Atoms reform and pull together, molecules building from the most minuscule level, pulling each living being from a drifting, dream-like state to the presence of their physical bodies once again.

As those near the golden man had their corporeal bodies disintegrated, so do they reintegrate, but now in a completely different environment. Where the S.H.I.E.L.D. office was dark and chaotic, this place is bright and still. The sun shines hot above, as if it were only miles overhead. Clouds that might have once been above are burned away, leaving sun rays to beat down unadorned. Even looking away is blinding. When the world comes back into focus, the immediate vicinity is revealed: the reappearance has happened at the bottom of a wide bowl as wide as a gymnasium, the top of it opening into the sky, with no skyline to be seen over the rim. This crater holds its own debris, similar to that from the S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker but rusted and decayed, with dust from age rather than settling destruction, but low enough that nothing else can be seen around the bowl. The world is washed in a warm, orange hue, and the air is dirty and itchy. But the environment is quiet.

The heroes are assembled in the same formation as in the bunker as they did not move. New faces appear in the places where they would have been obscured by lack of light in the bunker, whether by their own volition or simply hidden in the darkness.

Uncontrollably, Storm lets out a sharp, guttural moan when she is the last to appear. She slumps into a crouch holding her sides and her head drops downward.

The Punisher stands without the War Machine armor he wore, with ravaged clothes and holding the War Machine machine cannon at his hip, his finger on the trigger. He looks around with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

She-Hulk, the last to materialize, drops into a defensive crouch then slowly looks around, past her fellow heroes and to the distance. “Uh, guys?” she asks cautiously, growing rapidly to frantic. “Uh… guys?”

The golden, unclothed man is still in the center of the assemblage, his glow still dominant even under the harsh rays of the sun above. He stands without moving, a blank look still on his face as he gazes ahead into nothing.

Scene Distinctions:
Somewhere Else… Or Is It?
Any Time Is Now
Site Reduced To Rubble

Doom Pool: 2d6

Note:
* Player Plot-Point tallies are reset. Each hero starts with 1 PP.
* Doom Pool is also reset.
* Remember to include your current PP tally in each post when an action was taken.
* Current Affiliation for all is Team.
* Every hero on a roster list may not be present (to accommodate for heroes/players with an unsure status or who have left out without notification).
* Always refer to the Status Update thread for updates, to the most recent post (though be aware of the date and time).

Doom Pool (2d6) mental attack (sudden shell-shock) on all heroes:
Storm physical Stress   d12

Watcher rolled 6,6,6 using d6,d6,d12 ((6,6,6)).

Total: 12, Effect: d12

Heroes may use Psyche Specialty as part of their pool; defense powers and Menace Specialty would not work for this roll

Reaction Needed: Bishop, Storm, Wolfsbane, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, Machine Man, Taskmaster, Namorita, Invisible Woman
Next Action: any
This message was last updated by the GM at 03:05, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

Gazing warily at his new surroundings, Shang-Chi steels his nerves. Though unfamiliar, there is something calming about the glow. "A calm..." he thinks, "Before the storm?" With that realization, his mind cuts through the fog. A lifetime of training kicks in as he shifts his weight ever so slightly, muscles tensing as he sinks into a battle-ready stance. Drawing in slow, deep breaths, he confronts the growing inner sense that something very bad is about to happen.

Team d8
Cultivated Inner Peace d8
Psych Expert d8

22:26, Today: Shang-Chi rolled 6 using 3d8 ((1,1,4)).

Total: 4
Effect: d4
Opportunities: 2
Plot Points: 1

Welp, I'm off to a bad start here. :P

Next Action: Moon Knight
This message was last edited by the player at 06:30, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

Ororo doubled over in pain as she re-materialized - the teleportation effect that had been triggered hadn't done anything to heal her, unfortunately. Fortunately, the reflexive closing of her eyes and the focus on her own pain left little enough attention for the oddity of their sudden disintegration and re-integration.

Though through the pain, she could still register some bewilderment and hear someone call out for her. "Did someone call my name?" The weather-witch looked about for who that might have been.

Reaction: Team (d10), Strong-Willed Leader (d8), Psychic Resistance (d8), Psych Expert (d8)

22:54, Today: Storm rolled 10,8,6,4 using d10,d8,d8,d8 with rolls of 10,8,6,4.  Reaction.

Total: 18
Effect d8

PP back to 1 (boo! I had 5!)

What happens when you reboot a computer when it's in the middle of performing a few gazillion programs?

**ERROR - ERROR - ERROR**

Without much else to pull from besides his exceptional manufacturing, X-51 is about to have a really bad day. Still, if this is "mental stress", I may be burning that 1 PP by invoking X-51's Immunity SFX because machines don't suffer mental stress, they suffer physical burnout. D12 effect? Yeesh, failing that roll will be borderline traumatic...and if failed by 5? That's a one shot stress out of scene with D6 mental trauma...oh fudge. Well, let's see how 2D8 stands up to this...gotta beat a 12.

Team: D8
Advanced Sentient Android Prototype: D8

Today: Machine Man rolled 9 using 2d8 with rolls of 8,1.  Reaction to mental attack (shell shock).

Total: 8
Effect: D4 (Default)
Opps: 1
PP: 1 (2 by way of Limitation Malfunction, 3 if Opp purchased, -1 for SFX - Immunity)

Well...at least I didn't fail by five, but...ugh, D12 mental stress. Sooo..okay, whether the opportunity I rolled is purchased or not, I will spend the one I already have to negate the mental stress...but since I don't want it to sound like a walk in the park for X-51, I'd like to invoke his Malfunction Limitation and Shutdown his Cybernetic Senses (for 1 PP). He's not blind or whatnot, but compared to the level of observation and data acquisition he can muster with his advanced senses - it will most assuredly feel like it. I'll have to buy an opportunity to bring his Cybernetic Senses back online representing those core programs rebooting and becoming active once more.

X-51, more commonly known as Machine Man, materializes in a most peculiar and unusual way...seeming caught in motion as if attempting to perform action but halted as if he were attempting to audition as a mime street performer. A look of curiosity and bewilderment lines his face as the corner of his mouth and one of his eyebrows twitch spasmadically as he stammers sporadically, "I...I...ERROR...I...ERROR...RE-RE-REBOOTING..."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:36, Sat 25 Jan 2020.

Bishop squinted in disbelief.  One moment he was standing at the collapsed basement, the next outside in the sunlight.  It was just like last week.  His mind could barely cope.  Where was he?  WHEN was he?  Was he back when it all started?  Did something go wrong with Forge's device?  Or maybe he was just plain old crazy, and the entire trip to the past, and now this too, was all in his head?

Looking around, confused, he slowly sat down on the ground, ignoring everyone else for the time being

Team 1d8, Uncompromising 1d8, plus 1d8 from PP:
Bishop rolled 4,7,4 using 1d8,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 4,7,4.  reaction vs mental attack .
Total: 11
Effect: 1d8
PP: 1-1=0

Mental Stress taken: 1d12

Materializing in a crater with a sound similar to Alka-Seltzer dropped in soda, Taskmaster wiffles into existence.

Team: d6
Psyche Expert: d8

16:58, Today: Taskmaster rolled 5,7 using d6,d8 ((5,7)).

Total: 12
Effect: d4(default)

Shaken like a first-year crime student after his first kill, Taskmaster vaguely notices that there are others around him, but he's busy mentally slapping his curled neurons back into functionality. Usually, due to his abilities, he zeroes in on everyone around him in case he has to start photographing his reflexes. However, right now he feels dull as a numpty trying to fill a bucket with no bottom.


<Orange>PP:1
This message was last edited by the player at 21:22, Mon 24 Feb 2020.

d6 Team Affiliation
d8 Adapt of Die Distinction
d10 Psyche Master

- rolled 5,2,8 using d6,d8,d10
Total: 13 ... Success at resisting the mental shock
      Effect: d8


Wolfsbane growled, her hackles bristling, at the strange events ... and the even stranger surrounds suddenly about her.
New place, new scents, new folk ... new threats.

Claws extended from her fingers ... long, jagged, razors that promised as much pain as her Fangs.
Right now, she was ready for anything.   A ball of destruction, waiting.

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





The Punisher stands stoic, facing the villain plainly in their midst but taking no action against him, as well as keeping the golden man in front of him. His narrowed eyes follow the rim of the bowl the heroes find themselves standing near the center of, the steely gaze scanning the edges of this unfamiliar environment. Anyone with an enhanced sense of hearing can pick up his trigger-finger tap-tap-tapping the cannon he holds at his hip as he examines the surrounding perimeter.

She-Hulk has her footing by the time the heroes fully integrate in this new place and she takes a moment to look around at her compatriots, whether the ones that were accounted for before being blown away, and now. She looks quickly then focuses on Storm, then looks again at the group and sighs heavily and purposely before moving quickly toward the weather-witch, glaring at each person wrapped up in themselves as she shoulders past them. She holds up the battered and beaten mutant in her mighty, gamma-radiated arms. "Ororo," she says, "Are you okay?"

Storm looked up at She-Hulk. "Not really, no. Did you...didn't you see me get slammed into the wall after taking a...plasma blast I suppose? Square in the chest. That hurt." Hurt bad. Ororo was not moving nearly as fluidly as usual. A pronounced limp made everything that much more difficult. But hey, at least she could still fly. Even while walking she could take most of the weight off her bad leg if she needed to do so.

"I've had enough of this" Bishop finally stands up, still reeling from the experience. His companions looked alright. Ish.  So they could focus on the next priority – getting out of the crater and finding out what the hell happened.

OOC: Whew, that's a relief. I'll be spending that PP so as to avoid insta-death. Thanks for letting Shang-Chi save some face here. ;)

IC:
Despite his efforts to steel his nerves, Shang-Chi's mind reels from a barrage of the unfamiliar. A bead of sweat trickles down his brow. This golden man, whoever or whatever he is, seems to emanate a power far beyond anything he's dealt with before. And although some friends stand nearby, it is little comfort in the face of so much uncertainty. One man dressed in dark clothing particularly strikes Shang-Chi as an omen of misfortune, the massive cannon he carries giving Shang-Chi little reason to imagine that his intentions could be noble. He can't shake the feeling that whatever is about to happen next, violence is inevitable, whether sparked by the golden man or the one dressed in black. Although Shang-Chi remains outwardly calm, waves of uncertainty crash upon the shores of his inner mind, and he soon finds himself adrift in it.

"Where are we?" he asks, to no one in particular.

PP: 0
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Mon 03 Feb 2020.

"Agreed", growled Wolfsbane, taking her wolves form ... the better for climbing this Site Reduced To Rubble.
She then proceeded to bound on up the crater walls, using debris and detritus for purchase.

Add d8 to Doom Pool from Shang-Chi's Opportunities
Add d6 to Doom Pool from Machine Man's Opportunity

The Watcher automatically buys all player-rolled Opportunities. Assume that you will get 1 PP for all Opportunities rolled in a single dice pool.

The golden man at the center of the gathering of heroes suddenly makes one single movement: He lifts his head to look far up at the sky.

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

The golden man raises his arms above his head, then flies upward so quickly that it appears as if he disappears. He vanishes into the sky, both from traveling so fast that he is far gone instantly, and from fading into a sky that seemed cloudless because it's an expanse covered in a thick, dull cover of filthy air, hanging low and languidly, as a dirty, ashy fog.

All the man leaves is a quiet whoosh as its rapidly exiting form displaces the air behind it on its rapid exit.

"what the *censored*!?" Bishop, which has been blasted back by the shockwave of the golden man breaking the sound barrier, slowly got up to his feet.  His head was still aching, as was his body, from having every Bishop-atom pulled apart, and then back again
"Storm?" he cleared his throat "How you're feelin'?"

Storm took a deep breath and stood to her full height with She-Hulk's help. "Not so good, Bishop. Though I can still fly if you want me to try to chase him down." She looked up and noted the complete absence of the golden man, as well as the odd sky.

"But I think he might be a touch faster than I am." She paused, mostly to indicate different subject matter. "Any of you find the sky a bit odd?" The dirty fog overhead was actually begging for a bit of exploration.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:30, Fri 14 Feb 2020.

"Yea, that too" he looked around the sooty sky, then back at the crater, and the unfamiliar faces around him.
"Don't bother chasing him. Better we all get out of here and get our bearings first"

Upon reaching the lip of the crater, Wolfsbane took in the scene beyond.

She-Hulk relaxes slightly and releases Storm but stays close. "Probably a good idea to not run off before we figure out where we are," the jade giantess says. "Until we figure out wherever in the world we are. If we're still in a world." Her gaze wanders cautiously to Wolfsbane, scampering up the crater wall.

The Punisher, looking up at a different area of the ridges above, takes a step back.

With sensory processors and receptors operating in what could only be described as 'Safe Mode', X-51 extracts one of his 'eyes' and performs remedial maintenance before replacing it with a subdued *Schlock!*. Internal diagnostics confirm automotive functionality though restoration of X-51's broadband sensory array...pending. With what seems like a very human-like 'sigh', X-51 gazes about the localized area...devoid of ultra-violet or infrared spectrum analysis capabilities, X-51 mutters under breath with a tone that sounds like annoyance...

"Might as well be monochrome..."

Undeterred by his reduced capacity, X-51 continues to operate as if nothing had transpired, taking stock in the general area and those whom lie within his field of perception. As the glowing man ascends and vacates the localized area, X-51 can't help but wonder where was Spider-Man, and who were those currently present? Captain America issued the call, but only one registered as an Avenger - the jade giantess, She-Hulk.

"Probably a good idea to not run off before we figure out where we are," the jade giantess says. "Until we figure out wherever in the world we are. If we're still in a world."

"An astute observation, Ms. Walters. X-51 states as he picks his way through the site reduced to rubble on extensible limbs and approaches She-Hulk, "...one which I will have difficulty assisting at the moment, alas." X-51 accentuates his proclamation by palming the side of his head a few times before issuing forth an over-exaggerated grin as he gazes upon the others. "X-men...it's been too long, did Captain America get in contact with you as well?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:48, Mon 10 Feb 2020.

She-Hulk straightens as she pulls away from Storm, still staying close to the weather mistress. She looks to X-51. "Cap called me and Bishop here. I'd assumed he called everyone else?" Not much of a question but she looks around at the others just to see who pipes up with a different answer.

"I don't think it was the Captain" Bishop repeated what he said earlier, back when they were at the Avenger's tower "I read a lot about him when I was young.  About how he lived, and died.  Asking us to kill everyone in the compound sounds nothing like him"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Tue 11 Feb 2020.

X-51 strokes his chin and states to no one in particular, "Well, according to recorded human history...'declarations of war' seldom de-escalate into pillow fights. Still, it seems rather pointless to follow through with the initial protocol...apparently this is the compound, or more importantly - what is left of it. I suppose we could search the rubble, but the likelihood of finding organics among the debris is exceptionally small if we expect to find them living.

Tilting his head slight, X-51 gazes at Bishop with an expression that looks like confusion, "Speaking of violence - Who...or what...was the glowing man? You apparently knew him well enough to consider him worth shooting.

Without missing a beat, X-51 tilts his head towards She-Hulk, "As to your question, Spider-Man was among those who answered the call...though it does not look like he made it through what seems to have been a temporal convergence."

"At least that is what I am calling it...," X-51 states as he converts one of his hands into a series of electronic tools and extracts one of eyes and seems to be performing some kind or sort of maintenance work. "...I could be wrong." he adds with a humorless grin.

"Cap... has his reasons," She-Hulk says, though her voice is lower than it has been. "I mean... he's Captain America."

Wolfsbane could be seen standing at the lip of the crater, far above ... her back to those within as she surveyed the land beyond.

Storm nodded after a brief pause. "Someone identifying themselves as Captain America sent us out on this mission. Though as Bishop said, it didn't sound like him. And as far as I've been able to tell, no one received instruction from him face-to-face."

X-51 replaces his eye and looks glum, "One anomaly at a time, please...my processors took quite a hit during the localized temporal displacement. According to rudimentary geographical triangulation...we are still at the same destination prior to the violent altercation with the glowing man...so it's not really a question of where, but when."

Scuffing his boot over a bit of debris, X-51 concludes, "It would seem we were shifted forward along a probable future timeline...this SHIELD holding facility has seen better days, apparently fifteen minutes ago according to my internal clock."

Storm nodded. "Same place, eh? Hm. Well, time to take a look."

The mutant lifted off the ground and slowly rose toward upwards as her cape billowed behind her. Blue eyes surveyed the world around her as she gained altitude.

Bishop narrowed his eyes at the mention of time travel.  He didn’t like the sound of it, not one bit
”Are you sure it only been fifteen minutes?  Cause unless the entire city been leveled, I would have expected to hear sirens by now.  Right?”

"Approximately..." X-51 replies to Bishop, "...I am correlating my time index based upon the moment where you discharged your firearm at the glowing man - the ensuing energy cascade, and what appears to be some sort of localized temporal displacement which brought us to this moment, stems from that."

"At least I hope it was localized...," X-51 states as he picks up and examines a rusted bit of metal, "If the rest of the city looks like this...that would be problematic."

Shang-Chi listens in on the conversation ensuing nearby. Although the technical discussion of "temporal displacement" is quite beyond him, he has seen enough in his years of adventure to grasp the concept of time travel. Remaining silent, he tries not to show just how perturbed he is by these unnatural events.

Instead, he keeps his gaze focused on the Punisher, whose presence still makes him unwary. He knows a killer when he sees one, and the sight of him reminds Shang-Chi of his own violent past that he can never outrun. Although he tells himself he is keeping watch for his friends' sake, he knows the act really serves to calm his own nerves.

Storm floats upward into the sky, slower than she may wish, since it is a great effort to ignore the pain in her broken body enough to activate her powers. Yet she gains enough distance rise over the lip of the crater.




She-Hulk shrugs and looks at the top of the crater walls. "Welp, since we seem to be the only ones here, let's just climb out of here and get back to Avengers Tower, easy peasy."

Turning her head slightly, to see Storm rising from the proverbial grave, Wolfsbane looked down to see that She Hulk and the others were preparing to climb up to join them.


It was a curious scene, spread out before them here at the lip of the crater ... and Wolfsbane turned her attention back to the army of yellowish humanoids that was gathering in front of her.
Their spears, though pointed at her, were not yet being used for assault, and so she wasn't too worried about them.


Keeping an eye on the spear-wielding muties, though, she began to take in a better look at the war-torn, post-apocalyptic cityscape around them, wondering "How far into the future have we come?"

Storm raised her arms so they were straight out from her sides. She allowed lightning to spark and snap along those outstretched arms as her eyes faded from blue to white.

"Fifteen minutes, according to one expert on the matter. Is it possible that this is an event where both time and space have been affected? Or even that the past has been altered by, er, something or someone?"

Storm continued to use her mastery of electricity to put on a display that might cause one to mistake her for a deity, if one were rather primitive.

Joining the others in their ascent from the crater on extensible limbs, X-51 stops abruptly taking in the post-apocalyptic scene with a bewildered expression saying, "Oh no, it's quite clear that more than fifteen minutes have transpired.... Glancing at She-Hulk, he states, "Let us hope the Avenger's Tower has aged well."

