Project Tomorrow - A Reassembly Filler Arc

[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.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move Action: None.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on the Visual Art Manipulator, All-Out Power Attacking for 5. (1d20+12)[15] 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?"

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler

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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 Hero Point for winning the initial "warmup" fight against the SPINners.
1 Hero Point for disabling the jets (more-or-less anyway).
1 Hero Point for taking out Grodd's first "health track".
1 Hero Point for neutralizing the threat of Superman.
And 1/6 the total HP the group ended with. That comes out to 17, so 2 additional Hero Points.

In addition, all of you take a 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.

[Starsign]

Rene lets Katie walk in and speak to Sarah after his own piece. The reptilian had to hold back a small glimpse of dread at Sarah's words. How one can hold a fascination for something that nearly killed them happens to be beyond him. Psychological and mental trauma is something he knows well but whatever Sarah and Katie went through hadn't been quite as debilitating as his past nightmares.

He bends down on his scaly knees, hunched over as always as his snout points at Katie and Sarah. Quietly he listens to the well-wonderful wisdom from Katie that Rene couldn't come up with. Outside of pure compassion, a trait not valuable at this moment, he's not been the best persuader among the Misfits. Much of the good advice he knows comes from other heroes who've talked to the mad reptilian in the past.

Incidentally, this is one time were said advice comes in handy.

"Sarah?" He speaks up after Katie finishes. "Fred once told me something about Bushido, I think, awhile back." The reptilian lightly rubbed the giant plated scales on his head. "He said that a blade is, and always will be, a blade. No matter how pretty or well-made a sword is, it's designed to cut and kill." ...Wait, this is a bushido thing, right? He might be getting some of the terminology wrong... Well at least he's trying to make a point with it. "So isn't this thing only really here to trap and suck people dry? It doesn't have any use beyond that." The point has to be made that there is nothing good to come from this unholy machine. No sense to use it, no moral right to use it, no support from anyone else to use it.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah bore the second hug with her customary stoicism. ~I'm genuinely fine,~ she replied. ~I understand the Lotus Breaker's capabilities, and I trusted all of you as my final failsafe.~

After that, she stepped back. It was good that Ronin and Sylvester weren't huggers; if anyone else tried to touch her she probably would have snapped. As it was, she was able to listen calmly to the others as they told her why they wanted the machine destroyed. "Rest assured, I have no intention of putting anyone in the machine. I already have a prison for those that need it, and if I needed to kill someone, I'd just do it. I'm sympathetic to the idea that it could be captured by someone with nefarious ends, and I'm willing to destroy it if it will allay your concerns. Alternately, I could stash it in the distant past at Hawksbill Station. Though given who else is there, that might prove unwise... In any case, I want to hear my grandfather's counsel before I do anything."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sylvester didn't bother putting on a show of taking time to think, launching pretty much instantly into a mildly didactic analysis which might have come across as stream-of-consciousness to anyone who didn't know, well, him.

"Not that your reluctance to keep this thing usable is unreasonable, kiddos, but I think you're both shying away from an objective analysis. Don't take me wrong, the purpose this thing was designed and used for is shocking horrific, and that does mean it merits caution." He looked to Katie, "But saying that if you can think of a reason why you would use it you're obligated to destroy it to avoid the temptation isn't valid. I can think of situations where I would deem using it strictly more moral than the next best alternative. They're extreme situations, and I wouldn't concentrate any more than five percent of my probability mass into anticipating them, but that's still not infinitesimal."

Sylvester's gaze shifted over to Rene. "Likewise, citing what it was designed for has no bearing on whether we can put it to use. As scientists - shock it, as human beings - we are not obligated to use a tool for the purpose it was designed for. I could hang that sword on my mantle and use it as a piece of art rather than a weapon of war just fine."

His attention started shifting, among the whole group, though weighted some towards Sarah. "But the real matter you should be taking into account is the possibility of changing how it works. What we actually have here is a device designed to extract, augment, and redirect energy, while simultaneously generating highly realistic virtual reality simulations that are drawn from the subject's own mind. On the one hand, not strictly anything that can't be accomplished by other means. On the other hand, a pretty crash feature set taken as a package, especially when you take into account the sheer power output. The downside is that right now it's set up to steal energy from subjects, and to use the simulation to torture them with their worst fears."

"But, someone who knows how it works can change that. Take out those two issues, and it changes the whole jet-race. And once that's on the table, foregoing a potentially powerful tool just because you're worried about it falling into the wrong hands just isn't logical. If you followed that protocol consistently you'd be left fighting evil with sticks and stones."

And then he turned fully to Sarah as he finished, "Flip side, none of it's really anything we can't do by other means, it's not exactly the most convenient tool in the box, and taking the thing apart and studying how it works could potentially offer some insights on how to improve related tech. So my advice would be examine it as best you can as it is, see what you can learn from it tinkering with the fully-functional version, and if you can't end up finding a use for it that fits your moral standards, then take it apart and see what you can learn from tinkering with the pieces."

--

Katie frowned as Sylvester made his case. She couldn't...quite formulate a counter-argument that she felt was coherent and logical enough to overcome his points. Although she did have to say, "I mean, I don't know what situations you're thinking of, but I rather expect that if, as a hero, you're in any situation where exposing someone to that machine would be the most moral alternative, you've probably already failed somewhere along the lines. Pretty darn hard."

Her voice was kinda uncharacteristically flat, tense with the effort of control. Whether she could really argue his points was...honestly fairly irrelevant to her. She had been in there. She knew how bad it was, maybe still better than even Sarah did, if she felt they had gotten there "early", if she had figured it out for herself. Katie hadn't realized what was happening, not until after the worst of it was over, and due only to Rachel's arrival. Sarah had come out of the Lotus Breaker mildly annoyed that she hadn't had the opportunity to break free herself. Katie had come out of it with a brand new suite of recurring nightmares. If it hadn't been for the status-tracking of Shared Awareness, the volume of texts Katie sent out to her friends at all hours of the day and night would have increased substantially.

So...yeah. You could say that Katie had a slight personal bias against keeping the Lotus Breaker Device functional, regardless of any potential upgrades and benefits. She just...didn't really think that was an argument that would prove convincing to Sarah.

