Bishop wasn't used to running toward danger. He spent most of his adult life trying to run away from it.  Where he did have to fight, it was always grab and run; hit them, and escape into the shadows before reinforcement arrives.

There was only a slight hesitation before he resumed his sprint, dashing across the emptying streets toward what remains of the skyscraper.

Current PP: 1

Danny watches in frustration as Taskmaster turns away from him. His own legs are already bent to spring, ready to deliver a k'un-lun-quan flying kick to the crook of Masters' knee that would stop him in his tracks: "Felling Tree With Roots," the technique was called. From there, Danny could apply a submission hold of his choosing, and force Masters to give up what he knew.

So why is the Fist suddenly hesitating?

Because there is no honor in attacking an enemy who isn't fighting back. Like it or not, Danny had a title to live up to, and the Iron Fist wasn't one for cheap shots. Maybe the Wasp had a point. He and Masters could settle this later. Instead, as he resigns himself to following along after the others, he takes a different tack.

"You're the one running away," he calls after the mercenary. "Do your students know their shifu is afraid of the big bad Fist?"

I'll take the complication without resisting, as Danny's allowing Taskmaster to get away from him. But I'll take an action if it's available to me:

Inflict Emotional Stress on Taskmaster.

Solo d8
Young Dragon d8
Psych Expert 2d6
"Trash Talking" d10 stunt (-1 PP)

22:47, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,5,3,4,8 using 1d8,1d8,1d6,1d6,1d10 with rolls of 1,5,3,4,8.  Talking smack to Taskmaster.

Total: 13
Effect: d6
Opportunities: 1
PP's: 1

Next: Anyone, just want to see what happens next. ;)

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Iron Fist's Opportunity

Defend from Iron Fist's Emotional attack, Total: 13, Effect: d6 (msg #582):
Solo    d8
Villainous Mercenary (running away from a fight)   d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Psych Expert    d8
Iron Fist Taskmaster Escaping Unnecessary Fight Complication d10

Taskmaster rolled 6,2,7,2 using d8,d4,d8,d10 ((6,2,7,2)).

Total: 13, Effect: d10

Hero wins ties
Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d4

Doom Pool: d10 +d6 = d6, d10

Taskmaster doesn’t make a sound as he runs into the distance (or the city is just louder), but someone with good eyesight might make out that he’s flipping off Iron Fist as he’s going away.

The ruination of the Avengers Tower settles in a few moments -- fast as the science of destruction does not wait -- though much of it is still happening in the interior, as there is a huge clamor from the building but relatively muffled from being inside it. The structure is mighty, though, so it does not readily collapse, even inward, leaving parts of some floors remaining, though much of their contents reduced to rubble. Much of the top half of the skyscraper is now a shell but it is not completely empty.

Even from a distance from the building it is obvious there is still activity coming from it, including one individual flying around the outside. A few times the figure catches the blazing overhead sun and a brilliant glare shines off of it, revealing it to be a body seemingly made of iron!

From here we'll assume that everyone except Iron Fist (since he stayed behind to fight someone who didn't want to fight) can get to Avengers Tower if they want. You can still narrate how you ultimately get there (assuming you want to go there) and what you do when you arrive. Feel free to interact with any of the NPCs to facilitate the travel (especially She-Hulk's throwing arm).

Hank zipped into the structure, heedless of the dangers within, seeking anyone left alive.

Already aloft and nearer than the others, Ms. Marvel wasted no further time in entering the blasted husk of a structure.   In her peripheral vision, she noted Pym on the way.

Unlike him, her motive wasn't altruistic, but personal --  there was just one that really mattered to her.

And so she went in, seeking any signs of Client Barton...

PP = 1

Even without being juiced-up, Bishop was strong enough (if just barely) to push some of the metal beams out of the way, and clear out the rubble as he tried to look for survivors. He did the best he could, but it was slow going.  Maybe the metal figure spinning around the remains of the tower could lend a hand, but he didn't, and Bishop figured he either couldn't, or wouldn't, to bother calling him for help.

