The neighborhood could be any in New York, with pleasantness coming from a mild calm. Folks don't want to be outside on a summer afternoon, but a few kids come out to scurry up and down and across the streets. The air is heavy and sticks to the skin, like it's been every day, seemingly like months. A typical New York day in the summer, though every year seems worse with the forgotten memory of how it was the same a year ago. Not a good day for a full costume or a mask but heroes must keep up appearances.

The address that Captain America gave leads to a pizza place on a quiet corner.
https://www.google.com/maps/pl...702604!4d-73.9932197
It looks like any other business up and down the street, though like many of the places in this neighborhood, the crumbling facade could use a face-lift. Markings of what it used to be have been removed, and there is one sign, above the door, that says SKUDO'S in a sloppy handwritten script. There can be seen some people and activity through the dirty windows and glass door at the front.

Scene Distinctions:
Sweltering, Hot Afternoon
Quiet Corner in Brooklyn
Suspicious Store-Front

Doom Pool: 2d6

* Remember that every post with a dice pool must have the current tally of Plot Points and a choice for next action if it's your turn.
* Each hero starts this scene with 1 PP.
* Also remember that all Opportunities rolled are automatically bought, at a rate of 1 PP per dice pool (to be translated into Doom Pool dice).
* If the heroes are split into smaller groups, in the narrative, respect that unless there is an open line of communication between them or they are near each other, each group will not know what is going on with the others.
* Note that not all heroes included in the character roster are included in this adventure.

An aerial vehicle entering the area and lowering to land on the street would be an incredible sight on its own, unless that vehicle is also a car, a sports-sedan. The car comes to a full landing a half-block away from the pizza place, along the curb just like any car, in view of the building. Hawkeye opens the door then gets out, standing to full height. She-Hulk does the same, stretching out her massive frame that had been cooped-up for far too long. She cracks her knuckles while Hawkeye looks around, at the building, down one empty street then the other, then back to the building. They exchange some small talk while Bishop unfolds his frame from the back of the car and steps out. A half-dozen kids playing on the sidewalk look up at the heroes but it's Bishop who instills fear in them. "Get lost," Bishop snarls at the one who didn't back down before he turns to his fellow heroes and their destination.

Ka-RASH! A mighty noise explodes from the vicinity of the pizza place, enough to shake the ground and make the heroes jerk their heads toward it.

"The heck?" Hawkeye says, looking around again but more urgently, while crouching into a ready and active position.

"It sounds like it came from the back of the place," She-Hulk says.

"That could be what we're here for."

"Right," She-Hulk says, already leaping into position to cover the street and get to the building. "And if time is of the essence, we might not have much of it. I'll cover the back. You take the front or whatever." And in the next instant she has sprinted to the building and around the back, out of sight.

Ovidio Rubio was a lonely boy who would grow into a lonely man. In his teens, his need for friendship led him to fall in with the Puerto-Rican gangs in his neighborhood. He was the only one in the gang who got out, though he was left wayward, lost, and lonelier than ever before. When he was presented with the opportunity to join an organization where he could use his street-smarts for their greater good, he signed on wholeheartedly and bought into their plan.

Attila Bogdanović is an immigrant from Latveria who fled the nation after his family disavowed him for agreeing with the country's monarchy. He defected to America and, after forging papers to earn amnesty, joined the group that could help him build the personal power to return to his home country.

Perry Stevens is just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train going anywhere. A twist of fate led him to meet a special girl when he got there. Unfortunately, from her he contracted an unforgiving STD and she became very pregnant. He fled and arrived in New York, where he found an organization that could finally give him power over his life again.

With Hawkeye in tow, Bishop marches to the pizza place. The archer says nothing but readies an arrow in his bow, giving a distance from his current partner, staying outside while the mutant enters the building.

Bishop charges the place, kicking in the front door. The fragile glass explodes from the force, obliterating the door and announcing the mutant's entrance with no doubt.

The place is even grungier inside than out, with a sticky floor, water-stains on the walls, and dirty windows, with the stench of bleach overwhelming any other appetizing scent expected to be present in a restaurant. Two teenagers seated near the front window look up with expressions of shock, their faces going white. Near them, a seedily-dressed man with a dirty, gray beard picking at his bare foot with a pencil looks up with less surprise.

A young man at the counter dressed in a dirty T-shirt looks up as well but his look of surprise quickly turns to determination. “There!” he yells, pointing at Bishop while he reaches under the counter. He draws up a large rifle, nothing like a standard firearm but with a row of pulsating lights on the side and two barrels. Behind him come two other men in similar T-shirts and with similar weapons, all pointed at Bishop. Their intention to get the drop on the mutant is stated violently when the agents open fire on him all at once!

Physical attack (concussive force from rifles) on Bishop:
Team     3d8
Confident in Mission (surprised)    d4
(add d6 to Doom Pool)
Weapons    d8
Concentrate Fire    2d6

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 1,3,4,4,6,6,2 using d8,d8,d8,d4,d8,d6,d6 ((1,3,4,4,6,6,2)).

Total: 10, Effect: 2d8 (from Concentrate Fire) = d10

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

Bishop's Affiliation, with Hawkeye near, is Buddy

Doom Pool: 2d6 +d6 = 3d6

Reaction Needed: Bishop
Next Action: Bishop

Bishop wasn't going to let the element of surprise go to waste.  Having broken through the front door he continued his momentum and charged right toward the three agents.  The hail of fire didn't seem to bother him none - if anything, it only served to invigorate him further as he followed up with a deadly hook aimed at the young man's jaw

Resist attack
Buddy 1d10
Uncompromising 1d8
Superhuman Durability 1d10
Combat Expert 1d8

Bishop rolled 7,3,2,2 using 1d10,1d10,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 7,3,2,2.  Resist Attack.
Total 10, effect 1d8.  Ties goes to heroes, so attack resisted.  Stepping up Superhuman Durability to Godlike Durability (1d12) till next transition scene.

Physical attack on (one of) the three men:
Buddy 1d10
Uncompromising 1d8
Enhanced Strength 1d8
Combat Expert 1d8

Bishop rolled 2,6,6,2 using 1d10,1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 2,6,6,2.  Physical attack.
Total 12, Effect 1d10

PP total: 1+0=1
This message was last edited by the player at 12:41, Fri 19 Apr 2019.

Pizza-Place Agents defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 12, Effect: d10:
Team     3d8
Low-Level Flunkies    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 8,3,3,4,4 using d8,d8,d8,d4,d6 ((8,3,3,4,4)).

Total: 12, Effect: d8

Pizza-Place Agents Team reduced to 2d8

Doom Pool: 3d6 (-d6/+d8) = 2d6, d8

The guy at the register catches Bishop's fist square in the jaw. He staggers backward, falling into a tower of pizza boxes then getting lost among them when he hits the floor and they all collapse on him.

The other two agents look up at the mutant who is now right in front of them. A sudden look of shock mixed with doubt washes over their faces, perhaps from their realization that their enemy might be too close for their rifles, or that they wouldn't do much good even if they weren't.

Next Action: Hawkeye

"Bishop!" Hawkeye cries from outside the pizza place. "Watch out!"

Lends Combat Expert d8 to action against Teenage Androids

Hawkeye's alarm may or may not have come as an alert to the teenagers who had been sitting at the window of restaurant and are now rising to their feet. As the two stand upright, their hands stretch out as sections of their arms twist into panels and transform their limbs into weapons, with barrels pointing outward and toward the attacking mutant. The androids are expressionless, and the only sounds they make are the click-click-clicks of their armaments locking into place and taking aim!

Add Teenage Androids x2

Next Action: Bishop

Bishop wasn't going to secede any ground when the two androids joined the fray, even if he was surrounded like that by hostiles form all directions.  It wasn't exactly the best move to charge in like that, but the she-hulk was already inside somewhere, and he wasn't going to be outdone by her!

He turned his back on the agents and toward the new threat, readying to blast them down as quickly as possible before more enemies emerge:


Buddy 1d10
Unrelenting 1d4
Energy blast 1d10
Combat Expert 1d8
Hawkeye assistance 1d8

Bishop rolled 3,3,4,6,3 using 1d10,1d4,1d10,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 3,3,4,6,3.  Energy blast .
Will use a PP to add another die to the total.
Total: 4+6+3 = 13 effect: 1d10
PP: 1+1-1=1
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Sat 27 Apr 2019.

Any great promise the Build Operate Transform program had was snuffed before it truly began. The androids did not need to function as replacements for human agents, they only needed to be interpreted as soldiers. But they fell into a void of purpose between disguised sleeper agents and those weapon-ready for battle, both of which already had teams assigned to those uses, so advancement of the idea was discarded. The inventor, a low-level mechanical engineer who had the luck of being the nephew of someone far superior to him, was gravely injured during a raid from the organization’s enemies, with hands and mind mangled in battle. His legacy stands with the half-dozen androids he created by hand, now used as foot-soldiers in the first line of defense before more capable and valuable soldiers are made available.

Now two of those few androids -- created to disguise themselves as teenagers to blend in to the environment -- heed the call to defend their base. To their inventor's credit, they could pass as the teenagers they appear to be -- one, in a red shirt; the other, in an Allentown Jets basketball jersey -- if they were not asked for more interaction than blasting a target with the cannons their arms have transformed into.

Defending from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 13, Effect: d10 (msg #9):
Team    d8
Unnecessary Technology    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Mechanical Body    d8
Combat Expert    d8

Teenage Android Basketball Jersey rolled 2,4,4,5 using d8,d4,d8,d8 ((2,4,4,5)).

Total: 8, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12

Bishop inflicts d12 of physical stress on Teenage Android Basketball Jersey

Doom Pool: 2d6,d8 (-d6/+d8) = d6, 2d8

Ka-BLEKSH! Bishop's energy blast rips through the android in the basketball jersey. The assault leaves what could once pass as a teenage boy now a mess of robotic parts held upright by mechanical legs that threaten to buckle under it. But still intact, if barely so, is one arm-cannon, still held aloft and aimed at the charging mutant.

Meanwhile, two figures drift down from the sky and alight on the ground in front of the building, outside of the fray happening inside. The young man known as Justice, in another tech-looking uniform similar to the one he wore to the Xavier Mansion, lands first, followed by Namorita, with a cocoon of water that was surrounding her splashing to the ground as her bare feet reach the pavement. Just as Justice lands, he buckles forward. "Ugg," he grunts, with arms out to steady himself. Eventually he rises but he is still clearly shaken. He swoons for a moment. "That took a bit out of me," he mumbles while holding his head and taking a step back from the building.

Next Action: Namorita

Namorita Prentiss didn't know the man who'd gone crashing into the pizza parlor, but Hawkeye she did of course recognize.    The sight of an Avenger did something to allay some of the suspicions and doubts she held about this whole thing.

The main enemy was plainly mechanical...she needn't be worried about harming them, whatever the truth of whomever they were operated by.  Her first impulse was to leap into the fray, support the Avengers and their allies...but then she glanced to Vance, who'd spent his energy to insure she'd arrive with her own at peak. And moved herself in front of him.

Buddy D8
True Sub-Mariner D8
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Combat Expert D8

Defend Justice -  Rolls of 8, 5, 2, 1.

Total = 13, create asset = 1 effect die given to Vance, + opportunity for GM.  (+1PP for me)   

"Ham and pineapple," she said philosophically, waiting for Vance to come back to par, "They serve that here. It always starts a war..."

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Namorita's Opportunity

+d6 to Doom Pool from She-Hulk's Collateral Damage

Be sure to post current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of each turn

Please note which Effect die you are choosing

Doom Pool (d6, 2d8) reaction to Namorita's attempt to create Defending Justice Asset, Total: 13, Effect: d8.

Watcher rolled 2,6,8 using d6,d8,d8 ((2,6,8)).

Total: 14, Effect: d6

Doom Pool: d6, 2d8 +d6 = 2d6, 2d8

"Whoa," Justice stammers, as he stumbles backward for a step then recovers himself but still groggy. He stands weakly, outside of a fighting posture, which makes him even more vulnerable to whatever threat may come, from the Pandora's Box that is the pizzeria in front of the two.

From the side of the city facing Manhattan, a trio descends from the sky on a sparkling bridge of ice. The mutant Iceman is followed by Wolfsbane and Storm, hands on each others’ hips in a train. The frozen slide they ride on extends as Iceman shoots ice from his hands to continue it, and he leads it to bring them swiftly to the ground. Storm steps off first, noting “Thanks for the ride,” then moves closer to the fray in the pizza place.

Hawkeye has taken a defensive position outside of the building, his back against the metal fence surrounding the place, a refuge too flimsy to offer shelter from the random energy blasts from inside firing around him but close enough to get to the door in a few strides. He has an arrow in his bow at the ready while he keeps a sharp eye out, clearly waiting for just the right moment to make his move.

Storm, having taken to the air to cover the distance across the street, floats down near the archer as electricity sparks between her fingers. She looks over at Hawkeye. "I take it this is where Hydra is holed up?"

Hawkeye stumbles, as his moment to make his move is interrupted by the woman now at his side, but he recovers and takes his position anew. “Oh, hey, Storm. Cool suit,” Hawkeye says more calmly than the situation should seem to leave him. Indeed, the costume which Storm wears, not her usual battle-togs but a black, tight body-suit that covers her from her feet to her neck, is cool. “I don’t know who it is in there but it's not hard to guess that it’s what Cap sent us after. It’s someone none too happy to see us, that’s for sure.” He cranes his neck to look over then turns back. “It’s even more dangerous than I thought. We gotta get in there.”

Suddenly, an energy blast comes from the pizza place and whips by Storm’s head, missing her white hair by a mere inch or less, close enough for her to hear an ominous and deadly zzzip.

Next Action: Storm

Storm caught Namorita's quip just before she dismounted from the ice slide. "Just be glad they don't serve it with barbecue sauce." That would invite extreme violence, and not just from a person's digestive system.

Ororo smiled at the compliment from Clint as she floated nearby. "Thanks, Hawkeye. And it's good to see you here as well." Normally she would enjoy a nice chat with the other members of the Avengers, but it seemed like it was time to get down to business. Storm's eyes faded from blue to white a moment before she subtly moved out of the way of an energy blast from the interior.

"We gotta get in there, but let's not make ourselves targets as we do." Storm hadn't missed the defensive posture that Namorita had taken, nor that Hawkeye was hunkered down, and seemed pinned to his spot. She tried to give everyone outside some visual cover as they moved toward the entrance to the pizza parlor. There was no shortage of humidity, so getting it to come together in a dense cloud should be easy enough for her to accomplish.

Dice Pool:
Team d10
Strong-Willed Leader d8
Weather Supremacy d12
Covert Expert d8

18:50, Today: Storm rolled 2,5,5,6 using d10,d8,d12,d8 with rolls of 2,5,5,6.  Creating cover asset.

Total: 11 Effect d12

PP: 1

Next up: Wolfsbane
This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Fri 10 May 2019.

Be sure to post current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of each turn

Doom Pool (2d6, 2d8) reaction to Storm's attempt to create Cover Asset, Total: 11, Effect: d12:

Watcher rolled 3,4,4 using d6,d6,d8 ((3,4,4)).

Total: 8, Effect: d6

Cover d12 Asset created, can be used in defense by anyone in range

The air around the front of the pizzeria thickens, so much that it becomes literally heavy with moisture, even more than the unaltered day has brought, as it forms into a soup denser than any cloud in the sky, allowing no sight into or out of it. Storm's intention to provide cover for her allies works splendidly, but effectively separating those inside and outside of the pizzeria. While the team outside are no longer targets, there is no seeing into the base, including how Bishop fares alone against against the enemies within.

Meanwhile, Wolfsbane follows along with her allies, growing slightly, taking her hybrid-wolf form, claws extending from her fingertips, muscles rippling. The mutant looks around hungrily. Her wolven eyes provide no distinct advantage to see through Storm's obscuring cloud, but she can smell the fear and desperation from at least one combatant.

