sleep Damage Linked Progressive Entranced/Compelled/Controlled Affliction. Hit

Sunbound:
Move: Return!
Standard: Attack The Builder with Sun Vision. If Rene is Entranced from above, this negates it. Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22/16 vs. Dazed/Stunned.

Felltrade:
Move: Closer towards The Builder.
Standard: Attack The Builder with Scorpion's Tail and Defensive Rhythm at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18 vs. Weaken Toughness and Fortitude. Felltrade is Deflected at 1d10+26 for the next two turns. Hit

Rene take a :smallcool: Hero Point for all three of the active villains on the field targeting you while you are trying to duel here!

All PCs are on turn.

Big Name Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 15) at [roll3]. No effect

X-Men:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 16) at [roll4]. Two degrees

General Heroes:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 15) at [roll5]. Two degrees

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 16) at [roll6] Three degrees
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll7]. Doesn't happen

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Semi-Super Soldiers (DC 16) at [roll8]. And the MPD takes out the last of them!
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll9]. Doesn't happen

Protesters:
Walled off.

X-Bones:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 17) at [roll10]. Two degrees
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll11]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees past the first from this and below. One degree, and wall takes one

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Bones (DC 20) at [roll12]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll13]. Doesn't happen

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 20) at [roll14]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll15]. CRIT! 4 degrees

Semi-Super Soldiers:
Attack Big Name Heroes (DC 20) at [roll16]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll17]. Doesn't happen

[Starsign]

Rene's breaths became heavy as the villain's soft, gentle words came through his ears. There's... something soothing about it. It's like that battle was over, like that no one wanted to fight now. Did everyone else finish up? Were the other villains driven out? Rene should have known the Misfits and the big-name heroes would come through. They could handle this a lot better he ccould. Drowsiness began washing over the reptilian as his wounds weighed heavier on him. He needed to rest; he needed to sleep; he need-

NO!

A showering pain careened through the reptilian's mind as he's suddenly forced out of his mystical drowsiness. Mind control; it was mind control again; it's always that damn power! Hissing breaths came out of the bloodied, green reptile as he stepped back just in time to be bombarded by blasts of light from above. The beams struck the reptilian on both sides as he gave off a harrowing scream. Fire, fire, fire! God it hurt! The boiling heat sizzled off his shoulder scales as he stumbled to keep standing on his clawed feet. The flashing in his eyes left the poor reptilian unaware as a whip of barbed cord came from behind and around his neck.

*SLIT*

Rene only remembers a shower of blood spill open in front of him as his neck scales and throat are sliced open. His attempt to scream in pain is silenced as his windpipe is slashed apart. His heavy tail flings and flops in shock as his body feels like it's breaking down. He can't describe the pain. He can't explain what it was like for, just that brief moment, live without a windpipe. He put his clawed hand on the throat, futilely trying to stop the bleeding even as his regeneration begins closing it. The eyes in his slits flash white, and then darkens... darkens... darkens.

A staggering hiss, and the reptilian's mind releases from reality. He slams his clawed hands down on the thick swamp grass, hissing loudly at the tyrannosaurus rex of a villain. "No... No, no!" the Builder hisses in retaliation. "No stopping! No resting!" His body shakes briefly before suddenly lunging at Roarin', swiping past before landing behind him. The green reptilian's mouth and throat is plugged full of thick, swampy liquid as he spits at his enemy. "I am a beast! I do not stop!" Filled with madness, the Builder lunges again with his incredible speed, and again, and again, and again he dashes to and away after each slash. A raptor will never kill a t-rex in a straight fight, but no brute will beat its speed!

I like how each time I try to make Rene more relaxed in a scene, I end up writing him going completely mad.

Anyway! Rene will go nova this round, something I don't normally do but I figure this was an appropriate point. :smalltongue: All-Out Attack +5/-5 and Power Attack +5/-5 on Roaring. And then Extra Effort to do so again! DC 30 Toughness on hit.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[CandyLaser]

Armor systems are intact - internal batteries recharged. The suit is performing admirably. Stark's going to review the footage of this fight, though, and it'll give him ideas - I estimate that he'll end up inventing some of the tech I'm using a year or two early, now. Despite the chaos of the battle, Sarah was as calm and measured as ever. It would take something bigger than a mass attack from squad of supervillains to rattle her. While she defended the civilians, Sarah scanned the opposition to identify the next biggest threat - and when the Kryptonian, Sunbound, returned, she instantly shot to the top of Sarah's list.

Taking flight, the scientist supreme streaked toward Sunbound, a blue and white blur in the air as she moved to intercept. She wasn't trying anything fancy, here - this was a brute force attack, smashing into the Kryptonian with all the power the suit's augmented strength could provide.

Let's make a slam attack. I'll go all-out and full power on this one, with Polymath set to All-out Attack, Power Attack, Favored Environment, Fast Grab, and Improved Grab. Here's the attack roll, with the FE bonus going to hit: [roll0] If that hits, it's a DC 34 Toughness check. If I hit, I'll also use Fast Grab to go for a grapple; I think that's a DC 29 resistance check using Strength or Dodge.

[Zelphas]

After catching her breath and fending off a few civilian attacks, Gethsemane leaps into the air, wafting high over the battle and scanning for further enemies. A moment late,r she sees a likely target.

A few seconds later, Gethsemane streaks past Felltrade, her claws lit with scarlet flames as they rake at the many-pocketed foe. She skids to a stop in front of him, taking a moment to straighten her dress with the very tips of one set of claws. "Leave, or lose," she says to him calmly.

Move Action: Shift to where Felltrade is.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Felltrade, All-Out Attacking for 5, Power Attacking for 3. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 28+Multiattack vs. Damage with Secondary Effect.

Status: 1 Bruise (Heals), Fatigued, -5 to Active Defenses this turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 6

Rene's furious assault tore into Roarin's hide, leaving the Inhuman bleeding from two deep gashes. It was nothing the huge tyrannosaur-man couldn't take, but it definitely hurt - as he made rather abundantly clear with a roar of pain that crashed down on Rene's head.

The Titanomachy suit crashed into Sunbound like a freight train, a colossal impact booming over the battlefield. ...And it bounced right off. Flipping Kryptonians, yo. She dodged Sarah's grab attempt in a blur of super-speed, and when Fred came air-running over to attack in a rapid series of slashes, her hasted movements allowed her to keep ahead of every one. And then she struck back, evidently not so crazy that she'd just ignore people who attacked her to go do something else. Her fists blazed with golden light as she channeled her solar magic to augment her strength, and she lashed out at Fred and Sarah with the full force of Kryptonian speed and power.

Felltrade limbo-dipped beneath Gethsemane's rending claws, looking at her with a dismissive sniff...but there was something calculating in his eyes as he looked her over. He drew was looked like a large syringe and some weird metal sphere from two of his innumerable pockets, closing in with the demon to jab the former at her neck, draining her blood, while the latter he tried to plant on her stomach, whereupon it would burst concussively to cover her with thick, clinging webbing.

Ronin:
Actions in OOC.

Heavy Heart:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Start heading back. One move action away.

Roarin':
Move: Meh.
Standard: Attack The Builder with Sonic Roar. Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage, Athletics or Acrobatics DC [roll0] (lower by 6 if Dodge succeeds) vs. Trip, Fortitude DC 22/16 vs. Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled. The Affliction carries a Secondary Effect but only if you fail the first save.

Sunbound:
Move: More meh.
Standard: Attack Sarah and Ronin with Solar Flurry augmented by Solar Channeling, Multiattacking for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 27/22 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. The Damage carries a Secondary Effect.
Sarah: [roll1]. Hit due to AoA
Ronin (-2 for Partial Concealment): [roll2]. Just hits.

Felltrade:
Move: All of the meh.
Free: Swap to Supreme Insight.
Free: Feel mildly surprised to learn Gethsemane apparently doesn't have any holy weaknesses.
Free: Show mild regret for his prior decision to go murder a priest for some holy water (not because of murdering a priest, just because it was kinda a waste of his time (Felltrade's a bit of a punk you guys)).
Free: Swap to Dual Wield, Vampiric Syringes, and Web Grenades.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane, Power Attacking for 5, at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 28 vs. Damage, Strength, Dodge, Parry, or any movement rank DC 23 vs. Vulnerable/Defenseless/Paralyzed and also Dazed+Impaired/Stunned+Disabled for physical checks and actions only, Fortitude DC 23 vs. Weaken Stamina. The Weaken carries a Secondary Effect. The Affliction carries a Secondary Effect if you fail the initial save. Hit
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers, one more round of Deflect at 1d10+26.

All PCs are on turn.

Big Name Heroes:
Attack X-Bones (DC 20) at [roll4]. Come on guys

X-Men:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 15) at [roll5]. Two degrees

General Heroes:
Attack X-Bones (DC 20) at [roll6]. One degree

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 13) at [roll7]. One degree
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll8].

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Battlesuit Mercenaries (DC 13) at [roll9]. And the takedown!
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll10].

Protesters:
Walled off.

X-Bones:
Attack General Heroes (DC 20) at [roll11]. lolno
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll12]. Builder's Wall absorbs all degrees past the second from this and below.

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Men (DC 19) at [roll13]. One degree
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12) at [roll14]. An energy blast shot through Kitty as she phased, passed like two other X-Men, four other heroes, and half the X-Bones gang, threaded the needle through one of the holes in the Builder's wall, hit a protester square in the chest, and he totally tanked it, you guys. It had to be seen to be believed.

Battlesuit Mercenaries:
Attack Volunteer Supers (DC 17) at [roll15]. CRIT! 3 degrees.
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 10) at [roll16]. But they kept the civilians safe!

[CandyLaser]

"That got your attention, huh? Time for you to go down." The Titanomachy suit was built to deal with gods. That didn't mean that Sarah didn't spare a thought for dealing with mere Kryptonians as well. Sure, they were tough - but that didn't help much against having their parts teleported away from the rest of their body. As Sunbound assaulted her, Sarah did the calculations - and after she committed to a hard punch, Sarah opened a portal in front of her, just for a fraction of second, aiming to close it and cut the crazed Kryptonian.

Polymath set to FE, All-Out, PA, and Improved Critical 2. Attacking with Portal Cutter, and using full all-out and power attack again, with the FE bonus going to attack. The attack roll: [roll0] On a hit, that's a DC 32 Damage effect vs. Dodge.

[Starsign]

The villain's soul-crushing roar comes down on the brave reptilian as the Builder's smaller frame crushes the cool swamp grass beneath him. The green one attempts to roar under the sonic fury, finding silence as his vocal cords, along with several bones and internal veins, break apart in his own body.

Darkness shrouds the environment around them; not a single star nor a sea of leaves are found above the two reptilians. Even Roarin' looks as if he's beginning to be consumed by the darkness as shadows slowly coarse through his body... He's getting blurry, things are looking fuzzier. What's going on? Rene's white eyes twitch and stutter as if trying to blink. He losing his sight; he's losing sight! The sounds of battle and activity fade out around him. He's losing consciousness; his mind has had enough. His reptilian snout opens to speak only for blood, his blood, to pour out like a fountain. God, he's not done yet; he can't just die in this swamp, not to this beast! He feels something slithering in his body; something in him is alive; but there's nothing to save his mind as it, and all his senses, are overtaken by the darkness around him.

And then... the slithering feeling rends his mind back to his body. The Beast takes over.

He staggers back up on his clawed feet as swaying grass and water splash around him; his wild, eyeless slits look in havoc around the ruined swamp. The dinosaur has invaded his land, torn his friends apart. One look above shows not darkness but chaos: meteors and meteorites rain down from above down to the Builder's allies. A bloodcurling scream echoes out of the reptilian as he tears through the swamp, throwing himself in front of his allies as the meteors and meteorites rain down on him. The beast refuses to stop, refuses to die as the rocks of destruction rain down on him instead of his fleshy friends. A hiss of fury once the rocks stop, and all who brought those down fall from the reptile's scream.

The Builder looks to his right, seeing they prey above taken down while the tyrannical t-rex still stands. That blasted invader still stands! That must CHANGE! The Builder hisses in contempt as he, the raptor, disappears like a green blur, appearing in front and then behind Roarin' as the beast faces beast again with a horrid four-clawed slash at the t-rex's head! Down with that giant!

Rene took the two degrees from the Volunteer Supers, uses Instant Up to get out of Prone. Now attacking Roarin'. And since I have the HP to spare and Multiattack and HAD-targeting attacks doesn't seem like a thing with Roarin', Rene will All-Out Attack and Power Attack +5/-5: [roll0] DC 30 Toughness on hit.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 7

Fun trivia fact. When Sarah "Super-Genius Who Regularly Consults With Her Future Selves" Saturn says it's time for something? IT IS TIME FOR THAT VERY THING! With perfect timing, Sarah opened a portal just in time for Sunbound's next blow to pass into it - and closed it a fraction of a heartbeat later. It didn't matter how tough you were when that part of your body simply no longer occupied its present space. The kryptonian's scream resounded above the fairgrounds as her arm was severed above the elbow. She dropped like a rock, crashing down to the ground howling in pain as sunlight dribbled from her remaining hand, just barely managing to seal the injury before she passed out from shock and blood loss.

Rene's brutal assault came to nearly as much success, his claws latching onto Roarin's huge head and tearing away scale and flesh down to the bone, ripping the Inhuman four deep gashes from the top of his skull to the base of his cheeks. The tyrannosaur's Inhumanly-enhanced roar of pain drowned out even Sunbound's cries.

And that was one on one, down below, Felltrade faced odds even more dire as the golden-glowing Fred came down with a slash of his sword, projecting the force straight into him telekinetically, while Gethsemane watched patiently, waiting for just the right moment, the instant Felltrade's defensive rhythm broke, to lash out with her orange-glowing stinger and steal away his strength.

Felltrade wasn't a kryptonian. He wasn't an Inhuman. He wasn't a mutant, or a super-skrull, or really much of a metahuman at all.

What he was was a professional. He parried the telekinetic slash with a knife seemingly drawn from nowhere - it went flying from his hand, but left him unharmed - while bringing a second up to block Gethsemane's stinger.

Roarin's composure...broke. Utterly. The fury in his eyes was primal, predatory, and prehistoric as he gazed down upon the little lizard who had dared to wound him. "DIE! DIE! DIE!DIE!DIE!DIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!" he spat furiously at Rene. It...it looked kinda pathetic actually, as he kept trying to slash at him with his tiny little baby claws. But the force of his words was a more deadly weapon by fire.

Out came Felltrade's spider-silk whipcords, dropping into his hands each tipped with a poisoned blade. He executed a deft spin to gather momentum and lashed them at his attackers in simultaneous strikes, swift as a striking snake. The next moment, there was the burst of a smokebomb, and the assassin could no longer be seen.

Heavy Heart, battered but not beaten, flew back to the fairground-turned-battlefield, sweeping the fray with her gaze. What she saw...was not encouraging. Most of their minions were down. Vanish gone. Lastthought down. Sunbound down. Roarin' on his last legs...

Oh, and about a dozen people in sleek, modern-looking costumes of muted colors and a more armor-like than spandex-like appearance, staid grey capes hanging upon their shoulders like the weight of the world, were swooping down towards the fair.

...Why had she come back here, exactly?

Roarin':
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Rene with Filibuster, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage, Will DC 22+Multiattack vs. Weaken Toughness. Hit. Full Multiattack. DC 32/27.

Felltrade:
Free: Swap to Supreme Stealth, Spider-Silk Whipcords, Serpent's Fangs, and Flurry of Blows.
Standard: Attack Ronin and Gethsemane with Serpent's Fangs and Flurry of Blows, Multiattacking for 2, Power Attacking for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 20 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless. The Affliction carries a Secondary Effect, but it's [Poison] descriptor so actually Gethsemane's immune to it.
Ronin: [roll1]. Hit
Gethsemane: [roll2]. Miss
Move: Hide in Plain Sight with Master of Stealth (Visual/Auditory/Olfactory) at [roll3] and reposition.

Heavy Heart:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Return!
Free: Look around.
Free: Question certain life decisions.

All PCs are on turn.

Big Name Heroes:
Attack X-Bones (DC 19) at [roll4]. Two degrees

X-Men:
Attack X-Bones (DC 19) at [roll5]. Two degrees

General Heroes:
Attack X-Bones (DC 19) at [roll6]. One degree

Volunteer Supers:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 13) at [roll7]. Three degrees for the takedown
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12, Walled past 2) at [roll8]. Doesn't happen

Local Law Enforcement:
Attack Terrorgenesis (DC 13) at [roll9]. No effect, possibly because the volunteers finished them already
On a failure, they cause Collateral Damage to Civilians (DC 12, Walled past 2) at [roll10]. Too well trained

Protesters:
Walled off.

X-Bones:
Attack X-Men (DC 18) at [roll11]. CRIT! Four degrees
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12, Walled past 2) at [roll12]. Two degrees, and wall takes one

Terrorgenesis:
Attack X-Men (DC 18) at [roll13]. No effect
On a success, they cause Collateral Damage to Protesters (DC 12, Walled past 2) at [roll14]. Doesn't happen

SPINners:
Arrive!

[Starsign]

The brutal and angry roars of the t-rex crash down on the smaller Reptilian. The Builder feels his scaly body grind again into the swamp grass as his screams are thrown out in silence. The beast's body is weakened; his scales cracked; his bones brittle, his blood flowing across the area. Any human mind would've been destroyed under the attack. The bloody and bleeding green-yellow reptilian fidgets and twitches on the ground; his mind races with crazed thoughts. He's a beast, he's a beast, a beast! A beast! No animal lets another tear them apart!

Loud, hazed hisses spew from the Builder's teeth-riddled mouth as he tears himself out of the shredded grass. His mad eyes gaze toward Roarin' with diluted pupils. The t-rex is so large, so big, so powerful. No lone beast should fight it alone. But the lone raptor must!

The crazed reptilian hissed loudly; his remaining vocal cords snap in their brittle state. Almost like it was suicide, yet like a cornered beast, the Builder charges forward with his massive speed and smashes his head against the t-rex.

*CRACK*

Rene's skull cracks and breaks as he collides with the injured enemy. The Builder's thick, scaly tail swings out at his enemy's legs.

*SNAP*

The bones of his tail break apart on impact; the limb slumps over on the grass, jagged and disjointed. The Builder has no choice; he has to fight, he has to fight. He can rebuild himself; he can rebuild himself! He must keep fighting! With no heed and no regard to his condition, the Builder leaps up and brings down his frail claws upon Roarin's head!

Given this is largely the last turn, Rene will go all out and pray, for he probably won't survive an attack at +1 Toughness. :smalleek: Power Attack + All-Out Attack +5/-5 on this. DC 30 Toughness on hit. Then EE to do so again! This will leave Rene Exhausted.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane looks around as things begin to wind down, already trying to calculate where best she can begin to heal as she stomps down upon another home-made grenade. The blast leaves her hopping on one foot for a moment, her other leg warped and mangled almost beyond recognition and bubbling eerily as it begins to heal itself. It does not keep her from seeing Heavy Heart reenter the battlefield.

"Still ready to 'adapt'?" She calls out, one hand conjuring a ball of black flames intermittently flashing with sickly yellow lightning. "Environment here is inhospitable to you. Go." With a contemptuous flick, the ball jets towards Heavy Heart.

Move Action: Possibly Dazed.

Free Action: Switch to Unholy Terror.

Standard Action: Unholy Terror on Heavy Heart, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Damage DC 30, Will DC 25 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (With the 'Run Away' Limit).

Extra Effort: Do it again. [roll1] On a hit, Damage DC 30, Will DC 25 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (With the 'Run Away' Limit).

Status: Fatigued (Exhausted next turn), -5 to Active Defenses this turn.

[CandyLaser]

As Sunbound fell, Sarah was already seeking out her next opponent. Scanning the surroundings, she was - barely - able to pick out Felltrade, and she made him her target. The civilians were still under attack, of course, so as she made her move she extended her shunt field to protect them, dispersing the attacks and saving more lives while she hurtled toward the assassin. The technique hadn't worked well on Sunbound (though it had definitely gotten her attention), but she suspected the agile opponent was less durable that his Kryptonian colleague.

Trying another slam. Polymath is allocated to Perception, so I'll just All-out Attack for 2, move, and attack. The +2 from going all-out is canceled by the slam penalty, I believe, so: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

As the Builder came crashing down upon him, the unbalanced Roarin' defended himself in the only way he could!

Unfortunately, that just so happened to be raising his teensy little T-rex arms to try to shield a face that they couldn't even reach.

Roarin' staggered back under the Builder's final blow, wavering on his feet, looking around bleary-eyed...and then collapsed face-forward onto the ground.

Gethsemane's first blast struck Heavy Heart in the arm as she dodged, burning her, and she managed to avoid the second. Technically, she had resisted the fear effect. In practice, it didn't particularly matter. She turned and ran.

...Right into Superboy and Raven. Crap.

She turned and ran in the other direction.

Right back into Gethsemane.

With a frustrated sigh, Heavy Heart raised her hands in surrender.

Clearly, it was time to go, Felltrade reached into one of his many, many pockets for a smoke bomb and-

WHAM!

Full suit of powered armor going at Mach Several straight to the back. The heretofore untouchable Felltrade went careening into a pole and dropped unmoving into a conveniently-located ball pit. Sad.

Which left just a small cluster of X-Bones mutants to deal nope nevermind the X-Men wrapped them up trivially.

For several seconds all was quiet. Then, slowly, the cheering began, spreading out from a few isolated points until pretty much the entire fairground - and even some of the protesters - were cheering the heroes. There had been a few casualties among the attackers, from police and the...less-precisely-controlled powers of some of the volunteers (and, well, several members of Terrorgenesis who had been getting pretty well decimated by the X-Bones). But in terms of civilians? Police? Volunteers? Thanks to the bravery of the heroes, even up to throwing themselves directly in harm's way, nobody had been killed or even particularly injured. There might, maybe, have been a couple bumps and bruises. If that.

Battle over. Gethsemane take a :smallcool: Hero Point for soloing, everybody take a second :smallcool: Hero Point for playing true to Mirror Matchups for the whole battle, and everybody also take a :smallcool: Hero Point for the victory!

I rolled a couple final mass combat attacks off-line to see if the SPINners actually got a chance to do anything. The Big Name Heroes knocked another degree off the X-Bones. Then the X-Men finished with strong mutant luck on a crit, wrapping the matter up.

[Starsign]

A broken, beaten, and absolutely mad reptilian creaks his neck upwards, attempting to give a hissing, triumphant shout over his victory. Nothing but the gurgling of blood comes out of his broken, shattered vocal cords; the bones in his neck give way right after. The Builder's body is a disaster. His body has been worn down by wounds and brittleness against the towering t-rex. A raptor who faces a larger dinosaur will never come out unscathed; all that matters was that he did it. he took it down. Nothing else matters amidst the starry night. Now he can rest. Now he can recover on the cool, soft-

*WHAM*

Rene hits the fairground stonework like a bleeding sack of meat as he feels his chest shatter from the impact. His mind is briefly a blur; how did he end up like this? He knows he was fighting Roarin'; somewhere between those sonic roars, Rene's reptilian skeleton broke down. He's in no condition to move or talk, much less celebrate as he begins to hear the cheers and clapping around the area. Sounds like they won... Good. He'd love to celebrate; he'd love to give a sigh of relief; but he's in so much pain. The only feeling of relief, ironically another cause of his pain, is his regeneration repairing his body, solidifying his bones again.

So the reptilian waits on the stone ground. It's the most relaxation he's got the entire day, not that it's painless. It's a good minute of awful, horrible pain as his bones reform and stitch back together while his blood leaks out around him. If his regeneration hasn't been so powerful, he'd be hospitalized for weeks.

Instead the reptilian is down on the ground for a couple minutes before feeling strong enough to stand. Slowly he gets up on his clawed feet, wobbling slightly as his tail pushes on the ground to help stabilize him. He still feels... off, despite the recovery. His stomach growls; his throat is dry. He's in a dire need of food and water, as if he had been unconscious for days. How do other people with regeneration handle this?

Rene attempts to moisten his throat with saliva before trying to walk, taking several steps and walking around a corner before stumbling next to a very unfamiliar creature, leaving his tired jaw open. "A... A-a demon?" Rene's voice sounds drier than normal; his reptilian snout and head covered in blood with the green-yellow scales paling in color; he lacks the ability to express shock at this point and, quite frankly, he's in no mood to fight another villain he's never seen before. "What are you doing here?"

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane looks up from the injured civilian she had been bending over and glances at Rene as he wanders over to her, giving him a quick scan. "Injuries already healed... noted... Builder, you are giant lizard, and have met before," she deadpans in a voice that should be familiar to the Builder, her tone perhaps even drier than the lizard man's, though for a different reason. "Though tired, please remember to think before assuming." She straightens up slowly and stretches a kink out of her wings, looking over the remains of the battlefield. She had let Superboy and Raven deal with Heavy Heart's capture, careful not to meet the eye of the half-demon superhero. Although she had technically been off-world during the events that led to Raven's birth, she had met Trigon at least once before; though the inter-dimensional demon was not technically from the same line (or dimension) as she herself hailed from, the demonic world believed in strengthening bonds between like-minded individuals from other dimensions in order to exploit those bonds later. Meeting Raven after going to the demonic approximation of a barbecue hosted by her father would be... awkward, at least.

"Seems injuries were mostly minor... makes things simple," she mutters to herself, pushing the thought of confusing demonic relationships from her mind for the moment. "Builder, any injuries not dealt with by regeneration? Can speed process, though must warn that it will not be... pleasant."

Feel free to ignore, but Treatment to gauge where (if anywhere) Gethsemane might be needed to heal people: [roll0]

[CandyLaser]

As the chaos subsided, Sarah started to direct the cleanup and recovery efforts until others arrived to take care of things. She assumed that the other heroes could take care of herself; it was important that the downed villains were detained. The downside of the highly public conflict was that she couldn't just pack all the attackers off to Hawksbill. The disappearance of this many villains would raise questions, and it would be tragic if Project Tomorrow were to be derailed by mistaken political attacks.

Once things were calm enough, Sarah placed a call to NetWork Robotics. "Sarah Saturn for Corinne Keys. An emergency forced me to cut a call short a while ago; if she's free, I'd like to reconnect."

[Starsign]

Rene's paling head almost gains color as the demon begins speaking. He recognized the voice and especially remembers the speech pattern. Most creatures don't talk the way that she does. "Gethsemane?" the reptilian whispers, trying to be soft in his dry tone as he feels something ooze down his throat... Is his throat so dry that he's bleeding from it? His cold-blooded body is so irritated by his condition that it's hard for him to focus. Water... water, he needs water!

"Urk," the reptilian grunts, leaning over in his already-hunched state before suddenly dashing off in a green blur. He ran over to the workers-only area where the lone water cooler miraculously stands unharmed amidst the chaos of battle.

...And before another human could get a chance to take a drink, Rene grabs the large water container, lifts it out of its socket and chugs down the remaining water with swishing, splashing gulps. Tis truly a drink for a beast.

The humanoid reptilian zips back over to Gethsemane; Rene's scales now recover some of the lost color as his expression, besides being covered with water, looks a little more lively than before. "Sorry, I was thirsty," he says with little context, though Gethsemane could make a guess to what was wrong with him. The green-yellow scaled reptilian looks down at his body, mostly still covered by his suit in spite of his prior internal damage. "I think I'll be fine. I can heal from it." His body shudders for a moment when he mentioned healing. Any thought of regeneration makes his body squirm in pain when he's through a brutal battle. "I'm just... sore." The comment probably could have been more encouraging than it should be.

With the minimal casualties, Rene doesn't have to scour out rubble for people who are trapped, thank god for that; he just has to clean up the fairgrounds from the rubble. Even if he's tired, it's a rather relaxing job from having to fight a giant reptilian dinosaur. While traveling around with Gethsemane, Rene can't help but ask Gethsemane, "So you were invited here too?" He can't help but wonder whether Katie was hesitant about the idea of asking a demoness to come help. Rene would've supported it, even if all he could do was accompany and help her "fit in" to Project Tomorrow on a whole. "It wasn't something you're used to, was it? I mean, I'm what people call a hero and I kinda felt a bit out-of-place here." Rene was, in fairness, asked to come to help build and maintain the fair; fighting wasn't part of the plan even if he's supposed to always be ready for it.

Now if he only didn't lose his sanity every time he had to fight...

[Quellian-dyrae]

The rounding up of the villains went smoothly under Sarah's direction (the fact that most of them were unconscious or in various other states of incapacitation certainly didn't hurt). There wasn't actually any critical need for healing among the civilians, although Gethsemane could see a few people with bumps and scrapes and bruises among the crowd. They certainly weren't in any peril, but likely wouldn't have minded healing. Alternately, there were plenty of attackers who, while probably not at particular risk of death, could certainly use healing to ensure a swift and total recovery from their injuries. Though given that they were a part of this assault, whether your particular healing powers would be a mercy for them was...debatable.

Fred and Jimmy were both down though. Granted, Jimmy was regenerating and it would probably take more than, you know, a cold iron sword, solar-powered kryptonian fist, and poisoned dagger to keep Fred down long, but they could probably use a bit of a magical pick-me-up.

"One moment please," the assistant who had answered Sarah's call responded. Although he actually put you on hold for...a fair bit longer than one moment. It was possible Keys was busy, but honestly, it was more likely that it was just some petty little tit-for-tat for your hanging up on her. Billionaire CEOs with an overinflated sense of their own importance could be like that.

Of course, she was perfectly polite when she finally picked up. "Thank you so much for calling me back, Miss Saturn. I hope everything is alright over there?"

Katie's Shared Awareness spell came back on-line. ~We're clear here everyone okay th- oh my God are Fred and Jimmy okay!?~ she cut herself off when her spell's status alert started giving her information.

[SuperCracker]

Still smarting from the bone-chilling touch of cold iron, Fred had gotten wholloped from behind by a Kryptonian. This staggered him on his feet, but he hadn't stopped. He went on the attack against Felltrade anyway - because that's what a samurai does. But a gut stab with a poisoned dagger on top of those things? Well, that turned out to be a bridge too far.

Fred took a step forward after being stabbed, raised his sword to strike... then collapsed as the world turned upside down and his insides burned.

He was laying face down, his blood pooling out from under him. He laid there for a minute or two.

Katie telepathically asked if Fred was okay.

~Yeah. I'm fine.~

Through nothing but strength of will, the mutant warrior pushed himself up off the ground and onto his knees, then stood up to his feet. And that was the end of his commentary on the matter.

[Zelphas]

"Have been to similar events before," Gethsemane replies offhandedly to Rene, still scanning the crowd. "Appearing without subterfuge--well, without harmful subterfuge--is new."

Fred's voice over the mental link decides Gethsemane on which to go to first. General warning, she sends over the link, her voice, as ever, calm and detached. Am about to heal Spider-Man. Has short-term psychic ramifications on subject of healing; any backlash should fade quickly. Ramifications should not bleed over mental link, but cannot guarantee. Since Fred has regained his feet, Gethsemane addresses him directly for a moment before moving to Spider-Man. "After moment to recover, can repair wounds as well. Be aware: said healing will cause you to feel every wound you have ever inflicted, momentarily. Will not be pleasant. If you decide to forgo healing, will understand."

Then, kneeling before the unconscious form of the hero, Gethsemane lays one hand on Spider-Man's wounds Her staff, ring, and mark pulse a deep, pure indigo; the light quickly bleeds out from her fingers and washes over Jimmy's body... and in his mind, Spider-Man relives every punch he's ever thrown as though he was on the receiving end.

Using Gift of Compassion on Spider-Man. [roll0] This is Restorative and Empathic, so if Gethsemane heals Spider-Man's Incapacitated state she will become Inccapacitated until her Regeneration kicks in or she herself is healed by a third party. Also, this healing triggers her Healing Hurts Complication; it's up to the GM if said result of healing can be felt through the mental link or not.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah was more than capable of carrying out two conversations at once, especially if one was telepathic.

~They're both alive, and they'll recover - I see that the Indigo Lantern is working her magic on Spider-man right now.~ "The attack has been defeated. It's probably been reported on the news already - and it's definitely on Twitter." ~The attackers have been dealt with, and once we're done here I've got a Kryptonian arm in my lab that's simply begging for more study.~ "I'm sorry I had to leave so abruptly." ~Did you know it's possible to develop a solution that temporarily grants Kryptonian-level physical powers?~ "An assassin was trying to kill me, a mad Kryptonian wizard was trying to kill everyone, and I think I stepped in a ninja." ~Anyway, we've got things under control.~ "Anyway, we've got things under control." ~That said, there are people here who've been hurt; Katie, can you swing by and keep things going here?~ "I believe we were discussing the safety measures in place around my generators." ~If you can I'll head back to my lab and whip up something to help people recover.~

[Starsign]

Rene had been greeted with a wonderful, literally and ironically, display of sights once Katie's magical awareness power was set back on. On one hand, Katie is alright! It's the most relieving thing that the reptilian can imagine. There was nothing from her since her awareness spell shut off; he couldn't know how she was doing or if she needed help or anything. To actually hear her voice, just as the day is saved and the heroes heal themselves, brings some much needed easy to the less-than-stable mind of Rene Reynolds.

On the other hand, neither Spidey nor Ronin were well-off from their own fights. While neither actually broke their bones and vocal cords fighting villains, they also weren't regenerating reptilian monsters who could afford this sort of injury. Rene's cold-blooded stomach irked and twisted in nausea as he noticed the blood-stained bodies through the awareness spell. He's seen so much blood by this point that he should be used to it; he should be so accustomed to the sight of grisly wounds and blood that it shouldn't even be a problem for someone who fights with his clawed hands. Rene himself had been drowning amidst his internal wounds when fighting Roarin'; but the sight of his friends injured was a very different experience from feeling his own gashes and blood vessels while fighting with the rage of a beast.

Silently he squats his reptilian legs down next to Gethsemane as the two reach Spider-Man. The reptilian's mind, in contrast to his mouth, is rather... talkative.

~Katie? Katie! Oh thank god you're alright. I was worried when you shut off awareness; I was too busy fighting this giant t-rex and a bunch of mutants and invaders and battlesuits and- and I don't really recall it all.~ If Rene's mind happens to be unstable, then it's blatantly shown more in his mental speech than it is his words... sometimes. ~Are you alright yourself?~

His body squirms again as he listens to Gethsemane explain her healing powers. Pain from healing? "What?" His forked tongue sticks out briefly in surprise as his twitching eyes look over at Gethsemane. "What's the point of that? I mean, you save them, but to relive every sort of attack you've ever done? Why would the Indigo Lanterns do that?!"" The reptilian's scaly body shudders as he thinks about the implications. For him, the wounds that hurt him the most have not been physical but psychological. The attacks he's thrown at his enemies have included the trauma he's suffered ever since his transformation. He may as well be torturing his mind if he had to relive parts of his cold-blooded life; his thick tail squirms across the stone ground just thinking about it.

So he watches as Gethsemane begins healing Spider-Man and- No, no. Rene can't bear to watch this. He can't bear to imagine what the pain, even mentally, might be like on Spidey.

Instead he looks at Ronin in the distance and, wanting to make himself useful, Rene dashes off as a green blur briefly to grab a large first-aid kit and run back to the mutant; Rene has, if nothing else, started getting used to using his super-speed more reliably. "Lemme help Fred," he tries to reassure the X-Men member as Rene opens up the first aid kit in hopes to bandage up the slash and stab wound... Moreso the stab wound; that looks painful to keep around without patching it.

[Zelphas]

The process has already begun; Gethsemane is not sure if she has the time to answer the Builder's question aloud. Instead, she utilizes the mental link to speak quick as thought. Compassion. Side effect of healing is intrinsic to Indigo Lantern healing power itself; is not a choice. Even so, can be important teaching tool.

You are all heroes. All of you fight for good reasons--protection. Honor. Necessity. In this world, most of the time, it is necessary to fight. However, fighting still causes pain. Not a condemnation of fighting. Not a call for pacifism. Simple fact: when you fight, you cause pain. Knowing this, understanding this, important to ensure you continue to fight for good reasons. Feeling pain dealt to others allows you to gauge the weight of your strikes, and understand where they must land.

Be calm. Am told for most sentient species the process is instantaneous, quickly over with. It is hard to tell given her calm, cool voice, but her last statement seems somewhat colder than the others.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The good news was, the psychic pain of Gethsemane's healing didn't pass through the link; Shared Awareness provided a general awareness of what those involved were experiencing, but it didn't actually allow any direct sharing of senses.

The bad news was, Spider-Man had thrown a pretty decent share of pretty hard punches in his day.

"I'LL NEVER TALK!" Spider-Man shouted wildly as he came to, springing to his feet in a strangely jerky - and yet, still somehow graceful - snapping motion. "HIT ME ALL YOU WANT! I'LL NEVER TELL YOU-! ...Tell you...whatever you're...trying to get out of me?" Spidey blinked as it started to become clear that his initial assessment of the situation - someone had been relentlessly beating him to try to get him to reveal some presumably-important piece of information - turned out to be off the mark. "Uh...hey," he said a bit sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of his head.

Reassurance. Bemusement. But, like, really, though?

--

"I'm glad to hear the matter has been resolved," Keys replied. "And yes, I just had a few questions about how the energy gets refined and processed. Will the generators be giving off any radiation, are there any risks of electromagnetic pulses that might damage other sensitive machinery nearby, that sort of thing? And what measures are taken to protect against such things?"

--

Katie...was not entirely sure how to respond to Sarah's comments regarding the scientific value of having a Kryptonian arm in your lab. That was...that was well above her level of scientific understanding. Yes. She just...did not feel qualified to speak intelligently on the subject, was the thing. Fortunately, Rene offered her an alternative to respond to.

~Yeah I'm good! Just some, you know, ninjas, pirates, zombies, and robots. But, like, separate. They weren't all mushed together or anything. I'm on my way. Actually I'll be there before-~

A silver streak shot across the sky above the fairgrounds, quickly resolving as it approached into Katie riding on her Helping Hand. She herself didn't look injured at all, but there were still some silvery runes on her skin glowing about as brightly as light bulbs, so evidently whoever had attacked the San Francisco fair hadn't been a complete non-threat.

~-I finish this sentence.~ Shared Awareness was fast, but it wasn't fully-augmented-Flying-Hand fast.

She landed by Fred and Rene, because A) Katie knew to just ignore the words "I'm fine" when they were coming from the mouth - mind, whatever - of one Frederick Allan Broll and B) because uh given Gethsemane's description of the side effects of her healing...yeah Katie felt it miiiight be prudent for her to handle Fred's healing. Call it a hunch. She winced a bit at the sight of Fred's injuries - the clinical status awareness of her spell didn't really prepare her for the physical reality - but she didn't make a big deal of it, just laying her hands on Fred's shoulders and pouring her healing magic into him.

[SuperCracker]

The Indigo Lantern Demon/Brood (two of those things, despite his better nature, sometimes put him on edge) was kind in its offer of healing; but the catch was... undesireable (https://youtu.be/ZAAZsKtCSSY).

"Uhhhh," went Starsoul in a tone of voice that implied cringing.

"Pass," he said loudly and firmly as Gethsemane approached, holding his hand up in a halt sign. In the future, if I'm hurt and you're the only one around, just let me bleed to death.

He moved over to the nearest chair (they did have booths here before the chaos) and sat down. Then thig big old lizard Builder came running over with a first aid kit. Fred's eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Do you know how to use that?" He already suspected his answer.

Fred was going to just suck it up and wait until he got home, but then Katie arrived. Seriously, she's in his top five favorite people. "Okay. You. You can heal me. Thanks, Katie."

[Starsign]

Rene... paused to consider Gethsemane's words. They were surprisingly deep, or at least as surprising as it gets from a demon who is who-knows-how-many years old. The words kept the often-quiet, often-manic reptilian silent briefly. There was a bit of her words that resonated with him. He got, to some extent, the point of learning and growing from pain; but it's also done a lot of damage to him psychologically, some of which he may never recover from. The concept of learning from pain, of understanding your strikes by taking them yourself, is one which Rene... didn't quite understand. He handles pain really badly and, especially in this battle, he has a habit of completely losing his mind and letting his bestial instincts take over when under a great deal of injury. How was he supposed to learn from that?

His silent, somewhat mindless thinking, even right in front of Fred as he made a rhetorical question that he already knew the answer to, was wonderfully cut off as a much-needed sight finally comes down.

"Katie!" A sudden green blur very briefly appears as Rene dashes up and hugs Katie, forgetting that she came down to help Fred with his bleeding wounds and forgetting that Rene himself is covered in his own blood. His hug lasts only a moment before he remembers both of those minor things and backs off. "...Oh, oops," the reptilian sheepishly responds in his coarse voice, looking at his scaly, blood-covered self and the magus whose chrome armor might be in need of washing after this. Slightly embarassed, Rene walks away to help with the cleanup.

Thanks, however, to Shared Awareness, Rene can still communicate while working. ~Hey, who were those guys?~ The reptilian's voice is slightly shaky and concerned as he thinks back on the enemies they fought. ~There was this huge t-rex guy that attacked me and he knew who I was. I think his name was Roarin'. Did any of you recognize anyone else?~

[CandyLaser]

"I'm glad to hear the matter has been resolved," Keys replied. "And yes, I just had a few questions about how the energy gets refined and processed. Will the generators be giving off any radiation, are there any risks of electromagnetic pulses that might damage other sensitive machinery nearby, that sort of thing? And what measures are taken to protect against such things?"

"Happily, all the actual mechanism for power generation is located in the hearts of distant stars. They're all on main sequence and stable for billions of years. We're just tapping into a natural power source. In principal, it's no different from using a geothermal tap; it's just much more efficient and powerful. In any case, the Saturn generators currently in use are going to be replaced by a new generation that won't even need to tap into the power of the stars. I don't believe there's any substantial risk of EMP or radiation. If you like I can send you the literature compiled by the Foundation on the subject."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I see, I see. Yes, that would be most appreciated, thank you," Keys responded.

Katie returned Rene's hug. When he apologized, she looked briefly confused, until she noticed the blood. "Oh.
Uh...no worries!" she said, a little gesture prestidigitating the blood gone, first from her costume, and then from Rene.

"'Course," she replied to Fred with a little smile while she finished healing him up. Telepathically, she answered Rene, ~I'm...not sure on the larger end. I mean...they sure seem to have an eclectic enough group assembled. T-rex called Roarin', though? I've heard about him. He's an Inhuman, actually. Just...his terrigenesis transformed him, as well as giving him a sonic voice. Something of a rebel, as I understand it, with ambitions of ruling? I might have only skimmed his manifesto...~

[Quellian-dyrae]

While the fair didn't really manage to pick back up in the aftermath, cleanup and everything went just fine. And while the usual anti-hero talking heads went on their usual spiels, overall the news coverage and social media reactions tended towards the fact that pretty much nobody save the attackers had been seriously hurt, and also seriously how crazy were these guys trying to attack a fair run by superheroes?

While the police, FBI, and Interpol (all of them were involved since the fair had been an international event and, while not every location had been attacked, several were) were keeping publicly quiet about the investigation...well, let's just say, the superheroic community had its means of gathering information. What interrogations had been revealing so far was that the various forces who had attacked the fairs had been coordinated, but weren't strictly coordinating. They each had their own reasons, most of which could be traced to some manner of external influence, information, or suggestion. Most of them had known to varying degrees that there would be other forces involved, but they hadn't known who or why. While the individual rationales varied, the working theory so far was that whoever was directing things behind the scenes had mainly been trying to cause enough damage and chaos to break Project Tomorrow's support before it could build momentum. But who was responsible and why were quite unknown. Whoever it was, they knew how to stick to the shadows, and they knew how to motivate supervillains.

...They didn't, maybe, know how to properly judge probabilities of success. While they might have kinda ruined the fair, if anything they had only made Project Tomorrow come off as that much more badass. Katie had been kinda tickled pink when #StillSuperheroes started trending.

In any case. It was early morning, a few days after the attack on the fair...

Gethsemane

When you had initially been looking into a local occult bookstore in Metropolis, most of the information you had gotten had pointed you here. Arlington's Bookshop was run by a wizened old man who seemed perpetually clad in a brown tweed suit and bowtie, and never went far from the oxygen tank that rolled along with him. Word was that much of the store's inventory had been lost in a fire several months ago, but the owner had been hard at work restocking. These days, the shop had an extensive collection of mundane books of all varieties, but when you had expressed interest in occult works, the owner had - after murmuring a few things under his breath and seeming to study you for a few moments - guided you to the back rooms where he kept such volumes.

The supernatural selection was solid enough, if not a complete treasure trove. But the big advantage was that, since Mr. Arlington was actively working on restocking, he was making a lot of orders, calling in old connections and contacts, and so on. He was, thus, an excellent source for rare works even if he didn't have them in stock. You had gotten an email this morning informing you that a volume you had requested had arrived, and you were welcome to pick it up at your convenience.

Saves me from having to come up with some other occult bookstore! :smallamused: For the record, I'm operating under the assumption that Gethsemane would have just learned about the bookstore through her own asking around, rather than like Katie having given her the tip or anything. That said, it's up to you whether she discovered in her research that he's Katie's instructor or not. She probably would have heard at least rumors that he's a retired wizard of some kind.

Thunderstruck

It was early morning. You are a rock star. Ergo, you were sleeping peacefully. I leave it to your discretion whether or not you were alone.

Regardless, your sleep, which had been nowhere near eight hours, was tragically assaulted by a cacophony of insistent, possibly urgent, knocks on your door and rings of your doorbell. It was the sort of near-frenzied knocking and ringing that made it quite clear that the person responsible was unlikely to just politely go away.

Sarah

"-so I connected the thingamajig - I mean, the first thingamajig, not the new one - to the whatdoyoucallit-"

Of course, people who knew you well enough knew by this point that you occasionally got advice, information, in some cases even direct assistance, from your alternate selves from other points in time or even other timelines entirely. But this wasn't a one-way street. Many of your alternates regularly called on one another - or you personally - for help and advice.

"-almost positive it wasn't supposed to start moving until the doohickey was inserted into the sockety bit-"

Some needed assistance more often than others, but most of them didn't need it often. After all, whatever the variations of their personal experiences, they were all at the end of the day some variation on the base template that was Sarah Saturn. Some were more or less experienced than others, some were in much different situations than others, and some were quirkier than others. But generally speaking, the various Sarah Saturns of the multiverse could be counted on to be brilliant, competent, and rational.

"-know why it started breathing fire. THERE WAS NO FIRE BREATHING IN THE SPECS BUT LO AND-"

And then there was Sarah-27663. Sarah-27663...had it rough. Evidently, her version of Sylvester had been more of a computer and cybernetic specialist. Rather than being genetically engineered for brilliance via retrovirus, she had...basically had all of her grandfather's future knowledge, technological blueprints, whathaveyou, downloaded into her brain shortly after birth. Her Sylvester's plan had been to gradually program a neural network in parallel to her own developing brain, to give her a sort of artificial second intelligence that could bridge the gaps between her natural knowledge and the implanted knowledge, but of course that couldn't really be fully completed until her brain had fully developed.

"-swears the server room was locked. Spoiler alert? The server room was not locked and now-"

So, you know, dying of natural causes when she turned fifteen had kinda thrown a wrench into that whole plan.

-not a single bloody blueprint for a giant self-reloading fire-extinguisher. Portal-powered smart missiles, sure, but-"

So Sarah-27663 was basically alone, responsible for a giant tech company and oh, also, saving the future, with a head full of hyper-advanced super-science devices and a half-functional intuition for constructing them, but no actual understanding of how they worked and what they were really meant to do, and only a low-genius intellect (hey Saturn genes were Saturn genes, retrovirus or not) with which to figure them out. Also, she was only seventeen years old (and that as of three days ago, her time). Fortunately, one of the first devices she had managed to successfully build allowed her to make video calls to other Saturn Foundation offices in other timelines. It was probably the only reason her entire world wasn't on fire.

"-now everything's and fire and-"

Or, well, I guess it had been, anyway?

"...Help?" Sarah-27663 finished pleadingly.

Ronin

The knocking on Fred's door had somehow managed to be both hesitant and desperate.

Like, it had started hesitant. The barest rap of one knuckle, so soft that it might have been missed entirely, or mistaken for some bump elsewhere in the building. A couple seconds later, a quick pair of follow-up taps. And then a persistent, rapid knocking that would not stop until the door was opened.

Outside was Kayla Alden of all people, in her pajamas of all things. That's weird, but it might deserve some attention as to how weird. Granted, it wasn't like Fred and Kayla hadn't met. Kayla was part of the bi-weekly Shadowrun group, and actually seemed rather fond of Starsoul (admittedly, she also found the sentient sword's experience intellectually fascinating, but she seemed personally fond of him as well). So it wasn't like they were strangers or anything, but...

Well, it wouldn't be unfair to say that Kayla's fondness for Starsoul did not extend to his wielder. Granted, Kayla wasn't exactly the most outgoing person in the world. She was pretty much as introverted as her sister was extroverted, if that clears it up. (Katie had mentioned to Fred once that she was pretty sure Kayla had said more words to Starsoul than she had ever seen her say to anyone but, like, her.) And she had always been perfectly polite to Fred and all but...

Fred had a pretty good sense of people. There was definitely more than shyness there, a certain almost resentful tension simmering just beneath the surface of the relatively few interactions she had had with him. So, yeah, she wasn't in the Top 100 Likely Candidates for showing up unannounced at the X-Mansion knocking on his door.

And...yeah, he could see it. Just for a fleeting moment, a flickering wince in her eyes, a flutter of doubt across her lips, when he first answered the door. She absolutely did not want to be here.

So, obviously, she had a good reason for coming.

In a voice tight and shaky with barely-withheld panic and a faint trace of tears in her eyes, Kayla said, "I think Katie's in trouble."

The Builder

Katie Alden was late.

And Katie being late was pretty weird. She was a big believer in punctuality, due in large part to how ludicrous it was for anyone who could fly at Mach 3 and augment their speed as needed to be late ever.

But she had set up a meeting with some Project Tomorrow volunteers to meet with the Builder in Gotham. The supers were planning to do some work helping the homeless in various cities, and Katie had set it up so the Builder could give them advice, help them plan things, let them know what his experience in the field had been, etc. And they had all showed up on time and as planned, but Katie was late.

Well, really, late was being kinda generous. Because that meeting had actually happened almost twelve hours ago, last night. And while everything had gone well enough...Katie had never actually showed up.

She also hadn't called to cancel. Or texted. Or sent so much as a mindlink (which she could do at a hundred times communication speed from anywhere in the world). She hadn't made contact to explain why she wasn't there any time during thee meeting. She hadn't followed up after to see how it had gone.

Now, almost twelve hours later, with the sun having risen over the next morning, she still hadn't gotten in touch, to apologize or ask if it had gone okay or anything. By phone or text or email or mindlink or app or post or any of the countless means of communication she had both easy and virtually-constant access to.

That...just wasn't normal. Not for Katie Alden.





Shared Awareness is OFF.

[Starsign]

Where IS she?

Rene's mind had been rattling over that question all night while slithering from area to area in Gotham. He had effectively taken over the meeting himself when Katie didn't show up;; he was, after all, suggested to prepare for anything and improvise on the fly. Thankfully the large, yellow-ish green-scaled reptilian happened to be in his comfort zone twelve hours ago. Rene knew a bit about living with and helping the homeless in Gotham, a city painfully bad for the poor. Helping those people out isn't something you could solve with a magic trick; sometimes you couldn't even fully solve a problem regardless of effort. Rene made it clear in the meeting that any progress, even minor, could help more than not doing anything. As such, he emphasized the importance of giving the homeless the basic essentials: food, water, a home, and heat for the cold nights. Building a home was easy for Rene; his scaly clawed hands and speed built one in an instant during the meeting. Food? Water? Heat? Those were always an issue for the reptilian back when he lived among Gotham's homeless; but for a fire controller? A water wizard? A guy with a ton of resources? Those were what the homeless need, not just throughout Gotham, but also around the world. It was a huge deal for Rene to help organize and lead the meeting and it had frankly been one of the most relieving things that the not-quite-sane reptilian has done in the past year.

As good as it felt, however, the complete absence of Katie wore down Rene over the night. She's just busy, he once thought to himself. His own thoughts had become clear in the past recent while after being brutalized while fighting Roarin'; the Beast, as Rene kept thinking it as, had been quiet. Not that it does anything to a relentless sense of anxiety and paranoid. She's just busy! Project Tomorrow's a big thing. She must just be working on a big project right now. Or maybe she's just sleeping. She always seemed busy and even I need rest!