Bishop pulled the grappling hook out of his belt.  He looked up the crater the assess the right amount of rope he’s going to need, then, with one single, supernaturally powered, throw, he tossed the hook up 20 feet over the edge of the crater.  After giving it a good tug to make sure it is latched firmly, he started pulling himself up, his feet against the wall for support.

When he finally did reach all the way up he looked at the sky, and the surrounding, with an scowl

Anyone looking at the top of the wall sees the head peaking over it from outside the crater. But the Punisher sees it the same time as well! Once the vigilante sees the other presence above, he lets loose with the War Machine cannon, spraying the stealthy intruder with a cloud of bullets. Other heads peek over the lip around the crater as well, but many are pushed back, some of them in arcs of blood. When the Punisher pauses to aim at more that pop up, he sneers, without taking his eyes off his targets, "Reminds me of the Nguoi Rung." He pops off a few more. "But when those showed up, they couldn't hide either." Then he lets off another barrage of deadly bullets, intended to take out as many invaders as he can!

Punisher adds d8 to the Doom Pool

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

Next Action: any (then pick next action)

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK!!! go the War Machine's cannon, by way of the Punisher and his savage fury in combating a new foe. The staccato clamor of the weapon exults a violent rhythm, uneven when the Punisher pivots to aim at a new enemy, but a horrible volume that punches angry holes in the silence just as bullets blast through the air. Plink-plink-plinks are the only variances in sound as a scant few of the Punisher's multitude of intended bullets miss targets that luck into avoiding being shot, if only for the moment. The horrific litany pauses when the Punisher takes half a second to catch his breath. "I could do this all day," he grunts.

Either a pained but determined grimace or a maniacal but committed smile crosses his face as he lifts the machine cannon into position again. "You gonna help out or are you just gonna stand there with thumbs in butts, heroes?" he barks as he begins his deadly barrage anew.

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK!!!

As sickly and deplorable the gathered throng looked to be, they were still...technically...organic, and X-51 had some deep rooted core programs and established parameters regarding human...or in this case...humanoid life. X-51 did not see a looming threat, certainly as not all were even armed, and what they were armed with hardly qualified as being potentially threatening. Their own physiology denoted a distinct lack of overall physical capacity. Ms Walters, also known as the She-Hulk, could probably traipse right through them without even remotely breaking stride...

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK-KRAK!!!

Without a second thought...X-51 launches an extensible arm at The Punisher, hand striving to grab the discharging firearm in hopes to disarm the trigger-happy human. The Punisher may be strong, for a human, but X-51 was no man as he states, "Let us not escalate the situation, shall we?"

Okay, X-51 isn't just going to sit back and let The Punisher mow down a bunch of post-apocalyptic degenerates. X-51 will be operating autonomously so I'll opt for the Solo affiliation...others may not agree with his plan of action, but he's not waiting for the committee (D10). Obey The Three Robotic Laws I could see playing out as a hindrance, but since his programming's goading him into action, I'll play off it as an advantage (D8). For traits, I really wish I had my Senses but for now I'll be using Stretching because long limbs be useful (D8) and Enhanced Strength (D6 due to Multipower SFX). Alas, no Specialties apply. Knowing Punisher's history, I'm going to try and attack his Weapon Trait in order to shut it down (yes, I know, The Punisher has a lot of guns...X-51 will pluck pretty much anything that isn't directly attached off him - pistols, grenades, etc, if successful that is...)

Solo: D10
Obey The Three Robotic Laws: D8
Stretching: D8
Enhanced Strength: D8 (D6 due to Multipower SFX)

Today: Machine Man rolled 7,2,8,5 using d10,d8,d8,d6 ((7,2,8,5)).
Total: 20 (15+5 for 1 PP)
Effect: D8
Opps: 0
PP: 1 (2-1 for adding die for total)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:20, Fri 21 Feb 2020.

Ororo chided the Punisher. "Why do you think it's a good idea to start shooting before diagnosing the situation? Violence most always begets violence."

Storm nodded appreciatively at X-51's quick reactions as she wasn't in shape to do much herself. Ororo did continue her display of electrical power, watching the creatures to see how they reacted.

"Should have killed the bastard when I had the chance" Bishop mutters under his breath for the second time today.  You know what they say - "third time's a charm".
Aiming at the Punisher, he fired a quick succession of concussion force blasts.  Whether he saved any of the mutants was immaterial at this point.  All he wanted was to see the man down for good:

Make a difference 1d4
Team 1d8
Energy Blast 1d10
Combat Expert 1d8


Today: Bishop rolled 2,2,4,6 using 1d4,1d10,1d8,1d8 with rolls of 2,2,4,6.  energy blast at the punisher.

4+6 = 10, effect = 1d10
PP: 0+1=1
Next Action: She Hulk

This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Sun 23 Feb 2020.

Shang-Chi has just started his ascent up the crater wall when he hears the gunshots. Still shaking off the effects of "temporal displacement," he feels an unusual lag in his body as he hurries himself upward. Worse, the arrival of the humanoid beings has taken his attention off the Punisher for just an instant, and apparently that is all the invitation the madman needs to start shooting. As he reaches for one of the few natural handholds in the crater wall, Shang-Chi feels something warm and wet spray onto his hand: blood from one of the yellow-skinned beings. His brow furrows at the sight.

"Let us not escalate the situation, shall we?" he hears a voice say from the ground. Shang-Chi hears a mechanical whirring noise and looks up to see the extensible limb of Machine Man shoot by overhead. With a sudden inspiration, Shang-Chi leaps from the wall and onto the mechanical appendage, dashing along its length with a lightness of movement belying his muscular frame. He hops off at the lip of the crater, rolling to break his fall and emerging into a solid fighting stance.

"You'd gun them down in cold blood?" Shang-Chi asks the Punisher, shaking his head. "Where is the honor in that?" He looks around at his allies for support, hoping one of them can help talk the man down.

"Do unto others before they do unto you," the Punisher snarls, looking elsewhere while X-51's appendage shoots toward him.

Machine Man: Since you're part of the group, your Affiliation is Team

Defend from Machine Man's attempt to remove Punisher's Weapon, Total: 20, Effect: d8 (msg #39):
Solo    d12
Dead Inside    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Combat Master    d10

Punisher rolled 11,2,1 using d12,d4,d10 ((11,2,1)).

Total: 13, Effect: d4 (default)
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d10

1 Opportunity (available first to Machine Man)

Punisher's Weapon removed

Amidst a burst from the Punisher's War Machine cannon, X-51's elongated arm comes down to swat the weapon from the vigilante's grasp and send it to the rough ground, breaking it in two, enough to stop its assault, no matter how righteous. Before the Punisher can react to the action against him, Bishop follows up with massive energy blasts!

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 10, Effect: d8 (msg #41):
Solo    d12
Dead Inside    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Combat Master    d10
Bishop Mental Stress    d12

Punisher rolled 7,3,8,1 using d12,d4,d10,d12 ((7,3,8,1)).

Total: 11, Effect: d12

1 Opportunity (available first to Bishop)

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

If Bishop is distracted by mental anguish for even a moment, the Punisher takes the opportunity of a heartbeat of warning to defend himself, pulling X-51's mechanical arm toward himself as a shield to send the mutant's energy blast ricocheting into the air. Rather than push the attack, however, the Punisher releases the metal arm and takes no counter-action on the mutant. Instead, he brushes himself off with a swipe. "Typical idiot heroes," he says. "More nobility than sense. Now you've got who-knows-how-many of these things coming at you and you just took out the only person who knows this situation." He spits. "See where that nobility gets you now," he says, looking up at the humanoid creatures peaking over the top of the crater, many more of them when they are not being forced back by being shot. "You're about to die and you don't even know where you are."

Shang-Chi takes a position at the top of the lip, with a plunge straight down into the crater a step behind him and the humanoid creatures in front of him closer and getting closer. Though he can only see the crowd before him, a view over their heads would reveal that their number goes back along a wrecked street as far as the eye can see.

Without communicating among them or looking at each other, they appear to know their objective and move forward.

She-Hulk acts like she doesn't hear the Punisher behind her. "Stormy," she calls as she brings her arms up in a defensive position, even if the creatures haven't poured into the interior of the crater... yet. "You got the best vantage point up there. How many we got? What's our best play here?"

Next Action: Storm

Taskmaster shakes off the disorientation pretty quickly, and sees the Punisher, of all people, staring him down.

The golden man does his thing as golden men do. No idea what that’s about, but he’s got an angry killer staring him down at the moment.

GUN. TRIGGER FINGER. STANCE. TM’s mind starts pulling all the information Punisher’s giving off about himself that he doesn’t even know he’s giving away.

Taskmaster would sigh, but that’s not where his head is at right now. It’s gonna be a fight and he’s going to start stacking the deck n—

Taskmaster is surprised as the blasting makes Punisher turn away from him. He sees that one of the, uh, X-Men? Maybe? Is shooting at Punisher.  Now this isn’t too surprising, these guys will always start beating each other up at the drop of a hat.

Welp, time to mosey off, Taskmaster thinks, making his way to the side of the crater not infested with “heroes” He leisurely climbs up the side of the crater as he hears a lot of commotion on the other side as they continue to attack each other, then some yelling about other people being killed, then more attacks.

It really must be exhausting to be one of the good guys.

OOC: Oh most assuredly I'll be activating that opportunity The Punisher rolled, Cybernetic Senses restored for 1 PP! - current total: 0.

If the sound of gunfire did not spurn X-51's maintenance programs into high gear, Bishop's energy blasts certainly provided an additional power boost! Like a flood of existential awareness, X-51's sensory perception and range extends to the edge of superhuman cybernetic capabilities. Retracting his arm, x-51 flexes his fingers and grins happily as he gazes about localized area seemingly oblivious to current events.

"I am sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else...," X=51 states off-handed to The Punisher, "I am a tool, nothing more...rejoice, my targeting systems have restored and are working in accordance to nominal parameters."

"Easy, there, Skeletor," She-Hulk says as Taskmaster strolls by her. His cape trails behind him, giving the jade giantess plentiful slack to grab. Her hand rubs some fresh soot off the white cloth as she pulls him back. "If you're not going to fight, then we have to make sure you survive." She looks down on him from her considerable height, and her muscles can't help but flex even in their natural state of rest. "And you really need to fight." The look in her eyes, though not a glare, could be a dare to test her.

The Punisher stands, hands empty, before X-51. "I don't care, robot," he grumbles. "You just better be ready to fight," he says, calmly but gruffly looking past the mechanical man and at the humanoid creatures which are already coming over the lip of the crater.

"How many? I guess I would call it an army? Hard to have a good idea of numbers just yet." Storm briefly considered how she might guesstimate the total number of heads, though put those thoughts aside for the moment.

"They all seem nearly identical, but...very low tech? Loincloths and the occasional spear. Eerily silent except for the movement of feet and air." She shrugged. "As far as I can tell, they didn't do anything to threaten any of us. At least not before someone decided to start shooting them."

She pointed in the direction opposite from where the yellowish creatures were approaching. "Head out of the crater that way, then we can try to get our bearings. It's not like there's anything to protect down there."

Bishop was done talking.  He'll only say something once the Punisher lies dead at his feet.
He surveyed the man yet again after his initial assault failed, searching for an opening that would allow him to bring him down once and for all

OOC: passing on the opportunity

In hearing Storm's report, X-51 activates his flight systems and takes aloft, extending a hand...literally, towards The Punisher, "Care for a lift? I believe the phrase is 'Fight OR Flight'...and since there are options, it is efficient to choose the path of least resistance - agreed?"

Speaking more in general to the rest, X-51 states, "My chassis has effective load bearing limit of a few metric tons so I should be able to bear any who wish to leave this scene." Looking at his extensible limbs, he sighs and adds, "Alas, I am afraid with "Machine-Man Airways"...you are always riding coach, so to speak."

While the heroes speak to the Punisher, the vigilante crosses his arms and takes a step back. At the same time, the first wave of the horde of humanoid creatures breaches the lip of the crater and run, tumble, and fall down wall of the bowl and rush toward the group of heroes, followed by a drove behind. Dust kicked up by their travel obscures their number, but without an ending to them on the horizon it could be possible that that number may not end.

The Punisher does not flinch. "Might want to stop talking and start fighting, morons," he says, without weapons.

In just a moment, the crush of an untold multitude of humanoids will be upon the heroes!

... and then she watched as the hoard of spear-wielding yellow people charged on into the crater ... apparently unperturbed by the large werewolf in their midst.
Maybe it was human flesh they desired.

She wandered over to the crater lip to watch how effective the fellowmen were.

Shang-Chi takes one look at the advancing hordes, then turns back toward the crater. Spotting Machine Man rising into the air, he shrugs his shoulders. "Retreat seems wise. My thanks for the lift." With that, he leaps off the rim of the crater, grabbing onto one of the android's outstretched limbs. "Apologies for not asking permission the first time," he adds.

"This group seems nearly endless. Retreat seems the wiser course of action, by far." The weather witch continued to allow lightning to cover her in what seemed like a random pattern, though she wasn't quite ready to unleash it just yet.

OOC: Storm will wait to act. Next action is Shang-Chi.

Shang-Chi lights atop Machine Man's robotic frame with an ease of movement as though he were borne by a divine wind. Though the acrobatic leap appears effortless, only he can feel the unusual lag in his muscles, no doubt due to the strange temporal effects at play. Crouching atop his android ally's metal chassis, he extends his fists toward the advancing mobs in a fighting stance. For now he merely studies the yellow figures charging forth, waiting to see if his allies down on the ground will beat a retreat or stay and fight. In either scenario, the martial artists' focused gaze says all too well that he is ready to cover them.

OOC:
My idea here is that with Machine Man's help, Shang-Chi now has a tactical position in the air from which he can survey the battlefield and swoop in to assist any ally who gets too overwhelmed by the oncoming hordes. I'd like to roll to try and create an asset called "I Have the High Ground."

Team d8
Master of Kung Fu d4 + 1 PP (He's a master of Kung Fu, not airborne robo-combat.)
Enhanced Reflexes d8
Acrobatics Master d10

I'm also activating my Limit: Exhausted to shut down Enhanced Stamina for 1 PP, simulating the lingering effects of "time-lag."

12:15, Today: Shang-Chi rolled 10,14,4 using 1d10,2d8,1d4 with rolls of 10,7,7,4.  Rolling to create an asset, "I Have the High Ground."

Total: 17
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 0
Plot Points: 2

Next Action: Wolfsbane
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Sun 01 Mar 2020.

Doom Pool (d6, 4d8) reaction to Shang-Chi's attempt to create "I Have the High Ground" Asset, Total: 17, Effect: d8:
Shang-Chi emotional stress    d12

Watcher rolled 5,6,8,7,5,5 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d12 ((5,6,8,7,5,5)).

Total: 15, Effect: d12

Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d6

Shang-Chi climbs aboard X-51 -- whether the man-machine approves or not -- and is able to rise above the approaching throng of humanoid creatures, but, due to his extreme disequilibrium after being transported across a great distance, and the inherent difficulty of the task, unsteadily perched upon another person's body, even one made of metal, though the added weight could be enough to drag both of them down. For the moment the pair could be beyond a sickly arm's reach, though perhaps just barely.

Meanwhile, the hoard of creatures approach quickly, makeshift spears waving and ready for attack, and impromptu weapons of rocks and debris if not fists at the ready. Wolfsbane, above at the lip of the crater, has avoided the rush for a moment but in a moment the swarm will be upon her, her werewolf form only making for an easier target.

"That many ugly things could only be Moloids," She-Hulk says through gritted teeth as she shifts her foot sideways to strengthen her stance, fists balled and ready in front of her. "Whenever we are, at least we know some things don't change." The next moment, those Moloids are all over her and her companions!

The Moloids rush to press their attack. As they are running at full-speed and tumbling down into the crater and kicking up dust in the barren landscape, it doesn't take long for them to reach their targets, punching and stabbing and biting and poking once they are within range of doing harm. They don't strike as much as grapple their foes, inundating with numbers when their fists and weapons cannot penetrate. They even attempt to overtake those opponents who have taken to the air, laying down prone members of the mass to create piles from their bodies for others to climb and gain the height needed to grab at their levitated or airborne adversaries. What strength the humanoids lack in individual might they more than make up for in sheer numbers and mass. Even when the multitude of the front wave follow through with their intentions, there are still hordes behind them, for a constantly-replenishing army of replacements. In moments, the heroes stand to be overpowered, buried, and smothered under a countless number of sickly, raging bodies. "RAAARRRRRRRRR!" the Moloids scream through mouths of savage, mangled teeth. Soon, the heroes may no longer stand at all!

Attempt to create Overrun, Overcome, Overwhelmed Complication on Machine Man, Bishop, Shang-Chi, Wolfsbane, Storm, Taskmaster:
Mob    6d4
Strength In Numbers    d8
Grab    d8
Area Attack    5d6
Bishop/Shang-Chi/Storm stress    d12

Moloid Mob rolled 1,3,2,2,3,3,7,7,2,4,2,2,3,8 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d8,d8,d6,d6,d6,d6,d6,d12 ((1,3,2,2,3,3,7,7,2,4,2,2,3,8)).

Total: 15, Effect: d8 to Taskmaster; d6 to Machine Man, Bishop, Shang-Chi, Wolfsbane, Storm,

1 Opportunity available

Reactions Needed: Machine Man, Bishop, Shang-Chi, Wolfsbane, Storm, Taskmaster
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 10:45, Fri 06 Mar 2020.

Shang-Chi's focus is put to the test as the Moloids charge in, spears thrusting and slashing at him from every direction. He enters a trance-like state of pure martial instinct as he moves to counter the oncoming tide of attacks with a series of blocks and counter-strikes honed over a lifetime of training. In the chaotic struggle, he has not even a chance to see what Machine Man is doing underneath him. To direct his attention away from his attackers, even for a second, would spell certain doom.

Team d8
Ex-Secret Agent d4 + 1 PP (He's starting to wonder why he ever left that job...)
Enhanced Strength d8
Combat Master d10
"I Have the High Ground" Asset d6

SFX: Focus. If your pool includes a Living Weapon power, you may replace two dice of equal size with one stepped-up die. (2 d8 = 1 d10)

I'm also buying the Watcher's opportunity to include a d10 Stunt. I'm tying this to Shang-Chi's Acrobatic specialty as a display of his exceptional balance, seeing as he's riding atop an airborne android at the moment. Surely my dice roll will reflect just how impressive a feat this is. *crosses fingers* ;)

17:37, Today: Shang-Chi rolled 14,2,4 using 3d10,1d4,1d6 with rolls of 7,2,5,2,4.  Reaction to Moloid Mob's attempt to create Overrun complication.

I'll be spending another Plot Point to just *barely* squeak out a 16 total. Looks like Shang-Chi's abilities live up to their reputation this time.

Total: 16
Effect: d10
Opportunities: 0
Plot Points: 1

“Madness” 
That was the only way to describe it the mindless horde of critters that didn’t have any regard for their own wellbeing.  Bishop never considered himself a hero.  He’s seen too many people die on account of stupid bravado.  Now was the time to make a run for it before it would be too late, if it wasn’t already.
Shoving, punching, and kicking any unfortunate cretin that got in his way, Bishop started jugging, then broke into a sprint, putting as much distance as he could between him and the swarm

Team 1d8
Dark Future Survivor 1d8
Superhuman Durability (+ FX) 1d10,1d10
Combat Expert 1d8


Bishop rolled 4,8,10,7,8 using 1d8,1d8,1d10,1d10,1d8 with rolls of 4,8,10,7,8.  Resist moloid mob with 'everything I've got'.