Next Action: Wolfsbane

Even as Stom's cloud-cover had begun to form, Wolfsbane had already been scanning the place for alternate entry points ... rather than through the gaping 'Lions Den' entry that everyone else was using.

And she was pretty sure that she had a plan.
As the street between she and the enemy fogged up, Wolfsbane was already moving ... loping through the created concealment like a wolf through the morning mists.  On Enhanced Reflexes she moved, swift and without hesitation.  A Covert Master, she might have been nothing more than a shadow in the darkness, a breeze in the mist.

She had her senses about her, and she knew that God would lead her where she needed to be.

d10: Solo
d8:  Faith in God
d8:  Enhanced Reflexes
d12: 'Cover' Asset created by Storm
d10: Covert Master
to create the Asset 'Hunter Unnoticed' to give me a bonus when I eventually strike ... till then, remaining elusive and unnoticed.

-  rolled 1,5,5,1,7 using d10,d8,d8,d12,d10 with rolls of 1,5,5,1,7.  create Asset.
             Are you freaking kidding me!?!   One of the best dice pools I've managed to assemble ever, and thats all I get!
Total 12, Effect d8
and Two Opportunities for the Watcher to use!

Current PP: 3

Next turn: a Villian
This message was last edited by the player at 08:07, Fri 10 May 2019.

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Wolfsbane's Opportunities (and +1 PP to Wolfsbane)

Be sure to post current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of each turn

At the moment, all heroes can choose between having the Buddy or Team Affiliation until they interact with each other as a group, except for Bishop who will be at Solo until Storm's Asset is removed

Doom Pool (2d6, 2d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Hunter Unnoticed Asset, Total: 12, Effect: d8:
Watcher rolled 3,2,2,4 using d6,d6,d8,d8 ((3,2,2,4))

Total: 7, Effect: d8

Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d10

Wolfsbane deftly uses the cover of the cloud to stalk the building, but even with her senses to find her way, her lack of direction and knowledge of the structure leaves her adrift. But dispensing a mauling could be in her near future, when she strikes.

Doom Pool: 2d6, 2d8 +d8 = 2d6, 3d8

Next Action: Teenage Android Red Shirt

Inside the pizzeria, contact to the outside is cut off with Storm's dense cloud surrounding the building. A view through the windows is obscured as if concrete covered them. Those within can still see due to the lights but that it is suddenly dark, as if at night except for humidity like at the height of the afternoon, giving it an eerie sensation.

However, the two androids at the front of the restaurant seem not to care at all, as their eyes lock on their target and the cannons that were once arms power up and, once they are humming with maximum energy, are unleashed on the one opponent in the place: Bishop!

Physical attack on Bishop:
Buddy    d6
Foot Soldiers (fodder)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Weapons    d8
Combat Expert    d8

Teenage Android Basketball Jersey rolled 2,3,4,6 using d6,d4,d8,d8 ((2,3,4,6)).

Total: 10, Effect: d6

Doom Pool: 2d6, 3d8 (-d6/+d8) = d6, 4d8

Reaction Needed: Bishop
Next Action: Teenage Android Red Shirt

Physical attack on Bishop:
Buddy    d6
Foot Soldiers (fodder)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Weapons    d8
Combat Expert    d8

Teenage Android Red Shirt rolled 2,4,1,8 using d6,d4,d8,d8 ((2,4,1,8)).

Total: 12, Effect: d6

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

Doom Pool: d6, 4d8 (-d6/+d8) = 5d8

Reaction Needed: Bishop
Next Action: Agents

The agents inside the pizzeria likewise take aim on the same opponent but, despite being closer to the mutant, show considerably less ability and fortune. Their shots go wide, shooting across the restaurant's interior and smashing through the windows. Though Storm's cloud obscures any sight to the outside, the energy beams project through it, firing wild along their full range. The previous blasts have missed their initial targets but have been more successful in nearly finding secondary marks, namely those unwitting heroes outside the building, and in this case, because of the angles from the agents to their intention, Namorita is in the firing line!

Doom Pool (5d8) attack on Namorita, from Agents 2d8:

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 7,6,5,4,4,6,3 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((7,6,5,4,4,6,3)).

Total: 13, Effect: d8

Storm's Cover d12 Asset can be used in defending dice pool

Reaction: Namorita
Next Action: Justice, Iceman

"Lets see what you got"
Bishop wasn't that quick; not quick enough to dodge bullets, at any rate.
So instead of moving out of the way he stubbornly held his grounds as the androids leveled their cannons at him, trusting that the energy he already absorbed should make him near-impervious to harm.

His persistence was soon vindicated; the robots were armed with energy weapons, and as the successive blasts hit him squarely in the chest he could feel the raw power surging through his body.


OOC:
Solo: 1d6
Unrelenting: 1d4
Godlike Durability: 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8
Android Physical Stress 1d12

Bishop rolled 2,4,9,7,2 using 1d4,1d8,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 2,4,9,7,2.  Defend physical attack (basketball jersey).  Total: 16, Effect: 1d8 vs Total:10, Effect: 1d6.  Attack Resisted

Solo: 1d6
Unrelenting: 1d4
Godlike Durability: 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8

Bishop rolled 2,8,1,10 using 1d4,1d8,1d8,1d12 with rolls of 2,8,1,10.  Defend physical attack.
Total: 18, Effect: 1d4 vs Total 12, Effect 1d6.  Attack Resisted

Energy Battery SFX steps up Energy Blast to 1d12, and Strength to 1d10
Passing on the Watcher's opportunity.

New PP total: 1+2+1 = 4


This message was last edited by the player at 12:33, Mon 13 May 2019.

"Neptune!  Somebody wants barbecue, but I'm not on the menu!" she quipped back to Storm.

She did her very best not to be in the spot where that energy bolt passed, attempting to side step it completely.

Team D10
True Sub-Mariner D8
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Combat Expert D8
Storm's aid D12

Namorita rolled 3,3,6,7,7 using D10,D8,D8,D8,D12
Total = 14    Effect = D10 (or D8 if still on buddy, don't think it matters so much since my total beat the attack?)   

"Hey, you're the one who can make it rain! And call hurricane and tornadoes. Can I be on your team-?" 

She wasn't necessarily expecting an answer, but planned to follow Storm and the others, and help out as much she could.      After Vance was stable...she glanced to see if it was the case.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunity

While Bishop plays out a gambit to not be destroyed by the blasts and Namorita side-steps a barrage of misguided attacks, Justice has held back. In the street, he swoons, then catches himself, but his upright stance is uncertain at best. "Nita... I..." he sputters weakly, barely perceptible. Not only does he not move forward but he loses ground, stepping back, then faltering, then his legs give out and his body collapses heavily to the asphalt in the middle of the street.

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to create Justice Down Scene Complication

Doom Pool: 5d8 +d6 -d8 = d6, 4d8
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:30, Tue 14 May 2019.

Iceman had taken a moment to assess the situation before jumping in. Not all mutants are inclined to kick in the door with guns blazing. It was a trial to determine what was going on, though that there was anyone to bring a fight was enough to show why Captain America wanted them here in the first place. Then when he sees one of their own drop to the street -- even if he couldn't see why it happened -- the icy hero got his a course of action. He might not know the guy -- someone near his own age, he surmised -- but they had both gone through the battle in the mansion and that was enough to bond them for this conflict, too. And that guy needs help now.

He slides into action, to not far from where he brought them down on the ice-slide. They might have been fortunate by being between moments when traffic lights would let vehicles through the street but he knew that wouldn't last. He sticks out his arms and his hands instantly freeze the air around them, blasting toward the street to create a barrier around the prone man, to hip-height and the width of the street. "That'll stop the traffic," he says, then drops into a defensive crouch and looks up at the building in front of them. "But there could be other bad stuff."

Iceman lends Ice Mastery d10 to anyone defending Justice

Next Action (new round): Namorita

Nita gasped when Vance dropped, not anticipating how much he'd been effected.

My fault, she chided herself, he expended too much energy trying to keep me hydrated!

In no time at all, there was a frozen shield-wall about them, courtesy of the X-Men's ice-maker.

"Thanks!" she called out sincerely to Ice-man.   She too went into a defensive crouch, next to Vance where he'd fallen.

"Take what time you need, I'm not going anywhere," she reassured him, placing a hand on his arm.   "And we've acquired some rather bad ass allies."

She was ready on the instant to defend him, if it proved needful...

Buddy D8
True Sub-Mariner D8
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Psych Expert D8
Icy Defense D10

Namorita rolled 5,2,8,1,2 using D8,D8,D8,D8,D10

Total = 13  Asset effect die for Justice = D10

Bishop couldn't afford to waste any more time.  The She-Hulk went off by herself through the other side, and now there was an additional complication outside the compound which served to (at the very least) separate him from the Hawk-Eye.

The hostiles weren't even a nuisance, but they needed to go down, and fast.

The energy he absorbed was flowing through his body, the excess of it exuding out uncontrollably - in a palpable red aura surrounding his body, the ruby color of his eyes...  Now was the time to give some it back, before he dangerously overloaded himself.
Lifting his hands, he tapped into his reserve of power and discharged the energy at the two androids - blasting them with everything he's got

OOC:
Solo 1d6
Make A Difference 1d8
Energy Blast 1d12, 1d12 (Everything I've Got)
Combat Expert 1d8
Android Physical Stress 1d12

06:26, Today: Bishop rolled 5,8,9,1,9,8 using 1d6,1d8,1d12,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 5,8,9,1,9,8.  Energy blast vs android (basketball jersey).

Spending 2 PP: 1 to add an additional die to the total, and for another effect die
Total: 8+9+8 = 25 Effect: 1d6 (vs basketball jersey), 1d12 (vs red-shirt)

New PP total: 4-2+1 = 3



This message was last edited by the player at 06:20, Thu 16 May 2019.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Namorita's Opportunity

Be sure to post current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of each turn

Doom Pool (d6, 4d8) reaction to Namorita's attempt to create Defending Justice Asset, Total: 13, Effect: d10 (msg #29):
Justice Down Scene Complication d8

Watcher rolled 1,3,2,5,1,1 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((1,3,2,5,1,1)).

Total: 8, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success steps up acting Effect die, to d12

3 Opportunities (available first to Namorita)

Doom Pool: d6, 4d8 +d6 = 2d6, 4d8

With some help and Namorita's considerable strength, Vance moves into the cover of the ice barrier and out of the middle of the street. He would not be able to hold himself up without aid, but at least he can move.

The street seems to calm for the length of a breath, before the next barrage of chaos.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunities

Be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of your turn

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 25, Effect: d6 (msg #30):
Team    d8
Unnecessary Technology    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Mechanical Body    d8
Combat Expert    d8

Teenage Android Basketball Jersey rolled 8,1,5,3 using d8,d4,d8,d8 ((8,1,5,3)).

Total: 13, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success x2 steps acting Effect die up, to d10

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

Doom Pool: 2d6, 4d8 (-d6/+d8) = d6, 5d8

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 25, Effect: d12 (msg #30):
Team    d8
Unnecessary Technology    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Mechanical Body    d8
Combat Expert    d8

Teenage Android Red Shirt rolled 1,3,8,2 using d8,d4,d8,d8 ((1,3,8,2)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success x2 steps acting Effect die up, to d12++

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

Doom Pool: d6, 5d8 (-d6/+d8) = 6d8

Bishop's blast back rips through both androids, pulverizing their synthetic bodies into less than scrap. Their rendered pieces and parts fall to the dirty restaurant floor like lifeless junk. Another wayward experiment brought low by superior fire-power.

The seedy, bearded guy with the pencil looks up from his foot.

Next Action: Hawkeye

When Storm put up the cloud around the building, Hawkeye was silent, either from anticipation for what would come next or from being flabbergasted at a move that, at best, did not hurt but did not help their position. "Storm!" He calls to the woman right next to him. "We can't rush the place if we can't see it!"

Lends Combat Expert d8 to action involving the cloud

Spider-Man swings through the air landing next to Hawkeye. "Just the man I was looking for," he says in a loud whisper to not startle the archer. "Was at the tower when we got the call to arms. What's the sitch?"


Next Action: Storm

Storm responded to Namorita. "Yep, that's me, Storm. And yes, please join us! The more the merrier. I'll be heading inside shortly, but I can leave the cloud here for your safety. Just let me know."

Ororo's face swiveled over toward Hawkeye (and thus Spider-Man). "The...building hasn't moved. Nor has the door. If you must see it to believe it, I can help." Storm created a tunnel within the cloud layer that was slightly less murky than the rest of it, though she was a little surprised at the need. Hawkeye could now make out a path to the pizza parlor that he could rush if he didn't remember the way.

As she was still floating next to Clint as the mist dissipated slightly, Ororo saw Spider-Man quietly arrive and whisper to Hawkeye. She gave him a quick wave and a quiet greeting, whispering in kind. "Welcome, Spider-Man. The sitch is that there are bad guys in that building." Ororo pointed in the direction of the pizza parlor. "Bishop is in there with them. Wolfsbane is around here somewhere as well. I'm heading in."

Ororo quietly flew through the thick mist toward the entrance to the pizza joint.

OOC: Is there anything still active inside? Storm will happily provide a little more power to any of the androids still wandering about, though Bishop seems to have quite effectively reduced their numbers. (Nice job, Bishop!)

Storm floats through the cloud she has created and toward the building. Though it is child's play her to manipulate what she has created, there is still a thick cover shrouding the place for everyone inside and outside: the benefit -- to obscure for cover -- is also the drawback -- to obscure for sight.

Upon entering the pizzeria, for as far in as she goes, Storm immediately recognizes Bishop -- the mutant claiming to be from the future -- turning from the wreckage of two android bodies, shattered limbs and torsos falling to the floor, still red-hot and smoldering from the strike that tore them apart.

Storm looked around and attempted to quell the fear of being inside such an enclosed space. She felt much better when able to be outside, or at least without a roof over her head. Or large indoor spaces. Ones that were roomy. The inside of this joint was oppressive and hot.

She would feel much better with something at hand, so the mutant weather master reached down and grabbed a nice, sturdy, metal pipe that had fallen there. "This could hurt someone. Shouldn't leave it lying about." The statement seemed to be rather mundane, but she punctuated it by electrifying the entire thing and swinging it lazily about, nodding at the buzzing sound it made as it arced through the air. It was now a Sturdy, Electrified Pipe.

Creating an asset:

Team: d10
Claustrophobia: d4 (+1 PP)
Electrical Blast: d10
Combat Expert: d8

Total: 9 Effect: d10


12:20, Today: Storm rolled 1,4,5,5 using d10,d4,d10,d8 with rolls of 1,4,5,5.  Create asset (elec. pipe).

1 opportunity for the Watcher turned into doom pool die.

1 (previous) PP + 2 (this turn) PP = 3

Next up: Spider-Man

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunity

Doom Pool (6d8) reaction to Storm's attempt to create Sturdy, Electrified Pipe Asset, Total: 9, Effect: d10:

Watcher rolled 7,3,8,4,5,5 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((7,3,8,4,5,5)).

Total: 15, Effect: d8

Asset not created

Doom Pool: 6d8 +d6 = d6, 6d8

Storm brandishes the crude instrument but, alas, a piece of pipe is still only a piece of pipe, and a weak one at that, that it starts to crumble when the electricity flows through it. The fact that there would be such a remnant falling from the ceiling notes the poor condition of the building. And Storm's swinging the piece attracts the attention of the two agents behind the counter, who now take full notice of the regal mutant in their midst in addition to Bishop.

Spider-Man don't hesitate and jumps into action immediately. Swinging into the pizza place he quickly surveys the scene. "A pizza party, and you didn't invite me. How rude."

"I'll have a double pepperoni with cheese on the crust," he jokes, trying to pinpoint the source of his danger sense and be ready for what's coming.