Says the reptilian who spent the entire night, the whole twelve hours, working on housing and homes for the homeless in Gotham. Over the past year, Rene found that the more he spent not doing something, the more he worried and the more crazy he got; his normally thick and lumbering reptilian tail would fidget and twitch in his more mad moments. Having something to do, whether it's construction or crime-fighting, helped his sanity from breaking yet again. He had enough of seeing rainforests and wading in swampwater for a lifetime.

But as the green-and-yellow-scaled reptilian sees the morning rays of light between Gotham's skyscrapers, Rene remembers that Katie still hasn't sent him a message of any kind, much less showed up. She must be with a friend, he thinks again, throwing out one theory for another. She had a sleepover with the X-Men, or she spent the night helping Sarah! Or maybe she set up neon lights with that Zach guy! The wild thoughts correspond with his reptilian slits as they twitch and ache uncomfortably. Clothed in his simple but comfortable super-suit, his clawed feet rest on a thick support beam on one of Gotham's half-built apartment buildings; the stone bricks barely placed a few feet off the cement ground. It's the dawn of a new day.

And it doesn't feel like a normal day.

Rene's clawed hand shakes briefly as he pulls out his little phone, redesigned by Sarah so it wouldn't crack or puncture under Rene's sharp fingers. The device makes it easy for him to hold in his scaly hand and type with the tip of his thumb as he sends out a message to Fred, Sarah, and Zach:

~Morning. Haven't seen Katie. She with you?~

Rene feels no satisfaction from sending messages. There's no guarantee any of them would be up at this time! He gives off several hurried breaths, desperately awaiting a response. And it's only a minute later that his patience wears out. "I can't wait," he says in his coarse and scaly voice. "I gotta visit her."

---

The trip, or rather dash, to Metropolis was not a long one. Once Rene learned how to utilize his super-speed, getting around from city-to-city is a significantly quicker endeavor. He may have been panting and out of breath but he got there while it's still morning. Unfortunately his visit to Katie's house was fruitless, largely because it had been empty. Rene spent a good ten minutes waiting, becoming a most peculiar sight as a large reptilian humanoid waiting in front of a small house in Metropolis.

So following those ten minutes and a rise in panic, the reptilian goes to the next and only real other place he knows is connected to Katie: Dr. Arlington's library. Rene has never quite been there himself, only heard about it from Katie before. It's the one place Rene imagines Arlington being in if not at home.

So it should be no surprise that he's a bit desperate nearly charged into the small occult bookstore, wildly look around at the many books with his reptilian-shaped head, and then look at the owner with the oxygen tank as Rene tries to hide his many small teeth. "Uh, Dr. Arlington?" the reptilian asks, turning his head slightly doing so. This... is the guy Katie knows, right?

[CandyLaser]

"-so I connected the thingamajig - I mean, the first thingamajig, not the new one - to the whatdoyoucallit-"

Of course, people who knew you well enough knew by this point that you occasionally got advice, information, in some cases even direct assistance, from your alternate selves from other points in time or even other timelines entirely. But this wasn't a one-way street. Many of your alternates regularly called on one another - or you personally - for help and advice.

"-almost positive it wasn't supposed to start moving until the doohickey was inserted into the sockety bit-"

Some needed assistance more often than others, but most of them didn't need it often. After all, whatever the variations of their personal experiences, they were all at the end of the day some variation on the base template that was Sarah Saturn. Some were more or less experienced than others, some were in much different situations than others, and some were quirkier than others. But generally speaking, the various Sarah Saturns of the multiverse could be counted on to be brilliant, competent, and rational.

"-know why it started breathing fire. THERE WAS NO FIRE BREATHING IN THE SPECS BUT LO AND-"

And then there was Sarah-27663. Sarah-27663...had it rough. Evidently, her version of Sylvester had been more of a computer and cybernetic specialist. Rather than being genetically engineered for brilliance via retrovirus, she had...basically had all of her grandfather's future knowledge, technological blueprints, whathaveyou, downloaded into her brain shortly after birth. Her Sylvester's plan had been to gradually program a neural network in parallel to her own developing brain, to give her a sort of artificial second intelligence that could bridge the gaps between her natural knowledge and the implanted knowledge, but of course that couldn't really be fully completed until her brain had fully developed.

"-swears the server room was locked. Spoiler alert? The server room was not locked and now-"

So, you know, dying of natural causes when she turned fifteen had kinda thrown a wrench into that whole plan.

-not a single bloody blueprint for a giant self-reloading fire-extinguisher. Portal-powered smart missiles, sure, but-"

So Sarah-27663 was basically alone, responsible for a giant tech company and oh, also, saving the future, with a head full of hyper-advanced super-science devices and a half-functional intuition for constructing them, but no actual understanding of how they worked and what they were really meant to do, and only a low-genius intellect (hey Saturn genes were Saturn genes, retrovirus or not) with which to figure them out. Also, she was only seventeen years old (and that as of three days ago, her time). Fortunately, one of the first devices she had managed to successfully build allowed her to make video calls to other Saturn Foundation offices in other timelines. It was probably the only reason her entire world wasn't on fire.

"-now everything's and fire and-"

Or, well, I guess it had been, anyway?

"...Help?" Sarah-27663 finished pleadingly.

Sarah - the local Sarah, not Sarah-27663 - was in her lab when the call came in. Tucking some of her toys away, she answered and listened to her counterpart's plea. Biting back a sigh, she said, "Short-term, it looks like you need fire suppression drones. I've got a few I can loan you, and I can send you the schematics for them as well. No weapons, so if you can follow instructions it'll work. Long term, you need to learn what you're doing. I can help out there too. I've enhanced my own brain in a few different ways - a superconductive corpus callosum, enhanced memory, improved spatial processing, you name it. It can be done via nanotechnology, and while it's not going to be a substitute for the sort of training you should have gotten it'll help. Or if you prefer I can leave you an AI based on my neural patterns to help out until you get things under control." While she spoke, she tapped a few keys on her wrist computer, calling up the promised specs and sending them to her alternate-universe duplicate.

[Thokk_Smash]

Although a deep sleeper, Zach's paranoia sense of self-preservation means that from the first frantic knock he is roused from his slumber. He doesn't get out of bed immediately. He just enjoys the warmth of his bed and his bedmate beside him.

Finally, with a silent sigh of aggravation, he rises. With supernatural grace he is able to move off the bed without waking his most recent partner. He pulls on a pair of sweatpants and doesn't bother to drag a shirt over his head before he reaches the door.

"Okay, okay," he says, audibly unlocking the various locks on his door to tell the person to back away. He opens the door halfway and leans on the doorframe. "What?"

[Zelphas]

The Internet is a strange thing.

Since many other species in the galaxy had technology at least as advanced as modern Earth, the last fifty-or-so years of progress was not as strong of a culture shock to Gethsemane as it could have been. The biggest culture shock was. well, culture; when she had left Earth, Rock-and-Roll had only just begun to be popularized, and that's only a tiny shred of the many culture shifts and transitions that America alone went through in the past half century. Being a demon who had lived for several millennia meant that she was used to adapting herself and changing with the times, which helped, but it would have been a much slower process without a connection to the World Wide Web.

There was so much information to find! Historical records on any topic you can think of, firsthand accounts, current events, new music, old music, old videos, threads, forums, comments, flame wars... Gethsemane wasn't sure if one of her kind had a hand in creating the Internet, but she could tell that they had certainly exploited it. Still, it was a remarkably useful tool for her, and every moment not spent reading through ancient tomes, observing the crowds of Metropolis under a careful Glamour, or updating her wardrobe for the current century found her on the best computer she could find, combing the Web for an understanding of the world she had come back to.

This meant that when Arlington's sent her an email about her volume arriving, she saw it at once. After crafting a quickly reply email thanking the store for the notice (she has not quite learned some parts of email etiquette yet), Gethsemane signs out of her computer, places a Glamour over herself so as not to disturb the passers-by in Metropolis, and makes her way to Arlington's store.

"Builder," Gethsemane states as she sees the reptilian man within the store. "There's a problem?" The question comes out closer to a statement.

[Starsign]

Rene's reptilian-shaped head nearly shifts a full 360 degrees as he hears the familiar voice of a demon from behind him. The reptilian has yet to get used to her rather British voice given the twisted form of a demon and an alien insect. The sound, however, is so recognizable to him. It's impossible to separate the voice with her form.

"G-Gethsemane?" Rene's coarse and scaly voice speaks out as his body turns away from the old man and to the demon by the front door of the library. His tail fidgets slightly before restraining its swishing movement. "Wait, what are you-?" His snout and lizard-forked tongue mouths off a question halfway before he stops himself; he has a bad habit of trying to speak out of panic before actually answering what he had been asked. Gethsemane's appearance was a surprise to him, though not an unpleasant one at this point. Insane as it is, and insane as he is, the humanoid reptilian is finding Gethsemane more of a relieving sight than ever.

"I'm... looking for Katie," he says after a pause. "She was supposed to be in Gotham for a meeting but I didn't hear from her. She didn't show up. It's been a day since I've heard anything from her! And I haven't heard from her sister either!" There is a clear, if minor twitch from the eye in Rene's left slit. It has yet to occur to him today that he doesn't need to meet or see his friends all the time. If Katie hasn't missed the meeting, Rene might not be so worried. "I had some time to check up on her. But she isn't home so I thought Dr. Arlington might know." He pauses, turning his head again to look back at the old owner in the brown suit before looking back at Gethsemane and finishes his earlier question.

"What are you doing here anyway Gethsemane?"

[SuperCracker]

Fred was asleep. His day had started with an urgent message from a priest in Shibuya regarding an evil spiritual presence in an urban shrine. (You thought we forgot about the monster-hunting angle, didn’t you?) One container of Morton’s salt and a few well-placed swings of a sentient supernatural sword later and there was no more evil spiritual presence. What followed was morning/evening sushi. It was Fred’s breakfast but it was deep into the night in Shibuya. When you can teleport into any timezone, time of day starts to lose all meaning. Fred then got called up by Dani Moonstar, who needed someone that could peer into the past. After that he had his normal X-Men duties followed by coaching the Xavier Institute’s Kendo Club. This is all on top of hunting a mutant-hunting vampire the night before.


When the door was knocked upon, Fred was passed out asleep in his bed with the blanket over his head. His phone was on silent.

Tap tap.

Knock.

“Psst! Get lost! Boss needs his beauty sleep.”

Knock knock knock.

“You’re gonna wake the baby! The murderous, magically empowered baby, that is.”

Bang bang bang!

Fred jumped up from the bed in a tangle of blankets, pajama pants, and not much else. His body was no longer ridden with scars thanks to his brief joinder with the Phoenix. However, a few new ones had already taken their place.

He dragged himself over to the door and opened it up. His kaleidoscope eyes were dull with sleep. Kayla? Not who he expected or necessarily wanted showing up at his door. He’s smart enough to know where he isn’t wanted.

“Hey kiddo,” Starsoul piped up cheerfully.

“I think Katie’s in trouble.”

Fred’s eyes cleared. Sleep was replaced with the clear sharpness of one who is determined to act. Fred grabbed Starsoul from beside his bed and pulled the closest T-Shirt on, a shirt with multiple dice stating “Choose Your Weapon.”

“Tell me everything,” he said calmly as he started to put on his shoes. He mentally took stock of who was available at the school.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Builder and Gethsemane

Mr. Arlington did not appear surprised or even startled as Rene burst into his shop. Well, the man's specialty was divination, after all. He opened his mouth to give the lizard-man a polite welcome, but closed it when he addressed the other customer, waiting patiently.

When Rene explained what he was doing here, a brief frown of consideration passed over the old shopkeeper's face. Katie was not one to miss a meeting, less so without explanation. It was anomalous, although not necessarily cause for concern, particularly considering how busy she was recently.

"Rene, isn't it? Did you go inside her house, or just knock on the door?" he asked with patient calm, taking a guess at his identity based primarily on Katie's stories. "If she were tired enough to be sleeping late, and Kayla already down in her lab, they might not have heard a knock."

Sarah

Sarah-27663 flushed slightly with maybe-just-slightly-resentful embarrassment. It seemed like every time she called one of her alternates for help with what seemed to her to be an intractable problem, they not only had an idea for a solution, but had it all worked out already. "Yeah, if you could, I'd really appreciate it," she answered.

The suggestions for how to enhance her intellect were...not particularly new to Srah-27663. Most of the other Sarah's she had contacted had suggested the same or similar. And while she appreciated the offer and understood the logic behind it...the thing was, technological cognitive enhancements were kinda what had gotten her into these messes in the first place. She was very leery of altering her own brain, doubly so considering she had no idea how it would interact with the partial neural network that already existed. She was...pretty confident there were security measures in place.

But just as she was gearing up to explain that, Sarah offered a different solution.

"Wait, an AI? Like, that can be installed in a computer and just give advice and stuff? That would be amazing! ...Um, but, it wouldn't like, realize how much smarter it is than me and try to take everything over, right? I've seen 1999: A Space Odyssey and I don't want to be Dan..."

Thunderstruck

Your rather terse method of answering the door provided no particular impediment to the cheery greeting that your mom gave you when you opened it. "Hi honey!" she said as she gave you a big hug. "Did I wake you? I know it's early but I have something to tell you and I just couldn't wait!"

Technically, your super-hearing doesn't include like Extended or Penetrates Concealment or whatever, but it does include Auditory Danger Sense and so you definitely heard a bit of stirring movement coming from back in your room.

(On a related note your mother sounds, just, super-excited. I mean, kinda both to normal hearing and detect emotions hearing but whatever. Although from the latter, you can also tell that its burying a pretty healthy chunk of confusion and, buried deep deep down, a niggling sense of dread.)

Ronin

The school was actually a touch understaffed for the past couple of days. Cyclops, Emma, Storm, and Rogue were all out, each leading a small team of some of the more promising students. While all of the members of both gangs that had been there had been arrested, there was little question that the X-Bones had pretty much dominated Terrorgenesis in their fight, and there were plenty more of them spread throughout the country. The mutant gang had been sufficiently emboldened to start making some attacks on their rivals throughout the nation, and the X-Men were working hard to curtail the damage.

Nightcrawler was still around (as a teleporter like Fred, he was able to return home after a day's work, rather than having to hunt around for a motel that didn't have a "No Mutants" sign in the window). Kitty and Pete might have been around, depending on if they were up and out already - Kitty had been working on Project Tomorrow with as much dedication as the Misfits themselves. Not too surprising considering that on top of the general positive ramifications of it, Project Tomorrow's success had a direct positive correlation with, you know, her best friend surviving Darkseid's impending attack, and all. But Beast would certainly be around, since he was handling most of the school-related matters at the moment. And of course Rachel would be there, holding down the fort and playing telepathic Mission Control.

Kayla was, conveniently, way too worried about her sister to even notice the state Fred answered the door in, let alone be embarrassed at it. Not that she needed any particular help being awkward. "Um, hi, uh," she answered Starsoul a bit haltingly, not exactly being in a mental state conducive to social niceties (which weren't exactly Kayla's strongest suit in the first place). When Fred told her to tell him everything, she said, "I mean, I don't really, that is, um-" she began awkwardly. Kayla had a superhumanly enhanced speed of thought, but right now all of her mental horsepower was pretty much being dedicated to conjuring up horrible imaginings of what sort of danger Katie might be in. "When I woke up her door was open. And her bed was made. But she wasn't in the house and the Shared Awareness spell wasn't on! And she hadn't left me any like notes or texts or anything. I called her and texted and emailed and sent her messages on all of her social media accounts she has so many... and I even tried her comm frequency but she hasn't gotten back and if she were expecting to have to leave unannounced she would have told me she always tells me so that I'll worry less! I don't...I mean, she was meeting some of the Project Tomorrow people in Gotham last night and she told me she'd be out late, but she should have come back by now and there's always some way I can communicate with her and nothing's working and I just didn't know what to do or where to go but but Katie told me you can like see the past and stuff right so I thought you could maybe track her or something?"

[SuperCracker]

Katie incommunicado. In her case, that was cause for concern. What level of concern was yet to be known, but Fred didn’t waste time trying to work out whether Kayla was overreacting. He immediately treated it like something worth looking into, despite the lack of details. He tied his sneakers and stood up. He was still wearing his pajamas but he didn’t seem to care that much. Every piece of his wardrobe was unstable molecules so it didn’t really matter in the end.

“She’s right, I can see visions of the past within a certain area, but there may be a more direct way to track her down.”

Fred grabbed his shades off of his desk and handed them to Kayla. “I need to go see a telepath. Do me a favor. When you get a moment, rig a camera to these. She’s your sister so today, you’re Otacon.” Kayla wasn’t someone he wanted anywhere near the action, so letting her have a POV angle for today’s events might keep her from being tempted to get into harm’s way. Plus, she is Katie’s sister. Her insight might be helpful.

Ronin stepped out into the hallway and headed down towards the basement. If Kayla came along he wouldn’t stop her. There was a quick way to track down Katie… but it was going to come with a price. Fred slipped his commlink into his ear and spoke over the local school frequency. “… Rachel,” saying the name sent a stab through his chest. That wound had not healed, “meet me at Cerebro. Potence has gone missing.”

Starsoul hissed like one would when wincing.

[Starsign]

Rene's reptilian slits lie still briefly at Arlington's question. Enter the house? Rene thought briefly over why he didn't actually consider that back when he was knocking on Katie's door for a good ten minutes. The answer should be rather obvious: it'd be breaking and entering. It won't be in one's good nature to do that just out of concern of someone missing. At the same time, if this really is an emergency like his worst instincts believe, then Rene should have kicked down the door and done a thorough search.

...That's what a hero does, right?

Still hesitant, the reptilian looks back again at Arlington; Rene's clawed feet subconsciously dig into the wooden floor as if tightening out of anxiety. "Oh, yeah, I'm Rene," he responds, slightly shaken in his coarse tone. "Did Katie talk to you about me before?" He never considered the idea that Katie might talk about Rene to others. There should be nothing strange about it; but at the same time it's unusual for him to be a positive topic for others to discuss, what with him being a large, yellow-and-green humanoid reptilian. Funny what having friends can do for a beast.

"I just knocked," Rene continues, wiggling his eyes between Arlington and Gethsemane; the rest of the library may as well be black space to the reptilian, given these sort of places usually have an extensive set of information and history that Rene's never had time to read through. "But I can take another look. But even if they don't mind, I'd rather not just force the door open and enter..." Rene can't even recall if he actually tried turning the doorknob. With a slowly-desperate look, the reptilian asks Arlington, "Do you have a spare set of keys I can borrow? I promise to bring them back when I'm done."

It can't take long for someone with super-speed to search a house, right?

[CandyLaser]

Sarah-27663 flushed slightly with maybe-just-slightly-resentful embarrassment. It seemed like every time she called one of her alternates for help with what seemed to her to be an intractable problem, they not only had an idea for a solution, but had it all worked out already. "Yeah, if you could, I'd really appreciate it," she answered.

The suggestions for how to enhance her intellect were...not particularly new to Srah-27663. Most of the other Sarah's she had contacted had suggested the same or similar. And while she appreciated the offer and understood the logic behind it...the thing was, technological cognitive enhancements were kinda what had gotten her into these messes in the first place. She was very leery of altering her own brain, doubly so considering she had no idea how it would interact with the partial neural network that already existed. She was...pretty confident there were security measures in place.

But just as she was gearing up to explain that, Sarah offered a different solution.

"Wait, an AI? Like, that can be installed in a computer and just give advice and stuff? That would be amazing! ...Um, but, it wouldn't like, realize how much smarter it is than me and try to take everything over, right? I've seen 1999: A Space Odyssey and I don't want to be Dan..."

It took Sarah a brief fraction of a second to recall the more incidental transdimensional differences between her world and Earth-27663 and thus translate between her counterpart's idiom and her own. "I don't think it's a major worry. Minerva's based on my neural patterns, and she runs much of my operations here, including the more far-flung elements in the past and the future. I'd say it's no more likely than I am to try to take over." That was, perhaps, less comforting than it was supposed to be.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Ronin

Kayla took the shades with a determined little nod, pausing only to pluck a lightbulb from the nearest lamp or reachable fixture before following Fred. (She...might have forgotten to ask permission, but she kinda assumed it was given as part of the request. Again, not exactly a master of social niceties, this one.) She tinkered with the bulb and the shades a bit as they walked, and there was...a kinda weird wavering in the air around them as she worked. Nanites? At some point she started tapping some things into her smartphone. There was a...twitch of amusement at the corner of her lips when Fred said she was Otacon. She was too worried (and honestly found Fred too intimidating) to actually manage a smile or laugh. But Kayla was a gamer, she got the reference.

When Fred spoke into his comms, a flash of hope lit her eyes. Look, Kayla lived with Katie, she knew a thing or two about the various superheroes in the world and their capabilities. She hadn't even considered that the X-Men might be willing to dedicate Cerebro to this task.

Now, Fred wasn't in the same room as Rachel, so he didn't see that when his voice came through her comm, she momentarily...paused. Not stiffened, quite, or even tensed. Just...became still for a brief instant. When she answered, though, it was in a perfectly normal tone of voice. There was no hesitance, no little sigh, no awkward pauses. I want to make this perfectly clear here. Rachel. Was speaking. In an entirely normal voice. 100%, unquestionably, indisputably normal. Her voice was normal with extreme prejudice!

"On my way."

Now, Kayla was no Sarah Saturn, but she was still a super-scientist and Katie had mentioned a time or two before wishing she had her sister's speed of thought. By the time they reached the hallway to Cerebro, Kayla handed Fred back his shades. He could see in the periphery of his vision that the feed of what they were pointing at was showing on her phone.

Rachel was waiting for them in the hallway. She blinked once at the sight of the two of them, but didn't comment. However, Fred could notice the flicker of a concerned frown when she saw Kayla. "I tried to reach Potence telepathically," she told them. "I made contact-" Kayla let out a huge breath of relief. At the very least, that meant Katie was alive and...well, probably on-world, although Rachel was such a powerful telepath that that technically wasn't certain. "-but she didn't respond." That news was less good.

It didn't stop Kayla from answering, "I- Just- Thank you so much!"

To Fred alone, telepathically, she added, ~I don't want to worry her sister, but you should know. I was picking up some...weird activity in her brain. There's only so much I can get from here, but I don't think she's...fully unconscious. Something kept her from noticing my contact, though, so she's probably not entirely conscious either. She could be drugged, or mind-controlled, or under some sort of phantasmal effect, or...something. And...she's scared, Fred. And I think she's in pain.~

Aside from a notable touch of concern, that information, too, came in an extremely normal voice.

She didn't await a response, though, since obviously this was now a matter of some urgency. She headed down the hall and opened the way to Cerebro.

The Builder and Gethsemane

"You've come up a few times in her stories of her adventures," Mr. Arlington replied with a gentle smile. "I do, yes," he added when Rene asked him if he had a spare key. "Although there may be a somewhat swifter, and less intrusive, option available to us."

Mr. Arlington reached into his pocket, withdrawing a tiny zip-loc baggie that held what looked like a few strands of blond hair. Holding the baggie, he narrowed his eyes in brief concentration and murmured in a rhythmic cadence, "Absent friends, though space may part us, be you not alone..."

(Mr. Arlington didn't advertise his wizardry, but he didn't consider it strictly secret, either. And, well, considering that Rene knew Katie and knew of him at least well enough that he had come here when he was concerned about her, and the sort of tomes Gethsemane had come to his shop looking for, he rather expected that they already knew about his magic in any event.)

But the moment the old wizard completed the spell, his face got deathly pale.

When a wizard got angry, sometimes their power might leak out some. When you were talking big-name reality warpers like Zantanna or the Scarlet Witch, that could be...bad. For more modest practitioners, the results were far less significant. An evoker might cause the room to heat up several degrees, or build up a static charge in the air. A transmuter like Katie might unconsciously grow a couple inches, or take on more bestial features. A necromancer might send chills of dread running down the spine, or produce a charnel stench.

Mr. Arlington was a diviner. His anger could be felt in the memory. For just an instant, Gethsemane and Rene would suddenly recall a moment in their own lives where they had been overtaken by fury or lashed out in anger.

Mr. Arlington was silent for a second or two, before dashing down several bookcases at a speed that would have been hard for a man half his age to achieve, leaving his oxygen tank behind. "Map...I need a map!" he said, though whether he was talking to you or to himself was...debatable. There was an obvious wheeze in his voice.

Sarah

Fortunately (or maybe not!) Sarah-27663 took that reply in the manner it was intended. After all, if you can't trust your future self from an alternate reality and/or an incomprehensible AI based on their neural patterns, who can you trust? "Okay, um, yes, definitely! How, I mean, what do I do? Oh man I cannot even begin to thank you!" the relief was plain in her voice. Sarah-27663 definitely didn't have anything like the natural, rational calm of most of her alternate selves.

[Starsign]

Without much to direct him, Rene waited on his crooked and bent scaly knees as he watched Arlington pull out a... baggie. Briefly the reptilian confused; what would an old man need a few blond hairs for? It hadn't occurred to the Builder that a man who owns a library of ancient texts and iss a friend to Katie might know some magic as well. Rene would never understand the specifics and powers behind magic but if it helps find Katie then-

The old man's face goes deathly pale. Oh god, oh god what did he-


Brother will DIE. Father will DIE. The fittest survive! The strong kills the weak! The beast forces you strong! The beast forces to KILL. There can be ONLY ONE if you EMBRACE!

"No, no. Where's Croc?! Where's Brother?! What have you DONE with him?! Don't take them AWAY from me!"

Lunge! Claw! Bite! Lunge! Claw Bite! Lunge! Claw! Bite!

"NO! I WILL NOT EMBRACE YOU!" Holler! Shout against the mountain! Shout against the titan! Shout till your voice creaks and breaks under your will! "YOU TOOK ANSWERS FROM ME! YOU'LL TAKE BROTHER FROM ME! YOU'LL DESTROY THEM! GIVE THEM BACK! GIVE BACK BROTHER!"

"Aaaugh!" Rene hisses in pain as he slams his clawed hands on his thick-plated forehead; the hardened scales are the only thing keeping him from accidentally tearing into his own skull. God, why did he remember that?! To him, it isn't even like recalling it; he was reliving this moment of painful, insane anger. Little of his past this last year hasn't been painful in some form. He still lives with the pain of those memories day-by-day. He won't sulk in his past; he won't live in it; he won't let it continue to make his life hell; but the damage his past has done to him will remain for a long time.

Thankfully, the pain of the memory passes as Rene takes his clawed hands off his skull. His hissing, hasty breath slows down as his thick tail slowly weaves across the old wooden floor behind him. The momentary shaking of his whole body starts easing off as well. His lizard-shaped head, however, expresses pale worry as he sees the horror-taken Arlington rush down the bookshelves. "M-Map? ...A MAP?!" The implication dawns on Rene; an old man wouldn't leave his oxygen tank behind like that unless he saw something truly terrible. With that in his mind, Rene helps Arlington by rushing around the library looking for maps, any map. Local, global, whatever! Being a green-blurred hurricane through a messy library will be worth it if it gets what Arlington needs!

[SuperCracker]

Fred was prepared for awkwardness, hesitant silence, or any other combination of social torture. He was not prepared for Rachel to do whatever this was. She was either trying to avoid the whole situation just as much as he was or… and this was the possibility he found truly unacceptable… she was trying to make him feel better by acting so normal. That bothered him; but he said nothing and tried very hard not to let anything bleed through the psychic link.

Focus on the mission, Broll.

When Kayla held out the shades, Fred took them and slipped them over his eyes. Just in time for his encounter with Rachel. “Do me a favor, don’t record anything you see inside here. I’m trusting you.” ...and I know where you live.

Fred’s arm twitched slightly, almost imperceptibly when he saw Rachel waiting. The last time he’d said a whole lot to her was… well… it was that time she read his mind, saw him have a sham relationship with an alien imposter, then they both walked away without another word. (And a whole lot is maybe three sentences. It’s relative.)

She reached back into his mind. She’s done it hundreds of times. It used to be a daily occurrence. He was extremely anxious about it and couldn’t quite hide it from her. Katie couldn’t be contacted psychically. Drugged, mind-controlled, or magicked… and hurt.

~Alright. Find her and I’ll take it from there.~ He paused… the normality was getting to him. ~You don’t have to do that, Rachel.~ Chest... tightening. ~Nothing that happened was your fault. I failed you by not seeing through it and helping you sooner.~ When in doubt, torture yourself – that’s the Ronin way. Naturally, the conversation wasn't even remotely closed to being finished in any meaningful way. He was smart enough these days to even realize it.

“Kitty,” Fred said across com\ms as they walked down the Hallway, “Potence is missing. We don’t know what it is but we know it’s probably hostile. Get everyone you can. We’ll be down in Cerebro.”

[CandyLaser]

RoninFortunately (or maybe not!) Sarah-27663 took that reply in the manner it was intended. After all, if you can't trust your future self from an alternate reality and/or an incomprehensible AI based on their neural patterns, who can you trust? "Okay, um, yes, definitely! How, I mean, what do I do? Oh man I cannot even begin to thank you!" the relief was plain in her voice. Sarah-27663 definitely didn't have anything like the natural, rational calm of most of her alternate selves.

Sarah paused for a moment. "Hmm... I suppose the best thing to do would be for me to visit. It might be necessary to upgrade your mainframe in order to support Minerva. Or you could come here and get the specs that way. I don't think it's wise to send it over a transdimensional channel, if only because this mode of communication isn't very high-bandwidth."

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Builder and Gethsemane

Even moving with panicked speed and the advantage of a near encyclopedic knowledge of his bookstore, Mr. Arlington wasn't even to the first shelf he had wanted before Rene had collected half a dozen maps. A gesture of the wizard's hand forcibly yanked one of the small reading tables over - almost knocking over one of the bookshelves in his haste (if you knew how much respect Mr. Arlington usually showed to his books you would know that that was probably the clearest sign of desperation he had showed since casting his spell). Once the maps were laid out, he quickly scanned one of them - a US map - and after some quick mental ciphering said, "Gotham. She would have to be somewhere in Gotham! Oh..."

Mr. Arlington was breathing heavily after his brief but intense exertion, and the wheeze was clear. He swayed slightly, but took a laborious breath and pressed on, clinging to the little baggie as he cast another spell. It was so much gibberish to Rene, but Gethsemane would recognize it as a thaumaturgic scrying spell.

Evidently something went wrong, since the mage just cursed and began casting again. It was another scrying spell, but subtly different than the prior one, targeting a specific location by direction and distance rather than a specific individual. Without using a thaumaturgic link to create a connection, that one had to be more energy intensive, and the old man's breath was coming in deep gasps after casting three spells in rapid succession.

The effort it was taking to breathe did not slow him down any, though.

This time Mr. Arlington's gaze went distant for several moments. Even as it did, Rene's phone would chime with an alert - a private message from the Project Tomorrow app, as it happened. He could see that Sarah Saturn and Thunderstruck were also included in it, and it was coming from a hero who went by the codename Shadowcat. This is Shadowcat with the X-Men. Just got word that Potence is missing. Ronin's getting some more intel, I'll shoot it along soon as it comes through. But if you guys can get ready to move that'd be good.

Mr. Arlington's gaze refocused on Rene. His face was pale and sweat was dripping down his forehead, though how much of that was from his fatigue and how much was from fear for his student was hard to say. "A building on...Longbranch. Maybe a...museum of...some kind. The building itself had...had protections. Wards. Some sort of...forcefield. Couldn't...scry...inside..." He had to pause a few seconds to catch his breath. "A bit...far for my...typical teleport spell. But I know a...stronger spell. Won't take...but a moment..." He reached out for Rene (being unaware of exactly who Gethsemane was, it didn't occur to him to try to involve her). But, um, honestly? The poor guy looked like he was kinda on his last legs here. Truth was, he might not be able to cast an upper-level teleport spell in his current condition. Even if he could, and even if he took some more oxygen before doing it and recovered some, if he had been winded this badly by a quick sprint across his bookstore and a few utility spells, he probably wasn't going to be able to hold out long in a fight.

Ronin

Kayla tapped her phone twice, and then tucked it into her pocket with a nod. Fred and Rachel were...obviously going above and beyond for Katie here. And they weren't even hesitating about it. She came in here half-panicked and probably not very coherent, and they hadn't even hesitated to go straight to Cerebro if that's what it took. Kayla didn't know much about what Cerebro was or how it worked, but her understanding was that it wasn't something they just used on a whim.

That...mattered.

(Also there was something in Fred's voice that told her that she really didn't want to refuse that favor.)

Rachel didn't make a sound or a shift that would have revealed anything to Kayla, but there was definitely a sense of tension in the link when she answered. Although what there wasn't was a sense of her own feelings. She was holding them back, but whatever they were, they were strong enough that keeping them out of the link was creating a definite sense of psychic pressure. She'd have been happy enough to avoid this conversation, but if Fred thought he was allowed to just commit social seppuku and call it done with, boy-howdie was he gonna learn. Fred had just "gone there", and now there was no turning back. ~Honestly? I don't know what else to do, Fred. It's not about fault, although I will say you might want to review what you know about how those body-snatching ******** work before you go ahead and absolve me completely,~ she said it in a kinda sarcastic deadpan, as if it were a joke, but the psychic pressure on the link spiked as the said it to just this side of painful.

"What!? When? How!?" Kitty answered over comms, surprise and concern warring in her voice. "Right. On it. Let me know when you've found her."

~But that's not what matters anyway. It's...damn it, Broll. We were friends! And since we got back, you've barely said five words to me!~ The pressure was building up again. If it was the same or a different emotion behind it, you couldn't say, but the cord between your minds was taut as steel.

Outwardly, Rachel led the way across the bridge to Cerebro. Kayla was looking around the room with unmasked curiosity. Maybe not quite the sense of awe that many showed the first time they came into this room. Kayla was no stranger to the wonders of science. But even for a scientist of her skill, Cerebro was an impressive piece of work.

~And Fred, I may have been stuck on some spaceship for most of it, but I know as well as you do that this wouldn't be the first time.~ The reference to the several months you had gone without speaking to Kitty was clear. Of course, Rachel knew about that. The X-Men were significantly better at spreading gossip than they were at educating, and almost as good at it as they were at saving the world.

She picked up the helmet and...hesitated. It was only for a moment. If Kayla noticed, it would only have been because of her hasted speed of thought. You only did because you knew Rachel so well. The use of Cerebro was dangerous, of course, but that was hardly the reason for her pause. Rachel was a powerful telepath; she could handle it. And more importantly...she was one of the X-Men. A superhero. She wouldn't shy from danger. But Rachel was always cautious about using her powers to track people down. It brought back memories of a less-than-pleasant time in her life, and she was all too cognizant of the moral concerns.

But there was no question that it was the right thing to do here, so the hesitation lasted barely a moment before she slipped the helmet on her head.

Using Cerebro was dangerous. Really, it wasn't a great idea to do it in an emotional state. And you...should probably be giving it your full psychic concentration. But Rachel had hosted the Phoenix, once. Her control and concentration were absolute. Cerebro greatly enhanced the user's telepathic abilities, but the only difference Fred felt in the mental link was that the pressure eased some. Not only was Rachel channeling everything Cerebro gave her exactly where she needed it to go, none of it leeching into the mindlink with you, but if anything the extra mental energy was just making it easier for her to keep her emotions from leaking into the link.

~And look, don't get me wrong. I'm not fragile. I don't need anyone hovering around making sure I'm okay, or walking on eggshells around me.~ A couple of the X-Men had been doing just that. ~It happened. It sucked. It's over.~

As powerful as Cerebro was, from the outside, it didn't look like much. The wall plates shifting around was kinda cool, but there wasn't too much of a visual display for onlookers. It was all in the mind. "I've got her," Rachel said out loud (and with not a hint of the mental conversation in her voice; again, let's take a moment to respect the level of control it takes to host the Phoenix). "She's in Gotham. Some sort of abandoned museum on Longbranch. Six others in there with her. All human. Or, well, non-mutant, anyway." Cerebro's ability to distinguish between types of people other than human and mutant was...inconsistent. Although if they had managed to kidnap Potence, it certainly suggested they weren't baseline human, anyway. Katie may not have been at her best in a solo fight, especially without her wand, but six baseline humans? They'd have been having pleasant dreams in comfortably under half a minute.

~And you went through something that sucked just as hard,~ she said. ~Heck if I know how to make that better. Heck if I think you'd have wanted me to try. I know you don't want my pity any more than I want yours. Neither of us were gonna be crying on each other's shoulders. That's fine.~

"Oh **** them!" Rachel growled as she pressed her vision deeper. Rachel on Cerebro was simply unfair, frankly. Any telepath could use it to trace minds, sure. But when you add her projection powers to the mix? Please. "They've got her hooked up to...I don't know. Some kind of machine. I don't know what it does but..." Kayla gave a little, trembling gasp. Her eyes, which had been softening with relief when Rachel located her sister, went wide with fear.

But her hands...her hands hung by her sides, and were clenched with such anger that her knuckles were white.

~But I just want things to be normal again, okay? Back to the way they were! I know what happened sucks and I know you have..."baggage" as you put it. So I didn't want to make things harder. But Fred, you're still my friend, and I don't want to lose that because of some body-stea-~

"I'm trying to get in touch with her again. Should be able to get through with Cerebro. Let her know help is on the way at least. Maybe even wa-"

Rachel's voice, verbal and telepathic alike, suddenly stopped. The link between your minds snapped.

She was just...standing there. She was breathing normally. You could make out her eyes moving rapidly under their lids. But other than that...

Rachel Grey had gone completely, utterly still.

"...Um?" Kayla prompted, confusedly. "H-Hello?"

Sarah

"Right. Right. Um... Okay, yeah, right, portals. Good at those. I can get there.
Pretty sure I can get there. Um, I need to...get those drones set up first, I think. Do damage control here. Can I come by later today?"

That...turned out like it might be a convenient request, since a couple seconds later Minerva pulled up a message for you from the Project Tomorrow app. The Builder and Thunderstruck were also included in it, and it was coming from a hero who went by the codename Shadowcat (Minerva helpfully brought up her file as well). This is Shadowcat with the X-Men. Just got word that Potence is missing. Ronin's getting some more intel, I'll shoot it along soon as it comes through. But if you guys can get ready to move that'd be good.

...Okay, yeah, "If you guys can get ready to move" was probably a polite way of saying "If you, Sarah Saturn, can collect your team so you can teleport to the location as soon as we have it."

Thunderstruck

It was early morning. You are a rock star. Ergo, you were sleeping peacefully. I leave it to your discretion whether or not you were alone.

Regardless, your sleep, which had been nowhere near eight hours, was tragically assaulted by an alert chime from your phone. A direct message from the Project Tomorrow app, sent by a hero going by codename Shadowcat and including the Builder and Sarah in the message. This is Shadowcat with the X-Men. Just got word that Potence is missing. Ronin's getting some more intel, I'll shoot it along soon as it comes through. But if you guys can get ready to move that'd be good.

...Evidently your mom being at the door was a dream. Which honestly made sense, since it was like, she lived in Greece, why in the world would she fly all the way here to tell you something rather than sending you a text or giving you a call? Like, sure, maybe if it was something big she might have wanted to tell you in person if she lived, say, in Metropolis herself. Then it was just a fifteen minute car ride or whatever. But from Greece? Totally implausible. Dreams were so weird sometimes.

[SuperCracker]

~I know how they work and it doesn’t matter,~ He said with futility, though that probably just made things worse. He was trying to keep Rachel from accessing his feelings too, but he wasn’t a trained psychic. If she wanted in, she would get in. He didn’t respond to a lot of what she psychically said. It stung that she confronted him with ghosting Kitty. He was starting to see a pattern.

To prevent himself from showing any signs of discomfort, Fred pulled out his phone and hit the settings for his X-Men costume. The clothes on his body shifted and shimmered until he was in full samurai mode. He tucked Starsoul into his belt and rolled his shoulders. As they received information, Fred was parroting it to Kitty through the comm. “Gotham City. Abandoned museum on Longbranch. Six non-mutants. Suspect metahuman threat level.”

“That’s gonna be six chunks of meat when we’re done.”

~I’m ok,~ he lied, ~I only care about you.~ Not a lie.

Ronin’s stoic expression turned positively steely when Rachel said Katie was hooked up to a machine.

Rachel was imploring him to be her friend again. He was waiting for her to stop before he would say something like It’s hard… because I thought it was you and what I felt was real. But then she just stopped. And his steely exterior broke. Fred stepped in towards Rachel and put a hand on her shoulder. “Rachel…” He shook her gently, then placed his other hand on the side of her head, just below the helmet. “Rach!”

“F***,” he said, “Kitty, we’ve lost Rachel. We have to go in hot. Kayla, keep an eye out for that machine when I’m there. I’m going to need your help to deal with it.” He started to run out towards the hallway and raising his right wrist up with the mirror on it. If he ran into Kitty, he’d grab her and teleport. Fred’s heart was pounding in his ears. Katie was in trouble and he’d just walked Rachel into the same trap. (When in doubt, torture yourself). He didn’t have time to wait for the Misfits to gather. He had to go in swinging, even if it was 1 v 6 or 2 v 6. It wasn't just his samurai code; this time, his friends' lives may depend on it.

[CandyLaser]

"Right. Right. Um... Okay, yeah, right, portals. Good at those. I can get there.
Pretty sure I can get there. Um, I need to...get those drones set up first, I think. Do damage control here. Can I come by later today?"

That...turned out like it might be a convenient request, since a couple seconds later Minerva pulled up a message for you from the Project Tomorrow app. The Builder and Thunderstruck were also included in it, and it was coming from a hero who went by the codename Shadowcat (Minerva helpfully brought up her file as well). This is Shadowcat with the X-Men. Just got word that Potence is missing. Ronin's getting some more intel, I'll shoot it along soon as it comes through. But if you guys can get ready to move that'd be good.

...Okay, yeah, "If you guys can get ready to move" was probably a polite way of saying "If you, Sarah Saturn, can collect your team so you can teleport to the location as soon as we have it."

Nothing is ever simple, Sarah thought. She carefully maintained a neutral expression, so as not to spook her interdimensional doppelganger, and said, "Certainly. Minerva will notify me when you arrive. I may be a bit late - I've got some urgent business to attend to here, as well. Worst case, you can come join us when you get here. I've always found that two Sarah Saturns are better than one." At that last, she smiled - although she also recalled when that wasn't true. There were versions of her that didn't have her rigorous moral code and respect for the rights of others. They were - not to put too fine a point on it - terrifying.

With that, she signed off, and asked Minerva to bring up the team's locations on her communicator. "Try to locate Potence, as well," she added. It was always possible that the others just weren't looking in the right place. While the AI worked, she sent everyone else a message over the comms. "Hope you're decent. Potence is apparently missing, and I've been asked to get the band back together. Prepare for a portal."

[Starsign]

Oh no. Oh nonononono. Katie's been captured. She's actually captured.

Rene's been worried about this worst-case scenario. It's not like Katie to suddenly disappear. He had all these assumptions that it wasn't as bad as it is; all these theories on what else could've happened. All that hope burnt away at the sight of Arlington's desperate, dying eyes. The reptilian's slits twitch and fidgets at the words. A gaping hole in his mind expands in him as he feels an overwhelming sense of feeling lost. What can he do?

At this time he expects the Beast to speak up, to guide him on what to do. Those harsh, brief, but essential words have helped guide him ever since he's fallen into insanity. Yet his mental state has been exhausted since fighting Roarin'. Rene's can't hear the voice anymore; he's unable to comprehend it at this point. It's not even like he's 'recovered' from his traumatized madness; a part of his mind, way back in his subconscious, simply doesn't work now.

All said, however, besides the twitching eyes, the slight chattering of his many teeth, the shaking clawed hands whose fingers are rapidly breaking and repairing due to being bent too much, and the notable color on his green-yellow scales losing color and going a brief ugly pale, Rene is handling things relatively well.

Rene only barely has a grip on his mobile phone; his shaking claws lacking the steadiness to take it out of his thin super-suit pocket without dropping the device. His slits are more focused on Katie's old friend, looking as if he's aging by the second just trying to find a map. It's telling that he really shouldn't be doing more like casting ma- oh god he's casting magic what is wrong with him?!

Running on hope, panic and sympathy, Rene gently grabs Arlington's stretched out arm in a momentary green blur. "Wait, wait!" he pleads. "You don't- don't need to do that! I can go. I've got friends to help me. I can go on my own if needed." The chances of Rene doing the latter are pretty minuscule between Gethsemane being here and the ability to contact portal-slinging Sarah Saturn on a whim.

...Whenever Rene's clawed hand stops shaking violently.

"Please don't strain yourself," the reptilian insists wildly. "I can handle it. I'm supposed to be a hero." The word keeps dragging on in Rene's insane mind: "Hero." It's never fit him, as much as he tries to be one for Project Tomorrow. He does, however, step up to be one when the time comes. Today is one such example.

The reptilian helps get Arlington's life support system back in place, giving him a moment to breathe and... try to relax. It's not worth getting himself killed over Katie's situation. "We'll get Katie back. Just, please, relax." It's hard for the reptilian to think that Arlington might be alright without anyone around. "She'll message you as soon as we've got her safe and sound." Compassionate as Rene is, the green-yellow hunched reptilian isn't exactly one who can guarantee what he says. All he can do is try.

Sarah Saturn's communication message comes right after. Super geniuses have a really good sense of timing. His head turns to look at Gethsemane; the small cracking sounds indicate he's stretching his body more than he should in anxiety. "Gethsemane, can you help us? I don't know if you're busy, but..." It's a wonder how often Rene ends up asking a demon-insect creature for her assistance so much. She has, however, been so willing to help before; would she mind coming with Rene or just keeping an eye on Arlington?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Ronin

Well, turned out you and Kayla might have had more in common than it seemed, at least if the pained, guilty look on her face was any indication. "What should-" she began to ask, but you were already moving.

Kitty was, fortuitously, still at the Mansion, and came striding towards you as you left the hall to Cerebro, already suited up. She was striding along a gentle incline through the ceiling while typing furiously on her phone, mind, but still. She finished as she reached you, putting her phone away with one hand and snagging your outstretched hand with the other. There was no need for discussion.

Just as you vanished, you saw the blue-furred form of Hank come racing in from another room, no doubt going to do what he could for Rachel.

You arrived in Gotham, and the first thing you realized was that whoever these people were, they clearly knew exactly who they were targeting and exactly what the likely repercussions would be. Because you didn't arrive in the museum. You didn't arrive right outside the museum. You didn't even arrive across the street from the museum. You appeared on what at first glance appeared to be some random street in Gotham. Now, it wouldn't take long to check a street sign and get your bearings, and you weren't far off from your target point, maybe a block or so south. But as you approached, you couldn't help but notice.

Smashed, empty windows, with not even a shard of glass beneath them. Destroyed cars with nary a mirror left in-tact. Not even a single glimmering puddle on the ground.

Someone had gone out and painstakingly made sure that there was not a single solitary reflective surface within a block of where Katie was being held.

Now, if you had been trying to reach Katie indirectly somehow, sure, that might have slowed you down. But since you knew where you were going from Rachel, it was an inconvenience at most. The somewhat more formidable obstacle was the dome of silvery light that was surrounding the building. Kitty eyed it for a second, picked a piece of scrap metal from one of the ruined cars up, and phasing it out, tried to poke it through the field. It stopped just as surely as if she hadn't used her power at all.

Still, it couldn't be completely impenetrable. It hadn't so much as slowed Rachel down. (See above re: Rachel on Cerebro is completely unfair.)

The barrier looks like it might be magical, and the silver light it's made out of is precisely the same color as Katie's magic. But this seems way larger and more...substantial than her typical shields, even her higher-level ones. If this is her magic, it's clearly being augmented somehow.

Even so, you have a pretty solid understanding of what Katie is capable of at this point, and a shield like this...it's not that it's necessarily beyond her, quite, but it's not her style. Katie's getting better, but she's never been big on raw oomph, and a barrier like this would take a lot of it. You suspect that she could pull together the raw energy to cast a spell like this, at least on a smaller scale...but it wouldn't be easy for her, and it might not be safe.

Sarah

Sarah-27663 looked...frankly kinda astonished that you so much as suggested that she could possibly be able to assist you. She...definitely didn't have the typical Sarah Saturn self-confidence, and that was pretty much exponentially more true with regards to her alternates. Granted, she did also seem just a bit confused, since she clearly had a lot to do to get things back in order. The odds of her finishing soon enough to help with anything short-term seemed remote.

About a second later, Minerva would inform you of another message over the app (We've got location. Abandoned museum on Longbranch in Gotham. On way w/ Ronin. Get here ASAP.) and that your alternate from universe 27663 had arrived.

(Not too surprising, really. The Asynchronous Timeline Theorum does state that unless two universes are interacting directly, the relative rates at which either would experience the flow of time cannot be accurately predicted.)

Minerva would, of course, see to it that she was comfortable while you handled things. But if you wanted some extra firepower...well, who knows, maybe working alongside you would help with her self-confidence issues. And to be fair, while she may not have fully understood all of it, from what you had ever seen of it her combat tech seemed perfectly solid.

Minerva was also able to pull up some information on Katie's disappearance. Checking security feeds around her last posted location (Katie's tendency to use her social media geotagging when she was doing Project Tomorrow stuff was convenient for situations like this, although to be fair it may have also been part of what led to a situation like this), Minerva soon pulled up video of the attack. There were six people involved, all of them wearing some manner of powered armor of what looked to you like an alien design. It certainly didn't match any established power armored developers from Earth. The armor did enough to conceal the overall builds and identities of those within that you couldn't rule out aliens, but their overall shape was definitely humanoid.

Of some note, each one also carried a specific weapon, which...were odd. They were archaic weapons, but they had the same material and design as the armor. One had a frankly unnecessarily-large hammer, one was wielding a pair of axes, one had a mace and shield, one had a single longsword, one of them had a crossbow, and the last fought with their gauntleted fists. The weapons did seem to be technologically advanced; you could see them discharging various energies during the fight. With your technological savvy, though, it didn't appear to you that the weapons or armor were being used to their fullest. Just based on the design and materials, you would have expected them to pack a bit more oomph than they were displaying. Best you could tell, they didn't have enough power to go full-strength. Like they were working off of reserves or something.

The fight itself was fairly protracted and brutal. It appeared the six of them attacked her while she was flying - or at least, the first sighting of Katie was of her falling into camera view, runes already glowing on her skin, although she landed lightly. Then the six attackers landed around her. She cast a shield and said something, but they didn't appear to reply, just keeping up the offensive. They weapons had some trouble getting through her wards and shields - due in no small part to their weapons being only partially powered, you were pretty sure - and she made them work for it with her healing. The battle definitely lasted long enough that she should have been able to call for help with Shared Awareness, so they must have been blocking that somehow. It was also loud enough that it should have attracted notice but...well, Gotham. If there's not a hero close enough to personally notice you're in trouble, don't expect any passers-by to call anyone.

Katie played a pretty good defensive game, but the one with the crossbow was pretty consistent about shooting her off her Flying Hand every time she tried to escape, and between the six of them, she never really got a chance to fight back effectively; she had to devote all her energy to healing and shielding. After several barrages, her wards broke and she was knocked out by a blow to the head from the mace wielder. Hammer-guy picked her up and they flew off with some manner of rocket boots.

The Builder

Mr. Arlington lost his spell as you grabbed his arm, and for a moment it looked like he might argue, or even force you back with his magic. But then his features softened, a regretful look carved into his features. When you brought his oxygen tank back over, he whispered, "Thank you," in a thready voice, before taking several deep breaths from it. "Please," he said. "You have to get her back. They're...she's..." he took another breath through the mask in lieu on finishing, but you had been linked to Katie's Shared Awareness spell often enough to know that it included not just a mental link and sharing of position, but also a sense of the bonded subjects' physical status.

Another message came through the app. We've got location. Abandoned museum on Longbranch in Gotham. On way w/ Ronin. Get here ASAP.

Gethsemane looked at you as you requested her help, and then at Mr. Arlington. "Should stay here. Look after him. Will be able to heal him if required. Once he is okay, will join you."

The old wizard grimaced at her words. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine! Katie needs help!"

"Both you and Katie need help. Think she would say same as you are. Rational response is to help both. Will help you. Builder will help Katie."

--

Okay so, per chatpad discussion I'm gonna slip some extra NPC assistance to you guys in the form of Kitty and, if you want to bring her along CL, Sarah-27663 (who was totally intended as a one-off joke character but whatever) to make up for Gethsemane and Zach.

I'll post their statblocks once I get them finished. SC, CL, you're both welcome to control Kitty and Sarah-27663 respectively in combat if you want to. But that's a non-trivial amount of additional posting effort required, so I'm also happy to. They'll more-or-less follow your leads either way.