Total: 18, effect 1d8
Attack resisted

PP total: 1+0=1

Actually, Wolfsbane is in small, nimble wolf form at the moment ... but I know that this description is simply narrative, and makes no mechanical difference

As the Moloids attacked on mass to Overrun, Overcome, Overwhelmed, Wolfsbane mood swiftly and nimbly with her Combat experience and 'Enhanced Reflexes', making best use of the 'Rubble in this Site' to avoid getting harmed or pinned down.

REACTION to above 15 Total attack:
d6 Team
d8 Site Reduced To Rubble
d8 Enhanced Reflexes
d8 Combat Master

- rolled 4,4,6,6 using d6,d8,d8,d8 with rolls of 4,4,6,6.  Avoid attack.
Spend 1PP to add another dice to Total:
Total: 16  Effect: d6



                   And when I am permitted an action, please use this one:
As the yellow-hoards suddenly rage and raaaaagh, Wolvesbane moves swiftly and with Enhanced Reflexes to begin dodging their attacks and getting herself lost in among the hoard ... loose within rubble of the site and around their legs, and trying to disappear into their ranks and the ensuring chaos (like the master of stealth that she is).

Action: create Asset:  'Out of Sight, Out of Mind'
d6 Team
d8 Site Reduced To Rubble
d8 Enhanced Reflexes
d10 Covert Master

- rolled 3,6,4,7 using d6,d8,d8,d10 with rolls of 3,6,4,7.
Total: 13  Effect: d8

Power Points: 1 now

Next Action: any Hero
This message was last edited by the player at 09:33, Tue 10 Mar 2020.

Storm saw the assault from the ground coming and attempted to fly beyond the reach of the grasping hands. She was finally able to enjoy the wide open spaces and didn't want to

Reaction:

Team d10
Claustrophobic d8
Flight d8
Combat Expert d8

20:35, Today: Storm rolled 2,4,3,2 using d10,d8,d8,d8 with rolls of 2,4,3,2.  Reaction.

Total: 7
Effect: d10

Storm will use her remaining PP to turn the stress into d6 Mental Stress

PP remaining: 0

Even though her battered body was moving sluggishly, an abundance of concentration allowed Ororo to evade the assault.

She then bathed some of those that had attempted to grab her in electricity. She had properly warned them, after all. Storm aimed low in the column of those that had attempted to snatch her out of the air, digging deep within her for the power needed to spark an electrical blast.

OOC: Just going to use her held action to blast one of the guys that was holding up other guys.

Team: d10
Strong Willed Team Leader: d8
Electrical Blast: d10
Combat Expert: d8


20:44, Today: Storm rolled 4,6,9,8 using d10,d8,d10,d8 with rolls of 4,6,9,8.  Blast 'em!

Total: 17
Effect: d10

PP: 0
This message was last edited by the player at 03:46, Tue 10 Mar 2020.

She-Hulk just slowed him down. He was on his way to being out of the crater, but nooooooo. And now the half-pint savages were pouring into the crater like sand in an hourglass. At least she let go of his cape. It would be even better if he could use her largeness as cover, but they're coming all around. Damn.
"If you hadn't'na stopped me, I'da gotten out of here! They kill me, I'm gonna haunt you forever!"

Taskmaster dodges and weaves around the small yellow bastards. He's missing his weapons or he'd be killing these...hasn't he seen them before?
"Hey! Ain't these Mole Man's guys?! What the hell? Gonna kill me a Mole Man!"

However, before he can kill him a Mole Man, he's going to have to not die.

Time for Taskmaster to dodge or otherwise avoid the mob.
Team: d6
Villainous Mercenary: d4
Enhanced Reflexes: d8
Combat Master: d10

19:53, Today: Taskmaster rolled 4,1,5,8 using d4,d6,d8,d10
1 Opportunity to Watcher
1PP to add a die to total
Total: 17, Effect: d4 (default)

2PP currently

Taskmaster twists and weaves, using a mix of Captain America (his go-to more often than you might think) and Spider-Man. These mini monsters aren't too much of a threat, but he knows he can't keep this up forever and would rather be where they came from then where they are.

All heroes: Take an XP for a d12 used against you in a dice pool action (msg #1)

-----

Doom Pool (d6, 4d8) reaction to Wolfsbane's attempt to create Out of Sight, Out of Mind Asset, Total: 13, Effect: d8 (msg #63):
Wolfsbane Emotional stress    d4

Watcher rolled 4,1,3,2,7,4 using d6,d8,d8,d8,d8,d4 ((4,1,3,2,7,4)).

Total: 11, Effect: d8

1 Opportunity (available first to Wolfsbane)

Asset created

-----

Storm may have taken Overrun, Overcome, Overwhelmed Complication d8

-----

Moloids defend from Storm's physical attack, Total: 17, Effect: d10 (msg #64):
Team    6d4
Strength In Numbers    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Storm physical stress    d12

Moloid Mob rolled 3,2,2,3,4,2,4,5 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d12 ((3,2,2,3,4,2,4,5)).

Total: 8, Effect: d12

Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12

Removes 1 from Moloid Mob Team, to 5d4

Storm gets an XP for a d12 in a dice pool used against her

-----

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Taskmaster's Opportunity

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





While most of the heroes are able to avoid or evade the army of Moloids, Storm's luck commences to run out. The humanoids are able to pile themselves high enough to reach her, then her cape becomes easy to grab and used to drag her to earth. She manages to lash out, casting a phenomenal burst of lightning at her attackers, but her broken body leaves her aim shaky and despite the sheer force of the blast, its effect on the Moloid horde is insignificant at best. Still the creatures come at her, reaching over each other to a target that is drawn into their grasp further with each one that adds to the number.

On the other side of the crater, across a growing sea of Moloids, She-Hulk puts up the biggest fight, so naturally attracts the greatest of their numbers. Quickly they surround then swarm over the jade giantess, shortly covering her with their immense numbers. Just as quickly, though, she shoves, pushes, or throws them away, sending dozens of them flying with one effort, though she is quickly covered again with more them falling in, then over, her. When she forces them away long enough to be revealed, she does not appear wounded or under any particular duress, but their great number could eventually take over even a powerhouse like her.

Next Action: Taskmaster

As the Moloids swarm around everyone, Taskmaster runs through plans in his head. It files in his mind as: Plan-Necessary Fighting Style-Odds of Success. He plugs those in, moving the configurations around as the situation moves around.

First he thinks of just running over them like a crowd-surfer. But then he looks over at She-Hulk and gets a better idea.

"If I run, they'll think I'm behind this garbage. Better at least contribute so they won't leave me behind once we figure out what this is all about."

Taskmaster is missing his weapons, but the lesson he teaches his students is there is always weapons around if you're desperate enough.

Moloids are pretty small. Time to use a Moloid to beat up other Moloids.

Taskmaster is going to grab a Moloid and start beating other Moloids with it.
I believe that would be making an asset: Beat a Moloid with another Moloid. He's around She-Hulk so finding an unconscious Moloid shouldn't be impossible. However, a conscious one would work just as well.

Team: d6
Skilled Instructor: d8
Enhanced Reflexes: d8
Combat Master: d10

Taskmaster rolled 3,8,7,10 using d6,d8,d8,d10

Spending a PP to add to the total.
Total:21  Effect:d10

1PP Currently

Taskmaster grabs a nearby Moloid that appears to be shaken up by a hit from She-Hulk and starts cackling as he swings the diminutive humanoid by the ankles and smashing his small yellow body against as many of the others as he can.

"HAHAHAHA! You little bastards! Feel my vengeance!"

Next Action: Bishop

Why Thank you.


I will, indeed, spend my 1PP to purchase this Opportunity, please ... and thank you.
"Activate the Watcher’s Opportunity
If a 1 comes up on any of the Watcher’s dice, you can spend 1 PP to activate the opportunity.
~ You may use this to step up an asset you’ve just created with an effect die, or to create a resource during an Action Scene."

... and use the Opportunity to step up the 'Out of sight, Out of mind' Asset that I just created.

= 0 PP now

Doom Pool (d6, 4d8) reaction to Taskmaster's attempt to create Beat a Moloid with Another Moloid Asset, Total: 21, Effect: d10 (msg #67):

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

Total: 13, Effect: d8
Extraordinary Success steps up acting Effect die, to d12

Asset created


What Taskmaster thinks is just another Moloid thrown unconscious by She-Hulk yelps when he picks it up by its scrawny limbs. The creature's screams are lost as Taskmaster moves to smash it against its brethren!

Meanwhile, the general chaos allows Wolfsbane to further her immediate goals.

Wolfsbane's Out of Sight, Out of Mind Asset increased to d10

Then, from whatever shadows are allowed beneath the notice of the other heroes, Iron Fist rises from silence and relative seclusion as the Moloids approach him with hatred in their tiny, squinched eyes!

Next Action: Iron Fist (new round)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 07:01, Thu 19 Mar 2020.

In reply to Watcher (msg # 69):

Iron Fist pulls himself to his feet and dusts himself off, swatting the dirt from his mask with an annoyed grunt. He rests a hand against the crater wall, feeling sick from the lingering effects of the temporal displacement that brought him here.

"Man, and I thought the portal to K'un Lun was bad. Think I'm gonna hurl."

Hearing the commotion of the battle behind him, Iron Fist slowly turns to survey the scene. Approaching him are a gang of snarling Moloids, teeth bared in a grimace of hate and rage.

"Whoa, Sabertooth's got nothing on you guys," Rand mutters, dropping into a battle-ready crouch. "Now, who wants to go first?"

Shang-Chi's player here. My original pick opened up so I'm switching to Iron Fist. I'll post my dice rolls as soon as I figure out what (if any) reactions I need to do.

Shaking off these temporal effects is turning out to be easier said than done. Iron Fist has been on some crazy adventures in his time and gone to some strange places, but time travel is the type of stuff he leaves to those big-brain types like Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic. Here's hoping he can keep it together long enough to figure out just what exactly is going on here.

Team d6
Indifferent Billionaire d8 (Focusing on "indifferent," eg. stoic)
Psych Expert d8

01:10, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,5,4 using 1d6,1d8,1d8 ((1,5,4)). Iron Fist's reaction to Doom Pool's shell-shock attack.

Total: 9
Effect: d4
Opportunities: 1
Plot Points: 1

Aaaand there's the d12 of Mental Stress. Oi.

"Man, I wasn't kidding about the time-sickness," Iron Fist says, stumbling dizzily toward his attackers. "Feels like I just tried to out-drink Luke. Well, good thing I been working on my Drunken Fist. You guys are in for it now!" With that, he charges forward, fists lashing out to connect with his pint-sized opponents.

Team d6
Living Weapon of K'un-Lun d4 + 1 PP (The "Living Weapon" is in a sorry state.)
Enhanced Strength d8
Combat Master d10

01:16, Today: Iron Fist rolled 4,3,8,3 using 1d6,1d4,1d8,1d10 ((4,3,8,3)).

Heck, I'll spend my starting PP to add 3 of those dice together.

Total: 15
Effect: d10
Opportunities: 0 (1 on the previous roll)
Plot Points: 1

Next Action: Bishop

SHAMELESS PLUG: I'm looking for players for my own MHR campaign, Marvel Mania. Message me or click the link: link to another game
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Sat 21 Mar 2020.

"We can't fight all of 'em"
Bishop roared to make sure his voice is heard over the gibbering Moloids.  Even as he did sound off the retreat, he blasted one of the critters that got too close to him
"-lets get out of here!!"

Team 1d8
Dark Future Survivor 1d4
Energy Blast 1d10
Combat Expert

Bishop rolled 4,2,4,7 using 1d4,1d8,1d10,1d8 with rolls of 4,2,4,7.  Energy blast.
Total: 11, Effect: 1d10
New PP total: 1+1=2
Next action: Storm

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Iron Fist's Opportunity

Mental Stress d12 to Iron Fist

Defend from Iron Fist's physical attack, Total: 15, Effect: d10 (msg #71):
Team    5d4
Strength In Numbers (too many to care about any single one)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8
Iron Fist Mental Stress    d12

Moloid Mob rolled 3,1,2,1,2,5,2 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d8,d12 ((3,1,2,1,2,5,2)).

Total: 8, Effect: d12
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12
2 Opportunities (available first to Iron Fist)

Subtract 1 from Moloid Mob

-----

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 11, Effect: d10 (msg #72):
Team    4d4
Strength In Numbers (too many to care about any single one)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8

Moloid Mob rolled 4,2,3,3,5 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d8 ((4,2,3,3,5)).

Total: 9, Effect: d4

Subtract 1 from Moloid Mob

Doom Pool: d6, 4d8 +d6 (-d6/+d8) (-d6/+d8) = 6d8

While Iron Fist and Bishop strike with solid attacks, it is barely the perspiration on a drop in a humongous bucket. Any Moloid they reduce to nothing is instantly swallowed in the numbers surrounding it like it had never been there, overcome with replacements a dozen-fold. They keep coming, pressing their attacks to drag down the heroes and soon bury them.

Any hero listening may understand Bishop's shouted insistence to get out of there, but as the Moloids close in on all side, even reaching beyond their individual heights by climbing atop one another, stacking for a more formidable opponent, rolling in an insurmountable mass, the organic walls made of subterranean creatures rapidly close around the heroes!

Iron Fist ducks under a spear, wrapping an arm around the weapon so that it sits in the crook of his elbow. Pinning it to his side, he pivots his hips in a swift movement, snapping the weapon in two. Before the stunned Moloid can react, he launches it away with a sharp kick.

"Sooo, maybe not the right place or time," he says, to one in particular. "But what place is this? And what time?"

He barely has time to get the words out before the tide of Moloids presses in even further.

A short distance from the others, Spider-Man re-materializes. His Spider-Sense is going crazy! Every nerve in his body is pulsing like fireworks. For a moment, his vision is nothing but white.

"Nnng..."

Reaction roll for sudden shell-shock (msg # 1)

Team d6
Any Time Is Now d4 +1 PP (Spider-Man's Spider-Senses are overwhelmed by the sudden shift)
Enhanced Stamina d8
Psych Expert d8

17:20, Today: Spider-Man rolled 4,4,3,3 using d6,d4,d8,d8 with rolls of 4,4,3,3.

Total: 8 Effect: d8

Mental Stress taken: d12
2 PP

As his senses slowly return, Spider-Man assesses his surroundings. The bright light hits him like a hangover, pulsing in rhythm with his Spider-Sense. The debris around him tells him that he's not in the S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker anymore...or, at least, not the same one he was in a moment ago. Bright light makes it difficult to keep his eyes open.

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

"..."

"No offense, Wolfsbane."

As he looks around, Spider-Man realizes he's separated from the rest.

The dust here...this destruction isn't new. It's been like this for years. Time travel? An alternate universe? No time to think on it. I need to find the others.

The ground beneath his feet quake, and the sounds of a stampede and blasting erupt nearby.

"I think I'll check in the direction of the parade."

With a thwip from his wrist, a webline shoots out and connects to a nearby rusted steel beam. Using the momentum, Spider-Man propels himself forward to close the gap with the others. Immediately the chaos of the Moloid swarm comes into view. Spider-Man's eyes dart around quickly to assess the location of his allies and their immediate danger. He sees Bishop and Iron Fist are about to be overrun.

"Typical New Yorkers! This is giving me flashbacks to the last time I went to the Yankee Stadium."

Perching on nearby rubble, Spider-Man takes aim and attempts to web up some of the attacking Moloids.

Team d6
Wisecracker d8
Superhuman Reflexes d10
Weapon d8
SFX: Grapple. Add d6 and step up effect die by +1 when inflicting a web-related complication on a target.

18:15, Today: Spider-Man rolled 3,2,10,6,5 using d6,d8,d10,d8,d6 with rolls of 3,2,10,6,5.  All Webbed-Up Complication.

Total: 16 Effect: d8, SFX:+1=d10

Mental Stress: d12
2 PP

OOC: Hi, everyone. I'm a new player. I hope we can all have a great time together. I just realized I forgot to add a Specialty to my roll. I'm still learning the rules, so I may make some mistakes occasionally.

Defend from Spider-Man's attempt to create All Webbed-Up Complication, Total: 16, Effect: d10:
Team    3d4
Strength In Numbers (too many to care about any single one)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8
Spider-Man Mental Stress    d12

Moloid Mob rolled 3,4,3,1,1,2 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d8,d12 ((3,4,3,1,1,2)).

Total: 7, Effect: d12
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12
2 Opportunities (available first to Spider-Man)

Doom Pool: 6d8 (-d8/+d10) = 5d8, d10

Even woozy from the re-materialization, Spider-Man scores a clear shot, to wrap up a cluster of roiling Moloids with his webs. But before he can put a tidy bow on the package, it becomes clear that it makes an insignificant difference when compared with the myriad that replace them, quickly burying Spidey's webs under a wave of roiling, charging Moloid bodies!
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:11, Fri 27 Mar 2020.

Even if the heroes can strike or knock out or web any immediate amount of Moloids, the endless numbers of creatures swallow up their inactive brethren with even more. If a hydra has heads that are replaced with three heads when one is lobbed off, this is a creature that replaces one head with a cluster of whole, entire creatures. Seen from a distance, they are a massive wave of yellow bodies, one that is rolling to crash upon and crush the heroes trapped at the bottom of the eye of their organic, ravenous hurricane!

If d8=2d6=4d6, then 3d8=6d6=12d4. Add 12d6 to Moloid Mob, for Moloid Mob 15d4

Doom Pool: 5d8, d10 -3d8 = 2d8, d10

I'll pass on the 2 Opportunities for now. Hopefully they'll be useful for some of those that are in a little more immediate danger.

As the entangled Moloids are engulfed in the never-ending wave of creatures, Spider-Man realizes that they may have to make an escape.

"I think we're about to be become 'Earth's Flattest Heroes'. We have to get out of here fast!"

"Right behind ya, Spidey!" Iron Fist replies. He turns to see Bishop barreling his way through a mound of Moloids, swatting them aside like flies. "Our buddy Bishop's got the right idea!" He moves to follow the other heroes as they make their retreat.

Storm was still overwhelmed with the giant press of Moloid flesh that had dragged her earthward. She couldn't really see much else. But her teammates were out there somewhere close by. Of course Ororo couldn't help them if she remained under the pile of bodies. The feeling of walls of flesh closing around her again did cause Storm's breath to come in ragged gasps. Her long standing fear of being trapped lit a fire within her core, and with her remaining strength she reached out in an attempt to create an escape route that would get her airborne

Of course nature had its ways of taking things normally firmly attached to the ground and throwing them skyward. One of those ways was a funnel cloud, which is what she now attempted to draw down to herself to escape the mass of flesh surrounding Storm.

OOC: Not sure if this is against the doom pool or the Moloids. Storm is trying to escape the press of bodies that have dragged her down and get herself well above the fray.

Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d8
Weather Supremacy: d12
Combat Expert: d8

16:39, Today: Storm rolled 1,2,7,8 using d10,d8,d12,d8 with rolls of 1,2,7,8.  Heading skyward? .

Total: 15
Effect: d8

+1 PP for rolling a 1.

1+1 = 2 current PP

Next action: Taskmaster

There's just more and more of those small, annoying creatures, and Taskmaster isn't referring to the heroes, this time. The undulating wave is roiling and churning like a blanket covering a mass of insects. Taskmaster knows the time is right to beat a retreat.
However, Taskmaster is also petty and cruel at times. He continues arcing the small body through the mass to open a way for escape. And to hurt as many of those little @#%$ as possible.

Attacking the Moloid Mob

Team:d6
Villainous Mercenary:d8
Enhanced Reflexes:d8
Combat Master:d10
Asset: Beat a Moloid with another Moloid:d12

Taskmaster rolled 5,5,5,7,8 using d6,d8,d8,d10,d12
Spending PP to add to dice roll
Total:17 Effect:d12
Reaction: Watcher

PP:0

Taskmaster smashes through the small humanoids, making a brief hole and moving towards the heroes to get as far away from the crushing mass.

"This is going to be as stinker", Taskmaster thinks. "I got no backup here, and plenty of the good guys who might be holdin' a grudge. Prison at least had some ways out eventually. This looks like just a situation just chock fulla bad".

Taskmaster sighs, heavily, as he bounds away from the mobs as fast as he possibly can.

Next Action: Wolfsbane

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Storm's Opportunity

Doom Pool (2d8, d10) reaction to create Heading Skyward Asset, Total: 15, Effect: d8 (msg #80):
Storm Physical Stress    d12
from Doom Pool    d8

Watcher rolled 1,1,10,3,3 using d8,d8,d10,d12,d8 ((1,1,10,3,3)).

Total: 13, Effect: d12
Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d6
2 Opportunities (available first to Storm)

Storm's Heading Skyward Asset cancels out Overrun, Overcome, Overwhelmed Complication d6

Doom Pool: 2d8, d10 +d6 -d8 = d6, d8, d10

Through sheer force of will channeled into what are usually awe-inspiring powers, Storm is able to break away from the Moloid mass, but to only inches from their grabbing fingertips. Her powers of conjuring a wind are barely enough to keep her shattered body aloft while the Moloids below her redouble their efforts to grab and pull her back down among them once again.

Defend from Taskmaster's physical attack, Total: 17, Effect: d12 (msg #81):
Team    15d4
Strength In Numbers (too many to care about any single one)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8

Moloid Mob rolled 4,4,1,3,1,3,3,1,3,2,4,4,2,3,1,4,4 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d8 ((4,4,1,3,1,3,3,1,3,2,4,4,2,3,1,4,4)).

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

4 Opportunities (available first to Taskmaster)

Subtract 1 from Moloid Mob

Doom Pool: d6, d8, d10 (-d6/+d8) = 2d8, d10

Taskmaster wields one Moloid against another with the deftness as elegant and as violent as it could ever be, but even before the collision between the opponent used as a weapon and the opponent as a target, both are swallowed by the number now upon the skull-faced villain. His weapon yanked from him, Taskmaster faces the horde advancing on him!
This message was last edited by the player at 06:16, Tue 31 Mar 2020.

When She-Hulk becomes visible just for a moment as she throws aside another pile of Moloids, she gasps then shouts, "Unless you brought a trap door in your carry-on, we may not be getting out of here!" Then the Avenger is buried under the Moloids once more. And just as she goes under the massive number, the walls of surrounding enemies even reach above, creating the crest of a wave that now impends to crush the heroes underneath!

Add Scene Complication: Insurmountable Walls of Enemies Closing In d10

Doom Pool: 2d8, d10 -d10 = 2d8

PM'n               

- rolled 4,3,3,6 using d10,d8,d8,d10 with rolls of 4,3,3,6.
Total: 10
Effect: d8

PP: 2

Next: Any Hero

The next time She-Hulk comes up for air she hurriedly looks around. After glancing around at all the heroes, she finds she's missing one. "Wolfsbane!" she yells, normally loud neough to rattle a building but now just barely audible over the trampling feet of the Moloids. "Wolfsbane!" Then the jade giantess is buried under bodies again!

Can there by any hope for the heroes?!?

As Storm's head got above the level of the mob, the sight elicited a descending whistle at the sheer vastness of the horde. "These things are nearly endless. But either help or Hell is on the way - a portal has just opened. Keep fighting!" It would be easy to give in to despair due to sheer numbers, but there was still a glimmer of hope.

Of course whatever was emerging wouldn't necessarily know that. She flew toward the portal as quickly as she was able. Perhaps help was on its way?

Keep on fighting.  What else was there to do?
He pretty much already decided this was all a dream.  Because people stacking up on each other 50 feet high run contrary to the laws of physics.  And the way they kept coming at them, no matter how many they took down without showing any sense of individual self preservation, was more like something out of a zombie Apocalypse movie.

But he was trapped inside his dream slash nightmare, and he was going to see it to its end.  It was still better than the reality in which he lived in.

He looked at the Moloids covering the She Hulk, and tried to pick yet another one off:

Group 1d8
Uncompromising 1d4
Energy Blast 1d10
Combat expert 1d8

Today: Bishop rolled 5,5,4,3 using 1d10,1d8,1d4,1d8 with rolls of 5,5,4,3.  energy blast .
Total: 10, Effect: 1d8

New PP total: 2+1=3
Next Hero: Anyone

Iron Fist focuses his gaze through the dense mounds of bodies, searching for the one man who seems to have any idea of what's going on here.

"Castle!" he shouts. "You said earlier you knew what this place was. Well, what's going on? What's our play here?"

He's not even sure the vigilante can hear him through the din of combat all around them. Nor does he place much faith in the guidance of a madman like Frank Castle. But although the Immortal Weapon is prepared to fight to his dying breath, he knows that in some battles, a little bit of knowledge is the difference between life and death.

"I punched a dragon in the heart," he thinks to himself, "And now I'm gonna die fighting some @#$%in' Moloids."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Sat 04 Apr 2020.

"Switching leaders is the smartest thing you've done since this started, even if you're going to piss off the one you have," the Punisher calls, his voice somehow rising above the chatter of the feet of the charging Molloids. "But I don't trust you to have my back, Track Suit," he says, using his machine cannon as a melee weapon to bludgeon a swath through a mass of Moloids in front of him. "I'm doing this on my own, as usual," he says, as he walks forward through an arc of blood, fighting his way to nowhere!

Defend from Bishop's physical attack, Total: 10, Effect: d8 (msg #89):
Team    14d4
Strength In Numbers (too many to care about any single one)    d4
(step up Doom Pool die)
Swarm    d8
Bishop Mental Stress    d12

Moloid Mob rolled 1,1,2,2,3,1,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,3,4,6 using d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d4,d8,d12 ((1,1,2,2,3,1,2,1,2,1,1,3,3,3,3,4,6)).
Total: 10, Effect: d4
6 Opportunities (available first to Bishop)

Subtract 1 from Moloid Mob

Doom Pool: 2d8 (-d8/+d10) = d8, d10

Bishop takes out another Moloid, though it leads to nothing, with thousands if not tens of thousands more behind it.

From the position of the heroes, the portal overhead is in front of the blazing sun, blinding anyone who tries to look at it. Suddenly, what can be seen of the opening seems to burst in a purple light then contract, and large, multi-colored flashes fall from it, landing far enough away to obscure them. A moment later, a green beast larger than a man is bounding over the Moloids, headed straight toward the heroes!

At the appearance of someone running across the heads and shoulders of the sea of creatures, Storm curved her flight toward the new arrival to attempt to see who might have dropped in.

"It's not a track suit, it's a gi," Iron Fist mutters, fending off more Moloids. Though ready to retreat a moment ago, the rising walls of enemies have dashed that hope for now. Hearing She-Hulk's cries, he casts a glance over his shoulder while blocking another spear. Performing a quick count of his allies, he realizes one of them is missing.

"Hey, Storm! Bishop! I think you guys are down one X-Man. Er, X-Wolf... Lady."

"It's no use," he thinks, "There's too many of these things in their way. Even Jen's pinned down."

Steeling himself, he wades deep into the tide of Moloids, heading toward the last spot he remembers seeing the lupine heroine. More and more Moloids grab into him as he goes, slowing him down but not stopping him. He reaches a hand deep into the mess of bodies, lighting it up with glowing chi.

"You know, me and wolves don't exactly get along... Maybe something to do with how a pack of them killed my mom. But if you can hear me, reach for the glowing hand!"

Rolling to create an asset for Wolfsbane called "Helping Hand."

Team d6
Young Dragon d8 (Reckless heroics are my thing)
Enhanced Strength d8
Combat Master d10

SFX: Chi Focus. In a pool including a Heart of Shou-Lao die, replace two dice of equal steps with one die of +1 step.

14:40, Today: Iron Fist rolled 6,1,7 using 1d6,1d10,1d10 ((6,1,7)).

Oi. Another 1.

Total: 13
Effect: d4 (Or d6 since it's an asset)
Opportunities: 1
PP: 1

Next Action: Storm
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Tue 07 Apr 2020.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Iron Fist's Opportunity

Doom Pool (d8, d10) reaction to Iron Fist's attempt to create Helping Hand Asset, Total: 13, Effect: d6:
Iron Fist Mental stress d12
from Doom Pool    d10

Watcher rolled 3,1,1,7 using d8,d10,d12,d10 ((3,1,1,7)).

Total: 10, Effect: d4 (default)

2 Opportunities (available first to Iron Fist)

Helping Hand Asset d6 created

Doom Pool: d8, d10 +d6 -d10 = d6, d8

Iron Fist brings his hand up to shine bright with a glow from within above the mass of Moloids, but when he reaches out to where he vaguely recalls last seeing Wolfsbane, she's not there! Could it be a result of the hero's disorientation from his travel or is the mutant really gone?

The horde of Moloids surge as one huge wave, finally collapsing upon the heroes. Everyone is dragged down under them, and pinched and prodded and poked and buried. Though the Moloids are too weak individually to do harm to any of the battle-hardened heroes, their numbers overwhelm, enveloping the heroes under their immense numbers. The heroes who are able to see above the mass can make out Shang-Chi grabbed by the ankles then shins then thighs and pulled from his perch on Machine Man to be covered by Moloids, then Machine Man himself pulled under and disappearing. Even She-Hulk, standing up to an exponential amount of creatures, is finally taken by them, and her increasing infrequency of throwing them aside and appearing through their crowd decreases until she too is entombed by their bodies and does not come back up.

The green beast bounding toward the heroes becomes more visible: it is larger than a man, covered in green fur. It bounds over the heads of the Moloids, bouncing from one to another in arcs, appearing much more agile than its size would imply. It calls out to the Moloids under it: “Coming through! One side, one side!”

Storm surged toward the green, furry creature. She called out to him when she was close enough to hope he might hear. "Henry. Henry! This way!" Ororo called out to her longtime X-Men teammate until she got his attention.

"Follow me, others are in need of...extraction."

Once she'd gotten his attention, Storm flew above the fray back toward where she'd left her allies, though moved slowly enough that Beast could see her and keep his orientation toward the other heroes.

Before Storm can take to the air, the Moloids pull her back, grabbing at her feet and legs and cape. Though she isn't buried by their bodies like many of her allies, she cannot easily get away from them. Yet the green beast arrives near her, scarcely looking in her direction, stepping on the tops of the heads of the Moloids, kicking and swatting them away to aid the wind-rider in getting free. "Lady, I don't know how you think we know each other," he growls, even more familiar this close, save for the different color of his fur. "But, as the proverb says, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so we're about to meet each other real fast!"

PM da GM

Spider-Man attempts to avoid the Moloids as best he can with his superhuman acrobatics and web swinging.

"Okay. Alternate universe theory gets a tally on the board. So we've been transported to a different world or timeline and now we've got Swamp-Beast. At least having a scientific mind as brilliant as Hank McCoy's will be an incredible asset, even if he's dyeing his roots. Going grey isn't so bad, big guy! It makes you look dignified. So, Dr. McCoy...is this the timeline where all the super-villains destroyed the world and enslaved humanity, or the timeline where the Human Torch punks people with hidden cameras and armies of mole people. Please tell me it's the second one. I very much want it to be the second one."

Over the din of countless Moloid charging at once and with the heroes -- both the inciters and the recipients of any communication -- are buried under those bodies, it is doubtful that the green beast now in the heroes' midst could make out all of Spider-Man's words, oddly calm for being nearly covered by writhing, striking bodies. At the very least, the creature makes no reaction save for, "If someone's talking, they could be doing more good digging these people out of here!"

Then another multicolored orb of light drops from the gleaming portal in the sky.

Storm stifled the instinct to sigh at the Beast's response. "If you're half as bright as the Hank from where I'm from, you're well-versed in multiverse theory. Easiest to say that we are friends from a different time and place. And more than the 'enemey-of-my-enemy' sort."

"Lady, if you were bright at all you'd stop trying to convince me that we know each other and help to get yourself free!" the green beast says while swatting down another scattering of groping Moloid hands pulling down the mutant goddess to get her free.

Bishop (who was still not entirely sure this wasn't a dream), for one agreed with the Grinch.
"Get us out of here!" he bellowed from below.  The Moloid-walls were closing in on them, they could figure things out later
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Fri 17 Apr 2020.

The second multicolored orb of light drops and lands on the other side of the crowd of Moloids. Shortly after, another being makes his way toward the heroes, but this time far less gracefully as the green beast. This one is clad in a black leather bodysuit, bearing something like a faded flag on the chest but a bright red anarchy A over it, a black motorcycle helmet with a shining glass plate on the front, and a baton that leaves a trail of crackling blue electricity as he brandishes it. He rides over the tops of the Moloids’ heads mostly on his back, like a crowd-surfer at a concert, and frequently turns over to wack a clutch of Moloids with the baton, leveling a few of them so he can ride forward. Quite literally he beats a path toward the heroes, though taking longer than the bounding beast before him. “Out of the way, you scum! Back! Back!” he screams, his calls muffled slightly by his heavy helmet. “I said, Out of the way!” then bashes more Moloids under him, some not even to help his ride.

And another orb of light drops from the portal. And another. And another.

Storm smirked at the response. "You got it." Maybe. She did hate being surrounded by anything, much less a sweaty pack of creatures bent on her destruction.

Ororo began to crackle with electrical energy as her eyes faded again to white. The emotions roiling within coalesced to determination for now.

OOC: Trying to create an asset - Can't touch this idea is to bathe Ororo in enough electricity that none of the moloids don't really want to physically contact her.

Team: d10
Claustrophobic: d8
Electtrical blast: d10
Combat expert: d8
Emotional Link: d8

Total: 15
Effect: d10

15:40, Today: Storm rolled 10,4,5,5,2 using d10,d8,d10,d8,d8 with rolls of 10,4,5,5,2.  Can't Touch This.

Next Action: Greast

Add d8 to Doom Pool for Storm’s Emotional Link

Doom Pool (d6,d8) reaction to Storm's attempt to create Can't Touch This Asset, Total: 15, Effect: d10:
Storm Physical stress    d12

Watcher rolled 6,5,4 using d6,d8,d12 ((6,5,4)).

Total: 11, Effect: d12
Higher reacting Effect die steps acting Effect down, to d8

Storm creates Can't Touch This Asset d8

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

When Storm lights up, with electricity flaring in all directions from her, the green beast stares in awe, but just as recognition starts to come over him, he is accosted by a smattering of Moloids, which he dispatches instantly, but then must turn his attention to the next hero to free!

The combatant with the A on his chest pulls himself over the heads of the creatures and toward the heroes, finally close enough to reach a hand to Bishop, buried under the Moloids. "How'd you people get out here?" he barks, to no one in particular, while he bashes away at the Moloids under him to create an opening. "You're not doing anyone any good by breaking the truce."

Somewhere in the distance comes the unmistakable, staccato bursts of a machine gun!

Bishop was more worried about an eventual Hypoxia than being crushed to death.
"Just get us out of here!" he repeated, again, after he managed to push through from underneath the fleshy mass.  Looking frantically around, he searched for a way out of his predicament, not loving any of the options.
Maybe the Punisher did have the right idea all along... 

As the sounds of machine-gun fire draw closer, so do long arcs of blood fly into the air from the thickest parts of the Moloid crowd.

"Logan!" the green beast hollers through gnashed teeth over the thicket, despite the sound barely carrying over the noise of thousands of marching, attacking bodies. "We do not need to kill them!"

The anarchy-agent on top of the pile of bodies on top of Bishop clasps the mutant's hand in a leather grasp. "We'll get you out of here," the helmeted man says. "Hopefully before the wise-guy gets here."

Then more machine-gun fire, with scarcely a moment to reload!

PM da GM

Just as Storm rises within a personal electrical storm and Bishop is pulled from the throng by the anarchy-soldier, the other heroes are buried: while some Moloids are frequently bumped upward, implying that She-Hulk is still fighting away under all the bodies on top of her, the Punisher has gone somewhere out of view, Machine Man and Shang-Chi have been buried, and Wolfsbane has disappeared like she had never been there!

Fighting against the tide of the yellow sea of Moloids, Spider-Man attempts to pinpoint the heroes that have been overrun. He lets his Spider-Senses do the heavy lifting to search them out, as his superhuman strength and reflexes push through the mob enough to make a desperate rescue attempt.

I may only have one chance at this. If we aren't crushed, we may suffocate in this stench!

Spider-Man's scientific mind does the calculations for the precise angle, scanning for a structure with some higher ground and the durability to hold the weight of several beefy super-types.

"Everyone! I'll try to web you to safety! Just hold on!"

With reflexes so quick that it would be imperceptible to most normal humans, the Wall Crawler takes aim and fires. Using his years of experience with his web shooters, Spider-Man adjusts on the fly to release several web lines to increase the tension strength and durability. A webline attaches to a nearby steel beam, and Spidey grips onto it for dear life. He instantly fires another line, hoping to snag the buried Iron Fist from beneath the Moloids.

Webline Rescue Asset
Team d6
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility d8 (Everyone's counting on you, Spider-Man!)
SPIDER-POWERS Superhuman Strength d10
SPIDER-POWERS Superhuman Reflexes d10
WEB-SLINGING Enhanced Durability d8
Acrobatic Master d10
SFX: Web Constructs. When creating web-related assets, add d6 and step up effect die by +1.

1 PP spent to use additional power from SPIDER-POWERS Power Set
1 PP spent to make the asset persistent

07:59, Today: Spider-Man rolled 3,2,5,9,1,6,2 using d6,d8,d10,d10,d8,d10,d6.

Total: 18 (9 + 6 + 3)
Effect: d12 (d10 stepped up by SFX: Web Constructs)
Opportunities: 1 (+1 PP)

1 PP spent to add extra die to total

0 PP remaining.
Not including the next in action order since we're acting freely.

Add d6 to Doom Pool from Spider-Man's Opportunity

Doom Pool (d6, d8) reaction to Spider-Man's attempt to create Webline Rescue Asset, Total: 18, Effect: d12:
Spider-Man Mental Stress    d12

Watcher rolled 5,1,6 using d6,d8,d12 ((5,1,6)).