OOC: Rolling Team d6 + Wisecracker d4 + Enhanced Senses d8 + Swingline d8 + Acrobatic Master d10. Trying to create a Prepared for Assault Asset.

Spider-Man rolled 1,3,6,1,5 using 1d6,1d4,1d8,1d8,1d10 ((1,3,6,1,5)).

So that's two opportunities, will you buy 2 dice or one big for 1 PP?

Result is 11 with d4 effect.

PP 3 (possibly 4), PS 00, ES 00, MS d00

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunity. Opportunities are always bought as one die; a maximum of 1 PP will always be given per dice pool

Always be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of each turn

Doom Pool (d6, 6d8) reaction to Spider-Man's attempt to create Prepared for Assault Asset, Total: 11, Effect: d4:

Watcher rolled 1,5,4,6,7,8,7 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((1,5,4,6,7,8,7)).

Total: 15, Effect: d8

Asset not created

Doom Pool: d6, 6d8 +d8 = d6, 7d8

Spider-Man rushes into the pizzeria quickly, too fast to get a good look at what's going on. His wisecrack is lost when the last piece of the remaining android, its torso, falls to the floor, clattering loud and hard enough to break the cheap tile floor beneath it.

Next Action: Agents

The two thugs behind the counter, now having experienced one of the their own being taken out then the complete destruction of the androids that they might have considered their protectors, hesitate, weapons still raised at Bishop and the heroes who have now entered the place, but even they must know what little good the firearms will do to stop their enemies. But they stand their ground, like good soldiers, their faces are gnarled in determination, trained against showing fear. Their laser cannons would surely appear formidable, but only to anyone who hasn’t seen combat against such a high-tech organization.

While their focus is still trained on Bishop and Storm, the one in front yells out. “Back! Stay back, mutants!”

Emotional attack (intimidation) on Bishop & Storm:
Team     2d8
Personal Desperation    d8
From Doom Pool    d8

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 3,5,5,2 using d8,d8,d8,d8 ((3,5,5,2)).

Total: 10, Effect: d8 (each)

Physical powers cannot be used in reaction. Menace (not Psyche) Specialty can be used to defend

Doom Pool: d6, 7d8 -d8 = d6, 6d8

Reactions Needed: Bishop, Storm
Next Action: Wolfsbane

 

Mutants

The man could have stopped at ‘Stay Back’, but he had to single them out.  Like he hoped that the extra word would create some sort of invisible barrier to separate him from them.  In some ways, it did.  

Mutants

The word echoed in the recess of his mind.  On every occasion he heard that word, since being a boy, it was associated with something bad.  Dirty.  Dangerous.    Would these humans try to push him into the ovens too, if they had power over him? 

He didn’t have to give them that chance.  He had power over them now - he could end both their lives, like snuffing out a candle, and their feeble attempts at intimidation sounded more like pleas than actual threats.   Turning his attention away from the smoldering android heaps back toward the agents, he started walking slowly at their direction with the intent of putting them down, a faint scowl on his tattooed face the only thing indicating that he took the affront personally



OOC:
Team 1d8
Dark Future Survivor 1d8
Menace Expert (1d6, 1d6)
Today: Bishop rolled 6,5,7,6 using 1d6,1d6,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 6,5,7,6.  Resist intimidation.
Total 12, Effect 1d8 – Intimidation Resisted

New PP total: 3+0=3

"Oh? You want us, what, here?" Storm pointed to a spot nearby. Mostly she was trying to engage in banter as this pair had gotten the drop on her, and she wanted to stall a bit. Her pulse raced as she found herself in danger, indoors. Why couldn't the bad guys do bad things outside, under the bright sky? Or rather under a cyclone of Storm's making where she could call a dozen lightning bolts on their heads with ease?

OOC: So if I understand correctly, only mental powers and Menace specialty can be used here? Interesting.

Unless I miss something that severely limits the possible dice pool. Storm will activate two distinctions, one at d4 (just to have another die to throw).

Team; d10
Strong-Willed leader: d8
Mercurial: d4

16:55, Today: Storm rolled 3,4,2 using d10,d8,d4 with rolls of 3,4,2.  Resist Menace.

Total: 6 Effect: d10

I believe that steps down the effect die from d8 to d6 as the effect die of the reaction is higher than the emotional attack.

PP: 3 PS:00 MS:00 ES:d6
This message was last edited by the player at 00:01, Thu 23 May 2019.

Storm is less prepared for a battle indoors than she had supposed before entering, but it surely will not take long for the wind-rider to reacquire her balance and confidence.

Rahne was still prowling in the misty darkness outside.
Knowing that there were enough allies taking the front line ... going in hard and obvious ... Wolfs bane was still holding to her plan to get inside without being seen.
A hidden 'ace up the sleeve' for her team.

Through the cloudy mist, she looked to enter the building via a higher storey window.   Spotting a valid opportunity up a nearby external  firestair, she deftly used her Covert skills and Enhansed Reflexes to acrobatically leap, climb and swing up and in.

She knew that God would guid her to where she needed to be.

Attempting to Increase 'Hunter Unnoticed d10' to maximum value.
d10 : Solo
  d8 : Faith in God
  d8 : Enhanced Reflexes
d10 : Covert Mastery
d12: 'Cover' Asset created by Storm

- rolled 6,4,8,7,5 using d10,d8,d8,d10,d12 with rolls of 6,4,8,7,5.
Total: 15    Effect: d12

Current PP: 3

Next: da Bad Guys

Doom Pool (d6, 6d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to increase Hunter Unnoticed Asset, Total: 15, Effect: d12:

Watcher rolled 1,4,1,5,4,6,3 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((1,4,1,5,4,6,3)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8

2 Opportunities (available first to Wolfsbane)

Asset increased

Wolfsbane finds her way into the building, giving not even the smallest alert that she is there. She has a perch at the height of the place's ceilings and a view of the action below and what is left of what was once a restaurant. Much of the interior has been wrecked, and the scuffle is still not done. The mutant recognizes her own, Storm and Bishop, and Spider-Man is familiar to anyone in New York. The apparent danger that remains is the pair of armed agents behind the counter, and possibly the homeless-looking man, who, in not moving from the chair, has not established which side he's on.

Next Action: Justice, Iceman

Vance pushes himself off the ground and kneels to steady himself from falling again. His voice is just loud enough for the heroes near him to hear. "Nita... I'm... fine," he says, though the strain it takes for him to get out the words would challenge his statement. "Get in there. Fight the fight. The world is depending on us." He takes as deep a breath as he is able and raises his chest in an exhausted effort to look noble. "Make Cap proud... of both of us."

Justice loans Combat Expert d8 to Namorita for next physical action in the pizza place

Iceman steps to where Justice is kneeling, keeping an eye on the top of the building. "You can go ahead in there and I'll take care of him," he says to Namorita. "I can also create a shield that will stop anyone from getting out, like Cap might say to do." And he starts to do so, creating an ice barrier by waving his hands and freezing the air around them. A structure builds under his guidance, with a wide enough base that in moments it can surely cover the entry- and exit-points of the pizzeria.

Eliminates Justice Down Scene Complication
Releases Ice Mastery Scene Asset

Next Action (new round): Namorita

She hazarded a moment Vance's urging for her to get into action, and to leave him there.  But, once Iceman used his incredible power to defend him, as well as to keep the threat contained to the pizzeria, she knew she was no longer needed out here.

"And for pizza," she told them, nodding sagely.  "Let's not forget what's really at stake!"      So spoken, Nita was off and flying, intent on getting inside before the icy barrier made that a tad more challenging.

The Mercury-esque wings on her ankles propelled her forth --  though, not in the way some might think.   They were foci for an energy conversion process -- distinctive of her own mutant biology, that was so alike that of her more renown cousin.

Hurtling into the place, the goons immediately become her target --  or more truly their guns.

"Don't we feel all macho with our big honkin' guns!  Hope this won't hurt your self esteem!"   

Rushing them, she tried to crush the barrels of both guns, one with each hand -

Team D10
True Sub-Mariner D8
Superhuman Strength D10
Flight D6*
Combat Expert D8
Combat Expert D8  (on loan from Justice)

Namorita rolled 3,6,4,6,7,5 using D10,D8,D10,D6,D8,D8 with rolls of 3,6,4,6,7,5

Total = 13   Effect = D10 and D10** -  disable both guns

2 PPs spent  --  1 = extra power trait*, 1 = extra effect die**

1 PP gained -- surrendering Defend Justice asset

2 PPs = total remaining

Next up- Bishop!

Defend from Namorita's attempt to disable Weapons, Total: 13, Effect: d10, d10:
Team     2d8
Low-Level Flunkies   d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 6,7,2,5,8 using d8,d8,d4,d6,d8 ((6,7,2,5,8)).

Total: 15, Effect: d8

Doom Pool: d6, 6d8 (-d6/+d8) = 7d8

Namorita charges through Storm's cloud, bursting into the pizza place in a blur. The pair of agents that are her targets have only a split-second to react and, whether it's through their training or utterly dumb luck, they manage to twist away from the lady from Atlantis just as she crosses the counter to them, keeping their weapons from her grasp. Once she moves by them they have just enough room to turn and aim their weapons at the former New Warrior, placing her in their sights, close enough to blast her to bits! "No self-esteem here, witch!" one of them barks.

Option I: Incinerate the two men with a beam of concentrated energy
Option II: Break their bones

Bishop wasn't averse to killing when the situation called for it.  But the two weren't deserving, seeing that he was the one to kick their front door open and come in shootin'.

Breaking their bones it is then; at least that way they would survive.

Launching himself at the closet agent, he grabbed his arm and yanked him toward him with all his strength, tossing him like a rag doll over the table and into the brick wall at the opposite side of the room.

Or rather - tried to:

Team: 1d8
Unrelenting: 1d8
Superhuman strength: 1d10
Combat Expert: 1d6, 1d6

13:12, Today: Bishop rolled 7,3,2,1,3 using 1d8,1d8,1d10,1d6,1d6 with rolls of 7,3,2,1,3.  Physical attack vs agents.

Spend 1 PP to add a die to the total
Total: 7+3+3 = 13  Effect: d10

New PP total: 3+1-1=3
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Tue 04 June 2019.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunity

Always be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of your turn

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 13, Effect: d10:
Team     2d8
Low-Level Flunkies    d4
(add d6 to Doom Pool)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 5,5,4,6,7 using d8,d8,d4,d6,d8 ((5,5,4,6,7)).

Total: 13, Effect: d8

Eliminating one agent, for a Team d8

Doom Pool: 7d8 +d6 +d6 = 2d6, 7d8

Bishop's strike is solid: With a move so smooth it looks practiced, Bishop sends the barking agent across the restaurant's kitchen and into the wall, toppling a metal rack holding pizza dough, sending all things, including the agent's inert body, crashing to the dirty floor then coming quickly to stillness. This leaves one opposing combatant and a ready weapon. As much as the last agent has the chance to hesitate, he also has the opportunity to pull his trigger at the two heroes that are now much closer!

Next Action: Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane was on the hunt.
This ‘Suspicious store-front’ certainly was suspicious ... but what was it a front for?

Her allies here were assaulting the front gate ... ‘Storm’ing the castle, in a sense ... but Wolfsbane had slipped in through the proverbial fog of war, and was at large within the place.

Somewhat solo and alone at the moment, she applied her Supernatural Senses*, her Super Reflexes (spend 1PP), and her Covert Mastery to slinking through this place ... determined to ‘locate their hidden secrets’.

Whatever this place was a front for, she wanted to find out what: and where it was.


Action: create Asset ‘Find their hidden secrets’
D10: Solo
D8:   ‘Suspicious store-front’ distinction
D10:  Reflexes
D10: Senses*
D10: Covert Mastery

- rolled 9,1,1,8,7 using d10,d8,d10,d10,d10
                        Damn the Dice Roller Hayes this character!
Total: 17
Effect: d10
Opportunities for Watcher: 2

Current PP (spent 1, gained 1): 3

Next up: the bad guys
This message was last edited by the player at 13:22, Wed 05 June 2019.

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Wolfsbane's Opportunities

Doom Pool (2d6, 7d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Find Their Hidden Secrets Asset, Total: 17, Effect: d10:

Watcher rolled 6,2,7,5,7,8,5,1,5 using d6,d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((6,2,7,5,7,8,5,1,5)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total
Total: 22, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Wolfsbane)

Attempt failed

Doom Pool: 2d6, 7d8 +d8 -d8 = 2d6, 7d8

The agent, surrounded by heroes and with his partners felled, foregoes hesitating and rushes out whatever attack he can manage. With his eyes wide and googly in a state of desperate madness, he screams as he opens fire on the nearest hero. "Hail Hydra!" he calls while he blasts Bishop just inches from the end of his weapon's barrel.

Physical attack on Bishop:
Solo  d8
Personal Desperation    d8
Small Arms    d6
Combat Expert    d8

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 8,4,6,2 using d8,d8,d6,d8 ((8,4,6,2)).

Total: 14, Effect: d8

Reaction Needed: Bishop
Next Action: Storm

It wasn't brave to look down a barrel of a gun he knew couldn't harm him.  It was brave to point said gun at Bishop. Or indeed, mad.

Team: 1d8
Uncompromising: 1d4
Godlike durability (+everything I've got): 1d12, 1d12
Combat Expert: 1d8

Today: Bishop rolled 5,1,11,12,4 using 1d8,1d4,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 5,1,11,12,4.  Resist Agent's Attack.
Total: 23 Effect: 1d8
New PP total: 3+2=5
Stepping up strength to 'Godlike' from SFX
This message was last edited by the player at 13:00, Thu 06 June 2019.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunity

Doom Pool: 2d6, 7d8 +d6 = 3d6, 7d8

The very air seems to come alive with electricity as Storm makes her presence known.

"You have a lot of courage. At least I think it's courage? Maybe that's not the word I'm looking for." She looked about with bright, white eyes for help. "Idiocy? Is that similar to courage?"

The electricity that had begun to charge through the air gathered between Storms fingers as she recovered from her momentary fright and the Goddess of the Storm shrugged as her gaze returned to the agent. "The correct response was Don't Tase Me, Bro."

Electricity lept from Storm's fingertips as she attempted to knock the fellow out with the help of a few electrons. She just had to get the voltage and amperage right. The resistance coefficient of air was what again?

OOC:

Trying to knock this fool out.

Team: d10
Mercurial: d8
Electrical Blast: d10
Combat Expert: d8
Emotional Link: d6

09:26, Today: Storm rolled 9,4,4,1,4 using d10,d8,d10,d8,d6 with rolls of 9,4,4,1,4.  Subdue Agent.

Total: 13
Effect: d10

1 opportunity. Plus an additional d6 added to the doom pool for use of Emotional Link.

PP: 3 + 1 = 4

Need Reaction from Pizza Place Agent
Next up: Spider-Man

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunity

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Storm's Emotional Link

Defend from Storm's physical attack, Total: 13, Effect: d10:
Team    d8
Low-Level Flunkies    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8
Storm's Emotional stress    d6

Pizza-Place Agents rolled 6,3,4,7,1 using d8,d4,d6,d8,d6 ((6,3,4,7,1)).

Total: 13, Effect: d6
1 Opportunity (available first to Storm)

Pizza-Place Agents Mob eliminated

Doom Pool: 3d6, 7d8 +d6 (-d6/+d8) = 3d6, 8d8

The electricity flows from Storm along an invisible line directly into the agent's body. Immediately his body jerks and spasms as the jolt passes into him and blue lights flash around him, and he drops his weapon. As his eyes turn white like the wind-rider's, from shock, not power superiority, he mutters one weak "Hail -- " before slumping to the dirty floor behind the counter.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:09, Wed 19 June 2019.

"Was this it?" Spider-Man asks seeing the agents being knocked out. He's still on guard, trying to use his danger sense to pinpoint if any other danger is around.