[Starsign]

Rene looks relieved, if a bit concerned, as Gethsemane offers to help Arlington. The reptilian didn't like the idea of leaving the old man here after nearly exhausting himself to death. "Thank you," he says to the demon as she begins tending to him. Leaving a demon of all people to help someone might be about as poorly thought-out as it gets; after all, when did demons, much less demon-alien hybrids, have a good reputation on Earth. As crazy as it is, or because it's as crazy as it seems, Rene will happily trust Gethsemane with this; she's helped so much after all.

He grips the wrist of his right clawed hand using his left to get it to stop shaking. He needs a moment to calm down before taking out his small mobile device and read Sarah's messages. Oh thank goodness she'll be coming to help. The other Misfits should be there as well to help Katie.

~At Arlington's library. Hurry and get me. Gethsemane will be coming later.~

He taps the extra-durable glass with the clawed points of his hand to send a message back to Sarah. She probably knows his location, as he expects super-geniuses to know everyone's location at one time; but may as well let her know just in case. He's reliant on her to get to Gotham as quick as possible today.

[SuperCracker]

Fred came sprinting down the hallway and met Kitty midway, hands connecting just as he looked into his wrist-mirror and started the teleport. The move was clearly practiced.

They appeared in Gotham (clearly… just look at the city architecture) but not at the Museum. A brief investigation would tell him why that was. Not going to save you. It was, though, time wasted.

Ronin, being the faster of the two, picked Kitty up in one arm and dashed through the streets of Gotham until they reached the Museum. Then they met the force field. Also not going to save you.

Now Fred was not a wizard. He could barely be called a spellcaster. His very essence was in tune with the magic of the Fey. To turn invisible, he smiles. To become a shadow, he breaths. To see the past, he opens himself to the spirit world. These are things he just does. He’s never studied incantations and read weighty tomes.

Oh, except for that book Katie gave him in which he dog-eared the chapter on magical barriers. He read that while Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was downloading.

This spell is the same style as Katie’s barriers, but stronger and not quite her style. Either someone was tapping into her magic to achieve this, which would be putting her in physical danger, or it was a more powerful mage who knows her tricks.

Either way, he needed to get through the barrier to cut them down.

Kitty found an answer to the obvious question by using a piece of rubble, and when that didn’t work he posed a question.

“Dome or sphere?”

Kitty took a breath and phased into the concrete like she were submerging in water. While she was under, he took the opportunity to ask the spirits to show him what has happened here… and what perhaps will happen.

Speak with spirits: Perception roll for Post and Precognition [roll0] ; [roll1] if a second roll is required

She came back up and let him know that it was a sphere. There wouldn’t be any surprise attacks from below today.

“Lemme guess, it’s my turn?”

“You guess right. Cat, get behind me in case this thing is trapped.”

And unless his Speak with Spirits showed him that doing so was a terrible idea, he unsheathed Starsoul, gripped it high in both hands, and swung down at the barrier with a power strike.

All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5 – Power Slash, [roll2] vs. object – DC25+Multi-Attack+Possible Crit (object) Parry vs. damage (+5, crit with improved critical even if it isn't following object rules

[CandyLaser]

Sarah saved the footage to her wrist computer, then got suited up. Her gear flashed into existence around her as she abandoned her lab coat in favorite of her shunt field generator. Next, she opted to pick up her duplicate, opening a portal to her and saying, "You coming? There's no substitute for practical experience."

From the messages she'd received, it seemed like the only person she needed to pick up was the Builder. So her next destination was Arlington's library. One step for her and her counterpart covered all the miles between Saturn Foundation HQ and the library, and before she'd even finished the transit she was already punching in the next set of coordinates. Businesslike as always, she said, "Builder? You ready? This is Sarah-27663, by the way. She's with me."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sarah-27663, less up-to-speed on...well, everything, really, than her 616 counterpart, had not expected that what had been a few hours for herself would be mere seconds for her. When a fully kitted-up Sarah asked if she was coming she...well...

To say she hesitated was accurate without really being correct. While Sarah-27663 might have lacked the breadth of knowledge and sheer towering intellect that our Sarah (and, really, most Sarahs) had, the partially-complete cybernetic framework in her head did offer her equivalent speed of thought. So, yes, strictly speaking, she did hesitate. And Sarah, able to process information just as fast, would recognize the hesitation. Sarah-27663 was not, at the end of the day, all that confident or decisive, and not without reason. She tried her best, and she had done some good work back on her world. But she had also messed up before, and her mistakes had come with consequences. She didn't have Sarah's sort of certainty that any given problem would be made better by her presence.

At the same time, there clearly wasn't time to get more information. Obviously, something urgent was happening, and while there was a part of her - even a big part of her - that said there was no way she could really be of use in a situation where one of her older, smarter, more experienced, more competent alternates was on the scene...there was an even bigger part of her that just couldn't stand idle while there was trouble. That wasn't what she was raised to do. It wasn't what she was born to do.

So the question, really, is does it actually count as hesitation, if it only lasts a few miliseconds?

--

The stop in Mr. Arlington's library was brief, but it still gave Sarah-27663 just enough time to ask in surprise:

"You work with the Builder!?"

And the tone of her voice...was probably not one that Rene had encountered often before. She sounded impressed, but it was more than that. She sounded almost...awestruck. Honestly? She said those words the way you might expect someone to say, "You work with Superman!?"

--

Some magical barriers could be all but impervious to physical attack, but there was little physical that could stand up to Starsoul's edge. If this forcefield had been your basic conjuration of magical energy, the sentient sword would have sheared right through it.

It was more advanced than that, though, reinforced by a deflective field that, while not quite strong enough to completely turn Ronin's strikes aside, at least managed to deflect his attacks enough that Starsoul didn't hit edge on, glancing off the barrier without harm. The bad news, for those taking shelter behind it, was that on his next attack Fred would be expecting it.

Although, let's be honest, probably the worse news was that it would give him the time to see the full vision of the past, and draw conclusions about what it meant.

But really, from a tactical standpoint, the worst news was that it gave the rest of the team time to catch up. By the time Fred's vision was fully back in the present, he and Kitty had been joined by Sarah, the Builder, and...someone who looked like another Sarah, only a teenaged version who didn't appear to be carrying any weapons and was wearing a kinda ill-fitting business suit under a grease-stained labcoat. When they stepped out of the portal, the younger Sarah doppelganger looked around at her surroundings in confusion.

"Is this...Gotham?" she asked. The skyline seemed about right, but...

"What happened!?" she asked in kinda aggrieved concern.

"Gotham's so bright and shiny where I'm from...!"

...Infinite possible universes, indeed.

Kitty had as good a weirdness censor as any X-Man (and she had at least a general understanding of the Misfits' capabilities and allies from her talks with Fred and Katie in any case), but she wasn't quite as proficient at the no-sells as Fred, so while neither the sight of two Sarah's nor of the reptilian Rene provoked much of a reaction, she did still give a solid blink at the idea of bright-and-shiny Gotham. However, that was very much on the lower end of her priority list right now. So, she couldn't phase through the barrier, but there also hadn't been any harmful reaction when Fred had struck it. Magic could weird out Kitty's powers sometimes - as her sparring with Fred and Starsoul had proved time and time again, much to the advantage of her development of faster physical reflexes - but just because she couldn't phase through the wall didn't necessarily mean her powers couldn't affect it at all. She stepped a bit aside, so that if any of Fred's attacks deflected she wasn't in the way, and set her hands on the barrier, trying to use her phasing powers to destructively disrupt it.

As she did so, from off to the side, a dark-winged form shot across the sky. At a glance, it might have been mistaken for a member of the Bat family, especially considering the locale. But it was moving a good bit faster than their tech generally allowed. When the form landed, it resolved into a pretty woman with dark hair and brown eyes, wearing some manner of dark, form-fitting armored stealth suit. Black wings - they looked more like a glider, really - extended from her back, but seemed to dissolve back into the suit as she landed. The slender, slightly curved, tapered hilt of...presumably some sort of small sword or sword-like device was sheathed at her side. She was also wearing a...very strong perfume. In itself not an unpleasant one, really, but it smelled like she might have accidentally spilled the whole bottle over herself or something.

"Ronin? Sarah Saturn?" She asked, in a calm, almost emotionless voice. Not quite the dry monotone that, say, Gethsemane's translator achieved, but within spitting range of it. "Convenient. You guys were going to be my next call." She drew a badge and ID from her pocket, showing it to you. The name on the badge was Kara Anderson, but she introduced herself as, "Serum. Agent of SHIELD. We got word that your wizard might have been abducted last night? Director Fury assigned me to investigate. How can I help?" she asked, giving a politely-neutral, professional nod to Rene.

You'd never met Agent Serum in your time at SHIELD, but you had heard of her through the grapevine. She was a member of some manner of task force you weren't really up to speed on the specifics of. You were...pretty sure though that they weren't generally the "search and rescue" types. Their name had been...pretty aggressive-sounding, you seem to recall? Deathbringers or doomreapers or darkfingers or something? Something along those lines, anyway. So this was maybe a bit out of place...but hey, maybe Fury was trying to make nice for a change.

Normally, it would probably be hard to smell anything of Agent Serum past that perfume she's wearing. To a normal nose, it would have been cloying. To yours, it was just this side of headache-inducing. But right now, your instincts were attuned to your senses and surroundings. It didn't matter how strong any overlapping scents were - your nose would detect them, sure, but you'd also detect any underlying scents as well, and with the sensitivity of a beast's nose and the clarity of an animal's instincts linked up to the big whole hyperprocessor that was a human brain, you could easily analyze them all.

And the scent beneath that perfume was familiar to you. At first, it actually reminded you briefly of Katie, until your brain fully placed it. Back when you had left SHIELD, after all, Katie had let you stay at her place for a bit. And while you were there, you had met her sister.

And while Kayla had the same blond hair and green eyes that Katie...those features were easy enough to disguise. But scent markers were a good bit harder, and unless your nose was completely mistaken, the SHIELD agent before you smelled exactly like Kayla Alden.

...And now you know why I asked what array slot you were defaulting to! :smallbiggrin: (I did not expect it would be Evasion. Until you told me that this was going to require some pretty tough Perception checks, but what can I do? Counters Concealment [Overlapping Scents].) :smalltongue:

[Starsign]

"Oh, hello." Rene's rather subdued reaction to the new Sarah is largely contrasted by the sudden jerk of his reptilian head. "When did you contact more of... uh, yourself?" Somehow he can't find a better way to put that. How does one willingly contact another of themselves from a different dimension? The lowly reptilian-man has enough trouble keeping track of everyone he knows in his own world.

However dumbfounded he may be, he's always happy to have a teleporter for emergencies as he's brought back to Gotham, which is...

"W-What?"

His coarse voice spews out stuttering words as he sees the absolute debris of glass and puddles on the street. This is a wreck, albeit a strangely specific one. A proper Gotham arson usually involves a lot more stuff burning, sometimes destroyed walls, and often a wounded person or a corpse. The difference this scene gives off makes Rene's cold-blooded stomach twist.

He'd be more concerned about the street, as well as the magically-protected building (how did he not see it this morning?) were it not for Sarah-27663's sudden remark. "Excuse me?" He raises a hairless, scaly brow; a clear twitch is present in his slits as he sharpens his tone. "Gotham's always been like this. I've lived here most of my human life. I mean it's like a pig's cage of crime, a brooding, messy, ugly city that's dangerous if you stay five feet from a streetlight." For someone who has made his living with Gotham's homeless, the Builder doesn't like to hesitate at criticizing his own city. He's... probably being harsher than he needs to.

That or he's a bit short-tempered because Katie's captured with no clear way in. That's not really good for his mind.

Rene is about to go introduce himself to Kitty when he sees the flying winged person coming down... And by instinct, Rene dashes like a blur behind the nearest car thinking it's Batman.

Coward.

The reptilian fishes his head out behind the hunk of metal as he sees it's an agent, specifically an Agent of SHIELD. Feels like forever since he's ever seen one of those. It doesn't make sense for one to simply show up by themselves; Fury would raise Hell to any agent that's gone off on their own; Fury couldn't have just authorized this on a whim. She's made quite the suit as well; isn't dressing up like a member of the Batfamily a bad idea?

...Wait, she has a scent beneath that heavy perfume. Rene wouldn't normally pick it out but he's been constantly been on edge with everything around him; this scent stands out like a sore thumb. Doesn't... this... belong to-

Oh snap!

Rene's glimpse of shock softens after several brief moments as his hunched, reptilian body walks up to Agent Serum. "Thanks," he says, sounding coarse and quiet beneath the seemingly-endless sounds of wailing sirens. "I didn't know Fury would send anyone." A mild pain came to Rene's mind at what he said; he doesn't like to recall any of his time working for Fury way back. Rene's been happier being away from that prison of a base.

There's also the fact that Rene's following along with what's likely a lie. If this is who he thinks it is, then there's no way she's actually here on Fury's orders. She came entirely of her own volition; and in respect to her identity, there's no point to reveal it. "We're sorta... lost?" The uncertainty in Rene's scaly voice is almost painful to behold. "What do you know about what's going on, agent?"

[SuperCracker]

The vision Ronin saw angered him. He said nothing at all about it. His facial expression could have been mistaken for neutral, but Kitty Pryde knew better. She has seen that cold silence before, always preceding bursts of extraordinary violence. His knuckles were white around the grip of Starsoul, who could also tell its wielder’s fury.

"…Not good, is it, boss?"

Fred didn’t answer, which was answer enough in itself.

I’m coming.

His first strike rebuffed by the deflection field, Ronin readied to strike it again… and again… and again until it shattered and he could instead strike whoever was on the other side.

His perception of the world returned to the present and he took stock of who had shown up to help. Sarah, Sarah (whose presence he completely no-sold), and the Builder. Lastly, there was a pretty, power-armored swordswoman among them. He liked his odds better now.

“Your wizard”

“Our friend is inside, stuck in The Matrix and having her powers siphoned,” he partially answered her and completely answered the Builder.

“Sarah Saturns,” again with the no-sell, “Same device has rendered Rachel Grey catatonic. We'll need you to deal with the device.”

“Everyone else,” he said to Builder and Serum, since Kitty was already working on the barrier. “You want to help? Bring down the shield and tear apart everyone inside.”

“Ready… break!”

Ronin took another swing at the barrier.

Can do individual attacks or team attacks, however you guys want.
Power slice with full all-out/power: [roll0] Crit. Natural 20. DC 30+Multi dodge

Magic array will now default to True Sight, particularly for power detection.

[CandyLaser]

"Oh, hello." Rene's rather subdued reaction to the new Sarah is largely contrasted by the sudden jerk of his reptilian head. "When did you contact more of... uh, yourself?" Somehow he can't find a better way to put that. How does one willingly contact another of themselves from a different dimension? The lowly reptilian-man has enough trouble keeping track of everyone he knows in his own world.

"Oh, I've been doing it for ages. Sarah Saturns tend to understand each other better than most." There really wasn't much time for conversation, though, so she warped Builder and her counterpart to Gotham without further explanation.

On arrival, Sarah shared the footage she'd received of the attack on Potence with the rest of the team, and with Serum. Then she turned to Sarah-27663, and was about to explain some of the finer points of interdimensional counterpart theory, beginning with Lewis's On the Plurality of Worlds before delving into the mathematical underpinnings of multidimensional physics. But then Ronin, true to form, took the direct approach. As he smashed through the barrier, she sighed. "All right, I guess we're eschewing subtlety. Now that they know we're here, let's hit them hard and fast."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Fred's true sight didn't detect any indications of actual superpowers in Sarah-27663, not even the augmented intelligence of her 616 counterpart. He could tell that she had a number of cybernetic augmentations. Both physical and mental best he could see, but his power didn't really do much to reveal the specifics of technological devices.

Agent Serum did have a superpower, which he recognized as genetic in nature, though not from the X-gene. She had a greatly augmented intelligence, not quite at Sarah's level but up there, and substantially hasted speed of thought that lent itself to gadgeteering.

Come to think of it...it gets kinda drowned out by all the magic, but you've observed a rather similar power in Katie in the past. Not similar in the sense of doing the exact same thing - they're both genetic cognitive enhancements, but Katie's isn't as strong, emphasizes learning ability, and doesn't include any hasted speed of thought, so from a practical standpoint it's a fairly different power - but the pattern of the two powers, the analytical sense of them that you get from your True Sight, is very similar.

You also notice something kinda odd going on with how her mental quickness is working. It's kinda like she's using it to run two completely separate trains of thought simultaneously.

And unless you miss your guess, you're pretty sure she's shunting basically all of her emotion into just one of those trains of thought.

Sarah-27663 got a...bit of a deer-in-headlights look at Rene's reply. "Oh... That's sad..." she replied, rather uncertainly.

When Rene dove for cover on Serum's arrival...well, Sarah-27663 seemed a bit startled herself. Startled enough, anyway, to point a hand at the newly-arrived agent. Her palm kinda corkscrewed open, revealing what might have been some sort of internal cannon mechanism. Fortunately, Serum introduced herself before she could fire anything, and she closed the cannon port and lowered her hand, a bit sheepishly.

Serum was opening her mouth to answer Rene when Fred spoke. She gave a simple nod at his correction, acknowledgement without apology. "I see," she said when he elaborated on the situation, her voice professionally neutral as she took in the information.

...Not so neutral was Kayla's voice over his commlink. "She's...what!?" Kayla knew she was "attached to some sort of machine", and that...that was bad. But the specifics were worse.

When Sarah showed the team the footage, Kitty watched it with dangerously narrowed eyes, while Serum looked it over with that same professional neutrality, just reviewing it for tactical information. "Do those weapons seem like they're not operating at full capacity to anyone else?" she asked, before glancing at Fred. "And you say your friend's powers are being siphoned?"

This time Fred was ready for the deflection field, and more than that - his initial attack had caused some crackling energy to radiate out along the barrier when he hit. It might have looked like just so much sparkly magic, but his reading up on magic barriers paid off, indicating that such displays were indicative of energy flows that helped maintain the barrier's integrity by dispersing waste energy. However, they were a strength that came with a weakness; if you hit them just right, they were something of a fault line.

Starsoul hit them just right. The magical blade sheared straight through the barrier's hair-thin energy channel, and the entire shield shattered like glass.

Kitty was looking at Fred just a bit appraisingly. Kitty knew, better than anyone except maybe his Aunt Judith, how strongly Fred actually felt his emotions. And she knew how to read those feelings in the way he covered them up. She knew what that icily neutral look meant. And Fred's stoic silence in response to Starsoul's question told her everything she needed to know about the vision he had received. Its context if not its content.

She knew he wasn't speaking hyperbolically about tearing apart the people inside.

As with so many things, the X-Men had their differences of opinion on killing. Pretty much the one thing they agreed on was that it was a matter to take seriously. Not just for the moral question - although that was certainly a factor - but, well, it was like Scott had said when Project Tomorrow had been unveiled. The X-Men are the mutants. When they killed, regardless of the reason, in the eyes of much of the world that was blood on the hands of every mutant on the planet.

It wasn't right. It certainly wasn't fair. But nonetheless it was so.

Now, Kitty herself was definitely more on the "absolute last resort" side of that particular debate. Enough so that she had argued with Emma, Betsy, even Logan on the subject, more than once. She had never argued with Fred about it, though. Not to say she always agreed when he felt lethal force was warranted. But she also knew that he would never make that call without reason, and absolutely never because it was the easier path. While she may not have always agreed, she did trust Fred implicitly with that decision.

But in this particular case, there was more to the question than morality and trust.

So as the shield went down, Kitty said quietly, "I'm not going to tell you they don't deserve what they get." Hey, Katie was Kitty's friend too, and the lengths Kitty would go to to protect her friends has been well established (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483320-Reassembly-II-Creatures-of-Light-and-Darkseid-(M-amp-M-3e)&p=21044926&viewfull=1#post21044926). "Just...keep in mind that if anybody dies in there, Katie will feel like she's responsible for it. She'll be wrong, but that won't change how she'll feel."

A second or two after the shield came down, though, a glowing silver hand came ghosting through the front door and floating over to the party. It stopped in front of them, hovering at more-or-less eye level with its palm out, a clear "wait" gesture.

Kitty eyed it a bit askance. "Katie...?" she asked warily.

The Helping Hand balled into a fist and dipped down once, like it was nodding, before repeating the wait gesture.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah took advantage of the delay to gather more information. Her portals had many uses, aside from transport and combat. One of those benefits was the ability to make a sort of peephole - a small portal, in front of her face (not directly; she'd lost eyebrows that way) designed to let her scout an area safely. She quickly reprogrammed her portal projector to create a series of peephole portals and set it to scanning the interior of the building.

Power stunt! Remote Sensing 6 (Audio and visual senses) with the No Conduit and Simultaneous extras (30 pp) plus Quickness 15 with the Limited 2: Only for Investigation checks flaw (5 pp). That'll give me an 1800 ft range and the ability to make an Investigation check to search 30 square miles in a round thanks to Quickness. Then I'll use Polymath to get 2 ranks in Investigation, a rank in the Second Chance advantage, and then make that Investigation check: [roll0]

[SuperCracker]

Fred didn’t really answer Kayla’s question. “Stay calm. We’re here. We’re going to get her back.” Despite Fred’s aggressively neutral demeanor, there was a softness to his voice as he tried to put her at ease. Of course, the video didn’t help. “Based on the footage, they’re magitek,” he said to Kayla, invoking a video-game corollary he knew she’d understand, “Work on figuring them out.”

Serum hit upon a point. “They’re draining her to power their armor. This barrier was Katie’s barrier. They’re using her magic, including the Helping Hand. It blocked my attempt to soothsay.”

Ronin paused before entering when Kitty said something. He was quiet. These armored people were brutally torturing Katie while they drained her dry. The cruelty was unforgivable. He intended to strike to kill. What’s more, swords are lethal. In a heated battle, if you hit someone hard enough with a deadly weapon, they die. It was something Fred was ok with. Kitty’s words didn’t exactly change that intention, but… “I won’t go out of my way to do it – but I won’t hold back if she’s in danger. I wouldn't hold back for any of you.” Even with the shades on he gave her a meaningful glance.

The Helping Hand came down and gave the gesture. Fred placed his hand on Kitty’s arm. “It’s a trick. They’re using her powers. Let’s go.” Assuming it didn’t take long to view the results of Sarah Saturn’s remote viewing, he would wait for that before going inside. But he did not intend to let the Hand stall them.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah left her portals up - it would help her check for ambushes - and reported back to the others. "All right. Did some recon. They've been in there for a while. Katie's in the center of the museum. She's in the Lotus Breaker Device. It's old Asgardian tech; she's in a dream state that's causing her to attempt to use her powers, then bleeding that off. She might also be being interrogated. She looks to be unconscious, and she's not doing well. I'm seeing Nordic runes. Elevated heart rate. Low blood pressure. Low magic. We won't be able to get her out without shutting things down, and if we damage the machine she'll be at risk. Let's go - and let's move quickly."

[Starsign]

Watching the footage from Sarah was difficult for Rene. He didn't like watching his friends get hurt when he could do nothing about it. His cold blood especially freezes in horror when he sees a friend horribly outnumbered, beaten down and captured in a long, grueling battle. His thick tail flailed hard enough that its bones cracked just from the sheer bending; the sudden thrust of pain was his only indication of what he was doing to himself.

The information later provided by Ronin and Sarah does little to ease the reptilian's mind. "Oh god, oh god they're doing THAT to her?! WHY?! Why would they even-" Rene's vocal horror and panic, driven by a sense of unknown and an utter fear of the hell Katie must be going through, is quickly dismissed by Sarah and Ronin's orders.

They have a plan, Rene thinks to himself. They have a plan. They have a plan! They just need to do it. C'mon c'mon c'mon!

Impatience overtakes the mad lizard.

*ZOOM*

Not that Rene rushes in but he simply can't wait all of ten seconds. So the reptilian dashes like a green blur around the Not!Helping Hand to try and take a closer look at the building. Surely he can help with reconnaissance. Surely he isn't supposed to stay still before fighting like a beast! Surely there's something he can spot that will help out when everyone barges in.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

"Oh God, oh God, okay...okay...okay..." Fred could hear Kayla saying over comms. The video of Katie's abduction, and the further information Sarah gave them...yeah, it hit her. Hard. But she was trying to keep her focus, as best she could. If there was any way she could help, she had to be ready.

Katie would need her to be ready.

Kitty answered Fred with a minute nod. She would expect nothing less; if it came down to a choice between one of these guys and Katie, well, yeah. That wasn't a choice at all.

Rene quickly scouted around the building. There were a couple of service entries around the back, both locked. Not that that would provide any particular impediment to him if he wanted to get past them. There were also several windows around the building that were large enough to provide entry.

It was just as Rene was racing top-speed through the main door to scout inside - with the rest of the group hot on his heels - that the attack came.

Because see, Fred was right. This wasn't Katie's Helping Hand. However, it wasn't there to delay them.

It was there to distract them.

Rene smelled it coming up behind them, ghosting through the wall of one of the buildings across the street and diving down on the group, and Fred felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck even as he and Kitty both heard the soft sound of movement through the air behind them.

And it turned out, Fred's precognition hadn't been blocked at all. What he had seen was a brief, but perfectly clear future vision; the Hindering Hand flipped the group off as the Harming Hand descended upon them.

The Hindering Hand was a left hand - the side that absorbed energy, Katie had said a time or two before. It made a gesture as it grew to the size of a person, aiming to drain the group of their strength and vitality.

The right hand projects energy. It likewise enlarged as it gathered magical power in its palm to unleash upon the heroes. It was a good plan, a well-executed ambush.

Just one problem. The X-Men reacted first.

Kitty reached out to snag Fred's hand and took a deep breath - that would be all the warning he needed as she phased them both into the ground. How, exactly, the magical hands tracked their opponents she didn't know for sure - Katie had mentioned being able to navigate by touch using her Helping Hands, but Kitty wasn't exactly clear on the specifics. But she was pretty confident that Katie couldn't feel through solid objects. This should give Fred just enough cover to approach whichever target he chose without giving it time to prepare for a defense. Once he made his initial strike, she'd air-vault over the target and strike from behind in an effort to disrupt the thing's molecules and leave it open to a finishing shot from Fred.

"Um- uh!" Sarah-27663 stammered. She actually had some cameras in the back of her head, so she saw the Harming Hand coming at them from behind (and her hasted speed of thought have her ample time to process the threat), but she wasn't entirely sure what the best move was here. "Uhh...erhhh...take this!" she shouted, firing an artillery shell from the cybernetic cannon in her hand (well actually it was a portal device embedded in her palm that opened to a trans-dimensionally wireless railgun, but whatever) at the Hindering Hand.

Serum drew her "sword" which...seemed to be just the hilt. Until she pushed a button and a crackling lightning bolt shot out of it, forming a "blade" of dancing electricity. Serum's nanoglider engaged as she flew at whichever hand the X-Men weren't attacking, executing a quick, hard thrust-and-slash with her lightning blade.

Okay just so everyone's able to post immediately, I'm posting surprise round and first turn actions for all NPCs who have initiative. However, the actions still resolve in initiative order, so they may be retroactively hindered or negated by your own actions where applicable. So this'll be a bit of a mess but it's better than anyone having to wait to post I think.

Also I noticed Sarah-27663 has Radius Vision on her Cybernetic Combat Cache, so she does get to act in the surprise round (but still after the hands since she lost initiative).

Shadowcat (Surprise Round):
Free: Swap to Phase Others.
Free: Take Fred's hand.
Free: Phase out.
Reaction: Phase Fred out.
Standard: Agile Feint on whichever hand Fred wants to attack at [roll0] vs. [roll1], using Set Up to pass the benefit to Fred. Feinted

Ronin gets a surprise round action here.

Hindering Hand (Surprise Round):
Free: Enlarge to Size Rank -2.
Standard: Absorb Energy on the party. Everybody give me Dodge DC 22 for half, Will DC 27/21 vs. Sleep Damage.
Shadowcat Dodge: [roll2]. Will: [roll3]. Bruised and Dazed
Sarah-27663 Dodge: [roll4]. Will: [roll5]. Bruised and Dazed
Serum Dodge: [roll6]. Will: [roll7]. Bruised and Staggered

Harming Hand (Surprise Round):
Free: Enlarge to Size Rank -2.
Standard: Energy Blast on the party. Everybody give me Dodge DC 22 for half, Toughness DC 27/21 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22/16 vs. Weaken Toughness. The Damage carries a Secondary Effect if you fail the Fortitude save.
Shadowcat Dodge: [roll8]. Toughness: [roll9]. Fortitude: [roll10]. Resists
Sarah-27663 Dodge: [roll11]. Toughness: [roll12]. Fortitude: [roll13]. Resists (actually Impervious to the halved Toughness)
Serum Dodge: [roll14]. Toughness: [roll15]. Fortitude: [roll16]. Resists

Sarah-27663 (Surprise Round):
Move: Be indecisive?
Standard: Attack Hindering Hand with Hand Cannon at [roll17]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll18]) DC 29 vs. Damage, Fortitude ([roll19]) DC 24 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned. Miss
End of Turn: Regenerate a Bruise if she has any by this point.

The Builder gets a surprise round action here.

Shadowcat:
Move: Agile Feint whichever hand they're on at [roll20] vs. [roll21], using Set Up to pass the benefit to Fred. Close with Harming Hand.
Standard: Attack with Disruptive Phasing, Power Attack for 2, at [roll22]. On a hit, Fortitude ([roll23]) DC 20 vs. Cumulative, Secondary Effect Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated. Hit. Resists.

Ronin gets his first normal turn here.

Serum:
Free: Activate Nanoglider.
Move: Into Close range of whichever hand Shadowcat and Ronin aren't attacking.
Standard: Attack with Shock Saber at [roll24]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll25]) DC 25 vs. Damage, Fortitude ([roll26]) DC 20 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless Linked Weaken Toughness. ...Oh. CRIT! Bruised and Dazed, Stunned+Defenseless, Weakened Toughness 10 (max).

Hindering Hand:
Move: Whatever.
Standard: Absorb Attacks. Hindering Hand and Harming Hand are Deflected at 1d10+22, and deflected attacks can be redirected if Harming Hand is active.

Harming Hand:
Move: Solid meh.
Standard: Attack Roning with Energy Bolts at [roll27]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect damage. Hit
Stunned.
End of Turn: Any Secondary Effects from the Energy Blast trigger. Recovers a point of Toughness. Rolled recovery for Affliction in OOC and it failed.

Sarah and the Builder get their first normal turns here. I'll post Sarah-27663's first normal turn at the top of my next post; CL if you wish to control her you are welcome to post her turn along with your post instead if desired.

All PCs are on turn. Ronin and Builder you may act twice, but your first action is in a surprise round, so standard and free only.

[SuperCracker]

Surprise Round
Fred already thought the “Helping Hand” was a trap. It was hard to really surprise him. The man had been attacked by sentient sandwiches. Overtly suspicious hands for sure set off his danger sense. The two hands began their ambush… and it was a complete disaster for the Hands.

Whenever Kitty takes Fred’s hand (in this particular context), he knew he was going to be phased. When she sucked in a breath, he knew they were going into something. He took a breath like he was about to jump into a pool. While under with her, Fred lowered his sword in one hand and raised Kitty’s hand to point at where they last saw the Hindering Hand to signal that they should kill the bard first. A squeeze of the hand signaled that it was time to act.

An interesting thing about him when he’s phased – he can still jump on the currents of magic buried beneath the earth. They sprang out at once. Ronin overshot Shadowcat’s vault, moving much higher into the air. As she phased the Hindering Hand, Ronin came down on it with a crushing downward strike, destroying the Hand in one go.

“What’s the sound of one hand clapping! Ahahaha!”

Fred and Kitty acted in perfect unison. The timing of her vault and his jump were clearly well-practiced from time in the Danger Room and in the field. To watch them fight side by side was to watch performance art. Like a ballroom dance ending in people being beaten up.

What wasn’t so graceful was Fred taking the brunt of a massive blast of magical energy. He was rocked by it, skidding and rolling along the ground and ending on one knee. He was down there for a beat before standing up with a visible tremble in his legs.

Round 1
Fred clenched his open fist and cast Elder Form, with a burst of light and sound transforming into his favorite blonde overpowered anime form. He slashed Starsoul and projected an unerring wave of TK at the Harming Hand.

Surprise round: free action, communicate to Kitty; standard action: attack
Round 1: move: staggered; free action: SSJ1; standard action: TK Swordplay – DC 26 toughness save

Regenerates his bruised condition on Round 1.

[CandyLaser]

"I'll take care of the Lotus Breaker. Sarah, run interference for me, and make sure you don't damage the machine." Her peephole portals gave Sarah a good sense of the layout of the museum, so she put that knowledge to good use. First, though, she needed concealment. It was time to improvise. Her old drones had cloaking fields, so she knew how to create one, and her portals meant she wasn't short on parts. A few moments of work sufficed to whip up an improved version. It didn't just render her invisible; it blocked sound, it blocked heat, it even blocked smell. Unless she bumped into one of her enemies, she'd be all but undetectable. Then she warped directly to Katie, relying on her cloak to conceal her as she examined the machine.

QD, you can run the other Sarah. For this round, teleporting in after using a power stunt for Concealment 10 (All Senses) and to put Subtle 2 on her portals. Then I'll go ahead and make a Technology check, if I can.

[Starsign]

Kayla's horrified voice over the commlink sent more chills down Rene's reptilian hunched back as he slithered up around the roof of the building. Just listening over the commlink makes it clear that Kayla was terrified of what's happening to her sister. How could Rene blame her? He's handled it as badly as her. He wanted nothing, absolutely nothing more tonight than to rescue Katie safe and sound.

His clawed hands and feet continued searching quietly around the building right up until he ended up back in front of it... just in time to see one of the not-so-Helping Hands unleash a blast of energy at him and the other heroes. The reptilian is knocked back into the building wall, colliding thankfully back-first, letting his heavy plates take the worst of the impact. The scales on the front of his body is brittle by comparison, feeling as if someone had thrown acid on it. All things considered however, he barely appears to register it as he hisses at the Harming Hand.

...Whether Rene is getting used to being injured or is going numb over the pitfalls of injury is anyone's guess.

"Urg," he groans between his lizardy tongue. He can't comprehend how, or why, these power armor people are specifically utilizing Katie's powers. "Gotta get her back," he whispers to himself. "Gotta get her back, gotta get her back, gotta get her back..." The hurried, pained words come with the twitching, inhuman look of his eyes as if trying to find confidence and going crazy in the process.

He lets out a long hiss before slithering up, leaping and- "Kyaaaaaaassssssssss!" -slashing the Harming Hand with his claws. The hesitation is out of Rene's head. This hand is a threat and a danger to Katie like all those who have captured here. It has to go!

Alrighty, switching over to Rene's Killer Instinct on his array. Rene will attack the Harming Hand, All-Out Attack and Power Attack +5/-5 here. DC 30 Toughness + Multiattack (since the Hand is Defenseless) and DC 25 Fort vs Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated and Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed on a hit: [roll0]

[SuperCracker]

Free Action Before Round 2

Two enemies down, six to go. They were doing well so far, but he'd seen the attack on Katie. These guys knew how to work as a team. Taking stock, Fred could see the Builder looking absolutely panicked and alt-Saturn looking kind of lost. He had to organize the team.

"Good job, Builder - but stay calm! Everyone pair up; don't let them single any of you out. Builder, Serum - you two stay close and work together." He pointed his finger at alt-Sarah. "Teen Saturn," he said with what was going to be her new name, "Do what the older you said. Follow her lead and give a shout if you get in trouble."

Hey... he'd learned a few things about teamwork since the Misfits had been a thing. That and maybe Katie had rubbed off on him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

...Well gee, you guys! It seems like Darkseid might have been mucking with the narrative again! That ol' scamp! You gotta watch him like a hawk or he'll go and make an entire post inaccurate, I tell you. Let me set the record straight here.

See, first off, there was no absorbing energy whatsoever. Soon as the Hostile Hands tried to spring their ambush, well, Ronin and Shadowcat were on things. A deft maneuver by Shadowcat gave Ronin all the opportunity he needed to cleave the Hindering Hand right in half before it could even enlarge. It's a good thing Katie's Helping Hand is a completely non-sentient magical construct with no capacity for memory either personal or inherited, because if it wasn't it might have developed a bit of a phobia of Ronin after casually he cut the Hindering Hand in half.

Speaking of casual and virtually-instantaneous annihilation of floating magical hands! The Harming Hand managed to unleash a blast of fire, for what good that accomplished. It injured Ronin. I'm pretty sure the only antagonist in the history of the Misfits to actually accomplish something meaningful by injuring Ronin was Teddy "Too Many Great Options To Choose From; Take Your Pick" Roosevelt, and frankly, the Harming Hand is not Teddy Roosevelt (or a Hulk, for that matter). The second thereafter, Serum had run her lightning blade clean through its palm, the electrical energy badly disrupting its magical form. Ronin followed up with a telekinetic slash that blew motes of silvery light away from it...and then on came the Builder, leaping on the thing in full predatory fury. The Builder's claws rent the magical hand limb from limb finger from finger, shredding it apart in seconds.

"YES!" Kayla let out a whispered cheer over the commlinks when the guardian constructs were taken out. One less thing between the heroes and her sister.

As Sarah teleported into the museum and began to examine the Lotus Breaker Device, Sarah-27663 nodded at both her and Ronin's orders, opening a portal of her own to bring her (and the rest of the group) in. Serum flicked a button on her sword hilt, a little syringe shooting out from the bottom, which she handed to Ronin. "It's regenerative," she told him as she walked through the portal, Shadowcat following after. Evidently her codename hadn't been assigned at random.

Well, one battle over, so all PCs take a :smallcool: Hero Point. For purposes of regeneration and such, figure about a round passes before the next fight begins. Movement through the portal or otherwise to get to the main room can be considered prior to combat starting, so you won't have to waste any actions on that.

With a cursory examination, you can tell that the Lotus Breaker Device is tied to the armors. Best you can tell, the device is controlled by neural interface, presumably connected to the helmets. Most likely, all six helmets would be needed to overcome security measures, assuming they were all used to initiate the security. So, default solution would be, knock these guys out, take their helmets, and mentally order the machine to release Katie. And now you know the other reason I filled in the numbers with NPCs. :smallamused:

However, with that Technology check, you are able to gather enough of an understanding of the machine that you could potentially disable its security measures directly. This would take four move actions per helmet negated; so a total of 24 move actions to disable it outright, or like sixteen move actions and two helmets or whatever combination. The helmets are Removable devices; they can be taken and equipped as a single move action once the wearer is Stunned and Defenseless, but can't be disarmed.

This is somewhat risky; in any round Sarah spends actions working on the machine, if she fails a resistance check, she'll have to make a DC 30 Technology check or lose any progress she made that round, and if she fails the Technology check Katie will have to roll Fortitude against Damage of a rank equal to the points she fails by.

This isn't a Routine procedure, so Quickness doesn't apply. Sarah can instruct others on what to do (although she'd need to forego auditory concealment to do so, of course), allowing them to spend their actions on the process. This is still fairly complicated, so they'd need to make DC 20 Technology checks each round they do it, with failures carrying consequences as above. And if they fail a resistance check in the round they do it the DC for that round retroactively increases to 30.

So, safest and easiest move is just dropping these guys, but if you want to spend the actions and take a bit of risk, you might be able to negate the Lotus Breaker's contribution to the combat early and possibly even get Katie into play on your side.

In the center of the room there was a big ol' machine that had a similar general aesthetic to the weapons and armor on Katie's attackers. It was a cylindrical device with a metallic floor, center, and domed top, and metal walls separating its confines into eight cells, which were then encased in some sort of glass or other transparent polymer. Katie was in one of those cells, bound to the back wall by her wrists and ankles, evidently unconscious, although you could see her eyes moving rapidly beneath their lids. The entire left side of her face was black and blue and covered in dried blood. Several wires and tubes had been stuck into her in several places, most notably around her head. There were thin streams of dried blood under each of those as well.

While the glass fronts on the empty cells were clear, the one on Katie's had several displays on it, though it was hard to tell what they meant. (If anyone wishes to roll the skill checks that were in Sarah's Scrying spoiler you may feel free.)

The six abductors were standing around the device, their backs to it all in a circle, keeping watch over the whole room. As Ronin had seen before, they evidently knew the Misfits' tricks (well, their regular tricks anyway, since none of them were aware in the slightest of a fully-cloaked Sarah Saturn examining their machine). They looked probably-human, although the powered armor fully covered them, so it was tough to say for sure (and really appearing human only meant so much anyway). The armor itself was made of some dull white metal that almost looked more like ivory than steel, with a smooth, rounded design, but still bulky enough that its value as armor would not be questioned. Each suit was equipped with an archaic weapon - a frankly-unnecessarily-large maul, a pair of axes, a mace and shield, a single longsword, a crossbow, and the last just gauntlets. The armor and weapons alike were covered with...what looked kind of like magical runes, which were glowing in various colors (respectively, red, green, yellow, blue, purple, and white).

Now, Sarah had given an overview of the situation already. But hearing was different than seeing. When Ronin arrived and saw the state and situation Katie's was in, Kayla let out a shaking sob of a moan. Honestly, she sounded like she had just been stabbed.

Round 1

As soon as the group entered, the Lotus Breaker Device began to glow with silver light.

Katie was crumpled on the ground, weeping.
"Katie..."
Darkseid was gone. He had left her alone amidst the broken bodies. Her heroes, her friends, her family. He had left her alone with her loss while he presumably went to destroy the rest of her planet. And there was nothing she could do to stop him. So she just collapsed sobbing atop her sister's corpse and waited for the end.
"Katie..."
It wouldn't be accurate to say it was her worst nightmare. For all the many scenes her brain, wakeful and sleeping alike, had come up with to torment her with possibilities of loss, it had never showed her anything like this.

"Katie!"

Katie gasped and looked up, blinking through the haze of tears that she couldn't make stop. She could barely make out the figure standing in front of her, but after a moment of squinting and wiping her eyes-

"Rachel!" Honestly, she had only met Rachel in passing. Like, she knew who she was, had exchanged a few words with her during certain visits with the X-Men, but...she didn't really know her all that well.
Even recently, when she had been visiting the X-Mansion more regularly to hang out with Fred, she hadn't really crossed Rachel's path. She understood why that was, of course, but Starsoul had requested she keep their conversation in confidence, so she'd never really brought it up.

And you wouldn't know it from her reaction. Katie all but sprang to her feet and threw her arms around Rachel as if she were her only friend, burying her face against her shoulder before breaking into fresh sobs. "I-I'm sorry! I-I tried- he- they- Oh God, Fred... Rachel I- I'm so- I-"

"Katie," Rachel said again, gently, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. "It's okay. This isn't real."

"It's not...I couldn't, he was just too-"

Rachel pushed Katie back to hold her out at arm's length, fixing her with a firm stare. "Katie! Listen to me! This. Isn't. Real."

"It...what?"

"You were in Gotham. Do you remember? You were abducted or something."

Still sniffling and with tears streaming down her face, Katie beheld Rachel with kinda dazed incomprehension for several moments before answering, "I...three days ago. But...but others rescued me and-"

"No. They didn't. Not yet anyway. You're in some kind of mindscape. This is all in your head.
A phantasm. They have you attached to some sort of a machine. Your sister was worried about you. She came to X-Mansion to get Fred. He called me in. I was able to make contact with you but you didn't return it, and there was a block to my projections. So I'm using Cerebro. I have you location, Fred knows it. He's got Kitty calling in the cavalry. We're coming. Alright?"

"They're...they're okay? Fred, Kitty...Kayla? They're- they're alright?"

"They're fine. The only one in any danger is you. Well, and the people who abducted you, I suppose," she added with a big of a smug smirk.

"Oh thank God! Oh Rachel thank you so much!"

"Don't forget the part where you're still in danger."

"Yeah no that is literally the best news I've heard all day. Oh God I thought...it was..." Katie trailed off with a shaky breath.

"I get it," Rachel said, with a pointed look over the scene that had been woven in Katie's mind. "Listen, you just sit tight, okay? I have to go, but we are on the way!"

"Okay. Okay. Rachel...thank you."

"Yeah, of course," Rachel replied, before narrowing her eyes in brief concentration.

Nothing happened.

Rachel looked around, frowned, and concentrated again.

Still nothing.

"...****."

"Wh...?"

"I can't break the link. It must be the machine you're attached to."

"But...you're on Cerebro!"

Katie could see the gears turning behind Rachel's eyes as she considered the situation. "Yeah...and Cerebro is a very powerful psionic device. But so whatever they've got you hooked up to. And technically, my conscious mind is a lot closer to it right now."

"Yeah no...that's not what I...isn't Cerebro dangerous?"

Rachel gave a light, dismissive chuckle, although the concern in her eyes betrayed her. "Yeah, but don't worry. I'm a powerful psychic. I can handle it fine." She let out a kinda annoyed sigh and said, "Well, hope you don't mind some company."

Katie was looking at her in a not-particularly-reassured manner.

"Look, it'll be fine. Like I said, Fred and Kitty are on the case. As soon as Fred notices I've gone unresponsive, they'll whelm whatever forces they've got and move. You fought whoever it was that took you, right?
Care to judge their chance of presenting a meaningful obstacle to Fred and Kitty trying to rescue people they care about?"

"...Okay yeah. Six on one and without my wand I managed to hold them off for about half a minute. They'll be lucky to last half that."

"Exactly. Factor in travel time or, Fred being Fred, the lack thereof, and we're talking maybe half aa minute. An extra half a minute on Cerebro's nothing big."

"Okay. Okay, that makes-"

And then came the howls.

The two heroes cast their gazes into the distance. To the massive horde of slavering paradaemons that were bearing down on their location.

"They're...not real, right?" Katie asked tentatively.

Rachel gave a little sigh. "Not real..." she agreed. "Doesn't mean they're not threats."

"...Right."

Rachel turned and started walking towards them, chunks of the ground cracking free of the bonds of earth at her telekinetic command, hovering around her ready to throw. "So. With that fancy mage training of yours, did you ever learn how to fight a psychic duel?" Rachel asked conversationally.

Katie gave a faint hint of a smile as she followed after Rachel, her Helping Hand rising into the air beside her, floating along at her flank like a squire. "I mean, I only know the basics, but magic is first and foremost an expression of will. I can hold my own."

"Alright then," Rachel said, hurling her boulders at the shrieking mass of monsters while Katie raised a silvery shield around them. "Let's do this."

Silvery shields manifested around all six of the abductors, and auras of risen power flared up around two of them - the one with the maul and the one with the sword. You also notice some of the silver light kinda sink into them. Sarah and Ronin for sure, but probably Shadowcat and the Builder too, have enough experience with Katie's magic that it looks familiar to when she heals people. Although it's kinda pointless since, you know, you literally just got here, none of these guys are injured yet.

Which...is kinda telling. Even operating on the assumption that the device is generously augmenting Katie's power (and judging by the intensity of all the glowing lights and such, it is augmenting them very generously) creating that many effects at once has to require drawing enormous amounts of power from her. Sarah doesn't have to assume; she can see from the machine's outputs that Katie's magical energy dropped noticeably even just from that one effect. Thing is, there was no need for the healing, so these guys either don't know or don't care to modulate the machine's output for the tactical situation. It's just going full force no questions asked. Admittedly, not a dumb move when facing the Misfits and their allies, but still. Katie's magical energy is not limitless, and her ability to rejuvenate it is somewhat dependent on what she has left. There are limits Katie just won't go past, reflexively. If this machine ignores them...it could drain her power dry.

And if it doesn't stop there, it could possibly suck out the whole of her life force to power its augmentations.

The Breaker Knights were themselves quick to react to the heroes' arrival - but not quicker than Serum. She flew straight for the mace-and-shield wielder, flicking a button on her sword. Instead of producing a bolt of lightning this time, it emanated a slender "blade" of sky blue light, which she slashed in a rapid flurry and with a rather familiar thrumming sound effect.

So, Agent Serum? Evidently a total Star Wars fangirl. Fair enough.

The Breaker Knights moved quick to engage, the maul-wielded launching forward at the Builder and swinging its massive hammer. A blast of fire exploded from the maul opposite the swing, the rocket tech propelling it with augmented force in a crushing blow.

The axe-wielder went for Kitty, slashing with both weapons in a rapid flurry of blows hasted by jets of compressed, focused air that...did absolutely nothing to stop the attack from passing right through her. Phasing, yo. These guys had done their homework on the Misfits, but evidently not the X-Men.

The mace-wielder struck back against Serum, hammering her with its mace and following up with a powerful shield bash in an effort to leave her stunned and disoriented.

The sword-wielder, as if compelled by an undeniable force of destiny, squared off against Ronin. Corrosive acid seeped from the blade as the Breaker Knight slashed it hard at Ronin's forehead. But there was a fearsome power behind this blow, and Fred could see the slight disruption in the air of telekinetic energy surrounding the blade to strengthen its swing.

It wasn't only Katie's powers being siphoned through the Lotus Breaker Device.

Gauntlets went after Sarah-27663, striking with a series of quick, precise strikes without much power behind them, but where she touched eroding blasts of water energy would burst out, to weaken the young gadgeteer's defensive tech.

Crossbow took to the air to get a clear view, a bolt nocked and ready, certain that Sarah Saturn would be teleporting in presently (and having no idea she was already there).

I'm assuming Ronin and the Builder are also heading into the main room, either through Sarah-27663's portal or by their own means. If not, let me know and I'll shift your attacker's actions to someone else.

Also, you guys can consider this a climactic battle. I'm gonna get with Herod to see if he's ready/still wanting to take back the reins, or if not I'll figure out some other plan, but either way the Hero Points for this mini-arc will reset after this fight, so use 'em or lose 'em.

I am also giving each PC a bonus Hero Point for effective GM Fiat. Because the Lotus Breaker Device cheats, just, so hard, you guys.

The Lotus Breaker Device:
Move: The Lotus Breaker Device steals a Hero Point! Katie loses her Hero Point, which the Lotus Breaker uses to power Arcane Blessing. All Breaker Knights gain one Hero Point, which expires at the end of the scene. (I told you it cheats.)

Standard: Use Stolen Power. The Variable is split evenly among Maul and Sword. All allies are Deflected at 1d10+25. All allies receive Healing at [roll0], Limited per my Healing Points rules (big thing to note: anyone who gets damaged has the effects of the Healing halved on their next turn). The Healing causes no effect currently though since none of them are injured. For the Variable:

30 points to add Secondary Effect to all three effects of Maul's Crushing Blow.
30 points to duplicate the effects of Sword's Corrosive Strike and Link it to Acid Edge.

Katie suffers the Side Effect of this power. (Seriously. So hard.) Each time it uses it, she has to roll Will DC 21 vs. Weaken Will with no cap. If her Will is reduced to -5, she rolls Fortitude DC 21 vs. Weaken Fortitude with no cap. If her Will and Fortitude are both reduced to -5, she rolls Will DC 21 vs. Impaired/Disabled/Dying, Limited to Magic. If her magic is killed, she rolls Fortitude DC 21 vs. Impaired/Disabled/Dying. If Katie dies, the Lotus Breaker can no longer use Stolen Power. Katie Will: [roll1]. Resists

Reaction: Use Borrowed Power. Sword receives a Team Attack at [roll2] after Teamwork. +5

Rachel suffers the Side Effect of this power. Each time it uses it, she has to roll Will DC 22 (after her Half Will Immunity) vs. Damage from Cerebro. Rachel Will: [roll3]. Also, I had totally forgotten before, but Ronin, take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your A Motley Crew of Friends and Family Complication, for Rachel being in danger/her powers being used to make the Lotus Breaker Device stronger. Bruised and Dazed

Serum:
Move: Into Close range of Mace.
Standard: Attack Mace with Lightsaber (Aggressive) at [roll4], Deflected at [roll5]. On a hit, Parry ([roll6]) DC 25+Multiattack vs. Incurable Damage. Deflected

Maul:
Move: Into Close range of the Builder.
Standard: Attack the Builder with augmented Crushing Blow at [roll7]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, and if you fail to beat DC 20, you also take Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated Affliction and Weaken Toughness. All three effects have been augmented with a Secondary Effect. Just hits.

Axes:
Move: Into Close range of Shadowcat.
Standard: Attack Shadowcat with Razorgale Flurry, but it's irrelevant since it can't beat her Insubstantial.

Mace:
Move: Attempt to Feint Serum at [roll8] vs. [roll9]. lolno
Standard: Attack Serum with Smash'n'Bash at [roll10]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll11]) DC 25 vs. Damage, Will ([roll12]) DC 20 vs. Cumulative Vulnerable/Stunned/Incapacitated. Serum's going to spend one of her Luck rerolls to reroll that Toughness save. She's Vulnerable from the Affliction.