Total: 11, Effect: d4 (default)
Extraordinary Success steps acting Effect die up, to d12 and over, to add d6 Effect
1 Opportunity (available first to Spider-Man)

Webline Rescue Asset d12 created (to be offered to Iron Fist), and Advantageous Position Asset d6 for Spider-Man

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

Spider-Man manages to find the sole steel beam sticking out of the side of the crater and attaches a web-line as strong as anyone could ask for, as well as sticking it at the perfect angle to take care of the leverage. He is able to get it to Iron Fist, the nearest hero to him, to quite possible save the life of the martial-arts hero by affording him the opportunity to drag himself out of the morass of Moloid bodies. Then Spidey's spider-sense sets the inside of his brain on fire -- Spider-Man has saved another hero, but with a surge of Moloids crashing upon the wall-crawler, it might suddenly be too late to save himself!

Even Spider-Man's spider-sense and astounding reflexes can't stop the wave of creatures crashing upon him, and in the moments he spared to construct a web-line to save Iron Fist, the Moloids got the drop on him, grasping his legs then waist then torso then arms, pulling the wall-crawler down into their immense number. In the instant for Spidey to flex enough to start to pull himself out of the morass, their numbers collapsing upon him, challenging even his formidable strength. As Spidey takes even a breath, they are upon him, pushing him down, leaving only his face exposed, then even that is gone when dozens more crawl upon the opening!

Covered in the cacophony of thousands of bodies moving and attacking is a chopping sound -- CHOP! CHOP! CHOP! -- that finally rises enough with its increasing proximity to transmit a beacon of hope. Spider-Man feels the weight upon him ease slightly, then more, and finally some of the harsh sun-light comes above him. Bodies around the hero aren't thrown aside so much as they're cleaved, with a being CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!ing its way through, to come to the rescue. The expectation would be a blade of some sort disposing of the Moloid bodies in big, bloody arcs, but it's not just one sole melee weapon, but a pair of triple prongs! Instead of a familiar sight being exposed, the blades are revealed to be connected to the ends of the arms of an animated, metal skeleton, CHOP! CHOP! CHOP!ing its way through the bodies and toward Spider-Man -- and given its trajectory, might not even stop when it gets to -- or goes through -- the web-headed hero!

OOC: Trying not to overpost, but it feels like Storm's turn again?

Having electrified herself in a dazzling display of the power of lightning, Storm again headed skyward. While the vast number of creatures assaulting her and her team couldn't be defeated, perhaps escape was still within their grasp. Or perhaps the newcomers were help and could be pointed in the right direction.

She at least could help Greast in the right direction. "I think some of my friends could use your help that way, Henry. I'm going to take another look from above." Ororo still held out hope that this wouldn't be their end.

As the green beast digs through Moloid bodies to get to another buried hero, he calls behind himself to Storm. "Again, miss, I don't know how you think we know each other, but -- "

He is interrupted by an explosion that becomes a yellow fountain in the distance, so far away that it is difficult to see where it starts, then moving increasingly faster toward the heroes. The geyser is so fluid it could be liquid, until it becomes clear it is made of Moloid bodies. The violent stream plows toward the heroes, tossing bodies with ease in all directions but mostly straight upward into the sky, to land some distance away. When it comes closer, the sound it makes, rising above the din of Moloids and combatants yelling and fighting and struggling underneath a myriad of bodies, is like an angry, old motor fueled by the anguished screams of angels. A terrifying SSSCRRREEEEEEEEE! is hardly an approximation!

Harsh experience taught Bishop that discretion was the better part of valor.  Staying and fighting was out of the question, not after he (and everyone else) have been overwhelmed so easily.  That, and the fact that the real heroes have just arrived, tipped the scale in favor of running away.

Let them handle this

Nodding lightly to the man who helped him, he wasted no time in trying to look for an opening through the wall of Moloids, readying himself to make a run for it.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:24, Mon 04 May 2020.

Unable to fight off the crushing weight and grasping limbs any longer, Spider-Man is swept under.

"Mmmph! Mmm hmm hmm hmm mmph mmm hmm hmph. Hmph hmph!"

Even buried under a pile of Moloids, he continues to make muffled wisecracks that no one can hear.

The man with the helmet who has pulled Bishop mostly free of the Moloid assault catches the mutant's looks. "You can't get out of here, you fool!" he calls, keeping their hands clasps so they can stick together to ride on top of the bodies below them. Indeed, for as far as the eye can see, Moloid bodies writhe and collect and surge in massive, dirty, yellow waves. To venture forth in any direction would be to sink straight down into them again. More Moloids grab at the helmeted man but he keeps Bishop near.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is pulled back into the open air when Moloids are chopped away from him. Instantly, the animated, metal skeleton is directly in front of him, the arcs of its claws coming so close to Spidey that he can feel them slice the tiniest thread from the edges of his costume. With arcs of blood spraying around it, the skeleton is vicious but it has cleared a path for the wall-crawler. For just a moment it turns to Spidey, but the only sound it makes besides cleaving through the Moloids is a clicking coming from its neck!

Spider-Man gasps for air as he is freed. Moloid blood sprays all around him. A murderous Wolverine-like skeleton clicks and clacks in his general direction.

"Uhhh...well this is horrifying. Is it just me? Is anyone else feeling that? I have the sensation that this will haunt my dreams and cost me a lot in therapy."

Even the metal skeleton before Spidey pauses for an instant when the fountain of Moloid bodies comes nearer. The ethereal sound of the ghostly motor finally arrives, as if it surrounds everyone at once. Moloids are cast aside in piles, thrown into the sky and every which way. Like the seas being parted by Moses, the horde is ripped apart, with the generator of the horrific sound coming straight down the middle: a being on a motorcycle, engulfed entirely in flames! Not just a garden-variety ghost rider: the heavy front of the hog sprouts long horns, the wicked flames burn purple at points, and the rider itself, clad in leather, bears a skull for a head, burning even brighter than the rest! "Away, you cretin!" Its voice is a screech, mixing with the darkly angelic sound of its vehicle's motor, with words cleaving through noise like it rides through Moloids, to become a grating roar that cannot be of this earthly plane. "Back to whatever hell you claim as home!" it hisses as flames burst from all sides to blast away whatever Moloids are near it. The most fortunate targets are only sent high into the air to possibly survive a landing, the rest are incinerated on contact with the dark fire. The rider comes to rest in the middle of the horde, its flames whipping around it to eliminate whatever Moloids dare to draw near.

Then the sound of machine guns draws closer, with bullets flying in all directions, knocking off Moloids in a seemingly random pattern, and more than just a few.

"Sigh," both the green beast and the helmeted man exhale in unison.

Iron Fist's yellow mask barely pokes out above the sea of Moloid bodies. He shakes his head in disbelief at the many strange sights hitting him in rapid succession: endless hordes of enemies, giant machines, heroes strange yet familiar all at once. Many questions about this place swirl in his mind, but those must wait for now.

"Thanks for the assist, Spidey," he calls to his ally. "I won't let it go to waste." He reaches to grab hold of the webline and strains to focus his chi, eyes locked on the walls of Moloids that still surround them. With the new arrivals putting a dent in the enemy numbers, it seems the moment is ripe to turn the tide in the heroes' favor. With a little more focus, he plans to do just that.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:14, Wed 06 May 2020.

The green beast takes a glance out over the veritable ocean of Moloids going as far as the eye can see, as the dirty bodies fall in instantly to replace whatever relatively minuscule numbers they lost. "We can't bet on this tide turning in our favor," he says. "It would be best to get out -- "

BRRRRRRAPPPPPP! BRRRRRRAPPPPPP! BRRRRRRAPPPPPP! The brusque clatter of machine guns interrupt his reverie.

The machine guns stop just long enough to reveal who’s been shooting them into infinity: none other than one and only Deadpool. “¡Me echa un vistazo! ¡Estoy encantada de que estés sorprendida de verme!” he cries before blasting away again, blowing away another cadre of Moloids. “¡Estoy hablando otro idioma! ¡Larga vida a la traducción!”

As Taskmaster is smothered by Moloids, he can hear the muffled cacophony and bursts that may be explosions! Fighting against the unstoppable mass of little men that no hero or heroes could stand against, he feels them start to break up, as if the mass is finally being defeated by some REAL contenders! He's amused that the "heroes" and, well, himself have been completely inadequate to face this menace, but seeing the vaguely familiar new champions arrive on the scene, he feels that they will be the greater menace in time, though they were the ones to defeat these unstoppable Moloids!

The thousands of Moloids seethe and writhe, threatening to either collapse on the heroes or pull them back down into their numbers once more!

Wolfsbane was close to where the 'heroes' were struggling, and making her way through the unwashed masses; close enough to see what was going on about them, including the new heroes helping out, but without being weighed down by the unwelcoming yellow hoards.

Spider-Man suddenly feels an unseen force pulling him upward.

"Whoa! Scotty, is that you?"

Unsure of what has a hold of him or where it will take him, Spider-Man releases another webline to pull another hero—or anti-hero—from the swarm.

"Quickly! Take hold of my web while you still can, Taskmaster!"

Ororo saw the figure of who she hoped was lightening the loads of her friends and allies. With assistance, she flew in that direction, though not in a direct path. Rather she swung wide to get a better look.

Taskmaster violently thrashes against the Moloids as they are pushing him down. Realizing he can't keep it up forever, he wishes at least he had his sword to at least make them seriously regret their actions.

He struggles partially free and as the mass undulates around him, he hears Spider-Man yell to him and feel a web line wrap around his forearm. He almost breathes a sigh of relief as Spider-Man pulls him free.

As the web line is pulling at his arm, he feels another tug, this time towards his feet, also pulling him upwards but in a slightly different direction. Now he feels like he's a human hammock strung between two lifting forces. It isn't comfortable, either, one arm up, one leg up, one leg dangling, and the other arm flailing.

"Oh, for hell's sake, this is just getting embarrassing."

Like the others, Bishop found himself inexplicably pulled upwards by some invisible force.  He didn't appreciate being handled like a rag doll, but at least it kept him from being torn apart by the throngs of Moloids

"What the- ?!"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 08:52, Thu 14 May 2020.

The heroes float upward, soon above the Moloids and away from malicious clutches. Bishop, Iron Fist, Storm, Spider-Man, Taskmaster, She-Hulk, a random Moloid -- no, it's Wolfsbane, pulled up furthest away -- all join each other in weightlessness in the air.

The new combatants stay still as they rise. "Strange," the green beast says. The helmeted anarchist bashes another few Moloids until he's out of range of them. The metal skeleton stays crouched, ready for more action. The ghostly rider stays seated on his fiery cycle, surrounded by an angry orb of flames. Deadpool kicks back and crosses his hands behind his head. His machine guns float nearby. "Voy a decir algunas cosas importantes," the masked mercenary sighs in repose.

Those who aren't Moloids rise at an equal, steady speed and soon come to similar heights, gradually moving toward the portal in the sky!

Iron Fist floats upward, tumbling head over heels in a strange arc of motion. Seeing the Moloids shrink farther and farther away, he cracks a smile of relief. It vanished quickly as a nauseous feeling takes hold of him.

"First the time-travel, now this... Ugh."

He spots Wolfsbane far ahead of him and the others.

"Wolfsbane, you OK?" he calls to her, doing a quick check of all the heroes. " Hey, where's Shang-Chi? And the... robot guy?"

Bishop raised his head up high to look at the portal.

I must be trippin'

Ever since he arrived at the past (and now the future?) he couldn't quite come to grips, and now it seems like his mind finally snapped; the endless hordes of inhuman monsters, walking metallic skeletons, demons riding bikes...

what else would his injured psych come up with?

He was lost, and the only thing he could do was resign himself to his fate as he was lifted up toward the light.

The green beast turns toward Iron Fist. "They're gone, my friend!" the creature cries. "Gone!"

Far below, the Moloid crowd squirms and moves on itself, leaving not one visible scrap of any matter that could survive their suffocating numbers. As their numbers give way to seeing them less as individual bodies and more of a yellow mass, the vantage point from above also gives view to more of them that could be imagined, reaching to the horizon, veritably taking over every spot in the city. A dirty sea of bodies writhes below, like an ocean of filth!

Iron Fist looks from the Moloids to the green beast and back again. He slowly begins to shake his head, refusing to believe what his new ally is telling him.

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" he cries, "I saw them! They were right there!"

He tries to fight against the strange force pulling him upwards, to no avail. Nevertheless, he keeps struggling, as though swimming against an invisible current. He isn't going to let a friend as dear to him as Shang-Chi be "gone" without trying to do something about it, even if it seems damn near impossible.

"Shang!" he calls, looking around wildly in every direction. "SHANG!"

Wolfsbane, in her humanoid-wolf form (ready for any attack), nods back to the Fist, "Ay".
She had no more idea than anyone else what was going on, but was at least glad that they were all out of the yellow ocean below, and likely in a position to aid one another when they arrived ... wherever they were headed.

Iron Fist flails in weightlessness but his position in the air does not change save for being continually lifted upward.

"Gone," the green beast says. "As in gone. They got dragged down and now they're... They were lucky if they weren't smothered instantly, sad to say. Those bastards are vicious and they show little mercy. But to try to rescue your friends would be to risk the rest of you." A still moment passes. "I'm sorry," the green beast says.

Realizing the futility of his efforts, Iron Fist's body gradually falls limp. He gives a small shake of his head.

"Shang-Chi's the master of kung-fu, he says. "The best of the best." The wave of grief washes over him slowly as sad acceptance takes its place.

"I... can't believe it."

Storm looked over at the others and did a quick count. She frowned at the number of bodies being pulled upward and took a deep, steadying breath when she heard Iron Fist's anguish.

She looked up again, trying to get a glimpse of who was dragging them upward. "Hello!?" Storm looked over at the others. "Can anyone see who that is?" She pointed up to the figure that was near the purple portal that hung in the sky above them.

Deadpool happens to come within the green beast’s proximity. “Aquí no hay intentos,” Deadpool says. “Yoda lo dijo mejor.”

“Shut up, Deadpool,” the green beast says.

“Enfin!” Deadpool exclaims, for some reason.

As the heroes drift upward, their trajectories toward the sun bring them closer together. Not that the helmeted anarchist needs the nuance in his speech: “Let’s save the tears for someone we know, huh?” He might have said under his breath, And can fight, but She-Hulk’s gasp covers it.

The sun seems to beam even more intensely, with the purple, radiating portal directly in front it. But in a perfect line from both is a being floating in the air, eclipsing both sources of light, casting an even greater shine. A long cape flows in the air behind it as it hovers with arms stretched, palms up. Spots of light undulate slowly over its robed body, its face obscured by the light directly behind its head.

"Excuse me, Mister...Floaty...Bright...uh...Sir? Would it be rude to ask if you're the one pulling us up here? While I do appreciate the rescue, I think we're all a bit lost. Who are all of you? What's the deal with the Moloids? Where...or when...are we? How did all of this happen? And why is Deadpool speaking Spanish? I heard Yoda. This timeline has Yoda. Can someone please explain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:36, Thu 21 May 2020.

"Und noch einer!" Deadpool exclaims, loud enough to hear way up in the sky.

The grouping of heroes and new combatants draw together, close enough to feel flame surrounding the ghostly rider.

The being in front of the portal is silent and shows no reaction to Spider-Man's questions. The form does not seem to enlarge as they drift closer to it, instead staying at the same scale, like a trick in perspective, if anyone cares to look that closely.

The green beast speaks up. "I'm afraid you won't get an answer from it... him... uh," he says. "But I'd be happy to field any questions you have. Once we get to The House." His perplexed gaze lingers on Spidey, as if he had never seen the ubiquitous wall-crawler before.

Even under the sun, the face of the ethereal being is covered in shadows, with lighter spots undulating around it slowly. It sparsely holds an expression, but if forced to find one, it would be pleasant serenity, tilted upward slightly as if it gaze into the sky at a point a million light years away!
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:48, Fri 22 May 2020.

Bishop couldn't bother to feign interest in the fate of someone he has only just met, and believed to be a figment of his own imagination to begin with.  Consequently, he didn't react to the news that some of his 'companions' were now gone, swept away by the tide of green bodies.

Resigned to his fate, he floated up like a soap bubble, waiting to see what his mind would come up with next.

Near the apex of their individual trajectories, the heroes come together in a loose huddle, only a meter or two from each other.

"Don't look so weary, Bish," She-Hulk says to Bishop, keeping her eyes on their immediate environment in the sky. "If there's something to fight for, it's getting back home. This caper may even be a better story than a dream." If her tone was meant as encouragement, the mutant may be too exhausted to note it. Then she takes one last look toward the companions they left below with the Moloids and looks into the approaching strangeness.

As the heroes fixate on their surroundings, the being between them and the portal becomes gradually larger, not just in scale as they approach it but even more significantly as it moves toward them in kind. Science would say they would soon collide with it but it continues to grow instead, becoming larger, then much larger, but never closer to make contact. They move near enough to it until it is their entire field of vision, surrounding them as a sky that darkens like a dusk too soon to be real, then darker until the new night surrounds them and the heroes find themselves floating through an inky blackness!

As he is drawn into the ethereal being's mass, Iron Fist regards his new surroundings with little interest. The identity of this being and what it wants is of no immediate importance to him. Rather, he is incensed by the fact that its actions may have prevented him from helping his comrade in his time of need. Shang-Chi-- dead. He still couldn't wrap his head around it.

And now Bishop seemed to be losing his mind. She-Hulk, for all her cheer, looked as though she had been through a war. And there was no sign their new "host" had any intention of answering Spidey's multitude of questions.

"Hey!" Iron Fist suddenly yells at the being. "Maybe you didn't notice, but people are dying down there! So if you're going to do something, how about you do it already?!"

Danny knows he's ignoring the advice of the helpful green beast, but his grief and anger get the better of him in the moment. With all that's happened, something's got to give, and even he's losing his composure.

While the heroes float through space, the helmeted soldier is close enough to bark at Iron Fist. "Quit your whining," he says. "He already said that iff wwweeeeeeeee..." Then trails off when his speech slows to silence. Everyone else comes to a similar halt, caught in a stasis while they drift, though in no particular direction.

Just as anyone notices that they have been immobile for some immeasurable length of time, they move laterally, through the emptiness of the darkness around them. When all are placed in the center of a perfectly cubical room, they emerge in light, able to move again, slowly at first then at a full rate. Everyone is still for a moment until they find their feet, then time resumes its standard pace once more. A few shake their heads to lose some of the disorientation that has everyone dizzy. Even the ghostly rider, whose surrounding flame has diminished, is shaking off the dizziness.

The room is dim but everyone can see each other clearly. Corners are dark but a light source comes from the middle of the clearing, where the heroes are gathered. A square in the wall on one side of the room acts as a window; on the opposite wall is a rectangular doorway, leading to the side of a yellow staircase. Against the middle wall is a pink, shiny sofa.

Plot Points and the Doom Pool are reset. For ending the previous Scene, all heroes earn 2 XP.

Spider-Man shakes off this newest disorientation and takes a look around his new surroundings.

"Okay. Not to have anyone question my browsing history, but suddenly being in a room with a single couch is making me uncomfortable."