OOC: Is there any other obvious danger around?

The interior of the restaurant starts to darken as a giant of a figure walks out from the back of the place. "I doubt it," the figure says, striding into the trashed kitchen, revealing itself to be the Not-Often-Savage She-Hulk, all 6'7" of her. "Chances are it's just the tip of a poisonous iceberg."

Hawkeye steps in from the doorway. "An iceberg is bad enough as it is," he says, stalking into the kitchen with an arrow ready in his bow. "It doesn't have to be poisonous too." The archer moves less toward his giantess teammate than the large, steel walk-in cooler door in the center of the prep-area.

The darkening of the inside of the place levels as its source comes clear: The door opening and the windows are now covered from the outside with an icy, translucent layer. Iceman has done his job of sealing off any entry- or exit-ways with his considerable ice powers. If the minimal amount of light coming through his ice is any indication, escape will be nigh-impossible. The heroes are trapped but so are their prey.

The bearded transient is on his feet, eyeballing each hero, either surprised or scared or suspicious or sinister or a combination of all of them.

Next Action: any

Storm let the mist that had been covering the approach dissipate - it seemed everyone that was going to join them had already done so.

"I agree with Jennifer. Let's look around for something that leads elsewhere." She gestured toward Clint. "That freezer door is one option. Did anyone see stairs? Internal doors? Trap doors? An oddly shimmering portal that likely leads to a pocket dimension? Stairway to Heaven? Nature Trail to Hell?"

The options were near-infinite. They just needed a quick regroup, a little organization, and some direction. This place wasn't that big.

OOC: I assume it's okay to talk now and then without taking an official action?

Bishop straightened up as the last of the agents went down.  And once he confirmed that whomever just entered the room wasn't hostile, he turned his full attention back to the bearded man who was still sitting on his chair, completely undisturbed to the battle that waged around him.  If he was an innocent bystander, he would have tried to flee the place a long time ago, or duck under one of the tables with his hands over his head.  He didn't, and that meant he wasn't all that concerned with the fighting.  And that made him dangerous.

"Speak" he commanded him once he was close enough, towering over him
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Sun 23 June 2019.

Hawkeye creeps toward the walk-in door. “We just need a quick regroup, a little organization, and some direction," he says, not taking his eyes off the door. "Who’s down for this?”

She-Hulk eyes the door with caution, her mighty fists ready.

The place offers only two doorways: the front where most of the heroes entered, and the one in back that She-Hulk must have come through. What looks from the outside to be a second story is actually the high, vaulted ceiling in the dining room. There are no stairs visible inside. The interior is the dining room and kitchen, and barely those from the looks of it.

The old transient stands on shaking legs and slowly holds out the gnarled fingers of one hand toward Bishop. He turns his face up toward the tall mutant in front of him and looks through a curtain of dirty hair with eyes glazed and milky. His dirty beard parts horizontally but his mouth is barely visible. “I’m none too good at hearin’ and I c’n barely see you,” he says, his words as unsteady as his stance. “But I hope you’re here to take care'a the strange happnin’s.”

OOC: It is always okay -- if not encouraged -- to talk without taking an action for it!

"There's nothing else in the place", came the dark canid-human as Wolfsbane descended the stairs, "I've been through everything upstairs.  If there's anything else here, its down".

She also looked at the walk-in door.
There was only one way to find out ... but if 'the heroes' wanted to stop for a breather and chat, she'd not deny them that.

Maybe the man wasn't dangerous.  Maybe.  It still looked odd that he was sitting there the entire time, and Bishop wasn't one to let his guard down.  Ever.
"Who are you, old man? And what 'strange happenin' are you talkin' 'bout?"

"Uh?" the old man grunts. His face remains slack and his eyes unfocused, looking down and droopy. His shaking, bony fingers near Bishop's chest.

"I don't have time for any of your bullshit" Bishop said slowly, enuncianting every word "And if I wasn't worried that some of the others bought your act, your brain would have decorated the wall behind you by now.  So why don't you do yourself a favor before everyone wise up and I do just that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:04, Thu 27 June 2019.

The vagrant does not react to Bishop's words, not even a blink. As Bishop makes his stance, the man still stretches his bony, quaking fingers toward the mutant and eventually, with just an outstretched index finger, touches Bishop's puffed chest, then, much quicker, pulls away. "Ah, there you are," he says, with slightly less grumble in his voice than before. "The pizza! You gotta take care'a the pizza! It's awful!"

OOC: Did we lose Spider-Man? I hate to keep posting (too much) without giving other PCs a chance to chime in.

Ororo shot Clint a look, wondering when he'd added mind-reading to his non-existent set of powers, then she nodded at Wolfsbane. "Well, then. Sounds like we're all going down. Which is usually the recipe for an enjoyable night."

She looked over at where Bishop was chatting with the old man. "Speaking of pizza, does anyone want a bite to eat before we move along? Might not have another chance until later. Seriously, though, Bish - do you perceive something we don't?"

Ororo took a closer look at the man with those unsettling, milky-white eyes of hers, appraising him with a vision that went beyond that of a normal human.

"Name's Bishop" he answered Storm, while still keeping his eyes on the man "And I didn't come here to eat"
He was still sure there was more to the man than he was letting on, but there wasn't much he could do about it now
"Check the kitchen, and the ovans" he said with an afterthought after the man mentioned the pizza "Lets see what's really cookin' in here"

“I did”, Wofsbane said, in response to both Storm and Bish!, and she immediately began taking Bishop’s advice to  ‘check the kitchen, and the ovens for the mentioned pizza’.

She was starving, actually.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:03, Fri 28 June 2019.

She-Hulk squares off in front of the walk-in while Hawkeye takes a slow, cautious step forward, never taking his eyes off the big door and what She-Hulk is going to do to it.

Even a cursory glance at the kitchen reveals nothing anyone would want to eat. Much of the appliances have been trashed from the battle, with the damage still fresh and lightly smoldering, and what is intact leaves little to be desired. The cooking surfaces are noticeably dirty, with green grime around the edges of the prep tables. Mounds of pizza dough have been left uncovered on a cutting surface, and packaged meats have not been labeled with dates. Mold is in the ice machine. The trash cans are uncovered, with a cloud of gnats floating around the opening. The pair of pizza ovens are caved in but there's no way to tell if they were damaged in the scuffle or they were like that already. A dead rat lies on a window sill, next to a dusty sign warning of a "C" rating by the New York City Health Board.

She-Hulk reaches to the sides of the walk-in door and grabs hold of its edges. Her fingers sink in like it's putty and she starts to lift it from its hinges.

"Let's get ready, people," Hawkeye says. He tenses and brings his bow up to a ready position. "AVENGERS -- "

"Clint," She-Hulk interrupts as the door squeaks against its moorings.

"What?"

The jade giantess sighs. "Only Captain America can do that. And you, sir, are not Captain America."

"But a leader can do it."

"I didn't hear anyone agreeing to you being leader. More than half the folks here are X-Men or free agents."

Hawkeye talks but does not take his eyes off the entry to the walk-in cooler that his fellow Avenger is uncovering. "Cap gathered this intel so it's like he's leading even if he's not here."

"Then he can't say it if he's not here."

"But," the archer stammers.

"Just don't."

She-Hulk carries the door away from its housing. She goes slowly, doubtful for the exertion this exercise is on her but more that she is being overly careful at what is behind the door. Indeed, the entry leads to a small room bordered by shelves of frozen food and culinary accouterments, as expected, but a metal staircase leading down in the middle is a surprise. She-Hulk sets aside the door then is the first to step into the walk-in.

Hawkeye raises his bow to his eye-line, even if he can't yet have a clear shot around his green-hued companion. "Did you even check if it was locked?"

"Quiet," She-Hulk says. "You -- "

"THERE THEY ARE!" comes a call from inside the room and down the stairs. An instant later, She-Hulk is showered by a barrage of energy blasts from below, coming upward to explode around her.


Next Action: Spider-Man
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:07, Thu 04 July 2019.

She-Hulk crosses her mighty arms in front of herself as she withstands the barrage of strikes from below. Between blasts can be heard the gritting of her teeth, and she is knocked back just half a step from the force of the blows.

Hawkeye, at an angle away from the stairs just outside of the blasts' trajectory, stretches back his bow with a ready arrow. "There's not gonna be a better sign that something's going on here," he says, with some words obscured from the sounds of the blasts down the stairs and from the destruction they rend in the tiny, lukewarm room. "And I don't like it!" He takes a step toward the stairs, but She-Hulk, protecting those behind her, blocks much of the entryway.

"Let's get in there!" Hawkeye hollers. "AVENGERS -- !"

But his ill-advised battle-cry is cut off from the enemy attacks blasting apart the area around She-Hulk. Shelves holding perishable food items fall apart as they are hit, and the aluminium paneling on the ceiling threatens to fall. The jade giantess holds her ground but only just so, against such impressive ordinance.

Hawkeye lends Combat Expert d8 to the first hero to make a physical attack

Next Action: any

While the Jade Giantess made for an imposing sight ... one that drew both attention and fire ... the small, lithe wolven form that darted between her legs did not.

Following Hawkeye’s Expert Combat leadership, and no longer bothered by the Sweltering Hot Afternoon, Rahne moved swiftly, with Enhanced Reflexes and alacrity, bounding down the steps (and even off the wall at one point), then took her werewolf form mid-leap onto the nearest assailant, tearing into it with claws and fangs.



D6  Team
D8   Sweltering Hot Afternoon
D8   Enhanced Reflexes
D8   Combat Expert
D8   Hawkeye’s Combat Expert

AND YOU MUST BE FREAKING KIDDING ME:
- rolled 2,3,1,3,2 using D6,d8,d8,d8,d8
Total = 6
Effect =d8
Opps = 1

PP = 5
Next up = Villains
This message was last edited by the player at 02:31, Sat 13 July 2019.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Wolfsbane's Opportunity

<Orange>Defend from Wolfsbane's physical attack, Total: 6, Effect: d8:
Team     5d8
Confident in Mission    d8
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8

Agents Mob rolled 1,5,3,4,8,1,1,5 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d6,d8 ((1,5,3,4,8,1,1,5)).

Total: 13, Effect: d8

3 Opportunities (available first to Wolfsbane)

Doom Pool: 3d6, 8d8 +d6 = 4d6, 8d8

Wolfsbane bursts forth around -- or under -- She-Hulk, vaulting impetuously down the stairs toward the attacks, discovering only too late that there are more opponents than she bargained for. Leaping toward one means leaping toward them all and instantly she is in the midst of them. At the bottom of the flight are a squadron of agents, with more behind the group waiting for room free in the narrow walkway for them. The young mutant falls in the middle of the crowd, avoiding attacks meant for She-Hulk with her own natural agility, but not nimble enough to be able to alter where she lands while on the way there. Her own attacks on them do nothing, being only two hands, albeit formidable, against a barrier consisting of armed, ready agents.

With Wolfsbane placed amidst them, the agents, all disguised in regulation S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms, pause their assault on She-Hulk at the top of the stairs and turn their attentions -- and weapons -- on the young mutant at the center of their number. Their halt happens only for a moment, as they prepare to dispose of the enemy that was so easily and conveniently offered to them. Suddenly Wolfsbane is looking down numerous barrels of foes surrounding her!

A tall, dark-haired man who has designated himself as the group's leader barks above the clacking of weapons pulled and aimed: "Stand down, mutant!"

Emotional attack (intimidation) on Wolfsbane:
Team    5d8
Confident in Mission    d8

Agents Mob rolled 1,7,5,5,4,2 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((1,7,5,5,4,2)).

Total: 12, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Wolfsbane)

Physical powers or Specialties are not available to defend

Reaction Needed: Wolfsbane
Next Action: Namorita

Note an additional SFX for the Agents: SFX: Reinforcements. Any Opportunity rolled in a dice pool to affect Agents Mob activates to add 1 to Team (+1 PP to the acting hero for each Doombot added). Heroes still earn a PP from rolled Opportunities, and the Doom Pool will not increase from this. This includes attacks on the Agents, not reaction rolls when defending or Counterattacks.
This message was last updated by the player at 08:16, Thu 18 July 2019.

So much for working as a Team member!

Rahne had always said, "Advice is free, actions are not" ... and on this occasions, her actions had cost her.  She'd been impetuous and cocky, and now she was on her back, looking up into the barrel of seven or eight, no even more than that, guns pointed straight at her.

But she was a Psyche Master and had learned, even trained herself, to be on the end of such intimidation.

d8:  Team
d8:  Advice is free, actions are  not
d10: Psche Master

-  rolled 8,7,4 using d8,d8,d10 with rolls of 8,7,4.
TOTAL: 15
EFFECT: d0

Spend 1 PP to activate that Opportunity: to create the Asset 'Considered Subdued' ... with the intent that the enemy will consider her no longer a threat, and she can use this d10 asset on her first attack against them soon.
Please remind me, do I need to make a roll for that?  or, as it isn't an action against anyone, does it happen passively?

Rahne whimpered a little, and curled into a frightened looking ball at their feet ... hoping that they would consider her paralysed with fear.


Current PP (if asset is approved): 4 PP

Psyche Master is not used in emotional attacks.

The rating for an Asset starts at d8, not the Effect die for that turn's action.

The agents surrounding Wolfsbane pause, not putting down their weapons but not firing on her. A few of the them blink but their self-imposed leader keeps his eyes on the young mutant. "Good dog," he sneers. "Know your place."

"Let's get down there!" Hawkeye cries. "Every second we waste there's one that could get out!"

Next Action: Storm

Oh, the Psyche roll above was to resist the d8 emotional/intimidation attack ... as per your ‘reaction needed’.

As I said: ‘Please remind me, do I need to make a roll for that?  or, as it isn't an action against anyone, does it happen passively?’
If such a roll is needed, please let me know.  I’m still getting used to these rules, especially ‘when’ and ‘how’ I can activate one of your opportunities.

"Oh dear." Wolfsbane looked to be in a little bit of trouble, but Ororo had ways of helping with that. Storm still had that nice pipe in her hands, and while she would have liked to crack some skulls with it, an opportunity to do otherwise had presented itself.

She tossed the solid metal among the tightly bunched agents as she whipped up a whirlwind to scatter and batter those that were supposed to be loyal to Hydra. Adding a pipe to the mix, well, that should add a few bruises, right?

OOC: Let's try an area attack here.

Storm will activate an opportunity and turn it into a stunt for a d10 (using her pipe to do additional damage among tightly bunched agents).

She will add, hm, 3 more targets to the normal 1 by using her area effect SFX.

Team d10
Strong-Willed Leader d8
Weather Supremacy d12
Opportunity/Stunt d10
SFX: Area Attack (+3 targets) 3d6
Combat Expert d8

Let's see what happens...
07:39, Today: Storm rolled 9,1,11,10,3,4,3,5 using d10,d8,d12,d10,d6,d6,d6,d8 with rolls of 9,1,11,10,3,4,3,5.  Area Attack (whirlwind).

I will use 1 PP to keep an additional die (using that 9 as well)

Total: 30
Effects: d8, d6, d6, d6

1 opportunity to Watcher

PP: 4 (starting) - 2 (opportunity + additional die) + 1 (opportunity to watcher) = 3

Next: Namorita
Reaction needed: Agents mob
This message was last edited by the player at 13:18, Fri 26 July 2019.