Sword:
Move: Into Close range of Ronin.
Standard: Attack Ronin with augmented Acid Edge at [roll13]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Team Attack vs. Secondary Effect Damage, and if you fail to beat DC 20, also take Weaken All Defenses (the Secondary Effect doesn't apply to the Weaken or benefit from Team Attack), and Fortitude DC 20 vs. Secondary Effect Impaired/Disabled Affliction. Hit. Toughness DC is 30/20 from the Team Attack.

Crossbow:
Move: Up high.
Standard: Ready an action to attack Sarah with Sniper's Shot if she appears. Due to its Draw a Bead benefit, while restricting its Readied attack to a single potential target, it counts as Aiming (and is correspondingly Vulnerable, though that doesn't lessen the effectiveness of the Deflect).

Gauntlets:
Move: Into Close range of Sarah-27663.
Standard: Attack Sarah-27663 with Eroding Touch at [roll14]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll15]) DC 20 vs. Weaken All Defenses. Hit. Resists.

All PCs are on turn. Allied NPCs will act at the top of my next post, but if you want them to support your actions for this upcoming turn let me know and I'll do those beforehand.

[Starsign]

That's an abomination!

Rene looked at this gigantic monster of a machine Sarah called the Lotus Breaker. He never imagined it'd look so big. Why the size, why the construction? It boggles the reptilian's crazed mind why these medieval people in power armor are using something like this. What the hell are they trying to do?

And then he saw Katie, one of his closest friends, hooked up to that machine. Hooked ****ing up, goddamn wires and tubes and all. Rene's sharp snout tore open; small, sharp teeth chattering between each other as his green-yellow scales slightly pale. "Katie," he said quietly, unable to tell if she is in pain or not. She... she has to be. It's wires, wires and tubes to skin. How could it not hurt? "K-Katie!" A sound of horror escaped from his lizard-like tongue as it turned dark blue; the dark iris in his blood-red eyes widen in madness. He couldn't let them do this. He cann't let them do this!

"KATIE!"

The horrid screech came out of his snout as his normally-hunched self leaned further more before charging forward at the machine and-

DODGE!

*WHAM*

-took a jet-powered maul to his side. The knockback sent the reptilian tumbling away and over next to Agent Serum; the thick scales on his back absorbed most of the impact as he tumbled and landed on his stomach. A hurried, twitching gurgle came out of his mouth as he slithered up to his legs, took one look at Serum, then quickly dashed to stop Mace's swings-

*SMACK*

*THUMP*

...With his head, taking the thick metal weapon to his head results in a large, ugly bruise across his left eye that quickly begins healing. The shield bash would've also thrown him off-balance were his body a little less bulky.

The reptilian gives off more rushed breaths between his many sharp teeth as he wildly swings his left, scaly arm to knock back Mace. His instincts send him rolling leftward, practically tripping over his thick tail, as he avoids an overhead swing from Maul who quakes the floor with his massive hammer. God, Rene does not want to be a green pancake from that!

His clawed hands and feet screech into the ground as he looks to Serum on his left. "C'mon!" he hisses to her pleadingly, hoping to coordinate with her as he slithers toward and then around Maul as Rene's tail sweeps upward and slams down hard on Maul's back. This is the only good thing I've learned, he thinks miserably to himself, recalling his days at the Spire. Rene didn't learn actual martial arts back when he was working with Fury but Serum should be able to tell some of the teachings that the reptilian has kept in mind. The clever slithering flanking and tail swipe from behind should be a sign.

Switching to Survival Instinct for now.

Rene will take advantage of Serum's assist and All-Out Attack and Power Attack +5/-5 on Maul: [roll0] DC 30 Toughness on hit. Provided it does hit, Rene will also use Improved Grab+Fast Grab to grapple Maul (probably via using his tail to keep Maul's head pressed into the ground or something)

[SuperCracker]

Ronin straightened up and forced breath out of his nose. Despite being blasted by magic, he was good to go. He took the momentary lull to power up further. The golden aura was joined by a burst of heat and crackling force. Serum offered him the.. uh… serum and he extended his hand to hand it back to her.

“I’m fine, save it in c--”

Kitty, who had been glaring at this whole event, snatched it out of his outstretched hand.

“Take it,” she said as she looked him right in the shades.

Fred’s stoic expression melted. He obediently held out his arm and Kitty injected the fluid. Satisfied, she gave Fred an affectionate little smile and turned to Serum. “Someone’s got to take care of him.”

The group entered in through the portal and chaos erupted immediately. Ronin and Shadowcat stayed in close quarters with each other, fighting back to back and preventing the Breaker Knights from blindsiding either one of them. Ronin squared off with the swordsman. Even without True Sight he could see which powers that machine was robbing from Katie and Rachel. It made Fred's blood flow with fury.

Longsword came at him and slashed. Fred's combat awareness stopped him from being killed as he quickly realized that not even his superstrength could stop this attack. Instead of blocking head-on, Ronin brought his katana upwards to deflect the corrosive blade and change its course. He was partially successful, avoiding a mortal wound but catching a nasty cut on his forehead. Blood ran forth from the wound down over the right side of his face.

Ronin reacted like nothing had happened. His turn. His sword began to glow bright white. Instead of trying to best Katie's stolen barrier spell, Ronin used - "Storm of Swords!" He slashed at Longsword. Flashes of magical force erupted throughout the room, striking all enemies within range.

Ronin stepped back into Shadowcat and held Starsoul low in both hands - a migi gedan stance. "Your stolen powers won't save you."

Non-action: Fake regen bruised
Move: Dazed
Standard: Storm of Swords
Free: Talk smack

[CandyLaser]

Not for the first time, Sarah had to remind herself that there were Very Good Reasons why she didn't call in backup from alternate versions of herself anymore. It would have been useful to be able to bring in three or four more iterations of herself to help shut this machine down. Her next thought was actually to kill Katie; she was pretty sure that her tech would let her resurrect the magician after the fact. She struck down that idea 1) because it would definitely lead to a misunderstanding with the rest of the group and 2) it was probably not ethically kosher.

While murdering her teammate for short-term gain was off the table, she could definitely learn from her. There was no reason Sarah couldn't use some of Katie's tricks herself. The best thing about portals was that they could do almost anything. Her shunt field used short-lived micro-portals to disperse the energy of incoming attacks in harmless ways. Her portal blaster had enough power for her to do the same trick on a much bigger scale.

In an instant, her powerful brain took in the whole scene, and she started to make predictions. In a fight, it was hard to predict what would happen fast enough to be useful. But she was arguably the smartest person on the planet, and she could think fast. As she made her predictions, she programmed her portal blaster to open up small portals to intercept her enemies' attacks - and turn them back on themselves. Before activating the program, she took care to move and put as much cover between her and Crossbow as possible, including the Lotus Breaker itself.

First: movement to take cover from Crossbow. If possible I'd like to move so that he doesn't have LOS to Sarah at all and can't make his readied attack. Then, for the standard action: more power stunts! Off the arsenal array, again, which means I've got 35 points to spend. Here we go:

Deflect 11, with these extras: Selective Burst Area, Reflect, Secondary Effect, and Subtle 2, and these flaws: Tiring and Close Range.

That'll kill her concealment, but it should protect everyone in our group (including Sarah) for the next 2 rounds with a deflection shield.

I'll also go ahead and spend a hero point now and another next round, so I'll end up Fatigued.

In addition, Polymath is set to: Favored Environment, Improved Defense, Evasion 2, and Uncanny Dodge. The FE bonus will go to defenses.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Her initial attack foiled by the shield, Agent Serum shifted tactics. Following Rene's play, she lashed out at Maul with a series of quick, measured strikes, standing ready to defend the Builder with her lightsaber while pressing the integrity of the shield. And it did the job well enough; Rene's tail smashed through the overtaxed defense and caught Maul solidly. The powered armor managed to hold up even against the Builder's formidable strength, but that didn't prevent his tail from wrapping around the warrior, pinning it solidly.

Out went the Storm of Swords, at full SSj2 power! The barrage of telekinetic strikes overwhelmed even the powerful shield, hammering all five of the nearby hostiles. Their armor held up pretty well, but Maul and Sword, closer to the center, took the full force of it. Maul's armor sustained some damage, and Sword was sent stumbling briefly backward from the force.

Sarah reappeared, crouched down beside the Lotus Breaker to stay out of Crossbow's line of sight. She didn't seem to be doing anything, though. Kinda like how she didn't seem to be here earlier, I suppose.

Shadowcat's eyes narrowed dangerously when she saw the state Katie was in, but she kept her cool and assessed the situation tactically. Fred was hammering away with his Storm of Swords, making distractions and tactical maneuvers less than critical. Sarah was doing who-knows-what; Kitty had heard enough Misfits stories to expect she had a plan and if her assistance were required for it she would be apprised of that fact. Serum and the Builder were tag-teaming fine. And then there was Teen Sarah. She looked a bit overwhelmed and uncertain.

"Hey! Back me up!" she called, as she raced back and forth through Axes, vibrating the molecules and energies around her. In addition to being extremely distracting, the maneuver should hopefully disrupt the shield enough for Teen Sarah to get an attack through.

As for Sarah-27663 herself, well...yeah, she was not exactly prepared for this. But she had a quick wit and, honestly, dispensing the super-powered smack-down was not something she had ever had particular trouble with. She shot forward to get on the opposite side of Axes while it was distracted by Shadowcat, and then suddenly and abruptly reversed her momentum with a sudden jet thrust from her feet, propelling herself at high speeds at the power-armored abductor to strike with overwhelming force. Unfortunately, even weakened by Shadowcat, the barrier was still strong enough to deflect her momentum aside.

The Lotus Breaker Device continued pumping out power, shielding, healing, and augmenting. This time, the power was concentrated most heavily on Axes and Mace.

"You want to try to hold me down!?" Maul snarled at the Builder as it - no, he, the voice was definitely masculine - struggled to free himself from the Builder's hold. He didn't have much leverage to attack, so he let the power of his weapon do the job for him, propelling the rocket maul straight at the ground and releasing a destructive shockwave over the area. The force didn't seem to damage anything composed of that dull white metal.

"And what!?" Axes (another masculine voice) retorted as Shadowcat and Sarah-27663's combo attack was turned aside.
"You guys got nothing for us! Nothing!" he extolled, honestly sounding super-excited about this whole throw-down. "Ahhh...here we go!" he extolled as Maul unleashed the shockwave in the close quarters. He was quick to follow suit, whirling around with both weapons slashing through the air, sending wave after wave of razor-sharp air slashes flying around at every hero nearby, before jetting back to get out of range of another Storm of Swords (he was excited, not stupid).

Since Rene had leaped in to defend Serum, Mace decided to cut out the middleman and go after him directly. "Let's see if you're so quick to jump in the way when I've shattered your scales to dust!" he challenged, slamming forward with his shield and tossing his mace around behind the Builder, using the gravity-warping powers of his weapons to pull it back towards the shield, attempting to crush the Builder between them under tons of simulated force. Then he flew back, likewise getting some separation from the rest of his team.

Sword's voice was feminine as she responded to Ronin's smack-talk over a ringing exchange of sword blows, "Save us? Please. We were expecting worse than this! Where's Thunderstruck at? Ooh, or Spider-Man? You think a half team of Misfits, a couple C-listers, and like the least-dangerous X-Man," gonna be honest here Kitty might have laughed at her if she wasn't kinda furious right now, "are going to be enough to beat us?"

...And then Sarah's portals dumped all the acid she had been trying to hit Ronin with on her head, badly corroding her armor. I know that you underestimate the Misfits at your peril, but I'll admit even I didn't expect it to be that soon.

"Tammy, there!" Gauntlets called, pointing at Sarah, before shooting forward to attack Serum and the Builder with a flurry of blows, her gauntlets shining with white light and the wind picking up around her, hastening her strikes, before she zipped off past them to get some distance.

"With the names though!" Crossbow, or Tammy evidently, complained as she swooped down, firing a crossbow bolt at Sarah and using her own weapon's telekinetic effects to guide it straight to her, while tapping the Lotus Breaker's telekinesis (wherever that had come from, it hadn't happened in testing but she wasn't going to complain) to add force to the attack, before swooping back up to the ceiling.

First off, here's a map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ws9thcH2R8sFfPCiBK7MxRu5LRFGBOtsUo8n2zaXDXw/edit#gid=0). The ceiling in 40' high, for reference.

The Lotus Breaker Device:
Move: Be ominous and machiney.
Standard: Use Stolen Powers. Allies are Deflected at 1d10+25 and receive [roll0] Healing Points (halved for those who failed a resistance check last turn). Axes and Mace are augmented. Sword and Maul heal a Bruise.

30 points to add Linked Weaken Toughness 10 (Burst Area, Selective) to Axes' Razorgale Whirlwind.
20 points to add Linked Affliction 10 (Vulnerable/Stunned/Incapacitated; Toughness; Cumulative) to Mace's Hammer'n'Anvil.
10 points to add Multiattack to the Damage of Hammer'n'Anvil.

Reaction: Use Borrowed Powers as a Team Attack for Crossbow at [roll1], Deflected at [roll2]. If Deflected it Reflects but since it's Limited to providing a Team Attack it won't cause any effect unless someone else attacks the Lotus Breaker Device this turn, in which case it will Team Attack with them using Sarah's attack bonus of [roll3], Deflected at [roll4]. +5

Katie Will (DC 21): [roll5]. Resists
Rachel Will (DC 22 after half immunity, -1 for Bruise): [roll6]. Bruised and Dazed

Maul:
Move: Attempt to Escape (DC 20) at [roll7] after -5 for Improved Hold and -2 for Impaired. Good try. Still fails.
Standard: Use Shockwave Strike. Everybody give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage.
Shadowcat: Phases since this is a [Physical] attack.
Sarah-27663 Dodge: [roll8]. Toughness: [roll9]. [b]Dodge save should have been at -5, not that it matters. Bruised
Serum Dodge: [roll10]. Toughness: [roll11]. Resists

Axes:
Standard: Use augmented Razorgale Whirlwind. Everybody but Sarah give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 and 20/15 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness (you only roll Toughness once).
Shadowcat: Phases since this is a [Physical] [Slashing] attack. It's just barely possible I did not design this battle with Kitty in mind. :smallamused:
Sarah-27663 Dodge: [roll12]. Toughness: [roll13]. Again, Dodge save should have been at -5, again it doesn't matter. Resists
Serum Dodge: [roll14]. Toughness: [roll15]. Resists
Move: Into Y13.

Mace:
Standard: Attack the Builder with augmented Hammer'n'Anvil at [roll16], Deflected at [roll17]. If Deflected, it Reflects at [roll18], Deflected at [roll19]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack/20 vs. Damage Linked Cumulative Vulnerable/Stunned/Incapacitated, Parry DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness. Double Deflected
Move: Into M3.

Sword:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Death of a Thousand Melting Cuts at [roll20], Deflected at [roll21]. If Deflected, it Reflects at [roll22], Deflected at [roll23]. On a hit, Parry DC 20+Multiattack vs. Weaken Toughness. Deflected. Reflect crits (Deflect doesn't negate the crit since ties there go to the attacker so it would just hit without the critical bonus). Will roll Sword's Parry OOC.

Gauntlets:
Free: Point out Sarah's position. Also Tammy's name. So we'll split the difference and call her an average teammate.
Move: Into D14.
Standard: Attack Serum and the Builder with Whirlwind Flurry, Multiattacking for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Secondary Effect Damage. If either attack is Deflected, it is Reflected at [roll24], Deflected at [roll25]. If both are Deflected, the DC receives the single-target Multiattack bonus. Deflected
Serum: [roll26], Deflected at [roll27]. Deflected
The Builder: [roll28], Deflected at [roll29]. Deflected
Move-by Action: Into G22.

Crossbow:
Move: Into N17, 20' up.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Guided Shot. Perception Range attack. Toughness DC 25+Team Attack vs. Damage.

All PCs are on turn.

[Starsign]

Slightly unprepared for the quake hit, Rene's body shakes violently as the maul slammed into the ground; his clawed feet dug into the ground helped keep the force from throwing him off on his scaly back. The blow does leave him open to Mace's dangerous combination attack. The shield slams hard into the reptilian's scaly arms that come up to block it, while the mace itself-

...Is effortlessly and harmlessly knocked away by Serum.

Rene turns to catch a glimpse of Serum before blindly swiping in front of him. Nothing but air; Mace already flew back right before Rene could do anything about it. It takes a harder toll on him than it should. He imagines Mace now fully out of his sight, as if he can no longer reach his opponent. Mace disappeared into the darkness as the reptilian's sharp teeth begin chattering. He feels his vision fading. Frustration in his cold-blooded mind over Katie's capture draws him to doing the only thing he can right now.

Lash out!

As if answering to Maul's question, Rene lifts up his thick tail once more and smashes it down on the armored villain. A painful hiss erodes from Rene's snout as he turns around, slams his clawed feet down on Maul's neck and begins smashing the helm! As Rene learned from Fury, grabbing the throat is a good way to keep an enemy held in place; and while a helmet may protect you from bleed wounds but it sure won't help the concussion if you hit it hard enough!

"Why? WHY?!" He hisses in terror in-between his scaled-hardened punches. "Why are you doing this to my friend? Why are you doing this to Katie?!" His panic and horror translates to a panicked need to act and to do something. His building powers are useless here; he can't simply take Katie out of that godawful machine. Rene has to do something, and in the pitch-black background covering his eyes, where everyone else has disappeared in a dark void, all he can do is beat down those he can see.

Alrighty! Since Rene has Maul Defenseless, Rene will go and just apply Strength Damage here; also applying Killer Instinct to add on more effects.

DC 25 Multiattack Toughness + DC 20 Fort vs Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated and Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed

And then EE to do it again cause now is as good a time as any!

[SuperCracker]

As Fred fought the Breaker Knights, he began to understand that they were nothing without the assistance of the Lotus Breaker. He began to think of ways to deal with it. He could try and teleport the machine, or pick it up and run off with it. However, the Breaker, being a magical construct with its own very potent defenses, stood a very good chance of fighting off either of those maneuvers. It’s possible the team could wall it off, but then one of the six Knights would tear down the barrier. Sarah Saturn was still near the machine messing with it. Ronin would see what she was doing before going to plan B: getting The Builder to build.

Maul struck the ground. Ronin raised his right arm up to brace against the shockwave. He withstood the attack completely. Axes let out an imitation Storm of Swords. Ronin tucked and rolled forward, escaping the attack save for a nick to his arm. Considering Fred’s superhuman ability to take a beating, it wasn’t a problem.

Ronin smirked at Sword as her own attack backfired. So that’s what Sarah Saturn was up to over there. Sword’s trash talk was… well.. she didn’t know this team very well did she?

“Sure you want those to be your last words?”

Ronin slashed again, creating a telekinetic slash so close to Sword’s body that the Breaker’s barrier couldn’t stop it. With SSJ2, that strike packed enough punch to keep harming the opponent after the perceived slash.

“We’re in fireball formation, boss!”

Ronin nodded and motioned with his head to Kitty. The samurai left after-images as he moved out of “Fireball Formation” and towards Axes, who had moved away from the fray for the same reason.

Fake regen bruised.
Standard: TK Swordplay on Sword.
Move: Move towards Axes and out of Fireball Formation.
Free: Some talking.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah effortlessly no-sold the incoming attacks and blinked out of the easy area-of-attack of their enemies. The moments she'd had to observe and predict their behavior meant that there was no way for the assault to get through her shunt field. That also meant she had more time to think, and that, in turn, meant that she knew how they were going to win.

It was obvious that Katie's stolen power was fueling their opponents. And while it wouldn't be easy to cut off the machine's access to Katie, she could interrupt its ability to feed that power to their rivals. The best time to do that was right before the machine sent out its next burst of energy, and so she waited, timing things just so to ensure that there was no way anyone could interfere with the plan.

Moving out of fireball formation, then readying an action to Create an undetectable wall as described in discord right before the Lotus Breaker machine acts.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

The Builder's furious attack on the defenseless Maul began crumpling his armor, but he managed to endure it for the time being. Fred's telekinetic attack, guided by his will so that deflection was irrelevant, smashed a dent into Sword's mail. Shadowcat, seeing the effectiveness of her disruptive phasing against the Lotus Breaker's shields, went all out with that, racing through Maul and Sword to open them up to her teammates. Serum lashed out with her lightning blade, although even with Shadowcat's disruption, the shield was still strong enough to turn that attack aside. Following the party's strategy, she disengaged to avoid presenting a further target for area attacks.

Sarah-27663 stepped through a portal, coming out in front of Sword with two blades now jutting from her arms. I...may not be getting things properly cross with that though. These weren't slender Wolverine claws, or even long "Mortal Kombat Baraka" style arm-blades. These were big ol' honkin' "somebody played a lot of Final Fantasy while she was growing up" oversized greatswords, and she slashed them in a devastating X-chop at Sword. The blow struck the power-armored swordswoman squarely, and might have finished her, but Katie jerked in a weird spasm and a fleeting sheen of silver light played over Sword's armor, mitigating the force of the blow. Barely. It still rent two huge holes in her breastplate and cut deep into her sides. Sarah-27663 then blinked again to clear more space.

So, you know, the abductors weren't having a great time. But that was okay. More protection, healing, and augmentation was coming from the Lotus Breaker. Another wave of silver power built up and flowed out-

And hit an invisible wall just a couple feet from the machine before fading away, its power going to waste.

The bad guys? I'mma be honest, they kinda freaked out.

"B-break it...!" the badly-injured Sword guttered out. "Get...get ready to...to shatter the replacement...when they put it back up!"

"We can't see when they put it up!" Mace retorted.

"Everybody attack then get to the Lotus Breaker! They can't block us if we're in contact with it!"

"A little stuck here!"

"It won't matter they'll just blast us all if we cluster. Let's just take them out!" (...Most. Most of them were freaking out.)

"The scientist is the only one who isn't fighting and we know she's capable of barriers," Crossbow's voice cut through the growing panic of her teammates as she leveled her weapon at Sarah's head. "She's the most likely one to have created it. Someone break the shield. Everyone else, focus fire!" TWANG!

"Get...offa...ME!" Maul roared, continuing to pound the ground with rocket-powered shockwaves.

Sword pointed her weapon, firing a deluge of acid to melt away Sarah's barrier.

Mace and Gauntlets swooped in at Sarah, attacking together, Mace with an aggressive assault of blow after hammering blow of his mace, its gravity-warping powers not only lending weight to the strike, but trying to pin Sarah to the ground. Gauntlets drew the strength of the earth into her fists as she struck, hammering with stunning force and using the earthen power to augment Mace's gravitational pull, before flying back.

Axes flew at Sarah in a quick attack-run, hacking and slashing with hasted speed, his axes focusing the air they displaced with their motion into a razor-thin crescent around the heads, sharp enough to sever molecular bonds.

The Lotus Breaker Device:
Move: Break lotuses.
Standard: Use Stolen Power, triggering Sarah's Readied action. While it does possess a Dodge defense, it does not possess a movement speed, which due to the way Created traps work means it could not move to escape the enclosure even if it defended successfully. The effects are therefore blocked. Katie Will (DC 21): [roll0]. Resists
Reaction: Use Borrowed Power. The effects are blocked. Rachel Will (DC 22, -2 for Bruises): [roll1]. Bruised and Dazed

Crossbow:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Aim at Sarah. Crossbow is Vulnerable this turn.
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Attack Sarah with Sniper's Shot at [roll2], Deflected at [roll3]. A successful Deflect Reflects it at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Will DC 20 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless, and Fortitude DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness. Deflected. Reflect hits. Will roll saves in OOC.

Maul:
Move: Attempt to Escape (DC 20, -5 for Improved Hold, -2 for Impaired) at [roll5]. Huh, actually manages it.
Standard: Shockwave Strike. Since the team is no longer in Fireball FormationTM, only the Builder and Shadowcat (and Sarah's barrier I guess) are in the area, and Shadowcat's still phased. Builder, give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage.
Barrier Toughness: [roll6]. Bruised

Sword:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Acid Beam on the barrier. Since it lacks a Parry defense, it is automatically DESTROYED.
End of Turn: Recover a point of Toughness.

Gauntlets:
Move: Into Close range of Sarah.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Earthen Kata as a Team Attack with Mace, +5 for Teamwork since she's figuring to support, and Accurate Attacking for 2, at [roll7], Deflected at [roll8] and potentially Reflected at [roll9]. If she hits without the Teamwork bonus but Mace misses, it's Toughness DC 23/18 vs. Damage Linked Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless, Strength or Dodge DC 20 vs. Grab. If she hits without the Teamwork bonus, the Affliction has nothing to stack with an applies regardless. Deflected. Reflect misses.
Move-by Action: Into W17, unless she ends up Grabbing Sarah, if she is Mace does this instead.

Mace:
Move: Into T6.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Ground'n'Pound, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll10], Deflected at [roll11], and potentially Reflected at [roll12]. If he misses by less than 5 and Gauntlets hits his Teamwork bonus will instead boost her Damage and Move Object DCs. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Team Attack vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 20+Team Attack vs. Grab, and Athletics or Acrobatics DC [roll13] vs. Trip. Hit...buuuut Sarah-27663 will Interpose that one.

Axes:
Move: Into Close range of Sarah.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Razorgale Flurry, Accurate Attacking for 2, at [roll14], Deflected at [roll15] and potentially Reflected at [roll16]. On a hit, Parry DC 23+Multiattack vs. Damage. Deflected. Reflect hits. Will roll the saves OOC.
Move-by Action: Into I6.

All PCs are on turn.

[CandyLaser]

"You're right. I'm not fighting. I'm winning." Sarah didn't even bother to move - between her counterpart and her deflection portals, none of their incoming attacks threatened her in the slightest. Of course, the deflection fields were going down, but their enemies didn't know that. It was a calculated bluff, and hopefully it would also draw more enemy fire to her - instead of to the new wall of virtual matter that was even now taking shape around the Lotus Breaker. It probably wouldn't last long after they realized it was there, but the virtual mass particles were invisible and almost completely undetectable. Indeed, it was just manipulation of the Higgs field - basic science, as far as Sarah was concerned.

That said, she saw how quickly Sword demolished her last construct. She figured it would be worth her while to give her a little bit more to deal with, and so she warped the space around Sword as well, aiming to entrap her in another cage of invisible force.

Extra effort to surge, and I'll spend an HP to avoid becoming more fatigued. I'll use one action to encase Sword in a Created bubble of force. Here's an attack roll, if needed: [roll0]. The second action will be to Ready another Create, like last round.

Polymath is set to Favored Environment, Evasion 2, Uncanny Dodge, with a point left over. The Favored Environment bonus goes to defenses.

[SuperCracker]

Most of the Breaker Knights panicked when Sarah Prime cut off the Lotus Breaker. They all turned and tried to dogpile the heavily armored scientist. Even Axes turned his back on Ronin… It wasn’t going to work out well for him.

Ronin sheathed Starsoul, then looked at Shadowcat. He pointed silently at Axes, then raised his palms towards the ceiling. Glittering motes of multi-colored light winked into being, drawn into the space above his hands. They came together, forming a roiling ball of magic.

“Arigatou, minna.”

Ronin lifted his hands and took hold of the ball. Immediately, Fred’s golden aura was suffused with colors and swirling motes. He lowered into an iaijutsu stance.

Shadowcat did her thing and harried Axes, throwing his defenses off. As he struggled to recover, a pair of voices shouting might have got his attention.

“SPIRIT SWORD STRIKE!”

As he turned around, Ronin blasted across the room towards Axes. His right sword held a high grip on his scabbard and his left was gripping and drawing Starsoul. The draw of the sword and the slash itself would have been hard to follow with the naked eye were it not for the bright glowing trail the slash left, cleaving through Axes’ armor and leaving a worrying glow behind (if you’re Axes).

Starsoul was still aglow in magical energy and Crossbow looked 1) like the leader; and 2) like she had spent too long aiming. Ronin surged into the air, flying up to her and delivering an upwards slash from below that carried through until he came to a hover above her. That strike also left a worrying glow (if you’re Crossbow).

Actions were in the OOC. I don’t think Fred had any damage to fake-regen, but if he does… he does.

[Starsign]

With little but a mad panic and a tail, Rene is quickly thrown off his clawed feet and onto the ground as Maul's second shockwave frees the big knight from the reptilian's grasp. The Builder hisses as he's knocked back and away as his cold-blooded body groans and rumbles in ache.

He got no answer, no reason, no damn justification for why these knights have kidnapped his friend. Their disorganized cries and orders only further ache his damaged mind. They don't get what's going on with this thing. They might not even know what they're doing to her!

The reptilian slithers off his scaly, hardened back and on his clawed hands and feet. His body curves around, briefly glaring at Maul before looking upward. Even as his eyes see barely anything other than darkness, he can make out one figure above him, off-balanced and unfocused as she seems to adjust her ranged weapon. It's the perfect target, the perfect prey at this moment. And there is nowhere to hide in this forest building!

Rene hisses again as, going by his bestial instincts, slithers to the nearby wall, up the wall, and then alongside the ceiling way up high as if it were the canopy. His reptilian head jerks downward, looking at the small, flying knight below. Rene would normally be terrified of this height. He's so high up. His body will collapse the moment he hits the ground.

But Katie today is in danger! And instincts tell him he must- Leap! Now!

His claws yank off as he pushes himself from the ceiling, falling limbs wide out as he comes down on top to slice and slam Crossbow into the ground!

So through some climbing and falling nonsense, Rene is attacking Crossbow with his Killer Instinct part active still. All-Out Attack and Power Attack +5/-5: [roll0] DC 30+Multiattack Toughness and DC 20 Fort vs Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated and Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed on hit.

Also if hit, Rene will try grappling as a free action since he has Fast Grab: [roll1]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 4

Boy. Six seconds without the Lotus Breaker and everything just kinda falls apart, doesn't it?

Shadowcat rushed straight through Maul, on a straight-line path for Axes, but she stopped short, her real attack being the disruptive phasing as she passed through Maul's body, although the technowardings on his armor protected him. Axes glanced her way, but was still paying enough attention to his surroundings that he was on his guard against Ronin.

Much good it did him. The Spirit Sword Strike hammered him full-force, darn near shattering his armor and leaving a nasty gash in his chest. The second blow against Crossbow hit only slightly less squarely, knocking her back with an ominously-glowing dent in her mail. As as if she weren't having a bad enough day, the Builder dropped in in a feral frenzy, further rending her armor and catching her in his superhumanly strong grasp, bearing her down to land atop the Lotus Breaker Device.

"You're such a nerd," Kitty teased over comms, her voice bemused, as Fred went full anime with calling his attacks.

Sarah-27663 teleported in the way of Mace's blow, her cybernetically-reinforced body easily absorbing the physical force. It managed to knock her to the ground, but just before she landed she opened another portal beneath herself, and through she was pretty much horizontal when she fell through it, when a second one opened up behind Mace and she dropped out of it, it was feet-first. "Yeah! PORTAL, um, SWORD STRIKE!" she yelled out exuberantly (leave her alone she's new at this) as a pair of blade-like portals shot out of her hands as she came down with a crossing slash at Maul's back, the weaponized portals slicing clean through armor and flesh.

Sword, meanwhile, collapsed, overcome by the injuries that Ronin and Sarah-27663 had inflicted upon her.

Serum gestured with her blade, and a swarm of nanites swooped towards maul, linking with her saber via the control glove holding it and emulating its current mechanical structure. A beam of brilliant blue light extended out as the nanites swept past, slashing quick at Maul, but he managed to dodge the blow, before flying over to hover around the Builder like a knight's squire, guarding him from a return attack.

Which all left the Breaker Knights in something of a quandary. How do you focus fire when like literally more than half of the opposing force is competing for the slot of priority target?

Maul growled and launched himself doggedly at Ronin, hauling back and unloading a rocket-powered swing to try to send him flying into the Builder and, ideally, knock him off of Crossbow, before flying down to land atop the Lotus Breaker himself.

Axes, badly injured, just gave a warcry and lashed out in flurry of axe blows at empty air, razor-sharp projections of wind flying from the blades to slash at Ronin.

Mace, also badly hurt, took another swing at Sarah, manipulating gravity to try to launch her at her counterpart.

Crossbow wasn't in much of a state to do any, like, aiming, or anything fancy like that, but the kinetic manipulations of her crossbow nocked it, and let her fire another shot at Sarah, and guide it straight to her.

Gauntlets flew at builder, wind whipping around her to hasten her blows as she made a barrage of strikes, every attack gradually building up a static charge that would continue to grow, before darting past the Builder to try to reach the Lotus Breaker.

Then the Lotus Breaker's power flared up, shielding and healing those who had managed to make contact, but Sarah's new wall appeared to block the power from reaching Axes and Mace. None of the three tried to escape the dome of force - far as they were concerned, more defense was better at the moment. (Not that Sarah couldn't just drop the wall, but whatever).

Maul:
Move: Into L12.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Rocket Slam, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30 vs. Damage, Strength DC 25 or be launched at the Builder at [roll1], Deflected at [roll2]. If that hits, Builder, Toughness DC 30 vs Damage, and since the Move Object is Contagious, Strength DC 25 or be launched away from Crossbow and into P25. Hits Ronin, Deflected from Builder.
Move-by Action: Land on top of the Lotus Breaker Device.

Axes:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Razorgale Barrage, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage. Hits due to AoA, but no Multiattack
End of Turn: Recover a point of Toughness.

Mace:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Ground'n'Pound, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30 vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 25 or be Grabbed and swung at Sarah-27663 at [roll5]. If she's hit, Toughness ([roll6]) DC 30 vs. Damage. Miss

Crossbow:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Guided Shot. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.
End of Turn: Fortitude to recover from Affliction (DC 25): [roll7]. Recover a point of Toughness. Nope

Gauntlets:
Move: Into Close range of the Builder.
Standard: Attack the Builder with Whirlwind Flurry, All Out Power Attack for 5, at [roll8], Deflected at [roll9]. On a hit, Toughness DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage. Hit. +2 Multiattack. DC 32.
Move-by Action: Into O16.

The Lotus Breaker Device:
Move: If it could do this, things would be going a lot better for these guys right now.
Standard: Stolen Power. Sarah's Readied action is triggered, so this only affects the ones who are in contact with the device, all of whom are trapped (but also shielded) by the barrier unless Sarah ceases maintaining it. Builder, if Maul doesn't successfully launch you, and Ronin, if Maul does successfully launch you, you're in there with them (or I suppose more accurately, they're trapped in there with you). Maul, Crossbow, and Gauntlets are Deflected at 1d10+25 and receive [roll10] Healing Points. They also each get 20 points of augmentation: Maul heals his Bruise, Crossbow gets 8/10 towards healing a Bruise, Gauntlets wasn't injured anyway.
Maul: Crushing Blow Affliction gets Alternate Resistance (Will), Crushing Blow Weaken gets Alternate Resistance (Fortitude).
Crossbow: Add Linked Affliction 10 (Impaired/Disabled; Toughness; Perception Range, Limited Degree) to Guided Shot.
Gauntlets: Add Linked Damage 10 (Secondary Effect) to Eroding Touch.
Katie Will (DC 21): [roll11]. Katie straight flip refuses to break. Apparently you just tell her all her friends are actually alive and her will becomes inviolate. I'm torn between being proud of her as my PC and annoyed that she's ruining my dramatic tension.
Reaction: Pretty much waste Borrowed Power again.
Rachel Will (DC 22, -3 for Bruises): [roll12]. Bruised, but not Dazed for a change!

All PCs are on turn.

[CandyLaser]

"Moving in close? That's almost clever," Sarah said. "Almost." Her shunt field redirected Mace's attack, making their weapon twist in mid-swing and smash into the floor. Crossbow's attack was more accurate - but no more effective, as the bolt disappeared into a portal, never to be seen again. "You see, now you're all in one place, and I suspect my colleagues will enlighten you as to why that's a mistake." She dropped the wall she'd created and focused her attention on Mace instead. A cold, thin smile formed on her lips as her armor appeared around her, popping into existence at her mental command. When she spoke again, her voice was metallic and amplified by the Titanomachy exo-frame's systems. "You should have surrendered when you saw me." She lunged forward, and the suit's servo motors powered up, delivering a truly mighty blow to Mace.

Free action: drop the wall. Standard action: don the exo-frame. Extra effort to surge: attack! Polymath is set to Power Attack, All-Out Attack, Favored Environment, Evasion 2. FE bonus is on the attack, and I'll go all-in on all-out and power attacking. Here's the roll: [roll0] I'll spend another HP to ignore the fatigue from extra effort.

[SuperCracker]

Fred’s lips curved into a smirk when he heard Kitty. She wasn’t wrong. And Teen Sarah, well… looks like Fred was going to take a new student, cause she’s a quick learner. But first things first.

Maul came in hot and Ronin had, as he tends to do, left himself open to attack in order to take out as many enemies as possible. Ronin brought up Starsoul and braced, but took the hammer blow hard. Super-strength or not, it didn’t increase his mass… so he became the que ball shot at the Builder.

Ronin was spinning in the air, careening towards the Builder when he managed to catch a glimpse of Axes attacking. As Fred landed (hard), he hit the dirt and slid low enough to only catch a minor laceration.

Ronin stood up and looked at Axes. “Remember when you said… we had nothing for you?” Purely for effect, Fred snapped his fingers. Bright, silvery light flooded the room as the both of them exploded.

“Bye Tammy.”

Andunleashedthe rest. Ronin unleahsed two Storm of Swords in rapid succession, something he was going to keep doing if they kept being shielded.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 5

These ancient Asgardian quasimagitech suits were pretty slick pieces of tech. Honestly, if the Lotus Breaker had contained more than one victim to draw power from, they might well have been fairly terrifying.

But let's be clear: they weren't the Titanomech.

Sarah hauled back and slammed Mace full-force. He managed to get his shield in the way, but the force of the blow still knocked the wind out of him and sent him spinning uncontrollably.

Right into Sarah-27663's fist as she blasted off with her thrusters to propel a crushing blow straight at his head. There was a flash of silver from the Lotus Breaker, a fleeting shield rising up around him, reinforcing his helmet to withstand a blow that would have otherwise knocked him clean out. But as any quarterback will tell you, it doesn't matter how hard your helmet is when your brain is slamming into your skull at high speeds. Mace reeled, his weapon and shield hanging limply in his stands, standing with mouth agape and eyes unfocused between the two instances of Sarah Saturn.

Frankly, that's a bad enough place to be when you're in tip-top shape and proper fighting form.

Ronin's storm of swords cut more telekinetic slices into Maul and Gauntlets' armor, but honestly that was the sideshow. A snap of his fingers, and the lingering energy of his Spirit Sword Strikes detonated in a burst of magical force, blowing Axes' and Crossbow's breastplates to pieces and sending them flying away to land in heaps. Good luck healing that.

The Builder rushed Maul, his injuries closing before the Breaker Knight's eyes as he lunged in with raking claws. He punched clean through the Lotus Breaker's shield and gouged another slash in Maul's armor, although the warrior managed to keep from getting caught in the Builder's grasp this time.

A slender spike jutted from the bottom of the sword hilt that Serum's drone had become, and jabbed builder with a quick injection of her healing serum, in hopes of outhealing the damage that the static charge was doing. Unfortunately, even supplemented by his regeneration, it could only do so much.

Shadowcat raced up at Maul, lunging for him and shifting back out of phase as she struck, trying to use the sudden shift to bypass the Lotus Breaker's frequency and rend Maul on the molecular level. Unfortunately, the shield was still strong enough to turn her attack aside.

Even so, the odds were now 2:1 in the heroes' favor - and Mace didn't look like he'd be making particularly valuable contributions any time soon. "All to me!" Maul growled, and the Lotus Breaker flared with power again, healing and shielding the three remaining Breaker Knights. But silver light blazed up mightily around Maul, as he absorbed the full power of the machine's augmentative energy. "Now! TAKE THIS!" He brought his hammer down atop the Lotus Breaker on full thrust, and though the machine's shields rebuffed the force of the attack, that just meant that all that energy exploded outward to hammer the heroes.

Gauntlets, meanwhile, flew up to try to take out one of the more hopefully-vulnerable members of the team, angling straight for Shadowcat. She knew, of course, that the punch she threw wouldn't harm her - but the blazing flame that engulfed her fist as she struck just might! And if it did, the fire would detonate outward, to roast Ronin and the Builder and hopefully force them back from Maul.

Mace was either concocting a diabolical plan as subtle as it was brilliant, to singlehandedly win the entire fight in one perfect move, or he was wobbling around with a severe concussion. One of those two for sure!

The Lotus Breaker Device:
Move: It is perfectly comfortable with its current position. Also incapable of changing it, to be fair, but don't delude yourselves into thinking it wants to!
Standard: Stolen Power. Enemy team Deflected, receive [roll0] Healing Points, and Maul gets the full 60-point Augment: Maul and Mace each heal one Bruise and get 5 HP towards healing another. Gauntlets heals her Bruise.
10 points to add another dose of Burst Area to Shockwave Strike.
50 points to add Linked Affliction 10 (Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless; Alternate Resistance [Fortitude], Extra Condition, Burst Area 2, Selective, Limited Degree).
Katie Will (DC 21): [roll1]. ...I think Katie's somehow been getting magical energy back this whole time. Like she might be a little over half full at this point, I don't even know.
Reaction: Borrowed Power as a Team Attack for Gauntlets at [roll2]. Against Shadowcat's defense that's only +2.
Rachel Will (DC 22, -4 for Bruises): [roll3]. Rachel's getting a handle on dealing with Cerebro while her consciousness is miles away from her brain or whatever.

Mace:
Stunned.
End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Stunned+Defenseless (DC 29): [roll4]. ...Yeah this could take a while.

Maul:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Augmented Shockwave Strike. Everybody but Serum (and Shadowcat who remains immune to [Physical] ) give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 20/15 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless.
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: DO IT AGAIN! The party gets a floating :smallcool: Hero Point as he buys off the fatigue.

[b]Gauntlets:
Move: Into L13.
Standard: Attack Shadowcat with Burning Punch, All Out Attack for 5, at [roll5]. On a hit, Toughness ([roll6]) DC 25+Team Attack vs. Secondary Effect Damage. If that hits, it also fills a 15' radius with a Selective Cloud Area, so Ronin and Builder will have to roll Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage in that case. Hit. Crit resists. Gauntlets' strategy had a fundamental fatal flaw - it failed to take into account the fact that Shadowcat is a mutant.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Builder, Toughness DC 32 vs. Damage.

All PCs are on turn.

[CandyLaser]

Yet again, the best efforts of the Knights barely made an impact on Sarah Saturn and her super-science. Maul's shockwaves mostly glanced off her, their kinetic energy dispersed by the advanced alloys of her armor. The combined effect of all those attacks? She was a little bit dizzy.

"You lack precision and control," she said, as she activated one of her armor's weapon systems. "Allow me to demonstrate." Small portals opened next to Maul, Mace, and Gauntlets, just over their heads - and a handful of silver orbs, each the size of a quarter, swarmed out. They attached themselves to the two Knights, and then exploded, covering both in a crackling, coruscating net of flames and destruction.

At that, Sarah took flight, moving away from both Maul and Mace, aiming to get out of further shockwave range.

Using Portal Bombs - Selective Burst Damage 11. Looking at the map, I think I can hit all three enemies, but if I can't I'll aim to hit as many as possible. Polymath will be set to Evasion 2, Favored Environment (defense bonus), Uncanny Dodge, and 2 ranks of Expertise: Films of Buster Keaton.

[SuperCracker]

Maul's repeated banging on the Lotus Breaker and its subsequent bursts of energy were largely evaded by one Frederick Broll, sustaining minor injuries. But Maul somehow managed to not be Fred's next target. Gauntlets of the Breaker Knights... first kidnapped Katie. Rendered Rachel comatose. Then had the f***ing gall to take a shot at Kitty (with an attack that might actually do something). Ronin's shades flashed in the light and he turned towards Gauntlets with a downward slash. Only through Katie's stolen luck did the strike not cleave into the villain.

Ronin was not finished yet. As Kitty worked to feint Gauntlets, Ronin took two steps and pivoted. He raised his sword to shoulder-height with the point aimed at Gauntlets. He then stepped forward and thrust. Starsoul ran the Breaker Knight through at the shoulder. Ronin twisted the blade and then withdrew it none too gently. Though she was still conscious; Gauntlets was pretty much out of the fight.

Fred then flashed and used his absurd super speed to move outside of the museum and the Lotus Breaker's range. Sure, he was a big target since he'd gone all out on the last attack. But if Maul or Maces wanted to do anything about it, they'd have to come outside away from their life support system.

Regen 1 bruised.
Standard: Attack
HP to cure Fatigued.
Extra effort to Surge.
Standard: Attack.
Move-by-Action + super speed lots: Move.

[Starsign]

Rene was... not doing well.

The reptilian humanoid was smashed backwards by Maul's shockwaves; The Builder couldn't keep holding his footing with the sheer number he's taken throughout the fight. The supported attacks from Gauntlets did not help as Rene's scaly body ends up lying on the floor. His greenish-yellow scales charred black as licks of electricity zipped around his twitching body. His claws cracked the ground as he tore his clawed hands into them just trying to get up on his knees.

Once, pain was a return to reality, a way to get the mad reptilian out of his insane mind and have a brief moment of clarity. Not anymore. There's too much going on for him. There's too much stress tormenting him. There's too much at state for him to hesitate. There's too much pain for him to realize. Burnt, shocked, and brittle, The Builder simply can't let pain get to him. He has to reject it!

Reject.

Reject!

Reject!

The black iris from his red eyes almost entirely disappear as he lets out a loud hiss. Against the strain of his bulky body, the reptilian tears his limbs into the ground before slithering up to the first enemy he finds vulnerable. Targeting the unfortunately-weakened Mace, the crazed Builder slithers wildly at and slams him with all his might! As if trying to tear away that bulky protection, the reptilian's momentum propels his claws into the armor and helmet's joints to tear it all off!

This is a bit of a weak post from me but hope it suffices! Actions stated in the OOC, with Rene moving further away afterward (via his slithering momentum and Move-By Action) to preferably stay out of Maul's AOE attacks.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 6

Maul and Gauntlets managed to spring away from Sarah's portal bombs, but the thoroughly disabled Mace took his full in the face, cracking his visor. Serum injected the Builder with some more of her healing serum, further speeding along his regenerative abilities, although the curative concoction could only go so far at the rate he was accumulating damage.

Heat could affect Shadowcat, but that wasn't to say it didn't have its work cut out for it - she was already vibrating her molecules, so agitating them further only went so far. For the moment, at least, she ignored the flames, striking back with a rapid series of blows that...passed right through Gauntlet's blocks and her body, causing no harm...except for the part where they disrupted the Lotus Breaker's shield, leaving her open to Ronin. So really they caused quite a bit of harm. Gauntlets screamed as Starsoul plunged clean through her armor, reeling with agony. Then Shadowcat fell, ceasing to hover on air so that she fell through the Lotus Breaker Device and into the ground - and out of the burning cloud that Gauntlets had unleashed.

The Builder set upon Mace like a wild beast, slashing through the Lotus Breaker's barrier and violently tearing his armor and weapons away, leaving him functionally helpless on this battlefield. Well, doubly so, I suppose.

Deeming Mace a non-threat, Sarah-27663 pointed a hand and opened a portal in her palm, launching an artillery shell at Maul. It got close, but was sent spinning aside in a flash of silver light at the last possible moment.

Even so, the writing was on the wall here. Maul obviously didn't have the faintest prayer of taking the team down alone. He took to the air, smashing his way through the ceiling with his hammer, and shot away from the museum at supersonic speeds.

But whether out of spite, apathy, or a simple lack of understanding, he didn't direct the Lotus Breaker to cease its augmenting first. With no orders to the contrary, the Lotus Breaker unleashed another wave of empowering and protecting energy...it would keep going until it was deactivated.

Okay. This battle is pretty much over. Gauntlets and Mace both need 20s to come unstunned so I don't even care enough to bother. Maul is fleeing at Speed 10, if anyone wants to give chase. Shadowcat, Ronin, and the Builder all got out of the cloud, so they only have to deal with the Secondary Effect. That's Toughness DC 25 for Shadowcat from the direct hit, DC 20 for Ronin and the Builder since they made their saves for half. I'm rolling another Will save for Katie and Rachel. If Katie doesn't take at least -5 Will or Rachel isn't at least Staggered, we don't even have to bother keeping further track or rounds or rolling anything else out. I'll just assume that you guys can disable the thing (including chasing down and taking out Maul if anyone with Speed 10+ wants to) before they're in any meaningful trouble. Otherwise, we'll remain in combat time and you guys will have to disable it before something bad happens to one or both of them.

Shadowcat Toughness (DC 25): [roll0]. Bruised and Dazed. Whatever.
Katie Will (DC 21): [roll1]. Literally did not fail a single save.
Rachel Will (DC 22, -4 for Bruises): [roll2]. Another Bruise. Like she cares.

EDIT: Yeah, no, we're done here.

All PCs are on turn may post freely.

[CandyLaser]

"Sarah?" Sarah said. "Help me over here. We can remotely sever Maul's link to the machine. Everyone else, track down the one that got away. I've got some questions for him, after Katie's freed." Still in her armor, she flew over to the machine and began tinkering with it, directing her counterpart on how to perform the operations she'd discovered earlier to safely shut the machine down.

I don't believe I can fail the Technology check to break Maul's link with the machine; assuming the other Sarah's in the same boat we can deactivate Maul's helmet in 2 rounds, or 1 with extra effort.

[SuperCracker]

Outside of the museum, Ronin saw one of the Breaker Knights making a... break for it. He was fast. Really fast. Ronin took a few seconds to take a deep breath and flick Breaker Knight blood from his sword. He never took his eyes off of the direction Maul traveled in.

When Fred was good and ready, he floated up into the air, took a step forward, then blasted off at a speed normally reserved for Quicksilver or the Flash.

Cut to Maul, who was flying away as fast as he could. He looked like he was home free... In a flash, an angry Fred Broll appeared in his path. He was too close for Maul to avoid and Maul was going too fast to stop. Ronin drew his sword and slashed hard at the last Breaker Knight as he came by. The slash itself stunned Maul and stalled his momentum. Fred took the pommel of his sword and smashed it down onto the back of Maul's neck (power stunt move object), firing the Knight down into the dirt outside of Gotham City.

As the villain twitched and tried to scramble towards his hammer, Ronin floated down to earth, landing with his foot on top of the Knight's weapon.

"You don't ever f*ck with my family."

Whatever retort Fred would have received was cut off with another slash to incapacitate Maul.

With that done, Fred grabbed the Knight and his Hammer and was back at the Museum in a matter of seconds. As he came in, he unceremoniously dumped Maul and his hammer on the floor, then dispatched the remaining stunned Breaker Knight's in a not too kind way.

[Starsign]

Pain can be rejected for only so long as Rene finds it slithering back into his mind like an aching disease. Mace, without his armor, is left helpless and, quite frankly, pointless to the reptilian. The only threat left was Maul. The only prey remaining taking off in its own defeat.

"No, no... no..." Rene hisses between his many sharp teeth. He can't let this straggler go, not like this. "Come back, come back...!" Another agonizing hiss comes out of Rene's mouth as he bends over forward. The gravity-manipulating mace and shield he now holds give off a gentle lull to keep him from falling flat on his scaly snout.

...Yeah, Rene's in no condition to give chase. Better leave it to the samurai mutant that's already taken off after Maul.

Rene puts the mace down and, perhaps bizarrely, presses the shield against his scaly underbelly to keep him held up. The technology behind this... thing is impressive, whatever tech this is. Where did they get that alongside that Lotus Br-

Oh ****, right, Katie!

Following Sarah's instructions, Rene slithers around the museum, coming off more as floating thanks to the shield, and one-by-one removes the helmets as fast as he can. Super-speed makes this trivial task all the quicker, especially when the damn machine is still going. That thing has to be shut down.

...But at least it's all over soon, right? With the last helmet removed, Rene makes a not-so-subtle squeeze of Agent Serum's hand. The two have been aching over this all morning. Soon, soon maybe that aching will end. Rene's been through enough horror as it is.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"WOO! We kicked butt!" Sarah-27663 cheered as the last Breaker Knight fled, signalling a clear end to the battle. The size of the smile on her face might have made her look kinda unfamiliar. Don't get me wrong, Sarah-27663 had solid combat tech and had used it to good effect before. But, well, let's just say she wasn't particularly used to clean-cut, unmitigated victory. Usually something went wrong...