Spider-Man quickly turns to the doorway leading to the yellow staircase, crossing his arms, then putting his hands on his hips, then crossing them again as if he didn't know what to do with his hands. Even behind a mask, an observer would be able to sense the heat from his embarrassment as Spider-Man regretted being too quick to speak sometimes.

"Ahem. Uh...Hey, look! Stairs! They're really going all in with the Wizard of Oz references in this timeline. Would any of you resident heroes of this plane of existence know where this yellow brick road is heading?"

With a whine of confusion and frustration, Wolfsbane immediately looked around for ... and found ... Storm.
Her friend, and the team's nominal leader, was badly wounded.

Wolfsbane immediately padded over to the Weather Goddess, and rubbed up against her, providing some warmth and companionship ... as well as being ready to defend the woman should anything now happen.
Tap my Milestone "3 XP when you display your humanity while in your wolf form<"

Wolfsbane looked around at her other companions now:  most of them seemed pretty stressed out and mentally exhausted, bot otherwise unharmed.
Then, she turned her attention to watch that door, and any of the 'new allies' that might be with them now.

Watcher, is this now a Transition Scene, in which we can heal up a little.   Wolfsbane is a Psyche Master, and from memory, that means I can help others recover from Mental Stress, right?   And Mental Stress seems to be the majority of stress that this group is suffering right now.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:33, Wed 03 June 2020.

Bishop was just about ready to bang his head against the wall.  Physical pain would have been an indication that he wasn't dreaming.  And who knows, if he wasn't, maybe it would set him straight again?

Before he did though, he limped toward the 'window' and took a quick look outside

The helmeted soldier may be looking toward Spider-Man. “They’re stairs,” he says, his speech more noticeably through his helmet, whether because of the quieter setting or from not yelling. “They go up.”

“Hold it, Spidey. This isn’t our house,” She-Hulk says. “Maybe this could be the one place we don’t wreck."

The green beast steps back to give Wolfsbane a wide berth as she walks by him to Storm.

"I think you might want to have a look outside first"
Bishop clears the path to the window, and then, on second thought, walks all the way to the pink sofa and slumps down

"...I need a breather"

After taking a moment of silence to honor his fallen friend, Iron Fist walks over to where Wolfsbane stands next to Storm. Except for shooting Spidey a questioning look over the webhead's last comment, he's kept to himself since arriving in this place.

"Storm, let me take a look at those wounds. These hands are good for more than just punching Moloids, y'know."

Seeking to make up for his earlier outburst, and to take his mind off his own grief, the Fist seems eager to be of use.

If the turn order is open, I'd like to spend 1 PP to heal Storm's d12 of physical stress.

“Easy, Buck,” the green beast says to the helmeted fighter. “These are our guests and they’re apparently on our side so we need to -- “

“You need to tell us what’s going on here,” She-Hulk says, putting her mighty hands on her powerful hips. “This might not be our world, but it would be good to know where we are. And who you people are.”

Iron Fist moves to Storm, with Wolfsbane nuzzling beside her.

Bishop sits on the couch, but instead of plopping into any kind of soft comfort, he crashes into a hard surface. The thing is made of a clean, hard plastic, and judging from how easily it moves under the big man’s body, possibly hollow.

The green beast glances back at the group. “Explanations should be in order, by way of introductions. I will start,” he says, bowing slightly. “ I am Dr. Henry McCoy, otherwise known as The Beast.”

“Or Dr. Lady Moleman, now that the truce is broken,” the helmeted soldier guffaws.

The Beast sighs.

Without further ado, Iron Fist focuses his chi into his hands. He places his glowing palms over Storm's most obvious wounds and closes his eyes, willing his internal energies to repair her injuries.

Team d6
Young Dragon d8 (Eager to be of use)
Enhanced Stamina d8
Mystic Expert 2d6

SFX: Chi Healing. Add Enhanced Stamina to your dice pool when helping others to recover stress. Spend 1 PP to recover your own or another’s physical stress or step back your own or another’s physical trauma by –1.

17:50, Today: Iron Fist rolled 1,4,6,6,5 using 1d6,1d8,1d8,1d6,1d6 ((1,4,6,6,5)).

Total: 12
Effect: d8
Opportunities: 1

The Fist does his best to focus, reciting an ancient healing mantra from K'un-Lun in his head. He knows that if his attention falters, his grief could swallow him up again and taint his chi. He has to put Shang-Chi out of his mind for now, and focus on the allies he can still help.

- 1 XP when you use your Combat or Mystic Specialties to aid another hero.

In this Scene, dice actions are not available.

Iron Fist shoulders past Wolfsbane and lays his hands on the weather-witch.

"It's no use," Iron Fist sighs after a moment. "Something's off. Sorry, Storm." He releases his grip, turning away.

Whether it's him that is the source of the problem or something else, he can't say. Instead, he looks around the room, taking in the group's strange new surroundings.

Seeing that the martial artist with the magic hands was looking to Storm's needs and no dice actions will be used to ease the Mental Stress of others in this scene ;-P, Wolfsbane wanders over to yonder window, to take the electrical mercenary's advice.

Looking out, she took in whatever it was that had disheartened him.

This could be considered a Transition Scene, when dice pool actions are not available. The amount that you heal could be dependent on the amount of interaction with the scene.

"'Off' as opposed to what?" the soldier sneers at Iron Fist, though it's hard to tell who he's facing from under his helmet. "Mask too tight to see where we are?"

"And this is our resident cynic: James Buchanan Barnes, the Anarchy Agent," the Beast says.

"Better to be called a cynic by you than get stabbed in the back once again."

"Mind tellin' us where we are?"
Bishop got back on his feet after giving the pink 'sofa' a nasty look
"No.  Scratch that.  Can you take us back to our own timeline?"

When they landed in the new place, Storm's head was spinning. The transport was disorienting to say the least, the million moloid mob had been brutal, and she was still wracked with pain after the beating she received previous to their transport in the first place. Luckily, Spider-Man was ready with a humorous quip, which brought a smile to Ororo's face.

She was quickly greeted by Wolfsbane, which was both surprising and welcome. Ororo briefly wrapped an arm around the wolf-woman in silent thanks as she considered their predicament.

As Iron Fist approached, the weather goddess nodded. "Yes, please." She stretched her arms over her head so that he could probe her ribcage where much of the damage still lingered. It was one of those times where her everything hurt, but if she could breathe without pain that would be a major step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, it seemed that this place prevented healing. She felt a tingling sensation rather than the relief of magical or mystical healing. Also unfortunate that the sensation went to her head, and Ororo could but stumble over to the couch to gather herself. "No need to apologize, thank you for the attempt."

She listened to the conversation between the Greast and...Buck was it? In the wake of the Green Beast's intoduction, Ororo willed herself back to her feet. "I am Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm. And Henry, I've known you, or a parallel version of you, for a long time."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:30, Fri 12 June 2020.

The Beast freezes before Storm. "S -- Stor -- Ororo?" he stammers. If it was ever possible to see a man's face blanch under a thick layer of fur, it is happening now. "Is -- is it really you?" While he's still motionless and surprised, his eyes well with tears.

Storm walked over to the Greast and placed her right hand on his shoulder as she looked into his eyes. "Yes, it's me, Henry. Storm. Ororo. Though the Hank McCoy I know well is blue. I may not be your Storm. Just a Storm. I'm not sure if we've jumped timelines, universes, or what, but nothing else makes much sense right now. One moment we were fighting bad guys in New York City, the next we were completely unmade into our constituent particles, but our consciousness remained. We reformed in the time and place you found us. We have no idea when, or where, or how, just that we are here and happy to have survived."

Wolfsbane turned back from the 'window'.
She didn't actually believe that it showed a truth:  likely an illusion, or some gimmicky TV screen with this cool looking screensaver.

Now, she was more interested in knowing where that stairway went, so she wandered over to that doorway, and stuck her head through so she could get a look at what was down the steps.

As Wolfsbane makes her way to the other side of the room, walking past the touching reunion of her fellow mutants, the compact, metal skeleton that cut a bloody swath through the Moloids steps out of the shadows. Though the skeleton has been dirtied, it is still shiny, but remarkably quiet for being an entire being made of metal. The skeleton would only have an inch of height on the female mutant but when it gets closer to her it crouches slightly into a pose ready for a fight. Its formidable claws are sheathed but it steps right to Wolfsbane. Though the rest could pass as completely inert if it stopped moving, its eyes are human and alive, wordlessly staring straight into Wolfsbane's soul. When it stops less than a meter away from her, a clicking from its throat makes the noise that its approach did not.

To clarify, please:  is it blocking Rahne’s way?  Is it trying to prevent her from getting to the stairs?

Finally the Beast steps to Storm and embraces her in an enormous hug. She has no choice to fall into his arms. His fur that is not covered by his tactical uniform is more coarse than she may remember. "My goodness, you -- I barely recognized you," he says, taking a breath to curtail a sob. "You've been gone for so long."

The metal skeleton bears down on Wolfsbane but does not touch her and does not block the doorway. If there was flesh on its face, it might be able to produce an expression, but instead the clicking from its throat clicks away.

"Let her go if she wants to go, Logan," the Anarchy Agent says. "It's her funeral. Hopefully."

Wolfsbane paused long enough only to glance at Anarchy Agent.
She wasn't sure why going down the steps would be 'her funeral', but it was the only way she saw out of this room ... and she was curious to at least see what was down there.
After all, these 'alternate heroes' didn't live just in this one room (with one window and one couch), did they?

Wolfsbane was curious to find out.
So turning her attention back to the stairs, she padded over there for a look down.

If if she'd wanted to do so, which she didn't, Storm was in no shape to resist a hug from the Beast. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled Hank tight to her. A feeling of warmth, love, and safety spread through her.

"To me...I just saw you a few days ago. You want to use that big brain of yours to help us piece things together? How long do you think I've been gone? And why is Logan reduced to only adamantium? And where are we?"

Bishop scoffs at the Agent.  'Her funeral'?  'Hopefully'?!?
It was a telltale sign that the 'heroes' who supposedly saved them from the Moloids were a bit dodgy.  He didn't trust them (not that he made a habit of trusting anyone, but still), so on the off-chance that the she-wolf really was going to run into some kind of trouble, he decided he'd have her back.

Walking right past the Agent and the metallic skeleton without giving them a second look, he fell behind Wolfsbane and nodded silently at her.

When Bishop joins Wolfsbane at the doorway to the room, the metal skeleton keeps his eyes on the younger mutant, not acknowledging the taller, less familiar, and considerably more threatening of the two. The Anarchy Agent stays facing the mutants but does not tell the skeleton called Logan to back off.

"I'll help in any way I can, my dear," the Beast says to Storm, finally pulling away from her but staying close. "Certainly I would be overjoyed to provide answers where I can.

"Perhaps the easiest response to your query of where you are is where you were, from where we just came. When you disappeared those years ago, you were in the underground S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost in Brooklyn. It was assumed that the explosion was the demise of you all, but, well, now we finally know what actually happened. Where you reappeared, well, I would assume it would not be a coincidence if it were not the exact-same spot. But in a world so vastly changed, you would not be faulted for surmising you had arrived at a different place entirely.

"And of course I know the exact date when you disappeared. We all do. How long ago it happened, sadly it was more than enough time for the world to go to Hades in a hand-basket."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:18, Fri 19 June 2020.

Iron Fist eyes the metal skeleton warily as it continues its odd clicking. Could this really be the Wolverine he had once known? Between the frightening appearance of his old acquaintance, and the... inhospitality... of the Anarchy Agent, Iron Fist feels it wise to keep his guard up. Beast's explanation of events is a lot to process, even for someone who's seen as much in his life as Danny Rand, and he's not sure he totally buys it.

"So what exactly happened to the world after we disappeared?" he asks the Beast cautiously.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Sat 20 June 2020.

Wolfsbane continued on, past the clicking skeleton.
When she got to the archway, and the landing beyond, she slowed ... cautiously taking her time to investigate what was down that stairway, carefully moving further, but by bit, too see further down.

..and Bishop followed close behind her, just as interested in finding what this place was about as having her back.

She-Hulk jumps in. "First I want to know why we left our people back there," she says, almost shouting. "If you hadn't snatched us out of there, we all could have fought our way out together."

“Nein, würdest du nicht,” Deadpool says. “Der Mob war bereits bei einem 14W4 und je mehr Sie dagegen gewürfelt haben, desto mehr hätten Sie Chancen gewürfelt und desto mehr hätte der Beobachter mit dem Reinforcements SFX zu seinem Team hinzugefügt. Dann hätte der Wächter die Moloiden bei jedem Angriff negative Unterscheidungen treffen lassen, um den Doom Pool aufzubauen, wahrscheinlich mit mehr Angriffen, wenn sie sich aufgrund des Divide And Conquer SFX abgespalten hätten. Es hätte eine Weile gedauert, bis du genug Würfel bekommen hättest, um dir Stress zu bereiten, aber die Chancen wären gegen dich gewesen und nur schlimmer, je länger du in der Nähe warst. Er hat das nur so eingerichtet, dass jeder etwas zu tun hat und einen Grund in der Geschichte, hierher zu kommen. Sie könnten zurückkommen, aber er hat nicht so weit geplant.”

The Beast tips a hand toward the mercenary, who, while everyone else present is bruised and dirtied, stands in a costume so clean and pristine that the color red seems to vibrate off of it. "You probably already know Deadpool."

"Favolosa!" Deadpool exclaims.

“What language is that?” She-Hulk asks. “What is he talking about?"

The Beast sighs with exasperation. “He’s going through a phase lately where he speaks a different dead language until someone says his name. We usually only say it accidentally anyway. Most of the time we ignore him unless we’re in a fight.”



Wolfbane and Bishop venture out of the room and into the hallway. The metal skeleton follows them with surprising silence, a few paces behind them but within a lunging arm's length. As Logan keeps his eyes tightly on them, his hands close and open, with his claws peeking out of his forearm sheaths with each near-clench!
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:36, Thu 25 June 2020.

Standing on the stairway landing, Wolfsbane sniffs the air.
Then, cautiously, ventures up the steps.

While the fool within the room behind them had intimated that she going this way would lead to ‘her funeral ... hopefully’, she still had to guess that all these heroes didn’t live in that one sparse room there ... and that this was part of some greater ‘headquarters’.

She did, however, continue with great caution.

Like the floors in this house, the stairs are made of thin, cheap wood, but they don't creak as Wolfsbane makes her way up the flight outside of the room where the heroes have gathered.

Logan does not follow, instead watching her from the bottom floor. The clicking from his throat abates for the most part, but his eyes still do not stray from the shape-shifting mutant.

“You’re avoiding the question, kinda-Hank,” She-Hulk says. “Where are we? And why are you like versions of people we know?”

The Beast stands silent and stunned for a moment. “Jennifer,” he says. “We are the people you know. But you’ve been gone.”

“You said that before. As far as we know, we were all there in that bunker then we got transported to somewhere else that -- “

“No, no,” Dr. McCoy interrupts. “Somewhen else. You came back to the same place. But well into the future. Considerably well.”

If it were possible for a gamma-irradiated giantess to go white she does when McCoy mentions a date decades from when the heroes would remember were this morning. “But I can’t say exactly when since time flows differently here in Strange’s house.” The Beast’s voice softens as She-Hulk gains her composure again. “It’s been a while. It’s been a long while.”

Cautious as ever, Wolfsbane proceeded forward, towards the sounds of conversation.
Watcher, as Bishop is with me, could you please link him in with the Private’s you include for me, please?

As she approached the door(?), her ears pricked up to listen for both what was being said, and whether she recognised the voices.

Bishop wasn't much of a conversationalist.  It was part of the military discipline installed in him since he was a young boy; a necessity in the dark future where mutant hunting Sentinels could pick up sounds from over a mile away.
It was a good thing, in this circumstance, as he kept his mouth shut even before Wolfsbane crept up to the door in an attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation on the other side.

Wolfbane and the silent Bishop ascend the stairs to the top of the flight and the bottom of the next and the entry of the room. Inside, the green-furred Beast explains that it's been decades since the cadre of heroes disappeared from the world.

The metal-skeleton Logan is not at the foot of the stairs.

Wolfsbane felt a growl deep within her breast, but didn't let it escape her.
So the place was enchanted.  The stairs led only back were one started.  Unless ...

She was convinced that there was more to the place, but obviously one had to have the the authority, and knowledge, to travel beyond this one room.

The Logan wasn't on the landing out here, but so he was considered 'with she and Bishop' in the stairwell.
The others, all in the room, were all inside.

Wolfsbane paused to consider his.

Bishop stopped to look up the flight of stairs, and down to its base again. He didn't believe for a second that the one room was all there was to this place, but it mattered not - they couldn't travel beyond it.

Just a bit more annoyed then he was two minutes prior, he re-entered the room and sought one of the corners, leaning against the walls as he listened to the rest of the conversation.

Past the staircase outside of the room where the heroes are gathered is a hallway. A cursory glance at it reveals doorways coming from it.

Storm put a hand on the nearest wall as the enormity of what Hank said hit her. "Oh. Oh wow. That's...a long time. What...what's happened since we left? Maybe just the Cliff's Notes for now?" Hank would probably know that besides the news, the people that Ororo cared about were quite important to her as well.

Upon hearing the news from Beast of the team's travel through decades of time, Spider-Man's heart sank.

"Oh, no. No no no no no. I've got to get out there. I've got to see... I've got to see what's happened to... Oh, no."

The friends they left behind with the Moloids may be gone. Peter tried to keep the jokes going to distract the others the best he could, to keep them focused on what was happening around them. But at the possibility that this is the same world they had left behind...

Spider-Man stumbles back into a nearby wall and leans against it. His head is swimming more now than when he had been teleported here in that blinding light. Words attempt to escape his lips, but he's unable to muster anything more than two names.

"MJ... May..."

"Stop it"

Bishop had gone through the same sort of anxiety but a few minutes before, and though he wasn't exactly the kindly type, he understood well enough what the masked man was going through

"I traveled back to the past before; it CAN be done.  As well as, it seems, changing the timeline"

"This can't be happening," Iron Fist thinks, his mind spinning. "First Shang-Chi, and now Luke... Misty... Colleen... all of them gone!"

He bangs a fist against the wall, leaning against it as the weight of grief crashes down upon his shoulders.

"Dammit!" he breathes. He can't even console himself, let alone Spidey. But at Bishop's words, the Immortal Weapon's ears prick up. A key realization dawns on him in that instant. It's a small spark of hope, but at least it's something. He pulls himself together after another moment.

"Wait, Bishop's right," he nods. "We were sent to the future through some kind of unnatural event, and that has to mean we can get back to the time we came from in the same way." As for how they're going to accomplish that-- well, he decides, that's probably better left up to Beast and the other big-brain types.

"This isn't anything that new to me," he reminds himself. "The first time I returned to Earth from K'un-Lun, it felt like a lifetime had gone by, but I was only gone a fraction of that time. Maybe there's still a way for us to get home and fix this mess."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:19, Fri 03 July 2020.

Having investigated the stairway, Wolfsbane turned her attention to yonder hallway.
She was still curious, and suspicious, of the stairway ... really, there was no reason to have them double back to their place of origin, unless there was another way to take the stairs to another place.
But for now, she didn't have the authority or knowledge to do so ...

So she padded over towards that hallway.  It had doorways coming from it ... so there was something there to look at, at least.
It had to be better than sitting in that dull room, now behind her.