Add d8 to Agent Mob's Team Affiliation from Storm's Opportunity

Defend from Storm's physical attack, Total: 30, Effects: d8, d6, d6, d6:
Team     5d8
Low-Level Flunkies (poor teamwork)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8
Storm Emotional Stress    d6

Agents Mob rolled 4,6,1,1,5,3,5,3,1 using d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d4,d6,d8,d6 ((4,6,1,1,5,3,5,3,1)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success x3 steps acting Effect dice up, to d12+, d12, d12, d12
3 Opportunities (available first to Storm)

Eliminate 4d8 from Agent Mob's Team Affiliation, and add 1 from above, for total of 2d8

Doom Pool: 4d6, 8d8 (-d6/+d8) = 3d6, 9d8

The agents at the bottom of the stairs stop firing the weapons long enough to feel the air rise around them, and spend the only moment they had to run to instead look around in disbelief as wind whips around them, lifting a few off their feet, throwing some into others, smashing them together, bashing heads into heads, and, once they realize they weren't trained for this, their panic brings even more confusion then an end to their consciousnesses. As if it was planned, the metal pipe that Storm released into the air is carried aloft by the violent gale in the enclosed space, and flies into the skull of the agent who threatened Wolfsbane and kept the young mutant at gun-point. With a dull smack, the pipe hits the agent in the side of his head. Under an arc of blood he drops to the floor in a heap, among much of the rest of the group who were knocked senseless by the concentrated fury of the wind witch's forceful will and remarkable powers. While many of them are rendered unconscious, other agents come up, intending to replace their number, though many of them with distressed looks on drawn faces, and though there could be any number of reinforcements from the area behind them, those that come now approach with hesitance, if not outright fear!

Next Action: Bishop

Keeping his cool, Bishop started to descend the flight of stairs, unleashing barrage after barrage of energy blasts at whomever was foolish enough to stay out of cover

Unrelenting 1d8
Team 1d8
Energy Blast 1d12
Combat Expert

20:44, Today: Bishop rolled 5,6,9,8 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 5,6,9,8.  physical attack vs mob.
Total: 8+9= 17, Effect: 1d8 
New PP total: 5+0 = 5

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 17, Effects: d8:
Team     2d8
Confident in Mission (confidence shaken)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8

Agents Mob rolled 2,7,4,1,6 using d8,d8,d4,d6,d8 ((2,7,4,1,6)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8

Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect dice up, to d10
1 Opportunities (available first to Bishop)

Eliminate d8 from Agent Mob's Team Affiliation, for total of 2d8

Doom Pool: 3d6, 9d8 (-d6/+d8) = 2d6, 10d8

With a blast of energy from his fists, Bishop takes down most of the rest of the group, leaving a pile of bodies and one last goon, who looks up at the approaching hero with wide eyes and half-convincingly raises a shaking rifle.

She-Hulk, now relieved of the barrage being fired at her, makes her way down the stairs, brushing aside the ashes left on her bare arms. Halfway down she finds herself beside Storm and they have a chat.

As the group of opposing combatants have been disposed, the underground lair they were defending can be seen over their prone bodies. The stairs empty to a large room, wider than it is tall, filled with walled cubicles and tables to give the appearance of an office pool. A catwalk runs along the far wall overlooking the area, with a door on the far end. On the opposite wall are four large openings, covered by a shimmering yellow light running vertically like a curtain. A huge S.H.I.E.L.D. logo covers the middle wall. Agents disguised in standard S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms scurry about, their original number likely one for each of the three dozen desks, but half of those now at the heroes' feet. They ready weapons but none of them take the usual positions to engage in combat.

Hawkeye rushes down the stairs, his nocked bow ready. "There they are! Let's finish this up!" the archer cries.

Add Office Pool Mob 5d8



Next Action (new round): any

Bishop didn't stop his advance, even when he realized that the floor below was swarming with Hydra agents.  Fully charged with energy as he was, he judged that they didn't pose any threat to him.  It was better then to be at the fore and offer himself as a target.  Better him than his teammates, at least.
The lone solider who survived the previous onslaught was lucky to have done so, but also unlucky to be the one closet to him, and in his way:

Team 1d8
Make a Difference 1d8
Godlike strength (+everything I got) 1d12, 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8

Bishop rolled 8,8,1,9,1 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 8,8,1,9,1.  physical attack vs remaining agent.
will spend 1 PP to keep an extra die
Total: 8+8+9 = 25  Effect: 1d4


PP: 5-1=4
This message was last edited by the player at 09:53, Sat 03 Aug 2019.

Add 2d8 to Agent Mob's Team Affiliation from Bishop's Opportunities

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 25, Effects: d4 (default):
Team     d8
Low-Level Flunkies    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Body Armor    d6
Combat Expert    d8
from Doom Pool    d8

Today: Agents Mob rolled 8,3,3,7,5 using d8,d4,d6,d8,d8 ((8,3,3,7,5)).

Total: 15, Effect: d8

Extraordinary Success x1 steps acting Effect dice up, to d8 (not enough to eliminate Team die)
Create one-time Physical Stress d8

Doom Pool: 2d6, 10d8 (-d6/+d8) -d8 = d6, 10d8


Bishop dispatches the last standing agent from the group, the foe dropping to the floor with a scream of "Arggghhh!", enough to note his lasting consciousness. On the periphery of the battle area, two other S.H.I.E.L.D.-garbed agents peek out from cubicle partitions, rifles in hand but their wide eyes betraying courage as only duty to stand up and serve their masters.

Next Action: any but Bishop

'Well,' thought Wolfsbane, 'So much for that deception' ...
                 - kisses 'Considered Subdued' Asset goodbye.  ;-P
... as the swarm of enemy around her, whom she was about to explode into after they'd considered her subdued, fell swiftly under the casual assault by Storm and Bishop.

Standing, while her fellows filed past her into the Hydra base, she 'mock dusted herself off' ... smoothing down her pelt.
Then, she followed them into the next room.


More of a narrative post, than a combat/mechanical one.  I hope nobody minds.

Eliminate Wolfsbane's Considered Subdued d8 Asset

The large room that is the office pool lies silent, as the agents opposing the heroes, armed as they are but with eyes large and fearful, nervously await their enemies' next moves.

Numerous pairs of eyes look up at the heroes in various stages of fear. Though all are armed, some with pistols, up to a few, from the first barrage of agents at the bottom of the stairs, with rifles, only a few of them seem remotely prepared to be soldiers. One rotund man looks like he hasn't had exercise since middle school; one mousy woman seems like she would be more comfortable at her kids' soccer match; another old man seems like he might separate into dust by a strong pat on the back. They are all uniformed in S.H.I.E.L.D. togs but only a scant few  seem like they could ever carry out the duties of any militaristic organization. But none have run -- escape would be obvious by anyone going through the only other door in the space, on the catwalk overhead. They all stand their ground, even if it, like them, is shaky.

Storm looked at the gathered agents and assessed their state of readiness. She placed fists on her hips. "Who are you lot? Hydra's accounting department?" Ororo casually played with the air in her vicinity, causing her cape to flap as if in a strong breeze, even though they were indoors.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Thu 15 Aug 2019.

"Brainwashed" Bishop said uncaringly as he sent one of the agents flying way over to the catwalk overlooking the room "We need to press forward - find out what's behind all of this"

As her Team, led by Storm and Bishop strode confidently into the next room and acting so cool and confident (and drawing the attention of those present), Wolfsbane slipped through the shadows and off among the desks ... again hoping to go unnoticed as she had earlier.
At least they had discovered why this place was such a Suspicious Store Front; and Wolfsbane presumed that they had only found the tip of the iceberg.  As such, her Enhanced Reflexes and Covert Mastery would still be an asset, as she scouted ahead to find out more about this place.

Action: create again the asset 'Go Unnoticed' into the scene
d6  Team
d8  Suspicious Store Front
d8 Enhanced Relexes
d10 Covert Mastery

- rolled 3,3,2,4 using d8,d8,d8,d10 with rolls of 3,3,2,4.  create 'Go Unnoticed'.
      The Dice Roller really hates this character!
Total: 7
Effect: d8

PP: 5

Doom Pool (d6, 10d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Go Unnoticed Asset, Total: 7, Effect: d8:

Watcher rolled 1,3,4,4,5,6,4,8,7,2,7 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((1,3,4,4,5,6,4,8,7,2,7)).

Total: 15, Effect:d8

Asset creation fails

1 Opportunity (available first to Wolfsbane)

Under the harsh, fluorescent lights, the vast expanse of this underground base, and before the eyes of her allies and foes, Wolfsbane cannot find a place to go unnoticed, though she certainly continues to prowl and find a spot for the best offense.

The sound comes from the right side of the room. “H-Hydra?” The voice is hesitant, just barely rising above the ambient noise of the room in the wake of the scuffle. It’s not clear who said it but from the wide-eyed agents looking up at the heroes it could have been anyone.

When the body that Bishop tosses up to the catwalk ends its slide down the far wall, Hawkeye lowers his bow then reaches out a steadying hand. “Hold on,” he says, looking around like it’s a new place again. “Something isn’t right here. Cap's intel said --“ The bzt sound from the left side of the space registers only when Hawkeye’s head rocks back and his body goes limp. “Uhhh!” Hawkeye exclaims as he falls. When he hits the floor, part of his face lies exposed, with half of his mask torn away and a patch of hair sizzling. Whether it was an attack that barely missed its mark or accidentally found one, the blast was enough to take down an Avenger.

“Clint!” She-Hulk cries as she rushes to Hawkeye’s side.

Next Action (new round): Any

Storm frowned as she noted the response from the accounting crew and Clint's suggestion they hold on. She'd had reservations from the start, but Iceman had been rather certain. What had happened to Bobby, anyway?

As She-Hulk ran to look at Clint, Ororo's gaze went in the direction from which the shot had apparently come.

Bishop slowly turned his head at the direction from which (he assumed) the blast came from, reading himself to make a counterattack

The sound of the shot that felled Hawkeye was too insignificant to ring out, but it was clear from which direction it came. Of the dozen or so agents who stand above the cubicle walls, half look at each other in wide-eyed confusion, the other half hold their ground, weapons raised, if aimed wide from any mark.

She-Hulk kneels at Hawkeye's body, her face concealed by dark-jade hair while she tends to her companion. After a moment of feeling the archer's neck and wrist, she finally looks up, her face revealed and gnarled as tight as her mighty fists, her mouth pulled back from grinding teeth, her eyes blazing in their green hue, her penetrating gaze already locked on its target.

Not losing another moment, Bishop charges forward at the direction from which he suspects the blast originated from

Storm looked at some of those with weapons raised. "Drop your weapons. They aren't going to be terribly useful if you don't."

Rahne joined Bishop, leaping and bounding across desks and other obstacles with ease, determined to find the origin of the blast.

The moment hangs as the agent look at each other, then the approaching heroes, then each other again. They say nothing, unless their slack faces convey enough, and a few of them still have weapons drawn, aimed haphazardly at their enemies.

Suddenly, the door on the catwalk flies open like an explosion. Out stomps the singular, unmistakable Nick Fury, high commander of S.H.I.E.L.D. At his hip he holds an apparatus bigger than his torso teeming with tubes and boxy components and miniature, blinking lights which could be mistaken for a science experiment on the worst steroids but the multiple barrels coming out of one end signifies it as a weapon, if not a cannon. A cigar flicking at his mouth emits a cloud around his head that follows him in. ​”What in the name of Sam Hill's great, blazing plains is goin' on here?!?” he shouts.

Nick Fury's Emotional attack (intimidation) on the heroes:
Team    d10
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.    d8
Weapon    d10
Menace Expert    d8
Storm's emotional stress   d6
from Doom Pool    d8

Nick Fury rolled 5,1,4,2,2,6 using d10,d8,d10,d8,d6,d8 ((5,1,4,2,2,6)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total

Total: 15, Effect: d6 to Bishop, Storm, Wolfsbane, Namorita, Spider-Man (for 4d8 from Doom Pool)

1 Opportunity

Defensive powers are allowed but Menace is the only Speciality that can be used. (The former is contrary to how this usually goes but we’re trying this out. This does not necessarily set a precedent for the acting or defending of this attack.)

Doom Pool: d6, 10d8 -d8 -d8 -4d8 = d6, 4d8

Reactions Needed: Bishop, Storm, Wolfsbane, Namorita, Spider-Man

Ororo floated a couple inches off the ground as she looked up at Fury. "That is a great question. What is going on here?"

The weather goddess arched an eyebrow at Fury in response.


Team d10
Mecurial d4
Strong-Willed Team Leader d8

21:26, Today: Storm rolled 10,4,4 using d10,d4,d8 with rolls of 10,4,4.  Resist Intimidate.

Total: 14
Effect: d8

It would take more than that to faze Bishop.  He has grown up on the run, saw friends and family incinerated by hunter-killers, faced death on a daily basis.  If he had a tendency to lose his nerves when the going got though, he would have been dead by now.

The fact that there was little that COULD actually harm him certainly helped too

Team 1d8
Dark Future Survior 1d8
Godlike Durability 1d12
Menace Expert 1d8

Today: Bishop rolled 6,1,11,5 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 6,1,11,5.  Resist Intimidate.
Total: 17, Effect: 1d8.  Intimidation resisted
PP: 5+1=5

As Fury burst onto the scene, Rahne hesitated.
This whole deal had smelt fishy to her from the beginning ... coming to this apparently Suspicious Store Front.
But the Team had jumped at the idea of Captain America sending them in ham-fisted.

Oh, she was sure that her enhanced durability would help her survive; and she'd been menace by bigger folk than Fury.
But right now, she wasn't really sure what was going on.

Attempt to resist intimidation
Team d6
Suspicious Store Front d8
Enhanced Durability d8
Menace Expert d8

- rolled 6,3,4,7 to Resist intimidation.
Total: 13       count me as intimidated

Fury's fury, though, caught her off guard, and she hesitated ...

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Bishop's Opportunity

Always be sure to post your current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Storm and Wolfsbane fail but their Effect dice beats the acting Effect so the stress is reduced from d6 to d4. Storm's emotional stress is increased from d6 to d8

Doom Pool: d6, 4d8 + d6 = 2d6, 4d8

The cannon on Fury's hip shifts slightly, lowering either toward the ground or toward the heroes below the catwalk. “It ain’t polite -- or wise -- to answer a question with a question with me, sweetheart," Fury barks. "So we can do it another way: Tell me what is goin’ on here!”




Next Action: any

"The Captain said: eliminate everyone"
He wasn't so much speaking to the man who aimed the cannon at him, but to his two teammates.  And as he was speaking, his eyes started glowing red as he gathered up energy for a blast that will incinerate the man where he stands.

Storm raised an eyebrow at Bishop. "Oh, you spoke to him, did you?"

Ororo looked over at Fury. "We were sent here to eliminate what was supposed to be a nest of Hydra agents. Know anyone here that fits that description?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Fri 20 Sept 2019.

Wolfsbane hung back.   She was willing to let Storm and Bishop do the talking.

Things were very suspicious here;  from Captain America ordering an assault that he didn't participate, to Bobby knowing more than they'd all been told, to Fury being here in an apparent Hydra base asking them what they were doing here.

Somebody wasn't telling the God's Honest ... and she hadn't yet decided who she trusted less.

"Captain who?" Fury snarls. "Maybe Captain Freedonia would send you to fight a base full'a good guys, but if you're talkin' about Captain America -- no way. He knows this place. He's been here. He knows this is a secret base -- or used to be, thanks for that. And you don't have to be able to spell description to know this ain't Hydra." The enormous S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the far wall looms above him. "So, you wanna try that again?"

Emboldened by Fury's leadership, more of the agents on the floor raise their weapons, some of them actually aimed ably at the heroes. While many of them hold sci-fi-looking pistols, one agent near the cells at the back of the space holds a menacing rifle.

Rahne shapeshifter back to her human form (which was a lot less intimidating) and turned to Storm and Bishop, “Who here actually spoke to Rogers personally.  Who stood before him, rather than just hearing his voice on the PA system?” she asked, looking also at She-Hulk.
“I didn’t.

Bobby was with me when that announcement came, and seemed as surprised as I.   But then, without having been given an actual address, he seemed to know exactly where to come without meeting up with you Avengers”, she said, primarily to the green giantess.
“This smells like Denmark; and I’m guessing that whomever made that actual broadcast back at your headquarters is, right now, having the party they wanted.