Trying to make an asset to aid in exploring the ruin, using my intangibility...

Ms. Marvel rolled 4,3,4,2 using d10,d10,d8,d4 with rolls of 4,3,4,2.  intangibility asset.
Solo + Intangibility + Echoes of the Moonstone + Site Reduced To Rubble
Total = 8; Asset = D10 (Ethereal Exploration)

Total PP = 2

The two minded beast that is Venom landed nearby, "That thing is on fire. The heck with all that." And Venom starts to leap away when a web fires from his wrist to the tower, "Just secure the building to the ones around it and let the crazy ones go inside. Sides any security systems will likely fire on us if we go in."

Venom growls and begins to hop around the perimeter tower attempting to use his web lines to stabilize the tower to its neighbors, "I don't see any minions! This is a waste of our time! And you are running out of organs lefty!" The face ripples, "OI what did I tell you about that! Put it back!"

OOC:
Solo d10
Better than Spider man d8
Scorpion Str d10
Swingline D6
Acrobat d8

Total: 17 Trying to create stabilized by Web asset or scene distinction whichever fits here.
ED: D8
Opps: 1
PP: 1 (Pre this roll)

22:21, Today: Venom rolled 10,5,7,1,6 using d10,d8,d10,d6,d8 ((10,5,7,1,6)).

This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Sun 01 May 2022.

Doom Pool (d6, d10) reaction to Ms. Marvel's attempt to create Ethereal Exploration Asset, Total: 8, Effect: d10 (msg #592):

Watcher rolled 4,8 using d6,d10 ((4,8)).

Total: 12, Effect: d4 (default)

Ms. Marvel's attempt fails (making no real difference to her, but perhaps she activated a measure in the building?)

Pym and Ms. Marvel enter the building -- or what is left of it, as it is still falling apart, though the initial explosion that caused the first wave of destruction and hysteria is past -- but are they entering in the most ideal place for exploration? Would Stark’s intrusion-countermeasures go down just like the monolithic tower he built or are there exigencies set in place to activity should a scenario like this happen? Surely Stark would have contingencies in place, ones that would keep out phasing villains (in particular the Master of Evil Moonstone) and allies traveling at tiny sizes whose sly maneuvers could bely a sinister intention. Though some of the countermeasures could have been knocked out, it is just as likely that some could be going haywire, leaving a near-blind trip through the lower levels of a collapsing building a dangerous proposition no matter the abilities on one's side.

As Pym enters the bowels of the building -- judging from the distance he travels as he doesn’t have a map or has ever even gotten a tour of these lower levels -- he can hear gates shutting somewhere else -- maybe close, maybe far -- either safety measures or something to keep someone like him out (or both). As Moonstone walks through the walls for the possibility that the next one leads to a room that is not collapsed (crushing anyone who was inside it), a room in which darkness is no match for her light powers but casting scurrying shadows that can play their own tricks. Out of the corner of her eye she might have caught a tiny green light turning to red as she passes.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Venom's Opportunity

Doom Pool (d6, d10) reaction to Venom's attempt to create Stabilized by Web Asset, Total: 17, Effect: d10 (msg #593):

Watcher rolled 4,2 using d6,d10 with rolls of 4,2. [I clicked the roll a second time because my page wasn't reloading. I've gone with the first roll.]

Total: 6, Effect: d4 (default)
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12

Doom Pool: d6, d10 +d6 = 2d6, d10

Venom uses his webs to hitch the crumbling structure that was once the Avengers Tower, not that it’s necessarily a threat of falling on those around it -- Stark built it far too solidly for the threat of an explosion either inside or outside to affect anyone on the ground -- but the web netting catches debris tumbling from the building, giving those down below the chance to run for cover. For being traditionally a monstrous villain, Venom has made a turn to protecting many civilians.