[CandyLaser]

Emotional intelligence wasn't exactly Sarah's strong point, and she knew it. That said, working with the Misfits had helped her develop some rudimentary skills in this area, enough to pick up on Katie's distress. "I believe I've already learned all I can from working with it in its intact state. Going back in might reveal more information, but it seems unwise. I already know enough to build something functionally equivalent if I needed to. As such, I'll disassemble it." She couldn't help but glance toward Katie as she spoke, hoping that her gesture would help alleviate Katie's concerns.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Gratitude and relief flooded Katie's face when Sarah made her choice. She wasn't fully cognizant of the decision-making process behind it - Katie took Sarah's words at face value. She was just thankful that it would all lead to that horrific device being dismantled.

--

Spoiler

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My sense is we're about good to move on? So I'mma just jump us straight to the next episode.

The next episode actually takes place fairly shortly after the prior downtime - due mainly to the fact that it kinda stems from the results of some of Fred's downtime actions - but still there's a bit of time that passes so everyone go ahead and take one Downtime Action. Remember, checks get a +4 bonus now due to accumulated Solve Problems actions (on that subject, Sarah and Gethsemane, you may want to take a look at what supplemental bonuses you want your prior Solve Problems results to provide; similarly, Sarah you can still choose some specific problems to have solved if you like, and Zach can choose some conflicts to have prevented.

Since Sarah chose to destroy the Lotus Breaker Device, the Defeat Evil action has a Boost this time around (this applies to everyone).

Katie's gonna go ahead and Solve Problems again, and this time I'm going to be intelligent and have her use her augments since they can bring her base from 16 to 21.

As a reminder, Downtime Action rules, current progress, and other status-related stuff is in the OP of this thread.

Solve Problems (DC 20; +5 for Augmentation, +4 for Solve Problems Bonus): (1d20+25)[32]. Three successes. Katie's downtime rolls have not been particularly great, I notice.

Genosha had joined Project Tomorrow. This was a huge deal.

Of course, any time a country opened its borders to Project Tomorrow it was a big deal. It meant more people inspired by their cause, more volunteers, and most importantly, more people they could help. Genosha's standard of living was objectively high, but that didn't mean it was without its problems. It had been ground down over the years by a seemingly endless series of battles and conflicts. The potential that Genosha had once represented, the idea of the "Paris of the Southern Hemisphere" still existed. But it would take a heck of a lot of work to realize it.

But beyond that, it was a country of mutants. Millions of them, and some of them were powerful. Truth was the X-Men were rarities; there were plenty of mutants in the world with powerful abilities, who kept their heads down and avoided conflict. But Project Tomorrow didn't have to involve fighting.

End of the day, Genosha joining the project had the potential to scale up their operations - in terms of sheer number of superpowered volunteers available - by orders of magnitude.

Of course, there was a lot to do first.

Today, Project Tomorrow was coming to Genosha for the first time, to begin the process. The Misfits were there of course, leading the way as always.

Several members of the X-Men had naturally come along - Cyclops, Shadowcat, Colossus, Beast, Nightcrawler, and Rachel,although Emma had begged off and Rogue and Gambit were holding down the fort at home. Storm had also come but not along with the other X-Men; she had talked Black Panther into coming with her in what was absolutely not a cunning ploy to give her husband first-hand experience with how Project Tomorrow could help otherwise rather isolated countries and what sort of benefits there could be if Wakanda started working with them officially. Absolutely not.

Other notables in attendance included Captains America and Britain, Starfire, Supergirl, the Flash, and Iron Man, as well as a couple dozen volunteers to handle general staffing and organizational issues.

Wanda Maximoff had made a surprise last-minute request to Fred to come along (though he could tell she was uncertain about it). Her stated reason was that it would give her a chance to catch up with her father and brother.

The group had arrived at Hammer Bay early in the morning local time. They were greeted by Professor X and Quicksilver, as well as a small crowd of early risers and a couple members of the Genoshan Senate. The Professor was smiling when they arrived, and seemed a bit more animated than the last time Fred had seen him. Magneto was not present - strictly speaking it was the Senate who had approved Project Tomorrow expanding operations into Genosha. Magneto had been fairly staunchly opposed.

But that had been a couple hours ago. Now, the community center that was hosting the gathering was bustling. A few of the Project Tomorrow heroes had already gone out to do some work. The majority, though, were still in the center, talking with people, learning what sort of things the country needed, signing up or training new volunteers, etc. The mood was energetic and hopeful; for these people and in this place, at least, one could see a glimmer of the old hope of Genosha starting to rise back up towards the surface, after being buried so long beneath the debris of conflict and war.

--

Katie had been looking curiously about the city as they arrived. There was definitely a part of her that wanted to go exploring - it was her first time in Genosha after all - but that would have to wait for later. Way too much to do. She was a little disappointed that Kayla hadn't wanted to come, but hardly surprised. Her twin and crowds did not mix.

She greeted the delegates who had come to welcome them cheerily (with a hug for Professor X, who she had met before although it had been a while). Once they had been led to the community center, she had gone into Full Organizer Mode, directing volunteers for setup and sending Helping Hands winging along to assist.

Now she was amidst a crowd of people, mostly Genoshans and a few other members of the Project, basically doing a "town hall" sort of discussion. Learning what sort of things needed doing, soliciting and/or coming up with ideas, discussing options, and so on. She was, true to form when it came to Project Tomorrow, busier than she looked; there were still half a dozen Helping Hands flying around doing manual labor as needed, and Shared Awareness was running strong as Katie fielded questions, gave directions, and so on from the various volunteers.

[SuperCracker]

Spoiler: OOC

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In the last few weeks, Ronin has embarked on the World Tour of Kicking *ss. He has suddenly been everywhere a hero is needed; prioritizing the most dangerous of requests. His worldwide presence has been comparable to Superman himself and it has not gone unnoticed. Thus, Ronin has the Fame complication. That would probably go double for Genosha, since he very visibly helped to avert a catastrophic genocide from the Sentinels.

Ronin was a last-minute arrival. He’d answered multiple calls in the day preceding. He’d slept at his aunt’s house because that’s where he happened to be at the precise moment he passed out on the couch. He awoke with a blanket draped over him and Wanda sitting nearby, asking if she could come with him to Genosha. Of course she could.

So Fred got up, leaving Starsoul in the living room to chat with Jeej, showered and cleaned up. He threw his super-suit in the laundry and ate some instant ramen at the dinner table. He wore what he had handy over there: a t-shirt patterned to look like Vegeta’s armor and some shorts. Once the dry cycle was finished, he got up, got dressed (samurai superhero style), and got to a mirror. He left his shades on the dresser. “You ready? If you need me at any time, let me know.” He said to Wanda as he took her by the hand. Like with everyone he gets close to, there was a protective streak showing. Finally, through the power of magic they arrived in Genosha.