‘While the cat’s away ...’, you know”.
And where WAS Bobby; or, at least, the Bobby they’d come here with?!?

Bishop slowly lowered his hands.  He didn't balk at the prospect of fighting- if he was convinced it was necessary.  And while the pretentious posturing of the man did annoy him, it wasn't enough to get Bishop to kill him.  If he tried anything though...

"I didn't buy it either" he added "But the man you just wasted thought we should come down here and find out for ourselves, see what's this all about"

Spider-Man crawls across the ceiling from the back. Up to this point he's hung behind, but if he's around then a wisecrack isn't far. "You're on a last-name basis with Captain America?"

Fury blows out a thick cloud of smoke that curls around the back of his head. "Yeah, my people get a little jumpy when cocky vigilantes burst into their place of employment with guns blazin'. Do you consider all administrative workers to be Hydra agents?"

Rahne looked around for ‘Bobbie’.

She and Storm had come here with Bobbie;  She-Hulk, Bishop, Spider-Man and Hawkeye had been in the flying car (?).
Apart from Bobbie, was there anyone who’d come here at ‘Captain America’s’ direction, who wasn’t accounted for?

Bishop shrugged as a reply and crossed his muscular forearms over his wide chest.  It was a giant blunder, but what was done was done
"So now what?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:44, Wed 18 Sept 2019.

Storm chuckled mirthlessly at Fury's question. "No, but surely they have a tax department as well. And if someone that doesn't like you knew about your secret, be glad they sent us, eh?"

Ororo looked over at She-Hulk. "How's Hawkeye doing?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Fri 20 Sept 2019.

Spider-Man lowers from the ceiling, upside down, hanging from a web-line, in Wolfsbane's proximity. "You look like you have a question to ask," he says. "Or you're looking around for a lost date. But it's not who you arrived with, it's who you leave with, am I right?"

When attention turns to Hawkeye's state, She-Hulk, looming over the archer, answers in a voice small enough to betray her physical power. "I -- I don't -- "
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:06, Thu 19 Sept 2019.

"MEDICAL TEAM! NOW!" Fury barks over whatever noise is in the room, easily reaching the volume to demand attention and whatever he needs.

"We need to get back to the Avenger's tower"
There was not much he could do to help around here, but if the Avengers were compromised, then anyone still in the tower could be in danger:
"Who knows what's going on down there, after we've been lured away"

Ororo sighed. "First we need to make sure Hawkeye's okay. Or at least some of us do. The web-slinger and I can probably get back to the tower fastest. And the iceman if he's still around. The rest of you get Clint out of here once the medical team has seen to him. Obviously, don't trust anything you hear over the communicators. We will reconvene as soon as we are able, back at the tower."

She looked over to Fury. "Your physicians will want to bring some Advil for the guys knocked out in the front room. They should be fine, but might not feel great when they come to."

She tipped her head in the direction of the door, then flew in that direction. "Let's go, Spider-Man."

When a contingent of agents with markings of red pluses on their uniforms rush to the side of the prone archer, She-Hulk rises to her full height and literally bares her teeth. Fury calls out: "Walters! Stand down! We're here to help!" The sound of the S.H.I.E.L.D. commander's voice calms her enough that she stops and takes a step back. When her teeth are again sheathed, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team falls in to tend to the downed Avenger. The medical team are ants scurrying around the jade giantess but she lets them pass.

Spider-Man does not move at Storm's direction nor does he say anything. His head perks in one direction then jerks to another, like a dog hearing something interesting that humans couldn't pick up and not knowing exactly from where it's coming.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:45, Mon 23 Sept 2019.

"They look like they got things under control"
Bishop edged closer to Storm
"I'm going back to the tower, one way or another. There's a car we used to get here; we can use it to get back"  he slowly twisted his head to the right and nodded at Wolfsbane "No point wasting time 'round here no more"

Ororo sighed and frowned. "Someone needs to stay with Hawkeye, regardless of how benign things otherwise seem."

She raised an eyebrow at Spider-man's movement. Knowing better than to ignore something like that, she asked him to share. "What's wrong, Spider-Man?"

Spider-Man stays silent for the moment, his steadying hands out and ready. His head moves in the other direction.

Fury does all the talking, masking a subtle vibration rising from the floor. " -- Captain America is unimpeachable but the first lesson in being an agent -- a decent one, at least -- is knowing who to trust. Why, in this day and age -- " he yammers on as the medical team collects Hawkeye on to a levitating stretcher.

Spider-Man's head goes back in the opposite direction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:45, Tue 24 Sept 2019.

"Interesting," said a voice from a portion of the room opposite the catwalk. "The Fantastic Four received a similar message as well. All doom and gloom, Hydra base, and the end of the world if we didn't intervene."

With that, the form of Susan Richards began to materialize in front of them all, her blonde hair nearly platinum under the florescent lights. "The boys are gone for awhile so here I am, and I arrived a bit after all of you had already secured the entrance. Sorry for the subterfuge, but after the last encounter we had I really didn't know if this one would go just as bad. I wanted to be prepared for anything."

Sue looked around and realized some of the heroes that were in the room were not the same ones she had fought side-by-side with during their last encounter. "You know, the Wrecking Crew and Emperor Doom."

She then turned her attention to Fury believing him to be the only true leader in the room. "Fury," she said giving deference to the man who had been at this hero thing for as long as she had. "It seems to me that we are being used, like pawns in some game. Someone is pulling strings and we seem to be dancing to their tune. First an attack on the Wrecking Crew who seemed just as lost as we were resulting in the destruction of the Latvarian Embassy, and now this. I don't believe it is the work of Doctor Doom either, his response was too...reactionary. He is usually three steps ahead of us."

She then turned to the group, her eyes cast downwards a bit. "I don't know... if only Reed were here." Her last words spoke volumes.

"Yea. Someone" he repeated after Storm, having no intention to volunteer himself. He was just about to turn and head out too when the woman materialized out of thin air.  There was a lot she said he couldn't understand, but he did agree on one thing - they were being used, and the sooner they got to the bottom of this, the better

"We can't afford to lose time now - not when the Avenger tower has been compromised.  There are people there, some injured from the fight at the X-Mansion.  The 'Captain' might send the rest of the Avengers on yet another mission.  We need to be there, now"

And with that he DID turn and start walking away, up the stairs, and out

Susie's eyebrows furled for a moment as she stared at the floor. "I wouldn't leave quite yet, the party may just be starting." She then turned to Spidey. "Spider-man, you seem to be looking around quite a bit. Possibly your Spider-sense or something. And here I thought it was just me sneaking in that you might have noticed. Don't know if I should be hurt or flattered, but I think it's something else, right?" She then knelt to the floor.

Before Bishop can leave the scene, before She-Hulk can muster the warmth to greet Invisible Woman even though the jade giantess is distracted by her fellow Avenger being carted away, before the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents can relax in their perceived safety, before the prisoners in the cells can yell out their complaints, before Fury can grumble "I wonder who else he sent?," before Spider-Man can warn about a danger coming down right that very second, but less than a heartbeat after that subtle vibration from the floor rises to a furious, calamitous rumble -- BOOM! -- the entire facility is hit like a hammer busting an old transistor radio in one swing. The whole place is shaken like a cheap cardboard box, with anything that isn't anchored blown back and the catwalk and the door that Fury stepped in from collapse along with that side of the room. The few lighting fixtures that stay attached above blink out in a shower of sparks, the last light before the place melts into darkness, obfuscating the interior destruction. It may only be luck that the place did not cave in -- yet.

The origin of the explosion could be traced to the entrance of the space, the stairs where the heroes came in, now obscured by smoke and dust so thick that they may never settle. The soot in the air lessens just enough to indicate someone making their way down the stairs into the room. The figure is too large and tall to be just any human, with bulky attachments coming from its shoulders. Its dark-gray motif helps obscure it in the darkness and it moves in silence. The presence catches enough light to reflect from the dim, red emergency lights, indicating bruised armor tarnished to a matte finish. The powered suit, or at least this version of it, is familiar to any: the War Machine. But the blasphemous perversion of the armor boasts that this is no Avenger or ally to Iron Man or any heroes. The skull crudely spray-painted across its broad chest, showing just slightly in the dark, touts that even though he wears an indomitable machine made for war, this could be only one man: the Punisher.

As debris crunches under his mighty, mechanized feet, little pings of sound punch through the waning sounds and slow settling of ambient destruction: "Target acquired." "Target acquired." "Target acquired." "Target acquired." "Target acquired." Until one human voice, synthesized through an internal speaker, rises above and ends them all: "Targets acquired."



Add Punisher

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to create Underground War Zone Scene Distinction

Doom Pool: 2d6, 4d8 -d8 = 2d6, 3d8

Next Action: any (ties go to who has Enhanced Reflexes) (then pick the next action after that)

Storm held up empty palms in the direction of both the Punisher and where several of the others stood. Her gaze was mostly on the newcomer, but it drifted around occasionally. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, there, Tex. There's been a lot of misinformation about this place. But it seems there's no criminal element here. We appear to have all been played by some other sinister forces hoping to pit good, law-abiding people against each other. Stand down and we can try to figure out who it might be."

She half-shrugged. "Then we can punish the right person. Or people." Ororo punctuated her statement with a predatory smile. It wasn't meant for Castle, but rather whoever it was that decided to play them all this way.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Thu 26 Sept 2019.

Bishop reflexively raises his hand over his head to protect himself from the falling debris.  Straightening up soon, and his eyes flashing red, he examined challenger but didn't engage just yet.  The Storm might very well be right about him being there for the same reason they were.  If he could be reasoned with, all the better.  But just in case he wasn’t, he moved slowly to the front – presenting himself as the target in case the man proves to be hostile.

Next action: Punisher

Delaying Punisher action

In the darkest, farthest reaches of the room, all that exists of Nick Fury was the glowing, red tip of his cigar and his voice. After the entrance and stated intention of the Punisher, that red pinpoint suddenly moves swiftly toward Storm. "Lady, that's the Punisher! He doesn't negotiate!" The red dot does not slow when it gets close to her, instead heralding the body that slams into her to force her to ground, just as a cluster of bullets zoom through where her head just was, chopping off some of her white tresses as she falls. The sound of cannon blasts is delivered only after they have launched and made their way into and often through their intended targets. A strobing effect illuminates the room in flashes as the Punisher launches salvo after salvo to any and all therein, a seeming lack of precision in the chaos hiding the fact that there is perfect, computer-guided aim in the sheer volume of massive strikes. The bunker comes alight in flashes, each one another savage strike against a target. There are screams by the agents, so loud among the disorder that it's hard to discern who has been hit and how hard.

Storm hits her head on a pile of particle board that was once a cubicle wall when she hits the floor but it's preferable to having had a laser slice through her skull. Her claustrophobia is triggered with the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. on top of her in the dark, while her sense of smell is assaulted by the stench of cigar around him.

Next Action: Invisible Woman (then pick next action)

Ororo's eyes narrowed. "I'm not nego..." her statement was cut short as she was tackled by Fury, though her mind took her someplace else before she even hit the ground.

By the time she was safely prone, Ororo was back in Egypt, a young woman who had been able to survive on the streets of Cairo despite being orphaned when she was not even ten years old - her parents victims of a terrorist attack.

But her mind didn't travel back to that incident, which occurred at the Europa Hotel. That might have left her a whimpering mess. Rather it went back to when she was 13, in the wake of the Luxor massacre. A barely teen aged Ororo found herself trapped in the depths of Deir el-Bahari after she tried to take an alternative route into the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.

It was that day - being trapped below the earth, surrounded by collapsed walls, and unable to free herself from the trap - that had initially caused Storm to manifest her powers. Truly, that was the day when Ororo had started to become Storm. She had honed the powers that manifested that day, becoming both more powerful and polished than the untrained mutant that exploded from underneath the desert.

In the here and now, her white eyes remained open, unblinking, and unseeing. All she perceived around her were walls and rubble closing in. She needed to see the sky again. Feel the freedom of flight, the wind on her face, and the comfort of the clouds that obeyed her commands.

Just like that day in the late '90s, Ororo's entire body began to crackle with energy, and the air around her began to move. It was a subtle wind, but the air was definitely starting to swirl. She would see the sky again, and soon.

OOC: Claustrophobia triggered...

Sue waited for Spider-Man to answer as she started to create a small, invisible force construct just inches off the ground. She could see it tremble from the vibrations in the floor that no one in the room really heard except, for what she assumed, was Spider-Man's senses. Then all of a sudden it became too late for her to react as the room exploded by the only doorway into this bunker. Her hands went up instinctively as some kind of mechanical Punisher burst into the room. His voice echoed "Targets Acquired" in a very robotic way, which made the back of her hairs stand on end.

Then the room burst into chaos as deadly gunfire was unleased into the room. Lights flickered as the bullets erupted from this Punisher's arsenal of weapons. The catwalk broke away from it's mounting and crashed to the floor. Innocent members of the Shield Force cried out as they were hit, and more importantly the concrete floor above them all began to give way.

Yes, Punisher was attacking them all with his arsenal, but Sue just couldn't stand by as those around her might be crushed by the falling ceiling above them. Her compassion kicked in as bullets flew around her, but her implacable will faltered as the screams and noise and darkness surrounded her. There were just too many victims. She was no engineer, but using her science skills she tried to calculate where the best places would be to create pillars to prop up the ceiling. While still kneeling on one knee, The Invisible Woman let forth her amazing power with outstretched hands. The ceiling had to hold, it just had to.

Today: Invisible Woman rolled 6,2,8,2,1 using d10,d4,d12,d8,d6 with rolls of 6,2,8,2,1.  Create Asset - Invisible Buttresses of Reinforcement.

Starting with 1 PP.
Team d10, Faltering Implacable Will d4, Invisibility d12, Science Expert d8
SFX Force Constructs. Add d6, increase effect die by one

Using the 6 and 8. Using my 1 PP to add a 2 to the total which is now = 16. Effect die is a d8, which is increased to a d10.

1 opportunity created for the Watcher

I gain 1 PP for Faltering Implacable Will

1 PP
Next Action - Wolfsbane
This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Mon 30 Sept 2019.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Invisible Woman's Opportunity

Doom Pool (2d6, 3d8) reaction to Invisible Woman's attempt to create Invisible Buttresses of Reinforcement Asset, Total: 16, Effect: d10:

Watcher rolled 1,4,7,1,1 using d6,d6,d8,d8,d8 ((1,4,7,1,1)).

Total: 11, Effect: d4 (default)

Extraordinary Success steps up acting Effect die, to d12
3 Opportunities (available first to Invisible Woman)

1 PP to Invisible Woman

Doom Pool: 2d6, 3d8 +d6 = 3d6, 3d8

Fury pulls back away from the wind-rider. They're close enough that his voice can come over the violent racket around them, if barely. "I know you can handle your own, Stormy," Fury says, offering a hand to help up Ororo and duck behind a pile of destroyed cubicle walls. "My instinct is old enough that I don't bother to fight it."

Meanwhile, the Invisible Woman makes a buttress against the catwalk, giving those under it time to get away, even if they can't see it. As they scurry in the dark, Sue keeps up the defense, even if it leaves her open to the Punisher's all-out assault!
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:42, Tue 01 Oct 2019.

Wolfsbane fell with everyone else showing any sense when the explosion happened.   And in the ensuing chaos and smoke of the Underground War Zone, she used her Enhanced Reflexes and Covert Mastery to slink off into the darkness (hopefully) undetected.

Action: create personal asset: 'killer in the darkness'
d6 Team
d8 Underground War Zone
d8 Enhanced Reflexes
d10 Covert Master

- rolled 4,7,7,9 using d6,d8,d8,d10 with rolls of 4,7,7,9.  Create Asset: Killer in the Darkness.