"Oh right sure!" she said as Sarah asked her to help, blinking over to assist...mainly just following Sarah's instructions, though. And very carefully at that. Sarah-27663 had, you know, decent general technical know-how, but outside of the various blueprints in her head, actual super-science was...not something she was super-great at.

Serum seemed to have a similar idea to Fred - by the time he got back, she was already tazing Mace unconscious with her lightning saber and no particular sense of mercy. Kitty came floating back into the room as Fred KOed Gauntlets. She gave him a look, made a quick mental calculation, and then headed over towards Serum. "If you wouldn't mind passing out any more of those healing potions or whatever," remember, even if Kitty wasn't as big a nerd as Fred, she was still his foremost partner in nerdery, "I think a couple of us could use some." She meant Builder too, although he was already regenerating anyway, but yeah, she was staring at Fred with a "get over here and don't argue" look. Someone had to be responsible for making sure his body didn't actually fall apart, and since he wasn't interested in the job...

It was as Kitty was making that request that Rene took Serum's hand.

It was very subtle and very brief, but for just an instant Serum squeezed his hand back, and her shoulders sagged just slightly, as if from relief.

She gave him a just-slightly-weirded-out look at the gesture. I mean, how often does basically a stranger just try to hold your hand? Not even counting the stranger being a giant lizard-man. "Um?" she asked him, some emotion cracking her mantle of professionalism for the first time. And that emotion was clearly discomfort.

Although...there was also a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Between the helmets Rene had collected and her own tech skills and understanding of the machine's workings (and, sure, a bit of careful assistance from her alternate-universe self, I suppose), Sarah had the Lotus Breaker disabled in short order.

Although, kinda interesting note. While Katie's magical energy readout had dropped some when the Lotus Breaker started using her powers, it hadn't...actually dropped too far.
And you noticed it didn't seem to be lowering pretty much at all during those last few uncontrolled pulses of the machine's power. It ended up hovering a bit over 30%. Even taking into account augmentation from the device, you've seen Katie doing intensive spellcasting often enough to know that she should not have that much energy left after all that.

Given that A) Katie's magic is based at least in some part on belief, B) Katie's always said that raw magical oomph isn't really her thing, and C) Katie was not sufficiently conscious to believe or disbelieve anything there, this was evidence suggestive (though certainly not conclusive) of the possibility that Katie might have been technically capable of more magical output than she believed she was, if those very beliefs had not been standing in the way of it.

The wires retracted from Katie, the glass door of the cell slid soundlessly open, and after a few moments, she blinkingly opened her eyes. And pretty much immediately half-collapsed forward to throw a hug around Sarah (since she was closest).

And it should surprise nobody to know that despite (and, eh, maybe also kinda because of) whatever she had gone through in the Lotus Breaker, Katie's first concern was for someone else. "Oh my God Sarah oh thank God you're okay! Oh God Rachel! Is Rachel okay? She was trapped in Cerebro and-"

"Um..." Sarah-27663 interrupted awkwardly, standing like a statue in Katie's arms. "I think you've got the wrong Sarah..."

Katie blinked and kinda stumbled back, looking between the two and actually noticing the differences. "Oh. Um. Sorry. Uh. ...Hi," she said, set back on her heels for a second, but collecting herself quickly enough to give the correct Sarah a hug this time, and honestly an even tighter one to make up for the mistake.

"Hi... Man this is a weird universe..."

Kayla, who had evidently been either paralyzed with terror or just completely in over her head watching the battle and as such silent throughout, finally breathed over Ronin's commlink when Katie was freed, "Oh thank God!"

Her voice was a little garbled though as nearly-simultaneously Hank's voice came in, "Rachel's back. I'm checking her out but so far it doesn't look like she's suffered any long-term damage. Will you hold still?"

Rachel's voice followed up, just a touch blearily, "I'm fine. Barely even a nosebleed. Is Potence alright?"

...Obviously, it's a hero thing. Speaking so as to be heard both in person and over comms, Kitty ordered, "Right. We're going the X-Mansion. Healing and medical examinations for everyone. Hank decides the order in which people get checked out. No arguments." Kitty considered herself to be way too young and hip to be Team Mom but here we are apparently.

[SuperCracker]

Ronin stood by and waited for Katie to be taken out of the Lotus Breaker. Though not seriously injured, he was bleeding in several spots and looked like he at least needed a band aid or two. He wiped Starsoul clean and formally sheathed the sword back into it's dark purple sheath. Fred placed his left hand on the pommel and patted it twice in appreciation. Another battle won. Another day saved.

From behind his shades, Fred caught Kitty looking at him and assessing his damage. Something pathological in him didn't like that... Wished she had been putting her attention on Katie or checking on Rachel. But he gave her a small smile and a nod of acquiescence. His smile lingered warmly. Side note: If they ever worked with Serum again, he was definitely going to call her stuff healing potions. Exclusively.

Katie came out from the machine and acted like Katie. Ronin heard Hank and, most importantly, Rachel. He softly signed in relief. He agreed with Kitty that all the injured should go immediately to the school. He made his way over for Katie and Kitty.

"As long as it's Rachel and Katie first, I'll agree to that." He gave Kitty a smirk.

" Hey kid," he said to Teen Saturn, "I think you have what it takes to be a good street sam. If you ever want, I'll take you on as a student "

Fred smoothed Katie's hair and touched his forehead to the top of hers in a familial gesture. "None of it was real. None of it will be real. Everyone is ok."

He stepped back and took Kitty by the hand, bringing her in closer. "If anyone needs a ride to the school, now's your chance." After anyone who wished to came over, he took a glance at his wrist. They all vanished and reappeared in the school infirmary.

"Katie. Sit." He said with authority. "I'll be right back Kayla is already here somewhere." Fred then headed off to look for Rachel. The combination of where they had left things and her being dramatically endangered by the Lotus Breaker made him feel like he had to do something. When he found her, he scooped her up in a hug and held it for a long time. It's complicated... But just like for Katie, he will always be there.

[Starsign]

It only took a few moments before Fred offers a trip to the X-Men Academy that a pair of scaly, charred arms wrap around Katie in one of the most desperately heartfelt hugs she's ever been given.

"K-Katie!"

Rene's shaken, pained voice hisses out as he holds her tightly. His red eyes begin to water in sheer relief of the outcome. Katie's alright; she's alright! It's impossible for him to imagine what she was going through, what kind of nightmare brought out her powers like that. To even think about it squirmed his cold-blooded stomach. He's had his reality and mind twisted, tortured and turned by the Totem and it left the Builder scarred for life. How much worse could Katie's time have been?

His red eyes twitch over to Serum, aware how important this must be to her. "Oh thank god, thank god..." he says quietly, only loud enough for Katie to hear clearly. His tail wraps around his scaly, bent legs as he tries to calm down. "Katie, are you alright? What happened? Why did this happen?!"

...Yeah the reptile-man is not quite calming down. For all he knows, these knights had attacked her apparently randomly. Yet they also had that giant, damn machine all hooked up just for her. Why?

It's actually quite telling that he fails to notice in his sad panic that he ends up coming along with Fred, Katie, and the others back to the Academy. It ultimately didn't matter to him. What's important is that everyone is now safe.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah predicted the hug was incoming and bore it with her customary stoicism. "I don't know why you're concerned for me. You're the one who needs medical attention. Speaking of which..." She extracted herself from the hug as best she could and turned to Kitty. "I can check everyone out as well; I'm a fully qualified doctor and surgeon, and I've got medical facilities ready. But I understand if you'd prefer to work with people you know."

Expertise (Magic): [roll0]. I'll use Polymath to grab Second Chance and Skill Mastery, so if that fails I'll take 10 on the reroll.

Addressing Katie once again, she dropped her voice, pitching it lower so as not to be overheard. "I noticed something odd about your magic, Katie - I think you have more magical power than you've previously displayed. We can talk more about it later, but it's worth looking into."

[Quellian-dyrae]

As Rene wrapped her in a big bear (lizard, whatever) hug, and Fred rested his head against her's, Katie briefly closed her eyes and let out a slightly shuddery sigh of relief. There was nothing, but nothing, that brought her more comfort than being close to the people she loved.

Rene asked her if she was alright. "I'm..." she began to say, but...she was not Fred. And the word she had intended to say was not truth. She was ecstatic that the past few subjective days she had experienced were not reality, that her friends were alive and her world still spinning. But the memories remained, as all her memories did, locked indelibly into the steel trap that was her head.

She was relieved, absolutely. But she was not fine.

He asked what happened and why. Katie just gave a minute shake of her head. While she wasn't exactly opposed to sharing her troubles with her friends, she wasn't ready. Right now, the memory of those visions, those experiences, were stuffed in a box in the basement of her mental castle. Out of sight wasn't out of mind, but it was close enough for the time being. She'd have to unpack that box eventually, but not now.

Fred said it wasn't real, and it won't be real. She pressed her head a bit harder against his. She recognized the thoughts behind those words, just as he had her's back in Troy. He knew.

After witnessing the bared power of Darkseid (or at least, a very realistic facsimile thereof)...because she was a wizard, she had to be honest with herself and admit she wasn't sure she believed him. She took her fears that he was wrong and stuffed them, too, in the box in the basement.

"Thank you, you guys," Katie said quietly, the words seeming entirely insufficient to the feelings they were meant to convey. "And, and I'm sorry, that you had to-"

"Oh please!" Kitty cut off her apology. Katie reached out to hug her (giving Sarah the chance to extricate herself) and...her arm passed right through her. Kitty wore an impish little grin, and Katie shot her a tiny glare, and she was solid for the second attempt.

Sarah offered her services as a doctor, and Kitty said, "Even better!"

Fred offered transport. Sarah-27663 tentatively walked over. She wasn't...super-sure that invitation was strictly meant for her, but it was probably smart to stay near the Sarah that, you know, lived here, and stuff. It also gave her the opportunity to ask, "Um...what's a street sam, now? I'm not sure we have those where I come from..."

Serum didn't approach. She may have worn a little satisfied smile watching the group, but she maintained professional decorum. "I'll call in a team to handle cleanup here."

Katie looked her way with a slightly puzzled expression. She didn't know Sarah-27663 personally, sure, but she understood the gist of who she was (she was actually really grateful, and a little bit ashamed, that Sarah had called in one of her alternates for the rescue - she knew she didn't really do that as much as she used to, and while the super-science went over her head, she understood it well enough to know that it was harder than it used to be). But...she didn't know Serum at all. "Um...thanks?" she asked as much as said.

Serum was intuitive enough to get it. "Serum. Agent of SHIELD," she introduced herself. "Fury sent me."

"Oh. ...That was nice of him. Um, thank him, for me?" Katie requested.

"Sure."

"You should come with us, actually," Kitty said. "We're good on doctors, but you're the one with the healing potions."

"I have healing," Katie said immediately in her usual idiom, reaching out with a few dim sparks of light flickering briefly around her hand before they faded out and she wobbled unsteadily. "Woooooooah. Okay, I guess I don't have healing. I thought the stupid parademon fight wasn't real..." More evidence for Sarah, though - since Katie objectively had enough magic in her to cast a few healing spells, the only explanation for why she couldn't now was that she was unable to tap into that energy for some reason, probably unaware it even existed.

Serum flicked her thumb down her lightsaber hilt a few times, releasing some small syringes of her serum and handing them to Kitty. "Probably best we don't leave these guys unattended."

"Fair enough," Kitty said, taking the syringes. The next moment, the group was in the X-Mansion infirmary. Kitty passed out the syringes to the injured, taking one for herself (she had a burn on one arm from Gauntlets, it wasn't anything serious, but it seemed like a good opportunity to lead by example).

Katie gave a kinda lopsided smile and sat down at Fred's order. Her eyes lit up when he told her Kayla was here.
She'd have linked her with Shared Awareness immediately if she had enough energy to power anything more than a cantrip. One dose of the serum easily healed the little holes from the Lotus Breaker's wires and such, and the big bruise on her face.

She gave Sarah a curious look when she told her she thought she had more power than she had shown previously. Between first being unable to defeat or escape the Breaker Knights, and now how exhausted she was, she sure didn't feel like it. "O-okay," she said when Sarah told her they could talk about it later.

Kitty set a hand wordlessly on Katie's shoulder, and followed after Fred, wanting to check on Rachel for herself as well. When they got there, Hank was shining one of those little doctory magnifying glass light things (I'm pretty sure that's the accurate medical terminology) in her eyes and she was being patient. Emphatically. There were some little streams of dried blood on her face, running down from her nose, and a small puddle of blood on the floor by Cerebro. But honestly, as psychic nosebleeds went, Fred had seen worse. Kayla wasn't in the room anymore though, and they hadn't passed her on the way.

Rachel stood kinda frozen when Fred hugged her, for juuuust long enough for it to be awkward. Then she tentatively returned the hug. Of course, since Rachel enjoyed openly acknowledging her feelings about as much as Fred did (and, frankly, had already done quite enough of that today, before being so rudely interrupted), she pretty much immediately retreated to the more comfortable territory of affectionately-teasing snark. "Yeah, yeah. You're such a sap, Broll."

Maybe it wasn't warmest response to an outside glance, but you had to know the culture. If was a familial thing. That kind of sisterly ribbing...it was normal. Not capital-N Normal. Not normal-with-extreme-prejudice. Just...normal. It was exactly the sort of response Fred might have expected from her year ago, in a situation like this.

[Starsign]

Rene isn't a threat to the X-Men, but the reptilian-humanoid thought best to keep himself in the mansion's infirmary. The mutants here probably aren't used to an actual monster wandering the halls and he certainly is in no condition to do so. His charred and static scales roast in pain even as his regeneration heals the worst of it; nevermind the aching and soreness that usually follow his recovery.

So the rather large, cold-blooded, green-yellow scaled reptilian sits down on the infirmary floor, staying next to Katie as she rests on the chair. Rene almost feels lost. What can he say to Katie? She's exhausted, tired, and gone through whatever hell that the machine sent her through. Rene knows better than anyone that you don't recover easily from trauma. There's this sense of... hopelessness... in Rene that he really can't do much for her. His own experience is like throwing horror-inducing jade-colored glasses over his eyes.

...It's a terrifying experience to live with.

Unsure and awkward, Rene lifts his left clawed hand and places the cold palm gently on Katie's own right hand. The lack of heat from Rene's cold-blooded body is not entirely comforting but it still gives the feel that there's others looking out for her. "K-Katie?" His coarse voice is still rather shaken. He's not over his panic from earlier. "Should I let Mr. Arlington know you're alright?" Hopefully Gethsemane was able to help the old man while everyone else was in Gotham. Arlington will want to know the good news as soon as possible.

[CandyLaser]

Fred offered transport. Sarah-27663 tentatively walked over. She wasn't...super-sure that invitation was strictly meant for her, but it was probably smart to stay near the Sarah that, you know, lived here, and stuff. It also gave her the opportunity to ask, "Um...what's a street sam, now? I'm not sure we have those where I come from..."
"Street sam..." It took Sarah - the local Sarah - a fraction of a second to recall the phrase, and when she answered it was like talking to a dictionary. "Street sam: short for street samurai. A term from the roleplaying game Shadowrun. Street samurai are a popular character archetype from that game; they specialize in physical combat and typically have extensive cybernetic augmentations."

After arriving at the school, Sarah busied herself checking over the patients, verifying the excellent work done by the medical staff there and lending a hand wherever necessary.

She gave Sarah a curious look when she told her she thought she had more power than she had shown previously. Between first being unable to defeat or escape the Breaker Knights, and now how exhausted she was, she sure didn't feel like it. "O-okay," she said when Sarah told her they could talk about it later.
"Don't worry about it for now. I can build a device to establish your levels of magical energy. Science doesn't lie, even about magic. If I need to I can introduce you to Sarah-33. She works with the League of Shamans alongside Supermage (http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Kal-El_(Earth-33))." Sarah had always believed that magic was just another sort of energy, one which operated along an orthogonal set of natural laws. And there were no laws that were beyond the comprehension of a Saturn.

[SuperCracker]

Fred pulled back from the hug with a small smile. The friendship felt repaired. A massive weight was off of his shoulders. Fred withdrew slowly. “Yeah,” he responded, “But if you tell anyone I’ll hurt you.” He was wearing shades still, but she’s a psychic. She knew he winked anyway.

And, using the ending hug as cover, Fred stuck her in the arm with the syringe that he had been given (that had been intended for him). “Healing potion.” He didn’t look at Kitty. He knew what look he’d be getting. “Come on, you’re going to the infirmary.” He waved her down the hall as he turned to walk, side by side with Kitty as usual. After giving Rachel the serum, he was once again the most beat-up person in the room. He cared as much about it as he usually did.

“Hey Kitty. Got a spare?” Starsoul chimed in. Though the sword almost always followed Fred’s game plan, it too could get annoyed. “Don’t hand it to him. You can’t give him stuff like that.”

Fred didn’t comment. “Where did Kayla go?” Remembering that he’s on comms with her… “Kayla, where are you?”

As the troupe marched into the infirmary, Fred gestured to Teen Saturn. “What do you say, kid? I can teach you a thing or two. If you’re anything like our Sarah Saturn, you can portal here anytime.”

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie gave a kinda embarrassed grimace when Rene asked if he should tell Mr. Arlington she was okay. "Mr. Arlington knows abut this? I hope he isn't too worried..." she said. She reached for her phone and nope that wasn't there. Sigh. "Um, yeah, Rene, if you could let him know I'd appreciate it." Katie wasn't quite as obsessive about it as Fred, but it still bothered her to have worried everyone.

"I've played one a couple times. They're fun," Katie added to Sarah's explanation, as if it would help with the decision.

Katie wasn't particularly familiar with other dimensions, but... "...Is Supermage what I think it is?" she asked a bit deadpan. Because if it was, that seemed entirely unfair. She wondered how that would work, a machine to read her magical energy. She'd never thought of something like that.

Rachel looked pointedly at Fred's injuries, then at the tiny little spots of blood on the floor from her nosebleed, and gave him the exact same look Kitty was giving him. Kitty just gave an exasperated sigh in response to Starsoul's question. She filled Hank in on the walk back.

Kayla replied to Fred in a kinda rushed, awkward stammer, "It, I, um, Bea- I mean, Hank, or, well, he came in and I didn't want to be in the way, so I just went, to, you know, watch and...I'm on my way back!"

...Yeah she was totally paying more attention to the video feed than where she was going and got lost.

...No. Actually, she's totally lying.

When the X-Men got back into the infirmary, Katie jumped up and went to give Rachel a quick hug. "Thank you!" she told her fiercely, before stepping back. "Are...are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. You good?"

Katie hesitated a moment, still not quite willing to declare herself "fine", but instead replied with all the cheer she could muster (which, this being Katie, was not-inconsiderable, trauma or no trauma), "I'm...definitely better!"

"Alright, let's make sure of that conclusively, shall we?" Hank suggested, guiding Katie back to her seat to give her a brief cognitive evaluation (since he already had Rachel and he knew better than to think Fred would consent to treatment before everyone else was declared in good health).

Sarah-27663 seemed a bit hesitant, although she was absolutely self-aware enough to recognize that she could use some tutelage. Ever since her grandfather had died, she'd been basically having to figure everything out on her own. If you had to describe her situation in as few words as possible, you probably couldn't do much better than "in over her head". On the other hand, what she most needed to get a handle on wasn't really the fighting stuff. Then again, being better at that might at least reduce the need for trying to put together some crazy contraption to hopefully save more of the day than it set on fire... "I...guess? Um, depending on how possible it is, I suppose. Travel between universes can be...finicky, sometimes."

"Um, when we're done here," Katie said, "We should...probably go back and, like...destroy that machine thing. Right? That...doesn't seem like something that should be left in-tact?"

[CandyLaser]

"I'll take care of it," Sarah volunteered quickly when the subject of destroying the Lotus Breaker came up. It was the first time all day that her normal cool, detached resolve seemed to break. The truth was, she was excited about the chance to investigate an unfamiliar technological base She didn't have much Asgardian tech in her vaults; her grandfather had been pretty much entirely terrestrial when he made his initial trip back in time, so that's what she had. Now that Katie was safe, Sarah could move on to more interesting tasks.

[Starsign]

Feeling a bit relieved at Katie's relative safety, Rene stands up and taps the small commlink hooked on the earhole on the right side of his head. "Gethsemane?" His voice still trembles slightly. As much as it's over, the reptilian can't help but still feel a bit hopeless and, in a sense, useless. Not that he is useless; he's done a lot to help save Katie today. And yet, the reptilian humanoid feels anything he can say to Katie isn't going to help ease her trauma.

Now it's not entirely his job to do so. That's what Fred is for and that's presumably what this academy can help with... But it's never great when all Rene can do is hope and pray.

"Katie's safe," he continues, telling Gethsemane over the commlink. "Let Arlington know she's alright." He keeps the message short and quick. Even with how rough his scaly voice is, especially over a static commlink, Gethsemane should be able to tell how shaky Rene sounds. The not-so-sane and inhuman creature does not exactly inspire confidence.

Trying to get his mind off things, Rene looks back to Sarah-27663 as a thought comes to his mind. "Hey, Sarah?" he asks, pauses, then clarifies, "The other Sarah. You mentioned me before when we met. What was I like in your universe?" This other Sarah mentioned Rene as if he had Superman's recognition, an idea that fails to appear even in Rene's best dreams.

At Katie's question, Rene grits his sharp teeth together beneath his closed mouth. He doesn't like to just leave his friend but she has made a good point. "Oh, I'll go back," he speaks up, contrasting Sarah's excited words with his more-shrill mood. "We gotta tie up all the... uh, armor guys we left there." Who were they, anyway?

[SuperCracker]

"Tie up," Fred said both quietly and sarcastically. More like throw them into the sun. He sat down in one of the chairs beside Kitty, waiting until Katie, Rachel, and Kitty had been thoroughly cleared by Hank before submitting to medical attention. Fred took a warm wet cloth and wiped the blood from his face and touched up his cuts. Nothing that would prevent him from fighting... or going back out that evening for more work.

"Kayla, don't touch anything," he gently chided. Super genius getting lost. Funny.

Frederick Broll smiled a small smile, looking out at his friends. Looking at Katie. Another day saved.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie nodded gratefully when Sarah offered to deal with the machine. Suited her fine. She needed a nap!

"Thanks, Rene," she said with a gentle smile.

"Acknowledged," Gethsemane replied. Rene could hear over the commlink as she said, "Just heard from Builder. Potence safe."

Sarah-27663 looked...a little bit put on the spot at Rene's question. "I mean...I don't know him personally just...he has a reputation, I guess. I don't really know how best to explain it. It's like...he's not the most powerful of the Green Lanterns, or anything, as I understand it. But I guess it's kinda a big deal that his constructs are permanent? I think that's where he got his name."

"I'm not seeing any indications that either of you will suffer any long-term damage. It would probably be best to get a CAT scan to be safe-"

"I've already looked both of our brains over. They're fine," Rachel interrupted with a bit of a smirk. CAT scan. Please.

"-but other than that, I think all you two need is some rest. You may consider that doctor's orders."

"Sold!" Katie agreed brightly.

Hank went over to Fred, caught his stare, gave a little sigh and went to Kitty first. She had taken the healing serum potion like a good superhero and as such was fully healed, but nonetheless she continued to lead by example and let Hank confirm she was uninjured. Then he went over to start bandaging Fred up, or stitching him up where needed.

Kayla arrived about then, coming in at a run, and Katie was on her feet with a speed that belied her fatigue. The twins hugged each other tight.

"I was so scared," Kayla whispered.

"...Me too," Katie said, just as quietly.

After several moments they let go of each other, and Kayla looked to Rachel, and to Fred. "Thank you," she said, a bit awkwardly...maybe even a bit guiltily, before sweeping the room with her gaze. "A-all of you. Thank you all so, so much!"

Let's see, I don't really have much else planned here, so it's all you guys. If you want to keep going here we can, or we can shift over with my next post. I haven't heard back from Herod yet so I'm going to send him another PM, but in the meantime I figure I'll run some "sandbox scenes" if that sounds good to everyone. If I haven't heard back by the time those are done, we'll figure out what to do from there.

[Starsign]

I'm a Green Lantern?!

Rene's jaw-dropped mind silently thinks over Sarah-27663's words about his alternate universe self. He's not the most familiar with the Lantern Corps. In fact, he mostly knows that the Green Lanterns are a big deal in the universe and that some of them are heroes on or from Earth. But that's enough for Rene to realize how significant his alternate self must be over there. Even if Rene-27663 may not be as renowned as a Justice League member, he still must be huge. A hero and a significant Green Lantern to boot. That's... just amazing.

Sarah-27633 must be really disappointed in the Builder that she's seen today...

Ready to help the other Sarah tidy up the mess that was left, Rene gives one last look at the two sisters for today. Seeing Katie and Kayla back together is heartwarming after a good 10 minutes that felt like an eternity.

It's a good image to see and one that'll help him sleep well tonight.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Happy Thanksgiving
Complication: A Motley Crew of Friends and Family (Relationships)

When you had been growing up, your Aunt Judith had never really had much in the way of money for extravagant meals. Or, in all fairness, much in the way of talent for preparing them. I'm not going to say you owed your life to Kraft and Top Ramen, but I'm not going to say you didn't, either. Even so, she always, always, made the effort on Thanksgiving. It didn't matter if it was just the two of you, Thanksgiving Dinner was Thanksgiving Dinner, by thunder!

Now, when you were growing up, she had played it cautious. Pre-cooked store-bought turkey, Stove Top stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, frozen corn, canned sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, Pillsbury dinner rolls. She had discovered the green beans+onion straws+cream of mushroom = green bean casserole trick when you were about eight, and that was about as elaborate as it got. She didn't risk dinner trying to prepare it from scratch.

And look, no one's knocking those products. That stuff's tasty. But, when she was growing up, Thanksgiving Dinner had been a whole elaborate home-cooked affair. She still had her parents' recipes, buried in a cookbook in a closet. And she wanted you to be able to have the experiences she had.

So once you were old enough to help and she was a bit more financially secure, she started taking the shot at actually making it from scratch. Just some of the sides, at first (with the packaged stuff ready to sub in if needed). But these days, she went whole-hog. The fact that this had happened the same year she had learned about you joining the X-Men (who, of course, offered you both a standing invitation to join them for Thanksgiving Dinner, offering a darn solid backup option if things went wrong) was probably entirely a coincidence.

Nobody's saying either you or Aunt Judith were master chefs, but the meal was solidly edible a good fifty percent of the time, and had managed to be good another quarter! And had set the entire house on fire a spectacular zero times (so far!)

So, it was ten AM Thanksgiving day. You were just arriving at Aunt Judiths house for what would be a full day of cooking. Realistically, this didn't need to happen. The X-Men put out quite the Thanksgiving spread and their doors were always open. Katie had also invited at least the entire team to her place (and had followed up on the text with one that added, Oh! And bring whoever you want, we'll have plenty of food! followed by a disconcertingly complex string of emojis. She and Kitty would undoubtedly shortly be at war on Facebook posting pictures of their respective meals. You and Aunt Judith could have easily spent Thanksgiving at either or both (Fred's appetite has been well established by this point) of those places without any hassle.

And you know, maybe that's what you'd end up doing, if preparations didn't go so well. But Aunt Judith always wanted to give it a try first. After all, it was tradition.

So, I realized that throughout the game so far there hasn't really been much screen time for Fred and Judith, so I took the opportunity to set some up. That said, you are welcome to timeskip the cooking, say that the dinner went poorly this year, and head elsewhere if you'd rather have a wider range of NPCs to interact with. Or of course you can roll an untrained Expertise (Cooking) Team Check and see what happens based on that! :smallamused:

A Caged Phoenix
Complication: The Ironic Fact That Almost Every NPC Rene Has A Personal Relationship With Is In Some Sort of Prison or Something (Accident, I Guess? Maybe Relationship...)

If there's one thing you could say about Project Tomorrow, it was that it inspired some pretty wild team-ups.

To wit: Be honest, a year ago you probably never would have imagined you'd ever be teaming up with She-Hulk, right?

It was a bright day in Gotham. Well, it was an overcast day in Gotham, but we grade on a curve here. The Project had acquired a couple blocks in one of the more run-down areas of the city. In her civilian identity, Jenn Walters had already done a lot in filing paperwork, acquiring permits, and so on. Now that the legalities were all in order, though, she was here in her heroic identity to help you implement Phase 2.

See, the land the project had purchased was currently filled with old, dilapidated, abandoned buildings. Your job was to replace those with sturdy, clean, comfortable structures that could then be put to use as low-cost housing, shelters, and so on. She-Hulk's job was to, ah, let's call it "requisition the required building materials and free up the necessary space".

Sometimes, a Hulk's just gotta smash.

You were just putting the finishing touches on your fifth building of the day, when you heard someone drop down behind you. A green light cast your shadow out ahead of you, and a stentorian voice said, "Rene Reynolds."

Standing behind you, dressed in full mask and costume and with verdant light shining from his ring, was Hal Jordan. The Green Lantern.

...That's Your Evil Plan?
Complication: Old, Dark Flames (Enemy)

It was supposed to be just a simple trip to the bank.

Well, simple was a relative term, anyway. It might be going too far to say demons needed money, even when operating on Earth. But money was definitely useful to them to have. It (love of it, whatever) may or may not have been the root of all evil, but there was no denying that used properly, it could be the root of a rather delicious amount of it. Last time you had been on Earth you'd had the opportunity to put some away. Fifty years of compound interest wasn't nothing, and while you may have no longer needed it to tempt mortals and finance deals and the like, it wasn't like it would hurt to have access to it. Or you could give it to charity or something, whatever.

Now, granted, proving that the accounts were yours would probably be something of a challenge. And it...wasn't impossible that the Home Office had managed to gain control of the accounts in the interim. But still, it was worth trying, and if there was an upside to having your emotions completely flooded out by waves of pure compassion, it had to be immunity to mundane annoyance and frustration, right?

But when you got to the bank...something felt off. A subtle but familiar vibe. It took a few moments to put your finger on it, but because you knew exactly what to look for, it didn't take too terribly long for you to realize...

It wasn't the tellers, but every actual banker in the place was actually a demon.

Lotus Hacking

Hawksbill was, of course, equipped to store more than just villains. It was an excellent facility for holding potentially dangerous objects of technology, magic, or other power sources. Not only did it offer robust containment measures, but even if something catastrophic occurred, it wasn't like it could hurt anything this far in the past. There wasn't much opportunity for the butterfly effect when you were so far back that not just butterflies, but insects in general had yet to evolve.

It had taken a bit of effort, after Serum had called SHIELD in, but you had managed to take custody of the Lotus Breaker due in part to the fact that Fury somehow knew about Hawksbill and how secure it was, in part to your sterling heroic reputation, and in part to the fact that the Lotus Breaker Device was really big and you were the one with personal portal technology. I'll leave determining which of those was the most significant factor in the decision as an exercise for the reader.

Now, the ancient Asgardian torture device was sitting inert in whatever area or chamber or bunker or whatever Hawksbill had reserved for such dangerous objects, the six suits of armor - still damaged from the battle - that were tied to the machine lying behind it. Its defensive capabilities had been well established, but they all appeared to be latent, without anyone actually controlling the device. Or...possibly without anyone powering it? Hard to say, really. Maybe both.

I've intentionally left the status of the Breaker Knights ambiguous. Without the armor they're normal humans and U.S. citizens, so they do need to be turned over to proper authorities. That said, Sarah could certainly gain access to them for questioning, if desired.

[SuperCracker]

It was a busy time in Fred’s life. It was the start of the holiday season. In addition to the usual non-stop battle with evil, Fred had a number of other things adding to his plate this year. Going into the Feywyld to pluck a star from the sky for a gift for… cough… someone. Training harder than ever to prepare himself for the upcoming apocalypse. And his yearly battle with the Krampus. (Someone has to save Christmas.) But even with all of that, he was never going to miss Thanksgiving with Jeejee. As gorgeous as the dueling food pictures popping up on his Twitter (@SwordsNShades) were, they would have to wait… to be eaten for seconds and possibly thirds.

Aunt Judith got a knock on her door. When she answered, there he was. Chili Peppers shirt, jeans, and a classic “Kiss the Cook” apron Judith had bought him years and years ago. He wore a Karate Kid-style Rising Sun headband for maximum samurai spirit. “Jeejee,” he declared, “This year… we nail it!”

“The samurai chef has arrived! I double as both kitchen and paring knives.” Neither of those two even knew what a paring knife actually looked like. This was going to be a disaster.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane stops dead in the doorway of the bank, looking back and forth between the different teller stations as though she is confused as to where to go next.

In reality, her mind is working furiously. Remain undetected? too late; if physical appearance not enough (can assume glamour not effective on other demons), same method to identify others capable to be used by others as well. Flee? Possible, but untenable; demons naturally inquisitive, will follow-up presence of mid-level demon in their workspace. Fight? discarded; numbers, location unlikely to produce favorable result. Obfuscate? Possible; Indigo Ring obscure enough that identification, immediate hostility unlikely. Ramifications of heavy demonic presence within mid-levels of Gotham society cause for further investigation.

Slipping on a nervous smile, Gethsemane walks over to one of the open tellers. "Good morning; there seems to be an issue with an old bank account belonging to me," she begins, acting as though she was simply uncomfortable in larger crowds. Recluse character useful; garners sympathy, promotes mystery, means to other demons that character isn't interested in their business.

Gethsemane is currently using Glamour to look and sound like a middle-aged, brown-haired woman. Will DC 22 to disbelieve.

Deception to pretend to be a demon pretending to be a normal human instead of a redeemed demon pretending to be an unredeemed demon pretending to be a human: [roll0] (add 5 if Attractive applies... this is going to go terribly)

[Starsign]

When Rene learned he'd be teaming up with a lawyer, he didn't think he'd be helping with renovation.

When he learned said lawyer is She-Hulk, he couldn't believe he wouldn't be fighting crime!

Project Tomorrow was many things to the Builder; fighting supervillains felt like his number one job. Building and renovation, however, was the task he's most comfortable with. Usually he had to work on his own; after all, a lot of heroes didn't have the architectural knowledge and experience that he did. So it had been a wondrous surprise to get to work alongside She-Hulk renovating a massive lot of Gotham's land; and Rene got actual building tools for the job! He'd been rather tired of patch jobs with just his sticky tongue and clawed hands.

Getting the building materials from the old houses was a trivial task. His reptilian form, besides the incredible speed it worked at, let him carefully detach and remove bricks and wood at a time with precise claws or his heavy tail. It wasn't the quickest but time was not of the essence for the Builder.

*SMASH*

It was, however, for Jenn Walters. Rene found out the hard way that lawyers don't have a luxury of time.

Besides the, in his opinion, reckless destruction of valuable materials, the day had been relatively and wonderfully quiet. Days like these were when Rene is most calm, when his mind wasn't in a panic spiraling into insanity, and when he appreciated his powers most. His clawed hands and feet kept him steady as he slithered up the metal and brick supports and walls. His sticky tongue tightened up anything loose that nails and mortar could not fix. His hardened back scales and general fortitude protected him in the rare case he tumbled off into Gotham's concrete ground. Becoming a reptilian creature sucked; boy did it suck hard for what it's done to Rene's trauma and sanity; but the powers that came with his painful transformation did help make up for that.

The hunched reptilian was nailing down one last shingle on the fifth building, dull sunlight sprinkling down on his plate scales, when he looked up to find Green Lantern right in front of him. Needless to say, Rene still wasn't used to meeting the "big" superheroes of the world and nearly drops his pail of nails in shock. "Oh! Green Lantern. What are you doing here?" The reptilian's eye slits look on with minor twitching at the famous superhero. More specifically, Rene's looking at the clothing and ring.

...How did I ever fit in that? he wonders to himself. He still can't believe his 27633-self became a Green Lantern.

[CandyLaser]

Meanwhile, in the distant past...

Hawksbill Station was a good place for dangerous things. That's why the Joker was there, among other things. And that's why Sarah took the Lotus Breaker there, concealed in the dim recesses of prehistory. She hadn't brought the Knights back here, though. It was distinctly possible that some of them had technical abilities - after all, they had managed to get hold of some Asgardian tech and make it work - and while she was quite confident that her own abilities outpaced theirs dramatically, it seemed foolish to leave them in a place where they could access the Lotus Breaker as well as her own technology.

So while they stewed in SHIELD's custody (or possibly federal prison; she had to check) Sarah was playing with their toys. Her main goal, of course, was to learn more about it and about how it worked. The interface of magic and technology was a subject of increasing interest to her. But of course, her studies weren't merely academic. No, she was the practical kind. And her practical interest was to see if she could make the Lotus Breaker run without a victim inside it. Aside from its value as a weapon, it seemed to allow for wireless power transmission as well as creating a customized virtual environment for its occupant. Right now, though, she was trying to essentially trick the machine into thinking it was occupied, so that it would activate the armor without trapping anyone in a personalized hell.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aunt Judith answered the door, already wearing her own Karate Kid headband and an apron with a picture of a monster truck rolling over some smaller cars and big, metallic-looking letters reading "BIG MEALS COMING THROUGH". She greeted you with a hug and a warm, "Happy Thanksgiving!" When you said this was the year you nail it, her face brightened and she grabbed hold of your arm, saying excitedly, "You won't believe what I found!" She dragged you over to her computer, which you know was a few years out of date but whatever. On it was a YouTube video (it was entirely possible that Aunt Judith had never even heard of YouTube before today, but to be fair it had only started this past February so that was true of a lot of people) titled How To Cook A Thanksgiving Turkey. Not that you guys didn't have recipes and instructions already but hey this let you actually watch it step-by-step.

Wanda got there about an hour after you arrived. Aunt Judith answered the door and greeted her with a warm, "Happy Thanksgiving, dear." Wanda answered with a little smile and nod. She opened her mouth briefly as if to return the words, but they didn't seem to want to come out. After a moment she said instead, "Thank you for inviting me."

"Oh I'm sorry about that ma'am. Of course I'll be happy to assist you with that," the bank teller answered with professional courtesy. "Do you have the card associated with the account? Or if not, I'll just need the account number and a photo ID."

A couple of the "bankers" did look at you for a moment or two longer than would qualify as a passing glance, but then turned their attention back to what they were doing with no sign of concern. They were keen enough that that evidently noticed something off, but your illusion was good enough that they couldn't see through it.

"Apologies for the interruption. We've been holding the prisoners who remained behind after the Skrull and Kryptonians fled the Peak, pending trial. One of the prisoners, Caer-Sol, has recently been growing...restive." You could practically hear the understatement dripping from the words and splattering on the roof. One only hopes it wouldn't leave a stain. "We are concerned that she may be a danger to herself or others. We have been unable to calm her down, but another of the prisoners, J'onn J'onzz, had indicated that you had made something of a connection with her previously. It is his belief that you might be able to help her regain control. I am here to request that you accompany me to our holding facility to do so. Would that be possible?"

A few things became clear as you examined, tested, and tinkered with the machine. First, it wasn't strictly a synthesis between technology and magic. It didn't work like, say, when Katie augmented your devices, using scientific and technological principles to achieve the basic effect and then adding magic to smooth over those pesky laws of physics when they got in the way. It also wasn't quite a case of sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic. As you've noted before, magic was a pattern of existing forces that operated under a system of rules - this device seemed to be able to make use of those forces and rules. Crudely, to be fair - it was ancient Asgardian tech - but in some ways that only made it more useful to you. If normal supertech was like an early 20th century automotive technology, something like the Hammer of Thor or other modern Asgardian technology would be equivalent to your portal tech, whereas the Lotus Breaker would be more like a cutting-edge modern car. Sure, it had computerized systems and modern advancements beyond anything early auto engineering could hope to duplicate, but it was all attached to a more-or-less familiar framework. Point was, you could see the differences, and even extrapolate a bit about how they worked.

So far, though, getting it to work without someone inside of it didn't seem to be happening. You had successfully identified how it transferred energy to the armor over a distance - after all, sending energy a great distance was something you had experience with. This didn't work the way your portal-powered generators did; it relied on more magical principles, with elements of direct energy manipulation and also of principles that Katie probably would have called thaumaturgy. You were knowledgeable enough of magic to know that wasn't all there was to it, but the basic premise of "like affects like" was involved, and was the reason that the armor and machine were constructed of the same sort of material.
Although it wasn't entirely certain whether or not the material itself played an inherent role in the process. If not, or if you could get access to that material (or just, you know, break the Lotus Breaker and armor down for the raw materials) you could probably use it and some of the magitech you had identified here to improve the efficiency of your portal generators even further.

But while the transfer wasn't problematic, it was getting the energy into the Lotus Breaker in the first place that was a problem. Retrofitting the wiring and such to connect to other power sources was, of course, child's play for you. But even so, the machine just didn't seem to use any energy you input. Batteries, generators, whatever. It wasn't that you weren't generating enough energy - hooking it up to a few of your portal generators objectively provided far more raw energy than even a mage of Katie's level could have. It also wasn't an issue with the type of energy - you had access to a few magical devices for experimentation, and it hadn't been able to use their energy either. There was definitely something precluding it from using the energy you were inputting, but it wasn't immediately obvious as to what.

[Starsign]

There is a moment of uncanny stillness, and a painful sense of dread, in Rene as he hears Green Lantern's... orders. Yeah, let's call it that. He sure doesn't sound like he's asking Rene to come. Can Rene blame him? This is Caer-Sol, after all. This was someone who trained with J'onn way back and casually fought Zod during the prison break. It's worth panicking if she's become agitated in some way.

Which is why the reptilian feels his cold blood outright freeze. They've actually turned to him of all people. Normally, Rene would instead suggest whatever kryptonian or skrull therapist there is. He almost opened his many-fanged mouth to mutter that before stopping himself. It... doesn't take a genius to guess why someone would come to Rene about Caer-Sol. The two of them didn't meet since the prison incident but he was practically the only one who willingly thanked her for helping end the prison break. Even then, without her, Rene wouldn't have been able to help fight Gladiator while also dealing with Zod. And Caer-Sol helped despite being a prisoner herself.

To top all that off, she had also lost her cousin to the Misfits and her... personality, to put simply, must make it others to approach or understand her. Even if she trained with two other kryptonians as disciples of martial arts, there must be some sense of isolation from the life she's lived. If nothing else, Rene tried to help, however small it was.

There's a saying that only crazy understands crazy. He has no idea if this is true but he's not the first to doubt it.

Rene rests his clawed hands and feet on the shingles of the new house, setting the pain of nails on a wooden board next to it. "And... I'm able to help?" The question is purely hypothetical beneath the reptilian's slithery, concerned tone. He still can't help but wonder how desperate things must be if they're asking Rene. "Sorry. I've only met Caer-Sol once. I can do what I can, just not sure how much I can help." There's a pause. The thought of the worst-case scenario rushes through Rene's mind. What if he can't help her? Well at least he can say that he tried. If he didn't, he'd be clawing himself over it until the day he dies. However crazy she might be, if not because she's crazy, Rene can't simply reject the chance to help a friend.

He takes a deep breath through his scaly throat before slithering up to the edge of the rooftop. "Lemme just finish up. I'll just be a moment." One sudden green blur later and the house is all finished, nice, clean, and overall ready to be furnished.

...Okay there's a couple signs of a rush job, but She-Hulk will understand, right?

"Okay, I'm ready," the reptilian creature confirms with Green Lantern as Rene gets off the rooftop and onto the dry grass lawn. "How are we, um, going to get up there?" He points a claw upward, assuming Caer-Sol is still on the station that so-nearly got destroyed awhile back. Last time, he got on a shuttle; things sound bad enough that a more direct route may need to be taken.

[CandyLaser]

Traditionally, intelligence was associated with enjoying puzzles and the solving thereof. For Sarah, though, a puzzle was an annoyance. Solving puzzles wasn't enjoyable in itself. What it was was satisfying. A puzzle was an obstruction. It was something that stood in the way of her understanding the world. And when the puzzle was solved (which was inevitable), it was a sign that things were as they ought to be, and that another obstacle had been cleared from her path. Until that point, a puzzle was an annoyance. It was the loose tooth you couldn't help but play with, the bug you couldn't help but scratch.

That meant working with magic was always an irritant, and the Lotus Breaker doubly so. Energy was energy. The fact that this machine wasn't making use of it was mildly infuriating. Her best guess as to why it wasn't working was that there wasn't a mind in the mix. The right move would have been to do a painstaking investigation of all the machine's inputs and outputs, followed by constructing one or more devices to simulate the proper inputs and get the Breaker into the right state to receive the energy she was providing it. But that would take a while, and it wasn't guaranteed to work. There were other, quicker, methods which would allow her to test this hypothesis. She still had the Machinesmith's disembodied intellect around from when he'd been caught poking through her systems, but using him was an obvious bad idea. Somewhat better was using her mind.

So she started prepping herself for a trip into the Lotus Breaker. There were precautions to take: first and foremost, a timed release mechanism, designed to let her out after only twenty seconds in the device. Second: a failsafe for that, and a failsafe for the failsafe. Third: setting up an email dead man's switch in case all the failsafes failed, to alert the rest of the Misfits as to what happened. And finally: predicting the future. Hell, perhaps she could bootstrap paradox her way her way into the answer.

I'll use Precognition to get a sense for what will happen if Sarah puts herself in the Lotus Breaker.

[Zelphas]

"Of course," Gethsemane replied in her middle-aged guise, a slight twitch of the lips passing for a smile. She carefully pulled out the card and passed it to the teller, her gaze casually passing over the "bankers" around the building.

Glamour holding? Surprising. Suggests lower-level forces than expected. Mastermind may be below last ranking; if so, account may not be flagged... or may be flagged as call to Lower Downs. Will find out momentarily; expect teller to call banker over after checking card.

[SuperCracker]

Using the power of Youtube, Fred and Judith got to work. Instead of guesswork, they paid attention to the recipe. Fred resisted the urge to cut up vegetables with his sword and he used a proper knife. He still rapid-chopped with a precision that was downright scary – but he didn’t split the cutting board in two like he did last year. There were multiple times as they cooked that Fred silently stuck out his hand and Judith silently high fived. Nailing it!

Together, it was easy to tell that Judith had raised him. They were both huge dorks. She introduced him to music (she was always into funk and old classics; he had his own love for that kind of sounds) and she took him to see classic movies (including, once upon a time, Seven Samurai).

The point is, they had fun.

When Wanda came in, Fred stuck his head out from the kitchen. “Happy Turkey Day! Get in here and help me with the pumpkin pie!” He immediately invited her to partake in their tradition. He gave Wanda a warm hug. “Glad you came,” he said softly. There was a bond between Fred and Wanda, unlikely as it was. Hard not to be when you risk the multiverse to save a life.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Green Lantern's stentorian voice softened a bit when he answered your first question, losing some of the stiffly professional edge. "Honestly, I'm not sure. But...well, I've learned in my day to give credence to J'onn's instincts." Much though he might have been a prisoner to the Green Lanterns as an organization, Earth's Green Lantern was, himself, a Justice League alumni. He knew J'onn as the Martian Manhunter.

Evidently, despite everything, he still considered his word to carry weight.

He nodded at your request, waiting patiently while you finished things up. Once you had returned and asked how you were going to get there, he only gave you a bemused little smile. The next moment, the two of you were surrounded in a vibrant green energy construct. It had the outer shape of an oversized fighter jet, but inside there was room to walk around and couch-like seating sized large enough to fit you comfortably. Though it was all made of the same energy, the cushions of the "couches" were soft and plush, and he had even left some openings in the backing to allow for your tail. The construct was largely opaque in most places, but some sections were nearly entirely translucent, offering windows to look out of.

With nothing more than a thought from the Green Lantern, the jet took off. If you closed your eyes, you wouldn't even notice you were moving - there was no sense of acceleration or inertia. But if you looked out the windows, that illusion would be shattered into smaller pieces than She-Hulk had left the outdated buildings in.

You were flying through space. And not just a quick jaunt up to a space station, either. Earth shrank behind you at physics-defying speed, the planet dwindling down to the size of a gold ball, a dot, and then becoming lost to your site entirely. By the time you could find the sun, it looked no differently than any of the billions of other stars that went zipping past you like fireflies on a race track. In sparse seconds, you could see the whirling lights of the Milky Way trailing off behind you. Less than a minute later, and the galaxy itself might have been a single star in the night, as far as your vision could tell.

"We should be at Oa in a little under ten minutes," Green Lantern said as if he were giving you a ride to the local supermarket, taking a seat on one of the couches and leaning back, relaxed. "Is there anything you'd like to discuss in the meantime?"

...You know, it was actually kinda hard to say. One of the problems with predictive algorithms was that they got less and less useful the fewer variables you had to put into them, and as you ran your mental model on possible results of entering the Lotus Breaker, one of the first things that became clear was that you were still just scratching the surface of the ancient magitech. There was more to learn before you could really make a strong prediction.

Based on what you did know, though, you felt certain that you wouldn't be able to release yourself from it internally. That was easy enough to figure, considering what you had to go through to get Katie and Rachel free of it. You could be confident but not certain (supra-90%, as your grandfather would say) that your failsafes could get you out, since you had the helmets on hand to set them up. You could be similarly confident that if you did put yourself inside, you would experience the same sort of virtual reality that Katie had been exposed to, and fairly confident that it would be drawn from your own mind and as such...not particularly fun.

What you couldn't be certain of was whether the machine would cause some manner of harm to you. Without someone directing it it presumably wouldn't actively drain energy from you the way it had from Katie, to fuel powerful combat effects. But you couldn't be sure that it wouldn't passively drain energy from you to power the suits. If it did do so...there was a question of risk. Power didn't come from nowhere, after all. Superman got charged up by the rays of a yellow sun. The Flash had the Speed Force. Mutants had {honestly I have no idea what the explanation is for what powers mutant abilities, but let's be honest Sarah probably does}. And a wizard like Katie had a personal pool of magical energy. Call it mana or essence or life energy or aura or whatever. Point was, they were all able to produce or tap into some greater-than-biological energy resource to fuel their powers.

And while you absolutely tapped into an extremely powerful energy source to charge your technology, it wasn't quite the same thing. If this machine tried to drain energy from your body, you didn't really have evidence to say that you had some sort of greater reserve. If it tried to suck as much energy from you as it had from Katie, and you didn't have that kind of reserve, you'd be putting your life at risk, even with failsafes.

There might have been ways to mitigate that risk, but you couldn't predict them algorithmically; you'd just have to settle for good ol' fashion ingenuity for this one.

For the record, I'm not saying for sure that Sarah doesn't have some manner of powerful spirit/life force/whatever that could tank the drain - and she's got Fortitude 8 and Will 14 just her if I'm not mistaken, so if anything that's suggestive that she very well might. I see that as more for you to determine, but I figured it would be at least a concern, and one that Sarah herself may or may not know for sure.

Well, you called it. The teller gave you a slightly-brittle smile and said, "Oh, yes, there does seem to be a bit of an issue with the account. One moment please, I think this one will need to be passed up the chain."

She stepped away from the window and into a door leading back to the offices. About a minute later, she came back out with a slender, dark-haired man wearing a very nice suit. Like the bankers you had seen, you had no trouble placing him as a demon. He regarded you intently as they approached, clearly studying your appearance closely, but the flicker of an uncertain frown passed across his face. It appeared your illusion was still holding strong.

He came out from around the counter, leaving the teller to return to the window while he approached you. "Good day, ma'am. I understand there's some trouble with your account. If you would follow me, we can get that all cleared up," he said smoothly.

He lead you into a private office, asking you to take a seat and offering you some water while he pulled something up on the computer. "Well let's see here...it looks like this account has been inactive for quite some time. We've placed an administrative hold on it, to protect against identity theft. It shouldn't be any trouble to clear up. We'll just need you to answer a few questions about your prior usage of it, and provide two forms of photo ID. That won't be able trouble, will it?"

Whether you follow or not, Gethsemane is subject to a Mind Reading attempt at [roll0]. If you fail to resist it, please include Gethsemane's surface thoughts with your next post, and continue doing so until you can make a DC 20 Will save to end the contact. If you fail by two or more degrees, he uses the first round's question to learn Gethsemane's identity. This effect is Subtle 2 unless resisted, so if you fail the check Gethsemane isn't aware of the attempt, but if you succeed she is.

Wanda returned your hug, but you could feel a tension in her body. "Pumpkin pie, huh?" she asked. In a voice that was about two-thirds self-deprecating amusement to one-third concern she said, "Just...fair warning I don't really...cook much."

Aunt Judith just laughed and handed her an apron of her own (this one reading "Your opinion wasn't in the recipe") and said, "Well, you'll fit right in then!" as she went back to kneading the stuffing.

Wanda gave a little laugh and put on the apron, before going to wash her hands and then stepping up beside you. "Alright...what am I doing?" she asked. There was a slightly uncertain smile on her face...but it didn't reach her eyes. You could recognize as well as anyone the signs of someone putting on a cheerful face for the benefit of others.