And there were a lot of superheroes present. Matter of fact, the three main teams he’s on right now were here. That made it somewhat awkward to choose which symbol would be on his costume… so he compromised. The X was large on his back. On his right collar was the unofficial Misfits symbol… a Misfits skull.

Spoiler: Image

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On his right collar was the Avengers A. With mutants, he’d be an X-Man first.

Fred was amicable and greeted friends and acquaintances he passed. With certain parties present he was hoping to avoid awkwardness… so he was aggressively normal. If anyone wanted to engage him in a longer conversation, he’d likely respond… but there was some work to do, so he made a point to first approach Professor Xavier, Quicksilver, and the members of the Senate. Fred bowed lower to them.

“Thank you all for having us here.” He said with his head still down before he rose up. “Professor,” he said as a greeting to the man whose ideals he had served all his life. Today, Fred had a glimmer of pride in his eyes. Mutants were going to help save the world.

Hours later, Fred was doing his best to stay out of the way of the organizing. There were certain talents Katie had that Fred just did not. He made himself available in case anyone wanted to speak with him, voice concerns, ask him how they could help, etc… but he didn’t run Project Tomorrow nor did he pretend that he did. At the end of the day, he’s just a warrior.

He did spend his time talking to young mutants. If any of them wanted to help in Project Tomorrow or learn to be a superhero, he'd point them in the right direction. If any of them wanted to better understand their powers, he'd just tell them (using True Sight to see exactly what they could do). He imparted what wisdom he'd learned, just like the older X-Men had done for him.

But he also rested and watched the goings-on. He had a small smile on his face. This all made him very happy.

"Haven't seen ya smile like that in a while, boss."

He nodded. "I like thinking that things are going to be okay. Seeing this many mutants coming together with the rest of the world..." He smiled a little bit more.

"You can take some credit, boss. Just this once."

[Starsign]

Goodness, Genosha joining Project of Tomorrow. Rene hadn't believed such a day would ever come.

The reptilian figured that those who originally walked out of Katie's pitch way back would be endlessly refusing to it, that the Misfits instead had to go forward with those who joined right from the beginning. Not that the reptilian didn't understand to some degree. Systemic violence and discrimination are still happening to mutants everywhere. It's only logical that a nation of mutants wouldn't be so open to joining arms with everyone. Not that this hasn't stopped Rene from trying, peacefully, to bring an end to a lot of the discrimination throughout the world. And he had been more successful than one would think of a compassionate lizard-man! Systemic violence toward mutants in both Canada and Mexico have given way to relative peace. It surprised even Rene how well that turned out, as he had primarily been negotiating with activists and groups, creating shelters and communities where he could, and giving a voice to those who desire an end to the systemic outrage.

Though he hasn't forgotten Gotham either. Since the Lotus Breaker got dismantled, Rene felt like trying to make use of his damn big, reptilian form and deal with some of the lower-scale criminal gangs littering the city's corrupt streets. Not that he needed to usually resort to physical violence, thank god. His own appearance and reputation as a Misfit, along with a few select, slithery words and logic are enough to dissuade one notable gang known as the Remainders, a human group who saw the rise of mutants as some sort of doomsday warning and had thus acted in rage against mutantkind.

Though Rene felt a little bad afterward having terrified those people. "I-Is this what it feels like to be Batman?" He thinks about that question with as much nervous fear as relieved satisfaction.

---

So it was that Rene joins the Misfits to Genosha, feeling about as out-of-place there as he has elsewhere. No matter how monstrous a mutant may look, they're still a mutant. Rene's just a monster by comparison. And yet, the often-mad reptilian is more at ease here when alongside his friends. Perhaps it is because of his experience, and perhaps of the smiles from heroes who don't usually smile, but he feels more a hero now than he has in the past. He's no longer in endless awe when in the same area as Superman, Flash, Supergirl... but no J'onn.

Rene gives a small, hissing sigh at the thought. Surely, one day, the Martian Manhunter can return to Earth a hero again.

Under the boiling sun of Genosha, The Builder finds his calling quick and simple. The nation is still recovering after Black Bolt... or Black Atom, one of the two, had rampaged through and brought structural and living ruin. Repairing the residence buildings and giving proper housing back to mutants is a no-brainer. Project Tomorrow brought plenty of brick, mortar and steel for Rene to make actual repairs instead of the patchwork nonsense that's barely a short-term solution.

The reptilian takes a moment from finishing the repairs on a large apartment building, whose structure had lost its upper half in months past, to look out on top of the flat steel roof. His clawed hands tightly hold the roof's surface as he watches the meeting grounds in the distance and only able to make out Katie's Helping Hands as small white specks flying about. And down below, he sees a small crowd of mutants looking up at the repaired residence. The whole view from up here leaves Rene out of breath. There's just so many in Project Tomorrow helping out. It gives him some peace to see everyone helping out like this.

[CandyLaser]

It probably came as no surprise that Sarah was keeping to the background. Getting Genosha into Project Tomorrow was a major accomplishment, and she'd played her part in arranging it. That part did not involve any of the diplomatic wrangling that had been necessary; that was for Katie and Fred and the others who wouldn't score quite as high as Sarah did on the Hare PCL-R.

So she was running the technical side. She may not have had Katie's magic to let her seem to be in multiple places at once, but she had plenty of drones, an unsurpassed intellect, and phenomenal organizational skills. She was ensuring that the construction efforts were going to plan and unfolding on schedule, as well as handling the integration of Saturn Foundation-provided infrastructure with the existing industrial and technological base. That was just the start; there was also upgrading the communications infrastructure to allow Genosha to contribute most effectively to Project Tomorrow, and ensuring that all the information from their efforts flowed back into the central systems.

Truth be told, much of it was little more than busywork for Sarah, the sort of thing she could do in her sleep (if she slept; her bicameral sleep helmet was getting a workout). But it was important work, useful work, and valuable work, and what's more it was work that had a clear and well-defined endpoint. That made it different from the overall project, or Sarah's larger task of ensuring that a better future happened. Essentially, for Sarah, this sort of work was a vacation.

[Zelphas]

Despite the Indigo Ring on her finger, there is no denying that Gethsemane is a demon. In her Brood form, she looks like any one of a dozen monsters that the Heroes now visiting Genosha would have to fight on a regular basis; in her Demoness form, at best, those who don't understand the significance of demons might think she is a particularly affected mutant, and at worst, those who do understand would consider her a sign that Project Tomorrow had far less than idealistic aims.