She returned to her human form; cautiously and stealthfully moving to the first door on her right.
She listened.

The Beast looks at the heroes less familiar to him and finally breathes out. "I can tell you the story, though it's now been so long ago that it's like unto ancient history," he says. "The war started when the Avengers Tower -- "

"Oh no!" She-Hulk interrupts with urgency. "Jan!" She scrabbles to reach for one of the pouches on her uniform. Frantically she reaches into the pocket then with as much delicacy and care as she can muster she gingerly pulls out something too small for the other heroes to see. She cradles the object in her open palm, using the other hand to lightly poke at it. "Jan..." she nearly whispers.

The object in her hand, looking even smaller because of the size of her paw, is revealed to be a very tiny human, now lying motionless.

"You had a person in your pocket?" the Anarchy Agent asks.

"Quiet," She-Hulk says curtly, but continues, while very lightly nudging the body in her hand. "She came along for back-up. Probably a good thing she didn't come out. But in the fight maybe she got... crushed."

Please note the new map, in the Game Map link. Most of the heroes are assembled in the main room, with Bishop outside and Wolfsbane at the stairs moving into the hallway.

Cautiously and stealthfully, Wolfsbane moves toward the hallway of doors. The first two, one on the right and one on the left, are open. There is a voice alternating between a growl and a manic yelp coming from the one on the right; there are lights subtly flashing from the one on the left.

Wolfsbane moved to the right hand door, cautiously.  She did so in a way that would allow her to peer into the room and see what/who was there, but could easily fall back and defend herself in necessary.

Bishop unfolded his arms and left the wall he was leaning against, stepping closer to Storm
"She's still alive?" he asked, a little less gruffly than usual
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Sat 11 July 2020.

Hank had been there as a 'fly on the wall' when She-Hulk had proposed that Jan ride along in one of her belt pouches. And he'd thought it was a good enough idea to copy. And so he'd stowed away in a different pouch, unbeknownst to even She-Hulk herself. But now it seemed like a good time to come out and make himself known to the others.

He shoved the flap open and buzzed out, becoming full-sized in the center of the room.

"Hey guys," he said, "I—"

He stopped, mid-sentence. She-Hulk was holding Jan out in her palm like a drowned rat.

"Damn it!"

Hank resumed his insect size and dropped into She-Hulk's palm next to Jan. A quick examination found her breathing but unconscious. She'd probably hit her head, he decided. She'd be okay.

"Oh, thank god."

Storm gasped at the suggestion that Wasp had been crushed. Janet had been there to greet Ororo when she arrived after Xavier's school had been destroyed (again). There were some heroes that Storm worked well with, others that she tolerated, and some that she really liked. Janet fell into that third category.

Storm's eyes started to fade to white as she considered ways to help Janet, though was pleasantly surprised by the sudden appearance of Yellowjacket. Storm let him check on Janet, though Ororo would have a difficult time breathing until they got the all-clear. She shrugged slowly at Bishop's question. "I hope?"

When Hank gave the 'all clear', Storm released a relieved sigh. "Finally a bit of good fortune."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:00, Sun 12 July 2020.

She-Hulk flinches ever-so-slightly when another being springs from her pocket. "Hank!" she yelps. "What are you doing here?" Then seems to calm, by way of not saying anything further, when Pym alights on her palm and assesses the Wasp's condition.

"I arrived just in time to see you guys getting ready to go, and decided it would be easier to hitch a ride than to slow things up by saying hello and waiting for an invitation," Hank explained. He'd heard what other-Hank had explained since their arrival, that they hadn't gone anywhere, but rather when. He'd deal with that in a minute, but for the moment he just wasn't processing the concept of time travel. It was a journey, regardless of which dimensions were traveled. "So I jumped into another one of Jen's belt pouches.

"And Jen... really? A pouch full of Hershey's Kisses?"

They obviously had differing notions as to what constituted necessary equipment for adventuring.

Taking off from She-Hulk's palm, Hank re-enlarged once more.

"She's unconscious," he said, referring to Janet. "I think the time travel—" Okay, there it was "—was too stressful for her at reduced size. I almost passed out, too. She'll just have to sleep it off."

After the woman has passed, Wolfsbane moved to the door, cautiously.  She did so in a way that would allow her to peer into the room and see what/who was there, but could easily fall back and defend herself in necessary.

"Hank!" She-Hulk hollers, her green face taking a darker tone toward red. "You had no right! That's not only a abuse of trust, it's a violation of -- " Then freezes when a woman steps to the doorway of the room and stands there silently. She is tall and lithe, with a bald head, and wearing a long, sheer, green dress that leaves little to the imagination when it is even there. She surveys the room in one sweeping, unhurried glance, and regards everyone with an unflinching and blank expression.

The room seems to be empty but with a spotlight like area in the center. Its clearly a small room but the decorations make it seem like its the back-alleys of a city. Complete with a dumpster full of boxes and a manhole cover with NY emblazoned on it.

Then as Wolfsbane's face peeks around the corner a face matching her own peeks around the opposite side to look her in the eyes a few seconds later and speaks with masculine Boston accent, "Hello Luv. Are you a snack or room service?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Wed 15 July 2020.

Bishop welcomed the bald woman with a grunt.  He didn't like the way she kept on staring at him; not enough to call her out on it, but sufficiently so to lock his own eyes with hers and engage in a stare-down

"Relax, Jen," Hank said to She-Hulk. "It's not like I hid in your cleavage. I—"

The bald woman walked in, and all eyes went to her.

"Moondragon?" Hank asked. He hadn't seen the woman in years and years, but how many bald women had he ever known in his life to begin with? That had to be Moondragon. "Been a while."

As the woman enters the room, Spider-Man's attention turns to her. Although otherwise emotionless, Peter can't help but feel like her eyes are transfixed on him. He stands and faces her as he speaks.

"Um...Hi. I'm Spider-Man. Is this your place? Sorry if this is a bad time. See, we're a little lost in space and time, actually. You wouldn't happen to know the location of the closest payphone, would you? Perhaps the neighborhood Sorcerer Supreme? We won't say no to an old time machine, if you have one just lying around."

Spider-Man is unsure of the woman's intent, but his Spider-Sense has been buzzing in the back of his head since they arrived.

"We're good guys. Honest. I don't know if you know what a Spider-Man is, but I do whatever a spider can. One of those is a kind of early warning sign called Spider-Sense. I'm in the process of getting the name trademarked. Anyway, this place is making it all kinds of uneasy. Where are we? Something about this place feels...wrong."

"Close, Dr. Pym," Dr. McCoy says. "Though she prefers the nom de plume Dragon of the Moon."

The woman's silent stare is like the breath held when a life is left in the balance awaiting judgment she leaves on a soul.



The Anarchy Agent, meanwhile, steps to Spider-Man. "This place is a little weird but it's safe. Safer than anywhere else." His expression is impossible to gauge through his helmet, shiny with its slick surface and the blood of Moloids. "If there's anything unsafe, it ain't coming from this end, buddy."

Storm looked at the newcomer as she arrived, though her attention was quickly drawn back to She-Hulk. "Did he say that you have Hershey's Kisses?" After the important question was asked, Storm looked back and forth between Yellowjacket and Moondragon.

Iron Fist arches an eyebrow at the sight of the green-clad woman staring at him. He's a little preoccupied with other things at the moment to consider the meaning of her gaze. Though he can't help but notice her... unusual... choice of attire.

"Uh, cool outfit," he nods, immediately regretting his decision to speak.

Hank couldn't help but snicker at the irony. Iron Fist was unsettled by Moondragon's neckline, but it was pretty much the same as his own. And the same color, come to think of it.

Did they use the same tailor?

"So the world has gone to pot, and only we can save it from itself?" he asked. Any explanations would have occurred before he'd emerged, so he'd missed whatever Hank might have told them (if anything). But the explanation was usually the same: world on the brink, Avengers the only hope, yada yada yada. "Who do we hit first?"

The second Wolfsbane face ripples and slowly turns into a large grinning mouth of large exaggerated sharp teeth, triangular white patches where the eyes should be and an otherwise dark gooey textured skin covered head, "Not even a scream? Its not easy for us to mimic faces."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:36, Fri 17 July 2020.

This was the part Danny had been waiting for. No more talk of time travel, or history lessons. Just a nice, simple solution to a complicated problem. That was something he could get behind.

Wolfsbane watched the freak show before her shifting and mimicking.
There was no scream ... no.  But she was curious, and had taken just a defensive half step backwards for better stability if she needed to defend herself.

"I have no doubt it is.  I certainly can't do it.
... and who are you, then?" she asked, cautiously.

The head pulls back and a thump is heard as a person hits the ground. Slowly a hulk sized person steps from behind the door, his body covered in the goo like the skin primarily colored dark black, with a huge stylized spider made of the same white skin as the eyes of the suit. A mouth full of impossibly long and pointy teeth opens to speak, "We are...surprised most know us. We are Venom! Now the better Spiderman! We were chosen for a wacky adventure!"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:57, Sun 19 July 2020.

"Yes, I see that now", Wolfsbane replied to Venom, as she looked around over his shoulder at the room he was in.   She was interested, mostly, in what kind of room it was ... and whether there was anyone more interesting than he there.
"And have you found a satisfactory amount of  ... wack ... to your adventure so far?"

He nods with a huge grin, "Indeed. We were telling ourselves the reason the Spider keeps winning is that he is a hero. So WE decided to be a hero so we could better hero than Spider and be able to win. We go on what Spider calls patrol, beat a few thugs trying to rob things. And after eating one to scare the others straight lightbulb man walks into the alley. Now we here and a lady with almost no clothes silences madness for a time. "

Venom chuckles, "Where else but a wacky adventure to save someplace I likely can't pronounce could that happen? We even find ourselves in a strange hallway with a girl that smells like wet dog, trees, and dirt." He sniffs again and crosses his arms across his chest, "We declare you not a snack. But not possible female lead or love interest. Spider likes red-heads, not us. But you can be plucky can-do hero with heart of gold."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:50, Mon 20 July 2020.

Iron Fist looks over to where Wolfsbane and Venom are speaking. It's been a long while since Danny's seen Venom anywhere, and his sudden appearance here is another odd surprise in a day full of them. Normally, the Fist might be wary of having another vigilante around, but with all that's going on, he'll take any familiar face he can get. Besides, the sight of those two getting along is sort of... heartwarming. Maybe?

"Yeah?  Well, you smell like blood and guts ... and venom", Wolfsbane replied, deadpan and without judgement, as she looked at the room beyond him.  In truth, that wasn't even meant as an insult ... or a compliment, for that fact.

And she was happy to be deleted from his list ... more so for the 'love interest' potential than the 'snack'.  The latter she could stomach, and handle, better than the former.

The room from where Venom emerges is similar to the nearby meeting room, with the same old, wooden floors and walls, though empty even of hollow, plastic furniture, only covered in whatever remnants of goo he chooses to leave behind.

As Wolfsbane and Venom make their introductions, a sound comes up behind Wolfsbane: click click.

At the same time, flashes of light pop from the room on the other side of the hallway.

"I think there are probably more important issues than what I have in my pockets," says the woman who could accidentally bench-press a Boeing 737, directed not at Storm but to the often-tiny Hank Pym, along with a withering glare. "Unless there are any more surprise stowaways."

The Beast turns between Yellowjacket and Iron Fist with a look of surprise and horror, mixed with a dash of panic and anger. "'Save it'?" he says, with a stammer approaching being unhinged. "There is nothing to save. What you saw out there -- Brooklyn, New York -- that's all that's left. There's nothing else. There is nothing to hit, you fool -- "

The Anarchy Agent steps in to put an arm out, either to calm his compatriot or bar him from assaulting Pym. "Easy, McCoy," he says, though not being able to see his face for the helmet could ascribe him any number of emotions. "They don't know the world now. What little there is of it. They came from the time... before the war."

Her initial interest in the room, and the slimy little man, sated, Wolfsbane turned slowly, easily stepping around the Click Clickity Man behind her.
Ignoring the skeletal figure who seemed to have taken an interest in following her around, Wolfsbane made her way across the hall, to where she could now gaze into the room of flashing.

This was what next held her attention.

Hank gave other-Hank a harsh look, but quickly turned away. McCoy was understandably upset at the state of his world, but biting people's heads off for not knowing the details was beneath him. He used to be a fellow man of science. Now, who really knew what went on in that shaggy head of his?

"So then what are we doing here?" he insisted.

"No - " Bishop shook his head in response "all of this is still better than what I remember the present to be.  Before things changed - all you all were dead"

He turned his attention to the Beast
"Defeat is something you choose to accept.  As long as we're alive, there's still hope.
And even if there wasn't, I'd still rather die fightin' than sit here wallowing in self pity"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Wed 22 July 2020.

The click click sound behind Wolfsbane is familiar: it's Logan, the metal skeleton, appeared again, close enough behind her to astonish that he could sneak up underneath whatever superhuman senses she has. He leans toward her, hands clenching and unclenching, the click-clicking from its throat click-clicking on. The thing does not move when she approaches the other room, certainly not making it easy for her to get around. If anything, the skeleton leans toward her as she moves past. The hands, with just a flick of the wrist to unsheathe claws that have taken an uncountable amount of lives, clench and unclench.

The Beast stops his advance, though he seethes and breathes heavily in place. His body is in fight-mode, with hair flared and eyes blazing. The Anarchy Agent stands with a hand on McCoy's shoulder. The anger in the Beast's eyes eventually calms, if slightly, enough for him to settle and his position to soften. Maybe it's his hair relaxing, but his body seems to contract.

"How can this be better than anything?" the Anarchy Agent snaps. "There's nothing left. Nothing to fight for, nothing to die for. If you had anything where you're from -- if there were more than six people still alive -- than you had a paradise compared to this." The helmet again blocks any expression of emotion but his voice lowers. "They... they took everything."

Seemingly oblivious to the conversation or actions around her, the Dragon of the Moon suavely saunters across the room, to where Storm stands. The lithe, nearly-nude woman stops in front of the wind-rider, closer than standard cultural etiquette would allow without discomfort. She looks at the mutant's face without a word then reaches to touch then slowly stroke her cheek.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:30, Thu 23 July 2020.

Venom chuckles, "How amusing. A spooky skeleton butler." He sniffs the air, "Wait....Spider? Oh he didn't!"

With that Venom moves quickly leaping and swinging towards the source of the scent of Spiderman and the greater group. Landing with a thump he points a finger at Spiderman, "This is our wacky adventure! Go get your own!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Thu 23 July 2020.

Ororo furrowed her brow and shook her head slowly at what she was hearing from Hank. She wasn't sure why it had taken so long for him to get to that point, but perhaps he had a reason.

Storm arched an eyebrow as the Dragon of the moon made her way over. Orora gasped at the feeling. It seemed as if it had been forever since she'd felt so good. "Thank you!" She stood to her full height and stretched both arms over her head. The lack of pain was liberating.

She turned to look over at Beast. "Hank is on the right path. What can be done here?"

Bishop shrugged.  If anything, the sobbing only served to irate him.  He couldn't take much more of it before snapping at them.

"Mmm...alright.  Call me when you want to get serious.  I'll go find a place to get some shut-eye in the meantime"

The Dragon of the Moon takes her hand away from Storm’s face then lowers it to touch then lightly grip the fingers of the goddess of elements.

If the metal skeleton had eyes, it wouldn’t bat one as Venom bounds past it. Even as the monolithic monster moves down the hallway into the meeting room, Logan stays turned toward Wolfsbane.

THe Anarchy Agent pulls away as the Beast calms and Bishop heads to leave the room. "Wow," the helmeted one says. "He talks about not giving up, then he gives up."

Danny listens closely to the ongoing exchange between the Beast, Bishop, and the Anarchy Agent. Obviously there's more to this story than what they've been privy to so far. And judging from this latest bit of info, things are even worse here than he might have assumed.

"Six people? Six?" he interjects. Mentally, he does the arithmetic.

"Beast, Bucky, Logan, Wade..." He wasn't sure if Venom and Moondragon had been a part of that original group, or if they'd arrived here the same way as he, Spidey, Storm, and the rest. "OK, so maybe Eddie and Heather, too... And what about Frank? I haven't seen him anywhere since we got rescued."

He shakes his head, still in disbelief.

"Are you really telling us you guys are all that's left? Who or what could have done this to the world? Hank-- the green one-- you mentioned a war earlier?"

The Beast straightens himself, smoothes down his clothes, stands upright. "If you can find more than that we'd love to talk to them," he says. "Everyone there was is gone. All gone. Though maybe it's all for the better, since if there was anyone left they might still be fighting. Even after this long."

“So, what was it that happened?" She-Hulk asks. "Was the rest of the world really that done with Brooklyn pizza?”

“The war," the Beast says with a sigh, as if the memory itself is exhausting as well as painful. “The inciting incident for the conflict had been argued. Privately, among the heroes, it was said that your disappearance and the destruction of that S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost was what gave the villains the confidence to enact their plans. To the general public, though, it was traced to the Avengers Tower falling and... what happened just after.”

Noticeably, the Anarchy Agent flinches slightly, then takes a step back and looks to the floor.

Meanwhile, in the room with the flashing lights that Wolfsbane has just come upon, the construct welding the structure moves with a creak.

Spider-Man suddenly finds the monstrous Venom bounding towards him and pointing, shouting something about wacky adventures. Venom's ability to negate Spidey's Spider-Sense never ceases to give him an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Throwing his hands in the air in frustration, Spider-Man replies, "Ohhhhh, and of course Venom is here! Exactly what I needed to make this day absolutely perfect. Tell me, Acid Breath, did you hitch a ride here on the Magic School Bus with us, or are you a native of this happy fun-time future land?"

Spider-Man ignores Venom and starts pacing, wildly waving his hands around as he talks.

"What's next? Did you come to show us your killer wasp collection? Is there a deadly virus on the loose? Is the next room storing a dreaded Karen wanting to see our manager? Anybody else have some gasoline to throw on this fresh new hell of a future? I mean, really! If this is some cosmic being's idea of a sick joke, I'm ready to get off the ride. Good job, Eternity! You Punk'D us real good with this one! Where's Ashton Kutcher?"

Spider-Man ends his speech with his fists on his hips, looking a little more defeated, and lets out a sigh.

"Oh, geez. Even I thought that joke was a little dated."

Spider-Man looks towards Yellowjacket and the green Beast.

"At least we have some of the most brilliant scientists still alive here with us. Hank. Other Hank. You know, I'm something of a scientist myself. Maybe we can put our huge heads together and get us out of this New Jersey of a timeline."

Venom's head tilts rather amazed at the Spiders rant then smiles, "AH! We see the Spider has been worn down." He walks over and if allowed will pat Spiderman on the shoulder, "We understand. We are here as a hero to relieve you, we even found a red-head for you to fail at wooing. So go play scientist will a better Spider takes over."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Sat 25 July 2020.

"I'm a solider" he didn't so much as turn his head to face the helmeted agent
"So like I said - call me when you're ready to get serious"
And with that he left the room, looking for somewhere a bit quieter to get some much needed rest.

Iron Fist's expression gently invites the Beast to continue. He looks over briefly at Bishop as the X-Man leaves the room, understanding the warrior's position yet wishing he was more patient. Finally, they were getting some answers, and he was going to leave?