And speaking of Stark, is that him in the iron-suit coming down to speak to the Lethal Protector?

Karla silently cursed herself for a sap and a dullard; being so caught up in someone else's well being that it took her till now to consider the tower's defense systems.

Be it the case, she still wasn't giving up on getting Clint out, if he was trapped in here.  She did however stop immediately on noting the red light, looking and listening intently.

Venom nods to himself as they survey their work.

"Is there anyone down there?" He realized it was pointless moving the debris when there was so much of it.  It could take him days, or weeks, at this rate.  His best chances of saving anyone trapped under the wreckage is finding out where they are first.

Current PP: 1

As Ms. Marvel looks at the light, the only illumination in the darkness, the color turns from red to orange.

When Venom tears himself away from gazing at the activities of others, the world-renowned powered suit of iron is hovering just above, out of arm's reach but close enough for a repulsor blast to the face. It may be time for the Lethal Protector to decide if he's a good guy or a bad guy.

On the street below, Bishop hears a groan underneath the rubble. “Ooooh...” goes the muffled voice of a man.

Meanwhile, as Iron Fist pounds the pavement to the Avengers Tower well behind the other heroes rushing there, the unmistakable flaming figure of the Human Torch soars ahead, headed in the same direction.

Venom's head tilted as he looked up at the glowing palm and half his face receded to Mac's, "First off hello! Huge fan of when you used to try to kill Spiderman. Also for the Record, we just got teleported here from some future slash outside of time nonsense with Kang the annoying so we had nothing to do with this.

The Venom symbiote covers back over Mac's face, "We'll not roam too far as we don't see any minions to munch on. Hero canned or otherwise isn't on the menu since we are heros now!"

The security severity appeared to have downgraded; changing from red to the more cautionary orange.   Was it simply because she'd ceased moving?

Experimentally, she raised and waved a hand slightly, observing the light.

It figured that the security would allow someone to blow up the building, but then kick in to keep Yellowjacket from delving too deep into Stark's little secrets. Stark always was more concerned with secrets than with safety.

Hank pressed onward, more concerned with finding people than with finding whatever Stark was hiding.

"Hold on!"

Bishop had a sudden feeling of Deja-Vu. Avengers Tower - it looked not too dissimilar from the way he remembered it in the present.  A crumbling structure, one of many standing between the rubble that used to be New York City.  Does that mean that anything he did was meaningless?
No.  He had to believe otherwise, even if it didn't make any sense.  That's why they sent him to the past - not because he was the strongest, but because he was the stubbornest.

With a mighty groan, he put his back into it and pushed one of the steel beams aside.

Just as the iconic red-and-gold armor makes its way toward Venom, more suits come from around the building, perhaps up to a dozen that have been scurrying in the air around the structure, some too high or too low to notice but certainly a number of them, in all manner of permutations of the versions that Stark has created. They come in a near-rainbow of colors, many of them with a combination of red and another color, then one entirely black, another all gold, one bulky and gray. There is suddenly no shortage of Iron Men. Some gather toward Venom and the approaching heroes; the others go about tasks on the exteriors and interiors of what was once Avengers Tower.

As Ms. Marvel raises her hand, the light turns to red again.

Pym makes his way onward in to the bowels of the building. Though his size gives him mobility through the cavernous spaces far too small for human-sized explorers, it does not give him any ability to see where he’s going in the darkness, and whatever memory map there might have been for this miniature world is now disrupted beyond recognition from the destruction above and below. Yet when he arrives in another space -- maybe what was once a room but now barely a clearing contained within wreckage -- he finds movement. Though it is activity without dimension, it is also illuminated enough to present itself: a video monitor. It is surrounded by a bank of similar screens but all of them are static, and even the monochrome picture on this one threatens to break into the same. For the moment the image on this one is that of a man, both the view and its subject at ground level, and the person’s face is only recognizable because his mask has been torn away: Clint Barton, the once-hardy Hawkeye, his body immobile and wrapped in chains, his face bruised, beaten, and, most uncharacteristically, not speaking. The only movement on his visage is a string of blood coming from his mouth, and a blink or two from eyes nearly swollen shut. Just as Clint looks up, a leg comes into view in the foreground then just as quickly a foot arcs to kick Clint in the face and tumble him over, his body coming to rest facing away from the camera view.