[SuperCracker]

Fred smirked. “Jeejee speaks truth. I usually don’t cook anything more than instant ramen or microwave curry.” It was genetic. He moved to start putting his chopped vegetables into the pan when he suddenly stopped and miraculously remembered himself. He needed to melt the butter first! He ran over to the fridge before coming back and correcting himself. Wanda stepped up next to him and he leaned over towards her slightly, shoulder to shoulder. His colorful eyes turned towards her.

“You’re going to watch this video on how to make a pumpkin pie. Then ganbatte!” [Do your best!]

He was much more playful at home; when he got to just be Fred.

He noticed the sadness in her. He always noticed it. But sometimes you have to fake it until you make it. And Fred… Fred was good with being the one to lean on. His eyes widened.

“I almost forgot! You can’t really nail it….”

He walked behind her. She felt a cloth being brought around her forehead and tied at the back. Another Karate Kid headband.

“…without samurai spirit.” He smiled and spoke softly. “One of us.”

He returned to her side and continued cooking. It smelled… pretty decent. This might turn out alright! In fact, as they progressed, Fred fired off a picture of his stuffing to Katie and Kitty.

Nailed it.

If you get hungry, we have food.

Shots fired.

[CandyLaser]

The fact that Sarah did not have (for lack of a better phrase) an internal power supply was indeed a concern. Twenty seconds wasn't likely to be fatal, and in any case Sarah could probably rig up a resurrection machine if needed. It still wouldn't have been pleasant. So the solution was simple: give herself an energy source. She had some internal enhancements, mostly in her brain, but they ran on her body's natural bioelectricity. She wanted a more powerful source of energy, and one which was separable from her own bioenergy.

Happily, she had a lab full of advanced tech, borrowed from the future. Among other things, that included some of Stark's technology. Sarah had incorporated some of it into her own suit. One thing she hadn't used had been an arc reactor. There was no need; when it came to power generation, her portals allowed her to make a perpetual motion machine. Arc reactors were comparatively primitive. She had some examples of Stark's reactors in her lab, though - not functioning, and not internal, but enough for her to get the basic idea.

That meant she had a plan. Put together an arc reactor, or something similar. Wearable, rather than implanted, but conducting power through her body. That might require some minor surgery to put conduits in place, designed to direct the energy from the reactor to the machine, rather than let it draw on her own bioelectricity. And modify the failsafes she'd designed to extract her from the machine if it started drawing on her power instead of that of the reactor.

With that plan in mind, she set to work.

[Starsign]

Rene had forgotten what it was like to fly in a jet. While Green Lantern's construct lacked the experience of turbulence and inertia, it still has the same sense of scale which Rene feels when he's flying.

Namely, the sense of being a flea.

The reptilian humanoid put his claws on the window of green energy and looks first in awe, then in silent shock, as he watches the Earth disappear before his eyes. He's... actually going this far out. He's actually going away from home. Correction, he's really ****ing far away from home. There's something terrifying to realizing just how small your world is. It should be wondrous to actually go out into space; in a way, it is. Yet to watch it happen the first time still feels especially shocking.

Rene takes a few minutes, careful not to let his clawed hands scratch the energy-made jet, before backing off from the window and plopping down on the cushion. All things considered, he didn't expect it to be so plushy and soft. The seat sagged comfortably as Rene sat his scale-ridden body down on it; his tail slips through the hole provided as it slumps behind him. It's actually a much-needed moment to sit down and relax.

He leans over, putting his scaly arms and clawed hands on his knees. He manages to shiver, as if feeling the vacuum of space inside the Green Lantern's jet. "Oh, I do," Rene responds idly, looking down at the ground briefly. It's difficult to get Caer-Sol and J'onn out of Rene's mind. He hasn't seen those two in awhile. Are things as bad as Green Lantern implies?

The reptilian makes a quiet sigh before looking up at the Justice League member. "How long's Caer-Sol been like this?" Rene's scaly voice is filled with concerned. His tongue is almost slobbered in dread. "I think it's been a few months since I saw her. A-and J'onn too! How's he?" His hasty mouth rattles off another question right after the first. He really can't get those two out of his mind, can he?

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane glances up at the demon as he speaks to her, framing a slightly nervous look on her face. "Oh, of course; that makes sense," she answers with a slight laugh. Standard procedure, but unnecessary to isolate without concerns. Likely have another angle.

Sitting in the office, Gethsemane wrings her hands slightly, affecting a resigned nervousness. "Oh, yes; I--well, the account was my late aunt's. I hadn't heard from them in a while, and there was some sort of legal issue, but apparently she left the account to me, and I was hoping... oh, of course there'd be some confusion, I'm sorry for taking up your time..." She takes out the ID she had prepared for herself in this persona.

Again, standard; vague story, alternate name should check out, automated will and account to work. Probably going to press for more info; again, standard operating procedure... or, was standard operating procedure...

Will Check to break the Mind Reading (DC 20): [roll0] Of course not.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Wanda regarded you a bit bemusedly as you tied the bandana around her head, but there was a grin twitching her lips. "Should I be worried?"

Aunt Judith was peeling potatoes and tossing them into a pot of boiling water. She chimed in, "We've gotten a bit better over the years. The first year we tried mashed potatoes from scratch, we somehow didn't realize you boil the potatoes first. So we just kept adding more milk and melted butter until we had something closer to potato soup." She laughed and said wistfully, "That had been one of the better dishes that year."

Wanda raised a brow and gave a kinda nervous chuckle. "Ganbatte," she said softly to herself, and turned her attention to the video. A few minutes later, she had put a package of graham crackers into a plastic bag and was smashing them to powder. She...might have been doing it a bit enthusiastically.

Katie texted back a big smile emoji, a thumbs up emoji, a laughing emoji, and a picture of her kitchen. Pretty much every horizontal surface above floor level was covered with foodstuffs in various stages of preparation, and no less than six Helping Hands were caught in the midst of stirring, seasoning, slicing, and spreading things. One wouldn't think it was possible to get that much flour on the ceiling, and yet here we are. And in the midst of it all, an island of dignity amidst the ocean of culinary chaos, Mr. Arlington stood beside his oxygen tank, calmly checking the thermometer in the turkey. The image was captioned "Ditto."

Kitty texted back a challenging, You're adorable.

...Followed, a few seconds later, with, Bring leftovers.

Since you were Sarah Saturn (it's kinda amazing how many things that is a perfect excuse for, really) it took little time at all to get yourself hooked up to an external-feeding-as-internal power source, and reconfigure the fallbacks to ensure they'd trigger if it failed. With those safety measures in place, you could be as certain as one could ever be when dealing with experimental supertech (which, to be fair, was for you on the order of ninety-nine-point-a-few-more-nines percent) of your physical safety if you wished to connect to the Lotus Breaker.

A flicker of bemusement crossed the Green Lantern's face at your first question. "Well, that somewhat depends on what exactly you mean. My understanding is that she's been 'like this' for much of her life," he said, a bit sardonically. "But in terms of how long it has expressed itself in the present circumstance, about two days. That's when she started muttering to herself and fidgeting around her cell. Since then she's progressed through ranting and pacing, and into screaming, threats, and occasionally lashing out physically."

"J'onn is..." the Green Lantern hesitated, and there was a momentary flicker of pain on his face, swiftly buried. "Honestly, I wish I could say I knew. He's always been calm, controlled, and he still seems to be, but it's different.
Like it used to be stillness, and now it's distance. He's...not the man I thought I knew. The truth is I can't say for sure what's happening in his head." He gave a resigned, and kinda frustrated sigh, before adding a bit more brightly, "He did seem happy when the Lanterns agreed to bring you in."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss," the banker said in polite condolence. He took the ID and entered some information into the computer, asking as he did, "Were you close with your aunt?"

Couple things.

First, toss me a Deception check, DC [roll0]. Since he knows this account originally belonged to Gethsemane, and it's fairly unlikely for her to have a niece, it's a suspicious enough story that he's opposing the bluff with his own Deception. Since he's reading your thoughts, you take a -5 circumstance penalty on the Deception check. If you succeed, he'll just assume that Gethsemane somehow integrated herself into a mortal family, maybe married someone who had a sibling who had children or something. Dude, what kind of manipulator demon are you? Natural 1s don't auto-fail skill checks, so still make the opposed roll, but still. Seriously?

Also give me another Will save, DC [roll1]; he's using his Mind Reading power on your again to try and get deeper. The effect is Cumulative, but if you succeed the save you detect it as before. Succeeding won't end his existing attempt, you still have to make DC 20 Will each "round" to throw that off, but since it's not Effortless if you succeed by two degrees or more he won't be able to keep trying (and either way once you force him out he's out).

[CandyLaser]

Sarah checked and double-checked her failsafes, and once she was satisfied she took a deep breath and stepped into the machine. There was nothing for it but to dive in and see what happened. Once she was in position, she activated the Lotus Breaker and prepared herself for whatever was to come.

[Starsign]

Rene's reptilian body physically shakes as he's told at what's been happening with Caer-Sol. It's pretty much what he had expected, and rather unfortunately so considering Rene's lack of optimism. If these sort of issues were happening to anyone else, Rene couldn't see how he'd help. In fact, he doesn't see this ending well for him either. At least he might have some way of helping Caer-Sol, if for little else than to calm her down.

What he heard about J'onn hit the reptilian harder. Again, it's no surprise to hear someone struggle to trust a super-skrull that had been in disguise with one of Earth's biggest superhero teams for so long. Yet the confirmation puts dread in Rene's body. He feels like an outlier, a strange creature who trusts someone for reasons others can't understand. Had Green Lantern been hesitant to bring Rene in?

Rene curls his clawed hands between his scaly legs before responding. "Sorry," he says with sympathy. "I haven't known J'onn for as long as you. I probably don't even know him as well as you. But he saved my life. Hell, he went against his own people to do so. And he feels like he's betrayed both Earth and his kind in the process." The reptilian remembers J'onn on the airship, melancholy and distressed trying to help Rene. There's no doubt that J'onn must still be feeling that. "But I'm willing to trust him. It might not be easy, but when the time may come, I hope you might put your faith in him." This is a lot to ask and Rene knew that well. He almost wants to take that back as soon as it leaves his mouth.

He pauses, thinks a bit on what to say about Caer-Sol. Rene has no plan on how to help her, no idea where to begin but to improvise. However, the threat of physical violence keeps crossing his mind. A lot of people could get hurt and they don't have the kind of regeneration Rene does. He... could take a hit, if he had to, and everyone else has to be prepared for that. "About Caer-Sol," he eventually speaks, changing the subject, "I can't promise anything but... if she lashes out at me, don't rush in to help. I'm afraid she might panic if she sees others trying to restrain her. And I can... take it." Rene is a little gloomy at the thought. Just because he can regenerate doesn't means he likes it.

Alas, some powers simply are meant to be used when needed.

[SuperCracker]

“You should always be worried,” Starsoul had quipped.

“I liked potato soup,” Fred admitted. It was essentially milkfats with semi cooked potatoes.

When Fred was looking at Katie’s pictures, Starsoul shouted, “That’s bullsh**! Helping Hands are cheating.”

“I’m pretty sure our enemies say the same thing.”

Ronin lifted the phone and took a selfie that caught everyone in the shot. He then shot it to Kitty with the words: You belong on Team Broll. You always have. There may have been some deeper meaning there.

A few seconds later, he wrote: Jeej would like it if you swung by tonight. Maybe not just Jeej. Can I pick you up later?

He sent it, then put his phone down and got back to work.

Before long, dinner was finished… and it looked actually really good. Especially by Fred and Judith’s standards. With a satisfied grin on his face, Fred offered his hands up to each woman standing next to him for a no-look high five.

Fred asked them to relax while he set the table. Each dish smelled great to him. They smelled like home.

[Zelphas]

"Well... as much as I would like to say I was, I'm afraid not," Gethsemane replies, fidgeting slightly in her seat. "Honestly, being mentioned in her will came as something of a--"

Ah. Mental intrusion.

"Shall we drop the pretense?" Gethsemane abruptly switches gears, dropping her assumed personality for one more approximating her former nature as a non-compassionate demon. "We both know who my 'aunt' was. I am simply tidying her affairs. Do you propose to cross her by stopping me?"

Will Save (DC 20): [roll0] ...Why?

[Quellian-dyrae]

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Thank Hephaestus for failsafes!

There isn't really much to it. Your vision wavers and blurs for a moment, and for a few seconds you see...what looks like some sort of blasted cityscape, maybe. I'm sure it'd be much more horrifying if you had some time to actually observe it thoroughly. But then your failsafes activate and you immediately snap back to reality. Kinda hard to say what happened, buuuut...

You've already seen that the Lotus Breaker seems to be somehow selective - or if you're feeling less generous, picky - about the energy it uses. Evidently just conducting technological energy through yourself still doesn't give it what it wants. Presumably it went for your life force, and your failsafes detected the threat and aborted. Irksome, but hey, better than the alternative!

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha. Oh, the Lotus Breaker Device is tricksy is what it is!

Katie had mentioned a bit about her own experience in this device in the aftermath. Not in any great detail - she hadn't really been ready to talk about it - but she had...kinda gone into a bit of a rant about destroying the thing posthaste and some of the details came out. Of particular note was how the device had left everything seeming "normal" for a few subjective days before it started hitting her with the torture-visions. It had created a story that filled in the blanks and let her be comfortable with her reality, making it seem like she had been rescued and everything was fine.

No no, you're confident in your technique here. Your failsafes didn't activate at all. The Lotus Breaker is just trying to make you think they did so you're nice and comfortable with your reality and expecting that everything's normal. You're still inside. This return to your starting point is nothing but the first part of the hallucination.

Green Lantern gave a slight, kinda weary half-smile. "In the time I knew him, J'onn J'onnz was one of the most scrupulously...ethical people I knew. Everyone in the Justice League was powerful, of course, but J'onn's power...it's not that it was greater, as such, but the things he could do. Take the forms of others. Steal into their minds. Compel their actions. Alter their memories. It would have been so easy to abuse them, just in the name of doing the right thing. To enforce his will upon the world, not merely with threat or force of arms, but directly, just taking away the agency of those who misused it. But he always took care with his powers, avoided the temptation. I trusted him completely, and he never betrayed that trust."

"Except with the lie he told from the very start. Except for the treachery he had been intending to enact from the beginning, even if he never actually did," he finished with a heavy sigh.

"Part of me does still trust him. Mostly I do still believe he is a good man. But when you've revealed yourself as capable of enacting a deception that deep, for that long...I'm afraid that there will always be doubt, as well. I do have faith in him. But not as much as I once did."

When you told him that if Caer-Sol became violent that he and the other Lanterns should stay out of it, he appraised you for a moment and raised a brow. He did not agree...but neither did he argue. It seemed that he had come to some manner of decision.

"And here we are," he said after a few more moments. Unless you were paying attention to the outside, it hadn't even felt like the ship had been moving. He stood up, and gave you just enough time to get your feet under you, before the ship of green energy faded away to reveal the sprawling expanse of an alien world spreading out beneath the great tower that you were now standing on the roof of. "Welcome to Oa."

Sure! Kitty texted back. After dinner though! she admonished. You do not get between Kitty Pryde and her stuffing if you know what's good for you (I mean, not that she wouldn't just phase right through you, but you get what I mean). Honestly it was probably convenient that way. Less chance Piotr would tag along if he was busy lying on the couch in a food coma, as was statistically likely. I mean, I'm just saying.

The text was followed up maybe a minute later (if you were paying attention to your phone at the time, you might have noticed the little ellipses of typing (I feel like there should be some sort of plus after that) popping on and off a couple times in the interim) with what was almost certainly an entirely neutral observation of, You've been hanging out with Wanda a lot recently.

I'm happy for you.

...Yeah, texts don't convey tone, but I'm sure there was precisely zero meaning there. Incomplete information had never been known to lead to inaccurate conclusions in the history of mankind.

Jiji slapped your palm without looking either. It was Jiji. She knew. It was an enthusiastic high-five, as appropriate to what was almost certainly your best Thanksgiving Dinner ever. ...Wanda might have left you hanging for a couple seconds as she looked over the meal with a certain satisfaction. The faint melancholy that had been on her face seemed to have faded during the preparation. After a moment, she noticed your raised hand and kinda awkwardly returned the high five with a sheepish little grin.

And then your little family settled in to feast!

The helpful professional banker face flattened into a similarly cool regard as you dropped the pretense.
It was hard to say if your veiled threat had struck home; he had a good poker face. You could feel his presence in your mind still, but it was a light touch, just scanning what you were thinking. Now that you were aware of him, you stopped any effort to probe you further cold.

...And that kinda said something. Since he was reading your thoughts, he had to know you were aware of him. But he did not withdraw.

"Why, I don't know. Is she dead, or is she someone I should be concerned about crossing?" he answered with a certain smug confidence, apparently calling your bluff.

He's attempting a Trick to try to goad you into thinking about "your aunt". Give me Deception or Insight DC [roll0] or enough will bubble up to the surface that'll he'll know you're still alive. If you fail by two degrees he'll realize your identity. Then do another Will DC 20 to try to block him out again.

[SuperCracker]

Fred was paying attention to his phone. In the past he’d typed and erased and typed and erased multiple messages to Kitty that he’d wound up just never sending. But despite Fred’s powers of insight, he was blind as a bat when it came to Kitty. So naturally, after the texts were sent, he second and third guessed himself as to what she was getting at. Fred set his phone down, the screen still on for a moment before it winked off on its own. It took until Fred had passed the mashed potatoes for him to take the phone again.

He looked at the words. What would he normally do here, he asked himself. He ran that thought experiment in his head. “Yeah, it’s cool.” Would likely have been his response, downplaying his suspicions and managing to stay vague and somewhat aloof.

And since what he normally would do had been an abject failure for years, he took a different tact. He leaned into his suspicions.

She’s a sister to me.

A pause.

Text me when you’re ready for me to mirror over and get you.

He set the phone back down. Now, if his aunt and Wanda had been watching him, the little trepidations with which he handled the phone and typed might have tipped them off that something was up.

“Itadakimasu!”

Before he could potentially be noticed any further, he pulled a leg off of the turkey and started to tear in to his meal.

Fred ate like he was a starving person. His appetite was famous. It turns out that hyper-dense muscle and bones requires a lot of nutrition. At some point, a picture would be snapped of him eating that night, biting into the turkey leg at the same moment his eyes shifted bright red. It did make him look like the Thanksgiving Turkey Monster.

Starsoul narrated. "Here we have Mutantus Gluttonous in his natural habitat. He can be extremely dangerous with those teeth. Oh you animate creatures and your food. It's cute, really."

[CandyLaser]

Was it strange that Sarah was disappointed? Because she was disappointed. It wasn't like she wanted to have been transported into a hallucinatory hellscape designed to exploit her psychological weaknesses and her deepest fears. But she did want to make the Lotus Breaker work. It was infuriating that this machine wouldn't bend to her will, and it was even more annoying given that it didn't actually do anything that she couldn't replicate.

Messing with minds? She could put together SQUIDs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID) in her sleep to image the brain and use magnets to induce brain activity.

Wireless power transmission? Portals.

Energizing and empowering power armor? She already had a suit that had let her (and the rest of the team) walk through the Breaker Knights.

There was nothing special about this machine, and she would prevail over it. But perhaps a rest was in order - a chance to clear her head and use nanites to remove the power conduits running through her. So she shut down and secured her lab and took a break.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane's glamour responded to the "banker's" smug confidence with a cool smile. "All that should concern you right now is that she was an able teacher."

Fool. In her mind, Gethsemane clamps down upon the other demon's questing will, expelling it forcefully from her mind with the mental equivalent of a contemptuous backhanded blow... from a Demon of her caliber. On a burst of inspiration, Gethsemane mentally wove in with the blow a subtle magical reflection effect; the power would be short-lived, but in that moment it should give her a glimpse into the other demon's mind. The double effect costs her more than she likes--her magical powers are still not fully what they once were, after her Brood infestation--but fortunately, the Glamour doesn't feel the effects.

Unnoticed by Gethsemane while she is concentrating on the demon before her, her Indigo Ring glows with a faint green light for a moment.

"Now, will I be able to conclude my business here, or will things need to become... unpleasant?" she asks... pleasantly.

Power Stunting off of the Demonic power Array to create Subvert Will: Blast 11 (Increased Range (Perception), Subtle 2) Linked Mind Reading 11 (Concentration, Subtle 2).

Standard Action: Use Subvert Will on the "Banker". Damage DC 26, Will DC [roll0] vs. Mind Reading. If I succeed by 2 Ranks, Gethsemane will ask what the main goal of this demonic operation is, as far as the "Banker" understands it. If she succeeds by three ranks, she will look for a memory of the "Banker's" demonic higher-ups: names, faces, and forms. If, by some impossibility, she succeeds by four ranks, she will unlock any memories recently magically suppressed in the "Banker".

[Starsign]

Getting silence as his second answer, Rene remains quiet through the rest of the trip. The terrible few moments following felt like an absolutely deafening moment of fear. It's when Green Lantern announces their arrival that the reptilian gives a cold sigh of relief.

Relief quickly gives way to a wondrous shock as he slithers over to the edge of the roof and looks out at Oa. "W-wow..." This is the first time Rene has been to an alien planet; a year ago he wouldn't have believed it possible that he'd see one with his own eyes. And there... and there it is! The place is like an endless city. Dark buildings tinted green spread out to the dark horizon. Numerous buildings almost seem as tall as the tower they're on as gardens, trees and flowers scatter around the many parks and walkways of the planet.

The reptilian is left his sharp jaw agasp as his clawed hands tighten against the roof's edge. "This is Oa? It's incredible." His scaly voice is barely able to peep out the words to Green Lantern. The reptilian humanoid looks briefly down, noticing the rather large tower they're on before backing up. Last thing Rene needs is a fear of heights.

Instead, he lets himself be guided by the hero more familiar with this place. "I feel like I could get lost forever. Where do we go from here?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Wanda didn't seem to notice your trepidation with the phone. Jiji...well, Jiji had raised you. One the one hand, that meant she noticed everything. On the other hand, it meant she knew when it was her duty not to notice something. She gave you a bit of an arch look for messing with your phone at the dinner table, was all.

Kitty texted back, "A sister, huh?"

Three words. Three simple words, which in a perfect world should have conveyed a simple, and more importantly, single and specific meaning. But they did anything but. Was that a surprised "A sister, huh?"
A teasing "A sister, huh?" A thoughtful "A sister, huh?" A relieved "A sister, huh?" A worried "A sister, huh?" A disappointed "A sister, huh?" A guilty "A sister, huh?"

Nope. The text didn't convey that tone at all. Not in the least little bit.

Wanda laughed a little at Starsoul's comments. She was fairly quiet otherwise. Jiji on the other hand managed to keep up a near-constant (pauses for eating notwithstanding) stream of smalltalk. ...Really, that wasn't quite conveying it. She was something of a grandmaster of the casual conversation, talking about news and shows and gossip, keeping to light and amusing topics without edging into anything personal and streaming out the conversation in a way allowed but in no way required any direct response, letting people feel involved while keeping even the most quiet listener from feeling awkward in their silence. She even managed to not go into any embarrassing stories about your childhood in the process.

Aunt Judith was good people.

Maybe five minutes after you had all finished eating, your phone buzzed again. So full... Okay, give me like ten minutes to recover and I'll be ready to go.

Well, there were plenty of other things to do in the meantime. The most important of which, at the moment, was speaking before the United States Senate. While a fairly sizeable chunk of Project Tomorrow's work was on a personal or even corporate level, there were some things the required governmental approval. And many of the biggest of these centered around your technology. Things like revolutionizing the nation's power grid and transportation networks, for example, not to mention pretty much anything that would involve portals connecting to other countries.

So today you had been asked to speak before the Senate, to go over some of the plans and answer their questions. Of course, there was also a gaggle of journalists present.

Once you had been called up, Senator Barbara Boxer said, "Thank you for coming to speak to us, Dr. Saturn.
If you please, could you begin with an overview of your organization's plans, as relate to the interests of the U.S. government?"

If you had any doubt you were speaking to the leader of this little cell, that might of put them to rest. He managed to completely no-sell your psychic backlash. To be fair, that still probably didn't put him on your level in terms of sheer personal fighting power - but for a manipulator demon like this, it meant he had some serious oomph.

Even so, you could call it better than a draw. While he may have withstood the force of your will, it still distracted him, allowing you to sneak your own probe past his mental defenses, and into the depths of his memories.

The demon sat in what might, at first glance, have been taken as an auditorium. But that didn't really do it justice. A coliseum seemed like a more accurate description. And the place was packed. There had to have been thousands of demons filling the seats, wearing countless different forms.

Down in the "arena" was a demon that you didn't need the context of the banker's memories to recognize. He wasn't quite a legend among demonkind, but he was a pretty big name, a lieutenant of Mephisto himself. His name was Jesticarn, and he was something of a grandmaster at getting hapless mortals to destroy themselves by giving them exactly what they wanted. Pretty much a living embodiment of the phrase "be careful what you wish for."

Jesticarn was working the crowd in his typical style - he definitely hadn't changed in the past century or so, talking like some sort of cross between a circus ringmaster, a Hollywood agent, and a pyramid scheme con artist. He spun...quite a plan before the assembled demons. Gonna be honest, without a formal education in business and real estate, it was kinda hard to follow. The gist of it seemed to be infiltrating a bunch of banks and loaning people money? One would think it would be some sort of ploy to get them to sign demonic contracts or something, but actually someone made that very assumption and he shot it down. He was using a bunch of buzzwordy terms like subprime loans and mortgage-backed securities and collateral debt obligations. This also may have been the first demonic plot you've ever heard of to unironically include bubbles in its description, aside from maybe a couple that involved boiling people alive...

Outwardly, the demon regarded you with a glare for a moment, clearly surprised that a "mere mortal" had detected and thrown off his mind reading. But you could hear the roil of his surface thoughts; while he was offended by your impudence, he was also wary of the fact that you obviously had more power than he had expected. Powerful or not, he wasn't a warrior demon, and wouldn't risk his life or his cover in a direct fight if he didn't have to. Better to pass along this encounter and let the Home Office look into it further.

"Very well, I suppose everything is...in order," he said coolly. "What would you like to change the account information to?"

"Mm. I suppose so," Green Lantern replied, in the tones of someone too familiar with it to really be impressed anymore. "Follow me," he said, heading for the center of the green-tiled roof. Once you were both there, his ring glowed briefly, and a circle about ten feet across of the roof's tiles seamlessly descended into the building, like an elevator.

The elevator took you down dozens of stories, giving you fleeting glimpses (through the tube of green light that contained it) into what looked like it was some kind of combination military/police/prison structure. You passed what looked like some sort of gym with maybe half a dozen people - any one of which would have made you look positively normal in comparison - sparring or exercising. On another floor, a trio of Green Lanterns were poring over a map on a table, arguing. Several floors contained cells of solid green light.

When you finally stopped, there was nothing but solid stone beneath your feet. You had gone down to the very bottom, and had to have been hundreds of feet under ground.

Green Lantern led you through a hallway sealed with a dozen barrier of emerald light. The two of you passed through them like curtains, but with each one, Green Lantern moved just slightly slower, his face showed just a touch more strain, his ring glowed just a little brighter. Clearly, the ring was letting him - and you - through the security, but it was more than just the presence of the ring itself. Passing those barriers required an effort of will.

Finally, you came to a room with several cells of green light. Like the ship had been, they were furnished with more constructs of will, which actually appeared fairly comfortable, if spartan. J'onn sat on the floor of his cell (despite a perfectly serviceable armchair and comfy-looking bed in the cell), legs folded and eyes closed, evidently meditating. When you and Green Lantern entered the cell block, though, his eyes opened and he regarded you with a calm, gentle smile. The Talisman was in the cell past J'onn's, lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, looking bored. Across from her, General Zod had been in the middle of a series of push-ups (...there might have been something odd about seeing a freaking kryptonian exercising, and yet here we are) but as soon as he noticed you he came to his feet, regarding you with a glare so intense that it was kinda a surprise he wasn't firing any heat vision. And in the cell beside his, across from J'onn, Caer-Sol was pacing. More precisely, she paced across her cell, threw a colossal punch at the wall sending a vibrating ripple running through not just the cell itself, but all the furniture within, turned and paced back the other way, hit that wall, paced back the other way, and on and on. It was kinda impressive that J'onn could meditate with that racket. She didn't acknowledge your arrival at all.

[SuperCracker]

Again, Fred didn’t know what to make of that text. He started to type a response… multiple times. Kitty would see the same ellipses pop up and wink out three or four times. Then Fred gave up on it. He was just going to let that one go for now. That and he saw the look Jiji was giving him so he put the phone down with a sheepish look and joined the conversation.

Fred’s dinner conversation was a mix of utterly insane stories (see: attacked by a hamburger), commentary on bands, and which movies or anime a person needs to be watching. He and Jiji sounded like they could talk all night. And, of course, Fred wouldn’t let poor Wanda escape without extolling Akira Kurosawa as a visionary director.

Aunt Judith was good people. Wanda was good people too.

Starsoul was a jackal, because throughout the night, every time Fred started eating, he’d make new commentary.

Once the food was finished, Fred started to clear the table. If anyone tried to help, he would shoo them away and tell them go to watch TV or something. Mid-way through, he got the text from Kitty. He smiled. “Hey guys, I’m going to go grab Kitty in a few minutes. I'll be back in a few.”

He went up to the bathroom and washed his hands and face (in case he ate too much like a savage), then made sure there were no stains on his shirt. Good.

When around ten minutes had passed, he looked into the mirror in front of him and was transported, finding himself staring into the mirror in his room at the mansion. He stepped out and into the hallway, heading to an intersection of hallways where he usually met Kitty. He came without shades, and his eyes were warm when he saw her.

“Hey. Hope you saved some room, I helped make an edible turkey this year.” He offered his hand to her. “Shall we?”

[Zelphas]

Time to move apartments, then.

Gehtsemane rattles off the name and information of her current alias in a bored tone, treating the "man" before her like he is clearly beneath her notice. She considers for a moment, then carefully selects another avenue to approach in his mind. [COLOR="#4B0082"]Discovering where and how it speaks to the 'Home Office' would be enlightening.

Maintaining Concentration on the Mind Reading. If I need to roll again: [roll0]

If I get two levels again, asking how he speaks to the 'Home Office'. If I reach three levels again, a memory of contacting Home Office; who he talked to, where, and what they discussed.

[CandyLaser]

Dressed in a smart suit - in that it looked good and that it was made of smart metamaterials, in case someone took a shot at her on the Hill - Sarah sat before the assembled committee. Once the pleasantries and introductions were complete, she took her first question, and it was, on the surface, a straightforward one. "Begin with an overview of your organization's plans, as relate to the interests of the U.S. government." If only Senator Boxer knew what a full and complete answer to that question would entail. Sarah would have to start with averting future apocalypses and go from there, and that was simply not a good use of time.

Instead, Sarah gave a much simpler answer. "Senator, Project Tomorrow and the Saturn Foundation have partnered as part of a plan to improve quality of life worldwide. We are working to make a better world. With respect to the US government, there are several points where our work intersects with government interests. Power is one of them; the US power grid is brittle, too heavily reliant on fossil fuels, and vulnerable to attack. We're going to fix all that. We're not going to modernize the power grid; we're going to go beyond that. We're also going to improve infrastructure more generally as well as build housing to alleviate housing pressure. In short, we're going to make things better across the country, and we're not going to charge a penny for it."

[Starsign]

The grandeur of Oa's endless cities quickly drowned into the familiar feeling of the oppressive prison, now filled with too many emerald lights, as Rene followed Green Lantern. Rene never could get used to these kind of places; he'd go utterly mad not being able to do anything but just wait. Is that what's happening to Caer-Sol?

He gets his answer very quickly as he comes upon the four cells. He only expected to see Caer-Sol's. There's four of them here? It's both a relief and a little distressing The reptilian's snout flashes to a relieved smile upon seeing the familiar skrull. ~J'onn? J'onn!~ Rene tries to communicate with the mental link the two have with each other. ~Thank god, you're alright. It feels like forever and I had no idea where you all were taken.~ There's no guarantee that it'll work; there's probably a dozen invisible mechanics which block mental communication. Yet Rene wants to try anyway. Rene cannot express enough how happy he is to see the former Martian Manhunter relatively well off; it would be even better if they can somehow chat.

His reptilian eyes spot the other cells briefly look at the other cells too. He only briefly sees at the Talisman, bad memories swelling in his mind again, before freezing at Zod's impressive glare. He... he looks so angry, why? Rene recalls that Zod had been almost proud to see Katie way back when they saw him at the last prison; what's different with Rene?

All focus on Zod dissipates once the banging and bashing from Caer-Sol's cell interrupts Rene's attention. His cold-blooded heart begins to race seeing the agitated, putting nicely, kryptonian pacing and hitting the walls of her cell. It's a wonder she hasn't broken out already. He makes a big, grim gulp with his scaly mouth and clenches his clawed hands together before walking forward to her. He gently places his scaly hands on the semi-transparent emerald wall, his greenish-yellow snout almost touching the hard-yet-rubber-like material, as he slowly opens his many-toothed jaw. "Caer-Sol?" He pauses, feeling his cold blood slowly warm as he gets those first words out. He tries her title next. "Caer-Sol? Fist of Flamebird? It's me." There's a certain relief to finally speaking; the first words are the hardest to get out. Now to hope those first words actually do something.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kitty was waiting for you when you stepped into the hallway, a plastic shopping bag in one hand. You could see the top of a wine bottle poking out from it, and given the circular deformation of its bottom, safe guess was there was a pie in there as well. Kitty knew how to houseguest. "I saw the pictures!" she said with a grin. There might have been just a hint of a teasing look in her eyes, a silent commentary on Thanksgivings past. You could have missed it if you hadn't known it was there. Regardless, she was sincere when she added, "I can't wait!" Kitty's non-physical (sort of? Or would that be especially?) power might not have blessed her with your superhuman metabolism, but she was entirely willing to endure pain for Thanksgiving food.
Or maybe it just helped that she was good at holding her breath. Something like that.

She took your hand with her free one. She made no comment on your previous text conversation. So presumably she had been too involved in stuffing her face to have noticed you awkwardly typing and deleting replies and then finally not actually sending one, right? Right?

While your surprising resistance had gotten you a quick opening, a demon's mind wasn't an easy thing to invade for long. Once that first memory ended, the demon's subconscious will managed to push you out, and his defenses were good enough to block your renewed efforts.

Unaware of your probe, the demon-in-banker's-clothing entered the information you provided into the computer. "Alright, the account information is updated. You should be receiving a replacement debit card in seven to ten days. Is there anything else I could help you with? You wouldn't happen to be in the market for buying a house, would you? We can offer excellent rates on loans," he offered with a pearly smile.

Some of the Senators seemed surprised, or impressed, a couple even looked thrilled. One would think your proclamation would be met with universal cheers and gratitude.

And if you believed that, you don't know politicians.

"I see," Senator Thomas J. Arkham said in tones of blunt disdain. He didn't even lead with some magnanimous statement, like "A noble endeavor, but..." or something. He just started in attacking the idea. "So what you're saying is, in addition to expecting Americans to trust a bunch of mutants, aliens, and other...'metahumans' with their safety - a trust, I might add, that recent events have proved might be largely misplaced - now you are asking us to trust you with our entire system of infrastructure? And what next? Will you take it upon yourselves to police our borders, provide our food? Do you intend to set up superpowered bread lines, Miss Saturn?"

Senator Arkham is well-established (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?519635-OOC-IV-Reassembly-Watchmen-Twin-Marvel-DC-Mashups!&p=21881783&viewfull=1#post21881783) as a proponent of superhuman registration. Nuance being...less than useful in political debate, this largely means that anything that presents superhumans taking matters into their own hands in a positive light is at odds with his politics. This will, naturally, make it extremely difficult to sway his opinion through rational discourse - he will almost certainly spin whatever arguments are presented in favor of Project Tomorrow's mission in the most negative light.

It was weird. You felt J'onn on the other end of the link, but nothing came back from him. Evidently, While his cell wasn't impervious to incoming telepathy, it did block his own powers from going out.
Or perhaps it just suppressed his mental powers to the point that he couldn't respond psychically.

It didn't stop him from answering verbally, though. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Rene. Please, don't concern yourself on my account. I'm in no danger here. Thank you for coming." Green Lantern cast you a bit of a sidelong look at J'onn's evidently unprompted words, but didn't comment.

Caer-sol didn't answer you immediately, her back turned as she walked to the far side of her cell to delve it another hard punch. But once she had done that, she turned and walked over to you, her eyes fixed on yours with a sort of wild intensity, a thin but fierce smile on her face.

She reached you, standing inches away from the translucent green wall separating you.

And she punched it with all her strength, right in the spot your snout was almost touching, watching to see if you flinched.

If you flinch or otherwise react, she'll be more amused and feel more in control, which may make her more amiable. Flip side, if you don't react at all, she'll respect you more.

[SuperCracker]

He knew she was teasing him. Every year she rightfully expected a disaster but this year it had been a masterpiece. She was going to eat some, full or not. Fred smirked and pointed his finger at her. “O ye of little faith. This year, I cooked it with love.”

Sound Effect! (https://youtu.be/2P5qbcRAXVk)

His expression didn’t change, but he was already kicking himself for his choice of words. But maybe someone who knows him, really knows him could see the slight twitch of his eye. Without lingering on it he reached out and took the shopping bag from her, being gentlemanly.

He held her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was worth remembering that right before Colossus came back into the picture, Fred was comfortable enough to approach intimacy with her. He would sleep with his head in her lap, for crying out loud. In that second it clicked. Why had he become afraid all over again?

He breathed in. He smiled. He tried to be comfortable, but she was his kryptonite.

“When we’re done, I’ve got some new music I want to share with you. We can go up to my old room like we used do.”

He took her back to the bathroom and then looked into the mirror. Next thing they were in the bathroom back home. Fred opened the door and they walked out. “We’re back!” He took out the goods from Kitty’s shopping bag and laid them out. He also uncorked the wine and poured it in glasses for everyone who wanted some.

Fred wanted some. He handed Kitty a glass and clinked them together. He also watched her try his cooking. There was conversastion with Jiji and Kitty, a refresher introduction to Wanda. Fred ate the pie Kitty brought, because of course he did. Starsoul said how happy he was to see Kitty and took a particularly shrewd shot at Fred.

“So glad you’re here, Kitty. Maybe he can stop sitting there worrying over texts with you and relax.” Remember, Starsoul hates Fred’s indecision on this subject.

Sound Effect! (https://youtu.be/2P5qbcRAXVk)

You f***ing traitor.

[Starsign]

Rene realized well ahead of what was going to happen. He told and prepared himself for Caer-Sol potentially attacking him. And as soon as he saw those wild eyes and fierce smile, he thought:

She's gonna punch me.

The moments before the hit are a desperate psychological dilemma. He told Green Lantern not to interfere if she tries hitting Rene. He can take it after all. He can take it. He came all the way from Earth, practically halfway across the galaxy, to try and help a person he knows. He wouldn't have gone without expecting the worst. And a kryptonian can do all kinds of horrible things to him. Never mind a punch, a kryptonian has the strength to tear his body apart, break his bones, fry him with heat vision, throw him out into space to suffocate. The list goes on and on and on. Prison cell or not, Rene willingly brought himself here to help a kryptonian even at his own peril. And compared to all the times he's been clawed, slashed, blasted, burned, and traumatized, a punch should be nothing!

His reptilian slits open and his lips curled into his mouth, he waits the half-moment it takes for Caer-Sol to punch the wall.

*WHAM*

The colossal force reverb the emerald prison wall, a feeling of sheer might sounding from the prison.

And Rene refused to budge an inch.

It takes him a formidable amount of will and courage. For several seconds afterward he stays still, readying as if the kryptonian might punch the wall again. Even his thick tail it utterly still as it lies on the hard flooring. It's after these seconds that the reptilian humanoid finally eases, heaving a small-but-shaky sigh as he finds himself not on the receiving end of a beatdown. Alright, alright, he thinks again to himself. Just keep talking. And do... something. He doesn't have much of a plan. At least he knows to expect actions, rather than words.

"Caer-Sol, I'm here to help," he responds, sincere in his words. "I was told what was happening and I thought I'd come." As he keeps speaking, he becomes a little more doubtful in his words. Is... genuine kindness not enough here? "I don't really know what you want, or need. I..." He pauses again, something in his mind keeps trying to talk to him, saying something over and over again. And just now it becomes clear.

Talk is cheap

Suddenly, it clicks. Any amount of compassion won't mean a lot to Caer-Sol if it's all just babbling out of his mouth. "Hang on," he says, his head slightly turned and not indicative of who he's actually speaking to before looking back at Caer-Sol. "It might be difficult with the wall, but..." He spreads his scaly arms out and attempts to... hug by placing his hands and arms on the prison wall. "Thank you, again, for helping me back then." He releases his arms from the wall, mildly curious and concerned of whether Zod is confused, angry, or straight up embarrassed to see the reptilian trying to express his gratitude to the former Fist of Flamebird.

Rene has absolutely no clue how Caer-Sol will react. Will she be grateful? Or will she be furious? Rene can only hold back a slithery gulp and wait.

[Zelphas]

No reason to attempt a second probe; leave for now, Gethsemane decides silently, directing her glamoured form to give the "banker" a smile every bit as sincere as his own. "Thank you for your generous offer, but I'm afraid I'm not in the market for a house at this time." She asks for a withdrawal of about twice as much as she was planning to take out when she came in; enough to live on for hopefully a few more months until she could begin generating revenue once again on her own.

Move, or wait? Moving more viable option, but since move won't move out of town, may be moot point... Regardless, speak to reputable Hero soon. Perhaps Saturn, or Katie... Gethsemane muses quietly to herself as she waits to collect her money, her senses on the alert for another mental attack.

[CandyLaser]

"What's the phrase, Senator? 'Trust, but verify?' I assure you that our work will be auditable by independent experts. Moreover, it's well known that you've got an axe to grind against metahumans. Leaving aside the fact that I'm not, strictly speaking, metahuman, you should note that nothing we're doing is mandatory. If I were just an ordinary tech company CEO offering a sweetheart deal on revolutionary new power technology, no one would bat an eye, even if it turned out to be a scam or a failure.

The biggest difference here is that my technology works. It's not a miracle, it's science and engineering, applied toward the task of bettering the world." Given his prejudices, Arkham wasn't really her audience. She was instead trying to convince the rest of the panel, as well as anyone who happened to hear her words on C-SPAN or read them later.

Can't fail a DC 20 check.

[Quellian-dyrae]

As usual, if Kitty noticed your inner awkwardness at all, she didn't show it. Was that weird? She knew you just as well as you knew her. Maybe she just thought you wouldn't want her commenting on it, or something? "Sounds good!" she answered.

"Kitty, how lovely to see you. Happy Thanksgiving!" Jiji greeted her with a hug when you two returned. She had taken advantage of your momentary absence to take over cleanup duties. It wasn't easy to wrest cleanup duties away from Jiji once she had claimed them. If you wanted them back it might require a diabolical plot.

"Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for having me."

"Oh, please, any time!"

"Hey, Wanda. Good to see you."

"Oh, hello, Kitty."

Wanda chose not to have any wine, but Jiji had a glass and everyone had some pie. Kitty was appropriately impressed with the food. Thanks to your supernaturally enhanced intuition and/or how well you knew her, you noticed she seemed to be...kinda paying attention to your interactions with Wanda.

"You've really outdone yourself this year, Jiji!" she said with a grin that wasn't at all wicked.

"Well thank you, dear, but I can't take all the credit!" Jiji answered. At least someone here showed you some-

"Wanda helped, after all." -okay never mind then, forget I said anything.

As Kitty was finishing up, Wanda excused herself to go get some fresh air, and Jiji went back to tidying up. It was just the two of you and your treacherous sword at the table. Kitty replied to Starsoul's comment with a laugh, as if it were just some joke. It certainly didn't sound awkward or nervous or anything. Maybe she had just missed the point that Starsoul was trying to get across?

And then Rachel's voice intruded upon your headspace.

~Hey, Fred. Happy Thanksgiving. Um...~

She hesitated. It was kinda weird. Hesitant wasn't really a word that described Rachel Grey. ~So, you know, people have had some wine over here. I've been hearing some gossip.~ Gossip? At the X-Mansion?
During a holiday get-together? What a surprise! Truly, such rare and shocking news! ~And I mean it's none of my business, you're all my friends and I don't want to stick my nose where it doesn't belong or anything.
I just...I thought you should...well I thought that you at least deserved to know. Or, like, have some fair warning.
This time.~

...

...?

...

~Um. I guess Piotr bought a ring.~

Maybe just leave this one on loop? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5qbcRAXVk&feature=youtu.be)

I was going to apologize for this. But then I remembered that I am the absolute worst and I have no idea why you people put up with me, so I decided not to bother.

Caer-Sol raised an eyebrow in some surprise when you stood unflinchingly after she punched the wall. She faced you more directly then, actually looking at you instead of like...through you, or something.
Like you weren't just part of the background any more.

She stopped pacing.

When you kinda...hugged her cell, she blinked and tilted her head quizzically to the side, looking more confused than anything. Zod was looking at you as if you were something clinging to his shoe.

"...What are you doing?" she asked, before shaking her head. "Never mind. I do not want to know. You wish to help me? To thank me? Excellent. Get me out of here." She gave you a big smile, a certain wild enemy dancing in her eyes. "You can do that for me, can't you?" she asked in a kinda wheedling tone.

"Of course. Just a moment," the banker says, standing and heading for the door to the office. But as he reaches for the knob he stops, and turns towards you.

"Just one more thing. If you wouldn't mind, would you please tell me what happened to your aunt?"

You come under psychic attack, feeling a profound urge to obey his request. A mortal might not have noticed it (the effect is Subtle and Insidious, but only to mortal beings) Give me a DC 20 Will save vs. Vulnerable+Impaired/Compelled+Disabled/Controlled. The first conditions are Limited to One Command (in this case, truthfully answering his questions; you may ignore Vulnerable in any round you do so), the second conditions are Limited Degree.

Since you're now being subject to offensive powers, you may consider yourself to be in combat time. Take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Old, Dark Flames Complication.

Gethsemane is on turn.

"I have no doubt that your technology is perfectly functional, Miss Saturn," Senator Arkham replied. "And I have nothing whatsoever against the metahuman community, and I am aware that you are not technically a member of it in any case. However, your partner organization Project Tomorrow does recruit heavily from them, predominantly those who have called themselves superheroes in the past. And whether metahuman or not, you yourself have operated in such a capacity as well. It does not escape my notice that this little "Project Tomorrow" thing started pretty much immediately upon the introduction of government-trained metahuman defenders. The timing seems rather coincidental."

"So I suppose my question is, is this really an effort to make things better? Or is it just another transparent publicity stunt by a bunch of has-been 'heroes' who cannot accept that they have been replaced by a superior alternative? It seems to me that this just proves that rather than having the interests of mankind at heart, you and your fellow 'superheroes' are just doing anything you can to obtain the unearned accolades of the public."

[SuperCracker]

He noticed Kitty observing he and Wanda, and she would see him being friendly and familial. Similarly to how he treated Katie, except he was more gentle with Wanda, always keeping his tone upbeat and bright.

Fred smiled and prepared to make a demure comment about the cooking when Jiji snubbed him. His mouth hung open for a moment before he silently threw his hands up and gave up.

He was left alone with Kitty and Starsoul, right after Starsoul stuck the knife in his back. Fred withdrew into comfortable silence as he picked up his fork and moved to dig into his second piece of pumpkin pie. At least Kitty hadn’t said anything. You know, he had kind of been thinking that tonight was the night, but going there was really hard for him. Right now, eating pie, this was comfortable. This was safe.

And then a red-headed meteorite crashed down on his safe place.

~Hey Rach. Happy Thanksgiving… why are you being weird?~

Amazing how he could ask that to her but not to-- oh you get the point by now.

There was a lot of build up to her point… and silence… and silence… and then she said it. Piotr bought a ring.

In person, Fred blanched. Color left his features. His fingers constricted around the fork until it snapped under his super-strength.

~F***!~

He felt his heart sink. He felt like going to crawl underneath his bed. Outside of his parents dying, this was the single worst piece of news he’d ever received. And yes, that does include “you’re destined to die!”

For a moment his mind was blank. He was looking down at his pie but wasn’t seeing anything. His ears started pounding with the sound of his heart beating.

And then, over the Shared Awareness, he reached out to Starsoul.

~TEAM CHAT. NOW.~

~What’s up, boss?~

~Rachel said Piotr bought a ring.~

~Then you better do something boss, or you’re gonna be a groomsman on the worst day of your life.~

~...Maybe it’s for the best, right? She gets stability, I get to go fight Darkseid without worrying--~

Starsoul interrupted, ~Do I have to bring Katie into this?!~

~No, no you don’t,~ Fred answered, not even buying his own crap this time. Too many people, living and dead, had beat him over the head about that one. ~I don’t know what to do.~

~Yes you do.~

Ok Fine. ~I don’t know how to do it.~

~With your human talky-parts! Look, Fred. You’re going to go do this. You’re going to go do this right now. Just for once, just for once, boss… let me run your life. Go do it. Man, she knows. You don’t think she knows, but she knows. Even if she didn’t figure it out herself, one of our gossip column teammates sure did and then told her. She knows. And she’s waiting to hear you say something about it. You give the woman mixed signals. You’re either serious or your not. It’s either you try now, or I watch you chicken out when they ask if anyone objects to this union.

You don’t have a choice. It’s got to be now. Don’t worry about how you do it. She already knows you’re an awkward semi truck full of issues. Do what your Code tells you. Fling yourself into danger. Are you a true samurai?~

Yeah, Starsoul knows how to get to him.

~Yes.~

~Are you a true samurai?!~

~Yes!~

~Are you going to go into battle, express your feelings and show that you are emotionally available and ready for a real relationship?~

Record scratch.

~Alright! Alright already!~

It was a good thing that the Shared Awareness is really, really fast, because it let Fred recover before there was too much of an awkward silence. He immediately grabbed his glass of wine and downed it. He shot a look down at Starsoul then laid the sword on the table. Fred stood up to his feet and looked back at Kitty. The color returned to his face… and then more color came in as he flushed.

Earlier, he thought that tonight would be the night that he would tell her. It had been more comfortable, more hypothetical when it was just a plan. Now, now it was a necessity. Now he was terrified and twisted up. He felt butterflies in his chest. There was no escape. It was victory or defeat.

“Hey… let’s go up,” he said to her. He didn’t think he would have the courage to do it in the dining room, within possible earshot of others. He lead her upstairs to his old bedroom. Each step up felt like climbing a mountain. He had an old turntable in here, a set of headphones, a collection of vinyl. There was a Goku poster and a Seven Samurai poster both up on the walls. Fred shut the door behind them and was awkwardly silent for a good fifteen seconds before he put on a record, Sax Rohmer #1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQnciEDYoo0), and let it play over the speakers. He kept the volume low, but he needed some kind of background noise. Ganbatte.

“I have to tell you something. And I have to tell it to you right now.”

He turned and looked at her with purple eyes, then jade. How would be approach this? What would he say that would persuade her? How would he put his thoughts int---

“I love you.”

Well there’s that way.

“Not in the ‘you’re my sister’ way, not in the ‘we’re best friends way’ although that’s true too.”

“I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been for years, but I’m so bad at this that I never came out and said it. There were times I was going to, but for some reason or another I never did.”

He wasn’t even hearing himself talk, he was just hearing the pounding in his ears, feeling the pulsing in his neck, the thumping in his chest.

“So… now I’m saying it.”

And now the dread set in as he watched for her reaction.

[Starsign]

She... she talked!

Rene stands from the other side of the cell door, mouth slightly open with his many small teeth showing. He had expected to communicate purely through her actions and expressions. Instead, he hears her speak for the first time. And, perhaps as one would expect, Rene is left silent in speed and active in thought.

How can she talk? Why did she talk? What does she want? What does she see in him? What did she want him for? Why did she talk now?

He's not getting an answer to any of these as shivers run down his cold-blooded spine. He reconsiders her words before the implications of it are clear. A sickening feeling swells up in his stomach. She wants out of prison. She wants to leave this prison. The reptilian can't imagine this being possible. He has no authority, he has no understanding of law in Oa. He doesn't even know her sentence!