On top of this, Gethsemane has only recently suffered an altercation with a Demon of her own (former) rank--and Jesticarn had by far come out the better of their brief meeting. Ever the pragmatic, behind-the-scenes plotter, Jesticarn is no doubt already finding some way to spin Gethsemane's surprise return and change of heart to his advantage. The only saving grace (and internally she winced at the phrasing) for Gethsemane at the moment is that Jesticarn likely hasn't reported to his superiors of her return; to do so would be to give up the matter to some other demon, and no demon who had risen to the rank of Jesticarn would give up a possible advantage.

By all rational logic, Gethsemane should be deep in the background of Project Tomorrow's efforts in Genosha, if she was present at all... which is precisely why she is standing in her Brood form in broad daylight in the middle of town, using her alien strength and her extensive magical knowledge to solve whatever problems present themselves to her. Around her neck is a small sign that reads "Faulty Translator in Use; Apologies for Any Confusion."

Spoiler: OOC

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Gethsemane wrote the sign in a practical attempt to get around her translator issues; however, if you cant to use her Knock-Off Communicator Complication, it is still in play.

Gethsemane was of the same rank as Jesticarn before everything that happened to her. Jesticarn knows of her; given his deep glimpse into her mind at their altercation, he probably also realized that her thought process is still fairly similar to what it was before. She is still cautious, still prone to weighing the pros and cons of any situation before making any commitment. He would expect her to shrink into the shadows. A smart, mid-to-high-level Demon would first act to shore up their own defenses, and then probe the enemy cautiously to look for weaknesses while anticipating and shutting down similar probes. Such fencing between Demons in the upper (or Lower) echelons could last for decades, each one subtly, slowly maneuvering until they held an unshakably superior position over their rival before ever delivering a visible blow.

Instead of this, Gethsemane had struck openly and brazenly, utilizing her power and contacts to stymie the Demonic attempt to tank the housing market of the United States. She had even directly unmasked and driven out several Demons posing as bankers, revealing what they were to the public and personally beating them down. To Jesticarn, these would be the actions of a panicky, inexperienced Demon, frantically lashing out at the superior foe and delivering only superficial lacerations while exhausting their own abilities. Jesticarn would be suspicious--one could not be a Demon at all if one wasn't suspicious of one's kindred--but he would find the opportunity to publicly squash her almost irresistible. She still had the status of a powerful Demon, but her actions made it seem like her power was gone; by crushing her, Jesticarn would gain all the prestige of defeating a powerful rival with none of the risk. And when he finally, openly struck, Gethsemane would be ready.

There is one thing Gethsemane knew Jesticarn couldn't understand, because it is something Gethsemane never understood until the Indigo Ring was forced upon her finger: personal power and victory isn't Gethsemane's ultimate goal. It isn't even on the list. If she was wounded, diminished, or even if her physical body was killed in the struggle against Jesticarn, her final objective would not be hampered (though she dreaded what the loss of her physical form would mean for her connection with the Indigo Ring). Gethsemane means to use Jesticarn to expose demons to the world, to drag the demonic hierarchy forcibly into the light and force them to do battle with the Heroes that had risen on this and many other worlds. Jesticarn is not her final foe in the conflict; he tormented and drove to despair to feed his own selfish desires, yes, but he also followed the orders of beings who did much more harm to the innocents of the world. Exposing real demonic activity to the world would not cripple the cause of the Demons, she knows, but it would force them to change their long-term plans, a setback that is all-but-unheard of in the long, long history of demonic interference on this planet.

And so, Gethsemane helps where she can, talks to whoever will listen, and waits for Jesticarn to show his hand.

[Quellian-dyrae]

It was no secret that whatever promise Genosha held in the modern day, it had grown out of some chillingly dark roots. The way Genosha originally treated its mutant population was horrific even by the standards of mutant prejudice, which was saying something. Although those old policies and the terrible experiments born from them had been left in the past, their legacy still lingers. And the most visible part of that legacy was Genosha's mutate population.

Mutates had had their powers altered and their free wills curtailed by the Genegeneer's work. Recovery had been a long and incomplete process. Thanks to both extensive psychiatric and telepathic help (not least from Professor X, who had lent his peerless telepathy to the cause since coming to Genosha) most of the country's mutates could at least think for themselves again, although their drive and reason still suffered. It wasn't anything that anyone would really say out loud in so many words, but the truth was mutates were kinda second-class citizens in modern Genosha. There was a small but notable chunk of the population who took advantage of their suppressed sense of self and lingering compulsions to use them as a source of cheap labor. And there was a much larger group that saw them almost like children to be protected and cared for - a more noble sentiment perhaps, but no less dehumanizing, especially when it led to the passage of laws that curtailed mutates' legal agency and autonomy in the name of their protection.

So it would be little surprise that the mutates of Genosha had a substantial presence at the Project Tomorrow operations. It represented an opportunity for change for the better, which was something that of all the mutants of Genosha, the mutates were perhaps most in need of.

Round 1

It would be rather more surprising when cries of revolution sounded throughout the area and the streets and city beyond, followed rather shortly by the growing spread of flashes of offensive powers being hurled at will. It was a full mutate uprising, and Project Tomorrow was at the very center of it.

Spoiler: Insight DC 20 - this does NOT count as an Evaluate attempt

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Something's off here. The uprising was too well-coordinated, too simultaneous, and there had been precisely zero indication that it was going to happen. Also, the psychological effects of the experiments that had been done to them made this sort of active, large-scale action unlikely among mutates...but it meant that they would be much, much easier to manipulate, coerce, or compel into it.

In the former cases it wouldn't be so coordinated. The only likely scenario is that the mutates are being mentally compelled to wage this attack. Although even targeting people as susceptible as mutates, it would take an incredible amount of power and/or extensive preparation to unleash such a large-scale compulsion. Maybe not Brainiac+Grodd+Cerebro levels of telepathic power, but still, lots.

Spoiler: Rene only, Perception DC 25

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From your position atop a building, you can just barely make out off in the distance a formation of...ships, probably? They seem to be spread out along the ocean and closing on the island in a perimeter formation, as if to surround it for some manner of embargo.

Spoiler

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In a battle of this scale and given the wide array of potential mutate powers, trying to do individual opponents would be nonsense. The mutate uprising has collective rather than individual force, only a limited amount of which is focused on PCs. Other heroes and mutant citizens of Genosha are also fighting back.