With the most effort he can muster and taking him to the limit of his strength, Bishop is able to turn over one steel beam only to reveal another one five times its size, coming between him and the voice, clearer now but seeming a thousand miles away. No matter the amount of stubbornness, a mere man would be utterly unable to budge such a massive object. As if on cue, She-Hulk drops from the sky, at the end of an arc from a powerful leap beginning near the spot where the heroes returned from their recent adventure. On her back she carries Shang-Chi, who climbs off when they land with a mighty impact. She approaches Bishop to see what he’s looking at. “Need a hand?” she asks, and before he can answer she brushes aside the unmovable steel beam like she was pushing back a beaded curtain. The groaning voice stops once its owner is revealed, an older man who looks like he got knocked for a tumble, but intact. “Ha!” She-Hulk exudes, standing tall and patting a friendly hand on Bishop’s shoulder. “That’s one! We did it!” she says, followed by a proud laugh. “Shang, we need some medical attention,” she calls to her compatriot. “And I’ll keep digging,” she barely finishes before she’s pushing aside even more steel beams and looking for those unfortunate enough to have gotten trapped beneath the falling debris from the destruction of the Avengers Tower. Shang-Chi has already started on his task, moving to the gathering crowd to ask for someone to use their phone to call for an ambulance instead of recording all that is happening.

As Danny beat feet toward the Tower, lagging behind his companions, his mind was racing. Taskmaster had said something about a fox in the Avengers' henhouse. What had he meant? And what might it have to do with everything else the team had been through up until now? Danny felt like all the puzzle pieces were there in front of him, if only he could figure out how to arrange them.




Danny's instincts told him somehow this was all connected. He vowed he would get his answers, sooner or later... and once the current crisis had been dealt with. He knew he had to try and help whoever had been hurt in that blast. But his impulsive decision to confront Taskmaster had cost him precious time he might have spent getting to the Tower. If only there was a flying hero nearby who could give him a lift. Someone like--

"-- Johnny?" He watched as the fiery streak shot past overhead. "Hey, wait up!"

Venom chuckles as he notes all the Iron-men and shifts back to Mac sitting in a casual t-shirt and jeans, "So many Tin Cans means no meat hero or minion inside we bet. Well, we'll stay here unless you would rather us help dig stuff out. Hey, are you controlling all these like those annoying Spider-Slayers, or are you just this elaborate and likely illegal AI that pretends to not be an AI?"

He chuckles and sits down cross-legged, "Cause we won't snitch but it'd be damn nice to know Mr. Richer than the church is actually just as messed up as the rest of us."

Mac looks down, "Oh She-Hulk finally caught up. I don't see our plucky possible love interest with them...sad maybe this is a more serious adventure about friends we make along the way."

Karla glowered briefly, in vexation, at the color change, as her theory was confirmed.

See began visually checking the immediate vicinity, seeking a lens or other sensor she might disable with a focused beam, or perhaps some other means...

"Clint!" Hank yelled, uselessly. The image could have originated from anywhere on the planet, and might just as easily be a recording rather than a live feed.

Clint wasn't an original Avenger, but he was one of the earliest recruits, and Hank had fought alongside him for years. They had been there for each other when they'd hit personal lows. Hank counted Clint among his closest and dearest friends. Whoever was responsible for this video (and Clint's condition therein) was going to pay a steep price for his arrogance.

That, and the blowing up of Avengers Tower in the first place.