His reptilian tail curls up around his legs in an anxious attempt to calm himself. His eyes, flinching in slight madness and wide in his worry, look at Caer-Sol's wild ones. He wishes he could free her. He wishes that he can trust her. And determined to learn more, Rene looks over at Green Lantern. "Do you know her sentence? How long it is?" Rene's scaly voice is restrained, holding back any notion of fear in his voice. Caer-Sol put him in a difficult position and he must know more before making a decision.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane is in the midst of standing when the much more overt mental attack hits. Perhaps that is why it comes so close to succeeding; it takes the better part of a second to remove the intrusion from her mind without allowing it access to any of her in formation.

"Yes," she states slowly, walking in an almost dreamlike way towards him. "As a matter of fact..." she stops, her glamoured body's face clearing suddenly, "I do mind."

The psychic lash strikes down again.

Move Action: Close with Demon Boy.

Standard Action: Attack with Sting of Greed Subvert Will, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Fortitude DC 25 vs. Dazed/Stunned/Paralyzed, Will DC 25 vs. Weaken Toughness and Will. EDIT: My mistake, see below for effects.

Extra Effort + Hero Point: Attack with Subvert Will (again). Damage DC 26, Will DC [roll1] vs. Mind Reading. If I succeed by two ranks, Gethsemane will ask where and how he contacts his superiors (if those are two questions, where takes precedence). If she succeeds by three ranks, she wants to see a time when he contacted them. Rank Four will unlock any suppressed memories, though this is highly unlikely.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah was beginning to get annoyed. She was smart enough to know that this was likely what Arkham wanted, and so she kept control outwardly. But that didn't prevent her from getting increasingly irritated by having her bona fides questioned by this hack of an elected official. "Senator, that's a loaded question, and I'll thank you not to resort to such transparent rhetorical trickery. We're all capable, intelligent adults, and we can talk without having to resort to sophistry. Project Tomorrow is an effort to improve the world for its own sake. We are, of course, happy to work with government-trained metahumans, if they have relevant skills or powers. I can only hope that the government team is as effective as my own, and I look forward to partnering with them in the future." She couldn't quite keep a note of hostility from creeping into her voice, although only someone who knew her well would notice it (which basically meant Sylvester, and probably Katie).

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kitty shot you a sharp, worried look when you snapped the fork. "Misfits thing?" she guessed, in a tone of voice that communicated both "Go, I know the score" and "Man, what is with supervillains and timing?" Her tone didn't strictly communicate the "Let me know if you want backup" part because that would have been rather a lot to say tonally in just two words, but this was Kitty and it was you so obviously that just could go without saying.

So when you instead suggested heading up...okay yeah, she was a bit confused. Was it nothing? Or had something happened that you didn't want to mention where Jiji might hear.

Kitty followed you up, kinda bracing herself. You said you loved her, which wasn't necessarily a great sign. She remembered the last discussion you two had had here. A determined flame of fearsome will lit up in her eyes, and there was sharpness in her voice as she began to say, "Fred, I l-"

And then you elaborated. And both the worry and the determination vanished from her face, replaced with surprise. She blinked a couple times.

Silence stretched for several long moments.

Finally, Kitty spoke. "I know,"

...is exactly what she didn't say. Of course she didn't. You were Kitty's best friend in the world, and look to be frank she didn't have the sort of hang-ups you did. If she had known how you actually felt, there was no way she would have let you torture yourself with it for so long.

No. What she said was, "Thank you, for telling me. I understand how hard that must have been." Kitty knew you way too well to ask any obvious questions like "Why didn't you say something?" or "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

She reached out to take your hands, going to sit down on the side of the bed and kinda tugging you to sit beside her (well assuming you went along with it since obviously she couldn't have so much as budged you physically otherwise). She didn't release your hands. "I guess this is...probably something we should have talked about a while ago. I just...well, I guess I just assumed you felt the exact same I did and it didn't need discussion. Regardless of what anyone else said," she said that last bit a little dryly. Yeah, other people had totally told her, because of course they had you both live with the freakin' X-Men and literally everyone who has ever met the two of you seemed to know it automatically. But Kitty had just told them they don't know what they're talking about.

Kitty took a breath, kinda mentally steeling herself. She may not have had your hang-ups, but that didn't mean this sort of thing was easy as pie either. "So. Here's how I feel." Another preparatory breath. "You're my best friend. As far as I'm concerned, you will always be my best friend. Nothing else changes that, and I...really hope you feel the same way. As far as...anything else goes, in the general sense, yes, I'd be interested. I'm not going to say I feel the same way you do right now, but I don't want you to think I just flat don't reciprocate at all or something. I'm just...it's not something I've really considered, you know? I mean I guess I've considered it but not like considered or...wow, okay, rambling. Um."

"Look, the way I've always kinda felt, and I guess just kinda assumed you felt too, is like...if we were ever both in a place where we weren't in a relationship but were ready to have one, I'd be happy to give it a shot. So, I mean...obviously I'm not actually in that place right now. I don't know what the future will be like. I don't want you like...carrying a torch or, I dunno, waiting for me, or something. Straight-up truth is, Piotr and I have a good thing going, and I would like to think that's not going to change. If it does...then we'll see, I guess? Is that...?" Kitty kinda trailed off uncertainly, with a bit of an awkward laugh. In the movies, confessions like you had just made tended to be met with either hard rejection or unreserved reciprocation.

Real life was more complicated.

Green Lantern was quietly watching your interaction with Caer-Sol. At your question, he answered, "She has not been sentenced. Right now, these four are simply in holding pending trial. There is also an element of protective custody, given that they are witnesses to crimes of Attempted Genocide in the Second Degree, although that's a different case. The charges that they are being investigated for include Premeditated Invasion of an Occupied Planet, Conspiracy to Commit Mass Mind Control, and several hundred counts of Premeditated Murder Across Planetary Boundaries. There are also a few more minor or individual crimes being looked at, such as Unlawful Use of Biological Weaponry and Conspiracy to Alter History."

Law and Order: Green Lantern Unit would have been an amazing show. I'm just saying.

"They had originally consented to being held pending trial, which seemed appropriate given that protection was authorized for them anyway. Resultantly, however, that means there was not originally a hearing to determine if they should be released or allowed bail." He looked past you and at Caer-Sol directly. "If you would like such a hearing to be scheduled, you only needed to say so. It would have been much more efficient than ranting and hitting things in hopes that it would get your point across."

Caer-Sol answered with a sweet smile, and then another full-force punch to the wall.

"Mm," Green Lantern replied simply.

Your will crashed into the demonic banker's mind. He wasn't ready for it; your first assault punched through his mental shields and deep into his brain, devastating his psyche and giving you easy access to his memories. He managed to pull together enough of a psychic defense against your second attack to ameliorate the damage and keep you from pushing any further into his mind, but only just.

Probing his thoughts, you could see that he contacted his superiors telepathically...and his most recent contact was...well, it was happening right now. You could see in his memory how he had informed his contact of a woman "claiming to be Gethsemane's niece" and who evidently had been given significant training in magic.

But you heard in his mind the response that came. ~Detain her. I will be there shortly to interrogate her myself.~

You could recognize the voice, both from past experience and from your previous dip into the demon's memories.

It was Jesticarn himself.

The banker, reeling, but unaware that you were privy to his thoughts, fixed you with a firm glare and lashed out in return, psychically agitating your nerve endings to flood your body with pain - a torture power designed to cripple a target's mental resistance.

Demon Banker:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Induce Sensation. Variable Descriptor set to [Pain]. Give me Fortitude DC 20 vs. Weaken Will.

Gethsemane is on turn.

"And we are to simply take you at your word? You profess to be doing this out of the kindness of your hearts, but people do not actually work like that. I can think of countless ways that in the future, these things you are 'offering' could be exploited to-"

"Are you serious, Arkham?" Senator Boxer interrupted. "This willful ignorance is beneath the dignity of this hearing. Even if you can argue that the heroes who have stepped forth to defend this country and this planet in times of need have not done so effectively - and that is, I think, a rather hard claim to make - to say they did so for exploitive purposes is to pay no heed to simple facts. They have not tried to replace our existing systems with those that they control - all of our normal law enforcement, emergency, and military organizations are still doing their jobs. You say they do it for fame, when a majority of them still hide their actual identities! You are not here to wage a personal battle against superheroes for the entertainment of the media. You are here to represent the interests of your constituents, and I do not believe that their interests are served by our standing in the way of people who are trying to selflessly improve our country."

Arkham kinda stumbled over the beginnings of a retort, only to be more-or-less shouted down by several other Senators - from both sides of the aisle.

Senator Boxer fixed her attention back onto you. "Miss Saturn, please allow me to ask a more productive question. What can we do to help?"

[SuperCracker]

Fred let her bring him over to the bed. He sat on the edge. He thought about putting on his most aggressively neutral expression, but he didn’t. His expression was reserved, thoughtful, but not crushed. Was he feeling good about any of this? Nope. Was he regretting that he had said anything at all? Yes. It was his fear exactly. He opened his mouth and succeeded in making things weird. And where things lay and with what was going to happen with Piotr’s ring, he’d waited too long and lost whatever chance to make this work.

He looked away from her and found an old AC/DC poster to fix his gaze on for a moment. There was just the quiet realization that everyone who had been lecturing him was right. He’d let life pass him by.

“I’ll never stop being your friend,” he said softly, but with conviction. “I want you to be happy.” That part was exactly what anyone who has ever really known Fred Broll would expect him to say. The thing he didn’t say --- no. Best not to leave things unsaid. No second chances.

“I’m not going to stop feeling this way, though. I’m just not. It doesn’t mean I’m going to try and ruin what you’ve got going for you, but I can’t turn it off. I’ve tried to turn it off. I’ve lied to myself that I could turn it off. Trying to has never ended well for me.”

A pause. He looked up towards the ceiling, then back down.

“I’m really good at being Ronin, but I've never been good at being Fred. When I’m not being Ronin, I live in my head most of the time. I have tortured myself for years over this. I convinced myself it would be wrong to tell you, knowing what I know about where my life is going. And even right now, after everything people have said to me and doing my best to reconcile it, I feel guilty.”

He sucked in a deep breath. He was mad at himself for what he’d just said. Did it make sense for him to feel self-loathing? Probably not, but he did.

“I hope everything works out with you and Piotr. I do.” The last two words nearly whispered, hoping that his own wants would fade into the background. It was equivalent to all the times he told someone he was fine when he was bleeding everywhere. He could watch them all live out good lives. With this chapter closed, he’d double-up on his Ronin time. That’s what he told himself.

[Starsign]

Rene freezes still hearing Green Lantern's legal explaination. A hearing would be better than anything Rene can think of. In fact if it's that easy-

*WHAM*

This time, the full force impact sends Rene flinching; his reptilian head was looking away from the cell door. The element of surprise sends Rene's tail briefly flopping, his many sharp teeth chattering, and his eyes firmly focused back on Caer-Sol. He gulps, keeping his cold-blooded self from freezing in anxiety. "Can a hearing be scheduled then?" He asks Green Lantern; the reptilian's voice a mix of his usual compassion and steel. "I don't know if I'll be allowed to testify, but if they ask, I won't hesitate to speak the truth."

There's this sinking suspicion he might need to testify for what they are actually accused of. He actually was present on two occasions relating to these charges.

He looks again at Caer-Sol, seeing her wild eyes compared to his softer, reptilian ones. "Caer-Sol?" He takes a deep breath, curling his forked tongue in his mouth for only a moment before asking, "What do you want to do if allowed release on bail?" He's not sure what to expect... if Caer-Sol even wants to answer.

[Zelphas]

The Indigo Ring constantly floods Gethsemane with compassion. It is the one continuous emotion she feels at all times. It is why she is working for other creatures, rather than being in league with this "banker" and those who command him. She can feel other emotions, but they are all felt through the lens of compassion; none of them are all-consuming. Bottomless rage, unshackled greed, limitless hope... Gethsemane is safe from all of those emotional feelings, constantly anchored by her bond to compassion through the Indigo Ring.

So when her glamoured form suddenly leaps forward, smashing through the banker in front of her with her hands covered in deep scarlet flames, she could not have been reacting in blind panic. Her status as an Indigo Lantern makes that impossible. Completely impossible.

Free Action: Switch to Claws of Rage.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on the banker, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage, with Secondary Effect.

If the Banker is Incapacitated by that attack:

Move Action: Swap to To Where There's Need and Teleport 11... out of there.

If he isn't

Extra Effort: Claws of Rage again, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll1] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage, with Secondary Effect.

[CandyLaser]

While Sarah was confident that she could handle Arkham's questioning indefinitely, she was still grateful for the reprieve offered by Senator Boxer. Defending herself against Arkham's seemingly interminable sophistry had been beginning to wear on her, if only because she had so many things to do that were better uses of her time and intellect. Getting some questions from a more supportive quarter was quite welcome. "Thank you, Senator Boxer," Sarah replied. "The main way you can help is to lend your support to the things we're already doing. What's more, the support of the government-funded metahuman teams that Senator Arkham alluded to would be well-received. Project Tomorrow isn't a black box; perhaps it would allay some of your colleague's fears, ill-founded as they may be, if some of your own were on the inside." They'd be on the inside, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that they were trusted. Still, there was no better way that she knew of to build trust. Well, it could be chemically induced, but that would be expensive, brittle, and morally wrong.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kitty listened, trying to keep the sympathetic pain off her face because she knew how you were with stuff like that. Even so, she couldn't keep her eyes from wincing when you said you tortured yourself. The short, sharp exhalation she made when you said you felt guilty clearly had no idea whether it wanted to be a scoff, a sigh, or a sob when it grew up, her own brain yelling at her that she should have noticed sooner, that she should have noticed at all. What might have come from it, who knew, but she told herself she should have at least noticed.

"Listen to me," she said, quiet but firm, with tears in her eyes. "I know I can't stop you from feeling guilty. I know that. But I need you to know, I'm glad you told me, okay? I would rather know than go on not knowing. You did the right thing. I need you to know that. And-"

She halted, hissed out a short breath. The impulse to hold out hope, to say again that the future was uncertain, to offer possibility as comfort, was strong. But she fought down the urge. Changed her words before they passed her lips. "And you don't have to...stop feeling how you feel. Or ignore it. Or...well, I mean, I guess it'd be pretty pointless to hide it since I guess I'm like the last person in the world to figure it out," she said, with a mirthless laugh. "I'm not going to ask you to do any of that. I just...I just don't want you to get hung up on it. To keep...torturing yourself. To hold out a torch. I know it isn't easy, it isn't easy for anyone and I'm sorry that I can't give you what you're looking for, at least-"

"But the feelings you have...please don't turn them against yourself, Fred. I couldn't bear to think I had let that happen to you, that I had done that to you. I know your past experience with relationships has...pretty much just straight-up sucked but...seriously, Fred, this isn't about you, or about me, it's just freaking timing. I know how strongly you feel things and I know that if you just keep looking you'll find other people you feel the same way for. And I know, I know that if you can do what you did here and open yourself up then they'll return those feelings too. Because they won't be able to help it!"

She threw a tight hug around your shoulders, and she might have been crying but if she was she wasn't letting you see, and evidently you might as well have said the whole thing out loud because she said, "Please, please don't go back to hiding behind Ronin, don't just throw yourself back into the mission. I know it's easier to be Ronin than Fred but you have never in your life chosen the easy way and if you asked any of your friends which of the two they'd rather have if they had to choose you know what every single one of us would say!"

"A hearing is scheduled, although I could certainly see about moving up the date," Green Lantern replied. "I'm sure your testimony would be welcome."

Caer-Sol gave you a wicked little grin, an unnervingly fierce fire seeming to light her wild, dancing eyes when you asked your question. "I am the Fist of Flamebird," she said, raising one hand and slowly, expressively closing it into a tight fist.

With her other hand, she pointed at the barrier of green light. "Darkseid is still out there."

And in a blurring move she smashed her fist clean through the impervious barrier holding her. She didn't shatter it into shards, didn't sunder it utterly. But she punched a hole clean through it, spiderweb "cracks" sparking in several directions from the point of impact. Her fist was bleeding badly, but her smile had only intensified.

No further explanation was deemed necessary.

I wasn't sure if you intended to teleport if you did end up using EE, but actually since Gethsemane would have had to swap to Claws of Rage in the first place, she wouldn't have been able to swap again that round anyway.

Your flaming claws tore a hard slash across the demon banker's chest, burning with orange flame that continued to sear the wound even as it cauterized it, but he managed to leap backwards to avoid your follow-up strike. With his pain power failing, he went for a more direct attempt at neutralization, and a sudden lethargy began to settle over your body and mind.

But that was kinda the least of your worries. The air tore open, a hole leading into...what actually looked like an extremely tastefully decorated penthouse appearing in the middle of the room, through which stepped Jesticarn.
The Wishbender had deep purple skin, black hair tied in an elaborate braid hanging down to the base of his back, and a fu manchu mustache and goatee. He wore an elaborately decorated vest of royal purple with gold trim, open to show off his leanly-muscled form, and loose, baggy white pants. His feet were backwards, and covered only in simple black sandals. He wore an elaborate white turban, the front set with a smooth oval amethyst half the size of a man's fist.
Several knick-knacks and pouches, including an old-style golden oil lamp and a pair of gambler's dice, hung from his belt.

He looked over the scene briefly as the portal vanished, steepling his fingers. "Madam, please. I am sure what whatever you are here for, it can be settled without recourse to crass violence," he said smoothly, with a gentle smile.

Banker:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Sleeping Curse. Give me Will DC 25 vs. Sleep Damage.

Jesticarn:
Move: Arrive.
Standard: Learn What The Heart Wants. Gethsemane give me a Will save DC [roll0] vs. Mind Reading. This effect is Subtle 2, so Gethsemane is not aware of it, but it's Limited to information about desires (aside from a few Features it has attached). If you fail by one degree, tell me whatever Gethsemane most desires in her present thoughts. If you fail by two degrees, tell me what Gethsemane's strongest conscious desire is, and as a Feature he also learns her name. If you fail by three degrees, give me a memory of the last time Gethsemane unsuccessfully tried to achieve her strongest desire. If you fail by four degrees, tell me what Gethsemane's strongest subconscious desire is, and as a Feature he may choose for her to become consciously aware of it herself. Uhhh... :smalleek: Crit.
DC becomes 45.

While it's already been established that you know that Jesticarn is a powerful manipulator demon who grants wishes that turn out bad for the wisher, that's just the start of it. Demonic power to demonic power, he's not actually all that much stronger than you are. But his true power comes from his mastery of an ancient and powerful form of magic - the power of Truespeech. His words can alter reality in a way that most wizards can only dream of with their spells.

Truespeech is rare, difficult, and archaic form of magic. And as dangerous as Jesticarn is, there are few who can match his proficiency at it. As wise as it might be to flee this place...this is also a priceless opportunity for magical inquiry.
If you give in to your Fascinating Magical Phenomena Complication and remain here to try to glean some knowledge from Jesticarn, I'll start you off with an additional :smallcool: Hero Point in the next adventure.

While Jesticarn's power of True Speech is deadly, it becomes exponentially moreso if he knows the name of his target. If he learns the target's True Name, he can wield tremendous power over them. Fortunately, it's hard to learn a True Name unless it is offered willingly...although of course, many people can be convinced to exchange it for a wish. After all, it's just a name, it's not like he's asking for your soul or anything...

Jesticarn almost always begins an encounter by reading the target's desires. This power is completely undetectable...but you can bet he's trying to use it on you right now. Even worse, this power will reveal to him the name (but not the True Name) of anyone who he really gets his hooks in - which would immediately blow your cover.

Gethsemane is on turn.

"That sounds quite rational," Boxer said, and if not everyone seemed in agreement, at least nobody openly contradicted her statement.

"Some more practical questions, then," one of the other Senators, Tabitha Tolbert, said. "Do you currently have any particular plan of action for in what order and how quickly you intend to roll out these changes? I think it would be only wise for this body and our colleagues in the House to have the opportunity to review them and offer input on the ideal order of operations, from the standpoint of the American people."

[SuperCracker]

It would be nice to say that Fred was heartened by Kitty’s words.

“You’re right. It will happen someday, I just have to be open to it,” was what he didn’t say.

In reality, when a man is fundamentally broken in some way, it isn’t that easy to fix. And Fred was and is broken. It was a struggle to do anything he considered selfish. It was a struggle to prioritize himself. It took everything in him to take this step, on a leap of faith largely generated by friends (and past reincarnations) telling him that he should… that he deserved something more, that he could have something more. And he tried. He really did try. But both attempts had been failures. What he was afraid of was happening right then and there. Everything he had feared and had agonized about had, to him, been proven correct. What will he'd pulled together had been fragile.

Kitty’s words didn’t fix anything. They didn’t soothe any of the sting. They didn’t convince him that this was just timing. This was more than that… this was fate. He’d told them he’d fight against it, but he only half-believed he wouldn’t be dead within a year. Her words didn’t convince him that he doesn't die when he faces Darkseid. He just wanted those words to stop. He didn’t want someone to worry about him.

No one should worry about him.

This was a good news, as it had always been. When the time comes to make his choice, he can do so knowing Kitty will live a good life. That thought comforted him. As he’d done for practically his entire life, he pushed down his own selfish yearnings. His priorities silently reasserted themselves, despite her pleading to the contrary.

This was finished. It should have never happened, but that couldn’t be changed. All there was to do was to move forward.

Fred pulled back from a hug that he didn’t really return all too strongly. He faked a small smile. He hadn’t said a word the whole time. He reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks.

“Don't cry."


"I’m fine.”

[CandyLaser]

Sarah pricked up her hears at the mention of 'input.' It was a short step from 'input' to 'veto power' or even 'total control.' If it stopped at input, then things would be fine. Letting the government think it was involved would grease the rails for them. It might help resolve bureaucratic issues as well. It was even possible (albeit extremely unlikely) that Sarah had missed something in her plans, and that someone from the government would spot it.

"We do have such plans," she said, choosing her words carefully, "although they are necessarily flexible. We're focusing on the basics first, though: nutritious food, clean water, power, infrastructure. All the prerequisites for human flourishing. We'd be happy to accept feedback from you on the subject." A subtle emphasis on the word 'feedback' indicated that she didn't want anything more than that.

[Starsign]

Again, the reptilian humanoid flinches at the punch. He normally would have staggered at the sound of the punch echoing across the green wall. Instead, he flinched at how the kryptonian's fist smashed straight through the green wall. She very, very, very well could have struck him clean with that force the first time she punched the wall. Hell, she could have damn well broken free, even if not getting far after, with that kind of strength. Half of Rene's mind wonders briefly, and worryingly, whether his own body could take that sort of blow.

The other half of his mind is fixated on the badly-bleeding hand which had smashed clean through the small part of the green wall. "Oh ****," he hisses quietly. Blood, blood. Oh god that's a lot of blood! The sight of it reminds him of how he'd often be covered in his own from numerous past battles. He never gets used to it; no matter how much he tells himself, he'll never get used to it. Why isn't it going away?!

His clawed feet tremble and visibly shudder before suddenly disappearing in a green-yellow blur. It didn't take him long to come back, eyes wide, slithery breathing heavy, and his hunched back further held over. The dull lighting of the prison makes his scales, especially the heavy plate scales on his head and back, appear dull and worn. His reptilian head and snout uncomfortably jerk up to look at Green Lantern and asks in confusion, "D-Don't you have a first aid kit somewhere?"

If these actions haven't made it clear to the Earth hero, there's no objection from Rene to testify on the behalf of Caer-Sol. Given all the other charges applied to those here, he'll have to get used to being in Oa's courtroom.

...Does an alien planet like Oa even have a court of law?

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane throws off the banker Demon's will, focusing fully on Jesticarn as he steps through the portal. High-level Demon--Truespeaker, truespeaking... once knew this... works primarily on gaining person's True Name. Less data--could gain more, stall for time, learn more magic--

Jesticarn powerful mental manipulator. Already in head at moment, most likely.

Gethsemane slowly straightens out of her crouch, bringing her breathing back under control. She allows her Glamour to drop, revealing the classical Demoness form that Jesticarn would recognize as Gethsemane from fifty years ago, her eyes and face filled with what (to Jesticarn) would seem to be an utterly alien emotion.

"It could be, Jesticarn," she says softly, compassion filling every syllable. "It could be. If only you would allow it to be so."

In a flash of deepest midnight, Gethsemane is gone.

Spending a Hero Point to Edit Scene a hideout within Distance Rank 11 of Gotham for Gethsemane to go to.

Free Action: Swap to To Where There's Need.

Move Action: To Where There's Need: Teleport to the hideout.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Kitty regarded at you for several seconds with a half-weary, half-oh-no-you-did-not-just-say-that-to-me look.

"One day, Fred, I hope you learn that pretending to be okay doesn't cause me to worry about you less," she said grimly, before standing up. "I...I should go. I'm sorry I hurt you."

And then, because she didn't think there was anything else she could do that would actually help, she headed for the door.

"Excellent. So perhaps we should discuss some of these current plans, and then retire so we can deliberate possibilities. On the subject of energy, will this be involving..."

Green Lantern looked...kinda shocked that Caer-Sol had actually managed to put a fist through the energy field. His ring glowed briefly, opening the hole a bit wider and smoother so she could withdraw her hand, before sealing it up again. A little drone descended from the ceiling, passing through the barrier, and beamed some sort of soft white light onto Caer-Sol's hand, the injury rapidly closing. The drone then flew back up into a hatch in the ceiling.

"That...is probably enough for now," he said, sensibly. "Come. I'll put in a request to expedite the hearings, and then take you back to Earth.
You'll likely be called in to testify in somewhere between one and two weeks," he headed for the exit as he spoke. "On the way back, I would like to debrief you on the possibility of any other witnesses who might..."

"Thank you for coming, Rene," J'onn said with a gentle smile. "It was good to see you again."

You appeared in your safe house, and...no other demons immediately teleported in after you to attack. It appeared you were safe.

~So you are alive. I must admit to some surprise. But that you should be reduced to such a state, shackled to some trinket! I can understand why you haven't made your return public.~

~Of course, your secret is safe with me. We students of lore have to stick together, don't we now? I just hope that if I ever need a...commensurate favor, you will be so kind as to similarly oblige.~

~And when you are ready to be freed of your shackles, I would of course be more than happy to help. Just say my name, and I will be there.~

~It was good to see you again, Gethsemane.~ Your name rumbled through your mindspace, like a toll of distant thunder.

...Mostly! It appeared you were mostly safe!

--

So. Government-funded, mass-produced supers. Let's be real. There were plenty of people who predicted this would go horribly wrong in some fashion.

But to be fair, most of them had thought it would take at least a little bit longer, and probably not go quite this terribly.

But then, even cynical human beings really had to put forth effort to make predictions that actually undershot reality.

And so it was that Metropolis found itself as just one of many U.S. cities facing an assault by a small army of government-created supers. Yes, there were failsafes that should have been able to disable their powers immediately in case of such an event. Yes, they had been tested extensively under a variety of conditions and always performed perfectly, and there was redundancy built into the system to ensure that if one terminal was compromised there were others that could send the disable order. No, it hadn't worked.

And so the Misfits found themselves as just one of many clusters of home-grown heroes defending their city from the attack. At the moment, fighting atop a skyscraper about three blocks down from the Daily Planet against half a dozen paragons who were trying to get a secure high-ground position from which to fire eye beams and other unpleasantness down upon the city. (Yes they could fly but in a battlefield like this flying around shooting things just made you a target that could be attacked from multiple angles).

But nobody should feel too smug. Because there were reports and rumors that some of the old-school heroes were also fighting on the side of the attackers. Some might have doubted these reports, assumed they were false propaganda, or perhaps mistakes made due to the chaos of battle and the risk that even experienced heroes faced of causing collateral damage.

But the Misfits, lucky them, were in no position to doubt, given the unquestionable evidence to their eyes in the form of-

"IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!"

Initiative:
Potence: [roll0]
Ronin: [roll1]
Thunderstruck? [roll2]
Sarah Saturn: [roll3]
The Builder: [roll4]
Gethsemane: [roll5]

Enemies: [roll6]

On This Adventure: Okay so, I've mentioned this in passing to at least some of you but I haven't heard from Herod in a while, so I'm falling back to my previous plan. I'll be running a final adventure of probably 4-6 episodes to bring us to the climactic final battle against Darkseid. I'm going to try to tie up loose ends and bring various character arcs to conclusions as best I can during that timeframe.

Since I tend to do more episodes per adventure than Herod and this'll be functionally the last one, everyone take 5 Power Points. You can update your sheets as suits you during this battle, it's kinda a warmup anyway, so no need to like rush in changes before your first post or anything. Hero Points are resetting to 1, and Luck Rerolls are refreshed.

I know some loose ends/final arcs and such have been discussed to some degree, but if you guys could post one more time in the OOC things you'd ideally like to see happen/resolved in the final adventure, just to make sure I have it all in one place and don't miss anything, that would help.

Also, if you've had any discussions with Herod about certain things to be revealed later, if you could send me those privately it would help me avoid any more goof ups like I made with Zach's mom. :smallamused:

On Downtime Actions: I'm going to implement the Downtime Actions system that Herod had brought up previously. I want to go over it one more time and make sure it's how I want it before opening it up, and I'm heading out shortly so that'll have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow or something. Everyone will be getting some initial Downtime Actions for the time between the past stuff and this new adventure. Any remaining Hero Points from the last adventure will also convert to bonus Downtime Actions. For reference, those totals are:
Sarah: 3.
Ronin: 3.
Thunderstruck: 1.
Builder: 2.
Gethsemane: 2.

If you'd like to spend these Hero Points on Edits or Inspirations rather than bonus Downtime Actions you may do so.

On Potence: Last time I asked everyone seemed cool with me GMPCing Katie, so unless anyone has a last-minute objection or anything that's what I'm gonna do. I'll be posting for Katie separately from my GM posts. Katie will retain her usual Luck rerolls and earn any party-wide Hero Points (like from victories or whatever) normally. However, any Hero Points that would normally come to Katie as a result of Fiat or Complications will instead go into a floating pool that anyone in the party can use freely.

On This Episode: This initial battle is a warmup. Fair warning, what I have planned for this episode overall is...let's say intense. It's something of a puzzle challenge, and the stakes will be high. We're building up to Darkseid, after all! I'm not going to say it's unwinnable by direct force of arms, but that route will be rough. That said, there are solutions to be found.

On This Battle: I don't have time to do a map right now but I'll get one up when I have a chance. Also...

Potence, Ronin, and Thunderstruck(?) are on turn!

[SuperCracker]

The fighting had been intense and Ronin, who had been flying around the city to wherever the fighting had been worst was already covered in blood up to the elbows. He had wordlessly cut down SPIN soldier after SPIN soldier. And now, as they fought on and around the skyscraper, he was face to face with a f*cking traitor. The f*cking Thing. Ronin glared at him icily from behind his mirror shades. Ronin, naturally, had already powered up to SSJ1. SSJ1 was just walking-around power. But now that he was looking at the Thing, it was time to turn the heat up.

Fred stepped out in front of the other heroes, keeping himself between them and the Thing.

“He’s mine.”

No shout this time, no straining… Fred’s body lit up with power as he advanced to SSJ2. Ronin lowered himself into a ready stance, his left hand held out in front, palm open, ready to reach for his sheathed sword.

Standard action to SSJ2, move action to get into position. Partial concealment visual. Attacks are -2 against him.

[Thokk_Smash]

"Comin' through, 'scuse--woah! Watch the hair! Imma come over there and whup your a** once we're done!"

Zach dodges one last eye laser from a distant enemy before landing with the rest of the Misfits on the rooftop. It's been a hectic day for Zach, and it's only getting more stressful. Lightning crackles around his form, and he looks artfully disheveled--sexy, but not like he's trying; I mean sure, he's trying, but it's almost effortless? Either way, he strums off a quick chord that resounds clearly even through the din of the battle.

"Fine, call dibs on the big guy, you selfish bastard," he says to Ronin with a fierce grin, clearly not grudging the other man one bit. With a louder discharge of lightning he takes off to strike at the leading SPINner to Grimm's right. A sound like a raging hurricane rings through the air, and then Zach is gone and on top of a nearby, different rooftop.

Move action: Into Close range of P1.

Attack with Rock You Like A Hurricane, AoA/PA for 5, Crits on a 16+, [roll0] vs DC 30 Toughness Damage, DC 25 Fort vs Vulnerable/Stunned, DC 25 Will vs Weaken Toughness.

Move-by Action: Use the rest of my Platform Flight 5 to fly to AV47.

Status: Fine, -5 Active Defenses
HP: 1
Luck: 4/4 (Can only use to remove own Fatigue)

[Quellian-dyrae]

For maybe the three-millionth time, Katie wished she had her sister's speed of thought.

Because there wasn't really any time to think, racing from one battle to the next, trying to get people out of danger when the danger was all over the city. And she needed to think, to try to figure out what in the world was happening! The SPINners should not have been able to fall apart this catastrophically, and even if they did-

But there was no time to think about that, as they engaged half a dozen paragons led by the Thing.

Katie whelmed her power, brilliant silver light blazing around her, as she brought her left hand - the side that absorbs energy - up in a warding gesture, drawing the power of the world around her in defensively. And then her right hand - the side that projects energy - swept out in a broad arc around her and her friends, the silver light coalescing around them in silver shields. "BARRIER!"

And then she gathered a bright ball of silver magic and hurled it straight at the Thing...where it exploded into a burst of harmless (but distracting) confetti.

Free: Swap to Metamagic and Barrier.

Free: Activate Metamagic to add Secondary Effect to Barrier.

Standard: Barrier on the party. All allies in 30' are Deflected at 1d10+20 for two turns. The bonus is reduced by 1 per point of Toughness above 12.

Move: Feint the Thing at [roll0]. If it succeeds, use Set Up 2 to pass the benefits to Ronin and Sarah.

Current Status: Normal, Deflected (1d10+20, SE).

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

The paragon that Zach had attacked moved in a blur of superhuman speed, just keeping ahead of his strike. He shot off after the musician, coming in fast and hard with a rapid flurry of superhumanly-strong blows that offered little in the way of an opening.

Two of the paragons immediately loosed beams of energy - one searing red, the other crackling yellow - from their eyes, sweeping their gazes along the majority of the group to blast them all with concentrated energy. A third swept a blazing line of icy blue energy across the rooftops to zap Ronin and Thunderstruck.

Another pair swooped in, each taking on two of the heroes, moving fast enough to engage both targets on equal footing.

The Thing met Ronin's challenge without flinching, hauling back and lashing out with a heavy punch. What it may have lacked in the paragons' sheer speed, it made up for with pure clobbering momentum!

Paragon 1:
Free: Reconfigure Paragon Array to Flight 6, Close Attacks gain Linked Deflect 8 (Secondary Effect, Reduced Range [Close]).
Move: Into AU27.
Standard: Attack Thunderstruck with Hasted Flurry at [roll0], Deflected at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage, Will DC 20+Multiattack vs. Impaired/Disabled Affliction. Paragon 1 is Deflected at 1d10+18 for two rounds. Deflected

Paragon 2:
Move: Sweep beam.
Standard: Eye Beams on Gethsemane, Builder, Sarah, and Potence. Perception range, so no save for half. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

Paragon 3:
Move: Sweep beam.
Standard: Eye Beams on Gethsemane, Builder, Sarah, and Potence. Perception range, so no save for half. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

Paragon 4:
Move: Sweep beam.
Standard: Eye Beams on Ronin and Thunderstruck. Perception range, so no save for half. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

Paragon 5:
Free: Reconfigure Paragon Array to Flight 6, Close Attacks gain Linked Deflect 8 (Secondary Effect, Reduced Range [Close]).
Move: Into Y29.
Standard: Attack the Builder and Gethsemane with Hasted Flurry, All Out Attack for 2, Multiattack for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Will DC 20 vs. Impaired/Disabled Affliction. Paragon 5 is Deflected at 1d10+16 for two rounds.
Builder: [roll2], Deflected at [roll3]. Miss outright
Gethsemane: [roll4], Deflected at [roll5]. Miss outright

Paragon 6:
Free: Reconfigure Paragon Array to Flight 6, Close Attacks gain Linked Deflect 8 (Secondary Effect, Reduced Range [Close]).
Move: Into AA32.
Standard: Attack Sarah and Potence with Hasted Flurry, All Out Attack for 2, Multiattack for 2. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Will DC 20 vs. Impaired/Disabled Affliction. Paragon 6 is Deflected at 1d10+16 for two rounds.
Sarah: [roll6], Deflected at [roll7]. Hits since ties go to the attacker
Potence: [roll8], Deflected at [roll9]. Miss outright

The Thing:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Clobber, All Out Attack for 2, Accurate Attack for 2, -2 for Concealment, at [roll10], Deflected at [roll11]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22 vs. Cumulative Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated. Miss outright

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie's wards tanked one of the energy beams. The other required her to take a moment to focus them, and burned off some energy, but still. Nothing she couldn't take. Even so, she went ahead and reinforced them. These guys seemed to be emphasizing raw physical threat, so more direct resistance wouldn't hurt.

Okay. Shields up, now time to focus on offense! And by "offense" I of course mean "somebody else's offense"! She sent her Helping Hand flying over to Rene, overlaying one of his claws, channeling her magic into him. The magic would directly augment the speed and power of his next blow. Oh, sure, it wasn't the most complex and cunning spellcraft, but sometimes it didn't need to be. The boost was simple, straightforward, and power-packed. 'Twould do, indeed.

Move: Dazed.

Free: Activate the sustained portion of Protective Wards.

Free: Swap Support Caster to Investiture. Reconfigure Arcana. Extra Limbs 1 (Projection), Elongation 3 (120'; Quirk [Extra Limb Only]), and full Metamagic.

Free: Use Metamagic.
-10 points to add Linked Healing 10 (Limited [Healing Points]) to Strength Damage.

Standard: Aid Rene's next attack at [roll0]. Potence receives [roll1] Healing Points. Can't fail to remove the Bruise. +5

Reaction: Investiture triggers. Rene's next Toughness-resisted Damage of rank 15 or less receives a Team Attack at [roll2]. ...Unless he attacks someone who's Deflected and they get pretty lucky, that's also probably +5.

End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Allies are Deflected again.

Current Status: Normal, Deflected (1d10+16), +4 Toughness/-4 Defense.

[SuperCracker]

Ronin didn’t even look up at the paragon that fired his laser vision. As the ray came sweeping across, Fred lifted his left hand up and swatted, deflecting the energy back up into the sky. Grimm telegraphed a powerful punch, but Fred was too quick, already moving in closer to the Thing. As Grimm punched, Ronin veered left. The rocky fist went past Fred’s head and over his right shoulder and magical confetti burst into the air around him (thanks Katie). Ronin gripped Starsoul with his left hand and drew the sword with a strike at Grimm’s abdomen and midsection. With the Thing being the Thing, Fred wasted no time with quick, harrying blows and instead focused all of his might into the initial strike.

Trusting in Katie's barriers and generally being unafraid of death meant he could leave himself wide open to deliver a stronger attack.

Power strike! Since Fred’s deflected, full all-out + power attack. I think Grimm was vulnerable. I’ll luck reroll if I fail this one, since this seems to be a pretty good shot here.

[roll0] Unless he's immune to crits, that's a crit. +5 to both dc's. – DC30 35+Multi Parry vs. Damage and DC 25 30+Multi Will vs. Vulnerable/Stunned

[CandyLaser]

Sarah's shunt field deflected the majority of the beams, redirecting their effects harmlessly into deep space. "I do not have time for this," she said with a sigh. "I give the government the ability to produce their own metahumans, and they just copy Superman a half-dozen times? Show some originality, at least." She had been the one to ensure that there wasn't a killswitch for the government supers, and that was unfortunate. It was good policy, but an off switch would be very useful right now. She did have the next best thing, though. She took careful aim at the nearest paragon and let loose with her SPIN darts before taking flight, heading up over the city.

Polymath is set to All-out Attack, Power Attack, Favored Environment, and Improved Critical 2. I'll attack with the SPIN darts, maxing out all-out attack and PA and assigning the FE bonus to attack. Here's the attack roll: [roll0]

[Starsign]

It was hard for Rene to believe that some of Earth's long-standing heroes would suddenly side with a series of rampant mass-produced supers. The reptilian had only just returned from Oa to hear about this project and how impressively fast things went wrong. He is not, however, one to reject what the Misfits have to say and is quick to join the others in facing some of these paragons.

Among other things Rene didn't expect: Battling on top of a skyscraper. Sure, high distances aren't anything new to him. But having to fight fliers at a high-enough distance that a fall could conceivably break every bone in Rene's reptilian body is not a comfortable position for someone who tends to go into a panic. It's quite telling that the Thing seems hardly troubled by the fact that he could fall a very, very long way down... Though perhaps that's the difference with their respective experience as superheroes.

However, nothing changes Rene's compassion for his allies as he heroically throws himself in front of Sarah to protect her from one of the eye beams with a loud, "Look out!". The various beams aimed at both her and him fry parts of Rene's supersuit and leaves his back plated scales sizzling in pain.

The reptilian hisses inbetween heavy breaths as he turns around at the rampant paragon right next to him. Having spent the past while practicing actual martial arts with Ronin instead of violently flailing arms, Rene puts up his scaly arms and clawed hands in the a snake kung-fu style (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Snake_KungFu.jpg). With Katie's augment, he unleashes a primal series of slashes with his claws, rattling his cold-blooded body in lengthy movements against the paragon.

The notably significant departure from the snake style is that Rene goes for the chest and arms, rather than the opponent's weak points ala eyes or groin. He has actual claws, after all, not hands.

Alright, let's give this new sheet a try. Rene will attack the nearest Paragon with Primal Fury while Survival Instinct is active. He will Power Attack +4/-4 here. DC 29+Multiattack Toughness on hit. [roll0]

I believe Katie's buffs means Rene's attack roll and DC is boosted by +5 each, so add 5 to the above if true.

[Thokk_Smash]

Zach doesn't even bother to dodge the eye laser, and it dissipates in a shower of counter-sparks of lightning. He doesn't even slow down in his strumming of his guitar. It'll take more than that to interrupt his show!

"Oh, was it a private concert you wanted?" he asks the paragon that had followed him with a grin. Lightning begins coursing over his entire body, summoned by a sudden frenetic sweep of his guitar pick over the strings. "Didn't know a dumb brick like yourself had a taste for the classics. I'm gonna warn, you, though: it may be a bit ~hard to handle, now~!"

With a will, he coalesces the lightning on his body into the frets of his guitar, before unleashing it full-force on the paragon, heedless of the guy's attempts to dodge.

Free: Swap to T.N.T.

Move action: Taunt Paragon 1, -2 for Chatterbox, [roll0]

Standard action: Aim at Paragon 1, making Zach Vulnerable

Extra Effort: Surge to attack Paragon 1 with T.N.T., AoA/PA for 5, +10 for Aiming, Crits on a 16+ [roll1] vs DC 28+Multiattack Incurable, Affects Insubstantial 2 Damage.

Status: Fine, Vulnerable, -5 Active Defenses, Deflected at 1d10+20, Fatigued next turn
HP: 1
Luck: 4/4 (only for removing fatigue)

[Zelphas]

The Paragon's eye lasers leave superficial burns across Gethsemane's carapace, but she shrugs off the pains easily enough, the marks already beginning to fade. Glancing quickly across the battlefield, the demon bug leaps towards the nearest Paragon, her claws dripping with red light.

Move Action: Close with the nearest Paragon.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on the nearest Paragon, Power Attacking for 2. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage (With Secondary Effect).

Status: 2 Bruises (1 Heals).

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Any mundane being would have been cut clean in half by Ronin's swing. Most superhumans would have been disabled. But while the Thing may not have been the most powerful or versatile hero, he was capable of enduring a phenomenal amount of punishment. Starsoul's enchanted edge sheared through the Thing's rocky hide, but it did so like a sword through flesh, rather than like a hot knife through butter.

The Thing still stood, but he was critically injured, reeling and wobbling.

Whatever variant on the SPIN technology was supposed to allow the government to disable the supers remotely may have been failing, but the classic version still worked fine! A dart in the neck, and Sarah's target's powers were immediately disabled, rendering that paragon just a regular person and as such no meaningful threat in a battle on this scale.

Zach's opponent drew back a fist to put through that chattering mouth and in that moment the musician unleashed a searing bolt of blazing lightning! The perfectly timed shot caught the paragon full in the chest and dropped him, unconscious and sizzling, to the ground. Roof. Whatever.

Paragon 5 wanted to go one-to-two against Rene and Gethsemane, and that worked out for her about as well as you might expect. Sheer speed was all that saved her as she was set upon by a relentless flurry of rending claws. She came out of it injured, bleeding, and on fire. But, you know, otherwise sure, she was having a good day!

And you know what, credit where credit was due, she didn't fall back. She reached out to try to grab Rene in a crushing grip, and swing him full-force right at Gethsemane, screaming in challenge as she did.

Two of the paragons that had hung back went for a coordinated assault, the first one unleashing eye beams to try to blow away Katie's shields while the second one came in from the side with a powerful kick, aiming to punt Ronin across the way and straight into Thunderstruck.

The closest paragon pulled the Thing back and stepped up to replace him. He sucked in a deep breath and blew out hard through pursed lips, exhaling a veritable hurricane to try to sweep the heroes from the rooftop!

The Thing:
Stunned.
End of Turn: Will to remove Stunned (DC 22): [roll0]. Well yeah he recovers

Paragon 3:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Use Eye Beams to try to Counter Katie's Deflect at [roll1] vs. [roll2]. Countered

Paragon 5:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack the Builder with Super CQC, All Out Attack for 5, Power Attack for 2, at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless, and Strength or Dodge DC 22 or be swung into Gethsemane at [roll4], for Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage on a hit. Hits Rene, misses Gethsemane even if he is swung
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Deflected again at 1d10+16.

Paragon 4:
Move: Into Z26.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Super CQC at [roll5]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 20 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless, and Strength or Dodge DC 20 or be launched a number of distance ranks equal to the points of failure minus 2 (max 8). If you fail by at least three points, you might hit Zach ([roll6]) for Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage. Hard miss even with the Deflect Countered

Paragon 2:
Move: Swap positions with the Thing.
Standard: Use Blow Away, using Precise to narrow the cone. Katie, Sarah, Rene, and Gethsemane, and Ronin if you aren't launched by the prior attack, give me Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage, and Strength or Dodge DC 20/15 or be launched back a Distance rank equal to the points of failure minus 2 (max 8).
Katie Dodge: [roll7]. Katie Toughness: [roll8]. Katie Dodge: [roll9]. And an extra Toughness in case she falls: [roll10]. Bruised

Anybody who ends up getting launched off the skyscraper without a Flight power active falls 200' to the ground for DC 25 Damage. Note that Platform Flight is insufficient here since it would be due to the results of a failed resistance check.

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie wore a rather put-out frown as the paragon shot down her shields, but she didn't really have time to complain as the rest of them made their attacks. Rene was hurt, and the enemy he and Gethsemane were fighting was going all-out trying to take him down. She leaped in the way, hurling up a silvery barrier to absorb the blow. The force of the impact shattered the shield, backlashing some on Katie and knocking her off-balance, but the paragon's arm was likewise halted, so it could have been worse.

Then the other paragon loosed his breath, and Katie reacted as fast as she could, quickly transmuting the roof beneath her feet to flow around them, anchoring her to the roof. It meant she was exposed to the full force of the blast, but her wards took that fine, shining with faint silvery light as they bled off the absorbed energy.

She had been planning to heal Rene, and him being swept from the roof kinda proved an impediment to that, but it was nothing that her Helping Hand couldn't resolve! A gesture sent the shining construct arcing down, growing to the roughly human-size it took on when Katie used it as a platform, and it grabbed Rene and pulled him back up to the roof, pouring curative power into him as it did.

Free: Swap to Augment Arcana to add 36 PP to the Arcana array. Configure Arcana to full Helping Hand less two points of the Move Object, full Metamagic, and two more ranks of Metamagic from the Augment Arcana feature.

Free: Metamagic.

10 points to add Linked Healing 10 (Limited [Healing Points]) to the Move Object.
10 points to add Secondary Effect to the Healing.

Move: Dazed.

Standard: Move Object Linked Healing to bring Rene back to the roof and provide [roll0]/2 Healing Points, with more coming next round. 9 Healing Points, not quite enough to remove any conditions yet, bleh.

End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Dazed+Vulnerable (DC 22): [roll1]. Recovers

Current Status: 2 Bruises, 8 Healing Points.

[SuperCracker]

The magical barrier around Ronin lit up as it was struck and destroyed by one Paragon’s eyebeams. The other Spinner’s kick was defeated with a simple sidestep. Likewise, the Spinner with super-breath failed to budge the mutant warrior who dug in and braced against the force. Even though he was now faced with four on one, Ronin maintained his initial target. Ronin flew up into the air above the paragon’s head. He considered how resistant the Thing was to normal attacks and decided to use a bit of magic mixed with the Phoenix’s leftover latent psychic abilities.

Starsoul erupted in bright purple as its physical blade changed into something made of psychic power.

“Trippy!”

Fred had picked up a trick from Betsy. (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerlisting/images/b/bd/Psylocke-x-men-7051143-1680-1050.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110812215539)

He came down over the Paragon and towards the Thing, slashing at the Thing’s head with the mind blade.

Power stunting off of Power Slash.

Mind Slash – Strength-Based Damage 3 (Alternate Resistance: Will 10), Multi-Attack 10, Secondary Effect – Descriptors (Magic, Fae, Psychic)

All-Out Attack 2; Power Attack 5 – [roll0] - DC 30+Multi will vs damage, secondary effect

Fred's partial concealment is still up.

Fred is now fatigued.

I should try to keep track of Fades in long combats. Last round, environment light was -1. Now it's -2.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane steps back to avoid the clumsy swing of the first Paragon, spreading her wings for balance... which made her the perfect target for the other Paragon's super-breath. She disappears in a gust of wind, only to reappear seconds later, the burns from the earlier laser eye attack fully vanished from her form as she closes in with the paragon who swapped with the Thing. Landing in front of him, she claws upwards, the red flames on her fingers flashing in time with those flames still on the paragon she had been attacking before.

Move Action: Fly back onto the rooftop and to AB 25.

Standard Action: Attack Paragon 2 with Claws of Rage, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Pary DC 30+ Multiattack vs. Damage, with Secondary Effect.

End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers on Paragon 5.

Status: -5 to Active Defenses (this turn).

[CandyLaser]

The gust of wind blew Sarah back, sending her tumbling head over heels for almost a mile before she managed to right herself.

And then she opened up a portal and was right back where she was before the paragon blew her aside. "Really? A little bit of wind? That's what you're using?" She sighed and took aim at one of the untouched paragons with her SPIN darts, then fired again. It worked the first time, after all.

Teleport back to the battle, then attack. I'll go full All-Out and PA once more. Polymath is unchanged.[roll0]

[Starsign]

Try as Rene might, he had been completely unable to keep his clawed feet on the skyscraper building as the paragon's hurricane-like wind blasts the reptilian off. Helpless to gravity, the reptilian is left panicking, flailing his scaly arms and legs around with short, horrific screams as he falls two hundred feet. The wind whistles past his eardrums at increasing speeds as the green-yellow reptilian-

*SPLAT*

The cement street cracks with barely a tiny crater as Rene hits the ground at terminal velocity. The civilians on the sidewalk pause from their daily tasks to view the hero's fallen state as the vehicles around him barely manage to stop before accidentally running him over. A closer look reveals that his left arm had broken at its joints; the lower half of his scaly arm cracks and bends uncomfortably behind the shoulder. A massive gash of pain withers across his body; his reptilian slits lie open but still; his tail likewise not moving.

His right clawed hand twitches. A flicker of life appears in Rene's body as he slowly gets up from the cement ground. The eyes in his slits flicker wildly between his heavy, hissing breaths. He creaks his lizard-shaped head upwards, seeing the top of the skyscraper. Before he can move, a happy magical spell brings Rene back up almost as quickly as he went down, clutching his broken left arm with his free clawed hand. "I'm here!" he claims in groaning pain to the Misfits. "I'm here, I'm here," he repeats, a little absorbed by his madness in shrugging off his pained state.

Doing his best to fight through the pain, Rene slithers and slices at the nearest rampant paragon!
Rene is Staggered, so he'll only be moving this round. He switches over to Mobility Instinct so he can get the needed Agility and Wall-Crawling to make it up the building.

I didn't quite read Quellian's post. Mechanics this turn are in the OOC.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

In any sort of physical conflict the Thing was a tank few could match. On the field of mental battle...well, he was no pushover, but he was hardly equipped to fend off Fred's pure will focused through Starsoul's edge. A few hard slashes of Ronin's spiffy new mind-blade, and the Thing was down for the count.