Total: 16
Effect: d8

PP: 5

Next: Bishop

Doom Pool (3d6, 3d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Killer in the Darkness Asset, Total: 16, Effect: d8:
Emotional stress d4

Watcher rolled 3,2,2,7,7,6,2 using d6,d6,d6,d8,d8,d8,d4 ((3,2,2,7,7,6,2)).

Total: 14, Effect: d8

The present darkness makes it easy for Wolfsbane to stalk, finding even more cover where there is already plenty. Even in her human form, the lycan mutant can make her way around the obliterated terrain silently, getting in position for whatever she slyly plans.

At this point, escape is a neigh-improbable prospect: what was the door from the catwalk is held up only by Invisible Woman's force-field, and the entryway that provided an entrance for everyone present is now in so much rubble behind the Punisher that it might not have been there at all. And this far below the city, if the above ground gives way, the only way out will be when everyone is smashed to death!

Even Bishop, as cold as he was, stopped short of outright killing anyone when he barged into the compound just a few moments ago.  This psychopath, however, was gunning down people indiscriminately, without stopping to consider whether or not they actually deserved it.  And that's AFTER they've tried to talk him down from it.

He needed to be brought down before he hurts anyone else, like the rabid dog that he was.

Rising his right hand, he punched through the air, a concussive red-energy blast leaving the tip of his fist - directed straight at the man in armor

Action: Energy Blast
Team: 1d8
Make a difference: 1d8
Energy Blast: 1d12
Combat expert: 1d8

Today: Bishop rolled 8,5,2,4 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 8,5,2,4.  Energy blast vs the Punisher.
Using 1 PP to keep an extra die.
Total: 17, effect: 1d12

Always be sure to pick the Next Action at the end of your turn

Always be sure to post your current PP count at the end of any post with a dice pool

Defend from Bishop's physical (energy) attack, Total: 17, Effect: d12:
Solo    d12
Dead Inside, Armor Outside    d8
Superhuman Durability    d10
Combat Master    d10
from Doom Pool    d8

Punisher rolled 9,8,3,8,6 using d12,d8,d10,d10,d8 ((9,8,3,8,6)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total

Total: 18, Effect: d10

Punisher receives Energy Attack d12 stunt from Bishop's Effect die, for Siphoning Power SFX

Doom Pool: 3d6, 3d8 -d8 -d8 = 3d6, d8

The massive blast explodes from Bishop's fist into the Punisher, but if the attack seems like it affected the crazed vigilante at all, it could be a trick of the light. Not only does the enormous armor stand up to the blast, but it seems to hold the energy around it, the light coalescing in an entrancing indoor-fireworks show that illuminates the whole underground space. Its dissipation is only an illusion, as the energy sucks into the armor itself then the suit seems to be lit from within then without. The tin-sounding voice rises above the crackling energy around it: "Hydra agents contributing to their own demise. I'd say thanks if there were going to be any of you left." Then the light rises again, as the energy flows to the armor's gauntlets and cannon and eye-holes, building to a level where little can hide in the space from the illumination. Now that energy needs somewhere to go. The War Machine armor's helmet, shining from the magnificent absorption of an otherwise monumental assault, pivots slowly from side to side, pinpointing its next target.

Next Action: Office Pool Mob, Agents Mob

Meanwhile, the agents who had been working in the space just an hour ago are expressing their terror in their world being turned upside-down. Their once-safe office environment has been twisted inside-out around them, with their familiar surroundings now reduced to rubble and a looming, deadly threat in front of them. Even worse, they are trapped in the space, with both exits now non-existent. They seem blatantly unconcerned that there are heroes in their midst, as they face their mortalties against the crazed vigilante in the armor. Having no clear escape, they run, screaming, crying, praying, often scurrying in opposite directions, leading to mass disorder, now revealed in the stark glow of the captured energy in the War Machine armor.

Office Pool Mob & Agents Mob step up Doom Pool from 3d6, d8 to d6, 3d8

Next Action: Storm

Storm would normally have an excellent response to what was being said about Hydra. But the assault had knocked her mind back a few years. The dust of destruction invading her lungs, the oppressive worked stone, the weight of Fury, the fear of death, the smell of her singed hair...

The crackling that others heard in the air near Storm became electrical arcs that danced between her fingers, across her eyes, and between her legs as she floated upright. Her cape billowed out behind the Goddess of the Storm.

The air that had been gently swirling began to coalesce into a whirlwind. The dust, particles, bits of metal, small stones, and even some larger stones were picked up into a spinning mass of pain that started on the floor but quickly slipped toward the Punisher.

The whirlwind of debris tightened as it flew, strengthened, and then slammed into the armored form of the Punisher.

OOC:
Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d4
Underground War Zone: d8
Weather Supremacy: d12
Emotional Link: d8
Combat Expert: d8

14:47, Today: Storm rolled 7,3,3,4,6,8 using d10,d4,d8,d12,d8,d8 with rolls of 7,3,3,4,6,8.  Punish the Punisher.

Spend 1 PP to keep an extra die.

Total: 21
Effect: d12

Add d8 to the Doom Pool for Emotional Link

PP: 3 to start - 1 (keep extra die) = 2 remaining.

Reaction needed from Punisher
Next up, Spider-Man.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:11, Tue 08 Oct 2019.

Defend from Storm's physical attack, Total: 21, Effect: d12:
Solo    d12
Obsessed Vigilante    d8
Superhuman Durability    d10
Combat Master    2d8
Storm's emotional stress    d8
from Doom Pool    d8

Punisher rolled 8,7,9,3,1,7,3 using d12,d8,d10,d8,d8,d8,d8 ((8,7,9,3,1,7,3)).

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add third die to Total
Total: 24, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Storm)

Doom Pool: d6, 3d8 -d8 -d8 = d6, d8

The wind that Storm whips up becomes a powerful force in the relatively-confined space, with all the debris it can pick up and batter about. Soon the wreckage is buffeting anything and everything, including the panicking, running, screaming agents. However, the target is the Punisher, who still holds the captured energy in his armored hands, in balls too brilliant to look at directly. Much of the light is lost with the objects whipping about in the underground wind but an illuminated chaos is still chaos. The debris rises with the wind around the obsessed vigilante, battering him with smaller objects like pens and broken picture-frames, up to large office appliances, like an unplugged printer then an entire swivel chair, that strike him squarely in the helmet but do not move or phase him. Though he seemed to plod before, he is now propelled with astonishing speed, darting like lightning toward the weather-rider to inside an area where the wind is considerably less a force. Controlling the weather indoors cannot be a precise event, and the Punisher dodges the cross-currents to enter the eye of the storm, which also brings the fight closer to Storm herself! "No pain here, witch," the voice from the armor says. "If that's what you were trying to do."

Spider-Man's voice comes from overhead as he swings from one side of the room to other. "Did everyone get the wrong invitation for the soiree? I feel like I wore my gorilla suit to a pimps n' hos party. Either Hydra's P.R. department needs restaffing (too soon?) or someone is purposely -- WHOA!" then a crash and Spider-Man, perhaps colliding with something from not being able to pick out oncoming danger when his senses are warning of it from all sides, falls and disappears on the other side of the room.

Next Action: She-Hulk

She-Hulk lifts a meeting table from herself and rises to her feet near the Invisible Woman as she casually tosses the shattered object aside. "Sue," the jade giantess says to her former teammate. "I can take care of this. You could protect these people better than I could." As she says the words, her attention is drawn across the room through the smoke to the figures emerging from the cells.

Next Action: Nick Fury

"Ya blasted fool!" Nick Fury yells across the illuminated space at Bishop. "Have ya never seen Iron Man in action?" Fury shoulders against a barricade of broken cubicle walls. "He's got tricks for energy attacks, and now he's gonna put all'a that back at -- OH, CRIPES!"

Then the Punisher unleashes his well-lit hell.

Next Action: Punisher

The Punisher raises his arms, hands hidden within violently undulating balls of energy. He had been scanning the room, selecting a target, and now he finds it -- he faces Storm! His most recent attacker, as well as being one who, with the most successful strike, would be his biggest threat. "The X-Men imitation is weak, cretin," the voice comes from the armor, then a slight pause just before the massive energy attack is released at the regal wind-rider!

Physical (energy) attack on Storm:
Solo    d12
Dead Inside, Armor Outside (momentarily unfamiliar with the system)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Repulsors    d8
Combat Master    d10
Storm's emotional stress    d8
Energy Attack stunt    d12

Punisher rolled 10,4,3,8,4,11 using d12,d4,d8,d10,d8,d12 ((10,4,3,8,4,11)).

Total: 21, Effect: d10

Doom Pool: d6, d8 (-d6/+d8) -d8 = d8

Reaction Needed: Storm

With the excess energy gone, the room returns to darkness, now perhaps even darker, murkier, and more dangerous than before.

Spend d8 from Doom Pool to add Utter Darkness d8 Scene Complication

Next Action (new round): Office Pool Mob, Agents Mob

The new darkness permits a fresh round of panic from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but now their terror is hidden. Running over the wreckage and into each other in the dark causes more harm, and their cries dismally harmonize. Shouted prayers are increasingly common and desperate.

Office Pool Mob & Agents Mob adds to Doom Pool, from d8 to 2d6, d8

Next Action: Punisher

The lights on the War Machine armor that give the faintest indication of the Punisher's in the darkness shift slightly away from the vigilante's previous attack. From that direction comes the tinny voice: "Energy-based enemy: noted." Then a click, then a whrrrr. "Alternate attack mode imitated." And the next sound is the borrraccck-accck-accck-accck-accck of a machine cannon and its ricocheting strikes pop-pop-popping on all surfaces, objects, and people around the room!

Physical attack on Bishop:
Solo    d12
Dead Inside, Armor Outside (switching to another system)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Gatling Gun    d6
Combat Master    d10
Utter Darkness Scene Complication    d8

Punisher rolled 2,3,1,7,6 using d12,d4,d6,d10,d8 ((2,3,1,7,6)).

Total: 13, Effect: d12

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

Doom Pool:  2d6, d8 (-d6/+d8) = d6, 2d8

Reaction Needed: Bishop

Next Action: Invisible Woman

The anguished screams of the people being gunned down under the cover of darkness flooded Bishop’s mind with repressed memories.  The past was the future, and like before (or was it later?), he was powerless to stop the carnage.   The only thing he COULD do was exact vengeance.

With an ear deafening roar Bishop charged at the Iron Man, the high velocity bullets bouncing harmlessly off his chest.  He lounged forward and tackled him to the ground, keeping his body on top of him and raising his massive fist up high, intending to smash it down on the helmet with all his strength.


Team 1d8
Dark Future Survivor 1d8
Godlike Durability (+all I got) 1d12, 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8

Bishop rolled 4,8,5,4,8 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 4,8,5,4,8.  Defend from Punisher's physical attack.

Total: 16, Effect: d12

Spending 1 PP to inflict the effect die (d12) as a Complication on the Punisher (Grappled!)

Current PP: 4-1=3
Next Action: Invisible Woman

Defending in close quarters - with close ceilings, walls, and floors - was really not Storm's forte. Moreover, visions of the past kept swimming into view, which could be really dangerous if, for example, a madman decided to unleash a stream of energy in Storm's direction.

She took the energy attack square and, given that she was already floating, was propelled against the far wall where she collapsed in a heap after smashing into what was generally a solid surface.

Reaction:
Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d4
Enhanced Reflexes: d8
Combat Expert: d8

10:34, Today: Storm rolled 9,4,6,2 using d10,d4,d8,d8 with rolls of 9,4,6,2.  Evade Attack.

Total: 15
Effect: d8

d10 damage steps up to d12 for the extraordinary success.

Storm now has d12 physical damage.

PP: 2 to start + 1 (Claustrophobia) = 3
This message was last edited by the player at 20:12, Wed 09 Oct 2019.

While the broken Storm slides down the back wall, Bishop climbs atop the Punisher in armor, with his mighty fist pulled back, his hand alight by habit and adding some illumination for the two locked in combat!

The prisoners emerging from their cells in the smoke and darkness, lit only by red, unreliable emergency lights, take She-Hulk's attention until she blinks back and turns to the Invisible Woman. "Sue," she says, nearly a shout over the cacophony of screaming agents around her, the ones she can't save all at once. "Are you okay?"

Next Action: Wolfsbane

'Ok, great', Rahne thought to herself.  'Trapped in the Twilight Zone with no end of psychotics, chittering scaredy cats and ...' she looked over at the cell doors opening, '... more psychopaths'.

That was fine.  Rahne liked psychopaths, they were here sort of folk.

But the psychopath in the armour needed to be taken down a peg or so.
The Big Guy was on top of him right now, so that would slow both of them down a few seconds.

And from where she lurked in the shadows nearby, it gave Rahne the chance to take a good look at the exterior of the Iron Dude suit, and work out where would be the best place to strike.
After all, Advice is free, Actions are not; and she wanted to be ready to strike effectively when her time for Action came.

As her mind raced to find the suit's weakest spots, her claws Shape shifted and sharpened into some thing of a Can Opener ... al the better to tear free some precise, necessary piece from the armour.


Action:  create personal asset 'Can Opener'
d6  Team
d8  Actions are not
d8 Shapeshifting
d8 Tech Expert

- rolled 6,7,7,3 using d6,d8,d8,d8 with rolls of 6,7,7,3.  create asset Can Opener.
- spend a PP to add another dice to the total

Total: 20
Effect; d8


PP: 4

Next: PUNISHER

The Punisher already took his turn for this round

Doom Pool (d6, 2d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Can Opener Asset, Total: 20, Effect: d8:
Emotional stress    d4

Watcher rolled 1,5,7,4 using d6,d8,d8,d4 ((1,5,7,4)).

Total: 12, Effect: d4
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d10
1 Opportunity (available first to Wolfsbane)

In the space of a breath, Wolfsbane's hands morph into razor-like claws, becoming the deadliest weapons in the treacherous room. For an instant, the tips catch a reflection from the emergency lights and twinkle red in the darkness.

Next Action: Bishop

"Murderer!!!" With a roar, Bishop smashed down his fist with all his force.  After seeing the armored man gun down so many people he didn't quite care what happened to him.  If he ends up crushing his skull against the floor, he would only regret it as much as it would inconvenience him to scrub the blood stains off his clothes

Team 1d8
Uncompromining 1d8
Godlike Strength (+everything I got) 1d12, 1d12
Punisher's Complication 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8

1d8,1d8,1d12,1d12,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 3,7,10,6,9,7.  Physical attack vs Punisher .
Using 1 PP to keep another die
Total: 10+9+7 = 26
Effect: 1d12
Current PP: 3-1 = 2
Next Action: Storm 

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 26, Effect: d12:
Solo    d12
Obsessed Vigilante    d8
Superhuman Durability    d10
Combat Master    2d8
from Doom Pool    d8

Punisher rolled 2,4,2,4,5,2 using d12,d8,d10,d8,d8,d8 ((2,4,2,4,5,2)).

Total: 9, Effect: d12
Extraordinary Success x3 steps acting Effect die up, to... above d12

Doom Pool: d6, 2d8 -d8 = d6, d8

Even as Bishop's first cones down, the Punisher is adamant. "If you want murderers, you fool, look around you. This place is full of them," the vigilante says behind a metal mask of a blank expression. "If you're not going to take them out, then you're one of them!"

But the Punisher has little left to say when Bishop's mighty, charged fist cracks the War Machine armor. The force is great enough to not only shatter the helmet and upper torso but a charge inside it goes off, an emission of pure energy which forces Bishop, sensitive to such a discharge of power, to be thrown from the armor. When the energy dissipates, the figure is left lying in the darkness, still and with any sound from it buried by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents running amok and screaming.

