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.