It was either an amazing coincidence that the screen was still functioning in a place where only Hank could reach, or it was an even more amazing feat to have it that way on purpose. The number of people who could have arranged it could be counted on one hand. But Hank couldn't dismiss the possibility.

He shoved those thoughts aside for the moment. He needed to report this finding back to the other Avengers... such as they may be. The team as it stood at the moment didn't feel very Avenger-y to Hank. But they were all he had.

Retracing his inbound path, Hank retreated from the wreckage to find the others.

"Yea" Bishop grumbled after the She-Hulk lifted the steel beams like they were toothpicks "'we' did it"

There wasn't much point in staying to watch the giantess clear the rubble.  Or moving the old man.  Bishop wasn't a doctor, but he knew he could cause further damage if the man sustained a back injury.  Like the steel beams, he better leave it to an expert.

" - I'm gonna go check on the others"

“My reputation precedes me! That’s what I get for not wearing a mask!” Johnny says, swooping down from the sky to Iron Fist below. “And you’re wearing a costume but not trying to kill me, so  I can throw in a favor.” Barely slowing, the Human Torch dips down an arm that extinguishes its flames by the time it reaches for Danny Rand, who reaches up to grab the flying hero’s hand to be whisked away. “Let’s go!” the Torch calls. Even the vaunted intelligence of Reed Richards has yet to explain how the Human Torch’s powers of flight from mimicking the lightness of flame are able to lift the weight of a man, much less another person, but if it works, it works, Mr. Fantastic could be urged to admit. And off they go, toward what is left of Avengers Tower.


She-Hulk’s smile turns to a grimace as she digs up bodies from the vast wreckage on the street. These people were unfortunate to be trapped under the debris, but Jen’s demeanor denotes that they are broken, not dead. She sets about pulling souls from the rubble as an ambulances sound in the distance.

Debris falling from on high. Blinking lights among rubble in the dark. Subterranean bases collapsed in on themselves. Citizens recording the proceedings while staying only marginally outside of harm’s way. The Avengers and their associates make their way around the structure, amidst disorder that just barely misses being full-blown chaos in the streets. A metropolitan monument has imploded to near-total collapse in an instant -- only 10 minutes ago the building was a beacon of hope and pride and the heroes of the world, and now it is a smoldering, cratered husk that may barely stand. If Stark in fact did not build it as a tribute to himself, he created it as a behemoth in the heart of the city, and one that now, turned to destruction, stands as an ugly remnant of an evil agenda. New York City has seen its share of tragedies, but this one will not be marked by its date, instead the event besmirching the noble American holiday on which it falls.

The iconic red-and-gold armor lowers toward Venom. Instead of speaking, hands go up, with balls of light coming from the palms, powering up in an instant for a deadly force that could surely wipe out the lethal protector. The armored figure in front of Venom does not speak or move, save for bobbing in the air held aloft by mighty repulsors on boots, but the orb of energy collecting on the palm aimed at Venom increases mightily in size and intensity. It reaches a visual crescendo larger then its user’s torso ready to blast Venom into a symbiote smudge, then --

“HALT!” A voice booms over the racket of the still-collapsing building. The sound is amplified possibly not through artificial means but by its acoustical advantage, bouncing from the interior of the building to the hot, outside world. Even more so, it is a voice that is naturally powerful, and one that is familiar to the heroes, by close acquaintance if not from common media.

The various iron-suits that were orbiting the building come to a stop, hovering in the air. They face the approaching heroes but make no moves, only bobbing slowly in the smoke that escapes what is left of the once-noble structure.

What was once the Avengers Tower eventually comes to settle, leaving a monstrous, smoldering crater in the middle, presenting a makeshift stage from which the voice comes. Though the location stands still save for smoke issuing forth, it is hardly inviting, clearly the epicenter of activity for this afternoon’s downtown events. A direct path to the interior of the husk of a building is open, to whatever is through the smoke.

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

As this adventure is now over, do not post to this thread any farther.

ACTS OF VENGEANCE 2 continues!