To this end, the mutate uprising uses a single collective statblock, with six active "units" for PCs to battle. The exact details of which specific mutates they target is largely irrelevant. Area effects can affect one additional unit per rank of Area (though note that there are mutant civilians in the conflict as well, so non-selective effects may cause collateral damage), although Cloud and Shapeable Area lower the effective ranks by one. The faster the PCs can clear out the six mechanically-active units, the better - four rounds is considered the target for an average showing. The situation gets progressively better if it takes less time and worse if it takes more.

I'm posting for the mutates immediately. However, each PC that beat their initiative removes one of their first-round actions (basically, only the PCs who lost initiative get attacked in the first round). Everyone can post immediately regardless of initiative results. Note that right now the PCs are largely scattered and can't target each other with actions without moving to assist one another.

When a PC is targeted by a given mutate unit, that unit is considered the target of that PC's actions against mutates unless they spend a move action to change location. If they change location or were not targeted, they can freely choose which unit they attack. Likewise, the bonus targets for Area and similar effects can affect any unit.

Mutates Unit 1:
Move: Various.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Eclectic Defenses at (1d20+10)[12]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Unit 1 is Deflected at 1d10+20 for two turns. Hard miss

Mutates Unit 2:
Move: Various.
Standard: Attack Potence with Eclectic Defenses at (1d20+10)[28]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Unit 2 is Deflected at 1d10+20 for two turns.
Potence Toughness: (1d20+12)[30]. Hit with +2 Multiattack. Resists.

Mutates Unit 3:
Move: Various.
Standard: Attack the Builder with Energy Bombardment at (1d20+10)[30]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Crit with +5 Multiattack. DC becomes 35.

Mutates Unit 4:
Move: Various.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Eclectic Defenses at (1d20+10)[30]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Unit 4 is Deflected at 1d10+20 for two turns. Crit with +5 Multiattack. DC becomes 35.

All PCs are on turn.

--

Katie...kinda boggled for a moment as the mutates around her - several of whom had been taking part in a lively but polite discussion about how mutate rights was going to fit into Project Tomorrow's activities not ten seconds ago! - started calling out for revolution and hurling offensive powers.

"Wai- Stop you don't- What are you doing!?"

Mutants citizens, most of them civilians but that didn't necessarily mean incapable of defending themselves, were coming under attack and often striking back in their own defense. Which was only somewhat of a good thing - superheroes were pretty good at using their powers nonlethally, but untrained civilians couldn't boast the same. Katie's immediate instinct was was raise barriers over the entire area, try to stymie both sides until a peaceful solution could be found.

Problem with that was, sounds of fighting were coming from all around. Katie did not have the power to raise a barrier large enough to protect everyone, and her shields were not unassailable in any case. The best thing she could do was disable the aggressors as quickly as possible, to minimize the permanent harm caused.

If her time as a superhero had taught her anything, it was that sometimes, the best defense really was a good offense.

"WIDENED SLUMBER!"

Spoiler

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Free: Metamagic on self.
-6 points for Reduced Close Combat 12.
3 points to increase the rank of Slumber by 1.
11 points to add Shapeable Area to Slumber.
2 points for Enhanced Deception 4.

Move: Feint Unit 2 at (1d20+20)[34]. Immune to Interaction Skills

Standard: Slumber on Unit 2. Dodge DC 21 for half, Will DC 26/20 vs. Progressive Sleep Damage.
Unit 2 Dodge: (1d20+10)[12]. Unit 2 Will: (1d20+10)[29]. Full effect. Resists.

Current Status: Normal.

[SuperCracker]

The hairs on the back of Fred’s neck stood up a few seconds before the powers started being thrown around. Something was always going down. This is why he is always Ronin. His magic had been tuned to True Sight as he was speaking with other mutants and explaining how they could best use their powers to help. It meant that he observed, in real time, the psychic force that overwhelmed all the mutates at once. Whoever did this was a strong psychic and wanted everyone on Genosha fighting each other.

Ronin drew Starsoul and turned on his commlink, forwarded to all three of his teams that were here on the island.

“They’re under psychic control! They can’t be reasoned with and the compulsion is going to block other psychic interference! Kid gloves on, it’s not their fault! Rachel, Professor. Can you figure out where the enemy psychic is?”

Ronin was so quick to react that he was able to run interference for others. He chose the area Katie was in. “Going to need a storm, buddy.”

“Thought you’d never ask!”

Starsoul began to glow bright white. Ronin turned the blade in his grip so that he was wielding it with the blunt end. Then he swung and unleashed hundreds and hundreds of precision shockwaves smashing into the mutates while keeping everyone else unharmed.

Then Ronin let a surge of magic flow through him as he transformed into level 1.

Spoiler

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Standard: Storm of Swords. He is attacking Unit 2, but will affect Unit 3 with his 1 rank of area.

Dodge DC 21; DC 26/20 Toughness.

[Starsign]

The brief peace on top of the building roof gave Rene a chance to just relax and watch Genosha from above. It's hard to make out people as more than small specks at this distance. He can only wonder what it'd look like for heroes who can see for miles and miles away...

...Huh, a lot of those specks are moving in formation. Wait, are they doing something? Oh god are they attacking each other?!

Rene presses one of his clawed fingers a little too tightly to his ear, pressing the pointed end hard upon his face scales as he turns on his comm. "Guys?! Katie? Sarah? They're-"

*BLAM* *BEEP* *BOOM* *BEEP* *BOOM*

A destructive, painful series of lights and energy suddenly beam up at Rene. His body enveloped in a lightshow and pain as fire, ice, thunder and acid spew over his scaly torso and send him on his plated back. "Auuuugh! Auuuuuuuugh!" His human screams echo out, reaching no one as the sounds of chaos wage far below on ground. The reptilian hisses in rapid breaths, clutching his torso with his left arm as steam and crackles empties from a black, bloody-marked torso. God, what the hell happened?

One slithery crawl later to the building edge reveals a very different scene from a minute ago. Everything's in an uproar, mutates attacking civilians and mutants, and a seemingly complete lack of restraint found in the resulting attacks while the Misfits chime in about what's going on at their end. And as Rene looks down the building he sees, in his horror, both a gigantic drop from this high up and the mutates that bombarded him, now going after the mutants not out of their mind.

"Oh no. Nonono! Stop!" He hisses as loud as he can, tail banging the roof and accidentally caving in part of its shingles down to the floor below, as he slithers over the railing and down the building on his clawed legs and feet. Without... much in the way of thought, as he tends to be, Rene throws himself into the chaotic crowd with his super-speed and begins smashing his curled-up claws and tail into the aggressive mutates. Something's not right with them, like they're not themselves. They have to be stopped.