Gethsemane and Rene double-teamed another paragon, to pretty much equally devastating effect as before, quickly leaving him badly injured and bleeding heavily enough that, let's be honest, odds were he wouldn't be conscious for more than a few more seconds.

Sarah shot true, but the dart only barely pierced the paragon's skin, not enough of the SPIN tech getting injected to have meaningful effect.

Zach made a quick attack-run, blasting one of the paragons with a focused burst of lightning and point-blank range, the force of the attack sending her reeling and off-balance.

Now comfortably outnumbered and with their heavy-hitter down, it was absolutely high time for this group to surrender, or flee or something. And yet...they didn't. Actually, it may have gone unnoticed amidst all the, you know, grown-up problems, but that dude that Sarah had depowered actually was still fighting, just kinda running around trying to punch people. Having precisely zero effect on anything, of course, but like...still. The paragons went full defense as they attacked the nearest targets with blurring speed.

These guys are showing clear signs of being controlled by an outside will, one which doesn't care about their well-being in the least. Or they're all secretly Ronin. But probably that first one.

Further, they're not trying to win. They're trying to stall.

Paragon 2:[/b]
Move: Staggered.
Free: Reconfigure Paragon array to full Toughness.
Standard: Attack the Builder with Crushing Blow at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Dodge DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness. Paragon 2 is Deflected at 1d10+18 for two rounds. Hit

Paragon 3:
Move: Dazed.
Free: Reconfigure Paragon array to full Toughness.
Standard: Charge Ronin and attack with Hasted Flurry at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage, Will DC 20+Multiattack vs. Impaired/Disabled. Paragon 3 is Deflected at 1d10+14 for two rounds. Hit. +2 Multiattack.
End of Turn: Fortitude to remove Vulnerable (DC 25): [roll2].

[b]Paragon 4:
Move: Into AC24.
Free: Reconfigure Paragon array to full Toughness.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Crushing Blow at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Dodge DC 20 vs. Weaken Toughness. Paragon 2 is Deflected at 1d10+18 for two rounds. Hit due to AoA

All PCs are on turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie sprang forward as Ronin came under attack from the side, getting between him and the paragon and taking hit after hit to her wards. They didn't even brighten, deflecting all the force away from her body without having to absorb any of it.

"You guys...really may as well just give up. MASS HEAL!" she called, whipping her hands out to the side and spinning through a graceful twirl, sending waves of curative power out over all of her nearby allies.

Reaction: Interpose for Ronin.

Free: Metamagic.
-10 points to remove the Nullify Afflictions from Curative.
20 points to add Burst Area and Selective to Curative.

Standard: Curative. Everyone but Zach receives [roll0] Healing Points, halved for those who failed a resistance check this round. Each 10 Healing Points removes a Damage condition, or since it's Restorative they can be spent to remove Weakens at 2:1. 12 or 6. Can't seem to roll... Eh, still enough once added to her prior ones to remove both of her Bruises and knock out three of the Weaken points for Gethsemane, so she's fine after the one she'll recover at end of turn. Sarah's Bruise is gone. And Rene either heals one Bruise and maybe some Weaken or two Bruises depending on how his resistance checks turn out.

Current Status: Normal.

[SuperCracker]

Unstoppable Force meet previously Immovable Object. Ronin’s sword returned to its normal shining blade. Taking stock of how his teammates did, Ronin noticed that the numbers had thinned. But the Spinners kept at it. He would have done the same if he were in their shoes. But the looks on their faces and in their eyes didn’t show determination. It showed a degree of mindlessness.

“They’re being controlled. It’s a stall tactic.”

An attack meant for Ronin bounced off of Katie’s wards. Ronin shot her a look before turning and slashing at his would-be attacker.

Power Attack for 2.

[roll0] – DC 27+Multi Parry vs damage and DC 22+Multi Will vs. Vulnerable/Stunned

[Starsign]

The paragon's crushing punch, a desperate, overhead swing, crushes down upon Rene's head. There is the unmistakable *CRACK* sound as one of his big plate scales breaks, though defending his reptilian skull from significantly worse blunt trauma. The blow still had enough force to send him onto the skyscraper ground; some of his many sharp teeth chipped or dented in the process.

In his instincts, the reptilian slithers backward several meters before getting back up on his clawed feet. His left, scaly arm limps painfully at his side while his body regenerates from his most minor injuries. With his only functioning arm, Rene puts up his right claw again in snake stance and darts behind one of the remaining paragons. The enemy, weakened by its wounds, if left vulnerable to Rene's sneaky attack as he jabs his claw into the paragon's back as if a snack backstabbing its prey with a venomous bite!

The reptilian wobbles back a step after to get his distance and to take in Ronin's assessment. The mutant's words leaves a clear, 'Oh ****, oh ****, oh ****' all across his snout; blood seeping out from the nostrils. "S-stalling? For what?!" His heavy tail sweeps around behind him as he looks over at Sarah and Katie. "Oh **** me, "I'll take forever searching the city like this. Do either of you have some way of checking the whole city?" As far as Rene knows, scouting as a speedster is a lacking tactic compared to using some sort of scrying spell or satellite image.

Paragon 3 is Vulnerable. Time for Rene to make use of his strongest stuff!

He will switch his array to Killer Instinct and Predator's Strike. No tradeoffs this time to try and get a better chance to hit. DC 25 Toughness + DC 20 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Incapacitated+Paralyzed: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

The Paragon's heavy blows don't bother Gethsemane unduly, though the strikes do crack and warp her carapace somewhat--damage which is almost entirely eliminated by the blast of magic sent out from Katie a few seconds later. Gethsemane watches the magic-user's movements and gestures carefully, then turns to Ronin and nods. "Hmm; makes sense. Should end this quickly then."

Spinning towards the one unharmed paragon in the group facing them, Gethsemane points a single talon, its tip swelling with yellowish-blue flames. "Run away." The fireball sweeps off of her claw and towards her target.

Move Action: Nah.

Free Action: Swap to Unholy Terror.

Standard Action: Unholy Terror on Paragon 4, All-Out Attacking for 5, Power Attacking for 3. [roll0] On a hit, Damage DC 28, Will DC 23 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (Limited to running away).

Status: -5 to Active Defenses (this turn).

[CandyLaser]

"On it," she replied to Builder.

While she wasn't a speedster, Sarah did have ways to search the city rapidly. Her scanning portals would help, giving her the chance to observe goings-on across the city. Her intellect let her run the numbers and ensure that she searched the city in the most efficient pattern, as well as predicting the most likely places she'd find deviations.

I'll use Polymath to grab Quickness 20 (Distracting, Limited 2: only for Investigation). Then I'll do a quick search. On the discord we said Quickness 17 would suffice to do it in a round. Quickness 20 does it in a second, technically, but I figure it's still her action.

Here's the check: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Fred and Rene hammered on another paragon, and while her superhuman resilience was able to withstand Rene's claws for the moment, it could only do so much against Starsoul's enchanted edge. She was badly injured, easy prey for Zach's next attack-run, his lightning-empowered blow sending her unconscious to the rooftop. Meanwhile, the paragon that Rene and Gethsemane had injured previously collapsed, unconscious from blood loss and burning.

Gethsemane injured the remaining paragon, while Sarah searched the city. There was still extensive opposition, but the good news was that the heroes of Metropolis were getting some help! The military had been mobilized, fighter jets flying in to engage-

...Crap.

The jets were deploying military-grade firepower against defending heroes, as well as buildings. The situation was getting worse by the second. Supers may have been powerful, and were undeniably dangerous. The plots of supervillains could and had threatened the world. But the truth was that when it came to raining down sheer destruction on a massive scale, even among supers there were only so many that could match the output of a modern military.

Sarah's rapid portal scanning sought out a cause. And even through the chaos of city-wide combat and panic, she managed to find it, in the form of a burly gorilla with a kinda blue-green tinge to its face (and presumably the rest of its skin beneath its fur) flying some sort of hoverpack through the city, armed to the teeth with all manner of what looked like highly-advanced weaponry, and wearing a vaguely-familiar-looking silvery helmet on his head, although it didn't cover the three odd kinda glowing protrusions that seemed to be growing from its forehead.

Most people might not have recognized that as inherently a lead. But to a super-genius of Sarah Saturn's level, it was self-evidently so. After all, while there are many possible answers to the question of what could be causing a nationwide case of mass mind control, once you have learned that you are living in a universe that includes a time-travelling Future Grodd who has been possessed by a Brainiac and somehow managed to get his hands on a portable version of Cerebro, Occams Razor suggests that the two things are probably related.

Although granted, it does still beg the question of why Future Grodd is flying his hoverpack directly towards the Saturn Foundation...

While there's technically still one paragon standing, I'm not even going to pretend that needs rolling out. Battle over. Everyone take a :smallcool: Hero Point.

Sarah, take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Enemy: Time Travelers Complication.

[SuperCracker]

With the local threat neutralized, Ronin powered down into SSJ1 to save his strength for the next Fantastic-Four-led pack of knockoff Supermen. It was still plenty of added power to fight with lesser enemies… if you count fighter jets as lesser enemies. Ronin turned his gaze towards the jets that were flying over the city, raining destruction on friend, foe, and civilian alike. A hard edge came to his features.

“I’ll meet up with you later.”

Without giving anyone a chance to protest, Ronin charged into the sky at a rate of speed equal to those fighter jets, like a golden rocket fired at the jets.

Fred has rank 11 air-running in SSJ1. 2000Mph.

Fred wasted no time in going after them. Whichever jet seemed headed towards open ground or the water was what he would target first, landing on the jet and slashing through one of the wings. Ronin wasn’t interested in killing the pilots, but he wasn’t going to reason with someone shooting at office buildings.

While everyone else is beating up the last Paragon, he takes an action to recover his fatigue.

Vehicles tend to have crap defense, per the SRD. So Fred attacks with Power Slice. Power attack for 2 - [roll0] CRIT – DC 32+Multi Parry vs. damage.

Fred switches to regular flight as a free action.

[Starsign]

Rene nearly stands upright in shock as one of the fighter jets come flying right past him and the other Misfits. "Oh God, seriously?!" he shouts, scaly voice falling on deaf ears as the mutant samurai takes off after the jets. The reptilian, semi-hastily, darts around the perimeter of the building, looking down every now and then as if expecting some sort of villain right below commanding everything.

So naturally, he had to be told who was going right for the Saturn Foundation, at which point he'd given something better than nothing to do.

"Okay, okay I'll go!" He volunteers quickly, clearly shaking at the sight of the jets, as the reptilian uses his amazing speed to climb up and down buildings and leaping across where he can. The green-yellow blur slithers rapidly across the city, heading right at Future Grodd's hoverpack.

And then in a classic display of mad recklessness, Rene leaps off right at the villain and tries rending with his many small teeth!

Switching to Mobility Instinct so Rene can get around fast enough to reach and leap to Grodd. Rene will use Rending Claws and use Fast Grab to try grappling with Grodd. Power Attack +3/-3. DC 28 Toughness+Secondary Effect on hit: [roll0]

[CandyLaser]

"I'm on Brainiac," Sarah said, before taking flight on her own. The jets were in some sense a more significant problem, but the amount of mischief that Brainiac could get up to if he made it into her headquarters put a carpet bombing to shame. Hell, she had a black hole in her lab. Off the top of her head, there were at least a half-dozen ways that she could think of to destroy the planet with the tools there as well as two ways to catastrophically alter the timeline.

She arrived only a few moments after Rene struck. "Brainiac. I don't think we've had the pleasure. When are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" She ignored, for now, the fact that the alien computer was in the body of a psychic gorilla. She wanted to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey. Even as she made polite conversation, though, she was taking action, creating a sphere of invisible virtual matter around Brainiac/Grodd to limit his mobility and keep him from getting Rene off his back.

Moving, talking, and using Create to try to encase both Grodd and Rene in a 15' radius sphere. Attack roll, if needed: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

This was the sort of situation Katie most hated about being a superhero. Where there were just too many people in danger and she knew there was nothing she could do to help them all. Having faced things like the Peak and the Ten Second Invasion, she was more used to being in such situations, but it didn't make them any easier.

That said, she knew how to handle them. Tune out the chaos, grit your teeth, buckle down, and do what you could to help as many people as possible right now.

The SPINners, the traitorous heroes, the military, they were all symptoms. Grodd (Brainiac? Whatever) was the disease. Katie summoned up her Helping Hand and flew after Rene and Sarah.

She didn't attack immediately though. With multiple heroes against a single powerful opponent, shutting down the enemy's offense would be more useful, but since a Brainiac-possessed Cerebro-wearing Grodd was probably more likely to attack psychically than physically, a barrier wouldn't do much. Instead, Katie gathered purifying power in her hands, ready to unleash it into the teeth of whatever Grodd did.

Free: Swap Arcana to Flying Hand, but foregoing the Increased Mass for Extra Limbs 1 (Projection), Elongation 6 (Quirk). Swap Support Caster to Purify.

Move: Fly to Grodd.

Standard: Ready an action to Counter Grodd's action with Purify.

Current Status: Normal.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane watches Ronin head off in one direction, and then the rest of the group head off in another. For a long moment, she stands glancing between each direction. Finally, she nods, muttering "Larger threat," and spreading her wings.

A moment later, she joins the rest of the larger group facing Grodd-Brainiac, raking across his force-field with red-tipped claws.

Move Action: Fly to Grodd.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Grodd, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Damage, with Secondary Effect.


Status: -5 to Active Defenses this round.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 1

Well, it would appear that the United States Military had erred. They brought an ultra-high-tech multi-million-dollar flying war machine to a sword fight! Really, it could only end one way.

(That way was with a cinematic explosion a few hundred meters behind Ronin and a Wilhelm scream coming from an ejector seat.)

But there were more where that came from, two of the remaining jets strafing by Ronin with their autoguns while a third flew overhead and launched a missile!

Meanwhile, the rest of the team made their way to Grodd. Brainiac. Whoever. Honestly we have no proof that a maliciously sentient Cerebro isn't controlling both of them so who even knows anymore? Rene raked at Grodd with his claws, but they glanced harmlessly off of a hemispherical forcefield surrounding him, leaving nothing to get a grip on. Sarah conjured up a barrier of her own to encase the pair of them, but Grodd shunted his own forcefield backward too quickly, escaping the trap - only for Gethsemane to come crashing down on him with crimson claws, sending flickering cracks spreading through the shield. Zach arrived in a flash of lightning, looking dismissively upon the psychic gorilla and quipping up a taunt that it outside my purview to describe so I'll leave that to Thokk. It looked for a moment like it amused him, but then one remembers that a beast baring its teeth means something rather different...

~You want to know when we are from?~ Grodd answered, projecting his mental voice out into the world around him rather than directly into anyone's mind. It was a bit odd. Kinda a mix of a deep-toned, growling anger and a cool, monotonous dispassion. It may be that neither Brainiac nor Grodd were personally commanding their joined form, but rather the two powerful psychic minds had formed some sort of synthesis. Or perhaps they merely spoke in accord. ~We are from the future that you seek to destroy! Did you think we would simply allow you to end us without a fight? You seek to destroy our timeline, Sarah Saturn - instead, you may watch as we destroy yours!~ On that last word, punishing waves of psychic power rolled out over everyone, hammering at their minds and wills before a more focused psionic strike lashed out at whoever seemed the most vulnerable, seeking to usurp complete control.

Jets 2 and 3:
Move: Well, yeah, they're fighter jets.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Machine Guns. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage.
Jet 2: [roll0]. Miss
Jet 3: [roll1]. Miss
Move-by Action: Strafe on.

Jet 4:
Move: Straaa-
Standard: Attack Ronin with Missile at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, with a 30' radius rank 10 explosion. On a miss, Homing 2. If the Homing effect misses twice, it detonates after the second attempt. Miss
Move-by Action: -aaafe!

Grodd:
Move: Attempt to Demoralize Sarah at [roll3].
Standard: Psychic Howl. Everybody give me Will DC 25 to negate (this is a Perception Area [Mental] attack, using Will rather than Dodge to shut it out; Evasion applies). If you fail, Will DC 25 vs. Progressive Weaken Will. Katie's readied action triggers, attempting to Counter at [roll4] vs. [roll5]. Not Countered
Katie: [roll6], [roll7]. Hard nope
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Dominate on whoever fails worst against Psychic Howl. If Psychic Howl is Countered or nobody fails, this will target Gethsemane. Perception range attack. Will DC 25 vs. Cumulative Entranced/Compelled/Controlled. This effect has a Secondary Effect.

All PCs are on turn.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah was momentarily taken aback by Groddiac's sheer ferocity.

But only momentarily. They really should have known that it would take more than some loud noises and a powerful psionic attack to dissuade her. "Just what I'd expect from a mere twelfth-level intellect. You know, Brainy, I think Grodd's bringing you down." Even as she taunted the psychic cyber-ape from the future, she was in flight; since her attempt to contain the creature had failed, she opted for a more direct approach. Keeping out of Groddiac's reach, she unleashed a titanic bolt of Jovian lightning at him.

Subvocally, she called home: "Minerva, incoming. Activate defense systems."

I'll use Polymath to become Fearless as well as pick up my usual FE/All-out/PA/Improved Critical 1 combo. Then I'll attack, going for the full all-out/PA combo, with the FE bonus added to the attack: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane grunts, hunching her shoulders against the psychic blast. She doesn't waste time with words, choosing to simply rake at the time interloper's shield once again.

Move Action: Nah.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage, All-Out Attacking for 5, Power Attacking for 3. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 28+Multiattack against Damage, with Secondary Effect.

Status: -5 to Active defenses this turn.

[SuperCracker]

Lo and behold, a squadron of multi-million dollar military jets were not a match for a magical otaku with a sword. Bet the Pentagon never ran that scenario before. Ronin moved quickly, screaming through the air and proving an evasive target. Bullets and a missile (a missile!) flew past him, followed by the jets themselves. And while when he was using his regular flight and not air-walking, Ronin might not be as fast as they are, the fact that they had to strafe past him to attack severely cut down on their speed advantage.

Fred trained his eyes on the jet that had flown overhead and released the missile. His golden aura blazed as he flew out towards the jet. Ronin approached from beneath and slashed overhead, turning and dragging his sword through the underbelly of the fuselage.

Power attack for 2.
Power Slice.
[roll0] DC 27+Multi Parry vs damage

After-image technique still going. Partial concealment.

[Starsign]

Rene had forgotten how much he hated forcefields. As strong as his reptilian arms and tail is, he can't put any sort of grapple upon a spherical field too big for his body. And so he instead clings his clawed feet tightly onto the only platform available on Grodd's device.

...Is it Grodd? Or is it Brainiac?

Rene's face spells fear of how high up he is rather than the frustration of the force field. The sudden shock of psychic power sends him reeling back slightly; his clawed feet the only thing keeping him from tumbling backward and off to the cement ground before. He holds his head in pain, a genuine concern when one mixes psychic assault with one's past mental trauma.

He groans several times, fighting back the pain. His reptilian slits flicker wildly as, without much in the way of strategy, he hammers down his claws and tail in a fury! Unlike before, he uses strength to overwhelm the force field. What good does sharp, careful claws do against pure energy anyway?

Alrighty, avoided the worst of the will effects. Rene isn't too well-equipped for this, so he will use Primal Flurry and switch to Survival Instinct. Power Attack +5/-5. DC 30 Toughness+Multiattack on hit: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Grodd's psychic blast may have punched through Katie's counter without trouble, but the wills of her friends were another story! Katie herself shut out the psychic attack trivially; a wizard's mind was no easy fortress to assail.

So okay, she was rather outmatched in terms of raw power. Shields wouldn't block telepathy. She was definitely not evoker enough to punch through that forcefield. Nobody needed healing at the moment, so that was good...

Really, running through all the options was kinda pointless. When was it ever not a good idea to just make one of her friends even more powerful?

She sent her Helping Hand winging for Grodd, only to have it suddenly split into four, coming at the forcefield from all angles, occupying its movements and deflection fields.

While meanwhile, her real Helping Hand went zipping over to Zach, charging him up with a straightforward surge of raw magical energy. Nothing fancy here. No complex spells or specialized buffs. Simple, straightforward, and power-packed. 'Twould do, indeed.

Free: Reconfigure Arcana array. 1 rank of Metamagic's Variable, Helping Hand's Extra Limb 1 (Projection) and Quirked Elongation, the rest to Flying Hand just for Interpose mobility to be safe.

Free: Swap Support Caster Array to Investiture.

Free: Metamagic for +5 Deception and Close Combat (Unarmed).

Move: Feint the Cerebro Forcefield at [roll0] vs. [roll1]. On a success, use Set Up 2 to pass the benefits to Zach and self. Feinted

Standard: Aid Zach's next attack at [roll2]. +5

Reaction: Investiture triggers, attack bonus PL capped from rank, at [roll3]. On a hit, Zach gets +2 to the DC of his next Toughness-resisted Damage effect of rank 15 or less (that's after PA, mind). On a three degree hit he gets +5. Also +5 due to Vulnerable

Current Status: Normal.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

Grodd's Cerebro-enhanced telekinetic forcefield was a beefy defense. The deflective power harmlessly turned aside both Sarah's lightning bolt and Rene's claws. Gethsemane's claws, forged of pure rage concentrated to positively lightsaber-like intensity, managed to shear through it to some degree, gradually drawing off energy. Empowered by Katie, Zach unleashed a massive blast of his own lightning at point-blank range before strafing back, but the forcefield only briefly wavered.

Perhaps even worse, there was no answer from Minerva.

~[Is/Am] [I/he] now?~ Groddiac (thanks for that) sent back with cool disdain, leaping back and cutting loose with a tremendous wave of psychic force. It was a blunt assault of pure, focused will, slamming into the minds of all before him in a punishing attempt to blow conscious thought away.

And that wasn't even really the worst of it, as a SPINner came stepping out of a...billboard? Sure okay then. Stepping out of a billboard. "Lovely costumes," she commented, before gesturing at Zach, causing his clothing to suddenly start constricting around him!

Meanwhile, across the way, the jets swooped around for another pass, the one Ronin had damaged launching a barrage of rockets his way, while the other two fired their laser and cannon! Down below, a SPINner looked up, and suddenly shot up towards Ronin with what seemed to be a jet engine of his own coming from his feet. "Well those are spiffy!" he said with a kinda nasty cheer, before pointing a hand and firing a laser beam of his own the samurai's way.

Sarah, take a :smallcool: Hero Point for your Saturn Foundation Complication.

Ronin, you are now considered outgunned.

Grodd:
Move: Back about forty feet.
Standard: Mindhammer. Perception Close Cone Area attack. Everybody but Zach and Ronin give me Will DC 25 vs. Cumulative Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless/Incapacitated+Transformed [Traits to 0]).
End of Turn: Gethsemane, Will DC 25 vs. that Secondary Effect.
Katie Will: [roll0]. ...Katie's Will saves are starting to get stupid now.

Visual Art Manipulator:
Move: Arrive using Step Out Of Frame.
Standard: Attack Zach with Fashion Manipulation. Perception range attack. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 20 vs. Grab.

Jet 4:
Move-by Action: Flying.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Missile Barrage at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage. On a miss, Homing 2. Hit. No Multiattack thanks to Partial Concealment.

Jet 2:
Move-by Action: Flying.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Cannon at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned. Hit

Jet 3:
Move-by Action: Flying.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Laser. Perception range attack. Dodge DC 25 vs. Damage.

Technology Imitator:
Free: Reconfigure Technology Imitation.
-10 points on Jet Engine: Flight 5.
-30 points on Laser: Damage 10 (Perception Range).
Move: Fly up to about forty feet from Ronin.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Laser. Perception range attack. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

All PCs are on turn.

[SuperCracker]

The modern era retaliated against the swordfighter in the form of some big freakin’ guns. And rockets. And even a pair of lasers! The missiles struck first, too many for Fred to avoid. One after another they exploded, creating a fiery cloud of smoke where they caught Ronin. And into that smoke cloud the lasers and the cannon were fired. There was a beat where nothing came out of the cloud, until a certain magic aura flared up within the smoke cloud and physically blew the smoke away.

It revealed a blackened and bloodied Fred Broll, shades gone from his face (and obliterated completely), holding his sword horizontally in front of him at eye-line. Lightning crackled across his form since he’d powered up yet again. (The SPINNER was a greater threat.) Time to take a page out of Kuririn’s book.

“SOLAR FLARE!”

His bright blade burned white, flashing three times as bright as the sun itself. He hoped they were all looking.

Hey! Since I have a power point, I think I’m going to add this power into the mix because it’s legit fun.

Free: Regenerate 1 bruised; down to -2

Dazed: No move action.

Standard – Power Up

Extra Effort to Surge – Now Fatigued

Standard – Solar Flare

Solar Flare: Strength-Based Affliction 4 (Area: Perception [sight] 11, Secondary Effect 11) (Resisted and Overcome by Fort – Impaired/Disabled/Unaware), Triggered (Saying Solar Flare)

SSJ2 adds “Extra Condition: Vulnerable/Defenseless)

Bottom Line: Dodge DC 21 / Fort DC 21 vs. Impaired+Vulnerable/Disabled+Defenseless/Unaware

[Starsign]

The second blast of psychic power blows Rene nearly off the platform this time. Like a trick of the mind, the blunt "force" sends his head reeling back and bending his upper body enough for him to fall on his heavy-plated back. His reptilian-shaped head and shoulders leans off from the platform, leaving him only a gentle touch away from falling off outright.

The rush of wind in the air and distance to earth would be staggering, were Rene's mind in a currently better place.

His clawed hands and feet scratch the ground of the platform. With pained, rushed breaths he yanks his upper body up. His reptilian slits agonizingly twitching. "S-Stop, stop it!" he hisses, resorting undoubtedly to base instincts as he eyes Grodd and his forcefield. "Turn it off. Turn it off!" His scaly hands yank from the platform, tearing out a part of the metal now clutched in his half-closed hands. And with predatory abandon, Rene charges and smashed his claws into the forcefield; the metal in his grasp smashing before the barrier of force.

Pretty sure Rene lacks materials to use his Building Instinct, so let's go with this and use Rending Claws on that forcefield! Power Attack +5/-5 here. DC 30 Toughness+SE on hit: [roll0]

[CandyLaser]

"No new tricks, Brainy? Just more psychic attacks? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's you that's weakening Grodd." Despite her bravado, she felt the effects of Groddiac's last attack. Her will was more than strong enough to resist the psionic assault, but for a moment she saw double, and she had to concentrate in order to deal with her foes. And that's just what she did, unleashing a volley of SPIN darts against the technology-imitating SPINner. While Grodd was the bigger threat, picking off his allies would let her team concentrate on the gorillabot without getting picked off by other enemies.

Since I'm already vulnerable, might as well go all-out (and power attack, both for 5). Polymath is Favored Environment (set to attack), AOA, PA, two ranks of Improved Critical. Attack roll: [roll0]. Also, end-of-round roll to shake off the affliction: [roll1].

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane spins back towards Groddiac, her claws dripping red fire--which suddenly extinguish as she keeps spinning towards the SPINner that jumped out of a billboard, firing off a blast of yellowish fire.

Move Action: None.

Free Action: Swap to Unholy Terror.

Standard Action: Unholy Terror on the Visual Art Manipulator, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] on a hit, Damage DC 30, Will DC 25 vs. Cumulative Entranced/Compelled/Controlled (Limited [May only be used to force targets to flee; Entranced targets may act normally in any round that they spend a move action moving away]).

Status: -5 to Active Defenses this turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Gonna just save myself an OOC post and NPC Zach along with Katie's action.

Grodd getting reinforcements wasn't exactly helping the situation, but the SPINner was a distraction. Katie called up her Flying Hand, whisking herself over to pick up Zach, using the short flight back to Grodd to charge him pretty much as full of power as she possibly could. Silver light blazed in an aura around her, waste energy leeching into the air, as she poured her power into him, only hoping it would be enough.

When they reach Grodd, Zach unloaded, launching a massive barrage of lightning at the forcefield at point-blank range.

First, before I forget, Cerebro Forcefield Parry vs. Gethsemane's SE (DC 30, -3 for Bruises): [roll0]. Bruised and Staggered

Katie:
Free: Swap Arcana to Flying Hand.
Move+Free: Pick up Zach, fly into Close range of Grodd.
Standard: Aid Zach's next attack at [roll1]. +5
Reaction: Investiture provides a Team Attack at [roll2]. +5
Free: Swap Support Caster to Augmentation.
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Augmentation on Zach.
-12 points to remove Increased Range, Extended Range, Homing, and two ranks of Accurate from T.N.T.
8 points to remove Limited from T.N.T.
12 points to add 4 ranks to T.N.T.
12 points to add Linked Weaken Toughness 12 to T.N.T.
Move-by Action: Once Zach has attacked, fly off to establish range, dropping him about eighty feet off in one direction and herself flying in the other.

Zach:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: T.N.T. on Grodd at [roll3]+Aid. On a hit, Toughness ([roll4]) DC 30+TA+Multiattack/22 vs. Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. The Damage carries a Secondary Effect. Crit, although the forcefield's immune to those. +2 Multiattack.
Damage DC becomes effective 38 thanks to Multiattack, TA, and above Bruise. StaggeredX2 = DESTROYED!

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

While Groddiac's forcefield was able to turn aside Rene, Sarah, and Gethsemane's attack, even empowered by Cerebro it only had so much energy it could output at any one time. And Gethsemane's previous attack was still clinging to the barrier, a crackling spread of orange fire that provided Zach with a perfect bullseye. He unleashed his lightning into the forcefield's weakest point, and the barrier shattered!

And that was only the beginning of Groddiac's woes. The next attack came not from a Misfit, but from a blue and red streak in the air that came crashing into Groddiac at top speed, the blur only after impact resolving with the flutter of a cape to reveal Metropolis's greatest protector - Superman!

...Except that Groddiac was casually holding the Kryptonian's fist in his hand, having evidently somehow trivially blocked his attack.

The mind-melded gorilla barely even seemed to notice Superman. Nor was he paying particular attention to Katie, Gethsemane, or even Zach after the destruction of his forcefield. He just answered Sarah's taunt with a low, mocking laugh. "And for all your supposed genius, your answer to me is throwing darts? But you see Sarah, here is the difference. I can afford to putter around blasting your team with my psychic attacks. In case you haven't noticed, I'm winning. Every second, my control grows. Every second, this city, and dozens of others beyond it, come closer to destruction. You see, you are dependent on your cunning to solve your problems. But I? I don't actually need any brilliant master plans to destroy your timeline. I can exert the power of my mind far more...directly."

While he was talking, Superman had (easily) yanked his hand back from Grodd and commenced to just totally wail on the guy with Kryptonian speed and power, attempting to catch him in a chokehold. Grodd continued not to notice. "Although I'll grant, that's still not the same as being an idiot," he said, before taking out a piece of glowing red rock, and concentrating.

The crimson light that flashed in Superman's eyes was not heat vision.

--

Off a ways, Ronin's Solar Flare had somewhat limited immediate effect, although one of the jets went flying off as its blinded pilot engaged autopilot. It was no longer a threat to Ronin but was kinda dropping bombs indiscriminately. The rest of the jets (and the guy pretending to be a jet) continued shooting at him with various ordinance.

Superman:
Move: Into Close range of Grodd.
Standard: Attack Grodd with Crushing Blow at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 31/26 vs. Multiattack Secondary Effect Damage Linked Weaken Toughness. Brainiac's Biokinesis is Immune to Toughness-resisted attacks.
Free: Swap to Kryptonian Martial Arts.
Extra Effort - Additional Standard Action: Attack Grodd with Kryptonian Martial Arts at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 31+Multiattack vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 26+Multiattack vs. Grab. Brainiac's Biokinesis is Immune to Toughness and Dodge-resisted attacks.

Grodd:
Move: Draw Red Kryptonite.
Standard: Dominate Superman. Err...everybody take a :smallcool: Hero Point for Superman's It's My Kryptonite Complication.

Visual Art Manipulator:
Move: Meh.
Standard: Ready an action to Aid Superman's next attack.

Jet 2:
Move: Jet.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Machine Guns at [roll2]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage. Hit

Jet 3:
Move: Jet.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Cannon at [roll3]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 22 vs. Vulnerable/Stunned. Miss due to defense bonuses

Jet 4:
Move: Autopilot.
Standard: Drop bomb indiscriminately.

Technology Imitator:
Move: Nah.
Standard: Fire another laser. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

All PCs are on turn.

[Starsign]

Rene froze. Quite literally froze upon seeing Superman's horrid red eyes resonating with the kryptonite. The lizard-man's tail sticks upward so still upon the platform; his clawed feet gripped tighter upon the metal ground. His snout, mouth open with its many small teeth, violently huffing in a hyperventilating mess. It only takes a momentary glance to see Rene just barely keeping himself from having a complete breakdown.

And how could he not? He's realizing the logical facts: Superman is controlled. And one expects Rene to fight him?!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The stress is too much to bear. Rene's violent huffs turn into a spine-chilling scream of horror. His hunched body kneels fully over, as if curling up in fear. "Nonononononono..." he speaks in hushed whispers, looking as if he's alone and without help. "Turn it off. Turn it off! Turn it OFF!"

And as if not paying attention to Superman's attempted act of strength, the reptilian humanoid lunges at the barrier, first slamming his head and snout into it, then slamming fist after fist into the barrier. Compared to powerhouses, this is a particularly weak strategy for Rene. And yet, the sheer rage is so overwhelming that it'd threaten to hamper and weaken Grodd through sheer presence and persistence.

Rene will Power Stunt his Tooth and Claw array to Overwhelming Madness, adds Alternate Resistance (Will) on top of Strength Damage.

I think Grodd himself can't be targeted, so Rene will hit the Biokinesis with this move. DC 30 Will on hit, Power Attack +5/-5: [roll0]

[SuperCracker]

Weathering a storm of punishment, Ronin let loose with his most powerful attack on the tech super. Despite the roaring battle, it all seemed very far away.

Now that he’s not dazed… Spirit sword strike. Going to risk it big. All-Out Attack 5, Power Attack 5.

Swapping favored environment to attack.

[roll0] – DC 34+Multi toughness (secondary effecr); DC 29+Multi fort vs. Weaken Toughness (Secondary Effect)

[CandyLaser]

Sarah sighed. Obviously, she'd have preferred to have Superman fighting beside her, but with his mind under Groddiac's thumb, that wasn't really an option. Getting rid of the red Kryptonite would help, but it wouldn't fix the problem completely. That meant he had to be taken out.

Happily, Grodd wasn't the only one with Kryptonite.

She took aim and pulled the trigger on her portal blaster, and an eerie green radiance emitted from the end of the device, streaking toward the Man of Steel in an emerald bolt.

Going All-out and Power Attacking. Polymath set to AA, PA, Favored Environment, Improved Critical 2. Attack roll: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane considers for a moment. "Necessary to begin thinning foes; numbers advantage diminishing," she says finally, before pivoting to claw at the SPINner nearby.

Move Action: Close with the Visual Art Manipulator.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on the Visual Art Manipulator, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.

Status: -5 to Active Defenses.

[Quellian-dyrae]

The past few seconds were something of an emotional roller-coaster for Katie.

First they shattered Grodd's forcefield. So, you know, progress! And immediately after Superman came in for the assist! Katie had faced her share of challenges and difficulties over the past year. She'd gotten tougher, stronger, more confident. She had been encouraged by her own successes and inspired by the incredible feats of her friends. She had faced powerful villains and worked alongside mighty heroes.

But I'm sorry, there was nothing, but nothing, that could make Katie Alden feel like everything was okay more than Superman flying in to save the day!

So, you know, when he hammered Grodd with his best to absolutely no effect...yeah, that kinda worried her.

When Grodd pulled out a piece of Red Kryptonite and used it to overthrow Superman's will, her heart dropped into her stomach. If it hadn't been for all their past victories, the self-confidence that she had so painstakingly grown and the confidence in her friends that had never wavered, she might have called for a panicked retreat.

But as always, Sarah Saturn had a plan. Even so, Katie couldn't help but wince when Sarah unleashed Kryptonite radiation against Superman. Her mind flashed involuntarily back to Troy, to her own decision to wield cold iron against Hector.

But her friends couldn't afford for her to get lost in old regrets, so she gathered her focus and whelmed her power, reaching out with both hands for Grodd, amidst a spray of distracting confetti.

The left side of the body absorbed energy - she attempted to draw Grodd's in, filling him with weakness and lethargy.

The right side projected energy; she unleashed her own in a rippling pulse of transmutation, aiming to turn Grodd into a harmless little chimp. With cymbals. And maybe a cute little red hat with a yellow tassel on it...

Zach, meanwhile, seeing as Grodd appeared rather impervious to physical harm, went for the mind instead. Strumming his guitar, he started rocking out, pouring his power into compelling the minds of his foes. Turnabout was fair play, after all.

Katie:
Move: Attempt to Feint Grodd at [roll0] vs. [roll1]. On a success, use Set Up 2 to pass the benefits to herself and Rene for his next attack. Nope
Free: Metamagic to remove Cumulative from Tactical Transmutation and add Damage 10 (Sleep, Alternate Resistance [Will]).
Standard: Tactical Transmutation+Slumber on Grodd, All Out Attack for 5. If the Feint succeeds, also Power Attack for 5. [roll2]. On a hit, Fortitude ([roll3]) DC 20/25 vs. Secondary Effect Impaired/Disabled/Transformed and Will ([roll4]) DC 25/30 vs. Sleep Damage. Bruised

Zach:
Standard: Hell's Bells. All opponents get Will DC 21 to negate, Will DC 21 vs. Entranced/Compelled/Controlled.
Grodd: [roll5], [roll6]. Negates
Visual Art Manipulator: [roll7], [roll8]. Resists
Superman: [roll9], [roll10]. No, wait, forgot Disabled+Defenseless. And the negative level. Which pushes him to Compelled, although Grodd's Controlled condition supersedes that by virtue of being the higher-tier effect, the Compelled still limits him to one action as normal.
Move: About 150' away.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 4

Grodd not only proved impervious to the physical force of Rene's attack, but perhaps secure in the knowledge that it couldn't actually hurt him, he didn't seem particularly bothered by the frenzied assault either. Gethsemane's claws caught the art manipulator a glancing blow, opening and subsequently cauterizing a modest cut, nothing the SPINner couldn't take. Katie's dual attack managed to leave Grodd maybe a tad drowsy at best, the transmutation not even so much as turning some of the fur on the top of his head red.

Sarah's blast of Kryptonite, as Kryptonite against Superman tends to, proved more effective. The Man of Steel cried out as the blast hammered him hard, sending him flying into a wall. He staggered, barely seeming able to hold his feet, and leaving him too debilitated to put up much resistance against Zach's music. Of course, Superman's own will was only the first of the obstacles to usurping back control of his mind, but at least it was a start.

The art manipulator drew out a paintbrush, and began waving it in the air. Color flowed from it like molten pearl, weaving a hypnotic pattern in the air.

Through it all, Grodd seemed unimpressed.

~Of course. You face a Kryptonian, you hit them with Kryptonite. Very good, Miss Saturn. You have chosen the correct answer to the problem you were faced with. But let this be an example to you. This is why you are not fit to decide the future, for your actions betray a lack of foresight. For you see, to me, Superman is only a convenient asset that happened to drop into my lap, only as valuable as his immediate capacity to contribute to my goals. While to you, he is one of your world's greatest heroes.~

~In short, only one of us cares whether or not he lives through this battle.~

And with that, Grodd lunged. Not at Zach, or Rene, or Katie, or Gethsemane, or Sarah herself. He went for the weakened, vulnerable Superman. And he attacked him with all the strength that Grodd's simian body and Brainiac's biokinetic powers offered him. With full fury. And intent to kill.

There was a flash off in the distance, nearly blinding. It cast Grodd in stark shadow as he turned to face Sarah with blood on his teeth. ~Your actions only make the future worse!~

Off in the distance, past the buildings of Metropolis and at the edge of sight, a mushroom cloud rose over the horizon.

~You cannot stop me. If you continue to fight, I will break your timeline into pieces. Surrender.~

--

Pew pew. Jets and bombs. Whoosh.

Superman:
...I'mma be honest, he's not really feeling "up" to standard actions at the moment. I mean, Disabled, Defenseless, Staggered, Compelled, Controlled, and level drained over the course of one round? Let's give the poor guy a break, shall we?

Visual Art Manipulator:
Move: Whatever.
Standard: Paint Hypnotic Pattern. Everyone give me Dodge DC 20 to negate, and if that fails, Will DC 20 vs. Entranced/Stunned/Incapacitated.
Katie: Dodge: [roll0]. Will: [roll1]. Negates, even after the -5 AoA I forgot.
Zach: Dodge: [roll2]. Will: [roll3]. Negates

Grodd:
Move: Into Close range of Superman.
Standard: Attack Superman with Biokinetic Beatdown, Power Attacking for 5, Finishing Attack with Intent To Kill at [roll4]. On a hit, Toughness DC 40+Multiattack vs. Lethal Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 35+Multiattack vs. Grab. If anyone wishes to Interpose, since they aren't Defenseless, it isn't an auto-crit (so the DCs are five lower) and the damage isn't lethal. Katie will Interpose this unless someone else especially wants to. Sarah, take your :smallcool: Hero Point back, since it kinda helped the villains as much as us there. Hit. +5 Multiattack. DCs are 40/35 for Interpose.

The United States of America:
Full Round: Launch a nuke, evidently.

???:
Sarah, give me a DC 29 Fortitude save vs. Damage. You receive a +5 circumstance bonus on this save.

--

Ronin I would normally say you're no longer Outgunned here, but given that Grodd appears to have control of the US nuclear arsenal maybe yeah you are.

Jet 2:
Move: Whoosh.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Machine Guns at [roll5]. On a hit, Toughness DC 27+Multiattack vs. Damage. ...Is it just me or are these freaking jets taking it to Ronin harder than like almost any enemy we've faced before. Maybe the Todds? :smallconfused: Crit. Full Multiattack. DC becomes 37.

Jets 3 and 4:
Move+Standard: Fly around dropping bombs that seem so much less important than they did a round ago.

Technology Imitator:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: MOAR LAZER. Toughness DC 25 vs. Damage.

All PCs are on turn.

[SuperCracker]

Samurai spirit. Dedication. Swording. Slash slash. Explode.

He's going to let the Spirit Bomb blow up on the tech imitator. Fred himself will charge and power attack the last un-blinded jet. Further all-out + power attack for max. It's all or nothing at this point.

Free action: Power down to SSJ1.

Free action: Regen 1 bruise. Now down to just 4!

Standard: Charge.

Power slice: [roll0] - Crit DC35+Multi vs. Parry damage

Then Spirit Sword Strike blows up again. DC 34+Multi toughness; DC 29+Multi fort vs. Weaken Toughness

[Starsign]

*SPLAT*

A massive fist crushes into a pathetic, cold-blooded fool. Frigid blood spews out from the back as the coward's torso is blown open, leaving little but a massive, gaping hole in his chest and stomach. He vomits, lacking fortitude and decency to take a stand as he plummets to his scaly legs. Life, whatever little the freak had to begin with, begins to fade away from his sickening snout. The idiot attempts to speak, opening his wide mouth only for a gush of blood to vomit out and stain the villain's fur arm. The cold-blooded freak's many teeth wiggle or fall out. His feeble body in shock, shuddering and flinching every moment of his abominable life.

He's a pathetic, weak, abomination of a freak whose only mad words are the same he repeats.

"Turn it off..." he pleads no better than a beggar can, loosely raising his scaly arms to scratch the field in front of him.

"Turn it off!" he pleads harder, clawing at the field with what little there is to his irrelevant existence.

He looks to Sarah and screams-

"TURN IT OFF!"

Still have that Overwhelming Madness stunt set, so using it again. Survival Instinct still up, irrelevant as it is now.
Power Attack +5/-5. DC 30 Will on hit: [roll0]

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane doesn't react to the mushroom cloud, or the monologue. "Numbers advantage needed," she repeats, going in for another brute strike against the rogue SPINner.

Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on the Visual Art Manipulator, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. [roll0] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.

Status: -5 to Active Defenses.

[SuperCracker]

samurai.exe has stopped working

[CandyLaser]

Some unknown force made Sarah woozy and dazed as she witnessed the brutality of Grodd's attack.

****.

I'm still in the Lotus Breaker.

So, this was good news and bad news. On one hand, it meant none of this was real. On the other hand, it meant that a mysterious device was messing with her head and attempting to drain her life essence, and that there wasn't much that could stop it. Not exactly ideal.

Sarah knew, better than anyone, that there were no perfect traps. There had to be a way out, and she just needed to find it. In a conversational tone, she addressed Groddiac. "The way I see it, you're a product of the simulation that's currently unfolding around me, so you'll do as a stand-in for whatever process or agent is running the show. You know, just a moment ago, I was thinking I wanted to talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey. Now, I'm not sure if there's actually a sentient entity working here or not, but it doesn't really matter. Do you really think that I'm going to lose to a bloody philosophical thought experiment? To a machine that can't even do a good job emulating Pyrrhonian skepticism?

She made no move to defend Superman, or to attack. Even if she beat the Grodd simulation (and she was pretty sure she could; she'd been monitoring the frequencies of his psychic attacks and could whip up a nullifying device in a few minutes) it would just continue to escalate. "I mean, this is kind of a dodgy simulation. I'm actually embarrassed it took me this long to figure it out. No contact with my home base? Nukes? You're not even really getting the actions of my friends and teammates right. And Builder's definitely acting curiously. So, what next? I've always wanted to argue something out of existence, so we can go that way. Shall we start with causal externalism and go from there?"

For the moment I'm just going to go full defense and see what happens next.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Such arrogance!" Grodd boomed with scorn. "You would choose to believe that the world around you is fake, rather than accept that you have been outmatched? That you simply are not good enough? Fine. Very well then. Enjoy your solipsism. If you are not going to impede me, then I have no reason to-"

Grodd's retort was rather cut short by the simulation abruptly ending. For real this time! ...Hopefully?

So, evidently, figuring out that it hadn't been real had been enough to break free of the machine's hold and-

...Oh. Wait. Actually, as it turned out, it was probably due more to the fact that Katie, Fred, Zach, Rene, Gethsemane, and Sylvester were all in the room, standing around the Lotus Breaker with the control helmets on their heads. But, you know, at least the failsafes worked! Eventually.

Okay so. That episode doesn't count since it wasn't real, so everyone's Hero Points and Luck rerolls reset. No new PP, but if anyone wants to make any tweaks to their sheets you may do so now.

However, the team begins the next adventure with some additional Hero Points in the floating pool based on your accomplishments here, as follows:
1 :smallcool: Hero Point for winning the initial "warmup" fight against the SPINners.
1 :smallcool: Hero Point for disabling the jets (more-or-less anyway).
1 :smallcool: Hero Point for taking out Grodd's first "health track".
1 :smallcool: Hero Point for neutralizing the threat of Superman.
And 1/6 the total HP the group ended with. That comes out to 17, so :smallcool::smallcool: 2 additional Hero Points.

In addition, all of you take a :smallcool: Hero Point for indulging my wacky experiment.

[CandyLaser]

It really did say a lot about Sarah that her first reaction to being pulled out of a simulation designed to test and destroy people at a deep psychological level was annoyance. "What are you guys doing here? I'd just outsmarted the simulation; things were under control. Did the signal failsafe trigger?"

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane accepts Sarah's annoyance calmly. "Indeed; or, at least, that is understanding. Katie explained basics; this 'e-mailing' seems a useful invention, though as exploitable as all prior communication inventions, even if in different ways." You could practically hear the dash in the word 'e-mail' as she spoke.

Interesting and useful place; probably shouldn't tarry long, she thinks to herself glancing around. If any of the Old Order exist, notice demonic signature on surface this far in past... repercussions incalculable.

[Starsign]

"Oh god, Sarah!" Rene shouts in loud relief, his tongue slithering his words, as he helps the genius out of the Lotus Breaker. The control helmet, designed for a human, rests awkwardly on his heavy-plated head as his snout renders it loosely attached. The reptilian humanoid had been hoping for a relatively relaxing day. Instead he had been wound up getting everyone together after receiving an email on his phone (and he didn't crack the screen this time!) that Sarah had put herself into the machine and needed to get out of it. It's bad enough that Katie got kidnapped and shoved into it; why would anyone consider using such a horrible, nightmarish thing again?

It doesn't take long for Rene's big, scaly arms to wrap around Sarah in a heavy, if empathetic hug. His breaths through his many small teeth are fast and loose. His thick tail, at the very least, started lazing behind him after swiveling almost wildly moments beforehand. "What were you thinking? You have any idea how much you worried us?" Not that The Builder can speak for the other Misfits, but the reptilian definitely doesn't believe Sarah could just take herself out of whatever simulation she had been in. God, what nightmare could she have experienced?

Slowly, Rene releases his arms from around her body, giving her some space while taking off the control helmet and looking back up at this horrid machine. "We should just get rid of this thing. We just gotta trash it, right Fred?" he says with some mild ire in his rough, scaly voice. There's no good to be had if otherwise-brilliant people are going to put themselves in the Lotus Breaker as part of their studying. Rene's good at disassembling buildings, but machines are a different factor... It can just be sliced apart, right?

[SuperCracker]

“You’re not wrong,” Ronin said to Rene as he took the helmet off and dropped it to the floor with a thunk. “That thing is supernatural evil. Best to toss it into the sun outside.” Ronin himself took no steps to attack the Lotus Breaker, though. She was the one in danger by playing with it, so it was her business.



With that done, Fred needed to get back to answering calls in the Hero App. “If you don’t need anything else, I’ll be on my way.” He nodded and took off.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah extricated herself from the hug as soon as was possible. She was definitely not a hugger. "I'm not sure why you were worried. I set up plenty of failsafes, and they worked. That includes you guys—though I still think you showed up early. As for the machine..." Sarah turned to examine the Lotus Breaker. "I was hoping it could be repurposed in some way, but it seems like that may not be possible. Or, more precisely, not worth the time and effort. I'm still loathe to destroy it; it's a wonderful piece of workmanship, despite its sinister nature."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie had lost the hug race to Rene - this time! - perhaps due in part to the fact that the moment Sarah had regained consciousness, rather than going immediately to hug her, Katie's first move had been to rip the control helmet off of her head and hurl it violently to the ground. She honestly looked like she was going to kick it.

Of course, as we all know, Katie's hugs may be delayed, but they can never be entirely forestalled. So naturally as soon as Sarah had extricated herself from Rene's hug she had Katie's to deal with.

Katie didn't ask the question aloud, because she knew what verbal answer she would get. But she had, she felt, done a passable job at putting on a show of strength when her friends had freed her from that awful machine. Sarah was stronger than she was and honestly not the best liar in the general sense, so Katie didn't anywhere near discount the possibility that she was just as unruffled as she appeared. But on the off chance that she was just putting on a front, Katie asked over Shared Awareness, ~Are you okay?~

She released Sarah when she said that the machine was a wonderful piece of workmanship, regarding her with a look on her face like she had just eaten something nasty. "So are nukes," she said flatly. "Sarah...I don't know that outsmarting it matters. When I...when Rachel came in, she knew it wasn't real, and she told me it wasn't. That didn't help us get out."

Katie was not the sort of person to offer ultimatums. Heck, she pretty much psychologically couldn't. She still had a deep-seated fear of the people she cared about leaving her, so demanding someone choose between her and something else was pretty much a hard no-go. She'd be too afraid they'd choose the something else. If she were honest though, she kinda wished she could use such a tactic right now. If only to really get across just how strongly she believed that machine ought to be blown to scrap metal.

But with ultimatums off the table, she could at least trust try to convince Sarah with logical argument. "I mean...the way I see it, if you can't conceive of any reason that you would subject someone to the effects of that device, then keeping it around only creates the risk that some bad guy will somehow get their hands on it eventually, and it's smarter to just destroy it. And if you can conceive of a reason that you would subject someone to it...then I think you have a moral obligation to destroy it to remove the temptation."

"...Besides, can't you like learn more about the workmanship and stuff by taking it apart?" That...that was a science thing, right? Scientists liked to take fancy machines apart, didn't they?

--

Sylvester, of course, did not go to hug Sarah, because he was a proper upstanding Saturn, that was why. The relief was nonetheless clear on his face when she was freed from the machine. He gave a little smirk when Sarah said she had outsmarted the machine and had everything under control, not appearing to doubt it in the least.

He didn't comment on the discussion about destroying the device. Now, alternate-timeline-version or not, Sarah would know her grandfather well enough to know that he probably did have thoughts on the matter (this being a natural extrapolation of the brute fact of the universe that Sylvester Saturn had thoughts on pretty much every matter) but he didn't jump in with them. He would offer his counsel - here or in private - if it was requested, but otherwise left the decision to his granddaughter.