Spider-Man's voice comes from the darkness near Storm. Even though she can barely see him, he's there, helping up her battered form. "I'll admit this didn't feel right," he says, gingerly lifting her from her arms. "I had been at that warehouse where all the Hydra guys got slaughtered. I thought that had been it for them, but that's a lot of heads to replace ones that got cut off. It's not inconceivable to think that this could have been a base for them but I'm starting to think we got hornswoggled. Though we can hope that's not the real Nick Fury because if it is, we're not gonna hear the end of this."

Next Action: Storm (pick as if it's a new round)

Storm forced a wan smile at Spider-Man. "Just...give me a minute to sit here. I appreciate it though." The webslinger's help allowed Ororo to sit with her back against a wall where she could catch her breath and survey the scene. It also gave her a moment to determine what exactly was hurting and whether she should try to move any more than just sitting up.

"This whole thing stunk right from the start, and Fury has every right to be pissed off. What is The Punisher's condition? Between his false information, Sue's false information, and ours, we might be able to determine a common thread?" It was doubtful, but one never knew.

"Though before we were ambushed, Bishop had a valid point about getting back to base as soon as possible, as it may have been compromised."

Bishop, having recovered from being flung off the suit of armor following its explosion, arrived just soon enough to overhear Storm making the suggestion to interrogate 'the Punisher'.  It was a good thing he caught wind of it, ‘cause he has not considered it, and has already decided to end the man's life with the jagged combat knife he was holding.
That, he now decided, would have to wait until they found out everything he knew.

"We don't have much time" he pointed at the smashed suit of armor "Stark-Tech. The Avengers have been compromised.  There could be more men in these suits before long if we don't get a move on"

At this particular profound moment, a certain member of the Sub-Mariner clan made her reappearance, surveying the aftermath of this clash of titans:

"Holy catfish!    I guess I needn't ask if I missed the party. Fashionably late?"  She shook her head.

"Avengers HQ was completely deserted, except for its AI butler, and Justice.  At least up until we left. You are surely and wholly right as to the matter of time. But, not in the sense anyone at the tower's in danger. Not unless they're all locked up in the basement."

Yes, original player, back...

Edit...excerpting the parts you already knew
This message was last edited by the player at 18:21, Mon 28 Oct 2019.

Ororo was still seated with her back against what was once a wall. "Wait, deserted? No Anna, Betsy, or Janet? Where did they go?" Storm's memory from further back wasn't so great. But she remembered seeing Wasp and was aware that Rogue and Psylocke were both supposed to be recovering at the Avengers' HQ.

OOC: Welcome back!

Thanks!

"Okay, if there's an infirmary in the tower, then maybe.   That would explain why they weren't up and around.   They would be at risk, then.  Because the core team was definitely not there. Justice may be able to tell you more.  He was there before I arrived." 

Storm nodded, though remained seated. She'd gotten hit pretty good. "That's worrisome. Bishop, you said you have a vehicle that can get you back to the Avengers HQ? Take Namorita, She-Hulk, and Wolfsbane with you and get back there as quickly as you can. Use the communicators we all have, but if you're communicating over a distance, work the word orange into anything you say." It was far from perfect, but better than nothing.

"Spider-Man, you should be able to get there faster than anyone else. Be their advance scout. See what's up and report back or join them once you're all there. And be careful. Don't take any chances. Just get a quick feel and report in."

Ororo looked over the mess and at her bloodied hands. "I'll stay here to make sure Hawkeye ends up okay and to give Fury a target for his ire. And I might be able to get something out of the Punisher, Fury, or the Invisible Woman that will give us a lead concerning our next steps."

Bishop nodded slowly. That was more like it; he was a solider, and he was happy to finally have his marching orders
"You should come with us " he suggested "let Fury get the info out of the 'Punisher' and update us while we're on our way.  He seems capable enough to do that, and we need you with us"

With the violent fire from the Punisher's stolen armor halted, the room has calmed, with only the occasional scream from an inhabitant, and now the ambient sound is of mumbled prayers and uttered confusion. Few can see each other in the dark, much less the heroes, so the trapped agents have no indication of their possible salvation. Someone nearby asks forgiveness from their god.

In the darkness it was hard to see that Spider-Man wasn't there for Storm's orders. His voice comes back: "I hope whatever you're planning doesn't rely on getting out of here quickly. The entrances that could be exits are now dead-ends instead. We might be here for a minute. Or a lot of minutes."

Ororo sighed. Trapped again. Her breaths came shorter than normal, but she managed to keep it under control fairly well. "The plan doesn't require any particular timeframe. It's more as soon as we're free, we gotta get moving." Storm slowly stood, using the strength developed through many, many years of training and missions with the X-Men to get her battered body back upright.

Once standing, Storm splayed the fingers of her right hand in front of her face and caused electricity to dance across her fingertips, lighting both her face and the nearby area. Those looking at her could see bloody streaks on her right cheek, but Storm's eyes had faded back to the colorless white that were the hallmark of her power usage.

She did the same thing with her left hand, then arced the electricity between her hands and pulled them apart, lighting the room a bit more than the pitch dark that had so recently covered the scene. "She-hulk should be able to help us get out of here. But of course we need to do that without causing another collapse. Or at least another collapse that injures more people down here."

She looked up. "We don't need much of a hole, though. Perhaps back where the stairs were?"

Namorita takes Emotional stress d6 from attack in msg #104

The ambient noise coming from terrified agents calms when Storm's electric powers create a light in the darkness. There are still mumblings and whispers but screams are few. Now the room is getting stuffy and humid, and even though some of the darkness has been pushed away, a sandy haze has risen from the debris to obscure much that is not directly in front of a view.

She-Hulk steps from Susan Storm's side and toward the center of the room, around where the heroes are haphazardly gathered, while many of the scared agents have scurried to the far reaches of the room. "It takes a little more strategy to get out of a box than just punching walls. We're underground, so there's something on the other side of -- "

SSSSSKKKRRRKKKKKKKKKK

Just on the border of how far Storm's light reaches, the War Machine armor now lies as an empty, metal carcass on the floor. But if it's just a shell, then clearly the Punisher has escaped! As the light reveals the corners of the darkness, the Punisher steps into the area of dim radiance. He does not cower from the light, but the radiance shows the snarling, wide-eyed look of rage and determination on his face. His costume is torn to tatters and he is covered in cuts and bruises but the chest-wide skull is still largely intact on his torso. He takes determined steps forward. SKKKRRRKKK -- the War Machine's machine-gun cannon scrawls a line on the ground as the Punisher drags it behind him. While his attention comes to the source of the light, he pulls up the cannon and -- with a ringing clink -- cranks it into full readiness and aims it in front of him. Yet, while he looks into the space with a wild look in his eyes, he does not pull the trigger.

Punisher goes to Alternate Power Set

Next Action: any

“Should have killed the bastard when I had the chance” Bishop mutters under his breath.  It was the second time in the last few days he has been lenient, and he regretted it every time.  There won’t be a third time, he decided

“Stand down, for your own good.  I’m short of time and of patience”

Storm quickly responded to Bishop. "No, we're the good guys, Bishop. We only use lethal force when necessary. This guy might still be useful if he can learn to think before he acts." That seemed to be a tall task right now, but over her years of working with not only the X-Men but other groups of heroes, Storm had seen many who were once villains come over to the right side.

She was aware that Bishop was already thinking along those lines with his offer for the Punisher to stand down. But perhaps her words would help get through that thick skull of the Punisher.

The Punisher stands with the War Machine gatling-gun cannon at the ready, aimed and only needing the pull the trigger, but he satys still, with eyes narrowed on his stony face. If the vigilante hears Bishop or Storm, he makes no indication. His attention is trained beyond the heroes who have gathered near the middle of what is left of the space, on figures that make their way through the fog of settling dust compacted in the confined area, nearly obscuring those in it and those looking into it. The Punisher keeps his eyes on the figures in the mist, leaving no concern about those around him or whoever makes a threat against him.

From the darkness and gloom behind The Punisher, Rahne was prepared to explode into action against the vigilante, if he moved against the other heroes ... but her keen senses were also taking in the figures that make their way through the fog of settling dust compacted in the confined area

Keyed off by the people looking behind him, Bishop slowly turns on his feels to face the new threat.

The Punisher, illuminated by whatever electricity Storm chooses to provide, keeps his eyes to the area past the heroes, through the clouds of settling dust and into the darkness. Just barely can the figures be seen, having emerged from the four cells: one figure is closer, while three are farther away. Then another one, being the last to come from a cell, walks slowly past the others.

Storm adjusted her stance so that she could illuminate and see the emerging figures while keeping the Punisher within her field of view. Ororo wasn't moving very fluidly when she did, a limp revealing some of the damage that had been dealt by the Punisher's assault.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Mon 11 Nov 2019.

Spider-Man's voice comes from outside the area to where Storm brings light but over the commotion of the agents cohabiting the space. "You guys sure don't talk to each other a lot. They say the key to any good team-up is communication. Or coincidence. Or something like that." A moment later his voice comes from the other side, near the ceiling. "Come on, guys! We could have been exchanging crock-pot recipes this whole time!"

Eyes narrowing, Bishop stepped forward and took the forefront
"Who are they?" he called out to Fury, even as kept his eyes on the four

Ororo suppressed the urge to tell Spider-Man to go mate with himself, choosing instead to attempt to discern who had decided to join he party now. "You're the one with the best eyes. Shouldn't you be the one doing the talking?"

“I have a lot of powers but for seeing in the dark, I got what you got," Spider-Man says from somewhere up above. "Though right now I’m glad one thing I have is this mask. You guys are going to be coughing up dust for days."

While anyone waits for the sound an answer from Fury, the noise in the room becomes noticeably quieter. The cacophony that had been ear-splittingly loud since the heroes arrived dies down, to barely much sound at all. Whatever agents are here have scattered into the depths of the smoke, leaving the heroes largely to themselves. Finally the sound settles to being able to hear one set of footsteps across the debris.

"Storm, can you clear out that smoke, perhaps?" he suggested, while still keeping his eyes at the direction of the footsteps.

"Perhaps." Under normal circumstances, it would be an easy task for someone so well-practiced at moving air around. She was, however, beaten all to hell and still in a tight space underground. Circumstances she generally despised.

OOC: I assume this is something for which I need to roll against the doom pool?

Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d4
Weather Supremacy: d12
Mystic Expert: d8

15:36, Today: Storm rolled 10,1,2,3 using d10,d4,d12,d8 with rolls of 10,1,2,3.  Storm makes some wind?

Total: 13, effect d12
One die added to the doom pool.

PP: 3 + 2 = 5

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunity

Doom Pool (d6, d8) reaction to Storm's attempt to ["make some wind?"?], Total: 13, Effect: d12:
Storm's physical stress    d12

Watcher rolled 6,3,12 using d6,d8,d12 ((6,3,12)).

Total: 18, Effect: d8

Doom Pool: d6, d8 +d6 = 2d6, d8

Even at Storm's most ideal state she would have only so many options in this situation, but it does not help that every movement of her body is a terrible agony, making it torture just to stand, and her head pounds so much that the pain alone could cause her to pass out at any moment. Her body screams at her to stop yet she persists, to limited effect.

Unfortunately, Storm's powers are that of manipulation, not creating from close to nothing. She is able to encourage the air to circulate, but there is a limited amount in this enclosed space, with such minimal access to more that pushing for more could create a vacuum and do more damage than good. As it is, she churns the dust that obscures so much of the room, but only moving it around languidly instead of shifting it enough to reveal anything in the rest of the area.

Ororo shrugged. "Air is too thick down here." She took a deep breath and blew through puckered lips. Some of the smoke directly in front of her mouth moved. "This is the best I can do."

She did it again to see if it might help.

Bishop grunted in acceptance.  Nothing could be done, apparently, until whomever was obscured by the smoke stepped forward and revealed himself.

From the thick, misty curtain of settling dust amid the underground wreckage comes a single form. It is naked, with the smoke obscuring just slightly less than what is needed to identify the figure as male. A face unfamiliar but handsome, blank with a lack of expression. It is bald, with skin so smooth it seems to glow in the near-darkness. The only sound it makes is the crunching of debris under its feet, and a blank look in its eyes does nothing to betray its intentions. Its pace is slow, a speed with which to study surroundings, but deliberate, never losing its footing over the uneven ground like a clumsy human. Once it reaches the space equidistant to the gathered heroes, it halts and looks around itself languidly.

Ororo took a good look at the emerging figure and let out a long, low whistle. While she initially did a once over, she kept her eyes above the equator after her initial observation. She gave him a quick wave. "Hello?"

She wasn't certain he would speak English, but it was as good a place as any to start.

Bishop tensed as the naked man emerged from the beyond the cloud of smoke and soot.  The way he moved, his blank expression as he crushed the sharp debris under his heel - it was not natural.  Expecting the worse, he cracked his neck and put his right foot forward - ready to act in case his suspicion turns out to be justified.

The naked man stands silent and still, its gaze blank and calm. The air hangs still but the space is now quiet, with the crying gone but the people who were screaming now hidden beyond the fringes of the darkness around the heroes. Even Spider-Man is finally quiet.

After a moment with the dust settling around it, the man begins to raise its arms. Its hands move upward slowly, palms pointed to the ceiling. A golden aura rises from its smooth, white body to become a rich glow from within, shortly illuminating the dark space when its hands go above its head.

A steady rumbling underfoot slowly rises to a low rumble.

"Friends of yours coming to visit?" Ororo took a stab at what might be going on. She reflexively floated a few inches off the ground in case something was to happen to the floor. The lack of communication from the newcomer was a bit unsettling. As was the utter silence from Fury. That part was...infuriating?

The prickling sensation on Bishops skin slowly turned into an irritating rash, and with that went whatever remained of his patience.  He was not going to wait till things got even worse.
Putting his left foot forward he threw his right arm over his head, as if tossing a baseball, and then straight toward the man - firing a stream of concussive force straight at his chest:

Unrelenting 1d8
Team 1d8
Energy blast 1d12
Combat Expert 1d8

11:08, Today: Bishop rolled 4,6,5,7 using 1d8,1d8,1d12,1d8 with rolls of 4,6,5,7.  Energy blast at man.

Total: 13, Effect: 1d12
PP: 2+0=2
Next action: Storm

The glow coming from within the man increases, rising to illuminate the entire underground area with a soothing light. The place is not entirely visible, as the edges around where the heroes stand is still obscured by settling dust and debris, but everyone can see each other clearly. A few figures are visible on the fringes of the dirty mist but before their identities can be registered, Bishop lets forth his blast of pure energy!

Doom Pool (2d6, d8) reaction to Bishop's physical attack, Total: 13, Effect: d12:

K. rolled 6,2,2 using d6,d6,d8 ((6,2,2)).

Total: 8, Effect: d6

The blast hits the man right in the chest and the light -- whether that from inside the man or from Bishop, or both -- explodes outward, shining on and through those assembled. The blast of light sheers through the darkness and the dust and the bodies of each inhabitant but instead of searing pain, there is a feeling of weightlessness and ease. Everyone feels their bodies float upward and outward at the same time, a unique but not unpleasant sensation, as the most basic cellular levels of each hero falls apart. The place becomes utterly silent, from the lack of noise made by its inhabitants but also from the perception of each hero who loses their sense of hearing along with all other senses and control over their motor functions. Soon, after anyone looks to see their hands and bodies disintegrating in front of their eyes, the last thing each hero sees is their closest ally, fading into nothing.







End of Amazing Avengers #4A: "...Dead Stripes and Dark Stars"

Please do not post to this thread any further. But please feel free to contribute thoughts in the OOC thread or contact me through PM.

+1 XP to those who started and ended the adventure (Bishop, Storm, Wolfsbane)

As this adventure is now over, do not post to this thread anymore. But feel free to contribute ideas and thoughts in the OOC thread or contact me through PM. (There could be a short sub-plot while you're drifting through a dream-like state if you wanted to play it out.)

Next will be the second part of this adventure arc.

ACTS OF VENGEANCE 2 continues!