Not By Blood. Not By Death

And he can't bring himself to lash his claws out. No blood, no blood. He doesn't want to draw blood. He just wants them to stop fighting!

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright, let's do my not-usual and take a big risk for FULL OFFENSE!

Rene has Killer Instinct and Primal Flurry active. Will All-Out Attack +5/-5 and Power Attack +5/-5. DC 30+Multiattack Toughness on hit: (1d20+12)[30] This counts as a crit due to Improved Critical 4!
And then Extra Effort to do it again! (1d20+12)[14] ...I'd be amazed if this hits.

Worth noting Rene has Takedown 2, so maybe he can do an attack to another unit if he takes this one down?

[CandyLaser]

"I knew I should have built that psychic shield after the Lotus Breaker," Sarah muttered to herself as her Titanomachy exo-frame appeared around her, shielding her against the mutates' attacks. Even before the armor was fully in place, she was directing it to launch attacks against the mutates around her as well as some more distant targets. Dozens of small portals opened, just long enough to release micro-explosives that went off with a sound like a roll of thunder.

Spoiler: Actions

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Armor up as a move action, then use portal bombs. It's a selective burst area Damage 11 effect, so if I understand the mechanics correctly I can attack the mutates around me as well as another unit. That's exactly what I'll do.

[Zelphas]

A large portion of Gethsemane's carapace was charred, frozen, or otherwise cracked and damaged by the sudden onslaught of Mutate powers. Uprising? Mind Control? Or... Gethsemane disregards the question of a source for the immediate moment, though her eyes are scanning constantly for any trace of Demonic influence. If Jesticarn, would be opening gambit; what is important here, to steal or destroy?

Her claws dripping with scarlet energy, Gethsemane lashes out at the Mutates around her, seeking to knock them out quickly, although somewhat brutally. Should look into mass effect spell; something relatively nonlethal.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move Action: Dazed.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Mutates Unit 4, All-Out Attacking for 5. (1d20+17)[19] Rerolled to 35 in the OOC On a hit, Damage DC 25 + Multiattack with Secondary Effect.

Status: 1 Bruise (Heals), Dazed (ends), -5 to Active Defenses this round.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 2

You'd think a mental spell would be a solid choice against the mutates, but whatever compulsion Fred had detected on them resisted further external influence; Katie's sleep spell might have made a couple of them yawn a bit, pretty much. The rest of the Misfits had a better go of it, Fred, Sarah, and Gethsemane each taking down several opponents and, perhaps more importantly, sowing chaos among their ranks as they struggled to coordinate against the greater raw power of the experienced heroes.

But it was the Builder who took the cake, barreling into the horde of mutates in his immediate area like a T-Rex at a petting zoo. Perhaps the pain of his injuries only heightened his aggression; regardless, it sure didn't slow him down. In a matter of seconds, the area around the building he had been working on was clear of hostiles, the mutants who had been caught up in the conflict just kinda looking around, blinking, as their attackers suddenly became a non-issue.

Fred made his request for telepathic support over comms, and quick as a wink he - and everyone else - felt a mindlink spring up as Rachel Grey connected every hero in the battle into a telepathic network for improved coordination. ~Of course,~ Xavier replied, sending out seeking tendrils of will, his psychic scanning assisted by Rachel.

Almost immediately, the Professor's psychic voice came across the link again. ~It's going to take some time to trace the compulsion itself, but I am sensing several minds out on the water. Judging by their relative positioning I believe it is a fleet of ships.~

~Flash, Supergirl, check it out,~ Captain America directed, even as simultaneously Captain Britain sent, ~Starfire, Storm, if you would please.~

~On it. Just so you all know, I did a quick run-through of the rest of the country,~ flipping Flash, man, ~And we've got uprisings happening in pretty much every major city.~

Streaks of red and blue and brilliant gold shot up from the city as a thunderhead shot out to sea and a blur of gold and crimson raced through the streets. Flash reached the ocean first with Supergirl close behind him...but they didn't make it out onto the water. A curving wall of sickly yellow light sprang up on the island nation's perimeter even as they reached it. Supergirl immediately swerved upwards, and the Flash hit the wall at full stride and just started racing straight up it, but the barrier grew at the speed of light, and curved above them faster than even they could get around it.

The entire island of Genosha was bathed in yellow light as fell as a Venetian sunrise as the enormous energy construct domed up around it. A subtle sense of rising unease almost immediately pervaded the air. It had little impact on heroic forces, but many mutant civilians, even those who had been brave enough to fight when the uprising began, started to panic and flee.

The unease didn't come exclusively from the dome's malevolent power. It could be felt thrumming through the mindlink as well. The X-Men had faced power like this before, though perhaps not on this scale. Gethsemane would undoubtedly recognize what they faced in an instant, and it was unlikely that members of the Justice League like Flash and Supergirl, or omnidisciplinary geniuses like Stark or Sarah Saturn, would go without identifying it.

Genosha had been laid siege by a Yellow Lantern.

Though the mutants quailed beneath the fearful Lantern's light radiating off the dome, the mutates continued fighting with fervor, forcing heroes to work hard to defend the panicking civilians from attack as enhanced physical strikes or supernatural blasts of energy were hurled wildly into the fray.

Spoiler

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Unit 1:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Unit Attack at (1d20+10)[14]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 20+Multiattack vs. Grab. Miss
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Deflected at 1d10+20.

Unit 2:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Potence with Unit Attack at (1d20+10)[22]. On a hit, Toughness ((1d20+12)[25]) DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge ((1d20+10)[19]) DC 20+Multiattack vs. Grab. Hit. Grabbed.
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Deflected at 1d10+20.

Unit 4:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Gethsemane with Disruptive Tactics at (1d20+10)[15]. On a hit, Will DC 20+Multiattack vs. Dazed+Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Disabled+Defenseless. Just hits due to AoA
End of Turn: Secondary Effect triggers. Deflected at 1d10+20.

Unit 5:
Move: Control Area Bombardment.
Standard: Attack Ronin and Potence with Area Bombardment. Dodge DC 20 for half, Toughness DC 25/20 vs. Damage.
Potence Dodge: (1d20+10)[18]. Toughness: (1d20+12)[18]. Bruised and Dazed

Unit 6:
Move: Various.
Standard: Attack the Builder with Eclectic Defenses at (1d20+10)[28]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Unit 6 is Deflected at 1d10+20 for two turns. Hit. +2 Multiattack.