"So me, Spidey, Storm and her X-Men, and a handful of others... We disappeared, and that was all the bad guys needed? No offense to any of us, but I never thought we were the kind of big-timers that really held the world together."

He swallows, knowing by his hosts' body language that his next question is going to be deeply personal.

"Tell us what happened when the tower fell."

"Speak for yourself," Hank said quietly out of the corner of his mouth. Hank was a founding Avenger and the Earth's Scientist Supreme, as chosen by Eternity. But he didn't want to completely interrupt.

"It might not have been the number of heroes that peris -- uh, disappeared that day," the Beast says. "But possibly a combination. A few divinations said that it might have been just one hero in particular gone from that day and all days forward that made the difference."

"Not everyone got statues," the Anarchy Agent says, his helmet very likely pointed toward Bishop as the man exits the room. "Or remembered."

Back at the hallway Bishop enters the first room on his left, hoping to find it vacant, and quiet.

Venom looks back over at the group as Mac's face becomes visible, "Hey just between us.... do all the hero adventures include hot half-clothed women? Cause if it does you should have really told us that sooner."

The mask flows back up, "Ignore him his hormones are off-balanced because of the green slightly clad one. Get this adventure started Spider. All this talking is making us hungry and we need henchmen or minon to munch.""

Bishop makes his way to the hall and finds the first door past the room Wolfsbane has entered. The door opens easily.

Wolfsbane noted the arrival of Bishop in the hallway, as he passed by her.
He seemed intent, as she was, to investigate the doors and rooms off this hall.

With one last look back towards the machine room, she drifted off to where she could see past Bishop into whichever room he was opening.  After all, she intended to eyeball each of the rooms down the corridor.

As she moved off, she glanced back at the Logan-Terminator:  patting her leg and giving a small whistle, she casually said, "Here boy, heel".

Spider-Man's masked eyes narrow as he wags a finger at Venom.

"You should really be on a non-minion diet. If you're so hungry, There's an ocean of mole men out there just waiting to trample all over you."

Shrugging as he speaks, Spider-Man says to the green Beast, "I can only imagine how terrible everything must have been after we disappeared. I understand if it feels like there's no hope, but there has to be something we can use in this world to help us return and set things right. What's the situation with the villains now? Are they still around?"

He motions back to Venom with his thumb.

"Cookie Monster over here is raring to go on the eating villain's faces part."

Storm allowed herself to be led by the Dragon of the Moon. Her allies were asking all the right questions to slowly gain some understanding of the current status of the world. They still didn't have any sort of clear direction, but perhaps they would eventually get some more clarity.

Bishop stopped just before dropping into a void.  Beyond the door he opened there was nothing - nothing but the infinite vacuum of space.

"What the @!#$?"
He stood at the door, staring at the distant stars, before shaking his head and stepping back.
What he witnessed could very well be an illusion, but he wasn't going to take that chance.

Turning back toward the hall he nodded silently once he spotted Wolfsbane. He hadn't smiled since he left his own timeline (and not much before either), but her quip forced a genuine,  sardonic one to his lips.

"Watch it"  he motioned with his head toward the door at the left "That one leads outside"

The Dragon of the Moon leads Storm out of the room, across the stairs and down the hallway, nonchalantly passing the others there and toward the next available door.

In the time it takes Wolfsbane to casually blink, Logan has advanced to close the space between them, to land barely an arm's length from her, with claws popped and positioned just in front of her eyeballs. The sharpness of the skeleton's claws are so close that if she blinked again her eyelids would be sliced apart.

In reply to Spider-Man (msg # 242):

Venom crosses his arms, "Mole men are minions. And it is a condition of the hero contract. Venom eats a minion and villain learns lessons. Spiderman no do this and villains keep coming back with more minions. Therefore Venom better Spider."

With the Beast and Anarchy Agent facing the doorway of the room and being able to see out of it, they have a line of sight to the hallway and Wolfsbane and Logan's encounter. They both glance briefly, say nothing, then look back to the assembled heroes.

The Beast picks up where he left off. "After the incident at the Avengers Tower, it all went bad fast. The slice of New York where you reappeared -- that was one of the areas that could have been said to survive. No one knew what was just below the surface, waiting for its moment to break through -- literally and figuratively.”

“And if it couldn’t drag what was above back down then they were happy to destroy it,” the Anarchy Agent says, regaining his strict posture.

“You say it like there was only one.”

The Anarchy Agent shrugs then looks toward the window.

“Then the fighting. The worst of the worst tearing each other apart. I don’t know which was worse, that they were so eager to fight or that they were so hungry for being so vicious. Like whatever limits they ever had were allowed to be dismissed. I have never seen such hatred, and such joy in being free to be so savage and barbarous, in the eyes of an opponent. More than once. And lucky to have survived each time. So many others were not so lucky.” His eyes cast to the floor. “Not lucky at all.”

After a moment, the Beast looks back up. "As for why you are here, I really could not say. It wasn't our doing. Even Strange doesn't have that kind of power. I didn't see the instigating factor that brought you here so I'm as in the dark as Deadpool ever is."

"Fortes avanços na ciência!" Deadpool exclaims.

"Back off, before I melt you down!"
It wasn't an idle threat; as he looked on the metallic skeleton, his fists were already glowing bright with energy.

Wolfsbane held her ground, and as Bishop responded to SkelLogan's threat in kind, she simply tilted her head back a millimetre or so, and deliberately, slowly, blinked.

The metal skeleton does not react to Bishop's threat, staying silent and still. Whether Wolfsbane knows she was a millimetre from sudden evisceration, momentarily Logan moves again, slowly pulling back then coming to a stance at ease, never taking its eyes off the girl, still not acknowledging Bishop. The clicking comes from its throat again, this time lacking a rhythm, instead clicking out sounds with a cadence like speech. The arrhythmic clicking continues as the skeleton peers into Wolfsbane, then finally pulls away and turns, toward Bishop. The move is punctuated by a short series of clicking, then it jabs a finger at the imposing man with the glowing fists. It looks back at Wolfsbane once more then lumbers off down the darkened end of the hallway, away from the mutants and the assembled heroes.

Back in the meeting room, the Beast continues. "After the Avengers Tower fell, the war commenced and raged for, well, as long as we can remember. It never really ended, the fighting just died down. Even this long since it started, there are probably still some skirmishes out there, if they can find any ground still stable enough to stand upon.

"But if you're wondering about the particulars of the inception of the whole conflict, it's generally held that the crux of the conflict -- "

"NOOO!!!" cries a voice outside the room.

Bishop lowered his hands when the skeleton stepped back.  The clattering of the metallic teeth which passed for the creature speech was entirely incomprehensible to him.  Thinking about it again, maybe he would be doing the creature a favor by ending its miserable existence.

Shaking his head, he took a quick look at Wolfsbane to confirm she was, indeed, alright.
Once he did he was set on continuing their investigation when the sudden cry drew his attention

"- Never a dull moment"

It looked like he wasn't going to get his much needed rest after all.  With a heavy sigh he turned on his heels, heading in the direction of the disturbance.

Hank shrunk down and activated his wings, flying in the direction of the cry.

Spider-Man follows Hank Pym to find the source of the scream, making a leap in that direction. Although he was hoping to hear the rest of Beast’s explanation, he does not hesitate.

“We’re on our way!”

Spidey couldn’t help but wonder if this is why his Spider-Sense had been tingling since he’s arrived here.

Yellowjacket and Spider-Man are the first of the heroes to run outside of the room and into the hallway, but they don't get far when a huge, mechanical animation lumbers from the nearest door. A construct made of metal -- jagged sheets down to tiny pieces -- and wires and ratchets and construction tools and nuts n' bolts of all sizes and an acetylene torch, perhaps a torso made of exposed speakers and torn discs of tin, makes its way through the doorway, creeping toward the meeting room and around the stairs. Its immense structure is folded in half to duck below the height of the ceiling above, and it quickly fills the space with its body and slinking appendages spreading like tentacles, sliding past the mutants in the hall. A boxy, attached monitor leads the construct, with a human face appearing in a frame filled with static, zapping out then reappearing as another face, then out, then back again with a different face, in a random sequence.



A voice made of equally changing and altered voices, filtered through noise -- white and otherwise -- in irresolute, modulating volumes, screams forth: "NOOO!" It cries, its waling coming in broken pieces. "YOUx MUsxkkxsssST sszxzzzsssSTOP!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:11, Mon 03 Aug 2020.

"Stop what?" Hank asked, resuming full size. He was on guard for an attack, because he trusted robots about as far as he could throw them... at ant size. "What were we doing?"

Iron Fist follows the other heroes toward the source of the noise. He feels a faint hope flicker in his heart as he hears the mechanical sounds coming from the hall. Could that possibly be Machine Man? Maybe he and Shang-Chi survived the Moloid onslaught somehow and made it back to their location. Though that voice didn't sound like Machine Man...

Danny enters the room and is greeted by the sight of the strange, unrecognizable lifeform. He feels disappointed but nevertheless tries to appear friendly to the panicky robot.

"OK, so definitely not Machine Man," he thinks.

The construct that is very assuredly not Machine Man calls in the same, broken voice, often breaking through static: "IxxxzF WE HAVzEx xAxNxzY CHANCEz OxFzx GsffkETTING THzESxxE HzEROES" -- the face on its monitor switches to that of an old man with a beard and hair mostly gray, starting from the temples -- "xBAzCK TO xxxzxcTHEIxkbgR OWNcc xTfxcIME, THxEY" -- switching to a blonde woman's face -- "CAxxNNOTxx BE xTOLD ABcOxUT THEIcR FUxxxTccURE. kkIT COUxkxcLxD" -- to a younger kid -- "DIcSRUvPT THE WxxHkOLE SPAxkkkCE-TxxxIME" -- to a screen of static, with only suggetions of a face in it -- "COxxNTINUUMxx!"

While the other heroes have made their ways into the hall, the Beast and Anarchy Agent hang near the back. "Ladies and gentlemen," the Beast says. "I present to you the Fantastic ONE."

Venom begins to chuckle, "Its like they keep wheeling out more comedic relief for our first wacky adventure. Who could expect the amazing junk man would come into the room! We can see why Spider loves being a hero! Hot women and silly stuff all day."

Storm looked over and up at the 'Fantastic One' and furrowed her brow. "If we return to the time from which we left, then you won't be telling us about our future, but rather one that we could never possibly experience. Unless my understanding of the possibilities is somehow incomplete?"

She looked over to the Dragon of the Moon to see what she had to say. The other woman had encourage Ororo toward the hallway, but the reason for that wasn't yet clear.

"The mechanics of time travel are complicated," Yellowjacket said, hoping to explain without getting caught up in the actual science. "But the more we do and see here, the more convoluted the timeline can get as a result. But it doesn't always have to end up with divergent universes. And there are lots of different theories as to what kinds of cause equal what kinds of effect.

"People like to latch onto the theory that for every possible outcome of an event there's a divergent timeline where that outcome took place. But if I take a coin out of my pocket and flip it, is there an entirely separate universe for Heads than there is for Tails? Of course not. That's the most inefficient design for a multiverse I can think of. Just think of how many divergent universes would be generated by a roulette wheel in a single day.

"So there's obviously got to be some manner of threshold, before which the universe remains stable, and past which you're dealing with divergence. And I personally can't imagine how big a threshold we'd need to cross in order to risk the collapse of all space and time. I'm not even sure it's theoretically possible... no offense, Reed."

He was tempted to offer to make some repairs to the robot that housed the remains of the Fantastic Four, but Hank shied away from robots unless absolutely necessary. The world didn't need another Ultron.

"How do you know it hadn't already happened?"
Bishop, who followed the disturbance back to the main hall, looked at the heap of metal in particular
"- This present is different than the one I've known" 

With the collection of mutants and heroes charging towards the now towering Reedbot, Wolfsbane decided one more was unnecessary.
And after all, she was more interested in investigating these rooms.

So, keeping an eye on the Loganator, she turned her back on the scene, and made her way across the hall.
The first room had been Venom's, and the second (as it turns out) was Reedbots.
The third was ... well, oblivion, or something.

She was curious what the more of the doors held.

The Dragon of the Moon leads Storm to the next door in the hallway. The woman looks back at Ororo with no concern for the conversation by the heroes at the mouth of the hallway.


"'REExxxD'?" the construct emits, a short enough sound that it is only broken up a few ways but reasonably clear, as the screen flips to the face of a blonde kid, with the lower half covered by horizontal lines of static. "WHOx zzkzIzS 'RXxkxEExccD'?"

Those not displaced by time calmly bring up the rear. "We've discussed this before," the Beast says. "It's not my area of expertise, but I know that time travel isn't as easy as entering a phone booth."

The Anarchy Agent jumps in. "If there was a way we could have gone back to undo what was done, don't you think we would have?" He turns toward Bishop, across the hallway. "It did happen. That's why we're here."

"But even if it's possible, it could do more harm than good. So we make the most of being here. And telling stories about this dark fate does not seem to affect that fate."
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:51, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

"Do more harm than good?" Bishop scoffed "You mean, we might change things so that only FIVE of you are left standing?"

He shakes his head

"You know what, I'm done talking.  Rather have those monsters rip me limb from limb than listen to your sob stories till I grow old and gray.  Which way is out again?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

Venom chuckles, "We agree. We hunger and desipte how good you all likely are to eat we are heroes and only eat minions. Lead us to them already! "

As Bishop and Venom speak up, Iron Fist senses this could be the moment that makes or breaks the heroes' future (even worse). They're both right. The longer they sit around here, the more likely it becomes that they grow complacent in this dark new world. Whatever it is they're going to do, they need to act-- and fast.

"Look, I see in front of me at least three world-class scientists, plus a talking computer," he says to the Beast, Yellowjacket, Spidey, and the strange-looking robot. "If you four put your heads together to try and fix this mess, there's no way you'd mess this world up any worse than it already is."

More quietly, he mutters, "Besides, I bet Tony Stark could do it." Maybe the thought could spur them into action. "We're Avengers, aren't we? We don't give up."

Wolfsbane opened the door directly opposite the Oblivion Door ... she was systematically zig-zagging her way down the hallway.

Storm shook her head at some of the concerns that didn't make any logical sense. But additional commentary on her part didn't seem likely to unravel anything. She returned her attention to the Dragon of the Moon. Though the room on the other side was dark, that was never really a problem for Ororo.

Storm briefly placed her palms together as if she were praying, then pulled them apart. An electrical arc appeared between her hands, bathing her surroundings in pale light.

"What a surprise," the Anarchy Agent says in Bishop's direction. "He's giving up again. Does he really have any purpose besides being a hanger-on? What reason do you even have to be here, side-kick?"

"'Stark'? Tony Stark?" The Beast says in a voice between wonder and deep shock. He grows quieter in the wake of such a surprise. "They're from farther back then I thought."

The Fantastic ONE's construct body bobs slowly, its screen-face floating in front, the whole mass held aloft by mechanical tentacles that slither around the floor. "IxxT'Sxkc NxcvOT TkdHE WOtcvRkLDxxc TxHAdsxT cccCOcvUxxdLD BkeeE... MExxssSSxEDx-UPkdx, BUxckTz TswzHE ExvckjzNsTIxxRzcxvE COjkcxNTjcxINxuuUUMmmk. EVsdERlkdYxTxxHIkdscvNdG YOUdx'VExxk EkvVtExRzx KNOxzWNx, zPASTzx ANDxxk xzPRESExNzT, DISMxzANkTLED kxzAND SxEkNzT IxkNTO zxTHE zVvvxvOID, kWzxITkH NxOx czsdkokiozpjx TO xcnklsl;;" The screen switches to static then recovers. The face of a young girl appears, mostly from the eyes down, but the broken voice is mostly male and gruff. "WkzxE COUkLzxD SEkkARxCzH FkOR SxOzzLUkxTION BxUTz WE kxMAYz NkxOT HAVxzE kTIMxE. zTHkEx LONGzExRk YxOkU zAxRkE AWxAzY FxRkxOM xzYkOUR NAzTkxIvVvE xTIMExz, TkkHE MOxzkRE DkkAMAkGzE zxdsxafk COUkxzLzzD xBE DkzONxE." More static, back to an outline to a face, then the top half of a graying head of hair and the lower half of a woman's face and mouth, separated by a line of monochrome static. "sdkokisdokzxcvnpjx IzzxckyNVESzcxTIxxGxxcykAzTzxE zckWyHYx YxzckOcU AREkyxz HcyEkzRxEx."

Wolfsbane opens the door.


Across the way, the Dragon of the Moon draws Ororo into the room.

"Ouch. You sure know how to hurt a guy." Tony Stark could have done what? Built himself a new suit of armor? That was his typical response to any crisis. Hank was every bit as smart as Stark. And since when what Spider-Man a world-class scientific mind? If he was, he hid it well.

He turned back to the Fantastic ONE.

"Investigate where?" he asked. "According to McCoy this is the only place left."

Storm looked around, though somehow saw nothing. It was like that movie her father showed her way back in the day with the sad horse and the luck dragon. Her surroundings seemed to ignore the laws of physics as she understood them, but perhaps that was part of what made this particular time offshoot so difficult to fully comprehend. Of course if the Fantastic One was correct, she shouldn't really try to understand things as it could cause some sort of temporal issue.

While she was working through all that in her mind, Storm's body started feeling a whole lot better, thanks to whatever the Dragon of the Moon was doing. Pain disappeared as if a healing wind were blowing it away. Doubts and fears melted like ice cream on a hot summer's day, eventually pooling at Ororo's feet.

"Thank you again." The wind-rider closed her eyes and floated slowly off the ground. She brought her legs up and crossed them underneath her floating form while taking several deep, slow breaths. Storm could feel her pulse slowing as she slipped into a meditative state.

Spidey put his fingers to his masked chin in thought.

"Hmm. The anachronistic automaton could be onto something. We've been so quick to want to get back to our own time, but what do we know about the weird, naked people that keep warping us around? Why take us from our own time when they did, and why bring us here now?"

Spider-Man starts slowly pacing the room as he continues his train of thought.

"Could our presence here now mean that we're an integral part in preventing the past from happening? How would those beings have known any of this?"

He finally stops in place and looks to Yellowjacket.

"I wouldn't have a clue where to start looking. I can't even find my way to the bathroom in this place. But we've got to get to figure something out."

He turns to Beast and Anarchy Agent.

"Any clues as to where we should start?"

The Fantastic ONE's screen cocks to the side and a face made of gray rocks comes up with a clear voice, of a woman. "INxVgESkckTkIGxxATE cYkOUx," it/she says, briefly breaking minimally. "HxOWk DcIDx YOkUcx GkETc HkxEgRE?x WHYkgxx AREc kkYxcOU HExcRgEk?"

Storm relaxes into a healing reverie in the dark as the door gently closes behind her.

Iron Fist pretended not to notice Yellowjacket's protest. He was hoping his comment might have been the push Pym needed to fire up that big brain of his and get them out of this mess.

"Spidey may be onto something," Danny says, nodding his head. "Who was that strange glowing being that brought us here with the portal?"

He looks to the Anarchy Agent. "He had a cape and you seemed to recognized him. He from around here?"