All PCs are on turn.

--

Katie gave a little sigh at the failure of her spell. "Oh I am just so-" she started complaining, only to halt herself.

"You do not suck at attack spells. You do not suck at evocation. You helped destroy Dracula! BELIEVE IT!"

Then Fred arrived and unleashed his Super Saiyan Storm of Swords. "...Maybe I'll just stick to buffing." Self-confidence in direct combat was something she could work on another day. Katie began chanting an augmentative spell and...

Up went a country-scale dome of yellow light. Katie froze mid-incantation, paling like she had seen a ghost. Although there may have been plenty of people here who could recognize the power of a Yellow Lantern, even some who had faced it...it was unlikely many of them had tried to wield it before. She had. The memory of it made her skin crawl.

There's no way you're getting through this without losing someone, the traitorous voice that lived in her head told her, matter-of-factly.

But this wasn't the same Katie who had desperately turned to fear to save her friends. That voice had been a hushed whisper of late, and the clarity with which she heard it now was all too obvious evidence of where it came from. "Oh yeah well shut up!" she answered the voice in a quiet but determined whisper, imagining herself hanging up on it just like she had Parallax, those months ago.

The energy blasts required a bit of focus to ablate, and a couple of the mutates managed to grapple her, but she more-or-less ignored them for the time being.

And then she returned to her magic with twice the fervor, laying her left hand - the side that absorbs energy - onto Fred's back, drawing a fraction of the arcane power in his own spirit out where she could manipulate it, imbuing it with her own metamagical power. "Sculpt Spell!"

She laid her right hand upon him, projecting the augmented energy back into him, silvery power flowing out with it as she invested him with a second metamagic enhancement as part of the investiture. "Enlarge Spell!"

And neither was she done. Katie placed both hands on Fred's shoulders, and she poured a professional amount of mana into him with a third augmentation to his magic, and through that his spirit, and through that, the sword born of and bonded to it. "WIDEN! SPELL!"

A moment of terrible fear wasn't the only memory that the sudden presence of Yellow Lantern light prompted her to recall...

Spoiler

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Move: Dazed.

Free: Activate the Affects Others function of Metamagic.

Standard: Augmentation on Fred. Three additional ranks of Area on (ten ranks of) Storm of Swords for the next two turns. Go nuts.

Current Status: 1 Bruise, Dazed ends, Grabbed.

[SuperCracker]

A lot just happened. A fleet of ships was positioned out off the coast of Genosha. Simple enough, Fred would just go over there and start stabbing until the problem was solved. Nope. The two fastest on their side couldn’t make it out there. It was a dome… of yellow. Uprisings in every major city. They were under full attack. It wasn’t just a psychic causing trouble.

His expression grew dire. Yellow Lanterns. Just like when…

His hand gripped his sword so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Not this time,” he whispered to himself. Katie was the only one around who would hear it.

“Saturn,” he asked across comms or mental link… or was he accidentally speaking through both? He was,actually. “See if you can portal on the other side of the dome. If it’s not warded against teleporters, we can turn the tables.”

He was buffeted by a flurry of mutate attacks, but emerged relatively unharmed. And though Katie had turned pale for a moment, she seemed to get over it quickly enough. +1 pride. They were in good shape for now, but he couldn’t just hold back on his reserves at this point. Too many unknowns.

He turned away from her as she started to cast her spells upon him. Whenever she drew magic from him, she would always feel through her arcane senses that she was directly touching a part of Fred himself. His magic was so intertwined with who and what he was that It was nearly indistinguishable.

She shaped and amplified that magic and returned it to him tenfold… which he then himself amplified by transforming again to level 2. He didn’t move far from her, especially since she was being grabbed at, but he started to unleash the equivalent of a magical carpet-bombing across virtually the entire battlefield. Thunderous bursts of magic striking out unerringly at all foes.

Spoiler

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Free: Go SSJ2.

Standard: STORM OF SWORDS – Perception Range. Unit 2 and Unit 5 are hit with DC26 toughness. Units 1, 4, and 6 are all hit with DC 25 toughness.

Free: Regen his Bruised. Back to Normal condition.

[Starsign]

Rene couldn't tell who exactly was lying on the ground after his frenzy of wild, audacious punches and tail swings. All he had been doing was going after the mutates who were firing their powers at him and everywhere else. In hindsight, that wasn't too hard; no other mutates or mutants were fighting back.

...Wait. They weren't... fighting back?

His reptilian eyes do not dart up to the sky. He doesn't see the sickly yellow color that ensnares Genosha which'd leave his slits bleeding. He didn't register it before but Rene can now taste the atmosphere of this place. Every speck of dust in his hissing mouth and bit of dirt under his feet gave off this uncomfortable, familiar feeling. And more important, the smell is overwhelming. Every man, woman, mutant, mutate gave it off. Everything driving them to attack or flee is built off this stench that's sweeping Genosha. And Rene knows this. He's lived with it for such a long time. The endless presence of it even in his happiest of conditions:

Fear.

He can't stand this feeling, like an omnipresent being always watching him. The stench of it almost as bad as the relentless barrage of wild powers thrown at the reptilian. Though what they do that fear doesn't is hurt, physically. He had but moved to a crowded area only to find himself the victim of many mutate beams, energy blasts and stone-hardened fists to his scales. He swore, he swore that he heard his ribs crack and break as one mutate slammed his fist down into the reptilian's torso.

One loud hiss later and the reptilian launches another flurry of attacks at the mutates. Fists and tail took down the last group, so he must keep doing it!

Spoiler: OOC

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Alrighty, let's repeat what worked before. Rene will Power Attack +5/-5 and All-Out Attack +5/-5 on Unit 6 with Killer instinct and Primal Flurry. DC30+Multiattack Toughness on hit: (1d20+12)[26] May EE depending on how this roll goes.

[Zelphas]

Gethemane weathers the mental assault on her handily, barely noticing the attack as she registers the much larger shock of a Yellow Lantern altering the emotional state of a small nation. Almost certainly more than one; otherwise, all energy from one put into this shield likely, she considers, the Indigo Ring on her finger pulsing an ugly blue-yellow for a second as it absorbs the emotional assault on her senses with a burst of pure Compassion.

Gethsemane turns back towards the Mutates before her--only to see them all fallen, cut down by the heavy blows of Ronin. Undeterred, she unfurls her wings with a snap, soaring quickly over the battlefield until she spots the familiar magical signature of Potence as well as Ronin standing nearby. Banking around, Gethsemane soars through the Mutates to land next to Potence, scarlet flame-covered claws flashing. Can attempt to use Compassion to overwhelm Fear shield--teleport natural capability of Indigo Lantern, she sends over the mental link. Able to carry approximately 50 tons with transfer; report to location of Potence within ten seconds if you desire to be along for attempt.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move Action: Fly to Potence and Ronin's location.

Standard Action: Claws of Rage on Unit 5, All out Power Attacking for 5. (1d20+12)[15] On a hit, Parry DC 30+Multiattack vs. Secondary Effect Damage.

Status: -5 to Active defenses this turn.

[CandyLaser]

"Heading out. I'll tell you what I see." Sarah let loose another volley of precisely targeted micro-explosives, unleashing another attack on the mutates nearest her, before stepping into another portal designed to take her up and out of the glowing golden dome, putting her up above its highest point.

Spoiler: Actions

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Extra effort for a bonus action, which I'll use for another portal bomb attack. Her teleport in her armored form is extended only, so it'll take her two moves to trigger it, hence the extra effort.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 3

Empowered and then empowered again, Ronin's Storm of Swords practically filled the entire city block, striking down dozens of mutates. Rene laid into the next group unlock enough to come across him, sticking them down with his saliva and then knocking them out with crushing blows, mutates falling one after another to his fury. Gethsemane didn't have quite as dominant a showing, but her flaming claws forced her foes back and left a couple nursing injuries. Sarah's bombs detonated among them, dropping a few with concussive force.

I'd say that it seemed like more kept coming to replace the fallen as fast as they could be struck down but...no, no not really. They were definitely thinning out, at least in this area.

Spoiler: Perception DC 20

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You do notice that not all of the mutants have routed. There's still a few managing to fight back, although the fear is clearly impeding their effort. A lot of shots going wide, some even causing collateral damage.

Spoiler: Insight or Expertise (Tactics) DC 20

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...Actually, this doesn't strike you as fear-caused wild shots.
In the chaos of the battle, it looks like some of the mutants are intentionally attacking other mutants.

Spoiler: Perception or Expertise (Politics) DC 25, Eidetic Memory applies to either

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...You also realize that the targets of this "friendly fire" had been introduced earlier in the day as either members, guards, or staff of the Genoshan Senate.

Sarah opened a portal to above the dome...and it basically spat her back out. Evidently the barrier was able to block projections, and perfectly at that.

Spoiler: Expertise (Science) DC 25

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So the bad news was that as much energy as was being pumped into that barrier, it probably wasn't going down to any force that even the heroes assembled were reasonably capable of exerting. I mean...maybe if you found a way to channel the powers of the entire country of Genosha into the effort you could punch through, but other than that, it was safe to call the thing invulnerable. (This being Project Tomorrow, that option is not necessarily off the table, mind.)

But energy doesn't come free, and even if you could tap into a massive source of it, there were going to be limits to how much you could safely channel long-term before the sheer amount of energy fried whatever you were conducting it through. Even Lantern rings could only store so much energy at once, and a barrier like this went far, far beyond that. How they were pumping out this much power would take more data to determine, but whatever methodology they were using, you could bet that they would either run out of power, or burn out their generator, if they tried to keep this barrier up for too long. Whether it would be minutes, hours, or days was hard to say, but this barrier would fall if you could just wait it out.

The mutates kept up their assault, and though it may have had something under half the force, it still had all the fury! Or something like that. ...We'll see what the dice say.

Meanwhile, over the telepathic link, there was a mishmash of various shades of blue as Captain America, Captain Britain, and Cyclops all started trying to give orders at once. Starfire telepathically giggled. The Flash projected the emotions behind an eye-roll. After a brief private discussion, Cyclops sent, ~Flash, Supergirl, Storm, I want you three running interference in the other cities. Mitigate the threat as much as possible while we finish up the attackers here, then we can use Sarah's portals to send teams to neutralize the threats. They'll still work as long as you don't try to actually cross the barrier, right?~

~Starfire, meet me at the docks. We're going to try to punch a hole in this forcefield. Everyone else keep fighting! Let's take these guys out fast so we can move on to the other cities! Potence, Ronin, join Starfire and I once the fighting starts winding down. If we can't punch through ourselves we'll try with some boosts, or maybe Starsoul will be able to cut through. If that doesn't work we'll figure out our next move.~

~And who's going after Magneto?~ Iron Man asked.

~Magneto?~ Professor X asked. ~What does Magneto have to do with this?~

There was a brief pause. ~Well, I'm no X-Man,~ Iron Man replied in a just vaguely sarcastic tone of voice (so, his usual tone of voice, pretty much). It was obvious to pretty much anyone who heard the words that the intended connotation was less "so I'm obviously speaking outside my area of expertise here; take what I say with a grain of salt" and more "so why am I the one pointing out what is blatantly obvious?" ...Actually, by "less" and "more" I more mean "not at all" and "entirely". ~But I've at least cracked open a couple history books on you people, pretty much every third chapter of which made it clear that whenever there's some large-scale crisis centering around mutants, Magneto is either behind it, taking advantage of it, or using it as an excuse to exterminate all non-mutants. You guys do run some kind of school, right?~

~That is...highly over-simplified.~

~Which either means I'm wrong and you're too polite to say it, or I'm right and you're too trusting to say it. Should we bet on which?~

~Speaking as a sovereign myself, it would perhaps behoove Project Tomorrow not to immediately blame the ruler of the country that you have recently allied with of being involved in an attack on his own country,~ Black Panther calmly advised.

Spoiler

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Yeah this barrier's basically X-rank with all the trimmings. Sarah since you're the one who burned the resources to discover that, take a Hero Point.

Unit 1:
Move: Staggered.
Standard: Attack Sarah with Energy Bombardment at (1d20+10)[19]. On a hit, Toughness DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage. Hit

Unit 2:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Potence with Unit Attack at (1d20+10)[16]. On a hit, Toughness ((1d20+11)[30]) DC 25+Multiattack vs. Damage and Strength or Dodge ((1d20+10)[20]) DC 20+Multiattack or Grab worsens to Bound. Hit due to Vulnerable. Crit resists the Damage. Resists and thus escapes the Grab. Well it was worth a shot.

Unit 5:
Move: Dazed.
Standard: Attack Ronin with Disruptive Tactics at (1d20+10)[11]. On a hit, Will DC 20+Multiattack vs. Dazed+Impaired+Vulnerable/Stunned+Disabled+Defenseless. Hard miss

All PCs are on turn. Gonna post for Katie later because I need food.